--- 2025.04.19 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. - A member attended the Utah Libertarian Convention last weekend. - A member will attend The People Restored event on May 3. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Will have a table at the Bountiful Farmer's Market this summer. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - The People Restored is holding an "alternate currency / parallel economy" swap meet on Sat May 3 in Lehi Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - The national Libertarian Party has a building in DC but will probably lose it due to inability to keep up the payments. The Utah Libertarian Party had a small office in SLC in the 80s. - Some fathers in New Hampshire created wristbands with the letters "XX" in support of their daughters and protesting transgender athletes in girls' sports, and the school district banned anyone wearing them from their meetings. A judge upheld the decision, claiming that it was "demeaning and harassing". - Herschell Gordon Lewis created many horror and other low-budget films in the 1960s, and at their showings they did many creative things to audiences like have monster actors in the theater or electric shocks under some seats. --- 2025.04.12 1 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. - A member is attending the state Libertarian Party convention today. - A member will attend The People Restored events Apr 17 and May 3. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Will have a table at the Bountiful Farmer's Market this summer. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - The Utah State Libertarian Convention is finishing today. - The People Restored in Weber County is meeting next Thurs Apr 17 - The People Restored in Lehi is holding an alternate currency swap meet on Sat May 3 Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - MyCHIPs is an interesting system for direct credit between people and businesses, requiring no money. It can scale to be a world-wide system. - Believe.legal is a firm in SLC focusing on good works and setting up private member associations (PMAs). The People Restored is an organization set up as a PMA focused on freedom of association, parallel economies, and local resilience (eg. food, communications, etc). - The "natural health" show Be Healthy Utah is going on today at the Mountain America Expo center. --- 2025.04.05 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. - Discussed a booth at the Centerville Freedom Festival on July 5. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Will have a table at the Bountiful Farmer's Market this summer. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - The Utah State Libertarian Convention is this weekend, April 11-12. Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - There is a group building sustainable, off-grid earthships (including tires) in Taos, New Mexico. Operation Self Reliance has people from Centerville working on similar ideas at the Riverbed Ranch just West of Eagle Mountain, a couple hours away. - The Steele Dossier purports to show Russia's collusion with Trump to get elected in 2016, but it has been discredited or shown to have emerged after the facts were public. - Portland has problems with homeless populations, which residents have resented after previously being in favor of lax treatment of such problems. There are many disagreements about how to deal with homeless issues. - Everyone believes they are critical thinkers but it takes focus and practice to detect fallacies and argue intelligently. --- 2025.03.29 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - A member attended the Davis County Libertarian Organizing Convention. - A member plans to attend the Utah State Libertarian Convention April 11-12. - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Will have a table at the Bountiful Farmer's Market this summer. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - The Highland Meeting will have speaker David Pyne on today's conflict areas on Fri Apr 4 - The Utah State Libertarian Convention is April 11-12. Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - The movie industry voluntary adopted a code of ethics called the Hayes Code in 1922, one that committed not to portray positively things like adultery and drug use. A 1937 movie called "Assassin of Youth" decried marijuana. --- 2025.03.22 3 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - A member will attend and speak at Porcfest this summer. - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - The Davis County Libertarian Organizing Convention is next Wednesday. Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - The Little Free Library organization sells kits, and some are creative (like a tardis or a schoolhouse). The smallest online costs $190. - A member recommends the movie "Plan 10 from Outer Space", a low-budget cult classic satire of Mormonism, and proposed we watch together. - Members are interested in a local data network with low-power devices based on radio signals. Meshtastic is one of them, and there's a group on Facebook for this area. - Turing Complete is an engaging game on Steam that teaches logic & circuits. - Turo is a car rental and sharing marketplace, like AirBNB for cars. --- 2025.03.15 3 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - We are planning to build a little free library in West Bountiful. - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Nothing new Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Julia is a recent sequel to 1984, and a member recommends it as "excellent". A member recommends John Taylor Gotto's "Dumbing Us Down" about the US education system. - When asked why she doesn't say the pledge of allegiance, a local girl asks why they bow to idols; when confronted with claims that people have died for that flag she asks why they ask for human sacrifice. - Erythritol is a sweetener with no calories. Stevia and monkfruit are also sweeteners though members don't like the taste as much; xylitol is a sweetener that can upset your gut. - Chlorine dioxide is a strong anti-infectious agent that can be taken orally. - Jase/Jace sells antibiotics and medical prepper kits online. - "System of a Down" is an anti-war metal band; a member's daughter made an upbeat rendition. There is such a thing as goth cowboy. --- 2025.03.08 8 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Members shared books and Keto Chow. - Will attend Bountiful's farmers market this summer to meet people and advertise. The group agreed to fund the booth cost. - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Nothing new Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Bad sleeping habits lead to health problems later in life. - "A Passage to India" highlights problems with cultural misunderstandings. - There is a website somewhere that has educational lessons for kids based on movies. - Bartolomé de las Casas wrote "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" that described the inhumane treatment of Latin American natives by his nation. - Benjamin Franklin's father would invite strangers to dinner so that he could give himself and his family a broader education, usually by simply asking them questions. Benjamin was great at publishing propaganda for his causes, and sometimes he would totally fabridate stories. - Members recommend "War is a Racket" by Smedley D Butler, a major general in the US Marine Corps a