Darryl Perry declares for NH governor

Keene Libertarian announces run for governor - Jake Lahut, Keene Sentinel:

December 5, 2019 - "Darryl W. Perry, a Keene resident and former chairman of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, announced his plans to run for governor Wednesday.

"Perry, who was a Libertarian presidential candidate in 2016, said in a news release that he plans to run on a platform of lower taxes, voting rights and reforming ballot access and the criminal justice system. He also announced that he has signed the 'Taxpayer Pledge' in opposition to implementing any kind of sales or income tax in the Granite State.

"In a statement, Perry said he wants to pursue fundamental changes to the state’s criminal justice system. 'I’m not simply going to talk about reforming sentencing guidelines; I want to end drug prohibition in New Hampshire,' Perry said. 'That’s going to include not just retail cannabis sales, but Portugal-style depenalization of all other substances for personal use; working with the Executive Council to pardon all nonviolent drug offenders; and working with the Legislature to allow those with previous drug convictions to work in the retail cannabis industry, something no other state with recreational cannabis allows'....

"Because the Libertarian candidate won less than 4 percent of the vote in the 2018 governor’s race, the party’s 2020 nominee doesn’t automatically get a spot on the ballot. But the party can get on the ballot by gathering the signatures of 3,000 registered voters."

Read more; https://www.sentinelsource.com/news/local/keene-libertarian-announces-run-for-governor/article_0805e276-9ca1-5dd2-9ed8-58aba538917b.html

NYC rewrites gun regs to avoid SCOTUS review

Can Senseless Gun Regulations Be Constitutional? – Reason.com- Jacob Sullum:

December 4, 2019 - "New York's uniquely onerous restrictions on transporting guns were so hard to justify that the city stopped trying. Instead it rewrote the rules after the Supreme Court agreed to consider a constitutional challenge to them, and now it argues that the case is moot.

"Despite the obvious vulnerability of New York's regulations, the city successfully defended them for five years, obtaining favorable rulings from a federal judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. That track record highlights a glaring problem the Supreme Court could address if it rejects the city's mootness claim: More than a decade after the justices recognized that the Second Amendment imposes limits on gun control, lower courts routinely treat the right to keep and bear arms as a minor hindrance that can be overcome by the slightest excuse.

"Under New York's rules, licensed pistol and revolver owners were not allowed to leave home with their handguns, even if they were unloaded and stored in a locked container separate from the ammunition, unless they were traveling to or from one of seven gun ranges in the city. If a New Yorker wanted to practice at a range, participate in a competition, or defend himself at a second home outside the five boroughs, the only legal option was to buy (or rent) additional handguns.

"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg ... noted during oral arguments on Monday. 'What public safety or any other reasonable end is served by saying you have to have two guns instead of one ... and one of those guns has to be maintained in a place that is often unoccupied and that therefore [is] more vulnerable to theft?' Richard Dearing, the attorney representing New York City, was stumped....

"Justice Samuel Alito asked Dearing if New Yorkers are 'less safe' now that the city has loosened its restrictions. 'No, I don't think so,' Dearing replied. 'We made a judgment, expressed by our police commissioner, that it was consistent with public safety to repeal the prior rule.' In that case, Alito wondered, 'what possible justification could there have been for the old rule, which you have abandoned?'...

"Restrictions on fundamental rights usually pass muster only if they are narrowly tailored to further a compelling government interest..... But ... In the appeals court's view, the city's assertion that the transport ban was necessary to protect public safety — a claim it has now disavowed — outweighed the plaintiffs' 'trivial' interest in using their guns for self-defense outside the city or in honing the skills required for that constitutionally protected purpose.

"Such casual disregard for the right to keep and bear arms is plainly inconsistent with what the Supreme Court has said about the Second Amendment. That's why the city is so desperate to prevent the justices from considering an argument that was good enough until now."

