Nick Sarwark, national chair of the Libertarian Party, was on MSNBC on March 17. The host of the interview seemed to think that the Libertarian Party is on the ballot already in all 50 states. Actually it is now on for president in 35 states plus D.C. The host asked how the party will hold a nominating convention, but Sarwark steered the conversation around to ballot access petitioning. He said that the party has already asked Illinois state officials to suspend the need for ballot access petitions, given the health dangers of petitioning. Here is a link; go to the 1 minute 39 second mark to hear Sarwark.
Thus, Sarwark educated some MSNBC viewers that among the other election administration problems, petitioning is also a problem that ought to be addressed. Most election administration experts who appear on media interviews have not discussed this problem so far.
But, but, but.. then how will paid petitioners survive? Oh, the humanity!!
ONE person nom pet forms — regardless of ALL MORONS on TV.
Sarwark is a hack and a clown at the same time. I bet he called Bill Weld asking him to run for LEC.
I don’t see what you’re unhappy with. He did an excellent job in this interview as usual and runs a great meeting. Too bad he’s not running again, but luckily Joe bishop henchman is.
Running a meeting and running a party are two different things. Sarwark loves Bill Weld, and other fake libertarians. In fact, I think he’s a plant.
That’s ridiculous. He’s a second generation libertarian and active in the party since age 18, and he stands up to the fake libertarians of the Rockwell-hoppe cult. Also, the lnc chair does not run the party. It’s a very limited role in a mostly decentralized organization.
Sarwark is the best chair at least since dasbach and Willis days, and maybe even better. He will be missed, although I’m sure he is not going away. Kudos for 6 years of exemplary and largely thankless service.
He praised Weld many times. Sarwark is a faker. Good riddance.
Good job Sarwark and now for the new female Chair.
Candidate Liberta, the three-way “male split-vote problem” for LNC Chair might elect a female name Chair and President. A male name for Vice Chair and Vice President.
The new United Coalition USA, pure proportional representation Electoral College slate, will start votes of confidence for all LNC shadow executives, on 4/20/2020.
It will be difficult to find the best female Prez candidate on my web page which linked to the words “Presidential Candidates”, on http://www.lp.org, but everyone get together as a team and the California State Electoral College will be expanding six-fold to 313 Electors or more.
That way we can help the California State LP Chair get the job done in 2020.
Jeff Becker, the biggest part of the petition business is with ballot initiatives and referendums, not with candidate or party petitions. There people in the petition business who make good money who have never worked on a minor party or independent candidate petition, or even major party primary petitions, or who have only rarely worked on any of these. The biggest money makers in the petition business focus on initiatives and referendums, and occasionally recall petitions.
There are also voter registration drives and GOTV (Get Out The Vote) canvassing.
If the Coronavirus scare continues for a long time it is going to damage a lot more than the petition business. Lots of people could lose their jobs and lots of businesses will go under.
I think that Coronavirus is being over-hyped in order to provide an excuse for an economic downturn, and for a government power grab.
It’s not over hyped. It’s underhyped. Look at what’s going on in Italy. They are about a week to ten days ahead of us on the numbers curve, and they have better testing and proportionately more hospital capacity and staff. The U.S. has the worst lag in testing, medical equipment and staff and hospital beds of any country with a significant outbreak so far. The hospitals themselves will become a huge transmission vector soon if they are not already. Unchecked it doubles every 5 to 7 days. At this rate it could easily kill millions of people in the US this year.
Italy is already having hospitals overwhelmed. After a week or two of a national shutdown they are still increasing new cases and deaths per day. The us shutdown is just starting in the first three states as of yesterday and is an incomplete one like Italy’s even in those, not like the more comprehensive shutdown in China which actually managed to tackle the problem. We are in for a world of hurt since our response capacity is far shy of Italy much less China.
It takes 5 to 7 days on average for the first symptoms to show. Many people never even developed symptoms at all yet were still shown to infect others. After symptoms begin in takes 2 to 3 weeks for them to get severe enough for people to die. USA has a lack of hospital beds, doctors, nurses, masks, tests, ventilators and respirators to deal with what is coming. Medical personnel are already being told to wear bandanas, reuse masks, etc. That’s unsafe and ineffective. Not only do we not have nearly enough trained people to deal with what’s coming but they are going to increasingly become patients themselves. There’s maybe enough time to manufacture and distribute the needed equipment, maybe not, but no one in power realizes the urgency so it will definitely be out of control with thousands of people a day dying, hospitals completely overwhelmed and those working in them getting too sick to work and spreading the disease themselves by the time the mobilization could even start. And by then it may have infected enough people to be too big to contain in any way, which means anywhere from several hundred thousand to ten million or more American deaths.
