Ayn Rand is one of those things that a lot of us, when we were 17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood, we’d pick up. Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we’re only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else, in which we’re considering the entire project of developing ourselves as more important than our relationships to other people and making sure that everybody else has opportunity – that that’s a pretty narrow vision.President Obama, in an interview with Rolling Stone, when asked about Paul Ryan’s “obsession” with Rand. source
Yes, he can! After failing to win the hearts of Republican primary voters, former New Mexico GovernorGary Johnson will appear as the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate on 47 states’ ballots this year. While we feel confident that Johnson won’t win the presidency, it’s not unfeasible that he could have an effect on the outcome. As Politico points out, 2008 Libertarian candidate Bob Barr received over 25,000 votes in North Carolina last cycle. John McCain lost the state by less than 15,000. (Photo credit: AP).
McArdle, who is currently on book leave, has blogged about business and economics for the Atlantic since 2007. In August, she will start as special correspondent on economics, business, and public policy at Newsweek/Daily Beast, based out of their Washington, D.C., bureau.
McArdle joins Newsweek/Daily Beast as it slowly but surely continues to expand its roster of prominent bloggers — including, most recently, conservative columnist David Frum, who joined in January — and as the website has seen its highest traffic numbers since launching in 2008 (it received 12.7 million unique visitors in May, according to internal data.)
This is the second big-time blogger the company has poached from The Atlantic — the first was Andrew Sullivan, who has written a number of cover stories for the magazine, most infamously this one. In The Atlantic’s defense, they’re also seeing some record traffic numbers and scoring some big hires.
These people are not conservatives. They’re not Republicans. They’re radical libertarians and I’m doggone offended by it. I despise these people, and I’m not the guy you come in and dump on without getting punched in the mouth.Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch • Criticizing the right-leaning figures in his own party (the Tea Party, perhaps?) who are giving the six-term senator trouble. Hatch, who is facing challenges from Utah state Sen. Dan Liljenquist and Utah state Rep. Chris Herrod, is confident that he’ll be able to squeeze out a seventh term. But the criticism Hatch is getting from those to the right of him seems to be rubbing him the wrong way. (By the way, the “getting punched in the mouth” bit is of note because Hatch was once a boxer.)
![Ron Paul hasn’t attacked Romney once during the debates
Ron and Mitt, bosom buddies: A lot has been made of the mysterious affinity between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. In addition Romney offering his private jet for Paul’s use, many note that, despite sharing almost none of the same policy positions, the two rarely go after each other during debates. ThinkProgress analyzed the forums, and its findings seem to confirm this: During the 20 Republican forums, Paul hasn’t attacked Romney once. We’d like to learn more about their methodology before drawing any hard conclusions from this (what counts as an “attack?”); we’re also curious as to why candidates like Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain weren’t included in the analysis [Edit: Herman Cain is actually represented on the chart; thanks to robajob for pointing that out]. Nevertheless, it is a rather odd phenomena, with explanations ranging from “they’re just friends” to “Romney promised Ron Paul’s son the VP slot” (which seems rather far-fetched, but not altogether impossible). It’s nice to have some numbers to back up the observation, and it’ll be interesting to see how the two handle Virginia’s primary, where they’re the only two candidates on the ballot. [many thanks to ThinkProgress, both for the analysis and the image] source
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Ron and Mitt, bosom buddies: A lot has been made of the mysterious affinity between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. In addition Romney offering his private jet for Paul’s use, many note that, despite sharing almost none of the same policy positions, the two rarely go after each other during debates. ThinkProgress analyzed the forums, and its findings seem to confirm this: During the 20 Republican forums, Paul hasn’t attacked Romney once. We’d like to learn more about their methodology before drawing any hard conclusions from this (what counts as an “attack?”); we’re also curious as to why candidates like Jon Huntsman and Herman Cain weren’t included in the analysis [Edit: Herman Cain is actually represented on the chart; thanks to robajob for pointing that out]. Nevertheless, it is a rather odd phenomena, with explanations ranging from “they’re just friends” to “Romney promised Ron Paul’s son the VP slot” (which seems rather far-fetched, but not altogether impossible). It’s nice to have some numbers to back up the observation, and it’ll be interesting to see how the two handle Virginia’s primary, where they’re the only two candidates on the ballot. [many thanks to ThinkProgress, both for the analysis and the image] source
I think we ought to be personally responsible.Bill Murray • Speaking during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” The actor made clear that he believed we should all help ourselves and any others we can. Saying that many people forget America is a “pioneer country”, Murray stopped short of condemning the social safety net; however, he did say that “we’ve sort of gotten used to someone looking out for us”, though we apparently shouldn’t, because some people are simply “compost for the whole planet.” The interview left many wondering, is Bill Murray a closet Libertarian? source (via • follow)
People have asked me why I disliked Jon Huntsman. Out of all the other candidates — not the warmongering Rick Santorum, not the flip-flopping Mitt Romney, and not the laughably corrupt Newt Gingrich — Huntsman is the only one I truly and personally disliked. I might disagree with Santorum’s insane…
Another (more negative) take on Huntsman. Key line: “Huntsman has shown himself to be a turncoat: to his party, to his president, and to his own campaign. That is despicable and his actions are indications of a great deficit in character and integrity.”
