Pentagon bloat, etc. thread

[Vrede too]

Land mine policy of the United States.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/03/uni ... nd-answers#

Thanks.

[Vrede too]

New Study Documents Depleted Uranium Impacts on Children in Iraq

[Vrede too]

Statistic on Billboard Explained



In 2008, the United Nations said that $30 billion per year could end hunger on earth ... such figures do not require much updating. In a separate report, most recently published in 2015, the same organization provides a figure of $265 billion as the cost per year for 15 years to permanently eliminate extreme poverty, which would eliminate starvation and malnutrition — a broader project than just preventing starvation one year at a time....

As of 2019, the annual Pentagon base budget, plus war budget, plus nuclear weapons in the Department of Energy, plus Homeland Security and other military spending totaled well over $1 trillion.

3% of $1 trillion = $30 billion.

So, 3% of U.S. military spending could end starvation on earth.

22% of $1.2 trillion = $265 billion.

So, 22 percent of U.S. military spending for 15 years could permanently end extreme poverty globally.

With the globe spending roughly $2 trillion per year on militarism (roughly half of it by the United States), we can also say that 1.5% of GLOBAL military spending could end starvation on earth.

[Vrede too]

What Does the U.S. Public Think of Its Government Arming and Bombing the World?



... “According to the Congressional Budget Office, the United States is expected to spend $738 billion on its military in 2020. That’s more than the next seven countries combined and more than the U.S. budget for education, federal courts, affordable housing, local economic development, and the State Department combined...."

Of course there’s a major problem with the common pretense that the Pentagon budget is the military budget, namely the hundreds of billions of dollars going to “Homeland Security,” and the nukes in the “energy” department, and all the secretive spy-and-war agencies, and the military spending by the State Department, and the Veterans Administration, and so forth adding up to $1.25 trillion per year, not $738 billion....

... a plurality (and a strong majority among Democrats) want to withhold free weapons from Israel to curb its human rights abuses against Palestinians. A strong majority wants a no-first-use nuclear policy. A strong majority wants more humanitarian aid to Latin America. A strong majority wants to ban all use of torture. (We should properly say “re-ban” given how many times torture has been banned and re-banned.)

... Data for Progress also found that huge majorities want to end the endless U.S. wars in Afghanistan and across the Middle East. Those who support continuing these wars are a tiny fringe group, plus the U.S. corporate media, plus the U.S. Congress, President, and military. Overall we’re talking about 16% of the U.S. public. Among Democrats it’s 7%. Look at the deference that 7% receives from the numerous presidential candidates who have not declared that they will immediately end all of those wars. I’m not aware of any candidate for U.S. president in the history of the United States producing a basic pie-chart or outline of even the roughest sketch of a desirable discretionary budget. Try listing the current candidates for U.S. president in order by what they think military spending should be. How could anyone do it? How could anyone even get anyone to even ask one of them that question? Maybe this data will help.

Bernie hinted at it on Saturday in Queens, and the crowd started yelling “End the wars!” Perhaps the more some of the candidates begin hinting at it, the more they will recognize how strong the secret public opinion is on these matters.

Data for Progress also found a strong majority against allowing U.S. weapons sales to governments that abuse human rights. Public opinion is crystal clear. Total U.S. government refusal to act is as well. Much less clear is the concept of a government that buys deadly weapons and uses them for something other than abusing human rights — nobody ever explains what that can possibly mean....

[neoplacebo]

70% of the US public is not informed enough to have an opinion about it. Most of those will defer to whatever is going on; the rest will mistake what is actually going on for something else.

[Vrede too]

I voted for:

Afghanistan’s first all-female demining team for this year completing landmine work in Bamyan province, the first of Afghanistan's 34 provinces to be declared free of landmines. These women were trained by the Danish Demining Group as part of a United Nations Mine Action Service pilot program working with Afghanistan’s Directorate of Mine Action Coordination (DMAC). Their tenacious efforts are significant examples of empowerment in the country and underscore the importance of humanitarian disarmament.

Hard core. There are other deserving recipients, too.

MIT Professor Areg Danagoulian and Colleagues Voted 2019 Arms Control Persons of the Year

(Washington, D.C.)—Professor Areg Danagoulian and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were selected as the 2019 Arms Control Persons of the Year through an online poll that drew participants from over 100 countries. The annual contest is organized by the independent, nongovernmental Arms Control Association.

Prof. Danagoulian and his team were nominated for their work developing an innovative new nuclear disarmament verification process using neutron beams. This process addresses the fact that parties to arms control treaties more often destroy delivery systems than warheads (e.g., the U.S. dismantling B-52 bombers for compliance with START). This leaves large stockpiles of surplus nuclear weapons, increasing risks of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. Instead, the neutron beam test authenticates the warheads’ isotopic composition without revealing it, enabling a verified dismantlement of nuclear warheads.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association remarked, “This innovation paves the way for more effective arms control agreements, inspections, and enforcement. Professor Danagoulian’s MIT team has brought the best science to arms control and provided a creative solution that can reduce nuclear threats and enhance security.”

