Past and present members of the Queens Libertarians continue to promote a true liberty understanding via ongoing letters to the editor campaigns in Queens and NYC papers. Below is a comment published in the New York Daily News Voice of the People section on July 4 by LPQC/QL alumni Ed Konecik:

Right to What?

Flushing: Our Declaration of Independence declares, and the Constitution guarantees, our right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The progressive left has embraced the notions of Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” Entitlements, welfare, and an expanding list of rights like health care, food and housing is not freedom; that’s dependency.   —Ed Konecnik

Queens’ own Larry Sharpe, 2018 LP candidate for Governor of New York, relates his libertarian views on a variety of subjects in this wide-ranging talk at the “Governor’s House:”

Businessman and crypto ICO advocate John McAfee has announced his intentions to run again for POTUS in 2020. In a twitter announcement, McAfee indicated he will give the Libertarian party first dibs for services but left open the possibility for the formation of a new party for his presidential campaign. In 2015, McAfee launched a presidential campaign for the newly formed Cyber party before switching to run for the 2016 libertarian nomination. McAfee finished second to Gary Johnson at the 2016 Libertarian national convention in Orlando, Florida.

Read the discussion.

Please join us on Saturday, June 9, 2018 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to hear Lucian Wintrich (The Gateway Pundit) speak on the topic of “The Growth Of Alternative Media.” The event will take place at Takara Sushi located at[masked]th Avenue, Whitestone, New York. Mr. Wintrich will speak for 45 minutes followed by 45 minutes of interactive conversation. Lucian Wintrich is the New York Bureau Chief for the Gateway Pundit and was formerly the White House Correspondent.

More information can be found at www.TheGatewayPundit.com

The Gateway Pundit is one of the top political websites. The Gateway Pundit has 15 million visits each month (Stat Counter – Google Analytics). It is consistently ranked as one of the top political blogs in the nation. TGP has been cited by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, The Drudge Report, The Blaze, Mark Levin, FOX Nation and by several international news organizations.

Update: Mr. Wintrich unfortunately failed to attend the meeting, abruptly canceling his appearance the night before. Attendees engaged in a lively discussion of the topic regardless. The Queens Libertarians are disappointed the speaker did not honor his commitment, and hope that it does not reflect on other staff at the Gateway Pundit.

Possible 2020 contender for the LP Presidential nomination Adam Kokesh ponders a world where “Libertarianism Might Be Irrelevant.” What is a libertarian to do, if that happens? His recent thoughts are captured here:

Congratulations to candidate and friend of the Queens Libertarians Larry Sharpe, on being picked by the LPNY to run for Governor at its annual convention. Below are videos explaining his platform and libertarian philosophy. Let’s get our man on the ballot!

New Yorkers with Libertarian Party beliefs lament the news (below text from Prison Planet) that NYC is no longer just forcing bad politics on America. Suggestions: legalize weed, take some barren land in the state, bake the waste into fertilizer and grow more hemp. Or, convert it into hydrocarbon fuel via processes like plasma gasification and thermal depolymerization. Either way, cut the crap!

A small-town Alabama mayor publicly exposed how New York City rids itself of human excrement by shipping “poop trains” to rural, flyover country.

NYC ships the waste by rail to numerous, cheap landfills across the country because apparently the high environmental fees and business costs prevent use of local landfills.

But unfortunately for residents near these landfills, some of which are thousands of miles away, the waste sits on train cars for days before landfill crews can empty them.

“Other towns and cities have been fighting this material in their towns for years,” said Parrish, Ala., Mayor Heather Hall. “While what happened in Parrish was, to our understanding, an unprecedented event, there are still small towns like Parrish fighting this situation on a smaller scale.”

Mayor Hill brought it to public attention after one “poop train” was left near her city for over two months before it was emptied, causing a stench so bad that it forced the railroad to hire more truck drivers to remove the waste.

The story is a microcosm of how large, liberal cities are so badly managed that they pass on their problems – and often their residents – to rural America.

Case in point, the cost of living is so high in San Francisco now that residents are fleeing to Tennessee of all places.

“San Jose real estate agent Sandy Jamison has even drawn up a marketing flyer for the top five reasons people leave the Bay Area: high taxes, cost of living, quality of life from traffic to homelessness, politics and high housing prices,” reported the East Bay Times.

Even entire Bay Area companies are moving to Nashville because the cost of doing business is so much lower in a red state.

Please join us on Saturday, April 14, 2018 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to hear Dr. Murray Sabrin (currently the nominee of the New Jersey Libertarian Party for United States Senate) speak on the topic of “How The Political Elites Hijacked The Constitution.” The event will take place at Takara Sushi located at 150-11 14th Avenue, Whitestone, New York. Dr. Sabrin will speak for 45 minutes followed by 45 minutes of interactive conversation. Many educated and experienced people are being invited to participate in the discussion.

Dr. Murray Sabrin is Professor of Finance in the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College of New Jersey. He has been a member of the faculty since 1985. He has a Ph.D. in economic geography from Rutgers University, an M.A. in social studies education from Lehman College and a B.A. in history, geography and social studies education from Hunter College. Sabrin has worked in commercial real estate sales and marketing, personal portfolio management, and economic research. He is also co-founder and president of Inversquare LLC, manufacturer and distributor of Conger LH™, the world’s first Lubrihibitor.

Sabrin’s articles have appeared in The Record (Hackensack, NJ), The Star Ledger, Trenton Times, the Asbury Park Press, and NJBIZ. His essays have also appeared in Commerce Magazine, Mid-Atlantic Journal of Business, and Privatization Review, and www.lewrockwell.com. He is the author of Tax Free 2000: The Rebirth of American Liberty. Sabrin is a contributing columnist for www.politickernj.com (http://www.politickernj.com/). Sabrin is currently writing Ask Me About My Ponzi Scheme: Deceit and Deception from Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama.

Sabrin was the Libertarian Party nominee for governor in 1997 and was the first third-party candidate to participate in the official debates with the two major candidates. In 2000 and 2008 he sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. In 2007 Dr. Sabrin and his wife, Florence made a $250,000 gift to Ramapo College to establish the Sabrin Center for Business Excellence in the Anisfield School of Business.

Dr. Sabrin arrived in America with his parents and older brother on August 6, 1949. His parents were the only members of their respective families to survive the Holocaust. He became a U.S. citizen in 1959 at age 12 and was graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1964.

For more information, visit  http://www.MurraySabrin.com

While we will pass the hat, there is no mandatory donation. However, all attendees must purchase $10.00 in food and drink over the two hour period. There is street parking and a reasonably priced parking lot across the street. You can travel there by taking the Q15A bus out of Main Street, Flushing (7 Subway Line) at the Southwest Corner of Prince Street at Roosevelt Avenue (which will let you off on the corner of 150th Street & 14th Avenue) or by taking the Q76 bus from either the 165th Street Bus Terminal or from the subway station at Jamaica Avenue & 179th Street (you should get off at the corner of Cross Island Parkway & 150th Street & walk to 14th Avenue).

Can one really hold to a libertarian philosophy if they have Stratfor ties? You be the judge, of research released about the 2016-8 chair of the National LP. Below is the result of documents leaked by Wikileaks and reported by the Free Thought Project:

In late 2011, hackers managed to crack into the databases of the global intelligence firm Stratfor and found a large volume of information that connected the firm with military contractors, government agencies, and confidential informants.

In the first months of 2012, these documents were made public by Wikileaks and included millions of emails, which showed Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, and other vital information about their covert operations.

Stratfor has picked up the nickname “Shadow CIA” and had relationships with Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Goldman Sachs and various government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines, and the US Defense Intelligence Agency.

The leaked data has been published on Wikileaks website for years and is known as the Global Intelligence Files. Due to the large volume of data involved in the leak, years later researchers are still pouring through the files in search of clues that give a glimpse into secret government operations, or possible names of informants.

This week, The Free Thought Project received a tip from one of our readers that Nicholas J. Sarwark, the current Chairman of the Libertarian party, was named in the Global Intelligence Files. Sure enough, a quick search of the Wikileaks website shows a number of listings for Sarwark’s name. One listing had an address that is tied to one of his businesses.

Read the rest.

Note: The Queens meeting time has changed to 11:30, beginning with the March 10 meeting, which features a talk on the implications of growth hacking concepts on Libertarian Party progress and beliefs. Full announcement:

Please join us on Saturday, March 10, 2018 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to hear John Clifton speak on the topic of “Libertarian Growth Hacking in the Post-Paul, DeBlasio and Trump Era.” The event will take place at Takara Sushi located at 150-11 14th Avenue, Whitestone, New York.

With the major political events of the past decade, the game has changed as far as how to best develop the Libertarian Party and movement. This involves drawing from the concept of “growth hacking,” or rapid experimentation to determine the most efficient route to success. Can such ideas or projects be adapted to benefit pro-liberty campaigns and organizations going forward?

Clifton discusses how the Ron Paul movement, Tea Party, the populist trend that elected Trump, and even the rise of Mayor DeBlasio have each served as a “proof of concept,” or as completed test cases for how to build the LP and get more Libertarians elected. Applying these trends using a growth hacking mindset, specific new, but proven techniques will be overviewed, such as reverse triangulation, the BOSS approach, self-reimbursing campaign financing, creative branding, and leveraging local resources, etc., to advance pro-liberty candidates and causes.

