Rand Paul more favorable than Rubio/Walker/Bush among independents in NC

Paul 35% favorable
Rubio 31% favorable
Walker 30% favorable
Bush 20% favorable

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Release_NC_60415.pdf

Paul is also tied for 2nd in NC:

Bush 19%
Rand, Walker and Rubio 12%
Cruz 11%
Huckabee 10%
Carson 9%
Christie 8%
Fiorina 2%


Head to Head in NC Rand ties Clinton at 44% only other Republican to tie Clinton is Walker at 45%

Rubio 44-45 = -1
Huckabee 44-46 = -2
Carson 44-46 = -2
Christie 40-43 = -3
Fiorina 40-46 = -6
Cruz 42-49 = -7
Bush 40-47 = -7

Rand Paul Demands White House Release Trade Deal Text Immediately

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Saturday it “boggles the mind” that the White House has not yet released the text of trade deal it’s pushing, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

“It kind of boggles the mind,” Paul said in an interview with Breitbart News. “Who’s in charge of the administration that decides to keep a trade treaty secret? To keep it classified makes no sense at all.”

Paul said the administration should immediately release the text of the trade deal so members of the Senate can decide how to vote later on.

The Senate recently voted to fast-track the trade deal, which would allow an up-or-down vote on it. House GOP leaders could hold the fast-track vote as early as next week despite opposition from groups in both parties.

“To me, it’s kind of you put the cart before the horse to give the permission to do something you haven’t seen,” Paul said. “They claim you’ll get to see it, again but you’ll only get an up-or-down vote with no amendments. Also, they get rid of some of the rules on — I guess it’s not, you can’t filibuster it either. It passes with a simple majority.”

More...http://thehill.com/policy/finance/244220-rand-paul-demands-white-house-release-trade-deal-text-immediately

[Video] Rand Paul speaks at press conference for declassifying 28 pages of 9/11 report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ozSLcVT8nM

Rand opens the press conference and also takes a few questions at 29:00 and 36:00. Walter Jones speaks at 6:00 and Thomas Massie at 13:25.

--------------

Y'all gotta see this, it's pretty powerful especially if you have a thing for the conspiracy theory world as it brings to life the rationality of the whole thing as Rand wouldn't bring it up in a presidential season if it was going to make crack pottery out of him. Lot's of talk about the Saudis and their potential involvement in this.

Totally, even though it's a hit piece, it's nice to see that Rand can showcase himself as the man of the people w/ most big money not wanting to support him - thus him not being for sale. I surmise that some of the lukewarm billionaires he's been cultivating will shell out cash as they see his performance and poll numbers continue to be hot. His latest filibuster over the Patriot Act and the surveillance portions are raising eye brows in a large way.

I like that they're doing this to market bitcoins to everyday people. There's not exactly much marketing going on in recent times and thus no interest has been building outside of the companies looking to make use of the blockchain itself.

Sorry for his loss but this the chance you take going the anonymous route and especially off of craigslist. I doubt this assailant will have another chance to pull this off anytime soon.

It would be a shameful tragedy if Xapo went down due to alleged misconduct by C as they're the biggest holder of bitcoin in the world, or so I've heard. I had no idea that life lock was getting into the crypto leagues.

Perhaps I misspoke a little. Firstly, I'm of the opinion that some interesting price actions are on the horizon w/ bitcoin sometime towards the end of summer/start of fall and I think litecoin is about to do something big to correspond to that. I'm merely holding a portion of my stash in litecoin to convert them back to bitcoin once the move does its thing. We'll see if I'm wrong but clearly something has been going on w/ litecoin atm.

My opinion on litecoin is pretty bullish in the short term (next couple of months) and have my fair share of it but I'm gonna write off bitcoin anytime soon like the OP.

buy your 2500$ worth and enjoy the rest of the bargain. Just buy more and see what it get's you in this ballpark. buy buy buy at this point
1

Buy and hold for your life and never sell at this point. Years later will make you happy.

Did hired guns hold this person up or was it by official problemos? I'm thinking the latter. The formers need a good kick in the nuts and yes I said it.

