On January 25th 2014 I made the move to Manchester New Hampshire for the Free State Project. In my short time here I have witnessed such amazing aspects of the liberty community that exists in Manchester and New Hampshire in general. The community here is very strong and vibrant.
Agora Cab accepts payment from a customer, in bitcoin
After a short time here one very quickly begins to realize that the free voluntary society that we are all passionate about is literally being created in Manchester as well as across New Hampshire. From Keene to the Lakes Region down to Manchester/Nashua and the Free Coast, people are here right now being active for liberty. There is infrastructure in that there are multiple buildings such as Area 23 and the Quill in Manchester where people in the liberty community can hold meetings, events, and of course socialize. Agorism is a large part of this community as well. There are multiple businesses in operation that have not sought permission from “the state”. (more…)
During a recent school board meeting, the board and voters in attendance gutted several warrant articles proposed by Conan Salada, which had been signed by dozens of voters. In a Keene Sentinel editorial, the editors of the paper actually side with liberty activists, saying they think the articles should have been left alone for voters to decide as-is. Here’s the editorial:
If anything can be said to be at once both riveting and interminable, Saturday’s Keene School District deliberative session fits the bill. The nearly six-hour meeting consisted largely of a back-and-forth between school officials and members of the Free Keene movement.
The latter had proposed several articles by petition for the March 11 school district ballot, some attempting to reduce the proposed school budget, others seeking to limit the school board’s power. (more…)
This morning on Dunbar St. in Keene, NH, the city truck salted down an entire private lot, presumably while on city time. The owner of this video wishes not to be named.
Could this be part of the reason why people resent paying taxes? When people don’t have a say in how their money is spent, it tends to get wasted! Is this the type of behavior you’d expect to see from local government bureaucrats?
In the last update on Graham Colson’s case where he was arrested for violating an illegal “no trespass” order banning him from Central Sq., attorney Jon Meyer had trounced the people calling themselves the “City of Keene” in district court as judge Edward J. Burke sided with the defense and found “the City” had violated Graham’s right to due process. Burke delayed dismissing the case, however, to give the city attorney time to file a motion to reconsider.
Here is the motion to reconsider that they subsequently filed. In it, KPD prosecutor Jean Kilham argues that the court should reconsider dismissal because Graham previously had not challenged the validity of the no trespass order until now. Kilham is essentially arguing that because Graham was ignorant of his rights and the process until heroic free speech attorney Jon Meyer took his case, that therefore Graham should not be protected from the illegal order. Here’s Jon Meyer’s excellent response to their motion. Now the judge has asked the parties for opinion on if he should wait on a ruling from the US Supreme Court on an apparently unrelated case.
More as it develops. Stay tuned here to Free Keene.
In a recent Keene Sentinel article, the “city” is doing a trial run of the Park Mobile System. This move is good news for the following reasons:
First, adoption of this technology will likely reduce the 29,170 (FY13 Goal, pg 212) tickets issued by parking enforcers, their primary task, thus making enforcement more obsolete. If people use this new system, their chance of receiving a parking ticket will be greatly reduced because they can receive alerts reminding them when their meters are about to expire. Additionally, they may be able to extend their time remotely through the Park Mobile App adding more time to their session if they need it. Furthermore, the number of tickets issued because people who did not have change or enough change is also likely to go down since there will be an additional way of paying for the meters.
In the video below, Garret Ean of Keene Peaceful Streets asks Jason Short a question about the mysterious sniper teams atop city rooftops during the Pumpkin Fest celebration earlier in the day. To avoid answering this simple question Officer Short does something both illegal and dangerous.
Despite Officer Short being covered in dark clothing (except for his face) he crossed the normally busy road as an alert Penske Box Van Driver spotted him and slowed the vehicle down. Garret hung back out of harms way to document the evasive enforcer violating the law he has sworn to uphold.
