Monthly Archives: July 2022

Nation-building is arduous work. Microstate-building, maybe less so.

But don't tell that to the libertarian architect of a seven-year campaign to further subdivide the tempestuous Balkans by turning a tiny, neglected sliver of woodland on the Danube into the Free Republic of Liberland.

"I realized from the beginning that building a country is not a summer job," says 38-year-old Czech Vit Jedlicka.

He and his fellow Liberlanders have recently recommitted to their U.S.-based lobbying effort, seeking to get their republic recognized internationally so they can make it a free-trade zone with the status of a state.

A July 9 filing with the U.S. Justice Department confirms Liberland's ongoing cooperation with a New York-based lobbyist and "global political and business ambassador" pursuant to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

In a region where relations between nations are frequently tense, including a recent diplomatic dustup between Serbia and Croatia over war memorials, Liberland's neighbors appear to have gotten used to the idea.

Serbia regards the project as a "frivolous act" but no threat so long as it stays on the western bank of the Danube, which marks its border with Croatia.

"Our ties with Serbia were very friendly from the beginning," Jedlicka, who lives in the Czech capital, Prague, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service recently.

Liberland's "closest partner" is the Vojvodina provincial government in northernmost Serbia, he added.

We believe that in the near future [Croatia] will recognize the great economic benefit that will be realized by [the] creation of Liberland."

Croatia was less accommodating initially, routinely blocking access and even detaining visitors, including Jedlicka, for alleged border violations.

But Jedlicka said, seemingly without irony, that they've since built "strong ties" to the Croatian secret service since some Liberland citizens "are in contact with them frequently."

"It seems their interest in Liberland grows over time," he said of the Croatian authorities.

Call It What You Like

Jedlicka, chairman of a Czech libertarian NGO, and his wife, Jana Markovicova, a former licensed massage therapist and self-described "first lady at Liberland," proclaimed the aspiring state's existence in April 2015.

They described it as 7 square kilometers of no-man's-land that had gone unclaimed by either Croatia or Serbia since Yugoslavia fell apart in 1991.

It has a flag, a coat of arms showing a tree, the sun, and a bird soaring over the river, and -- in keeping with Jedlicka's aversion to government interference -- hopes to base its economy on a cryptocurrency, the "merit."

It has already been active in virtual and crypto projects, including a futuristic-looking Liberland Metaverse that is admittedly a "work in progress."

Its website claims upward of 500,000 citizenship requests, although RFE/RL could not confirm that figure. It also claims 1,000 "citizens" and 10 "diaspora villages."

And it says it has "diplomatic relations" with six UN member states, including Haiti, and purports to have representations in 74 spots around the world, including places like Switzerland, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.

But it's also missing one of the 20th century's most widely cited touchstones of independence, along with defined territory, a government, and a capacity to deal with other states: a permanent population.

Liberland is uninhabited, and no country has ever formally recognized it.

Are Microstates A 'Thing'?

There are currently seven microstates across Europe, of various renown, most of them wealthy and established centuries ago.

Four of them are monarchies and another is the domain of the Roman Catholic Church, so their histories are not necessarily steeped in democracy. They are: Vatican City, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Malta, San Marino, and Sovereign Order of St. John.

The main thing that sets microstates apart from larger states is their size, or lack thereof. But in his 2012 book The Microstates Of Europe, P. Christiaan Klieger describes them broadly as "designer nations" marked by "tenaciousness of national aspirations and ethnic solidarity."

Liberland, a "new libertarian country," seems like more of the former.

"We aim to develop a critical business hub and a free port on the Danube River," Michal Ptacnik, who was recently named Liberland's "minister of justice," told an audience at a libertarian-minded conference in Prague last year.

He said the governing principle should be "a mix of Swiss democracy and corporate governance." The focus is "to be a free-trade zone where individual liberty governs supreme," he said, adding, "We seek to build the freest country on Earth, and the most prosperous one."

Slow Progress

Liberland describes U.S.-based lobbyist Steven Melnik as its "ambassador at-large." An immigrant to the United States, Melnik appears to be trying to nudge U.S. and other influentials toward recognition of an eighth European microstate.

In the Justice Department document, Melnik said he continues to represent the Free Republic of Liberland under an agreement that "does not contemplate remuneration for services."

Melnik, who has represented Jedlicka's group since 2019, said that in the previous six-month reporting period he was "not required to perform any services" and that "all my actions have been voluntary and not for payment."

For Jedlicka, the end goal still seems a distant dream. But he remains an optimist.

He said Croatia now "recognizes us as a serious national movement and suggested that Zagreb was comfortable with not claiming the 7-kilometer patch he's staked out.

"We believe that in the near future they will recognize the great economic benefit that will be realized by [the] creation of Liberland," Jedlicka said.

The benefits of eventual sovereignty, for a founding father and Euroskeptic like him, and for all five members of Liberland's "government," might seem obvious. He said their current goals include creating "more benefits" of Liberlander "citizenship."

"We aim to be a shining example of how a country's government can be organized in the new millennia using strong ideological principles, as well as the latest decentralized blockchain technologies for governance," Jedlicka said.

And he doesn't seem to be in any particular rush to force his model on anyone.

"It is nice to have formal recognition by other countries," Jedlicka told RFE/RL, "but we are also happy if we are informal friends and if they recognize our motto: Live and let live."

Originally posted here:

Wedged Away In The Balkans, Would-Be Microstate 'Liberland' Keeps Up Its Fight For Recognition - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

Politicians and media pundits often use the term anarchists to conjure images of lawless hooligans causing mindless destruction, warning of a dystopian world that might exist without the rule of law.

In reality, anarchists have been involved in some of the most significant political projects of the last two centuries, whether its striking workers winning the eight-hour work day or communities coming together to participate in mutual aid projects. But HBOs new six-part docuseries, The Anarchists, features self-described anarchists of a whole different variety: self-interested capitalists and crypto bros.

Anarchists carrying the torch of the long-standing political tradition are cringing at the series portrayal of anarchism as being compatible with capitalism. The series is ultimately a character-driven drama about murder and interpersonal conflicts, not a political documentary focused on ideology. But uncritically using the term anarchist to describe capitalists mystifies actual anarchist politics for the average viewer, they say.

Their conception of anarchism is just completely and totally divorced from the 175-plus year political history of the anarchist movement, Cam Pdraig, an anarchist who organizes with the Black Rose Anarchist Federation in the Bay Area, an anarchist socialist organization, told Motherboard. Anarchism is a cooperative political doctrine critical of both the state and capitalism, and the filmmaker Todd Schramke makes no attempt at addressing that at all.

The series follows the growth of, and conflict within, the annual Anarchapulco conference in Acapulco, Mexico. Founded by entrepreneur and long-winded YouTuber Jeff Berwick in 2015, Anarchapulco caters to middle-to-upper class mostly white American expats who promote free market libertarian capitalism, as theorized by far-right thinkers like Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard. In their view, governments should be abolished and everything should be privatized. Police officers would be replaced by private security forces, and public schools would become for-profit charter schools.

The Anarchists filmmaker Todd Schramke is friendly with Berwick, and has said in the past that he is influenced by public figures like Stefan Molyneux, a white supremacist infamous for amplifying disproven theories of eugenics and scientific racism. In addition to more traditional libertarian capitalists, Berwicks Anarchapulco has more recently become a home for cryptocurrency and web3 enthusiasts, who are hawking digital assets like NFTs and even trying to, uh, monetize colors.

It's completely uncritical in a way that I haven't ever seen, Jen Rogue, another anarchist who organizes with Black Rose in Texas, told Motherboard of the series. Usually when you see people do documentaries on things that a filmmaker is sympathetic towards, there's usually some vague attempted balance or kind of deeper thinking. Its just so shallow and propagandistic.

Of course, the feud has moved online too.

After the anarchist news organization Its Going Down critiqued HBOs misuse of the term anarchist and called Berwick an anti-semitic grifter in a barrage of tweets, Berwick responded with a 30-minute YouTube rant in which he claimed his detractors were just unhappy, poor, and jealous of wealthy people and told them to work on themselves.

So-called Anarchist capitalists, or ancaps as they are sometimes called, have long battled with anti-capitalist anarchists over the use of the term libertarian which was historically associated with anti-capitalist anarchist politics as far back as 1858. That is until the 1970s, when laissez faire capitalists in the United States co-opted the term by forming the hyper-individualist Libertarian Party.

Berwicks conception of libertarianism is clearly of the individualist bent. He chose Acapulco, Mexico as a landing pad for what some attendees call their tribe because it seemed anarchist to him. The buses were all private, they race to get you. They got the music, he says to the camera with a grin in the first episode. Everyone is drinkin. All the girls are sayin hi.

Anarchapulco guests stay in a luxury hotel, worship bitcoin and mingle with others who lament the statist American sheeple and their bloodsucking central banks. They seem to be suburbanites who are understandably bored by, and wish to flee, the mind-numbing grind of American life. Some who decide to stay for the long haul live out their fantasies in mansions together, a power dynamic anti-capitalist anarchists consider colonialist.

One major thing that immediately stuck out to me, especially in episode one, as they were getting into people's backstories as to how they ended up in Anarchapulco, was this dynamic of expats moving to Mexico, making a village and not really interacting with locals, just straight up being colonizers in every humanly possible way, Robin Young, an anarchist with Black Rose who lives in Miami, told Motherboard.

They have little to no interest in or regard for the local population at all, which, in any case, are to be but material resources to further develop settlers' communities, she continued. They consider themselves an entitled vanguard tasked with developing the land of uncharted financial freedom as a way to gain social liberties. Acapulco, as part of Mexican territory, is the new land where this can be donenot for the sake of this territory, which is regarded as a pure source for resources.

Berwick claims hes an anarchist because he doesnt believe in rulers, and doesnt think anyone should be a slave. But for anti-capitalist anarchists, capitalism cant be anarchistic because the economic system relies on rulersbosses and ownersto coercively extract profits from a laboring class. Anarchists therefore consider anarchist capitalism to be oxymoronic.

One Anarchapulco attendee Larken Rose framed taxes as giving your master the fruits of your labor, when they're expressly capitalists, Pdraig pointed out. They ignore the fundamental organization of production that is capitalism which is predicated on your boss extracting the complete value of your work from you. The fruits of your labor are being stolen from you.

Anarchists of the socialist variety argue for workplaces that are democratically controlled by workers themselves, not bosses or state bureaucrats. Food, water, essential goods and art would be produced and freely shared and distributed in accordance to the needs and desires of people in a community, not the desires and needs of capitalists.

That obviously, makes us very different from what the so-called libertarians believe, Pdraig explains, but it also makes us very different from what the State Socialists believe, because the State Socialists believe that you need to have an economy that is controlled on behalf of the working class through the managers of the state.

Outside of a workplace context, some anarchists propose building neighborhood assemblies, where issues are debated and discussed face-to-face. Rotating delegates from assemblies could then meet at regional and even global assemblies to relay what was discussed at their local assemblies to the larger group. In such a system, they propose, people would cultivate a free society collectively.

The ancaps idea of freedom is freedom from anybody interfering or talking to or being around them that isn't like, in their cult, or whatever, said Rogue, the anarchist from Austin. And to me, my idea of liberty is for everyone in my community to have everything they need to be the best version of themselves.

Many anarchists are inspired by the Rojava Revolution in North and East Syria, and the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. Both are large-scale, stateless anti-capitalist movements building decision-making structures from the bottom up.

