Free Republic

Sir Paul McCartney and wife Nancy Shevell, who attended Yom Kippur services prior to their wedding in deference to Shevell’s Jewish faith, might well be bentsching gommel (a thanksgiving prayer for escaping a dangerous situation) on their next visit to the synagogue after the couple narrowly escaped a crash when two helicopter pilots missed danger signals, as reported by the Daily Mail. The terrifying ordeal occurred when the two were flying back from London, where they attended a celebration of the release of a vegetarian cookbook by McCartney’s daughter Mary, to their home in East Sussex. The pilots were attempting...

Republican state lawmakers should listen to their governor and drop plans for “right-to-work” legislation. Don’t repeat Wisconsin’s tumultuous past. Gov. Scott Walker just urged the Legislature not to take up a bill placing restrictions on private-sector unions similar to those that Act 10 applied to public-sector unions in 2011. “The right-to-work legislation right now, as well as reopening Act 10 to make any other adjustments, would be a distraction from the work that we are trying to do,” Walker said. He’s right. Wisconsin should focus instead on improving our schools and economy, fixing a state budget deficit and building more...

The war of words between two likely 2016 contenders over President Obama’s sweeping changes to Cuba policy heated up further on Saturday, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) repeatedly blasting remarks from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as “rude.” “I never start a fight but I'm happy to finish a fight,” Paul told Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File on Friday.” “You know, I think the remarks were a little bit rude and intemperate.” In an interview on the same show one night prior, Rubio said that Paul — who supports President Obama’s move to roll back trade and travel restrictions and...

Washington (CNN) -- The New York officer involved in the death of Eric Garner should no longer be on the police force, Sen. Rand Paul argued Monday. The Kentucky Republican said Daniel Pantaleo lacked "discretion" when he placed Garner in a chokehold for allegedly selling untaxed cigarettes.

Senator Rand Paul To Headline Mississippi Republican Party Victory Event ON:5 December 2014 BY:Admin IN: Media Advisory WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) will join Governor Phil Bryant and the Mississippi Republican Party in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday, December 8 for a fundraising event benefiting the state party. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014 WHAT: Mississippi Republican Party Victory Lunch TIME: 11:30 am (CST) WHO: Senator Rand Paul & Governor Phil Bryant WHERE: The Old Capitol Inn 226 North State Street, Jackson MS 39201

Reasonable people can disagree on whether racism was involved in the tragic death of Eric Garner. My own suspicion is that this misfortune could have transpired just as easily with a white man resisting arrest and/or a black cop choking him. And even though lots of people don't want to hear it, reasonable can disagree on whether illegally excessive force was to blame. Personally, watching the ubiquitous video of Garner's arrest, it looks like excessive force to me. But the simple fact is that a Staten Island grand jury saw evidence that led it to conclude otherwise. People should at...

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) reacted to a grand jury's decision to not indict a New York City Police Officer in the death of Eric Garner by saying he was "horrified" by the video and blasting politicians for passing "bad laws" that "put our police in a difficult situation" in an interview broadcast on Wednesday's "Hardball" on MSNBC.

On Monday, Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul announced his intention to run for a second term in the United States Senate. Paul was elected to the Senate in 2010, but his meteoric rise to national prominence turned the first term Senator into a prospective 2016 presidential candidate as soon as Mitt Romney lost to President Obama in 2012. There is just one slight problem for Paul – Kentucky law does not allow for one person to be on the ballot twice, meaning that he would have to pick between running for President in 2016 or running for a second term...

Trying to strike a balance between shedding his isolationist label and defending his nontraditional GOP views on foreign policy, Sen. Rand Paul took another jab Tuesday at his more hawkish colleague, Sen. John McCain. In a discussion hosted by Paul Gigot, editorial page editor at The Wall Street Journal, Paul argued he's not in favor of a total abandonment of U.S. intervention overseas but was unapologetic in saying he's "one of the least reluctant to go to war." (SNIP) "But I do believe less. I believe we've been everywhere all the time. We're about to bankrupt our country and there...

