Category Archives: Libertarian

Bad things could happen

Editor:

Senate Judicial Resolution 8 or the Nevada Equal Rights Amendment passed the Senate Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections by a vote of 4-1 on March 9. The only no vote came from new Republican Sen. Carrie Buck. If this proposed constitutional amendment passes the Legislature twice, it will go on the ballot to a vote by the people in 2022.

SJR8 would add the following to the Nevada Constitution: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state or any of its political subdivisions on account of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, ancestry or national origin.

The vagueness of the language in this resolution could open the door to laws that would uproot the freedom of many Americans, including the unborn, and put young women at risk.

The Nevada State ERA could be used to mandate taxpayer funded abortions. This occurred in New Mexico when the New Mexico Supreme Court mandated this in 1998. This also occurred in Connecticut under the guise that restricting abortion is a form of sexual discrimination.

By promoting gender identity in the state constitution, it could mandate that men who identify as women be allowed to compete with biological women in sporting events. This would destroy womens sports and undermine the chances for young women to advance in their athletic field and receive scholarships to further both their athletic and scholastic goals.

Moreover, this amendment could risk the safety and violate the privacy of young women by allowing biological males to use female locker rooms andrestrooms.

Religious freedom could also be threatened by forcing businesses and faith-based organizations to bend to anti-family and sexual norms that violate their religious and personal convictions. This has happened elsewhere and could happen in Nevada under this amendment.

According to Alliance Defending Freedom for Faith and Justice, SJR8 would deny state financial aid to students at faith-based colleges and universities unless they abandon policies and practices reflecting their sincerely held beliefs about marriage and sexuality It could forbid religious schools and organizations from ensuring that their employees abide by their doctrines or beliefs about marriage, sexual behavior, and the distinction between the sexes.

Physicians take an oath to do no harm and follow their conscience when treating their patients. SJR8 could force physicians to violate their oath and values and prescribe sex-altering therapies to young children who are struggling with gender identity. This could cause irreversible harm to the physical and mental well-being of our children into their adult lives.

The potential for significant harm is evident in this amendment.

Once you change the definition of gender (identity/expression) in the Constitution, legislators cannot address the unintended consequences, said Karen Barton England, executive director of Nevada Family Alliance.

Please contact the following Senate members requesting they oppose SJR8.

James Settelmeyer, Heidi Gansert, Ben Kieckhefer, Scott Hammond, Keith Pickard, andJoe Hardy. Contact information can be found at https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/Legislator/A/Senate/Current

Bob Russo

Gardnerville Ranchos

Mitigating factors in Engels-Meyer match

Editor:

Pardon my eye roll and sigh when I encounter yet another published bombshell from Danna Meyer (March 18, 2021 R-C) regarding an encounter she had with John Engels years ago. Yes, the commissioners reaction was overheated, but in the lead up to that face off there were what in a court of law would be classified as multiple mitigating circumstances.

The innocent female to whom she refers (who is Meyer herself) had been publicly harassing and insulting the commissioner for months. I witnessed this. What happened is he ran out of patience. A far more appropriate title for the YouTube clip might be, Worn Down Commissioner Finally Vents His Frustration at Relentless Female Antagonist.

Whats more, she hasnt stopped. Since the unfortunate incident, I have been in more than one group situation where Meyer took the floor and showed great delight in ridiculing the commissioner. And each time this happened when he was sitting with his wife among friends and quietly enjoying the gathering.

I suppose if Meyer wants to be known in the community as a one-note crybaby, thats her choice, but I wish shed take it someplace else, and give the R-C readers a break.

Virginia Starrett

Gardnerville

Placing things in context

Editor:

During one of the first county commission meetings after John Engels was elected, Meyer criticized Engels from the public comment podium, claiming that it was improper for John Engels to wear a hat while seated as a commissioner. Engels defended himself, pointing out that it displays the insignia of his Army service rank, captain, and his branch of service while in Vietnam, artillery.

Ever since picking this fight, Meyer has continued a public criticism campaign against Engels, which says way more about Meyer than it does Engels. Its a wonderful country that grants anyone the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech. Its too bad this woman serially abuses that privilege.

Bev Anderson

Fish Springs

Douglas Libertarians organizing

Editor:

Last November, one-third of Douglas County voters surprised the status quo by supporting a Libertarian candidate for commissioner. Thats more than any non-Republican candidate has won in this county in decades. One of the big reasons is because that candidate made himself visible, waving a huge sign at the 395 and 88 intersection every commute hour, posting signs, calling active voters, investigating issues, meeting with officials, and passing out literature at events.

Last Friday, he joined other liberty-minded people in Minden to find people interested in making the Libertarian Party more visible as an alternative to the GOP and Democratic Party.

Those at the gathering explored ways to get the partys philosophy of personal freedom and minimal government out to disillusioned and non-partisan voters.

Libertarians come from all political persuasions, from extreme liberal to ultra-conservative. What they have in common is the desire to pursue their interests, operate businesses, educate their children, and strive for prosperity without interference from intrusive government regulations.

Basically, the partys mantra is Do what you want as long as you dont hurt anyone. As simple as that sentence is, it seems to be a radical idea in this age when both the GOP and the ever-more-progressive Democratic Party want to control everyones health care, business activities, and use of private property. Libertarians just want to be left alone and allow you the same freedom.

In Douglas County, 53 percent of voters are registered as GOP; 22 percent as Democrats, and 25 percent as Libertarians, nonpartisan, and other. With the party schisms that are developing lately, there are undoubtedly members of both parties who are looking for an alternative.

Up until four years ago, when Gary Johnson ran quite visibly for president, Libertarian candidates were only on paper. Voters rarely met or learned anything about them. Then Charles Holt entered the local election and stirred up an over-confident GOP ticket. He mustve hit a nerve because signs were destroyed or removed and vicious letters against Mr. Holt filled the local editorial page.

Those attending Fridays meeting had a good laugh about it all in retrospect because it was a strong indication that Holt woke a sleeping lion. Spurred by that realization, they brainstormed ideas to make the Libertarian alternative more visible for Douglas County voters.

If youre one of those who want an alternative, investigate the Libertarians, either on Facebook or http://www.lpnevada.org. Or come to the next meeting April 23 at 6 p.m. at Cookd in Minden.

Meanwhile, be on the lookout for Libertarians at local events, fairs, farmers markets, wine walks, anywhere where you can meet and discuss issues with people who want to return America to a time where people said, its a free country rather than there oughta be a law.

Sue Cauhape

Minden

Duffy going to be missed

Editor:

Im writing to acknowledge the retirement of Deputy Theresa Duffy, an outstanding member of the Douglas County Sheriffs Office. I first met Duffy when she was coordinator for the week-long Sheriffs Citizen Academy, a five-day evening orientation class held in the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center conference room. This program provides Douglas County citizens a comprehensive overview of the sheriffs various departments directly from the deputies and command staff who manage and provide services from K-9 to Lake Tahoe patrol, street patrol, citizens patrol, search and rescue, and many other DCSO operations, all ably coordinated by Duffy.

In what I believe was her last assignment before retiring, Sheriff Coverley assigned Duffy to assist Sgt. Bernadette Smith, coordinator of the DCSO Caring Neighbors program that was experiencing a growing workload. Smith coordinates a group of selfless volunteers to deliver non-law enforcement assistance to those in need, but Duffys availability allowed the program to help those who needed law enforcement assistance.

Duffy had various other assignments during her law enforcement career, but probably none that delivered the compassionate assistance to our countys most vulnerable residents. This program includes various services from delivering meals to those with mobility issues, to coordinating assistance with other county departments, to protective interventions.

I gather Duffys last assignment before retiring was working with Smiths Caring Neighbors program, a fitting finish to a most honorable career. May God bless the retiring Duffy and Smith for their service to the countys most vulnerable citizens.I dont envy Coverleys task of picking a member of the command staff to inform Smith that she will never be allowed to retire.

Lynn Muzzy

Minden

Glad to be back in the Valley

Editor:

My husband and I moved to the Carson Valley in 2010 to enjoy the beauty and the closeness to children and grandchildren. Unfortunately, after 10 years we decided to move to greener pastures. At that time in our lives, we realized our error and needed to return to our doctors and network of friends in the Carson Valley.

