Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) said that CPAC would be “kind of a difficult crowd” for “moderates” like Jeb Bush on Wednesday’s “Kelly File” on the Fox News Channel.

Asked about the competition he’ll face from Jeb Bush if he runs in 2016 and the attention Bush has received, Paul said “well, being related — when your brother had been president and your father president, that tends to draw some attention. But I think it will be, you know, it’s kind of a difficult crowd out here because it’s going to be the Conservative Political Action Committee. So, we think there will be a lot of friendly faces for us, and there’s definitely a place for moderates, but it may not be quite the same level of enthusiasm for moderates at this conference.”

He further criticized Bush by stating “I think if you talk to young people they’re not very tolerant of hypocrisy, and the fact that Jeb admits that when he was in an elite prep school where very wealthy kids went to school, that he smoked pot, but he’s still willing to put somebody in jail for medical marijuana in Florida, a 75-year-old guy using medical marijuana for multiple sclerosis, I frankly wouldn’t put them in jail. A lot of poor people go to jail for drug offenses, and when Jeb was a very wealthy kid at a very elite school, he used marijuana, but didn’t get caught, didn’t have to go to prison. I think it shows some hypocrisy that’s going to be difficult for young people to understand why we’d put a 65-year-old guy in jail for medical marijuana.”

Paul did say that while he didn’t know a whole lot about Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s (R) record, “I like what he did in Wisconsin with fighting to take away excessive power from the unions and give the power back to the workers, and I think there are many things he’s done well.”

With Republican rivals like Scott Walker and Jeb Bush off to a strong start in the 2016 presidential race, Rand Paul will seek his own breakout moment at an annual gathering where hopefuls go to burnish their conservative credentials.

Of all the potential candidates speaking at the meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Kentucky senator should feel most at home. He won the event's presidential straw poll the last two years, buoyed by support from young libertarian-leaning conservatives who plan to turn out in force again this year.

The 52-year-old Paul, famous for his non-interventionist approach to world affairs, could find himself at odds with a growing hawkishness among other Republican hopefuls mustering support with their calls for more aggressive action against Russia and Islamic State militants.

"He's got a challenge to overcome," said Al Cardenas, former chairman of the American Conservative Union which organizes the event known by its acronym, CPAC.

Due to speak on Friday, Paul can nonetheless count on a generational divide of sorts between the party's traditional foreign-policy hawks and younger activists who have come of age during 13 years of nonstop U.S. engagement in wars.

"We've grown up in war in Afghanistan and Iraq and we all have friends who have gone overseas and either have not come back or have come back mentally scarred. There's a toll that's been taken on young people in this war," said Jeff Frazee, executive director of Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian group that has had a heavy presence at recent CPAC gatherings.

The influence of libertarians can be seen this year on panels that will tackle criminal-justice reform and marijuana legalization, as well as more traditional topics such as abortion and President Barack Obama's signature healthcare act.

“The name ISIS is one that every American knows,” Swann said “The biggest threat to our national security since Al-Qaeda, right? They are a brutal, savage group known for public beheadings and mass executions. They are the face of the new war on terror.”

Swann pointed out that while the U.S. Military is currently conducting airstrikes in Syria, in a supposed attempt to take out ISIS targets, the White House and U.S. military leaders are discussing possible boots on the ground in Iraq. These talks are arising just three years after President Obama declared that the war in Iraq was over.

Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told USA Today that in order to defeat ISIS, he believes the United States is looking at “a 30-year-war.”

As the U.S. goes to war in an attempt to defeat yet another terrorist group, the biggest question is: Who exactly is ISIS and where did they come from?

Angela Keaton, the founder of Antiwar.com, said that ISIS is “entirely a creation of the United States’ behavior in Iraq.”

“That’s how we got to where we are, because of war, because of occupation, because of torture,” Keaton said. “The United States government completely destabilized and wrecked Iraq. They caused it to fail miserably and that is entirely the fault of the United States government. There is no one else to blame.”

Swann explained that when the U.S. first invaded Iraq, it “blew the country apart.” By destroying the existing government, toppling Saddam Hussein, and destroying the infrastructure, the U.S. “left behind a power vacuum” that would never have existed under Hussein.

Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute, said that the impact caused by the actions of the United States is a “historical fact that media just won’t discuss.”

Congressional Republicans are making a last-ditch effort to stop the District of Columbia from decriminalizing private recreational use of marijuana from going into effect Thursday, threatening the mayor and her staff with fines and jail time.

In a letter [PDF] sent late Tuesday to DC’s newly-inaugurated Democrat mayor, Muriel Bowser, Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Mark Meadows (R-NC) warned the District government that enacting Initiative 71 would be “contrary to law.” The two representatives, majority members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, also demanded the District turn over extensive documentation on any employees involved with the Initiative by March 10, with the implicit threat of fines and jail time for violating federal law.

DC officials and their backers in Congress have pointed out the December 2014 appropriations bill cited by Chaffetz and Meadows, cannot stop laws already enacted. The language in the final bill said the District could not “enact” any law to regulate or legalize marijuana, rather than “enact or carry out,” pointed the District’s Delegate in the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes-Norton.

In a statement on Tuesday, Norton argued that the DC bill could only be blocked by a Resolution of Disapproval passed within the 30-day review period – and no such resolution was passed.

“If the Republican Congress, which can’t decide how to keep open… the Department of Homeland Security, wants to pick a fight with the District over our local marijuana reform law,” Norton said in a statement, “a fight is what they will get.”

Vaughn committed what many in Hollywood will consider three “immortal sins” in a recent interview with Playboy magazine as reported by Breitbart.

Firstly, Vaughn admitted to being a fan of pro-liberty former Congressman Ron Paul and described his political views as Libertarian. Secondly, he came out as pro-Second Amendment. Thirdly, he committed what his commie Hollywood colleagues may believe is the unpardonable sin, he basically called affirmative action a form of racism.

“I’m a very big fan, yes,” Vaughn said about Ron Paul. “Ron Paul woke a lot of people up to the fact that government can’t handle everything for you,” he said when asked if he would support a Ron Paul presidential candidacy in 2016…

Hochman then asked the popular actor whether he owned a gun, to which Vaughn replied, “I believe in the right to defend yourself if need be. Hopefully, you’re never in that situation, but I think you’re fairly naive to believe there will never be a cause for self-defense. But again, I believe it’s up to the individual,” he contended.

When asked if he was a fan of affirmative action and racial quotas, Vaughn replied with a question. “Do you believe that using race as a factor in evaluating a person is a good way to operate?”

Bush family ties to terror suspects re-opened by 9/11 '28 pages'

As pressure builds to make public 28 pages of a joint congressional inquiry on 9/11 which was classified by President George W. Bush, the Bush family's well-documented relationships to Saudi and other foreign terror suspects are again coming to the fore.
North Carolina Republican Congressman Walter Jones told the New Yorker last September, of the what is now commonly known as the “28 Pages”:

“There’s nothing in it about national security...It’s about the Bush Administration and its relationship with the Saudis.”

Prominent in the rise of the political fortunes of both the 41st and 43rd presidents is the support of figures listed by the US government as terrorist financiers, as well as some connected to the now closed, Saudi-controlled criminal enterprise known as BCCI.

Of special interest to independent researchers is the failure of the nation's air defenses on 9/11, and the reliance of these defenses on the company formerly known as Ptech, which was founded with funding partly from Saudi financiers with ties to designated terrorist organizations. Ptech employed a mix of foreign nationals and Americans with ties to Israeli software companies with possible links to Israeli Mossad. Now renamed Go Agile, Ptech is a purveyor of software which is critical to the security of major software systems embedded throughout the FAA and the US Department of Defense....

