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Open Thread for March 2016

By Jill Pyeatt on March 1, 2016 12:14 AM

politics-2

Here is our open thread for March 2016. This space is for anything anyone might like to leave here: an article, a video, maybe an idea. In theory, it should have to do with our mission here at IPR, which is to track and report on third-party activities, and those of independents. However, as long as you don’t slander someone or copy their work, you should be all right with what you post here.

Here are some songs you may or may not be aware of, that have something to say about the world we live in.

https://youtu.be/v8nkIuu7yQo

Jill Pyeatt

Jill Pyeatt is a small-business owner and jewelry designer from Southern California. She currently serves on the Judicial Committee of the Libertarian Party of CA. She can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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148 Comments

  1. Andy March 31, 2016

    Should read, “yet hardly anyone…”

  2. Andy March 31, 2016

    “William Saturn
    March 31, 2016 at 18:01
    For anyone interested, here’s an interview I did with Democratic Party presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente : https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_interviews_Rocky_De_La_Fuente,_U.S._Democratic_Party_presidential_candidate ”

    “Rocky” de la Fuente has been shelling out A LOT of money for ballot access, yes hardly anyone knows who he is.

    Roque “Rocky” de la Fuente is a very wealthy businessman based in San Diego, CA. He is running for President in the Democratic Party’s primary. He jumped in the race late, so in addition to the few states where it is mandatory for Democrats and Republicans to collect ballot access petition signatures to get on presidential primary ballots, there are a bunch of other states that have petition requirements which Democrats and Republicans can be exempted from if they are meeting certain sets of criteria. Since Rocky jumped in the race late, and has received little media coverage, he has been forced to collect ballot access petition signatures in a bunch of states where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been placed on the ballot without having to collect any petition signatures.

    Rocky is not a libertarian, but I’ve looked over his platform, and I’d say that he appears to be less hostile to liberty than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders are.

  5. Election Addict March 27, 2016

    Not for third parties anyway.

  6. Election Addict March 27, 2016

    I’m not going to type this, but I hope this does sway people from voting for Cruz.

    On the other hand, it might hand the election to Kasich, with the kinder face, and is that really better? I don’t really think so.

  7. Johnson-Gaffney Connection March 26, 2016

    For some time, inquiring minds have wanted to know: What’s up with Gary Johnson versus TEH MOOOSLIMS?
    Johnson’s focus on — and complete disconnect from reality with respect to — Muslims [is connected] to one person: Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. of the Center for Security Policy.

    http://knappster.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-ted-cruz-gary-johnson-connection.html

  10. Andy March 25, 2016

    Ron Paul would still be an excellent candidate for the President for the Libertarian Party, but he is like 80 years old now, and although he appears to be in good health for his age and is still politically active, he has also already said that he’s retired from running for office, so I seriously doubt that he’d be interested in running.

  11. NewFederalist March 25, 2016

    While I agree with the sentiment expressed by Jed and Thane above regarding Ron Paul (that he’s earned the right to retire which is most certainly true) I still am left asking “who can attract the attention he can”? His ability to get media dwarfs everyone else. If it is Trump vs. Rodham Clinton I just think it is imperative the LP offer a choice that could attract enough votes to not only put the party securely in the history books but in this very unusual year offer at least a glimmer of hope to actually win. I don’t see anyone else who could attract Bernie’s young voters as well as loads of GOPers who cannot stomach Trump. I just cannot believe Hillary is very popular. The dominant parties have provided worse choices than usual this year. I say the LP has got to take advantage of this opportunity and none of the current field is in a position to do that IMHO.

  12. William Saturn March 25, 2016

    Maybe when Trump said he’d “spill the beans on your [Cruz’s] wife” he didn’t mean “on” in the sense of “about” but in the sense of “to.”

  14. Thane Eichenauer March 25, 2016

    NewFederalist,
    The political campaigns of Ron Paul have earned him a certain amount of awareness in many people’s minds. He has a show where he is able to reach people that choose to listen. If he is the only person that can win politically then I would say that means he should not re-enter politics. He has written many books. What is keeping any other person from learning the lessons he has cast upon the waters?

    https://youtu.be/nXuWmj_RpLo

  15. Jed Ziggler March 24, 2016

    NF: Ron Paul has made clear his intention of retiring from politics. Given his contributions to libertarianism, I think we should honor that choice.

  17. NewFederalist March 23, 2016

    I have a question for the libertarian community here at IPR. Does anyone know if there is any interest in a Draft Ron Paul effort? I know I would be interested. This seems like such a great year for a really serious campaign and I think the media might be willing to pay attention but I suspect the LP will not take advantage of an opportunity to put forth a nominee who would stand out when contrasted to the likes of Hillary Rodham Clinton or Donald Trump. I have my differences with Rep. Paul but compared to all the other candidates he is head and shoulders better in so many ways. What does everyone think?

  18. Thomas Knapp March 22, 2016

    langa,

    I’m not familiar with the CP/Virgil Goode thing, because I seldom follow posts relating to the Constitution Party. But OK, if you say so. The only time I moderate comments is when there’s a sudden 1488 Sieg Heil breakout on a thread I happen to be following.

  19. langa March 22, 2016

    I could cite quite a few examples. Since you only asked for one, Andy’s griping about Virgil Goode on every CP-related post was just as much “on topic” as FF’s repetitious screeds, yet it was still quarantined to its own thread. If IPR is going to tolerate this guy, why not start a quarantined “Steve Kerbel is the Antichrist” thread? I think his latest comment broke Andy’s record for longest comment in IPR history.

