by Christopher David | Dec 11, 2015 |
Free Staters Christopher David and Randy Clemens
Fascist presidential candidate Donald Trump visited Portsmouth, NH last night to accept the endorsement of a police union, the New England Police Benevolent Association.
Hundreds of protestors including a handful of Free Staters turned out to oppose him. Free Staters were photographed or interviewed by the New York Times, The Guardian, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Portsmouth Herald, and various independent media.
Free Stater ally and NH native Harrison De Bree was interviewed by The Guardian, and got three paragraphs in their article about the event.
Some of the anti-Trump protesters were paradoxically Republicans. One of them, Harrison Debree, 28, held up a placard that said “Trump: America’s Hitler” with a photograph of the candidate with a Hitler moustache etched on it.
Debree normally votes Republican but said he was so unhappy about the messages being put out by Trump that he was seriously now considering voting for the leading Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.
“I don’t like the way that Trump is assaulting the Bill of Rights, like this week’s statement on closing the US to Muslims – that’s an attack on the First Amendment religious test. He’s more of a threat to the Constitution than even the Democrats are.”
Security was tightly run by the Secret Service with support from the Portsmouth police department — you know, the fine folks who have been chasing Uber drivers around town at the behest of our statist city council — including four citations amounting to $3,500 of fines for the #UberGrandma — and who recently saw fit to charge yours truly with felony wiretapping for a YouTube video.
Harrison De Bree’s sign
Though Secret Service guarded every entrance to the hotel, we were able to do a bit of trolling. We realized that the back of the Sheraton had an unguarded hill you could climb up to access a window that looked into the hotel bar where a number of fascist Trump sympathizers gathered.
During the event we put the above TRUMP IS A FASCIST sign on the window sill looking in, to the frowns of some sympathizers inside. Later it had been removed, so I replaced it with a leftover NO TRUMP sign.
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcxV_S5rJII
And before the event, we distributed about 15 flyers on lightpoles around the venue: (more…)
by Darryl W. Perry | Dec 8, 2015 |
In the continuing saga of Portsmouth v Uber, the Portsmouth City Council was slated to do a First Reading of a proposed ordinance that was requested by Uber, that would make it easier for Uber to operate in the city. The Council hearing (from opening until the vote on the Uber ordinance) can be seen here, here, here & here. The City Council will meet on December 21 for Second Reading, and a possible Third Reading and vote on the proposal.
Free Uber founder Christopher David was kind enough to speak to me, about some of the history of the saga, before the meeting.
And after the meeting, he had this to say: (more…)
by Shire Dude | Dec 7, 2015 |
Tonight at 7:00pm EST, FreeUber.org activists will be attending Portsmouth’s city council meeting. Some plan to testify against the anti-Uber transportation ordinance. City council members have not yet agreed to call for a halt of the enforcement of said ordinance. Tonight, we will see if the council upholds their taxi cartel protectionism.
As long as Uber drivers continue to be harassed, activists will continue to protest. Shire Dude will be livestreaming this event.
This live event will feature multiple broadcast updates. If the video below is not live, you can access archived footage on Shire Dude’s Bambuser account.
UPDATES:
Regarding the prohibitive transportation ordinance, the council voted (6 yes, 3 no) to move forward with the 3-part amendment that Uber requested. The amendment was read by the City Attorney in this video. During this council’s final session, on December 21st, each part of the amendment will be voted upon separately.
Councilor Lown spoke with both the police chief and with Uber’s attorney, but it was an activist’s testimony that sparked the councilor’s interest in the difference between background checks performed by Uber and by Portsmouth. The town’s police department performs a vastly inferior check, but councilor Kennedy still argued that both checks were necessary.
Several activists spoke in favor of Uber (starting with Uber Grandma Stephanie Franz herself), including Free Uber founder Christopher David, who envisioned 10 Uber Grandmas taking the place of Franz. “Walls may chase away law-abiding entrepreneurs, but they attract black market entrepreneurs,” said David, highlighting the market opportunity for a darkweb-style adaptation of ridesharing.
“You have to follow the rules!” said an exasperated Mayor Lister. All three “no” votes (Lister, Morgan and Kennedy) will not be returning in 2016, which bodes well for the future of Portsmouth ridesharing.
If you believe that Portsmouth should follow the shining example set by Sarasota (which deregulated both Uber and taxis), I recommend contacting Eric Spear, Chris Dwyer, James Splaine and Bradley Lown. They will be returning to city council in 2016.
