Libertarian Party Has 0.74% of Registered Voters in California

California's Secretary of State has released the latest registration data, showing the following breakdown of registered voters by party:

Democratic Party ..... 44.63%

Republican Party ..... 25.44%

No Party Preference ..... 24.95%

American Independent Party ..... 2.66%

Libertarian Party ..... 0.74%

Green Party ..... 0.48%

 

Peace and Freedom Party ..... 0.40%

  

 

Phil Willon of the Los Angeles Times (February 16, 2018) notes that California's independents will soon outnumber Republicans.

 

California law requires that a political party have at least 0.33% "of the total number of voters registered on the 154th day before the primary election or the 123rd day before the presidential general election" to maintain ballot status. So the LPC's ballot status seems safe for the foreseeable future.

 

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Libertarian Party Rejects Ron Paul

The Libertarian Party has rejected both Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Napolitano as speakers for the upcoming LP convention in July.

Danny Wolf reports in The Columbian Post (Feb 2, 2018):

[T]he Libertarian Party has chosen to reject an opportunity to have both Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Napolitano speak at the Libertarian National Convention in July. ...

After securing both speakers at his own expense, Heise [leader of the LP Mises Caucus], and the voters who the "Libertarian" Party pretends to represent, were surprised to find out that the LP convention committee chair, Daniel Hayes, rejected both Paul and Napolitano.

Hayes cited an article dated December 4, 2017, as his reasoning. In the article, Paul bluntly criticizes the Libertarian Party for its failings ...

Read Wolf's full article here.

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U.S. State Dept. Interferes in 2018 Hungarian Elections

Democrats complain about Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 American presidential election. I don't think Russia did interfere, but either way, it's hypocritical of Americans to complain about it, considering the United States' decades long history of trying in influence foreign elections.

A current example is the U.S. State Dept attempt to influence Hungary's upcoming 2018 elections.

The Hungary Journal reports:

Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summoned David Kostelancik, charge d'affaires at the United States’ embassy in Budapest, after the US State Department launched a media fund for rural media outlets in Hungary, RTL Klub reported.

What is this "media fund"? Apparently, the U.S. State Department is spending $700,000 of American taxpayers' money to influence elections in Hungary. This "media fund" come from a State Department office that goes by the Orwellian name "Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor" (DRL).

Details about this "media fund" can be found on the State Department's own website, which states:

DRL's goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and economic sustainability. The program should increase citizens’ access to objective information about domestic and global issues of public importance, by enhancing local media’s ability to engage a larger audience, including their print, multimedia, and online readership. The program should improve the quality of local traditional and online media and increase the public’s access to reliable and unbiased information.

Lots of gobbledegook about "objectivity" and "fact-based reporting." This is code for reporting that supports the current U.S. trade and foreign policies of globalism and imperialism.

The Hungary Journal goes on to report:

With the upcoming elections in 2018, the Hungarian government considers the State Department’s announcement as "intervention into Hungarian domestic politics".

Group leader of the ruling Fidesz party, Gergely Gulyas was asked about the State Department’s plans to support the media in the Hungarian provinces. He said that it was "an attempt to interfere with Hungary's affairs" and added that similar foreign attempts would not be tolerated by the US political elite, no matter where the money comes from.

The current Hungarian government, led by Victor Orban, has resisted the European Union's attempts (supported by the United States) to dictate immigration policies to Hungary.

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New York City Libertarian Party Runs Skyjacker Aaron Commey for Mayor

This is ... interesting. I just learned the New York City Libertarian Party ran a (formerly) mentally ill skyjacker, Aaron Commey, for mayor.

The election was held two weeks ago. Of the seven candidates, Commey finished last, pulling 2,598 votes, which was 0.2% of the vote total.

Who is Commey? On October 24, 2017, Jeff Coltin, reporting for City & State New York, wrote:

... on July 27, 2000, [Commey] was 22 years old and suffering from delusional disorder and paranoid schizophrenia when he walked onto a Boeing 757 bound for Las Vegas and rushed into the cockpit while brandishing a handgun. ...

He later explained that he had planned to parachute into Antarctica to destroy the "Cabal," a secret organization that wanted to "take over the world through mass destruction." 

In the end, the plane never took off and nobody was injured, while Commey was arrested and charged with five crimes, including attempt to commit aircraft piracy. ...

In September 2003, Commey was found not guilty on all counts by reason of insanity. ...

"I spent about 15 years in prison, was never convicted," Commey said. "And it shaped me into the person I am today."

Commey said that government officials and judges refused to let him go for years, despite having doctors say he had fully recovered. "Experiencing my own personal injustice, seeing injustice happen to other guys," he said, "that’s one of the things that had driven me to wanting to get involved to try to change the system."

It also turned him into a Libertarian.

Read Coltin's full story here.

I suppose the LPNY knew of Commey's history. His candidate's website says:

Aaron Commey is intelligent, Resilient and a fighter for justice. Commey's passion for reform was born out of his own experience overcoming his own trials and tribulations with the Justice System and Mental Health Issues.

Aaron is an example of the American spirit that is ready to overcome any challenge and provide opportunities to those who seek it.

