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from the who-feels-safe-in-Florida-now? dept.
Armed police raid home of Florida scientist fired over Covid-19 data
Rebekah Jones, the Florida data scientist embroiled in a dispute with the state's Republican governor over the handling of coronavirus figures, had her home raided on Monday by armed police who confiscated her computers.
In a stream of posts on Twitter, Jones posted a video of the raid that showed state police carrying handguns escorting her out of her Tallahassee home. She can be heard saying: "He just pointed a gun at my children," with her husband and two children apparently upstairs at the time.
Jones claimed in her tweets that the raid was the work of Ron DeSantis, the governor with whom she has clashed repeatedly since she was fired by the state's department of health in May in a row over Covid-19 data. She compared the incident to sending "the gestapo", adding: "This is what happens to scientists who do their job honestly. This is what happens to people who speak truth to power."
The Florida department of law enforcement confirmed they had entered Jones's house on a search warrant. But in a statement the department said the action was related to a recent computer hack of the health department website, in which emergency response coordinators were sent an unauthorised message.
Also at CNN, The Verge, and The Hill.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Wednesday December 09 2020, @01:34PM (6 children)
Don't open your door and the police can't raid you? Brilliant! Any other gems of wisdom you can dish out?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday December 09 2020, @02:43PM (5 children)
"gems of wisdom"
Watch the video, without full context. When I watched the video, I hadn't read the article from The Verge, which explained that she already knew who was outside, and knew why they wanted in. And, I responded above, already, explaining that I didn't click all the links.
Want to try again?
But, yes, if you hear a knock on your door, and open the door without looking outside, you ain't real bright. Cops, robbers, just some asshole who wants to kick your teeth in, you check to see who is on the other side of the door before opening it.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Wednesday December 09 2020, @04:31PM (2 children)
What do you think the cops and swat team will do if you refuse to let them in? Go "aww shucks you got us there" and go home? You'll be buying a new door for sure. Maybe those things happen where you live but I don't have a fear of opening my door if someone knocks.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday December 09 2020, @06:15PM
It all depends on who, what, when, where, why and how. I have refused entry to police in the past. You pick your fights, and you accept the consequences if you've misjudged the situation. Always remember, shit happens, and sometimes the dragon wins.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:21PM
American men derive their sense of masculinity in barbaric terms, because they are barbaric people. These are the same people who promote routine male infant genital mutilation then attempt to blame the Jewish peoples when it goes wrong.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday December 09 2020, @08:58PM (1 child)
Wow, you must live in a war zone or something! I can't imagine being that frightened all the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2020, @05:45PM
I haven't locked my front door in years, except while out of town for plural days in a row.
I live in the 'bad' part of town - highest % of PoC, a lot of elderly garbage pickers, fair bit of opiate addiction, not so much upper abuse (that's in the 'worst' part of town, about a km away).
I've had lots of folks go through my garbage bin, but since we set it just outside the fence, the worst has been having to shovel it back in when someone tips it instead of digging.
So far we've had zero theft, zero violence, zero police.
Now, some places, people are harder because there's no food. Here, we have a food bank. I've visited those harder places. Glass shards cemented onto walltops makes sense when there are starving people - when someone's that hungry they act illogically.