This episode includes discussions of the history of US immigration law and May 7 hearings on the environmental impact of the production of new nuclear weapons at Kansas City's nuclear bomb plant. History of immigration law William Jewell history Professor Daniel Kotzin gives a brief summary of a class he teaches on the history of US immigration law. This is excerpted from the April 6 Solidarity School of Resistance organized by Indivisible Kansas City, Boots on the Ground Midwest, and the Cross-Border Network for Justice & Solidarity. Public hearings May 7 on environmental impact of nuclear weapons production in Kansas City PeaceWorks Kansas City encourages all to attend two events: Public hearings May 7, 5-8 PM, in the Hillcrest Community Center Community Room, 10401 Hillcrest Road, Kansas City, MO 64134, regarding the Plutonium Pit Production Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS). A comment prep workshop on May 6, 7 PM, All Souls UU Church, 4501 Walnut St., KCMO 64111, the evening before the hearing, with experts from environmental organizations to help you formulate your comments. Written comments can be submitted up to July 16 by email to PitPEIS@nnsa.doe.gov. Include the document number: DOE/EIS-0573 with your submission. The schedule of hearings and the draft PEIS is available at pitpeis.com. BACKGROUND: Since at least the administration of US President George W. Bush, the US has abrogated or failed to renew arms control agreements and has initiated production of new nuclear weapons that had previously been suspended by international agreements and after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Rocky Flats for violations of US law in 1989. On 2024-09-30 US District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis ruled that the US Department of Energy (“DOE”) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (“NNSA”), the DOEs semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency, violated the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) by failing to properly consider alternatives including envirnomental impact before proceeding with their plan to produce plutonium pits, a critical component of nuclear weapons, at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This decision culminated several years of litigation. In 2022, Nature Food published a report by a team of 10 leading experts in climatology, food production, and economics that summarized simulations of several nuclear war scenarios.1 They claim that the primary problem in a nuclear war is firestorms from cities lofting smoke to the stratosphere, where it would cover the earth, depressing surface temperatures and food production worldwide for several years, leading to mass starvation; over 90% of the deaths would be in countries not involved in the nuclear exchange. They estimated that after a relatively minor nuclear war between India and Pakistan, roughly 40% of humanity would starve to death if they did not die of something else sooner. Roughly 80% of humanity would similarly die after a nuclear war between the US and Russia with the death rate in the US, Europe, and Russia being roughly 99 percent.2 On 2026-03-03 the Military Religious Freedom Foundation reported that they had received over 200 complaints from over 50 US military installations that their commanders had ordered them to, e.g., share the good news that Jesus had anointed President Trump to initiate Armageddon in Iran -- thereby bringing on the Rapture - second coming of Christ.3 Worse, Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame, insisted that the "nuclear football", with top secret nuclear launch scenarios and codes carried by a military aide next to the President and Vice President, had to be a hoax: Otherwise a single nuclear detonation over Washington, DC, when both the President and Vice President were in town, could prevent a nuclear response.4 And Secretary of Defense Hegseth has been holding monthly prayer meetings in the Pentagon during working hours, with many expressing concern that they may be passed over for promotion or future DoD contracts for not attending.5 If Hegseth and, e.g., his appointee as head of the Strategic Command agreed that Jesus had anointed them to initiate Armageddon with a nuclear war with Russia, they might be able to do it. Trump said, "A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody." In a 2026-04-23 State Department post to X, President Trump said, "A nuclear weapon should never be allowed to be used by anybody." (https://x.com/StateDept/status/2047416056902209908?s=20) How might that sentiment be used? _______ Lili Xia; Alan Robock; Kim J N Scherrer et al. (15 August 2022). "Global food insecurity and famine from reduced crop, marine fishery and livestock production due to climate disruption from nuclear war soot injection". Nature Food 3 (8): 586-596. "Responding to a nuclear attack" on Wikiversity, accessed 2026-04-24. Nick Mordowanec (3 March 2026) "Commanders Accused of Framing Iran War as Biblical Mandate, Jesus’ ‘Return’“, Military.com. Daniel Ellsberg (2017) The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a nuclear war planner (Bloomsbury, p. 69). Natasha Bertrand and Haley Britzky (2025-05-21) "Hegseth hosts first meeting of what he says will be a monthly Christian prayer service at Pentagon", CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/21/politics/hegseth-pentagon-christian-prayer-service). Copyright 2026 Spencer Graves Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 international license.
