Coming of Age

On the 11th of February, my family called me letting me know my Grandpa Kenneth, wasn’t looking too well. Pneumonia is notorious for taking the elderly lives away from us and on the morning of the 21st, he passed.

He started his own business, Ken’s Appliance which is a staple business in Grand Island that has been a family business that is now ran by my Uncle Gail. He was a saint, a hilarious man and someone who this world will dearly miss.

I’ve expected his passing for about a year now. His responses were slower, not as talkative and not as mobile as he used to be. His passing hurt me, understandably so, but having prior closure to what happened helps a ton.

Through out the week, I was planning on having the sweetest dog I have ever met calm me and be here for our family. And unfortunately, our Golden Retreiver, JR, passed away on Sunday due to a heart problem.

These sentences are short due to how sensitive it is to me at the moment. Maybe in the future I will extrapolate more.

https://www.theindependent.com/opinion/editorial/railroads-need-to-take-action-in-g-i/article_5e3d727c-2682-11e9-a598-ef49f49ad605.html

Since being home this weekend in Grand Island, the common discussion point I’ve heard among my family and friends is that the railroad that runs through town has been a nightmare recently.

I spoke with my Mom and she said “Grand Island is built around the tracks, I don’t blame the trains, but the city hasn’t built an infrastructure around that so when a train is stopped at 3:30 PM when schools get out, it’s awful traversing around town.”

The editorial posted by The Independent, gives sufficient information and context to why and how this is a major problem for the city.

 

In his editorial “Wrong assumptions”, he is discussing the plan Gov. Terry Brandstand wants to cut school funding for water treatment funding. I really like the way he is kind of sarcastic throughout the whole piece. Him recognizing the faults behind this potential bill through these assumptions are great.

The other one I really liked was “Leave sales tax alone”. His approach to deeply explaining what is going on along with facts and statements makes this read as a write up about the events, before his opinion is slid in without even noticing. His way of writing explains situations with also inserting his opinion inside with facts as well.

Nebraska’s craft brewers are in a battle with the state of Nebraska over a bill that would increase the state’s taxes on beer to the highest in the nation.

A local craft brewers group that represents 49 small breweries across the state say that the tax increase could cause layoffs and end some operations if they are forced to absorb a 345% tax increase. This would completely destroy my hometowns downtown district in Grand Island. Prairie Pride Brewing Company and Kinkaider’s are only two of the 4 breweries that first landed in downtown GI that have brought serious growth and tourism attraction to a former ghost town of a downtown district.

While not directly about a brewery or the tax, Amur Equipment Finance, said that the growing downtown district is attractive from a business perspective, and meaningful for their employees.

Governor Pete Ricketts is helping out the local craft brewers to fight the proposals that would increase the taxes. There will be a “Raise Glasses, Not Taxes” event on March 1st in Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Island to spread awareness and prevention of the hike in taxes.

How much precisely will the tax increase? Per gallon, beer would rise up from $.31 to $1.38, Wine would go up from $.95 to $3.51, and Spirits would go from $3.75 to $12.28 (Not really sure where to put the source, but here is the link)

In January, Pennsylvania pushed through a bill that did increase the tax on beer. If a brewery in Pennsylvania sells a keg of beer to a restaurant for $100, the restaurant pays 6% on the coast of the keg which is $6. Breweries must now charge sales tax on every pint of beer they sell. A pint is $5 and there would be 120 pints in a keg, that is $36 dollars. (All numbers taken from the link posted above.)

So why does this affect us as a consumer? Well, some of my favorite beer is locally made. Kinkaiders’ Jalapeno Ale is the perfect beer for a burger on a hot summer day, while Prairie Pride’s Honey Wheat Ale is a fantastic drink through and through. Since living in Grand Island my entire life, downtown was always a boring gray stain on the town. Besides the awesome Grand Theater, it was dead. It wasn’t until these breweries and restaurants that carried local beer started popping up that it made downtown Grand Island actually enjoyable. I hope this beer tax doesn’t go through for that reason alone, and for breweries to affect other towns just as much as it has to Grand Island.

Holy sh*t this intro is still 10/10 material

When first booting up my Gamecube in 2001 and getting Super Smash Bros. Melee, I didn’t think the game couldn’t have gotten any better. 25 characters?! A mini story mode?! There was so much content beyond these two things that made me glue my eyes to a CRT TV for years and years that I never would have thought that 18 years later, the series would be going as strong as it is.

From Melee’s roster

 

To Smash Bros Ultimate’s roster in 2018

Yes, there was a Smash game on the N64 before Melee with the OG 12 characters you can see on the top row in the picture above, and there were 2 games between Melee and Ultimate, no other Smash game has kept my hype and love for this franchise than Melee in my youth to Ultimate now.

I’ve been hoping for Simon Belmont from the Castlevania franchise, and King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong franchise since I was in Middle School, and by God I got them both in this game.

 

This might sound stupid, but the two character reveal trailers they released for each character, almost made me cry. Two things I’ve wanted since I was in Middle School and have been speculating for YEARS, finally materialized before me. Smash is the best.

My topic for the State Editorials assignment is the threat of a higher beer tax to the highest in the nation.

Policy Claim: Nebraska breweries are creating jobs, more business’ to grow and more revenue for multiple cities. A higher beer tax would slow the growth of these companies and possibly jeopardize some to closure.

