Month: April 2017

Many were caught by surprise by yesterday’s sharp selloff in the last 90 minutes of trading, which saw the Dow Jones slide over 200 points on the double whammy of the Fed’s unexpected “bubble” warning and Paul Ryan’s admission that tax reform is going nowhere fast.

Below is BofA’s take on this particular event, together with what it believes is the biggest near-term risk.

The vacuum between monetary and fiscal policy easing

 

A rally in risk assets prompted by better than expected ADP employment data for March was reversed sharply and turned into losses as the FOMC minutes highlighted a desire to begin winding down the Fed’s balance sheet later this year and House Speaker Ryan commented basically that tax reform is not likely anytime soon (Figure 1).

 

This makes sense as tax reform creates many powerful winners and losers and therefore is difficult to pull off. This year we have seen a notable gap between positive equity market performance and a more skeptical bond market where yields have not gone up (Figure 2).

 

 

We continue to think that the biggest near term risk to our bullish outlook for credit spreads is a correction in equities, should the Trump administration disappoint on tax reform.

 

 

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Via The Daily Bell

Ban all the things, and when we all live in padded prison cells, we will be safe from terrorists!

That is the plan. Because access to information is really the problem, according to the British government. As soon as people don’t have access to extremist material online, all this madness will surely stop!

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The fight against terrorism and hate speech has to be a joint one. The government and security services are doing everything they can and it is clear that social media companies can and must do more.

“Social media companies have a responsibility when it comes to making sure this material is not disseminated and we have been clear repeatedly that we think that they can and must do more. We are always talking with them on how to achieve that.

“The ball is now in their court. We will see how they respond.”

How laughable that the government claims to be doing everything they can. We all know that is not true.

But even more ridiculous is attempting to put all the blame on websites that host content. With massive amount of content on Youtube, how can they be expected to police every single video? They already review 98% of flagged content within 24 hours, and also within 24 hours they usually remove content that the government asks them to take down.

It sounds like Youtube is already on board with government censorship, but the British authorities want to go further. What we need is new laws, new fines, and punishment for companies who host extremist content, they say.

Damian Collins, who heads the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said bosses should face a new offence of failing to act to remove terrorist videos and manuals from their sites.

He was backed by former terror tsar Lord Alex Carlile who said: “We need to reinforce the attack on internet radicalisation.

If a new law is necessary to compel internet service providers to co-operate with these efforts, it must be made.”

And what about failing to remove terrorists from the country? Should governmentofficials face a new offence for that crime?

It’s not like these terrorists are carrying out precision attacks which require training and special knowledge. They are driving cars through crowds of people. They are opening fire in public.

Videos surely can lead to extremism. The government should know, they run the media which leads to widespread support of bombing the hell out of anything that moves in the middle east. While handfuls of westerners were killed in terror attacks, hundreds of innocent Iraqis were bombed to death by America.

So governments can literally fund all the terrorism they want, but if Youtube allows a video promoting terrorism to remain on their sharing platform, they are the ones causing the extremism that leaks violently back into the west.

As governments cry about the splinter in their neighbor’s eye–how advertisements were shown next to extremist videos, saying that Youtube was profiting off of extremism–they are blind to the log in their own.

Craig said the only winner is the defense industry. “Well, it’s good business,” she said. “In the first year of the war [in Yemen], the U.S. sold $20 billion worth of arms to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia has been buying more and more weapons as a result of this war, and the same goes for the British government as well,” she said. “Really it all boils down to financial gain and that’s the greatest win really for the U.S., but it’s an extremely costly one obviously for the civilian population of Yemen.”

But no, I’m sure the real root of the issue is videos on Youtube that encourage terrorism. It has nothing to do with the defense industry profiting off of war, destroying entire regions to make a buck, jamming propaganda down the throats of westerners to garner support for war and destruction that are like games to the governments involved.

The Fix is In

Oh and how convenient that when governments are able to force Youtube to take down extremist content online, they may just have given themselves the power to regulate any free speech on the internet, whether it is truly extremist or not.

And that is what this all comes down to. The government wants control over the internet, control over what we say, and how we communicate.

The terrorists which the government supports and creates will be the excuse for government censorship and oppression of citizens under their control.

And that is why the government needs to make social media platforms the enemy. It both distracts from the government’s own role in supporting terrorism, and gives them more power to police any opposition on social media to their oppressive rule.

The people are creating their own media, and it is cutting into the government’s propaganda business.

It’s always the same: right now they will use their power of censorship against “the terrorists,” and then they will use the hammer of the law against anyone who speaks out against their murderous, oppressive policies.

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On Monday, April 10, Janet Yellen will hold a previously unannounced speech at the Gerald Ford School Of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, the school announced on its website this morning. The speech is expected to last from 4pm until 5:15pm, and will be free and open to the public.

Yellen will take questions from the audience and in a notable departure from her previous discussions, she will also take questions from Twitter. To join the conversation on the social platform use the #fordschoolyellen hashtag.

While the topic of her prepared remarks, if any, is unclear, we are confident a key issue under discussion will be the Fed Minutes warning that stock prices, at least according to some FOMC members, are “too high.”

From the school’s website:

Janet Yellen, Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System

WHEN: Monday, April 10, 2017;  4:00 pm to 5:15 pm

LOCATION:  Rackham Auditorium, 915 E Washington St, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

POLICY TALKS @ THE FORD SCHOOL

Free and open to the public.

Join the conversation: #fordschoolyellen

This event will be live webstreamed. You will be able to view the stream the day of the event on the official event stream viewing page.

SEATING PASS REQUIRED. PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE FOR UPDATES.

Update (3/20/17): No tickets for this event remain at MUTO. Please plan to watch the live webstream. It’s possible that a limited number of seats will come open within a few days of the event; please check this page or follow us on Twitter for updates.

Ford School students, faculty, and staff will receive information via email about how to secure their free pass, which will be available starting March 14.
Free tickets will be available to the general public beginning March 20 at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. Limit two per person.

MUTO hours and location here.

About the event:

Please join us as Janet Yellen visits the University of Michigan for a conversation with Susan M. Collins, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Chair Yellen will also take questions from the audience and from Twitter.

From the speaker’s bio:

Janet L. Yellen took office as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 3, 2014, for a four-year term ending February 3, 2018. Dr. Yellen also serves as Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, the System’s principal monetary policymaking body. Prior to her appointment as Chair, Dr. Yellen served as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors, taking office in October 2010, when she simultaneously began a 14-year term as a member of the Board that will expire January 31, 2024.

Dr. Yellen is Professor Emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley where she was the Eugene E. and Catherine M. Trefethen Professor of Business and Professor of Economics and has been a faculty member since 1980.

Dr. Yellen took leave from Berkeley for five years starting August 1994. She served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System through February 1997, and then left the Federal Reserve to become chair of the Council of Economic Advisers through August 1999. She also chaired the Economic Policy Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development from 1997 to 1999. She also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010.

Dr. Yellen is a member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has served as President of the Western Economic Association, Vice President of the American Economic Association and a Fellow of the Yale Corporation.

via http://ift.tt/2p5q91u Tyler Durden

According to former Congressman Ron Paul, the chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhoun that killed 30 children and has led to calls for the Trump administration to intervene in Syria could have been a false flag attack.

As Paul Joseph Watson details, pointing out that the prospect of peace in Syria was moving closer before the attack, with ISIS and Al-Qaeda on the run, Paul said the attack made no sense.

“It looks like maybe somebody didn’t like that so there had to be an episode,” said Paul, asking, “who benefits?”

 

“It doesn’t make any sense for Assad under these conditions to all of a sudden use poison gases – I think there’s zero chance he would have done this deliberately,” said Paul.

he former Congressman went on to explain how the incident was clearly being exploited by neo-cons and the deep state to enlist support for war.

“It’s the neo-conservatives who are benefiting tremendously from this because it’s derailed the progress that has already been made moving toward a more peaceful settlement in Syria,” said Paul.

Many have questioned why Assad would be so strategically stupid as to order a chemical weapons attack and incite the wrath of the world given that he is closer than ever to winning the war against ISIS and jihadist rebels.

