Category Archives: Libertarianism

Good for Tom Mountain for encouraging his fellow Republican men to get the COVID-19 vaccine (To my fellow Republican men: Get the COVID vaccine, Opinion March 18). But is he really surprised theyre so reticent for some inexplicable reason? This is a population that ate up every lie the former president fed them: COVID was a hoax; masks, a sign of weakness. They thought Joe Bidens free and fair election to the presidency was fraudulent. Many were so convinced, they stormed the Capitol.

I hope Mountains fellow Republican men will follow his lead and get the vaccine, for themselves and our country.

Max Roberts

Natick

Watch out who you call libertarian

It was nice to see Tom Mountains advocating for Republicans to get the vaccine, which for some reason many are against. Unfortunately, he makes an incorrect accusation: The libertarian mind-set is a barricade against the governments urging Americans to get the vaccine. Its anathema to libertarians rugged individualist persona. Where did he come up with this idea? While libertarians, of which I am one, do believe in personal liberty, peace, and limited government by following the Constitution, that does not mean that we would not follow the guidelines by wearing masks and getting a vaccine to keep the population of our country safe. As Mountain said, nearly one-half of his fellow Republicans are unwilling to get the vaccine. I got my vaccine last week, and the second comes next week.

MaybeMountain has forgotten that the Libertarian Party was formed when some Republicans bolted from their party in the 1970s, while Richard Nixon was president. They refused to go along with many of his policy issues and positions. Today, some Republicans have stated the need for a new party. One is not needed. The Libertarians are here and oppose much of what Donald Trump espoused.

John Madfis

Auburndale

She always thought shed get COVID-19

Tom Mountain: I never thought Id get COVID-19, of course. But I did.

Me: I always thought that I could get COVID-19, of course. But I didnt. I was responsible and careful. Go figure.

Rebecca Block

Newton, MA.

The rest is here:
Is it any surprise Republican men dont want the COVID vaccine? - The Boston Globe

PHOTO PROVIDEDJodie Wertz of Full Armor Wellness in Mill Hall is shown.

MILL HALL The need for food and clothing is a constant for many in our community. Now Full Armor Wellness in Mill Hall is participating in a Personal Care and Hygiene Drive throughout the month of March.

I am grateful to Full Armor Wellness for participating in this drive, said Liz Terwilliger. Lack of access to personal care items can prevent someone from finding work, it can impact self-esteem and lead to bullying for children and teens.

The drive, co-hosted by Liz Terwilliger for Congress and the Lycoming County Libertarian Committee was planned specifically for March, Womens History Month.

We have a government that has the audacity to tax feminine hygiene products as a luxury item, making it even more difficult for women to afford these essential products. The Lycoming County Libertarian Committee is doing our part to not only help those women who have trouble coming by their basic needs, but also to raise awareness for the need and end centuries of making the undeniable fact of the female period a social unmentionable, said Luke Moyer, chair of the Lycoming County Libertarian Committee.

Members of the community can stop at Full Armor Wellness to drop off items such as maxi-pads, tampons, shampoo, soap, ethnic hair products, razors, hairbrushes, combs and other personal care or hygiene products in the bin placed by the Lycoming County Libertarian Committee. Items collected during this drive will be delivered to the YWCA in Williamsport to be divided between the Hut of Hope and Liberty House.

Find out more at https://tinyurl.com/mr6jb24a

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Area business participates in hygiene drive | News, Sports, Jobs - The Express - Lock Haven Express

Homicides in the United States increased in 2020 by over 30 percent, on a year-over-year basis. Gun assaults and aggravated assaults also spiked, leading the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice to deem the crime surge of 2020 a large and troubling increase with no modern precedent. Tragically, the early available statistics for 2021 tell a similar tale. On the American domestic front, however, issues such as Covid, the economy, and illegal immigration still garner more headlines than the escalating rates of violent crime.

This blas attitude did not materialize overnight. Many in todays leadership class entered the public arena during a decades-long drop in crime that began during the Reagan presidency and continued well into this century. Following the widespread chaos of the 1960s and the harrowing urban crime sprees of the 1970s, tough on crime quickly became a popular bipartisan political stance. President Bill Clintons highly successfuland now oft-criticized1994 Crime Bill, which passed the House on a voice vote and the Senate by a 95-4 majority, exemplified this consensus. Confident that the new trend of plummeting crime would continue, many in the silent law-and-order-supporting majority gradually became complacent, implicitly abetting the political opportunism of emergent light-on-crime libertarians and progressives.

