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Host: Good evening, Lawrence. Thank you.
Thank you for staying with us at home for this hour.
There's news tonight in Washington, D. C. C.
According to Reuters, they say President Obama has authorized secret operations in Libya to help rebels there.
President Obama has signed a secret order authorizing secret American action. S.
The government supports rebels trying to overthrow Libyan leader Gaddafi.
In the past two or three weeks, Obama has signed an order called the presidential investigation.
These findings are a major form of presidential directives used to authorize secret operations by the CIA.
In fact, the New York Times reported tonight that a small group of CIA agents had been working in Libya for several weeks.
According to The Times, the number of U. S. officials is unknown and they gather intelligence for military air strikes and contacts with rebels.
Now, does that mean that the CIA is a fake in Libya?
To overthrow Gaddafi's military forces in the form of CIA involvement
The military forces that overthrew the Afghan Taliban in 2001?
The Times went out of their way to refuse in tonight's report.
First, in Afghanistan, the CIA works with the US intelligence service. S.
Military forces in Afghanistan.
In Libya, United StatesS.
Ground troops are still being excluded.
Second, in Afghanistan, the CIA provided weapons to the opposition fighting the Taliban.
So far, in Libya, the United StatesS.
It's not that we're doing this. The U. S.
Not that we are arming the rebels.
But as far as I know, the president found that if it did, it would be a tool that President Obama used to authorize the armed rebels.
Again, I am not entirely clear about what it means if there is a presidential election result, because we do not know that there must be a presidential election result, and it is difficult to say what its terms are.
This is one of the things that we are going to work with NBC's Michael Isikoff in a while.
However, what we know about the context here, about the legitimacy of this, the president's findings have been around for decades, the president who uses them to authorize covert operations must inform the Democratic and Republican senior members of the House and Senate, as well as the Democratic and Republican senior members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Together, the eight members of Congress called the Group of Eight ".
A president who used the president's findings to authorize covert operations must notify eight members of Congress.
His name is Mike Rogers, one of the eight-man Republicans.
He is a congressman from Michigan.
Take a look at his comments on this issue today. (
Start Video Editing)REP.
Mike Rogers®Michigan: Before we get a lot of very detailed information about who they are and what their purpose is, I will be quite strong against the armed rebels. (END VIDEO CLIP)
Against armed rebels.
OK, one of the eight-member Democrats is Maryland congressman Ruppersberger of the Netherlands.
This is what he has to say today. (
Start Video Editing)REP.
RUPPERSBERGER, Netherlands (D)
Maryland: First of all, I won't discuss any secret actions and anything.
Well, I don't know what Obama did or didn't sign.
I'm not sure if there will be an order, it's just an ongoing order
The problem we have to deal
But I am a member of the gang of eight, so if there is something secret I will (INAUDIBLE).
Reporter: Is there anything statutory or just not?
Study it. I don‘t know.
No, eight people really follow-
I think basically this is the law, from the point of view of the checks and balances that they need to inform Congress of certain concealed types of situations. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MADDOW: eight people, they need to inform Congress of certain secret situations.
He also said, "I don't know if President Obama has signed any agreement.
"He's in the Gang of Eight.
If this does happen, does it sound like he was involved in it?
He doesn't sound like it to me.
Join us now to figure out what that means is Michael Iskov.
He's national investigative reporter for NBC News. Mr.
Thank you for helping us solve this problem.
Michael Iskov, NBC News: I'm happy, Rachel.
It's good to be with you.
MADDOW: based on your understanding of the President's findings, recognizing the ambiguity of my discussion on this issue so far, have I basically done that?
Can you also tell us other information about the president's findings?
You did it.
I mean, as you have pointed out, this has been used by the president for decades.
It is often defined as the president's mandate for covert action to overthrow the political, economic and economic systems of another country to actually influence action.
This is different from intelligence gathering.
So, as my old colleague at Reuters, Mark Hosenball, reported tonight, there was such a finding.
I have confirmed this to government officials.
This does not mean that the president has decided to arm the rebels, but it is the first step in allowing him to do so.
But the real key here, that's why I think the comments you made from Rogers and Ruppersberger are so important, because without congressional approval, without congressional support, you can almost hear the echo of Nicaragua and Contras in the 1980 s.
Remember the Boland Amendment, and remember the great struggle that happened to us when the president authorized covert operations without the support of Congress.
MADDOW: So, nevertheless, explain something about the Boland Amendment.
