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America First, France Second
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“Looks Just Like His Grandfather”
In 1917 a small group of Russian extremists said, “Screw democracy, we’re seizing power.” They would eventually become known as the Communist Party. They would set the template for many revolutions to follow.
104 years later a small group of American extremists said, “Screw democracy, we’re seizing power.” By taking this action they directly followed the template provided by the first group, as had the Maoists, the Nazis, and a great many Communist and fascist parties in other countries throughout the 20th Century before them.
The fact that that specific group of Americans considered themselves ardent anti-Communists only makes their actions more ironic.
“I didn’t run on Paul Ryan’s plan of Obamacare Lite. In fact, I think most conservatives across the country didn’t run on Obamacare Lite.”
-Sen. Rand Paul
Post link
Watch the video here!
From a Rand Paul op-ed:
When did Republicans begin to believe that insurance companies should be put on the dole? That they should be bailed out when any of their customers become sick?
When did Republicans begin to believe that the federal government should force you to pay a penalty to a private insurance company if you can’t afford insurance?
When did Republicans begin to believe that we should levy a special tax penalty on those who choose to buy really good health insurance?
The current Ryan Plan — “Obamacare Lite” — is not about patients. It isn’t about better health care. It isn’t about lowering costs.
It is, plain and simple, about getting more money to the insurance companies and running more of your life from Washington.
I am a career physician. I spent years training and learning to be a doctor. I did it for patients. I don’t give a flip about guaranteeing the profits of insurance companies. And as a Senator, I shouldn’t, either.
Watch the video here!
“We need to get to the bottom of who’s releasing these highly classified conversations,” said Sen. Rand Paul about the government leaks.
Written by Chris Enloe for The Blaze:
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul over the weekend offered a unique solution to the problem of government leaks, which have plagued President Donald Trump’s administration in its first two months.
Speaking on ABC “This Week” Sunday, Paul suggested that to find the source of the leaks, such as the transcripts of conversations Micheal Flynn had with Russian officials — which eventually led to his resignation — the Trump administration should conduct lie detector tests.
“It is very, very important that whoever released that go to jail because you cannot have members of the intelligence community listening to the most private and highly classified information and then releasing that to The New York Times,” Paul said.
“There can only be a certain handful of people who did that,” he explained. “I would bring them all in. They would have to take lie detector tests.”
“We need to get to the bottom of who’s releasing these highly classified conversations,” Paul added.
During the interview, Paul also said that when it comes to intelligence leaks and surveillance, there is at least one thing Americans can be sure of: that the Obama administration “did spy” on Flynn.
Paulalso warned that if the intelligence leaks aren’t reined in, then the “deep state” will be in a position to blackmail presidents and national security advisers.
Rand Paul has teamed up with Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan to completely reform civil asset forfeiture law in the United States.
Written by Jason Snead for The Hill:
On Thursday, Sen. Rand Pau (R-Ky) and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) reintroduced the Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act in Congress. The bill, if passed, would be the most sweeping reform of abuse-prone federal civil forfeiture law since the 1980s. …
Local, state, and federal lawmakers control none of this vast sum of money. Law enforcement agencies can spend it all outside normal appropriations processes. …
Most cases never get as far as a courtroom, though, and end instead in so-called administrative forfeitures. In these instances, the law enforcement agency that seized the property – and stands to gain financially by keeping it – plays the role of judge, prosecutor, and jury all in one. …
Crucially, the FAIR Act would also eliminate the forfeiture financial incentive altogether. Federal forfeiture proceeds would go directly to the general fund to be dispersed by Congress, and the equitable sharing program would be abolished. Federal agencies would no longer be able to seize their way to higher budgets, and state and local officials would no longer be incentivized to bypass more restrictive state forfeiture laws.
Paul and Walberg first introduced the FAIR Act in 2014. At the time, civil forfeiture was something few people had heard of, and there appeared to be little appetite for reform. But in the years since, dozens of state legislatures have reined in their abuse-prone forfeiture statutes, and last year Congress advanced several forfeiture-reform bills, though none has yet made it to the president’s desk.
Poll after poll reveals broad public support for stronger protections against unjust and baseless seizures. Some even show a remarkably high percentage of Americans have been directly affected by forfeiture.
We can no longer afford to ignore the problem. Congress can make 2017 the year of forfeiture reform.
The political struggle will likely determine if the Republican Party keeps the status quo or returns to their true conservative principles.
Written by Brandon Morse for The Blaze:
The in-house Republican battle over the repeal of Obamacare is about to boil over as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) are engaged in an increasingly sharp war over words over their disagreements on how to proceed forward with the promised repeal and replace of former President Obama’s signature legislation.
Paul has been waging a war against the House GOP Obamacare repeal and replace plan since even before it was given to the public. Calling it “Obamacare Lite,” Paul has lambasted not only the bill, but his fellow Republicans for their less-than-diligent attempts at getting rid of the unpopular healthcare law. This time, he turned his attention toward Ryan, who has been the bill’s primary spokesman.
“I think that Paul Ryan’s selling [Donald Trump] a bill of goods that he didn’t explain to the President, and the grassroots doesn’t want what Paul Ryan is selling,” Paul told CNN. …
Other Republicans in Congress have joined Paul in his efforts to push a more conservative version of a repeal bill, which focuses solely on repeal, and repeal alone. Rep. Jim Jordan and Paul have both submitted versions of the bill in the Senate and the House, and has the support of conservative legislators such as Rep. Justin Amash,Sen. Mike Lee, and Rep. Jeff Duncan, and Sen. Tom Cotton. This list of allies now also includes a group of moderate Republicans rattled by the recent CBO report.
As the battle continues between the conservatives and GOP leadership, the faith of the voters hangs in the balance, according to the conservatives. Paul believes that should the GOP pass “Obamacare Lite,” Republicans will pay for it come election time. Duncan wrote in the Daily Signal that should the bill pass, voters “will feel betrayed.”
If that is true, then winner of the struggle between Paul and Ryan may determine the GOP’s future momentum.
“Paul may be a minority in the Senate, but his view is much more practical and in line with the American people.”
Written by Daniel Depetris for The Hill:
This January, the Foreign Relations Committee recommended a vote to ratify Montenegro’s accession to NATO. This week, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) attempted to do just that, requesting unanimous consent that the Resolution of Ratification be approved by the full chamber without any more debate on the floor.
Sen.Rand Paul (R-Ky.) objected to the request and then walked off the floor, leaving McCain so furious that he openly declared that the junior senator from Kentucky was in cahoots with Russian President Vladimir Putin to dismember NATO.
“The only conclusion you can draw when he [Paul] walks away,” McCain remarked on the floor, “is he has no justification for his objection to having a small nation be part of NATO that is under assault from the Russians.”
But McCain’s rationale is simple-minded and ultimately misguided. …
Fortunately, the bullying tactics aren’t cowing Paul into submission. There is a strong case to be made for why Montenegro becoming the 29th member of NATO isn’t a good idea. At the very least, the Senate should have a full debate on the matter, exercising its powers of ratification. …
Paul may be a minority in the Senate, but his view is much more practical and in line with the American people. For what, exactly, does Montenegro — a tiny country of less than 630,000 people, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of only $3.9 billion and an active military of approximately 2,000 troops — offer NATO that it doesn’t already have?
It’s difficult to see what the positives would be for Montenegro’s inclusion. The Montenegrin government spends 1.6 percent of its GDP on defense, short of the 2 percent threshold that NATO now uses as a guideline. As my colleague Charles Pena wrote last November, it would be unwise policy for the United States and the NATO alliance to take in yet another member that won’t contribute their fair share of the defense burden.
Currently, 23 of NATO’s 28 members contribute less than the 2 percent benchmark. Montenegro would add yet another dependent country to America’s coattails, while hardly making Americans safer.
“Though I want to believe the glass is half full, I am tempted, very tempted, to smash a glass half full of Obamacare Lite — smash that glass to smithereens!”
