Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sorted by date Results 112 - 136 of 1718
One of the questions we often receive about the EPIC Option Consumption Tax concerns the two ballot initiatives. Many folks ask us, "How is the petition drive doing?" Today I am prepared to give an update and I have some very good news to report. The EPIC Option Consumption Tax currently has two petition drives running concurrently to put two separate ballot initiatives on the ballot for the voters to decide on November 5. The first ballot initiative would eliminate all taxes other than...
It's bad enough that President Joe Biden is playing politics with the war in Gaza, but even worse -- at least for his purposes -- that he is doing it so poorly. Biden may imagine that he is maneuvering with incredible skill -- subtly balancing geopolitics, alliance management and domestic imperatives --when he is really upsetting all sides in the course of further undermining his already-rickety presidency. This is less Otto von Bismarck than Jimmy Carter minus the Camp David Accords. A couple...
In Topeka, Kansas, on February 20, 1943, a black girl named Linda Brown was born. When still a child in the early 1950's, her father, Oliver Brown, was required to drive Linda to an all-black school five miles across Topeka, when an all-white school, the Sumner School, was a few blocks distant from Oliver's home. Oliver was angry. An assistant pastor at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church, he joined the NAACP and other plaintiffs to file a lawsuit against Topeka's Board of Education,...
"Lord, what would You have me to do?" Acts 9. This is not the first time Saul of Tarsus had asked questions of Jesus of Nazareth. I believe Saul to be the Apostle Paul, the rich young ruler of Mark 9. (The most complete picture of the young ruler, narrated by Peter to John Mark, author of the book. Peter may have seen himself reflected in this historic encounter). There are two kinds of people; believers and unbelievers, givers and takers. Both Peter and Saul, cum Paul, would face the reality...
On Friday May 3, 2024 citizens concerned about Nebraska’s overly burdensome tax system packed the Warner Chamber at the Nebraska State Capitol Building in Lincoln to hear an honest debate and exchange of ideas about the EPIC Option Consumption Tax. While we invited numerous representatives from those organizations who openly oppose the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, such as the Open Sky Institute, the State Chamber of Commerce, the League of Municipalities, the Nebraska Farm Bureau, and No New T...
President Joe Biden has suffered a collapse in his standing generally, but, fundamentally, it's because so few people think he's doing a good job that he's in such a perilous state. Other than that, it's going great. It's hard to exaggerate how abysmal Biden's polling has been lately. No incumbent president should ever want to be near 43% in a head-to-head ballot test. Yet here is Joe Biden at 43% in the latest CNN poll, 43% in the latest Morning Consult poll, 43% in the latest Economist/YouGov...
Recently our country has seen activities by various levels of government, from states to our national government that, at the very least, could be assessed as unconstitutional. Unfortunately many of our educational systems around the nation have failed to teach our young for some time about the Constitution of the United States. There are few today who have any knowledge about the original document, much less about the Amendments that have been made to it. And during the recent pandemic several...
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 The understood premise of this passage from Jesus' sermon on the Mount of Olives is: 'it' must be according to God's Word. Father is eager to grant the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). The one condition is to 'delight oneself in the Lord'. Also, we cannot err in thinking He will bless whatever plan we come up with. This did not work for Adam or countless kings. "My Way" often rules. Hist...
One of the most important bills that I ever introduced in my career as a Nebraska State Senator was my destroyed property bill, originally LB 482. The contents of that bill were later amended into LB 512 and passed as a Christmas Tree bill back in 2019. The bill enables landowners with destroyed or damaged properties to have their valuations readjusted for property tax purposes, provided that the damage exceeds 20 percent of the property’s value during the current assessment year and the p...
When the Supreme Court said it would hear Donald Trump's immunity claim in the Jan. 6 case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, the former president's enemies erupted in anger. It was delay for delay's sake. It was a rank political favor for an ally. It was utterly gratuitous in legal terms, since it's a slam dunk that a former president doesn't enjoy immunity for acts during his time in office. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow accused the Court of "doing this as a dilatory tactic to help your political...
"A Greater than Elijah (Yeshua HaMashiek) shall come, and He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Then you shall discern (see) the righteous, one who serves God." Malichi 3:18; 4:6 One of the problems society suffers, today, is the number of fatherless (Daddyless) children. When fathers are missing, so are mothers, as Mom works overtime just to bring her children food, clothing and shelter, while she herself, is famished spiritually...
April 18th was the last day of the 108th Legislature and marked the end of my days as a legislator, even though my term won't officially expire until January 5 of next year. For those who may be wondering about my future in politics, I have no plans to return to the Unicameral Legislature, except for a possible special session later this year; however, it has been a pleasure to represent the good people of Legislative District 47 for the past eight years. I never anticipated the depth of the...