We have received a fabulous welcome. These people and businesses have gone above and beyond to assist us with this transition. Teddy Carlson Mc Kone-Intero Real Estate; Anthony Bartone-Finance of America; Mary Kelsh and Kim Figueroa-First American Title; Donna Presto-Signature Title; Carla. Barry & Micky Jones- Carson Valley Movers; Natalia K. Vander Laan-Attorney; Carson Tahoe Health Care; and our wonderful, supportive friends of the communities of Saratoga Springs and La Costa.

As we continue our journey through life, we have determined that the Carson Valley provides us the support, professionalism, friendship and love not found elsewhere. Thanks to everyone who assisted us with this transition. The Carson Valley is truly a gem.

Lois Bock

Minden

Scouts always prepared to help

Editor:

On the afternoon of Feb. 27, my facemask attacked one of my hearing aids and apparently deposited it in the grass at the Minden Park where Cub Scout Troop 33 and BSA Troop 20 were gathered for a BSA annual Blue and Gold Ceremony.

After the event, some of the Scouts saw my wife and I crawling through the grass, acorn shells and miscellaneous debris that accumulates in our beautiful park over the winter months. They found it interesting to follow two senior citizens as they slithered and crawled around their festivities like a pair of wounded armadillos.

When they learned the reason for our circuitous rambling they immediately joined forces along with dozens of well meaning, supportive parents and Scout leaders. After a few hours of well-coordinated recovery drills we succeeded in convincing them to return to their refreshments and fellowship, although the hearing aid was still missing in action.

These young Cub Scouts and their devoted families are what makes the Carson Valley such a wonderful place to live. One of their parents, Shandra, drove to her home in the Johnson Lane area and returned with a metal detector which she loaned us over night. Our thanks also go to their troop leader, John and his great group of volunteer pack leaders. Michelle from the Town of Minden Office, as well as countless dog walkers, our neighbor and family members were also in the ranks.

Oh, in case youre wondering, we found the mischievous hearing aid the next day in the basement stairwell of our 115-year-old home across from the Park.

Keep up the good works Carson Valley

Gary and Judy Williams

Minden

Beginning of the end

Editor:

The beginning of the end of the United States as we know it.

The avalanche of illegals into this country by President Biden will have far reaching effects as stated in Guy Farmers column. How can we accommodate and support these people when we cant help and control our homeless population and fail to provide real assistance to our veterans?

American taxpayers have had their rights taken away by the Democrats who continue to use the pandemic as an excuse to control us. This coupled with the border crisis, unemployment, business and school closings is changing the way we live in the United States.

The current administration is all about control as evidenced by the enormous number of executive orders issued by Biden or those who control him. His mental health appears on the verge of collapse and we will be his beneficiaries.

Kenneth M. Bezich

Minden

Help those at home

Editor:

I would like to share my thoughts on the so called border crisis.

America has its own crisis: Hunger and homelessness.

We see these sad stories every day. We also see the governments, local and federal, stating there is no money to help these people. Mostly they give lip service only.

There are charities like Wounded Warrior to help underfunded American hero veterans with their problems. It appears that this American crisis cannot be solved.

However, it appears that there is plenty of money to help the open border people get food, housing, schooling and medical assistance. This crisis has the unlimited support and funding to be resolved from federal and sanctuary city sources. Its obvious what their priorities are and it is not us.

The next time you walk by American citizens who are homeless, cold, sick and hungry, or see a long food line, just think that they are only American citizen in crisis, not foreigners. Just ignore them. Too bad for them that they were born in American and are in crisis.

I know my thoughts are not politically correct. Those poor people looking for a better life boo hoo. How about a better life for needy Americans? Ill be surprised if this letter is printed. I also expect hate mail from people who think that borders are not required and should be open to the world and it is Americas responsibility to take care of them rather than solve our own crisis.

Charity begins at home. God bless America.

Ron Savinski

Gardnerville

Read more:

March 25, 2021, Letters to the Editor | Serving Minden-Gardnerville and Carson Valley - The Record-Courier

In November, a user named Dominic D wrote something akin to a mission statement for the anti-lockdown protest group he runs on the messaging app Telegram.

Dominic had been accused by another member of being associated with a far-right group, which he flatly denied. His group, Dominic wrote, was a place for moderates, libertarians, conservatives, and all other advocates of Freedom to have discussions about protesting.

I have one face. This is it. I am not Far-Right. I am a Libertarian Populist, and I support Freedom of Speech, Dominic told the dissenting member.

But a Guardian investigation has revealed Dominics engagement with a number of far-right groups online, including one used by the far-right Proud Boys group to vet new members and another made up of white supremacists including neo-Nazi Tom Sewell, who last month was charged after an alleged assault of a Channel Nine security guard.

Dominic Ds real name is Harrison McLean, a 24-year-old IT programmer, blockchain architect and former competitive cheerleader from Wantirna South in Melbournes outer suburbs.

Using his pseudonym, he has outlined plans to introduce his freedom group to more radical political views, while expressing deeply antisemitic opinions.

In an interview with the Guardian this week, McLean denied that he was seeking to radicalise his followers or to introduce them to antisemitic material, but said he wanted to unify people on the basis of peaceful protests and under the idea of freedom.

[The aim] is to empower people so that if theyre not necessarily politically active before, then a political protest might be some way for them to sort of begin their process of engaging in this space, but Im absolutely not trying to radicalise anybody, he said.

McLean began attending anti-lockdown protests in September and has since become a key organiser, helping to drive a rebrand after the lockdown lifted by shifting the movements focus to the broader themes of freedom that have come to typify the protests.

His group is now one of the largest and most organised in the movement, with more than 2,000 followers on Telegram, and attracts hundreds of people to the Melbourne protests.

On the surface, the freedom movements broad aim has been to end Covid restrictions. At a rally in Melbournes Flagstaff Gardens last Saturday, several hundred protesters waved anti-vaccination placards and called for the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, to resign.

But the movement has also become a beacon for conspiracy theorists, emerging as the real-world manifestation of a rabbit warren of online misinformation that has run rampant during the pandemic.

While McLean uses an alias online, he has recently begun using his real name at the rallies. On Saturday he railed against so-called vaccine mandates, claimed there was no pandemic and said the freedom movement was done with the cabal which runs this country.

We are going to purge this country of every single incumbent politician who does not support freedom, he told the cheering crowd.

In collaboration with anti-fascist research group the White Rose Society, the Guardian has tracked McLeans activity through the rabbit warren of largely unregulated Telegram groups and found that he describes a vastly different version of his intentions.

In groups he has described as devoted to serious Anti-Zionist chat and about digging into the relationship between Jews, and the NWO [new world order], McLean has explained the need to be cautious about exposing his allies in the anti-lockdown movement to antisemitic content yet.

McLean has offered counsel on effective ways to introduce people to entry level research on antisemitic conspiracy theories, given advice on how to create effective antisemitic memes and explained how he helped introduce followers in his anti-lockdown movement to more radical views.

In a series of messages sent in November, McLean told the serious Anti-Zionist chat that while he shared many of the concerns about the ... present role of the Jews, members of his group were not ready for the JQ yet, using a common shorthand among white supremacists for the Jewish Question.

We have a LOT of very NORMIE people coming in from banners and [Facebook] groups that are not ready for the JQ yet, and may attack us as highly anti-Semitic and stop promoting us all together to their friends and family, he wrote.

The members of his group, he wrote, are new to this side of politics and discourse and were not comfortable with the idea that Hitler had some good points ... or that they are a major controlling force in the world.

We start at Dan Bad and go right through to No Coercive Vaccines and get into the Pedo suppression orders and NWO agenda and One world government as a concept to be opposed, he wrote, echoing a laundry list of baseless and antisemitic conspiracy theories that have found a fresh audience during the pandemic.

I wish it were different [but] we need to take it one step at a time.

Police and security agencies have repeatedly warned that far-right groups have used the pandemic to recruit, but the rise of anti-lockdown groups that blend wellness influencers, libertarians, anti-vaxxers and those who mistrust governments into a heaving conspiracy-laced soup has made distinguishing the motives of those actors increasingly confounding.

