Dispatch Revived

The Kokomo Dispatch blog has been resting long enough. I chose to consolidate posts to the kentblacklidge.wordpress.com blog some months ago. Now I believe it time to undo part of that choice.
The Kokomo Dispatch masthead existed on a print newspaper for decades. It began as a local newspaper in Kokomo, Indiana, as an enterprise started by the Poynter family who went on to bigger things with the St. Petersburg Times in Florida. The Dispatch was purchased by my great grandfather, John Arthur Kautz. The Dispatch name was carried as a sub-head in the Kokomo Tribune until the late 1960s when the name was dropped.
The Tribune was sold in 1981 to the Thomson Newspaper group. At that point the Tribune had close to two dozen family owners, all descendants of Kautz. The family was in the situation where the death of one of the older partners would trigger a forced sale just to pay estate tax. The decision was made to sell. The market for newspapers was very good at the time, but the sale to Thomson was not good for the paper nor for the community. The focus went from serving the community to maximizing profit. Unfortunately, this was the story for hundreds of family owned newspapers across the country.
I want to carry on the Kokomo Dispatch name which was not included as a part of the sale to Thomson. I feel it is part of my history and duty. I think the Poynters would be pleased as would J.A. Kautz since the Tribune name was passed on to others.
It is interesting to me to realize how deeply newspapers and journalism are rooted in me. Some of my earliest memories are of times going to the newspaper offices with my father. I was around newsrooms, composing rooms, and the press more times than I can imagine. I can still smell the ink and paper and still hear the rumbling of the press as it printed the thousands of copies of the paper to be delivered to doorsteps. I remember.
After the sale of the Tribune, I changed course. For years I was involved with science and the academic community. I loved that, too. I was able to make a significant contribution in evolutionary biology. I went off, too, in other directions that hit dead ends. For the past 16 years, professionally I have been a licensed real estate appraiser in Indiana. This has had its rewards in that I have become very familiar with about all communities in North Central Indiana and have met hundreds of very interesting and good people. My vision as a result has widened.
For years, the voices within rooted in my decades with the Kokomo Tribune were muted. They have come alive. We are in precarious times for our country. Everyone who can should speak out.

For the Life of Me… NOT HILLARY

For the life of me, I do not understand how anyone would consider voting for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States. Her track record is worse than abysmal, most of which we would not know except for hackers, Wikileaks, and alternative media; not from main stream “news” media.
Clinton has shown herself to be a liar interested only in that which benefits herself, Bill, and the Clinton Foundation. She, along with President Barrack Obama, is largely responsible for the horror we see in the Middle East and the satanic radical Islamic terrorist campaign seen over the entire world. She is in the pocket of lobbyists, giant global corporations, and foreign governments. Now we learn that Clinton, in her own words, has a private position and public position on matters; one true and one lies. We know this not from speech contents she released to the public but from releases against her will by Wikileaks. Clinton advocates open borders and total free trade for the Western Hemisphere. These positions exemplify those not of a patriot interested in the welfare of the United States of America but rather one of a globalist interested in personal power, wealth, and world domination.
Hillary Clinton’s happy face and expressions of concern for the citizens of the United States are phony. She is seeking two things: power and money. She and Bill claimed to be broke when Bill ended his term as President and they left the White House, yet now they are multi-millionaires. That could not have happened on Hillary’s salary as Secretary of State and Senator from New York nor from Bill’s pension as a former President.
The record shows Bill and Hillary were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by multi-national corporations and Wall Street for speech after speech. You know damned well the speeches were not that good. The payment was for influence, advantageous policies, current favors and favors yet to come. You know foreign governments, foreign citizens, and domestic donors did not give millions upon millions to the Clinton Foundation out of the goodness of their hearts. They were buying the present and the future for themselves. Get real.
Recently we learned as a Chancellor of a very large for-profit school, Bill Clinton was paid 17 million dollars over a 5 year period when Hillary Clinton was condemning for-profit schools. Bill resigned about two weeks before Hillary announced her candidacy for President. Hypocrisy personified.
We have Benghazi. This is an episode that will not go away. Hillary Clinton is directly responsible for the deaths of American citizens including the American ambassador. Hundreds of calls for increased security were ignored. The Red Cross and the Brits exited Libya but still security for our representatives was never improved. The military and CIA personnel that potentially could have made a difference were told to “stand down”. The United States government never acted to save lives. Only the few who disobeyed orders were there to help. But, “what does it matter, now” says Hillary Clinton. According to her, the attack at Benghazi was due to a video program. That is what she told the public at large and the families of those who died as they received the coffins of their loved ones. Hillary Clinton full well knew this was a bold faced lie. Cruelty personified.
We have the emails that went through the private email server in her home. Thousands have been released but the FBI announced there were an additional 15,000 heretofore not seen; and now even more than those. Clinton admits she had over 30,000 emails deleted so that no one could ever see them. The deletions came after a subpoena from the United States Congress which demanded preservation of all emails.  What did remain, however, showed classified information passed through her private server where it could be hacked by about any foreign government wanting to. This put USA citizens at risk and maybe even cost lives. That we will never know.
Evidence has revealed there was mixing of Clinton Foundation favors with State Department business. She lied about that. Now we learn a Clinton Foundation aide used a hammer to destroy Hillary’s old cell phones and that she had electronic records “bleached” beyond anyone’s recovery. Wonder why? When asked if she wiped her server, her response was, “what, with a cloth?”.  We now also learn that boxes of documents in the custody of the FBI regarding their investigation into the Clinton emails have disappeared.
When interviewed by the FBI, Clinton claimed over and over she did not “recall” much of anything. The most egregious was the claim she did not recall being trained on how to handle classified material even though she signed a form acknowledging she received that training. And as the Senator from New York State, she was even on the Armed Services Committee. So, more lies. Much easier to “not recall” than admit blatant lying.
In my lifetime, I have never seen such corruption of our federal government. This includes the FBI, Department of Justice, CIA, State Department, the Presidency and Executive Branch, and more. There is a move well underway to grab power from the people forever. If this succeeds, we will no longer have a country; at least not one the Founders would recognize.
I know why most Republicans will not be voting for Hillary Clinton. What I do not understand is why anyone identifying as an Independent or even a Democrat would vote for Hillary Clinton unless they are intelligence challenged, are like lemmings following their “leader” over the cliff, are expecting some taxpayer (government) freebie in the future, are an illegal alien, or just do not understand the difference between globalism and patriotism. I cannot think of any other reasons.
One more thing: in the State of Virginia it has been reported there are an estimated 54,000 illegal aliens registered to vote. Welcome to Hillary World.
We are at a historical crossroads. If we choose the wrong road, we head for unfathomable horrific times. Think long before you vote.

Trump Apology

Trump Statement 10/7/2016:
I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not. I’ve said and done things I regret and the words released today on this more than a decade old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it. I was wrong and I apologize.
I’ve traveled the country talking about change for America, but my travels have also changed me. I’ve spent time with grieving mothers who’ve lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I’ve gotten to know the great people of our country and I’ve been humbled by the faith they’ve placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never ever let you down.
Let’s be honest. We’re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we’re facing today. We are losing our jobs. We’re less safe than we were 8 years ago and Washington is totally broken. Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground.
I’ve said some foolish things, but there is a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed, and intimidated his victims.
We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.
Donald Trump

Trump Sex Talk Video is Nothing

The uproar over the Trump sex talk video is a whole lot to do about nothing. His apologetic response should close the matter completely.
Men have a way with them beginning with the onset of puberty. Studies have shown that healthy men have thoughts about sex frequently, very frequently. Those who don’t have such thoughts are either liars or eunuchs. Any male who has been on a team, in a locker room, on a golf course, or with male gatherings of about any kind know that sex talk and braggadocio pop up more often than not. And any man who notices the female gender has thoughts of sex at least from time to time. This is all normal in our society.
And for women, have you noticed at the check out line at the grocery store the number of magazine covers featuring some female clad in “sexy” fashion or about nothing at all? Do you see any covers with male models on them? I don’t. And what is this about? Have you noticed the number of magazine covers that feature some article about great or better sex? They are all over the place. And women in the United State of America don’t wear burkas that cover from head to foot; quite the contrary.
None of this means it is proper to act on every thought. Our culture is filled with sexual suggestion and allure, but talk is a universe different from actions. Donald Trump talked 11 years ago in ways that were meant to be private and between men as men sometimes are.
What gets me is the sanctimonious outrage from both women and men over what Trump said 11 years ago. I particularly question the character of the Republicans — including House Speaker Paul Ryan — who express shock and judgment, then go about back peddling or distancing themselves from the Republican candidate for President of the United States of America. They are like rats fleeing from a ship. One wonders about people who profess they are so much better than Donald Trump or are they just “posers” who were always looking for a reason to dive back into the Washington cesspool from which they have come and love so much.
I can not conclude without comment about the Clintons. Bill Clinton is a true sexual predator. Hillary Clinton was an enabler. She was the one who went about threatening Bill’s victims. Silence is golden or else.
Donald Trump never claimed to be an angel or perfect. He is a male human being with flaws like the rest of us. Maybe that is why the “rest of us” like him so well. He has apologized. Now let’s get on with the debate about the issues that are going to make or break this country.

Dallas Morning News Hook

Before Tribune readers swallow hook, line, and sinker the Dallas Morning News editorial supporting Hillary Clinton that was reprinted in the Tribune on September 9th, they should consider some facts.
Dallas, Texas, is Bush family country; got it? The Bush family hates Donald Trump. Even with mother Bush and brother George W. Bush support, poor brother Jeb Bush was pushed to irrelevance and obscurity after spending millions of dollars on campaign advertising. The Bush family was not happy. After all, they were sure the time was now for Jeb Bush to take the stage as the next President of the United States to continue the Bush family dynasty. Did not happen.
The Bush family and the Clintons have formed an alliance. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton refer to each other as “brothers with different mothers”.
The Morning News editorial goes at great lengths to excuse Hillary Clinton’s bad judgment, behaviors and lies. They conclude with comments about Clinton being in the public spotlight for four decades with 25 of them on the national stage. They write, “Clinton is a known quantity”. That is for sure. It is the “known” that shouts to me. Recent revelations about Clinton’s mishandling of classified information that put this country at risk on as many as 13 different devices speaks volumes.   Hillary Clinton is not to be trusted. She is not qualified to be President of the United States.

KT verses Trump

The “Trump’s take dangerous” editorial from the Tribune Editorial Board is the worst and most irresponsible editorial I have ever read in this newspaper. That judgment comes from 20 years of past experience in management of the Tribune with four as its publisher.
This “editorial” – and I cringe in even assigning that word to what I read –is filled with distortion, speculation, and untruth. It is a work of fiction. Maybe the Editorial Board of the Tribune should now advertise itself as psychics and fortune tellers but not responsible journalists.
The piece says military personnel of Mexican descent and of the Muslim faith would be disparaged. Where did that conclusion come from? If one reference is to the Khizr Khan incident, maybe the Tribune should do some fact checking to learn Khizr Khan is an attorney who has written about and promoted the adoption of Sharia Law in the United States over that of the Constitution. And how about the illegal Mexican immigrant who served in the US military with the promise of a path to citizenship only to be deported after serving. That is the Obama administration, not Trump.
And “veterans are cheated and scorned”. You must be taking about Obama and Clinton. A centerpiece in Trump positions is the overhaul of a Veterans Administration that is a disgrace to this country. Vets are dying for lack of treatment. That is the Obama administration, not Trump.
And “our nation’s allies are cast aside”. Our relationships with “allies” are at a low. No ally can count on the United States wishy-washy word any longer. Clinton and Obama have seen to that. Trump simply wants other nations to pay their way, not ask the United States to shoulder an inequitable share of the financial or military burden.
Trump would be tough on terrorists including torture if need be. So was George W. Bush. The U.S. is in a fight to the death with radical Islam whether we want to admit that or not — and, clearly, the Obama/Clinton team does not and has not. They will not utter those words, “Radical Islam”, except under duress. Winning will not be via kumbaya moments and hand holding.
Trump has advocated closing American military bases. Given modern technology, we simply do not need a base in every nook and cranny of the world. Closing bases does not undermine anything. It does expect former host countries to step up to the plate to provide more of their own protection. And closing bases is not in any way dismissive of the time or talent of the thousands who have staffed outposts. Times do change and needs change. This is not 1940.
Trump did call the U.S. military a disaster which has nothing to do with compassion and respect for our armed forces. Unlike Obama and Clinton, he is a champion of our military. He sees our military has been abused, overused, and neglected. He sees we have planes that cannot fly without parts scavenged from others. He sees multiple deployments and rampant PTSD. He sees the suicide rate among vets. He sees our military has been degraded and weakened. It is Obama and Clinton who are responsible for that and that is what is profoundly disrespectful.
In short, you got about everything wrong you possibly could have. Donald Trump may be blunt, brash, inappropriate, and undiplomatic at times. I say, “Good for him”. We need to hear it straight out. His dry sense of humor may not be understood or appreciated all the time, but I say this is a problem for those who don’t get it, not for him. Wise up.
Seventy percent of the population of this country believes we, as a nation, are on the wrong path. The very definition of insanity would be to vote for a candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who promises more of the same and then expect a new and better path. That is what you are suggesting.