Stars and Stripes is the official newspaper of the U.S. Department of Defense, but it has always made independent editorial decisions — until now. The Defense Department has announced the paper will now be under the control of the Pentagon, which plans to move its coverage away from what it calls “woke distractions.” Many critics say this is just the latest in the Trump administration’s crackdown on press freedoms.

What did the commentators say?
The Defense Department will be “returning Stars and Stripes to its original mission: reporting for our warfighters,” said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on X. The Pentagon will “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” It will also no longer publish newswire reports from outlets like The Associated Press, according to Parnell.

Stars and Stripes, which was first published during the Civil War, has been “editorially independent from Defense Department officials since a congressional mandate in the 1990s,” said The Hill. Its latest change “follows the Trump administration’s restrictions on Pentagon journalists.” It also comes after The Washington Post reported that applicants to Stars and Stripes are “being asked how they would support the president’s policy priorities.”

American troops “deserve credible, trustworthy news guaranteed by the First Amendment, a cornerstone of the Constitution they defend,” said Tim Richardson, the journalism and disinformation program director at PEN America, in a statement. The Pentagon’s action “tramples both the First Amendment and the congressional mandate that the publication remain editorially independent.” 

The paper’s staff raised similar concerns. The people who “risk their lives in defense of the Constitution have earned the right to the press freedoms of the First Amendment,” said Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin in an article for the newspaper.

What next?
Amid the takeover, there’s “growing unease among the staff about the Pentagon's plans for the paper and its original reporting,” said Business Insider. If the Department of Defense “begins to dictate what the coverage should be, what the ‘news’ should be in Stars and Stripes,” the newspaper “loses its credibility and harms its mission to provide fair and impartial news to the military community,” said Stars and Stripes Ombudsman Jacqueline Smith to the outlet.

The red planet has made Earth’s climate what it is today. Mars’ gravitational pull serves as a stabilizing force for our home’s orbit, tilt and position from the sun. Without it, life could potentially have been a lot different from what we know today.

How does Mars’ gravity impact Earth?
Despite being approximately half the size of Earth and one-tenth its mass, Mars’ gravity has had a sizable effect on Earth’s climate, according to a study published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The planet is “quietly tugging on Earth’s orbit and shaping the cycles that drive long-term climate patterns here,” said the study’s release.

Earth’s climate is largely driven by Milankovitch cycles, “long-term variations in our planet’s orbit and tilt governed by the gravitational pull of other planets in the solar system,” said Space.com (a sister site of The Week). One cycle takes approximately 430,000 years and is largely affected by Venus and Jupiter. Mars has little to no effect on this cycle, originally leading scientists to believe that the planet did not have much pull on Earth’s climate. 

However, it turns out that Mars “punches above its weight,” said Stephen Kane, the study leader and a professor of astrophysics at UC Riverside, in the release. Mars significantly affects two other climate cycles, and “when you remove Mars, those cycles vanish.” If you “increase the mass of Mars, they get shorter and shorter because Mars is having a bigger effect.” 

These cycles “affect how circular or stretched Earth’s orbit is (its eccentricity), the timing of Earth’s closest approach to the Sun, and the tilt of its rotational axis (its obliquity),” said the release. This determines “how much sunlight different parts of the Earth receive, which in turn affects glacial cycles and long-term climate patterns,” including ice ages.

What are the implications?
Ice ages “changed Earth’s landscapes,” said Tech Explorist. They “shrank forests, spread grasslands and triggered major evolutionary changes, such as walking on two legs, making tools and working together.” So it begs the question, said Kane: “What would humans and other animals even look like if Mars weren’t there?”

The aurora borealis lights up the sky in Beiji Village, Mohe City, China. A recent geomagnetic storm created stunning northern lights shows last night over the northernmost town in China that were also visible across parts of Europe and the U.S.
Chi Shiyong / VCG / Getty Images

“At your service” is far more than a cliché when you hear the phrase at these hotels. Each property is known for offering exquisite hospitality, with talented teams that go above and beyond to impress grateful guests.

Capella Bangkok, Thailand
This “hush-hush hideaway” offers a “sleek and ultra-private” escape on the edge of the Chao Phraya River, said Condé Nast Traveler. Each room is assigned a Capella Culturist dedicated to ensuring guests fill their days with special experiences. That might mean booking a “meditation session with a monk from a nearby temple” or arranging a “chef-led street-food tour.”

The Mark, New York City
At the glamorous Mark on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the service is “razor-sharp and friendly,” said The Times of London, and “small, innovative touches” like the posh Haute Dog Stand and express shoeshine from John Lobb “propel the Mark to the top of its game.” The concierge team is led by Maria Wittorp, who often tells guests, “Our only limitation is your imagination.” 

Royal Mansour Marrakech, Morocco
Every riad at this Marrakech icon comes with round-the-clock access to a personal butler happy to secure reservations, arrange tours and fetch necessities. In an “interesting” twist, staff move through the property (pictured above) through a network of “hidden tunnels and elevators,” which lets them respond to requests in a “magically discreet fashion,” said Condé Nast Traveler.