Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I really should read my own blog.

It’s easier to kill a dangerous animal than a man who just happens to have different thoughts/values than one’s own.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

It’s a doggy dog world.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

A consequence of cucumbers

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Let there be snark.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

This really is a full service blog.

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Open Thread: More Guns, No Butter!

Open Thread: More Guns, No Butter!

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Refusing to throw more money at our beneficent military contractors, who could profitably use it to kill not-white people… just to spend those bucks on *American* not-white kids! The HORROR!


The Death Cult paymasters are *very* upset!

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    germy

    Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.

    It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

    The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.

    It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.

    It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.

    We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.

    We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.

    This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road. the world has been taking.

    This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.

    These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that come with this spring of 1953.

    This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace.

    It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.

    It calls upon them to answer the question that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the world may live?

    (Ike’s “Chance For Peace” speech)

  2. 2.

    Ohio Mom

    Note to self: the next time a Republicans president gets us into a war, buy Lockheed Martin.

  3. 3.

    Ohio Mom

    @germy:

    That was a great speech. Nowadays, it would not be possible to give it. Our country was a different place in the 1950s.

  6. 6.

    Eunicecycle

    The title just reminded me of an economics professor I had who always said “Buns and Gutters.” I didn’t know the allusion at first.

  9. 9.

    Spanky

    As an ex-Raytheon employee, I can verify what that tweet shows – that RTN management is less competent at sucking up govt money than most of its competitors.

    HOWEVER
    “During the Afghanistan war” is the last 20 years.
    Microsoft went from $35/share to $293/share
    Apple went from about a buck a share to $148/share

    You could do much better by investing elsewhere than defense stocks.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    Tonight – 6PM at Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Denver. Be there or be square folks. Yours truly will be wearing a New York Yankees cap and a Kona Brewing t-shirt.

  11. 11.

    mali muso

    For anyone living in the following areas (VA/MD/DC, Seattle/Tacoma, Houston, Fort Worth), you can sign up to help assist with the Afghan refugee arrivals. They are asking for people willing to help with airport pick-ups, apartment move ins, meals, etc. I’m sure this is only one of many coordinated efforts, but thought it would be worth passing the info along.

  14. 14.

    Another Scott

    @Spanky: Yeah, that Public Citizen tweet is one of those context-free sets of numbers that doesn’t mean anything with the tiniest bit of scrutiny.  (Google has DoD contracts too – shouldn’t they be listed – a bazillion percent increase!!1??)

    They should know better.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I think I got Afghanistan now.

    The Blob wants Forever Wars so they can play Roman Empire. 911 gave them that excuse and there was never any intention to win in Afghanistan, just achieve an stalemate with the Taliban that last forever. Since the American public hates those things, The Blob’s master plan was to delay any withdraw and wait out each Administration in turn unitil Afghanistan turned into another Korea.

    Obama wants out, The Blob counters a troop surge is need to stabilize Afghanistan, expecting Obama to say no, then they would scream “what about our troops?”. Instead Obama sets the Blob by giving The Blob the surge they claim they wanted. The surge doesn’t work, this pave the way so Hillary as president could withdraw in 2017 well before the 2018 midterms.

    Instead Trump comes along, just ignores Afghanistan because it doesn’t have any good golf courses. Then he gets into re-election trouble so rushes threw a Withdraw because it polls popular. Makes it clear the US will be out in 2021, our Afghani allies are dirty brown people who can f and die and if anything goes wrong, Trump will just blame them for it. Forsaid Afghani allies see they’ve been thrown under the bus before the bus has even arrived, cut their own personal deals with the Taliban during the American negotiations with the Taliban.

    2021 Biden gets elected, The Biden admin sees the time is right to get out, but it’s realized the Trump withdraw plan is stupid, Biden orders a later date. The Blob, as usual, drags it’s feet. The Taliban over run Afghanistan as a way of moving the withdraw along. The Afghani allies bail, Kabul falls The Blob throws a hissy they’ve been humiliated.

  16. 16.

