In an excellent and well-researched piece in a Seacoast paper, Foster’s, former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway, a Republican, schools NH governor Maggie Hassan on why she should change her mind and support cannabis decriminalization:
Gov. Maggie Hassan has said she does not support a bill that would decriminalize possession of one-half ounce or less of marijuana. This is becoming a source of consternation for Granite Staters of all ages and across the political spectrum, and it is especially confusing to younger voters who see our current marijuana penalties as senseless and archaic.
HB 618, which would reduce this penalty from a misdemeanor to a violation, passed the House in March. The vote was an overwhelming 297-67, with 96 percent of House Democrats and 72 percent of House Republicans voting in favor. Unfortunately, since Gov. Hassan has not taken a favorable position on the bill, it faces an uncertain fate in the Senate.
This bill would not make marijuana legal, as voters in four states and the District of Columbia have chosen to do. Instead, what we’re talking about here is a much more limited reform, one that would put New Hampshire’s marijuana penalties more nearly into line with the penalties found in other New England states. It would also be consistent with public opinion and with the New Hampshire Constitution, which advises that “all penalties ought to be proportioned to the nature of the offense.”
When I was running for the Republican nomination for governor in 2014, I came out strongly in favor of decriminalizing marijuana possession. I did so with the expectation that I would receive pushback from some in my party who had been supporting the War on Marijuana their entire lives. (more…)
Rebel Love Show season 5 has begun! Ellen Ball and in the second hour Cecelia Fairchild join us in the Rebel Love Studio. Topics discussed this week include our THC hiatus, Shire Dude pub crawl, other drugs Shire Dude wants to try, Ellen starting her own show, How did ALP start, #TriggerTheEllen – What will it take?, Foundation for NH independence Brew & Sedition event at Abel Ebenezer, Rob’s pre trial, Shire Dude’s trial, purist anarchists (not signing pledges?), Shire Dude Season finale (finally) & official release date, transitioning from a mono to poly relationship, Porcfest panel Friday at noon, poly party and poly panels at porcfest, Ellen surrounded by a room of poly folk, Rebelloveshow.com returning (what should the updated website feature?), The “Banning People” spectrum, from Ian Freeman to Mike Vine, back story of the secession panel at keenevention, and Ellen isn’t a nudist. RLS is live every week on LRN.FM, LMR, IPM Nation, and on RebelLoveShow.com at 10 pm EST every Tuesday night.
When he first moved to New Hampshire, it was Keene that was Ridley’s destination. He’s since lived in multiple places across the Shire and is now back in the Keene area! Upon his return, Ridley’s first target for his trademark ambush interviews was the Keene school board meeting, after it was revealed by the Sentinel that an elementary librarian apparently assaulted a student. Dave wants answers and in this series of videos he corners multiple school bureaucrats and gets everything from people pretending he doesn’t exist to blow-offs to stonewalling to even more ridiculous, unaccountable behavior.
In the first video in the series, Dave is mostly ignored or blown off by various school board members and superintendent Wayne Wooldridge:
In the second video, Ridley catches up with Keene school district human resources director Tim Rohr, who refuses to give up any information. When Ridley asks Rohr if people should stop paying taxes since the school people won’t tell parents any details about the supposed punishment to the assaultive librarian, Rohr says:
“My guess is you’ll be motivated to pay your taxes if you try to stop.”
Rohr is referring to the fact that the government will threaten to steal your home if you decide you don’t want to support their awful school system anymore: (more…)
For those who have been following the saga of the Shire Free Church: Monadnock, here’s the latest, much of which was well-covered by the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan last week. After bringing on liberty attorney Brandon Ross for our tax appeal case last year, the church board decided to dismiss the 2014 case in favor of re-filing in 2015. We’ve since filed the 2015 tax exemption with our attorney’s oversight.
Given the state’s rejection of multiple liberty churches’ tax exemptions in 2014 (including the Peaceful Assembly Church – also represented by Ross), the board wanted to make sure we were putting our best foot forward, legally.
There has been a misconception that this is all about money; it’s about religious freedom. We don’t believe that the Shire Free Church, or any other church, should owe taxes. However we have nonetheless continued to give voluntary contributions to the City of Keene’s operations we support, like road maintenance and fire protection.
Shire Free Church: Monadnock is established to promote peace and other divine virtues, and to promote the study of religion in freedom and fellowship. We believe there are many paths to God, one for each individual. We believe God is the source of all creation; and divinity is expressed through compassion, empathy, forgiveness, freedom, generosity, honesty, humility, kindness, mercy, patience, and peace.
This is not about keeping money. If it were, we’d not be hiring an attorney. In fact, Shire Free Church: Monadnock’s board decided to go ahead and pay the full amount demanded by the city for 2014 in order to forestall any violent acts by the city agents and start our 2015 appeal without any liens on the property. The state religion is a dangerous, aggressive religion and we will use their system to protect your right to choose a religion of peace instead of believing in the violent, morally-corrupt state.
