清侃时事 （7）：小评华盛顿邮报关于墙的一篇文章

发表于 2019 年 01 月 21 日 由 舟巷清

在关于美墨边境墙的争论中，韩家亮贴出华盛顿邮报一篇文章链接及若干段落。以后在他的一篇文章里，再次贴出同样的内容。

华盛顿邮报是左派媒体，这并不妨碍他们登出批评民主党的文章。 纽约时报的文章，华盛顿邮报的文章，似乎同意你的观点，不等于你的观点就正确。首先你自己的观点，得建立在事实之上，通过你自己的思考分析。其次，你得读懂纽约时报，华盛顿邮报的文章。第三，如果你要引用这些文章来支持你的观点，你得分析一下这些文章。不要似懂非懂就拉大旗作虎皮。

分析一下这篇文章：Democrats were for a wall before they were against it：

标题是：民主党反对建墙以前，支持建墙。言下之意大概是，民主党既然以前支持建墙，现在就不应该反对建墙。

评：时间不同，情况不同。以前应该建墙，不等于现在也应该建墙。反之亦然。以前是支持还是反对，不能作为现在支持还是反对的依据。

第二段：In 2019, the federal government will spend a whopping $4.407 trillion. Yet Congress and the president are shutting down the government in a dispute between the $1.3 billion the Democrats have approved for border security and the $5.7 billion the president is demanding — the difference being precisely 0.0998 percent of the total federal budget. In Washington, that is considered a rounding error.

作者说：川普的建墙费用要求，57亿美元，只是美国联邦预算的0.0998%。在华盛顿，只能算四舍五入的误差。言下之意，这点钱算什么。就是打水漂，也就是瓶底那么一点点牛奶。为什么不拿出来哐一哐爱哭的好孩子川普，让大家落个安静？

评：虽然只是美国联邦预算的0.0998%，57亿美元也是一大笔钱，川普的家产加水分也就这么多。 57亿纳税人的钱，要用在该用的地方。不能轻飘飘地丢出来，满足川普的偏执妄想或者低劣谎话。不能用纳税人的钱，来帮助他安抚他的核心支持者，帮助他去安抚Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter ……。

第三段：Worse, Democrats are doing it over a border wall strikingly similar to one that they almost unanimously supported just five years ago. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) now says  that “a wall is an immorality,” back in 2013, she supported a bill that required the construction of 700 miles of border fencing. (Trump has called for a wall of “anywhere from 700 to 900 miles” long.) The bill negotiated by the Gang of Eight, which included current Democratic leaders Sens. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.) and Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), declaredthat “not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary [of Homeland Security] shall establish . . . the ‘Southern Border Fencing Strategy,’ to identify where 700 miles of fencing (including double-layer fencing) . . . should be deployed along the Southern border.”

作者说；Nancy Pelosi 2013 年支持一个议案，要求在边境修建700英里长的栅栏，而川普要求建一道墙，在700到900 英里之间。

评：这是文章的核心。既然2013年要求修建700 英里的栅栏，为什么现在不能修建700-900英里的墙？作者的逻辑经不住推敲。2013年应该修700英里，2019年也该修700英里？2023年是不是也该修700英里。就这么年年月月，子子孙孙，一直建下去，无穷无尽？2000 英里，一道墙建完了，再建二道三道？

后面几段，支持同样的意思

第七段：Democrats will object that the Gang of Eight bill did fund a border wall, but it was in exchange for a lot of concessions. Of course it was. As Obama saidat the time, “the bipartisan bill that passed today was a compromise.” But today, Democrats are refusing to compromise or lay out what concessions they would accept in exchange for wall funding. When Trump rhetorically backed off the wall and talked about “steel slats” — a fence — Democrats ignored it. When Vice President Pence reportedly offered a deal for $2.5 billion, Democrats dismissed it. In a White House meeting Wednesday, Trump asked Pelosi whether, if he agreed to end the shutdown and negotiate separately on border security, she would support wall funding. She She said no. That is ridiculous.

作者指责民主党，在川普改口，把墙改为钢板条/栅栏后，仍然忽视。当彭斯提出只要求25亿美元时，民主党也驳回。当川普问：如果他同意终止关闭政府，分开谈判边境安全，Pelosi 仍然说：No。 作者认为这很荒唐。

评：同意作者的看法，如果川普确实愿意让步，民主党应该开始谈判。希望川普不要出尔反尔。

第八段：In their response to the president’s address to the nation, Schumer and Pelosi accused Trump of “manufacturing a crisis.” That is simply untrue. As The Post reported this week, the United States now faces “a bona fide emergency on the border” as “record numbers of migrant families are streaming into the United States, overwhelming border agents and leaving holding cells dangerously overcrowded with children, many of whom are falling sick.”

作者不同意Schumer 和Pelosi的观点：川普是在“编造危机”。 作者认为这不是事实。他引用邮报的另一篇文章说：美国现在正面临“真正的边境紧急情况”,  “ 破纪录数字的移民家庭，正在涌进美国，边境执法人员疲于应付，拘留的小房间危险地挤满了儿童。”

评：这些“紧急情况”，和墙的关系有多大？ 这些涌进美国“破纪录数字的移民家庭”，是从没有墙的地方涌进来的？

第九段：Democrats could not possibly be in a better position to demand concessions form Trump if they had manufactured a crisis. So put some demands on the table, for crying out loud. If Democrats think they have Trump cornered, then squeeze him and try get a lot out of him. But don’t refuse to negotiate and tell us the wall is an “immorality” — because their voting history shows they don’t believe that.

作者认为：民主党占据有利地位，要从川普那里挤出一大堆让步。但是不应该拒绝和川普谈判，别说什么墙是“不道德的”。

评：同意作者意见，民主党应该谈判。此外，边境屏障是必要的，说墙不道德，莫名其妙。既然墙不道德，是不是把南部边境所有屏障全部拆掉？

美国佬在南部边境建屏障的技术原则是：在步行就容易进入美国境内有人烟处，或者公路的边境建墙。 在步行不容易，但是开车容易的地方，修建栅栏阻挡 汽车。在沙漠，山区，几十上百里没有人烟，开车不可能，步行不安全的地方，没有屏障。自然有非法移民通过这些地方进入美国，不少因此付出生命代价。但是在这些地方建屏障，支出远远超过收益。

边境安全是必要的。边境屏障怎么修建，什么地方应该建，什么地方没必要建，应该是技术问题，而不是政治问题。边境屏障成了血气膨胀的政治问题，谁是始作俑者？