by Ian | Mar 13, 2023 |
A few weeks ago, 70 state reps voted to end drug prohibition entirely and last week, 90 state reps voted to end prohibition on dimethyltryptamine (DMT)! Here’s the full video from the house floor featuring reps Jason Gerhard, Matt Santonastaso, and Jonah Wheeler speaking in favor of the bill, HB 216, which sadly lost 274-97. However, 26% is a good first try.
Clearly, younger state reps understand the urgency of ending the insane war on drugs and as the older prohibitionist reps die off and are replaced by free staters as our number and influence increases, we will be ever closer to ending the madness of drug prohibition in our lifetime.
by Ian | Feb 24, 2023 |
Despite spending a dozen years in federal prison for helping tax freedom advocates Ed and Elaine Brown in 2006, Jason Gerhard is still taking on the evil IRS. Now a NH state representative, Gerhard filed a House Resolution, HR 16 that -if passed- would officially ask the IRS three tough questions:
- Where is the word “income” defined in the Internal Revenue Code?
- Where in the Internal Revenue Code is it written that the average American, who does not exercise a federal privilege but simply trades their time for money, is liable to pay the federal income tax?
- Why have numerous Internal Revenue Service publications, directors, and members of the United States Congress, among others, stated that the income tax is “voluntary”?
Unfortunately, the state house voted 283-60 – full roll call here – to kill the resolution. Thanks though to the sixty reps who voted for it, including Keene’s Jodi Newell. Here’s the full video from the house floor discussion and vote:
by Ian | Feb 23, 2023 |
Nearly 20% of those voting on HB581 yesterday in the full New Hampshire house session, voted for ending the insane war on drugs ENTIRELY! The bill came out of nowhere, filed by rep Matt Santonastaso with little fanfare or press attention, despite the epic attack on the War on Drugs it represents. The public hearing came-and-went with little support, or opposition.
Yesterday, at the full house session, the bill came up for a vote and reps Santonastaso and Jonah Wheeler made excellent speeches in favor of ending the failed war on drugs, while Terry Roy who positions himself as a incremental drug reformer used fearmongering language to scare the reps into voting to continue the destruction of our neighbors’ lives. They then voted 286-70 to kill the bill.
Here’s a link to the full roll call showing exactly how all the representatives voted. Kudos to the brave 35 Republicans and 35 Democrats who did the right thing. Sadly many “A+” rated “liberty reps” voted to continue the drug war. What were they thinking? Anyone with a “Yes” vote on the roll call voted to kill the bill, so feel free to reach out to them and ask why. You can watch the full hearing here:
by Ian | Jan 23, 2023 |
Last week at the state house, liberty activists spoke on various bills in front of the Criminal Justice Committee including:
- HB 216 – would end prohibition of DMT, dimethyltryptamine
- HB 144 – would restore gun rights to non-violent ex-felons
- HB 31 – would end prohibition of blackjacks, slung shots, and metallic knuckles
HB 216 – would end the prohibition of dimethyltryptamine aka DMT – filed by heroic 100% liberty rep Matt Santonastaso of Rindge. Though last year the criminal justice committee recommended to kill the psilocybin decrim bill, we once again patiently explained to them the religious use of a different chemical, DMT. Derek Januszewski, founder of the Ayahuasca church based in NH, “Pachamama Sanctuary” spoke in detail about his experience administering the potent hallucinogenic tea to thousands of willing people on a spiritual journey. Other ministers from the Shire Free Church and Church of the Invisible Hand also weighed in. The only person opposing the bill was a goon from the State Police, who trotted out the usual fearmongering about driving while impaired. When questioned by a younger state rep named Wheeler, the statie couldn’t answer to what extent any hallucinogens were involved in traffic accidents. He instead claimed he’d look into it for the state rep. Full video of the hearing:
HB 144 – would restore gun rights to nonviolent ex-felons in NH – filed by newbie liberty rep Jason Gerhard of Northfield. Gerhard spent more than a dozen years in federal prison for bravely standing with tax freedom advocates Ed and Elaine Brown. He never harmed anyone and neither have a ton of people who have been saddled with the “felon” label for the rest of their lives. Gerhard’s bill would restore non-violent ex-felons’ right to bear arms in New Hampshire. Full video of the hearing: (more…)
by Ian | Dec 3, 2022 |
FBI Goon Smashes Cameras During Crypto Six Raid
Christmas came early! Just days before the start of the Crypto Six trial, federal prosecutors have revealed they will be dropping the supermajority of counts in their ridiculous case against me. Gone are all twelve of the “wire fraud” charges, three “money laundering” charges, “conspiracy to commit bank fraud & wire fraud”, and most importantly the charge with the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence, the “kingpin” charge of “continuing financial crimes enterprise”. All gone!
