Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers has joined 17 other AG’s in supporting President Trump on his mission to end Birthright Citizenship. I don’t think ending birthright citizenship goes far enough. We need to take more of a hardline approach.

I think whenever a person comes into the country illegally or on a temporary legal basis, the men should be forced to have a vasectomy, and the women should be forced to have their tubes tied. This will guarantee that a child from someone who’s not an American citizen will never be born on American soil.

Of course, I’m not serious and I fully admit what I proposed is totally absurd and patently illegal. But is it any more absurd or illegal than some of the things we’re seeing from this administration so far?

It seems to me that conservatives and liberals keep pushing the boundaries to the point that I’m not even sure what those terms mean anymore.

It used to be conservatives respected the Constitution. But the attacks they have mounted against a free press, a person’s right to privacy and birthright citizenship among others, have shown that no longer seems to be the case.

Conservatives used to be for free markets and global trade. Their newfound love of tariffs appears to show that conservative value no longer applies.

When did ending birthright citizenship become such a priority? We’ve gotten along just fine all these years; Is it really that big of a problem? I fail to see why we need to get rid of it now.

By using terms like “anchor baby” it strikes an emotional chord with some voters that don’t want to look deeper into the issue.

We have lost the ability to look deeper into issues and react more on an emotional level than a logical one. Americans form their opinions on a sound bite, a tweet, or a meme. We read a headline and think we have the full story. We don’t.

For instance, the sound bite says without evidence that USAID is corrupt and wasting taxpayers’ money. The headline shouted that USAID spent 50 million on condoms for Hamas, but if you look into the story a little deeper, you’ll find it doesn’t hold water.

Here are some facts: Last year USAID allocated 102.2 million dollars to the International Medical Corps to deal with health and humanitarian issues in Gaza. Most of that money was spent on hospitals and medical supplies for the victims of war.

Even if some of that money was spent on condoms to promote sexual health, according to Refugees International President Jeremy Konyndyk, USAID pays five cents per condom. To spend 50 million dollars on that expenditure would mean they would be buying a billion condoms. Does anyone really think that a billion condoms were being sent to Gaza? But it’s a great headline for someone who doesn’t want to or have the time to do more investigation...

Providing health and humanitarian services to people in Gaza benefits the United States by spreading goodwill and having boots on the ground in an area that’s a breeding ground for terrorism.

Sometimes I can be guilty of doing the same thing. The headline said that Trump had fired the board of visitors for each of the service academies. My first response was a negative one. Then, I dug a little deeper and found out that Biden did the same thing to Trump’s appointees in 2017.

When you compare it to all the more important department heads he’s fired, this is small potatoes.

We need to be paying attention to what is going on. We can’t just accept it because Trump calls himself a Republican and a conservative.

Trump’s actions so far are being met with approval by many Americans. I wonder how long that will last once Americans start feeling the effects of those actions. When the 25% tax on steel and aluminum causes prices to spike on everything from automobiles down to the cans used for soft drinks, beer, and Campbell’s soup.

I hope we can dial things down a notch because if Trump’s “Shock and Awe” campaign keeps escalating, the idea of sterilizing those who come into the country illegally might just end up becoming something he tries to do next.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.