Supporting Claims:

• Craft Breweries across the state say the tax increase could lead to layoffs and closures if they add a 345% increase to the existing tax. Source: Nebraska craft brewers fight against beer tax proposals
• Beer would go up from $0.31 to $1.38, Wine would go up from $0.95 to $3.51 and Spirits would go from $3.75 to $12.28.
• Brewery owners say that this is an ongoing battle and that Nebraska legislature is singling them out. Nebraska beer industry sees fight brewing over proposed tax surge
• States like Pennsylvania are already suffering from this tax

I hope you liked my awful title! My initials are idk which is pretty rad

When seeing the many clips of Nancy Pelosi clapping and the memes that erupted from last nights State of the Union address, it’s going to be interesting to see where we go from here. As you all know, our President is under multiple investigations from the Robert Mueller camp and while that is certainly making Trump shook, he did a decent job of addressing what is going on and what he aims to accomplish in the year.

MSNBC released this eerie video of cuts from the Nixon SOTU address after Watergate began, to now with Trump and the Russian investigation and the language shared and overall cadence of each speech was odd.

May 2019 bring success to our President and our political leaders. The end of 2018 and beginning of 2019 was rough for our government, but hopefully we can see things through the end in a bipartisan way.

Marijuana legalization has been a common topic of discussion throughout my teenage years and my years at UNK so far. I’ve heard fair arguments on both the legalize and ban it all sides but discussing and spreading awareness is the goal of this post.

I believe that medical marijuana should be legalized on a state by state basis and eventually make it nationally legalized. Why? As WebMD states, there is a hefty amount of positive effects and symptom blockers that medical pot can provide to people. From slowing the spread of cancer, assisting people with eating disorders like anorexia, to helping people suffering from PTSD, medical marijuana has many forms and ways to have widespread benefits.

As of writing this, medical marijuana could be legal to carry in Tennessee very soon. As well as New York legalizing recreational use in the near future. With more and more states legalizing the drug, 2019 looks to be like a turning point year of legalization talks across the US. While a state like Nebraska that is predominately a red state seems like legalization talks wouldn’t be a popular topic, Nebraska Senator Anna Wishart will introduce a medical cannabis bill in early 2019.

The most common downside I have seen about the legalization push is the fear of inebriated drivers on the road. And I would have to agree. As the Daily Gazette says, the haze of uncertainty on all of the different scenarios marijuana will have on daily life is too much to research and study.

The other big discussion topic is the comparison and possible replacement medical marijuana could have versus the opioid epidemic. Marcus Bachhuber, an assistant professor of medicine at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City states that “I think medical cannabis could fall into the category of alternatives for treating chronic pain so that people don’t use opioids or use a lower dose of opioids than they otherwise would.”

Recently, John Boehner, a Republican and the former speaker of the house, attended and promoted the North American Cannabis Summit which was a forum to discuss the public health and scientific angle of legalization for the US. On their website, you can see past summits’ discussions and events with the recent summit getting videos and articles released very soon.

With Attorney Jeff Sessions soon to be replaced by Bill Barr, the current presidency’s fight against the legalization pushes will soon change. Bill Barr sees the legalization of marijuana purely from a judiciary standpoint, and not by other administrative guidance. “(I) have not closely considered any whether further administrative guidance would be appropriate.” It shows that more and more politicians are coming around to the fact that citizens across the US are becoming more open to the legalization wave.

 

In the Summer of 2018, my family took a weekend up to Omaha, rented an Air B&B and spent the weekend shopping, walking around and taking a nice break from work over the hot summer days.

On the way back home, my Mom’s significant other and I rode back to Grand Island together and while we were leaving Omaha, I put on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album. And while I knew and acknowledged Pink Floyd’s legacy throughout my life, I never really experienced a Pink Floyd album from start to finish. That day was that day.

From “Breathe” to “The Great Gig In The Sky”, my mind was blown how smoothly and incredible the sounds were that came from the car speaker. Every song transitioned from one to the next without me knowing what was going on and it changed how I thought of the band.

Later that week, I listened to Wish You Were Here(which in my opinion, is their best album), The Wall and Animals and continued to fall in love with them.

My classic rock playlist on Spotify grew 10X bigger, my t-shirt collection grew a new addition, and my emphatic love for David Gilmour’s guitar solos grew deeper and deeper.

While I know Pink Floyd isn’t for everyone, I would highly, HIGHLY recommend giving these songs a listen. Shine On You Crazy Diamond is one of the most emotionally charged songs I have ever listened to. The guitar in the beginning feels like it’s telling a story.

 

 

 

I decided I will be discussing will be about the national status of marijuana legalization and its current national impact.

Policy Claim: Medical marijuana should be at least nationally legalized for anyone valid for a medical licence at the age of 21 or above to avoid misuse and adolescence use.

• According to WebMD, marijuana can be usable for positive effects for anorexia, epilepsy, muscle spasms and more.
• John Boehner, the former Speaker of the House, recently held a Cannabis Summit for discussions and awareness to marijuana’s benefits and political status.
• Sepalika, a research based resource for science, provides a good counterbalance claim on both the positive and negative repercussions on legalized marijuana.
• In my opinion, I think 2019 will be a crucial year in legalization across the US. With more and more states legalizing it, it will be matter of time before it his the wider markets.