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The Amazing Saga of Manhattan Project Engineer Who Tried to Halt the Atomic Bombings

A sure sign of the cultural impact of a hit movie is that, after the first week, we are still seeing one article after another inspired by it, from the often silly (who is buying Oppie’s hat?) to the serious. Somewhere in between is this interesting piece in today’s New York Times on imagery of the mushroom cloud, from the ‘50s and ‘60s (e.g. Dr. Strangelove) through to The Day After and much more in the 1980s, to Asteroid City and Oppenheimer now.

Nolan returns the nuclear explosion from the realm of symbolism to a primal zone of fears and urges – a cataclysm created by other human beings like us.

But let’s not forget Arnold and Jamie Lee in True Lies (with the real Terminator behind them)

After toiling in a top-secret government program for two to three years, many scientists who were part of the Manhattan Project, and not at Los Alamos, finally learned in 1945 that all that work was aimed at creating a revolutionary new weapon, the atomic bomb, and with Germany defeated it might very well still be used – over Japanese cities in the months ahead.   Indeed, this would occur, seventy-eight years ago next week. This eventuality deeply troubled some of them, fearing the toll on civilians, and the uncharted radiation effects that would result, as well as setting a precedent for future use.

Yet none of them took these concerns public.   Wartime security controls were still very much in place and anyone who did leak or speak to the press faced severe penalties.   A key Chicago scientist, Eugene Rabinowitz, later recounted that he deeply considered speaking out.   It wasn’t so much that he opposed any possible use of the bomb but that – I find this profound – Americans deserved to know, in advance, what was likely about to be done by their leaders, in their names.   There is no record of anyone else within the massive Manhattan Project – with sprawling sites in a several states – coming close to doing that.

One of the most famous scientists who played a key early role in developing the bomb, Leo Szilard, did mount an earnest private campaign, gaining the support of dozens of atomic scientists in the project.  We see a little of this in Oppenheimer, once via Szilard and a couple of times raised by Teller. They petitioned President Truman to never use, or at least hold off using, the new weapon until Japan was given a much longer period to surrender, or possibly demonstrate the power of the bomb for the enemy before actually dropping it over a city.   The petition was blocked (partly by Oppie) from reaching the desk of the president before it was too late.

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Worker Fired Over Refusal to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Wins Job Back

The University of Virginia wrongly fired an employee who refused to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new ruling.

The university “acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner” when it fired Kaycee McCoy, a cytotechnologist, in 2021, Virginia District Court Judge Claude Worrell Jr. said in a July 27 ruling.

Ms. McCoy had asked for a religious exemption to the university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, with support from her pastor.

But her employer denied the request and terminated Ms. McCoy in November 2021.

Ms. McCoy quickly took her case to the courts, saying that the refusal to grant an exemption violated Virginia’s Constitution, which states in part that all citizens are “entitled to the free exercise of religion” and that no citizen “shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief.”

The university defended its decision, arguing that the plaintiff’s “personal opinions” and “personal preferences” did not make her entitled to a religious exemption. They also said they did not have to grant her an exemption even if her objection was based on sincere beliefs.

Judge Worrell disagreed, finding in favor of the plaintiff.

Virginia courts uphold governmental actions unless the actions are “arbitrary and capricious” or those taken “without a determining principle,” according to previous court decisions.

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Say Goodbye to Permissionless Travel

Once upon a time, citizens of the United States could travel to almost every country in the European Union for 90 days without asking any government for permission beyond showing a passport at the initial point of entry. It was—and still is, for a few waning months—a marvelous if underacknowledged achievement for liberty.

Alas, the days of frictionless travel will soon be a memory. Starting at a so-far-unspecified date in early 2024, Americans and residents of 62 other countries that currently enjoy visa-free visitation to the Schengen Area of the E.U. will need to pay a fee and submit an online application (including biometric information, work experience, medical conditions, and initial itinerary), then pass a criminal/security background check, before enjoying that croissant in gay Paree. The grimly named European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) is projected to cost 7 euros per application and take up to 14 days to render a decision.

Before you start shaking your fist at freedom-hating Eurocrats, know that ETIAS is the belated continental answer to a system the U.S. has imposed on residents of friendly countries since 2009, called the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA. Like ETIAS, ESTA is a response to 21st-century terrorist attacks and combines modest fees ($21) with less-than-instantaneous turnaround times (a promised 72 hours). Both either tweak or torpedo (depending on your point of view) the notion of reciprocal “visa waiver” travel between high-trust countries.

