"Can nuclear weapons be "queer" ?" Topic

So…how would this impact US nuclear deterrent policy and the likelihood that potential foes would be influenced via MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction theory)? How would this impact US nuclear energy and weapons production?

The Biden-Harris administration announced Sneha Nair had been appointed as special assistant at the National Nuclear Security Administration in February 2024. Nair believes in eradicating purported "White supremacy" in the nuclear field as well as "queering nuclear weapons" as part of a diversity, equity and inclusion push she believes is essential for deterring threats to nuclear energy facilities in the U.S.

"Finally, queer theory informs the struggle for nuclear justice and disarmament," she wrote last year. "Queer theory helps to shift the perception of nuclear weapons as instruments for security by telling the hidden stories of displacement, illness, and trauma caused by their production and testing."

In addition she proposes that DEI ideology be enforced within the Department of Energy to weed out potential internal threats, and that "a a White-majority workforce does not perceive these ideological leanings (of White Supremacy) as indicators of a relevant nuclear security threat."

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The asylum is firmly in the hand of the inmates….

TVAG

I would have to say, what?????

wha…?!!!

Is this a joke? It's gotta be a joke.

nuclear justice What the @#$$45

I presume that the folks in Kremlin might be slightly alarmed if they would find that all their nuclear weapons are queer…

This is exactly why I refuse to vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
As soon as one side makes an asinine statement on policy, the other side raises the pot with something even more outrageous. The choice is between a senile dictatorship or Ultra-Woke.
It's like "triple dog dare!"
Our Republic is fast approaching our theoretical shelf life of 250 years. All choices are bad.
I will vote in upcoming election for Senate and Congress only. I will vote for whoever will be opposed to the candidate I think will win.
Oh, and the cute daughter of my late veterinarian is running for a state office. She is the only politician who ever actually knocked on my door, and she petted my dog! She is also running against some old fossil who needs to be electorally term limited.

This is always something I wondered about. Glad to hear it is being addressed.

@20thmaine -- here's the article this admin official wrote:

Queering nuclear weapons: How LGBTQ+ inclusion strengthens security and reshapes disarmament
By Louis Reitmann, Sneha Nair | June 15, 2023

…Queer theory: changing the narrative. Queer identity is also relevant for the nuclear field because it informs theories that aim to change how officials, experts, and the public think about nuclear weapons. Queer theory is a field of study, closely related to feminist theory, that examines sex- and gender-based norms. It shines a light on the harm done by nuclear weapons through uranium mining, nuclear tests, and the tax money spent on nuclear weapons ($60 billion annually in the United States) instead of on education, infrastructure, and welfare.

The queer lens prioritizes the rights and well-being of people over the abstract idea of national security, and it challenges the mainstream understanding of nuclear weapons—questioning whether they truly deter nuclear war, stabilize geopolitics, and reduce the likelihood of conventional war. Queer theory asks: Who created these ideas? How are they being upheld? Whose interests do they serve? And whose experiences are being excluded?

…Queer theory also identifies how the nuclear weapons discourse is gendered: Nuclear deterrence is associated with "rationality" and "security," while disarmament and justice for nuclear weapon victims are coded as "emotion" and a lack of understanding of the "real" mechanics of security…Queer theory is also about rejecting binary choices and zero-sum thinking, such as the tenet that nuclear deterrence creates security and disarmament creates vulnerability. It identifies the assumptions and interests these ideas are built on—and imagines alternatives that serve a broader range of interests, including those of the invisible and resource-stripped.

MAD deterrence theory is and must by nature be a Binary Zero-Sum mechanic. IF you use nukes on us, THEN WE will rise nukes on you -- and we all die.

If you inject uncertainty about your nuclear response, MAD fails as a deterrent and the other side may be tempted into the use of nuclear weapons thinking you will not respond. This is dangerous and stupid thinking.

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Bringing queer theory to the field of nuclear weapons sounds about as productive as asking the Quakers to take over the Pentagon.

Somehow this makes me think of Schrödinger's Cat. That's a binary example. But the analogy is so forced, it just makes my brain hurt.
So I'll just assume that the analogy is just as dumb as the original thesis and just go and have a beer. That would be more productive.

More woke progressive DEI madness ! What are they drinking ?

