Daily Archives: March 2, 2022

Gary North, a leading Christian Reconstructionist who argued for the biblical basis of free market economics and urged people to prepare for societal collapse, has died at 80.

North was a prolific writer, simultaneously penning a 31-volume Bible commentary on Austrian economics; turning out regular warnings about financial catastrophe; and firing off a seemingly endless stream of columns on the gold standard, government overreach, Gods covenants, and the greatness of libertarian Ron Paul.

He was perhaps most mainstream when he supported Pauls longshot presidential bid in 2012. He boosted the candidate throughout the Republican Party primaries, alternately explaining monetary policy to newly converted libertarians and hyping the chances that the Texas politician could actually win the White House.

He was most well-known, though, for his warnings about Y2K. North was convinced that a computer programing shortcutcoding years with two digits instead of fourwas going to lead to catastrophic crashes when the year 99 became the year 00 and the worlds digital infrastructure reset itself. He eagerlyeven gleefullyheralded the collapse of civilization and coached Christians on how to stockpile food, gold, and guns.

For his part, North thought his most important work and true calling was explaining how the alternative economic theories of Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard (both nonpracticing Jews) were deeply biblical. Free market economics should be grounded, he believed, in the Bibles account of Gods covenants, the scarcity that follows the Fall, and the divine mandate in Genesis 1:28 that people should take dominion over the earth (KJV).

North conceived his magnum opus as a Christian version of Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations but acknowledged it would probably never have the influence or the readership that he wanted. Really, he said, he was writing for a very small group of people.

Who are the likely readers? A remnant, he wrote. I mean those Christians who are convinced that there are serious problems with the modern economies of the world. I also mean those who are convinced that there are biblical alternatives to the collapsing secular humanism of our era. I write for those who are convinced that there had better be a distinctly Christian economics, and not baptized Marxism, baptized Keynesianism, or baptized Friedmanism, let alone the unbaptized varieties.

When North died in hospice care in Dallas, Georgia, on February 24, his books were available for free online.

North was born on February 11, 1942, in Horn Lake, Mississippi, to Peggy and Samuel W. North Jr. The family relocated to Southern California in Garys childhood, so his father could surveil the Socialist Workers Party for the FBI.

It was a deeply conservative home, committed to anti-Communism, but North nevertheless experienced a political awakening at 14 when he heard a lecture by Australian Fred Schwarz, head of the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade, about beating global Communism, the unbeatable foe. Soon the teenager was not only opposed to Marx and Lenin, but also Franklin Roosevelt, the New Deal, and Social Security.

North became a regular at the Betsy Ross Book Shop, a critical hub of Southern California conservatism, and a faithful reader of The Freeman, the libertarian magazine produced by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), the first free market think tank in the United States.

At 17, he became a Christian and became fascinated by the idea of connecting libertarian economics with his faith. Several people claimed to be doing this at the time, but in Norths estimation, they fell short. A Dutch Calvinist businessman was republishing the work of Austrian economist Eugen von Bhm-Bawerk and calling it Progressive Calvinism, but it wasnt notably more religious than the work of other Austrian theorists. J. Howard Pew, the Presbyterian oil magnate and Christianity Today financier, was publishing a twice-monthly journal called Christian Economics, but it didnt seem to be particularly Christian.

The authors were first-rate free market economists, and many of them were Austrian school economists, North later recalled. But there was no attempt by the authors to integrate what they were writing on economics with the Bible.

By the time he was 18, North was personally committed to this project. He decided he would do what others hadnt and show how the whole counsel of God supported free market capitalism.

The most significant moment in Norths development came in 1962, when he met R. J. Rushdoony, a Presbyterian pastor who developed a theology he called Christian Reconstructionism. Rushdoony said that everyoneand in fact everything and every intellectual discipline that started from objective, observable factswas in rebellion against God and needed to be brought under Gods authority. He argued a truly Christian society would be a theonomy, under divine law.

North embraced Christian Reconstructionism to the point that he would, over the years, make the argument that a truly Christian country would reinstitute the practice of public stoning.

That modern Christians never consider the possibility of the re-introduction of stoning for capital crimes indicates how thoroughly humanistic concepts of punishment have influenced the thinking of Christians, he would write. Christians have voluntarily transferred their allegiance from the infallible Old Testament to contemporary God-hating and God-denying criminologists and economists.

North spent one summer working with Rushdoony at a libertarian think tank and kept in touch.

After he graduated with a PhD in history from the University of California, Riverside, he went to work for FEE, directing seminars at the Irvington, New York, think tank, and writing articles for The Freeman. He wrote about gold, inflation, financial depressions, and the theology at work in economic theories (Men have a tendency to get their religious presuppositions confused with economic analysis, he said).

In 1972, North married Sharon Rushdoony, R. J.s daughter. The next year he quit FEE, partly in a dispute over rights to his writing and public lectures, and went to work for his new father-in-law. He edited the new journal of Christian Reconstructionism, the Chalcedon Report, assisted with the research for Rushdoonys Institutes of Biblical Law, and published his first book, a collection of articles titled An Introduction to Christian Economics.

