John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail cell

Antivirus software creator John McAfee found dead in Spanish jail | CBC News:

Jun 23, 2021  - "John McAfee, the creator of McAfee antivirus software, was found dead in his jail cell near Barcelona in an apparent suicide Wednesday, hours after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the United States to face tax charges punishable by decades in prison, authorities said. 

"The eccentric cryptocurrency promoter and tax opponent whose history of legal troubles spanned from Tennessee to Central America to the Caribbean was discovered at the Brians 2 penitentiary in northeastern Spain. Security personnel tried to revive him, but the jail's medical team finally certified his death, a statement from the regional Catalan government said....

"The statement didn't identify McAfee by name, but said he was a 75-year-old U.S. citizen awaiting extradition to the country. A Catalan government source familiar with the case who was not authorized to be named in media reports confirmed to The Associated Press that it was McAfee.

"Spain's National Court on Monday ruled in favour of extraditing McAfee, 75, who had argued in a hearing earlier this month that the charges against him by prosecutors in Tennessee were politically motivated and that he would spend the rest of his life in prison if he was returned to the U.S. The court's ruling was made public on Wednesday and was open for appeal, with any final extradition order also needing to get approval from the Spanish Cabinet.

"The entrepreneur was arrested last October at Barcelona's international airport. A judge ordered at that time that McAfee should be held in jail while awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings.

"McAfee had been charged the same month in Tennessee with evading taxes after failing to report income from promoting cryptocurrencies while he did consulting work, made speaking engagements and sold the rights to his life story for a documentary. The criminal charges carried a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

"Nishay Sanan, the Chicago-based attorney defending him on those cases, said by phone that ...  Spanish authorities have not given his legal team a cause of death, and he wants to know if there were video cameras in McAfee's cell or in the prison. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Memphis declined to comment Wednesday."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/john-mcafee-found-dead-prison-spain-1.6077412

Hornberger wins CA Libertarian primary with 18%

Libertarian Super Tuesday: Big Night for Jacob Hornberger, NOTA; John McAfee Drops Out and Backs Vermin Supreme | Reason.com - Matt Welch:

March 4, 2020 - "Libertarian Party primaries and caucuses are nonbinding, which means that no delegates are awarded.... Still, the election results provide a snapshot of what party members are thinking less than three months out.

"So far, the trend line is unmistakable — the Libertarian front-runner at this point is ... Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger. After previously winning the Iowa and Minnesota caucuses, and getting the second-most first-place votes in the New Hampshire primary as a write-in, Hornberger was the biggest human vote-getter in two of the three Super Tuesday primaries that have posted results so far.

"In California, with 99.9 percent of precincts reporting, Hornberger led a field of 13 candidates with 17.5 percent of the vote. Tied for second with 11.6 percent were former military officer and Honolulu County Neighborhood Board member Ken Armstrong, and political satirist Vermin Supreme, the latter of whom previously won the New Hampshire primary. Lagging just behind at 11.4 percent was 1996 L.P. vice presidential nominee and academic Jo Jorgensen.

""Massachusetts officials don't expect to have an official statewide count until next week. According to unofficial numbers ... comprising roughly three-quarters of ballots, ... 'None of the Above' (NOTA) was leading with around 19 percent of the vote, followed by Vermin Supreme with 11.5 percent and Hornberger with 9.4 percent. Write-ins, which have not yet been broken down, amounted to a combined 29.3 percent....

"And in North Carolina, ... Hornberger again paced the biped field with 8.7 percent, though NOTA stomped with 29.8 percent. (NOTA wasn't on the ballot in California.) Just behind Hornberger with 8.2 percent was antivirus pioneer and international man of mystery John McAfee, who promptly dropped out, threw his support behind Vermin Supreme, and announced his candidacy for vice president....

"Not on any of the three Super Tuesday Libertarian ballots were recent entrants Lincoln Chafee (the former U.S. senator and Rhode Island governor, who finished second in the Iowa L.P. caucus and tied for fourth in Minnesota); entrepreneur/ex-convict Mark Whitney (11th and fourth, respectively, in same), and former million-vote-getting Georgia gubernatorial candidate John Monds (15th and fourth).

"Meanwhile, the leading fundraiser in the race, activist and veteran Adam Kokesh, finished sixth in California with 7.9 percent, tied for eighth in Massachusetts with 4.4 percent, and ninth in North Carolina with 3.5 percent."

Read more: https://reason.com/2020/03/04/libertarian-super-tuesday-big-night-for-jacob-hornberger-nota-john-mcafee-drops-out-and-backs-vermin-supreme/

NOTA wins North Carolina Libertarian primary

by George J. Dance

According to results posted on Wikipedia, None of the Above (NOTA) won the North Carolina Libertarian Party primary held on Super Tuesday, March 3. There were 6,904 votes cast in the primary, the largest number of Libertarians to vote a presidential candidate preference so far in 2020. Less than 500 people voted in the three previous contests (in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Minnesota) combined, making the Super Tuesday votes the first with a large enough sample size to indicate Libertarians' actual preference.

Of those 6,904 votes, 30% (2,060) went to NOTA. Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger placed first among the declared candidates, with 604 votes, or 9% of the vote (making NOTA's margin of victory more than 20 percentage points).

Close behind Hornberger were John McAfee with 570 votes, and Kim Ruff (who suspended her campaign in January after losing to Vermin Supreme in New Hampshire) with 545. The only other candidates to receive at least 5% of the vote were Supreme (410), Ken Armstrong (366), and Jo Jorgensen (316).

Neither former Rhode Island Governor and Senator Lincoln Chafee nor "million-vote man" John Monds received any votes, and they may not have been on the ballot. I have asked the North Carolina Party to clarify the point, and will update the article when received.

Look out, McAfee's back

John McAfee To Run For President in 2020 as Libertarian Candidate: - Mahima Duggal, CryptoNesz

January 25, 2020 - "In a tweet posted on January 21st, British American businessman and crypto activist John McAfee announced his candidacy for President of the United States under the Libertarian banner. The former anti-virus tycoon also stated that he was available to appear at any local or state debates remotely.

"McAfee first announced his intention to run for President in June 2018 ... but was faced with an obvious obstacle: he could not campaign on American soil while facing tax evasion charges in the country. Due to these charges, McAfee resides in a boat in international waters and rarely travels to any state with an extradition treaty with the United States.

