Ademo and Derrick Arrested at District Court Today; Ademo Still in Jail

by | Jun 28, 2011 | 0 comments

Local Keene-native liberty activist Kate Ager has written a blog post on her facebook regarding this morning’s kidnapping of Ademo Freeman and Derrick Horton:

I woke up this morning (Tuesday June 28, 2011) to a Keene 411 text message alerting me that, “Ademo Freeman just got arrested at city hall,” so I went down there. When I arrived, I passed Jason Repsher downstairs who was doing Don’t Take the Plea outreach and proceeded to the second floor where the first thing I saw upon opening the door was a Keene Police officer grabbing Derrick Horton’s arm; he was ordered to put his camera on the counter, placed under arrest and taken into a back room. Ademo, who was being held in the conference room, was taken to a room off to the side where I could see him through the window and spoken to by multiple police officers. After their encounter, Ademo was taken to the Keene Police Department. Jason Repsher stayed at the Keene District Court to watch Derrick’s proceedings while Rich Paul and I went to the police department to gain further information about Ademo. At the police department, the woman at the front desk said that she did not know any information and would speak with the arresting officer when he was free for a moment. We checked in with her multiple times, but she did not follow through. About forty-five minutes after arriving, I was standing outside with Rich and Jason, when Officer Short drove into the parking lot and informed us that Derrick had been transported to the police department and would be released shortly, and Ademo was being charged with a Class B Felony, Improper Influence [*]. (more…)

New Hampshire on track to target immigrants

by | Jun 16, 2011 | 0 comments

The Union Leader reports that New Hampshire officials intend to cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in their effort to piggyback on the work of local law enforcement.

The initiative, eerily named “Secure Communities,” would check the fingerprints of everyone who is arrested against federal immigration databases. In the case of a match, the ICE is notified and the agency uses its discretion to decide how to respond.

The ICE says that its priority is the removal of convicted felons, but, according to ICE data, 28% of the 49,638 people deported between October 2009 and September 2010 as a result of Secure Communities were convicted of no crime whatsoever. Many others were charged only with misdemeanors. According to the Immigration Policy Center, “Examinations of ICE’s Secure Communities statistics reveals that those identified by Secure Communities include large numbers of individuals with no criminal history, individuals charged with (but not convicted of) crimes, and legal immigrants with prior convictions that make them deportable.”

The program currently operates in 1,315 counties in 42 states, and the ICE plans to have a Secure Communities presence in every state by the end of 2011, with total coverage by 2013. Yet they’ve already been rebuffed by state officials in Washington, D.C., Illinois, Minnesota, Washington, New York, and, just recently, in Massachusetts.

The Pew Research Center estimates that New Hampshire is home to 10 or 20 thousand undocumented immigrants, and the Immigration Policy Center estimates that they pay about $5 million dollars in state taxes every year. So when will New Hampshire join the opposition?

Learn more about the impact of Secure Communities at the Immigration Policy Center, Deportation Nation, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the New York Times.

Suicide by Self-Immolation in Keene – Confirmed

by | Jun 15, 2011 | 61 comments

Keene Police were not giving out much info, but there is a dead body out front of Cheshire Superior Court and a large amount of charring on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse. Police scanner recordings confirm this is a case of suicide by self-immolation. You can listen to the Keene police scanner here.

Makes you wonder what the court did to the poor guy/gal. More details as we learn them:

UPDATE: Here’s the Sentinel’s piece with comments from a witness.

UPDATE: Here’s audio from the police scanner feed after the man sets himself ablaze.

Orlando Police Arrest 15 in Two Weeks for Feeding People

by | Jun 13, 2011 | 5 comments

Yes, it is a crime to feed people in public in Orlando. Heroic civil disobedients continue to return to a public park where each time they attempt to feed homeless people and other hungry folks, the local bicycle gang rides in and kidnaps the servers. Here are multiple videos of the various abductions over the last two weeks, courtesy Orlando Copwatch. Orlando’s John Kurtz will be at Porcfest next week along with other Orlando activists: (It’s also worth noting that I don’t agree with the chant heard in these videos of, “Food is a right, not a privilege”. Food is neither. It’s a product that should be able to be sold or given away in whatever non-fraudulent way the people who have it want. It would be more accurate to say that the ability to give away or sell food is a right, not a privilege. That said, one need not agree with the liberty viewpoint to do attention-worthy civil disobedience. These activists are courageous to continue going back and getting arrested again and again.)


Here’s raw footage:
(more…)