https://media1.s-nbcnews.com

#USA #coronavirus #fascistovirus #stratégie_du_choc #surveillance

Voir compile des effets délétères indirects de la pandémie :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/832147

Nous ne sommes pas en guerre, les marins n’ont pas à mourir.

Le commandant de l’USS Theodore Roosevelt.

 » Mais l’#honneur de la marine nationale étant en jeu... »| Euronews
▻https://fr.euronews.com/2020/04/02/en-infectant-le-porte-avions-roosevelt-le-coronavirus-affaiblit-la-puis

https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/04/60/43/60/1000x563_cmsv2_a3778fb7-2aec-52b1-8d9b-5f5d09c1ea6b-4604360.jpg

Mais l’honneur de la marine nationale étant en jeu, le ministre américain de la Défense, Mark Esper, refusant toute évacuation, avait aussitôt rétorqué :

« Nous avons une mission : notre mission est de protéger les Etats-Unis et notre peuple (...) Nous vivons dans des quartiers étroits, que ce soit à bord d’un porte-avions, d’un sous-marin, d’un char ou d’un bombardier, c’est comme ça ! »

#etats-unis

Navy relieves captain who raised alarm about coronavirus outbreak on aircraft carrier
▻https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/navy-expected-relieve-captain-who-raised-alarm-about-covid-19-n1175351

https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/i/newscms/2020_13/3284881/200326-uss-theodore-roosevelt-ew-203p_3917c8607fff625be0c3fb29084acd20.jpg

Capt. Brett Crozier, who commands the Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier with a crew of nearly 5,000, was relieved of his command on Thursday, but he will keep his rank and remain in the Navy.

On ne tue pas comme en Chine, on laisse les gens se suicider.

Le commandant du Roosevelt limogé après avoir alerté sur la COVID-19 à bord
▻https://www.lapresse.ca/international/etats-unis/202004/02/01-5267704-le-commandant-du-roosevelt-limoge-apres-avoir-alerte-sur-la-covi

https://mobile-img.lpcdn.ca/lpca/924x/r3996/1b501ca6/2587f4ba-752a-11ea-b33c-02fe89184577.jpg

Le secrétaire à l’US Navy a souligné que ce n’était pas le fait que le commandant du porte-avions ait lancé une alerte qui méritait son limogeage, mais le fait qu’il ait envoyé un courriel aussi alarmiste au commandement régional avec une trentaine de personnes en copie.

C’est ce qui a apparemment permis que la lettre soit parvenue au San Francisco Chronicle, a-t-il ajouté sans accuser directement le commandant de l’avoir fait fuiter lui-même.

▻https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1246079032158019589/pu/vid/360x778/DRYviwakBE9uBchk.mp4?tag=10

Je serais commandant de la marine états-unienne, je te mettrais l’ensemble de l’équipage du Theodore Roosevelt aux arrêts sans solde pour non respect des règles de distanciation sociale !

N’empêche, quelle sortie !

Exclusive: Navy probe to decide future of fired U.S. carrier commander - Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-navy-exclusive-idUSKBN21L28Q

https://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20200403&t=2&i=1512009741&w=1200&r=LYNXMPEG321JX#.jpg

Even as he is hailed as a hero by his crew, the fired commander of a coronavirus-stricken U.S. aircraft carrier is being reassigned while investigators consider whether he should face disciplinary action, acting U.S. Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told Reuters on Friday.

Captain Brett Crozier was relieved of his command of the Theodore Roosevelt on Thursday after a scathing letter in which he called on the Navy for stronger action to halt the spread of the virus aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was leaked to the media.

Modly said in an interview that the letter was shared too widely and leaked before even he could see it.

But the backlash to Modly’s decision to fire Crozier has been intense. In videos posted online, sailors on the Theodore Roosevelt applauded Crozier and hailed him as a hero, out to defend his crew - even at great personal cost to his career.

“And that’s how you send out one of the greatest captains you ever had,” exclaimed one sailor in a video post, amid thunderous applause and cheering for Crozier as he left the carrier and its 5,000 crew members in Guam.

Modly did not suggest that Crozier’s career was over, saying he thought everyone deserved a chance at “redemption.”

