Stars

Fighting the good fight… Hats off to the Democracy Defenders Fund, Yale School of Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic, Government Accountability Project and Lawyers for Good Government for suing the Pentagon on behalf of fired Stars and Stripes publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte.

The suit alleges that Slavin and Korte were charged with insubordination for speaking publicly on the "CBS Sunday Morning" program in support of S&S’ long-standing editorial independence when covering the Department of Defense.

The firings followed the S&S report about the dreadful conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The Pentagon ordered Lederer to begin the process of firing Slavin and Korte, which he refused. On Aug. 21 the DoD prepared separation notices to the trio.

David Schulz of the Yale group said DoD’s muzzling of S&S is in step with its move against the Pentagon press corps. “This administration does not want an effective or independent press,” he said. “Its crackdown means the public today has less information about our military’s plans, purposes, actions or accomplishments than at any point in modern history, even as active operations are being pursued in multiplayer areas across the globe.”

GAP’s David Seide said, “It’s a sad day when independent journalists are punished just for saying they are not tools to promote government propaganda.”

The suit wants the US District Court (DC) to declare the journalists’ firings unlawful under the First Amendment and to stop the Pentagon from proceeding with the terminations.

It lists Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, chief DOD spokesperson Sean Parnell and deputy assistant for PA Andrew Brey as defendants.

Leaky deals… There were more than 370 deals of $1B or greater during the first-half of the year, which is 80 more than the 2025 period, according to a survey by H/Advisors.

The firm found that media leaks occurred in 44 percent of the total transactions, up two percentage points from a year ago.

The entertainment/leisure/media category had the highest percent of leaks as 89 percent of the 18 deals leaked. Food/beverage/tobacco (83 percent) and consumer retailer (78 percent) followed.

Driven by the AI boom and computing power demand, technology repeated as the most active dealing sector. Tech accounted for 21 percent of overall deals. The category improved on the leak front as 46 percent of the transactions leaked vs. 50 percent in 2025.

The tech sector understands that loose lips sink ships and sometimes deals.

Look homeward, Donald... Since Trump is now fully engaged in his latest non-presidential sideshow (e.g., trashing Canada), he should look at the US towns and cities named after Canadian ones.

Here’s a starter list that the Trump clown car should visit: Toronto (OH), Ontario (CA), Montreal (WI), Ottawa (IL), New Brunswick (NJ), Edmonton (KY), Halifax (VA), St John’s (MI), and Regina (NM).

Here are some suitable replacement names: Trumpville, Trump Town, Trump City, North Trump, South Trump, DJT, Donaldland and New Mar-a-Lago.

Canada prime minister Mark Carney may want to respond to Trump’s madness.

He could recast Ontario’s Niagara Falls, which was incorporated in 1904, eight years after the New York side of the Falls. The Canadian city could revert to its original Clifton name.

On the other hand, Carney doesn’t play such childish “name games.”