$824 Billion Pentagon Budget: Why So Many Classified Programs with Movie Names?

The Pentagon budget request for fiscal year 2024 comes in at a staggering $824 billion, the highest any country has ever spent on its military. A lot of this is going to classified Research, Development, Test & Evaluation programs, which are largely classified or only present brief, vague descriptions. While flicking through one of the lengthy supporting documents I noticed how some of these classified money pits take their names from movies.

$824 Billion Pentagon Budget: Why So Many Classified Programs with Movie Names?

How Twisted Sister Outclassed Congress

Rock & roll was under attack during the mid-’80s. As the music got more theatrical and provocative and MTV gave it a national platform, America’s youth screamed for more. It was obvious that pop music was experiencing a revolution it hadn’t seen since Elvis swiveled his hips on The Ed Sullivan Show. Enter Dee Snider and his band, Twisted Sister.

How Twisted Sister Outclassed Congress

Related:

1985 PMRC/Senate Hearings: Then and Now

YouTube: Dee Snider’s PMRC Senate Hearing Speech (Full)

YouTube: 1985- John Denver – Congressional PMRC Hearing Full Testimony

YouTube: Frank Zappa at PMRC Senate Hearing on Rock Lyrics

Capitalism’s Court Jester: Slavoj Žižek

One of the most prominent intellectuals in the contemporary world was named to the list of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” in Foreign Policy magazine in 2012. He shares this distinction with the likes of Dick Cheney, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Mossad director Meir Dagan. The theorist’s best idea—according to this well-known publication that is a virtual arm of the U.S. State Department—is that “the big revolution the left is waiting for will never come.”

Capitalism’s Court Jester: Slavoj Žižek

Related:

Upcoming: Gabriel Rockhill | Why Slavoj Žižek is Capitalism’s Court Jester (YouTube)

The Rational Destruction of Yugoslavia