It was about ten degrees Fahrenheit at around 6am on March 16th, 2021 when dozens of armed agents from the FBI, IRS, USPS, ATF, and Keene Police swarmed onto the duplex containing the Free Talk Live studio. They smashed in windows and a front door, set off explosions, flew in drones, and held multiple peaceful bitcoin activists at gunpoint. Simultaneous raids were being conducted in multiple other locations, with six people arrested in total. They were since dubbed “the Crypto Six” by supporters.
One had her charges dropped and three have taken plea deals despite never harming another human being. Two remain, facing hundreds of years in prison for completely victimless, made-up financial “crimes” regarding bitcoin.
Now, more than a year later, the FBI has returned the surveillance DVRs they took from the property. This is some of the footage taken at the scene of the Free Talk Live studio in Keene, NH:
On tonight’s Free Talk Live broadcast from Porcfest, host Mark Edge said he’s been to a lot of Porcfests, and the attendance this year is already exceeding the levels of a typical Friday from past years. That means Rogers Campground is already packed, on day number two of a weeklong event that tends to build its attendance as the weekend approaches. Posts to social media reveal a variety of vendors who are accepting Goldbacks and Cryptocurrency, as is to be expected at an event packed with libertarians, voluntarists, and liberty-loving anarchists.
Last year’s Porcfest was the first-ever sellout at 2,500 tickets. This year – the nineteenth annual – the event sold out again, and they maxxed out the tickets to 3,000! Every campsite in the park is completely sold out. The record-setting attendance in the last two years is no chance event – interest in the Free State Project has shot up dramatically since the insane COVID crackdowns in 2020. In fact, 2021 also saw more people migrating to New Hampshire as part of the FSP, than any previous year. 2022’s NH freedom migration numbers will likely eclipse 2021.
The nearly two-decades the FSP has been encouraging libertarian migration to NH has paid off as earlier movers have laid an amazing groundwork of activism organizations and resources for later migrants. NH libertarians are winning elections, with dozens of Free Staters in state house seats. We have built the largest community of freedom-loving activists on Earth. It is no longer a pie-in-the-sky idea, but a longterm, proven success. The more people move here as part of the FSP, the stronger the libertarian influence in the state. Success breeds success.
Free Talk Live at Porcfest 2022
Meanwhile, the statists in New Hampshire are freaking out over our tremendous successes thus far, as the FreeStateNH account on Twitter is constantly pointing out. Statists in positions of power ignore libertarians in every other state, because they have no influence and will never threaten the status quo. More liberty activists are realizing that concentrating activism works and are picking up and moving to New Hampshire. Porcfest is the premier excuse to come visit NH and experience what it’s like to be around more freedom-loving people that you can count for an entire week.
Whether you can attend or not, you can tune in every day to Free Talk Live for the latest discussion and interviews from the campground. Our broadcasts will continue through the end of Porcfest and the following week for Forkfest. Forkfest is the decentralized follow-up to Porcfest. Entering its sixth year, Forkfest has no tickets so in order to attend, one need only reserve a tent site, RV site, or motel room from Rogers Campground between June 27th and July 3rd.
Sadly, due to the insane bail restrictions on me because of the Crypto Six case, I can only go up for the day, as I have to be home each night by 11pm. However, last year I couldn’t even leave my home at all, so going up for one day is better than zero. This year, I’ll be at Porcfest on Friday where I’m honored to be able to speak on the pavilion main stage at 1pm. I hope to see you there!
Those of us in the New Hampshire freedom migration have pointed out the many ways that we have more impact here than libertarians anywhere else. We’re constantly making news in mainstream media and the statists are ever on the attack against us. That’s because concentrating activism in one small geographic area works and more libertarian activists are starting to realize that the Free State Project is a success and more are joining – and moving to NH – in record-breaking numbers.
Another indicator of our unprecedented success is the number of documentary films that have focused on the libertarian activism movement here. We had Libertopia in 2010, which focused on multiple FSP migrants and their moving stories. In 2012, “Derrick J’s Victimless Crime Spree” focused on the amazing civil disobedience activism happening here. Then in 2014, “101 Reasons Liberty Lives in New Hampshire” laid out 101 persuasive reasons that libertarians should join the Free State Project.
Skylar, who faced trial for not just “picketing”, but also “disorderly conduct”, and “criminal trespass” earlier this month, has been found “not guilty” on all charges!
It’s an amazing victory and proof that the state’s targeting of the activists protesting at Sununu’s home is so illegal that not even the lowly district court judge can rule in the state’s favor.
At least two other people remain charged with “picketing”, one who was the last of the Nine ticketed in December, and one man charged with it during a “honk brigade” event in 2021. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest on the “Newfields Nine”.
