This week we do a deep dive on the proposed amendments to city ordinances to help deal with the homeless problem. We delve into the role of technology as a tool of possible enslavement or enlightenment. Finally, a quick shout out to RTKNH’s Laurie Ortolano for getting attorney’s fees assigned in her Nashua Right-to-Know case!
Whenever you see drama in the community, may I remind you:
1. Freedom is, in the immortal words of Ron Paul, “messy”.
2. The enemies of liberty will always lie and call you names. Start growing a thick skin because it is the nature of the game in politics and public life.
3. This too shall pass. Whatever “this” is at any given moment…
In THIS CASE, it was the Concord Police Department, a decade ago, calling Free Staters “domestic terrorists” and a “daily threat” in a federal grant application for a BEARCAT (a po-po “tank”).
We fought this, garnered 1,500 anti-tank petition signatures, testified at Concord City Hall for 6 hours, delayed the vote for a month, and then they–of course–voted to get it anyway.
If you’ve ever seen the MORE MAYBERRY LESS FALLUJAH sign, it’s from this incident.
We originally learned about the grant from the ACLU-NH, who were as outraged as we were. ACLU National had been working on a country-wide “police militarization” project when they uncovered the language… because of my personal relationships with people at ACLU-NH, it was passed on to me.
The BEARCAT story was covered in various MSM outlets, incl. Reason, VICE & Mother Jones.
The Concord police chief Duvall did sorta apologize, and, ahem, was forced into retirement as a result.
It was a PR battle we were winning, with a left/right coalition developing and working together, sympathetic coverage, townsfolk coming out with us to stand shoulder-to-shoulder against police militarization until that dumb-fuck Crying Nazi wrote a blog saying it was now probably a good time to start killing school teachers & postmen.
Yeah.
Sometimes you have to wonder.
This lead to the banning of Cantwell (truth in advertising: it’s right there in his name), the first person to be made persona non grata by the FSP board.
Over the years, I have struggled whenever big, unpopular decisions like this need to be made, and sometimes I’ve regretted the outcomes, but not once with Chris Cantwell, who went on to tiki-torches at Charlottesville and federal prison after that. I believe he is now out and hope he steers tf clear of New Hampshire.
I would also caution people regarding the addictive nature of social media and “hits” from online audiences. Writers and thinkers sometimes escalate their messaging over time in a desperate attempt to try to garner ever-more attention. Like chasing any other addictive substance, this is a recipe for disaster, resulting in either finding yourself in some real bad company or with increasingly un-libertarian positions and un-libertarian “culture war” messaging.
As a free speech absolutist, it is a constant challenge to find the right balance: even if you are free to say what you want, no one has to listen to you or stay your friend. If you find yourself saying increasingly unpleasant things for attention… you might want to take a moment and reflect on whether you are starting to suffer from The Cantwell Effect. You can probably do better!
What’s the point of sharing all this?
It’s good to know our history, which we haven’t always done the best job of capturing. I have a lot of stories in my head that I need to start getting down. And, while everything feels so intense IN THE MOMENT, this should serve as a reminder that whatever THE HUUUUGEST PROBLEM RIGHT NOW is, is often just one more fleeting piece of the great puzzle of Life.
Building a voluntary community based on consent isn’t a picnic, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Live free and thrive!
Yesterday, I had the honor of celebrating the life of my beautiful friend, White Marriott, with many other friends in the Porcupine community. I have to say, ending this memorial with a balloon sword fight, as White had requested, may have to become a ritual in the Free State community. Great way to bring joy and smiles during hard times… exactly White’s life mission! Love you, Balloon Man! R.I.P.
We deep dive into Joyce Craig’s remarkably bad WMUR interview (see for yourself) and discuss who else is running for seats this November. Carla tries to parse out the cognitive dissonance in progressives’ thinking… What is self-ownership?
When a car hits a human, one would naturally assume the human was the one in peril, but rest assured, according to this po-po press release, our first concern is, of course, for the “police officer operating the cruiser” who “did not sustain any apparent injuries” (because, you know, he was in a fortified metal box). Sadly, the meat popsicle he hit did not fair as well.
Also, when YOU’RE in an accident, they sure like to put your name in the paper, but no worries, cops are special and above the law, so the identities are being “withheld.”
How can we do better?
1. Drop the passive language
2. Always name all players
3. Report the facts the same whether it’s a cop or not
Bastiat famously states in THE LAW: “If the natural tendencies of mankind are so bad that it is not safe to permit people to be free, how is it that the tendencies of these organizers are always good? Do not the legislators and their appointed agents also belong to the human race? Or do they believe that they themselves are made of a finer clay than the rest of mankind?”
Do those who “serve” us think they’re of “finer clay”?
This relates to so many Signal & Telegram groups I’m in:
“Do not waste what remains of your life in speculating about your neighbours, unless with a view to some mutual benefit. To wonder what so – and – so is doing and why, or what he is saying, or thinking, or scheming – in a word, anything that distracts you from fidelity to the Ruler within you – means a loss of opportunity for some other task.”
