The national LP convention still has party members spinning over the events that happened, from Donald Trump’s raucous appearance, to the ascension of left Libertarian Chase Oliver to the position of being the LP’s 2024 Presidential candidate. Be the response boos or cheers (the media only covered the booing) Trump was indeed brave to show up, and the LP was in turn brave and respectful to let him and RFK Jr. speak. What other party would be honest enough to boo a major convention speaker? What other major candidate would even mention Ross Ulbricht’s name, let alone offer to commute his sentence? The progressive Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur comments on the controversy, and its implications for libertarian philosophy:

Former President Trump showed up in person at the 2024 Con! The appearance is fully unprecedented for the party, regardless of what you think about the Orange man. He made a pitch for Libertarians to consider nominating him, or voting for him in November to rid us of “the worst President ever” (Biden), including Trump promising to add Libertarians to his Cabinet and Administration. His full comments are here:

It’s not over yet, but a British court has given Julian Assange a lifeline, so two cheers for political liberty. He’s been in prison WITHOUT CHARGE for five years now, for practicing free speech journalism by exposing US war crimes in the Iraq war. Biden won’t drop the espionage prosecution, but if this ordeal drags out until 2025, Trump might. It was widely speculated that the reason why Assange was not pardoned in 2021 is that Sen. Mitch McConnell threatened to not whip up votes in the Senate to protect Trump from conviction in his second impeachment trial. DemocracyNow! reports:

When libertarian vs liberal priorities meet: Biden wants to get re-elected, and retrieve much of youth vote he has lost. So suddenly, like a miracle, his administration is finally changing the scheduling of marijuana to Schedule III, just in time for November. According to PIX 11 TV:

The Justice Department took a major step this week, formally moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. The process isn’t finalized yet, but if approved, the plan would drop marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) classifies substances into five categories, denoted with Roman numerals, based on how likely they are to be abused. Schedule I drugs are those with the highest potential to create dependency issues and are considered to have “no currently accepted medical use.”

As it stands, marijuana is a Schedule I drug, along with heroin, LSD and ecstasy. The new rule under consideration would move it down two levels to Schedule III, below Schedule II drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, oxycodone and others.

Other Schedule III drugs include ketamine, testosterone and Tylenol with codeine. Schedule IV drugs like Xanax, Valium and Ambien are considered even less risky, as are Schedule V drugs like cough medicine and several prescription medications.

What would change if marijuana is officially reclassified?

Rescheduling does not decriminalize marijuana or make it legal for recreational use on the federal level.

Even if marijuana is rescheduled, it would still be a controlled substance that’s subject to federal rules and regulations.

Instead, the change would recognize the medical uses of cannabis and acknowledge it has less potential for abuse than some of the nation’s most dangerous drugs. Becoming a Schedule III drug would make it easier for research to be done on marijuana as well….Read More

Chair John Clifton has composed a10 part essay response, to critical points raised about his talk on the political issues and due process violations involved with the Jan 6 protestors, as discussed at the LPQC May meeting. Clifton holds that most voters know the 2020 election was rigged, and that the jailed Jan 6 protestors are hostages. Ron Paul, Rasmussen and other polls confirm this, and that is why the “election deniers/insurrection” narrative has failed for years:

Were the January 6 Protestors Traitors, or Hostages?

The 5/11 QL meeting circumstances (at Donovan’s Pub, being crowded at the smaller table and space provided) caused me to be more informal, shorten my presentation and skip the references I provided, which you didn’t look at. Briefly:

The “sore loser” and “Trump simply lies” phrases are simply claims, not proven. His job was not to singlehandedly reform the election laws of multiple different states. The over 1000 sworn affidavits on record of direct eyewitnesses to election rigging (not to mention the videos, from MI and GA, etc) are sufficient starting points for investigations that basically did not happen in the weeks following the 2020 election.

