Episodes

We all accept that the government doesn't tell us certain information. Now, government will say it's due to "national security" or some other reason, but what about the government using the media apparatus to actively misinform the public? Donnie Gebert is a former government insider who outlines the extent that government goes to misinform the public, and how a "Direct Republic" could help solve a lot of our problems.

2020 brought a lot of unprecedented challenges, with dozens of states taking unconstitutional actions to "protect" their citizens. One such state is New Jersey. With the crackdown on civil liberties in response to the COVID pandemic, Governors like Phil Murphy unintentionally fired up activists all around the country. In New Jersey, the pro-liberty movement is alive and well, and that's in large part due to today's guest: Michael Rufo (NJLP VP of Political Affairs). Mike ran for office as a Libertarian in past elections, but now is focused on helping bring pro-liberty policy to New Jersey by helping coordinate with Libertarian candidates to offer substantive, effective policy prescriptions to bring to the voters. Listen as Mike outlines specific policy and tactical proposals for New Jersey on today's exciting episode!

Freedom. Passion. Principle. That's what Nicholas Magner, candidate for New Jersey's 4th Legislative District, promotes as the underlying values of his campaign. Nick joins the program to outline what he is running for assembly as a Libertarian, and why Second Amendment rights, drug decriminalization, bodily autonomy, lowering taxes, and "Defending the Guard!" are the tops priorities of his campaign.

The data, facts, and realities of COVID were far away from what the media and public health institutions were presenting to the world at the advent of the pandemic. And while the controlling narrative was that of lockdowns and fear in response to COVID, organizations like PANDA have been working with some of the top minds in public health, focusing on the hard data and analytics of the pandemic to help *save lives*. Returning to the program is Nick Hudson, co-founder of PANDA, who just gave an amazing talk at the inaugural BizNews Investment Conference where he crushed the common myths and misconceptions promoted by pro-lockdown, anti-science politicians and unelected bureaucrats. What do epidemiologists and immunologist think of Dr. Fauci? What's the story about the COVID variants? Are asymptomatic people a danger to others? All that (and more) discussed on today's special BONUS episode.

Bill is a public sector employee. He is represented by a public sector union. Bill wanted some more information about his union and their contracts, but Bill was told "Don't worry about that." If you're Bill in this situation, what would you do? The first step should be giving a call to the team at the Fairness Center. Today, Nathan McGrath (President & General Counsel) of the Fairness Center joins the program to outline how the Fairness Center can help public sector employees like Bill when facing against the public sector unions.

Did you state lockdown in response to the COVID pandemic? And if it did end up locking down, did your state follow the science data and reopen once government lockdowns were shown to have no impact on the virus? Joining the program is Anna Zeigler (The Federalist) who joins the program to put the spotlight on one Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Listen as we did into DeSantis' skyrocketing to national prominence over the past year, how he was one of the first executives at a state level who actually followed "followed the science" and didn't hamstring his state's economy with unscientific lockdowns, and outlines now has a real shot a being the GOP nominee in 2024.

Free speech is one of the fundamental cornerstones in American society. However, in recent years, we've watched as free speech rights have been focused on and attacked by those saying speech can be dangerous. But do they have a point? After all, can't hate speech lead to hateful actions? Joining the program is Frederick M. Lawrence, 10th Secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, Distinguished Lecturer at the Georgetown Law Center, and former President of Brandeis University, Dean of the George Washington University Law School, and Visiting Professor and Senior Research Scholar at Yale Law. An accomplished scholar, teacher and attorney, Lawrence is one of the nation’s leading experts on civil rights, free expression and bias crimes, and joins the program outline why free speech is so important.

It’s never too early to start thinking about the 2022 elections, and that's why Martha Bueno is joining the program to discuss her candidacy for the Miami Dade District 10 Commissioner. An area in Florida that encompasses, West Kendall, Kendall Lakes,Fonatinebleau, Horse Country, Westchester, Westwood Lakes, Olympia Heights and Sunset, listen as Martha outlines her vision for Miami-Dade as one of pro-liberty and opportunity.

