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Nuclear Weapons: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

LastWeekTonight · commentary · Watch on YouTube

Military history & warfareMedia, journalism & propaganda

What it is

A Last Week Tonight segment on the US nuclear arsenal and how poorly it is maintained and secured. It covers weapons accidents, outdated launch protocols and security problems.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN recommends it as a funny but sobering overview of nuclear weapons safety failures.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “John Oliver did a good report on it.”

    Good report on nuclear weapon accidents.

    1qaz2wsx3edc, 2014-07 · Recommendation · in “Two nuclear bombs nearly detonated in North Carolina in 1961”

  2. “Watch [1] because reading the rest just make everyone dizzy.”

    Covers outdated launch protocol and weapons security problems.

    yeukhon, 2017-09 · Recommendation · in “‘Criticality safety event’ occurred at LANL’s plutonium facility”

  3. “John Olivers episode on it is also amazing.”

    Amazing episode on nuclear weapon accidents and lost weapons.

    cf141q5325, 2019-06 · Recommendation · in “NSA Improperly Collected U.S. Phone Records a Second Time”

  4. “Reminds me a lot of his report on nuclear security.”

    Report on poor state of nuclear security.

    Jamesbeam, 2026-04 · Recommendation · in “Great at gaming? US air traffic control wants you to apply”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: nuclear weapons, john oliver, arsenal safety, weapons accidents, disarmament

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