Marijuana is fastest-growing industry in U.S.

Here's How Fast The Marijuana Industry Is Growing, In 5 Charts - Matt Ferner, Huffington Post:

January 29, 2015 - "The marijuana industry is booming, and it doesn't show any signs of slowing down in the near future.

"Legal marijuana is the fastest-growing industry in the United States, according to a new report from researchers at The ArcView Group, a cannabis industry investment and research firm based in Oakland, California. In the next two years, a flurry of states are expected to consider the legalization of recreational marijuana. A majority of Americans continue to support full legalization, nationally, and by 2016, it's entirely possible that marijuana could be a wedge issue in the presidential election.

"'These are exciting times, and new millionaires and possibly billionaires are about to be made, while simultaneously society will become safer and freer,' Troy Dayton, CEO of The ArcView Group and publisher of the third edition of the State of Legal Marijuana Markets, said in the executive summary of the report. 'We believe that the development of a responsible, politically engaged, and profitable, legal cannabis industry will hasten the day when not a single adult in the world is punished for this plant.'"

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/marijuana-industry-growth-charts_n_6565604.html
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LP of Alabama announces ballot access coalition

Libertarian Party of Alabama calls for ballot access law reforms, announces issue coalition | AL.com:

Janurary 6, 2015 - "The Libertarian Party of Alabama is pleased to announce our coalition with Alabama for Our America Initiative, Let Bama Vote, Alabama for Ballot Access Law Equality, and other partner organizations to lobby the legislature to ease ballot access barriers for candidates running outside the establishment parties. Alabama State Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) has confirmed that he intends to again introduce a bill to lower the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties, from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to 1.5%. The purpose of our coalition is to raise awareness of Alabama unfair ballot access laws and to encourage our supporters to contact their legislators to demand change....

"In 2014, Alabama was one (1) of only four (4) states that did not have candidates other than the two (2) traditional party candidates on the November ballot for statewide office. Additionally, Alabama was the only state with an entirely unopposed United States Senate race and four (4) unopposed statewide offices.

"In 2004, 2008, and 2012, Alabama was part of a small minority of states where the national minor party presidential campaigns, including the Libertarians and Greens, could only appear on the ballot as Independents. Alabama has had no Federal or Statewide independent or minor party candidates on the ballot since 2002....

"Even with the record low voter turnout in the November 2014 general election, ballot access would require the collection of approximately 36,000 valid signatures of registered voters statewide, around 5,000 valid signatures for a single Congressional race, and approximately 400 valid signatures in any one of the state's 105 House districts. This signature threshold is the second highest in the country for statewide office and among the highest for any political office."

Read more: http://blog.al.com/press-releases/2015/01/libertarian_party_of_alabama_c.html
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Libertarian-Democratic civil rights alliance emerging

Rand Paul's Crazy Dream of a Libertarian-Democratic Alliance on Civil Rights Is Actually Happening - Bloomberg Politics - David Wiegel:

January 29, 2015 - "On the morning before attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch would face Congress, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul re-introduced a bill that would tie her hands. Paul and a crew of congressmen — Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison, Michigan Representative Tim Walberg — had resurrected the Fifth Amendment Integrity Act. If passed, it would restrict the government’s ability, from the Department of Justice on down to local cops, to seize property from criminal suspects.

"'We’ve had protests across our country, and people think it’s about one or two instances,' Paul said from the rostrum. 'No. It’s one thing after another. Let’s say you’ve got a poor family in aneighborhood in a big city, and grandmother owns the house. The 15-year old son is selling marijuana. They catch him. They take the house! The house was the only stabilizing thing in a family that was having trouble.'

"Ellison, a black Democrat who was the first Muslim elected to Congress, stood by Paul as he summoned the ghosts of the Civil Rights movement.

"'Martin Luther King talked about there being two Americas, where one America was treated in a just fashion and one wasn't,' Paul said. 'At one point it was based on color, and it was awful. Now it’s not so much based on color on purpose, but there is an inadvertent sense to the war on drugs that has allowed people of color to be caught up in this.'

"This was Rand Paul, national figure and likely presidential candidate, and Democrats needed him. And this was still somewhat new to them. Paul had begun his Senate career in 2011 by slicing up red meat, introducing a doomed bill to ban abortions and a budget proposal that zeroed out foreign aid. He’d started the second Obama administration with a campaign of outreach to black students and black leaders, and a vocal campaign to restore the voting rights of felons. Democrats could say this and the media shrugged; Rand Paul said it, and the notebooks came out."

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/features/2015-01-29/rand-paul-s-crazy-dream-of-a-libertarian-democratic-alliance-on-civil-rights-is-actually-happening
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Libertarian think tank hires ex-Wikimedia counsel

Ex-Wikimedia Counsel Takes Libertarian Think Tank GC Job | Corporate Counsel - Andrew Ramonas:

January 23, 2015 - "Mike Godwin, a former top lawyer for Wikipedia operator Wikimedia Foundation Inc., will serve as the first general counsel and innovation policy director for the libertarian think tank R Street Institute, the Washington, D.C.-based group announced Thursday.

"Godwin will start work Monday. He most recently was a senior policy adviser at media training organization Internews.

"He said he has deep respect for R Street's work, noting the group's interest in protecting the Internet and its users. Last year, for example, R Street pushed Congress to approve legislation that would rein in the surveillance power of the National Security Agency....

"Godwin said he expects to spend a 'great majority' of his time working on innovation policy, focusing on privacy, intellectual property and free speech, among other issues. But he said he agreed to take the GC role to help ensure that R Street's legal needs are met....

