CRISIS... when I was a kid...some of these were the same as all of us are facing today.. but oh, there's now so many more!!!..

..we had some really pressing 'on-your-mind' issues those decades ago..
...and guess what, they are all still on our list, and on our minds today:


NUCLEAR WEAPONS
When I was a kid.. this was a HUGE deal.. vividly remember diving under the desks whenever tests of the outdoor street sirens went off. (warning of a possible nuke attack.. like those desks were capable of holding back the building to be landing on top of us...sure.)

• and now we have over 60,000+ nukes.. and our (I-I-C) Idiot-In-Charge wants a massive increase in those numbers !!
• and the two infantile-morons eager to play 'chicken' with each other, and with the world.. with all lives on it at stake !!
• declared by both sides..a new nuclear arms race is now in the making.. led by unenlightened, belligerent leadership, once again we are testing fate.. at some point with all that keeps pushing the world in confrontational directions, how long will it be before we enter nuclear war.
  

OVER-POPULATION - FOOD & WATER
With the one never having gotten under control.. it is not to be too much longer, hell, it's NOW.. we're going to be running out of the others. This was another 'biggie' from childhood. Yea.. they were screaming about it even when the population was a third of what it is today.

• 8,760 species die off per year..because ya know, the 'infinite' resources are only 'infinite' when the world population leveled at around one and a half billion.. (like what's China alone today).
• We are WAY overpopulated, and STILL growing.

 "If the current rate of extinction continues, Homo sapiens will be one of the few life-forms left on the planet, its members scrambling violently among themselves for water, food, fossil fuels and perhaps air until they too disappear."

"As long as the Earth is viewed as the personal property of the human race.. we are destined to soon inhabit a biological wasteland."


MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX  (MIC)

• In his famous farewell address to the nation in 1961, Ike warned us loud and clear. And only the MIC took notice, and while everyone else was asleep at the wheel, they took over control of the country. And don't let anyone tell you different...need proof..
• just look at our annual federal budget.. year-after-year!! (amounts going to the military are ABSOLUTELY STAGGERING!!!)
• they're loads of VERY wealthy men in the high-upper ranks of the armed forces luvin every conflict we can get ourselves into. Why all those private mercenaries now wanting in on the action...
• for all those hundreds-of-millions/billions 'go-missing' every war.

MAJOR WAR (& THE DRAFT)
The draft is included here as really a major item, for its elimination opened the door for the military to take over.. pretty much everything.  

• Without a population with 'skin-in-the-game' to put the brakes-on, that's exactly what they did.. and they never looked back, or had any real desire/ intention to end any wars.

Their purpose and paychecks swell on conflict... they thrive on it, and should they trip over peace, they'd just ignore it, and keep right on fighting.
So now we're into a half-dozen MAJOR conflicts.. and they're itching to start new wars with..

• North Korea & Iran... the new 'profit-centers.'
• From all appearances, a war with Russia is also in the making.. such a conflict would not be like any of the others.. major powers with enormous weapons systems will have a hard time fighting 'limited' wars with each other.
  
• We have to End-War... with so much at stake in our war-machine, until we do, solving all other issues will just be continually delayed.
• Media & Conflict.. when media 'sells' news for ratings.. stories that ratchet up intensity levels will push us in directions extremely harmful to the country.

Before this latest round of nuclear saber-rattling, it would have been that climate was our #1 threat. But now, should it keep escalating, it would appear nuclear war is back in contention.

• Chomsky said as much on numerous occasions..and the Doomsday-Clock now being at 'two-minutes to midnight' emphasizes the point.

RACISM.. MISOGYNY... BIGOTRY.. EXTREMISM.. ETAL
We've never truly made a serious dent in R-M-B in this country. We talk a good game, but reality proves otherwise. We're completely ineffectual at altering the status-quo belief system.
And probably extremism should be out in its own major category, for many times in history it's been an underlying central cause of World War conflagrations.  

• Today, it has taken over front-row-center.. as a U.S. President leads the extremist charge. 
• White supremacists are becoming emboldened and more violent. There are millions more poor people today.. greater child poverty..more living in deep or extreme poverty.. income equality is worse and worsening.

"Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white.. separate and unequal."
We tackle it right, and head-on.. or it has the power to overwhelm and destroy us.

• They're will be no U.S. to come to the rescue... 'civil war' has potential to be exceptionally horrendous.

___________________________________________________________________

..then came along some new additions to be added to all of the above..
..some were present already, although not like the intensity levels they have reached today:


GLOBAL WARMING & CLIMATE DISRUPTION

-This by far has to be #1 on any major crisis list.  

-“Climate [Disruption] is the most urgent issue facing humanity today.”

We haven't that long left to get our act together, and the way things are now accelerating, in all probability, it might be extremely optimistic it could happen at all.

• Earth systems are so enormous and intricate, they take several decades to fully react (watch video)

So the climate were now experiencing is really from what happened 30-40 years ago. We stop burning ALL fossil fuels tomorrow.. we'll still have to deal with temperature increases for all that upcoming time.
And we have not really figured in the rise of methane gases.  

