Infosec.Pub

… or is it Erica carnea?

The budget document that President Donald Trump's White House is set to release Friday calls for $1.5 trillion in military spending for the coming fiscal year, an unprecedented sum that—if approved by Congress—would add nearly $7 trillion to the US national debt over the next decade.

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board, which got an early look at the president's fiscal year 2027 budget, reported that the plan includes roughly $1.15 trillion in baseline US military spending as well as $350 billion in supplemental funding "that Republicans could pass in a party-line budget reconciliation bill." The Journal doesn't specify the purpose of the proposed supplemental funding, but the Pentagon has asked Congress for at least $200 billion for the Iran war.

The budget, which would boost total US military spending by more than 40% compared to the current fiscal year, also reportedly calls for investments in Trump's so-called Golden Dome missile defense system, a project that critics have derided as an absurd boondoggle.

Earlier this week, Trump suggested the US federal government can't afford to fund childcare and other domestic social programs because it is "fighting wars."

William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in an analysis of the budget proposal ahead of its official release that "whatever vehicles the administration chooses to promote this huge increase, it will be doubling down on a failed budgetary and national security strategy."

"If passed as requested, $1.5 trillion in Pentagon spending—*in a single year–*will make America weaker by underwriting a misguided strategy, funding outmoded weapons programs, and crowding out other essential public investments," Hartung argued. "The Pentagon doesn’t need more spending, it needs more spending discipline. Spending billions of dollars on a Golden Dome system that can never achieve the President’s dream of a leak-proof missile defense system is sheer waste, as is continuing to lavish funds on overpriced, underperforming combat aircraft like the F-35, or multi-billion dollar aircraft carriers that are vulnerable to modern high-speed missiles."

"The truth is, there are not enough factories, or skilled workers, or materials to effectively spend such a huge increase," he added. "It will be a recipe for waste, fraud, and abuse."

In anticipation of the White House proposal, a broad coalition of nearly 300 advocacy organizations sent a letter to members of Congress on Thursday demanding that they reject Trump's request and any other proposed budget increases for the Pentagon, which recently failed its eighth consecutive audit.

"We must invest in critical human needs programs in our communities. Instead, we have cut those programs massively," the groups wrote, pointing to the record Medicaid and nutrition assistance cuts that Trump and congressional Republicans approved last year.

"The Pentagon is unaccountable to American taxpayers, having never passed an audit, while more than half of its budget (54 percent) is paid to corporate military contractors, whose profits are rising. Further gigantic increases would be grossly irresponsible," the groups continued. "Funding an unaccountable Pentagon by more than $1 trillion while underfunding human needs programs undermines our security by preventing us from investing in the shared prosperity that comes from more housing, health care, climate and public health protections, ending hunger, and providing quality public education."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

https://www.bedetheque.com/serie-34992-BD-Alix-Senator.html

This is an utterly superb series, set around 2000yrs ago. It's about a Roman senator who once was an unusually adventuresome spirit (see the original "Alix" books), who's now saddled with all kinds of responsibilities and complications as an adult. Nevertheless, he finds himself embroiled in all kinds of adventures, many of them butting up against various peoples and powers in the region, with Egypt featuring fairly prominently.

I would have to go back and re-read the series to better explain this page, but I recall the youth here as being borderline-mentally ill, obsessed upon discovering something or other. In any case, I find that there's a sort of quiet intimacy and sense of impending... Jenny says quack* going on here. Part of the reason I love BD so much, and why I rarely looked back after graduating from the school of superhero drivel.

* "je ne sais quoi" (I'm such an idiot, lol)

The European Commissioner for Energy and Housing said the EU will not change its stance on Russian LNG imports this year, as supplies from the US and other partners can be sourced through 'the free market'

From thecradle.co via This RSS Feed.

Iranian forces shot down two more advanced US fighter jets.

From Presstv via This RSS Feed.

North Carolina saw extreme swings in temperature and rainfall in March, as scientists say a warming climate is driving more volatile “weather whiplash.”

The broader warming trend is largely driven by fossil fuel burning

Iran's longtime supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was against nuclear weapons on religious and moral grounds. However, now that the US and Israel have killed him and his son Mojtaba Khamenei is the new leader, will the war push Tehran to develop nukes? Ben Norton explains. || Geopolitical Economy Report || Please consider supporting us at https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/Support Subscribe to our newsletter: https://geopoliticaleconomy.report/ Join our community on Patreon: https://patreon.com/GeopoliticalEconomy

From Geopolitical Economy Report via This RSS Feed.

The amount of untaxed wealth hidden offshore by the richest 0.1 percent exceeds the entire wealth of the poorest half of humanity (4.1 billion people), reveals new Oxfam analysis published today ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Panama Papers. The findings show that, a decade later, the super-rich continue to exploit offshore systems to evade taxes and conceal assets, highlighting the urgent need for coordinated international action to tax extreme wealth and end the use of tax havens.

Oxfam estimates that $3.55 trillion in untaxed wealth was stashed offshore in tax havens and unreported accounts in 2024. This sum exceeds the GDP of France and is more than twice the combined GDP of the world’s 44 least developed countries.

The richest 0.1 percent holds approximately 80 percent of all untaxed offshore wealth, or around $2.84 trillion. Within this tiny group, the ultra-wealthiest 0.01 percent holds roughly half ($1.77 trillion).

das erste originale Lied von der wohl bekanntesten deutschsprachigen Utaite und Vtuberin, ~~FYI~~ FDI

(Wurde ganz knapp nach dem Ende der Vorschlagsperiode letztes Jahr veröffentlicht.)

🔗

Humans are creatures of rhythms. As far as we know, humans have always sung and always danced. We can recognize a song by its rhythm alone, regardless of whether it is played fast or slow.

From Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology via This RSS Feed.

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It may look like play money – but you can actually use it to buy things. At least within a special region in Bavaria, Germany. The "Chiemgauer" is supposed to strengthen the local economy and cut CO2 emissions at the same time. Does it work?