Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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How much does a mug shot mean to you? To Alvin Bragg, it apparently means quite a lot. All signs point to Bragg, the progressive prosecutor in Manhattan, indicting Donald Trump for his 2016 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. The old Karl Marx line is that history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce. This historic first-ever indictment of a former president of the United States would skip straight to farce. First, there's the tawdry and relatively trivial subject matter. Trump...
Last time in these pages, I mentioned Jonathan Winthrop's "city on a hill" sermon, "that all the eyes of all people are upon us." Winthrop considered himself a type of Moses who was leading his people, like Israel, to a new land, to build a new Jerusalem. This is spelled out in John Barry's 2012 book, "Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty." Winthrop and his fellow Puritans believed the city on a hill should have a church and a state, and t...
"Therefore, looking unto Jesus, Who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, and has sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God." Hebrews 12:2 Consider this Man, Jesus, who borrowed a donkey, rode through jubilant crowds, crying, in gut-wrenching sobs, because Jerusalem missed her hour of visitation by an invisible God in His visible Person. Continuing to the Temple, He overturned tables of money changers, answered tests of every manner and in every matter. He watched as people...
One of the bills that I co-signed this year is LB 712. LB 712 was introduced by Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering. This bill is important because it would help with the needs of the Panhandle once they add an additional 3,000 people to the workforce for a new ballistic missile upgrading project. Seldom does the Panhandle ever get to be the recipient of legislation that would significantly benefit the economy of the Panhandle and this bill would do just that. LB 712 appropriates $26 million to the Grou...
Presumably, Donald Trump will never produce the dark secrets promised about Ron DeSantis' past. But his team thinks it already has one -- the Florida governor once was a Reagan Republican. "There's a pre-Trump Ron and there's a post-Trump Ron," someone in the Trump camp told Axios. "He used to be a Reagan Republican. That's where he comes from. He's now awkwardly trying to square his views up with the populist nationalist feeling of that party." In his CPAC speech doubling down on "MAGA," Trump...
Picking up from the previous Historical Argument article, I'll continue in the same vein with some United States Constitutional arguments. 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 our educational systems around the nation have failed in many schools to teach our young for some time about the Constitution of the United States. There are few today...
"Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the Light and your justice as the noon day." Psalm 37:5, 6. Some 200 names for Jesus exist in the Bible. For the Patriots, He was, simply, King Jesus. His Name became a battle cry in the church's Great Awakening preceding the American Revolution. The Bible was their Playbook; prayer and fasting their avenue to Divine correction, direction, protection and victory. July 10, 1774 Elbridge Gerry, 5th U.S....
Agriculture producers in Nebraska have earned their standing as world leaders in agriculture through their excellence and tradition of respecting the natural resources with which our state is blessed. No one cares more about the land and water of our state than the farmers and ranchers whose livelihoods depend on careful management of these resources. Unfortunately, top-down overreach from Washington – such as the President Biden's "30 by 30" Executive Order, which created an arbitrary target o...
"I became, at ten years old, a little labouring hind in the service of Murdstone and Grinby." Thus relates David Copperfield in the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Of course, Dickens was a crusader against the exploitation of children. The edge is taken off the depictions of the heartless treatment of children in his fiction, though, by the funny and memorable portrayals of the malefactors, the upward trajectory of the lives of the likes of David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, and the...
In recent days, I have begun reading John Barry's book, "Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul: Church, State, and the Birth of Liberty." Although published in 2012, Barry tells the story of how the Puritans chose to leave old England to build a plantation on the rocky New England coast of Massachusetts. In England, the Puritans wanted to purify and simplify their church. Hence, the title of Puritans. They wanted a rustic sanctuary, without stained glass windows and gaudy...
"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Jehovah Sabaoth (Lord of Hosts). A fire goes before Him to burn up His enemies round about." Psalm 97:4, 5 Elbridge Gerry was a wealthy cod fisherman from Marblehead, Massachusetts. He was among the first Founding Fathers to finance a new nation. Because of his wealth, sea going ships and intrepid workmen, Britain's King George III targeted him, directly, with the Tea Stamp Act in 1773, in order to pay for the costly French and Indian War. George...
Everyone has an opinion. When it comes to change, however, it would seem not everyone has a voice. Not one they want to use anyways. It is curious how big and brave people can be from behind a keyboard. Demanding answers, screaming for change but when the need arises for their voices to be heard, it is instead replaced with the sound of crickets. There have been some very reasonable questions being asked in our community regarding a variety of issues within our county. Bullying at the schools,...
