Sunday’s Forum columns come from Marty Schladen, Keith and Pat Throckmorton, Phillip Hamburger and Don Macke.

Courage in the face of adversity

BY MARTY SCHLADEN

These are tough times. But they’re not the first and the past, as always, can be instructive.

Recently, I picked up Albert Camus’ 1948 classic “The Plague” and I’m very happy I did. I hadn’t read it since college and my memory was beyond hazy. I did remember that its main character was a doctor (Bernard Rieux) and that it was about his struggle against an epidemic of bubonic plague in the French Algerian city of Oran; how he carried on, exhausted but determined, in the face of odds that grew more impossible by the hour.

You’d think it would have occurred to me to read this a few years ago when we had a deadly, global plague of our own. But I’ve always been a little slow on the uptake and this was no exception. Besides, a lot of the smartest people I know are feeling overwhelmed and fighting despair right now. As I remembered “The Plague,” it was about the philosophy/morality/ethics of staying in the fight when the odds against you seem most daunting.

Rereading the book, this seemed to be the main point. 

Behind the story, of course, is an author, a French Algerian one who just five years before had gone to Nazi-occupied Paris, started the book, and became editor-in-chief of Combat, an underground newspaper of the French resistance.

“Paris is firing all its ammunition into the August night,” Camus wrote in it, according to a bunch of websites. “Against a vast backdrop of water and stone, on both sides of a river awash with history, freedom’s barricades are once again being erected. Once again justice must be redeemed with men’s blood.”

He was writing to capture a moment. But he was also trying to inspire by describing the stakes: blood sacrifice to secure freedom’s barricades. When they’re that high, it’s hard to justify not doing what you can, I think he’s saying.

In the mid-90s, I got an idea just how important a newspaper can be to an imperiled community. Just after the four-year Siege of Sarajevo, I was at a journalism convention in D.C.

A grizzled reporter described how Bosnian Serbs laying siege hurled artillery shells into the newspaper building, leveling it floor by floor until he and his colleagues were literally working underground, laboring by candlelight to type and mimeograph what few copies of the paper they could muster. Then he and the others would brave sniper fire to drop and post them around the city.

The name of the paper? Oslobodjenje, or “Liberation” in English. According to its reporter, the community saw it as liberation and more — a way of knowing what was happening to their neighbors and of knowing they weren’t alone in their suffering. That despite or because of it all, they were proud, resilient. They had an identity. 

The reporter said the hunger for their work was so great that copies would pass from reader to reader until they fell apart.

Those details are indelible to me. Something so important that it’s worth risking your life to produce and disseminate or to obtain and read. To read until it crumbles.

Certainly in Camus’ occupied Paris, nothing very good was going to come if Nazi thugs found you even in possession of Combat, much less writing and printing the thing. But print it they did, to obvious effect.

It seems to me that that’s what Camus was really getting at in “The Plague.” It’s a study of how people react when they’re confronted with calamities so big they can’t be ignored.

There’s Cottard, the man who’s committed an unnamed crime. Alone in the city, he’s pleased by the pestilence, thinking the cops will be too preoccupied to go looking for him. Concerned chiefly with himself, he’s a character who resonates in our current situation. But then there’s a bit of justice. When the pestilence ends, Cottard goes mad.

There’s the Parisian journalist Rambert. Just happening to be in Oran at the outbreak, he at first schemes obsessively to get back to his new wife. He tries to justify his selfish pursuit of personal happiness in the face of the calamity, and Dr. Rieux doesn’t argue with him. But then the journalist has an epiphany and passes up a chance at escape to instead work tirelessly at Rieux’s side.

And there’s Father Paneloux, who first reacts to the outbreak by exhorting that it’s God’s rightful judgement on a sinful people. As he cares for its victims, he softens toward them, but not toward his faith or himself. Declaring all or nothing, he invests all in his faith, refuses treatment when he gets sick, and dies.

Most important is Dr. Rieux. He sees nothing heroic in what he’s doing. He’s trained as a healer. He’s in a place full of people who need healing. So in his mind, his duty is clear. The other characters take their cues from him.

It would be hazardous for a layman such as myself to over-interpret one of the great novels of the 20th century. So I’ll confine myself to this: Camus was writing during and just after a time when democracy and any real notion of freedom were under grave threat. He was on the front lines of that fight at a time and in a place that must have, more than once, caused him to despair of his cause. He fought on by putting out his vital newspaper and then he wrote this book. Others in and around the resistance did the things they could — big and little — to sustain a community that existed beyond cruelty and madness. For many, that surely consisted of just being decent to those around them.

Seems to me that we moderns might learn something here. Instead of just moaning in despair, we all need to do our bit, no matter how humble, to do good, be good, talk to people with whom we might not think we agree, make things better. One of those little things is writing, reading, and doing our best to share the truth.

For now, anyway, in the United States, no great physical dangers confront publishers and readers of independent journalism. But one wonders whether good information can be heard over the sinister din raised by our current crop of tech-mogul Cottards. We all have to keep at it.

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He’s won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters. Column originally appeared in the Ohio Capital Journal.

The Current Political Way: Hate, Violence and Discontent

BY KEITH THROCKMORTON

From January 2021 until 2025, the Biden administration opened our borders to anyone without them being vetted. During these four years, millions came into our country, some wanting to become citizens, while many vicious criminals of every type arrived to victimize our people for their criminal pleasures and gains at our expense. Why? Specifically for votes for a radical, far-left, progressive agenda.

Today, our president, Donald J. Trump, is dedicated to removing these illegal alien criminals and gangs from America to bring a degree of safety back to our citizens.  It is my opinion that all the partisan tantrums, threats, and pouting by members of Congress are as despicable as anyone could be.   

Due to the radical left’s hate for President Trump and ignoring their oaths to protect our citizens, these elected politicians are challenging his efforts to deport these illegal alien criminals to make us safer. Why are they more focused on safeguarding illegal criminals than their oaths to those who elected them? For votes! The blood of the victims of the heinous crimes is on their hands to support these illegal, vicious criminals.

During the days after September 11, 2001, a large-scale investigation was conducted to determine how many terrorists may be embedded in Washington DC and surrounding areas.  When I moved here to North Carolina in 2003, this investigation concluded at least fifty al-Qaeda Cells in the Washington, DC area. How did they get there? Some crossed our unprotected borders through Canada and Mexico; some were already embedded through traditional methods. The numbers of these enemies living in America are countless and are represented in all walks of life; some criminals pose as respected citizens. I concluded we, as a nation, did not get the message that God intended for us on September 11, 2001. 

From January 2021 until 2025, illegal aliens and vicious criminals have been invited to flood our nation and are being supported by our citizen’s taxes by the Biden administration. How many terrorists have been embedded with these undocumented illegals entering our country? The number is probably in the millions. What may these terrorists living among us be planning to do this time?

Today is the saddest and most evil time in our once-great history. Politicians are elected to serve their communities, including ensuring their safety and responsible use of tax dollars. They hate Donald Trump more than living up to their oaths. There are currently four federal judges challenging the deportation of these illegal alien criminals over the safety of their communities.

These members of Congress, along with Joe Biden, have the blood on their hands of the innocent victims of these criminals that they want to protect. These betrayals include progressive prosecutors and politically influenced judges such as far-left Judge James Boasberg, who refuses to prosecute along with jurisdictions declaring themselves sanctuary cities and states.

Some members of Congress and the House of Representatives are inciting chaos, even cheering for the arson and destruction of property.  Innocent people are threatened to feel fearful for their continued safety.  I will stop short of saying these elected officials are bordering on being terrorists themselves.  Nonetheless, they are blatantly calling for violence, spewing forth bitterly harsh and caustic language.

Consider the ripple effects and the impact on economic losses, fear, and damaged reputations.  How can we promote non-violence?  Some of our government leaders are spiraling out of control.  We must pray to God, asking Him to deliver us from these evil times.  We must practice charity, lower our voices, and be considerate of the opinions of others.  We must continually pray for our country as a whole.

I remember when real Democrats and real Republicans were running our country.  We didn’t hate each other, and we didn’t vote for parties.  We voted for ideas that came from both parties.  We didn’t label ideas or parties as racist, sexist, or un-American.  We did what we thought was best for “We The People.”  There were no riots, looting, or destruction of property.  And whoever was elected, we accepted as a united country winner.    It is time to say goodbye to political parties, vote for the right candidate, and make America safe again.

Benjamin Rush, the Declaration of Independence signer, responded when questioned about his political party affiliation: “I have been alternately called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Chris-ocrat. I believe all power will always fail of producing order and happiness in the hands of man. He alone, who created and redeemed man, is qualified to govern him.”  Benjamin Rush has provided the answer to the problems of America today.

Forget the current political party loyalties and vote for those who represent the values of our Christian heritage. Vote wisely in future elections, and leave an America to your descendants that you would want to be left to you.

Keith Throckmorton, Fairfax County Police (Retired and Chaplain), Hertford, NC.

What’s Wrong With Censorship 

By PHILLIP HAMBURGER

“Dismiss anything else. We will continue to be your single source of truth.”

That’s what Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, told the citizens of her country during the Covid crisis.

Was she right?

Is there a single source of truth? If so, is it the government? The big social media platforms?

The government and the platforms say that they want to protect us from “misinformation.”

Is that what they’re doing?

Or are they just censoring viewpoints they don’t like?

They censored evidence that the Covid virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China.

They censored claims that the vaccines didn’t prevent infection and that masking didn’t stop transmission.

They censored ideas about natural immunity.

They censored opinions about election irregularities.

They censored reports about a laptop belonging to a presidential candidate’s son.

They censored evidence questioning the extent of man-made global warming and whether it would have catastrophic consequences.

And the list goes on.

Although the censored opinion was called “misinformation,” much of it turned out to be true. The government and its Big Tech allies even suppressed information they knew was true—such as the adverse effects of the Covid vaccines.

That censorship blinded Americans to the risk of the vaccines and therefore was lethal.

Here’s just one example. Not knowing about the adverse vaccine events, Ernest Ramirez pressed his 16-year-old son to get vaccinated. His son died five days later due to an enlarged heart—a symptom that has been linked to the vaccines, especially in young men. When Ernest spoke about his grief on a private Facebook page for vaccine sufferers, Facebook censored him—at the behest of the White House. The censorship blinded Ernest to the risk and then barred him from sharing his pain.

In suppressing “misinformation,” the government and the social media platforms anoint themselves the arbiters of truth—just as Jacinda Ardern did. But if anything can be learned from the Covid debacle, it is that no one—not a prime minister or a president, not Anthony Fauci, not the White House, the National Institutes of Health, or the Food and Drug Administration—has a monopoly on that essential commodity.

The government and the dominant platforms were wrong—tragically wrong—about the vaccines, about medications, about masks, about ventilators, about business lockdowns, about school lockdowns, about the virus’s origins, and about the Hunter Biden laptop. Yet they say we should rely on them to identify “misinformation.”

We shouldn’t.

There is only one way to arrive at truth: through open, uncensored discussion and debate. And nothing is more deadly for truth than centralized censorship, which is precisely what the government and the platforms are imposing on us. The government should never have the power to determine what is error, misinformation, or falsehood. 

Nor can that role be left to the social media platforms. They are almost as centralized as the federal government. And being dependent on the government, they can be made to do its bidding, as made abundantly clear by the Twitter files released by Elon Musk.

Censorship is mind control. That’s why governments want it. And that’s exactly why they shouldn’t have it.  

Let’s see how this plays out in the political sphere.

Speech is how individuals learn about political candidates and how political opinions are formed. Without free speech, there can’t be free elections.

So, when the government controls election speech, it controls elections. And then you no longer live in a democracy, let alone a republic. Tragically, many Americans now think that free speech is only for them, not their political opponents. In their view, censorship is desirable, and the First Amendment just a quaint 18th-century artifact.

The whole point of freedom of speech is that all of us should be free to explore all sorts of ideas. Only in that way can we test claims of truth for error.

None of us is infallible. None of us has all of the truth. We depend on others to correct our mistakes and teach us what we don’t know. 

So, speak up for freedom of speech. Not just for you, but for everyone else, especially those with whom you disagree. 

Although the forces arrayed against speech are formidable, do not despair. Their censorship will be their everlasting shame. Your defense of freedom of speech will be to your everlasting credit. It may be the most important thing you ever do.

Philip Hamburger, professor of law at Columbia University and CEO of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, wrote this for Prager University.

Rural Housing – Challenges and Solutions

BY DON MACKE

Rural America has challenges that vary from landscape to landscape across this huge country. But some are more universal and rural housing availability and affordability is the one shared across geographies and populations. For too many rural communities the lack of affordable housing is negatively affecting their development. 

Understanding Rural Housing

Distressed and remote rural communities are struggling with population loss and disinvestment. On the other hand, urban adjacent rural communities are growing and facing challenges of building enough new housing to meet demand. 

Consider my high school hometown of Ogallala to illustrate some rural housing realities. Ogallala is located where Interstate 76 heads to Denver and Interstate 80 continues on to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in western Nebraska. As is the case throughout the Great Plains, both moisture and people thin out from east to west. Keith County (population 8,113) and its lead city of Ogallala (population 4,840) are rural, not remote, and have struggled to find prosperity since I graduated from high school in 1974. Housing is a huge issue in this community. 

According to the most recent American Community Survey, there are 5,476 housing units in Keith County. About 71% are occupied, but 29% are vacant. Large numbers of vacant housing units are both a development threat, but also an opportunity. 

Most of the occupied housing units are owner-occupied (69%) and the balance are renters (31%). The median housing value is just $128,000 and the median rent is $633. Compared to Denver’s metroplex just three hours down the road, housing costs are dramatically higher, and supply tight, particularly for working families. Understanding housing availability and affordability is key to rural housing solutions. I believe that repurposing vacant housing and undertaking infill on vacant lots with infrastructure is a core solution to my hometown’s housing needs. 

Importance of Rural Housing

In our rural community economic development work over the past 50 years, when talking to rural leaders we explain the importance, and the difference between, the “essential” and “desirable” amenities. 

Essential rural community amenities include access to health care, education, basic groceries, motor fuels, and housing. New housing stock is wonderful, but for rural communities the solution begins with understanding that existing housing stock is a key development asset. Understanding that every vacant lot with utilities, long unoccupied distressed downtown housing, and aging single-family homes are possibly one of the greatest development opportunities for any rural community. 

From Crisis to Solutions

The good news is, across rural America, there are innovators demonstrating solutions to our rural housing challenges. They are creating right-sized and affordable housing options. They are meeting housing needs of a new doctor coming to town, building starter homes for young working families, or single-story housing for retirees. 

One of my favorite communities is Stuart, (population 502), located in north central Nebraska. Twenty-five years ago, the community of Stuart was facing school consolidation and the loss of its public schools. They searched for solutions and decided that if they could create a family-friendly community, including the right kinds of housing, they could stabilize their population and keep their basketball team, the Broncos.

The City of Stuart, the Stuart Public Schools, and their development corporation came together and created a housing game plan. They learned about programs and raised local capital. Over these years they did infill housing, housing rehabilitation, and new subdivision housing for both families and retirees. Good news, it worked and Stuart’s population stabilized, and the Broncos are alive and well with a winning boys’ basketball team. 

Keys to Stuart’s housing solutions included tapping into federal, state, and private housing programs. Pursuing more cost-effective housing rehab and infill, making optimal use of sunk utilities. But Stuart has also figured out how to build new housing. Their financing and building strategies include:

• Financing enough housing to attract builders.
• Construction of small square footage housing with expansion potential once homeowners have equity.
• Sourcing building materials locally through Stuart’s lumber yard. 

