Stars and Stripes is a semi-independent newspaper published for US military personnel by an independent (by statute) editorial board.
So, of course, Hegseth needs remove any of those “independent” parts of it. He’s mandated it get rid of “woke distractions” to military personnel, and instread focus on “warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY.”
What sort of “woke” things has Stars and Stripes been doing? Apparently, for Hegseth, “woke” means “repurposed DC gossip columns [and] Associated Press reprints.”
S&S has long served as a news channel for the US military, especially those serving overseas. Its mission is laid out simply:
Stars and Stripes provides independent news and information to the U.S. military community, including active-duty servicemembers, DoD civilians, veterans, contractors, and their families. Unique among Department of Defense authorized news outlets, Stars and Stripes is governed by the principles of the First Amendment.
S&S also notes:
Stars and Stripes is a service of the Defense Media Activity (DMA); the views and opinions expressed do not reflect the views of the Department of Defense, the military services or DMA. The Pentagon funding that makes up roughly half of Stars and Stripes’ annual budget is primarily used to print and distribute the newspaper to troops scattered across the globe, including in warzones. The remainder of the newspaper’s funding comes from advertising and subscriptions. Stars and Stripes is editorially independent of interference from outside its own editorial chain-of-command. It provides commercially available U.S. and world news and objective staff-produced stories relevant to the military community in a balanced, fair, and accurate manner. By keeping its audience informed, Stars and Stripes enhances military readiness and better enables U.S. military personnel and their families stationed overseas to exercise their responsibilities of citizenship.
Well, that sounds sketchy! We cannot have military personnel deciding for themselves how to “exercise their responsibilities of citizenship,” can we?
So what sort of terrible “woke” things have they been reporting on to give Hegseth a hissy-fit? Well, here are the headlines I just copied down from its front page:
- Military now requires doctors to offer chaperone for sensitive medical exams
- Polar Star icebreaker marks 50 years in Coast Guard service
- Bill designates site for “Rosie the Riveter” memorial in the nation’s capital
- Treasury and IRS say :”warrior dividend” not taxable
- New Air Force helicopter flies its first ICBM security mission
- VA awards disability benefits using criteria from 80 years ago, federal watchdog finds
- Congress calls for expanded multilateral defense ties across Indo-Pacific
- DOD commissaries expand home delivery program in 70 locations stateside
- Coast Guard acting commandant Lunday officially installed in service’s top job
- Navy veterans unveil monument to Filipino-American sailors on former US base
- Kurdish-led forces to withdraw from contested area in Syria after US military visit
- Marine Corps general tapped to lead SOUTHCOM grilled over presence in region
- Navy airlifts mariner showing signs of heart attack to hospital on Guam
Those all sound like actual news, things that have happened, that might well be of interest to folk serving in the armed forces. And stories that wouldn’t necessarily show up in civilian news feeds.
But I guess there’s not enough spurting blood and roaring rockets and paeans of praise for the Defense WAR!! Department leadership, or something showing up there. Not in Hegseth’s eyes. If his myrmidons are not being properly propagandized with Pentagon-mandated WARFIGHTER! news items, 24×7, there’s every chance they might have (or even express) an opinion that varies from his.
Stars and Stripes, which is dedicated to serving U.S. government personnel overseas, seeks to emulate the best practices of commercial news organizations in the United States. It is governed by Department of Defense Directive 5122.11. The directive states, among other key provisions, that “there shall be a free flow of news and information to its readership without news management or censorship.”
As noted, Congress mandated in the 1990s that S&S’s editorial board should be independent of the Pentagon, even while much of its personnel and budget come from there. But, as we have seen, “Independent” is as big a taboo word for the Trump Regime as “Inclusion” — anything that shows, even by law, any measure of independence from the Unitary Executive must be crushed and brought into line, filled with right-thinking ideologues and toadies, and made one more weapon in the arsenal of the Regime.
And, so far at least, legal challenges to Presidential Power have largely shown that the Sun King has a majority of supporters on the Supreme Court he has himself largely created ready to back whatever it is he wants to do — laws or principle be damned.