Some people want their freedom to practice their religious one way, maybe another way. Some might not even want to practice it at all. But freedom, if you understand it, you should all fight for freedom, because you want to exert your freedom the way you want…[People] say, how are you going to compromise and give up some of your beliefs in order to get some things passed? You don’t have to compromise. What you have to do is emphasize the coalitions that people want their freedoms for a different reason and bring them together.Ron Paul • In his New Hampshire speech tonight. What’s notable here isn’t that Ron Paul is talking about liberty. What’s notable is that, in his tactical assessment of how to win supporters over to a movement, Paul sounds a whole lot more like a political theorist than a politician. The advice Paul is giving is very pragmatic—if you want to get people to support a cause, you must illustrate to them how they will benefit from the triumph of that cause. Of course, politicians use this technique all the time (the PATRIOT act, etc), but they rarely articulate that that’s what they’re doing. Paul is speaking in much more academic—and honest—terms than politicians normally do (with the possible exception of Newt Gingrich, though, to borrow a joke from Lewis Black, Newt is to academics what KFC is to chicken). If nothing else, it’s refreshing. source (via • follow)
Occupy Coachella Valley raided by police, 9 arrested
Nine Occupy Coachella Valley protesters — including a 17-year-old girl and an Iraq War veteran — camped out at Palm Desert’s Civic Center Park were arrested early Tuesday morning during a police crackdown.
More than two dozen Palm Desert police officers descended out of the darkness and onto the group, which has been illegally camped out at the park since Friday night when the city of Palm Desert refused to issue another permit.
Seven protesters, including a 17-year-old girl, were taken into custody near the park’s western entrance at San Pablo Avenue just before 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 1. About 10 other protesters stood nearby on a public sidewalk and chanted, “Shame on you.”
From what I gathered, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department blocked roads leading to the campsite to prevent the news media from being observers, but we were lucky that the Palm Desert Patch was there, though the Patch reporter was nearly arrested.
Up to two dozen police officers in riot gear surrounded the encampment and despite their outright lies to the media, they did not in fact warn the protesters. They just started arresting people. They specifically targeted people to be arrested, making sure to arrest a lot of the key organizers, pointing at who to arrest “That one! That one!”
We were led off one by one into a white van and driven to a police station. We were shackled and chained even before we were read our Miranda Rights. They took us to the county jail in Indio and booked us. They kept us in a holding cell for hours before instructing us to sign a citation for “Unlawful Assembly.”
I flatly refused to sign it. I was rewarded with two days in county jail, dressed in orange jumpsuit, and housed with thieves, drug dealers, and other common criminals.
All of this for exercising my First Amendment rights.
Truth is indeed treason in the empire of lies.
1. Occupy Coachella Valley on Facebook.
2. Occupy Coachella Valley website.
3. Sign the petition to allow OccupyCV to stay at the park.
4. The online stream for OccupyCV.
Tumblr journalist and activist Jayel Aheram was one of a number of people arrested in the Occupy Coachella Valley protests. Here’s his story. He previously earned notice for his Libertarian take on the Occupy movement, which earned him airtime on the RT network.
“If you care about your children, you’ll get the federal government out of the business of educating our kids.”
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#FMMDI (at 30 Rockefeller Plaza)
Thanks. I guess my thoughts are as follows:
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Reagan Republican or Gore cheerleader?
Gloves off. Ron Paul targets Rick Perry in new campaign ad.
Rick Perry was once a Democrat. Know who else was once a Democrat? Ronald Reagan. Oh, and Michele Bachmann. She was a Carter staffer. Is attacking someone for their policial affiliations from decades past really the way to go?
Jon Stewart scolds media for their treatment of Ron Paul.
Hey media, stop ignoring Ron Paul. He’s worthy of a little more respect than you jerks are giving him.
» Indecisive in Iowa: The libertarian hero, whose stock is way up since his cred-building 2008 run, made the prediction while visiting Iowa. “I really don’t know,” he says. “Maybe a trip like this will help me make up my mind.”
» Anyone have a tinfoil hat we can borrow? The multi-day conference, put on by billionaire Tea Party-backing brothers David and Charles Koch, is loaded with people with lots of money and lots of influence. We bet Hank Scorpio was there, personally throwing cans of tear gas at the lefty protesters, who were mostly peaceful, but found themselves in trouble after a couple got a tiny bit too close to the shindig and ran into riot police. Supervillans need backup.
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