Did you know in NH public schools since 1994:
# Teachers has INCREASED by 23%
All other staff has INCREASED by 80%
Spending per pupil has INCREASED 66%
And yet… enrollment is DOWN 9%???
The public school sector is straight-up LYING TO YOU. The pupil to staff ratio is now 10:1. Support school choice… it’s the only way to break the education monopoly to ensure each Granite Stater child gets the education they choose at a price point taxpayers can afford! [SOURCE: Josiah Bartlett Center]
Carla Gericke
From a 2012 interview in GQ… Not to date myself, but I’ve been doing this “Free State of NH” thing for a good long while… and now I need YOU! Interested in helping to build the coolest little independent state in the North x North East?
Come to the 18th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival to learn more about the thousands of #bitcoin and #crypto early adopters building a consent-based society based on self-ownership. PorcFest XVIII tix for folks like comedian Dave Smith, Tom Woods are only $50 right now, get yours today.
Read the whole interview at GQ.
The Free State is THAT “Cool Little Planet,” And PorcFest is YOUR Landing Pad
If you’re a #LIBERTARIAN, you should come to PorcFest 2021 (XVIII) because we’re about to enter into Totalitarian Empire Time, and the Free State of NH is well-positioned to become that one “cool little planet where everyone stops to trade, fix their space ship, and hire a mercenary.” You know the one, that free market, low-key spot where everyone gets along because they don’t give a shit beyond *trading* for what they want!
If you’re putting a village together for PorcFest (which is sort of the mini-version of this planet) please, invite me to speak to your peeps. I have a lot to say! Buy your $50 tickets for Dave Smith, Tom Woods, Dr Naomi Wolf, Matt Kibbe and more today! Get them soon, because we’ve sold a record amount of tickets and we may have to cap attendance! You. Have. Been. Warned.
A bit about me and my skills and 25+ years of experience as an author, activist, and attorney. My mantra is #LiveFreeAndThrive! My subjects:
* Independence/secession/”Yankee Hong Kong”
* ReOpen/ReBuild NH activities/critic of lockdown and Covid response
* Free State Project: I have been actively involved since I first organized PorcFest in 2009 and am the only person to have done it x3 including in 2020 like a mofo libertarian HERO!!! , I was the president from 2010-2016, got Edward Snowden, triggered the move, and now serve as Chair of the board
* Police accountability/qualified immunity, including a deep understanding of NH’s secret Laurie’s List, I’m an active and outspoken critic of police militarization, incl. BEARCATS, police radio encryption, drones, and unlawful surveillance cameras (lost my 2019 lawsuit, boo!)
* First Amendment/free speech, including winning my 2014 landmark and well-cited 1st Circuit First Amendment case affirming the right to film police encounters in public, Gericke vs. Begin et al
* Right-to-Know/NH Open Government, incl. court cases like Brady, Fenniman, Keene 5, etc. Suggested getting redacted Laurie’s List printed in the newspaper for Sunshine Week 2021
* “Art as Activism,” including teaching writing skills (I have an MFA in creative writing in addition to my law degree) and my book The Ecstatic Pessimist (which everyone should buy on Amazon!!! It includes 13 essays about my NH activism and the FSP)
* Politics and running for NH Senate x3 as an unabashed Free Stater and getting 45% in 2020, see Carla Gericke for New Hampshire
* “Liberty as a Lifestyle,” so how to improve your health, diet, fasting, keto, yoga, sleep, cooking from scratch, and my own transformation including losing and keeping off 65 lbs and living alcohol-free.
Learn more: https://www.carlagericke.com/about/
As the government asserts more and more control over every aspect of your life, going so far as to unlawfully claim they have the right to tell you what face coverings to wear in public, our NH police become less and less transparent.
They spy on us with ill-gotten surveillance cameras, but hide their actions from us. Does this sound right to you?
Traditionally, in Manchester, we had access to the police scanners. This was a simple way for the press and public to exercise some oversight over police actions on our streets, and to know when militarized tools like the BEARCAT was deployed. Around 2016, Chief Willard, in a backroom deal with the City, simply encrypted the scanners. NO PUBLIC INPUT/HEARING WAS HELD.
Today, since it is #SunshineWeek, and I serve on Right-to-Know NH, a statewide nonpartisan coalition of open government advocates, I asked Chief Aldenberg about how he will approach MPD transparency.
The Chief refused to answer whether any active MPD are on the current redacted Laurie’s List/EES. The NH Supreme Court overruled Fenniman last year, and the “personnel record” exception no longer applies. Nor, frankly, should it ever be permissible, in a functioning open society, for state agents, especially those permitted to use lethal force, to hide their own bad behavior from citizens. Watch this week’s episode of Manch Talk for a primer on the Laurie’s List, the court cases, and where we currently stand.
When asked about the dark scanners, the Chief suggested “that’s just how it is.” Chief, you have an opportunity to reverse course on this issue, and be more open and transparent. Please consider this.
The Chief also incorrectly stated the police log is updated every 30 minutes. It’s not. AND, not all calls are logged. Why’s that?