    Peale

    @Ohio Mom: Or just start a company called OhioMom Missles. Look, they just have to look like they are doing something. They don’t actually have to do anything.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    @PsiFighter37: I just added it to the Alert! section in the sidebar.

    If you get pictures, can you send them to me?  A meetup section on BJ exits, but has hardly been used because of COVID.  If you like, this can be our first real current meetup there!

  20. 20.

    Spanky

    Haliburton did pretty shitty, actually. Really shitty, to be honest. Was around $21 in 2000, bounced around and peaked in 2014 at around $68. Right now it’s back at $21.

    Hope Cheney is up to his neck in his stock

    Edit: It’s at $19.10 today.

  21. 21.

    gvg

    This is not really the military nor contractors fault. They are both following orders.  The military cannot disobey the President’s or Secretary of Defense’s orders. That is called a military dictatorship if it’s the military. They get orders, and if they think the orders are stupid or say “that can’t be done” then at best they don’t get promotions. Look if the military had said “it can’t be done” when they got orders to integrate, where would we be? Civilian control is necessary and right. But sometimes there is a downside.

    Contractors do what they get paid to do. I don’t think these wars were especially profitable nor really sought by most of the companies.  (except Halburton) We could have been into some other conflict or upgrading our forces with actual new stuff like new fighter planes and cargo planes that actually work, keeping up our nukes so they don’t leak……..Contractors have had stupid orders before (reagan star wars) The budget cuts forced on Obama actually hurt and caused layoffs.

    The fault is political and it’s not just the Presidents. The public had a part……but it’s mostly political. Don’t let them off the hook.

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    @Ohio Mom: 
    A theme throughout the Perlstein tetralogy, especially “Before the Storm” is the Republican conservative wing didn’t trust anybody other than those in their club (e.g., Joe McCarthy) was a squishy commie and that included Ike. “War hero, war schmero, Ike’s a liberal Communist!”

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    The military-industrial complex got exactly what it wanted out of this war.

    Exactly how does chasing around Hillbillies with assault rifles bring in those sweet, sweet high tech, big budget,  20 years maintenance, government contracts for fighter jets and submarines ?  How many Virginia Class Nuclear Attack Submarines, at $2.8 billion each have been deployed against the Taliban in Afghanistan?  That surge in those contractors stocks is because of China, not Afghanistan.

  27. 27.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Spanky: Haliburton did pretty shitty, actually. Really shitty, to be honest. Was around $21 in 2000, bounced around and peaked in 2014 at around $68. Right now it’s back at $21.

    Case in point, Afghanistan and Iraq are a Haliburton wet dream; feeding and housing troops in temporary bases. Now that’s over and the military is moving back to existing bases or, horror of horrors to Haliburton,  ships, to confront China life is no longer so good.

    Likely at some point there will be a book back the secret civil war in Washington between the Haliburton lobbyist and the more traditional military hardware contractors over who gets to loot the budget.

  28. 28.

    James E Powell

    @Ohio Mom:

    That was a great speech. Nowadays, it would not be possible to give it. Our country was a different place in the 1950s.

    Ike could give that speech because he beat the Nazis. Anyone else – indeed, everyone else – was suspect.

  30. 30.

    StringOnAStick

    A friend who works with some wing nuts, educated ones at that, just texted that one told her that the vaccines are the cause of the current surge in cases.

  33. 33.

    Anthony

    The next step is firing the generals and diplomats who gave us happy-talk instead if thr truth.

  34. 34.

    Dan B

    @mrmoshpotato: Great news!

    Satby will be pleased.  Her USPS shipping has become a nightmare of delays.  The alternatives, Fed Ex and UPS would make her delivered price much less competitive.  This would be true for Amazon as well but they’re working on horribly noisy drones to replace the USPS and their own drivers.

  37. 37.

    Ruckus

    Most military equipment is expensive because the volume is relatively small, and the requirements are very strict and the development to get to production can take a lot of years. Yes, some things are made in large quantities, but the big expensive stuff, like a 2.8 billion dollar submarine really are not built in enough quantities to be relatively cheap per unit.

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