WILLIAM J. ASTORE: Pentagon's funding grows to $778 billion after losing the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars

By Dilip -

Where are you going to get the money? That question haunts congressional proposals to help the poor, the unhoused, and those struggling to pay the mortgage or rent or medical bills, among so many other critical domestic matters. And yet — big surprise! — there’s always plenty of money for the Pentagon. In fiscal year 2022, in fact, Congress is being especially generous with $778 billion in funding, roughly $25 billion more than the Biden administration initially asked for. Even that staggering sum seriously undercounts government funding for America’s vast national security state, which, since it gobbles up more than half of federal discretionary spending, is truly this country’s primary, if unofficial, fourth branch of government.

Final approval of the latest military budget, formally known as the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, may slip into January as Congress wrangles over various side issues. Unlike so much crucial funding for the direct care of Americans, however, don’t for a second imagine it won’t pass with supermajorities. (Yes, the government could indeed be shut down one of these days, but not — never! — the U.S. military.)…

https://www.juancole.com/2021/12/pentagon-afghanistan-billion.html


Donald Trump's gift to America: Realizing we've never been a liberal democracy. By PAUL ROSENBERG


Zack Stanton: Violent Christian Extremism in the USA


Chauncey DeVega: Trump is mentally ill but our real sickness runs much deeper


Tom Engelhardt: Biden's indirect admission highlights the steady decline of American empire


America isn't breaking. It was already broken. By Andrew Gawthorpe // Why This Time Is Different. By Dahlia Lithwick


TOM ENGELHARDT: A World at the Edge


Alfred McCoy: The crumbling delusion of Washington's endless world dominion


William Astore: The U.S. Military’s Lost Wars // Chris Hedges: The American Empire Will Collapse Within a Decade, Two at Most


Chris Hedges: The Collective Suicide Machine


Andrew Bacevich: High Crimes and Misdemeanors of the Fading American Century


Lucian Truscott: Trump wants to end the forever wars - except the one about oil and money


Is Donald Trump the Second 9/11? Or Is He the Third? By Tom Engelhardt


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