Southeast Nebraska speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Jul. 17, 2026
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Lincoln Journal Star.
- Updated
I would suggest that the Nebraska legislators pass a bill requiring all schools in Nebraska teach the following songs:
"The Star-Spangled Banner," "God Bless America," "America The Beautiful" and "My Country ’Tis of Thee."
- Updated
Gov. Jim Pillen continues to demand deeper state spending cuts while describing them as businesslike efficiency. But no responsible business protects its future by weakening its workforce pipeline, research capacity and ability to innovate.
The University of Nebraska is not simply a collection of campuses. It educates the teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, business leaders and other professionals Nebraska communities and employers depend on. It also helps keep young people in the state by giving them an affordable path to build careers here.
- Updated
In his 1796 farewell address, President George Washington warned that without checks and balances to limit governmental power, “the love of power” would trend toward despotism.
The framers of the Constitution had recognized this truth in crafting the three co-equal branches of government — the legislative, executive and judicial.
- Updated
ICE has killed again. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed in his home in Houston by agents of his country. He is not alone. Many have been killed since 2025 by immigration enforcement agencies, be it in the streets of Minneapolis or concentration camps around the country.
Their blood is on our souls, for these agencies are created by the government, a government that we consent to and empower. If we wish to find redemption for their deaths, we have to bring justice.
- Updated
The Ricketts campaign dithers about whether Dan Osborn might know Graham Platner and tries to make it a campaign issue. One has to wonder whether Ricketts’ camp has noticed that he has been all in for a president who is in fact an adjudicated sex offender and 34-time felon. Why is that not a campaign issue? Why are the media not asking?
Ken Keith, Lincoln
- Updated
Trying to tie Dan Osborn to Graham Platner, who is facing allegations of sexual assault, Sen. Pete Ricketts was asked how he can support President Donald Trump who has faced and denied allegations of sexual assault. The senator’s response was that Platner is trying to hide his actions, unlike Trump.
So let me get this straight. It’s fine that President Trump is a convicted felon and sexual abuser because he’s upfront about it?
- Updated
At his town hall on July 7, Mike Flood stated, "There are a lot of Americans that don't trust our election system. What is so objectionable about having to show a driver's license, a passport or a birth certificate at your polling place?"
Well Mike, to your first point, proven voter fraud has been negligible in scale and does not affect elections. Widespread voter fraud is fabricated by Donald Trump, and trumpeted by you and others who are afraid of losing their majority.
- Updated
Only a politician would ask to lower the flag for a man who dedicated his life to building wealth inequality and hurt so many American families.
Dave Hamilton, Lincoln
- Updated
The University of Nebraska should not bring athletes into the state who are a danger to its citizens. Before he came to Nebraska, wrestler AJ Ferrari was charged with sexual battery, charges that were dropped after the alleged victim said she was being bullied online by Ferrari's camp.
Ferrari also allegedly caused a serious accident when he attempted to pass three cars while cresting a hill (no passing zone). In Nebraska, Ferrari has put our citizens' lives at risk by allegedly driving 110 mph in a 55 mph zone in Lincoln County. Then, days later, he was charged with three felonies, including assault by strangulation/suffocation of a pregnant woman, domestic assault and false imprisonment of a Nebraska woman in Lincoln.
- Lincoln Journal Star
- Updated
As we approach the anniversary of the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, all I can see around me are the consequences of prices continuing to skyrocket. Simply put, there is nothing beautiful about what is happening right now.
As a family rancher whose sole income is cattle, my monthly health insurance premium went from about $1,300 a month in 2025 to $2,100 a month this year. That’s an increase of roughly $10,000 a year. At the same time, prices are high for us on the supply side and beef is incredibly expensive for shoppers who are trying their best to save money.
- Updated
Time and again, writers to this publication make the objectively false and alarmingly ignorant assertion that this nation was founded on “Judeo-Christian values” (LJS 7/1/26 “We live in the best country”). Anyone who has studied U.S. history knows that the founders viewed God in the deist sense. Deism is a philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe but rejects religious dogma, asserting that God’s existence is proven solely through human reason and observation of nature. In fact, the framers of the Constitution went out of their way to ensure that religion had no place in government, thereby allowing all people religious freedom. Hard to believe this still requires explanation 250 years later. Perhaps the writer of "we live in the best country" should have spent the Fourth of July weekend brushing up on U.S. history.
Barbara Pederson, Lincoln
- Updated
Our Congressional delegation, which the Constitution gives the responsibility for providing checks and balances, has failed. They do what the president wants even when it is wrong. They support a president who regularly lies rather than tell the truth. Our delegates and others in Congress have failed and harmed the majority of citizens.
Checks and balances should have been applied when the president: Instigated an attack on the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election, hired his loyal followers for cabinet positions for which they are not qualified and are actually the antithesis of what is needed for their positions, and alienated the U.S. from its longtime allies. The list is long but let’s focus on negating the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA Treaty), which limited Iran’s nuclear program. It prevented Iran from producing weapons-grade plutonium, reduced the uranium stockpile by 98% and included continuous inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency to assure compliance. This treaty was negotiated when Obama was president. Congress failed by not stopping the president from ending the agreement. Now we have an unsanctioned war that has killed many people, including school children, and raised prices on many things worldwide, especially food and fuel.
More like this...
I would suggest that the Nebraska legislators pass a bill requiring all schools in Nebraska teach the following songs:
"The Star-Spangled Banner," "God Bless America," "America The Beautiful" and "My Country ’Tis of Thee."
Gov. Jim Pillen continues to demand deeper state spending cuts while describing them as businesslike efficiency. But no responsible business protects its future by weakening its workforce pipeline, research capacity and ability to innovate.
The University of Nebraska is not simply a collection of campuses. It educates the teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, business leaders and other professionals Nebraska communities and employers depend on. It also helps keep young people in the state by giving them an affordable path to build careers here.
In his 1796 farewell address, President George Washington warned that without checks and balances to limit governmental power, “the love of power” would trend toward despotism.
The framers of the Constitution had recognized this truth in crafting the three co-equal branches of government — the legislative, executive and judicial.
ICE has killed again. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was killed in his home in Houston by agents of his country. He is not alone. Many have been killed since 2025 by immigration enforcement agencies, be it in the streets of Minneapolis or concentration camps around the country.
Their blood is on our souls, for these agencies are created by the government, a government that we consent to and empower. If we wish to find redemption for their deaths, we have to bring justice.
The Ricketts campaign dithers about whether Dan Osborn might know Graham Platner and tries to make it a campaign issue. One has to wonder whether Ricketts’ camp has noticed that he has been all in for a president who is in fact an adjudicated sex offender and 34-time felon. Why is that not a campaign issue? Why are the media not asking?
Ken Keith, Lincoln
Trying to tie Dan Osborn to Graham Platner, who is facing allegations of sexual assault, Sen. Pete Ricketts was asked how he can support President Donald Trump who has faced and denied allegations of sexual assault. The senator’s response was that Platner is trying to hide his actions, unlike Trump.
So let me get this straight. It’s fine that President Trump is a convicted felon and sexual abuser because he’s upfront about it?
At his town hall on July 7, Mike Flood stated, "There are a lot of Americans that don't trust our election system. What is so objectionable about having to show a driver's license, a passport or a birth certificate at your polling place?"
Well Mike, to your first point, proven voter fraud has been negligible in scale and does not affect elections. Widespread voter fraud is fabricated by Donald Trump, and trumpeted by you and others who are afraid of losing their majority.
The University of Nebraska should not bring athletes into the state who are a danger to its citizens. Before he came to Nebraska, wrestler AJ Ferrari was charged with sexual battery, charges that were dropped after the alleged victim said she was being bullied online by Ferrari's camp.
Ferrari also allegedly caused a serious accident when he attempted to pass three cars while cresting a hill (no passing zone). In Nebraska, Ferrari has put our citizens' lives at risk by allegedly driving 110 mph in a 55 mph zone in Lincoln County. Then, days later, he was charged with three felonies, including assault by strangulation/suffocation of a pregnant woman, domestic assault and false imprisonment of a Nebraska woman in Lincoln.
- Lincoln Journal Star
As we approach the anniversary of the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, all I can see around me are the consequences of prices continuing to skyrocket. Simply put, there is nothing beautiful about what is happening right now.
As a family rancher whose sole income is cattle, my monthly health insurance premium went from about $1,300 a month in 2025 to $2,100 a month this year. That’s an increase of roughly $10,000 a year. At the same time, prices are high for us on the supply side and beef is incredibly expensive for shoppers who are trying their best to save money.
Time and again, writers to this publication make the objectively false and alarmingly ignorant assertion that this nation was founded on “Judeo-Christian values” (LJS 7/1/26 “We live in the best country”). Anyone who has studied U.S. history knows that the founders viewed God in the deist sense. Deism is a philosophical belief that a supreme being created the universe but rejects religious dogma, asserting that God’s existence is proven solely through human reason and observation of nature. In fact, the framers of the Constitution went out of their way to ensure that religion had no place in government, thereby allowing all people religious freedom. Hard to believe this still requires explanation 250 years later. Perhaps the writer of "we live in the best country" should have spent the Fourth of July weekend brushing up on U.S. history.
Barbara Pederson, Lincoln
Our Congressional delegation, which the Constitution gives the responsibility for providing checks and balances, has failed. They do what the president wants even when it is wrong. They support a president who regularly lies rather than tell the truth. Our delegates and others in Congress have failed and harmed the majority of citizens.
Checks and balances should have been applied when the president: Instigated an attack on the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election, hired his loyal followers for cabinet positions for which they are not qualified and are actually the antithesis of what is needed for their positions, and alienated the U.S. from its longtime allies. The list is long but let’s focus on negating the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA Treaty), which limited Iran’s nuclear program. It prevented Iran from producing weapons-grade plutonium, reduced the uranium stockpile by 98% and included continuous inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency to assure compliance. This treaty was negotiated when Obama was president. Congress failed by not stopping the president from ending the agreement. Now we have an unsanctioned war that has killed many people, including school children, and raised prices on many things worldwide, especially food and fuel.
More like this...
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