I stand with Rand

[boutons_deux]

Cliven Bundy says Rand Paul promised to make Nevada a ‘sovereign state’ if he’s elected president

“He said, ‘One of your biggest problems is getting Nevada to recognize its sovereignty and to stand up for its sovereignty,” Bundy told KNPR-FM.

“He said he would turn over the jurisdiction authority and allow the state of Nevada to act like a sovereign state. He said it would be up to we the people to govern ourselves.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/cliv...e+Raw+Story%29

[sickdsm]

Rand Paul overlooks Cliven Bundy’s racism to pander to the far right

Rand Paul is openly courting Cliven Bundy’s militia supporters by appealing to the scofflaw rancher at a campaign event Monday.

Rand had thrown his support behind the rancher in 2013, calling the federal government’s actions “overreach.” But he withdrew it after the New York Times reported Bundy made racist remarks about blacks, saying they:

abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.

But Paul seemed ready to court him again on Monday.

“I think almost all land use issues and animal issues, endangered species issues, ought to be handled at the state level,” Paul told the AP. “I think that the government shouldn’t interfere with state decisions, so if a state decides to have medical marijuana or something like that, it should be respected as a state decision.”

Paul also seems to have the support of David Lory VanDerBeek, a Nevada politician from the far-right Independent American Party who is also tied to Bundy Ranch. Last week he wrote on his Facebook page that he “loves” Paul’s position on the IRS.

VanDerBeek is linked to Jerad and Amanda Miller, a married couple who dropped everything in their home state of Indiana to come to Bundy Ranch to take part in the stand-off. They later gunned down two police officers and a Walmart shopper before being killed in a shootout with authorities.

VanDerBeek had communicated with the couple numerous times and acknowledges his criticism of police may have resonated with the couple.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/rand...e+Raw+Story%29

So once must agree with all of someones life decisions before supporting them on one issue?

[boutons_deux]

Rand Paul, dorm room philosopher: Why his “slavery” nonsense is so outrageous

Paying taxes makes you a slave, says a grown man running for the most powerful office in the world

Presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul has a tax plan he’d like to sell you on. The plan, which would put in place a 14.5 percent flat tax, was crafted with the input of some of the wrongest people in the conservative economic policy world, and it would redistribute wealth up the economic ladder while tossing a bone or two to the people at the bottom. But Rand is proud of it nonetheless, mainly because he thinks it’s less slavery-like than your average tax scheme.

Here’s what Paul said last week about taxation and “freedom,” as reported by BuzzFeed:

“Now you can have some government, we all need government,” the Kentucky senator said while discussing Thomas Paine and the role of government at the local public library. “Thomas Paine said that government is a necessary evil. What did he mean by that?”

Paul said he believes that “you have to give up some of your liberty to have government,” saying he was “for some government.”

“I’m for paying some taxes,” continued Paul. “But if we tax you at 100% then you’ve got zero percent liberty. If we tax you at 50% you are half slave, half free. I frankly would like to see you a little freer and a little more money remaining in your communities so you can create jobs. It’s a debate we need to have.”

That was his big pitch – The Rand Paul tax plan: Only 14.5 percent slavery!

This is a dumb argument. And it’s upsetting to hear this dumb argument coming from someone who is trying to be president, but will go back to writing and approving legislation if/when that doesn’t work out. Taxation is not tantamount to slavery. The only thing that’s comparable to slavery is actual slavery. You might not like it that a portion of your paycheck is sent to the feds and your state government, and you may disagree with how your tax dollars are spent, but that is in no way comparable to being kept in bondage and having the fruits of your labor stolen from you.

Any way you look at this argument, it’s bad. When you’ve staked out the position that your effective tax rate is how you measure one’s slave status, then you’re arguing that a progressive tax structure means rich people are less free than the lucky poor folks who would see a smaller percentage of their income go to the government.