In its submission to an upcoming federal inquiry into extremism and radicalism, Victoria police say extreme leftwing and rightwing individuals have joined conspiracy-based groups espousing conflating ideologies during the pandemic, something it says has proved a challenge for law enforcement.

The head of Asio, Mike Burgess, announced this month that the intelligence organisation would dump terms such as rightwing extremism because of a growing number of individuals and groups that dont fit on the leftright spectrum.

But the Guardians investigation found a significant overlap between the so-called freedom movement and far-right groups.

In an interview with the Guardian, McLean denied that he wanted to introduce his followers to the kind of antisemitic material he expressed support for online and emphatically denied having any white supremacist sympathies. He said his group supports freedom of religion and freedom from religion and argued his comments were made in the context of not wanting those discussions to occur on his own group.

I direct people to that Telegram group so they can see that argument and almost certainly see the flaws in that argument, he said.

But in the course of an hour-long interview, McLean also made antisemitic claims about Jewish overrepresentation in the higher echelons of media [and] business.

Im not saying that those discussions shouldnt occur, just not in [my group], he said.

Obviously its controversial and I have a view on it, which is people should do that research themselves and make that decision.

What I was saying was that this is a discussion for people to have on their own terms and sort of make their own mind up and see both sides of the argument ... theyre not wrong about everything but they do highly over-attribute those issues to Jews, which I dont think they should do and I dont support.

But the Guardians investigation also found McLean is a member of the Telegram group used by the Australian Proud Boys to vet new members. Founded by the Canadian-British far-right activist and Vice magazine co-founder Gavin McInnes in 2016, the Proud Boys describe themselves as Western chauvinists. In February the Canadian government designated the Proud Boys as a terrorist organisation, describing it as a serious and growing threat.

Asked whether he was a member of the organisation, McLean said: I cant answer that question at this time.

Though the Proud Boys remain relatively small in Australia, the group has become much more active during the pandemic. McLean admitted members were involved in his freedom movement, and revealed that he had met some of the Australian leaders during protests.

There are Proud Boys in [the group McLean runs] but it is not a Proud Boys operation per se, he said.

There is some overlap on a lot of principles [within the groups] but not all of them ... we have had the Proud Boys come to our events, they were invited, they didnt infiltrate us.

As the Guardian has previously reported, in October the president of the Borderlands faction of the Proud Boys, Jarrad Searby, used the same Telegram group administered by McLean to put a call out for people trained in some form of combat to clash with police at a rally in Melbourne.

A month later, Searby was arrested and pepper-sprayed at a protest on Melbourne Cup day at which several hundred people were arrested.

Searby was not the only Proud Boys member present. Internal messages sent between members of the group obtained by the Guardian reveal that before the protest the groups Victorian president encouraged other Proud Boys members to attend.

Its time to rise up, he wrote on 28 October.

Victoria needs a Pinochet and we need it fast If youre on the fence about supporting this on Tuesday because Dan eased restrictions then you have Stockholm syndrome.

In private messages seen by the Guardian, the president, who goes by the alias Versace Cowboy online, has also hailed the US gunman Kyle Rittenhouse for doing gods work and discussed conducting patrols of Melbourne suburbs during the African gangs scare.

Might be able to help do what the cops cant, he wrote at the time.

McLean has also maintained a list of freedom groups that he circulates to thousands of followers on Telegram. The list includes members of the Proud Boys organisation, and another group that is populated by a number of white supremacists, including Sewell.

The list is shared widely throughout so-called freedom groups on Telegram, creating what Cameron Smith, an independent researcher who has tracked conspiracy movements throughout the pandemic, calls a cross-pollination point between it and the far right.

Were talking about a group of people with no real political framework to make sense of the response to the pandemic. They have a feeling that something is amiss but they dont know what. Its not hard to point them in a particular direction and that particular direction being the Jews is not a new concept, Smith said.

Its also a group that largely had no real political experience to be able to recognise things like entryism. This all combined to make them easy pickings for the far-right.

McLean categorically denied that he supported any form of white supremacism, but said he had promoted the group because its administrator had been supportive of the movement, not because we agree with everything he says. But he conceded his aim was to shift the Overton Window, a term that describes the range of political ideas or policies considered acceptable by mainstream society.

What Im trying to do is build a big tent movement from the libertarian right to nationalists to populists to independents to moderates and even some leftwing people all supporting freedom, he said.

Its about building one unified group that can embrace a wide range of political stances [and] to expand the Overton Window to some elements of movement that are currently more fringe.

Youre probably right, I would prefer for them [the Proud Boys] to be less fringe in the context of having their views be more acceptable but not in a way that involves any sort of violence, just the rhetoric and discourse.

Joshua Roose, a senior research fellow at Deakin University, has been tracking the far right in Australia throughout the pandemic. He told the Guardian that typically there were two levels of overlap between elements of the far right and the anti-lockdown movement.

On one level there is a natural overlap in the narratives of those groups in that they are both concerned with the idea of liberal elites, you know, a wealthy and unelected ruling class who they have to take back control from, he said.

The far right typically have a harder racial edge to that, but that overlap, combined with some of the racialised elements of Covid-19 in mainstream media and politics you know, the China virus has I think opened a door for those worlds to combine.

But Roose said there had also been a more explicit attempt by far-right elements to win over conspiracy-minded groups.

There has certainly been discussions in far-right forums both in the US and Australia about how to mobilise, for example, QAnon supporters, and more broadly the people engaged in these freedom rallies, he said.

Roose said there were active protagonists within the far right who were seeking to mobilise the resentment, the sense of anger and disenfranchisement to bring people into the far-right fold.

He pointed to the example of Sewell and the former United Patriots Front leader Blair Cottrell, who have frequently posted anti-vaccination material, combined with a steady stream of antisemitic and racist content.

The 20 March protest offered a demonstration of how the pandemic has allowed those with far-right views to find common cause with more mainstream political actors.

Another attendee was Monica Smit, a former reality TV contestant who founded a group called Reignite Democracy Australia in September. Smit has not flirted with the more fringe elements of the far right such as the Proud Boys. Instead, her group rails against Covid-19 restrictions, including against mask mandates and lockdowns. Like McLean, Smit denies she is anti-vaccination, instead claiming to be pro-choice.

Reignite Democracy has built up a following of about 60,000 on Facebook. During the statewide lockdown in Victoria the group gained mainstream media attention with its Sack Dan bus, and has broadened its attention to rightwing theories including the great reset.

More recently, Reignite Democracy has sought candidates to run in elections, saying it wants to replace lazy politicians with worthy ones and be a voice for the people.

As the Guardian has previously reported, Smit has links to the Liberal party, and the group has been able to attract support from a number of mainstream political figures including the Victorian Liberal Bernie Finn, the state Liberal Democrat MP David Limbrick and the independent Catherine Cummings.

Limbrick spoke at the 20 March rally, appearing immediately after McLean to tell the crowd that Victorias long-running state of emergency had resulted in some of the greatest human rights oppressions in the states history. In a livestream video of the event, Smit said Limbricks presence really legitimises the event.

The Guardian was unable to contact Smit, and does not suggest that she holds McLeans views. But McLean said his group and Reignite Democracy definitely share a lot of ideological alignment. The groups frequently promote each others content, and McLean and Smit have appeared at a number of protests together.

The main difference between the two groups, McLean said, was that Reignite Democracy was more focused on shoring up the political element of the movement, but he described Smit as a friend and said that while the groups operate separately, we have followers across both groups.

I would say there is a 25% to 50% overlap of [my groups] supporters and RDA and vice versa, he said.

The Guardian does not suggest Limbrick or any of the MPs who have offered their support to the freedom rallies endorse the antisemitic views expressed by McLean.

Limbrick said that if he had heard antisemitic views expressed at Saturdays rally he would have been disgusted.

The main message I was hearing was that people were upset about the human rights impacts of the lockdowns and the restrictions over the last year, he said.

There has been an explosion in misinformation over the last year but part of what Im doing is to try to combat that with high quality information about some of the actual concerns people have I dont think othering people who might listen to misinformation and not listening to their concerns is the right way to deal with it.