Written by Sen. Rand Paul for Breitbart:
Washington politicians are so far gone that the Constitution is not even an afterthought, and their master seems to be whatever industry funds them.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We just had an election about change, about draining the swamp. President Trump promised to be different, and I believe he sincerely wants to be. But he is being taken for a ride through the swamp right now on “Obamacare Lite.”
For four STRAIGHT elections, REPUBLICANS ran on repealing Obamacare, and now “Republican orthodoxy” — I’m told — is keeping insurance subsidies, mandates, taxes, and insurance company bailouts.
That’s not acceptable to me. And it isn’t keeping our promise.
Though I want to believe the glass is half full, I am tempted, very tempted, to smash a glass half full of Obamacare Lite — smash that glass to smithereens! …
The current Ryan Plan — “Obamacare Lite” — is not about patients. It isn’t about better health care. It isn’t about lowering costs.
It is, plain and simple, about getting more money to the insurance companies and running more of your life from Washington.
Hypocrite Bernie Sanders is near the top 1% - the richest of the rich - but paid a tax rate nearly half that of President Trump.
Written by Jack Hunter for Rare:
Fox News noted during an interview with Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday that both President Obama and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders – who obviously make much less money than Trump – also pay a significantly lower rate. Obama paid 18.7 percent in 2015 and Sanders paid 13.5 percent in 2014.
That’s when Sen. Paul raised an interesting question.
“Since Senator Sanders is such a good socialist, I think he’d want to pay his fair share,” Paul said, smiling. “I’m expecting news any day that he’s gonna send a couple hundred thousand into the IRS so he can pay his fair share,” he chuckled.
Sanders has a long record of demanding that the rich “pay their fair share.” In 2016, Fortune called Sanders the “six-figure socialist,” reporting, “by dint of his success as an anti-capitalist politician, Sanders has managed to make a quite comfortable living.”
“While Sanders wouldn’t describe himself as rich,” Fortune noted, “the scourge of the 1% has income that puts him in the top 3.8% of American households, according to CNBC.”
Republicans should be working to agree on a truly conservative plan to repeal Obamacare rather than bickering about numbers.
Written by Dana Loesch for The Blaze:
The bipartisan chorus continues to grow against the Republican Obamacare replacement bill. Conservatives in both chambers of Congress have voiced concerns about the bill, derisively referring to it as “Obamacare-lite.” The political news got worse for the bill when the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would result in millions of additional uninsured Americans.
On Dana Loesch’s program Tuesday evening, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) has said he would prefer a clean repeal to Obamacare first.
“What I do know is bill that’s in front of us, that leadership has brought forward, isn’t a full repeal, it isn’t going to bring down premiums and doesn’t unite the Republican party. It is not consistent with what we told the voters. … There’s a reason every single conservative group in the country is opposed to it. There’s a reason that conservative people like you are opposed to it. Even conservatives who are for it, … call it Obamacare-lite,” Rep. Jordan says.
Rand Paul is hoping that Trump will negotiate for a much more conservative bill that completely repeals Obamacare.
Written by Ben Wolfgang for the Washington Times:
President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have tried to present a unified front on the GOP’s health care bill, but a top Republican critic of that legislation on Sunday tried to stoke divisions between the two.
Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said flatly that he doesn’t believe the president is fully committed to the legislation as currently written. The House Republican leadership, he added, is presenting a false choice between the status quo or the current alternative proposal backed by Mr. Ryan.
“I think there’s a separation between the two,” Mr. Paul told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I’ve talked to the president I think three times on Obamacare and I hear from him that he’s willing to negotiate. You know what I hear from Paul Ryan? It’s a binary choice, young man. But what does a binary choice mean? His way or the highway?”
Mr. Paul said he doesn’t think the bill, as it stands now, will get the needed 51 votes in the Senate.
Not only is the NSA listening to private American phone calls and reading private American emails, but they’re actively lying about it.
