Free Republic

The Libertarian Party has decided to block Ron Paul and Judge Napolitano from speaking at their convention. An organizer from the Mises Institute had lined both to speak at the LNC in July, and paid the cost to have them speak, but the LP chair, Daniel Hayes is triggered by Paul's critique of the Party for its failings. So he's responded by rejecting to have either speak at the event.

Donald Trump gets elected and the Left protests by setting fires in the street: They form a “Resistance” and continue to riot for months, forming a “Resistance” whose members throw punches, attacking their “enemy” with their fists, sticks and bike locks stuffed in a sock. Celebrities who have joined the movement throw oil on the fire saying increasingly stupid things like they want to burn the White House down. And suddenly every Democrat pol is so angry they have seemingly lost the ability to control themselves and the air turns blue with their F-bombs.The Left forms “The Resistance” made up...

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the two-time Libertarian Party presidential candidate, says he’s lost faith in the electoral process and vowed never to run again. He will now focus all his efforts on legalizing marijuana. Govs. Johnson and Weld became the first ticket of any party to feature two governors since the 1948 presidential election and ended up receiving nearly 4.5 million votes nationally, far more than his 2012 popular vote total. While still not a viable electoral force, the 2016 presidential election marked the Libertarian Party’s most successful presidential run to date and the most successful third-party candidacy...

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson on Tuesday defended his lack of knowledge of world affairs, suggesting on MSNBC that foreign policy expertise, or even an understanding of where international leaders are from, is what leads to military conflict. “You know what? The fact that somebody can dot the i’s and cross the t’s on a foreign leader’s geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm’s way,” Johnson told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. The former New Mexico governor has been widely panned for a pair of foreign policy gaffes that have weighed down his long-shot candidacy. First, Johnson responded...

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said he’s glad “no one was hurt” in the string of attacks in three states Saturday, although dozens of people were injured. “Tell me your reaction to these news stories from the past 24 hours, what do you think the government needs to be doing on a day like today?” CNN’s Brian Stelter asked Johnson, referring to explicitly to the New York City bombing, the stabbing at a Minnesota mall and the bombs found near a charity run in New Jersey. “Well, first of all, just grateful nobody got hurt,” Johnson replied.

There had also been an eye-opening moment on the streets of Cleveland during the Republican National Convention, when [Johnson and I had] been walking behind a cigarette-wielding Ohioan. As the smoker’s exhaust wafted in our faces, I remarked offhand that—with the advent of e-cigarettes—I thought there was a good libertarian case for banning regular cigarettes. “I do too,” replied the health-obsessed triathlete, recounting his support for anti-smoking efforts in New Mexico.

Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein will not be on the presidential debate stage for the first contest sponsored by the Commission on President Debates. Johnson and Stein both fell short of the 15 percent polling threshold required to participate, the commission said in a statement, adding that Trump and Clinton will face off on September 26 and their running mates, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, will debate on October 4. Johnson in particular was pushing hard for inclusion in the debates, as he’d polled in the double digits across several national surveys, and previously...

Gary Johnson’s hopes of earning an invitation to the Sept. 26 debate are all but extinguished. The door is about to close on Gary Johnson. The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates has set a “mid-September” deadline for Johnson and the other third-party candidates to meet three criteria to qualify for the first debate later this month: “evidence of constitutional eligibility,” “evidence of ballot access” and “indicators of electoral support.” Johnson clearly meets the first two qualifications: A two-term former governor of New Mexico, Johnson is a citizen and older than 35 years of age. And the Johnson campaign said Wednesday...

A golden moment from his interview with our Townhall cousin, Guy Benson. Watch him get genuinely pissy at around 4:00 when Guy, very politely, presses him on why the term “illegal” is so troubling. What we’re left with here is a third-party candidate who’s hyper-libertarian on immigration, of all issues, but not so libertarian on, for example, a carbon tax or whether business owners should be forced to cater gay weddings. That’s his pitch to conservatives who have been alienated by Trump: Possibly some new taxes, certainly less religious liberty, and all the amnesty you can eat. There’s no reason...

Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is newly in favor of mandatory vaccination, he says, after learning more about the science of immunization. In 2011, Johnson tweeted “No to mandatory vaccines,” but asked in an interview with VPR Wednesday about his position, Johnson said he now believes that vaccinations should be mandatory.

Johnson and one of his rivals, presumptive Green Party nominee Jill Stein, sued the commission last September, alleging violations of antitrust law and the First Amendment. Johnson and Stein are seeking spots on the all-important presidential debate stage this fall. But federal judge Rosemary M. Collyer threw out the lawsuit on Friday. In mid-September, the commission will add up five national polls and invite the candidates who are averaging at least 15% support. The first debate is scheduled to take place on Monday, September 26.

If there was any doubt, Gov. Gary Johnson is working harder at winning over former Bernie Sanders supporters than Ron and Rand Paul supporters. For whatever reason, he’s taken on several left-wing positions from bashing religious freedom to now supporting Black Lives Matter. At the CNN Libertarian Party Town Hall on Wednesday, Johnson praised the efforts of Black Lives Matter and endorsed the organization. Speaking to a Black Lives Matter protestor and registered Democrat who was shot in the leg during a march, Johnson said, “What it has done for me is that my head has been in the sand...

A few days ago, trying to maneuver through a “scrum” of reporters in Philadelphia, I was asked about my views regarding religious freedom and non-discrimination laws. Given the divisiveness and pain that have accompanied several state religious freedom laws, I approach attempts at legislating religious exceptions to anti-discrimination laws with great sensitivity and care.

Even if you only occasionally frequent law commentary online, you have probably heard of Ilya Shapiro of the CATO Institute, as he is one of the most prominent voices on libertarian perspectives on the law today. Shapiro took it upon himself to respond ... to recent comments made by Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld.

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is thinking about supporting the Libertarian presidential ticket this year. Well, at least, that’s what the Libertarian ticket says. In a interview Thursday afternoon with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, former Govs. Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, of New Mexico and Massachusetts, respectively, said they have had spoken with Romney and he was “considering the possibility” of endorsing the two of them.

Military troops favor Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson for president over Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, according to a new survey. Johnson garnered 38.7 percent of the active duty vote, versus 30.9 for Trump, and 14.1 for Clinton, according to the survey, which was conducted via the popular military personality Doctrine Man. Although the survey was not a scientific poll with a margin of error, it provides a snapshot of the preferences of about 3,500 active duty, reservists, retired and former members of the military and their family members, 95.7 percent of which were registered voters. Among all services except for...

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson hinted Wednesday that former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush might be considering an endorsement. "I can't say that we haven't had conversations," Johnson said in a Wednesday afternoon conversation on CNN from Cleveland. "But no push on the conversations." Johnson said he has also had conversations with 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. When asked who initiated the conversations, Johnson replied, "Not me." When asked if the former Florida governor has called him, Johnson added quickly, "I don't want to — I want to protect the innocent.

Be wary of polls showing Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson creeping up to 5%. The purpose of this trick is to get him on debate stages to tag team with Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. The plan is simple: take a crash dummy candidate only on the ballot in 27 states, and fake his support numbers to get him past the 5% threshold for a position on a debate stage. It is a beautiful plan we cannot allow to work. The more time Johnson eats up with stupid answers and cross talk over Donald Trump’s answers, the less time Hillary Clinton...

In the ideal world imagined by some of our friends, Hillary Clinton would have been indicted and knocked-out of the race for President and Donald Trump will be replaced at the Republican National Convention by an as yet unidentified perfect conservative candidate whom the voters will anoint as the next President of the United States. Of course none of this ever was, or is, going to happen, but some of our conservative friends can’t seem to stop wishing for the election they want, instead of concentrating on winning the election they have. However, despite this lack of ability to focus...

He hasn't updated his Twitter account in 2 days. He hasn't said anything about the Democrat's nominee getting away with this, but he's attacked Trump throughout this campaign. It's unfortunate that he was our candidate in a very winnable election. The Republican Establishment caused the Trump movement. https://twitter.com/MittRomney?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor