Even for those of us who are all too wearily familiar with President Donald Trump's disdain for journalists, his administration's latest attack on the free press is a bit of a jaw-dropper.
In a heretofore unpublicized recent memo, the Pentagon delivered an order to shutter Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that has been a lifeline and a voice for American troops since the Civil War. The memo orders the publisher of the news organization (which now publishes online as well as in print) to present a plan that "dissolves the Stars and Stripes" by Sept. 15 including "specific timeline for vacating government owned/leased space worldwide."
"The last newspaper publication (in all forms) will be September 30, 2020," writes Col. Paul Haverstick Jr., the memo's author.
Today Stars and Stripes is printed at sites around the world and delivered daily to troops — even those on the front lines, where the internet is spotty or inaccessible. As the "local paper" for the military, it provides intensive and critical coverage of issues that are important to members of the nation's armed services and "cuts through political and military brass BS talking points,"
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a Marine veteran, told
Military.com.
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