• "Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued.... Woods has opened up an area of historical analysis that should invite further study."
    -Journal of American History

  • "During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods."
    -Barry Goldwater Jr.
    Former Member of Congress

  • "I strongly recommend Woods's work."
    -The Honorable Ron Paul,
    U.S. House of Representatives

  • "Written with great clarity and fluency, making the complex philosophical and theological concepts approachable."
    -Journal of American Studies

  • "A must-read."
    -Barron's

  • "An excellent reading source for anyone interested in financial markets, and much more so for anyone interested in learning about capitalism without all the misinterpretations being thrown about in the financial media."
    -Asia Times

  • "Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read."
    -Catholic Historical Review

  • "An engaging and important contribution to scholarship on the history of American Catholicism."
    -Journal of the Historical Society

  • "Woods and [co-author Kevin] Gutzman appeal to both left and right in this constitutionalist jeremiad…. The authors' exegeses of the Constitution and court decisions, heavy on original intent arguments, are lucid and telling."
    -Publishers Weekly

  • "A marvelous read. Every chapter taught me something new and unexpected."
    -Tom Bethell, senior editor,
    The American Spectator

  • "The hottest book today is Meltdown, by my friend Tom Woods."
    -Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst,
    FOX News Channel

  • "Should be required reading."
    -Economic Affairs (London)

  • "Woods, one of the best classical liberal [libertarian] scholars of his generation, has once more placed us in his debt with this lucid and tightly argued book."
    -David Gordon, The Mises Review

  • "Tom Woods is one of my dearest allies in the struggle against wrong-headed and dangerous economic policy."
    -Peter Schiff

Your Public Servants Have Special Rights, Citizen

Ademo Freeman of CopBlock.org has been sentenced to 12 months in prison, with nine months suspended. What did he do?

Here’s a summary:

Ademo Freeman faces 21 years in prison because he stood up for a 17-year-old student who was assaulted by school liaison officer Darren Murphy at West High School in Manchester, New Hampshire. Despite his actions, Murphy was back on the job the next day while the student was suspended. Another student, who had captured the exchange on video, had been ordered by school personnel to delete the footage.

Freeman, concerned about the lack of accountability, posted the video online then made calls to the Manchester Police Department and West High School seeking comment. His phone conversations were included on a video update and from that, he was was charged with three felony counts of wiretapping.

Jerome Tuccille writes, in turn:

Does a government official, in a taxpayer-supported office, using publicly funded phones to answer questions from an activist, journalist or any other person under the sun about official business really have an expectation of privacy?

Carlos Miller of Photography Is Not a Crime, who has worked with Mueller [Freeman], has an in-depth post up at which he writes, “It was clear from the conversation that Mueller was seeking on-the-record comments and it was clear from the responses of both police and the school official that they were well aware of that.”

Get details on the case and stay on top of developments by visiting the special Ademo page at CopBlock.org.

(Here’s Ademo, left, with a slightly fatter version of your host, center.)

Unlearn the Propaganda!

  • Matthew Postell

    Very sad. You can tell from the videos Ademo is a genuine guy which makes spectacle all the worse.

  • Anonymous

    APPEAL! I can’t fathom why a jury would deliver a guilty verdict.

  • Martial_Artist

    Dr. Woods,
    The more of this sort of thing I see, the more I wonder if I shouldn’t move to another country. The nation in whose Navy I served for 20+ years is moving ever more steadily to totalitarianism, and ever more steadily away from the Rule of Law and guarantees of liberty for its legal residents, citizen and non-citizen.
    Pax et bonum,
    Keith Töpfer

  • TJ

    As a reporter in Washington, where we also have a two party consent law, I usually don’t use audio recordings during phone interviews because I’m at my computer and can just type their statements up there, but whenever I have I always ask the person before the interview begins for their permission to record it, even when their statement is on the record.

    At the same time, being charged with three felony counts of wiretapping is absolutely ridiculous. Freeman did not “wiretap” or “eavesdrop” on conversations between the police officer or school official and another party. He simply recorded his own telephone conversation without obtaining consent, and nothing the two people said was “off the record” or meant to be kept private.
    Jerome Tuccille’s response is excellent in pointing out the difference.
    I think this is highly ironic after hearing Sen. Rand Paul’s “gazillion” response when asked how many times the federal government has spied on its citizens. I doubt anyone involved in spying on us will have to worry about felony charges.
    The sad truth is that had Freeman simply written down what the officer and school official had said on his computer or on a piece of paper and then written a story using their quotes, they couldn’t touch him.

    I would recommend that anyone who wants to be an activist journalist read up on their state’s telephone recording laws, as well as buy a book on journalism ethics, before they go about interviewing people so they can protect themselves legally. When covering amy kind of government issue, you have to have your t’s crossed and your i’s dotted.

  • anon_friend

    I agree with #freeademo, but I think he made a huge mistake in trial tactics, reportedly conceding the legal violations and arguing for pure jury nullification. As someone who has been around the legal system I can say with some authority that this almost never works. You have to give a potential nullifying juror something to bring to the table, or else they’ll get mauled. Muddy the waters a bit. Deny everything. Hammer an unsympathetic witness. Emphasize something seemingly irrelevant. Argue your actions don’t fit the legal definition, and that you didn’t know about that law anyhow. But never confess and expect a jury to let you walk. They just won’t go there.

  • http://twitter.com/MCMyAss John Ringer

    The bottom line is, if this had been about a cop pulling someone from a burning car, there would not have been charges filed.

  • vox

    There should not be cops in schools to begin with. If you genuinely need a cop in the school to maintain peace, the school should be closed and the taxpayers should be relieved of that burden. Idiot Americans are accepting their children’s subjugation by police and cameras in the schools. Then they go on vacation and their children are sexually violated by the TSA. What a great country.

  • lisk

    That’s one of the wisest perspectives I’ve heard as of late. I couldn’t agree more.

  • Mike

    Agreed. What’s perversely hilarious though is how all of this has been an outgrowth of The Imperial City’s foreign policy. We’re losing so much of our freedom’s here yet they say we’re being attacked because “of our freedoms”. LOL! The sheer idiocy of this defies belief!

  • Anonymous

    Off topic, but I didn’t realize that Adam was so short. I know this only because I know that you’re a pretty short guy.

  • John Licari

    We have School Safety officers in the elementary school I teach at, in New York City. Can you stand it?

  • Scott Lazarowitz

    The State-worshiping sheeple want themselves to be prosecuted if they ever question government officialdom, or if they say anything that exposes the officials’ corruption or incompetence. The sheeple would put themselves in jail for not bowing far enough down to their masters. The sheeple love their authorities so much, when they are on juries, of course they will convict someone who is totally innocent, and let criminal government officials go free to continue committing their crimes against innocent people. War is Peace – Freedom is Slavery – Ignorance is Strength.

  • RC

    Obey your overlord, citizen!!!

  • TJ

    I wrote an editorial this week for my newspaper offering some advice for citizen journalists after reading about this incident. Hopefully it will help others like him avoid this kind of trouble in the future.
    http://www.maplevalleyreporter.com/opinion/167847745.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/Ademo.Freeman Ademo Voluntaryist Freeman

    Thanks for taking time to share my story Tom. Hope all is well.