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Challenges are set in three state House races and three County Council races forthe June 14 primary election, according to the final list of candidates who filed for office in Spartanburg County by the noon Wednesday deadline.

The general election is Nov. 8.

Three incumbent Republican state House members in Spartanburg County will face challenges, according to the S.C. Election Commission.

In District 33, Bill DeVore has filed to run against incumbent state Rep. Travis Moore.

In District 35, Joseph Pellegrino has filed to run against incumbent state Rep. Bill Chumley.

2022 SC Elections: Register to vote

And in District 36, Rob Harris has filed to run against incumbent state Rep. Rita Allison.

Districts 35 and 36 include portions of Greenville County.

No one filed to run against Democratic District 31 state Rep. Rosalyn Henderson-Myers; and Republicans District 32 Rep. Max T. Hyde; District 34 Rep. Roger A. Nutt; District 37 Rep. Steven Long; and District 38 Rep. Josiah Magnuson.

Donald Trump's influence:Trump's influence in South Carolina could be tested

For Spartanburg County Council, there will be challenges in the Republican primary for three council seats.

In District 2, O'Neal Mintz filed to run against incumbent Councilman Jack A. Mabry. Constitution Party candidateand Kathleen K. Wright also filed.

In District 5, Republicans Jeffrey A. Horton Jr. and Louis Nespeca filed to run against Republican incumbent Bob Walker.

In District 6, Republican Alex Turner filed to run against Republican incumbent Jessica Coker.

Republican incumbent County Council Chairman Manning Lynch is the only one who filed for his at-large seat.

Other Republican incumbents who have filed for office in Spartanburg County include Ponda A. Caldwell, probate judge; Sharon H. West, auditor; Oren L. Brady III, treasurer.

Henderson-Myers is the only Democrat out of the 23 candidates who filed in Spartanburg County. Twenty-one are Republican, and one is a Constitution Party candidate.

Incumbent Republican Gov. Henry McMaster filed for re-election. He faces a primary challenge from Republicans Harrison Musselwhite and Mindy L. Steele.

Also filing for governor are:Jokie Beckett Jr. andMichael Copeland, Independence Party; Carlton Boyd, Joe Cunningham, Mia S. McLeod, Calvin CJ Mack McMillan and William H. Williams, Democratic Party; Bruce Reeves, Libertarian Party; Gary M. Votour, Labor Party.

Incumbent Republican Tim Scott filed for re-election and faces no opposition in the primary.

Also filing for Scott's seat are Democrats Catherine Fleming Bruce, Angela Geter and Krystle Matthews.

Incumbent 4th District Republican U.S. Rep. William Timmons faces a primary challenge from George Abuzeid, Mark Burns andMichael Mike LaPierre. Also filing for Timmons' seat areMichael Chandler, Constitution Party; and Ken Hill, Democrat.

The 4th District covers large portions of Spartanburg and Greenville counties.

Contact Bob Montgomery at bob.montgomery@shj.com. Please support our coverage of Spartanburg County with a digital subscription.

Read more here:
2022 election: Who is on the ballot in Spartanburg County Council, SC State House races - Spartanburg Herald Journal

Cryptocurrency has come a long way since its humble beginnings inthe further reaches of the internet.When Bitcoin was first launched in 2009,its appeal was largely limited to online pioneers, tech utopians and libertarians. It has now truly entered the mainstream an estimated 2.3 million people in the UK own crypto assets, according to research from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and the number of companies trading in crypto is likely to grow further over the coming years.

Has the rise of unregulated cryptocurrencies brought about the new world of finance as foreseen by its early followers? Many wished for the end of central banking, the replacement of the dollar and fiat money by Bitcoin or digital gold and an upending of regulation in markets and of the potential surveillance of consumers. But the crypto evangelists have so far been disappointed. Like all utopian projects it has collided with the realities of geopolitics, corporate power andillicit finance.

With reports that Russian oligarchs may rush to convert their assets into cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions, many are rightly questioning whether crypto has a future at all

However, the UK does not need to choose between a total crackdown on ownership of cryptocurrencies and the Wild West approach advocated by some parts of the Conservative Party.

Properly regulated crypto assets have the potential to transform our economy and the financial services sector. Many innovative companies are embracing different forms of blockchain technology to improve transparency in finance and to create high-skilled, high-productivity jobs across the UK. This has the potential to reduce regional inequalities, with $696m invested in financial technology companies based outside London and the south-east in 2021 alone, driving efficiencies in all sorts of industries.

