NewsTracker Answers for week of May 29, 2023

Q: A noodle vendor was sentenced last week to five years in prison for making a popular online video parodying a powerful Vietnamese security official who dined on a $1,000 gold-encrusted steak during a trip to London. Where is the Southeast Asian nation of Vietnam?

Circle the area on this map


Q: Earlier this month, a stand-up comedian was arrested over a joke he made during a show in what nation on Vietnam’s northern border?

A. Cambodia

B. China

C. Laos

D Thailand


B. The Chinese comedian described his dogs’ behavior with a well-known Chinese Communist Party slogan about China’s People’s Liberation Army. While he faces criminal charges over the joke, the company that hired him was fined $1.2 million.


Q: Joking about the military also is dangerous in which of China’s neighbors?

A. Afghanistan

B. India

C. Mongolia

D. Russia


D. A programmer posted a joke online about the Russian forces retreating in Ukraine. His post was reported to authorities, and he was arrested for "discrediting Russia’s Armed Forces” before he and his family could flee the country. The government is encouraging “patriots” to inform on any neighbors, relatives or co-workers who criticize Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.


Q: Making a joke involving religion also can land an entertainer behind bars. Which of these NATO allies arrested a pop star over such a joke?

A. Albania

B. France

C. Turkey

D. United States


C. A popular Turkish singer made a joke about one of her musicians who had attended one of the country’s religious schools, saying, “That’s where his pervert side comes from,” She was jailed pending trial on charges of “inciting or insulting the public to hatred and enmity.”


Q: Even in the United States, challenging authority with humor can get you arrested. Where was a man arrested for making fun of his local police department?

A. Ohio

B. Oklahoma

C. Oregon


A. A Parma, Ohio, man spent four days in jail over a Facebook page that mocked his local police department. He was charged with using a computer to disrupt police functions, but a jury found him not guilty. He tried to sue over his arrest in a case that ultimately was turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court, in spite of a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the satirical website The Onion.