Is there such a thing as a distinctively Christian economics? North asked in the introduction. His answer was Yes. The first chapter looked Old Testament prophets condemnations of dross and drew out implications for monetary policy.

In 1976, North took a brief break from the world of think tanks to go work for Ron Paul in Washington, DC. The Texas obstetrician named won a special election and went to the capital promising to fight the Federal Reserve and return the US to the gold standard. He needed staff, and hired North to write twice-monthly newsletters to his constituents.

The job only lasted until Paul lost reelection in November. North was considered for a position in Congressman Dan Quayles office but didnt get it, and decided he wanted nothing more to do with government work.

Seldom in the history of man have so many incompetents, cronies, idiots, goof-offs, hangers-on, and nincompoops been assembled in one geographical area, he wrote. These people are yo-yos. You would not believe how second-rate these people are. I am speaking about the conservative staffers.

Leaving Congress, North moved to Durham, North Carolina, where he could access an academic library. He started working in earnest on his economics Bible commentary.

To fund the work, he founded the Institute for Christian Economics. He sold self-published books by direct mail for $10 and then got book-buyers to subscribe to his newsletter, Remnant Report, for $45 per year. He grew the subscriber base from 2,000 to more than 22,000, grossing $1.2 million in 1979. What North didnt use for his Bible commentary he poured into building up Christian Reconstructionism.

In the early 1980s, North moved to Tyler, Texas, be closer to other Christian Reconstructionists. At the same time, North had a bitter falling out with Rushdoony. The disagreement started with an article about the lambs blood on the doorposts in the Passover story in Exodus.

The esoteric debate quickly escalated. North told his father-in-law he was going to be replaced by younger, more vigorous men. Rushdoony replied, Your letter is written with your usual grace and courtesy.

The Texas Reconstructionists were also increasingly fixated on impending catastrophes, becoming preppers and survivalists. North wrote that the AIDS epidemic would lead to civilizational collapse, predicted numerous recessions and depressions caused by inflation or government debt, and frequently urged people to buy gold and silver before it was too late.

The peak of his apocalyptic fervor came in the late 1990s. North became convinced that a computer programing shortcut would end modern life as we know it, resulting in a nightmare for every area of life, in every region of the industrialized world.

To North, it was clear this was divine punishment for a world that had strayed from God. He called it a good, old-fashioned Deuteronomy kind of thing and launched a website with advice on postapocalyptic bartering, gardening, food storage, generators, where to move to best avoid murderous hoards, and of course, why you should buy gold.

When the predicted day of doom came and went, North noted that he had been incorrect, but said Y2Ks effects, so far, have taken all of the specialists by surprise. He believed, regardless, that gold was a good investment and people were better off, prepared for disaster in out-of-the-way parts of the world.

North moved on from predicting disasters and turned to more mainstream commentary in the next decade, when he became a regular columnist for the libertarian and anarcho-capitalist website LewRockwell.com.

He advocated for the Tea Party movement and the gold standard while attacking social security, fiat money, leftist evangelical Jim Wallis, and Franklin Roosevelt. He occasionally defended conspiracy theories, speculated about a conspiracy behind the terrorist attacks of 2001, and when his old boss Ron Paul started gaining momentum, he wrote about Paul.

As the libertarian candidates quest for the Republican nomination fizzled, North finally finished the 8,511-page book he had first dreamed of in 1960 and had started writing in 1973: An Economic Commentary on the Bible.

No one has ever attempted a Bible commentary like this: what the Bible has to say about the details of an academic discipline, North wrote. The culmination of my lifes work is here.

North posted the final, revised, and typeset PDF of the commentary online on January 29, 2021. He died one month later.

He was predeceased by his son Caleb and survived by his wife, Sharon, and their children Darcy North, Scott North, and Lori McDurmon.

Read the original:
Died: Gary North, Who Saw Austrian Economics in the Bible and Disaster on the Horizon... | News & Reporting - ChristianityToday.com

The Statue of Liberty.

A draft version of new article on "Immigration and the Economic Freedom of Natives" (forthcoming in a symposium in Public Affairs Quarterly) is now available on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Much of the debate over the justice of immigration restrictions properly focuses on their impact on would-be migrants. For their part, restrictionists often focus on the potentially harmful effects of immigration on residents of receiving countries. This article cuts across this longstanding debate by focusing on ways in which immigration restrictions inflict harm on natives, specifically by undermining their economic liberty. The idea that such effects exist is far from a new one. But this article examines them in greater detail, and illustrates their truly massive scale. It covers both the libertarian "negative" view of economic freedom, and the more "positive" version advanced by left-liberal political theorists.

Part I focuses on libertarian approaches to economic freedom. It shows that migration restrictions severely restrict the negative economic liberty of natives, probably more than any other government policy enacted by liberal democracies. That is true both on libertarian views that value such freedom for its own sake, and those that assign value to it for more instrumental reasons, such as promoting human autonomy and enabling individuals to realize their personal goals and projects.

In Part II, I take up left-liberal "positive" theories of economic freedom, which primarily focus on enhancing individuals' access to important goods and services, and enabling them to have the resources necessary to live an autonomous life. Some also focus on expanding human capacities generally, or give special emphasis to enhancing the economic prospects of the poor. Here too, migration restrictions impose severe costs on natives. To the extent migration can sometimes harm the economic prospects of natives, the issue is better dealt with by "keyhole solutions" that address specific problems by means other than restricting migration.

