Police States and Third World Shitholes (and Now, the U.S. and the U.K.).

It was once the province of police states and Third World shitholes to detain reporters and interrogate them because the government didn't like what they wrote. It was once only Soviet-style nations that showed up at a newspaper and destroyed things.

But now, in this amplified police state world that we live in, we do it and so do the Brits. And if they really don't like what you write, they will do what they can to make your life hell. Laura Poitras has found that out, for the government has made a special project of trying to silence her through intimidation.

The difference, still is only a matter of degree. Greenwald and Poitras are still alive. Unlike Anna Politkovskaya.

For now. Because you can bet that it won't bother either Sen. Feinstein or Rep. King if something were to happen to them. And now the insistence by DiFi that "real reporters" are ones who draw a paycheck begins to make sense.