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.
JB ,..02:15pm .
Heeee,..you are OK,..you warrior! Not you , you cheaky bugger , full of life , just the cat fight mob .
I’m not a fan of Abbott’s, but he’s right. This country is ungovernable – has been for the last 8 years or so. I wonder where it’s going to finish up Because it doesn’t look like there is an end in sight.
I like the idea of a joint sitting to sort out roadblocks. Neither side can implement any reform at the moment and by god we need reform.
I don’t think he is right. If the Senate is loaded with crack-pots and habitual contrarians (and it is) it’s because the voters put them there. And why did they do that? Because the voters don’t trust the majors with the power of both houses.
What nobody in the government is admitting is something that Gary Johns pointed out some months ago – that is, that the budget could be put back into surplus and the process of paying down debt could begin tomorrow if Canberra would curtail its section 96 grants to the States. In addition to that, something I’ve pointed out is that killing off extra-Constitutional funding from Canberra (funding not explicitly provided for in the Constitution) to local government projects could accelerate the process. Withdrawing these requires little to no legislative change.
Unfortunately the so-called conservatives have become infected by the big-government-central-control virus that also plagues their opponents. There is nobody in Canberra with the gumption, the courage or the clarity of vision to curtail the spendathon that is federal governance. It wasn’t that long ago that Julia Gillard actually wanted to put to referendum the question of giving local councils Constitutional status for the admitted purpose of putting federal funding beyond High Court challenge. In other words, she actually supported an explicit Constitutional authority to pork-barrel on an on-going and permanent basis. That’s how shameless the whole thing has become.
No. Tony and his parliamentary compadres on both sides have created this debacle and I do not support making their job easier so they can keep making a mess of things.
I agree with your point about the role of the Senate (with the caveat that the skewing in favour of small states is a problem). IMO the point of an election is to reflect the electorate, not to artificially produce a single clear winner even when there isn’t one.
But I think the proposal to cut tied State grants would make centralisation worse. Those grants are the only thing that keep the States alive, and the alternative would be for States to raise income tax, which hasn’t happened since the 1940s and seems to me an unlikely prospect.
It’s only unlikely because none of the empire-builders in Canberra want to see it happen and none of the State governments want to work for their pay. The one brief moment of genuine excitement I’ve felt in the last ten (maybe fifteen) years from watching federal politics was the moment Turnbull started talking about this exact possibility. My excitement turned to bitter scepticism when it became clear he didn’t even intend to have a serious discussion about it, let alone put up any sort of formal proposal.
Something has to give and my money is on the moment when our international creditors turn off the tap and Australians find something genuinely uncomfortable to whinge about. Like living under a bridge.
”Unfortunately the so-called conservatives have become infected by the big-government-central-control virus that also plagues their opponents. There is nobody in Canberra with the gumption, the courage or the clarity of vision to curtail the spendathon that is federal governance”
Seems you’re right about that TBLS. I see the number of public servants has increased by 4,000. What that means to the public purse both now and in the longterm retirement phase of these 4,000 is horrendous.
What on earth is going on? They thinned them out, we are told we have to tighten the belt, and they are hiring!! Geez, I’m over it
I reckon the NDIS would have employed a fair few of those.
Abbott helped make it so. hypocrisy in Lycra
Eminently suitable attire.
Agree JOH – with the right bloke inside it, that is. That means under the age of about 30 with a good physique
So you think these nasties (below) should be passed Avon…all aimed at the poor, the sick the unemployed, families doing it tough and those trying to get an education whilst mining profits go o/seas and 500 companies who have paid no tax get away with it even though many of them have grossed billions.
You don’t think the Centrelink Robot is doing a good enough job sending fake bills to thousands of people who have not worked?
Even if all of the Senate nasties are passed only $7billion would be saved. Keep in mind the Looters have increased debt to nearly half a trillion. How can all this be extracted from the poor.?Why not dig into the $300billion earmarked for Defence over the next few years to be spent on war toys? I might have to revise my thinking on this though. Trumper could have us in a world war at any time.
