Tweet of the Day: Stephen KIng Edition

Cruz, Paul and Rubio, all running for President. Hey, I thought I was supposed to write the horror stories.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) April 16, 2015

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Write A Caption: Rand Paul Flip Flops

Rand Paul has been running away from many of his previous positions. It is only natural he should sell flip flops at his online store.

Samatha Guthrie called Paul out on his flip flops on The Today Show. Paul got extremely testy.

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No Love For Jeb Bush and Chris Christie At CPAC

Fake journalist Sean Hannity ran off names of potential presidential candidates to the crowd at CPAC. Scott Walker and Rand Paul got the biggest cheers. The crowd booed when the names of Jeb Bush and Chris Christie were mentioned. Christie has avoided talking about immigration reform. Bush has shown an openness to some dorm of immigration reform in the past. The crowd at CPAC is booing because Christie and Bush aren't racist enough for their tastes.

Booker and Paul Discuss Crime Sentencing Reform

Sen. Cory Booker and Sen. Rand Paul have an excellent discussion on MSNBC about the racial problems with the criminal justice system. The senators also talk about expunging criminal records for nonviolent drug offenses.

Booker and Paul both come out strongly against solitary confinement for minors. The ACLU has described solitary confinement as a human rights violation.

Solitary confinement of youth is itself a serious human rights violation and can constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment under international human rights law. In addition, the conditions that compound the harm of solitary confinement (such as lack of psychological care, physical exercise, family contact, and education) often constitute independent, concurrent, and serious human rights violations. Solitary confinement cannot be squared with the special status of adolescents under US constitutional law regarding crime and punishment. While not unusual, it turns the detention of young people in adult jails and prisons into an experience of unquestionable cruelty.

It is time for the United States to abolish the solitary confinement of young people. State and federal lawmakers, as well as other appropriate officials, should immediately embark on a review of the laws, policies, and practices that result in young people being held in solitary confinement, with the goal of definitively ending this practice. Rather than being banished to grow up locked down in isolation, incarcerated adolescents must be treated with humanity and dignity and guaranteed the ability to grow, to be rehabilitated, and to reenter society.

This is a rare interview when two lawmakers go on cable news to actually talk about policy.

Quote of the Day: Rand Paul Edition

"Mr. President, let's set up a new trade. Instead of 5 Taliban, let's trade 5 Democrats!"

Sen. Rand Paul, speaking at the Republican Party of Texas Convention.

I am not offended by this joke. Judging by the tone Paul was actually feeding red meat to the conservative masses. My question is if Paul became President would he actually round John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, in order to appease his supporters. Could Paul actually look into the eyes of the families of these Democrats and say, "I'm sorry but I have to give these Democrats to the Taliban. This is what the tea party wants me to do." If Paul becomes President his tea party supporters will expect him to trade prominent Democrats to the Taliban and abolish the Civil Rights Act. Paul can't keep making these promises without delivering.

Paul is either a political poser or more radical than Joseph McCarthy. Take your pick.

Quote of the Day: Karl Rove Edition

"Frankly, Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda for the future of the country."

Karl Rove, on Rand Paul's political strategy for the 2016 presidential election.

You know when I agree with Karl Rove that must mean Rand Paul's obsession with Bill Clinton's sex life is a political loser.

Rand Paul's Offensive Syria Remark

Republicans have been allowed to say racist shit for so long. Case in point is Senator Rand Paul on Meet the Press. Paul's reasoning for why the United States should not take military action on Syria is because Paul believes Bashar al-Assad is only killing Muslims.

“I don’t see American interests involved on either side of this Syrian war. I see [Bashar] Assad, who has protected Christians for a number of decades, and Islamic rebels on the other side who have been attacking Christians,” Paul said.

Paul comes from the Glenn Reynolds libertarian school of genocide against all Muslims. Fighting the entire Muslim population on the planet is impossible. The only way this makes sense is when people like Paul and Reynolds view national security through their racist beliefs. This other quote from MTP tips Paul's hand.

"I think the Islamic rebels winning is a bad ide for the Christians, and all of a sudden we'll have another Islamic state where Christians are persecuted," Paul said on NBC's "Meet the Press.

Paul has publicly voiced his opposition to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. Paul hired neo-Confederate Jack Hunter to write his biography. It is certainly fair to question Paul's bizarre racial views.

Quote of the Day

"I'm not easily dissuaded, so it's not something that makes me shrink away, it makes me come out even stronger to say that I don't think there's anyone in Congress who has a stronger belief in minority rights than I do."

Sen. Rand Paul, in an interview with Yahoo News.

Paul seems to be forgetting his opposition to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Fair Housing Act. Paul also hired neo-Confederate Jack Hunter to work in his Senate office and write his book "The Tea Party Goes to Washington." Hunter advocates white pride and supported the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Paul has a lot of balls to declare himself the strongest believer of minority rights in Congress.