"McAfee has argued that he does not see failing to file tax returns as a crime and insists that the U.S. government was merely trying to silence him.

"In December 2019, McAfee announced that he was officially launching his presidential campaign as an independent candidate. He planned to deploy his 1.1 million twitter followers to campaign on his behalf by attending rallies and events wearing McAfee’s face masks and, at times, speaking for him.

"Moving forward, he will continue his campaign as a candidate for the Libertarian Party.

"The tech mogul’s main aim is to promote libertarian principles [and] anti-establishment thinking. He is generally suspicious of government and centralized institutions and believes that the state’s control over currency translates to control over people’s lives and reinforces the status quo of inequality.

"It follows that the cornerstone of McAfee’s campaign is crypto. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, he stated that 'The beauty of cryptocurrency is that no one is in control. Not you, nor I, nor anyone can control it'....

"McAfee has stated that he does not expect to win. He has declared that he has no knowledge of critical issues like immigration and foreign relations and that his only goal is 'Freedom for The People.'”

Read more: https://www.cryptonewsz.com/john-mcafee-resumes-presidential-campaign-under-libertarian-banner/56670/

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McAfee launches POTUS campaign from Cuba

Fugitive millionaire antivirus guru John McAfee launches US presidential run … from yacht in Cuba | South China Morning Post - Katell Abivan, Agence France-Presse:

July 7, 2019 - "US millionaire John McAfee has added a new chapter to his tumultuous life story. From a yacht in Havana harbour, he says he is running for the US presidency. This will not, he deadpans, be 'an ordinary campaign.' 'I am wanted as a criminal by the government for which I am running for president,' McAfee says as he sits on his white yacht surrounded by an entourage of seven campaign aides and two enormous dogs....

"McAfee’s immediate goal is to win the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, which supports free trade and a sharply reduced federal government. He tried but failed in 2016, beaten for the party’s nomination by Gary Johnson, who went on to win just over three per cent of the vote in the election.

"But McAfee has an unusual admission for a presidential candidate: 'I don’t want to be president, I really do not, nor could I be,' he says, puffing on a cigar.... 'I cannot be president. However, I do have a large following and I will influence this next election.”

"Since making a fortune with his antivirus software in the 1980s, the 73-year-old has become a self-styled cryptocurrency guru, claiming to make US$2,000 a day. He has nearly 1 million followers on Twitter....

"McAfee began his career as a Nasa engineer before working for several software companies, where he learned of the existence of a computer virus – and began figuring out how to destroy it. Thus McAfee Associates was born in 1987, quickly becoming a giant in the antivirus industry. He sold the company to Intel in 2010 and is now worth an estimated US$100 million.

"But [after] moving to Belize in Central America and living a sometimes chaotic life, he suddenly became tabloid grist when his neighbour was mysteriously murdered in 2012, a crime that has not been solved. When police found him living with a 17-year-old girl and discovered a large arsenal of weapons in his home, McAfee disappeared on a month-long flight that drew breathless media coverage.

"In 2015, McAfee was arrested in the United States for driving under the influence. He again disappeared from view until January 2019, when he fled the country. 'I went first to the Bahamas because I was charged with income tax evasion,' he said, adding that when the FBI went there looking for him he fled to Cuba. 'I have not paid taxes for eight years. I will not pay taxes again – it is unconstitutional and illegal.'

"McAfee has offered to help Cuba launch a cryptocurrency of its own. The government said earlier it was studying how the virtual money might be used to get around US economic sanctions....

"US tax authorities, asked about his possible legal jeopardy, would not confirm whether he faces any charges. No extradition request has been filed with Cuban authorities. The mere fact of having sailed his yacht to Cuba, however, violates new US regulations that ban American citizens from travelling to the island on cruise ships or private boats."

Read more: https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3017562/fugitive-millionaire-antivirus-guru-john-mcafee
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LP POTUS field makes me want to vote NOTA

by George J. Dance

2020 will be a leap year, and like all leap years will witness a new installment of the biggest, longest, most-watched media event of them all. No, not the Summer Olympics; those run for only a few weeks. I'm talking about the U.S. presidential election, which runs from January right through to the inauguration finale a year later.

The Republican and Democratic races for the 2020 nomination are already getting plenty of attention; as usual, the Libertarian race is not. This year, though, that is probably a very good thing, considering the choice of candidates offered so far.

Apparent frontrunner Adam Kokesh is a founder of Iraqi Veterans against the War, who has run for the Senate (and lost) as a Ron Paul Republican. The only Libertarian Party activism I know him for is his disrupton of the LP's 2008 campaign kickoff. He has also conducted a libertarian podcast, on one show of which he advocated killing police (hence my nickname for him, "Kop-Killer Kokesh"). His platform is to abolish the U.S. government by Executive Order, and then resign.

Then comes Arvin Vohra, former LP vice-chairman. Originally a pragmatic millennial politician-in-training, he became radicalized after the 2016 Johnson campaign, and began taking extreme positions - some of which, like writing that age of consent laws should be abolished, and calling school board shootings a "good idea," led to attempts to censure him and remove him from office. In the end, LP voters did remove him at the last convention - following which he promptly declared as a POTUS candidate.

Then there is John McAfee, an eccentric (if he's still rich) who plans to campaign "from exile". Plus a bunch of people I know nothing about; this is getting too long, so I'll just give a link. And as always there is Vermin Supreme, the ex-Democrat who campaigns with a boot on his head, and whose signature campaign plank is to give every American a pony.

In short, the real LP candidate hasn't surfaced yet; all we have are possibilities.  Four well-qualified possibilities are:

Mark Sanford, former governor of South Carolina. Sanford has never lost a general election, but was defeated as congressman by a Trump-endorsed candidate in the 2018 GOP primary, so he has no seat to lose. He has always focused on the national debt crisis, which I think will be big news again by 2020 (now that the Democratic-leaning media can blame it on Trump).

William Weld, former governor of Massachusetts. While he ran for the LP as Johnson's running mate, Weld is a divisive figure in the party. Besides, he has rejoined the Republicans to primary Trump. Weld is staking everything on New Hampshire: if he does well there, his campaign could catch fire (at least with the Dem-leaning media), and make him a star; in which case he would be the most prominent candidate we could get. But many members count his reregistering Republican, after declaring that he was in the LP for life, as a betrayal and sell-out, making him more hated than ever by a large faction.

