As you may already know, Keene is the liberty media capitol of the world. Television, radio, newsprint, youtube, blogs – we’ve got it all. One aspect of that is LRN.FM – The Liberty Radio Network. LRN.FM is a radio network of dozens of liberty-oriented shows, airing 24/7 on both the internet and via satellite, since 2009. The network feed originates from downtown Keene, New Hampshire and is listened to around-the-world. The LRN.FM “free-to-air” satellite channel is available in North and Central America and was until February of this year, available across most of Africa.
Our signal had been on satellite over Africa since 2012 as a bonus from our satellite provider, but in February of this year, they pulled the channel off-the-air. Now, we need to raise $22,000 to get the message of liberty back on satellite in Africa for the next three years.
You can help. Please visit our Indiegogo fundraiser at AFRICA.LRN.FM to learn more. Give what you can and please share the fundraising link or this video with your friends:
A couple weeks ago two people calling themselves “Ashley” and “Damon” moved to Keene. The liberty community here is generally welcoming to new arrivals, whether they moved here as part of the Free State Project, or not. However these two, within a matter of hours, had put much of the community across NH on-alert.
The day after they arrived in Keene, they headed out to Manchester for the Liberty Forum, where they, according to various reports, proceeded to offend many of the people they encountered. They were asking questions that appeared to be designed to troll and some even said they were trying to goad people into attacking them physically. Later that night, they were ejected from a private club for reportedly asking patrons for drugs and allegedly stealing from the club.
I like to err on the side of being forgiving and welcoming, so despite the disturbing reports, I brought them into a facebook group for local activists. I wanted them to have a chance to make good on their mistakes and apologize for blowing their initial appearance here in NH. They were shortly thereafter confronted for their behavior by some who had been affected and they didn’t seem too interested in really owning up or apologizing. After it became clear they weren’t going to, the admins agreed to remove them from the group.
“Damon” aka Jared Higley as a Teen Without Sunglasses
It was pretty clear they don’t actually believe in the principle of non-aggression, as they committed theft at the private club and then after being removed from the facebook group, they committed fraud when they ordered a pizza to a Keene activist’s home without his consent. They admitted to this crime while in the LRN.FM chat room.
Meanwhile, a group of liberty activists started digging up information on “Ashley” and “Damon”. Rumor was that Damon was the same person as “Freedomain Damon”, who allegedly DOXed internet philosopher Stefan Molyneux and some of his followers (and critics). Mind you, I’m a critic of Molyneux myself, especially since Molyneux used copyright (which he supposedly doesn’t believe in) to attack Freedomain Damon’s critical YouTube channel as well as another critical channel by TruShibes.
Is the “Damon” in Keene the same FreedomainDamon? What is his actual identity and the identity of his transgendered partner-in-crime, “Ashley”? We’ve learned a lot and someone decided to launch a website dedicated to collecting information about the two, DamonDOX. Turns out, “Damon” is actually Jared Daniel Higley, born 10/02/1992. The investigators still aren’t sure what the real name of “Ashley” is, but evidence pointing to her actual identity has also been posted to DamonDOX, along with pics of both, links to various profiles, and more.
In the midst of the investigation, the pair showed back up in Keene at our weekly event, Social Sundays. They proceeded to harass the regular attendees with ridiculous, trolling questions, eventually nearly spilling a pitcher of water in James Cleaveland’s lap. “Damon”/Jared is the one wearing sunglasses inside in this video of them getting kicked out of the venue:
The investigation continues and DamonDOX is being updated as the team learns more. If you can add to the information at DamonDOX please comment on this article. They are still in Keene and driving a 2007 red Volkswagen Jetta with Idaho plate “2J 53376”. They are not good people and should be avoided. Activists across NH and the rest of the world should be-on-the-lookout for these characters.
Dale from Flaming Freedom and Ann from the Seditious Sirens join us in the Rebel Love studio to pre-game before Liberty Forum. Topics on this week’s show include Liberty Forum updates, Tinder activism, good vs bad publicity, new movers, Flaming Freedom resurrected, entertainment for the liberty community, living life on the fringe of society, closet libertarians in the LGBT community, being open about your sexuality in the Shire, we reminisce about Keenevention and Porcfest, and porcupines helping out other porcs in emergencies. The Rebel LOVE Show broadcasts live every Tuesday night at 10 pm EST on LRN.FM.
The Hundred Nights cold weather shelter has for years provided a warm, safe place for people down-on-their luck to stay during the hundred coldest nights each year. The shelter is privately run and does an excellent job at providing resources to the area’s homeless population in an attempt to help get them back on their feet.
For the last several years, they’ve thrown a fundraising masquerade ball which I’ve enjoyed attending and sponsoring. 2015’s event is coming up in less than two weeks at the Keene Country Club, 55 West Hill Rd, on Saturday, March 28th. (Here’s a facebook event.) Doors Open at 7:30pm and the event will feature the Murphy’s Blues Band, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, cash bar, and plenty of dancing!
Sadly, I’ll be out of town on business that weekend, so it will be the first year I haven’t been able to make the event. Thankfully, Derrick J Freeman will be going in my stead! Tickets are just $50 per person and goes to a good cause – Hundred Nights! Call 352-5197 or drop in to Hundred Nights at 17 Lamson St to get your tickets.
With a solid veto-proof margin, the New Hampshire house of representatives overwhelmingly passed cannabis decriminalization today, 297-67, according to state rep Kyle Tasker. That’s a significant increase over 2014’s 215-92 vote on decrim. 297 votes is 38% higher than last year’s 215. A total of 74.25% of the house’s 400 members voted for the bill and 16.75% voted against. That leaves 9% who did not vote. Of those who voted, over 81% voted in favor of decrim.
If this isn’t a mandate, I don’t know what is. Now the bill moves on to the senate, where it died last time. However, it’s a new senate and a new year. With evidence of cannabis legalization’s success mounting, and now even Washington DC legalizing, politicians in NH are finding a little backbone. Sadly, they are late to the party – the other New England states have decriminalized cannabis, some more recently, but Maine as far back as the 1970s.
Maybe the overwhelming support for decrim in this house vote will transfer to the senate, or maybe not. If it passes the senate, unless governor Maggie Hassan finds her conscience, they’ll have to pass this with a 2/3rds veto-proof margin in order to stop Hassan from striking this much-needed legislation down.
Over 560 attendees from around the world came to the eighth annual 2015 New Hampshire Liberty Forum over the weekend in Manchester at the Radisson. Some of those attendees included the media. Here are some major stories published in the Union Leader and the Concord Monitor about the event:
