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Ya think......? Thank you for at least acknowledging the possibility.
I regret that some of the comments "went beyond PG descriptions" on the Organ Pipe Cactus situation; however, I'm also surprised to read that there is a belief that the actions taken to keep Sylvan Pass open over the winter have somehow been less controversial. I can see how an article written in 2011 would receive less attention because the level of acrimony has diminished with more recent changes to and a diminishment of snowmobile usage in the park. But, winter access through Sylvan Pass and the actions needed to sustain it have been debated and derided, literally for decades, and for some of the same reasons that the Organ Pipe Cactus situation is so controversial today.
Simply put and as the current article amply explains, the cost impacts, safety risks, and landscape damage resulting from what needs to be done to keep that east entrance route open in winter have absolutely never been justified by the number of visitors using it. Only Cody's influence over the state government in Wyoming has kept the practice going, regardless of its unwarranted cost to the taxpayers at large. In the nineties, there were protests and arguments galore and, again, although the acrimony has diminished with diminished snowmobile usage, there is still some lingering animus between the park folks and the Cody crowd, as evidenced by Cody's poorly conceived 2018 efforts to ticket vehicles with park employee stickers that were not also registered in Wyoming.
Similarly, the cost impacts, safety risks, and landscape damage resulting from what is widely known as Trump's border wall are not justified by any problem the wall will ever cost-effectively help to mitigate. Only racist hysteria keeps the wall construction going, regardless of its unwarranted cost to the taxpayers at large.
Yes, much of the animus expressed over both situations is largely politically motivated; but, that's because a similar mindset, a stubborn narcissism, is at the root of both situations. So, what's your point?
SylvanPass accomodates less than 500 people a year in the winter. The boarder is flooded with 10s of thousands of illegal immigrants costing the US economy $10s if not $100s of billion of dollars ever year. Protecting the boarder has nothing to do with narcissism.
I guess I failed to firmly make three key points. First, neither the artillery bombardment of Sylvan Pass, nor Trump's border wall, nor Cody's silly attempt at retribution through ticketing park employees vehicles that were not also registered in Wyoming, none of these ridiculous acts of stubborn meanness serve, will serve, or ever served any purpose worth their moral, ethical, or monetary cost. As has already been pointed out, the bombardment of Sylvan Pass "accomodates less than 500 people" and that's even in a good year. Again, Trump's border (the term used for this kind of border does not contain an "a") wall is really just a maliciously racist symbol intended to intimidate anyone with darker skin, whether they are inside or outside of the country, whether they are a citizen or not. While it does not provide any additional measure of national security, it does send a depressing, oppressing, denigrating, and insulting signal to every person of color that racism is still alive and well in America and wants to menace them in whatever way it can. It undermines a lucrative trade relationship with Latin America (ask Ford) and will actually cost more than it saves. As far as goodwill is concerned, welcome to kindergarten, Maria, would you please stand over there against the wall with the other children of your kind while we check your papers and figure out where to put you? And, Cody's attempt to "stick it" to the park folks did nothing more than reduce business revenues in Cody as that small army of park employees with meager, but fresh, paychecks simply stopped shopping in Cody.
Second, please offer references for your assertion of billions of dollars every year of net costs and remember where to properly include the cost of the wall itself in your calculations (You do understand the concept of net costs? Think hard; is the cost of the wall a debit or a credit?). And, please quote better sources than some segment from Fox News.
Third, the City of Cody, the State of Wyoming, and what is now completely Trump's political party are all overwhelmingly the same political party. That's where the stubborn narcissism comes in.
Rump,
I totally disagree regarding the purpose or effectiveness of the wall. Was it "depressing, oppressing, denigrating, and insulting signal to every person of color that racism is still alive and well in America" when Schumer, Obama, Clinton, Boxer et al where voting for a barrier? No, at that time they understood the need to secure our border and both the economic and security costs of not doing so. They have only flipped because they can't stand that Trump is being so successful. As to effectiveness, do a little research on the "wall" built south of San Diego begining in 1997. In 1997, when the fence construction began, there were 484,000 apprehensions along that section of border. By 2017 that number had dropped to just over 26,000, a reduction of 95%. As to costs, here are some citations:
https://cis.org/Report/Costs-Immigration Estimates net cost of 12 billion in 1992
https://www.heritage.org/immigration/report/the-fiscal-cost-unlawful-imm... $54 billion in 2013
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/439930-your-taxpayer-dollars-are... "Our dutiful firefighters in the mainstream press fact checked each word and called his $250 billion figure an exaggeration. However, looking at the substance of his argument shows that he was likely on the mark."
https://www.irli.org/post/2017/09/27/new-fair-study-illegal-immigration-... $116 billion.
All of the estimates far exceed the few billion being spent on a wall.
Wow, now I finally understand why people cry so much about racism. Until reading the comments here I never realized that despite being pigmentally challenged, I myself have been a repeated victim. I’ve experienced it in multiple countries including Mexico of all places! While I don’t specifically recall being told to stand in front of a wall I admit I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I had. I can say with absolute certainty I was required to stand in line with multiple other victims and forced to show my papers and even on occasion singled out and suffered through humiliating searches. Of course most of us were too ignorant at the time to realize this was racism or to even be humiliated. Silly me thought they were just making sure I wasn’t a wanted criminal or smuggling prohibited items in and out of their countries or that I hadn’t stayed longer than I was allowed (talk about racist right?). I will be wiser from now on.
As for that lucrative trade being disrupted, is it the human trafficking or the illegal drug trade that I should be the most concerned about? Because those are the only two a wall will negatively impact.
Oh gosh, this whole situation has brought me to tears; now I'm crying like a baby. People can't even take vacations anymore? It's outrageous.
Sorry for the delay, but GRBA's Year in Review 2019 can be found at: http://npshistory.com/publications/grba/yir-2019.pdf
Thanks Randy. It was too big for us to attach to the story.