This is the only known footage of any of Sam’s arrest (his removal from the city building and loading into a cop car), just now being released due to technical difficulties:
Thankfully this movement contains many activists with video cameras. This means we can be in multiple places and recording them all if necessary. Some of us are now coordinating and stationing camera-toting activists at various entrances to government buildings so as to be best prepared for events like this. What innovations can you bring to this movement? How will your talents help us achieve a voluntary society? Thanks to Free Keene blogger AnarchoJesse for capturing this raw footage.
I finished an excellent book on storytelling and the steps involved in scriptwriting. I’ve already put my mind to work crafting a story with the intention of educating and enlightening the masses to the idea of liberty. Imagine if a movie, inside of an hour, could let people see the chains of government that enslave them, with the purpose of harvesting their labor. I’m really excited about the possibilities.
Another great development in my case today…the state sent an order saying they believe they have figured out who I am. Burke is agin misrepresenting the facts saying the booking process at KPD was “aborted” because I continued letting them identify me as John Doe, when in fact, that was the understanding beforehand. It continued by saying the address I provided “turned out to be a United Parcel Service mailbox in Keene.” Again, that was made perfectly clear to them when I provided the address.
The police prosecutor and arresting officer, Eliezer Rivera, has apparently asked the court to let me come back and process as who they think I am, so I may be released. it’s interesting, they seem to be wanting me out of jail. It seems like the growing press attention is having an effect.
Burke’s order continues:
“Should the defendant decide he is willing to provide true and accurate identifying information about himself — the kind of information any other defendant is expected to provide — and is willing to accept the conditions of bail, the court will schedule a video arraignment as soon as possible thereafter.”
What’s interesting is his use of the term “expected to provide” instead of say…lawfully required to provide. Apparently Burke believes me to be his slave, subject to the “expectations” of the “state” and its agents. Can there be a better example of the hypocrisy of these same people who claim, “It’s the law!”? It appears that’s just what they tell themselves to justify their actions. Make no mistake,
this is about control.
Burke’s order continues:
“Until then the court is unwilling to schedule a trial date. While the prospect of the defendant’s indefinite confinement is distasteful, the court reiterates, however, that the defendant holds the key to his release.”
Distasteful, Mr. Burke? How about illegal and unconstitutional even by “enemy combatant” standards? If you’re not outraged by a judge with the gall to enter an order like this into the record, I ask you what will it take?
What you may not know, is that a write of Habeas Corpus was filed with their N.H. Supreme Court yesterday presenting exactly these issues. Their Supreme Court has 3 days to respond.
The state now has a big problem that Mr. Burke hopes he can make go away by releasing me before the 3 days are up; in which case, their Supreme Court could dismiss the writ, and make this all go away.
However, come Monday, their Supreme Court will have to do one of two things: Deny the writ, and show the world that not even a shred of honor, dignity, respect for human rights or the rule of law remains in their system; or approve the write, uphold their laws, and release me from jail. Setting a precedent in the process, that allows liberty activists to refuse providing a name, social security number, home address, physical characteristics and countless other things they ask, but defendants have no lawful requirement to provide. (not to mention exposing Burke and his courthouse cronies for the out of control tyrants they have become)
The state has already lost, and now they are beginning to realize it. This is the true power of civil disobedience. This is why I sit contently in their cages sacrificing all that I have. I am but one man standing in the face of a seemingly insurmountable system, standing for change. It’s clear to me now how quickly they grow out of control, given what it takes to reign them back in. I am but one man taking a stand. What happens when I am joined by 5? 15? 50? nd one day 5,000?
Soon they will understand we are best left alone, for what you resist, only persists, and what they resist is an idea. An idea which cannot be extinguished. Their attempts have only served to spread the idea far and wide. Keene is taking the next few baby steps in mankind’s evolutions towards a voluntary society.
Meanwhile my hunger strike continues. I’m down to 160, and the doctors now check me twice a week. Tonight they game 1/2 of us haricuts. It’s amazing how things seem to get fixed after I talk about them on the radio. Thank you all for the support, and please keep telling others what’s happening here.
Yesterday was a great day. Nothing all that eventful happened, but I was given a pair of reading glasses from one of the other prisoners. I could read before, but it was slow going. In the proces I’ve rediscovered the joy of learning by reading books.