MOSCOW — TWO years ago today, three journalists and I worked nervously in a Hong Kong hotel room, waiting to see how the world would react to the revelation that the National Security Agency had been making records of nearly every phone call in the United States. In the days that followed, those journalists and others published documents revealing that democratic governments had been monitoring the private activities of ordinary citizens who had done nothing wrong.

Within days, the United States government responded by bringing charges against me under World War I-era espionage laws. The journalists were advised by lawyers that they risked arrest or subpoena if they returned to the United States. Politicians raced to condemn our efforts as un-American, even treasonous.

Privately, there were moments when I worried that we might have put our privileged lives at risk for nothing — that the public would react with indifference, or practiced cynicism, to the revelations.

Never have I been so grateful to have been so wrong.

Two years on, the difference is profound. In a single month, the N.S.A.’s invasive call-tracking program was declared unlawful by the courts and disowned by Congress. After a White House-appointed oversight board investigation found that this program had not stopped a single terrorist attack, even the president who once defended its propriety and criticized its disclosure has now ordered it terminated.

This is the power of an informed public.

Ending the mass surveillance of private phone calls under the Patriot Act is a historic victory for the rights of every citizen, but it is only the latest product of a change in global awareness. Since 2013, institutions across Europe have ruled similar laws and operations illegal and imposed new restrictions on future activities. The United Nations declared mass surveillance an unambiguous violation of human rights. In Latin America, the efforts of citizens in Brazil led to the Marco Civil, an Internet Bill of Rights. Recognizing the critical role of informed citizens in correcting the excesses of government, the Council of Europe called for new laws to protect whistle-blowers.

Beyond the frontiers of law, progress has come even more quickly. Technologists have worked tirelessly to re-engineer the security of the devices that surround us, along with the language of the Internet itself. Secret flaws in critical infrastructure that had been exploited by governments to facilitate mass surveillance have been detected and corrected. Basic technical safeguards such as encryption — once considered esoteric and unnecessary — are now enabled by default in the products of pioneering companies like Apple, ensuring that even if your phone is stolen, your private life remains private. Such structural technological changes can ensure access to basic privacies beyond borders, insulating ordinary citizens from the arbitrary passage of anti-privacy laws, such as those now descending upon Russia.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/opinion/edward-snowden-the-world-says-no-to-surveillance.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=1

Scientists May Have Lied To Promote EPA’s Global Warming Agenda

Scientists may have lied about the EPA’s involvement in a recent study put out earlier this year claiming Obama administration regulations on carbon dioxide emissions will save thousands of lives every year.

Emails obtained by the blog JunkScience.com’s Steve Milloy show Harvard University and Syracuse University researchers involved in the study consulted with the EPA while conducting their study, contradicting their previous statements the study was done independently of the agency.

“Emails obtained from EPA through the Freedom of Information Act show that Harvard University, Syracuse University and two researchers falsely claimed a study supporting EPA’s upcoming global warming rules was conducted ‘independent’ of the agency,” Milloy wrote.

In May, scientists released a study finding the EPA’s so-called “Clean Power Plan” — which aims to reduce CO2 emissions 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 — would prevent 3,500 premature deaths every year because cutting CO2 emissions will also lower traditional air pollutants and allegedly save lives.

...

EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia told The Washington Post the study showed the Clean Power Plan “is on the right track.” She said the “benefits are in addition to the benefits that will be realized by addressing a changing climate.”

The study claimed to be done independently of EPA influence, and researchers declared there was no conflict of interest in their study. Harvard University and media reports stressed the study as “independent.”

...

Milloy, however, uncovered emails showing the study’s authors were in fact communicating with the EPA during the course of their study, setting up meetings to learn about the Clean Power Plan and meeting with key agency staffers to go over data.

On July 8, 2014 Harvard-Syracuse study author Kathy Lambert sent an email to EPA staffers Bryan Hubbell and Linda Chappell, the agency’s contact person for the Clean Power Plan’s cost-benefit analysis. Also copied on the email were Driscoll and Buonocore.

In the email, Lamberth works with EPA officials to set up an a conference call with the research team to “discuss methods for our next set of analyses.” Lamberth also asks the EPA for “IPM results for illustrative cases of [the] proposed carbon standard.”

In a follow-up email, EPA’s Chappell responded, saying she would loop in Amanda Curry-Brown who was responsible for the regulatory impact analysis “for the CPP final rule.”