“He’ll get reassigned, he’s not thrown out of the Navy,” Modly said.

But Modly said he did not know if Crozier would face disciplinary action, telling Reuters it would be up to a probe that will look into issues surrounding “communications” and the chain of command that led to the incident.

“I’m not going to direct them to do anything (other) than to investigate the facts to the best of their ability. I cannot exercise undue command influence over that investigation,” he said. Crozier’s firing has become a lightning-rod political issue at a time when the Trump administration is facing intense criticism over its handling of a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 6,000 people across the country, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden accused the Trump administration of poor judgment and said Modly “shot the messenger.”

A group of prominent Democratic senators formally requested on Friday that the Pentagon’s independent Inspector General investigate the firing.

The dismissal, two days after the captain’s letter leaked, demonstrated how the coronavirus has challenged all manner of U.S. institutions, even those accustomed to dangerous and complex missions such as the military.

Crozier’s removal could have a chilling effect on others in the Navy seeking to draw attention to difficulties surrounding coronavirus outbreaks at a time when the Pentagon is withholding some detailed data about infections to avoid undermining the perception of U.S. military readiness for a crisis or conflict.

Reuters first reported last week that the U.S. armed forces would start keeping from the public some data about infections within its ranks.

Le commandant Crozier est positif au covid-19…
… suivi du détail des tensions internes à la Maison Blanche et avec les forces armées autour de cette affaire.
(Trump veut la peau de Crozier, Crozier a le soutien de la quasi-totalité de ce qui porte un uniforme…)

Fired aircraft carrier commander has COVID-19 - World Socialist Web Site
▻https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/06/mili-a06.html

The aircraft carrier commander who urged the evacuation of his ship because of widespread COVID-19 infection has himself tested positive for coronavirus, it was reported Sunday afternoon.
[…]
Another columnist with close ties to the military, onetime Iraq War cheerleader Max Boot, wrote a scathing denunciation of the firing of Crozier from the standpoint of aggrieved military officers.
“The damage that was done to the military by Trump’s decision to pardon suspected war criminals will be compounded by Thursday’s decision to fire the skipper of the Theodore Roosevelt,” he wrote. “The message that the administration is sending to the armed forces is that committing war crimes is acceptable but telling the truth and protecting the personnel under your command is not.”

war crimes : référence à l’affaire E. Gallagher, peu évoquée sur ST p. ex. ►https://seenthis.net/messages/820749

via @dedefensa ▻https://seenthis.net/messages/839605

Le 6 avril, le secrétaire à la marine (par intérim) déblatère sur le réseau de communication interne du porte-avions en critiquant et se moquant du commandant Crozier…
(décidément, ils font tout ce qu’il faut pour se retrouver enduits de goudrons et de plumes #tar_and_feathers)

Suit une description de l’état de la marine états-unienne rappelant les abordages récents où l’on apprend que sur l’un des bâtiments (non nommé) les canonniers ne sont pas capables de savoir où ils tirent…

Seasickness - Covid-19 takes out a warship. The US Navy shoots the messenger | United States | The Economist
▻https://www.economist.com/united-states/2020/04/06/covid-19-takes-out-a-warship-the-us-navy-shoots-the-messenger

HUNDREDS OF CHEERING sailors thronged the cavernous belly of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a 100,000-tonne nuclear-powered aircraft-carrier, crowding around neatly parked jets. “Captain Crozier! Captain Crozier!” they chanted, as the commanding officer, Brett Crozier, walked forlornly down the gangway into a warm Guam evening on April 3rd, bidding farewell to his warship. “Now that’s how you send out one of the greatest captains you ever had,” remarked a sailor in the crowd. The result is the latest civil-military calamity of the Trump administration.

In mid-March the Roosevelt was exercising in the South China Sea, fresh from a visit to Vietnam. Then covid-19 struck. On March 24th three infected sailors were flown off. Three days later the ship docked in Guam, with at least 23 cases. From there, on March 30th, as the virus raged through a crew of over 5,000, Captain Crozier sent an imploring four-page letter to his colleagues. The spread of the disease was “ongoing and accelerating”, he warned. The warship’s confined spaces did not allow for effective quarantine. “We are not at war,” he urged. “Sailors do not need to die.”

