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Laicie Heeley

@laicie.bsky.social
1.4K followers 1.4K following 117 posts

Founder & CEO @inkstickmedia.com. Host of Things That Go Boom from PRX & Inkstick. Former wonk.

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Reposted by Laicie Heeley
John Carl Baker @johncarlbaker.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Wow - I missed this: "Representative Bill Foster, a Democrat from Illinois, argued that the Golden Dome should be investigated for large-scale fraud." Foster, by the way, is the only physicist in Congress. inkstickmedia.com/is-trumps-go...
inkstickmedia.com
Is Trump's Golden Dome Missile Defense System a Pipe Dream?
US President Donald Trump's highly touted 'Golden Dome' will cost taxpayers untold sums of money. Will it even work?
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Inkstick Media @inkstickmedia.com · 17/08/2026
"This past winter, the United States’ militarized migration enforcement system laid bare its disregard for human dignity in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. People were abducted in broad daylight, civil liberties were trampled, and state killings continued with impunity."
inkstickmedia.com
How US Wars Abroad Lay the Path for Militarizing Immigration
From Iraq and Afghanistan to Iran, when the US wages wars abroad, it is also laying the path for militarizing immigration enforcement at home.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
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...
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Ross O'Connor @oconnor.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
In times like these, always good to read this superb article about the intersection of an out of control President and the use of nuclear weapons. @laicie.bsky.social inkstickmedia.com/nixons-drunk...
inkstickmedia.com
Nixon's Drunken Run-Ins With the Bomb
Nixon’s final years as president sucked for Nixon. As the Watergate scandal intensified, the president can hardly be blamed for having reached for a drink. But apparently, the situation was so bad that when Nixon fell victim to growing bouts of insomnia and fits of drunken rage, some Washington insiders started taking bets on when […]
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Stephen Young @atomicwonk.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
My amazing @scovillepf.bsky.social @seantmanning.bsky.social has a new @ucs.org piece on what he appropriately calls Trump's "Bloody New Deal," i.e., his proposal to dump $1.5 trillion into military spending, a massive 66% increase. See: blog.ucs.org/sean-manning...
blog.ucs.org
Trump’s Proposed Military Spending Would Be a “Bloody New Deal”
If passed and sustained, President Trump’s new defense budget could become the largest discretionary spending increase in modern US history.
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Senate Budget Committee @senatebudget.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Trump and Hegseth can’t even justify their $1.5 TRILLION defense budget ask—a staggering $500 BILLION INCREASE. Congress should flat-out reject it.
  An unserious request like this invites waste and abuse, and risks blowing up the bipartisan appropriations process altogether.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
#nukesky Our latest @inkstickmedia.com updates from Utah and its nuclear weapons plants, which the government recently tried to claim were... secret. inkstick.substack.com/p/are-addres...
inkstick.substack.com
Are Addresses of Northrop Grumman's Missile Plants a Secret? Utah Says So.
A Utah government attorney told a judge that addresses for nuclear missile manufacturing facilities posed national security risks. But Inkstick published them years ago.
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Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 25/02/2026
Tuning into the State of the Union address? Follow us for fact checks in real-time. 🫡
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Coming soon: healthcare coupons
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Wow. Anduril’s planned autonomous weapons factory in rural Ohio is projected to destroy/reroute wetlands and waterways - so the Ohio EPA went ahead and approved a “lowering of water quality” for the area. In order to protect “economic considerations” sciotovalleyguardian.com/2026/01/16/o...
sciotovalleyguardian.com
Ohio EPA signs off on water quality degradation for Arsenal‑1 project, citing “necessary” tradeoffs
ASHVILLE, Ohio — In a decision that is already drawing scrutiny from environmental advocates and residents, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has formally determined that a lowering of water…
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Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
@tkbarnes.bsky.social reports: “Raytheon was allowed to claim about half a million dollars in tax refunds for jobs it did not create due to a loophole in its economic development contract with Buncombe County.”
inkstick.substack.com
Exclusive: We Followed the Money to Raytheon in North Carolina
We got hundreds of pages of public records about a controversial deal to offer tens of millions of state and local subsidies to a new Raytheon/Pratt & Whitney plant in Asheville.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
We’re over the moon — Things That Go Boom just picked up 8 Signal Awards! 🥇🥈🥉 Including Gold for Public Service and Conversation Starter — plus Writing and Best Host! Huge thanks to everyone who voted and supported our work. 💛 signalaward.com/winners #SignalAwards #PodcastAwards
signalaward.com
Winners - Signal Awards
The Signal Awards seeks to honor and celebrate the people and content that raise the bar for podcasting.Luminaries and leaders within the industry will judge Shows, Limited Series & Specials, Individu...
