by Ian | Sep 14, 2021 |
State Reps Mike Sylvia and Matt Santonastaso
“Are you in favor of amending the first part of the New Hampshire Constitution by inserting, after article 7, a new article to read as follows:
[Art.] 7-a. [Independent Nation.] New Hampshire declares itself as independent from the United States and peaceably, immediately proceeds as a sovereign nation. All other references to the United States in this constitution and state statutes and regulations are nullified.”
To pass, it must first receive over 60% of the vote in both the state house and senate. If it does, it will then be placed on the 2022 ballot and then must receive over 2/3rds of the vote to be enacted. If so, it goes into effect immediately. There would be no political games like with United Kingdom’s “Brexit” from the European Union, which took several years to hammer out after the vote. New Hampshire will instantly declare our independence and nullify all standing agreements with the federal government gang. Compare this to the thus-far unsuccessful attempts in other US states.
In recent years, secession movements around the country have sprung up and made headlines in California and Texas, but with very little legislative support. In Texas, a state rep filed a bill this year that if passed, would merely have placed a non-binding referendum on the ballot for Texas voters to register their opinion on whether the Texas legislature should begin an arduous process of figuring out how to leave the United States. This bill’s filing resulted in plenty of media coverage and discussion, however, it died before even receiving a committee hearing. A key reason that New Hampshire was chosen as the destination for the Free State Project is that EVERY bill gets a public committee hearing, no matter how much support it has from the state reps. Most states are like Texas, where it’s a political game whether a bill even gets a hearing.
New Hampshire Independence
While I want to see both Texas and California exit the United States, it’s clear that with the filing of this constitutional amendment bill – called in NH a “CACR” or, “Constitutional Amendment Concurrent Resolution” – that New Hampshire has taken the clear lead in the race to see who will leave the union first. Plus, unlike California, the NH constitution clearly protects the “Right of Revolution” in Article 10 and “State Sovereignty” in Article 7 of the NH Bill of Rights.
Representative Sylvia, in an exclusive interview with Free Keene, had this to say on why he filed the proposed amendment, “The people of America have forgotten their history, if we take the time to look at our roots we can see that our constitutions have received ‘lip service’ for far too long. While I can not change the direction of the federal government, I can hold up the New Hampshire constitution and demand that we honor its clear directives. Article 10 reads in part, ‘whenever the ends of government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may, and of right ought to reform the old, or establish a new government.'”
The 2018 liberty “Legislator of the Year” representative Sylvia is joined by freshman state rep from the Keene area, Matt Santonastaso as the co-sponsor of the amendment. Other state reps have been approached and have expressed support and a full list will be released when the amendment is assigned a CACR number and moves onto a committee.
NH Independence NOW!
Even if it doesn’t pass this time, it will get many conversations started about the evil federal government and why peacefully declaring independence is the best solution. Minds will be persuaded and changed. Many media and political attacks will be brought against us, as the power-seekers will be desperate to keep the status quo. Potential migrants to New Hampshire will be energized and make-the-move.
To learn more about why NH should divorce DC, check out the Foundation for NH Independence’s Frequently Asked Questions and Liberty Block’s “70+ Reasons to Divorce DC” and “Twelve Benefits of NH Independence“.
To help the movement, you can contact your local state reps in support of the amendment, connect with other supporters online, and more. Visit the “How You Can Help” page on NHexit.us for a full list of ideas.
Stay tuned to Free Keene and the Liberty Block for the latest on this historic process.
by Ian | Sep 1, 2021 |
Nobody is out on bail!
Nearly six months after his arrest in an insanely destructive 6am raid back in March, longtime Free Keene blogger Nobody has finally been granted bail. The judge in his case suggested that Nobody, who changed his name from Rich Paul to run for Mayor in 2019 then Governor in 2020, was being held illegally.
As was the case with my bail conditions, the federal “magistrate judge” denied Nobody’s bail initially and the defense had to appeal that “de novo” to the actual judge in the case, Joseph Normand Laplante. Laplante also happens to be the chief judge for the entire Federal District Church Court. Thus far Laplante has been much more reasonable than the magistrates, though the bail restrictions on the Crypto Six have varied wildly.
For instance, Aria DiMezzo is highly restricted on what websites she can visit and must ask permission from her probation officer to go to any sites that are outside her limited “whitelist”. However she has no restrictions on drug use. In contrast, I am able to go to any website except for sites for buying, selling, and trading cryptocurrency, am on home confinement, and am subject to random drug testing. I am allowed to use alcohol, though I prefer not to.
