Tuesday morning the saga of UBER Grandma came to a close at Portsmouth district court. Stephanie Franz’ trial was scheduled for seven tickets she’s received since October of 2015 for the horrible crime of driving people places without a government permission slip. Rather than thank her for providing the service of getting drunk people home alive (and stopping them from driving themselves home drunk), the “City of Portsmouth” gang decided to ticket her seven times for a total of $6,500! $500 for the first ticket, $1000 each for the rest.
The city’s argument for threatening the sweet grandmother and other UBER drivers with such ridiculous fines was the claim that more stringent background checks than what UBER provides are necessary to keep passengers safe. However, this argument is obvious garbage, as the city only regulates drivers who charge for their services. If a convicted murderer were to offer rides for free, the regulations wouldn’t apply. Portsmouth’s anti-ride-sharing regulations, passed in Summer of 2015, were created to protect the existing taxi oligopoly. That’s what regulations are really for – not to protect consumers as the government claims, but to protect the established businesses from innovative competition.
Despite the constant attacks by both the police and the cabbies, UBER Grandma was not deterred. She kept driving in civil disobedience to the city’s protectionist ordinances, knowing she had harmed no one, and in fact had helped many people get home safely. She’s a hero for continuing to stand up for her right to do business without asking for permission! (more…)
State Representative Amanda Bouldin, Founder of Shire Sharing and “Liberty” Snitch
Free State Project early mover and now State Representative Amanda Bouldin has done a lot of good in her activist career. She created Shire Sharing, which for years, has fed hundreds of families in New Hampshire over the Thanksgiving holiday. She also created the Narcan bill that has helped save lives of opiate addicts across New Hampshire.
However, like many politicians, it turns out she’s a coward… and worse, a snitch.
You never know who is going to break under the pressure of the state. It could be your lover, your brother, or your “friend”. However, one might expect more from a libertarian, who should know better. One would be wrong.
State Representative Kyle Tasker Faces 60 Years for Victimless Crimes
In the over hour-long interview (click for redacted PDF transcript) she throws Kyle, whom she describes as her “friend” under the bus and reveals much of what she knows about his cannabis-dealing business. She also gossips about various state reps, claiming Libertarian candidate for Governor Max Abramson is the most hated in the state house.
She rolls on fellow liberty state rep Pam Tucker, claiming that Kyle named her as one of the state reps he’d sold cannabis to, in addition to an unnamed elderly rep in the state house parking garage.
After talking about how she was his “friend” and wanted to help him she says this about Kyle:
“He seemed like he was trying to be more legitimate than it deserved to be. Is what I remember thinking about it. That he. Um. He seems to derive some. Um. For sense of self-worth from doing it. You know what I mean? Like, he felt important. And. He also felt, um, invincible. Like, um, when he was using his vape in the State House, they said – you can’t do that in here; you’re going to get in trouble. And, he showed me, like, on-line, um, like, on his IPad, or something, ah, the law. It apparently says that the State House is, like, this bubble of immunity. I don’t know. So. I was, like, okay. It’s not? So, Seth thinks that Kyle is really stupid. “
Originally launched in August of 2015, Cell 411 has since been installed 85,000 times, worldwide. Its primary purpose is to connect people with their friends, family, and neighbors in any emergency situation, from being pulled over, to a fire, to medical emergency. At that it’s been an incredible success, and it’s free to use. Now, by adding ride sharing, Cell 411 has gone to the next level. They’ve decentralized ride sharing even moreso than UBER and Lyft and Cell 411 did it without a single dollar from investors or publicity in advance. For those who have been watching Arcade City – Cell 411 has accomplished AC’s original vision while Arcade City’s app doesn’t even have ride sharing yet.
I’ve been a longtime supporter of Arcade City. Arcade City’s founder, Christopher David gave a great keynote speech at the 2015 Keenevention and is a blogger here at Free Keene. In its early days and through the summer I promoted AC on my radio show and became one of the top recruiters. However with the early September release of the current software, I was pretty bummed that ride-sharing was not included, and instead it was just a “game” involving earning and giving “karma points” to other people in the network. It didn’t make sense, especially since Arcade City already had ride-scheduling in their early 2016 app. Obviously the code from the first app could have been included in the September 2016 release and allowed drivers to get started giving people rides immediately.
Good-bye UBER, Cell 411 is here.
Arcade City had succeeded and building incredible buzz by moving operations to Austin, TX after the city council there drove UBER and Lyft out of town with their control-freak regulations. They made a facebook group, (since their old app had been pulled from the Android and Apple stores at this point in anticipation of the September-released app) and attracted 30,000+ participants into the group! The Austin facebook group garnered a bunch of media and even a police raid of the Arcade City offices.
Drivers of UBER and Lyft were understandably interested in Arcade City, which promised an app that would truly decentralize ride sharing. The original vision Chris David had was to cut the corporations out of the picture. No longer would UBER and Lyft (and their imitators) be able to control the drivers. Drivers would be able to set their own rates as well as accepted payment methods – cash, bitcoin, credit card, silver, or whatever. This vision would bring a new level of competition to the transportation business, while making it even harder for governments to target those involved with regulation. (more…)
As part of a growing trend around the country, Keene city councilor Philip Jones made a recommendation to the Municipal Services, Facilities and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday to paint a blue line down the center of Marlboro St in downtown Keene. This effort “would serve as a reminder that they (Keene Police Department) always have the support of the local community.”
