Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht’s first published letter from prison addressed supporters and attendees of this year’s liberty-focused New Hampshire event known as PorcFest. In the letter, Ulbricht expressed disappointment about not being able to attend the event, and he wrote about the upcoming struggles that will ensue in appealing his life sentence. He concluded the letter seeking financial support to continue his fight against “outright corruption” stemming from the government.
Ulbricht’s mother Lyn attended PorcFest last year to give a speech about her son’s case while Ross was awaiting trial, and also attended the event this year to provide insight in light of the Silk Road documentary Deep Web and the aftermath of Ross’s trial and sentencing.
I am writing to you from my cell in New York City. Sorry I couldn’t make it this year. Unfortunately the worst case scenario has played out for me and I’ve been sentenced to spend the rest of my life in prison. I am an eternal optimist though and will never give up hope for my release. I have confidence that the appeals court will recognize the errors by some and outright corruption by others in the government and give me some sort of remedy. It could be a new trial, where hopefully the whole story can be told or the case could be dismissed altogether.
In many ways, my struggle is just getting started now that it’s going to the higher courts, so I still need your help. Mounting an effective appeal is not easy. I’m confident in my team, but there’s only so much we can do without your donations. What we can be sure of is that the government will spend as many of your tax dollars as needed to keep me behind bars, so please help however you can. I hope my story has shed light on some of the issues we face these days. There are many, but please don’t let what’s happened to me lead you to despair. Keep standing for liberty and respect for our rights. Keep fighting for your freedom and evenutally we will win.
Cheers, Ross
A few words in the letter regarding “semantics and incorrect use of legal terms” were changed at the request of Ulbricht’s attorney and with Ulbricht’s approval.
Ulbricht appeared to make note of “outright corruption” from the government to directly reference two federal agents assigned to a Silk Road investigation who allegedly stole massive sums of money from the site and were later charged with fraud after Ulbricht’s trial had begun.
Ulbricht’s defense team has pointed out numerous times that the alleged actions and legal consequences related to the agents, Carl Force and Shaun Bridges, were hidden from the defense until just before the trial began. It has been argued that the two compromised the entire investigation and trial.
Bridges allegedly took over a Silk Road staffer’s account to steal over $800,000 worth of bitcoin. Force allegedly used several false identities to extort money multiple times from Ulbricht and signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, without telling his superiors, to be paid up to $240,000 for offering his story to be used in a movie about Silk Road.
The Free State Project’s 12th annual week-long Porcupine Freedom Festival, also known as PorcFest, concluded last Sunday. Truth In Media’s Annabelle Bamforth visited PorcFest to catch a glimpse of some of the activities at the festival, which takes place at Roger’s Campground in Lancaster, New Hampshire.
PorcFest is the Free State Project’s premier summer event that showcases the movement’s purpose, which is to inspire 20,000 individuals to move to New Hampshire in pursuit of personal liberty. A large number of attendees bring their camping gear to spend the week enjoying the festivities and ample space offered at Roger’s Campground, surrounded by one of the state’s most scenic mountain regions.
Personal freedom encompasses the atmosphere of the FSP and PorcFest, and attendees had plenty of avenues to explore. The following is a mere sampling of events that PorcFest had to offer:
Tours of New Hampshire’s scenic North Country
Appearances by Lenore Skenazy discussing the “free-range kids” movement
A kombucha-brewing tutorial
Discussion from residents in different regions of NH offering their perspective on ideal locations in which to settle
A Q&A session with Ross Ulbricht’s mother, Lyn Ulbricht, following the screening of the Silk Road documentary Deep Web
A “Jury Rights Jeopardy” game testing its attendees about juror’s rights
Daily activities for families and children
A lecture from Muslims 4 Liberty about spreading the voluntaryist message globally
Annual cook-off hosted by The Liberty Ladies of NH
A panel examining different forms of activism
A Crony Awards ceremony to award various crony capitalist “winners”
A speech from Julie Borowski about spreading the liberty message to a broader audience
Discussion from recent FSP “new movers” sharing their moving stories
Multiple discussions to assist people interested in running for elected positions locally and statewide
Many of the discussions and events illustrated New Hampshire as a state boasting a low tax burden, a diverse and thriving economy, a high quality of life, and a state legislature striving to limit government authority.