Just five days before the attack, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “The longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people,” implying a definite shift in U.S. foreign policy away from regime change in Syria.

Why would Assad put such assurances in jeopardy by launching a horrific chemical attack, allowing establishment news outlets like CNN to once against use children as props to push for yet another massive war in the Middle East?

via http://ift.tt/2oHZYkN Tyler Durden

Via The Daily Bell

Imagine men in bleach white bio suits with medical masks show up at your door. You are suspected of carrying a communicable disease. You will now be arrested and held without due process, indefinitely.

The government could do this any day.

They have the “authority”. They have the personnel. They have the funding. Now all they need is the excuse.

The Authority

The federal government claims the right to quarantine anyone who they suspect has or has come into contact with a communicable disease.

On January 19th of this year, a regulation was passed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The regulation is meant to allow the HHS and other departments of the federal government to stop the spread of contagious diseases, like Ebola or bird flu. But the regulation is obscure enough to be a serious threat to liberty.

Because the government does not consider quarantine an arrest, those being detained are not afforded the same rights and due process that criminals are supposed to get through the U.S. Justice system.

Apprehension and detention of persons with quarantinable communicable diseases.

(a) The Director may authorize the apprehension, medical examination, quarantine, isolation, or conditional release of any individual for the purpose of preventing the introduction, transmission, and spread of quarantinable communicable diseases, as specified by Executive Order, based upon a finding that:

(1) The individual is reasonably believed to be infected with a quarantinable communicable disease in a qualifying stage and is moving or about to move from a State into another State; or

(2) The individual is reasonably believed to be infected with a quarantinable communicable disease in a qualifying stage and constitutes a probable source of infection to other individuals who may be moving from a State into another State.

That pretty much covers everyone, in a sly little trick to make this regulation somehow apply to interstate commerce. Anyone living in America risks coming into contact with someone who might physically move into another state.

And a person must simply be “reasonably believed” to be infected or have come into contact with an infection, which again is a very low standard that could easily apply to almost anyone who has recently gone out in public. Even when they define “reasonably believed,” the CDC and HHS use obscure language so that the definition could basically fit anyone.

Reasonably believed to be infected, as applied to an individual, means specific articulable facts upon which a public health officer could reasonably draw the inference that an individual has been exposed, either directly or indirectly, to the infectious agent that causes a quarantinable communicable disease, as through contact with an infected person or an infected person’s bodily fluids, a contaminated environment, or through an intermediate host or vector, and that as a consequence of the exposure, the individual is or may be harboring in the body the infectious agent of that quarantinable communicable disease.

Indirectly being exposed to a contaminated environment could get you quarantined. That doesn’t sound like a very strict standard, nor does it sound like a well defined parameter for apprehension. Basically anyone could think up a “reasonable” suspicion that someone has been exposed to a disease that would require quarantine.

The regulation says those quarantined will be allowed representation, but what good will this representative do? The government has all the obscure “authority” they need to keep you on lock down.

The regulation also allows the government to conduct screenings “through non-invasive procedures determined appropriate” at airports, bus stations, and other public places, where people may be required to provide contact information.

And there is the obscure limit again: “determined appropriate.” It is a safe bet that the government will determine any action it takes as “appropriate”.

This means people will be compelled to answer the government’s questions and provide information against their will. Since carrying a disease is not guilt of a crime, the CDC and HHS believe that this does not violate the Fifth Amendment protections against being compelled to give testimony that may incriminate you.

As for how this doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure, the regulation sites some legal precedents for how the government can legally violate your rights.

And the same will apply after apprehension where during a forced medical exam, you may also be required to provide further health details about yourself to the authorities.

The Personnel: Who Will Enforce This?

The group capable of large scale detainment and quarantine was authorized under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

A thousands strong army of medical police is ready to be activated by the government, and spring into action in case of an epidemic.

SEC. 5210 ESTABLISHING A READY RESERVE CORPS

Section 203 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204) is amended to read as follows:

SEC. 203 COMMISSIONED CORPS AND READY RESERVE CORPS

‘(a) Establishment-

‘(1) IN GENERAL- There shall be in the Service a commissioned Regular Corps and a Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency.