  20. Thomas Knapp March 22, 2016

    langa,

    Can you cite a single example of anyone, ever, being “deleted, quarantined, and in some cases, resulted in being banned from IPR entirely” for a handful of comments that, however distasteful you may find them, are in fact on-topic to their threads?

  21. langa March 22, 2016

    Well, it appears “The Fact Finder” is back on the troll trail, with yet another tedious screed (only slightly shorter than “War and Peace”) attempting to “expose” Steve Kerbel as the devil incarnate.

    https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2016/03/steve-kerbel-ends-campaign-endorses-gary-johnson/#comment-1335378

    I continue to shake my head at this guy apparently not even getting so much as a warning, while similar comments from others have been deleted, quarantined, and in some cases, resulted in being banned from IPR entirely. And with Kerbel no longer even in the race, this clearly has nothing to do with any sort of “vetting” process. It’s pure harassment, and nothing more.

  22. Tylor March 21, 2016

    Congrats to the Libertarians for getting OK! 🙂

  25. Andy March 19, 2016

    “NewFederalist
    March 12, 2016 at 14:43
    No. If states were retaining ballot status due to higher vote totals why would it be a problem?”

    A lot of the states are not retaining ballot status from higher vote totals, and this is not even possible in some states, like Pennsylvania. The LP could carry PA in the presidential race, and could elect a candidate to the office of Governor, and the party would still have to petition for ballot access in Pennsylvania.

    Also, a lot of the state parties do not have the resources to get on the ballot themselves without help from the LNC.

    The number of dues paying members to the LNC is one way of measuring the strength of the party, and by this measurement, the Libertarian Party is weaker than it should be right now (and it is not like we have lot so of state affiliates that are doing well, or lots of candidates who are doing well, because we do not).

  26. George Phillies March 19, 2016

    Andy, good catch on
    FBI Instructs High Schools to Inform On “Anti-government” Students

    You can find it on their web site.

  28. Andy March 19, 2016

    “Jed Ziggler
    March 19, 2016 at 11:20
    There was also a motion that passed to have a nonbinding straw poll following the debate.”

    What time does the debate start?

  29. Jill Pyeatt Post author | March 19, 2016

    I assume you’re at lunch, Jed. I’ll start an open thread now.

  30. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    There was also a motion that passed to have a nonbinding straw poll following the debate.

  31. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Recess for lunch. There was an interesting resolution to cooperate with the Greens, Constitutionists, and independents that failed, based on the notion that we should voluntarily cooperate and putting it on paper could generate bad press if someone failed to cooperate.

  32. NewFederalist March 19, 2016

    Sorry to hear Krawchuk is talking about volunteer petitioners again. That failed last time.

  33. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Judicial committee: Ken Krawchuk, Betsy Summers, Ed Reagan, Bob Davis, John Delaberto elected by voice vote

  34. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Treasurer: Richard Schwarz elected by voice vote

  35. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Secretary: Carla Felty elected by voice vote

  36. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Western vice chair, Bill Sloan elected by voice vote.

  37. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    First Ballot: Matt 26, Daniel 3,Abstaining 2,Jim Babb 1

  38. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Matt: The Republicans hate our guts, let’s invade the Democrats

  39. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Nominations for Eastern vice chair: Daniel Richardson and Matt Shutter (sp?)

  40. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Second ballot House elected with 17,Richardson 13, 2 abstaining

  41. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    First ballot: Richardson 13,House 13, Scheetz 5,NOTA 0, 1 abstaining. Scheetz celebrates losing.

  42. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    House says he will win his congressional race

  43. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Scheetz says if elected, this will be the last time. Richardson talks about updating website

  44. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Steve Scheetz, Daniel Richardson, Shawn House nominated for chair.

  45. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Gary Johnson, John McAfee, Darryl Perry, and Derrick Reid participating in debate tonight, Shawna Sterling is ill.

  46. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Robert Clark speaking on OAI.

  47. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Ken will seek ballot access.

  48. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Roy Minet speaking on outreach brochures, seeking petitioning volunteers.

  49. NewFederalist March 19, 2016

    “Ken Krawchuk says he’s running for governor in 2018…” – Jed Ziggler

    Did he say he would make an effort to get ballot access or just do a write-in campaign again?

  50. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    Business session was supposed to begin at 9, has been pushed back to 10.

  51. Jed Ziggler March 19, 2016

    I would appreciate a thread. I’ll try to live blog as best I can. Ken Krawchuk says he’s running for governor in 2018, Derrick Reid called Gary Johnson a “blatherskite.”

  54. Jill Pyeatt Post author | March 18, 2016

    Will you be live-blogging tomorrow? Would you like for us to start on open thread?

  55. Jed Ziggler March 18, 2016

    At the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania state convention. Met Darryl Perry and Derrick Reid so far. Fun times.

  56. Deran March 18, 2016

    I’m all for radicalizing them, and making Sanders voters being more politically independent, but this seems sort of lame? Or maybe I’d rather see something more socialist. Of course Socialist Alternative has been preaching to the choir about Bernie Sanders going independent if he doesn’t get the DP nomination. And we all know how well that has worked out …

    http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2016/03/16/green-party-candidate-floats-collaboration-with-bernie-sanders-blasts-democratic-party/IyRJs6VXWtVHPcior8JAkK/story.html

  58. Jill Pyeatt Post author | March 18, 2016

    The article also shows that Trump is not a man of his word. His ego just can’t take a back seat. This is my greatest source of concern about his candidacy–that ego.

  59. Thomas L. Knapp March 18, 2016

    I saw a meme the other day along the lines of “we need to be thinking about what kind of world we’re going to leave behind for Keith Richards.” I don’t think he’ll ever die. At least I hope not.

