by Ian | May 9, 2023 |
Frank “Footloose” Staples was wrongfully arrested on charges of “disorderly conduct” for sitting quietly at an executive council meeting in 2021. Last week his nearly two-month trial wrapped up, with Frank found not guilty of the initial “disorderly”, but guilty of the subsequent charge he received after he announced to the audience that he was being arrested in the back of the room. He intends to appeal.
In five days of court spread out over weeks, the state police’s prosecutors alleged Frank was disrupting the meeting and that’s why he was targeted. Frank’s multiple witnesses said he was never disruptive and that the state police were clearly looking to make arrests, as the chairs were zip tied together, multiple paddy wagons were on hand, and dozens of uniformed officers were present.
Ultimately the robed man decided the state had not met its burden of proof on the initial charge, but claimed, confusingly, that the police had probable cause to make the arrest. How can the police have probable cause to make an arrest for which the person is then found not guilty? They can’t. The judge is obviously covering for the police and trying to justify the second “disorderly” count that Frank received when he was taken behind the curtain and arrested, which is when he yelled that he was being arrested and to “shut it down!”.
The trial was very entertaining with Frank blowing up and yelling at the judge and the prosecutors many times. If you’ve seen him in court videos before, you know what to expect. I hope you enjoy this 13-hour trial video:
by Ian | Mar 18, 2023 |
A couple of years ago, the New Hampshire Goldback was created after the original Utah Goldback proved incredibly popular at the 2020 Porcfest. A gorgeous, spendable, interchangeable type of gold money available in denominations as small 1/1000th of an ounce of 24 karat gold, the NH Goldback has taken the NH freedom community by storm – giving even cryptocurrency serious competition.
Now, the company behind the Goldback, Alpine Gold, has launched its first physical branch location and they chose Manchester, NH!
I decided I needed to see it for myself, so I set an appointment with Adam Van, the manager, and got him to answer all my questions about the services they provide the community, and the entire eastern portion of the United States. It’s pretty cool – watch the interview here:
Give them a call at (801) 770-2565 x1201 and stop in to see for yourself.
by Ian | Mar 13, 2023 |
A few weeks ago, 70 state reps voted to end drug prohibition entirely and last week, 90 state reps voted to end prohibition on dimethyltryptamine (DMT)! Here’s the full video from the house floor featuring reps Jason Gerhard, Matt Santonastaso, and Jonah Wheeler speaking in favor of the bill, HB 216, which sadly lost 274-97. However, 26% is a good first try.
Clearly, younger state reps understand the urgency of ending the insane war on drugs and as the older prohibitionist reps die off and are replaced by free staters as our number and influence increases, we will be ever closer to ending the madness of drug prohibition in our lifetime.
by Ian | Feb 23, 2023 |
Nearly 20% of those voting on HB581 yesterday in the full New Hampshire house session, voted for ending the insane war on drugs ENTIRELY! The bill came out of nowhere, filed by rep Matt Santonastaso with little fanfare or press attention, despite the epic attack on the War on Drugs it represents. The public hearing came-and-went with little support, or opposition.
Yesterday, at the full house session, the bill came up for a vote and reps Santonastaso and Jonah Wheeler made excellent speeches in favor of ending the failed war on drugs, while Terry Roy who positions himself as a incremental drug reformer used fearmongering language to scare the reps into voting to continue the destruction of our neighbors’ lives. They then voted 286-70 to kill the bill.
Here’s a link to the full roll call showing exactly how all the representatives voted. Kudos to the brave 35 Republicans and 35 Democrats who did the right thing. Sadly many “A+” rated “liberty reps” voted to continue the drug war. What were they thinking? Anyone with a “Yes” vote on the roll call voted to kill the bill, so feel free to reach out to them and ask why. You can watch the full hearing here:
by Ian | Dec 3, 2022 |
FBI Goon Smashes Cameras During Crypto Six Raid
Christmas came early! Just days before the start of the Crypto Six trial, federal prosecutors have revealed they will be dropping the supermajority of counts in their ridiculous case against me. Gone are all twelve of the “wire fraud” charges, three “money laundering” charges, “conspiracy to commit bank fraud & wire fraud”, and most importantly the charge with the ten-year mandatory minimum sentence, the “kingpin” charge of “continuing financial crimes enterprise”. All gone!
