Our Would Be Liberators

Earlier this month, in New Brunswick, a young man named Justin Bourque killed RCMP Constables Fabrice Gevaudan, Dave Ross, and Douglas Larche. He wounded two other Mounties. Justin Bourque was an angry young man, ginned up on conspiracy theories and fears about gun grabbers. (Definition: anyone believing that not every person should have access to firearms is a gun grabber.) One of his Facebook friends is being detained for threatening to kill police.

A few days ago, two police officers having lunch at a pizza place in Las Vegas were gunned down by Jerad and Amanda Miller, who put a swastika and a Gadsden flag on the bodies of the officers, announced the revolution was starting, grabbed their weapons, and went to a nearby Wal-Mart. They killed a man there. Jerad and Amanda were also ginned up on conspiracy theories and gundamentalist fears that the gummint was coming to take their guns away.

These killings happened in two different countries, and the killings were done by people who didn’t know each other. They did, however, have something in common. CopBlock. If you spend any time on social media, you’ve probably seen CopBlock memes; a picture with some message about police violence or authoritarian overreach. CopBlock claims their goal is police accountability. From their website:

We do not “hate cops.” We believe that no one – not even those with badges – has extra rights. The failure to realize and act on that is to our detriment. By focusing the disinfecting light of transparency on public officials we safeguard not just our rights but those of future generations.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? If only we could take these folks at their word.

A regular writer for CopBlock is a guy named Chris Cantwell. Cantwell was kicked out of the Free State Project (in a big public way) for advocating violence, which goes against what the FSP claims to believe. Cantwell, in his capacity as CopBlock administrator had the ability to use the CopBlock twitter account. While Justin Bourque was out killing Mounties, CopBlock sent out a tweet that read, “What the world needs is more people like Justin Bourque not fewer.” The same CopBlock that claims it doesn’t condone violence, the same CopBlock that claims adherence to something called the “Non Aggression Principle.”

Cantwell has lengthy rants on his blog where he waxes on about the reasons to kill cops. It’s not for the faint of heart or stomach. He’s an angry, angry man who doesn’t kill cops because HE doesn’t want to go to jail. He’d like to incite you to do the work for him. He cheered on Justin Bourque. He eulogized the Millers. And when Officer Stephen Arkell was killed in Brentwood, NH last month, Cantwell not only blamed Arkell for getting killed, he celebrated it. 

Justin Bourque had CopBlock memes on his Facebook page. Amanda Miller had a link to a YouTube video from the CopBlock channel that asks, “When is it Okay to Kill a Cop?” with words from an anarchist/Free Stater named Larken Rose. Jason Stam, the friend of Justin Bourque now in custody for threatening cops, posted Chris Cantwell’s CopBlock support for Bourque on his page.

CopBlock was co-founded by Adam Mueller, who calls himself Ademo Freeman and Pete Eyre. Mueller and Eyre are both members of the Free State Project. The Free State Project is the group of libertarians moving to NH with the intent of liberating us by occupying, colonizing, and taking over and dismantling the state government, and threatening secession. They claim to be nonviolent and peaceful. I serve on the board of a peace organization. We don’t have any videos that address when it would be okay to kill cops. That doesn’t fit into the category of peace – at least not as I understand it.

CopBlock has gotten a lot of negative media attention since the recent cop killing incidents took place. On June 11, they posted a notice on the CopBlock site that Cantwell is now a former author, and they pledged their adherence to the non-aggression principle. It was signed by a number of folks affiliated with the site, including co-founder Pete Eyre. It was not signed by Adam Mueller. He sent out a tweet saying that Cantwell “is no longer an admin of the FB page. Gotta be PC, ya know. Otherwise slaves won't like CopBlock.” In other words, they ditched Cantwell so that they can keep on getting well-intended folks to keep posting their memes and sending them money. That’s what they call non-Free Staters, by the way. Slaves.

Many members of the Free State Project will be appearing on ballots around the state this fall. At least one will be on the ballot in Carroll County. Ed Comeau of Brookfield is running for the NH House. Some of you will recognize Ed as the person who tapes a variety of public meetings, including the Carroll County Commissioners. The level of dysfunction we’ve seen in our county government may well have been nurtured by the FSP. Remember, their goal is the destruction of our form of government. What better way to begin than to ensure chaos, obstruction, and gridlock? It’s happening both in Concord and on the county level, engineered by Free Staters and their fellow travelers in the Tea Party and the John Birch Society. Always research your candidates to find out things like: What do they believe in? How do they support themselves financially? What groups are they associated with?

As for CopBlock, don’t be fooled by their attempt at a whitewash. They’ve allowed Cantwell’s rants all this time. The “When is it Okay to Shoot a Cop” video has been up on YouTube for over a year. If no cops had been killed, Cantwell would still be an administrator, and no one would be the wiser. The underbelly of our would-be liberators does not match their public face.

© sbruce 2014  

Published in the June 13 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.