Bureaucrats love to try to throw their weight around to try to get you to do what they say. Some really seem to get off on controlling others. In this case, the clerk inside the courtroom at Portsmouth district court lied to me this morning, claiming I was not allowed to record the judge in court.
This despite having a media registration with the NH Supreme Court and countless hours under my belt recording in various courts around New Hampshire.
However, this was my first time in Portsmouth’s court and the well-fed bureaucrat thought she’d be able to intimidate me. I stood my ground, and sure enough when judge Gardner entered the room she said nothing to me or Derrick J Freeman or David Jurist, all of whom were armed with cameras in the courtroom. (more…)
Dave Ridley of RidleyReport.com was outside a primary voting location in Bedford where he encountered slimeball mayor of Manchester Ted Gatsas being interviewed by WMUR-TV reporter Amy Coveno. Ridley at one point steps into the shot of the WMUR camera and Coveno responds by nervously shifting her position before actually physically assaulting Dave by grabbing his camera.
As she does it, she says “Hey, you’re distracting me from my job, thanks.”, then lets go. As though him being a distraction in a public place gives her the right to commit assault against him. Here’s the video evidence:
The real shame is that you’d think reporters would respect and understand the freedom of the press, but clearly Ms. Coveno believes there are a special set of rules that apply to mainstream media. And, she’s probably right. WMUR-TV is licensed by the FCC and that licensing scheme keeps out potential competitors from the marketplace. WMUR is literally paying a criminal gang for protection. (more…)
On Wednesday & Thursday nights NH1 held a pair of debates for the Gubernatorial & Senatorial candidates from the Republican & Democratic Parties. The Libertarian Party nominees for those offices as well as independent US Senate candidate Aaron Day were not invited to the debates. The Ballot Access Fairness Coalition in conjunction with the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire held a pair of protests outside the NH1 studios to protest these closed debates.
Despite ballot retention requiring 4% in the general election (i.e. the vote threshold needed for a party to retain ballot access without needing to collect a burdensome number of petitions), Libertarian Gubernatorial nominee Max Abramson polling between 4-6% and Libertarian US Senate nominee Brian Chabot polling at 4%, NH1 only invited candidates polling over 10%. In short, NH1 set the threshold at a level that only the Republican & Democratic Party nominees could meet.
The protests – including one on a cold rainy Thursday night – served to bring awareness, not only to the candidates excluded from these debates, but also to the media bias that often serves to protect the ruling duopoly.
We are currently less than three weeks from the 2016 general election, and the Presidential debates are behind us. You can now, if you haven’t already, begin looking at the other races on the ballot, and learning about your options. NH1, which has previously given somewhat favorable coverage to alternative candidates, will be hosting a Gubernatorial debate on Wednesday Oct 26, and a US Senate debate on Thursday Oct 27. Despite ballot retention requiring 4% in the general election (i.e. the vote threshold needed for a party to retain ballot access without needing to collect a burdensome number of petitions), NH1 has only invited candidates polling over 10%. (more…)
Apparently conspiracy talk show host Alex Jones has offered $5,000 to people who can get on television for shouting “Bill Clinton is a Rapist”. Yesterday, it happened in Keene during the Bill Clinton speech:
https://youtu.be/rKW2WJ-swuI
Jones’ challenge appears to be working, as the Keene Sentinel, after mentioning the two men who interrupted Clinton’s speech by repeatedly shouting the phrase, went on to discuss some of the sexual assault allegations against him. Kudos to the brave, unknown activists who smartly shouted out near the media riser, so it was easy for the cameramen covering the speech to focus on their interruption.
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In a 3 to 1 vote, the Planning, Licenses, and Development committee passed a resolution to prohibit the posting of political advertising on city property and public rights-of-way. The resolution goes to full council on the 20th.
To many, the the political signage around town can be messy at times, especially during presidential years, but this resolution is a clear violation of our freedom of speech rights and also conflicts with current state statute that protects placing political signs on public property.
As it stands, RSA 31:41-c authorizes municipalities to create bylaws regulating electioneering. But state statute RSA 664:17 protects the placement of political signs on public rights-of-way, as long as it doesn’t obstruct the safe flow of traffic.
This comes right on the heels of a ridiculous new amendment to RSA 659:43 that now prohibits voters from entering the polling place wearing campaign related clothing. Clearly some of our state reps have entirely too much time on their hands.
Passing this new ordinance will undoubtedly open up lawsuits against the city which they will likely lose. The courts do routinely recognize extra protections for political speech. That means “we” the taxpayers will be picking up the tab as usual for mistakes made by the city. Please contact your city councilors and urge them to vote against this.
On Wednesday & Thursday nights NH1 held a pair of debates for the Gubernatorial & Senatorial candidates from the Republican & Democratic Parties. The Libertarian Party nominees for those offices as well as independent US Senate candidate Aaron Day were not invited to the debates. The 
and Libertarian US Senate nominee Brian Chabot polling at 4%, NH1 only invited candidates polling over 10%. In short, NH1 set the threshold at a level that only the Republican & Democratic Party nominees could meet.