Finally, Part III describes how to address situations where potentially harmful side effects of migration might undermine either negative or positive economic liberty of natives, without actually restricting migration. I have addressed such issues in greater detail in previous work, and here provide only a short summary of my approach and its relevance for economic liberty issues.

I am looking for some alternative to "natives" as a concise, non-clunky way to refer to "current citizens of destination countries." I welcome any suggestions readers might come up with. E-mail me if you have one!

Read more:
My New Article on "Immigration and the Economic Freedom of Natives" - Reason

President Joe Biden gave his second State of the Union Address last night. It was, above all, a testament to the ridiculous breadth of issues we expect our executive branch to be involved in and the absurd reach of the federal government into all aspects of American life.

Biden delved into everything from the price of insulin to protecting Roe v. Wade, safeguarding kids from social media ads, lowering consumer prices, getting more Americans mental health services, ensuring better patient treatment at nursing homes, raising the minimum wage, subsidizing childcare, stopping drug trafficking, helping young transgender people reach their potential, creating manufacturing jobs, combating cancer, and more. (You can read the whole thing here.)

One of the most notableand libertarian-friendlysections of the speech related to COVID-19 and the pandemic, with Biden (in a test of new Democratic messaging on the issue?) promising a return to normalcy. "COVID-19 need no longer control our lives," he declared, while still touting the efficacy of vaccines, the importance of testing, and the need to stay vigilant about new variants.

"Most Americans in most of the country can now be mask free," said Biden, pointing to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. He also commented: "Our schools are open. Let's keep it that way."

But Biden's State of the Union hit way too many notes that would've been right at home in an address from former President Donald Trump. He called for more police funding, talked about the need to strengthen our southern border, and went on at length about America-first trade policies and buying American.

"This is more a populist than a left-wing speech: trade protection, business subsidies, transfer payments, more money for police, secure the border," commented Cato Institute's Executive Vice President David Boaz.

Here's more State of the Union analysis from Reason writers:

"Criminal Justice Campaign Promises Absent From Biden's State of the Union Speech"

"Biden Says No Troops to Ukraine, Is Silent on Ukrainian and Russian Refugees"

"Biden's State of the Union Offers More Useless Solutions to Gun Violence"

"If COVID-19 Is Over for Congress, It Should Be Over for School Children Too"

"Biden Praises Ukrainian 'Iron Will', Refuses To Use Ukrainian Iron in Infrastructure Projects"

"Biden Tries To Twist His Domestic Agenda Into a Form Joe Manchin Will Support"

Politician can block people on personal Facebook pages. A federal appeals court ruled that it doesn't violate the First Amendment for a New Mexico politician to block someone on his personal Facebook page. The case involves Otero County Commissioner (and Cowboys for Trump co-founder) Couy Griffin and whether his personal Facebook page counted as a public forum for free speech purposes.

"Three judges from the appeals court ruled unanimously that plaintiff Jeff Swanson, chairman of the Otero County Democratic Party, failed to show that the law has determined when a personal social media profile becomes a public forum, with 1st Amendment protections," reports the Associated Press. Swanson had argued that "elected leaders should not be able to shut out the electorate from political conversations on social media," after being blocked from Griffin's personal Facebook profile after criticizing the commissioner.

Getting cryptocurrency wrong. In which Sen. Elizabeth Warren (DMass.) and The New York Times get everything about cryptocurrency and Ukraine/Russia exactly backward:

Cryptocurrencies are much more likely to help out ordinary Russians and Ukrainians than "Putin and his cronies."

"Crypto is a lifeline for ordinary people in countries like Venezuela and Russia, not a means to evade sanctions," comments the Niskanen Center's Samuel Hammond. "On the contrary. Russia is trying to minimize the cost of sanctions through draconian capital controls. Access to crypto markets *hurts* Russia more than it helps."

Andas Hammonds and many others have pointed outcryptocurrency transactions come with a record. "An immutable ledger is simply not a smart way for nation states or large corporations to evade sanctions," comments Hammond. "There are two sides to every transaction. You really think Volkswagen could just illegally export vehicles to Russia and it not be noticed just because they paid in Bitcoin?"

Russia's attacks on major Ukrainian cities "accelerated on Wednesday, with the Russian military claiming that its forces were fully in control of Kherson, a port near the Black Sea," The New York Times reports, adding that "Ukrainian officials disputed Russia's claim." Russian forces also bombed a government building in Kharkiv yesterday, surrounded the port city of Mariupol, and continued advancing on Kyiv.

"Don't pour your Russian vodka down the drain," writes Jack Shafer in Politico, and don't kick Russian students out of the U.S.

Why a no-fly zone over Ukraine is a bad move.

A new poll finds Democrats more supportive than Republicans of U.S. intervention in Ukraine:

How Texas abortion restrictions are putting women's health at risk.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing over a Texas directive that sex reassignment surgery, puberty blockers, or hormone treatments for minors should be considered child abuse.

