Archive for the ‘Border walls’ Category

With Mexican agreement Trump gets the last laugh … again.

June 10, 2019

Pelosi spews silly-talk; GOP Senators outted as border-indifferent.

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OK, Trumps threatens Mexico with tariffs unless they help with the border crisis.

Think “wallets” and you’ve variant of a Teddy Roosevelt negotiating principle: “If you’ve got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.”

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Mainsteam media made fun and lambasted (“won’t work”)  Dems cried foul (”abuse of power”); some GOP Senators jumped ship (opting to side with corporate donors).

But, within a week, an agreement is reached with Mexico agreeing to militarize its southern border and hold asylum seekers in Mexico.

Not a bad week, right?

But, there were some losers…

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, Mexico, Negotiations, Trump, President Donald J. | Leave a Comment »

Why the Senate won’t rescind Trump’s emergency declaration….

February 26, 2019

Yesterday, we argued the case for Trump prevailing legally.

Again today, let’s set aside aside the question of “should he do it?” … and focus on “can he do it?”.

Specifically, will Trump survive a Congressional move to Undeclare his national emergency?

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OK, Pelosi is going to push through a resolution to “undeclare: Trump’s national emergency.

Dems will vote in lockstep, and the bill will will be passed over to the Senate.

Dems are ecstatic that a handful of GOP Senators are hinting may jump party lines and that enough my vote aye on the undeclaration.

Not so fast, grasshoppers.

There are a couple of reasons why I don’t expect the Senate to pass the Undeclaration Resolution…

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, Congress - Senate, Trumo, President Donald | Leave a Comment »

Will Trump’s national emergency gambit survive legal challenges?

February 25, 2019

Loosely written laws and established precedents are on his side.
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For a moment, let’s set aside aside the question of “should he do it?” … and focus on “can he do it?”.

There’s a great legal analysis in the right-leaning Federalist that concludes

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You can (and should) read the whole  article. It weaves legal specifics with tight logic.

Here are my key takeaways…

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, National Emergency Act (NEA) | Leave a Comment »

Trumps’s approval numbers on an uptick…

February 18, 2019

Last week, we posted Rasmussen poll results indicating that Trump’s approval got a bump after the SOTU.

See Trump approval up since SOTU…

Since Rasmussen leans right and doesn’t use classic interviewing techniques, it’s easy for some folks to dismiss the numbers.

But, Gallup is the gold standard of polling, right?

Well, the Rasmussen conclusion seems to be corroborated by Gallup.

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The most recent Gallup survey indicates that (1) Trump has more than bounced back from the shutdown dip, and (2) His approval – which is at a high water mark – is double that of Congress!

So, what’s going on?

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, Polls & Surveys, Trump, President Donald J. | Leave a Comment »

What you need to know about the border wall bruhaha…

February 15, 2019

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve put up a few posts addressing the border wall legislative mess.

To get you ready for weekend cocktail party debates on “the bill” and National Emergency, I’ve pulled together the posts into a sort of border wall primer.

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For openers, Dems like to say that Trump doesn’t have a plan … or that his defacto plan is “a concrete wall from sea to sea”.

Yes, the “build the wall” campaign rhetoric provides fodder for the sea-to-sea claimers, but Trumps plan (yes, there is one) has evolved to about 225 miles of steel slat barriers, strategically placed to slow the inbound flow across the borders and channel border crossers to bolstered “ports-of-entry.

See Cutting to the chase: What exactly is Trump demanding?

But, walls are ineffective and fundamentally immoral, right?

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, Pelosi, Nancy, Trump, President Donald J. | 2 Comments »

Why Trump should feel ok about the border deal…

February 14, 2019

In technical terms. a binary switch got flipped.
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Pro-wall extremists are fretting that Trump got hosed since he only got $1.375 billion towards the border wall/

Not to worry, folks.

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The deal reminded me of an old story that provides some perspective…

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, Pelosi, Nancy, Trump, President Donald J. | 1 Comment »

DHS Expedites Border Wall Project in San Diego … say what?

