‘Not on my watch’: Meet an American hero running for U.S. Senate in Nebraska

February 26, 2014

The Glenn Beck Program

As the midterm elections draw nearer, Glenn is focused on highlighting promising candidates from around the country. On radio this morning, Shane Osborn, the former Nebraska state treasurer who is running the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE), joined Glenn to discuss his military service, his campaign, and what he believes are the most important issues facing the country.

“I want to introduce you to a guy who's not on the [program] for this particular reason, but I find it amazing because this was a time in 2001 where everybody was, I think, on the same page for a minute there. We were like wow, look at the evil Chinese empire as they force one of our planes down and then steal all of the stuff in it,” Glenn said. “If you remember right, the guys on that plane were real heroes. I mean they dismantled everything they could, tried to destroy as much as they could before the Chinese got onto the plane and it was quite an ordeal. The lieutenant that was on that plane is Shane Osborn. He's now running for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska, and he's with us now.”

As a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, Shane and his 23-person crew came into the national consciousness in April 2001 when a Chinese fighter jet struck the aircraft Shane was piloting mid-flight. The engines, nose, and wing of the plane were severely damaged as the plane nosedived. After managing to land the aircraft safely, Shane and his crew were taken into Chinese custody. Shane was separated from his crew and spent the next 12 days under intense interrogation before being released.

“I always tell people: What does being a good Navy pilot have to do with being a good U.S. Senator? Not a lot. But at least you know I don’t give up,” Shane explained. “When you are 26-years-old, and you’re in charge of your crew and you are taken off at gunpoint and kept awake for almost seven straight days you find out what you are made of, and how important your faith is to you, and you put your crew first. And that’s what we did.”

After retiring from the Navy in 2005, Shane served as Nebraska state treasurer from 2007 to 2011. In relation to his Senate run, Shane has already been endorsed by FreedomWorks, and he has been touted as a strong conservative voice. Glenn couldn’t help but wonder, however, why Shane would choose to go to Washington.

“You have been tied to a chair by the Chinese. What are you crazy – this is going to be worse,” Glenn joked. “Why would you go to Washington?”

“We have a saying in the Navy that many men and women have given their lives for: Not on my watch. That's why I'm running," Shane explained. "That's why I extended my tour later that year when September 11th occurred and flew some of the initial combat mission information Afghanistan. When I got out of the Navy in 2005, I ran as a state treasurer in Nebraska. I want to give back. This country is worth it."

“I grew up raised by a single mom, who worked three jobs, ran the veterans home, and those veterans taught me the true meaning of service and self," he continued. "I'm keeping promise that I may to the lord when I was sitting in China. We have to fight for your country. The least we could do is have people in Washington that will put the country first like our men and women in uniform do every single day. That's the least we can expect.”

There are countless problems facing the country today, but Glenn asked Shane to prioritize his top three concerns. The debt, energy independence, and veteran affairs topped the list.

Debt

First and foremost is the debt. It’s unsustainable. When I was state treasurer, I cut government. I shrunk my budget 12%. I reduced debt 28%. How many candidates have you ever interviewed could you that they shrunk government? I’ve done it. And I know it's tougher down there in Washington DC, but Nebraskans and Americans realize we have to live within your means. It’s the only way we can leave this country better off than we received it.

Energy Independence

Number two, as I travel around our state of Nebraska – I put on over 40,000 miles – and I can tell you: It is the regulators that are killing this economy. It's even worse than the tax code, which needs to be fixed. If we could get the regulators out of the way an work towards North American energy independence, the millions of jobs, the infrastructure, the diversified energy portfolio we have here, it would be a huge boom to our economy.

Veterans

My third point is keeping our promise to veterans. We are not doing it. We are chewing our men and women up, sending them on four or five deployments. I formed the foundation here the Nebraska that helps fund PTSD clinics.

