Lions Of Liberty

With the RNC taking place this week, it seemed like an appropriate time to gather the pride together for another one of our ever-popular roundtable discussions! Host Marc Clair is joined by “The Godfather” Howie Snowdon, our unofficially official legal counsel “Rico” (or is Tico?), as well as special guest, the host of the We Are Libertarians podcast, Chris Spangle!  In this episode, we discuss:  - What outfits the crew like to wear while recording podcasts!  - Donald Trump’s VP pick of Mike Pence, and associated conspiracy theories about the selection.  - How Trump has masterfully used the power of persuasion to achieve unprecedented political success in 2016.  - Whether Hillary or Donald Trump will win this crazy election year, and whether Gary Johnson can be the X factor that tips the scale one side or the other.  - So mu [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode of Lions of Liberty, host Marc Clair welcomes Robin Koerner back to the program to discuss his new book, “If You Can Keep It”, which aims to help liberty-minded folks better communicate their political ideas to the masses. Robin has appeared on this program several times, most recently on a couple of our post-debate recaps during the primary season. He first came into the liberty movement when he wrote an article for The Huffington Post back in 2011 asking Democrats to become “Blue Republicans”, by switching to the GOP to support Ron Paul. This quickly spawned the “Blue Republican” group, which continues to support and endorse libertarian candidates across the political spectrum. [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Felony Friday host John Odermatt and guest Marc Hyden tackle the always controversial topic of the death penalty. John and Marc discuss what led him down the path to a career in politics and into his current role as National Advocacy Coordinator with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty. Prior to joining CCADP he served as a Campaign Field Representative in Florida for the National Rifle Association (NRA). Marc also has experience working as a Campaign Manager for a Republican Congressional race in North Carolina. And Marc has served as the Legislative Liaison and Public Affairs Specialist with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode of Lions of Liberty, host Marc Clair welcomes Avens O’Brien back to the show! Avens O’Brien is a longtime libertarian activist and current writer for The Libertarian Republic and first appeared on the show back in May for one of our “Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor” roundtables, taking a look at the Libertarian candidates for President. Now Avens returns to get the official Lions of Liberty [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Mr. Johnson’s Libertyhood, our semi-regular feature wherein we’ll look at the ongoing actions of Libertarian Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld. Longtime listeners will recognize the format, as it follows the popular Rand Pauluses and Minuses formula, however this time we’ll be grading Gary with JohnsONs for statements that we see as positive for liberty, and JohnsOFFs for those that raise our eyebrows or fists. Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode include the recent Johnson/Weld camp [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Felony Friday Amshula Jayaram joins host John Odermatt to discuss criminal justice reform and exoneration of innocent prisoners. Amshula is a state policy advocate for the Innocence Project. She leads state-level campaigns to enact policies and laws that benefit wrongfully convicted individuals, improve public safety and prevent future injustices. Amshula has prior experience working in the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union. While at the ACLU she built policy campaigns to pass legislation on a variety of national security, human rights and criminal justice issues. Sh [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode of Lions of Liberty, host Marc Clair welcomes in the man who came within 30 votes of becoming the Libertarian Party’s Vice Presidential candidate in 2016, Mr. Larry Sharpe! Larry is a successful businessman as the Managing Director of the Neo-Sage Group, Inc., a consulting organization for businessmen and entrepreneurs. After being inspired to look into the Libertarian Party by Gary Johnson in 2012, Larry became an active member of and fundraiser for the Libertarian Party.  In the show you’ll hear great insights from Larry including:  [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode of Lions of Liberty, host Marc Clair welcomes in independent (with a small ‘I”) candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, Scott Rupert! Scott is in the midst of his second campaign for U.S. Senate in Ohio, after achieving 5% of the vote in 2012 without the support of any political party apparatus whatsoever, and on a budget of around $6,000. This fits right in line with the type of life Scott has led since a young age, having supported hi [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today Aaron Commey joins Felony Friday host John Odermatt to share how he spent more than a decade in federal prison without being convicted.  We start things off by talking about Aaron ’s background and the mental illness that led to delusions, which landed him in serious trouble with the law. Aaron was found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2003, but still remained in the federal prison system until January of 2015. That’s more than a decade where individuals, doctors employed by the federal prison system, essentially held him captive.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode of Lions of Liberty, Marc welcomes in Adam de Angeli, the Tax Watch Project Director at the Tax Revolution Institute! What’s that, you ask? Well, listen to find out, silly! But before we get into all that, Adam discusses his history of activism for libertarian causes, first spurred on by the Ron Paul Presidential campaign in 2008. We then dovetail into his work with the Tax Revolution Institute and their mission statement.  