Free Republic

(CNN)The world's oceans are now heating at the same rate as if five Hiroshima atomic bombs were dropped into the water every second, scientists have said. A new study released on Monday showed that 2019 was yet another year of record-setting ocean warming, with water temperatures reaching the highest temperature ever recorded.

TOKYO - Pope Francis has told Japanese Emperor Naruhito that he remembers seeing his parents cry over the news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 74 years ago. The pope traveled on Sunday to the two Japanese cities, where he urged world powers to renounce their nuclear arsenals and declared the use and possession of atomic bombs an “immoral” crime. Palace officials say the pope told the emperor on Monday that he recalled the memory of his parent’s sorrow when he addressed survivors of the atomic bombings in the two cities. Naruhito told Francis that he has high...

Never-before-seen photos of the aircraft crew that dropped the world's first atomic bomb receiving a heroes' welcome upon returning from the historic mission have come to light. The black and white photos show the 12 airmen posing before and after they deployed the B-29 bomber 'Enola Gay' to drop the devastating bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. One photo is of pilot Colonel Paul Tibbets being given an immediate gallantry decoration by a general after stepping off the aircraft.

In 2015, retired geologist and marine ecologist Mario Wannier was examining samples of beach sand collected from Japan's Motoujina Peninsula, just 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) south of Hiroshima's hypocentre, or ground zero. Primarily, Wannier and fellow researcher Marc de Urreiztieta were looking for traces of microscopic organisms called foraminifera in the sediment, but that's not all they found. These strange glass spherule particles – some of which resemble the kind of glassy debris ejected into the atmosphere during meteorite impacts – are estimated to constitute up to 2.5 percent of all the sand in the beaches around Hiroshima. Wannier ended...

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped a uranium-fueled atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, another U.S. Army Air Forces B-29 repeated the attack on Nagasaki, Japan, with an even more powerful plutonium bomb. Less than a month after the second bombing, Imperial Japan agreed to formally surrender on Sept. 2. That date marked the official end of World War II -- the bloodiest human or natural catastrophe in history, accounting for more than 65 million dead. Each August, Americans in hindsight ponder the need for, the morality of, and the strategic rationale behind the dropping of...

On Aug. 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. It was the first time a nuclear weapon had been used in warfare. There were three strike planes that flew over Hiroshima that day: the Enola Gay, which carried the bomb, and two observation planes, the Great Artiste and the Necessary Evil. Russell Gackenbach was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps and a navigator on the mission. Today, the 95-year-old is the only surviving crew member of those three planes.

In the decades immediately following World War II, American public opinion generally supported President Truman's historic decision to unleash nuclear weapons on Japan. Everyone accepted that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an unfortunate necessity brought on by the unwillingness of Japan to surrender. Those two bombs, which killed over 140,000 civilians, were viewed as a way to avoid the obscene costs in men and materiel associated with invading the Japanese homeland. Nowadays, many question whether those bombs were necessary. Given that they killed almost exclusively civilians and that the second of the two was dropped only two days...

Hiroshima atomic bombing survivor Setsuko Thurlow and International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) leader Beatrice Fihn on Saturday urged the United States and North Korea to negotiate and avoid nuclear war. On Sunday, the two will receive this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Thurlow, 85, was 13 years old at the time of the Hiroshima bombing. "No human being should suffer what we suffered," Thurlow told reporters Saturday. "I deeply and strongly urge the leaders of North Korea and the U.S. never to use nuclear weapons ... Negotiate....

Seventy-two years after two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine sunk cruiser USS Indianapolis (CA-35), the ship’s wreckage was found resting on the seafloor on Saturday – more than 18,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean’s surface.

JAPANESE peace campaigners have written to US President Donald Trump urging him to declare the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings a war crime. A copy of the letter from the Society for Requiring the Admission of Historic Responsibility of the US Government for Dropping Atomic Bombs on Japan, dated today was sent to the Morning Star. “This indiscriminate mass killing should not be forgiven, because it was a crime against humanity,” it read, pointing to the 340,000 deaths from the bombings on August 6 and 9 in 1945. But Washington continues to justify the atrocities “with the excuse that they hastened...

