{"id":404,"date":"2019-02-18T15:58:22","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malvinartley.com\/blog.malvinartley.com\/?p=404"},"modified":"2019-02-18T15:58:22","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:58:22","slug":"the-border-wall-and-other-tall-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malvinartley.com\/blog.malvinartley.com\/2019\/02\/18\/the-border-wall-and-other-tall-tales\/","title":{"rendered":"The border wall and other tall tales"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apparently we have a national emergency on the southern US border, necessitating funding for the completion of a border wall. That\u2019s the story we are given from the Trump administration, anyway. But there seems to be some debate about the issue. Some people appear to question whether or not there is actually a national emergency, but more than that, if a wall is even necessary, or even if Trump has the authority to declare such an emergency. And, is this simply an election stunt? So many questions. So much media coverage. As is usually the case with such hyperbole, though, what is being sidelined in the process? Where should we really be looking? It would pay us to have a look at these other things, and not so much at the border wall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Trump made his announcement<\/a><\/span> about the \u2018national emergency\u2019 at 11:01 am EST in Washington. The transits to the US chart are below (bigger<\/a><\/span>), which we will discuss in due course. However, we have quotes around the term \u2018national emergency\u2019 because it really is seriously questionable as to whether we have such at the southern border in the US at the moment. Instead, how about things like the crises in our foreign policy, the opioid crisis, the state of the environment, the widening wealth gap and so forth \u2013 you know, things that really are or should be considered as national emergencies?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Trump\u2019s announcement has been pointed to by some sources<\/a><\/span> as provoking a constitutional crisis. Maybe, but the astrology says something quite different. In terms of real constitutional crises, like the Civil War, for instance, this little episode doesn\u2019t even come close. Such media coverage serves to highlight the hyperbole involved with the present political climate in the US and the anti-Trump sentiments we see in many media sources. There have been several<\/a><\/span> true constitutional crises in the history of the US, and we can list them here, along with links to the solar arc directions to the US chart at the time:<\/span><\/p>\n