The report also describes the US South as the leader for newly announced weapons factories/ facilities. Sounds like a rerun of the early Cold War.

Another is this description of the parochial politics behind "Military-Industrial-*Congressional* Complex". Pretty blunt.

First off are stats on how the industry, already a very capital intensive one, is doubling down on that characteristic plus advancing automation, so each dollar invested in weapons creates fewer jobs. We documented these trends in @transitionsec.bsky.social transitionsecurity.org/labor-of-the...

We've published our first story about the AI-powered weapons plant. inkstickmedia.com/in-ohio-who-... Check out the lobbyist emails we obtained that showed how the company was behind a tailor-written amendment meant to suppress farmer-led referendums challenging the arms plant:

SC authorities know the public is watching, and recently told me they sent the permit application to New Mexican environmental authorities for review. And I’ll post here when the issue is available for public comment

Furthermore, if Anduril has no documentation affirming it is a qualified "megaproject," then the developers who cited that newly passed amendment written by Anduril's lobbyist to preempt the farmer-led referendums quashed local voters' rights did so on false premises www.youtube.com/shorts/_xyNB...

This was the front page of the Columbus Dispatch in January last year when Anduril announced it was setting up a factory for cruise missiles and drones in Pickaway County:

Wow. A Columbus Dispatch editor is having a "fireside chat" with an executive from autonomous weapons manufacturer Anduril. Would an editor do the same for a data center developer? An ExxonMobil exec? A "fireside chat" for FDR-esque wisdom from a weapons salesman? www.acg.org/columbus/eve...

Sincere question, are there any other countries where weapons are advertised on billboards *in the airport*? This is Reagan/National in DC

We’ll be publishing a deep dive at @inkstickmedia.com - stay tuned!

I'm reporting in Ohio and got some bombshells about Anduril's planned mega-plant for autonomous weapons. Including newly released emails from its lobbyist to a key state lawmaker show it literally drafted the amendment that quashed local farmers' voting rights. www.instagram.com/p/DYowQSClm5...

What that hearing looked like: pretty polite and bland for such an existential topic! The moderator told the crowd at the start: “We know going into this that there are a lot of strong opinions about this plan — and about nuclear weapons in general."

They're also both in Box Elder County -- I've visited that six-mile-long plant in the West Desert

The pro-plutonium pit voices largely came from the Chamber of Commerce or organizations with ties to the Savannah River Site + its contractors. They said they favored warhead production in order to create local jobs and bc they believe nuclear weapons keep Americans safe from would-be attackers

Folks in Walla Walla! I'm speaking today alongside Sean Arent from Physicians for Social Responsibility at Whitman College class about nuclear weapons and the evolving military-industrial complex. I'll present our new @transitionsec.bsky.social report: transitionsecurity.org/labor-of-the...

Tom highlights the astounding jump in funding that the Trump admin is requesting for the plant next year -- 1.2 billion to over 2 billion next year. Tldr -- this nuclear plant is closely associated with Trump ally Sen Lindsey Graham, and locals used to call him "Mr. Mox," this plant's predecessor

I'll be in Washington State at Whitman College to discuss my forthcoming paper with the @transitionsec.bsky.social and our reporting at @inkstickmedia.com on dwindling job creation and economic mobility in the military-industrial complex. Anyone in and around Walla Walla welcome to join!

The lesson is that Raytheon wanted government contracts and found them in public schools!

Apropos of nothing other than me going through a hard drive with archival material, here's a 1965 annual investor report of what is nowadays the world's 2nd largest weapons maker back when they were championing their entry into the growing market of... school textbooks #Raytheon

It was just in October that I attended an info session the current contractor put out (in a wing of the local public library named after it) about its plan to produce those pits for 50 years.

Anduril's handout photo of its new Ohio employee cohort. I feel old remembering the defense contractors who were publishing their DEI reports and demographic stats just a few years ago.

A colleague on the ground in Ohio thinks Anduril intentionally wants its plant to resemble the Pentagon. Now that she’s suggested that I can’t un-see it!

Also, it's very dubious that Anduril claims it will ship weapons from the plant from mid-2026 - Palmer Luckey claims that's crucial in order for the US to be ready to battle China – but parcels haven't even been rezoned rural to industrial, and local watchdogs say light construction only just began.

A professor watchdogging the factory drew up his own map of potential Indigenous heritage sites on the property:

Another day, another defense publication funded by the arms industry

A little gem I found in a batch of environmental records I got from Ohio re: the mega-weapons plant that Anduril is constructing there to, the company says, defend the US in a "great power conflict" with China. What might delay the weapon factory's construction? ... a bald eagle's nest!

And now a new generation, motivated by US support for Israel's genocide in Gaza, is also calling on the church to divest from the weapons industry. They've sent hundreds of postcards directly to the investment manager's office. inkstickmedia.com/gaza-genocid...

The Tribune cites our exposé, copublished with the Salt Lake City Weekly, dove into the LDS church being a very rare faith-based investor to hold stock in nuclear weapons manufacturers: inkstickmedia.com/cracks-in-th...

Update: the Atlanta city council president promoted in these attack ad mailers apparently funded by pro-Israel donors won her election last night, but somewhat narrowly

@stephensemler.bsky.social on what those billions of stock buybacks add up to -- US taxpayer money to Lockheed and RTX and Northrop Grumman shareholders: bsky.app/profile/step...