“They’re launching drugs not five feet from the wall, or 10 feet from the wall, where a transparent wall would help. They’re launching it 100 feet over the wall, 150 feet over the wall. No amount of transparency is going to help you in that context.” – Brandon Behlendorf , SUNY-Albany homeland security expert
UPDATE (3/16/19): Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly passed H.J. Res 46 , and Trump vetoed it. The House is scheduled to hold a veto override vote on Tuesday, March 26, which will require a 2/3rds majority to pass.
Action – We are watching you. We not interested in wasting money on this boondoggle.
Mitch has already starting musing on cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security at the same time the GOP wants to waste billions of dollars on a project that can be defeated with some pieces of timber and a heavy rock. Or a cannon. Or a shovel. For those who remember we’re in the 21st century, the first drug-smuggling drone was found in 2015.
Minimal Script. I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Rep./Sen. [___] to support an override of Trump’s veto of H.J. Resolution 46, the resolution to terminate Trump’s national emergency declaration. militarizing the border.
More script if you want it: I want the Congress[man/woman]/ Senator to know that in budget upcoming negotiations, we want four essential things: NO WALL FUNDING, NO taking border funding from any domestic or social safety net programs, NO cuts or blocks to legal immigration, refugee or asylum programs, and NO wasting our troop’s time, morale and readiness for real emergencies by marooning them at the border.
Contact (Have your friends and relatives in GOP states call theirs too!)
Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email. (CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
Senator Feinstein: email, DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
and Senator Harris: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884
Who is my representative/senator?: https://whoismyrepresentative.com
Background Update:
“Why would you want to toss billions of dollars on a useless project that would have absolutely zero impact? Zero impact. … It’s not going to stop anything. They’ll tunnel. They’ll punch holes in it and put French doors with stained glass on that wall. They’ll fly over it” (with cheap drones). – Mike Vigil, former head of international operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Trump’s plan was simple, just like his ridiculous wall idea. He would declare a national emergency, use his big-boy sharpie to veto any bill from Congress and get the military to build the wall. Three problems, neatly summarized in blue by justsecurity.org, stand in his way.
- As a factual matter, there is no emergency allowing for him to utilize the military in this manner. Creating a medieval wall, revealed by the El Chapo trial to be completely useless, is just political theater for the 2020 election, as well as a possible profit center.
- The relevant emergency construction authority does not allow him to build a border wall, because the statute requires that the construction be needed to support the use of armed forces, but in this case it would be the other way around. Plus, the military isn’t playing along. (defense news) (Military times)(usatoday)
- “The commandant of the Marines has warned the Pentagon that deployments to the southwest border and funding transfers under the president’s emergency declaration, among other unexpected demands, have posed “unacceptable risk to Marine Corps combat readiness and solvency.” In two internal memos, Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller said the “unplanned/unbudgeted” deployment along the border that President Trump ordered last fall, and shifts of other funds to support border security, had forced him to cancel or reduce planned military training in at least five countries, and delay urgent repairs at bases.”
- The commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard made a similar appeal last week in the wake of reprogramming of funds to immigration enforcement and the lingering effects of the government shutdown.
- Gen. Hawk Carlisle (ret.): “Declaring an emergency for a chronic challenge to leverage defense funds could hyper-politicize the defense budget process. (and) the dangers to capabilities and readiness are too great.“
- The legality of seizing vast swaths of private, state, and tribal land to build a wall along the entire border is highly suspect at best.
Resources
Updated with catapult solution! (4) to a sheet here.
Here’s a great list of other issues from Suit Up Maine, in case you want more ammunition. “17 reasons to oppose the wall”
Get and share our new “Resistance Coloring Book – Stupid Border Wall Edition” here.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 