As the Tea Party-era Republican Party evolved into a more libertarian entity and the Democratic Party adopted an ever-more stringent identity politics, criminal-justice reformthe very inverse of the 1994 Crime Billbecame the new bipartisan fad. By the mid-2010s, George Soros had begun donating large sums of money to reshape the criminal-justice system, beginning at the district attorney level. Across many of Americas leading cities, light-on-crime district attorneys invoked prosecutorial discretion to justify non-prosecution of crimes like petty larcenyreversing the effective Broken Windows policing of the recent past.

The high watermark of the new criminal-justice reform movement was the First Step Act of 2018, an unparalleled federal jailbreak that passed the Senate by a staggering 88-12 margin. It was no big stretch to get from the First Step Act to last summers prolonged AntifaBlack Lives Matter urban anarchy.

Signs of a possible pushback have become evident. In Los Angeles, District Attorney George Gascnan archetype of what Andrew McCarthy calls the progressive prosecutor projectfaces a possible recall. And sizable majorities among all racial and ethnic demographics poll in strong opposition to the most extreme anti-law and order slogan: defund the police.

But the time is ripe for a more aggressive, sustained campaign against the de-carceral, de-civilizational agenda pushed by many libertarians and progressives alike. Citizens of all political stripes, especially conservatives, must recover and publicly advocate anew the time-tested and common-sense notion that a free and just society is impossible without a robust commitment to a strictly enforced rule of law.

Once upon a time, such an effort would hardly have been needed. Abraham Lincolns Lyceum Address, delivered 23 years before Fort Sumter, famously warned of the dangers of a mobocratic spirit taking hold among the citizenry. Almost a century later, President Calvin Coolidge observed, we are always confronted with the inescapable conclusion that unless we observe the law, we cannot be free. That a secure rule of law and a concomitant quashing of nascent anarchy is a necessary precondition for justice, human flourishing, and the common good ought to beand, not too long ago, wasas ubiquitous a belief as any in our politics.

But such a pro-rule-of-law national campaign is now necessary. Activists can start at the local level, getting involved in district attorney races to oppose anti-enforcement, de-carceral candidates. Voters should punish statewide attorneys general and federal legislators alike for throwing law enforcement under the bus and focusing their ire on the qualified immunity legal doctrine over substantive commitments to support law enforcement. Citizens should make themselves heard at city council meetings in support of more police officers on the beat, a proven and effective crime deterrent. Conservative commentators must grow comfortable calling out the excesses of light-on-crime libertarianism that come from their own side of the aisle. Republican politicians, cognizant of both the disturbing on-the-ground crime reality and the political truth that the small-government rhetorical emphasis of the Tea Party era is over, must recalibrate and shift back toward a traditional pro-law-and-order political platform. Such a platform would be both proper and popular.

We have reached the point where the pendulum has swung too far back toward decarceration, under-prosecution, and light-on-crime policies. The moral primacy of order and public safety must take precedence over fashionable peddling of pro-criminal bail reform and criminal-justice reform initiatives. We have been here before; we know what we have to do. Now its time to execute the game plan.

Josh Hammer is Newsweek opinion editor and a research fellow at the Edmund Burke Foundation. Twitter: @josh_hammer.

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Recover the Moral Imperative of Law and Order city-journal.org - City Journal

Disclaimer:The views expressed in this article solely belong to the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Fresh Toast.

I like to think that Donald Trumps failure to support marijuana legalization cost him the election, but now I have the same questions about the Conservative movement going forward, and America always needs a healthy opposition, so it should be of concern for everyone, whatever their politics.

RELATED: Why Conservatives Should Support Marijuana Legalization

Unfortunately, it would seem that leading Conservative think tanks have already been captured by the Drug Warriors. The Heritage Foundation, one of the oldest voices on the right, is actually headed by a former Associate Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, under President George H. W. Bush, Kay C. James.

However, Heritage has been lying about marijuana, and about little old me for a long time.