    And it IS relevant to third parties and independents for several reasons, including but not limited to Trump having been an abortive Reform Party candidate in 2000, and having kinda sorta said he might run as an independent if the GOP doesn’t collectively fellate him in Cleveland.

  60. George Phillies March 18, 2016

    Gary Johnson is not a candidate at the moment. Why is the LNC listing him?

    Johnson HAS NOT filed. Go look on the FEC pages
    http://fec.gov/finance/disclosure/candcmte_info.shtml

    You are looking for a form 1 (first letter P) for 2016. You can find there only his Form 1 for 2012.

  64. Andy March 17, 2016

    For Anarchist, Details of Life as F.B.I. Target

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/29surveillance.html?_r=0

    From the article: “They infiltrated political meetings with undercover police officers and informers. Mr. Crow counts five supposed fellow activists who were reporting to the F.B.I.”

  67. Thomas L. Knapp March 16, 2016

    Andy,

    That very well could be. But hey, why kick the man when he’s not just down, but out?

    I just wish he hadn’t left that Johnson endorsement turd in the punchbowl.

  68. Andy March 16, 2016

    LOL! Stewart Flood predicted what Kerbel would do, and i thought his prediction was going to be correct.

    The real reason he is dropping out is almost certainlay because of the insurance scandals, or accusations of scandals.

  69. Jill Pyeatt Post author | March 16, 2016

    First of all, I want to thank all of my loyal supporters in this campaign. I believe that our efforts have advanced the cause of Liberty, and that was my goal in entering this campaign 1 year ago.

    In this time, I have had the opportunity to experience so much.
    My libertarian beliefs have solidified and focused, and I am more committed than ever to fostering liberty in the United States of America. I have traveled from coast to coast spreading the cause of liberty. I have made many personal appearances, radio and podcast appearances, television appearances and a multitude of interviews. I have spent much time and it was time well spent.

    At this time, however, I have made a difficult decision.

    I have several business and family commitments that require my attention in the short run, and as well I have volunteered to chair our county Libertarian party. I am satisfied that we have strong Libertarian voices in this race.

    For these reasons, I have decided to suspend my campaign for the Libertarian Party Presidential nomination.

    I have met or spoken with the majority of other candidates, and I found that I personally liked each and every one of them. I respect their commitment to Liberty and their personal sacrifices for the good of the nation.

    In choosing a candidate to support, it was not an easy decision. So many of my opponents have great knowledge, great charisma and great ideas. For me, it comes down to who will present us in the most dignified and credible Libertarian light, gain more national notoriety and votes and who possesses the relevant experience closest to the task of running the country, with the capability of delivering the Libertarian message clearly, concisely, and respectfully to the American people.

    It is these criteria that made my choice clear. Of the remaining Presidential candidates, there is only one person in this race that I can picture behind the desk in the oval office, and that man is Gov. Gary Johnson.

    Gov. Johnson is the only candidate running who can unify the liberty movement. His leadership is what is needed at this important point for our party and for the country.
    I am pleased to say that I will be assisting Gov. Johnson in the remainder of the primary season and beyond, as I am needed.

    The advancement of Liberty in our nation has never wavered as my ultimate goal, and I look forward to working with Governor Johnson to further this most admirable and necessary cause.

    I fervently believe that 2016 will represent the turning point in the acknowledgement that the Libertarian Party is indeed the viable third party so desperately needed in the United States of America and I am proud and honored that my work has been able to contribute to the success of the movement.

    Once again, I thank you all for allowing me to be a part of this most honorable movement. As a nation, I ask you all to remain mindful of the experience, warnings, and plan of the nation’s founders. It is our best hope to get the nation back on track.

    Good luck to Mr. Kerbel at dealing with what he needs to deal with.

    This should be its own article. I’ll post it later today, but hopefully someone else can get to it before that.

  70. Thomas L. Knapp March 16, 2016

    I’ve not been a Kerbel supporter at any point, but I am saddened. Not as much by his decision to drop out — I’m sure he has his reasons — as by his decision to endorse Johnson.

    It’s time for the other candidates to step up to the plate here and explain to Libertarians why the LP simply can’t afford a second Johnson campaign.

    He lied to the Libertarian Party in 2012, under-stating his campaign debt by nearly a million dollars, to defraud the party of its nomination. Would he have won without the fraud? Maybe, maybe not. But he DID win WITH it. That’s just a fact of reality.

    Then he ran a “campaign” worthy of the scare quotes around that word, continuing to amass debt which he has never paid off (while posturing as the candidate of “fiscal responsibility”) and spend the money on things that neither brought in votes nor built the party, while positioning the party as a party of the welfare state both for politicians (matching funds) and everyone else (his tax plan would put every man, woman and child in the US on a monthly federal welfare check for life).

    And now he’s back pulling the same shit a second time, melting down over “sharia law” and generally coming off like a young but not funny Rodney Dangerfield.

    What is the point of a presidential campaign if it accomplishes nothing but giving a washed-up Republican something to do and some money to spread around among his friends?

    For the love of God, if you are a candidate for the presidential nomination, SAY THIS instead of just hoping your own personal charm will save your candidacy and the party’s honor.

  73. Andy March 14, 2016

    Government is both stupid and evil. The stupid people in government are not the ones running the show. The people running government are not stupid, they are evil.

    If everyone in government was stupid then libertarians would have already beaten them and we’d have a libertarian society right now.

    The coverups in regard to Obama are not because government is stupid, they are examples of them being evil.

