We’re back in the studio! This week, we delve into some hot topics, including police brutality and the past week’s riots, the secret list of bad NH cops, the NH Supreme Court’s overturn of the terrible Fenniman case (yay!), and more…
Carla Gericke
It’s Happening!
Psst! Did you hear? Those crazy Porcupines of the Free(ish) State of New Hampshire are throwing a weeklong party, and YOU are invited!
It is now full-steam ahead for the 17th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, aka PorcFest XVII, June 22-28, 2020 at Roger’s Campground in the beautiful White Mountains.
Our keynote speaker is Tom Woods (catch Tom’s recent podcast with Carla Gericke about why he is attending PorcFest for the first time, but you already know the answer, dundundun: IF YOU SUPPORT LIBERTY IN OUR LIFETIMES, THE TIME IS NIGH!)
Buy your super-duper cheap $25 per person tickets today!
Because of The Weirdness, we have decided to K.I.S.S. by:
Radically reducing the ticket price down to 2009 levels! That’s right–not only is Queen Quill back after a decade to organize PorcFest for the third time, she’s doing it THROWBACK-style.
What does this mean? Less formal programming, and more decentralization! You asked for it, now it’s up to each of YOU to make PorcFest a smashing success! Bring your goodies, your projects and ideas, and come pimp your passions from your campsites. No extra fees apply!
Contact Roger’s Campground to book your accommodation today.
Official programming will take place in the open air Pavilion from Thursday (6/25) through Saturday night (6/27), culminating in SoapBox Idol–YOUR chance to tell us in a 3-minute rant how YOU feel. (This should be an extra interesting year!)
We’re excited to welcome back many of our favorite speakers, like Jeffery Tucker, but the focus of PorcFest XVII will be on the AMAZING COMMUNITY WE ARE BUILDING. Given how the future is shaping up, there is no better place than TOGETHER in New Hampshire. We want YOU to join us and #MakeYourMove!
Interested in vending in Agora Valley, the prime real estate closest to the action? Contact us at “info@PorcFest.com.” This year, you will pay Roger’s directly (no extra associated costs!), and simply work with our vendor coordinator to find the best placement for you.
PorcFest XVII sponsorships are now a flat $1,000 (some restrictions apply). This gets you a sponsored “Bonfireside Chat,” dibs on a motel room (that we reserve but you have to pay for yourself), literature in our “upcycled grab bags” (yes, that’s event bags from previous events, you got me!), an online presence on our website, and logo placement on a screen in the Pavilion. If YOU are interested in sponsoring the BOLDEST, MOST EPIC, BALLER LIBERTY EVENT OF THE YEAR, email former FSP Executive Director, Rachel Goldsmith at r@fsp.org.
Some FAQs:
I already bought a ticket at a higher price (but, of course, am still planning to attend)! Please consider donating the difference to help us. If not, you can ask for cash refunds onsite. If you bought a ticket and are not planning to attend, as penance, you forfeit your payment. Just kidding! Email “info@PorcFest.com” with “Refund” in the subject line. But, yanno, being generous right now would be greatly appreciated!
I already bought a VIP ticket, what now!?! Sadly, there will be NO official VIP tent this year. If you have purchased a VIP ticket, please consider making this a tax-free donation. If you would like a refund, please email us at “info@PorcFest.com” with “VIP Refund” in the subject line.
What about PorcuPints programming? Families are still encouraged to attend, but there will be no formal childrens’ programming this year. Free range children, pop-up parenting, and babysitting shares will likely naturally evolve onsite.
I’m concerned about The ‘Vid! What about getting cooties!?! If you have ANY concerns relating to this, please sit out this year. While Roger’s is currently asking you to wear a mask and social distance in communal areas (you can do what you want on your own site/motel room; no noise after 11PM), things may change fast and, as is the case when you bring large groups of liberty individuals together, other people may not act in accordance with your personal preferences. You are ENTERING AT YOUR OWN RISK. As has always been the case, we ask everyone to behave in a manner becoming a Porcupine, following the (Black and) Golden Rule: Treat others as you would like to be treated; be kind and considerate; don’t be an asshole. Additional guidelines will be provided and shared with PorcFest XVII ticket holders in the coming weeks and posted onsite. For purposes of PorcFest XVII, everyone is a member of Roger’s Campground. You will receive your membership onsite.