&
You want all this to be passed?
– Four-week wait for young people to access unemployment payment. A loss of $1.320 upfront and $47/week
thereafter. Over 300,000 affected.
– Increase Newstart eligibility age to 25
– One week ordinary waiting period (to be served in addition to four-week wait for
relevant income support recipients). 70,000 young unemployed people affected by this, the 270,000
unemployed and those on parenting payments.
– A 22-year-old who cannot find work after leaving education will lose at least $1,320 upfront and
$47/week thereafter. If they rent privately, they will lose over $1,530 upfront by being denied income
support for five weeks.
– The loss of Family Tax Benefit Part B for those whose children become teens. Sole parents will lose $60/week.
– 33,000 Aged Pensioners will lose their pension portability.
– Pension Education Payment….190,000 will lose $35/week.
– Cessation of Energy Supplement (strange this when electricity is more expensive now than it was when
the carbon tax was in! A loss of $7/week for pensioners. 2 million people affected.
– Those on Newstart to lose $4.40 a week. Isn’t it too low already!
The name’s Yvonne Bassy.
Where, in my comment above, did I say those measures should be passed. Come on, tell me where?
You’re not stupid too are you? I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and say maybe just hysterical.
I have clearly indicated that I am not affiliated to any political party.
………..or maybe you didn’t have your glasses on?
The coalition’s lack of polices for All Australians is their and the country’s problem. Their policy formulation has been poor and mostly ideological blaming shaming and attacking those doing it the hardest along with their inability to compromise or work collaboratively has failed the Nation. Must be something to do with the cons “breeding”
Would that poor policy formulation be similar to NDIS, live animal exports, pink batts and the NBN.
Tell us which policies of the coalition you think have helped move this country forward. Their higher taxes their higher spending? Or is that the problem. you want to take the nation backwards. It is clear you have something against people with disabilities you don’t want to see them helped do you. you would rather give $1 billion to a foreign owned coal mining structure of companies. I would rather see the live trade suspended and value add the meat here as NZ do. The NBN would have been the biggest nation building efficiency adding infrastructure the Nation had seen it was going to set the nation up for another hundred years and give regional and rural people opportunities to get into markets they had not been able to not too mention streamline many other areas just as the telegraph did and then copper wires from about 1907 or whatever it was. Until your coalition got in and wrecked it. It will now have to be over built within a decade at much greater expense. You are scared of change and jealous of generations to come who might have more than you. On the Insulation program it has saved the nation huge amounts of money in energy savings. If it had not been for the greedy small businesses trying rip people and the system off and being negligent by putting untrained people into places they should not have been it would have been hailed an even bigger success. You don’t want regulation but you don’t want government doing anything either. The world cannot stand still you may still be living in your lunch box from middle of last century but thinking people want progress not regression. All you have is bile and bullshit. You are from a bygone era and have antiquated view of the world.
Ho hum……waste of time. Too long didn’t read it……
Open the other eye, mate. Nobody in Canberra is worth a pinch of shit at the moment.
Yep
New Years Day here in HK is quieter than the old Melbourne Sundays used to be.
off for a hike shortly, but was thinking after that might need to pop out to Essendon Airport for a beer for old times sakes, or run down to the Lord Raglan and knock on Mick Kearney’s back door.
that quiet.
Ah, the Lord Raglan. Steak and chips on one of those 70s kitch sizzle plates, cold beer and an eclectic crowd to say the least. Our mate, BJ, had a very amusing meeting there with a crook during the Painters and Dockers Wars. Said crook had had his gun confiscated by the Hommies as was the practice when the bloodshed got out of hand, usually around the time the dockies were electing their union representatives. He Invited BJ to the Lord Raglan on the promise of giving him some good mail. BJ turned up with a sidekick wired for sound but all he got was the crook humbly requesting the return of his shooter. BJ did not oblige him.
