The Kokomo Dispatch — Pledged but to Truth, To Liberty and Law, No Favor Sways Us and No Fear Shall Awe: Poynter/Kautz/Blacklidge
Author: Kent
Past Publsher/CEO of the old Kokomo Tribune and Kokomo Dispatch. As one of a newspaper family who owned a 34,000 daily newspaper in the heart of the Midwest for 85 years, I have a deep belief in a strong “Fourth Estate”, the press. Without a diligent, truthful, and assertive free press, the power would be taken from the people. People have the absolute right to know. After earning a degree in Industrial Management from the Krannert School of Management at Purdue, I spent over 20 years in newspaper management with several as publisher. I also hold three graduate science degrees including a Ph.D.. I have a passionate interest in science, the environment, government, and politics. I have very little tolerance for ignorance and stupidity.
The framers of the United States Constitution were very clear in their conclusion about firearms. The Second Amendment to the Constitution reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.
It is very evident that the Constitution framers did not intend to limit the right to keep and bear arms to a formal military body or organized militia, but intended to provide for an “unorganized” armed citizenry prepared to assist in the common defense against a foreign invader or domestic tyrant. Nothing could be needed more than today.
Gun control or gun abolish advocates keep chipping away at gun rights. If it were up to the current Biden regime, all guns would likely be banned. It is focused now particularly on so-called “assault weapons” like the AR-15 and anything similar to it. You may not realize it, but the Washington Post in 2023 reported roughly 16 million people own about 20 million AR-15’s in the United States…. that is 20,000,000; not a small number. The Post stated, “one in 20 adults own at least one AR-15.”
Including all firearms, the United States of America likely has the heaviest armed citizenry of any country on the face of the Earth. It needs to stay that way. In the present day, there are clear threats to freedoms from government, from foreign adversaries, and from domestic terrorists. They all need to give thought to what an armed conflict would mean.
I wrote earlier about citizens and guns. I said: The world’s largest army is American’s hunters. Referring to 2023, I noted there were over 669,000 hunters in the State of Wisconsin alone. Together, these would make up the eighth largest army in the world; more than France and Germany combined. And this number compared to 661,000 in Michigan; 954,000 in Pennsylvania; and 273,000 in Indiana. These four states alone total some 2,557,000 armed citizens that were hunters. Together, there were nearly 16,000,000 licensed hunters in the United States of America in 2023……. 16 million!! This does not include the thousands or really millions of others who are legal gun owners of all types of guns.
Any enemy, foreign or domestic, would give pause before taking on the citizens of the United States of America. Most are not members of any military or law enforcement unit, but when it became necessary, they would fight. They need to remember this.
The United States of America is the home of the free and the brave.
Normandy Beaches….. 80 years ago. Invasion of Nazi German held territory by thousands of troops from the USA, Great Britain, Canada, and more. Thousands died there that day, but the first steps toward defeating the dream — no, nightmare — of Adolph Hitler were taken in blood.
Eighty years have passed. The grounds of the American Cemetery at Normandy are lined with white crosses and the Star of David. The grounds are silent. Grounds that one roared from cannon and gunfire and death. The grounds are hollowed by the souls that gave their lives there to preserve freedom around the world. We must never, never forget that.
We watched the 80th remembrance ceremony in full. My wife and I were reminded of our own visit to Normandy some years ago and our walking among the grave sites. We were reminded of our own feelings of sorrow and gratitude for the men who died and were buried there. You really cannot imagine the feelings unless standing among the graves yourself.
We were reminded of the many armed conflicts and men and women who have died since those days of World War II. We think of Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan and the untold many smaller fights our military has been asked to fight. And we think, too, that most, if not all, of the undeclared wars fought since WWII resulted from corrupt or unwise USA leadership.
Ole President Joe Biden could not help himself. He could not be content to honor those veterans present and those in military uniforms and the many who had gathered to pay homage to the few who remain alive from that horrific day. Joe had to turn his speech into a political speech. He had to bring up Ukraine and Russia and try to liken that to what happened at Normandy. That is blasphemy. He seems to forget that Russia was an ally to the USA in WWII and that Russia lost more people in that war than all other countries combined. Biden had to bring up NATO; an alliance long ago outdated as a deterrent to any invasion of Europe by Russia later during the Cold War.
The world is a different place today. The power of nuclear weapons is too much to even comprehend. And Joe now has to continue to poke the “BEAR”, as Russia is often referred to. Under Biden, the USA has pumped billions of dollars and tons of weapons to Ukraine; a corrupt country. Now Biden is allowing USA provided weapons to even be used against targets inside of Russia itself. And there are reports there are US troops involved directly. This is insanity. What happens in Ukraine is NOT in the interest of America First. It is time for the USA to butt out and let the European nations figure things out. Bring our troops home and shut off the money. We have mountainous needs in the USA.
I absolutely do not believe Valdemar Putin wants to invade Europe. I do believe he wants at least part of Ukraine given its history of being part of the Soviet Union and that the eastern part of Ukraine is populated with Russian speaking people. I say let him have it. The world does not need WWIII.
Oh, to have the time to write. I whine and moan about never having the time I would like to write for my Blog and Substack, even if no one reads them. I do have things to say and opinions to express rattling around in my head all the time.
I was thinking….. from the time I was born until I was 44 years old when my family sold the Kokomo Tribune, all I remember was newspapers. My father at age 24 was the CEO of the Tribune when I was born. His grandfather Kautz was CEO and owner beginning in 1897 until he died in 1938 when my father took over as a family Trust of Kautz’s daughters technically controlled ownership and operations. I remember I lived, breathed, and almost worshiped journalism and newspaper production and the peoples “right to know”. My first job was in the Circulation department where I mapped motor routes and solicited subscriptions. That was an experience when I approached Amish/Mennonite families out in Howard County. The women at home were always polite, but they deferred to their husbands who were working out on the farm somewhere.
But even before that I was around the Tribune a lot. I still have a photo of me at the corner of the Tribune building selling papers on VE day at the end of WWII in Europe. And I have a photo of me at a typewriter in the Tribune newsroom writing something when I was probably around 10-12 years old. Then when at Kokomo High School, I became the radio editor for the the student newspaper, the Red and Blue. We had a weekly program with three of us: sports, news, and social. And who knew at the time that my father was one of the owners of the WIOU radio station. Wonder if that had some influence?
Finally, off to Purdue. My father wanted me to study engineering of some kind. He believe the mental discipline and thinking processes taught were the best in engineering verses any other studies. I started in Electrical Engineering and finished three years in that discipline, but due to circumstances involving a fraternity pledge which did not go well, I switched to Industrial Management. I was in the very first class of that offering at Purdue. As it turned out, it was the best combination of engineering and management one could imagine. Purdue became famous for this. This really saved me from academic probation. I excelled in all classes. I really loved the studies in management, engineering, and finance.
My life did go into chaos though with an unplanned pregnancy and an early marriage when I was still 19 years old. I was a junior at Purdue at the time. I will save that story for later.
After graduating from Purdue with a BS Industrial Management, I became a full time Kokomo Tribune employee. This, as it turned out, was a time at the cusp of an enormous change in the way newspapers were produced. The old way was with hot metal type and letter presses. The huge change that occurred was to photo composition and offset presses and the use of computers in typesetting. That is easy to say, but it took years — nearly a decade — to make the changes. The Kokomo Tribune became a world leader in medium sized newspapers in technology. We had visitors from all over the world to see how we did things. With General Motors Delco engineers, we created one of the very first computers for typesetting. I wrote all of the software for it as well as a Fortran comprehensive package for circulation accounting and bundling in the mail room. We had a tremendous “family” of about 150 folks at the paper that worked together to get it all done.
At the same time, my father pursued newspaper industry leadership interests. He eventually became the President of the Inland Daily Press Association and later the American Newspaper Publishers Association, the industry association of most of the daily newspaper in the United States.
This is enough for now…. Chapter One in the life of one Kent Blacklidge and journalism. More later…….
Today is Memorial Day, the day to remember and honor all who have given their lives in the armed struggles to save our United States of America. It started with the Revolutionary War for independence from Great Britain, then to the Civil War, the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil. Some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers were killed with millions more injured.
In the 20th Century came World War I, then World War II, which were direct threats to the survival of the USA, followed not long after by the Korean War, the Vietnam War and later the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many, many died in armed conflict after conflict. None were fought on United States soil. And the ones following WWII in hindsight are now seen as ones directed by decisions from unwise political leaders. The cost in American lives in foreign wars since WWII has been tragic. We honor all who died and all who have suffered catastrophic injury.
The country is even now in peril. Not from foreign invasion, although that may come, but rather from enemies within. This includes the current Executive branch of our federal government and its FBI, CIA, State Department, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security.
It is time to meditate and pray for our country. It is time to remain vigilant. It is time to be prepared for whatever may come. We can save this country. We can once again become a nation under God and the US Constitution. We can bring the USA back to being the light on the hill for all nations on Earth. The fight is upon us.
Now we learn President Biden and his Justice Department authorized the use of deadly force in the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump and his family’s Florida home. Court documents show there was a medic with the heavily armed agents and that a triage unit had been set up some miles away; a practice not normally initiated. Further, FBI agents were instructed to wear unmarked polo or collard shirts and to keep enforcement equipment concealed. Why?
This was a non-standard, unprecedented operation with significant potential for confusion resulting in blue on blue armed conflict: FBI agents verses Secret Service agents. This set up competing equities between federal agencies (FBI & United States Secret Service) with equal statutory claims to interrupt the other’s activities. Again, why? It is reported there was no prior coordination between agencies. Was this an attempt to heighten the possibility of gunfire?
This all was to retrieve so-called “federal classified documents” Trump had taken from Washington DC at the end of his presidency to which he allegedly was not entitled. This all for documents Trump had securely stored at Mar-a-Lago and for which he had been negotiating with the National Archives and Records Administration.
Was this raid really a veiled assassination attempt? Fortunately, President Trump and family were not at Mar-a-Lago when the raid took place.
And we learn, too, there were documents planted by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago and that evidence presented to Judge Aileen Cannon in the Jack Smith Florida court case dealing with the papers case was tampered with. The papers were scrambled — not in original order — and the covers seen in photos were later added by the FBI agents.
All of this is coming out as the days go on. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case against President Trump is falling apart. And their remains the root question as to whether Smith is legitimate in the first place having never been approved by the US Senate to occupy such a special counsel position. This is yet to be resolved.
What appears it will come down to ultimately is whether Trump took papers originally classified. As then President, he had absolute authority to declassify anything he wished and take them with him when leaving office. Clearly, he took something or somethings likely related to “Crossfire Hurricane” (the illegal spying on the Trump campaign for the 2016 election and papers he had formally declassified) that scares Democrats. I have to wonder if those papers finger Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Joe Biden, specifically.
Very interesting, too, that President Joe Biden took classified papers from Washington when he was a Senator and Vice President. These showed up in Biden’s garage and at his homes and at the University of Pennsylvania. He had absolutely no authority to have any classified papers in his possession. Him having them then is a federal crime. Biden should be held accountable for these actions, but don’t expect that from the Biden Justice Department.
We all need to thank God for Florida Federal Judge Aileen Cannon. It appears she is putting up with no nonsense or manipulation attempted by Jack Smith. She is after the truth. Her current position is there are many pretrial questions to be answered before any potential trial could take place. There is even a chance she will dismiss the Smith case entirely. Now, that would really enrage Biden Democrats. Or maybe it is really Obama Democrats and RINOs.
Wrong decision! Howard County Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray either cannot read plain English language or someone got to her when she approved the ENGIE Emerald Green Solar project for eastern Howard County. This project will take 1,800 acres of prime agriculture land — some of the best and richest in the world — and put it under solar panels for decades.
Murray’s decision flies in the face of crystal clear language in the county zoning ordinance itself. Under the Agriculture (AG) District section, the Board of Zoning Appeals is directly addressed. The language states , “Board of Zoning Appeals: allow a special exception use (which specifically includes “power generation facility”) only when it is clearly a benefit to the adjacent properties”. How is that in this instance?
Further, under 7.08 Special Exception language states, “…. will not permanently injure other property or uses in the same district and vicinity….”.
How Murray concluded all of this language, which is very clear, can be violated is seriously in question. A grade school student would understand what is meant by “clearly benefit” and “will not permanently injure”; words in the zoning ordinance.
It is obvious to me that someone got to the Board of Zoning Appeals when they approved the ENGIE Emerald project in the first place. Even Board membership was manipulated. Their approval, too, was in direct contradiction of zoning ordinance language. Did someone get to them, too? I think so. Money talks.
No reasonable person could conclude that adjacent properties will “benefit” and that they will not suffer permanent injury. But, Judge Murray did exactly that. She and the Board of Zoning Appeals should be ashamed of themselves.
It is my hope that the property owners who took this case to court will continue on to the Court of Appeals. Maybe there they will find judges who can read. If Murray’s ruling stands, it becomes even worse given there is another solar project of 1,700 acres right behind it. Again, hundreds of acres of prime agriculture land will be taken out of production for decades and, frankly, probably ruined for much longer.
We have a problem that must be fixed and fixed quickly. In 2010, the question asking whether a person is a United States of America citizen was removed from the decennial census questionnaire. The result has been that all people — citizen and non-citizen — have been counted. This has resulted in a distortion of representation under the U.S. Constitution for Congress and for the Electoral College that selects our President and Vice President.
The Equal Representation Act (S. 3659/H.R. 7109), introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) and Reps. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), requires the Census Bureau to include a citizenship question on all future decennial censuses and subsequently prohibits all non-citizens from being counted toward congressional district and Electoral College apportionment. The bill also requires that the Census Bureau publicly report on citizenship status data obtained from the census questionnaire. This bill has passed in the House of Representatives. It is on to the Senate.
A central purpose of the Census is to provide an accurate and fair count of the U.S. population – including the number of citizens and non-citizens. But the Census should not be used to take resources and representation away from American citizens in favor of illegal immigrants. Because the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives is a fixed 435, districts that have a large population not legally allowed to vote allots a disproportionate weight to the legal voters in those districts. Counting non-citizens rewards states with extra congressional districts – and representation in Congress – they do not deserve. Similarly, it unfairly skews presidential elections because electoral votes are allocated based on the number of congressional representatives in each state.
Congress must address the influence of a growing non-citizen population that is unfairly altering representation in the House, Electoral College votes, and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to blue states with sanctuary cities. These allocations should be based solely on the needs of American citizens. In fact, Thomas Jefferson understood this more than 200 years ago when acknowledging a complete Census – with a citizenship question – was critical to preserving America’s representative democracy.
And, as an aside, non-citizens must not be allowed to vote in any election, local/state/or national. This privilege is for citizens only. Proof of citizenship and voter ID are a must in all future elections.
[Below is a speech by Eva Vlaardingerbroek, a Dutch national, at CPAC Hungary. She clearly tells what has and is happening in Europe as a result of illegal mass migration. There are parallels and differences for us, the United States of America. We are a country of LEGAL immigrants with the largest numbers coming in the 1800s to the early 1900s. From the beginning, we were a mix of Native Americans (the Original People), Europeans, Africans, Hispanics, and others. We managed somehow to get through some pretty difficult cultural times, but we did it with a devotion and loyalty to liberty and freedom and respect for all citizens… and with guidance from the US Constitution. Times are different now. The USA cannot tolerate the hordes of ILLEGAL immigration. Legal, yes. Illegal, no. We have enough problems to solve to take care of US citizens. As in Europe, mass illegal migration into the USA must end and all illegal immigrants returned to the countries from which they came.]
Hello Hungary…. Hello Budapest…. Fellow Europeans and American friends! Thank you so much for having me.
Allow me to skip formalities for a moment and dive right into subjects not so cheerful, but very, very necessary to discuss.
Let me walk you through the past seven days in Europe. This week in Stockholm, three elderly women in their 70s were stabbed in broad daylight on the streets. In London, 4 people were stabbed in a time span of just 42 hours. In Paris, hundreds of African migrants took to the street to riot. And in Brigamot, France, yet another church was burned down to the ground. That —ladies and gentlemen— is just a few incidents in just a couple of days on our beautiful continent. But we all know that these “incidents” are not “incidents” anymore.
