NY Libertarian membership grows post-election

Libertarian numbers grow in New York - Capitol Confidential - David Lombardo, Albany Times-Union:

February 5, 2019 - "The ranks of the Libertarian Party in New York have immediately swelled with the party’s addition to the state’s voter registration form.

"The third party, which became a recognized party in January based on its showing in last year’s gubernatorial race, has 9,757 registered members in New York as of last week, according to data compiled by the state Board of Elections. This is nearly a 25 percent increase from 2018, based on estimates from party officials.

"Asked about the new status in November, New York Libertarian Party Chair Jim Rosenbeck said: 'It will no longer be a mystery how to register as a Libertarian'....

"A similar bump in enrollment was not seen by the Serve America Movement, a third party that qualified for the ballot with gubernatorial candidate Stephanie Miner. The party has zero registered voters in New York.

"Before the Libertarian Party became officially recognized, New Yorkers were able to write in the party on their registration form and they were classified as “other” party voters by the state, which was at 8,668 voters in November. This category had increased to 10,067 voters as of last week, with about 72 percent coming from the Women’s Equality Party and about 28 percent from the Reform Party, both of which lost their recognized status when their gubernatorial candidates got less than 50,000 votes in November.

"Nearly three quarters of the Libertarian voters are from outside of New York City."

Read more: https://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/285843/libertarian-numbers-grow-in-new-york/

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Leyenhjolm to run at state level

Australia's Libertarian Senator Won't Seek Re-election - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Scott Shackford|

January 8, 2019 - "Libertarian Australian Senator David Leyonhjelm is resigning from national politics, but he isn't leaving government behind. Instead he's looking to take his fight against the nanny state to the local level.

"Leyonhjelm, of Australia's Liberal Democratic Party (that's the country's label for libertarians), was elected to office in 2013 and re-elected in 2016. He has spent a lot of that time advocating for the liberty to own guns, marry somebody of the same sex, legally smoke marijuana, and be free from unwarranted government surveillance.

"Well, at least gay marriage was legalized (after a lengthy, complicated public vote). The rest has been a struggle. Even after the Australian Senate made it easier for terminally ill patients to import medical marijuana, the country's Department of Health continued to threaten people who attempted to do so. And the country has actually ramped up surveillance authorities on its citizens and is now potentially threatening everybody's data privacy and security with anti-encryption legislation. Meanwhile, as Australia's extremely high taxes on cigarettes has created a massive black market for the goods, the country has responded by attempting to stop large cash transactions....

"Leyonhjelm has now decided to focus on fighting the country's nanny tendencies on the state level. He says he's planning to run for the Upper House in New South Wales (home of Sydney and the country's highest population concentration of nearly 8 million).

"He told Sky News that he wants to fight against red tape on the state level, focusing on familiar overregulation issues like liquor licensing, rules on where you can smoke or vape, gambling, laws that control business hours, and issues like assisted suicide and, again, drug legalization....

"An election analyst at Australia's ABC Network ... predicted that Leyonhjelm would have a tough time keeping his Senate seat. The ruling government has made it harder since Leyonhjelm was elected for minor parties to reach the polling thresholds needed to win seats under the country's preferential voting system. But he could fare better with the New South Wales Legislative Council, though he's going to be competing against other third parties as well."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2019/01/08/australias-libertarian-senator-wont-seek
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Libertarian commune founded in Norway

The libertarian commune made cryptocurrency the official means of payment - The Cryptocurrency Post:

February 17, 2019 - "The inhabitants of the libertarian commune of Liberstad made the City Coin coin the official currency of their town. Libertarians believe that digital money perfectly matches their values and allows them to become independent of the state.

"Liberstad municipality was founded in 2015 in Norway. The founders of the project want to gain independence from the state and to waive taxes in favor of the services of private companies.

"'We want to create a society in which people decide everything themselves and can live together without state authorities. We want to create a society without government coercion, blackmail, surveillance or unnecessary violence,' said the founder of the commune, John Toralf Holmsland.

"At the moment, the population of Liberstad has more than 120 inhabitants. Anyone can join the commune – for this you need to buy land for bitcoins.

"City Coin cryptocurrency was developed by the City Chain Foundation project.... City Chain has created a platform for a 'smart' city, which contains a number of functions for developing cities, such as Liberstad. Chief among these features is City Hub, an intuitive and easy-to-use control panel for smart city dwellers. Citizens can interact with the community, manage their virtual identity, create city-wide initiatives or vote for existing ones, register property, insure contracts and much more,' the project description says."