What about guns at PorcFest? What about them? 🙂 PorcFest is a gun-friendly environment. Anyone carrying is expected to behave in a safe manner. Gun safety rules will be posted onsite.
More information coming soon… but NOW IS THE TIME to BUY your tickets to what will surely go down as THE MOST LAUDED, TALKED ABOUT, AND HISTORIC PorcFest ever!
(Can’t make it this year, but love what we are doing? Buy your “In Spirit” tickets to show your support! Thank YOU!)
Tom Woods will be attending PorcFest for the first time this year–ooooh-lah-lah! In this episode, we discuss the 17th Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, and what it will look like given the Control Freak Times we live in–spoiler alert, IT’S GOING TO BE EPIC (but only if YOU come!). Tom and I both feel strongly that THIS YEAR it is CRUCIAL to attend and show the world that free people move freely and can make their own decisions based on their own risk profiles. Buy YOUR $25 PorcFest tix today. Can’t join the fun but agree we’re doing the right thing? Show your support by buying “In Spirit” tickets. It’s the next best thing to attending (but attending is better!).
LISTEN to The Tom Woods Show NOW…
We also touched on:
My first book, The Ecstatic Pessimist, a collection of award-winning short stories and essays about the Free State Project and liberty in NH, which will be having the most epic of book launches at PorcFest, The Ecstatic Pessimist Book Launch Party. BUY YOUR KINDLE COPY TODAY! (Paperback coming soon!)
My Carla Gericke for New Hampshire Senate race. DONATE TODAY!
My super essential firefighting skills.
My podcast Told You So, which will return after Porcfest, so catch up on old episodes now!
“Nonessential” Neighbors Battle and Extinguish Dangerous Brush Fire in Densely Populated Manchester Neighborhood Before “Essential Responders” Show Up
If that headline sounds melodramatic, it’s simply mimicking press releases from the media in similar situations, except I’ve used the government’s new designations regarding who they think are “essential” and “nonessential.” I think we proved we’re essential to ourselves, no matter what anyone who claims they’re more “essential” says.
Yesterday, my husband, one of my neighbors, and I battled and extinguished a dangerous in-town brush fire. Below is my first-person account of the events (as posted to Facebook within the hour), as well as my Right-to-Know/91-A Request filed with the Manchester Police Department today to get copies of the body camera footage that was recorded by some of the officers at the scene.
I am very grateful we were able to take care of the immediate danger before anyone got hurt or any real property was destroyed. I hope the City makes a better effort to clear-out Gossler Park’s brush. A few years ago, kids were regularly setting small fires back there, but this was the first one I’ve seen in years. Glad it worked out!
***
From our kitchen, I spot Louis running past the living room windows towards our garage. I open the door and stick out my head, “Where you running to?” He’s already grabbing a couple of shovels. “There’s a fire at Brinck’s house!”
The minute he says it, I smell it.
Fuck.
“OK, I’ll grab our extinguishers and meet you there.” I race around the house, collecting extinguishers from my kitchen and basement, and an extra one I keep stashed. I’m in house PJs and an apron, but I grab my belt and click on my gun. I have no idea what’s waiting out there. Proper preparation, what what.
The fire is burning behind Brinck’s house, on the school’s property, a couple of feet from the wooden fence, which, since it’s old and dry, would light up like a matchbox. The brush is burning maybe a couple of feet, one foot, from the fence. It is TINDER back there, with overgrown brush, fallen trees, piles and piles of leaves. Two tween boys are throwing sand on the burning leaves. One yells, “We didn’t do it! We just saw the smoke.”
