Free Republic

The headlines neatly tell the story. "Ron Paul’s Passive-Aggressive Campaign Against Rand Paul." Rand Paul Has a Daddy Issue." "Like Father, Like Son? Not Exactly." Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has endeavored so much to distinguish his "libertarian-ish" views from his father's "voluntarist" politics that any snark from the paterfamilias generates a story. He'll joke that he's still looking at who to endorse; it will be reported like Saturn devouring his offspring. There will be no snark this weekend. As Rand Paul heads out of the country for a medical mission to Haiti, Ron Paul will make a print and e-mail...

Three former staffers for the 2012 presidential campaign of then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) -- including one who currently heads the super PAC of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Paul's son -- were indicted on Wednesday. The three allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to conceal payments made to an Iowa state senator in exchange for his support of the elder Paul's campaign, according to prosecutors. The three former staffers -- Jesse Benton, John Tate and Dimitrios Kesari -- have been charged with "conspiracy, causing false records to obstruct a contemplated investigation, causing the submission of false campaign expenditure reports to the...

During my time in Congress, I regularly introduced legislation forbidding organizations that perform abortions from receiving federal funding. The U.S. Government should not force taxpayers to subsidize an activity they believe is murder. Thus, while I was horrified by the recently released videos showing Planned Parenthood officials casually discussing selling the organs of aborted babies, I am glad that the reaction to these videos has renewed efforts to end federal funding of abortion. My experience in Congress does not leave me optimistic that federal funding of Planned Parenthood will be ended this year, however. This is not just because the...

In his pursuit of the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Rand Paul has made sure to put lots of distance between himself and his father—and Dad appears to be firing back.Ron Paul does not approve of his son Rand Paul’s position on the Iran deal, and he let him know Thursday evening in a speech that called him out—though not by name. “Right now one of the big issues, you know, in the news, probably on foreign policy, is whether or not the Obama administration should talk to the Iranians,” the elder Paul told the crowd at the Young Americans for...

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) is attributing GOP rival Donald Trump's rise in the polls to a momentary "loss of sanity." "I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity, but we're going to come back to our senses and look for someone serious to lead the country at some point," Paul said told CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on his show, when asked about a new national poll showing Trump still atop the crowded GOP field. Paul pointed to the extensive media coverage of the controversial candidate. "Television works, Wolf," said Paul. "If you would give some other candidates...

“The U.S. Empire received a big boost from the 9/11 attack.” Former Rep. Ron Paul, the father of presidential candidate Rand Paul and past two-time candidate for the Republican nomination himself, writes in his new book that he believes “Zionism has played a role in our post-9/11 march toward empire.” Paul’s book, Swords into Plowshares: A Life in Wartime and a Future of Peace and Prosperity, was released last Friday. “Zionism has played a role in our post-9/11 march toward empire, and its influence has encouraged extreme interference in the Middle East,” Paul writes in a chapter entitled “Making America...

Last week's successfully concluded Iran agreement is one of the two most important achievements of an otherwise pretty dismal Obama presidency. Along with the ongoing process of normalizing relations with Cuba, this move shows that diplomacy can produce peaceful, positive changes. It also shows that sometimes taking a principled position means facing down overwhelming opposition from all sides and not backing down. The president should be commended for both of these achievements. The agreement has reduced the chance of a U.S. attack on Iran, which is a great development. But the interventionists will not give up so easily. Already they...

Rand Paul’s father Ron does not appear to be among the over 100,000 donors so far to his son’s presidential campaign. According to the younger Paul’s recent Federal Election Commission filing, the elder Paul, a former Texas congressman who himself ran for president three times, has yet to donate to his son’s 2016 presidential campaign — at least not more than the $200 threshold where his donation would be required to report. Rand’s mother, Carol, does not appear to have donated her son’s campaign yet either. In contrast, the other Republican presidential contender with a storied political family, Jeb Bush,...

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura says he’s backing Sen. Bernie Sanders in his bid for president. In a blog post on his independent media site, Ventura praised Sanders for challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination. “I think what Bernie Sanders is doing is extremely healthy,” Ventura wrote. “I love the idea of somebody throwing a fly in the ointment.” This isn’t the first time Ventura backed a presidential candidate looking to shake up the system. In 2008 and 2012, Ventura backed Republican Ron Paul for president. In 2004, Ventura backed Democrat John Kerry against Republican President George W. Bush....

Former Republican Rep. Ron Paul on Wednesday blasted GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump as a “dangerous” authoritarian on a power trip who won’t value civil liberties the way a U.S. president should. “I think he’s is a dangerous person,” saidMr. Paul, whose son, Sen. Rand Paul is running against Mr. Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. “And a lot of people find him sort of funny, and love him, even Libertarian types,” Mr. Paul, who is now a registered Libertarian, lamented on Fox News Radio. “They like him because he’s so disruptive to the party system, and I enjoy that...