Written by Glenn Greenwald for the Intercept:
Paul explained how the NSA routinely and deliberately spies on Americans’ communications — listens to their calls and reads their emails — without a judicial warrant of any kind:
The way it works is, the FISA court, through Section 702, wiretaps foreigners and then [NSA] listens to Americans. It is a backdoor search of Americans. And because they have so much data, they can tap — type Donald Trump into their vast resources of people they are tapping overseas, and they get all of his phone calls.
And so they did this to President Obama. They — 1,227 times eavesdrops on President Obama’s phone calls. Then they mask him. But here is the problem. And General Hayden said this the other day. He said even low-level employees can unmask the caller. That is probably what happened to Flynn.
They are not targeting Americans. They are targeting foreigners. But they are doing it purposefully to get to Americans.
Paul’s explanation is absolutely correct. That the NSA is empowered to spy on Americans’ communications without a warrant — in direct contravention of the core Fourth Amendment guarantee that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause” — is the dirty little secret of the U.S. Surveillance State.
As I documented at the height of the controversy over the Snowden reporting, top government officials — including President Obama — constantly deceived (and still deceive) the public by falsely telling them that their communications cannot be monitored without a warrant. Responding to the furor created over the first set of Snowden reports about domestic spying, Obama sought to reassure Americans by telling Charlie Rose: “What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls … by law and by rule, and unless they … go to a court, and obtain a warrant, and seek probable cause.”
Rand Paul: “This legislation will strengthen our foreign policy, enhance our national security, and safeguard our resources.”
Written by the Office of Senator Rand Paul:
This week, U.S. Senator Rand Paul introduced the Stop Arming Terrorists Act (S. 532) to prevent American taxpayers’ money from being used to directly or indirectly support armed militants who are allied with or often working under the command of al-Qaeda, ISIS, or other terrorist groups. The legislation serves as a companion bill to H.R. 608, which Representative Tulsi Gabbard (HI-2) reintroduced in January.
“One of the unintended consequences of nation-building and open-ended intervention is American funds and weapons benefiting those who hate us,” said Dr. Paul. “This legislation will strengthen our foreign policy, enhance our national security, and safeguard our resources.”
“For years, the U.S. government has been supporting armed militant groups working directly with and often under the command of terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government. Rather than spending trillions of dollars on regime change wars in the Middle East, we should be focused on defeating terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, and using our resources to invest in rebuilding our communities here at home,” said Rep. Gabbard. “The fact that American taxpayer dollars are being used to strengthen the very terrorist groups we should be focused on defeating should alarm every Member of Congress and every American. We call on our colleagues and the Administration to join us in passing this legislation.”
You can read S. 532, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, HERE, and you can find more information below:
S. 532, the Stop Arming Terrorists Act:
- Makes it illegal for any U.S. federal government funds to be used to provide assistance covered in the bill, including weapons, munitions, weapons platforms, intelligence, logistics, training, and cash, to terrorists.
- Prohibits the U.S. government from providing such assistance covered in the bill to any nation that has given or continues to give such support to terrorists.
- Instructs the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to determine the individuals and groups that should be considered terrorists, for the purposes of this bill, by determining: (a) the individuals and groups that are associated with, affiliated with, adherents to, or cooperating with al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, or ISIS; (b) the countries that are providing assistance covered in this bill to those individuals or groups.
- Anticipates changing conditions by requiring the DNI to work with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Armed Services Committee, and Select Committee on Intelligence to review and update the list of prohibited countries and groups every six months.
- Provides for accountability and transparency by requiring the DNI to brief Congress on its determinations.
The American Action Forum was set up to run ads against conservatives who oppose the “Obamacare Lite” bill. Guess who’s funding that PAC?
Yep, the pharmaceutical companies.
House Republicans like Speaker Paul Ryan tell us that the new health care bill will repeal Obamacare and lower costs. We’ve already shown why that’s untrue. Now, evidence that the pharmaceutical companies are supporting the bill with millions of dollars proves that costs will remain high and benefit them, not you.
Stand with Rand and oppose Obamacare Lite!
The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!
-President Donald J. Trump
Our Analysis
There is a 77% chance that Donald Trump wrote this tweet himself.