RELATED: How The Heritage Foundation Used Newsweek to Recycle Lies About My Medical Marijuana Scam

Not to be outdone, the Hudson Institute, one of Heritages leading competitors, is actually headed by James former boss, John Walters, who was the Czar himself under Bush. And Walters was certainly one of the worst.

Walters actually said:

(Marijuana) is by far the single largest factor in illegal drug addiction in the country. The conventional view out there today is that marijuana is a soft drug, that marijuana is harmless and that it is not addictive, and there is no withdrawal. Its not just a gateway drug. If you are not talking about marijuana, you are not talking about the central part of the problem.

Yep. He really said that.

RELATED: Profiles In Prohibition: Drug Czar John Walters The Maddest Of Reefer Madness

Another major conservative think tank, the American Enterprise Institute,is more moderate, relying primarily on Sally Satel. She is what I would call a moderate prohibitionist, but unlike her counterparts, she is intellectually honest. Nonetheless, AEI is really out of touch with the American people on this issue.

In real-world politics these think tanks exist to give cover to politicians, and there are a few politicians who actually care about ideas. For those who do, the Cato Institute, Washingtons leading Libertarian think tank, and Reasonin California are excellent.

Photo by alexsl/Getty Images

Then there is Fox News and Tucker Carlson and Wow!

SEE: Tucker Carlson Guest Worried Humanity Might Go Extinct From Smoking Weed (Video) AND: Tucker Carlson Tries To Blame Marijuana For Mass Shootings

Carlson is no fringe crackpot. He is one of the favorites of the new post-Trump Fox News. He is a mainstream crackpot.

The problem for Conservatism now is that everything has to be calibrated around Trump, whose previous libertarian views on marijuana evaporated when he thought a prohibitionist Attorney General, first Jeff Sessions, then Bill Barr, both prohibitionists, would be his consigliere. Oops!

RELATED: The Prohibitionist Deep State: Trumps New Chief of Staff Even Opposed CBD for Desperately Sick Children And Medical Marijuana for Disabled Vets

Over the next few years, American Conservatism will have to redefine itself, and if it ties itself to marijuana prohibition, it will never regain the majority. (Heres alist of anti-cannabis organizations .)

Finally, I am not comparing any of the above to the following, but: Neo-Nazis Think Marijuana Legalization Is A Jewish Conspiracy.

Its time to choose. But it always is.

Richard Cowan is a former NORML National Director and creator of Blue Ribbon Hemp for Senior Citizens Oral Strips.

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Will Prohibitionists Tie The New Conservative Movement To Trump? - The Fresh Toast

FBI Director Chris Wray condemned the January riot at the U.S. Capitol as "domestic terrorism" Tuesday as he defended the bureau's handling of intelligence indicating the prospect for violence. (March 2) AP Domestic

WASHINGTON The Capitol riot Jan. 6, along with a Michigan kidnapping plot and a mass shooting in Nevada, sparked a congressional debate over whether to plug a hole in federal criminal law by outlawing domestic terrorism like foreign terrorism.

Prosecutors say the advantage to approving such legislation would allow them to charge crimes with more serious penalties than assault or entering a restricted building, two common charges in the Capitol riot.

But civil libertarians have raised concerns about how such criminal law would be wielded. Lawmakers sought to avoid criminalizing peaceful political protests allowed under the First Amendment to the Constitution or gun ownership under the Second Amendment.

State prosecutors told a Homeland Security subcommittee hearing Wednesday their laws could serve as models for federal legislation.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said a 2002 anti-terrorism law that created a 20-year penalty for domestic terrorism allowed the state to charge eight leaders and associates in a plot to kidnap and kill Gov. Gretchen Whitmer while the FBI had no similar federal charges available. The U.S. Attorneys Offices charged six suspects in the same investigation.

While Michigan has a robust array of laws to address domestic terrorism, many states and federal prosecutors do not, Nessel said.

The federal government has charged six people with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, per newly unsealed court records.(Photo: AP)

In Las Vegas, a gunman killed 60 people and injured nearly 1,000 on Oct. 1, 2017. Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said if the gunman had lived, he could have been charged under a state law that defined acts of terrorism including attempted sabotage, coercion or violence intended to cause great bodily harm or death to the general population.

FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month that there was no federal law against domestic terrorism and no list of terrorist organizations, such as there is for foreign groups such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State or countries labeled as sponsors of terrorism.

