The Donald said he was going to do it and now he is.
The Great Wall of the Rio Grande, the Trump Wall will stretch almost 2,000 miles (3,100kms) from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, putting a gleam in the eye of graffiti artists everywhere. Banksy is said to be drooling in anticipation.
The estimated cost of this stunning feat of architecture is anywhere between $10 and $20 billion depending on who you listen to. Construction time is also a bit of a back-of-the-envelope exercise but by the time an exhausted bricklayer slaps the last bit of mortar on it, it is probable Donald Trump will be around 90 years of age.
In centuries to come anthropologists will marvel at it and wonder what far-sighted genius brought it into existence. Maybe even an old shyster like Erich Von Daniken will propose some unlikely theory that the Trump Wall was built by God who arrived by spaceship with the blueprint and a couple of trillion tons of prefabricated concrete.
Full column here.
I see that sheep chasing as an exhibition sport has been banned in NZ. The solution is to have blokes dressed as sheep.
The imagination runs riot.
Cue a million NZ bestiality jokes.
I don’t indulge in that type of juvenile humour as you well know JTI. Though I imagine the bridal boutiques in Auckland won’t be happy. They will see this as a baaaaaaaa to their profits.
“Is there anybody here who feels that this couple should not be bonded in holy matrimony”
From the back of the church “Baaaaaaa”. Hee hee
Yeah, my best is the Kiwi farmer visiting his Australian farming cousin.
The Aussie asked if he’d like to shear his sheep, the cousin in horror said no way cuz, we don’t share our sheep with anyone.
Then is the news the New Zealand productivity council has announced two new uses for sheep, meat and wool.
Causing a catastrophic collapse in the Velcro-glove and sports-gumboot sectors . . .
I can chuck in a couple of entrants……..
Sheesh! The oldies are out for the finals. The Williams sisters and Federer -Nadal. Between the 4 of them there’s an awesome amount of Grand Slam finals.
I have not watched much of the tennis but will watch at least some of the finals. BBL06 final tonight in Perth, Scotchers v Sixers. Should be a cracker.
That game was one of the best you could ever hope to watch, JTI – one of those where it’s a pity there has to be a loser. Not a hint of acrimony, no nasty incidents – just pure tennis at its finest. Young Dimitrov played his heart out and fought for every single point until the last ball was hit 5 hours after they started.
The four players in the finals have done an enormous amount for the game. They are also inspiring role models and have given so many youngsters the desire to play the game as it should be played. It is a privilege to be able to watch them.
PS: I typed this all out and it disappeared! Hope I haven’t posted it twice somewhere?
It did but that’s ok, Yvonne.
AW geez, my NBN is too quick for me this morning! You can delete this one and keep the duplicate if that’s possible Jack!!
Been some good BBL games Jack, go the Sixers. Would rather have teeth pulled than watch Tennis, just can’t bring myself although I am enjoying the ski jumping and cross country on Eurosport.
Cross country, Tracy? Throw these people a ball for God’s sake.
The .22LR and ski poles would play havoc with a ball, noticed on the qualifying for the biathlon last night the Ruskies had five out of the top six, I presume there’s no pharmaceutical enhancement/hole in the wall stuff going on.
Oh, skiing. I thought you were watching people jog around a paddock.
Golf and tennis should be pay per view.
Jesus! Second time in a week I’ve agreed with you. Piss off for Christ sake.
X2 mate….. WBBL. as well as also
TOO MUCH TONK IS NEVER ENUFF
ps women on in ~3hrs. should be 45degrees by then…ouch
Indeed, Smoke. The WBBL final – same teams as with the men – kicks off in a couple of hours.
Gong Hei Fat Choy to you all.
Apologies Penny, but as a HK permanent resident, a mug canto i guess, i have no truck with this putonghua nonsense!
Jack, really enjoyed the bit on the wall, dragged a few chuckles out of me, but funny though the situation is, i do think this is another winning move by Trump.
i don’t think it matters whether he finishes the wall, or exactly how many non citizens voted, but he is sending a signal that the immigration laws will be enforced in a way that they haven’t been for a long time, and that, as we know in Australia, is a real political plus, even if it is poison in the media.
BTW, i don’t think getting a couple of million non citizens the right to vote requires any corruption at all, just a systemic reluctance to enforce laws against unlawful immigrants, and there is plenty of evidence of that, especially in a few states.
