Should Callers Pay for Expensive Police Service?

There are tons of services that police provide: Elderly check-ins, noise complaints, damaged property, stolen purses, runaway children, etc. They all cost money, and for the most part, communities are happy to pay. Justice is something most people want, and so we pay a group of people to provide it.

But what happens when the cost is astronomical? Like, crazy. Like, incalculably high? So high, no one even knows the number? Is there anyone putting downward pressure on costs when it comes to service from the police, or do they have a blank check on the community bank account?

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YouTube Censors “Hippie vs NAZI” Debate; Watch it Now Thanks to LBRY!

Rich and Chris back when Chris wasn't a racist and was still a libertarian.

Rich and Chris back when Chris wasn’t a racist and was still a libertarian.

A few weeks after Christopher “Crying NAZI” Cantwell faced off with Free Keene blogger Rich Paul in the LRN.FM studio live on Freer Talk Live, I discovered the archive of the epic debate has been wiped off of YouTube.

In an email they sent to the Free Keene account, YouTube claimed they removed the video citing their “community guidelines”:
the

Content glorifying or inciting violence against another person or group of people is not allowed on YouTube. We also don’t allow any content that encourages hatred of another person or group of people based on their membership in a protected group.

Of course, this did not happen in our debate. Chris was his usual nasty racist self, but the point was to counter him with a strong opposing view. Rich did a great job of defeating Chris’s pro-hate, pro-state views, and really allowing Chris to reveal just how un-libertarian he has become over the years.

Thankfully, you don’t have to take my word for it. You can watch the full debate for yourself, thanks to the decentralized video hosting service, LBRY. Interestingly, this YouTube takedown occurred about a year after we announced a partnership with LBRY to host all the videos from the Free Keene YouTube channel. To access the full set of videos, once you’ve installed LBRY, you can just go here. Here’s the full, uncensored “Hippie vs NAZI” Episode One:

That video link is through the LBRY-related site, Spee.ch, but in case that site goes down, the video should always be available directly through LBRY here.

LBRY.io Logo

LBRY.io – Content Freedom

LBRY is a decentralized blockchain-based media protocol that is protecting the internet from censorship. Kudos to the LBRY crew. Please visit their site to learn more and get involved. In fact, a little further digging reveals LBRY has publicly announced their YouTube channel backup program! If you know a YouTube creator who might appreciate having their videos archived permanently to the blockchain, send them to this link: https://lbry.com/youtube

With technology like LBRY growing and getting better and better, perhaps we’re at the beginning of the end of the mega tech corporations’ stranglehold over speech online.

In case you were wondering, YouTube did not provide any link in their email that would allow their decision to be appealed.

The Owner Decides, Not the Neighbors

“I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” – Voltaire

 

This principle of individual liberty is the foundation of Western Liberal philosophy. If we expect others to leave us alone to do as we please with our property, then we must leave others alone to do as they please. Even if we wouldn’t choose the same. We can talk with them, reason with them, bribe them, try to persuade and convince them, but in the end, it’s the owner of a thing who gets the final say in what happens with a thing.

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Libertarian National Chair Nicholas Sarwark Announces Move to New Hampshire

Nicholas Sarwark, LP Chair

Nicholas Sarwark, LP Chair Moving to New Hampshire ASAP.

When the national Libertarian Party‘s Chairman Nicholas Sarwark found the idea of migrating with other libertarians to New Hampshire, it was just an idea. Now, with thousands who have migrated here to the Shire since 2003, it’s no longer an idea but a successful proof of concept. We’ve had incredible, unprecedented activist successes, and it’s still early in the migration of the Free State Project.

In case you’re unfamiliar, thousands of the Free State Project‘s pro-liberty members decided in 2003 to migrate to New Hampshire over all the other states. Here are 101 reasons why they chose New Hampshire. Sarwark had heard about this back then and signed up. Then in 2016, the Free State Project reached its goal of 20,000 signers of their pledge to move libertarians and voluntarists to New Hampshire where our activism can be concentrated and have an actual impact. It has. As a result of our high concentration, a real liberty community has developed, unlike anywhere else in the world.

Sarwark witnessed the incredible and unmatched liberty community here in New Hampshire when he visited last month during the Porcupine Freedom Festival. In a post to his social media yesterday, Sarwark says of Porcfest:

Despite being a signer from way back, it was my first time attending. The experience was incredible, a sense of community, caring, cooperation, and peace. It’s not easy to describe, but it’s amazing to experience.

For a long time we early movers to New Hampshire envisioned a day when it would become so obvious that liberty is on the rise here that liberty-loving people would no longer be able to ignore our success and feel they needed to join in the fun. It appears we have reached that threshold. Sarwark’s public announcement is some of the biggest news that the FSP could really hope for in this area. In his post, he also says this:

Libertarian Party Logo 2016

The Libertarian Party Logo

Having stepped away from day-to-day operations of the car dealership here in Phoenix, I realized that there’s nothing stopping me from moving now. Valerie and I discussed it, talked to our kids about it, weighed out the pros and cons and decided together that we are moving to New Hampshire.

Assuming all goes according to plan, next month we will start our next chapter in the Granite State, surrounded by an intentional community of liberty lovers from all walks of life and I will trade my 17 year-old signer number for a brand new mover number.

Live free or die.

It’s a decisive move for Sarwark, who clearly had the experience at the Porcupine Freedom Festival that it was intended for – to let you experience what life is like when you’re literally surrounded by more liberty-loving people than you could possibly get to know.

Hopefully his decision will prod other libertarians to realize how futile it is to continue doing what they’ve always done, that we’re stronger when we concentrate our efforts in one place, and that the idea of concentration of activism is now a proven concept. Sarwark’s move is smart and should be seriously considered by anyone who cares about liberty. Kudos.

Social Media Panel @ Porcfest 2019

Porcfest‘s main stage this year featured a social media panel with moderator Naomi Brockwell and panelists Desi-Rae C, Lyn Ulbricht, and Carla Gericke. They discussed the challenges surrounding social media interactions and more.

Gericke is the former president of the Free State Project and is currently heading up the Foundation for New Hampshire Independence. Don’t miss Carla’s new blog at CarlaGericke.com. Finally, someone else is actively blogging in the New Hampshire freedom movement.