Beyond PorcFest’s pavilion area stood Agora Valley, the vendors’ section of Porcfest. Attendees visiting Agora Valley had access to over 60 vendors near the campsites offering freshly prepared meals, handmade products, Bulletproof coffee, endless varieties of homemade canned goods, locally caught trout, a vending machine refurbished to accept bitcoin, a great deal of pro-liberty literature, and plenty in between. Amanda Bouldin, whose homemade ice cream stand is a PorcFest favorite, enjoyed her sixth year at the event serving up flavors like Surveillance State Strawberry, WaterMolon Labe, Orwellian Oreo, and Constitutional Carry Chocolate Cherry.
Two agents from New Hampshire’s Department of Revenue made an appearance at this year’s PorcFest in an attempt to ensure that the food vendors at Agora Valley had “proper licensing” and were collecting the state’s meal tax at the festival. The agents warned that some vendors could be considered non-compliant. The incident, caught on video, showed a confrontation between the agents and Free Keene’s Ian Freeman. The agents were quickly notified that they were on private property and were asked to leave. After speaking with the campground’s owner, the agents exited without gaining access to any vendor paperwork.
Matt Philips, a FSP participant, spoke with Bamforth about his experience organizing this year’s PorcFest with his girlfriend, Kristin Weitzel. Philips estimated that at least 1,500 attendees were to be expected over the week and said that as the FSP grows, PorcFest grows steadily as well.
“We’re longtime Burning Man people,” said Philips of himself and Weitzel, “so we bring a little bit of that perspective.” He said that his time volunteering as a Black Rock Ranger at Burning Man inspired him to organize a new set of volunteers, called Porc Rangers, to assist at PorcFest. “They can summon medical, they can summon community support, they can help people help themselves,” said Philips.
Philips also spoke of the “principles of Porcfest,” something that he and others have been working on to “identify the parts of the culture that we really want to emphasize, get more of.”
“We’re trying to get people who think they might be interested to come, meet everyone, see what it’s about,” said Philips. “To see the experimentation that’s going on here with the vendors and the people here around each other. The little microcosm of the free society that we could have if we all came to this one place and magnified, amplified, each other’s efforts.”
There are innumerable tenets that draw such a large crowd to PorcFest. Some attendees had specific advice to share or to seek. Some attended to hear speeches relevant to their principles. Some attendees have described the event as a week-long experimentation showing what a truly free society could look like. Some simply wanted to go camping with like-minded friends. No matter what brings them to Lancaster year after year, PorcFest is an ideal setting for liberty-loving guests to unite in celebration of the Free State Project’s motto: “Liberty In Our Lifetime.”
Manchester, NH- The 8th annual Liberty Forum, hosted by the Free State Project from March 5th through March 8th, welcomed over 500 enthusiastic visitors. The event, which has been primarily held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua, was moved to the larger Radisson Hotel in Manchester this year to accommodate the growing number of guests. The diverse crowd in attendance included Free State Project participants, speakers from New Hampshire and beyond, and liberty-minded individuals considering moving to the state.
The Free State Project, an organization striving to attract 20,000 movers to New Hampshire in pursuit of personal liberty, hosts this event to provide detailed information about the state to prospective movers while giving them a chance to network and socialize. The 2015 Liberty Forum was organized by Merav Yaakov, a Free State Project participant who moved to New Hampshire in 2011.
This event is also an opportunity to listen to speeches from prominent figures in the liberty movement. For the last several years, Liberty Forum has hosted addresses from speakers including Ron Paul, Naomi Wolf, Tom Woods, and Julie Borowski. This year’s conference featured Reason.com’s editor-in-chief Nick Gillespie, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, Sheriff Richard Mack of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, Cato Insitute executive vice president David Boaz, Charlotte Observer associate editor Peter St. Onge, and David Kelley, founder and CIO of The Atlas Society.
