Although I was raised Catholic and did all those Catholic boy things growing up like being an altar boy and sneaking a taste of the sacramental wine when the priest wasn’t looking, I am not an especially religious person today.

But even though I’m not that religious, I respect people who are as long as they are not trying to use their religion to hurt other people.

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I have never felt the need for others to think the way I do or believe everything I believe so I could feel better about myself. I especially felt that way when it came to someone’s faith. I can respect their views if they can respect mine.

Our Founding Father’s had the same philosophy when they wrote the First Amendment. It specifically says that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Our Secretary of War Pete Hegseth evidently doesn’t believe that the First Amendment applies to him. Not only has he blocked reporters from the Pentagon, but he has now dropped 180 religions from the list of organized faiths the Pentagon will acknowledge.

That means that the men who are willing to put their lives on the line for our country but have a religious belief that Hegseth doesn’t agree with will have to officially fall in line with one of the 31 more popular faiths. What this order means is if you are a Druid, a Unitarian Universalist, a Pagan, a Deist or numerous other fringe faiths your belief will not be printed on your dog tag and if you die in service to America, they will not accommodate whatever traditions your faith practices at funerals.

If you’re an Atheist that will no longer be allowed on your dog tags either. You’ll have to conform to one of the mostly Christian faiths approved by the Pentagon or put No Religion on your dog tag.

If you’re a member of a church that’s been kicked to the curb you can be listed as Other Religion.

Of the 31 remaining churches approved by the government, 21 of them are Christian faiths. Mormons are on the list, but it’s no longer considered to be a Christian religion even though the formal name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

If you think that some of these fringe religions are weird, that’s OK. They probably think what you believe is weird too. But weird or not they are all guaranteed by the very First Amendment these brave servicemen are risking their lives to protect.

Did you notice that I have only mentioned service MEN? That’s not by accident, because not only has Secretary Hegseth shown a disdain for faiths he doesn’t approve of, he has been firing, demoting, and demoralizing any and all women in uniform. His Christian Nationalist faith does not consider women to be equals.

America was not founded as a Christian nation. John Adams explicitly said that America was,and I quote,“not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”

It’s true most of our Founding Fathers were of various Christian denominations, but not all of them. Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were Deists, John Adams embraced Unitarianism. None of our founders beliefs would have been recognized by the Pentagon under Hegseth.

Little by little Christian Nationalists are infiltrating our government. It’s OK for Christian Nationalists to believe what they believe. But it is unconstitutional for them to try to force their beliefs on the rest of us. Just as it would be unconstitutional for atheists for example to block others from going to the church of their choice.

Since you’re probably not in the service and there’s a better than average chance that you’re Christian, you might think that what’s happening at the Pentagon doesn’t affect you. But it most certainly does.

Little by little we lose our freedoms. If the government can block a fringe religion in the military, there’s nothing that can stop them from blocking your more mainstream church in civilian life.

At least that’s what the nuns at St. Agatha’s taught me

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This column originally appeared in the Omaha Daily Record

CBS news didn’t fire Scott Pelley because he was doing sub-par work. They didn’t fire him because he was a disgruntled, insubordinate employee. No, CBS news fired him because he did what every good journalist is supposed to do.

Scott Pelley spoke truth to power.

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It’s risky to speak truth to power. There can be consequences. Just ask all those cowardly Republican Congressmen and Senators that are afraid to speak out against the abuses of power President Trump has been doing since he returned to office. Or better yet ask the brave Republicans like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinszinger, or Thomas Massie who suffered the consequences of telling the world the emperor had no clothes.

Wrong is wrong regardless of who does it. What CBS is doing to please the Trump administration is wrong. And it would be just as wrong if a Democratic president was making FOX news, Newsmax, or other conservative news outlet bow down to them as well.

Paramount, the parent company of CBS has mimicked the president’s behavior by putting unqualified people in important positions of power. Bari Weiss the new head of CBS News has no experience in broadcast news but she’s now in charge of the Tiffany Network. Edward R Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Morley Saffer, Harry Reasoner and countless other journalists in CBS’s storied past must be turning over in their graves.

Likewise, the new man in charge of 60 minutes Nick Bilton, has no experience in broadcast news. His journalistic background includes some documentaries and an article he wrote for the New York Times that had so many facts wrong it now contains a 203 word editor’s note and a 98 word correction.

I’m sure that when Pelley spoke out at the staff meeting, he was well aware of what the outcome could be. After all Weiss had already fired two 60 Minutes producers and quality journalists like Cecillia Vega, and Sharyn Alfonsi. Alfonsi is the journalist that did the story that Weiss spiked about the torture in Salvadoran prisons. A story that eventually aired after the outcry from journalists and a large segment of the public.

Vega was not only the first and only Hispanic correspondent at 60 minutes, but an award-winning journalist with experience as a network White House correspondent and news anchor.

Authoritarian governments need to control the news to stay in power. And while Donald Trump hasn’t totally succeeded in doing that yet, he’s made significant strides in that direction. And is on the way to make more.

The staff at outlets like Fox News, Newsmax, OAN and other operations act more like administration press agents than critical thinking reporters.

Major newspapers no longer publish editorials that may be critical of this administration. I spoke with a newspaper man I know who tells me that any political cartoon that mocks or criticizes the president will most likely never see the printed page.

Sinclair Broadcast Group which owns 177 television stations including Fox 42 here in Omaha, and Nexstar Communications which owns 200 stations, refused to air Jimmy Kimmell for a time being after a joke Kimmel made displeased the president.

Whether it’s blatant submission to the president, or a form of self-censoring, many news organizations don’t want to deal with the hassle of upsetting the man who would be king. News outlets that used to be bold are starting to cower afraid of getting fined by the FCC or harassed by Trump’s MAGA minions. America has never seen the attacks on the First Amendment that we are seeing now.

The attacks on media may soon be getting much worse. Larry Ellison the head of Paramount Skydance the company that owns CBS, is looking to buy Warner Brothers Discovery which includes CNN. Media observers fear that if Ellison gets his paws on CNN, he will do to it what he did to CBS.

I’ll bet Scott Pelley ends up with his own podcast and website. Maybe ABC or NBC will give him a shot. Bari Weiss may have taken him off the payroll, but I don’t think they’ll be able to silence him. Scott Pelley is not going to be going away any time soon.

But that’s just the way people whose mission in life is to speak truth to power are.

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You may not be aware, but from January 1 2026 until May 27^th 2026 there have been 494 arrests made in Omaha of those who are in the country without the proper documentation. There have been 64 arrests in Lincoln, Grand Island has 60, and 49 in Fremont have been detained or abducted depending on your point of view by ICE agents. That’s a total of 622 of our neighbors in eastern Nebraska, or an average of five and a quarter arrests a day.

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The hunger strike and the protests at a New Jersey detention center have put the roundup of illegal immigrants somewhat back in the news. After the shock and awe of the military style arrests in places like Los Angeles and Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two innocent protesters, the government has been much quieter in their crusade to deport immigrants. But they certainly haven’t stopped.

The Trump administration has recently put up a website that posts updates on the number of immigrants arrested and the crimes they allegedly committed.

The website aliens.gov is a site that aggregates directly from arrests reports and pulls data from the Department of Homeland Security.

After a long introduction in the style of the X files you can click on a map that will show you the numbers of those arrested in each city. The website is riddled with errors and many of the crimes they were supposed to have committed don’t deserve such a harsh penalty. Many of the charges listed are vague to say the least.

Conservation, Traffic offenses, Fraudulent offenses and General Crimes are all listed on this website as reasons they were captured by federal agents.

To be fair some have been charged with arson, sexual assault, and drug offenses, but for the life of me I can’t understand why anyone would think that a person who has possibly lived in this country for decades and has only committed a minor traffic offense should be treated so inhumanely.

And even Chat GPT doesn’t know what kind of crime conservation is. It accused me of meaning conspiracy instead of conservation. Maybe it should be a conspiracy charge. If it is, Chat GPT needs to take it up with its fellow computer and stop accusing me of not knowing what I’m talking about.

Aliens.gov not only lists the crimes these people are accused to have committed but also lists the countries where these people came from. When it was first released the website said that some of the detainee’s country of origin was the United States. When a media outlet brought that to the administration’s attention, they took that off the site.

Taking it off the website doesn’t mean that people born in the United States haven’t been arrested by ICE agents. They have. And while most if not all of them eventually get released, it shows the chaotic and unprofessional nature of this project.

America needs immigrants. Immigrants need America. For Congress, the Trump administration, and far too many Americans to ignore that fact seems like it ought to be just as big a crime as some of the crimes those detainees are charged with.

The only reason so many of those people are in the country illegally is the failure of our elected officials from both parties over the years to change the laws and expedite the process so these workers can come into the country legally.

So much has happened so fast and continues to flood the news zone it’s impossible for people to keep up. Being outraged and angry about everything gets old and tiring. It’s understandable that so many people are tuning out.

And if you only get your news from websites, or politically biased cable channels, your algorithms might not show you what’s going on when it concerns illegal immigration or other important issues facing the country.

But the massive arrests and poor overcrowded accommodations are still going on even if the arrests aren’t as sensational and on camera as they were last winter.

It’s totally understandable if the plight of the rising cost of gas and groceries occupy your attention more than what is happening with our immigrant population. And while it might not be the most important thing on our radar, we need to be aware of the plight of those less fortunate than us. People whose only crime might be that they wanted to make a better life for themselves and their families.

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As I read the news reports of all that went down, I am struck with the mixed emotions I feel.

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It is fascinating to see the impact President Trump has on the Republican Primary voters in this country. For the life of me I don’t understand it, but it’s impossible to deny the strength his endorsement carries. Cornyn joins Thomas Massie, as the most recent high powered Republican official to be dethroned because they upset President Trump.

I’m perplexed why so many Texans would support a candidate like Paxton who has such a sketchy resume. The man was indicted on three felony counts for investment fraud. His own staff reported him to the FBI for bribery. Why would the same Republicans that impeached him as Texas Attorney General for corruption now vote for him to be a U.S. Senator? It leaves me scratching my head.

I am concerned that the America I thought I knew will further slip away if Paxton and more Trump loyalists win in the general elections and give the man who wants to be king even more power.

I do find it amusing to see all the Texas Republicans worried that by nominating Paxton they have given a boost to his Democrat opponent James Talarico. Talarico is the best chance a Texas Democrat has had to go to Washington since Lloyd Bentsen won in 1970.

And I am saddened that integrity no longer seems to matter to so many voters. That they blindly follow the desires of one man over the record of such a flawed candidate.

Our primary system is broken and needs to be fixed. Far too often extreme candidates are picked by a small percentage of voters. And that goes for both sides.

I wish I had a magic wand that could get more moderate, informed voters to get off the couch and get to the polls for a primary. I could make the argument that in many cases the primary elections are more important than the general ones. Because if the primary advances two flawed candidates, there won’t be a good outcome no matter which side wins.

I’m wracking my brain asking myself if America has changed so much that integrity no longer matters in politics. Was I just being naïve to think that men and women with principles use to matter in our elected representatives? Has it always been this way but in the age of Trump and the internet the candidates no longer feel the need or have the ability to hide it?

I don’t expect to agree with everything our elected officials do. But I do expect them t be decent honorable people. They can have different views on issues like taxes, government spending, wars, and even bathroom usage. But at the very least I expect them to be trustworthy. I expect them to be honorable.

That no longer seems to be a requirement anymore.

Sure, character assassination has always been part of the game to some extent. But there’s a big difference between calling a candidate a name like “Sleepy Joe Biden” and nominating a person like Ken Paxton.

The early polling shows that Talarico and Paxton are in a statistical tie to win in November. I sure hope it doesn’t stay that way.

The bar has been set pretty low when it comes to who we elect these days. The Oval Office is currently occupied by a convicted felon who instigated an attack on the Capitol. Our Commander in Chief is a serial adulterer whose best friend was a pedophile and who brags about grabbing women in their nether regions.

I still believe that integrity and decency matter more than party affiliation when it comes to who we send to Washington. If Ken Paxton gets elected, it will be another step backward in the great experiment our Founding Fathers started 250 years ago.

You may not agree with Talarico’s policies, but you should agree that a person like Paxton should not be allowed to enable this administration to continue us down the path we are currently on.

I guess what happens in this Texas election does affect us after all.

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Governor Pillen’s political consultant fired him after his gift of a no bid 2.7 million dollar contract to a personal friend became public.

Now I don’t know if Jessica Flanagan left the Pillen campaign because of that. It does seem suspicious since it was announced the day after the Lincoln Police Department announced they were investigating that contract.

Ms. Flanagan and Axiom strategies are also consulting Pete Ricketts campaign, so maybe they left so they can concentrate on the tough road the Senator has ahead of him.

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Who knows why she no longer wanted to work with Pillen?

The void she left has been filled by a team of out of state MAGA consultants with close ties to the president. Ryan Smith has served as an advisor to MAGA Inc which is actively involved in Trump’s outside political activities.

Ryan Smith has been successful in helping candidates plagued by scandals get elected, but do we really want a person leading our state that is plagued by scandals? Will the farmers hurt by rising fertilizer diesel costs stick with a MAGA aligned candidate?

Enter Brett Lindstrom. The former state senator is seriously considering running as an independent for governor.

Some friends and I had breakfast with Mr. Lindstrom the other day. He talked about how he believes that Nebraska under Governor Pillen is heading in the wrong direction. He spoke of working together with Democrats to solve problems. He spoke of policies to spur economic growth. He sounded like an old school Republican. He was reasonable and rational. Nothing like how Republican candidates sound like these days.

No wonder he left the party to become an independent.

While he says that he hasn’t totally decided if he’s going to start putting out petitions to get on the ballot, I wouldn’t bet against it. In fact, I would encourage it.

Nothing against Lynne Walz. I think she’d make a very good governor. But in the past few decades, Democrats have had poor showings in statewide offices regardless of their qualifications. The Democratic party has done a lousy job selling their brand in this state. They have had few outstate victories since the days of Ben Nelson and Bob Kerrey. There are too many people here that won’t vote for a Democrat regardless of their qualifications.

Dan Osborn showed that an independent candidate can have a shot. And I think Brett Lindstrom has a good shot at winning if he decides to run.

If Lindstrom runs, Pillen won’t be able to get away with cute TV ads with grandkids and shotguns. And for the life of me I can’t think of any major accomplishment he can tout as a reason to give him another four years.

I would love to see a series of three debates between Lindstrom, Walz, and Pillen. One in each congressional district.

