Volunteer orientation Tues 4/16 noon; panel discussion 4/16 6 pm; important updates
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Dear friends --
Good morning.
First, I wanted to remind you of Tuesday's public meeting, details regarding which can be found at the link above. If you would help us "beat the bushes" to let folks know about this event it would be very, very helpful! Personal outreach really matters. This is really a unique meeting, and will be posted on-line later. We believe it will be important in multiple ways as we fight nuclear weapons production and the harrowing risk of nuclear war. There is much, much more going in U.S.-Russian relations than meets the casual eye. We are at a real hinge of history, one that affects -- and is affected by -- Santa Fe and New Mexico.
Second, we are going to have a volunteer orientation and campaign meeting at the Chomp Food Hall in Santa Fe (505 Cerrillos Road, Santa Fe, map) at noon, in the loft. Please RSVP so we can plan!A few of us have been having planning meetings on a weekly or semi-weekly basis and conducting various "experiments in outreach," getting ready. We are now opening the doors to more volunteers! Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is planning on producing the plutonium cores ("pits") of nuclear explosives sufficient for at least 40 nuclear warheads*, with the explosive power of at least 800 Hiroshimas, each year. (*"At least 30" pits per year means an
average of 40 or more, modeling shows.) Collectively, we can stop this, as we have done more than once before. As great as the opposing forces are, there are still greater forces involved which can act in our favor.
In that regard and
third, former LANL public relations official Jim Rickman has written a terrific op-ed in the
New Mexican ("LANL transition should concern community," Apr 10, 2024). It would be valuable for you to comment on this in the space provided, if you feel so moved. Also of note from the
New Mexican is this, in case you missed it: "
Reports: 2 mishaps at LANL in one day," Apr 8, 2024. And from the
Los Alamos Reporter, this: "
Driver Charged With Possession Of Drugs And Stolen Firearm [submachine gun] Following LAPD Response To Reckless Driving [en route to work at LANL, while obviously drugged] Report," Mar 29, 2024. These are important developments.
Fourth, Annie Jacobsen's book
Nuclear War: A Scenario (sold out, backordered at Collected Works and elsewhere) is a fine effort that will be useful to everyone -- students at all levels, activists and volunteers, journalists, and national security professionals. It's a scenario, as the title says, but also a textbook and a, er, thriller. Few know how nuclear war can unfold -- who would do what, when, why, and how. Jacobsen explains. I am afraid the terrifying danger she describes is very real. It is generally not bedtime reading. Some of the nuclear effects described in her book were described in more detail in Steve Starr's
new book on high-altitude electromagnetic pulse from nuclear attack. See also his
nuclearfamine.org. Steve, who is on our board of directors, will be speaking on Tuesday.
Fifth, we've been occasionally posting video content on our YouTube channel. Claus Biegert's documentary, "
The Secret and the Sacred, Two Worlds at Los Alamos," is the latest addition. We anticipate adding semiweekly video interviews to this channel, which gets a relatively lot of traffic, for us. Stay tuned.
Sixth, I edited the recent
Bulletin 342: ...Pit production: myths and contradictions (April 10) for clarity, adding some significant new material as well. If you haven't read that Bulletin or merely skimmed it, read this better version instead! We strongly oppose the idea of accelerating pit production in order to produce additional (MIRVed) new warheads for the Sentinel system, as advocated by many (but not all) Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and arms control groups. We will be taking our case to Congress again in the coming days.
Finally, as you can see the number of endorsers of the
Call for Sanity, a registry of resistance to pit production and hence to a renewed nuclear arms race, is growing. You can help -- please do! We are up to at least 205 businesses and organizations, with a few endorsers still to be entered from paper sign-up forms, so the total is actually more than this.
If everyone would approach one business or organization to endorse the Call for Sanity, Not Nuclear Production, it would make an enormous, helpful difference.
Thank you so much and best wishes to all. See you Tuesday.
Greg
