After showing up for the funeral of Pope Francis wearing a blue suit instead of the traditional black, Donald Trump received a lecture on the importance of cooperation instead of isolation during the homily for the deceased man.
“In front of hundreds of world leaders attending the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re called for care for migrants, an end to wars, and action on global climate change – Francis’ favourite political themes,” The Associated Press reports.
“Re repeated one of the pope’s strongest criticisms of U.S. President Donald Trump, with Trump himself present in the crowd, by calling to ‘build bridges, not walls.'”
But despite the late pope’s call for unity instead of division, Trump has again ramped up his plans for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. PBS noted that it will be constructed despite concerns over the possible environmental impact.
“A waiver issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allows the federal government to bypass environmental regulations and begin construction to add more barriers along the U.S-Mexico border in Southern California even as illegal crossings have plummeted.”
“Homeland Security said in a statement that the waiver signed by Secretary Kristi Noem will ‘cut through bureaucratic delays.’ Environmentalists decried the move that will forego dozens of laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to evaluate the effects of their actions on the environment.”
Even the conservative Cato Institute says the border wall is a stupid idea.
“Fences or walls obstruct crossers’ paths, cutting off a straight shot into the interior of the country. But a barrier is not the permanent object that some people imagine. Natural events can knock down parts of a border fence. One storm in Texas left a hole for months. Fences and walls can also erode near rivers or beaches, as the one in San Diego did. And they can be penetrated: Some fencing can be cut in minutes, and the Border Patrol reported repairing more than 4,000 holes in one year alone. They neglected to mention whether that number equaled that year’s number of breaches.”
“Much of the current fencing can be easily mounted with a ladder or from the roof of a truck. In some cases, border crossers can scale the fence without any additional equipment. One viral video from 2010 shows two women easily climbing an 18-foot steel bollard-style pedestrian fence in less than 20 seconds. Smugglers can even drive over the fence using ramps, a fact that was discovered only when a couple of foolish drug entrepreneurs managed to get their SUV stuck on top. (They took the dope and split.)”
Unforunately, the braying jackass in the blue suit is too hardheaded and foolish to listen to common sense.
It’s too bad we can’t build a wall around Donald and keep him from the rest of humanity. The world would be a better place if that happened.
