Colorado Libertarian convention cancelled

Colorado Libertarians cancel state convention, blast state's 'draconian regulations' | Colorado Politics - Ernest Luning:

March 19, 2020 - "The Colorado Libertarian Party on Thursday canceled its annual convention in response to an order issued by Gov. Jared Polis limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people to curb the spread of the new coronavirus. The party, which counts more than 46,000 registered voters in Colorado, is developing 'a digital option for conducting necessary party business,' state party chairman Victoria Reynolds said in an online post that called the public health order issued late Wednesday 'draconian regulations.'

"State Libertarians had been planning to convene April 3-5 at a Lakewood hotel after moving their annual meeting from Glenwood Springs earlier this week, due to an order by a local health department banning large gatherings.

"Polis issued a series of executive orders Wednesday night to further restrict public gatherings in an effort to slow the spread of the virus, including extending an order requiring all schools to close through April 17 and keeping downhill ski areas closed through April 6. The Colorado Department of Public Health issued an order Wednesday prohibiting gatherings of more than 10 people, in accordance with federal recommendations, Polis said.

"Reynolds told Colorado Politics that the party had expected at least 100 people to attend the weekend convention, which featured speakers, panel discussions and a Roaring '20s party. At the meeting, the Colorado Libertarians [were] planning to nominate candidates to Colorado's general election ballot and send delegates to the national convention, as well as elect board members and take care of other party business."

Reynolds said ... that the government restrictions fly in the face of the party's basic tenants. 'It has long been a cornerstone of Libertarian beliefs that the world works best when people use personal responsibility and exercise their right to freely assemble,' she said. 'Not only are political and activist organizations forced to set their work aside when people need them most, but businesses have been forced to close, as well. By shutting down our convention and others like it, the state of Colorado has compounded the economic damage already being done through our society grinding to a halt.'"

Read more: https://www.coloradopolitics.com/quick-hits/colorado-libertarians-cancel-state-convention-blast-state-s-draconian-regulations/article_7ee5a7c8-69fd-11ea-9bfb-477374d4fdfb.html

New Colorado governor identifies as libertarian

Jared Polis, Colorado’s governor, is an unusual breed: a libertarian Democrat - That’s the sound of the Polis:

"March 30, 2019 - "If Colorado were a piece of jewellery it would be a mood ring, changing with the country’s political temperature.... After the 2018 election it became a Democratic trifecta, with the party controlling the governor’s office, statehouse and senate.... Last autumn’s election was the most significant for Colorado’s political realignment in more than 40 years, says Floyd Ciruli of Ciruli Associates, a political consulting firm.

“'The type of Republican who does well here is not a Trump Republican. Our suburban, swing electorate is more attracted to the Reagan version of Republicanism, the hopeful version of Republicanism,' says Jared Polis, the state’s new governor....

"Mr Polis, the first openly gay man to be elected as governor of any state, championed a progressive agenda on the campaign trail, but he does not sound like your average Democrat. He backs universal health care, an expansion of full-day kindergarten, paid parental leave and investments in renewable energy. But he also wants to lower the income-tax rate. He identifies as a libertarian. 'The less government intervention in our private lives, the better. I think that’s a value many Coloradans have on the left and right,' he says.

"The legislature, which is now in full session, will not share that sense of moderation and is likely to pull Mr Polis further left than he wants, according to Mr Ciruli. Legislators are considering bills that could enrage conservative voters.... Lawmakers are unlikely to let Mr Polis lower income-tax rates, which he wants to do.

"Mr Polis, who is 43, spent his youth as an entrepreneur, building companies. He helped to transform his parents’ company, Blue Mountain Arts, into an online greeting-card firm that was sold for around $780m in 1999, and built up ProFlowers, an online florist, which was sold for nearly $480m in 2006. Today his net worth is estimated at several hundred million dollars, and he has freely used his fortune to pursue his political career. He won his first post in Colorado in 2000, after he reportedly spent $1.2m to win a seat on the Board of Education (his opponent spent $10,000). He went on to serve five terms in Congress before running for governor last year. He spent more than $23m of his own money on his campaign, or around 97% of the total raised....

"Mr Polis may also have higher aspirations, perhaps to be the country’s first openly gay president. That would be a Mount Elbert-sized peak to climb. Mr Polis has the credentials of a computer geek and the charisma of one, too. To think beyond Colorado is to rush ahead in the story. The state’s political transformation is still relatively new. Whether it lasts will depend in part on the success of Mr Polis’s reign."

Rad more: https://www.economist.com/united-states/2019/03/30/jared-polis-colorados-governor-is-an-unusual-breed-a-libertarian-democrat
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Third libertarian Republican elected to U.S. House

Libertarian Republicans excelled in the midterm elections - Jack Hunter, Washington Examiner:

November 7, 2018 - "On Tuesday night, Democrats took the House and Republicans kept the Senate. Expect to hear opinions and analysis of what this might mean for President Trump and the 2020 election in the weeks and months to come. But how did the small but enduring libertarian faction within the Republican Party do?...