‘(2) REQUIREMENT- All commissioned officers shall be citizens of the United States and shall be appointed without regard to the civil-service laws and compensated without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.

Notice that officers are appointed “without regard to the civil-service laws.” These are laws designed to remove politics as a consideration when hiring in the public sector. They also establish guidelines based on merit, impartial hiring criteria, and safety from arbitrary firing and unwarranted disciplinary action.

Officers are also chosen “without regard to the Classification Act of 1923,” which established merit pay and compensation based on performance.

To be clear, the bill states these laws will be disregarded when appointing this police force. So these officers have been hired based on no known criteria, without any defined qualifications, can be denied for no particular reason, can be fired for any reason whatsoever, paid without regard to merit, and punished or rewarded independently of performance.

That section basically ensures the Ready Reserve Corps can be a politicized group that will follow orders of whoever appoints them.

The Funding

Most of the provisions discussed are already well funded through the Centers for Disease Control, and Department of Health and Human Services. But another source to bolster the government quarantine capabilities is making its way through congress.

The bill, which has passed the House and is now in the Senate, wants the government to be able to deal with “surge capacity” in the event of an epidemic.

It would use certain Homeland Security grants and funds for “enhancing medical preparedness, medical surge capacity, and mass prophylaxis capabilities.”

The Excuse

We’ve heard about some disease every year with the potential to cause mass casualties in the event of an outbreak. It is difficult to tell sometimes how much of the hype is media driven, versus which diseases are of real concern.

But there is actual risk for an eventual epidemic. In China, a particularly deadly strain of bird flu is more prevalent this year than in the past four years.

The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 which killed tens of millions of people worldwide, is believed to have started in China in a similar fashion. All it takes is the right mutation of the flu virus to become deadly.

So in a sense, the government should be prepared for such an event, but that doesn’t mean they have to violate rights in order to keep the public safe.

It is important to remember that when protecting the public health, the concern is for the general population and not individuals. That is why regulations like this one open up the possibility that individuals will be severely mistreated, in the name of stopping a contagious outbreak.

If the government does implement the forced quarantine of individuals, whether the excuse is real or fabricated, individuals have cause to fear for their safety under government detainment.

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Via The Daily Bell

The FBI is super sketchy. Questions abound over their role in various assassinations. The case of Martin Luther King Jr. is no exception.

Today is the 49th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a man who stood for peace and encouraged everyone to not judge people by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

The personal attacks that MLK suffered at the hands of the FBI are well documented, though they sound like conspiracy theories to the unaware.

The FBI investigation into King started as a national security issue, with the official stance of the FBI being that King was a communist sympathizer with close ties to card-carrying members of the communist party. On April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was assassinated, King gave a speech in which he denounced the Vietnam War, which the FBI took as proof of his communist affiliation.

Then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover even publicly denounced King as a liar and a fraud. He is believed to have also initiated a letter sent to King in 1964 accompanied by a tape from an alleged sex party in a DC hotel room. The letter appears to be crafted to sound like it was a disappointed former follower, describing King as an “evil, abnormal beast.” But that wouldn’t provide an explanation for how the disillusioned fan got access to all this knowledge on King’s “adulterous acts” “immoral conduct” and “sexual orgies.”

Only the FBI would have that knowledge, from the wiretaps and monitoring they were doing supposedly for national security purposes.

The letter concludes,

King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is… You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy, abnormal fraudulent self is bared to the nation.

King interpreted the last part of the letter to be urging him to commit suicide rather than have the information go public. And that wasn’t the FBI’s last attempt to smear King out of the public eye. They attempted to get news organizations interested in his immoral behavior in order to publicly shame King and counteract his message. However, these campaigns failed.

Is it possible that the blatant failure of the FBI’s public smear campaign against King, made them decide to go to the extreme to rid the nation of this “troublemaker”?

Not that his words alone should hold much weight, but King’s assassin, James Earl Ray, claims to have been the fall guy for a larger conspiracy. Even Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow and children believed Ray innocent and later advocated for him.

