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ST. JOHN Chuck Pullen, chair of the Libertarian Party of Lake County, has been named vice president of the St. John Economic Development Committee.

Pullen has served multiple stints as chair Lake County Libertarian Party. He resigned as chairman in October 2019 after he received public criticism for using the term "gang bangers" to describe two Black Hammond Common Council candidates.

Chuck Pullen, chair of the Libertarian Party of Lake County, has been named vice president of the St. John Economic Development Committee.

Pullen, of St. John, wrote in a public exchange on Facebook that "you got the gang bangers taking over the council," following the departure of eight-term Councilman Bob Markovich, who is white. Current Councilwoman Katrina Alexander, who is Black, defeated Markovich during the 2019 Democratic primary election. Current Councilman Barry Tyler Jr., who is Black, also joined the council in 2019.

Pullen said he meant to write "gang banger," instead of "gang bangers," since he only intended for his remarkto refer to Tyler and not Alexander. Pullen claimed he'd seen Facebook postings suggesting Tyler "had previous gang ties and things like that." Tyler has no criminal record and said he's never been affiliated with any gangs.

Stations of the Cross at the Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John.

At the time, the Lake County Democratic and Republican party chairs publicly condemned Pullen's comments.

"Thank you to all of my fellow LPIN members for your advice, your training seminars, and encouraging fellow Libertarians to be active in our local communities," Pullen said in a Monday news release. "My goals are simple: to apply Libertarian principles to all of my decisions, and to maintain limited government and maximum freedom."

The St. John Economic Development Committee advises the Town Council on new economic development ideas and potential projects. The Committee's next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 21 at 5 p.m.

"Chuck's years of service and activism in Lake County have earned him the respect of the local leaders and this appointment," Libertarian Party of Indiana chair Evan McMahon said in the news release. "Our values of limited government and promoting individual freedom often resonate with people in their communities."

Local photographer Tom Hocker talks about the photographs he has on display at the St. John VFW Post. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker chats with Rosemary Keilman about a house he photographed on 93rd Avenue in St. John. Hocker received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker chats with Rosemary Keilman about a house he photographed on 93rd Avenue in St. John. Hocker received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

Local photographer Tom Hocker photographs members of an Irish dance group at the VFW Post in St. John. He received a grant through the Indiana Arts Commission to document St. John's sense of community through photos.

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Chair of Lake County Libertarian Party appointed to St. John Economic Development Committee - The Times of Northwest Indiana

SO PAULO, Brazil A group of 60 slum priests in Pope Franciss native country released a Jan. 19 statement denouncing what they described as deteriorating living conditions for millions of impoverished Argentines, driven by rising food prices and decreasing earnings.

Though hes only been in office for a little over a month, new Argentine President Javier Milei nervetheless came in for criticism by the slum priests, who asserted that his minimalist conception of the role of the government in society is contributing to the crisis.

We declare in the letter that the current situation hasnt begun with this administration. Drugs, poverty, hunger, and unemployment are not something new in the poor neighborhoods, Father Pablo Viola, who works in a poor parish of Crdoba, told Crux.

Whats new is that we believe that such issues can become even more complicated if the current administration really reduces the presence of the state in the slums, Viola said.

Viola said the new administrations libertarian ideology prevents it from seeing the complexity of the interests of different social segments and the hardships faced by the middle-class and the poor.

He also claimed that Mileis program is at odds with Catholic teaching, not to mention Pope Franciss own vision.

Taking the state out of the role of working for social justice is something that opposes the Churchs social doctrine, Viola said.

In 2023, inflation in Argentina reached 211 percent, a record in the South American nation since the 1990s, when it went through a number of hyperinflationary years. Poverty already encompasses more than 40 percent of the population.

The excessive increase in prices, the anguish due to the growing unemployment and job insecurity, the problem of drugs that continue to trap many kids, and the small probability of having a more present state, which could take care of the weakest, [all] cause despair, the document from the priests states.

The signatories affirm that they had been warning about some of these issues during the [2023 presidential] campaign, sometimes alone.

The letter mentions that the salaries are not being increased in order to keep pace with rising prices of food, cooking gas, medicines, and rents.

These problems have been going on for years and can only be improved with state policies that seek justice, peace and harmony, in a climate of unity and sensitivity towards those who are left out at the table of life. This is not built overnight, the statement said.

In the letter, the priests also opposed the idea of reducing the age at which someone can be tried for a crime as an adult from 16 to 14, a proposal announced by the Milei administration.

Considering the drama of insecurity, we repudiate that, in the face of the criminal acts of our teenagers, the main response is to lower the age of imputability, they said.

The document was signed by priests and missionaries from several Argentinian cities, all of them connected to the pastoral attention to slums and poor neighborhoods a ministry more intensely promoted since the 1960s, especially in Buenos Aires, where such group became known as the curas villeros (slum priests in Spanish.)

The curas villeros have an ancient connection with Pope Francis and were one of the major church forces to campaign against Milei during last years presidential race. Not only did they object to several offensive statements by Milei directed at the pope, but they also criticized his radical ideas concerning the role of the state in society.

Buenos Airess curas villeros even promoted a Mass in reparation for Mileia offenses against the pontiff, and some directly criticized Mileis ideology during interviews with the press.

The curas villeros offer several public services in the slums, part of them funded by the government, part maintained with Church money.

In Violas neighborhood, called Villa Angelelli 2, the parish keeps refectories for the poor and a long-time work of rehabilitation for drug addicts. He said that the government department that deals with drugs has already told him that this years budget will be the same as in 2023.

With the gigantic inflation, that means well already begin the year with only half of what we need, he lamented.

Father Leonardo Silio, a cura villero in Moreno, in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, told Crux that priests who work with the poor have been feeling every day that the social situation is deteriorating, with more and more people looking for our refectories and other kinds of assistance.

The devaluation of the Argentinian peso [applied by Milei over the past month] has rapidly deepened the crisis among the poor, he said.

Milei hasnt cut the social assistance that many in the slums receive from the government, but its value hasnt been adjusted.

Many people can only buy cooking gas, but not food, Silio said.

The rent prices have increased so much that many people are moving to distant districts or joining their extended families.

A house where four people used to live now has eight or 10 residents, Silio said.

He said the priests hope in the Jan. 19 statement was to express our worries about those situations, and maybe prevent them from getting even worse.

If the government intervenes to change those circumstances only in four or five months time, it will be too late, Silio said.

In a Jan. 14 interview with an Italian television program, Pope Francis confirmed his desire to visit Argentina in the second half of 2024, where, he said, the people are suffering a great deal.

Continued here:
'Slum priests' slam new libertarian government in Pope's native Argentina - Crux Now

For some time now, there have been some libertarians who have tried desperately to convince themselves and others that Americas system of immigration controls, rather than open borders, is the genuine libertarian position.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Thats because of the libertarian non-aggression principle. It holds that people are free to engage in any peaceful act so long as their conduct does not consist of the initiation of force or fraud. Since crossing a political border is an entirely peaceful act, it is the genuine libertarian position.

But there is another way we can tell that Americas system of immigration controls is not libertarian, something that libertarian proponents of immigration controls never repeat never confront and address because it is so uncomfortable for them to do so. Americas system of immigration controls comes with a police state. And there is no possible way to reconcile the libertarian philosophy with a police state, which is what makes libertarian proponents of immigration controls so uncomfortable.

Lets examine some examples of this immigration police state, both recent and longstanding, and ask ourselves a simple question: Is it really possible that the libertarian philosophy embraces these police-state measures? I think the question answers itself but lets ask the question with each police-state measure we examine.

1. Concertina wire along the U.S. side of the Rio Grande. Does concertina wire sound like a libertarian thing? And take a look at this article from the August 31, 2023, Houston Chronicle, which states that Texas troopers treated 133 migrants for injuries from the razor wire over a period of just two months last summer. Do injuries from immigration-control concertina wire sound libertarian?

2. Long strings of buoys placed in the Rio Grande, some of which have underwater concertina wire that cannot be seen. Take a look at this article in USA Today detailing the deaths of two people that appear to have been caused by this aspect of immigration controls. Do those deaths sound libertarian?

3. The Berlin Wall that is being constructed along the border. Does a Berlin Wall sound libertarian? See this November 14, 2023, article from the New York Times whose title says it all: Border Wall Falls Leave Migrants With Devastating and Costly Injuries. Do devastating and costly injuries arising from a Berlin Wall sound libertarian?

4. Warrantless searches of farms and ranches by the Border Patrol within 100 miles of the border. Do searches that violate the Fourth Amendment sound libertarian?

5. Fixed highway checkpoints that subject people who have never entered Mexico to questions, demands for documents production, and warrantless searches. Do those things sound libertarian?

6. Roving Border Patrol warrantless stops and warrantless searches, where the Border Patrol simply stops and searches any vehicle it wants that is traveling near the border. Does that sound libertarian?

7. The criminalization of hiring, transporting, harboring, or caring of illegal immigrants. Does the criminalization of such peaceful acts sound libertarian?

8. The warrantiess boarding of Greyhound buses and the demand that passengers produce their papers. Does that sound libertarian?

9. Violent raids on American businesses that have hired illegal immigrants to work in their businesses. Does that sound libertarian?

Finally, its worth noting that Americas immigration-control system is a socialist system, one based on the core socialist principle of central planning. Thats the reason for Americas decades-old, perpetual, never-ending immigration crisis. That is the inherently defective system that libertarian advocates of immigration controls still think that they are going to reform and fix. Does socialism sound libertarian?

Of course, like everyone else, libertarians are free to advocate Americas system of immigration controls or any other statist measure. But they are wrong when they maintain that libertarianism is a philosophy of death, injuries, suffering, and an immigration police state. Libertarianism is a consistent philosophy that comes with life, peace, prosperity, and harmony.

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A Police State Is Not Libertarian The Future of Freedom Foundation - The Future of Freedom Foundation

Matt Welch, editor-at-large for Reason and podcaster on The Reason Roundtable andThe Fifth Column with Kmele Foster and Michael Moynihan, joinsReason's Zach Weissmueller and Liz Wolfe on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions to discuss the recent Iowa caucus results and talk about what it means for the 2024 election going forward.

They also talk about where libertarians and independents are leaning in the presidential race and some of the increasingly glaring divides within libertarianism that have led different factions to pursue very different strategies and hold widely divergent views of political candidates like former President Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Watch the full conversation on Reason's YouTube channel or on the Just Asking Questions podcast feed on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcatcher.

Rand Paul announces he's "Never Nikki" on X.com

Libertarian Party of Iowa poll results

Dave Smith on libertarian populism on Just Asking Questions

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Matt Welch: What's Wrong With Populism? - Reason

The Libertarian Party has qualified as an official party with ballot access in Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announced Friday.

As of Jan. 2 the deadline to qualify 5,168 Maine voters had enrolled in the Libertarian Party. At least 5,000 members were needed to be declared an official party in Maine.

The Libertarian Party will now have ballot access, including for the 2024 presidential race. It joins the Democratic, Green Independent, No Labels and Republican Parties as officially qualified parties in Maine.

Two other parties had filed to begin enrolling new voters toward new party formation. Neither the Forward Party nor the Peoples Party submitted the necessary paperwork before the deadline.

Maines 2024 primaries will be held under the new semi-open primary law. Unenrolled voters now have the option to vote in any party primary without having to enroll in that party. Unenrolled voters may only vote in one partys primary.

Voters enrolled in a party can only vote in that partys primary ballot. Enrolled voters must change enrollment at least 15 days prior to a primary if they wish to vote in a different partys primary, and they may not change their party enrollment again for 3 months unless they move to a new municipality and establish a new voting residence there.

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Libertarians form an official political party in Maine - Press Herald