ENR Senior Editor Jeff Yoders reported that some federal border wall construction materials turned up at auction firm Ritchie Bros.’ government surplus website GovPlanet.com, and that many listings have already disappeared from the auction site. It took a federal court ruling to stop the Biden administration from selling more steel bollards, structural pipes, concrete and fences purchased during the first Trump administration before the president-elect takes office again on Jan. 20. You can read more details online here in his story. Below are reader comments posted on the article when it appeared on ENR.com.
▶ John Napier published: Once again, Joe Biden shows by his great baby pettiness why he should never have held the presidency. Small mind, small spirit. A shame shame. Have a nice trip, silly extraordinaire.
▶ J Rodger published: It’s interesting how the first Trump administration took funds from the Pentagon and reallocated them to Homeland Security and a federal judge in Texas said it was legal to do so. The executive branch does not have the constitutional or statutory authority to move funds that Congress allocates to a dedicated organization. It was a Trump appointee who did this. However, we now have another Trump-appointed judge in Texas saying the Biden administration can’t sell that property. Why? Because the administration in power may not determine a better use of that property. Trump’s judges should go back to school and study the laws that cover what powers each branch has and stop writing new laws.
▶ Franz Buhlmann published: I can’t help but wonder if Biden will be charged with embezzlement for selling or attempting to sell these materials. What he did is not within his duties as president, so he should not be protected because he violated the law and legal orders.
▶ Maria posted: I think it’s a waste of money. Tunnels under the wall defy the need for a wall. This is another residue of the “don’t look around” perpetrated by MAGA.
Another article by Jeff Yoders on the cyber theft of a payment in an Ohio police station project, readable heredrew this comment:
▶ C Stone published: Your article left many questions that your readers would benefit from answering: How many city employees signed the payment request? Has any municipal employee been fired for not following control procedures? Were any of the municipal employees responsible for this working from home at the time? It seems like a lot of money has to be shelled out without at least three pairs of eyes checking the documents. Checking email addresses for such obvious scam tricks is basic good practice and doesn’t require experts. Transposing letters into an email address is taught in scam 101. One thing we know for sure: there’s a big party going on somewhere tonight.
