Category: Uncategorized

On October 6, a U.S. District Court Judge in Illinois issued an entry into the record of Libertarian Party of Illinois v State Board of Elections, n.d., 1:12cv-2511. It says, “As the Court requires additional time to finalize its ruling on the pending cross-motions for summary judgment, the status hearing set for October 7, 2015 is stricken and reset for October 30, 2015, at 9 a.m. The Court does not anticipate that the new status date will be reset.”
The issue is the unique Illinois law that says newly-qualifying parties (but not already existing parties) must run a full …read more

It seems that Monsanto’s reach extends to the most prestigious of collegiate institutions.
According to email messages obtained by the Boston Globe, Harvard professor Calestous Juma received instructions from biotech giant Monsanto on how to present a paper on a topic suggested by the company. Juma did not disclose this connection with Monsanto.
The 2014 policy paper, titled Global Risks of Rejecting Agricultural Biotechnology, was widely distributed with the help of a marketing firm provided by Monsanto, which “would ‘merchandize’ the papers online, disseminate them to the media, and schedule op-eds, blog posts, speaking engagements, events, and webinars.”
Eight other professors received the …read more

Washington, DC – The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a case challenging the state of New York’s public school vaccination requirement, which requires all children to be vaccinated prior to attendance at public school.
The SCOTUS’s failure to hear the case effectively states that mandatory vaccination of all public school children, doesn’t violate their constitutional rights.
A lower court had ruled that the school vaccination requirement, which three parents had legally challenged after their unvaccinated children were prohibited from attending school, did not violate the constitutional rights of the children.
The appeals court also upheld a decision that children exempted from …read more

It all started with seat belts.
Okay, maybe it didn’t start there, but I’m going to guess that’s where it started.
What started? The ability for police to pull you over based upon something they noticed inside your motor vehicle in the United States of America, of course. Really key here to understand is that I’m talking about something you can get pulled over for, which means it is a “primary enforcement law” as compared to a “secondary enforcement law” (which is something they notice only after they’ve already pulled you over for the primary offense). For example, with the seat belts: …read more

Maine requires a group that wishes to become a qualified party to obtain 5,000 registered members. This requirement was created in 2013, and replaced the old, very difficult 5% petition that had been in the law starting in 1976. The Maine Libertarian Party has been carrying on a voter registration drive for the last six months, and now has over 5,000 registrations, although they have not all yet been submitted to election officials. The drive is continuing with a goal of 6,000, for safety.
The last time the Libertarian Party was a qualified party in Maine was 1991-1992. …read more

On September 16, Emma Wong Mar died in Oakland, California. She was 89. She was the Peace & Freedom Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 1984, and was the first Asian-American to appear on a general election ballot for President or Vice-President.
Her running mate in 1984 was Sonia Johnson. Johnson’s vice-presidential nominee in other states was Richard Walton, but in California the ticket was comprised of Johnson and Mar. Thanks to Jed Ziggler for this news. …read more

This Politico article quotes several experts on polls, who agree that presidential primary debate sponsors are depending on polls far too much when they decide which candidates to invite. …read more

Carlsbad, CA — A shocking video captured the brutal beating of a mother in front of her two children after she merely asked an officer a question.
Cindy Hahn and her children were on their way home when they stopped to use the restroom. During their stop, Hahn asked a Carlsbad police officer a question.
According to Hahn, the officer responded by telling her to mind her own business. Shocked that the officer would address her in such a manner, Hahn called the department to complain. Minutes later, the cop who she reported for being rude pulls her over.
For an alleged seat …read more

On October 5, the U.S. Supreme Court revealed that on September 28, it had refused to hear Balsam v Guadagno, 15-39. This is the case in which some New Jersey voters argued that New Jersey’s closed primaries are unconstitutional. …read more

(RT) — Trade ministers from the US and Asia-Pacific region have reached a deal on the Pacific trade pact that is intended to cut trade barriers and establish common standards for 12 countries. This is the largest trade pact in 20 years and has been a long-term goal of the Obama administration.

The bloc is headed by the US and includes Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.
The 12 countries that signed the #TPP agreement:
http://t.co/Y6LdPhSPx6 pic.twitter.com/pQ0rDg2oW5
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) October 5, 2015

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement covers 40 percent of the world’s economy. Negotiations have …read more