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In early October, President Donald Trump made the decision to remove troops from the Syrian and Turkish border, leaving behind our allies, the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or Y.P.G., in the process.

For those of you who do not know, according to USA Today, the Kurdish people are the largest ethnic minority (25-40 million people) who do not have their own autonomous state. Instead, they straddle a territory that sits in Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. According to The Kurdish Project and the GQ, the Kurdish people became the U.S. allies during the war in Iraq and have been our allies since then. Turkey, on the other hand, has been an ally to the U.S. since the beginning of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, otherwise known as NATO.

Turkey and their president Tayyip Erdogan see the Y.P.G.as a terrorist group, and balancing being allies with Turkey through NATO and being allies with the Y.P.G has been difficult. Now people are questioning if Turkey is still a U.S. ally because according to The New York Times article and a video by CNN, Turkey attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish forces, and our allies.

Turkey and the Kurdish people have a tumultuous relationship. To simplify it, the Kurdish Workers Party, also known as the P.K.K. launched a violent separatist movement in Turkey during the early 1980s. According to The New York Times, the P.K.K. is considered a terrorist group by both Turkey and the United States. Across the Syrian border is the militia known as the Y.P.G; they are also fighting to form an autonomous state for the Kurds, but the Y.P.G. are U.S. allies. However, being allies with the Y.P.G. is very complicated as they have deep ties with the P.K.K.

Now, why did President Trump decide to pull troops from the Syrian and Turkish border? According to the GQ, last December President Trump claimed that the U.S. had accomplished its goal of defeating ISIL (also known as ISIS) in Syria and that was the only reason we are there. And since then the Turkish President Erdogan has been lobbying the Trump administration to remove soldiers from the border so that he could push Turkish forces further into Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) territory. President Trump has tweeted that we have not abandoned the Kurds while we are removing our troops from Syria and that Turkey understands that while we may not be there, any unforced or unnecessary fighting by Turkey will be devastating to their economy and their very fragile currency.

Consequences of removing troops from the Turkish/Syrian border are already being felt. As stated before, according to The New York Times article and a CNN video, Turkey has already attacked a U.S. ally in Syria. Turkey has set out to clear out a Kurdish-led militia, the SDF, that controls about a third of the country. And The New York Times is saying that it looks like President Trump doesnt seem to care. It would be a direct contrast to the statement from earlier that President Trump put on his twitter. There was also the huge amount of backlash faced, not just from democrats but from republicans as well.

According to Politico, a political opinion-based company, republicans ripped into President Trump. Senator Lindsey Graham told Vice President Pence that he was personally offended to read the decision in the news instead of hearing from the President or his aids. Also, that were going to hold this administration accountable for this decision; if Obama had done this, all of us would be going nuts, its such a bad idea. The job of Congress is to hold the Executive branch accountable. Florida Senator Marco Rubio can also be quoted disagreeing, saying that it is such a bad idea. However, Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky has spoken out in support of President Trump and his decision to remove troops from the border.

Read more:
Removing U.S. Troops from the Syrian and Turkish Border - The Cactus

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has drawn a great deal of criticism for his opposition to election security proposals. Much of the criticism has come from Democrats, although MSNBCs conservative Joe Scarborough has repeatedly taunted McConnell as Moscow Mitch and asserted that he is encouraging Russian interference in U.S. elections by failing to be proactive on election security. And in a report for Mother Jones, journalist AJ Vicens stresses that McConnell is turning a blind eye to election security problems in his own state: Kentucky.

Vicens reports that the Senate majority leaders inaction is directly harming his home state, especially in Kentuckys more rural counties. The Mother Jones journalist explains, While some Kentucky officials say their counties have the equipment and funding they need to securely conduct balloting, others say counties can barely afford to meet other critical needs let alone to upgrade and maintain election infrastructure. Ahead of this months knife edge-gubernatorial race, local officials faced a reduction in state voting funds. Money from Washington could make up some of the gap and help counties upgrade equipment.

Don Blevins, Jr., clerk of Fayette County, Kentucky, told Mother Jones, Mitchs inaction is directly harming his home state. Theres no question in my mind.

One election security bill McConnell opposed was the Securing Americas Federal Elections Act, a.k.a. the SAFE Act which he dismissed as a partisan messaging bill. In a letter to McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes asserted, securing our election systems is a matter of national security. The commonwealth and this nation need your leadership.

But McConnell wouldnt budge.

Larry Norden, director of the election reform program for the Brennan Center, told Mother Jones that McConnells failure to adequately address election security is problematic for the entire United States.

His role as to whats happening in Kentucky is the same as his role in the other 49 states, Norden asserted. At the end of the day, around the country, election jurisdictions are underfunded. We dont have national standards or a floor for election security, for the most part. And hes one of the main reasons we dont.

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How Mitch McConnells opposition to federal election security is hurting his home state of Kentucky - AlterNet

Activists from The Center for Popular Democracy chase down Sen. Rand Paul over about his stance on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Courtesy The Center for Popular Democracy

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered a man accused of threatening to chop up U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and his family with an ax to receive medication so that he can regain competency and stand trial.

Nathanial B. Luffman, 33, was accused in 2018 of threatening Paul, his family and an unnamed Oregon state official in phone calls and emails, according to court records.

Luffman appeared Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman, who is in Oregon, via video conference from a federal medical center in Springfield, Missouri, according to court records.

Luffman, 33, previously lived in Murray, Kentucky, and he was arrested in Berkeley, California, in June 2018 after he allegedly left a threatening email and voicemail for several Oregon state employees and a U.S. Capitol Police special agent, according to a criminal complaint.

In the email, Luffman allegedly threatened to gut Paul, his wife and children like (a) hog and included the hashtag ObamaForLife, according to the federal complaint.

Background: Man allegedly threatens to chop up Rand Paul and his family with an ax

The same morning he sent the email, Luffman allegedly left a voicemail at the office of an Oregon state official who works in a Portland federal building, the complaint stated.

Luffman introduced himself in the voicemail as Senator Nathaniel Blaine and threatened to hack to pieces Pauls children, according to federal authorities.

Paul first mentioned the threats publicly in July 2018 at an event in Leitchfield and said his Bowling Green office also received the threats.

"It's just horrendous that we have to deal with things like this, Paul said at the time.

Luffman had been living in Portland before his arrest in California, The Oregonian reported.

A review of law enforcement databases showed Luffman also had a history of threatening U.S. government officials, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators reviewed a Facebook account for Luffman and found it had several posts originating from Berkeley.

He was arrested in the California city and later transferred to Oregon to face a four-count federal indictment.

More news: Billboard warns McConnell: Impeach Trump or 'lose your job'

Luffman is represented by a federal public defender and has pleaded not guilty to charges of threatening a federal official, threatening the family of a federal official and two counts of interstate communication.

He was ruled not competent to aid in his defense in February and ordered to be sent to the federal medical center in Springfield, according to court records.

Psychiatrists at the center diagnosed Luffman with schizophrenia, finding he suffers from delusions, hallucinations and has displayed disruptive and bizarre behavior, and Luffman believes the charges hes facing are based on a conspiracy to silence him,The Oregonian reported.

The Portland newspaper also reported that apsychologist said Luffman has stridently and adamantly refused to take medication to help restore his competency.

Mosman, the federal judge in Oregon, granted the U.S. Attorneys Office request that Luffman be medicated involuntarily to restore his competency.

A new competency hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24, according to court records.

Matt Bevin on recanvass:'I'm not gonna contest these numbers that have come in'

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com or 502-582-7030. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.

Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/rand-paul/2019/11/14/judge-orders-treatment-nathanial-luffman-threatened-ax-murder-rand-paul/4189011002/

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Man accused of threatening to 'gut' Rand Paul with an ax ordered to take meds - Courier Journal

In a hearing Wednesday for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said banning flavored vaping products would be counterintuitive to solving a variety of health problems. The practice of vaping has come under fire in recent months as doctors attribute lung-related illnesses and deaths to vaping. But Paul was quick to point out that most, if not all of these issues, are caused by illegal THC vaping products. I have kids and Ive warned them about the vaping of illegal products, he said. But it seems to be primarily deaths and horrific medical problems from vaping illegal products. So what were going to do in response to that is make more vaping illegal. It seems kind of counterintuitive. It seems like if you make more things illegal maybe you get more people vaping illegal products and you have more problems.Paul suggested that rather than banning flavored products that are often connected to teenage usage, lawmakers should consider going after the people selling to those teens. Now you say, 'Well its not a good idea to have kids vaping for one reason or another.' well, yeah, thats probably true, but its already illegal for kids to vape. If you want kids not to vape, why dont we increase the penalty of people selling to kids? Paul asked his peers. The senator also pointed out that many adults use vaping as a smoking cessation tool.You know, 480,000 people die from smoking each year. Two-thousand people are dying from vaping illegal products, and I dont want to discount thatwe should do something about it. But we get all strung out on these things, and we want to react, react, react really quickly, but nobody is really asking one important question how many lives are being saved?... I think there are estimates that hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved over the past 12 years from vaping instead of smoking. Paul implored the committee to consider all aspects of the issue before making a decision. They say politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies, he said. Im afraid we could get into the same problem here in this discussion.

In a hearing Wednesday for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said banning flavored vaping products would be counterintuitive to solving a variety of health problems.

The practice of vaping has come under fire in recent months as doctors attribute lung-related illnesses and deaths to vaping. But Paul was quick to point out that most, if not all of these issues, are caused by illegal THC vaping products.

I have kids and Ive warned them about the vaping of illegal products, he said. But it seems to be primarily deaths and horrific medical problems from vaping illegal products. So what were going to do in response to that is make more vaping illegal. It seems kind of counterintuitive. It seems like if you make more things illegal maybe you get more people vaping illegal products and you have more problems.

Paul suggested that rather than banning flavored products that are often connected to teenage usage, lawmakers should consider going after the people selling to those teens.

Now you say, 'Well its not a good idea to have kids vaping for one reason or another.' well, yeah, thats probably true, but its already illegal for kids to vape. If you want kids not to vape, why dont we increase the penalty of people selling to kids? Paul asked his peers.

The senator also pointed out that many adults use vaping as a smoking cessation tool.

You know, 480,000 people die from smoking each year. Two-thousand people are dying from vaping illegal products, and I dont want to discount thatwe should do something about it. But we get all strung out on these things, and we want to react, react, react really quickly, but nobody is really asking one important question how many lives are being saved?... I think there are estimates that hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved over the past 12 years from vaping instead of smoking.

Paul implored the committee to consider all aspects of the issue before making a decision. They say politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies, he said. Im afraid we could get into the same problem here in this discussion.

Link:
Sen. Rand Paul's solution to youth vaping epidemic: Go after the sellers - WLKY Louisville

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A notable Kentucky politician has weighed in on the apparent defeat of Republicanincumbent Gov. Matt Bevin to Democratic challenger Andy Beshear in last week's gubernatorial election.

Appearing on "Meet the Press"Sunday, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul said that the "teachers' anger came out" in the election and swung the election in favor of Beshear.

The Kentucky senator was referring to Bevin's longstanding dispute with teachers across the commonwealth, which was sparked by the governor's overhaul of the pension system.

"I think the teachers were very unhappy," Paul said."(Bevin)tried to fix the pension, but got crossways with the teachers. And I think the teachers' anger came out."

'I knew he was in big trouble': An inside look at 24 crazy hours in Bevin vs. Beshear

Paul said that Bevin "was trying to do the right thing" with pension overhaul. But the governor's lack of popularity with teachers runs much deeper than policy differences. Bevinrepeatedly criticized educators who opposed his efforts and said teachers' decision to protest en masseat the state Capitol one day in April 2018led to children being sexually assaulted orotherwise harmed.

"I guarantee you somewhere in Kentucky today, a child was sexually assaulted that was left at home because there was nobody there to watch them," Bevin said. "I guarantee you somewhere today, a child was physically harmed or ingested poison because they were left alone because a single parent didnt have any money to take care of them."

Overall, Paul said that Bevin's loss is not indicative of a problem forthe Republican Party in the Bluegrass State and pointed to GOP candidates winning five of six statewide races.

"(Republicans) beat a lot of other candidates that no one expected us to," Paul said."So actually, in many ways, there was sort of a red wave in Kentucky."

The election drama is still ongoing.Alleging "a number of significant irregularities," Bevin formally requestedan official recanvass last week of the results ofKentucky's election for governor. That process will take place on Thursday.

No Bevin-Beshear recount?: These are the possible next steps under Kentucky election law

Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.comand502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen.Support strong local journalism by subscribing today:subscribe.courier-journal.com.

Read or Share this story: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/rand-paul/2019/11/11/rand-paul-teachers-anger-cost-bevin-kentucky-governor-election/2560458001/

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Rand Paul: 'Teachers' anger' cost Matt Bevin the Kentucky gubernatorial election - Courier Journal