"Great White Ship" featured in podcast

Planet Raconteur featured my short story "Great White Ship" in a recent podcast. They have broken the story out as a stand alone. Listen and enjoy! Click HERE.

Antonelli releases ten-point platform

CLARKSVILLE, Tx. - With only 18 days left until the November 3 general election, congressional candidate Lou Antonelli has released a ten-point platform of legislative issues he’d like to see enacted if elected.

The Libertarian Party nominee in the Texas 4th district, Antonelli said “I sat down and wrote up a set of specific actions I’d take if elected in response to feedback I’ve heard on the campaign trail. I believe it addresses the serious concerns I’ve heard from people.”

The platform in brief states:

1. Term limits – No local, state or federal official can serve more than three cumulative terms in office.

2. Eliminate Gerrymandering – Legislative districts must be drawn by a bi-partisan commission and be compact and contiguous.

3. Campaign Spending Limits – Candidates cannot spend more in running for an office than the office pays in annual salary.

4. Electoral College Reform – Electoral votes will be cast on the basis of the candidate that carried each congressional district, and not the whole state.

5. Abolish the Federal Reserve Bank.

6. Legalize Marijuana – Tax it at the same level at alcohol and tobacco, use the revenue to reduce debt.

7. Cut the federal payroll by one percent every year for 50 years until it is halved.

8. Adopt a 0th Amendment to the Constitution stating all federal laws and regulations must be applied and enforced regardless of race, religion, sex, national origin or color.

9. Investigate the Democratic Party under the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) for ongoing and systemic electoral fraud.

10. Abolish Obamacare.

Antonelli faces off in the general election against Republican Pat Fallon of Sherman, Democrat Russell Foster of Sherman and write-in Tracy Jones of Texarkana.

Man who made Obama cry runs for Congress

By BOB PALMER

Former Publisher

Mt. Pleasant Tribune

Despite what former UCLA Coach Henry Russell Sanders once said, winning isn’t the only thing to the Libertarian nominee for Texas’ 4th Congressional District, Louis (Lou) Antonelli, who knows he has an uphill battle as a third party candidate.

Antonelli, 63, has a long history in public service as well as community journalism. A life-long conservative, he says the most interesting thing that ever happened him is that he reportedly once made a future president of the United States cry.

Antonelli says he does not remember seeing Barack Obama shed tears while they were both students at Columbia University in New York City, but an alumni blog salutes Antonelli and another conservative student colleague for causing moisture to come to Obama’s eyes in frustration.

The pair staged an anti-Soviet protest at Columbia University in New York following the shooting down of a Korean Air Lines Flight 007 from Anchorage to Seoul by a Soviet interceptor.

A bystander to the student protest later reported “Lou Antonelli and Jon Crane get more students to protest Soviet downing of KAL 007 than ever supported South Africa divestiture. Obama left campus for the last time in tears.”

Antonelli and Obama’s time at the university overlapped slightly and they interacted at least one more time when Obama and fellow liberals accosted Antonelli and some friends after a Student Republican club meeting.

Ronald Reagan was President in 1983 and Antonelli says President Reagan had the strongest influence on shaping his political philosophy.

 “Reagan had a strong Libertarian streak in him,” said Antonelli. “He often spoke about the need to cut back big government.”

Antonelli sees Reagan as influencing his position as a pro-life Libertarian.

“Ronald Reagan said we don't actually know when life begins exactly, but if you don't know, err on the side of ‘don't do any harm,’” Antonelli explained.

The Libertarian candidate for the 4th District seat made vacant when President Donald Trump appointed incumbent John Ratcliffe to be Director of National Intelligence does endorse an end to capital punishment and making marijuana legal.

“I think any drug that's a natural product that grows like marijuana and mushrooms shouldn't be illegal,” Antonelli said. “Now if you have to make something like meth, you have to cook, that's another thing.”

Antonelli noted how capital punishment is the only punishment that cannot be reversed. Antonelli pointed out how prisoners are often released after decades in custody when new evidence exonerates them. That is not possible if the prisoner has been executed.

“Kinky Friedman said, ‘How can Christians support capital punishment when the founder of their religion was executed as a political criminal?’” Antonelli cited.

As a business owner, Antonelli definitely supports lower taxes and smaller government, both Libertarian touchstones.

Born on Jan. 6, 1957 in Medford, Massachusetts, Antonelli is the son of Sergio and Anna Savini Antonelli who immigrated to the United States from Italy after World War II.

Antonelli credits the Boy Scouts of America for having a strong positive influence on his early life. He embraced the Scout Oath and Law and quickly found a role as Troop Scribe, reporting Scout events to the local newspaper. His first story was published when he was 12. He later worked for his local newspaper all throughout high school.

