I have always loved shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver because they have the tendency of taking an issue and putting it in a nice pill to swallow for individuals. I think I talked about this segment before in class, but thought it would be relevant especially since we are talking about nuclear weapons. In this segment Oliver talks about the 4,800 warheads that the US alone owns. The most interesting aspect of the segment though was the obvious mishandling of these warheads due to lack of proper military education and leadership. This was made evident especially when Oliver highlights how US has almost blown up North Carolina, Arkansas, and how in 2007 six nuclear weapons were flown across the country by accident and were left unguarded for 36 hours. Oliver tells us this information in a very comedic matter, but in reality this is insanity. Insanity because these warheads can cause horrible and enormous harm, but there has been little to no action to change the amount of warheads we do have or the matter that we choose to handle them.

Although the US has gotten rid of about 18,000 warheads since 1988, its reduction has began to slow. This trend does not seem to be helped by lawmakers or citizens. Lawmakers have made not attempt to get rid of the nukes the US currently had and many citizens have seemed to lost interest in the matter all together- although it is predicted that between 2014- 2023 nuclear forces will cost about $355 billion.

Does Oliver make a good point in his segment or do you all believe that Colin Powell is misguided when he states that nuclear weapons are “useless” ? Tell me your thoughts!