I mean, in terms of the way of authorization in checks and balances, I know the president has to inform so-
Eight people from Congress. But—
I mean, do they have to sign on to what he's doing, and if they're told it's secret action, how can they complain if they're not allowed to talk about it publicly?
Isikov: Well, when you're dealing with the Intelligence Commission, it's always a problem that you're going to have because they're just saying we can't talk about it, it's confidential, it's hard to learn anything.
But, you see, the law doesn't say the president needs congressional approval.
But really-
His reasons are very unstable if he keeps going.
Ronald Reagan of the 1980 s.
The Boland Amendment, Congress always has power.
It can always vote to reject the funds, as it did for armed Contras in the Boland Amendment, which of course is at the root of Iran's anti-door scandal.
The president bypassed this and found another way to arm the Nicaraguan rebels.
What do we have in this discovery?
According to Reuters, one of the options the president is considering is sending weapons through the Saudi and Qatari people, which seems to be a bit of a roundabout way to achieve the same goal.
But, you know, if he would continue to do so without congressional approval, I think it would be one of the biggest decisions of the Obama presidency.
MADDOW: So, nevertheless, be clear so that we can try our best to understand what has just happened, based on the current report --
If he releases the results of a presidential investigation, as you have described, it is an authorization for a secret action designed to influence the action, not just access to information.
It could also be a way for the president to try to at least lay the groundwork for starting to provide weapons to the rebels.
But we don't know what this discovery is, so we don't know what it is authorizing.
ISIKOFF: We don't know exactly what it is, its essence is classified.
So, if so, we wouldn't have seen this for decades.
But, you see, publicly, I talked to White House officials tonight and they said, look, this is-
The president is certainly seriously considering arming the Libyan rebels.
More importantly, he realized
They realized that, given the events on the ground, they had to make a decision very quickly, and how quickly the Libyan rebels had faced actions and setbacks over the past few days --
You know, it can be late if these weapons last for weeks or months.
So, I think, you know, it's time for us to make a decision.
This is a big decision.
Not only for him, but also for Congress.
A fairly controversial response has arrived so far, but as you said, this cannot continue.
NBC News national investigative reporter Michael Iskov
This is both complex and important.
I'm glad you helped sort it out. Thanks.
Ikoff: Thank you.
MADDOW: Okay.
You may have heard something about oil from a fairly reputable source today, and I'm pretty sure it's not true.
Also, we did something today with the map about Japan, which made me have to lie on the floor of the office, close my eyes and not think for the time being.
In addition, there are some important ways to pronounce mistakes about important things.
Some things about the post-80 s
Strange and strange is that some of the 1980 things exactly match what is happening in our world right now.
It's all in front of a very busy moment.
Please stay with us. (
Business break)(
Start Video Editing)
US President Barack Obama: We cannot continue to be shocked when gas prices fall.
When oil prices are high, we can't rush to move forward, and then we can click the snooze button when oil prices fall again. (END VIDEO CLIP)
\ MADDOW: President Obama announced his new energy policy today, his blueprint for the future of safe energy
Promises to provide more electric vehicles, more biofuels, better gasoline mileage, more weather protection, safer nuclear power for every naturally born citizen under 10Also, oil.
The president's energy policy always comes down to the devil you know very well, that is oil.
President Obama has set the goal of reducing the amount of oil the United States buys overseas by third. (
Start Video Editing)
This is the beginning of my continued increase in US oil supply.
Last year, U. S. oil production reached its highest level since 2003.
For the first time in more than a decade, we have imported less than half of the liquid fuel we consume.
This is a good trend.
In order to continue to reduce reliance on imports, my government is encouraging offshore oil exploration and production. (END VIDEO CLIP)
Stop, stop.
This is about drilling oil at home --
You took the oil out of the ground.
What do you do with it?
You ship it all over the world so that it can be sold on the global market as a commodity to other places such as China, India, Brazil, the EU, including here.
Just because you find more oil in your own Gulf of Mexico, for example, does not mean that the amount of oil you import at home is significantly reduced. OK?
This is a global market.
I'm just saying that you just contributed your supply to global supply.
However, there is another thing to drill oil at home.
If you are trying to get oil from your own Gulf of Mexico, if you find a serious problem then you will get this
You have a lot of oil at home.
With more domestic oil, you can endure or always hope to clean it up with your outdated equipment and rented crew.
Is the domestic oil a little more? Have some.