Republican War on State Workers

The Florida legislature is taking the rare good first step of working on a bill that would raise the pay of state workers. The Florida House proposal would raise pay by $1,400.00-a-year.

Republicans have loved to bash state workers. The GOP narrative would have you believe that state workers are making Fortune 500 money off of government salaries. The truth is the best paid state workers are staffers for the governor and members of the legislature. By July of 2011, Gov. Rick Scott had laid off 1,295 state workers. Firing state workers increases unemployment, cost government more by having its services run less efficiently. Yet, Republicans like Senator Rand Paul argue to economist Paul Krugman that there are more government workers than ever.

PAUL: The thing I don't understand is that you're arguing that the government sector is struggling. Are you arguing that there are fewer government employees under Obama than there were under Bush?

KRUGMAN: Of course. That's a fact. That's a tremendous fact.

PAUL: No, the size of government is enormous under Obama.

KRUGMAN: If government employment had grown as fast under Obama as it did under Bush, we'd have a million and a half more people employed right now - directly.

PAUL: Are there less people employed or more people employed now by the government?

The fact that Paul doesn't know is what happens when Republicans live inside their talking points and make no effort to educate themselves on policy. Unfortunately, these brain dead policies by Republicans have hurt state workers in Florida and across America.

Quote of the Day

"Rand Paul gave a perfect display of the sick paranoia that drives Tea Party and NRA: Obama is coming to get them. With drones."

Lawrence O'Donnell, on Twitter.

I am not a Rand Paul supporter but Paul has every right to question the legality of the drone program. Congress is suppose to do oversight of the executive branch. O'Donnell is more interested in being the left-wing version of Sean Hannity than being a journalist. O'Donnell was never a journalist. He spent his career on Capital Hill and then working on the television show The West Wing. Unfortunately, mainly of O'Donnell's viewers believe he is a journalist.

Update: O'Donnell's rather harsh assessment of Paul's filibuster. O'Donnell called Paul's action a "stunt" for campaign fundraising.

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Paul's filibuster is not playing well with the neoconservatives in the Republican establishment. Hawk and drone supporter Lindsey Graham did make this astute observation about Republican senators suddenly loving due process.

“To my Republican colleagues, I don’t remember any of you coming down here suggesting that President Bush was going to kill anybody with a drone, do you?” Graham said. “They had a drone program back then, all of a sudden this drone program has gotten every Republican so spun up. What are we up to here?”

Holder Letter to Sen. Paul

White House Press Sec. Jay Carney read from a letter Attorney General Eric Holder sent to Sen. Rand Paul. Holder answered a question Paul asked during his filibuster. Does the President have the authority to kill U.S. citizens not engaged in combat operations against America.

Reading from the Holder letter to Paul, Carney said: "Does the president have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil? The answer is no. The answer to that question is no."

It is frustrating that it took so long for Holder to provide an answer. The good thing about the filibuster is that it put the administration on the record. The President has the power to use drones against a foreign invader or terrorist threat on U.S. soil. Whether or not that is a good idea is a discussion we need to have.

Write A Caption: Rand Paul Edition

Beats me why Rand Paul is dressed like this. The image doesn't look photoshopped but I could be mistaken.

Most Bizarre Headline of the Day

I don't know which headline is more disturbing.

First choice:

Ron Paul to Chair Monetary Policy Subcommittee

Second choice:

Denver Voters Reject Plan to Track Space Aliens

Does anyone else need proof that this has been a strange election?

Campaign Dollars Matter More Than Women to Rand Paul

Litbrit has a great post on the media's fair and balanced coverage of Rand Paul supporter Tim Profitt's assault on a Moveon.org protester Lauren Valle.

The kudzu-like proliferation of Both-Sides-ism that has all but choked off any hope of redemption, via committing real journalism (ha!), for just about every pundit, pretty face, and "reporter" these days is why I had to stop watching Morning Joe altogether. Joe Scar and Mica are, I believe, contractually obligated to say "...and we hear rhetoric like this on both sides" or "...this is a problem with both parties" or "extremists on the far right AND the far left", and so on, after any and every story in which wingnuts might conceivably look bad (which is to say, virtually all stories in which the powerful hurt the less-so, and you have to pity the poor Villagers because there's really no way to temper the sheer viciousness and lawlessness of these people other than to make vague allusions to George Soros and the incivility of lefty blogs while counting the hours until your next Georgetown cocktail party).

First: the two wrongs make a right argument is lame. No one on the Left or Right should use violence to suppress a person's right to free speech. Second: Valle was a peaceful protester. She was taken down by several men and Profitt slammed his foot into her head as she was on the pavement. I do not believe for a second that Valle posed a physical threat to these men. This was assault. Plain and simple.