Lincoln Chafee, former governor of Rhode Island. Chafee is a wild card - he registered Libertarian just this month - who isn't telling anyone his plans as yet.

Justin Amash, congressman from Michigan. Amash is the most libertarian guy in the House, today's Ron Paul, and I would prefer that he stay there. However, since he accused Trump of "impeachable" conduct, he too has a Trump-endorsed primary challenger, who is leading him by double digits. If Amash loses the primary, there is no way he could win his seat as an independent (or Libertarian), as Michigan has straight-ticket voting. Meanwhile, there is a sizable movement within the LP to draft him for the Libertarian nomination, including a facebook page I recently joined:

Three of those four (Weld excepted) could have the nomination for the asking. Alas, none of the four is presently a live option: none is even running for the job. Given today's live options - the current field of declared candidates - the only one worth voting for is None of the Above: which, fortunately, will be on the ballot at the LP's 2020 presidential convention.

The 2020 Libertarian field so far

Meet the 2020 Libertarian Candidates · 71 Republic - Kevin Damato:

May 23, 2019 - "As the 2020 presidential election approaches, there is much talk about the boisterous and ever-growing [D]emocratic field. However, However, the 2020 [L]ibertarian candidates seem rather unknown. Information on the candidates is limited, but outlets like Chris Spangle’s 'We Are Libertarians Network' have done their best through their presidential candidate and debate series...

"Adam Kokesh is an Iraq war veteran who authored the book “FREEDOM”. He used to host the show “ADAM VS THE MAN” on RT America. Kokesh also creates videos for the sites Steemit and Youtube (where he has nearly 250,000 followers).... Kokesh ... is also the founder and leader of the Iraq Veterans Against the War movement.... Kokesh, as an outspoken anarchist, made his platform simple. Once in office, he plans to sign an executive order to dissolve the government in what he describes as a 'peaceful manner'....

"Arvin Vohra is a business owner and former Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party. Arvin is a steep critic of the moderates in the Libertarian Party. His aim is to ensure that the message of a free society is not hindered by a watered down message. Vohra is passionate about getting the government out of education, abolishing the federal income tax, and implementing a non-interventionist foreign policy.

"John McAfee is a technology entrepreneur and former 2016 libertarian candidate for President of the United States. People [know] McAfee for his eccentric personality and affinity for personal freedom and privacy. His platform claims that talking about policy is pointless due to our lack of power over an unwieldy government....

"Kim Ruff has been a registered libertarian since 2005. She has party experience in the LP of Arizona and the LP of New York.... Ruff has also worked directly with the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus. Kim’s goals are to reduce executive power, end the federal reserve, and pull the US out of foreign conflicts. She also aims to pardon nonviolent criminals and return all government power to the states.

"Ben Leder ... boosted his presence within the LP after the 2016 election, maintaining that the Libertarian Party must move forward in a different direction. Leder lists his main goals as ending the federal reserve along with the hidden tax of inflation. He also wants to fix the country’s funding mechanism....

"Dan 'Taxation is Theft' Behrman is not a politician, and he wants others to know that.... Behrman believes that the three largest issues facing Americans today are taxes, national debt and our general loss of freedom.

"Christopher Marks ... is a relatively new member of the Libertarian Party.... His dissatisfaction with government stems from his experience in the broken family law process paying child support payments. Marks lists his largest priorities as breaking the two-party system, ending the 'corporate government,' [and] reforming our monetary policy.

"William Hurst is an Army National Guard veteran [who] describes himself as “between Republican and Democrat ideas,” but focusing on civil freedoms. His platform, outlined on his website, includes detailed positions pertaining to national security, the climate, and governing strategy, which he labels 'politics'....

"Zoltan Istvan has already dropped out of the race and with murmurs of Justin Amash running, this campaign has the potential to become very competitive. However, still with so much time before the 2020 election, we can only sit back and observe our current choices. Hopefully, soon we will see who is the best candidate to represent the Libertarian Party on a national stage."

Read more: https://71republic.com/2019/05/19/libertarian-candidates-2020/

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John McAfee to run for POTUS while 'in exile'

John McAfee's 'in exile' 2020 campaign to include 'road warriors' wearing masks with his face - Claude Thompson, Washington Examiner:

January 23, 2019 - "Libertarian John McAfee is making another run at the presidency in 2020, but this time, he says it will be while he is 'in exile' and with the assistance of thousands of 'road warriors' dressed up in masks bearing his face.

"In a series of tweets and videos posted to Twitter this week, McAfee, the founder of the antivirus software company McAfee Associates, said he is on the run from federal authorities for allegedly using cryptocurrencies in 'criminal acts against the U.S. government'....

"'Rob [Loggia] and one of our other volunteers are creating masks of my face which are going to be given to thousands of people in two different groups," McAfee said. 'First our road warriors who, once a month, are going to appear in parks, street corners, restaurants all around America while I speak through loud speakers through them. Group Two are the people who will be going to conferences doing keynotes. I will be going to conferences as a surrogate. I will be looking at people through a camera, answering questions, shaking hands as I tell my surrogate to shake hands, and speaking. This is how we're going to do it.'

"McAfee, who first said last year he would run in 2020, has primarily been corresponding with people on Twitter and filming social media videos from his boat that he claims he's using as a hideout from federal prosecution.

"McAfee founded computer antivirus company McAfee Associates in 1987 and left in 1994. In the years since, McAfee has bounced around various technology companies and developed a penchant for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. While he was once valued at $100 million, the economic recession in 2008 led to his value dropping to $4 million, according to the New York Times.

"McAfee's current outlaw status, according to him, is based on his refusal to file tax returns in recent years because he subscribes to the common libertarian theme of a minimalist government. He said he believes cryptocurrencies will eventually prevent the government from collecting income taxes and force the federal government to downsize. He claims that a grand jury was brought together by the Internal Revenue Service to indict him on tax fraud charges but is now on a "freedom boat" that he says will be his home and campaign headquarters for the next two years....

"This is McAfee's second attempt at the presidency. He sought the Libertarian Party nomination in the 2016 election but lost that spot to Gary Johnson, who finished a distant third to Hillary Clinton and President Trump."