• The 'methane-bomb' is real, and most likely will be the deal-breaker.. getting that genie back in the bottle requires technology we've yet to invent... and we'd need it.. FAST !!!
• Why all those ranches in NZ are being bought up by the super-wealthy.. for their 'bolt-holes.'
• Scientists around the globe are stunned with the warming at the North Pole and Greenland. Daily mean temperatures across the region were comparable to those usually seen in May. February 25, at the North Pole rose above freezing. February 23 saw northern Greenland at 43°F. The average high there for that month is -20°F.
• "an anomaly among anomalies"... for such a crisis to come at the absolute WORST time possible !!
• Enormous world-wide changes are happening.. many don't want to admit their permanence.. or that they could accelerate and get much worse. "Common climate models are underestimating the change we’re facing." 
• Living like there is no tomorrow.. well there is a tomorrow, and we are living in it.

CAPITALISM - CONSUMERISM
We can't keep chewing up resources world-wide at present rates.. NOT even close to them.. we're running out of some already. We are 5% of the world's population, and every one of the seven and a half BILLION people on the planet want our 'lifestyle.'
You don't need to be very in-tune to dope this one out.

• A 'consumption-bomb'.. our present system of capitalism for 8-10+ billion bodies is NEVER-EVER going to work long-term!!

TERRORISM
We're amplifying this issue by our direct hand in so many different wars all over the globe.

• We now have 'boots-on-the-ground' in 150+ countries.. you read that right !! .. (How many countries in total are there??)

Pretend for a moment:  You're an Afghan..Iraqi.. Syrian.. Et al. .. living in one of these countries we're regularly bombing the crap out of.. and having lots of your FnF killed & maimed at our hand.. 
...what would be your thinkin about the U.S. being one of the 'good-guys.'

• "There's a real easy way of stopping terrorism.. STOP participating in it."

Much is now working in terrorists' favor.. their message craves conflict.. and our present system of government is now all to willing to give it to them in spades.
Talk about the endless ramifications of 'Blowback-War.'

• It was bin-Laden’s genius...  for a mere $400-500K 
• goading Washington into spending Trillions of dollars ..across significant parts of the Islamic world fighting conflict after conflict
• all of which only creates yet more rubble, terror outfits
• and refugees ..who, in turn, helped fuel yet more
• right-wing populist movements from Europe to DJT’s America.

Tell me this is not a blowback world! And as the world sinks deeper into chaos.. the potential numbers of their believers-followers grows exponentially. You have to consider this might really be what these warmongers everywhere actually want to happen.

• The Business of America... War today is Big-Profitable-Business !! 

ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE - 6TH MASS EXTINCTION
Earth is suffering... badly!!..  

• Overfishing...Pollution...Acidification...Coral Bleaching...Depleting Mangroves...Species Extinction
• (MME's)-Mass Mortality Events

It's happened 5x before.. only this time it will go down as self-inflicted... no asteroids-meteors or volcanic eruptions to lay the blame off on.  

• The guys in charge totally knew what was happening with climate decades ago.. and they chose GREED !! 
• This ain't goin away.. and can't be hidden & ignored much longer.. the 6th MASS-EXTINCTION!!

The kids & grand-kids might not yet fully understand how badly they're being screwed, but they surely will soon enough.  

Pollution of all types in this country (and around the world) is reaching exceedingly dangerous levels:

• Groundwater Monitoring Reveals Widespread Radioactivity at Duke Energy Coal Plants​.. Data shows high levels of radioactivity at 11 of 18 plants. Drinking water of more than half the population is radioactive enough to increase the risk of cancer. Highest levels of radioactivity were found at Duke Energy’s Asheville Power Plant, with levels of radium in groundwater 38 times what EPA considers safe for drinking water. Even in the face of these findings..the current EPA has just released revisions showing its intent to cripple the very rule that requires this sampling and the release of these data.
• Plastic is destroying our world... 8.3 BILLION TONS.. of which 6.3 Billion has already become trash, with almost 80% in landfills or out in the environment. As a young kid packaging was paper bags, cardboard boxes, wood, and glass... then beginning in the '50's plastic exploded onto the scene.. and has not let up on bit.

GEOENGINEERING
This is going to very soon sneak up on us, and become one of the leading causes of healthcare crisis IN-THE-WORLD !!!
For every square inch of the planet is being bombarded by toxic chemicals nearly 24/7... in the desperate & false-futile hope of staving-off global warming.  

• The chemical list is long and very dangerous. 
• Symptoms vary among individuals.. children and those with health issues are most at risk.  

And the general population has not even begun to look up at the skies.  

• Most still don't know much at all about 'Anthropogenic-Climate-Disruption (ACD). 
• Talk to them about CHEM-TRAILS and you will have completely lost them !!

