Trump Border Wall Post-Shutdown Discussion (Wall-Fight)

[EmirOfShmo]

On 1/16/2022 at 1:45 AM, China said:

Five Points On Greg Abbott’s Disastrous National Guard Border Deployment

 

4. Troops Appear To Be Increasingly Fed Up With The Operation

On Reddit, the Operation Lonestar page has become a message board for anonymous venting about conditions, pay, and the perception that soldiers are being torn from their families and jobs to be used as “political pawns.” The authenticity of the messages is difficult to confirm — Reddit doesn’t require proof of identity — but if even a fraction of the messages are true, they paint a grim picture. 

 

 

30 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

There's some border patrol group here with commercials supporting Abbott's re-election by claiming that Biden's done nothing to protect our borders and Abbott's the man! 

 

I wish they'd bring back the Fairness Doctrine so they can't broadcast any more lies. It's sick to hear Republican political commercials.

 

I read some of the posts on the Reddit thread. The troops on the ground hate Abbott. Hate. They won't be voting for him in March. 

[Larry]

4 hours ago, LadySkinsFan said:

There's some border patrol group here with commercials supporting Abbott's re-election by claiming that Biden's done nothing to protect our borders and Abbott's the man! 

 

I wish they'd bring back the Fairness Doctrine so they can't broadcast any more lies. It's sick to hear Republican political commercials.

 

I'm pretty convinced that you don't know what the Fairness Doctrine actually said.  

[LadySkinsFan]

1 hour ago, Larry said:

 

I'm pretty convinced that you don't know what the Fairness Doctrine actually said.  

 

Stations have to provide equal broadcasts to candidates. I think there's also something in there about lies.

[Larry]

4 minutes ago, LadySkinsFan said:

 

Stations have to provide equal broadcasts to candidates. I think there's also something in there about lies.

 

No, they don't.  

 

It stated that if they permitted a candidate free air time, then they had to provide equal time to the opposing candidate.  

 

And it stated that they were required to change full, listed price, to any candidate who wanted to buy air time.  

 

In short, it said that if the GOP wants to show commercials, then the station is required to show them.  

 

As to lies?  

 

It stated that people who possess a broadcast license were required to "serve the public trust".  Which really wasn't defined.  

 

(What that meant was that broadcast stations regulated themselves, because they didn't want somebody to come along and try to take their license away.  So the stations made sure that they never got close to wherever they imagined the line might have been.)  

 

The fairness doctrine might have been a threat to Fox News.  Somebody could at least make the argument that their entire broadcast schedule represents a campaign contribution.  

 

But it wouldn't get rid Republican paid ads.  In fact, if flat out stated that the station was required to run them.  

[LadySkinsFan]

13 minutes ago, Larry said:

 

No, they don't.  

 

It stated that if they permitted a candidate free air time, then they had to provide equal time to the opposing candidate.  

 

And it stated that they were required to change full, listed price, to any candidate who wanted to buy air time.  

 

In short, it said that if the GOP wants to show commercials, then the station is required to show them.  

 

As to lies?  

 

It stated that people who possess a broadcast license were required to "serve the public trust".  Which really wasn't defined.  

 

(What that meant was that broadcast stations regulated themselves, because they didn't want somebody to come along and try to take their license away.  So the stations made sure that they never got close to wherever they imagined the line might have been.)  

 

The fairness doctrine might have been a threat to Fox News.  Somebody could at least make the argument that their entire broadcast schedule represents a campaign contribution.  

 

But it wouldn't get rid Republican paid ads.  In fact, if flat out stated that the station was required to run them.  

 

Thanks for the clarification. We still need it and tightened up.

[China]

On 1/16/2022 at 1:45 AM, China said:

Five Points On Greg Abbott’s Disastrous National Guard Border Deployment

 

When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced in March last year that he would be sending hundreds of Texas National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, he spurred a wave of posturing from Republican governors over “securing” the border. Following Texas’ lead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent Florida state law enforcement officers and National Guard troops to Texas. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem sent her state’s troops as well — funded by a Tennessee auto scrap billionaire. 

 

State police deployed in conjunction with the troops have stuffed Texas jails full of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers facing misdemeanor trespassing charges. 

 

Over time, though, the media attention faded. The politics grew less potent. But Texas’ troops are still there. And things are getting bleak. Here are five points on the current situation with Abbott’s “Operation Lonestar.” 