    Saying that everyone in government is stupid is a very naive point of view.

  74. NewFederalist March 14, 2016

    Andy I am confused. I thought you believe the government can do all sorts of incredibly devious and nefarious things with great precision and reliability. I, on the other hand, don’t believe they can find their ass with both hands and a scoop shovel in a well lit room!

  75. Andy March 14, 2016

    George Phillies said: “and the ability of the state of Hawaii to record births reliably.”

    Since when do Libertarians believe that people in government do anything reliably, other than reliably screwing over the general public over?

  78. Andy March 14, 2016

    “Thomas L. Knapp
    March 13, 2016 at 22:51

    ‘Republicans deserve to lose for being bigots who oppose immigrants if their skin is the wrong color.’

    I recall a Libertarian presidential aspirant from 2008 who coded that exact sentiment into a weird remark about how the problem with American immigration was that too many immigrants didn’t come from a background characterized by Greco-Roman culture and values. Which sounded an awful lot to me like ‘they’re too swarthy.’

    Do you remember who that candidate was, George? His name slips my mind at the moment.”

    I recall that candidate being George Phillies, which is rather ironic, given that he repeatedly bashed Ron Paul for being “anti-immigrant” (which is a misrepresentation of his position), and has done the same to others, as evidenced above.

  81. Thomas L. Knapp March 13, 2016

    “Republicans deserve to lose for being bigots who oppose immigrants if their skin is the wrong color.”

    I recall a Libertarian presidential aspirant from 2008 who coded that exact sentiment into a weird remark about how the problem with American immigration was that too many immigrants didn’t come from a background characterized by Greco-Roman culture and values. Which sounded an awful lot to me like “they’re too swarthy.”

    Do you remember who that candidate was, George? His name slips my mind at the moment.

  82. George Phillies March 13, 2016

    Republicans deserve to lose for banning abortions. Republicans deserve to lose for plotting to make our daughters to die of back alley abortions. Republicans deserve to lose for being bigots who oppose immigrants if their skin is the wrong color. Republicans deserve to lose for being idiots who deny global warming, evolution, vaccinations, and the ability of the state of Hawaii to record births reliably. Republicans deserve to lose by threatening to blow up the economy over the ACA. Republicans deserve to lose for torturing prisoners of war, fighting the war crimes campaign against the people of Iraq, and spying on all our phone calls and emails.

    Democrats deserve to lose for assassinating an American citizen who was not suspected of any crime. Democrats deserve to lose for waging war in country after country, including Mali, Uganda, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Nepal, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Serbia, etc etc etc. Democrats deserve to lose for recording every phone call and every email message in the world, or as close as they can get. Democrats deserve to lose for organizing the police assault against Occupy movements in dozens of American cities. Democrats deserve to lose for their habitual assaults on the Second Amendment.

    We’re the Libertarian Party. We’re the party that opposed all those bad Republican and Democratic policies. We stand for peace, freedom, and prosperity, the opposite of their policies of war, oppression and recession.

    This fall, why not vote Libertarian! You could win a free country!

  85. Thomas L. Knapp March 12, 2016

    Andy,

    You seem to not be listening to what I’m saying, but I’ll try one more time:

    If the LP does the right things, the things that make a political party successful, the LNC’s newsletter program will probably get more members and the LNC will certainly get more donors.

    If the LP doesn’t do the right things, the things that make a political party successful, it doesn’t matter how well the newsletter program does or how much money the LNC raises.

    Concentrating on the newsletter program as if it was some kind of metric of success is like concentrating on what color of shorts the boxer you are training wears. It’s a distraction that has very little to do with whether or not he’s boxing well, and if he does box well he’ll make enough money to buy any color of shorts you want him to wear.

  86. NewFederalist March 12, 2016

    No. If states were retaining ballot status due to higher vote totals why would it be a problem?

  87. Andy March 12, 2016

    If Libertarian Party membership numbers is not important, should we not be concerned if membership continues to go down? Say we go from the current level of 11,000 and something down to say 6,000 and something, or how about down to 3,000 and something. Would this not be a problem?

  88. Thomas L. Knapp March 12, 2016

    Yes, the Democrats and Republicans worry about donors.

    No, the Republicans and Democrats don’t think that “send us $25 to BECOME A MEMBER OF OUR PARTY (by which we mean you get a card and an occasional newspaper”) is the way to get donors and raise money.

    The Republican and Democratic National Committees may have such a program, but if so they don’t promote it very much and it’s certainly far from their top priority. They concentrate on strong local and state party organizations and strong campaigns, not on running a national newsletter operation.

  89. NewFederalist March 12, 2016

    Donors equal dues paying members? I don’t think so!

  90. Andy March 12, 2016

    The Democrats and Republicans do worry about the number of donors. More donors, and in particular, more big donors, equals more money.

    The LP is not going to get the big corporate and union money that goes to the Democrats and Republicans, because we are not going to give them hand outs, or do favors for them (which is one of the major flaws in the system we live under), and this is another reason why the LP needs to attract more dues paying members.

  91. NewFederalist March 12, 2016

    I agree with Tom. The Demorepublicrats don’t worry about dues paying members. I suspect the vast majority of people who consider themselves a Tweedle Dee or a Tweedle Dum don’t give either dominant party national committee a dime.

  92. Thomas L. Knapp March 12, 2016

    People donate to Republican and Democratic campaigns and organizations all the time without becoming “dues-paying members of the X Party.”

    I’m not saying there SHOULDN’T be a “dues-paying member” (aka “send us $25 a year for a newsletter”) program, I’m just saying 1) that it’s WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY down the list of important things instead of near the top as many LP people treat it, and 2) that if we do the OTHER things right instead of focusing on recruiting “dues-paying members,” those “dues-paying members” will come.