Read more: https://reason.com/2019/12/04/can-senseless-gun-regulations-be-constitutional/
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Retail cannabis sales begin in Michigan

First-time Michigan recreational marijuana shoppers stranded in line given complimentary joints - mlive.com - Gus Burns:

December 2, 2019 - "Sunday Dec. 1, the first day of recreational retail marijuana sales in Michigan ... Ann Arbor marijuana shops, Arbors Wellness, Exclusive Brands and Greenstone Provisions, opened about 10 a.m..... Each experienced consistently long lines with customers numbering in the hundreds throughout the day. First-day marijuana sales among the three stores equaled $221,000, the Marijuana Regulatory Agency reports.

"Hours before Michigan's first retail recreational marijuana sale, eager customers waited in festive lines. Exclusive Brands ... served over 900 people by the time the Ann Arbor city ordinance required them to close shop at 9 p.m., co-owner Omat Hishmeh said. Nearly 25 line-stranded customers were treated for their patience. They were given a 'Willy Wonka golden ticket,' which allows them to cut to the front of the line during their next visit, received discount coupons and were entered into a raffle for front-row Detroit Pistons tickets....

"James Daly, the owner of Arbors Wellness ... said his staff served 750 customers throughout the day and turned nearly 50 away at closing time. As a consolation, those customers were offered complimentary pre-rolled joints, Daly said....

"Based on what employees say they sold and what customers said they spent, it’s likely all three marijuana stores generated sales near or in excess of $100,000.... None of the three shops experienced shortages and both Exclusive and Arbors Wellness said they are able to keep up with demand for the foreseeable future....

"As of Monday, the state Marijuana Regulatory Agency had licensed seven businesses.... It expects at least a dozen to be licensed statewide by the new year....

"Some of the forefathers of Michigan marijuana legalization -- and casualties of its prohibition -- convened at Arbors Wellness prior to 10 a.m.... They spoke of the confusion following passage of the medical marijuana law in 2008, ... the raids and prosecutions that followed and the slow shift in public and political sentiment that led to licensed legalization Sunday....

"Among the legalization pioneers was activist and poet John Sinclair, who in 1969 began serving more than two years of a 10-year sentence that was later overturned for possession of two joints. Sinclair made a ceremonial purchase of pre-rolled joints before the business opened to the public."

Read more: https://www.mlive.com/politics/2019/12/first-time-michigan-recreational-marijuana-shoppers-stranded-in-line-given-complimentary-joints.html
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Another libertarian party launched in Israel

New Israeli libertarian party to launch next week - Israel National News 7 - David Rosenberg:

November 29, 2019 - "As Israel edges closer towards its third election in less than a year, a new center-right party is preparing to launch, joining an already crowded field of right-leaning parties. The New Liberal Party of Israel, formed by three former members of the libertarian-leaning Zehut party, is set to officially launch next Wednesday at a conference in Tel Aviv.

"Based on the principles of classical liberalism and free-market economics, the new party shares much of the ideology of Zehut, which endorsed the Likud shortly before the September 17th election, bowing out of the race due to the promise of a ministry position in the next government led by Binyamin Netanyahu, and the adoption by the Likud of some of Zehut’s positions on medical marijuana....

"[T]he new venture ... was launched by three former Zehut candidates who refused to accept the party’s endorsement of the Likud earlier this year.... Economist Gilad Alper, physics lecturer Rafael Minnes, and educator and school reform activist Libby Molad lead the nascent party, which recently released a draft of its platform.

"On security, foreign policy, and territorial issues, the New Liberal Party places itself to the right of center, opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state and placing Israel’s security at the top of its agenda....

"On socio-economic issues, the party’s platform backs reduced regulation, taxation, and government intervention in the economy and increased privacy rights, along with the separation of synagogue and state. 'We will separate religion from politics.... Government involvement with religious institutions results in unacceptable coercion, as well as discrimination against single people and people from the LGBT community in comparison to married couples, the banning of mass transportation on the Sabbath, the wasting of taxpayers’ funds, and unnecessary feelings of resentment between secular and religious Jews.'

"The platform also calls for removing Israel’s marriage registry system from state religious authorities and the establishment of civil marriages, along with ending the chief rabbinate’s administration of Israel’s kashrut certification system. Like Zehut, the New Liberal Party emphasizes the need to 'end the war on cannabis' – including recreational marijuana – and to expand access to medicinal marijuana.

"Regarding education, the party’s platform promises reforms which would decentralize and shift control of the education system from the Education Ministry to local communities. In addition, the New Liberal Party endorses the voucher system to increase parental choice."

Read more: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272456
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Ontario court blocks Student Choice Initiative

Provincial government releases official guidelines on Student Choice Initiative, details of tuition cuts | The Varsity (University of Toronto), Adam A. Lam & Andy Takagi:

March 29, 2019 - "The Ontario government has released official guidelines for the Student Choice Initiative (SCI), the provincial mandate to give students an opt-out option for certain ancillary fees.... Incidental fees charged by universities to support clubs, student societies, and programs that fall outside of the provincial framework for compulsory fees will be required to have an opt-out option for students. The ability to opt out, according to the guidelines, must be presented to students before paying fees for that semester....

"Services can be deemed 'essential' by individual institutions, as long as they fall within the government’s established framework, which includes athletics and recreation, career services, student buildings, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, student achievement and records, financial aid offices, and campus safety programs. Levy-funded groups like various student unions — including college student associations, [student newspapers], and campus radio stations — will require an opt-out option, unless the university rationalizes these services as falling within one of the essential categories."
Read more: https://thevarsity.ca/2019/03/29/provincial-government-releases-official-guidelines-on-student-choice-initiative-details-of-tuition-cuts/

Province reviewing decision that struck down Student Choice Initiative | The Journal (Queen's University), Raechel Huizinga:
November 29, 2019 - "The Divisional Court of Ontario unanimously struck down the Student Choice Initiative on Nov. 21.... In May, the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario (CFS-O) and the York Federation of Students filed an application for judicial review against the Ford government over the SCI. The court heard arguments from both parties on Oct. 11.

"While the Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU) confirmed in a statement to The Journal on Monday it’s reviewing the court decision, there has been no word yet on whether the Province will appeal the decision. 'We will have more to say on this at a later date,' Tanya Blazina, team lead of the Ministry’s issues management and media relations, wrote....

"According to court documents published by The Varsity, the judges unanimously agreed neither the Cabinet nor the Minister had the authority to interfere with the 'democratic decisions taken by students respecting their student association membership fees. There is no statutory authority authorizing Cabinet or the Minister to interfere in the internal affairs of universities generally, or in the relations between universities and student associations specifically,' the decision read."
Read more: https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2019-11-28/news/province-reviewing-decision-that-struck-down-student-choice-initiative/

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Destroying the environment for clean energy

The dirty business of clean power | National Post - Sarah Cox:

May 14, 2019 - This year’s nominees for the Writers’ Trust Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing [include] Journalist Sarah Cox [who] takes on the dirty business of clean power in Breaching the Peace: The Site C Dam and a Valley’s Stand against Big Hydro.

SC: "Large hydro dams are a hugely expensive and destructive way to generate renewable energy. They are neither 'green' nor environmentally friendly.... Among other impacts, the Site C dam will destroy habitat for more than 100 species already vulnerable to extinction, including bird, plant, butterfly, bee and mammal species. The Site C dam and its reservoir will also eliminate some of Canada’s richest farmland, ancient wetlands called tufa seeps, old-growth boreal forests and a living laboratory for scientists to study how species adapt to climate change.... As many as 30,000 songbirds and woodpeckers nest in the dam’s future flood zone....

"Just how 'clean' big hydro dams really are is called into question by many scientists. One study by U.S. scientists shows that reservoirs produce considerably more carbon emissions than anticipated. About 80 per cent of these emissions are in the form of methane, a greenhouse gas 34 times more potent than carbon dioxide....

"[T]here was a concerted lobby by construction trades unions to continue the Site C dam. The same unions donated generously to the NDP — to the tune of many hundreds of thousands of dollars — and they continue to form a key part of the party’s labour base. The unions directly lobbied the NDP government and held well-attended press conferences in Vancouver and Victoria to champion continued Site C construction....