The Washington Post looks at different visions for the American right, as embodied by three conservative conferences that took place last weekend.

"Is libertarianism a specifically political philosophy whose only legitimate concern is the role of the state and its use of force vis a vis the people it rules? Or does libertarianism, properly understood, also entail a variety of cultural commitments that range far beyond arguments over the size, scope, and spending of government?" Reason's Nick Gillespie and Stephanie Slade discuss.

Professor and writer Paul Cantorauthor of The Invisible Hand in Popular Culture: Liberty vs. Authority in American Film and TV and an occasional contributor to Reasonhas died.

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Biden's State of the Union Highlights Absurd Reach of Federal Government - Reason

Nicole Fuentes

After filing a Freedom of Information request with the Suffolk County Board of Elections, enrollment numbers based on party lines in our area was found:

Numbers were rounded to the whole for clarity.

BROOKHAVEN TOWN

With over 334,000 registered voters, Brookhaven Town has a total of 106,767 Democratic voters and 106,838 Republican voters. It also has just over 7,000 conservatives, 1,400-plus working party, 41 green party, 14,000 independent and 20 and 2 libertarian and SAM voters.

ISLIP TOWN

With over 212,000 voters, Islip Town has just nearly 77,000 Democratic voters and 63,500 Republican voters. It also has 4,000 conservative, 770 working party, 300 green, 7,770 independent, 350 libertarian and 14 SAM.

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 1

Congressional District 1, which will see an open seat this year due to Rep. Lee Zeldins announcement in running for Governor, has a total of 164,500 Democratic voters to their 166,000 Republican voters, 11,350 conservative, and 21,900 independent voters.

CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 2

Congressional District 2 has 130,450 Democratic voters, 96,950 Republican voters, 12,000 independent voters and 6,200 conservative voters.

SENATE DISTRICT 3

Senate District 3 has 69,900 Democratic voters, 57,250 Republican voters, 7,450 independent voters and 4,000 conservative voters.

SENATE DISTRICT 4

Senate District 4 has 75,000 Democratic voters, 64,250 Republican voters, 7,700 independent voters and 4,000 conservative voters.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 3

Assembly District 3 has 27,700 Democratic voters, 25,500 Republican voters, 3,450 independent voters and 1,850 conservative voters.

ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 7

Assembly District 7 has 27,300 Democratic voters, 34,000 Republican voters, 4,050 independent voters and 2,400 conservative voters.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 3

Legislative District 3 has 17,000 Democratic voters, 15,100 Republican voters, 2,100 independent voters and 1,100 conservative voters.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 7

Legislative District 7 has 17,700 Democratic voters, 15,100 Republican voters, 2,250 independent voters and 1,150 conservative voters.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 8

Legislative District 8 has 17,000 Democratic voters, 22,750 Republican voters, 2,600 independent voters and 1,450 conservative voters.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 10

Legislative District 10 has 17,300 Democratic voters, 19,990 Republican voters, 4,050 independent voters and 2,180 conservative voters.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 11

Legislative District 11 has 18,000 Democratic voters, 19,700 Republican voters, 2,300 independent voters and 1,150 conservative voters.

2021 November election assessment:

Suffolk County Republicans came out in full force, taking control of the Suffolk County Legislature, unseating the Democratic majority leader Rob Calarco and taking control of the 18-seat body.

Republican candidate Dominick Thorne unseated Suffolk County presiding officer Rob Calarco with 54 percent with 6,611 votes, to Calarcos 45 percent of the vote, 5,627 votes, for District 7. This would have been Calarcos final term as legislator after serving a total of 10 years in the seat.

Also, special election incumbent Republican James Mazzarella took the win for Suffolk Countys 3rd district against former Legis. Kate Browning with 66 percent of the vote and 7,525 votes to her 32 percent of the vote, and 3,708 votes.

Trish Bergin, a former councilwoman for Town of Islip, won in a wide margin against Carla Simpson in former legislator Tom Cilmis term-limited seat in the 10th Legislative District. Bergin had gained 7,260 votes, or 67.07 percent, compared to Fidelias 3,559, or 32.88 percent.

According to Suffolk County Board of Elections data, residents who just recently enrolled to vote include a total of 810 new Democratic voters and 166 new Republican voters in Brookhaven Town, and 121 new Democratic voters and 48 new Republican voters in Islip Town. Legislative District 7, which saw an upset, had a total of 31 new Democratic voters and 10 new Republican voters. The 3rd Legislative District saw an almost equal number of new voters at 24 and 17, respectively, and the 10th Legislative District had 25 and 19 new voters as well.

VOTER TURNOUT

Taking an overall look at some of the 2021 voting numbers, voter turnout was extremely low.

There were barely 11,000 voters in the 10th Legislative District compared to the over 56,500 registered votes. Legislative District 7 had over 12,000 voters with over 51,500 registered voters, and the 3rd Legislative District had over 11,000 votes with over 51,100 registered voters.

Go here to read the rest:
Insight into last year's voting enrollment - The Suffolk County News

Heres the final list of candidates for races on ballots in Lincoln County for the May 10 primary election. An (I) denotes an incumbent.

If a recognized Nebraska political party doesnt appear within this list in partisan races, it means no candidate filed for that partys primary by the deadline.