First, they came for Roald Dahl. Anyone who thought the politically correct rewriting would stop at the irreverent author of such children's classics as "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" was, of course, sadly mistaken. The news that hundreds of changes have been made in Dahl's classics is now followed by word that Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, is getting an emergency rewrite as well. This is a very bad idea. For a start, where does it end? There's no limiting...
I believe a major failing of our national education system is the general lack of teaching the historical foundations of our Nation and its governmental system. Even though it is not close to the Fourth of July, I believe it is time to look at the Declaration of Independence that was passed by the fledgling American Congress on July 4, 1776. Let's examine just a few parts of this document and see how they apply to the state of the Union today. The second paragraph makes a concise and logical...
"Come unto Me, all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," Jesus said. "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30. Here is the light and easy life! "If you be willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land," Isaiah 1:19 God is on the 'lookout' for a willing, obedient soul, who will say, "YES, I WILL!" Yes, I will seek Your face. Yes, I will...
We all agree that our kids are our future. In every community across our state, no matter the size, we all want the same thing – a better future for our kids than we had. Our highest priority is to protect our kids and their adolescent minds until they are old enough to discern and make their own decisions. That is why I support Senator Kauth's bill, LB 574, that will keep misinformed parents from allowing their kid to have irreversible, gender-altering surgery. There is a reason why kids in N...
On February 17, 2023, David Remnick of the New Yorker podcast interviewed Steven Kotkin, history professor at Stanford, and biographer of Joseph Stalin. Kotkin said, "Let's think of a house with ten rooms, and let's say I barge in and take two of those rooms. I wreck those two rooms, and I also wreck your other eight rooms. You try to evict me, but I'm still there wrecking your entire house. "You need your house. That's where you live. You don't have another house. Me, I've got another house,...
Only in 21st-century America can you call yourself the "proud daughter of Indian immigrants" and get accused of whitewashing your background. For the left, the verdict is in and has been for a long time - Nikki Haley is not Indian American enough. The offenses of the former South Carolina governor are myriad, from using an easily pronounceable name to converting to Christianity, to once checking "white" on a voter registration card, to touting the value of hard work in getting ahead, to defendin...
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his work is done by the meekness of wisdom." James 3:13 Meekness is not timidity, but a strong resolve when under fire. Moses portrayed meekness as he went against Pharaoh to deliver Hebrews from Egypt's slavery, thereby creating the nation of Israel. O! Friend! We have been here, before! Matthew 6:24, Jesus reveals that we cannot serve God and Mammon. Is Mammon simply material things? I Timothy 6:10 declares the love of...
A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected our nation will add nearly $19 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. CBO projects the debt will equal 118 percent of gross domestic product 2033. With the national debt already in excess of $31 trillion, inflation hammering American families, and economic uncertainty threatening American small businesses, it's clearer than ever we must put a stop to runaway spending in Washington. As recent numbers from the...
Last week we started floor debates in the Nebraska State Legislature, and the first thing on the agenda was to confirm the governor's appointments. In the past, this process would usually take three to four hours of floor debate to complete. The appointments would be confirmed and the Legislature would then move on to other business, such as debating bills. That has not been the case this year. A few Democrats have decided to hold up the confirmation process. Consequently, we spent the first...
Reaching back into the not so far distant past, one of the activities I participated in during my high school years was debate. Monroe High School in Fairbanks, Alaska had a debate club that I joined shortly after leaving the high school choir. My voice had changed and I couldn't hold a note without ending up screeching in C above high C. That simple change ended up making a great change in many things in my life over the following years. Among the things we were taught in the debate club,...
"'I have loved you.' says the LORD. Yet, you say, 'In what way have You loved us?'" Malachi 1:1 Can Mankind truly understand the Father's love? I Corinthian 13 tells us, briefly, what love is and is not. 1, 2 and 3 John add detail. Now, let us look at Galatians 5:22, 23 with fresh eyes, starting at the bottom. Faith believes that Jesus is Messiah. He told the Disciples, "You believe in God. Also believe in Me." John 14:1 If we don't believe in Jesus, we cannot please the Father (Hebrews 11:6)...
Last weekend, the United States shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that entered our airspace. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is constantly looking for opportunities to spy on our nation's military facilities, steal intellectual property, and threaten the United States' position as the leader of the free world. The CCP cannot be trusted, and it's critical that we present a united front against any attempt to chip away at our national security. That's why my colleagues and I are...
State agencies are supposed to work for the State of Nebraska. State Senators represent the people of Nebraska because they are elected by the people of Nebraska. So, it is inappropriate for the director of any state agency to tell the Legislature what to do. Instead, it is the job of the Legislature to make the laws, and it is the job of each state agency to carry out those laws. That is, unless you work for the Game and Parks Commission. Protocol for the director of any state agency is to...