Columbia University is once again the center of the radical universe. More than 50 years after anti-Vietnam War demonstrators roiled the Columbia campus in 1968, anti-Israel agitators are disrupting the school's operations, and inspiring similar actions at other universities around the country. In their open support for a terror group, today's demonstrators are more virulent than their 1960s forebears, but they are still the ideological heirs of the New Left -- grandchildren in the spirit of the...
Title IX was passed by Congress more than 50 years ago to level the playing field for girls and women. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in sports and education programs that receive federal funding. Recently, Joe Biden's Department of Education (DOE) released new Title IX rules that radically rewrite the law. The rewrite threatens the progress and safety of American girls and women in education and athletics. I'm standing with women across Nebraska against these radical new policies. The...
"Take, eat the bread as My Body broken for you; this cup is My Blood of the New Covenant to [fondly] remember Me. As often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again." I Corinthians 11:23-26 Accept Jesus as Lord and be invited to come and dine for "Now You Belong!" In military circles, this covenant meal is called "Dining In", an exclusive event, by invitation only. During this ceremonious meal, strategies for the future are crafted. Each person kn...
April 18th was the final day of the 108th Legislature. This was the shorter 60-day session and, save for a special session of the Legislature later this summer, this completes my tenure as a Nebraska State Senator. It has been a pleasure for me to serve the good people of Legislative District 47 for the past eight years. When I came into the Unicameral Legislature eight years ago my number one goal was to provide the people of Nebraska with meaningful and significant property tax relief. First,...
Surely, you've heard of the brutal conflict that has displaced millions of people and killed more than 14,000, while aid convoys have trouble getting where they need to go? No, the Sudanese civil war hasn't been on your radar screen? OK, but how about the crisis that has led to more than half the population of a country needing humanitarian assistance amid constant turmoil and war? You haven't heard much about the conflict in Yemen lately, either? Perhaps, then, the war that has forced large num...
"Jesus the Anointed Messiah has redeemed us from the curse of the Law having become a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon [the Seed] THE Anointed One, Yeshua HaMashiek, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith [believing that He is and that He rewards our believing] Galatians 3:15 This passage of Scripture is widely misunderstood and mistaught. First, the Law was given by Moses in the wilderness so that the children of Israel could distinguish between...
The quiz show, “College Bowl,” was first broadcast on radio in 1953, 71 years ago. The show transitioned to television in 1959, and stayed there until 1970. Its first host was Allen Ludden, future husband of Betty White. He hosted the show until 1962 when he left to host “Password.” Robert Earle replaced him, and he remained until 1970. The game show pitted four students from a college, such as Rutgers or Princeton, against a second team composed of four students from a second college, such as...
On the 58th day of this year's shorter 60-day legislative session Nebraska State Senators debated the Governor's actual tax plan. That plan was amended into the Revenue Committee's shell bill (LB 388) with an amendment (AM 3468). I have been saying throughout the legislative session that the Governor's plan would not deliver 40 percent property tax relief, as per his promise, and that amendment only proved my point when the bill advanced to Final Reading late last Wednesday night. The Governor...
Of all the objectionable things Donald Trump has ever done, selling a Bible would seem to rank pretty far down the list. Yet his marketing, along with Lee Greenwood, of a God Bless the U.S.A. Bible for $59.99 has occasioned a couple of news cycles of outrage. The Bible has an American flag cover and accompanying American historical documents, including the Declaration of Independence, as well as the words to Greenwood's iconic patriotic song. Hawking the Bible like it's a digital trading card or...
"But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things [within that anointing] because the anointing received from Him abides and teaches you [to solve problems with a touch of class]. I John 2:20, 27 A teacher once said it this way, "It is that 'indescribable something' that raises the A to A+". Anointing on someone is sensed rather than seen. That is, we may observe someone is 'a natural' at something. My Granny made the best bread. None of us could duplicate it, even with the re...
We hear a lot about "white privilege" from certain power hungry politicians who are not afraid of producing division in our nation. I know that I'm treading a narrow and dangerous path in writing this article. All I ask is that you stick with me until you get to the conclusion... According to some politicians and radial left pot stirrers if you are a certain skin color and have a nice home and car you are automatically labels as "privileged." I beg to differ with them. Yes, there are people (of...
Last Wednesday was a very busy day at the Capitol in Lincoln. Every State Senator's phone and email lit up with messages concerning LB 764, a bill commonly referred to as the "Winner Take All" bill. Nebraska is one of only two states which splits its electoral college votes during a presidential election. Current Nebraska State law allows voters to choose one presidential elector for each of Nebraska's three congressional districts and for two additional presidential electors to be chosen at lar...
Writer Coleman Hughes went on "The View" and was greeted almost as though he had shown up wearing a white hood. Hughes, a soft-spoken black intellectual who is a political independent, was talking about his new book, "The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America." Once upon a time, colorblindness was an uncontroversial idea. It was considered a core American ideal and worth aspiring to, even if we were failing to live up to it. In recent decades, though, it has run into a...