The chaos that will cause will make the depression, the world wars and the civil war seem small by comparison. In the meantime other problems could be unleashed from rioting to foreign wars to natural and man made disasters. Say goodbye to the world you knew, this is going to be a much different one now. It’s only starting.
OK, “Rodney,” did your handlers at the government troll farm give you an inside scoop, or is this just part of the fictional script, or do they allow you to just make stuff up?
Lol, “Andy”, what am I making up? Did your handlers in the government troll farm tell you to help downplay the problem so as to help people take the rapidly multiplying problem less seriously and thus encourage the disease to spread even faster while helping prevent mitigation?
Everything I said is publicly available news and scientific reports and an analysis of trends and curves as seen in China, Italy, other nations and the US. Those trends can be easily extrapolated. China flattened the curve by aggressively testing, quarantine in wuhan before it spread all over the country, a massive response, social contact tracing, cell phone tracking, temperatures taken everywhere, drones monitoring everyone in public and ordering people off the streets. There’s no political appetite for that here, as our cultural and political traditions are very different.
Italy is much closer to the American model and they have already passed China in deaths despite having one twentieth the population, and their death rate is only picking up.
Even if the US implemented Chinese style repression it’s too late, since the virus is in all 50 states, not concentrated in one province. And China is not out of the woods yet, as imported cases are starting to pick up . This may be the start of a second wave there which they will have a much harder time controlling since it’s much more geographically dispersed.
Please identify which statements I made which are not based in easily verified facts. Instead of ludicrous speculation about me being on some troll farm just deal with the claims and evidence. What did I get wrong and what is your evidence that I got it wrong?
I looked up the death toll and statistics for Coronavirus. More people die every year from the flue. Most, or maybe all, of the deaths are elderly people and people with pre-existing health problems. This is just another excuse for a government power grab, as well as cover for an economic meltdown. The bubble is popping and “the powers that be” don’t want the sheeple to notice that it’s because the Federal Reserve System and reckless government spending, so they get everybody scared that Coronavirus is going to get them. It would not surprise me if this is a completely manufactured crisis.
Wow you are an idiot. The death statistics from coronavirus are just barely beginning and growing exponentially. Look at what the numbers were two days ago, a week ago, two weeks ago. Look at what they were in Italy each of those times. Draw a graph and project what will happen in the US. This is not rocket science or fiction or an inside scoop. You can see the overwhelmed hospitals in Italy in news reports. You can find interviews with medical personnel about the lack of equipment and personnel to deal with what is obviously coming.
It doesn’t end there. When hospitals are overwhelmed they can’t deal with all the other diseases, accidents and violence they deal with. When people don’t go to work it creates more vulnerable public safety situations from nuclear meltdowns to chemical spills to robberies to fires to looting to cyberwarfare and on and on.
What happens when police and firefighters and emts and court personnel and jail and prison staff and gas station employees and bus and train drivers and ticket clerks can’t get to work or are afraid to or are sick? What happens when criminals, terrorists, cartels, hostile foreign governments take advantage of the many vulnerabilities that develop.
That’s just a few of the likely ensuing problems. It’s easy to blithely say old people and those with underlying conditions. That’s still millions of people. Some of them are still working in all kinds of jobs. They have family members who have to deal with them getting sick and dying . They have medical personnel who have to deal with it . And the people who don’t end up dying still end up missing work, overwhelming already overwhelmed hospitals, spreading it to others etc etc.
40 to 80 percent of the population ends up getting a cold every year. This virus spreads like a cold. If one percent of people die we’re already in the millions with that alone. It may be 3 percent. But even if it’s 0.1 percent that’s still hundreds of thousands of people..
And that’s before you set off all those other chain reactions I mentioned.
It doesn’t solve the problem to not deal with it proactively before it gets to where it is obviously going, but large chunks of the population still have Andy’s attitude and the irresponsible reactive attitude is also at the top of the US government, so proactive steps which would actually help in a few weeks if they were being taken now are not happening at all or not nearly fast enough or to the extent they should. This will be something we will regret in the next few weeks and months.
People here might benefit if they actually kept up with the news. Google news has a whole section on covid 19 . Here is a sample
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/03/how-many-americans-are-sick-lost-february/608521/
Many more where that came from. It helps to familiarize yourself with the news. Since I am isolated right now with symptoms but no definite contact and deemed not eligible for testing contrary to lies trump told about how anyone can get a test weeks ago which is still not true even now I’ve spent several hours each day reading and watching everything I can about it. It’s been quite eye opening.
I realize most people here are not going to focus on it nearly that much but you may want to spend at least a few minutes a day so you don’t come off like an ignorant jackass and a heartless slimeball when you choose to spout off.
