Cody McDevitt

How Artificial Intelligence Could Transform War Correspondence From satellite imagery to battlefield verification, AI may give journalists unprecedented insight into modern conflict—while forcing militaries to rethink how reporters operate near the front lines.

War correspondents once relied on notebooks, cameras, and whatever they could see on the battlefield.
AI could change that—analyzing satellite imagery, verifying war videos, and mapping conflicts in real time.
codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/how-artifi...

The Political Scandals Reporters Used to Cover Every Day — And How AI Could Bring Them Back Curtis MacDougall’s 1932 reporting manual shows that journalists once tracked patronage systems, legislative deal-making, and redistricting as routine news. Modern AI tools could do it again.

Reporters once covered machine politics, patronage, and legislative deal-making as everyday news.

A 1932 journalism textbook shows how.

AI might help rebuild those lost beats.

codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/the-politi...

The 1932 Journalism Textbook That Accidentally Describes the AI Newsroom of the Future A forgotten reporting manual shows how artificial intelligence could rebuild the political beat system American newspapers once relied on.

In 1932, Curtis MacDougall outlined the duties of political reporters: monitor government agencies, track elections, follow legislation and understand political machines.
Those are exactly the kinds of information problems AI is good at solving.
codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/the-1932-j...

What Were Abortions Like Before Roe v. Wade? Inside America’s Underground Abortion System Police raids, secret referral networks, and activists exposing the underground abortion system that existed in America before 1973.

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion didn’t disappear — it went underground.
Police raided apartments turned into makeshift clinics. Doctors quietly treated complications. Activists exposed a hidden referral network helping women find illegal procedures.
New story:
reprorights.substack.com/p/what-were-...

Why Hollywood Can’t Create Movie Stars Anymore The collapse of the star system, the rise of franchises, and how the next generation of global stars may emerge from theater.

I've heard from younger people that they're the first generation without pop culture figures. So I developed ideas for people in power to implement if they wanted to create bankable stars, as they did during the golden era.
codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/why-hollyw...

Rex v Bourne (1938): The Abortion Trial That Changed British Law How a 14-year-old rape victim, a defiant surgeon, and a single word in an 1861 statute reshaped UK abortion law decades before the 1967 Abortion Act.

In 1938, a London surgeon performed an abortion on a 14-year-old rape victim — then told the police:

“I want you to arrest me.”

The trial that followed, Rex v Bourne, quietly reshaped British abortion law decades before legalization.

reprorights.substack.com/p/rex-v-bour...

Political Patronage in Local Government: How a Once-Major Scandal Became Normal—and How AI Could Expose It Again For decades, patronage jobs were among the biggest corruption scandals in American cities. Then the reporters disappeared. Now artificial intelligence may give watchdog journalism a second life.

For generations, exposing political patronage was a core part of the city hall beat. Reporters compared hiring lists, campaign donors, and government contracts. In this piece, I look at how AI could help bring back that watchdog role.

codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/political-...

It was very crime noir. If you like graphic novels that sort of fall into this, read Ed Brubaker's The Fade Out and any of his other comic work. I'm actually a comic book nerd.

Who Killed Roe v. Wade? Inside Amy Littlefield’s Investigation Into the Fall of Abortion Rights In Killers of Roe, journalist Amy Littlefield traces the Hyde Amendment, parental consent laws, Operation Rescue, and decades of conservative strategy that gradually dismantled abortion rights.

Thanks so much @codymcdevitt.bsky.social for this thoughtful breakdown of Killers of Roe, out everywhere books are sold on March 10!

reprorights.substack.com/p/who-killed...

"The kind of classic payoff in a murder mystery is it’s always the suspect you were least paying attention to."

I tried for years to get City Paper and In Pittsburgh Newsweekly added to newspapers.com. It's now owned by Block Communications, which is closing all operations in Pittsburgh. So alas, it probably won't happen. No one takes historical preservation seriously.

The “Abortion Racket”: A 1935 Investigation Into Illegal Abortions in New York A forgotten article in The Forum exposed underground abortion networks, corrupt police raids, and the dangers women faced decades before Roe v. Wade.

While researching abortion history, I tracked down a forgotten 1935 investigation called “The Abortion Racket.”
It described a hidden world of doctors, midwives, police raids and corruption surrounding illegal abortion in New York decades before Roe v. Wade.
reprorights.substack.com/p/the-aborti...

Well guys, the final proofread is done. It’s gotta be laid out, but I hope to have it up for pre-order by the beginning of next week. The release date is March 28.