Read more: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-mcafees-in-exile-2020-campaign-to-include-road-warriors-wearing-masks-with-his-face
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Anonymous backs McAfee for cybersecurity czar

Anonymous Backs John McAfee to Help Donald Trump ‘Secure America From Hackers’ - Anthony Cuthbertson, Newsweek: 

November 23, 2016 - "A campaign for cybersecurity pioneer John McAfee to become Donald Trump’s ‘cyber chief’ has been started by the hacking group Anonymous.

"The Anonymous for McAfee campaign has called for McAfee to join the White House in “securing America from hackers,” with the amorphous collective of hackers planning to demonstrate on December 5 in front of Trump Tower in New York City.

"'Our nation is at risk from cyber-warfare,' the campaign’s website states. 'Our corporations are at risk from cyber-espionage and digital crime. Our citizens are at risk for identity theft, and their rights to digital privacy. Our kids are at risk for cyberbullying. Someone needs to raise the noise-level on all of this — and no one is better suited to be the White House Cybersecurity Czar than McAfee.'

"McAfee said that while he appreciated the gesture, he would not take the position if offered. He has since softened his stance, tweeting he would 'consider it if offered. No promises.'

"McAfee tells Newsweek: 'The government is populated with deadwood, out-of-date thinkers, immovable bureaucracies, nepotism and mini-dictators. I believe I can do more by working outside the system developing defensive tools that can at least keep our industries and private infrastructures alive'....

"Despite dismissing the call for him to be Trump’s cybersecurity adviser, McAfee says he is supportive of Anonymous and believes its members could play a role in protecting the U.S. from cyber threats.

"'Trump needs to fire the bottom half of all cybersecurity employees within the government,' McAfee says. 'Then he needs to replace them with the leaders within Defcon, Hack Miami and within every other major hacker organization in America.'"

Read more: http://www.newsweek.com/anonymous-backs-mcafee-aid-trump-securing-america-hackers-524250
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McAfee & Perry won't vote for Gary Johnson

Gary Johnson's Libertarian rivals reject him for president - Washington Times - David Sherfinski:

October 18, 2016 - "It’s not exactly 'never Johnson,' but some of Gary Johnson’s former rivals for the Libertarian presidential nomination say they are unimpressed with his campaign and won’t vote for him, with one even channeling Sen. Ted Cruz and telling libertarians to vote their 'conscience' as he mounts an informal write-in campaign for himself.

"Author Darryl Perry, who placed fourth at the party’s nominating convention in May, said last month that everyone, including libertarians, should 'follow their conscience' when voting in the general election. 'I will be writing myself in,' Mr. Perry said this week. 'Of the people that are on the ballot in New Hampshire, there’s none of [them] that I think are good.'

"Mr. Perry has taken issue with Mr. Johnson’s positions on taxes and guns, among other areas. Mr. Johnson has said he wants to replace the income tax with a consumption tax. He also said he is open to a discussion on banning people on terrorism watch lists from buying guns while criticizing such lists as riddled with errors.

"Cybersecurity specialist John McAfee, who came in third, said he is not going to vote. He cited gun control as one reason he is withholding support for Mr. Johnson. He also said he doesn’t see much appeal in either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. 'The reason I’m not going to vote is that you cannot tell me that I have a choice between the measles or a bladder infection and expect me to pick one,' Mr. McAfee said....

Nicholas Sarwark, who chairs the Libertarian National Committee, said people who didn’t win the nomination won’t be happy but that Mr. Johnson was the convention delegates’ clear choice. 'I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what the haters think,' Mr. Sarwark said. 'For the most part, the people who are the loudest concern trolls are the people who do not have our best interests at heart.'

"Mr. Johnson does still have the support of businessman Austin Petersen, his top rival for the nomination. Mr. Petersen acknowledged 'disappointments,' such as Mr. Johnson’s blanking on a question about ... Aleppo, but said the former two-term New Mexico governor still has a historic opportunity to get a higher vote total than any other Libertarian Party presidential candidate.

"'It won’t put him in the White House, but it does advance the movement that’s behind him, which is sort of what I consider the future of politics in the United States, and that’s the liberty movement,' Mr. Petersen said."

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/18/gary-johnsons-libertarian-rivals-reject-him-for-pr/
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Cult, mainstream visions of libertarianism collide at Presidential debate

Libertarian Party Presidential Debate: Gary Johnson is From a Different World - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

May 29, 2016 - "The final presidential debate at the Libertarian Party National Convention happened last night (aired live on C-SPAN), featuring what most media treated as the "likely three"—former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, antivirus software innovator John McAfee, and libertarian movement mover and shaker Austin Petersen—plus anarchist firebrand Darryl Perry and surprisingly amusing wildcard Marc Feldman, selected via token ballots cast by Libertarian delegates.

"The debate lasted a punishing two hours. I was unable tonight to learn who wrote the questions, which were delivered by radio host and libertarian fellow traveler Larry Elder....

"Whoever wrote the questions did the Party, in my judgment, a great disservice. A C-SPAN audience did not need to see the five candidate pondering out loud whether drivers licences are legitimate. (Among other challenging questions that could serve no other purpose but to embarrass the Party and its candidates in the eyes of any random cable viewer were such pressing, burning 2016 presidential campaign questions ... as: would you have fought World War I? II? Apologized for bombing Hiroshima? Voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Do you think drivers need to be licensed? Should it be a crime to sell heroin to 5-year-olds? I'm enough of a movement veteran that these things just flowed by me at the time, but in retrospect they seem the worst sort of hectoring irrelevances designed to make the Party's candidates seem like eccentric loons.)

"A lot was said in two hours. Feldman, [whom] I'd previously ignored in my convention coverage, delivered a standard middle-ground Libertarian activist set of opinions, but expressed in often funny jokes, ending in his closing statements in a barn-burning rap in which he referenced every type of Libertarian activist and all his presidential opponents.

"Darryl Perry delivered straight-up passionate anarchism, with the state always the wrong answer to every problem. In talking to a couple of handfuls of delegates after the debate, it seems likely Perry will probably do better on the first presidential ballot than many might have guessed. He seemed a favorite freak-flag-fly choice for delegates who don't expect him to survive that many ballots or be the nominee. Feldman's good humor and solid Libertarianism will earn him a fair number of first ballot votes as well.