But while Limbrick said he did not believe attempts by elements of the far right to infiltrate the movement had been successful pointing to the diverse crowd that attended Saturdays rally others argue that the interplay between the groups is changing the state of acceptable discourse.

Roose said: People on the far right are constantly talking about the Overton Window and shifting the realm of public debate, to make their ideas acceptable and normalise deep-seated racism and hostility to others.

Read more:

Where 'freedom' meets the far right: the hate messages infiltrating Australian anti-lockdown protests - The Guardian

The March 20 election is here.

Baton Rouge area residents will head to the polls to vote on a number of local elections and a pair of special elections for seats in the U.S. House.

Polling places will be open from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Anyone who is in line at 6 p.m. will be allowed to vote.

Voters are asked to bring an ID with them to vote. Voters without an ID will be allowed to vote after filling out an affidavit.

Voters are assigned to a specific voting precinct. You can look up your location at the Secretary of State's website byclicking here.

Once you enter your information, click 'My Election Day Voting Location.'

Visit geauxvote.com for more information on candidates.

Party abbreviations: D-Democrat, R-Republican, I-Independent; L-Libertarian; NP-No Party.

(Portions of Ascension, Assumption, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, St. James and West Baton Rouge parishes, plus the New Orleans area)

Chelsea Ardoin, R

Belden Noonie Man Batiste, I

Claston Bernard, R

Troy A. Carter, D

Karen Carter Peterson, D

Gary Chambers Jr., D

Harold John, D

J. Christopher Johnson, D

Brandon Jolicoeur, NP

Lloyd M. Kelly, D

Greg Lirette, R

Mindy McConnell, Libertarian

Desiree Ontiveros, D

Jenette M. Porter, D

Sheldon C. Vincent Sr., R

(Portions of East Feliciana, St. Helena, Tangipahoa and West Feliciana parishes, plus northeastern Louisiana)

Sandra Candy Christophe, D

Chad Conerly, R

Jim Davis, NP

Allen Guillory, R

Robert Lansden, R

Julia Letlow, R

Jaycee Magnuson, R

Horace Melton III, R

M.V. Vinny Mendoza, I

Richard H. Pannell, R

Sancha Smith, R

Errol Victor Sr., R

(5 to be elected)

Randy Anny, D

Wanda LeBlanc Bourgeois, R

Chad Domingue, R

Darnell Gilbert Sr., D

Duane Humphrey, D

Patti Melancon Poche, D

Tim Lazaroe, R

Wayne Messina, R

(5 to be elected)

Tracy Bryson, R

James Jimmy Fabre, NP

Gregory Hill, NP

Roy Miller, R

Ronald Marty Starkey, R

Hunter Stoetzner, R

(2 to be elected)

Elda Hootie Carter, NP

Kolby Frederick, R

Carlton Haycook, R

The rest is here:

What's on the March 20 ballot? Baton Rouge residents will vote on these congressional, local races - The Advocate

Editor's note: Dr. Payne has taught political science at Yale, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, and Texas A&M University, and is a research fellow at the Independent Institute. His book on libertarianism, The Big Government We Love to Hate, was released this month.

In the accounts about the Trump supporters who attacked the US Capitol, the media have sometimes alluded to supposed libertarian connections. The Wall St. Journal calls Parler, the social-media network which, it says, served as a hub for people who organized, participated in or celebrated the storming of the Capitol a libertarian-leaning social-media site.

In the same story it reported that one of the participants (Rosanne Boyland) joined at least two libertarian-leaning Facebook groups. A New York Times story reported that some people arrested in the riots have been linked to the Oath Keepers. This organization was founded by a man who, the Times noted, once worked as an aide to the former Representative Ron Paul, the Texas libertarianas if this fact helped explain his riot-inspiring role.

Of course, terms referring to political beliefs are rather broad, incorporating a range of views, but this connection is implausible. To call an ardent, violent Trump supporter a libertarian departs substantially from the traditional meaning of the term.

The confusion stems from two very different conceptions of what it means to be against government. In the typical partisan battle, the agitators are against the particular people in charge of the current government: they are challenging King George, Tsar Nicolas II, Nancy Pelosi. They do not question the idea of government itself. They believe that when controlled by people with good intentionsnamely themselvesthe government solves problems and improves the human condition. Once they displace the incumbents, the dissenters will set up their own government, giving it large, and growing, responsibilities.

The other conception of being against government is the position that government itself is not a moral, rational, and responsible problem-solving agency, no matter who tries to run it. Therefore, we shouldprudently and thoughtfullymove away from our dependence on it. This is the libertarian perspective.

Libertarian philosophers arrived at their skepticism from an examination of governments basis of power. This is its use of physical force, its use of policemen, jails and gallows to (try to) fix social problems. They asked, is force a healthy foundation for reform? Is the initiation of force a healthy way to deal with problems like economic inequality, substance abuse, or the lack of education?

Almost as soon as these early thinkers raised this point, they realized that a negative answer was indicated. As William Godwin, one of the first libertarians, put it in 1793, the calling in of force as the corrective of error is invidious. This led him to the observation that government, even in its best state, is an evil. This theme was echoed by a number of 19th-century libertarians including the English philosopher Auberon Herbert. Do you not see, said Herbert, that of all weapons that men can take into their hands force is the vainest, the weakest? In the long dark history of the world, what real, what permanent good has ever come from the force which men have never hesitated to use against each other?

Another 19th-century libertarian was Henry David Thoreau. The State, he said, is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced.

Over the past two centuries, the number of activists questioning government because of its basis in force has grown, leading, in recent times, to the formation of dozens of libertarian think tanks, and a Libertarian party in 1971. The partys Statement of Principles, adopted in 1974, incorporates this concern about force: We support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others.

In a two-century tradition, then, libertarians have established themselves as singularly opposed to the initiation of force as a method of achieving social or political aims. Of all people, they would be the last to participate in, or approve of, any kind of violent attack for political purposes.

At bottom, libertarians are a patient community, all too aware of the myths and excitements that swirl the masses into each new wave of big government involvement. And aware, too, of the vast complexity of human society, a complexity that tends to make centralized, coercive approaches to social problems dysfunctional.

Quietly, thoughtfullyand of course, peacefullylibertarians are trying to persuade their friends and neighbors that the path to healthy social relationships cannot lie in any kind of march on the US Congress.

More here:

Were the Capitol Rioters Really Libertarians? - Foundation for Economic Education

Just months ago, Florida residents overwhelmingly voted to approve Amendment 2, a ballot initiative that raised the states minimum wage to $15 an hour by September 2026. Today, St. Petersburg State Senator Jeffrey Brandesa well-connected veteran of the Florida GOPfiled SJR 854, a measure that will, if enacted, exempt some Floridians from the increased minimum-wage protection.

The Florida legislature has long treated grassroots ballot initiatives with open contempt. In 2017, after more than 70 percent of state voters elected to legalize medical marijuana, state lawmakers responded by temporarily making it illegal to smoke medicinal weed. In 2018, when a supermajority of Floridians voted to return voting rights to at least 1.4 million formerly incarcerated people, the GOP-dominated legislature passed a glorified poll-tax that made sure that 800,000 of those people remained ineligible to vote. This week, like clockwork, the state Republican Partydominated by pro-Trump apparatchiks and a smaller Libertarian-minded winghas launched its plan to kneecap the minimum wage increase, which passed with over 60 percent approval.

Brandes is now proposing amending the state constitution once more, to allow state lawmakers to reduce the Minimum Wage rate for prisoners in the state correctional system, reduce the Minimum Wage rate for employees convicted of a felony, reduce the Minimum Wage rate for employees younger than 21 years of age, [and] reduce the Minimum Wage rate for other hard-to-hire employees

Given Brandess connections within the party, as well as the state GOPs general antipathy toward raising the minimum wage, its quite likely the measure could reach voters by November 2021. (More than 60 percent of Florida voters must approve amendments to the state constitution for changes to take effect.) The state GOP has prioritized a number of other draconian bills, including a much-criticized proposal from Gov. Ron DeSantis that would crack down on peaceful protesters and make it legal, in some cases, to run demonstrators over.

