SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A rendering from weapons company Northrop Grumman shows what the B-21 Raider bomber, set to be unveiled on December 2, 2022, could look like. (Image: Northrop Grumman)
Millions of Americans Lack Adequate Health Coverage, But the Pentagon Has a New Nuclear Bomber to Flaunt
"This ominous death machine, with its price tag of $750 million a pop, brings huge profits to Northrop Grumman but takes our society one more step down the road of spiritual death," peace activist Medea Benjamin said of the new B-21 Raider.
Dec 02, 2022
Peace and economic justice advocates responded to the imminent unveiling Friday of the United States Air Force's new $750 million-per-plane nuclear bomber by reiterating accusations of misplaced priorities in a nation where tens of millions of people live in poverty and lack adequate healthcare coverage.
Military-industrial complex giant Northrop Grumman is set to introduce its B-21 Raider on Friday. The B-21, whose development was 30 years in the making and whose total project cost is expected to exceed $200 billion, is tapped to replace the aging B-2 Spirit.
"One thing the world definitely does not need is another stealth bomber," Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CodePink, told Common Dreams.
"This ominous death machine, with its price tag of $750 million a pop, brings huge profits to Northrop Grumman but takes our society one more step down the road of spiritual death," Benjamin added, referring to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 anti-war speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," in which the civil rights leader called the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
Noting the B-21's impending introduction, Canadian professor Christopher Stonebanks tweeted on Wednesday: "Hey, how's the good old USA doing on free healthcare, eliminating poverty, and accessible education for all? What? Oh, I see. They have a new stealth bomber. OK. And their citizens are good with that trade-off?"
The Pentagon, which recently failed its fifth consecutive annual audit, is slated to get $847 billion in 2023 after Congress rubber-stamps the next National Defense Authorization Act, possibly as soon as this month. That's more than the combined military spending of China, India, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
arms tradeinequalityinstitute for policy studiesmartin luther king jrmedea benjaminpentagonpovertyunited statesus military
Peace and economic justice advocates responded to the imminent unveiling Friday of the United States Air Force's new $750 million-per-plane nuclear bomber by reiterating accusations of misplaced priorities in a nation where tens of millions of people live in poverty and lack adequate healthcare coverage.
Military-industrial complex giant Northrop Grumman is set to introduce its B-21 Raider on Friday. The B-21, whose development was 30 years in the making and whose total project cost is expected to exceed $200 billion, is tapped to replace the aging B-2 Spirit.
"One thing the world definitely does not need is another stealth bomber," Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CodePink, told Common Dreams.
"This ominous death machine, with its price tag of $750 million a pop, brings huge profits to Northrop Grumman but takes our society one more step down the road of spiritual death," Benjamin added, referring to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 anti-war speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," in which the civil rights leader called the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
Noting the B-21's impending introduction, Canadian professor Christopher Stonebanks tweeted on Wednesday: "Hey, how's the good old USA doing on free healthcare, eliminating poverty, and accessible education for all? What? Oh, I see. They have a new stealth bomber. OK. And their citizens are good with that trade-off?"
The Pentagon, which recently failed its fifth consecutive annual audit, is slated to get $847 billion in 2023 after Congress rubber-stamps the next National Defense Authorization Act, possibly as soon as this month. That's more than the combined military spending of China, India, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
From Your Site Articles
Peace and economic justice advocates responded to the imminent unveiling Friday of the United States Air Force's new $750 million-per-plane nuclear bomber by reiterating accusations of misplaced priorities in a nation where tens of millions of people live in poverty and lack adequate healthcare coverage.
Military-industrial complex giant Northrop Grumman is set to introduce its B-21 Raider on Friday. The B-21, whose development was 30 years in the making and whose total project cost is expected to exceed $200 billion, is tapped to replace the aging B-2 Spirit.
"One thing the world definitely does not need is another stealth bomber," Medea Benjamin, co-founder of the peace group CodePink, told Common Dreams.
"This ominous death machine, with its price tag of $750 million a pop, brings huge profits to Northrop Grumman but takes our society one more step down the road of spiritual death," Benjamin added, referring to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1967 anti-war speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," in which the civil rights leader called the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today."
Noting the B-21's impending introduction, Canadian professor Christopher Stonebanks tweeted on Wednesday: "Hey, how's the good old USA doing on free healthcare, eliminating poverty, and accessible education for all? What? Oh, I see. They have a new stealth bomber. OK. And their citizens are good with that trade-off?"
The Pentagon, which recently failed its fifth consecutive annual audit, is slated to get $847 billion in 2023 after Congress rubber-stamps the next National Defense Authorization Act, possibly as soon as this month. That's more than the combined military spending of China, India, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and South Korea, according to the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.