Month: October 2021

      When Richard Nixon died, those of us on the antiwar side of the barricades during his misbegotten presidency were driven to new lows of cynical despair by the image-washing, sometimes from mainstream media, but most often from other politicians who seemed to want to set an extremely low bar for presidential legacies. 

     “I pledge allegiance to Donald Trump of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and to the tyranny for which it plans, one space station under HAL 9000, out of control, with cocaine and Rogaine for all.” — Jake Pickering (10/24/21)

     This May, the Pentagon asked Congress to fund a $715 billion budget for Fiscal 2022—an increase of $10 billion over the previous year.  Together with another $38 billion requested for military-related programs at other government agencies, this would bring total U.S. military spending to $753 billion. 

    Though there are other players, such as lobbyists and pro-defense think tanks, this military-industrial-governmental complex comprises central casting. They work together to meet and sometimes exceed the military’s funding requests, in good economic times and bad, in peacetime as well as in times of crisis. To them, national security is a gravy train.

The study, titled “Waking the Sleeping Giant: Low-Income Voters and the 2020 Elections” also shows that of the 168 million people who voted in 2020, 59 million — 35% — were poor or low-income, meaning they have an estimated annual income of less than $50,000. The 2020 presidential elections saw the highest voter turnout in U.S. election history, including among low-income voters.