I have underlying conditions so I’m likely to be one of the people who will die if it is what I actually have. Yay, I finally get to be one of the one percent.
Oh this is classic. Two mystery posters that nobody here has heard of, at least not posting under these current fake names of “Rodney” and “Charles,” claim to have knowledge of how Coronavirus is going to get us, and “Charles” even says he is infected and facing possible death. I have been following this site for two decades, and I have never heard of either of you, and I know damn well that there are propaganda trolls here who post under fake names, just as there are on Independentpoliticalreport, and other sites. I suspect some of these trolls are people we know, but some could be sitting in a troll farm somewhere, or maybe they are work from home trolls. I bet “Rodney” and “Charles” are fake names, and may even be the same person, possibly even somebody long time posters here know under their real name.
LOL “Rodney” and “Charles” AKA cyberpig xaulie banali. You get destroyed in the debate as “Joseph” so you change your name to “Gandalf Supreme” and now your use two names in the same debate to make it look like someone agrees with you. No one is falling for your shit cyberpig. Please find something else to do during this quarantine like pornhub or maybe that shemale camwhore you like so much.
Oops. I meant “camwhore site you like so much.” Not any particular camwhore.
Remember. Practice social distancing. We don’t want you to give COVID-19 to a camwhore.
I am disappointed by how many people on these pages are obsessed with conspiracy theories, and think anyone that disagrees with them is a “government plant” or a “russian agent” or some other insane idea. Also, the point of a debate is to flesh out ideas, not to “destroy” someone. You sound like attention whore Ben Shapiro when say that. No one here is that important (including me) to have some secret conspiracy against them.
Brandon, my reaction is due to a long pattern of mysterious posters popping up on this site and others, often repeating the same or similat talking points, and sometimes even acting as though they know me or other posters, and some displaying a great deal of knowledge about Libertarian Party operations, yet when asked to identify themselves or what state LP they are in, they dI not answer the question. Some of these people have even been outted for using IP anonymizers. It is a documented fact that there are lots of trolls online, and that some of them work for government agencies or groups trying to influence government.
Yeah, anything but address the facts Andy. I don’t know where you and the Egyptian weirdo get your paranoia from. I’m just me. I’m not part of any l.p. Actually I think their views are nuts. I’m personally more in line with the greens and usually just occasionally lurk here, and jumped in only because you and Rodney were discussing corona.
In the meantime more bad news for me. A friend from work who I socialize with just informed me her boyfriend is a confirmed corona case and she has something which could be allergies, flu or corona as well. Her boyfriend is getting chemo for stage 4 lymphoma which he got due to frequent exposure to roundup when he was doing landscape work. Like me he is in a category of people who may likely die when we are exposed.
Maybe it’s easy for you to be callous about old and chronically sick people. Got any on your family who are still alive? Neighbors? Coworkers? People at businesses you patronize? My understanding is that the owner of this site is in his 70s. Can you think of anyone you would consider a real loss if they pass away from this disease?
Yeah, it’s just like the flu…if it was a hundred times deadlier with no vaccine or treatment. It’s more like the flu a hundred years ago, and it’s just starting to hit this country. It’s currently doubling about every 6 days. At that rate a month from now we will have 10,000 dead and over half a million sick, many seriously. Do the math yourself as to what happens another month after that, or two months. You think our medical system or economy or society is ready to deal with that and all its consequences? I know I’m not, but I don’t exactly have a choice.
“documented fact that there are lots of trolls online, and that some of them work for government agencies or groups trying to influence government.” please link to your “documented facts”
Thanks for showing some sanity Brandon. Andy might think his purpose here is to destroy people, which really tells you s lot more about him than anything else, along with his self congratulations on that supposed score.
Personally I’m not trying to destroy or even debate anyone. But notice that Andy does not address any of the actual factors about corona and its spread being brought up, and instead tries to deflect constantly. Is he winning any points with anyone except himself and the Egyptian guy, if that’s not his alter ego or best friend or something? If that’s the sort of argument which convinces libertarians that’s not exactly a good statement about their sanity. But maybe it’s just him or the two of them if they’re not the same person.
It doesn’t matter how many things Andy links to about government trolls online. He may be one himself for all we know. I don’t really care if he is or not. I don’t care who he is or whether he’s the same person as Egyptian wanker or not. I care about whether he can make a logical argument against facts brought up by Rodney and myself. So far the answer seems to be no. We shall see whether that changes.