Another email from Harvard’s Driscoll to EPA staffer Ellen Kurlansky sent on July 15, 2014, talks about how the study had been well-received by other groups (they aren’t specified) and even asks for help fundraising for the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant.

Milloy also found that authors involved in the Harvard-Syracuse study received or were involved with $45 million in EPA research grants. Driscoll has received or been involved with $3,654,608 in EPA grants and Buonocore has gotten $9,588 in grants. One of the study’s co-authors Joel Schwartz has received or been involved in $31,176,575 in EPA grants.

“Now how could Schwartz’s $31,176,575 or Levy’s $9,514,361 or Driscoll’s $3,654,608 from EPA possibly be considered as a ‘competing financial interest’ in an article they wrote in support of EPA’s flagship regulatory effort?” Milloy asked in a blog post.


...

http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/05/scientists-may-have-lied-to-promote-epas-global-warming-agenda/#ixzz3cEshQVV2

Hillary Clinton calls for automatic, universal voter registration for everyone aged 18

As you may have heard, Hillary Clinton is already leaning into the ever-simmering battle over voting. Her Democratic allies are preparing to wage a national legal battle against GOP state-level voting restrictions, and she is calling for a national 20-day early voting period.

But now, Clinton is rolling out another proposal in her push for an expansion of voting access: In a speech in Texas that is underway right now, she is calling for universal, automatic voter registration.

Automatic voter registration for citizens has long been championed by voting reformers as a key part of modernizing our voting system. Clinton’s proposal would require the registration of all citizens in every state when they turn 18 years of age, unless they opt out. She is also endorsing the general goal of universal registration for those over 18, without endorsing a specific mechanism to accomplish this. According to the Brennan Center, there are various ways to add people to the voter rolls, such as when changes of address are filed. States can also implement required universal registration for people of all ages, as Oregon has done. Clinton cited Oregon as an example today.

Voting reform advocates favor universal, automatic registration as a way to streamline and simplify the registration process, to eliminate matching problems between state databases, reduce the possibility of voter registration fraud, and maximize voter participation.

In political terms, Clinton’s call for universal voting registration appears to be a bid to energize millennial voters. As it is, the broader voting access push — like her recent moves leftward on immigration, climate change, and sentencing reform — is partly about mobilizing core Obama coalition groups, including minorities. Today’s proposal is more heavily focused on the young. After all, one of the key unknowns of the cycle is whether Clinton will be able to turn out Obama voters on the same levels he did, and young voters — who were excited by the historical nature of Obama’s candidacy — are key to that.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/04/hillary-leans-hard-into-the-battle-over-voting/

Jeb Bush’s Super PAC Donors: Titans, Tycoons and Lobbyists

Former Gov. Jeb Bush has spent much of the year raising money for his Super PAC, called Right to Rise, without disclosing his donors.

He doesn’t have to — Bush’s Super PAC and traditional PAC are on a semi-annual reporting timeline, meaning they have until mid-July to file public campaign finance reports. Clues from a variety of sources, however, provide a preview of his donors, who include major leaders in technology, business and lobbying.

Agents for foreign governments fall under special transparency rules, meaning several have already had to disclose their donations in filings with the Justice Department. Ignacio Sanchez, a former trade official for President George W. Bush, is a lobbyist for Saudi Arabia. Sanchez gave $5,000 to Right to Rise on February 17, the same day that George Salem, another lobbyist retained by the Saudi government to influence American policy, gave the group $10,000. A day later, former Sen. Don Nickles, R-Ok., now a lobbyist for Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea, among other clients, gave $5,000 to Right to Rise.

Glenn Youngkin, managing director of the Carlyle Group, the investment firm that owns Booz Allen Hamilton, gave $10,000, according to a disclosure statement posted on the company’s website. Because Carlyle manages pension fund money, the company faces special campaign finance requirements.

Although Bush has not named the donors giving to his PACs, certain donors, including state-level PACs, are obligated to disclose on a different schedule. These disclosures show that Florida politicians have dipped into their own campaign funds to support Right to Rise. The Florida Conservative Leadership Fund, associated with state Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, gave $5,000 to Bush’s Super PAC in February. Among other Florida PACs, Growing Florida’s Future chipped in $25,000, Liberty Florida gave $5,000, and the Treasure Coast PAC gave $1,000.

