It isn’t simply the White Home’s present arms-for-peace deal that contradicts Trump’s new declare that he’s the white knight candidate who will lastly put a damper on the military-industrial complicated. Lower than six months after taking workplace, Trump signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia—the primary perpetrator of the warfare in Yemen—for $110 billion in instant U.S. weapons gross sales and $350 billion in gross sales over the next 10 years. On April 16, 2019, Trump used his veto energy to quash a bipartisan Congressional decision that will have principally ended American navy involvement within the warfare in Yemen—a warfare that has killed hundreds of civilians, created the worst humanitarian disaster on the planet, and helped corporations like Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin enhance their already huge piles of wealth. Not solely did Trump proceed U.S. involvement within the warfare in Yemen, however the next month, in Could 2019, his administration used an emergency declaration to push by way of—with out congressional approval—an $8.1 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE.
With Trump touting himself because the anti-war candidate, Fox Information host Laura Ingraham stated on her present, The Ingraham Angle: “If you wish to rein within the Pentagon, Trump is your solely possibility.” However the Pentagon finances has elevated yearly yearly over the previous 5 years. The fiscal 12 months 2020 noticed a colossal $738 billion for the Division of Protection, and for the fiscal 12 months 2021, Trump is seeking a whopping $750 billion DoD finances.
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QUOTATION
“Braveness is like — it’s a habitus, a behavior, a advantage: you get it by brave acts. It’s such as you be taught to swim by swimming. You be taught braveness by couraging.” —Marie Daly, the primary Black girl to earn a PhD in chemistry and found the connection between ldl cholesterol and clogged arteries.
TWEET OF THE DAY
BLAST FROM THE PAST
At Each day Kos on this date in 2007: Gen. Petraeus’s “Powell” Moment:
In its must-read editorial immediately, “Hiding Behind the General,” the New York Occasions lays out the case for warning on the eve of Basic Petraeus’s testimony on Iraq. It notes, as many have talked about, that six weeks earlier than the 2004 election, Basic Petraeus penned an op-ed during which he “rhapsodized about ‘tangible progress’ and the way the Iraqi forces have been ‘growing steadily,’ an evaluation that will have swayed some voters however has lengthy since proved to be unfaithful.” It additionally emphasizes that tomorrow’s testimony ought to be considered in mild of the various reviews from unbiased businesses and organizations which paint an correct and dire image for the way forward for American involvement in Iraq. The editorial additionally brings up a chilling comparability:
Mr. Bush, deeply unpopular with the American individuals, is relying on the overall to revive credibility to his discredited Iraq coverage. He ceaselessly refers back to the escalation of American forces final January as Basic Petraeus’s technique — as if it weren’t his personal creation. The scenario echoes the way in which Mr. Bush made Colin Powell — one other navy man with a very honed sense of a soldier’s obligation — play frontman on the United Nations in 2003 to make the case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Bush can not as soon as once more subcontract his accountability. That is his warfare.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Greg Dworkin notes each regular polls and Day n+1 of the “Trump hates the navy” story. The virus is every part. (Even earlier than immediately’s bombshell!) There are not any legal guidelines! DOJ intervenes within the Carroll case, and we won’t cease the approaching constitutional disaster.