The event will take place at Takara Sushi located at 150-11 14th Avenue, Whitestone, New York. Mr. Clifton will speak for 45 minutes followed by 45 minutes of interactive conversation. Many educated and experienced people are being invited to participate in the discussion.

While we will pass the hat, there is no mandatory donation. However, all attendees must purchase $10.00 in food and drink over the two hour period. There is street parking and a reasonably priced parking lot across the street. You can travel there by taking the Q15A bus out of Main Street, Flushing (7 Subway Line) at the Southwest Corner of Prince Street at Roosevelt Avenue (which will let you off on the corner of 150th Street & 14th Avenue) or by taking the Q76 bus from either the 165th Street Bus Terminal or from the subway station at Jamaica Avenue & 179th Street (you should get off at the corner of Cross Island Parkway & 150th Street & walk to 14th Avenue).

What is a libertarian, if Ron Paul, former LP Presidential candidate and two time GOP contender for President isn’t considered good enough? That’s the reaction many party members had in response to the widely floated story that the retired Congressman had been banned from speaking at the 2018 LP national convention. Several Libertarian officials and personalities have since set the record straight that it was simply a booking issue (i.e., the convention not wanting to pay Paul’s speaking fee). The complication with this (which had lent credibility to the story) is that several LP national committee members have recently made openly critical remarks about Paul, as Julie Borowski relates in the below video:

From Reason magazine’s massive profile of Queens’ own Larry Sharpe and his libertarian philosophy: 

Libertarians like Larry Sharpe.

It was nearly impossible to attend a state-level Libertarian Party (L.P.) convention in 2017 and not see the affable former Marine and 2018 candidate for governor of New York laying out his seven-year plan to transform the party from a distant third-place finisher to the country’s decisive swing bloc at all levels of government.

When I asked former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld how Libertarians could best build on their momentum, he began his reply with: “You want to get out more candidates like Larry Sharpe.”

Of course, Bill Weld is the only reason a normal consumer of politics might have heard of Sharpe in the first place. Weld was the Libertarian vice presidential nominee in the 2016 race—by far the most famous and electorally successful candidate for that office since the party’s founding in 1971. And in May 2016, at the Libertarian Party’s national convention, Sharpe came this close to beating him. A measly 32 votes on a hotly contested second ballot separated Weld’s 50.5 percent from Sharpe’s 46.9, much to the bafflement of the assembled national press corps. At a raucous moment, the party’s radicals and anarchists rallied behind Sharpe, even though he is decidedly not one of them.

Read the rest.

The Queens Libertarians (or QL, formerly the Libertarian Party of Queens County), the authentic voice of libertarian views, activism, education and advocacy in Queens since 1994, has completed its most successful Annual Toy Drive in its history. Members of the organization collected over 150 toys and donated them to homeless black children, through the family shelter support program Restfull Nights, at its Jamaica office in mid-December. The achievement, being the 17^th straight toy drive conducted since 2001, was duly noted at the QL annual Holiday Dinner on December 17.

“This shows how libertarian beliefs also include individual responsibility for helping the community, as well as individual freedom,” says Toy Drive Coordinator Michelle Yaskel. This year the toys were personally delivered by Yaskel, with QL Chair Tom Stevens and Vice Chair John Clifton, and were the largest number collected to date for their annual drive. Following the September 11, 2001 tragedy, the drive was initially launched to benefit police and firefighter families, and the effort has been acclaimed by the national Libertarian Party (LP).

The event capped a very productive year for the Queens Libertarians, who in addition maintain an over 300 active email and member list, held a convention, holiday dinner, speaker program and 12 monthly meetings featuring guests including Fred Cookinham, Augustus Invictus, and 2018 LP gubernatorial contender Larry Sharpe. The QL meets (since 1994) on the second Saturday of each month at the Takara Sushi restaurant in Whitestone, and on January 13 at 11 am will hold its next convention, featuring a discussion of the state of Queens Republican politics by Tea Party activist Alan Bemben.

The Queens Libertarians is not currently chartered with the Libertarian Party of New York (LPNY) due to a bylaws dispute, and over its documenting wrongful expulsions, and ongoing defamations of several Queens activists led by certain factions within the state party. QL expects its positive achievements and fully active organization will result in a re-merging or restoration of its status and members with LPNY, through a future state convention or committee. The Queens Libertarians plan to further celebrate its history on their 25^th anniversary in 2019.