This Is the National Revenge Porn Law We Need

The United States has been waiting too long for federal law banning revenge porn. The wait will be over soon. In the coming weeks, Congresswoman Jackie Speier will introduce a bill that would make revenge porn a federal crime—finally.

"Today it's possible to ruin someone's life with the click of a button, by publishing another person's private images without their consent," Rep. Speier told me. "Our laws haven't yet caught up with this crime."

The bill, set to be introduced this spring, would make revenge porn a federal crime. It's designed to create new criminal statutes that not only apply to the people who run revenge porn sites but also criminal liability to the individuals who upload and share the content, which is where things get controversial: Even sites that unwittingly host links to the content, like Facebook and Google, could face criminal penalties for enabling distribution. Those penalties will be determined on a sliding scale of sleaziness. While there will be no minimum penalty, for revenge porn bill will set a maximum penalty for revenge porn offenses that will include jail time.

The hurdles on Capitol Hill

Of course, Speier's revenge porn bill is not yet a law, and while it's hard to imagine who would condone the practice of publishing naked photos of someone out of spite—often with personally identifiable information about the victim—a law banning revenge porn stands to be controversial on Capitol Hill. Long story short, it could threaten existing laws designed to protect free speech.

The American Civil Liberties Union has already challenged Arizona's law criminalizing revenge porn for violating the First Amendment. But Speier's bill goes to great lengths to be very specific about what constitutes revenge porn. It puts it in a similar category as child pornography, a type of speech basically everyone can agree is destructive.


There's still a good chance the bill will pass. There are many signs that's there's a public demand to crack down on the vile practice.

Sixteen states have already passed their own legislation banning revenge porn. In December, a California court sent a man named Noe Iniguez to jail for year after he published naked photos of his ex-girlfriend on her employer's Facebook page; he was the first to be sentenced under California's new revenge porn law. Earlier this month, 28-year-old Kevin Bollaert became the first person in the country convicted under state law for running a revenge porn website. (The sicko also ran another website that charged victims $350 to have the nude photos removed.)

Overseas, the UK just passed a law making revenge porn a crime punishable by up to two years in prison. This happened around the time that Japanese authorities arrested the first man suspected of violating the anti-revenge porn law passed last November. Meanwhile, the European Union's "right to be forgotten" law could lead to a ban on the entire continent.

Even the Federal Trade Commission has effectively banned revenge porn websites. With such precedent, it's almost surprising Congress hasn't acted sooner. But things aren't so simple on the federal level.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), a contender for the 2016 GOP nomination, flexed his potential presidential campaign muscles during a trip here this weekend—showing off his pull with grassroots voters and his ability to win over donors.

After arriving late Friday night after a speech in Montgomery, Alabama—Paul was the keynote before the Alabama GOP’s annual winter dinner—Paul on Saturday morning kicked off his day by holding a roundtable discussion with local doctors about healthcare policy.
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Jan Glassman, another grassroots activist who sits on the executive committee of the Collier County Republican Party—and splits her time between Florida and New Hampshire, another early primary state—spoke highly of Paul as well and noted similar things about the GOP influence Collier County has in the general election in the all-important state of Florida.

“Number one, I think candidates come here to raise money,” Glassman told Breitbart News. “But number two, Collier County turns out the greatest percentage of Republican votes in the state—a very, very Republican county. It can make all the difference. George Bush won by 537 votes I think it was? Something like that—very, very small.”

Glassman spoke highly of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Paul. About Paul, she noted she met him when he endorsed former Sen. Scott Brown’s campaign against Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) at the University of New Hampshire last cycle.

“I saw him at UNH last summer,” Glassman said. “He’s a great guy. He resonates. His dad always resonated with young people.”

Paul showed off his fundraising appeal later in the day, attending a finance meeting with several high-level donors from the area but the most interesting thing is he seems to be able to walk in both worlds: Appeal to the donors, and appeal to the grassroots.

