Category Archives: Libertarian

To the Editor:

The Libertarian Party of Clay County opposes the proposed expansion of the Clay County Jail.

The expansion, with a price tag of $25 million, is being built to house ICE detainees in which you the taxpayer will most likely be ultimately responsible for. The cost to house 1 detainee per day costs $61 while the Federal Government only pays $55, so the taxpayers will have to foot the $6 negative difference per detainee.

ICE makes no guarantees as to how many detainees will be held especially when there are approximately 29,000 beds nationwide for 22,000 detainees. In the past ICE pulled out of agreements and funding with a detention facility in Kenosha, Wisc., because the sheriff said they would not house any new detainees due to COVID.

Why would anyone want their hard-earned money used to pay for a facility at the cost of $25 million and have the possibility of ICE pulling out and leaving us to entirely fund it?

This facility does not look to be the cash flow some are saying.

The LPCC feels that $25 million to house detainees can be used in better ways like funding programs for substance abuse, homelessness, and family reunification.

Contact your Clay County Commissioner at 812-448-9008 and tell them you are against the use of taxpayer money to fund the building.

Jesse Killion, Brazil

Read the original:

Local resident claims county will have to fund $6 per detainee in expansion - Brazil Times

When a growing list of Democrats face off in a primary next spring for the office of Bexar County judge, it will be the first serious race for that office in 30 years. Bexar County has had only two county judges in that period. One never had an opponent after her first race, and the other never had to sweat.

The main reason for the interest in the position is the retirement of the current county judge, Nelson Wolff, the one who occasionally had opponents but never had to sweat.

Not only did Wolff, who will have held the job for two of those three decades, perform in such a way as to ward off top-tier contenders, but he also transformed the position into one that would attract office seekers who actually want to accomplish something.

Our story starts back in 1992. The incumbent county judge, John Longoria, had been appointed by his fellow county commissioners to replace Tom Vickers, who had resigned to take a position in Gov. Ann Richards administration.

The main reason his colleagues chose Longoria was that they figured he couldnt win an election to hold onto the office. He apparently agreed and ran for the Legislature instead. Meanwhile, state Sen. Cyndi Kriers political life was being made miserable by Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock.

Krier, a reform-oriented Republican, defeated Southside politician Tommy Adkisson in a close race to serve out the unexpired term as county judge. The courthouse, having been controlled by Democrats for more than a century, was ripe for reform. Krier was reelected in 1994 and 1998 without opposition in either the primary or in the general election.

In 2001 Krier resigned in order to take a position on the Board of Regents of her alma mater, the University of Texas. In a bipartisan move that is almost unimaginable now, she joined her colleagues in unanimously appointing Nelson Wolff, a Democrat, to replace her until the 2002 election.

Wolff would win the next five elections. In the first, he faced a little-known Republican and a Libertarian. In the second he had no opponent and in the third only a Libertarian. In the fourth he easily fended off Adkisson in the Democratic primary and City Councilman Carlton Soules in the general election. Finally, in 2018 he defeated Republican Tom Rickhoff, who had held a variety of judicial positions, by 20 points.

With Wolffs tenure nearing an end, former Bexar County District Judge Peter Sakai declared his candidacy for the job last week, and on Monday state Rep. Ina Minjarez joined the field.

When Krier ran for the job in 1992 it was attractive for the salary more than for the power. The county judge now makes $172,000 a year, nearly $20,000 more than the Texas governor. The judge, a misnomer in urban counties, presides over the five-member Commissioners Court, which approves the county budget. It has little power other than funding over the dozens of elected judges, court clerks, sheriff and district attorney.

The Commissioners Court operates county roads and parks departments, and appoints and oversees the board of the hospital district, but traditionally these were not the kinds of high-profile tasks that attract ambitious politicians.

Wolff changed that. Politically sophisticated after serving as a state representative, state senator and two-terms as one of San Antonios more effective mayors, he fashioned the county judge job into what might best be described as San Antonios second mayor.

He started by bringing some discipline to what he described as the weirdest government I had ever seen.

Ten department heads reported to five commissioners, he said, often playing them off each other. Krier tried to increase efficiency through performance audits but met strong resistance. Wolff won support from Commissioners Court to hire a county manager, whose job is to coordinate county functions and to alert the Commissioners Court to areas in which improvements can be made.

