this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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231
Police stage 'chilling' raid on Marion County newspaper, seizing computers, records and cellphones - Kansas Reflector (kansasreflector.com)
submitted 1 year ago by stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to c/news@lemmy.world
29 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper's reporters, and the publisher's home.

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[–] Arotrios@kbin.social 78 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Man, the ACLU is gonna have a field day with this one. And Newell should be charged with making a fake police report:

The search warrant identifies two pages worth of items that law enforcement officers were allowed to seize, including computer software and hardware, digital communications, cellular networks, servers and hard drives, items with passwords, utility records, and all documents and records pertaining to Newell. The warrant specifically targeted ownership of computers capable of being used to “participate in the identity theft of Kari Newell.”

She's claiming that because Meyer did research on her, he's participating in identity theft. Great job at keeping this story out of the papers, Newell, now everyone knows you're a drunk-driving criminal with no respect to for the rule of law or freedom of the press. Welcome to the Streisand effect.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 53 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It wasn't just her. What happened was the paper said the police knew she didn't have a license and gave her a pass. The cops decided to punish the paper for calling out their corruption. Everything else just flows from incompetence, from the attorney general's office to the judge.

[–] QHC@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

The coverup is always worse than the crime.

[–] Arotrios@kbin.social 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hear you there - there's plenty of dumbfuckery laced throughout this story. I just wanted to draw out that particular piece of stupid in my comment, because it's clear that this drunken trash heap of a human being is the root of the entire brouhaha.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Check this out, the paper was also investigating the police chief for sexual misconduct allegations. I think drunk driving Karen was just a pretext here: https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-the-newspaper

[–] ArtieShaw@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

That's a good find. Unfortunately for that chief, he seems to have a talent for lighting his problems on fire instead of burying them. What could have been a quiet little small town scandal blew up to become national news. Good work, chief!

And the greatest irony to me is that the newspaper reported on NONE of this. OK, they did cover the story where Karin went off the rails and aired her own dirty laundry at the town council meeting, but it's not like that was any sort of secret.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago

Meyer reported last week that Marion restaurant owner Kari Newell had kicked newspaper staff out of a public forum with LaTurner[US rep], whose staff was apologetic. Newell responded to Meyer’s reporting with hostile comments on her personal Facebook page. A confidential source contacted the newspaper, Meyer said, and provided evidence that Newell had been convicted of drunken driving and continued to use her vehicle without a driver’s license. The criminal record could jeopardize her efforts to obtain a liquor license for her catering business.

So, the beef was that they posted an unflattering- but true- article about somebody that was hosting a thing for a politician. Gotcha.

The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead. Viar didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story or explain why she would authorize a potentially illegal raid.

The answer is obvious, isn't it? politicians leaning on judges to protect supporters from criminal action.

[–] money_loo@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More of that “try that in a small town” stuff, huh?

[–] Zella111@lemmy.world 39 points 1 year ago

You aren't kidding... "The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have""

[–] kitonthenet@kbin.social 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Hey everybody, it’s Happening Here. This is what it looks like. “It can’t happen here” is bullshit you’re watching it happen

Death to the bastards!

[–] uphillbothways@kbin.social 27 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's some crazy bullshit. If there was any justice at all the FBI would show up, arrest the police force responsible and return the stolen property. But we all know none of that is going to happen.

[–] dan1101@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

If the right people make the right requests it could. Even the state police could help.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't be so sure.

[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I just don't understand the motivation to bootstrap such a ridiculous farce. This drunk driving Karen obviously doesn't have the power to move a magistrate, ag, and an entire police force for bullshit claims of identity theft. There has to be very very serious levels of incompetence here. Magistrate signing without looking at warrants. AG drafting illegal searches. Officers following nonsense orders. Both the sheriff and the head of the police department authorizing illegal seizures?

Edit: NOW I know the motivation. It's because the paper said the police KNEW she didn't have a license but gave her a pass. The paper made the police look like corrupt idiots, so the chief of police go the attorney general's office to write an warrant and the judge blindly signs whatever the AG sends their way. That police chief should go to jail.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

a sitting US representative does have that clout... Marion County, Kansas, has a little more than 10 thousand people. For comparison, the suburb I live in has just under 70 thousand.

it doesn't take a lot of clout to get a county magistrate to do something in a podunk county like Marion. LaTurner did a favor for one of his supporters.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Abolish the police

[–] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

That's silly, i don't want to live in a modern society without police. I don't want to abolish the police, i want BETTER police than the ones we have now.

[–] QHC@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Do you believe the current version of policing in America can be successfully reformed? Can the current officers be sufficiently re-trained? Who is going to patrol the streets until that happens?

When people say abolish the police, they are saying that the current system has to be entirely dismantled and replaced. You actually appear to agree with the end objective.

[–] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If that's what they mean then they're terribly miscommunicating, because they're literally saying something completely different.

[–] QHC@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not really. "Abolish the police [as they currently exist]" is just step 1.

[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It can. Every act of oppression, bigotry, racism, homophobia, xenophobia and misogyny comes from one particular profile of cop. Conservative. Remove conservatives from policing and those issues stop almost completely.

There are a few good cops and every single one of them is a progressive.

[–] ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

While we're at it would you guys like to be in control of the military, schools, and the media too?

[–] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Only if there is a problem with oppression of vulnerable groups in those places.

Conservatives can't resist oppressing vulnerable people. That's just who they are at their core.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

No, I would like them to not be in control of the military, schools and the media. There's a difference.

[–] natanael@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 year ago

Not everybody is seeking control, just to stop sources of problems

[–] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Yes, i know, that's why i said i want better police.

[–] smegger@aussie.zone 2 points 1 year ago

Exactly. Employ educated police, gotta be less likely to do dodgy crap because they'll have a proper understanding of the laws. Also, why is it an elected position? You'd think that's gonna make it a prime motivation for corruption, just make it a position assigned based on experience and knowledge.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah we would still have that. They just wouldn't be called police anymore. I used to think it was hyperbole to say that every police agency in the US traces it's origins to slave patrols, and now I realize that it is true.

The entire notion of policing, armed people reacting to crimes, catching criminals like cat and mouse, is what is broken. It doesn't reduce crime, it makes more. It breaks families and communities. And what do we get in return? At best, we get to make a criminal feel extra bad by putting them in jail for a long long time. That model must end.

There will still be a reactionary force to call when warranted. But the force that responds when shit hits the fan and the force you call when you're in a fender bender don't need to be the same thing. Virtually every police call can be better handled by health and welfare services. Building affordable housing reduces the crime rate. Teaching people skills reduces the crime rate. That's what the police force should be aimed at. But no, we have cat and mouse.