Protestors in front of NH governor’s home for the first time ever.
As originally announced here at Free Keene, approximately one hundred people gathered Sunday afternoon at New Hampshire’s “governor” Chris Sununu’s house at 71 Hemlock Ct. in Newfields, NH. Many had been pushed over their limit by his recent statewide mask mandate, but it wasn’t just about him trying to tell people what to wear, it was also about ruining businesses and destroying jobs and lives with his “emergency orders”.
Sununu’s edicts have invaded our homes and businesses, so now we’re invading his. It’s been a long time coming and today was a lot of fun as we joined together from across NH. Sununu’s gubernatorial primary challenger, Nobody, was in attendance and purchased hundreds of dollars worth of pizza for the crowd on the cold, late-fall afternoon. Ten-year-old Lucas, who earlier had been calling out Sununu on a megaphone, grabbed a pizza and attempted to walk it up the driveway to offer it to the multiple state police officers that had been assigned to protect “HIS EXCELLENCY”. They told him to leave the property, as is shown in this highlights video by Vincent Moore from Shire Free Media:
Also, when the Domino’s driver pulled up, he had on a mask but removed it and smiled as he received plenty of cash tips from the excited attendees. It was a great day for us, but probably not for Sununu as he hid inside his home like the cowardly, sniveling politician he is.
Christopher Sununu’s home at 71 Hemlock Ct in Newfields, NH
Keene activists have a history of protests at corrupt bureaucrats’ homes. Now we’re going to the tyrant king himself, with likely dozens of others from across New Hampshire. Chris Sununu, referred to as “HIS EXCELLENCY” in the dozens of “orders” he’s issued in 2020, has now released “Emergency Order #74“. This latest diktat has imposed a statewide mask mandate:
Beginning on November 20, 2020, all persons over the age of 5 within the State of New Hampshire shall wear a mask or cloth face covering over their noses and mouths any time they are in public spaces, indoors or outdoors, where they are unable to or do not consistently maintain a physical distance of at least six feet from persons outside their own households.
While the order does include large loopholes for medical and other exemptions, Sununu’s orders have always included ways out for those paying attention. But most people just believe what the media tells them or that they hear through the rumor mill. They don’t actually read the orders. How could they? There are dozens of them and legalese is purposefully difficult to comprehend.
Regardless of the exemptions, Sununu keeps cranking out orders, until recently just issuing the threats with little enforcement. This Fall however, Sununu’s attorney general, Gordon J MacDonald – a bureaucrat from California – has started issuing fines against businesses. In October the governor’s goons targeted a bar in Hudson for hosting karaoke and fining them $2,000. This week, MacDonald issued $500 threats to multiple food service establishments. It’s not clear if any of the targets are fighting back against the thuggery. Based on their facebook page’s posts, the Hudson bar has sadly been sold and the new owners are showing off for the state and its snitches how obedient their new karaoke setup is to the arbitrary rules imposed on them by the state gang. It’s sad.
A select few are pushing back here in Keene, but despite being sued in federal court by a heroic Keene restaurant over his previous mask mandate on groups of over a hundred people, Sununu has doubled down and mandated masks statewide. Some are saying that there is no penalty, so no big deal. These people are uninformed. There does not need to be a penalty in each “emergency order”. In a previous executive order, #65, Sununu proclaims: “Violations of any Emergency Order, rule, or regulation issued under the State of Emergency are subject to the penalty provision under RSA 21-P:47.”, which says “If any person violates or attempts to violate any order, rule, or regulation made pursuant to this subdivision, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.” While the entire concept of “emergency powers” is likely unconstitutional, I don’t know if anyone has ever challenged the enabling statute, RSA 4:47, in court, so it stands.
We will not obey.
Occasionally this year, there had been discussion among activists of a protest at Sununu’s home, but the support never really galvanized like it has now. Sununu’s new mask mandate was the final straw for those who erroneously hoped that he was going to change for the better for some reason now that he won re-election. Any such illusion has been wiped away as “HIS EXCELLENCY” has decreed over-and-over again various provisions making New Hampshire very much like Maskachusetts. As a result of his latest step towards crushing the souls of the good people of New Hampshire, people are finally standing up and moving the protests from the state house in Concord, to Sununu’s home in 71 Hemlock Ct, Newfields, NH.
