Posted on 08/14/2014 4:22:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are weighing in on the violence in Ferguson, Missouri, staking out ground on a racially charged issue ahead of their possible 2016 presidential bids.
In a highly personal Time op-ed, Paul (R-Ky.) bluntly connected race to the treatment of African-Americans who have gathered in Ferguson since police killed teenager Michael Brown. Paul said that when he was young, he might have “smarted off” but he “wouldn’t have expected to be shot.”
“Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them,” Paul wrote. “This is part of the anguish we are seeing in the tragic events outside of St. Louis, Missouri. It is what the citizens of Ferguson feel when there is an unfortunate and heartbreaking shooting like the incident with Michael Brown.”
Paul, who has tried to broaden the GOP’s appeal to African-Americans, also joined Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and other leading Democrats in calling for the demilitarization of police forces in Ferguson, who have appeared heavily armed and used tear gas to disperse heated protests.
“There is a legitimate role for the police to keep the peace, but there should be a difference between a police response and a military response. The images and scenes we continue to see in Ferguson resemble war more than traditional police action,” Paul wrote. “Washington has incentivized the militarization of local police precincts by using federal dollars to help municipal governments build what are essentially small armies.”
Cruz was more measured than Paul, calling the situation “tragic” and chastising police for arresting two reporters covering the city’s tension. The Texas Republican called for an end to the “unrest” in the city and urged demonstrators to reject violence.
“Together, we should all mourn the loss of life in Ferguson, Missouri, and work to keep our communities safe and free. Police officers risk their lives every day to keep us safe, and any time a young man loses his life in a confrontation with law enforcement, it is tragic,” Cruz said in a Facebook statement. “Civil liberties must be protected, but violence is not the answer. Once the unrest is brought to an end, we should examine carefully what happened to ensure that justice is served.”
Both Paul and Cruz lean libertarian on issues like criminal justice reform and government surveillance — and each found examples in Ferguson of government overreach in both areas.
Cruz criticized the detention of reporters Wesley Lowery of The Washington Post and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post on Wednesday. The two journalists were arrested at a McDonald’s in Ferguson on Wednesday night in a high-profile fashion that has sparked heated reactions toward the police and the news media.
“Reporters should never be detained — a free press is too important — simply for doing their jobs,” Cruz said.
And through the lens of Ferguson, Paul said the civil rights and law enforcement communities’ posture towards U.S. citizens has now reached a “near-crisis point.”
“When you couple this militarization of law enforcement with an erosion of civil liberties and due process that allows the police to become judge and jury—national security letters, no-knock searches, broad general warrants, pre-conviction forfeiture—we begin to have a very serious problem on our hands,” Paul said.
I have read it and I don’t completely agree.
Doesn't matter.
The perverts are sick sick sick. Rarely is homo sex just homo sex. Especially in San Francisco. Orgies with dozes of queers, sex with objects, some even do feces and god knows what else. Someone at the SF office of my company gave details. These homos are diseased.
He’s already zotted. Pro homo and anti Cruz propaganda belongs at the filth infested DU and not at FR.
Thanks for the ping. It looks like she signed up solely to post garbage about Cruz and her family’s exploits in queerness.
As much as I dislike homosexuality, I don’t believe the incidence of sex acts with feces is very high.
Welcome to Free Republic.
Are you talking about acts such as deliberately consuming feces? Yes, some homosexuals do that. But a majority---as much as 80%---ingest them as a byproduct of mouth-to-anus sex.
And of course it's always involved with anal penetration. I used to work with a queer who bragged about having to buy enemas before he got together with his "boyfriend."
Then, of course, there was the queers' mocking adoption of the name "Santorum" for a particular aspect of their behavior.
Someone here once posted an article written by a homosexual in which he laughed about the fact that yes, feces are a part of their sex acts, and they love it.
Homosexuality is filthy, demeaning, degrading, and mentally & spiritually sick to the extreme...not to mention the many physical sicknesses it brings with it.
>> “and do not allow any ex-military personnel to join the police force until they’ve been successfully integrated into civilian life for ten years.” <<
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At that point, they would in all likelihood be past age 35, and ineligible to join a police force.
.
Paul seems to be trying to be all things to all people.
Thank you for the ping, Arrowhead. It’s funny, isn’t it...folks signing up to post about homos...
Posts at 84 and 86 are also n00bs and replying about homos on a Rand Paul / Ted Cruz thread. I feel their stay will be short.
I notice that one hasn’t posted since attempting to, er, “clean up” the homo lifestyle.
Homosexual simply isn’t right. God has created nature in certain ways. Do magnets have two north poles? No! A man doesn’t go with a man and a woman doesn’t go with a woman in nature.
A man goes with a woman. This combination creates children. No other combination does that.
There were a lot of one time posters on this thread http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2579985/posts and some have been banned since. I added the keyword ‘trollmagnet’ close to the end of the thread.
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