15 years ago I borrowed a bulletproof vest from a reporter so I could report from a war zone. I held onto it after I returned. Last week the reporter finally asked for it back because he is headed to Minneapolis.

Attn: Editors

Put another way, American Airlines will have better headways to ORD tomorrow than the CTA Blue Line.

The Air Force is rushing the refit and certification of Qatar’s opulent gifted 747-8i jet so that Trump can start using it as Air Force One as soon as this summer, a year after he accepted the lavish gift. And to meet Trump’s arbitrary deadline, critical security upgrades will be kept to a minimum.

Newly unsealed evidence makes it even clearer that Rubio and Noem knew they were targeting students based solely on their political speech and that they knew this policy was unconstitutional. They just didn’t care. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/u...

E-7 Wedgetail Radar Jet The Pentagon Tried To Cancel Gets Over $1B In New Defense Bill www.twz.com/air/e-7-wedg...

JFC...

Good news - I'm hiring at Durham University! 1-year full time postdoc in Space Security - looking for someone to join me at the Space Research Centre and a Northeast England based space tracking/analytics company to work on geopolitical analysis in Space Domain Awareness. Details 👇👇👇

It's hard to even explain what a disaster this is for the US economy in the short-term — as well as US innovation and industry in decades to come. Immigrants and foreign students at our universities are—as always have been—the wellspring of American invention and innovation.

Looking up foreign holdings of US treasuries and this is the top of the US Treasury's website. It's all so embarrassing.

We now have a full-blown European-American crisis, and for no reason that the president is able to articulate

Macron now refers to "intimidation or threat", explicitly comparing US behaviour in Greenland to Russia's approach to Ukraine. Sweden's PM says: "We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed". Much, tougher language from Europeans than we have seen before, responding to the US escalation.

And so concludes another week w/ no routine news briefing at the Pentagon. The last on-camera briefing was held for the "new" right-wing press corps more than a month ago, on Dec. 2. The press space has been mostly vacant since the traditional press corps departed in October.

It’s been reported locally, but I’m not sure how much national notice this has gotten. As part of this invasion by shithead goons, they are putting ICE agents in jetbridges and other parts of the airport at Minneapolis-Saint Paul. If you are flying Delta via MSP, you are putting yourself at risk.

I never saw a challenge coin outside the military until about 15 years ago. Now they're ubiquitous in law enforcement, which increasingly views itself as a military endeavor

BREAKING | The Pentagon has suggested it would take over editorial content decision making for Stars and Stripes in a statement from the Defense Department’s top spokesman.

Project 2025 is obsessed with China as our biggest international threat and their solution to that problem is to attack US higher education. That’s thinkin’.

Good scoop by @liamjscott.bsky.social: People seeking jobs at Stars and Stripes, which Congress guaranteed editorial independence, are being asked how they would advance administration priorities. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Article mentions “modified 737s and Cessna turboprops” (presumably referring to P-8s and MC-208s, though I don’t think any MC-208s are known to actually be in service) but the U-28 also seems like a contender. That U-28s can carry internal armament isn’t something the Air Force advertises, but...

An insurgency may not arise quickly in Venezuela, but eventually one is likely as all the pieces identified by research are in place: —strong majority of the populace is angry at their govt and everyone knows it (no preference falsification)

L3Harris to sell majority stake in space propulsion unit to AE Industrial for $845 million Private equity firm to revive Rocketdyne name, L3Harris keeps RS-25 engine

This is exactly what the First Amendment was written to prevent

@thedewline.bsky.social reveals Project Lotus - Northrop Grumman’s secret autonomous aircraft aviationweek.com/defense/airc...

Here's a sample piece of "journalism" from one of the "news" outlets that signed the DoD rules. Welcome to the new press corps.

One of the last interviews I conducted at Janes was with a senior civilian Pentagon official. We had to meet in the Pentagon cafeteria due to restrictions on reporters' movements. He told me "I hope and think these restrictions will lift soon." Well, they haven't.

Always check your NOTAMs X-59 first flight imminent 👀

Some familiar faces in this video. Godspeed all, and thank you for not giving in to blatant intimidation.

