by Garret Ean | Apr 30, 2012 |
From freeconcord.org:
Japanese Kempeitai officer, secret police
The Concord Monitor’s Felice Belman writes on her blog from the newspaper’s website that the Concord police have stopped including narratives of the events surrounding an arrest in releases to the press. Recently, they began only including the name and charges against an individual who has been seized by their organization. This is to have stemmed from complaints filed by an attorney on behalf of city councilor Fred Keach, who was arrested for attempting to drive while intoxicated in October 2010. Keach was unhappy with the amount of detail provided by the police in the account of the arrest as published in the Monitor.
The article also overviews that a statutory change pending in the NH legislature will specify the amount of information to be released by police following an arrest. It is hard to imagine anyone would support a more secretive local police force that didn’t work for the police or prosecutor’s office. In case you may be curious as to what a typical arrest narrative given to a defendant would look like, here’s a scan of the report I received with my discovery packet from the Chalking 8 trial.
by Garret Ean | Apr 27, 2012 |
From freeconcord.org:
Chen Guangchen (left) after his escape, with Hu Jia
Detained human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has escaped the custody of local government officials who had been keeping him under house arrest since 2010. Chen is known as a lawyer who worked to expose forced abortions and sterilizations among 7,000 women in rural China.
While drawing attention to the human rights abuses in 2006, he was brought up on bogus charges of “deliberately destroying property” and “disrupting traffic”. After serving a four year prison sentence, he was confined to his home, where guards kept constant watch to prevent him from communicating with the outside world. Actor Christian Bale attempted to visit the activist in December of last year with a CNN film crew in tow, and was forcibly blocked from the property.
He reportedly escaped on April 22, and made his way to Beijing, where he released a 15 minute video announcing his safe escape and making requests of Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao. His video statement focuses on urging Wen to investigate the unlawful nature of his detention and the intimidation and physical force used against his supporters, as well as calling for an investigation into corruption at all levels. (more…)
by Ian | Apr 24, 2012 |
For years I have been doing outreach at Keene State College. This normally consists of handing out fliers on campus, especially during class changes. Only this year did I ever encounter any trouble from campus security, when they threatened me with a no trespass order if I were to continue handing out information. Upon visiting with one of the college directors in his office, I inquired regarding their policy. I was told that not even KSC students may hand out fliers on campus! I was informed that I could have a table in the student center, just like the students can have. I would be allowed to sit behind the table, quietly, and only interact with people who came up to speak to me.
This was unacceptable to me. It’s highly ineffective. Why sit at a table all day or even for a few hours, when my friends and I can deliver hundreds of fliers in fifteen minutes during class change? Besides, aren’t college campuses advertised as the holy grail of free speech? What a bunch of nonsense.
So, last week on Thursday, I returned to the campus with new mover Daryl Perry. (more…)
by Ian | Apr 23, 2012 |
The Concord Patch has video of the Shire Choir singing anti-drug war carols at the state house during Friday’s 420 celebration: (more…)
by Ian | Apr 23, 2012 |
Thanks to the Concord Patch’s Tony Schinella for this report on the successful 420 celebration at the Concord state house:
Advocates of marijuana legalization gathered at the Statehouse on April 20, to push their cause, march in the plaza, and even fill the Hall of Flags with anti-drug war lyrics to the tune of Christmas carols.
The rally – 420 at 4:20 on 4/20 – was a collection of advocates, users, and other “liberty-minded” individuals, pressing their belief that drug laws are more harmful than good and that they should be allowed to smoke if they want to.
The advocates gathered outside the plaza for a litter pickup before the rally. At 4 p.m., Rich Paul, an activist from Keene, spoke from a megaphone, saying prohibition earlier in the nation’s history caused needless death and destruction. Paul even pointed to the recent shootings in Greenland that caused the death of the police chief there. (more…)
by Ian | Apr 19, 2012 |
My little radio show, Free Talk Live, based here in Keene at the LRN.FM studio, was just ranked at #52 of 100 (up from #79 last year!) in the TALKERS Magazine “Heavy Hundred” yearly list of the “most influential talk radio hosts”. Thank you to all our listeners and stations and supporters who helped make this possible!
Sadly, it is only heard in Keene on WKBK radio on Saturday nights, and that’s when baseball isn’t on. Perhaps someday Monadnock Radio Group will expand our coverage in Keene, considering we scored better on the list than did Boston conservaclone Howie Carr, who ranks at #56, as well as Wall St. Journal’s Michael Castner who is #61.