 

1.  Abbott Kicked Off The Operation As A Political Attack

Abbott wasn’t shy about the politics of his decision to militarize Texas’ border. The “crisis” at the border, he said upon announcing the program, “continues to escalate because of Biden Administration policies that refuse to secure the border and invite illegal immigration.” 

 

2. An Army Times Investigation Revealed Multiple Suicides 

The investigation revealed that four soldiers tied to Operation Lonestar had taken their lives in the prior two months, including one soldier whose hardship release request was denied within days of him taking his own life.

 

3. The Deployment Has Been A Mess For The Guard, With Delayed Paychecks And Horrible Conditions 

The massive, mandatory movement of troops has led to problems, including extremely short notice before indefinite deployments, “numerous” pay issues like late and missing paychecks. A recent morale survey acknowledged the “austere environment” where troops are being forced to live — read: super-cramped bunks and reports of inadequate supplies. 

 

4. Troops Appear To Be Increasingly Fed Up With The Operation

On Reddit, the Operation Lonestar page has become a message board for anonymous venting about conditions, pay, and the perception that soldiers are being torn from their families and jobs to be used as “political pawns.” The authenticity of the messages is difficult to confirm — Reddit doesn’t require proof of identity — but if even a fraction of the messages are true, they paint a grim picture. 

 

 “[Texas Military Department]  is approaching a breaking point due, in large part, to a failure of leadership,” a staff officer told the Army Times. “Many of us believe that [Operation Lone Star] will be that final straw.”

 

5. Abbott Is Beginning To Face Real Political Heat

All of Texas’ Democratic congressional delegation on Thursday called for an inspector general’s investigation of the mission. And U.S. Northern Command, which runs a separate federal mission at the border, is pursuing its own investigation. West, Abbott’s primary challenger, is pushing the issue hard.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

On 1/17/2022 at 12:33 PM, EmirOfShmo said:

 

 

I read some of the posts on the Reddit thread. The troops on the ground hate Abbott. Hate. They won't be voting for him in March. 

 

Suicides, living conditions spark concern among Texas National Guard deployed at border

 

Members of the Texas National Guard deployed to the southern border under Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial immigration initiative, Operation Lone Star, are raising several concerns about their mission, including reports that some guardsmen have died in suspected suicides.

 

The Texas National Guard and the Department of Public Safety have been collaborating under Operation Lone Star to stem what they describe as the flow of undocumented immigrants coming across the southern border and to combat drug trafficking.

 

ABC News has spoken to three soldiers in the Guard who asked that their names not be used so they can talk freely about the issues they say are affecting morale among some of their fellow service members deployed to the border.

 

They say those problems have ranged from pay delays to poor housing arrangements and inadequate training to assist Border Patrol in apprehending immigrants. Some of the guardsmen who spoke to ABC News say word of the suspected suicides of four members of the National Guard since October has also prompted them to come forward. The concerns raised by these members of the Guard add to the mounting pressure the program has already faced from Democratic lawmakers and advocates who say the mission violates the rights of immigrants who should be given the opportunity to seek asylum in the United States without fear of being detained for weeks at a time.

 

In recent months, dozens of state lawmakers and members of Congress have called on the Department of Justice to investigate Operation Lone Star, citing concerns over civil rights violations and the reported suicides. In December 2021, the ACLU of Texas and other civil rights groups asked the DOJ to investigate the mission, which authorizes members of the National and state law enforcement agencies to detain or arrest migrants suspected of trespassing on private or state property. They cited alleged incidents of racial profiling and cases where migrants were lured onto private land so they could be arrested.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Trump’s border wall has been breached more than 3,000 times by smugglers, CBP records show

 

Mexican smuggling gangs have sawed through new segments of border wall 3,272 times over the past three years, according to unpublished U.S. Customs and Border Protection maintenance records obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

The government spent $2.6 million to repair the breaches during the 2019 to 2021 fiscal years, the CBP records show. While the agency has acknowledged that smugglers are able to hack through the new barriers built by the Trump administration, the maintenance records show damage has been more widespread than previously known, pointing to the structure’s limitations as an impediment to illegal crossings.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Bang]

How much did we spend on this ****?

 

What a ****ing clown show.

 

~Bang

[Captain Wiggles]

Only $12 billion. 

