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...

An Aug. 29 policy statement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency, will from now on bar nonpartisan groups such as the League of Women Voters from offering voter registration services at the end of naturalization ceremonies. /1

@audacityofdespair.bsky.social I got caught up watching extended clips from The Wire yesterday and was reminded that 20 years later it remains the best illustration of institutions + individuals + incentives I've yet seen in fiction. I know you're over it, but thought I'd pass it along anyway.

Space Command is pretty ensconced in Colorado, and it's a natural place to keep the command. There are worse places to move it than Huntsville, AL, but CO is a better location for several reasons.

Yet another DoD 'Week Ahead' email with no public appearances. Remember when DoD used to hold twice-weekly press conferences and senior officials spoke in public? It was just a few months ago.

I hate good transcription programs because then I see how many times I say "um" and "you know" when I'm asking questions. Turns out it's a lot.

Trump admin planning to change student visas from lasting for duration of academic program to fixed 4-yr term, and then much harder to renew Could destroy US ability to attract global talent, particularly those seeking advanced degrees in STEM. The median time to complete a PhD is 5.7 yrs per NSF.

It remains interesting to me how many military leaders continue to talk about the need for partners while the administration blows up longstanding ties at every turn

National Weather Service meteorologist applicants are now being asked to pledge their support for Trump’s executive orders. (Image reposted with alt-text)

After almost three years at Janes and 15 of defense/aerospace reporting, I've decided it's time to move on. Janes is a great place to work, it just isn't for me any longer. I am not sure where I'm headed next but will keep you all apprised.

“A lot of people are saying: 'Maybe we like a dictator’,” said the President of the United States, verbatim, in the Oval Office. The same day that he ordered mobilization of “specialized” military units in all 50 states—under his personal command—in peacetime, to “quell public unrest” by Americans

Folks are rightfully worried that President Trump is compromising the Federal Reserve's independence. As I wrote a year ago for @wpr.bsky.social, because the Fed is arguably the most powerful economic entity in the world, it needs to be as far removed as possible from political machinations.

According to this story, DOJ will investigate people who burn the flag and then try to prosecute them for something else because burning the flag is protected activity. www.cnn.com/2025/08/21/p...

SCOOP: A new entrant aims to shake up the competition for the US Navy's future trainer. SNC brings back its Freedom trainer, and calls on the Navy to get back to field carrier landing practice for the T-45 replacement. aviationweek.com/defense/airc...

NEW: In March, the Trump administration announced a massive purge of workers at the nation's health agencies. We asked them how many workers were laid off, pushed out or left. They refused to give us numbers. So we conducted our own analysis... 🧵 projects.propublica.org/federal-heal...

Remarkable open letter from Bill Burns. "If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai." theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

Here is an image of the crowd of people that chased a dozen ICE agents out of Columbia Heights yesterday. I don’t see one “elderly white hippie” there. I do see a wide variety of ages, genders, and races; DC residents united in disgust at what Miller is cheering on.

“It is about breaking people and breaking institutions by sowing fear and mistrust throughout our government.”

"...signaled anew their willingness to weaponize the instruments of government to influence monetary policy, even though experts long have warned that interfering with the Fed and its independence could bring about catastrophic economic and financial consequences."

The police surveillance by Republican House leaders in Texas of Democratic colleagues marked the latest front in Texas’s redistricting battle. Several Democratic lawmakers spent the night in the House chamber to protest Republican tactics to pass the bill, which is expected to be voted on Wednesday.

Nothing about success, brightness, or the future? At the Smithsonian? Guy's clearly never been there before.

“Official statistics are a tool for societies to know themselves, like a mirror…For America to keep its democracy operating smoothly, it has to ensure the mirror is reflecting reality.” (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/o...

Last week, Boston received a letter from AG Bondi threatening to prosecute officials and withhold funds unless we cooperate with carrying out mass deportations. The US Attorney General asked for a response by today, so here it is: stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures.

This has nothing to do with actual crime. This is a political show of force.

The DOJ halted lawsuits accusing Louisiana of keeping prisoners locked up long after they were meant to be released and South Carolina of institutionalizing thousands of mentally ill people — sometimes for decades — in violation of federal law.

“‘I refuse to sign away my dignity as a duly elected representative just so Republicans can control my movements and monitor me with police escorts,’ Collier said in a statement that called her a ‘political prisoner’ for refusing Republican ‘surveillance protocol.’” www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcn...

In a summit meeting with the countries that are still nominally US allies, discussing the largest war in the world in 20 years, the largest in Europe in 80, between the largest and the second-largest country in Europe, with geopolitical consequences that will last at least decades:

Jackson, Mississippi, has the nation's highest homicide rate, more than 3 times the rate in DC

DC POLICE CHIEF: "In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

He has kept among us in times of peace Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution & unacknowledged by our laws.

I'm not defending this practice, but they're not really 'hiding their tail numbers,' which you can see on the airplanes. They are requesting their tail numbers be untrackable with flight-tracking sites, which is actually quite common for private aircraft.

I would have to rethink my opposition to these deployments if they aggressively attacked the rat population.

No amount of governors doing peppy "hey we love foreign tourists!" videos can make up for the steady drip of these horror stories from the border

Their presence patrols appear to have a minimum personnel requirement of about 5 (are they worried about being overrun??) plus a token local partner force member Not quite community policing…more like what US COIN patrol must’ve looked like to residents of a nice Baghdad neighborhood like Karada

“None of this is about crime — it’s about power.” www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Think about this for a second. It’s grotesque and dangerous. White House Announces Comprehensive Review of Smithsonian Exhibitions www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/a...