Trump reverses, says Dems to blame for shutdown

[Gigimo]

I wonder why the first thing Obama did after buying his new house was erect a big wall around it?

 

[The Barbarian]

I wonder why the first thing Obama did after buying his new house was erect a big wall around it?

For privacy, one supposes. This is why most people put up fences or walls. But notice that such short walls actually work, while really long walls have always failed.

If walls actually worked at keeping borders secure, they would have been used long ago. But they don't work. And while democrats and republicans in Congress have repeatedly approved funds for border security, they aren't about to waste that money on a vanity wall for Trump's ego.

 

[tulc]

I wonder why the first thing Obama did after buying his new house was erect a big wall around it?

I wonder why in a thread about President Trump's partial shut down of the government someone would want to discuss President Obama's landscaping choices?
tulc(wonders if this was posted in the wrong thread?)

 

[Reconciliation and Truth]

I wonder why the first thing Obama did after buying his new house was erect a big wall around it?

If true, that is irrelevant. The US has a wall, border agents, and technology to enforce the border.

Trump promised to build a bigger, pointless wall and make Mexico pay for his technologically useless wall. Now he wants us to pay for it. Making a taller multi-billion dollar wall using your money is pointless when drones patrol and tunnels are used to smuggle.

 

[The Barbarian]

If true, that is irrelevant. The US has a wall, border agents, and technology to enforce the border.

Trump promised to build a bigger, pointless wall and make Mexico pay for his technologically useless wall. Now he wants us to pay for it. Making a taller multi-billion dollar wall using your money is pointless when drones patrol and tunnels are used to smuggle.

It's not meant to to anything. His followers are threatening to abandon him if he doesn't force Americans to pay for a wall they don't want. And if he's found to be guility of various crimes, he'll go to prison if he's not re-elected. So he might really, really need to get that wall built.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Trump and congress also should not be paid.

 

[JackRT]

Trump and congress also should not be paid.

Well, Trump is apparently donating his pay but in lieu of that all funding to the WH should be terminated --- he can foot the entire bill until the situation is resolved.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

I wonder why in a thread about President Trump's partial shut down of the government someone would want to discuss President Obama's landscaping choices?
tulc(wonders if this was posted in the wrong thread?)

Who or what it tulc?

 

[Reconciliation and Truth]

Trump and congress also should not be paid.

People rarely enter politics for the salary the position actually pays. They didn't get their using their own money.

Its a form of legal corruption.

 

[Gigimo]

For privacy, one supposes. This is why most people put up fences or walls. But notice that such short walls actually work, while really long walls have always failed.

If walls actually worked at keeping borders secure, they would have been used long ago. But they don't work. And while democrats and republicans in Congress have repeatedly approved funds for border security, they aren't about to waste that money on a vanity wall for Trump's ego.

Actually building walls seems to be en vogue nowadays. Quite a few countries have erected thousands of miles of walls in the last 75 years (with most of them in the last 30 or so) and there seem to be more going up all the time. There are different reasons for erecting these walls but the theme seems to be to keep something in or out.

You really have to wonder why so many countries are erecting them if they don't work?
(Or maybe it's just that popular rhetoric isn't really factual and they do work!! )

Shhhhhh.....

 

[EpiscipalMe]

Actually building walls seems to be en vogue nowadays. Quite a few countries have erected thousands of miles of walls in the last 75 years (with most of them in the last 30 or so) and there seem to be more going up all the time. There are different reasons for erecting these walls but the theme seems to be to keep something in or out.

You really have to wonder why so many countries are erecting them if they don't work?
(Or maybe it's just that popular rhetoric isn't really factual and they do work!! )

Shhhhhh.....

You know what else other countries are doing? Free trade - that seems to work for them, have to wonder why so many are doing it if it doesn’t work...

 

[The Barbarian]

Actually building walls seems to be en vogue nowadays. Quite a few countries have erected thousands of miles of walls in the last 75 years (with most of them in the last 30 or so)

Hmm... border walls protecting nations.

Hadrian's wall, ca. 122 Roman empire beginning to decline, needed defenses. Barbarians went around it, in boats.

Great Wall of China, finished out around 200 BC. Chinese government not able to combat mounted barbarians. Barbarians used it as a convenient highway to move along the border, striking rapidly here and there.

Hexamillion wall around 400. Meant to protect the declining Roman Empire from barbarians. Later rebuilt to protect it from Ottomans, who breached it twice. During its history, the wall never succeeded in fulfilling the function for which it was constructed, unless it acted as a deterrent.
Hexamilion wall - Wikipedia

Maginot Line. French army, fearful of German military, decided on a defensive tactic. Germans went around it.

Seigfried line. As the Third Reich began to lose ground, meant to protect Germany. Allies breached it in numerous places.

Berlin wall. Much shorter and easier to defend. Put up by East Germans, fearful of losing population. Fell a few decades later by mob action.

So always the tactic of nations that have lost their nerve and confidence, seeking some visible sign of strength, rather than seeking to regain strength.

and there seem to be more going up all the time. There are different reasons for erecting these walls but the theme seems to be to keep something in or out.

Always the hope. You see the results.

Israel is building fences. Because the walls didn't work as hoped.

You really have to wonder why so many countries are erecting them if they don't work?

See above.

 

[The Barbarian]

You know what else other countries are doing? Free trade - that seems to work for them, have to wonder why so many are doing it if it doesn’t work...

Sure. It's why we see declining numbers of illegal aliens from Mexico. As NAFTA made all nations in North America richer, there was less economic need for Mexicans to come to the United States to work.

That was far more effective than anything we had been able to do to stop the flow of undocumented workers.