Rand Paul is the U.S. Senator from Kentucky who is favored by many to win the 2016 Republican nomination for president. He appeals to a broad range of constituents from the Tea Party to Evangelical Christians, African Americans, Gays, Independents and Democrats concerned about Civil Liberties. He has picked up the Civil Rights torch and now leads the most active effort to reform social justice. His father, Ron Paul, was a U.S. Congressman from Texas, who ran for president three times.

Here’s how they differ.

The father, congressman, Ron Paul, is a classic Libertarian. The son, Senator, Rand Paul, is a practical Libertarian.

The father believes in the personal freedom of the individual. The son recognizes that there are times when the needs of the wider community must be considered. For example, the father would allow local communities to decide for themselves about legalizing marijuana. The son agrees but openly favors laws against marijuana – for the greater good.

In foreign policy there is a big difference. Both men believe that the nation should not go to war without congressional approval. They both believe it is a mistake for Congress to forfeit war making powers to the president alone. Both men believe that the United States should not assume the role of policeman of the world. But the difference is in degrees. And it is huge. The father, Ron Paul, would prefer that America stay out of everybody else’s business. For example, he does not see Iran as a threat to American security. In an ideal world, Senator Rand Paul would agree but in a world of terrorism and nuclear weapons he sees genuine danger.
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The best example of a Rand Paul foreign policy would be that of former President Ronald Reagan. For Reagan, the security of the United States was the paramount concern and thus his focus was on the Soviet Union and the threat it posed. Reagan’s wars were always proxy wars against the Soviets. For example, Reagan did not go after Cambodian leader, Pol Pot, the man who killed half of his own people in a nationwide genocide. Reagan did not go after Idi Amin, who had slaughtered hundreds of thousands in Africa and had just been driven from office when Reagan arrived in the White House. Both of these despotic leaders, left untouched by Reagan, were far more evil than Saddam Hussein.

When Reagan stuck his toe in the Middle East in 1982 and it resulted in the death of 241 marines, he withdrew our forces. He decided that it was not in America’s security interest to be involved in the intractable problems of the Middle East. How wise that seems in retrospect.

Likewise, Senator Rand Paul has refused to support the endless calls for international adventures from his colleagues in the Senate. And yet, when the ISIS threat emerged Paul had razor sharp focus. He was the first public figure to call for a declaration of war. He saw ISIS as a threat to America’s national security.
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Finally, there is style. The father was a great provocateur and a born teacher. The son is a superb politician, a natural pleaser.
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NAPLES, Florida — Before Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke to a banquet of libertarian and conservative activists hosted by the Cato Institute here on Saturday evening, Cato’s president John Allison introduced Paul as: “The next President of the United States of America.”

“We want government so small in Washington, we barely see it,” Paul said in his speech to the group, a speech for which Breitbart News was the only media outlet allowed inside. “Instead it’s the opposite. I tell people that it’s sort of like going into AA. I’m Rand Paul, and I’m from flyover America. The thing is we are so much different—thinking is so much different—outside the Beltway than inside the city.”

Paul went through several of his major stump speech elements. How he wanted to cut $500 billion from the government’s spending when he first got to Washington, but was laughed at inside and outside the Beltway. Inside, he was mocked for wanting to cut so much—while outside the beltway, he was rapped for wanting to cut too little. Paul laid out how he wants to close the Department of Commerce and the Department of Education, and took a minor shot at former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for the campaign gaffe that wiped out his 2012 presidential campaign.

“I was tired of the liberal media saying well all you conservatives you say for you’re for balancing the budget but you never tell us where you’ll cut, so I gave them a list of $500 billion I would cut including four or five Departments—I won’t try to name them because it never goes over well if you can’t remember the name of them,” Paul said. Perry famously forgot during a debate where he’d cut. “Some of them, if we were to eliminate them, people would never know the difference. The danger is if we close the Department of Commerce that people wake up and say, ‘Oh when did they close the Department of Commerce?’”