U.S. passports have long been given the red carpet treatment worldwide, due to the country’s economic heft and traditional leadership role in negotiating down international barriers to the movement of people (and goods). That latter ethic began to deteriorate after the Cold War, with the rise of bipartisan anti-illegal immigration politics in the early 1990s, and then in earnest after Saudi nationals pulverized the World Trade Center with highjacked planes on September 11, 2001.

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New Biden CDC Head Pushes Annual Covid Vaccines

The new Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Mandy Cohen has announced it is expected that COVID vaccines will become annual like flu shots, prompting critics to point out that they were suspended from social media for predicting the same thing two years ago.

Cohen, who become CDC Director at the start of the month told Spectrum News, “We’re just on the precipice of that, so I don’t want to get ahead of where our scientists are here and doing that evaluation work, but yes we anticipate that COVID will become similar to flu shots, where it is going to be you get your annual flu shot, and you get your annual COVID shot.”

“We’re not quite there yet, but stay tuned,” she continued, adding “I think within the next couple of weeks, month we’re going to hear more from our experts on COVID shots.”

One Twitter user noted that he was kicked off the platform in 2021 for suggesting this would happen.

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Americans Love NASA, But Private Firms Do the Real Work in Space

Despite the successes of private space companies, many Americans cling to a notion of NASA as representing the country beyond the atmosphere. In fact, though, NASA relies on capabilities developed and owned by others. The Space Launch System [SLS] is supposed to restore the agency’s role, but it’s antiquated and clunky when compared to private competitors. Public opinion has yet to catch up with an innovation boom that has moved beyond misty memories of NASA in its moon-landing heyday.

“Most Americans continue to believe that the U.S. space agency NASA has a critical role to play, even as private space companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are increasingly involved in space,” Pew Research reported earlier this month. “Overall, 65% of U.S. adults say it is essential that NASA continue to be involved in space exploration, the survey finds. A smaller share (32%) believe that private companies will ensure enough progress is made in space exploration, even without NASA’s involvement.”

The Biden administration is happy to play to such sentiments with its National Cislunar Science & Technology Strategy which heavily emphasizes “the NASA Artemis program, with its near-term mission to return humans to the Moon.” But the publication of that strategy last November was no accident, coinciding as it did with the successful test of the long-delayed Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule. Without the SLS, plans for NASA’s return to the moon are pipe dreams, since it has largely relied on others for reaching space since the 2011 retirement of the space shuttle program.

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Texas A&M suspended professor accused of criticizing Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in lecture

Joy Alonzo, a respected opioid expert, was in a panic.

The Texas A&M University professor had just returned home from giving a routine lecture on the opioid crisis at the University of Texas Medical Branch in March when she learned a student had accused her of disparaging Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during the talk.

In the few hours it took to drive from Galveston, the complaint had made its way to her supervisors, and Alonzo’s job was suddenly at risk.

“I am in a ton of trouble. Please call me!” she wrote to Chandler Self, the UTMB professor who invited her to speak.

Alonzo was right to be afraid. Not only were her supervisors involved, but so was Chancellor John Sharp, a former state comptroller who now holds the highest-ranking position in the Texas A&M University System, which includes 11 public universities and 153,000 students. And Sharp was communicating directly with the lieutenant governor’s office about the incident, promising swift action.

Less than two hours after the lecture ended, Patrick’s chief of staff had sent Sharp a link to Alonzo’s professional bio.

Shortly after, Sharp sent a text directly to the lieutenant governor: “Joy Alonzo has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation re firing her. shud [sic] be finished by end of week.”

The text message was signed “jsharp.”

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Dallas Law Against ‘Manifesting’ Prostitution Declared Unconstitutional

Manifesting prostitution law rejected. The Dallas County Criminal Court of Appeals has struck down a law against “manifesting the purpose of engaging in prostitution.” The law “is seeking a shortcut that trespasses on the constitutional rights of Dallas citizens,” wrote Judge Kristin Wade in her decision. The statute was “overbroad,” she argued, because “it punishes constitutionally protected conduct as well as illegal activity.”

The Dallas law is separate from Texas’ main prohibition of prostitution. The latter prohibits engaging in, offering to engage, or agreeing to engage in sex acts for a fee. The former prohibits looking like you might be about to do so.

Under the Dallas law, it was a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 to loiter “in a public place in a manner and under circumstances manifesting the purpose of inducing, enticing, soliciting, or procuring another to commit an act of prostitution.”

