The Libertarian Party has been making the news again! From Las Vegas to Atlanta, people are talking about our party and our activists. First, the State of Nevada recently assaulted the First Amendment when one of our own tried to defend it. An excellent article appeared this week in the Nevada Independent titled "In the county that claims Mark Twain, an irreverent online publisher faces off with a powerful developer over who is a journalist." It talks about LP Nevada's Sam Toll and his refusal as a citizen journalist to reveal his confidential sources to the government, and the government's desire to kill free speech and the right to privacy.

On the same topic, the Las Vegas Tribune says, "There is no such thing as a credentialed or card-carrying journalist. Unlike too many jobs in Nevada and the U.S. there is no government licensing of journalists. If you talk to two people you are a gossip. If you talk to three you are a journalist. But a Carson City judge apparently thinks the Nevada press shield law created the concept of a licensed journalist." In other words, the Nevada state courts officially believe in licenses to practice the First Amendment. 

LP Nevada was heavily involved in promoting a rally to end cash bail that was held Monday in front of the Clark County Court. “I think about the people who can’t get out of jail because they don’t have $450,” says activist Brandon Summers. “The inherent inequality in the criminal justice system should not exist, but it does. Those with money and resources can skate by, while those without will suffer. And that needs to change." Many thanks to the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Nevada Current for covering the rally!

Then, of course, there are updates to the circus that's the Libertarian Party 2020 presidential primary races!

The Libertarian Party has been making the news again! LP Nevada was mentioned when both KTNV 13 (ABC News Las Vegas) and the Las Vegas Sun both ran articles about the Democrats coming out ahead of the GOP in Nevada's recent elections. We're no fans of the Democrats by any means, but this Democrat-controlled state government will have to work hard to top the Republicans in historic tax hikes. So by all means, let the Nevada GOP choke on its own karma.

In neighboring California, Libertarian Supervisor of Riverside County Jeff Hewitt is taking a leadership role in the new county committees assessing "the good and the bad" of local marijuana regulations. According to a Patch news article, Hewitt has previously shared the concerns of cannabis advocates about the cannabis licensing approval process. Right off the bat, electing Hewitt to county-level office might be one of the best things for humanity the LP has ever done.

Then, there's the ongoing circus called the 2020 presidential primaries!

Legislative Roundup #2 March 3rd, 2019

Greetings from Gold Hill. This week I finally felt like I was able to get my feet under me as I went to the Capital. I went to several hearings to testify for and against bills wending their way through the Legislative process and met with several Assembly members and Senators surrounding several bills.

As of today, there are 526 bills up for consideration. Some of them are good, some are bad, and some are ugly. I am working with the Nelis software to navigate the bills that require the scrutiny of the Libertarian Party of Nevada.

There were three bills that I testified on this week.

AB 165 – Death with Dignity

On Monday I testified at the Health and Human Services hearing on AB165. This bill deals with enacting a law that would allow a person to receive a prescription that they would administer to end their life in the face of a terminal illness where they have 6 months or less to live.

Many people at the end of their lives are given morphine which acts as respiration inhibitor, while others are taken off life support and allowed to starve or dehydrate to death. This bill provides a compassionate way for a terminally ill patient to end their pain and suffering by their own hand. It contains the proper safeguards to prevent a greedy relative to influence the decision and requires the patient to administer the drugs by their own hand.

We support this bill because it speaks to the concept of self-ownership. We feel that we should be able to chart our own course throughout life and with this grave decision as we face the end of our journey.

Feel free to reach out to the members of the committee hearing this bill and tell them how you feel: Julia.Ratti@sen.state.nv.us, Pat.Spearman@sen.state.nv.us, Joyce.Woodhouse@sen.state.nv.us, Joe.Hardy@sen.state.nv.us, Scott.Hammond@sen.state.nv.us

The Libertarian Party made national headlines a few days ago relating to the Robert Kraft prostitution scandal. Once the news broke about how the Patriots owner was arrested and charged with soliciting a prostitute, the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts publicly responded by condemning the arrest on the grounds that sex work and being a client of sex work should not be a crime.

According to the Metro West Daily News, LP Massachusetts state chair Jeff Lyons said, “The Libertarian Party has always asserted that consenting adults should be able to exchange whatever goods and services they wish, so long as both parties willingly agree to the terms. It should be pointed out that had Robert Kraft been in Nevada, this would have been a legal activity.”

That's almost true.

Inside and outside of elections, Libertarians are making the news across Nevada and the US!