This year, 10 individuals and groups were nominated by the Arms Control Association staff and board of directors. All of the nominees demonstrated extraordinary leadership in advancing effective arms control solutions for the threats posed by mass casualty weapons during the course of 2019.

This contest is a reminder of the diverse and creative ways that dedicated individuals and organizations from around the globe can contribute to meeting the difficult arms control challenges of today and the coming decades. It is a hopeful way to close out 2019 and begin 2020.

The runner-up was Afghanistan’s first all-female demining team, nominated for completing landmine work in Bamyan province, the first of Afghanistan's 34 provinces to be declared free of landmines. The women were trained by the Danish Demining Group as part of a United Nations Mine Action Service pilot program working with Afghanistan’s Directorate of Mine Action Coordination (DMAC).



“The courageous efforts of the Afghan demining team exemplifies women’s empowerment and engagement in peace and security and underscores the importance of humanitarian disarmament,” said Kathy Crandall Robinson, Chief Operations Officer of the Arms Control Association.

Online voting was open from Dec. 12, 2019, until Jan. 8, 2020. A list of all of this year's nominees is available at https://armscontrol.org/acpoy/2019

Previous winners of the "Arms Control Person of the Year" are:

4,000 Anonymous Google Employees whose open letter to company leadership led to Google ending its work on “Project Maven” with the Pentagon (2018);
Diplomats from Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, and South Africa, and Costa Rica who secured the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017);
Tony de Brum and the government of the Marshall Islands (2016);
Setsuko Thurlow and the Hibakusha of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, (2015);
Austria's Director for Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Ambassador Alexander Kmentt (2014);
Executive-Secretary of the CTBTO Lassina Zerbo (2013);
Gen. James Cartwright (2012);
Reporter and activist Kathi Lynn Austin (2011);
Kazakhstan's Deputy Foreign Minister Kairat Umarov and Thomas D'Agostino, U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator (2010);
Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) (2009);
Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his ministry's Director-General for Security Policy and the High North Steffen Kongstad (2008); and
U.S. Congressmen Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) and David Hobson (R-Ohio) (2007).

[1 CAT FAN]

70% of the US public is not informed enough to have an opinion about it. Most of those will defer to whatever is going on; the rest will mistake what is actually going on for something else.

They're too engrossed in leftists futile impeachment proceedings as they were with a failed Mueller report. Not that it matters though, they're just as full of crap.

[neoplacebo]

70% of the US public is not informed enough to have an opinion about it. Most of those will defer to whatever is going on; the rest will mistake what is actually going on for something else.

They're too engrossed in leftists futile impeachment proceedings as they were with a failed Mueller report. Not that it matters though, they're just as full of crap.

This is a good example of how fucking stupid this poor "rightist" is. Several weeks after my post about the general ignorance of the American public about important national issues, he posts a juvenile cartoon totally irrelevant to what the initial post was about (US military intervention in foreign nations) and doubles down on his stupid with a comment about a "failed Mueller report" even though that investigation indicted more than two dozen people and paid for itself with just the Manafort seizures. Your lack of intelligence is truly amazing but you are a perfect fit for a cult whose leader is a raccoon eyed pathological liar and con man with a conviction for running a fake university and a fake charity. "Rightists" with perfect vision cannot see what is plainly right in front of them and they wallow in their ignorance. Keep up the good work.

[Vrede too]

This is a good example of how fucking stupid this poor "rightist" is. Several weeks after my post about the general ignorance of the American public about important national issues, he posts a juvenile cartoon totally irrelevant to what the initial post was about (US military intervention in foreign nations) and doubles down on his stupid with a comment about a "failed Mueller report" even though that investigation indicted more than two dozen people and paid for itself with just the Manafort seizures. Your lack of intelligence is truly amazing but you are a perfect fit for a cult whose leader is a raccoon eyed pathological liar and con man with a conviction for running a fake university and a fake charity. "Rightists" with perfect vision cannot see what is plainly right in front of them and they wallow in their ignorance. Keep up the good work.

The "failed Mueller report":

http://www.blueridgedebate.com/forum/vi ... =14&t=3196
http://www.blueridgedebate.com/forum/vi ... =14&t=3198

Once again, 1 FAT CAN proves that he's a rotten investigator for any cop, but even a rotten investigator for an SC cop, which is really bad. Then, he expresses his short attention span and snowflake perpetual victim paranoia with a childish cartoon.

[neoplacebo]

This is a good example of how fucking stupid this poor "rightist" is. Several weeks after my post about the general ignorance of the American public about important national issues, he posts a juvenile cartoon totally irrelevant to what the initial post was about (US military intervention in foreign nations) and doubles down on his stupid with a comment about a "failed Mueller report" even though that investigation indicted more than two dozen people and paid for itself with just the Manafort seizures. Your lack of intelligence is truly amazing but you are a perfect fit for a cult whose leader is a raccoon eyed pathological liar and con man with a conviction for running a fake university and a fake charity. "Rightists" with perfect vision cannot see what is plainly right in front of them and they wallow in their ignorance. Keep up the good work.

