Our monthly open thread. Post news tips about alt parties and independent candidates, discuss any story that should be posted here but has not yet been posted, or even delve into completely off-topic stuff…just avoid quarantined thread subject matter and things that could get us and/or you into legal trouble such as threats, libel, and copyright infringement.
News tips can also be sent to the IPR writers who have chosen to make their contact info available at https://independentpoliticalreport.com/about/.
It’s also become an IPR tradition to post videos in the open threads.
This month, we have a video related to the original April Fools theme of this post:
Here’s the original April Fools day edition of this post:
After long discussion, IPR writers and owners have decided that IPR articles will no longer allow public comments.
We are allowing a 24 hour grace period for everyone to have their final say today, April 1, 2015.
The idea was something like, if you only had one day left to comment here, what would you say?
However, it seems few if any people were fooled, and few were even game to play along.
Indeed.
…it seems a bit hypocritical to enjoy and share music that wouldn’t even exist if races and cultures did not mix and preach racial/cultural separation at the same time.
That’s true, although nationalism/separatism is such an intellectually crude philosophy that I doubt you can really expect much in the way of logical consistency from its adherents.
Keene has a university, and probably also a community college. Cantwell doesn’t deserve props for anything, either. Yes, it’s fine to appreciate music whether or not you agree with its political message – and I often appreciate music which I don’t agree with politically – but it seems a bit hypocritical to enjoy and share music that wouldn’t even exist if races and cultures did not mix and preach racial/cultural separation at the same time. YMMV.
I remember this song from the 2012 campaign. It’s an absolute classic! #LithuaniaisGold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE30TH6Y7cI
Also check out this one, where Vinnie Paz gives a shout out to Ron Paul in the second verse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ej_6JCnO4
I don’t know about other people, but I often enjoy songs and movies, even though I disagree with the social or political message they convey. Even when I disagree very strongly with the message, I may still find the song or movie worthy of appreciation on a purely aesthetic level.
Of course, if I happen to agree with the message, that’s even better. For example, here is an aesthetically amazing song that also has an absolutely brilliant anti-war message:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX04USVRowQ
Speaking of Immortal Tech, here’s some great video of him talking to DFW Norml. Articulate, compassionate, and real talk. Immortal Technique is a great example for young people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkO8mxkYZhg
Anarchy is Gold. Polska is Gold. Lithuania is Gold. I’m head over heels in Love with Aneta. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHsFcPOAGtg
Immortal Technique was at last year’s United We Stand fest (you know, the one put on by Free and Equal). I was very impressed with him. Who knew that, at my age, I’d be listening to his type of music? Life is full of surprises!
Paulie, I’d rather go to Keene, New Hampshire, to learn how to do and run a radio show, hands on training. Free Talk Live is a great show. Props to Ian Freeman, Mark Edge, Darryl W. Perry and Christopher Cantwell. Keene is the New England capital of Libertarianism, while Mount Prospect is the Illinois Mecca for black and yellow anarchism.
https://amthirdpartyreport.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/11187809_478718795617384_5697298285125256501_o.jpg
Glad you rediscovered anarchism. The “paleo” and/or “nationalist” …stuff…. you alluded to yesterday is still for the birds, though. And doesn’t really coincide too well with your cosmopolitan musical tastes.
I agree with you about government school, but you should still get a GED and a college education, starting with community college, if you can. It may not matter as much if you have some highly in demand skills, or are good at starting business and making them successful, but not having degrees does limit your job prospects quite a bit.
Paulie, I’m an anarchist. I don’t believe in government at all. I”m a high school dropout, I only had 9.25 credits when I left Prospect High School in November 2013. Government sucks, and government “school” is the worst thing ever created.
Check out what is happening in Poland right now:
http://amthirdpartyreport.com/2015/04/30/a-match-made-in-heaven-partia-korwin-podbyja-caly-swiat/
One more plug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jIkGw_VmgA&index=15&list=PLAD5B741E2415CCC5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8zlZsoTDYE&index=3&list=PLAD5B741E2415CCC5
Some DPz more relevant to 3rd party activism…
“Politrixx”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHCQ_I1dxWU
“We Need A Revolution”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgPje57RIxw
“You expect me to vote for the lesser of 2 evils? Never. It’s more like the evil of 2 lessers. That’s like saying M, choose your oppressor. Pick one, Jeffrey Dahmer or Hannibal Lector…
As far as hip-hop goes, I guess I’m stuck back in the 90s–Dead Prez is by far my fav.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJlspurI6tY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psdgRH_p3XI
And though they’ve aged and their message has evolved, they continue to kill it…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKRsKNUQjlk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1KoyZFPf4&index=17&list=PL19502CA3A834656C
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBZ-L2jstvI&list=RDMSPfs7CwfG4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gU0hMfFZqWY&index=22&list=RDMSPfs7CwfG4
Chris,
Oy vey, the mish mosh that’s in your head.
How does white separatist anarcho-“nationalism” (racism) mesh with Polish hip hop and Immortal Technique, an Afro-Peruvian man raised in Harlem and immersed in Marxist theory? Even the rock n roll you play comes from blending predominantly white American culture with African-American music and cultural forms, and even some native American (Indian) elements. Exactly what racists claim is so terrible. Want to be an authentic “nationalist”? You better stick your playlist to the 18th century, and maybe some folk and/or classical music. Even country music nowadays owes too much to rock n roll and its “negro” rhythms.
BTW these days Lew Rockwell and Ron Paul are embarrassed by the racist connection and are trying to get far away from it. Lew even said how the paleo strategy was a mistake, and Ron takes pains to emphasize that he is not a racist.
Do you actually have a girlfriend now, or is your love for this Lithuanian chick you keep talking about unrequited? Either way, good luck. Or, as Murray Rothbard might have said, Mazel Tov!
One more, okay? Thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY2hm-vrpBY
I dedicate this song to the most beautiful and intelligent girl on the Planet, Aneta. Kocham Cie. Litwa #FortheWin #Lithuania #Basketballskyscrapers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib_LAygnuUs
Some Polish rap for my friends here at IPR also. Shout out to Polska and Lithuanian people, wherever in the world they may be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pu-lKgm-dg
“The place that the Prophet Muhammad started to levitate
The exact moment that Jesus rose dead awake
And Siddhartha became the Buddha that regenerates
Half a bar over but I bring it home colder than dead soldiers
Soul controller holder of knowledge so fuck Dianetics
I’m like the whole library in Kemet with Annunaki genetics”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2r8kBnGtAU
Okay, so this is a political party that could be allied with the Libertarian Party in the future. I don’t believe in the two-party system. Third parties are the future. Paleolibertarian anarcho-cultaralism is the future.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_for_the_Renewal_of_the_Republic_-_Freedom_and_Hope
Lithuania is internationally known for its beautiful and precious girls, fine beer, and phenomenal basketball players.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania
Also, everyone is welcome to also post articles/comments at American Third Party Report (A3PR). That website can also be used for various discussions, as it is a companion site to IPR.
This is the concept that deserves more discussion on. Lithuania is known internationally for its most beautiful and precious girls….as well as its fine beer and basketball players.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania
I was wearing a Mexican hat today. Essentially, Polish people are awesome people, but in terms of international relations when it comes to Polish-Lithuanian relations, the Lithuanian people have all the power.
I’m definitively a paleolibertarian anarchist as well as a cultaralist. Europe has a gigantic libertarian movement, it’s alive and well in Poland also. For example: Congress of the New Right, the free-market wing of the National Movement, the Libertarian Party of Poland and Partia KORWiN “Coalition for the Renewal of the Republic – Freedom and Hope”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_for_the_Renewal_of_the_Republic_-_Freedom_and_Hope
I would like to recreate a Free Zone Project in the Mount Prospect, Illinois area. I plan on launching a show called The Lesiak Report or Mount Prospect Radio or Mount Prospect Liberty Zone or something like that. I have a lot of plans. We need to all work together to live in a world free of statism. Statism is slavery and therefore it must end as soon as humanly possible.
