Category Archives: Libertarianism

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Bars, restaurants and gyms can reopen in Auckland from early December but customers will be required to show proof they've been fully vaccinated, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday.

The announcement removes the last remnants of a lockdown that began in the nation's largest city in August. It also signals a new phase in New Zealand's response to the pandemic, in which people around the country will need to be fully vaccinated in order to participate in anything from getting a haircut to watching a concert.

Ardern said New Zealand would move into a new pandemic "traffic light" system based around the use of vaccine passports from late Dec. 2.

The system will mark an end to the lockdowns which New Zealand used effectively to completely eliminate virus outbreaks during the first 18 months of the pandemic, but which failed to extinguish an August outbreak of the more contagious delta variant.

Ardern last month set an ambitious target of getting 90% of all eligible people across each of 20 health districts fully vaccinated before moving to the new system.

But although the vaccination rates will fall short of that target by early December, Ardern said it is time to make the move anyway. Currently about 83% of New Zealanders age 12 and over are fully vaccinated, but the rate in some health districts is as low as 73%.

The government has faced increasingly belligerent protests against vaccination requirements and pandemic restrictions. And opinion polls show support for Ardern and her liberal government has slipped since they won a landslide election victory just over a year ago, although they remain more popular than their conservative opponents.

The current outbreak appears to have stabilized somewhat with about 200 new infections reported each day, most of them in Auckland. About 85 New Zealanders are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and the nation has reported just 40 virus deaths from a population of 5 million since the pandemic began.

"The hard truth is that delta is here and it is not going away," Ardern said. "And while no country to date has been able to eliminate delta completely once it's arrived, New Zealand is in a better position than most to tackle it."

The traffic light system is designed to indicate where outbreaks are putting pressure on the health system. A green designation would impose few restrictions, orange would require more mask wearing and distancing, while red would limit gathering sizes even with vaccination certificates. Ardern said Auckland would initially enter the new system under a red light, while other regions would enter under red or orange.

Opposition lawmaker David Seymour, who leads the libertarian ACT Party, said the government should have reopened sooner but had been delaying in order to get its vaccine passport system operational.

Ardern had previously announced that a border around Auckland which has stopped most people from leaving the city will be removed on Dec. 15, allowing Aucklanders to travel over the Christmas holiday period but raising fears among some health experts that it will cause the virus to spread more rapidly throughout the country.

More here:
Auckland lockdown to end as New Zealand tries new virus tack - Minneapolis Star Tribune

This month, WW reported on the objections of Oregons nine Indigenous tribes to a proposal by Dutch Bros. Coffee founder Travis Boersma to install 225 betting terminals at a horse track in Grants Pass (Dutch Colonialism, Nov. 10, 2021). Oregon has historically protected the tribes exclusive claim to casinos. Gov. Kate Brown had stood by as the proposal for terminals at the Flying Lark moved forward. After WW raised questions, Brown gently urged the Oregon Racing Commission to delay approval of the machines. Heres what our readers had to say.

Allison B, via Twitter: A billionaire capitalizing on a loophole thatll harm Oregons Indigenous tribes absolutely needs to be challenged.

Jerry Channell, via Facebook: Class, Oregon style; make a little money, build a casino.

Frank Semonious, via wweek.com: Near every Dutch Bros. is a small mom and pop coffee stand that obviously needs our business more than Dutch Bros. does. (In St. Helens, Ore., its called Javalation and it is 100% better than any other place I have ever bought coffee.) They are so rich they need to build a tax shelter. Now I have two reasons to never buy their products.

mama k, via Twitter: Why does this feel like an episode of Yellowstone? Travis is the bad guy.

Kurt Chapman, via wweek.com: That some off-track betting on horse races in other locations would harm tribal take up at Seven Feathers, the nearest casino, is laughable. Canyonville is about an hour away through some pretty windy mountain pass miles. Certainly not an Uber ride away like the Ilani is to Portlandia.

Also it now appears Boersma, once the darling of progressives for his Horatio Alger rise to success, must now become reviled because he is a billionaire due to Dutch Bros. going public.

Blunt from the Bloc, via Twitter: Every day is a dystopian nightmare for Indigenous folks. Itd be cool if it wasnt like that.

Leon Trotsky, via wweek.com: Only the libertarian WW, where there are no sex or drug crimes, would think enabling exclusive gambling rights to the Tribes is a way to solve their economic woes. Its like, lets infect them with another white mans curse.

Anne J. Applegate, via wweek.com: Surely there are other ways to create income other than continuing a tradition of profiting off of the weaknesses and mental health disorders of othersregardless of race. Continuing to build more of these gambling establishments, regardless of their affiliation to native tribes or not, is irresponsible, callous, and negligent when it comes to the well-being of our future generations and all Oregonians who are currently affected.

LETTERS to the editor must include the authors street address and phone number for verification. Letters must be 250 or fewer words. Submit to: PO Box 10770, Portland, OR 97296. Email: mzusman@wweek.com.

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Readers Respond to Tribes' Objections to Dutch Bros.' Horse Racing Gamble - Willamette Week

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Chris Jones explains his position on the issues on 40/29 News On The Record

Updated: 12:06 PM CST Nov 22, 2021

Arkansas Democrat Chris Jones is a nuclear engineer, a Ph.D. in urban planning, and an ordained minister. He's also running for Governor of Arkansas.Jones talked with 40/29's Yuna Lea about the campaign and his position on issues facing Arkansas. The interview was broadcast on 40/29 News On The Record, which airs Sundays at 10:30 a.m.Three other Democrats besides Jones are running for governor. They are Anthony Bland, James "Rus" Russell, and Supha Xayprasith-Mays. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the only Republican running, and Ricky Dale Harrington is the only Libertarian running. William E. Gates is running as an independent candidate.

