Critical thinking and Free Speech at UNL

February 25, 2023

Chancellor Ronnie Green

President Ted Carter

Dear President Carter and Chancellor Green:

I normally wouldn’t write such a letter, but I think it is important for the both of you to know what is going on at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The topic of my letter discusses two major problems in academia today.

Below is a tweet by Prof. Ari Kohen, of your political science department, which he published on February 18, 2023.

@kohenari

Good. Mr. Begley is the embodiment of the absolute worst elements of social media. Before he was blocked by everyone and then finally suspended, he was an aggressive harasser of anyone with whom he disagreed. He has no business ever being anywhere near a position of public trust.

Blocked by everyone? Everyone? If I had used that phraseology in a written assignment for my Creighton University political science professor, the late Fr. John P. Schlegel, S.J. (Oxford doctorate), he would have given me an F. And we were great friends! Fr. Schlegel instructed us in the ways of critical and rigorous thinking. Given Professor Kohen’s writing style, I’m not confident UNL students are getting the same education

As to me being an “aggressive harasser of anyone with whom he disagreed,” I had a vigorous intellectual debate with Prof. Kohen and his wife who was then campaigning for the Omaha City Council. We disagreed about the efficacy of masks in stopping or diminishing Covid. Turns out that critics like me were correct and masks were worthless.

 Opinion | The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned? – The New York Times (nytimes.com),  https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD006207.pub6/full

I was suspended from Twitter for using the phrase “We will bury you” as part of a caption contest showing President Biden on a video call with Putin. As everyone knows, that’s an infamous line used by Khrushchev to the West at the beginning of the Cold War.

The final point of his Tweet about me not being “anywhere near a position of public trust” relates to my withdrawal from further consideration for the Power Review Board. Governor Pillen appointed me, but the Unicameral refused to hold a confirmation hearing because Democrat state Senators threatened to filibuster my confirmation on the floor. Environmental groups oppose me because I am a critic of unreliable and expensive solar and wind energy as it will triple our electric rates.

So, rather than see the people’s legislative business grind to a halt I withdrew. Again, this is another example of the Left’s intolerance and cancellation of any opposing views.

If this country loses its tradition of Free Speech, we are in big, big trouble. I learned to appreciate Free Speech during my undergraduate years at Creighton University. Today, it is obvious that any dissenters from the liberal orthodoxy are censored, cancelled and destroyed. As an academic institution, UNL should certainly not tolerate censorship. Free Speech should be encouraged.

All of my higher education was at Creighton University. Although I’m a proud Creighton alum, I’ve come to both admire and appreciate what UNL does for our state; especially in the area of agriculture.

I have one suggest for Chancellor Green. Since you are retiring, I suggest you address the faculty and students on the importance of Free Speech and of open and honest debate. Free speech is one of the bedrocks of our great American university system and it needs to be preserved.

Sincerely,

David D. Begley

Creighton University, BA,’79. MBA. ’97, JD, ‘82

cc: Professor Ari Kohen

The Politics of Personal Destruction

The Left can’t stand Free Speech as they want to impose their will on the entire populace. That’s why the Left tries to cancel and destroy their political opponents. The Left can’t engage in a full and intellectually honest debate on the merits.

The Left loves to play the racist card on anyone who disagrees with them.

CAGW is the biggest scam in the history of the world. The worlds temps have been flat for 101 months despite 475 billion tons of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere.

I told Omaha Public Power District that China is building two new coal-fired power plants every two weeks. Nothing that tiny OPPD could do would make a difference even if OPPD spent $29 billion. And they do want to spend that.

On this trans business, the Left would have children become sterile and have surgery performed on healthy body parts. That’s like pagan child sacrifice. We don’t do medical experiments on children in America. At least not in civilized states like Nebraska.

I’ll never quit fighting the Left. My next project is an article in The Nebraska Lawyer against the speech code the NSBA wants to impose on all lawyers. The Nebraska Supreme Court will never agree to this.

Video of my testimony before the Nebraska Legislature

Love if you would be loved.