I’ve been listening to audio books over the last few years with very little reading. Over the last couple of days I read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography. He led a very interesting life, and I see a lot of parallels to my own.
I was also able to browse the titles in the library at the last clothing change. I picked out a book on Chinese cooking (I’ve decided to learn how to cook), the basics of book editing, a book on script writing, and a couple more biographies.
Nothing much happens on the typical day, and that’s perhaps the saddest part of all this. The routine? Lights out/lockdown at 11pm. Breakfast is either at 6, in which case they re-lock the cages until 7am, or breakfast is served after 7 some days. Lunch is around noon, dinner is around 5pm. Druggie buggie is two times a day. Clothing changes, where everyone is issued clothes worn by who knows who, are changed 3 times a week. Razors for shaving are offered every other day. A few days a week we go outside into a caged area for 45 minutes. A few times a week there’s bible study for those that want to go. Visitation Wednesday and Saturday; commissary orders on Monday are delivered Thursday or Friday (what do you expect from a government run store?). That’s it, week after week.
Most of the prisoners skip breakfast or return to sleep afterwards. They start getting up around 10-11am, with everyone up for lunch. To fill the gaps they watch TV, play cards, write letters or sleep.
To suggest that “corrections” or rehabilitation in any way shape or form is happening here, I can only label a bold faced lie. The prisoners here blame their circumstances, many lack basic communication skills, and their dispute resolution skills are centered on violence. There have been two fist fights in the showers (out of camera view) since I’ve been here.
If you think about it, the state is teaching them to be slackers! Sleep till noon, sit around watching TV (or playing video games), no job and expect someone else to supply your room and board.
What’s worse, propbation terms are set up so that even contact with a government police officer is a violation. That’s right, get pulled over as a passenger in a friend’s car, and they will throw you back in jail.
This system is set up with one primary purpose, to extract money from taxpayers, “criminals,” their friends and families, to feed the state. It’s no surprise some states are now charging the prisoners $40-60/day they incarcerate. Wouldn’t it be easier to restitute the victim and make them whole again? Of course not! That wouldn’t feed the ever growing monster that is the state, and its fascist corporate prison monopoly n so called “justice.”
The fourth in three weeks. The second in two days. Some activists claim that Keene isn’t the epicenter of liberty activism in NH, and I know there are other activists across the state doing great work, but I challenge them to show another area that has generated this much front page coverage in mainstream newsprint. Just off the top of my head, I can think of at least eight front page articles about liberty activists that have been published in the Sentinel in less than two years’ time.
Orders outside the court
Dave Ridley, a Manchester videographer with ties to the Free State Project, was at Keene District Court Friday. Ridley was arrested in the court in March because he refused to turn off his camera in the lobby.
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Battle over video forces a re-think
By PHILLIP BANTZ
Sentinel Staff
Published: Sunday, May 03, 2009
A legal fog pervades the corridors and lobbies of New Hampshire’s courts.
The rules for recording public hearings in courtrooms are relatively clear: The Supreme Court says it’s allowed unless “there is a substantial likelihood of harm to any person or other harmful consequence.”
But those foggy gray areas beyond the courtrooms remain untouched by state law.
Snapping a photo or recording video in these places is permitted in some district courts and prohibited in others, (more…)
Tuesday, April 28:
Today at breakfast we were only given one half cup of milk today instead of the usual two. Given that milk is all I’m drinking, and I did my full set of stretches along with 2/3 of a yoga workout, my body needed it. One of the other prisoners named Brandon is lactose intolerant, and breakfast was was two pieces of burnt toast and dry cereal that resembled Froot Loops. When Brandon asked how he was supposed to eat that, the guard told him to use water. They were out of the substitute as well. (more…)
Monday, April 27:
I get up early in the morning to take a hot shower. The hot water for a group of about 20 lasts long enough for two showers. With my body lacking protein from the hunger strike, the cold is almost unbearable.
The shower of course models government’s flawed “one size MUST fit all” methodology. It has an on/off button with no temperature control. So when the water first comes out it’s well over 110°, causes my skin to turn bright red, and burns my scalp if I put my head under it. So I let it run for about 5 minutes to cool off. It gives me time to kill the gnats flying around the shower. (more…)