An early look at likely Iowa Republican Caucus participants shows a strong conservative tilt as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads the pack with 25 percent, twice as high as his nearest rival, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Voters who identify as "very conservative" make up 45 percent of the caucus participants surveyed by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Tea Party supporters make up 32 percent of likely caucus-goers and Walker gets 33 percent of that Tea Party vote.

There is a horse race for second place, with 13 percent for U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, 11 percent each for Michigan physician Ben Carson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and 10 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. No other candidate is above 5 percent and 9 percent are undecided.

Walker gets 13 percent when caucus participants name their second choice, with 11 percent for Bush and 9 percent each for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Paul.

In a combination of first and second choices, Walker tops the list with 37 percent, with 21 percent for Paul, 20 percent for Bush, 19 percent for Carson and 18 percent for Huckabee.

NBC News political director and host of "Meet the Press" Chuck Todd says Kentucky U.S. Senator Rand Paul will be a formidable candidate for president should he decide to seek the Republican nomination next year.

Todd spoke Tuesday on the campus of Murray State University before he delivered the school's 2015 presidential lecture. He said he thinks Paul could overcome a deep divide with his own party over issues like foreign policy and prognosticators should underrate Paul’s chances "at their own peril."

“The insider world of the Republican party kind of writes him off,” Todd said. “They know he’s a powerful force, but they don’t think he can win the nomination. And yet I look at our polling and with independent voters, he does better than any other Republican. With young voters, he does better than any other Republican. So, this is a case where this is why we have campaigns.”

Todd said Paul is a “tier 1” prospective candidate alongside former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Paul is expected to announce his intentions for 2016 in the next six weeks.

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It won't help if the mainstream press is intent on publishing articles linking bitcoin to drugs, gambling, pornography and hackers. 

Who is LambChop?

The topic of money itself is too complicated for the average person, yet people still use it. Bitcoin is no different.

It is not a big deal because people do not need to understand how Bitcoin works in order to use it.

If you want to understand why the government freaked out when a $400 remote-controlled quadcopter landed on the White House grounds last week, you need to look four miles away, to a small briefing room in Arlington, Virginia. There, just 10 days earlier, officials from the US military, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FAA gathered for a DHS “summit” on a danger that had been consuming them privately for years: the potential use of hobbyist drones as weapons of terror or assassination.

The conference was open to civilians, but explicitly closed to the press. One attendee described it as an eye-opener. The officials played videos of low-cost drones firing semi-automatic weapons, revealed that Syrian rebels are importing consumer-grade drones to launch attacks, and flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won.) But the most striking visual aid was on an exhibit table outside the auditorium, where a buffet of low-cost drones had been converted into simulated flying bombs. One quadcopter, strapped to 3 pounds of inert explosive, was a DJI Phantom 2, a newer version of the very drone that would land at the White House the next week.

Attendee Daniel Herbert snapped a photo and posted it to his website along with detailed notes from the conference. The day after the White House incident, he says, DHS phoned him and politely asked him to remove the entire post. He complied. “I’m not going to be the one to challenge Homeland Security and cause more contention,” says Herbert, who runs a small drone shop in Delaware called Skygear Solutions.

The White House drone, of course, wasn’t packing an explosive and wasn’t piloted by a terrorist—just a Washingtonian who lost control of the device while playing around in the wee hours. But the gentle censorship directed at Herbert illustrates how serious the issue is to counterterrorism officials.

A Drone Maker Takes Decisive Action
The Phantom line of consumer drones made by China-based DJI figures prominently in the government’s attack scenarios. That’s not because there’s anything sinister about DJI or the Phantom—in fact, just the opposite. The Phantom is the iPod of drones, cheap, easy to use, and as popular with casual and first-time fliers as with experienced radio control enthusiasts.