A shocking trend of gang-related shootings plagued New Orleans following the hurricane infamous for destroying much of the city’s infrastructure. As national news media was reporting exaggerated claims of street-level violence occurring in understocked refuge centers, heavily armed and trained mobs were targeting and killings innocent civilians. Following the attempted murder of Donnel Herrington and the murder of Henry Glover on September 2, 2005, Danny Brumfield was killed with a shotgun blast to the back on September 3 near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The Danziger bridge shootings were perpetrated on September 4, resulting in the deaths of James Brissette and Ronald Madison, with four other victims suffering injury in the attack. Who was responsible for these mob killings?
It would be years before a critical inquiry into the senseless killings would occur, primarily sparked by intrigued journalists and eventually followed up by the United States department of justice through the federal bureau of investigation. Potentially more disturbing than what is known is what is not known. With reports of bodies being spotted throughout the city that appeared to be victims of gunshot wounds rather than storm-related injuries, there is no way to know exactly how many homicides occurred during the post-storm havoc. Survivors have cited numerous bodies buried beneath debris showing gunshot wounds in Algiers Point, an area which was not flooded after the rupture of the levees. In various journalistic reports, drunken neighbors in largely wealthy, european-american residential areas admit to operating armed patrols and firing on people who, “didn’t belong.” (more…)
As usual, many of the politicians are rude and walk by the independent journalist. Why anyone would voluntarily pay for “service” like this is beyond me.
Fifty years ago, the population of Gary, Indiana reached its peak with nearly 180,000 residents. Infrastructure was being built on estimates that the area may soon be home to nearly a quarter million people. Founded around the turn of the century and designated as the home of the Gary Works steel plant, soon automation replaced human labor and demand for domestically produced steel decreased. As the number of employees of Gary Works declined, so did the economy and tax base of the city, as well as its population, which now hosts less than 80,000 residents. During that time, another legal phenomenon swept the nation, which only contributed to Gary’s woes. The United States experienced the proliferation of the war on drugs. These two factors led to Gary experiencing high crime and poverty rates, which continue to affect the city that resembles a ghost town more each year.
The failure of central planning has also negatively impacted the city. City hall grossly overestimates property values in an attempt to recoup the tax base lost to other towns and cities as residents fled. While houses and businesses sit abandoned and in shambles, back taxes are claimed owed on them despite their negative value. Travelling through the city full of crumbling structures, it would seem the obvious solution would be to allow the impoverished residents to homestead and reclaim the land and property which is underutilized. Yet police in Gary still work to combat squatting in structures deemed to have potential future value, if only someone would purchase and refurbish them. (more…)
Friday morning’s Legislative Panel at Keenevention 2013 focused on the tools of activism at the NH State House. Starting with learning how a idea can become a law, discussion included the mechanics of working with political parties, understanding NH demographics, how to win and lose elections, the technique of measuring legislators in a variety of ways, as well as how to successfully lobby (and how not to!) to stop new proposed bad laws and help remove existing bad laws (and [rarely] passing good ones.) Led by former State Representative and Free Keene blogger Seth Cohn, panelists included current State Rep. Tim O’Flaherty (D), former State Rep. Spec Bowers (R), and NH Liberty Alliance Chair Eileen Landies.
According to the Sentinel’s election rundown, turnout among the city’s 16,598 registered voters was 12 percent. Put another way, that’s 88% of people who are registered to vote that decided that the election wasn’t important enough to bother. Despite the claims of those who advocate for controlling their neighbors, the Keene election is hardly a mandate against liberty. It’s the same as always: a superminority of people are the ones who decide the winners and those people are usually those who support “the state”. Everyone else is too busy with important things like their lives.
Clearly, despite the excellent slate of liberty-oriented candidates, the average people of Keene did not fear freedom so much that they decided to come vote against us. Turnout this year was nothing unusual. Alternately, they did not desire freedom so much that they decided to come out and vote for us. Most people are in-the-dark as to what is happening here. Only the politically aware are likely to vote in municipal elections, and politically aware people tend to be those who wish to control others, hence, the easy wins for aggression-supporting candidates.
Surely the political class is resting easy with their victories, however, they should keep in mind that should the “sleeping giant” of average folks awaken, it would only take 2-3% of the population of Keene to come out and vote for liberty to completely flip the tables. For instance, I got 10th place out of 10 in the at-large race. However, I’d have needed only 700 votes to have made 5th place and won a seat on the council. 700 is about 3% of Keene’s 23,000 population. What could motivate those people to actually vote? Your guess is as good as mine.
P.S. Thanks to all those who voted for liberty-oriented candidates!
Keene held municipal elections on November 5, 2013. There were 10 candidates for At-Large City Council, with 4 of the 5 winners being current or former Councilors. Emily Hague is the only At-Large Councilor who is new to the Council. Kris Roberts received the most votes for At-Large City Council, and David Curran finished just 4 votes behind David Meader for the fifth At-Large spot. (more…)
A shocking trend of gang-related shootings plagued New Orleans following the hurricane infamous for destroying much of the city’s infrastructure. As national news media was reporting exaggerated claims of street-level violence occurring in understocked refuge centers, heavily armed and trained mobs were targeting and killings innocent civilians. Following the attempted murder of Donnel Herrington and the murder of Henry Glover on September 2, 2005, Danny Brumfield was killed with a shotgun blast to the back on September 3 near the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The Danziger bridge shootings were perpetrated on September 4, resulting in the deaths of James Brissette and Ronald Madison, with four other victims suffering injury in the attack. Who was responsible for these mob killings?