At first navy leaders expressed support, insisting that Captain Crozier would not face retaliation for sounding the alarm. A day later he was removed. Thomas Modly, America’s acting secretary of the navy, offered a jumble of reasons. The captain had “undermined the chain of command” and “created...panic on the ship” by copying 20-30 people on his letter. He had created “the perception that the Navy is not on the job, the government’s not on the job.” And he might also have “emboldened our adversaries to seek advantage”.

Then, in an intemperate and rambling speech aboard the Roosevelt on April 6th, Mr Modly told its crew that Captain Crozier had either deliberately leaked the letter to the media, or was “too naive or too stupid to be a commanding officer”. Mr Modly mockingly called the captain—who remains a serving officer—a “martyr” and accused him of “betrayal”. He complained that “it’s now become a big controversy in Washington, DC” and told sailors, who are supposed to remain non-partisan, that “the media has an agenda”.

Mr Modly’s remarks, which were piped over the ship’s intercom and, ironically, promptly leaked to the media, were met with incredulity on the ship. They came a day after Captain Crozier was reported to have tested positive for covid-19 and reinforced the sense that his offence was to have embarrassed the administration rather than violated protocol or undermined readiness. The decision “smacks of politics rather than military discipline,” says Jim Golby, an expert on civil-military relations and a serving army officer. “It’s notable that the military officers in the chain of command appear to have recommended against his removal.”

Even before this episode, it was clear that America’s globe-girdling navy was not in tip-top shape. In January the Pentagon’s Inspector General scrutinised a dozen destroyers and found deficiencies with training. In one case it concluded that “the ship will not be able to conduct gunnery support”—including trifling matters “such as identifying where the ship is shooting”. That came on top of several troubled years for the navy.

Shoddy seamanship in the Seventh Fleet, based in Japan, resulted in two warship collisions that killed 17 people in 2017. “The navy selectively punished people,” says a former admiral. “The people at the very top who made the most egregious decisions got promoted or moved to new jobs.” The Seventh Fleet was also rocked by a separate corruption scandal, leading to reprimands for at least ten captains and admirals, and the first-ever conviction of a serving admiral for a federal crime.

The fleet is also ageing: 57% of ships are more than 20 years old. Crumbling shipyards and the relentless pace of operations have made it harder to maintain them. The navy is also short of more than 6,000 sailors—with recruitment, retention and morale unlikely to be helped by the sacking of officers who stand up for sick sailors. “Without increased and sustained funding...the readiness of the Navy’s fleet will remain compromised,” concluded a report by the Heritage Foundation, a think-tank, last year.

Then came covid-19. Though the Pentagon has stopped publishing infection numbers for individual ships, the disease has spread on several vessels. Cramped quarters on board make social distancing impractical. “It is a Petri dish of virus,” says a former carrier strike group commander. Sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, a carrier moored in Japan, have also tested positive. That does not mean America’s fleet would be paralysed in a crisis—warships can lose much of their crew and remain viable in wartime—but it may keep many in port.

Mr Modly himself is only in charge of the navy because of the last mess. In November his predecessor, Richard Spencer, was fired after resisting what he called Donald Trump’s “shocking and unprecedented intervention” in the case of a Navy Seal who had been accused of war crimes. In a parting letter to the president, Mr Spencer said that this meddling had put at risk “good order and discipline”. War crimes, it turns out, can be smoothed over. Causing a stir in Washington is another matter.■

Bon, c’est bien ce qu’a dit Thomas Modly, mais il pense (et a toujours pensé) le contraire…

Navy chief apologizes for slamming carrier captain as ’naive’ and ’stupid’ - SFChronicle.com
▻https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Navy-chief-blasts-air-carrier-captain-as-too-15181872.php

https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/11/37/44/19265844/7/rawImage.jpg

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly denounced the former commanding officer of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt Monday as either “too naive or too stupid” to be at the helm, according to a recording of the speech to the ship’s crew obtained by The Chronicle.

Then, after a daylong torrent of criticism over the recorded remarks that included congressional calls for his resignation, Modly flip-flopped and apologized Monday night.

“Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naive nor stupid. I think, and always believed him to be the opposite,” Modly said in a statement. He apologized to the Navy, Crozier, “his family, and the entire crew of the Theodore Roosevelt for any pain my remarks may have caused.”