MORE UPDATES:
There is now better video available of the Uber deliberations and the activists testimonies.
by Ian | Nov 18, 2015 |
Christopher David Delivers his Keynote at Keenevention 2015
Chris has made headlines for his “Free UBER” project and delivered an excellent keynote brainstorming session at this year’s Keenevention. His energy and drive are exemplary and I hope we get lots more activists like him moving here as part of the Free State Project. Here’s his bio from our Bloggers page:
Chris is a web developer and early mover (as of 2009) for the Free State Project now living on the seacoast. He is the ‘illegal Uber driver’, arrested by Portsmouth police on felony wiretapping charges for a YouTube video showcasing effective activism. He is dedicated to ending wars and abolishing the State in our lifetime. Chris is also the founder of “Free UBER“, an activist network dedicated to defending ride-sharing worldwide.
by Ian | Nov 17, 2015 |
Portsmouth Herald, Spreading Hate of Activists
Incorrectly labeling “Free UBER” as “Free State Uber” – they take a dismissive tone of the demonstrations that have occurred at a local bar and last night at the city council meeting and then go on to insult the Seacoast activists in the same way the Keene Sentinel and other critics have insulted Keene activists, calling the activism a “Free State sideshow”. “You can’t make this stuff up”, the unsigned editorial whines regarding the activism surrounding the UBER controversy.
There have, within the libertarian movement, been many critics of various Keene activism over the years. We’ve been accused on more than several occasions, of having destroyed the liberty movement, not just in New Hampshire, but nationwide. The general idea is that because some people in Keene don’t like certain activism, that we have failed, and we should not be so offensive to people. Usually, the critics attack “Keene” generally, and use it as a pejorative and a scapegoat. Sometimes, you can get them to be specific about exactly *who* did something offensive to them, and what it was. If you ask a few critics for specifics, you’ll find that some critics liked the very activism that other critics found offensive. As is typically the case, you can’t please everyone (and shouldn’t try).
All the while, those of us who spend time actually doing activism (rather than attacking others’ activism), have been patiently trying to explain the truth, which is now being borne out again in Portsmouth: that activism that receives publicity is bound to upset people. It’s the nature of the thing.
Of course, some of the critics of Keene activism would like to believe that *their* activism is done “right” and so it would not have the same negative effects as ours. So long as it doesn’t make the news, they are right. It won’t have much of an impact on public opinion at all. However, as we can now see in Portsmouth – where the Free UBER activism has been making headlines and garnering TV coverage, activists there have been confronted by hostile taxi supporters, UBER drivers’ cars have been boxed in by taxi drivers’ cars (a criminal act of “disorderly conduct” at the minimum), cabbies have snitched on the UBERS, the mayor publicly attacked them, Free UBER founder Christopher David is now facing a felony wiretapping charge as a result of his activism, and the libery activists supporting Free UBER with traditional protest and speaking to the city council, have now been insulted in a widely-read mainstream media outlet. At the city council meeting last night, one person speaking even suggested that UBER’s drivers could be child molesters and violent thugs.
This is what happens to those who challenge the status quo – and this is all only coming from one minor proposed change to the city’s transportation ordinances! The lesson should be clear now that the SAME reactions are happening outside of Keene:
The more success you have as an activist, the more publicity you will receive, and therefore the more hatred and derision will be directed your way. (more…)
by Ian | Nov 14, 2015 |
Portsmouth Mayor Robert Lister, Courtesy Seacoast Online
The Portsmouth mayor, Robert Lister, is mad that people are trying to use the system to change the system – a typical complaint of people inside the system. First they get mad at people like Chris who do civil disobedience. They insist that civil disobedience is the wrong way to do things and tell us that we should work inside the system to change things. Then when we work inside the system, they get upset that we’re “wasting their time”. In Lister’s case, he said this in a Seacoast Online article:
“We have rules…They have to follow the rules. For them to keep changing the rules is not appropriate.”
It’s a repeat of what we’ve seen happen here in Keene. The people who support the status quo hate ANY action to change things in ways that reduce their power, whether those actions are happening inside or outside the system.
As we’ve seen with the felony charge lodged against Chris, or the lawsuit against Keene’s Robin Hooders, they will fight desperately to keep their precious control.
Will Monday’s meeting have an effect on the taxi-favoring outgoing city council or will they do as the Keene council did with the BEARCAT in 2012 and ignore the people in favor of the taxi oligopoly?