 

Whata deal! 🤪

[China]

National Guard troops were dispatched to famous Texas ranches with private security as part of border mission

 

Earlier this year, about 30 Texas National Guard members were ordered to stand watch outside some of the most prestigious private ranches in South Texas, more than an hour’s drive away from the Mexico border, as part of Gov. Greg Abbott’s highly touted mission to curb illegal immigration.

 

Placed at spots along U.S. Route 77 running north to Corpus Christi — including the sprawling and renowned King Ranch and the GOP-connected Armstrong Ranch — the troops were ostensibly meant to deter migrants and smugglers who might cross through private ranches to avoid detection at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near the city of Sarita.

 

But service members with firsthand knowledge of the mission told The Texas Tribune that troops rarely saw migrants from their posts nearly 80 miles away from the border and were unable to pursue them if they did because they were not authorized to enter the private ranches if they saw migrants cutting through.

 

In practice, service members said, they stood around for hours, staring at each other and the highway, outside the private ranches — some of which had their own private security.

 

“We really don’t understand why we are there,” a service member told the Tribune. “We’re essentially mall security for ranches that already have paid security details to protect them.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[China]

Mexico agrees to invest $1.5B in 'smart' border technology

 

Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador agreed to spend $1.5 billion over the next two years to improve “smart” border technology during meetings Tuesday with President Joe Biden — a move the White House says shows neighborly cooperation succeeding where Trump administration vows to wall off the border and have Mexico pay for it could not.

 

A series of agreements the two countries hammered out as their leaders spoke called for several other concrete moves, including expanding the number of work visas the U.S. issues, creating a bilateral working group on labor migration pathways and worker protections and welcoming more refugees. Both also pledged to continue joint patrols for Mexico and Guatemala to hunt human smugglers along their shared border.

 

But the Biden administration hailed securing border funding from Mexico after years of failed attempts by former President Donald Trump.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

[China]

Shipping containers used for Arizona's makeshift border wall are for sale, buyer beware

 

anted: New homes for over 2,000 massive metal shipping containers that once served as a makeshift barrier at Arizona's southern border. Price: $500 to $2,000 each.

 

They may come with stains, rust, holes, "a multitude of dents," scratches, cracks and a controversial place in Arizona's political history.

 

Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's shipping container wall, which he took down in December under pressure from the Biden administration, has so far cost Arizonans over $194 million, according to state financial records.

 

After months spent contemplating what to do with the 20 and 40-foot big metal boxes, the state's administrative agency has put them up for sale.

 

For now, the containers are available to government entities and nonprofits that can find uses for them, though the Arizona Department of Administration says any left by October will be available for public sale. Early buyers are turning the containers into storage, and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has signaled interest in making them available to turn into affordable housing units.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Bang]

Put them on Kari Lake's lawn. Tell her one of them has the secret info that will finally stop the steal.
 

~Bang

[China]

Duplicate post

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by China

[PokerPacker]

1 hour ago, Bang said:

Put them on Kari Lake's lawn. Tell her one of them has the secret info that will finally stop the steal.
 

~Bang

Then close it up and ship it to Mexico?

[China]

US-Mexico border: Will a 'floating wall' barrier in the Rio Grande deter migrants?

 

Texas officials have begun installing a floating barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande river, which they argue will deter migrants from crossing into the US from Mexico.

 

Immigrant advocates say it may be ineffective and potentially dangerous to migrants.

 

The barrier, made of large orange buoys, is already the subject of a lawsuit from a local kayak company.

 

 

Officials say the barrier will help secure the US-Mexico border.

 

First announced in June, the floating barrier is eventually expected to cover about 305 metres (1,000ft) of the river.

 

The buoys will be connected with webbing and anchored to the bottom of the river in the Eagle Pass area, which has seen about 270,000 migrant detentions this fiscal year.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Trump Wanted Cows to Climb Ladders Over Border Wall, Ex-Staffer Says

 

Donald Trump once floated a plan for ranchers to use ladders to get their cattle over the border wall, according to a new book by Miles Taylor, the former Trump administration official who famously criticized Trump in an op-ed under the pen name Anonymous.

 

Trump, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, made immigration a focus of his 2016 campaign for president. He followed through with hard-line anti-immigration policies, including building a physical wall at the southern border, a travel ban mostly affecting Muslim-majority countries and a "zero tolerance" policy that separated children from their parents.

 

Taylor, the former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, has warned that a second Trump administration, or a MAGA successor, will be even worse.

