❝ In the first court hearing over President Trump’s border wall funding plan, administration lawyers on Friday vigorously pressed their controversial argument that Congress did not in fact deny him the money when lawmakers excluded it from the appropriations bill they enacted in February.
To bar spending, Deputy Assistant Attorney General James M. Burnham told a federal judge here, Congress would have had to explicitly say that “no money shall be obligated” in any form…
Trump’s new favorite word – BULLSHIT – applies here as well as most of his blather and bluster.
Eideard 
“On Bullshit” (2005), by Harry G. Frankfurt, professor emeritus of philosophy at Princeton University, is an essay that presents a theory of bullshit that defines the concept and analyzes the applications of bullshit in the context of communication. Frankfurt determines that bullshit is speech intended to persuade without regard for truth. The liar cares about the truth and attempts to hide it; the bullshitter doesn’t care if what they say is true or false, but rather only cares whether their listener is persuaded. http://www2.csudh.edu/ccauthen/576f12/frankfurt__harry_-_on_bullshit.pdf
Ann Coulter says if Trump knew English, he would understand meaning of ‘WALL’ https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ann-coulter-says-if-trump-knew-english-he-would-understand-meaning-of-wall
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 6:16 AM Jan 31, 2019: “Lets just call them WALLS from now on and stop playing political games! A WALL is a WALL!”
See also George Orwell: Nineteen Eighty-Four — Appendix: The principles of Newspeak http://orwell.ru/library/novels/1984/english/en_app
“The divine right of kings, divine right, or God’s mandate is a political and religious doctrine of royal and political legitimacy. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving the right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm. It implies that only God can judge an unjust king and that any attempt to depose, dethrone or restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute a sacrilegious act.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings
“Men who look upon themselves born to reign, and others to obey, soon grow insolent; selected from the rest of mankind their minds are early poisoned by importance; and the world they act in differs so materially from the world at large, that they have but little opportunity of knowing its true interests, and when they succeed to the government are frequently the most ignorant and unfit of any throughout the dominions.” Thomas Paine, “Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America, on the Following Interesting Subjects.” (page 36); a pamphlet published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_(pamphlet)#cite_note-36
“President Donald Trump is so eager to complete hundreds of miles of border fence ahead of the 2020 presidential election that he has directed aides to fast-track billions of dollars’ worth of construction contracts, aggressively seize private land and disregard environmental rules, according to current and former officials involved with the project.
He also has told worried subordinates that he will pardon them of any potential wrongdoing should they have to break laws to get the barriers built quickly, those officials said.” (Independent UK 8/28/19) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mexico-border-wall-trump-2020-election-private-land-environment-a9081441.html
“‘Take the land’: President Trump wants a border wall. He wants it black. And he wants it by Election Day.” (Washington Post 8/27/19) https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/take-the-land-president-trump-wants-a-border-wall-he-wants-it-black-and-he-wants-it-by-election-day/2019/08/27/37b80018-c821-11e9-a4f3-c081a126de70_story.html
From the Washington Post Article:
“Trump has recently urged the Army Corps to award a contract to a company he favors, North Dakota-based Fisher Industries, though the firm has not been selected. Fisher has been aggressively pushed by Trump ally Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who briefly held up the confirmation of a Trump budget office nominee last month in an attempt to put pressure on the Army Corps.
Cramer demanded to see the contracts awarded to Fisher’s competitors, lashing out at the “arrogance” of the Army Corps in emails to military officials after he was told the bidding process involved proprietary information that could not be shared. The CEO of Fisher Industries is a major backer of Cramer and has donated to his campaigns.”
As The Post’s previous piece on this detailed [May 23 https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/he-always-brings-them-up-trump-tries-to-steer-border-wall-deal-to-north-dakota-firm/2019/05/23/92d3858c-7b30-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html ], Tommy Fisher, the chief executive of the company, has found his way into Trump’s head by appearing repeatedly on Fox News, where he’s vowed to get his portion of wall built really quickly, a message that is aimed straight at Trump’s brain stem.
Incredibly, Cramer, the ally of Trump who scoops up political donations from that chief executive, frankly admits to this:
Cramer said Trump likes Fisher because he had seen him on television advocating for his version of the barrier: “He’s been very aggressive on TV,” Cramer said of the CEO.
“You know who else watches Fox News?” Cramer asked.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/28/behind-trumps-craziness-theres-always-corruption-heres-latest/ Note also: “We Build the Wall, a nonprofit that includes prominent conservatives who support the president — its associates and advisory board include former White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince, ex-congressman Tom Tancredo and former Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach — has guided an effort to build portions of the border barrier on private land with private funds.”
