Seems like this sentence contains contradictory statements.
"affirms the publication's independence" = Says it's independent.
"expanding Defense Department oversight, introducing new restrictions" = makes it non-independent.
Conclusion: The sentence indicates the policy is hypocritical and built on lies. The sentence is not contradictory, the policy is.
Here, watch; I hereby affirm that I am god incarnate, that I have no flaws, and that every unit test I’ve ever written has passed on the first try. It cannot be denied that I affirmed that!
"War is peace."
"Freedom is slavery."
I am not understanding why we are freely supposing both are true?
> You can change "suppose both are true" to "suppose the rules of a logical system permit stating both are true".
It's calling out a potential flaw in the system and whether we want to do anything about it.
The book 1984 was written in 1948 (easy to remember). Kind of interesting to see that it also fits to the lame strategies pursued by Trump. The "flood the zone with shit" is an older copy/paste strategy of the KGB (as explained in the 1980s by Yuri, though he did not compare it to the flood-the-zone part, but it is virtually identical https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9apDnRRSOCk; though perhaps even that strategy is older, the chinese have numerous stratagems that are ancient).
The guy doesn’t even lie. He’s a reality TV actor working without a script. He says whatever he thinks will get ratings, and if he’s not sure then he’ll try different things and see what sticks.
It will never cease to baffle me that so many people saw this behavior and said, that’s leadership material.
So for the average voter who feels disenfranchised and abandoned by society, why should they care about what Trump says when he's famous, rich, and entertaining to watch?
That's the only way I can make any sense of the matter -- it still messes with my head.
This concept of “TDS” confuses me. Trump is a terrible person and a terrible president. Why wouldn’t I be Deranged about him? Thinking badly of him isn’t a Syndrome, it’s a natural consequence of the fact that he’s awful and he has way too much power over my life.
You can do the same in reverse by letting a Republican give you their “obvious” definition then forcing them to try to nail jello to the wall by pointing out unintended (even by them) consequences of that, and the people who definitely exist and fall entirely outside their insistence on a binary (even in “biological” terms).
It’s because the actual argument is over who ought to be treated as a woman under which circumstances, not who “is” a woman. But if your audience will allow it it’s much simpler to just pretend the argument is over something else and your opponent is too stupid to define words we use every day.
I’m sure plenty of gotcha questions get asked in the other direction. I don’t generally view the sort of media where people ask that kind of question, because it’s incredibly irritating and uninformative no matter who the target is.
My point is that Trump doesn’t even try to give a coherent answer. He’ll contradict himself within the same answer to a straightforward question and not even bat an eye.
The only thing you need to understand "TDS" is knowing that it's the exact same accusation-in-a-mirror technique the fascists use on every other topic. By preemptively asserting that the critics are "deranged", they obscure the depth of their own reality distortion field for their cult leader. And for the casual observer who sees a bunch of drama and instinctively steers clear, the default conclusion is to think that the truth must be somewhere in the middle rather than doing the work to think about who is actually stirring up the chaos.
The next layer of this control harness is to neutralize the Constitution in America that protects inalienable rights, is the “freedoms of speech (within paternalistic approved boundaries), but not freedom of reach” mentality of, “sure, say all you want, but you won’t even be allowed or able to see that we put you in a digital speech dungeon.”
We are essentially allowing and creating an analog to the very sadistic and evil conditions imposed by the ruling aristocratic class of the past and the hidden hand that ruled your life as non-nobility. You get thrown in digital dungeons with no recourse or rights. You are beaten and abused for you thought and speech. You have no right or ability to defend yourself from the torments and abuses of the ruling psychopaths, etc.
That is why freedom of speech is so important, because the sick and depraved ruling class people cannot stand even the ability of people to talk about the abuses they perpetrate against them. It’s typical abusive patterns of truly awful people that are the enemies of all of the rest of humanity.
"Everything Trump does, even a mundane editorial memo, is evil. Trust me bro".
It's also part of a more recent push to make sure that Iran war coverage is positive. See the head of the FCC threatening to revoke broadcast licenses over Iran war coverage.
The person who posted this is perhaps not already aware of:
- The FCC chair Brandon Carr threatening broadcasters to cover the war correctly, or else lose their "license"
- Federal judges repeatedly calling out the admin for ignoring court orders, bypassing regulation, and arbitrarily prosecuting political enemies (Jerome Powell being only the latest failed attempt)
- Hegseth saying he can't wait for David Ellison to take over CNN so the coverage improves
If they were aware of these things, I would expect them to recognize a LITTLE significance in the removal of a commitment to 1A principles from a publication owned by the government.
It means they can only cover news if they send a correspondent. They cannot cover much at all that way. It basically means it’s just a company newsletter now. They don’t even have any correspondents covering the war.
The original idea behind Stars and Stripes was that it was a general newspaper for US troops. Reading it gave general world awareness. DoD's own output is very narrow. Here are DoD's current press releases.[1] They're written in a very evasive style now. Here's the one on de-emphasizing the Havana Syndrome research office, titled "War Department Announces Realignment of Anomalous Health Incidents Cross-Functional Team to the Office of Research and Engineering "[2] Unless you know the background, that's totally meaningless. Much DoD PR today seems to be at that level - too defensive and obfuscated. Either that, or it's just administrative announcements. There's almost nothing about the current wars.
DoD used to have something called "The Early Bird", discontinued in 2013. This was a reprint of press clippings for Pentagon-area staff.[4] It was supposedly restricted to DoD personnel to avoid copyright issues. It was politically neutral, but prioritized DoD issues, such as command changes and procurement, that would be very minor stories in the public media.