Wolff led in making some other organizational improvements, but the primary way you can see how he acted as a second mayor is the list of projects he pushed. Previously the county played very little role in what might be called city building. Krier had cracked the door open when City Hall hesitated on providing a new arena for the Spurs. She led the county in building and virtually donating to the Spurs what is now called the AT&T Center located on county-owned land on the East Side.

Wolff went much farther. Consider this partial list of city-building projects he championed:

He took over the ancient and aptly named Municipal Auditorium and led the effort to turn it into the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, a state-of-the-art venue. The city donated the 1926 auditorium and an old adjacent structure. Wolff persuaded voters to approve a $100 million bond issue and put together a private-sector group to raise millions more to convert the facility into the gem it is today.

In 2008 he led the effort to permit University Health, formerly the Bexar County Hospital District, to sell bonds for expansion. The district now boasts more than two dozen facilities, including a diabetes hospital on the West Side, the expansion of the old Robert B. Green facility on the edge of downtown with a six-story pavilion that makes it the largest outpatient facility in the county, and the addition of the million-square-foot Sky Tower at the original hospital at the South Texas Medical Center. In addition, a new Womens and Childrens Hospital is scheduled to open in 2023.

Under Wolffs leadership the county was a major force in developing the Mission Reach extension of the San Antonio River Walk, allocating more than $200 million while working with the San Antonio River Authority. Together with the Museum Reach to the north of downtown developed by the City, the entire 15-mile stretch is one the nations great linear parks.

Wolff persuaded the Commissioners Court to also play a major role in the San Pedro Creek development along the west side of downtown, putting up about $175 million to provide the bulk of the projects funding.

He led the county in contributing to then-Mayor Julian Castros Decade of Downtown, providing tax incentives for projects ranging from housing to the new Frost Tower.

Other county efforts under Wolff include part of the funding for the Alameda Theater restoration and the creation of BiblioTech, an all-digital library with three locations and 24-hour online access to digital books and publications.

Theres more, and you can agree or not with the countys role in some of these projects. But I think an urban county deserves an urban leader. The Texas Constitution does not give us that, but former Mayor Wolff has. I hope his successor can do the same.

San Antonio has benefited from having two mayors.

This article has been updated to correct the name of the Bexar County Hospital District.

Go here to read the rest:

San Antonios second mayor: How Nelson Wolff transformed the county judge role - San Antonio Report

The dirty little secret about political labels is that nearly all of them are creations of the leftist legacy news media. When news organizations report that a politician is conservative, quite often that label is based on an extremely shallow subset of criteria: Republican party affiliation, pro-life and pro-gun votes, and a stated aversion to national figures such as Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. In truth, many of the elected officials that the socialists in the media claim are conservative are actually very much leftists.

The labels are irrelevant, and the loose use of the words by the press makes them largely meaningless.

That said, when reporters write that the IFF is Libertarian (with a capital letter L) that implies a connection with the Libertarian Party, which is an absolute lie. The IFF is nonpartisan, and is not connected with any political party: Libertarian, Republican, or Democrat. As far as the lowercase version of the word, IFF has never labeled itself as libertarian.

The IFFs policy concentration is on the limitation of government, which is central to the definition of conservative values, and the conservative spectrum of political ideas sometimes overlaps with libertarianism. Some libertarians believe that no government is the proper level of government. The IFF does not share that objective. We do, however, believe there is too much government, and too much government harms people and denies people their God-given rights.

If one is to label the IFF, it is most appropriate to label it as conservative, but more appropriate and specific descriptors would be pro-limited government, pro-free market, pro-liberty, and so on.

Go here to see the original:

Is the Idaho Freedom Foundation conservative or libertarian? - Idaho Freedom - idahofreedom.org

A recent comment suggesting it was "funny" for a "libertarian blog" to suggest the possibility of restricting private social media platforms' property rights led me to want to repost this reminder:

I'm not a libertarian.

This is not a libertarian blog.

Don't expect solid or even near-solid libertarianism from us.

Some of us are pretty hardcore libertarians. Some are more conservatives. Some are moderates. Most of us are a mix. Our blog subtitle says "Often libertarian," and that's true. But "often" was deliberately chosen to also flag "not always" (and not even almost always).

