November 29, 2020

"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has said he hopes to halt construction of the border wall, but the outgoing administration is rushing to complete as much wall as possible..."

"... in its last weeks in power, dynamiting through some of the border’s most forbidding terrain. The breakneck pace at which construction is continuing all but assures that the wall, whatever Mr. Biden decides to do, is here to stay for the foreseeable future, establishing a contentious legacy for Mr. Trump in places that were crucial to his defeat. In southeastern Arizona, the continuing political divisiveness around the president’s signature construction project has pitted rancher against rancher and neighbor against neighbor.... The region is emerging as one of the Trump administration’s last centers of wall building as blasting crews feverishly tear through the remote Peloncillo Mountains, where ocelots and bighorn sheep roam through woodlands of cottonwoods and sycamores.... 'This isn’t just heartbreaking but totally pointless,' said Diana Hadley, a historian whose family’s ranch includes much of Guadalupe Canyon. She said natural barriers had long served as a deterrent against crossings in the remote area.... Karen Hasselbach, who lives on another stretch of the border in Arizona near the San Pedro River... had begun likening the border wall, which she despises, to the work of Christo, the Bulgarian-born conceptual artist known for epic-scale environmental projects. 'I try to look at it as a temporary art installation.... My hope is it gets torn down.'"


78 comments:

MayBee said...

I can't believe Biden and his supporters would want to go back to the policies that encourage unaccompanied children and caravans coming to the border. Trump worked out a good practice with Mexico. Does Biden *really* want to roll that back? Do Democrats really want to enact laws that support the position they took during their primaries- that crossing the border illegally should no longer be illegal?

MayBee said...

If I were Biden, I would pretend to not want the wall to please my most progressive supporters, but I would be secretly thrilled it's being done for me.

Humperdink said...

The puppeteers pulling Biden's strings are about to flood the zone (read: The US) with illegals. Won't need phony mail-in ballots next time, we'll have warm bodies.

tim in vermont said...

Nothing better to do in a pandemic than invite hundreds of thousands of people across the border with no possible way to screen them.

tim in vermont said...

"If I were Biden, “

If you were Biden, Biden wouldn’t be a craven sociopath who sells out his own country for hard cash.

stevew said...

"Biden hopes to halt construction of the border wall", he apparently thinks he still is campaigning for POTUS.

Kevin said...

I’m so old I remember when Trump’s claims of wall building were just another lie.

mezzrow said...

Had Trump's wall been built as art rather than for a purpose, would it still offend? It isn't as easily moved as a random "monolith".

Show me Christo's installations today. Trump will show you his wall today. Is it really "his" wall or is it "our" wall? Who paid for it?

How permanent is that wall? How permanent is that border?

The question is which is to be master - that's all. Check back tomorrow for any changes.

stevew said...

"Nothing better to do in a pandemic than invite hundreds of thousands of people across the border with no possible way to screen them."

You haven't been paying attention to the Liberals/Progressives/Democrats. This is just the latest action that proves they do not believe the pandemic is a real national health emergency. Rather it is a useful political tool.

tim in vermont said...

(!) This statement that Joe Biden is president elect is disputed.

Last night the PA Supreme court said it didn’t matter if the PA election was unconstitutional because there is no remedy, except there is. They would have thrown out a Senate election on the same grounds. The rules for throwing out a presidential election are simply different due to the time constraints. So it’s off to SCOTUS, I guess.

tim maguire said...

MayBee said...If I were Biden, I would pretend to not want the wall to please my most progressive supporters, but I would be secretly thrilled it's being done for me.

You may get your wish. I don’t see Biden doing a single hard thing for however long he’s president. He’ll get pushed around a lot by scheming underlings, but ultimately he’ll be a business as usual president.

Mr Wibble said...

Do Democrats really want to enact laws that support the position they took during their primaries- that crossing the border illegally should no longer be illegal?

Yes, they do.

