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Taylor Barnes

@tkbarnes.bsky.social
1.2K followers 928 following 726 posts

Field Reporter, @inkstickmedia.bsky.social. Equity Rises grantee, Ploughshares Fund. Atlanta. Military-Industrial America newsletter: inkstick.substack.com/s/taylors-tips Signal: tkbarnes.10

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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Save Ohio Parks @saveohioparks.bsky.social · 11h
Manipulation of state law; Anduril's $1 B tax break; secretive Jobs Ohio. $77 B "donation" to Ashville schools for gas plant to power hyperscale data center. @tkbarnes.bsky.social @inkstickmedia.com: bit.ly/4yHdMvP @ccbecker271.bsky.social @commoncauseohio.bsky.social @davidpepperoh.bsky.social
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An Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, Anyway
In smalltown Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 7h
A needy school in Ohio quietly greenlit decades of tax breaks to an autonomous weapons company – all while hitting up local taxpayers for more! Our @inkstickmedia.com exposé dives into the role of Anduril's lobbyist + backlash against a related data center deal inkstickmedia.com/an-ohio-scho...
inkstickmedia.com
An Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, Anyway
In smalltown Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“After nursing home industry donates $4.8 million to MAGA Inc., Trump administration abandons rule requiring increased staffing levels” Just devastating - this is how we treat our elders
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026
Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Terrific reporting that highlights what arms industry lobbyists are up to at statehouses. In this case, brokering a meeting between none other than Anduril founder Palmer Luckey and a key Republican candidate. Both Luckey and the lobbyist donated $40,000+ to his ally's gubernatorial campaign
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Global Investigative Journalism Network @gijn.org · 20/09/2026
🤖 Modern warfare is conceived, financed & coded far from the battlefield. At #IJWeek, join this session featuring Dr Sebastian Ben-Daniel, @iainoverton.bsky.social, @tkbarnes.bsky.social, @sandrine-rigaud.bsky.social on how to investigate Tech and AI in conflict. 🎟️ twp.ai/9OaJrK
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 18/09/2026
Exclusive: More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the data.
washingtonpost.com
More U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publicly
Officials who spoke with The Post expressed frustration that the additional loss of life in the Middle East is not reflected in the Defense Department’s casualty database.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Montana Free Press @montanafreepress.org · 04/09/2026
Brixtel Defense came to northeast Montana in 2024 forecasting a $125 million investment and 350 local jobs. Two years later, those ambitions look like a shot in the dark.
montanafreepress.org
An ammunition manufacturer’s misfire in Glendive
Two years after launching a new facility in northeast Montana, Brixtel Defense’s ambitions look like a shot in the dark.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Save Ohio Parks @saveohioparks.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
How things work in Ohio: @anduriltech.bsky.social lobbyist influenced Rep. Brian Stewart to get drone maker across finish line in farming community denied the chance to vote on local zoning. @tkbarnes.bsky.social @inkstickmedia.com @farmanddairy.bsky.social: bit.ly/44Q6p7D @ccbecker271.bsky.social
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In Ohio, Who Really Gets a Say in Anduril Weapons Factories?
Residents of a small township in Ohio wanted a vote on a new Anduril weapons factory. Then the state changed the rules.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 08/09/2026
The military wanted a version of OpenAI's models that would not refuse directives from military officials, a metric called the "minimal refusal rates." This kind of stuff is extremely dangerous. theintercept.com/2026/09/08/p... archive.ph/iKdbn
theintercept.com
The Pentagon Asked OpenAI for Artificial Intelligence Designed to Rarely Say No
The U.S. military’s desire for an AI tool with “minimal refusal rates” was revealed through a FOIA lawsuit filed by The Intercept.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Patrick De Klotz @patdeklotz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Sept. 2, 2026
Updated 7:56 p.m. ET
It began like any traditional wedding in southern Iran.
The women arrived with their hands elaborately decorated with henna. Children played in the courtyard. A festive meal was about to be served in a room draped with carpets and pillows.
It ended when a bomb brought down the roof, turning a night of celebration into a jumble of dust-coated sandals, torn garlands and blood-soaked rugs.
Dozens of guests, according to a witness and accounts in local news media, had already arrived at the Malahi family's home and surrounding buildings in the southern city of Kuhestak to celebrate a young bride and groom.