If you call me anything, you might call me a libertarianish conservative, but even that isn't really that helpful, since sometimes my positions aren't aligned either with most libertarians or most conservatives. I think human affairs are complicated thingsas my father likes to quote, "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made." We all come at this with some general principles, but, to offer another quote, "General propositions do not decide concrete cases," in part because there are so many things we want at once and so many opportunities for good general principles to conflict.

For instance, I want liberty (often including privacy)and security; indeed, security is often another term from liberty from private misconduct (or liberty from foreign governments). These aren't always consistent, but I can't tell you that one should always trump the other. (That's why the Fourth Amendment, for instance, bansunreasonable searches and seizures rather than banning all searches and seizures; that's why the Constitution tries to create a limited government, but does create a government.) I support private property rights, subject to some limitations, and can't easily capture all the limitations into one formula. My guess is that many of my cobloggers take the same view.

Now maybe I'm not libertarian enough. Or maybe I'm too libertarian. Or maybe I'm one of these in some situations and another in others. Perfectly possible, indeed very likely. But measure me, and the blog, based on the merits of the particular analyses we offer in each post, not against our supposed (but never actually offered) assurances of libertarianism.

Read the rest here:

Never Took That Libertarian Loyalty Oath - Reason.com - Reason

Election Day is this Tuesday, and there are quite a few choices to make on the ballot.

Across Virginia, voters will be choosing the three highest statewide offices on Tuesday.

Running for governor to lead the state of Virginia through the next four years are Democrat Terry McAuliffe, Republican Glenn Youngkin and Libertarian Princess Blanding.

Running for lieutenant governor are Democrat Hala Ayala and Republican Winsome Sears.

Running for attorney general are the incumbent Democrat, Mark Herring, and Republican Jason Miyares.

Across the state, voters will also choose House of Delegates candidates in Suffolk, thats for the 64th District, where incumbent Republican Emily Brewer and Democrat Michael Drewry are running, or the 76th District, where incumbent Democrat Clinton Jenkins has two challengers in Republican Mike Dillender and independent Craig Warren.

Across the city, there will also be elections for four constitutional offices. For Commonwealths Attorney, Craig Bales and Narendra Pleas are running for an open seat occasioned by Phil Fergusons retirement. For Treasurer, David Boyd faces off against incumbent Ron Williams. And Commissioner of the Revenue Susan Draper and Sheriff E.C. Harris are running unopposed for re-election.

Readers in the Sleepy Hole Borough will also find a special election for a School Board member to serve the remainder of a term ending on Dec. 31, 2024. Member David Mitnick stepped down from the board earlier this year, and Linda Johnson filled the seat by appointment, but running in the election to fill the remainder of the term are Heather Howell and Ebony Wright.

The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday. You can visit elections.virginia.gov to find out where your polling place is, or you can call the Suffolk Voter Registrars Office at 757-514-7750.

If you have received a ballot by mail and not yet returned it, you can also drop it off at the registrars office, 440 Market St., first floor, or at any voting precinct on Election Day only up until 7 p.m.

Identification is needed to vote, so make sure you have one of the following with you. If you have none of these, you will be required to either sign an ID confirmation statement or vote a provisional ballot:

Election Day closings

Election Day is now a holiday in the state of Virginia, so some city offices will be closed. The following offices, facilities and services will observe the following schedule:

Originally posted here:

Election Day this Tuesday - The Suffolk News-Herald - Suffolk News-Herald

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY Early voting is already underway in New York City, with the Nov. 2 general election rapidly approaching. Before you head to your polling place, here's a look at what will be on the ballot in Midtown and Hell's Kitchen and across the city.

First, a word about voting: to find your early or election-day poll site and view a sample ballot, use the Board of Elections website.

The only neighborhood-level races in this year's election are those for City Council. In the three Council districts that cover Midtown, two are contested, while one candidate will be unopposed.

In District 3, Democrat Erik Bottcher has no challengers as he seeks to replace Corey Johnson in a district that covers Hell's Kitchen, Chelsea, the West Village, and parts of Midtown and the Upper West Side.

