San Diego’s Barrio Logan is a place defined by both proximity and resistance — pressed against naval shipyards, fenced in by freeways, and crowned by the Coronado Bridge. For decades, the community has lived with the noise, the pollution, and the promises that never quite came true. When the USS Bonhomme Richard went up in flames in 2020, the Navy said there was “nothing toxic in the smoke.” Residents knew better. It was just the latest chapter in a long story of damage left unresolved — one that began when the waterfront was seized for the war effort and continued through decades of rezoning fights, health crises, and a ballot-box battle that pitted neighbors against the city’s most powerful industry. In this episode, Things That Go Boom travels to San Diego to ask: what does it mean to live — and keep fighting — in the shadow of the military’s hometown? Featuring voices from across the neighborhood, we trace how a community beneath the bridge built its own language of survival. GUESTS: Dr. Alberto López Pulido, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of San Diego; Brent Beltrán, Publisher, Calaca Press; community activist; Ramón “Mr. Ray” Fino, Vietnam veteran, lifelong Barrio Logan resident; Angel Garcia, Commander, VFW Post Don Diego 7420 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Environmental Health Coalition: Barrio Logan Community Plan Chicano Park Museum: Logan Heights Archival Project Intersectional Health Project San Diego: Barrio Logan “Fallout From Trump’s EPA Cuts Includes Long-Sought Barrio Logan Park,” Philip Salata, inewsource

When 27-year-old Gabriel Sanchez won his Democratic primary in Smyrna, Georgia — home to a massive Lockheed Martin plant — few expected an outspoken anti-war socialist to carry a district built on defense jobs. But Sanchez has managed to do just that, working to push for better benefits, wages, and labor rights across the state. In this episode, we look at how he’s building bridges between anti-war ideals and pro-labor politics — and what his unlikely success might mean for the future of organizing in defense towns. We reached out to Lockheed Martin for comment before publication, and asked questions about the company's stance on Sanchez's legislative goals. The company responded with this statement: “We value our state and national elected officials and the support provided to the Marietta site and the C-130, an aircraft that has created economic growth and provided humanitarian and critical assistance around the globe. We also enjoy a strong partnership with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as the largest employer of union-represented workers in Cobb County.” GUEST: Gabriel Sanchez, Georgia State Representative ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Jonathan Chang and Meghna Chakrabarti, “'The last supper': How a 1993 Pentagon dinner reshaped the defense industry,” WBUR’s On Point Taylor Barnes, “Meet the democratic socialist winning in a Lockheed town,” Inkstick Media Michelle Baruchman, “Only socialist in legislature beat expectations,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution (paywall)

When a 77-year-old Vietnam vet and former city councilman takes on a luxury apartment development in Scottsdale, Arizona, it sounds like classic NIMBY politics. But this fight isn’t just about height limits or desert views — it’s about who gets to decide the future of a community. The developer, Axon, isn’t your average builder. It’s one of the most powerful policing tech companies in the world — the maker of tasers, body cameras, drones, and AI-driven surveillance systems now being used by police departments and border agencies across the country. As the fight over zoning unfolds, it exposes a deeper question about democracy in the age of data: when private companies control the tools of public safety, who’s really watching whom? From Scottsdale city hall to the Arizona statehouse, and from real-time crime centers to school surveillance systems, this episode traces how a battle over apartments reveals the hidden architecture of America’s growing surveillance state — and the quiet ways local democracy is being rewritten in its shadows. GUESTS: Bob Littlefield, Former Scottsdale City Council member; president of Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions (TAAZE); Barry Friedman, Professor of Law at New York University; Susan Wood, Scottsdale resident and community activist; Betty Janik, Former Scottsdale City Council member; Detective Julie Smith, Peoria Police Department; Representative Alexander Kolodin, Arizona State Representative (R–District 3) ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:  The Policing Project, NYU Atlas of Surveillance, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Why do local governments keep handing out tax breaks to defense contractors… even when the promised jobs don’t materialize? In the first episode of our new season, reporter Taylor Barnes takes us deep into the Utah desert, where Northrop Grumman is building the next generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles with the help of massive state subsidies. But when she asked how many jobs those subsidies were supposed to create, officials redacted nearly everything. Then they got a lawyer. Then they rewrote the rules. This episode is about more than one company or one contract. It’s about what happens when state and local leaders subsidize secrecy, and when media systems — hollowed out by layoffs, ownership conflicts, and techno-fetishism — stop asking questions. From shady job tallies in Ohio to corporate influence on Capitol Hill to military ribbon cuttings reported without context, we examine how the war machine hides in plain sight. And we follow the reporters and local watchdogs still trying to uncover the truth. GUESTS: Taylor Barnes, Inkstick Media; Mary Vavrus, University of Minnesota ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Legal Moves, New Lobbyist Point to Northrop Grumman’s Influence in Utah, Taylor Barnes, Inkstick Media Utah Refuses to Share Details of Nuclear Weapons Plant Subsidy, Taylor Barnes, Inkstick Media

