I had the pleasure of being invited to the third-annual Anarchapulco! It’s a convention that takes place in Acapulco, Mexico and features hundreds of liberty-loving anarchists, voluntarists, and libertarians gathered at the beautiful Mundo Imperial Resort and Expo to discuss all kinds of interesting subjects.
The event was excellent. Besides broadcasting my talk radio show, Free Talk Live from the event for four nights from 2/25-2/28, they also gave me the chance to speak at the event on whatever topic I wanted.
My speech was called, “Why You Should Move to New Hampshire ASAP” and I went over several major reasons why New Hampshire has more liberty-loving people and activists per capita than any other place on earth. I spoke for about a half hour and then took questions from the audience. Here’s a full video of it, which sadly only has room audio. It’s echoy but you can still make out what’s being said. If you think you can handle it, here it is:
Bitcoin fans around the world are celebrating as the price of bitcoin hit a new all time high as of around 10:13pm Eastern time tonight. The price has continued to travel up from there. At the time of this article’s writing, the BitcoinAverage price is over $1,200 US Dollars!
Bitcoin’s previous highest price was all the way back in 2013 on November 29th when according to BitcoinAverage.com, the price peaked at $1,183.59. It then slowly dropped over a year all the way down near $250 and has been going up since, with 2016 being a huge year for bitcoin’s growth. Will the price continue to rise overnight with the Chinese bitcoin traders getting heavily into their day? It’s exciting to watch, now that the previous high that was undefeated for over three years has been vanquished. Onward and upward, bitcoin!
All this while the already strong Bitcoin community in New Hampshire continues to expand. Two websites were recently launched to focus on the various aspects of that community: ShireBitcoin.org and ShireBitcoin.com. Plus, in an effort to plan events without using Facebook and to reach out to new people, the Keene Bitcoin Network now has a Meetup.com group! Also, the Shire Society Forums have rebranded and expanded as the “Shire Forum” and now includes bitcoin-related subforums, which are open to anyone in the Shire, whether they are part of the Shire Society or not. Finally, things are looking promising on the political front with a bill making it out of the NH house commerce committee with an 11-9 “ought to pass” that would protect bitcoin businesses from regulation in New Hampshire! (more…)
This week I had the pleasure of being invited to participate in a panel discussion about voluntaryism on YouTube channel, “No More 2 Party System“. Host Jeff Justice had several voluntarists on his show to talk about what voluntaryism is, including Tatiana Moroz and Jeffrey Phillips. I was able to join the discussion about an hour in due to my studio being occupied by Free Talk Live when they started at 9pm Eastern.
My optimistic message of migrating to NH with the highest concentration of liberty activists in the world stood in stark contrast to the other guests’ opinions. The others were all spread out in other places with no real hope for liberty in their lifetimes. Their positions were understandably critical of getting involved in the system (they don’t know that the system can actually be changed here in NH). Some panelists supported just trying to run away from the state or improve one’s own individual wealth and happiness where they are. (more…)
More than three years after the City of Keene filed suit against Keene’s “Robin Hooders” (the activists who’ve saved motorists from thousands of parking tickets by feeding expired meters), the case has finally come to a close – at least within the New Hampshire court system. In a short four-page order issued just before Christmas, the NH supreme court affirms the Cheshire superior court’s decision to deny the city’s request for an unconstitutional injunction they’ve been begging for since 2013:
taking into consideration the governmental interest that would be served, the trial court weighed the benefits of the requested relief against the effect that relief would have on the respondents’ constitutionally protected speech, and, based upon the factual record before it, exercised its equitable discretion to deny the proposed injunction.
We won! (Again!) Presuming the city gang does not decide to continue lavishing taxpayer dollars on their expensive private attorneys to take the case to federal court, it should end here. We’ve yet to see the total cost of the several court appearances the city has made, but then-city-manager John MacLean admitted in 2013 that the first round (of four) cost about $20,000. Their private attorneys billed them so much, that on this final round at the supreme court they were claiming to have taken the case “pro bono”. Another way to say that is that the city paid tens-of-thousands for the first three rounds in court and got the fourth free.
