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Steve Erdman

Sen. Steve Erdman

District 47

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Straight Talk From Steve…
August 27th, 2021

Photograph of a bespectacled man sitting on a stool with his legs crossed reading a newspaper in the morning

 

How well informed are you? Do you get all of the news or only snippets of the news? Unfortunately, keeping up with all of the news today is like taking on a second full-time job. Few of us have the time, the energy, or the interest in researching every angle on every story. Complicating matters is the fact that our major media outlets slant the news according to their own political worldviews.

Mainstream journalism (not our local press) is very biased. Seldom does a person ever get both sides of a story by reading a single newspaper, website, or watching a newscast on television. In order to stay well-informed today, a person has to find trustworthy news sources. Therefore, today I would like to inform you about some things you probably missed in the news last week.

Last week many of us heard about how the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, mandated that all city employees get vaccinated against COVID-19. However, what you may not have heard is how the police union refused to comply with her order. The president of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, John Catanzara, resisted the order saying, “We are 100% against mandated vaccines for our members.”

Many of us heard the news last week about how the whacky governor of Oregon mandated mask-wearing outdoors. However, what did not get reported is how the United Kingdom lifted their mask mandate for all of their public schools. The U.K.’s Department of Education released new teacher guidelines saying, “Our priority is for you to deliver face-to-face, high quality education to all pupils.”

Last week many of us heard how COVID-19 cases have been rising in Nebraska and about how we all need to get vaccinated. Perhaps you even heard about how Douglas County was denied their request for a new Directive Health Measure (DHM), yet one was implemented in Lancaster County by mayor, Leirion Gaylor-Baird. However, what hardly got reported at all was the fact that 25 percent of coronavirus infections in Los Angeles County occurred among fully vaccinated residents. According to the CDC among more than 43,000 reported infections of individuals over the age of sixteen, 10,895 or 25.3 percent had been fully vaccinated against the disease.

Last week you may have heard about how the FDA finally approved the Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19. However, what you likely did not hear is that it is not the same Pfizer vaccine that is currently being administered under the emergency use authorization. The vaccine which received FDA approval is actually the BioNTech vaccine, which is similar to the Pfizer vaccine but has yet to be manufactured. Dr. Robert Malone, who invented the mRNA technology used in both vaccines, has warned that the American public does not have enough information yet to decide if getting the shot is worth the risk.

Some other stories that you likely missed include how the U.S. Department of Justice forced the new Sing Tao Daily newspaper to register as a foreign agent because it is a subsidiary of a Chinese company. You may have also missed how 100 Afghans who have been evacuated from Kabul are on our own intelligence agencies watch lists. And you may have missed how CNN falsely reported that no Democrats were running to become the next governor of California in the upcoming recall election to oust Gov. Gavin Newsome. CNN was forced by the courts to correct their story after they got sued by Kevin Paffrath, a Democrat who is running in the election.

I share each of these stories with you today in order to show you how journalistic integrity is severely lacking in our mainstream press today. Today most of the news which comes to us is biased and only tells one side of the story. The truest measure of journalistic integrity is when both sides of a story get reported. Unfortunately, journalistic integrity is very hard to find in the mainstream press today.

Sen. Steve Erdman

District 47
Room 1124
P.O. Box 94604
Lincoln, NE 68509
(402) 471-2616
Email: serdman@leg.ne.gov
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