Man, you have oil on oil, covering dead birds, dead dolphins, dead turtles, you have tar balls on the beach, a few miles of underwater plume, and then mysteriously disappears. But who knows?
The oil-covered bays and hurricanes are now vulnerable and in danger of never recovering.
One of the biggest challenges facing the Obama administration is to find a way to stop BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster last year and somehow plug the seemingly unplugged well
Then somehow find a way for the oil industry to develop again without risking another disaster.
Please roll the tape again. (
Start Video Editing)
Obama: As long as it is safe and responsible, my administration encourages offshore oil exploration and production.
I don't think anyone here has forgotten what happened last year and we have to deal with the biggest oil spill in history.
I know some fishermen on the Gulf Coast haven't forgotten yet.
What we have learned from this disaster has helped us to develop smarter standards of security and responsibility.
For example, if you are going to drill in deep water, you have to prove that you can actually control the underwater leak before you start drilling.
This is just common sense. (END VIDEO CLIP)
Just common sense.
We learned from that disaster.
President Obama said we learned the lesson.
That's why the government began issuing licenses for deep water drilling.
We have learned that it is safer now.
I don't think it's true.
The reason is because of the information we reported on this show.
Our findings seem to prove the president's assurances about learning from the BP disaster and higher security standards, and what we have reported seems to indicate that the president's assurances of these security standards are unfounded, not really.
That's why I said that.
I am for a specific reason.
The animation here shows the blowout preventer on an oil rig.
This device, this blowout preventer, is attached to the top of an oil well.
If the well blows out, if the submarine pressure blows into the pipe, the blowout preventer will basically seal the well and it will keep the pressure and oil inside.
This is the way the blowout preventer should work so you don't end up in this way
Eleven people were killed, a historic oil spill that lasted months.
As part of an investigation into the BP disaster, the government hired a Norwegian company to conduct a forensic examination of what was wrong with the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
What they found was a terrible thing, and it was not only a terrible thing about the blowout preventer, but also a terrible thing about each of them.
They found that even if they worked according to the design, they did not work when they were not arrested.
The pressure they are designed to maintain, the same pressure will make them useless even if they are in good shape.
You got this instead of working properly, right?
You get a blowout even though you have a blowout preventer.
The report calls for a variety of new studies of the blowout preventer and cites, "The results of this study should be considered and addressed in the future design of the blowout preventer and the need to modify the current blowout preventer.
This is really important.
The blowout preventer does not require more third-party inspections, better maintenance, and more third-party signatures.
These things need to be redesigned.
Your main parachute may be in perfect working condition.
You can take it out and buff it every day.
It still doesn't mean that your main parachute will keep you alive if you jump out of the plane and expand it.
A week ago, a report was released today that "the blowout preventer is a lead Parachute.
Despite these findings and government reports that this critical equipment is fundamentally flawed and prone to failure when used as directed
Today, President Obama continues to assure the nation that drilling is safer than in the past, and we have learned the lesson.
I am here to tell you again that this is not necessarily the case and I am sorry for this.
According to the Freedom of Information Act, we got a copy of the first deep water license oil spill response plan issued by the Obama administration since the BP disaster.
I still like this for one of the biggest owners, it's BP and the oil well operator is Noble Energy.
This is the oil spill response plan for the license they applied for last month.
Their plan to deal with the oil spill is September 2009.
Eight months before the Deepwater Horizon accident.
No matter what lessons we have learned from this disaster, you will not find them here unless you can change the space and time continuum.
In this case, please go back in time and let me know the pronunciation of Mackinac before last night's show.
The Interior Ministry said the oil spill response plan was basically no big deal before the BP disaster.
They said they were allowed to continue to obtain licenses when the company updated the old contingency plan.
They told us that they could not disclose other security measures to us because they were too proprietary and secret for us.
But what we know is: at least in this case, the oil spill response plan is old. BP.
The blowout preventer does not work as they should.
The Interior Ministry is still issuing licenses for new deep wells to companies with pre-water.
BP's response plan and the company that uses spray-proof technology have led to the largest offshore oil spill in world history.
Tonight, we learned something new in the scandal, the government is trying to avoid the scandal, and the new information is here. (
Business break)
MADDOW: after the BP oil disaster, the United States suspended new deep-water drilling. S.
Last month, the Obama administration began issuing permits again.
Today is a new license for Shell oil off the coast of Luis Anna.
Last Friday, they approved drilling for a new well in the Bay Area.