Although Massachusetts has a liberal reputation, Antonelli said Italians found themselves more welcome in the Republican Party than with the local Democratic Party which was run by Irish descendants.

“There are plenty of conservatives in Massachusetts,” Antonelli said.

At Columbia University, Antonelli quickly immersed himself in student politics winning a seat on the student council as well as joining the Young Republicans.

After college, he volunteered to run as a Republican for a heavily Democratic Congressional seat in Upper West Side Manhattan in 1982 when he was 25

“It used to be what you'd call a Standard Bearer,” Antonelli said. The Republican Party Chairman in Manhattan was actually a really nice guy. His name was Roy Goodman. I went to his office one time and said do you have anybody to run for the office? He said no, you want to do it? I said sure, so I did. It was an interesting experience.”

Antonelli believes his political activities influenced others.

“I think actually the thing that had the most positive influence on the most people goes back to when I was in college,” Antonelli said. “I showed college students at a very liberal university, you could be conservative and be a rice guy, too.”

Antonelli packed up and moved to Texas when he was 28. He’s worked for a number of community newspapers since then, and while in Cedar Hill he met and married Patricia Randolph, a Dallas native, in 1999.

He went to work in Clarksville in 2015 and the Antonellis bought The Clarksville Times from its owner in 2018. The started a second newspaper in Mount Pleasant at the start of this year.

In addition to publishing two newspapers, Antonelli is also a prolific science fiction writer, having 125 short stories published in 15 years. He is a two-time Hugo award nominee, and in 2017 he was a finalist for the Dragon Award for his alternate history novel “Another Girl, Another Planet”.

Antonelli has been a much sought after panel participant and speaker at conventions for science fiction writers across the country, although that’s been severely curtailed this year because of the COVID pandemic. His last convebtiom was in Atlanta in February before the quarantines began.

Some might consider Antonelli’s Quixotic quest as the Libertarian candidate for Congress in the strongly Republican 4th District of Texas his greatest piece of living science fiction.

Antonelli would disagree that someone should run for office only when convinced victory is in the bag.

“If you've ever thought about service in elective office, do it,” Antonelli urged. “Get it out of your system. You might win and if you don't, you'll see what it's like. I think you'll have a lot more sympathy with elected officials if you serve as one yourself in some capacity.”

Antonelli served as an elected trustee of the Cedar ISD from 1992 to 1995. He is currently a member of the Clarksville Planning and Zoning Commission, and President of the Clarksville Lions Club.

The Antonellis, who have no children, are members of First Baptist Church in Clarksville.

Libertarians nominate Lou Antonelli for Congress

The Libertarian Party is proud to announce its nominee for District 4 is Lou Antonelli of Clarksville in Red River County, a small business owner with a long record of public service and community involvement. Antonelli pledges to run a full-fledged active campaign.

Antonelli says his goal running as a third party candidate is to inject original ideas into the discussion, and push for the Libertarian Party to become the second party in the district, displacing the Democrats.

“Can you imagine how much better our political system would be if the two major parties were the Republicans and Libertarians, instead of the Republicans and Democrats?” asked Antonelli. “Libertarians are the loyal opposition, as opposed to the Democrats, who are the disloyal opposition.”

Antonelli said Libertarians stand for hacking away strangling bureaucracy at all levels of government, and returning as much authority as possible to individuals. “Thanks to the COVID pandemic, we have all gotten a free trial of Socialism,” he said. “How do you like it?”

Lou and his wife Patricia own The Clarksville Times, founded in 1873, the oldest business in Red River County. He is the managing editor, and has been a community journalist for 40 years.

He has served in the past as an elected school trustee, a library trustee, an animal shelter board member, and a condemnation court judge. He is presently the President of the Clarksville Lions Club and the Clarksville Planning and Zoning Commission.

The Texas Supreme Court on Saturday, Sept. 5, rejected a Republican attempt to remove 44 Libertarians from the November ballot, according to the Texas Tribune.

Groups affiliated with both major parties have gone to court in recent weeks to remove from the ballot non-major-party candidates perceived to be a threat. In general, Libertarians are believed to peel votes away from Republicans, while the Green Party is thought to siphon votes from Democrats.

The GOP sued because the Libertarians didn't pay their filing fees. But the state Supreme Court said Republicans missed the deadline to kick them off the ballot.

Lou Antonelli, one of the candidates the Republicans sought to block – welcomed the decision.

"We need more diversity of the ballot, not less,” he said. “The two-party system has created polarization and an ‘us versus them’ mentality.”

