Sadly, Ademo did not realize this as he’d not seen any official paperwork the entire time he was in custody in Kansas. Considering he was expecting to be held until extradition to Indiana and further held in Indiana’s jail pre-trial, he decided to have his friends and supporters bail him out. Only while he was getting bailed did he discover that he was not actually facing any felonies. So, his friends unknowingly paid $800 to a bail bondsman (non-refundable) to likely have him released a day early. (His hearing in front of a judge was to be Monday, where he’d likely have been released, as Noblesville will not extradite for that misdemeanor charge.) Ademo commented in an extended interview on tonight’s Free Talk Live that had he been fully informed, he’d have chosen to sit in jail and not be bailed out. We had him on-air to discuss his situation for most of our second hour (click here to jump straight to the interview).
Cop Block’s Mobile Accountability for Cops tour will hit the road again soon, though the previously planned stops will have to be rescheduled as they still have to clear up the warrants in Indiana (there’s one for Ademo’s tourmate, Brian Sumner as well). Stay tuned to Cop Block’s MAC Tour page for the latest.
Early this morning, Free Keene broke the news that Cop Block founder Ademo Freeman was arrested on a warrant for felony “criminal mischief”. We now have a copy of the case summary from Indiana, which shows the charge is only a class B misdemeanor, not a felony.
So, that’s the good news. The bad news is he’s still in jail, likely until Monday afternoon’s scheduled court appearance in Kansas, where he was arrested for the warrant that the Shawnee, IN police claimed was for a felony.
The War on Chalk continues nationwide with tonight’s arrest of Cop Block founder and Free Keene blogger Ademo Freeman. Ademo has been arrested in Shawnee, KS on a felony warrant purportedly for “criminal mischief” charges over chalking the Noblesville, IN police department a couple of weeks ago. Ademo is expected to be arraigned on Monday and whether he’ll be extradited to Indiana remains to be seen.
The Noblesville PD chalking incident happened the day before Ademo and Brian Sumner kicked off the Cop Block Mobile Accountability for Cops (MAC) tour. According to their post about the incident, Cop Blockers visited Noblesville police department and used liquid chalk to write various messages directed toward and about the police. Later on, they are threatened by multiple Noblesville cops in a parking lot – see the video here. The gang members detain Ademo and Brian for a quarter-hour and claim that one of “their group” used real paint during the chalking outside the PD.
Now Ademo is in Johnson county jail in Kansas on a felony warrant. As a result, requests for calls to the jail and PD rang out on Facebook. Initially, the jail denied having him and police on the phone played games like one claiming his first name was “deputy” (I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard that one.):
Should you wish to call the jail and/or police and express yourself, here are the numbers: Shawnee PD: 913-631-2150. Johnson County Jail: 913-715-5100. Here’s the agency that issued the warrant, Noblesville PD: 317-776-1588
If you think the massive call flood that these arrests trigger is awesome, then imagine what it would be like if those people willing to call a jail in favor of setting someone peaceful free from captivity were instead willing to move to the same geographic area. Imagine the cop blocking that could be possible. Rather than call the jail, you could go there with others. You could even go to the homes of the people who kidnapped Ademo. Ademo moved to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project. Here are 101 reasons why you should consider doing the same thing.
Here’s an editorial published in Sunday’s Sentinel about the upcoming superior court decision on the Robin Hood of Keene case. Right out of the gate, the Sentinel poorly describes Robin Hooding, saying:
“the Robin Hooders are libertarian-minded activists involved with, or following, the Free Keene podcasts that emerged as an offshoot of the Free State Project.”
Robin Hooding was started in 2009 by Lauren Canario. While she is a Free State Project early mover, she moved here before Free Keene started in 2006. Further, Free Keene is not related to the FSP except for the fact that some of the bloggers (not all) are FSP early movers. The Free State Project exists to convince liberty lovers to move to New Hampshire and get active. After that, it has no influence over what those activists do here in NH. I created Free Keene to report on activism in the area and news of interest to potential movers. There are no Free Keene podcasts, though some bloggers at Free Keene do have shows – they were not created at my behest – Free Keene is just one way for them to get more visibility for their show(s).
They also walk along with the officers, calling them names, advising them to quit and filming them for the Free Keene website.
Who is they? If one person has called the parking enforcers names years ago, does that mean all Robin Hooders behaved the same way then or now? Certainly not. I’ve never seen any Robin Hooder call them names. There’s an allegation that Graham Colson called one a name, but he is no longer Robin Hooding. There’s video of Chris Cantwell doing it from years ago, but he also has never been an official Robin Hooder. If this libelous accusation were true, there’d be plenty of video evidence. None of which was ever shown (besides Cantwell) at any court hearing. Just because the government agents say something is true, doesn’t mean it’s true. What a shame the Sentinel never bothered to investigate the city’s lies before regurgitating them publicly.
At the same time, it seems wildly unfair to subject hardworking city employees to frequent abuse. One officer has already quit and others say they’ve needed counseling to deal with the frequent bullying.
Again, what frequent abuse and bullying? Where’s the evidence for these claims? This is just plain false. Besides, what about the frequent bullying of Keene’s motorists by the parking enforcers? Why is that okay? They are threatening and hurting people every day, but they get a pass because it’s their job? Also the counseling only came AFTER the city filed their lawsuit, which was the same time the parking enforcers stopped being friendly. It’s all a lie and the Sentinel has bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Today in Concord, ministers and members from Church of the Sword (COTS), gathered at the NH supreme court for oral arguments in their appeal of the town of Westmoreland denying their request for tax exempt status. Ministers from the Shire Free Church were there in support. The question before the court was whether the Cheshire superior court should have thrown out the case in a decision earlier this year, which affirmed the town’s opinion that the COTS is not a church, claiming it’s not religious since the church doesn’t have a belief in god.
However, as COTS’ attorney Dan Hynes pointed out, and COTS ministers argue, there are traditional, long-running churches do not have a god, such as the Buddhists, Taoists, and many Unitarian Universalists.
Given the NH supremes are only judging whether the lower court erred in tossing the case, don’t expect their decision to include an opinion on whether or not COTS is a church. A decision in COTS’ favor would simply mean the lower court should not have dismissed the case, and that the case should move ahead (likely to jury trial) at the superior court.
Here’s the full hearing, plus short interviews with COTS founder Kirk McNeil and COTS attorney Dan Hynes:
A particularly ridiculous portion is where the attorney for Westmoreland argues that anarchists can’t have a religion. Don’t miss it!
On Saturday, October 10th, Free State Project early mover and Keenevention keynote speaker Christopher David was peacefully offering a very valuable service to the people of Portsmouth – late night rides home at a far faster and more affordable rate than the local taxi monopoly.
He was picking up some eager customers outside of the Daniel Street Tavern when he was threatened with $500-$1,000 ransom for trying to help them return home.
He recorded some incredible audio of the incident, which you can watch and listen to below.
There’s an absolutely incredible customer rant leveled at a taxi driver who attempts to box David in, which you really have to listen to for yourself. Aside from his shocking directness, the customer also points out,
I took a cab once from here to Hampton, where I’m living, and it was $60. I take an Uber, it’s $28 – it’s a nicer car, and it’s nicer people.
So, why would the city of Portsmouth possibly want to shut down a business that customers enjoy so thoroughly?
Perhaps even more to the point, why would the bouncer at the Daniel Street Tavern (you can leave them a review here, as I have) be chasing down police offers to tell them of an Uber driver trying to get his customer home to safety?
Taxi services on the Seacoast are notoriously slow to respond to customer inquiries, and are also known to shut down before bars have last call. Uber was filling this niche in the marketplace very nicely, until the Portsmouth city council decided to ban Uber this summer.
This leads to a very dangerous situation for all drivers in the Portsmouth area, giving incentive for more drivers to be on the road while impaired. It’s one thing for a city council to attack the people of Portsmouth. That’s pretty much what city councils do. But bouncers at private institutions, who should theoretically have a vested interest in their customer’s safety? It’s downright irresponsible.
If you want to support Christopher in his heroic efforts to nullify the Uber ban in Portsmouth (and perhaps lay a groundwork for nullifying these ridiculous bans worldwide), head over to FreeUber.org and get involved.
For additional coverage of the Free Uber movement in Portsmouth, check out Rights Brigade, a New Hampshire based activism group that has been assisting Christopher in canvassing the city with flyers to raise awareness for the city council’s protectionist schemes.
For the first time ever, Keenevention will feature shows from Keene-area media producers, recorded live in the hotel conference room! “Peace, Love, Liberty Radio” will record live during the lunch break at noon on Friday and “Black Sheep Rising” will do the same on Saturday starting at noon. Peace, Love, Liberty radio is Darryl W. Perry’s thrice-weekly news and commentary audio program and Black Sheep Rising is Conan Salada’s monthly video show, which airs weekly locally on Cheshire TV channel 8 and also on YouTube.