A week before that, BHP Billiton was also approved to drill a well in the Gulf.
BHP Billiton hired Transocean to drill in that well-
Yes, you remember Transocean.
As you can see here, this drilling ship whose name is not pronounced has been drilling until it is suspended, and according to the latest information on the website of the Ministry of Interior, transocean is still a driller with records.
Why do you care about that particular drilling ship that is drilling in your particular Gulf of Mexico?
Because according to 30-
We consulted a senior in the oil industry today that the drilling ship is equipped with almost exactly the same blowout preventer as the Deepwater Horizon uses
The most serious oil spill in American history.
All happy topics about how safe everything is now
The devices they use are basically the same as those used in the BP disaster.
Happy chat or unhappy
Now we are joined by Bob Cavnar, a former oil industry executive. He is that 30-
We are consulting the veteran of the oil and gas industry today.
He is currently the CEO of Lucca technology in the gas industry.
Before that, sir.
Cavnar is president and CEO of an oil and gas drilling exploration company called Milagro drilling. Mr.
Cavnar is the author of the book disaster on the horizon: high risk, high risk, and the story behind the Deepwater Horizon blowout.
Thank you for being here, Bob. Appreciate it.
Bob cavnar, former oil industry executive: nice to be with you, Rachel.
MADDOW: How much do we know about the blowout preventer of this offshore drilling ship compared to the Deepwater Horizon?
CAVNAR: the drilling ship was built at about the same time as the Deepwater Horizon.
So around 2000, the blowout preventer was about the same year.
It has the same Cameron as the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer-
Make the anti-preven on the top, then make the same Cameron ram on the top and bottom.
The only difference is that it has one more ram than the Deepwater Horizon to add a bit more redundancy.
So, a change.
But other than that, it's almost the same.
The control system is the same.
The rest are the same.
Do we know about the safety record of this particular drilling ship?
It's interesting, you know.
The drill ship won MMS, the predecessor of the 2005 BOEMRE Safety Award.
But we did find that it had three emergency riser disconnections, one on 2002, one on 2004, and one on 2007.
2002 and 2004 incidents were caused by the weather.
This is a dynamic positioning ship fixed by GPS and propeller. MADDOW: OK.
It can be pushed off position in bad weather.
This happened twice in those years.
In 2007, it is an operator error.
Operation error.
CAVNAR: The operator running the dynamic positioning system actually entered the wrong data, corrupted the data and pushed it off the location.
Is there an upgrade?
I mean, the interior ministry boasted that they said a security upgrade had been made.
As I said before, you and I have talked about whether you can better check your lead parachute.
But can a blowout preventer like this be upgraded to make it not like the Deep Water Horizon, which will make it more likely to survive the blowout of the deep closed oil preventer?
CAVNAR: You know, the Norwegian company we're talking about recommended a complete redesign, and that's what they're talking about throughout the report, and they redesigned the ram themselves.
The only thing they can do with existing devices is redundancy.
If they have two blind shear tubes, hopefully one of them will work.
Or just have one on the Deep Water Horizon, apparently completely failing even if it fails.
In addition to that, you will need to redesign the entire device.
MADDOW: At this point, the federal government seems to be paying more attention to ensuring that oil companies are able to control the spill when it happens, rather than talking about preventing it from happening in the first place.
Is this a way of not paying attention to the design flaws of the blowout preventer?
Is this a way to give it away and say, if this happens, will we clean it up?
Yes, absolutely.
That's what I 've been saying for the past few weeks.
When the blowout preventer fails, everyone is looking at what happens.
I think we should first focus on preventing the blowout from failing. MADDOW: Right.
CAVNAR: keep good control where you don't need to use it.
Therefore, if you maintain good control and you have a reliable device, you do not need to contain an underwater well.
It's also good to have it if everything else goes wrong, but you really have to work on the design of the blowout preventer and when you have to activate it, the blowout preventer will not fail.
MADDOW: when it doesn't fail because of what needs it in the first place.
That's why I'm crazy about it.
Did you see the post?
Deep Water Horizon safety improvements should make people feel comfortable enough to feel comfortable with these permits going out every four days?
CAVNAR: You know, usually after these events, like the Exxon Valdez event, the industry will last for several years.
They are really focused, they make sure the safety report is filled in, everyone is trained and everyone is working according to the procedure.
But success breeds complacency.
You have this for a while.
Get caught in the same complacency that history is likely to repeat itself if we don't improve the equipment itself.