Further east, incumbent Democrat Keith Powers is running for re-election in District 4, which covers the Midtown East neighborhoods of Turtle Bay, Murray Hill and Sutton Place, as well as Koreatown, Times Square, Stuyvesant Town and parts of the Upper East Side.

Powers is being challenged by David Casavis, who is running on the Republican and Independent/Libertarian party lines. Casavis is a Republican district leader and adjunct professor at SUNY and CUNY.

Further downtown, meanwhile, incumbent Democrat Carlina Rivera is also seeking re-election in District 2, which covers the East Side below 35th Street including Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, Murray Hill, the Lower East Side and the East Village.

Rivera has two challengers: Juan Pagan, an independent, and Allie Ryan, running on the "Neighborhood" party line. (Watch last week's debate between Pagan and Ryan here.)

Midtown voters will have two Manhattan-wide races on their ballots: the elections for Manhattan Borough President and Manhattan District Attorney.

In the BP race, Democratic nominee Mark Levine is going up against Republican Louis Puliafito and Libertarian Michael Lewyn.

The race for Manhattan's top prosecutor, meanwhile, is between Democrat Alvin Bragg and Republican Thomas Kenniff.

Meanwhile, the citywide races on the ballot will be for mayor, public advocate and comptroller.

In addition to local elections, New Yorkers will be asked to vote on five proposed amendments to the state constitution, governing redistricting, environmental rights, voting and civil court claims.

To learn more about each proposition, read this guide from THE CITY.

Early voting will continue through Sunday, Oct. 31, followed by election day on Nov. 2. To find your poll site, click here.

Go here to see the original:

Midtown-Hells Kitchen Voter Guide, 2021: Whats On The Ballot - Patch.com

A hay field in Columbia County in New York, near the Massachusetts border. The area has become a hotbed of resistance to medical mandates on matters related to COVID-19.

They are the vaccine-hesitant or they are the advanced procrastinators. Whatever their reason for avoiding the COVID-19 shots, the approximately 30 percent of unvaccinated in Columbia County in New York are the people Michael Richardson and others want to reach in the quest to get the county and the larger area fully inoculated against COVID-19.

I didnt [get the shots] because the government said I should, I did it because my doctor said I should and because my brother whos a doctor said I should."

Sam Pratt, Hudson Valley activist and writer

Richardson founded Vaxx Facts and co-founded Columbia County Community Health Action. Both, through newsletters and online messaging, are meant to counter misinformation about the coronavirus and the vaccines and to explain why the shots are important.

But, there are people that Richardson, who lives in Chatham, N.Y., fears could upend that plan: the entrenched, vaccine-opposed. He says there is a small but vocal group that has united there and in the Berkshires, and is composed of those from the far left and far right people who otherwise would disagree about almost everything. Richardson and others say they have made this strange discovery as various events and movements sparked by conspiracy pushers sprouted over the past year.

Michael Richardson with his dog, Woody, at his home in Chatham, N.Y. this month.Richardson founded Vaxx Facts and co-founded Columbia County Community Health Action. Both, through newsletters and online messaging, are meant to counter misinformation about the coronavirus and the vaccines and to explain why the shots are important.

Richardson said the two factions are sharing all manner of misinformation on websites, email listsand it doesnt stop there. It jumps beyond traditional libertarian dont tread on me narratives and into theories that will rock you back in your chair, Richardson said, noting that the left-leaning might be inadvertently associating with hate groups through fundraising mechanisms. Richardson, a former municipal consultant, also is the founder of Hate-Watch Report, which gives people tools to report any harbingers of white supremacist or other extremist activity.

In the case of these unlikely COVID skeptics, we are not talking about QAnon theorists, he said.

These are not the people you think they are, he said. Theyre otherwise very progressive, they will agree with you on antiwar, they will agree with you on climate catastrophe, they will agree with you on most [progressive] political values, but they have completely gone over into this other realm, where suddenly, no science is not to be trusted.

Berkshire County:73 percent

Columbia County, N.Y.:75 percent

United States: 58.1 percent

*data are for people age 12 and up. Children ages 5 to 11 are not yet eligible

Data: The New York Times and Massachusetts Department of Public Health

Yet, some area residents who say they are politically progressive say their challenging current policy is consistent that past malfeasance and deep conflicts of interest among government and Big Pharma requires deeper exploration of the science and a second look at public health measures.

