BEARUPINDC said:

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Trump Shutdown. What an a.........e. A fence for his base.

At least this:

"However, before they adjourned for the night, the Senate passed a bill to ensure federal employees who are furloughed get back pay. "

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Yes, at least I can be comforted during the upcoming work days (when I do have to show up for work) that some day I'll probably get paid for it. I'm just glad that I have money in the bank and am not living paycheck to paycheck. I do worry about a few of my coworkers though.

BEARUPINDC said:

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sp4149 said:

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With the likelihood of a TRUMP SHUTDOWN looming

The Press Secretary said that the Administration was planning on using military funds to build the wall.

I worked thirty plus year for one of the two DOD commands that actually builds facilities (someone else pays for them). The understanding was that construction over $500K had to be directly appropriated by Congress. Now $5 billion exceeds that threshold by about ten thousand times. Using DOD construction authority to build a massive HSA construction project without Congressional authorization should be career ending incarceration for all involved, military and civilian Contracting Officers. Certainly an impeachable offense, even if politically acceptable to the Senate.

If Trump proceeds without Congressional appropriation for construction, should the military and civilian Contracting Officers who carry out the Trump's orders be indicted?
Or is breaking Federal law for the Trump the new DOJ policy...

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sp4149

This is really, really good stuff. I'm going to have claim ignorance on what HSA stands for. I've been in and
around DC a long time, but probably only know .0001% of the acronyms. Also, I consider myself
fairly decent at searching for information. I thought I had something that made sense....only to discover
that I was looking at an Irish governmental authority

I'm REALLY concerned about the military being misused. Hopefully, the "generals" would say "No way."....but
the National Guard being used as pawns in "caravans" affair and Gen. Mattis leaving don't make me feel really good. So, the following questions asked in that vein.

1. what does HSA stand for?
2. what is HSA's relationship to DOD
3. when you say "two DOD commands" are you saying Army, Navy Corps of Engineers, contractors, something else? Basically is this the military building facilities?
4."Congressional authorization" gives me too much the feeling of Mitch McConnell holding the purse-strings.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

GO BEARS!!!! We have a basketball to win tonight.

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BEARUPINDC,

HSA - should have been HS/GSA, my keyboard dyslexia sometimes types/omits adjacent letters.
HS - Homeland Security,
GSA - Owns all US Government facilities CONUS, including military bases.
The two DOD commands, Corps of Engineers and NAVFAC (where I worked) contract for the building of DOD facilities and also Coast Guard and other agencies, all with GSA permission. We got in trouble twenty plus years ago for closing down a GSA supply facility, using GSA authority, without telling GSA until we served eviction notice...
There are several DOD bases along the border and DOD would be better positioned to administer border wall construction than GSA in these areas. However the funds for the construction contracts would still have to come from HS/GSA even if DOD construction contract authority were to be used. Use of DOD appropriated funds to build facilities in excess of $500K (this threshold may have been increased) for non-DOD entities has always been forbidden. The Trump administration thinks it has the authority to transfer construction funds between agencies. Congress used to think it had this exclusive responsibility, the GOP Congress doesn't seem to think as much...

GOP leads senate 51-49.
They need 60 votes to pass any budget bill, not 50 + Pence, as i had thought.

Beto:

https://medium.com/@BetoORourke/closed-until-further-notice-c1f9dac27f58

So the border fence, per Trump's design preference...has a 9" gap between pickets/bollards. Leave a bucket of grease at the wall and I think most people can get through. Bring some tools and no problem. This is so freakin' ridiculous.

However to show just how stupid the whole thing is, there'will be a 75 mile gap on Native American land (they have sovereignty) and they refuse to put up a fence since it would divide their land. Look for them to open a concession stand there.

And to think, this is Trump's war, his battle that he might just die on. It figures it would be over a stupid and pointless fence that doesn't do anything except drop $5 billion. Oh right...and Mexico AIN'T PAYING FOR IT.

Another Bear said:

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So the border fence, per Trump's design preference...has a 9" gap between pickets/bollards. Leave a bucket of grease at the wall and I think most people can get through. Bring some tools and no problem. This is so freakin' ridiculous.

However to show just how stupid the whole thing is, there'will be a 75 mile gap on Native American land (they have sovereignty) and they refuse to put up a fence since it would divide their land. Look for them to open a concession stand there.

And to think, this is Trump's war, his battle that he might just die on. It figures it would be over a stupid and pointless fence that doesn't do anything except drop $5 billion. Oh right...and Mexico AIN'T PAYING FOR IT.

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This is beautifully done

https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/tohono-oodham-nation-arizona-tribe/582487001/

I do not like this:

The White House says the president has the authority to build a border wall under the Secure Fence Act of 2006, but many see the wall as an assault on the tribe's rights as a sovereign nation. The National Congress of American Indians has opposed the wall.

Along with the concession stand, the Tohono O'odham people want a casino and they want Trump to pay for it.

Thomas Friedman: Dump tRump Now

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/24/opinion/impeach-fire-president-trump.html

Spot on AB. Thanks for sharing. Think we also know how much Roger hates him also.

OBear073akaSMFan said:

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You should have heard my comments to my wife after she voted for Jill Stein! She & others played right into the hands of the Russians!