MADDOW: Bob Cavnar, former oil industry executive, author of disaster on the horizon, 30-
Old oil industry-
I should point out for the audience that we are trying to contact BHP Billiton and the ocean tonight and no one can answer the question.
Of course, we will make unremitting efforts.
Bob, thank you very much tonight. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Rachel. You bet.
MADDOW: after that super heavy news, for our next paragraph, we came up with an excuse to play the clip of Michael J.
Fox movie back to the future. ” Yay! (
Business break)(
Start Video Editing)
Unidentified male: What is it, Einy (ph)? Oh, my God. They found me.
I don't know what's going on, but they found me.
Run, Marty.
Man: Who, who?
Who do you think it is? The Libyans! (END VIDEO CLIP)
Who do you think it is? The Libyans!
This is the man who managed Libya when the 1985 film "Back to the Future" was released. Yes, same guy.
What are we Americans doing? a-
Was it against Libya?
On the cover of Time magazine in April 1986, the target was Gaddafi.
"Things are not the same, but ballpark.
Before the new Libyan war and the new international nuclear disaster, my friend David Sirota turned his terrible foresight into a book about 1980 people not only when they repeated their books for the first time, it distorted our national thinking in a very surprising way of propaganda.
This book is called "back to our future: how 1980 people explain the world we live in now, our culture, our politics, everything we have.
This is very, very interesting.
Also, it's kind of like David Sirota himself.
David, you're wearing "Save Ferris" t-shirt?
David Sirota, author of "back to our future": I'm wearing a "Save Ferris" t-shirt.
MADDOW: can we get rid of the bug "interview?
Yes, very good.
Perfect.
I asked you-
Talk to me through America
Libyan war/intervention 2011, United States-
Libyan war/interference 1980
Can we learn anything from saying this is a rerun? I think we can.
I think one of the things that came up in the 1980 s, whether in pop culture or politics, is that war can indeed solve our problems and we can solve them by force.
I think we saw this in the 1980 s through proxy wars, through bombing raids and bombing Libya almost this month 25 years ago.
This is the idea.
We see this in 1980 of pop culture.
Our debate, our pop culture, the embodiment of popular culture for children, now we see the real re-operation-
Every problem can be solved, and every foreign policy problem can be solved by war.
Another problem after the 80 s is that every domestic problem can be solved by tax cuts.
These are all out of 1980 s.
Similarly, the political culture and the popular culture that I think is 1980.
MADDOW: Well, the good thing about that, though --
I mean, it can be a bit frustrating when you think so, but it could also be like the post-80 s, 2000 of the pilot-
Well, you know, we can look at the effect of these tax cuts, or whether military intervention addresses all of our foreign policy issues.
But I think one of the things that you recorded was that when the post-80 s did not really solve, they were deified, so the lesson we learned about the post-80 s is that they did work.
Silotta: That's right.
That's why it's so crazy.
You're right.
If we re-read history from 1980, we should be able to learn from it and from mistakes.
But what happened was that we really created a legend from what happened in the 1980 s.
I think both of these are-
Again, whether it's Ronald Reagan or many entertainment cultures that don't look like political messages.
We learn from TV shows like "Iron Eagle" and "heroic Ling Yun"
Like the "Duke of danger", the government can't do anything right, the army is the ultimate institution of society, we created this immortal idea, everything we did in 1980 is good, everything we did in 1980 should continue. MADDOW: One—
In the "A-" you just mentioned-
I have to tell you that I was born on 1973.
I know you're a little smaller than me.
But every reference in this book is what I get emotionally.
I have to tell you, I read-
The "team" that once aired on TV ".
I'm absolutely obsessed with "-Team.
"Can you explain to me how this is distorting my mind? SIROTA: Yes.
You are like many young people. The “A-
"Team" is one of the top teams
Rated programs among teenagers1980s.
It has a great influence on people.
Think about the story of "-"Team,” right?
The government is not properly imprisoned our heroes, they run away because the government can't even get them imprisoned, they solve the problem that the government refuses to solve.
In fact, they are solving problems, while the government is trying to solve social problems.
Obviously, we can see this analogy now.
This is how political culture talks about government. you can't rely on government. you have to rely on outsiders.
You have to rely on outsiders.
In order to solve the problem of our society, you have to rely on private contractors, Blackwater company, Hallburtons company.
