The Crypto Six: An open letter
Dear readers,
This is no usual commentary piece. It is more of a letter of outrage toward a corrupt federal government and its groups of domestic terrorists. I specifically mention the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
These thugs bombarded a house owned by Ian Freeman, talk show host of Free Talk Live and the first radio personality to promote Bitcoin on the air, on March 16 of this year. They ransacked his home, terrorized Freeman’s girlfriend, and destroyed many parts of his home, including the broadcast headquarters of the Liberty Radio Network, more commonly known as LRN.FM. Among these raids were the Bitcoin Embassy in Keene, N.H.
Six people, including Freeman, were arrested. Two of them are Freeman’s fellow Free Talk Live hosts, Aria DiMezzo and “Nobody”, formerly Rich Paul. The other three, Colleen Fordham, Renee Spinella, and Andrew Spinella, I have never heard of. However, they are not any less important.
Connections to Freeman, DiMezzo, and Nobody/Paul
My connections to the primary three of Freeman, DiMezzo, and Nobody/Paul are rather limited.
I have carried Free Talk Live since Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network launched on New Year’s Eve 2018. The abovementioned broadcast entity is also a broadcast affiliate of their flagship radio network.
I only know these parties through their revolving-door roster of hosts, of which I know of Freeman and Nobody/Paul the longest on-air.
Like these three, I am a strong believer in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While not a hardcore trader, my portfolio will help me retire comfortably down the road because their value continues to increase.
My opinion of the charges relating to crypto
To be brutally honest, the charges against these six individuals are nonfactual bullshit. Yes, it’s “possible” that they operated a currency exchange where you can purchase various crypto with fiat currency. I can literally do the same damn thing at the Bitcoin ATM machines popping up in my area to purchase Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash with my constantly devalued U.S. dollar, no thanks to the Federal Reserve. The name Federal Reserve is laughable because they’re about as “Federal” as Federal Express (FedEx).
Also, if that was even remotely the case, it is a white-collar non-crime in my evaluation.
Five of these individuals are currently out of jail, actively plotting out their defense cases. Unfortunately, for Nobody/Rich Paul, he’s been in indefinite detention for nearly three months with no release in sight. How’s that bullshit for “due process”?
The hypocrisy of it all: 1930 to 1990
The Feds always want a scapegoat every so many years.
In 1934, it was Al Capone and tax evasion. (Taxation IS theft and extortion. Don’t let anyone, the government included, tell you otherwise.)
Since the 1930s, it was the jailing of anyone who dared to defy Prohibition and even the wider “war on drugs”. (The latter being pushed considerably harder under Richard Nixon in the 1970s and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.)
In the 1980s, it was the outright attempt of assassinating rock and roll music at the behest of Tipper Gore. (Never forget, this shit did occur three decades prior, linking rock music to “reefer madness”.)
In the 1990s, it was the outright racism by law enforcement. (Something, sadly, that is still prevalent today, despite many cries for ending qualified immunity.)
The government’s hypocrisy continues in the new Millennium
In 2010, it was Chelsea Manning (fka Bradley Manning), who was often receiving treatment like a criminal over being a whistleblower on actions of the U.S. military. I find this incredibly odd, considering that it was our military who has been killing far more civilians than terrorists in this current never-ending “war on terror”. This is even more true when our military is essentially the terrorist group bankrolling so-called “terrorists” with financial backing by the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 2015, it was Ross Ulbricht and Silk Road. Currently, there’s no real crime that Ulbricht should remain in the federal penitentiary. The murder-for-hire charge against him, which calls for the double life sentence without parole, was thrown out on appeal, so technically he should be walking free.
Since 2019, it’s been Julian Assange, who has a target on his back by the U.S. government in relation to the whistleblowing by Manning. However, recent revelations in an Icelandic news website reveals that a key witness is being implored to lie, degrading the case against Assange.
And now, in 2021, it’s the Crypto Six. Their only “crime” is appreciating a digital currency that unofficially binds itself to the bygone days of the Gold Standard.
Help their crypto defense cause if you can
A defense case for six people is not cheap by any means, but it should be said that these six individuals did not commit a crime. This is regardless of the delusions of grandeur of fabricating charges against them without factual evidence.
There is no case against any of them, and they should all be walking free. A link to their defense fund is in the previous section.
For more commentary and opinion pieces, follow Jake Leonard on Twitter @JakeLeonardWPMD and Heartland Newsfeed @HLNF_Bulletin on Twitter.
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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
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