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Freedom of the press attacked….literally!
A member of the free press, Jason Talley of Talley TV was attacked on September 23rd, 2011 at the Cheshire County Superior Court by bailiffs and the County Sheriff’s Department. His “crime”? Attempting to exercise a right, that of the freedom of the press. He was jailed and is now free on bail awaiting a trial early in 2012. Talley states he will not take a plea bargain, that it goes against his conscience and that he wants a jury trial he further states he wants it completely transparent and recorded. Talley, a renowned videographer focusing on covering liberty issues and nonviolent civil disobedience is willing to bet a jury of his peers will not find he has harmed anyone. He asserts he has the right to do his job as a member of the free press. It appears the highest laws of the land, the United States Constitution and the New Hampshire Constitution agree with him.
In the United States Constitution, the very first mention in the bill of rights states as follows :
ARTICLE I
Freedom of religion, of speech, of the press and right of petition – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The New Hampshire Constitution’s bill of rights is even more direct.
[Art.] 22 [Free Speech; Liberty of the Press.] Free speech and liberty of the press are essential to the security of freedom in a state. They ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.
Inviolably preserved. That’s succinct and right to the point; in a rational world it would be difficult to take those two words, “inviolably preserved” any other way than what they actually mean…Just in case you aren’t getting my point it means ”this can’t be altered or changed”. Yet when you mix arbitrary authority, government speak, with an increasingly apathetic and irrational world it seems the meanings of words or protecting rights no longer matters.
There is no getting around the fact that when we are required to seek permission to exercise a right, it reduces the right to a revocable privilege. Rights and privileges are two very different things, and for good reason. Rights are not granted by government, they exist independently and are supposed to be protected from theft or redefining. Who is supposed to do this? The Judicial branch of government; at least that’s what the Constitution unambiguously states. When self described “authorities” put non existent meanings into words or issue orders that contradict plain language, freedom is lost. These kinds of “illegal” laws and questionable court orders are deemed to be invalid.
Free people opting for peaceful solutions often chose to keep the moral (and legal) high ground and not follow these orders. While many would stand by idly and permit a right to be abridged and/or diluted into a mere privilege, some people choose to act. That is how freedom is kept or lost, by what individuals are willing to do or not do. Perhaps some people are motivated by the very real idea that things aren’t “getting bad”, they are already bad. Persons that know this and are willing to stand up to this government sponsored shape shifting deserve to be supported. NHJury.com supports people like Jason Talley.
In Talley’s case a right was changed into a privilege upon the whim of judges seeking to expand Judicial power by issuing an unconstitutional court order. It seems these robed persons have mistakenly bought into the self serving idea that they are masters and not appointed civil servants. It also seems that they have a real concern about Court activity being recorded. Some might say, “hey judges if you haven’t done anything wrong you have nothing to worry about! ”
Now I personally do not suffer under any illusion that our rights are being or will be protected by these rogue robed agents of the State. They egotistically demand we honor unlawful orders lest we suffer the pain of a beating. My mission here is not to convince the reader that if we “just get the right people” in these positions we will somehow magically solve the problem of stolen rights. My mission here is threefold.
I want to sound the alarm that the taking of rights by those charged with protecting them is now out in the open and accelerating. If people do nothing this problem will not resolve itself. Human nature doesn’t work that way. People charged with power over others are reluctant to yield when there is more open ground for them to gain. Especially when the same people that issue the orders are responsible for interpreting them too.
I want to support a brave person and a member of the free press, Jason Talley. He has dared to peacefully take this matter to court. Talley will courageously risk jail time if a jury of his peers somehow decide to rubber stamp the Court’s wishes and find him guilty of harming somebody.
Lastly I want to remind those people who sit on the sidelines and do nothing that if Jason Talley’s rights are allowed to be taken, yours may well be next.
The sad reality is the branch of the government that is responsible for ordering others to harm Mr. Talley, the judicial, is the same branch, and possibly even the same person(s) that will orchestrate this “fair” trial for him. You can be assured the presiding judge will carefully censor what will or won’t be allowed to be said in “their” court. They will decide which statements the defendant will be allowed to utter and which will be verboten on pain of incarceration. Dare to say the forbidden words and another dragging off to jail could ensue. This might even include a duplication of the “accidental” rib kicking Jason suffered the first time he was carted off for trying to exercise a right.
Jason Talley, in the eyes of a runaway Court, is a very dangerous man. Dangerous despite his peaceful demeanor and his unintimidating physical presence. In my many conversations and interactions with him, he has consistently been an advocate and practitioner of nonviolence and peaceful solutions. Chillingly reminiscent of those “other un-free countries.” Jason is considered dangerous because he exposes government double speak and corruption and documents that hypocrisy with his voice and through the use of his camera work.
The irony in this situation is that Jason Talley has exercised his right to film numerous times at many court locations throughout New Hampshire without incident and without being attacked by armed men. As recently as October 2011 Talley TV covered the Supreme Court “road show” hearings held in Moultonboro, NH in front of hundreds of high school students featuring the New Hampshire Supreme Court Justices. We (and I say “we”, because I helped out as a crew member for Talley TV on that day) were treated very well and provided every courtesy due members of the press covering a public event. In fact, at that event Talley TV was designated as the sole pool coverage for Independent Media by the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s own Communication Specialist Laura Kiernan.
So the question begging to be asked NOW is, Why was Jason Talley attacked and prevented from exercising his right to film in Cheshire County Superior Court ?
That is a good question. We hope to answer that question in future articles.