Read more: https://thecryptocurrencypost.net/the-libertarian-commune-made-cryptocurrency-the-official-means-of-payment/
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Majority of Americans favor capitalism: poll

Capitalism crushes socialism: Fox News Poll | Fox Business - Dana Blanton:

February 13, 2019 - "Capitalism is far more popular than socialism, according to a Fox News Poll of registered voters. The poll also finds economic optimism high, and the number wanting help from the government the lowest in years.

"The new poll, released Wednesday, asks what message voters want to send to the federal government.  Over half would say 'leave me alone.'  About a third would ask Uncle Sam to 'lend me a hand.' The 34 percent saying 'lend me a hand' is down from 41 percent last year and 39 percent in 2016. The 55 percent who would tell the government 'leave me alone' is up from 51 percent in 2018 and 54 percent in 2016.

"Fifty-seven percent of voters have a positive opinion of capitalism.  That’s more than twice the number who feel the same about socialism (25 percent).  Some of the groups most likely to have a favorable view of socialism include self-identified liberals (50 percent), Clinton voters (43 percent), and those under age 30 (36 percent)....

"Nearly four out of five voters feel their family either achieved the American Dream (38 percent), or is on the way toward achieving it (40 percent).  One in five believes the dream is out of reach (18 percent)....

"By a 47-42 percent margin, voters think capitalism in the U.S. gives them a 'fair shot.' However, men (58 percent) are 21 points more likely than women (37 percent) to say capitalism is a level playing field.  Similarly, whites (52 percent) are 19 points more likely than nonwhites (33 percent), and voters ages 45 and over (54 percent) are 17 points more inclined than those under age 45 (37 percent) to feel they are getting a fair deal.

"Meanwhile, the number thinking Americans rely too much on government and not enough on themselves has dropped:  61 percent feel that way, down from 74 percent in 2013....

"The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,004 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) (formerly named Anderson Robbins Research) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from February 10-12, 2019. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters."

Read more: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-capitalism-buries-socialism

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Hollywood hypocrisy shown by The Favourite

Somebody’s Favorite | Liberty Unbound - Jo Anne Skousen:

February 10, 2019 - "In the wake of last year’s militant #MeToo movement, when actresses haughtily proclaimed, 'We will no longer be pressured into trading sex for jobs' (and bullied other actresses into wearing black at the event to show their solidarity), the Academy this year has bizarrely honored The Favourite with ten Oscar nominations, ... confirming once and for all (as if there were any doubt) that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has zero credibility and doesn’t know what the hell it is doing.

"Loosely based on the reign of Queen Anne and her relationships with Sarah Churchill,Duchess of Marlborough, and a servant named Abigail (eventually Lady Masham), the film suggests that the silly and childlike Anne made all of her decisions based on which woman’s tongue pleased her best — and I don’t mean by talking. The film fairly drips with transactional sex....

"Rachel Weisz, who plays Sarah Marlborough, called the film 'a funnier, sex-driven All About Eve.' In that film, an established star (Margo Channing) befriends an aspiring actress (Eve Harrington), only to see her try to usurp her position in the theater. Similarly, in The Favourite, a young social climber, Abigail (Emma Stone), .... worms her way cunningly — or in this case, cunnilingually — into the favor of Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) by befriending and then pushing aside the queen’s long-standing confidante and advisor, Lady Churchill (Weisz), simultaneously finagling a financially and socially beneficial marriage to regain her aristocratic status.

"Don’t misunderstand my objection — I enjoy a good bedroom farce, with doors slamming, lovers hiding, comic timing, and double entendres galore. But this is different. The Favourite doesn’t just joke about sex; it celebrates the use of sex to gain political power, and hypocritically undermines everything these same preening, moralizing Hollywood hotshots stood up for just last year.

"It also seems to justify rape, as long as it’s funny.... When Lord Masham enters Abigail’s servant quarters without being invited, she asks him, 'Are you here to seduce me or to rape me?” He responds, “I’m a gentleman.' 'To rape me, then,' she deadpans, and the audience chuckles....

"All I’m asking is that the Academy pick a side and stick with it. Or admit that it really has no backbone or underlying moral principles whatsoever, and quit pretending to have the upper hand on social morality....

