The Public Pulse: Who ran the country when Biden was president?

If Biden wasn't in charge, who was?

Recently, on an almost daily basis, there are headlines about how President Joe Biden was "managed" as his capabilities diminished. It is clear that he was not in charge, was not capable, for two or more years.

Vice President Kamala Harris has taken various positions on what her involvement was in the Biden administration.

I think the American people deserve to know who really was running this country.

Who was the man or woman behind the curtain??

Paul Koehler, Omaha

Basic math should win the day without pennies

Now that the country is phasing out the penny from its currency, the Omaha World Herald piece suggested that transactions would simply be rounded up to the nearest nickel in future.

I think that that would be a mistake because it would always result in a gain for the business.

Perhaps a better method would be to adhere to the normal mathematical rules of rounding, meaning if the difference is three cents or more round up and if it's two cents or less, round down.

It's not that complicated. Cash registers can be programmed for it and anyone with elementary math skills can adapt to it easily enough.

Always rounding up could amount to an unearned windfall for businesses and a constant small drain for consumers.

Peter Vidito, Omaha 

'Big Beautiful Bill' a disaster for rural Americans

When the U.S House passed the Big Beautiful Bill in the early morning of May 22, they exhibited a total disrespect for rural voters in Nebraska, Iowa and the rest of the country.

Our representatives voted to take away hundreds if billions in health care and food from poor and middle class families to pass tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy.

At the same time, they add trillions to the deficit and the interest we must pay on the national debt. While poverty may be more visible in the cities, it is more prevalent in rural America. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, there are larger proportions of rural Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics living in poverty than those same groups living in metro areas.

Another slap comes as Congress allows tariffs that will cost farmers dearly and pulling back safety regulations that protect families.

Those who have millions to spend on influencing politicians are getting the breaks, the rest of us are getting the shaft.

Ted Stilwill, Elkhorn

Stand up for limited government 

As a lifelong believer in limited government and constitutional restraint, I’m alarmed by the path Donald Trump is taking in his current term. While he wears the Republican label, many of his actions betray the core tenets of conservatism.

Trump has expanded executive power in ways that should concern anyone who values small government. Through Executive Order 14215, he brought independent agencies under White House control—agencies meant to operate free from political influence. He’s orchestrated mass firings of civil servants based on loyalty rather than merit. He’s bypassed Congress to unilaterally defund public broadcasting and redirect local energy funding. And increasingly, he’s shown open disregard for the judicial branch—attacking judges, questioning their authority, and promoting a theory of near-total presidential immunity.

Even if you agree with some of the outcomes, the means matter. Once precedent is set, it won’t stop with Trump. The same unchecked power he’s normalizing today could one day be used to push policies you deeply oppose. And by then, it may be too late to stop it.

Conservatives must speak up—not to defend political opponents, but to defend principle. If we care about the Constitution, about checks and balances, about liberty—we cannot stay silent.

Now is the time to demand our elected leaders act. And if they won’t, we must find representation that will—no matter how politically inconvenient. Because if we wait until the power is in the hands of the other party, any protest will be dismissed as too little, too late—and rightly so.

Marcus Madler, Papillion

No trust in failed businessman Trump

The president is planning on running this country like a business. But I might remind everyone that he has driven a number of businesses into bankruptcy.

Terry Niver, Omaha