That this proposal targets both currently and formerly imprisoned people is something of a shock for those following Brandess career: Over the last handful of years, there has been arguably no more successful justice-reform champion in Tallahassee than Brandes. He has leaned on his professed small-government Libertarian ethos to try to reform the states mandatory-minimum sentencing laws, force cops to get warrants before monitoring citizens cell-phone data, push more people into pre-arrest diversion programs, and reduce the states reliance on cash bail. While there have certainly been Democratic members of the state legislature who have proposed justice-reform measures, Brandes has been able to use his pull as a member of the states dominant party to pass significant reforms.

This weeks measure shows exactly how far the state will get by relying on someone like Brandes to fix its problems. Whats more, it could provide a new push for progressive members of the U.S. congress to pass a $15 minimum-wage-hike, rather than leaving the matter up to individual states.

Brandes spent the day defending his bill on Twitter by claiming that lowering the minimum-wage for teens or the formerly incarcerated will somehow help, rather than hurt, them. He cited multiple right- or Libertarian-leaning think tanks, which allege that minimum-wage hikes would lead to a spike in unemployment for those groups. A significant amount of research contradicts those claims.

Brandes told The Appeal that he believes a lower wage for hard-to-hire groups would help them gain job skills before moving on to a higher-paying job. Asked directly if he believes the proposed exceptions could permanently trap the formerly incarcerated in low-paying jobs, he said he didnt believe so.*

This is really about allowing the legislature to offer a training wage and about recognizing that for the formerly incarcerated, its sometimes difficult for them to compete with much more skilled workers for jobs, he said.

If voters pass the amendment, Brandes said he would be willing to propose a follow-up bill that would place a time limit on the training wages. Under that idea, hard-to-hire groups could only be paid less than the minimum wage for a set period of time, perhaps a year or a set amount of hours.

The key is not to hurt them, but to help them get a leg up, he said.

Others, however, vehemently disagree with the proposal.

Pretty clear higher wages keep people out of prison too, progressive Orlando State Rep. Anna Eskamani tweeted in response to an article about the bill on Wednesday.

once they get a job, Brandes replied, adding later that, in his opinion, the bill will help the formerly incarcerated back on their feet after leaving prison.

In a text message to The Appeal, Eskamani said that instead of forcing the recently incarcerated into low-paying jobs, the state should focus on jobs-training programs to help people leaving prison.

Instead of carving out hard to hire employees from benefiting with an increase to the minimum wage we should help hard to hire employees be hirable! she said. Automation is already here and yet we face many talent gaps in areas like construction and manufacturing. Lets get folks trained and hired there, where they are needed. But hand picking select groups of people to be exempt is not to the spirit of Amendment 2, and wont help is reducing recidivism rates either.

*This piece has been updated with quotes from State Senator Jeffrey Brandes.

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A Florida Senator Wants to Exclude People With Felony Convictions from the State's Minimum Wage Increase - The Appeal

Will Peebles|Savannah Morning News

Even when removed from Georgias controversial, seemingly endless 2020 election season, Chatham Countys Board of Elections has had a tumultuous start to the year.

Last week, with nary a press release or public announcement, a new member was appointed to fill former Republican board member Debbie Rauers seat after she resigned amidan investigation of her allegedly hitting a woman with her car in Orleans Square on Jan. 5.

To add to the churn of unprecedented decisions, the Chatham County Republican Party, the group responsible for appointing a new board member, didnt pick a Republican for the seat.

Instead, they chose Independent Carry Smith, a former member of the Chatham County Democratic Party and local political scientist. Back in October, Smith was a driving factor in the disqualification of Tony Riley, a Democratic candidate for the Chatham Commission District 2.

But after a change of heart, Smith submitted her letter of resignation on Thursday, less than a week after being sworn in.

Smith is currently in the process of getting her doctorate in political science from Clark Atlanta University. She worked for the Board of Elections during this summers primary election as an absentee ballot processor.

More: Chatham County election day marred by human error, government squabbles, voter confusion

At that point, she was a registered Democrat and a member of the Chatham County Democratic Party. Smith said after bringing light to Rileys grounds for disqualification, she was kicked out of the Democratic party and receivedmultiple death threats.

On Jan. 14, Smith was invited to speak at a CCRP meeting after submitting a resume and cover letter for the job.

I think they wanted somebody who was actively participating in meetings and actively knew what the issues pertaining to the office were and how difficult it was to stand up and put their name in the hat for the position, Smith said.

After being chosen as Rauers replacement, she filed the paperwork required by the Secretary of States Office, and was sworn in by Chatham County Probate Court Judge Tom Bordeaux on Jan. 22.

Then, on Thursday, she resigned.

Smiths quick resignation stemmed from a desire for fairness, she said. She disagrees with the boards makeup of two Democrats and two Republicans, calling it unconstitutional in that the Libertarian Party is not represented. She believes the board should be nonpartisan altogether, but until then, an actual Republican should hold the seat.

I don't want so much distrust. At this point. It would be better to see someone in the seat who is very capable and very intelligent, who is a representative of the party, Smith said. This was further reasoning that we need a merger of both offices and to get rid of the partisan politics that keep the board members from doing their job.

The Board of Elections has a special called meeting scheduled for 10a.m. on Friday, but details about the agenda have not been released. Calls to Board of Elections Chairman Tom Mahoney havenot been returned , and as of Thursday, no public notification of Smiths appointment and subsequent resignation has been given.

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

See the original post here:

A new Chatham Elections Board member was sworn in last week. This week, she resigned. - Savannah Morning News

Editor's note: This story is part of a series about the Class of 2024 based on a survey conducted by The Chronicle. You can read more about our methodology and limitations here, or see all of our survey coverage here. Our survey coverage will be collected in print on Monday, Feb. 1.

The Class of 2024 described their political beliefs, voting plans, presidential votes and more in The Chronicles first-year survey.

Of the first-years surveyed, 92.3% voted or planned to vote for Joe Biden, while 7% voted or planned to vote for Donald Trump. Green Party Co-founder Howie Hawkins and Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson each received one vote from survey respondents.

More than 70% of first years identified themselves as somewhat liberal or very liberal36.6% and 38%, respectively. Almost a fifth of students, 19.1%, described themselves as politically moderate. Somewhat-conservative students make up 5.4% of respondents. while very conservative students represent just 1%.

Participation in the 2020 general election was much greater than participation in primary elections among survey respondents. Of those eligible to vote in a primary election, 67.8% of students said they did. Of those students eligible to vote in the 2020 election, 99.6% of first-years either had voted or were planning to vote.

Slightly more studentsabout 54.5%voted or planned to vote in North Carolina than in other states.

White, multiracial, Hispanic students more likely to vote for Trump

While the vast majority of all racial and ethnic groups voted for Biden, Hispanic and Latinx students were slightly more likely than non-Hispanic and Latinx students to have voted for Donald Trump11.1% compared to 6.4%.

Non-Hispanic white and multiracial students were also among the most likely groups to have voted for Donald Trump10.1% and 8.7%, respectively, compared to 1.2% Asian students and 0% Black or African American students in our survey.

A greater percentage of Duke students in every racial and ethnicity category voted for Biden than the national population. According to national exit polls published by the New York Times, 41% of white, 87% of Black, 65% of Hispanic and Latinx, 61% of Asian and 55% of other races voted for Biden.

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Wealthier students more likely to vote for Trump

The highest income bracketabove $500,000held the largest proportion of Trump voters with nearly 21% of respondents in that income level having voted for Trump.

Compared to 12.6% of Biden voters who come from the above $500,000 income bracket, almost half42.1%of Trump voters come from the same income bracket.

This pattern is consistent with nationwide trends. According to the New York Times polls, 55% of voters who earned less than $50,000 in 2019, 57% of voters who earned between $50,000 and $99,999 and 42% of voters who earned more than $100,000 voted for Biden.

Religious first-years more likely to vote for Trump

Over 60% of Biden voters identify themselves as not at all religious or not very religious while for Trump, that percentage is just below 40%. Similarly, students who voted for Trump are overwhelmingly identified with a religion as opposed to agnostic or atheist. Of those who voted for Trump, 42.1% are Catholic and 21.1% are Protestant.

