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Zachary Hurwitz of Narragansett is too young to havecast a ballot in a stateelection before, but he's not too young for Rhode Islandersto make him governorthis November.

In between shifts at the Coffee 'NBagel Connection on Boston Neck Roadandpreparing forclassesat the University of Rhode Islandin the fall, the18-year-old North Kingstown High School graduatecollected the 1,000 signatures necessary to qualify for the gubernatorial ballot, according to Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea's office.

"During my sophomore year, during COVID,while people were sitting around and watching 'Tiger King,' I wasresearching thetopic, and I realized I could do it," he said Friday. "Politics hasalways been a big part of my life."

The top issue on his platform is making the stateprovide free lunches and breakfasts to all students at public K-12 schools.

Rhode Island Primary Voting Guide: Everything you need to know to get your ballot

Hurwitz, whose father is president of health care research company Clarity Science,said he is running as an ideological moderate to "work across party lines."

He wasn't eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election, and he said he was not sure whom he would have voted for if he had been.

It's a long shot, to say the least, but if Hurwitz wereelected he'd be the youngest Rhode Island governor ever.

William Spraguewas 30 when he became governor in 1860, the youngest to do so under the state Constitution, according to State Librarian Megan Hamlin-Black. (William CoddingtonJr. of Newport was 32 when he entered office in 1683 under the old Royal Charter.)

The lastindependent to be elected governorwas Lincoln Chafee in 2010.That year Hurwitz was 6.

More: Former McKee chief of staff did not break the law but exercised 'poor judgment,' AG says

To be eligible to become governor, you have to be18 years and 30 days old on Election Day. Hurwitz reached that ageby the end ofMay.

He is the first candidate to make the ballot for governor who was born in the 21st century.

Five other candidates declared to run for governor as independents (which includes members of the Libertarian Party), but none filed the necessary signatures to get on the ballot.

That includes vaccination mandate criticPaul Rianna Jr., who came up 48 signatures short, according to Gorbea's office.

Libertarian Elijah Gizzarelli came up 61 signatures short andis challenging the rejectionof some of his signatures.

More: Legislative grants and how RI lawmakers spend taxpayer money in an election year

Candidates or interestedpartieshad until 4 p.m. Friday to challenge any signatures that were not accepted and might have allowed them to qualify, or to challenge the validity of signatures that were submitted.

According to Johnathan Berard, Gorbea's deputy director of communications, there were 10 challenges filed, including Gizzarelli's.

They include the campaign manager for Warwick DemocraticSenate candidate Jennifer Rourke challenging the signatures handed in by Michael Carreiro for the Senate seat being vacated by Majority Leader Michael McCaffrey.

Rep. Brianna Henries, D-East Providence, ischallengingAshley Pereira, who is challenging her in the Democratic primary for House District 64.

More: Candidates by same name in neighboring districts? That's no typo they're father and son

Back in the governor's race, five Democrats qualified for the Sept. 13primary ballot: Matt Brown, Helena Buonanno Foulkes, Nellie Gorbea, Dan McKee and Luis DanielMuoz.

There will also be a Republican primary for governor, as JonathanRiccitelli qualified along with thebetter-funded Ashley Kalus.

Riccitelli came in a distant fourthplace, with 2.7% of the vote, in his2018runas an independentto become lieutenant governor. He later applied for appointment to the post by McKee, who chose someone else.

Riccitelli bills himself as the "only 100% Rhode Islander Running for Governor [as a]Republican."

He describes Kalus, a relative newcomer to Rhode Island who has built her name recognitionwith nonstop TV and radio ads since spring, as a "woman who at one point lived here in her past. Left to a better state that could meet her family's needs. Then came back when her husband was awarded $7 millionplus contract to do covid testing sites."

A self-described small-business owner, the 40-year-old Riccitelli who has not yet reported raising or spending any campaign money explained in a press release he posted on his Facebook page in May why he wants to be governor.

"Firstly, because I have the sensibility and more than the capabilities to redirect the atmosphere of what the current and prior administrations have left or are leading Rhode Islanders to live with. But mostly because I was asked by a good number of residents, that said I should and now is that time."

Over in the 2nd Congressional District, there won't be a Republican primary unless Donald Robbio is successfulchallenging the rejection of signaturesthat leaves him82 namesshort of appearing on theballot against Allan Fung.

Moderate Party Chairman William Gilbert, who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2018, made the general election ballot for the 2nd District. (Gilbert took 2.7% of the vote in 2018.)