But the government has risked undermining the reputation of thesector. In the absence of acomprehensive regulatory regime, the UK has become a centre for illicit crypto activity. According to Chainalysis a global leader in blockchain research cryptocurrency-based crime such as terrorist financing, money laundering, fraud and scams hit a new all-time high in 2021, with illicit activity in the UK estimated to be worth over $500m.

Despite pressure from Labour and the financial sector, ministers have yet to acknowledge the scale of the threat.

The FCA has identified over 230 unregistered crypto asset firms operating in the UK. Many companies have not even applied to register for anti-money laundering or know your customer checks, yet face little or nosanction from the government. This hasallowed some firms to exploit anonymity-enhancing technology to protect the identity of criminals and individuals linked to hostile states such as Russia.

Also concerning is the rise of crypto-related scams in the UK reports of digital assets fraud were up by 50 per cent in 2021 compared with the previous year. The government has stood by and let the firms responsible for these scams trade with impunity and has continued to delay introducing stronger rules on the advertisement and marketing of cryptocurrency products.

A survey by investment platform AJ Bell found that many crypto investors are simply unaware of the high-risk nature of their investments. This is worrying, particularly as many of these investors have sunk a huge proportion of their savings into crypto half dont have an ISA while four in ten dont have a pension. A serious collapse in crypto could therefore not only wipe out the life savings of many people, but also significantly destabilise the UKs financial market.

US President Joe Biden has announced plans to introduce a comprehensive, all-of-government framework to address the emerging risks and opportunities posed by crypto assets. If the UK doesnt follow suit, we are at risk of falling behind our global competitors, including the US, in the crypto space. We could be leaving ourselves open to market failure. A Labour government would be serious about attracting fintech companies to the UK and safely harnessing the progressive potential of crypto technology. But its time to reject the arguments of the libertarian right and properly regulate the sector.

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Here is the original post:
Why we need to end the crypto Wild West - The New Statesman

By Dan Murphy

A Zogby poll for NY Governor in February had democrat Kathy Hochul at 50%, republican Lee Zeldin at 29%, and Libertarian party candidate Larry Sharpe at 6%. We wondered who Larry Sharpe is and why he is running for Governor.

Larry Sharpe is a businessman, consultant, Marine Corps Veteran, Native New Yorker, and active member in the Libertarian Party. In 2016, Sharpe wanted to be the Libertarian Party nominee for vice-president. He lost the party nomination to Bill Weld.

In 2018 Sharpe ran as the Libertarian candidate for NY Governor, and received 95,033 votes, (1.6%). This total entitled Sharpe and the Libertarian Party automatic ballot access in NY for the next four years.

But in 2019 former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, angry at the Working Families Party for endorsing Cynthia Nixon for Governor, changed the election laws in NY to make it harder for minor parties like the Libertarian Party to stay on the ballot.

Last year, the Libertarian Party and three other minor parties lost their ballot status in NY. Sharpe is running for Governor of NY in 2022 but at the same time, working to collect the 45,000 signatures needed to run on the Libertarian Party line.

We spoke to Sharpe about his run for governor. Im running to show the people of New York that there is another option. We started this in 2018 and we got on the TV news shows, the Joe Rogan show, and made a real campaign. And to get 2% on the Libertarian Party line in NY, the deepest blue state, is amazing.

Now in 2022 the work continues. We are a real third party. Most of the minor political parties are puppet parties, they follow the democrats or republicans. And while fewer and fewer people are registered democrat or republican, the Libertarians are growing.

My campaign is traveling to every county in New York State. We are building a real party. In 2019 we elected libertarians across the state. The biggest win for Libertarians in New York State was when Michael Korchak was elected District Attorney of Broome County. We have a DA in New York who is a libertarian. That used to be unheard of, said Sharpe.

Now they made it harder for us to run statewide. We now must collect 45,000 signature and we have to get 130,000 votes every two years. In 2018 I did what the state told me to do, we would give you ballot access for four years if you got more than 50,000 votes. The state said screw you and reneged on their agreement.

The decision to cancel our party resulted in disenfranchising registered libertarian voters. If you dont like Larry Sharpe then dont vote for me. But dont put harm on thousands of New Yorkers who lost their party. We are the only political party that allows people from the left and right to come join us. We only ask that we dont let government impose their views and leave us alone.