FWIW – last time I checked nuke missiles are pretty phallic … [shrugs shoulders]

Maybe you just paint a rainbow on it, and call it "queer."

Stylistically speaking, I would prefer something like "Greetings to the Emperor from the men of the ‘Indianapolis," which was painted on "Little Boy," but it's pretty clear at this point that the decision makers don't share my enthusiasms.

In every organization I have ever worked in, the subdivision that seemed to be inhabited by the least capable people, cognitively speaking, was HR. They were usually a couple of standard deviations below the organizational mean, but that was just the half of it. It wasn't just that they were dumb: they were preoccupied with irrelevancies that had little or nothing to do with organizational success or failure, and they took productive time from other people to generate makework designed to show they were succeeding at imaginary tasks designed to create unprovable results.

And yet it now feels like every organization in America is run by its HR department- because they are all interested in trivial, nitpicky matters of individual feeling, rather than the function they're allegedly designed to carry out.

"They were usually a couple of standard deviations below the organizational mean, but that was just the half of it. It wasn't just that they were dumb: they were preoccupied with irrelevancies that had little or nothing to do with organizational success or failure, and they took productive time from other people to generate makework designed to show they were succeeding at imaginary tasks designed to create unprovable results."

Never before have I heard a more true statement!!!

Can we just stop?
I come here for wargaming.

We should ask Cuprum2 if Russian policy makers are similarly concerned that "queer theory informs the struggle for nuclear justice and disarmament."

+1 cavcrazy

Can we just stop?
I come here for wargaming.

Well, maybe this could be a special card in the Nuclear War card game: "Play on opponent during their turn. Crippled by identity politics they cannot retaliate and forfeit their turn. Play passes to the next player."

This board is "For discussion of military events within the past 10 years, including ongoing operations."

This post does fit the what this board was intended to do: discuss military events within the last 10 years. Whether you support this movement or not, it is having an impact on recent military affairs and could be decisive. If they get their way and disarm the US, the world will become a very different place indeed. I'm not sure it's the place that they would have in mind though.

TGunner +1

Our enemies are surely quaking in their boots.

Well, given that our elected leaders have moved the discussion about their opponents below the belt, so to speak, it's arguably the case that the level of discourse on TMP is better than anything you're likely to see on the national stage.

We have elected leaders, present and former, resorting to 6th Grade (and I'm being charitable here) calling each other "Poopy Pants" and telling "You mama so fat" jokes that it shames us In front of the world and rendering us ridiculous.
When the Bad Guys nuke us, I hope that the first round misses a primary target and lands on my head.
Of course, they're so incompetent too, that it'll be just a dud and I'll die from blunt force trauma. Them things be heavy.
Ah, I remember when elections were about actual issues! Of course, both sides lied, but at least they were putting in the effort.

I remember when the nuns would make me diagram the first sentence in my above paragraph. Ah, those were the days. And I would accept the challenge and do it in … cursive!

I'd like to look at this as silliness, but the bottom line is that imbeciles/fools are being put in charge of technology that can potentially kill millions of people (I include myself in that number.) The imbeciles have no idea what they are playing with (if they even understand it), and the fools believe they "know better" than everyone else. Give them a button labeled "Do Not Push", and you just *know* they'll eventually push it…

The Air Force Has A B-52J Bomber Problem

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Armand

The USAF thought they could be, back in the 90s,
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I dunno, the early history of the Nazi party and especially the SA doesn't suggest that's an inherently peaceful condition.

I would like to suggest the possibility that those in charge of nuclear weapons are not influenced by fringe theories, crowd size obsessions, political nicknames,playground politics, convention speeches. No one in the government, certainly not this woman, is making any progress working to disarm the US. I could be wrong. But I think Fox is working overtime digging up this stuff.

The deep state is an institutionalized de facto gang that runs the government, correct? In my experience, these people prioritize their own power and don't care much about elections. Any policy that threatens them is ignored as much as possible until it fades away.

I have seen this work many times. Unless a large group of people are behind this woman's weird radical ideas, she is going nowhere. It's more likely that the rank and file will undermine her at every turn if she is there to promote whatever the @#$& she is talking about. If there is a large group supporting her there should be some actual evidence somewhere. But this reminds me of my niece's Marine boyfriend. When I asked him what he thought about the woke training, he answered, "What training?" Maybe it's classified.