President Obama has two routes for getting the Iran nuclear deal approved by Congress. The more difficult path involves attempting to woo Republicans, though they've already vowed to kill the deal. Or Obama could just shore up support among Democrats so when he vetoes the GOP's "resolution of disapproval" Congress won't have the votes to override him. Supposedly the White House has not settled on which path it will pursue, but Obama's decision to invoke the name of the GOP's favorite human in explaining his rationale for the deal suggests he isn't all that concerned about angering them further.

The Iranian nuclear deal is a big step toward world peace, and Republicans would be praising it if one of their own had negotiated it, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul told Newsmax TV's "The Hard Line."Paul told host Ed Berliner that the deal echoed Ronald Reagan's deal with the Soviets in the 1980s. Paul's biggest problem with the deal was that the United States had to work under the confines of the United Nations and NATO. "There's something to be said about moving in the direction of at least talking to people instead of saying, 'All right, you're scoundrels, we'll...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Anna Núñez, ACLU of Texas, 713-942-8146, Ext. 110, media@aclutx.org [1] HOUSTON – In separate written requests submitted today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas demanded two Texas police departments provide a full accounting of recent incidents involving excessive use of force in the City of McKinney and mass arrests in the City of Waco. Though unrelated, the events share a common problem: police abuse and lack of transparency and accountability. “In order to maintain the trust of the communities they serve, law enforcement agencies must embrace transparency in their operations, especially when questionable incidents...

It's past time the government stop treating the tax code as a tool for social engineering.It’s happening. Less than a week after the Supreme Court ruled that gays have the right to marry, the argument in favor of polygamy as the "next advance"(in the words of Fredrick DeBoer at Politico) in marriage equality is beginning to be deployed. He writes: Now that we've defined that love and devotion and family isn't driven by gender alone, why should it be limited to just two individuals? The most natural advance next for marriage lies in legalized polygamy—yet many of the same people...

RED OAK, Iowa — Sen. Ted Cruz wound his way through the small towns and rolling hills of western Iowa last week, doing the gruntwork of retail campaigning: shaking hands, posing for photos, giving stump speechesand, most importantly: making entreaties for support in a state that could determine the trajectory of his presidential campaign. “Whether we win or lose, this race will be decided by the men and women gathered here,” he said last Friday to a group of mostly older people sitting on folding chairs in a conference room. Iowa’s first-in-the nation caucuses are often a high-stakes event for...

One month ago yesterday, on the early afternoon of May 17, in and outside the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, a bevy of marauding motorcycle gangs who had gathered to create some sort of criminal trouble (the cops had already warned the restaurant to not let them meet there) began a wild melee of shooting at each other and at police. Nine people would eventually lose their lives, and 18 others were wounded. Waco police (including a SWAT team) and officers from the state Department of Public Safety–who were all already on the scene, aware of the potential for...

The resignation on Tuesday of McKinney, Texas policeman Eric Casebolt after the widespread viewing of a video showing Casebolt drawing his gun and brutalizing a teenager outside a pool party may not be enough to bring justice, suggests Judge Andrew Napolitano. Napolitano, in a Fox Business interview, argues that it would be proper to prosecute Casebolt. Reviewing the video footage, Napolitano explains to host Stuart Varney that Casebolt, who Napolitano calls a “hothead,” appears to have committed an illegal assault: Varney: The police officer could be guilty of a crime? Napolitano: Oh sure, it’s an assault for him to pull...

Circumstances surrounding the deadly Waco biker rally remain unclear, and local police are shielding details of the incident from the public. “This just builds up more suspicion on our government,” Ron Paul said during his latest Liberty Report. The three-time presidential candidate and former Texas Representative Paul raised concerns about the ever-growing number of questions about the biker rally shooting, including why the Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved, what evidence the Waco Police Department gathered from the incident, how the shooting got started, the number of weapons on the scene, and who shot whom. Nearly 1,000 bikers rallied in...

Tea Party hero's roadmap to the presidency borrows from the failed presidential runs of Ron Paul and Rudy Giuliani.It’s sometimes easy to forget that Ted Cruz is running for president. While other 2016 Republican candidates are out giving big speeches and attaching themselves to causes and making trips to Europe, Cruz has stayed relatively quiet, which is strange given that his animating purpose up to this point has been to loudly remind you that Ted Cruz exists. The biggest headlines Cruz has earned for himself lately were for a dumb joke he told about Joe Biden just after the vice...

At Powerline this week, Steve Hayward penned a post aptly entitled “The Insincerity of Rand Paul.” The senator’s legal arguments against the Patriot Act, he posits, mimic papa Ron Paul’s 2003 calls for a formal declaration of war against Iraq: mere “constitutional punctilio to cover his real feelings.” Steve is right. Congress statutorily authorized the use of military force in Iraq. Nothing more was constitutionally required. The real reason for Representative Ron Paul’s formalistic nattering about a declaration of war was his opposition to American intervention in Iraq. That, in turn, was driven by his theory that it was American...