I'm not in black water and "-
But what I'm trying to say is that when the kids when you and I are told as kids and 7 million other teenagers that the government can't do anything, we have to hire outsiders, this becomes the way our government speaks to us, and our politics is saying to us now.
It made-
It resonates emotionally with these arguments, and we may not necessarily explain it because it shapes our subconscious mind.
David Sirota, this is a book you wrote that is very deep in conspiracy, but this is also what I have to say on almost every page that is true to me.
I think this is a real achievement.
I am really glad that you have achieved such great success in this regard. Thanks, David.
Well, thanks, Rachel.
MADDOW: The book is called "back to our future: how 1980 people explain the world we live in now, our culture, our politics, everything we have.
"I will tell you that this book reminds me of the muscle memories of how to win the Atari game I am good.
I am really good at Kaboom. All right.
I live near a small town in the West called Savoy.
It looks like Savoy Villa Sava has an opinion.
There is a town called Versailles in Missouri.
It is spelled like the Palace of Versailles of the French royal family.
But in Missouri, the status of Versailles is remarkable.
I can continue.
In fact, I will.
There's more to be done, including a deep apology. coming up. (
Business break)(
Start Video Editing)
If you read the name of the think tank from the voice, that's Mackinac.
They obviously prefer to be called mcgino.
I'm going to keep calling them. (END VIDEO CLIP)
McKinnon: McKinnon, McKinnon-
I know it's mykinak in Michigan.
I don't know the think tank is named after this place, so it should sound the same.
Completely wrong, though. Totally wrong.
Also, Fond du Lac, Fond du Lac. Fond du Lac.
Secretary-General Lafite, secretary Doug welfare.
Speak things out loud and announce on TV that it could be a hassle. OK.
So, to be clear, the Michigan think tank like this island is called mykinak.
I can be malicious, but it's still Mackinac.
This city in Wisconsin is called Fond du Lac.
The secretary of state for Wisconsin is Doug la fleet.
As long as what we're talking about is hard for me to say out loud, I need you to know that I don't have the ability to say the word sourcing faster than I just did. Procurement —
I can only say slowly.
I can't say it faster or it's garbled.
Nuclear, no problem.
Procurement, slow.
On today's Maddow blog, we also corrected the records on Mackinac and solicited readers' love for strange or surprising pronunciation errors in American places.
In Michigan, there is a small town called Charlotte.
You might think, like Charlotte, North Carolina.
It turned out to be wrong.
Michianders announced this 'Shar-LOT.
Emphasis on lots.
When you have any questions, go to the French.
According to eaglelady11, "I grew up in Colorado.
We pronounce Colorado.
Rad rhymes with dad instead of Colorado and rod or cod.
Anyone who does this sounds comfortable.
"Elizabeth debaro. ph)
Quoting this sentence, we are told in part, "even though the golden girl is pronounced, Boca Raton does not rhyme with the baton.
Pronounced Boca Raton like a phone.
According to Andrew Eckhart, "the pronunciation of Maryland rhymes with Merlin.
But Susan B said, "the pronunciation is actually similar to Merlin, but don't say that if you're not from Maryland or you sound silly.
"Sandy tells us that if you live in Kansas, the Arkansas River and Arkansas City are not the pronunciation of Arkansas, but the pronunciation of Arkansas.
According to Kathy, the Capitol in South Dakota is Pierre.
It looks like a dock, but it's Pierre.
Besides, a local town is like Mt.
Sinai, but the pronunciation is Sinai.
It's so embarrassing. it's great.
A commenter named Susan told us that a small town in Iowa spelled Peru.
One of the producers actually didn't believe that the last one might be true, so she called to ask the poor people who answered the phone at Madison County Chamber of Commerce, Iowa.
The man happily assured her that, in fact, it was pronounced urine. ru (ph).
Peru, Iowa, not Peruru.
In other words, I and the staff of the show, our pronunciation is as troublesome as anyone else. Procurement.
But, fortunately, there are solutions for us, and even some solutions that don't involve harassing good people.
Born Midwest.
Merriam Webster's Online Dictionary has a very good guide to pronunciation, even if you try to pronounce something that looks like Mackinac, it turns out to be the same. Voice: mcgino
MADDOW: If you want to name a foreign leader, there is also the VOA website.
For example, for example, if you want to make a phone call or something, shout --
It could be the president of Georgia.
Mikhail saakashili.
Saakashili.
There is no way we can even express that one by phonetic spelling.
If you have a very specific need to know how to pronounce the names of people, places, or things in Wisconsin, specifically, I found a great web-based resource today at the miser. com. Check it out.