James Cleaveland, Attorney Jon Meyer, Ian Freeman
All the while free speech attorney Jon Meyer of Manchester truly did take the Robin Hooders’ case pro-bono, the entire time. His talent is legendary and he not only brilliantly defended the peaceful activists but proved without a doubt that the city’s parking enforcers were dishonest and ridiculous. There was never any evidence presented that the accused Robin Hooders had “threatened, intimidated, or harassed” the city employees. As if to prove how ridiculous their claims were, parking enforcer Jane desperately stated that anything Garret said, even talking to her about the weather, she considered to be “taunting”. It was laughable but also very serious – the city gang was lying to try to get the judge to order us to stay 50 feet away from the enforcers. (more…)
Tuesday morning the saga of UBER Grandma came to a close at Portsmouth district court. Stephanie Franz’ trial was scheduled for seven tickets she’s received since October of 2015 for the horrible crime of driving people places without a government permission slip. Rather than thank her for providing the service of getting drunk people home alive (and stopping them from driving themselves home drunk), the “City of Portsmouth” gang decided to ticket her seven times for a total of $6,500! $500 for the first ticket, $1000 each for the rest.
The city’s argument for threatening the sweet grandmother and other UBER drivers with such ridiculous fines was the claim that more stringent background checks than what UBER provides are necessary to keep passengers safe. However, this argument is obvious garbage, as the city only regulates drivers who charge for their services. If a convicted murderer were to offer rides for free, the regulations wouldn’t apply. Portsmouth’s anti-ride-sharing regulations, passed in Summer of 2015, were created to protect the existing taxi oligopoly. That’s what regulations are really for – not to protect consumers as the government claims, but to protect the established businesses from innovative competition.
Despite the constant attacks by both the police and the cabbies, UBER Grandma was not deterred. She kept driving in civil disobedience to the city’s protectionist ordinances, knowing she had harmed no one, and in fact had helped many people get home safely. She’s a hero for continuing to stand up for her right to do business without asking for permission! (more…)
PORTSMOUTH – Local businesses, bitcoin users, local artists, entrepreneurs, and international travelers rejoice. A diverse set of people are sharing art and talent, health and beauty, and creating community in a new, exciting way.
With the installation of the seacoast’s first ever bitcoin vending machine at the Seacoast Repertory Theater they are dropping their tired old central bank notes into a local bright orange, wall-mounted machine in exchange for bitcoin, cash for the twenty first century.
Dozens of local vendors and some prominent store front businesses are using bitcoin as a backbone of the local economy alongside the federal reserve dollar system. Many businesses are happy to have new, interesting customers who are seeking local places where they can spend the bitcoin they earn doing business online and in person.
Understandably many Portsmouth denizens are cautious toward new technology, especially an evolved form of money, but are surprised how easy it is to use bitcoin like cash. Most often one is astounded that no registration, email, name or identity is required to use bitcoin and participate in the global market economy. All it takes is downloading any one of dozens of free apps from the app store.
Other bitcoin users are excited by the idea of taking responsibility for the money that supports and grows their community, engaging in an international effort to democratize access to money online, or the nearly unlimited access to online shopping of all kinds.
Understandably many Portsmouth denizens are cautious toward new technology, especially an evolved form of money, but are surprised how easy it is to use bitcoin like cash.
Organizers at the Seacoast Rep hope to draw new theater-goes from the growing bitcoin economy, and local bitcoin entrepreneurs are aiming to expose local artists and theater lovers to the world’s best form of money.
Want to opt out of the federal reserve? Want to get ahead of the curve and get in on trade with people from all across the globe?
Head on down to the Seacoast Repertory Theater at 125 Bow St, Portsmouth, NH 03801 and trade in your cash for bitcoin. You can buy theater tickets, or eat brunch at STREET, or do Bikram Yoga, or shop at thousands of online stores.
Support peace and free trade and go check it out. In the mean time tap for iphone or tap for android to get Mycelium, a free, easy to use bitcoin wallet app in under a minute. It’s easy and fun!
Other bitcoin users are excited by the idea of taking responsibility for the money that supports and grows their community, engaging in an international effort to democratize access to money online, or the nearly unlimited access to online shopping of all kinds.