That siege was criminal behavior, plain and simple, Wray said of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. And it's behavior that we, the FBI, view is domestic terrorism. It's got no place in our democracy and tolerating it would make a mockery of our nation's rule of law.

The number of FBI investigations into domestic terrorism has doubled in the last three years, he said.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday it would distribute $20 million in grants to help local law enforcement prevent terrorism.

But Nessel said her office needs funding to investigate and prosecute terrorism cases that have grown exponentially in recent years. Her office filed charges in five cases of threats against public officials in the last six months.

That is honestly just the tip of the iceberg, Nessel said.

Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., organized the hearing as head of the subcommittee on intelligence and counterterrorism because she is drafting legislation to help the Department of Homeland Security better understand the threats.

The single greatest threat to our country right now is domestic terrorism, said Slotkin, a former CIA analyst.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., proposed legislation in 2019 to criminalize domestic terrorism after attacks at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh andthe Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., but the bill went nowhere.

The Michigan anti-terrorism law criminalized acts of domestic terrorism, material support, hindering prosecution of terrorism, communicating true or false threats, disrupting telecommunications, or obtaining blueprints or security diagrams of targeted buildings such as schools, stadiums or houses of worship.

To fully combat domestic terrorism across the country, changes to federal criminal laws must be made, Nessel said. If states are doing the heavy lifting, they must be adequately resourced.

In this October 2017 photo take just days after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, a woman prays beside 58 white crosses laid out in honor of for the victims those killed when a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.(Photo: ROBYN BECK, AFP/Getty Images)

But distinguishing between protected protests and terrorism raised concerns.

Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, R-N.J., quoted a voicemail his wife received at home threatening them with violence and asked whether the caller could be prosecuted as a terrorist.

Nessel said she would. People have a right to protest government policies, but not to threaten violence, she said.

Whether you do that to your neighbor next door or an elected official, its illegal, Nessel said. We have been very aggressive in terms of making sure people understand the difference between what is acceptable First Amendment protected activity and what is a crime.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, asked whether Michigans law could be wielded against Black Lives Matter protesters last summer, in addition to rioters at the Capitol.

Ford, who is Black, said the question raised legitimate concerns about bias in how charges are pursued in law enforcement. He suggested that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh might have faced terrorism charges had he not been white.

But Ford cautioned that changes in federal law should balance safety and security against individual rights to free speech and bear arms.

There are no easy fixes in the fight against domestic terrorism, Ford said.

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'Tip of the iceberg': Lawmakers mull domestic terrorism legislation after Capitol riot, other violence - USA TODAY

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs explains why he believes public health decisions should be made by elected officials. Knoxville News Sentinel

Lest there be any confusion, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs likes his job, so much so that he announced Monday he intends to run for re-election in 2022.

Jacobs, the libertarian-leaning socially conservative Republican and former WWE wrestler, has had a two-year tenure markedby tussles, both big and small. So far hes won more than he's lost.

Four years ago, I pledged to stay true to my conservative values as mayor. Nobody could have envisioned a pandemic and the economic shutdown that followed, but Im proud Knox County has been able to weather the storm without a tax increase, he said in a statement Monday. By tightening our belt and making smart cuts, we balanced our budget while continuing to make forward-thinking investments in our community. If reelected, the public can expect four more years of leadership with conservative values top of mind.

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs is seen at the Knox County installation of elected officials, held at the Tennessee Theatre, Tuesday, Sept 1, 2020.(Photo: Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel)

Months after taking office, Jacobs challenged the Knox County law director in a legal showdown over a handful of Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies and their Uniformed Officers Pension Plan. The county sued itself and had to pay over $1 million in legal fees, but Jacobs won the fight.

During the pandemic in 2020, though, he took some flak for his positions, including his opposition to safety measures like an indoor mask mandate and mandatory bar closure time. Many fought his opinion, which flew against the advice of local and national health experts,but he earnedthe support of other elected Republicans along the way.

Early in the pandemic as financial projections showed doom and gloom for the county (and state), Jacobs opted to furlough hundreds of county employees. After awhile, sales tax collection figuresshowed the furloughswere not neededand they were not used by most other Tennessee municipalities.

More: Glenn Jacobs hits the road for one of his 'Most Wanted Treasures' the original Kane mask

Later in the pandemic, Jacobs split from Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon by putting his thumb on the scale in an attemptto sway the Knox County Health Department to open businesses earlier than planned in the late spring/early summer.