What is characterized as todays misinformation could be tomorrows correct information, said Daniel Seitz, a nonprofit consultant who worked in medical education for more than 30 years. Seitz, of Great Barrington, attended a recent Great Barrington Board of Health meeting to ask the board to dive deeper before making new COVID policy. Seitz used the example of the Wuhan lab leak theory that the virus somehow emerged from a Chinese lab as an example of a once unspeakable idea that now is considered credible and likely.

People [last year] were deplatformed [from social media] for suggesting this was a possibility.

In the Hudson Valley, with its strong local food and self-sufficiency ethos, the libertarian right has invaded the libertarian left, Richardson says. How does he know? Online chatter, tips, some roadside signs last spring and his own conversations with people. But, often, its social media the watering hole of the coronavirus pandemic era where likes and comments are noted.

We just kind of look at whos hanging out at the bar with each other, and youre guilty by association, Richardson said, noting that the guilty can be close, as he has seen in his own life. Richardson, founder ofthe Buddhist Action Coalition of Upper Hudson and the Berkshires,has a way of talking to those challenging the vaccine orthodoxy: We are family you are part of me and I am part of you. Were all in the same situation, you are just plain wrong, and stop it because what youre doing is hurting people.

In the Hudson Valley, Do We Need This? is a group calling for resistance to current measures like masking and all mandates, and "5G networks installed without community consent; Government that serves oligarchs and big corporations." Stand Up Massachusetts! is drawing support in the Berkshires, says Patrick Connors, who works with Richardson on Vaxx Facts and also is a co-founder of Columbia County Community Health Action. Connors, who lives in Hillsdale, N.Y., is tracking people and groups online. Neither resistance group's website discloses its organizers.

Columbia County registered a total of 111 deaths since the start of the pandemic in those who tested positive for the virus; Berkshire County, whose population is over 125,000, registered 322 deaths. Caseloads in Columbia County, whose population is over 59,000, have held steady over the past two weeks, at 10 new cases for moving seven-day average. Berkshire County's case counts rose 36 percent during the same time period, for a rolling average of 36 new cases per day. Berkshire Health Systems officials, who also are working to combat resistance to the shots, are seeing a rise in positive tests results in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Both counties registered caseloads peak in January, and both still are considered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as areas of "high transmission," like most of the U.S., yet caseloads are declining across the country.

Red indicates areas of "high transmission." The CDC's transmission map as of Thursday, Oct. 28. Orange is "substantial transmission," yellow is "moderate transmission," and blue is "low transmission."

In an effort to knock back a local resurgence, Connors occasionally logs on to local health board meetings he knows might be attended by those fighting mask mandates and raising doubts about vaccine safety it has been happening in Great Barrington, for instance. He also is distressed that local health officials arent debunking some of the claims they hear at meetings, like the one that COVID never has been isolated.

I think someone needs to be countering that kind of information, Connors said.

He worries about the sources of some claims.

Theres also this extent to which people may not realize that theyre legitimizing working with, tied to, linked to right-wing racist groups, sometimes, and not in all cases, he said.

Skeptics, and even the vaccinated among them, say the politicization of science and that vaccine-makers like Pfizer sponsor news programs and fund research, for instance has prompted them to scour scientific studies on their own.

But, distrust of the corporate-government alliance is just the latest excuse to avoid the vaccines, said someone who spent more than two decades working in public health.

Because the issue around vaccines has been so politicized, now people have turned against government, said Michael Seserman.

Seserman also is a co-founder of Columbia County Community Health Action, whose website and Facebook page includes videos of well-respected area doctors that people who are hesitating on shots might trust.

Seserman, who now works for the American Cancer Society, said that part of what's at work here is that Columbia and Berkshire counties long have been a hotbed of those who think outside the mainstream.

They are more vulnerable to those anti-establishment-type messages anyway, and the right-wing groups are taking advantage [of it], he said. It is an odd brotherhood here, and we must point out that this is a small, vocal minority.

Residents, like Daniel Seitz, who attended a recent Great Barrington Board of Health meeting on Zoom to challenge any consideration of mandates, say the government and Big Pharma, while doing some good, are to blame for much of the resistance, given their track records.Seitz said there needs to be a deeper look at all information in a wildly shifting and inconsistent public health landscape. Historically, there have been plenty of shifts, and he points to poisons like DDT, once considered safe, and eggs, once thought to be harmful.