Courtesy is the way great people bewitch others. Reach for deeds and then for the pen. From the sword to the pen, for there is also grace among writers, and it is eternal.

Baltasar Gracian, S.J.

Nebraska’s Let Them Grow Act

Nebraska’s Let Them Grow Act

By David D. Begley

Late in 2022, Tucker Carlson reported a story that Vanderbilt Medical Center was performing sex change operations and giving powerful hormones to minors.

Carlson and Libs of TikTok later reported (https://www.libsoftiktok.com/p/aoc-lied-about-me-on-the-house-floor) that the same things were going on at Boston Children’s Hospital.

I was aghast. I looked up the website of Nebraska Medicine. There were questionaries that suggested that the same thing was going on in Omaha. The full story came out yesterday.

By way of background, readers should know that Nebraska Medicine is a joint venture with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Taxpayers fund UNMC. UNMC is a giant research and teaching operation. Nebraska Medicine and UNMC are economic powerhouses.

I wrote the general counsel (Anna L. Cramer) and the CEO of Nebraska Medicine (Dr. James Linder) and told them that this was unethical, grossly immoral and should be stopped. I also told them it was my legal opinion that any written consent by a parent on these medical procedures on a minor was not legally effective.

Nebraska state senator Kathleen Kauth also became aware of this sex change business. Readers should know that Nebraska state senators earn $12,000 a year and are term limited. To her great credit, Senator Kauth researched this issue, consulted with other states and drafted a narrow bill to protect minors. She lined up co-sponsors and invited guests to testify yesterday.

One of the first witnesses was college student Luka Hein (.https://www.wowt.com/2023/02/09/nebraska-lawmakers-hear-comments-gender-affirming-healthcare-youth/). Her words about the counseling her parents received at Nebraska Medicine were astounding, “They were told, ‘Would you rather have a dead daughter, or a living son?’ These are not the words of a medical professional, but the words of an activist. I was just a teenager who needed actual help, not surgery.” Nebraska Medicine performed a double mastectomy at age 16 and gave her cross-sex hormones a few months later.

She now regrets her decision. It was all quite heartbreaking.

Another witness was a trans man who, as a woman, had given birth to two children although she was a lesbian. At age 42, she decided he was a man living in a woman’s body. His testimony was that over one million dollars has been spent on this transition; much of it out of pocket to him.

He said he’s constantly sick with infections. He has to take drugs and see doctors all the time. With his testimony, I realized that these trans patients are an annuity for the medical-industrial complex. A doctor later testified that this all started in 2017 when Obamacare began to allow insurance payments for these procedures.

A number of witnesses testified that these procedures were experimental. I quoted the New York Times on that very point. I also informed the committee that after World War II, the civilized world agreed that it was wrong to perform medical experiments on people; especially children.

Sweden and Finland have banned these treatments on minors because of the numerous and permanent adverse consequences.

One reason for the explosion amongst children who think they are the wrong sex is due to social media. TikTok is a big offender here. The kids go online and are convinced they would be happier switching genders.

One young woman from western Nebraska said that at age 12 she didn’t want to go through puberty. She was a tomboy and very athletic. If puberty blockers would have been available to her then, she would have agreed to it. “I needed to grow.”

Nine doctors testified in favor of the bill. They did so contrary to the testimony of both the Nebraska Medical Association and Nebraska Medicine. I applaud them.

One doctor quoted the science that the human brain isn’t fully developed until people are in their twenties. That’s part of the reason why society has restricted minors from voting, smoking and using alcohol.

General George C. Marshall was a great leader and public servant during World War II and thereafter. He was known as a man with great judgment. When faced with a difficult decision, he reportedly would ask himself, “What if I am wrong?”

I quoted General Marshall in support of the proposition that children should be required to wait before irreversible and permanent changes are worked on their bodies.

In the rally in the Capitol Rotunda before the hearing, Dr. Elizabeth Constance (Nebraska Medicine employee) said all the major medical organizations support “gender affirming care” for children and that the science is settled. The use of that Orwellian phrase should be the tip off for any clear-thinking person about what is going on here.