If there is one thing that is for sure, it is that we know, and our governments also know, that there is a link between mass migration and crime.
In the Dutch city of Dorda, something interesting happened the other day. They announced — and this is a small city in the Netherlands — that a new asylum center will be put in that little town. And what did the municipality do? They said we are going to offer citizens who live in the vicinity of the center 1000 Euros to take extra safety measures.
Our reality in Europe consists of frequent rapes, stabbings, killings, murders, shooting and even beheadings. But let me be clear about one thing: this did not used to happen before. This is a newly imported problem.
Samual D Huntington predicted this over 25 years ago when he wrote, “In the new world of mass migration, the most pervasive and dangerous conflicts will not be between the social classes. They will not be between the rich and the poor. They will be between peoples belonging to different cultural entities, tribal wars, and ethnic conflicts will occur within civilizations”.
Well, boy was he right. And the worst part is that we as a society seem to have become indifferent to it. When an other white boy or white girl dies at the hands of an immigrant, we might shake our head… we might let out a sigh… we might even get angry for a minute or two. And then we go on with our lives. We offer the family thoughts and prayers, but nothing ever changes.
Ladies and gentlemen, what does that say about us? This is the response of a society that has already given up. A society that has already accepted its defeat. But, is this true? Have we given up? Do we really accept the new reality that our globalist leaders have in mind for us?
And know one thing for sure. That is that if nothing changes…. If we don’t start to seriously fight for our continent, for our religion, for our people, our countries; then this time that we live in will go down in history as the time which Western nations no longer had to get invaded by hostile armies in order to be conquered. This time will go down in history as the period in which the invader was actively invited in by a corrupt elite. And not only did this corrupt elite invite the enemy in, they made the native population pay for it, too.
Everyone who has eyes can see it. The native white Christian European population is being replaced at an ever accelerating rate. Let me back this up for you with some statistics from my home country. Let’s take Amsterdam, the Capital. Amsterdam currently consists of 56% migrants. The Hague, 58% migrants. Rotterdam, almost 60% migrants. And, of course, most of these immigrants come from non-Christian, non-Western, African and Middle East countries. Conclusion: the Dutch population is already out numbered in the majority of our cities. But let’s look onwards.
London, 54% migrants. Again, conclusion: native population outnumbered. Brussels, — color me shocked — 70% migrants. Conclusion: native population majorly outnumbered. And other Europeans will follow suit soon, if they have not already.
So, I am going to draw the forbidden conclusion here. The Great Replacement Theory is no longer a theory. It is reality. And what is interesting about replacement is that the establishment will either deny its existence or, when they admit to it, they say it is a good thing that the native European population is soon no longer a majority on its own continent.
Such national disgrace and dubbed “Climate Pope” Frans Timmermans already stated in 2015 that diversity is humanities destiny. And that Europe will be diverse. And, of course, by now I think we all know what they mean by “diversity”. It means less white people. Less of you.
Imagine this in an Asian or African country. Imagine their leaders rejoicing in the fact that their people will soon no longer be a majority in their own country. Absolutely, unthinkable. Unimaginable. So, what in the world is wrong with our leaders?
The underlying sentiment is always they same. Our establishment claims that white people are evil and that our history is somehow fundamentally different from that of others. Consciously or unconsciously, they have sucked up the lies of anti-white dogmas of the Neo-Marxist Critical Race Theory. That why the totalitarians in Brussels are trying to force you, the Hungarian people — a sovereign nation, to accept immigrants despite the fact that the population has said “no” and so has the government. But make no mistake, the majority of the Dutch people have not asked for this either.
Just like Brussels is forcing Hungary to accept hordes of immigrants, they are doing the same now even in the smallest of towns in the Netherlands. No part may remain Dutch in a traditional sense of the word. No part of Europe may remain “European”. And it is not difficult to understand why.
If the old Europe still exists in certain places, then people will be able to compare the new Europe to the old…. And —news flash — they will prefer the old. That is why the bureaucrats hate Hungry so much. And their message is clear. Our way of life, our Christian religion, our Nations…. They have to go, without exception.
