Rand Paul to Ben Carson: There’s no religious test in politics

Fresh off a surprise win in a Michigan straw poll, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized former neurosurgeon Ben Carson's argument that a Muslim could not be "in charge of this nation."

"Article VI of the Constitution says there won’t be a religious test," Paul said in an interview. "I think the answer is that simple."

Carson made the remarks first in an interview with Meet the Press. Asked by host Chuck Todd if Islam was "consistent with the Constitution," Carson said it wasn't. In a subsequent interview with The Hill's Jon Easley, Carson explained that he didn't think "Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country."

...http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/21/rand-paul-to-ben-carson-theres-no-religious-test-in-politics/

Campaign Manager Chip Englander on Rand's Iowa strategy

Start around 26:08. This is a very important part of Rand's strategy, and is something that I've been trying to reassure people of for a while. If you look at most of Rand's top staff, it's all focused on ground game. Especially in a caucus, this is incredibly important. Chip Englander was campaign manager for Bruce Rauner, who was elected Governor of a blue state, Illinois, in the 2014 election, primarily because of ground game. Several others from this campaign are in top positions in the campaign.

If you also add in Concerned American Voters, headed by Frazee and Kibbe, which is focused solely on door to door, phone from home, get out the vote efforts, it's clear that Rand Paul has the best ground game out of any of the candidates. Students for Rand's operations as well will play a crucial role in getting young people to the caucus.

Just look at the straw poll in Mackinac last week, it's a clear example of ground game and flooding the vote with support when it actually matters. Summer before the election does not matter (polling) except for building infrastructure and ground game for when it does matter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4q8qqZQDbs

Yeah, he was the original front-runner a few months ago but faded away like nobody's business at this point since the race got clouded with many others. He was at Ben Carson numbers but fell flat cause he's nothing special and had a specious record on the issues. I'm not even sure if he formed a prez cmte but this is a wrap. Just like in 2012, the conservative voters have shifted away from the first perceived anti-estab guy like Walker to other pastures but Rand Paul is the true-legit candidate of that sort that the MSM won't pump or talk decent about after any debate. Now, it's just shuffling the Walker types to Trump, Fiorina and Carson. Just like the anti-establishment lineup of 2012 of Bachmann, Perry, Cain, Gingrich, Santorum, etc. anyone but the real outsider which is a Paul, Ron in that case.

Yeah, and the broad you decide to briefly marry has already had a couple hundred/thousand ex-husbands by that point. Gotta love the technicalities of the law.

Opinion: Paul building broader, bolder GOP

It’s no secret that the Republican Party is in need of revitalization. For too long there are too many voters that have been overlooked by many Republican candidates as “unwinnable.” This is an attitude that will lead to our demise if left uncorrected. And while a number of candidates talk a good game about building a “big tent” party, it has been largely empty rhetoric. Everyone agrees that we need to do more — but I only see one candidate for president who is actually doing it. And that is Rand Paul.

In the two years since Gov. Chris Christie talked about Republicans going to places that make us uncomfortable, Rand Paul has been the only Republican who has already gone there. He is the only Republican candidate to meet with community leaders in places like Detroit, Chicago and Ferguson. And he is winning support in these places that have been devastated by crime and poverty after years of single-party Democrat control. Many people that have never voted for a Republican before are realizing that Democrats are taking them for granted, and are now seriously listening to what Paul has to say. Rand’s positions on criminal justice reform especially are winning support from minorities.

...http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/opinion/my-turn/2015/09/18/opinion-paul-building-broader-bolder-gop/72422968/

CNN post-debate national poll: Rand in 8th

Carly Fiorina shot into second place in the Republican presidential field on the heels of another strong debate performance, and Donald Trump has lost some support, a new national CNN/ORC poll shows.

The survey, conducted in the three days after 23 million people tuned in to Wednesday night's GOP debate on CNN, shows that Trump is still the party's front-runner with 24% support. That, though, is an 8 percentage point decrease from earlier in the month when a similar poll had him at 32%.

Fiorina ranks second with 15% support -- up from 3% in early September. She's just ahead of Ben Carson's 14%, though Carson's support has also declined from 19% in the previous poll.

Driving Trump's drop and Fiorina's rise: a debate in which 31% of Republicans who watched said Trump was the loser, and 52% identified Fiorina as the winner.

During the CNN debate, Fiorina clashed with Trump over his personal attacks and their business records and scored points for her condemnation of Planned Parenthood.

The top three contenders underscore a key theme in the 2016 race: In a jampacked GOP presidential field, the leading candidates are the only ones who have never held political office.

But one established politician has seen his standing rise after flashing foreign policy chops on the debate stage. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida -- identified as Wednesday's winner by 14% of Republicans, putting him second behind Fiorina -- is now in fourth place with 11% support, up from 3% in a previous poll.

