Trump’s 2020 budget proposal seriously cuts the nation’s safety net

Link: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/11/18259789/trumps-2020-budget-proposal-cuts
By Tara Golshan

President Donald Trump’s administration unveiled its third budget proposal Monday, cementing a vision for the United States that bolsters funding for defense and border walls, while severely cutting social programs for the nation’s poorest.

The $4.7 trillion budget proposal, which encompasses everything from funding for food aid, education, and health care to national defense, seeks to slash $845 billion from Medicare — a program Trump notably promised to leave untouched — cut from Medicaid through major structural reforms, as well as a 9 percent cut across non-defense programs, all while increasing the defense budget to $750 billion, 5 percent more than the 2019 budget.

Is War With Iran on the Horizon?

Link: https://consortiumnews.com/2019/03/11/is-war-with-iran-on-the-horizon/

By Bob Dreyfuss

Here’s the foreign policy question of questions in 2019: Are President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, all severely weakened at home and with few allies abroad, reckless enough to set off a war with Iran?

Could military actions designed to be limited — say, a heightening of the Israeli bombing of Iranian forces inside Syria, or possible U.S. cross-border attacks from Iraq, or a clash between American and Iranian naval ships in the Persian Gulf — trigger a wider war?