By this reading, a hedge fund billionaire who moves his assets offshore to avoid paying taxes is basically Frederick Douglass. And when you refer to something as slavery, how can you then make the case that there is an acceptable threshold for it? Why should 14.5 percent slavery be any more tolerable than 100 percent slavery?

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/07/rand...so_outrageous/

Rand Paul is a in fool and so are suckers who think he's a serious adult.

[angrydude]

I agree. Taxation is slavery. We should focus on reducing taxes instead of changing how it's collected. Otherwise you're being hypocritical.

I'm surprised boutons loves taxes so much considering it's all spend on the military industrial complex.

[boutons_deux]

3 Top Rand Paul Associates Were Just Indicted

After years of investigation by the Department of Justice, three top Rand Paul associates, including the senator's nephew-in-law, were indicted for their role in an alleged attempt to buy an influential Iowa state senator's endorsement of Ron Paul during his 2012 presidential campaign. None of these operatives, who served as top Ron Paul campaign aides, is currently on the payroll of Rand Paul's presidential campaign.

But two of them—Jesse Benton, who is married to Paul's niece, and John Tate—run pro-Rand Paul super-PACs that have together raised $5 million to support Paul's presidential campaign. The third man indicted, Dimitri Kesari, has served as an aide to both Rand Paul and his father.

Last year, former Republican Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges accusing him of helping to cover up a scheme for the Ron Paul campaign to pay him more than $70,000 to switch his endorsement immediately before the 2012 Iowa caucus, from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul. Sorenson has been awaiting sentencing pending his cooperation in a further investigation, but it hasn't been clear who on Ron Paul's staff would be caught up in the scandal.

At the time Benton served as the campaign's chairman, Tate as the campaign manager, and Kesari as the deputy campaign manager.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...-kent-sorenson

[boutons_deux]

Dandy Randy, he of wombat hair, has a super PAC that has raised .... $1.3M! The smallest of all the "serious" contendas.

[boutons_deux]

Why Rand Paul's Presidential Campaign Is Flailing

The latest Public Policy Polling Iowa poll has him at 3 percent.

Losing Libertarians

Throwing Red Meat To People Who Are Already Full

The Downfall

The Paul campaign is flailing, disappointing the ideological supporters of his father and failing to appeal to the hardcore nativist and warmongering base of the GOP. Paul, who was once the hottest ticket in his party's presidential field, has shown up to the dance without a partner. It remains to be seen if he can pick up the beat.http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-rand-pauls-presidential-campaign-flailing

Mixing it up with Trump in the "debate" didn't hurt Trump and certainly didn't help Paul.

[boutons_deux]

Sanders is a million miles closer to being President than this freak

Rand Paul Warns Sanders Presidency Could Lead To 'Mass Genocide'

The Republican presidential candidate linked Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist in the mold of Northern European countries, to the murderous communist regimes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot, saying that “most of the times when socialism has been tried” there “has been mass genocide of people or any of those who object to it.”

“It amazes me and it actually kind of scares me,” Paul said.

“I’ve been spending more time going after Bernie and socialism because I don’t want America to suc b to the notion that there’s anything good about socialism.

I think it’s not an accident of history that most of the times when socialism has been tried that attendant with that has been mass genocide of people or any of those who object to it.

Stalin killed tens of millions of people.

Mao killed tens of millions of people.

Pol Pot killed tens of millions of people.

When you have a command economy, when everything is dictated from one authority,

that’s socialism, but it doesn’t come easily to those who resist it.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rand-paul-warns-sanders-presidency-could-lead-mass-genocide

wow, Ayn Randy is ing stupid, but he certainly understands how to talk to his handful of stupid, ignorant supporters.

[DMX7]

He's still running?

[boutons_deux]

wombat hair is bat crazy, and a loser

Rand Paul: Bernie Sanders' Socialism Will 'Eliminate' Critics

Rand Paul repeated his mantra that Bernie Sanders could turn into a murderous dictator if elected president, this time in an interview yesterday on the conservative network Newsmax.

