BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
Remember this 1988 case — Times Picayune Publishing Corp. v. Lee. — once Trump starts throwing out certain news outlets out of White House press conferences.
Trump is going to start putting restrictions on media coverage while at the White House. Quite possibly, he’ll go where no other U.S. president has gone before by banning certain news outlets from his press conferences.
Trump imposed many restrictions on reporters during his campaign.
Prompted by his Fox’s Trump cheerleader and pal, Sean Hannity, who suggested that Trump could set up White House policies to deny credentials to media outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post that have been critical of Trump.
Sounds like a page lifted from the playbook of the Putin School of Journalism? Well, it isn’t.
It happened in Louisiana.
In 1988, Sheriff Harry Lee sued the Times Picayune and one of its columnists for defamation. Also the newspaper endorsed Lee’s opponent. The sheriff said the news coverage of him had been “inaccurate and systematically biased against him.”
Lee whined and prohibited the Times-Picayune from attending scheduled news conferences. Also Lee wrote a policy that prohibited officials from releasing any information to the paper. The paper had to make a written request, and only after Lee decided to release the information.
A federal appeals court said Lee’s policies were unconstitutional. The court ruled that Lee’s policies “materially and adversely impair the newspaper’s ability to gather the news in a timely, comprehensive and informative manner.”
In addition, the policies “curtail the flow of information to the public about such vital subjects as crime, law enforcement and the conduct of government and official policies.”
But this case didn’t go all the way up to the Supreme Court.
During his campaign, Trump’s staff roughed up a reporter, threw another one out of a press event and insulted journalists in general while ranting unfavorable news coverage. Several reporters said it had become dangerous covering a Trump political rally because they felt hostile and angry Trump supporters were targeting them.
“I think it’s a very troubling sign that says he doesn’t actually understand or value the role of the press in American democracy,” said Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan, who has sharply criticized Trump’s media blacklist in her column.
A Trump-Republican Supreme Court could also start eroding the First Amendment rights.
People should start subscribing to the New York Times and the Washington Post and other newspapers that have done excellent work during the election. Newspapers throughout the nation have been making cuts in newsrooms because of budget slashes. Increases in circulation could stave off many newsroom cuts.
When Trump signs a piece of paper or looks over his shoulder, investigative reporters should be there asking tough questions and writing articles about it.
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Migrant Workers Should Leave Southern Agricultural States
Who will pick up the fruits and vegetables if millions of illegal immigrants are deported? The crops will stay in the fields and rot.
Couldn’t happen, right?
It did in Georgia, Alabama and Arizona in 2011. This was the headline in Forbes magazine in 2012:
The Law Of Unintended Consequences: Georgia’s Immigration Law Backfires
The article written by Benjamin Powell and published in 2012 stated, in part, the following:
“To forgo a repeat of last year, when labor shortages triggered an estimated $140 million in agricultural losses, as crops rotted in the fields, officials in Georgia are now dispatching prisoners to the state’s farms to help harvest fruit and vegetables.
The labor shortages, which also have affected the hotel and restaurant industries, are a consequence of Georgia’s immigration enforcement law, HB 87, which was passed last year. As State Rep. Matt Ramsey, one of the bill’s authors, said at the time, “Our goal is … to eliminate incentives for illegal aliens to cross into our state.”
Now he and others are learning: Be careful what you wish for, because you may get more than you bargained for.”
Migrant workers should start packing up and leaving southern states that supported Trump and bought into his anti-immigrant racist rants.
I lived at the El Paso-Juarez border for a good chunk of my life. El Paso has nearly 700,000 residents, 70 percent are Hispanics. The city received the All-American City in 2010. It has a very low crime. On the other side of the border, is the city of Juarez that was once named the Murder Capital of the World.
So I understand that America’s borders must be secured, and there have to be strong immigration laws.
What the U.S. needs is a Guest Worker Program, similar to the one that Canada and Mexico signed. I wrote a column about the program earlier this year.
The Washington Post wrote an article in 2013 about Canada’s Guest Worker Program
Foreign Visitor Overstays
There are at least 216,000 Canadians and Europeans who are going to be booted out of the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. But don’t expect Trump to enforce immigration laws equally.
The federal courts are going to be busy with lawsuits citing civil rights violations.
Trump is not Amused
Trump is not happy with SNL skits, according to the Washington Post.
North Korean Kim Jong Un was furious with the movie the “The Interview,” which stars James Franco and Seth Rogen. North Korea was accused of hacking Sony Films in retaliation.
Similarities: Trump is mentally unstable but his blind zealots haven’t picked up on this yet. Kim Jong Un is mentally deranged. One is dictator, Kim Jong Un, the other, Trump, aspiring to be one. Kim Jong Un can launch nukes. Trump will soon be able to do that.
Trump admires Putin. Putin censored media and killed his political opponents. Trump camp is still considering criminal charges against Clinton, and believes the U.S. can do business with a KGB thug who Congressman John McCain blasted: Putin as a “former KGB agent who has plunged his country into tyranny, murdered his political opponents, invaded his neighbors, threatened America’s allies, and attempted to undermine America’s elections,” according to CNN
Congratulations America on electing a humorless nut-job who will soon have access to the nuclear launch codes.