Free Republic

In the opening pages of Ray Bradbury’s famous novel Fahrenheit 451, protagonist Guy Montag asks: Wasn’t there a time when firemen used to put out fires? They laugh at him, rebuke him and say: Everybody knows firemen start fires.

In a surprising win on Tuesday night, the White House and top Senate Democrats successfully defended provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would loosen restrictions on transferring detainees out of Guantánamo Bay, advancing President Obama’s goal of closing the facility by a margin of 55-43. . . . . . . As recently as early November, Democratic Senate aides participating in the fight to loosen the transfer rules described the politics of the vote as “difficult” but “not impossible” and said those whipping the vote were five or six votes short of the bare majority they needed...

President Barack Obama is portrayed as Dracula, former congressman Ron Paul plays the role of Professor Van Helsing, and Vice President Joe Biden appears as Renfield. The administration’s scary scandals are lampooned in classic horror fashion, including Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the IRS’ targeting of political opponents, the government shutdown, and more!

In light of a recent report, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) fears the National Security Agency may be spying on President Barack Obama. “They could well be spying on the president, for all I know,” Paul says, in an interview with National Review Online. “He has a cell phone, and, in fact, my guess is that they have collected data on the president’s phone.” Paul also believes the federal government may be tracking Pope Francis. “The most important question we need to ask the NSA is, ‘Are you telling us you’re collecting no data on the pope?’ And, ‘Did you...

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a tea party and libertarian hero, will campaign for Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II on Monday — a day before voters go to the polls to choose Virginia’s next governor. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, will also make appearances on behalf of Mr. Cuccinelli in the days leading up to Election Day. Mr. Walker is scheduled to campaign with Mr. Cuccinelli in Prince William and Spotsylvania counties Saturday, and Mr. Rubio is scheduled to appear in Warrenton and Culpeper Monday. News of the appearances was first reported by...

Rand Paul Targets 'Nanny' Bloomberg & McAuliffe at Cuccinelli Rally in Fairfax VA - YouTube

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took a page out of Sarah Palin’s book on Monday when he brought a 7-Eleven Big Gulp on the campaign trail while stumping for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. At an event in Fairfax, the third and final Paul-Cuccinelli campaign event that day, the Kentucky Senator took the stage with giant plastic cup in hand — but it was simply filled with water, according to reports from Twitter. The gesture was an intentional shot at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has unsuccessfully attempted to ban large sugary drinks in his city. Bloomberg has spent...

Today in Fairfax, Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli rallied the crowd eight days before the statewide gubernatorial election. During Cuccinelli's speech, a woman near the front of the room became lightheaded and appeared like she was about to faint. Supporters around her were trying to cool her off by using 'Cuccinelli for Governor' signs as fans. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was at the rally campaigning for the attorney general. Noticing the woman's discomfort Paul, who also happens to be a doctor, ran through the confused crowd to help her to her feet before yelling, "Somebody bring a chair!" His orders...

Tea party hero Rand Paul warned scientific advancements could lead to eugenics during a Monday visit at Liberty University, looking to boost the political fortunes of fellow Republican Ken Cuccinelli's bid for governor. During a visit to the Christian school founded by Jerry Falwell, Paul looked to energize conservative supporters by warning that people who are short, overweight or less intelligent could be eliminated through abortion. With one week remaining, Cuccinelli is hoping the joint appearance with the U.S. senator from Kentucky will encourage the far-right flank of his party to abandon third-party libertarian spoiler Robert Sarvis. "In your lifetime,...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Thursday urged Virginia Republicans supporting Robert C. Sarvis, the Libertarian candidate for governor, to come home to the GOP and vote for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the party’s nominee. “I consider myself to be a libertarian conservative, a libertarian Republican,” Paul said in a phone interview Thursday. “A lot of things (Cuccinelli) talks about are free-market, limited-government, leave-me-alone government. I think there is a lot to like there. “What I’m excited about in Ken Cuccinelli is that he is smart, he is articulate, and he has a keen sense of justice,” Paul said. Cuccinelli’s attempt...

Forget the Vitter amendment. Rand Paul wants to make sure that Congress can’t ever again write laws with provisions specific to lawmakers. The Kentucky freshman Republican has introduced a constitutional amendment that would preclude senators and representatives from passing laws that don’t apply equally to U.S. citizens and Congress, the executive branch and the Supreme Court. The amendment is aimed squarely at Obamacare provisions specific to members of Congress and their staffs that became a central point of contention during the government shutdown.

The debt deal simply hastens the day of reckoning The conventional wisdom is wrong. The mainstream media — and their parrots in the Republican establishment — are claiming that President Obama decisively won the government shutdown battle. In fact, the narrative being peddled is that the GOP brand has been badly damaged, paving the way for a possible Democratic Party takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2014 elections. This is puerile nonsense. Tea Party Republicans, led by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, may have lost the battle, but they are poised for a major victory in the larger Obamacare...

Ron Paul has endorsed Republican Ken Cuccinelli for Virginia governor, turning away from Libertarian Robert Sarvis, who many feel could bleed away GOP votes. Paul, a former Republican Texas congressman with libertarian leanings who ran for the presidency three times, did not mention Sarvis in his letter supporting Cuccinelli, reports Politico. Instead, he praised Cuccinelli as someone who will "stand up to the politicians of both parties in Washington." Polls show Cuccinelli trailing Democrat Terry McAuliffe, however the GOP candidate questioned the survey which showed the biggest gap — nine points behind his opponent. Sarvis is seen as a potential...

Recently a Community Column writer for a local paper wrote an opinion piece denouncing conservative politicians for not complying with the "Red-Letter" teachings of Jesus. Among other things, he was referring more specifically to Ted Cruz's call for evangelical Christians to help his political bloc to defund Obamacare. This claim is worthy of careful examination. Emphasizing the authority of one portion of scripture while ignoring all others isn't a principle of historical normative Christian theology. As the Bible declares of itself "...All scripture is given by inspiration of God..." Red-lettering was first conceived in 1899, and it first appeared in...

Okay everybody: just sit down and shut up! WeÂ’ve got a Government to shut down here, and it WILL hurt! You! ThatÂ’s an order. As you know, the Barrycades at the World War II Memorial went up immediately following the announcement of the the painful government shutdown. The stated reason for the closure was to ensure that none of our cherished WWII Veterans were endangered by government drones - now forced to fly unguided during this painful government shutdown. You can tell that your government was really concerned about this potential hazard as War Memorials have never been closed during...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) narrowly leads the pack of potential GOP contenders in 2016, according to a new poll. If the GOP presidential primary were held today, 17 percent of GOP voters would elect Paul, according to a new Quinnipiac Poll released Wednesday. He leads among Tea Party Republicans as well, with 22 percent. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie rates second with 13 percent, followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) with 12 percent and Jeb Bush with 11 percent. Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) garner 10 percent. Nineteen percent of Republicans are undecided. Rubio’s numbers have...

Sen. Rand Paul blasted the federal government for trying to block World War II vets from visiting their memorial, saying “some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades.” “If Harry Reid and the President want to keep the parks closed — I mean did you read the story today? Some idiot in government sent goons out there to set up barricades, so they couldn’t see the monument. People had to spend hours setting up barricades where there are never barricades to prevent people from seeing the World War II monument because they’re trying to play a...

Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul have become the two most important voices in DC politics. They worked together during Rand’s filibuster earlier this year and during Ted’s filibuster this last week. But the most important thing we’ve seen is personal responsibility and good character from them both. Rand Paul gave $600,000 BACK to the federal government from his office. He’s in it to cut spending in any manner possible, even his own office’s budget. And now, Sen. Ted Cruz has made a similar announcement, saying that he will donate his salary to charity for every day the government...

Laity and clergy should reject, respectfully, the liberalism of Pope Francis. In St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, he wrote that he rebuked the first pope, St. Peter, “to his face because he clearly was wrong.” The issue was St. Peter’s capitulation to Jewish culture in his approach to the Gentiles. St. Paul moved swiftly to correct him for the sake of the early Church’s unity and doctrinal fidelity to Jesus Christ.