While TRI has broader goals to drastically alter the U.S. tax sys [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If Gary Johnson is on CNN with running mate and siamese twin Bill Weld, you know we’ll be drinking and talking about it. We convene another gathering of the Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor to break down Gary’s performance, Bill Weld’s undermining of his positions, and wonder if this televised showcase will leave undecided voters looking at the Libertarian Party as a viable option. We also spend time discussing a very sad topic - the passing of former Libertarian presidential candidate Dr. Marc Allan Feldman, who tragically died last week. He was an inspirational figure and one who won’t soon be forgotten.  For full show notes, head over to  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Felony Friday host John Odermatt is joined by frequent Lions of Liberty podcast contributor Rico. Rico may keep his name anonymous, but he is no stranger to the Lions of Liberty audience. Like a South American soccer player, Rico only needs one name. Lions of Liberty fans know Rico well from Presidential Debate Recap shows and the always popular Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor.   This is Rico’s second appearance on Felony Friday. He first appeared way back on Episode 11, where we talked about the legal troubles of Pawns Stars reality show personality Chumlee, a stealing IHOP waiter and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Once in a while, this program features a story which in many ways transcends politics. Today’s episode features one such story, as host Marc Clair is joined by Lily Tang Williams, the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate in Colorado. Lily was born in communist China and grew up during the Cultural Revolution of Mao Zedong. She endured conditions of unfathomable poverty, and oppression of free thought and expression. Lily shares her tale of how she eventually overcame the brainwashing, became educated, made her way to Amer [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s podcast is the first of an ongoing bi-weekly feature wherein we’ll look at the ongoing actions of LP Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld. Longtime listeners will recognize the format, as it follows the popular Rand Pauluses and Minuses formula, however this time we’ll be grading Gary with JohnsONs for statements that follow libertarian thinking, and JohnsOFFs for those that raise our eyebrows or fists. Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode include Gary’s various responses and statements to the Orlando shooting, no fly lists, plus being a “fringe” candidate. We’ll also heat up the Welding torch and delve into a Mind Weld for Bill, examining his call for a [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For today’s episode J.B. Lubin joined host John Odermatt to discuss some important criminal justice news stories. J.B. is a frequent contributor to the Lions of Liberty podcast circuit appearing on Presidential Debate Reaction Shows and the always entertaining feature Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor. This is his second appearance on Felony Friday. JB first appeared on Felony Friday way back on episode twelve, where a challenge to Colorado’s law  and the unusual story of a woman who took a gun to court were discussed. On today’s episode some of the issues discus [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, host Marc Clair welcomes back his old pal Seamusin Reilly for an update on his post-Navy life, and to of course have a little chat about the ideas of liberty! Marc and Seamusin go way back to the days of active posting on sites like the Daily Paul and Popular Liberty, and he first joined the show last year for a great talk about natural law.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, host Marc Clair welcomes in Libertarian candidate for the United States Senate in New York, Alex Merced! Alex describes how an impromptu trip to the Philippines found him with no other English option on television than a Republican debate on Fox News, which featured a certain Texas Congressman sending him down the path of individual liberty.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on Felony Friday host John Odermatt is joined by false confession expert Alan Hirsch. Throughout his career Alan Hirsch has embraced aspects of both the civil and criminal justice systems. However, Alan’s focus has shifted to more heavily focused false confessions. During his lengthy career Alan has studied and written about false confession extensively. He has also assisted attorneys as an expert witness on false confessions and has been retained in more than 100 cases. Alan Hirsch is a professor, attorney and author. He graduated from Amherst College with a B.A. in Philosophy and Yale Law School. He is currently chair of the Justice an [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, take a gander at an interview our hostest-with-the-mostest Marc Clair had a discussion with Gavin of the online magazine The Liberty Conservative, which took place just prior to the Libertarian Party’s National Convention. Gavin discusses how he found himself on the path towards the ideas of liberty after brief flirtations with conservatism and even socialism and why he founded The Liberty Conservative. Marc and Gavin discuss the political path towards achieving a more libertarian world, why the Libertarian Party has thus far failed to be an effective vehicle in the eyes of many, and prophetically break down the irony of the self-proclaimed “party of principle” defaulting to the election of Republican President [...] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, host Marc Clair welcomes a true “Libertarian Lion”, Michael Pickens! Michael is the founder and creator of “Libertarian Leadership”, which helps to train libertarian candidates around the country, and empower them to take charge of a campaign and effectively communicate ideas, both through seminars and his book of the same name.  First, Michael explains why he calls himself a “Libertarian Lion”, and why he felt a lion to be a better symbol for his political activism for liberty than the porcupine. Marc and Michael discuss the recent Libertarian Party National Convention, the election of the Johnson/Weld ticket, and dig into some of the politicking that went on between ballots for the Vice Presidential nomination.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices