It's a petty irritation that I can't post this in the Free Speech thread where it literally should be placed, because...
Anti-Press Hatred Is Alive and Well in KansasThe assault on the Marion County Record is another reminder that Trumpism is a threat to press freedom.
https://theintercept.com/2023/08/15/marion-county-record-raid/
...things have gotten much worse over the past few years. Hatred of the press has deepened on the extreme right, stoked by Donald Trump and his paranoid acolytes.
Trump labeled the press the “enemy of the people,” a fascist slogan that has now seeped into common usage on the right. Physical attacks on journalists in the United States are becoming more common and are now a signature of right-wing extremism; reporters who covered the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol were assaulted and had their equipment damaged.
Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the Marion County Record, was stunned by Friday’s raid, which involved the town’s entire five-member police force and two sheriff’s deputies. He told the Kansas Reflector that the message from police and the local political establishment was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”
It is probably not surprising that the local establishment that is attacking the Marion County Record is at the same time supporting an extreme right-winger like LaTurner, who has not commented on the raid on his Twitter account. Meyer told the Associated Press that “this is the type of stuff that, you know, that Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do.”
(The Intercept and other news organizations signed a letter from Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press condemning the raid.)
The unjustified assault on the Marion County Record is another reminder that press freedom is one of the most important democratic traditions under threat from Trumpism.
Right wingers started the culture wars over 40 years ago during the 1st term of Grandpa Reagan - gradually warping and folding this vocal mayhem into battle cries against POLITICAL CORRECTNESS & they amplified that in the run-up to the 2nd gulf war against Iraq (Dixie Chicks) and they've perfected it's abuse every year since then - while managing (in some circles) to convince their base - that the left WOKE liberals invented and routinely practice cancel culture.
I was curious what the recent kerfuffle in Marion Kansas was about - now we know. Conservatives using the local police force to illegally raid a small-town newspaper because the newspaper was investigating rumors to see if there was any truth involving illegal activities and they scared the feels out of the local GQP majority in the town. Who then sicced a judge and law enforcement upon them to seize computer equipment.
I wonder if those stupid SOBs actually attempted to gain access to said computers while in their custody.
Someone's ass is grass in this debacle.