Jane Challenges DC

For John, BLUF:  I can see where Ms Jane Fonda is coming from, suggesting Defense dollars be diverted to fighting global warming, but we can't arm the Ukraine, defend the Kurds and still use those same dollars to fight climate change.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Cut Military Budget and Apply it to Green New Deal, Jane Fonda's Protest Advocates

From PJ Media, by Mr Nicholas Ballasy, 12 November 2019.

Here is the lede plus one:

Actress Jane Fonda, along with Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-founders of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, led a climate action protest dedicated to calling on lawmakers to cut the defense budget and apply the savings to a Green New Deal to combat climate change.

"We are now spending over half of the federal government’s annual discretionary budget on the military when the biggest threat to mm U.S. national security is not Iran or China, but the climate crisis.  We could cut the Pentagon’s current budget in half and still be left with a bigger military budget than China, Russia, Iran and North Korea combined.  The $350 billion savings could then be funneled into the Green New Deal and ensuring a just transition for fossil fuel workers and communities," read a Facebook post announcing Friday's protest.

The organizers of the protest argued that "just one percent of the 2019 military budget of $716 billion would be enough to fund 128,879 green infrastructure jobs instead, and it would take just 11 percent — or $80 billion — to produce enough wind and solar energy to power every household in the United States."

Note that Ms Fonda is smart enough to recognize the Federal Budget is divided into discretionary and non- discretionary.  And there is a lot of money in the Defense Budget.

The thing is, Ms Fonda's ideas run counter to the views of the Deep State.  We can't cut the Defense Budget and continue to deploy forces to various global hotspots.  And the "Deep Staters" don't want to pull those forces back.  So, how are the Democrats going to square that circle?  Or, are they going to kick it down the road until after Inauguration In 2021?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff