Yesterday I delivered a presentation entitled CopBlock: Policing the Police with Alternative Media during the first block of panels kicking off the sixth annual All Power to the Imagination conference at New College of Florida. There may be video emerging soon, for now you can tune in to the audio on the Sound Cloud:
http://soundcloud.com/freeconcord-org/copblock-policing-the-police
Today Keene High School’s Students for a Free Tibet chapter stood for hours after noon holding signs and flags in support of the rights of the people of Tibet. The Himalayan region has been occupied by the PRC since 1951, and was more militarized and repressed after an unsuccessful uprising in 1959. March 10 marks the fifty-fourth year since the deflected revolution. Al Jazeera reports that in neighboring Nepal, police have cracked down on Tibetan activists on the eve of the anniversary. On February 13, a Tibetan monk self-immolated at a restaurant in Kathmandu. A sign of the desperation of the people is the widespread practice of self-immolation, with over 100 instances since 2009, resulting in over 40 deaths. Literally around the corner from where today’s gathering was held, a New Hampshire father self-immolated over a custody dispute at the Cheshire Superior Court.
Republican state rep Neal Kurk’s “A-” liberty rating (as per the NH Liberty Alliance) should take a tumble this year with his awful “anti-drone” legislation that threatens all people with criminal charges for photographing houses from the sky. This would restrict anyone, private or government, from flying a camera-equipped drone or even taking photos by satellite, which would mean he’s even targeting Google Maps!
Kurk’s proposed legislation doesn’t even address drones with guns – only photography!
His behavior on-camera is as ridiculous as his legislation as he covers his face and escapes from Dave Ridley‘s questions:
Today’s episode of Derrick J Freeman’s daily five minute newscast Peace News Now was illustrated for video by none other than Free Concord’s Garret Ean. This episode features analysis of the latest military escalations in Korea, and wraps up with news of bitcoin’s continued climb with innovations in its use for the European market. See today’s feature below, North Korea Threatens War.
At the very beginning of 2012, several activists including myself were banned from the entire Cheshire “superior” court property by then-Sheriff Dick Foote. Foote’s ridiculous order claimed it was due to “persistent harassment” of court staff. He was referring to some activists wishing the court bureaucrats “happy holidays” as they entered and left their workplace. Additionally, we sang them some Chronic Carols and asked them some questions about the thuggish behavior of their coworkers, the court security agents.
A couple months later, Kelly, Derrick J, and I teamed up with Miami photojournalist Carlos Miller and paid a visit to the court on official court business. Sheriff Foote refused to return calls from us, which is what he was demanding in his order before we’d be allowed on the public property for which we’re all forced to pay. All three of us were arrested and Carlos was threatened by Sheriff Caleb Dodson.
Due to facing multiple charges from multiple arrests, Derrick made the tough choice of taking a plea, but Kelly and I didn’t have the same weight of charges on us and we knew we were in the right and the trespass order was wrong, so we pressed on. County attorney David Lauren met with us and offered a pretty sweet plea deal – he’d drop the charge to a violation level (it was being charged as a Class A with up to a year in jail the possible penalty) offense and it’d be a $250 fine, suspended on condition of good behavior. I was out of jail on a nine-month suspended sentence from my last conviction and if I received another misdemeanor conviction I could go back to jail for the remaining nine months. Despite that looming threat, I refused the plea, as did Kelly, and the matter was to continue to trial.
Shortly thereafter, heroic free-speech attorney Jon Meyer stepped forward to take the case on principle and pro-bono. In a hearing held regarding the validity of the no trespass order, Meyer had Sheriff Dick Foote on the ropes. That raw video is long (and entertaining in many parts), but for those with less time, Meyer also summarized Foote’s ridiculous claims regarding the order in post-hearing memorandums, which you can read here.
Now, several months after that hearing, Keene district court’s judge Edward Burke has made the right decision. He has ruled in an order that the no-trespass orders, as applied to me and Kelly Voluntaryist, are unconstitutional and dismissed the cases against us! (more…)
Dave Ridley gives some critical analysis to recent comment controversies. Mark Warden, a state representative from Manchester, found himself under criticism after remarks made during a hearing were reported on by the Granite State Progress blog and reposted further. Part I, The Hunt for Controversial Comments is On:
Part II, Provocateurs, Not Press…what free staters should be most on guard against
This comes in the wake of the controversy stirred by Keene representative Cynthia Chase’s comments regarding actively immigrating porcupines. Ridley ambush interviewed Chase in Concord and published the video last week, which is fairly uneventful as she declines comment and moves on. In a sense, the videographer was throwing a softball by asking, ‘Do people get too focused on controversial comments and not enough on people’s actions?’
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