February 9, 2019

MUST READ: Is this the trick that President Trump has up his sleeve? 
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In the last few days, Trump has seemed way too sanguine about the outcome of the conference committee trying to hash out a budget resolution … especially since the best case (from Trump’s perspective) is a token amount of money that is tightly specified so that it’s not to be used to construct a “wall”.

Trump also has signaled that he won’t force another government shutdown and won’t declare a national emergency … and, indicated that he might be able to operate under existing “executive authority“.

So, what’s he got up his sleeve?

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In a prior post, we posed a gut-check question for Pelosi (and anybody else) who says that walls are immoral and don’t work:

Should the border wall between San Diego and Tijuana be torn down?

Well, late Friday afternoon when the media was busy with the Bezos and Virginia fiascos,  the San Diego – Tijuana story took a strange twist.

The DHS issued a press release headlined “DHS Issues Waiver to Expedite Secondary Fence Replacement Project in San Diego“.

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click to view the press release on the DHS site

This may be a signal of what’s to come, so let’s drill down on it…

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, IIRIR Act, Pelosi & Schumer, Trump, President Donald J. | 1 Comment »

Trump should declare OPIOIDS a National Emergency…

February 5, 2019

… and, include border barriers as one of the supporting actions.
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First, the current lay of the land…

Pelosi is still declaring “I’ve been clear: No money for walls. Period”.

So, odds of the conference committee reporting out legislation that includes wall funding remain slim to none.

President Trump has threatened to declare the porousness of the southern border a National Emergency … under which he would have broad executive authority that would include funding and building people-crossing barriers in strategic locations.

Dems have already threatened to take a border-focused National Emergency Declaration to the uber-liberal 9th Circuit Court  where it would likely be enjoined.

The journey to the Supreme Court would take time … with slightly better than 50-50 odds of reinstatement

So, what should Trump do?

(more…)

Posted in Border Security, Border walls, National Emergency Act (NEA), Opioids - Opioid Crisis | 2 Comments »

FYI: “National Emergencies” are neither rare nor short-lived.

February 4, 2019

The odds seem to be increasing that President Trump will declare a National Emergency and use his executive authority to fund and build sections of crossing barriers (aka, “walls”) along the southern border.

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So, I got curious and did a little digging into National Emergencies.

Here are some highlights…

(more…)

Posted in Border walls, National Emergency Act (NEA) | 1 Comment »

“I’m a security monitor”

January 23, 2019

An oft repeated  Dem talking point is that walls don’t work.

When they’re confronted with the success rates of the many walls securing borders around the world, they shift to “but there are more cost-effective methods.”

What are these more effective methods?

As best I can tell, it’s throwing human capital at the problem (think: more border agents) … or enhanced electronic surveillance  (think: drones).

Whenever you hear the latter argument, do what I do: recall the Lifelock commercial “Bank”.

When armed robbers rush into a bank, the scared customers implore the security guard to do something.

He informs them that he’s no a “security guard” … he’s simply a powerless “security monitor”.

View the clip to refresh your memory … then recall the imagery every time you hear the phrase “methods more efficient than walls”.

Click to play
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Posted in Border Security, Border walls, Commercials, Lifelock | Leave a Comment »

Should the border wall between San Diego and Tijuana be torn down?

January 21, 2019

Here’s the gut-check question for Pelosi who says that walls are immoral and don’t work.
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Let’s start with the historical context…

In the 1980s, San Diego was known for its enticing climate … and its high crime rate.

Much of the crime was attributable to hombres (literally) coming across the border from Tijuana with bad intentions … not hard workers coming across for employment.

Then, in 1993, President Bill Clinton signed Operation Gatekeeper into law … and. in 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Secure Fences Act.  During his term, President Obama’s budgets provided ample funding to complete the work authorized by “Gatekeeper” and “Secure Fences”.

What were the implications for San Diego?

Because of Gatekeeper and Secure Fences, right now the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego has 12 miles of double fencing that stretches from the coast to the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

After that, there are another 43 miles of “primary” fencing into and through the mountains in the eastern part of the county.  Source

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That was then.  This is now.

Now, the Dem mantra is “Walls are immoral and don’t work.”

Let’s dive into that argument…

(more…)

Posted in Border walls | 5 Comments »

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