The first event of what may be a series is expected to take place at 2pm this Sunday November 22nd. Creative signs are welcome and “Absolute Defiance” has also called for pots and pans to be banged. It will be the first time in the nearly fifteen years I’ve been here that I’ve ever heard of liberty activists targeting the “governor” at home. It’s historic.
Some will inevitably complain, “Oh his poor wife and children. It’s not fair to punish them for Sununu’s bad deeds. Just keep your protests to his office in Concord and other public appearances!” To them, I say: “HIS EXCELLENCY” and his precious orders have ruined countless businesses and lives. He’s put people out of good jobs with his “guidance” that is written and enforced as threats of violence. He’s not just suggesting people listen to him, he’s demanding it. He’s invading our private property and lives and it’s only fair we bring the consequences to his doorstep. If his wife Valerie doesn’t like our freedom of speech, maybe she should have a talk with her husband in the way only a wife can and tell him to stop hurting peaceful people.
Dozens gathered over the weekend in Concord, NH in front of the state house, to mourn the loss of countless businesses and individuals who fell victim to the government gang’s crackdown on freedom in the name of COVID-19. Here are highlights from the speakers at the candlelight vigil:
Ian Freeman, Malaise Lindenfeld, Aria DiMezzo, co-plaintiffs lawsuit against mask mandates in NH.
In a fifty-seven page lawsuit filed today in federal court in Concord, New Hampshire, Aria DiMezzo and other plaintiffs including downtown restaurant “Pho Keene Great” are targeting the mask mandates issued by the “City of Keene” and “His Excellency”, NH Governor Chris Sununu.
Attorney Robert Fojo, who also sued Nashua earlier this year over their mandatory mask ordinance, is heading up the suit. In the detailed complaint, Fojo argues the City of Keene’s mask mandate is illegal, as New Hampshire is not a “home rule” state. Municipalities in New Hampshire are only allowed to create ordinances if state law authorizes it. Fojo says cities and towns do not have that authorization when it comes to masks. Additionally, Fojo says the Keene ordinance and Sununu’s state-level mask mandate on groups over 100 people is also a violation of people’s constitutionally protected rights.
In multiple counts, the suit points out the mask restrictions violate the right to assemble, due process, freedom of religion, and the freedom of speech via facial expressions and literally having one’s air passages restricted. Attorney Fojo cites some strongly-written Texas court decisions from this year including Abbott 20-0291 where the Texas Supreme Court agreed unanimously that, “The Constitution is not suspended when the government declares a state of disaster.” and Salon A La Mode, et al 20-0340, where the same court wrote, “All government power in this country, no matter how well-intentioned, derives only from the state and federal constitutions. Government power cannot be exercised in conflict with these constitutions, even in a pandemic…If we tolerate unconstitutional government orders during an emergency, whether out of expediency or fear, we abandon the Constitution at the moment we need it most.”
Sadly, too many people in New Hampshire have been obeying myriad outrageous infringements on our liberties. Some obey out of irrational fear of a relatively unremarkable virus that the media and governments across the world have blown way out of proportion. Others obey the draconian edicts because they are afraid of what their obedient neighbors might think. Business owners comply too, some because they either believe the government’s propaganda or think the restrictions are what their frightened customers want and they don’t want to lose their business. Other business owners obey the diktats simply because they are afraid of what the government goons will do to them if they don’t do as they are “ordered”.
As a result of this pervasive culture of fear, very few NH business owners have stood up against these arbitrary “orders” endlessly emanating from “His Excellency”, and yes, Sununu’s orders really do refer to him in that way.
Magician and Comedian Penn Jillette Wearing a Pho Keene Great Shirt!
