Tuesday night program guide for Something's Happening at Midnight for 8 August. Hi everyone, Hope all is well. 1)The Something's Happening at Midnight, is broadcast on 89.1fm KNSJ from 12midnight to 3am, Monday thru Thursday nights, in the San Diego area, which you can listen to via streaming live at knsj.org website. Our theme music is Time is Tight by Booker T. & MGs. 2) If you miss any of the shows, I might be able to send you the audio files of some of the shows for your convenience as knsj has problems with archiving the shows. 3) Very Important Please Give to knsj (toward the 10th anniversary and) for hosting this show as you have done for kpfk. To send a check, please make it payable to Activists San Diego, which is a fiscal and parent of knsj, and write knsj in the MEMO area (and LA if you wish). The address is POB 5631, San Diego, CA 92165.Also, you can make your donation at knsj.org. 4) The financial goal for knsj's 10th anniversary (celebration in October) is $50K; I am hopeful that we can raise $5K from this list. I am contributing $100. Tonight's program guide for Tuesday, 8 August. Tonight is Tuesday night. Tonight, andthis week, we have special programs regarding the atomic bombing of Japan. Hours 1, 2, and 3:This week, the entire SHM programming isdedicated to this issue by bringing you the audio reading of “The Last Trainfrom Hiroshima”, 13 hours in total, was written by Charles Pellegrino and narratedby Arthur Morey.This year is the 78thanniversary of The US atomic bombing of Hiroshima, 6 Aug, and Nagasaki 9 Aug, atthe end of WWII. The atomic bombs were a message and signal to the Soviet Union,which had won the WWII—Japan had already surrendered before the bombs weredropped. However, the first of these bombs, Trinity, was dropped, aka tested,in New Mexico, which has caused the downwinders residents, New Mexicans in poorvillages and small towns and Navajo people, sickness and illness forgenerations ever since. At the time, people reported black rain and dead cows.These people have never been compensated as of today.Also, the movie Oppenheimer glorifies themaking of the atomic bomb but not the consequences of it. Hiroshima had 80,000immediate deaths, and Nagasaki had 40,000. Almost 80 years after the dropping of theatomic bombs, Japanese people are still suffering the consequences. That's our show for tonight. YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOMED. This is a comment by Darryl and our exchange: Hi Buzz,   Many kudos to you for broadcasting "The Last Train from Hiroshima" in its entirety this week. This is a powerful presentation that I've heard twice in its entirety. I know Roy felt strongly about Charles Pellegrino's work and it's great that you are keeping the torch lit about this momentous, horrific event.   Not to be a nit-picker, but Japan had not already surrendered when the two atomic bombs were dropped, as you've stated below. It is true that Japan had already been seeking negotiated terms for surrender at this time, and on August 10, 1945, one day after the Nagasaki atomic bombing, Japan did notify the Allies that it would accept the terms stipulated in the Potsdam Declaration issued to Japan in late July; this then led to Emperor Hirohito broadcasting to the Japanese people on August 15 that Japan would formally surrender. It is also true that every Allied military leader and most civilian Allied leaders knew that Japan was already defeated and was looking for a way to surrender, and that the atomic bombs were "of no material assistance in our war against Japan" (as stated by US Admiral William Leahy). And although there is yet to be definitive evidence of it, the view that the bombs were used to demonstrate American military power to the Soviet Union is one I share.   But especially in this era of "fake news" and "alternative facts," factual accuracy matters, and it is not true that Japan had already surrendered before the atomic bombs were used against it. I hope you correct this in your subsequent notifications. Hi Darryl, I appreciate you and sharing your historical background. There were negotiations going on in the background between Japan and the Allies that Japan was surrendering--just like right now a peace talk, even though there is no result, is going between Russia and Ukraine--as you have mentioned as well. I think the negotiation was going on more so with the USSR than the US if my memory serves me right--it's been a long long time since I read these. And, that is why the dropping of the bombs meant a message for the USSR. I am sure you know that the cold war against the USSR started way before WWII. I would like to share your email with the rest of the recipients of the program guide with your permission--of course, I would only use your first name. Thanks, Buzz Hi Buzz,   Thank you for the reply. Feel free to share my remarks. If I could, I would like it if you could add that my primary source of information for this topic is historian Gar Alperovitz's 1995 book The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb, which is comprehensively presented and meticulously documented. I am no expert so I must cite those who are.   This is a fascinating topic with many complex threads. You are right that that the Japanese (or at least the non-fanatical faction of the military junta) were seeking avenues of surrender at the time of the bombs being dropped. Where the Soviets fit into this is that Stalin had agreed to enter the war against Japan three months after Nazi Germany's surrender, which occurred in early May 1945. Stalin was right on time. The Red Army first engaged the Japanese army in Manchuria on August 8, one day before Nagasaki was hit by its atomic bomb. It should also be noted, because this is left out of the either-or option I and millions more were taught in school that if we didn't use the atomic bombs then we (the US) would have to invade the Japanese home islands, that either the entry of the USSR into the war or the agreement by the Allies to assure the Japanese that no harm would come to Emperor Hirohito would have forced the Japanese to surrender. Both conditions were well-understood by virtually all of the Allied military and civilian leaders at the time. This is because the US had broken both the Japanese military and diplomatic codes and could read Japanese communications traffic. Without going on too much longer, a preliminary statement agreeing to no harm to the emperor was dropped from the Potsdam Declaration, the final ultimatum to the Japanese issued in late July 1945. This appears to be the doing of Secretary of State James F. Byrnes, President Harry Truman's chief advisor. The bitter irony is that on August 11, two days after the Nagasaki bomb and one day after Japan indicated that it would surrender, Japan asked again that no harm would come to Hirohito. This time the US agreed to that--after both bombs had been dropped. (And Hirohito was not prosecuted after the war. My family actually lived in Tokyo for two years in the late 1970s, while Hirohito was still emperor.)   Why the US then had to use the atomic bombs gets into speculation because there is no definitive evidence for that (at least I'm not aware of any). However, given that the entry of the USSR into the war would have caused Japan to surrender (Japan and the Soviet Union had a neutrality pact in place since 1941 but the Soviets did not renew it in April 1945), and given that the USSR did engage Japanese forces on August 8, it is possible that the US was rushing to use/test the bombs before Japan actually did surrender. Again, apologies for going on about this. It is a complex topic. Because you knew Roy so well, I'll just note that I first became aware of this from a talk he played in the late 1980s or early 1990s by Norman Cousins, who was doing a tour for his book The Pathology of Power, which has a chapter on the atomic bombings that challenges the half-the-story I and others got in school.   And, yes, I'm firmly of the school that believes that the Cold War began after 1917, not after 1945,   Best regards, Sincerely, Darryl Hi Darryl, First and foremost, no apology is required. From what I have read (history), the USSR did not want to get involved with the war--it was an imperialist war. The USSR not only had a pact with Japan, but also with Germany! But, Hitler and the West were so anti-soviets that drove them to engage the soviets into the war.Once the Germans broke their pact, the USSR saw the writing on the wall! Then after defeating Germany, the USSR had no choice but to attack Japan; it also knew that Japan was surrendering. The USSR knew about the atomic bomb much too earlier than dropping the bombs; there were too many spies on both sides of the war. (The yesteryears of analog technology!). Take good care, Buzz