Le secrétaire à la marine (par intérim) Modly est viré…
… pardon, démissionne.

’I own it :’ U.S. Navy secretary resigns over handling of coronavirus-hit carrier - Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-navy-idUSKBN21P333

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned on Tuesday after he faced mounting backlash for firing and ridiculing the commander of a U.S. aircraft carrier who pleaded for help stemming a coronavirus outbreak onboard.

Modly’s resignation highlighted the U.S. military’s struggle to meet increasingly competing priorities: maintaining readiness for conflict and safeguarding servicemembers as the virus spreads globally.

The episode deepened upheaval in Navy leadership. The Navy’s last secretary was fired in November over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL convicted of battlefield misconduct. The Navy SEAL had won the support of President Donald Trump.

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced Modly’s resignation on Twitter, saying the Navy’s top civilian had “resigned of his own accord.” Trump concurred, saying it was a selfless act and adding he had nothing to do with it.

“The whole thing was … very unfortunate,” Trump said at the White House.

Modly’s resignation occurred only after mounting pressure from Congress and a backlash from the crew, and followed Trump’s own suggestion on Monday that he might get involved in the crisis — saying the Navy captain whom Modly fired was also a good man.

“I briefed President Trump after my conversation with Secretary Modly,” Esper said, as he named an Army Undersecretary Jim McPherson to replace Modly as acting Navy secretary.

In a note to sailors, Modly said he took responsibility for events over the past few days.

“It is not just missiles that can take us down, words can do it too, if we aren’t careful with how and when we use them,” Modly said.

“It’s my fault. I own it.”

Captain Brett Crozier, whom Modly relieved of command last week, favored more dramatic steps to safeguard his sailors aboard the Theodore Roosevelt in a four-page letter that leaked to the public last week.

When Modly fired him over the leak, his crew hailed Crozier as a hero and gave him a rousing sendoff captured on video, apparently upsetting Modly and leading the Navy’s top civilian to fly to Guam to castigate the captain in a speech to the crew on Monday.

Modly questioned Crozier’s character, saying at one point he was either “stupid” or “naive.” After audio of his speech leaked, including expletives, Modly initially stood by his remarks. But later, at Esper’s request, he issued an apology.

Trump appeared to take Modly’s side, saying Crozier had erred with the letter.

“The captain should not have written a letter. He didn’t have to be Ernest Hemingway. He made a mistake, but he had a bad day,” Trump told a news briefing.

‘NOBODY IS GOING TO FORGET’
But the apology was not enough to satisfy critics, who were calling for his resignation.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi added her voice to calls for Modly’s removal.

“Sadly, Acting Secretary Modly’s actions and words demonstrate his failure to prioritize the force protection of our troops,” Pelosi said in a statement.

A fellow Democrat, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, had already called for Modly’s removal.

Modly’s apology also did little to mollify the crew on the carrier.

“He said what he said and nobody is going to forget it,” a sailor on the carrier told Reuters.

Modly made the trip to Guam against the advice of his aides, doubling down on his decision to fire Crozier despite warnings that his trip might make the situation worse.

As of Tuesday, 230 of about 5,000 personnel on the Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for the coronavirus. Navy officials say that sailors on a number of other ships have tested positive too.

The crisis is the biggest facing Navy leadership since two crashes in the Asia Pacific region in 2017 that killed 17 sailors. Those incidents raised questions about Navy training and the pace of operations, prompting a congressional hearing and the removal of a number of officers.

The Republican who leads the Senate Armed Service Committee, Senator Jim Inhofe, said he was concerned about the turmoil in the Navy.

“In this difficult time, the Navy needs leaders now more than ever who can provide continuity and steady, insightful leadership,” he said.