If the police log online is now the public’s sole “check and balance,” what reassurances do we have about the veracity or timeliness of the information on the log? How can we exercise any oversight? Is this how you establish trust? I think we can do better…
Please consider your duty and oath to the NH Constitution:
[Art.] 8. [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.] All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted. The public also has a right to an orderly, lawful, and accountable government…
ACCOUNTABLE AND RESPONSIVE.
Thanks for doing the Q&A, Manchester NH Police. I look forward to seeing us make progress on these issues to improve citizens’ oversight of your department.
If Only There Was a Way to Tell Who the Bad Cops Are… Oh, Wait… (Manch Talk 03/16/21)
In honor of Sunshine Week, this Sunday, the Union Leader printed the entire redacted Laurie’s List to show Granite Staters the shocking number cops with “sustained findings of misconduct” being hidden from public view. We discuss your Constitutionally-protected Right-to-Know, recent court successes, and suspicious rollbacks being attempted at the State House. Tune in to learn more!
Learn more about this issue:
Open government
Government accountability
Free yourself from the Tyranny of Other People’s Opinions! Once I shifted my focus from what the world thinks about what I do (or what *I think* the world thinks–never assume!) to only what *I* think about what I do, my life has blossomed.
Why? Because when you make your locus of focus internal not external, you free yourself to be your best self. You learn to only measure yourself against yourself, your goals, and what you are personally achieving. YOU are the master or mistress of your destiny!
Know this: You cannot heal the world if YOU are unhealthy, mentally and/or physically. If you think there’s something wrong with the world, you need to consider what might be wrong with YOU and then CHANGE.
The “common good” means you take care of YOURSELF, not that *I* have to take care of YOU. Find balance in YOUR mind, body, and soul: Healthy self = heal thy self.
Want to learn more? Read about my transformation in The Ecstatic Pessimist (BUY NOW from Amazon or me). Read my 10 Steps to Radically Improve Your Life and about my own transformation.
Small NH Town Gets Sued Under Right-to-Know For Refusing to Tell Townsfolk How Much They Are Paying Themselves
Vicky Ayer of Gillsum is fighting back! She is a member of Right-to-Know NH, a nonpartisan group of concerned open government advocates. See links below to get involved.
From today’s Union Leader:
“Gilsum is a town of about 800 people with an annual operating budget of about $600,000, but according to resident Vicky Ayer, a good portion of that budget is shrouded in mystery.
‘We have no clue where some of our money goes,’ Ayer said.
The town spends about $200,000 a year in salaries, and another $80,000 for employee health insurance. Ayer has been trying for years to get the board to include details on the expenditures in the annual town report to no avail. The money spent is taxpayer money, and ought to be public, she said.
‘We don’t know who gets what and where it goes,’ Ayer said.
For example, Ayer said the town refuses to disclose how much it pays to the part-time administrative assistant, Robin Cantara, Cantara’s assistant, or the new assistant who also joined the town this year.
‘We have 826 people in town. We don’t need three assistants,’ Ayer said.
Cantara did not answer the phone listed on the town website on Tuesday. Cantara is also the town’s clerk and tax collector.
Selectmen have claimed they legally do not have to disclose the salary information for town employees under the state’s Right-to-Know Law, according to Ayer’s lawsuit. That’s in contradiction with the Attorney General’s most recent memoranda on the Right-to-Know Law, which clearly lists salary for public employees as a public matter. Ayer claims she was told by selectmen they had a legal opinion advising them not to disclose the information in the town’s annual report.
Ayer filed a Right-to-Know lawsuit against the town seeking to get a copy of that opinion along with other information. The town’s attorney, Gary Kinyon, argues in court documents that selectmen do not have to hand over any opinion received from town counsel. Kinyon did not respond to a request for comment. Select Board Chair Timothy May could not be reached.
Ayer said Cheshire County Superior Court Judge David Ruoff is now giving board members 10 days to come up with the legal opinion they claim allows them not to disclose all of the town’s finances.
‘It will be interesting to see what they produce,’ Ayer said.”
Learn more about Right-to-Know NH. We meet on the third Saturday of every month, and welcome new members to join our ranks. Get involved!
Interested in filing your own RTK request? It’s surprisingly easy! Follow this handy guide!
Testimony in Support of HB480, Relative to Verification of Ballots Cast in an Election
Dear Honorable Committee Members:
My name is Carla Gericke, former Republican state Senate candidate in District 20. I live in Manchester, NH, am an author and attorney, and serve on several nonprofit boards, including Right-to-Know NH, a nonpartisan citizens’ coalition that works to improve government transparency, a crucial component to maintaining public trust in our institutions.
RTKNH supports this bill, and I believe another representative will be testifying on the organization’s behalf, so I am testifying today in my personal capacity as a voter, political candidate, and reformer. I will also submit this testimony in written form to the Committee via email afterwards, and ask that it form part of the permanent hearing record for the bill.
