On February 20, 2016, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden addressed more than 500 attendees at the Free State Project’s 9th annual NH Liberty Forum in Manchester, NH.

People gathered from across the globe to discuss practical ways to expand social and economic liberties. The conference also provided an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the Free Stater community in New Hampshire, where 20,000 libertarians are now moving.

Nick Gillespie of Reason TV interviewed Snowden live via Google Hangouts. Snowden was greeted by audience members holding masks bearing his likeness–this homage was received with a wide smile from Snowden in Russia.

During the 50 minute talk, Snowden covered several topics, including the recent revelations by Apple that the FBI has requested a “back door” to enable law enforcement authorities to access encrypted data on endpoint devices. Snowden also addressed a question submitted by Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who has been sentenced to double life in prison without the possibility of parole. The question was: “Do you think the NSA could have been involved with the Silk Road investigation?” Watch the interview to hear Snowden’s stunning answer.

Liberty Forum has become a place where whistleblowers can tell their stories.

In 2014, Thomas Drake, former senior executive of the NSA and decorated U.S. Air Force and Navy veteran, spoke out about being accused under the Espionage Act of mishandling government documents. Although Drake eventually plead guilty to one misdemeanor count for exceeding “authorized use of a computer,” all ten original charges were dropped. In his defense, Drake stated he refused to “plea bargain with the truth.” Jesselyn Radack, who has served as Edward Snowden’s attorney, called Drake’s actions “civil disobedience.” You can watch the panel discussion, “The Social and Civic Importance of Whistleblowing,” with Thomas Drake, national security and human rights lawyer Jesselyn Radack, now of Whistleblower & Source Protection Program (WHISPeR) at ExposeFacts, Trevor Timm of Freedom of the Press Foundation, and Devon Chaffee, executive director of New Hampshire’s Civil Liberties Union.

This year, in addition to the historic talk by Edward Snowden, drone technician Cian Westmoreland was Liberty Forum’s closing speaker. Westmoreland is one of 4 former U.S. Air Force servicemembers to claim targeted drone killings and remote-control bombings fuel the very terrorism the government says it is trying to destroy. In a 2015 interview with Democracy Now, Westmoreland said: “I’m saying it wasn’t all enemies. It was civilians, as well.” Westmoreland’s talk on Sunday was an emotional appeal to seek better solutions to indiscriminate drone bombings. When an audience member called out: “Skynet is coming!” Westmoreland replied: “Skynet is here.” A video of Westmoreland’s talk will be available soon.

– See more at: https://freestateproject.org/blogs/snowden-speaks-free-state-projects-liberty-forum-libertarian-nh#sthash.qcEXiROe.dpuf

Agents Phillip Lawrence and Ray Persinger from the “New Hampshire Department of Revenue”

From FreeKeene.com, by Ian Freeman

Near high noon today, the first full day of the Free State Project‘s annual Porcupine Freedom Festival, two agents (Phillip Lawrence and Ray Persinger) from the “Department of Revenue” rolled up to Rogers Campground. The sharply-dressed thugs inquired with campground staff if there were food vendors in Agora Alley, a place renown for delicious food available from some vendors who may not have bothered asking government permission to serve their fellow hungry humans.

Upon exiting the office, I immediately began recording and confronted the men. Here’s the video of that encounter:

A crowd of activists quickly gathered, with multiple alerts going out via two-way radio, facebook, and word-of-mouth. They weren’t able to get any further than the first vendor before being told they were not welcome by multiple people in the crowd. A campground staff member ultimately told the criminals to go speak with the park owner, Crosby.

After thirty minutes of meeting with Crosby, the men immediately exited the property. Crosby refused to be interviewed about the conversation, but claimed he was not threatened by them. I suspect he’s not being forthcoming. Porcfest organizers would also not speak on camera, but the conversation I had and overheard leads me to believe that Crosby has been recruited to pass out government paperwork to food vendors. I plan to investigate further with the vendors and see what’s happening behind-the-scenes. Stay tuned here to FreeKeene.com for the latest on this developing situation. Also, Porcfest is just starting, so come out and join us through this weekend!

A group of Porcfest attendees took a group picture with the vehicle of the revenue generators

By Kenneth Ottinger

It is a strange thing, this life, we, as intelligent, conscience beings live. On the one hand we yearn for the creature comforts that “civilized” society affords. On the other we are a roiling mass of emotions and impulse, forever seeking discomfort and the challenge. Every individual I know fancies themselves a master of their own life, in their own right. All searching for meaning and purpose when there is none to be found. Perhaps the journey is the true purpose.

From the moment we are conceived, our lives are a battle against the odds. Everything from prenatal injury and disease to abortion, and possibly fetal suicide, is working against us to ensure that only the strongest can survive. Once we are free of the womb, free of the bonds of maternal protection, can we truly seek out our own purpose. How do we define that purpose? The vast majority define it through the external world. Allowing those we have never met and those who care naught for our well being to determine what the goals and aspirations of our lives should be. Graduate college,  seek enlightenment,buy a house, be one with nature, own a flashy new car, align our chakras, get that promotion, build the new earthship, finish your doctorate, these are all goals and aspirations thrust upon mankind through outside forces, none of which come from the inner, from the true place of peace and serenity, but, only a place of emptiness, a place of neglect.

We, as a free humanity should not look to compare ourselves to the rest of society, but rather, compare ourselves to our own moral compass. Define our true being by what we subjectively find true. Every individual has their own pathway to walk, and find, and once we do, once you find that avenue that resonates with your true being, you have a choice to make. Do you take the courageous route and walk it, regardless of the precariousness, heedless to the stygian depths that threaten to overwhelm ones senses at every step? Or, in haste, do you retreat to the safety and security of the maternal bosom? Both paths are correct, both paths are folly. The determining factor is your own views. Can one tolerate not challenging oneself? If you can, all the better for you. If you cannot, do not trouble yourself with the whither to’s and the why for’s, NAY, embrace your own path. Walk with your head held high, for your choice is your own to make, and no judgment is legitimate, lest you allow it to be, lest you choose for that judgment to reflect upon your soul.

WE WANT THE WHIP!! — an oft forgotten funeral chant, but one which has immense meaning. Society will, if one lets it, devour us whole.  It will deposit the remains in the darkest and deepest crevices on earth. The Marianas Trench is but a paltry crater compared to the depths to which we can allow ourselves to be expelled, upon the whims of “civilized” society. The Colosseum, the NFL, both alike in grandeur and congregation, are but a representation of the banal, base nature which still resides in the hearts of humanity. If it is such an existence one seeks, then seek it, with the whole of your being. Do not hide your visage in shame. Do not acquiesce to the reproach and ridicule of those who do not know their own hearts. Rejoice! For you have found your rapture. You have found your purpose.

If yours is the path of the courageous, know that you will be tried. The tenacity of your heart will be called forward to do battle with the timidness of your mind. Only you can decide for yourself when you have faltered. Only you can decide when you have succeeded. Riches and fame are but a drop in the bucket for the truly dauntless. Money dissipates, fame is fleeting. The reward you seek will not be in gold or fans, but rather in the knowledge that you did not quit. You pushed yourself to what you viewed as your breaking point and beyond.  Your true requital will be the ability to persevere, the proficiency in success.

What ever choice you make in life, believe in that choice, and hold to it. We can not yet turn back the clocks, and so must choose again, at the next fork in our path, ever onward to infinity … and beyond.

With Love

Fenix

It’s an early spring weekend in Manchester, and Emily Smith is sitting in the Radisson Hotel with her baby, selling goods from her northern New Hampshire farm. There are jugs of maple syrup in various sizes laid out on the table, and also guns, .308 caliber rifles, lovingly hand-assembled for improved accuracy. The combination would raise eyebrows in most company, but not here, at the annual gathering of the Free State Project, a libertarian movement to create a limited government utopia in the Granite State.

Hundreds of Free Staters were assembled for the three-day Liberty Forum, which brings together the movement’s pioneers, prospective members, and sympathizers. The Free State Project aims to relocate 20,000 committed citizens to New Hampshire, change local laws, reduce taxes and regulations, and ultimately establish a literal Galt’s Gulch where—to quote a popular libertarian saying—married gay couples can use guns to defend their marijuana plants. According to organizers, more than 1,700 people have moved so far, and another 16,000 or so have pledged to promising to do the same once the full 20,000 have signed on.