Biden voters more likely to represent diverse sexual orientations, genders

About 25% of students who voted for Biden identify with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, compared to approximately 10% of Trump voters.

Additionally, while the majority, 57.9% of Trump voters are cisgender men, the majority, 64.3%, of Biden voters are cisgender women. This is consistent with New York Times polls that showed the majority, 57%, of females voting for Biden and the majority, 53%, of men voting for Trump.

Biden voters also consisted of genderqueer, nonbinary and agender first-years and first-years of other genders, whereas no genderqueer, nonbinary or agender respondents indicated voting for Trump.

Black or African American students have the highest percentage of very liberal students out of all racial groups. The majority of all racial groups identify as very or somewhat liberal.

All of our surveys respondents who identify with very conservative political beliefs are non-Hispanic and Latinx white students. While a large majority of Hispanic and non-Hispanic students have liberal political beliefs, non-Hispanic and Latinx students are more likely to be very liberal than Hispanic and Latinx students39.1% compared to 30.8%. Almost 13% of Hispanic and Latinx first-years are somewhat conservative, compared to 4.3% of non-Hispanic and Latinx first-years.

There is more income bracket diversity among moderate and liberal students than conservative students, who have higher incomes. All students with family incomes below $40,000 and between $80,000 and $125,000 reported moderate, somewhat or very liberal political beliefs. More than 80% of somewhat conservative first-years reported having family incomes of at least $250,000.

Furthermore, each political ideology is composed of 10 to 20% of legacy studentsexcept for the very conservative category. Two of the three respondents in our survey who identified as very conservative are legacy students.

The more that first-years identify as liberal, the less religious they are, and vice versa. Nearly half of all very liberal first-years in our survey identify as not at all religious, whereas all very conservative students identify as religious or very religious.

Students who are moderate, somewhat or very liberal are more likely to identify with diverse sexual orientations and gendersas students identify as more liberal, there is greater representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

While all somewhat and very conservative respondents identify as heterosexual, nearly half of very liberal first-years identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian, homosexual, questioning, asexual and pansexual.

The majority of politically liberal and moderate first-years are cisgender women: 63.7%, 65.7% and 52.63% of cisgender women reported being very liberal, somewhat liberal and moderate, respectively. Meanwhile, the majority of conservative first-years are cisgender men: 66.7% and 56.3% of cisgender men reported being very conservative and somewhat conservative, respectively.

All gender queer, non binary and agender respondents identify as very or somewhat liberal.

Students in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences are slightly more likely to be liberal than Pratt School of Engineering students. Generally, as students identify as more politically conservative, the more likely they are to be in the Pratt School of Engineering. More than 70% of very liberal, somewhat liberal and somewhat conservative first-years are enrolled in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences.

More:

The political beliefs of the Class of 2024 by race, gender and other factors - Duke Chronicle

As Benito Mussolinis gangs conquered Italy in the early 1920s, Livorno proved a particular obstacle. Fascists complained of their difficulties infiltrating the Tuscan port citys popular neighborhoods, inhabited by extremists and their sympathizers. In March 1922, local hierarchs cited a deeper reason, as they blamed the Livorno populations origins, largely made up of the many mongrel, escapee, refugee, Levantine, Jewish elements. Education and religion have never made inroads among this people fertile terrain, then, for subversive ideas.

For the police inspectorate, this posed the need for an offensive: to mount continual raids across whole neighborhoods at once, on workplaces, association buildings, and political and supposedly apolitical circles. In June 1923, when the Fascists did pull off simultaneous invasions of two hundred forty apartments in Livornos city center, nowPrime Minister Mussolini celebrated their achievement in the Senate.

Apart from the Fascists own overbearing arrogance and violence what immediately shines through from official reports is the tumultuous nature of this city and the vibrancy of its enduring popular roots. Livornos distinctly plural, rebellious character had a long history: already from the late sixteenth century it had granted exemptions, immunity, and privileges to draw in traders, sailors, and artisans of all creeds and backgrounds. It was open to refugees: to Jews, Muslims, Greeks, Catholics, and French Huguenots and even to slaves and outlaws, with specific pledges that there would be no inquiring into their past.

Livornos social fabric made it into an emblematic site of revolt and subversive energy. Its past is anything but monolithic: the city has undergone many transformations throughout its history, with its communities marked by deep divisions. But it has, at least, always been a city rich in contradictions and sharp polarizations a city of libertarian spirit, alive with social conflict. The Fascists were well aware of this. And there was also great ferment in Livorno on January 21, 1921, when the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) held its national congress.

Governed by a Socialist local administration, Livorno was chosen for the PSIs national congress on security grounds, especially given the relatively nonsectarian stance of the local police prefect. Indeed, a plan to hold the congress in Florence had to be abandoned, following the spread of appalling Blackshirt violence which enjoyed blatant police connivance. With the congress also expected to bring a split between Socialists and Communists, tensions were running high.

So, when Livornos moderate-reformist leader Giuseppe Emanuele Modigliani, a member since 1894, opened proceedings at the Teatro Goldoni by saluting both reformist and revolutionary leaders both Turati and Bombacci there was immediate uproar. Forced to speak through repeated interruptions, he concluded his greeting message by alluding to the split. As he put it, some consider this a theater for surgery, and a painful amputation! We dont know if this amputation will happen: but if it does, what needs amputating is the rotten, the useless, the contemptible.

The amputation did, indeed, come. Three motions were presented to the congress, with the centrists opposed to a split taking 98,028 votes, the reformists 14,695, and the communists 58,783 not a negligible figure, but still a minority. Many of those who had voted for this latter motion abandoned the Teatro Goldoni and reconvened at the Teatro San Marco. There began another long story of political struggles and passions, with the founding of the Italian Communist Party (PCI).

The Socialist Party was strongly rooted in Livorno; locally, the Communist faction drew smaller numbers than other centers like Turin and Florence, where the PSI also had a strong presence by 1921. Many had been attracted by the political radicalization of 191920, with both the material and ideological polarization that followed World War I and the so-called biennio rosso of strikes, and factory and land occupations.

Key, here, were the hopes raised by the October Revolution. The events in Russia provided a concrete (if rapidly mythologized) reference point. Livornos Socialists responded to this climate with a change of tone and a sharpening of their own combativity. On August 7, 1919, the local Socialist paper La Parola dei socialisti published an article titled St. Russia:

In their history, peoples inevitably have moments that decide their often sudden passage from a state of static, blind acquiescence to a new stage of active life today we can say that the revolution itself, the richest page in this historic period of disguised enslavement and official hypocrisy, must and cannot die alone we look to [that revolution], with faith in the emancipation of all peoples, so that Europe and the world are no longer immersed in this orgy of blood, and so that humanity does not permanently live this aberration.

This more-or-less strategically minded choice helps explain why the Socialists support continued to grow. Their local-level rootedness was also accompanied by an older presence in cooperatives, mutual-aid associations, and local-level electoral work. Indeed, just months before the decisive Livorno Congress, the Socialists had confirmed their local strength by taking 7,915 out of 16,825 votes in the municipal elections of November 7, 1920.

Faced with this reality, a minority of militants joined the split at first: if the Livorno PSI had 1,107 members in October 1920, only 255 left to form the PCI. Aside from their weak numbers, it was unsurprising who they were: most came from the same locals which had already backed the PSIs internal Communist faction as early as 1917. They officially formed the Livorno branch of the PCI on January 29, 1921. The new party owed much to its militants determined endeavors for months they had no local office, before finally occupying some rooms in a dilapidated hospital.

But the focus of their activity lay elsewhere in the social life of their neighborhoods, in the organized mutual-aid efforts that began to take form in the streets and squares of the proletarian Garibaldi district, in their propagation of the ideal (including through the organized distribution of lOrdine Nuovo newspaper) and, indeed, through their tenacious vigilance against the Fascists, whose every fresh bid to enter met with sharp opposition.

The PCI is often considered to have begun life with rigid and self-isolating ideological rigor. Yet from the outset this was accompanied, in Livorno, by the typically libertarian notes that had developed through militants close ties with local anarchists, who were strongly rooted in the city. Already in recent years they had provided the intransigent Socialists with languages, subversive practices, shared spaces, and a tradition of internationalist solidarity, which especially developed in the period between the start of World War I and the biennio rosso.