"Liberty readers might well enjoy The Favourite.... It’s bizarre in many ways, but it’s also witty, opulent, and well-acted. It presents three powerful women controlling the throne and politics of England in their own womanly way.... All three women use their sex for trade, but they do it willingly and deliberately, from a position of power rather than victimhood. Is it possible — even probable — that women in Hollywood have been doing the same thing for over a century, and only cried 'outrage!' (and somehow managed to blame Republicans) after they were caught?"

Read more: http://www.libertyunbound.com/node/1953

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Canada shows privatizing air traffic control works

Canada’s privatized air traffic control system should be model for U.S., analyst says - Transportation Today:

September 20, 2017 - "A proposal to privatize air traffic control in the United States would help facilitate modernization of the decades-old air traffic control system, a model that has seen success in Canada, argues an analyst at the independent, non-profit American Action Forum (AAF).

""Brianna Fernandez, a data analyst with AAF, says that because the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding is uncertain and enmeshed in political gridlock, upgrading the World War II-era, ground-based radar technology to GPS-based technology is close to impossible. But privatization would correct that, she said....

"Fernandez says it works in other countries, and should be a model for how it works in the United States.... Fernandez pointed to Canada as an example.

"Canada moved to a privatized ATC system, Nav Canada, nearly 20 years ago and was able to quickly modernize its air traffic technology in 2009 to an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system, Fernandez noted. This ATC system determines an aircraft’s position via satellite navigation and then broadcasts its location for tracking purposes....

"In contrast, since 2007, Fernandez wrote, the FAA has invested $3 billion in a satellite-based GPS tracking technology, included in a program known as NextGen, but has not either identified the total costs of NextGen, or set schedules for implementing it. Current estimates put the total cost at $160 billion by 2030.

"'Since it privatized its ATC services, Canada has implemented GPS technology, which has helped to lower costs to aviation users,' Fernandez wrote.... 'Nav Canada is also one of the safest systems in the world, and has won three International Air Transport Association Eagle Awards for the best ATC provider'....

"Similar systems exist in Australia, Germany, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, Fernandez wrote. 'Removing air traffic control from governmental constraints has allowed other countries to modernize their technologies at rates faster than the United States, while maintaining a safe system with lower costs,' she says in her paper."

Read more: https://transportationtodaynews.com/news/5604-canadas-privatized-air-traffic-control-system-model-u-s-analyst-says/
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Weld exploring primary challenge to Trump

Bill Weld looking to challenge Donald Trump in 2020 Republican primary - CNNPolitics - Veronica Stracqualursi, Harry Enten & Daniella Diaz:

February 15, 2019 - "Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld said he's launching a presidential exploratory committee to run in 2020 as a Republican.

"'I hope to see the Republican Party assume once again the mantle of being the party of Lincoln. It upsets me that our energies as a society are being sapped by the President's culture of divisiveness in Washington,' he said Friday in New Hampshire, adding later, 'Because of the many concerns I've talked about today, I've established an exploratory committee ... as a Republican in the 2020 election.'

"Speaking at the 'Politics & Eggs' breakfast in Bedford, New Hampshire, Weld called Donald Trump a 'schoolyard bully,' 'unstable,' and 'a president whose priorities are skewed to the promotion of himself rather than toward the good of the country.'

"Weld is the first potential primary challenger to the President [and] ... will face an uphill battle.... Trump recently scored an 89% approval rating among Republicans nationally in a Gallup poll. Even in New Hampshire, where Weld is expected to base much of his campaign effort, Trump showed a similarly strongly 83% approval rating with Republicans in a late October University of New Hampshire poll.....

"Weld has had a unique political path. He served as a two-term Massachusetts governor during the early 1990s and later lost the 1996 US Senate race in Massachusetts against John Kerry. He resigned as governor in 1997 after Democratic President Bill Clinton nominated him to be US ambassador to Mexico [but] he was blocked by then-chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jesse Helms....

"He was Mitt Romney's co-chair in New York when Romney ran for president in 2008. After Romney dropped out, Weld ended up endorsing then-Democratic nominee Barack Obama for president over the GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain.

"Weld was the 2016 vice presidential nominee on the Libertarian Party ticket with former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. And despite that, Weld vouched for Hillary Clinton, even saying at one point he's 'not sure anybody is more qualified' than her to be president."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/politics/bill-weld-2020-exploratory-committee/index.html

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Read Weld's full speech here: https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2019/02/15/bill-weld-2020-speech