Hey so since this is open thread, I want to make two things clear really quick. First of all, I am reaffirming that I”m in Love with a Lithuanian Princess, Auguste (#Polish-Aneta #English-Stephanie) Bartuke. I will build a castle in the sky for her, metaphorically speaking.
Secondly, I would love to see the Libertarian Party presidential candidates for 2016 address the concept of anarcho-nationalism, also known as national anarchism, which is a concept closely intertwined with the paleolibertarian, Ron Paulian-Lew Rocwellian etc. et al school of thought.
Krzysztof Marcin Lesiak
Kris or Chris en ingles
Cristian en espanol
>I have also seen instances where attorneys sending letters or making phone calls, or both, have gotten the police to not run petitioners out of locations.
Agreed.
The language in the comment above is what we have on laminated signs.
I think the bottom line is to properly read the situation, which is different in each instance.
Once, in the mid-1990’s, I was handing out FIJA material with another LP member in front of the Kings County Courthouse (Brooklyn). He got arrested for approaching a sequestered jury. I left the area when it was clear what would happen and went to another courthouse.
Also, I can talk like a lawyer when interacting with the cops, but I also know who has the guns and cuffs and it ain’t me. So I don’t take shit, but I am also not belligerent. Also, being in NYC, I have a million other locales readily available in which to petition, solicit, etc. Not the case in most of the rest of the country.
WARNING! You Are Hereby Advised of
the Following Federal Criminal Law:
UNITED STATES CODE, TlTLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE
Chapter 29——Elections and Political Activities
Section 595. Whoever, being a person employed in any administrative
position of the United States, or by any department or agency thereof,
or by the District of Columbia, or any agency or instrumentality
thereof, or by any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States,
or any political subdivision, municipality, or agency thereof, or agency
of such political subdivision or municipality (including any
corporation owned or controlled by any State, Territory, or Possession
of the United States or by any such political subdivision, municipality,
or agency), in connection with any activity which is financed in whole
or in part by loans or grants made by the United States, or any
department or agency thereof, uses his official authority for the
purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or election of
any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential
elector, Member of the Senate, member of the House of Representatives,
Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, shall be
fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Section 241. If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or
intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or
privilege secured to him by the Constitution or the laws of the United States,
or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of
another, with the intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of
any right or privilege so secured ——
They shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten
years, or both; and if death results, they shall be subject to imprisonment for
any term of years or for life.
§ 245. Federally protected activities
(b) Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, by force
or threat of force willfully injures, intimidates or interferes with, or
attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with– (1) …
(A) voting or qualifying to vote, qualifying or campaigning as a
candidate for elective office, or qualifying or acting as a poll watcher, or any
legally authorized election official, in any primary, special, or general
election;
And Civil Laws: 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any
State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen
of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any
rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the
party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, ….
42 U.S.C. Section 1985. Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights
(3) Depriving persons of rights or privileges
If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire or go in disguise on the
highway or on the premises of another, for the purpose of depriving, either directly
or indirectly, any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of
equal privileges and immunities under the laws; or for the purpose of preventing or
hindering the constituted authorities of any State or Territory from giving or
securing to all persons within such State or Territory the equal protection of the
laws; or if two or more persons conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat,
any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote, from giving his support or advocacy in a
legal manner, toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully qualified person as
an elector for President or Vice President, or as a Member of Congress of the United
States; or to injure any citizen in person or property on account of such support or
advocacy; in any case of conspiracy set forth in this section, if one or more persons
engaged therein do, or cause to be done, any act in furtherance of the object of such
conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his person or property, or deprived of
having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the
party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages
occasioned by such injury or deprivation, against any one or more of the
conspirators.
42 U.S.C. Section 1988
(b) Attorney’s fees In any action or proceeding to enforce a provision of sections
… 1983, 1985… of this title…the court, in its discretion, may allow the prevailing
party, other than the United States, a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs,…
42 U.S.C. Section 2000b-2. Personal suits for relief against discrimination in public
facilities Nothing in this subchapter shall affect adversely the right of any person to
sue for or obtain relief in any court against discrimination in any facility covered by this subchapter.
Good question. I’d also be curious to know if anything newsworthy (by IPR standards) transpired.
I heard the CP had their Nat Comm meeting last weekend- do they, or someone have a meeting report of what went on there?
I’ll be on The Jonathon Brandmeier Show in the 9-10am CT hour to discuss my Presidential campaign. Find a station near you http://ow.ly/MaoAh
Mark, the reason to talk to the county and city attorneys and etc….., is because these are people to whom the police will listen, as in they are the ones who can get the police to stand down.
I know this as a fact because I have done it before myself (and I am not even an attorney). I have also seen instances where attorneys sending letters or making phone calls, or both, have gotten the police to not run petitioners out of locations.
Once again, trying to get anywhere by “talking sense” into the police on the street is largely a waste of time.
Andy–
I agree with you about the street cops. The reason we urge people here to carry the laminated signs on their clipboards is because that’s who they end up interacting with. County Attorneys and Attorneys General don’t roam the streets; they send their henchmen to do so.
I always tell people to move on and not get arrested, but again that’s advice easier given than always the case (such as what happened to you).
NEW THIRD PARTY!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/04/26/1379893/-O-Malley-forms-third-party-nominates-himself
Mark, the signs about the law on the clip boards is a nice idea, but keep in mind that the majority of cops, as well as security guards, bureaucrats, etc…, will not read anything that a petitioner carries, nor will they listen to anything that a petitioner has to say. These people are mindless authority worshippers, so trying to show them what the law says, or trying to reason with them is largely a waste of time.
This is why I say the best tactic is to go above their heads. You are better off talking to a Watch Commander or a city or county attorney, or the Secretary of State or Attorney General or a US Attorney, or somebody like that. Trying to reason with most street cops is like trying to reason with a rabid dog. Every once in a while you might find one that is rational, but they are the rare exception and not the rule.
Who are the best people to talk to the “authorities” that I mentioned above, to get the police to leave petition circulators alone? Licensed attorneys, such as yourself.
Does anyone here besides Darcy Richardson and Jill Pyeatt understand that this surveillance and sabotage operation that Paul and I have talked about and are victims of is for real?
It certainly appears to be. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. I discovered long ago that there is apparently no limit to how low the state will stoop in order to thwart its enemies.
Andy doesn’t think so, but I think there’s a good chance that the person who is attacking and harassing Jill is involved with the same people that are going after us.
I’m under personal attack on Facebook. I’m sure he’ll show up here soon, as is his pattern.
One last thing:
One of the New York volunteers is is also an attorney has made laminated signs to affix to the back of petition boards which advises the police of the damages for which they will be liable under the Federal Civil Rights laws if they interfere with the free speech rights of ballot access petitioners.
I will look for it and post the text so you can carry it with you.
Won’t necessarily stop them all the time, but may work in some instances.
> don’t think that they have a leg to stand on legally, so I believe that I will beat the charges, but the problem is how much of my time and money will be wasted in the process.
Ah, but that’s all they have to do to keep thwarting us.
How much time, money, result were lost while Andy was unlawfully detained? How many people don’t have Andy’s devotion and determination and would have just said, “Fuck it; I’m outta here” and now we lost another petitioner?
All of this is separate and distinct from the immorality of both the police and the campus officials in suppressing free speech.
Andy–Thank you for persevering through all this shit. You, Paulie, Darryl and others have chosen a difficult way to make a living, replete with government thugs and stooges trying to make it even more difficult for you every day.