It is far more likely that voter fraud was minimal, mate, or not at the level Trump has said. You may recall the election was something of a Hobson’s choice. Two poor candidates is one very good reason for low turnout. But the US has one of the lowest turnouts in the world historically. Even the excitement around BO could only draw 60 per cent of eligible voters to the polls. Some states (5, I think without checking, Oregon being one) have brought in automatic registration, much like our auto enrolment here but others stubbornly make it as difficult as possible for people to register and vote. One measure introduced by BO in 2010 obliged all states to have govt offices where people would be likely to have some contact, like motor vehicle registration and licensing open to take voter registration. This was viewed with alarm by some, mainly red states but also some blue ones but the initiative has made little difference to voter numbers to date.
I understand Trump will want to ride the populist train and you’re right making noise about the wall is more important than actually building it. I doubt it will ever be built, certainly not during his presidency. More troubling are his protectionist policies and I hope Congress has the nads to rein Trump in or he will create very bleak economic conditions for the US and the World.
Will and when the wall be built Jack?
A mate has a house in LA, but lives in Sydney. They had some massive storms through that part of California a week or so ago. A giant tree fell on their house, taking out a large part of it. The Mexican crew were called in, and the entire tree and debris were gone by 2pm.
So Donald’s plan may entail getting the Mexican hard workers on the job. It probably depends on what side of the wall they are when its finished!
This is one reason the other parties to the TPP should continue to pursue it. On this point I think Turnbull is right. It’s a good opportunity for an economic controlled experiment.
Trump is saying that a protectionist stance is to the benefit of the US. The TPP advocates are continuing the tradition of trade liberalisation. Let’s push on and – assuming the US goes down the protectionist path – see where we all land in twenty years. If the US is going gang-busters and the rest of us are lined up at soup kitchens we’ll know Trump was right.
If not . . .
I feel optimistic that trade deals will be set up individually TBLS. The man might appear to be one, but he is not a fool. He will like to think it’s all on his terms and, if handled correctly, it can look like that. Powerful ego driven men are like that. They don’t like to be told what to do – so just plant the seed and let them think it was their idea eventually. Reverse psychology.
I’m sure global leaders will work out how to play the game and it will settle down. And who knows, it may all work out for the best. Let’s go the cup half full mentality for a while
Your old stable mate Peter Brent weighs in on this also.
http://insidestory.org.au/one-vote-one-value
not exactly apropos but Ill drop it here anyhow
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2017/01/james-f-on-hatred-in-our-divided-nation-anger-at-flyover-country.html
Wow – sensational game of tennis tonight. Nadal – Dimitrov. after midnight, 5th set 1-1, and I’m glued to my seat.
Two great players. No dramas, no tantrums – a pleasure to watch. Wouldn’t put money on a winner at the moment!
Fabulous Yvonne classic indeed and lets hope Sunday nights Final match will be terrific too.
Bit monochromatic though Yvonne.
The Federer/Zverev match was far more interesting to watch.
Nadal drives me nuts with his little routine before he serves.
I’ll put up with that because he’s such a nice guy, JS.
It may be boring for some, but to be able to play at such a high standard for 5 hours says a lot about strength of character, not to mention physical ability. Every shot last night was about as good as it gets. Not many stupid errors.
Both Nadal and Federer are fine ambassadors for the sport – and I’m happy to watch them any time. I suspect last night’s game may have been the best of the tournament – but the final will be a sentimental favourite – and that’s okay!
It will be interesting to see how the talks between Theresa May and the Don go down.
I reckon Turnbull would go okay with him. Trump is running America like a business at the moment and will have respect for Turnbull’s business acumen.
If I had to choose between Turnbull and Shorten as to who to send over for a chat, it’s a no-brainer.
I hear the Canucks are building one too, to keep out the fleeing masses (probably the ones missing from the inauguration). Maybe they could use old hockey pucks instead of steel or concrete?
No need. Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham and Chelsea Handler all reneged on their promise to leave.
Reality bites. Who’s Chelsea Handler?
Was Chelsea Handler clothed or unclothed? It appears to be a day to day thing. She obviously thinks she’s a hottie. A prawn in my book. Nice body but a head that looks like and is full of shit.
By the way, if youre brave enough to go out to Gansu and Xinjiang provinces you can see the original wall started by the Qin dynasty. It still stands in parts.
