by Ian | Mar 22, 2016 |
There’s not much good one can say about the FBI’s raid on the LRN.FM studio on Sunday morning, but the news coverage has been pretty good. Free Talk Live host TJ the Spy and I have given multiple interviews on the raid to NH-based media, plus liberty-oriented bloggers have weighed in. Here’s a quick rundown:
Plus, dozens more pickups of an AP article.
by Ian | Mar 22, 2016 |
FBI Raids LRN.FM Studio
According to the search warrant, the FBI ran an undercover TOR .onion child pornography website from their government servers in Virginia from February to March of 2015. This website was designed to deliver, besides the pictures of abused children, a piece of malware that breaks the anonymity of TOR and identifies the true IP address of the person attempting to access the website. Other information, including the computer host name, username, and MAC address were also supposedly captured by the FBI. Pursuant to an investigation into violation of 18 USC 2252 (child pornography), the FBI seized approximately 46 computer and electronic devices from our studio. No charges have been filed.
Although the seizure of our equipment was inconvenient and resulted in Free Talk Live’s internet network’s (LRN.FM – The Liberty Radio Network) audio feed going offline temporarily, we will have our studio back to normal operations within 48 hours and will continue serving the high quality, liberty-oriented shows our listeners love. No episodes of Free Talk Live have been interrupted.
We look forward to the results of the FBI’s forensic examination. Many people had access to the LRN wireless network and studio computers over the previous year. If someone accessed a child pornography website from our network, it is without our knowledge. However, we feel that in a country that has a free press, journalists should be allowed to investigate all aspects of society, including criminal ones.
Free Talk Live and all of its hosts, as if we should have to, officially denounce child pornography, child rape and child exploitation. We further remind everyone that the only organization that, at this point, is guilty of having anything to do with child porn is the Federal Bureau of Investigations, who admits to distributing pictures of exploited children, a crime worse than what they are accusing their website visitors of doing.
The search and seizure Warrants are, last we heard, sealed. We encourage anyone interested in obtaining them to contact the FBI.
If you have any questions about the FBI distributing child porn, see this story from VICE, and this one, and this one.
by Ian | Mar 22, 2016 |
Sadly, Keenevention 2016 is not going to happen.
Anyone who has ever been under active threat by the tyrannical system knows the burden it creates. Even though no charges have been leveled at anyone thus far, the FBI stole thousands of dollars in computers that were critical to the ongoing 24/7 radio network I program, LRN.FM. Now the waiting begins as they use forensic tools to comb through dozens of electronic devices including computers, SD cards, flash drives, and phones. Will they come back with false child porn charges or something else entirely? It took them most of a year to finally come back and arrest the owners of Phat Stuff head shop on Main Street after stealing their store’s inventory, their truck, and cleaning out their bank account.
All that time you wonder what is going to happen next? What else are these aggressive men and women calling themselves “the state” going to do to you and your family? Meanwhile, everything you might have wanted to do or create turns into a question mark. Why start a new project or business when the government gang might just swoop in after you’ve just gotten started and throw you into a cage?
That’s where I am with Keenevention 2016. I really have enjoyed creating these intimate conventions three years in a row, but they cost thousands to put on and that money could be used instead to rebuild my more important mission of broadcasting the ideas of liberty and peace seven-days-a-week.
In short, due to the hanging threat by the criminal gang known as “the state”, I feel it’s irresponsible to push forward with this year’s event. If you have purchased a ticket, I’ll be contacting you for a refund. Perhaps Keenevention will return in the future, but for now this website and its dozens of videos will stand as a living record of the amazing speakers and panel discussions we’ve had over the years.
If you were an attendee, I’m grateful. Thank you for being a part of the fun.
by Ian | Mar 17, 2016 |
The Sun Rises over Porcfest 2012
I tendered my resignation from the Free State Project today after being informed that they have decided to prohibit me from their events, the Porcupine Freedom Festival and Liberty Forum. My name was still on the membership rolls after their announcement, so I removed it, wishing the FSP the best.
With the banning, I became the latest inducted in the elite club of people like Christopher Cantwell and Zack Bass who have been similarly politically excised from the FSP organization.
It was a good run, but all things come to an end. I’m grateful for my more than a decade of helping to promote the Free State Project, and look forward to 20,000+ liberty-loving people coming here to New Hampshire and working toward freedom.
I know people have said they won’t be attending Porcfest this year due to the FSP’s decision, and I appreciate their sentiment, but to anyone who doesn’t feel as strongly, you should still attend the Porcupine Freedom Festival this June. (more…)
by Ian | Mar 16, 2016 |
The Wisdom of Crowds
The main hosts of New Hampshire-based syndicated talk program (heard on over 170 radio stations coast-to-coast), Free Talk Live made a major decision tonight. On the FTL blog we announced our release of the Free State Project from our long-standing broadcast agreement. It was a long time coming. Over the years, Mark and I have been a loving thorn-in-the-side of the FSP. While we were its most successful recruiter, we were also never afraid to criticize the organization publicly. It was a relationship that came close to ending a few times over the years.
Recently a group of FSP early movers have been putting social pressure on the FSP board to disassociate from Free Talk Live, LRN.FM, and Free Keene. While a petition by the in-crowd of haters struggled to reach 100 signatures over several days, including fraudulent signatures, the anger and social pressure is real. We at FTL no longer wanted to play any role in making the FSP board choose one side over the other yet again. I am grateful we were able to work together for so long in promoting the best idea for liberty in generations, the Free State Project.
Schisms are healthy, even if the people who stoke them aren’t. In my experience, it’s always best to embrace the schism rather than fight it.
There are no hard feelings on my side. I have not revoked my membership in the FSP and I still think that libertarians, voluntarists, and liberty-loving anarchists should move to New Hampshire, ASAP.
Here’s the official statement from Free Talk Live’s website:
Free Talk Live would like to formally congratulate the Free State Project on reaching 20,000 signers. Until February 3rd, 2016, the FSP was an organization primarily focused on getting 20,000 liberty-minded people to pledge to move to New Hampshire and get active for freedom. Now the FSP is refocusing on encouraging those signers and other interested libertarians to make their move. This is a goal of Free Talk Live as well, but experience shows us that when any group gets large enough there will be schisms. There are some that feel that there is no place in the FSP for Free Talk Live and with the recent change in goals of the FSP, we at FTL can see their point of view. (more…)
by James Cleaveland | Mar 14, 2016 |
The federal criminal trial against local Keene business owner Panos Eliopoulos is nearing an end. The DEA raided his store Phat Stuff in May 2014 on suspicion of selling the synthetic cannabinoid PB-22. Although undercover agents had purchased PB-22 from Phat Stuff on August 9, 2013, the sale of PB-22 was not prohibited by the DEA until February 10, 2014, by which time Phat Stuff had stopped selling the compound to comply with the law. Since the Constitution prohibits ex post facto enforcement of laws, Panos could not be charged with drug trafficking. Not content to leave empty handed, the US Attorney’s Office filed a criminal indictment against Panos and his wife Katie in February 2015 for Conspiracy to Offer Drug Paraphernalia for Sale (21 USC 846 and 21 USC 863) and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering (18 USC 1956). In a plea deal filed on March 10, 2016, Panos and his attorney reached the following agreement with the US Attorney’s Office: (more…)
