Border Wall and Wildlife

[Brendan]

Good Nat Geo video if you haven't seen it. Obviously has an "angle", but great footage and talks about this issue

 

[eamyrick]

What areas do big horn sheep migrate back and forth across the border? I’ve worked on border in remote areas and never witnessed this.

I did not know black bear, whitetail deer, cougar, mule deer were endangered. If they are so endangered why do we have hunting seasons for these animals??

Thanks for the response. We are seeing Black Bear again in Texas and there are no seasons on these. Their populations in Texas are endangered though nationally they are definetly healthy. Big Horns utilize the river for water and have been spotted there as growing populations in the mountains spread out. Ideally they would be throughout their native ranges which include the mountains along the river.

 

[MtGomer]

The drug thing - why legalize it? You want to make it easier for folks to become addicts? If the government wanted to keep the drugs out they could but lots of money in it. Corruption at its finest.

No, I don’t want my country 22T in debt to waste tens of billions more on a losing, 50 year old war that is unwinnable. Prohibition doesn’t work. Never has, never will. Its A great excuse to grow a militarized police state and enrich evil criminals in the cartel though.

I wonder why they’re not smuggling other dangerous drugs like whiskey and killing people over it? Same reason they’re not smuggling Snickers. Because it’s legal.

Ending the drug war would do more to stabilize countries torn apart by narco trafficking and make our border safer than anything. Never happen though. As Chapo’s trial shows-like you say, too much money in it. Going straight from the cartels into the pockets of American bureaucrats and politicians.

 

[Shrek]

The border wall can be built right now regardless of environmental laws. 9th circuit just upheld that the President can waive the laws to build the wall. If you’re not familiar the 9th is the most “liberal” court and would be looking to block the president. If the administration has prevailed in the 9th it will prevail in the SCOTUS.

 

[Okhotnik]

Snickers and meth? Both the same?

No, I don’t want my country 22T in debt to waste tens of billions more on a losing, 50 year old war that is unwinnable. Prohibition doesn’t work. Never has, never will. Its A great excuse to grow a militarized police state and enrich evil criminals in the cartel though.

I wonder why they’re not smuggling other dangerous drugs like whiskey and killing people over it? Same reason they’re not smuggling Snickers. Because it’s legal.

Ending the drug war would do more to stabilize countries torn apart by narco trafficking and make our border safer than anything. Never happen though. As Chapo’s trial shows-like you say, too much money in it. Going straight from the cartels into the pockets of American bureaucrats and politicians.

 

[Shrek]

No, I don’t want my country 22T in debt to waste tens of billions more on a losing, 50 year old war that is unwinnable. Prohibition doesn’t work. Never has, never will. Its A great excuse to grow a militarized police state and enrich evil criminals in the cartel though.

I wonder why they’re not smuggling other dangerous drugs like whiskey and killing people over it? Same reason they’re not smuggling Snickers. Because it’s legal.

Ending the drug war would do more to stabilize countries torn apart by narco trafficking and make our border safer than anything. Never happen though. As Chapo’s trial shows-like you say, too much money in it. Going straight from the cartels into the pockets of American bureaucrats and politicians.

This is truth ! Nothing has eroded our freedom like the war on drugs ! You cannot save people from themselves. I am for banning the use of Narcan. Addicts need to be allowed to die.

 

[Shrek]

Snickers and meth? Both the same?

Yes as far as smugglers and dealers are concerned. If snickers bars were banned and there was a lucrative black market for snickers there would be snickers bar smuggling. Markets work regardless of regulation. If there’s demand at a profitable price it will be met.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Wildlife takes precidents over Immigration(Jaguars).
Was taught in school that America is a melting pot of peoples.
Ever watch Sesame Street?

 

[Eric4]

The drug thing - why legalize it? You want to make it easier for folks to become addicts? If the government wanted to keep the drugs out they could but lots of money in it. Corruption at its finest.

Drugs are more potent, accessible, and cheaper than they've ever been. Making something illegal doesn't effect the demand, it just requires someone or a gang willing to take that risk. These gangs now have funding from their market. Add in the fact that we have the largest prison population and the highest incarceration rate in the world, many of them nonviolent drug offenders. It seems apparent that the 'war' has failed unless you're in the private prison industry.