In 2014, some Republicans believed the 69,000 votes Robert Healey received for the Moderate Party cost Fung the governor's race in his 4-point loss to Raimondo.

Six Democrats made the ballot for the 2nd Congressional District primary: Omar Bah, Spencer Dickinson, Joy Fox, Seth Magaziner, Sarah Morgenthau and David Segal.

In the General Assembly, nineRepublicans who filed to run for the Senate and 18 candidates who filed to run for the Housefailed to return nominating papers or meet the signature threshold.

That leaves43 Republicans seeking seats in the House and29 in the Senate for a total of 72.

Barring last-minutedevelopments, five Senators are cruising to reelectionwithout opposition, as well as 18 House members. The unopposed are: Sens.Jessica de la Cruz,Ana Quezada, Hannah Gallo, Joshua Miller and Leonidas Raptakis; and Reps.Nathan Biah, John Lombardi, Scott Slater, Jose Batista,JacquelynBaginski, Arthur Handy, Thomas Noret, Sherry Roberts, Samuel Azzinaro, Mary Ann Shallcross Smith, Stephen Casey, William O'Brien, Joshua Giraldo, Karen Alzate, Terri Cortvriend, Marvin Abney, Alex Finkelman and Lauren Carson.

In the lieutenant governor's race, Sabina Matos, Cynthia Mendes and Deborah Ruggiero made the ballot for the Democratic primary, but former state Rep. Larry Valencia, who in May said he would run on a platform of eliminatingthe office, did not collect enough signatures to qualify.

Aaron Guckian and Paul Pence will face off for the GOP lieutenant governor nomination, while Ross McCurdy qualified for the general election ballot as an independent.

Democrat Peter Neronha and Republican Charles Calenda qualified for the attorney general ballot with no independents making it.

Democrats James Diossa and Stefan Pryor made the ballot for general treasurer, and James Lathrop made the ballot as aRepublican.

In the race for secretary of state, Gregg Amore will face Stephanie Beaute in the Democratic primary. Anthony Tamba is challenging the ruling that he came up 28 signatures short.

Pat Cortellessamade the ballot as a Republican.

Continued here:
A college freshman for governor? See who made and missed the Rhode Island ballot - The Providence Journal

The 2020 Primary Election saw a 42% voter turnout in Dent County. However, the Presidential office was on the ballot that year, which historically guarantees higher voter turnout. A better expectation would be to look at the 2018 Primary Election which saw a slightly lower 40.65% voter turnout.

Dent County Clerk Angie Curley told The Salem News Monday morning that she expects voter turnout to track similarly to past years.

Curley also wanted to remind voters that this since this is a primary election, voters will select the ballot based on a party Republican, Democrat, Constitution, or Libertarian.

The polls will be open Aug. 2 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.

In-person absentee voting continues at the Dent County courthouse through Monday at 5 p.m.

U.S. Senate Race

This year is unusual since there is no incumbent running for Missouris U.S. Senate seatsomething that has not happened in Missouri since current senator, Roy Blunt, won the 2010 election after former senator Kit Bond decided to retire.

Blunt announced his retirement in March, leaving the office to one of the 34 candidates in the runningthe largest number of candidates vying for the seat since that same 2010 Primary Election when there were 37 candidates on the ballot.

Of the 34 candidates this August there are 21 Republican Party, 11 Democratic Party, one Libertarian Party and one Constitution Party. See the sample ballot on page 5A for details.

U.S. House of Representative Race (District 8)

Republican incumbent Jason Smith faces off against republican Jacob Turner in the primary. Randy McCallian is the only Democratic candidate running for the seat. Smith has held the office since 2013.

Jim Higgins is the only Libertarian candidate running for the seat.

Either Smith or Turner will be up against McCallian and Higgins in November.

Missouri Senate (District 16)

Uniquely, due to redistricting this past legislative session, there are two republican candidates who are both serving in Jefferson City at present: Suzie Pollock and Justin Dan Brown.

Pollock currently serves as the State Representative for District 123; however, redistricting drew Pollock out of her district and into District 16. Brown has been State Senator for Dent County voters since elected in 2018.

Tara Anura is the only Democratic candidate running for the seat.

Missouri House of Representatives (District 120)

Republican Matt Williams faces off against republican incumbent Ron Copeland who was elected in 2020. There are no Democratic Party or third party candidates running for the seat.

Dent County Presiding Commissioner

The most notable local office during the August Primary Election is that of presiding commissioner. Republican Craig Smith and republican Travis Fulton face off against republican incumbent Darrell Skiles. There are no Democratic Party or third party candidates running for the position.

Other important offices on the ballot

There are several other important local and statewide positions on the ballot including county circuit clerk Republican candidates Lisa Blackwell and Kristi (Morton) Craig.

See sample ballot below.

Continued here:
Primary election coming Aug. 2 | - The Salem News

Nation-building is arduous work. Microstate-building, maybe less so.

But don't tell that to the libertarian architect of a seven-year campaign to further subdivide the tempestuous Balkans by turning a tiny, neglected sliver of woodland on the Danube into the Free Republic of Liberland.

"I realized from the beginning that building a country is not a summer job," says 38-year-old Czech Vit Jedlicka.

He and his fellow Liberlanders have recently recommitted to their U.S.-based lobbying effort, seeking to get their republic recognized internationally so they can make it a free-trade zone with the status of a state.

A July 9 filing with the U.S. Justice Department confirms Liberland's ongoing cooperation with a New York-based lobbyist and "global political and business ambassador" pursuant to the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

In a region where relations between nations are frequently tense, including a recent diplomatic dustup between Serbia and Croatia over war memorials, Liberland's neighbors appear to have gotten used to the idea.

Serbia regards the project as a "frivolous act" but no threat so long as it stays on the western bank of the Danube, which marks its border with Croatia.

"Our ties with Serbia were very friendly from the beginning," Jedlicka, who lives in the Czech capital, Prague, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service recently.

Liberland's "closest partner" is the Vojvodina provincial government in northernmost Serbia, he added.

We believe that in the near future [Croatia] will recognize the great economic benefit that will be realized by [the] creation of Liberland."

Croatia was less accommodating initially, routinely blocking access and even detaining visitors, including Jedlicka, for alleged border violations.

But Jedlicka said, seemingly without irony, that they've since built "strong ties" to the Croatian secret service since some Liberland citizens "are in contact with them frequently."

"It seems their interest in Liberland grows over time," he said of the Croatian authorities.

Call It What You Like

Jedlicka, chairman of a Czech libertarian NGO, and his wife, Jana Markovicova, a former licensed massage therapist and self-described "first lady at Liberland," proclaimed the aspiring state's existence in April 2015.

They described it as 7 square kilometers of no-man's-land that had gone unclaimed by either Croatia or Serbia since Yugoslavia fell apart in 1991.

It has a flag, a coat of arms showing a tree, the sun, and a bird soaring over the river, and -- in keeping with Jedlicka's aversion to government interference -- hopes to base its economy on a cryptocurrency, the "merit."

It has already been active in virtual and crypto projects, including a futuristic-looking Liberland Metaverse that is admittedly a "work in progress."

Its website claims upward of 500,000 citizenship requests, although RFE/RL could not confirm that figure. It also claims 1,000 "citizens" and 10 "diaspora villages."

And it says it has "diplomatic relations" with six UN member states, including Haiti, and purports to have representations in 74 spots around the world, including places like Switzerland, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.

But it's also missing one of the 20th century's most widely cited touchstones of independence, along with defined territory, a government, and a capacity to deal with other states: a permanent population.

Liberland is uninhabited, and no country has ever formally recognized it.

Are Microstates A 'Thing'?

There are currently seven microstates across Europe, of various renown, most of them wealthy and established centuries ago.

Four of them are monarchies and another is the domain of the Roman Catholic Church, so their histories are not necessarily steeped in democracy. They are: Vatican City, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Malta, San Marino, and Sovereign Order of St. John.

The main thing that sets microstates apart from larger states is their size, or lack thereof. But in his 2012 book The Microstates Of Europe, P. Christiaan Klieger describes them broadly as "designer nations" marked by "tenaciousness of national aspirations and ethnic solidarity."

Liberland, a "new libertarian country," seems like more of the former.

"We aim to develop a critical business hub and a free port on the Danube River," Michal Ptacnik, who was recently named Liberland's "minister of justice," told an audience at a libertarian-minded conference in Prague last year.

He said the governing principle should be "a mix of Swiss democracy and corporate governance." The focus is "to be a free-trade zone where individual liberty governs supreme," he said, adding, "We seek to build the freest country on Earth, and the most prosperous one."

Slow Progress

Liberland describes U.S.-based lobbyist Steven Melnik as its "ambassador at-large." An immigrant to the United States, Melnik appears to be trying to nudge U.S. and other influentials toward recognition of an eighth European microstate.

In the Justice Department document, Melnik said he continues to represent the Free Republic of Liberland under an agreement that "does not contemplate remuneration for services."

Melnik, who has represented Jedlicka's group since 2019, said that in the previous six-month reporting period he was "not required to perform any services" and that "all my actions have been voluntary and not for payment."

For Jedlicka, the end goal still seems a distant dream. But he remains an optimist.

He said Croatia now "recognizes us as a serious national movement and suggested that Zagreb was comfortable with not claiming the 7-kilometer patch he's staked out.

"We believe that in the near future they will recognize the great economic benefit that will be realized by [the] creation of Liberland," Jedlicka said.

The benefits of eventual sovereignty, for a founding father and Euroskeptic like him, and for all five members of Liberland's "government," might seem obvious. He said their current goals include creating "more benefits" of Liberlander "citizenship."

"We aim to be a shining example of how a country's government can be organized in the new millennia using strong ideological principles, as well as the latest decentralized blockchain technologies for governance," Jedlicka said.

And he doesn't seem to be in any particular rush to force his model on anyone.

"It is nice to have formal recognition by other countries," Jedlicka told RFE/RL, "but we are also happy if we are informal friends and if they recognize our motto: Live and let live."

Original post:
Wedged Away In The Balkans, Would-Be Microstate 'Liberland' Keeps Up Its Fight For Recognition - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

TEHRAN Iranian short movies I Will Never Leave You and The Gift have won awards at the Anthem Libertarian Film Festival in Las Vegas.

Directed by Alireza Biglari based on a true story, I Will Never Leave You was selected as best international short narrative.

The film shows that Kabul has fallen and the Taliban have taken control of the city, killing ordinary people, journalists, artists and women. A journalist has filmed one of the executions by the Taliban, and now he wants to send the truth to all the news agencies in the West. But the Taliban have found out about him and are looking for him to destroy his camera and kill him.

The Gift, a science fiction and horror film directed by Farbod Ardebili, was given the best short drama award.

The film explores the darker side of human nature and how catastrophic events can occur when a climate of fear is cultivated.

It is set in the near future after alien ships appear in the skies above Earths major cities, throwing the world into chaos. But instead of destroying the planet or invading, the aliens do nothing. They simply hover in place for years; silent, inscrutable. Unable to determine the aliens motivations or why they refuse to make contact, the media feeds the planet a steady diet of fear, uncertainty and doubt. When the aliens true intentions are finally revealed, an unspeakable tragedy unfolds.

Winners were announced at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas on July 16.

The Anthem Grand Prize was given to the documentary Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words directed by Michael Pack.

In this film, Justice Clarence Thomas recounts his extraordinary life story from living in poverty as a child to serving on the Supreme Court.

It also won the Anthem Vault Prize for best original score and the audience choice award in the feature film category.

Photo: A scene from I Will Never Leave You directed by Alireza Biglari.

MMS/YAW

Excerpt from:
I Will Never Leave You, The Gift win awards at Anthem Libertarian Film Festival - Tehran Times

On his essay site, Unpopular Front, writer John Ganz argues that tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and radical libertarian, Peter Thiel, is not as complicated and enigmatic as he's often made out to be. According to Gantz, he's a straight-up fascist.

So, let's sum up. Peter Thiel believes he belongs to an elite group, often understood in implicitly or explicitly racial terms, that is entitled to set aside democratic governance in favor of pursuing a program of technological progress and national restoration. He believes the political means to accomplish this is through a charismatic leader with manipulative, populist appeals to past national glory and against parasitic immigrants and culturally decadent liberalism. For him, even the most milquetoast, reformist liberalism is "tantamount to communism." He's obsessed with romanticized fantasies of absolute power, domination, and control. He dreams of wielding the the national security state against enemies both foreign and domestic. He envisioned a kind of imperialist world-state controlled not through deliberative bodies like the U.N. but directly by the intelligence and secret police bureaus. He combines the ideology of white collar, petit-bourgeois intermediary class with its emphases direct management techniques and closely-held ownership with the grandiose, world-spanning designs of an industrial titan.There's really no contradiction within Peter Thiel's politics, they are quite consistent. He's just realized, more clearly than his opponents often, that there's ultimately a contradiction between the rule of capital and democracy, and the way to deal with this contradiction, as far as he's concerned, is to do away with democracy.

Read the full essay here.

See original here:
Revealing Peter Thiel essay on his anti-democratic beliefs - Boing Boing