The annual conference is a way to bring on new recruits, showcasing the full spectrum of the Free State fringe. There are sessions on anti-war activism, school choice, and polyamory . A heavy-hitter in Koch brothers-backed political groups is giving a talk on “Freedom and Well-being.” In one time slot, there were dueling panels on “the Tao of Anarchism” and a critique of anarchy based on the work of Ayn Rand. A woman in business casual tries to sell people on ziftrCOIN, a New Hampshire company that helps retailers accept cryptocurrencies.

Smith and her husband joined the migration in 2007, relocating to New Hampshire with another couple and opening up Bardo Farm. She told me the move was about freedom, but also about finding a great piece of land that came with oxen, goats and solar power. “We wanted to be off the grid,” she explained, nursing her baby as we spoke. The Free State Project provides a built-in network of customers, she said, and the farm often gives like-minded libertarians a place to stay when they’re in the area.

Like most Free Staters, Smith and the other farm owners are engaged in local politics.Ian Underwood, one of Smith’s business partners, said selling the rifles is partly an effort to build a self-sufficient community in their area. “People who have guns can defend themselves,” he said. “Who knows where the cops are, but your neighbors are right there.” Plus, he noted darkly, cops might not be on your side at all. “One of the things that you may have to defend yourself against is your government,” he said.

Not far from Bardo Farm, in rural northern New Hampshire, the small town of Grafton has become a haven for Free Staters, to the consternation of local residents frustrated by the libertarian zeal to overhaul local laws. At the Liberty Forum, Grafton resident James Reiher tried to sell potential movers on the town, promoting it as a great place for libertarians to create their alternatives to the mainstream. “They should be creating coops and doing what the government does on their own,” he told me. “If you like fair wages, open a fair-wage store. You don’t have to wait.”

Another member of the Free Grafton contingent, Rich Angell, tells me he grows most of his own food and lives as autonomously as possible as a “voluntary servant.” He wouldn’t tell me who he serves—”let’s just say a landowner in Grafton”—but said he pays rent by making himself useful, tending the boiler and wood stove and shoveling snow. “I pay my way with my labor,” he said. “I am about as free as I can be in this country.”

Angell tells me he’s a former “card-carrying Republican,” a “college graduate, clean-cut former Marine, good-old American.” He talks a lot about things like “unraveling the left-right paradigm.” His politics, based on the principles of freedom and nonaggression, are hard to pin down, except to say that they’re about as far outside the mainstream as you could imagine. He credits his political awakening to the issue of circumcision. “When I saw what we do to our children it opened me up to what else is going on in this country that nobody is paying attention to.”

These days, Angell is cynical about politics. “If Hillary Clinton is the best the Democrats can do, and Jeb Bush and that crowd are the best that the Republicans can come up with, it’s time we seriously start thinking about voting for Vermin Supreme,” he said, referring to the perennial presidential candidate whose New Hampshire primary campaigns are equal parts anarchist activism and satirical performance art.

Davi Barker, a California designer and writer giving a Liberty Forum talk on “The Undead Democracy Apocalypse,” told me his activism is focused on influencing cultural, rather than politics. He’s the author of a survivalist children’s book, “Survivor Max,” about an 11-year-old boy trying to navigate a zombie apocalypse. He sees zombies as a metaphor for libertarians—in zombie stories, he explained, heroes band together in small autonomous groups, to fight a multiplying army of stumbling automatons. “They’re a democratic monster,” he said.

Wandering around the conference floor, I barely registered a table for the Atlas Society, until the guy staffing it, George Johnson, asked me urgently if I was familiar with the work of Ayn Rand. Johnson was handing out ballots for the Society’s Crony Awards. According to an explanation on the ballot, the current economic system is not “true capitalism” but a bastardized version where companies depend on government favors, not the free market; I’m supposed to vote for the “clearest and most egregious cases” of cronyism. Candidates include the AFL-CIO, George Soros and Elizabeth Warren, but also Dick Cheney, Chris Christie and Walmart. Perhaps sniffing me out as a lefty, “They say free markets are an illusion, and they’re right,” Johnson tells me.

Many of the Free Staters were big supporters of former Congressman Ron Paul, giving his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns a boost in New Hampshire’s first-in-nation primary. But Paul’s son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, doesn’t seem to have inspired the same enthusiasm, and activists seemed generally disinterested in national politics. “I don’t think the enthusiasm is strong for Rand Paul,” said Free State Project Chairman Aaron Day, an active organizer who holds a half dozen titles with local libertarian and Republican groups.