If the documentarian, or if HBO itself, wanted to produce a documentary about anarchists in Mexico, they have a long history they can pull from, said Pdraig. He pointed to the anarchist-influenced Partido Liberal Mexicano (PLM) that helped spark the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Young, the anarchist from Miami, emphasized the pro-choice Green Wave, which successfully fought for decriminalizing abortion in Mexico.

You have these histories that exist, you have contemporary anarchists in Mexico, but instead of doing that, instead of focusing a documentary which is ostensibly supposed to be about those groups of people, you are focusing on a niche of expat Americans who are using the power and influence they've accrued to individually change their lives by moving to this place, said Pdraig. Its just totally absurd.

Anarchists interviewed by Motherboard for this story withheld their real last names, citing concerns for their safety.

See the original post:

Real Anarchists React to The Anarchists, A New Series About Crypto Bros - VICE UK

The 2020 Primary Election saw a 42% voter turnout in Dent County. However, the Presidential office was on the ballot that year, which historically guarantees higher voter turnout. A better expectation would be to look at the 2018 Primary Election which saw a slightly lower 40.65% voter turnout.

Dent County Clerk Angie Curley told The Salem News Monday morning that she expects voter turnout to track similarly to past years.

Curley also wanted to remind voters that this since this is a primary election, voters will select the ballot based on a party Republican, Democrat, Constitution, or Libertarian.

The polls will be open Aug. 2 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In-person absentee voting continues at the Dent County courthouse through Monday at 5 p.m.

U.S. Senate Race

This year is unusual since there is no incumbent running for Missouris U.S. Senate seatsomething that has not happened in Missouri since current senator, Roy Blunt, won the 2010 election after former senator Kit Bond decided to retire.

Blunt announced his retirement in March, leaving the office to one of the 34 candidates in the runningthe largest number of candidates vying for the seat since that same 2010 Primary Election when there were 37 candidates on the ballot.

Of the 34 candidates this August there are 21 Republican Party, 11 Democratic Party, one Libertarian Party and one Constitution Party. See the sample ballot on page 5A for details.

U.S. House of Representative Race (District 8)

Republican incumbent Jason Smith faces off against republican Jacob Turner in the primary. Randy McCallian is the only Democratic candidate running for the seat. Smith has held the office since 2013.

Jim Higgins is the only Libertarian candidate running for the seat.

Either Smith or Turner will be up against McCallian and Higgins in November.

Missouri Senate (District 16)

Uniquely, due to redistricting this past legislative session, there are two republican candidates who are both serving in Jefferson City at present: Suzie Pollock and Justin Dan Brown.

Pollock currently serves as the State Representative for District 123; however, redistricting drew Pollock out of her district and into District 16. Brown has been State Senator for Dent County voters since elected in 2018.

Tara Anura is the only Democratic candidate running for the seat.

Missouri House of Representatives (District 120)

Republican Matt Williams faces off against republican incumbent Ron Copeland who was elected in 2020. There are no Democratic Party or third party candidates running for the seat.

Dent County Presiding Commissioner

The most notable local office during the August Primary Election is that of presiding commissioner. Republican Craig Smith and republican Travis Fulton face off against republican incumbent Darrell Skiles. There are no Democratic Party or third party candidates running for the position.

Other important offices on the ballot

There are several other important local and statewide positions on the ballot including county circuit clerk Republican candidates Lisa Blackwell and Kristi (Morton) Craig.

See sample ballot below.

See the article here:

Primary election coming Aug. 2 | - The Salem News

Recent research indicates that crypto currencies can enhance the traditional banking system. This is because people can swap the current settlement infrastructure with digital currency.

Some participants in the cross-border payment processing sector view blockchain and cryptocurrencies as remittance-enhancing solutions.

According to a study by the International Association of Money Transfer Networks, the blockchain technology that drives digital currencies enables rapid remittances by removing middlemen such as banks and so reducing expenses.

Suggested Reading | These Robot Dogs Can Dig Up Lost Bitcoin And Be Used As Killing Machines

The study further stated that with the use of blockchain technology, crypto transactions become fast and seamless. In addition, third parties and the banking system become unnecessary.

IAMTN noted that the necessity to investigate blockchain technology is prompted by the decline in existing financial connections and the increase in the volume of cross-border payments.

Despite the purported benefits of blockchain in payments, the ideal use case for the technology in remittance is still unclear, based on thefindings.

In addition to blockchain, the IAMTN has mentioned artificial intelligence and open application programming interface as technologies that can improve cross-border transactions.

Suggested Reading |Bitcoin Back With A Vengeance Crypto Liquidity Crisis Is Over, Citi Report Suggests

According to the report, remittance service providers who are eager to incorporate new technologies into their processes frequently face obstacles in the shape of restrictive national rules or the absence of legislation overseeingsuch innovations.

Global payment service companies are represented by the IAMTN, a non-profit membership organization. It collaborates closely with governments, regulators, regional groups, and private enterprises to advance the development of safer, more dependable, faster, less expensive, andtransparentinternational payment systems.

Meanwhile, crypto such as Bitcoin (BTC) appear to be gaining more political support in the US, with the nations third-largest political party voicing public support of the major digital asset and confidence for its sustainability.

Bitcoin, according to the Libertarian Party of the US, is a decentralized monetary revolution.

The political allianceissued the following statement via its official Twitter account:

In a blog post dated February 2020, the Californian section of the Libertarian Party declared support for cryptocurrencies, referring to Bitcoin as the greatest tool of human liberty that humanity has ever invented.

The Libertarian also takes cryptocurrency contributions made through BitPay, which enables users to make payments in Bitcoin and other prominent cryptocurrencies.

Follow this link:

Crypto Gets Seal Of Approval From US Politicians And British Monetary Association | Bitcoinist.com - Bitcoinist

On his essay site, Unpopular Front, writer John Ganz argues that tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and radical libertarian, Peter Thiel, is not as complicated and enigmatic as he's often made out to be. According to Gantz, he's a straight-up fascist.

So, let's sum up. Peter Thiel believes he belongs to an elite group, often understood in implicitly or explicitly racial terms, that is entitled to set aside democratic governance in favor of pursuing a program of technological progress and national restoration. He believes the political means to accomplish this is through a charismatic leader with manipulative, populist appeals to past national glory and against parasitic immigrants and culturally decadent liberalism. For him, even the most milquetoast, reformist liberalism is "tantamount to communism." He's obsessed with romanticized fantasies of absolute power, domination, and control. He dreams of wielding the the national security state against enemies both foreign and domestic. He envisioned a kind of imperialist world-state controlled not through deliberative bodies like the U.N. but directly by the intelligence and secret police bureaus. He combines the ideology of white collar, petit-bourgeois intermediary class with its emphases direct management techniques and closely-held ownership with the grandiose, world-spanning designs of an industrial titan.There's really no contradiction within Peter Thiel's politics, they are quite consistent. He's just realized, more clearly than his opponents often, that there's ultimately a contradiction between the rule of capital and democracy, and the way to deal with this contradiction, as far as he's concerned, is to do away with democracy.

Read the full essay here.

See original here:

Revealing Peter Thiel essay on his anti-democratic beliefs - Boing Boing

Dennis Sobin first ran for D.C. mayor 40 years ago. Since then, hes made millions in the sex trade, lost those millions, moved to Florida, spent years in prison, gotten out, launched a nonprofit, written plays for the Kennedy Centers stage, and run a bevy of losing political campaigns.

But after all that, hes back in pretty much the same spot four decades later. A lot has changed in D.C., but Sobin is still running for mayor.

Hes earned the Libertarian Partys nomination to take on Mayor Muriel Bowser and hes all set to appear on the ballot this November, elections officials confirm to Loose Lips. And Sobin tells LL that hell run on much the same platform that has defined his wild career in D.C. politics: The full legalization of drugs and sex work.

