SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The last two of eight prototypes for President Donald Trump's proposed border wall took shape Thursday at a construction site in San Diego.
The prototypes, including one built by Israeli defense firm Elta, form a tightly packed row of imposing concrete and metal panels, including one with sharp metal edges on top.
[...] The models, which cost the government up to $500,000 each, were spaced 30 feet (9.1 meters) apart. Slopes, thickness and curves vary. One has two shades of blue with white trim. The others are gray, tan or brown — in sync with the desert.
Bidding guidelines call for the prototypes to stand between 18 and 30 feet (5.5 and 9.1 meters) high and be able to withstand at least an hour of punishment from a sledgehammer, pickaxe, torch, chisel or battery-operated tools.
Features also should prevent the use of climbing aids such as grappling hooks, and the segments must be "aesthetically pleasing" when viewed from the US side.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Saturday October 21 2017, @04:57PM (3 children)
No, we wouldn't, because never in the history of the human race has there been a completely secure political border. People managed to get across the Berlin Wall. People managed to cross the Great Wall of China. People can and have breached Israel's Gaza wall. Hadrian's Wall in Britain was crossed periodically by Pictish raiders.
We aren't even able to completely secure the interior of an airport: Every once in a while, somebody gets past the TSA, everybody panics and shuts down the entire airport until they find the idiot who wandered down the wrong hallway. If we can't do that, what makes you think we can secure hundreds of miles of desert and river basin? There's always the equivalent of a 2-meter-wide thermal exhaust port somewhere. A combination of bribery, spying, ingenuity, and courage always find it, sooner or later.
And even if on the off chance we had perfect walls all along the US-Mexico border, it's not like (A) the Mexicans don't have boats and can't simply sail around it and land in California or Texas, and (B) they can't enter on a tourist visa legally and then take a job illegal and overstay their visa.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 21 2017, @05:19PM (2 children)
I said "secure" not "perfectly secure". Perfect is the enemy of good.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 21 2017, @05:23PM (1 child)
Border walls are another enemy of good.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday October 21 2017, @05:49PM
You know this isn't Twitter, right? You don't have to substitute pithy for intelligent.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.