Liberty Forum, however, is not limited to speeches. Dozens of smaller presentations and discussions about a wide range of topics including but certainly not limited to education, local politics, nutrition, marijuana prohibition, entrepreneurship, and technology provided opportunities for attendees to engage in dialogue and ask questions in a casual setting.
Speakers Jody Underwood, Bill Walker and Kate Baker each offered their philosophies and ideas about public education in their own presentations. Matt Simon, New England political director of the Marijuana Policy Project, spoke about future marijuana legalization endeavors in New Hampshire. Former New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway discussed technology’s effect on government. Carlos Morales, a Child Protective Services whistleblower, gave a presentation about the agency’s controversial practices. Lyn Ulbricht, mother of Ross Ulbricht, appeared at Liberty Forum to discuss the trial that convicted Ross of running the Silk Road online marketplace.
Free State Project participant Carla Mora hosted a lunch on Saturday to answer questions from potential movers.
This year’s Liberty Forum attracted both visitors who have enjoyed the conference in the past, and visitors traveling to New Hampshire contemplating making the move. Recent mover Jon Pawelko said the Liberty Forum offers a unique hands-on experience for attendees. “There’s something here for everyone,” he said. At least 43 people signed on to join the Free State Project during the event.
Correction: This post has been updated to accurately report Patrick Byrne’s position at Overstock.com as CEO. It was previously reported that he is the Chairman in addition to CEO; he has been Chairman in the past, but he is no longer holding that position.
Update, March 6th, 2014, 2:47 p.m. Eastern: Due to hazardous weather conditions in Washington, D.C., Ben Swann will not be able to speak on Friday evening. Peter St. Onge will be speaking in place of Swann.
Manchester, NH- Ben Swann will be appearing at the Free State Project’s upcoming 8th annual Liberty Forum in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he will be giving a keynote speech titled “Defeating Collectivism In Media.”
Liberty Forum is an annual weekend conference that has regularly hosted prominent liberty-minded figures conveying ideas and philosophies about issues including personal freedom, economics, civil liberties, and local and national politics. The forum also serves as an educational resource for prospective participants of the Free State Project seeking to learn more about living in New Hampshire.
Other keynote speakers for this year’s Liberty Forum include Overstock.com CEO and Chairman Patrick Byrne as well as author and Liberty.me CEO and founder Jeffrey Tucker. In addition to the keynote speakers there will be appearances by Reason.com Editor-In-Chief Nick Gillespie; Lyn Ulbricht, mother of Ross Ulbricht; David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Insitute; Sheriff Richard Mack of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association; David Kelley, founder and CIO of The Atlas Society; and an array of figures from New Hampshire as well as all over the United States.
The Liberty Forum will take place at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire, beginning on March 5th at 6:00 p.m. Eastern through Sunday, March 8th. Swann will be speaking on Friday, March 6th at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.
To find more information about scheduled speakers, workshops and registration information, visit nhlibertyforum.com.
When asked to justify the purchase of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) military-style vehicles and to explain when something like that would be used in the United States, and not in a war zone, a sheriff’s deputy’s answer has caused people to plan protests.
Jerry Moffett, a deputy in Spokane County, Wash., said, “We’ve got a lot of Constitutionalists and a lot of people that stockpile weapons, a lot of ammunition. They have weapons here locally.”
Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich went on local TV, saying that Moffett’s words were taken out of context. He said that the military-style equipment wouldn’t be used on law-abiding citizens.
“It will never be used to take your guns away,” he added.
Knezovich said that Moffett misspoke when he said “Constitutionalist” and that “extremist” would have been more appropriate.
But he said, what he said, and those words have been fuel for protests: “Obviously it doesn’t serve a useful purpose if it’s considered by his deputies to be for the purpose of rounding up Constitutionalists and law-abiding citizens that may adhere to the Second Amendment,” Scott Maclay, who is organizing the protest, said.