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s request to temporarily halt a lower court order blocking the diversion of military funds for a border wall.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/451651-ninth-circuit-rejects-trump-admin-request-to-allow-use-of-military In a 2-1 ruling, the panel of appellate judges found that “the use of those funds violates the constitutional requirement that the Executive Branch not spend money absent an appropriation from Congress.”
The order applies to some of the military funds tapped by President Trump for a wall along the southern border.
For details of the court’s ruling see http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/07/03/19-16102.pdf
“The Trump administration has started the arduous process of canceling $3.6 billion in military construction projects to fund its plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper began notifying lawmakers Tuesday which projects will be canceled in their districts. Top Democrats immediately blasted the plan.
The Washington Post reported that Pentagon officials said they will halt 127 military construction projects to help build 175 miles of wall.”
(NPR 9/3/19) https://www.npr.org/2019/09/03/757262799/trump-administration-diverts-3-6-billion-from-military-projects-to-border-wall
“The Supreme Court last month ruled to allow the administration to continue using military funding for the wall while litigation over his circumvention of Congress continues.” https://www.npr.org/2019/07/26/745785115/supreme-court-lets-trump-border-wall-move-forward-but-legal-fight-still-looms
“President Trump, in his zeal to complete a border wall before next election, has reportedly told his staff to disregard the law—in this specific instance, to take private property without due process—and not worry about the consequences. He has, the New York Times writes, promised to pardon anyone who commits a crime in helping him to fulfill his campaign promise, though his aides have said that this was a “joke.” Once again, the seeming unfettered nature of the president’s pardon power is in the news.” https://www.lawfareblog.com/take-land-trump-promises-pardons-law-breaking
“Leaked Letter Shows Where Military Will Reinforce Trump’s Border Wall : The Defense Department is redirecting billions of taxpayer dollars to help fulfill a presidential goal. Here’s how the Pentagon plans to spend that cash.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-letter-shows-where-military-will-reinforce-trumps-border-wall
“A Day on the Rio Grande Reveals the True Cost of Trump’s Border Wall” https://www.texasmonthly.com/news/rio-grande-true-cost-trump-border-wall/
“It’s good to be the King”
Trump is also taking money from Puerto Rico’s recovery and European security to fund his wall https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/5/20850955/trump-border-wall-military-pentagon “…there are two categories of projects that stand out: The first is roughly $400 million in Puerto Rico projects — many of which are meant to help with the recovery effort after Hurricane Maria. The second is about $770 million in funding for military initiatives in Europe specifically intended to help deter possible Russian aggression”.
Sep 8, 2019 at 9:56 AM (click for audio)
After the government partially shut down for 35 days due to Trump’s inability to strike a deal with Congress to fund his wall, he declared the need for his wall a national emergency in order to raid previously approved military construction projects. Democrats immediately filed suit in federal court, arguing that it’s illegal for the executive branch to spend money that Congress hasn’t appropriated. But the Supreme Court, with two new Trump-picked justices, allowed wall construction to begin while the judicial fight plays out. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/us/politics/supreme-court-border-wall-trump.html
“The president never should have said Mexico is going to pay for the wall,” Trump sycophant Brian Kilmeade said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” Co-host Steve Doocy chimed in, in chipper fashion: “I think he did think initially he would find a way for Mexico to pay for it, but as we know, that did not work.” https://www.mediaite.com/tv/breaking-fox-friends-admits-mexico-was-never-going-to-pay-for-trumps-wall/
Since 2015, President Trump has proposed no fewer than 13 ways Mexico would pay for a southern border wall.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) plans to announce later Tuesday that Democratic senators will force a second vote in the chamber this year on a resolution to terminate Trump’s emergency border declaration, according to a senior Senate Democratic official.
The procedure to disapprove Trump’s border emergency being deployed by Schumer is privileged, meaning Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would be unable to block the vote from happening on the floor. In the last Senate vote to reject the emergency declaration, a dozen Republican senators defied Trump to reject his border emergency, with most decrying the president’s move as a potential abuse of separation of powers.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-democrats-to-force-one-more-vote-against-trumps-border-emergency-declaration/2019/09/09/dde07b66-d378-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html
Defense Secretary Mark Esper says diverting $3.6 billion from military construction projects to fortify a southern border wall allows the U.S. to better deploy troops to curb illegal immigration. (The Daily Press, Newport News, Virginia 9/8/19)
“Defense Secretary Mark Esper has authorized up to 5,500 service members to continue missions along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2020. Esper approved the request last week from the Department of Homeland Security to extend the mission, Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a Pentagon spokesman, confirmed Wednesday” https://warisboring.com/u-s-troops-staying-at-southern-border-through-2020/
‘The president and his administration said this week that they plan on building between 450 and 500 miles (724 and 806 kilometers) of fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,218-kilometer) border by the end of 2020″ https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/09/11/450-miles-of-pentagon-funded-border-wall-by-next-year-in-arizona-it-starts/
“U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Task Force Barrier, in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, awarded two contracts totaling nearly $1 billion April 9 for the removal and replacement of vehicle fencing with pedestrian fencing along the southwest border.” https://www.spl.usace.army.mil/Media/News-Releases/Article/1810136/corps-awards-nearly-1-billion-in-border-barrier-contracts/
In August, New Mexico’s Senators signed onto a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Dick Durbin of Illinois asking for an investigation into the Trump administration’s use of eminent domain to take private land for the border wall.
The GAO notified the Senators last week that they would begin the review the Trump administration’s eminent domain efforts. “At the current time we anticipate that staff with the required skills will be available to initiate an engagement in about three months,” the GAO official wrote. [At the moment there are 416 days left until the 2020 Presidential election]
Earlier this year, Senators Udall and Heinrich introduced legislation to require the federal government to fully pay owners for any land taken for border infrastructure, including a border wall. The legislation would also require consultation from stakeholders, including tribes, for any state land acquired.
That legislation has very little chance of passing the Republican-controlled Senate.
Meanwhile, the Senate Appropriations Committee has blocked an amendment Senator Udall introduced to the defense funding bill that would bar Trump from diverting money from military projects to fund the wall. http://nmpoliticalreport.com/2019/09/13/nm-senators-welcome-investigation-into-admins-use-of-eminent-domain-for-border-wall/?mc_cid=abf3155850&mc_eid=4b85ca587f
The Trump administration announced Thursday it transferred 560 acres of land administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior to the U.S. Army to pave the way for the construction of a border wall between the United States and Mexico—including some land in New Mexico.
The announcement by U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt said the transfer would allow the construction of about 70 miles of border barriers. http://nmpoliticalreport.com/2019/09/20/trump-administration-transfers-land-to-army-to-build-border-wall/?mc_cid=90ea603a81&mc_eid=4b85ca587f
September 19, 2019 at 5:48 p.m. MDT Senior Trump administration officials are considering a plan to again divert billions of dollars in military funding to pay for border barrier construction next year, a way to circumvent congressional opposition to putting more taxpayer money toward the president’s signature project, according to three administration officials.
The president has pledged to complete nearly 500 miles of new barrier by the 2020 election — stirring chants of “Build the Wall!” at his campaign rallies. But that construction goal will require a total of $18.4 billion in funding through 2020, far more than the administration has publicly disclosed, the administration’s latest internal projections show. https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/trump-officials-considering-plan-to-divert-billions-of-dollars-in-additional-funds-for-border-barrier/2019/09/19/52897dce-d652-11e9-9610-fb56c5522e1c_story.html
September 18, 2019 at 9:10 a.m. MDT The Pentagon warned of dire outcomes unless Congress paid for urgently needed military construction projects nationwide — the same projects that have now been canceled to fund President Trump’s border wall. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/pentagon-has-warned-of-dire-outcomes-if-military-projects-canceled-for-wall-dont-happen/2019/09/18/03e99ac6-d988-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe_story.html
“Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong”
“Everything You Know Is Wrong”, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic (1996)
Senate Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a spending bill allocating $5 billion for President Trump’s proposed border wall, a sticking point that could prompt a government shutdown.
The $5 billion would fully fund Trump’s 2020 request for the wall.
The House version of the homeland security spending bill, by comparison, includes no funding for the wall. https://thehill.com/policy/finance/462769-senate-republicans-back-trump-on-5b-border-wall-funding-request
Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) estimated that the GOP spending bill would bring total funding for the wall to $14.8 billion, including funds Trump reprogrammed from other departments.
Senate votes to kill national emergency declaration along southern border (CBS News 9/25/19) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-votes-to-kill-national-emergency-declaration-along-southern-border/
The Senate voted again Wednesday to terminate President Trump’s declaration of national emergency at the southern border.
Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats in voting to end the emergency declaration. The declaration, issued in February, says that the situation at the southern border is a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens U.S. national security. Mr. Trump made the declaration so that he could unilaterally build a border wall despite the fact that Congress did not appropriate the funds for him to do so. Under the declaration, President Trump diverted funding from congressionally approved military construction projects to pay for border barriers.
