296
US military spent $9 million on crab legs and lobster in the months before Iran war: report
(www.the-independent.com)
this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2026
296 points (99.7% liked)
politics
28910 readers
1872 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The rest of those big purchases are fucked up but c'mon 60k on HM chairs is like 60 chairs. That's probably enough to fill a hallway at the Pentagon and maybe 1 meeting room.
You mean 30 chairs
30 chairs is quite generous.
That could buy you about 10 of this one, for example. (Edit: We can rest safe, though, knowing Pete "Cirrhosis" Hegseth didn't spring for the vegan leather option.)
Yeah, they're expensive as hell, but damn do they make a fine chair. May he never get to sit in it
I think I got mine for like 1500, and I didn't get a bulk discount. And there were cheaper models.
Yeah, all that excess budget could be cut and put in other areas of government COUGH healthcare COUGH education COUGH goodness, excuse me. Sorry about that.. I must've inhaled some bullshit.
That isn't how budgeting works under basically any system.
You are allocated N dollars per year. If you don't use it then you have demonstrated you didn't need N dollars and your budget for the next year is "reconsidered".
As for sharing between orgs? That gets into the idea of Power Of The Purse. Because in a utopia? Yeah. We didn't need as many missiles this year so let's pay for a few new MRIs. But under the world we live in? Extreme pressure to take away medical funding and give it to the military because 9-11.
And... one can argue that most of that even serves The Military. Less so the piano. But rewarding the military with food before you ask them to go pillage a country in a new war (and try to not record themselves doing the rapes) is a tale as old as time itself. Just like how buying everyone in a division a new computer is the reward for coming in under budget.
No. Like almost everything, the issue is that we, as a country, only want to fund the military and never anything that actually benefits the people.
I know how budgeting works. I'm basically saying now that some light has been shed by watchdogs on how frivolous the defense budget used their excess for nothing related to defense [arguably] that the discretionary funds can be allocated to other areas which can absolutely be done in a sane government. But nah, they might need that excess later on to kill more brown people so let's just blow it all on lobster tails and ribeyes right now, sure!
So what you are saying is that spending the surplus is like spending 1 dollar from your lemonade stand so your parents give you $10 next year instead of $9?
Pretty much. You don't say "Oh, lemons were cheap this year so here is your money back". Because they might cost more next year.
Optimally you invest that money back into the business. Buy office supplies and equipment that will cross fiscal years. And... morale does matter when you are convincing people to die and commit crimes for you.
But, again, big pianos for political appointees don't really fall into that category.
I found folding chairs for $30 each just now without even trying, there is absolutely no justifying $1000 on a damn chair
I feel sad for the spine of anyone who thinks a folding chair is an appropriate workstation.
There absolutely is. Those folding chairs are fine for an afternoon on a Saturday or something, but if you work a desk job in them you're gonna find yourself hurting before too long. A decent office chair should resolve most of that, but a great one will help minimize the ergonomic issues associated with an office job and help you maintain focus.
Some of the really expensive chairs like Herman Miller are not only really good chairs, they're also designed to be beautiful pieces of furniture (which is a price I feel we shouldn't bother spending on the military). Using budget overflow on really good chairs is one of the classic uses of budget overflow. That said, this is clearly just financial irresponsibility given who's doing it
Plus they last a while and are pretty repairable/refurbishable due to how widespread they are. Meanwhile most random folding chairs or generic office chairs will have some random part break and then you'll have to face the unfortunate reality that nobody sells that one random part you need, so now it's junk.
Yeah, make no mistake, I'm not buying one of their lounge chairs thats like $7k, but if I was making enough money that it's not super out of budget for a long term investment in my comfort, I'd consider it. I'm more likely to drop that kind of cash on a couch personally, and I am willing to spend extra to ensure it looks good, feels great, and lasts long. The older I get the more I want to ensure that my furniture is very comfortable and long lasting.
Can confirm. I'm sitting on an Aeron chair I bought used (probably dot-com era surplus) a decade and a half ago, and although I've replaced a torn armrest, the mesh on the seat and back is still in perfect shape. If I'd spent the same amount of money buying something new, it probably would've worn out two or three times over by now.