Steven Zeiler started a Meetup group for people interested in learning to use Node.js, a tool for making web apps. They meet once a month in Portsmouth. At their first meeting this week, 8 guys got together and in 1 hour, they installed Nodejs, got it running, and created a chat program and were able to communicate with each other over web sockets. At their next meeting, they’ll be learning about Electrum, a tool for making desktop apps for Windows, Mac, and Linux. As Silicon Valley’s prominence wanes under the heavy burden over overzealous regulators, will the free state become ground zero for the next tech boom?
I’m grateful to the staff of the Andover Beacon, a monthly local paper delivered to all households in Andover, NH. Thank you for inviting me to prepare a 250 word statement that is being included in their voter’s guide that is being delivered to mailboxes today! They asked me to talk about some key issues. Here’s the statement:
The biggest issue in New Hampshire today is drug abuse and the solution is simple – end prohibition. We know from history that prohibition is a failure and only makes the problems with addiction worse. Jailing and forcing addicts into treatment is not compassion. Prohibition should be ended for all drugs and addicts will feel safer to seek help when they aren’t afraid of prison.
Another big issue is the constant presence of the federal government. Its taxes and regulations are an ongoing burden to our people and businesses. They do not provide anything of value to us in return for our money and obedience and only put us in great danger with their war-mongering around the globe. It’s time New Hampshire ends our involvement with the United States and declare independence.
Of course, seceding from the federal government won’t solve all our problems in New Hampshire, but at least we’ll have more resources and freedom to make our own choices. One major change that should be made to the state government is to make all taxes consensual. It’s wrong to threaten our neighbors if they do not agree with supporting certain government programs. Making taxes voluntary is a huge paradigm shift and will instantly make all branches of government more accountable to the people. They’ll know their budget isn’t a guarantee unless they actually make taxpayers happy.
I’d also like to see ballot access made fair for all political parties. Thanks for reading! Visit NHliberty.info for more info.
I was eating dinner with my boyfriend in our kitchen watching a Facebook live stream debate about guns on campus at the University of Texas when suddenly the video stopped. A pop up said something like, “Session expired.”
Someone reported a photo of me my friends at the beach as nudity, and Facebook responded by restricting my ability to communicate with you on their platform in two ways. I can not post on my wall or respond to messages using Messenger for the next 3 days.
I feel sad that I can’t use Facebook. It is the primary way I communicate with the world. Especially the Messenger app. An acquaintance I met at a conference asked me a question, and I am not able to respond. I am not even able to explain why I can’t respond. That is embarrassing and frustrating. I want to maintain a good reputation with this new friend, but I can’t respond to him, and he doesn’t know that I can’t. Fortunately I have been using Signal, Telegram, and other messaging apps, so I am still largely able to communicate. (more…)
Darryl and I are running an outreach booth this weekend at NH Hempfest in Lancaster at Roger’s Campground. We’re sharing the Shire Society declaration with attendees, along with plenty of know-your-rights propaganda, and a Bitcoin Vending Machine. We’ll be at the booth all day until Sunday and at night we’re hosting Free Talk Live.
Hempfest is packed with dozens of live bands and is kicking off right now. Hope to see you!
Reason Magazine’s Nick Gillespie recently sat down with FSP president Matt Philips to discuss the Free State Project’s libertarian migration-in-progress to New Hampshire. Gillespie has seen the evidence for himself – he’s visited the Shire on more than one occasion. It’s obvious that concentrating libertarian activists together in the same geographic area leads to success.
Now thousands more are slated to come for the FSP, while others are choosing to join the decentralized Shire Society and move independently of the Free State Project. Regardless of whether you join a movement or not, if you are a libertarian or voluntarist, take Nick’s advice: “Move to New Hampshire, you won’t regret it.”
Lachance recently announced the big news privately to his friends via his facebook profile, which included photos of him in uniform from his days as a Bedford officer. Then, after a final confirmation from the LEAP board late last week, he authorized Free Keene to break the news. He will have his first speaking engagement at the upcoming NH Hempfest and Freedom Rally happening at Rogers Campground August 25th through 28th.
When he started his career in law enforcement, Lachance was totally brainwashed into believing in prohibition. It didn’t take him long to realize that arresting drug users was only making their lives worse. In an email Lachance told me he, “saw first-hand how the war on drugs is a failure…Arresting someone for a small amount of cannabis or controlled substance only adds to the problem. The war on drugs encourages the cartels to make a black market for banned substances and creates a huge profit motive for the underground.”
Rick Naya, NH Hempfest Organizer and Joe Lachance
Lachance isn’t the first speaker that LEAP has had in New Hampshire. Cheshire county jail superintendent Rick Van Wickler has been speaking against prohibition for many years now. There are other LEAP speakers who are former cops from Concord and Durham as well. The more, the merrier! More police coming out of the closet against prohibition means we’re getting closer to ending the insane “War on Drugs”, which is really just a war against our friends and family.
Lachance gets why prohibition doesn’t work. He points out, “Drug violence isn’t a reason to fight the war on drugs…it is a reason to END the war on drugs. Take away the cartels’ main source of revenue and they too will go away, much like in the 1920s with Al Capone.”
LRN.FM – The Liberty Radio Network, airs the best liberty-oriented audio shows 24/7 online and via satellite. Our current satellite coverage includes North and Central America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The signal is “Free-to-Air”, which means anyone in the coverage area can receive our signal for no monthly cost, providing they have the dish and receiver, which are very affordable. We’ve been on the American satellite since 2010 and have had a signal in Africa since 2012.
Last year we did our first Satellite Fundraiser to gauge the level of support that our listeners have for the platform. While this year’s LRN.FM Satellite Fundraiser did not garner as much in USD as last year’s, we had nearly as many contributors, and that was without the benefit of having a campaign pitch video, like we did last year. (The FBI took the video files in the March raid on the LRN.FM studio in Keene.)
In 2015 we had 46 contributions on Indiegogo, amounting to $4,925. However, $2550 of that came from two individuals. Factoring out those two mega-contributors, the average contribution was about $54. This year we had 40 contributions on Indiegogo for a total of $1760, meaning the average contribution was down a bit to $44.
In addition to the $1760 given at Indiegogo, there were three bitcoin contributions this year, totaling 0.26568 BTC, which is worth about $154 at current exchange rates.
Something new I tried this year that I believe was a mistake was the “Headtalker” campaign that ate up two weeks of potential fundraising right in the beginning. (more…)
