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School Charter Commission’s Future Doubtful

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Another day, another election passed. Unfortunately, I was not one of the 9 out of 37 people elected to the Manchester School Charter Commission, but THANK YOU to everyone who voted for me! I deeply appreciate your support and know my time will come. Since the future of the Commission itself seems doubtful due to filing date irregularities in an exceptionally poorly drafted bill that only had one sponsor, Pat Long, I will hopefully get another chance to contribute later. I will be keeping a close eye on the legal situation, and will keep you posted. Have a great, state-free day! 😀

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BREAKING NEWS: School Charter Commission Legal Dramas for Nov 5th Manchester Ballot (It’s on again!)

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Tomorrow, at the polls, you were supposed to receive two ballots, one for general city stuff like voting for Victoria Sullivan for Mayor, and a special ballot for the 9-person School Charter Commission, as I explained a few weeks ago in this video.

BUT then, this morning, the whole shady School Charter Commission election went up in the air after a judge ruled the City failed to follow the clear language of the RSA and its own rules, and so the City would either have to reprint all the ballots by 6AM tomorrow to include the petitioner’s name (the Honorable State Representative Mark Warden) OR they will have to write another law to hold the election at a different future time. You can read more about the background of the case and the initial outcome in this article “Mayor Craig loses” or at the Union Leader. My Facebook post from this morning:

Well, tomorrow’s elections just got all kinds of more interesting! In a nutshell, the City broke its own rules when Pat Long managed to create this very shady “School Charter Commission” (which I’m running for and ask for your vote if the ballot is available tomorrow) and State Representative Mark Warden filed a lawsuit to call them out on a procedural point relating to when one could register as a candidate for the commission, and the City, having not followed their own rules, then argued, “Well, oops, yeah, but, like, yanno, it’s SO HARD for us to follow our own rules,” and the judge, thankfully, said, “Umm, look guys, that’s not how governing is supposed to work…”

NOW, as of 4:13PM this afternoon, I have learned that the Supreme Court of New Hampshire issued a stay pending further judicial review. This means the School Charter Commission Election WILL be held tomorrow as scheduled. Fancy that… guess if you know the right people, you can get the plain language of the law to mean whatever you want… In any event, please now DO vote for me, and the candidates recommended on LibertyBallot.com. Vote like your freedom depends on it!

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If You Did This to Your Child, You Would Be Arrested… Why Condone This Violent Behavior from People in Uniforms Carrying Guns in Schools?

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Watch the video above to see happened last week at Keene High School, a government-run school. Now, I’d like you to pause and consider a few things:

  1. If you did this to your child at home, do you think this would rise to the level of assault? Do you think if a cop saw you doing this to your child, say, in a public parking lot, you might get arrested? If YOU couldn’t or shouldn’t get away with this sort of behavior, why would you condone this assault from an armed government agent in a school?
  2. Let’s assume for the sake of argument the kid was rude to the officer in the minutes before the video started. Do you tackle your child from behind and smash him to the floor every time he is rude to you? Is this the type of response you would like anyone to make when your child has his or her back turned and is walking away? Remember, in NH, the AG’s office has ruled law enforcement can shoot someone in the back when they are fleeing and kill them, and that this is “justified.” If you wouldn’t let anyone else get away with this, you should x1000 not let a government agent authorized to use lethal force get away with it.
  3. If the rationale for this sort of behavior is that we need to “save” children from vaping, do you think this level of violent response is OK to stop someone’s personal, peaceful, behavior, or do you think perhaps the LEO overreacted? If he overreacted, should he be held accountable, or should we just sweep this, like tens of other similar incidences, under the rug of “awful things we let happen in ‘our’ schools; *Shrug*”?
  4. The inevitable “spin” from Keene Police Chief Russo as quoted in today’s Union Leader boils down to their classic Nazi Nuremberg defense: “The officer was just following orders.” Chief Russo stated, “It looks like it was a legal use of force that followed our procedure,” and, “It doesn’t appear to violate our policies or state statute.”

    Please note these nifty catch phrases are specifically designed to make you question your very astute GUT FEELING THAT THIS ASSAULT WAS WRONG AND SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING IN OUR SCHOOLS. We hear that “just following procedure” phrase with alarming frequency whenever questions about use of force come up. That’s on purpose. They want you to think, “Well, really, what do I know? I’m just a little ole person, and even though this behavior looks like a dangerous, immoral attack to me, and I know *I* would get in trouble if *I* behaved like that… but, they’re saying it’s legal and procedural for them to do, so I guess it has to be OK, because they say it’s OK?!?”

    NO! Repeat after me: This type of behavior is not OK in a free society.

    How do we fix this? First, we need to elect people who understand the actual challenges facing our state and schools. You can vote for me for the new School Charter Commission on Tuesday, November 5th. Second, we need to acknowledge we have a societal problem whereby we have sanctioned the government to use baseless bullying tactics against people in order to VIOLENTLY FORCE THEM INTO SUBMISSION.

    This is not a world I want to live in. This is not a New Hampshire I want to live in, and I think we still have time to stop this kind of behavior here. We have a chance to reject government sanctioned violence as a way to make people do what we want. If you can’t persuade me, then maybe you need a better pitch.

    If it were up to me, I’d fire this officer (listed as JOSHUA ENGLISH in the school staff directory), but we all know that will never happen [EDIT: This officer shot and killed someone in 2010 and that killing was ruled justified]. What will happen is the police will close ranks to protect this officer, and police apologists will make excuses and attack people who criticize them. They will have a secret, internal review and miraculously find themselves not guilty of anything, the officer will continue to work at the school, will likely hurt more children, maybe accidentally snapping someone’s neck in a “lawful procedural act” in the future, or maybe he’ll get moved to another school, but regardless, the system will make sure that ultimately, he gets a nice fat payout, and a lifetime pension. I doubt he’d even be placed on the secret list of bad NH cops (sign the petition to release the list and restore public trust HERE) and, well, I’m not holding my breath for that one, because #ICANTBREATHE.

    The likely only result of this video will be they use it as an opportunity to expand the areas and tactics of “permitted procedural violence” that they will say is “legal” for them to use against our children in our schools. Oh, and I’m willing to bet any takers, they will 100% go after the kid who made the video. Because you can’t fix what you can’t SEE. And they don’t want you to see for yourself what they claim to be doing in your name, and they certainly don’t want you to make up your own mind, and say, Enough is enough, NOT IN MY NAME!

    [UPDATE 08/08/20: If you had taken that bet, you would indeed have lost! Both children involved were sanctioned, one was suspended and one was reprimanded. Can you guess which was which?

    The kid who took the video… i.e. the child who provided the evidence showing a grown man tackling a 15 year old in pink shorts from behind got… SUSPENDED. What kind of message do you think that is designed to send to the other students? Chilling, indeed.]

    [UPDATE 12/5/20, Facebook post after trying to link to a 2019 police brutality video at Keene High: I find it deeply troubling that YT would censor as “age-restricted” a video shot IN a high school BY a high schooler of a police office tackling a 15 year-old student from behind. I suggest everyone click through and watch the video from Keene High last year (https://www.carlagericke.com/if-you-did-this-to-your…/) and then ask yourself if you think it is OK for this to be happening in local NH schools that YOU are FORCED to pay for? And before you say, “What did he do?” know this: It doesn’t matter what he did–would you program a “robot cop” to be able to tackle your child from behind like this during school hours? Didn’t think so. If you won’t authorize a robot to do it, why are you letting one human do it to another, a child, no less? (The kid was allegedly vaping in the Boys Room.) PS: I was linking my blog on a Maggie Hassan post when I noticed the new age warning. #NoBigBro#1984IsNotAnInstructionManual]
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Vote for Carla Gericke for School Charter Commission

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

You can watch my School Charter Commission video HERE, or if you prefer reading, I free-styled the following script:

Hi Manchester!  My name is Carla Gericke, and I’m asking for your vote on Tuesday, November 5th for the new school charter commission. Here’s what you need to know when you get to the polls:

 You will receive two ballots. One will be the usual city election stuff, and the other will be for this new school charter commission. It’ll have 37 names on it and you can vote for up to NINE people. Make sure I, Carla Gericke, am one of those 9, see here, second from the bottom on the right hand side. 