Where There Is Housing, There Is Opportunity

In today’s U.S. housing market, if you create housing, you will attract new residents just as Stuart has done. Three hundred miles to the west of Stuart is Sidney, Nebraska. Sidney’s rural innovators turned a housing crash into a housing boom. 

In 2017 when Sidney lost Cabela’s , along with 2,000 corporate jobs in a community of 6,500. A housing bust ensued, with over 500 units showing up on the market. Within two years, Sidney was once again facing a housing shortage. Good housing at affordable prices attracted new residents from the Denver Metro, helping Sidney recover from the loss of the big outfitter. Today,making housing a development priority is fundamental to rural community success. 

Column originally appeared in the Daily Yonder — Don Macke calls America’s Great Plains home basing out of Lincoln, Nebraska. For the past 50 years Don has worked in community economic development throughout North America. He is transitioning to more research and writing as he retires from being a regional economist and project work.

From Where Comes Inspiration

BY PAT THROCKMORTON

“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 KJV

2 Corinthians 4:16 tells us not to lose heart.  Even though our bodies may be wasting away, we are renewed and refreshed daily by faith.  Trust in the Lord, not growing weary in doing well because a reward has been promised.  When you become discouraged or weary, consider the hardships Jesus endured.  At any time, He could have said enough is enough; nevertheless, He fulfilled His earthly mission.

We have all faced problems in relationships, schools, or jobs.  Sometimes, intense periods cause us to want to give up and quit.  We should follow Paul’s example by concentrating on our inner strength from the Holy Spirit.  Don’t allow fatigue, pain, or criticism to force you to give in.  We must renew our commitment to serving our Lord and Saviour.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

The Lord told Jeremiah that even before he was formed in the womb, He knew him and had chosen him as a prophet to the nations.  His undertaking was probably the toughest assignment of any prophet.  God warned him that the people would not listen to his pleas to turn back from their wicked ways.  “Get yourself ready,” God said to Jeremiah (1:17).  He was taught to speak as commanded and not to be afraid to take the message of repentance where God told him to go.  He was instructed not to marry, attend funerals, or sit with merry-makers or those feasting.  That was a somewhat stringent course of action for a young Jeremiah; he was asked to give up much.  By inference of these rules, this left the prophet quite alone.  No wonder he fell into a pity party on occasion!  After all, he was human…how many of us could follow this rigorous path?

“But the Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome One.  Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail.  They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.  Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.”  Jeremiah 20:11 NIV.

Although Jeremiah is known as the “prophet of doom” and the “weeping prophet,” although there were times he wanted to quit, he stayed his course as a great leader.  He had a divine calling with firm conviction.  John Maxwell asks: on your bad day, will you give up or get up?  How can you get up?  His follow-up is this.  Rise above self-pity; failure is an attitude, not just the outcome.  Try alternatives; if this approach isn’t working, then try another.  Think positively, maintaining enthusiasm.  Learn from experiences.  Develop a sense of humor – laugh!  You must put things in the proper perspective.

A dear friend said years ago, “Be kind to your neighbors, for one day you may need them.” Wouldn’t that be a limitless domino effect if each of us would practice that simple rule?  That is especially true as we are quickly approaching Easter.  Think less about yourself and more about others.  Be an encourager; raise each other.  Be an inspiration to someone.

We are gifted with such unlimited blessings and personal gifts.  God knows the losses and hardships we have encountered.  By His grace, our faith will persevere.  He is indeed the Awesome One!  We will be inspired through our daily prayers and Bible study.

I ask of You, Lord, to heal Your children’s broken spirits so they, too, will feel Your grace and presence.  Replace the anger that is prevalent in our world today.  Be merciful to those who are envious and mean-spirited.  In Jesus name, I pray.  Amen.

A retired nurse, columnist and published author, Pat Throckmorton is a resident of Hertford.