The administration has so far reprogrammed about $6.1 billion in funding for the construction of border barriers.
(Oct 11, 2019) “A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration to build a border wall is unlawful and appears poised to block the use of those funds.” (CNN) https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/11/politics/judge-trump-border-wall-funds/index.html
“How Much Would Trump’s Border Moat Cost?” (Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-10/we-ran-the-numbers-on-trump-s-alligator-filled-border-wall-moat
(NPR): “The Trump administration is building 63 miles of wall on the Arizona border to replace rundown pedestrian fences and vehicle barriers. It’s erecting new 18 to 30-foot-tall concrete-filled steel bollards, along with security lights and an all-weather patrol road. It’ll cost more than $10 million a mile. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has warned that the wall could negatively impact 23 endangered and at-risk species, including the Sonoran pronghorn antelope, and the National Park Service says construction could destroy 22 archeological sites. Yet for this stretch of western desert, the government has waived 41 federal environmental laws to expedite construction.”
“Trump Boasted That His Border Wall Was ‘Virtually Impenetrable.’ Then an 8-Year-Old Girl Climbed a Replica” (TIME) https://time.com/5694432/girl-climbs-border-wall-replica/ Lucy Hancock didn’t use any ropes or other tools to climb the wall, but wore a belay, a safety device designed to catch a falling climber. An adult climber, Erik Kloeker, was up and over the wall in about 40 seconds.
A wildlife emergency is brewing at the border https://nmpoliticalreport.com/2019/10/16/a-wildlife-emergency-is-brewing-at-the-border/
Over the past twenty years, portions of the U.S. side of the desert have been severed from the rest of the ecoregion by border walls. Construction has ramped up in the past two years, as President Donald Trump has rushed to erect new segments across remote areas like this portion outside Las Cruces [NM].
Scientists estimate the wall’s construction will impact hundreds to thousands of species of animals. But the effects of the wall will be difficult if not impossible to quantify, as no environmental assessments nor impact statements have been conducted to track the wall’s impacts on the surrounding wildlife for either the 2018 portion of the wall or the current construction.
In mid-2018, a group of 2,500 scientists banded together to raise awareness for the troubling developments along the border. The group was responding to a paper published in the journal BioScience, which called for “unified concern over the border wall’s negative impacts on wildlife, habitat, and binational collaboration in conservation and scientific research.” https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/68/10/740/5057517
“Trump tries (and fails) to explain his Colorado border wall comments” http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-tries-and-fails-explain-his-colorado-border-wall-comments
“[W]e’re building a wall on the border of New Mexico, and we’re building a wall in Colorado. We’re building a beautiful wall, a big one that really works, that you can’t get over, you can’t get under. And we’re building a wall in Texas. And we’re not building a wall in Kansas, but they get the benefit of the walls that we just mentioned.”
Some National Guard troops deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border are not being compensated with GI Bill benefits, despite conducting homeland security missions directed by President Donald Trump, according to advocates and lawmakers. https://warisboring.com/some-national-guardsmen-not-getting-federal-benefits-while-patrolling-u-s-mexico-border/
Defense Secretary Mark Esper approved up to 5,500 service members to continue operations along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2020. More than 2,000 of the troops at the border are National Guard members, with most of them being Texas National Guard, according to military records.
“Prior to the president’s declaration of national emergency, service members were not entitled to earn Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits,” said Brandon Jones, a spokesman for the Texas National Guard. “With that declaration, National Guard personnel should be authorized to earn GI Bill benefits. We are pending guidance.”
Smugglers Are Using $100 Hardware Store Power Tools to Saw Holes in Trump’s $10 Billion Wall https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/11/smugglers-usd100-hardware-store-power-tools-saw-holes-in-trumps-usd10-billion-wall.html
Border officials say some of these intrusions have occurred in areas where electronic sensors designed to detect vibrations from sawing have not yet been installed. Border agents have taken to scanning for chinks in the wall and kicking it with their boots. These same officials also point out that “the wall” was never intended to be the only line of defense, that well-funded crime syndicates adapt. “The smuggling crews have been using other techniques, such as building makeshift ladders to scale and overtop the barriers, especially in the popular smuggling areas in and around San Diego,” nearly a dozen U.S. agents and current and former administration officials told the Post. Ladders, you say. You might be wondering: why haven’t we adapted?
Mexico really should have paid for a better wall.