All local races are shown here, but only school board and North Platte City Council races with more than two candidates per open seat will appear on the primary ballot. Candidates otherwise will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.

U.S. House, 3rd District Republican: Adrian Smith, Gering (I). Democratic: David J. Else, rural Overton; Daniel M. Wik, Norfolk. Legal Marijuana NOW: Mark Elworth Jr., Omaha.

Governor Republican: Donna Nicole Carpenter, Lincoln; Michael Connely, York; Charles W. Herbster, rural Falls City; Brett Lindstrom, Omaha; Lela McNinch, Lincoln; Jim Pillen, Columbus; Breland Ridenour, Omaha; Theresa Thibodeau, Omaha; Troy Wentz, rural Sterling. Democratic: Carol Blood, Bellevue; Roy Harris, Linwood. Libertarian: Scott Zimmerman, Omaha.

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Secretary of State Republican: Bob Evnen (I), Lincoln; Rex Schroder, Palmyra; Robert Borer, Lincoln.

State Treasurer Republican: John Murante (I), Omaha; Paul Anderson, Omaha. Libertarian: Katrina Tomsen, Upland.

Attorney General Republican: Jennifer Hicks, Peru; Mike Hilgers, Lincoln. Legal Marijuana NOW: Larry Bolinger, Alliance.

Auditor of Public Accounts Republican: Larry Anderson, Lincoln; Mike Foley, Lincoln. Libertarian: Gene Sladek, Omaha. Legal Marijuana NOW: L. Leroy Lopez, rural Cortland.

Legislature District 42: Mike Jacobson (I), North Platte; Chris Bruns, rural North Platte; Brenda Fourtner, North Platte.

State Board of Education District 7: Robin Stevens (I), Gothenburg; Pat Moore, Litchfield; Elizabeth Tegtmeier, North Platte.

University of Nebraska Board of Regents District 7: Nolan Gurnsey, rural Sutherland; Matt Williams, Gothenburg; Kathy Wilmot, rural Beaver City.

Public Service Commission District 5: Mary Ridder (I), rural Callaway; Dakota Delka, Red Cloud; Kevin Stocker, rural Scottsbluff.

Mid-Plains Community College Board of Governors District 4: Ben Lashley (I), rural North Platte. District 5: Tricia Schaffer, rural North Platte.

Middle Republican Natural Resources District board Subdistrict 5: Daniel Nelsen (I, Subdistrict 1), rural Stockville; Dan Estermann (I, Subdistrict 2), rural Wellfleet.

Twin Platte Natural Resources District board Subdistrict 1: Jon Walz, rural Stapleton. Subdistrict 2: Joe Wahlgren, rural Brady (I). Subdistrict 3: Jake Tiedeman, North Platte (I). Subdistrict 4: David Colvin, rural North Platte (I). At-large: Eric Brown, rural Hershey (I).

Nebraska Public Power District board Subdistrict 4: Larry Linstrom, North Platte; Bill Hoyt (I), rural McCook; David Gale, North Platte.

County Commissioner, District 2 Republican: Kent Weems (I), rural Stapleton; Todd Roe, Brady; David P. Huebner, rural North Platte. District 3 Republican: Micaela Wuehler (I), rural North Platte.

County Clerk Republican: Becky Rossell (I), North Platte.

Register of Deeds Republican: Lois Block (I), North Platte.

Clerk of the District Court Republican: Deb McCarthy (I), North Platte.

County Treasurer Republican: Alex Gurciullo (I), North Platte.

County Sheriff Republican: Jerome Kramer (I), rural Stapleton.

County Attorney Republican: Rebecca Harling (I), rural North Platte.

Public Defender Democratic: Bob Lindemeier (I).

County Surveyor Republican: Boni Edwards (I), rural North Platte.

County Assessor Republican: Julie Stenger (I), rural North Platte.

City Council Ward 1: Jim Nisley (I), 802 Russian Olive Road. Ward 2: Ty Lucas (I), 3510 Tyler Court; Kelle Dikeman, 2502 Cedarberry Lane. Ward 3: Jim Carman (I), 1401 West A St.; Brian Flanders, 3301 Maplewood Drive. Ward 4: Ed Rieker (I), 916 N. Emory Ave.; Tracy Martinez, 1003 W. Ninth St.

North Platte Airport Authority: Randy Billingsley, 520 E. Ninth St.; Corban Heinis, 716 E. 10th St.; Daren Wilkinson, 1920 W. Leota St.

North Platte Ward 1: Marcy Hunter, 237 S. Maloney Drive; Anna Junker, 202 Prairie Road; Cynthia OConnor, 1131 Tomahawk Road. Ward 2: Jo Ann Lundgreen (I), 2108 Burlington Blvd.; Thomas Hagert II, 1115 W. Fifth St. Ward 3: Mark Nicholson (I), 2204 W. First St.; Suzanne Donnally, 2820 Wright Ave.; Emily Garrick, 1118 W. Fifth St.; Mitch Wagner, 3404 West A St.

Brady: Ryan Stearns (I), DeAnn Vaughn (I), Sara Gentry, Necole Miller, Kathy Welte.

Maxwell: Monica Breinig (I), Todd McKeeman (I), Shaun Pagel (I), Justin Falcon, Levi Gosnell.

Hershey: Jason Bode (I), Jodi Seamann (I), Amy Wolfskill (I).

Sutherland: Janet Mueller (I), Eric Peterka (I), Tom Kelly.

Wallace: Joshua Friesen (I), Seth Hasenauer (I), Heather Strawder.

Gothenburg: Ryan T. OHare, Cozad; Blake Ristine, Gothenburg.

Sutherland: Janie Rasby, Harry Stewart.

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Wondering who will be on the ballot? Here's the final list of candidates for the May 10 primary - North Platte Telegraph

More stable than their currencies

Whatever the human toll of the war in Ukraine, the ugly reality is that conflicts between nation states are won or lost as much in the monetary realm as on the battlefield.

Keeping the machinery of war raging forward will leave even the wealthiest of countries in dire financial straits. Many will resort to currency debasement, capital restrictions and unsustainable foreign debt to fund their violence. Superpowers who control the global financial architecture will often deploy sanctions to strangle lesser economies, wiping out entire business sectors and goading impoverished citizens to overthrow their leaders.

One way or another: once the money runs dry, the guns soon fall silent.

Russias unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine will be no exception. Neither side can afford a war with no end. Yet the emergence of a new form of sovereign digital money is distinguishing this conflict from all that came before it.

Never before has the ability to finance a war and to shield oneself from monetary attack rested in the hands of individual citizens wielding smartphones and making personal choices without scrutiny from their government, bank or law enforcement agency. The financial libertarianism that bitcoin unlocks for the world has no parallel in history. Whether it will be written about as a force for good or for evil by historians will depend not on the underlying technology which is apolitical and incorruptible but on the scruples with which society collectively deploys it.

Ukraines government fired the opening salvo on this front on February 26th, when deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov appealed directly to global citizens not their political representatives to donate money for his countrys war effort in bitcoin and two other cryptocurrencies.

Fedorov did not ask his audience to lobby their governments for military aid. He did not solicit donations through the cumbersome, inefficient, state-supervised infrastructure that allows bank-account holders in Seattle, Sierra Leone and Shanghai to send money to Kiev. Instead, he posted a 34-character bitcoin address in a single tweet. Anyone on the planet who copied that address and pasted it into their digital wallet was then able to teleport a donation instantly, at the click of a button, for virtually no cost, and without needing the help or permission of an intermediary.

Its easy for Westerners living in democracies to downplay the significance of this technological feat. Westerners are accustomed to opening banking apps on our phones and swiping away our globally accepted dollars or euros. Those living in poorer countries, less so. Westerners are not accustomed to being bundled into the back of a police van because our latest bank statement included a payment to a disagreeable party. Those living in autocratic countries, more so.

Bitcoin is the first genuinely peer-to-peer monetary network the world has ever known. The individual freedom it enshrines is now helping a friendly government protect its people from a hostile one: at the time of writing, 220 bitcoin worth $9.6m had been donated to Ukraine. Crucially, as a borderless and permissionless network its also protecting benefactors many Russians among them, no doubt from persecution at home.

And yet with the good, comes the bad.

Just as an army can both liberate or annihilate a population, so bitcoin can both set people free or empower their tyrants.

Western efforts to punish Russia economically through wide-ranging sanctions and exclusion from the international payment system Swift expose the dark side of monetary freedom. Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs in his pocket will likely try to use bitcoin to circumvent restrictions. According to Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), this ability to defang Western policy underlines the need for regulation in cryptocurrency markets. According to Ukraines Fedorov, the risk is so great that all Russians should be banned from cryptocurrency exchanges.

Lagardes stance needs serious caveats. Regulation, in principle, is acceptable to all but the most radical libertarians. But the devil is in the detail. The fully transparent, open-ledger transaction history on which bitcoin is built already helps law enforcement track illicit funds. Credible exchanges already block dirty bitcoin that is known to be the proceeds of crime. They already comply with Know Your Customer (KYC) anti-money laundering legislation. These protocols can, should and will be used to target sanctioned Russians, more or less trapping their ill-gotten gains within the cryptosphere. But regulation must not become a smokescreen for attacking bitcoin and blocking law-abiding citizens from taking custody of their wealth an ulterior motive that Lagarde clearly harbors, believing its the ECBs god-given right to bind Europeans to a monetary system that dissolves the value of their savings through negative real interest rates.

Fedorovs proposal, meanwhile, should be dismissed out of hand.

Russian citizens are not the enemy. They are not responsible for Putins actions; they certainly never voted him into office, and theyre now paying dearly for his madness. Binance, one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency exchanges, struck the correct tone in response to his appeal: We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users accounts, it told CNBC. Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe.

Its important to recognize than bitcoin will help ordinary Russians as much as and very likely more so than their Ukrainian counterparts. Russian inflation had already surpassed 8% by the end of last year. It will now, inevitably, skyrocket as supply chains collapse, energy prices surge, and panic takes hold in financial markets.