"Even among people who don't love Gary Johnson, I found few people who swore they'd never vote for him.... But the most interesting story coming out of the debate is the degree to which Gary Johnson was simultaneously the most strongly disliked, or disapproved of, candidate while still seeming the favorite of more than any other single candidate. No one got more, and more sustained, boos than Johnson did, for various departures from movement orthodoxy....

"Johnson's description of the core of libertarianism as 'fiscally conservative, socially liberal' seems to weary the serious convention crowd. That a core part of his quick discussion of immigration involves the idea that an immigrant should 'pay taxes' doesn't seem to thrill everyone either. Johnson said he first was satisfied with a 'get government out of marriage' solution to gay or plural marriage debates, but decided that the concept of marriage was so tied in to so many laws that it was better to just take a 'government shouldn't discriminate' solution. He boldly and simply stated that he would have voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which drew boos, as did his heretical opinion that drivers licenses might be a legitimate state function.

"Johnson garnered lots of boos by claiming that the free market is killing coal ... a large part of the crowd seemed ... annoyed at the idea that anything other than regulations were keeping coal down. Saying he imagined replacing the income and corporate taxes he hopes to eliminate with a FairTax style consumption tax annoyed a crowd more primed to just hear that 'taxation is theft' — though Johnson has learned enough about dealing with Libertarian crowds to use that phrase too.

"His favored technique was linking any question to some actual experience as governor of New Mexico, to remind delegates that this executive thing was natural to him. It isn't always clear most Libertarian delegates want to hear about real world experience as opposed to a passionate or smart expression of core libertarian philosophy. He did win cheers for openly calling for legalizing all drugs, but boos for admitting that some provision would need to remain in the law against supplying drugs to children.

"In his closing statements, Johnson dealt quietly with the question of whether he was libertarian enough for the Libertarians. He admitted openly that he likely was not the most libertarian candidate they could pick, but that he believed he was the one this year who could get them the most attention and votes."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/05/29/libertarian-party-presidential-debate-ga
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Libertarian convention opens to record interest

What to Watch at the Libertarian Convention - ABC News - Ryan Struyk & Inez de la Cuetara:

May 27, 2016 - "Over Memorial Day weekend, the Libertarian Party will be holding its convention in Orlando to put forth its presidential and vice presidential candidates. The party has largely been ignored in previous cycles, but ... Libertarians are trying to appeal to voters disenchanted with the prospect of a Trump or Hillary Clinton presidency.

"'We are seeing record interest in the party,' the national Libertarian Party’s political director, Carla Howell, recently told Politico Magazine. 'Membership has spiked; it has gone up about 30 percent in the last few months. We’re also seeing record media interest'....

"The Libertarian Party tends to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal. It vehemently opposes any government intervention in citizens’ private and business decisions.... 'Essentially, we believe all Americans should be free to live their lives and pursue their interests as they see fit as long as they do no harm to another. In a nutshell, we are advocates for a smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom,' the party says on its website.

"In 2012, Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson earned almost 1.3 million votes – the most votes a Libertarian nominee has ever garnered. Still, it only amounted for 0.99 percent of the total popular vote, and the party was far from winning any electoral votes. ....

"Some Libertarians hope that this could be a breakthrough year for the party....  A Fox News poll in mid-May shows Johnson garnering 10 percent support in a race against Trump and Clinton. A Monmouth poll in March showed Johnson hitting 11 percent support....  "The party has also been working hard to ensure its candidate is listed on every state’s ballot — so far, the party has made it to 32 states and is confident it can reach its goal.....

"There are a total of 12 candidates running to win the Libertarian Party’s nomination. Former two-term New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is currently expected to clinch the nomination.... Other viable candidates include millionaire software entrepreneur John McAfee, who fled Belize after he was cited as a 'person of interest' in the murder of his neighbor, and Austin Peterson, former Fox Business producer and Libertarian activist.

"Johnson recently announced he would want former Republican Massachusetts Gov. William Weld as his vice president. Weld might help make a Libertarian ticket more attractive to Democrats — in 1997, Bill Clinton nominated him as ambassador to Mexico (the nomination was eventually blocked). He also wound up supporting President Obama in 2008."

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/watch-libertarian-convention/story?id=39423394
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Jillette moderates Vegas Libertarian debate

- courtesy Mimi & Eunice

Penn Jillette to Moderate Final Libertarian Party Debate - Elias J. Atienza, The Libertarian Republic:

May 11, 2016 - "Monday, May 16th, Penn Jillette will moderate the final Libertarian Party presidential primary debate in Las Vegas. Former Governor Gary Johnson, cybersecurity guru John McAfee, and TLR founder Austin Petersen will debate on a variety of topics ranging from the war on drugs to censorship....

"All proceeds will go to benefit Opportunity Village, a non-profit dedicated to serving children and adults in the southern Nevada with intellectual disabilities.

"The debate will take place at Opportunity Village- Engelstad Campus, from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm (PT). The event will be filmed for later broadcast, though Austin Petersen may stream it live like he has done with many prior debates."

Read more: http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/penn-jillette-moderate-final-libertarian-party-debate/
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Johnson in "most negative race of my career"

Libertarian Party faces a nomination fight in a #NeverTrump world - Washington Post - David Weigel:

May 13, 2016 - "Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico and 2012 Libertarian Party nominee for president, may have found his moment.... .... One small problem: Johnson is not the Libertarian Party’s nominee for 2016. Not yet. When the party meets at the end of the month, in Orlando, its hundreds of delegates will not be bound to any candidate. And Johnson has been under assault, for months, by two rivals who say he would blow the election.

"'It’s the most negative race of my career, by far,' said Johnson in an interview this week.... 'This is very personal, and I don’t get it. My defense is: None of it is being thrown back at them. You want to talk about the issues? Then fine, fine. But holy cow! It’s silly, just silly.'

"As the Libertarian Party faces perhaps the biggest opening of its 40-year history, it’s hosting a contest between the amiable left-libertarian Johnson, the youthful party activist Austin Petersen, and the larger-than-life anti-virus pioneer John McAfee. Johnson’s 2012 performance — a record 1.3 million votes for the party — has been dismissed by challengers who think he’s too compromised or easygoing to seize the moment....

