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In back-to-back interviews, State Senator Branden Petersen and political commentator Mitch Berg share their insights and reactions to the Liberty Minnesota 2015 Legislative Scorecard (http://libertyminnesota.com/2015scorecard.html). Republicans in both chambers performed poorly overall, with the House majority scoring failing grades across the board. Was Liberty Minnesota's measurement fair? Do Republicans deserve more credit than they've been given?

This week in review: Senate moves to bolster CIA torture ban. Politicians' ideas about science shouldn't matter. Rand Paul seeks to "blow up the tax code." In the Final Round segment: a nuanced view of the Confederate battle flag in the wake of racially motivated murders in South Carolina.

This week in review: Alabama nearly ditches marriage licenses, albeit for the wrong reason. President Obama and the EPA just made your pursuit of happiness more expensive. As student loan debt is forgiven for some borrowers, Congress remains oblivious to its role in fraud. In the trash talk segment: Liberty MN's Karl Eggers previews their forthcoming legislative scorecard and offers perspective on a disappointing session.

The week in review. Why do people only hear half of Rand Paul's war policy? Department of Justice studying "far right" social media. Filmmaker asks Cedar-Riverside Muslims in Minneapolis about Sharia Law and freedom of speech. In the Trash Talk segment, blogger and radio host Mitch Berg discusses his forthcoming book Trulbert: A Comic Novella About the End of the World As We Know It. What if the world shrugged before Atlas? In the Final Round, why anarchy appeals to many activists today. Where we can look in society for practical manifestations of how anarchy would play out.

The time has come for things to change around here. Some behind-the-scenes access to the future of the program.

Senator Rand Paul, candidate for the Republican Party’s nomination for President of the United States, “is not just the rarest of his kind, he is literally the only one.” So one commenter responded to an editorial in The Washinton Post declaring Paul’s candidacy dead on arrival. Dana Milbank writes: The libertarian Kentucky senator’s new book, “Taking a Stand,” came out Tuesday, and it is chock-full of lines that would position Paul well — if he were running against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Milbank goes on to cite excerpts which opponents may easily characterize as “liberal.” Because that’s how we think about public policy these days, in a mindless partisan binary with no nuance or depth. Ironically, Paul’s book is subtitled “Moving Beyond Partisan Politics to Unite America.” To move past our current constitutional crisis, we must transcend simplistic political labels and focus on the effect that policies have on people’s lives. We must do so irrespective of whether the policy came from our chosen political party. I was recently told of a local Republican candidate for a state house seat who showed up to a venue to give a speech. He was greeted at the door by an event coordinator who hurried him to a packed room of eager activists. He proceeded with a fiery stump, going on at length about the excesses of government and the importance of personal liberty. The audience ate it up, applauding line after line. As he left, he realized that he’d walked into the wrong venue. He had addressed a union meeting where Democrat candidates had been expected. The moral of the story: when ideas are stripped of their partisan packaging, they succeed or fail on their merit. That’s the point that Paul is trying to get across. It’s too bad that so many in either party would rather remain paralyzed in partisan posturing.

For many years, the national conventions of the two major political parties have served less as true conventions and more as coronations of presumptive nominees. While state, congressional, and local conventions frequently deal with contested races for party endorsement, they do not attract the same level of media attention as national conventions. Perhaps for that reason, the national conventions have increasingly become prolonged television commercials for the parties’ presumptive nominees. Supporters of Ron Paul shook up the status quo during the former congressman’s two bids for the Republican nomination. In 2012, a significant delegation of Paul supporters made their way to Tampa. In particular, Minnesota sent a delegation of unbound delegates who overwhelmingly supported Paul. Coincidentally, the RNC made changes to their rules effecting future conventions that would restrict states like Minnesota from sending unbound delegates. The Republican Party of Minnesota has sought a waiver from the rule change. A final decision has been made, as reported at MinnPost: The Republican National Committee has ruled that the Minnesota Republican Party’s presidential preference poll — scheduled for March 1, 2016— must bind its national delegates proportionately to the winners. This bit of intra-party arcana is important because it could help the state GOP’s efforts to be a bigger player in 2016 presidential politics, though it has also served to dismay activists who believe the rule imposes national control over grass-roots activities. State Republican Party Chair Keith Downey says that conducting a binding poll at the Republican precinct caucuses will put the national spotlight on Minnesota along with other states holding caucuses that day – “a mini-Super Tuesday,” he calls it. And since the ballot is binding proportionately, Downey believes, “it protects the upstart candidates who can sustain their candidacy without having to win outright. My opinion is that this is actually a better situation for grass-roots activists … who may prefer an outlier.” “All the Republican presidential candidates will take Minnesota more seriously,” he said. It remains unclear how bound delegates will be disposed if the candidate they are bound to drops out of the race. There may still be unbound delegates at the national convention in that event. But how delegates will be bound and to which candidates remains a mystery, at least until the state party

https://youtu.be/KocScfQs4Y0 The word "public" casts a certain magic. Through a strange alchemy, the word purifies any given action. What would be criminal if done privately somehow becomes virtuous if done for or by "the public." Take taxes for ...

After voters and activists handed them a historic mid-term election victory, Republicans immediately reneged on their campaign promises and rushed to the cozy middle – again – as they always do. There’s only one way to break from this cycle of abuse. Why I’m supporting David Gerson for Congress (http://www.gersonforcongress.com).

Although to a lesser degree than tossing virgins in volcanoes, we still find ways to sacrifice people for the sake of the tribe.