Candle Light Vigil Brings Peace Message Home

October 16, 2009 by Sam Dodson
Filed under: Uncategorized

After Keene, NH activist Kurt Hoffman was arrested, handcuffed, and taken into a back room, he was seriously hurt, and carried out on a stretcher.

Police say Hoffman, after being handcuffed and laying on the ground completely passive before being taken into a back room, suddenly decided to jump up, run for the door where he fell, on his head. His wife says Rivera tackled him and caused him to land on his head.

Two weeks later, Hoffman is still in a wheelchair with a disfigured face from apparent neurological damage. To protect and serve. . .

http://soundclick.com/thinkliberty thinkliberty

If the city officials dont like the citizens of Keene maybe they should get a job in another city. Where citizens dont mind being abused by them.
END GAME

Wow what a load of shit… that guy is just like the dude who gets rear-ended and wears a neck brace for 6 months while trying to sue for 8 million dollars. The last story you nit-wits spun was that he was seated in a chair and tipped over, and struck his head. pussy
http://georgedonnelly.com George Donnelly

'OMG you mean I could be personally liable for my aggressive actions as a state enforcer thug?'

Lights just went off in a lot of thug brains. Nice job, folks.

The debate didn't go so well, tho.

We're doing something similar in Abington, PA tomorrow.
http://ringingliberty.com Paul

Here's a first hand account, End Game:

"Ok.. you want a first hand account of what happened? Here I am. I am the wife of the man Eli Rivera nearly crippled on Fri. Oct. 2nd. I was there and I was also in the room when the attack occurred. In fact, in the audio you can hear me scream in horror when I saw Eli knock him head first into the wall and then over some chairs. He landed on his head because he was handcuffed and unable to defend himself in any way from being shoved. Was it an act or was he faking? NO! Was he able to defend himself? NO! And Yes.. he very easily could have had a broken neck from the impact but after almost 3 hrs of examination and testing the hospital concluded he did not. I was told he had a concussion and contusions on the head. That, coupled with spinal and neck injury from being forced into the ground, he is now sitting in a wheel chair while locked up in jail. Oh.. and did he have some sort of an “agenda?” Sure, I guess you could say that if you want to call wanting to give someone a HUG, an agenda. What a great system we have. They’re only there to protect us, huh?"
END GAME

Good to hear a first hand account…….guess he should have ducked.So why is he in a wheelchair? There lies the agenda.
http://www.obscuredtruth.com SamIam

He's in a wheelchair because after 2 weeks, he still hasn't regained the ability to walk, or control the muscles on the Right side of his face.
END GAME

Bullshit….Then get a lawyer and put him in a hospital where he can recieve definitive medical care. He should get a fuckin oscar
Max the Communist

having Known Officer Rivera for many years and having had the honor of working for the poor with him and both his sons, having gone to to his home town in Puerto Rico with him and met his Parents and 10-15 members of his family, I can say two things: A he's a better person and helps far more people than the whole Free State movements, you guys are going after a good cop, maybe one of the few willing to put up with you're middle school BS and B you're friend is lying, and ether you have some morals and you just believe him, or you are fully morally bankrupt and set it all up.

any way you guys are a joke, and annoying, all your "protests" (if that word may be lowered to cover your jokes) do if piss the True Keene towns people off, your Anarcho-capitalism is a sick sick perversion of the ideals of Anarchism, somewhere the great Emma Goldman is throwing up, I ask you I the world you seek will the for hire cops be better to you than the State's Cops? I think not, thats the great joke, the system that you seek (you do much to make sure most people will have nothing to do with it, for which I'm thankful) you are among those that would lose the most (though ever one but powerful and rich, will lose)

thanks to you guys the Pot Decriminalization I highly unlikely and Keene support for the KDP Is as high as it's ever been, Sweet going guys, go get out and talk to people NOT in the Movement, see how you're seen.
http://ringingliberty.com Paul

-On what basis do you say he and his wife are lying? All the evidence I've seen indicates that police are usually the ones lying in these situations. Check out this, and click on some of the dots: http://www.cato.org/raidmap/, or youtube police brutality — you could watch videos all day every day and not run out. In most of these circumstances the police close around their own, make B.S. excuses, and those committing the most blatant abuse get off scott free, or nearly so.