    The artificially inflated membership numbers of the late 1990s weren’t especially a sign of a healthy, growing party. They were parlor tricks.

    One of them was “keep sending out direct mail to recruit members who send us $25 and cost us $29 to service, in the hope that they will stay (they didn’t) and that they will send us money above and beyond the $25 dues (some of them did). But there was so much “churn” (non-renewing “members” who never did anything but send that one $25 check) that the whole program was basically like sitting in your car in park while racing the motor and daydreaming that you’re driving in the Indy 500.

    Another one of the tricks was putting down people who contributed $25 or more TO THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN as “dues-paying members” even though the money went to the campaign, not to the LNC.

  93. Andy March 12, 2016

    The number of dues paying members affects fundraising. The more members you have, the more money you can raise.

    The number of dues paying members is a sign of the health of the party. If the party is doing things right, more people will join. If the party is doing things wrong, membership will stagnate or decline.

  94. Thomas L. Knapp March 12, 2016

    “You think maybe that the party has been doing some things wrong?”

    Yes. And one of those things is treating “dues-paying membership” as one of its most important metrics of success.

    If the party concentrates on the things it needs to concentrate on — running good candidates with active campaigns, building local organizations that create an ongoing LP presence, etc. — “dues-paying membership” will take care of itself.

    If the party doesn’t concentrate on those things, not only will “dues-paying membership” not do well, but it wouldn’t matter if it did. 1 million people paying $25 a year for a newsletter is not going to result in real change any more than 10,000 people paying $25 a year for a newsletter has.

  95. Andy March 12, 2016

    “Cody Quirk
    March 12, 2016 at 00:19

    🙂

    http://truthinmedia.com/libertarian-party-registrations-rising/ ”

    Libertarian Party voter registration has gone up (but a lot of this is because of people like Ron Paul, Andrew Napolitano, and John Stossel popularizing the word libertarian), yet dues paying membership to the Libertarian Party has remained stagnant, and is down by 2/3 from what it was 15 years ago.

    You think maybe that the party has been doing some things wrong?

  99. Andy March 11, 2016

    “George Phillies
    March 11, 2016 at 18:25

    New Libertarian Presidential candidate.
    Sent me direct mail received today:

    Heidi Zeman
    325 Bullono Drive
    Reno NV”

    Lots of people I have never heard of crawling out of the woodwork to run for the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination this year.
    [email protected]

  100. George Phillies March 11, 2016

    New Libertarian Presidential candidate.
    Sent me direct mail received today:

    Heidi Zeman
    325 Bullono Drive
    Reno NV
    [email protected]

  101. Andy March 11, 2016

    Michael H. Wilson said: “There are a number of issues we have no information on and from what I can tell we don’t do much outreach to colleges”

    I’ve actually done a lot of outreach at colleges, mostly in the course of working on Libertarian Party ballot access drives. There are a few other Libertarians who have done lots of outreach at colleges while working on Libertarian Party ballot access drives, but a lot more of this could be done IF the Libertarian Party did not spend most of its ballot access money hiring non-libertarian mercenaries for ballot access drives, because (among other reasons) the non-libertarian mercenaries do little or no outreach for the party, and some even do what I’d call negative outreach for the party, by misrepresenting it to the public.

    Another thing that the Libertarian Party could do to increase college campus outreach is make sure that ballot access drives are going on when colleges are actually open, whenever possible. There are states where the Libertarian Party could be doing ballot access drives RIGHT NOW, but they are not going on due to the party being so disorganized (such as the states in questions not having their electoral college candidates or stand in candidates figured out, etc…). The fact that these ballot access drives have not started means that they are wasting valuable time, not only because of deadlines and having ballot access drives to do in other states, but also because colleges are open right now for regular session. Delaying the start of these petition drives means that the opportunity to gather signatures at these colleges will either be missed, or minimized. Colleges can be good places to gather ballot access signatures, and they are also excellent places to do Libertarian Party outreach, because most of the people at colleges tend to be young, and young people tend to be more open minded and are less likely to be “married” to one of the major parties yet as compared to a lot of older people.

    I am a very big proponent of Libertarians doing outreach at colleges and I have been pushing to increase the amount of college campus outreach that takes place for a long time. Unfortunately, not enough people are taking any action to make this happen.

  102. Michael H. Wilson March 11, 2016

    Now for the reason I really came here I got a note from an acquaintance that a college professor said Libertarians were nuts for wanting to abolish the Federal Reserve because we, that is Libertarians, did not have anything to replace it with. I corrected that and sent some work on currency competition but that brings up the problem.

    There are a number of issues we have no information on and from what I can tell we don’t do much outreach to colleges. Fifteen or so years ago we had a piece that came out that was titled the Viewpoint. It was an excellent piece and should have been made into a quarterly or semi yearly publication and sent to college libraries across the nation. With something like 3000 schools that should not be too big of an expense as an out reach tool.

  103. Michael H. Wilson March 11, 2016

    Mozilla wanted to deny me access because they have a problem with the security here. That’s the first time I have seen that but it is something some may wish to look into.

  106. Krzysztof Lesiak March 10, 2016

    Petersen campaign: Libertarian Party of Florida convention chair requests bribe to quash Austin Petersen’s debate appearance

    http://amthirdpartyreport.com/2016/03/10/petersen-campaign-libertarian-party-of-florida-convention-chair-requests-bribe-to-quash-austin-petersens-debate-appearance/

    If an IPR writer would like to republish the above article, feel free to do so. It could generate a good number of comments and an interesting discussion.

