There’s a new page on facebook called “Save NH – Keene Hates Heroin“. Surely the group’s creators have the best of intentions, but hate only hurts the hater. It won’t hurt heroin. Only love will solve the heroin problem. These folks should reconsider their beliefs.
Ending the war on drugs is a good first step to removing a major barrier (fear of arrest) to addicts getting help. Let’s start by treating addicts with compassion. Hatred is not helping.
The New Hampshire Union-Leader published an editorial, expressing disappointment that the Libertarian Party’s ballot access case lost in U.S. District Court on August 27, and suggested the prohibition on collecting petitions before the year of the election be repealed.
It is very likely the Libertarian Party will appeal.
In 2014 the New Hampshire General Court passed a new restriction on minor party access to the general election ballot by prohibiting a political organization from collecting petitions before the election year. The Libertarian Party of New Hampshire filed a lawsuit challenging this new law. A similar law in Rhode Island was struck down in 2009 because the sole claim by the Rhode Island government was “reducing the number of ‘false positives’.” In New Hampshire, that was the initial reason given for passage of the new law, however William Gardner changed the reasoning the rationale to prevent ballot clutter and to ensure that political parties have a current modicum of support. (more…)
To be clear, according to the NY state gang’s own website, businesses who accept bitcoin for payment for product and service do not need to get a bitlicense, but if customers can’t get bitcoin because NY has made it insanely difficult to buy and sell bitcoin, what good is it to accept them?
New York is doing their best to strangle the nascent bitcoin marketplace before it gets out of the cradle. Now only the most obedient and wealthy companies will be able to buy and sell bitcoin in New York. It’s protectionism all the way, and it’s likely not going to get any better for the little guy.
In contrast, New Hampshire has somme of the biggest bitcoiners in the world that are participants in the Free State Project and have moved or will be moving here once the project reaches its goal of 20,000. The FSP even put up a special page on their website touting some of the reasons why New Hampshire is a destination for the bitcoin and liberty-loving community.
No one should really be surprised about the bitcoin crackdown in New York. They call it the Empire State for a reason. The Mercatus Center annual study on the freedom of the fifty states continues to rank New York at #50, below the awful California at #49.
Coming back after a break from internet broadcasts, the producers are happy to announce a new episode of AKPF #1 for cable and webcast, featuring content filmed very recently in the Keene area. IP strikes have delayed the release of some episodes and prevented others from being broadcast on youtube and other free video hosting services. Featuring almost entirely original content, this episode should hopefully remain outside of the grasp of information censors. Enjoy this week’s episode of AKPF #1, Cultwell, featuring an interview with Cantwellism researcher Ethan Glover by Garret Ean.
In his epic response, James lays out the ideas of liberty and voluntarism and addresses common objections about health care, vice, property rights, and more. It’s an excellent piece and would be a good one to share with people who still believe in “the state”. Here it is:
A recent column posited that Libertarian Party ideals, while they look good on paper, erode freedom (Monitor Forum, May 28). As someone who supported Barack Obama in his first run for the presidency, and even attended his inauguration, I can understand these concerns. But as someone who has since come to self-identify as a libertarian, I think the author (and the Monitor’s readers) could use some clarification as to what the principles of liberty actually are.
The article started with and seemed to revolve around one question: “What exactly do libertarians mean by harm?” This is certainly the heart of the discussion. (more…)