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT - HUMAN RIGHTS
We're on the cusp with this one.. and once again, it's self-inflicted agony. And with only a quarter of the population unwittingly pulling the trigger on everyone.. (including themselves).
We're in a precarious situation:

• a majority of leadership is under direct control of oligarchs...
• with a majority of the population in considerable disagreement with most all current government policies and/or proposals.
• do we return to democracy.. or follow the current trend towards 'authoritarian-oligarchy.'

INEQUALITY - GREED
The 99.0000%-whatever are 'getting-by'.. some LOTS better than others..

• and having to live with the other .01%+/- that are taking in EVERYTHING.. while giving back less..and less..and less, to keep government and society functioning properly!!!
• Greed now rules most all major decisions by large corporations and the super-wealthy.. involving the entire society.
• For nearly a decade, companies have taken advantage of extremely cheap money set by the Fed and foreign central banks trying to pump up sluggish growth.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."


ENERGY - FOSSIL FUELS
This is as important as climate, and mass species-extinction, for it is so tied together with these other issues.  

• Should we not dramatically and immediate begin to remove ourselves from fossil-fuel dependency, we are NOT going to succeed in extending our future on this planet. 

If we have not already reached and gone over 'the edge'.. we're very close to that apocalyptic time.. and advancing at a rate of speed that has hardly slowed one bit since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Today, it takes about one barrel of conventional U.S. oil to produce the equivalent of nine barrels, or 378 gallons of gasoline. When it comes to shale oil.. it's a loss.. one barrel produces less than five (the loss point).

• We ignore it as much we can, but we initially bet on, and are sticking with, the wrong horse.. fossil-fuels. 

And have been resisting, trying to kill-off all the ones would get us longevity.. renewable-energy. When the guys in charge first knew 40 years ago about ACD, had they gone huge into alternate-energy, they'd be even wildly richer than they are today... and it would have been sustainable.. infinite sources of energy!!

• It forever will remain the most costly/short-sighted/greedy decision humankind has made...ultimately forcing humanity to an early exit.

MASS MIGRATION
All these peoples do not readily 'choose' to leave their homes & homeland!!  
They'll be ten of millions.. then hundreds of millions of migrants.. with no end in sight.

• We are now starting to enter the era of millions of people in forced-migration, for a whole host of reasons (wars-famine-climate).  
• Mass-migration will completely transform every country on the entire planet. The stresses and issues will be unimaginable and appear insurmountable.

Today will be increasingly remembered, and longed for as.. 'the-good-old-days.'


GUNS - 2nd AMMENDMENT
Right now issues deal with them are a major category:

• In the past decade 280,000 Americans have been killed by guns, along with tens of thousands injured.. (remember, Vegas had nearly 10x the number injured than killed.  Automatic assault weapons MUST be banned!!).
• "Republicans are not going to do anything on gun control."  If we are not able to have our leadership begin bending to the will of the people on this massively critical, no-brainer issue.. than all the others are going to be losing propositions as well.
• Right now GOP PAC money is preventing much needed legislation from even being proposed & considered, much less enacted...
  ...THIS MUST STOP !!!

GOVERNMENT-IN-CHAOS

When first starting to write this post, did not have intention of including this as a 'crisis.' But in the course of the last year.. and in the course of putting together this recap.. it has become quite evident.. a very grave and dangerous one.
The chaos and corruption are getting worse and there's no end in sight. And when considering how serious all the other major crisis are.. this only makes them all THAT MUCH MORE INCREDIBLY WORSE!!!

• "we're over a year into the Trump presidency and it's only getting more chaotic. There's a desperate quality to it that hasn't been there before and people are beginning to wonder if the administration is even minimally functional."
• evident for quite some time things were NOT going to turn around and magically get better. "Even by Trumpian standards, the chaos and the unraveling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue are a stunning -- and recurring -- problem."
• it's well past time that ALL those still supporting him... STOP !! And start understanding and admitting the very serious harm that is being done to the country.. and it could in his hands get MUCH, MUCH WORSE !!
• and that it is also well past time for him to be removed from office.

All this mayhem really falls squarely on the shoulders of the Democrats. They once had on the ticket, while not the most perfect of candidates (none ever are or will be).. but he was the embodiment of what this country needed at this precise point in history (and he would have won!).. and they got totally GOP stupid, and royally fucked it all up.
God do we desperately need another major political party!!

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..you're getting the picture, right.. we can keep adding on without any problem..
.. what we appear incapable of doing is knocking any of the items off the list..

..right now there's a bakers-dozen-plus, and God that sure is enough.. but if history teaches us anything, man is not capable (especially at this present moment) of not adding more items to this apocalyptic list.. 

..and there must be a point when we get all ages up-to-speed-educated & intensely involved in all these issues.. maybe now's gotta be that time..
.. it's not just about guns... it's WAY-MORE-BIGGER than that !!!!

..and believe me.. we'd give every dime owned to be wrong on all or any of this..
..but.. the obvious is just that.

This is being posted as a work-in-progress.. there's LOTS of links here, with more being added. So take your time reading them.. and frequently return to see what's been added/altered/deleted.. 
...and feel free to send comments by social media, or personal correspondence.. to get something said/added/debated.

TO BE CONTINUED...