Friday, August 14, 2026

Tag: Pentagon budget

Hegseth pegs Iran war cost at $37.5 billion as Pentagon seeks...

The figure, delivered under questioning at a hearing repeatedly interrupted by protesters, marked an increase from the last official estimate and drew immediate criticism from Democrats on the committee.

Nuclear powers spend record billions on weapons while hunger and climate...

The United States accounted for more than half of global nuclear weapons spending in 2025 as watchdogs warn of a growing arms race, expanding corporate influence, and declining commitment to disarmament.

Trump budget expands domestic surveillance powers alongside record $1.5 trillion military...

New budget documents reveal expanded FBI authority to monitor domestic extremism while the White House seeks historic increases in Pentagon spending and significant cuts to social programs.

Senate approves record Pentagon budget as Democrats help advance Trump’s defense...

Bipartisan vote sends $900 billion military bill to Trump’s desk amid war powers concerns and domestic cuts.

Hegseth clamps down on Pentagon press access as military budget hits...

As the Trump administration pushes for a $1 trillion military budget, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has imposed unprecedented restrictions on journalists at the Pentagon, raising alarm over transparency, accountability, and the future of press freedom.

Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ slashes healthcare and food aid while delivering...

New CBO analysis confirms steep losses for poorest Americans under GOP-backed plan as Medicaid, SNAP, and public programs are gutted to fund tax cuts for the top 1 percent.

Elon Musk stands to get even richer as Trump backs $1...

William Hartung blasts the promised budget as “completely unnecessary” and says that “almost the only beneficiaries are going to be the weapons manufacturers.”

Is America’s $1 trillion defense budget defensible amid economic struggles?

Bernie Sanders challenges America’s staggering military budget, calling for reforms to address fraud, waste, and misplaced priorities.

FLASH! Pentagon fails audit! (again!)

The Washington money pit...

Defenseless

We want a serious change in our federal spending priorities away from destruction to actual human needs.

POPULAR

The west front of the U.S. Capitol. The Protected Time Off Act, pending in Congress, would guarantee full-time workers two weeks of paid annual leave. Photo: Architect of the Capitol (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

US workers average 10 paid vacation days a year, and 33 million get none

Twenty-five OECD countries require employers to provide at least 20 days. The US legal minimum is zero, and 57 percent of the lowest-paid tenth of workers get no vacation at all.

Chris Hedges and Albert Raboteau on ‘American Prophets’ importance in an age of radical...

Watch the two thinkers talk about Raboteau’s book, which discusses the work of religious figures such as Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Who’s enabling Putin’s enablers?

We need a progressive politics that shows solidarity with all victims of military violence — while resisting the militarism of our own government.

Dear Joe

The time has come for a coalition, and that means being open, and honest, and doing the best for the country. So do it.
An ICE Special Response Team performs crowd control outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on June 10, 2026. Photo: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

“An ICE Murder”: Gabriela Soto Says She Miscarried While Husband Was Detained in Solitary

In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities. “At first, I was fighting for my husband, but then I started to meet all of these people who are just innocent, and they are the people that make this country great,” says Soto, who blames her recent miscarriage on the stress of her husband being detained. “I am still grieving,” she says. “To me, this is an ICE murder, too.” This comes as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a Salvadoran immigrant, died Saturday after being held for six weeks at Delaney Hall. He is the third immigrant to die at the ICE jail, which has been open since May 2025. Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, says her son took medicine to manage diabetes, seizures and his blood pressure, but had not received his medications regularly since being detained. ICE said in a statement that Lopez-Conejo experienced a “medical emergency” on Saturday and was transported to University Hospital in Newark, but Maria Cornejo says her son died at Delaney Hall. More than 70 people inside the ICE jail have filed lawsuits alleging medical neglect. That neglect was one of the factors that led to the hunger strike. “Individuals are not receiving the kind of healthcare that they in fact need, particularly for chronic health conditions, for pregnancies, for cancers,” says Analilia Mejía, Democratic congressmember from New Jersey. “Being undocumented should not be a death sentence.”