Response to Dishonest Hitpiece Flyer Being Posted Downtown

Smear Campaign Against Ian

Haters gonna hate, and lie.

In another smear campaign against me, local haters have concocted yet another dishonest attack flyer and littered it all over downtown Keene. This unsigned, un-cited flyer accuses me of using my radio show to propagate the opinion that, “children as young or younger than six years old have the right and ability to consent to sexual acts with adults” and further claims that I have said that “children have the right to consent, and parents, the community and the state should not intervene”.

Those are the rumors, now here are the facts: In the video made by a local hater from clips of a discussion on my radio show from years ago, it is a caller who asks if I support sex with a six-year old. To which I say twice that sex with children is reprehensible, but that what people do is none of my business. Somehow that conversation gets spun as me supporting sex with children, which I do not, and never have. Here’s a much more detailed discussion about age of consent that explains why I don’t consider what people do in their homes any of my business.

Even if a child could somehow be mentally ready for sex, they are not physically ready for it, so it’s not okay in my book. So, no, I don’t support sex with children, but I don’t consider teens who decide they are ready for sex to be children. Some people do consider teenagers to be children, and I find that to be insulting to young people. It’s also a view that doesn’t hold up against history, where many people consented to sex and marriage at ages as young as 13. Nor does it hold up if you bother to actually read the definition of “child”, which is a person between birth and puberty.

So while I don’t believe people should have sex with children, I do support young people who are physically able to have sex being able to decide when they are mentally ready to be adults and take on responsibility for their actions, including sex.

Many people are very uncomfortable around the idea of sex in general, as they come from the belief that sex is bad and naughty. Rather than have honest conversations about age of consent, they jump to extremes, make up lies, and call names, because everyone must have as repressive of views as they do, so anyone who doesn’t must support sex with children.

I support young people being able to emancipate themselves, not sex with children. I support each individual being judged by their actions and words, not arbitrary ages. Government “statutory rape” laws have destroyed countless innocent lives and are an insult to real rape victims.

Ian Freeman’s FSP Shunning Considered as Victim Blaming

https://www.facebook.com/notes/friar-rich/ian-freemans-fsp-shunning-considered-as-victim-blaming/882583601839563

Ian Freeman’s shunning from the Free State Project, if considered in one way, can be considered an egregious case of victim blaming, if you apply to it the stated beliefs and values of the attackers. Let us review the situation here, and note that I am stipulating some things that I do not personally believe, in order to allow a hypothetical conversation. I shudder to wade into the morass of this discussion, which in some quarters is conducted as a witch hunt, by zealots and by those who are terrified that if they don’t cry “faggot, faggot, faggot” as loudly as the other boys, the other boys might think that they are “faggots”, too. I have to wade in, though, because by one possible interpretation of the facts, what is happening is a monstrous abuse of a survivor of childhood sexual abuse.
I reason as follows, using my own experience of sex with a 23 year old woman, my first girlfriend, Denise when I was 13 years old, who is the primary reason I am unwilling to name a particular number as an “age of consent”. I am willing to disclose more about this because I have recently learned, to my sorrow, that she has passed away, so nobody can hurt her now. Please note that the interpretations given here are not my interpretations, but a possible interpretation.
1) I still have very warm feelings for my first girlfriend Denise. When we were together, she was 23 and I was 13. For a number of reasons, including loyalty to Denise, I am not willing to define that encounter as rape.
2) According to the Ian Haters, what happened between Denise and I was rape, despite the fact that I pursued her from the moment I met her. That means that by Ian Hater logic, I am her victim.

3) If I am Denise’s victim, and yet I have warm feelings for her, then I am suffering from Stockholm syndrome. If that condition prevents me from naming a concrete number that should be the Age of Consent, I should not be banned for this reason, I literally cannot reconcile naming a magic age with my own experience, without either calling Denise a rapist, if I set that age above 13, or implying that sex with 13 year old is always ok, when in the VAST MAJORITY OF CASES, sex with somebody that young is completely wrong. My case was unusual, and I am aware of that.
As a mediator, I cannot choose a specific age at which all sex is automatically rape. But I can tell you the sort of questions I would ask the alleged victim if I were called to mediate such a case. My judgement would depend on the evidence. My questions would include:
1) What is sex?
2) Where do babies come from?
3) What is a condom?
4) What is a sexually transmitted disease?
5) Do you know what Death is?
6) Do you know that some sexually transmitted diseases can kill you?
7) Did you pursue sex with the accused, or did she pursue you?
8) Do you believe in God? Why or why not?
9) Did the accused threaten you in any way?
10) Did you ever ask the accused to stop what they were doing, and if so, did they?
11) Was this your first sexual relationship?

I have met very few people of 13 who could have answered those questions well enough to cause me to find that an adult who had sex with them was weak, rather than criminal. But at 13, I can say that I would have been able to answer them. If I were asked to rule on the case of Denise and myself, I would not find that she was criminally liable for a number of reasons:
1) She was of average intelligence. I have an IQ of 146.
2) I pursued her, in part, through dishonorable means, including fabricating a story of a previous sexual relationship specifically concocted to prevent her from knowing that I was a virgin. Sorry about that, Denise, I was a little bit hormone driven in those days.
3) At no time did I hesitate to continue enthusiastically toward a sexual relationship.
4) She was in a very vulnerable position, having been raped 6 months before the beginning of our relationship, and therefore was probably drawn to the fact that I could not as easily overpowered her as easily as a man her age could.
5) My seduction of her continued over the course of several months.
Disclaimers for the witch hunters:
No, nothing said here means that I am interested in or in favor of sex with children. The witch hunters will interpret it this way, but I am not willing to call my first girlfriend a rapist to escape the fires. I am an engineer. I don’t frolick. I don’t play much. I don’t interact with kids by choice, ever. I tend to like women at least 30 years old, and put a hard limit of 19 below which I will not go. But that does not mean that I would be in favor of imprisoning anybody who does go below 19. There are a great many standards I hold for myself that I would not impose on others.
As for Tasker, I do not know what happened in that case completely, but from what has been said, it seems likely that what he did was wrong, I cannot rush to judgement without seeing the evidence, because for all I know these accusations are a frame job. I’m not willing to throw him under the bus until I have reached a conclusion as to the truth and nature of the accusations against him. Innocent until proven guilty is good policy. More will be revealed, and when I know more, I will denounce him if such denouncement is due.

I’m no longer a Free Stater, but you should go to Porcfest and definitely move to NH, if you love liberty.

Porcfest Sunrise

The Sun Rises over Porcfest 2012

I tendered my resignation from the Free State Project today after being informed that they have decided to prohibit me from their events, the Porcupine Freedom Festival and Liberty Forum.  My name was still on the membership rolls after their announcement, so I removed it, wishing the FSP the best.

With the banning, I became the latest inducted in the elite club of people like Christopher Cantwell and Zack Bass who have been similarly politically excised from the FSP organization.

It was a good run, but all things come to an end.  I’m grateful for my more than a decade of helping to promote the Free State Project, and look forward to 20,000+ liberty-loving people coming here to New Hampshire and working toward freedom.

I know people have said they won’t be attending Porcfest this year due to the FSP’s decision, and I appreciate their sentiment, but to anyone who doesn’t feel as strongly, you should still attend the Porcupine Freedom Festival this June.   (more…)

NH-Based Talk Show, “Free Talk Live” Releases Free State Project from Broadcast Agreement

Simpsons Pitchforks, Torches

The Wisdom of Crowds

The main hosts of New Hampshire-based syndicated talk program (heard on over 170 radio stations coast-to-coast), Free Talk Live made a major decision tonight. On the FTL blog we announced our release of the Free State Project from our long-standing broadcast agreement. It was a long time coming. Over the years, Mark and I have been a loving thorn-in-the-side of the FSP. While we were its most successful recruiter, we were also never afraid to criticize the organization publicly. It was a relationship that came close to ending a few times over the years.

Recently a group of FSP early movers have been putting social pressure on the FSP board to disassociate from Free Talk Live, LRN.FM, and Free Keene. While a petition by the in-crowd of haters struggled to reach 100 signatures over several days, including fraudulent signatures, the anger and social pressure is real. We at FTL no longer wanted to play any role in making the FSP board choose one side over the other yet again. I am grateful we were able to work together for so long in promoting the best idea for liberty in generations, the Free State Project.

Schisms are healthy, even if the people who stoke them aren’t. In my experience, it’s always best to embrace the schism rather than fight it.

There are no hard feelings on my side. I have not revoked my membership in the FSP and I still think that libertarians, voluntarists, and liberty-loving anarchists should move to New Hampshire, ASAP.

Here’s the official statement from Free Talk Live’s website:

Free Talk Live would like to formally congratulate the Free State Project on reaching 20,000 signers. Until February 3rd, 2016, the FSP was an organization primarily focused on getting 20,000 liberty-minded people to pledge to move to New Hampshire and get active for freedom. Now the FSP is refocusing on encouraging those signers and other interested libertarians to make their move. This is a goal of Free Talk Live as well, but experience shows us that when any group gets large enough there will be schisms. There are some that feel that there is no place in the FSP for Free Talk Live and with the recent change in goals of the FSP, we at FTL can see their point of view. (more…)

Docket Roundup: Plea Deal Reached in Phat Stuff Trial

PoliceManStealingThe federal criminal trial against local Keene business owner Panos Eliopoulos is nearing an end. The DEA raided his store Phat Stuff in May 2014 on suspicion of selling the synthetic cannabinoid PB-22. Although undercover agents had purchased PB-22 from Phat Stuff on August 9, 2013, the sale of PB-22 was not prohibited by the DEA until February 10, 2014, by which time Phat Stuff had stopped selling the compound to comply with the law. Since the Constitution prohibits ex post facto enforcement of laws, Panos could not be charged with drug trafficking. Not content to leave empty handed, the US Attorney’s Office filed a criminal indictment against Panos and his wife Katie in February 2015 for Conspiracy to Offer Drug Paraphernalia for Sale (21 USC 846 and 21 USC 863) and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering (18 USC 1956). In a plea deal filed on March 10, 2016, Panos and his attorney reached the following agreement with the US Attorney’s Office: (more…)