Later, he joined his voice to the chorus of people who wanted the Knox County Commission to disband the county's Board of Health or make the members' rolesadvisory only. Jacobs is a member of the board but has often found himself as the only member voting against its pandemic mitigation rules.

More: Knoxville lawmaker's bill that would strip local health boards' powers advances

In September, Knox County Board of Health members openly ripped Jacobs for narrating a dystopian video that targeted public health officials. They saidJacobs created a threatening environment.

Jacobs apologized to board members who felt threatened by the tone of the video, but did not apologize for its content.

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Hes also had to deal with other kinds of controversy, too, like when his Chief of Staff Bryan Hair and the Parks and Recreation director were forced to resign in October when Hair used a county-owned golf cart at his home when his wife broke her foot.

Jacobs used the opportunity to shuffle his administration and came out strongly against employees'misuse of resources.

Ethics are not ambiguous, and it is important that Knox County be above reproach, he said. Public trust is fragile. I encourage all parties involved to cooperate with the Comptrollers investigation regardless of employment status.

Before holding public office, Jacobs owned a small business: Jacobs Insurance Associates. He was better known though his WWE wrestling personaKane. He came out of relative political obscurity by winning the county Republican primary withfewer than 30 votes over then-commissioners Brad Anders and Bob Thomas. Jacobs then easily defeated Democrat Linda Haney in the general election.

Jacobs will be favored in any sort of challenge whether it be a primary challenge by another Republican or a Democrat in the general though there could be a window for a less conservative Republican to run to the left of him.

The county primary election isMay 3, 2022. The general election is Aug. 4, 2022.

Read or Share this story: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/23/knox-county-mayor-glenn-jacobs-run-re-election-2022/6956438002/

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Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs announces he will run for reelection in 2022 - Knoxville News Sentinel

Lots of people on the left and right have reasons to be a little happy or downright miserable about the US presidential election. But there is one group unreservedly happyeven ecstaticabout the results: Those who lean libertarian. They got almost everything they wanted. On the one hand, Joe Biden has a friendlier record on trade and immigration, and on the other, they avoided the burst of spending that inevitably comes with unified control of the federal government.

In essence, the very divide is what really seems like an effective arrangement for controlling spending: A Democratic president with Republicans in charge of at least one body of Congress. During the first four years of the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton administrations, both of which included a split control of government, spending was more restrained or even reduced. Under Clinton, spending inched up only 3 percent. In Obamas first term, total spending actually went down by 10 percent.

Also, there are ways beyond the budget that a Biden presidency can be a boon to libertarians. Trump was a disaster when it came to free trade, kicking off a huge trade war with China and renegotiating NAFTA, so that it contained more protectionist, anti-free-market measures like wage controls.

In contrast, Biden will cut a more pro-trade profile. Congressional Republicans and Democrats were reluctant to give Trump trade negotiating authority, but they are more likely to give Biden that authority than they are to withhold it (that is despite some pressure from the partys progressives like Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).

Biden is likely to pursue pro-immigration reforms and policies and Libertarians, we know, view legal immigration, and especially of high-skilled workers, as an economic boon to the country and they also strongly believe that free trade keeps prices down for American consumers while extending opportunities to the domestic producers to be sell abroad.

Biden as a vice president, helped resolve spending stalemates and government shutdowns by using the ultimate tool of significant and pre-agreed spending-slashing, which incidentally both Democrats and Republicans despised, but libertarians loved: sequestration, or automatic spending caps.

Again, as a Senator, he worked hard to keep the deficit and debt under control. To quote a few examples, in the mid-1990s, he voted for the constitutional amendment that would require the federal government to balance its budgeta position that put him at odds with a majority of the Democratic caucus.

In 1997, he voted yes on a Republican budget that cut both taxes and spending. Meaning, that going by his record, the libertarians in the US today get the best possible outlook on spending, debt and deficits, and the other important policy areaswhile also perhaps preventing far-left nominees for important executive roles and dodging the spectre of court packing.

The US elections may have unleashed or visibly brought to surface a lot of polarisation in the countrys voters or the population per se, still for most thinking economists, it represents a win for economic reasoning and prudencea silver lining out of the countrys presently deep political divisions.