Matt Philips, who works with Day on a couple of projects, said he cares about the presidential election only to the extent that it affects down-ballot races. Philips is a sort of libertarian cliché, a Princeton graduate who interned at the Cato Institute and later worked for a digital advertising company that sold to Yahoo! for $680 million. With no need to work after the sale, Philips eventually gravitated to the Free State Project. “It gives back more to the world than internet advertising,” he said, “although that’s laudable in an Ayn Randian sort of way.” He’s currently focused on New Hampshire issues, including cutting state taxes and fighting federal incursions on healthcare and education.

At the one conference session devoted to running political campaigns, the 2016 race didn’t come up until the question-and-answer session. “I haven’t heard anybody talk about what’s going to happen in this cycle,” said activist Paul Breed. “It’s the elephant in the room.” But the roomful of activists seemed more interested in local candidates than the national horserace.

For most of the Free State hardliners, the focus for 2016 is mostly on forcing candidates to address libertarian concerns. “We party-crash,” said Lisa Gravel, a native New Hampshire libertarian and former candidate for local office. “We show up at the events and talk about the issues they don’t want to talk about. We make them nervous. It’s great.”

When I approach her later, Gravel demands to know if I’m part of the mainstream media. I’m not sure how to answer, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. She keeps talking, telling me that she likes Rand Paul, but has a lot of reservations. “I’m very disillusioned,” she says. “Really, I am.”

Originally published on Vice.com by Livia Gershon

By Ken Ottinger

Anticipation. Fear. Apprehension.

The moment had come for the final leg of my journey. Part of me wanted to stay in Ohio. I wanted help with the amazing activism happening there, to compound upon the works being done in the realm of police accountability, but I knew my path led elsewhere. Towards a larger, and more complex community than I could have imagined. The Free State Project.

The name alone generates images of an idealized world. A world where individuals are free to make their own choices in regards to their bodies and property. Free to associate with those of their choosing, the very definition of an intentional community. Free to fail, or succeed, based on their own merits, ability and perserverance. One where force, deception, fraud, and aggression are frowned upon,(and often result in ostracization and a reduction in the quality of all lives involved) and techniques and ideas of peaceful moderation and discussion of every issue small and large, by the entire community, are fostered. Where contracts provide proof, cameras contribute to legal/societal compliance and firearms impress upon others to hold to a moral aquiescence. Although, such techniques are not adhered to as strictly or as pervasively as one would wish, nonetheless, it would be a mistake to forget that this is still the ground floor of one of the most amazing and enlightening human experiments in recorded history. As such every individual would do well to maintain an air of forgiveness and compromise never, forgetting that to err is human, and to forgive is divine.

I procrastinated as long as I could, anticipating a caravan of activists to hit the road together. But, it was not to be. So, at 12 noon, with my equipment all loaded back into my van, and hugs and well wishes past, I departed Parma, Ohio.

My path out of Ohio would take me ironically north of Orwell, a rather fitting name for the times we all live in. The weather was acceptable for early march, a light dusting of snow was beginning to set in. The true intent of mother nature, however, was still incognito. Unknown to myself there was a rather large winter swell dogging my tred marks. One that would not impose its will upon me and my van until late in the night. I had planned on viewing the next episode of The Rebel Love Show in person, which went live on LRN.FM at 10 PM that Tuesday, and then memorialize my move at the new movers party anon. The weather had other ideas though.

As it got darker, the roads got worse. What started as a light rain, soon became sleet, then snow. The temperature drop had me concerned about black ice. I resigned myself to 55 miles an hour. Thankfully, the road had the rumble strips on it to notify me when i was going too far over….. but it would have been better had they been solar freakin roadways. No fuss, no muss. I soon got concerned about my time frame, and began pushing my van harder. Doing 75 on ice and snow, in a fully loaded rear wheel van, is not the safest option for an individual moving to the free state, but, I am solely responsible for my own safety, none other. Had I wrecked that is what insurance is for. Had I hurt someone that would have been properly dealt with, between myself and the injured party. Luckily, there were no incidents.