Laws like these—sometimes called “manifesting” for the purpose of prostitution, sometimes “loitering” for prostitution purposes—are common in cities and states around the country. But there’s been a growing movement against these laws, which make it easy for police to hassle and arrest people without cause.

In 2021, New York state repealed its loitering for prostitution statute. California did the same in 2022.

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New Files Show Biden Admin Forced Facebook To Censor “True Information” On Vaccine Side Effects

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan released a second batch of files Friday showing that the Biden administration was forcing Facebook to censor content relating to COVID vaccines, including what employees there described as “true information”.

Jordan noted that Facebook knew it was removing “humorous or satirical content that suggests the vaccine isn’t safe,” as well as “true information about the side effects.” 

Jordan also noted that Facebook employees were annoyed at being made to take down content they knew was accurate, describing the administration’s definition of misinformation as “completely unclear” and noting that the White House was using “untested assumptions” to demand censorship.

“It also just seems like when the vaccination campaign isn’t going as hoped, it’s convenient for them to blame us,” one employee noted.

Another agreed, responding “This seems like a political battle that’s not fully grounded in facts, and it’s frustrating.”

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Is 8,000-year-old Damaidi Rock Art the Origin of Chinese Writing?

The Chinese writing system is by far one of the most complex in the world, and its origins are truly ancient. In fact, ​​Chinese characters are the oldest continuously used system of writing in the world, a fact that alone makes them very, very special. It is thus only natural to ask the question: where did these characters originate? A system of writing that is so complex and unique surely has to have a special place of provenance. Some scholars believe that the characters first came to existence amongst the Damaidi petroglyphs – ancient drawings carved in stone that reach far, far back in time. Are they the key to the riddle?

Damaidi rock art, also known as the Damaidi petroglyphs, are a collection of stunning ancient rock carvings found in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. They are situated close to the village of Damaidi, which is set amid the Weining Mountains on the north bend of the famed Yellow River . These carvings have been dated to between 6,000 and 8,000 years before present and depict a wide variety of images, including animals, humans, and abstract symbols . The images are carved into local cliffs, and in total there are 3,172 sets of early Chinese petroglyphs , all of which feature 8,453 individual figures. These are stunning numbers, indicating that the site was filled with art over many generations.

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Remember the Atrocities of the Korean War, Not the Propaganda

Today is the 70th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting between North and South Korea. Almost 40,000 American soldiers died pointlessly in that conflict. If politicians and policymakers were honest and prudent, the Korean War would have vaccinated America against the folly and evil of foreign intervention. Instead, the war was retroactively redefined. As Barack Obama declared in 2013, “That war was no tie. Korea was a victory.”

The war began with what Harry Truman claimed was a surprise invasion on June 25, 1950, by the North Korean army crossing the dividing line with South Korea that was devised after World War II. But the U.S. government had ample warnings of the pending invasion. According to the late Justin Raimondo, co-founder of Antiwar.com, the conflict actually started with a series of attacks by South Korean forces, aided by the U.S. military:

“From 1945-1948, American forces aided [South Korean President Syngman] Rhee in a killing spree that claimed tens of thousands of victims: the counterinsurgency campaign took a high toll in Kwangju, and on the island of Cheju-do—where as many as 60,000 people were murdered by Rhee’s U.S.-backed forces.”

The North Korean army quickly routed both South Korean and U.S. forces. A complete debacle was averted after General Douglas MacArthur masterminded a landing of U.S. troops at Inchon. After he routed the North Korean forces, MacArthur was determined to continue pushing northward regardless of the danger of provoking a much broader war. By the time the U.S. forces drove the North Korean army back across the border, roughly 5,000 American troops had been killed. The Pentagon had plenty of warning that the Chinese would intervene if the U.S. Army pushed too close to the Chinese border. But the euphoria that erupted after Inchon blew away all common sense and drowned out the military voices who warned of a catastrophe. One U.S. Army colonel responded to a briefing on the Korea situation in Tokyo in 1950 by storming out and declaring, “They’re living in a goddamn dream land.”

The Chinese military attack resulted in the longest retreat in the history of America’s armed forces—a debacle that was valorized in the 1986 Clint Eastwood movie, Heartbreak Ridge. By 1951, the Korean War had become intensely unpopular in the United States—more unpopular than the Vietnam War ever was. Truman insisted on mislabeling the war as a “police action,” but it destroyed his presidency regardless. When the ceasefire was signed in 1953, the borders were nearly the same as at the start of the war.

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