By ann summers
Trump’s gaslight will power an entire nation.
![gaslight[1]](https://genehowington.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/gaslight1.png?w=523&h=523)
Trump’s still emitting Bill Shiney objects because having one media empire (Murdoch’s) as his personal press agent, driving memes to its media brethren, is not enough. There should be only one tiny hand on the gaslight, and that hand guides the bone saw.
Trump tells AP he won’t accept blame if GOP loses House
Trump was asked yesterday if he would accept any responsibility in the event that Republicans lose the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.
“No, I think I’m helping people,” Trump responded. “They would say that in the old days that if you got the support of a president or if you’ve got the support of somebody it would be nice to have, but it meant nothing, zero. Like literally zero. Some of the people I’ve endorsed have gone up 40 and 50 points just on the endorsement.”
A gaslight monopoly can happen here, especially as Trump and his de facto Saudi ambassador, Kushner, think they can buy their way out of trouble (remember how Jarvanka wanted to bribe Planned Parenthood into giving up abortion procedures).
Throttling Net Neutrality also throttles speech, if not public safety, and if throttling won’t suppress speech, decapitation and dismemberment certainly will, however terminally.
Jamal Khashoggi’s last editorial piece applies not just to the Arab world, the tactics have that family resemblance to the land of Bill Shiney objects. It can happen here.
The Arab world was ripe with hope during the spring of 2011. Journalists, academics and the general population were brimming with expectations of a bright and free Arab society within their respective countries. They expected to be emancipated from the hegemony of their governments and the consistent interventions and censorship of information. These expectations were quickly shattered; these societies either fell back to the old status quo or faced even harsher conditions than before.
My dear friend, the prominent Saudi writer Saleh al-Shehi, wrote one of the most famous columns ever published in the Saudi press. He unfortunately is now serving an unwarranted five-year prison sentence for supposed comments contrary to the Saudi establishment. The Egyptian government’s seizure of the entire print run of a newspaper, al-Masry al Youm, did not enrage or provoke a reaction from colleagues. These actions no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community. Instead, these actions may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence.
As a result, Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate. There was a time when journalists believed the Internet would liberate information from the censorship and control associated with print media. But these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information, have aggressively blocked the Internet. They have also arrested local reporters and pressured advertisers to harm the revenue of specific publications.
![iur[1]](https://genehowington.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/iur1.jpg?w=497&h=298)
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