If you are looking for more suggestions for good people who cherish education but also understand that most of us can’t afford to have our property taxes go up and up, go to LibertyBallot.com for more recommendations. 

BUT, in the meanwhile, here’s what I’ve learned, and think you should know about this new proposed commission: 

Manchester has a tax cap, which means the city, like all of us in our personal lives, has a budget that it needs to stick to. The people who spend our money don’t like that. So… at first, they wanted to add a ballot question to override the tax cap, but then they realized this would draw fiscally responsible voters to the polls, and, as Gene Martin actually, unabashedly put it, fiscally responsible voters are the “wrong type of voters.” 

I disagree, I think people who care about the bottom line are the right type of voters, and you should be sure to come out and vote for me because I want Manchester to have great schools, but I also want to protect taxpayers and especially people on fixed incomes, like our City’s elderly.

What skills do I have? I’m a lawyer, writer, and community leader. I manage and serve on several non-profit boards. I co-host Manch Talk TV, and the Told You So podcast, and I often speak nationally and internationally on issues relating to Big Government. I’ve appeared on WMUR, CNN, Fox, the BBC, and have been featured in magazines like New York Magazine, GQ, the Economist, and elsewhere, but I am most proud of being named one of NH Magazine’s Remarkable Women in 2014. 

I live with my husband of 25 years and our rescued dog in a ranch home we’re slowly renovating in West Manchester. 

You can learn more about me at CarlaGericke.com. 

My goal is to restore balance to local politics by being YOUR voice. I’m willing to work with anyone, and believe more choices result in happier people. I want you to be happy, and I ask for your vote. 

Remember, remember, a vote for me is a vote for you. See you on November 5th!

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Who Picks Which Words Get Banned?

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

The following first appeared on September 30, 2015 in response to “On Banned Books Week.”

Censorship has always fascinated me–who gets to decide what someone else can read? Why? By what authority can one person tell another what they are “permitted” to know? I reject the legitimacy of censorship out of hand. No one has such authority, and history proves those who wish to control what others consume are, without exception, eventually exposed as the bad guys.

Growing up in South Africa, many things–music, literature, art–were outright banned and censored, from ANC symbols, to most international music, to the movie “Black Beauty” solely because of its title, to certain words in newspapers, yes, literally blacked out on the page like you see in dystopian movies (and, say, in the 9-11 Commission Report), words like “Casspir” (the South African equivalent of “BEARCAT,” the armored trucks now being seeded by the Federales into peaceful communities across America, including more than 20 in New Hampshire) because if you banned the mentioning of the vehicles being used to fight illegal border wars, well then, reporting becomes problematic and difficult to do, and therefore, perhaps, journalists will stop writing about such pesky things, neh?

Under apartheid, South Africa had the “Jacobsen’s Index of Objectionable Literature” which contained a “Complete List of All Publications in Alphabetical Order, Together with Authors, Prohibited from Importation Into the Republic of South Africa, and All Other Banned Literature.” The list is long, and difficult to find online. I have ordered a hard copy of “A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and Intellectual Repression in South Africa,” secondhand for $0.02 plus shipping from Amazon, which reminds me of two things:

1. How soon we forget our histories; and

2. Thank god for the free market. If only said book could be delivered by an aerobot drone to my door, but alas, the FAA has been spending its time on such important issues as licensing paper airplanes for flight.

South African author Nadine Gordimer wrote in 1968, republished in The New York Times Books section in 1998:

All the work, past, present and future, of an individual writer can be erased by a ban on his spoken and written word. The ban not only restricts his political activity, which is its avowed intention, but negates his creativity–he becomes a non-person, since his form of communion and communication with the society in which he lives is cut…. And so long as our society remains compartmentalized, our literature will be stretched on the rack between propaganda, on the one side, and, on the other, art as an embellishment of leisure.

Some people wonder why I take issue with so many things I see happening in my adopted country, and, frankly, why I refuse to shut up about it, to give up, to cave in, to just say, Nah, this crap is too hard to change, the difference we can make too infinitesimal, so why try?