 

In his book, Taylor recalls that in a March 7, 2019, meeting, Trump "out of nowhere" complained that ranchers in Texas were being allowed to open doors in the border wall to allow their cattle to reach the Rio Grande.

 

"No doors. I don't want doors," Trump said, according to Taylor. "How crazy is this? There are doors in the border wall? It's stupid. They can just walk up, open the door, and thousands of [illegals] rush in."

 

Kirstjen Nielsen, then the homeland security secretary, told Trump that this wasn't true, Taylor writes. But Trump "didn't care" and ordered them to acquire any land where ranchers had access to the Rio Grande.

 

"Just buy the land. I know more about land than any other human on Earth. Let's do it, okay?" Taylor quotes Trump as saying.

 

"Give the ranchers ladders. They can use ladders to get to the other side, but not doors. You could use small fire trucks. Call the local fire stations, and use the ladders on their trucks to help them get over."

 

The plan was "so incandescently stupid I couldn't laugh," Taylor remembers thinking at the time.

 

He said Trump went on to say that the plan was needed because Mexico "is a hellhole."

 

Click on the link for the full story

[Captain Wiggles]

[Bang]

"incandescently stupid"

 

I like that. I think I'm gonna use that.

 

~Bang

[China]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:21 PM, China said:

US-Mexico border: Will a 'floating wall' barrier in the Rio Grande deter migrants?

 

Texas officials have begun installing a floating barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande river, which they argue will deter migrants from crossing into the US from Mexico.

 

Immigrant advocates say it may be ineffective and potentially dangerous to migrants.

 

The barrier, made of large orange buoys, is already the subject of a lawsuit from a local kayak company.

 

 

Officials say the barrier will help secure the US-Mexico border.

 

First announced in June, the floating barrier is eventually expected to cover about 305 metres (1,000ft) of the river.

 

The buoys will be connected with webbing and anchored to the bottom of the river in the Eagle Pass area, which has seen about 270,000 migrant detentions this fiscal year.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

Justice Department tells Texas that floating barrier on Rio Grande raises humanitarian concerns

 

The Justice Department has told Texas that a floating barrier of wrecking ball-sized buoys the state put on the Rio Grande violates federal law and raises humanitarian concerns for migrants crossing into the U.S. from Mexico.

 

President Joe Biden's administration told Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that the barrier installed this month near the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, was “unlawful” in a letter dated Thursday and obtained by The Associated Press.

 

“The floating barrier poses a risk to navigation, as well as public safety, in the Rio Grande River, and it presents humanitarian concerns,” reads the letter, which also informs the state that the Justice Department intends to sue if the barriers are not removed.

 

Abbott's office did not respond to a request for comment Friday, but on Twitter, the governor wrote that Texas was acting within its rights.

 

“Texas has the sovereign authority to defend our border,” Abbott tweeted.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

 

[China]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:21 PM, China said:

US-Mexico border: Will a 'floating wall' barrier in the Rio Grande deter migrants?

 

Texas officials have begun installing a floating barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande river, which they argue will deter migrants from crossing into the US from Mexico.

 

Immigrant advocates say it may be ineffective and potentially dangerous to migrants.

 

The barrier, made of large orange buoys, is already the subject of a lawsuit from a local kayak company.

 

 

Officials say the barrier will help secure the US-Mexico border.

 

First announced in June, the floating barrier is eventually expected to cover about 305 metres (1,000ft) of the river.

 

The buoys will be connected with webbing and anchored to the bottom of the river in the Eagle Pass area, which has seen about 270,000 migrant detentions this fiscal year.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor

 

Locals and lawmakers have started getting a closer look at wrecking ball–size orange buoys Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had installed — illegally, Mexico and the federal government say — along 1,000 feet of the Rio Grande river between Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico. The controversial buoys are chained to the shallow bottom of the river with a net of cables, and you can't climb over them because they spin freely. 

 

To make sure would-be asylum seekers don't climb between them, Texas Public Radio's David Martin Davies reported after a kayak trip to the barrier, "there are also serrated metal plates that look like circular saw blades between each buoy." That detail also stuck with Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) when they visited Eagle Pass on Tuesday. Garcia said she was "appalled" by Abbott's "cruel and inhumane tactics" and unsettled by the "buoys' true danger and brutality."

 

 

Click on the link for the full article