Libertarians have a long since developed a reputation for running the most colorful candidates, among them California's Ferret Man, Montana's Blue Man, and Florida's nudist goat's blood drinker. We can now add to the LP's roster of oddball candidates, the skyjacker who hoped to fight the "Cabal" in Antarctica.

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World War I: The Tragedy that Led to All the Other Tragedies

World War I is The Great tragedy of modern Western, and perhaps even world, history. It led to all the great historical tragedies of the last century, not to mention the collapse of Europe from the height of Civilization into chaos and squalor.

Without World War I, there would have been no Bolshevik Revolution, no rise of Mussolini, Stalin, or Hitler. No genocides of the Armenians, Ukrainians, or Jews, hence, no Israel or Mideast wars. No Cold War, hence no proxy wars between the Soviets and Americans. No support for Mao with his tens of millions of victims. No Korean or Vietnam or Central American Wars. No Cambodian genocide. No American Empire.

But if World War I were not avoided, the next best thing would have been a stalemate, with no clear winners. Even a limited victory for the Kaiser would have been preferable to what happened -- Germany's total defeat, its economic destruction via the Versailles Treaty, and the chain of events that followed.

Mike Konrad now has an excellent article in The American Thinker (November 18, 2017), arguing against America's entry in World War I, while unearthing some interesting historical factoids in support of his claim.

You can read Konrad's article here.

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Israel's Hypocrisy on Trump's Leak to Putin

It's difficult to find an issue on which Israel is not a hypocrite, but I will focus on one of Trump's more recent alleged scandals.

Trump gave intelligence to Putin, which he'd allegedly gotten from Israel. According to a report by Adam Goldman, Eric Schmitt, and Peter Baker in The New York Times [May 16, 2017]:

The classified intelligence that President Trump disclosed in a meeting last week with Russian officials at the White House was provided by Israel, according to a current and a former American official familiar with how the United States obtained the information....

Mr. Trump's boasting about some of Israel's most sensitive information to the Russians could damage the relationship between the two countries and raises the possibility that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia’s close ally and Israel's main threat in the region.

By some reports, Israel is upset. And hypocritical, considering Israel's mishandling of American intelligence. Such as that which Israel stole from the U.S. through its spy Jonathan Pollard, which Israel then sold to Russia -- when Russia was still the Soviet Union (i.e., Communist) and America's greatest adversary.

As reported by Philip Giraldi in The American Conservative [Dec. 2, 2015]:

Former CIA Director William Casey and others believed that the Israelis provided at least some of the stolen information to the Soviet Union in exchange for the expedited emigration of Russian Jews.

Understand, Trump is alleged to have given intelligence to Russia, which Israel had given to the U.S. Meaning, the information wasn't damaging to Israel. Whereas Israel stole information from the U.S. which Israel gave to Russia. Meaning, its release to Russia was far more damaging to the U.S.

And Israel continues to aggressively spy on the U.S. An Associated Press report, carried in Haaretz [Jul. 28, 2012] states:

In addition to what the former U.S. officials described to AP as intrusions in [American] homes in the past decade [by Israel spies], Israel has been implicated in U.S. criminal espionage cases and disciplinary proceedings against CIA officers and blamed in the presumed death of an important spy in Syria for the CIA during the administration of President George W. Bush.

That's right. Our "greatest ally" Israel is responsible for the death of an American agent. This is noteworthy, because Israel complains that Trump's leak to Putin endangered an Israeli spy. Hypocrisy indeed. 

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Libertarian Party Infiltrated by Goverment Spies

I found the below comment, posted on April 23, 2017 by "Andy" over at Independent Political Report, to be both interesting and unnerving:


I know that one FIOA [Freedom of Information Act] request was done by 1978 LP candidate for Governor of California, and 1980 candidate for President, Ed Clark. It came out in the report there was a government plant at the first LP meeting in California, which I believe was in 1972. The name was of course redacted.

Ed Clark said that he knew everyone at that meeting, and that all of them remained active in the party for years after this. Which means that whoever this was, acted as a long term plant in the party.

I heard that an LP member from Texas did a FOIA request in the 1980s or early 1990s and found that there was a government plant at every LNC meeting that he attended when he was on the LNC. Once again, the name was redacted

I also heard from an LP member of Kentucky that somebody in their state party did a FOIA request back in the 1990s, and they found that there was a government plant in their state party, but of course, once again, the name was redacted.

I'd be willing to bet money that a lot of the weird stuff that has gone on in the LP, including right here at IPR with a lot of the troll posts, and related stuff (which includes death threats and other things only a few people here know about), is coming from government trolls.

It would not surprise me at all if the government has at least a few plants in every state party, the more active county parties, the LNC, and the more active campaigns (like the presidential campaigns).

It should be blatantly obvious that the last three LP presidential tickets have been hijackers from the establishment. 


Andy's post reminds me of a story I once heard about the Los Angeles Police Dept attempting to infiltrate the local LP. The story can be taken as factual, or a joke, or as urban legend told by local LPs around the country. Its plausibility is for you to decide, but Andy's post does throw new light on the story.

You can read this LAPD story here.

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