James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.
When Lt. Col. Rhonda C. Martin was 19 years old, she unintentionally walked into a Marine recruiting office on her way to join the Peace Corps.
More than four decades later, she is the longest-serving active duty Marine, according to a service press release last week, and is set to celebrate her retirement at the end of the month.
She began her 42-year career as an administrative specialist, going on to serve as a drill instructor — though women were not allowed to don the iconic campaign cover at the time — before earning a commission as an officer in 1996.
She deployed multiple times, including in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and throughout her career, she both witnessed and took part in the Corps’ institutional changes, especially as it slowly allowed women into more roles within the service.
“To say that I came in and saw so much progress for Marines, and especially female Marines, over my time … it hits me really hard,” Martin said, according to the press release.
“Did you go to Airborne just to pull security for ICE?” a billboard asks in Fayetteville, North Carolina. The billboard is one of two put up last week in North Carolina outside of two of the largest military bases, the Army’s Fort Bragg and the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune.
The signs are part of a campaign run led by veterans, About Face: Veterans Against The War and Win Without War, that wants to reach troops who may have questions on the legality of current or future orders as the Trump administration increasingly uses the military for domestic duties that include immigration and law enforcement.
…
The groups behind the signs have so far sponsored three billboards. The Fort Bragg sign sits between two central streets leading to the base, Bragg Boulevard and the All-American Freeway, where a large percentage of troops assigned to the base pass as they enter through the main gate. At Camp Lejeune, the group’s sign sits on Lejeune Blvd, just off a bridge that leads to the base’s main gate. The group has also sponsored a third mobile billboard on a truck to drive around Washington D.C. where National Guard members have been deployed since August.
@becca:
Most likely outcome is that the first judge who sees this case dismisses it. Which is what the smarter MAGAs should want because the alternative is Trump sitting for a deposition. And that’s before half a dozen DOJ lawyers testify that this is selective prosecution demanded by Trump.
@Jen: Gravatar keys off of e-mail addresses. So either Scott knows our host’s e-mail and put that in, or more likely, WordPress botched something on the first couple of comments. It wouldn’t be the strangest WordPress mistake I’ve ever seen…
“Most likely outcome is that the first judge who sees this case dismisses it. Which is what the smarter MAGAs should want because the alternative is Trump sitting for a deposition.”
No reason why both cannot happen (i.e., Comey moves for dismissal after his attorneys take Trump’s deposition). Less legal fees involved, but greater chance of success (and possible perjury case against Trump as well).
@Michael Cain: I had posted those two comments into the Zombie Democracy post prior to the Friday’s Forum being opened. James then cut and paste those two comments into Friday’s Forum thereby putting his mug into my comments.
@Scott: @Michael Cain: As @Scott notes, I moved those from the Zombie post to here. Even though I put Scott’s name and email address in the boxes, it defaulted to my Gravatar because I was logged in as myself.
On the Trek rewatch, the other day I streamed “Metamorphosis.” I’m sure I hadn’t seen it before, but somehow I knew a bit about the Companion, and the name Nancey Hedford rang familiar.
Back then, I hung out with someone who also liked Trek. We would buy Trek novels now and then, and lend them to each other. He must have wound up with that one, because it was not in my collection. I found it on Everand, and will red it over the next few days.
The villain starts out as a high official in a fascist UK government. This kind of makes it topical today…
We canceled out Disney+during the Kimmel suspension. We had too many streaming services, anyway.
Plus, ABC gave us The Bachelor and Bachelorette. Special place in hell for that creepy franchise.
Today’s History Lesson Monday September 26, 1960
The first of four televised debates between Republican Presidential Candidate Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator John F. Kennedy (Massachusetts) is aired from WBBM TV studios in Chicago.
The second and fourth debates originated from Washington DC (WRC TV studios) and Los Angeles (ABC studios) respectively.
The third debate was a coast to coast affair with one candidate, Nixon, in ABC studios in Los Angeles and the other candidate, Kennedy, in ABC studios in New York City. It was a big deal at the time. I vaguely recall a story about how the half empty can of paint used to paint the set in California was transported via airplane to New York City to be used to paint the set there so both sets would look the same on TV.
Per WikiP: This debate was considered a “monumental step for television”. WikiPhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_United_States_presidential_debates#October_13:_Third_presidential_debate_(ABC_studios,_Los_Angeles_and_New_York_City)
I was 12 years old and in 7th grade at the time. I can’t remember if I watched all of these debates but I think that I saw some of them.
My dad was a Nixon guy. He took me out to the Rochester (NY)-Monroe County airport one night to see Nixon at a campaign stop. All I remember was Nixon at the door of the airplane smiling and waving at the crowd. My dad said Kennedy was too young so I went along with that. What did I know?
I remember news stories about Kennedy being Catholic and would he be the Pope’s toady. Our family was Missouri Synod Lutheran which despite all the trappings is about as far from Roman Catholicism as you can get. If my parents harbored any religious bias against Kennedy I never heard it.
“I want to emphasize our district’s continued commitment to CPS policies that have been called into question recently by the federal government,” said Macqueline King, interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools. “This school year alone, the U.S. Department of Education has threatened to withhold $12 million in grant funding unless CPS dissolves our Black student success plan and reverses our policies around transgender and gender-nonconforming students. We are confident that our policies do not violate federal law, and we find the government’s actions deeply disappointing. That said, CPS will not back away from our commitment to Black, transgender, or any other student groups. We will continue to consider diversity among our greatest strengths, and we will move forward with protecting the rights of all students. Our district will not back away from doing what we know is right.”
“Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations,” the company (Sinclair) wrote. “While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content.”
Politico
Blah Blah Blah
Gotta’ wonder if they lost any local advertising in their markets.
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
Jesus, that was quick. Maybe at least a few MAGAs are actually in favor of free speech? Maybe some Democrats will take a lesson from all this the next time it’s us making the demands.
I am not familiar with late night TV however I believe Kimmel does have competition from other TV outlets. I can only guess Sinclair realized if the Kimmel audience tuned in to other channels reruns of The Love Boat might not bring the viewers back.
Now if Nexstar resumes airing Kimmel, then maybe I’ll think about watching local news and odd other programming on the local CW station that Nexstar owns… Nah, there are alternatives and they lost me for good.
Not to mention that there could have been a quiet reminder that broadcast rights to ABC content could be moved to a different local broadcaster at some future date.
On Reddit, consumers are keeping track of the companies that are advertising with their affiliates, and telling them that they will no longer do business there.
Those efforts are already having an impact on some companies.
The performing arts nonprofit Seattle Theatre Group has postponed future advertising with the Sinclair-owned station KOMO…
“In response to both ABC and Sinclair’s actions to limit free speech, which we do not agree with, we paused all future campaigns that we have scheduled with KOMO,” an STG spokesperson told Marketplace over email.
The STG spokesperson said that the organization “received many emails and notes from patrons and concerned individuals” from the greater Puget Sound region in Washington…
Another Washington-based company, Best Plumbing, issued a statement on its website in support of free speech after consumers began writing letters to them.
“Freedom of expression isn’t left or right. It’s not a partisan issue. People across the spectrum agree that silencing voices sets a dangerous precedent for all of us,” the statement said…
So private citizens gave advertisers an earful who gave local stations an earful, who called corporate and said fix this before it spreads.
If anyone’s interested, adding vegetable glycerin to the sorbet did not prevent it from turning into a block of ice.
I may try again next week with a bigger does. if that doesn’t work, then that’s it.
For this week I want to make tangerine chicken. I thought tangerine season was later, like November through January, but there are plenty at the store.
I figure a short marinade of tangerine juice, soy sauce, grated ginger, and garlic powder, then cooking the chicken in the air fryer. Meantime do the stir fry of onions, bell pepper, soybean sprouts, and snow peas if I can find any. Then reduce the marinade along with some more juice and add the chicken to it. Served on a bed of rice cooked in coconut milk.
On one of my sample delivery forays, I mistook a carton of chicken stock for the carton of milk, and added that to the instant coffee. It was 4:15 am and I’d had four solid hours of sleep.
Longest-serving active duty Marine to retire after 42 years
Least surprising headline from Texas:
Texas megachurch co-founder steps down after ‘sexual sin and moral failure’
Testing to see if I get tagged with Dr. Joyner’s photo in my post like Scott did…
@Scott: That’s a lovely story, all the more bittersweet because of this:
Hegseth axes panel that encourages women to enter military
We are backsliding so fast.
ETA: interesting, the photo that shows with my comment is my typical one.
I see Patrick Fitzgerald is representing Comey.
Fitzgerald has a lot of experience dealing with mobsters and other criminal republicans.
Billboards aimed at troops ask ‘is this what you signed up for?’
@Jen:
I just noticed that. First quote that came to mind: “Oh, I’m like the Crypt Keeper!”
@becca:
Most likely outcome is that the first judge who sees this case dismisses it. Which is what the smarter MAGAs should want because the alternative is Trump sitting for a deposition. And that’s before half a dozen DOJ lawyers testify that this is selective prosecution demanded by Trump.
@Jen: Gravatar keys off of e-mail addresses. So either Scott knows our host’s e-mail and put that in, or more likely, WordPress botched something on the first couple of comments. It wouldn’t be the strangest WordPress mistake I’ve ever seen…
@Michael Reynolds:
“Most likely outcome is that the first judge who sees this case dismisses it. Which is what the smarter MAGAs should want because the alternative is Trump sitting for a deposition.”
No reason why both cannot happen (i.e., Comey moves for dismissal after his attorneys take Trump’s deposition). Less legal fees involved, but greater chance of success (and possible perjury case against Trump as well).
@Michael Cain: I had posted those two comments into the Zombie Democracy post prior to the Friday’s Forum being opened. James then cut and paste those two comments into Friday’s Forum thereby putting his mug into my comments.
@Scott: @Michael Cain: As @Scott notes, I moved those from the Zombie post to here. Even though I put Scott’s name and email address in the boxes, it defaulted to my Gravatar because I was logged in as myself.
