Europe in Crisis

[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.

Thank you so much.

China Agriculture Land Threat

[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
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.

Louisiana Strong

Louisiana is taking a stand….a strong and courageous stand. The Louisiana State Senate has passed a bill with a unanimous vote that shouts state sovereignty. Senate Bill 133 is now in the hands of the Republican-controlled Louisiana House.


This bill was crafted to block the implementation or enforcement of any rules, regulations, taxes, policies, or mandates from the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the World Economic Forum. It shouts states’ rights and state power.

The United States of America is made of States; independent States. The federal government has only limited power over states. Louisiana has in effect, when passed by the House and signed into law, given the double middle finger to the Biden administration and the federal government when it, the state, does not agree with what is being pursued by the federal government.

Senate Bill 133 states “The World Health Organization, United Nations, and the World Economic Forum shall have no jurisdiction or power within the state of Louisiana. No rule, regulation, fee, tax, policy, or mandate of any kind of the World Health Organization, United Nations, and the World Economic Forum shall be enforced or implemented by the State of Louisiana or any agency, department, board, commission, political subdivision, governmental entity of the state, parish, municipality or any other political entity.”

The folks of Louisiana are making it crystal clear that no one is taking away the power of nor the freedom of Louisiana citizens. This clear message comes as the Biden administration makes noise and moves toward trying to cede decision making and enforcement power to such as the WHO, UN, and WEF. Isn’t going to happen in Louisiana.

It is my hope that other states will follow the lead of Louisiana to protect their own citizens.

Freedom is precious. The fight is on.

Justice for All????

United States Supreme Court
1 First Street NE
Washington DC 20543

Justices:

Forgive me for not being polite…. It is time for you to get off of your collective asses and take charge!

The court system under you is failing and you seem to do nothing when you do have the power to address matters. The lawfare against former President Donald Trump stinks to high heaven. You know it and I know it…. and millions of US citizens know it.

Time is wasting. If you do not take bold action there is a chance our Constitutional Republic will not survive. That will be on you.

The trust in the federal government including the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches is fast eroding. I predict if it gets to a point there well may be civil war.

It seems much of the corruption of the judicial system began with January 6th, 2021. Now it is rampant and getting worse by the day. Again, you and I both know there was no terrorist attack or insurrection on January 6th. And hundreds who are in jail are there only due to a corrupt judicial system. Yes, some deserved conviction, but the vast majority did not. Even many in jail are not getting timely due process. You know it and I know it.  

You and I both know the court cases against Donald Trump are crap. They are costing taxpayers and Trump millions to pursue. Any baboon can see the Georgia case and New York cases are total farces. They are election interference by a Democrat machine that is attempting to bleed Trump of resources and prevent him from even being in the 2024 election for President.

Again, you have the power to intervene. If you choose not to, the consequences for the country are dire.

Sincerely,

Kent H Blacklidge Ph.D.

Solar Sanity

There is a chance that solar sanity will ultimately be brought to Howard County. A ruling by Howard County Circuit Judge Lynn Murray for or against the development of a 1,800 acre solar field titled “Emerald” by ENGIE, a French multi-national company, is expected sometime in May.



This comes as a result of several Greentown area residents, who own properties adjacent to the prime agriculture land proposed to be covered with solar panels, taking their case to court. They challenged the legality of the approval of the solar project by the Howard County Board of Zoning Appeals on several grounds.

The ENGIE Emerald project had been denied twice earlier by the BZA. In the interim, one Board member who voted “no” was replaced by a Board member who voted “yes”. This member replacement or maneuver was questionable at the time. The final “yes” vote was a 3-2 yes/no vote; so the Board was split even in its final approval vote. Earlier it had been a 3-2 no/yes vote which denied the project.

The primary case for denial of the special exception for a solar field made by adjacent property residents rests in language found in 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.”

Further, under 7.08 Special Exception language states, “…. will not permanently injure other property or uses in the same district and vicinity….”

Any reasonable person would readily conclude the presence of a 1,800 acre solar field next door would not be “clearly a benefit” to adjacent properties, but would definitely damage adjacent properties in value and likely in physical ways. Judge Murray, however, need only conclude damage would come in the form of lower value for adjacent properties and not “clearly a benefit”. Who, really, would want to live right next to 1,800 acres of solar panels. The case is really simple as should be the decision by Murray.

Then there is yet another solar field proposal by another company to cover about 1,700 acres more of prime agriculture land. So, the decision by Murray is critical.

And as a former newspaper publisher, there remains a nagging question in my mind. That question is whether any local official or citizen, other than the landowners whose fields would be covered with solar panels, had financial gain from BZA approval of ENGIE: Emerald.

