This article confronts an editors' blockade to Freedom of the Press, which affects our lives and our safety. OpEd News is the only news publisher, of more than 23 news publishers, that will endorse Freedom of the Press for this dispute of the U.S. military ability to counter nuclear missile attacks on U.S. soil.
These articles are not aimed as an attack on publishers, but are intended to be a criticism of policies that enforce the status quo, which prevents the spread of new ideas. Acceptance of new ideas is difficult for many people, and this series of Op Eds works to overcome the fear of the new to save lives. As a matter of fact, a major goal of these articles is that other publishers and reporters reference this work in their articles. After all, the primary goal of this work is to change opinions to save lives.
Freedom of Speech is a fundamental right of expression, and Freedom of the Press expands that right to communicate with many people, albeit with more responsibilities. Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, as focused here, accuses the U.S government to clearly state that "The U.S. cannot adequately protect us from a nuclear attack by North Korea" (Click Here).
Figures 1-8 visualize the first atomic bomb test. These photos are provided so that you can see what I see while I am writing.
Figure 1: Trinity Test - 'The dawn of the nuclear age', July 16, 1945.
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Figure 2: Trinity Test - The first atomic bomb test, 21 kilotons, 21 days before the Hiroshima attack.
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Figure 5: Trinity Test - The dawn of nuclear war. People vaporize at ground zero.
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Figure 6: Trinity Test - The dawn of nuclear mass killings in seconds.
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Figure 7: Trinity Test - 1/10th of a second after detonation.
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Figure 8: Trinity Test - Ground burst explosions create massive craters in the ground. After the initial detonation, people die from radiation, burns and different blows to the body.
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Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, and Dissenting Opinions
With respect to Freedom of Speech, 'Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers' (United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, .goodreads.com/quotes/tag/freedom-of-speech).
With respect to Freedom of the Press, 'Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy' (Walter Cronkite). 'No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.' (Thomas Jefferson, Click Here).
Spoken words may disappear or be unable to be proven with the passage of time, while written words remain. This difference between Free Speech and the Free Press implies that there must be a greater responsibility to the Press, where written words are permanently documented in writing.
The facts and opinions presented here evaluate a dissenting opinion, which disagrees with many opinions stated in a flurry of recent news articles with respect to our safety and a possible nuclear war with North Korea. This discussion on Freedom of the Press naturally followed, when this fundamental freedom was stymied by a plethora of article refusals by news publishers.
Refusals to Publish Dissenting Opinions
News sources that turned down this publication included the Associated Press, the Baltimore Sun, the New York Times, the LA Times, the Seattle Times, the San Francisco Times, the New York Post, the Washington Post, Politico, the Houston Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Guardian, USA Today, Newsweek, Newsday, the New York Daily News, the Dallas Morning News, Huffpost, the Star Ledger, the Philadelphia Enquirer, the Oregonian, Chicago Tribune, and the Boston Globe.
By refusing to publish public safety information, the Press prevents our citizens from evaluating the demand for an effective nuclear missile system to ensure our safety in the event of nuclear war. Consequently, these members of the Press effectively endanger our lives and trash Freedom of the Press through their blockade of nuclear safety information. Figuratively, I am leveraging OpEd News to act as a blockade runner against many publishers in the Press.
Even though OpEd News provides a forum from which to exercise Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press, typical OpEd News views for previous related articles typically range between about 800 and 1200 readers.
Reaching Out to the Crowds
Other news sources reach many more readers. Even so, circulation of newspapers dropped from 44 million to 24 million from 2011 to 2021 ("Newspapers fact sheet", .pewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers). (Click Here).
Consider several examples of news publication circulations, which are on the list of article rejections. The average daily circulation of the Wall Street Journal is 3.749 million (click here). The average daily circulation of USA Today is 534,600 (Click Here). The New York Times has a circulation of 343,000 (click here). The LA times has a circulation of 572,998. Of the top 25 U.S. newspapers (Click Here), the Boston Globe has the lowest circulation at 245,541 (Click Here). The Associated Press reaches 1.4 million readers (Click Here). Circulations for other news publishers are available.
Changing Opinions on Nuclear War Defense Failures and Nuclear War
To expand public awareness of nuclear missile-defense failures and nuclear war horrors, the original article was intended to refer back to OpEd News articles for additional details and additional references. Although the listed news circulations would not necessarily translate into views of an article, publications in any one of the leading news sources would certainly improve the possibility for changing opinions on this life-or-death national issue.
In some cases, Op Ed submission guidelines suggest that an Op Ed present a new topic that is related to current news. Confronting the U.S. government's failure to protect us is certainly a new discussion in the news, and the recent flurry of news articles on the fear of nuclear war with North Korea is certainly current and timely.
I cannot speak to the specific motives for refusals, since publishers do not provide that information. However, 22 refusals to publish drafts of this article cannot be coincidence or accident. Many articles have been published with other opinions on the issues that have been raised in this article. Some publishers just do not like what they see in this article, even though loss of life is the concern.
So many refusals hinder Freedom of the Press to express different ideas to a wider audience. OpEd News allows publication of this public safety information, which is presented from a different point of view.
Free Speech, Free Press, and Public Safety
'Resistance to new ideas seems to be an enduring human characteristic, and scientists [and members of the Press] - despite extolling the virtues of objectivity - have often proved themselves very human in this respect. Many of the great breakthroughs of modern science were initially rejected or ignored, sometimes for decades, and mainly because of bias' (click here).
I have the right to say what I think to be true. I have the right to write what I think to be true. I have the right to publish in print what I think to be true. I choose to do the next right thing, and write the facts for publication as determined through careful research, based on facts established from thorough reasoning.
I have the right to think - through reasoning - to establish new ideas to make our world a safer place to live. I have the right to create new knowledge where knowledge did not previously exist. I have exercised this right to show that inadequate nuclear missile defenses are a risk to our lives, and in parallel research I developed new theories to explain nuclear power plant explosions.
I have the right, and I have exercised this right, to publish new ideas in peer-reviewed engineering journals (See leishearengineeringllc.com).
I have the right to express these new ideas to the general public through newspapers, but this right has been cut off from many people by editors.
I have the right to establish this nuclear safety effort to make our world safer. More important than any rights that I claim to have, lives can be saved. We should work to save lives.
You have the right to join this effort to make our world a safer place to live. In Part 4 of this series, I provide a recommended letter to the U.S. Congress and the U.S. President.
Our Lives are Risked Without Our Knowledge or Consent
Our government officials do not have a right to risk our lives without our consent. Editors from the Press do not have a right to block public information that affects our lives.
We should be informed when our lives are jeopardized by government failures with respect to nuclear missile defenses. Effective censorship was also exercised with respect to nuclear power plant-explosion disasters ("Press censorship and the nuclear power plant explosions that still bang at our doors", click here).
In fact, we should be informed of any government actions or policies that fail to protect our lives. Even if new ideas are unpopular or unpleasant to the public, or confrontational to government officials and industry professionals, Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press guarantee the right to express information and ideas that can save lives. Even so, many Press organizations black out Freedom of the Press and consequently endanger our lives.References
See "Nuclear Threats - Part 1 - We Are Not Safe If North Korea Fires Nuclear Bombs at Us" (See click here), "Nuclear Threats - Part 3 - Our Government Lies To Us About Nuclear Safety - Radioactive Explosions In War and In Peace" (See click here), and "Nuclear Threats - Part 4 - Take Action Against U.S. Cover-ups in Nuclear Power and Nuclear Missile Defense" (See click here).
(Article changed on Dec 02, 2022 at 2:03 PM EST)
