Combined General and Maryland "Freak State" PING!
Posted on 10/25/2013 3:53:11 PM PDT by jazusamo
Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department’s Federal Air Marshal Service.
Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland’s Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6.
The documents, some which chronicled her sources and her work at the Times about problems inside the Homeland Security Department, were seized under a warrant to search for unregistered firearms and a “potato gun” suspected of belonging to her husband, Paul Flanagan, a Coast Guard employee. Mr. Flanagan has not been charged with any wrongdoing since the raid.
The warrant, obtained by the Times, offered no specific permission to seize reporting notes or files.
The Washington Times said Friday it is preparing legal action to fight what it called an unwarranted intrusion on the First Amendment.
“While we appreciate law enforcement’s right to investigate legitimate concerns, there is no reason for agents to use an unrelated gun case to seize the First Amendment protected materials of a reporter,” Times Editor John Solomon said. “This violates the very premise of a free press, and it raises additional concerns when one of the seizing agencies was a frequent target of the reporter’s work.
“Homeland’s conduct in seizing privileged reporters notes and Freedom of Information Act documents raises serious Fourth Amendment issues, and our lawyers are preparing an appropriate legal response,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Amen!
What will it take for the media PR deptartment of the DNC to refute this administration?
Just have to ask the right question:)
does that mean the 3” diameter PVC pipe lengths and the 5 lb bag of Yukon gold potatoes I have in the garage be considered a dangerous cache of assault potato weapon(s) ( with high capacity (more than 10 potatoes in the bag)sack?
You could be arrested for making French Fry Potato Flechettes for your 3” pipe mortar or potato launcher.
Tyranny has a big appetite and you are on its menu. Bon appetit!
Egggggzactly!
or hash brown shrapnel
In a country that had some actual respect for the rule of Constitutional law, and a judiciary with a smattering of residual integrity, they might even win !
Reporters and editors need to start carrying handguns. Stand their ground, protect their first amendment rights and shoot the pigs dead.
There is something else here that no one is talking about.
There was no suspicion of any criminal activity that would fall under the duties of Home Security.
Maybe the ATF, but really this was a matter that should have been handles by local law enforcement, if anyone.
Our weenie repub-e is at fault for not cutting the Homeland Security money down to practically zero.
If that department is not broken up, we are going to regret it.
Combined General and Maryland "Freak State" PING!
BUMP!
I’m praying newspapers see it in time...
Exclusive: Feds confiscate investigative reporter’s confidential files during raid
They went looking for a potato gun and just accidently stumbled upon Audrey’s reporter notes? Welcome to the age of Obama Himmler.
People are upset over the agents seizing the documents and they should be.
But they should also be upset that government agents raid a house at 4:30 am in search of guns.
Whatever happened to the 2nd Amendment?!
“The agents, who had arrived a 4:30 a.m. in full body armor, collected several small arms during the raid, although no charges have been filed against Mr. Flanagan, 54, during the nearly three months since.”
Because Issa is Obama’s willing whore,
EVERY CRIMINAL ACTION OF THE CORRUPT REGIME
HAS BEEN OVERLOOKED and ABETTED.
Why did she give up items unrelated to the warrent?
Why were feds involved in a state issue?
Will the Obamamedia cover this?
Will the House GOP convene hearings on this? Call for a special prosecutor to investigate?
And I hope this reporter sues the crap out of all involved for abuse of process and 1st amendment violation.
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