On this site, Secretary of State Doug La fullet announced his own name for you.
Voice: Doug la fleet. MADDOW: See?
Most importantly, though, there is this.
Forvo, this pronunciation guide is characterized by people pronouncing from where things are.
There are six pronunciations of Mackinac.
Let's listen.
Voice: mcgino, mcgino.
Did you hear the last one? Mackinac.
She gave her two thumbs up because of this pronunciation, but she had nothing better than the hell rain that michianders had rained on me last night for the same mistake.
I am deeply sorry.
In addition, I was greatly inspired and entertained in the process of making this apology. (
Business break)
MADDOW: It's a nightmare scene when it happens.
It's still a nightmare today. A U. S.
The nuclear power plant in the suburbs of the big city of the United States is in trouble because of equipment accidents inside the nuclear power plant.
The reactor's highly radioactive fuel rods began to heat up at dangerous speeds.
A partial meltdown of the reactor core caused the plant to shut down immediately.
Is it Three Mile Island?
No, it's a nuclear reactor in Monroe County, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Erie.
Nuclear power plants in the United States experienced partial core meltdown.
How about this? A U. S.
The plant in Pennsylvania is just outside Harrisburg.
In nine days, two different equipment failures occurred in one of the reactors, forcing it to shut down and forcing radiation to leak into the air.
Is it Three Mile Island? No.
That's the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant in York County, Pennsylvania. How about a U. S.
The East Coast nuclear power plant suffered a catastrophic failure of an emergency shutdown system built to prevent nuclear leakage?
The system failed and then the backup to the shutdown system failed.
Three days later, the same system failed again.
Three Mile Island, right?
No, it's the Salem nuclear power plant in southern New Jersey.
How about this? A U. S.
Nuclear power plant employees hold lit candles, causing an accidental fire directly below the control room of the nuclear power plant.
The fire successfully destroyed the main and emergency cooling systems of the plant, resulting in the closure of the first and last two reactors.
That must be Three Mile Island, right?
No, it's the brown Ferry nuclear power plant in Athens, Alabama. How about this? A U. S.
During the two-day period, a serious failure occurred at the power plant, releasing 600,000 gallons of boiling radioactive steam into the air.
Three Mile Island? No.
It's the Indian Point nuclear power plant in northern New York City. OK.
How about different America? S.
The nuclear power plant has lost its main source of energy, forcing workers
In order to keep the radioactive fuel rods cool and the temperature starts to rise, the factory is at risk of melting down?
Three Mile Island? No, the Davis-
The Besse nuclear power plant in the town of Carol, Ohio is on the shore of Lake Erie. A U. S.
The nuclear power plant suffered a series of catastrophic human and mechanical failures, and the cooling water of one of its reactors dropped so low that the fuel rods began to melt and release radioactive gases into the air, nearly 200,000 Americans are forced to flee their homes?
It's Three Mile Island.
This week, 32 years ago, on March 30, 1979, the main story was published on NBC Evening News. ”(
Start Video Editing)
TV anchor: Good evening.
Today, there was a serious trouble at the Three mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania.
The trouble is serious enough to evacuate children and pregnant women under the age of five.
A mile around the endangered nuclear power plant.
The problem is that it is much more difficult to cool radioactive nuclear fuel in power plants than people think.
It is very dangerous before it cools down. (END VIDEO CLIP)
Three Mile Island is usually considered the only major nuclear accident in the United States.
That's because we tend to forget that Three Mile Island was the fermili 1966 13 years ago, the Brown ferry accident in Alabama was 1975, and the Peach Bottom accident in Pennsylvania was 1980, 1983 of the Salem reactor accident in New Jersey and the Indian Point nuclear accident in New York was in 2000, Davis-
2002 accident in Bethesda, Ohio.
This is not an exclusive list.
I can continue, right?
Three mile Island has all the glory, but, really, when it comes to the United States, it's in a very crowded companyS.
Nuclear accidents in the past 50 years.
Today, in Japan, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it found radiation levels high enough to trigger evacuation proposals 40 kilometers away from the Fukushima reactor.
To maintain this, the evacuation orders around the plant have so far extended to 20 kilometres.
The government recommended voluntary evacuation within 30 kilometres.
But the town, 40 kilometers away, is far beyond the voluntary evacuation zone. N.
S. Atomic Energy Agency said today that they found twice the level of radiation that the agency has suggested people evacuate.