Louis is tossing sand on the flames with his shovel. Matt is using the sprinkler hose over the fence to try to dose some of the spreading flames. I pull the pin on one of the extinguishers and start spraying the base of the flames. (I was trained as a fire fighter in high school.) The smoke and white stuff blinds me, but I keep going. After a while, the kid grabs the extinguisher, and, as I am alarmed at how much the fire is now spreading, and how little defenses we have, I run back to our garage to grab two 5 gallon spring mountain water jugs and run back (I definitely got my workout today).
The fire is dead in several zones, but rekindling is several others. One particular pile of dead trees looks like a natural pyre, and so I use the other extinguisher on that.
Somewhere on one of my runs between the houses, an unmarked police car shows up. The officer in jeans and a black shirt with his badge on a thick chain around his neck starts walking onto Brinck’s property through the back gate.
“Excuse me, I don’t think you should do that. I don’t think the property owner would consent to that.” At this stage, I do not know that Brinck is actually at Whole Foods. “The fire isn’t on the property, it’s behind, on the school’s side.” He keeps walking down, almost behind the building. Loudly, I say, “Hey! You’d need to ask him first.” He comes back to the street.
“Why… does he have a gun?” I don’t respond. I am clearly opening carrying, so I just shrug. “Look, I don’t have time, I’ll ask him to come out.”
We fight the fire. A uniformed cop comes out back, and helps. The fire truck shows up just as the fire turns and is heading back down the hill, away from our properties. 3 more squad cars show up. The fire fighters head out back, pulling their hose past the pool area, but the police just mill around on the cul de sac.
The fire near Brinck’s fence is dead, the rest is under control, heading down the hill, where, I believe another fire truck is stationed. An officer starts asking me questions. I tell him I live next door. We chit chat a bit, then after I swear while recounting the situation, he says, “Oh, I need to let you know I’m wearing a body cam.”
“Yeah, you are,” I say with the cheekiest of grins. He looks confused. “That’s because of me,” I explain and stick out my hand. He’s wearing a mask. “I’m Carla Gericke.” He doesn’t take my hand but we half-heartedly elbow bump.
I ask the firefighters if there’s a way to get my personal extinguishers replaced, “You know, now that we’re just giving away free shit wily-nilly.” He is not amused, but says, “We don’t do that.”
When I head home, 4 officers are standing around near their cars on the street in front of my house. I walked over to say hi, introduce myself, and say, “It’s all under control now, we put out the fire, y’all can scoot on out of here.” The senior-seeming guy doesn’t really know what to do with that. The firemen unleash the fire hydrant at the end of the street and the road starts flooding with water. At least we now know it works! “It’s going to get wet here,” the officer says. “Yeah,” I say, “I’m heading home. Bye now!”
What can I say? Everyone was professional. They seemed amazed that we knew what to do and took care of it ourselves. When one started fronting about showing up to save us, I gave him a look, and he said, “Yeah, okay, you guys really took care of it before we got here.”
And that we did. Essentially.
I can still taste the soot, and I smell like a chimney, but all is well that ends well. Now, let’s end this bullshit lockdown, and let liberty rise!
***
Dear Manchester Police Department,
RE: Right to Know Request per RSA-91A
Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A), I am requesting public access or emailed electronic files of, within 5 business days, the governmental records reasonably described as follows:
All Manchester PD body cam footage from police officers as captured on May 14th, 2020 between approximately 13:30-15:00 at a brush fire event on Gossler School property, which was accesses from Durette Court, Manchester.
The following emergency vehicles were parked on Durette Court during that time: one black unmarked vehicle with two un-uniformed police officers (male and female), and three SUV cruisers. One firetruck was present.
I’m only seeking footage involving interactions between police officers and civilians during that time frame.
If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or, preferably, you may email the records to: carlagericke@gmail.com. I will also submit this request via email directly.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Carla Gericke
[Phone number and email redacted]
Per RSA 91-A, governmental records means “any information created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of, any public body, or a quorum or majority thereof, or any public agency in furtherance of its official function. Without limiting the foregoing, the term “governmental records” includes any written communication or other information, whether in paper, electronic, or other physical form, received by a quorum or majority of a public body in furtherance of its official function, whether at a meeting or outside a meeting of the body. The term “governmental records” shall also include the term “public records.”
Have you ever stopped to wonder… Who owns you? If you’re glib, you’ll, of course, say, “No one,” or, perhaps, “Me! I own me.”
Okay, but if you are not “allowed” to do what you want, when you want, based on your own perception and understanding and knowledge of a particular situation, or, even, no knowledge at all, and are forced, BY ORDER of another human being, to NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT to provide for yourself, your family and friends, then… WHO OWNS YOU?
Why do I believe in Liberty above all else? Beside the moral aspect of only *I, myself* am able to decide *for me about my life,* I believe you always get the best outcomes in the shortest amount of time when human freedom flourishes. When you allow people to pick and choose what works best for them, you allow experimentation, which in turn gives us information, which gives us better, faster results.
Free people = better lives.
When you eliminate Liberty, bad things follow. When you subjugate yourself to unelected “experts” and allow their opinions to form the basis of “government orders” against the people of your own state, forcing them into one single approach, **regardless of our differences,** you not only reduce and/or eliminate that experimentation and nimbleness afforded by free people freely deciding how to live their lives, you actually become a slave to someone else’s decision matrixes, you become a slave… To a state government that now claims to have the “authority” to pick who does what when WITH PRIVATE BUSINESSES, PRIVATE PROPERTY, and supposedly FREE HUMAN BEINGS…
Again… who owns you?
Know how you get people to stay inside during a pandemic? THERE’S A PANDEMIC. The governor failed New Hampshire by choosing tyranny over Liberty.
I realize Sununu had difficult choices to make, but he chose wrong out of the gate by not choosing to respect us, me, YOU, his fellow citizens and by ignoring the founding principles of this nation and state. He chose wrong by choosing to DICTATE instead of LEAD.
As is typical for a politician, there was a lot of nudge-nudge wink-winking that happened at the start. Subtle, “don’t worry,” we’re just going to designate everyone as “essential,” and this “order’s enforcement” won’t have “teeth.”
Well, let me tell you a little something about how Liberty vs. tyranny works… When you issue “orders,” you are empowering law enforcement to… enFORCE ORDERS, which is kind of what they like to do… Which means…
It has taken less than a month for the police to start harassing parents on playgrounds. It has taken less than a month for law enforcement to threaten NH surfers. It has taken less than a month for police departments to start issuing policy statements explaining how they will go about arresting people who are outside (e.g. see Weare PD).
I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, and the Attorney General of the United States of America agrees with me, telling you to leave the public IS NOT A CONSTITUTIONAL lawful ORDER and if you are arrested in New Hampshire re this, PLEASE contact me.
(They’ll initially charge you with the catch-all “disobeying an officer” and then drop the charges later, and you’ll have to sue in federal court for violation of your civil rights, but I’m pretty sure–although, of course, no guarantees about anything, you’re reading an opinion on the internet–qualified immunity isn’t going to work for them, and law enforcement may be held *personally liable* too.)
I will be at the rally at Noon today 5/2 at the State House in Concord. I hope you will join me. No matter what your government tells you, WE ARE ALL ESSENTIAL.
Yes, even–nay, ESPECIALLY–us, the hard working, healthy, responsible taxpaying portion of the state… And it might behoove the “order-makers” to remember that!
NH Journal:
It is possible to be concerned about the virus, and the economic downturn, and the destruction of our civil liberties. I am, which is why I attended the rally on Saturday. I don’t underestimate the virus, but I also don’t underestimate the cost of the shutdown or the dangers of trading liberty for a false sense of security.
