While more is learned about what motivated the theft of my camera that occurred at the hands of state police in June, content continues to upload as it becomes available. Embedded below is footage of the retrieval of the camera at the state police headquarters on Ash Brook Court in Keene. The return was overseen by trooper Aaron Gillis, who was also a participant in the theft, though identified as a subordinate by the orchestrator of the incident, trooper Joseph DiRusso.
Also discovered last evening was some vandalism to the camera underneath the battery port, where someone had scribbled on the camera with different sharpies.
This afternoon, I was happily reunited with my beloved Canon Vixia HFR21, after it had spent nearly two months in the custody of the state police. Since the unsealing of the secret search warrant, it is still unclear what caused judge Edward Burke and trooper Joesph DiRusso to believe that they had a right to conspire to steal property. Their search warrant lacks anything resembling probable cause of a crime, and the ‘victim’ of the alleged wiretap was royal court jester Tom Mullins, who collects funds from captive taxpayers. Mullins also has an active lawsuit against myself and five friends whom he suspects are behind the filling of parking meters downtown, depriving his organization of their coveted ticket revenue. Even without evidence of any criminal activity, Mullins nearly succeeded in depriving myself of a defensive tool by stealing my camera, a device that I carry with me when Robin Hooding without exception. Thanks to my friend James Cleaveland, I was re-armed with a Sony HDR-CX190 that evening following the shakedown, minimizing the intended damaging effect of the property seizure.
Also retrieved with the camera is the footage of the shakedown, which occurred just out of earshot of my home, while my roommates occupied the porch as I had just bicycled off to go Robin Hooding. At the corner of Leverett and School Street, a car that had earlier been circling my home appeared at a stop sign, and that is where the footage begins. Unfortunately, it appears DiRusso stopped the recording shortly after taking possession of the camera, so not included in this clip is the three to five more minutes I spent on the corner waiting for the receipt for my camera and verbally laying into DiRusso’s subordinate about the morality of their career choice. (more…)
On the date of Robin Hood of Keene’s evidentiary hearing this past Monday, the Merry People were provided with what may otherwise be considered a friendship gesture, in the form of a photo album organized by the bureaucrats of the Democratic People’s Republic of Keene (Official DPRK). The album, much like the video that they played in court, in many ways violates the best evidence rule, as an upcoming video will address. It’s also worth noting the lack of an adblock program on DPRK computer machines — how obsolete! In the meantime, enjoy perusing the album created by the city and also enjoy this summary video of Pete Eyre’s testimony at Monday’s hearing. The video below will be airing in this upcoming week’s AKPF #1 timeslot.
While Robin Hooders prepare to spend a full day in court, this evening Concord city bureaucrats will hold the public hearing on the now infamous BEARCAT grant sought by the police. At 7pm, the public meeting is slated to begin at the council chambers on Green Street. Check out the informative response from Occupy New Hampshire, reformed following the decision to label them a terrorist group by the local police, who gathered to express their opposition to militarism and corporate protectionism. Additional coverage has recently run in Mother Jones, The Washington Times, Common Dreams, and The Boston Liberal. As posted to the Concord-NH.patch.com:
Participants and sympathizers of what was the Occupy New Hampshire movement are shocked to learn that the city of Concord considers us a potential threat to public safety and that we “present daily challenges.” In fact, the city considers us such a threat that it filed a fraudulent grant request to purchase a quarter of a million dollar armored attack vehicle to protect the community from non violent activists in this state.
Occupy NH established an explicit nonviolent ethic at its onset. No ONH event has ever witnessed a single act of violence. Furthermore, while Chief Duval claims that this is for the protection of the citizens of Concord, and wonders about the concern of citizens outside of Concord, he made this process a statewide issue and invited non-Concord residents to participate in the discussion and decision making process by targeting statewide organizations such as Occupy New Hampshire, and the Free State Project. (more…)
Edward Burke says that I owe the “City of Keene” 15FNRs or else.
This, despite the fact that no victim could be pointed to by Keene police employee Lesley Collier, who back in March left a ransom note on my Tahoe.
Nor could Collier point to any property damage that I had caused or even a single complainant.
To be clear, the ransom Burke says I owe is demanded simply because I disobeyed a decree that I never signed, which was written by some strangers I never met.
Thanks to Ian Freeman of FreeKeene.com, ShireSociety.com, FreeTalkLive.com, LRN.FM and KeeneCopBlock.org for filming this August 06, 2013 venture in legaland.
Legaland is necessarily arbitrary as it says that a certain group of people have the right and knowledge to create and then interpret legislation conflated to be law. .
I don’t need to be verse in legaland jargon or go to school for three years to know that no victim means no crime. That’s enough for me. (more…)
Robin Hooding has been going strong and consistent since around the turn of the new year. In the thousands of collective hours that the Merry people have spent marching the streets of Keene, we’ve seen our share of haters. For every few supporters, there’s usually one detractor, and of the few dozen who will yell out profanities or insults, only a handful have ever gotten physical. There was Bradford Hutchinson, a well known indigent local who often goes under the moniker ‘the King of Keene’ online. He was upset over the Merry people’s nullification of the parking enforcer’s jobs, and expressed himself by waving a can of pepper spray in Garret’s face before trying to grab him around the head. Deflected with minimal resistance, he eventually wandered off on his own.
Then there was Nicholas McCallister, who seemed less concerned about Robin Hooding and more concerned with civilians in possession of cameras. He began threatening me while I was with James and Graham, while none of us were filming, thus resulting in him getting his wish and becoming a video star. For all of his huffing and puffing, he seemed content with punching James in the arm and, like Bradford, wandering off. (more…)
While more is learned about what motivated the theft of my camera that occurred at the hands of state police in June, content continues to upload as it becomes available. Embedded below is footage of the retrieval of the camera at the state police headquarters on Ash Brook Court in Keene. The return was overseen by trooper Aaron Gillis, who was also a participant in the theft, though identified as a subordinate by the orchestrator of the incident, trooper Joseph DiRusso.
