For those who have been following the saga of the Shire Free Church: Monadnock, here’s the latest, much of which was well-covered by the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan last week. After bringing on liberty attorney Brandon Ross for our tax appeal case last year, the church board decided to dismiss the 2014 case in favor of re-filing in 2015. We’ve since filed the 2015 tax exemption with our attorney’s oversight.
Given the state’s rejection of multiple liberty churches’ tax exemptions in 2014 (including the Peaceful Assembly Church – also represented by Ross), the board wanted to make sure we were putting our best foot forward, legally.
There has been a misconception that this is all about money; it’s about religious freedom. We don’t believe that the Shire Free Church, or any other church, should owe taxes. However we have nonetheless continued to give voluntary contributions to the City of Keene’s operations we support, like road maintenance and fire protection.
Shire Free Church: Monadnock is established to promote peace and other divine virtues, and to promote the study of religion in freedom and fellowship. We believe there are many paths to God, one for each individual. We believe God is the source of all creation; and divinity is expressed through compassion, empathy, forgiveness, freedom, generosity, honesty, humility, kindness, mercy, patience, and peace.
This is not about keeping money. If it were, we’d not be hiring an attorney. In fact, Shire Free Church: Monadnock’s board decided to go ahead and pay the full amount demanded by the city for 2014 in order to forestall any violent acts by the city agents and start our 2015 appeal without any liens on the property. The state religion is a dangerous, aggressive religion and we will use their system to protect your right to choose a religion of peace instead of believing in the violent, morally-corrupt state.
The author of the article, student Kellie Doc Gordon, excoriates the Keene Sentinel and journalist Meghan Foley, claiming Foley’s article on the pledge controversy was “biased” against the school. Of course the reality is that the only reason the article seemed one-sided was because the school bureaucrats basically refused to comment. They’re circling the wagons. All Foley got from them was the school superintendent saying they’ve dealt with the situation. No one else from the school, including the teacher in question, was willing to comment.
“The Pawprint Newsletter”, the school’s weekly propaganda rag, also included an editorial cartoon which suggests that the military is somehow risking their lives for your freedom of speech, which is demonstrably false. The military is fighting in foreign lands to uphold the commands of politicians, whose interests have nothing to do with preserving freedom and whose actions result in the further destruction of those freedoms. The military are merely the enforcers for the military industrial complex. Don’t believe me though, take it from a decorated Marine, Major General Smedley Butler, the author of, “War is Racket“.
I will write up some future posts about this incident (was awaiting outcome before writing anything) but there are a few things I would like to get out immediately:
1) The “substance” found was not Klonopin. I’m still baffled why the sheriff department was telling the people who were calling on my behalf that it was Klonopin when the officers involved in the search identified the substance during the actual search. The substance is a medicine for which I have a prescription to treat a condition I have.
2) I really appreciate all the assistance I received from the “liberty” community at large especially Virginia copblockers and Keene activists (I’ll write up a post about this later).
3) New Hampshire is honestly the “best” state in my opinion in terms of freedom (post to follow).
4) My real “sin” in my opinion was not consenting to a search of the vehicle.
Keene activist and blogger Chris Cantwell was recently involved in a situation in downtown Keene where he attempted to video record some men who appeared to be abusive towards two women. When the whole group of those people then turned their ire on Cantwell and charged him, he pulled out his revolver to defend himself. Keene police showed up and handled the situation professionally.
Cantwell was totally in the right. It’s his right to record in public and it’s his right to pull a gun to defend himself from aggressors. KPD officers on-scene reviewed his footage and sent him home with both his phone and gun. No charges were filed on any party. Despite the impending attack by the drunken people, Cantwell did not press for charges. He just wanted to help keep people safe. Kudos, Chris. The video of the incident has gone viral and now has over 500,000 views, making it the top video on his channel.
This afternoon the hypocrite governor of New Hampshire spoke at Keene State College’s 2015 graduation ceremony. Maggie Hassan, the boss of the state’s executive branch, is likely to veto the cannabis decrim bill if it makes it through the NH senate. It already passed the NH house with a supermajority of votes. It’s clear that decriminalization is what the people of New Hampshire want (it’s also the humane choice), but Hassan throws her loyalty into the camp of the police and cares not one bit about the lives that continue to be ruined because of her inhumane war on pot.
Oh, and to make her position even more outrageous, it turns out she herself has used cannabis in her college days. That raging hypocrisy didn’t stop her from showing up at Keene State College and acting like she actually gives a damn about the very same students that her police regularly threaten and harass over victimless crimes like cannabis and alcohol possession. Rich Paul and I went down to KSC today to confront her on these things and were accompanied by local education activist Ed Bryans who was upset with Hassan’s veto of the anti-common core bill. We found her at the end of the commencement and had plenty of time to give her a hard time while she was unable to leave, much to the dismay of a few of her sycophants. Here’s the video:
It’s not too late for cannabis decrim to pass, but Hassan and the NH senators need to hear from you. Please reach out to your senator here and ask them to support HB618, the cannabis decriminalization bill. Then please call Hassan’s office and encourage her to do the right thing and let decrim pass.
Interestingly, per capita, (based on data from CoinMap) Keene has more bitcoin-accepting businesses than San Francisco, which has recently been promoted in news articles as the city with the strongest bitcoin presence.
Businesses that accept bitcoin are able to tap into a new market and also virtually eliminate transaction fees. Credit card companies usually hit a business for about 3% of each transaction, and bitcoin’s fee is just pennies, no matter the size of the transaction. By adding bitcoin as an option for their customers, businesses keep more profit from each bitcoin transaction than if they were to use credit card. Whether you are a buyer or a merchant, you can learn more about bitcoin here at WeUseCoins.com.
For those who have been following the saga of the Shire Free Church: Monadnock, here’s the latest, much of which was well-covered by the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan last week. After bringing on liberty attorney Brandon Ross for our tax appeal case last year, the church board decided to dismiss the 2014 case in favor of re-filing in 2015. We’ve since filed the 2015 tax exemption with our attorney’s oversight.