Arkansas Democrat Chris Jones is a nuclear engineer, a Ph.D. in urban planning, and an ordained minister. He's also running for Governor of Arkansas.

Jones talked with 40/29's Yuna Lea about the campaign and his position on issues facing Arkansas. The interview was broadcast on 40/29 News On The Record, which airs Sundays at 10:30 a.m.

Three other Democrats besides Jones are running for governor. They are Anthony Bland, James "Rus" Russell, and Supha Xayprasith-Mays. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the only Republican running, and Ricky Dale Harrington is the only Libertarian running. William E. Gates is running as an independent candidate.

Arkansas Democratic candidate for governor Chris Jones introduced himself and explained why he is running.

Jones talked about how important education is for children and young adults, and how Arkansas can help provide opportunity.

Jones says parents and individuals, not the government, should make personal decisions for themselves.

Jones praised current Gov. Asa Hutchinson's coding initiative, but would have done things differently when it came to handling COVID-19 if he were governor.

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Chris Jones explains his position on the issues on 40/29 News On The Record - 4029tv

*Review by Off the Shelf Correspondent Ed Meek

Heather McGhee makes the argument that racism has hurt all of us and continues to harm the country as a whole. In doing so, she updates and expands on positions taken by Martin Luther King among others that the way the wealthy and powerful maintain their status is by dividing the poor, the working class and the middle class into camps at war with each other often on the basis of race. McGhee claims racism is a weapon the Republican party has used to divide us, lower taxes on the rich, and transfer wealth upward.

The Sum of UsBy Heather McGhee.Penguin.2021395 pages|$20.90.

McGhee does great research tracing the closing of public swimming pools in the US once Blacks were allowed. She travels to sites and speaks with people who were there when it happened. This movement serves as an emblem of the loss of support for community programs during the years following the 1960s when civil rights legislation was passed by Lyndon Johnson. Robert Putnam covers some of this territory in Bowling Alone.

Nonetheless, reading The Sum of Us can be frustrating since McGhee often reduces complex issues to racism. According to McGhee, whites support Republicans solely due to racism. Like the argument that Trump was elected because of racism, this is only partly true. Were Blacks who voted for Trump racist? Trump attacked Hispanics, Muslims as well as Blacks. Republicans promote libertarianism and equate the belief in it with what it means to be real Americans. This has been so effective during the pandemic it has resulted in millions of Americans reacting to vaccines and masks as an assault on their freedom. Republicans would rather risk sickness and death for themselves and the rest of us rather than go along with what Democrats recommend.

Do whites who consider themselves victims, those who think that Blacks getting Food Stamps (SNAP) are takers and moochers as Romney put it, think that way because they are racist or because they are ignorant of the facts or because they are libertarians who dont believe in government handouts? The Republican Party seems to operate in large part by playing on the fears of the uninformed. Of course, some of those elected to office (Marjorie Taylor Greene for example) seem to know as little as their constituents. On the other hand, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mitch McConnell and Ron DeSantis know better but will apparently do whatever it takes to maintain power.

In The Sum of Us, all issues are viewed through the prism of race. McGhee says, When college meant white public colleges thrived. Government invested in college, covering much of the cost. When Blacks began attending public universities and community colleges, McGhee points out that state and federal resources dried up. Yet, contrary to what McGhee claims, it wasnt racism that was responsible for that. In the 1990s studies began coming out with evidence that college grads earned much more than high school grads. Why should we fund college if those who go will make a lot more money than those who dont? Congress asked. Instead of funding, the government would provide low interest loans to students.

As a result, colleges raised tuition to cover costs. In addition, public colleges began competing for students by building beautiful gyms and stadiums and cafeterias. New technology added more costs. Colleges with strong sports programs drew alumnae who contributed to endowments. So, colleges recruited athletes and great students who would contribute in the future. At the same time, lawsuits and a growing awareness of mental health and disabilities prompted colleges to provide support services. Finally, theres an argument that allowing students access to open-ended loans provides colleges with the opportunity to keep raising prices. All of these factors drove up the cost of college. Oh wait, did I forget about paying stars like Elizabeth Warren 400K to teach a class?

The college arms race ties into some of the advantages and drawbacks of our meritocracy. Once professional and upper middle-class parents realized the financial benefits of a college education, particularly a degree from a select institution, they began investing in their childrens future by sending them to private schools and public schools in tony suburbs with schools financed by property taxes. Private SAT tutors helped win admission and scholarships to the best colleges. When that wasnt enough, Hollywood stars and business tycoons bought admission. Under the aegis of equal opportunity, all Americans have an equal chance, but is that really fair to those without the means to compete those whites, Hispanics and Blacks who are less well off? In addition, those kids whose parents havent attended college dont necessarily know the ropes. As McGhee points out, these are problems that cross racial lines.

McGhee goes on to consider housing, the economy, our unrepresentative democracy, climate change and community. In each of these cases she does laudatory research combining facts and heartbreaking stories of the role of racism that hurts minorities primarily but working class and poor whites as well. In each case she emphasizes the role of racism often ignoring other factors. Nonetheless, she makes a strong case for the outsize role racism plays in each of these areas, especially when it comes to voting rights a compelling issue given the current attempts by Republicans to disenfranchise Black voters.