The science isn’t settled at all. One of the doctors in favor of the bill broke down how one major study was deeply flawed. And, of course, the actual results from Sweden, Finland and the UK are ignored by the Left. The Left uses this same playbook in the climate change scam. Medicine and science have become politicized and that’s a dangerous thing.

I was in the front row of the rally by the opponents. It was a big crowd of at least 200-300; many of them were children or teenagers. I snapped some photos and one contained some kids. Senator Machaela Cavanaugh asked me to stop. I did although I noted they were in a public space.

Part of the Left’s narrative is that it is unsafe to expose the identities of LGBTQ people and their supporters as they will otherwise be beat up or something. As part of that narrative a letter with anonymous signatures was presented in opposition to the bill. https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/02/06/letter-signed-by-1500-people-urges-childrens-hospital-to-oppose-proposed-gender-care-ban/

The opposite is true. Erin Brewer is a former trans kid. In first grade, she thought she was a boy. She later changed her mind and went back to being a woman. According to her, she’s been threatened by the LBGTQ community and her son was told that LGBTQ community wanted to kill her. Her words; not mine.

Nebraska has two LGBTQ Senators: Megan Hunt and John Fredickson. They accused their opponents of hate, ignorance, bigotry and being a threat to democracy. They also asserted that people and businesses will leave Nebraska if the Let Them Grow Act passed. Senator Hunt led the chant, “Trans people belong.” https://twitter.com/AlexMcLoon/status/1623395309874282497?cxt=HHwWgoC88dzbuoctAAAA

A political insider told me after the hearing that the bill might not pass. The Republicans are short one vote from having a filibuster-proof majority. Hard to believe that children can’t be protected in Nebraska.

Dr. Jean Amoura is the head of Nebraska Medicine’s gender clinic. The policy at Nebraska Medicine is that parents must sign a written consent before any treatment.  https://twitter.com/OutNebraska/status/1623475083279757314?cxt=HHwWhMCziZP_3octAAAA

My opinion is that such consent is not legally effective especially in light of the “suicide or transition” narrative that is pushed.

I also note that, to my knowledge, the Catholic and Methodist hospitals in Omaha aren’t in the business of changing the genders of minors. That’s a real standard of care problem for Nebraska Medicine in any future lawsuits.

Personally, I never thought I’d see the day where medical experiments on children were allowed in America. We’re morally unhinged.  The people who approved this at Nebraska Medicine should be fired.

Stop Medical Experiments on Children in Nebraska

LB 574

Testimony of David D. Begley, 4611 S. 96^th Street, Omaha, NE, February 8, 2023.

I’m Omaha attorney David Begley and I was educated by the Society of Jesus in Omaha.

In his State of the State address to the Legislature, the Oklahoma Governor said, “’We must protect our most vulnerable – our children. After all minors can’t vote, can’t purchase alcohol, can’t purchase cigarettes…we shouldn’t allow a minor to get a permanent gender altering surgery in Oklahoma.” To that I add, no puberty blockers.

The New York Times likes to think of itself as “the paper of record” in the United States. Most people would agree with me that the NYT is one of the most liberal organizations in America today.

So, I took note when the NYT published a story on November 14, 2022 which stated, “concerns are growing among some medical professionals about the consequences of the drugs….”  and “[t]here is growing evidence of potential harm from puberty blockers….”

The bottom-line here is that giving puberty blockers to minors is experimental. After World War II, the civilized world agreed that it was unethical to perform medical experiments on humans; especially on children.

Attached to this testimony are questionnaires on the website of Nebraska Medicine. The University of Nebraska Medical Center owns half of Nebraska Medicine. A fair conclusion from these questionnaires is that children are receiving puberty blocking drugs in Nebraska and possibly undergoing gender reassignment surgery.

I’m calling on the Attorney General or the State Patrol to investigate and determine whether Nebraska Medicine is performing medical experiments on children. Any person at Nebraska Medicine or UNMC who approved medical experiments on children should be fired from their job.