"In addition to Wikimedia and Internews, Godwin has worked as a staff counsel for Internet-rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation and as a columnist for ALM Media, the parent company of CorpCounsel.com and The National Law Journal.

"'I’ve admired Mike from afar for years and I’m delighted that he’s joining the team at R Street,' R Street President Eli Lehrer said in a statement. 'He’s the absolute best person we could possibly imagine for this job, and we are eager for him to bring his knowledge on board.'"

Read more: http://www.corpcounsel.com/id=1202715951860/ExWikimedia-Counsel-Takes-Libertarian-Think-Tank-GC-Job
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Clement is LP of Canada candidate in Oakville

Oakville’s Clement runs as Libertarian in new Oakville North-Burlington riding - Michael Gregory, Oakville Beaver:

January 18, 2015 - "Oakville’s David Clement has been nominated as the Libertarian Party of Canada’s candidate for the new Oakville North-Burlington riding in the upcoming federal election later this year.

"'I am extremely excited about the opportunity to represent the residents of Oakville and Burlington in Ottawa,' Clement said. 'I’m running for Parliament to give voters the option of voting for principled, small government again.'

"Clement is a native of Oakville and attended Wilfrid Laurier University, where he earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, and a Masters in International Relations. "He grew up playing hockey for the Oakville Rangers and attended White Oaks Secondary School in Oakville.

"Clement has also volunteered for numerous local charities over the years....

"Clement said he now works locally in the consulting field and is looking forward to hopefully taking 'both fiscally prudent and socially liberal' policies to Ottawa.

"'The Conservatives have failed voters, and unfortunately the Liberals and NDP are not offering the type of change that will make a difference today or in the foreseeable future,' he said.

"'The Libertarian Party of Canada, on the other hand, is a renewed party that is eager and committed to bring accountability and honesty back to the table.'" 

Read more: http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/5261750-oakville-s-clement-runs-as-libertarian-in-new-oakville-north-burlington-riding/

Liberals veto Jodie Emery as federal candidate

Liberals send a message by refusing to allow Jodie Emery to seek nomination in Vancouver East | Georgia Straight, Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly - Charlie Smith:

January 17, 2015 - "The news that came over Jodie Emery's Twitter feed was terse and direct.

"'At 3:58pm I received an email from the Liberal Green Light Committee informing me they are not recommending me to be a nomination candidate,' she wrote.

"Emery, wife of marijuana-legalization crusader Marc Emery, had hoped to become the Liberal candidate in Vancouver East.

"She went through the usual bureaucracy that comes with seeking a nod from a federal party.

"Emery demonstrated that she doesn't have a criminal record. She certainly has a long history of involvement in community issues. But apparently, that didn't satisfy party apparatchiks.

"So her opportunity to seek a nomination was nixed.

"The news was leaked late on a Friday afternoon to minimize media coverage.

"Despite the lack of respect shown Emery, she will still support the Liberals in the next election because they're the only major party promising legalization of marijuana."

Read more: http://www.straight.com/news/808266/liberals-send-message-refusing-allow-jodie-emery-seek-nomination-vancouver-east
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Let jihadis leave the country; don't let them return

Modest libertarian proposal: Keep jihadis out - Ilana Mercer, World Net Daily:

January 22, 2015 - "In the waning months of 2014, Quebecer Michael Zehaf-Bibeau shot Cpl. Nathan Cirillo in the back, at Canada’s National War Memorial in Ottawa. Zehaf-Bibeau then stormed Parliament, but was dispatched by a sergeant-at-arms before he could do further harm.

"The mother of the martyr, Susan Bibeau, is a 'deputy chairperson of a division of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board.' Mrs. Bibeau has done quite well as a Canadian bureaucrat, acquiring 'homes in Montreal and Ottawa.' Her errant son told mommy dearest of 'his desire to travel to Syria,' a fact she revealed only ... following Zehaf-Bibeau’s lone-wolf, wilding rampage on Parliament Hill.... In any event, it transpires that said authorities had been investigating Zehaf-Bibeau, but had yet to determine whether or not to confiscate his passport.

"Before Michael Zehaf-Bibeau came another Quebecer called Martin Couture-Rouleau. Like Bibeau, Rouleau went to war with his countrymen upon converting to Islam. He rammed his car into two Canadian Forces members near Montreal, one of whom died of his injuries.

"According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Couture-Rouleau was known to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS, and had been closely monitored. These authorities were confident that Couture-Rouleau and 90 other suspected extremists 'intended to join militants fighting abroad.'

"So what did the Canadian security apparatus do to forestall an attack on Canadian soil?.... The Mounties tried to 'talk Couture-Rouleau down'.... Convinced that the therapeutic intervention succeeded, the Mounties then stopped monitoring him. Oh, and they also took away Couture-Rouleau’s passport....

"The Canadian government continues to 'revoke passports from extremists so as to prevent them from traveling to-and-fro Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State (ISIS).' Oddly, the same government will often opt to charge jihad-minded men with 'attempting to leave Canada to participate in terrorist activity.'

"Why?

"Revoking a home-based jihadist’s travel documents is worse than dumb; it is a dereliction of duty. It demonstrates that whatever it does, the state acts irrationally – and certainly against the interests of those whose safety it has been entrusted to protect.

"Naturally, no individual should be arrested for harboring wicked thoughts or hanging with wicked people. But when he leaves the Occident with the intent to train to wage war on his neighbors – this jihadi must be stopped from re-entering the good country."

Read more: http://www.wnd.com/2015/01/modest-libertarian-proposal-keep-jihadis-out/
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