Their vision of the future is the neo-liberal, unrecognizable Europe where every city becomes kind of like Brussels: ugly, dirty, unsafe, zero social cohesion, where the buildings are constantly under construction and they never, ever seem to finish. And, even when they do, the end result is uglier somehow than what they started with. And what are we left with? A permanent state of isolation, confusion, and disorientation.
Ladies and gentlemen….. Welcome to the New World Order!
So what is the antidote? A strong Christian Europe of sovereign nation states. That is why we need to outright reject the lies that nationalism causes wars. It is not nationalism or national sovereignty that causes wars. It is expansionism. And where in Europe do we find that now days? In one place and one place only: Brussels.
Isn’t if funny that the same people who erode our national sovereignty and love to do it … give it all up to the Eurocrats there… that those people are now telling us that we need to spend billions and billions of Euros on the national sovereignty of Ukraine? It’s a joke, honestly. And it is pretty sick and expensive dangerous joke.
During a recent interview, I got ask do you ever think you go too far? Do you ever think that you are too radical? I thought about it for a second: said NO. No, I don’t think I go too far. Truth be told, ladies and gentlemen, I think we in Europe do not go far enough.
I think that if we really think about the organized structural attack on our civilization, that we don’t do enough. Do we do enough to stop the attack on our families, on our Continent, on our countries and on our religion when we hear about another murder, another stabbing of a young innocent child; do we do enough? When we know that our national sovereignty has been given up in less than a century to Brussels; do we do enough? When we hear that Christian kids in Germany are now converting to Islam to ‘fit in’ ; do we do enough? I don’t think so.
The totalitarian institute of the European Union needs to come down. Let me be clear. I don’t believe in reforms. When the foundation of your institution is rotten, and that is the case in Brussels, you can rebuild the house on top of it all you want, but it is still going to crumble. So, the only answer is the Tower of Babel needs to be destroyed.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are the daughters and sons of the greatest nations on Earth. And we ask ourselves, what has happened to us. Where have we come from. And more importantly, where are we going. Our elites have declared a war on us and now it is time for us to put on the full armor of God, fight back, …. And WIN.
[Kristi Noem is the Governor of South Dakota. This article is adapted and edited from testimony delivered before a recent hearing held by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Agriculture.]
I come before you today as the 33rd Governor of South Dakota. My home state is known for the gorgeous Black Hills, rolling plains, and, of course, the historic and iconic Mount Rushmore. If you haven’t visited us yet, consider this a personal invitation.
Agriculture is our number one industry, followed by tourism, so protecting our land is incredibly important to our people.
Today, the focus of this committee hearing is “The Danger China Poses to American Agriculture.” Over the years, I have witnessed this hostile communist country work to systematically take over more of America’s vital food supply chain. Decades ago, I watched China start buying our fertilizer companies and making us more dependent on them for this crop care product. Then, they went after ownership of our chemical companies. I watched our government offer citizenship to members of the CCP in exchange for investment and ownership of our food processing systems. Now, they’re buying up our land.
Flag of China
Between 2010 and 2020, the Chinese Communist Party’s holdings of U.S. agricultural land increased by 5,300%. Reports show China owns about 384,000 acres of U.S. ag land valued at about $2 billion. This should be alarming to all of us. The USDA admits this may not even account for all of the land that has been purchased.
Why? Because the federal government does not monitor and track foreign interests in these large transactions. There is little reporting and very few consequences for allowing countries that hate us to buy up our assets.
Just this past summer, my Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources was contacted by Chinese nationals wishing to meet, tour, and have conversations about how we process and grow our food. We declined those meetings, and within days, the State Department contacted us to notify us that those individuals were Chinese spies trying to steal our intellectual property and crop genetics.
Make no mistake, the CCP will do anything to control our food supply. The Chinese Communist Party is not our friend. It is not our partner. It is not our ally. The CCP is our enemy – a rapidly expanding national security threat that cannot be ignored.
Let me be clear. China is buying up our entire food supply chain.
When America can’t feed itself and relies on another country to feed us, it becomes a national security issue. The country that feeds us controls us.
