Taylor Barnes

Taylor Barnes

@tkbarnes.bsky.social

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

1.1K followers935 following745 posts

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

#nukesky In addition to the Mormon-led campaigns calling on their church to divest from the arms industry, a new anti-war group in Salt Lake is protesting Northrop Grumman, the world's largest nuclear weapons manufacturer. NG has key facilities in the state that produce nuclear missiles

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

This is today! Looking forward to it -- 10:30am ET

Global Investigative Journalism Network@gijn.org

🤖 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. 🎟️ https://twp.ai/9OaJrK

Taylor Barnes reposted

Taniel
@taniel.bsky.social

Lula has been reelected president, Brazilian media has now called. An extraordinary comeback for the left-wing politician who trailed by 2 points in round 1 but managed to hold off Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president's son.

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

“The US has fired more interceptors to defend Israel than Israel has.” !

Stephen Semler@stephensemler.bsky.social

The US spent $11 billion shooting down missiles for Israel from October 2023 through September 2026. New research by me: www.stephensemler.com/p/us-fired-o...

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

Remarkable details here about how being part of a labor union enabled her to speak out. I've heard some resistance from folks in disarmament spaces about supporting unions in the arms industry, but the alternative (fearful employees with no speech rights) is hardly better!

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Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

#nukesky You all may have seen the announcement that the South Carolina plutonium pit plant was approved for "full-rate construction" this week: public.srs.gov/2026/10/sava... A state environmental spokesperson just told me it still doesn't have a key permit (RCRA) for nuclear waste storage

public.srs.govSavannah River Plutonium Processing Facility receives approval to begin full-scale construction - SRSAIKEN, S.C. – The Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility (SRPPF) project at the Savannah River Site (SRS) has reached approval to proceed with full-scale construction following the National Nucl...
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

This is tonight at 7pET! Send any questions about Anduril in Ohio by dm

Taylor Barnes@tkbarnes.bsky.social

I’ll be doing an AMA tomorrow all about our reporting on the AI weapons manufacturer Anduril’s new Ohio factory. We’ll chat about tax breaks that impact a needy public school, its connection to a controversial data center, and how an Anduril lobbyist quashed a farmer-led ballot initiative

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

I’ll be doing an AMA tomorrow all about our reporting on the AI weapons manufacturer Anduril’s new Ohio factory. We’ll chat about tax breaks that impact a needy public school, its connection to a controversial data center, and how an Anduril lobbyist quashed a farmer-led ballot initiative

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

So alarming, most immediately for airplane passengers in the area. And in the long run, this is the company promising to build an impenetrable "Golden Dome" over the US. So "just trust us, but don't look at our data" isn't much accountability from a company... protecting us from incoming nukes!

ProPublica@propublica.org

NEW: A heavily redacted report obtained by ProPublica shows SpaceX used videos from Club Med tourists and Disney cruise attendees to learn more about a Starship rocket crash last year, seemingly using “the public to fill the gap,” in the view of one expert.

propublica.orgClub Med, a Disney Cruise and an Exploding Starship: SpaceX Used Bystander Videos to Track Falling DebrisA heavily redacted report obtained from the FAA by ProPublica reveals that SpaceX used videos from tourists and travelers in the Caribbean to help track falling debris after one of its Starship rocket...
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

"The [redactions] were, in part, a reflection of SpaceX’s objections... The FAA refused to release information that would show SpaceX’s estimates of where debris fell during the 3 rocket failures. It’s unclear what the agency or the company knows about how close any airplanes came to falling debris"

Taylor Barnes reposted

ProPublica
@propublica.org

NEW: A heavily redacted report obtained by ProPublica shows SpaceX used videos from Club Med tourists and Disney cruise attendees to learn more about a Starship rocket crash last year, seemingly using “the public to fill the gap,” in the view of one expert.

propublica.orgClub Med, a Disney Cruise and an Exploding Starship: SpaceX Used Bystander Videos to Track Falling DebrisA heavily redacted report obtained from the FAA by ProPublica reveals that SpaceX used videos from tourists and travelers in the Caribbean to help track falling debris after one of its Starship rocket...

Taylor Barnes reposted

maggie-lee.bsky.social
@maggie-lee.bsky.social

“Make friends with the person who spends their retirement doing open record requests “ ⬆️ this person exists in every community and is your friend, reporters

Taylor Barnes reposted

Benjamin McKean
@blmckean.bsky.social

Local media's credulous coverage of Anduril has been bad for years, but this fawning profile is really a new low: "In the end, Stephens finds morality in choosing to help stop others’ plans to destroy America and its people." Not a word of skepticism - just shameful work from Dispatch Magazines.

Taylor Barnes@tkbarnes.bsky.social

I've been noticing the AI weapons company Anduril doing a lot of media like this in Ohio -- really trumping up any execs with childhood/ family ties to the state. The purpose seems to be to de-emphasize that they're nowadays tech bros from California: www.columbusmonthly.com/story/lifest...

columbusmonthly.comAnduril Industries' Trae Stephens Brings Big Business and Jobs to OhioAfter 9/11 rerouted his career plans, the Ohio native and Anduril co-founder is proud the company's $1 billion drone factory landed in Pickaway County.
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

I've been noticing the AI weapons company Anduril doing a lot of media like this in Ohio -- really trumping up any execs with childhood/ family ties to the state. The purpose seems to be to de-emphasize that they're nowadays tech bros from California: www.columbusmonthly.com/story/lifest...

columbusmonthly.comAnduril Industries' Trae Stephens Brings Big Business and Jobs to OhioAfter 9/11 rerouted his career plans, the Ohio native and Anduril co-founder is proud the company's $1 billion drone factory landed in Pickaway County.
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

Also this headline! A textbook example of how local media so often covers the arms industry: "Anduril Industries' Trae Stephens Brings Big Business and Jobs to Ohio"

Taylor Barnes reposted

Inkstick Media
@inkstickmedia.com

In Ohio, a needy public school’s board quietly greenlit a multimillion-dollar tax cut for the AI-powered weapons company Anduril – all while asking cash-strapped locals to pay more. Inkstick Media obtained key documents that shine light on the deal: inkstickmedia.com/an-ohio-scho...

