Boston Globe Article about Nobody
Until now.
This morning’s Boston Globe has a Metro section front-page story featuring Nobody!
Already this morning, Nobody has received a request for interview from a major Boston television station. This could be the beginning of a major media blowup! Please do share the story on your social media and don’t forget Nobody’s official campaign site, ElectNobody.com.
Elect Nobody Sign
Mayor- “Nobody” Yes, Nobody is actually going to be on your ballot!
City Council – At Large:
John Theriault
Matthew “Matt” Roach
Ian Freeman
City Council – Ward 2:
James “AriaDiMezzo” Baker
City Council – Ward 4:
Robert J Call
City Council – Ward 4 – two-year term
Conan Salada
Remember that in races where you can vote for more than one person, just voting for the candidates you support most is called “bullet voting”, which helps those candidates just a little more, because you aren’t using whatever votes that you have remaining to increase the totals of their competition.
Mayoral Candidate Nobody and City Council Candidates Ian Freeman and Robert Call toke up at the 420.
The 420 rallies were historic and made local, state, national, and international headlines. They started small, with just a handful smoking cannabis in the iconic New Hampshire town common and quickly grew to upwards of 150 participants at their peak. The celebrations of cannabis freedom went on daily and lasted for weeks, despite desperate attempts by Keene police to crack down.
Once the events grew to a crowd, Keene police arrested a couple of the perceived leaders of the event in hopes of intimidating the peaceful tokers into calling it quits and going home, but the police aggression had the opposite effect. Instead of scaring away the protestors, dozens marched down to the Keene police headquarters and smoked cannabis behind the police station and later smoked up inside the lobby!
After that, the police never returned to the daily 420s and they eventually died off due to winter weather setting in. Though the rallies were revived the following Spring, we had clearly won the ground as a demilitarized zone for open cannabis use. It was a beautiful thing. Beginning in 2010, on April 20th the 420 rallies continued as a yearly event at the Concord state house steps and participants even came to include multiple state representatives.
Last weekend, the 420 rally returned to the place where it began – Keene’s Central Square. The founder of the rallies, then known as Rich Paul, now known as Nobody and running a campaign for mayor of Keene had the prior week announced a special rally to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the historic events. Held on Saturday September 28th at 4:20pm, the 10th anniversary rally was attended by locals, liberty migrants, and even included Robert Call and me, who are both candidates for city council in this year’s Keene municipal election.
Here’s a music video I made from footage of the original rallies in 2009, footage from the Concord rallies, and fresh footage and photos from last weekend’s 10th anniversary 420 rally:
In the past decade, we’ve seen some political progress in New Hampshire, including medical cannabis passing in 2012 and decriminalization of less than 3/4ths of an ounce of cannabis and 5 grams of concentrate passed in 2017. However, prohibition is not over and it continues to be a felony to grow or sell cannabis – an amazing plant that has helped countless people.
As long as prohibition exists, expect the 420 rallies and the civil disobedience to continue.
Kudos to Warehouse One for their awesome “Victimless Crime Spree” song, that was inspired by “Derrick J’s Victimless Crime Spree”, which itself was originally inspired partially by Keene’s 420 rallies.
Just days after appearing on the morning show on the college radio station and announcing the 10th anniversary of the 420 rallies, Keene mayoral candidate Nobody was interviewed for most of an hour at WKBK-AM/FM. He and host Dan Mitchell covered various issues including the insane war on drugs and even took phone calls, which included one local asking about secession:
(Nobody’s interview is also archived here.)
However, Nobody isn’t the only pro-liberty candidate on the ballot this year in Keene who is getting media attention. Aria DiMezzo is running for city council Ward 2 in a competitive and unprecedented four-way primary. You may recall that last year she became the first trans candidate for sheriff, likely in history. Here is her appearance on the Cheshire TV “Spotlight on the Candidates” series, where each candidate is invited to CTV for a five minute statement video that runs in rotation through the primary election on October 8th:
I’m also running for city council, in the at-large race. Here’s my 5-minute “Spotlight on the Candidates” video: (more…)
It’s 420 at 4:20pm Saturday 9/28 at Keene’s Central Square!
