by Ian | Jan 24, 2012 |
Police love to claim they just do what they are told by the legislature. But that’s not all they do. Many actively fight to keep the status quo and not only that increase the police state. Here in this Union Leader piece they come out to state house hearings to allow some felons to possess firearms and engage in fearmongering, including propagating the absurd idea that gun laws prevent criminals from getting and carrying weapons. Absurd.
As we’ve seen with the case of Brad Jardis, any cop that actually speaks out in favor of more freedom is targeted by “the brotherhood” of the “thin blue line” for retaliation, including firing. So, any “good” cops stay silent for fear of losing their job and pension. Therefore, tyranny continues unabated. Here’s the piece from the UL: (more…)
by Ian | Jan 19, 2012 |
Keene’s city council spat in the faces of most Keene inhabitants today by “accepting as informational” a petition with nearly 150 signatures urging the council to reconsider their accepting of federal money to buy a “Bearcat” armored personnel carrier. To accept something as informational is essentially a blow-off. It takes the issue off the table and means that no one need say anything further on the matter. It was not assigned to a committee where the public can be heard and action could be taken. It’s a big “fuck you” to all the people who spent time collecting those signatures and everyone who bothered to sign.
What did the petitions say? They merely asked the council to schedule a public hearing on the matter of reconsidering the Bearcat. Apparently the council would prefer that people not be able to speak on this matter. The Bearcat was quietly approved without public input and now the council is protecting the Keene police and their buddies in the federal government by refusing to even allow a hearing on the matter.
Does anyone really think these “councilors” represent “the people”?
by Garret Ean | Jan 19, 2012 |
Google as it appeared during the Jan 18 blackout.
Much abuzz online yesterday had to deal with the congressional threat to the internet known as SOPA. The Stop Online Piracy Act is a federal bill which would create a blacklist of websites which internet service providers would be required to maintain and enforce. The blacklist would allegedly include websites which either host or link to data which, per its existence, is violating copyright laws. The very concept of ‘piracy’ is on its face hyperbolic. It is laughable Newspeak to equate data sharing with the practice of pillaging vessels at sea. PIPA, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, is the senate version of the dinosaur recording industry’s legislative attempt to thwart the free exchange of information. Also lobbying very strongly with the MPAA is the pharmaceutical industry, which profits heavily from onerous intellectual property regulation.
Reddit was the first eminent domain of the internet to announce January 18 as its blackout date to protest SOPA. Wikipedia announced its participation with similar measures. Google demonstrated its solidarity by featuring a black stripped homepage with a subheader requesting that people contact their so-called representatives and ask for a rejection of state control over the internet.
Heavy traffic to government servers hosting contact information for congress and the senate caused many pages to be inaccessible for the day.
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by Derrick Horton | Jan 19, 2012 |
Today I represented myself in court. What. A. Circus.
It was a “Who’s Who” of Keene Activism:
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by Ian | Jan 18, 2012 |
More Keeniacs are upset about the city council’s decision to do whatever the police suggest and approve a “Bearcat” armored personnel machine. As you can see from the photo, this move is a clear militarization of the police, and thankfully the people of Keene appear to oppose this intimidating monstrosity. The Keene Sentinel recently published more letters to the editor from concerned inhabitants:
(Please write to the city council at 3 Washington St. and encourage them to refuse the fed’s corrupt offer of the Bearcat.)
The recent flurry of letters regarding the City Council vote to approve the “free” offer of a BearCat assault vehicle shows the unease many of us are feeling these days about both the growing militarization of our local communities and the budgetary choices being made by our leaders at the national, state and local levels during these tight fiscal times.
Perhaps this issue has galvanized such a community response because it symbolizes the increasing emphasis on guns, so-called security and the “fear factor” that has occurred in this country in recent years, including the Monadnock region.
I have lived twice in countries that were dictatorships (Uruguay in 1975 and Chile from 1984-1989) and the truth is that as an average law-abiding citizen I feel the security apparatus presence more strongly in Keene than I ever did in Uruguay or Chile. (more…)
by Ian | Jan 14, 2012 |
Radio Free Keene News is a five minute newscast which is available as a podcast and also will air at the top of some hours on LRN.FM.
You can download the edition for this week here. Topics covered include the success of Ron Paul and the crashing of campaign events for Santorum and Huntsman.
You can add Radio Free Keene News to your podcast client via this RSS feed.