Rand considers himself a new messiah to black voters. Does he have any black friends or did he have any in college? Bill Cassidy for instance isn't as hip as Rand but I know he has a black friend because I saw a picture of his rock band. The same thing with Hispanics. Rand says he knows of no hispanics on welfare which is why he supports amnesty. How many hispanics did he deal as a doctor in Kentucky? Im sure he has hispanic consultant friends.

Reverend Al Sharpton ✔ @TheRevAl I am in Senate Dining Room having breakfast meeting with Sen. Rand Paul. We don't agree on much but he is an interesting guy.

(CNN) -- Vincent Harris, Ted Cruz's top digital operative, is leaving the Texas senator's team to work for Sen. Rand Paul's political operation, as the jostling for staff ramps up ahead of the 2016 GOP presidential primary contest. Harris will join Rand Paul's political action committee and his 2016 team as a chief digital strategist, according to Doug Stafford, executive director of RAND PAC. Stafford said Harris will sit at the "top of the leadership team," as Paul and his inner circle carry out what's expected to be a dizzying political schedule. Paul will likely announce his Senate re-election bid...

Over steak and ravioli at The Liaison hotel on Capitol Hill on Wednesday night, about 50 aides, advisers and supporters of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) got pumped up for a presidential campaign they now believe is a 95 percent certainty. The senator introduced his wife, Kelley, and we’re told a final check-in with his family is his last hoop before settling on a presidential campaign. Paul is still saying he’ll decide this spring, with April the target for a fly-around announcement in the early states.

Veterans Day was initially called Armistice Day to celebrate the end of World War I and recognize the soldiers who died. Today it’s a day in the United States to recognize all veterans in all wars—not just those who died or were wounded or even served in a war at all. It’s designed to heap praise and adulation on all things military. In doing so, in the name of patriotism, it therefore endorses all of our war policies, right or wrong. Every veteran becomes a hero and no questions are to be asked of the wisdom, morality, or constitutionality of...

One thing's for sure: Don't expect a repeat of their 2013 alliance. An aide to Paul said that if Cruz launches another crusade against Obamacare next year, Paul will want little to do with it. "He won't be in the middle of that fight," the Paul aide told me last week. "I don't think he's going to get all wrapped around the axle. He's supportive of the idea of repealing Obamacare, but he's not going to be the tip of the spear."

Retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness is joining forces with Rep. Bill Cassidy in an effort to seal a win for Republicans over Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. Maness will formally endorse Cassidy during a star-studded Republican rally in Baton Rouge on Monday that will feature presumed presidential candidates Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Gov. Bobby Jindal. U.S. Sen. David Vitter, state Sen. Elbert Guillory, state Rep. Paul Hollis, 6th Congressional District candidate Garret Graves, former U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry, and LAGOP chairman Roger Villere will also attend the "Unity Rally." Maness finished third behind Landrieu and Cassidy in Tuesday's primary. He...

Yesterday voters in the blue State of Oregon rescinded a state law giving illegal aliens access to driver cards by voting down Ballot Measure 88. The citizens veto referendum, which was placed on the ballot by an issue committee called Protect Oregon Drivers Licenses (PODL), gave voters an opportunity to decide whether the 2013 law (SB 833) should be implemented. Voters said “No” by a 68-32 margin. The measure’s demise is a major defeat for illegal-alien advocates. Earlier, they failed to get the state legislature and the courts to re-write the referendum title in a manner favorable to keeping the...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued that Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) decisive victory over Alison Grimes was a referendum on Hillary Clinton as well on Tuesday.

<p>Republicans need to run a presidential candidate in 2016 like a Ted Cruz or a Rand Paul, not a Jeb Bush or a Chris Christie, management guru Jack Welch told CNBC on Monday.</p> <p>Bush and Christie are "too middle of the road" to win the country, the conservative-leaning Welch said in a "Squawk Box" interview—a day before the 2014 midterm election in which Republicans hope to take control of the Senate.</p>

Republicans need to run a presidential candidate in 2016 like a Ted Cruz or a Rand Paul, not a Jeb Bush or a Chris Christie, management guru Jack Welch told CNBC on Monday. Bush and Christie are "too middle of the road" to win the country, the conservative-leaning Welch said in a "Squawk Box" interview—a day before the 2014 midterm election in which Republicans hope to take control of the Senate.