Worth noting is that this war does not seem to have war correspondents embedded with US troops. There's not much info coming in from ground level on the US side. Al Jazeera has coverage from the Arab world. CNN has some people in Tehran who were based there before the war and are still sending.
[1] https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/
[2] https://www.war.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/4411182/wa...
[3] https://www.marines.mil/News/Messages/Messages-Display/Artic...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Early_Bird_(newsletter)
Article makes it clear that they're banning the publication of wire services with the goal to make this publication more like a DoD PR team and less like a news source.
The article is phrased in a way to imply that the author would rather the publication maintain independence. It is probably the last time she will be permitted to say "department of defense".
I think it was about increased blood donations in Germany.
Already told me war with Iran is going bad. Hell to the point that even John "we need to attack Iran now" Bolton couldn't get it hard anymore at the thought of attacking Iran.
Social media forums abounded Tuesday with requests for advice stemming from a screenshot of a memo saying that Landstuhl Regional Medical Center’s services for labor and delivery were suspended until further notice.
The closure is “due to the hospital’s primary objective,” according to the memo, which was signed by Lt. Col. Elizabeth Gelner, a doctor with the OB/GYN clinic at Landstuhl.
Although the primary objective is not specified, Landstuhl serves as a critical hub and evacuation point for U.S. service members wounded in training or combat operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. [0]
It will also make the US armed forces _actively worse_ at their jobs. It won't even take very long. If you can't effectively reflect on your errors and consider non-politically-aligned points of view, your strategists are going to be running in the dark.
If you need any evidence to refute the claim that the Pentagon's plan "affirms the publication’s independence", this is it. Talk is cheap.
https://www.stripes.com/news/military-terminates-rendon-cont...
It was a fun story.
Regardless of the government this culture is infectious. I think of Nikes famous tagline “Just do it” probably describes America better than any anthem or crusty document.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/14/nx-s1-5748020/pentagon-tighte...
This article is about a move in one direction (away from independence) on that scale.
At the least they have big hands ... right?
What does that say about us?
I am not sure if I buy the idea that "We" elected them.
I'd be really stoked to know what I personally could have done (or encouraged my cadre / comrades to have done) to prevent this outcome, because I don't recall even being given a choice about who I thought should run against the current regime and I live in a state where I am a political minority (a left anarchist organizing against specific local actions like ICE "enforcement" and flock camera usage, among far less contested actions).
This is an actual question, because I am curious and have read your comments enough to recognize your username in the pile of folks writing thoughtful-ish comments:
is it the case that you identify enough with this government to count yourself among the (presumably judgement-worthy) "we" or is it the case that you count everyone counted by the US government as a citizen as "we"? Or would you state it in some other way? What do you mean when you write "we" in this case?
That's roughly two-thirds of us. Those of us who took even the trivial effort to oppose this are a distinct minority.
I don't think there's any that minority could have done differently. We are merely complicit in the suicide pact that is the Constitution, whereby we go with the majority and hope the majority would let us try again in a few years. That's an increasingly dubious proposition, and now we have to decide if this social contract hasn't already been broken.
The US is in a bizarre place right now. The actions of this administration are positively communist (in the most cynical, fear-mongered notion about communism), from enlisting tech execs in the military, to demanding complete control over all commerce (including demanding ownership stakes), to absolute chilling control over speech. Bizarre how the same people who have been using communism as their boogieman for decades are the biggest cheerleaders.
Trump is a pathetic, demented, halfwit diddler Temu-version of Xi, and it's comical irony. It's why he's surrounded by garbage people, like the drunk tough-guy-speech-from-ChatGPT joke of a Department of SortofWar, Hegseth, the clown who only ever achieve major and is a massive embarrassment to the men and women of the armed forces. Pathetic.
Though note that the communism is only in regards to government control, corruption and self-dealing. Zero benefits for Americans, unless you're a billionaire. Americans knowingly voted for this. They willingly lined themselves up to be future Soylent Green for their plutocrat class. Biggest self-destruction in the history of mankind.
> And on the pedestal, these words appear:
> "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
> Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
>
> Nothing beside remains.
Honestly, as little respect as I have for them, I have even less for those who used to support him and no longer do. They had bad judgement then and I don't think their skills have improved. They're temporarily leaning away from the direct consequences of their bad choices but remain incapable of learning why that choice was bad, and will make more bad choices in the future.
But it's their guy that is gaining power. Which is (perceived as) good for them because he's doing what they want.
* https://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive...
Welcome to the Fox News propaganda bubble. There’s also talk radio and podcasts that will continue to ignore the issues. You also have to remember that most voters are low information voters. They are busy living their lives, so unless something directly impacts them, like the economy, they simply won’t think too much about it.
It is more fascist than communist. The communist way would have been to make the state take control of companies and then put apparatchiks at the top. This is the other way around, with companies taking over the state instead. But yeah, it’s nitpicking at this point.
I understand from which cultural context this “communist” label comes, but in political science it’s called “authoritarian”. Small but important correction.
They can always post to r/WarsAndGripes.
A free press is one of the core tenets of a democracy. The government supporting that was not just unremarkable, before the current regime it was expected. This is not normal. Nobody in this administration is normal, and none of then seem to actually want to live in a democratic society.
I don't disagree with your point; I'm just seeing it for what it is.
Is it shocking that this is changing under Trump? I guess not, but that isn't because this is a normal state of affairs, it is because the US is rapidly sliding into full blown authoritarianism.