Across the country — from DC to Los Angeles to Chicago — the military is more visible in daily life than it’s been in years. But behind the boots on the ground lies a much bigger system. One that puts grenade launchers in the hands of police, surveils our every step, and ships weapons overseas. And it's grown bigger and more powerful than ever before.  This season on Things That Go Boom, we trace the reach of the military-industrial complex: how decisions in Washington fuel a trillion-dollar industry, how that industry shapes our cities and neighborhoods, and how people on the ground are responding.

Mahmoud Khalil became the face of Palestinian rights at Columbia University when the Syrian-born refugee refused to wear a mask and negotiated on behalf of the encampment with the University administration. Now the US wants to deport him using a deep-cut statute in the immigration act that gives the Secretary of State sweeping powers to decide who could have “adverse” foreign policy impacts on the United States. How did we get here? We trace the line back from Charlottesville in 2017 — from domestic extremists fighting on the streets to taking shots in the halls of power.  GUESTS: Joseph Howley, Associate Professor of Classics, Columbia University; Dalia Shamas, Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights; Chris Mathias, Author, “To Catch A Fascist” (forthcoming);  Ben Lorber, Senior Research Analyst, Political Research Associates ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:  Anti-Palestinian at the Core: The Origins and Growing Dangers of US Antiterrorism Law, Center for Constitutional Rights  A Letter From Palestinian Activist Mahmoud Khalil, ACLU

If you live in the US, buying a gun can be as easy as going to Walmart. In countries with strict gun laws, such as most of Europe or Australia, you need a little more ingenuity. Although not that much more: since March of 2020, anyone with access to a cheap second-hand 3D printer and experience putting IKEA furniture together can do it. Does that mean the rest of us should start printing bunkers, presto? Or are we worried for nothing? Things That Go Boom travels to the mean streets of New York and the jungles of Myanmar to find out. GUESTS: Lizzie Dearden, British journalist specializing in the modern technology that offers criminals and terrorists new ways to operate; Frank Grosspietsch, Canadian expert and international consultant in all things ghost gun; Manny Maung, Burmese journalist and human rights expert; "Rebel Lion," Burmese rebel fighter resisting the military junta; and Brendan Baker, reading the English translation of Rebel Lion's Burmese ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Rebel Lion's Facebook profile. Rap Against Junta, the Burmese resistance hip-hop collective making music denouncing the military junta. Lizzie Dearden's latest book, Plotters, about the terrorist plots you've never heard of because the perpetrators were caught in time.

Nearly everyone has played dress up at some point in their lives, whether putting on mom or dad’s clothes as kids, for Halloween, as their favorite Marvel character at ComicCon… or even, maybe, as a Civil War soldier. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where historians say Civil War casualties were highest, attracts many reenactors. They carry their muskets, pull on their blue britches, and revel in the past. But today that hobby has taken on new meaning — survivalists on the left and right and even some pundits have suggested a second US Civil War isn’t quite so unlikely as it might seem. So, we thought we’d head out to learn a little bit more about why some folks like to play war… and what they think about the prospect of another. GUESTS: Pete Bedrossian, Civil War reenactor; Mike Peets, Civil War reenactor; Levi Rifenburgh, Civil War reenactor, high school student; Mary Babcock, Bannerman Island; Rebecca DuBois, Bannerman Island, archivist; Peggy Bedrossian, Former reenactor, Pete's wife; Kyle Windahl, Regalia maker, historian; Jocelyn Windahl, Occasional Reenactor, High school STEM teacher, Kyle's wife; Matt Atkinson, Civil War reenactor; Sherry/Cheri Stultz, Gettysburg Family Restaurant; Mark Russell, Civil War reenactor ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Civil War Re-Enactors Have Their Own POG-Level Slang, Blake Stilwell, We Are The Mighty How Gettysburg Became a Refuge for Conservatives Battered by Trump-Era Strife, Virginia Heffernan, Politico

Initially assigned to $100 million bank failure investigations, Mike German’s FBI career took a pivotal turn in 1992, when he went undercover to infiltrate neo-Nazi groups in LA. The years that followed gave him a front-row seat to the Justice System’s handling of domestic terrorism from the 1990s to his departure in 2004. When Mike left the FBI, it was after reporting deficiencies in the bureau’s counterterrorism operations in the wake of 9/11. And today he and his colleagues are taking on the FBI in the halls of Congress and in court. On this episode, Mike tells us how FBI leaders exploited America’s fear of terrorism after 9/11 to break free of regulations imposed on them in the wake of Hoover-era civil rights abuses. And how today, the FBI can’t even count the number of domestic terrorism cases it handles. And that’s before the Trump administration’s purge. GUEST: Mike German, Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within, Mike German and Beth Zasloff, New Press Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy, Mike German, New Press Justice Department Must Reveal the Real Scope of Domestic Terrorism, Mike German and Faiza Patel, Brennan Center for Justice.

