Trump's finger on the nuclear button

Action alert by Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen:

As it stands, only one person on earth can order the launch of America’s nuclear arsenal.

He doesn’t need approval from any other living soul to set off a global thermonuclear cataclysm.

He doesn’t even have to wait for a congressional declaration of war.

His name is Donald Trump.

Public Citizen — along with allies like the American Friends Service Committee, the Council for a Livable World and the Union of Concerned Scientists — is supporting urgent legislation in Congress to ensure that no president can independently initiate a nuclear strike.

Tell Congress: Pass legislation NOW to prohibit the president from unilaterally starting a nuclear war.

Add your name today.

Thank you for taking action to restrain Trump.

Onward,

Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen

Energy Department whistleblower finally gets justice, despite agency neglect

As reported by the Washington Post, "A letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry from Wyden [Democratic U.S. Senator from Oregon] and Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) gives the Energy Department its share of the blame," regarding the case of vindicated Savannah River Nuclear Site whistleblower Sandra Black.

Trump the Destroyer

As reported by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone, in an article entitled "Trump has stuffed his Cabinet with tyrants, zealots and imbeciles – all bent on demolishing our government from within":

Trump's pick for energy secretary, Rick Perry, reportedly not only admitted that he didn't know what the Department of Energy actually does, but had called for that very agency's elimination as a presidential candidate (and forgot that fact during a debate). Moreover, Trump had brutalized Perry during the campaign as a dimwit among dimwits, whose "smart glasses" affectation didn't fool anyone.

For Trump and his inner circle to name Perry to any Cabinet post at all felt like trolling, like a football team wrapping the mascot in packing tape and mailing him to Canada. But to send someone you're on record calling an idiot to run the nation's nuclear arsenal, that doesn't fit easily in any bucket: mischief, evil, incompetence – it's even a little extreme for nihilism. (emphasis added)

This troubled, covert agency is responsible for trucking nuclear bombs across America each day

As reported by the L.A. Times.

“Transportation is the Achilles’ heel of nuclear security and everyone knows that,” said Bruce Blair, a retired Air Force missile officer, Princeton University researcher and founder of Global Zero, a nonprofit group that seeks elimination of nuclear weapons.

The danger is not a traffic accident — even a fiery crash is not supposed to explode a warhead — but a heist.

“In an age of terrorism, you’re taking a big risk any time you decide to move nuclear material into the public space over long distances via ground transport,” Blair said. “Bad things happen.”

North Korea says missile launches were training for striking U.S. bases in Japan

As reported by the Japan Times.