The issue of parking and its enforcement in downtown Keene occupied much of the final hour during yesterday’s weekly episode of SoundOff on WKBK radio. Hosts Greg Pregent and Chris Cotes were joined by Keene Sentinel correspondent Kyle Jarvis. One of the calls in to the show was placed by none other than city code enforcement officer Fred Parsells, who has previously moonlighted for the federal Toilet Safety Administration and has also operated as a chalk removal agent for the AKPF. Hear the entirety of the parking analysis as posted in audio format to Free Keene.
Local hater group, “STOP FREE KEENE!!!” received press today from the Sentinel and rather than speak to reporter Kyle Jarvis they released the following statement, according to a comment on the Sentinel’s site by group founder Andrea Parkhurst Whitcomb. In this article, I respond to their statement which appears in-full, in the block quotes below:
“Stop Free Keene is a loosely organized group or 200+ Keene/Monadnock residents who are concerned and alarmed by the goals and tactics of Free Keene and it’s affiliate organizations. This includes the desire for the abolishment or privatization of all government agencies and services like police, fire, and judicial systems as well as the complete dismantling of public education and regulatory oversight of food, medicine, and the environment.
Free Keene is a website – it has no tactics as it’s only a wordpress site. The purpose of the site is to share news, activism, and opinion in the hopes of advancing society to a consensual order rather than one based on institutionalized coercion. Please see our “About” page for details. Each person that blogs for Free Keene has their own tactics and they may not all agree on the best way to go about achieving their goals. Personally, I don’t support privatizing police, fire, and justice. I just want the markets open to competition and have the state agencies no longer funded by the threat of force. I support education, good food, health care, and a clean environment. I just don’t think a monopoly is the best way to provide those services. If you want to know what other Free Keene bloggers think, feel free to ask them.
Free Keene and its affiliates have made it a priority to harass, intimidate, or otherwise silence their critics and those they perceive as “enemies of liberty”.
Towards the end of last week’s Saturday morning episode of the live local call-in radio program SoundOff, a listener raised the issue of Keene parking rate and fine increases. The caller expressed discontent that parking would become more expensive and from his perspective, the rate hikes were enough to disincentivize him from choosing to frequent downtown businesses. The necessity of the rate hike is kicked around for several minutes by host Chris Cotes and guest host Dale Pregent, and the efforts of Robin Hood of Keene are mentioned in passing. Towards the end of the segment, Dale makes an underhanded comment about the parking enforcers, referring to one of the workers as a ‘parking maid’ while suggesting that there previously had been allegations of harassment of city employees by city officials. The audio has been specially set to b-roll footage of the AKPF van occupying various parking spaces throughout the city.
Another exemplary installment of the AKPF #1 series this week features more quality content from the 2014 New Hampshire Liberty Forum. Opening with a well produced interview compilation captured by recent Chicago-area transplant Rob Mathias, we get insight into the passions and motivations of various activists around New Hampshire and beyond. The segment is followed up by a freshly cut edition of the Nashua duck vigil held on the morning of Sunday, February 23. Finishing out the show are excerpts from a public declaration by Garret Ean at the DPRK Central sub-Committee hearing on a proposal to increase AKPF rates, fees, and fines by hefty portions. Another locally produced CheshireTV program, Black Sheep Rising, discusses the increase proposals, as well as reactive response in a portion of their most recent episode.
1. 00:10 Declaration of the people (Liberty Forum compilation)
2. 15:46 Nashua Lost Ducks Candlelight Vigil Memorial Service
3. 27:20 Questioning the parking commissioner on proposed increases against DPRK civilians (taxation/penalization/criminalization/victimization)
For the second Monday in three weeks, anti-Robin Hood proponents have issued a denunciatory printout, distributing the flier to car windshields around the downtown portions of Keene. This week’s flier is less profane than the last, which included the ‘f’ word uncensored. Perhaps in response to negative feedback, the flier now bowdlerizes the language with asterisks and includes seldom accurate information listed sequentially following pronouncements declaring the content, ‘Fact’.
One goal of the flier’s author seems to be consciousness raising directed at the home address of myself (Garret) and at least one other Free Keene blogger. I can’t imagine too many of the recipients of the flier will be delighted to read what amounts to a distasteful rant posturing as though it were a serious critique of community activists. In all honesty, could one ask for a more useful opposition?
Chris Cantwell published a blog post this week in which he made the case that violent revolution is moral, possible, and practical.
To me, Cantwell’s argument comes down to: “Violent revolution is the right thing to do.” Specifically, he advocates for killing in self defense. In other words, killing police that would otherwise be killing you. He argues that peaceful resistance is fruitless because, “ideas require teeth.” He seems to assert, “Why allow our friends to be relegated to the dustbins of history for standing on principle? As long as the State can legitimately kill and cage us, we’ll never have peace or freedom!” (more…)
hour during yesterday’s weekly episode of SoundOff on WKBK radio. Hosts Greg Pregent and Chris Cotes were joined by Keene Sentinel correspondent Kyle Jarvis. One of the calls in to the show was placed by none other than city code enforcement officer Fred Parsells, who has previously moonlighted for the federal Toilet Safety Administration and has also operated as a chalk removal agent for the AKPF. Hear the entirety of the parking analysis as posted in audio format to Free Keene.
Chris Cantwell published a 
