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Libertarian calendar for March 2015

25 Mar

March 25
Washington DC

Libertarian Ladies Night Happy Hour
Women Only 6-8
Men Welcome 8-10

Join your favorite libertariettes (post old and new ladies mixer) for a drink! Gentlemen friends, work husbands, significant others, boyfriends, and life partners are all welcome!
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March 25
Washington DC

Let’s Talk School Choice

6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

1706 New Hampshire Avenue NW
When is the last time you discussed school choice and won $500?Let's Talk Logo Block
How much do you know about school choice? What are effective policy initiatives and viable solutions to providing better proper education choices for Americans? More importantly, howdo you communicate these ideas to your friends and family?
Join communications guru Bob Ewing, The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and school choice expert Greg Reed, The Institute for Justice, for a crash course of the facts, communication tips, and a chance to practice your argument in a small group setting. Space is limited to 30 participants. A reception will follow the group practice.
This event is free for members, and $10.00 for the general public. Any attendee is eligible
to submit an application to compete for the $500 prize at the competition on July 15, 2015.
Let’s talk school choice.
6:00 pm Registration/ Reception
6:30 pm Lessons & Argument Practice
Reception following
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March 26
New York, NY

Can We End Poverty?

8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Columbia University
Roone Arledge Auditorium
Alfred Lerner Hall, 2920 Broadway

Featuring John Allison, President, Cato Institute; John McWhorter, Center for American Studies, Columbia University; Michael D. Tanner, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute; Ron Haskins, Co-Director, Center on Children and Families, Budgeting for National Priorities Project; Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO, PolicyLink;Christopher Wimer, Co-Director, Center on Poverty and Social Policy; Robert Doar, Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute; Jo Kwong, Director of Economic Opportunity Programs, Philanthropy Roundtable; Harriet Karr-McDonald, Executive Vice President, Doe Fund; Robert Woodson, Founder and President, Center for Neighborhood Enterprise; David Beito, Professor of American History, University of Alabama; and Ruth Rathblott, President and Chief Executive Office, Harlem Educational Activities Fund.
On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson delivered a State of the Union address to Congress in which he declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.” Johnson’s goal was not only to “relieve the symptom of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it.” Since then, federal and state governments have spent more than $19 trillion fighting poverty. But what has really been accomplished with all of that funding?
This special half-day conference brings together a wide range of experts from across the political spectrum to discuss whether the War on Poverty succeeded in reducing poverty in the United States, what remains to be done, and whether private charitable efforts would be a better alternative to government welfare programs.
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Welcome Address

John Allison
President, Cato Institute
8:45 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Keynote AddressJohn McWhorter
Center for American Studies, Columbia University
9:30 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. PANEL 1: 50 Years of the War on Poverty: Success, Failure, Incomplete?Moderator: Ron Haskins
Co-Director, Center on Children and Families and Budgeting for National Priorities Project, Brookings Institution

Michael Tanner
Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

Angela Glover Blackwell
Founder and CEO, PolicyLink

Christopher Wimer
Co-Director, Center on Poverty and Social Policy, School of Social Work, Columbia University

Robert Doar
Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute
10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Break
11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. PANEL 2: Private Alternatives to Government WelfareModerator: Jo Kwong
Director of Economic Opportunity Programs, Philanthropy Roundtable

Harriet Karr-McDonald
Executive Vice President, Doe Fund

Robert Woodson
Founder and President, Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

David Beito
Professor of American History, University of Alabama

Ruth Rathblott
President and Chief Executive Officer, Harlem Educational Activities Fund
If you can’t make it to Columbia University, watch this event live online at www.cato.org/live and follow @CatoEvents on Twitter to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.
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March 26
Babylon, NY

Suffolk County Libertarian Convention
Lily Flanagan’s Restaurant
345 Deer Park Avenue

file:///Users/msmwizard/Downloads/b24c82d754d5634e2bdd5cb343889fcf_screen.jpg

Tickets in Advance are $20 and at the door $25 which can be paid below.  All monies that are paid will be forwarded to the SCLP.  The price includes a buffet dinner and unlimited soft drinks.  There is a cash bar.
The business portion of the meeting will be free.
Besides electing new officers we will feature four very interesting speakers as follows:

Bob Schulz:  Founder of WethePeople.org
Speaking on the unconstitutionality of Common Core education in New York.
If you want to stop common core, this is a must see event!  Please bring your entire family and friends to help us do our part to stop this blight on our children’s education!

Karin Murphy Caro:  Founder and CEO of Blu Chip Marketing
Speaking on social media and media relations.  In all political races the use of social media is essential.

Lidia Szcezepanski, Esq.:  Founder of the Web TV Show “Everything Lidia” on The Daily Blu
Speaking on “And Liberty and Justice for All…… If you have enough money!”

Robert Schuon: Vice Chair of the Suffolk County Libertarian Party
Speaking on Austrian Economics
So come join us for a night of entertaining speakers and a great meal!

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March 28
Iowa Libertarian Party convention

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March 28
Garner, NC
6:00 PM
Carolina Barbecue N Chicken
733 Us Highway 70 W
Garner, NC
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March 29
Culver City, CA

  • Time: 6:00pm Pacific
  • Location: Reason Magazine LA Office, 5737 Mesmer Avenue
We will be joined by David Nott, the President of Reason Foundation to answer important questions from AFL’ers ranging from policy to career.
About AFL: As the student movement for liberty continues to grow around the world it becomes increasingly important for alumni to stay connected to the students and each other. Alumni For Liberty provides a means for alumni of the student movement to do just that while giving back and empowering the next generation of leaders of liberty.
Did you miss going to ISFLC? Want to rekindle that fire of liberty inside you? Connect with former SFLers and friends to find out the latest happenings in the liberty community.
Please join us for some drinks, swag, and conversation! Speaker: David Nott is president of Reason Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing free minds and free markets. Under Nott’s leadership, Reason’s public policy experts have advised President George W. Bush, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and numerous other officials on how to shrink the burden of government. Reason, a monthly magazine of political and cultural commentary, was named one of the “50 Best Magazines” two straight years by the Chicago Tribune and is described as “a kick-ass, no-holds-barred political magazine” by the New York Post.
Nott’s professional experience includes six years as president of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he is credited with developing and implementing a business plan that led to a 250 percent increase in revenue. Nott also spearheaded the construction of Mercatus’ new Capitol Hill Campus.
Find out more about the Reason Foundation

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March 31
Arlington VA
THE FUTURE OF INNOVATION: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TYLER COWEN AND PETER THIEL
  • Time:
    2:00pm

    –

    3:30pm
  • Location:
    Founders Hall Auditorium
    Arlington Campus at George Mason University
    3351 N Fairfax Drive
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March 26
Atlanta, GA

Georgia Justice Reform

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From State in Crisis to Reform Leader: How Georgia’s Approach to Criminal Justice Is Impacting Well-Being
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Where: Georgia Pacific, Auditorium (located on the lobby level of GP), 133 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30303
Click Here to RSVP
Like many states, Georgia recently found itself in the midst of a criminal justice crisis. In only two decades, its prison population had doubled, diminishing opportunity and well-being for non-violent offenders caught up in the system. Meanwhile, its incarceration budget had also doubled. The Peach State was facing a breaking point.

But thanks to a new approach, leaders in Atlanta have been able to focus resources on rehabilitating non-violent offenders while also ensuring that public safety is not compromised. This move has also helped save taxpayers more than $20 million.

What has Georgia done that has worked and what needs further examination? How has reform affected opportunity and well-being, especially for former prisoners? And can Georgia’s reforms be replicated in other states – or even at the federal level?

Please join the Charles Koch Institute for an upcoming conversation with esteemed criminal justice experts who will explore these questions and more.

OPENING REMARKS
Hon. Jay Neal, Governor’s Office of Transition, Support and Reentry

SPEAKERS
Marissa McCall Dodson, Policy Director and Attorney, Georgia Justice Project
Randy Hicks, President and CEO, Georgia Center for Opportunity
Marc Levin, Policy Director, Right on Crime; Director, Center for Effective Justice at the Texas Public Policy Foundation
Kelly McCutchen, President and CEO, Georgia Public Policy Foundation

Space is limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible.
Join the conversation on #justicereform

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March 27

Washington DC

2015 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference

Students for Sensible Drug Policy » Upcoming Events » 2015 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
  • Location: Washington, DC American University
  • Dates: March 27, 2015 – March 29, 2015
  • Cost (current students): $5 in advance, $10 at the door
  • Cost (SSDP alumni): $15 in advance, $25 at the door
  • Cost (regular): $25 in advance, $35 at the door

Register

Schedule

TBA – check back often, more information coming soon!

Speakers

TBA – check back often, more information coming soon!

Registration

We don’t want the cost to be a barrier for any students who want to attend. If you cannot afford the $5 ticket, please contact drew@ssdp.org to discuss discount options.ballot drive
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March 31
Arlington VA


THE FUTURE OF INNOVATION: A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TYLER COWEN AND PETER THIEL
  • Time:
    2:00pm

    –

    3:30pm
  • Location:
    Founders Hall Auditorium
    Arlington Campus at George Mason University
    3351 N Fairfax Drive,
This is the inaugural event of the Mercatus Center’s newly established Conversations with Tyler event series.
PARTICIPANTS:
Tyler Cowen, Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics, George Mason University
Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, partner at Founders Fund
Peter Thiel and Tyler Cowen, both New York Times bestselling authors, are among today’s top global thought leaders and influential innovators. Join us as these two engage in a serious dialogue on the ideas and policies that will shape the future of innovation and progress in the coming years and decades.
Peter Thiel is among the most impressive innovators of the past two decades. As co-founder of Paypal and seed-funder for Facebook, Thiel has been instrumental in the conception and growth of some of today’s most entrepreneurial and innovative companies. In his latest best-selling book, Zero to One, Thiel explains how to build a better future by capitalizing on innovation. A staunch optimist, he maintains that progress can be achieved anywhere the human mind is able to think creatively. Thiel describes how entrepreneurial thinking leads to innovation, which builds something new and moves the mark from zero to one.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact Bethany Stalter at bstalter@mercatus.gmu.edu or (703) 993-4889.

About Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel is a legendary entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He has played a vital role in some of the most dynamic companies to emerge from Silicon Valley. His contributions to technology, entrepreneurship, and finance are recognized around the world, including by the World Economic Forum, which honored Thiel as a Young Global Leader, and by BusinessWeek, which named him one of the 25 most influential people on the web. Thiel also serves as a primary supporter of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a group that promotes press freedom worldwide; the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which seeks to foster the responsible development of advanced computing technologies; and the SENS Foundation, a medical charity dedicated to extending healthy human lifespans. Thiel received a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University and a JD from Stanford Law School.

About Tyler Cowen
Cowen is a world-renowned professor of economics, co-author of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution, co-founder of the award-winning online educational platform Marginal Revolution University, and chairman of the Board at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Bloomberg Businessweek profiled Cowen as “America’s Hottest Economist,” Foreign Policy named Cowen as one of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers,” and an Economist survey counted Cowen as one of the most influential economists of the last decade.

Are you cold, dearie? Another study the Feds could do while playing Keystone cops with Ebola….

16 Oct

Today I biked to the office just after dawn and passed my favorite Chinese owned bagel place at 22nd and P Streets NW in Dupont Circle.  (They make a delicious bagel with creme cheese and bacon, just like in Tel Aviv.  Ask for the “number 4” which is that plus coffee and an orange juice.)

A cute-enough-to-look gay guy, thin, full head of short gray hair, sort of a Wallace Langham (an actor who is amazingly not gay, though he played Peter Thiel in The Social Network), was sitting outside in a hoodie zipped up with arms and legs crossed.

You can find discussions on line of whether male leg crossing is “gay.”  But is it really something else?

One can find lots of studies that show that gay men are neuro-endocrinologically more like women than are most men.  And one can find studies that women really are more sensitive to and uncomfortable with cold than are men.

So the research question is:  Are gay men also less comfortable with the cold?  Or more sensitive to temperature? Is this why they cross their legs, and even their arms?  Is it because they are thinner than other men?  Or because they have a more female nervous system related to temperature sensitivity?  (For years in churches and schools in cold classrooms, back when I didn’t carry a few spare pounds, I used to sit with my hands under my thighs to keep them warm.)

Recently the often fact challenged gay blog Towelrod (and where does that go?), which almost always shills for the Democratic Party establishment, lied to do a smackdown on RedState‘s Erick Erickson.  Erickson had written a blog post entitled“Fat lesbians got all the ebola dollars but blame the gop.”  I suppose it is an ambiguous title; you could think he is saying that the fat lesbians are blaming the GOP.  I read it as an injunction:  even though a silly study of obesity among lesbians received research dollars that would have better gone to an ebola vaccine, you (Democratic hacks) should blame the GOP.  It’s clearly a post that blames central planners, not gays and lesbians, for misusing tax dollars on silly research schemes instead of cures and treatments people actually want.  And Towelrod lies about that, as usual.

But I’ll play along.  I want my federal check now to begin my survey of gay and straight men on whether they think the room is too cold.  Then we will finally know if that is why we gay men like to cross our legs. or if we are just trying to show off our new Ferragamos.

Liberation Ferry – They’re there, they’re queer, get them out!

21 Feb
Do we need Gaylt’s Gulch?

Masha Gessen, the journalist who moved to the US to escape anti-gay violence in Russia (and is the primary author publishing on Pussy Riot), predicts doom for Russian gays who remain there. Would start up cities and seasteading be a solution? With gays giving their money to an Israeli style airlift of Russian (Nigerian, etc.) gays?












(Photo:  Russian-American lesbian journalist Masha Gessen, channeling Ayn Rand?)






“Save them Peter Thiel, you’re their only hope!”  

Going Galt is for poor people – the rich go d’Anconia

26 May
What if Peter Theil decided to deliberately lose all the leftovers’ money?

Billionaire Peter Thiel Is Losing His Friends’ Billions

Peter Thiel, the gay billionaire who was one of the original investors in both PayPal and Facebook, is losing everybody’s money. The same guy who’s helped raise cash for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, donated money to anti-gay political groups, and welcomed Ann Coulter and the GOProud gays into his home when he hosted Homocon is also leading Clarium Capital Management, a hedge fund that for the third straight year posted serious losses. From a high point of some $7.2 billion in assets, Thiel’s firm has seen its balance sheet slide 90 percent; in 2010 alone, its value dropped 23 percent following 2009′s 25 percent depreciation. (That still leaves Clarium with a 12 percent annual return when averaged over its lifetime, which began in 2002.) To be fair, Thiel doesn’t charge clients to manage money, just if he makes them money; he takes 25 percent cut of profits, which is more than the industry standard of 20 percent. But 25 percent of zero is, uh, zero. But since when did a net worth that had at least nine zeroes in it mean donations to anti-gay groups (and sometimes anti-gay gay groups) would come to a halt? [photo via]

Full story here: http://www.queerty.com/billionaire-goproud-loving-gay-peter-thiel-is-losing-his-friends-billions-20110113/#ixzz2UPJfV2Z3