Forget Zohran, he’s just a kind-hearted socialist ideologue, perhaps in over his head. The real statist local bad guy/gal is Governor Hochul, who still harbors a desire to exile anti-government folks out of New York, yet also wants them to come back, so she can tax their socks off. Salty Cracker responds:

The current course of events speak for themselves, but listen in:

In this case, civil liberties lawyers are teaming up with a Bronx pastor. As the good old free speech advocates at the Institute for Justice report:

For years, New York-based nonprofit Upsolve, Inc., trained volunteers to give basic legal advice to New Yorkers facing debt-collection lawsuits under the protection of an injunction holding that this kind of advice was protected free speech. Upsolve’s program was successful, and in recent years other states have increasingly recognized that trained nonlawyer volunteers can offer valuable and necessary help to people who can’t afford lawyers—which is most people. But yesterday, a federal district court dismissed Upsolve’s lawsuit, holding that the First Amendment provides no right to talk to people about the law without a license. The Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit, public interest law firm that protects the First Amendment nationwide and that represents Upsolve in the lawsuit, promised to appeal.

“The First Amendment protects your right to talk to people about their lives, their problems, and even the law,” said IJ Attorney Betsy Sanz. “Realistically, New Yorkers get this kind of advice all the time from bartenders, barbers, and even chatbots. The only difference here is that Upsolve wants the advice to come from people with some relevant training and experience.” More

In local Libertarian news, a changing of the guard has occurred. At our humble LPQC convention on March 14, our current slate of officers were reaffirmed, with the major change of Francisco Olvera accepting the position as county Chair, as off and on long time chair John Clifton retires from local and state LPNY related officer roles. Olvera will also continue his work as primary online media promotion person for the county committee, while the position of Vice Chair will be vacant for the interim.

Clifton will continue to contribute to the website and some social media promotion activity. He says “I intend to pursue other projects such as a general speaker campaign, to discuss various liberty topics, and explore developing a NY political action committee to help keep the party on the ballot going forward.” He noted to his fellow QL members, “It has been my honor to serve the LP in official local and state roles for decades. I hope Queens is stabilized enough at this point to be left in your capable hands going forward.” The meetings of QL/LPQC/LP Queens will continue at our monthly luncheons at Stamatis Restaurant in Astoria, held on the second Saturday of each month at noon.

Legalized kidnapping may be back in business, courtesy of the NDAA. As Thomas Knapp puts it, “It’s a power play. It’s a way to remind us who’s in charge. It’s a threat. At any moment, the threat implies, our lords and masters can change our status from “tax serf” — generously allowed to make a living (so long as we hand over a substantial cut of every dollar earned), travel (so long as we “show our papers” and submit to groping on demand), etc. — to “military slave,” obligated to shed others’ blood and perhaps our own on command, at risk of death should we obey and on pain of death should we refuse.” Kim Iversen breaks it down below:

From Larry Sharpe’s latest press release:

Our campaign to rebuild New York continues to grow stronger every day.

Today, We are proud to announce that Michael Carpinelli will join our campaign as our candidate for Lieutenant Governor of New York.

Michael is a longtime public servant and law enforcement professional who has spent decades serving and protecting New Yorkers. He understands the challenges our communities face because he has lived them, and he shares our vision of restoring opportunity, affordability, and local control across our state.

“Michael understands the challenges everyday New Yorkers face because he has spent his career on the front lines serving our communities,” I said in announcing the ticket. “He shares our commitment to rebuilding New York by empowering local communities, restoring economic opportunity, and bringing common sense leadership back to Albany.”

– Larry Sharpe

Michael is equally committed to this mission.

“I’ve spent years serving and protecting New Yorkers. During that time, I’ve watched our state decline under decades of establishment Democrats like Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul. I’m proud to join a ticket that is ready to change that and turn New York around.

Larry Sharpe has the ability to build the kind of coalition that past Republican candidates couldn’t. He brings together people from across the political spectrum who simply want a better future for this state. I’m honored to stand with him as his Lieutenant Governor running mate. Together, we will focus on restoring local control, making New York affordable again, expanding opportunity, and rebuilding strong communities.”

— Michael Carpinelli

One more video update on the Iran mess, again from an amazing AI analytical source. Another in a month, when things get really, really bad:

Yes, it’s already a mess, as well as a steep stack of betrayals and contradictions, by a President who was supposed to be better than this. How is killing a religious leader, and launching a bombing campaign on a Muslim nation twice in 8 months any way to get to peace? BTW, don’t blame end times believers for this, blame the war hawks who misuse religion to argue that we must use force to make God’s prophecies come true, instead of letting the Almighty take care of things. As usual, there is no free speech afforded on cable media to any constitutional-minded critic who might object. Two anti-war voices cry out in the midst of the droning FOX wilderness:

LP  National Chair on the more statist than ever annual speech celebrating Big Government and more federal force:

The Empire Strikes First, again.  Anti-militarism, step aside, “we need major combat operations, in the name of peace!”  Before the fog of war, and all the propaganda “we’re noble, they’re evil” rhetoric sinks in full blast, this video tries to summarize the events more neutrally:

Join us for QL’s county convention as the Libertarian Party of Queens County (LPQC) on March 14 at noon. It will be held will be held at our Astoria location, Stamatis Greek and Mediterranean Restaurant at 29-09 23rd Avenue (in the back area, menu details at stamatisrestaurant.net). This official LP county committee function will serve as our full general meeting, where officers will be nominated or re-nominated, and committee or subcommittee members are to be appointed.

