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It seems to me that whenever North Korea launches one of their missiles or decides they are going test another nuclear device, the rest of the world loses their collective mind, and needlessly so. North Korea is no threat to the United States, or anyone, but itself.

Let me explain. On one hand people seem to have the impression that North Korea is some grave threat to the West that needs to be stopped; on the other, people have this view of them as some unintelligent, cartoonish throwback to the Cold War, undermining its own credibility when it misidentifies target cities on propaganda maps. While their military is large, and they indeed could cause some damage, nuclear weapons or not, their hardware is mostly forty years out of date and they have no real way to project power outside their immediate surroundings, even if they develop a working ICBM. And as for the perception of North Korea run by stupid, crazy people, I completely reject that. They came out of the Cold War largely unscathed (and remain so) culturally and ideologically, while most other communist regimes collapsed or evolved towards capitalism. They are a nuclear power, a title only a handful of nations can claim, and they have a propaganda machine so good the regime essentially brainwashed 25 million people into believing their dear leader is a god.

All of this is to say the idea that North Korea is run by crazy people that will nuke either the States or their southern neighbor the very instant they have the capability is absurd. Rather than reckless belligerence, they have shown themselves to be calculating and precise, knowing just what buttons to press, and how hard to press them, without causing a metaphorical detonation. The bombardment of Yeonpyeong and the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan show pretty good examples of this. Causing casualties on your enemies without incurring any of your own shows a pretty remarkable amount of intelligence in my book, and wantonly nuking your enemies is the exact opposite way to go about that. I absolutely guarantee the regime running North Korea is smart enough to know they will lose a war they start with either the United States and/or South Korea, and they most certainly know that if they use a nuclear weapon in an offensive fashion, South Korea would become an island soon after.

For all the decades of posturing and chest beating, the Korean War hasnt resumed. Much the same way the USSR and the US had the means and never exercised them, the same way India and Pakistan have the capability but remain fallout free, so too will the Korean Peninsula remain intact, as long as the participating parties continue to use some restraint.

So, what can we do? Im all for sanctions as a moral action, but practically, North Korea has shown they will carry on regardless; attacking them would only cause an unneeded and bloody war. I really think the best thing we can do is ignore them. Their whole shtick is based on aggression by the West, and we feed that every time the news cycle starts interviewing generals about the best course of action to deal with the regimes latest aggression. I am sure that North Korea would continue to pump out their anti-west rhetoric regardless of whether we give it fuel or not, but at that point we could at least claim the moral high ground, and they would at least have to go through the effort of making up stories on their own.

I mentioned at the beginning of this piece that I think the biggest threat to the regime of North Korea is itself. The libertarian community believes that communism doesnt work. It hasnt yet, and if we truly believe that, we must believe that an oppressive regime like that of the DPRK will eventually collapse and undo itself. As the rest of the world continues to progress around their island of stagnation and misery, and ever more sharply juxtaposes the situations of the North and South, the more the people of the North will see what the South has and start demanding it for themselves. We should certainly be there to help pick up the pieces, but the people of the North need to want change before we can do any good.

Image: Getty

* ColoradoYeah runs the libertarian leaning coloradoyeah.com.

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The North Korea Problem - Being Libertarian

RALEIGH The N.C. Libertarian Party has picked three Triad residents for leadership roles.

Clement Erhardt of Greensboro is the party's treasurer and the slate of at-large members includesAngela Anderson of Winston-Salem andJ.J. Summerell of Greensboro.

Susan Hogarth of Raleigh has been named the Libertarian Party of North Carolina's new chairwoman.

N.C. Libertarian officials elected a new state party chair and a slate of officers during the party's annual convention held in Lake Lure, according to a release.

Nathan Phillips of Asheville was named vice chair, Brent DeRidder of Hampstead will serve as secretary, and the remaing at-large members are Matt Clements of Carrboro, Chris Dooley of Charlotte, James Hines of Asheville, Amy Lamont of Oxford, Ryan Teeter of Hampstead, Andreas Steude of Cary, and Alec Willson of Asheville.

Summerell was the Libertarian candidate for North Carolina's 1st Congressional District in 2016. Incumbent U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, won re-election with 68.6 percent of the vote, defeating Republican candidate and Stantonsburg town councilman Powell Dew (28.9 percent) and Summerell, who picked up 2.4 percent of the vote.

The Libertarian Party, formed in 1971, is the third-largest political party in the U.S. and North Carolina, as well as the only ballot-recognized alternative party in the state.

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Triad residents among those tapped for posts in NC Libertarian Party - Winston-Salem Journal

From staff reports

RALEIGH - Susan Hogarth of Raleigh has been named the Libertarian Party of North Carolina's new chairwoman.

N.C. Libertarian officials elected a new state party chair and a slate of officers during the party's annual convention held in Lake Lure, according to a release.

"I'm honored to have been chosen as chair of the Libertarian Party North Carolina," Hogarth said. "I couldn't be more excited at the prospect of working with all the intelligent and hardworking folks just elected to the executive committee."

Nathan Phillips of Asheville was named vice chair, Brent DeRidder of Hampstead will serve as secretary, Clement Erhardt of Greensboro is the party's treasurer, and at-large members are Angela Anderson of Winston-Salem, Matt Clements of Carrboro, Chris Dooley of Charlotte, James Hines of Asheville, Amy Lamont of Oxford, Ryan Teeter of Hampstead, Andreas Steude of Cary, J.J. Summerell of Greensboro and Alec Willson of Asheville.

Summerell was the Libertarian candidate for North Carolina's 1st Congressional District in 2016. Incumbent U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, won re-election with 68.6 percent of the vote, defeating Republican candidate and Stantonsburg town councilman Powell Dew (28.9 percent) and Summerell, who picked up 2.4 percent of the vote.

The Libertarian Party, formed in 1971, is the third-largest political party in the U.S. and North Carolina, as well as the only ballot-recognized alternative party in the state.

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Hogarth tapped to lead NC Libertarian Party - The Wilson Times (subscription)

Invading your privacy without your permission is essentially theft, yet it happens every day on the internet and without consequence. Large corporations, law enforcement, the government, and just about anyone who knows how to use the internet, can easily obtain your personal information in a matter of seconds.

It comes as no surprise that anything you intentionally post online can be used to your detriment, but did you know that information brokers are collecting your personal information regardless of what youve decided to share yourself?

They use information such as your phone number, address and even your social security number to line their pockets. Details about you that cant be found for free are provided by information brokers in exchange for a small fee, allowing them to get rich on the invasion of peoples privacy.

To see how easy it is to obtain someones address, try running a Google search of your name and the city you live in. The results might surprise you but whats truly shocking is that they serve as only one example of why you need to care deeply about internet surveillance.

Here are some other reasons you should be concerned:

Even if you decide to use an alias online, it wont be very effective at hiding your identity or protecting your data. At some point or another, youll probably have to make a payment online or sign up for something that requires you to provide your address and phone number anyways.

Websites, as well as advanced users, can also track your IP address, which provides your location. By knowing your location, they can ultimately determine who you are, so using an alias wont help. You can try to use public Wi-Fi so your home address cant be determined by your IP address, but theres still the issue of surveillance.

Hackers can use unsecured networks, such as public Wi-Fi, as an access point to spy on your online activities and obtain your personal information. They can see your files on your computer, cell phone, or tablet, which may provide clues about your identity.

The invasion of your privacy online isnt just a violation of your personal freedoms; it can also put you at risk. Criminals often use the internet to their advantage because the ease of retrieving information about people makes it easy for them to commit crimes and even stalk people. Identity theft is one of the main issues you need to be concerned about since your social security, full name, address, and phone number are within anyones reach.

As mentioned above, other personally identifiable information can also be located by those who know enough about technology to hack into your data. For example, if a hacker is spying on your online activities and you visit a website and enter your debit card number, they now have those details. Account logins are especially vulnerable and accounts tend to contain enough of your personal data for a criminal to commit identity theft.

Another concern is that information about you listed on the web is sometimes linked to your family members, making it a possibility for them to be targeted as well, even if they dont use the internet.

Though internet surveillance is common and not entirely avoidable, there is a way you can maintain your digital freedom. A proxy service is one of the best ways to protect yourself, as itll hide your IP address and at the very least provide a level of anonymity you wont have otherwise.

When you use a proxy service, youre able to connect to a remote server thats encrypted, essentially securing your internet connection while masking your IP address. Since the same remote server is used by a number of other users, your identity cant be traced.

Any data about you that is already present online (for example, that which has been collected by information brokers) will still exist, but youll be able to put a halt to the majority of future surveillance efforts.

Do you have any additional advice that can help others avoid internet surveillance? Let us know in the comments below.

* Carla is an online security expert and freedom advocate. In her spare time, she often finds herself engrossed in reading blog posts, particularly those that focus on stemming the tide of growing government interventionism.

Image: New Eastern Outlook

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Why You Need To Care Deeply About Internet Surveillance - Being Libertarian

A self-professed white nationalist featured in a video about protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend has been identified by Suffolk County political figures as a man who once tried to run for Congress in the 1st District on the East End.

Christopher Cantwell, 36, announced as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2009 but failed to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot, according to his website and Republican, Democratic and Libertarian political operatives.

In a video documentary from Vice News that was viewed by millions of people, Cantwell brags about his capacity for violence and he and others chant anti-Semitic slogans as they march with torches to a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Facebook banned Cantwell, and YouTube removed his videos on Wednesday for violating their policies on hate speech.

As recently as 2014, Cantwell was a featured speaker at the Suffolk County Libertarian Partys annual fundraiser at a Babylon restaurant, according to Suffolk Libertarian Party chairman Michael McDermott. There was no indication of hatred or violence on Cantwells part, McDermott said.

Cantwell attended Ward Melville High School and court records show he had multiple arrests in Suffolk County and served time in jail.

Cantwell told Hatewatch, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit whose mission is to fight extremism, that he grew up in Stony Brook and lives in Keene, New Hampshire.

The center describes him as an unapologetic fascist who uses his call-in Internet show and website to argue for a state free of African-Americans, Jews and nonwhite immigrants, save, perhaps for the occasional exception.

In a separate video posted Wednesday, Cantwell wipes away tears and says hes facing an arrest warrant and is terrified of being killed. He says he did not provoke any of the violence in Charlottesville. In a post on his Web page Thursday, Cantwell says hes preparing to turn himself in to police in Virginia.

Cantwell did not respond to requests left on his cellphone, in text messages and through his website seeking comment.

Long Island political operatives said they recognized Cantwell from videos of the Charlottesville march.

Cantwell became involved in Suffolk politics in 2009, local political figures said.

I remember him being a passionate libertarian, said Kevin Tschirhart, a political consultant who worked for Republican congressional candidate George Demos at the time.

This is just very surprising, and frankly very sad that someone would fall into this sick type of thinking, Tschirhart said of Cantwell. He said he has not had contact with Cantwell since the campaign.

McDermott, the Suffolk Libertarian Party chairman, described Cantwells 2014 speech to the annual fundraiser in Babylon as very calm and normal.

It was a warm and tender speech that came from the heart, he said.

McDermott said he has followed Cantwells progression toward racism and fascism through Facebook. Now I cant even listen, its so obscene, McDermott said.

In a 2014 posting on his website of his prepared remarks for the 2014 speech, Cantwell said a DWI arrest in 2009 caused him to lose his job and nearly bankrupted him. He said he contemplated violence against the police officers and the government.

Gary L. Donoyan, a Nassau Libertarian who Cantwell has said managed his congressional campaign, said he helped Cantwell only briefly.

I did not know that he is a racist or a fascist, as he himself calls himself, said Donoyan, who recognized Cantwell from current pictures. Thats a shock to me, and Im very disappointed.

Donoyan, an attorney, said he last spoke with Cantwell about a year ago when Cantwell called him with a business issue. Donoyan said he told him he couldnt help him.

Cantwell in 2000 pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and driving while intoxicated. Cantwell told the Southern Poverty Law Center he served four months in jail before being released.

The issue of his criminal record was raised by his opponents in his attempted run for Congress, in particular because he had faced another DWI charge after a March 2009 arrest by East Hampton Town police, according to Tom Stevens, a Mineola-based attorney and libertarian activist. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail, according to Suffolk County court records.

During his try for Congress, Cantwell listed a Stony Brook address, and his mother as his campaign treasurer on Federal Election Commission documents.

A man at the Stony Brook house, who confirmed he was Mr. Cantwell, said Wednesday he did not know a Christopher Cantwell.

Shown pictures of Cantwell from the Charlottesville rally, two neighbors in Stony Brook confirmed that it was Christopher Cantwell who had lived there years before. They declined to give their names.

More here:
Christopher Cantwell, white nationalist in Va. protest, sought to run for Congress - Newsday