The election was not litigated at that time, as the judges were under pressure to dismiss the 60+ cases before they could get to an evidentiary hearing stage where the facts could be presented, or they could be litigated. Many of the judges simply issued a judgment WITHOUT any consideration of that, which the “getaway media” simply spun as “the case was debunked.” I have mentioned these details for four years, especially since I have seen (as a past state Chair) that these are the main tactics biased judges in New York have used to rule against LPNY in case after case… Read More

Tri-state residents have until May 7, 2025 to obtain a Real ID in order to fly or take an Amtrak domestically, among other restrictions. Other than a passport, your existing ID will not be accepted by the Feds. Ron Paul has long opposed it. Here’s what CATO thinks:

Andrew Napolitano chooses Rectenwald ahead of the LP national convention:

Libertarian news rarely gets bigger than this, from the Associated Press:

Former President Donald Trump will speak at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C. later this month as he tries to woo voters beyond the Republican base and avoid losing support to independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Libertarians are some of the most independent and thoughtful thinkers in our Country, and I am honored to join them in Washington, DC, later this month,” Trump said in a statement issued Wednesday. “We must all work together to help advance freedom and liberty for every American, and a second Trump Administration will achieve that goal.”

He went on to make the case that, “If Libertarians join me and the Republican Party, where we have many Libertarian views, the election won’t even be close. We cannot have another four years of death, destruction, and incompetence. WE WILL WORK TOGETHER AND WIN!”

The event comes as Trump’s campaign has ramped up its attacks against Kennedy, who is running as an independent against Trump and President Joe Biden after dropping his Democratic primary bid. Kennedy has appealed to disaffected Democrats and Republicans looking for an alternative to the pending rematch of the 2020 election… Read more

It appears younger Americans (in college or not) and much of the rest of the world (Muslim, or not) are no longer going to accept open-ended, unconditional and one-sided US support for Israeli policy, militarism, and narratives, even if it means being accused of violent hate. Some maybe are guilty of it, many are not, but who is sorting this out, as opposed to smearing the students wholesale? The sit-ins at Columbia University and other campuses are “mostly peaceful” (by previously established BLM standards), but amount to civil disobedience on private property, as a legal matter. Whatever, simply arresting kids while not engaging their concerns, will not end the standoff.

Who will stand for ending our intervention in the Mideast, and against escalation leading to the further slaughter of civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinian? Who is putting that first? Adopting that antiwar priority would provide libertarian meaning to the current chaotic situation. As a comment on the below video from the Jimmy Dore show notes, doubling down on war funding and war-hawk slogans will not work this time: “The ‘only Israel matters!’ and ‘only Oct 7 matters!’ neo-con shills like Speaker Mike Johnson decry any dissent as anti-Semitic, despite the inconvenient fact that many of the protestors are Jewish.”

Join QL on May 11 at noon, to hear LPQC Chair John Clifton speak on the topic of “January 6 Capitol Protestors—Traitors, or Hostages?” Discussion will be held at our Woodside location at Donovan’s Pub on 57-24 Roosevelt Ave, in the family room area. This address will follow its monthly business session, covering Queens LP planning and subcommittee updates. Clifton examines the mainstream “insurrection” narrative about the 1/6/21 events, including motivations behind the riot that followed, along with civil liberties and due process violations protestors experienced.

Are the 3 years of harsh pre-trial detention that over 850 ‘J6’ demonstrators were subjected to, over “violence” just 150 of them allegedly performed, in any way constitutional? Why are an additional 1,000 suspects still being sought or sentenced, including many who weren’t even there on Jan 6? An upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the “obstructing a government proceeding” issue, the “were they set up?” question, Lawfare and related matters will also be covered.

Attendees will also get an update on the LP efforts in the statewide petition drive to get Larry Sharpe on the ballot in New York for President (if you want a petition form we should have blanks available).  Details and Directions

Ice Cube (and a commentator) schools Chris Cuomo on a more effective, pander-free form of outreach to minorities in 2024:

Excerpt of Reason’s take on the implications for political liberty by new movies like Civil War:

…Civil War is a political movie with no overt politics. It’s a war movie in which the nature of the dispute is wholly unclear. It’s a movie about journalism and journalistic ethics in which the media as we know it is a hollowed-out shell of itself, almost an afterthought. It’s an of-the-moment, extrapolated-from-the-thinkpieces movie about a polarized and divided country that refuses to either explain the causes of that division or propose anything like a solution. If you’re looking for a headline, a diagnosis, a lead, a thesis sentence, a compact Tweetable lesson, a talking point for a cable news roundtable, you won’t find it. Civil War is designed to leave you feeling empty, exhausted, and adrift. It’s a war movie without a take.

