Actual wall will be built even more bigly

Kids, ya better hold on to those wall futures

In 2006, Boeing and some other lucky ducks scored $1 billion dollars to build a border wall. Five years and 53 miles later, the Feds jumped ship, citing the project as pointless, ineffective, and expensive.

But if at first you don't succeed, try try again to push a pointless taxpayer-funded boondoggle. So runs the logic behind the Great Wall Of Trumpxico. If you build it, they will come (with ladders).

As Trump readies to fulfill one of his 700 dumbest campaign promises, a bunch of Corporate People are running, tongues wagging, to their contractor dinner bowls. This includes one of Mexico’s largest materials companies.

If you're keeping score at home, here ya go: Mexico will pay for the wall --> Mexico will reimburse us for the wall --> American consumers will pay for the wall --> American consumers and taxpayers will pay Mexican companies to make a wall.

Speaking of contractors likely functioning with limited oversight, I wonder how they will maximize profits.

“If this wall gets built in Texas, there is a high likelihood that a significant bit of the work force will be undocumented,” said Jose P. Garza, the executive director of the Workers Defense Project.

And since building a big wall involves a bunch of materials, many issues exist with regard of getting these materials to the middle of nowhere.

In another twist, money may flow to Mexicans or Mexican companies. Analysts say it is basically cost prohibitive to ship heavy rock or concrete more than 70 miles, or cement more than several hundred miles. That means manufacturers closest to the border may prove to be the most economical. That could be a big win for Cemex, Mexico’s largest cement manufacturer, which has a United States-based subsidiary that could bid for the project and several plants dotting the border, analysts note. The company could also potentially receive hard-to-trace subcontracts that even government agencies sometimes have a difficult time tracking.

"Some of them, I assume, are good people." Maybe the demeaning term he's looking for is: "cheap hombres."

Resisters Of The Week

Everything isn't doom and gloom. (This statement is not supported by Wonkette's full faith and credit clause.) But let's salute the corporate actions of often dubious corporate actors.

IT IS nice to see Corporate People push back against the soul-crushing inhumanity of Trump's Muslim Ban. Starbucks, Nike, Disney, Lyft, etc., pat yourselves on the back - or hire more cheap labor to do it for you. We salute the support, whether it's sincere or a calculated public relations maneuver.

But don't forget that these Corporate People possess track records of exploiting the powerless and railroading anyone in their way. They will not save you. Let's not forget the undermining of progressive third world labor laws that might prevent tragic factory accidents. Let's not forget calculated tax avoidance. Let's not ignore that a company with a relatively decent record of corporate citizenship like Google is currently dry humping Republicans like overeager teens (or 35-year-olds...).

That being said, we would like to highlight some courageous actors in the corporate world.

On Thursday, 1,000 Comcast employees walked off their jobs to protest the Bannon Muslim Ban. And kudos to the media giant for allowing the employees to take the time off. Among those who stood to be counted was Comcast CTO Sree Kotay, an Indian immigrant. We hereby suspend valid criticisms of the Corporate Person until they inevitably do something unscrupulous in a couple of days. Kudos.

Yemeni bodegas owners aren't really "corporate people." Thirty percent of Americans probably wouldn't even recognize them as actual people. But there they were, 1,000 Yemeni bodega owners on strike in protest of the Muslim Ban. On the heels of a tragically wayward military action that killed an American child, a Navy SEAL and Yemeni civilians, many New Yorkers joined these patriots.

The outpouring of support for these bodega owners is how we know New York isn't Real America, because the arbiters of such labels would tell these 7-days-a-week workers to open up shop so they can get their fucking Slim Jims. So cheers to you, Imaginary America.

Resisted Of The Week: Delete Fucking Uber

Looks like capitalist dystopian warrior Travis Kalanik caved to public pre$$ure and withdrew from Trump's Sycophant Council.

The Uber architect found his conscience. And Travis's conscience works like a cash register, the door meekly opening only when he's coughing up the material loss of 200,000 former subscribers.

We do not care that Kalanik bailed from the Trump Council in response to the outpouring of contempt. The tiny little mobile app didn't cease to be a gross Corporate actor. We do not care that Uber's pockets overflow with Saudi cash or that the Company infiltrated 40 countries like the invasive species it is.

Uber still treats its independent contractors like shit. By not vetting said contractors, it treats its customers like shit. It treats our communities like shit. It cares about immigrants only to exploit them before it can get rid of human employees contractors altogether. Nothing changed.

In closing, Delete Uber.