Next weekwill try to analyse and connect the dots on whether or not or how Janet L Yellen, President Bidens choice for his Treasury Secretary, is living up to the expectations from her in effectively and timely delivering this course correction for the US economy. Until then.

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Bidenomics - The Nation

Democrats in the House and Senate reintroduced legislation this week to end qualified immunity for law enforcement officersto pave the way for alleged victims of police brutality to file lawsuits.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., along with fellowMassachusettsDemocraticSens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, are among the co-sponsors of the"Ending Qualified Immunity Act" that aims to abolish the legal protections for law enforcement officers fromcivil lawsuits.

"There will not be true racial justice until we end qualified immunity," Markey said in a statement.

Pressley and former Rep. Justin Amash, a Libertarian from Michigan, first introduced the legislation last year after the death of George Floyd during an arrest by Minneapolis police thatsparked civil unrest throughout the summer.

POLICING THE UNIONS:CALLS FOR 'GUARDRAILS' ON POLICE UNION COLLECTIVE BARGAINING GROW AMID REFORM DEMANDS

The legislation statesthat the qualified immunity doctrine,which can protectcops from being held personally liable, does notprovide police officers that brutalize or otherwise violate civil rights with defense or immunity from liability for their actions.

If qualified immunity is eliminated, many more lawsuitsagainst police could proceed to a trial or settlement, and police departments could have more trouble finding insurance carriers to pay out the uptick in settlements to victims of police brutality.

Other co-sponsors include Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and progressive Reps.Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Cori Bush, D-Mo.

POLICING THE UNIONS:AFTER YEARS OF UNION OBJECTIONS, POLICE REFORM LEGISLATION ADVANCES

Pressley, a member of the so-called progressive Squad, offered the legislation as the House is set to consider police reform legislationthis month. The Democrats' "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act" passed the House last year but died in the GOP-led Senate.

"We must fully end the doctrine of qualified immunity which for too long has shielded law enforcement from accountability and denied recourse for the countless families robbed of their loved ones," Pressleysaid in a statement.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"There can be no justice without healing and accountability, and there can be no true accountability with qualified immunity," she said."We must act with urgency. We must be bold and unapologetic in our pursuit of policy that increases police accountability and addresses the crisis of police brutality plaguing Black and brown communities."

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Warren, Pressley among Dems pushing to strip police of 'qualified immunity' - Fox News

Like most actors, Robinson did his best to rationalize his characters decisions in order to play him, but that became more and more difficult as Ulbricht ignored the guiding principles that he established during Silk Roads infancy.

The website was Ross thesis statement, almost, on his libertarian ideals including no government involvement, free will and this laissez-faire attitude towards everything, Robinson explains. At the beginning, the website only sold some psychedelics and weed. And obviously, it snowballed from there, and the initial idealistic viewpoint just got corrupted over time. Things very quickly got out of control and out of hand, and they really tested Ross belief system. For better or worse, he stuck to these free market ideas and he paid the consequences.

In a recent conversation with THR, Robinson also reflects on Jurassic Worlds recreation of the main Jurassic Park set, why he said yes to Shadow in the Cloud and his surprising admission regarding Avengers: Endgame.

So the first thing I noticed about Silk Roadwas the Love, Simon reunion between you and Alex Shipp. When you know at least one person on a set, does that make each job a bit more comfortable?

Whenever you are working with friends or people that you have worked with in the past, there is an immediate shorthand and knowledge of one another that is helpful because it can be awkward sometimes. You show up to a film set, you meet someone for the first time and then all of sudden, cameras are rolling and youre trying to build a history with someone that doesnt actually exist. So if there already is a history there, then, yeah, it definitely makes things easier.

Since youre in Albuquerque one week and New Zealand the next, I imagine it can get pretty lonely despite having a cast and crew around you.

Yeah, it definitely does. A great part of the job is meeting new people and having new experiences every time you do it, but its also really cool knowing people going into it. And the more that you work, the more you find crossover and the smaller it all seems to feel, which is both good and bad. But, yeah, I would say its always nice to have a familiar face around.

In terms of developing your version of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, what resources did you lean on the most?

