Free Republic

"The very definition of deep state is when the intelligence community withholds information from Congress." --US Senator Rand Paul, Dec 4, 2018

Jeb Bush’s likely presidential candidacy will face its first major test on Friday when he addresses a rowdy group of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It’s a critical moment for the former Florida governor as he looks to convince conservatives that he appeals to more than just the GOP establishment. Jeb Bush’s likely presidential candidacy will face its first major test on Friday when he addresses a rowdy group of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It’s a critical moment for the former Florida governor as he looks to convince conservatives that he appeals to...

Again and again, conservatives have cut Senator Rand Paul at least some slack when his pronouncements have moved in the realm of, but not fully shared, his father’s nuttiness on foreign affairs. It’s almost as if some nuttiness of his own was allowable as long as it didn’t go as far as his father’s did. But just about every fortnight or so, a new Rand Paul speech or a newly resurfaced old video or news report shows not only that the senator is dangerously neo-isolationist and militarily penurious, but that he is also bizarrely spiteful toward those who disagree. Worse,...

Ron Paul has just sided with Putin over the invasion of Ukraine. Former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) appeared on the Fox Business Network’s The Independents on Wednesday night where he was asked for his thoughts about the worsening situation in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. Paul said that the United States and the West have engaged in hypocrisy and alleged that they participated in the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovich’s government. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putinhas “some law on his side” in Crimea because Russia held a lease on a naval base in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.“This whole thing that...

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a presidential hopeful and leading non-interventionist voice in the Republican Party, believes the United States should seek "respectful" relations with Russia and avoid antagonizing President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing political turmoil in Ukraine, where a Kremlin-backed government collapsed last week. "Some on our side are so stuck in the Cold War era that they want to tweak Russia all the time and I don't think that is a good idea," Paul said on Tuesday, in an interview with The Washington Post. Paul's comments underscore the latest foreign-policy fissure in the GOP, where the party's...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)(CNSNews.com) – Although he is pro-life and believes life begins at the moment of conception, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a potential presidential contender in 2016, said that because of the polarization over abortion, Americans  need to be persuaded on the issue and “we’re not changing any of the laws until the country is persuaded otherwise.” Paul himself has introduced the Life at Conception Act (S. 583), which would provide constitutional protection to children at the moment of conception.Last week, Paul was interviewed at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics by liberal David...

I just found out some information today that enlightened me as to why Rand Paul has endorsed Mitch McConnell. McConnell's Campaign Manger, Jesse Benton, is part of the Paul family. He is married to Ron Paul's grand daughter and Rand Paul's niece. I wonder if Mitch hiring Rand's nephew-in-law was part of the deal for Rand's endorsement? This is what Benton told the Huffington Post: "I believe in Senator McConnell and am 100 percent committed to his re-election. Being selected to lead his campaign is one of the great honors of my life and I look forward to victory in...

In 2013, freshmen senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) seemed like two peas in a pod. Both railed at the NSA, backed the government shutdown, opposed intervention in Syria and championed the tea party faithful. But 2014 has been a different story. Cruz has become a serious, vocal proponent of a tough foreign policy and harsh critic of President Obama’s approach to Iran and Russia. He gave serious speeches on the importance of standing up to Vladimir Putin and on the folly of expecting Iran to give away its nuclear weapons program without stringent sanctions and/or the threat...

Poland will breathe a little easier because at the very least, American troops in Poland will be an effective trip wire and hedge against Russia making a move to reclaim the former Warsaw Pact country. Washington Post: Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday....

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is out with another clarification of his foreign policy positions, saying unequivocally in a Washington Post op-ed that he is against a strategy of containment when it comes to Iran.Asked Sunday about his 2012 vote against a bill that would have prevented a policy of containment -- that is, allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs but keeping tabs on them -- Paul said all options should be left on the table. (Paul was the lone vote against the legislation.)That led some to say that the potential 2016 presidential candidate was open to...