Back in 2009, I led the rallies against Obamacare. I was saying the same things then that I am saying now: It's failing miserably. We are all seeing it. That's why he's delaying the business mandate. It will crumble under its own weight. And what they want in the end game is government-run socialized medicine. If you want to see how that works, we don't feed to go to Europe, we don't need to go to Canada. Just go to the local VA. It’s the largest healthcare system in our country, and it's completely government-run.

Our veterans are dying every day because they can't get access to healthcare. They keep throwing more money at the VA. It doesn’t work. Guys and gals coming back, it is taking them 12 to 24 months just to get processed through. And if we treat veterans this way with government run healthcare, how do you think they are going to treat the average citizen?

“I appreciate your willingness to run and willingness to serve,” Glenn concluded. “I wish you the best of luck.”

You can learn more about Shane’s campaign HERE.

Trump's education secretary has BIG plans for the DoE

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Our education system is broken, and the Department of Education is a massive failure. But that all ends now.

It's no secret that America's school system is seriously lacking in many ways. President Trump pointed out that despite our massive spending per pupil, we are behind most of the developed world in most metrics. Our scores continue to plummet while our student debt and spending skyrocket—it's utterly unacceptable performance and America's students deserve better.

That's where Linda McMahon, Trump's pick for Secretary of Education comes in.

The former WWE CEO and leader of the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump's first term, McMahon laid out her harsh criticisms of the DoE during a confirmation hearing on the 13th and revealed her promising plans to turn things around. McMahon described the public education system as "in decline" and promised that under her authority, the DoE would be reoriented towards student success.

Here are the top three changes to the Department of Education:

1. Dismantling the Department of Education

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From the beginning Trump's orders for McMahon were clear: oversee the end of the Department of Education.

During her Thursday hearing, McMahon clarified what dismantling the DoE would entail. As Democrats have repeatedly pointed out, Trump does not have the authority to destroy the DoE without Congressional consent, as an act of Congress created it. That is why Trump and McMahon's plan is to start by shutting down programs that can be stopped by executive action, then approach Congress with a plan to dismantle the Department for good. The executive orders have already begun to take effect, and once McMahon is confirmed she will author a plan for Congress to close the Department.

McMahon also promised that the end of the Department of Education does not mean an end to all the programs currently undertaken by the doomed department. Programs that are deemed beneficial will be transferred (along with their funding) to departments that are more suited to the task. The example given by McMahon was IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) funding, which instead of being cut would be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services.

2. School Choice

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In a huge win for parents across the country, McMahon pledged her support for School Choice. School Choice is the idea of allowing parents to enroll their student in any school of their choice, including religious schools and private schools. It would also mean that part or all of the funding that would have gone to a relocated child would follow them and continue to pay for their education.

This gives parents the ability to remove their children from failing schools and seek a better education for them elsewhere. A growing body of evidence suggests that the way we run our schools isn't working, and it is time to try something new. School Choice opens up education to the free market and will allow for competition.

Our children deserve better than what we can currently offer them.

3. COVID and DEI

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Trump's government-wide crackdown on DEI will ironically serve to increase inclusion in many American schools.

McMahon said as much during her Senate hearing: “It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity, for equity and inclusion. And I think what we’re seeing is, it is having an opposite effect. We are getting back to more segregating of our schools instead of having more inclusion in our schools.” She also spoke in support of Title IX, and the push to remove biological males from women's and girl's sports. In the same vein, McMahon pledged to push back against the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, which many Universities have failed to adequately address.

On Friday, February 14th, President Trump signed an executive order barring any school or university with COVID-19 vaccine mandates from receiving federal money. This only applies to the COVID-19 vaccine, and other vaccine mandates are still standing.

POLL: What DARK government secrets will Trump uncover?

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Will the dark secrets of the Deep State finally see the light of day? Or will they slip back into darkness, as they have many times before?

The Trump administration is gearing up to fulfill one of Trump's most anticipated campaign promises: to make the contents of the JFK files, along with other Deep State secrets, available to the public. Kash Patel, who has promised to publicize the highly anticipated files, is expected to be confirmed next week as Trump's director of the FBI. Moreover, the House Oversight Committee created a new task force headed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna called "Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets," which is tasked with investigating and declassifying information on the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, UFOs, the Epstein list, COVID's origins, and 9/11. This all comes after the FBI found 2,400 "new" records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy following Trump's executive order to release the files.