-The main difference between an appropriate, free police force and the one we have now is not that we will find inherently better people to do it, but that the scope of their duties will be restricted to what is moral — defending innocents and stopping people who harm others, not enforcing victim-less crimes and the arbitrary diktats of those in concord, and extorting money from innocent "taxpayers".

-What I want is to be free. I do not want to initiate aggressive violence against others, and I do not want it initiated against me. In such an environment, I think I'll fare just fine, thank you. I would be far better off without having my money extorted from me. But even supposing I were to be worse off, I would rather be poor than be enriched by theft.

-I don't share your perspective on the political situation, but this fact is undeniable: At 4:20 every day, free people who own their own bodies can choose to use cannabis without cowering in fear of arrest. I don't even smoke pot, but this warms the heart of anyone tired of government's exertion of arbitrary control over people's lives.
profreedom

I can't believe some people still call themselves communists even though that system has been proven not to work.
http://www.obscuredtruth.com SamIam

I'm sure he's a very nice guy. I've volunteered at project graduation, an effort Eli lead until he hurt his arm. I'm sure he's a wonderful person around his family too.

The problem comes when he puts on the uniform. There are people who can't handle the kind of raw power only government can provide, and I believe Eli is one of them.

I feel so sorry for the callousness Max and Endgame show for fellow human beings. If he's faking it, he did an amazing job of keeping the Right side of his face from showing much of any expression while the left side of his face lit up, for the entire 38 minutes of visitation.

Kurt will probably be okay, but he was seriously hurt. He's fortunate it wasn't far worse.

As for a lawyer, we are working on that. Want to put your money where you mouth is?

Do you think lawyers are free just because the state agents loose it and brutally attack a man? That starts at a thousand dollars. Now that he's not working, they can barely pay rent. As a board member of CD Evolution we have already done things to help Kurt. What a compassionate and caring system you two defend.

As for talking to the locals. I've spoken with lots of them. High School kids, other members of the community while volunteering, the local markets, a few business owners. Sorry, they don't seem to share your view.

I'm sure the statists don't like us, but that's because we are waking people up to the way government treats them. The state is on it's way out, as it's only a matter of time before people choose to be free.

The question is, how long do you plan to keep fighting? How long do you want to keep harming the community by forcing an every encroaching government upon an ever increasing portion of their lives?

A far more compassionate, connected, and diverse society is waiting for us, just beyond government. Please lay down your guns so we may take the next steps in mankind's evolution, together.
http://soundclick.com/thinkliberty thinkliberty

Commie,

I am sure if he was hurting you and was telling you to scream louder like he did while huring Sam, you would not feel the same way towards him.

Go out and talk to people about the police. –See how they are seen. Most people will refer to the police as pigs.

I think Pigs [animal variety] deserve more credit and respect. Pigs dont kidnap or extort money from people, cops do.

Its not a movement, its a peaceful evolution and more people are evolving every day. Maybe you will evolve in to a peaceful person someday and reject violent people, like your friend Eli Riviera.

Maybe Eli will evolve in to a peaceful person before you do.
http://xrindustries.com xrazorwirex

I'm not saying you should blindly get stirred up over anything that you can possibly find a reason to get stirred up over, but don't you find it at least a little suspicious that a man who is a member of a group of people who are being ostracized by people like 'endgame' who are stuck in their statist, "we have to control everyone's lives because that's how it's done, damnit!" mentality was arbitrarily, without a trial, given an enormous sentence over a completely asinine thing that a child wouldn't even get worked up over and then is taken to an isolated room away from any witnesses other than his wife and no cameras or recording devices to prove anything (you would think that the government would WANT cameras or at least audio recordings to prove the FSPers wrong, right?) where sequentially screams are heard and the man is carried out in a stretcher and has to live in a wheelchair and can't move one side of his face?

