Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul yesterday introduced S. 2644, the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act, which would protect the rights of citizens and restore the Fifth Amendment’s role in seizing property without due process of law. Under current law, law enforcement agencies may take property suspected of involvement in crime without ever charging, let alone convicting, the property owner. In addition, state agencies routinely use federal asset forfeiture laws; ignoring state regulations to confiscate and receive financial proceeds from forfeited property.

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>