BenSwann.com reported last year that the police chief in Concord, N.H. called members of the Free State Project “domestic terrorists” in an application to acquire a MRAP.
The Free State Project is an organization trying to persuade 20,000 or more “liberty loving people … neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from any and all walks of life” to move to New Hampshire. They also believe in the Constitution (Which apparently is a threat to our government now).
InfoWars.com’s Mikael Thalen who first broke the story and told BenSwann.com’s Joshua Cook, “Since the release of this shocking footage, Sheriff Knezovich has continually attempted to divert attention away from his deputy’s comments. Instead of announcing a much needed policy change, Knezovich has chosen to play the victim while absurdly accusing myself, Alex and Infowars of wrongdoing.”
Thalen posted a statement on his facebook:
“Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich stated that his deputy’s comments were “taken out of context” when he said that armored military vehicles were needed because of “constitutionalists.”
Knezovich’s claim seemingly suggests that the deputy’s comments could have been appropriate if the clip had been longer.
In response to the Sheriff’s request, here is the full video, which does absolutely nothing to change what his deputy said.” See full video below.
The situation in Washington and New Hampshire prove these are not isolated events but demonstrate how the feds are radicalizing the police against political groups who believe in the U.S. Constitution, limited government and individual freedom.
Manchester, NH- Benswann.com’s Annabelle Bamforth recently spoke with New Hampshire resident Amanda Bouldin to discuss Shire Sharing, a charity organization founded in 2011 with a mission to deliver hundreds of Thanksgiving meals to needy families in the areas of Manchester, Nashua, Concord, Keene and the Upper Valley.
Bouldin moved to New Hampshire in 2009 as an early participant of the Free State Project. She founded Shire Sharing in honor of her father Kent, who passed away in the spring of 2011. When Amanda was growing up in Texas, Kent had organized a project called Basket Brigade where volunteers delivered meals at Thanksgiving to families in need. Amanda decided to organize her own New Hampshire version of the “Basket Brigade” and launched Shire Sharing about six months after her father’s death as the Thanksgiving season was approaching.
In 2011 Bouldin set up a webpage for donations to the cause. She was able to raise enough money that year to purchase dinners for 52 homes. In 2012, the organization gained momentum and Shire Sharing delivered meals to almost 200 homes. The video below documents the Shire Sharing volunteers in action during the 2012 season.
2013’s effort showed even greater success with nearly 400 homes receiving Thanksgiving meals. Bouldin said that each household has an average of 3.5 people, which equates to at least 1,300 people in the Manchester area being able to enjoy a holiday meal last year.
Thanksgiving dinner bags set for delivery in 2013. (photo courtesy of Amanda Bouldin)
Bouldin said that the organization is run entirely by volunteers and private donations for expenses such as web hosting for the Shiresharing.org website and buying food for the Thanksgiving baskets. Space to store food and assemble bags is also donated, and a yearly comedy night fundraiser is held to receive additional donations. Bouldin said that the school her daughter attends showed interest in the organization, and will be participating this year by having student volunteers assemble food bags.
Shire Sharing’s efforts illustrate what can be made possible through voluntary action. One impressive aspect of Shire Sharing is that nearly all of the pre-delivery organizing occurs within their Facebook group among the largely self-motivated volunteers. Bouldin, with the help of dedicated volunteers, has utilized the close-knit yet expansive network of liberty activists participating in the Free State Project and other pro-liberty groups to gather the food, assemble food baskets, and travel in cars and buses to deliver the meals. Bouldin said that she reaches out to social service groups in the area to locate families in need.
Shire Sharing volunteers. (photo courtesy of Amanda Bouldin)
Bouldin said that while the Shire Sharing Facebook group focuses mostly on delivering Thanksgiving meals there have been smaller fundraising initiatives accomplished, such as raising funds to purchase a wheelchair for a person in need, handing out backpacks filled with warm clothing and first aid supplies to the homeless during the Christmas season, and raising money for a family experiencing a difficult financial situation.
