The first hearing of the civil action filed by the “city of Keene” against myself and five others, alleged to be associated with Robin Hood of Keene, commenced earlier this afternoon. (Full video here) Despite the city’s numerous written pleadings for urgent action to be taken by the court, the issue of whether a preliminary injunction would be granted was not entertained. Instead, the judge requested optional positions from both sides on the constitutionality surrounding the proceedings, granting twenty days to file additional paperwork before a full evidentiary hearing would be scheduled. The city’s attorney Tom Mullins did not make much effort to obtain the emergency injunction he had sought after Ian Freeman’s motion to dismiss became the primary subject of today’s hearing. Ian is the only individual of the six named to have filed additional motions with the court, the five others only having responded as was obligated of them through answers to the city’s initial filings. Sought by the nebulous “city of Keene” through Mr. Mullins is a fifty-foot barrier between those who participate in Robin Hooding (or in Pete Eyre’s case, are somehow vaguely associated with Robin Hooding) and the city’s three parking enforcers.
Handed to the defendants by Mullins upon entry to the court was a new memorandum repeating the city’s position and dated June 11. Attached to the back of this new memorandum, which Judge John Kissinger asked not be considered before defendants have ample time to respond, was a faux-order from the court presumably penned by Mullins, which leaves a blank space for a signature if the court were to issue it.
During today’s hearing Judge Kissinger rightly asserted that at the full hearing, evidence would need to be brought forward supporting claims against each of the six individuals, prompting Mr. Mullins to allege that the defendants were not just “any group of individuals”, but a, “collective group”. Mr. Mullins reiterated his assertions that the intention of participants in Robin Hooding is the elimination of the city’s parking department by means of “harassing and intimidating” parking enforcement officers, which presumably constitutes a criminal act under NH RSA 642:1, Obstructing Government Operations. (more…)
Another Monday has arrived, and with it, another spellbinding episode of the most controversial cable access program on Cheshire TV; AKPF is still #1. This week begins with a throwback to the television gold of Wacky Delly, quickly followed up by a special newscast from the DPRK’s official teleprint, Keene Slantinel. Among the other noteworthy happenings in this entry include the ludicrous lemonade and iced tea arrest of rapper X in North Carolina, and a unique submission entitled ‘Illuminati Media Exposed’ produced by youtube’s own Vigilant Christian Mario. Check out the latest and greatest, episode 05 Sentential embedded below:
1. 00:10 Opening Wacky Delly Meets Parking Force
2. 01:36 An official newscast from official Keene Slantinel of DPRK
3. 02:06 Freddie P joins AKPF via chalk removal
4. 04:40 James is indoctrinated in matters of law by Off. Jason Short
5. 06:51 Garret is indoctrinated in matters of law by Off. Fintan Moore
6. 09:38 CC.FPP puppy interlude (Yellow Labradors)
7. 09:42 The Ballistic Engineered BEARCAT Attack Truck arrives from the Lenco
8. 10:59 James C intros ‘Environmentally Friendly’ prequel/followup
9. 12:07 Garret intros X’s Lemonade/Iced Tea arrest with Peace Tea (more…)
Bradley Manning’s 4th year of incarceration began recently, and his trial began today at Ft. Meade. Manning is facing 2 dozen charges after leaking documents to the website Wikileaks. Before giving the documents to Wikileaks, Manning attempted to give the documents to the New York Times and Washington Post, among other news outlets. Manning offered a plea bargain during a pretrial conference on February 28. His guilty plea to 10 lesser charges included possessing and willfully communicating to an unauthorized person all the main elements of the WikiLeaks disclosure. The UK Guardian reported, “That covered the so-called ‘collateral murder’ video of an Apache helicopter attack in Iraq; some US diplomatic cables including one of the early WikiLeaks publications the Reykjavik cable; portions of the Iraq and Afghanistan warlogs, some of the files on detainees in Guantanamo; and two intelligence memos.
These lesser charges each carry a two-year maximum sentence, committing Manning to a possible upper limit of 20 years in prison.” (more…)
We’re only three episodes into the hottest new weekly variety series on Cheshire TV’s local access channel 8, and already AKPF #1 has received a scathing denunciation from the anonymous editorial board of the Keene Sentinel! AKPF is allegedly tied to the devious Robin Hooding ‘campaign’, and the nameless author alleges all sorts of terrifyingly vague safety concerns that may come about as a result of filling meters. First sensationalizing the material, the author attempts to marginalize the Robin Hooding footage selected by referring to it as ‘mundane’. Clearly, they have not watched much of the hundreds of hours of footage at Fr33manTVraw if they think that a riveting discussion that myself and James Cleaveland had with parking enforcer Jane exemplifies mundane footage.
Before the conclusion of the editorial, there’s a video cited which, based on facts referenced, likely is this months-old video, which was produced by Chris Cantwell, a comedian from New York who is not affiliated with Robin Hood of Keene nor is named in the lawsuit. Though it would not take much investigating on the part of the Slantinel, it was apparently too much work to figure out the names of the individuals they make broad allegations against, not so much alleging crime as they are “childish behavior playing out in the streets”. Despite a functioning website, and presence on the internet for several years, the Slantinel also fails to link to the video they absorbed so much knowledge from. It is almost as though they would rather you just take their word for it. (more…)
Several activists came out this morning to hold peace flags and signs with messages like, “Make love, not war”. As you might expect, some people were upset that we were there, but many others were supportive!
Later, we had a nice conversation with Keene police’s Kyle Macie about various issues including voluntarism and world dictators, the police, local activism, prohibition, and other matters.
Thanks to everyone who smiled, waved, and peace signed!
The fourth Occupy New England regional convergence was held this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire’s main campus in Durham. The gathering brought together dedicated activists from around the Northeast to spend time workshopping, networking, and strategizing. In a twist of fate, riot police would descend upon the surrounding area as outdoor presentations on street medic effectiveness and bullhorn mastery occurred on the campus green.
Presidential candidate Vermin Supreme was about midway through a session on de-escalating tense situations when chants of ‘UNH, UNH’ were audible from down the street directly across from the audience. Moments later, riot police appeared to be blocking the road off as students poured out of the area, many bearing cell phones in a manner suggesting that they were video recording. I wandered down for a closer look, and was surprised to see multiple officers carrying paintball guns, and others holding large canisters of pepper spray, most wearing helmets with face shields, gloves, and other protective gear (short of physical riot shields). Students were compliant with requests to stay out of the area, but were clearly agitated by what had previously occurred, several students reporting to have been hit and bruised by rubber bullets (likely pepperballs). From across the road, Vermin’s voice amplified through his bullhorn, reminding everyone to stay calm, that this was only a test, and to ignore the man with the megaphone. The mood lightened lightly as the police froze momentarily and onlookers responded with laughter and applause. (more…)