The death penalty... The ultimate punishment handed down by the government for the most abhorrent of offenders. It's an absolutely necessary form of punishment for the worst of the worst.... right? That has been a hot topic in conservative circles, and Hannah Cox argues that conservatives should in fact be concerned about the death penalty, and joins the program representing Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty to outline exactly why it is the government inefficiencies that conservatives recognize in other sectors of the government exist in it's carrying out of the death penalty.

As we discussed on Friday with Jack Hunter, Donald Trump proved that there was an untapped market within the GOP that a persona like he could take advantage of - populism. However, that populism isn't exclusive to the GOP, as the ascendance of "democratic socialists" like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has show the Democratic Party just as malleable to the changing political winds. Nick Gillespie from Reason returns to the program to outline the implications of said democratic populism, but also to the causes that have gotten the Democratic Party to this point in the first place.

"We needed to lock down out of an abundance of caution. We didn't know what the virus was going to do." Ya'll have heard that before, right? Well, believe it or not, some of us have been raising the red flag from the very beginning that the government response to COVID (like the government lockdowns) would lead to more unintended long term consequences versus simply letting people/the market adjust. Today's episode is a highlight of four guests from The Brian Nichols Show who were raising the alarm from the beginning. (April 2020)109: COVID-19 vs. the Economy: Could A Crumbling Economy Cause More Death than COVID-19? -with Economist Daniel J. Michell: https://briannichols.fireside.fm/covid-19-vs-the-economy (June 2020)119: How the COVID Lockdowns, George Floyd Murder, and PRIME Act are Connected -with Matt Kibbe: https://briannichols.fireside.fm/lockdowns-george-floyd-prime-act-connected (October 2020) 150: Liberty or Lockdown -with Jeffrey Tucker from AIER: https://…

The ideas of personal liberty and free markets will always win in the battleplace of ideas, but that is irrelevant if people aren't willing to hear our solutions in the first place. So, what can we as libertarians do better to avoid these pitfalls of the past? 2020 Libertarian Party vice presidential candidate Spike Cohen returns to the program to help outline what libertarians *shouldn't* do, and where the Libertarian Party is headed as we move towards the 2022 elections.

Starting off our new "Sunday Candidate Highlight Series", I am joined today by Joel Getz! Joel is the Libertarian candidate for Mayor in East Stroudsburg, PA and joins the program to highlight specific policy goals of a Getz administration, and why it is that something as simple as parking meters can be a winning issue at the ballot box.

Donald Trump proved that there was an untapped market within the GOP that a persona like he could take advantage of - populism. Now, this isn't a new discovery, but rather something that hasn't been effectively utilized by GOP politicians in decades. Instead of learning from what Trump was able to do successfully in his use of Republican populism, many GOP leaders have rejected that approach, leaving many of those voters looking for a path forward. Jack Hunter joins the program to dig into this Republican populism, and with that, how advocates in the liberty movement can utilize that populist sentiments in the GOP to help promote pro-liberty policy.

Finding common ground is one of the most challenging aspects of political discourse in 2021. In a world where "the others" are looked at with skeptical eyes, it's more important for us to enter into good-faith dialogue whenever and wherever we can on issues of agreement. One such area the left and right (should) be finding common ground is that of the death penalty. Today we are joined by Professor David Dozier, professor emeritus in the School of Journalism & Media Studies at San Diego State University and author of "The California Killing Field". David joins the program to make the case as to why the death penalty is as anti-liberty as they come, how to have good-faith conversations with those we disagree with, and how to enact common policy goals into action.

