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Comment by thinkcontext | Hacker News Reader

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 be something a judicial conduct board would want to look at.

https://apnews.com/article/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid-aca0...

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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

And then when the police violate the law, what happens? They are forced to not do it again? At worst they get to pay a fine with someone else’s money.

In my probable cause affidavit in Baltimore fabricated by the GTTF, They said they found white powedery residue in my garbage, but noone in the household consumes any while powedery drugs certainly not enough for there to be a garabge bag full of evidence to get a warrant. But somehow it happened in Baltimore too, "The greatest city in America!"[1]

[1] https://www.wypr.org/2023-01-23/whats-with-those-the-greates...

Even if there was white powder in the trash, there's an enormous number of substances and products that appear as white powders when desiccated.

That's terrible, sorry that this happened to you. At least those GTTF officers got caught eventually.

I assume you've read or watched "We Own This City"? I'd be curious about your take on it.

Side note but I remember when they first rolled out that Baltimore bench slogan... I vaguely remember some explanations that the previous slogan ("The City that Reads") was also rather "aspirational", given the illiteracy rate.

Baltimore is such an interesting dynamic city. To me, it is (culturally) what NYC was in the 70s and 80s: Gotham City. It's chronically underrated because of its public facade of crime and corruption, but behind that you have incredible art/music/film subcultures, some fantastic educational institutions especially for meds / bioengineering, a solid port, and a vibrant startup culture. I started paying attention because I noticed that so many of the podcasts I listen to, across all domains, come out of Baltimore either from the subject material or from the person writing the story. I wonder if its story will turn.

Another reason all police support the war on drugs: they can just plant some on you whenever they want to frame you for a felony — or just say they thought you had some to get a free warrant.

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