President Trump has rubbed shoulders with several leaders from the Middle East with worse records on press freedom than his own. For example, he described Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as "fantastic." This month, Sisi blocked 21 news websites in Egypt.
8 - Minimum number of news websites blocked by Saudi Arabia last week (all of which are based in Qatar)
21 - News websites that the Egyptian government blocked earlier this month, including the same outlets blocked by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
25 - Journalists imprisoned in Egypt as of December 1, 2016.
6 - Journalists imprisoned in Saudi Arabia as of December 1, 2016.
57 - Journalists killed in Russia since 1993. (Source: All numbers are from the Committee to Protect Journalists).
Free Press Under Assault
In the 24 hours after Greg Gianforte -- the Republican candidate for Montana's seat in the House of Representatives -- assaulted the "Guardian" reporter, Ben Jacobs, his campaign raised almost $100,000. And he was elected the next day. For that crime, Gianforte was assigned 40 hours of community service and 20 hours of anger management training; also, he was fined less than $400.
The sign where I park on Wednesdays to volunteer at the Sierra Club office, reads that for parking in that dirt lot without frequenting a local business or loitering, the penalty could be 90 days in jail and a fine of $300. Gianforte got no days in jail for assaulting a journalist.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said that Gianforte should just apologize for the assault. One GOP House representative praised Gianforte for attacking a liberal journalist. Grover Norquist tweeted: "Congratulations to tax pledge signing Greg Gianforte who just body slammed tax hiking Democrat pol." Putting the Norquist tweet into plain English, it means that violence against the press is fine, as long as it results in tax cuts.
ADDENDUMS:
*Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has revoked DAPA, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents. The program is designed to offer a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants whose children are either residents or citizens of the U.S. DACA remains in effect.
*Trump has appointed family wedding planner Lynne Patton, with zero housing experience, to oversee housing in New York (Region II).
*There has been only a 40 percent success rate in shooting down a missile since 2004. Each test is highly scripted and doesn't include the kinds of evasive defensive tactics an enemy would use.
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