 

[Rich M]

I do see the problem with drug trafficking, just don't see how legalizing meth or such will result in less usage & problems.

Alcohol and candy don't addict folks the first time they try it. Have heard that some drugs do.

It is a mess.

 

[MattB]

The wall isn't to control drugs (as stated, most come through ports of entry), it is to control illegal immigration. That can be accomplished virtually, no wall needed. Our government just doesn't have the will.

 

[Shrek]

Wildlife takes precidents over Immigration(Jaguars).
Was taught in school that America is a melting pot of peoples.
Ever watch Sesame Street?

You were fed a partial truth. Up until 1965 the overwhelming majority of immigrants were white culturally Christian Europeans of different nationalities. Basically we were culturally similar and once English was learned we melted into a common American identity. Not so today and immigration is tearing America culturally apart now.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Hense The Melting Pot'You just stated it yourself,Did You Not?

 

[Shrek]

The wall isn't to control drugs (as stated, most come through ports of entry), it is to control illegal immigration. That can be accomplished virtually, no wall needed. Our government just doesn't have the will.

Better than any wall would be making it a felony to hire an illegal alien with huge fines for corporations. E-Varify and a prohibition on any welfare assistance. That would end illegal immigration and walls would be much less important.

 

[eamyrick]

As I figured this turns into a drug/immigration debate where people are ideologically rooted in one side or the other. My views have changed drastically working LE in Texas for the last 10 years where much of my focus has been narcotics and human trafficking.

My goal was to illuminate the wildlife/hunting loss the wall would cause not to mention one of the largest, if not the largest, public access land issues in US history. (waterways in Texas are public use)

 

[Poser]

As I figured this turns into a drug/immigration debate where people are ideologically rooted in one side or the other. My views have changed drastically working LE in Texas for the last 10 years where much of my focus has been narcotics and human trafficking.

My goal was to illuminate the wildlife/hunting loss the wall would cause not to mention one of the largest, if not the largest, public access land issues in US history. (waterways in Texas are public use)

Well, that’s the thing about the Trumpian hardliners: Trump told them they would get their wall and, Goddamnit, they want that wall no matter what -anything else, including logic and reason be damned. A wall is tangible and their minds seem to be incapable of grasping any solution that’s not immediate and physically perceptible. The wall seems like a very simple solution to a very complex and ever changing problem, ignoring that it’s a archaic solution and making lazy, half-wit analogies to backyard fences and drywall houses with sliding doors as examples of effectiveness.

 

[ColoradoBackpackHunter]

There was a genetic study done on a butterfly that has adapted to and become specialized to inhabit an area that relates to running water as well as containing 2 specific plants that it nectars and plants its eggs in. Through the genetic work it was found that there are two distinct genetic populations that occur above and below a dam in the river indicating that genetic flow was impeded by this dam. You wouldn't think something that has the ability to fly would find a dam as a barrier but due to the habitat needs it appears as if it doesn't move far enough out of this goldilocks zone to interact with the opposite population. I won't touch the political side but just something to stew on.

 

[JWP58]

Ok I'll make this pretty simple. People vs. Wildlife. What's more important to you? The little Guatemalan girl that's being drug across the desert or a mule deer?

I think it's an easy answer.

 

[MuleyFever]

And a wall that takes a few minutes to cut through is going to stop a criminal human trafficking? Or the many tunnels that will go under it. The existing wall, which does not even cover the border, that people can go around has been breached over 9000 times in 5 years. Sounds like 10's of billions would be better spent on other ways to stop illegal immigration.

 

[Broomd]

There was a genetic study done on a butterfly that has adapted to and become specialized to inhabit an area that relates to running water as well as containing 2 specific plants that it nectars and plants its eggs in. Through the genetic work it was found that there are two distinct genetic populations that occur above and below a dam in the river indicating that genetic flow was impeded by this dam. You wouldn't think something that has the ability to fly would find a dam as a barrier but due to the habitat needs it appears as if it doesn't move far enough out of this goldilocks zone to interact with the opposite population. I won't touch the political side but just something to stew on.

It adapted once.....just sayin'....