Secession is in the news again, and more than just Catalonia. Why is this good news? What's in the News with stories on a new libertarian country idea, police union outrage, Free Ross news, Equifax gets a government contract, Bill Weld shows his true colors, and body camera footage kept in the dark. Also, a Statists Gonna State segment on guns in America and a Herding Cats segment on two upcoming libertarian events. This episode is brought to you by Tom Woods's Liberty Classroom, helping you to become a smarter and more informed libertarian than ever before, for just 24 cents a day.

WHAT’S RUSTLING MY JIMMIES

After Brexit, there have been several secession movements pop up and several have actually made strides at breaking off from other countries. Sure, you've seen the news and the videos about the independence efforts in Catalonia, but have you heard about the recent movements in Cameroon and Kurdistan? Let's talk secession!

WHAT'S IN THE NEWS

In the new world news, Bitcoin Jesus, Roger Ver, is partnering with Olivier Janssens to create a new country, the world’s first sovereign voluntaryist country. They have titled the project Free Society, and are looking to join forces with a willing government and purchase the territory from them. According to Jansenns, they have amassed over $100,000,000 dollars to create the country.

In cockroaches hate the light news, the head of the Salt Lake Police Association has watched the country's outrage over the videos showing a nurse getting arrested for refusing to draw a man's blood without a warrant and has decided the correct response is to complain that the public got to see what its officers did.

As an aside, sadly, William Gray, the truck driver who nurse Wubbels was protecting in this incident dies from the injuries he suffered in the crash.

In Free Ross news, Ross Ulbricht has surrendered his claim to 144,336 BitCoins, or what amounts to $48 million to the Federal government through their civil asset forfeiture program.

In I couldn't make this shit up news, the IRS will pay Equifax $7.25 million to verify taxpayer identities and help prevent fraud under a no-bid contract issued last week, even as lawmakers lash the embattled company about a massive security breach that exposed personal information of as many as 145.5 million Americans.

In I told you so news, lifetime member of the Libertarian Party and the OG libertarian (according to Gary Johnson anyway) Bill Weld will be heading up a big fundraising event in Cambridge, MA for... the state Republican Party. And he is throwing his support to GOP US Senate candidate Beth Lindstrom and Governor Charlie Baker in the 2018 election. He will join Baker, Mitt Romney, and Jane Swift as the featured draw by the state Republican Party, which is looking to use its former leaders to raise money.

In watching the watchers news, North Carolina lawmakers have made is much more difficult to investigate our rulers by passing a bill exempting body camera footage from public records requests. The law put law enforcement agencies and judges in charge of deciding what footage may be released.

STATISTS GONNA STATE

As you're all aware, there was another horrific mass shooting recently, this time in Las Vegas that took the lives of 59 people. I honestly have no desire to go over the specifics of this situation because there are plenty of shows that have discussed it and there is so much news out about it. However, as usual, there were immediate calls for banning guns when this happened. 

Hillary Clinton blamed silencers yet no silencers were used. Everyone screamed to ban automatic rifles although those have been banned for decades and there also was no automatic weapon used in this case. Washington state is proposing a bill that would ban most purchases of military-style weapons — such as semi-automatic AR-15 rifles — and outlaw large capacity magazines. Magazines would be limited to 10 rounds of ammunition or less. Even in New Hampshire, a Democratic representative is calling for banning bump stocks. 

So, let's look at some hard facts about guns in America.

HERDING CATS

Two awesome liberty events are coming up in February almost back to back, including one of my favorite liberty events of the year.