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
OMGGGGGG you guys, we won EIGHT @signalawards.bsky.social!!!
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Inkstick Media @inkstickmedia.com · 10/10/2025
A new report takes a hard look at the at least $21.7 billion in American military aid to Israel during its war on Gaza. inkstickmedia.com/deep-dive-th...
inkstickmedia.com
Deep Dive: The US Aid Fueling Israel's Two-Year Gaza War
A new report takes a hard look at the at least $21.7 billion in American military aid to Israel during its war on Gaza.
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Nukes of Hazard @nukesofhazard.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
@laicie.bsky.social @joecirin.bsky.social: This new reality requires new thinking: old theories don't really fit what we're in right now. We're in a new nuclear arms race, the first since the 1980s... our goal has to be to minimize those losses and prevent the worst from happening.
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Joe Cirincione @joecirin.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
My panel (with @jonatomic.bsky.social, Mallory Stewart & @laicie.bsky.social) starts at 5:30pm ET. I am going to try out my new analysis of how the most dangerous feature of our current nuclear age is that authoritarian regimes now control almost of the world's nuclear weapons. Love to get feedback.
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Tyler Hicks @tylerfromtexas.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
Trump said he and Hegseth talked about using U.S. cities as “training grounds.” Unfortunately, this @inkstickmedia.com story feels even timelier now.
inkstickmedia.com
‘Let’s Go Bash Some Skulls’: Inside the Militarization of Trump’s America
As the Trump administration expands its push to militarize US cities, critics rail against the heavy-handed impact on marginalized groups.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
A brand new season of #ThingsThatGoBoom from @inkstickmedia.com and @prx.org is coming soon! (And we're talking about the military-industrial complex.) inkstickmedia.com/coming-soon-...
inkstickmedia.com
Coming Soon: MIC Drop
We’re watching — in DC, LA, Chicago — what happens when the military comes to town. But what about the military that’s been there all along?
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Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists @thebulletin.org · 16/09/2025
You have two weeks to submit your story to the Bulletin's first-ever writing contest, judged by acclaimed sci-fi author Kim Stanley Robinson. No fee to enter. Winners will be published in our January magazine. The first place winner will receive $3,000, with $500 each going to four runners-up.
thebulletin.org
Write Before Midnight
Announcing the Bulletin's new short fiction contest! You have until September 30 to send in your stories. At what time you ask? It couldn't be midnight, could it?
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Yeah that’s it, no more work today, Taylor Swift is getting married.
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kate wehwalt @katewagner.wehwalt.net · 21/08/2025
this is why everyone I know isn’t having kids btw
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Snuck in a new 'About' page over @inkstickmedia.com — It was due for a refresh. inkstickmedia.com/about/
inkstickmedia.com
About
Inkstick Media is an award-winning nonprofit newsroom that covers war where it lands: in people’s lives. We dig into the places where power hides — defense budgets dressed up as jobs programs, corpora...
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
This is absolutely heartbreaking. As a colleague said, the appropriate title is "For Sale: VOA." rasmus.com/auctions/fUN...
rasmus.com
Broadcasting Studio Equipment Washington DC
An international broadcast company has ceased operations in the United States and will make a complete liquidation of their late model digital radio, video and podcast technology assets, studio equipm...
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Hi who else is listening to their kids’ favorite show on repeat?
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 03/07/2025
I had to read this twice to believe it...Meloni, who ran for office on an anti-immigration platform, has now announced plans to let in hundreds of thousands of immigrants, in order to deal with the Italian labor shortage www.reuters.com/world/italy-...
reuters.com
Italy to issue half million non-EU work visas over next three years
The move is part of a strategy to expand legal immigration channels in response to labor shortages.
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Inkstick Media @inkstickmedia.com · 30/06/2025
As the Trump administration slashes counterextremism programs, veterans worry about the risks. By: @tylerfromtexas.bsky.social inkstickmedia.com/inside-the-u...
inkstickmedia.com
Inside the US Military’s 'Dehumanization' Crisis Under Trump
As the Trump administration slashes counterextremism programs, veterans worry about the risks that could follow.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
So very many men.
2025 NATO summit group photo.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
You guys, I got a little distracted (I can't imagine why) and forgot to tell you: We won an IWPA!!
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Watching the NATO press conference: We should really stop asking regular people why they can't keep facts straight. This isn't about media literacy; they're stuck in the middle of an information war.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
“Well Mr. President at least we don’t have to worry about Iran for another few…” *checks notes* “months. Another few months.”