Seitz said he is not a Trump voter he voted for Bernie Sanders and that censorship of what is labeled "misinformation only is increasing public resistance.

You dont create trust by censoring people, he said. If anything, that further awakens distrust.

Kathy Regan, of Housatonic, said demonization of skeptics and the stoking of fear is dividing people an early hallmark of incoming totalitarianism. She says that for her, its all about science.

Kathy Regan, of Housatonic, said demonization of skeptics and the stoking of fear is dividing people an early hallmark of incoming totalitarianism. She says that for her, its all about science.

Im seeing inaccuracy on both sides, and its more easily cleared up when people stop listening to opinions, said Regan, who added that she has read hundreds of peer-reviewed studies that leave her with different conclusions than what is now public health orthodoxy. This has almost become like a religion on both sides, where people are not thinking clearly.

In a blog post, a Hudson Valley writer and activist who has tried to understand vaccine-resistant friends wrote that distrust is mostly rational, given what appears to be garden variety incompetence, but can coexist with acceptance that the virus is a true threat.

I fully agree that the United States government is highly untrustworthy; that the pharmaceutical industry is often predatory; and that our captains of industry will look at most any calamity and find an opportunity to buy low and later sell high, Sam Pratt wrote. We should be able to hold these two disparate ideas in our minds: that the pandemic is a real and present danger, even as we question the motivations and competence of powerfully opportunistic interests.

Pratt told The Eagle that he doesnt support mandates but thinks it foolish to skip the shots, because of overwhelming agreement among medical professionals.

I didnt [get the shots] because the government said I should, I did it because my doctor said I should and because my brother whos a doctor said I should, Pratt said.

Yet friends and family appear to be more influential in spreading ideas than government or institutions, said Nina Cesare, a Boston University postdoctoral researcher in the Biostatistics and Epidemiology Data Analytics Center who co-authored a study that charted the exponential spread of misinformation by analyzing Google search trends during the pandemic.

A graph from research co-authored by Boston University researcher Nina Cesare, titled "COVID-19 Misinformation Spread in Eight Countries: Exponential Growth Modeling Study." The graph shows searches from December 2019 to October 2020, and the black vertical line shows when the World Health Organization included 5G on its Mythbusters website.

People on lockdowns who were scrambling for information were exposed to a sea of claims many of which stuck in the collective consciousness, she said.

Asked for her thoughts about this, Cesare says that while reducing exposure to misinformation is important, it isnt enough to dissuade people from believing in, for instance, a connection between 5G radiation and COVID, since that is part of a pre-COVID, chronic distrust. She said taking down YouTube videos or Facebook posts wont help counter these kinds of ideas.

Theres more complexity and nuance in this than just reducing peoples access to false information, she said.

What Cesare suggests is a much bigger project at a time when trust in government is at a near-historic low, according to Pew Research Center.

Belief in false information regarding COVID is tied to larger issues that could potentially be alleviated by building trust in medical institutions, by building trust in government, but its something thats going to be a lot more complicated, she said.

Go here to see the original:

With COVID policy and vaccine resistance, distrust is key. Meet some who are trying to counter this. - Berkshire Eagle