Earlier this week, in an effort led by Sen. Ted Cruz, some of my Republican colleagues and I took to the Senate floor with the intent of making Washington listen. The American people have made it abundantly clear that they do not want Obamacare. In fact, a majority of elected officials, the same officials that voted to implement this health care mandate, do not want it, either. I have a proposal. I have offered an amendment that would outlaw any special exemptions for government employees. This amendment requires all federal workers to purchase health insurance from the new Obamacare exchanges,...

One of the common misconceptions about the divine command to evangelize is that it only applies to those who are given the gift of evangelism (Mat. 28:18-20). Consequently there are many in the body of Christ who never enjoy the privilege of being an ambassador for the King of Kings. There is no higher honor than to represent King Jesus as an ambassador by proclaiming His message of salvation to a world that is perishing in sin. Paul informs us that every Christian is given this divine privilege and responsibility. He wrote: "Therefore if any man is in Christ, he...

Today Rand Paul went on Hannity, and Hannity did a great job grilling him. He continually asked why the Republicans can't stand as strong as the Democrats, and Paul just kept saying that the Republicans are not united enough and don't have the leverage. He said he didn't agree with Cruz's strategy and that a government shutdown would be hurtful to the Republican party. It really could have been Mitch McConnell talking...who by the way Rand Paul has already endorsed. Hannity practically hung up on Rand Paul, and that really surprised me because you never hear Hannity treat Republicans that...

The Republican Party has a new heart, says Matt Drudge—or perhaps at least two. As Texas Senator Ted Cruz was into his filibuster-like maneuver to bring attention to defunding Obamacare, Drudge took to Twitter to proclaim that the "heart" of the party has shifted.

Arguing federal workers should not get special treatment, Rand Paul says he does not want taxpayers subsidizing the personal health care plans of any federal employee — including Chief Justice John Roberts — anymore. With some in Congress arguing lawmakers and their staff should not get subsidies to cover their health insurance as President Obama’s health care law goes into effect, the Republican senator from Kentucky told The Daily Caller on Sunday that he’s going to start pushing a constitutional amendment that goes even further. Paul’s proposal — outlawing any special exemptions for government employees — would mean all federal...

Washington (CNN) - Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday he's not ready to vote on the immigration reform package as it now stands in the Senate, adding the measure needs tougher provisions on border security in order to have a chance in the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. On a personal note, the senator also said he's come to realize there's an important distinction between the terms "illegal" and "undocumented" when referring to immigrants. The Republican senator from Kentucky, who's considering a potential 2016 presidential bid, argued the House and Senate are "still pretty far apart" on the issue but that he...

Several theological issues are addressed in the canonical Epistle of Paul to Titus. Since the Book is relatively short, let's review the whole thing -- chapter by chapter. In the first 4 verses of chapter 1, Paul gives a simple salutation. And in verses 5-9, he begins to describe desirable traits in Christian leaders. He says in Titus 1:10-14: "For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a...

Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul told community leaders in West Louisville on Monday that he will be stepping his call for federal reforms to criminal sentencing and pledging to support a state effort to restore felon voting rights. Paul has been talking about the concept of reforms to mandatory minimums for several months, saying someone should not have to lose their rights for life for a youthful mistake. But while appearing at a town-hall-like event at the Plymouth Community Renewal Center in West Louisville, Paul added a new layer to his argument saying that felon voting rights should be restored....

On his Facebook page: We're supposed to believe that the perpetrators of 9/11 hated us for our freedom and goodness. In fact, that crime was blowback for decades of US intervention in the Middle East. And the last thing we needed was the government's response: more wars, a stepped-up police and surveillance state, and drones. If you look at the comments, out come the conspiracy nutters. Dean Facey is so out there, he suspects ArPee himself must be part in on the conspiracy: I find it curious that neither Ron Paul or Assange speak out about 9/11 being an inside...

Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday he would not filibuster the president's request to launch strikes against Syria but that he would insist Barack Obama abide by Congress's demands if it votes to prohibit military intervention in the civil war. The Kentucky Republican told "Fox News Sunday" a filibuster would only delay a vote authorizing use of force. "I will insist there is full debate on this and I will insist that I get an amendment and my amendment will say that the vote is binding -- that the president cannot, if we vote him down, decide to go to war...

The Talk Shows September 7th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): White House chief of staff Denis McDonough; Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): McDonough; Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.; Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Peter King, R-N.Y., and Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif.FACE THE NATION (CBS): McDonough; Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., Justin Amash, R-Mich., and Elijah Cummings, D-Md.THIS WEEK (ABC): McDonough; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): McDonough; Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.; Reps. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., Barbara Lee, D-Calif.,...

It’s 9:15 on Tuesday night and Capitol Hill is quiet as Senator Rand Paul emerges from Fox News’s studio near Union Station. His face is slightly smeared with powder from his appearance minutes earlier on Hannity, and Sergio Gor, a political aide, is trailing him. Paul walks quickly to the street, heading toward his nearby apartment. It’s been a long day for him, starting with a flight from Kentucky and followed by a packed afternoon at the Foreign Relations Committee. He’s eager to get to his place, rest up, and get ready for a busy week of debate. But then...

War should occur only when America is attacked, when it is threatened or when American interests are attacked or threatened. I don’t think the situation in Syria passes that test. Even the State Department argues that “there’s no military solution here that’s good for the Syrian people, and that the best path forward is a political solution.” The United States should not fight a war to save face. I will not vote to send young men and women to sacrifice life and limb for stalemate. I will not vote to send our nation’s best and brightest to fight for anything...

Rand Paul was great in his questioning, and asks a very important questions of Kerry and Kerry ends up talking down to him. Watch:

The president made it clear that Congressional authorization is superfluous, asserting falsely that he has the authority to act on his own with or without Congress. That Congress allows itself to be treated as window dressing by the imperial president is just astonishing.

A leading skeptic of U.S. intervention in conflicts abroad said Sunday that he believes there is only a "50/50" chance that the GOP-controlled House will vote to authorize the use of U.S military force in the Syria. "I think it's at least 50/50 whether the House will vote down involvement in the Syrian war," Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said on NBC's Meet the Press.

Appearing on Meet The Press on Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) slammed Secretary of State John Kerry on his willingness to intervene militarily in Syria by twisting his most famous words against him. "I would ask John Kerry, How can you ask a man to be the first one to die for a mistake?" Paul said, in reference to Kerry's famous words against the Vietnam War to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971.

Senate newcomers Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are challenging the old guard over how to proceed in Syria.As scores of Republican lawmakers urge the Obama administration to intervene militarily in Syria, a handful of Republican senators want to keep the U.S. on the sidelines. Tomahawk cruise missiles are in place and could be launched as early as Thursday against key military targets in Syria, a response against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's deployment of chemical weapons on civilians. [READ: Congress Wants to Give Input on Syria ] Freshman Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was among the first to voice his...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that the U.S. has no direct national security interests at stake in Syria’s civil war, as he cautioned President Obama against ordering military strikes on the Middle East nation. Mr. Paul, possibly the leading anti-war Republican in the Senate, said the U.S. should condemn use of chemical weapons — an accusation rebels have made against the Syrian regime — but said if a decision to take military action is made, it should come from Congress, not from the White House. “We should ascertain who used the weapons and we should have an open debate...

According to Joel Osteen – Pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, these first century apostles are wrong and outdated and he has come out boldly to infer indirectly that Apostles Paul, Peter, and John whom wrote much of the New Testament were wrong and need to be corrected and rebuked.When asked directly if people whom are openly practicing homosexuals are accepted into the Kingdom, Joel Osteen responded with “Absolutely, anybody is.�We all need to listen carefully to the words that this “man of God� speaks as he goes on interviews so we too can find the errors in the...

Rand Paul in May, proven correct later in August...

‘Oh my God. Oh my God.” Those are Cynthia Burke’s first words after Senator Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, completes her eye surgery, removing the cataract in her right eye. Lying down in the operation room, Burke, a 55-year-old woman from the Ozarks town of Fredericktown, Mo., looks up. Standing above her are Paul and another ophthalmologist, Barbara Bowers, both dressed in blue scrubs. Because of her cataracts, Burke hadn’t been able to perceive much color, and couldn’t see at all in her right eye when there wasn’t natural light. But now, with the surgery just completed, Burke’s sight is already...