Pillen avoided debates with his Republican primary opponents, and his Democratic challenger Carol Blood the last time around. But he’d have to show up if Walz and Lindstrom debated. The optics would not look good if the two of them were on stage with an empty chair.

Of course, if Pillen did show up, they’d be on the stage with an empty suit.

I know that every election is touted as the most important election in our lifetimes. But this midterm election is going to not only determine the direction our country is going, but closer to home the direction of the state.

We gave Pillen a chance to see what he could do as governor. And what he did was give a sweetheart deal to a close friend. He ignored Omaha and called people he disagreed with libtards. He dismissed a report about the dangerous nitrates in the water by his farms, and ignored the death of a young man who worked on a facility his family runs.

Nebraska is better than Jim Pillen. The voters who supported Republicans like Dave Heineman need an alternative to the man currently occupying that office today.

I sure hope Brett Lindstrom decides to run for governor. If he does, I will not only sign the petition I will volunteer to get others to sign it as well.

I’m sure Jim Pillen’s campaign consultant knows things about him the rest of us don’t. Jessica Flanagan decided to distance herself from him. Come November the voters of Nebraska need to do the same thing.

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I want to know how much Pete Ricketts, Deb Fischer, Don Bacon, Mike Flood or Adrian Smith thinks the January 6^th insurrectionists should get for threatening to kill them. What’s the going rate for attempting to murder a member of Congress? What’s the payday for trying to overthrow the government?

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Should the J6’rs that wanted to hang the Vice President get more than those who just broke in and shit on Nancy Pelosi’s desk? Or should every convicted rioter get the same amount of cash regardless of the severity of the crime?

What do our legislators think is a fair sum to reward these convicted criminals?

President Trump brokered a deal with his former lawyer and current acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to set up a slush fund of 1.7 billion dollars of taxpayer money to compensate those who feel they’ve been hurt by the so called “weaponization of the Biden Justice Department.”

That would include those convicted of crimes on January 6^th and potentially the president and his family as well.

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This deal was put together to settle a dubious ten-billion-dollar lawsuit Donald Trump and his sons filed against the IRS for releasing their tax returns. No president in history has ever filed a lawsuit like this. The president has the power to fire the very lawyers he would be up against.

The fix was already in. This massive grift of taxpayer funds stunk from the very start.

Now this money will be spent without the approval of Congress like the Constitution mandates. The judge who was assigned the original case didn’t sign off on the agreement either. If this is left to stand, the money will be doled out by a committee handpicked by the president who will serve at the Commander in Chief’s pleasure.

I can’t believe that any decent Republican whether they are an elected official or not can just quietly stand by and say nothing about the latest blatant scam and abuse of power.

I spent 30 years doing talk radio. I worked on stations that carried shows like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and others. I know how conservatives would have reacted if Obama, Biden, or either of the Clintons had tried to pull a stunt like this.

They would have been rightfully outraged.

Yet the Republican members of Congress and too many of the conservative talking heads remain quiet.

I’d also like to know what Senators Ricketts and Fischer, and Congressmen Bacon, Flood, and Smith think their integrity is worth.

Were the tax cuts payment enough? How much did they charge the president for selling him their backbones?

They say that America is getting ready to celebrate it’s 250^th birthday.

But is America really 250 years old or is it more like a year and half?

Because it’s getting harder and harder to recognize this country anymore. A country where the government goes after late night comedians they don’t like. A country where the powers that be attack reporters when they report a true story that upsets the administration.

I never thought America could become a country that rounds up human beings and locks them up based solely on the color of their skin without affording them due process. A country that is run by executive orders rather than the checks and balances our Founding Fathers set up to protect us from totalitarian rule.

Is this what America stood for the last 249 years or is this a new America? An America where our government officials sit on their hands and do nothing as President Trump starts a war without their consent, profits from stock trades with companies he awards contracts to, and sets up an almost two-billion-dollar fund to reward convicted criminals that did his bidding.

Will he use the money from the slush fund to finance more insurrectionists if he tries to stay in power after the 2028 election? Will the Republicans in Congress stand up to him then? Or just bend over like they did the last time?

We are just like frogs who slowly die in a pot of hot water. The temperature keeps rising and rising until the frog eventually croaks.

The abuses of power keep getting bigger and bigger. To many Americans and Republicans in power, it’s beginning to seem like a normal way to govern. Before you know it the checks and balances and governmental oversight disappear.

If our Republican representatives don’t start speaking up the country we knew will be gone.

I ask our Federal Delegation…. Will the price be worth it?

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Dear Denise Powell,

Congratulations on winning the Democratic Party nomination for District Two. It was a hard-fought battle, but you made it to the finish line.

Nothing personal, but you were not my first choice. While you got your voters worried about losing the blue dot, I was worried about not getting a Democratic majority in the House. I thought and still feel that either John Cavanaugh or Kishla Askins had a better chance to beat Brinker Harding than you do.

But I’m open to be proven wrong. I hope I’m proven wrong.

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Your fear mongering about losing the blue dot worked for you. Congratulations. You probably saved it. Now it’s time to focus on getting a Democratic Speaker in the House of Representatives.

We hear so much about this district being blue. And it’s true that this area is more liberal than the rest of the state. But the blue dot is a light blue at best.

Since 1995 there’s only been one Democrat to represent the Second District. That Democrat was Brad Ashford. Brad Ashford was a former Republican, and he only lasted one term. Go back even further and in the last 66 years a Democrat has only held the seat for 12 of those years.

If you’re going to win and keep this seat you’ve got to be more than pissed off. You’ve got to offer achievable solutions to our problems. You’ve got to be FOR things and not just against Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda.

The nasty primary is going to stick on you. Do you honestly think that the moniker “Dark Money Denise” isn’t going to be used by the Harding campaign? Touting your support from pro-choice groups worked well for you in a Democratic campaign, but in a general election that policy is going to have to become far more nuanced.

I can totally understand if you’re in a state of euphoria right now. You deserve it. Take a victory lap. You beat John Cavanaugh. But don’t make the same mistake he and some of his supporters made. They took victory for granted until it was too late.

Six months ago, the smart money was on John Cavanaugh to win the race. He had a political machine and a recognizable name that had a record of winning. Most of the public had never heard of you.

On paper with rising gas prices, higher inflation, an unpopular war, the history of the party not in power gaining seats, and Trump’s approval in the toilet, you might think you could coast to an easy win in November.

Don’t be so sure.

Your message played well with the Democratic primary voters in places like Dundee, Benson, and Blackstone. But now it’s the general election and that’s a much different animal. Now you’ve got to sell your message to more than liberal Omaha Democrats. You need to appeal to moderate Republican and independent voters in West Omaha, Saunders and parts of Sarpy County too. Plus, you need to mend fences with the Democrats your campaign alienated.

It’s obvious you know how to raise a lot of money. But it’s going to take more than that.

The Harding campaign is already saying that you’re some rich kid from out of state. What are you going to do to prove him wrong?

I doubt you’ll even read this. And even if you do I have no idea if you’ll take any of this to heart. You’ve got high priced political consultants and big money donors bending your ear, why would you listen to me?

Because I’m a realist. I’ve been observing and commenting on Nebraska politics for over 30 years. I know that this district isn’t as dark blue as some would have you think. It’s time to pivot to a more moderate tone.

