The difference here is there is no comparison between Obama and Paul. There's two diametrically opposed ideologies where one is to fundamentally change America and this is what we've come to see in terms of the expansion and powers of government and the other is a true to form libertarian populist mentality of paring back govt to reasonable levels at minimum. I agree that most republicans haven't been trustworthy in terms of being true fiscal conservatives but that's the difference between run of the mill republicans and those of the libertarian brand which we've come to see more of in different parts of the country and Reps like Amash and Massie. Over and above the fact that Rand is a Paul, his voting record pretty much speaks for itself in libertarian terms. I'm just trying to help him get the nomination and then let the people decide between their choices and then so be it. If he's the head of the party by being at the top of the ticket, all other republicans running will have to push for and defend the way Rand positions himself and the rest of the party, for that matter, on the issues. Note how Obama had his majority leader line up the votes to pass things he wanted when he had the chance. Anyways, I shot my own self in the foot for getting into Rand Paul in this thread when I already showcase him in my other thread.

This thread is reserved for candidates that are running (or might run) in the two major parties for the upcoming primaries on either side and I get to deem who fits here and who doesn't. Not trying to be a jerk but Rand Paul would be showcased in this thread if he didn't have the dynamics as a person that he has including his voting record and the issues he champions, all or most of which are pro-liberty.

I've never understood the opposition to a global government. It always seems to come from conspiracy theorists that lack critical thinking skills. What are we suppose to do? Never become united? Remain separate entities constantly vying and warring for territory and power? Does that really sound like the intelligent thing to do?

cant believe that people actually live there.. amazing
i think i would move to another city/country asap if i was the one living there..

It used to be but bringing one's family here and only being able to get a job (if you're lucky) at or just above the minimum wage range will keep you living in poverty and amongst drug infested communities. If you come here to hop on to government services then shame on you cause we're the most broke country in the history of the world and it can't last forever.

Call ME old fashioned, but I consider a marriage certificate (or its equivalent) an eternal consent form. (At least until death or divorce do you part.)

Hmm....

Are you implying that this was not a LEGAL counter protest?  It doesn't matter what their signs say, actually I find them somewhat funny.

Your argument is full of exaggeration and innuendo, isn't it?

The Christian bigots
a group of bigots
picture of the crusaders

The simple fact is that CAIR, a known terrorist organization, organized an event at the Texas Capitol and they got called on it, in a counter protest.  The signs are actually kind of funny-

radical islam is the new nazi
us border -you are entering a sharia free zone
go home and take obama with you

Nobody was arrested, so I'm not seeing any significant interference existed.  

Unless you are also going to suggest the Capitol police were in on the conspiracy?

The simple fact is that CAIR, a commonly alleged terrorist organization by conservative and christian groups, organized an event at the Texas Capitol, which sparked a counter protest by christian and conservative activists.

Under a Paul admin, he'd be much more reserved in how the troops would be committed overseas and would actually have Congress declare war and make the people be united behind it rather than just the military industrial complex interests.

Domestically, he would slash govt spending across the board for starters, assuming his party still controlled both chambers of Congress. One of his other big things are economic freedom zones which would jumpstart local economies, provide lasting jobs that are worthwhile and the showcase this success and drive a stake in the heart of big govt/progressivism for the next hundred years. There's plenty that will go in a better direction with him at the helm. W/o him, you can bet your bottom dollar that the US will continue to break down in every category that matters and its imprint on the world won't change.

The major obstacle is china is not a democracy country.

Thats because in the UK, the police are unarmed. If they step out of line they get beaten back into line. In the US, some one could be laying face down on the ground handcuffed and get shot in the back for "resisting".

IDK... maybe there should be something saying that a proportional tax goes back to the state as for what the state provided to allow the business to operate.  I don't think some kids shoveling snow should get hassled by the man for a side business before they've even come of age.

They want to subjugate women and force everyone to live by a strict religious code.  Humanity would be degraded if they ruled the world.

Any group of Muslims is welcome to come to the Texas Capitol and do whatever they want, and if they start by emphasizing sincerely that they do not support violence, I am certain that even groups that came there to protest would be very impressed.

Republicans need to learn that Muslim and American are not mutually exclusive

In many parts of the United States, if you want to win an election, you need talking points full of misinformation and bigotry towards Muslims to scare the wits out of non-Muslim Americans in to voting for you (and others to fund your campaign). Events in the Middle East simply provide more fuel to an already-raging fire, and convince officials elected to serve all of their constituents that their inappropriate and bigoted comments will not only go unchallenged but will be applauded.

Take, for example, Texas state Representative Molly White’s idea of southern hospitality: as American Muslim Texans descended on Austin for an Annual Capitol Day to celebrate their civic right to free expression, the freshman Republican posted on Facebook:

Most member including myself are back in district. I did leave an Israeli flag on my desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representative form the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws.

A McCarthy-esque welcome to her Muslim constituents by a right-wing politician is disgusting – but White’s not the only Republican to try to convince the general public that American Muslims are not patriotic, do not integrate into society at large and have no idea how to engage the civic process. She’s just the one most lacking in irony, given that she did so while the Muslim Texans she apparently dislikes were engaging in the civic process.

Texas is home to large pockets of American Muslims, many of whom have lived there for decades. And White earned a rebuke from the speaker of the Texas house, who responded to complaints about her actions by saying that “Legislators have a responsibility to treat all visitors just as we expect to be treated – with dignity and respect.”

Still, White this week joined some more famous Republicans in the “Super Bowl of Bigotry”, all vying for the Vince Lombardi Trophy of the Biggest Islamophobe.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal already warned of an extremist Muslim “invasion” and double-downed on the ludicrous and unfounded claims made on Fox News of “no-go zones” where Muslim citizens have supposedly banned Christians from entering. It doesn’t stop there. Potential GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says President Obama gives “special rights” to Muslims while “stomping all over Christians”.

American Muslims are not asking for special treatment or “special rights”– unless by “special rights” he means unwarranted surveillance, secondary screenings at airports and pre-trial solitary confinement. If so, then on behalf of American Muslims: please revoke those rights. We’re happy to let them go.

Bigotry against American Muslims from inside the Republican party is not a new phenomenon. Beginning in 2010, Islam became a major wedge issue in partisan politics, fueled by Congress members like Allen West, Louie Gohmert, Joe Walsh, Michelle Bachmann (dubbed the “Islamophobia Caucus”) and supported by former House speaker and one-time presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. Politicians across the country have made their careers and gotten campaign donations – and gotten their otherwise unknown mugs on Fox News – by vilifying and spewing hate against Muslims. Although their views once represented a lunatic fringe of their party, Republicans learned to tolerate a certain level of hate from within their ranks rather than marginalizing these politicians’ voices. And now, like cockroaches, they’ve spread out and spawned more.

This vitriolic rhetoric cannot be left unchecked because the sentiments displayed informs policies that directly impact American Muslims (as well as other faith communities). Anti-sharia legislation has been introduced in 32 states, and these unconstitutional laws, which prohibit the free expression of religion, have actually passed in multiple states – including North Carolina, Alabama and Arizona.

Meanwhile, American Muslims continue to build civic and electoral power. From serving on state party committees in California to founding the first-ever Muslim Democratic Club in New York City (dedicated to electing Muslims on all levels of government across the nation, which I co-founded and of which I am currently the president), American Muslims are an emerging political bloc. We are not waiting for validation from bigoted politicians or to pass tests of our allegiance from the likes of White – and we will respond to bigotry, regardless of party affiliation. As the 2016 elections quickly approach, we as voters expect real debates on issues impacting all Americans: the economy, education, healthcare and national security. It is our responsibility to keep elected officials and candidates accountable to all the people they serve; that is how we pledge our allegiance.

Texas rally by Muslims seeking tolerance disrupted by protesters



A rally at the Texas Capitol on Thursday by Muslims seeking religious tolerance was repeatedly disrupted by a small group of protesters who said the state belonged to followers of Jesus Christ and that Muslims should go back to the Middle East.

