A robot was on fire. Again. It was the summer of 2024, and the cutting-edge robots inside General Dynamics’ sweltering artillery factory near Dallas were catching fire with startling regularity, according to four former workers there. This wasn’t ideal, as the plant was supposed to be churning out urgently needed artillery shells for Ukraine. The robots, giant metal arms with clamps for hands…
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This article was originally published by Truthout on July 22, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) issued a stark warning this week about a congressional measure that would merge the U.S. and Israel’s military technology industrial complexes, saying that it represents an “existential threat” to U.S. democracy.
The provision — called the “U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” or Section 219 — is included in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which passed the House in a 216 to 212 vote on Wednesday. Six Democrats broke from the party to vote “yes,” and seven Republicans voted “no.” The bill is still stalled in the Senate, however, after Democrats voted against its advancement last week.
The NDAA “includes a provision to merge parts of our military with the [Israeli military],” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post on social media on Tuesday. “This [provision] is an existential threat to American sovereignty and democracy. Every member of Congress must vote NO.”
The provision, if included in the final bill, would entrench Israel’s enmeshment with the U.S. military, mandating cooperation with regard to technology and intelligence with Israeli forces even when the U.S. gets little in return. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has advocated for the measure as public scrutiny over the U.S.’s monetary military aid to Israel has increased amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Some lawmakers in Congress have waged a bipartisan effort for Section 219 to be stripped from the NDAA. Representatives Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) have introduced an amendment to the bill to remove Section 219.
However, these efforts have been quashed by pro-Israel lawmakers, who
Brokers representing President Donald Trump purchased between $9.7 million and $24.3 million in stocks from a dozen arms manufacturers and other Pentagon contractors in 2025, including Palantir, Lockheed Martin, and General Dynamics, according to an RS analysis of a new financial disclosure released by the president last week. The disclosure comes as the Trump administration launches new…
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On Monday, the Department of Defense announced a new slate of appointees to the Defense Policy Board, a committee tasked with providing strategic advice and making recommendations to the Pentagon. Media outlets were quick to highlight the Pentagon’s selection of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, as further evidence of Silicon Valley’s growing power in Washington. A16z, which claims to have…
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What happens to higher education when institutions dedicated to critical thought increasingly align themselves with the logics of war, surveillance, and national security? Unless we mount an organized resistance, we may viscerally experience the answer to this question all too soon. We are already watching this transformation play out in both the U.S. and Canada as universities face growing…
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