Sharpe recently picked up the endorsement of former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang and the Forward Party that he created.

Another small political party in NY, the UniteNY party, is also considering endorsing Sharpe, who is hoping to have three ballot lines in November, Libertarian, UniteNY, and Forward Party, but all three parties have to go out and get 45,000 signatures between April 19-May 24, to get on the ballot.

Im taking a year from my life to raise the money and get on the ballot. But for regular New Yorkers, how can they do this? Only the wealthy and the establishment can do it, and thats the way they want it, an elitist system. And we have to raise and spend $150,000 to do it, said Sharpe.

If elected, I will change the rule overnight, and return to the old rules, they were good enough. I think what we have now is unconstitutional and embarrassing.

Sharpe supports three electoral reforms that he says, will open up the election system in our state.

In New York, its 3 to 1 democrat, and in New York City its 6 to 1 democrat. That means that republican have a zero chance at winning statewide. Its either a democrat or an outsider, and the states getting bluer. One million republicans went to Florida and turned Florida republican red.

Im the outsider, and if you are a republican or a democrat you need to think about what it would take to vote for the other guy. And democrats wont vote for a republican, but they would vote for me.

One hurdle that Sharpe knows that he has to overcome is, A lot of people dont want to vote for me because they think I cant win. They think why waste my vote?

Sharpe said that his campaign strategy centers on preparing to be ready, if Hochul stumbles, those pissed off democratic will never vote republican, but they would think about voting for me. And in a three-way race, you dont need 51% you can win with 35%. That is possible.

And what if I come in 2nd? And beat the republican? Now I have the attention of the media and of New Yorkers and we can begin to talk about actual solutions to our problems. And I do have solutions, as opposed to republican who have no ideas and democrats who have bad ideas.

Sharpe wants to cut property taxes in half by raising money to pay for schools in part by leasing naming rights to MTA properties, bridges and tolls. Right now, neither side is offering solutions. It will only be when there is a viable third party that both sides will try again to help you and solve your problems.

I want to help the working poor, the middle class and the entrepreneurs. If we fix those three parts of our state, we can save our state. Sharpe added, I hope Andrew Cuomo runs because that hurts the democratic candidate. He will have to create his own party to run.

Sharpe also distinguished himself from the other candidates by pointing out, Im the only candidate not getting a government check. I dont have a government job or a government pension. Your tax dollars dont pay a dime to me. Im the only one suffering with you.

I say to those New Yorkers who are pissed off at our government, come to me, Im the anti-establishment candidate. Im trying to make New York a better place, visit LarrySharpe.com for more information.

More:
Larry Sharpe, and Libertarians, Want New Yorkers to Look Beyond Democrat and Republican Parties - Yonkers Times

Interior of the Liberland Metaverse City Hall, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects for the Free Republic of Liberland (all images courtesy ZHA and Mytaverse)

In the lingo, this imaginary place is known as the Metaverse, Neal Stephenson wrote in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, whose protagonist, Hiro, spends most of his time in virtual reality. There is a reason that the modern-day and ever-growing metaverse takes its name from Stephensons seminal work of science fiction: 30 years later, the book no longer reads as excitingly futuristic, but more like prophecy. If the fictional negotiation between escapism into virtual spaces and a physical world that increasingly struggles to support terrestrial existence felt like a stimulating thought exercise in the 1990s, it feels downright terrifying now, as we crest the rollercoaster and begin the plunge.

If Stephenson hears about plans for the new cyber-urban Liberland metaverse, revealed this week by Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), he will no doubt experience the kind of grim satisfaction that comes from being right about something terrible. The curving cityscape design features the soft, yonic structures for which the firms founding architect became internationally famous, and embodies the kind of paleo-futuristic aesthetics that weve been worshipping since 2001 (the Space Odyssey, not the year).

But its not the design that is troubling about this corner of the metaverse, so much as the fact that its meant to be the meta-counterpart to the real-world Free Republic of Liberland. Situated as a sovereign state between Croatia and Serbia on the west bank of the Danube River, Liberland declared itself a state in 2015 and prides itself on personal and economic freedom for its people. Per a statement on its website, this includes limited power given to the government to ensure less interference with the freedom of the people and the nation as a whole. It is not currently recognized by any other nations.

