Senator Sheldon Whitehouse proudly supports mass murder
Reckless endangerment of life on Earth is yet another one of his favorites.
Prem Thakker, a reporter for The Intercept, had a revealing exchange with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Here it is:
Voter: How do you feel about sending billions to Israel? Sen Sheldon Whitehouse: “Proud of my vote.” V: “As an anti-Zionist Jew—I’m your constituent, I grew up here—we care about the safety of Palestinians…can we count on you to call for a permanent ceasefire?” W: “No. Nope.”
Not even a ceasefire, and Senator Whitehouse is proud of voting for corporate welfare for the war industry, militarism, and mass murder. Pride for destruction!
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and rest of the Rhode Island congressional delegation in their votes to send even more weapons to Israel breached both international and US law. Veterans for Peace explained all of this in great detail.
To make things worse, Senator Whitehouse for many years has been at the center of legislation that pushes nuclear technology such as:
The Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA) of 2018: this act was designed to facilitate the development and testing of advanced nuclear reactors in the U.S.;
The Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) of 2019: this act focused on modernizing—weakening comes to mind—the regulatory structure for nuclear energy to promote innovation and reduce the cost of nuclear reactor licensing for a manifestly moribund industry;
The American Nuclear Infrastructure Act of 2021: this act aimed to support the existing nuclear infrastructure in the U.S. by promoting research, maintaining a skilled workforce. All of the above as explained in Energy Futures’ policy paper “The U.S. Nuclear Energy Enterprise: A Key National Security Enabler;” and
The ADVANCE Act of 2023: this act supposedly “sets forth provisions to develop and deploy advanced nuclear fuel for the United States and certain allied countries, restrict the possession or ownership of enriched uranium from Russia or China, ….”
Maybe Senator Whitehouse can have one of his staff members update him on proliferation. I recommend this review by the Congressional Research Service. Here is a particularly informative quote about security and weapons proliferation risk:
In addition to producing energy for peaceful purposes, nuclear fuels such as uranium and plutonium can be used by states to manufacture nuclear weapons material for military use or diverted by non-state actors to produce weapons of mass destruction. The risk of weapons proliferation from civilian nuclear materials and facilities presents a challenge for all nuclear energy reactors to varying degrees, and for international controls on nuclear materials. Advanced reactor designs may offer both advantages and disadvantages with respect to their potential effects on nuclear weapons proliferation.
None of this is new. In fact, it goes back to the dawn of the nuclear era, but clearly Congress is still stuck in studied ignorance, as the following 2008 quote from the American Physical Society’s Physics Today makes abundantly clear:
The most difficult step in building a nuclear weapon is the production of fissile material. One can either make plutonium-239 in a nuclear reactor or enrich uranium to increase the abundance of its fissile isotope uranium-235. Historically, enrichment has been the more obscure of the two routes, but the recent spread of one technology—the gas centrifuge— from the Netherlands to Pakistan and on to Libya, Iran, and North Korea has brought enrichment to the forefront of proliferation. That development is challenging old ideas about how to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear technology and prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons.
In March, Senator Whitehouse became a cosponsor of a bicameral resolution to bolster nuclear arms control regimes. Unfortunately, after decades of abrogating nuclear arms treaties, not a single non-NATO-aligned country has any confidence in U.S. commitments. The violation of U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s assurance “not one inch eastward” marked the end of any such trust. Regardless of the merits of this resolution, Senator Whitehouse's cosponsorship is patently part of his current re-election campaign.
Senator Reed chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. For years, he has been unrelenting in his efforts to increase spending on the war economy and militarism. Part of that goes toward nuclear arms “modernization,” which has less to do with “national security” and more with national politics. Renowned nuclear history scholar Richard Rhodes in his 1995 Dark Sun—The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb raised the question:
If real political leaders understood from one end of the Cold War to the other that even one hydrogen bomb was sufficient deterrence, why did they allow the arms race to devour the wealth of the nation while it increased the risk of an accidental Armageddon?
Rhodes’ carefully considered answer is:
Far more influential on the US side were such domestic political phenomena as competition among the military services, coalitions of scientific and industrial organizations promoting new technologies, the pressure of “defense” as a political issue and defense spending to prime the economic pump, particularly in election years.
This focus on priming the economic pump through defense spending is generally recognized as an inferior way to stimulate the economy. Moreover, this comes at a time when life has become unaffordable for over 100 million Americans. What a concept!
Dear reader, my story is boring, dull, and repetitive. But before I let you go, let me ask: are you ready for the coda?
Endorsing ChatGPT for the November elections
When it comes to insight and honesty, AI beats politicians and the national “security” bureaucracy hands down. It's not even a fair fight. But even AI can use a little help from its friends. The following exchange with ChatGPT provides insight into a typical US Senate hearing—essentially a facade meant to give credibility to preordained decisions about increasing spending on nuclear weapons modernization. The only winners in this scenario are the war industry and its supporters in Congress.
Peter: Please explain the following: "NNSA continues to innovate on mission-enabling construction of commercial-like projects to save time and taxpayer dollars while upgrading key capabilities." It's from “Testimony of Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm Administrator Jill M. Hruby of the National Nuclear Security Administration U.S. Department of Energy Before the Senate Committee on Armed Services April 17, 2024.”
ChatGPT: … Overall, this statement highlights the NNSA's commitment to innovation and efficiency in its construction projects, with the ultimate aim of enhancing national security while being mindful of taxpayer resources.
Peter: In your last paragraph, aren't you confusing commitment with purported commitment?
ChatGPT: You're right to raise that distinction. The statement describes the NNSA's purported commitment to innovation and efficiency in its construction projects. Without direct evidence or independent verification, it's challenging to confirm the full extent to which the NNSA follows through on this commitment. Thus, it's more accurate to describe it as a stated or purported commitment until it's demonstrated through observable actions or outcomes.
As Greg Mellow of the Los Alamos Study Group summed it up: “Dr. Hruby is riding a runaway train, and it's going in the wrong direction.”
Furthermore, 206 days have passed since the latest flare-up of the conflict in Palestine-Israel. During those 206 days, poverty has killed 164,800 people in the US, an average of 800 deaths a day. That adds up to a holocaust of six million poor sacrificed every two decades. The silence surrounding this issue is a disgrace for the nation, as are its warped priorities.
Wow!! Pretty amazing!