Life is about tradeoffs, and when you use faulty data to implement faulty “solutions” — restricting peoples’ natural rights, instituting a lockdown to “flatten the curve,” and dividing Granite Staters into “essential” and “nonessential” groups — bad outcomes must follow.
Carla Gericke (see full article)
Granite Grok:
Our caution (and lack of widespread testing of antibodies) has carried a huge economic toll. For every person in the US who has died with the virus, 1000 people have lost their jobs. We don’t know how bad it might have been if we had done nothing. At this point, we should ask if we are willing to put another 30 million people out of work in the US when we could justifiably focus on reducing death due to heart disease or other infectious diseases. Also, consider that this virus is not going away – ever. As long as there is life on earth so will be this virus. It would be nonsense to think we can socially isolate our way to zero infections. Instead of forcing society to hide from it, we need to learn to live with it within reason.
Our national policy for this matter was created with good intentions and recognizing legitimate risks. We knew very little about the virus and what might happen. That’s not the case now. The curve is flat. Our hospitals are not overwhelmed. The mortality rate is 1/10th what we thought. At this point, there is not enough uncertainty to justify continuing to destroy the economy and the government intrusion of our liberties. The burden of proof for lifting the restrictions should no longer be on us. Instead of forcing us to prove the infection rates will drop, the government should be obligated to do widespread testing of antibodies in NH and prove that it is still a problem.
This coronavirus is still 10 times worse than the flu so I’m not suggesting we drop all caution. The data does suggest that we should be able to resume most of our activities with a cautious approach while not being sloppy. By now everyone has learned the basics of proper hygiene and many people will be slow to recover from the intense media blitz. Those at risk should take extra caution, just as with any other infectious disease. The other 98% of the population should be able to move forward and rebuild from this disaster. Before we know it we will find that the new normal is the same as the old normal.
Dan Moriarty (see full article)
Fox News:
Manuse told Fox he believes the individual should be allowed to determine what restrictions are best for them.
“I think that that works a lot better than a top-down approach where the governor is telling everybody ‘one size fits all, this is how it’s going to go,'” he said. “That’s authoritarianism. It’s never worked before in any other country. And it’s not going to work in the United States or New Hampshire.”
Andrew Manuse (see full article)
Union Leader:
“The economic engine that provides food, beverages, clothing, shelter, and every modern convenience to the American people took more than a century to build. Yet, at the stroke of many a governor’s pens, the dangerous servant that is government has become a fearful master now poised to destroy our way of life in the name of safety.
The coronavirus did not cause this problem where the cure has become worse than the disease. Centralized government power has stripped us of our ability to manage our own affairs, and it by no means can dictate how we should rebuild them. It is time for the governor and others to step out of the way and let people go back to work so their free enterprise and ingenuity can meet the needs of those who are suffering.”
Former State Representative, Andrew Manuse (see full op-ed)
Manchester InkLink:
Carla Gericke, a Republican state Senate candidate from Manchester, said she attended.
“I went as a concerned non-essential Granite Stater and Republican State Senate candidate (District 20) who believes the government’s response has resulted in the prevention being worse than the cure. The government does not have the right to pick economic winners or losers, nor force us to stay in our homes, especially not when, here in Manchester at least, NOT ONE city employee has lost their job or even been furloughed. Clearly, we are NOT ‘all in this together.’”
Gericke described the crowd Saturday as “an interesting mix of people, from health freedom activists to Free Staters. I didn’t really get an overt partisan slant, it wasn’t ‘Trump-forward’” although there were some.
“There were teachers and nurses and moms, there were politicians and state representatives and masked armed dudes, there were laid-off workers, a few people who have been deemed essential but wanted to show their solidarity, and many who have lost their jobs and want to get back to work,” Gericke said.
She said she went because “at least 124,000 Granite Staters have been put out of work– that’s the population of Manchester and Amherst combined, and that’s a devastating blow to our state’s economic health which we will feel for a long time. Many small business owners will never recover. I went because my favorite Manchester restaurant, the Turkish restaurant Matbah, shut down permanently.”
