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Karl Grossman is a professor of journalism at the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury and host of the nationally syndicated TV program Enviro Close-Up.
SHARE Wednesday, February 24, 2021 Plutonium, Perseverance and the Spellbound Press
With all the media hoopla last week about the Perseverance rover, frequently unreported was that its energy source is plutonium -- considered the most lethal of all radioactive substances -- and nowhere in media that NASA projected 1-in-960 odds of the plutonium being released in an accident on the mission.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, January 25, 2021 The Leadership Institute -- Training Operation for Right-Wingers
We're familiar with Fox, the TV propaganda arm of the Trump administration, remaining a far right-wing outlet under Rupert Murdoch. And we're becoming aware of other radical-right efforts to indoctrinate people. But largely flying under the radar has been the training operation for right-wingers to be taught to work the media, infiltrate government and otherwise promote a right-wing agenda--the Leadership Institute.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, January 22, 2021 "Our position...is a resounding no" -- to letting nuclear plants run for 100 years
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a "public meeting" this week on allowing nuclear power plants to run for 100 years. "Our position and that of our constituents is a resounding no," declared Paul Gunter, director of the Reactor Oversight Project at the national organization Beyond Nuclear.
SHARE Saturday, January 16, 2021 Trump and His Key Long Island Enablers
Donald Trump has gotten pivotal support from a father and daughter combination of billionaire Robert Mercer and Rebekah Mercer functioning out of Suffolk County on Long Island. Suffolk, further, has been the base of one of the most ardent Trump devotees in the U.S. Congress, Lee Zeldin. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, Jr. bought a residence in Suffolk
--in the Hamptons--and there's been discussion of his running for Congress.
SHARE Friday, January 8, 2021 Donald Trump Has Been the Worst President in the History of the United States
Donald Trump has been the worst president in the history of the United States. The attack by his supporters on the Capitol was a capstone of his presidency -- lawless, an attack on democracy, a U.S. counterpart of the rise of Nazism in Germany in the 1930s.
(4 comments) SHARE Friday, January 1, 2021 Asking for Nuclear Disaster -- NRC Considers Extending Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses to 100 Years
Nuclear power plants when they began being constructed were not seen as running for more than 40 years because of radioactivity embrittling metal parts and otherwise causing safety problems. But the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has extended the operating licenses of nuclear power plants from 40 years to 60 years and then 80 years, and is now considering 100 years. "It is crazy," declares Robert Alvarez, a nuclear expert.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, December 16, 2020 The Push for Nuclear Power in Space -- and Musk Wants to Nuke Mars
Last week a SpaceX rocket exploded in a fireball. What if nuclear materials had been aboard. A major push is on too use nuclear power in space. And meanwhile, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has been touting the detonation of nuclear bombs on Mars to, he says, "transform it into an Earth-like planet." His SpaceX is selling T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Nuke Mars."
SHARE Friday, November 20, 2020 Trial to Be Scheduled on National Nuclear Laboratory Impacting Neighbors
A trial is to be scheduled on lawsuit charging radioactive discharged from Brookhaven National Laboratory causing cancer and other illnesses in nearby communities. This follows settlements with two groups of plaintiffs.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 9, 2020 FDR's Last Speech -- An Extraordinarily Articulate Plea for Peace
"The work, my friends, is peace. More than an end of this war, an end to the beginnings of all war." These were the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the speech he would never give. It was scheduled to be made on the radio to a Jefferson Day Dinner on April 13, 1945. But he died on April 12th, a day after reviewing and making several changes in the final draft.
SHARE Friday, September 18, 2020 Robocall Scourge
We are being subject to a scourge of robocalls. Robocall Index reports 58 robocalls were made in the U.S. in 2019, up from 48.7 billion in 2018. In New York, a bill -- which passed its State Senate last year -- is pending in the State Assembly. The "Robocall Prevention Act" provides that a robocall can only be "made with the prior express consent of the called party." That's an ideal remedy and should go national.
SHARE Friday, September 11, 2020 The Woodward Interview of Trump
"Trump's Agreeing to Talk to Woodward Shows Downside of Never Having Read a Book in Entire Life," was the headline of a satirical piece this week by Andy Borowitz of The New Yorker. Bt I think the prime reason why he went for an interview by Woodward is because as a con man he figured he could con even a great investigative reporter.
SHARE Thursday, August 27, 2020 Science and Scientific Vested Interests
There is science -- and then there is scientific vested interests. There is a major push for making science the basis for governmental decision-making. But what about the push by some scientists to politically further areas of science and technology that they favor. Science might be objective -- but that doesn't mean all scientists are.
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, July 27, 2020 Multi-Million $ Nuclear Corruption in Ohio
The U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI last week charged the speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives and four others in a $61 million scheme to use $1 billion in ratepayers money to keep two decrepit nuclear power plants operating. And, said the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, David DeVillers: "This is by no means over. We are going to continue this investigation."
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, July 13, 2020 Statue of Racist Robert Moses Should be Removed
While protests against police brutality have swept the nation following the murder by a police officer of George Floyd in Minneapolis -- and also demands that statues honoring figures linked to racism be removed -- a focus in the New York Metropolitan Area has been the statue of Robert Moses, long the public-works czar in New York.
(1 comments) SHARE Thursday, July 2, 2020 A Highly Aggressive U.S. "Defense Space Strategy"
The United States "must be capable of winning wars that extend into space", asserts a just-released "Defense Space Strategy" report. It is the first space-strategy document issued by the U.S. since President Donald Trump, after declaring that the U.S. must achieve "dominance in space", signed a measure this past December authorizing establishing a Space Force.
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, June 28, 2020 Trump Incites Police Violence
Arrogance by police often mirrors the individuals above the cops. Trump's involvement in inciting police violence needs to be fully recognized.
SHARE Monday, May 18, 2020 U.S. Seeks "Hundreds or Even Thousands" of Nuclear-Capable Hypersonic Missiles
The U.S. is seeking to acquire "volumes of hundreds or even thousands" of nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles that are "stealthy" and can fly undetected hypersonic missiles. Why so many? A Pentagon official is quoted in the current issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology as saying "we have to be careful we're not building boutique weapons. If we build boutique weapons, we won't -- we'll be very reluctant -- to use them."b
(6 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 29, 2019 Turning Space Into a War Zone -- U.S. Space Force Established
President Trump has signed the National Defense Authorization Act that establishes a U.S. Space Force -- despite the Outer Space Treaty that designates space as a global commons to be used for peaceful purposes.