Recorded October 20th, 2015
CSP whistle blower and host of the Libertarian Atheist podcast Carlos Morales joins us in studio to give us a seditious serenade. Topics this week include Carlos’s review of the Democrat Presidential debates, remembering Irwin Schiff, Liberty Fest NYC, the DOJ focusing on anti government groups, Carlos’s musical inspirations, modern day abolitionism, and how atheism will lead to anarchy. Make sure to check out Carlos at libertarian-atheist.com The Rebel Love Show broadcasts every Tuesday night at 10 pm EST on LRN.FM, IPM Nation, and RebelLoveShow.com
The crackdown on Uber (check out the first installment in this story here) has escalated in Portsmouth, as the first Uber driver has been issued a $500 citation for peacefully attempting to drive people home after a night of drinking. The target of police aggression in this case was Stephanie Franz, a 63 year old grandmother and bus-driver who has been driving for Uber in her spare time.
This story was first reported by Seacoast Online, who got a great quote from Franz when they called to interview her:
“I can’t speak for what Uber’s going to do,” she said. “It’s up to them. But I hope this gets worked out so I don’t have to keep playing cat-and-mouse with the police.”
Do you hear that, city of Portsmouth? You haven’t even managed to scare Stephanie Franz. She and the other Uber drivers will continue to play your cat and mouse games, and liberty activists in New Hampshire will continue to shine light upon your protectionist scheming.
Here’s a video from the leader of freeuber.org – activist Christopher David – who catches a little bit of the stop, and provides some context as to what’s been going on in Portsmouth recently.
After watching the video, the question remains – why are the Portsmouth police sending multiple police cars to stop peaceful people from helping their neighbors get home from a night of drinking in exchange for a smaller fee than the local taxi cartel?
Christopher David Threatened by Snitching Bouncer from Daniel Street Tavern
According to David, the police officer recorded in his initial video called him to say that the bouncer who snitched on him for offering Uber rides is upset and “threatening to press charges” because Christopher allegedly didn’t get his permission to record their interaction. We’ll keep you updated as that situation progresses.
If you want to support Christopher in his heroic efforts to nullify the Uber ban in Portsmouth (and perhaps lay a groundwork for nullifying these ridiculous bans worldwide), head over to FreeUber.org and get involved.
For additional coverage of the Free Uber movement in Portsmouth, check out Rights Brigade, a New Hampshire based activism group that has been assisting Christopher in canvassing the city with flyers to raise awareness for the city council’s protectionist schemes.
After organizing and hosting the recent Mayoral Debate that aired live on Cheshire TV, I was encouraged to do something for City Council candidates. Because of the difficulty of coordinating 20 people into a single event, I decided to give candidates an opportunity to record a segment to air on Cheshire TV, and thus Candidates’ Spotlight was born. Candidates’ Spotlight will give local candidates a platform to speak to the community about the issues they find important during upcoming municipal, school board and state rep elections.
In order to give ample opportunity for candidates to record their 5 minute segment, I set aside 16 hours over the course of two weeks, (4 hours each Tuesday and Thursday, last week & this) for candidates to record their segment presenting their ideas to the public. The video segments are airing on Cheshire TV as filler content, and will be compiled into a long-form program also to air on CTV.
It has been one year since the 2014 Keene Pumpkin Festival and subsequent riot which spilled into the streets through the following morning. While snipers perched above the festivities for the second year in a row, no one was aware at the time that the riots would spell the end of PumpkinFest as a downtown Keene tradition. This saturday, the Cheshire Fairgrounds in Swanzey as well as the city of Laconia will be hosting their own independent Pumpkinfests. With few places to position snipers at the fairgrounds, unless special towers are brought in, there will likely not be such a militarized presence there. The situation in Laconia is more likely to host police with rifles, as also the organizer of previous Keene Pumpkinfests, ‘Let It Shine’ is also coordinating this year’s Laconia event.
In the time since last year’s chaos, I had since discovered two different articles hosted by the Blaze and Vocativ which feature content from facebook posts I had made that day. While I was unsure whether or not I had in fact captured an image of someone pointing a firearm in my direction, upon seeing the image as presented in the Vocativ piece, it appears to very clearly be a rifle aimed at the are where I was filming from (which was a heavily populated area at the time).
Laconia police are likely stocked up on riot gear as part of their preparation for the motorcycle weekend sponsored there each year. With luck, the relocated festival won’t deteriorate into a glass bottle war, and riot squads will not make an appearance.
On Saturday, October 10th, Free State Project early mover and Keenevention keynote speaker Christopher David was peacefully offering a very valuable service to the people of Portsmouth – late night rides home at a far faster and more affordable rate than the local taxi monopoly.
He was picking up some eager customers outside of the Daniel Street Tavern when he was threatened with $500-$1,000 ransom for trying to help them return home.
He recorded some incredible audio of the incident, which you can watch and listen to below.
There’s an absolutely incredible customer rant leveled at a taxi driver who attempts to box David in, which you really have to listen to for yourself. Aside from his shocking directness, the customer also points out,
I took a cab once from here to Hampton, where I’m living, and it was $60. I take an Uber, it’s $28 – it’s a nicer car, and it’s nicer people.
So, why would the city of Portsmouth possibly want to shut down a business that customers enjoy so thoroughly?
Perhaps even more to the point, why would the bouncer at the Daniel Street Tavern (you can leave them a review here, as I have) be chasing down police offers to tell them of an Uber driver trying to get his customer home to safety?
Taxi services on the Seacoast are notoriously slow to respond to customer inquiries, and are also known to shut down before bars have last call. Uber was filling this niche in the marketplace very nicely, until the Portsmouth city council decided to ban Uber this summer.
This leads to a very dangerous situation for all drivers in the Portsmouth area, giving incentive for more drivers to be on the road while impaired. It’s one thing for a city council to attack the people of Portsmouth. That’s pretty much what city councils do. But bouncers at private institutions, who should theoretically have a vested interest in their customer’s safety? It’s downright irresponsible.
If you want to support Christopher in his heroic efforts to nullify the Uber ban in Portsmouth (and perhaps lay a groundwork for nullifying these ridiculous bans worldwide), head over to FreeUber.org and get involved.
For additional coverage of the Free Uber movement in Portsmouth, check out Rights Brigade, a New Hampshire based activism group that has been assisting Christopher in canvassing the city with flyers to raise awareness for the city council’s protectionist schemes.
The criminal gang known as the “city of Portsmouth” is now openly threatening to ticket illegal UBER drivers like Christopher David, who has pledged ongoing civil disobedience. Christopher’s already lawyered up and is ready to record any encounters with Portsmouth police.
Portsmouth city councilor Brad Lown, in an article at Seacoast Online, claims the city gang, “want UBER to be here”. No, what they want is for UBER and its drivers to bow to their unnecessary regulations. They want CONTROL. They want money. He also probably doesn’t want the negative press they’ll get when the cops eventually target Christopher and anyone else brave enough to face a $500 ticket.
The Portsmouth city attorney claims they’ll begin enforcing the ordinance on UBER drivers in the, “very foreseeable near future”, whatever that means. Stay tuned here to Free Keene for the latest in this saga.
