by Ian | Jan 1, 2017 |
Wow, what a decade! For a full ten years we’ve covered liberty-oriented news, opinion, and activism here at New Hampshire’s Liberty Activism Destination – Free Keene. We’re celebrating nearly 5,000 posts and over 62,000 comments since December 27th of 2006.
From civil disobedience to political action, from breaking local news coverage to the migration of libertarians here, Free Keene has covered a huge range of activism. In fact, our coverage is so ubiquitous and consistent, in fact that we are frequently accused of creating the activism that we merely reported on.
Without a doubt, Free Keene is the site of record for much of the most noteworthy activism over the last ten years from across the Shire. Other libertarian blogs from across the state have tried to compete, and failed, sadly. I really take no pleasure in this. My initial vision for this site did not include statewide coverage. I’d hoped other blogs would crop up and report on their area’s activism, but we ended up expanding to do that after the ball was dropped everywhere else. (See Free Manch, Free Grafton, etc.)
Some bloggers, like the movers here, have come and gone. The haters have also come and gone over the last decade. Despite our bloggers being targeted for arrests, lawsuits, and physical attacks, Free Keene has not been stopped. To the contrary, while the haters scream out from their comments and blogs about how irrelevant we are, they refute their own assertion by their very attention to us.
The critics might say, “Well, it’s been a decade – why aren’t you free yet?” (more…)
by Ian | Dec 3, 2016 |
Keene’s Newest Bitcoin-Accepting Businesses!
As stated in the radio ads that Shire BTC has been running on the Peak 101.9, Bitcoin is an international currency, but feels hyper-local. We’ve seen multiple examples of local bitcoin-accepting businesses patronizing each other. Not only do business owners get to keep more from each sale than they do from credit card transactions, but that also means more money staying here in the Keene-area economy, rather than going to megacorporate credit card companies!
Pizza doesn’t get fresher than Little Zoe’s, now available for bitcoin!
Another established, award-winning Keene business that is now accepting bitcoin at their point-of-sale is Little Zoe’s Take and Bake Pizza, located in the Center at Keene on Gilbo Ave. Originally established several years ago, the unique pizzeria makes each pizza fresh and then you take the pizza home and cook it in your oven! Their delicious pizza is available with a staggering amount of topping configurations and won NH Magazine’s “Best of NH” award for 2013. (more…)
by Ian | Nov 17, 2016 |
Two years ago today, the premiere documentary covering the New Hampshire liberty migrations was released on YouTube: “101 Reasons Liberty Lives in New Hampshire“. It’s since racked up over 115,000 views on YouTube and has inspired countless people to start planning and making their move to The Shire!
The director and executive producer, Vince Perfetto, recently made this retrospective blog post celebrating the second anniversary of the movie. I highly recommend checking it out.
Now that the movie’s been such a hit on YouTube, to commemorate the second anniversary, it’s been uploaded to Facebook. Can the Facebook version get its own 100,000 views? Please help us accomplish that by sharing the facebook version. Thank you!
Here’s Vince’s blog post from 101ReasonsFilm.com: (more…)
by Shire Dude | Nov 16, 2016 |
At 2:20 in the morning on November 5th, 2016 Jarrod Ean-Dixon was shot four times
The Free State Project flag replaced the traditional Gadsden snake with a porcupine, a more peaceful creature – unless it’s provoked
in his abdomen, at close range.
The shooting occurred in Manchester NH as the result of an argument that started over a flag. Offended by the porcupine used on the Free State Project‘s flag, the gunman became aggressive both verbally and physically until ultimately he drew a gun and pulled the trigger four times.
[from the newly-launched HelpJarrod.com]
Being an active member of the liberty community, Jarrod has earned the love and respect of many activists in and around Manchester, New Hampshire. His close friends have started collecting funds for his rising medical bills and day-to-day costs. Jarrod will be unable to work while he heals, and he is the father of three children.
In just 5 hours, the community has raised nearly $2,000, which includes over $300 in bitcoin donations. Activists are also purchasing clothing and other items with the porcupine flag’s image on them, in order to raise funds and to show solidarity with Jarrod. We still have a long way to go in making Jarrod whole.
More information and updates are available at HelpJarrod.com. Please consider donating.
Jarrod Ean-Dixon, with the youngest of his 3 children
by Ian | Nov 12, 2016 |
Join other Shire Society members inside and outside the Shire on the Forums.
With forums, moderators can move threads between the forum’s subforums, meaning off-topic posts could be moved to more appropriate places in the overall forum. This cannot be done on facebook. There, one group is not connected with another group. An off-topic post will either be allowed to clutter the group, or it will be destroyed. There is no move option. That’s only one reason why Facebook groups suck, but it’s a major one.
Early on, there were two main forums in the NH liberty movement, the NH Underground and the Free State Project forums. Eventually, we launched the Free Keene Forum which eventually became the Shire Society Forum a couple of years after the signing of the Shire Society Declaration in 2010.
All three forums still exist, but have nowhere near the popularity they once had. Many new people to the movement don’t even know they exist.
Have you signed the Shire Society Declaration yet?
So far my experience with Discourse has been very good. It’s snappy – posts appear instantly without having to reload an entire webpage. It’s got a modern feel and allows logins via a bunch of major accounts, including Google, Yahoo, GitHub, Facebook, and Twitter, and sharing of posts via Facebook and Twitter.
The Shire Society Forum has, despite its decline in popularity, still attracted new users over the years. Each month, there are new potential movers to the Shire who arrive and post an introduction, which is a requirement in order to enter the forum. Would you be willing to come welcome them? The forum has subforums for all the regions and major cities in New Hampshire and we’d welcome your input.
Please give the new Shire Society Forum a try. I hope you like it. Death to Facebook!
by Ian | Nov 7, 2016 |
The former Keene Activist Center logo
This Summer, the board of the Shire Free Church Monadnock, which owns the property at River and Leverett opted to end the activist experiment and we parted ways with Rich Paul, converting the property back into a home for rent. It quickly filled up with liberty-friendly New Hampshire natives. Plus liberty-minded folks now occupy another house on the street as the Free Streets Project has officially begun in Keene and Manchester.
While some have mourned the loss of the historic center for Keene activism, ultimately the movement in Keene is now more diverse, with even more regular real-life activist meetups than has ever happened in Keene:
For a handy calendar listing many of the public meetups we have each month, check out the Keene Activist Calendar here.
In addition to the regular meetups, Keene activists are pushing forward in the area of online organization. While many libertarians are stuck on Facebook and are suffering from it, Keene activists have been successfully using Telegram and two-way radios for years for instant communications, plus we’re now experimenting with Trello for project organization. (more…)
Wow, what a decade! For a full ten years we’ve covered liberty-oriented news, opinion, and activism here at New Hampshire’s Liberty Activism Destination – Free Keene. We’re celebrating nearly 5,000 posts and over 62,000 comments since December 27th of 2006.
