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A stench in Nebraska

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Just when you think Iowa will reach the bottom of the manure pit first, Nebraska bails us out. Gov. Jim Pillen was asked on the radio what he thought about a story in the Flatwater Free Press about Pillen’s hog operation infecting the water with nitrate. “Number one, I didn’t read it. And I won’t,” Pillen replied. “Number two, all you got to do is look at the author. The author is from communist China. What more do you need to know?”

Indeed, the reporter Yanqi Xu, is an immigrant from China. Before landing in Nebraska she earned a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and worked for the National Freedom of Information Council.

The governor was given the opportunity to discuss his hog operation, both by the Flatwater Free Press and on the radio, and passed on it. He did not say it was wrong. He read enough of the story to know it was by a woman who is Chinese. The facts apparently are not in controversy.

Thanks, Nebraska, for making Iowa look classy by comparison.

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