Right to Rise donors also include longtime Republican moneymen in Florida like Mel Sembler, a real estate tycoon who fundraised for Jeb’s father and brother, and is also known for bankrolling anti-marijuana advocacy.
...
Filings from the Federal Election Commission already point to an aggressive attempt by Bush to share the wealth with influential Republican politicians, some of whom are likely being courted for campaign endorsements. FEC disclosures show that the Right to Rise PAC has given at least $5,000 each to PACs supporting Reps. David Young, R-Iowa, Frank Guinta, R-N.H., Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y, , John Katko, R-N.Y., Martha McSally, R-Ariz., Barbara Comstock, R-Va., Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., Crescent Hardy, R-Nev., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho. In February, Politico reported that Right to Rise also gave $120,000 to various GOP state committees, including state party funds for early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and Florida.

When the full data is released in July, some expect the entire haul to rise to as much as $100 million. But Bush, who will reportedly announce his candidacy on June 15, also maintains a 501(c)(4) campaign entity also known as Right to Rise. This vehicle allows sensitive donors to give unlimited amounts to Bush’s campaign without ever being disclosed.
...

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/05/early-window-jeb-bushs-superpac-donors-saudi-lobbyists-carlyle-group-florida-republicans/

Rand Paul on Blocking the Patriot Act, GOP Hawks, and Edward Snowden (ReasonTV interview)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEZroWTlK5I

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has had a busy couple of months.

In April the junior senator from Kentucky announced that he was officially running for president. In May he released his new book, Taking a Stand, which argues that only a “new kind of Republican” can win a general election against Hillary Clinton, in part by embracing such cross-partisan issues as privacy, as he did most famously in a March 2013 filibuster about drone policy.

And as the clock struck down to June, Paul fulfilled a campaign vow – and pissed off a lot of Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and much of the 2016 presidential field – by blocking reauthorization of the Patriot Act.

Reason Magazine Editor-in-Chief Matt Welch sat down with Rand Paul in his Washington, D.C. campaign office Thursday to discuss his ongoing disputes with GOP hawks like Lindsey Graham, whether Edward Snowden should go to prison, and what will be the future of NSA surveillance.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2015/06/05/rand-paul-on-blocking-the-patriot-act-go

Rand Paul TIME op-ed: Don’t Trust a Lying Government

The USA Freedom Act, which the Senate approved Tuesday, still threatens the constitutional rights of Americans

This week President Barack Obama suffered a serious rebuke. Congress sent the president a bill that he signed that tells him his illegal bulk collection of phone records must end.

Apologists for collecting all the phone records of all Americans all of the time now belatedly say they are OK with ending the bulk collection program. They want you to know that your records are not really protected by the Fourth Amendment. They are only doing you a favor by granting you this reform.

Former Director of the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency Michael Hayden writes in TIME that the law is clear. According to Hayden, your records—once held by the phone company—have no Fourth Amendment protection. Hayden writes: “The controlling legal authority here is a Supreme Court case decided in 1979, Smith v. Maryland, where the court held that metadata is not, repeat not, constitutionally protected.”

I think the Supreme Court has not yet caught up to an era in which one keeps one’s papers in a cloud, not a castle.

...

http://time.com/3906955/sen-rand-paul-lying-government/

Fox News Poll - Rand in 4th with 9% (Ties 1st for 2nd choice)

1st and 2nd choice combined:

Paul - 20%
Bush - 20%
Walker - 19%
Rubio - 18%
Carson - 15%
Cruz - 13%
Huckabee - 13%
Christie - 9%
Perry - 7%
Trump - 6%
Santorum - 6%
Fiorina - 4%
Kasich - 4%
Pataki - 4%
Jindal - 3%
Graham - 3%

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2015/06/04/fox-news-polls-only-36-percent-think-obamas-policies-have-helped-economy-voters/

I guess when a concept is fairly ubiquitous and not shrouded in mystery or curiosity then the abuse or misuse of it is pretty low. That said, the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) doesn't work in America because there really is no discussion just scare tactics by a police officer teaching the class.