Bitcoins fixed supply and seizure-resistant, non-physical design are attractive traits for civilians on both sides of the border who need to protect their assets from inflation and government overreach. Whether they take up arms or not, civilians rarely escape the cost of war. Those who survive the bombs are left to pay for them. If theyre lucky, their government will secure a debt repayment plan while rolling out tax hikes that saddle an entire generation with the cost of its military adventurism. If theyre unlucky, they face total financial destruction through hyperinflation. Thats what happened in Hungary in the aftermath of WWII, when former currency the peng was losing 90% of its value every four days. Its replacement, the forint, lopped 29 zeros off the nominal value of the old notes.

The consequences for Hungarians who had stored their life savings in peng does not need elaborating.

On February 28th, following a weekend of deteriorating fortunes for Russias military, the ruble lost nearly a quarter of its value in a single day. It continues to depreciate rapidly. Moscow has responded by banning foreigners from exiting local investments and doubling the interest rate to 20%. Russian citizens will be targeted next. These are the agonized contortions of an economy that is burning from the inside out. The ruble need not go the way of the peng for Russians to have their wealth erased with the stroke of a pen.

Bitcoin, as the ECBs Lagarde eloquently but unintentionally put it last year, is the solution. If there is an escape, she said, that escape will be used. Her remarks were meant to convince democratic governments that bitcoin is a threat to the established financial order. Instead, they show undemocratic ones that global citizens can no longer be robbed and abused with impunity.

The rest is here:
Bitcoin Earns Its Stripes In The War In Ukraine - Forbes

The Beacon is still looking for my replacement. But until one is found, I have the great honor of being allowed to fill in the blank spots for the time being. Ill be cleaning up topics I want to flog one final time. Dont like it? You can do better? Then start typing.

Northwest Montana has trended into a pretty conservative place politically, enough so that most of our elected Republican officials feel comfortable in actually acting like Republicans voters expect, or at least hope. That goes double for Flathead County, which pretty much ranks with Billings in terms of concentrated and unified GOP influence.

Well, one thing good conservatives, classical liberals, AND libertarians expect from those they elect is respect for property rights, as in no person shall be deprived [of] property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Our Republican legislators and county commissioners clearly take property rights seriously. But in nonpartisan elected positions, where progressives can still win, or become judges, property rights are conditional on political whimsy.

One new, shining example of this whimsy, or hypocrisy if you will, is the screaming in Whitefish about Mountain Gateway. Mark Jones, of course, has the resources to defend his property rights on his 126,000-acre instant ranch, but when it comes to others, he threatens to withdraw his charitable affordable housing largesse? Now, thats whimsy. Im not optimistic at all about the future of our historic public use and enjoyment of his holdings in southern Flathead County.

Longer term, theres the Dockstader Island mess. Has anyone considered that, prior to construction of Kerr Dam, which raised Flathead Lake 10 feet, Dockstader Island was a peninsula? Montana Cadastral shows how now-mostly drowned lakeshore properties legally run a considerable distance into the lake, including theres a cherrystemmed-but-drowned beach lot in front of the Dockstader rock.

So why the hullabaloo? Well, thanks mostly to my scrumming around in the dark money cesspool, Ive made it my practice to Google nonprofit or political legal domiciles. Its a great way to determine if a group is real, or just an Astroturf pop-up with a UPS Store box as world headquarters, or run out of a law or public-relations office under contract.

Last fall I was going through some documents on other issues and found a legal filing from an environmental group, Headwaters Montana. So, with Google Earth available, including street views, I just couldnt resist popping Headwaters Montana. No, its actually a real place the home of the professional environmentalist/community organizer who runs Headwaters.

Where is it? Across Holt Road, with a lovely (and Im sure, quite marketable) view of the lake and formerly pristine Dockstader Island. His investment is safe at last, or will be as soon as the owners dig out the bridge. Thing is, the family that bought his view, and had a right to their dream, is apparently fiscally broken, crushed under the legal weight of an organized community. Worse, the lady who owned the parcel is dead. Gosh, isnt that enough? You could buy lawyers, kids, so how about hiring a removal crew yourselves?

Shameful.

Then theres the Montana Artesian fiasco. I crunched the numbers for you in 2017. Heres some more. Yes, it was a new water right, but it was from the deep aquifer, a literal 30-by-10 mile underground lake, with inflows of 213,000 acre feet (AF) a year, current pumping about 23,500 AF, with 190,000 AF yet unappropriated (available for beneficial use).

Objectively, there was really no reason to deny the permit. The neighbors just didnt want water trucks on their roads and/or their views messed up by Mr. Weaver using his property as he saw fit. So they formed a nonprofit in order to be able to take a tax deduction for their legal fees, and away we went. Eventually, the right judges were found (in another county, and later, here).

For me, the biggest disappointment was the ballot initiative, which retroactively spot-zoned the bottling plant. Clearly, too many Flathead voters have a double standard, falling to whimsy when they should be standing on principle.

Go here to see the original:
Property Wrongs - Flathead Beacon

To the editor:

I am a 72-year-old man who already has one foot in the grave, but I am really worried about what the future will be like in our society.

Since 1980 Ive watched the growth of a cold-hearted, survival-of-the-fittest, social Darwinist mentality among many conservative Republicans in the conservative news media, on conservative talk shows, in conservative think tanks and policy institutes and especially in the U.S. Congress.