Let me remind you of why we do a Farm Bill. In the past, the Farm Bill has always been a bipartisan issue. I had the opportunity to work on two of them as a member of Congress. A Farm Bill is simply a safety net. America decided years ago that our nation’s security needed a safe and affordable food supply that we grow. Every family in this country should be able to afford to go to a grocery store and buy their family’s necessities.
The Farm Bill ensures that. Farmers who get up every day to make sure there are groceries on those shelves can have one good year and pay their bills and look forward to the next planting season, or have one bad year and have drought, hail, or flooding and lose everything. It is a risky business, and I’ve often said some of the biggest gamblers I know are our family farmers.
The Farm Bill should be designed to help farmers, not environmental extremists. Our farmers don’t want President Biden dictating their agriculture practices to fulfill his extreme climate agenda. As a conservationist committed to protecting the abundance of natural resources in my state, so-called “climate-smart” agriculture dictated by the Biden administration does not help farmers who need help developing conservation, natural resource, and wildlife habitat solutions that best meet their needs at the local level.
It is in our nation’s best interests that those farmers exist because we do not want one entity to eliminate their ability to keep prices low for our families. The Farm Bill manages that risk and is their safety net. I implore you to do your jobs and get it done.
Recent media reports show the largest Chinese holder of American ag land is shipping food and medical supplies to China to be stockpiled by the Chinese military. We all saw when China purchased land in North Dakota that they claimed it was for a corn processing plant. But there wasn’t enough corn around to support that kind of a facility. And it was just a few miles from a U.S. Air Force base.
South Dakota is home to Ellsworth Air Force Base, the B-1 bomber, and the MQ-9 Reaper drone. It will soon be home to our next-generation bombers – the B-21s. This platform will protect our nation for the next 50 years. As governor, I refused to let what happened in North Dakota happen in South Dakota.
For almost two years, I worked with our legislature, our ag community, and our business community to stop China and five other evil foreign Governments from buying ag land in our state near our military assets. I’m happy to report that we’ve banned them – and strengthened reporting requirements to identify and stop illegal purchases in the future.
China doesn’t allow American companies to own their land – they don’t even allow their people to own land. Why would we allow them to purchase our most significant asset?
It’s clear President Biden does not have a plan to protect the American people – not against crime in our major cities, not at the southern border, and not against the threat of China. So, today, I’m here urging Congress to stop the CCP and other nations that hate us from infiltrating our country.
In summary, let me remind you that for decades, China has manipulated their currency, stolen our IP, spied on us, mistreated us in trade practices, is purchasing our nation’s debt, controls our nation’s prescription drug supply chain, is poisoning our children with Fentanyl, unleashed a deadly virus on the world, uses Tik-Tok to spy on and control our nation’s population and is willing to put their people through horrific situations to fulfill the plan they have had for thousands of years to be the dominating world power.
The only thing standing in their way is us. America. If we lose this country, where will we go?
The time is now to ensure that every policy we pass and champion puts America First. Our safety depends on it. Our security depends on it. Our American way of life depends on it.
“We Indians know about silence. We are not afraid of it. In fact, for us, silence is more powerful than words. Our elders were trained in the ways of silence, and they handed over this knowledge to us. Observe, listen, and then act, they would tell us. That was the manner of living.
With you, it is just the opposite. You learn by talking. You reward the children that talk the most at school. In your parties, you all try to talk at the same time. In your work, you are always having meetings in which everybody interrupts everybody and all talk five, ten or a hundred times. And you call that ‘solving a problem’.
When you are in a room and there is silence, you get nervous. You must fill the space with sounds. So you talk compulsorily, even before you know what you are going to say.
White people love to discuss. They don’t even allow the other person to finish a sentence. They always interrupt. For us Indians, this looks like bad manners or even stupidity. If you start talking, I’m not going to interrupt you. I will listen. Maybe I’ll stop listening if I don’t like what you are saying, but I won’t interrupt you.
When you finish speaking, I’ll make up my mind about what you said, but I will not tell you I don’t agree unless it is important. Otherwise, I’ll just keep quiet and I’ll go away. You have told me all I need to know. There is no more to be said. But this is not enough for the majority of white people.
People should regard their words as seeds. They should sow them, and then allow them to grow in silence. Our elders taught us that the earth is always talking to us, but we should keep silent in order to hear her.