Despite my criticism, The Sum of Us is one of a number of must-read recent books about race including The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, and Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. McGhees take is unique because she has a law degree and she is an activist and a scholar. Her research in The Sum of Us brings together the role of economics and politics to use race to divide Americans into tribes caught up in a zero-sum game fighting over whats left after the top 1% take 40% of the wealth. All that money gives that elite group a lot of power to fund and influence politicians and to employ media to sway the public. Fortunately for us, there are excellent writers like Heather McGhee writing and acting in the best interests of the country.

See the article here:
'The Sum of Us' by Heather McGhee - The Somerville Times

Lonnie Barham| Guest columnist

Lonnie Barham, of Warwick,is a retired Army colonel and lifelong Republican who voted Libertarian in the last election.

Whats a middle-of-the-road American to do?On the left, the average, hard-working American sees the progressive/anarchist mob.On the right, this quietly patriotic American sees the narrow-minded Trump mob.With the two bookends growing, pushing the political middle into the most narrow slice of the electorate in decades, wheres the refuge for this weary American?

Unfortunately, this bewildered American has looked at centrist Democrats and centrist Republicans for refuge but remains adrift.Political expediency and self-preservation have caused previously centrist politicians in both parties to move toward their parties extremes.Theyve heard the mobs and they're frightened.Rather than fight for whats good for America, these so-called moderates have been cowed into silence and blackmailed by the mobs into voting with their extreme colleagues.

This exhausted American is becoming jaded.He cant pick and choose among the myriad political positions espoused by todays politicians.Some may claim to support certain middle-class values such as fiscal conservatism, support for necessary social programs, individual rightsand military strength but none of them hew closely to the range of political beliefs that define the ever-narrowing political middle ground.And none seem to embrace the Jeffersonian idea that the government that governs best, governs least.

Thus, this perplexed American may sit out the next few elections.If only there were an option on the ballot to vote none of the above.

How can this be fixed?What has to change to widen the middle of the political spectrum so that the two extremes no longer practically meet in the center?

Politicians who call themselves moderates in both parties have, in essence, become members of their parties extremes because of their silent acquiescence to the screams of the mobs and their consequent votes against whats good for America.They must somehow regain their faith in themselves and in their country and, once again, speak up for what they truly believe and vote accordingly.

This is not likely to happen on its own, however.Most politicians got to where they are because of what many Americans believe were unlawful, unethical,or mean-spirited actions theyve taken behind the scenes.For the most part, they simply arent trusted.

What two-word phrase would accelerate the growth of honesty among politicians and return to them their fealty to the best interests of America?Term limits.

If those in the U.S. House of Representative were allowed only one four-year term and U.S. senators only one eight-year term, there would be no reason for them to suppress their beliefs or to cast votes inimical to the best interests of our country.Even keeping the current term lengths but limiting representatives to three terms and senators to two, would greatly lessen the influence of the party extremes and restore backbones to our elected leaders.It would also greatly lessen the influence of money on political decisions.

Until Americans see term limits or see their elected representatives start to display through their votes loyalty to the ideals that made this country great more worn out, middle-ground voters will refrain from trudging to the polls in 2022 and 2024.Right now, theyve got no one to vote for.

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Opinion/Barham: Moderates have no one to vote for - The Providence Journal

Nobel Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk is being investigated by the Turkish government for allegations of insulting Turkeys first president and ridiculing the Turkish flag in his novel Nights of Plague, published in March.

Novelist Orhan Pamuk (AP)

Pamuk has denied the accusations.

An initial complaint was made in April by lawyer Tarcan lk, who alleged that the book incited hatred and animosity by insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatrk and ridiculing the Turkish flag. The initial complaint was dismissed due to lack of evidence, but lk appealed the decision, resulting in the current investigation.

Turkish Law 5816, passed in 1951, makes it illegal for any Turkish citizen to insult or defame the memory of Atatrk. Pamuk would face up to three years in prison if he is found guilty.

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Pamuk faced similar charges in 2005, accused of insulting Turkishness with a comment he made to a Swiss newspaper. These charges were later dropped.

The 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Pamuk, "who in the quest for the melancholic soul of his native city has discovered new symbols for the clash and interlacing of cultures," according to the Nobel Committee.

In Nights of Plague, which I worked on for five years, there is no disrespect for the heroic founders of the nation states founded from the ashes of empires or for Atatrk, Pamuk said in a statement to Bianet. On the contrary, the novel was written with respect and admiration for these libertarian and heroic leaders.

According to PEN America, a nonprofit organization defending freedom of expression, at least 25 writers were imprisoned by the Turkish government last year, the third-highest number globally.

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Nobel Prize-winning writer may be prosecuted for crimes against the state | TheHill - The Hill

WOODSTOCK, N.H. Jeers from about two dozen protesters gathered about a quarter-mile away from President Bidens visit didnt go unnoticed.

Shouts of Lets go Brandon could be heard clearly throughout Bidens 20-minute speech atop the deteriorating Pemigewasset River Bridge on Tuesday. Behind the bullhorn was Chau Kelley, a Hooksett Realtor with a penchant for protesting.

The anti-Biden slogan has gone viral over the last month after supporters of former President Donald Trump and Biden critics broke out into a chant of (Expletive) Joe Biden at an Oct. 16 NASCAR race. NBC reporter Kelli Stavast misreported fans shouts while interviewing driver Brandon Brown after he captured his first race win at Alabamas Talladega Superspeedway, turning the phrase into a viral, anti-Biden sensation.

