The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2020
USA Today: Trump says he's reversing decision to shutter Stars and Stripes newspaper
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Friday reversed a decision to cut funding to Stars and Stripes, a newspaper that has served American soldiers since the Civil War, in an announcement that came hours after the outlet's demise was revealed.
“The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch,” Trump tweeted Friday. “It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!”
In a previously unpublicized memo cited by USA TODAY on Friday, the Pentagon delivered an order to shutter the newspaper and cease publication after Sept. 30.
Press advocates decried the move, arguing it was the latest in a series of decisions by the Trump administration to undermine independent reporting. The initial order followed Trump's appointment of an ally to Steve Bannon, his former top adviser, to head the agency that oversees Voice of America.
Read more ....
Update #1: Trump reverses Defense Dept. order to shut down Stars and Stripes newspaper (CNN)
Update #2: Trump says Stars and Stripes will stay funded, following reports the Pentagon was shutting it down (Politico)
WNU Editor: When I first read reports that the Pentagon was shutting down Stars and Stripes effective September 30 I did not even bother posting on it. My gut told me that President Trump would reverse the order. No surprise. President Trump did so tonight. Stars and Stripes is an excellent and informative publication that I have used numerous times for this blog, and it deserves the support of everyone. It is good to know that the President sees it the same way.
4 comments:
fRED laPIDES & Trump are on the same side of an issue.
When the Pentagon has a budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars and they want to cut a publication because of the lack of "funding", the issue isn't funding.
No an issue is always funding. You do not move money from Military construction or procurement to Stars and Stripes. There are limits to what the military can spend on construction without notifying Congress. The budgetary restriction are really strict.
Congress can move money from one bucket to another but the the lower down you go in the DoD the less authority you have to move money between like buckets or any buckets.
Threat assessments put out by the 17 intel agencies shape the Quadrenniel Defense Review, which shapes procurement. Congress is involved because procurement affects jobs in their district,. Also the QDR is good for a nice scrimmage for election time.
Where are you goign to move the money from? Procurement? Payroll? MILCON? Operations? Overseas contingency operations are broken out and Congress knows what they are. Trump is trying to reduce those not form a budgetary consideration, but form an entanglement and "we have no goal" consideration.
I disagree with Trump on Syria, but he does have a valid point and I will vote for him in Syria. If the aggregate American population was serious on Syria, we would have won already. Pretty obvious that we are not serious in Syria, so why are we there?
Enough pressure to make even a stupid move get reversed.
Post a Comment