If you’ve seen the recent videos of courtroom oppression, you already know there’s a crackdown on the free press here in NH. Videographers are being refused entry into district courts across NH! A couple of years ago, begging (asking permission) to video in court was successful. However, when the violent monopoly (government) saw that the videos were helping showcase liberty activists’ successes in court, they started to crack down on cameras in court. In response to the restrictions, Dave Ridley notified the court he’d be disobeying their ban on panning a camera in court. Keene District Court’s judge Burke quickly reassessed his court rules and allowed Dave to pan and silently allowed several activists to bring recording devices in court to document Nick Ryder’s successful refusal to pay a speeding ticket. It seemed freedom was winning.
Then the real crackdown began. Starting with a videographer being ordered to shut off his camera mid-trial, the Keene District Court as well as Milford and Dover have been enforcing a near-complete ban on video devices anywhere near the court, including the lobby, both allegedly “public” places. Nevermind their own court rules that clearly state:
1.4(a) The presiding judge should permit the media to photograph, record and broadcast all courtroom proceedings that are open to the public.
Of course, as OTN’s Sam points out, one doesn’t need to ask permission to exercise a right. Here’s the NH constitution they have sworn to uphold:
[Art.] 22. [Free Speech; Liberty of the Press.] Free speech and liberty of the press are essential to the security of freedom in a state: They ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.
Rules, schmules. You probably know by now that the violent monopoly doesn’t even bother to try to follow their own rules. If you’ve not come to this conclusion yet, just open your eyes and look at all the proof we keep posting on this website. Want more proof? Just look at what happens when you try to play by their rules. These are the two motions I filed in Milford District Court to try to get a camera in without risking arrest. The second page I actually filed a motion for “Freedom of the Press” and informed them of the possibility of criminal charges – the judge denied the motion claiming I’d begged too close to the trial. However, this same court just two weeks earlier allowed a newspaper photographer to file a motion DURING a trial and they allowed him in. They also claimed I had no credentials, but when I’d brought credentials weeks earlier I was denied anyway. When I pressed judge Crocker for a definition of credentials she essentially said she’d know them when she saw them. They make it up as they go along. If you have to beg, you have already failed. Having proven this, I will no longer ask permission to exercise rights, and nor should you.
What to do about this situation though? Use the system to change the system? While this is possible in NH, it’s still a slow process. We need freedom of the press right now, not in another ten election cycles. Civil disobedience has had mixed results so far. Dave Ridley had one success at getting the court to do the right thing and back off it’s restrictions, but later they cracked down hard and Dave was arrested for refusing to obey their demands he stop recording in the lobby of Keene District Court.
We know these gangsters are willing to take everything you love from you in order to coerce your obedience, so most activists are frightened to death of doing anything disobedient to change this situation, even though noncooperation and disobedience has proven to be the best way to affect change. Luckily, as more activists continue to take small steps into the noncooperative world, others are being inspired by their example. Discussions are in progress about a larger video camera disobedience in Keene District Court. How many newsmen will they arrest and prosecute before something changes? OTN’s Sam is also looking at filing criminal official oppression charges against the court bureaucrats complicit in this tyranny. Perhaps that will discourage their naughty behavior. Finally, they know they are being watched and that our numbers continue to grow while theirs stays the same. We frequently outnumber the bureaucrats in court these days, thanks to the constant stream of new movers from the Free State Project and the awakening of previously dormant NH native liberty lovers. Don’t just watch this happen though – get involved and get up here! We can get to freedom quicker with YOUR help.
What else can we do to halt this oppression? Post your ideas here or in the Free Keene Forum.
