Sam Martin - Free the People

How to Take Back Your Justice System: New Mexico

Sam Martin — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 02:15:27 +0000

The United States’ criminal justice system is broken. We have less than 5% of the world’s population but nearly 25% of its prisoners. Mass incarceration has crushing consequences: racial, social, and economic. And it is not necessary to keep our communities safe. The people of Albuquerque have an opportunity to take back their justice system, to make it work for people instead of government institutions. In 2022, Free the People partnered with Americans for Prosperity and the LIBRE Initiative in Albuquerque, New Mexico to screen our documentary film, How to Love Your Enemy about restorative justice. Restorative justice takes the prison system and the court system out of the equation. It focuses on offenders being held accountable and repairing the damages done. It strengthens community bonds and is proven to dramatically reduce recidivism. Learn more about restorative justice here.

This week on Kibbe on Liberty, Kathleen McGoey and Lindsey Pointer Joined Matt Kibbe to discuss how restorative justice can help to fix America’s broken justice system.

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The Most Important Election

Sam Martin — Thu, 02 May 2024 23:00:49 +0000

This is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are too high, and if the other side prevails, it may well be the end of our country as we know it! Sound familiar? Every election, politicians and the media paint this picture in the hopes of scaring people into voting the right way. In this episode of Freedom Over Fear, Sam Martin discusses the real motivations behind this narrative, and why fearmongering has taken over American elections.

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Freedom Over Fear: Ukraine Proxy War

Sam Martin — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 00:00:53 +0000

“Why is the US involved in what amounts to a territorial squabble half way around the world?” The real story behind the Ukraine-Russian war, and why the US is involved.

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Everyone is Welcome – Premiere Event in Washington DC

Sam Martin — Tue, 24 Oct 2023 23:05:27 +0000

On September 26, 2023 Free the People and The Buckeye Institute hosted a screening of our documentary film Everyone is Welcome in Washington DC, with guest speaker Senator Rand Paul. This recap video shows people’s reactions to the film!

Everyone is Welcome is a film that tells the story of one bar owner’s fight against the DC government that tried to shut him down.

Watch Everyone is Welcome.

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Everyone is Welcome (Official Trailer)

Sam Martin — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 23:00:09 +0000

Everyone is Welcome is a documentary that tells the story of one bar owner’s fight against the DC government that tried to shut him down.

In January 2022, in a deeply misguided attempt to combat the COVID-19 virus, Washington, DC mayor Muriel Bowser, along with her counterparts in most other major cities, required business owners to deny access to any customers not proven to be vaccinated against the disease. Eric Flannery, an affable, apolitical veteran who wanted nothing more than to serve good food and drink to his local community via his bar and restaurant, The Big Board, located on H Street in northeast DC. When he was told that he would have to check vaccination records before admitting his loyal customers to his bar, he decided to take a stand.

Follow Eric’s case with the help of The Buckeye Institute here:

Watch Everyone is Welcome.

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Unmasking the Woke Cult

Sam Martin — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 22:00:55 +0000

Is a cult of wokeness really a cult? Think of your friends who post black squares and pride flags on social media, write their pronouns in email signature lines, and spout equity and inclusion talking points whenever they get a chance. Wokeness offers them an identity and a sense of belonging. But in this episode of The Cult of Wokeness, Sam Martin draws the disturbing parallels between wokeness today and historical examples like Maoist communism and Scientology.

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Medicalization of Childhood

Sam Martin — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 20:00:26 +0000

In the US, about 1 in 12 children under the age of 17 is on some sort of drug designed to combat mental illness, from antidepressants to antipsychotics to ADHD medications like Ritalin and Adderall. This number has been rising in recent years, not just in America, but also in Britain, with a 41% increase in children on antidepressants over just four years. The COVID lockdowns made things even worse by isolating kids from their friends, outdoor play, and recreational activities.

Trusted institutions like the American Academy of Pediatrics have played a significant role in the medicalization of children by endorsing practices like early gender transitioning, and advocating for the use of pharmaceutical interventions to address behavioral challenges. Free the People’s Sam Martin checks the facts and reminds us of the oath that every medical professional is required to swear: First, do no harm.

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The New Hollywood Blacklist

Sam Martin — Fri, 12 May 2023 18:00:29 +0000

We think of the McCarthy Era in American politics as one of oppression, paranoia, and unfounded witch hunts that ruined lives and destroyed careers. Fear of secret communists lurking around every corner drove normal people to do insane things and turned friends and colleagues into enemies overnight. We’re right to look back on that time with shame and judgment, but have we really learned anything from the lessons of the past? Or are we doomed to play out the same mistakes over and over again? In the era of vaccine mandates and government control over media, it’s not so clear. Free the People creative director Sam Martin breaks it down in this episode of Freedom Over Fear.

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The Cult of Gender Ideology

Sam Martin — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 23:00:38 +0000

Over the past few years, there’s been a radical shift in the way people talk about sex and gender in America. All of a sudden, it seems like nobody can agree on basic questions like “what is a woman?”, “what’s the difference between sex and gender?” and “are these categories even real or meaningful?” But where did the new gender ideology come from, and why is it suddenly cropping up in schools across America? How can we protect our children from being exposed to age-inappropriate material without our knowledge, or indoctrinated into a cult of gender ideology? Free the People creative director Sam Martin sat down with Leor Sapir, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute who wrote his Ph.D. on how government regulations have affected the introduction and prevalence of gender ideology into schools, to get to the bottom of this thorny and controversial issue.

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Freedom Over Fear: Woman, Life, Freedom

Sam Martin — Mon, 12 Dec 2022 23:00:52 +0000

On September 16, 2022, a 22-year old named Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iranian authorities for improperly wearing her hijab, the hair covering that all Iranian women are required to wear from a young age. Amini wasn’t defying the law, and only a few strands of her hair were visible, but she was taken into custody where she later died. Many believe that she was intentionally killed by the regime.

Amini’s death sparked a wave of protests that are being described as a Berlin Wall moment for Iran. Under the slogan “Jin, jiyan, azadi”, meaning “woman, life, freedom”, hundreds of thousands of women across more than 80 cities are burning their hijabs and cutting their hair in defiance of their government’s brutal and longstanding oppression of its female population. It’s one of the only revolutionary movements in history to be led almost entirely by women.

Whether the protesters will succeed in bringing about change, or whether they will be silenced by violence and intimidation, remains to be seen. But we in the West owe it to them to at least recognize the injustice they face and the bravery it takes to stand up to it.

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