No co-defendants are allowed to speak with each other, though after filing motions with the court to remove the contact restriction between us, Aria and I were granted an exception by Laplante for the purposes of being able to perform and run our nationally syndicated radio show, “Free Talk Live“. I have a long list of people in addition to my co-defendants with whom I am prohibited from speaking. This includes my longtime co-host and co-minister in the Shire Free Church, Mark Edgington. As part of his bail, Nobody is also prohibited from speaking with the same list of people. Aria has no such restriction.
The BEARCAT bashed in Nobody’s front door.
- Defendant shall refrain from the use of any social media platform to make any publicly viewable posts…
- Defendant shall refrain from public speaking engagements on radio, television, or podcasts, and shall also refrain from “taking the mic” at public rallies or public events.
Federal District Church Court
Arguably, the restrictions as-written don’t prohibit his newsletter or perhaps even blogging. However I wouldn’t blame him if he chose not to rather than risk a post to Free Keene being considered “social media”, violating bail and getting locked back up. Hopefully his attorneys will be fighting to get his right to free speech respected again. On the positive side, he’s not restricted on travel and can leave his home without permission from his federal handler.
So much for freedom of speech. That said, I’m glad Nobody’s finally out.
Stay tuned here to Free Keene and listen to Free Talk Live for the latest on Nobody and the rest of the Crypto Six.
by Ian | Aug 26, 2021 |
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Simon Wood at New York Magazine for an in-depth feature-length story about The Crypto Six and the migration here to New Hampshire and Keene as the Mecca for cryptocurrency users.
Don’t miss this great article.
Thanks to Simon and photographer Mark for the coverage.
by Bonnie | Aug 22, 2021 |
If you drive to the wrong location in New Hampshire, you may still end up at a protest. Nikki, (a nurse from Massachusetts,) and I intended to drive to the vaccine protest going on in Concord, but we drove to the wrong Dartmouth-Hitchcock location, the one in Lebanon. There is a larger gathering going on certain days at the Concord location, so at first we thought, “Where is everybody?” There was a group of just three guys on the side of the road by the entrance to the hospital with signs saying things like “No forced shots”. We went up to them with our camera and found out that the organizer of this protest and his wife had only left for a bit and would be back, and that the organizer had been sleeping in his military-style truck on the side of the road every night just to keep the protest going. We had accidentally found a second protest, and it was a 24/7 protest!
The organizer and his wife, a nurse named Nicole, returned and I interviewed her about her opinions on Dartmouth-Hitchcock mandating COVID vaccines for all of their staff. Their protest is getting a lot of attention from people driving past, and even getting conversations started. A group of teenagers whose parents flipped the protesters the bird as they drove by later returned without their parents to ask questions. They have sueDHMC.com on a huge sign that is visible from the road. Keep up the great work, protesters! Here’s the video:
by Pete Eyre | Aug 17, 2021 |
A key impetus for FreeKeene.com is to cover liberty activism in the Free State of New Hampshire. Content often takes the form of documenting an uninvited incident, ousting aggressors, and supporting individuals standing up for their rights. But just as relevant in this peaceful evolution are happenings that proactively seek to grow neighborly goodwill and interconnectedness.
Enter: West Manchester Day, happening Saturday, September 04, 2021.
West Manchester, Free State of New Hampshire
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by Ian | Aug 11, 2021 |
Heroic mom Rochelle Kelley went to trial today and faced up to a year in jail after her arrest for daring to bring her kids to a Concord, NH playground in April of 2020 while the playground was closed due to “governor’s orders”. The courtroom was full of supporters and after the pathetic cops testified, the robed man actually found her not guilty! This is the full trial video, only available here on our Odysee channel:
by Pete Eyre | Aug 6, 2021 |
A recruitment pitch made earlier this week by the Manchester Police Outfit touted qualified immunity as a job perk. Qualified immunity being the legalese that says that some people (those with badges) are not to be held accountable for their actions unless their counterparts in legaland deem it so.
Unsurprisingly this post received a lot of attention. And, in keeping with police protocols to limit transparency, it was quickly deleted.
In a follow-up, the the top-dog of the Manchester Police outfit Allen Aldenberg voiced platitudes: “This post was not the place to mention qualified immunity.” Why not? Is it that Aldenberg is against qualified immunity, as asked by commenter Justin O’Donnell?
I don’t think so. Nowhere has Aldenberg questioned the “qualified immunity” guise. So again, if qualified immunity is indeed claimed, why does Aldenberg say that it should not be mentioned in a job pitch?
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