Ray stood before a Memphis judge in March 1969 and pleaded guilty to King’s murder in order to avoid the electric chair. He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

Three days later, he attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming he was innocent of King’s assassination and had been set up as a patsy in a larger conspiracy. He claimed that in 1967, a mysterious man named “Raoul” had approached him and recruited him into a gunrunning enterprise. On April 4, 1968, he said, he realized that he was to be the fall guy for the King assassination and fled to Canada. Ray’s motion was denied, as were his dozens of other requests for a trial during the next 29 years.

James Earl Ray had escaped from prison in April of 1967. The gun running operation he was supposedly recruited for would explain how his fingerprints could have ended up on the gun that was left behind at the scene after King was killed. Ray died in prison in 1998 of liver failure, after officials refused to allow him to be evaluated out of state for a liver transplant.

Another person had even admitted to killing King, after a large sum of money somehow found it’s way into the mix, to support the assassination.

December 1993: Former Memphis restaurateur Loyd Jowers says he paid laborer Frank Holt to shoot King. Jowers says he was paid “a large sum of money” by Memphis producer dealer Frank C. Liberto to find someone to kill King.

This was confirmed by the civil trial in 1999 which found that there was indeed a conspiracy to kill King, as opposed to one lone shooter, motivated by racial hatred.

After four weeks of testimony and over 70 witnesses in a civil trial in Memphis, Tennessee, twelve jurors reached a unanimous verdict on December 8, 1999 after about an hour of deliberations that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. In a press statement held the following day in Atlanta, Mrs. Coretta Scott King welcomed the verdict, saying , “There is abundant evidence of a major high level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband, Martin Luther King, Jr. And the civil court’s unanimous verdict has validated our belief. I wholeheartedly applaud the verdict of the jury and I feel that justice has been well served in their deliberations. This verdict is not only a great victory for my family, but also a great victory for America. It is a great victory for truth itself. It is important to know that this was a SWIFT verdict, delivered after about an hour of jury deliberation. The jury was clearly convinced by the extensive evidence that was presented during the trial that, in addition to Mr. Jowers, the conspiracy of the Mafia, local, state and federal government agencies, were deeply involved in the assassination of my husband. The jury also affirmed overwhelming evidence that identified someone else, not James Earl Ray, as the shooter, and that Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.”

Of course, multiple government investigations into the matter of a larger conspiracy concluded that James Earl Ray did, in fact, kill Martin Luther King Jr. What a surprise that when the government investigates itself, it finds nothing amiss.

But even without smoking-gun proof that the FBI ordered the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. the organization’s behavior towards him was remarkably abhorrent. Using the excuse of national security, the FBI monitored him. But when they found nothing to pursue, they turned to a smear campaign from information they had gathered.

It sort of makes you wonder what the government might do with all the information collected by the NSA–or perhaps already has done.

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Another day, another dramatic turn in the ongoing Russia-hacking story, when moments ago the Chair of the House Intel Committee Devin Nunes said he would recuse himself from the the panel’s probe into Russian meddling into the US election.

Nunes said Rep. Mike Conaway, assisted by Reps. Trey Gowdy and Tom Rooney, will temporarily take over panel’s investigation into Russia and the 2016 election. Nunes added that the recusal will last while House Ethics Cmte reviews accusations against him he calls “politically motivated.”

Nunes will keep his other responsibilities as chairman.

His full statmeent is below.

Washington, D.C. — House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes today issued the following statement:

 

“Several leftwing activist groups have filed accusations against me with the Office of Congressional Ethics. The charges are entirely false and politically motivated, and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of U.S. citizens and other abuses of power.

 

Despite the baselessness of the charges, I believe it is in the best interests of the House Intelligence Committee and the Congress for me to have Representative Mike Conaway, with assistance from Representatives Trey Gowdy and Tom Rooney, temporarily take charge of the Committee’s Russia investigation while the House Ethics Committee looks into this matter. I will continue to fulfill all my other responsibilities as Committee Chairman, and I am requesting to speak to the Ethics Committee at the earliest possible opportunity in order to expedite the dismissal of these false claims.”

As NBC’s Bradd Jaffy adds, Nunes stepped out early from a House Intel meeting this morning; “unclear why.”

