Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Among Gingrich’s Passions, a Doomsday Vision
NY Times ^

Posted on 12/11/2011 10:46:20 PM PST by Arthurio

Newt Gingrich, the Republican presidential hopeful, wants you to know that as commander in chief he is ready to confront one of the most nightmarish of doomsday scenarios: a nuclear blast high above the United States that would instantly throw the nation into a dark age.

In debates and speeches, interviews and a popular book, he is ringing alarm bells over what experts call the electromagnetic pulse, or EMP — a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age.

The idea is that if a nuclear weapon, lofted by a missile, were detonated in outer space high above the American heartland, it would set off a huge and crippling shockwave of electricity. Mr. Gingrich warns that it would fry electrical circuits from coast to coast, knocking out computers, electrical power and cellphones. Everything from cars to hospitals would be knocked out.

“Millions would die in the first week alone,” he wrote in the foreword to a science-fiction thriller published in 2009 that describes an imaginary EMP attack on the United States. A number of scientists say they consider Mr. Gingrich’s alarms far-fetched.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

1 posted on 12/11/2011 10:46:25 PM PST by Arthurio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

I’m gonna go with Dr Bill Wattenburg and say that the liklihood of a high altitude EMP detonation over the US is highly unlikely for a number of reasons, whereas the real danger lies in a nuke, low tech dirty bomb, or germs coming in through our porous ports and shipping traffic.


2 posted on 12/11/2011 10:52:47 PM PST by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

Just breathtaking. The NYT has spent decades insisting that missile defense cannot work and shouldn’t be attempted.

Now they state we can shoot down an ICBM anywhere on Earth and there is no question about it.

Meanwhile as they mock the capabilities of North Korea, recent word is NK is developing an ICBM to hit the United States.

Liberals are evil evil people.


3 posted on 12/11/2011 10:55:19 PM PST by Williams (Honey Badger Don't Care)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

Whenever republicans attempt to address a serious problem the media tells everyone there is no problem at all. Poof! Happens with nuclear missile threats, inner city poverty and crime, communism, terrorism, illegal immigration, social security going bankrupt, Fannie Mae,etc.

They are really dangerous.


4 posted on 12/11/2011 11:00:51 PM PST by Williams (Honey Badger Don't Care)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

This Slimes author(Broad) is a moron..

This threat is extremely possible.. not only possible but probable..
How easy it has been to move almost anything across the Mexican border..
Could be these bombs are here right now.. waiting..

Dirty bombs, clean bombs, neutron bombs, even EMP bombs..
also in URP... even the Vatican.. The Chinese and Russians are in bed with the Sand Monkeys for decades.. Probably will USE them to do the deed..

I am surprised it has not happened already..


5 posted on 12/11/2011 11:01:41 PM PST by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio
The only missile defense location that I know of is in Kodiak Alaska.
If the Iranians as they have threatened move ships into the Gulf of Mexico ( based out of Cuba or Venezuela), one of which has been used for ballistic missile launch testing, are in position to launch a nuke ,using their current missiles. There are NO missile defense locals in the gulf region .
We would be toast
6 posted on 12/11/2011 11:02:23 PM PST by Robe (Rome did not create a great empire by talking, they did it by killing all those who opposed them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Williams

Yes, I thought the left had declared missile defense to be the figment of Ronald Reagan’s imagination. Now they’re saying it works 100% of the time?


7 posted on 12/11/2011 11:12:18 PM PST by Arthurio
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

“a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age.”

It is NOT poorly understood, it is IGNORED.


8 posted on 12/11/2011 11:17:55 PM PST by tcrlaf (Election 2012: THE RAPTURE OF THE DEMOCRATS)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

I did a college internship at the Fort Belvoir Engineering Development Laboratories in 1965. We conducted research on the EMP effects upon Army vehicles. I have since tracked R&D on the subject. The military is well prepared to handle EMP on critical systems. The civilian world...not so much.


9 posted on 12/11/2011 11:19:25 PM PST by Jeff Gordon (Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

If this could happen above the U.S.A,wouldn’t that be possible above any country in the world?