Also the Jin Dynasty were, themselves, northern invaders from what was later known as Manchuria (they were the Kitan people – “Jin” is an honorific meaning “Golden” i.e. The golden dynasty). The Jin dynasty died because their old enemies, the Song Dynasty, refused to help them, fight the Mongolians, mostly because the Jin had carved off all of the northern part of the song Dynasty’s lands and forced them to move their capital from Nanjing to Hangzhou (from that time the Song became known as the Southern Song). The last princes, dukes, and aristocrats of china died in the massacre that followed the sack of hangzhou. From that time on china became a country of emperors, their officials, and warlords. This is why people should be friendly to their neighbors. You never know when you might need them.
Anyone who has travelled china can tell you immediately why the Great Wall is so important. The highly populated regions to the south of Beijing are flat as a pancake and perfect cavalry country. Blocking the mongols in the mountains was genius. And the Great Wall is great fun. If anyone hasn’t been they should, it goes UP and DOWN mountains and some of it is so steep you can slide a kilometre down the causeways on top on your arse if you really wanted to. Maybe trump can add some fun rides to his and make it a tourist attraction too.
Always love your posts on China dazza. I find it a fascinating country.
Well, i goofed a bit. The Jin were jurchen people, not kitan. The rest is correct though: i just got the names around the wrong way. Also the old wall is not actually part of the Great Wall. Its actually a series of unconnected long wall fortifications in strategic valleys. The genius of the Great Wall is that it is unbroken. Ive walked parts of it where it hasn’t been reconstructed for tourists. Its a bit of a hike but gee its worth it. The desolation and grandeur in such a spectacular setting cannot be reduced to words or photographs. Only seeing it can do it justice.
On another China topic. Why, Tibet aside, a country that has never had a militarily aggressive foreign policy decided to do what it is with the Spratleys? Not setting you up for a Razor spray just genuinely interested. What has changed? Was it the Admiral that retired a few years ago who was supposed to be a hawk and set their strategic policy for the next 50yrs or is that crap?
The 9 lines, Razor. China actually created the first ships with bulwarks 700 hundred years ago or so – way before the west had such ships (they were massive) and then sailed then all around the Indian Ocean, including to Africa. Some – falsely – claim the fleet also visited america. But that line – fictitious as it is – marks the old lines that china claims is part of its territory. And now china feels strong enough to claim what it sees as its rightful place. What needs to be understood is that China isn’t “China” in Chinese. In Chinese you say “Zhongguo”. Which literally means “middle state” or “Middle Kingdom”. Except that translating that literally would be misleading because “zhong” also connotes “central”, as in “most important part”. So Zhongguo translates as the “central state” but means, in reality, “the centre of the world”. That’s how an educated Chinese speaker would hear that name. And thats why china is now claiming the South China Sea.
Incidentally, this is why the qingliang emporer was dismissive of the British Mcartney embassy in 1794.
Also, Tibet was an empire in its own name and as famous for horse and marauding as the mongols. The chinese destroyed the Tibetan empire and conquered it largely as an act of self defence. Most people dont know that history which is why the chinese scratche their heads when westerners complain about their occupation of Tibet. Its like people claiming that the scandinavians of north England should be free of the south saxons of England.
So if I get what you are saying right, whilst it appears to be about expansionism in a modern context it is actually just about claiming what they see as theirs many centuries ago. I’m not trying to open this up to and argument on Israel but the idea sounds eerily similar.
Many thanks for your reply it makes sense.
razor, yep, that right. the funny thing about china is that people call it communist and all that but it actually isnt. It operates now exactly as it has always operated, with just a few minor cosmetic modifications. But the mindset is the same as the old imperial mindset and thats what educated chinese aspire to. Bear in mind that most of the imperial dynasties have been started by warlords – exactly how Mao came to power. Since the unification of the 7 states to form the Qin empire, China has historically had multiple competing imperial dynasties (the record is 5 at once). But all have sought to expand their territories, mostly in self defence. The walls and the great wall are an expression of the limits of that policy, dictated by the fact that the peoples who make up China have never, with the exception of Mongolians and Tibetans, been horse people (the modern province of Sichuan – with its giant plains of grass – was once a major part of the Tibetan empire and was the heartland of Tibets’s great horse mounted armies).