Just read an article on Grove City College. They used to accept tax payer funding. They stopped accepting it after some law suit regarding Title IX. I think this was back in the 1980’s.
I am not sure about Hillsdale.
I don’t doubt it based on the evidence I’ve read here and elsewhere.
Does anyone here besides Darcy Richardson and Jill Pyeatt understand that this surveillance and sabotage operation that Paul and I have talked about and are victims of is for real?
> there are only two colleges in this country that do not accept tax payer funding, and those are Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
Larry Reed (President of FEE) has connections to both. He is a Grove City graduate and was President of Hillsdale before FEE.
“I was at a state university, but keep in mind that there are only two colleges in this country that do not accept tax payer funding, and those are Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Every other private college accepts taxpayer funding to one degree or another.” – Andy
Great point, Andy. My late father taught mathematics at Grove City College in northwest Pennsylvania for a few years in the late sixties and early seventies. Hans Sennholz, a leading Austrian economist who later served as president of The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) — an organization founded right after World War II — was teaching economics at Grove City College during that period.
My dad, who retired from the Air Force, eventually left the college and became the borough manager of Grove City — a post he held until we moved to the Philadelphia area.
I was a paperboy back then, delivering the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the morning and 60-70 copies of the Sharon Herald every afternoon. Sennholz, who was on my paper route, subscribed to the Herald.
The German-born Sennholz, who was drafted during World War II and was trained as a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe, eventually became a prisoner-of-war, spending most of his captivity in the southwest United States. His mother, incidentally, was killed in an Allied bombing raid over Germany. Sennholz’s son, moreover, was one of my classmates when I was in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades.
I wish I had known at the time that the older Sennholz was a relatively famous economist. I saw him almost every day on my paper route…
Then again, I was only 13-14 when my dad taught at Grove City College.
In any case, I’m deeply troubled by what I’ve read on this thread. I realize we’re now living in an ever-expanding “surveillance state,” but the apparent monitoring and harassment experienced by you and Paulie is truly alarming.
Very, very disturbing, to say the least…
“I find it odd, however, that William Saturn was the one who pointed Dr. Grundmann and Mr. Hood in the direction of a lawsuit for the April Fool’s Day prank article ”
As I said previously, I wanted to have a discussion on the topic of libel. It resulted in this: https://thesaturnalian.wordpress.com/2015/04/14/riley-hood-threatens-to-sue-ipr/
“I find it odd how Saturn seems to have some of these obvious oddballs and fakes on his blog.”
By its nature, The Saturnalian is odd. It is an experimental blog more than anything.
“I also find it odd how Saturn has a recent article on his blog about how people should not hunt old Nazis”
That particular article (and more) can be read at Saturn’s Repository https://saturnsrepository.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/nazi-hunting-is-not-a-noble-pursuit/
“This article sounded very “Vernon” like.”
How so? It did not make ad hominem attacks on others. It did not use crude, profane language to express opinions. And it was not racist or anti-Semitic. What makes it “Vernon like”?
“NewFederalist
April 25, 2015 at 9:09 pm
As tasteless and outright revolting as many of the comments against paulie are over at The Saturnalian, I have to agree with William Saturn that they probably are just intended to be sensational.”
I would take the death threats as being serious. Why? Because whoever this person, or group of people are, they are obviously taking a lot of time to follow what Paul and I and a few other Libertarians are doing. They know what cities and motels we are in, and even which room numbers we are in at motels, even when neither of us have told anybody what room number we are in (and note that we are currently not splitting rooms with each other, or anyone else). I spoke to the front desk people at each motel where this mysterious person or group of people knew what room we were in and the front desk staff at each motel assured me that they do not share guest information with anyone except for law enforcement. This is just more evidence that whoever is doing this is either doing it as a part of the government, or they are some kind of government contractor.
It is a known fact that several US government agencies hire people to troll online, and it is a known fact that there are other governments around the world (such as the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Israel, China, etc…) that do the same thing.
It is also a known fact that the US government (as well as other governments) spy on, infiltrate, and sabotage political groups that the government sees as a threat, which is basically any group that is not lock step with the mainstream Democrats and mainstream Republicans.
I think that Paul and I and a few others are being targeted because we are effective. We are effective not only at ballot access, but we are also effective at disseminating a pro-liberty message to the public, both in person and online. The government control freak parasites just can’t handle that, so this is why they have been trying to sabotage and harass us for the last several years.
I think that I’ve got them particularly pissed off because I’ve openly speculated about the strong possibility of plants in the Libertarian Party. It is a known fact that there were plants in the Libertarian Party back in the 1970’s and 1980’s (it came out in FOIA requests, but the names were redacted so it was never proven who exactly they were/I’d love to see further investigation into this), and if there were government plants in the party in the 1970’s and 1980’s I’d bet there are government plants walking among us in the party today (some of them could even be long time government operatives who have been in the party since the 1970’s or 1980’s). I’d bet that the plants get REALLY NERVOUS when I talk about stuff like this.
You see, I am not one to sit back and accept a big government police state. I am a revolutionary. I am a freedom fighter. If I was around in the 1700’s I’d have been one of the guys that was shooting at the guys in the Red Coats. We are in a struggle for individual liberty, and I am in it to win it.
If you are on board with the big government welfare/warfare/police state, then we have nothing in common, at least nothing of any substance. If you think that the mainstream Democrats or mainstream Republicans are doing a good job, then there is something wrong with you from my perspective. You are either really ignorant, really stupid, or you are evil, or perhaps you are some combination of the three.
If you think that it is a really cool thing to sit on a computer somewhere and spy on and attempt to sabotage liberty activists, well then you are no better than a Red Coat or a Nazi or a communist. You are also a pathetic coward.
“I find it odd, however, that William Saturn was the one who pointed Dr. Grundmann and Mr. Hood in the direction of a lawsuit for the April Fool’s Day prank article about their wedding and yet is unconcerned for his own exposure if something does happen to paulie. I can only conclude that he has few assets.”
I find it odd how Saturn seems to have some of these obvious oddballs and fakes on his blog, and how he actually posts articles about them (as if anyone takes them seriously). I also find it odd how Saturn has a recent article on his blog about how people should not hunt old Nazis because whatever they did was a long time ago, and how most of them were just guards and did not know everything that was going on. I think that the passage of time should be irrelevant, as the more relevant fact is whether or not they are guilty. If they are guilty, then I don’t care if they are 100 years old, they still deserve to be punished. This article sounded very “Vernon” like.
If anyone does anything to me, it won’t be because they threatened to do it on some blog. The spoofing of real IPs and phone numbers (to make it seem like comments and phone calls came from them when they didn’t) does indicate that they have some hacking abilities, and they seem to have a lot of information that lends credence to the claim that they have hacked and tapped our phones and emails. I’ve received a lot of threats over the years from a variety of sources, some potentially more serious than others, and this may or may not be connected to one of them, but so far they haven’t actually done anything except talk shit, spread rumors and distortions/embellishments of facts far and wide, and petty harassment such as phone calls in the middle of the night.
As tasteless and outright revolting as many of the comments against paulie are over at The Saturnalian, I have to agree with William Saturn that they probably are just intended to be sensational. I find it odd, however, that William Saturn was the one who pointed Dr. Grundmann and Mr. Hood in the direction of a lawsuit for the April Fool’s Day prank article about their wedding and yet is unconcerned for his own exposure if something does happen to paulie. I can only conclude that he has few assets.
“The Young Americans for Liberty one this case…”
Should read, “The Young Americans for Liberty won this case…”
Automattic is the host for WordPress.
One of the individuals I think might be responsible is currently acting up on Facebook, too.
Who or what is Automattic?
I comply with the User Guidelines of WordPress:
“We don’t tolerate direct and realistic threats of violence.”