Most attending the hearing spoke favorably of the service provided by KPD but there were some concerns over the precedent this request would create; what over city departments and organizations would want their own personalized line painted in the street next?
As the only dissenting voice at the hearing, I explained my concerns over this “every cop gets a trophy mentality.” Recognition should only be given to those who have gone above and beyond and never handed out simply because you wear a special uniform. This blue line creates a statement that “all” police should be recognized as heroes regardless of their performance.
The request was ultimately postponed until next hearing in order to gather more information regarding the final cost and equipment needed.
A City Council committee postponed making a decision on a proposal to paint a blue traffic line down Marlboro Street to show appreciation for Keene’s police officers.
At a meeting of the municipal services, facilities and infrastructure committee Wednesday night, Vice Chairman Randy L. Filiault said city staff need more time to answer questions about the proposal’s cost and research how similar projects have gone over in other communities.
The proposal came before the council last week after Ward 5 Councilor Philip M. Jones filed a memo asking that city staff paint a blue line down the middle of Marlboro Street to show support and respect for the services provided by members of the city’s police department. (more…)
Nottingham police officer Chris Gilroy, who made news when he fraudulently posed as a teenage girl and attempted to lure then-state-representative Kyle Tasker for sex, has himself been arrested. Looks like Gilroy may have his own vices – he crashed his truck yesterday and was busted by state police for Driving While Intoxicated, according to the Union Leader:
Gilroy was traveling northbound on I-95 in a silver 2006 Toyota Tacoma pickup when it appears he attempted to take the Exit 2 off-ramp and lost control. His vehicle drove over the cement median and struck the Exit 2 off-ramp sign, state police said. After crossing the cement median, Gilroy drove across the off-ramp and struck the guardrail on the east side of the ramp, state police said.
His vehicle then continued northbound on the ramp for a short distance before driving onto the curb and striking the guardrail a second time head-on, according to police.
Drug Harm to Society and the User
Gilroy played a major role in the investigation that led to Tasker being charged with multiple victimless crimes after police raided his home and allegedly found cannabis, psychedelic mushrooms, and MDMA. Of course, Gilroy’s vice in this case is legal, although according to a study published in the Lancet by the former chief drug adviser to the British government, Professor David Nutt, alcohol is the most dangerous drug available.
It’s not uncommon for the very same men and women who enforce the insane war on drugs to be users and addicts of the legal, hardest drug, alcohol. Of course the hypocritical Gilroy will likely be facing a slap on the hand over this while Tasker is facing 13 felony charges that could result in anywhere from 60-120 years in prison and up to 1.5 million in fines.
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Rick Naya, NH Hempfest Organizer and State Rep Joe Lachance
The Attorney General’s office in New Hampshire has released a report regarding their investigation of claims that former state representative Kyle Tasker had sold cannabis at the NH state house in Concord, to other state representatives. Several liberty-oriented state reps including Amanda Bouldin, Joe Lachance, Pam Tucker, Ted Wright, and the late Shem Kellogg were all investigated by the AG’s office but none will be charged.
The report details the investigations of each state rep and though they believed they had a case for “dry conspiracy” charges against both former-cop-turned-LEAP speaker Lachance and Tasker, they used their discretion and decided not to charge them. The report specifically cites jury nullification when giving their explanation as to why they aren’t charging Lachance – that’s great news for activists who’ve been doing jury nullification outreach here in the Shire for years.
Jury nullification is the long-held right of jurors to vote their conscience, regardless of what the law says and the facts in the case are. Though Lachance clearly broke the law, each juror has the right to acquit simply because they believe the law is bad. It’s a powerful right and courts around the country as well as the federal courts will do everything they can to keep jurors from knowing about it. However, here in New Hampshire is established court precedent that not only can jury nullification information be given to jurors outside the court, but even defendants and attorneys can explain nullification during trial!
NH Jury Rights
The NH attorney general doesn’t like jury nullification, as it’s a threat to their power. They appear however to have realized that the changing political tides regarding cannabis legalization plus jurors’ awareness of nullification would likely mean they were wasting their time prosecuting Lachance. They also say in the report that a jury would likely reject “dry conspiracy” charges for Tasker as well (who is facing various felonies for other victimless crimes) and say his other charges will suffice to, “hold him accountable for his drug crimes”. Of course, there are no victims in those “drug crimes” which include possession and sale of cannabis, MDMA, and mushrooms and so Tasker should also not be charged with them, and neither should anyone else.
That’s really the question here – if the NH AG acknowledges that cannabis charges are likely to not pass a jury due to nullification, then why don’t they treat every person caught with cannabis the same way they did the state reps? The reason is they know most people will quietly take a plea deal and further, if they don’t take the deal, they can drop the charge to a class B misdemeanor which means the defendant can’t get a jury trial, virtually guaranteeing a guilty verdict and hundreds of dollars (per victim) flowing to the state’s coffers. Cannabis prohibition means big money for the state gang, so they’ll keep charging the little people until the law is changed. Hopefully that will happen in 2017 if the new governor doesn’t stand in the way, whoever it ends up being.