"The Libertarian nomination seems even more valuable now, with a March poll by Monmouth University putting Johnson — by far the best-known candidate — at 11 percent in a race with Clinton and Trump. Johnson, as the only candidate to serve in elected office, says he could build on that and crack the 15 percent threshold for entering the presidential debates. McAfee and Petersen are convinced that he would waste it. This is no year for an 'experienced' candidate, much less one who spent the past few years in the edible marijuana business....

"At the highest-profile moment of the race so far, a debate on Fox Business, Petersen attempted to trip up Johnson with libertarian logic puzzles. His supporters have widely circulated the resulting videos, in which Petersen’s bumper sticker-perfect answers run against Johnson’s attempts to talk through the issues.

“'Should a Jewish baker be required to bake a Nazi wedding cake?' asked Petersen in a discussion about religious liberty. 'That would be my contention,' said Johnson....  'How about the utility that is privately owned, and because it’s the only market where I can buy my electricity, they’re gonna cut me off?' 'This betrays a fundamental lack of understanding of the free market,' said Petersen.... Later, Petersen goaded Johnson over a libertarian heresy – questioning whether people adjudicated mentally ill should be allowed to purchase firearms....

"In an interview this week, Johnson acknowledged that the campaign had been negative and denied that Petersen had gotten under his skin. 'I think I do a pretty good job of communicating what it is I want to communicate,' he said. The problem was that he wanted to deal with real-world implications, not theory, on something like guns being denied to dangerous people. 'We should absolutely be open to a discussion on how that might get accomplished. And having vetoed as many bills as I’ve vetoed, I’ve not seen any proposals that might preclude me from having a gun for failing some test. So, open to a discussion? Yes!'”

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/13/libertarian-party-faces-a-nomination-fight-in-a-nevertrump-world/
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McAfee, Petersen campaigns allege dirty tricks by Johnson campaign

Libertarian Party Presidential Campaign Gets Nasty - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

April 21, 2016 - "Both [John] McAfee's camp and that of Austin Petersen ... have floated accusations of naughty skulduggery against [Gary] Johnson's campaign.

"It seems to have started with McAfee himself, who had been painting himself as a happy new convert to the party and someone who intended to stick with it for the long term, announcing that he would not stick with the party if Johnson were its nominee..... McAfee did not then and still has not himself publicly stated his reasons for feeling this way about Johnson....

"Within a few days, Petersen's camp also on Facebook floated stories of Johnson campaign operatives playing some dirty-ish tricks, including sneakily offering to pay off campaign operatives from rival campaigns to either jump ship or just sit out the process.

"Johnson's campaign was also accused of renting every available room in the Rosen Centre where the convention is held, in an effort to prevent delegates from other campaigns finding lodging during the party's nominating convention in Orlando in May.

"Finding supporting specifics that might verify these accusations has proven difficult, and none of the public accusers have had much to offer. I was led to and communicated with one Nevada delegate who preferred not to be named who did say the Johnson campaign offered him a free room if he promised to support Johnson, but he declined to provide names or other potentially corroborating details.... Another prospective delegate who also did not want her story public spoke of someone close to the campaign offering her a professional favor if she swore fealty to the campaign, but no hotel room.

"On Facebook, both Petersen and later McAfee's vice presidential pick Judd Weiss ... have been hit with doubters asking them to provide some proof.... Petersen and Weiss both seem to believe the accusations are true from my communications with them, but it's not publicly clear why they believe it, though they certainly imply that they've been given inside scoops not available to us....

"Michael Iafatro, a travel agent who worked with the campaign, told me in an IM interview that ... 'the GJ campaign has booked 2 suites which were part of the suite packages offered by the National LP' and that far from filling the Rosen Center, 'I have blocked rooms as far away as the airport for Johnson delegates' ... The national L.P. office said through a spokesperson that 'there is no individual or as far as we can tell pattern of associated people who have booked any bloc' at the Rosen....

"While none of the accusers named to me or anywhere I've seen publicly [identify] any specific campaign officials who were supposedly offered payoffs from Johnson, I've heard implications that Christopher Thrasher, McAfee's former campaign manager who did indeed leave that position the week all these rumors began floating, might be at issue....

"[W]hen I called McAfee this week to ask if he'd elaborate on what he learned about Johnson that made him declare he wants nothing to do with the party if Johnson is its candidate, he first said 'no comment' then called back with a couple: First, that McAfee's concerns have 'nothing whatsoever to do with the issues Judd Weiss has bought up' and are 'completely different' and 'issues that have not yet been publicly brought up by anyone ever'."

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/04/21/libertarian-party-presidential-campaign
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Mother Jones checks out the Libertarians

Meet the Long-Shot Candidates Who Hope to Benefit From the GOP's Trump Meltdown | Mother Jones - Tim Murphy:

May 5, 2016 - "An hour before the Libertarian Party presidential debate in New York City on Saturday, the cybersecurity guru John McAfee, one of the candidates, was smoking a cigarette outside the venue, a Ukrainian restaurant in the East Village, and explaining how he could win in November.... McAfee, who is 70 but has a goatee and frosted tips that give him the profile of an over-the-hill Backstreet Boy, was shadowed by a gaggle of photographers and filmmakers as he loitered on the sidewalk....

"McAfee may draw most of the cameras, but his path to the nomination is a difficult one. There are 17 Libertarians running for president, four of whom participated in the debate at the New York Libertarian Party convention.... The front-runner for the nomination, which will be decided by delegates at the party's convention in Orlando later this month, is [Gary] Johnson, who won a record 1.3 million votes under the Libertarian Party's banner four years ago. Between presidential campaigns, Johnson was the CEO of a Nevada-based marijuana company that specializes in candy and creams....

"Johnson is anti-war, socially liberal, and fiscally conservative, but rather than laying out his positions, he'd rather talk about a website he found, isidewith.com, which purports to match your political views with the corresponding candidate.... — the quiz shows that a lot of people agree with him at least some of the time, including Bernie Sanders supporters. In a year in which a large portion of voters in both parties don't like their first choice, Johnson wants to be their second.... His literature asks voters simply to 'be Libertarian for one election'....

"McAfee and Johnson shared the stage with two other candidates, Darryl Perry and Austin Petersen. Perry is a Free State project activist from New Hampshire whose campaign conducts business exclusively in Bitcoin and precious metals.... He recently picked up the endorsement of the Libertarian Party Sex Caucus. His platform states that the US government 'as it exists today, should be abolished,' which would render moot any questions about his lack of experience. (His biography mentions his work at a college radio station.) At the debate, he called the federal government 'the world's largest terrorist organization,' and he identified himself, in contrast to Johnson, as a member of the 'libertarian wing of the Libertarian Party.'