However, I think that a Biden administration is going to be hamstrung by the fact that Biden is a dementia-addled old man whose "advisors" will be so busy jockeying for power that they'll undermine each other. The next four years will be a shitshow, especially once they realize that despite their best efforts the clock cannot be turned back to the pre-Trump era. And the more they flail, the angrier people will get.

Unknown said...

A great man, some say our greatest man

once warned

"There's only one president at a time."

MD Greene said...

We're all so obsessed with our own problems that we have ignored the real effects of two major hurricanes just this month on the lowlands of Central America. (The NYT would rather run an op-ed by Meghan Markle, the first woman ever to have experienced a miscarriage and willing to tell us about it, the poor dear thing.)

Meanwhile, in Honduras and Nicaragua many thousands of people are now homeless. Covid is spreading faster among those staying in big shelter tents. Crops are drowning. Do you think a bunch of those afflicted persons aren't going to take to the road north soon? Most people prefer to stay in the communities where they were raised and not trek more than 1,000 miles on foot to somewhere else.

Catholic Relief Services is there. Doctors Without Borders is there. There's no fun to be had shopping for gifts at the mall right now. Why not "invest" in Central America instead?

wendybar said...

Just what we need...25 million more people not working depending on Government handouts because of Covid 19. Great idea Joe!!!

Temujin said...

I love the cherry picking by the NYT reporter on the story.
"She said natural barriers had long served as a deterrent against crossings in the remote area."

To the tune of 30 million or so people. Some deterrent. With Biden entering office after a knowingly fraudulent election, it'll be as if he sent a personal invitation to all of Mexico and Central America. Come on in. We'll pay for your healthcare and schooling. We'll find you housing. And we'll give you $15/hour to take the jobs from our current laborers.

Nice future if you're a technocrat. You'll have plenty of people to cook your food, cut your lawns, build your homes. Not so much if you're of the rank and file American citizenry already here. Your vote means nothing.

J. Farmer said...

From January 2019: Kamala Harris: I Won’t Vote for a Wall ‘Under Any Circumstances’

Ann Blogged it at the time. My response remains the same, "The walls-don't-work argument is obviously bullshit. The wall is being opposed with such ferocity precisely because people are terrified that it will work."

gilbar said...

The PA Supreme court said it didn’t matter if the PA election was unconstitutional because there is no remedy, except there is.

so, to review; the stages of fraud (paraphrased)

1 There IS NO Fraud!
2 Fraud is COMPLETELY INCONSEQUENTIAL because it is SO RARE!
3 Sure, there's fraud, but no more than usual
4 Yeah, there's lots of fraud, but Not Nearly Enough to make a difference
{where we are now}5 Well, the fraud made a difference, but can't cry over spilt milk
5 Thank Gaia there was fraud! Otherwise, we would have had to have had 4 more years of Trump!

mockturtle said...

The NYT must have worked feverishly to find two people in So. AZ who 'despise' the wall.

Shouting Thomas said...

Biden doesn’t appear to be entirely mentally competent.

So, who’s making these decisions? Will the NYT tell us?

Has the NYT even discussed his mental competence?

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Trump is President until January 20th....despite what the media says...Biden is NOT President. And in the minds of 73 million other people, Biden and Harris will never be President.

My advice to Trump is to go forward at full speed. Pedal to the metal. Like a rocket ship... Balls to the wall. Go at it like a screaming banshee.

Get anything and everything done that was blocked and foiled in your first administration. Get 'er done!

Wince said...

Notice it's now being called a "wall" after disputing that characterization in favor of "fence" or "barrier" was an opposition theme.

Maybe the idea is to both complete more of the wall and increase activist calls within any Biden administration to actually tear down the wall. Wall, wall, wall...

Ralph L said...

There's a young ocelot that can't get home to its mother for the holidays, all because of Trump's Wall.

Xmas said...