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naww, OB, was a don't care/never-mind in California, or any other state ended up Blue.
# bernie 2020

Cal88 said:

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https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Obesity-Update-2017.pdf

This report (Figure 1) gives an even higher percentage of obese adults in Mexico....32.4%>24%.
Unfortunately, the US has the highest percentage......38.2%.

Of course,

Obesity in Mexico has been linked to NAFTA. Mexico was flooded with cheap high fructose corn syrup and a boom in soda sales...just like the U.S. Mexico however imposed a nation-wide "junk food" tax of 5%. Sales have fallen for 2 straight years.

True, that's the angle that's discussed in the video I posted above.

Apparently Coca-Cola has marketing Mexican sugar cane Coke as an upscale premium product in the US, and pushing cheaper high-fructose corn syrup in Mexico...

smh said:

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BearChemist said:

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Trump's fence will have a 9" gap between pickets or bollards. A good percentage of people can pass through that without much aid. This is why words and definitions matter...because the Dotard is calling it a wall but it's clearly a fence, a $25 billion (in total) fence that will do little. It's the epitome of jackass stupidity, spending billions on something that doesn't work.

Another Bear said:

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Trump's fence will have a 9" gap between pickets or bollards. A good percentage of people can pass through that without much aid. This is why words and definitions matter...because the Dotard is calling it a wall but it's clearly a fence, a $25 billion (in total) fence that will do little. It's the epitome of jackass stupidity, spending billions on something that doesn't work.

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Definitely not bollards, at least in the security sense. This slat fence is not one of the design prototypes that the Grump personally approved down here near San Diego, All those designs required a massive redesign before implementation as a contract award. Only a completely incompetent contracting officer would award a multi-billion project for an untested design..

Lowlife, subhuman president.

I always knew Trump would backpedal from his 'I'll own the shutdown' comments, but the utter audaciousness of his revisionist history and twisting of the truth to suit him still surprises and angers me (PS - I think it is good I can still get angry, as becoming numb and therefore accepting should not be okay).

Quote:

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"The Shutdown is only because of the 2020 Presidential Election. The Democrats know they can't win based on all of the achievements of 'Trump,' so they are going all out on the desperately needed Wall and Border Security and Presidential Harassment. For them, strictly politics!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/trump-shutdown-democratic-ploy-1079022

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/01/05/us/politics/donald-trump-border-wall.amp.html

If trump is so rich, why doesn't he offer to pay for the stupid wall himself?

He wants us to pony up $5B.
But by one quote here, by him, he has twice that much.
He can't take it with him, but he could make himself a legacy by moving his chips in on this gamble of his. A gamble, by the way, where he's willing to throw hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contractors under the bus.

This is an all or none poker game for him. Rush was right, lose the wall, and his presidency is over. So, trump will drive everything and everybody over the cliff in his attempt to win.

He's not a nationalist, and he doesn't believe in America First, or MAGA.
He believes in himself and himself alone.

Storm the Bastille!

Those are two great quotes, Bearister!
Thanks.

I live about 5 miles from TJ or AKA the Border Wall.
Many misconceptions about the border issue thanks to POTUS.
First arrests made at a port of entry do not show a need for a border wall, maybe better agent training but these so-called illegals weren't going around the wall; no need for more walls, they shouldn't be counted as going around the wall.

But facts obviously confuse POTUS; so I hope nobody tells him that most illegals in this country are coming in at airports and most drugs at ports. If he knew this he would want 100s of billion$ for SECURITY DOMES over airports and blockades on shipping channels. It is the signature mark of this man that he relentlessly pursues small time crooks and gives amnesty to bit time crooks who he views as friends. Or future wives who were illegally in this country...

I must admit that I didn't know that the Vatican had a 2000 mile high wall around it until that fact was revealed by POTUS. That in itself is an amazing fact considering that Vatican city is only 0.17 sq miles. If the Catholics can fit 2000 miles of wall in a space of about 100 acres we should be sending the head of Homeland Security over there for a long term study of how they designed their wall.

BEARUPINDC said:

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This is beautifully done

https://www.usatoday.com/border-wall/story/tohono-oodham-nation-arizona-tribe/582487001/

...
Along with the concession stand, the Tohono O'odham people want a casino and they want Trump to pay for it.

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Trump's track record with Indian Casinos is completely different, the tribe pays to use his name and he does nothing to improve the property and they pay millions to get rid of him...

Spotlight 29 casino slowly recovering from the disaster that was Trump 29 casino.

How Donald Trump got fired by a California casino

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/21/donald-trump-spotlight-29/81860676/

sp4149 said:

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I must admit that I didn't know that the Vatican had a 2000 mile high wall around it until that fact was revealed by POTUS. That in itself is an amazing fact considering that Vatican city is only 0.17 sq miles. If the Catholics can fit 2000 miles of wall in a space of about 100 acres we should be sending the head of Homeland Security over there for a long term study of how they designed their wall.

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I wouldn't seek Vatican advice on this, cause that border is extremely porous!

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2019/01/04/where-the-idea-for-donald-trumps-wall-came-from/amp/

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/trumps-wall-reportedly-a-gimmick-campaign-aides-came-up-with-so-hed-remember-to-talk-immigration.amp

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/06/sonic-attack-on-us-embassy-in-havana-could-have-been-crickets-say-scientists

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/quarterback-ed-luther-of-the-san-diego-chargers-tucks-the-shoulder-picture-id71712608?s=594x594