Tom Becka

Memes And Tweets And TV Ads, Oh My

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Wed, 09/09/2026 - 12:00am

Memes, tweets, and political TV ads: if you spend any time online or in front of a television, you can’t avoid seeing them.

Even if you don’t spend any time online, there’s a good chance someone will send them to you anyway.

I have had a love-hate relationship with memes for years. They can often be humorous. But all too often they can also be misleading or flat-out lies.

Tweets can do the same thing, only with words instead of pictures.

Both memes and tweets can be used to replace critical thinking.

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We Are Now Talking About Real Money

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 09/07/2026 - 12:00am

When I read the news the other day, I was reminded of something I heard when I was younger.

I was about fourteen years old and had just started to pay attention to the news when I heard the adults at the kitchen table talking about something former Illinois senator Everitt Dirksen supposedly said.

“A billion dollars here and a billion dollars there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

At that time, the national debt was about 352 billion dollars. That’s Billion. With a B.

When you factor in inflation, that’s only 3.2 trillion dollars today.

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An Epiphany In Nebraska Politics

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 09/04/2026 - 12:00am

Watching all the political ads on TV these days, I had an epiphany.

Well 2 epiphanies, really, and the first one isn’t very deep or insightful.

My first epiphany is that polling must show Pete Ricketts is really trailing Dan Osborn. Ricketts and his surrogates have got to be running at least twice as many commercials as the Osborn campaign. And we are still over 60 days from the election. It almost smells like desperation.

Speaking of political commercials, my second epiphany has to deal with that topic as well.

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Let’s Talk About Minimum Wage

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Tue, 09/01/2026 - 12:00am

I’ve always thought the minimum wage topic was really a non-issue. The people that benefit from this discussion are not the minimum wage earners, but the politicians and the political consultants who make it such a big deal.

And it’s because of those folks that I now find this non-issue an interesting subject to talk about.

By now you know that the voters voted to increase the minimum wage in Nebraska. The Unicameral in their infinite wisdom decided the voters didn’t know what they were doing so they modified the voters decision.

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Is This Paranoia?

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 08/31/2026 - 12:00am

Some might say I’m paranoid. To that I say, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.

Yes, I am worried, concerned, and, some might even say, paranoid about what might happen in Nebraska if we elect Scott Petersen as Secretary of State this November.

Scott Petersen is an election denier who would oversee our elections. Scott Petersen was just endorsed by Seth Keshel, a man who travels the country casting doubt and fear in the safety and security of our elections.

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The Heartland Honors 9/11 Wants To Help Unite Us Again

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 08/27/2026 - 12:00am

What do you remember about 9/11/2001? Do you remember anything at all?

I’m sure you’ve seen the yard signs popping up all over town. They say The Heartland Honors 9/11. It’s to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

I was at the press conference where Mayor Ewing, Police Chief Schmaderer, Fire Chief Kathy Bossman, and others announced the plans to commemorate those events.

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Lindstrom Still Showed Up To Speak Up

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 08/24/2026 - 12:00am

Just when you think politics in Nebraska can’t get any stranger, the Secretary of State says, “Hold my beer.”

Last Friday, Bob Evnen, the Secretary of State, announced that Brett Lindstrom didn’t have enough valid signatures to qualify to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for governor. Three petitioners who have already been charged with a felony for falsifying signatures on a separate issue allegedly falsified signatures for Brett, causing him to not meet the necessary threshold.

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Improving The Petition Process

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Thu, 08/20/2026 - 12:00am

Governor Pillen, Secretary of State Evnen, and others who call for legislative change in how signatures are collected to get issues on the ballot have a valid point. The way we currently pay petitioners per signature doesn’t seem to be working.

Governor Pillen wants to stop paying people to get the names. But we can’t throw the baby out with the bath water. In our Unicameral system of government, with a weak Democratic Party, the petition process is the only way to get some important measures before the people.

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First District Race

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Mon, 08/17/2026 - 12:00am

A year and a half ago, I testified before a Unicameral Committee when they held a public hearing on making Nebraska a winner-take-all state. Donald Trump, Jim Pillen, and the Republican Party in general want to make Nebraska like 48 other states and stop dividing our Electoral College votes by district.

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Keep Paying Attention

Published by maggie@omahadai... on Fri, 08/14/2026 - 7:05am

If you’re not paying attention to the case out of Lancaster County where 2/3 of the signatures submitted by a group called Good Government Lincoln were flagged as fraudulent, you should be. While this petition was focused on Lincoln issues, there could be broader political consequences statewide.