Temujin,
Illegals don't make $15/hr. They probably get 5 and the remaining 10 being reported on any tax or government forms is actually split out as payments to the coyotes and kickbacks to the hiring manager.

Michael K said...

Friends of mine own a huge family ranch near the border. Some of the family are typical trust fund lefties but the ones I know, who live in Arizona, are all conservative and support the wall.

Michael said...

Ranchers along the border are thrilled with immigrants trooping across their land, breaking into their houses, stealing their trucks, threatening them.

The fence has most certainly not set rancher against rancher.

Ray said...

"The NYT must have worked feverishly to find two people in So. AZ who 'despise' the wall."

Manuel and Noma

Manuel Labor and Noma Middle Class

Wince said...

Last night the PA Supreme court said it didn’t matter if the PA election was unconstitutional because there is no remedy, except there is.... The rules for throwing out a presidential election are simply different due to the time constraints. So it’s off to SCOTUS, I guess.

For the PA Supreme Court, the choice is a remedy that throws out illegal votes that might disenfranchise a group of real PA voters.

The choice for SCOTUS is different. It's whether a group of illegal PA ballots can invalidate the real votes of people across the country.

boatbuilder said...

Cochise County, AZ 2020 election results. Trump 58%; Biden 39%. McSally over Kelly by similar 60/40 split.
The NYT could look it up! But they couldn’t be bothered.

Lurker21 said...

Karen Hasselbach, who lives on another stretch of the border in Arizona near the San Pedro River... had begun likening the border wall, which she despises, to the work of Christo, the Bulgarian-born conceptual artist known for epic-scale environmental projects. 'I try to look at it as a temporary art installation.... My hope is it gets torn down.'"

So not just a "Karen," but also a "NIMBY."

David Begley said...

If Biden is actually installed as President on January 20th, we are totally and completely fucked as a country.

This election fraud cannot stand.

I read the PA Supreme Court Order. A fucking disgrace. You can’t amend a state constitution by statute and prohibit any challenges to it after one year. Are we now the Soviet Union?

David Begley said...

Let’s make voting by women illegal. We’ll amend the constitution by a statute and put a 24 hour statute of limitations on any challenge. Sounds good!

Mr Wibble said...

The GOP legislatures don't have to give all the votes to one candidate or another. They could choose to award electoral votes based on the number of congressional districts each candidate won, with the two extra EVs going to the popular vote winner. That would allow them to say that they are honoring the vote, while still acknowledging that there are serious questions about the integrity of the election.

Howard said...

I wish the corrupt hack press fake news media would just stop calling Joe Biden the president elect before the electoral university makes their official selection.

Howard said...

At least you people have some news to buck up you're spirits. PDJT is fulfilling his promises of building beautiful ectostructure like nobody's ever seen.

RMc said...

The PA Supreme court said it didn’t matter if the PA election was unconstitutional because there is no remedy, except there is.

I suspect the left-leaning PaSC is doing this to cover their asses. They know this will overturned by SCOTUS, but they can just say, "Hey, we did the best we could! Blame Trump!"

Browndog said...

In 2015 a business man with no political experience said he wanted to built a big, beautiful border wall. Over the next year, thousands chanted "Build the wall" in unison at his rallies.

He became President.

Of all the consequences of a Biden Presidency, nobody even mentions the hordes of illegals that will flood across our border. Ann Coulter was right. It's the only thing that matters. Lose the border, lose the country.

Instead everyone wanted to talk about court packing, ending the filibuster, two new States,...blah blah blah.

There's a reason nobody is talking about democrats replacing the working class with foreigners in both the work force and voting booth. Not even republicans.

I'm still amazed hardly anyone at Althouse ha mentioned it. I wanted to weeks ago, but wanted to wait to see how long before it became an issue for others beside myself.

Sebastian said...

"She said natural barriers had long served as a deterrent against crossings in the remote area"

No doubt. But what portion of the 11M+ illegals came through there anyway?