Nunes stepped out early from a House Intel meeting this morning; unclear why, @kasie reports

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 6, 2017

And here is the statement just released by Paul Ryan on Nunes’ recusal:

Speaker Ryan Statement on Chairman Nunes

 

WASHINGTON—House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) today released the following statement: 

 

“Devin Nunes has earned my trust over many years for his integrity and dedication to the critical work that the intelligence community does to keep America safe. He continues to have that trust, and I know he is eager to demonstrate to the Ethics Committee that he has followed all proper guidelines and laws. In the meantime, it is clear that this process would be a distraction for the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation into Russian interference in our election. Chairman Nunes has offered to step aside as the lead Republican on this probe, and I fully support this decision. Chairman Mike Conaway, a senior member of the Committee, will now lead this investigation in the House. I am confident that he will oversee a professional investigation into Russia’s actions and follow the facts wherever they lead.”

Developing

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While Trump’s push to build a wall along the Mexican border has quietly moved to the backburner in recent weeks, especially with the expiration of the Continuing Resolution looming on April 28, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has continued to receive proposals from numerous companies for what Trump’s wall could look like. As we discussed previously, CBP has called for two designs, one made of concrete and one of alternative material, for a wall to be built across the nearly 2,000-mile border.

Among the requirements: the wall should stand at least 18 feet high, be able to withstand significant physical force, prevent climbing and tunneling, be aesthetically appealing (on the U.S. side at least), allow for surface drainage and so forth.

In the current phase of the contracting process, companies are required to submit their qualifications and concepts for the wall, but not detailed renderings. However, as the WSJ observes, some companies have them and have provided them to The Wall Street Journal, although the proposals shown below do not have to include cost estimates.

For the next round, the government will select at many as 20 finalists, who will then be asked to provide more detailed plans. Potential bidders had until Tuesday to submit preliminary plans.

Here are some of the proposed wall designs as seen by the WSJ:

“As Pretty as the Parthenon”

RENDERING BY CRISIS RESOLUTION SECURITY SERVICES, INC.

WHO Crisis Resolution Security Services of Clarence, Ill., a global security management firm

DESIGN CRSS says the wall is meant to evoke famous walls in history, using crenellations, parapets and buttresses, and would be “as pretty as the Parthenon.” The wall would be built on a 30-foot-high dirt berm, graded to prevent vehicles from approaching. It also would follow existing interior roads and highways, which the company says would make it easier to transport materials and to maintain, while avoiding private-property issues. It would also create a wide zone in some places between the wall and the border. Bridges and gates would allow the inhabitants of that zone to cross.

* * *

Doubling as Nuclear Waste Facility

RENDERING BY CLAYTON INDUSTRIES

WHO Clayton Industries of Pittsburgh

DESIGN Owner Christian Clayton has proposed devising a wall that would carry electricity generated from municipal, medical and nuclear waste. “The wall is just a building block,” Mr. Clayton said. “Think of the wall as big conduit.” Mr. Clayton declined to detail many specifics of his plan, which would involve plants to convert the waste into power. Spent nuclear fuel rods and other waste would be buried 100 feet deep in a buffer zone between the border and the wall.

* * *

At an Angle

RENDERING BY CHANLIN INC.

WHO Chanlin Inc., of Middle River, Minn., a steel-fabrication construction company

DESIGN Chanlin’s design for a concrete wall consists of using 10-foot-wide by 30-foot-high panels with embedded steel plates welded in a vertical position. To prevent climbing or scaling with a hook, the design would be tilted 30 degrees toward Mexico and include a smooth concrete finish with a steel cap plate. Steel bars would allow border patrol to be able to see through the fence.

* * *

Design Beyond Reach

DRAWINGS BY J.M. DESIGN STUDIO

WHO J.M. Design Studio of Pittsburgh, an all-women team of designers and artists

DESIGN In a submission meant to protest the project, J.M. Design Studio’s proposals are designed to “invite other realms of thought and consideration.” One sketch shows nearly three million hammocks, for anyone’s use, strung across the border with 30-foot trees for support. Another one has a semicontinuous wall of nearly 10 million 30-foot-tall pipe organs, with openings every 20 feet allowing for people to pass through. Jennifer Meridian, a Pittsburgh artist involved in the submissions, called the actual border wall project “preposterous for so many reasons.”

