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[MetalSlimeHunt]

Wire is a slowing tool. Even titanium razor wire (which would be an immense expense on this scale) is vulnerable if you don't have guards to see someone messing with it. Even if you don't have a cutting tool you just need something for it to bite that isn't your flesh.

Or dig under the fence. Or cut through the body of the fence instead of going over top.

See the escalating problem here? The vast majority of stopping measures that can be deployed over wide regions are also ones that can be subverted by any human being given a little time. The Wall is a lock that any hand will quickly fashion a key for, no matter the form it takes. Even the fucking Korean DMZ has this problem, and it's something way beyond this.

[Strife26]

So nature preserve filled with land mines?

[Sergarr]

To go through - sure, barbed wire is not enough. But to stop people from sitting on top - it's pretty sufficient. Which is what I've been thinking about, since that's what that Mexican congressman did.

[Strife26]

I mean, just imagine if anyone sitting on top of the wall was suddenly attacked by a giant California Condor or Bald Eagle. It'd show American dominance right quick.

[smjjames]

The problem isn't people sitting on top of it, the problem is that it's all too easy to find ways around it.

The MAIN problem is that it's a passive countermeasure, you need active countermeasures, be it patrols, cameras, etc, in order for it to be effective. A castles battlements aren't effective if there's no guards to catch people trying to scale it. Obviously it'd be a deterrent, but not to someone determined to climb it.

I mean, just imagine if anyone sitting on top of the wall was suddenly attacked by a giant California Condor or Bald Eagle. It'd show American dominance right quick.

Lol.

[Sergarr]

Apparently, according to a Democrat senator, FBI is refusing to cooperate with them on Russia investigation and inform them appropriately, even behind the closed doors - and he suspects that it's due to a directive from Department of Justice - i.e., Sessions.

Okay. Cool.

[Frumple]

The problem isn't people sitting on top of it, the problem is that it's all too easy to find ways around it.

The MAIN problem is that it's a passive countermeasure, you need active countermeasures, be it patrols, cameras, etc, in order for it to be effective. A castles battlements aren't effective if there's no guards to catch people trying to scale it. Obviously it'd be a deterrent, but not to someone determined to climb it.

Even that would only be so effective, though, and only cover part of the land border, never mind the rest of it. Usual problems with being largely static trying to stop something that isn't. Defenses count for a lot but there's a reason nothing's yet managed to be impregnable, and trying to make a border than looked even remotely like that would bleed even the US dry in short enough order.

Beyond that, even active components would still only be a deterrent. Patrols have patterns, cameras have flaws (not the least of which are the people on the other side of them), so on, so forth. Maybe you could stop more but it's not like we haven't been stopping that in all sorts of other ways, direct and not, that involve a lot less stupidly wasted money. Lot of other, better, ways to spend the resources, even if you're just trying to reduce the number of border crossers.

[redwallzyl]

its almost like just fixing the problem at its source would be cheaper and easier.

[smjjames]

its almost like just fixing the problem at its source would be cheaper and easier.

Which would mean.... *ba dum tisshhhh* fixing the immigration system, which politicians are intent on fixing last and insist on fixing border security and the illegal immigration problem when in fact the illegal immigration problem is a symptom of issues with legal immigration. And the fact that politicians are fixated on Latino immigrants when it's really not that group that is coming in with large numbers.

[Sergarr]

its almost like just fixing the problem at its source would be cheaper and easier.

But, genocide is banned by Geneva convention!


Guess what time it is, again? More undisclosed connections between Trump campaign and Russia! (warning: annoying autoplay video on the other end of the link)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is not the only member of President Trump’s campaign who spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at a diplomacy conference connected to the Republican National Convention in July. At least two more members of the Trump campaign’s national security officials also spoke with Kislyak at the event, and several more Trump national security advisers were in attendance.

It's unknown what the Trump campaign officials who spoke with the ambassador – J.D. Gordon and Carter Page – discussed with him. Those who took part in the events in Cleveland said it is not unusual for presidential campaign teams to interact with diplomats.

However, the newly-revealed communications further contradict months of repeated denials by Trump officials that his campaign had contact with officials representing the Russian government.

[Frumple]

Hell, a good start to dealing with part of the source so far as that particular border goes would be decriminalizing or legalizing pot, maybe some other stuff, cut some of the major problems driving people away directly and otherwise off from a metric fuckton or two of revenue. Throw in muzzling arms sales going south of the border and giving our own shit enough teeth to stop some of the less direct stuff filtering off in that direction, and you've just made several orders of magnitude more progress in reducing incentives to cross the border than a goddamn wall can. Extra bonus points, any of those could function as an actual revenue stream via taxation and criminal/civil penalties for firearm trafficking violations.

Just think of it. Ways to reduce immigration, assuming that's a goal worth a damn to begin with, that not only could manage to be a fiscal net positive, it could engender good will with other countries and help progress other nations -- some of them close neighbors and excellent possibilities for strong relations -- and their populaces towards a better, safer, tomorrow.

Instead, of course, we get promised a fucking wall. Damn thing's probably not even good in bed.

[Strife26]

How many days since my last CoDominiun joke? I mean, if we're going to deal with American hegemony over the world, and all the required costs, we might as well take advantage of it, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoDominium

[Sergarr]

How many days since my last CoDominiun joke? I mean, if we're going to deal with American hegemony over the world, and all the required costs, we might as well take advantage of it, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoDominium

Grand Admiral Lermontov

Sparta (for the Americans and Europeans) and St. Ekaterina (for the Russians and Asians)

the Fleet swears allegiance to King Lysander I of Sparta

Among the Empire's many worlds is Sauron, where the culture has grown militaristic and adheres to a literal interpretation of the philosophy of Nietzsche, namely that "man is something to be surpassed." In service of this aim, they engage in extensive genetic modification and eugenic breeding programs to turn themselves into supersoldiers known in the galaxy at large as the Sauron Supermen.

Thank god I wasn't eating anything, or I would've surely choked from laughing uncontrollably.


So, apparently Trump has violated the election campaign laws to move millions of dollars obtained through post-election fundraising to his companies. He also claimed that his campaign was in debt, when it actually wasn't.

Here's the text of the legal complaint sent to FEC, if anyone is interested. Some choice bits:

Therefore, contributions made after November 8, 2016 that were not designated for the 2016 election that exceeded net debts outstanding must be attributed to the 2020 primary election, and counted against each contributor’s contribution limits for that election. However, on both its Post-General Report and Year-End Report (and its amended Post-General Report, filed February 14), the Trump campaign unlawfully attributed all direct contributions made after November 8 to “2016 General Debt Retirement.”

In order to effect these false reports, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. appears to have treated millions in expenses voluntarily incurred after the date of the 2016 election as 2016 “debts or obligations,” and paid for those expenses with funds raised after the date of the election. For example, one month after Election Day, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. reported spending more than $483,860 on facility rental and event costs (and an unknown amount on travel, lodging, security and personnel) for a “Trump USA Thank You Tour” involving large campaign-style rallies in nine states that voted to support him; all of those disbursements were attributed to 2016. The committee’s Year-End report also attributes millions in other post-election disbursements to the 2016 election, including $696,078 for private air travel throughout December; $510,641 for digital consulting/online advertising paid to Giles-Parscale in December; $312,500 for data management paid to Cambridge Analytica on December 12; and $183,756 in rent, catering, and lodging payments paid to Trump properties throughout December.​

So that may have been the real reason why he did all those post-election tours and rallies.

[misko27]

its almost like just fixing the problem at its source would be cheaper and easier.

I too support the annexation of Mexico (think about how much shorter our border would be! The money we'd save on border-patrol alone would be worth it), but I think we'll have to bide our time for now. But, it may come sooner than we think! Donald Trump gets rid of the illegal immigrant problem by making Mexican citizens US citizens! They'd never see it coming!

The only question is whether Mexico gets to be its own state, or divided up into pieces, or some sort of special compromise between the two.

[Strife26]

We make it a new territory and give it DC's Congressional representative. Mexico gets to be almost a state, with a congresscriter and everything, but they can't actually do anything, *and* it successfully drains another job out of the DC swamp.