In fifth place is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, at 9%. He's followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 6% each, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky at 4%, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 3%, Ohio Gov. John Kasich at 2% and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 1%.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/20/politics/carly-fiorina-donald-trump-republican-2016-poll/index.html

Here’s how drastically different Rand Paul is on foreign policy from every other candidate

For some time now, it has been said that one of Rand Paul’s current campaign problems is that he no longer distinguishes himself on one of the most important issues that helped his father stand out—foreign policy.

The left says this. The right says this. Libertarians say this. Perception being reality, it might very well be a campaign problem.

But it’s not true. It’s not even close to true.

At the same time, some liberals, conservatives and even libertarians also say Paul has foreign policy views that are too far outside the mainstream of his own party and Americans in general to get anywhere near the Republican nomination.

This isn’t true either.

Paul’s foreign policy is actually where most Americans and even Republican primary voters are on the subject, if his positions are explained honestly and not mislabeled as “isolationism” by hawks eager to do so.


Read more at http://rare.us/story/heres-how-drastically-different-rand-paul-is-on-foreign-policy-from-every-other-candidate/#1bdHlZDqR6wkCFCu.99

Rand Paul calls for term limits, says Trump has peaked

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. — The federal government never gets any smaller because Americans leave members of Congress in Washington too long, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Saturday in calling for federal term limits.

"We should term limit them all, fumigate the place and bring them home," said Paul, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president.

Paul said in an after-dinner speech at the Grand Hotel that both Republicans and Democrats stay in Congress too long and become part of a system they can't shrink.
Paul also hammered Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state who is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, for her handling of security at the embassy in Benghazi, Libya, prior to a 2012 attack and for putting sensitive and potentially classified emails on a private server that was not secure.

...http://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/19/sen-rand-paul-says-donald-trump-has-peaked/72486434/

Rand Paul wins Mackinac Isle (MI) Confab's Strawpoll

Mackinac Island — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won the presidential straw poll at this weekend’s Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, capturing 22 percent of the vote among a field of 16 candidates.

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina came in second with 15 percent, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich in third place with 13.8 percent and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in fourth with 13 percent in The Detroit News/MIRS presidential straw poll.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finished fifth in the straw poll with 9.7 percent of the 785 registered conference attendees who voted.

The Paul campaign celebrated the straw poll victory as a sign that the libertarian-minded senator’s presidential bid remains alive, despite registering single-digit numbers in national polls.

...http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/19/straw-poll-rand-paul-tops-among-mich-gop-activists/72504936/

That's a sign of the times to come. You won't get the growth you want or adoption w/o average everyday people coming on board. And with that, less shiny material to read. That's what all the developers and app makers are doing is taking the  over the head stuff and making things a lot more chilled for the plebs.

During less volatile accumulation periods many folks, bears and bulls, tend to chill out and do other things w/ their time. This is pretty much the case for some of the old timers around here at this point.

Ignoring Rand Paul

Desperately searching for an establishment Republican who can block Donald Trump, many observers are ignoring the strong and politically astute performance of Rand Paul in Wednesday night’s Republican debate. A classic example this morning is Michael Gerson, the big-government Republican who has written for George W. Bush and the Washington Post and is the most anti-libertarian pundit this side of Salon. Recognizing the need for the Republican party to reach new audiences, especially “with minorities, with women, with younger voters, with working-class voters in key states,” Gerson writes:

The relatively rare moments of economic analysis and political outreach in the second Republican debate — Chris Christie talking about income stagnation, or Marco Rubio lamenting the “millions of people in this country living paycheck to paycheck,” or Ben Carson admitting the minimum wage might require increasing and fixing, or Jeb Bush setting out the necessary goal of accelerated economic growth, or John Kasich calling for a “sense of hope, sense of purpose, a sense of unity” — served only to highlight the opportunity cost of the Trump summer.

What’s missing? Well, Rand Paul talked about marijuana reform, an issue that is far more popular than the Republican Party, especially among younger voters. And criminal justice and incarceration, an issue of special concern to minorities. And especially about our endless wars in the Middle East, at a time when 63 percent of Republicans and 79 percent of independents say that the Iraq war was not worth the costs, and when 52 percent of Americans say the United States “should mind its own business internationally and let other countries get along the best they can on their own.” (Not the best formulation, as noninterventionists are not opposed to international activity, just to imprudent military action. But you go to print with the polls you have, not the polls you wish you had.) Those are attempts to reach new audiences that a fair-minded debate watcher would have noticed.

...http://www.cato.org/blog/ignoring-rand-paul

Rand Paul Found His Voice: Can He Find Noninterventionist Voters?

Rand Paul found his voice last night. He’s a sincere noninterventionist in foreign policy. If he can get that message across, there’s a Republican constituency for it, and even broader support among independents.

Coincidentally or not, Paul’s standing in the polls has fallen as he seemed to move away from the noninterventionist positions associated with his father, congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. He called for a declaration of war with ISIS, more military spending, and rejection of President Obama’s Iran deal.

Meanwhile, hawkish conservative pundits consistently underestimate the extent of non interventionist and war-weary sentiment in the Republican party.

In the debate Paul came out swinging on the risks of war and the failures of military intervention. He declared, “I’ve made my career as being an opponent of the Iraq War. I was opposed to the Syria war. I was opposed to arming people who are our enemies.”

...http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/rand-paul-found-voice-can-he-find-noninterventionist-voters

Rand Paul to The Fed: Stop Setting Interest Rates

September 16, 2015—Presidential candidate Rand Paul made it a point to introduce Audit the Fed legislation about as soon as he was elected to the US Senate in 2010. But this week he came closer to aligning himself with the “End the Fed” position in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

Co-written with his economic, Mark Spitznagel, the editorial cited the heralds of Austrian economics’ brightest figures. From WSJ.com:

“In their theory of business cycles, the Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek explained several decades ago that artificially cheap credit misleads entrepreneurs and investors into doing the wrong things—which in the current financial context includes making unsustainable, levered investments in risky assets, including companies loading up on debt to buy back and boost the price of their stock.”

...http://www.voicesofliberty.com/article/rand-paul-to-the-fed-stop-setting-interest-rates/

Yeah, it's tough coming back from a pinched nerve and a herniated disc 9 months ago while still having a rough time walking. Gotta enjoy yourself at times if ya know what I mean.

It's what I like to refer to as a night capper rant and it made a lot of sense at the time.

Just summoning the honey badger at this point. Save the pics, we need and want the real thing at this point. Seems like the badger does care at this barfable time, so he/she stays out of sight during these times. Time to go down and then an epic upward trajectory in a fashion never before seen. Get your bull on and buy like a frenzy situation later next week. If you're a single parent, just keep the gub checks to stay above water as you're not ready for the rise when your stake is poop... That's right I said it! Let the chumps fart and the responsible shall survive and thrive w/ their excess money at this  majik moment,while making untold fortunes as time goes forward and the volatility roars.

Makes sense that any business that ships international would want to offer bitcoin as an option to lower fraud and chargeback potentials. However, there still remains no reason why any normal consumer would jump through hoops to pay w/ bitcoin w/o any incentives to do so, like discount rewards.

...
The connection to a third company has previously led figures within the cryptocurrency community to suggest that Tyson could be the victim of a scam. Writing on the Silicon Angle blog, Duncan Riley noted that the domain for the project’s website is registered to Peter Klamka, CEO of Bitcoin Brands.

According to Google Finance, Bitcoin Brands currently has a share price of just $0.0001 and a market cap of $6,780 (£4,367).

Riley concluded: “The best guess here is that Mike Tyson has been suckered into a deal by a fast talker who has promised him millions if he gets involved and lends his name to the enterprise, despite the company behind the enterprise having a market cap that is probably about half the value of one bottle of the champagne Tyson prefers to drink.”

----

I'll reserve judgement until I see how things pan out. However, bringing in a name like Tyson could get the attention needed to spring bitcoin into Sin city.

Rubio aide punches Paul official at Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island — A top official for Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s presidential campaign said Friday he was punched in the face by a man working for rival Sen. Marco Rubio at a bar on Mackinac Island, where Republicans are gathered this weekend for a leadership conference.

Grand Rapids consultant John Yob, who is Paul’s national political director, said early Friday he was assaulted in a Mackinac Island bar by a man he and a witness identified as working for Rubio.

“He literally physically assaulted me by punching me in the face,” Yob wrote in a Facebook post. “The state police are looking for him. I have it on video, from multiple angles. This will play out in the national media in the next few hours.”

The Michigan Republican Party is hosting Paul and five other presidential candidates at the Grand Hotel this weekend for its biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference. A record 2,180 Republican leaders, donors and activists have registered to attend the confab.

Rubio is not attending, but his campaign has sent surrogates, including pawn shop reality TV star Rick Harrison of the History Channel show “Pawn Stars.” A Rubio campaign spokesperson could not be immediately reached Friday morning for comment.

A Mackinac Island police officer declined comment early Friday morning about the incident and said it was unclear when the department would release any information.

Brandon Hall, a conservative blogger from Grand Haven, said Friday he witnessed Yob being punched at Horn’s Gaslight Bar, a popular Mackinac Island watering hole.

“As I was sitting at the bar talking to someone at Horn’s in Mackinac Island Thursday night, I witnessed (the man) suddenly, out of nowhere, approach one of Rand Paul’s advisers, John Yob — unprovoked — and try to hit him,” Hall wrote on his West Michigan Politics blog. “(He) missed a full on shot but still struck Yob’s in the face with a powerful blow near the jaw.”

Hall said the Rubio campaign official was at the bar trying to drum up votes for the Florida senator in the presidential straw poll The Detroit News and MIRSnews.com are conducting this weekend at the conference.

The Michigan Republican Party’s conference begins Friday afternoon with a reception on the Grand Hotel’s famous front porch followed by opening remarks by Gov. Rick Snyder at 4:45 p.m.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is the lone keynote speaker Friday night. The other five presidential candidates are speaking on Saturday, according to the conference schedule.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/18/mackinac-island-bar-fight/72388142/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAoEq1RYqUc