The State of Nebraska has a compelling interest in protecting children from medical experimentation that can cause permanent physical harm in brain development, bone density and other problems.

DDB

Why I Hate the Federal Government, Part 3532

1. After about 50 years, I lost or misplaced my Social Security card. I go online and answer some questions and am told that I need to go to the local office.

At the SSA office, I am told that I must wear a mask. I’m miffed and say this is the only place in Omaha where masks are still required. I express my displeasure to one of the overweight and overpaid security guards watching us plebes.

If it wasn’t clear already, mask wearing is all about control and obedience.

The room is full of sketchy characters. The TV screen – paid for by me – is flashing messages in multiple languages unknown to me.

Only 4 customer service windows occupied.

2. For my upcoming OWH essay, I did some research about Mike Johanns. This guy worked for the government for about 25 years as Mayor of Lincoln, Governor of Nebraska, US Senator and Secretary of Agriculture. It turns out that he owns a $1m condo in the Old Market. He also owns real estate in FL. He has a job in DC lobbying for Big Wind and Big Solar. Probably a DC house.

How does this guy amass $3m in real estate as a government employee?

3. On my feed, an article from a financial advice column popped up. A single and childless woman asked the financial Ann Landers if she should get married. She works for the federal government and can retire at age 50. 50?!

This woman is effectively a millionaire as her yearly and lifetime retirement income of @$50k per year would require a regular person to save $1m after-tax to generate that sum.

4. Biden and the Dems have let 5m illegal aliens into this country. Nearly 200k Americans have died of fentanyl overdoses in the past two years. That’s equal to the entire population of Sarpy County.

5. The US debt is $31 trillion. Inflation is exceptionally high. But the Dems have just given Big Wind and Big Solar at least $380 billion.

******

America is in decline and I don’t know how we fix it. It’s been downhill since the 80s.

Johanns and Branstad are on the wrong side of history

David D. Begley

January 2, 2023

I was saddened – but not surprised – to read the January 1, 2023 Midlands Voices piece by Mike Johanns. The former Governor of Nebraska, United States Senator and Secretary of Agriculture hasn’t lived in Nebraska for nearly twenty years. Like so many politicians, he chose to stay in D.C. and peddle influence. The goodwill he earned from Nebraskans is now being put to use in service of Big Wind and Big Solar.

Johanns works at The Center for Infrastructure and Economic Development; a lobbying outfit for solar and wind. The solar and wind industries are where the big money is right now. With the passage of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, $380 billion in federal tax credits are available to the right people. Federal tax credits reduce a person’s federal tax liability dollar-for-dollar. But the worst of it is that we all pay for a rich person’s reduction of his tax bill with this special legislation. Considering that the U.S. debt is $31 trillion, it is the height of irresponsibility to spend billions more on Keynesian ditch digging and filling schemes. 

Former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad works with Mike Johanns. Branstad’s last political job was as U.S. Ambassador to China. While in China, Ambassador Branstad surely learned how Chinese mining and manufacturing are essential to the solar industry. Branstad also knows how Chinese slaves are extensively used by the solar industry. Think about that for a second. In the year 2023, two Americans from historical non-slave states are working to perpetuate slavery in China. Abe Lincoln would spin in his grave if he knew two Republicans were on the wrong side of history and human rights.

On the Center’s webpage, it lists its mission as being to help local communities “stay centered on their core community identities.” If Mike Johanns was still in touch with Nebraska, he would know that after the Saunders County Board approved OPPD’s solar project near Yutan that one of the supervisors was recalled from office. A recall election is rare in Nebraska and it only proved how much the people in Saunders County strongly objected to the solar project.

In my experience in Saunders and Cass counties, Nebraskans do not want industrial solar developments. And they have very good reasons not to. In the first place, property values in the area of the development decline. While a few lucky farm owners get above-market rents, their neighbors all suffer.

But more importantly, Nebraskans intuitively know that wind and solar are unreliable and expensive. We saw forced blackouts in December in Tennessee and the Carolinas because the grid already has too much wind and solar. A winter blackout is a deadly thing and this net zero carbon foolishness is the proximate cause.

