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| Government Corruption |
| Omnibus Shows Congress's Priorities: Authoritarianism & War |
| 2022-12-27 |
| [ZERO] Those hoping for a Christmastime government shutdown were once again disappointed when Congress passed a 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill that few, if any, Representatives and Senators read before voting on. The Republican leadership celebrated this bloated monstrosity because it spends $858 billion on warfare while "only" spending $772.5 billion on welfare. No one should think Republican insistence on more warfare than welfare spending means Democrats oppose the warfare state. Under President Biden and a Democrat-controlled Congress, "defense" spending has increased by 4.3 percent over the last two years. Similarly, every Republican President in recent years—including two who had a Republican-controlled Congress for at least part of their term—supported huge increases in welfare state spending. Most Democrats only pretend to oppose warfare and most Republicans only pretend to oppose welfare to appease their parties’ respective bases. The Omnibus appropriates a $44.5 billion giveaway to Ukraine. This brings the total US spending on Ukraine’s military to over $100 billion - approximately 50 percent more than Russia’s entire military budget! This money is spent in a conflict that does not affect US security, yet one that would likely have not occurred were it not for prior US meddling in the region. The Omnibus bill provides $11.3 billion for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a $569.6 million increase and $524 billion above the President’s request. According to the Democratic leadership, the funding increase is so the FBI can better fight "extremist violence and domestic terrorists." The public recently learned what the FBI considers an appropriate way to fight "extremism," with the release of emails between Twitter officials and the FBI. These memos show the Bureau was working with Twitter—and almost certainly other social media companies—to suppress certain stories, such as Hunter Biden’s laptop, and points of view, such as skepticism regarding masks, lockdowns, and vaccine mandates. The bureau even used taxpayer funds to reimburse Twitter for the costs of implementing these "requests." Government officials working with private companies to silence American citizens is a clear violation of the First Amendment. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #1 Although the fact that we are funding a study of roid rage hamsters pitted in gladiatorial combat is good to know, I would be more interested in knowing how the government is funding all these positions and efforts to suppress the 1st Amendment. I would also like to see it stopped. BTW hamster battles differ from Michael Vick’s evil side gig only by the government grant. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2022-12-27 10:43 |