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 711 - 735 of 1658
It’s difficult to write about events in Afghanistan because the situation is fluid. I write this column on weekends and with things in Kabul changing on a daily basis, the news we all get is ever changing. But one thing that has not changed for me this week is the outrage I feel over the way America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has been handled by the Biden administration. Aside from the devastating impact the situation has had, and will continue to have for years, on American foreign pol...
The cancel culture runs strong in America today. The cancel culture seeks to destroy anyone who dissents from the political agenda of the Left. For instance, after My Pillow founder, Mike Lindell, publicly questioned the election results of 2020, he was ditched by 20 retailers who refused to continue selling his products. If Thomas Jefferson lived today, he would likely find himself being cancelled by Google and having his account suspended by Facebook. Those who seek to regulate truth on the...
In the next year, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to make its most important decision regarding abortion law and states’ rights in over a quarter-century. The Court’s ruling could overturn Roe v. Wade and give states more latitude in passing pro-life initiatives, including legislation limiting abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision deprived Nebraska and other states of the authority to prohibit abortions before a baby can viabl...
I’ve held off as long I could before writing this article, and I will not apologize. For the second time in my life I feel ashamed of my nation’s government, both Democrat and Republican, and I will not apologize. The craven act of cowardice by our federal government in surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban terrorist organization is, without a doubt, the blackest and most shameful act of our country’s central government. We were not defeated on the field of battle. We were not over born at th...
I was 14 when Saigon fell, old enough to remember pictures of desperate people crawling over one another as they tried to reach American helicopters evacuating people from city rooftops when communist forces closed in. I couldn’t help but recall those images as I watched what seemed like the same story unfold in Afghanistan over the weekend. The parallels are similar. As the Taliban advanced on Kabul, increasing numbers of personnel that had assisted Americans in the region defected. As town a...
School begins this month, perhaps this week. Teachers again will introduce students to questions on math, science, English, social studies, and foreign languages. I wish them all well. No subject is easy, but some say math is the hardest. I remember geometry as my hardest. Theorems spooked me. The following year I found algebra more enlightening. Graph coordinates with x’s and y’s, as well as logarithms seemed to click in place. Jordan Ellenberg, a math whiz from Wisconsin, just published a new...
Have the Regents at the University of Nebraska spun out of control? Recent decisions by the Board of Regents suggests that the University of Nebraska is no longer the land grant University system that it once was. Because the University of Nebraska system is a land grant University, the Board of Regents are supposed to be accountable to the people of the State. Unfortunately, today they are beholden to students, faculty, the teachers’ union, and political activists, who do not share the same v...
Some folks have asked me why I write what I do. What is the bedrock upon which I have formulated my beliefs, attitudes and behavior? First here is my definition of ethics: they are the rules and standards I use in governing my attitudes and conduct in all situations and places. Being a Christian, the bedrock foundation of these rules and standards are Biblically based as much as a faulty human such as myself can understand and follow. My personal code of ethics has developed over a long period...
In 2021, communism seems like a distant threat to many. Generations of Americans have learned about the atrocities committed by Stalin and Lenin in Russia. Many are familiar with Mao’s Great Leap Forward, which led to the Great Chinese Famine and starvation and death for millions. Sadly, communism isn’t something that’s just studied in history books. There’s growing awareness across our state and country that it’s reinventing itself right here at home under the label of Critical Race Theory (CRT...
The U.S. Senate recently voted on a massive, $3.5 trillion spending measure that has a lot in common with the most extreme parts of today’s Democratic Party: It is radical, reckless, and has no plan to pay for what it proposes. One of my Democratic colleagues said that “the Green New Deal is in the DNA” of this budget resolution. A podcast run by National Public Radio said that if Democrats’ budget becomes law, it would “reshape the role of the federal government in American life.” I voted aga...
Some events in life defy reason. They leave us with a handful of parts and no readable directions on how to assemble them. In 2006, our family changed. Overnight, actually in seconds, we went from encouraging our daughter’s future to hearing the news no parents want to receive.Our daughter went on a drive and didn’t make it home. It was one of the longest nights in my life. To learn that she did what most teens her age do, but the script for her night was different. It didn’t include retur...
The scene begins with me walking down the hall of Monroe High School, Fairbanks, Alaska. The time: my freshman year at school day’s end, around the end of the first quarter. As I leave the classroom someone grabs my armful of schoolbooks, knocks me down and flees down the hallway towards the exit. After getting to my feet I got a good look at the culprit – he was someone with whom I had problems with his bullying me in the past. That day things would change permanently. Prior to that day I had s...
Americans like to say we did away with slavery in the 1860s. This is false. Before I present some facts I suspect many readers are not aware of, I state unequivocally that slavery is evil, reprehensible and an abomination to basic human dignity. Let my position on it be known before we look at uncomfortable truth. Some portray America as evil, founded on the backs of slaves. A nation that stands out among others as unique for its exploitation of African Americans. This view is also false. Yes,...
