Ted Cruz Jumps from the Clown Car straight off the cliff

[Skeptic Ginger]

The clip was on Chris Matthews tonight but it would appear it is nothing new. He claims Iran will put a nuke on a ship and shoot it up into the atmosphere to send an EMP over the Eastern Seaboard and wipe out the electrical grid.

Ted Cruz Says the Iran Nuclear Deal Could Lead to “˜Tens of Millions of Americans Dying’

GOP fear mongering just reached an outlandish new height: Inside the Iranian electromagnetic menace

Matthews asked where they were getting this stuff from and Joy Reed quickly answered, "From Alex Jones."

The scary thing about this bizarro-land is they are mainstream GOP candidates.

 

[Mudcat]

Realistically speaking, how much danger would the electrical grid be in from such an attack?

 

[Kid Eager]

Realistically speaking, how much danger would the electrical grid be in from such an attack?

I think you meant to say "hypothetically speaking", as there's no real evidence that the claim is valid.

*If* such an attack were to occur, well, it depends... I'm a bit rusty on EMP radii and so forth - haven't had to worry about calculating such for a few decades, but unhardened electronic devices would be affected - and this could well include car electronics so expect transportation chaos. As for the grid itself, a well designed grip might overload but trip circuit breakers, which would then be re-set.

 

[Mike!]

Realistically speaking, how much danger would the electrical grid be in from such an attack?

Depends on exactly where it was detonated, very much it seems. Yield, altitude, and even the global location itself, all contribute to what sort of damage is caused by an EMP.

In July 1962, a 1.44 megaton (≈ 6.0 PJ) United States nuclear test in space, 400 kilometres (250 mi) above the mid-Pacific Ocean, called the Starfish Prime test, demonstrated to nuclear scientists that the magnitude and effects of a high-altitude nuclear explosion were much larger than had been previously calculated. Starfish Prime made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a microwave link.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse

So, what he's saying isn't quite as crazy as it sounds.

 

[Ladewig]

I think you meant to say "hypothetically speaking", as there's no real evidence that the claim is valid.

*If* such an attack were to occur, well, it depends... I'm a bit rusty on EMP radii and so forth - haven't had to worry about calculating such for a few decades, but unhardened electronic devices would be affected - and this could well include car electronics so expect transportation chaos. As for the grid itself, a well designed grip might overload but trip circuit breakers, which would then be re-set.

Yes, a well-designed system could provide protection, but it would require special Nuclear EMP circuit breakers rather than ordinary circuit breakers. I have absolutely no information on how much hardening the U.S. power grid has.

While cars can be affected by EMP in general, a high-altitude nuclear-generated EMP would disable very few cars. That type of burst produces a large amplitude wave which will be caught by the nation's power grid but most likely will not be caught by cars (unless you are using very, very longer jumper cables to start another car). Similarly, portable transistor radios, smart phones, and laptops (not plugged in) are not going to fry out from this particular type of EMP.

Of course, because no one has been testing air-burst nukes in over 50 years, it is somewhat difficult to give precise estimates of the amount of damage that would be done to an area such as the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. The best advice is to look at the whole range of predictions and pick something toward the middle. In any case, ignore Hollywood movies and Alex Jones.

 

[Ladewig]

The clip was on Chris Matthews tonight but it would appear it is nothing new. He claims Iran will put a nuke on a ship and shoot it up into the atmosphere to send an EMP over the Eastern Seaboard and wipe out the electrical grid.

Ted Cruz Says the Iran Nuclear Deal Could Lead to “˜Tens of Millions of Americans Dying’

GOP fear mongering just reached an outlandish new height: Inside the Iranian electromagnetic menace

Matthews asked where they were getting this stuff from and Joy Reed quickly answered, "From Alex Jones."

The scary thing about this bizarro-land is they are mainstream GOP candidates.

I don't understand what you mean by straight off a cliff. You don't really think this stuff will hurt his numbers, do you?

 

[The Big Dog]

Actually Cruz makes an excellent case for a worst case scenario (don't bother reading the salon article of course)

Likely? Of course not, that is what makes it a worst case scenario.

