Category: Uncategorized

The Bend Bulletin has this editorial, praising the Independent Party of Oregon for opening its primary to independent voters. Under a U.S. Supreme Court decision from 1986, Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut, any party entitled to a government-administered primary can at any time open its primary to independent voters, regardless of state law. The Independent Party has taken this step, as it gets ready for its first government primary in 2016. …read more

Denver, CO — An 11-year veteran of the Denver police department received a 30 day vacation for brutally shoving an innocent man down a flight of stairs.
Officer Choice Johnson was only “disciplined” after surveillance video showed that his report on the incident was completely fabricated.
The incident started during a bachelor party for the brother of Brandon Schreiber. Schreiber’s brother had a bit too much to drink and had fallen asleep at the bar. For this “crime,” Officer Johnson was arresting him.
According to 7 News Denver,
The report indicated that Johnson falsely portrayed the bar patron as taking a fighting stance toward …read more

Edmundson, MO– While police and their supporters continue to insist that police are out there keeping our streets safe, an internal document sent from the Edmundson Mayor John Gwaltney implies otherwise. The letter, which was included with the paychecks of the town’s police officers, spells out in very plain terms their actual role in the community – extorting money for the state.
In the document obtained by ThinkProgress, the mayor is careful to point out that the town does not have quotas. He states that he only wants “good tickets” written but adds that he is still very disappointed that the …read more

Marana, AZ — Chilling footage from the dashcams of two police cruisers was released this week that shows an Arizona police officer use his car as a means to take down a suspect.
The first video is from the officer who was simply following the suspect down the street as he walked away. All of the sudden a cruiser passes him at high speeds and runs down the suspect.
The man who was run over by the officer miraculously survived. Mario Valencia, 36, now faces several felony charges, including assault on a police officer.
According to the Associated Press, Marana police Sgt. Chris …read more

Illinois will hold a special election on September 10 to fill the vacant U.S. House seat in the 18th district. See this story. The primary will be July 7. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.
Here are details from the State Board of Elections. Democrats need 626 signatures by April 20, and Republicans need 1,014 signatures by the same date. Nominees of unqualified parties, and independent candidates, need 12,602 signatures, due June 25. …read more

According to this story, the consortium of Canadian broadcasters that sponsors election debates before Parliamentary elections will invite the leaders of five parties to debate each other.
The election itself is October 19, 2015. …read more

We will always have the cyber criminal amongst us; but until now, we didn’t have state-encouraged cyber vigilantes.

Congress will soon vote on “cybersecurity” bills that threaten your privacy. We’ve defeated these kinds of bills before. Let’s do it again…
Tell Congress to oppose these bills through DownsizeDC.org’s Hands Off the Internet campaign.

The hardwired letter there begins…
Oppose all attempts to expand government involvement in the Internet.
Please add personal comments of your own, or copy and paste the sample letter below…
I STRONGLY oppose the Senate’s Cyber Information Sharing Act (CISA) and similar House …read more

White County, GA– Two high school students were tragically killed last month after 18-year-old Taylor Swing lost control of his vehicle on a curve. The high school student’s car then careened over the edge of a bridge. Swing, as well as his passenger, 16-year-old Cecily Hamilton, both drowned after the vehicle landed in the creek below.
There are currently barricades along the length of the bridge, but none at the entrance after the curve. Had there been barricades, Hamilton’s father believes that the teenagers may still be alive today.
Since this tragic accident, the father of 16-year-old Cecily, Shannon Hamilton, …read more

North Charleston, SC– Dashcam footage was released on Monday of the officer charged with murder for killing Walter Scott. The video shows Michael Slager tasering someone during a traffic stop in August of last year.
The man being tased, 35-year-old Julius Garnett Wilson, has since filed a lawsuit against Slager and the North Charleston Police Department. Garnett states that his civil rights were violated and is urging any others who may have had a similar experience to come forward and do the same.

Wilson had been stopped simply because it was a “high crime area” and was asked to step out of …read more

First they came for homeopathy, but I didn’t use those remedies, so I was silent. So when the FDA banned my treatment, no one spoke for me!

Dear DC Downsizer,

Please be aware…
The FDA is threatening to crack down on homeopathy. An organization called GreenMedInfo (http://www.greenmedinfo.com/) came to us and asked for our help. Yesterday, they sent an action item to their subscribers, recruiting nearly 1,000 new DC Downsizers to send letters to Congress — and they join us for the first time today.

As libertarians, we consistently defend conscience and choice. Today, we’re going to ask you to …read more