Anger and fear can only get you so far. Stop being pissed and start being passionate. Offer solutions. Offer hope.

You’ve got the wind at your back but an uphill battle to climb. Don’t blow it like Cavanaugh, or for that matter Kara Eastman or Tony Vargas did.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that Brinker Harding might have some area Democrats endorsing him. I have no idea if that’s true or just a rumor his camp is putting out. I do know that Don Bacon got some Democrats to work for him. You’re going to need some Republican support.

I’m not trying to be negative. I’m just being realistic. I wish you well.

You’ve got the nomination. Now don’t blow it.

Sincerely,

Tom Becka

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Now sometimes the heckler can be used for comedic fodder. They say something, the comic strikes back, the crowd laughs and hopefully that’s the end of it.

But sometimes the heckler just keeps it up and it loses its appeal. The crowd starts to turn on the heckler and in extreme cases the disrupter is removed from the club.

Sometimes the comic can get the crowd back and sometimes they can’t.

I thought of that analogy today after an exchange I had with a friend on election day about the state of our government.

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His exact quote was “someday the Dems will need to get organized if they ever hope to rebalance our government. I’m not sure winning Congress does that anymore.”

My response was that the moderate Republicans and the moderate Democrats have got to get loud. I pointed out that the loud extremes are taking over the parties. And that I believe that the loud extremes are in the minority.

The loud extremes had a victory on Tuesday night when the Republicans nominated Scott Petersen for Secretary of State instead of the incumbent Bob Evnen.

Petersen is one of those loud malcontents on the right who keep casting doubts on the integrity of the elections.

I find it funny that President Trump and so many of his followers keep beating the drum of unfair elections when they win so many of them. They have never been able to show any proof of massive voter fraud but that doesn’t stop them from continuing to shout that the sky is falling.

If I ever get the chance to speak to Scott Petersen the first thing I’ll ask him is if he feels like his victory was won fair and square or if there was some nefarious activity afoot. I’d ask him how he could run a campaign insinuating that the elections can’t be trusted then accept his victory with a straight face.

In my past life I always worked the elections as a member of the media. I’d be on the air giving the results and interviewing the candidates. But I’m not doing a daily broadcast anymore so for the first time in my life I volunteered to work the polls on election day.

I’m guessing most people think that the volunteers sit behind a desk in the precincts to check ID’s and hand out “I voted today” stickers. I thought that’s what I would be doing when I went online to offer my services.

But volunteers do so much more than that. I was paired up with another person to pick up the ballots at one of the remote drop off locations.

I saw hundreds of people in all age ranges and all political beliefs working together to make sure the ballots were collected and counted fairly. They all had specific jobs to do and they took them seriously. The atmosphere was friendly but professional. I saw democracy in action on a firsthand basis.

A heckler at a comedy club doesn’t have the nerve to get up on stage and try stand up on their own. They sit in the dark and shout. They think they’re funny without having any idea all it takes to develop an act and get up there and do the actual work.

I wonder if Scott Petersen has ever worked the polls. Has he ever seen all the people that take their jobs very seriously. Has he ever seen all the eyes that are on every aspect of the process to make sure the elections are accurate and fair?

There’s no guarantee that Scott Petersen will win the general election. Sarah Slattery is the Democrats nominee, but it will be an uphill battle for her to win a statewide race.

As I look at the results of the primary election I’m convinced more than ever that the moderate Republicans and the moderate Democrats have got to get louder. They have got to pay more attention to the primaries and get off their couch and vote.

Otherwise, the hecklers are going to take over our government and that will be no laughing matter.##

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Well, that didn’t happen.

And remember when Trump was running again in 2024 and he said that he would stop inflation, have a healthcare plan in two weeks, release his taxes, bring down the price of gas, and end wars?

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Well, that didn’t happen either.

And do you recall that after President Trump knocked down the East Wing of the White House without Congressional approval and people got upset? He said that his ballroom would be paid for with private funds and not any taxpayer money.

Well, a funny thing about that….

Senate Republicans are proposing adding a billion taxpayer dollars to an immigration bill to pay for security for the ballroom.

I’m beginning to think that you can’t trust the president to stick to his word.

These billion dollars are buried in a 70 billion dollar spending package the Senate Republicans proposed for Immigration and Customs enforcement and Border Patrol. It’s to finance these groups through the end of President Trump’s term.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley is the ranking member of Senate Budget Committee. He claims that the Department of Homeland Security has more than 100 billion dollars that hasn’t been spent from the so called Big Beautiful Bill.

Remember when Republicans said they were for fiscal responsibility?

Well, that is quickly becoming nothing but a distant memory.

Say what you will about Donald Trump, you have to admit he’s a hell of a salesman. But he’s not so good at following through after he’s made the sale.

When you count the Trump corporations and its subsidiaries, our president has filed for bankruptcy six times.

And while you might think it would be impossible to bankrupt a casino, our beloved commander in chief found a way to do it.

I worry that he may be on the verge of accomplishing his biggest bankruptcy yet. Bankrupting the United States of America.

Remember when Donald Trump promised in 2016 that he would erase the nineteen trillion dollar national debt in eight years?

How’s that working out?

In the last ten years our national debt has more than doubled to thirty-nine trillion dollars. And while you can’t pin that all on Trump, he was in charge for six of those ten years. And say what you will about Joe Biden, he never made such an outlandish claim.

In the first 9 months of President Trump’s second term, the national debt has increased by 1.8 trillion dollars. And that’s before you add in the cost of the war and a slowing economy caused by a depleted immigrant work force, rising gas prices and other goods transported through the Strait of Hormuz.

Over the years I have found the response I get when I ask traditional Republicans and the MAGA Republicans about Donald Trump to be very interesting.

The traditional Republicans are more likely to say, “I don’t care for his rhetoric, but I like his policies.” When I ask them if it’s the deficits, the erasing African Americans from government websites, or the tariffs and inflation, they like the best, they tend to skirt the issue.

When I ask the MAGA Republicans the same thing they will more than likely regurgitate one of Trump’s slogans, or attack Biden. Pressing them on specific issues is useless.

Cuts are being made in programs that benefit the poor and the working class. Yet somehow the Senate Republicans can find trillions of dollars for a poorly thought-out war, and a billion dollars for a ballroom that the people who are paying for it will never use.

Remember how constant warfare, overspending, narcistic leadership, and inflation led to the fall of the Roman Empire?

Or how the war in Afghanistan and a collapsing economy led to the fall of the Soviet Union?

We must never forget the expression that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I don’t think it’s too late to get America back on the right path. But if we don’t get our fiscal house in order, rebuild our connections with our allies, and get out of unwinnable wars, I worry that the America I grew up in will soon be nothing more than a faded memory.

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During the late 80’s and early 90’s I spent five years of my life traveling the country as a stand-up comedian. I had some great gigs where I opened for people like Jerry Seinfeld, Sam Kinnison, Lewis Black and the band Chicago.

I also played some hell holes in small towns where there weren’t more than 8 people in the audience.

I learned a lot during that time. I learned that America is a vast diverse place. I learned that comedy is very subjective and that jokes that worked in Seattle Washington might not get the same response in Mobile Alabama and vice versa.

And some jokes just don’t work anywhere.

I didn’t think that the joke Jimmy Kimmel did about Melania Trump having the look of an expectant widow was all that funny. Kimmel has much better stuff. But like I said comedy is subjective.