Outgoing LPQC Chair John Clifton will discuss the evolution of the county committee over the past decade, its current status and his own future plans. We hope to have an update by Larry Sharpe or a representative about the progress of his campaign for Governor, and upcoming LPNY petition drive. New candidates for office are given an opportunity to announce their interest in running and meet and greet those attending.

Attendees are asked to pay/renew dues of $20 to LPQC by or during the proceedings in order to vote. In this session members will again be offered to serve as LPQC officers, and as key persons or “team members” for the following positions: media contact, membership/fundraising, candidate/activist outreach, youth/campus outreach, community/business outreach. Please attend, and volunteer to help in one of these areas! Hope to see you there!  Details and Directions

The late civil rights leader (in 1999) applauds the future President as a “builder of people,” and for helping to provide the black community more access to free markets:

AJW notes how badly increasing the min wage to $19.56 is going. Oops, its supporters messed up when the regulations let businesses list the source of the cost increases for their services on the customer’s bill. This has caused a drop in sales, and with that a drop in hiring employees. Wow, people actually buy less when prices go up!:

Full Transcript of Schoenberg’s remarks from the February LPQC meeting:

America has many Founding Fathers. Many advocated liberty while owning slaves. Today, we will discuss four presidential Founding Fathers, imperfect as they were, who advanced the cause of liberty. They created a new nation, the United States of America, based upon that concept. These Founding Fathers had aspirations that the USA would become a city on a hill to serve as a shining example of liberty as we Americans all strive to perfect their vision of freedom for all.

I am doing these four presidential Founding Fathers not in the order that they were president but how they contributed to the chronological creation of liberty as if they were involved in building a house: John Adams served as the “architect,” providing the vision and organizing efforts; George Washington acted as the “engineer,” establishing leadership principles like civilian supremacy and serving for a limited time; Thomas Jefferson was the “publicist,” articulating the ideals; and James Madison functioned as the “inspector,” ensuring the legal framework was sound throughout the Constitution…Read the rest

Author Alan Stevo, excerpted below, on the imperfect delivery of populist liberty-friendly policy by Trump, as opposed to the “crybaby idealism” of those who want a perfect statesman in this depraved era. Maybe, all things considered, this is the best we can get:  

A Divide Between Realism And Idealism In Libertarian Thought

…There is a divide in libertarianism between realism and idealism; the divide does not have to exist.

Think deeper. Be as realistic as possible. Try to know the truth as hard as you can, as uncomfortably as you can.

In the life I live, Trump is a night-and-day difference from any Republican or Democrat President. They are not all the same. The two parties often put up similar candidates. But the idea that the two parties are the same has become an unreliable bromide. This is especially true after candidate Trump, essentially running as a third-party candidate for the Republican nomination, took over the White House as an unwelcome outsider, and is in the process of taking over a major American party.

Trump is different. Maybe his masonic handlers have allowed him to be different. Maybe his zionist blackmailers have allowed him to be different. I do not know. He is different.

He is measurably different in my life in a way no other President has been, and it was that way even when he was only a candidate.

Why I Do Not Hate Trump For Iran

What is he doing in Iran? I don’t know. But it’s uncomfortable for me, too.

I know I’m happy Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and John McCain are not President right now.

Trump does not appear to be the same as those people.

The indication from his first term is that Trump operates with much bluster, and is certainly not anti-war, but he also promotes peace in international affairs, though certainly not calm.

I am not going to join you in being in a state of outrage on this matter. Maybe outrage is deserved. I do not know.

Why I Do Not Hate The Police

Do I support the police state, as you claim? Yeah, sometimes. You see, I understand America needs Jesus. I also understand America doesn’t have Jesus. This divide leaves us in an unpleasant predicament.

I grew up in a place affected in an outsized way by macro-trends. I wish it weren’t that way, but the place I grew up in doesn’t have the luxury of nonchalance the way CNBC commentators do. It is working class.

Broad acceptance of Jesus once held things together. What we have is Jesus replacement #1: “Defund the Police!” And Jesus replacement #2: “Back the Blue!”  I am not in either category, but I know that a neighborhood that doesn’t get policed turns into a mess. That is the case today. It was not the case in 1930, nor in 1950, and in some places it is still not the case, but in most of America it is.

A neighborhood like the one I grew up in needs the police. It is a stop-gap measure. What we really need is Jesus, but absent Jesus and absent the police, everything falls apart.

I live in daily reality that recognizes how nice idealism is; I also know how thankful I am for cops that occasionally strong-arm a thug and get him to stay out of the neighborhood.…More