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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: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Saturday October 21 2017, @07:54PM (1 child)
Oh, they absolutely want borders and countries.
Imagine what would happen if poor people in the US started talking regularly to poor people in, say, Honduras and Iraq and Nigeria. They'd figure out that the people getting rich screwing over poor people in Honduras and Iraq and Nigeria are the same people as the ones getting rich screwing over poor people in the US. And then those poor people might start working together to do something about their common enemies, and I'm not talking about writing petitions to representatives or something, I'm talking torches and pitchforks.
Far better, for the rich, to convince poor US folks that they're much better off than those poor folks in Nigeria, and have them either not thinking about Nigeria in any meaningful way or (even better) hating the Nigerians for their email scams and such, so that they don't have energy left to, for example, hate the major shareholders of Shell Oil Company for robbing Nigeria blind with the help of the very compliant Nigerian government, with the support of the US military that Americans get taxed heavily to pay for. Borders and divisions among those without power allow those with power to direct poor people to hate each other rather than hate those with real power.
Sure, they and their cash hop international borders all the time. But they don't want the peasants able to do the same thing, because if they do then they'll find themselves up against Wat Tylers everywhere they turn.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Sunday October 22 2017, @02:44PM
Yes, the same is also true when described in economic terms. They want 100% mobility in capital markets but none in labor markets, or else markets might clear. They like the resulting imbalance because it supplies them with coercive pricing power.
Washington DC delenda est.