    Also, Austin Petersen leaked an email from Steve Scheetz, the former chairman of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania, in which Scheetz says of Petersen that “my goal is to make him crawl back from whatever rock he crawled out from under over in Missouri” and “that dude is toxic to the party and I believe it is up to everyone to shut him down.”

    http://amthirdpartyreport.com/2016/03/10/austin-petersen-leaks-email-from-steve-scheetz-in-his-push-to-remove-me-from-being-considered-a-candidate-in-pennsylvania/

    Note: I’ve published a flurry of articles about Petersen today, but that does not mean that I support him. I am a neutral observer in the Libertarian Party presidential race, though as the convention nears and the campaign heats up I might publish an editorial endorsing one of the candidates. Maybe. We’ll see.

  107. Thomas L. Knapp March 9, 2016

    Jill, you write:

    “Do our readers have any comments? How do you all think we should handle this?”

    I consider it a significant issue for his candidacy.

    When I brought up one set of accusations, he gave me a reasonably detailed and plausible answer, and I appreciated and still appreciate the way he handled it.

    But there are multiple cases of detailed allegations, and in such a case there are four ways for him to handle it as a candidate.

    1) If it really is, as he has asserted in the past, a matter of regulatory overreach and so forth, then he could make that a CAMPAIGN ISSUE, a la Irwin Schiff and the income tax. Whether or not delegates would find that approach convincing and compelling, I can’t say.

    2) On the other hand, if the allegations are true and represent force-initiating acts, including but not limited to possible fraud, then he could drop out now and spare himself the embarrassment of continuing to be confronted with that.

    3) Or, if the allegations are true, he could deny, deny, deny and hope the delegates buy it. I don’t think they will.

    4) Or, he could keep on semi-ignoring it and hope it goes away. I don’t think it will go away.

    As to how IPR should handle it, well, if we have any reporters who are interested in giving it the full fisk, that’s fine. If not, then commenters like this one should be given maximum latitude. Unless Mr. Kerbel can bring us a VERY strong case that the comments constitute libel, they should stay — but with the usual strictures regarding the difference between regular commenting and constant comment-bombing. If this commenter is going to drop multiple comments with the same content into every even remotely connected thread, then he needs to be either shut down or quarantined to a thread that’s about this subject and no other, as we did with e.g. petitioner complaints.

  109. langa March 9, 2016

    Jill, I understand what you’re saying. And I also find it troubling that Kerbel seems to be so reluctant to discuss the accusations against him.

    At the same time, I am also very suspicious of someone who shows up here out of the blue, and then admits that he has no interest in third party politics, and is here simply to attack a particular individual.

    As for a solution, as I’ve said, I’m not in favor of banning him, or even deleting the comments that he has posted so far. However, I think it would be fair to warn him that if he continues to make these repetitive posts in the future, they will be deleted.

    Of course, that’s just my 2 cents. Ultimately, it’s up to Warren and the writers.

  110. Jill Pyeatt Post author | March 9, 2016

    I’ve been watching the activity from Fact Finder this past week, and simply haven’t known what to do about it. You might be interested to know that I emailed Steve last Sunday, told him these comments were being made and perhaps he’d like to respond. He wrote back that he thought he knew who was doing it, and to please keep deleting his posts. I wrote back and explained that they were comments being left, and we rarely delete those, which is why I thought he might want to address them. He wrote back that he was surprised that IPR posted “unsubstantiated” accusations. At that point, we agreed we’d meet at the CA convention and stopped corresponding.

    Insurance is the business I’ve been in for 32 years. I also had a securities license for about 5 years, until I decided it was too much trouble for the financial results, and dropped that license. I’ve had to answer to the SEC. The charges leveled at Kerbel are extremely serious. I’m truly horrified that someone with his legal record is running for President, especially in view of the new charges that were filed early February. The reason I’m so concerned is that half a dozen activities have been specially described which are all ways to game my system. It’s not just one bad habit, or one rule where there was some wiggle room to “misunderstand”. If the charges are true, it looks like just about any way to cheat was done. The accusation of giving people mature driver discounts was actually enumerated: 1269 people, I think. This cannot be explained away as errors, or one or two bad employees working under Mr. Kerbel. This is a pattern, in my view.

    Since this is my profession, I don’t want to be the one to expose this, especially since I still have enemies from my time of “helping” Wayne Root to leave the LP. I’ve also been exposing much of the Oregon nonsense over the past few years. I really don’t want to be known as a trouble maker. Otherwise, I certainly don’t have a problem with Mr. Kerbel and would rather stay out of this. I’ve been hoping one of the other writers would deal with this, either by exposing it or deleting the troll’s comments. I really don’t want to be known as someone who “censors” or goes out of my way to cause people trouble.

    Perhaps the writers should discuss this by email.

    Do our readers have any comments? How do you all think we should handle this?

  111. langa March 9, 2016

    One reason could be that not everyone — in fact, I’m guessing pretty much nobody but Paulie, who is indisposed lately — follows every comment thread at IPR. So a troll who posts the same comment over various threads is somewhat less likely to be noticed in that activity than a troll posts 300 comments on ONE thread that someone who thinks about moderating comments happens to be following.

    Well, that might very well be true. However, he posted the same comment on 7 different threads in less than an hour. That’s what caused me to notice it. I pointed it out (https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/12/libertarian-party-of-colorado-event-presidential-candidate-steve-kerbel-answers-question-on-the-nap-at-lpco-volunteer-meeting-121715/#comment-1330878), but the response was basically crickets chirping.