This is tweet number 930 mentioning ‘Make America Great Again’ from @realdonaldtrump – 590 since inauguration.
This is tweet number 151 mentioning 'America First’ from @realdonaldtrump – 67 since inauguration.
Word probabilities: 70/29 (Trump/Staff)
Time probabilities: 52/47 (Trump/Staff)
Metadata probabilities: 93/6 (Trump/Staff)
Posted at: Fri Jan 8 09:46:38 2021 EST [Link]
Tweet Source: Twitter for iPhone
The most informative terms in this tweet were:
great (Trump, 1.4:1), american (Other, 2.1:1), voted (Trump, 3.1:1), america (Other, 1.5:1), make (Other, 1.3:1), long (Trump, 1.7:1), future (Trump, 1.2:1), treated (Trump, 2.5:1), unfairly (Trump, 1.4:1), way (Trump, 2.4:1), ! (Trump, 1.3:1)
A computer sees the following emotions in this tweet (NRC):
{'fear’: 1, 'anticipation’: 1, 'positive’: 1}
Grade level of this tweet (Flesch-Kincaid): 9.7
Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
-Some random staffer (possibly Dan Scavino), on behalf of President Donald J. Trump
Our Analysis
There is a 46% chance that Donald Trump wrote this tweet himself.
This is tweet number 2025 mentioning the Democrats from @realdonaldtrump – 1864 since inauguration.
This is tweet number 929 mentioning ‘Make America Great Again’ from @realdonaldtrump – 589 since inauguration.
Word probabilities: 53/46 (Trump/Staff)
Time probabilities: 0/99 (Trump/Staff)
Metadata probabilities: 67/32 (Trump/Staff)
Posted at: Tue Jan 5 17:05:56 2021 EST [Link]
Tweet Source: Twitter for iPhone
The most informative terms in this tweet were:
people (Trump, 2.6:1), want (Trump, 3.2:1), election (Trump, 6.6:1), victory (Trump, 4.2:1), left (Trump, 2.5:1), democrats (Trump, 4.0:1), country (Trump, 2.1:1), enough (Other, 1.2:1), take (Trump, 2.0:1), anymore (Trump, 1.8:1), ! (Trump, 1.3:1), hear (Other, 1.2:1), ( (Trump, 9.7:1), ) (Trump, 9.9:1), office (Other, 1.3:1), make (Other, 1.3:1), america (Other, 1.5:1), great (Trump, 1.4:1)
A computer sees the following emotions in this tweet (NRC):
{'anticipation’: 1, 'joy’: 2, 'positive’: 2, 'trust’: 1, 'anger’: 1, 'negative’: 1}
Grade level of this tweet (Flesch-Kincaid): 5.2
This election season has been on fire since the beginning. With so many large personalities and explosive debates, it can be hard to keep up sometimes. Many hard-hitting issues have been covered since the race for the presidency started, but we still haven’t heard much on LGBT issues.
We did some digging, and here are some of the top statements some of this year’s most notable presidential hopefuls have made on LGBT issues throughout the years. You’ll find that some candidates have evolved while others…not so much.
Tl;dr underage Nazis at P Terry’s being assholes
So we’re having dinner at the P Terry’s on William Cannon and this kid, maybe 14, is walking out. He stops at Joey and says, “Did you vote for Trump?” Joey says no, obviously, and the kid says, “White power. Make America great again.”
I couldn’t hear this when it happened or I would have probably got up and gave him a talking-to. I had to ask Joey. So then the kid’s outside, we eat our dinner, and the kid gets on his bike with his friend and sees me looking at them and starts repeatedly Sieg Heiling me! I flipped them off and they kept on going, and then they start making other gestures at me.
Joey is facing away from the window and he’s wondering why I keep vigorously flipping the window off, so I told him and he jumped up, ran out there, and tried to catch up with them. Of course they were on bikes so they got away, but I hope at least he scared them. I hope they at least had one second of “Oh, shit.”
This is in suburban motherfucking Austin. What the hell. What little creeps. I’m still so fucking mad.