The Left and their shills constantly claim that solar and wind are “cost-effective.” That’s demonstrably false. The Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment has calculated the true cost of net zero carbon for Minnesota and Wisconsin. Electric power rates will triple if the net zero carbon buildout continues in those states. Germany already has electric rates three times as much of the US average and that takes into account that the German government spends 7% of GDP subsidizing electricity.

There is hope to stop this craziness. In 2023, the Cass County Board of Supervisors will be voting on OPPD’s 3,000 acre and 320 MW solar project. The Supervisors are in touch with the voters as they are their friends and neighbors. The Supervisors haven’t received any campaign contributions from Big Wind, Big Solar, Wall Street or the Chinese. Food production is what we do in Nebraska. I’m confident that Nebraska will remain the Cornhusker State and not become the Chinese solar panel state.

The Democrats are trying to turn Nebraska into Pottersville

By David D. Begley

January 4, 2023

Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is ranked as one of America’s greatest movies. The movie posits the question: What would Bedford Falls be like if George Bailey never would have been born?

Bedford Falls became Pottersville because the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan failed under the leadership of Uncle Billy. Mr. Potter ends up controlling the housing stock and most people are renters rather than owners of their own homes in Bailey Park.

George Bailey was in the building and loan business. That entire industry was gutted after President Clinton signed the law that repealed Glass-Steagall. The legal barrier between investment banking and commercial banking was eliminated. Instead of local S&Ls retaining mortgages, today they are sold and repackaged. Mortgage-backed securities were created by Wall Street and they were the proximate cause of the 2008 Crash. Warren Buffett famously called them financial weapons of mass destruction.

Pottersville was home to substance abuse, gambling and crime. Pottersville was full of vice and little virtue.  

Recently the Omaha media ran stories on the fentanyl deaths of Taryn Griffith (24) and A.J. Wiblishouser (16). During the first two years of the Biden Administration, over 193,000 Americans have died from fentanyl. That’s as if all of the people in Sarpy County were exterminated.

Illegal drugs have flooded America the past two years and the reason why is that the Biden Administration has intentionally left the border open. About six million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. That’s three times the population of Nebraska. We could easily see another 10 million over the next two years.

Democrats see drug deaths of young people as collateral damage in their mission to fundamentally change America. Joe Biden and the Dems don’t care how many Americans die from drugs. Notwithstanding Hunter Biden’s severe drug addiction, the President has no empathy for similar heartache visited on 193,000 American families.

Former Governor Ben Nelson told me to my face that he was proud to create the Nebraska lottery. A lottery, however, is small potatoes compared to what legalized gambling will become. Gamblers lost $4.27 million at Lincoln’s Warhorse casino in October. The State of Nebraska’s cut is 20%. It is projected that Omaha’s Warhorse casino will separate gamblers from $150 million per year.

The social consequences of gambling are severe. Embezzlers routinely steal money in order to gamble and many end up in jail. Tom Osborne knew that and that’s why he has always opposed gambling.

The contempt and hate the Democrats and Wall Street have for average Americans is most acutely demonstrated by the net zero carbon scam. Both OPPD and NPPD have committed to reducing carbon emissions in order to save the planet in the year 2100 notwithstanding the fact that China and India are on a building spree of coal-fired power plants.

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act promised $380 billion in federal tax credits to developers of solar and wind projects. That sum will further fuel inflation and add to our current federal debt of $31 trillion.

Perhaps the most pernicious aspect of the renewables push is the suggestion that wind and solar energy is free. Net zero carbon will come at a very high cost. The Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment has concluded that electric rates will triple in Minnesota and Wisconsin if net zero carbon is achieved. The worst of it is that forced blackouts are projected in the winter. A winter blackout is a deadly thing, but in the mind of the Left that human sacrifice is acceptable in order to save Mother Earth. 

Energy poverty is a thing in Europe and it is coming to America if this net zero carbon foolishness isn’t stopped. The beginning of the end of this scam in Nebraska will be when the Cass County Board of Supervisors reject the conditional use permit for a 3,000-acre industrial solar development.