A fiendishly clever theory from Peter Beinart. Remember “Operation Chaos”? That was Rush Limbaugh’s plan to have GOP voters wreak havoc on the Democratic nominating process in 2008. With McCain’s nomination already all but assured and Obama clinging to an apparently insurmountable lead over Hillary, Rush encouraged Republicans in states with open primaries (i.e. states where you don’t have to be registered as a party member to vote in that party’s primary) to cross over and vote for Hillary in the Democratic primary instead. The idea was to drag the primary process out for Democrats as long as possible, forcing...

The oil-services company Halliburton is an old obsession of the anti-Bush Left, and evidently of Kentucky senator Rand Paul. The libertarian standard-bearer and almost-certain Republican presidential candidate suggested to audiences a few years ago that Vice President Dick Cheney’s views on the Iraq War were influenced by his time as CEO at Halliburton. Cheney had opposed going into Iraq during the Persian Gulf War under the first President George Bush; then, after a stint at Halliburton, he supported going into Iraq under the second President Bush. Q.E.D. Asked about the Halliburton charge on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Paul...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XLDXK-iMUo SEN. RAND PAUL: I think there’s an opposite thing to what Harry Reid said, and that’s that the federal government shouldn’t violate the law. Nor should we have 48 federal agencies carrying weapons and having SWAT teams.

Wednesday on Fox News Channel's "Your World" with Neil Cavuto former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) discussed the IRS targeting his organization when Cavuto asked, "Well, i don't want to be cynical Congressman, do you think any of this might have a thing or two to do with your son possibly running for president? "

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) hates Sen. Mitch McConnnell so much that when a constituent asked him why he supports McConnell’s reelection campaign, Paul refused to answer and told the questioner to talk to him privately. According to the Glasgow Daily Times: After addressing about 30 people who turned out to hear him, the senator opened the floor for questions. One constituent asked him why he came out in support of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville. Paul declined to answer the question publicly, saying he would speak with her in private and explain his reason for supporting the senior senator. The answer...

Rand Paul will do his best to charm a group Mitt Romney’s top donors next week at an event facilitated by Romney finance director Spencer Zwick. The Friday luncheon will take place in Boston at the offices of Zwick’s private-equity firm, Solamere Capital, according to a source familiar with the event. Romney’s eldest son Tagg is also a managing partner at the firm, and Romney is the executive chairman. The event is yet another signal that Paul is preparing a for a serious presidential bid in 2016. Two years before the GOP primary, Paul is attempting to branch out beyond...

President Barack Obama is meeting Friday with the head of the American Legion, in what amnesty opponents fear is a yet another effort to bypass public opposition to passage of a massive business-backed immigration increase. House Speaker John Boehner also added to the alarms Thursday night, when the Wall Street Journal reported that he told business donors gathered last month in Las Vegas that he is “hellbent on getting this done.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called for “calmer heads to prevail” in the showdown between the Bundy family and the federal government. Paul chided Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) for calling the family and their supporters “domestic terrorists.” “I don’t think calling people names is going to calm this down; I think its liable to stir it up, so I think all parties including Sen. Reid should calm the rhetoric a little bit. Let’s try to have a peaceful resolution to this,” Paul said during an interview on Fox News Thursday night. Paul added that he believed that the Endangered Species Act...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the federal response to rancher Cliven Bundy, becoming the first GOP 2016 presidential hopeful to weigh in on the issue. Paul slammed the federal government’s show of force in the dispute, which culminated in a standoff at Bundy’s ranch between police and his supporters, including armed members of militia groups. Bundy is refusing to pay grazing fees for his cattle, which for decades have grazed on federal land. Paul sided with Bundy in that fight, arguing that Nevada and local authorities should control the land.

Hundreds of people are executed every year in Iran. Balal, thanks to the actions of his victim's mother, will not be one of them. Balal was standing on a chair, blindfolded and with a noose around his neck, when the mother of the man he stabbed to death seven years ago approached him, the Guardian reports. According to some interpretations of sharia law, the victim’s family participates in the punishment by pushing the chair from under the condemned man. But this time, the mother of the victim slapped Balal across the face and then helped the victim’s father remove the...