While speaking with host Ed Berliner, Paul said that he “spends quite a bit of time on Bernie” during appearances at college campuses to let students know that “there’s nothing sexy or cool about socialism.”

The Kentucky senator said that “socialism is anti-choice” and deadly.

“If you choose to challenge the state,” he said, “they have to get rid of you, they have to arrest you or they have to eliminate you.”

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rand-paul-bernie-sanders-socialism-will-eliminate-critics

[boutons_deux]

Rand Paul's support among Republican men plummets

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Upd...n-men-plummets

but in general, libertarians and libertarianism just suck, are a tiny, futile fringe of extremists.

[boutons_deux]

Rand Paul’s point of no return: The GOP establishment tells him to back off his White House campaign

No one believes Rand Paul will be president -- not even Mitch McConnell, who endorsed him


it looks like McConnell is finally running out of patience with Paul’s presidential fantasizing. As Politico reported last week, McConnell and the National Republican Senatorial Committee are “quietly ratcheting up pressure on Rand Paul to pay more attention to his Senate reelection next year — and less to his flagging 2016 presidential candidacy.”

At the heart of their concern is money; Paul has raised scant amounts of cash for his Senate bid and has transferred over a million dollars from his Senate reelection fund to his presidential campaign earlier this year.

And as Politico notes, there isn’t much concern that Paul would lose his Senate race, but McConnell and the NRSC don’t want to have to spend money on a safe seat that could otherwise be used to defend vulnerable in bents elsewhere (of which there is no shortage).

Paul also has to worry about his relationship with the state party. They went to great trouble to create a presidential caucus especially for him, in spite of their misgivings about his viability as a presidential candidate. If he’s seen as jeopardizing his state office (or the other Kentucky senator’s position of authority) because he’s too stubborn or proud to admit that he doesn’t have a chance at the White House, that’s not going to go over well with the people he’s already indebted to politically.

McConnell souring on his junior senator’s 2016 hopes is bad news for Kentucky voters who were hoping a president and a Senate majority leader from the Bluegrass State could tag-team some legislation to end the “War On Coal” and bring back the Kentucky coal jobs that have disappeared forever. But more than anything it represents a turning point for Rand Paul.

http://www.salon.com/2015/10/26/rand...ouse_campaign/

Ayn Rand Paul

[DMX7]

Rand Paul, dorm room philosopher: Why his “slavery” nonsense is so outrageous

Paying taxes makes you a slave, says a grown man running for the most powerful office in the world

Presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul has a tax plan he’d like to sell you on. The plan, which would put in place a 14.5 percent flat tax, was crafted with the input of some of the wrongest people in the conservative economic policy world, and it would redistribute wealth up the economic ladder while tossing a bone or two to the people at the bottom. But Rand is proud of it nonetheless, mainly because he thinks it’s less slavery-like than your average tax scheme.

Here’s what Paul said last week about taxation and “freedom,” as reported by BuzzFeed:

“Now you can have some government, we all need government,” the Kentucky senator said while discussing Thomas Paine and the role of government at the local public library. “Thomas Paine said that government is a necessary evil. What did he mean by that?”

Paul said he believes that “you have to give up some of your liberty to have government,” saying he was “for some government.”

“I’m for paying some taxes,” continued Paul. “But if we tax you at 100% then you’ve got zero percent liberty. If we tax you at 50% you are half slave, half free. I frankly would like to see you a little freer and a little more money remaining in your communities so you can create jobs. It’s a debate we need to have.”

That was his big pitch – The Rand Paul tax plan: Only 14.5 percent slavery!

This is a dumb argument. And it’s upsetting to hear this dumb argument coming from someone who is trying to be president, but will go back to writing and approving legislation if/when that doesn’t work out. Taxation is not tantamount to slavery. The only thing that’s comparable to slavery is actual slavery. You might not like it that a portion of your paycheck is sent to the feds and your state government, and you may disagree with how your tax dollars are spent, but that is in no way comparable to being kept in bondage and having the fruits of your labor stolen from you.

Any way you look at this argument, it’s bad. When you’ve staked out the position that your effective tax rate is how you measure one’s slave status, then you’re arguing that a progressive tax structure means rich people are less free than the lucky poor folks who would see a smaller percentage of their income go to the government.

By this reading, a hedge fund billionaire who moves his assets offshore to avoid paying taxes is basically Frederick Douglass. And when you refer to something as slavery, how can you then make the case that there is an acceptable threshold for it? Why should 14.5 percent slavery be any more tolerable than 100 percent slavery?

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/07/rand...so_outrageous/

Rand Paul is a in fool and so are suckers who think he's a serious adult.

If we're taxed at 0%, then we're totally free! Totally free to be invaded by Mexico.

[boutons_deux]

Rand Paul Is Suspending His Presidential Campaign

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...Alert-politics

Not enough of his intellectual supporters found him intellectual enough.

[rmt]

Rand Paul Is Suspending His Presidential Campaign

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/...Alert-politics

Not enough of his intellectual supporters found him intellectual enough.

More like word from the establishment to drop out (and clear the way for Rubio) or they won't support his senate re-election. Why would he otherwise drop out now instead of after NH which should be a good state for him?

[boutons_deux]

Rand Paul And The Libertarian Moment That Never Was

Remember when Rand Paul was “The Most Interesting Man in American Politics?”

That’s what Time Magazine called the Kentucky senator in a 2014 cover story proclaiming Paul’s wide ranging appeal. Paul, Michael Scherer wrote in Time, “has been embraced, if gingerly, by many in his party. They see the same polls he does, which show the emerging demographics, the young minorities, the urban shifting away from older generations and embracing of more libertarian views on privacy, drug sentencing and foreign intervention.”

Politico similarly named Paul the “MOST INTERESTING MAN IN POLITICS” in its Politico 50 list of “the thinkers, doers and dreamers who really matter in this age of gridlock and dysfunction.” He ranked #1 in that list, ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (#2), Iowa Caucus winner Ted Cruz (#4), House Speaker Paul Ryan (#22) and Pope Francis (#6).

“Today, for perhaps the first time, the libertarian movement appears to have genuine political momentum on its side,” Robert Draper wrote in a New York Times Magazine piece en led “Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived?” The moment, Draper suggested, was Paul’s to seize.

Less than two years later, it’s now clear that the answer to the question presented by Mr. Draper’s le is a resounding “no.” On Wednesday, The Most Interesting Man In American Politics suspended his presidential campaign. That’s just two days after Paul received just 5 percent of the vote in the Republican Iowa caucus — barely more than half the share earned by Dr. Ben Carson, whose soporific performance in debates led late night comedians to compare him to a sleep aid.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...hat-never-was/

[boutons_deux]

Devout Catholic man-on-dog Santorum drops out.

[Pelicans78]

The problem with Rand was he tried to appeal to both the Libertarians and Conservatives and alienated both in the process. Didn't adapt until way too late. He wasn't going to do well in NH. Smart move to focus on his Senate re-election. He can make more of a difference that way regardless.

[boutons_deux]

what laws has RP written and/or sponsored, or what bills has he blocked? Has he had any impact on governing?

[Pelicans78]

what laws has RP written and/or sponsored, or what bills has he blocked? Has he had any impact on governing?

I think he helped reduce NSA surveilance.

[boutons_deux]

I think he helped reduce NSA surveilance.

Nothing Congress does can reduce NSA/CIA deep state. It's country unto itself, out of civilian control.

[boutons_deux]

An honest reading of Rand Paul’s ‘everything is awesome!’ campaign memo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...campaign-memo/

must be taking hallucinogens

[rasuo214]

Why are you posting an article 4 months old? Maybe you can update us on how Hillary has the nomination in the bag and is crushing Bernie Sanders in the polls...

[boutons_deux]

Why are you posting an article 4 months old? Maybe you can update us on how Hillary has the nomination in the bag and is crushing Bernie Sanders in the polls...

why not? ARP's delusions are not forgotten.