Free Ross Ulbricht!
And reverse a complete travesty of justice that far too few people know about.
Tonight (Thursday, July 9, 2024) Lyn Ulbricht (Ross’s mother) will be at an event hosted by the Libertarian Party of Nevada at Rebar, a very cool bar/restaurant in the arts district of Las Vegas. The event is from 7pm to 9pm and the location is 1225 S. Main St. Las Vegas, NV 89104.
Anyone reading this should come by and say hello. You should also consider donating to her legal expenses and sign a petition to free her son Ross from prison.
Let me tell you why.
One of the highlights of the 2024 Libertarian National Convention in Washington DC was having Donald Trump address our delegates and promise that should he win the presidency again, he would immediately commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.
So, who the heck is Ross Ulbricht?
In February 2011, when Ross was 26, he started a “dark web” website marketplace he called Silk Road. Here, in the Tor browser enabling digital shadows, people could buy and sell illegal substances and services, in exchange for Bitcoin.
The vast majority of these transactions were for narcotics and other drugs our government (and most others) have made illegal. He ran the quickly infamous site for over two years under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts”.
(hat tip to The Princess Bride)
When the now-defunct shock tabloid site Gawker published an article about the Silk Road in June of 2011, the government took immediate interest and offense. A famous drugstore website running under our noses and using a currency we didn’t create? Nope, nope, nope. Can’t have that.
But it took almost a year and a half for the government to catch Ross and shut down the site. What a huge black eye for our overlords. Tech was winning the liberty/tyranny battle and it was a huge embarrassment for them.
And even worse, Ross was a libertarian. Under his pseudonym he wrote essays espousing libertarian philosophy and criticizing all aspects of government cronyism, particularly involving the regulatory state.
So when they finally caught him, forget the book. They threw the whole library at him.
During the run-up to the trial, the government loudly claimed that Ross was guilty of some stupid murder-for-hire scheme. It was all nonsense, but it sure did cause a nation-wide contamination of the jury pool.
In the end though, he was charged with and convicted of 7 charges, all related to drugs and money and computer crimes.
For these victimless offenses, they gave him two life sentences without parole, plus 40 years.
Yikes. Life in prison. For a first-time offender. Just for starting a website where people could buy and sell drugs.
Oh, and for embarrassing the government while being a loud and outspoken libertarian.
It’s a real injustice. You can easily see why hundreds of us were waving “FREE ROSS!” signs at Donald Trump at our convention.
So, please. Come on down to Rebar tonight from 7pm to 9pm and talk to Lyn. She’s an amazing person and the love and determination she has for her son is inspiring.
If you can’t come down, at least go to FreeRoss.org and see what you can do to help. Donate. Sign the petition. Educate yourself about the depths to which the government will sink when it’s embarrassed.
And thanks.
Naturally,
Adam
Connect with me on Twitter(X) “@Rerazer”