After that, the police simply ignored the ongoing civil disobedience, publicly stating that they investigated and had found no one was smoking – which was a lie. The historic events garnered local and even international headlines and most importantly got a conversation started among the community about ending cannabis prohibition.
Eventually, the weather got too cold for most to bear, but the following spring, the daily rallies returned! Over time, people went back to their regular lives and the rallies continued yearly at the Concord, NH state house steps. We’d won the territory of Central Square and had essentially turned Keene’s little town common into a demilitarized zone where cannabis prohibition was not enforced!
Now, Keene’s mayoral candidate Nobody, the man formerly known as Rich Paul who created and led the original 420 rallies in Keene, has announced a special ten-year anniversary smoke out will occur this Saturday, September 28th at 4:20pm, at Keene’s Central Square. Nobody will address the rally and it will likely feature other speakers. Here’s an excerpt from Nobody’s official announcement as posted on his campaign website, ElectNobody.com:
420 Rally Meets Pumpkinfest 2009
We have made a lot of progress in 10 years, but we have a long way left to go. We have gained medical, we have gained decriminalization, we have, most recently, loosened the cruel and pointless constraints on medical marijuana. Most importantly, we have won the hearts and minds of the people but we are not done. We must serve notice that the people will not be satisfied until the crime against humanity that is the “war on drugs” is over and those responsible brought to justice, or at least to peace.
Cannabis users are not disposable people. Whether we use it for medical, spiritual, or recreational purposes, we retain our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even if we seek that happiness through unapproved chemical means.
Nobody has invited people to bring cannabis to smoke and share, though in case of a police crackdown, avoid having over three quarters of an ounce, since that is the decrim limit in New Hampshire. As of 2017’s overwhelmingly passed slight decriminalization, possession of under 21 grams of cannabis or five grams of concentrate will only net the first time offender a $100 ticket. Whereas previously it would have been a misdemeanor arrest. So, now the risk to participants at 420 rallies is lower than ever.
However, if the police do show up to attempt to confiscate your cannabis and you end up with a ticket, I highly suggest you don’t take the plea deal! Take the ticket to trial and make them work to get their conviction, and even when you’re found guilty, refuse to pay the fine and instead do community service. Or just sit in jail for a day, since NH allows you to sit off fines at $150 a day. Whatever you do, don’t pay the fine, as that only encourages them to target peaceful cannabis users for fundraising purposes. If the police know they can’t get money out of people for cannabis “violations” and the police’s victims will instead clog up the courts via their right to trial, the cops may just stop ticketing people for cannabis entirely.
I look forward to seeing you out this Saturday, 9/28 at 4:20pm on Keene’s Central Square for the return of the 420 celebration rallies! If it goes well, we might even come back the next day…
Nobody recently made headlines by entering this year’s already contentious mayoral race in Keene. Shortly thereafter, he received an amazing endorsement from the Union Leader, New Hampshire’s top newspaper.
This week, Nobody was interviewed about his campaign for mayor at Keene State College’s radio station, WKNH 91.3 on “Wake Up Call” with host Vincent Moore. I was there to record video of Nobody’s first media interview, so you can watch the full interview here:
Wake Up Call airs every Wednesday 9-11am on WKNH 91.3 FM in Keene and at WKNH.org and WKNH on the TuneIn app. You can learn more about Nobody’s campaign for mayor of Keene at ElectNobody.com.
A group of about a hundred students took off from school today to attend an event in Prescott Park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire today as part of a larger day of action across the state and beyond. They brought signs, listened to speeches, and signed clipboards offered to them by political campaigners visiting from Massachusetts. Below is the video I captured from the event. It features interviews from young people explaining why they attended today and what they want their opposition to know.
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