As you may recall, on this show last Friday, we received a distinguished nuclear scientist, Professor Frank Von Hippel, from Princeton University. Dr.
Von shipel described in our interview some of the high radiation readings that our US Department of Energy has done in Japan.
We posted this on our blog.
Can you see the red line there?
It moves northwest from the reactor.
This is the data measured in Japan a week ago.
Now, look at this.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said today that the radiation level in the town is very high, 40 kilometers from the nuclear power plant.
So, this red line shows the highest level of radiation detected by the plant as of last Wednesday, which is today in the United States. N.
Radiation levels are twice as high as prompting evacuation, he said.
The town is almost in line with where we have been able to see radiation crossing Japan.
I usually think that knowing more about something is a way to mitigate your fear of it, but in this case, when I asked producer Will in this show that's what he thought, it didn't make me feel better, it made me feel bad about what happened there and how this is still out of control.
Meanwhile, Congress has held hearings on how safe our nuclear reactors are here, putting the nuclear industry in a position that is not too hot but still a bit hot. (
Start Video Editing)
Anthony pietrangelo, Nuclear Energy Research Institute: One thing I can say in the future is, you know, our industry, our logo is learning from operational experience.
We have learned a lot from TMI in terms of operator training and design enhancements, and we will enhance safety through the Fukushima accident.
We will learn these lessons. (END VIDEO CLIP)
We will learn these lessons.
I already have a lesson to suggest.
A simple point
Do you remember that the backup power supply in Fukushima was those diesel generators when the power was cut off?
But the same thing has powered off the generator? Right.
So, they need a backup system for their backup system.
Their backup in Fukushima is battery-powered.
It is powered by a battery and can provide eight hours of fuel for the plant's cooling system.
Eight hours later, the battery was dead and the disaster really started.
The number of nuclear power plants in the United States is twice that of Japan.
We have the same backup and backup system here as Japan-
In addition to being frank, Japan has a better average.
Of the 104 nuclear power plants in the United States, we have 11 nuclear power plants with the same 8 --
In Japan, the battery is not enough for an hour.
93 others are even worse.
We have only 4 hours of battery power for the other 93 reactors.
Congressman Ed Mackey has launched a legislation that requires these reactors to provide 72 hours of battery power.
This seems to be the beginning.
But beyond that, any obvious, very frustrating new lessons learned from the Fukushima disaster, there are a lot of old lessons to be learned.
The day before Japan's nuclear disasterone day, U. S.
Officials in 20-
The license for the Yankee nuclear power plant in Vermont was extended for one year.
This is the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
Looks familiar?
The design of the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor is exactly the same as the currently damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor. a G. E. -
Over the past few weeks, the reactor where the design defect has reappeared.
Full disclosure: we are partially owned by G. E.
When you hear about the United States, you may only hear about the Three Mile Island accident. S.
Nuclear security issues.
But ABC News's review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's records showed 56 separate security breaches in the United States. S.
In the past four years alone, nuclear power plants
Everything from improper disposal of radioactive material to a backup generator that doesn't work.
The Dark Canyon nuclear power plant in California has recently received much attention on this show, and Dark Canyon now sees one of its reactors shut down --
The result of the failure of the pump that should supply water to the steam generator.
Most supervisors in the county where the Diablo Canyon reactor is located now require the owner of the reactor to withdraw the permit renewal application until better seismic studies can be carried out.
They are with their Republican state senator, who is also a geophysical scientist and guest of the recent show, and express their concerns about our aging, accident
Nuclear reactors that are prone to occur, even if they are not
In all nuclear positions.
Another California nuclear power plant, 250 miles south of the Dark Canyon, announced a new earthquake test.
San Onofre nuclear power plant operators announced on the same day that a former manager of the facility filed a lawsuit saying he was fired by the owner of the plant for reporting safety issues.
The Obama administration has brought a new height.
The bipartisan vote for nuclear power was once a disproportional support from Republicans.
In terms of carbon emissions and climate change, it is better for everyone to get nuclear energy than fossil fuels, but doing so does not mean realistically guaranteeing the country that nuclear energy is safe.
After a power outage, how long can the battery pack stop the start of nuclear melting at the reactor closest to where you live?
These batteries are 11% likely to be exactly as long as the ones that failed in Fukushima.
They only lasted half the time, with a 89% chance.
That's for us.
It's time for the "education show.
Good night to you.
This is a report card in a hurry.
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