The big thing to remember too is that the Chinese revere their history but the most famous of their historians, Sima Qian, was castrated because he offended the emporer (in an ancestor worshipping culture castration is the punishment that dooms you to wander as a “hungry ghost” for eternity – the second worst personal punishment possible). So Chinese revere their history but they only ever learn the “Imperial” version of that history. Nothing has changed in that respect for 2000 years. And during the cultural revolution the sociologists and historians were the first to die. Thats why the chinese leadership are all, almost to a man, engineers. And since the Cultural revolution being a historian in China hasnt, shall we say, been a good career move (Yanh Jisheng is a journalist and what he has done wouldnt be possible without the publishing companies in Hong Kong – who Beijing have been leaning on for the last few years).
China pays lip service to scholars – but it always has. It is very much a results oriented culture. But it is not a fully self aware culture and it is not introspective in any depth. That said, the people retain a firm moral outlook (and always have – if you know the ending of the classic book “the water margin” you’ll know what I mean. Incidentally, the saying from that book “between the four seas all men are brothers” is culturally very important.
One other thing. Traditional chinese writing is judged not on being new or innovative, as in the west, but on how many references it can make to books of the past. I have David Tod Roy’s brilliant translation of the classic “Jing Ping Mei” and it was heavy going with all of the footnotes. Incidentally, “Jing Ping Mei” means the plum in the golden vase – both of the nouns there being double entendres (in chinese characters) for the male and female sexual anatomy. The Jing Ping Mei is rude, crude, hilarious and morally insightful, and was banned for hundreds of years (but widely read anyway). Its not one of the Four Classics of chinese literature (but it should be the fifth – but a massive book about moral and earthly corruption would never make the emporer’s reading list).
Many thanks for that mate. Who says you cannot learn something on a blog.
Cheers!
X . 27th 12:12AM
I am sorry to be off topic but the revelation in X’s link, which may have bee missed by some here, is of the “Hark the Herald Angels sing ” quality. Hallelujahs and “toldyaso’s” will emanate like the trumpets of Jericho from the holy cakeholes of the pious here. And fair enough too.
Well done “X” . The science may not yet be complete but I am prepared to change my views if indeed it is proved that my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. My genes have always informed me that I am Jesus Christ but that may not be exactly true after all. I have sensed that my genes may have been traumatised during the Spanish Inquisition and could be confused.
Scientific proof of the existence of God is sufficient compensation. The relief from the sneaking suspicion that Donald Trump might be Jesus Christ, also.
http://witscience.org/first-scientific-proof-god-found/
Spotto! Thank you X, and God bless you.
( The only disturbing thing is, some of the letters from responders just could
be serious. )
Can you get a “toldyaso” from the same place as a “roundtuit” because I really need to get with the latter and feel the need for the former.
I was expecting a plethora of “toldyasos” from Carl and Milton!
I think it one of those “alternative facts” articles from the Christian news site.
Relieved to hear you’re not God, JB – I don’t think I could live with that.
The science isn’t settled on that yet Yvonne.
It is in this church of all sinners, you thespian interloper.
And once the Mexican wall is built, Hollywood companies owned by Chinese companies can make another film with Matt Damon ink it about what’s on the other side (Orange monster).
Oh, and… Matt Damon!!
Damon was at Davos last week and has been quite the Hollywood activist. He delivered an address to those assembled about creating greater access to clean drinking water for those living in the world’s poorer nations. That is a very noble aim, of course, but I wish an engineer rather than Damon gave the address.
Angelina does a great line in prefab housing.
Probably, but you might be thinking of Brad Pitt. “The Mexican” has some quite funny scenes.
That would certainly be more appropriate, but I guess “Engineer in plea for clean water” doesn’t get clicks. At least Damon is using his celebrity for something more constructive than marketing his own jewellery line, like the new First Lady:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/20/white-house-website-promotes-melania-trumps-modeling-and-jewelry-line/?utm_term=.9420c393550e
You sure Damon isn’t marketing his noble self JOH?
Pretty sure he can get gigs without doing this. Are you this suspicious every time someone you’ve heard of promotes a good cause? For example, when a footballer does an ad about domestic violence?
JOH everyone else is giving up. The left lost. How about we move on and revisit later. Do you think Michelle O’Bama wasn’t selling something? Well old mate she was…….herself. Dependent on how trump goes if she doesn’t run in 2020 she’s a moral for 2024.
I did not know the Obamas were Irish.
Agreed jti but we both know that if an engineer made that address no one would have heard about it. State of the world…
That’s US$8 billion in work. Its supervised by the government so, with cost overruns, thats about us$24 billion. If i was the Mexican government I’d offer to do the work on cut price contract rates. Pretty sure they could win the tender.
zackly what I was wondering……EE