1. The Big One
One question that none of the current Presidential candidates have even remotely talked about is, what do they intend to do about a major earthquake happening in California? Often referred to simply as "the Big One", geologists have been trying to figure out when the next major quake will hit the San Andreas fault.
Imagine tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of Californians displaced by the destruction. Where would they go? Most likely inland towards Nevada and Arizona or north into Oregon. Would these states be able to handle all of the refugees and provide them with the necessary food, shelter and healthcare? Contrary to what FEMA would have you believe, they are still primarily about recovery and not mitigation. Food, water and medical stockpiles would need to be pre-positioined in unprecedented levels in order to properly handle "The Big One". Maybe that's why no one is talking about it.
2. Iran
Much to do has been made about Mr. Obama's deal with Iran. Supporters say it is the only way to keep Iran from building nuclear weapons. Critics say it doesn't do enough, especially after 15 years. Here is a question for our candidates; who exactly is being threatened by Iran? Forget the nonsense "death to America" chants and dispassionately analyze the evidence. Even if Iran produces enough nuclear weapons grade material, how would exactly are they going to target the US? If they were to start building ICBMs, the US can destroy those silos as they are being built. Long range bomber? We can shoot it down before it even takes off? Submarine? That's why we built attack submarines and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft launched from carriers. "Man-portable" nuclear devices? Sure, but the radiation from even these alleged devices is easy to pick-up and monitor.
Moreover, the President has repeatedly assured Iran that there will be "consequences" if they break the agreement. One can't help but recall a similar line with Syria. How will the broken promises to act by the current administration by dealt with by the next administration?
3. ISIS
Take a look at this graphic from the Department of Defense;
That is as of Aug 7, 2015. As of July 31, 2015, the total cost of operations related to ISIL since kinetic operations started on Aug. 8, 2014, is $3.5 billion and the average daily cost is $9.8 million for 357 days of operations (according to DoD). Then why is ISIS still becoming a bigger threat every day according to Washington DC? Either we as taxpayers are not getting our money's worth or we are blowing up the wrong things.
4. North Korea
This week we saw tensions mount between North and South Korea which were especially alarming since Kim Jung Un is still new in power. Tensions have died back down but are we going to continue risking the lives of the 40K personnel permanently stationed on the Korean peninsula?
5. Immigration
Last week, Macedonia (formerly of Yugoslavia) was forced to declare a state of emergency due to the flow of immigrants fleeing hostilities in the Middle East. Any conversations about immigration policies that even remotely hint at limiting the number of people coming into the US gets shutdown as being racist. I'm not advocating something as draconian as Trump's wall (which won't do a damn thing by the way). I'm merely suggesting that we will at some point reach critical mass in our infrastructure, adversely impaction our ability to provide services the immigrants as well as our own citizens. The conversation that we are not allowed to have also needs to address an increasing prison population that is made up of immigrants.
It now looks like the Clinton email scandals just won't go away and it's time to call in the designated hitter, Joe Biden. You can certainly argue that Valerie Jarrett has been laying the groundwork for such just an eventuality. The non-Clinton Democrats are tired and want to look at someone else. Biden represents essentially the third term for the Obama Administration. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment