Month: October 2015

Activist Doctors Still Disseminating Flawed, Dangerous Advice on Nuclear Weapons, Says PCD

As the nation appears to be on the brink of nuclear war, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) is reprinting its 50-year-old message in the New England Journal of Medicine. It claims that the existence of nuclear weapons is an “existential threat to humanity,” and that there is an urgent need to abolish them.

It is of course true that nuclear weapons effects are devastating. However, the “nuclear winter” theory that Physicians for Social Responsibility still cites was debunked and discredited long ago, as explained by Michael Crichton in a 2003 lecture at Caltech. Continue reading “Activist Doctors Still Disseminating Flawed, Dangerous Advice on Nuclear Weapons, Says PCD”

Are the “One Percent” Preppers Paranoid, or Are We Missing Something, Asks PCD

Benjamin Domenec’s popular blog, “The Transom,” featured a tour of a luxury bomb shelter in a secret location. At a cost of $35,000 per place, the elite are planning to be able to live in comfort for a year after Doomsday.

Robert Vicino, founder and CEO of survival prep company the Vivos Group, ticked off a list of scenarios (financial collapse, pandemic, magnetic pole shift, collision with Planet X, nuclear war, etc.). He has been building survival bunkers since 2007.

At the time of the tour, the facility was unoccupied. It is not clear what will signal people to head for shelter—or how they will get there. Continue reading “Are the “One Percent” Preppers Paranoid, or Are We Missing Something, Asks PCD”

War Over Syria

Civil Defense Perspectives Sept. 2015 Volume 31 No. 6

While some U.S. presidential candidates (Hillary Clinton, John Elias Bush [JEB], Marco Rubio, and Carly Fiorina) have expounded on the U.S. establishing a “no-fly” zone in Syrian airspace, Russia has established that it is not our airspace. U.S. pilots, conducting bombing raids on ISIS, were ordered to change course to avoid coming within 20 nautical miles of a Russian aircraft (http://tinyurl.com/poepl2q). Syria and our supposed ally Iraq have both invited Russia into their airspace to help quell ISIS—and the U.S.-supported insurgency that is trying to oust duly elected president Bashar al-Assad.

Over one week, Russia claimed to have destroyed 19 command facilities, two communications centers, 23 depots with fuel and ammunition, six plants for making improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and several training camps (RT.com 10/7/15, http://tinyurl.com/nvl5u6l). The U.S has not been announcing comparable claims. In addition to the well-tried workhorses like the Su-24 frontline bomber and the armored Su-25 ground-support fighter jet, designed decades ago, the Russian air force used the new Su-34, which can hit targets from an altitude of 5,000 feet, far from the range of the militants’ anti-aircraft weapons. The bombs include sophisticated laser-guided Kh-25Ls and steerable KAB-250s, and bunker-busting BETAB-500s (ibid.). Continue reading “War Over Syria”

Could Americans Face Nuclear Attack Because of Syria, Asks PCD

U.S. and Russian aircraft could literally be on a collision course in Syria, as the two countries have not agreed on flight safety rules in Syrian airspace. U.S. pilots are under orders to change their flight path if a Russian plane is within 20 nautical miles, according to a CNN report.

Americans who lived through the Cold War may recall the novel Alas, Babylon, in which a worldwide nuclear conflagration resulted from an accident caused by a low-level military officer. At that time, people were knowledgeable about nuclear weapons effects, and the U.S. had a civil defense program, notes Physicians for Civil Defense president Jane M. Orient, M.D. Today, there would be millions of avoidable casualties. Continue reading “Could Americans Face Nuclear Attack Because of Syria, Asks PCD”