Political News

‘Forgotten War’: Nebraska Veteran, Former Lawmaker Readies Ninth Ukraine Mission Amid Russian War

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 12:00am

Supporters of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people gather outside the Nebraska State Capitol every Saturday to honor Ukraine in its continued resistance to Russian invasion, including on Feb. 28, 2026, marking the four-year mark of the war.
(Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — A former Nebraska state lawmaker and U.S. Army veteran hopes his ninth trip to Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 invasion this week keeps a spotlight on what he fears has become a “forgotten war.”

Read more about ‘Forgotten War’: Nebraska Veteran, Former Lawmaker Readies Ninth Ukraine Mission Amid Russian War

Democratic State AGs Say Their Staff Excluded From Vance Anti-Fraud Meeting

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 12:00am

Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks concerning the Trump administration's efforts to combat fraud, in Bangor, Maine, Thursday, May 14, 2026.
(Tierney L. Cross / The New York Times via AP, Pool)

WASHINGTON — A handful of Democratic state attorneys general said Tuesday that expert officials from their offices were denied access to a major White House anti-fraud meeting convened by Vice President JD Vance and attended by Republican AGs.

Two dozen Democratic attorneys general had earlier declined invitations for their own attendance at the White House anti-fraud roundtable, citing extremely short notice and a lack of an agenda in a letter to Vance, who has helmed the Trump administration’s sweeping anti-fraud effort.

Read more about Democratic State AGs Say Their Staff Excluded From Vance Anti-Fraud Meeting

US Military Conducts Another Strike Against Iran After Trump Says Iran Is 'Negotiating On Fumes'

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces carried out new defensive strikes on Iran on Wednesday after President Donald Trump asserted that Iran is “negotiating on fumes” and insisted that November’s midterm elections in the United States won’t make him rush into a deal to end the nearly three-month-old conflict.

U.S. Central Command forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Read more about US Military Conducts Another Strike Against Iran After Trump Says Iran Is 'Negotiating On Fumes'

Chilling Effects Of Trump’s War On Free Speech Extend Far Beyond Campus Walls – And That’s The Point

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 12:00am

Younger Americans have soured on the second Donald Trump presidency, but they are not protesting it.

Despite an unpopular Iran war and an even more unpopular Trump administration, college campus protests nationwide have gone silent. And at many schools, student activism is virtually nonexistent.

This silence comes in the wake of a relentless Trump administration war on campus speech that has involved lawsuits, arrests, deportations and expulsions.

Read more about Chilling Effects Of Trump’s War On Free Speech Extend Far Beyond Campus Walls – And That’s The Point

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen Unveils Reworked Campaign Team

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 05/25/2026 - 12:00am

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pilen talks with reporters during a visit with U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to Hamlow Elementary School in Waverly, Nebraska. April 9, 2026.
(Zach Wendling / Nebraska Examiner)

LINCOLN — Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has hired a new campaign team — one with deep ties to President Donald Trump.

Republican campaign consultant Ryan Smith will serve as the campaign’s general or top consultant, replacing Axiom Strategy’s Jessica Flanagain, whom many know for her work with U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts.

Florida-based Smith has been involved with Republican campaigns and causes across the country for 20 years, the Florida Politics noted. Smith also served as an advisor to MAGA Inc, a super PAC that functions as Trump’s primary outside political operation.

Read more about Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen Unveils Reworked Campaign Team

One Lawsuit to Rule Them All

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 05/25/2026 - 12:00am

“Death and taxes,” my father would tell me as a child, “are the only things a man cannot escape.” Those words were spoken with the iron assurance of a man who had seen the many avenues of life, and with time, I came to know them to be true as well. Like any living entity, a government seeks the resources it needs to sustain itself and grow; what it needs is money, almost exclusively drawn from taxes. As any sane man would, I should add that I am not in love with taxes, but I understand their necessity if not the scalping, gutter-scraping nature with which politicians apply them.

Read more about One Lawsuit to Rule Them All

Blanche Doesn't Rule Out Considering Payments For Violent Jan. 6 Rioters As He Defends $1.8B Fund

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 05/25/2026 - 12:00am

Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington.
(John Minchillo / AP Photo)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday wouldn't rule out the possibility that people who carried out violence during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol will be considered for payouts from a new $1.776 billion fund to pay individuals who believe they were targeted politically.

Read more about Blanche Doesn't Rule Out Considering Payments For Violent Jan. 6 Rioters As He Defends $1.8B Fund

How Did Denise Powell Beat An Omaha Dynasty In NE-02?

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 05/25/2026 - 12:00am

Democratic candidate for Congress in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District Crystal Rhoades speaks with supporters at her watch party at Primo’s Mexican Restaurant in Omaha.
(Erin Bamer / Nebraska Examiner)

OMAHA — Business and nonprofit consultant Denise Powell beat two elected officials who had been on Omaha-area ballots for years, surviving a heated, six-person primary that Democratic voters in Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District hadn’t seen in years.

Powell won partly because her campaign and outside groups aligned with her outraised and outspent her competitors on television, digital, direct mail and handbill advertising.

Read more about How Did Denise Powell Beat An Omaha Dynasty In NE-02?

Why Trump’s Call To Pull 5,000 US Troops From Germany Will Hurt America

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 05/18/2026 - 12:00am

In this Friday, May 13, 2011 photo, Soldiers of 1AD attend a color casing ceremony of the First Armored Division at the US Army Airfield in Wiesbaden, Germany. Germany's Defense Ministry says U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in his first conversation with her since taking up his new post that Germany is “highly valued” as a station for American soldiers.
(Michael Probst / AP Photo)

President Donald Trump announced on May 1, 2026, that the United States will withdraw 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany – personnel who had been deployed there as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Germany-U.S. tensions started after the U.S. invasion of Iran. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz refused to support Trump’s war and stated that Iran had humiliated Washington’s leadership by closing the Strait of Hormuz. Trump followed the initial U.S. troop withdrawal announcement with threats to pull more armed forces.

Read more about Why Trump’s Call To Pull 5,000 US Troops From Germany Will Hurt America

Burbank Wins Nebraska Dem U.S. Senate Primary, Likely Giving Osborn A Clearer Shot Against Ricketts

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 05/18/2026 - 12:00am

OMAHA — Nebraska Democratic Party-backed U.S. Senate candidate Cindy Burbank appears to have won the Democratic nomination for Senate, which, with help from the likely Legal Marijuana NOW Party nominee, could give registered nonpartisan Dan Osborn a one-on-one race with Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts in November, who easily won his GOP primary.

Burbank, a self-employed pharmacy financial counselor, significantly led anti-abortion pastor William Forbes as of 8:54 p.m., showing 80% of the vote, according to the latest election results.