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Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

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Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#111

Post by hiatus »

myself248 wrote: post #105
jjk166 wrote: post #46

For reference this is the form for requesting motor vehicle records in Kansas [0] It asks for "your" information to find the record, but based on the allowed uses you can definitely get records for other people. I would say a journalist accessing DUI records would fall under permitted use case M. That accessing this is identity theft is a farcical claim. [0] https://www.kansas.gov/ssrv-mvr-ltd/

Exactly. Obtaining information about someone is not identity theft. It might be stalking, it might be journalism, it might be credit-reporting, but it is not identity theft. Pretending to _be_ someone, _stealing their identity_, is identity theft. Absolutely nothing in this story sounds like that, and it sounds like the warrant is entirely farcical.

I think it depends. Reading the form, if you filled it out and clicked the "I am requesting my own record" button, that's holding yourself out as though you were the person whose records you are requesting, which certainly seems like it could be construed as identity theft.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#112

Post by mrguyorama »

FrustratedMonky wrote: post #47

"Try That In A Small Town" Need to explain reference. There is a video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1_RKu-ESCY It kind of glorifies small town justice/vigilantism. Like, the rest of the country is falling apart, but the small town wouldn't let that happen (wink, wink). https://www.npr.org/2023/07/20/1188966935/jason-aldean-try-t... But then the original post, story about small town sheriff raiding a newspaper k…

This is the exact style of "justice" that "Try that in a small town" wants. I've been in those small towns. They are always about the people who are friends with the cops. From petty corruption like not giving the local alcoholics DUI citations, to helping their friends weed grow op, small town cops are fabulously corrupt, and there's really no standards that they are supposed to be held to.

Remember, hanging negros for looking at women is what would happen in a small town in america.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#113

Post by mrguyorama »

indymike wrote: post #69
plagiarist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fear this will be another egregious violation of the Constitution ignored under qualified immunity. Prosecuting egregious violations of the Constitution instead of allowing police to do whatever they like would be a good check/balance.

> I fear this will be another egregious violation of the Constitution ignored under qualified immunity. The police officers, individually can have qualified immunity. The governments that employ them do not.

Which nicely transfers accountability away from the individuals doing unacceptable things, to the city itself, which cannot go to jail and can pay any penalty through taxes to the same people said penalty is meant to help.

What a good system.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#114

Post by mrguyorama »

ROTMetro wrote: post #82
plagiarist wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fear this will be another egregious violation of the Constitution ignored under qualified immunity. Prosecuting egregious violations of the Constitution instead of allowing police to do whatever they like would be a good check/balance.

There needs to be a requirement that Police are insured. The city/county shouldn't pay the bill for poor personal behavior of police with a side of accountability in the form of keeping insurable.

No, just put bad fucking cops in jail. We don't need some damn market of insurance for criminal behavior just because we are so unwilling to hold powerful people accountable, we just have to finally stand the fuck up and demand accountability!

The only reason to favor the insurance scheme over, you know, actual justice, is if you stand to profit from it.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#115

Post by jjk166 »

mcpackieh wrote: post #103
jjk166 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well we already have laws against mobs violently attacking people. Freedom of the press means you suffer no legal consequences from publishing, which would include refusal of the government to enforce its laws to protect people from violence because of what they had published. But if people don't like what you're publishing, they must be free for exactly the same reason to express their opinions and act as they see f…

> Well we already have laws against mobs violently attacking people. And violation of those laws is a threat to the freedom of the press. Let's consider a hypothetical but plausible example: A billionaire named Elon Bezos is tired of journalists exposing his illegal schemes so he hires the Pinkertons to stalk and harass journalists, dox them and post their personal information on 4chan with claims of those journalist…

> In this hypothetical everything done is illegal

That's the important bit. Assuming that use of violence against journalists is illegal and the law is enforced, then that is freedom of the press. Similarly your right to own property is protected even if there are burglars out there.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#116

Post by mrguyorama »

arunharidas wrote: post #90

NPR cheered when conservative media got targeted and when they came after them they're crying violation of freedom of press. You can't have the cake and eat it too.

Pray tell, can you point to the supposed cheering that NPR did for conservative media having it's legal rights violated?

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#118

Post by acdha »

hiatus wrote: post #104
pessimizer wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who cares what NPR thinks? You're like one of those people who chooses their positions based on the opposite of what Trump said. How can you recognize NPR as illegitimate, yet give them control over you?

> How can you recognize NPR as illegitimate, yet give them control over you? Pointing out hypocrisy is giving "them control over you"? TFA is posted on npr.org.

They didn’t point out any hypocrisy. At most you could say they made a strong claim conspicuously unsupported by evidence or even a clear statement about what they’re referring to. Actually pointing out hypocrisy would require both a specific claim and supporting evidence.

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#119

Post by s1artibartfast »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #54
paulmd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

A police chief in my state was just convicted of sexual harassment https://news.yahoo.com/litchfield-chief-relinquishes-police-... I think people very badly want their cynical worldview to be true

We also have a robot court system where warrant applications are examined in cases get thrown out all the time for improper search and seizure. There have been tons of cases where falsified data has been discovered causing hundreds of cases to be reheared

Re: Police raid of a Kansas newsroom raises alarms about violations of press freedom

#120

Post by s1artibartfast »

bb88 wrote: post #91
thinkcontext wrote: post #49

On top of the judge signing off on the warrant when this likely contradicted federal law, we have this: > When the newspaper asked for a copy of the probable cause affidavit required by law to issue a search warrant, the district court issued a signed statement saying no such affidavit was on file, the Record reported. Not a lawyer and I know it takes quite a lot for a judge to be disciplined but that would seem to b…

US federal law says a search warrant can't be issued against journalists to anything that remotely looks like reporting. Instead police must subpoena a journalist instead to show up with the materials requested. The journalist can then get a lawyer and quash the subpoena in court. https://www.mcguirewoods.com/news-resources/publications/med...

There's a huge carve out for if a journalist is being investigated for criminal activity themselves
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