10 posted on 12/11/2011 11:30:57 PM PST by Walkenfree (Aspire to inspire before you expire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio
I can envision the federal govt spending some dough on EMP research. After all, it's constitutional - Article 1 Section 8-wise, as it's part of defending America. The feds must not just do it, it must do it VERY well.

I'd certainly prefer a $1 going to that rather than some of Newt's other ideas in the past.

To Newt - spend effort on Art1S8, NOT on regulating industry (EPA), regulating energy (Dept of Energy), regulating education (Dept of Ed).

EMP, NOT federal Health Care.

11 posted on 12/11/2011 11:38:46 PM PST by C210N (Dems: "We must tax you so that we can buy our votes")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

Read “One Second After” by Richard Forstchen.

The book is a novel about life in the US after EMP. Not pretty...


12 posted on 12/11/2011 11:41:55 PM PST by montomike (Politics should be about service and not a lucrative, money-making opportunity!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar
whereas the real danger lies in a nuke, low tech dirty bomb, or germs coming in through our porous ports and shipping traffic.

Thats my nightmare scenario. Nukes in shipping containers, half a dozen ports simultaneously.

The arabs would be the willing patsies and take the brunt of whatever vengeance we could muster, but otherwise we'd be side-lined for a generation. With us out of the picture or at the least our influence removed from the equation the rest of the world goes mad.

13 posted on 12/12/2011 12:06:57 AM PST by marron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Jeff Gordon

D-Wave just sold a 128 qubit quantum computer to USC. It’s encased in one of the most perfect electromagnetic vacuums on earth.

I would think that would be free of the threat of EMP, but who knows.

D-Wave’s been at it for 12 years. That is a LOT of cash. A lot of cash. The unit they sold USC is cooled to 2 milliKelvin. That’s 200 times colder than interstellar space.

I wonder how much sustaining cash they got from Uncle Sugar.


14 posted on 12/12/2011 12:18:07 AM PST by RinaseaofDs (Does beheading qualify as 'breaking my back', in the Jeffersonian sense of the expression?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: All

What a typical NYSlimes misleading Headline


15 posted on 12/12/2011 12:27:05 AM PST by rbmillerjr (Conservative Economic and National Security Commentary: econus.blogspot.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Arthurio

Iran, we know, has been working on getting an EMP bomb and a rocket that could deliver it for some time. I would imagine China, Russia and maybe No. Korea are too.

It’s prudent to be aware of all possible scenarios and have some semblance of a reaction plan.That’s what a competent leader does - not wait until something happens.

If we get a dirty bomb incident, I would suspicion “enemies domestic” who need an excuse to declare Martial Law...


16 posted on 12/12/2011 2:22:09 AM PST by maine-iac7 (A prudent man foreseeth the evil,... but the simple pass on, and are punished. Prov 23:3 KJV)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: montomike
I don't think fanatics like Iran and North Korea realize that if an emp attack is successful on the US a lot of the world will starve.
17 posted on 12/12/2011 2:51:22 AM PST by MagnoliaB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Robe
Yup. It's amazing how many people (NY Times) are naive. Electromagnetic pulse is a fact.

They should do some research.

http://www.onesecondafter.com/

http://www.onesecondafter.com/pb/wp_d10e87d9/wp_d10e87d9.html

http://www.decodedscience.com/emp-attack-feared-by-newt-gingrich-as-national-threat/6762

18 posted on 12/12/2011 2:58:03 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common anymore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: montomike

I read it too. Scary stuff. I believe Newt wrote the introduction to the book.


19 posted on 12/12/2011 2:59:48 AM PST by sneakers (EAT YOUR PEAS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: montomike
The book is a novel about life in the US after EMP. Not pretty...

I met the author last Wednesday night at a WWII documentary here in Morganton, NC not far from his home near Asheville. The guy is smart and did a ton of research on the topic with nuclear physicists.

America better wake up.

20 posted on 12/12/2011 3:03:01 AM PST by Cobra64 (Common sense isn't common anymore.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-31 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson