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You know its going to be a good day when you open your Idaho Press-Tribune and find a political opponent opining that Idaho Libertarians may not understand the partys philosophy! In her Aug. 8 column, Judy Ferro starts by chiding Libertarians for allegedly not knowing that our think tanks support abolishing public schools and roads.

Yet those are libertarian positions! Reports of widespread poor public school performance and poor public road maintenance are readily available. She did overlook reporting that our country had both effective schools and a functioning road network long before those functions were taken over by an ever-growing state. Returning to private, market-based solutions in these two areas is what she refers to as, destruction of infrastructure.

In most places, government insists that only it can design, build and control our roads with decidedly mixed results. In contrast, consider the modern automobile in all the market-driven styles and sizes, a marvel of engineering and of responding to the needs and desires of drivers, mostly in spite of state interference via regulations. And, sure, some government rules improve auto safety, but how much safer might they actually be, if safety were left to the consumers, their insurance companies and ratings organizations?

She then devotes most of the column to describing and then decrying the idea that circles around from time-to-time that our government should shut down most social programs and just send people a check each month. Make no mistake, guaranteeing your income is still socialism; its just repackaged as The Welfare State writ large. As our national debt approaches $20 trillion, its also not clear how funding might work. In this case she appears to oppose one version of socialism in favor of just tweaking todays socialist programs.

So theres less room for error, please note that the two older political parties are not tied in any way with the Libertarians, the third largest political party. Libertarians generally support: personal and economic freedom; non-interventionist foreign policy; robust national defense; tolerance of others peaceful choices; respect for others property rights; civil liberties; individual right to keep and bear arms; separation of church and state; giving generously to those in need; less strict immigration policy; and lower taxes. Libertarians generally oppose: government-regulated economy or morality; UN-led U.S. military action; regime change; using eminent domain for private gain; war on drugs; surveillance state; and taxpayer funding of government or private charities.

Most government activities opposed by libertarians are direct violations of existing constitutional limits on permitted government actions.

In the Treasure Valley, anyone interested in learning more about libertarian philosophy is welcome to join us for our monthly, no-host philosophical libertarian brunch the second Saturday of every month at the TNT Dynamite Bar & Grill, next to the Shiloh Inn at Exit 36 in Nampa. We gather starting at 10:30 a.m. and typically have a program from 11-noon. There are no exams, no fees and everyone is welcome.

Libertarians are keeping the light of liberty burning!

Rob Oates, Caldwell, is chairman of the Libertarian Party of Idaho. Email him at chair@lpid.org.

See the article here:
What the Libertarian Party supports - Idaho Press-Tribune

Libertarian Party chairman Nicholas Sarwark has come under fire for his abrasive and ineffective leadership style, but he took it to a new extreme last night. After insulting Murray Mr. Libertarian Rothbard and then focusing his ire on libertarian heroes like Tom Woods and Bob Murphy, libertarians on Twitter decided to take the fledgling figurehead to task.

Dishonest LP chair implies Im white nationalist/Nazi. Sad. I only think hes a lying idiot, intellectual property expert Stephen Kinsella said in a Tweet.

So [Sarwark] takes unprovoked potshots at [Tom Woods] and then tries to act like he has moral high ground, Mises Institute social media director Tho Bishop said. What a sad sack.

Libertarian-turned-alt-right video blogger Stefan Molyneux even piled on by saying, The Chair of the Libertarian National Committee is virtue-signaling against [Tom Woods] and [the LP] wonders why they are irrelevant!

Molyneux followed up that zinger with a viciously accurate meme depicting the many recent public humiliations the LP has experienced under Sarwarks stewardship. From there, even run-of-the-mill libertarians couldnt resist the fun with many proclaiming that they were leaving or had left the LP due to the arrogant, tone-deaf attitudes of failures like Sarwark.

Wow, 2 million away from the libertarian dream of federal funding! [Sarwark] could then spend it on attacking even more real libertarians, user Andkon said in a Tweet.