Around 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the wedding was struck by a bomb that, according to a weapons expert and a visual analysis by The New York Times, had been released by American forces as they carried out intense attacks in southern Iran. At least five wedding guests were killed, including a 6-year-old boy, and at least 67 other people were wounded, according to Iran's Red Crescent Society, a humanitarian aid group.
Among the guests was a woman named Motahareh, whose identity was verified by The Times. The night of the wedding, she posted a selfie on Instagram from the women's henna party the night before - beaming in perfectly applied makeup, a lilac head scarf and flowery robe.
"Last night was the first night!" she wrote. "For the coming nights, should I make these sorts of stories for you or what!!!"
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Really pleased to see our @inkstickmedia.com exposé featured in Farm and Dairy Newspaper. It detailed how a lobbyist for weapons manufacturer Anduril and a powerful state lawmaker quashed the voting rights of farmers who tried to put the plant to a vote: www.farmanddairy.com/news/ohio-fa...
farmanddairy.com
Anduril weapons factory puts Ohio farmers in fight for local control - Farm and Dairy
Pickaway County farmers fought to vote on an Anduril weapons plant, but a lobbyist-backed Ohio law blocked local zoning referendums.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Hi! I'm giving a series of nuclear weapons journalism trainings in Montana + Wyoming in mid-September in Great Falls, Helena, Billings + Cheyenne. Please message here or email me at tbarnes@inkstickmedia.com if you'd like an invitation. The Cheyenne location is also for nearby Nebraska newsrooms
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Devastating. And the Camden, Ark. weapons hub producing these supposedly "precise" missiles is also the same one claiming they will manufacture the "precise" ones for the... Golden Dome. To "shield" Americans from incoming nuclear weapons.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Erin Cunningham @erinmcunningham.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Three munitions weapons experts believe were Lockheed Martin's new PrSM missiles killed civilians more than 160 feet from where they detonated in the Iranian city of Lamerd on Feb. 28, according to research conducted by @airwars.bsky.social and verified by @apnews.com. apnews.com/article/iran...
apnews.com
New US missile appears to have killed Iranian civilians far from its blast site, expert report says
Lockheed Martin has touted the pinpoint accuracy of its Precision Strike Missile. But the conflict monitor Airwars says a close look at what is believed to be its first use in combat highlights the po...
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
#NukeSky Here's some more recent weapons swag, this one edible -- ICBM cupcakes at an Air Force ribbon-cutting ceremony in Cheyenne
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Thank you @alixdunn.com @themaybe.org for featuring our story! inkstickmedia.com/in-ohio-who-... It's made the rounds in local, agricultural, and tech media. Folks care when corporations, flush with $ and political allies, take over their towns, be it the arms industry, data centers, Amazon, etc
inkstickmedia.com
In Ohio, Who Really Gets a Say in Anduril Weapons Factories?
Residents of a small township in Ohio wanted a vote on a new Anduril weapons factory. Then the state changed the rules.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Journalism tools question -- I need to make a "wonk box" to accompany an article. I usually use Datawrapper for data charts, but this is instead a few lines of text and then some mathematical formulas (in this case, lengthy property tax calculations). Is there a good app for this? Thank you!
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
What’s really amazing about this “national security is not my thing” answer is that Graham inherited this seat from her brother who was the patron saint (ie funneled $ toward it) of one of the most controversial nuclear weapons plants in the country, the Savannah River Site
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Spencer Ackerman @attackerman.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
ICE and CBP are full of rapists and child predators. A new report details it in horrific detail.
forever-wars.com
The Sex Criminals and Child Abusers of ICE and CBP
Rape. Domestic violence. Epstein friendship. It's all tolerated by our valiant homeland-security apparatus. PLUS: COINTELPRO 2026
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Terrific reporting from our fellow Hannah Bowlus in Los Angeles, an epicenter of the Golden Dome contractor bonanza. (Deja vu – it was for Star Wars back in the 80s, too.) The failures of interceptors in the war on Iran bolster Golden Dome critics who say a missile shield is magical thinking
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
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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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Pro tip from this reporting: If you notice that your otherwise anti-war member of Congress suddenly has a former chief of staff-turned arms industry lobbyist, how can you see what's going on behind closed doors? A MoC isn't subject to FOIA, but a public university tangled up in their dealings was
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Emilie Munson @emiliemunson.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
A powerful appropriator, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota has wielded her influence to help Minnesota companies access hundreds of millions in Pentagon spending in recent years. Defense contractors are rewarding her campaign with cash www.startribune.com/betty-mccoll...
startribune.com
Betty McCollum became Minnesota’s pipeline to the Pentagon. The defense industry took notice.
