The editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes got fired Friday for insubordination. The Pentagon announced this like it was news. A military newspaper editor was insubordinate. That's the scandal.
Insubordination in a military context means you didn't follow orders. Orders from the Pentagon. About a newspaper. The same Pentagon that loses $800 billion annually in the budget and can't account for where half of it went. But sure, the newspaper guy is the problem.
Stars and Stripes has been around since 1861. Survived the Civil War, both World Wars, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan. Outlasted every conflict. Every administration. Every scandal. But this editor? Too dangerous. Had to go. Insubordination.
The paper exists to inform military personnel about military matters. It's funded by the Department of Defense. Editorial independence was always a polite fiction, like saying you work for exposure or that retail traders do their own research. Everyone pretended it meant something until it became inconvenient.
They fired him on a Friday. Classic move. Pentagon brass learned that trick from corporate America. Fire people when the news cycle dies. Bury it under the weekend. Hope nobody notices by Monday.
Retail traders saw this headline and immediately started googling whether Stars and Stripes is publicly traded. It's not. Saved them from losing money on another illiquid position they don't understand. Small mercies.
The best part? Calling it insubordination. Not a restructuring. Not a strategic realignment. Not pursuing other opportunities. Just fired. For insubordination. Refreshingly honest for an organization that calls bombing campaigns "kinetic military action."
Somewhere a lieutenant colonel is explaining to a room full of people why editorial independence threatened national security, and everyone in that room gets paid more than you do to nod along.
Photo by Aidan Tottori on Unsplash
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