I ask you to SUPPORT HB480 in order to ensure the utmost transparency in the election process by allowing ballots to become part of the public record, subject to RSA 91-A, open to inspection by interested parties, and available to anyone who wishes to set their minds at ease.
Election integrity is a crucial part of any functioning government. More transparency leads to more accountability which in turn instills trust. Without transparency and accountability, Granite Staters will lose the last vestiges of trust in the system.
The NH Constitution says our government shall be “open, accessible, transparent, and responsive” to the people. In 1977, the legislature added a preamble:
“Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society. The purpose of this chapter is to ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people.”
HB480 increases accountability by increasing checks and balances.
In 2018, I was the Republican candidate for state Senate in District 20. During the primary, the Libertarian Party launched a write-in campaign, meaning, if I got 30 write-ins, I would appear as a fusion candidate as both the Republican and Libertarian candidate on the general election ballot.
District 20 has 6 wards, and I picked up twenty-something write-ins in five of the wards, but only 1 write-in in Ward 11 (my home ward, where I know many voters, and where I could easily have expected at least 30 write-ins). It was clear when the Ward 11 results were read that something was amiss. I filed for a recount, and yes, something was amiss. The moderators failed to record the write-ins correctly, and I did in fact, receive enough votes to qualify as a fusion candidate.
Why were the write-in votes recorded incorrectly? I’m sure it was, as everyone claims, a mistake, an oversight, something “went wrong,” and that the checks and balances put in place “worked” to “fix it.” But the question also begs to be asked: Why did the system fail in the first place? Why was the original tally wrongly recorded? How often does this happen? Where?
Everyone here is aware of the current investigation of the Windham Incident, where 300+ votes were found for EACH 3 Republican candidates during a recount. Much like my case, this raises more questions than it answers.
HB480 will help address these sorts of troubling scenarios by allowing follow-up audits BY ORDINARY CONCERNED CITIZENS who are registered New Hampshire voters to ensure we have the most unimpeachable and solid election process.
This would also help identify, say, if there is an isolated polling station where there are identifiable problems and repeat “offenders.” Part of the goal of the bill is to ensure the accuracy of the vote count and *evaluate the performance of election officials.* In other words, it is the check and balance on the check and balance, and given the strange occurrences we are now seeing with increasing regularity, the time to pass this bill is NOW.
Increasing transparency serves to increase accountability and trust. Let’s empower Granite Staters to be able to exercise their own audits to ensure the trust remains. Please support HB480 to increase election transparency, accountability, and trust.
Thank you for your time!
Sincerely,
Carla Gericke
West Manchester
Secretary of State testifies IN OPPOSITION TO BILL!
I received this response from Heidi Hamer (D), Ward 10 Representative. I wonder why she thinks transparency is “dangerous”?
I made a bunch of Statists on WMUR quite spittingly cog-dissed earlier this week. On top of the many tinfoil hat memes (Primer for Argumentation 101: the way to counter an argument is by addressing the facts presented, not by calling names, but m’kay), one of the profound counter-arguments presented to my position that I own myself, was literally, “OK Boomer.”
For the record: I’m 49 and squarely Gen X. Who, what, why?!? What’s Gen X? Remember when the Weather Channel forgot New Hampshire off the U.S. map? Gen X is like that.
We’re the Most Awesome sleeper generation. We’re Breakfast Club and CyberPunk and Fuck-Your-Wars. We drove without seatbelts and lived to tell the tale. We might even have been a little drunk!
We think this world, and its “Safety Instead of Living” mentality is mad, mad, mad. Life should be grabbed by the scruff and shaken like a 007 martini because when you get down to it, life itself is a “slow-moving emergency” careening us towards death, so LIVE!
Seize every day. Live YOUR life. Love YOUR life. Embrace YOUR life. Improve YOUR life. Cherish YOUR life. FFS, LIVE! What are you waiting for? Get outside! Raise your open, smiling face to the sky! Raise your fist in the air and yell, Today, and every day, I LIVE! I live on MY terms! I AM THE BOSS OF ME!
Safetyism is a disease that is slowly destroying the very fabric of American life. Children have been coddled into fat, sluggish, sick, mindless automatons. Stop buying into this awful world the Statists are trying to enslave you into! Learn how to live: Here are 10 steps you can immediately take to start improving your life!
A boomer responds:
“From my end-of-baby-boom perspective, it seems like most of the Karens out there are Gen-Xers. (But I have really never thought about it because I don’t like to look for generational differences. Just another version of identity politics and dividing people unnecessarily. (Although maybe I feel that way only because my own generation is the most maligned…)”
To which I say:
Yeah, after I posted this, I started wondering who is likely most responsible for “safetyism” and the coddling of minds, and my guess is it IS probably Gen X. Maybe because I don’t have children, I didn’t fall into the trap? It is a pretty trap, one that looks benign at first glance, after all, who doesn’t want to “protect” their kids? But we are now seeing, the best you can do for a balanced world is to teach people about self-ownership, personal responsibility, and consent-based interactions. Instead of cultivating fear mindsets, we should strive to give kids a healthy dose curiosity, and let them be!