Premier mort du Theodore Roosevelt

U.S. sailor from coronavirus-hit aircraft carrier dies after contracting virus - Reuters
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-navy-idUSKCN21V19F
▻https://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20200413&t=2&i=1514898832&w=1200&r=LYNXNPEG3C0XW

A U.S. Navy sailor died on Monday after contracting the coronavirus, marking the first death of a sailor assigned to the coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
[…]
So far, about 585 sailors aboard the nuclear-powered carrier have tested positive for the coronavirus. About 4,000 sailors have been moved from the carrier to facilities in Guam, where the ship has been docked after the number of cases started increasing.
[…]
This marks the first death of a sailor in the Navy, which so far has had almost 900 sailors test positive for the virus. The sailor is also the first active-duty U.S. service member to die from the virus.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that four additional sailors from the carrier had been taken to the hospital to be monitored. The officials said the sailors were in stable condition.

Throwing Money at the Wall: An Overview of the Trump Administration’s Border Wall Funding Requests

We’re now about 70 days into the Trump administration, and reality is beginning to set in about one of the new President’s signature campaign promises: a “big, beautiful wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border.

▻https://www.wola.org/analysis/throwing-money-wall-overview-trump-administrations-border-wall-funding-requests/#data

A Full Border Wall With Mexico? ‘Unlikely,’ Homeland Security Chief Says

WASHINGTON — John F. Kelly, the homeland security secretary, said Wednesday that it was doubtful that a wall along the full border with Mexico would ever be built, despite an oft-repeated campaign promise by President Trump.

▻https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/politics/john-kelly-homeland-security-border-wall-mexico.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Dems winning fight over wall

Despite President Trump’s request for more than $1 billion to fund the Mexican border wall this year, GOP leaders are expected to exclude the money in the spending bill being prepared to keep the government open beyond April 28.

▻http://thehill.com/latino/327916-dems-winning-fight-over-wall

Poll: More than 6 in 10 Texans oppose border wall

Sixty-one percent of adult citizens living in Texas oppose President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a poll the nonprofit, nonpartisan Texas Lyceum released Tuesday.

▻http://thehill.com/homenews/news/329345-poll-over-6-in-10-texans-oppose-border-wall
#sondage

No Congress members along Mexico border support funding Trump’s wall

No member of Congress who represents districts on the U.S.-Mexico border support funding President Trump’s signature border wall, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

http://thehill.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumb_small_article/public/article_images/mexicoborderwall_042117getty.jpg?itok=zZSZuAPS#.jpg

L’administration Trump veut financer son mur, coûte que coûte

L’administration du président Donald Trump a réaffirmé dimanche que le financement de son mur à la frontière mexicaine est une condition à l’approbation du budget américain, quitte à risquer une paralysie du gouvernement en cas d’échec des négociations.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/ladministration-trump-veut-financer-son-mur-coute-que-coute.a

These border towns could be first to get Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ wall

Despite more than a year of campaign rhetoric about a “big, beautiful wall” spanning the entirety of the southern border, the Trump administration plans to start with a much less ambitious footprint focusing only on the most highly trafficked corridors, according to a Department of Homeland Security planning document.

▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/04/24/homeland-security-picked-these-high-priority-towns-to-get-trumps-wal

GOP drops US-Mexico wall demands as spending talks advance

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional negotiators on Tuesday inched toward a potential agreement on a catchall spending bill that would deny President Donald Trump’s request for immediate funding to construct a wall along the Mexico border. The emerging measure would increase the defense budget and eliminate the threat of a government shutdown on Trump’s 100th day in office this Saturday.

▻http://wtop.com/government/2017/04/govt-shutdown-health-bill-rescue-at-stake-in-congress

Le Congrès américain dope le budget Défense, pas un dollar pour le mur

Les négociateurs du Congrès américain se sont mis d’accord pour doper le budget de la Défense, comme le réclamait le président Donald Trump, mais ils n’ont pas accédé à sa demande de financer la construction d’un mur à la frontière mexicaine.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/le-congres-americain-dope-le-budget-defense-pas-un-dollar-pou

Why Trump’s wall won’t stretch ‘from sea to shining sea’

Over the past few weeks, Trump’s pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border has run into political and logistical problems, raising questions about how much will be funded and built. An April 30 deal to fund the government through September excluded funds for Trump’s wall. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) anticipated in an interview to CNN that a funding plan without the wall will be challenged: “You are going to see a lot of conservatives against this plan this week.”

▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/100-days-wall

Omnibus Includes No Funding for Border Wall; But $1.1B for ‘Border Security Technologies’

(CNSNews.com) - The omnibus spending bill posted online early on May 1 gives the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) a total of $42.4 billion in discretionary funding for the remainder of fiscal year 2017, an increase of $1.45 billion above the fiscal year 2016 enacted level.

▻http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/omnibus-includes-no-funding-border-wall-11b-border-security-technologies

Trump budget seeks $1.6B for ’bricks and mortar’ for border wall

President Trump’s 2018 budget plan would set aside $1.6 billion on “bricks and mortar” for a border wall, CNN reported Tuesday — an amount that’s likely to fund only a small part of the wall Trump envisioned on the campaign trail.

▻http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/334688-trump-budget-plan-seeks-16-billion-for-border-wall

Mur à la frontière mexicaine : comment Trump a voulu convaincre Pena Nieto

Selon la transcription obtenue par le Washington Post (lien en anglais), le président américain tente de convaincre son homologue d’arrêter de critiquer publiquement le mur et d’affirmer que le Mexique ne le financerait pas. « Vous ne pouvez pas dire ça à la presse (…) Je dois obtenir que le Mexique paie le mur. Je le dois (…) J’en parle depuis deux ans », assène le président américain, avant d’expliquer à son interlocuteur qu’il sait comment construire à bon marché et que ce serait « un beau mur ».

▻http://www.rfi.fr/ameriques/20170803-mur-frontiere-mexique-trump-supplie-pena-nieto-entretien-washington-pos

L’article dans le Washington post :
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/you-cannot-say-that-to-the-press-trump-urged-mexican-president-to-end-his-public-defiance-on-border-wall-transcript-reveals/2017/08/03/0c2c0a4e-7610-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table

Being Moody: How a bill becomes a wall

Donald Trump has made building a wall along the border with Mexico a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. He’d have to go through Washington first.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOawRMJecuY

Trump Fences Himself In With Border Wall Spending Threat

WASHINGTON — President Trump handed Democrats a gift this week with his vow to shut down the government if he doesn’t soon get money for his border wall.

▻https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/us/politics/trump-wall-government-shutdown-congress.html?action=click&module=Top

Trump persiste sur le mur frontalier : Mexico paiera d’une manière ou d’une autre

Les États-Unis doivent construire un mur anti-immigrés à la frontière mexicaine et le Mexique paiera la facture d’une manière ou d’une autre, a réaffirmé dimanche Donald Trump avant un débat difficile au Congrès sur cette priorité du président américain.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/trump-persiste-sur-le-mur-frontalier-mexico-paiera-dune-manie

Trump reportedly backs off government shutdown threat over border wall funding

President Donald Trump said last month he would be willing to shut down the government if a funding bill did not include money for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

▻https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/01/trump-reportedly-changes-stance-on-shutt.html

Border wall contractor once paid $3 million to settle federal fraud investigation

One of the four companies picked by the Trump administration this week for its Mexico border wall prototype paid more than $3 million to settle a Justice Department criminal investigation into whether it defrauded the U.S. government through its participation in a federal “mentor-protégé” program to help disadvantaged small business contractors, records show.

The firm, #Caddell_Construction_Company Inc., a major commercial and industrial federal government construction contractor based in Montgomery, Alabama, did not admit wrongdoing in the 2012 case.

▻http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/01/trump-border-wall-fraud-investigation-caddell-construction-242270

#Caddell #fraude #corruption

États-Unis. Le mur de Trump n’est pas près d’être achevé

USA Today a déployé de gros moyens pour enquêter sur le projet d’un mur courant sur toute la frontière avec le Mexique. Verdict : les obstacles sont considérables, tant sur le plan politique que légal et logistique.

▻http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/etats-unis-le-mur-de-trump-nest-pas-pres-detre-acheve

Here Are the Makings of Trump’s Border Wall

This is the start of something.

Here are among the first photos of prototypes for President Donald Trump’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall — actually two walls — that are being constructed near San Diego.