(The clown car reference is typical insipid poisoning the well)

 

[Trebuchet]

Cruz is not, and never has been, "mainstream". His Republican colleagues in the Senate hate his guts. (Ok, citation needed.) He's probably the second looniest of all the R candidates, following only Ben Carson

 

[fuelair]

Actually Cruz makes an excellent case for a worst case scenario (don't bother reading the salon article of course)

Likely? Of course not, that is what makes it a worst case scenario.

(The clown car reference is typical insipid poisoning the well)

Not really, for the troupe of morons, incompetents, tools, fools, liars and just plain evil pos's running for the republicker team, clown car is a kind reference.

But it is fun to watch!!!!!

 

[fuelair]

Cruz is not, and never has been, "mainstream". His Republican colleagues in the Senate hate his guts. (Ok, citation needed.) He's probably the second looniest of all the R candidates, following only Ben Carson

In all fairness, the pics of him looking over the shoulder at the real action when the anti-gay Kentucky slime woman and (Trump?, Huckabee?) were on stage while he wasn't were a lovely sight to behold, Deer in headlights look!!!!!

 

[Trebuchet]

In all fairness, the pics of him looking over the shoulder at the real action when the anti-gay Kentucky slime woman and (Trump?, Huckabee?) were on stage while he wasn't were a lovely sight to behold, Deer in headlights look!!!!!

That was Huckabee. He also turned up at an anti-Iran-treaty event with Trump. And admitted to CNN that a) he likes Don; and b) Trump draws lots of news media he can piggy-back on.

 

[Praktik]

Im curious if Alex Jones was referenced for actual comments on the Iran deal leading to a genuine nuclear threat, or as a reference point indicating Cruz occupies a similar place of apocalyptic hyperbole, "manning the barricades of civilization"....

EDIT: i can only stomach so much Infowars surfing, I see straight reporting on the deal with a strong skepticism towards claims of imminent nuclear death - with commenters already ahead of the game and asserting were this to take place, the nuke would be dropped by America itself and blamed on Iran...

So I imagine the Jones reference was more about being batpoop crazy in general..

 

[Crossbow]

Oh come on guys!

The good Sen Cruz is trying to protect us from those 'squiddy things' that were in those Matrix movies via Iranian EMP attack.

 

[The Greater Fool]

Why would an antagonistic Iran go to the extra effort to launch a missile from a ship rather that just sail it a few more miles into NY harbor to go boom? Is Iran known for it's subtle, blood light attacks?

 

[JoeB]

There are a lot of issues with the idea of an Iranian EMP attack, but the most core one is, "Why?"

Even in the hypothetical where they gain that capability and it's as successful as the worst-case scenario, the US still has a significant nuclear arsenal unaffected (bare minimum all of the Trident Submarines that were at sea during the attack) and retaliation is certain.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Sharing the stage with Trump, Palin, Glenn Beck and Phil Robertson is good times. Clown car is very accurate.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

...So, what he's saying isn't quite as crazy as it sounds.

Yes it is.

EMP is real. Iran putting a nuke on a ship with a missile launcher and sending the nuke over the Eastern Seaboard is utter idiocy. And anyone who responds to this ludicrous, fear-mongering dog whistle .... I'll let you finish the sentence.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I don't understand what you mean by straight off a cliff. You don't really think this stuff will hurt his numbers, do you?

The crazier the fear mongering, I think, will just shrink the crowd that follows the candidate. There are no shortage of people that believe this stuff. Just look at Glenn Beck's and Alex Jones' followers. But is it enough to move the poll numbers? If the number of people who believe this paranoia grows in any significant way, it's a sad commentary on the people in this country.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Cruz is not, and never has been, "mainstream". His Republican colleagues in the Senate hate his guts. (Ok, citation needed.) He's probably the second looniest of all the R candidates, following only Ben Carson

I suppose it depends on how you define mainstream. Was Michelle Bachman mainstream? These fringe folk are certainly part of the face of the GOP. ButI understand what you are saying.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Cruz is not, and never has been, "mainstream". His Republican colleagues in the Senate hate his guts. (Ok, citation needed.) He's probably the second looniest of all the R candidates, following only Ben Carson

Yes (ETA: agreeing with the post above me, not the quote), how can he not be mainstream? He might be hated by other mainstream candidates but he's a Senator from the second most populous state and his faction of the GOP includes a recent Vice Presidential Candidate that endorsed him.