by Ian | Oct 4, 2022 |
First Amendment Auditor “Press NH Now” aka Marc Manchon was arrested last year in Charlestown, NH as he was live streaming video in the police department. He was charged with “disorderly conduct”, the police’s favorite catch-all charge for people they don’t like, and “obstructing government administration”, because of the alleged actions of his viewers, which were clearly free speech. Hence, after a two hour trial he was found “not guilty” on both counts. Here’s the full trial video:
Manchon had come to Charlestown to pick up a freedom of information request and when he interacted with the police department’s dispatcher, she refused to tell him her name. Manchon suggested people could try to find out her name, and calls began coming in to dispatch from alleged viewers that were trying to get the tax-feeding woman, Sirena Reliham, to simply identify herself, which all government bureaucrats are supposedly required to do by Article 8 of the NH Constitution. When police chief Patrick Connors arrived, rather than acknowledging his employee was out-of-line by keeping her identity a secret, he doubled down and arrested Manchon because people were calling their publicly-listed department number and asking questions, or sharing how they felt about the corruption in the Charlestown police.
“Press NH Now” Supporters in Claremont after trial.
Basically, if the government thugs don’t like why people are calling them, they will call it a crime and make arrests. Thankfully, the robed man in this case, judge Jack Yazinski, despite his clear desire to protect his buddies from accountability, did issue a “not guilty” verdict on both counts, as obviously recording video in a public place and calling a public phone number to speak with so-called “public servants” is not a crime. However, he did take the opportunity to scold Manchon prior to issuing the verdict, telling him that he was “rude and disrespectful” to the bureaucrats while expecting they be respectful to him, and that “the street does go two ways”. Yazinski is wrong – respect is earned. No bureaucrat is deserving of respect simply because they have a badge, fancy hat, or uniform. Further, Ms Reliham didn’t show Manchon the simple respect of giving her name when asked and the entire government system regularly violates people’s rights, throwing innocent people into handcuffs and destroying peaceful people’s lives. They do not respect us. They rule us, while laughably calling themselves “servants”.
Kudos to Manchon for refusing to take a plea deal and going to trial. His activism is exemplary and you can follow his channel here. For full video background on the Charlestown situation, see his playlist here.
by Ian | Sep 13, 2022 |
This weekend, on 9/11, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire organized a rally in front of the State House in Concord, to support the “Defend the Guard” legislation. Defend the Guard, if passed, would prohibit New Hampshire’s National Guard from being deployed to active combat without a formal declaration of war by Congress.
Multiple people spoke at the rally, which was attended by over 40 people, including veterans Derek Proulx, Ben Weir and Justin O’Donnell. Plus, Foundation for NH Independence President Alu Axelman, Naturalist Capitalist host Reed Coverdale, and LPNH candidate for US Senate Jeremy Kauffman also spoke. Here are all their speeches:
by Ian | Aug 26, 2022 |
Videos are now available on Odysee covering various aspects of the rally and the Ballot Law Commission meeting yesterday where Karen Sue Steele’s challenge of the “Independent Thirteen” failed by a 5-0 vote. Karen had been trying to get the secession-friendly state reps barred from ever holding office again.
Free Keene’s video includes a speech given by the President of the Foundation for NH Independence, Alu Axelman, the full portion of the commission meeting where the BLC heard Karen’s complaint, an interview by NBC Boston with CACR 32 co-sponsor Matt Santonastaso, and the activists confronting Karen when she leaves the building:
Dave Ridley of the Ridley Report was also on-the-scene. His video contains his reporting on the events and also multiple “ambush” videos where he speaks to various politicians and bureaucrats as they enter or exit the hearing:
Karen and her handler Kathy Slade slinked away for now. What will they try next? I’m excited to see and grateful to them for providing the NH Independence movement with so much free publicity!
by Ian | Aug 7, 2022 |
I was honored to be able to speak in front of an audience of over 130 freedom-loving people from across New Hampshire this Friday evening at the “We the People NH” event focusing on more liberty-friendly candidates. Since I am a candidate for NH Senate District 10, organizer Terese Grinnell invited me to speak and my focus was to discuss NH Independence. I told the crowd about the exciting poll results that came out recently showing nearly 1 in 3 NH people already support NH being its own country – and 52% of Republicans.
You can get all the details on the poll from this article at NHexit.US where the full results from Survey USA are linked.
I wasn’t sure what the audience’s response would be but I got a lot of applause and nearly everyone to whom I offered a Foundation for NH Independence flyer during the breaks, accepted it. The event was a major success. There is wide interest in independence for New Hampshire from the evil Federal Gang. Here’s the full speech and organizer Terese Grinnell’s comments afterward:
by Ian | Jul 22, 2022 |
Despite having even more people at previous hearings for the “New Hampshire Nine“, this week a robed woman at the Concord District Sham Court Church ordered all of the audience out after a CO2 meter alarmed during a hearing on the NH9’s motion to dismiss. During that time, an infamous bailiff named Peter Hamilton laid his hands on Terese Grinnell and there was much commotion. The robed woman could not understand how her kicking people out of the court was a violation of their right to witness the supposed “public” courtroom happenings, but eventually was persuaded to allow people back in and open the courtroom doors.
It was ridiculous. One bailiff claimed the CO2 detector had been placed in the court last week, while another claimed it was last August. A review of footage of the prior hearing in April does reveal the device was present, but it’s inconclusive as to whether it was on. Regardless, a quick web search shows that CO2 isn’t considered dangerous until 5,000 Parts-Per-Million (PPM). In this video, the bailiff appears to shut off the device when it alarms, then less than ten minutes later, he powers it back on and it reads around 958 PPM, so presumably it was set to alarm at 1,000 PPM. According to the WI DHS, the worst that would happen up to 2,000 PPM is complaints of drowsiness or poor air.
It seems pretty clear the device was installed specifically to give an excuse to repress the right of the people to observe particularly popular court cases. The situation was especially absurd given the robed woman – who is supposedly so concerned about CO2 – was wearing a mask over her face the entire time.
The infamous bailiff, Peter Hamilton
The hearing itself was fairly dull as the attorneys for eight of the nine, excluding Frank “Footloose” Staples, made their arguments that there was no disruption at the executive council meeting prior to the arrests of the peaceful activists. They played surveillance video provided by the prosecution, but the audience could not see it due to it being on a laptop. Footloose says he will release it when he’s provided a copy, as he is a pro-se defendant, so he should get all discovery in the case. He was the only defendant not participating in the motion to dismiss, as he says he wants his trial.
The defense attorneys’ argument is that given there was no disruption prior to the arrests of Footloose and Grinnell, the other arrests were essentially “fruit of the poisoned tree” and should all be thrown out. Before the hearing ended, prosecutors did drop the charges against one of the nine, admitting she should not have been arrested. The prosecutors are claiming there was disruptive behavior prior to the arrests, so the video is now in the robed woman’s hands and she will take it under advisement and issue a ruling later. Meanwhile, a status conference is scheduled in the case for October 7th at 11am. Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest on the New Hampshire Nine.
by Ian | Jul 12, 2022 |
Democrats Protesting Free State Project in Keene
Saturday, Cheshire County Democrats organized and held a rally in Keene’s Central Square to protest the tremendous successes of the Free State Project. For nearly two decades the FSP has been encouraging libertarian activists to migrate to New Hampshire and concentrate their activism in one small population state. The Free Staters’ efforts are starting to pay off and this event is proof.
First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.
The FSP is clearly in the “fight you” stage as dozens of democrats showed up this weekend in protest of libertarians running as republicans and democrats statewide and actually getting elected and making an impact in Concord. Upwards of twenty supporters of the FSP also attended the rally.
Nowhere else in the world are libertarians protested by the people representing the status quo. Everywhere else libertarians are ignored, because there are not enough of them to make a difference. As more freedom-loving voluntarists and anarchists move to New Hampshire and get active, life gets more frustrating and difficult for the statists.
Many government-lovers have packed up their things and left in frustration, as the FreeStateNH account on Twitter has documented. Those still here are feeling like their precious state is being whittled away and are getting desperate. Speakers at the event included democrat state representatives and others who claimed Free Staters are an “invasive species” and that the dozens of Free Stater state reps have upwards of a third of the entire state house regularly voting with them.
Here’s a video including some of the unintentional endorsements from the speakers at the event as well as footage of Joa from Breaking the Flaw trolling them by taking the stage as they were cleaning up. There’s also a video of the full speeches from the stage.
If you’re a liberty-loving person who isn’t planning a move to New Hampshire yet, you need to seriously consider joining the only libertarians anywhere who are actually winning. Here are 101 great reasons to move to New Hampshire if you are a liberty-minded person.