Kelley said shes been actively demonstrating all over for about 20 years.

Im here because the Biden administration is hurting Americans every day, she said. People are suffering. Gas is almost $4 per gallon. Because of inflation the cost of food is rising. It costs me $60 two times per week to fuel up my car. Thats a lot of money.

New Hampshire Republican National Committeeman Christopher Ager of Amherst said demonstrators have seized onto the message as the polite way to taunt the president.

Red and blue Trump hats and several flags peppered the small crowd of protesters gathered at the bottom of the hill leading to the bridge, but it was just Trump supporters

Ager, who declined to align himself with Trump, said hes against the spending orgy in Bidens companion Build Back Better bill which proposes $1.85 trillion in spending for social programs.

The lower and middle class are really getting screwed here, said Larry Borland, a self-described Libertarian from Wolfeboro. Borland carried a sign showing how much inflation has driven up the price of food ahead of Thanksgiving.

Read more here:
New Hampshire protesters taunt Biden with Lets go Brandon jeers - Boston Herald

Ive had mixed feelings about the COVID police since the beginning of the pandemics lockdowns.

As governors enacted shutdown orders and the country went into lockdown in March 2020, people began asking who would enforce the laws, how stringent would punishments be?

Now we know. A Buncombe County court found the Rise n Shine caf owner guilty of willfully defying Gov. Roy Coopers Executive Order 138 prohibiting sit-down dining. The eatery opened from May 16-19, 2020, and the order was in effect until May 22, 2020. After a jury found the restaurant guilty last week, the judge ordered its owner to pay a $1,000 fine and spend one year on unsupervised probation. The case was appealed after a similar ruling from a judge in July.

The restaurants lawyers argued that it was struggling to stay in business and so chose to open. It is the only business in Buncombe County taken to court for defying the states shutdown orders.

Remember how surreal it got back in April and May of 2020 when wed walk down usually busy streets lined with restaurants and bars and no one was open? Owners got creative and tried all forms of carry out, but the truth is the income businesses lost and the wages lost by laid off employees wont ever be regained.

Rise n Shine, it was reported in court, was the recipient of $118,000 of the federal aid that was offered to help businesses affected by the shutdown. So, the owners took advantage of what the government offered but also defied government orders aimed at slowing the spread of the pandemic.

My libertarian heart sways toward the live and let live. I almost always disagree with laws that deny rights related to personal matters (like sexuality, for instance, and even drug use).

As the pandemic spread, however, I was in the camp that advocated for small group gatherings, outside meetings, staying home, wearing masks, etc. For me, it was personal responsibility, doing my small part to try and slow the spread of the virus. For a society to have as many freedoms as we enjoy, citizens must also take personal responsibility for their actions. Otherwise, the system falls apart and chaos ensues.

This pandemic has been responsible for 18,463 deaths in North Carolina, 763,000 in the U.S., and 5.1 million worldwide. If more people had acted responsibly from the beginning, the death toll would not have grown so large. Now, as the economy staggers to recover from pandemic-related decisions made by the government and by businesses large and small, many likely regret some of the choices that were made very early.

As vaccine mandates have ramped up, Ive also found myself in the middle: I think everyone should get the vaccine, but Im not firing employees who are also friends who choose not to.

This pandemic has done plenty to divide us. It has thrown fuel on what was already a heated political divide that somehow must be tamped down. Thankfully, the COVID police arent brandishing debilitating punishments to businesses who defied the orders. In the end, we are all in this together, and thats the only way well find a path out.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..)

Excerpt from:
Now we know what the COVID police will do - Smoky Mountain News

Years before he helped purge his local elections board, Michigan GOP official Shane Trejo hosted a podcast called Blood Soil and Liberty with a member of a white supremacist group.

Shane Trejo, chair of Michigans 11th District Republican Committee, made headlines earlier this year when he encouraged the ouster of a fellow Republican who had voted to certify President Joe Bidens election. You should quit all your GOP posts and never show your face at an event ever again, Trejo texted the Republican elections official, whom he and other Republicans later blocked from re-nomination for office. Previously in 2020, Trejo had spread election-fraud conspiracy theories as a writer for the far-right site Big League Politics.

But Big League Politics wasnt even Trejos most extreme venture on the far right. The local Republican chair used to host a podcast with a member of the white supremacist group Identity Evropa. The co-host, Alex Witoslawski, was recorded on an Identity Evropa leadership webinar giving fascists advice on how to make themselves appealing to mainstream conservatives.

Trejo did not return The Daily Beasts request for comment. His participation in the Blood Soil and Liberty podcast was previously flagged in 2019 by Gizmodo reporter Tom McKay, who noted that the podcast was racist even by the standards of Big League Politics, where Trejo works.

The podcast ran for 15 episodes starting in 2017, and appears to have been yanked from the internet by its creators the following year. Some podcasting sites still host its episode titles and descriptions remain online.

Libertarian nationalist podcasters Shane Trejo - a states rights activist in the patriot movement for many years - and Alex Witoslawski - former conservative political operative turned American Renaissance writer - discuss current events from a consistently uncucked perspective, the podcast description reads. Common targets of derision include commie trash, losertarians, cuckservatives, thots, tokens, welfare migrants, and the French. (American Renaissance is a white supremacist website. Tokens refers to people deemed to be token members of a minority group.)

Episode titles include Its OK To Be White, Right And Christian, Roy Moore Dindu Nuffin, The Paul Nehlen Pill, and Tanner Flake For Fuhrer.