Birkel said...

As the current president-elect I say build the damned wall.

Mr Wibble said...


There's a reason nobody is talking about democrats replacing the working class with foreigners in both the work force and voting booth. Not even republicans.


Because the majority of GOP officials want it as well. Their corporate masters want cheap labor, and too many officials believe that if they push open borders then Hispanic voters will flock to vote for them.

Anonymous said...

Michael K said...
Friends of mine own a huge family ranch near the border. Some of the family are typical trust fund lefties but the ones I know, who live in Arizona, are all conservative and support the wall.

11/29/20, 8:02 AM
Blogger Michael said...
Ranchers along the border are thrilled with immigrants trooping across their land, breaking into their houses, stealing their trucks, threatening them.

EXACTLY

JAORE said...

President Biden will get Mexico to pay for removing the wall.

Birkel said...

MD Greene,
I encourage you to invest in Central America to your heart's content.

Now, was that so hard?

hombre said...

Is anybody really vacuous enough to believe that the Arizona ranchers favored by the NYT are representative of border ranchers here?

Sure. The same people who are stupid enough to believe that Joe Biden is fit to be President, that open borders are good for the country and that his amnesty plan involves only 11 million illegals instead of 20, or so, million.

The Evil Party is no longer merely corrupt. It is also stupid, and probably insane.

Birkel said...

Not true, hombre.
The Leftist Collectivists want power BAMN.
Once you appreciate that fact, their action make complete sense.
Not crazy or insane.
Willful, purposeful, and sociopathic.

Francisco D said...

mockturtle said...The NYT must have worked feverishly to find two people in So. AZ who 'despise' the wall.

The Southern Arizona liberals that I have met do not oppose the wall. However, I live in a gated community 25+ miles north of the U of AZ where the Marxists want to abolish all borders.

chuck said...

places that were crucial to his defeat.

Walls around Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Atlanta? Get out of here.

D.D. Driver said...

I read the PA Supreme Court Order. A fucking disgrace. You can’t amend a state constitution by statute and prohibit any challenges to it after one year. Are we now the Soviet Union?

Maybe. But you also can't complain about a statute then "wait and see" whether you win and then use your grievance for a second kick at the cat. Not after thousands and thousands of voters rely on that statute in good faith. No court is going to let you get away with that one. The time for an injunction was this summer.

These are desperate arguments by people that only have desperate arguments left.

hombre said...

tim in vermont said: “Nothing better to do in a pandemic than invite hundreds of thousands of people across the border with no possible way to screen them.”

Since this is obvious all the way up in Vermont, you would think it would be obvious to the bubbleheads in Arizona who have elected two Democrat Senators and who have apparently voted for Beijing Biden. It is evident to my daughter, a hospital worker in Tucson.

David Begley said...

D D Driver.

Just watch. SCOTUS will grant cert and I will be vindicated.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Brown Dog.
Ann Coulter is half right.
The other way you lose a nation is with vote fraud.

mockturtle said...

tim in vermont said: “Nothing better to do in a pandemic than invite hundreds of thousands of people across the border with no possible way to screen them.”

Same situation in Tuscany. Total lockdown but boatloads of African immigrants continue to be allowed in every day.

D.D. Driver said...

D D Driver.

Just watch. SCOTUS will grant cert and I will be vindicated.


They may grant cert. But they will not overturn the Pa. election.

Wanna bet? $100?

Leland said...

"Despite the president-elect’s vow to halt the project, the Trump administration is expanding the wall at a breakneck pace."

Despite? Despite someone's vow, another is doing something? Trump has no reason to carry out some other person's vow.

President-elect? Has the vote been certified and the electoral college elected someone? No? Than who made the vow?

Vow? When was this made? Is it writing?

Halt the project? How could this be done unless Trump continues the project. If Trump didn't have a project to build the wall, then this other person couldn't halt that effort.

Breakneck pace? Is this another claim of lynching?