AND YOU BOUGHT THE CLASSIC "HE TRIPPED AND FELL" EXCUSE???!!

WTF!!??
http://xrindustries.com xrazorwirex

If someone can prove to me that Hoffman's injury was self-inflicted or if he was being violent and his injuries were in legitimate self defense, then I swear I will withdraw any respect / support for the guy, and I'm sure I won't be the only one…

I'm also pretty positive that there isn't any evidence to prove such a thing… considering the police prevented anything outside the wife's testimony from exposing anything in the first place….

In a trial between two non-government parties, that would be half-way to self-incrimination right there…. of course these sadists will just claim sovereign immunity and get off scott free…
houla

End Game, I'm sure all the cops listed at http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/ have friends and families that think they are great guys.
War Horseman

We all make mistakes, Matt Griffin says.

Yes, we certainly do, but accountability is the key issue. For our mistakes and transgressions, we're the ones who are accountable. For the mistakes of the police, and all government officials for that matter… Well, WE'RE held accountable.

I'm catching up for a few months of not being around, but every time I watch a video like this, I get the shakes. You folks have some impressive fortitude.
http://cptacs.blogspot.com/ PirateRothbard

I heard someone mention Anarcho-Capitalism, I thought that was cool. Your right, it is very different from the ideals of the socialist anarchists. But it still is correct.

Really anarcho-capitalism is the greatest fufillment of the libertarian movement. It is the ultimate expression of freedom. =)

THis is the best site to learn about the AC movement and libertarianism:

http://mises.org/
Max the Communist

Free Staters: if I say freedom and Liberty enough it'll make me right. kinda like "Hope" and "Change", is this what America is now? the fight of the buzz words? why the irony of one of you bitching about how much lawyers cost then one you declares "Really anarcho-capitalism is the greatest fufillment of the libertarian movement. It is the ultimate expression of freedom. =)" ha! you look for a system that will bury you. thats the thing, if you're plan comes to be, who takes care of the poor, the old, America's "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" , the answer no one, Capitalism enslaves us all, Capitalism is the force in the world that is competition, competition leads to aggression, aggression is the path to violence.

as for your little friend, do something about it, if you really care really believe, if you're really Anarchists, not a bunch of whiners with a Gandhi complex, "Direct action is the logical, consistent method of Anarchism. " really I don't know why I'm bothering, you guys are maybe on a good day a group of 100, in a town of 22,893 people (thats not counting the out lying towns) that has gotten nothing done, changed nothing, your biggest impact is on the letter to the editor page of the Sentinel, you nether lobby or use Direct action therefore you'll get nothing done, thanks be to God.
http://freekeeeeeeeene Rivera

Please cousin… stop talking. I don't want people to know i'm a communist
http://xrindustries.com xrazorwirex

Do you reject grammar along with property rights and the freedom to trade said property?

How will you enforce your collectivism on people like us who believe in property rights?

Let me guess…. THROUGH VIOLENCE?

Maybe you're (you're means 'you are', not the possessive 'your' – although you don't believe in possessions so I guess it makes sense) using the Michael Moore definition of capitalism, which is when guys with guns and badges take things from you to give to their buddies, which isn't anything close to what anyone here is advocating; quite the opposite, in fact.

This is why a bunch of people don't use anarchy or capitalism anymore; most of us just say we advocate a society where all interactions are voluntary and force is only used in defense. Some people want to live in a shitty commune, others want to live in an industrial city of trade, others just want to be self-sustainable and live in the woods somewhere and be left alone. You can't have different 'flavors' of anarchy – you just have anarchy and what happens happens. People put prefixes in front of anarchy simply to advertise what type of people they want to be surrounded with, because, sadly, all that matters is what the majority of the people in a given population believe. Right now most-everyone believes that they are bound to the current system and iconoclasm has to be rejected as blasphemous. Instead of screwing with the system that has it's cards stacked against us with almost impossible odds, it's much simpler to try to change people's minds.

You can argue about what's effective or not, but jumping on here with some elitist bent about how your authoritarian sadist idols are upstanding human beings while touting about how great your Marxist ideas are then sequentially going on to charge that Gandhi's tactics were wrong and don't work is downright nutty.

Marx's ideas enslaved, tortured and killed thousands.

Gandhi's ideas brought peaceful revolution.
http://freedommanitoba.blogspot.com Scott in Winnipeg

On a side note, nice job on the video Sam, I wish there were things going on like this in my area that I could make a video about. For some unsolicited advice, I would suggest backing off a bit on the dramatic music because it can feel somewhat propagandist if it's played up too much.

The steadi-cam looks very nice, what rig are you using?

The officers main point was "it's my job".

2 great points made in the video;

– 7:20 "we have to live in fear that somebody can hurt us without repercussions"

- 8:48 "if you guys wouldn't enforce bad laws we wouldn't be out here doing anything"

Matt seemed willing to talk. Would be nice to see an interview with him in a less tense situation.
http://www.obscuredtruth.com SamIam

why the irony of one of you bitching about how much lawyers cost then one you declares “Really anarcho-capitalism is the greatest fufillment of the libertarian movement. It is the ultimate expression of freedom. =)”

Max, while it sounds good on the surface, your arguments are based on an almost a complete ignorance of how a free market system would work. If you look above and click on audio book, the ideas are explained for free.

What happens in a monopoly? Prices rise? Poor Service? Inefficiencies? Lack of Innovation?

The courts and the justice system seem to suffer from all of those symptoms. The courts are always slow to respond, people don't understand the process, the lawyers (state approved and monopolized) are outrageously expensive, because they have almost no competition.

I'm a voluntaryst, and we understand that the billions of customers to a far better job of supporting and ostracizing business in a way that government could never imagine.

Instead this inefficient monopoly is forced on everyone and we all suffer under it.
Agree With

Max and End game, agree with you both, enjoy the comments. End when you pissed on "the King" I hope you filled his ear!!!
http://anarchyinyourhead.com dalebert

I'm not a fan of the big groups of people shouting questions and responses at the cops myself. They act baffled by some of the questions which makes me think they haven't bothered to read anything people have had to say on this blog. If they really want to engage us, this is a better way to do it. It wouldn't take much effort and might make those group screaming back and forth sessions extraneous. Or at least when they do happen it would go more smoothly because they would better understand some of the type of language that we tend to use, even if they continued to disagree with it.
R

It would have been nice to hear what Officer Matt Griffin had to say. He appeared to be really trying to engage the protesters in a meaningful dialog. However it looks like they were constantly interrupting him and being rude. He asked several times not for so many people to be shouting at him at once and for just one person at a time to talk to him. He was trying to be respectful and courteous; too bad he couldn’t get the same in return. Someone mentioned it would be nice to have an interview with him. After that display if I were him I wouldn’t waste my time.
End Game

When I was in high school I would have latched on to your movement to…fuck the man, smoke a joint, bang a hippie chick, smoke another joint, and fuck the man some more.
That being said, I grew up gained employment, worked towards the suburban dream. I enjoy my life and my community, and I will defend it from your infestation.
Sam, I highly doubt that your minimal interactions with those outside your group are indicative of the regions
attitude towards radical activism
http://ringingliberty.com Paul

End Game, this is about principles. I don’t use pot, and I’m married. I wouldn’t want to do what you describe either. Your life and your community are not the problem, nor is your job (unless I suppose your job is processing tax receipts or something) – abusive government is the problem.

What is your basic political philosophy? Do you believe there are proper limits on government, beyond which it has no right to go — and if so, what are these limits?

Do you have consistent moral principles? If so, what are they? How does your belief on government comply with those moral principles?

I am interested in your response to the following scenario:

Suppose at the creation of the world I find myself living near two other people. Now, suppose myself, and my first neighbor, wish to steal from the other. My second neighbor simply wishes to live in peace. My first neighbor and I hold a “constitutional convention”, and determine by two thirds majority, that we will have a democracy. We then vote to steal from our neighbor, and the motion passes by two thirds majority, which of course is binding, since we have already determined that we shall live in a democracy. It’s now the law that we shall take the property of our neighbor, and since there are two of us and one of him, overwhelm him by force and do so immediately. Or, of course, we could give him a chance to leave, at which point we get his farm anyway.

Do you believe this scenario is any different, or more moral, than common theft?
http://xrindustries.com xrazorwirex

“I will defend it from your infestation.”

I don’t think harassing peaceful people over plants and arbitrary bullshit like rules on trading goods and stealing money from them with the threat of taking their home and throwing them in cages counts as ‘defending’ yourself…

If anyone’s the aggressors it’s you guys and you’re delusional (and obviously not listening to what anyone has to say) to try to turn that around…

You’re welcome to be as much of a slave to whomever you want, I won’t stop you, but leave other people out of it. I guarantee that they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them….
iawai

Competition itself is the drive to out-perform others. The artist may either work at becoming a master of his craft and a great interpreter of emotion in order to better sell his work and meet the needs of consumers, or he may cut off the hands of his competitors. Obviously there can be private property without aggression: just because you don’t trust yourself to not use force against others does not excuse you forcefully limiting the types of activities others are able to peacefully perform.

Our message is one of embracing competition, while rejecting aggression against others, or at least holding the aggressors accountable by not giving them the veil of ‘government’ or ‘social need’ to defend and indemnify their violent acts.
Dr. Q

"It's not personal, it's a job!" – Eli Rivera

I was unaware that laughing at the unnecessary pain you cause in a person who is not breaking a law or assaulting people for no reason were parts of a police officer's job.

Rivera is just as much of a pathetic child as Shane Maxfield. He's incapable of even conceiving of the idea that he is responsible for his own actions. He should grow up and quit whining.
Pulsehead

Funny… People go into the secret room, and come out injured/screaming in pain.

I wonder if they go to that secret room BECAUSE there will be no witnesses?
ihavehadenough

Dalebert….do you really think thatthey are not reading everything you post here and trying to plan accordingly? Naive
Publics Eyes

I think you guys are going to far with this. I agree with End Game here and know first hand that Kurt is full of shit!!!
http://ringingliberty.com Paul

On what basis do you say this, PE? I have heard multiple first hand accounts, including one from within the room where the attack occurred (the cops had prohibited cameras), and nothing to suggest this.
theKINGofKEENE

YO! Dr Q! Sure, I can see Eli as a pathetic child, but isn't that a bit harsh for Maxfield???…&IHAVEHADENOUGH is such a fuckin' *NEWBIE*!!!…ELI RIVERA *ADMITTED* trolling this site "looking for evidence", *LAST YEAR*!…&ADMITTED IT IN A COURT MOTION!…you're really a stupidshit, you know that???…c'mon, pussylips, what else ya got???…juice for me, grrrllll……I have *NOT* had enough!…*grin*…
observer

This is easy: Cop makes mistake, cop is informed of said mistake and made certain he is aware of the outcome, in this case temporary physical deformity from attacking a defenseless person. Solution, see to it that the cop is hurt in the same fashion that he injured the person if the cop refuses to hold responsibility for his actions. Lets see how he views the situation whilst HE is sitting in a wheel chair from being attacked whilst unable to defend himself. I know you cops have hardened yourselves against circumstantial discernment for who knows whatever fucktard reason you tell yourself. Fact remains, your job is NOT to "enforce law" your job is to handle cattle (people) so that they don't get out of line and in the way of the state. When you put that fucking uniform on, you NEED to remember that you are just as fragile and as easy to hurt as the "things" that you handle every day are (real people with real feelings) and guess what? Not every one thinks the solution is to educate you pigs. I personally think if you don't recognize, apologize and attempt to make up for the hurt you cause innocent people, then YOU need to be hurt, removed from your position or whatever is appropriate for what you have done. Save your excessive violent REactions for the violent people that really ask for it. In short, pick on some one your own size you cowardly fucks.