"[T]he independent B.C. Utilities Commission (BCUC) would normally have examined the Site C dam to determine whether or not the project was in the public interest. The watchdog commission rejected the project in the 1980s.... B.C.’s Liberal government ... changed the law in 2010 to strip the commission’s oversight of Site C. When the NDP came to power in 2017, it ... sen[t] the project to the BCUC.... But, notably, it didn’t allow the BCUC to determine whether or not proceeding with Site C was in the public interest and the BCUC wasn’t given the most up-to-date financial information for the project....

"Two Treaty 8 First Nations have filed civil claims alleging the Site C dam and two previous dams on the Peace River unjustifiably infringe on their treaty rights.... Already, BC Hydro contractors are clearcutting 13 areas in the Site C project zone that the nations have identified as critical to maintaining cultural practices guaranteed to them in the treaty signed in 1899. Three of those areas fall within a corridor for a transmission line that cuts through ... two wetlands — Sucker Lake and Trappers Lake — where First Nations have hunted moose and trapped for millennia....

"It made financial sense to build large hydro dams in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s when there were fewer renewable energy options available and they were far more expensive. But ... Canada’s publicly owned energy corporations are largely stuck in an old model and haven’t kept up with the times. Plummeting prices for wind energy and other renewables, coupled with the abundance of shale gas, mean that power from expensive new hydro dams can’t be sold for anything close to what it will cost to produce it. So, in addition to their devastating impacts on the environment and Indigenous peoples, large Canadian dams are no longer economical....

"Ultimately, provincial ratepayers will suffer, or taxpayers — they are largely the same people. B.C.’s NDP government just bailed out the deeply indebted BC Hydro for more than $1 billion, for example, and that’s even before many more billions in Site C costs come due."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/the-dirty-business-of-clean-power

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Hong Kong opposition wins election landslide

Pro-Democracy Candidates Win Landslide Victory in Hong Kong Election - Liberty Nation - Onar Åm:

November 26, 2019 - "The 2019 district council election in Hong Kong gave a landslide victory to the pro-democracy camp and is widely interpreted as an unofficial referendum on the Chinese Communist Party’s interference in the governance of the former British colony.

"A record-breaking 71% of voters cast their ballots in the election. Of the 452 contested seats, pro-democratic candidates won 385, collecting more than 85% of the votes.... Candidates who support the protesters, now in their sixth month of activism, won 17 out of 18 districts. The people of Hong Kong could hardly send a more explicit message to the government.

"Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Chief Executive Carrie Lam expressed that she 'respected the results' and ... promised that the government would 'humbly and seriously reflect' on the election result.

"Despite the landslide victory, the election will not directly impact the selection of the government. Even with the infusion of district council members who can vote on the selection of Hong Kong’s chief executive, the pro-democracy camp likely does not hold a majority, although it is close. If some of the business representatives who align with Beijing for strategic reasons should choose to defect, the next leader of Hong Kong could represent the people.

"That is unlikely, but the election has not been for naught. The protesters now officially know that most people in Hong Kong are on their side, which lends them credence in the international community. Consequently, Western countries are more likely to voice official support to the protesters as a legitimate movement backed democratically by the people.

"Although the road to independence may be long and arduous for Hong Kong, this election has enormously boosted morale and confidence in the pro-democracy movement.

"Sometimes the most significant part of an event is what doesn’t happen. During the six months of turbulence in Hong Kong, Beijing has stayed out officially and left the task of cleaning up to Lam and her administration. For China, this is unusually restrained. The mainland government rarely hesitates to use extreme force against open opposition. This self-imposed restraint in Hong Kong is a sign of weakness, vulnerability, and deep structural problems. It reflects China’s fundamental dependence on access to the global market, especially the West. Many parties who want to do business with China strongly prefer to go through Hong Kong, which has a long tradition of the rule of law, orderly conduct, civility, and good business practices.

"Hong Kong can survive well without China, but the converse is not true. Beijing’s rule is built on a house of cards, and the Chinese government avoids shaking the box lest the unstable construction should fall. While that may not secure freedom for Hong Kong, it could buy residents more bargaining chips in the struggle for autonomy."

Read more or listen: https://www.libertynation.com/pro-democracy-candidates-win-landslide-victory-in-hong-kong-election/
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