At CommonDreams, Jake Johnson writes—U.S. Says No Money for Social Programs, But '$700 Billion to Kill People? Yeah That We Have':
Where were the pundits and elected lawmakers who complain about the cost of providing healthcare to all Americans when the Senate voted to spend $700 billion on the military?
Many critics were raising this question Monday after the Senate—in what was portrayed as yet another indication of bipartisan support for endless war—overwhelmingly approved the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will dump a larger sum of money into the military budget than even President Donald Trump asked for while also authorizing the production of 94 F-35 jets, two dozen more than the Pentagon requested.
Passage of the NDAA—which this year approves a $700 billion defense budget, an annual increase of $80 billion—is something of an automated process in Washington, one that often flies under the radar and garners little opposition.
However, with support for Medicare for All and free public college tuition soaring, many are calling attention to the hypocrisy of pundits who yell about the costs of single-payer healthcare providing debt-free higher education while remaining entirely silent about the war budget.
Adam Johnson, a contributor to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, argued that the explanation for this double standard is simple: America's dominant political class and mainstream commentators view exorbitant military spending as a given. [...]
TOP COMMENTS • HIGH IMPACT STORIES
QUOTATION
“As ever, the original inhabitants of Turtle Island are entirely overlooked. Mysteriously, the only time indigenous people are guaranteed a mainstream Amerikkan mention is on Thanksgiving.
Again, to contextualize, this would be be kinda like someone busting into your house and robbing you blind, then sending you postcards once a year to remind you how much they are enjoying all of your stuff, and getting annoyed with you if you don't respond with appreciation for their thoughtfulness.”
Inga Muscio, Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Society (2005)
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Daily Kos on this date in 2005—Getting ahead of the issue on Iraq:
Elected Democrats have been rightly knocked around for having no leadership instincts, and that's nowhere more visible than on the issue of Iraq. While Democrats in DC and in races around the country want to pretend that Iraq can be trumped by health care and social security, there's just no way that's going to happen. Iraq will be issues number one, two and three on voters' minds.
Now here's the problem. Most DC Democrats I've spoken to are very much against the war, but they're afraid to say so. Afraid to look weak. Afraid that they'll be tarred as peaceniks.
Yet, despite any high-profile opposition to the war, more and more people are turning on Bush's War. And now that polling is showing the American people increasingly disenchanted with the war and agitating for a pullout, more Democrats will feel compelled to take "courageous" stances on the war, now that only 32 percent of the American people approve of it.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Turns out it’s Talk Like a Pirate Day. So we talk about pirates. Bain Capital boards and sinks Toys ‘R Us. Trump is still plundering “charities”; and hedge fund managers, their clients. More rape allegations among the Fox crew, trained under the Jolly Roger.
YouTube | iTunes | LibSyn | Keep us on the air! Donate via Patreon or Square Cash