More and more of these people want to abolish every single federal government social program that helps the middle classes and lower classes. I dont think that most Americans are aware of this.

These people are now much more conservative than are our Republican voters.

What also scares the dickens out of me is the growth of an over-the-top and extreme hyper-individualism and libertarianism in which so many of us believe that we have no responsibilities to each other and that we only have a concern with me-me-me and what I want to do.

And we smugly and defiantly call this selfish and self-absorbed narcissism personal choice.

Stewart B. EpsteinRochester, N.Y.

Here is the original post:
Letter to the editor: Selfish, anti-social conservatives worry reader - theperrynews.com

Filing ended today for the May 24 party primaries and non-partisan elections for prosecuting attorneys and judgeships.

No major surprises on the final day.

You can view all the candidates here. The Republican Party had more than twice the number of candidates as Democrats with more than 200 filing for state offices. The Republicans also said there was a surge of Republican filings at the county level. Not in Pulaski County, however. A Republican filed for only one countywide office sheriff. Republicans are vying for nine of the 15 Quorum Court seats, where they currently hold five. Four of the five are unopposed and Doug Reed, whos been challenging the county mask mandate, is not seeking re-election.

Five Democrats, two Republicans a Libertarian and four write-ins filed for governor.

Democrats did field candidates in all four congressional races and the race for U.S. Senate as well as all the statewide offices.

Among judicial contests, incumbent Justice Rhonda Wood, despite facing an ethics complaint over her embarrassing involvement in matters related to dubious fund-raising exposed in the Gilbert Baker bribery trial (he also raised money from the same sources for her), drew no opponent.

Two other incumbents face challengers. Justice Robin Wynne has two opponents, state agency lawyer David Sterling and Circuit District Judge Chris Carnahan, both running for the non-partisan race while touting Republican credentials. Justice Karen Baker is faced by another Republican-branded opponent, former state Senator Gunner DeLay.

Three Democrats, four Republicans, a Libertarian and two write-ins were joined by Stuart Shirrell of Little Rock, an independent, in the race for John Boozmans Senate seat.

Get ready for millions in ads for Republicans running for governor and Senate, all vying to be the most Trumpian in their races. Good time to turn off the TV. The six-Republican race for the meaningless office of lieutenant governor remains one of the most interesting from the loony Chris Bequette to the bombastic bully of Bigelow, Jason Rapert, with the attorney general, a former Republican state chair, a county judge and the surgeon general in between.

View post:
Election filing closes. Get ready for the TV deluge - Arkansas Times

Cheers, Beer Nerd!I just wanted to proclaim my appreciation of Mike Riedel and the Beer Nerd column. My father, mother and various brothers all eagerly await it as a weekly delightpulling it out, pinning it up and discussing with an eager eye toward sampling these new beverages so kindly placed on our culinary horizons.JACOB WILKSDraper

American IgnoranceToday, America conducts democracy by opinion polling. What do the people think about Ukraine? Let's be guided by that.

But what if the people are not thinking straight? What if they are burdened by emotional distress, debilitating physical ailments, unhappy employment?

What if they did not pay attention in school and did not get a college education? What if they did get a degree, but after college they have not cracked a serious book about public policy in years?

What if they blindly parrot what self-interested political party leaders beg them to believe? What if the average citizen polled on a given day has never read an actual book of American history, or any other history?

How good is our bright, shiny, breaking-news poll then? It becomes a measure of our ignorance, not our wisdom. Democracy requires knowledge and participation, not polls.KIMBALL SHINKOSKEYWoods Cross

"'Diplomacy' Is the Problem," Feb. 24 Soap BoxAfter reading Thomas Knapp's op-ed in City Weekly, I see that he and Tucker Carlson both have a very skewed view of the situation in Eastern Europe.

Does it matter that the vast majority of Belarussians and Ukrainians want nothing to do with an autocratic Russia? Does it matter that Putin is directly responsible for undermining democracy in both those countries and others? Does it matter that Putin is so afraid of the truth that he has been willing to countenance numerous deaths of journalists reporting on his regime over the years?

Does it matter that he locks up his political competitors like dogs purely for their opposition? Does it matter that he has recklessly endangered the lives of foreign nationals in order to poison dissidents living abroad? Does it matter that he has invented a fake history of Ukrainian-Russian relations to justify plunging Europe into barbarism simply to exercise control over a neighboring sovereign country?

I think Knapp's blind spots can largely be explained by his blind adherence to an Ayn Randian philosophy that has little to do with reality. Libertarianism sounds great on the surface. Dig a little deeper, though, and you see that it's really all about justifying excess at the expense of others. This is exactly what plutocrats like Putin base their ugly behavior on. The only thing that matters to him is himself and his co-conspirators. The little people need to just stay out of the way and, if they intervene in any way, they shouldn't expect any more than a bullet between the eyes.

It's true that America has a lot to answer for with its many misadventures abroad over the years. But it is Putin that's on the wrong side of history this time around.DAVID HARRISSalt Lake City

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Read more:
Feedback from February 24 and Beyond - Salt Lake City Weekly