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Roberge Charged In Somersworth Murder
Supreme Court Clarifies Limits To Free Speech
Conservative Playbook Seeks End Of Democracy
Heavy rains during past few weeks have devastated much of Vermont and western New Hampshire, and this past weekend, more rain washed out roads in Alton, Gilmanton, and Wolfeboro. A large section of Route 140, just outside downtown Alton, sustained severe damage, and “a few dozen” other roads were affected. There was a large sinkhole on Route 28 in Wolfeboro.
Richard Arcand, public information officer for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, said there are about 20 state roads that were closed or open to one lane of traffic, and he did not have an estimate on how long repairs would take.
Arcand said he was not aware of any major injuries or deaths associated with the rain damage.
Roberge Charged In Somersworth Murder
Brian Roberge, 52, is facing second-degree murder charges in the death of 79-year-old Jan VanTassel of Center Ossipee. The original charge was amended to recklessly causing VanTassel’s death “under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life by means of homicidal violence,” according to Attorney-General John M. Formella, New Hampshire State Police Executive Major Matthew S. Shapiro, and Somersworth Police Chief Timothy McLin.
An autopsy conducted by Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Mitchell Weinberg determined that the cause of death was compressional asphyxia.
Eyewitnesses said Roberge straddled VanTassel's chest for several minutes, hitting him in the head and face.
Supreme Court Clarifies Limits To Free Speech
The New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a lower court order that a stalking protective order could not only block direct contact but also prevent the person from mentioning the victim’s name in any online post or posting images of her, whether real or computer-generated.
The offender in the case had argued that the digital images were a form of expression protected by free speech rights. He had posted a profile of the victim on an online dating app, using her own profile picture and computer software to create fake images of her naked, being choked by a police officer, and stabbed.
Victim advocates are hoping that that decision, S.D. vs. N.B., will help deter offenders from using artificial intelligence and “deepfakes” to torment their victims online. Mary Krueger, a staff attorney at New Hampshire Legal Assistance, said the ruling is important because it adds important clarifications to free speech. “[The court] said, given the circumstances of this particular case, the interest is to protect victims of stalking from further stalking behavior,” Krueger said.
Conservative Playbook Seeks End Of Democracy
A coalition of conservative groups has plans to terminate democracy and replace it with measures aimed at “increasing the president’s authority over every part of the federal government that now operates, by either law or tradition, with any measure of independence from political interference by the White House,” according to Heather Cox Richardson in today’s Letters From An American.
Russell Vought, 47, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been serving as an informal adviser to conservative House Republicans and is president of a new pro-Donald Trump think tank called the Center for Renewing America. Along with the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, the movement envisions “a ‘president’ who cannot be checked by the Congress or the courts”.
“It is not enough for conservatives to win elections,” they say. “If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left, we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration. This is the goal of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. The project will build on four pillars that will, collectively, pave the way for an effective conservative administration: a policy agenda, personnel, training, and a 180-day playbook.”
The 180-day Transition Playbook “includes a comprehensive, concrete transition plan for each federal agency. Only through the implementation of specific action plans at each agency will the next conservative presidential Administration be successful.”
Cox Richardson writes, “The [Republican] party appears to have fully embraced the antidemocratic ideology advanced by authoritarian leaders like Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who argue that the post–World War II era, in which democracy seemed to triumph, is over.”
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