Based on the information available to me at this time, I do not believe the threats are realistic. If anyone believes otherwise they can e-mail me privately and explain why. I will remove the posts if I am convinced the threats are realistic, or if Automattic asks me to remove the posts.
I have been receiving lots of weird phone calls over the past week or two, some from phone numbers I do not recognize, and others from blocked numbers. The calls have been from around 1 AM and 6 AM. I generally sleep through them, or I turn the volume down or turn off the phone.
Yeah… I read all the death threats and outrageous comments that would make Himmler blush over at “another blog”. I don’t know why such comments are permitted. I believe in free speech as much as the next guy but death threats? C’mon!
I didn’t even know about it yet, I learned it from “Randy.” And yes he is using anonymizers, and/or spoofing IPs. He brags about it on another blog, and claims that he “is the law” and threatens to torture and kill me. Also he seems to know about a bunch of harassing calls that Andy and I got, and “where (I) am hiding,” and calls that were made to look like they came from Andy at times that he was actually asleep. He says he or “we” are tapping and hacking our (mine and Andy’s phones and emails.
I noticed that Randy had posted that way before anyone should have known what happened. Way creepy.
Oh, one more thing that I think should be of interest here. Out of the other inmates I spoke to while I was in jail in Jonesboro, I spoke to six of them, and not one of them was in jail for something that would be a crime in libertarian society.
I suspect that most of the people there were in there for things that would not be crimes in a libertarian society, but I did not talk to everyone there, and I’d assume that at least some of them were in there for legitimate crimes.
“to see my idea, and I did give provide it to them,”
Should read, “to see my ID, and I did provide it to them….”
These are yet more examples of why I believe it is so vital for the Libertarian Party and other groups who do petition drives to contact the “authorities” at the state, county, and city level before petition drives are started to clarify that we have a right to do this, and to clarify where it is legal to do this. It really ought to be legal anywhere the public has access, and there are court rulings to back this up, but the explanation behind this is too long for me to get into right now. It ought to at least be clearly established that this is a legal activity at any state or community college, DMV (or whatever name it goes under in each state), library, city sidewalk, public festival, public transit stop, or any government building open to the public.
I have tried to get people in the Libertarian Party to work on this, but nobody seems to do anything, even those who have acted like they agree with me. I actually contacted an attorney on my own to do this for Arkansas this time, but unfortunately they have been moving at a snail’s pace so they have not even finished drafting a letter to send to government “authorities”. Given the rate that they are moving the petition drive will likely be over before they are ready to send the letter.
Oh well, maybe this can be done for another state.
I cannot overstate the importance of this issue. One of the biggest reasons that ballot access drives fail is for being shut out of locations with high foot traffic to obtain enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot (and note that not all high traffic locations are good, as some people are too busy to stop, or few people are registered or qualified to vote in the state or jurisdiction where you are trying to get on the ballot, or some places may be busy, but it could be the wrong crowd of people for whatever it is that you are doing, etc…).
I can tell everyone here for a fact that there have been many Libertarian Party candidates who have not qualified for the ballot because petition circulators were prevented from gathering signatures at certain locations.
One would think that this would be a problem that Libertarians would try to solve, but so far I’ve been unable to get anyone to do anything about it (and writing a letter for petitioners to hand to the police is basically worthless, since the police will generally not read those letters/you have to go above the heads of the cops on the street).
Note that in the situation I described above at ASU in Jonesboro, the officer asked to see my idea, and I did give provide it to them, even though I do not believe that I was legally obligated to give it to them.
Libertarian candidate for Minnesota governor arrested at Lake Calhoun, citation dropped
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku72jd_xrVk
Minneapolis PD officer arrests Libertarian MnGov campaign for ballot signature collection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnz3TQ8SfIk
Here’s a great video about the Young Americans for Liberty suing the University of Cincinnati in Ohio over not allowing them to hand out flyers or gather signatures on a referendum petition outside of a “Free Speech Zone.” The Young Americans for Liberty one this case and the “Free Speech Zone” restriction on this campus has been struck down.
Don’t Cage My Speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FU6ePK9KCk
“Randy
April 23, 2015 at 6:54 pm”
I don’t know if anyone here besides Paul is aware of this or not, but “Randy” is an obvious government troll posting under a fake name, and I’d bet with an IP anonymizer as well.
I was in Jonesboro by myself, and during the time that this was posted, nobody knew that I had been falsely arrested.
This is a part of a surveillance and sabotage operation directed against the Libertarian Party and movement.
FYI, I have been working on petition drives for close to 15 years, and although I have been threatened by the police and others many times, this is only the second time I’ve been arrested (the other time was also documented here on IPR was in Maryland back in 2010, and the charges in that false arrest for petitioning in front of a public library were thrown out).
I have worked on petition drives in 33 states, and I’ve had my rights violated by the police (specifically, as in I am not counting others who have violated my rights who were not police) in the following states (during the course of petition and/or voter registration drives): Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, Arizona, California, and Washington. Not counting the police, I’ve had my rights violated while in the course of a petition or voter registration drive by somebody in most of the other states.
I have had a few incidents where the police actually upheld my rights, but generally speaking, when the police get involved, the end result is usually a rights violation against the person who is collecting petition signatures and/or voter registrations.
I have petitioned in Arkansas on 5 occasions, and I have gathered petition signatures at colleges during every one of these occasions. Several of these times I had no hassles at all, other times I’ve been hassled, but it was worked out by talking to somebody in the administration, or by having somebody from the ACLU talk to somebody in the administration (fortunately, the ACLU of Arkansas has been pretty helpful in protecting free speech on college campuses).
I have gathered petition signatures and/or voter registrations at 83 colleges in 28 states. Some of the colleges never hassled me, some of them hassled me but it was worked out, and some of them hassled me but then stuck me in a “Free Speech Zone” (note that “Free Speech Zones” on college campuses have been ruled unconstitutional in multiple court decisions). Other colleges were like a police state lock down and it never got resolved (at least not to my knowledge).
Myself and two other petitioners gathered signatures at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in 2011, and we were all over the campus and never got hassled. We were there for 3 or 4 days, but one of the petitioners only gathered signatures there one day, so the other days it was just two of us. Between the three or us, we gathered approximately 1,000 signatures there. I went back to Arkansas State University in Jonesboro in 2013 by myself, and I was doing well there until I got hassled by a campus cop in a large courtyard near the student center. The campus cop said that I had to talk to an administrator. The administrator said that I could petition there, but that I had to go to a “Free Speech Zone.” I tried gathering signatures in the “Free Speech Zone” and it was a slower location, and to make things even more difficult, it was near a construction site, so I had to shout over the noise from the construction. I reported this to the ACLU of Arkansas, who during that same year (2013), had gotten Pulaski Technical College in North Little Rock, and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, to back down on their anti-free speech policies so that people could gather petition signatures there. The ACLU of Arkansas contacted Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and informed them of the fact that gathering petition signatures at a state university is a legal activity, and that it was illegal for them to limit this activity to “Free Speech Zones.” The officials at Arkansas State University continued to insist that anyone wishing to engage in free speech activities had to stand in “Free Speech Zone” and then they stopped responding. I ended up leaving Jonesboro after having several days of my time wasted.
During the course of this current petition drive in Arkansas, I have gathered signatures at 6 colleges (prior to ASU in Jonesboro). 3 of them never gave me any hassles. The other 3 did give me some hassle, but 2 of them were quickly resolved. One of them (one that I’ve petitioned at 5 times, every time I’ve petitioned in Arkansas, and one that never hassled me prior to this), told me that I had to stand in a “Free Speech Zone.” I told them that there have been multiple court cases where “Free Speech Zones” on college campuses have been ruled unconstitutional, and that as long as I was not blocking a door I was within my legal rights, and then I wrote down some of the court cases on a sheet of paper and handed it to them and told them that they should have their attorneys look them up. Then I continued petitioning outside of the “Free Speech Zone” and nobody said anything else to me after that. I am not sure if the situation was resolved or not though, because I ended up moving on to other locations not long after this because a lot of people at this college had already signed, so I moved on to fresher locations.
I looked at the college schedules and noticed that regular classes are going to end soon. After regular classes end there is an exam week, but exam weeks are not as good for gathering signatures. So I figured that I’d hit as many of the campuses as I could before regular classes ended. So I left the Little Rock area on Wednesday (note that I stopped in Beebe and got signatures at Arkansas State University Beebe on my way to Jonesboro/I was not hassled at all in Beebe) and drove to Jonesboro (it is a two hour plus drive). Also, keep in mind that I had been paying for a weekly rate at a motel in the Little Rock area, but I had to switch to paying a daily rate which is more expensive per day than the weekly rate is per day if I wanted to hit any of the colleges that were too far to commute to from the Little Rock area. The extra gas money and motel money came out of my own pocket, since this campaign is not covering expenses (some campaigns do, and some do not).
So I figured that I’d hit ASU Jonesboro all day Thursday and then most of the day Friday, and then head back to Little Rock to work Saturday and Sunday, and then Sunday evening I’d drive out to western Arkansas to hit colleges out there for the last week of regular classes before finals. I thought that I might run into some problems at ASU Jonesboro, but I knew that there had been several court rulings since I was there in 2013 which struck down “Free Speech Zones” at colleges, plus I had spoken to somebody from the ACLU of Arkansas who said that I could call them if I had any problems at any colleges. I thought that the worst thing that would happen is that they’d tell me that I had to stand in a “Free Speech Zone” again, so I thought that it would either be resolved quickly or I’d bail out of there quickly.
I arrived at the campus on Thursday and I started walking around and I did check out the “Free Speech Zone” from when I’d been there in 2013, and much to my surprise, there was still construction going on near this location, so I’d still have to shout louder than normal to be able to talk to people, but even if the construction had not been going on, it is still not that good of a location, and it would cut me off from talking to most of the people on the campus.
So I continued walking around. I went to the large courtyard where I’d been hassled in 2013, where the administration had sworn to me that they absolutely do not allow any free speech activities, and I saw that there were two booths set up that had people behind them booths who were,,,,,,,GASP…….talking to people who were passing by. OH, THE HORROR! So I thought that perhaps they had gotten the word that “Free Speech Zones” on college campuses were illegal, so I walked to the other side of the student center, and started asking for signature there, and then I walked down this side walk that lead to an area where there is a big parking garage and a continuation of the student center on the other side of the sidewalk from the parking garage. I walked up and down this sidewalk collecting signatures. One end of the sidewalk had a Post Office and on the other side of that sidewalk was the parking garage, but then that parking garage ended and there was a parking lot. I hung around in that area for a while and was doing well collecting signatures. I also handed out a few voter registration forms to people who said they were not registered (I did not take the forms from them or have them sign the petitions since I have been told that the election office in Arkansas will not count those signatures as valid/note that some states will count those as valid). I also handed out a few LP pamphlets or fliers to people who expressed interest in the party, and I got contact information from one student who identified themselves as a small “l” libertarian who said that they wanted to be on the Libertarian Party’s announcement list.
Things were going well until I was accosted by a campus cop. I tried to explain what I was doing but the cop did not want to hear it. I suggested that the cop make some phone calls to verify what I was saying but they refused. The cop would not allow me to talk to anyone, and they said that they were writing me out a trespass citation and that I had to leave the campus, so they did not even offer me a “Free Speech Zone” this time. I told them that what they were doing was illegal, and then I called an attorney that I know and got them on speaker phone. I believe that the attorney did record the conversation, but I have not been able to get a hold of them so far (calls went to voice mail/I may not hear back from them until Monday or Tuesday). The cop wrote out the trespass citation and they said that if I returned to the campus I’d be arrested. I said that I’d leave, but that I was going to consult with an attorney, and that if the attorney said that I could go back, that I would return to the campus at a later day. After this the police grabbed me without warning and then tried to rip my phone out of my hand (I still had an attorney on speaker phone). The cops twisted my arms behind my back in painful manner, and then then put handcuffs on me, and they put them on very tight. I ended up dropped the phone on the hood of the cop car, and I was still talking to the attorney as they had the handcuffs on me, that is until the police hung up the phone. Then they put me in the back of the cop car and I was driven to the county jail, several miles away. I ended up being locked in the county jail for several hours and I only got out that day because I happened to have enough money in my wallet to bail myself out.
Oh, they also wanted me to tell them what car I was driving so they could impound it, but fortunately I parked on a side street off of the campus.
I was charged with 3 or 4 so called “offenses,” all of which were false. I don’t have the papers in front of me, but I was charged with trespassing, loitering, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. Two or three of the charges have already been dropped (I think that they are beginning to realize that they do not have a legitimate case against me).
They had some papers that they wanted me to sign off on that said that I was “soliciting” on campus, and I told them that I was petitioning and handing out voter registration forms, both of which are legally protected activities and are not the same thing as soliciting. I refused to sign the papers unless they let me write a note on the paper that I was gathering signatures on a state mandated ballot access petition necessary to place candidates on the ballot and handing out voter registration forms. They finally allowed me to write that on the paper and then I signed it.
When I was illegally arrested in Maryland for petitioning in front of a public library I was released on my own recognizance, as in I did not have to put out any money for bail. Well, this jail in Arkansas wanted me to pay out money for bail. They were originally going to charge me $600, but then they dropped it to $475 after some of the charges were dropped.
I was released from jail sometime at night and then I had a very long walk of several miles to get back to where my car was. I then drove to a motel, went to sleep, got up later than I would have the next day had I not been illegally arrested, and drove out of Jonesboro back to the Little Rock area. It was raining when I got back to Little Rock, so I did not collect any signatures that day. So because of having my rights violated by the ASU police in Jonesboro, I did not make enough money in signatures to justify the time wasted, and money spent on gas and motels (at the more expensive daily rate) during this time period.
I also have to waste my time (and money) on Monday driving back to Jonesboro to go to a court appearance.
I don’t think that they have a leg to stand on legally, so I believe that I will beat the charges, but the problem is how much of my time and money will be wasted in the process.
I would love to sue them for a civil rights violation, but nobody gave me any help in Maryland (except of course for the ACLU who assisted in getting the charges thrown out, but nobody helped me after that), so I don’t know what I’ll be able to do in this regard here.
It seems to me that the Libertarian Party, as well as other groups who are frequently involved in ballot access drives, basically just throw petition circulators to the wolves.
So goes the state of free speech in the supposed, “Land of the free, and home of the brave.”
Alex Jones vs. The Mainstream Media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc4V0thnpqE
Are you somewhere where your phone is not working?
Yes. They said that I could not gather signatures anywhere on the campus, and I was arrested even though I had already agreed to leave, although I said that I might come back after consulting with an attorney.
As I understand it they were not even claiming that you had to go to the Free Speech Zone this time, just that you had to leave a public university completely, and arrested you even though you said OK because you called your attorneys before leaving, even though you were no longer petitioning at that point and said you would leave.
Mark, there have been multiple court rulings where “Free Speech Zones” on college campuses have been ruled as being unconstitutional.
I was at a state university, but keep in mind that there are only two colleges in this country that do not accept tax payer funding, and those are Hillsdale College in Michigan and Grove City College in Pennsylvania. Every other private college accepts taxpayer funding to one degree or another
Arkansas State University, a public university in Jonesboro, AR.
What campus?
In New York, I believe the test is whether it is public or private land. Columbia can prohibit petitioning, but SUNY cannot.