The many continuing affinities between Communists and anarchists were, indeed, never entirely erased. The partys most prominent leader Amadeo Bordiga was avowedly dogmatic, attributing the party organization an absolutely central role as the precondition for all class action. But when he spoke in Livorno, he had some hesitations. Two days after the local PCI branch was founded, he gave a talk at the Teatro San Marco at which he denounced all other political forces but kept a diplomatic silence when it came to the anarchists.

Livornos practice and experience were atypical. But they stand apart from the commonplace image of Communists signing up to rigid party directives and total separation from all other political forces. In fact, while the Livorno Communists did maintain their own political stance, they were distinguished by an attitude distant from sectarian dogmatism. They instead built a strong collaboration with other forces in local institutions, trade unions, and social forces pushing up from below.

For instance, after the split in January 1921, the Communists four local councillors decided to renew their involvement in city hall, where they backed the Socialist administration. This was an autonomous decision, albeit with the consent of the central party leadership. In fact, the Livorno PCI secretary, Ilio Barontini, himself a councillor, had already told the Socialists in advance of his intention to continue collaboration, even before receiving a response from central party leaders.

Barontini was an especially important figure for local communism but also more generally. An anti-fascist militant, he had an intense feeling for humanity and an uncommon political temperament. This provided him with the courage to venture wherever the party wanted him to be and he always put his own skin in the front line of the class struggle. Throughout his letters to his family, one phrase often crops up: I belong to the proletariats cause.

A Central Committee member and first secretary of both the Livorno branch and the Pisa-Livorno federation, Barontini maintained intense activity in the PCIs clandestine organization after the legal party was crushed by the Fascist regime. At first exiled to France, he was one of the first International Brigade volunteers during the Spanish Civil War in 1936, before heading to Ethiopia to fight against the colonial-Italian Fascist forces.

He then returned to France, and then Italy, as a partisan in the Resistance of World War II. Under the nom de guerre Dario, he became commander of the Garibaldi assault brigades and a member of the PCIs insurrectionary triumvirate in Emilia-Romagna. With the fall of the regime and the return of democratic institutions, Barontini was again a PCI Central Committee member, secretary of the Livorno branch, a member of the Constituent Assembly and then the Senate.

A central figure in both the PCI legal and illegal work, Barontini was thus an emblematic figure of the openness of Livornese communism, which gradually drew it into the Gramscian current. Born to a family of anarchist background and then a PSI and PCI man, his political initiatives were constantly oriented toward cooperation with other forces on the left. Rejecting absolutist, sectarian attitudes, his political practice had a core principle in the common anti-fascist struggle and a militancy aimed at building an inclusive society.

Indeed, support for the Socialist local administration was not the only time that the Livorno PCI showed their dissent from the national party line. This was also true in the case of the Arditi del Popolo (AdP). This spontaneous popular movement emerged in towns across Italy faced with the constant attacks by Fascists, which targeted trade unionists, local labor halls, and anti-fascist groups already long before Mussolinis March on Rome in October 1922.

The PCIs response to the AdP was largely hostile a stance criticized by the Communist International. Bordiga insisted that military discipline must remain on an exclusively party basis. But the PCIs political practice did not always fully respond to theory, especially at the local level.

In Livorno, an AdP organization was formed with two hundred Communist volunteers, a hundred Socialists, ninety anarchists, and a hundred ten republicans: these formed four distinct squads, but they acted in close collaboration, and were joined by a fifth, mixed squad, whose task was to move around the city stopping the Fascists passing through any of the main streets.

These squads neighborhood presence allowed a diffuse defensive and offensive action against the Fascists, in the closest of mutual collaboration. They could rapidly melt into the crowd in the working-class districts, and often managed to see off the Fascists and police with the aid of utensils, pots and pans and objects of all kinds chucked from the windows of surrounding buildings.

This was also accompanied by a trade unionbased proletarian defense committee coordinating the opposition to Fascism; already in March 1921 it had representatives of the Camera del Lavoro (labor hall), the trade unions, Socialists, anarchists, and Communists from various leagues, associations, and youth formations.

The Livorno PCI was frequently divided between the demands of collaboration and its problematic deviations from the central party line. Often this implied a certain ambiguity: letters to other Socialist-controlled organizations often offered an opening to cooperation but also emphasized its conditional nature and exclusive aim of facilitating mass action.

Yet these tensions continually melted away faced with the pressing need for a frontline struggle against the Fascists. Communists and Socialists even ran joint candidates in elections for the local Camera del Lavoro and maintained collaborative trade union work in the factories even though this was combined with an intense propaganda effort from the PCI.

Only in subsequent years after the party was forced into illegality did the conditions of struggle and the difficult organizational context create a heightened moral tension between the parties. This led to even the Livorno Communists tightening their ranks, and thus weakening their collaboration with other political forces. But if in this sense, the early stages of clandestinity heightened the resonance of a self-isolating party line, this delicate moment was more the exception than the rule.

Indeed, what we learn from the situation in Livorno, with its experience of a shared anti-fascist commitment, is that an understanding of early Italian communism cannot be reduced to generalizations or to the most ideological dimensions of politics. The past becomes collective memory through a process of selection and reinterpretation, which also follows the cultural sensibilities and political trends of the present and it is worth asking ourselves what these are. The journey from over-simplification to political demonization is a short one, as Communists are only too aware.

This is worth bearing in mind, faced with the rhetorical instrumentalization of this period, which is still now at the forefront of the anti-communist propaganda issued by liberal and conservative forces. And so, too, faced with the transformations and divisions that shaped the history of the Italian left.

Starting with Palmiro Togliattis remolding of the PCI at the end of World War II, the emphasis given to the Gramscian approach was rhetorically sustained by Party publications built around harsh condemnation of the party in its first years, which was presented as rigidly dogmatic and inactive in fighting fascism. While these claims do have some foundation in the most ideological expressions of early Italian communism, they also reflect an over-generalization, too abstract from contemporary political experiences and the more composite and complex local realities.

For this reason, the libertarian, plural, rebellious nature of Livornos communism is not just a beautiful history, but also an uncomfortable one. It is difficult (if not impossible) to find such a memory a proper place within the current democratic institutions.

And confronting this history is especially complicated faced with the historical transformations taking place today, with the dissolution of the Left and its weakening ties to its original, future-oriented ideals of equality and inclusion. The Italian left is today submerged in a general indistinction among political forces, and indeed the capitulation of politics in general to the higher imperatives of neoliberalism.

Livornese communism had many contradictory elements, but also provides an exemplary image of conflict itself. Its history reminds us that ferment and conflict always create something new. The refusal of conflict demobilizes us and denies us any alternative perspective on the future.

Even if Fascism largely destroyed PCI organization on Italian soil by 1926, many militants remained active, whether continuing to build spaces of collaboration and joint resistance on the left, or in fighting the many expressions of Fascist oppression. Barontinis remarkable struggle was a case in point: it took him from Livorno to Spain, France, and East Africa, driven by a faith in the future, nurtured by the fight against Fascism in the present.

Barontini reminded us of this in his own words, as he wrote to his family after long years away as an exile, party leader and combatant. Ive been unable to give up on my ideals, which had precedence even over you, dare I say it. I love you. His priority had always been the revolutionary struggle, to satisfy, as he put it, his only goal in life, which has always been the quest to find the right and the good.

Defining what is good may seem rather complex. But the problem today is perhaps, rather a different one: the fear of conflict and the refusal to take a side.

Read more here:

Livorno, the Rebel City Where Italy's Communist Party Was Born - Jacobin magazine

By ROBERT NOTTSFNM News:

The Roundhouse had heartening news Wednesday for a growing number of New Mexico voters who arent affiliated with a major political party and would like the state to end a primary election system that excludes them.

Lawmakers on the House of Representatives State Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted 6-3 to advance a bill that would allow all registered voters to cast ballots in primaries.

Under the measure, independent voters and those registered with a minority party could simply request a ballot from one of the major parties, with no requirement to alter the party affiliation on their registration.

Its not the first time state legislators have considered such a measure.