Former studies have found that radiation exposure increases cancer risk. It has also been found that the average lifespan of survivors from the atomic bombing was only reduced by a few months. Such findings refute any popular conception about health risks caused by exposure to radiation. Scientists have not found health effects or any radiation-associated mutations on children of the survivors. Jordan suggested it would be possible to find subtle effects through more detailed tests on survivors’ genomes. Even then, the biologist believes that the children of survivors will face small health risks linked to atomic bombs. “Most people, including...

At a cocktail party at a Florida military base in the early 1960s, two old enemies who led World War II missions that changed the course of history met for the first time. "I'm Fuchida -- let's talk about it," Japanese Self-Defense Force member Mitsuo Fuchida said, extending his hand to then-Base Commander Paul Tibbets, who knew exactly what "it" meant.

71 years ago, the crew of the B-29 Enola Gay under the command of Brigadier General Paul Tibbets, operating under General Curtis LeMay, dropped the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare on Hiroshima Japan. We all know (or should know) the story. Today's sob sisters and history revisionists all make the same whining and wailing excuses for why America should not have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, but just like the radioactive dust those bombs produced, the opinions of such low lifes will also eventually dissipate into the insignificant categories of history. And God Bless President Harry...

Why isn't Obama apologizing to the Germans for WWII?

Historical arguments based on fantasy and a desire to present America as a villain have made the use of nuclear weapons to end World War II into a “controversy.” Ignorance of history is a very dangerous thing. The President recently visited Hiroshima Japan, site of the first atomic bomb ever used in combat. The bombing took place on August 6th, 1945. It was followed three days later by a second bomb on Nagasaki. Although he was very careful not to explicitly “apologize” for our use of atomic weapons -- mindful of the harsh backlash that awaited him should his trip...

The following is an Op-Ed by the Editors of Salon.com Following U.S. President Barack Obama’s inspiring visit to Hiroshima, it’s important to reconsider the most important lesson we’ve learned since the ending of WWII: we should have let the Axis win. Bigots will no doubt try to factsplain the notion that Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor first. It’s simply more of their typical use of historical privilege, justifying a tradition of victim blaming and vilification of minorities. The only reason the aircraft that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima was named Enola Gay was so the military industrial...

President Obama’s Memorial Day trip to Japan to the World War II site of Hiroshima to presumably apologize for dropping the atom bomb has ignited furious criticism of the president. Among those critics is Breitbart’s John Hayward, who documents an extensive historical context for the education of those who have only had the opportunity to read progressive-approved textbooks, including apparently the President of the United States. Why is this important? Because the dropping of the atom bomb didn’t happen in a vacuum – it was used as a means to end a brutal war started by Imperial Japan. " 1)...

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the RESULT of what happens to a nation bent on “domination or conquest” As Barack Obama finishes out the last eight months of his second term as President, he has started working through his bucket list of things to do before he leaves office. This cringe-worthy endeavor has gotten off to a treason-worthy start with his trip to Vietnam highlighted by a photo op with a picture of Ho Chi Minh behind him. And I can’t think why Obama would have made his trip to Hiroshima except to present his warped vision of...

President Barack Obama should have gone to Pearl Harbor first. That way, when he got to Hiroshima, he could have told the world how Hiroshima would never have happened had not the Japanese provoked a war with the United States. He could also have added that Hiroshima would not have happened had Japan, having lost the war, surrendered. But the fanatic Japanese leaders refused, and vowed to fight a scorched earth final battle on Japanese soil. This meant a potential U.S. invasion of the Japanese homeland, an invasion that would have led to an horrific battle. That battle would have...

Washington (CNN) — Donald Trump on Saturday questioned why President Barack Obama didn't mention the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor during his trip this week to Japan. "Does President Obama ever discuss the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor while he's in Japan? Thousands of American lives lost. #MDW," tweeted Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.