During opening remarks at the Texas Muslim Capitol Day event, a Christian activist from Michigan grabbed the microphone from the speaker and said: "I proclaim the name of the Lord Jesus Christ over the capitol of Texas. I stand against Islam."

A group of people who described themselves as Christian activists also heckled the group of about 600 who showed up for the rally. The protesters shouted as the Muslim group sang the national anthem and then tried to interrupt speakers calling for religious tolerance.

Some of the protesters shouted: "Go home. You ain't going to be happy here."

There are about half a million Muslims in Texas, according to some estimates, with many being in the state for several generations.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said no arrests were made at the event.

"As soon as I got to the lectern, that woman came and grabbed the microphone out of my hands. It made us feel a little unsafe," said Ruth Nasrullah, a spokeswoman for the Houston branch of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, which helped arrange the event.

Some U.S. Islamic groups have reported stepped-up harassment since deadly attacks by Islamist gunmen at the offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris this month.

"This reinforces that rhetoric and propaganda about Muslims is really gaining traction," Nasrullah said.

The Texas Legislature was not in session on Thursday, but one lawmaker, Republican state Representative Molly White, wrote on her Facebook page that she had instructed staff members how to manage any person who came into her office from the rally.

"Ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws. We will see how long they stay in my office," she wrote.

In neighboring Oklahoma, state Representative John Bennett, a Republican, spoke out in January against the Oklahoma chapter of a national Islamic organization, calling on leaders to condemn verses of the Quran.

In September and October, Bennett told media that Islam was a cancer that needed to be "cut out" of America.

"Pro-Big Government Candidates for US President 2016"

What else is new?

It doesn't matter who you vote for, the result is the same. The same way a pyramid has a left and right side, both of these apparently opposing sides lead to the same point at the top. I honestly don't see how this hasn't become glaringly apparent to everyone when Barack Obama of the Democratic Party succeeded George W. Bush of the Republican Party, yet there was verily no change in government policies as was promised by Barack Obama's clever campaign slogan. If anything he stepped things up a notch, but you can't even call that change, since that's really just maintaining the status quo.

Taliban Are Not Terrorists, or So Says the White House
By JONATHAN KARL

They act like terrorists, they regularly kill civilians like terrorists, but the White House does not consider the Afghan Taliban to be a terrorist group.

Semantics aside, the Taliban is suspected in multiple attacks over just the last 48 hours that have killed more than 30 people, including a suicide bombing attack on a funeral in Afghanistan today that killed 16 and wounded 39.

Even so, the White House does not call the Afghan Taliban a terrorist organization, Earnest explained, because they are “different than an organization like al Qaeda that has a much broader global aspiration to carry out acts of violence and acts of terror against Americans and American interests all around the globe.”

The issue has come up because the White House insisted on Wednesday that a prisoner exchange between Jordan and ISIS would be different than the prisoner exchange the United States made last year with the Taliban to gain the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

“Our policy is that we don't pay ransom. We don't give concessions to terrorist organizations,” Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz said Wednesday. “This is a longstanding policy that predates this administration. And it's also one that we've communicated to our friends and allies across the world.”

Schultz explained that the exchange the United States made with the Taliban -- releasing five Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in exchange for the release of Sgt. Bergdahl -- was consistent with that policy because the Taliban is an “armed insurgency” and not a terrorist organization.
 
But the Obama administration isn’t entirely consistent on this point.

On one hand, the Afghan Taliban are not on the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (the Pakistan Taliban is on that last). On the other hand, the Taliban is on the Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists, a classification that allows their assets to be frozen.

And even as Earnest was explaining why the Taliban are not terrorists, he slipped, calling them ... “terrorists.”

“We have not ruled out that there would be some situations in which U.S. service members would still carry out operations in self-defense against the Taliban or other terrorists who are operating in Afghanistan,” Earnest said.

Drug laws are like nudity laws. They come from people who think they should decide how I should live. They make no sense at all. That is why I can watch 20 sadistic murders on TV each night while drunk to the point of death. But I can't smoke a harmless weed or see a nipple on TV. It's mind control and the freedom to explore new ideas could lead to change. OMG, not change!