True to his promise, on the first day of Donald Trump’s second term as president, he pardoned more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — an event many observers accuse him of instigating. He also commuted the sentences of the six organizers of the riot, those convicted of the most serious crimes.  What does these paramilitaries’ return to public life mean for the rest of us?  And how did our broken pardon system get us here?   — GIVEAWAY NEWS! Drawn and Quarterly has agreed to collab with us and give one US-, UK-, or Canada-based member of our Boom Squad a free copy of “Are you willing to die for the cause.”   To enter: Subscribe to Inkstick on Substack (https://inkstick.substack.com/). You'll get a welcome email from us saying you're on the list. Reply to our welcome email with the word "BOOK” so we know to enter you in the draw. If you’re already a subscriber you can still join by replying to any of Inkstick’s Substack emails with the word BOOK. You can also follow us on Instagram @inkstickmedia and @goboompod for two extra entries. We’ll draw names at random and let the winner know by the time our next episode hits. Offer is only valid for people with UK, US and Canadian mailing addresses.  GUESTS: Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, founder, Dunn’s Democracy Defenders; Walter Olson, Cato Institute; Graham Dodds, Concordia University  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:  How Do Donald Trump’s Pardons Compare With Other Us Presidents? Hanna Duggal and Marium Ali, Al Jazeera   Donald Trump Is Firing Out Presidential Pardons and Warnings of Retribution. What Happens Next? Adam Quinn, The Conversation

Amy Cooter has been studying US militias since 2008 when, as a graduate student in Michigan, she attended a public meeting of a group that was thought to be a cover for an underground neo-Nazi movement. As it turned out, that assumption was wrong.  It was then that Amy realized this militia movement she encountered was worthy of study all on its own. And at the time, most academics weren't studying it, partly because they believed all these guys were the same. They're not. Today Amy is one of the foremost experts on these groups. In this episode, she tells us the things we’re still getting wrong about the US militia movement. And explains how, by ignoring the movement’s complexities, we might have missed our window for change. GUEST: Dr. Amy Cooter, Director of Research, Academic Development, and Innovation (RADI), Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: "As Trump Touts Plans for Immigrant Roundup, Militias Are Standing Back, but Standing By," Amy Cooter, The Conversation. Nostalgia, Nationalism, and the US Militia Movement, Amy Cooter, Routledge. "The Sheriffs, Hardliners, and Militias Preparing for Trump’s Return," Tyler Hicks, Inkstick Media.

In 1970, Canada’s streets were full of troops and the country was on edge. Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte had been captured by a militant French separatist group, the FLQ, and the Canadian government worried thousands of FLQ sympathizers could be ready to unleash chaos in Quebec. As it turned out, the group that caused so much fear throughout the 1960s was never more than a few dozen individuals.  This season on Things That Go Boom, we’re starting in Canada, because four years after Jan. 6, the US is as divided as ever. And we wondered if it might be headed for an October Crisis of its own. It doesn’t take a lot of people to create a lot of fear. But what does it mean for a place to devolve into the grip of that fear, and how do we escape it? GUESTS Jean Foster, retired schoolteacher; Elizabeth Morgan, philanthropist and organic farmer; Chris Oliveros, graphic novelist, “Are You Willing To Die For The Cause”; Alexandre Turgeon, historian, Laval University; Peter Graefe, political scientist, McGill University RESOURCES You can buy “Are You Willing to Die for the Cause?” by Chris Oliveros here: https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/are-you-willing-to-die-for-the-cause/

When Members of Congress are sworn into office, they say an oath.  To protect the country from all enemies… foreign and domestic.  But what does a domestic enemy look like? And how can they be stopped?  Four years after January 6th,  we're turning our eyes on the US to ask, “in our divided times, how do we we stop political violence at home… before it starts… and without losing what makes us, us, along the way.” 