Make your plans for #NoKings. This Saturday, October 18th. Free speech is action. Protestors believe that action has meaning. Protestors are exercising the rights enshrined in the Constitution. For me, protest is about love of country. I'll be there. Please join in. www.nokings.org

Defense Trade Press Statement on Media Restrictions at the Pentagon — USNI News news.usni.org/2025/10/15/d...

I've noticed a drop in posting by a lot of people on this platform recently. Not sure why, or if the userbase is still growing or not, but it's becoming less useful for my purposes. That's a shame. I like Bluesky and would like it to grow. I ain't going back to X.

With no reporters able to ask questions, it seems the Pentagon leadership will rely on slick social media posts, carefully orchestrated short videos and interviews with partisan commentators and podcasters. No one should think that's good enough. “ www.npr.org/2025/10/14/g...

Bidding defense journos good hunting at AUSA 2025, which begins today.

The Pentagon is moving forward with policies designed to restrict what reporters assigned there are allowed to write. This is censorship of a free press and should not be legal under the first amendment.

DoD appears to be pausing all or most media engagements for the duration of the government shutdown. I’ve had two interviews canceled so far.

Thrilled to share that @theaircurrent.com is hiring! Super unique opportunity to join a fast-growing, collaborative newsroom. You tell us what you want to cover, and why you're the one set up to do it best. Apply here and shout with any questions: theaircurrent.com/jobs/senior-...

And so concludes another week with no routine news briefing at the Pentagon. Previous ones: March 17 (Sean Parnell, Lt. Gen. Grynkewich) June 22 (Pete Hegseth, Gen. Caine) June 26 (Hegseth, Caine) July 2 (Parnell) Aug. 7 (Kingsley Wilson) Aug. 14 (Wilson)

Want to be Janes' Americas Air Reporter? This is my old job, and it's a good'n. job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/janes/jobs/4...

Yesterday was my last day at Janes after 3 years. Great place, but after 15 years in aerospace/defense reporting it was time to move on. I am not sure what's next but I am not worried. In the meantime who wants a super-sweet job? job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/janes/jobs/4...

aviationweek.com/defense/budg... via @beverstine.bsky.social

Since it's my last day in the industry, let me introduce you to what, in this observer's humble opinion, is the most ridiculous program in all DoD aerospace: Rocket Cargo. To me, nothing screams 'we have more money than we know what to do with!' than Rocket Cargo. afresearchlab.com/technology/s...

I am having trouble coming up with anything F-35s could do to affect drug traffic that the Coast Guard couldn't already do more effectively at a fraction of the cost, including kill traffickers, which I would advise against anyway.

"The contract awards, which previously were not publicly known, are the clearest sign that the Navy is moving forward with the concept of a “loyal wingman” aircraft that can operate from the deck of a carrier." breakingdefense.com/2025/09/excl...

Who wants to be the Americas Air Reporter for Janes in Washington, DC? job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/janes/jobs/4...

Banger of a New York Times article about a SEAL trip into North Korea that killed innocent fishermen. As @jonostrower.com would say, there's always an aviation angle: 'stealth rotary aircraft' were on USN ships offshore in case of disaster (they were not used).

Me: Can you comment on this? Public Affairs: Can we go off the record? Me: Ok PA: Off the record, no comment.

Who wants to be Janes' Washington, DC-based Americas Air Reporter?? It really is a great job: job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/janes/jobs/4...

This is not the mission the Army exists to perform, and both divisions will suffer the consequences should they be deployed to, y'know, an actual Army mission.

Golden Dome is Trump's gold-plated fantasy for supposedly defending the US from all forms of missile attack. This article, "Can Trump’s Golden Dome Stop a Nuke? Probably Not," quoting my brilliant colleague @lauraegrego.bsky.social, lays out the facts: www.supercluster.com/editorial/tr...

The future Queen of Spain, Leonor, Princess of Asturias, begins her military flying career at the Academia General del Aire y del Espacio at Base Aérea de San Javier, Murcia. In a brand new (well, recently delivered) Pilatus PC-21. 1/ www.hola.com/realeza/casa...