PORTLAND – The Campaign for Maine, the political action committee supporting Eliot Cutler, received $50,000 in contributions from major, out-of-state Republican donors in its most recent campaign finance report. The donors, James and Marilyn Hebenstreit of Kansas, also contributed the maximum amount to Eliot Cutler’s campaign in September. (SNIP) Conservative radio pundit Howie Carr also told GOP supporters to talk up Eliot Cutler to their "moonbat friends" to help re-elect Gov. LePage.

In a week that saw two jihadist attacks in Canada and one in New York, one would expect a trenchant and forthright handling of the threat that has shaped our age. Instead Paul gave us this: The world does not have an Islam problem, the world has a dignity problem, with millions of men and women across the Middle East being treated as chattel by their own governments. Sorry? A dignity problem? Who denied Osama bin Laden or Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, their dignity? Perhaps the Boston bombers were denied their dignity, but not because they lived...

In addition to superheroes, it seems as if the latest Hollywood trend of trying to make the old new again applies to just about every property. By now, everyone knows all about the slew of big tentpoles coming out next summer (Jurassic World, Star Wars: Episode VII, etc.) looking to bring back established franchises, but this strategy goes beyond the genre films – bringing some smaller movies along for the ride. This November, the comedy sequel Dumb and Dumber To will hit theaters 20 years after the original was a hit, but Harry and Lloyd may not be alone for...

hether you enjoyed your weekend or sheltered in place wearing personal protective equipment, you may have missed the news that officials are preparing to clear four dozen people who had direct or indirect contact with Dallas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan after he’d begun shedding the virus, but before he was finally admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The 21 days since doctors belatedly diagnosed Duncan marks the end of Ebola’s incubation period, and none of these contacts—including family members who’d been caring for him in very close quarters after he’d become gravely ill—has developed any symptoms of the disease....

Katy Conrad is a booker and producer with CBS This Morning, but conservatives quickly made fun of her on Twitter when she mocked Rand Paul's medical opinion, as if he was a doctor. (Oops, he is -- an opthalmologist, to be precise.) Via Nick Dyer:

John McCain bursts out of the cloakroom and onto the Senate floor. His face red, he rips off his glasses and gets ready to pound a table. Senator Hothead is mad. Again. "He just comes out and blows up every once in a while," says a congressional correspondent, who didn't want to be named. "You can almost see the steam coming out of his ears." (SNIP) STROM THURMOND In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, "Is the senator about through?" McCain glared at Thurmond, thanked...

Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) daughter said on Wednesday that her father and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) "hate each other." Meghan McCain appeared on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show to promote her “TakePart Live” talk show on Pivot TV. When Stern asked the 29-year-old what her father thinks of the Tea Party favorite, she quickly replied, “They hate each other.” She repeated the sentiment before wondering aloud if it had previously been publicly disclosed. “In a fistfight, I’m pretty sure your dad can kick [Paul’s] ass,” Stern quipped to McCain. “Yeah,” the Vietnam War veteran’s daughter said, “My father’s 76 years...

Conservative stars appeal to voters in radically different ways. The most attention-grabbing conservatives in the emerging 2016 Republican presidential nomination race are two freshmen U.S. senators who had never held elective office before. Though nearly equal in their fanfare, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas are romancing Republican and independent voters in radically different ways. The outcome of their fierce competition could influence the direction of their party. Win or lose, both men have an opportunity to influence a new generation of conservatives in tactics, policy and coalition-building while readjusting the movement’s planks of fiscal restraint, free...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a licensed physician and a possible presidential candidate in 2016, is warning that handling Ebola in a politically correct manner will rebound.In an interview with radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, he said decisions such as keeping travel open from Africa and sending soldiers to fight Ebola “have been dominated by political correctness.� “Because of political correctness, we’re not making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this,� he said.Joinging the program by telephone from the campaign trail for Republicans, he started with a quip.“I can’t believe that you don’t think it’s enough of a plan to prevent...

