The Mayors Speak Up

For John, BLUF:  This problem of terrorism in the United States will not magically go away any time soon.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From the computers of Ben Wofford and Manuela Tobias, we have a Politico item headlined "Mayors:  We’re More Scared of Terrorism Than Ever".  The sub-headline is "But we’re sick of the fear mongering—that means you, Mr. Trump.  We need real help."♠

The lede:

Amid an election cycle dominated by fear of global terrorism threatening Americans at home, mayors of dozens of cities across the United States told Politico they feel a growing apprehension about attacks on their citizens—and a mounting anxiety that they do not have the resources to prepare for it.

It is interesting that the Nation's Mayors are starting to look at Terrorism, yet the Federal Government is still focused on gun violence.

Mayors who look back in their history a hundred years know that we have had terrorism, often labeled anarchy in our past and it, by and large, fell to the Mayors to deal with it.  For a small snapshot, here is an article from The Tampa Bay Times about Ybor City and its relationship to Anarchy, back in the day.

A key point was made by one mayor, who noted that terrorists aren't just looking for size, but for significance.  An attack on the Mall of America would have a bigger impact that an attack on New York City.

“Terrorists don't pick their targets based upon the size of the city, but upon the value of the target,” wrote one mayor. “Distribute money by likely targets not city size.”

Terrorism hasn't gone away.  And even after Daesh is defeated in Syria and Iraq dregs of it will remain and those dregs will continue to cause trouble for a while.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Poor Mr Trump.  First he appears to flinch in front of Fox's Megan Kelly and now this.  Truth be told, Mr Trump's campaigning is not creating terrorism.  Rather, the treat comes from a religion which shall not be named, but with an apocalyptic vision, and whose members are doing what they can to make that apocalyptic vision a reality.