Thank goodness for Pho Keene Great, the best-named restaurant in all of New Hampshire that made international headlines after the “City of Keene” gang threatened their moniker during the 2018 Christmas holiday. Owner Malaise Lindenfeld is a local entrepreneur with a knack for opening and operating successful, trendy restaurants. Sadly, like so many businesses across New Hampshire and elsewhere, two of her three area restaurants, Audrey’s Cafe and Piedra Fina have been closed permanently due to the power-mad restrictions imposed this year by tyrant king Sununu.
When asked about her involvement in the lawsuit, Lindenfeld – who immigrated from Venezuela – said, “I am leary of being forced to do things “for the greater good”. Historically, the government starts with small actions and then moves on to sweeping changes that erode our freedoms. COVID-19 could be a case study on how this is true. We started with closing restaurants for two weeks to flatten the curve, and moved on to general lockdowns and mandatory mask wearing. Every time a new rule is made we are told that it is just one small sacrifice for the greater good. “If we could save one life”, we are told, it will all be worth it. But each small sacrifice adds up to one large violation of our rights. I have seen this as a Jew and as a Venezuelan, and I know that ultimately this is not about the greater good after all, but about the greater concentration of power. I am not willing to quietly relinquish my freedom.”
Lindenfeld’s co-plaintiff needs no introduction to those paying attention to the news in the last week. Aria DiMezzo who launched from relative obscurity to international headline-grabber by securing the republican nomination for Cheshire County Sheriff despite being a self-described “Anarchist She-Male” who also happens to be the High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church in Keene. Given Keene’s mask mandate targets all “business” including non-profits, her Keene-based church has standing to sue the city gang.
We will not obey.
DiMezzo weighed in regarding her reasons for being co-plaintiff in the case, saying, “It’s not about whether masks are effective or ineffective. That isn’t the issue here. It’s about whether the government can force me to put on a identifier…It’s about whether the government can turn you, my brothers and sisters, my friends, my family in humanity, against me on the basis of what I wear. This is not a Jewish star in Nazi Germany. However, precedents are important. If we allow this to happen, there is no telling what might come next.”
The third co-plaintiff is me, Ian Freeman, co-founder of Bitcoin Embassy NH in Keene and also minister of the Shire Free Church, which in addition to operating the Embassy, owns the building housing the Embassy. The Embassy also runs the local cryptocurrency meetup group that continued to hold meetings even in the early days of COVID in defiance of governor’s orders prohibiting gatherings of over ten. All the lawsuit co-plaintiffs were co-organizers of a mask freedom rally held in Keene’s Central Square after Sununu issued his “order” banning unmasked gatherings of over 100. The order targets organizers of such events with the penalty, not the attendees, much like the Keene mask ordinance that puts the consequences on local business owners, turning them into unpaid enforcers against their own customers, effectively forcing them to cut their own business’ throats.
This lawsuit isn’t perfect. It targets only the most symbolic of the insane restrictions put in place over the last six months – the mask mandates in Keene and statewide. It’s merely a starting point. The ideal suit would be to target all the governor’s orders and the statutes that enable him to issue them in the first place, however our attorney says that needs to be done in state court and our case here is federal. Attorney Fojo already has a couple of relevant cases pending in state court with other clients. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for updates regarding any progress or failure in regards to the legal pushback against this insane medical authoritarian state growing around us. Whether our suit prevails or not, we’ll never win so long as people keep obediently doing what these government goons tell them. When will you stop obeying?
Well over one hundred freedom-loving people gathered on Saturday in Keene’s Central Square to protest both Keene’s mask mandate and “His Excellency’s” recent “orders” mandating groups over 100 to wear masks, or else. There were some great speeches including former law enforcement officer Dan LeClair – running for NH Senate District 10 – who struck at the root, saying, “It’s about government taking away our right to decide for ourselves what we should do with our own bodies…there is nothing greater than an individual’s right to freedom.”
It’s worth noting that this event took place after “His Excellency” Chris Sununu “ordered” any scheduled event over 100 people to have face masks, or else the event organizers will be hit with misdemeanor charges, and we definitely hit over 100 people. One count near its peak had 120. Big thanks to 8.3L organizer David Lheureux for putting it together.