He’s a criminal, Ron! Ron Paul tweeted this out earlier today about Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning. If anything, we need MORE brave Americans like Bradley Manning. RT if you agree! – http://t.co/KNZaGsFxm7 — Ron Paul (@RonPaul) August 21, 2013 Oh, and she wants to be called Chelsea, not Bradley.

If all Scripture is breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16), then there is a unity to be found across the pages of the Bible. Without minimizing the differences of genre and human authorship, we should nevertheless approach the Bible expecting theological distinctives and apparent discrepancies to be fully reconcilable. The unity of Scripture also means we should be rid of, once and for all, this nonsense about being red letter Christians, as if the words of Jesus are the really important verses in Scripture and carry more authority and are somehow more directly divine than other verses. An evangelical...

Former Rep. Ron Paul believes that Chelsea Manning — previously known as Bradley Manning — has done enough time in custody for the WikiLeaks scandal and should be released. Paul, who made his comments at a Reddit AMA session on Thursday, agreed that Manning should’ve been punished for practicing civil disobedience and breaking the law, but Manning’s time served until now, as well as the other factors in the case, should prompt Manning’s release. “He deserves some punishment, but he has already received (in my estimation) excessive amounts of punishment. He has been in prison for over 3 years as...

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said on Saturday New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie just isn't "rogue" enough for her taste. Palin sided with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in his continuing feud with the popular New Jersey governor. “I’m on team Rand," Palin told Fox News. "Rand Paul understands. He gets the whole notion of 'don’t tread on me government.' Whereas Chris Christie is for big government and trying to go-along-to-get-along in so many respects." -snip- ... she dismissed Obama's comments about greater transparency regarding the National Security Agency and its surveillance operations at his news conference on Friday....

The poll results so far of "Who do you foresee as emerging to lead the Republican Party" breakdown as follows: Rand Paul 40% Chris Christie 7% Marco Rubio 18% Someone else 35%

The libertarian advocacy group that grew out of Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign slammed Sen. Marco Rubio Wednesday after the Florida Republican voted against a bill to freeze aid to Egypt that had been introduced by Paul’s son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. The younger Paul’s bill, which would have halted $1.5 billion in annual aid given to Egypt, failed Wednesday by a lopsided of 86-13 vote. The Ron Paul-inspired group, Campaign for Liberty, released a statement to its national press list after the vote, singling out Rubio and calling his decision “disgraceful.” “Senator Rubio today stood with President Obama and...

He’s light on specifics here about the pros and cons of the NSA program as he sees them, but any time three serious contenders for 2016 are in a scrum over national security and civil liberties, it’s blogworthy. More than that, it’s blogworthy because the Paul/Cruz Senate partnership is to some extent a proxy for the tea-party/libertarian partnership generally. It won’t go on forever, but it’s fascinating while it lasts. I won’t bore you with rehashing why I think Cruz is more a tea partier than a true blue libertarian; read these two posts if you care, or read Nick...

Sen. Ted Cruz hasn’t said whether he has presidential ambitions, but Sunday he won one of the first straw polls for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. The Texas Republican captured 45 percent of the 504 votes cast by attendees at the Western Conservative Summit, a day after drawing several standing ovations during his luncheon speech at the fourth annual conference. “We shall see what sort of crystal ball summiteers have in awarding that decisive nod to Sen. Ted Cruz, who was so magnificent from this platform,” said John Andrews, founder of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University, which hosted...

Republican rivals Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky are escalating their feud over national security policy and liberty. In comments at a forum of Republican governors in Aspen, Col. Thursday, Mr. Christie said the libertarian strain championed by Mr. Paul currently coursing through the veins of political parties — as evidenced by broad, although ultimately unsuccessful, lobbying in the House of Representatives against NSA surveillance programs this week — is dangerous. “This strain of libertarianism that’s going through parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” Mr. Christie...