Sobin was the master of over-the-top theatrics in his heyday, running a series of campaigns in the 1980s staffed by sex workers and funded by his massage parlors, but dont expect any of that this time around. He says hes a little more mellow now, and why shouldnt he be? City Paper declared Sobin D.C.s oldest living smut kingpin in its last cover story on him, and that was 12 years agohell turn 79 in a few months.

Hed have a snowballs chance in hell of winning as a Libertarian in D.C. even without his particular policy positions or his sordid past (there are something like 2,300 registered Libertarians in the city, as of June 30). So why keep running? He hasnt been much involved in local politics since his last mayoral bid in 2010 and he has his advocacy work with incarcerated artists to occupy him.

Yet Sobin sees this as his last hurrah to make something interesting out of his self-described twilight years. After all, he notes that hes actually a few months younger than President Joe Biden, so he sees no reason not to make another go of it.

I think Bowser really has done a good job, and I would follow her policies in every area except for law enforcement, Sobin says. I want to concentrate on real crime, not have them bother with the enforcement of victimless things like sex and drugs. If, during the campaign, I could convince the mayor thats the way to go, I think we would be on the right track and who knows, if I become mayor, I could hire her as my assistant.

If anything, Sobin believes mainstream politics have moved pretty firmly in his direction over the last few years. Not only has D.C. decriminalized marijuana and some psychedelics, but there have been at least some conversations about decriminalizing sex work toohe notes that even the mayor uses the term sex worker instead of the more loaded term prostitute.

He notes that he doesnt believe quite as fervently in the value of private ownership as many of his fellow Libertarians, and he sees the value in the welfare state (he relies on Social Security checks and food stamps to get by, so Sobins an unusual fit for such a virulently anti-government party). Thats why he expects his once-radical message might catch on a bit more than it did in his previous runs for mayor and Council.

I happen to be addicted to a drug myself, and thats Viagra, Sobin says. If they made it illegal, I might go out and steal and shoplift, too, if I couldnt afford it. So whats the harm of giving someone heroin if theyre addicted the way Im addicted to Viagra?

Of course, Sobin is well aware that people will be skeptical of him because of his pasthis time running brothels and producing porno magazines is one thing, but his convictions on fraud and child pornography charges are another.

He insists hes become more educated and insightful over the years, and has changed many of his ways. Im no longer a provider of sexual services, but I am still a consumer, he notes, but says he has otherwise stayed out of trouble. Court records confirm that Sobin has certainly slowed down a bit compared to his younger dayshis last case in D.C. Superior Court involved him suing the Department of Motor Vehicles in 2021, alleging fraud. It went about the way you might expect and was dismissed in May.

Yet he isnt much concerned with what people might think of him, buying into P.T. Barnums old maxim that theres no such thing as bad publicity.

People dont remember a lot of stuff when they walk into a polling place, but they may well look at the ballot and say Hey, I remember his name, Sobin says.

LL might suggest, however, that most people have a negative association with Sobins name, if they remember it at all. Hes periodically made headlines over the past few years with his very public, very ugly disputes with an estranged sonthe younger Sobin once had a restraining order against his father and worked for the District government, meaning that Sobin wouldnt be allowed to go to the Wilson Building if hed somehow won his mayoral bid.

That son has since left for a different job, per his LinkedIn page, so Sobin is in the clear on that count. However, their relationship remains frostySobin says the two havent spoken in years.

In the likely scenario that Sobin loses, he says hell have plenty to keep himself busy. Hell keep on running his Prisons Foundation and Safe Streets Arts Foundation, nonprofits that work with incarcerated people and help distribute their books and other works of art.

He seems generally content with the idea that hes pretty much faded into obscurity these days, quite the statement for a man that was once a fixture on City Papers pages (he infamously appeared on one cover in 1988 while completely nude and holding a blow-up sex doll). This may well be his last appearance in this publication or any other.

And thats fine by him. Sobin says hes never actually read any of City Papers voluminous coverage of his lifes twists and turns.

The way I see it, itd either make me feel bad, or itd inflate my ego, Sobin says. Neither seems good.

Excerpt from:

Dennis Sobin Says He's Mellowed in Old Age. But He's Still Making Another Run for Mayor. - Washington City Paper

Nineteen candidates are running in the top-four primary for United States Senate in Alaska on August 16, 2022. Incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) is running for re-election.

This is the first use of the top-four primary system for a U.S. Senate seat in Alaska since voters approved its use in November 2020. All candidates run in a single primary regardless of party affiliation. The four candidates to receive the most votes advance to the general election, where the winner is decided using ranked-choice voting.

The 19 candidates include eight Republicans, three Democrats, one Libertarian, five independents, and two Alaskan Independence Party candidates.

FiveThirtyEightsNate Silver wrote that its likely that at least two Republican candidates and a Democratic one will advance to the general election following the primary. Four total candidates will advance.

As of July 2022, the candidates who reported raising funds for the election or had been named in public polling were:

Three election forecasters rate the general electionSolidorSafe Republican.

Murkowskis father, Frank Murkowski (R), held the Senate seat from 1980 to 2002, when he resigned to become governor of Alaska. After taking office, the elder Murkowski appointed his daughter to the U.S. Senate seat. In 2010, after losing the Republican nomination, Lisa Murkowski successfully ran for re-election as a write-in candidate. She is one of two U.S. Senators, alongside South Carolinas Strom Thurmond in 1954, to have been elected as a write-in candidate.

More here:

Nineteen candidates are running in the top-four primary for United States Senate in Alaska on August 16, 2022 Ballotpedia News - Ballotpedia News

The documentary film Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in his Own Words won three major awards at the Anthem Libertarian Film Festival. The event ran this year from July 13-16 at the Mirage in Las Vegas.

The film, directed by Michael Pack, won the Anthem Grand Prize, the AnthemVault Prize for Best Original Score, and the Audience Choice Award for Feature Films. It tells the life story of United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas in an in-depth and surprising manner.

Thomass life embodies the classic American tale. He was born into a poor family in Georgia. His father abandoned the family, and his grandfather took over raising him.

Growing up a devout Catholic, he first aimed at joining the clergy, but found racism in the Church.

He redirected his efforts, getting his BA, then gaining admittance to Yale Law School. While at Yale, he discovered the works of Thomas Sowell and Ayn Rand which moved his world view from liberal to conservative.

A series of positions in both the private and public spheres led to his eventual nomination to the Supreme Court by President George H. W. Bush in 1991. He currently holds the title of longest serving member of the Court.

After the screening, festival founding director Jo Ann Skousen spoke with filmmaker and director Michael Pack.

Skousen asked about the inspiration for the film.

Pack said that he observed how liberals were focused on telling the story of Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He thought the life of a conservative justice deserved some attention and decided to try to tell Thomass story.

Pack shared, It took a while to come up with the concept of him telling it in his own words. It started out as a traditional documentary.

Ultimately, Pack recorded 24 hours of interviews with Thomas. He explained, This was the longest interview ever granted by a Supreme Court justice who rarely gives interviews.

Pack continued, The goal was to make the film moving. It went through many emotional and intellectual phases, and it takes a lot of work to get the audience to be emotionally touched.

Skousen asked if he had done anything else with those 24 hours of interviews.

Pack said that he had compiled them into a book which has a lot more detail.

The film began a theatrical run in 2020, but that was curtailed due to COVID-19. Pack said, Its my goal to reach the middle of the country, not just the people in the room. So, the film can be seen on most streaming sites.

It runs 120 minutes and can be viewed on a variety of streaming services. Find out where you can see it at the films website. You can watch the trailer, below.

The Anthem Film Festival, part of FreedomFest, has become my favorite venue for finding challenging, fun, and important films. You can find out more about Anthem, including info on all its films, at their website and Facebook page.

(Photos by author)

Continue reading here:

Anthem Film Review: 'Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in his Own Words' Top Award Winner - Blogcritics