On November 30th, voters in Switzerland will head to the polls to vote in a referendum on gold. On the ballot is a measure to prohibit the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from further gold sales, to repatriate Swiss-owned gold to Switzerland, and to mandate that gold make up at least 20 percent of the SNB's assets. Arising from popular sentiment similar to movements in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, this referendum is an attempt to bring more oversight and accountability to the SNB, Switzerland's central bank. The Swiss referendum is driven by an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will speak at the Values Voters Summit next week in Washington, D.C. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/19/Sarah-Palin-to-Speak-at-Values-Voter-Summit

John McCain’s slip of the tongue won’t help him quell Internet accusations that he once met and took pictures with members of the terrorist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

And while my predisposition is to less intervention, I do support intervention when our vital interests are threatened. If I had been in President Obama’s shoes, I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS. I would have called Congress back into session—even during recess. This is what President Obama should have done. He should have been prepared with a strategic vision, a plan for victory and extricating ourselves. He should have asked for authorization for military action and would have, no doubt, received it. Once we have decided that we have an enemy that requires destruction, we must...

Jesse Benton, the GOP political strategist spearheading Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s reelection campaign, resigned from his post Friday amid new details about an ongoing federal investigation into an endorsement-pay-scheme involving a 2012 presidential campaign he oversaw. In a statement issued Friday evening, Benton cited “inaccurate press accounts and unsubstantiated media rumors about me and my role in past campaigns that are politically motivated, unfair and, most importantly, untrue.” “The press accounts and rumors are particularly hurtful because they are false,” Benton wrote. “However, what is most troubling to me is that they risk unfairly undermining and becoming a distraction...

DES MOINES, Iowa — A former state lawmaker accused of accepting payments to change his support to a different presidential candidate in the 2012 election cycle has pleaded guilty to two federal charges. The Department of Justice says Kent Sorenson, a former Republican state senator, admitted to receiving “under-the-table” payments from Ron Paul’s campaign committee in return for switching his support and services from candidate Michele Bachmann. The payments totaled about $73,000 and were made monthly in the amount of around $8,000. They were concealed by first sending the money to a film production company, then through another company —...

Just as Hillary's "What difference at this point does it make" remark about Benghazi during a Congressional hearing will come back to haunt her, Rand Paul's politically correct spasm over Ferguson (his August 14 essay in Time Magazine) should preclude the possibility of Son of Ron getting anywhere near the GOP nomination in 2016. When the left starts swooning over a Republican, it's a dead-giveaway. A posting on the Washington Post's politics blog gushes, "Rand Paul's (Time) op-ed on Ferguson shows why he is the most interesting voice in the GOP right now." In this context, translate "interesting voice" as...

Glenn Grothman launches his second TV ad of the election cycle. Titled "Caving In," the ad highlights the need for strong conservatives in Congress who won't cave in to President Obama.

British jihadis involved in the brutal beheading of American reporter James Foley callously boasted of making personal fortunes from ransoms paid for other released hostages, openly talked of making so much money they could retire to Kuwait or Qatar, The four Islamic State jihadis – nicknamed The Beatles by their Western captives – were reported to be ‘interested in money’ from the start. American hostages – especially Foley, whose brother was discovered to be serving in the US Air Force – were picked out for the most brutal beatings.

FERGUSON, Mo. — Two African-American lawmakers from Missouri met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday afternoon at the Pentagon to urge him to curtail the transfer of military hardware to local police forces. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D), one of the two lawmakers, said the scene in Ferguson over the past two weeks reminded him of combat footage from Iraq. “It looked like Fallujah. It looked like the Iraqi war,” he said in an interview. “Rand Paul was right. He talked about how we cannot militarize our cities. That what it looked like. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and...

After a week and a half of uncertainty, the Republican nominee to represent Wisconsin’s 6th District will be state Sen. Glenn Grothman. The Associated Press originally declared Grothman the winner of the GOP primary last week but then rescinded its call after additional votes came in and rendered the race too close to call. After the 11 counties in the district verified their vote counts Wednesday, Grothman maintained his lead by 219 votes, or 0.47 percent, but it was unclear whether the second place finisher, state Sen. Joe Leibham, would call for a recount. Leibham announced Friday that he would...

