Category: Uncategorized

The collusion of big business and big government is well-known to those who shun mainstream media in favor of fact-driven information. Over the next year and a half, we will hear much about the “pro-business” stances of presidential hopefuls, and how one party loves government while the other loves the free market.
This is a circus sideshow to hide the reality that we live under an immense, bipartisan system of centralized power and wealth, and these talking heads seek only to perpetuate what has become a corporate welfare state.
‘Pro-business’ does not mean ‘free-market.’ Big business will gladly accept more regulation or …read more

The United Independent Party is a qualified party in Massachusetts. It will remain ballot-qualified after November 2016 even if it has no statewide nominees that year if it gets its registration up to 1% of the state total.
Two weeks ago, the Massachusetts Secretary of State informed the party that it now has 8,576 registered members. At this rate of growth, it is very likely to have the 40,000 or 45,000 that it will need by November 2016.
Ever since 1991, Massachusetts had let groups become qualified parties if they get their registration up to 1%, but no group has …read more

Vox has this story, saying that Donald Trump could not run in Michigan outside the major parties in November if he had first been on the Michigan presidential primary ballot. The story is incorrect. Michigan does not bar independent presidential candidates from the November ballot because they ran in a presidential primary.
The Michigan sore loser law says, “168.695. No person whose name was printed or placed on the primary ballots or voting machines as a candidate for nomination on the primary ballots of one political party shall be eligible as a candidate of any other political party …read more

Here’s your chance to strike a blow against illegal #NSA spying. Retweet

Note: If you’re also a subscriber to the Zero Aggression Project newsletter, you hear about this Downsize DC FOUNDATION case late last week. Now, it’s time for DownsizeDC.org supporters to discover it.

We need your help to file an amicus brief in hugely important Fourth Amendment case — Jewel vs National Security Agency. The deadline is tight. The brief is being written now and needs to be filed on Tuesday, August 11th, but we’re short on funding. Can you contribute?

Here are the details…

It is obvious that, with DownsizeDC.org, we have …read more

Ferguson, MO — On the one-year anniversary of the killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson, all was peaceful until just after 11:00 pm.
As a large crowd of protesters gathered on the now famous, West Florissant Avenue, the peaceful day of marching was brought to a halt with a hail of gunfire. Police are saying that the gunfire erupted between two other groups while some on the ground claimed that it was the police who fired on protesters.
A video uploaded to Facebook early Monday morning shows a shooting victim lying face down in handcuffs. According to the …read more

Beaverton, OR — Four activists were recently arrested for chalking phrases like “save the animals” and “no new animal lab,” on a public sidewalk, with washable chalk.
Late last month the activists wrote the message in chalk to protest the construction of an underground animal experimentation facility at the University of Washington. It did not take long for police to show up, and when they did they arrested all of the activists and charged them with harassment, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct.
According to witnesses, police did not even attempt to interact with the activists or ask them any questions, but immediately …read more

Veteran politics reporter Dick Meyer here writes that the U.S. badly needs a three-party system. …read more

Rule the Wasteland
The host of a popular preparedness and survival channel on Youtube, recently received a $10k settlement from the city of Gainesville, FL (of which he will receive $7,500 after attorney’s fees). The settlement was for a false arrest that originally occurred in November 2013. As part of the settlement agreement, Eric English also received an apology letter from Gainesville Police Chief Tony Jones.
Mr. English filmed the initial encounter and arrest and posted it to his Youtube channel, along with several other video updates on the case in the following months.

Interestingly, after making an initial settlement offer of $2,500, …read more

This Examiner story says that Michigan does not permit candidates in major party presidential primaries to later appear on the ballot as independent candidates. The story says that this will injure Donald Trump if he decides to run outside the major parties.
The story is inaccurate. Michigan’s sore loser law, sec. 168.695, makes no mention of independent candidates. It only says that when an individual has run in the primary of one party, he or she can’t be the general election nominee of another party. When Gary Johnson was kept off the ballot in 2012 as a …read more