State of The Nation

How America Lost Its Local Newspapers The Atlanta Journal-Constitution printed its final newspaper on December 31, 2025, marking the end of a 157-year tradition and making Atlanta the first major American city without a daily printed newspaper. The historic closure crystallizes a nationwide crisis that has accelerated dramatically over the past two decades, fundamentally reshaping how Americans receive local news and information about their communities. A Nation of News Deserts The numbers tell a stark story of collapse. Since 2005, more than 3,200 newspapers have vanished across the United States, disappearing at a rate exceeding two per week. The Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University documented that fewer than 1,000 daily newspapers remain in operation nationwide as of 2025, down from 1,472 in 2005. Of the roughly 5,600 newspapers still publishing, 80 percent are now weeklies rather than dailies. The human cost is equally devastating. The journalism workforce has...

Why a STAGNANT China is More Dangerous Than a Rising One (The End of the Chinese Dream) - YouTube Strategic Diplomacy—Not Military Buildup—Offers the Only Path to Victory Without Catastrophe TL;DR: China faces real structural crises that may trigger a Taiwan invasion, but U.S. blockade strategy has a fatal flaw: Russia's Arctic Northern Sea Route provides energy security beyond American interdiction capability. However, the Sino-Russian-Iranian coalition is fragile. A water-food-peace diplomatic offensive—Turkish water flows to drought-stricken Iran, Ukrainian wheat exports, and Russia-Ukraine peace—could fragment the coalition for $140-230 billion, preventing war that would cost trillions and kill hundreds of thousands. This embodies Sun Tzu's supreme excellence: subduing the enemy without fighting. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) China confronts severe, documented structural challenges—irreversible demographic decline, $9-13 trillion in hidden local government debt, and real...