He faces Republican Pat Fallon and Democrat Russell Foster in the Nov. 3 general election. Fallon was nominated by a district convention Aug. 8 following the resignation of the incumbent, John Ratcliffe, to take a federal appointment as director of national intelligence.

Antonelli has asked Republican nominee Pat Fallon to join him in a public forum or debate.

“I sent my request via Facebook, since I could not find a good email or mailing address for the candidate," said Antonelli. "I understand having no address on any of his social media pages, since he actually doesn't live in the district."

The letter sent by Mr. Antonelli reads as follows:

"Dear Mr. Fallon –

"As a candidate for the Texas 4th Congressional district, I’m sure you want to make every effort to inform the voters of Northeast Texas of where you stand and what you plan to do in office.

"So do I.

"As the Libertarian candidate for the seat, I’d like to ask if we can set up a debate or forum to meet and greet voters and answer their questions.

"I’m open to any location and I’m very flexible about the time; I’m a self-employed small business owner and my time is my own. I may be contacted at any time at my office in Clarksville.

"If you are amenable to this, I’d contact the other candidates – the Democrat as well as the declared write-in – and invite them to participate.

"Let’s take the high road in this election, and not take anything for granted. These are difficult times for our nation; the next Representative from this district will face many challenges. A forum is a good way to not only expound on one’s positions, but gather input from the people he will represent.

"I hope to hear from you soon.

 "Lou Antonelli"

"If Mr. Fallon declines, or doesn't reply, I suppose I'll just debate an empty chair with his cutout on it," said Antonelli

Facing a lack of transparency from his opponent, and with less than two months before the general election, Antonelli asks how Pat Fallon plans to represent a district he doesn’t live in.

Many of the prospective candidates who spoke at the Republican district convention in Sulphur Springs Aug. 8 referenced Fallon’s residency. Fallon lives in the Denton county portion of Prosper, an outer suburb of Dallas, which is just outside the 4th's boundaries.

Even Wikipedia, the largest and most popular general reference work on the World Wide Web, notes Fallon’s position: “Fallon's state senate district includes much of the eastern portion of the congressional district.”

However, regarding the 4th Congressional District, Wikipedia continues: “While candidates for the House are only required to live in the state they wish to represent, longstanding convention holds that they live either in or reasonably close to the district they wish to represent.”

The Libertarian Party candidate in the election, Antonelli said “A number of candidates who lost to Fallon in the district convention seem to feel his victory was due to arm-twisting by himself and Senator Ted Cruz, and they resent it and have told me so,”

“The residency requirement for the U.S. House is in the Constitution, so Fallon has done nothing illegal,” said Antonelli. “But Texas deserves congressional leaders who do better than just skirt the law.”

Antonelli issued a challenge Sept. 8 to Fallon to debate but to date has received no reply.

“If he showed up, perhaps he could address the subject of his candidacy,” said Antonelli.

Antonelli met with campaign supporters at the Two Senoritas restaurant in Mount Pleasant Thursday night, Sept. 10.

Afterwards he announced the appointment of three county campaign chairmen: Kate Prather for Franklin County, Garrett McGraw for Hopkins County and Madlen Krause for Camp County.

For Immediate Release

May 22, 2020

Libertarians field viable candidate for District 4 seat

With the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on May 21, multiple candidates are stepping forward to run for the open Congressional seat.

The Libertarian Party is proud to announce its nominee for District 4 is Lou Antonelli of Clarksville in Red River County, a small business owner with a long record of public service and community involvement. Antonelli pledges to run a full-fledged active campaign.

Antonelli says his goal running as a third party candidate is to inject original ideas into the discussion, and push for the Libertarian Party to become the second party in the district, displacing the Democrats.

“Can you imagine how much better our political system would be if the two major parties were the Republicans and Libertarians, instead of the Republicans and Democrats?” asked Antonelli. “Libertarians are the loyal opposition, as opposed to the Democrats, who are the disloyal opposition.”

Antonelli said Libertarians stand for hacking away strangling bureaucracy at all levels of government, and returning as much authority as possible to individuals. “Thanks to the COVID pandemic, we have all gotten a free trial of Socialism,” he said. “How do you like it?”

Lou and his wife Patricia own The Clarksville Times, founded in 1873, the oldest business in Red River County. He is the managing editor, and has been a community journalist for 40 years.

He has served in the past as an elected school trustee, a library trustee, an animal shelter board member, and a condemnation court judge. He is presently the President of the Clarksville Lions Club.

