An 18-foot replica of Donald Trump's border wall has been scaled in a matter of seconds by novice climbers, an eight-year-old girl, and a man who returned for another attempt while juggling with one hand.
The US president described his wall as "virtually impenetrable" during a trip to the US-Mexico border in September, claiming 20 "world class" mountain climbers had told him his chosen prototype was difficult to climb.
"We had 20 mountain climbers. That's all they do, they love to climb mountains … some of them were champions," Mr Trump said. "And we gave them different prototypes of walls, and this was the one that was hardest to climb … this wall can't be climbed."
quote:
No one in our climbing community knows any of these 20 mountaineers. I doubt if they exist," he wrote. "More importantly, to declare something to be impossible to climb to a bona fide rock climber is to issue a challenge.
"So, I decided to build an exact replica and hold a competition."
Ahead of the official competition, several people had already managed to climb the wall.
Among these was eight-year-old Lucy Hancock, who climbed the replica using a belay - a rope that acts as a safety measure, rather than an aid. Footage showed her scaling the majority of the wall in little more than a minute.
quote:
Erik Kloeker, a 29-year-old climbing guide and property manager at Muir Valley who told The Courier Journal he had been climbing for nine years, climbed the structure in about 30 seconds in a demonstration.
"The border wall that they're building could be climbed pretty easily," said Mr Kloeker, who juggled several items in one hand during repeat attempts.
Smuggling gangs in Mexico have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump’s border wall in recent months by using commercially available power tools, opening gaps large enough for people and drug loads to pass through, according to U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the damage.
The breaches have been made using a popular cordless household tool known as a reciprocating saw that retails at hardware stores for as little as $100. When fitted with specialized blades, the saws can slice through one of the barrier’s steel-and-concrete bollards in a matter of minutes, according to the agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the barrier-defeating techniques.
After cutting through the base of a single bollard, smugglers can push the steel out of the way, allowing an adult to fit through the gap. Because the bollards are so tall — and are attached only to a panel at the very top — their length makes them easier to push aside once they have been cut and are left dangling, according to engineers consulted by The Washington Post.
The taxpayer-funded barrier — so far coming with a $10 billion price tag — was a central theme of Trump’s 2016 campaign, and he has made the project a physical symbol of his presidency, touting its construction progress in speeches, ads and tweets. Trump has increasingly boasted to crowds in recent weeks about the superlative properties of the barrier, calling it “virtually impenetrable” and likening the structure to a “Rolls-Royce” that border-crossers cannot get over, under or through.
The smuggling crews have been using other techniques, such as building makeshift ladders to scale and overtop the barriers, especially in the popular smuggling areas in and around San Diego, according to nearly a dozen U.S. agents and current and former administration officials.
-------------------------------- “It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray
Posts: 13890 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005
It would be funny (and enjoyable payback) if it hadn't cost so damned much in $ and wasted governmental momentum. Those resources could have done so much good.
Somehow reminds me of one of Mao's crazy extravagances that turned out to be a catastrophic waste. Anybody remenber how he killed most of China's sparrows supposedly to save grain, only to cause a famine that killed somewhere between 16 - 75 million people, many from cannibalism? (Seems the sparrows also ate pest insects.)
Much more costly, but same idea - showing how dictators (close, with Trump) with "genius ideas" can cause disasters wasting precious capital, human and other.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested early Sunday morning on suspicion of using a remote control car to transport methamphetamine across the border near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, authorities said.
Border Patrol agents believe someone on the south side of the U.S.-Mexico border was able to slip the drug-laden car through a gap in the bollard-style fencing and then drive it to the teen waiting on the north side of the fence, said Border Patrol spokesman Theron Francisco.
