Free Republic

Renewable energy is the alternative that Democrats and other environmental nuts want to replace reliable oil, gas and coal. But time and time again, people who rely on wind and solar power have had to learn the tough lesson that such alternatives are both undependable and susceptible to the same elements they are supposed to harness. Nowhere was that more true than in Nebraska, where a thunderstorm dumped baseball-sized hail on a solar farm on Friday at a speed of 150 mph — destroying the facility in just a few minutes. Cowboy State Daily reported a storm moved east out...

Electric vehicles that typically weigh more than gasoline-powered cars can easily crash through steel highway guardrails that are not designed to withstand the extra force, raising concerns about the nation’s roadside safety system, according to crash test data released Wednesday by the University of Nebraska. Electric vehicles typically weigh 20% to 50% more than gas-powered vehicles thanks to batteries that can weigh almost as much as a small gas-powered car. And they have lower centers of gravity. Because of these differences, guardrails can do little to stop electric vehicles from pushing through barriers typically made of steel. Last fall, engineers...

Amid a revolt against incumbents, Nebraska’s State Central Committee of the Republican Party has endorsed a GOP challenger to incumbent Sen. and former Gov. Pete Ricketts. The committee is backing former Air Force Lt. Col. John Glen Weaver, according to the Nebraska Examiner. In 2022, former President Donald Trump branded Ricketts a “RINO,” which means Republican in Name Only, according to KLKN-TV.

PAPILLION, Neb. (Nebraska Examiner) - Former Tea Party darling Dan Frei of Omaha filed late last week to challenge U.S. Rep. Don Bacon of Papillion in the 2024 GOP primary in the 2nd District. Frei had no immediate comment Saturday about filing. He told the Examiner in early January that he was seriously considering a bid against Bacon. Frei later courted partisans attending a Nebraska Republican Party fundraiser in Omaha involving Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, who has still not conceded her loss in Arizona’s 2022 governor’s race. Some leaders in the Nebraska GOP have said they prefer candidates...

Bill Gates Set Up 20 Shell Companies to Hide Purchase of $113 Million of Nebraska Farmland The limited liability companies, buried under layers of business names, overlapping employees and addresses in at least three states, form a network more tangled and opaque than the one created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is buying a giant amount of Nebraska ranch land.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday reversed former Nebraska congressman Jeff Fortenberry's three felony convictions, agreeing with Fortenberry's argument that the trial should not have taken place in California. Fortenberry was convicted by a federal jury in Los Angeles in 2022 on one count of concealing conduit campaign contributions and two counts of lying to federal agents, all felonies. The charges stemmed from Fortenberry allegedly accepting an illegal campaign donation from billionaire Nigerian businessman Gilbert Chagoury at a 2016 fundraiser and then lying about the donation during later interviews with FBI agents. On Tuesday, a panel of three judges with...

After Ohio’s Issue 1 vote legalized abortion with no gestational limit, the pro-abortion lobby is planning to put similar referendums on the ballots of many other states. As of November 14, pro-abortion initiatives are guaranteed to be on the ballots of two deep-blue states: Maryland and New York. However, abortion is currently legal in both states until so-called “fetal viability” – which is usually defined as falling between 23 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. Loopholes allow killing babies in abortions up to birth in both states. In many other states, the prospect of putting abortion to a vote next year...

The Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) and its partners are responding to a confirmed case of active tuberculosis disease (TB) at Westview YMCA. DCHD is investigating more than 500 possible exposures that may have happened at the facility’s drop-in daycare and is working to identify individuals who had close contact with the patient. Those possible exposures would have happened from late spring into late October. The Douglas County Health Department is investigating the patient’s activities while they were contagious to learn of potential exposures, helping the patient isolate, and observing them complete their medication until they test negative for TB....

A man wanted on suspicion of child sexual assault who led authorities on a pursuit Tuesday has been released from the hospital and booked into jail, Omaha police said Friday. Refugio Arcos-Hernandez, 33, is charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child, flight to avoid arrest, weapon possession by a prohibited person, resisting arrest, obstruction, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, willful reckless driving and not having a driver’s license. According to Sarpy County and Omaha authorities, Arcos-Hernandez fled from a traffic stop Tuesday after he was spotted outside Gretna High School. The pursuit ended near 59th and...

Omaha police have arrested Dominic M. Henton of Papillion, Nebraska as a suspect in the Wednesday assault of Martha McSally, a former United States senator. Police used surveillance video and other investigative means to identify Henton, according to a news release. In video stills shared by police, Henton is seen following McSally over the Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge and then southbound on the trail at Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park in Council Bluffs.