"The most high-profile libertarian Republican in Congress, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, was not up for re-election. The next-most high-profile libertarian Republicans in Congress, Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, both won re-election by double-digits.

"Amash, who represents a purple district, has been openly critical of Trump, and his independent streak appeared to pay off for him Tuesday. Massie represents a deep-red district, hasn’t hesitated to criticize the president, yet simultaneously has been more sympathetic. Massie predictably defeated his Democratic opponent in a blowout.

"Republican novice Denver Riggleman won his race for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. 'Riggleman, a newcomer to politics, ran a positive campaign based on libertarian ideas,' reported National Review's Jibran Khan. But Khan also noted what the libertarian-leaning Riggleman was not: 'His victory, which came on the heels of Corey Stewart’s failed run for the Senate, should be a message for the Virginia GOP'....

"The soundly defeated Corey Stewart represented not only some of the worst aspects of today’s Right in his racist appeal, however intentional or unintentional those appeals were, but his competitive GOP primary opponent Virginia House member Nick Freitas was a libertarian Republican....  Even if he wouldn’t have beaten Democrat Tim Kaine, it is easy to see the libertarian Freitas having significantly more appeal to a larger swath of voters than Stewart. Hopefully this is a lesson Virginia Republicans remember.

"A similar message was sent in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, where Republican Katie Arrington was defeated by Democrat Joe Cunningham. Arrington defeated incumbent Rep. Mark Sanford in the Republican primary by touting her pro-Trump credentials.... [A] Democrat hadn’t won [there] in 40 years.... Arrington’s defeat shows that there are limits to merely hanging your hat on Trump, even in red South Carolina. It goes without saying that the libertarian Sanford would have had far more appeal.

"Another libertarian victory of sorts actually came from the Democratic side, where Colorado’s Jared Polis became the first openly gay governor. Polis is the sole Democratic member of the House Liberty Caucus founded by Justin Amash.... This is not to say that the new Democratic governor will always act along liberty lines, but the one Democrat arguably most sympathetic to libertarian ideas and issues got a big win Tuesday.

"The biggest losses for libertarian Republicans were the defeat of Rep. Dave Brat in Virginia’s 7th District, and Eric Brakey, with a failed Senate challenge to Maine’s incumbent Angus King, an independent who overwhelming votes with Democrats. Brat, also a member of the House Liberty Caucus, made waves when he defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014 — and his loss Tuesday was razor-thin. Brakey, a popular two-term Maine state senator, is only 30 years old, a thorough libertarian Republican in the mold of Rand Paul, and hopefully this won’t be the last we hear from him.

"Overall, Tuesday showed ... that libertarian Republicanism not only endures, but prevails, and could be the brand best positioned for future GOP victories."

Read more: https://gdspoliticalanimal.blogspot.com/2018/11/third-libertarian-republican-elected-to.html
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Austin Petersen loses Missouri Senate primary

Bitcoin-Friendly U.S. Senate Candidate Austin Petersen Loses Republican Primary -
CCN:

August 8, 2018 - "Pro-bitcoin U.S. Senate candidate Austin Petersen has lost his Republican primary bid to challenge incumbent Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill in the upcoming mid-term election.

"Petersen, who accepted the largest single bitcoin donation in federal election history and was also forced to return several six-figure cryptocurrency contributions due to campaign finance regulations, was soundly defeated by Attorney General Josh Hawley, who received 58.6 percent of the 663,553 votes...

"Despite garnering endorsements from several state-level Missouri politicians, Petersen finished a distant third, receiving 8.2 percent of the vote and coming in just behind Tony Monetti, who had been endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

"Petersen’s candidacy was always a longshot, and the Republican National Committee (RNC) had already begun campaigning for Hawley long before last night’s primary. Hawley had also won endorsements from major local newspapers, including the Kansas City Star, who said that many of Peterson’s ideas are “best left to theoretical discussions in academia, or ignored altogether'....

"For cryptocurrency supporters, Petersen’s candidacy marked an opportunity to add another pro-bitcoin voice to Congress.... As CCN reported, some legislators — such as Congressional Blockchain Caucus members Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) — have embraced the burgeoning field, while others, perhaps most notably Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), have called for the government to pursue an outright ban on cryptocurrency.

"Previously, Petersen ran for president as a Libertarian Party candidate during the 2016 presidential election, finishing second ... to former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who ultimately received 3.28 percent of the popular vote."

Read more: https://www.ccn.com/bitcoin-friendly-u-s-senate-candidate-austin-petersen-loses-republican-primary/
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NSA deleting millions of unwarranted call records

NSA Purging Millions of Improperly Collected Call Records Is Important (and Not About Trump) - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Scott Shackford:

July 3, 2018 - "The National Security Agency (NSA) has announced that it is deleting millions of phone and text records it has gathered since 2015, because it is holding a bunch of records it was not supposed to have....

