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01/2022 “Pentagon Spending on Military Contractors May Reach $407 Billion in 2022”

Updated: Aug 8, 2022


“The Extinction Crisis is Far Worse than You Think – The sixth mass extinction in the history of Earth has already begun and three-quarters of all species could disappear”


“Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” President Richard Nixon



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“‘The Fuse Has Been Blown,’ and the Doomsday Glacier Is Coming for Us All


New data suggests a massive collapse of the ice shelf in as little as five years. “We are dealing with an event that no human has ever witnessed,” says one scientist. “We have no analog for this””


“"Thwaites Glacier is the size of Florida. It is the cork in the bottle of the entire West Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough ice to raise sea levels by 10 feet." And new data suggests a massive collapse of the ice shelf in as little as five years. That's why President Biden needs to stop all federal fossil fuel project approvals now.”



2020 July 31 _F2A4409aaa

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“The Fortune 500 companies have more than 9,755 off-shore haven subsidiaries – tax havens that are currently home to $7.6 trillion. It’s time for them to pay their fair share, like the rest of us. 21% global corporate tax rate now.”


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Biden, Democrats, Republicans, our Judiciary are human filth. Our 3 branches of government have turned into Koch’s human waste bin:


“If Biden had followed through on the impulse that ended the war in Afghanistan, we could have had a “peace dividend.” Instead, he signed a $768 billion National “Defense” Authorization Act.

He ended a war — then ADDED $30 billion to military spending.”

“On Foreign Policy, Biden Should Have Taken Golf Lessons”



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$768 billion defense budget but 40% of military families chronically without food until the people donated 1 million meals!?!


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“2021 Was a Year of Failed Political Leadership”


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“Chomsky Blasts the “Torture” of Julian Assange & Biden’s Provocative Acts Against China”


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What Democrats are doing to our Democracy by choosing inaction is criminal and on par with their accomplices the Republicans. The evidence is overwhelming: Democrats and Republicans are the enemy of the people and planet:


“Everything Democrats Didn’t Do in 2021


From protecting the vote to raising the minimum wage to action on global warming, in the past year, the Democrats did none of it.”


“After a strong start with the American Rescue Plan, passed in March, the Democrats have puttered forward, slowly losing momentum and now appearing at a standstill, writes Jon Schwarz.


Democratic voters might have maintained enthusiasm if the party’s leaders had explained that they actually had a plan — one to use all the power they now have to improve people’s lives and to get more power to do more in the future. Instead, their only plan appears to be to come up with as many excuses as possible for their sluggish drift to nowhere.


This dynamic is the same as when Barack Obama took office in 2009. He had the greatest grassroots army ever assembled in U.S. political history, one extremely eager to keep fighting. Instead, Obama essentially told them to go home, stay out of his hair, and let him handle things from there. The Democratic Party then spent the next eight years quietly collapsing into dust across America.


Biden did not have the same energy behind him as Obama, but there was certainly lots of energy to be mobilized to keep Donald Trump from returning to the White House, via bold action that Americans would feel in their everyday lives. The Democrats have not done this.


One potential explanation for this is what can be called “The Iron Law of Institutions” — i.e., that people within institutions like the Democratic Party are primarily interested in maintaining power inside the institution, rather than the institution’s overall success. Any steps to expand the party’s power would require bringing in new constituencies, which would in turn lead to some current constituencies losing their status.


Whatever the reason for Democratic stasis, it’s perplexing: Even if they don’t care about making things better for Americans, one might think they’d be interested in self-preservation. Biden, for instance, will probably be impeached if Republicans take back the House in the 2022 midterm elections. But this has not produced enough motivation for Democrats.


From protecting the vote to raising the minimum wage to action on global warming, in the past year, the Democrats did none of it:”



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“Noam Chomsky says anti-science skepticism is prolonging the pandemic and sending life over a dangerous precipice of the climate emergency.”


“Chomsky: Rising Anti-Science Rhetoric Feeds the Pandemic and Climate Crisis”



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Kirk Thunder:

“When The Human Race Falls, It Will Fall Fast.”

“Colorado wildfire took hold 'in blink of an eye': governor”



“Just A Matter Of Time Before A City Goes Up In Flames. When The Arctic Goes Ice Free This Will Happen To All Cities.”