When former US Navy Intelligence Officer Andrew McCormick spent the holiday season in Kandahar in 2013, attempts at holiday cheer were everywhere. But few were more out-of-touch than the generic care packages sent from civilians who knew nothing about him — or the war he was fighting.  Part of our series of monologues in partnership with The War Horse.  Additional Resources Care Packages a Powerful Symbol of the Military-Civilian Divide, Andrew McCormick, The War Horse, 2020 

One night In 1968, Ed Meagher was finishing his last shift at Clark Airways, which included authenticating and repeating messages for the nuclear-armed B-52 fleet in Southeast Asia.  Then his phone lines started dinging, with signal after signal — and he couldn’t figure out why none were a match.  This monologue is the second in our series with The War Horse.  Additional Resources We Were at DefCon 2 — One Step From Nuclear War — and I Was Checking My Work, Ed Meagher, The War Horse, 2024 

This month on Things That Go Boom, we’re passing the mic to three veterans to share their memories in their words.  In this first entry: When paratrooper Bill Glose came home from the Gulf War after leading his platoon, silence was his fortress. That all changed when a friend suggested he start writing poetry.  The story is part of a new partnership with the news site The War Horse. The site publishes real stories from veterans that look war in the eye, rough edges and all. If you haven't heard of them, be sure to check them out. And tune in all month for more monologues.  Additional Resources  Silence Was My Father’s Fortress. I Shared It for a Time Until Poetry Set Me Free, Bill Glose, The War Horse, 2024

After a season spent examining feminist foreign policies around the world, we turn our attention back to the US. Will the US adopt a feminist foreign policy? And what would that mean?  In this episode, three remarkable activists, organizers, and academics share their perspectives on where we are in the process, what the obstacles are, and what gives them hope for the future. Listen and subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, or wherever you get your podcasts to receive a new episode every two weeks. GUESTS:  Janene Yazzie, Director of Policy and Advocacy for NDN Collective; Lyric Thompson, Founder and CEO of the Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative; Margo Okazawa-Rey, Professor Emerita San Francisco State University ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: NDN Collective Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative International Women’s Network Against Militarism Poverty Draft by Al Scorch We are the Ones by Sweet Honey in the Rock Special thanks to The Gender Security Project

Political Scientist Cynthia Enloe is, arguably, the reason we’re all here. She was one of the first to explore gender in international relations, and the first to ask, “Where are the women?” But what she meant when she asked that question? It’s been lost in a sea of nuances around feminism and feminist foreign policy. Leading to misunderstandings like so many we’ve seen this season on Things That Go Boom.  Misunderstandings like the sense among some that feminism is just about turning things around and subjugating men. Or that a man could never be a feminist, let alone carry out a feminist foreign policy. On this episode of Things That Go Boom, where are the women, really? And where do we go from here? GUESTS: Cynthia Enloe, Clark University ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:  Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, Cynthia Enloe Twelve Feminist Lessons of War, Cynthia Enloe The Invisible Frontline: How the Fight for Women’s Rights Changes in Times of War, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

As civilian casualties mount in Gaza and many more conflicts around the world kill and displace vulnerable people, we ask, "What can feminist foreign policy do about war crimes?" The international community doesn’t have a great track record of timely intervention to stop atrocities. But one-sided military intervention can also be a recipe for disaster.  In this episode, we hear from activists in Rwanda and Afghanistan about how their work protects the vulnerable and what they wish international feminists would do differently. And we hear from an expert on international hierarchies about how feminist foreign policy fits into the long history of attempts to end genocide — and who intervention has historically served. GUESTS: Mary Balikungeri, Director and Founder of Rwanda Women’s Network; Dr. Toni Haastrup, Chair in Global Politics at the University of Manchester; Salma, activist with the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: The Rwanda Women’s Network The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) Statement of Intent on Feminist Informed Policies Abroad and at Home, The African Feminist Collective on Feminist Informed Policies The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, UN Background on the Responsibility to Protect, UN Women Peace and Security Agenda (UN Resolution 1325), UN On May 19, 2024 there was an attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the government there alleges that American citizens were involved in the plot. (DRC army says it stopped attempted coup involving US citizens, Reuters) The incident appears to be largely separate from the conflict on DRC’s eastern border that we discuss in this episode and the US has denied any involvement in the attempted coup. 

When news of a new disaster seems to roll in every day… it can feel like there’s little hope. But what if we had… another option? Not just to reverse course on climate change, but to set the course for a better future. Carol Cohn and Claire Duncanson think we do. GUESTS: Carol Cohn, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Claire Duncanson, University of Edinburgh ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals, Carol Cohn Feminist Roadmap for Sustainable Peace and Planet The Past, Present, and Future(s) of Feminist Foreign Policy, Columba Achilleos-Sarll, Jennifer Thomson, Toni Haastrup, Karoline Färber, Carol Cohn, Paul Kirby