Written and directed by Alex Garland, the writer behind The Beach and 28 Days Later and the mastermind behind Ex Machina, Annihilation, and the still-underappreciated Devs, Civil War is not quite a science fiction movie, but it bears some of the same genre hallmarks. It’s a dystopian thought experiment about the nature of humanity and morality in a world where the rules and conventions that are usually taken for granted have broken down.

As with those earlier works, what Garland posits is that the bonds of civil society—the customs and expectations and hidden social rules that ensure that most people act with something like decency and respect toward each other—are far more fragile and contingent than we think. Civilization, in Garland’s stories, does not uphold itself.

When the movie begins, the American civil war is already well underway, to the point where it’s almost taken for granted.

The Western Forces (WF), a coalition made up of California and Texas, are making their way toward Washington, D.C., where a president (Nick Offerman) who stayed beyond his second term in office remains. A third faction, the Florida Alliance, is also in play, perhaps in alliance with the WF, perhaps with its own goals. But the nature of the conflict, and the backstory, remains murky.

Garland’s script plays coy on what seem like crucial context questions, briefly referencing, for example, an “antifa massacre.” But wait, was the massacre against antifa? Or by antifa? If you’re looking for answers to questions like what are the precise political aims of the factions? you won’t find them. It’s war. It’s complicated, and it’s ugly. Mostly, it’s about staying alive…

Read the Rest.

A quick April 15 reminder from the famous novelist, concerning how taxes amount to legalized theft:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pypWO_3HcY8

From an LPNY release:

LPNY Launches 2024 Petition Drive to Get Presidential Candidates on the Ballot

Larry Sharpe, Rich Purtell to Stand-In on Petition until Libertarian National Convention is Held

Albany, NY – The Libertarian Party in New York has placed a presidential candidate on statewide election ballots every presidential year since 1976. According to Andrew Kolstee, Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY), the new requirement of 45,000 valid petition signatures during the six-week petition period from April 16–May 28 will be hard to attain. To qualify, LPNY must use “stand-in” temporary candidates as the national party doesn’t nominate candidates until the Libertarian National Convention is held in Washington, D.C. from May 24-26.

The LPNY held a nominating convention for temporary candidates in Watkins Glen, New York in March, and selected Larry Sharpe to stand-in as the Presidential candidate on the statewide petition. Sharpe was the party’s candidate for Governor in 2018 and 2022. Rich Purtell, 2nd Vice-Chair of the LPNY, was selected as the stand-in for Vice President. Purtell has run for office as a Libertarian candidate several times.

According to LPNY Chair, Andrew Kolstee, the 45,000 petition signature requirement in New York for independent bodies over a six-week period represents the highest number of signatures per day required of any state. “It used to be 15,000 signatures and we had been able to get that every time, but Governor Cuomo tripled the requirements in part ZZZ of the 2020-2021 budget,” said Kolstee. “We went through a three-year legal battle going all the way up to the Supreme Court, but they didn’t take our case.”

“The new requirements also set a precedent in 2022, which was the first time there were only two choices for Governor in New York since 1946,” said Kolstee. “As long as strenuous ballot access requirements remain in effect, New Yorkers will be stuck with two parties. We don’t want to see that happen, especially when Americans are more and more dissatisfied with the two major parties, and their respective presumptive nominees.”

The state party is making an urgent plea for petition volunteers, and voters are encouraged to sign petition pages to enable Libertarian Party challengers this election, even though the names of those challengers will not be known until the Libertarian National Convention is held.

For more information, go to https://lpny.org/2024-petitioning-portal