* * *

Memorial Wall

RENDERINGS BY REILLY CONSTRUCTION

WHO Reilly Construction and Croell Inc., both of Iowa

DESIGN This joint venture would use tilt-slab construction consisting of concrete with reinforced fibers that the company says would make the wall more durable and resistant to damage. The panels would be 30 feet high and 15 feet wide with a footing underground to prevent tunneling. The concrete material could be engraved, colored or etched to make it more aesthetically appealing or should there be an interest in establishing a memorial in some places.

* * *

Hadrian’s Wall

HADRIAN CONSTRUCTION

WHO Hadrian Construction Co. of Carlsbad, Calif.

DESIGN Company owner Rod Hadrian says his prefabricated product would make the wall cheaper and easier to install in remote border areas. The tridipanel wall system could be made to any thickness or color, and the diagonal pattern is meant to give the wall extra strength.

* * *

One-Way Visibility

RENDERING BY MICHAEL EVANGELISTA-YSASAGA, PENNA GROUP

WHO Penna Group of Fort Worth, Texas

DESIGN Penna Group’s proposal is for a double wire mesh fence that has a sheet of plexiglass lined with a one-way mirror allowing border patrol agents to see the Mexico side, but not the reverse. The fence would be 30 feet tall with a 6-foot footing, and both would be designed to sustain tampering by pickaxes, hammers, hand-tools, and torches for over an hour and a half. The double-lined, double-wire mesh design is often used in maximum-security prisons.

* * *

Perch

SAN DIEGO PROJECT MANAGEMENT, PSC

WHO San Diego Project Management, PSC, a full-service design-build organization

DESIGN This firm submitted a design for a wall similar to the ones used to protect medieval castles in Europe, according to the company. Most notably, the proposal includes a walkway on top called a “chemin de ronde” that allows for border agents to see Mexico through optical ports.

* * *

Camouflage

RENDERING BY CONCRETE CONTRACTORS INTERSTATE, SINGLE EAGLE INC.

WHO Single Eagle Inc. of Poway, Calif., a structural and decorative concrete specialist

DESIGN This proposal has a design option that could incorporate artistic representations of local cultures. The walls are built using a tilt-up method that is cast onsite and then put into position, making it easier to built the wall in remote areas.

* * *

Sensors

RENDERING BY DARKPULSE TECHNOLOGIES INC.

WHO DarkPulse Technologies, based in Arizona and New York

DESIGN Ballistic concrete is used, which the company says could withstand more than 12 hours of tampering. Using sensors, the wall and below-ground structure would notify border agents of the exact location of any tampering in real time. The wall would also include coating designed to prevent climbing and the use of grappling hooks.

* * *

Technology First

RENDERING BY VSCENARIO

WHO vScenario, a San Diego construction-technology company

DESIGN vScenario’s design would begin by using drones to develop a 3-D spatial model of the terrain. The proposed wall would feature cameras, volumetric microwave sensors and fiberoptics designed to detect intrusions.

* * *

Fitting In

WTC CONSTRUCTION

WHO WTC Construction

DESIGN This design aims to mimic a “rammed-Earth” construction style, which uses natural raw materials. The goal is a wall designed to look like an “extension of the surrounding landscape,” says the company. The system would include panels attached to reinforced concrete piers nested together to form a solid structure.

* * *

Mesh Fencing

RIVERDALE MILLS

WHO Riverdale Mills of Northbridge, Mass.

DESIGN A galvanized welded wire mesh called WireWall, which the company says is virtually impossible to climb or cut. The company’s fencing is in use along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, as seen above. The fencing could be up to 20 feet tall and could be installed to reach 6 feet below ground.

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A Twist on Steel

HELIX STEEL

WHO Helix Steel, a unit of Pensmore Reinforcement Technologies, of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Leesburg, Va.

DESIGN Helix would mix concrete with its Twisted Steel Micro Rebar, a reinforcement designed to prevent cracking. The material is now used at some residential and commercial sites.

via http://ift.tt/2o6vjwm Tyler Durden