Profitt wasn't just any Tea Partier. He was Paul's Bourbon County coordinator. Team Paul has kicked Profitt off the campaign because of the bad media buzz. Paul is still keeping his $1,950 campaign contribution. Previously, the Paul campaign told Fox News that they would return Profitt's contribution.



Money matters more than protecting women from assault. A true profile in courage from Rand Paul Paul.

Rand Paul Protesters Attack Woman

A news report of a Moveon.org member being attacked by Rand Paul supporters. The angry mentality of the Tea Party activists has gotten out of hand. A group of men attack a defenseless woman is the epitome of cowardliness.

Rand Paul Ducks Interview

Libertarian Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul is facing a shit storm over a GQ article that alleges that 27 years ago Paul tied up a fellow female college student, attempted to make her takes drugs and worship a god called "Aqua Buddha." The incident involved Paul and fellow NoZe fraternity brothers.

The strangest episode of Paul's time at Baylor occurred one afternoon in 1983 (although memories about all of these events are understandably a bit hazy, so the date might be slightly off), when he and a NoZe brother paid a visit to a female student who was one of Paul's teammates on the Baylor swim team. According to this woman, who requested anonymity because of her current job as a clinical psychologist, "He and Randy came to my house, they knocked on my door, and then they blindfolded me, tied me up, and put me in their car. They took me to their apartment and tried to force me to take bong hits. They'd been smoking pot." After the woman refused to smoke with them, Paul and his friend put her back in their car and drove to the countryside outside of Waco, where they stopped near a creek. "They told me their god was 'Aqua Buddha' and that I needed to bow down and worship him," the woman recalls. "They blindfolded me and made me bow down to 'Aqua Buddha' in the creek. I had to say, 'I worship you Aqua Buddha, I worship you.' At Baylor, there were people actively going around trying to save you and we had to go to chapel, so worshiping idols was a big no-no."

Paul came off as someone with something to hide by ducking an interview with a Fox News affiliate television station.

Question About the Tea Party

Jeb Bush will campaign for Rand Paul in Kentucky. Can any readers cite me one instance when a nationally-known Democrat was invited to speak at a Tea Party rally or on behave of a Tea Party candidate. The Tea Party activists claim they don't support a major party. Paul, Sharron Angle and Marco Rubio are Tea Party favorites registered to the Republican Party. I like to know if the Tea Party has backed any Democrats. If not then the Tea Party needs to shut the fuck up about being nonpartisan.

Quote of the Day

"I also think that we need to have the courts review whether or not -- if you break the law to come into the U.S. -- whether your child would be a citizen just by being born here. The Fourteenth Amendment actually says that you will be a citizen as long as you are under the jurisdiction of the United States. Many argue that these children that are born to illegal aliens are really still under the jurisdiction of the Mexican government. I think we need to fight that out in the courts."

Rand Paul

The 14th amendment can't be fought out in court. The amendment makes clear any person born in the United States is a citizen. The 14th amendment would have to be repealed by a vote of 2/3 of Congress and 2/3 of the states.

As long as Mexico is poor and has ongoing drug violence people will flee into the United States. Even if Paul got his wish of an underground electrical fence it would not stop Mexicans from illegally entering the country. We have spent billions to stop illegal immigration and drugs from coming over the Mexican border. People like Paul want to throw money away at laughable ideas. No one wants to examine why people are leaving Mexico.

Rand Paul to the Unemployed: Suck It Up

America is experiencing record unemployment. Senate candidate Rand Paul's message to the unemployed is stop bitching.

"As bad as it sounds, ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that's less than we had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to get started again," Paul said. "Nobody likes that, but it may be one of the tough love things that has to happen."

Tough love is what you use on a family member who has a gambling or drug addiction. Tough love is not what you use on people that can't find jobs. Florida is suffing from 11.7 percent unemployment. The state's unemployment rate has dropped in the last two months. However, University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith estimates 200,000 jobs could be lost because of the BP oil spill. I would like to ask where Paul believes these lost jobs could be regained. I like to see Paul put his economic tough love theory to the test.

Rand Paul Running From Media

Comic by Mike Luckovich

Rand Paul is the political equivalent of a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Paul is shellshocked from his dismal performance on Rachel Maddow's show. Paul is backing out of appearing on Meet the Press.

At the end of a rocky week, newly chosen Senate nominee Rand Paul (R-KY) has canceled a planned interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" citing exhaustion. It's only the third cancellation from a major guest in 62 years, the show's Executive Producer Betsy Fischer said in an interview this afternoon.

"It is a big deal when somebody cancels an appearance," she said.

Meet the Press host David Gregory is best known for refusing to fact-check guests and a weird penchant dancing on-air. Paul is scared if he can't do a softball interview with Gregory. Man, talk about a Tea Party candidate not ready for prime time.