Keene Signals its Support for Secession by its Recent Peaceful Civil Disobedience
In a recent Keene Sentinel piece about multiple city councilors gushing over their recent decision to paint a horribly garish blue line down the middle of Marlboro St, local commenter Johnson Rice points out that the city is actually committing civil disobedience against the federal government: (more…)
On this date ten years ago, two artsy Boston residents faced down a militarized police bomb disposal unit, who were accusing them of faux terrorism, and took the opportunity to shift a discourse dominated by paranoia into one revolving around hairstyles of the 1970s.
The United States was in a transitional period in the years following the September 11th attacks. The military industry, both at home and abroad, had found its justification for massive expansion through the impending fear of another devastating attack on civilians
by a malicious, and presumably foreign, entity.
Following a morning of alerts, warnings, and hyperbolic reactions to glorified lite-brite displays in Boston, the media prepared to depict the first public images of the mysterious humans allegedly responsible for the panic. As the youths emerged from the courthouse with a lawyer in tow and graciously opened up a press conference, it was clear that journalists had expected different personas from the “suspects”, as one perceived a failure on their part to be, “taking this seriously”.
State Representative Amanda Bouldin, Founder of Shire Sharing and “Liberty” Snitch
Free State Project early mover and now State Representative Amanda Bouldin has done a lot of good in her activist career. She created Shire Sharing, which for years, has fed hundreds of families in New Hampshire over the Thanksgiving holiday. She also created the Narcan bill that has helped save lives of opiate addicts across New Hampshire.
However, like many politicians, it turns out she’s a coward… and worse, a snitch.
You never know who is going to break under the pressure of the state. It could be your lover, your brother, or your “friend”. However, one might expect more from a libertarian, who should know better. One would be wrong.
In this case, the NH Attorney General’s office released an audio recording of Bouldin being interviewed by their agents. She consented to the interview after being given a “proffer letter’, which presumably offered her immunity for some minor possession charge if she’d testify against State Representative Kyle Tasker, the state house cannabis dealer arrested for victimless crimes earlier this year.
State Representative Kyle Tasker Faces 60 Years for Victimless Crimes
In the over hour-long interview (click for redacted PDF transcript) she throws Kyle, whom she describes as her “friend” under the bus and reveals much of what she knows about his cannabis-dealing business. She also gossips about various state reps, claiming Libertarian candidate for Governor Max Abramson is the most hated in the state house.
She rolls on fellow liberty state rep Pam Tucker, claiming that Kyle named her as one of the state reps he’d sold cannabis to, in addition to an unnamed elderly rep in the state house parking garage.
After talking about how she was his “friend” and wanted to help him she says this about Kyle:
“He seemed like he was trying to be more legitimate than it deserved to be. Is what I remember thinking about it. That he. Um. He seems to derive some. Um. For sense of self-worth from doing it. You know what I mean? Like, he felt important. And. He also felt, um, invincible. Like, um, when he was using his vape in the State House, they said – you can’t do that in here; you’re going to get in trouble. And, he showed me, like, on-line, um, like, on his IPad, or something, ah, the law. It apparently says that the State House is, like, this bubble of immunity. I don’t know. So. I was, like, okay. It’s not? So, Seth thinks that Kyle is really stupid. “
During the lengthy and revealing interview, the full audio of which is available on the NH1 site, she goes on in a moment of lucidity to tell the interrogators: (more…)
Officer Chris Gilroy, Mugshot
Nottingham police officer Chris Gilroy, who made news when he fraudulently posed as a teenage girl and attempted to lure then-state-representative Kyle Tasker for sex, has himself been arrested. Looks like Gilroy may have his own vices – he crashed his truck yesterday and was busted by state police for Driving While Intoxicated, according to the Union Leader:
Gilroy was traveling northbound on I-95 in a silver 2006 Toyota Tacoma pickup when it appears he attempted to take the Exit 2 off-ramp and lost control. His vehicle drove over the cement median and struck the Exit 2 off-ramp sign, state police said. After crossing the cement median, Gilroy drove across the off-ramp and struck the guardrail on the east side of the ramp, state police said.
His vehicle then continued northbound on the ramp for a short distance before driving onto the curb and striking the guardrail a second time head-on, according to police.
Drug Harm to Society and the User
Gilroy played a major role in the investigation that led to Tasker being charged with multiple victimless crimes after police raided his home and allegedly found cannabis, psychedelic mushrooms, and MDMA. Of course, Gilroy’s vice in this case is legal, although according to a study published in the Lancet by the former chief drug adviser to the British government, Professor David Nutt, alcohol is the most dangerous drug available.
It’s not uncommon for the very same men and women who enforce the insane war on drugs to be users and addicts of the legal, hardest drug, alcohol. Of course the hypocritical Gilroy will likely be facing a slap on the hand over this while Tasker is facing 13 felony charges that could result in anywhere from 60-120 years in prison and up to 1.5 million in fines.
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Bill Weld Confronted in Keene About the Non-Aggression Principle
To libertarians, the use of force is only acceptable in defense of yourself, others, or property. As former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld told me Friday, it’s the “bedrock principle” of the libertarian movement.
Given Weld’s public statements that have been very unlibertarian, I was surprised when not only did he acknowledge its existence, but even claimed to agree with it. Is this video the first time Bill Weld has talked publicly about the non-aggression principle during the whole campaign?
Since Weld and Gary Johnson were nominated in May by the national Libertarian Party, many libertarians have been sharply divided by the decision.
Some, like Free Keene blogger Darryl W Perry have criticized the national LP for watering down the message of liberty. Darryl even recently reactivated his campaign for president as a write-in candidacy in several states to give principled libertarians a choice.
Others, like Free Keene blogger Rich Paul are enthusiastically behind the Johnson/Weld campaign, excited that their “pragmatic” approach will bring more votes and publicity to the LP. (more…)
Rick Naya, NH Hempfest Organizer and State Rep Joe Lachance
The report details the investigations of each state rep and though they believed they had a case for “dry conspiracy” charges against both former-cop-turned-LEAP speaker Lachance and Tasker, they used their discretion and decided not to charge them. The report specifically cites jury nullification when giving their explanation as to why they aren’t charging Lachance – that’s great news for activists who’ve been doing jury nullification outreach here in the Shire for years.
Jury nullification is the long-held right of jurors to vote their conscience, regardless of what the law says and the facts in the case are. Though Lachance clearly broke the law, each juror has the right to acquit simply because they believe the law is bad. It’s a powerful right and courts around the country as well as the federal courts will do everything they can to keep jurors from knowing about it. However, here in New Hampshire is established court precedent that not only can jury nullification information be given to jurors outside the court, but even defendants and attorneys can explain nullification during trial!
NH Jury Rights
That’s really the question here – if the NH AG acknowledges that cannabis charges are likely to not pass a jury due to nullification, then why don’t they treat every person caught with cannabis the same way they did the state reps? The reason is they know most people will quietly take a plea deal and further, if they don’t take the deal, they can drop the charge to a class B misdemeanor which means the defendant can’t get a jury trial, virtually guaranteeing a guilty verdict and hundreds of dollars (per victim) flowing to the state’s coffers. Cannabis prohibition means big money for the state gang, so they’ll keep charging the little people until the law is changed. Hopefully that will happen in 2017 if the new governor doesn’t stand in the way, whoever it ends up being.
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