The titles are a time capsule of racist slogans from 2017. Its OK to be white was a meme associated with an alt-right trolling campaign around the time of the podcasts. Dindu nuffin is another alt-right meme denigrating Black people, while Roy Moore was a Republican Senate nominee accused of sexual misconduct against minor girls. Paul Nehlen was a white supremacist congressional candidate who promoted terror tactics online. Tanner Flake is an ex-senators son who was caught using the screen name that included a racial slur and referenced killing Black people.

Witoslawski repeatedly called for a white ethnostate with an immigration system that virtually excludes non-European immigrants.

Although the audio from the podcasts is no longer available, Trejo and Witoslawski appear to have spoken favorably about white supremacists, describing Nehlen as the first alt-right candidate for public office. (The podcasts website uses the term alt-right favorably, including in an essay in which Witoslawski describes himself as a member of the movement.)

The podcast didnt try hard to obscure its political leanings.

Blood and soil is a Nazi slogan used in Germany to evoke the idea of a pure Aryan race and the territory it wanted to conquer, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Since then, it has been adopted by neo-Nazis; the white supremacists who marched on Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 famously chanted the slogan the night before one of them murdered a woman with his car.

The Blood Soil and Liberty podcast launched soon after that deadly rally. The podcasts website, which hosted self-proclaimed alt-right blogs, was registered just four days after the car attack, during a tumultuous moment for the alt-right. But instead of disavow the racist movement, as some on the right did, Blood Soil and Liberty came to the defense of the alt-right and groups that had marched in Charlottesville.

In an essay on the podcasts website, Trejos cohost Witoslawski answered questions about the movement from my own alt-right or blood and soil libertarian perspective. In that essay, Witoslawski repeatedly called for a white ethnostate with an immigration system that virtually excludes non-European immigrants. Most Jews and members of Black Lives Matter should be encouraged through government policy to leave the country and resettle in their own ethnostates, Witoslawski wrote on the podcasts website.

Other articles on the site include a blog post defending white supremacist Christopher Cantwell, an essay by Ray Adolfson who describes going to a white lives matter rally in November 2017, where multiple prominent Charlottesville marchers were in attendance.

I had the chance to meet and speak with members from all of the groups that attended the rally including the Traditionalist Workers Party, Vanguard America, the National Socialist Movement, Identity Europa, Atomwaffen, and others, Adolfson wrote. (An overtly pro-terror organization, Atomwaffens small membership was connected to five deaths in just eight months beginning in 2017.)

Another essay on the site, by Identity Evropa member James Allsup, was a defense of the alt-right in the days after the deadly Charlottesville rally, which Allsup had attended. Allsups essay was previously published on the website The Liberty Conservative, where Trejo was a news editor. When The Liberty Conservative removed Allsups article, citing pressure from Googles advertising platform, Trejo penned a blog post defending Allsup, whose article he claimed contained no offensive content (it was merely distinguishing the many differences between the alt-right and literal Nazis).

For some on the alt-right, especially in Identity Evropa, Allsup was a prototype for infiltrating more mainstream Republican institutions. In 2018, The Daily Beast first reported, Allsup ran uncontested for a local Republican role in Washington. He soon bragged about his appointment on an Identity Evropa podcast.

Blood Soil and Liberty came to the defense of the alt-right and groups that had marched in Charlottesville.

You have a seat at the table, Allsup said of winning Republican offices. And thats the most important thing, getting that seat at the table, and you can get that seat at the table by, yes, showing up, yes, by bringing people in, and again this doesnt necessarily only have to be IE members.

Allsups local Republican committee later ejected him. Nevertheless, the far right continued to cite his political career as one to emulate. We cant all be Andrew Anglin, a racist podcaster noted in 2018, namedropping a particularly noxious neo-Nazi, but 10,000 of us can be James Allsup.

In a separate podcast appearance with Identity Evropa leader Patrick Casey, Witoslawski described tactics for making the group seem more palatable to a broader swath of Republicans. Leaked Identity Evropa chat logs show Witoslawski giving the same advice, in more candid terms, telling members to effectively avoid questions about the groups true motives.

The moment you say Were not Nazis [] thats going to be the topic of the media report, it's going to be whether or not were Nazis. And that is not a conversation we want to have, Witoslawski said, according to chats published by the outlet Unicorn Riot. We want to have a conversation about our issues and our topics, not whether or not were National Socialists, right?

(In a currently ongoing civil trial against participants in the Charlottesville rally, a former Identity Evropa organizer testified that members of the group embraced neo-Nazi language, using the slogan did you see Kyle? and a discrete Nazi salute as a way of announcing sieg heil in public.)

Trejo, who has authored articles in defense of Allsup on multiple websites, has found his own path to politics.

In a now-deleted Big League Politics post shortly before the 2020 election, Trejo shared audio from inside a training session for elections officials. Trejo claimed the clip showed officials practicing to flip votes and destroy ballots. The audio demonstrated nothing of the sort, the Detroit Free Press reported at the time. Still, Trejos deleted article was cited by election fraud conspiracy theorists as Biden appeared poised to win Michigan. When a Republican elections canvasser certified Bidens victory last November, Trejo texted her to quit her GOP posts and never appear at another public event.

By February, Trejo was named chair of Michigans 11th Congressional District Republican Committeea role that gave him partial control over the districts elections canvassers. The Republican canvasser who had certified Bidens election found herself blocked from re-nomination to the post, she told The Daily Beast last month.

