Lobenthal.com

That 1.6 trillion-and-counting is, of course, in ADDITION to our annual one-trillion-plus military allotment.

That’s the United States’ military nut since 9/11.

Deirde Fulton at Commondreams tabulates.

I love when the politicians who vote for this boondoggle are called “fiscal hawks” by the so-called mainstream media when they go about shredding  social spending.

Natasha was reeaally helpful pinning down Ukrainian dates for Dancing on Water.

You’ll be hearing more from her in my upcoming writing.

Her student, Philip Martin-Nielson is also giving her credit where it’s due, interviewed by Gia Kourlas in Time Out.

I have too much admiration for Paul Krugman to want to tag him with that  glib and derogatory label.

But really, what else can one say?

Here in today’s New York Times, Krugman pens an extremely lucid and well-reasoned op-ed analyzing the damage done by this weekend’s regulatory roll-back.

But Krugman attributes the malfeasance simply to “Congress,” without being able to acknowledge that no one did more to ensure the bill’s passage than Obama himself.

The past weekend was so graphic.

On the one hand, Cheney incarnates the Republicans’ brazen defense of every type of illegal and seditious behavior. The vice-torturer-in-chief would do it all again with bells on.

On the other side of the aisle–

the Democrats, herded by their President and alleged “leader” of their party, pre-emptively capitulate to the GOP, passing a horrendous spending bill that devastates the Democrats’ own Dodd-Frank bill, one of a truly meager number of legislative achievements notched up during the Obama presidencies.

When even Nancy Pelosi refused to trot along with the president this time, you knew that is one bill that reeked.

If there was any lingering doubt in the heart of his progressive cheerleaders about who Obama really is, it should dissipate with his support of the spending bill.  The only thing that could possibly still keep them dreamy about the Obama they have invented is outright cognitive dissonance.

Among the poison pill provisions is one that will increase the amount of hours truck drivers can drive without sleep.

And of course there’s the gutting of the Dodd-Frank bill, the anemic package of financial service regulations that is one of the very few accomplishments of the Obama presidency.  . . and the engorged war spending (which will precede, in all likelihood, a revival of Obama’s plans to partner with the Republicans to cut Social Security).

And on and on. . .

Did you know?

During the 1930s, Stalin’s Central Executive Committee declared that anyone accused of “terrorist acts” had forfeited any right of defense.

John Nichols interviews Senator Sanders for his Nation blog:

“I can tell you from personal experience: I get on TV a lot. It is very hard for me to fight through the questioning and to actually talk about policy issues. . . . There is a real prejudice and a desire not to talk about the collapse of the middle class, about the level of poverty in this country, about income and wealth inequality. They don’t want to talk about that; they want to talk about anything else—to make it into a personality match: ‘What do you think about Hillary Clinton?’—rather than ‘How do we help the middle class? How do we deal with income and wealth inequality?”

Marilyn Klaus’s torquey Ballets With a Twist opens for Cindi Lauper tomorrow night at the Beacon!

— because it’s already exploding!

The single prerogative on which the GOP will not sandbag Obama: his imperial privilege to wage perpetual war.

John Kerry makes that war-lover’s vow! This man is one of the great sell-outs in contemporary American politics. And his arrogance will redound to the Democrats’ further oblivion. They really think that in the current state of their policy they can convince their constituencies to go to the pols?

True to their foreign policy guru, GW Bush, Kerry & Co. refuse to discuss civilian casualties.

Sarah Lazare at Commondreams gives Kerry the benefit of own bluster and quotes honest  voices as well.