ObituaryDavid Kent (D.K.) Williams Jr, passed away unexpectedly at home on Saturday, October 23, 2021, days after celebrating his 55th birthday. He is preceded in death by his brother, Daniel, and survived by his parents, David and Robin Williams, children Kylie Williams and Steven Bugg and his three sons, much-loved partner, Mailyn Salabarria, and numerous beloved aunts, uncles, and cousins.He departed too soon, but we rejoice in his Christian life. We rejoice in his integrity. We rejoice in his full embrace of the principles of Liberty.An erudite academic and student of life, Dave attended primary schools in Fort Collins, Colorado, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Mobile, Alabama, and then high school in North Kingstown, RI, where he played basketball and was a state track-champion in the 400-meter event. Dave was always keen on running for office, making his first foray into campaigning with a successful bid for sophomore class president, ultimately becoming student-body president his senior year. Dave was in a runoff for Governor in North Carolina's Boys State program, and in 1983, he earned the prestigious North Carolina Youth Ambassador designation from the Hugh O'Brien Foundation. His dedication to effectively representing his classmates likely contributed to his winning the yearbook designations "most likely to succeed," and "most dependable." Dave's academic and leadership exploits in high school earned him the prestigious Morehead Scholarship to the University of North Carolina.Dave graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1989 with degrees in economics and speech communications; he competed with the UNC Fencing Club and founded a social fraternity. Upon completing undergraduate work, Dave earned his Juris Doctor degree, with honors. He was on the law-school Moot Court team and was president of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.After law school, Dave served as a law clerk for the Hon. U.S. Magistrate Judge, Alexander B. Denson, and he was associated with several law firms in North Carolina and Denver, until founding the Williams Law Office. He cherished opportunities to teach at Denver Public Schools during this time.Dave served as legislative director of Colorado's Libertarian Party 2007-2008, and chairman from 2008-2010. He co-founded the Gadsden Society of Colorado in 2009, and was a member of the Leadership Program of the Rockies Class of 2009. He hosted The Law with D.K. William podcast, co-hosted The Cuban and the Cracker podcast, and he was frequently a guest speaker at Liberty on the Rocks and on various radio programs.A perennial sports fan, Dave worked as a sports journalist and did play-by-play announcing for NCAA Division III basketball, football, and soccer, as well a play-by-play announcing for the Greensboro Prowlers arena-football team.Dave was an eternal student, committed to learning and growing throughout his adult life. He was a talented writer, public speaker, and a loving, doting father. Dave was generous with his smile, which was always the life of the party. His dangerously free and brave life will be missed by many; the torch of freedom will be carried onward by others committed to keeping the flame of liberty alive.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the "D.K. Williams LPR Scholarship Fund", dedicated to the recruitment of Libertarian-minded individuals to go through the Leadership Program of the Rockies: http://www.leadershipprogram.orgThose wishing to attend the services for DK virtually, please use the following link: https://bxcited.com/david-dk-williams-jr/A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday October 31, 2021 2pm at Horan and McConaty Funeal Home: 11150 E. Dartmouth Ave. Aurora CO 80014A reception and Celebration of Life will be held right after the Memorial Service at Max Taps Craft Beers: 2680 E County Line Rd. Littleton CO 80014. Please bring Reese's Peanut Butter Cups to share, in honor to DK's favorite chocolate.

Published by Horan & McConaty - SE Denver/Aurora on Oct. 28, 2021.

View post:

David Williams Obituary (1966 - 2021) - Denver, CO - Legacy.com

Oct. 29A University of Minnesota gymnast is suing the school for sex discrimination over its decision last year to eliminate the mens gymnastics team.

An incoming freshman last year, Evan Ng still was home in Chicago because of the coronavirus pandemic when he learned on a Sept. 10, 2020 conference call that his first year as a Division I athlete would be his last.

Besides mens gymnastics, the U's Board of Regents in October eliminated mens tennis and indoor track cutting 34 roster spots for male athletes and reduced by 40 the rosters of the womens rowing, track and field and cross country teams.

Eliminating the three mens programs was projected to save an estimated $1.6 million a year at a time when athletics revenue was expected to plummet because of the pandemic. It also was going to help the U balance its number of male and female athletes in order to comply with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs.

"The men's gymnastics team was cut because the University sought to reduce the number of male athletes in its varsity athletics program. As a result, Evan Ng is no longer a varsity NCAA gymnast at the University of Minnesota solely because of his sex," according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court.

Asked whether the sex-discrimination argument has ever succeeded in similar lawsuits, Ng's attorney, Caleb Trotter, said it hadn't. But he's hopeful a win in court could set a precedent that brings back gymnastics and the other mens sports.

"There's a hope, of course, that if we prevail, the University will see the writing on the wall and do the right thing," said Trotter, who works for the Pacific Legal Foundation, a California-based libertarian public interest law firm.

Days before the vote last October, Coach Mike Burns and others presented the Board of Regents with a self-funding proposal, but Athletics Director Mark Coyle said it was "unrealistic" to expect fundraising to sustain the program. The lawsuit says the team was told it was cut for Title IX reasons, not financial.

