“The U.S. is officially fighting wars in seven countries, including Libya and Niger, according to an unclassified White House report sent to Congress this week and obtained by the New York Times.”
“The $1.3 trillion bill was so monstrous that it would have made the biggest spender in the Obama Administration blush. The image of leading Congressional Democrats Pelosi and Schumer grinning and gloating over getting everything they wanted — and then some — will likely come back to haunt Republicans at the midterm elections.”
“President Trump’s recent cabinet shake-up looks to be a real boost to hard-line militarism and neo-conservatism. If his nominees to head the State Department and CIA are confirmed, we may well have moved closer to war.”
“Government officials, hiding behind classified material, can easily inflate and even create so-called threats, and they have an obvious incentive to do so.”
Read more: https://reason.com/archives/2018/02/18/peace-through-strength-is-a-racket
“Every military leader in history has wanted more resources at his or her disposal. U.S. secretaries of defense have been especially adamant since 2011, when the Budget Control Act first set limits on both defense and domestic spending.”
Read more: http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/02/15/the-militarys-readiness-scam-worked-again/
“George W. Bush should have permanently taught Americans that presidents are most dangerous when seeking to con the nation into unnecessary wars — for democracy or any other pretext. Unfortunately, the recent media consecration of Bush may be expunging that bitter lesson.”
“The Trump Administration is pushing for a $4.4 trillion budget for fiscal year 2019 that would add $7 trillion to the already unsustainable federal deficit in order to sustain America’s military empire abroad and dramatically expand the police state here at home. Trump also wants American taxpayers to cover the cost of building that infamous border wall. Truly, Trump may turn out to be, as policy analyst Stan Collender warned, ‘the biggest deficit- and debt-increasing president of all time.'”
“The last president to hike the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax was Bill Clinton in 1993, a year before Democrats lost both chambers of Congress in a crushing midterm defeat.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/trump-gas-tax-409647
“Mnuchin, speaking at a hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee, said he has spoken personally with Trump about the issue, and that the president ‘does feel strongly’ that the tax should be applied.”
Read more: http://fortune.com/2018/02/15/donald-trump-online-sales-tax/
“It’s true that the federal government used to consist of three branches. Bu that quaint notion disintegrated when the federal government was converted to what is known as a ‘national-security state’ after World War II. Even though it was done without a constitutional amendment, that conversion effectively added a fourth branch of government to the federal government — the national-security branch, which consists of the NSA, the CIA, and the Pentagon. The addition of that fourth branch fundamentally altered the original three-branch concept, especially because the fourth branch quickly became the most powerful branch. The reason is because ultimately government is force, and the fourth branch is where the most force was concentrated within the new, altered governmental structure.”
Read more: https://www.fff.org/2018/02/05/america-military-nation/