Previous efforts over the last five years have failed to reach the House or Senate floor for a vote, dying early in the committee process.

But advocates are optimistic House Bill 79 could become law this year. They argue the measure would increase voter turnout in both primary and general elections.

In our current closed primary system, a very large number of registered voters are not able to vote, and that constitutes an unacceptable disenfranchisement of these voters, John House said, president of the nonprofit Represent Us New Mexico, which supports voter reforms.

He was one of several people including New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver who testified in support of HB79, which now goes before the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.

Rep. Daymon Ely,D-Albuquerque, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan bill, said current state law disenfranchises almost 300,000 voters.

I want to get people involved in the political process, and what better way to do that than have them take part in the primary [election]? Ely said.

Under New Mexicos closed primary system, voters must be registered with one of the three major political parties Democratic, Republican or Libertarian to cast a ballot in that partys primary.

However, a growing share of the states voters are registered as independents, have declined to state a party affiliation on their registration forms or state they have no affiliation. Two decades ago, only 10 percent of New Mexico voters were not registered with a major party. As of December 2020, the most recent data available, that had grown to 21.6 percent of voters or more than 293,000 according to the Secretary of States Office.

Democrats, meanwhile, make up 45 percent of the states voters, while 31.4 percent are Republicans, just under 1 percent are Libertarians and 1.1 percent are members of smaller parties.

The number of independent voters also is on the rise nationwide perhaps surpassing the number of people who identify with either of the largest parties. A 2020 Pew Research Center study found 34 percent of voters in the U.S. now identify as independents. In comparison, 33 percent identify as Democrats and 29 percent as Republicans.

According to the National Conference of State Legislators, New Mexico is one of just nine states that still have closed primaries.

Several Republicans on the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voiced some objections to HB 79, arguing in part it would increase the cost of elections. Candidates in the major political parties would have to invest more money in their campaigns to appeal to a larger pool of primary voters, some critics said.

But support for the measure does not fall along party lines.

Bob Perlsof New Mexico Open Elections, which has pushed for the primary overhaul since 2016, said some Democrats support the bill while others do not, and the same goes for Republicans. He noted Sen. Mark Moores,R-Albuquerque, is one of the sponsors of HB 79.

The divide, he said, is more about long-held beliefs on what a primary election is supposed to be and who should be part of it.

The argument is, Its a party primary, it belongs to us. It belongs to the party. If you want to join in the primary, then join the party, he said.

Its time to address that issue, said Jay E. Hollington,an Albuquerque attorney who questions whether New Mexicos taxpayer-funded primary elections violate the state constitution.

Hollington, who spoke in favor of HB 79 on Wednesday, took that question to the state Supreme Court several years ago. Ultimately, he told the committee, the court kicked the issue back to the Legislature to decide.

Independents have no voice in who their elected representatives are, which is dramatically contrary to the concept of voting for representation, he said in an interview after the hearing.

One reason for strong opposition to the bill, he said, is because the number of voters switching to independent status continues to rise.

There is a fear that somehow or another this will erode the influence of the two major political parties, Hollington said.

Its unclear where Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishamstands on the legislation. Her spokeswoman, Nora Meyers Sackett,said the Governors Office had not yet reviewed the bill.

Nor is it clear whether the New Mexico Democratic Party will back it.Miranda van Dijk,a spokeswoman for the party, did not respond to a phone call or email requesting comment.

New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Steve Pearcedoes not support the measure, he wrote in an email.

He added that his friends in other states with open or semi-open primaries have told him many in their states regretted having implemented those laws.

Voter numbers in New Mexico:

As of Dec. 31, there were 1.36 million registered voters in New Mexico. Following are number of voters registered to each party:

The rest is here:

HB79 Allowing Minor Party Members To Vote In Primaries Passes Government, Elections And Indian Affairs Committee - Los Alamos Daily Post

AUSTIN (KXAN) A variety of groups from around Texas who mainly described themselves as libertarian held a demonstration outside the closed-off Texas Capitol on Sunday afternoon. The demonstration Sunday was not violent and consisted of dozens of people many openly carrying semiautomatic weapons, rifles, and knives standing outside the capitol grounds and talking with each other. Within four hours, everyone in the group left the demonstration.

On Saturday, a smaller group demonstrated outside the Texas Capitol as well. While the Texas Department of Public Safety has closed off the capitol grounds through Wednesday following concerns over violent extremists, a spokesperson for the department described the demonstration Sunday as uneventful and said there had been no arrests at the Texas Capitol all weekend.

On Friday, Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw said in a press release that the Texas Department of Public Safety is aware of armed protests planned at the Texas State Capitol this week and violent extremists who may seek to exploit constitutionally protected events to conduct criminal acts.

Individuals present at the demonstration at the Texas Capitol Sunday told KXAN they took these concerns from DPS into account, walking around the capitol grounds in plain clothes and with concealed weapons beforehand to see if any provocateurs had shown up to co-opt the event.

The big worry was we were gonna have tons of MAGA, QAnon people here to come and disrupt it but it hasnt been the case, said Stephen Hunt, who had traveled from the Abilene area to attend this event.

Hunt arrived to the event with a group, but said he didnt want to identify the group because its one of those things where people naturally come and find it.

He shared that he was not a Biden supporter or a Trump supporter in the presidential election and commented that hopefully this election has proven to people we need some change in our election laws.

Groups present on Sunday who spoke to KXAN said they came to Austin from different parts of the state. Several individuals present told KXAN that planning for the event Sunday began in October before the election happened as a rally to bring together libertarian groups express support for the protection of First and Second Amendment rights.

The gathering comes as all 50 state capitols are being watched for possible unrest leading up to the Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

The possibility of violence comes on the heels of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 widely considered to be incited by President Donald Trump.

The photos below show what the Texas Capitol has looked like this weekend:

On Friday, the Texas Department of Public Safety announced the Capitol would close through Wednesday, after the presidential Inauguration.

Texas DPS says it will have extra personnel and resources at the Capitol and is working with the FBI and the Austin Police Department in monitoring events.

The Capitol was closed after armed protesters showed up on Tuesday as state lawmakers returned for the first day of the legislative session.

Markie Martin, a NewsNation correspondent, reported receiving a courtesy letter from her hotel in downtown Austin on Saturday morning. The letter warned guests to use caution when leaving the hotel and regularly check the local news and official city sources.

Some armed demonstrators Sunday were wearing patches which referenced the Boogaloo movement which the Anti-Defamation League describes as an anti-government extremist group. But attendees emphasized they came from several different groups.

Kris Hunter, who traveled to Austin from McLennan County as part of the Centrex Quick Reactionary Force, described the demonstration as just an event for a lot of us to come together, meet each other.

A lot of us have been in correspondence for a long time, [we want to] show support for the First Amendment, Second amendment and on down the list, we are big advocates for the Bill of Rights, Hunter continued. He noted his group has marched alongside Black Lives Matter demonstrations and Anti-mask/anti-lockdown demonstrations.

Hunter added that this event was part of a larger, national effort organizing at capitols across the country.

We correspond with each other, there was a meeting of all of us that are involved in these groups in Kentucky, Hunter said, noting he drove fifteen hours to attend that two-hour meeting in Kentucky to plan Sundays event. The entire point of the event was to not attach any particular group to it, this was supposed to be a uniting type event, all of us that are worried about our rights being trampled on, like I said, First Amendment, Third Fourth Fifth, the Bill of Rights, we wanted everyone to come out together.

Many demonstrators wanted to make clear that they dont agree with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol more than a week ago.

Unfortunately last week in Washington D.C. there were some things that happened that we absolutely disagree with, we condemned the actions of those who breached the Capitol and it seemed like, this event got lumped in or was being paralleled with what happened in D.C., thats not the case at all, said Kris Hunter, who was present at the Capitol Sunday. We are mostly libertarians, we dont care about Republican or Democratic politics.

As people left the event for the day, they told KXAN they dont plan to have any other events at the Capitol in the week to come.

A DPS spokesperson said as of Sunday afternoon, no arrests had been made at the Texas capitol the entire weekend.

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Mostly libertarian demonstration gathered outside of closed, guarded Texas Capitol Sunday - WJTV