Instead, Trejo and peers selected a new Republican canvasser, who told the Detroit Free Press that he would not have certified Bidens victory.

I believe they were inaccurate, the new canvasser told the Free Press of Michigans votes, adding that he had heard rumors about the vote from other people. I dont know, I wasnt there, you know? Its hard to second-guess that kind of stuff until youre there, thats one reason I wanted to be on the committee.

Original post:
Michigan GOP Official Hosted Podcast With White Nationalist - The Daily Beast

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Outside agitators: Hard-core libertarians from across the country, like Mike Parag of Delaware, converge at the annual Porcupine Freedom Festival in Lancester, New Hampshire.

One muggy June day in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Bill Marsh, a Republican from the picturesque lake town of Wolfeboro, rose to buck his party. The chamber, newly under Republican control thanks to an alliance between conservatives and libertarian activists, was considering an amendment that would ban mandatory vaccinations amid a global pandemicall mandatory vaccinations, covering diseases from COVID-19 to mumps to hepatitis. Marsh, a retired ophthalmologist who has pushed fellow Republicans to take pandemic precautions more seriously, framed his objection as pro-business. He asked, Why would we interfere with private businesses right to protect themselves, their employees, and their patrons?

The amendments sponsor was Terry Roy, a veteran, devout Christian, and self-described constitutional conservative. He spoke next in defense of the measure, launching into a rambling diatribe that referenced child labor, slavery in the American South, Chinese bats, and the dangers of fluoridated tap water. Does my body, my choice only apply to abortion? he said, according to a House transcript. What about new advances in science? What if we determine someones characteristics can be genetically altered in utero? Would we allow mandated gene therapy? After all, propensity for carrying certain diseases costs billions in health care. What about vaccines for the flu? Will employers mandate those next?

Roys amendment narrowly failed, 193182.

Retribution for the speech was swift and decisiveMarshs speech, that is. Within days, Marsh resigned from his committee, Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs, after party leadership informed him that he would be removed as vice chairman. Later that summer, Roy was appointed vice chairman of the influential Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, replacing another wayward conservative who had disobeyed the partys radicalnew leadership.

A key factor in the extremism, and the extraordinary conservative successes, of this New Hampshire legislature is a group of libertarian activists known as the Free State Project. Founded in 2001 in hopes of establishing a government-free utopia, the Free State Project encourages liberty-minded people to move to New Hampshire to help push its politics even further toward low taxes and minimal state intervention. As of 2021, there are more than 5,000 Free Staters in New Hampshire. Despite their small numbers, they have built a well-funded and organized political apparatus that has elected roughly 45 Republicans to the New Hampshire House of Representatives. The libertarians vote as a bloc that, with a slim majority, the party cant do without.

With Free Staters at their back, Republicans this year have cut taxes in the already income-tax-less state, banned critical race theory and late-term abortions, and launched whats likely the most sweeping education voucher program in the nation. Under House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, a Free State mover, anti-authority libertarians have joined with anti-elite populists to shoot down anything that smacks of expertise or specialized knowledge. Recently, a joint House-Senate committee tabled its acceptance of $6.3 million in federal funds for addiction counseling in the opioid-ravaged state, with members saying they needed to see proof that counseling even works.

Over the past two decades, Free Staters have walked a long path from obscurity and ridicule to undeniable power. And as popular Republican Governor Chris Sununu eyes a 2022 U.S. Senate run, he may remember that a Free Stater, Aaron Day, is often credited with spoiling the 2016 Senate race for Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte. A year from now, the potentially vulnerable Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan may try to tie him to the libertarian extremism he has refused to reject, observers say. And if Sununu wins, hell enter the U.S. Capitol with a group of constituents he cant afford to offend.

The founder of the Free State Project, Jason Sorens, is a mild-mannered college professor with a mop of brown hair, a boyish smile, and a knack for making even the most outlandish ideas sound like simple arithmetic. During the 2000 elections, Sorens, then a graduate student at Yale, watched with dismay as the Libertarian Party failed to earn more than 1 percent of the national presidential vote. If disaffection with the major parties wasnt enough to swing elections, what was? Despair turned to anger over the course of the long New Haven winter, and then to determination. One day, Sorens sat down at his computer, queued up some heavy metal, and started a manifesto.

Libertarian activists need to face a somber reality, he wrote: nothings working. There are too few libertarians, spread too thinly across the United States, to make a difference through partisan politics, he argued. The only way to break free from oppressive government is to move together to one state, take over its political system, and use threats of secession to force the federal government to leave its residents alone. Uprooting ones life would be inconvenient, yes. But, he wrote, our forefathers bled and diedbecause of the Stamp Tax! The Free State Project requires nothing of that kind, and the stakes are so much higher. How much is liberty worth to you?

In July 2001, Sorens sent the 2,000-word broadside, titled Announcement: The Free State Project, to an obscure libertarian publicationL. Neil Smiths The Libertarian Enterpriseexpecting little response. Then the emails started coming. And coming. People from all over the country wanted to sign up.

For its first few years, the Free State Project existed just as an idea, an internet forum where liberty-minded folk could fantasize about freedom from government overreach during the height of the war on terror. Far-flung libertarians signed a pledge to move together to one place and change its politics, often with the assumption that it would never actually happen. But in 2003, the movement took a significant step toward reality. In a nationwide vote, members chose their Free State. Would it be Texas, independent and suspicious of authority, but perhaps too populous for a small group of activists to influence? Wyoming, sparsely populated, but geographically expansive enough to make coordination difficult? In the end, it was New Hampshire. Population 1.2 million, with no income tax, the land of Live Free or Die was small enough, and libertarian enough, for a little band of determined freedom fighters to swing even further toward liberty.

