Shoot First, Questions Later

by Andy Caldwell

Our nation and county barely escaped two near-miss disasters and there are several reasons to believe these disasters could and should have been avoided. 

Regarding the Trump assassination attempt, I can say with certainty that the Secret Service utterly failed, for the first time in over 40 years, to prevent a person under their protection from being shot. This has to do with the fact that the sniper’s open rooftop perch was not secured prior to the event. There are many other issues that will hopefully be addressed, including why the purported rules of engagement presumably requires the shooter to shoot before the counter-sniper team eliminates the threat, rather than a “Shoot first and ask questions later” approach.

Numerous witnesses saw the would-be assassin ascend the roof and bear-crawl to his perch and they reported the same to law enforcement officers who purportedly reported the same to the security command center. It was also obvious that the two counter-snipers had the shooter in their sights before he shot President Trump, as they eliminated the threat immediately after he shot the former president. All in all, it seems like a no-brainer that the counter-snipers would have either shot the assassin before he got off his shots, or at a minimum, ordered Trump’s security detail to usher him off to a safe location until the threat was abated.

Controlled Burns and Fire Breaks Needed

Speaking of no-brainers, let us consider the Lake Fire in Santa Barbara County. While parts of the area had burned in the Zaca Fire in 2007, the fire eventually moved into regions that have not burned in several decades. Why is our region susceptible to these continuous wildfires? It is because of prohibitions against large-scale control burns and mechanized clearing in the urban rural interface, along with restrictions on road access into remote areas. What is it going to take to have Congress, our state legislature, and our county board of supervisors to reverse course and go back to strident fire protection policies that include control burns, fire breaks, road access, and even (gasp), chemical controls of the immense fuel loads in these wildlands? That is, we should burn it first before Mother Nature has a try!

What is entirely maddening about these fires is that the smoke released into the atmosphere every year by the multitude of wildfires completely eviscerates the effect of the punitive measures which seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, the punitive measures that are sabotaging our economy are accomplishing nothing. The newest fad has our government spending billions of dollars in incentives to build carbon-capture projects which entail thousands of miles of pipelines crossing several state boundaries designed to capture, carry, and bury carbon emissions deep underground. Why not spend those billions on efforts to avoid all those carbon emissions going up in smoke by eliminating the factors that create the conditions for wildfires?

Vandenberg Space Base Under Scrutiny

Meanwhile, speaking of smoke from a distant fire, consider the rejuvenation of Vandenberg Space Force Base for commercial and military launches. Unfortunately, the California Coastal Commission is trying to exert some form of control over the frequency of launches having to do with “coastal impacts.” I have also been informed that the county’s Air Pollution Control District is also seeking to exert their authority on launch operations having to do with impacts to air quality. Both agencies should butt out and our county supervisors should take the lead in telling them so. This has to do with the fact that the supervisors are spending taxpayer money to encourage continued success at Vandenberg to help our economy grow. Of course, it would be par for the course for our politicians to say they support the space industry out of one side of their mouth while doing everything possible to shut it down with the other.

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