The "failed Mueller report":

http://www.blueridgedebate.com/forum/vi ... =14&t=3196
http://www.blueridgedebate.com/forum/vi ... =14&t=3198

Once again, 1 FAT CAN proves that he's a rotten investigator for any cop, but even a rotten investigator for an SC cop, which is really bad. Then, he expresses his short attention span and snowflake perpetual victim paranoia with a childish cartoon.

They say even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn. The cat fan is still looking.

[1 CAT FAN]

Aww, don't be mad that everything that leftists have done since they lost the election has failed to remove your President. The cartoon portrays leftists politicians and leftists journalism quite well.
Not to mention their supporters. Leftist idiots.

[Vrede too]

They say even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn. The cat fan is still looking.

I would not be able to read everything that I linked in 11 minutes, and I'm pretty familiar with it. I guess that 1 FAT CAN is too pants-wetting terrified to look. No wonder s/he worships the lifelong cowardly Chickenhawk in Chief, s/he identifies with him.

[1 CAT FAN]

Any day there's not a leftist as President, that's a good day.

Aww, don't be mad that everything that leftists have done since they lost the election has failed to remove your President. The cartoon portrays leftist politicians and leftists journalism quite well.
Not to mention their supporters. Leftist idiots.

[neoplacebo]

They say even a blind squirrel sometimes finds an acorn. The cat fan is still looking.

I would not be able to read everything that I linked in 11 minutes, and I'm pretty familiar with it. I guess that 1 FAT CAN is too pants-wetting terrified to look. No wonder s/he worships the lifelong cowardly Chickenhawk in Chief, s/he identifies with him.

Well, when you're into a gullibility and cult gig you can't jeopardize it with facts; buy the ticket, take the ride.

[neoplacebo]

Didn't really know where to post this, so it's here. US Navy names new aircraft carrier for black sailor who distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS West Virginia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-miller-nav ... 38326.html

[Vrede too]

Didn't really know where to post this, so it's here. US Navy names new aircraft carrier for black sailor who distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS West Virginia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-miller-nav ... 38326.html

More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Miller

[neoplacebo]

Didn't really know where to post this, so it's here. US Navy names new aircraft carrier for black sailor who distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS West Virginia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-miller-nav ... 38326.html

More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Miller

Really strange that EVERY ship Miller was stationed on was sunk by the Japanese. He got off the Indianapolis before it went down, though. I recently read a book about the Indianapolis; that ship delivered the business end of one of the atomic bombs to Tinian and was sunk after leaving there. The captain was court martialed for not using a zig zag course even though his superiors told him there was no enemy threat in the area he'd be transiting. He was basically railroaded to prevent higher officers from being blamed for the sinking of the ship. The survivors of the attack were forced to float on rafts and wreckage for about a week before they were spotted by a plane. Many were eaten by sharks. Many others went insane and swam away from the group or just went under after giving up. The captain was eventually exonerated but not before he committed suicide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

[billy.pilgrim]

Didn't really know where to post this, so it's here. US Navy names new aircraft carrier for black sailor who distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS West Virginia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-miller-nav ... 38326.html

More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Miller

Really strange that EVERY ship Miller was stationed on was sunk by the Japanese. He got off the Indianapolis before it went down, though. I recently read a book about the Indianapolis; that ship delivered the business end of one of the atomic bombs to Tinian and was sunk after leaving there. The captain was court martialed for not using a zig zag course even though his superiors told him there was no enemy threat in the area he'd be transiting. He was basically railroaded to prevent higher officers from being blamed for the sinking of the ship. The survivors of the attack were forced to float on rafts and wreckage for about a week before they were spotted by a plane. Many were eaten by sharks. Many others went insane and swam away from the group or just went under after giving up. The captain was eventually exonerated but not before he committed suicide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indianapolis_(CA-35)

The movies started in 1945. Quint tells his Indianapolis story in Jaws.

[Vrede too]

Didn't really know where to post this, so it's here. US Navy names new aircraft carrier for black sailor who distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS West Virginia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-miller-nav ... 38326.html

More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Miller

Really strange that EVERY ship Miller was stationed on was sunk by the Japanese. He got off the Indianapolis before it went down, though....

Found, seems likely but not verified by me:

It's also the Navy's first aircraft carrier named after an enlisted sailor.

[neoplacebo]

Didn't really know where to post this, so it's here. US Navy names new aircraft carrier for black sailor who distinguished himself during the Pearl Harbor attack while serving on USS West Virginia.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-miller-nav ... 38326.html

More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Miller

Really strange that EVERY ship Miller was stationed on was sunk by the Japanese. He got off the Indianapolis before it went down, though....

Found, seems likely but not verified by me:

It's also the Navy's first aircraft carrier named after an enlisted sailor.

I venture to say that is correct. In fact, I can only think of one other ship of any kind named for anything other than places, presidents, or other politicians. That is the USS The Sullivans, named for brothers that served on the same ship and were killed in WWII. Since that time siblings do not serve together. I think.