I know as much about Andy as he knows about me: his supposed first name. I don’t care whether that’s actually his name or not. Same goes for Rodney. From what I can tell Andy is extremely obsessed with someone he thinks he destroyed in a debate, which besides being pathetic is not very logical. Maybe Andy really thinks he was the one who got destroyed, which is equally pathetic. Now he sees this person lurking around every corner and maybe under his bed.
But in the meantime he has nothing but a lagging indicator to dispute any of the facts about corona which have been brought up.
“Charles,” why are you and “Rodney” (probably the same poster as “Charles”) even here? I have been following this site for years, yet I am not familiar with you. Did you only just recently become interested in ballot access? Funny how you are not here to talk about ballot access, but rather, Coronavirus.
Brandon, do a sreach about internet trolls, or government internet trolls.
Cyberpig, you really shouldn’t be joking about having corona. If really have it I’m concerned due to your underlying heart disease, diabetes, obesity and elephantiasis. Even though you’re a horrible friend who betrayed him I hope Andy calls for an update and forgives you for the harm you caused.
“Brandon, do a sreach about internet trolls, or government internet trolls.” I thought you had “documented facts”? or do you believe everything you read on random blogs?
I’m done with this conversation after this since apparently Egyptian/Andy doesn’t have any facts and realizes it, and is not even trying. Even trump had pivoted away from the “coronavirus is a hoax” crap and says he always knew it’s a pandemic, contrary to what he said earlier. He considers himself to be a wartime president now but apparently Andy and/or Egyptian still didn’t get the menu that we have always been at war with what the bigot in chief calls Chinese virus.
I’m not the same person as Rodney and or whoever Egyptian idiot seems to think I am, and don’t have most of the conditions of that person, provided they even do. I am however overweight, have high blood pressure and respiratory issues.
And no, I’m not the least bit joking, but to be clear I have as I said not been diagnosed or tested for corona. I do have some of the symptoms and have spent a good but of time working closely with and socializing with a colleague who also has indeterminate symptoms and has now been tested and awaiting results, and whose boyfriend has now tested positive and hospitalized. I will be getting a test soon but there is still a shortage of tests in my area contrary to lies trump has told, and I’ve teleconsulted with a doctor who told me to wait for my direct contact’s results or for symptoms to worsen before being tested, and to remain isolated in the meantime which I was already doing anyway .
As for me being here I am usually too busy with work but now I’m laid off. I usually scan this site but rarely ever read the comments. I voted for Jill stein twice and wish we had better ballot access for other candidates but in my state we don’t so I never see them on the ballot. I’m not a political activist or ballot expert. Just some one who found himself with way more time than usual on my hands and spend a lot of it researching coronavirus specifically and also read the comments here on a lark which I very rarely ever have before.
As I said earlier I only joined the conversation because you got on the topic of corona. But since it seems you have nothing at all to defend your dangerously irresponsible view of it, and only wish to keep addressing unrelated issues about whoever you falsely think I am and other unrelated nonsense, I’ll go spend my time somewhere else, especially since I may not have very much of it left.
Brandon, documented facts and Andy have apparently never crossed paths, so he wouldn’t recognize them if he stumbled on them by accident. Let’s just leave it at that.
I’ll leave you with a few actual facts. I read hundreds of these every day now
https://nypost.com/2020/03/22/de-blasio-blames-trump-for-nyc-hospital-equipment-shortage-people-will-die/
And I’ll leave a few more. Coming soon to a city near you.
Here is another one https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/22/politics/andrew-cuomo-coronavirus-federal-government/index.html
One more https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/22/state-leaders-trump-administration-mask-shipments-141884
Last one and I leave you with this.
https://www.newsweek.com/u-s-now-has-third-highest-number-covid-19-cases-after-china-italy-1493618
Use news.Google.com to find hundreds more or turn on CNN and msnbc just about anytime. Cnbc has also been educational along with the science section of Google news to go with its politics news sections.
Of course the trump fans will all say it’s fake news even as they are ordered to stand six feet apart at their friends and families funerals day after day after day. Maybe they’ll think colloidal silver toothpaste will save them.
Goodbye and good luck.
Just because some people are getting sick, and some people (mostly, or all, elderly and/or with pre-existing conditions), it does not mean that the Coronavirus scare is not a scam. The ruling elite have been talking about releasing bioweapons on the population for years. Look it up if you don’t believe it. Whether this was released on purpose, or this was natural (and note that various Coronaviruses have been around for a long time), the ruling elite are using this as a cover for an economic crash that was coming anyway, due to the central bank’s inflationary policies, and due to runaway government spending. This is also being used as a power grab by the state.
Andy, did you call the cyberpig to confirm whether he really has Corona or was just joking on here?
Should read, “and some people are dying (mostly elderly, and/or people with pre-existing conditions),” above.