When Trump announced his run for president in 2015, he (in)famously boasted:
“I will build a great wall—and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me—and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
https://time.com/5499391/donald-trump-border-wall-mexico-pay/
RIIIGGGHHHTTT …
Sadly, the courts had allowed Trump to ignore environmental laws during the wall’s construction, and that mistake proved to be its undoing. As the old Chiffon margarine ad goes: “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
Trump’s US-Mexico border wall was no match for the heavy rains and accompanying flooding that happened this past week in Southern Arizona. They destroyed a large section of TFG’s wall along the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge.
Rain measurements near Douglas, AZ (closest town to the wall) showed 290 cubic-feet of water moving through the area every second – that’s equivalent to 112,200 gallons of water every minute. And it was calculated the storm surge could have reached a height of 25 feet!
Flood gates are common across sections of the wall along the Arizona-Mexico border. Agents must manually raise the gates to protect the steel barriers from thousands of gallons of floodwater laden with sediment, rocks, and tree limbs that can otherwise pile up to create a dam, with the power of the water overwhelming and toppling parts of the border wall.
Gizmodo blamed the failure on rushed construction and an alleged bypassing of environmental regulations. “Who could have predicted this? Ah yes, just about everyone,” author Brian Kahn penned in the article.
https://gizmodo.com/trumps-border-wall-torn-apart-by-arizona-monsoon-rains-1847535174
[Not sure why, but this video showing the results of the flooding cannot be embedded. You have to click on it to view it.]
I want to close on an upbeat note. While things have not gone as well with our exit from Afghanistan as we would have hoped, there were some bright notes.
America’s men and women in uniform have, once again, covered themselves in glory with displays of care and compassion – particularly with Afghani children.
I could not find attributions for these – but I want to include them anyway:
Of course it wasn’t only with children that they displayed their compassion. And I’m sure you join me in thanking them for their service – they did us proud!
7 Responses to “Saturday Smile: And His Wall Came Tumbling Down”
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“Just about everyone.” Well, at least, every sane person. Pity there weren’t more of us. Especially before the election.
That video can’t be embedded because the owner wanted to protect his copyright to it. That actually reassures me – because, since owners are able to do that, it makes them a lot less likely to be able to come after us if we do embed something they didn’t want us to.
I have to hope no animals in the refuge were harmed beyond what they would have been had the wall never been built. But I’m not optimistic.
And, like you , I am proud of our service people. Our heroes.
Thank you so much.
Thanks for the info WRT the YouTube video. Tiny bit of a hassle – but I like it, too.
PS –
Thanks for all the well wishes WRT my delay announcement.
It was my 10-week toenail clipping w/ the podiatrist, so it went just fine. But the background WRT how I started going to the podiatrist is mildly interesting.
About a year ago I noticed an brownish-purple “lesion” on the toenail of my big toe. At first I thought it was a bruise (subungual hematoma). But I couldn’t remember stubbing my toe at all – and it didn’t hurt.
After persisting for a few weeks unchanged, I started to wonder if it might be a melanoma – not all that uncommon. It had a sharp border demarcation and ran the entire length of the nail – classic for toenail melanomas. So I made an appointment w/ my dermatologist.
The dermatologist was equally concerned, and said I needed to see a podiatrist because she was unable to do a toenail biopsy.
So I did my due diligence and found a fantastic podiatrist! After Podiatry School she did a 2-year post-graduate residency at Yale University (I had no idea Yale even had a Podiatry program), and was Chief Resident her last year there.
She took one look and said, “I think I have some good news for you.”
She took out this battery-powered emory-burr burnishing gadget, and instantly “cured” me by buffing it away! YIPPEE!
We chatted for awhile and I told her I have difficulty cutting my toenails because of my carpal tunnel release made my grip strength significantly worse. She said she can do that for me – and it only costs $45 AND it’s covered by Medicare!
So now I go every 10 +/- weeks to have my nails clipped. (There has to be at least 9 weeks between cuttings before Medicare will cover it.)
You can probably see how that slipped my radar. The bad thing is she’s on the other side of the Metro and it’s a good 35-45 minute drive one-way, as long as it’s NOT rush hour. So it pretty much shoots a whole morning or afternoon. But it’s well worth it!
That may be useful to me. I don’t have carpal tunnel, but I was born with flat feet – and as the years go by, it becomes clearer either that is wasn’t just flat feet, or that there are other anomalies which go with flat feet which make it hard to cut toenails. I may look into that.
Thanks Nameless- the irony with this one is delightful.
I believe the female marine holding the baby in the background in one picture is the one Sacramento is honoring as among the 13 who lost their lives to the suicide bomber in Kabul who had said that she loved her job not long before the attacked. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/marine-corps-sergeant-from-sacramento-killed-in-kabul-airport-attack/ar-AANQMN3?
Thank you, Nameless
I remember tRump specifically speaking about his great wall. Swearing that it was going to be paid by Mexico. As usual, his words were worthless. Until reading in your post today, I was unaware of all of the damage his wall caused to San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge. I swear he was out to destroy our country in more ways than one.
I appreciate your posting and photos of our military and the Afghan people. As you point out our military has been so caring and shown kindness to the children and their parents there in Afghanistan. Truly heart touching seeing the female marine holding the baby of one of the Afghan mothers. They did show the same photo of her with the child today when they were naming the 13 military member who lost there life and where they were from. Many were from the Camp Pendleton. Bless them all for serving our country. That goes for all of the military who have and still do serve our country.
Thanks again. Nameless
…and yet the GOP still kowtows to djt….and he is a danger to the US and world….