The Facebook group, which now exceeds 500 members, is full of enthusiastic, ambitious volunteers. Shire Sharing’s goal this year is to deliver to 500 homes. Bouldin said that so far about $7,000 has been raised, but at least $10,500 is needed to reach this year’s goal.
To donate online, visit Shire Sharing’s donation page here. For information about volunteering or making a food or cash donation, email ShireSharing@gmail.com.
Benswann.com’s Annabelle Bamforth spoke with New Hampshire residents Beau Davis and Vince Perfetto to discuss their upcoming documentary “101 Reasons: Liberty Lives In New Hampshire”, a film that details the top 101 examples of the state’s pro-liberty atmosphere and illustrates those examples with real-life stories.
In 2001 the Free State Project, a movement aiming to encourage 20,000 individuals to concentrate their liberty-minded efforts by moving to a low-population state, was in the process of deciding which state would become the home of the project. Perfetto and Davis explained that it was during this process that the 101 Reasons list originated, when Michelle Dumas created the list as a “resume” for New Hampshire to convince the Free State Project board members to choose the state.
The 101 Reasons list details various advantages of living in New Hampshire, from its low taxes to diverse economy to excellent quality of life, available to read here.
After New Hampshire was elected be the home of the Free State Project, the 101 Reasons list was no longer just a resume but an inspiration for new movers to make the state their home. Perfetto said he moved to New Hampshire in 2010 and had thought of making a film based on the 101 Reasons list for quite some time.
In late 2013, Perfetto made a Facebook post about his desire to make a film about the list. Davis contacted Perfetto within a few hours, and they began the project a few months later. In February 2014, as the Free State Project hosted its annual Liberty Forum in Manchester, Perfetto and Davis began work on the film by interviewing different attendees including supporters and participants of the Free State Project.
The film combines the 101 Reasons list with success stories from movers to the state as well as interviews with proponents of the Free State Project. Davis and Perfetto conducted nearly 70 interviews with people including author James Bovard, financial expert and author Peter Schiff, Ben Swann, Defense Distributed founder Cody Wilson, writer and Liberty.me CEO Jeffrey Tucker, and writer Bill Buppert.
The film in its entirety will be available on November 10th at 101reasonsfilm.com.
Last night’s midterm election results delivered multiple losses to New Hampshire’s GOP establishment candidates. United States Senate candidate Scott Brown failed to unseat Democrat incumbent Jeanne Shaheen; gubernatorial candidate Walt Havensten lost to Governor Maggie Hassan (D-Exeter); Marilinda Garcia lost her bid for New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District to Democrat incumbent Ann McLane Kuster.
Independent of Republicans’ losses in the larger seats, New Hampshire’s election showed a remarkable number of liberty candidates claiming victory in smaller state house and senate seats. Many members of the Free State Project, known in the state as “early movers” who have moved to New Hampshire ahead of a larger initiative to encourage 20,000 liberty-minded people to reside in the state, were particularly impressive in their races.
Despite several anti-Free State Project endeavors from various opponents of the organization, dubbed by some as the “Free State Project Witch Hunt”, at least 15 FSP participants in senate and house races were victorious Tuesday night. Anti-FSP initiative “Free State Project Watch” posted a list of 39 state House and Senate candidates who are also FSP participants. It has been confirmed that at least 15 and as many as 20 candidates, both Democrat and Republican, won seats in the state house.
“The record-breaking total of 20 Free State Project early movers’ winning state house seats further proves the viability of the Project,” FSP founder Jason Sorens, told Benswann.com. “When all libertarian-leaning representatives are counted, the liberty bloc in the New Hampshire State House will amount to about 20% of the entire body. What will state politics look like when thousands more libertarians move here? We’ll find out soon enough!”
In addition to the victories of Free State Project members, LibertyBallot.com founders reported that more than 100 of their recommended liberty candidates had won as well.