However, the “public” schools may designate spaces. Sorta like free-speech zones.
We even have rules here in NYC about the public subways and trains. Petitioning is allowed on the platforms, but not in the trains themselves.
A rule for everything.
How fucking absurd.
I hope Andy’s brush with the law is short and successful for him.
Andy was released, he told me the disorderly conduct and some other charge were dropped, and only a resisting arrest charge is still pending. He has a court hearing on Monday. He was ordered off campus for petitioning, which is illegal. He said he would leave but would call his attorneys to get their advice and would return if it got cleared up, at which point he was arrested.
http://www.craigheadso.org/roster_custom.php
Jacobs, Andrew Stephen
W / M / 42 years
West Fargo, ND
Arrested: 4/23/2015 2:17:00 PM
Charges
DISORDERLY CONDUCT
If Libertarians pick the Taco Bell symbol as their new party logo, and Taco Bell sues, would Taco Bell have a good legal and or moral case?
Rand Paul Educates Hannity About Marijuana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqjWTJT6GCk
Langa–
Very moving article on a terrific website for which I have a personal reason for warm feelings. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Gary Johnson and anyone else who believes in his “humanitarian war” bullshit should read this:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/04/joshua-holmes/i-made-a-very-bad-mistake/
In fact, they should read it every single fucking day, if that’s what it takes, until it finally sinks in.
Yes, but with what party?
http://www.nme.com/news/waka-flocka-flame/84764
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/waka-flocka-flame-for-president-watch-his-exclusive-campaign-video-20150420
Two years ago, Waka Flocka Flame made a promise. “I’m dead ass running for president in 2016,” the Atlanta rapper tweeted. The date was November 6th, 2012.
As president, Waka would immediately legalize marijuana. (Happy 4/20!) He would also ban dogs in restaurants and impose harsh restrictions on the big-footed. He also discusses innovative new policy proposals on education, jobs, Congressional reform and more.
Move over, Hillary Clinton. Marco Rubio, take a seat. Rand Paul? C’mon, son.
This race just got interesting.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/waka-flocka-flame-for-president-watch-his-exclusive-campaign-video-20150420#ixzz3XyQAGs2v
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Hey, for all you singles , I found this on Chuck Baldwin’s site as an advertisement:
https://libertylovers.com/default.aspx
It’s a dating site for liberty lovers!
Tracking Police Killings
A path for Third Parties to exploit.
http://www.takepart DOT com/article/2015/04/16/mapping-police-violence-fills-database-blanks-left-government
Those who oppose allowing (individual) arms ownership don’t know themselves what they want. Soviet power has trained them to be an obedient flock of sheep, whose problems are decided by their shepherds (government) and sheepdogs (police) because under that system there is no consideration for the possibility of individual *opinion *property *decisionmaking
“By disarming the people, government thus insults it (the people) with distrust, and this speaks of the cowardice and paranoia of the rulers” Macchiavelli
Paulie–
Please translate photo above. I don’t think she’s asking for a date.
The US Department of Justice has banned Adam Kokesh’s book, “Freedom!” from being distributed in prisons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtgqsBizotE
HEAD of the FBI’s Anthrax Investigation Says the Whole Thing Was a SHAM
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/04/head-fbis-anthrax-investigation-calls-b-s.html
Chris Cantwell Interviews Richard Gage of AE911Truth.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDNxiLgOd_U
Possibly of interest to libertarians, and others: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/welcome-to-liberland-europes-tiny-new-country-where-taxes-are-optional-and-youre-allowed-to-move-in-as-long-as-youre-not-a-nazi-10185477.html
Green w/o–
Thanks for posting the donor list. Fascinating that almost all of Bernie’s donors are unions while Clinton’s are banksters and big law firms. With the Clintons, it is always about the money. (Well, Bill wants to get laid too, but Hillary is all business.)
Here’s a cool article about some people I know from the liberty community.
http://www.coinbuzz.com/2015/04/15/family-puts-bitcoin-test-touring-us-bitcoin-spend/?utm_content=buffera54e3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ top donors compared
http://i.imgur.com/GCOVi0J.png
Not exactly 3rd party news, but gives us some insight into what we are up against.
Redlich bros have made themselves the only page admins, which means I can’t manage page roles such as making an author into an editor so they can help with cleaning the spam filter or even see who is at what level. Frustrating, but nothing I can do about it. It’s a problem I could have fixed in 2008-13 when I was an admin here, but not anymore.
I don’t think all the writers here are able to release comments on every post like you and I can, Paulie. I know that Jed said he could only release comments on articles he posted. I’ve been spending less time on IPR lately, so between Paulie working and my fledgling new business, I think some comments are pended for a few hours sometimes. Maybe we can ask Warren or Steve to loosen that requirement. I don’t know how the permissions thing works.
You have to use the same name and email that you used before, or else someone has to catch it and approve it like I just did.
There may have also been a glitch in the automated spam filter. We get about a hundred spam comments an hour, sometimes more, so we don’t always catch it. You are not personally banned as far as I know. If you are FFF/CCC/NN/CLC then you are banned, but I’ve not seen proof of that. Most likely just an error.
We’re generally a free speech zone, with a few exceptions. For example, the whole “hobo/functional” theme about candidates, which has been abused so we no longer welcome it in general purpose threads.
I don’t really want to start up the argument about what is allowed and what is not on this thread again.
You can use https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2011/02/debate-on-debate-parameters-plus-should-paulie-stay/ to argue about site policies or https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2013/06/functional-fillmore-frugal-our-movement-starts-now-part-one/ to explore or make comments about the “hobo/functional candidate” issue.
The old spam comments have been cleared, so if you posted anything that got caught by the spam filter it accidentally got erased. Sorry about that.
Guess What,
You are welcome to comment at The Saturnalian.
Could someone let me know why none of my comments have been posting lately? Is it a computer glitch, or has my regular IP been banned? If the latter, could someone let me know why? Is there a secret rule I broke or something? I thought this was a free-speech type site. If it’s not, that’s fine; whatever, but it would be nice if the rules were at least posted somewhere.
I forgot that the email doesn’t show up… I am “Amy Lunde-Provines” on Facebook, and for Convention-related items, [email protected] works well. 😀 (Yes, Paulie, the email on the form here that does not show also works…)
Fake Skeptics & The “Conspiracy Theorist” Slur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BJA1R8YIHk
Some (funny and surprisingly catchy) satire from Trevor Moore….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exnaY0l4XsM
Amy, you should probably provide contact info then. I do have some contact info for you (FB and your email if you entered you real one in the form here) but it’s not publicly visible from your comment.
I’ve recently learned that two of the folks vying for the LP nomination for President will be joining us at the LP Colorado Convention ( http://www.lpcolorado.org/convention ) in just under two weeks — Steve Kerbel (who I met yesterday) and Cecil Anthony Ince. If any of the others happen to be coming as well, please contact me to let me know… 🙂
I moved there when I was 19, by which time my speech patterns where pretty set.
Yeah, but you don’t sound much like an Alabaman. (Or is it Alabamian?)
If they came over as adults they would probably be better than me. I was a kid, and my Russian grammar remains poor. I can read just fine, but make mistakes when I speak, insert English words here and there, and as for spelling correctly, forget it. I’m conversationally fluent, but obviously with a foreign (American) accent.
We have two native Russians in Los Angeles County who might be interested. One is Leon Weinstein and the other is Alexandra Goldburt.
Sheehan articles are fair game for IPR since she has run as independent and alt party.
Matt, I’ll work on finding you more translators. Personally I have an easier time translating from Russian to English than the other way around, but I can look at a Russian translation if we come up with one and check it for accuracy.
