DISCLAIMER: I’m not actually part of Liberty Lobby (though I’ve donated my time to help). I don’t get paid to talk to the legislature. Last year Darryl W Perry launched Liberty Lobby (making him the first crowd-funded lobbyist) and I accompanied him to Concord’s state house and recorded a bunch of videos of our various testimony before the state house committees on a variety of issues. You can see them all on the Free Keene YouTube channel.
While we were both in Concord last week, the first week of the 2018 legislative session, we were actually never in the same committee hearing. He attends the election committee hearings (here’s his week wrapup post), and I’m frequently in criminal justice and judiciary committees. So, here are the videos from the hearings I attended:
HB 1566 – This is the most ridiculous video of all of them from Week 1. Keene’s worst state rep, Delmar Burridge, a lover of big, oppressive government, proposed a bill to restrict open carry in multiple places statewide. I spoke against it and he was literally bouncing in his seat with excitement when I pointed out how it was wrong to try to force societal change from the top down. He disagrees, of course. You can jump straight to my testimony here. Here’s the full hearing video:
HB 1778 – State Rep Dick Marple proposes a bill to abolish driver licensing except for commercial purposes. I spoke in favor. This is the full hearing: (more…)
Brooks’ gets it right when pointing out that people are reticent to spend a thing with a tendency to go up in value. However, he brings up a supposed environmental objection to the power consumed by the world’s bitcoin miners, claiming mining consumes significant power. I’d ask, what about all the banking infrastructure? How much power do their countless buildings with their lights and computers consume globally? I’d be willing to bet it’s FAR more than bitcoin – to the point of being incalculable. Cryptocurrency decentralizes money and threatens that old structure.
If it gets too expensive to run miners, people will stop. Meanwhile, there’s no need to fear power will run out. Necessity is the mother of invention and energy is neither created or destroyed. The market will keep finding ways to make energy cleaner, cheaper, and more efficient. Cryptocurrencies’ rise may further such development.
Thanks to David Brooks for his story. People are talking about bitcoin!
He and supporters gathered outside a bookstore in downtown Concord, NH with signs and a real, live pony to protest the evil Hillary Clinton who was inside doing a book signing.
2020 is a long way off, but longtime presidential contender Vermin Supreme isn’t resting easy. His attorneys filed a civil suit against the City of Concord, NH and some of its bureaucrats on Friday in the federal district court over Concord’s denial of a permit for a pony protest.
According to the thirteen-page suit, Supreme had requested a permit from the city bureaucrats to protest outside Gibson’s Bookstore where Hillary Clinton will be holding a book signing event on Tuesday, December 5th. Supreme’s plan was to bring ponies to the public property near the bookstore in protest. From the suit:
Part of Mr. Supreme’s long standing campaign platform has centered on socialized distribution of equine companions which some have interpreted as commentary, satire, and political parody about a political system that rewards candidates who promise free benefits without discussing cost or practicality.
A bureaucrat with the Concord Health & Licensing Services Department, Eugene Blake, told Supreme’s agent that there were no general restrictions on having ponies outdoors at that location and that ordinarily he would grant the permit to have ponies at that location. However, Blake admitted the Concord police directed him not to grant a permit for the ponies on that day, and at that location, specifically because no one wanted to interfere with Clinton’s book signing.
While I’m generally opposed to asking permission to exercise one’s rights, Supreme doing so has managed to allow the city gang in Concord to back themselves right into a free speech violation. Whether that was Supreme’s intention or not, now they’ve been sued for violating the free speech provisions of the US Constitution and NH Constitution as well as the right to due process. The suit further alleges that not only was Supreme denied the permit but the bureaucrats did not provide any administrative process for appeal of the decision.
Supreme and his attorneys are requesting damages, attorneys’ fees, an injunction forcing the city to issue the permit, and a trial by jury. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest.
Interesting things are brewing at the Ridley Report! In a recent video, Dave Ridley explains that he’s hired Free Keene blogger Garret Ean to target the NH state house in Concord with ambush interviews!
Ridley’s hiring of Garret marks a first, major expansion to the Ridley Report brand. I’m looking forward to seeing what the video activist duo does next!
Before the 2017 Legislative Session began, Liberty Lobby LLC CEO Darryl W Perry began identifying bills of interest. This was initially done based solely on the titles of the Legislative Service Requests (LSRs), which are made public shortly after being filed. The text of the LSRs are then made available once the wording is finalized and has a signature from the sponsor. Not every LSR gets a bill number; a Representative or Senator can ask to withdraw the LSR. This often happens if there are multiple LSRs on the same topic with the same objective, or if the sponsor learns there is little chance of passage.
Of the LSRs marked as “of interest” by Liberty Lobby LLC, 39 were withdrawn before the text became available. Another 3 were withdrawn after the bill text became available, but before being assigned to a committee. Once committee hearing began in January, bills could not be withdrawn. However, the sponsor of SB82 (relative to labeling for maple syrup) requested the bill be deemed “Inexpedient to Legislate,” and the public hearing lasted less than one minute.