The time has come to formally call for the resignations of every member of the Nebraska State Board of Education, including Education Commissioner, Matthew Blomstedt. Each of the members of the Nebraska State Board of Education needs to resign because the board has failed to listen to the people of Nebraska, failed to adequately reform the sex education standards, and has failed to educate Nebraska’s students. Instead of doing what the vast majority of the people want and what is best for our s...
Earlier this summer, the ladies of Brand New Items and Coffee Shop took on the project of raising funds to help children at The Ark attend summer camp. The project started with an estimate, based on the average number of children who attend the weekly Tuesday meeting. Each Tuesday, children are welcomed at The Ark, a converted apartment in the Sioux Villa, for an evening of food, fun and bible lessons. The Tuesday gathering occurs throughout the year, with the exception of when holidays are on a Tuesday. The staff of Brand New Items encouraged...
Rarely do men and women seem free, even for a moment, from the evils that have plagued human beings for millennium: war, poverty, famine, slavery, racism, diseases, pestilence, and natural disasters. The U.S. armed forces first attacked the Taliban in Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, and now, the twin wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are winding down after two decades, wars that have cut short many human lives and caused painful, debilitating injuries. On the horizon is a menacing conflict with China...
As the media teams with government officials to whip up panic about the latest Delta variant of Covid, new data was released over the weekend that indicates the hype is overblown. CDC and state Covid dashboards show about 164 million Americans have received a Covid vaccine. Of those vaccinated, approximately 125,000 have had a “breakthrough case” and gotten Covid. Take 125,000 and divide it by 164 million to get 0.00076 percent. Just 0.004 percent of that tiny percentage required hos...
Earlier this year I co-signed LB 643, a bill introduced by Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair to protect the rights of citizens and parents to choose for themselves whether or not to get vaccinated in the event that the government, a school or a business tries to impose a mandatory inoculation. Although the bill has failed to advance out of the HHS committee, I continue to believe that it is a fundamental breech of our individual liberty to impose a mandatory vaccination upon the American public. Yet,...
We’re only a month away from one of the most important annual events for our state—the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island. This year, the fair will run from August 27th through September 6th. It’s a great way to celebrate Nebraska agriculture, cap off the summer with family-friendly entertainment, enjoy amazing food, and connect with our rich heritage. Over the last year-and-a-half, Nebraska agriculture once again proved it could feed the world in the midst of the toughest circumstances. Our f...
“Middle Age Sports” aka softball is famous for the quote “Walk it off. You’ll be fine!” Sometimes that works, and sometimes that compounds the issue. The last time I heard that famous phrase eventually ended my recreational “career.” Likewise, it is a lesson of how much mental focus many games and sports truly require. Sometimes the simplest of processes can be derailed by not having the mental focus. The 2021 Olympics is a good example of that. We have athletes who are treated by royalty only...
A mantra recited often since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak is “follow the science.” Sadly, science has become politicized like nearly everything else these days, and the exhortation to follow it with religious fervor is now often paired with the recommendation to make those who question the “experts” pay a price for doing so. I’ve been actively involved in meteorology and other earth sciences for most of my life. That qualifies me to speak about matters relating to those sciences,...
Several years ago, when I was just starting this adventure called community journalism, I was taking pictures at a gymnastics event. The picture turned out decent, but I was a little nervous about having the right contestant identified. It was during the meet so I couldn’t just walk up to her and ask her name. Gymnastics is like golf at that point. There is a very revered process where an unusual sound or disruption in light could change the course of things. So I submitted said picture for p...
As we emerge from the pandemic and the economy begins to rebound, I’m focused on ensuring the industries that provide Nebraska jobs can continue to grow and thrive. The ethanol industry is one of those. Nationwide, it provides tens of thousands of Americans with good-paying jobs, and it indirectly supports at least 200,000 more. In Nebraska alone, the 25 ethanol plants spread across our state are able to produce more than two billion gallons a year, making us the second-largest producer of t...
On January 27, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. signed his “Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” In this order, President Biden set a “goal of conserving at least 30 percent of our lands and waters by 2030.” At the time of the signing, very little information was released by the Biden-Harris Administration. We only had the few paragraphs of text in the order and a short fact sheet from the Department of Interior stating “that only 12 percent of lands are perma...
In recent days a native Icelander named Egill Bjarnason published a book, “How Iceland Changed the World.” I wonder about that title’s bold claim, but nonetheless he writes well, is entertaining. He begins with the Vikings, and then steps forward, chapter by chapter, until he finishes in the 21st century. Along the way, he brings in plenty of fascinating details about the island’s towns, people, weather, government, and the Northern Lights, an enjoyable and readable geography primer. In his int...