I found this rant from Cindy Sheehan, and thought it was amusing. Perhaps it’s fair to point this one out about a probable Democratic candidate, when we’ve been ragging a bit on the Republican candidate Rand Paul this week:
http://cindysheehanssoapbox.com/1/post/2015/04/hillary-hw-obama-2016.html?hc_location=ufi
“Matt Cholko
April 10, 2015 at 6:51 pm
VOLUNTEER TRANSLATORS NEEDED”
This is a good idea. Perhaps LP materials could be printed up in more languages besides Spanish at some point.
>As some of you may know, I’ve been working on translating some LP brochures, and the platform, into Spanish.
Bravo Matt!!!
But what if he stood up?
And then took a stand…
Sorry, I forgot it’s no longer April 1. 🙂
Seriously, MPP is probably the best source for info on which Governors have supported marijuana legalization, but my understanding is that Shumlin is pretty much a pioneer in that area.
The ironic thing is that he came to his position like Jim Gray: on practical terms. I heard him tell a room full of legalization-supporters that his state can no longer afford to incarcerate people for non-violent crimes like selling pot, and he thinks it would be a lot better for his taxpayers if they did not have to spend any more money doing that.
Sitting then, not now. Sorry that wasn’t clear.
>So a decade and a half later Gary is still the only the Republican sitting gov to take that position, and even today would be leading edge even for a Democrat on this issue.
Paulie–Gary’s not a sitting Governor. I have no idea what the positions of former Governors are (other than his).
Warren–If Johnson runs again (likely), you will pleased to know that Stone won’t be involved.
VOLUNTEER TRANSLATORS NEEDED
As some of you may know, I’ve been working on translating some LP brochures, and the platform, into Spanish. I’ve had the help of a professional English/Spanish translator for these projects. Now, I’d like to work on some other languages. I’ll need help with the translation though. So, if anyone that reads this knows of someone that is qualified to translate from English to any other major language, and may be willing to do so on a volunteer basis, please connect me with them. I can be reached by e-mail at mattcholko at hotmail dot com.
In the meantime, please check out the updated translation of the LP platform at http://www.lpstuff.com/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=165 and pick up some copies of the What is the LP brochure, available from LPUS. Hopefully, we’ll have a Spanish version of the “Political Puzzle” brochure available soon.
Thanks!
So a decade and a half later Gary is still the only the Republican sitting gov to take that position, and even today would be leading edge even for a Democrat on this issue.
The “attacks” on Rand Paul are just belated and insufficient defense against his attacks on us. We should do it a lot more, because he will, whether we do or not.
That’s still ridiculous.
Gary is a pretty good candidate and ran a pretty good campaign. Best results numerically and a close second in percentage for LP presidential candidates, all on a budget of a typical post-Koch era LP prez campaign. More than average news coverage of a LP prez nominee. Endorsed and campaigned with local LP candidates. Stayed involved with the LP afterwards. Had plenty of materials made and shipped to supporters around the country. Plenty of candidate travel and events. Plenty of emphasis on issues where libertarians tend more to agree with the left. Pretty good record in office in many respects even when he was a Republican, unlike some of our other crossovers. Compelling personal story as a self-made businessman and athlete/adventurer. Played a key role in reviving our then dying state party and several others. More ACLU torches than any other candidate they bothered to notice.
Rand Paul, on the other hand? Actively working to suppress the LP and alt parties and independents that are perceived (rightly or wrongly) to hurt Republican vote totals. Flip flopped or leaning right on many major issues. Riding the support his father built while showing very little reason why he himself deserves any of it. Campaign manager best known for taking dirty tricks to keep the LP off the ballot (Illinois, 2014) to a whole new level of dirty. Made commercials and robocalls to suppress anti-establishment vote. Buddies up to establishment turd McConnell. Attacks independent journalists for daring to ask him questions he doesn’t like, tries to destroy their careers, intimidate them, maybe lock them up. Endorsed Romney while his dad was still running. Typical “preacher’s kid.” Will do or say anything to get elected, and then be beholden to the people who get him there. Snake in the grass. Establishment tool abusing his family legacy to destroy anti-establishment opposition. On a mission to kill the LP. Wants war with Iran and Syria and drones to kill petty criminal suspects on sight. A real louse.
“every criticism you make of [Paul] is equally or more applicable to Gary Johnson. ” I agree.
We could use a good candidate who ran a good campaign.
I agree with Warren. The attacks on Rand and Ron Paul are not constructive at all.
As far as I know, the only sitting Governor to actually come out for full marijuana legalization is Peter Shumlin (VT). Others like Cuomo have more recently advocated lukewarm decrimilization (it’s okay to possess pot, but not to smoke in public and it’s still a felony to sell it).
As more and more state legislatures follow Colorado’s lead, former anti-drug Governors will pander and pretend they never opposed legalization.
The canard that Rand Paul is a secret libertarian has gotten really old, too. He’s not, never was and never will be. I’d be more likely to believe that Hillary Clinton is a secret libertarian than that Rand Paul is.
Rand Paul is the actual establishment NSGOP plant.
Warren, that’s just silly.
Gary is not for humanitarian wars, he only said he would not rule them out under all circumstances. Rand Paul is way, way more pro-war. And to even speak out for legalizing marijuana as a sitting Republican governor ~15 years ago was a huge step.
Warren, there are those of us that dislike both Rand and Johnson.
Meanwhile, Rand is doing a fine job of undercutting his father, all by himself, without any help.
It would be nice if all the whining about Rand Paul recognized that every criticism you make of him is equally or more applicable to Gary Johnson. GJ believes in humanitarian wars for example:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/yes-gary-johnson-endorsed-humanitarian-war_522029.html
GJ dramatically increased spending as Governor of NM. What did he actually do to legalize drugs, other than talk, while he had power? Nothing.
Contrast him on the drug issue with Rand, who has actually proposed legislation while in office, both on hemp and marijuana.
Libertarians refuse to consider that Rand might be a libertarian who is just be saying what he needs to say on some issues to get the GOP nomination. At the same time you ignore that GJ is telling you what you want to hear in order to get the LP nomination.
GJ is a GOP establishment plant whose role is to undercut the Pauls. Wake up.
LOL, basically, yeah.
And as far as I know this is a real product, not a parody:
What the Rand Paul apologists sound like:
“Rand Paul isn’t as bad as Romney, because he only endorsed Romney in 2012; he wasn’t Romney! Rand Paul is going to end the drug war by not arresting medical marijuana patients and allowing hemp production to be legal – but those other drugs are bad, and those people deserve to be in prison. Rand Paul is going to end the wars around the world by only using the military for humanitarian wars in places like Ukraine & Syria (and any other place he feels like bombing in the name of humanity). Rand Paul is going to bring about freedom by being a sheep in wolf’s clothing in sheep’s clothing; because you’ve gotta play the game if you want to get beat in the Republican primaries by a lesser amount that his father lost! Rand Paul is the least smelly turd there is… we’ve got to vote for the least smelly turd, because otherwise a really smelly turd will win!”
http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/new-spanish-brochure-plus-price-cuts
Yes I did see it. Thank you paulie.
In case you don’t see it on the other thread:
Looks good. I like that theme better than what IPR has been using lately, and nice job on the header graphics.
There’s been a change at ATPR . . . Look familiar?
I think the Koch combined ticket for the Green Party had the best start but then unfortunately just went silly. If they had continued on with announcing a fictional pac and dealt with ballot access issues such as promising significant bonuses payments to IPR resident petitioners for getting on all 50 ballots and kept the humor dry. It might also have announced support from PETA and Green Peace. I did like their efforts to bring environmentally friendly jobs to Oregon such as the whale oil processing plant.
Fun evening reading IPR. At least I did not fall for any of them like last year!
Many good articles, especially ND Knot and this one on no more comments. I also had quite a few chuckles over the Koch/Koch article.