I could be wrong. But I think Fox is working overtime digging up this stuff.

She wrote this policy article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists…she's in the Biden-Harris Admin's DOE as Special Assistant, National Nuclear Security Administration. Her given role is Nuclear Infrastructure Security (which includes our nuclear weapons production and test facilities), and among other things, evidently thinks that your level of melanin determines your level of security threat -- less melanin = greater threat.

So maybe you're right, she's just going to float about the lower levels of government -- but when Politics is Prime, ideological adherent like her will rise in power and position.

"the least capable people, cognitively speaking, was HR. They were usually a couple of standard deviations below the organizational mean" –

Deftly trod, through the tulips…

SB I have no doubt the administration has way too many of these types. As a case in point:

First a lie to the US citizens before this week. Then non reporting by the MSM. Lastly denial and lies by one of the administrations officials.

Yesterday;

Subject: Nonfarm payroll growth revised down by 818,000, Labor Department says

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Then (add Fox covered it):

Subject: ABC Only Network to Report Massive Downward Jobs Revision


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Lastly Biden's Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo for admitting to ABC News on Wednesday that she wasn't "familiar" with the day's major revision to the jobs numbers. 🙄

"No. When I hear that, first of all, I don't believe it because I've never heard Donald Trump say anything truthful," Raimondo said.

"It is from the Bureau of Labor," Whitworth responded.

"I'm not familiar with that," Raimondo said, despite the report having been released several hours earlier.

Raimondo moved on to tout optimism around Harris' "pro-business" economic vision for the country. Meanwhile, the presidential candidate has been dinged in recent days for proposing what critics, including from the left, described as government price controls on businesses."

Subject: Commerce Sec doesn't ‘believe' news of grim job revisions because Trump said it: ‘I'm not familiar with that'


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Politics. n. From the Greek "poly", meaning "many"; "ticks", meaning "blood sucking insects".

Wow!

But this reminds me of my niece's Marine boyfriend. When I asked him what he thought about the woke training, he answered, "What training?"

If true that is good. As I have said before, as a former Army Rifle Plt Ldr and Mech Co. Cdr. Anything woke, DEI, CRT, progressive, etc. 🐮💩 is a waste of time. When training and preparing to go to war. It is called the "Armed Forces" for a reason.

Maybe it's classified.

Maybe ?

She wrote this policy article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists…she's in the Biden-Harris Admin's DOE as Special Assistant, National Nuclear Security Administration. Her given role is Nuclear Infrastructure Security (which includes our nuclear weapons production and test facilities), and among other things, evidently thinks that your level of melanin determines your level of security threat -- less melanin = greater threat.

SBmini +1

Another DEI hirer ?

Is this another case of "toxic masculinity" ?

Are boats/ship still referred to a "she" ?

Can men play on girls' sports teams ? Oh … wait !

This is always something I wondered about. Glad to hear it is being addressed.

Good point ! Is the UN involved ? 😣😎🤩

Well, maybe this could be a special card in the Nuclear War card game: "Play on opponent during their turn. Crippled by identity politics they cannot retaliate and forfeit their turn. Play passes to the next player."

Makes complete sense to me ! Like a Random Event rule …

What has this have to do with war gaming ?

FWIW – Last time I checked no one here has to read a thread on TMP … Yes ?

35th, I am pretty sure I read a full article on the jobs report on the front page of the NYT. I don't watch MSM. But I think you will also find that Fox has buried things like Biden era jobs reports and other positive economic stuff on their web news site for years. I have had to search to the very end of their coverage headings at times for most announcements. I am not supporting the President here, I dont have a clue about how he has made a difference. The wealthy have been thriving, the stock market setting records, 50 year low unemployment, inflation coming down, better GDPs than before, etc.. I don't think Presidents have much to do with this stuff and I also think trends come and go. I always remember my first mortgage at 10.25%, but I don't blame Reagan.

The positive spin on jobs was given early in time for the start of the convention. This story revising it downward, as jobs being overstated, came out yesterday. But as shown, this report got nothing on CBS and NBC and 20 seconds on ABC.

This was the highest downward revision in 15 years.