One of our hometown heroes, Robert "Vegas Don" Strawder was recognized by KTNV 13 (ABC News Las Vegas) for putting together and hosting the Inaugural Vegas Teen Choice Talent Showcase, a talent show for at-risk teens to experience validation for using their energies creatively and productively.

KTNV's Cinthia Maldonado writes, "The... Showcase did more than recognize talent in Las Vegas. It reminded at-risk teens they can overcome any barrier regardless of where they come from." When interviewed, Strawder commented, "I know a lot of kids out there don't have a father figure, don't have the right parenting system. I’m just giving them an outlet to showcase their talents and make them believe themselves. Believing is the hard battle."

Up in Northern Nevada, our party Vice Chairman David Colborne proved in the Nevada Independent that he's dedicated enough--and crazy enough--to read all the Assembly bills in Nevada. It's actually a big deal to have Libertarians staying on top of the bills and who are close enough to the stat capital to holler at the legislators, and it does make a difference.

Now, let's get to what everyone really wants to read about: the 2020 presidential election!

Traducido de un comunicado de prensa del Partido Libertario nacional

En un discurso en Miami el 18 de febrero, el presidente Donald Trump abordó la crisis humanitaria en curso en Venezuela. Señaló correctamente que el pueblo de Venezuela está afligido por la enfermedad del socialismo tiránico, una enfermedad sociopolítica introducida por el fallecido presidente Hugo Chávez y ahora incubada por el presidente Nicolás Maduro. A pesar de tener el diagnóstico correcto, Trump no entiende la cura cuando sugiere que "todas las opciones están sobre la mesa" para una posible intervención de EEUU.

Greetings and welcome to the first Libertarian Party of Nevada’s Legislative Roundup.

Our Legislative Director Wendy Stolyarov introduced me last week and I am filing my first report from the field. Last year Wendy sent comprehensive weekly updates from Carson City and I look forward to providing you with updates that summarize the weekly events of the Legislature as they relate to Libertarian perspectives.

From a Libertarian perspective, Nevada has perhaps the best Legislative structure. Unlike many states, Nevada meets every other year for 120 days to consider legislation. This means that they really have to work hard and fast to impose laws that may reduce our ability to live freely.

Compared to our neighbor to the west where over 1115 bills have been proposed since January 1, 2019, this year Nevada’s Senate has 169 bills under consideration while the Assembly has 171. All the Bill Draft Resolutions have been submitted, so it’s unlikely we will see others added to the list. In 2017-2018, California introduced 5617 bills and passed 2552(!) of them into law.

The Libertarian Party has been making major headlines in the last two weeks. In today's edition of 'LP in the News!' there were too many stories to include in one article, but they're still stories we can't pass up on sharing!

First, Bloomberg talked extensively about libertarianism and the LP in "Seven Fixes for American Capitalism." Peter Coy et al. write, "Devotees of small government were stirred by candidate Trump’s vow to “drain the swamp” and pull U.S. troops out of foreign quagmires. But President Trump, with his tariffs and deficits, has proved to be “the opposite of a libertarian,” the Libertarian Party declared in March. Still, the free-market purists aren’t giving up the fight."

Los medios de comunicación en español no han sido amables con la marca libertaria recientemente, pero eso es nuestra culpa. Nosotros, los libertarios norteamericanos, hasta ahora, no hemos llegado a los hispanohablantes. Este es un intento de hacerlo y de responder preguntas sobre nosotros en las noticias.

Primero, La Vanguardia describió incorrectamente al secuaz de Trump, Roger Stone, como un libertario. Su apoyo a Trump y al muro traicionan el nacionalismo xenófobo a través del cual los conservadores norteamericanos están dispuestos a detener el libre flujo de trabajadores y, por lo tanto, dañar la economía.

The Libertarian Party made headlines around the country with their efforts to clean up America's National Parks during the partial government shutdown. The Libertarian Party of Nevada's cleanup of one of Lake Mead's south shores was covered by CBS 8 (a.k.a. Las Vegas Now). North Carolina's Libertarians and their cleanup effort was covered by Spectrum News.

Sadly, Tennessee's Libertarian volunteers were approached by unpaid park rangers with Stockholm Syndrome and asked to stop cleaning Shiloh National Military Park, the site of the major Civil War battle.

"Every other effort to clean up the national parks, from Washington, D.C., to Yosemite, has been fine," Tennessee Delta Region Libertarian Party Co-Leader Victoria Lee said to the Jackson Sun. "But when we went to Shiloh, we were told we were not allowed to clean up the park."