If you’ve been paying attention to the case for the last twenty months, you may recall the big deal the prosecutors made to try to keep me in jail until trial, claiming I am a “sophisticated cyber criminal” and a “danger to the community”. Prior to the charges being dropped, my bail conditions had loosed to where I am no longer wearing a tracking anklet. Now that those charges are gone, when we recently asked to remove the government spyware from my computer and phone, the prosecutors had no objection. Apparently, I’m no longer the scary things they told the judge and press that I was.
The remaining charges that are slated for trial are:
- Conspiracy to Operate Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business
- Operation of Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business
- Money Laundering
- Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
- Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax (four counts for 2016-2019)
While this is assuredly good news, as it reduces the maximum time I could spend in prison from 420+ years to 70 years, it’s really sad news for my three friends who took plea deals on the “wire fraud” charges. Had they known the charge they pled to would eventually be dropped, they surely wouldn’t have taken the raw “deal”. Now they are saddled with felony convictions for the rest of their lives for something that sounds really bad. The reality is, the accusations were simply that they’d lied to a bank, and that it was not even to try to scam the bank out of money, but only to do things like keep an account open. However no one who checks their record is going to ask them for details. They’ll just see “wire fraud” and think they are dealing with a fraudster, when in fact no one was defrauded. None of the banks lost anything and no restitution was ordered during sentencing for any of the three. None of them committed fraud, but they took the plea likely out of fear – the reason most people take a plea – because the feds know how to scare people.
Don’t Take the Plea Deal Flyer
They stack a ton of charges against you, then threaten to stack even more if you don’t tap out. A few years of probation and a felony starts looking really good compared to thirty years in prison, so it’s understandable why people will take a plea, even though they didn’t actually commit the crime of which they are accused. The prosecutors love it as they rack up conviction after conviction, ruining innocent peoples’ lives and bolstering the prosecutors’ careers. Plus, they never have to bother preparing for and going to trial. It’s super easy for them and it almost always works.
For a long time, I have been an advocate of “Don’t Take the Plea Deal“. ESPECIALLY if you didn’t actually do anything wrong. It is certainly risky and scary to go up against the federal behemoth. They have unlimited resources to throw at destroying you. However, if you take the first plea, you will never even get to see what kind of case they have against you. It might be a really crappy case and they may have made critical errors. There’s also a good chance of a better plea offer coming later on, but if you take the first plea, you’ll never find out. Of course, you have to do what you feel is right for you, and I never blame anyone for taking a plea if they feel that is best.
However, long term, people taking plea deals just empowers the state. If more people stood up and demanded their right to a trial, even on things as simple as a speeding or parking ticket, the “justice” system would not be able to handle the case load and they would likely just drop charges all together.
While I am happy to see the bulk of the charges in my case go away, I’m sad for my friends who were intimidated into wrongful convictions for vicitmless “crimes” on charges that would likely have been dropped anyway. The Crypto Six trial begins with jury selection on Tuesday, Dec 6th at Federal Court Church in Concord, NH. For more background on the case, visit TheCryptoSix.com.
by Ian | Nov 24, 2022 |
NHexit.US
The NHexit.US blog has a detailed story looking at what happened to the 13 state representatives who voted for the NH Independence bill this year, CACR 32. How many of them were re-elected? Turns out, of those who ran again and made it to the general election, 100% of them were re-elected!
Despite the democrats trying to make secession an issue, and despite the fears of the state reps who were too cowardly to vote for the bill, we now know that being in favor of NH independence, or at least being in favor of letting the people vote on the question – which is all the bill would have done – is not a guaranteed end to a state rep’s career.
For a full breakdown of how the NH Independence reps fared in this year’s election, see the article here at NHexit.US.
