Today in Keene’s Central square, beginning at 4:00, a weekly event known as Free Speech Fridays was held. The idea behind the event is to provide an open microphone for the people of Keene to come out and speak to the general public. This is the third such event to be held in Keene’s Central Square, and so far it has been a success. Unfortunately, it’s not without its bumps in the road.
At approximately 5:00PM two individuals wearing blue outfits with small pieces of metal on them, carrying large firearms approached the gazebo in Central Square. The demanded in the name of some person calling themselves ‘The City’, who at this time is unidentified, that the persons gathered in Central Square cease using the publicly available power outlets due to a lack of a ‘permit’. After some questioning, these two individuals, against the requests of the owner of the PA system set up for Free Speech Fridays, unplugged it. After some further discussion between the attendees and the aggressive individuals, the aggressors left the are. An unknown individual then restored power to the PA System and Free Speech Fridays continued.
The aggressive individuals did not further harass any attendees. Talley.TV was there, and will post video later.
Lets assume you’re the owner of a business and you employ five people. One day you find out that one of your employees is threatening people to make sales. You didn’t approve of this tactic and quickly move on this information. You call in the employee and address the situation. You explain to them that threatening people is not how you conduct business and even though it might produce larger sales in the short term, it will ultimately destroy the company – ending both your jobs. Hopefully the employee will understand and adapts (or atleast respects) to your request. Though it’s possible they wouldn’t (adapt) and you’d have to fire them. Either way, in business, when you don’t agree with your employee (or with your employer) you have the option to end the relationship (on either side).
Let’s go one step further and bring police into the scenario. Police are paid for with tax dollars and tax dollars are collected from taxpayers. Essentially, taxpayers are the employer’s of the police and, just like any other business, the employer has the right to tell the employee if (and/or when) they don’t approve of their employees actions. Right? Yet, there is NO real course of action one can take to stop police from doing something you don’t like or want, like regular employers can. You can’t physically stop the police officer, nor can you fire a police officer and you can’t stop paying taxes either – we all know what happens if you do. So, what can you do?
Unfortunately, I was not able to attend Pete Eyre and Ademo’s trial today, but that means I can relay the results before those attending get back to Keene.
WOW. Copblock and Liberty on Tour‘s Pete and Ademo went to trial today on felony “wiretapping” charges and “resisting arrest” in Greenfield, MA. (Click for extensive background info.) Over fifty supporters turned out! The courtroom was literally full with liberty-loving friends and associates of Pete and Ademo. Before trial, the “trespassing” charges were dropped, which was the original reason for arrest, but as we have seen, that never stops them from continuing prosecution.
Unfortunately, electronic devices were forbidden from the courtroom, with the exception of Jason Talley, who was the anointed one allowed in with a video camera. He was also allowed to bring in his tablet computer, which they decided that he can not bring in for the final day of trial, tomorrow. Why? Probably because he did an awesome job of videoblogging the trial, including classic moments showing what the atmosphere in court was like. Here’s a quick video showing one of SEVERAL instances of the audience erupting into applause for Pete and Ademo.
Besides that, the audience also laughed multiple times, and the court security and robed man did nothing. In addition, multiple hats were worn in court, and nothing was done. Nothing was also done about the applause, even though the prosecutor asked the robed man to stop it.
Now it’s happening again. This time in Concord. I discovered an unwanted envelope had been littered on my car. It was a parking ticket from the people calling themselves the “City of Concord”.
I sent them in response a Shire Society Peace Ticket to inform them that if they don’t dismiss this matter that I will cost them as much money as possible. They ignored the Peace Ticket and sent me another threat, saying I now owe them $40 instead of $10.
So, I gave them a call to see if they received my Peace Ticket. (more…)