Timing is everything in comedy and the timing of that joke was unfortunate to say the least. But anyone with a lick of common sense would know that that joke was not a call to have the president killed.

If the First Lady was that upset about the joke, she should have said something the following Friday or Saturday before the dinner. But it didn’t bother her enough then to speak out.

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But after the attempt on the president’s life, it gave the White House the chance to have Melania play the victim and act like the hurt loving wife.

I obviously don’t know Melania, but she doesn’t appear to me to have a great sense of humor in the first place. Or for that matter an undying look of love towards her husband.

But it was a great excuse for Donald Trump to ramp up his wars on Jimmy Kimmel, free speech, and the first amendment.

After ABC refused to fire Kimmel, the Trump administration sicced the FCC on the ABC owned and operated stations to have their broadcast licenses reviewed. I have no doubt that ABC is in total compliance with all the FCC rules and regulations but will now have to spend time and money dealing with the mob like intimidation tactics our government is putting on them.

While working the comedy club circuit a drunk heckler would sometimes get out of control and be kicked out of the bar. He’d be 86’d if you will.

I can honestly say that anyone that was ever 86’d from the bar was never killed or even beaten to a pulp. They were just asked to leave and 99.99% of the time they left peacefully.

But that doesn’t stop the Trump administration from again using mob tactics and the power of the government to go after one of the President’s perceived enemies. Trump is having the Department of (in)Justice file charges against James Comey for a picture of seashells that wrote out 8647.

Todd Blanche, the president’s sycophant I mean acting Attorney General, claims that was a blatant call for violence against President Trump. Blanche dutifully filed charges against Mr. Comey that will undoubtedly go nowhere.

In the press conference after the attempt on his life, President Trump admitted that he was going to attack the press at the dinner that celebrates the First Amendment. He almost seemed bummed that he’ll probably have to be nicer to them when the dinner is finally rescheduled.

If America loses its sense of humor or is afraid to say that they disapprove of whoever the president might be, we have lost the heart and soul of this country.

I would love it if the next time a reporter interviews the president they ask him what makes him laugh. Ask him who or what he finds funny. I can’t recall a time I saw the Commander in chief genuinely laugh. Certainly not at himself.

If I had any power, I would make it mandatory that during every presidential debate they ask the candidates to tell a joke or at least an amusing anecdote just to see their spirit.

Reagan, Clinton, Obama, and both Bushes all had a sense of humor. They all let criticism roll of their back. They probably didn’t like it, but they knew it was all part of the game.

I played forty four of the fifty states. America is a beautiful, diverse country. But it will become a lot less beautiful and a lot less diverse if we have a government that arrests people for criticizing our leader and doesn’t know how to take a joke.

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This article appeared in the Omaha Daily Record.

I find people fascinating. Especially when it comes to elections.

I wish I could say that people make their decisions on who they’re going to vote for based on due diligence and facts. I wish I could say that voters do their research and look at the pros and cons of every candidate before making an informed, logical decision.

I also wish I could say that Santa Claus is real. But we all know that neither of those two things are true.

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Recently I had a conversation with a female friend of mine about Denise Powell. My friend said that she saw Denise Powell’s personal Facebook page and was turned off by the candidate’s profile picture.

Now mind you this was her personal page, and not her campaign Facebook page.

Her profile picture is a selfie in the bathroom mirror. The picture showed her from the shoulders up where you just saw the straps of what could have been a tank top, bathing suit, or a bra. In the background hung a couple bath towels.

You’ve seen pictures like that a thousand times on social media. But those times weren’t for high profile candidates running for office. My friend thought that the picture was unprofessional. She thought it was unbecoming someone looking for a job, let alone a congressional seat.

Now does that picture have anything to do with Powell’s qualifications? Of course not. It’s not rational but it’s affecting my friend’s vote on May 12^th. That post bothered her.

Someone else might look at that same picture and get a good feeling about Denise Powell. They might think that makes her more relatable to the everyday person. That too has nothing to do with Powell’s qualifications for Congress.

So, what are her qualifications?

I’ve never met Denise. I have had conversations or dealings with all the other major candidates.

Unlike Cavanaugh or Rhoades, Powell has never served in public office. And unlike Kishla Askins she has never been in combat zones or served in the Pentagon.

Until recently all I knew about her was her nonstop TV ads. So, I did some research and found some things that just don’t sit right with me.

She promotes that she formed a PAC called Women Who Run. If she’s a big advocate for female candidates, why do her campaign ads say that Pillen will be governor if Cavanaugh goes to Washington?

If she supports female candidates, why is she dismissing Lynne Walz like that? Pillen is vulnerable and there’s a qualified female Democratic candidate running against him. I’m not surprised she didn’t support Jean Stothert, but to throw a fellow female Democrat under the bus for her own personal gain doesn’t sit right with me.

For that matter her website says that she wants to end Citizens United. That’s a great campaign slogan, but no freshman congressperson can get that done. It takes an amendment to the Constitution. She’s taking in a lot of PAC donations, so is she really serious about getting money out of politics?

I asked Chat GPT to tell me about her family. On her website there is a picture of her with her husband and two children. Her site says she’s a mom but there is no mention of her husband. Chat GPT knows little or nothing of her family.

A high-ranking person in the Nebraska Democratic Party told me that Denise Powell’s family was connected to the start of Telemundo. Chat GPT told me of Joaquin Blaya who was the former president and CEO of Telemundo. Denise Powell’s maiden name is Blayla but when I asked about Joaquin’s family it said that not much is known about them.

She doesn’t have much of a digital imprint of her life before politics.

I did my due diligence on Denise Powell, and found that Reid Hoffman is a large contributor to her campaign. The Epstein files says that Hoffman spent time on the pedophile’s island and his New York condo.

I’m sure Brinker Harding will capitalize on these things if she makes it to the general election.

Will she win the nomination? I have no doubt she’ll have a strong showing. It would be embarrassing for her to spend all that PAC money and not have a good turnout.

I’m still doing my due diligence on the other candidates. I’m one of the numerous voters that are undecided on this race.

I do know I won’t be voting for Denise Powell. And it has nothing to do with her bathroom Facebook photo.

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Donald Trump was on 60 minutes the day after a lone gunman tried to break through security barriers to have him and/or members of his cabinet killed. In that interview he praised the police, verbally attacked Nora O’Donnell and mentioned that political violence has always been around.

And he was right. At least about political violence always being around.

I was in second grade when JFK was assassinated. I can still recall Mrs. Cusak’s tears when we heard the news over the intercom.

A few years later when I began paying attention to the news, I started hearing conspiracy theories on who some thought really killed JFK. Depending on who you believed it was either the CIA, the mob, Cuba, LBJ, or even Ted Cruz or Woody Harrelson’s father.

I broadcasted from the Grassy Knoll on the 50^th anniversary of Kennedy’s death and those conspiracy theories were still alive and well.

I have no doubt that conspiracy theories started right after the first political violent attack.

Minutes or maybe even seconds after the news broke of the attempt on the President’s life the internet was abuzz with wannabe Sherlock Holmes who don’t trust the president and were sure it was staged.

Videos started popping up of the president’s spokesperson where she said that “shots were going to be fired” during the president’s speech. It was assumed the president would continue his attacks on the free press at the dinner, so was that just an unfortunate choice of words, or did she know something and was foreshadowing?