If you’ve been paying attention to the case for the last twenty months, you may recall the big deal the prosecutors made to try to keep me in jail until trial, claiming I am a “sophisticated cyber criminal” and a “danger to the community”. Prior to the charges being dropped, my bail conditions had loosed to where I am no longer wearing a tracking anklet. Now that those charges are gone, when we recently asked to remove the government spyware from my computer and phone, the prosecutors had no objection. Apparently, I’m no longer the scary things they told the judge and press that I was.
The remaining charges that are slated for trial are:
- Conspiracy to Operate Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business
- Operation of Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business
- Money Laundering
- Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering
- Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax (four counts for 2016-2019)
While this is assuredly good news, as it reduces the maximum time I could spend in prison from 420+ years to 70 years, it’s really sad news for my three friends who took plea deals on the “wire fraud” charges. Had they known the charge they pled to would eventually be dropped, they surely wouldn’t have taken the raw “deal”. Now they are saddled with felony convictions for the rest of their lives for something that sounds really bad. The reality is, the accusations were simply that they’d lied to a bank, and that it was not even to try to scam the bank out of money, but only to do things like keep an account open. However no one who checks their record is going to ask them for details. They’ll just see “wire fraud” and think they are dealing with a fraudster, when in fact no one was defrauded. None of the banks lost anything and no restitution was ordered during sentencing for any of the three. None of them committed fraud, but they took the plea likely out of fear – the reason most people take a plea – because the feds know how to scare people.
Don’t Take the Plea Deal Flyer
They stack a ton of charges against you, then threaten to stack even more if you don’t tap out. A few years of probation and a felony starts looking really good compared to thirty years in prison, so it’s understandable why people will take a plea, even though they didn’t actually commit the crime of which they are accused. The prosecutors love it as they rack up conviction after conviction, ruining innocent peoples’ lives and bolstering the prosecutors’ careers. Plus, they never have to bother preparing for and going to trial. It’s super easy for them and it almost always works.
For a long time, I have been an advocate of “Don’t Take the Plea Deal“. ESPECIALLY if you didn’t actually do anything wrong. It is certainly risky and scary to go up against the federal behemoth. They have unlimited resources to throw at destroying you. However, if you take the first plea, you will never even get to see what kind of case they have against you. It might be a really crappy case and they may have made critical errors. There’s also a good chance of a better plea offer coming later on, but if you take the first plea, you’ll never find out. Of course, you have to do what you feel is right for you, and I never blame anyone for taking a plea if they feel that is best.
However, long term, people taking plea deals just empowers the state. If more people stood up and demanded their right to a trial, even on things as simple as a speeding or parking ticket, the “justice” system would not be able to handle the case load and they would likely just drop charges all together.
While I am happy to see the bulk of the charges in my case go away, I’m sad for my friends who were intimidated into wrongful convictions for vicitmless “crimes” on charges that would likely have been dropped anyway. The Crypto Six trial begins with jury selection on Tuesday, Dec 6th at Federal Court Church in Concord, NH. For more background on the case, visit TheCryptoSix.com.
by Ian | Nov 27, 2022 |
Thanks to the hard work of liberty superactivist Justin O’Donnell, “101 Reasons to Liberty Lives in NH” has been completely re-done and updated in written form. It’s now called “Live Free and Thrive: 101 Reasons Liberty Lives in New Hampshire, and So Should You!” You can download it here as a PDF, for free. It’s also available for Kindle and in paperback form.
The original list, created two decades ago, has long needed an update as there have been so many amazing successes since then thanks to the thousands of people who have moved here for the Free State Project and NH Freedom Migration.
The new list will also be made into a documentary film and if you’d like to contribute to its production, please click here.
