Grassroots Matt

Freelance journalist and gossip columnist taking pictures and covering politics in the Omaha metro area. Contributor @Plains_Sentinel

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

@CollinRugg "Lebensunwertes Leben," in the original German.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Politicians and parades go hand in hand, especially in the summer of an election year. The La Vista Days Parade kicked off the parade-walking season for this year's candidates—with several more to come before fall. Read more in the @Plains_Sentinel.

https://t.co/q6NKA7r49x

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Brett Lindstrom is close to announcing his run for governor and is working on a 'manifesto' that lays out his platform to end legislative chaos in the state.

https://t.co/5splm1b23J

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

The La Vista Days Parade kicked off the summer season of candidates meeting and greeting voters on city streets.

This year’s parade featured Mike Flood, Bill Bowes, Sarah Slattery, and groups representing both the Republican and Democratic parties in Sarpy County.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

The state auditor's office has been overwhelmed with citizen's tips reporting fraud, waste, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. I had a chat with Foley about this, and you can read about it in the @Plains_Sentinel. https://t.co/3wqtFGw01N

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

@ahlmanforne When you start recognizing the deep state alliances on both sides in politics, it's like putting on the glasses in They Live.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

@CTrefugees In Ghostbusters (1984), Dana Barrett is a cellist and lives in the corner penthouse of 55 Central Park West.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Anti-war protesters tried to disrupt a Memorial Day event at Memorial Park in Omaha this morning, one using a bullhorn as the cousin of a slain Iraq War veteran spoke to the crowd. Brinker Harding was there and confronted the protesters. Read more here.

https://t.co/JiDTVoysUc

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Update: Osborn tried to keep the press out of his town hall. But we got inside anyway.

https://t.co/6MUSCCIvy7

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Dan Osborn is holding a town hall at the Omaha Stockyards building tonight. I was going to cover it, but Megan Osborn stopped me at the door and said it was closed to the press.

No photos, no recording, and no journalists allowed at all — not even with just a pen and notepad.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Dan Osborn’s town hall last week was closed to the press, but The Plains Sentinel was still able to get inside. Here’s what happened behind closed doors.

https://t.co/6MUSCCIvy7

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Dan Osborn is holding a town hall at the Omaha Stockyards building tonight. I was going to cover it, but Megan Osborn stopped me at the door and said it was closed to the press.

No photos, no recording, and no journalists allowed at all — not even with just a pen and notepad.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

I'm at Memorial Park tonight to commemorate the start of Memorial Day weekend with Patriotic Productions. There's bipartisan representation for the event.

"The way it should be," said Gov. Pillen.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Well, here's a little bit of drama that I got to watch unfold this afternoon in Omaha: a family of geese trying to make their way across busy Pacific Street.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

On Friday, the world's largest American flag will be unfurled at Memorial Park in Omaha. The event will feature a drone show and a performance by world-renowned tenor Tynan Ronan.

Want to be part of it? Learn more here.
https://t.co/BBg0RLDs9t

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

@toottootchoo @ahlmanforne @Plains_Sentinel I understand, and I'm not defending his positions. I'm just noting that the Democrats have a split very similar to the Tea Party movement nearly two decades ago. There's significant overlap between figures like Ron Paul and Thomas Massie and candidates like Austin Ahlman.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

Every election feels like a choice between the “lesser of two evils” for many voters. When @ahlmanforne felt the Democrats weren’t offering voters a meaningful alternative to Mike Flood, he decided to give them one.

Read more in the @Plains_Sentinel.

https://t.co/M3nbQQrwwq

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

@toottootchoo @ahlmanforne @Plains_Sentinel He's what I'd call 'populist left,' but he represents a faction that many people forget exists—a left-wing counterpart to the Tea Party movement that is anti-establishment and more concerned with pocketbook issues than foreign wars.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

@DrewSul22351735 @bendoody @ScottyVKFAB @asanderford @PaulHammelNE @cgonzalez_NE @GeitnerSimmons @4nsmiley @nataliaalamdari @ChrisMBowling It's a strange piece of fan fiction.

[Grassroots Matt @rightcheer]

I got to chat with Austin Ahlman today. He’s the Independent candidate who just announced—two days after the primary—that he’s running for Congress in District 1 against both Mike Flood and Chris Backemeyer. And his campaign video is going viral.

Naturally, Democrats aren’t happy. Even as an Independent, he’s clearly running well to the left of center: pro-choice, Medicare for All, overturning Citizens United, and making billionaires pay their “fair share.” In a way, seems Independent in the same way that Bernie Sanders is.

But he’s also genuine—not a GOP-funded spoiler like some people are claiming. When he calls himself “Independent,” he means that he's “anti-establishment.” He represents a faction of the left that many people forget exists: a grassroots, populist counterpart to the Tea Party or Liberty wing of the Republican Party. He sees the establishment as captured by special interests and more focused on overseas wars than on kitchen-table issues that affect working people’s pocketbooks.

That’s what makes him interesting. I’ve watched the left for a while, and they’re often so uniform in their thinking that it becomes cartoonish. “Vote Blue No Matter Who.”

Ahlman is different. And in a good way. I might not agree with him on a lot of things, but he’s clearly not part of the Blue Dot machine either.

[Austin Ahlman for Congress @ahlmanforne]

I'm Austin Ahlman. Nebraska is my home. This is our fight. You are my people.

Let’s take Nebraska back.