My question is about the central claim of the government that these women and children were virtual prisoners of an evil dominant male hierarchy — then why do these women own cell phones?
Surely, a person free enough to own a cell phone is not a prisoner.
Unless of course you are the guest of the Texas CPS bureaucrats then no Free Speech will be entertained.
Ironic, ain’t it.
Lots or ironies here indeed.
Are we only able to enjoy the right to practice religion if the government agrees on the definition of that religion?
Why not break up the Catholic Church; plenty of documented sexual perversions in that church..??..
I’m sure only the ones who have proved their loyalty (i.e. those with full-blown Stockholm Syndrome) are allowed by the men to have cell phones. In this situation, since the men wanted to be in a position to get information about who was saying what to investigators, and wanted to be able to give orders to the women about what they and the children should say and not say, and also wanted to make sure that all the women and children would be aware that any failure to follow orders to the letter would promptly be reported to the leaders just as it was back at the compound, they had to let a few women take cell phones with them. The ad litem attorneys figured out what was going on and put a stop to it.
The women are not under arrest (nor are the men, except the two who actively interfered with the search). However, they are being allowed to remain with the children who are in state custody on terms acceptable to the state, which currently has responsibility for the children. Allowing these women to remain with the children, while at the same time receiving and carrying out orders from the men, and giving all the children the sense that their words and activities continued to be monitored by the male group leaders, is not consistent with the state’s responsibility to care for these children and to work towards getting accurate information from them about what they’ve been subjected to inside the compound.
The women have also used the cell phones to transmit pictures of what they claim are the horrible conditions they and the children are living in. Looked fine to me, given the speed with which the state had to set up accommodations for over 400 children and 139 adult women. What is not fine is making public pictures of children who are in state custody due to suspected physical and sexual abuse. It is also not fine that women inside the temporary housing facilities are participating in a carefully coordinated media PR campaign orchestrated by the male leaders who are the chief suspects in the abuse. It’s not a coincidence that the women chose to put out photos of many children lying under covers in cots in a crowded room, but did not choose to put out photos of obviously pregnant adolescent girls. This sort of selective release of information and images to the media would continue if the women had been allowed to keep the phones while staying with the children.