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

Wow: A village council vote tonight may cancel an upcoming referendum on a controversial Ohio data center entangled in a school funding story that also involves Anduril. If it sounds familiar... here's how Anduril quashed a local referendum in the same place: inkstickmedia.com/in-ohio-who-...

inkstickmedia.comIn 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.
Sarah Lazare@sarahlazare.bsky.social

The Teays Valley School District in Ohio needs more funds to better serve its students. Yet, the school district still voted in favor of 30+ years of property tax breaks for Anduril. Incredible story by @tkbarnes.bsky.social about how weapons companies are literally taking money from needy schools.

inkstickmedia.comAn Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, AnywayIn rural Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.

Taylor Barnes reposted

Sarah Lazare
@sarahlazare.bsky.social

The Teays Valley School District in Ohio needs more funds to better serve its students. Yet, the school district still voted in favor of 30+ years of property tax breaks for Anduril. Incredible story by @tkbarnes.bsky.social about how weapons companies are literally taking money from needy schools.

inkstickmedia.comAn Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, AnywayIn rural Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.

Taylor Barnes reposted

Liliana Segura
@lilianasegura.bsky.social

Replying to @lilianasegura.bsky.social

It’s sickening to me that we put people through this, including my journalist colleagues who have witnessed multiple executions, who have to try to make sense of what they’ve seen. Grateful to @iamstevenhale.bsky.social and everyone else for bearing witness to this barbarism masquerading as justice.

Taylor Barnes reposted

Liliana Segura
@lilianasegura.bsky.social

The tortuous, botched execution of Christa Pike is truly horrifying. And while it feels unique in some ways, in reality it is also only the latest in a history of botched executions going back years — YEARS — in numerous states. Please know: this is the reality of the death penalty in this country.

Taylor Barnes reposted

Save Ohio Parks
@saveohioparks.bsky.social

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

bit.lyAn Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, AnywayIn smalltown Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

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.comAn Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, AnywayIn 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

Those local tax cuts to weapons companies provoke backlash across the country  Like Elbit in Charleston, SC inthesetimes.com/article/sout... h/t @sarahlazare.bsky.social Raytheon in Asheville, NC www.facingsouth.org/2021/07/honk... Saronic in Brownsville, TX www.texastribune.org/2026/06/18/t...

inthesetimes.comSouth Carolinians Wage May Day Protest of the Israeli Weapons Factory in Their Back YardThe International Workers’ Day protest targets Elbit America, a subsidiary of the largest weapons company in Israel, now supplying munitions used in Lebanon.
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

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.comAn Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, AnywayIn smalltown Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.
View full thread
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

It's rapidly taking over a small farming town to do so. ICYMI, check out our last investigation into the plant – about how a company lobbyist and key state lawmaker maneuvered to block farmer-led referendums challenging the autonomous weapons factory: inkstickmedia.com/in-ohio-who-...

inkstickmedia.comIn 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.
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

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.comAn Ohio School Needs Funds. It Voted to Cut Anduril’s Tax Bill, AnywayIn smalltown Ohio, the defense manufacturer Anduril is receiving tax breaks even as locals are left to foot the school bill.
Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

Why are are we reporting on this Anduril plant in this small town? The company is the leader of the pack of the new cohort of tech bros-turned defense contractors rapidly gaining influence in the trillion-dollar Pentagon budget era. And it claims this Ohio plant will be its manufacturing epicenter

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

“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

Judd Legum@juddlegum.bsky.social

1. How has MAGA Inc. raised an unprecedented amount of money? Let’s review:

Taylor Barnes
@tkbarnes.bsky.social

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

Save Ohio Parks@saveohioparks.bsky.social

Lobbyists hope to cash in on Ohio's lax environmental regulations: Sen. Rob McColley meets w/ Softbank. Piketon to be powered by 9.2 GW gas plant as largest data center in the U.S. Jake Zuckerman @signalohio.bsky.social: bit.ly/3TmcoiE @ccbecker271.bsky.social @dispatch.com @ohiocapitaljournal.com

bit.lyLobbyists call on Rob McColley as he campaigns with RamaswamyThe official calendar of the Senate president shows he has been taking meetings and calls with dozens of lobbyists this year.

Taylor Barnes reposted

The Washington Post
@washingtonpost.com

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.comMore U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publiclyOfficials 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.

Taylor Barnes reposted

Save Ohio Parks
@saveohioparks.bsky.social

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

bit.lyIn 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.

Taylor Barnes reposted

Patrick De Klotz
@patdeklotz.bsky.social
Brian Finucane@bcfinucane.bsky.social

Trump administration seems to excel at bombing schools and weddings. Winning the illegal and unnecessary war with Iran—not so much. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/02/v...

nytimes.comIn Small Iranian Town, a U.S. Attack Turns a Wedding Into a TragedyThe bomb that hit the residential area was American, according to a weapons expert and a visual analysis by The Times. It killed five people and wounded 67 others, the Iranian authorities said.