It’s because I have lived through a police state before, and America is lock-step marching there. This is not hyperbole. I will grant you: America is doing its police state right, “better,” more subtle, more comfortable, of course, it’s what America does, after all. This police state is hidden behind both the “propaganda” arm, and mostly, the “embellishment of leisure”: The sports, the reality TV, the Christmas carol commercials to consumers in September, the debates, the joke of it all.

The bread and circuses, the tinny music piping from the organ grinder while the monkeys dance, while MILLIONS of peaceful people rot in prisons for voluntarily inhaling a plant, while MILLIONS of peaceful people in far away lands are being murdered under the cloak of the Stars and Stripes, while MILLIONS of people are being displaced by state-funded terror raining down from the skies.

Why does Banned Books Week matter? It matters because it creates an opportunity to talk about the bad guys. And, I am afraid to inform you, the US government is a bad, bad guy, he’s the boyfriend who beats you then tells you he can’t live without you–or you can’t live without him?–and you go back. Me? I decided a decade ago that I wasn’t taking the Fed Gov back, that I would take my chances with a smaller wife beater (the state of New Hampshire), and see what kind of difference I can make on a local level.

Given what happened a few weeks ago at the Kilton Library in West Lebanon, NH (in 2015), where America’s first Tor relay node was made operational again after the community decided to disregard the DHS’s scare tactics, I know I made the right decision to make New Hampshire my home.

Will you join me, and fight the good fight with thousands of other freedom fighters in New Hampshire? Join the Free State Project today.

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Bill Cashin Calls for Gun Confiscation in Manchester

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

When a former Manchester alderman calls for gun confiscation in the state’s largest newspaper for the state’s largest city, I pay attention.

When that former alderman is Bill Cashin, who called the cops on me a few years ago when he didn’t like my 100% legal and protected First Amendment actions outside “his” Senior Center on Douglas Street (I was protesting against Chris Herbert after he suggested that the elderly of Manchester should be thrown out of their homes in order to be replaced with residents who can pay more in taxes), I pay attention because I know people who think this way are more dangerous than any firearm.

Why? Because anyone who thinks “we need MANDATORY gun buybacks” is a menace to society, liberty, and human dignity.

Let’s break it down:

1. Government is FORCE. What does this mean? It means that for every law we enact, the police are “authorized” to show up and use their guns to make you do whatever it is the piece of paper (the law) says. Sometimes–oftentimes, these days–these black-clad, balaclava wearing men and women, are not all that concerned about the morality of what they are doing, they’re just “doing it.” When confronted, they’ll simply say, “We’re just following orders.”

Of course, you know who else used that argument. Click through for more on “How the Nazis defense of ‘just following orders’ plays out in the mind,” but this is salient:

“If people acting under orders really do feel reduced responsibility, this seems important to understand. For a start, people who give orders should perhaps be held more responsible for the actions and outcomes of those they coerce.”

2. “Mandatory” literally means “required by a law or rule: OBLIGATORY.” So when Cashin uses the word “mandatory” in the context of a gun buyback, the question begs to be asked: What happens when people do not line up to hand over their firearms?

3. Would YOU voluntarily hand over your guns to a group of people who:
a. Are actively trying to disarm you because *they don’t like the things you like*;
b. Treat you, their law abiding neighbors, like criminals even when you have committed no crimes;
c. Are so irrational as to conflate a tool like a gun, with bad actions, like harming or killing someone. If you follow their logic, I’ll get on board when we have mandatory fork buybacks to save people from obesity.

New Hampshire has some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country, and we are one of the safest states. These two things are not coincidental, but rather go hand in hand. I find it utterly shocking, as should you, that a former alderman and veteran would call for mandatory gun confiscation. Back in 2018, several Democrats I was cultivating when I ran for NH Senate said: “Carla, we don’t want to take your guns, and if you keep saying that we do, we can’t vote for you.” Whatcha saying now?

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Open Letter to NH Senators: Please, please, please vote for compassion today

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Dear Senators,

I’m reaching out to implore you to do the right thing this morning, and vote to override the Governor’s misplaced veto on HB 364, and support homegrown cannabis for qualifying patients. With your experience in the Senate, having heard testimony on this issue over the years, I have to believe that you now know that allowing patients to grow medicine for their personal use is the most compassionate approach we can take. Patients, not criminals!