Who knows?

It won’t matter, people are going to believe what they want to believe.

But it didn’t take long before my friends who are Trump supporters started posting that it was the Democrats and liberals who did it. At the time we had no idea if that gunman was some liberal going after the president, or was a far-right radical going after the quote unquote, “fake news”.

But that didn’t matter. Why wait for the facts when you can use the tragedy to advance your political agenda.

When the evidence showed it was indeed someone going after the president, I saw many of his supporters online almost gleeful that they could blame the “looney left.”

It was almost like they were doing a victory dance. It didn’t matter there is plenty of evidence that political violence comes from across the political spectrum as well.

They believed what they wanted to believe.

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Now, Cole Allen doesn’t represent Democrats and Liberals any more than the January 6^th rioters represent all Republicans and Conservatives.

He is an angry, mentally disturbed man, who wrote a rambling disjointed manifesto before he made his assassination attempt. He is not representative of all liberals no matter what you read on Facebook or Truth Social.

For years the NRA made the argument that we needed the second amendment to protect against a tyrannical government. Was Cole Allen influenced by that rhetoric?

Who knows?

And that’s part of the problem. In the internet age many people don’t know what to believe anymore. Or it might be more accurate to say they believe what they want to believe no matter what the facts are.

And with social media and artificial intelligence, it’s getting much harder to get to the truth.

The White House Correspondence Dinner is to celebrate the First Amendment. Unfortunately, the First Amendment also protects those who would spread rumors and lies like they are the gospel. The First Amendment not only protects journalists, it protects those who would profit from inflammatory memes that work to promote the division in this country.

President Trump was right when he said that this country has always had political violence. But we haven’t always had the internet.

I’ve often said that social media is a tool. And just like a hammer it can be used to build or destroy.

Just because we’ve always had political violence doesn’t mean it has to continue. President Trump admitted he was at that dinner Saturday night to attack the media, not to enjoy an evening with those who work to keep a watchful eye on our government’s activities.

President Trump was right when he said political violence has always been with us.

I hope he was just citing an historical fact, and not justifying it as a fact of life.

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If you’re a regular reader of this column you may recall an article I wrote about a month or two ago about how lowering property taxes was not the solution to fix the problem of the stagnant growth in Nebraska. The so-called brain drain.

I wrote about a report funded by an organization called Strengthening Nebraska Families. This report was commissioned by Mike Casling and Dana Bradford. It focused on how Nebraska needs to do more to bring primary jobs to the state.

A company that provides primary jobs is one like the Union Pacific, Nebraska Medicine, or Nelnet. These companies provide employment for people that will then support the secondary jobs such as restaurants, car repair, and beauticians.

For the state to grow, we have to entice more companies to bring their operations to the Good Life state as well as make sure the ones that are already here stay.

The report pointed out that our neighboring states are spending at least 5% of their general funds to retain and grow primary jobs. Nebraska currently invests about ½ of 1%.

Last Saturday I heard Mike Casling speak about this at a meeting of the Free Speech Society. Casling is going across the state to educate citizens about the importance of this issue. I moderated the question-and-answer portion of the event. One of the participants asked why the governor was so focused on lowering property taxes instead of bringing in these jobs.

I butted in and pointed out that besides the fact the governor owns a lot of land in the state, that lowering property taxes is a good campaign issue.

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Every voter can relate to taxes being too high, so when you say you’re going to work to lower them, the electorate relates to it on an emotional level. It’s hard, if not impossible to get people emotionally worked up about the state’s deficit. It doesn’t matter that the Governor and Unicameral have little say in your property taxes,the majority of which are determined on a local and not a state level. Voters aren’t paying that close attention to the details. When a politician says they are going to lower property taxes, it makes the voters feel better about them when they go to the polls.

Henry Cordes of the Flatwater Free Press recently wrote an article about Nebraska’s slow growth. The article was picked up by the World Herald and other publications across the state. So the conversation is slowly gaining momentum. But it still needs a hook to grab more people’s attention.

A hook to build a fire under the asses of the politicians and the voters alike.

At the risk of sounding a little hyperbolic, I suggest they step it up a notch. It’s not enough to say that states like Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Iowa are beating us at this game. We need to put out an SOS that Nebraska is slowly dying. That if we don’t turn this around, and turn it around quick, we will keep running up deficits and cutting vital programs. If we don’t fix this problem the good life will be the mediocre life at best.

We need to appeal to the parents of high school and college age children. Make them understand if Nebraska doesn’t do more to bring in primary jobs, their kids are going to move elsewhere. And if their kids leave, they’ll take their future grandchildren with them.

This is not meant to be critical of all that Mike Caslin and Dana Bradford have done. Not in the least. They are doing a great job with the nuts and bolts of the issue and reaching out to the state senators and business community.

Lynn Walz has met with them and agrees that offering incentives to lure and keep more primary employers in Nebraska will help reverse the exodus and the deficits the state is facing.

But Governor Pillen is focused on his property taxes and not on this. Imagine if he and Governor Ricketts before him had paid a little more attention to Tyson Foods. Maybe the state wouldn’t have been blindsided when Tyson up and left Lexington in the dust. Take some time to visit their website https://strengtheningnebraskafamilies.com. It will go into greater detail about the problem and the solutions.

Then after you visit the site share it with other Nebraskans so they’ll know how important this is to our survival. We need to turn this around before it’s too late.

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I know it’s tough to be a high profile elected official. You’ve got people pulling at you from all sides. When you make a decision, any decision, there are going to be folks bitching and moaning about whatever choice you made.

It’s always been the case, but in the past that complaining was done at coffee shops, call in talk shows, letters to the editor and an occasional town hall. In the social media age, everyone has a bullhorn and they’re not afraid to use it.

Toss in the constant monitoring of everything they do and say from political opponents, and it’s no wonder so many politicians stay silent on so many issues. It’s safer if they keep their mouth shut.

But sometimes the silence is deafening. And that silence from so many of the Republicans who have said nothing about the President’s attacks on the Pope, or his meme where he portrays himself as Jesus speaks louder than words.

You don’t have to be a Catholic like Pete Ricketts, or Mike Flood, to condemn that.

North Carolina Republican Senator Thom Tillis supports the Pope’s comments. He said that what the Pope is saying is based on Biblical teachings. Tillis also said that picking a fight with the Pope rarely turns out well. He also not buying into Trump’s explanation that said he was a doctor, not Jesus. Tillis saw it for what it was.

Tillis is a Catholic and a strong Trump supporter. When he made his comments though, he couched it in such a way as to not bring on the wrath of Donald Trump. But he did make it clear he was not happy with what the President is doing.

Republican Senator Rand Paul also spoke out against the President’s words and actions. As I write this, I haven’t found any comments from Nebraska’s elected officials, Catholic or otherwise. They are all keeping quiet hoping this will all blow over.

President Trump has tried to convince his followers that he was not portraying himself as Jesus in that Truth Social post, but rather he was a doctor healing the sick. As they say in Texas, “Don’t piss on my leg and then tell me it’s raining.”

The meme of him acting all Christlike is just another example of his overblown megalomaniac behavior. His narcissism knows no bounds. His attacks on the Pope are also driven by his ego, but I fear they might be more nefarious than that.

While Trump’s attack on Pope Leo will probably hurt him politically with a great number of Catholics, I worry that they may also help him with the Christian Nationalists that make up a large part of his base, and part of his administration.