"In this case, Congress passed the USA Freedom Act in 2015 to better control (and potentially limit) the NSA's access to the metadata (that is, everything but the conversations' actual content) of Americans' communications. This reform was part of a backlash against the mass surveillance exposed by Edward Snowden, and the bill was passed after some privacy-minded lawmakers, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), forced a part of the Patriot Act to expire that was being used to justify mass amounts of domestic snooping.

"Under the USA Freedom Act, the NSA no longer collects and combs through our communications metadata itself. Instead it now has to request records from telecommunications companies using strictly defined search terms....

"The problem, as Charlie Savage of The New York Times uncovered, is that the telecom companies were accidentally sending too many records in response to NSA requests. And so the agency was receiving private personal information about Americans' communications data that it neither asked for nor had the right to examine:

"As a result, when the agency then fed those phone numbers back to the telecoms to get the communications logs of all of the people who had been in contact with its targets, the agency also gathered some data of people unconnected to the targets. And so the agency was receiving private personal information about Americans' communications data that it neither asked for nor had the right to examine.... 'If the first information was incorrect, even though on its face it looked like any other number, then when we fed that back out, by definition we'd get records back on the second hop that we did not have authority to collect,' [an NSA spokesman] said....

"The NSA requested more than 500 million telecom records just last year. It is unable to determine which records it has the authorization to collect, so it is purging all of them....

"Many of the same privacy-minded lawmakers who managed to force some of the surveillance authorities of the Patriot Act to expire also opposed the USA Freedom Act. Congressmen like Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) voted against the bill because they believed it still gave the government too much power to collect our records without warrants. Sen. Paul rejected the USA Freedom Act for the same reason....

"Unfortunately, Trump has shown that he's perfectly fine with snooping on Americans  ... [as he] happily signed a bill in January renewing and expanding the government's authority to secretly spy on Americans under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/07/03/nsa-purging-millions-of-improperly-colle
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Garrett, Amash, Young co-sponsor cannabis bill

A Republican Has Revived Bernie's Bill To End The Federal Weed Ban:

March 13, 2017 - "Last month, Rep. Tom Garrett of Virginia introduced a bill that seeks to remove virtually all traces of pot from the federal Controlled Substances Act so as to let states regulate themselves in our country's ongoing Green Rush. Garrett's office announced last month that the bill, originally put forth by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2015, was re-ignited to '[fulfill] a responsibility to create a level playing field across the country.'

"With help from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), lead original cosponsor for the bill, and from fellow Virginia republican Rep. Scott Taylor, Garrett submitted HR 1227 to the GOP-heavy 115th U.S. Congress on February 27, referring it [to] both the House Energy and Commerce and House Judiciary committees. In the two weeks since, Representatives Jared Polis (D-CO), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Don Young (R-AK), and Justin Amash (R-MI) have also signed on.

"Rep. Garrett commented in a release, 'Statistics indicate that minor narcotics crimes disproportionately hurt areas of lower socio-economic status and what I find most troubling is that we continue to keep laws on the books that we do not enforce." He noted, too, that Virginia is "more than capable of handling its own marijuana policy, as are states such as Colorado or California.'"

Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2017/03/13/a-house-republican-has-revived-bernies-bill-to-end-federal-ban-on-weed/#103df34d559e
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Congressional Cannabis Caucus formed

Just how mainstream is marijuana? There’s now a “Congressional Cannabis Caucus.” - The Washington Post - Christopher Ingraham:

February 17, 2017 - "This week, a bipartisan group of U.S. representatives formed the first-ever "Congressional Cannabis Caucus" to work on legislation related to marijuana legalization and regulation.

"Democrats Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jared Polis of Colorado teamed up with Republicans Dana Rohrabacher of California and Don Young of Alaska to form the caucus. Not coincidentally, all four representatives hail from states where recreational marijuana use is legal.

"'The federal government’s decades-long approach to marijuana is a colossal, cruel joke, and most Americans know it,' Rohrabacher said in a news release announcing the formation of the group Thursday. 'Not only have incalculable amounts of taxpayers’ dollars been wasted, but countless lives have been unnecessarily disrupted and even ruined by misguided law enforcement'....

"'Because of the conflicts between Federal and State law, marijuana-related issues are no longer theoretical — they are real, and they are affecting real people in Alaska and across the country,' Young said in a written statement. 'I look forward to working with the Congressional Cannabis Caucus to educate my colleagues in the House on the issues we are facing in Alaska, and hopefully to also develop solutions to these problems.'

"Earlier this month, Rohrabacher introduced a measure called the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2017, which would protect people from marijuana-related prosecutions under the Controlled Substances Act, provided that they were acting in compliance with state laws. The bill has drawn bipartisan co-sponsorship."

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/17/just-how-mainstream-is-marijuana-theres-now-a-congressional-cannabis-caucus/?utm_term=.0857036e7234
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