Four prototypes are being made of concrete for the wall the will face the U.S. And four others for the wall that faces Mexico will be made of other materials that allow that wall to be seen through. Six contractors were hired to construct the eight prototypes, which will range from 18-30 feet high.

https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_39/2170231/170927-border-wall-jhc-1752_7a181ebb81a8b8d4a262a39e24b63786.nbcnews-fp-1200-800.jpg https://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2017_39/2155081/170914-border-wall-concept-ac-502p_ff9b5feba2363687e662ae4241fc6e07.nbcnews-ux-600-480.jpg

’The last stronghold’

In remote #Starr_County, federal agents say a wall will slow smuggling as landowners and nature tourists question the need for a border barrier.

▻http://specials.mystatesman.com/starr-county-border-wall

Trump Insists Border Wall Money Must Be Part of #DACA Deal

“The Democrats have been told, and fully understand, that there can be no DACA without the desperately needed WALL at the Southern Border and an END to the horrible Chain Migration & ridiculous Lottery System of Immigration,” Trump said in a Twitter message Friday from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

▻https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-29/trump-insists-border-wall-funding-must-be-part-of-any-daca-deal?cmpid=soc

How Donald Trump’s border wall fared in the $1.3 trillion spending bill he just signed

“We funded the initial down payment of $1.6 billion,” Trump said of border wall funding Friday. "We’re going to be starting work – literally – on Monday on not only some new wall ... but also fixing existing walls.”

▻https://www.texastribune.org/2018/03/23/donald-trump-border-wall-16-million-funding-restrictions-attached

Trump suggests the military might build the border wall

President Trump hinted in a tweet on Sunday that the military could be tasked with building a wall on the Mexican border after a $1.3 trillion spending bill failed to include the funds he sought to erect the structure.

“Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich,” Trump wrote in a posting about the increase in military spending. “Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!”

▻https://nypost.com/2018/03/25/trump-suggests-the-military-might-build-the-border-wall

Proposal to use Pentagon funds for border wall is ill advised

The Fiscal Year 2018 Omnibus Appropriations bill includes some funding for so-called “border security” but not as much as the president wanted. At the start of negotiations for the omnibus, he requested $1.6 billion for 74 miles of new wall barriers plus $1.1 billion for border security technology.

▻http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/homeland-security/380807-proposal-to-use-pentagon-funds-for-border-wall-is-ill

Who Owns the Border?

Before Trump’s wall can be built, landowners need to agree. Not all of them are enthusiastic about it.

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▻https://altaonline.com/who-owns-the-border

Government officials meet with Starr County leaders about border wall’s location

Starr County residents will soon find out how border wall construction will affect them.

That’s because notices for landowners in the western edge of the Rio Grande Valley will begin arriving in about three weeks, according to Roma Mayor Roberto Salinas.

Salinas said that information was conveyed to him and several officials from other cities in the county Monday during a meeting with U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Last week, CBP and Border Patrol officials confirmed that landowners in Hidalgo and Starr counties would “immediately” begin receiving notices regarding construction along the U.S.-Mexico border as it pertains to their land.

The meeting Monday with Starr County leaders was directly related to that announcement last week — in which CBP and U.S. Army Corp of Engineers officials said they would begin reaching out to landowners in the Valley to conduct “#Rights_of_Entry_for_Survey,” or (#ROE-S), in order to commence the real estate, environmental and design processes for the border infrastructure projects that were funded in CBP’s 2018 fiscal year plan.

“The #Rio_Grande_Valley sector is slated for 25 miles of new levee wall along the Rio Grande River and 8 to 12 miles of bollard wall in Starr County, #Texas — closing gaps along the border in the RGV sector is also part of the border wall project,” CBP announced following the omnibus bill’s passage at the end of March.

According to Salinas, landowners in the Starr County area will receive notification from the federal government within three weeks regarding the segment of wall and fencing in the county.

Salinas said he and other city officials were told during the meeting that the wall construction would begin east of the Fronton area and extend 5.5 miles into #Escobares, but uncertainty remains regarding the downtown area.

Border Patrol spokesman Daniel Tirado confirmed Monday’s meeting with Starr County leaders — stating that RGV Sector personnel met with city officials to provide “the most current information available regarding the proposed infrastructure construction in Starr County.”

“The topic of discussion was the approximately 8-12 miles of border barrier in Starr County and the preliminary barrier alignment proposals which are still pending survey and engineering approval,” Tirado said in an email. “It was also mentioned that potential impacted landowners in Starr County will soon receive a right of entry request letter from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to begin the necessary studies.”