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
I guess ‘reducing nuclear threats’ doesn’t sound like such a silly idea now, huh?
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Oh hey if you wanna go back and listen to a whole season about why pulling out of the JCPOA during Trump’s first term was a terrible idea and would probably lead to war, we did that here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... (Season two.)
podcasts.apple.com
Things That Go Boom
News Podcast · Updated Semiweekly · Stories about the ins, outs, and whathaveyous of what keeps us safe. Hosted by Laicie Heeley.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
In case you find yourself wondering tonight, a handy table of Iran’s max missile ranges: www.iranwatch.org/our-publicat...
iranwatch.org
Table of Iran's Missile Arsenal
Iran has over 3,000 ballistic missiles, the largest arsenal in the Middle East. This table presents the known capabilities of Iran's major missile systems.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
I am meeting the moment by pouring another g&t.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
It certainly is, Hoka. It certainly is.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
I truly never thought this would happen. In my brain, the US launching an attack on Iran lives in the same all-bets-are-off room as China invading Taiwan.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
This is fine.
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Derek Johnson @derekjesq.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Never in the history of the world has someone so devastatingly stupid held so much unchecked power. Netanyahu played Trump like a fiddle. And mark my words: it won’t just be Iranians who pay the price.
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
probably my most unfair but steadfast position is that if you use the phrase "but I digress" even once I stop reading and never return to whatever you were saying, ever
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Israel (specifically Netanyahu) has wanted this attack on Iranian nuclear facilities for many years. Successive US presidents have refused to be drawn in and succeeded in staying Israel’s hand. Why not Trump? It seems there are two options. 1/
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Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 03/06/2025
I've seen folks talk about how "in four years" they'll be able to get back to their planned projects and I really don't think that's going to work out. People & projects losing funding now will not be able to hit pause and come back once funding is restored. Hard-won progress & capacity will be lost
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Okay then Pope Francis, I see you.
A young Pope Francis.
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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
BREAKING: The EPA says it will reverse most of the drinking water standards aimed at protecting people from toxic "forever chemicals" known as PFAS. Even low levels of the chemicals known as PFAS are linked with cancer and other health problems. www.politico.com/news/2025/05...
politico.com
Trump EPA moves to weaken drinking water limits on toxic ‘forever chemicals’
The administration said it wants to rescind and reconsider whether limits are needed for four PFAS that chemical companies are still producing and using in the U.S. despite known health risks.
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Maris Kreizman @maris.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Chilling final paragraph and editor’s note.
We know that tech corporations, fossil fuel companies, and governments bear the most responsibility for the accelerating climate crisis — not individuals. But you can choose to opt out of the Al hype.

Editor's note: In August 2024, Condé Nast, Teen Vogue's parent company, announced "a multi-year partnership with OpenAl to expand the reach of Condé Nast's content."
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Who’s given the last word in most national security reporting? The industry. Just having a seat at the table isn’t enough when industry-funded publications dominate the discourse.
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Stephen Semler @stephensemler.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
This budget does not and would not belong to a country moving in the right direction www.stephensemler.com/p/a-closer-l...
Trump’s budget shifts funding from health, development to military, deportations. This table lists cabinet departments, 2025 enacted funding, 2026 requested funding, and highlights the difference in funding between 2025 and 2026. In billions of dollars: Pentagon +113, DHS +42, VA +5, Transportation +2, Energy +1, Commerce -2, Treasury -3, Justice -3, Labor -5, Agriculture -5, Interior -5, HHS -33, HUD -34, State/International programs -49. Data: OMB, 2026 base discretionary funding request.
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Laicie Heeley @laicie.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Preschool just sent *seven pages* of instructions and events for the last 3 weeks of school. See you all in June.
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Sam Ratner @samratner.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Earlier this week, Hegseth released an Army transformation memo that amounts to a huge giveaway to huge campaign donors Anduril. Today, an Anduril exec nominated to be Under Secretary of the Army says he's going to hold onto his stock while at the Pentagon. War profiteering in broad daylight.
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David Sirota @davidsirota.com · 23/04/2025
🚨NEWS: Politico is being sponsored by a dark money group run by Trump operative Chris LaCivita, whose "Make America Affordable Again" campaign is designed to make it harder for you to hold corporations accountable when they fleece you. Details: www.levernews.com/meta-foots-z...
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Craig Newmark @craignewmark.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Just like Paul Revere warned of danger, I’m here to shout: Cyber attacks are coming! Actually, they’re already here. That’s why I started @pausetake9.bsky.social to help us defend against cyber attacks that could disrupt life as we know it. #JointhePause at bit.ly/Take9-PaulRe... #Take9
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