The citizenry is comprised of 7,000 online applicants, chosen from a pool of 700,000 by the nations founder, Euroskeptic Czech politician Vit Jedlika. According to reporting by CNN, the country itself is an uninhabited patch of land stretching a little over four miles, which is politically contested, heavily forested, and contains only badly maintained access roads and an abandoned run-down house. Extremely fitting, since that is exactly the amount of infrastructure that can be supported under the principles of Libertarianism.

But in the metaverse, oh ho! Liberland can flourish, unconcerned with having to maintain tedious infrastructure, since its already been provided. Certainly, there are bound to be many Stephenson fans in the mix, spending cryptocurrency, visiting business incubators, and attending a gallery for NFT art shows (just to make things extra insufferable). ZHA principal architect Patrik Schumacher proposes that the metaverse is such a good match for Libertarians because both prioritize goals of decentralization and autonomy.

Its a very lively scene of contributorsa lot of IT and crypto and tech entrepreneurs who find the world too restrictive, he told CNN. (If there is one category of people who are incredibly oppressed and never get to do whatever they want, its tech entrepreneurs!)

Plans for Liberland are still developing, but the virtual city hopes to distinguish itself from the rest of the metaverse by creating certain zones which will be free of collective rulemaking, according to Schumacher. Again, it is hard to imagine what Libertarian tech bros need to get up to that they are not already rampantly allowed to do, but one suspects it may not be fully legal.

The Liberland metaverse is currently in beta, being tested on two virtual floors in one of the buildings. Invited guests may explore the space as avatars, chat with each other, and share their screens on one of the rooms windows. An opening party for 100 attendees is planned for April 13, which is the birthday of the third United States President and libertarian hero Thomas Jefferson (eye roll emoji). In the meantime, if youd like some light reading, Ill leave you with another Snow Crash excerpt that feels not-at-all relevant, in terms of the toxic culture of doing whatever you want.

All these beefy Caucasians with guns! Get enough of them together, looking for the America they always believed theyd grow up in, and they glom together like overcooked rice, form integral, starchy little units. With their power tools, portable generators, weapons, four-wheel-drive vehicles, and personal computers, they are like beavers hyped up on crystal meth, manic engineers without a blueprint, chewing through the wilderness, building things and abandoning them, altering the flow of mighty rivers and then moving on because the place aint what it used to be. The byproduct of the lifestyle is polluted rivers, greenhouse effect, spouse abuse, televangelists, and serial killers. But as long as you have that fourwheel-drive vehicle and can keep driving north, you can sustain it, keep moving just quickly enough to stay one step ahead of your own waste stream. In twenty years, ten million white people will converge on the north pole and park their bagos there. The low-grade waste heat of their thermodynamically intense lifestyle will turn the crystalline icescape pliable and treacherous. It will melt a hole through the polar icecap, and all that metal will sink to the bottom, sucking the biomass down with it.

Science fiction, am I right?

The rest is here:
Architects Reveal Bizarre Plans for a Libertarian City in the Metaverse - Hyperallergic

Normally I wouldn't waste my time responding to an negative letter to the editor like the one from Joseph McCarthy but I need to set the record straight.

The Free Staters and the Libertarians are the FAKE Republicans a.k.a RINOs: they can't run as Libertarians because New Hampshire doesn't have a Libertarian Party. So, instead they write letters to the editor with their faulty, so-called "Republican advice". Remember, they and the extreme "Far Right" Republicans who blindly follow the Free Staters are truly the RINOs none of them are even close to being true Republicans. Remember, they're the ones who want the state of NH to secede from the Union.

Rather than trying to secede from the Union, they should move to a different country. I was elected to represent all my constituents it doesn't matter their political philosophy or ideals. When the majority speaks out in favor of the nursing home and sheriff's department it is my duty as an elected official to listen and support all the above.

Time and time again we see those who claim to "back the blue" slash law enforcement budgets meanwhile true supporters of first responders like myself co-sponsor bills like 1587-FN that rights the wrong done to our group two firefighters and law enforcement officers with their pensions.

When I was elected I vowed to look out for everyone not just my own personal agenda, again I must state many representatives can learn from this and I pray the public seeks common sense over extremists in any party.

I vowed to support Gov. Chris Sununu and the NH Advantage, Second Amendment rights and to back first responders. Promises made, promises kept end of story. I will never be or support extremists in either party.

Excerpt from:
Mike Bordes: Free staters and Libertarians are the only RINOs here - The Laconia Daily Sun