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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>spike<br><br><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>>… Back in the 70s Carl Sagan proposed a model for what would happen should the US and the commies go at it. But a lot has changed since those days. …spike<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>OK so according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the worldwide stockpile of nukes is about a quarter what it was in 1980 when Carl Sagan told us we would freeze and starve if we survived the initial blasts. Where I live now, I would likely still perish in the initial exchange should the opponent be the commies, but not if the USA attacks ISIS. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>The currently-leading US presidential candidate has repeatedly accused the commies of stealing her damn emails, but reliable sources are now reporting it was an inside job. (This goes right back to a question I have been asking for some time: how do we know it is the commies doing this? Answer: we don’t. It wasn’t.) So the accusations themselves are an act of aggression against a probably non-participant. Fortunately, we have a big red OVERCHARGE button we might use to offer by way of apology, should Putin be in the mood to listen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Should the current second-running candidate manage to win against two major parties and most American institutions, Congress has time to remove from that office the authority to launch nukes. Since launching a nuke is the equivalent of a declaration of war, it is perfectly legitimate to do this. Understatement: the office of the president should never have had that authority. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>I can imagine a case where the US military technical staff quietly makes arrangements so that activation of the codes in the football would not directly send launch orders to the military but would send to the Speaker of the House and the Senate Majority Leader a request to launch. It would be their responsibility to send the orders to the military, since it would be a declaration of war. Then those two players get to decide if the strike is justified or if it is insanity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></div></body></html>