~ Marcus Aurelius
I am constantly amazed at how many people waste their time parsing out the goings on of others, especially politicians.
Here’s a life lesson that might release your time to go do productive things that make you happy:
Everyone is flawed. Politicians are particularly flawed. None is ever going to be “perfect” so why give them so much of your attention?
If gossiping about your fellow man is a habit, you might want to internalize the following: “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people”.
What YOU focus your time on is the life you are creating.
Choose carefully how you spend your time & what you give attention to… Build good habits now through being THE RULER WITHIN YOU so you can free your time to create a better future.
Create, not sedate, berate, or complicate. CREATE. Build a life you don’t want to escape from. It starts with taking command of your own attention span.
[PS: Random cool pic I snapped that came up in my memories from the Badlands in 2021, which I visited during Freedom Fest.]
Sununu declared he’s out… Who is in the race for NH governor then? Frank Edelblut? Chuck Morse and Kelly Ayotte? Joyce Craig destroyed Manchester, so she’s not a serious contender. Tune in to find out what we think…
The holiday festivities marked one of the highest concentrations of contenders yet seen in one place and time in the ’24 campaign.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy—respectively Donald Trump’s best and most likely pick for vice president—had been in the state just a few days earlier as featured speakers at PorcFest (the Porcupine Freedom Festival), an annual convention of the Free State Project that bills itself as among the largest libertarian gatherings in the world.
The American Conservative
LISTEN NOW to NPR coverage of “2024 presidential candidates ramp up campaigns for New Hampshire’s primary…”
“ROGERS: That’s Democratic candidate Robert Kennedy, environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, campaigning at PorcFest, a libertarian camp out high in the White Mountains. At this event, where freedom can mean public nudity, carrying an assault rifle or both at once, Kennedy’s conspiracy-tinged speech went over big. Carla Gericke, a prominent New Hampshire libertarian, was quick to judge it a winning approach.
CARLA GERICKE: If you can speak across the aisle like Kennedy chose to do today, those are the people who are successful in New Hampshire. I think his message is going to resonate. In fact, I think he might smoke Biden.
ROGERS: The idea of a Democrat like Kennedy beating, let alone smoking the incumbent president feels far-fetched. But Kennedy isn’t the only candidate aiming to convince voters anything is possible…” LISTEN NOW…
Whoa–That time CNN came to PorcFest (back in 2015 long before the current NBC BOSTON docu-series). Sharing this makes me… uncomfortable?!?
1. This is close to Peak Sick for me. Not only am I overweight but that rasp in my voice was from allergies that I now have under control through lifestyle changes. Did YOU know antihistamines suppress serotonin uptake? Neither did I…
2. Of course CNN found the one guy with a Confederate flag to include. I remember that dude bc the PF producers that year had to ask him not to park his ATV & flag in the middle of our group photo. Never saw him again.
3. Seems I have a long record of calling us “weirdos.” Perhaps, like me, y’all can adopt this into your lexicon to help explain away things you don’t personally agree with but understand other ppl might choose to partake in.
As individualist, you don’t have to agree with everything other ppl are doing. It’s a permanent built-in TEACHABLE MOMENT to explain INDIVIDUALISM.
4. The current dramas have all happened before in some way, shape, or form, and the degeneracy at PF has always been WILDLY overstated.
Always has, always will be.
If you’re a complainer, ask yourself about the tradeoff between looking away or going somewhere else on a massive campground when something is not to your liking vs. complaining publicly online and creating a permanent, searchable record to be trotted out to besmirch us.
Also, may I suggest if you complain:
A. Did you volunteer yourself?
B. Did you first THANK THE ORGANIZERS & VOLUNTEERS for the 99% that WAS amazing or just hone in and complain & make demands about the one small part that wasn’t to your liking?
5. Every time you ask for a new rule at PF, you are creating a strain on the organizers and on-site staff.
It’s called an APPEAL TO AUTHORITY and we prefer YOU sort your own shit out. We DO expect ppl to stick to their words & agreements too, tho, so if you make representations to PF staff STICK TO THEM.
6. I’m struck by how in this clip, even “friendly” politicians didn’t want to attend PF, and yet, now, eight years later, we had A SLATE OF REAL PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES bending the knee bc they KNOW they NEED Free Staters to do well in NH’s First in the Nation. We have *just* enough sway to be a spoiler or tipper. This is actual evidence of our actual success on the ground in NH. Embrace it. We are going to win in the long run!
7. Life will never be perfect. There are not enough rules to be written at PF to satisfy each of the thousands of attendees personal preferences.
The ethos of “live & let live” and “don’t hurt ppl & don’t take their stuff” should be able to carry a high-trust event…
In the end, the goal of PF is to showcase all the weird & wonderful things we ARE accomplishing, showcase the growing community, attract new attendees we can persuade to move, and to leverage legacy media coverage to help more ppl learn about the Free State Project and the better future we are building in NH.
Ultimately, we want more great people like YOU to join us!
Live free or die!
Live free and thrive!