"Petersen is a suit-and-tie libertarian who previously worked for FreedomWorks and Fox News host Andrew Napolitano. He raised money for Ron Paul's presidential campaign and name-drops Republican elected officials he considers allies, such as Michigan Rep. Justin Amash and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie. Boyish and a little overeager, Petersen refers to himself as the 'freedom ninja' and contends that the party needs a fresh face who can 'bring along those Never Trump conservatives who are just dying to vote for a pro-life libertarian.' He was also the only candidate who suggested that McAfee's past might hurt the party in November, but in the same breath he called McAfee a 'badass' and said McAfee had offered to drop acid with him. (McAfee said this was a joke and that he hasn't used drugs in 35 years)....

"Petersen called Trump a gift to the Libertarians — 'we are now seeing massive immigration into our open borders of our party' — but he contended that there was something worth emulating about the celebrity billionaire, in style if not substance. 'He's got the showmanship and the qualities and performance that we're gonna need to take this message to the masses,' he said. 'Not this same sort of egghead intellectualism that we have.'

"This is, in part, the appeal of McAfee; he's a candidate for people who don't like the old way of doing things. Derrick Michael Reid, a long-shot candidate who participated in a JV debate that preceded the main event, put it to McAfee as they huddled outside the restaurant. 'If Johnson gets nominated, the country just goes through a big yawn — "oh, the goofy governor," and that's it,' he said. 'They nominate you or me, they go viral.' At the very least, it'll get them on Spike TV."

Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/gary-johnson-john-mcafee-libertarian-convention
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Libertarians see surge in interest, memberships

Google Searches for 'Libertarian Party' Surge Following Trump Win - Breitbart - Allum Bokhari:
May 4, 2016 - "Google searches for the 'Libertarian Party' surged last night following the exit of Senator Ted Cruz from the Republican race after his decisive loss to [Donald] Trump in the Indiana primary.
"This was matched by searches for Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico and the party’s candidate in 2012. Johnson is once again seeking the party’s nomination in 2016, although he must first overcome challenges from software entrepreneur John McAfee and Libertarian Republic founder Austin Petersen.
"Interest in Johnson also surged on Reddit, where a post from a user 'terrified of a Trump-Clinton choice' went viral. The user urged other Redditors to 'submit and upvote information about Gary Johnson like crazy.' Reddit users obliged, giving the post enough votes to reach the site’s widely-read front page.
"The post was originally submitted to the /r/libertarian subreddit, where submissions rarely, if ever, garner enough attention to move so far up the rankings.
"Both Johnson and his leadership rival, Petersen, were quick to welcome disaffected Republicans on Twitter."
Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/05/04/google-searches-libertarian-party-surge-following-trump-win/
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Libertarian Party membership applications double after Trump becomes GOP nominee | Washington Examiner - Asche Schow:
May 4, 2016 - "In the hours after the polls closed in Indiana and it was announced that businessman Donald Trump had won the Republican presidential primary — thereby ending Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign — the Libertarian Party saw a doubling of its new membership applications.
"Between 7 p.m. Tuesday evening and noon on Wednesday, the Libertarian Party received 99 new memberships. For the same time period a day earlier, the LP received only 46 new memberships.
"In an email to the Washington Examiner, LP Executive Director Wes Benedict said he was unaware of any social media efforts by the party to recruit new members, and believed the increase was in response to Trump becoming the clear Republican nominee."
Read more: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/libertarian-party-membership-applications-double-after-trump-becomes-gop-nominee/article/2590367
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McAfee gets star treatment at NY convention

Truth or fiction? John McAfee for the Libertarian party's presidential nominee | US news | The Guardian - Adam Gabbatt:

May 1, 2016 - "The New York state Libertarian party convention was held in New York City on Saturday. It started at 10am. It grew lively at noon, the hour John McAfee showed up.

"The anti-virus software mogul and one-time international fugitive had turned into a presidential hopeful, and he arrived at the convention dressed like an ageing rocker: blond streaks in his hair, aviator sunglasses hooked into the neck of his white T-shirt and a flamboyant paisley scarf draped around his neck.

"McAfee, who infamously went on the run from Belize police in 2012 after being named as a 'person of interest' in a murder case, would later tell the Guardian he never went out at night for fear that the government of Belize might try to 'whack' him.... That threat aside, the 70-year-old seemed to be enjoying himself as he overshadowed the rest of Libertarian party nominees at the convention in the East Village. He was in the city to debate his fellow hopefuls, including the party’s 2012 candidate, Gary Johnson.... But there was no doubting who was the star on Saturday.

"Rather than immediately enter the convention ... McAfee posted up outside, having his photograph taken with Libertarians and passersby, smoking cigarettes and acting up for the four-person film crew he had arrived with. He is being filmed for a series on Spy TV, and he seemed to be enjoying the attention. He chatted into the camera, he laughed into the camera, he came up close to the lens and stuck his tongue out at the camera....

"McAfee argued that he should be president because only he has the skills to address the problem of internet security.... 'I will win,' McAfee added. 'I would win the general election. Because I know who I am, I know my talents, and I know what my limits are. And I’ve been around long enough to know people’s minds.'

"McAfee began his debate performance with an unorthodox opening statement: 'I don’t have a statement prepared'.... He sat back down. He had used 30 seconds of his allotted two minutes....

"After the debate, Johnson and others hung around to chat and shake hands. But McAfee had had enough. He jumped up and marched out, his film crew scurrying behind him. He seemed to have lost some of his rock star pizzazz. 'I’m 70 years old, and I’ve been talking all day.'

"Asked what he thought of the debate, he said: 'It was boring, as all debates are, and utter nonsense.'"

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/01/john-mcafee-libertarian-party-presidential-candidate
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Stossel: The Libertarians deserve another look

Here's why the Libertarian Party might get more votes in 2016 | Fox News - John Stossel:

April 13, 2016 - "Before the primaries, Time Magazine, frequent pusher of trends that do not exist, put Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) on its cover and called him the 'most interesting man in politics.' Then Paul fizzled, and pundits said the 'libertarian moment,' if there ever was one, had ended....