The revolution had begun. It lookedwell, a bit clownish. The pledge to move to New Hampshire did not technically take effect until 20,000 people, the number Sorens calculated would sway state politics, had signed. Until then, it was the most zealous, with the fewest connections to society, who chose to make the move. In 2004, as chronicled by the journalist Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling in his book A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears), New Hampshire got an early look at its colonizers-cum-liberators in the form of a grizzled, gun-toting posse of men who settled in the woods of Grafton, a town of some 1,100 with low taxes and no zoning regulations. Calling themselves the Free Town Project, the early movers took aim at local government, savaging the budget and constraining the town librarians bathroom breaks to a portable toilet. Bears, lured by the trash left outside the freedom fighters woodland shanties, made increasingly bold incursions into human settlements, which the Free Towners and another, separate commune of anarchists drove back with firecrackers, pistols, and nail-studded booby traps. (And, in one case, a llama named Hurricane.) Human society, meanwhile, nearly broke down. At annual town meetings, the Free Towners demanded that Grafton eliminate its police department and secede from the United Nations, which, they feared, might one day levy taxes or even invade. At one of these meetings, which regularly ran past eight hours, Free Towners reduced the moderator to tears.

Antics like these soon expanded beyond Grafton, dominating headlines about the Free State Project for its first decade. In Keene, New Hampshire, a group of Robin-Hooders declared war on the citys parking officers starting in 2009, following them with video cameras and popping quarters into meters to foil local governments ticket-hungry schemes. Every summer in the White Mountains, Free Staters gathered for the libertarian version of Burning Man: PorcFest, a cryptocurrency and substance-fueled celebration with few rules, many assault rifles, and a giant wooden porcupine that the Free Staters (known as prickly, independent Porcs) set ablaze at the festivals end.

It wasnt until 2016 that the Free State Project reached 20,000 signers, the magic number that triggered the move to New Hampshire. After a triumphant press conference in Manchester, the states largest city, Jason Sorens and other Free State VIPs retired to an after-party at a local speakeasy bar. (The password: TRIGGERED.) Its happening! Sorens said giddily, imitating the popular meme of an arm-waving, celebrating Ron Paul. But Sorens, by this time the respectable face of the movement, with scholarly publications and an appointment at Dartmouth, had doubts, too. He no longer believed in secession, and he feared that the extremists in Grafton had cast a bearded, AK-47-wielding shadow on his brainchild. If all government should be eliminated, he mused, should we just let the roads fall apart? A sheepish grin stole across his face. I dont knowmaybe that makes me a bad libertarian.

Sorens wasnt alone. For years, mainstream Democrats and Republicans alike viewed the Free Staters with suspicion. That included former Speaker Shawn Jasper, who, as recently as 2017, warned fellow Republicans that they must distance themselves from the Free State Project. Sununu, however, has understood the importance of courting the liberty faction since his first run for governor, in 2016. The Free Staters preferred candidate, Frank Edelblut, came within 1,000 votes of defeating him in the Republican primary. After winning the general election, Sununu offered Edelblut, a financier and homeschooler with no public school experience, control of the state department of education. It was a preview for a danceneutralizing a rival, while recruiting from his basethat Sununu would do for years to come.

All the while, the Free State Projects numbers and influence have been growing. Five years ago, the group claimed 2,000 movers and 17 legislators. Though only about 3,000 more people have arrived since then, far from the hoped-for 18,000, the movements legislative numbers have nearly tripled in that timea function of outside investment and the peculiar structure of the New Hampshire legislature.

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has 400 total members, an enormous number of citizen legislators who receive nominal salaries and often run with little to no opposition. In recent years, political organizations such as the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity appear to have recognized that these seats offer good value for their money. In the 2020 cycle alone, the groups New Hampshire chapter spent nearly $847,000 on statehouse races and other statewide elections, often in support of Free State candidates, according to state filings. Meanwhile, as the Republican Party nationally has taken a populist, anti-elite turn, libertarians and conservatives are ever more unitedin what theyre against.

Jason Osborne moved to New Hampshire from Defiance, Ohio, in October 2010. He had signed the Free State pledge years earlier, during graduate school, and mostly forgotten about it. But as he looked for a place to raise his four-year-old daughter, he was drawn by the prospect of a like-minded community in New Hampshire. A few months before his move, he took the stage at PorcFest 2010 to belt a karaoke rendition of Minority, by the left-leaning punk band Green Day. He sang, with equal doses of irony and prophecy,

I want to be the minority

I dont need your authority

Down with the moral majority

Cause I want to be the minority.

Once in New Hampshire, Osborne, who manages his familys student debt collection firm, Credit Adjustments, Inc., gave generously to libertarian causes and built a profile in the community. He won his first election in 2014, and was elected majority leader this year. His financial profilehe donated $50,000 to a PAC financingliberty-oriented statehouse candidates this cycleand ability to deliver a growing libertarian base made him a strong choice for the leadership role. In an interview this fall, he said he hasnt attended Free State Project events such as PorcFest since 2013, though he remains part of the legislatures liberty faction, which includes sympathetic native New Hampshire-ites.