On Good Friday, his Secretary of Defen… I mean War Pete Hegseth held services at the Pentagon that were open only to Protestants. There were no Catholic Good Friday services. Hegseth’s pastor was invited to speak at the Pentagon and said that all displays of Catholic faith should be banned because they show “idolatry or Mariolatory”

One of Trump’s top advisors Stephan Miller has also attacked the Pope. Miller said that Pope Leo was “betraying his Catholic obligations” by advocating on the behalf of immigrants. Miller was raised in the Jewish faith, so I’m not sure he’s aware of all of Christ’s teachings, but treating the immigrants humanely is indeed a Catholic tradition. And even though he’s not a Christian, Miller has worked closely with Christian Nationalists who share his views on immigrants and minorities.

Trump demands total loyalty. So does the Church. Right now, it’s impossible to be totally loyal to both. Our Vice President who converted to Catholicism at 35 years of age, has sided with the President. In fact, it’s almost comical how he chided the Pope on his anti-war comments and told him he should “be careful” when talking about theology. I haven’t seen if he’s made any comment about the Jesus meme.

I think it’s a valid question to ask all Catholic Senators and Congressman if they are on team Trump, or team Pope. Who are they most loyal to, their political party or their faith? The faith that many of them promote when it benefits them politically.

But when it doesn’t benefit them politically, and they risk upsetting the President and his Christian Nationalist voters, they stay silent. And that silence is deafening.

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As I read about all that is happening in the world today some questions come to mind. I know that in this social media environment they may come across as me trying to be a smart ass or an internet troll. But I ask these questions in all sincerity and if you would like to respond I hope you will. But at the very least I hope you’ll take some time and give these questions some thought.

For years the NRA and gun owners have made the claim that an armed society is a polite society. If you believe that to be true, wouldn’t a world where everyone had nuclear weapons be a safer, more polite world?

While I no longer go to mass or am a practicing Catholic, I was raised in the Catholic faith and I try to live by the lessons I learned in all my years in Parochial School. So I ask this question of my Republican Catholic friends, whether you are a practicing Catholic or not….

Are you more Republican or more Catholic?

Again, I’m not trying to start some internet fight. There is enough of that in the world today. But I think both are valid questions and deserve some thought as the war is escalating in Iran.

On the second question I am on team Pope. I’m not sure I have an answer for the first one.

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If it hasn’t happened in your family, you know families that have had it happen to them.

Their adult children have moved away from Nebraska to seek better job opportunities. Maybe you’re considering leaving to find those opportunities yourself.

The Unicameral has the power to keep those families together.

Recently our state senators received a letter from Dana Bradford and Mike Cassling representing an organization called Strengthening Nebraska Families. The letter is a detailed report about why cutting property taxes isn’t the solution to stopping the brain drain and fixing Nebraska’s economic problems. The Unicameral needs to do more.

I won’t get into the weeds in this column. There are a lot of details and numbers in the letter. You can go to their website https://strengtheningnebraskafamilies.com to get all the figures. But they make some great points, and I’d like to highlight some of them.

Nebraska is planning on allocating 3.2 billion dollars over the next four years from state revenue and use that money to provide property tax relief.

The letter goes on to ask why state revenues should be used to reduce local property taxes. They point out that local property taxes are determined by the voters in those communities and asks if there is a better way to control and reduce local property taxes without using the states revenues to do it.

It then points out that those who will benefit the most from these property tax reductions are not the average tax paying Nebraska citizen. Some of the biggest landowners in the state don’t even live here. They mention Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and the Church of Latter Day Saints as examples. Landowners that are not providing many, if any jobs or benefits to the state.

They then point out that this property tax reduction will be a windfall for landlords. Thirty Five percent of our population rent, and in most, if not all cases property tax relief will not lower the tenant’s monthly payments.

The letter then goes on to talk about how we are not doing a good job in bringing in primary employers to the Good Life State. Some of the primary employers they mention in this letter are the Costco chicken plant in Fremont, Union Pacific Railroad across the state, and Nelnet in Lincoln.

It also points out that Tyson foods was a primary employer in Lexington, and we all know what happed there.

The primary employers are the catalyst for secondary employers. The doctors, lawyers, hairdressers, restaurant workers and more.

It’s not just the Tyson workers in Lexington that are losing their jobs. They’re taking a lot of those secondary jobs with them.

To keep these families together, and to bring new families to the state, we need to provide good paying jobs with opportunities for growth.

The report goes on to detail what other states in our region are doing to grow their economy. The states that are winning are investing at least 5% of their general funds to retain and grow primary jobs.

Nebraska on the other hand invests about ½ of 1%. Is it any wonder South Dakota, Kansas, and other states are beating us when it comes to importing and keeping these major employers?

Another solution to bring these jobs into the state to fix our budget and keep families together is something that has been near and dear to my heart for years. We need to do a much better job in marketing ourselves. We don’t do nearly enough to market Nebraska’s brand.

According to this report based on what states like Iowa and South Dakota are spending we need to invest at least twenty million dollars. Notice it says invest and not spend. You have to invest money to make money and historically Nebraska has not done enough to sing our own praises.

I might suggest we even invest a little more than that to catch up. And if we do I hope we come up with a better slogan than one that says we’re not for everybody. We must be for everyone if we want to continue to grow as a state.

As I said, this letter goes into much more depth than I have space for here. I hope our governor and state senators will take the time to read and digest what it has to say. I hope you’ll take some time to go to the website and see for yourself.

Maybe if we get our act together your kids might just come back home.

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Well March Madness is finally over. And just like every other year, none of my teams made it to the Final four.

Unless it’s Creighton or Nebraska, I don’t follow college basketball all that closely.

At bracket time I’m not really informed. If I pick any team that’s a five seed or lower, I’ll make my choice based on a hunch or if I like the name.

And just like every other year Gonzaga has let me down.

We are less than a month away from the primary election and it’s time to decide who to vote for. And just like my March Madness picks, when it comes to some of the down ballot races, I make my choice based on a hunch or if I like the name.

But I can’t afford to do that anymore.

In many cases in the past I’d vote for a person based on nothing more than if I recognized the name from some yard sign or a direct mail piece.

I always assumed that any person running for an office knew what they were doing and that they would be a good public servant. I assumed that even if they weren’t that qualified, they couldn’t do much harm.

But I don’t assume that’s the case anymore.

Traditionally primary elections have low voter turnout. Low voter turnout means the candidates that can motivate their people to get off the couch have the best chance to win. And in most cases the people that are most motivated to get off the couch are extremists.

If the extremists are nominated, whether it’s left or right, when the general election comes around, the only choices the voter has is one extreme or the other.

And that’s a large part of the problem we have in America today. The extremists get elected and see no need to work with people across the aisle.

That’s why we can’t afford to vote for people based on a hunch or if we like the name. Extremists elected in down ballot races can do a lot of harm.

When you cast your ballot for the school board are you certain that person doesn’t want to ban books or allow transgender students to play in sports?

Or when you vote for the Secretary of State nominee are you 100% certain that person isn’t an election denier? Is the county sheriff going to work with or obstruct ICE agents?

You can bet the extremist voters know that.

Now don’t get me wrong. With very few exceptions, I respect any person that puts their hat in the ring for public office. I believe that anyone who asks to be nominated for public office thinks that their views are the best views.