Well, I think the two biggest resources for me were Tillers [Russell] research that hed already completed for the script, and Ross transcripts from Silk Road. When the FBI arrested him, he was logged in as Dread Pirate Roberts, and that was actually a big part of the arrest. They had to make sure that he was logged in so they could prove that it was him, and not only that, but beat the encryption and have access to all of the information thats on the site. So all of that was entered into evidence and a lot of it is public. It was really interesting to go through because it almost serves as a diary for Ross. Silk Road took place over a relatively short amount of time.

Just two-and-a-half years.

Yeah, exactly. So theres a lot of information out there about Ross and how he considered this his lifes work. He was on the site 24/7, posting, talking with people, building this kind of community. It was just really fascinating to dive into it and read his blog posts and manifestos. At the beginning, he hosted movie nights with community members on Silk Road, and there were even book clubs. It really was this community like Reddit or something. There were all these different users and personalities and Ross, as Dread Pirate Roberts, was a legend in that circle. Everyone had these speculations about who he was or if he was multiple people and I think he enjoyed that. When he made the website, he didnt really know what to do with it. So he posted on random message boards and said things like, Hey, have you guys heard of Silk Road? Hed pretend to be different users to try to drum up interest all the way to the end where he was posting these manifestos that got darker as time went on. I forget the exact quote, but he talked about how hed rather be free than live a life in golden chains. These were the musings and philosophies of a young guy and budding libertarian. So Ross words were the biggest resource, but I wasnt able to talk to him. I just had his writings.

Actors are often taught not to judge their characters and to find some way to justify their actions. In Ross case, he seemed to have a line he wouldnt cross at the outset, but then he eventually opened the door to hitmen and automatic weapons. At the very least, were you able to defend his initial intentions behind Silk Road?

Yes, at the beginning. The website was Ross thesis statement, almost, on his libertarian ideals including no government involvement, free will and this laissez-faire attitude towards everything. He felt that people should be allowed to do whatever they feel is best for themselves, and there is something kind of noble in that. At the beginning, the website only sold some psychedelics and weed. And obviously, it snowballed from there, and the initial idealistic viewpoint just got corrupted over time. Like you said, there was a major shift on the site. They went from selling shrooms, weed and acid to crack, meth, cocaine and automatic weapons, unregistered firearms, murder for hire. Things very quickly got out of control and out of hand, and they really tested Ross belief system. For better or worse, he stuck to these free market ideas and he paid the consequences.

In the movie, Ross worked on the site while standing up. Did you guys discover that detail, or was it just the way your director chose to block him?

Im trying to remember where that came from. I think that the standing desk was a choice on Tiller's part. Whether Ross actually worked at a standing desk or not, it reflected his millennial, Silicon Valley-esque mentality of thinking outside the box So the standing desk is a phase, and Im sure you see plenty of people standing up and typing in Facebooks offices. What Ross did was illegal, but you can draw some very direct lines between him and the folks in Silicon Valley. Ross created an online startup as a millennial and a very successful one. Obviously, you can question the effect that it had, but I think that Ross motivations were pure, at least initially. So I think the standing desk was just building on this idea that, in a different life, Ross couldve been working in Silicon Valley.

I recently saw you in Shadow in the Cloud, which I thought was really cool. Was that a last-minute casting with little prep time?

(Laughs.) Kind of. It was something that I became aware of at the start of 2019. I had a few people tell me about this script that had been floating around. So I read it, and it was a bonkers story. I also really loved Roseanne [Liang]. She had done a short called Do No Harm that was equally bonkers and awesome. With any job, you factor those things on some level. You also ask, Wheres it going to shoot? Whos it going to be with? And New Zealand is an amazing country. Im so glad that I had the opportunity to visit there. So I just thought it was a really weird, interesting script, and Im actually really proud of how it turned out. It is such a crazy, pulpy, fun movie. I dont think it was completely last minute, but it wasnt planned far in advance. I think I heard about it in January, and then I was in New Zealand in May or June. Roseanne is a real talent.

You clearly dont mind traveling to faraway places for a few days' work since you went to Hawaii to be Raoul Duke in the background of Kong: Skull Island.

(Laughs.) You really did your research for this interview.

Speaking of which, since Godzilla and Kong are facing off soon in Godzilla vs. Kong, I presume youre Team Kong given your ties to Jordan Vogt-Roberts?