Osborne portrays himself as a bottom-up consensus builder, but under his leadership, the party has been strict in enforcing unity, and not just in the case of Bill Marsh. In summer 2021, nine-term state Representative Lynne Ober intentionally called a premature vote that threatened Republicans plans to kill Sununus paid family leave proposal and limit the governors emergency powers amid the pandemic. As punishment, leadership stripped Ober of her regular-session committee role. She and her husband, Representative Russell Ober, resigned from the legislature.

Punishments for speaking out havent been confined to Republicans. After the January 6 insurrection, Rosemarie Rung, a Democrat from Merrimack, was stripped of her committee assignments by the Republican speaker for tweeting a condemnation of a New Hampshire police chief who had attended the rally before the Capitol riot.

If there is irony in libertarians embracing a party controlled by a distant plutocrat who tried, and failed, to institute authoritarian rule, the Free Staters do not accept it. Sorens and other libertarians said they didnt believe Donald Trump had the same sway over the Republican Party in New Hampshire. But Sorens, now director of the Center for Ethics and Society at St. Anselm College, still has his doubts. He worries especially that libertarians will become more conservative as theyre embraced by Republicans. But, he noted, libertarians can still find things to appreciate about the party of Trump; for instance, the former presidents noninterventionist policy abroad.

And take the ban on critical race theory, an infringement on free speech from which liberty-minded people theoretically should recoil. Yet it was a Free Stater and friend of Sorenss, Keith Ammon, who brought forward that bill in the House. Here, Sorens hesitated. He thought college students and professors should be able to debate whatever ideas they wished in the classroom. But, he added, I also dont think I want teachers shaming five-year-olds because of their whiteness.

Whatever their methods and allegiances, the Republican majority has achieved results. This June, the legislature passed a $13.5 billion budget for the next two years, cutting nearly $300 million from Sununus original proposal. Onto the budget they tacked a ban on abortions beyond 24 weeks (unless to save the mothers life); the aforementioned ban on divisive race education in schools; a program creating education freedom accounts (essentially vouchers) that redirect public school money to private schools and homeschooling; and a raft of tax cuts.

Though familiar in Congress, the tactic of loading the budget with measures unlikely to pass on their own is new to New Hampshire, says House Minority Leader Renny Cushing. Cushing, an eight-term Democrat from the liberal seacoast region, offered grudging respect for Osbornes abilitiesHe knows how to count votesbut says he feared this would become standard practice in the New Hampshire legislature, giving minority constit-uencies such as libertarians and evangelicals a vehicle to push through policies the state as a whole doesnt want. And despite libertarians assurances that theyre willing to ally with Democrats to protect civil liberties and other shared priorities, Cushing says he hasnt found that cooperation to be forthcoming. I think the allure of the appearance of power quickly trumps any principled origins they may have had that caused them to migrate to New Hampshire, he told me.

If there was to be a breaking point between the legislatures liberty faction and Sununu, the law they passed limiting the governors emergency powers seemed to have potential. Free Staters and their allies resented Sununus mask mandate and limits on public gatherings, and even sent rifle-wielding protesters to picket his house, forcing him to cancel his outdoor inauguration earlier this year. But he has since repealed the precautionslaxer than those of surrounding states to begin withand has largely stayed silent as this legislature does its work.

Looming ahead is 2022. Heir to a political dynasty that has sent members to both the U.S. Senate and the governors mansion, Sununu has both the establishment pedigree and broad appealincluding to libertariansthat could make him a strong challenger to Hassan, especially during midterm elections in a purple state. Virtually everyone surveyed this fall agreed that he would have to keep the libertarian wing in mind, though opinions varied over the degree. Some libertarians, including Sorens, were skeptical of Sununus dependability, but Osborne had fewer doubts. In 2016, Hassan defeated incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte by a margin of 1,017 votes. Aaron Day, a Free Stater running as an independent, received 17,742.

He cannot afford to lose us, Osborne said.

Despite some recent successes, Sununus embrace of the libertarian faction has put him in a double-edged position that could turn against him in a matchup with Hassan, who can link him to the extremism of the Free State Project. Cushing, for his part, says he thought that the anti-abortion legislation passed this year, both in New Hampshire and places like Texas, would hurt Sununu in a race with Hassan. This September in the town of Bedford, Catherine Rombeau narrowly won a special election for state representative, giving Democrats two of seven seats in the conservative strongholdfor the first time ever. The backlash may already have begun.

By this fall, Bill Marsh, the physician chastised for his speech against an anti-vaccine bill, appeared to have learned his lesson. If he wanted to remain a Republican under New Hampshires new political order, it was best to be silent.

In a brief, cautious conversation in early September, Marsh referred a reporter to the Houses daily journal, which memorialized, as he put it, the speech that ticked everyone off. Otherwise, he said, I dont want to say anything that could jeopardize what I need to do going forward.

About a week later, the state Republican Party hosted a large rally in opposition to President Bidens nationwide vaccine mandate. For Marsh, this was the final straw. In December 2020, then Speaker Dick Hinch had died of COVID-19 after attending two unmasked, undistanced rallies of House Republicans. Marsh, who respected Hinch, publicly denounced Republicans role in the speakers death. For months afterward, he worked tirelessly to promote anti-COVID regulations that could survive libertarian backlashwork that was now being undone. On September 14, Marsh, a Republican since campaigning for Ronald Reagan in 1976, changed his affiliation to Democrat.

I still do see myself as a conservative, Marsh said in an interview afterward. I just dont think that Republicans are holding to the principles they once avowed. I cant call this conservatism. Its more likelibertarianism.

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