Pretty quiet here too Jack, we were the only people at the Penang Swimming Club this morning, normally Saturday you have to scramble to find a seat. I am reliably told that today is the day they visit the senior rellos, have a quick prayer for the ancestors, then nothing but eat and drink until late in the evening.
There is hardly any food left in the markets, or the supermarket shelves either. Thank God we stocked up early in the week and have plenty of wine……and mandarins of course
Wine and mandarins?
Well Dwight, mandarins are given out for free as a sign of good will from all the places where we spend our money and that includes restaurants, hotels, market stalls and supermarkets. Unfortunately the wine shop does not give out free wine, but you know they also gave us a couple of mandarins.
I can send some down if you like, mandarins that is , not wine.
Why would you stock up on senior public servants? 😝
Not bad Razor, but could do better….
Wine + Mandarins = Chinese Cooking Wine? Don’t get the uses mixed up, it’s not for drinking, except for the servants.
Well its all the go down at Salamanca today for CNY. Dragons and yummy food tents. I’m off for a look see!!
RE:Dismayed says:
January 28, 2017 at 12:12 pm
Dismayed,
In an effort to assist your tabulation of impending disasters, here are the ‘Top 50’ from an analysis of over 500 ‘reforms’ since WWII:
https://www.brookings.edu/research/governments-greatest-achievements-of-the-past-half-century/
1. Rebuild Europe After World War II
2. Expand the Right to Vote
3. Promote Equal Access to Public Accommodations
4. Reduce Disease
5. Reduce Workplace Discrimination
6. Ensure Safe Food and Drinking Water
7. Strengthen the Nation’s Highway System
8. Increase Older Americans’ Access to Health Care
9. Reduce the Federal Budget Deficit
10. Promote Financial Security in Retirement
11. Improve Water Quality
12. Support Veterans’ Readjustment and Training
13. Promote Scientific and Technological Research
14. Contain Communism
15. Improve Air Quality
16. Enhance Workplace Safety
17. Strengthen the National Defense
18. Reduce Hunger and Improve Nutrition
19. Increase Access to Post-Secondary Education
20. Enhance Consumer Protection
21. Expand Foreign Markets for U.S. Goods
22. Increase the Stability of Financial Institutions and Markets
23. Increase Arms Control and Disarmament
24. Protect the Wilderness
25. Promote Space Exploration
26. Protect Endangered Species
27. Reduce Exposure to Hazardous Waste
28. Enhance the Nation’s Health Care Infrastructure
29. Maintain Stability in the Persian Gulf
30. Expand Home Ownership
31. Increase International Economic Development
32. Ensure an Adequate Energy Supply
33. Strengthen the Nation’s Airways System
34. Increase Low-Income Families’ Access to Health Care
35. Improve Elementary and Secondary Education
36. Reduce Crime
37. Advance Human Rights and Provide Humanitarian Relief
38. Make Government More Transparent to the Public
39. Stabilize Agricultural Prices
40. Provide Assistance for the Working Poor
41. Improve Government Performance
42. Reform Welfare
43. Expand Job Training and Placement
44. Increase Market Competition
45. Increase the Supply of Low-Income Housing
46. Develop and Renew Impoverished Communities
47. Improve Mass Transportation
48. Reform Taxes
49. Control Immigration
50. Devolve Responsibility to the States
President Trump is going to be a busy bee!! But I am sure you will be in a position to give us all a factual ‘before’ and ‘after’ analysis of each revoked reform as he goes along ………………………. NOT!!
Actually he has already started to undo some of those listed. I will oblige you with the facts as usual. It appears you too are stuck in one of the those echo chambers where you will only view and accept that which confirms your already held bias and false fixed ideals. You better get back in the box and start praying or absolving yourself or whatever it is that goes on in those dark little cupboards.
Thank god you do not have any long standing bias or false fixed ideals!
Actually just a quick review and it is plain to see your Dictator trump is working on undoing at least 40 of the measures listed in the first week.
May I suggest it’s your ‘money where your mouth is’ time, Dismayed.
