Originally published at: City of Marion refuses to turn over public records after raid on local newspaper | Boing Boing
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The attempted cover-up shows that they’ve learned nothing and don’t want to learn anything from what happened.
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Asked Lawyer Wife to translate from Lawyer to English for me: “Yeah, we’ve seen them, they’re really bad, so f you if you think we’re going to do anything to make it easy for you to see them let me laugh in your face.”
Her bet is that they have them (at least some of them are on city owned devices), and when they’re inevitably forced to cough them up they “discover” them at the last minute.
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there is an unfortunate third option
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/politics/secret-service-text-messages-erased/index.html
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The whole city government’s willing to go to prison to protect a dirty cop.
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Not defending them, but when you start affiliating and committing crimes with a vicious, vindictive, armed and violent gang, you have to fear that if you turn stool pigeon they will turn on you. The cops know where all the dirt on government employees is, and no doubt have been reminding their unindicted co-conspirators that “snitches get stitches.”
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Well, City of Marion, you are still in the fucking around stage, but you are about to find out. When you use personal devices for public business, the records are still public. Imagine the shenanigans otherwise.
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Don’t forget the drink-driving restauranteur Kari Newell, who is more directly related to the shenanigans against the newspaper, per se. She’s the one who got the ball rolling.
It’s assholes like this that made me want to leave Kansas.
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We do public business on personal cellphones, and personal cellphones aren’t public record" is Jennifer Hill’s legal theory.
I work for an entirely different state in a sometimes politically significant fashion, and my work is usually in the background auditing government entities. We were told, under no circumstances to ever use your personal cellphones because they can request and get data from them if you use them for work. I don’t use my personal cell for anything. Our legal team was very clear on this.
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I’ve never been one to drop the ACAB acronym, but increasingly, it’s hard not to. And my brother was a cop.
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These cops are decidedly bastards.
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Same thing where I work, for a state government entity. One of the things hammered into us is that if we use personal devices for state business, the devices can be audited if a question arises. This is why I try very hard not to access my state e-mail on my home computer unless absolutely necessary.
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It’s bastards alla way down.
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That’s not really a likely risk.
As far as we know, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation is still working overtime to dig up enough dirt to justify the raid.
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That miserable scenario is going on here in the UK right now - on a national scale.
We are in the middle of a massively expensive and lengthy public enquiry into the handling of Covid by national and devolved governments - and excuses for why messages can’t be handed over include:
Boris Johnson losing a phone holding WhatsApp messages.
Boris Johnson eventually finding that phone, but not remembering the password.
Boris Johnson not being able to turn that phone for ‘security reasons.
Rishi Sunak having changed his phone that held WhatsApp messages from his time as Chancellor. Rishi Dunak (self-confessed tech bro PM) not knowing how to back up old phones.
In Scotland, First Minister Humza Yousaf has said that the Scottish government’s policy was to routinely delete messages after they had been summarised.
The Scottish government says that, no, there has been no deletion.
In short, authorities will do whatever they can to create an unaccountable system of operation and fight you every step of the way if you dare ask questions.
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Still, what’s especially galling ever since the conservatives pulling out the fascist playbook in Kansas since the 70s is how residents had always put great emphasis on the political neutrality and “fairness” in politics of our state (I say our because it’s where I’ve grown up and spent half my life).
This is why I’ve mentioned William Allen White the conservative newspaperman from Kansas who was a staunch opponent of corruption and dirty politics, in previous threads about this action in Marion. Those of us with a longer memory are beyond rage over what’s going on.
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There seems to have been a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic that the established political right has fully embraced naked corruption and thuggery to hold on to power come what may.
For all their talk of patriotism and respect for the law, the Republicans and Conservatives will do anything to seize control and refuse to let go, even if it means sacrificing the democracies they claim to hold dear in the process.
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They’ve come to the understanding that their policies have no real appeal to the 70% of the electorate who aren’t millionaires, Xtianists, and virulent bigots. The only way to get the other 21% they need to make their margin in a democratic election (boy do they hate democracy) is by lying and cheating and gaming broken systems.
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“Peace” Officers. Raiding some 80+ year old ladies house. How does bullsh*t like this even work?
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