A top executive from the company behind the voting machines that “flipped votes” in Pennsylvania on Tuesday has admitted that “someone from our team programmed the election.” The voting machine issued caused votes in an eastern Pennsylvania county to appear to be “flipped” on a ballot question, officials said Tuesday. Voters were asked to decide whether Pennsylvania Superior Court Judges Jack Panella and Victor Stabile should be retained for additional 10-year terms. The “yes” or “no” votes for each judge were switched on a summary displayed to voters before they cast their ballot, said Charles Dertinger, the Northampton County director...

OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon has been very vocal about his opinions on the nominees for House Speaker, but he finally found a candidate that he would support. Advertisement The House Republicans picked a fourth nominee for speaker on Tuesday. The late-night decision comes after the third nominee dropped out before Congress could even take a full vote. On Tuesday, the house GOP conference whittled five names down to one. It's the person who came in second this morning Louisiana's Mike Johnson. The Republican is a lawyer who specializes in constitutional issues. Congressman Bacon told KETV NewsWatch 7...

Don’t be fooled; the GOP establishment hates its own voter base, especially those who support President Trump—who make up the vast majority of the party. While the establishment wing of the Grand Old Party has taken a severe beating, a few stragglers still exist and are sabotaging any chance we have of triumphing over the left-wing Marxists. The GOP has long been content to play the role of loyal opposition to the ruling Democrats. The notion that we have two distinct political parties in this country is a farce. Need proof? Just take a gander at the Democrat pushing for...

GOP turncoat Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) made waves last week by not only going against his party’s consensus but also labeling fellow Republican Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) a “loser” after Republicans voted against him in a secret ballot away from their voting base. Jordan, the most popular Republican lawmaker in Congress, was taken out by the RINO lawmakers who make up the majority of the GOP Caucus. Last Monday, a lobbying firm known to have ties with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell organized a phone call with Don Bacon. An email sent out before the call clarified the agenda by stating,...

A reporter of Chinese descent is speaking out, weeks after Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen dismissed her article on his company, Pillen Family Farms, because “the author is from Communist China.” Yanqi Xu, 27, who is an immigrant from China and reports for the independent outlet Flatwater Free Press, told NBC News that Pillen's comments were a form of “bias.” Pillen, a Republican, had made the remarks on Omaha radio station KFAB in September, after he was asked to respond to her article that found high levels of nitrate on his hog farms. “Number 1, I didn’t read it. And I...

The new measures ban mutilating surgeries for gender-confused youth and require minors to undergo 40 hours of ‘clinically neutral’ therapy before being prescribed puberty blockers or hormone drugs. LINCOLN, Nebraska (LifeSiteNews) — A ban on mutilating transgender surgeries for minors and emergency regulations restricting access to transgender drugs took effect Sunday, adding to a growing list of statewide regulations to protect children from permanent physical and psychological damage. Legislative Bill 574, which was approved by Nebraska lawmakers and signed by Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen in May, took effect Sunday and prohibits transgender surgeries for minors like mastectomies and genital...

In a reaffirmation of its shift to the right, the Lancaster County Republican Party voted Tuesday night to return a populist and fervent supporter of Donald Trump, Matt Innis, to the post of chairman. Party delegates also passed resolutions condemning the indictments faced by Trump and supporting the impeachment of President Joe Biden — reportedly the first passage of such statements by a county GOP party in Nebraska. Innis, who served as the county’s chairman from 2011-15, claimed 163 votes from the 246 delegates who voted during the county’s fall convention at the Hickman Community Center. He far outdistanced Kris...

Luka Hein, who is now 21 years old, is suing the doctors who allegedly rushed her into transgender surgery at the age of 16, removing both her breasts. Hein spoke with the Daily Mail, telling the outlet the surgery has left her with daily pain. They also pumped her full of hormone treatments that could possibly rob her of being a mother one day. During her teens, Hein’s parents went through a bitter divorce. A series of events after that led to doctors convincing her parents that if they didn’t push her to become transgender she would commit suicide. The...

In June of 2022, Gilbert Grooms was confronted and threatened at his job in the presence of his wife and children. He refused to fight hand-to-hand with a younger, brutal, and violent man. When the man continued to confront him and come at him, he used a shotgun to stop the assault.He was charged with six felonies. He chose a jury trial. He was found not guilty of all charges.From ruralradio.com:A South Dakota man facing six felonies in connection with a June 2022 shooting at the Sheridan County Livestock Sale Barn in Rushville has been acquitted.After a four day trial,...

OMAHA, Neb. — An explosion inside a shipping container at the world’s largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire. Around noon, an explosion occurred inside an intermodal container on a railcar at Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, though it wasn’t clear what caused the explosion, railroad spokeswoman Robynn Tysver said. No one was injured, and no cars derailed. Authorities evacuated everyone within a four-mile radius of the railyard, which is about 280 mileswest of Omaha, was evacuated because of the smoke, and U.S....