"But now that, according to ElectionBettingOdds.com, the presidential race will be a choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, Americans may give libertarianism a second look.

"My TV show recently held a debate between the Libertarian Party's three leading presidential candidates. Compared to the Republican and Democratic contenders, the Libertarians sounded so reasonable to me. Take immigration.

"While Democrats pretend they will carefully vet refugees from Muslim parts of the world, Republicans talk about deporting 11 million people. By contrast, the Libertarians on my show talked about reducing border problems by simplifying our complicated immigration laws.

"'Incentivize legal  immigration so that we can cut down on illegal immigration,' said Libertarian candidate Austin Petersen.... 'people will not break the law, if they know that there's a chance that they can come here [legally]'.... Petersen asked, 'If you were living in a Third World country and your family was starving to death, who would not cross that wall?"....

"Trump shouts about bad effects of global trade, but his destructive bans and tariffs would do much more harm.... Gary Johnson asked during the debate, 'Who benefits from free trade but you and I as consumers? If China wants to subsidize goods and services that they send to the United States, who benefits? We do!'

"He's absolutely right. Cheaper goods from abroad mean Americans have more money to spend on other things, and cheaper ingredients for products we manufacture. Yes, some Americans lose jobs, but more gain work, and better work, because free trade helps Americans expand businesses -- in America.

"Republicans and Democrats also engage in foolish talk about 'creating jobs'.... That's why Johnson was so refreshing in the debate. He said that in eight years as New Mexico's governor, 'I didn't create a single job! Government doesn't create jobs. The private sector does'....

"Right. But government sure can get in the way. 'To start a business, I have to fill out a thousand forms and report to OSHA,' the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said candidate John McAfee during the debate.... 'If we remove these barriers, industry will take care of itself and jobs will improve.'

"The Libertarian candidates were also skeptical about government imposition on drug users, on cellphone owners who don't want their phones hacked into, and on people trying to accomplish things without first begging for approval from bureaucrats.

"I liked how McAfee put it: 'Some fundamental principles are all that we need to live together in a sane and harmonious fashion. We cannot hit one another. We cannot take each other's stuff. We must keep our word, our agreements and our contracts.'"

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/04/13/another-libertarian-movement.html
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Shouting match at Texas Libertarian debate

by George J. Dance

April 11, 2016 - The April 8 Libertarian Party of Texas presidential candidates' debate briefly turned into a shouting match, after Libertarian Republic website owner Austin Petersen called former Governor Gary Johnson a "defeatist" and warned the delegates: "Do not nominate this man."

Petersen, Johnson, and the other candidates were responding to a question about the nationally televised presidential debates in the fall, which the Republicans and Democrats monopolize through their bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Petersen used his reply to assail the Libertarian Party of Colorado, which had refused to officially invite him to its debate due to his opposition to the party's Statement of Principles: "When the state of Colorado decided that they would not invite me to their forum, specifically because they were afraid of what I had to say in their forum, we drove 18 hours that night, straight to Colorado, to give them a piece of our mind, to tell them about liberty and free speech, and to say what that really means.

"So, if you think that, when the presidential debates come around, that I'm going to slink away, even if they don't invite us, even if we don't make the high percentage, you've got another think coming: I will be there. I will be there," he added, to applause.

Petersen went on to say: "Governor Johnson has stated that there is no way a Libertarian wins the White House unless they get into the debates. What kind of attitude is that?" Johnson interrupted, "It's true!", but Petersen continued: "We've got to be champions. Listen: Why not drop out if you don't get into the debates? Because they're not going to let you in, Governor! You need a champion. I'm the Freedom Ninja, and I will fight for liberty, just like I have every day for ten years!"

After more applause, Petersen summed up: "This is a defeatist attitude: He is a defeatist. Do not nominate this man. Nominate the man who will fight for you till the very end.... Do not give in to defeatism: Fight! Do not give in!"

Next up was Johnson, who responded: "No one works harder than I have, having run for Governor twice and having been the Libertarian nominee in 2012. I will tell you, though, that what experience brings to the table, is: I don't do the things that don't work. I still work as hard, but I don't do the things that didn't work, and that was something that I learned through experience. There is no way that a third party wins if they're not in the presidential debates. I am suing the Presidential Debate Commission to bring that about." That earned a 15-second ovation

"And last week I polled at 11% in a national poll," Johnson continued. "That has never happened before, that my name has been included in this. Now, let me tell you: When it comes to the presidential debates, as the rules now stand, you have to be at 15% to be in the presidential debates. Do you think they're going to state that 'You can't be in the presidential debates' tomorrow, and I'm going to give up? Hell, no! They're going to state that maybe two, three weeks before the election. So this is a No-Give-Up the whole time. And if you think I'm going to give up, then vote for Austin!" More applause.

Petersen began replying, "Let me tell you something–," but was cut off by the moderators, who wished to move on to the next candidate, Shawna Sterling. Several minutes of confusion ensued, with moderator Jax Finkel insisting, "Mr. Petersen, you had your say; thank you very much," Petersen yelling, "No! No! No, no, no!", "Wait a minute, guys!", and "I was pressed! I was addressed!", and Finkel responding, "That's not in our debate rules; thank you." Petersen invoked Ronald Reagan's famous line: "I paid for this microphone." Other candidates then jumped in, with John McAfee telling the moderators, "He was addressed," and Marc Feldman telling Petersen to "show some respect and put down the microphone, and let Shawna speak."

When Sterling finally got to speak, she related her own experience of being excluded from a televised debate in Kentucky and suing, concluding that "the only way to beat them is to beat them in court. Johnson is doing the right thing.... Let them know: we're not going to stop, we're going to fight you, we're not going to let you put us down, and we're going to get ourselves into the debate, however and whatever it's going to take."

Petersen later wrote, on Facebook, that he had wanted to "ask Gary" whether the 2012 nominee would drop out if he were excluded from the debate, or "will you continue to fundraise for your lost cause."

Petersen has been attacking Johnson repeatedly through the state Libertarian debates, accusing the former Governor of "fear-mongering" about Sharia Law, berating him for not standing up for the right of the seriously mentally ill to bear arms, and successfully reframing one debate answer by Johnson, about whether businesses could refuse to serve gays, into a statement that Jewish bakers should be forced to bake Nazi cakes.

Audio only: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCfMhOhUm5s