Millions and Millions

There was a saying coined by Carl Sagan, the astronomer. It was “Billions and Billions!” when referring to the vastness of the universe and its population of galaxies, stars, and planets. We in the USA can now claim the saying, “Millions and Millions”, when referring to the number of illegal aliens having crossed the southern and northern borders into our country during the President Joe Biden years.

Some estimate the illegal number at 10 million or so. President Donald Trump believes the number is closer to twice that at 20 million with more to come in the next 11 months until such time as most now expect Trump to be the 47th President in January 2025.

There are only four states in the USA that have populations of 20 million or more. Those are New York, Florida, Texas, and California. Where I live, Indiana, the population in 2023 is estimated to be 6.8 million and Indiana is 17th in the list. So, 46 states have populations less than the number of illegal aliens estimated by Trump to have invaded our country and 33 states have less than even the 6.8 million of Indiana. This paints a dire picture.

What we do not know is where all of the illegal aliens are. The news seems just to report they are being flown and bussed to places all over the country. But have you even seen an accounting of the numbers being dumped where? We hear complaints from the city of New York and Chicago about the number of illegal aliens being brought there, but the numbers are not even close to the total of illegal aliens coming in. So, where are they?

The federal and state governments should, no – must, report numbers and where illegals are being dropped. We already hear stories of medical facilities and schools being overrun. We hear stories of Chicago, for example, housing illegal aliens at O’Hare airport. We hear stories of schools being closed to students so facilities can house illegal aliens. We hear stories of upscale hotels being occupied by illegal aliens. We hear stories of illegal aliens being housed on US military grounds.

Consider this: if you just look at the images of the masses of illegals crossing the southern border you will see that the majority is young men. The majority is not women, children, or older men. The majority is not families. It is young men of typical military age. Now we hear reports of substantial numbers of Chinese men and men from hostile Muslim countries flowing in. These pose military/terrorist threats.

In the end, Joe Biden and his administration need to be held accountable for failing their oaths of office. They have violated the Constitution. The NGO (non-governmental not-for-profit) organizations and those that have transported illegal aliens should be prosecuted for aiding and abetting the violation of our immigration laws. All should be in jail for a long, long time. This may not happen, but it should.

Finally, Donald Trump has said that when elected the 47th President, he will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States. We can pray this will happen. And none of this addresses the devastation already wrought on the people of the United States from the deaths from fentanyl; a gift from China and the drug Cartels.

However Delivered: POISON

Reason had a victory. This past week a US federal court in Arizona banned three weed killers (poisons; biocides) widely used by American agriculture, finding the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) broke the law in allowing them to be on the market.

Crop spraying


The ruling affects dicamba-based weed killers produced and sold by Bayer, BASF, and Syngenta. Dicamba killers have been blamed for millions of acres of crop damage and harm to endangered species and natural areas across the Midwest and South.

The court concluded the EPA had not followed law in granting approval of dicamba for use on genetically engineered crops, typically GE soy beans and corn, that were resistant to it use, but killed weeds around them. The problem is that dicamba is very volatile! This means it easily goes up into the air and drifts to areas afar causing widespread damage to crops and vegetation not resistant to the pesticide. Result: unintended consequences… death to vegetation, including crops, elsewhere and death to animals and insects (pollinators, for example) dependent on that vegetation.

All of this comes on the heels of massive law suits against Bayer/Monsanto involving the use of Roundup (glyphosate) pesticide. So far those suits have cost Bayer billions in jury verdicts and settlements. The plaintiffs allege Roundup causes non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
And Syngenta is already facing nationwide litigation over its paraquat herbicide which thousands of plaintiffs claim causes Parkinson’s disease.

Apparently enough lessons have yet to be learned following the debacle with DDT. Rachael Carson in her book “Silent Spring” brought that to headlines. Eventually DDT was banned everywhere. I am thinking the whole use of biocides (pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc) on crops needs to severely restricted. We are in the process of poisoning ourselves and the planet.

Of course, all one has to do is follow the money. The creators of the biocides are the same companies that genetically engineer the crops to resist their effect. This means they sell the biocide resistant seeds to create the resistant crops and then sell the poison to put on it. Pretty good racket if you can get by with it. In the meanwhile, you make people and the planet sick. Ask the bees.

Safe USA & Hunters

I will confess, I’m pro guns.
America’s hunters — Pretty Amazing to think about.

The world’s largest army is America’s hunters. I had not thought about this before running into a Blogger that had added up the number of hunting licenses across the United States in 2023. The numbers are available from the Fish and Wildlife Service of the federal government.