“Photos: Wildfires engulf 1,000 homes in suburban Denver”


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“To honor a nation’s social contract, its judiciary must penalize those who cause unnecessary and avoidable harm and reward those who improve society by challenging the harm. In this way, the legal system not only discourages harmful behavior and rewards acts of courage, it deliberately transfers a nation’s wealth from social harm to social good.”


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“Today’s capitalism may have increased the power of managers relative to owners of capital. But this shift doesn’t mean a friendlier ruling class — if we want a better world, it’s still up to the working class to make it.”


“The Managerial Class Will Never Give Us Socialism”


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Kevin Hester:

“Methane leaching from the permafrost and sub sea clathrates. Habitat loss from the loss of Arctic Sea Ice, pestilence emerging from the melting permafrost.

All you never wanted to hear from the Arctic.”


“Why the Arctic Sea Ice Matters to All Complex Life on the Planet”


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Tongass National Forest back in the cross hairs of depravity:

“This tree has stood here for 500 years. Will it be sold for $17,500?”

“Old-growth trees in Tongass National Forest, which holds nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as the United States releases each year by burning fossil fuels, are embroiled in the politics of timber and climate change.”


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“Bipartisan usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.” George Carlin


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“If you want to fix America this is what it’s going to take

Voting for puppet politicians in rigged elections will never change anything”


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Specifically, “suicide” with respect to the non-rich which is no big problem for them given voter suppression:

“Chris Hedges - The Left Is Committing Suicide”


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Will America ever conduct itself responsibly and with dignity again?:

“World leaders abandon Biden presidency”


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“Noam Chomsky: Ending Climate Change “Has to Come From Mass Popular Action,” Not Politicians”


“Noam Chomsky talks about US hypocrisy in stoking needless conflict with China, the unnecessarily bloody and grinding war in Afghanistan, and why the United States could easily solve climate change.”


“Now it’s supposed to be a wonderful thing if you can subordinate yourself to a master for most of your working life. It’s called ‘getting a job.’ It was considered a horrible attack on human dignity for millennia. Millennia, literally, up through the nineteenth century. It’s taken a lot of work to impose on people the idea that it’s a wonderful thing to spend your waking hours following somebody else’s orders. And doing it in a way that is actually more extreme than totalitarian states! Like, Stalin couldn’t tell you ‘You’re allowed to go to the bathroom for fifteen minutes at 3 p.m.’ He couldn’t do that. That’s what’s called ‘getting a job’ — [someone telling you] what kind of clothes to wear [and], if you’re working at an Amazon warehouse, what kind of path to take between two spots. If you’re working for a delivery company, you’re not allowed to stop for coffee for fifteen minutes, and we control you because we have a surveillance system in the truck. If you do that, you get a demerit, and if you get a couple of them, you’ll get thrown out. That’s called ‘getting a job.’ Subordinating yourself to a master.”



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“Positive Money US:


“Wall Street is financing the climate crisis


US banks and asset managers are among the top investors in fossil fuels. Wall Street giants like @chase , @wellsfargo , @citibank and @BlackRock are responsible for so many emissions, if they were a country they would be the fifth largest emitter in the world. That’s more than countries like Brazil and Japan.


Reaching Biden’s climate targets will be impossible unless financial companies are forced to act.



“If the financial institutions in this study were a country, they would have the fifth largest emissions in the world.”




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“New Report: US banks and investors responsible for roughly the emissions of Russia

CAP, Sierra Club look at “financed emissions” to offer novel view of Wall Street's carbon footprint”



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“Wall Street Is Close to Triggering a Climate Financial Crisis

And just like 2008, the biggest losers will be those least responsible for it.”



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Stand.earth


“WATCH + SHARE: The climate crisis is also the next financial crisis.

US financial companies aren’t just fueling the climate crisis, they’re setting up the next economic crash too


Wall St banks & asset managers are *still* pumping billions into oil, coal and gas, even though smart money is on clean energy & slashing pollution. Putting money into risky fossil fuel investments threatens to wreck the economy, just like the financial crisis in 2008. #CarbonBubble #Divest


Learn more at

“The Global Emissions of the US Financial Sector”


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I don’t believe Biden and the Democrats ever had any illusion that what they promised was laughable:


“Joe Biden’s rationale for his own presidency was that he could bring oligarchs and working people together and hammer out a compromise that worked for both. The apparent death of his legislative agenda proves what a laughable fantasy that was.”