With help from a former staffer turned lobbyist, the powerful Democrat and occasional critic of Pentagon spending is helping fund Minnesota’s defense industry. Defense donors are opening their wallets...
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com · 17/08/2026
Israeli minister calls for killing ’30 to 40′ Palestinians in Gaza nightly aje.news/y6jkml
Israeli minister calls for killing ’30 to 40′ Palestinians in Gaza nightly
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Nick Turse @nickturse.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound. theintercept.com/2026/08/16/r...
theintercept.com
ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound.
With the case of Carlitos Ricardo Parias, the U.S. has broken its own record for holding a journalist in custody.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Elke Schwarz @elkeschwarz.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Behold, the 'Arsenal of Democracy' inkstickmedia.com/in-ohio-who-...
inkstickmedia.com
In Ohio, Who Really Gets a Say in Anduril Weapons Factories?
Residents of a small township in Ohio wanted a vote on a new Anduril weapons factory. Then the state changed the rules.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Devastating reports of US sailors attempting to jump overboard and take their own lives as endless war with Iran becomes unbearable. All for a war of choice that has killed scores of Iranian civilians and that the US is losing. I can't imagine the agony. www.militarytimes.com/news/your-mi...
militarytimes.com
Multiple USS Abraham Lincoln sailors have tried to go overboard amid extended deployment, families say
Multiple sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have attempted to go overboard as the carrier's deployment stretches into its ninth month.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Spotted in ATL yesterday - ads for weapons manufacturer Anduril, which has a small drone facility near Georgia Tech. Their PR people appear to be going for some message along the lines of, “working in this specific part of the military-industrial complex is deviant and counter cultural!”
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Save Ohio Parks @saveohioparks.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Anduril: Two Ohio farmers twice gathered signatures to put local zoning changes to popular vote. Each time developers intervened and local officials blocked ballot measures. @tkbarnes.bsky.social @inkstickmedia.com bit.ly/44Q6p7D Is this happening with data centers? @signalohio.bsky.social
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In Ohio, Who Really Gets a Say in Anduril Weapons Factories?
Residents of a small township in Ohio wanted a vote on a new Anduril weapons factory. Then the state changed the rules.
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
404 Media @404media.co · 12/08/2026
ICE wants to spend tens of millions on electric shock gloves. The manual states the device should be deployed for 15 seconds. But a demo shows people falling to the ground almost immediately. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Story by @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404media.co/heres-the-ma...
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
"A news release from General Dynamics and the new company, Deterrence, was filled with techno-business jargon. “AI-enabled capabilities” and “intelligence and connectivity” would be added at [weapons factories] ... How AI will wrest miracles from decades-old technology is unclear."
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Simon Lester @simonlester.com · 12/08/2026
Colby panicking a bit here about foreign governments shifting weapons purchases away from US industry. www.war.gov/News/Speeche...
Colby: "But it is to counsel rejecting the delusion of fashionable but superficial ideas like middle power alliances designed to exclude America. To be clear, we encourage collaboration among allies and partners as well as efforts to build up their defense industrial capacities as part of increased defense spending in line with the new global standard set by the 2025 Hague NATO Summit. But such efforts by our allies and close partners should integrate and be complementary with America's — not vainly and futilely seek to exclude or supplant us. The watchwords should be strategies of practicality, pragmatism, and realism, not the buzzword-deep strategies of international conferences."
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Terrific reporting here. And so ominous about what’s likely coming down the line with the hordes of venture capitalist-backed tech bros now selling their AI-driven miracle weapons tech to the Pentagon.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
“We are in tremendous pain and have been trapped in an unendurable, unending nightmare. ... If this could happen to us, a law-abiding family of two professors and a young boy, it can happen to anyone.”
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
What Works @whatworks-nu.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
More than 800 USA Today Co. employees want the company to end its new Palantir partnership www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/an-i...
niemanlab.org
“An inherent conflict of interest”: More than 800 USA Today Co. employees want the company to end its new Palantir partnership
"Part of the problem is that we know very, very little about how Palantir’s software is going to be used."