After another night of violent confrontations between police and demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued Thursday that big government has gone too far in militarizing local police forces. Ahead of a potential 2016 presidential run, it was another chance for Paul's liberty-centered philosophy to appeal to libertarians and black voters. After police shot and killed an unarmed black teenager over the weekend, Ferguson residents rioted, looted, and protested this week. The police response has escalated each day, with police on Wednesday firing pepper spray and tear gas and arresting two D.C. journalists. "Americans must never sacrifice their...

Senator Rand Paul was spotted hobnobbing at a party in the Hamptons last weekend after he claimed he could not attend a high-profile conservative event he was listed as a sponsor of because he had a 'family commitment.' Paul told the Family Leader he had to skip the group's annual summit on Saturday because he had to attend an event in New York with his family. The presumed 2016 presidential candidate's absence at the influential Iowa gathering was called into question, however, after the New York Post reported that Paul and his wife, Kelley, attended the East Hampton Library fundraiser...

When a far left Democrat such as Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor uses his campaign advertising to offer quotes from John McCain to distinguish himself from U.S. Rep Tom Cotton, his conservative Republican opponent, it’s clear there is a trouble in Liberalville. Pryor ‘s latest ad features McCain’s quote that “anyone who calls it amnesty is not being intellectually honest,” fires back at a recent Cotton campaign ad, saying Pryor “voted for amnesty and citizenship for illegals.” “Mark Pryor voted the same way as John McCain and many other Republican senators,” Pryor’s ad defends. “Secure the border first.” Very McCainesque, indeed.

Few seem to have good answers for the question: “Why didn’t God just create us so that we would never have to experience pain, suffering, or sadness?” After all, God has the power to make the world free of evil, yet He chose instead to make us creatures with free will. Thus, free will was the door left open for the possibility of evil entering our lives.What is the purpose of pain, suffering, and evil? Why does God allow humans, who were made in His image, to live on a planet where evil abounds? God could have made us...

Maine Gov. Paul LePage is not thrilled with the way the NFL has handled the suspension of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, and said today on a radio show that he intends on boycotting the NFL and will be sending NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell a letter criticizing the relatively light punishment Rice received for beating his fiancé unconscious. "They care so little about our women and our children that they’re going to hire these barbarians who go and hit their wives and their kids and they’re gonna get a slap on the hand? And some guy got a year...

While Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul tests the Republican waters for a possible White House run, Democrats are attacking, even this early in the nominating process, The Daily Beast reports. During the junior senator's recent three-day trip to Iowa, where the first presidential caucuses will be held in 17 months, the Democratic National Committee sent out 10 press releases about Paul's activities and speeches, the news site reports. A senior aide for Paul views the press releases in a positive light for the senator. "What it can tell you as a political observer is that they recognize what we're trying to...

The senator’s broad appeal threatens to weaken Democrats for 2016, and they are going on offense—sending out no less than 10 press releases on his latest trip to Iowa.

FANCY FARM – While this year’s political speaking at St. Jerome Parish began with a selfie, it quickly returned to its 19th century roots of zingers and criticism between the U.S. Senate candidates, their allies and a record-breaking crowd. ............ But it was the supporting cast who got in the memorable lines – and even a quick rule-bending gimmick by the governor. ............ McConnell also found a way to weave together his two favorite arguments against Grimes: that’s she’s inexperienced and she’s tied to President Barack Obama. “By any standard Barack Obama has been a disaster for our country. If...

Earlier this year, congressman and former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan released a proposed budget for 2015. It contains an impressive list of cuts projecting a $5.1 trillion savings over ten years. It is also the height of political stupidity and an example of everything that cripples Republicans in their battles with the left.If you are going to make budget cuts, you do it. You don’t telegraph it. Paul Ryan can’t even make budget cuts unless Republicans win the White House and he has just made it harder for them to do it.For starters, Ryan’s list of cuts includes the...

In a campaign swing resembling that of a presidential candidate, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul plans to make a three-day trip across Iowa next week, another indication that the libertarian-leaning Republican is gearing up for a 2016 presidential run. Paul will be in Iowa from Aug. 4-6. He will make appearances at Iowa GOP offices in Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Des Moines, according to a spokesman for his organization, RandPAC. He will also attend fundraisers for congressional candidates Steve King and Mariannette Miller-Meeks and the Cerro Gordo GOP. The senator will visit the Von Maur Corporate Headquarters...