century ago. The movie "War Dogs" is based on the true story of two young men who won a contract with the US Army to supply ammunition to the Afghan National Army; later the two were conviced of fraud but one actually runs a consulting business for potential government contractors. - Zelenskyy reportedly sold US arms he received to Mexican cartels. The Ukranian army has "conscription squads" who been forcing men into their army, sometimes directly off the street. --- 2025.03.01 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - SLC Bitcoin meetup on "Bitcoin + trad-fi" is Wed Mar 5 Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - One-Dimensional Man by Herbert Marcuse in 1964 criticizes both contemporary captalism and communism, where our advanced industrial society controls us, and extinguishes our aptitude for critical thought and radical behavior. - A member recommends lawyer and journalist Glen Greenwald, podcaster Tim Pool, and libertarian comedian David Smith. - Members check a variety of news sources including Fox, CNN, Al Jazeera, Y Combinator Hacker News, and Russia Today. - Together with Angel Studios, local people produced the recent movie Homestead, a movie about what happens when order breaks down after a nuclear blast. That was based on the Black Autumn series of books, and there is an ongoing TV series that continues the story. - The Epstein release this past week doesn't contain any important new information. - The military is a path toward a certain type of mental acuity and other skillsets. --- 2025.02.22 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Had a great dinner with 8 of us at Slapfish, including one new person. Fun times! - Logged attendance & dinner & breakfast with Time Safari. - A Utah lawyer & author specializing in gun law has offered to talk with the group. (The offer is visible in Time Safari.) Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Next Davis County Libertarian Party dinner is Wed Feb 26. - Phil Lyman is talking with Davis County Conservatives in Layton on Thu Feb 27. Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Peptide shots have helped members with problems in joints. They recommend Peptide Sciences. - Vitamin D in high doses may guard against cancer. A member may try 40,000 IU. - A member recommends the Revolution series about a post-electrical world, made in 2012. - The Centerville Small Arms Association manages a members-only gun range. - A Utah gun-rights lawyer recommends CCW Safe and Armed Citizen's Legal Defense Network for insurance against problems with gun ownership. - The national Libertarian Party can use help even for 10 minutes to be part of a phone bank to support their Defend the Guard initiative to keep the National Guard from being used illegally. --- 2025.02.15 1 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Group dinner is on Fri Feb 21. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - None Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Centerville is considering zoning changes, and some are against high-density housing. - Time Safari released profiles to advertise & search in your area. A member also ran the group onboarding in it for the first time. --- 2025.02.08 1 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Group dinner is on Fri Feb 21. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - None Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - A member attended the Bountiful Community Service Council this morning to brainstorm help with many other volunteer leaders. - The Bountiful Veteran's Park was totally built with $1.5M of voluntary, non-taxpayer funds. (It is still on land owned by taxpayers.) - The Meaningful Conversations group is discussing "The Spirituality of Depolarization" tomorrow afternoon at Harmon's in Farmington. --- 2025.02.01 1 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Group dinner is on Fri Feb 21. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Nothing new Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Time Safari now has a place to put your own interests along with map locations, with the goal of connecting like-minded people in an area. --- 2025.01.25 1 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Group dinner is on Fri Feb 21. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Nothing new Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - The Highland Meeting group has posted the video for the Chinese defector. --- 2025.01.18 3 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Looking at Fri Feb 21 for our group dinner. - Members went to the Homestead movie together. - Members transferred Bitcoin and Lightning Network tokens. - Discussed possibilities for little libraries with books we like. - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Looking at Fri Feb 21 for our group dinner. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Freedom Law School is planning a conference with multiple speakers in Washington DC. Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - The Old Testament looks like it was actually written in Greek, much later than the events. It's very possible that it was written with symbolism, including snakes as drugs, and with an opinionated origin story for the primacy of Yahweh. - Cursor AI is a very capable AI tool for programming - Lightning Network is an inexpensive way to transfer Bitcoin off-chain, and can be transferred in local networks. Monero is a coin focused on privacy, though it's harder to find in wallets. - Operation Chokepoint was an Obama administration push to cut off from banking unfavored businesses such as payday lenders and gun shops. Chokepoint 2.0 was during the Biden administration where cryptocurrency businesses and individuals were denied or even closed from banking. --- 2025.01.11 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Will have a group dinner soon. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - Next Davis County Libertarian Party dinner is Wed Jan 22. Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Davis County Amateur Radio Club runs network tests at 7:30 on Thursday nights. - No government officials have admitted to wrongdoing or even overreacting during covid. Facebook cannot be trusted but at least they said they would not bow to overreaching pressure of censorship again. (They still cannot be trusted.) - There is no news of resolution in Phil Lyman's SCOTUS case. --- 2025.01.04 2 of us Group Reports/Actions/Decisions - Logged attendance & breakfast with Time Safari. - Members gave feedback on Time Safari pamphlets. - Discussed possibilities for little libraries with books we like. Upcoming Group Events - Will hold our weekly meeting next Saturday morning. - Will have a group dinner early this year. Upcoming Other Events (either Voluntaryist or Davis County) - The next Greater Reset / People's Reset is in Mexico on Jan 29 - Feb 2 Other Topics / News Members Have Heard - Phil Lyman's case is going to the US Supreme Court on Jan 10. - The Homestead movie about a post-apocalyptic prepper community is based on books written by some very prepared Utah residents. There is a TV series that has begun based on it. - The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Utahns is a horrendous event. Only one person John D Lee was convicted of anything; he was executed, and he accused the church leadership of many crimes, especially Brigham Young. --- See the previous year's reports [here](./news-2024.html).