Around Albany, I noticed my gas gauge was pleading to be adjusted. The oasis I stopped at was poorly managed and incapable of providing adequate service that that moment, considering they were doing a drop, not to mention the young lady behind the counter seemed fairly new, and ignorant of the procedures. I took the delay to eat a bit of tuna I had brought with me. Forgetting in my haste to depart Illinois that can-openers were a useful tool.

After both the van and myself were fueled, I continued on my way. Through great ravines, over enormous hills, and down treacherously steep grades, I was undeterred by the weather. After the god awful plow tactics employed by The Massachusetts Department of Transportation, I arrived in New Hampshire at approximately 2:05 am and promptly removed my seatbelt, and exhalted with a resounding cheer. The Rebel Love Show was long over, and so, off to The Quill, the private club for Free Staters, where the new movers party was held. After a brief interaction with some of the members, many of whom I had known prior to my arrival, and others I had only known on Facebook, we headed back to the Rebel Love Pad.

The next few days would be a whirlwind of Celebritarians, and those aspiring to be one. All yearning to change the world within their own spheres of influence. From Carla Gericke, and Jeffery Tucker, to Carlos Morales, Brett Veinotte, Ian Freeman, Rich Paul, Joel Valenzuela, and the incalculable various other influences I had on my activism and the evolution of my own personal philosophy, everyone was there. Some already my best friends and some soon to be. But the fun is just beginning. The next four months will be an amazing ride. Acts of civil disobedience, meant to inspire and convince, and thought crimes meant to enlighten and open the minds all pouring forth from this small geographical location we free staters affectionately refer to as The Shire. I hope to share it with you all right here.

The morning of February 28th was a special one for me. I was prepping to leave my family and friends on a trip to New Hampshire. I had decided last November, to take a test drive of an idea created over a decade ago, The Free State Project. It’s the plan to move 20,000 liberty minded individuals to the same geographical location, in order to get active to make the maximum role of government the protection of life, liberty, and property. A lofty goal for any group, and one I whole heartedly see as the answer to the encroaching police state.

I departed Illinois around 1pm, enroute to Ohio. Saddly it would not be without incident. Before I could even make it out of Illinois the tread on my van came off. No injuries or property damage occurred, but it did cost me $150 and 3 hours of drive time. Something I am having a hard time dealing with now.

The first stop on my journey (outside Illinois) would be the city of Parma. A contact of mine, who is affiliated with Copblock (a decentralized group of individuals dedicated to police accountability) lives there. When I arrived at his home he was already out, engaging with the state in an effort to produce video content aimed at waking the masses.

We linked up and headed back out. In his green subaru, with Montana plates I felt invulnerable, impervious to the threat of the state. We cruised up and down the streets of Cleveland, looking for the most dangerous thugs, to put them on blast for their extortion.

It didn’t take long for one of the gangbangers to make their threat of force known.  As we parked around the corner my adrenaline was on full blast. I had been copblocking before but always solo and never outside of my hometown. Now, I had backup. Now I had friends. Now i was with the originator, the hardcore copblockers. One dressed as an imperial stormtrooper the other in a copblock hoodie.

We approached the scene. A cruiser had pulled over two men in a truck. As we stood there filming, a group of teen boys approached inquiring as to what we were doing. After informing them of our actions (which they seemed very interested in) the truck pulled off without major incident.

We walked back to the car feeling accomplished when one of us noticed the agents of the state had decided to park sideways in the middle of the street (a major no no for the tax cow) to harass the teens. We hurried to the car and pulled around. The imperial stormtrooper jumped out of the vehicle ready to do intellectual battle with the forces of darkness. Our mere presence was enough to dissuade this authoritarian sociopath. He left before we could get video of him.

The kids said that he threatened to arrest them because they were smoking. As though it was his divine duty to keep the kids on the straight and narrow. God forbid individuals be responsible for their own actions. Obviously he didn’t hold too strongly to that duty, considering he ran away the moment he saw us.

The rest of the night was spent editing video and setting my equipment up to do an interview with the freedom fighters. Which can be heard @ UnityEvolved.com.

Stay tuned right here at truthvoice.com to catch part 2 of Path of a Free Stater. Where we will be headed to Beaver Creek, OH and more police accountability at the site of the murder of John Crawford.