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Thank you to @inkstickmedia.com advisor Bill Hartung for sharing our @transitionsec.bsky.social report in his latest article. The decline of jobs in the arms industry is likely to be exacerbated by the factors described in the industry report linked below whartung.substack.com/p/the-long-l...
whartung.substack.com
The Long Life and Slow Death of “Military Keynesianism”
Weapons Spending Is a Job Destroyer, Not a Job Creator
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Alex Wellerstein @wellerstein.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
81 years ago today, on August 9, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped upon the city of Nagasaki, Japan, by the United States. This was 3 days after the first atomic attack on Hiroshima.
Nagasaki, bomber's eye view: Close-up view of the head of the mushroom cloud at the Nagasaki explosion, as seen from either the bomber or the observation plane.Nagasaki, distant ground view: Photo of the Nagasaki cloud taken ~15 minutes after the atomic bomb detonation, by Hiromichi Matsuda, stationed at Koyagi-jima Island, some 5 miles / 8 km away.Nagasaki, before and after, aerial views. Nagasaki, ground view, some weeks after the attack.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
“One woman questioned the mission and said she found it difficult to be proud of her sailor when she believed the military was “killing innocent civilians” [in Iran] and her sailor expressed guilt about what he was doing. Her comment was met with applause from the audience.”
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I disagree with/dispute plenty of stuff in this article but more than anything am just thrilled that there’s someone else who thinks about state subsidies to defense contractors as much as I do (other than the army of site selection professionals who get paid to do so behind the scenes)
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
1. A new Popular Information investigation reveals that Senate Republicans have recently launched at least six fake news sites in key states.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Reporting query! I'm looking for a list of top defense tech companies (Anduril, ShieldAI, Palantir etc). Something along the lines of: top new firms by contract obligations or ones most rapidly increasing their defense contracts. A list that captures top new entrants to the US arms industry.
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“Anduril’s management ends up donating to both sides of the political aisle, though the vast majority goes towards the GOP.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026... via @us.theguardian.com
theguardian.com
Exclusive: Emails reveal Palmer Luckey’s political fundraising as his company wins sole-source contracts
Co-founder of defense firm Anduril has donated $5.9m to Republicans and bundled more, while reaping billions in Pentagon contracts
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
“Now, nearly 1,000 days into Israel's genocide and 9 months after the so-called "ceasefire," waiting has become a place we inhabit. We organize our days within its shackles, postpone our dreams within its restraints and cling to small routines so that its limitations do not stop time altogether.”
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Reposted by Taylor Barnes
Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
#nukesky The US's ongoing nuclear arms race is, for boosters in rural South Carolina, the "largest economic renaissance our region has ever seen" The problem is that the job of the guy below is supposed to be promoting *any* economic activity but nukes! www.postandcourier.com/northaugusta...
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
#nukesky The US's ongoing nuclear arms race is, for boosters in rural South Carolina, the "largest economic renaissance our region has ever seen" The problem is that the job of the guy below is supposed to be promoting *any* economic activity but nukes! www.postandcourier.com/northaugusta...
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Phew! #nukesky today I learned (via an email signature on a message sent to a hyperlocal journalist then forwarded to me) that the world’s largest nuclear weapons manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, employs someone whose sole job is to promote the controversial Sentinel missile. What a job!
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Phew! #nukesky today I learned (via an email signature on a message sent to a hyperlocal journalist then forwarded to me) that the world’s largest nuclear weapons manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, employs someone whose sole job is to promote the controversial Sentinel missile. What a job!
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Taylor Barnes @tkbarnes.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
A new market report about "site selection" in the US arms industry (ie, where they choose to locate their factories/facilities) has some pretty remarkable stuff, incl saying the quiet part out loud re: declining job creation and the role of politics globallocationstrategies.com/2026-aerospa...
globallocationstrategies.com
2026 Aerospace and Defense Insight Report - Global Location Strategies
Where is aerospace and defense investment heading next? Download GLS's free 2026 report ranking the top 10 U.S. metro areas for competitiveness.
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Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
As Germany's auto industry turns to weapons manufacturing, workers are expressing concerns about the moral implications. "Part of the workforce has long been demanding that their union take a clear stance against wars."
inkstickmedia.com
As Germany Rearms, Carmakers Turn to Defense Contracts
From Volkswagen to Mercedes, the country's struggling auto industry is embracing defense production—even as workers question what they're being asked to build.
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