Nebraska doesn’t have to participate in the hivemind craziness of the Left. Today’s Democrat party is a death cult seeking power and money. I’m a strong believer in Nebraskans’ common sense. We saw that in the county attorney races in Omaha and Lincoln. “The Salvation of the State is Watchfulness in the Citizen” is carved over the main entrance of our Capitol. As long as Nebraskans remain vigilant, there is hope that Nebraska won’t become Pottersville.

DDB to OPPD: Do the Right Thing!

At the November 17, 2022, Board meeting I asked OPPD’s Directors to do the right thing. The requests were simple and in the best interests of OPPD’s customer-owners.[1] As a government entity without a profit motive, OPPD stands in a unique relationship with its customer-owners that the Board continues to ignore.

USA Today reports that 20% of all Americans are behind in their utility bills.[2] The cause is certainly the high inflation caused by the Democrat party. MUD has warned its customers that they will likely pay 18% more this winter.[3] For many people, this is a crisis. Do they eat or pay their utility bills?

Thankfully, OPPD has an Energy Assistance Program to help its customer-owners. But the program is tiny compared to the need this winter. OPPD CEO L. Javier Fernandez told the Board that its program only spent $303,000 in 2021.[4] OPPD, on the other hand, had $412 million in self-reported cash liquidity as of September 30, 2022.[5] I asked the Board to contribute $10 million of its money to help its customer-owners in their time of need. Two percent of OPPD’s liquidity is not material.

Currently, OPPD is committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2050. OPPD’s consultant told it that this will require building 3,000 MW of solar, 3,800 MW of wind and 800 MW of battery storage at the cost of at least $28 billion.[6]

OPPD is asking its customer-owners to greatly sacrifice in order to save the planet from global warming by 2100. I asked the Board to do the small – and right thing – of lowering the temperatures in OPPD’s buildings to 67 degrees. Since leaders lead and walk the walk and not just talk the talk, I requested that the Directors and top managers to do the same in their homes. That’s the least that can be done right now considering that China is building a new coal-fired power plant every two weeks. If the existence of life on Earth is really at stake, action by any means necessary is essential.

OPPD has gross revenue of about $1 billion, but it is proposing to spend $28 billion to achieve net zero carbon. Common sense dictates that this will result in a giant increase in electric utility bills for OPPD’s customer-owners. But we don’t have to rely solely on common sense. The Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment has developed a sophisticated model to study the true cost of net zero carbon. It turns out that the cost of net zero carbon is quite high.

The states of Minnesota and Wisconsin are both planning to achieve net zero carbon. This will result in the tripling of electric rates, loss of jobs and state GDP and, worst of all, blackouts in the winter.[7]

Nebraskans have traditionally demanded that their government entities be prudent in spending. The fact is that in the last decade, $3.8 trillion has been spent world-wide to reduce fossil fuel consumption and it has declined by only 1%.[8]

In light of this evidence, I asked the OPPD Board to repeal its net zero carbon policy. The Board works for its customer-owners. OPPD is not a private company. The right thing to do is to end OPPD’s pursuit of expensive and unreliable solar and wind energy.

---

[1] Proposed resolutions enclosed.

[2] USA Today, August 24, 2022.

[3] Omaha World-Herald, October 30, 2022.

[4] CEO’s comments to the OPPD Board, YouTube video at 24:49, November 17, 2022.

[5] OPPD website, Self-liquidity worksheet.

[6] E3, Inc. draft final report of 2021 to OPPD Board regarding Pathways to Decarbonization. The $28 billion recommendation appears at page 61.

[7] See attached.

[8] Jeff Currie, Goldman Sachs head of commodities, on CNBC’s Squawk Box on October 3, 2022. Squawk Box on Twitter: “”At the end of last year, overall fossil fuels represented 81% of energy consumption. 10 years ago, they were at 82%,” says Jeff Currie. “$3.8 trillion of investment in renewables moved fossil fuels from 82% to 81% of the overall energy consumption.” https://t.co/VhQN0S9oo9″ / Twitter