On the Trek rewatch, the other day I streamed “Metamorphosis.” I’m sure I hadn’t seen it before, but somehow I knew a bit about the Companion, and the name Nancey Hedford rang familiar.
Later I recalled they were in a novel I read in the 90s, Star Trek Federation.
Back then, I hung out with someone who also liked Trek. We would buy Trek novels now and then, and lend them to each other. He must have wound up with that one, because it was not in my collection. I found it on Everand, and will red it over the next few days.
The villain starts out as a high official in a fascist UK government. This kind of makes it topical today…
We canceled out Disney+during the Kimmel suspension. We had too many streaming services, anyway.
Plus, ABC gave us The Bachelor and Bachelorette. Special place in hell for that creepy franchise.
@becca:
I saw a Kickstarter for a tenth circle of Hell to hold The Apprentice.
Today’s History Lesson
Monday September 26, 1960
The first of four televised debates between Republican Presidential Candidate Vice President Richard M. Nixon and Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator John F. Kennedy (Massachusetts) is aired from WBBM TV studios in Chicago.
The second and fourth debates originated from Washington DC (WRC TV studios) and Los Angeles (ABC studios) respectively.
The third debate was a coast to coast affair with one candidate, Nixon, in ABC studios in Los Angeles and the other candidate, Kennedy, in ABC studios in New York City. It was a big deal at the time. I vaguely recall a story about how the half empty can of paint used to paint the set in California was transported via airplane to New York City to be used to paint the set there so both sets would look the same on TV.
Per WikiP: This debate was considered a “monumental step for television”.
WikiP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_United_States_presidential_debates#October_13:_Third_presidential_debate_(ABC_studios,_Los_Angeles_and_New_York_City)
I was 12 years old and in 7th grade at the time. I can’t remember if I watched all of these debates but I think that I saw some of them.
My dad was a Nixon guy. He took me out to the Rochester (NY)-Monroe County airport one night to see Nixon at a campaign stop. All I remember was Nixon at the door of the airplane smiling and waving at the crowd. My dad said Kennedy was too young so I went along with that. What did I know?
I remember news stories about Kennedy being Catholic and would he be the Pope’s toady. Our family was Missouri Synod Lutheran which despite all the trappings is about as far from Roman Catholicism as you can get. If my parents harbored any religious bias against Kennedy I never heard it.
This is new…
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/26/musk-bannon-thiel-epstein-documents-00582627
Still no demoncrats!
Well, this is nice:
Sinclair ends Kimmel boycott.
CNN
“Free speech provides broadcasters with the right to exercise judgment as to the content on their local stations,” the company (Sinclair) wrote. “While we understand that not everyone will agree with our decisions about programming, it is simply inconsistent to champion free speech while demanding that broadcasters air specific content.”
Politico
Blah Blah Blah
Gotta’ wonder if they lost any local advertising in their markets.
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
Jesus, that was quick. Maybe at least a few MAGAs are actually in favor of free speech? Maybe some Democrats will take a lesson from all this the next time it’s us making the demands.
@becca:
Looks like the chief nazi visited the Pedo island. I can only assume he likes his reproductive abuse young.
I am not familiar with late night TV however I believe Kimmel does have competition from other TV outlets. I can only guess Sinclair realized if the Kimmel audience tuned in to other channels reruns of The Love Boat might not bring the viewers back.
Now if Nexstar resumes airing Kimmel, then maybe I’ll think about watching local news and odd other programming on the local CW station that Nexstar owns… Nah, there are alternatives and they lost me for good.
@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
@Michael Reynolds:
Not to mention that there could have been a quiet reminder that broadcast rights to ABC content could be moved to a different local broadcaster at some future date.
@Sleeping Dog: That and this…
Some groups that advertise with Nexstar and Sinclair are pausing their ads (Marketplace)
So private citizens gave advertisers an earful who gave local stations an earful, who called corporate and said fix this before it spreads.
If anyone’s interested, adding vegetable glycerin to the sorbet did not prevent it from turning into a block of ice.
I may try again next week with a bigger does. if that doesn’t work, then that’s it.
For this week I want to make tangerine chicken. I thought tangerine season was later, like November through January, but there are plenty at the store.
I figure a short marinade of tangerine juice, soy sauce, grated ginger, and garlic powder, then cooking the chicken in the air fryer. Meantime do the stir fry of onions, bell pepper, soybean sprouts, and snow peas if I can find any. Then reduce the marinade along with some more juice and add the chicken to it. Served on a bed of rice cooked in coconut milk.
@Kathy:
Or you could try adding chicken stock to the sorbet?
Or perhaps not. 🙂
@JohnSF:
On one of my sample delivery forays, I mistook a carton of chicken stock for the carton of milk, and added that to the instant coffee. It was 4:15 am and I’d had four solid hours of sleep.
It did not improve the taste of instant one bit.
@Kathy:
I’ve always said, instant coffee is the Devil’s brew.
More evidence always welcome. 😉
It seems like America is on the verge of an enemy attack with MacDuff sofas!!11!!!!!
Else, how can one explain the latest inanity?