The End of News
But if you look for the good in despair you'll find it
Greetings from up north where it is notably cooler than my regular perch in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The highlight of my week was re-visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. My first visit was more than two decades ago, and I did not give I.M. Pei’s visionary design its due. Situated on the banks of Dorchester Bay, it is a remarkable building.
Burying the Lede
A report from Rebuild Local News and Muck Rack finds that more than 1,000 counties — one out of three in the nation — do not have the equivalent of even one full-time local journalist. “The shortages of reporters are more severe, and I would say more widespread, than we thought,” Steven Waldman, the founder and president of Rebuild Local News, told Nieman Lab. “We knew there were really egregious pockets, but this shows it’s everywhere. It can be a big city or a suburb or a small town and you could have a real shortage of reporters.”
Please read Ron Fournier’s terrific newsletter, Convulsions, where he recounts his first days as a local reporter in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It illuminates the need for robust, local journalism. As he astutely observes, “Local journalism can’t be replaced by social media, because social media doesn’t uncover corruption or report hard truths. It confirms biases, and rather than creating a connective tissue for townspeople, the algorithms tear people apart.”
Get Off My Lawn!
The Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has outlined a plan to prohibit China from owning American farmland. To protect U.S. farmland, the USDA, with help from the Justice Department, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and cooperative state and local governments, will seek to block investment by foreign adversaries and launch an online tool to help farmers report on potential unknown foreign ownership. Perhaps this is an actual thing worth worrying about rather than GOP fear-mongering.
“A country has to be able to feed itself, fuel itself, and fight for itself to truly be free,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said while joining this event in Washington, D.C. That’s a lot of “f’s.” It is also the grade Arkansas would receive today for its ability to feed its people. Here’s a thought for the governor who leads one of the most food insecure states in the United States. Focus more time on No. 1.
Regnat Populus, Just Not in Missouri
It is too bad that the will of the people can be denied as easily as it is in Missouri. There, Republicans in control of the state legislature ignore the outcomes of ballot measures they do not like and use their power to overturn them. It has happened on reproductive rights and now on an increased minimum wage and paid sick leave. Kara Corches, president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called the mandated paid sick leave a “job killer.” That is laughable.
The Sad Reality of the Anti-Vaxx Movement
Measles, for which there is an effective vaccine with no harmful side effects, has reached its highest infection rate in 33 years. People in 39 states now have the illness, including across the Heartland. Measles is one of the most contagious diseases and can spread rapidly among unvaccinated people. There are at least 1,289 cases in the United States. Meanwhile, at the Department of Health and Human Services, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an anti-vaxx advocate, has been dismantling vaccine infrastructure across his agency.
Off the Shelf
I am reading two compelling biographies at the moment. The first is one I have been looking forward to for several years: “Buckley: The Life and Revolution that Changed America,” by Sam Tanenhaus about the founder of National Review, William F. Buckley, Jr. The second is “Zbig: The Life of Zbigniew Brzezinski, America's Great Power Prophet,” by Edward Luce about Zbigniew Brzezinski, a foreign policy advisor to John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama who also served as Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor.
Cocktail Party Top Three
With rising temperatures across the Heartland, it is worthwhile to recall the long-standing medicinal virtues of lemonade. While lemonade might not be medicine, there’s still science behind its ability to quench your thirst on the hottest of days. I find zealous teetotalers uninteresting, but to beat the heat discuss creative ways to stay hydrated during the day before enjoying the a Gold Rush in the early evening on the front porch with a close friend.
As the horrific flooding and mass casualty tragedy in Texas continues to be understood, there is new reporting that Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s cost-control measures prevented FEMA officials from pre-positioning Urban Search and Rescue crews from a network of teams stationed regionally across the country. Noem didn’t authorize FEMA’s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday, more than 72 hours after the flooding began. Mix a Ranch Water and discuss this with an expert in emergency response.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm” is one of the great comedies of the modern era and arguably of all-time. Larry David, the show’s creator and star (also of “Seinfeld” fame) is returning to HBO for a six-episode sketch comedy about American history produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. Have “the drink” argument with a dinner companion while you enjoy a Tequila Sunrise.
Flyover Country Podcast
Please tune into my conversation with the co-founders of GoodChange about political fundraising, engagement, and running for office. You’ll enjoy listening to Becky and Emily, I assure you.
Pride in the Heartland
The editors at Vogue, the venerable fashion magazine helmed by Anna Wintour for many years, took notice of the Pride celebration in Fayetteville, Arkansas. “The parade filled a mile-long stretch of downtown Fayetteville with music, dancing, and vibrant color. Chevrolet pickup trucks and old Ford Rangers, decked out with rainbow flowers and sparkly fringe, pulled trailers filled with bubble machines and people tossing beaded necklaces and friendship bracelets to the crowd.” The author, Evian Keels, also noted,
The history of gay visibility in the area is steeped in protest. In 1977, the Arkansas legislature proposed a bill to declare all homosexual acts a misdemeanor punishable by a year in prison. The community reacted with a series of marches led by University of Arkansas students, residents, and local businesses—including George’s, which has been around since the ’60s.
Democrats Still Don’t Get It
There’s nothing new or interesting about launching an initiative called “States Forum” where you bring the same crowd together in Philadelphia (blah, go elsewhere, Democrats!) to hear speeches from the likes of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro while eating vegan Caesar salad. Layer in dumb stuff like a “Demo day,” “Tiny TED Talk,” and so on it gets worse. One of the leaders of the event even “urged attendees, Oprah-style, to look under their chairs, where they found sticky notes. He encouraged them to write down a tagline for the worldview coming into focus at the forum, as the “Jeopardy!” theme song played,” according to The New York Times. That sounds awful and pointless. To be sure, this nonsense might appease usual suspects in the donor class but it will not help the Democrats move forward.
Weather, We Hardly Knew Ye
The Donald Trump administration is looking to make sweeping cuts at the nation’s weather agencies, including the closure of all federally funded meteorology labs, such as the National Severe Storms Laboratory. These facilities also support local economies. According to the University of Oklahoma, the federal lab in Norman helps sustain more than 900 jobs in the region. The lab in Oklahoma is one of more than 10 weather and oceanographic laboratories listed for termination in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s request for funding next year, part of much larger cuts requested by the Trump administration. If approved by Congress, NOAA would receive just $4.5 billion in funding next year, meaning it would have $2 billion less and 12,000 fewer personnel to support studying and forecasting weather events.
Thank you for reading, sharing, and supporting Flyover Country. If you have a guest idea for the Flyover Country Podcast please email me at Rutherford.Blake@gmail.com.