First signs of border wall construction spotted at National Butterfly Center
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https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/First-signs-of-border-wall-construction-spotted-13587300.php
MISSION — Heavy equipment has arrived at the National Butterfly Center, signaling the start of a border wall that will slice through the protected habitat.
Congress approved funding for this section of the wall in last year’s federal budget, before the impasse between Democrats and President Donald Trump held up another round of wall
funding and led to the recent 35-day partial government shutdown.
As equipment for the construction was off-loaded Monday morning, a group of about 35 tribal members, including the Floresville-based Carrizo Comecrudo, marched in protest on the
Rio Grande levee where the wall will be built. The steel-and-concrete bollard fencing will cut off 70 of the sanctuary’s 100 acres, with gates for access.
The Trump administration is waiving 28 environmental laws to build the wall, a decision that brought a lawsuit in November by Defenders of Wildlife, which asserts that the waivers
exceed the government’s authority.
In a separate dispute, the government will argue in court Wednesday for access to survey land of the historic La Lomita Chapel, farther downriver in Mission. The Catholic Diocese of
Brownsville has refused to provide access at the site, which would be stranded between the Rio Grande and the planned wall.
They're actually trying to do it. (or at least, they appear to be trying to do it, they could still just squirrel most of the money away and keep all this for show)
I'd be almost impressed if it wasn't such a dumb idea to begin with.
This sounds like an episode of Captain Planet.
The administration is literally acting like a bunch of cartoon villains right now.
I would not be suprised if they continue like this people will start responding more violently.
What a great way to attract a bunch of protesters to the site and ruin some perfectly good construction equipment.
Checked up on the NBC on Wikipedia out of curiosity
On July 20, 2018, a National Butterfly Center employee was surprised to
discover a bulldozer crew clearing vegetation with a chainsaw and a
brush mower, in an area which carefully restored with native species,
from its earlier use as an onion field. The crew had no paperwork
indicating they were authorized to clear this land. Even though the
Department of Justice was required to notify the landowner in writing,
neither the center's founder, Jeffrey Glassberg, nor the center's director had been informed about the plans to clear the land.
Filmmaker Krista Schlyer, part of an all-woman team creating a documentary film about the butterflies and the border wall, Ay Mariposa,[7] estimates that construction would put "70 percent of the preserve habitat behind the border wall."
In early December 2018, a challenge to wall construction at the National Butterfly Center was rejected by the US Supreme Court. According to the San Antonio Express News, "the high court let stand an appeals ruling that lets the administration bypass 28 federal laws", including the Endangered Species Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
This is fuckin absurd.
Out of all places, why there?
And why not build the wall around it?
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was as simple as "It will own the libs"
That seems to be sufficient justification to do anything for the right wing these days.
"Is this a good idea or not?, well, the left would probably think it's a terrible idea- so get to work double time!"
The question is, can they build the wall before trump leaves office. Lets be generous and say he will be elected for a second term. Can you build the wall in <6 years?
Because the next president isn't going to build that wall. They will find excuses to fund other things and the scraps of wall will rust.
A wall of the size and length planned will take a decade at least provided they can actually get access to all the land to build it on in a timely manner, the likelihood of which is basically 0%.
First sign of Mexico paying for it is coming never.
These people have long since degraded to literally elementary school mentality.
An uncomfortable percentage of this country are spoiled, self-entitled, adult children who demand instant gratification for morally and ethically irresponsible actions.
It clearly states that this section of the wall was approved in last year's budget. Except for the fact they just started building with no notice and of course the stupidity of a wall in the first place, I see nothing wrong here.
And that's not enough wrong for it to be wrong and stupid?
Of course it's wrong and stupid, very much so.
It's just that the title and people posting made it seem like they started preparing to build the wall without funding and I just wanted to make it clear that this part of it was funded already
Sure but just because funding is approved doesn't mean they need to waste it on building part of a wall, the funding could have been approved and then saved until they could get the funding for the rest. Instead they're just fucking up a natural habitat to build less than 1% of a wall.
The Supreme Court is fuckin useless.
can't break 28 laws when congress gave you a check box waiver process. God the 2000's can't fuckoff to the dustbin of history soon enough. The federal government shouldn't be able to just check a singular box and sign a form granting themselves total exemption from all laws and regulations
For most of it's history the court has been fucking awful and a barrier to progress.
why even have laws if the president can waive them
this goes against everything the supreme court stands for and the everyone in the SC that agreed with this and president should be impeached or removed from office immediately by force if necessary
Republicans: The law is the law!
Also Republicans when laws are violated to build their stupid fence: ...
Boy I hope it turns out to be Trump's dumb-ass steel spike fence or a chain-link fence. Butterflies can at least fly through the gaps.
Even if you theoretically built, say, a 10 meter high wall all across the border somehow over the next decade, 10 being a safe estimate of probability if you managed to get past the fence stage most people joke about. How do you watch it to prevent people from bringing ladders or sledgehammering it open or so forth? You can't easily provide border guards, too much space and too easy to bribe when it comes to the cartels, plus the travel time to and from the wall would necessitate living nearby. Cameras would have blind spots and likely people damaging them, and require thousands of miles of power lines all underneath these things which is implausible without nearby infrastructure, and would in extreme circumstances require one of the longest power line setups in the world if not the longest, something Brazil is currently the king of judging by a quick Google search.
Trump and his group don't even remotely understand the idea of reasonable logistics to start with, but even if it somehow gets completed under another president, it would inevitably fail somewhere along the line and as soon as you go to patch it up, another problem would arise. It's too damn large to maintain, to watch, or to power. The geography and southern border of the nation is uneven as all hell, and stretches across four states. Even my mother, who voted Trump only because she hates Hillary more, completely ignores the logical and budgetary limitations behind this. But it's apparently the hill Trump wants to die on.
Trump and his supporters not aware that Mongolians exist
The butterflies are coloured
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