His cell phone number is 903-257-6573 and anyone is welcome to call him any time. His office number at The Clarksville Times in 903-427-0002, or you can email him at theclarksvilletimes@gmail.com

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Winding down

I believe today, April 14, is the final day for voting in the SFWA officers election. I had seen April 11 some other place, but the email link to the ballots went out March 14, so April 14 seems more logical.  I seem to recall seeing the April 14 date elsewhere. I received a PM today from a member who said they voted for me, so the link seems to have been active.

In the email sent out to members it was noted "Only one candidate declared their intent to run before the ballot deadline. There are two open positions. On the ballot, you will see there is a "Write-In Candidate" field." That seemed to me to indicate write-in candidates would be welcomed.

Boy, was I wrong about that. Almost immediately after I publicly said I was putting my name forth, the hate began. Tempest Bradford - who is not even a member of the SFWA - kicked it off within 24 hours. She repeated the usual party line lies about me and the Sad Puppies that have been circulating for years now. After all this time, no honest or intelligent person believes this bullshit any more.

Jim Hines tag-teamed her after a while, but he's retreated and left Bradford holding the bag of hate at the end. Some of the other crackpots backed off, too. Jeff Vandemerve accused me of attempted murder (trying to carbon monoxide someone with my car) but deleted his tweets later. No problem, everyone knows the internet is forever. I am so looking forward to suing his heathen ass. It will be enjoyable for a journalist to sue someone else for libel, for a change.

The only thing left is to see how many votes I got. Vince Lombardi once said "Winning isn't every thing; it's the only thing." That may be true in sports, but not necessarily politics. There are many useful reasons for running for office aside from winning - Expressing dissent, motivating voters, advocating new ideas, battling complacency.

Most of the opinion leaders in literary science fiction today are confirmed left-wingers. They don't understand free speech, free elections, free markets and free thought. You exercise your civil right to participate in an election and they lose their minds. They think an election should be done like in good old Khmer Rouge Cambodia or perhaps New York City - there's an approved candidate and they will win with 110 percent of the registered voters.

No matter the final vote total or outcome, I am happy with what I have accomplished. Now I'm just curious whether I will be thrown out of the SFWA, because as you know, toleration is not in these people's DNA.

The problem of 'standing'

One of the problems in trying to reform an organization such as the SFWA is the self-selection issue. The people who are unhappy with the group leave it, and then they have no legal standing to complain.

When I served as a public school board member years ago, I saw the problem with "standing" many times. When a parent or parents had a problem with the school administration, nine times out of ten the first thing they would do would be to take their kid out of school and go to either home school them or enroll them in a private school.

They contact you about their problem, and when you ask the school administration what is being done, they'd say "nothing. They don't have a child in the system."

In the same way, I've heard a of of people griping about the SFWA, but because thy're not members, they have no capacity to do anything.

There are a handful of Sad Puppies, such as myself, who remain members, but by and large the disaffected have already left.

Still, that doesn't mean one shouldn't try for reform, and there are other excellent goals in running for office other than winning, such as injecting new ideas into the dialogue, showing there is dissent, offering people an opportunity for a protest vote, etc.

People in an organization that has been taken over by one faction of its constituency seldom see any problem. They dismiss people who complain as disgruntled or losers. They live in a their own bubble. Ultimately reform usually comes from outside.

In a group such as the SFWA, where membership is voluntary, outside action is uncommon. In the case of a groups such as a labor union, where membership and paying dues is often mandatory, it's a different story. That's why the feds have been investigating labor unions such as the Teamsters for years (my father was a Teamster).

As vicious as the attacks upon my candidacy for the SFWA board have been, it's a joke compared to the situation such as with the United Mine Workers in 1969 where the incumbent President had his opponent in a recent election and his family murdered. And God knows how many people Teamsters Boss Jimmy Hoffa had whacked before he himself disappeared.

Now that's serious.

As impervious as the leaders of the SFWA are to other opinions, reform will still probably have to come from outside. It's a registered non-profit group in California, so at some point they'll stumble and violate some laws. It's inevitable, and the problem will probably be exacerbated because they won't heed warnings from dissidents.

For example, is it legal for such a group to elect officers and not disclose the results? They didn't last year, and I would suppose they won't again this year, just to prevent showing I received any votes.

In the long run, it's a self-correcting problem. There's an old anecdote about a banana republic dictator who was being challenged by an inept revolutionary. His henchman asks him if he wants his opponent disposed of.

The dictator points out his challenger is a bumbler who at any given time was in imminent danger of being deposed himself or rubbed out by any of his associates.

"Why waste time killing someone," asked the dictator, "who is in the process of committing suicide?"