Glenn discussed this topic with the cast of the Patrick Bet David podcast. Glenn expressed his confidence in Trump's radical transparency—on the condition that Kash Patel is confirmed. The cast was not as optimistic, expressing some doubt about whether Trump will actually unveil all that he has promised. But what do you think? What files are likely to see the light of day? And what files will continue to linger in the dark? Let us know in the poll below

Do you think the JFK, RFK, and MLK files will be unveiled?

Do you think the 9/11 files will be unveiled?

Do you think the COVID files will be unveiled?

Do you think the UFO files will be unveiled?

Do you think the Epstein list will be unveiled?

Transgender opera in Colombia? 10 SHOCKING ways USAID spent your tax dollars.

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The government has been doing what with our tax money!?

Under the determined eye of Elon Musk, DOGE has rooted out the corruption that permeates USAID, and it turns out that it's worse than we thought. Glenn recently read a list of atrocious causes that were funded by USAID, and the list was as long as it was shocking.

Since the January consumer index report was published today, one thing is clear: eggs are bearing the brunt of inflation. That's why we illustrated the extent of USAID's wasteful spending of YOUR taxpayer dollars by comparing it to the price of eggs. How many eggs could the American people have bought with their tax dollars that were given to a "transgender opera" in Colombia or indoctrinating Sri Lankans with woke gender ideology? The truth will shock you:

1. A “transgender opera” in Colombia

USAID spent $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia. That's over 135,000 eggs.

2. Sex changes and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala

$2 million was spent funding sex changes along with whatever "LGBT activism" means. That equates to over 5.7 million eggs!

3. Teaching Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid binary-gendered language

USAID forked over $7.9 million to combat the "gender binary" in Sri Lankan journalism. That could have bought nearly 23 million eggs.

4. Tourism in Egypt

$6 million (or just over 17 million eggs) was spent to fund tourism in Egypt. If only someone had thought to build some impressive landmarks...

5. A new "Sesame Street" show in Iraq

USAID spent $20 million to create a new Sesame Street show in Iraq. That's just short of 58 million eggs...

6. Helping the BBC value the diversity of Libyan society

$2.1 million was sent to the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) to help them value the diversity of Libyan society (whatever that means). That could have bought over 6 million eggs.

7. Meals for a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda

$10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to an Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group. That comes up to be just shy of 29 million eggs.

8. Promoting inclusion in Vietnam

A combined $19.3 million was sent to two separate inclusion groups in Vietnam inclusion groups in Vietnam (why where they separated? Not very inclusive of them). That's over 55 million eggs.

9. Promoting DEI in Serbia's workplaces

USAID sent $1.5 million (4.3 million eggs) to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

10. Funding EcoHealth Alliance, tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology's "bat research"

EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key NGOs that funded the Wuhan lab's bat virus research, received $5 million from USAID, which is equivalent to 14.5 million eggs.

The bottom line...

So, how much damage was done?

In total, approximately $73.8 million was wasted on the items on this list. That comes out to be 213 million eggs. Keep in mind that these are just the items on this list, there are many, many more that DOGE has uncovered and will uncover in the coming days. Case in point: that's a lot of eggs.

POLL: Should Trump stop producing pennies?

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On Sunday, February 9th, President Trump ordered the U.S. Mint to halt the production of pennies. It costs the mint three cents to produce every penny, which Trump deemed wasteful. However, critics argue that axing the pennies will be compensated by ramping up nickel production, which costs 13 cents per coin.

In other news, President Trump promised on Truth Social that he would be reversing a Biden-era policy that mandated the use of paper straws throughout the federal government. From potentially slashing entire agencies to saying farewell to pennies and paper straws, Trump is hounding after wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

But what do you think? Was Trump right to put an end to pennies? And should plastic straws make a comeback? Let us know in the poll below:

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