The mayor also said that in addition to himself, he was joined by officials from Rio Grande City, Escobares and La Grulla.

▻http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_c87953b8-47d5-11e8-a2bd-073986b06d8e.html

Congress may snub Trump on wall, risking shutdown

Senate Republicans privately acknowledge that they’re unlikely to pass a funding bill that will satisfy the president.

▻https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/17/trump-border-wall-congress-funding-bill-snub-649563

Congress to push stop-gap funding bill with no border wall money

The U.S. Congress, aiming to avoid a partial government shutdown at the end of this week, began advancing legislation on Wednesday to temporarily fund several federal agencies through Feb. 8, but without money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall that President Donald Trump demanded.

“We’ll soon take up a simple measure that will continue government funding into February so that we can continue this vital (border security) debate after the new Congress has convened” in January, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

A Senate Democratic aide said the appropriations bill, which would keep the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies operating on a temporary basis, was expected to pass the Senate either on Wednesday or Thursday.

The House of Representatives would then have to pass the bill and hope that Trump signs it into law, avoiding a shutdown because existing funding for the agencies will expire at midnight on Friday.

By postponing decisions on spending for the agencies that also includes the departments of Justice, Commerce, Interior and Agriculture, Democrats will be in a somewhat stronger bargaining position next year when they take majority control of the House.

Democrats and many Republicans have challenged the wisdom of giving Trump $5 billion this year, and ultimately a total of at least $24 billion, to build a wall that they argue would be less effective in securing the border than building on a mix of tools already in place.

In a last-ditch attempt to resolve the impasse this year, Trump and McConnell on Tuesday proposed giving Trump a $1 billion fund that he could use at his discretion for border security.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer labeled that a “slush fund” that would lack the votes to pass Congress.

On Wednesday, McConnell attacked Democrats for rejecting it, saying, “It seems like political spite for the president may be winning out over sensible policy.”

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The Ongoing Border-Wall Fight and the Limits of Public Attention

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What with crowing over the end of Robert Mueller’s investigation and vowing revenge on his enemies, President Trump seems to have forgotten all about the national emergency at the southern border that he declared just a few weeks ago. Much of the public has moved on, too. The rest of the government, though, continues to deal with the consequences of Trump’s decision. Earlier this month, the House and Senate voted—with what these days constitutes significant bipartisan support—to block Trump’s declaration, seeing it for what it was: a way for the President to run around Congress and grab billions of dollars for a border wall that lawmakers wouldn’t otherwise give him. Trump then countered Congress with a veto. (“VETO!” he tweeted, as if he were Michael Scott, the boss character on “The Office,” declaring bankruptcy.)

On Tuesday, the House voted on a measure to override Trump’s veto. Democrats hold a thirty-eight-seat majority in the House, and the entire caucus voted for the override, with fourteen Republicans joining them. But the measure fell short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass. Despite more grumbling than usual, congressional Republicans have once again let Trump have his way. Separation of powers, the power of the purse—these things are not worth angering the base over, evidently. And why anger the base if you’ve got the judicial branch as a backstop? The fight over Trump’s national emergency will now move to the courts, where rulings, appeals, and more rulings await. Let judges sort it out.

It’s been three months since Trump shut down the government over border-wall funding, and two months since the shutdown ended. There’s been much else to occupy the public’s attention in the past few weeks: the end of the Mueller investigation, nascent Democratic Presidential campaigns, various congressional inquiries, March Madness. Will the border-wall fight end up like the travel-ban fight, Trump’s other signature effort to reimagine the nation’s borders? In the case of the travel ban, cycles of public outrage and Administration retrenchment gave way to a legal fight that ultimately resulted in the travel ban, if altered, being implemented. Last year, thirty-seven thousand people from eight countries—Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia, and Yemen—were denied visas to the U.S. under the authority of the ban, yet public debate has all but evaporated. The slog of federal legal proceedings is not conducive to sustained public attention. Last month, more than a dozen states sued the Trump Administration over the emergency declaration. The courts are the venue where the border-wall fight is going. Public attention should follow, too.

▻https://www.newyorker.com/news/current/the-ongoing-border-wall-fight-and-the-limits-of-public-attention