    Again, I don’t really want him banned. But it would be nice if one of the moderators would warn him that IPR is a site for discussing third party politics, rather than a forum for the public grinding of axes.

    Also, I wouldn’t mind hearing a better explanation from Kerbel myself. But this jackass continuing to make long, vitriolic posts about how Kerbel is such a scumbag, is unlikely to contribute to that goal.

  112. Thomas L. Knapp March 9, 2016

    langa,

    One reason could be that not everyone — in fact, I’m guessing pretty much nobody but Paulie, who is indisposed lately — follows every comment thread at IPR. So a troll who posts the same comment over various threads is somewhat less likely to be noticed in that activity than a troll posts 300 comments on ONE thread that someone who thinks about moderating comments happens to be following.

    I saw one or two instances of what you’re talking about. I didn’t see any need to mess with them because they re-raise questions that really should get better and more detailed answers than they’ve received. I asked one of those questions at one point and was PERSONALLY satisfied with Kerbel’s office, but could understand why others might not be.

  113. langa March 9, 2016

    I have made it known here many times before that I am not in favor of banning “trolls” from IPR, except in the most extreme cases (Ogle with his thread-clogging Parliament crap being the only real example I can think of where I have agreed with someone being banned). Nevertheless, IPR has banned several other people (e.g. Robert Milnes, Nathan Norman, etc.) for “trolling” the site, by which was typically meant that the people in question posted identical or similar things on numerous threads, with the intention of hijacking discussion and/or harassing someone.

    Given that, I am curious to know why “The Fact Finder” has not been banned. He has made the same repetitive posts on every thread related to Steve Kerbel, and in a recent comment (https://independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/12/libertarian-party-of-colorado-event-presidential-candidate-steve-kerbel-answers-question-on-the-nap-at-lpco-volunteer-meeting-121715/#comment-1331527), he admits that he is not interested in the LP or any of the other candidates, and that the only reason he is here is because he is stalking Kerbel online.

    To be clear, I am NOT advocating that this person be banned from IPR. I would just like an explanation why he is allowed to remain, while others have been banned for, in my opinion, less “trolling” behavior.

  114. Andy March 8, 2016

    Excellent article, George!

  116. George Phillies March 8, 2016

    SOD Brings You Fake Show Trials

    Most Americans were shocked to learn from the revelations of that great American Patriot, Edward Snowden, that the NSA was tapping all our phone calls and recording all our emails and web visits. The NSA did this under the guise of unconstitutional general search warrants, warrants not specifying the target of the search. General search warrants were justly condemned by the founding fathers as instruments of tyranny.

    Now we learn from Reuters that the rot has spread beyond the spy agencies.

    The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has given us the general Special Operations Directorate (SOD). SOD is based in the DEA, but it includes agents from the IRS, FBI, DEA, closing on two dozen spy agencies. SOD is a secret scheme that uses telephone wiretaps to send tips to police agencies across America. The tips indicate who to stop, when to search, and where to go.

    Most of these wiretaps were apparently illegal. The entire operation was a deep secret until American Patriot Edward Snowden blew the whistle on Federal Constitutional corruption.

    How was the operation kept secret? How did investigators explain the basis for their searches?

    In short, they lied. Prosecutors and investigators created an unconstitutional process “parallel construction”. They created fake trails of mythical evidence that pretended to have led investigators to the person they arrested. They then deceived judges and prosecutors, leading them to believe that the fake evidence was real evidence. Because the evidence was faked, it always contained precisely what was needed to do what SOD wanted. Indications that the real evidence had been misinterpreted, tended to prove innocence, or was simply inadmissible was swept out of sight.

    We now learn that the SOD program was supplemented by a private-enterprise program “Hemisphere”. Under Hemisphere, the Federal government had access to AT&T corporate records of all phone calls that had passed through their switching system as early as 1986. The New York Times for September 2 reports that federal agencies paid for AT&T employees to be placed in Federal groups and supply the telephone records.

    What sort of trial is based on fake evidence? It’s no trial at all. It’s a lynching. The process may pretend to be a trial, but when a judicial proceeding is based on manufactured evidence the outcome is certain, no different than a Stalinist show trial.

    The computer process that gives you these trials needs a name. Readers, I give you LynchMaster, the software that generates inadmissible evidence at computer speeds.

    And what about the victims? What about the people convicted on parallel-constructed false evidence? We can infer that the victims are mostly male, and mostly African-American. After all, if the prosecutor is stuck with a trial, he wants for his record a series of convictions. Pandering to American prejudice is a way to go. And the convicted ones?

    As too few Americans realize, the life of an African-American man in a male prison is all too often a life of being sodomized and killed by his fellow prisoners. When a man is sent off after a phony trial, phony because it was based on phony evidence, there was no law and order. There was a committee of vigilantes who decided who was guilty, staged their phony trial, and sent their victim off to his doom. The African-Americans who died in prison after their phony trials were murdered. They were murdered by SOD, murdered just as surely as if the Virginia boys at SOD had donned their white sheets, burned their cross, and tossed a rope over the old apple tree.

    The Libertarian position is that the national security agencies have regardless of intent become a grave threat to our Republic. Most of them need to be shut down.

  119. William Saturn March 7, 2016

    Mr. Sullivan,

    It’s really a shame. I remember IPR once had someone who posted Green Party stories frequently, but, as we all know, he was removed as an editor after deciding to go on a comment deletion spree. It’s too bad he can no longer be trusted.

  120. P.J. Sullivan March 7, 2016

    Still no IPR coverage of actual votes cast in actual Green Party presidential primaries and caucuses in Mass., Minnesota and Maine.