Aaron Day and Matt Philips, both Free Staters, have rattled the hornet’s nest in Bedford, New Hampshire. Day and Philips define themselves as liberty Republicans and believers in the libertarian philosophy. Over the next few years they are hoping to limit their local government so that it becomes a government whose only duty is to protect the individual rights of its citizens.
Only weeks ago they decided to take action at the local level by running for office. Day made the decision to run for school board and Philips made the decision to run for town council.
One particular citizen of the town is very worried about both of their campaigns. The citizens name is Jim Scanlon and he has been a town councilor of Bedford since 2010. He is very upset over a Facebook post placed on the Bedford Taxpayers Association Facebook page by Day and Philips.
At a town council meeting on February 26th, Scanlon expressed his grievances over the Facebook post when he said, “I hope to God all 22,000 of you are sitting out there tonight listening and I hope to God that when most of you go to the polls, 4,000 or 5,000, you think for yourselves…(I’m) gettin’ emotionally involved. I’ll sum it up with this, it’s a shame that two people who submitted a letter influenced the judgements of 8 who in turn now influence the judgements of 16,000 people.”
Should the citizens of New Hampshire be worried about Day, Philips and other members of the Free State Project? It really depends on the beliefs of the individuals living within the live free or die state.
In a survey conducted last year by the Public Religion Research Institute, about 22% of Americans said that they are libertarian or lean libertarian. If the same held true for 22% of the 1.3 million citizens of New Hampshire, this would mean that nearly 300,000 citizens would be in almost complete agreement with the changes in government that are taking place due to the Free State Project.
To learn more about the Free State Project, click HERE.
Day’s campaign website can be found HERE and Philips’s campaign website can be found HERE.
The government’s treating citizens as potential terrorists threats have been on display for the past couple months with a series of revelations about the NSA, IRS and DOJ. In March 2009, a leaked secret report from the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) profiled third-party supporters, homeschoolers, people who know the U.S. Constitution and people who have related bumper stickers on their cars, fly the flag or even invest in gold as potential domestic terrorists.
In April 2009, a Department of Homeland Security published Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, a report which expressed many of the same sentiments and targeted the same people. It wasn’t too long afterward that the flag@whitehouse.gov scandal emerged, in which the White House asked people to report their friends, acquaintances, colleagues and neighbors who disagreed with Obamacare.
In January 2013, Arie Perliger, the Director of Terrorism Studies at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, published a paper titled Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right. In the document, he identifies racists/white supremacists, anti-federalists and fundamentalists as the three far-right groups who are responsible for a “dramatic rise in the number of attacks and violent plots” in America. He identifies anti-federalists as those who discuss and object to a “New World Order,” and who feel that the federal government is corrupt and tyrannical, infringing on Constitutional rights.
It’s in this political environment – where profiling citizens who want more freedom and less government is the “new norm” – that Concord, New Hampshire Police Chief John Duval filed an application to the Department of Homeland Security asking for over $250,000 to purchase a BearCat armored vehicle. After the ACLU submitted a public records request, shocking political profiling was revealed.
“We are fortunate that our state has not been victimized from a mass casualty event from an international terrorism strike however on the domestic front, the threat is real and here. Groups such as the Sovereign Citizens, Free Staters and Occupy New Hampshire are active and present daily challenges. Outside of the officially organized groups, there are several homegrown clusters that are anti-government and pose problems for law enforcement agencies.” – From Concord, New Hampshire’s application to the DHS for an armored police vehicle.
The Free State Project is an organization trying to persuade 20,000 or more “liberty loving people … neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from any and all walks of life” to move to New Hampshire. The end goal of this is to help more people who may want to move – but who feel unsure that New Hampshire will maintain its small government attitudes – feel more secure in their decision to move to the Granite State. New Hampshire is the last swing state in the North East and New England and makes it a very attractive destination.