Political Junkie said...

I wish there could be grand comprises combining an R/C favored project and an D/L favored project. What if Biden directly said "all of the Southern wall will be built, plus funding guarantee for maintenance/operations for the future" combined with some type of comprehensive immigration reform. We all know this will never happen. Disappointing.

Political Junkie said...

Compromises

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Yet another reason to not take their COVID pandemic measures seriously. I mean, why should I when half of South American will be coming over out southern border soon.

Michael said...

Ahhh, the NY Times. I'm sure if there were three white elitists who hated the Wall living on their "family ranch" in SE Arizona, the NYT would manage to find and interview them - with a Christo reference to show their sophistication.

Wince said...

But you also can't complain about a statute then "wait and see" whether you win and then use your grievance for a second kick at the cat. Not after thousands and thousands of voters rely on that statute in good faith. No court is going to let you get away with that one. The time for an injunction was this summer.

Are you sure? Courts usually won't rule based on standing and ripeness until you have an actual case or controversy.

Browndog said...

Blogger D.D. Driver said...

Maybe. But you also can't complain about a statute then "wait and see" whether you win and then use your grievance for a second kick at the cat.


This is utter bullshit.

You have no standing to file a court case for remedy without injury. It would have been dismissed before the election. Secondly, the legislature determines by statute when it's too late to file suit via statute of limitations.

hstad said...

If Biden becomes President - which appears to be a conclusion by the MSM. Then he will waste his first two years in office trying to undo President Trump's deeds. Like the "Wall" and "Illegal Immigration" [possible amnesty]. There are several more examples, but likely this will kill the Democrats in 2022 in a landslide. I dare anyone to show me where Trump's policies of immigration, wall, diplomacy and military withdrawal are not popular with the American electorate. If you remove Trump from these equations,[Orange Man Bad] I would bet that you would get approval from a 60% + majority of the electorate for such policies. Biden seems to be delusional, with his direction. He does not have Congress [yet] on his side and the House has such slim margins favoring Democrats, Biden will lose the Democratic Centrists for most of these radical memes.

luvtoseetruth said...

The PENNA supreme court has ruled the PENNA constitution is meaningless and need not be enforced. The PENNA court exists because of the discredited constitution, ergo the court is extraneous and need not be honored! Only jungle rules apply.

narciso said...

yes they went after salvini, for trying to stop the immigrant flood, it doesn't make any logical sense, now those from subsaharan countries, have had surprising few cases,

Readering said...

Is there any better evidence of Trump's mendacity and incompetence than his rush to do stuff in the last 2 months of a 48 month term?

D.D. Driver said...

You have no standing to file a court case for remedy without injury. It would have been dismissed before the election. Secondly, the legislature determines by statute when it's too late to file suit via statute of limitations.

You need an actual or threatened injury. If you have to wait until you are harmed it would defeat the point of an injunction, no? You really think you need to wait until the bulldozers knock over your house before you can get an injunction to prevent the bulldozer from knocking over your house?

Birkel said...

Readering, who has an inability to count to four, has not read about Trump's pursuit me of his 3016 campaign promises over the last 45 months and then pretends they did not happen.

Readering is a BAMN believer and about as mendacious as shim is stupid.

Readering said...

Gibberish.

Narayanan said...

some type of comprehensive immigration reform

-------------===================
simply take immigration off Federal topic
no more distinction between immigrant or non-immigrant visa
no more naturalization - no more path to citizen
anybody can seek employment, open business ventures

border states can institute own health screening rules

state citizenship by birth only within USA - which makes them US citizens thereby

David Begley said...

Driver

1. That ultra short statute of limitations can’t obscure the fact that PA can’t amend or circumvent its constitution by statute.

2. Admittedly, a declaratory judgment case challenging the constitutionality of Act 77 could have been filed on a timely basis but the corrupt PA courts would hold that the plaintiffs had no standing. Catch-22.