Story continues

The lawsuit asserts Title IX does not require the U to have the same male-female ratios in athletics as it has in the student body at large.

The lawsuit asks a judge to order the U to reinstate the gymnastics program.

A university spokesman said for this article that the decision to eliminate the three sports was difficult.

"Importantly, this lawsuit isn't just about the University. It is a broad challenge to how Title IX has been implemented by the U.S. government across colleges and universities nationwide to achieve equal opportunity. The University has and will always honor its legal obligations," Jake Ricker said by email.

Ng, still enrolled at the U as a sophomore, told reporters Friday that he is suing for not only himself, but also teammates and future Gopher gymnasts.

"I worked my whole life to get where I am today," he said.

The complaint says it would be difficult for Ng to transfer because only 13 Division I schools still offer mens gymnastics, and because he's dealing with a shoulder injury.

Burns and gymnasts have formed a club program to stay in shape in case the team is restored, Trotter said.

Read more from the original source:

Male gymnast sues UMN, claiming sex discrimination in decision to eliminate team - Yahoo News

BELLEVILLE / NUTLEY, NJ This election season is shaping up to be fairly quiet in Essex County, with few contested elections and foregone conclusions for some of the contested races. The biggest question on the ballot this upcoming Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 2, is the choice for governor.

Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, with running mate Lt. Gov. Sheila Y. Oliver, will be facing off against Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli, with running mate Diane Allen. Also running for governor and lieutenant governor are the teams of Joanne Kuniansky and Vivian M. Sahner on the Socialist Workers Party ticket; Madelyn R. Hoffman and Heather Warburton on the Green Party ticket; and Gregg Mele and Eveline Brownstein on the Libertarian Party ticket.

There are also two state public questions for voters to consider; both concern gambling statutes. In the first question, voters are being asked to decide whether the state should pass a constitutional amendment to allow wagering on postseason college sport competitions held in New Jersey and competitions in which a New Jerseybased college team participates. The second question regards whether to allow organizations that are permitted to hold raffles to keep the raffle proceeds to support themselves.

Countywide, voters must elect the sheriff, a three-year term. Running for office are Democratic incumbent Armando B. Fontoura, who has been serving as Essex County sheriff since 1990, and Republican challenger Nicholas G. Pansini.

Residents in the 28th Legislative District must choose between Democratic incumbents and Republican challengers for state Senate and Assembly. The Democratic incumbents are Ronald L. Rice for state Senate and Cleopatra G. Tucker and Ralph Caputo for Assembly. Republican challengers are Frank Contella for state Senate and Monique Headen and Anthony DAngelo for Assembly. Rice has served as a state senator since 1986, and Tucker and Caputo have served as Assembly members since 2008.

In the 29th Legislative District, state Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz, the Democratic incumbent, is running unopposed; Ruiz has served in the state Senate since 2008. Running for the two state Assembly seats are Democratic incumbents Shanique Speight and Eliana Pintor Marin, and independent challenger Debra Salters, who is running under the slogan Salters for All. Speight has been an assemblywoman since 2018 and Pintor Marin since 2013.

The Belleville Board of Education race gives voters a lot of options, with six candidates running for two open seats. Incumbents Christine Lamparello and Nelson Barrera are seeking to reclaim their seats; Barrerra is running under the slogan Keep Progress Going. They will face challengers Nicole Coviello-Daddis under the slogan Bellevilles Children First, Tracy Williams under the slogan Together We Achieve, Lissa Missaggia under the slogan Excellence in Education and Ruben A. Rodriguez.

The Nutley Board of Education race also has a large number of candidates, with seven individuals running for just three open seats. Incumbents Kenneth J. Reilly, under the slogan Keep Your Promises, and Theresa Quirk are seeking reelection. Challengers are Nicholas Scotti under the slogan Nutley Families First, Jeffrey Polewka, Daniel Fraginals under the slogan A New Voice, Joe Battaglia and David Kay under the slogan Putting Kids First.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 2, and there are multiple ways for county residents to vote, such as by mail, early in-person voting, via drop box and in person on the day.

Belleville Board of Education, Belleville election, Election Day, Essex County Election, FEATURED, NJ Election, Nutley Board of Education, Nutley election

Continued here:

Contested BOE races in Belleville and Nutley this November - Essex News Daily