Though the Free State Project is not a political action organization – it does not run or endorse political candidates or legislation – and though only seven members of the project live in Concord, the organization was targeted. Occupy Wall Street and Sovereign Citizens movements are more politically active, their actions are far from “terrorism,” which in most people’s minds means ideologically motivated violence against innocents.
The DHS approved the grant application, but people are now calling for the funding to be removed. Some reference funding issues, saying that Concord is nonviolent and does not need a $250,000 tactical armored vehicle which it wouldn’t buy with its own money, so why should the federal government pay for this. Mostly, though, the opposition is due to blatant and unfair political profiling. The grant specifically states that “funding may be suspended or terminated for filing a false certification in this application.”
The Free State Project has demanded a retraction and amendment of the grant application to remove references to the organization and its members, an “itemized list by calendar day of the ‘daily challenges’ presented by ‘Free Staters’ to the CPD,” and a written letter of apology from both the city and the CPD. Concord’s City Council has delayed the decision on whether to accept the grant, and so far the demands have not been met. At a City Council meeting after receiving no response, Carla Gericke, the president of the organization, demanded the resignation of all officials involved.
An estimated 200 people came out in protest against the BearCat.
Carla Gericke president of the Free State Project at the public hearing stated , “We are here today in great numbers to raise our voices to protest the manufactured, false, misleading, fraudulent AND SECRET claims made by Thomas Aspell, the city manager, and John Duval, the chief of police in the federal grant application for Concord’s Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack vehicle. As president of the Free State Project, I have publicly called for a retraction and amendment of the Department of Homeland Security grant. I also asked for a list of ‘daily challenges’ presented by Free Staters. Lastly, I requested a public letter of apology for the defamation of 14,600+ Free State Project participants. None of these requests have been met, although Chief Duval has since backpedaled in public statements, saying we do not present a ‘domestic terrorist threat.’ (See video below).
Radley Balko states in his white paper, Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, that “over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work.”
Radley Balko, in a report for the CATO Institute, provides a number of policy recommendations, found here, for states seeking to stem police militarization.
The South Carolina Policy Council, who is battling similar issues states, “Police are not soldiers; they aren’t there to win wars or defeat enemies but to keep people safe. Citizens shouldn’t have to fear those members of society whose stated purpose is to preserve their safety.”
They recommend that all legislative bodies that have the power at the state or local level should reject appropriations of federal funds (such as Homeland Security funds) intended for use in purchasing military-style weapons.
Ben Swann, two-time Emmy Award winning journalist, comes to Concord, New Hampshire, on Friday, July 26th. This event will also live stream across the country. Swann will make a major announcement regarding the launch of his “Truth In Media” project. Swann will be joined by alternative media figure Tyrel Ventura, Carla Gericke (Free State Project President), with Skype appearances by Judge Jim Gray, radio host Josh Tolley and award winning journalist Amber Lyon.
The live event will run from 7:00-10:00 pm EST upstairs at The Draft in Concord, NH. Tickets are $15 to attend the event and free to stream.
Many people have been asking about this Truth in Media Project Live Event in New Hampshire on July 26th. What is this event all about? This will be a night to remember as we lay out in detail our plans for the Truth in Media project, results of our crowd sourced efforts and what our long-term goals will be.
The event also includes guest speakers who will talk about the importance of truth in media. Over the next few days we will be announcing our lineup. Today, I am so excited to announce the first. Carla Gericke, the President of the Free State Project, will be with us on the 26th to talk about New Hampshire’s push for a state of liberty minded activists.
I have no doubt that many of you have heard of the Free State Project but some may not be fully aware of what the FSP is working to do. Above teaching ideas of individual liberty to friends and coworkers in New Hampshire, the Free State Project is recruiting more than 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to the Granite State. According to its website, participants have pledged to “exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of civil government is the protection of life, liberty and property.”
I am very excited to have Carla join us on July 26th to share her vision for New Hampshire and the Free State Project. If you can’t make it out to New Hampshire, you can watch a live stream of the event here: http://truthinmedia.com/ben-swann-live-events/
Stay tuned, more speakers will be announced this week.