Thanks Jed, Paulie, Jill, et alia.
I would bet heavily against it. There’s a reason the announcements were on April 1st.
4/1 was an inside job!
Did anyone find out if Jim Duensing is serious?
I may g thru them later but in the meantime, see older April Fools posts at
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2014/04/01/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2013/04/01/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2012/04/01/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2011/04/01/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2010/04/01/
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/01/
The 2015 listing for everyone’s easy reference:
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/jim-duensing-is-ready-for-hillary-clinton-in-2016/ Jim Duensing is ready for Hillary Clinton in 2016 (Duensing, reposted by Paulie)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/libertarian-party-adopts-new-logo/ Libertarian Party Adopts New Logo (Jed Ziggler)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/congratulations-to-don-grundmann-and-riley-j-hood-on-their-recent-nuptials/ Congratulations to Don Grundmann and Riley J. Hood on their Recent Nuptials (Jed Ziggler)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/libertarian-presidential-nomination-2016-wiener-is-rising-to-the-occasion-again/ Libertarian (Vice) Presidential nomination 2016: Wiener is rising to the occasion again? (Paulie; update on a previous year’s April Fools story posted by Aaron Starr)
Sort of April Foolsy, kind of, but maybe not really: https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/meet-no-party-presidential-candidate-tami-stainfield/ Meet ?No Party? Presidential Candidate Tami Stainfield (Jed Ziggler)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/winner-party-keeps-on-winning/ Winner Party keeps on winning (Paulie; update on a previous year’s April Fools story posted by Wes Benedict)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/ipr-regular-vernon-buys-independent-political-report/ IPR Regular Vernon Buys Independent Political Report (Jill Pyeatt)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/kochkoch-2016-seeks-green-party-nomination/ Koch/Koch 2016 seeks Green Party nomination (Andy Craig)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/chuck-schumer-becomes-first-libertarian-us-senator/ Chuck Schumer becomes first Libertarian US Senator (Andy Craig)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/elon-musk-seeks-constitution-party-nomination-names-dan-savage-for-vp/ Elon Musk seeks Constitution Party nomination, names Dan Savage for VP (Andy Craig)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/dan-wiener-emergency-email-ballot-to-move-lp-hq/ Dan Wiener: Emergency email ballot to move LP HQ (Dan Wiener to LNC and State Chairs, reposted to IPR by Paulie)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/jesse-ventura-will-not-run-for-president-not-now-and-not-ever/ Jesse Ventura will not run for President: ?Not now and not ever? (Paulie) OK, so I did not have a source. But I still think it will turn out to be true.
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/oregon-lp-battle-it-aint-over-until-its-over/ Oregon LP battle: It ain?t over until it?s over (Paulie; update on a previous year’s April Fools story which I also wrote)
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/plan-ss-from-outer-space-candidate-robert-milnes-leads-revolutionary-resistance-against-jews-zionists/ PLAN-SS From Outer Space candidate Robert Milnes leads revolutionary resistance against Jews, Zionists (Paulie, mostly based on an older article by William Saturn) … most of this one is actually true, but I invented a few details in the last couple of paragraphs: the Russia TV anchor, communicating in morse code, PLANSS taking over the world and waging UFO warfare to liberate the galaxy from shape-shifting Jewish space lizards, an attempt to contact the Greater Boston Area Tea Party. But the rest was all real.
https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/ipr-writer-jill-pyeatt-to-star-in-upcoming-reality-show/ IPR Writer Jill Pyeatt to Star in Upcoming Reality Show (Posted by Paulie but written by Jill)
And the original version of this one:
The ones that were the most fun were the ones we weren’t quite sure of: Dan Wiener’s and Tami Stanfeld were probably the best in that category.
The two that made me laugh out loud were the Grundmann/Hood article (yes, they deserved it), and the one about Wiener rising. Andy Craig’s about the senator was good too, especially because it seemed real at first, and then got silly.
I must say that people have been congratulating me on the reality show all day! 😀
Liked the most: PLAN-SS article, Tami Stainfield article, LP logo article
Liked the least: Grundmann and Hood article
Neither: all the others
I prefer the articles that have some truth to them.
Updated.
The idea was something like, if you only had one day left to comment here, what would you say?
However, it seems few if any people were fooled, and few were even game to play along.
New topic:
Which of our April Fools posts did you like most, which ones least, and which ones were neither great nor horrible? I’m considering making that a separate article, but haven’t decided; use this one for now.
ah think we need a non-executive session where anyone who is on any committee for any group must leave.
I guess as my parting comment, I will say this-
While I wished I became a Libertarian sooner, I have no regrets over the majority of the comments I have posted here. While some of my brief replies were done in sarcasm/cynicism, of course, the detailed ones I was being serious and getting my point across as best as possible here.
However maybe it’s time we stop with the unproductive blog wars and spites, I really don’t have the time or patience anymore to do such.
My two cents.
Laterz.
Blessings on another year of April Fools.
Yes.
No, no, I wasn’t being clear.
Can we post just the comments of a youtube video in the non-comments section? I think we need some commentary on that. Let’s say two weeks for comments, followed by an email ballot for 97.4 hours, subject of course to Executive Session in which Mr. Starchild can leak classified comments which may not otherwise appear in the non-comments section.
Clear now? Or knot?
IPR comment sections will not have a box to submit comments.
Youtube videos – that will be up to the settings on each youtube video, as it already is.
Do Youtubes count as comments?
What about the comments sections of Youtubes?
Close.
Redlich will take a week to look through them and approve them before they get published. He reserves the right to re-edit them before they appear, although they will still appear under the original authors names and they will not be able to go back and edit them again.
Just checked with the owner. Old comments will be left up for now, but new ones will no longer be accepted. He will consider whether to take the old ones down later.
I would comment on langa’s comment but I need another day to think up an appropriate commentary.
I heard a rumor that there won’t be any more articles which are not approved by trolls first.
They will only appear in the Comments section.
That’s a good question. I don’t remember if we ever even considered that question.
Question, will the previous comment threads be preserved, or deleted entirely?
very sad that there will be no more comments. how else will I vent in anger against the baboon and the forces of evil in the LPF.
Possibly separate article later http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/libertarians-working-for-you-show-with-elizabeth-dahl-and-brian-pizza
PLAS has been modified; it is now PLAN-SS. See details at https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/04/plan-ss-from-outer-space-candidate-robert-milnes-leads-revolutionary-resistance-against-jews-zionists/
This is a pathetically transparent attempt to suppress the spread of PLAS — the Progressive Libertarian Alliance Strategy! #Milnes2016
I’m disappointed. You left many great IPR comments over the years, and I was hoping you’d save the best for last.
I hope this is just an April Fool’s Day prank. Many times the comments are of more interest and value than the articles since almost all of the articles are reprints of press releases or articles found elsewhere on the Internet without any real reporting or research having been done even to the point of verifying the accuracy of the posting.
We don’t believe it. If they did cut comments, this would be IPR’s last day.
Great April Fool article!
I have only one thing to say in response to this: No comment.
LYRICS
My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day’s a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride
If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
If today was your last day
Against the grain should be a way of life
What’s worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts ’cause there’s no second try
So live like you’ll never live it twice
Don’t take the free ride in your own life
If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you’re dreamin’ of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day
If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it’s never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
‘Cause you can’t rewind a moment in this life
Let nothin’ stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side
If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you’re dreamin’ of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrXIQQ8PeRs
True story.
LOL. In other news, winged pigs were spotted flying over a frozen-over hell.
No, sorry, this is serious. I got outvoted.
Please have your final say today folks, and make it count, since we won’t get to do this anymore!
April fool?
No one reads IPR for the comments. 🙂
This is the new open thread, but due to the new site policy, it will only be open for comment for 24 more hours, just like all other IPR articles.