You have a historic opportunity to change the lives of patients for the better, including for a dear friend of mine, a paraplegic who needs daily MJ for pain, and cannot always afford what the dispensaries charge.  Cannabis treatments from dispensaries remain cost prohibitive for many patients (more than $400 per ounce!!!), so allowing patients to grow a plant/herb that gives them relief should, of course, be allowed in a free society.   

Sadly, the Governor is wrong on this issue and I hope you will do the right thing and stand with patients and the majority of Granite Staters, including the House of Representatives who yesterday overturned the Governor’s veto by more than the 2/3 majority required. It is clear: Granite Staters want this madness to end. 

If you are a Republican, I understand it is difficult to stand against our party and our Governor, but I trust you know in your heart of hearts, it is the right thing to do. If you are a Democrat, today’s veto override vote should be a no-brainer. I know that, personally, I will be watching Democrat Lou D’Allesandro’s vote ever-so-closely. If he votes against this bill, against compassion, and against patients, as he has done on MJ issues in the past, I hope voters of District 20 will finally give him the boot in 2020 in favor of my candidacy.

You all have an important decision to make, but I believe this is why you are there to serve. I hope you will stand with the will of the people, patients, and freedom, and vote to override the Governor’s veto on HB 364. 

Yours sincerely,
Carla Gericke

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FreeCoast Festival, 6 years and counting!

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

It was an honor to once again participate in the 6th Annual FreeCoast Festival. I gave a presentation about “How to Renegade Right” at the Praxeum in Dover on Saturday, and on Sunday, spent a charming afternoon hanging out with dedicated liberty lovers at a special edition of Market Day. Good times, great to see everyone, and meet newbies. Welcome to the prickle!

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“We(ed), The People”: Overturn All the Cannabis Vetoes!

by Carla Gericke
written by Carla Gericke

Governor Sununu needs to start listening to the will of the people over other entrenched special interests (like police unions who are only supposed to “enforce the law” NOT lobby). A vast majority of Granite Staters support the legalization of cannabis for recreational purposes, and yet, here we are, still muddling through our pathetic, terrible, uneconomical and largely useless medical marijuana laws. While I agree with the Gov on many issues that promote and enhance the #NHAdvantage, he is wrong on cannabis, and I hope his vetoes on MJ reform and homegrown are overturned when the legislature goes back into session later this month.

Bipartisan “Letter to the Editor” in today’s Union Leader from Sen. Jay Kahn of Keene (Senate District 10) and Sen. John Reagan of Deerfield, who represents Senate District 17 (read full LTE here):

“Our state government has made it too difficult and too expensive for many New Hampshire residents to access therapeutic cannabis products. Two fixes passed by the Legislature are immediately available. We ask you to contact your state legislators and urge them to override the governor’s vetoes of SB 88 and SB 145 and lower the barriers for accessing therapeutic marijuana.”

“We must do better for Granite Staters who receive physician-authorized permission to use therapeutic marijuana. Residents can’t simply obtain their physician’s permission and go to the local pharmacy. By statute, a patient must wait 90 days, while they fill out a state form and submit a photo on a CD-ROM so they can receive a state ID card. The process is awful, which makes us think Governor Sununu was poorly advised when he vetoed legislation to fix it.”

For those interested in learning more about the medicinal qualities of marijuana, I recommend watching the documentary, Weed the People (watch trailer): “Cannabis has been off-limits to doctors and researchers in the US for the past 80 years, but recently scientists have discovered its anti-cancer properties. Armed with only these laboratory studies, desperate parents obtain cannabis oil from underground sources to save their children from childhood cancers. ‘Weed the People’ follows these families through uncharted waters as they take their children’s survival into their own hands. Some of their miraculous outcomes beget the unsettling question at the heart of the film: If weed is truly saving lives, why doesn’t the government want people to access it?”

Why, indeed… Could it be because the government, represented by special interest like police unions, correctional unions, and the like, BENEFIT from prohibition? Did you know who the top 5 lobbyists against marijuana legalization are? Let me help you:
Police unions
Private prisons
Prison guard unions
Alcohol companies
Big Pharma
Can you figure out why? 🙂


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