There were over 669,000 hunters this season 2023 in the state of Wisconsin….. 669,000! Over the last several months, Wisconsin’s hunters became the eighth largest army in the world. More men under arms than in Iran. More than France and Germany combined. These men and women deployed to the wilds of a single state, to hunt with firearms, and no one was killed.

That number is in comparison to the 954,000 who hunted in Pennsylvania and the Michigan’s 661,000; all of whom returned home safely. Indiana had 273,000 licensed hunters. Toss in a quarter million hunters in West Virginia and it literally establishes the fact that the hunters in these few states alone would comprise the largest army in the world. And then add in the total number of hunters in the remaining states. That’s millions more. The total number of licensed hunters in the United States in 2023 was nearly 16,000,000…… that is 16 million!

The point? America will be forever safe from foreign invasion with that kind of home-grown firepower. Hunting — not just a way to fill the freezer. It’s a matter of national security. That’s why all enemies, foreign and domestic, want to see us disarmed.

Food for thought when we next consider gun control. Overall it’s true, so if we disregard some assumptions that hunters don’t possess the same skills as soldiers, the question would still remain: What army of say 2 million from afar would want to face tens of million armed citizens? And this does not even count the number of citizens who own firearms and are not licensed hunters. Maybe millions more.

This is the reason to guard the Second Amendment.

Voter Registration

Let’s see, the Tribune-Star (Terre Haute, IN) editorial writer in the column published in the Kokomo Tribune on the 8th thinks that for folks having never registered to vote before, it would be a burden or too complicated to ask they present some photo identification and some address-verifying mail to establish Indiana residency in order to register to vote. Well now, this sure sounds pretty complicated to me only if one concludes prospective voters are stupid or deceptive. The writer claims this requirement would apply most to young people and naturalized citizens who more than likely would vote Democrat.

The other way to get through this extremely complicated maze of registering to vote is to provide a copy of a driver’s license and the last four digits of their social security number along with their registration application. This too sounds really ominous and very difficult to do, especially if you are young and/or naturalized.

The truth is that nothing in the above is complicated or burdensome. Anyone with half a brain can figure it out.

The writer then goes on to say, “Indiana’s elections are secure, as are elections in every other state. Election fraud is rare.” Frankly, the writer must live under a rock. Even in very red Indiana, there is election fraud.

I am grateful the Indiana General Assembly is taking steps to assure voting in Indiana is fair and accurate. I would be happier if Indiana would return to paper ballots, one day voting at one’s home precinct, rare and justified absentee ballots, and hand signature ballot registration books (the only way to match signatures). I do think that one way to promote more eligible people to vote would be to declare a state holiday for a voting day. No work obligation for that one day.

What the General Assembly has done does make elections more secure. They just need to do more.

The Comet

North Central Indiana has just experienced a great loss. There was a small weekly newspaper, The Carroll County Comet, in Flora, Indiana, that had been published for many, many decades. It is now closed. Its owners’ family had been involved in newspapers in Carroll County for over 100 years. The Carroll County Comet itself came into existence in February 1974. It was published every week since then until the end of December 2023; close to a half century. Its owners were dedicated to serving their community.

The loss of the Comet is yet another in the grievous story of newspapers in the United States. Now we find many ‘news deserts’ around the country. In the last issue of the Comet, the owners point out that since 2005 over 2,900 local newspapers have closed. They reported the USA is on pace to lose one-third of all its newspapers by the end of 2024. What a catastrophe.

Thomas Jefferson said long ago, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter”. He knew the importance of an informed public to make a strong country.

The USA is in crisis times. In my mind, we may not survive as a strong Constitutional Republic. The loss of newspapers is yet another indication we are losing the glue that holds us all together. Electronic media and the Internet will never take the place of locally owned and operated newspapers that once put printed paper into the hands of citizens weekly or daily. Those papers told the story of a community from the minor to the major events, sports, and interests. They helped to create the feeling of knowing neighbors…. something now disappearing.

Where I live in Kokomo, IN, there still is a daily newspaper. But it is a skeleton of what it once was. In the days when I was directly in Kokomo Tribune management, we had about 185 employees and over 300 newspaper carriers that delivered the paper to doorsteps each day. Each edition was of many pages of extensive stories, photos, and editorials about local happenings and interests. Now the Tribune has maybe a dozen or so employees. Each edition is of a few pages only. Its coverage of happenings is very limited and its circulation is a fraction of what the KT used to be.

I sure don’t know the answer. An informed public is critical to the strength of our country.