Yeah. (Laughs.) I hope to see it as soon as I can. Im working in British Columbia right now, and when we first got here, theaters had actually opened back up, for a short window, because the case count had dropped low enough. So I saw a few movies in theaters and it was glorious. So Im hoping that by the time [Godzilla vs. Kong] rolls around, Ill be able to see it in a theater again. I just miss seeing movies in a movie theater.

Obligatory Jurassic World question: Since I saw Jurassic Park in the theater as a boy, World gave me such a nostalgia high, especially when you and Ty Simpkins discovered the remnants of the original park. When you were filming that sequence, was the entire set buzzing over the nostalgia trip?

Kind of. It definitely felt incredibly special. That whole job was such a fun experience. We were on a massive base in New Orleans, in these giant hangers that they used to build the Apollo program in, or pieces of the Apollo program. So they built a replica of the original Jurassic Park set, and it was the coolest thing ever. Opening up those doors, finding the old banner and making a torch, it was childhood fantasy-type stuff. Yeah, it did feel really special while we were making it. Jurassic Park is an all-time great. Its a masterpiece. So it was really fun to revisit that world literally.

Out of curiosity, did you immediately recognize Ty at the end of Avengers: Endgame, or did you also do a double take like a lot of people?

I hesitate to say this, but I have not seen Avengers: Endgame. (Laughs.) I have nothing against Marvel; I just missed that one somehow, even though everyone in the world saw it. So I cant actually say, but I do know that Ty has grown up a lot since Jurassic World. It actually makes me feel very old, sometimes. I think he was 12 when we were making it, and maybe he turned 13 on set. And now, hes a freshman or sophomore in college and looking more and more like a strapping young man every day. So it just makes me feel older and older every time I see him. (Laughs.)

I rewatched The Kings of Summer recently, and that scene of you in bed remains as brutal as ever.

Oh man, thank you so much. Yeah, that film is very near and dear to my heart, even now. Im still in touch with most of the people that made it.

Hows Maid going with the mother-daughter combo of Andie MacDowell and Margaret Qualley?

Im excited for people to see this one. Its heavy, but Margaret and Andie have been great. Theyre obviously really talented.

Well, Im sorry for spoiling Avengers: Endgame for you.

(Laughs.) No, its all good, man. I think the spoiler alert expires after a couple years. So thats more on me.

***Silk Road is now available on Apple TV, Prime Video and On Demand.

View post:
Nick Robinson on 'Silk Road' and Carrying the Torch for 'Jurassic Park' - Hollywood Reporter

This story first appeared on Cowboy State Daily

By Ellen Fike, Cowboy State Daily

Wyomings voter registration numbers have dipped by more than 20,000 over the last two months, but a spokeswoman for the secretary of states office said theres no cause for alarm.

As ofJan. 1, Wyoming has 302,963 registered voters, but as of Monday, the state only had279,864,a drop of 23,099 voters.

However, there hasnt been a mass exodus of voters from the state. Instead, it is the result of a cleaning up of the states files.

Wyoming is required by law to remove, or purge, voters after every general election, Secretary of States office spokeswoman Monique Meese told Cowboy State Daily. The voters being purged are those who did not vote in the last general election and did not respond to a statutorily required notice asking if they wanted to remain a registered voter.

Wyomings 23 counties are required to notify the secretary of states office by Feb. 15 of the year following the November election of voters who did not cast ballots.

While it is speculationon my part I would suspect that is the reason for the decrease, Meese said.

In February, there were 294,113 registered voters, down more than 8,000 than the month prior.

According to the secretary of states voter statistics, the breakdown of registered voters in Wyoming as of Monday looked like: 195,592 Republicans, 46,307 Democrats, 2,548 Libertarians, 696 Constitution Party, 34,682 unaffiliated and 39 other, which includes individuals registered in parties that are no longer recognized in Wyoming.

Laramie County saw the highest number of registered voters with 45,337 (with 9,610 Democrats, 28,608 Republicans, 72 Constitution Party, 358 Libertarian, 6,676 unaffiliated and 13 other).

Although there was an overall drop in voters across all parties, a few parties saw an increase in registered voters in certain counties. Albany, Converse, Crook and Hot Springs counties all saw slight upticks in their independent affiliation numbers compared toFebruary.

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Wyoming's Voter Registration Numbers Dip By More Than 20K Sheridan Media - Sheridan Media