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.

#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...

Tuning into the State of the Union address? Follow us for fact checks in real-time. 🫡

Coming soon: healthcare coupons

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...

@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.”

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

OMGGGGGG you guys, we won EIGHT @signalawards.bsky.social!!!

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...

@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.

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.

Trump said he and Hegseth talked about using U.S. cities as “training grounds.” Unfortunately, this @inkstickmedia.com story feels even timelier now.

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-...

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.

Yeah that’s it, no more work today, Taylor Swift is getting married.

this is why everyone I know isn’t having kids btw

Snuck in a new 'About' page over @inkstickmedia.com — It was due for a refresh. inkstickmedia.com/about/

This is absolutely heartbreaking. As a colleague said, the appropriate title is "For Sale: VOA." rasmus.com/auctions/fUN...

Hi who else is listening to their kids’ favorite show on repeat?

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-...

As the Trump administration slashes counterextremism programs, veterans worry about the risks. By: @tylerfromtexas.bsky.social inkstickmedia.com/inside-the-u...

So very many men.

You guys, I got a little distracted (I can't imagine why) and forgot to tell you: We won an IWPA!!

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.

“Well Mr. President at least we don’t have to worry about Iran for another few…” *checks notes* “months. Another few months.”

I guess ‘reducing nuclear threats’ doesn’t sound like such a silly idea now, huh?

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.)

In case you find yourself wondering tonight, a handy table of Iran’s max missile ranges: www.iranwatch.org/our-publicat...

I am meeting the moment by pouring another g&t.

It certainly is, Hoka. It certainly is.

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.

This is fine.

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.

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

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/

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

Okay then Pope Francis, I see you.

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...

Chilling final paragraph and editor’s note.

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.

This budget does not and would not belong to a country moving in the right direction www.stephensemler.com/p/a-closer-l...

Preschool just sent *seven pages* of instructions and events for the last 3 weeks of school. See you all in June.

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.

🚨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...

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

This is some sick shit

Among Boeing engineers, there is a culture of silence around the destruction caused by the weapons they build. “It’s Boeing’s job to make the bombs, Boeing can’t control where they go or what they’re used for. It’s not in our hands, we just do the manufacturing.” inkstickmedia.com/how-one-diss...

My hometown’s economy depends to a significant degree on bombing other people’s hometowns. “Sure, there are other ways to make money,” one worker said. “But in St. Louis, Boeing is kind of inescapable.” inkstickmedia.com/how-one-diss...

"We crossed the border as my grandfather once had: unsure if we’d ever return. My daughter, Sarah, was only three years old. She became a second-time refugee before she could write her name."

The Box Elder County sheriff office just released a statement and photo of the explosion at Northrop Grumman’s Promontory (Utah) missile and rocket plant