The Doctor in the Valley: How Dr. Robert Spencer Performed nearly 30,000 Illegal Abortions in Pre-Roe Pennsylvania In the coal town of Ashland, decades before Roe v. Wade — and long before Dobbs — a small-town pathologist quietly became one of America’s most prolific underground abortion providers.

In a small coal town in Pennsylvania, Dr. Robert Spencer performed 27,006 illegal abortions — in plain sight.

I went to Ashland in 2020, walked its fading streets, and dug through court transcripts and private papers to understand how that was possible.

reprorights.substack.com/p/the-doctor...

This could start a regional war in the Middle East and American military don’t have enough volunteers. America won’t stand for a draft.

Trump has usurped congress’s powers of war

I’m gonna be frank with the men of Hollywood. I expect some level of fortitude in standing up for a great actress and woman like Susan Sarandon. That would be a profile in courage because you could suffer consequences and a loss of luxury to stand for principle. Not seeing that.

Who Decides When America Goes to War? The Iran Crisis and Congressional Authority As tensions rise with Iran, the Constitution — not political urgency — must determine whether U.S. troops are sent into another Middle East war.

Before the U.S. escalates with Iran, we must insist that Congress authorizes action, not the President acting alone. Our Constitution and our national interest deserve clarity, debate, and accountability — not drift into war shaped by foreign strategy.
codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/who-decide...

How AI Could Revolutionize Fashion Journalism and Redefine Style History From Jackie Kennedy to Audrey Hepburn, and from Vogue’s golden age to artificial intelligence, the next fashion revolution may not be about hemlines — but about archives, memory, and cultural power.

I am not a fashion-forward man. It’s mostly boots, sweatshirts and jeans.

But I’ve been thinking about what happens when AI meets fashion journalism — not trend-chasing, but analyzing decades of archives to trace culture through clothing.
codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/how-ai-cou...

Boxing three days a week helps with ski conditioning. But there isn’t any workout that can prevent you from wearing out on the third day of skiing the Rockies unless you ski a hundred days a year.

That’s a fucking workout

Why Juries Rarely Convicted Abortion Providers Before Roe v. Wade Even when abortion was a felony in nearly every state, prosecutors struggled to persuade ordinary citizens to punish it as murder.

Before Roe v. Wade, abortion was illegal in nearly every state.

But juries often refused to convict.

Why? Because the law said “felony,” and ordinary citizens weren’t always willing to treat it as such.

New column 👇
reprorights.substack.com/p/why-juries...

Whistler Blackcomb

Texas’ First Criminal Abortion Case in 50 Years Collides With the Rules of the Courtroom In a Houston appellate hearing, judges pressed both sides as Maria Rojas challenges the injunction that shut down her clinics — and tests the reach of the Attorney General’s power.

A Texas appeals court just heard arguments in the state’s first criminal abortion prosecution in 50 years — and the fight over whether the injunction that shuttered Maria Rojas’s clinics will stand is now a battle over procedure. @reprorights.org reprorights.substack.com/p/texas-firs...

When Silence Becomes a Crime In a culture that demands constant declarations, the pressure to speak can become its own form of coercion — and justice suffers when conscience is replaced by fear.

When silence is treated as guilt, fear becomes the governing principle of public life. Thoughtful restraint isn’t complicity — it’s conscience. Read more 👉 codymcdevitt.substack.com/p/when-silen...

I'm not gonna lie. Every time people say they don't care what a celebrity thinks politically, I ask myself, then how the hell did Donald Trump end up president?

It’s got one more proofread and waiting on an index, then it’ll be up for pre-order. Aiming for a late March release.

When people ask me about white supremacy, I’m responding by what I’ve studied and heard from scholars like James Aho. So it’s not a thought experiment. It’s what I took away from experts.

I’m happy to talk about the Rosedale Banishment with anyone who cares to talk about it. I just don’t want to be used as an example on a two-hour talk show no one listens to so he can demonstrate a convoluted understanding of racism in which every form of it is interchangeable with white supremacy.

Even within your own party and movements, you'll do things that evoke hatred and strong reactions. There's no way to publicly defend Margaret Sanger without triggering a backlash. Should you do it? Yes. But people will then cast you as a racist or as defending a genocide. It's just part of it.

Right at a time in history when we need good men and women to step forward and lead, we’re creating a pallor and shame to public office by casting a former president and his wife, who is also historically important, in a false and defamatory light. These sex scandals just worsen our candidates.