  121. Andy March 6, 2016

    “Corey Fauconier
    March 5, 2016 at 10:23

    I hope my correspondence finds you in good health and spirits. Please be advised that the Libertarian Party of Virginia State Convention is being streamed live on Daniel Clark Network Radio download U Stream app. Contact Corey Fauconier on FB or Twitter @CoreyMFauconier”

    If this is the guy who put out that music video for the Carl Loser campaign last year, great job! Keep up the good work.

  124. Corey Fauconier March 5, 2016

    I hope my correspondence finds you in good health and spirits. Please be advised that the Libertarian Party of Virginia State Convention is being streamed live on Daniel Clark Network Radio download U Stream app. Contact Corey Fauconier on FB or Twitter @CoreyMFauconier

  125. steve m March 4, 2016

    “Dozens of prominent Republicans have pledged to ditch the GOP in the general election if Donald Trump is the nominee. The question is: Where will they go instead?

    Anti-Trump leaders have tossed around a variety of alternatives to staying home or voting Democratic, including backing a third party or drafting Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, to run as an independent. None of them appear easy to pull off, though they are not necessarily impossible.

    All of the most popular scenarios the #NeverTrump side has floated come with serious problems of their own, either due to logistics or politics. ”

    http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/anti-trump-forces-have-few-options-third-party-alternative

  127. steve m March 4, 2016

    to be a secure connection you would be using https://independentpoliticalreport.com then because the domain independentpoliticalreport.com doesn’t have a valid (expensive) security certificate your browser trying to check it gets the it is not a secure connection.

    the secure connection also tries to use a different port 443 I believe instead of port 80 the usual http location

  128. Thane Eichenauer March 4, 2016

    ‘My browser is telling me that IPR is configured improperly and is not a secure connection. Anyone have any insight on this?’

    I have yet to receive this message. I only use Google Chrome Version 48.0.2564.116 m on Windows 8.1.

    The two most common reasons for such a problem in the past has always been computers with incorrect time and outdated browsers.

  129. Andy March 4, 2016

    “William Saturn
    March 4, 2016 at 17:27

    ‘My browser is telling me that IPR is configured improperly and is not a secure connection. Anyone have any insight on this?’

    I’m experiencing the same issue.”

    I have had the same thing happen several times, and when using different computers. I wonder if this has anything to do with all of the trolling that has gone on here.

  130. steve m March 4, 2016

    are you trying to use the https protocol?

  131. William Saturn March 4, 2016

    “My browser is telling me that IPR is configured improperly and is not a secure connection. Anyone have any insight on this?”

    I’m experiencing the same issue.

  132. Freudian slip March 4, 2016

    I think Jill meant exactly what she said.

  133. P.J. Sullivan March 4, 2016

    Jill Stein won the Tuesday Green Party contests in Massachusetts and Minnesota.

    Unofficial results in the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party presidential primary show Jill Stein winning with 51.8% of the vote. Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry received 9.5%, Darryl Cherney 3.6%, Bill Kreml 3.6%, and Kent Mesplay 2.6%. “No Preference” received 12.8%, with the remaining votes assorted write-ins.

    The Green Party of Minnesota announced that Jill Stein won Tuesday’s presidential caucuses with 84.3% of the vote. Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry took 5.9%, Bill Kreml 4.8%, Darryl Cherney 2.4%, and Kent Mesplay 1.2%.

  134. George Phillies March 3, 2016

    18:38. Jill, did you mean RP? George

    In other notes, I have received my first direct mail piece. From Robinson.

  136. Thomas L. Knapp March 3, 2016

    I’m not seeing it in Chrome unless I intentionally specify https (secure connection rather than regular old web connection).

    I wonder if maybe Warren is messing around with making the site all https all the time, as many sites are going to, and having certificate problems or something.

  137. Jill Pyeatt Post author | March 3, 2016

    Mine says that, too. I have no idea why.

  138. Jeremy March 3, 2016

    My browser is telling me that IPR is configured improperly and is not a secure connection. Anyone have any insight on this?

  139. Thomas L. Knapp March 3, 2016

    langa,

    Well, now, that’s interesting. I wouldn’t have guessed it, and now that Stone has said it I can be nearly 100% sure that it’s not the case.

  141. Tylor March 2, 2016

    Btw, I know this topic was already talked about in another article on IPR here, I’m just posting the link to the NYT article on the same topic.

  144. Losty March 2, 2016

    Might be a Load of coal, Or Might be something:

    Willard “Mitt” Romney to speak on 2016 Presidential campaign
    Thursday 11:30 Eastern, From Utah.

    Maybe the Politico article coming to fruition? If so, it Would be Independent Related. heck, Maybe Constitution. Libertarian? Naaa… Then again, Could be a Lump of coal.

    His Facebook Listed Website still goes to Romney for America, Inc. No Mention of any campaign, or Party…
    Wonder if updated or the one he closed out 2012 with…

  146. Christopher Feeney March 2, 2016

    NJ Libertarian Party

    Free Student Membership
    http://njlp.org/party info/student

    NJLP State Convention
    March 12 9:00AM
    Tavern on the Lake
    Hightstown, NJ

    http//njlp.org/convention

  147. Deran March 1, 2016

    There’s a couple of short interesting pieces at The North Star:

    An interview with another socialist POTUS candidate who is not seeking any ballot status in any state. And yet she is bitter abt the lack of support she has generated among socialists.

    http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=12456

    An interview with someone in the Green Party of Oklahoma abt that state parties endorsement of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary On March 1

    http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=12463

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