“Biden’s Agenda Is Dying Because the Interests of the Rich and Poor Are Irreconcilable”


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“How I’ll Die, When and Why”


Quote: “Changing weather patterns endanger agricultural yields. Degradation of topsoils threatens to give us fewer places to root our crops. Declining pollinator numbers can imperil staple fruits and vegetables. The green revolution of agricultural plenty through chemical fertilizers faces a global phosphorus shortage. Billionaire speculators price food out of economic reach for hungry multitudes. International conflicts, and interpersonal ones as well, worsen through fighting over what’s left. The synergy between these risks — the way they overlap and exacerbate one another — is difficult to grasp and predict, but we can rest assured they are going to suck.”



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“'We Are in a Climate Emergency': Late-December Wildfires Ravage Colorado”

“"None of this is normal," said Colorado state Rep. Leslie Herod. "We are not OK."”



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“Climate change is coming for the world's poles”


Doug Kalmer:

"One notable feature of climate change is how the coldest parts of the planet are seeing the most extreme effects. Up north, for instance, Alaska shattered its statewide temperature record on Dec. 26, when a tidal station off Kodiak Island recorded an incomprehensible 67 degrees Fahrenheit. Nearby Kodiak City registered 65 degrees, which not only broke its record for that particular date by 20 degrees and its monthly record by nine degrees, but also would have set a record for any day between Oct. 5 and April 21. Cold Bay, Alaska broke its daily record by 18 degrees, which would have set a monthly record from November to April.


Setting heat records by that kind of gigantic margin is totally inconceivable without climate change.

Ironically, that warmer, moister air is now expected to hit unusually cold temperatures to produce freezing rain and unusually heavy snow that will encase cities across the state in ice. That kind of erratic see-sawing between extreme conditions is also fast becoming a classic characteristic of climate change.”



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“Something missing from the conversation about student debt is the political history of why it exists.

College used to be effectively free or minimal cost, then Nixon’s administration determined that college students were a organized base of political opposition to Jim Crow/War.”


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It’s a start:

“Shareholders Tell Exxon to Eat Shit”


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Sarcasm. That is “success” in the minds of Greenhouse gas emitters:


“It’s Time to Acknowledge the Spectacular Success of the IPCC.”


"The United States government during the Reagan administration “saw the creation of the IPCC as a way to prevent the activism stimulated by my colleagues and me from controlling the policy agenda.

The home of climate change denial was instrumental in setting up the IPCC.”




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“Chris Hedges: Exploitation”


"Chris Hedges discusses the defining characteristic of capitalism: exploitation. He explains how capitalism elevates sociopathic values, destroys the environment, degrades human life, and how the internal logic of capitalism ultimately destroys itself."



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“Liberal Hypocrisy is Fueling American Inequality. Here’s How. | NYT Opinion”


“It’s easy to blame the other side. And for many Democrats, it’s obvious that Republicans are thwarting progress toward a more equal society.


But what happens when Republicans aren’t standing in the way?


In many states — including California, New York and Illinois — Democrats control all the levers of power. They run the government. They write the laws. And as we explore in the video above, they often aren’t living up to their values.


In key respects, many blue states are actually doing worse than red states. It is in the blue states where affordable housing is often hardest to find, there are some of the most acute disparities in education funding and economic inequality is increasing most quickly.


Instead of asking, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” Democrats need to spend more time pondering, “What’s the matter with California?”


More from The New York Times Video: https://www.nytimes.com/video


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“Biden under-delivers on social spending, over-delivers on military spending”


“President Joe Biden signed a record-shattering military budget earlier this week, and a new analysis published Thursday predicted that if recent contracting trends continue, the Pentagon will funnel $407 billion worth of public funds to private weapons makers this fiscal year — more than the federal government spent when sending $1,400 relief checks to most Americans in 2021.”

- Truthout


“Pentagon Spending on Military Contractors May Reach $407 Billion in 2022”


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“Welcome to America, where military expenditures dwarf the rest of the world but 1 in 5 U.S. Children go hungry evert night.”


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“Why is Biden Pushing Putin on Ukraine? - Larry Wilkerson”


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“Philippines lifts ban on new open-pit mines”


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“We Need Public Banking”


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“Federal prosecutors quietly dropped their case against Jeffrey Epstein’s jail guards in the middle of the Ghislaine Maxwell’s trail.