3. I follow Nebraska law very closely and I’ve never seen a statute of limitations attached to any challenge to a law’s constitutionality. Looks like a corrupt Dem lawyer trick to me.

4. You Dems need to consider the full ramifications of us becoming a low trust society where the cops don’t do their jobs and judges are corrupt. This election theft is a fucking disgrace.

n.n said...

The wall is one aspect of emigration reform to mitigate progress of collateral damage at both ends of the bridge and throughout. That said, President "Elect" by virtue of the Electoral Press... Democracy is Aborted at the Twilight Fringe.

n.n said...

Biden and his supporters would want to go back to the policies that encourage unaccompanied children and caravans coming to the border

Social justice. Social progress. Social adventurism (e.g. elective wars, elective coups, CAIR). Collateral damage. #HateLovesAbortion

DINKY DAU 45 said...

Guaranteed December 14th,the R's become very concerned about National debt explosion again, Russia will become the enemy again, emoluments will become a big concern again, people dead from pandemic will be very concerning and masks and social distancing and no rallies will be of utmost importance. The usual, R's destroy the economy, raise the debt and the D's come in to save the day,rinse and repeat.trump goes out with most jobs lost more than jobs gained president(his watch regardless circumstances)Kim and Iran have flourished under trump in their nuclear ambitions and Obama brought the troops home. trump will go on record as biggest crybaby in history, alternative facts will disappear and the "2 weeks its coming" healthcare plan and the infrastructure bill still waiting for resurrection .Ah back to boring and days probably weeks where trump doesn't have to get his fix of praise and adulation in and the presidency and office regain some respect. Of course trump is trying to burn down the house best he can before leaving Here's hoping the loser tries to run again,be looking at next woman president Kamala!Now lets get in the car and head to Georgia, first Dem win in 28 years , yup "the times they are a changin" a good ole tune.

Jim at said...

I will never understand the left's insane opposition to a secure border.

mockturtle said...

I will never understand the left's insane opposition to a secure border.

That opposition is likely to crumble now that Hispanics are voting GOP.

Dude1394 said...

Faster please. We can not trust the democrats to not have an open border, they have all campaigned on it.

It is horrible how much destruction they are willing to enact on the inner city black/brown person.

n.n said...

It is horrible how much destruction they are willing to enact on the inner city black/brown person.

At the Twilight Fringe, under the political congruence ("=") construct, their symbol of unity and inclusion: Rainbow, excludes black, brown, and takes pride in the shredded remains of white. It's a Pro-Choice quasi-religious thing.

Guaranteed December 14th,the R's become very concerned about National debt explosion again,

With the evolution of SARS-CoV-2, peace (e.g. end of Iraq War 2.0) in the Middle East, remediation of Obamacares' progressive prices, the curtailment of social justice adventurism, exposure of Biden et al influence peddling, self-sufficient energy production, emigration reform, trade reform, there will no longer be causes to indulge liberal fiscal policies and shared debt.

Anonymous said...

“Rancher against rancher”, my ass. I am from Arizona and I know the type. These are the idle rich great-great-grandchildren of the men who tamed the West, who have subdivided most of their ranches for home sites, but keep a cow and a couple of llamas and a few fruit trees on the old home place so they can pretend to be ranchers when they’re visiting for a few weeks a year from their beach house on Coronado Island.

Every real rancher down there who’s still scratching to make a living in the cattle business LOVES the Wall.

Chuck said...

Hat tip to George Conway, noting that buried in the Times story is the fact that of 450 miles of barrier construction being rushed to completion, just 25 miles of construction is taking place where there had not previously been any barriers.

This is a seemingly modest barrier-repair project. I might well have voted for it if I had been in Congress. It can’t be terribly offensive to locals residents; it also can’t be any dramatic difference-maker in border security. And beyond any doubt, it isn’t any great border wall of the kind that Trump described and promised in his campaign.