Gericke said she takes the virus seriously.
“But I am also very concerned about the destruction of the economy with all its knock-on negatives like increased suicides, more substance and domestic abuse, children dying by the hundreds of thousands in impoverished countries, and I worry about the expansion of authoritarian government policies without proper oversight or citizen control,” Gericke said. ¨If they can lock us down on the say of the W.H.O. now, what is next?”
Carla Gericke (see full article)
Liberty activist and NH state senate candidate Carla Gericke joins Tatiana and Josh in the first part of the show to discuss coronavirus response in New Hampshire and nationwide, and why she believes the full lockdown was an unnecessary infringement of our rights. She also discusses her ongoing New Hampshire state senate campaign and her plans for this year’s PorcFest.
Then, GIVE Nation co-founder and blockchain strategist Alyze Sam joins Tatiana to talk about Virtual Blockchain Week, a live streaming event featuring some of the biggest names in crypto (and Tatiana’s performance at the after party), as well as her involvement with the charity organization GIVE Nation.
About the Guests:
Carla Gericke (JD, MFA) is an advocate of liberty specializing in localized voluntarism, self-determination, and how responsible human action can lead to peace and prosperity. She is president emeritus of the Free State Project, and lives in New Hampshire with thousands of fellow freedom fighters. In 2014, Carla won a landmark court case affirming the 1st Amendment right to film police encounters. She has appeared on WMUR, CNN, and Fox News, been featured in GQ and Playboy, been quoted in The Economist, and has discussed libertarianism on the BBC. She has visited more than 40 countries, hiked to the base camp of the 10th highest mountain in the world, lost a shoe in a taxi more than once, had her passport stolen in Goa, got kidnapped in Vietnam, and has noshed on more “mystery meat” street food than she cares to admit. Carla once spent an entire summer while working as in-house counsel at Logitech eating tuna fish sandwiches with Doug Engelbart (the Mother Of All Demos dude), she worked on Apple’s acquisition of Steve Job’s NeXT, and bought her first Bitcoin for $6. Carla co-hosts the Told You So podcast, and co-chairs Manch Talk TV. She serves on several non-profit boards, follows a Keto lifestyle (read about her transformation), practices yoga and shooting, and plays a mean game of Scrabble. Carla enjoys cooking, gardening, painting, reading, and watching documentary films. She has twice run for New Hampshire Senate, garnering 42% of the vote in 2018 against an 11-term incumbent, and believes in 2020, third time will be the charm! DONATE to her race TODAY! Carla’s first book, The Ecstatic Pessimist, a collection of award-winning short stories, flashes, speeches, and essays is forthcoming next month. Show your support by pre-ordering the Amazon Kindle version of The Ecstatic Pessimist now!
Alyze Sam is a refreshing blockchain strategist, a novel educator, and vehemently driven advocate. First, dedicating her life to her patients in hospice nursing, Sam passionately embraced the world of financial technology after nearly losing her own life, not once, but twice! Sam feels her destiny lies within serving her community and assisting other ‘underdogs’ with love and education. She’s achieving these dreams with roles as; Co-Founder and Chief Executive Assistant for GIVE Nation, a non-profit children’s financial literacy AI/blockchain project which rewards altruistic behaviors. She’s a Founder and Community Director of Women in Blockchain International and sits as an ‘Social Impact Advisor’ for blockchain nonprofits; Blockchance.eu & Women in Blockchain Foundation. Alyze has been an active participant and speaker in the internationally known Women in Blockchain community.
If you like this content, please send a tip with BTC to: 1Q2QHoNowg8D2QzWhBQU1YrraG771aCpgS
More Info:
The Ecstatic Pessimist (Pre-order)
PorcFest
Free State Project
Carla for NH Senate
Told You So
GIVE Nation
Women in Blockchain
Virtual Blockchain Week
TatianaMoroz.com
Vaultoro
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