ALL media lies. The "MSM" lies, Fox lies, all the alternate "conservative media" lies.
They lie every bit as much as their favorite candidate and/or party and/or jabberwocky political movement lies.

All the "true facts" are out there, and your preferred media cherry picks what they believe, and what they want you to believe. As I used to say about a prominent radio host, "I dont agree with him. He agrees with me!" Yeah. 🙄🤷

Do you honestly think that there are honest politicians or honest media?
Oh, my sweet summer child. 🙄

If you use the real, original meaning of "queer"- unusual, strange or unexpected- then of course nukes are queer. Unless you live on the Bikini or Moruroa atolls, or Woomera.

If you're talking about the changed, revised, wrinkled, pounded and multifarious new meanings of "queer", I neither know nor care. Let me know if the mushrooms start sprouting.

(What do youse lot add to your water supply?)

Probably just the modern version of a longstanding American phenomenon: crappy politicians are the price we have always paid for a vibrant economy. Until the government got too big, and suddenly the idiots were everywhere.

There's a lesson for everyone in this….

Dal
" Let me know if the mushrooms start sprouting."

But will they be 🌈 colored mushroom clouds? 😉

Dal…I usually add the Macallan 18 to a single drop of water while I settle in to catch up with the latest Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. But I still don't know what the woman in the OP is working on. I think that makes all of us, including her. Will queer, DEI, etc. ever connect with nuclear weapons? Stay tuned! Or not….

Have to agree with sentiment that this place should be for wargaming, not politics, culture war, etc.

I don't like it when entertainers preach their woke ideology when all I tuned in for was entertainment so don't think it's fair to go the other way either.

It used to be possible to separate your political views from the rest of your life. It's unfortunate that doesn't seem to be possible anymore

It's pretty much this board and very occasionally ACW that strays. We have been able to post politics here for sometime. It does not mean, however that we don't discuss modern warfare of today, or history. Or the hypothetical of another civil war. And often politics has integrated itself into us rather than us taking up politics, IMO.

But we also do go too far sometimes, IMO. Personal insinuations, partisan asides, media madness, culture warfare, etc. There have been snips and posts gone missing, so it's not without consequences. But in general I think we have not been in the DH as much as we might have expected.

I go on leave from here every once in a while when the tone gets too cynical or personal for me. Nobody makes me read this board….

As I posted …

FWIW – Last time I checked no one here has to read a thread on TMP … Yes ?

Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinions, views, incites, etc. So do what works for you … not me or others…

Even if you don't accept Clausewitz's aphorism that "war is politics by other means," it's virtually impossible to discuss ongoing wars without some kind of accompanying commentary on contemporary politics.

" Nair's DEI agenda envisions expanding America's deep secrets to people with foreign connections, claiming those individuals were discouraged from applying as an issue of race bias.

She said, "U.S. government reports show that qualified applicants with foreign ties have been discouraged from applying to sensitive national security positions and faced barriers to obtaining a security clearance. This is in part due to preconceived confirmation biases held by investigators about certain racial or ethnic groups." "

She sounds like a foreign spy herself -- opening the doors for other, more competent foreign spies.

If these people aren't doing real work -- and they're not -- then they have no business being paid by the taxpayer. The government is not supposed to exist merely to give fake jobs to useless Marxists who cannot secure work anywhere else.

"Nair's DEI agenda envisions expanding America's deep secrets to people with foreign connections, claiming those individuals were discouraged from applying as an issue of race bias."

Translation: she has found a culturally and legally protected way to commit treason."

Really, when you look at what politics as usual has served up to the American people, is it any wonder that a real estate developer with a history of shady dealings to rival Jay Gould looks good to a plurality of them?

I have a confirmation bias against Russians, Chinese, Iranians and North Koreans.
Does that make me a bad person?
How many Hail Marys should I say to purge my guilt?

Even if you don't accept Clausewitz's aphorism that "war is politics by other means," it's virtually impossible to discuss ongoing wars without some kind of accompanying commentary on contemporary politics.

9lbs + 1 I was thinking the same thing. Only makes sense really …

she has found a culturally and legally protected way to commit treason."

When's the last time a traitor was executed in the US ? The Rosenbergs ? I think we should start that up again