Comments by "Stephen Villano" (@spvillano) on "Democracy Now!" channel.

  1. Interestingly, quite a few of those who worked in the plutonium lab became "plutonium pissers", literally having plutonium present in their urine for the remainder of their lives. With the majority dying of advanced old age. Those exposed to prompt critical radiation, especially neutrons, weren't so fortunate. But, most of those were in a team where a lab accident killed the physicist performing the experiment and many of those farther away got sick and later, various cancers associated with radiation. The radiation from the bomb itself, not so much to worry about, as by the time you're close enough that it's seriously dangerous, you've got a whole difference concern, that whole being instantly incinerated thing going on. But, they were utterly clueless about fallout at that time, so yeah, plenty present got fallout from the tamper and core dumped all over them and being fresh from the oven, that was some seriously hot shit. Two weeks later, not that hot at all, but immediately after, downright evil kind of hot.
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  2.  @tenzinnordron9836  that's an odd location for such samples. Most were stored far more southward than there. Not that the location matters at all, it's not as if biological samples are going to become a major biohazard. Especially given the plutonium pissers just wandering about the nation. They had no damned notion of industrial safety back then. :/
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  3.  @tenzinnordron9836  I know. Unlike Q-anon, I actually did hold a Q clearance. Harry was a physicist, despite today's knowledge, based upon that era's knowledge. He was repeatedly warned as to the risk. And being an honest man, he fucked up, he mitigated his fuckup. We lost three to prompt criticality. Harry Daghlian, Louis Slotin and Cecil Kelly. More to less critical incidents. I blame none, as at the time, safety was uncertain in all ways. I suggest tipping a hat, dipping a drink or otherwise saluting the memory of them, even while loathing the product that they produced.
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  4.  @tenzinnordron9836  the reality is, does it matter where preserved, as long as they are preserved? Knew a number of atomic vets. All simply wanted to be remembered.
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  5. Well, let's review some of the initial objections. Ignored, those who lived downwind of the bomb testing. Mentioned, the folks who worked at the site and service members exposed, but not the civilian population - a group still ignored today. Most of the victim photographs and films from Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain classified today. Civilians were most of the victims of the bombing, true, they literally were taking work home, Japan wasn't honoring the Geneva and Hague Conventions (they weren't signatories of the Conventions, but did agree to honor them at the beginning of the war and entirely didn't) and having components in their home as secondary manufactories did make them targets under the Conventions. Odd that the firebombing of Tokyo never gets mentioned, as that series of bombings killed more than both atomic bombings combined. The Emperor himself said that the bombings were necessary to convince the warmongers to come to the peace table. I suggest that the Emperor knew his people a tad better than you or I do today. Finally, Nagasaki got short shrift in the movie. true. OK, who was the third man to walk on the moon? Yes, it cheapens their loss, but Hollywood watches time like the proverbial hawk in running time on films and the film is about a person, not the damnable, thrice becursed bomb. I began my military career working on nuclear missiles. For reasons beyond my comprehension, we were shown those classified images of the victims and suffice it to say, I fully support their remaining classified. People have harmed themselves after seeing those images, for they haunt many a nightmare. And I can think of only one use for a nuclear or thermonuclear warhead - asteroid ablation to divert a decade or longer distant asteroid from earth's orbit. Beyond that, I fully support Oppenheimer's views on global disarmament of nuclear weapons. They're products of the insanity factory and have no realistic utility in a civilized world. And it'll never be able to be a civilized world with the damned things around. And before some pinhead nitpicks over "suitcase nukes", the lightest warhead was a 60 ton yield, 70 pound dirty fission bomb, the rest weighted in at 120 pounds for 600 tons yield, then jumped rapidly to quarter ton and most weighed in at a half ton. All need a pretty bad assed suitcase to handle that weight and the Incredible Hulk to lug it around. The MADM and SADM warheads weighed in over 100 pounds, plus support components and used a duffel bag sized carrier.
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