Authoritarian rule #1: control the media

The Pentagon’s fiscal year 2021 budget request would strip Stars and Stripes of all its federal funding, more than $15 million annually, a Defense Department official said Wednesday, as lawmakers and others defended the editorially independent news organization.

The budget request unveiled Monday seeks to cut all of Stars and Stripes’ DOD funding — about $15.5 million per year, which the Pentagon wants to reinvest in functions that it considers more critical for warfighting.

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The cut to Stars and Stripes’ annual Pentagon subsidy equals about half of the news organization’s annual funds to pay expenses. Stars and Stripes’ remaining money comes from sales, subscriptions and advertising.

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Stars and Stripes’ leadership was informed of the proposed cuts by Pentagon leadership also Monday, after the Wall Street Journal reported the news organization was eyed for a funding reduction.

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Stars and Stripes first appeared during the Civil War, and it has been continuously published since World War II. It produces daily newspapers for U.S. military troops across the world and a website, which is updated with news 24 hours a day. Though it is part of the Pentagon’s Defense Media Agency, Stripes retains its editorial independence and is congressionally mandated to be governed by First Amendment principles.

  Stars and Stripes

It will only get worse.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 9/11:  After a huge public outcry and Trump throwing the Pentagon under the bus:

The Pentagon will rescind its order for Stars and Stripes to cease publication by Sept. 30, according to an email sent to the news organization Thursday.

The Pentagon was also working Thursday to withdraw its request that Congress not fund Stars and Stripes in fiscal year 2021, according to the email from the acting director of the Pentagon’s Defense Media Activity to Stars and Stripes ombudsman Ernie Gates.

  Stars and Stripes

Thanks to everyone who raised their voices in opposition to Trump's attempt to destroy Stars and Stripes.