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40,000 pics, I wonder who they don’t want us see?:

“All the Epstein files were sealed by Ghislaine Maxwell prosecutor. So we don’t get to find out the names of the rich, powerful white men who f*cked kids”


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Our laws and judiciary favor the rich:

Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty on five out of six charges, but documents on the Epstein network sealed for fifty years, y’know, until most or all of the people in said network are dead.

We need an Assange, now more than ever.”


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Joebama W. Trump:

“President Obama bombed 7 countries, drone bombed US citizens, oversay record whistleblower prosecutions, oversaw record deportations, covered up Bush-er torture, force-fed Gitmo inmates, expanded NSA spying powers and more.

Narratives around Obama strangely omit these things.”


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Krysti Alt Diamond\Richard Paul Clemenceau:


"The human population is nearing a bloated 8 billion, which is double what it was just 50 years ago! For some perspective of how massive 8 billion is, if you were to live for 8 billion seconds you'd be 254 years old when you pass away.


We are the first species to ever create a mass extinction event, specifically the sixth mass extinction, which is what we are currently dealing with. It's only going to continue to get worse. Right now we are causing around a couple hundred plant and animal species to go extinct each day and in the coming years those daily extinction numbers will rise. The planet will continue to heat up and basic survival for our species and millions of other species will become tougher and even less desirable.


The Amazon rainforest is now emitting more carbon than it's capturing. The oceans are just around the corner from having more garbage and plastic swimming inside of them than fishes.


Our soil has become so degraded that our food now grows with less nutrients than it used to and they say we only have enough good soil left for about 60 more harvests.


Our air and drinking water has become so contaminated that it's become a cancer risk to us, as well as a risk to our cognitive development . About a quarter of the human population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water. By 2030, the demand for water is expected to be 40% more than what can even be supplied.


As human populations expand, quality of life for humans (as well as quality of life for other life forms) will continue to deteriorate.


If we focused on helping those who already exist we'd be able conserve resources and live in a world that's more habitable for our needs.


We call other animals 'invasive and overpopulated' when their numbers and negative impacts don't even compare to what we are doing. Plus the fact that most species that humans refer to as overpopulated and invasive are really human-induced since their overpopulation and invasiveness was caused by human actions.”



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“Good Job! Your species is the biggest natural disaster”


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“EVEN MSNBC SLAMS Pelosi's Defense Of Insider Trading | Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar”


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“While nobody was looking corporations stole more from their workers than thieves stole period”

“Minimum wage violations $23.20 billion

Overtime violations $8.8 billion

Rest Break violations $4 billion

Off the clock violations $3.20 billion


Larceny $5.3 billion

Burglary $4.1 billion

Auto Theft $3.8 billion


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“How climate change primed Colorado for a rare December wildfire

The ground, typically moist from snow this time of year, was dry and flammable as a result of unusually warm temperatures and a lack of precipitation in recent months, experts said.”



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“It is easy enough to tell the poor to accept their poverty as God’s will when you yourself have warm clothes and plenty of food and medical care and a roof over your head and no worry about the rent. But if you want them to believe you – try to share some of their poverty and see if you can accept it as God’s will yourself!” Thomas Merton


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“Bought baby formula this morning and the theft alarm went off on my way out. As the cashier deactivated it she said ‘formula is one of the most stolen items’. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world people are forced to steal to feed babies. I cried in the car.”


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Alessandro Stefani

“This 1 January 2022 is historic:Thousands of records are being broken across the globe from Europe to USA to South America. As promised by your author, today it's the hottest day in Paraguayan history with 45.6C at Sombrero Hovy.(Presidente Hayes province).”


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“A Laura Gray cartoon from November 16, 1946, depicting the interchangeability of the two capitalist parties. Things have not changed.”


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“The problem with Congress explained in one graph.”


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“Iceland’s Trial of the Four-Day Working Week Has Been So Successful Now All The Country Is Shifting To It”


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“If I’m a traitor, who did I betray?

I gave all my information to the American public, to American journalists who are reporting on American issues. If they see that as treason, they need to consider who they think they’re working for. The public is supposed to be their boss, not their enemy.” Edward Snowden


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Carlos A. Rodriguez:

“The target is not Christians, it’s Christian Nationalism.

The target is not men, it’s patriarchy.

The target is not white people, it’s white supremacy.

The target is not heterosexuals, it’s homophobia.

Don’t take it personal, join the work and dismantle oppressive systems.”


2020 July _F2A4409aaa

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