The kind of pansy that pissed away the best opportunity the LP ever had by heading what became a joke party with a joke candidate, user Kip Hooker wrote in a Tweet referring to Sarwark. And I say that as someone that voted for Johnson.

Sarwark and his left-libertarian allies are demanding that libertarians sign a petition against fascism in the wake of this weekends Charlottesville disaster, as a way to exploit the crisis for cheap political purposes. While this is clearly Sarwarks latest scheme to enforce leftist orthodoxy upon the libertarian movement, people are no longer buying it.

After receiving the barrage of disdain from libertarians, Sarwarkin typical fashionbrushed off all the criticism. He is self-assured that thumbing libertarians in the eye and embracing leftist values are the way to go moving forward.

Pro tip: People who have won an argument dont need to tell everyone that theyve obliterated their opponent, Sarwark wrote in a Tweet following the smack down. Sarwark also accused his opponents of being alt-right and tacitly supporting fascism and Nazism.

Read the rest here:
Libertarian Party Chairman Savaged For Virtue Signaling In Brutal Twitter Beatdown - The Liberty Conservative

The Libertarian Party has apologized after a tweet praising North Korea as having more freedom than the United States. In a series of now-deleted tweets, the official Twitter account of the Libertarian Party tweeted praise at North Korea last week for its marijuana-friendly policies, saying that it was an example of "more freedom" than the United States. On Sunday, the account backtracked and apologized for the tweet, saying that in "no universe" could the totalitarian regime be viewed as a symbol of freedom.

Both tweets could not be found on the account by Monday, but the same tweet from the New Hampshire Libertarian Party's account was still online.

I mean, seriously? While I certainly don't disagree with North Korea's (apparent) liberal policy on marijuana, I'd still rather live in Virginia, where marijuana may be illegal, but other, more important things (such as my religion, the ability to say what I want, and the ability to actually leave the country at my whimsy) are. I think most mainstream people--including members of the Libertarian Party--would prefer to live in the United States rather than North Korea. This isn't too difficult, and it's absolutely absurd to call a country with no basic freedoms whatsoever a "beacon" due to the fact they (might) permit people to grow and smoke a drug. I mean, come on.

Originally posted here:
Libertarian Party Apologizes After Saying North Korea Has More ... - Townhall

A campaign to identify the marchers spread on social media following the bloody right-wing rally in Charlottesville. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Updated 3:15 p.m.

A white nationalist who participated in the torch-lit march through the University of Virginias campus this weekendhas lost hisjob at a Berkeley, Calif., hot dog restaurant after Twitter users posted his photo and place of employment. The employee, Cole White, was identified online after he was photographed among a shouting and torch-wielding mobduring the march Friday night in Charlottesville.

After being inundated with inquiries, his former employer, Top Dog, in downtown Berkeley, posted a sign on its door that reads:Effective Saturday 12th August, Cole White no longer works at Top Dog. The actions of those in Charlottesville are not supported by Top Dog. We believe in individual freedom and voluntary association for everyone, multiple news outlets reported. The shop has a political bent of its own, as its well-known in Berkeley forthe libertarian stickers and articles posted on its walls, and website.

Top Dogissued a statement to the Washington Post that read, in part:

Colechose to voluntarily resign his employmentwith Top Dogand we acceptedhisresignation.There have been reports that he was terminated.Those reports are false.There have been reports that top dog knowingly employs racists and promotes racist theology.Thattoois false.Individual freedomand voluntaryexchangearecore to the philosophy of Top Dog.We look forward to cooking the same great food forat leastanother50 years.

Another part of the statement noted: Wedorespect our employees rightto theiropinions. They are free to make their own choicesbutmust accept the responsibilities of those choices.

When asked by The Post if White would have been permitted to keep his job had he not resigned, the shop declined to comment further.