Where is America headed? Pay attention to the news for more than 10 seconds, and you'd believer we're one step closer to Hell in a handbasket than ever anticipated. And who to blame? Well, the corporate media is sure to make sure the proverbial finger is pointed at the "young folks" - namely - the Millennials and Generation Z. As a Millennial, I've got a better reading as to where we're at, but what about Gen Z? Where are they at? And are they actually the generation deserving off all the blame? Mahgdalen Rose joins the program as a prominent voice in Generation Z, and joins the program to help outline where Generation Z is at in terms of politics, economics, culture, and more.

With COVID at the top of every news program, the discussion on foreign policy/affairs has decreased significantly, with many folks unaware of the happenings in the across the world. One such region that hasn't received as much focus us that of the country of Israel and the greater Middle East regions. Joining the program to help bring Israel and the Middle East back into focus is Scott Feltman. Scott is the executive vice president of One Israel Fund, an American philanthropy, that gives humanitarian and security aid (more than 65 million over the past 26 years) to the Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley and joins the program to highlight the work One Israel Fund accomplished over the past quarter century and the changing political dynamics in the greater Middle East.

Now that Joe Biden and his team are officially getting their policies into action, one group that has been noticeably weary of what may be coming down the road; gun owners. "Heck yes, we're coming for your AR-15s!". But is it just AR-15 or so-described "weapons of war" that are on the chopping block? Sam Jacobs from Ammo.com returns to the program to help prepare for what to expect, and what you can do to help protect your rights to self-preservation and defense.

The world would be a much better place if people stopped trying to censor each other and instead were free to speak. That's not only the view of yours truly at The Brian Nichols Show, but is also the sentiment of our brand new sponsor, "Run Your Mouth Coffee"!. RYM Coffee is delicious, roasted to order coffee that provides you the fuel needed to stand up to censorship and to proudly Run Your Mouth, and today, John joins the program to explain what preceded starting this new venture, and the value of being able to RUN YOUR MOUTH!

If you've ever stumbled upon a libertarian meme in the wild, there's a high probability that it was a Kanan Vitolo original. Kanan is today's guest, and helps showcase how, yes, memes can in fact change the world! Using the sales skills of piquing interest in a short, concise message, Kanan has mastered the "Art of the Meme", getting his memes featured in news coveragee on such networks as CNN. Listen as Kanan helps dissect the "Art of the Meme", and how libertarians can learn from memes to be more effective communicators.

Identity politics has been near the top of the national discourse for nearly a decade, with the many folks too afraid to ask questions for fear of the societal ramifications. Gen Z activists don't seem to mind so much with tackling some of these issues, and today's guest is one such activist, as Olivia Rondeau joins the program to make her case as to why identity politics can't hold up to the value that liberty and free markets bring to traditionally underserved/underrepresented communities.

With the recent shutdowns in Texas due to the massive winter storm and associated power outages, the idea of energy independence is back at the top of people's minds. So, how do we juggle the pursuit of energy independence while also being conscious of our greater impact on the environment? Jack Kerfoot is a scientist, energy executive and author of FUELING AMERICA: An Insider’s Journey, and joins the show to make his case that climate change and energy independence requires us removing government roadblocks to the development of new renewable energy projects, and providing incentives to attract the people and resources necessary. Find Jack Online: http://www.jackkerfoot.com/

With so few elected Libertarians in office, being able to effectively communicate and network has been a challenge. To help facilitate the ability to share information, resources, and to discuss what has/has not been working, the Libertarian Party has launched a new initiative; LESS (Libertarian Elected Support System). Returning to the program is Joe Bishop-Henchman, Chair of the Libertarian Party, who outlines how LESS will assist the some 300 elected Libertarians across the country by giving them access to the support, talent, experience and skills of others who have been in the same situations.

Why school choice? Right now, many Americans are realizing first hand the value of being able to pick where their children go to school, as public schooling institutions still find their doors shut. With the impact of public teacher's unions being felt first-hand, many families are look for alternatives to the traditional government school monopolies. Corey DeAngelis is an expert on school choice and joins the program to help sell the value of funding students, not institutions. How does school choice impact the student, families, and teachers? Those questions (and more!) are answered on today's special 200th episode!