Which of the 10 measures you have obviously identified remain untouched?
Hey Pollyanna,
http://jfmxl.sdf.org/JohnMarciano/8MP-part1.html
Jean Baptiste
January 27, 2017 at 7:32 pm
Says: ” It’s the stupidest idea that narcissistic twat has come up with yet. ”
Your above comment appears to indicate that you may have some doubts re the efficaciousness of the POTUS’s proposed construction of a 3, 000 kilometre barrier between the great nation he now proudly presides over and his neighbor (US spelling), Mexico.
Perhaps the POTUS would be well advised to consult with the appropriate representatives in our country before he goes ahead with the planned work. As you know JB, we have the runs on the board re controlling peskies and we may be able to save him a bob or two. After all, our 6,000 kilometre dingo fence has kept the blighters at bay for well over a hundred years.
What say you me old mate?
I’m not sure the dingo fence is all that efficacious Carl.
Mexicans are not dingos and I’m sure they (Mexicans ) would have no trouble overcoming a dingo fence.
Perhaps the Mexicans would do better with a Gringo fence?
Another one gone, RIP John Hurt.
His Caligula was brilliant in I Claudius, maybe some of his own inner demons came through
A brillant character actor. Vale.
Hmmmm. That’s sad
Tracy, I agree he was superb in I, Claudius and The Elephant Man particularly. May he R.I.P
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy…fantastic. One of my favourite actors.
Bassy I watch that version every 3 months or so. I don’t think you could follow it without having read the book though. I didn’t pick up on the tortoiseshell glasses until the second time I watched it. John Hurt, one of the greats.
Yes…like reading War and Peace or Dr Zhivago
Thanks for pointing to this tragic loss. His portrayal of Max the junkie in Midnight Express was unforgettable. I just read in The Nerdist he had more screen deaths than any other actor in history. RIP Sir John Hurt.
Midnight Express – great movie!
Anyone who has spent any time the US will have noticed that in many parts of the country most of the menial work is done by Mexicans, usually through illegal, below-minimum-wage arrangements. I wonder if the T-Team has thought through the consequences of deporting “illegals” and preventing others from entering?
For Mexicans, the jobs are worth doing despite the exploitative pay, because they can send it home where it buys a lot more. US citizens don’t have that option, and have the (albeit meagre) protection of US labour law, so working below the paltry minimum simply isn’t an option, economically or legally. A lot of essential stuff just isn’t going to get done any more, at least not for next-to-nothing.
On top of that, a lot of wealthier Americans will get a lot less work done if they have to do their own cooking, cleaning, gardening and maintenance, and look after their own children as well!
Delicious irony when Trump voters find themselves picking cantaloupes for two dollars an hour.
You’d both love to see that but it won’t happen. This will be business without identity politics. You’ll both be screaming louder in 12mths but the figures will tell the story. It’s the revolution JB. You always said it would happen. It just wasn’t the one you thought.
1. Except AWM identity politics.
2. You accept figures now?
3. I see your “I’m not a Trump supporter” wig has well and truly slipped!
Not a supporter at all JOH. I thought he’d just do nothing, particularly on the AGW stuff. It appears I was wrong so now Im warming to him. (Pun intended) You’ll also find its AWM & F. Paul Kelly’s article in the weekend OZ sums it up so much better than I ever could. I’ve linked it for your ongoing education as I assume you don’t subscribe.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/paul-kelly/donald-trumps-election-a-rejection-of-identity-politics/news-story/147b11c08b64702d3f9be1821416cb72
if Dictator trumps plans are concrete the carbon footprint is huge. I see many here continue to applaud this fraud taking the world backwards. what is it with the cons wanting to undo all that has been achieved since the second world war??
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-26/scientists-warn-trump-s-border-wall-will-be-bad-for-the-planet
Such robust language there Dismayed as I pointed out to sweet Mr Baptiste here for the first time we have a politician who is actually doing what he said he would do. I do note one of his first take was to take all reference to Climate Change off Whitehouse.gov website again in keeping with his stated position on Climate Change – he says its not happening BUT he also says he is an Environmentalist. Lets sit back Dismayed and see how it all pans out. I for one am excited, nay thrilled we have an Action Man unlike our own “Inaction” Man, one PM Turnbull who must be gasping at the sheer pace of POTUS Trumps progress to date.
He’s not an Environmentalist Henry. No surprise he lied his head off during the campaign about his ‘awards’.
The guy is gutting all US environment regulations by 75% at week one. You can laugh or you can cry.
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/01/24/fact-check-trumps-claim-he-has-received-awards-on-the-environment/
Bella
The wall will stop Mexicans and whales. A double plus. An electric fence though, with enough voltage, would kill these cetaceous vermin and prevent them turning up in Acapulco and Tijuana and other places humans inhabit, and also cancel out climate change. A double plus. Go Trump! Go Iceland! Go Japan! Save the planet. Kill the whales!
You are going to have Bella after you – any minute. Naughty!
I hate it when the voices in my head go silent because I never know what they’re planning.
No you dill! Wales! Not whales. Nuke Wales.
You’ll have MI6 after you JB. Again I’d imagine.
It’s M16 putting the story about that Wales is the major cause of climate change Razor. Something to do with a bloke named Harry Secombe I think.
The Mexicans have trade agreements with the US. Trump can’t just slap a tariff on them. They’ll sue the pants off his fat arse. This could turn into the mouse that roared. The Mexicans suggesting Trump can whack the lot up his clacker if push comes to shove. They have many friends in the world. Profit abhors a vacuum.
The Chinese will have trouble keeping a straight face.
Come come Mr Baptiste here we have a politician who is actually going to do what he said he would do and you are offside with that? My goodness the “Rule of Trump” is starting to rattle the old guard, and other assembled fossils. Stand by for an exciting ride as the Trump rocket fires up!
Less than half of US voters, voted for the clown Henry. An exciting ride on the Trump rocket eh?
Unfortunately experimental rocket rides tend to have a short duration.
Let us consider the possibilities Henry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9EnUQltR9A
Interesting video JB. The soundtrack is scarier than the crashes at times.
What a fine example of technician understatement with the Challenger disaster 1986 – ”obviously we have a major malfunction” – sheesh, you can say that again……… alternate truth perhaps?
By that metric, our best President was LBJ with 61.05% and the worst was John Quincy Adams with 30.92%. In fact, only half of our Presidents received an absolute majority. Which is why the system is designed the way it is.
Que? The point made was that Trump is going to do what less than half of those who voted, sanctioned. Your metric is of your own invention.
JB! Comment below, aren’t you using a metric of your own invention? The election was as always decided by Collegiate votes, and Trump won handsomely. Accept and get over it.
BTW, Dwight’s stats are also very revealing, and the suggestion that Trump squeezed his way into the big office is bullshit.
We’re the voters right? Another question, tbd.
Take out the numbers in Beverly Hills (California) and New York you’ll find most people voted for him.
Yes, and take out Texas, Florida and Alabama, you’ll find Clinton won the election. What’s your point?
My point is that’s where the leftist elites reside……you seem to think the rest of America doesn’t count. They’ve just shown the folks in New Yordk and California that they do. Bloody hilarious in my book!
Razor, you seem so fixated on so-called cultural elites that you have overlooked the fact that the real elites — the ones with real money and power — are not “leftist” at all, Trump and his cronies being prime examples.
Weird.
JOH,
Do you mean people like George Soros?
Yvonne 12 :08am
I sat up and watched that blistering game of quality tennis . Nadal was fully tested all the way through the game .
I still can’t go past Roger Federer a true champion over years .
Me too Rodent. It was a fantastic game!
Federer will be happy that match went so long…makes his job a little easier. Bradman final tonite in the Bash of Big Bald.
Yes, I would imagine Federer was sitting with his feet up in his luxury accom loving every minute of it Bassy