White wasin Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally, which turned deadly on Saturday.James Alex Fields Jr., 20, who was described as a Nazi sympathizer by one of hishigh school teachers,is accused of ramminghis car into a group of counterprotesters, injuring 19 and killingHeather Heyer,32.Two Virginia state troopers H. Jay Cullen, 48, and Berke Bates, 40 were killed while doing surveillance work during Saturdays rally when their helicopter crashed.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on Aug. 13 said Charlottesville is "stronger" a day after violence erupted in the city. The organizer of a white nationalist rally said clashes occurred because police declined "to do their job." (Whitney Leaming,Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

[Discomfort food: Using dinners to talk about race, violence and America]

The mostly male crowd that participated in Friday nights tiki-torch-lit rally did not cover their faces, and they were widely photographed. A Twitter account,@YesYoureRacist, began posting photographs of participants and uncovering their identities. White was among the first itnamed.The account would soon identify students enrolled at the University of Nevada and Washington State University, leading both of the schools to issue statements condemning racism.

Top Dog, a Berkeley campus fixture, isnt shy about its libertarian values. The walls are covered with libertarian bumper stickers, yellowed newspaper articles urging the privatization of the postal service, and hand-lettered signs with statements like, Beware the leader and Theres no government like no government,' wrote SF Weeklyin 1996.

A section of the restaurants website is dedicated to Propergander, posting articles about sanctuary cities, nuclear war and diversity.A recent article about an anti-diversity memo circulating at Google read, in part, Jim Crow is long gone, but it seems that Progressives (which gave us Jim Crow in the first place) now are imposing what essentially is a new form of segregation, that being ideological and religious segregation that is more reminiscent of how the former USSR treated dissidents than anything we have seen in private enterprise. The website was down for a time after the weekends incidents but was online as of Monday afternoon.

[In good hands: How immigrants craft your favorite restaurant dishes]

The restaurant wrote to one Twitter user that it had been overwhelmed with inquiries about White:

The restaurants Facebook page has been deluged with complaints about White, and its Yelp page is under active cleanup alert, due to the high number of people posting negative comments about him (Yelps note says it tries to remove comments related more to news events than users experience with the business). One sample review: Great place for Neo-Nazis. For people who arent Neo-Nazis? Not so much. A hot dog is a hot dog, but a hot dog place thatnot only employs Neo-Nazis but posts alt-right screeds on their webpage is a place that makes me want to vomit. But if you hate minorities, you might have a friend in Berkeleys Top Dog.

By the way, the hot dogs arekosher-style.

Charlottesville residents respond to the violence that erupted in their city Aug. 12. (Elyse Samuels,Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)

More from Food:

The new political battleground: Your restaurant receipt

Restaurants show diners what a day without immigrants tastes like

Discomfort food: Using dinners to talk about race, violence and America

See the article here:
Charlottesville white nationalist demonstrator loses job at libertarian hot dog shop - Washington Post

The Libertarian Party is in full damage control mode after sparking backlash by praising North Korea as an example of more freedom than the United States for its marijuana laws.

In a now-deleted Aug. 7 tweet, the party wrote: Its sad that we can look to #NorthKorea for an example of more freedom than the United States. The tweet linked to a Business Insider article that actually undercuts the argument that North Korea has laxer marijuana laws than the United States.

Screenshot/Twitter

After a wave of criticism online, the party deleted the tweet Sunday night after leaving it up for almost an entire week and issued an apology (although the apology tweet now appears to have been deleted as well.)

The Libertarian Partys official New Hampshire arm sent the exact same tweet praising North Korea on August 7. That tweet has not been deleted and remains on Twitter.

Contrary to widespread rumors online, the Business Insider article stated that marijuana appears to be illegal in North Korea.

The Libertarian Party has struggled to establish itself as a credible third party.

The party convention last summer turned into a spectacle after a candidate for party chairman stripped down to a thong during his two-minute speech.

WATCH:

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Libertarian Party In Damage Control Mode After Praising North Korea As Example Of Freedom - The Daily Caller