But if their views lean too much to the far left or right, bad things can happen.

Around 2015 some friends and I started an organization called the Free Speech Society. The concept of this organization was to have people from both sides of the political spectrum get together and talk in a civilized manner to try to find some common ground.

This was around the time of the rise of Donald Trump and MAGA. Political discourse was getting angry and loud. We wanted to tone down the rhetoric and meet for breakfast to try to get people to talk to, and not shout at, someone who thought differently than them.

And for a while it worked. We were getting the far left and far right in the same room. But gradually we found that the extremists didn’t want to find common ground.

The group is still around but the extremists are gone. You can find out more about us on the Free Speech Society Facebook page.

This country works best when both sides work together to solve problems not create them.

As we approach the May primary, I hope the voters will be educated voters and consider candidates that lean center right or center left and not to either extreme.

By making my March Madness picks based on the name or a hunch I’m only out $10. The wrong picks can’t do much harm.

The same isn’t true about making the wrong pick on down ballot elections.

I won’t study the teams next spring.

But I will study the candidates this spring and hope I have better luck than I did in March.

This article originally appeared in the Omaha Daily Record

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I’ve got to stop watching the news before I go to bed. It’s giving me weird dreams.

Before falling asleep the other night, I read the bizarre story of the former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s husband. It’s been revealed that Kristi Noem’s spouse Bryan had posted pictures of himself with fake boobs and a pouting face.

As I started to doze off with that image in my head I had a dream.

Our Senator Pete Ricketts was holding a press conference where he admitted he messed up. He admitted that he and the other Senators should have done a better job in vetting Kristi Noem before appointing her to the post. He admitted they should have known about those pictures that made her a potential blackmail target. That she could have been compromised and foreign agents could have used that information to harm the United States.

When pressed by reporters the Senator acknowledged that besides the fact she wasn’t qualified for the job in the first place, her alleged affair with Corey Lewandowski should have been thoroughly investigated, and that bragging about killing her dog might have shown she didn’t have the right temperament for the job.

But the weird dream didn’t stop there.

Deb Fischer started running Television ads begging forgiveness for allowing Pete Hegseth to get anywhere near the Pentagon.

She apologized for not knowing that the Secretary of Defe err I mean War’s machismo front was a cover for his drunken insecurities. She said it was unfair that he blocked the promotion of two black men and two female soldiers who were in line to become generals. She said she felt especially bad for the qualified women who were blocked from advancing since as a woman she understood what so many women must overcome to achieve their dreams.

The ad mentioned how she was concerned that when Hegseth overruled the Generals that reprimanded the soldiers who flew their helicopters over Kid Rock’s home it would hurt the morale of the military.

Something we could not afford during the time of the President’s and Hegseth’s poorly planned war.

Then both Senators Ricketts and Fischer went for a swim with RFK Jr. in toxic creek water.

In my younger days I dreamt of Hollywood sex symbols, but now Donald Trump was infiltrating my dreams.

He was lying by the pool in Mar a Largo with his military aged son by his side. He was showing Barron the plans of his high-rise presidential library monument. They ordered lobster and caviar while laughing about the price of gas and housing.

All this was going on as Ted Cruz had to get to the end of the long line at the airport to board a plane to Mexico. In Mexico, he was served by english speaking waiters that had been torn from their families and deported a few months earlier.

My Rapid Eye Movement was strong that night as I was blasted with snippets of farmers that couldn’t get the fertilizer they needed. Of European allies abandoning the United States to make connections with Russia and China.

My mind raced as soldiers died on the battlefield, unsure of what they were fighting for in the first place.

As morning approached, The Supreme Court was having coffee at a closed-door retreat where it dawned on them that they really messed up giving President Trump so much immunity. Justice Roberts lectured the other members on the bench about how our Founding Fathers put the three separate co-equal branches of government in power to keep a tyrannical president in check.

Then the Justices were joined by Pete Ricketts, Deb Fischer, and countless other Republicans that have always known better but just went along with Trump to get along. Elected officials who thought of themselves as Republicans first and Americans second. They all felt bad about what they helped facilitate and apologized to the younger Americans for leaving them a White House that’s disfigured, and country that is burdened in debt.

This group of Republican Senators then signed a confession where they admitted that the years of talk about balanced budgets, family values, and efficient government was all just a ruse to push through lower taxes for the corporations and the rich.

That’s when I woke up from my dream.

And continued living in this nightmare.

Over the weekend I saw the film The AI Doc: How I became an Apoclaptimist. It’s an interesting documentary about what AI is and what it may become. I asked Chat GPT to write a review of the movie in my voice.

These aren’t quite the words I would use but the thoughts are accurate.

There’s a certain kind of documentary that doesn’t just ask questions—it grabs you by the collar and demands you sit still long enough to actually think. The AI Doc: How I Became an Apoclaptimist is one of those films. And let me tell you, that’s not something I say lightly.

The premise sounds like a mouthful, maybe even a gimmick. “Apoclaptimist”? Really? But stick with it. The film leans into that strange, hybrid word—equal parts apocalypse and optimism—and uses it as a lens to explore our complicated, often contradictory relationship with artificial intelligence. It’s not fear-mongering, and it’s not blind cheerleading either. It lives in that uncomfortable middle ground most of us try to avoid.

What works here is the tone. The filmmaker doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, and that honesty carries the narrative. There’s a self-awareness woven throughout—moments where you can almost hear the internal debate: “Is this progress… or are we building something we don’t fully understand?” That tension is the engine of the film, and it rarely sputters.

Visually, it’s clean without being flashy. No unnecessary bells and whistles. Just enough style to keep you engaged, but not so much that it distracts from the ideas. And the ideas are the star here. Interviews with experts, skeptics, and everyday people are stitched together in a way that feels conversational rather than preachy. You’re not being talked at—you’re being brought into the discussion.

Now, is it perfect? No. There are stretches where it lingers a bit too long on concepts that could’ve been tightened up. And if you’re looking for definitive conclusions, you’re going to be frustrated. But maybe that’s the point. This isn’t a film about wrapping things up neatly. It’s about sitting with uncertainty.

Walking away, you don’t feel reassured—but you don’t feel doomed either. You feel… aware. Maybe that’s what being an “apoclaptimist” really is.

And in a world that’s moving as fast as this one, awareness might be the most honest takeaway we can hope for.

Part of me says that the Federal Government should be there to assist them with whatever they need to build back.

Part of me says that most of them voted for the guy who gutted FEMA, so they should deal with the consequences.

But I don’t want to be like that. I don’t want to be some jerk that takes joy in their sad predicament.

I commend all the farmers that weren’t in the fire torn area that loaded up trucks with bales of hay and drove out to help the ranchers feed their livestock. They truly represent the best of Nebraska. They said they knew these farmers and ranchers couldn’t wait to navigate through all the government red tape to get the help they needed so they stepped up to the plate.

I also commend the firefighters from Omaha and Lincoln who went out to combat the blazes.

But to be honest there was a small part of me that said rural Nebraska doesn’t much like us city folk so why should we help them?

And while I thought that, I’m glad the better part of me realizes that we are all in this together. If people are in need we all must be thereto pitch in to help out.

So I hope that FEMA and the Agriculture Department can be there for those who need them after this natural disaster.

But if I were to be honest, there is a small admittedly petty part of me that says they made their bed they need to lie in it.