90
submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) by LocalFOIA@lemmy.world to c/til@lemmy.world

Recently submitted a dozen+ legit FOIA requests to a list of specific small and medium sized Trump-friendly jurisdictions around the USA. Both with governments and law enforcement. Many in places you wouldn't think to look. But I'm a nosy motherfucker.

Most of the submission processes are (essentially) open borders, lol. With few barriers to entry. Which means you should try doing the same thing.

The biggest hurdle is knowing what to say in the original request message. But that is ultimately trivial.

Along these lines, here are three resources I have used to effectively investigate the names and events I submitted FOIA requests for:

  1. The Stevens Method (This resource is a Substack, which I know isn't a popular platform here. But Chaz Stevens isn't a typical publisher. This is where youll find most of your examples and shortcuts for FOIA requests.)
  2. u/ChurchOMarsChaz
  3. Little Sis

I submitted high-leverage FOIA requests (for specific public figures, domestic terrorist attacks, Flock camera query logs, right-wing terrorist organizations and others entities/subjects you would recognize) that I will release everything related to once responses are received.

But beforehand I did my own research into publicly available information so I knew exactly where to strike first. This is a game of cat and mouse unfortunately. Meow.

I learned about where certain people grew-up and live today. I mapped political contributions and connections. I scraped websites, databases and social media profiles. I used automation to help expedite the process.

The goal here is to become as super-hot-precise in records requests as possible.

I want the public to know everything. Get dat milk and honey bro.

Also, if my home is raided during this ramp-up effort, this post can be used as a reference for how unbelievably dangerous the United States has become for average citizens. FAFO.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] LocalFOIA@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

I am also looking forward to seeing what I can find. I suspect it will be a mixed bag, with some major victories and significant disappointments.

Once the information has been delivered, I plan on building a public facing website with easy means of downloading all of the content.

And to your point about the journalists, my social self agrees with you. These professional investigators/communicators should have been all over this. But then my logical mind enters the chat and I recall how absolutely pathetic modern "journalism" has become. Most journalists are parasites. So we have to do this ourselves.

this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
90 points (93.3% liked)

Today I Learned

30607 readers
458 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS