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Glenn Jacobs has played everything from a demented dentist to the devils favorite demon. In 2018, the WWE superstar known to fans as Kane went from navigating the shark-infested waters of pro wrestling to the political ring, becoming mayor of Knox County, Tenn. The unexpected career turn is part of a memorable journey for the 52-year-old told in his new book Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Politics, which is available starting Tuesday, Nov. 26.

It came full circle, Jacobs said of going from wrestler to elected official. If you told me in 1995 that Id be in an office overlooking the Knoxville Civic Coliseum, Id look at you like you were nuts...I hope the book is an entertaining read for people because you have the crossover between my wrestling career and the political stuff. I was around and very much part of the Attitude Era, so a lot of what people talk about I saw up close and part of it. That part is a great story I can tell.

The author admits to not being nostalgic or sentimental. Jacobs doesnt take many photos or keep a diary from his 30 years of travels around the world. Thankfully, he does have a good memory.

Part of my process was going, I think this will be a good story. Also, I remember telling someone a story, and I dont think its a really big deal. Then they think its really entertaining. So its about putting all that stuff together, Jacobs said. Id call people and basically go, Hey, who was here? Where were we exactly? I can remember the big picture stuff, but I sometimes didnt know the details. Then there are certain things that stick out in your mind that you know everything about it. When people mention an event, I can say that was such and such show at such and such arena. I did have to go through what I wanted to say.

In some cases Id have to go back and talk to some people who were there to jog my memory. Then there was the case I was talking to a friend of mind asking why I didnt put a certain thing in the book. I said, Well if I did,it would be a thousand pages. It was about what goes with the flow of the story of what is really important and doing it in a way that is entertaining and concise as possible. There is a lot of stuff I didnt put in it that I wish I could. Maybe that will be used for another time.

Representing the political and WWE worlds, Jacobs enlisted The Undertaker and Senator Rand Paul to write forwards to the book. He was honored to have them accept, especially his onscreen brother who he shares so much history with.

I can pretty much guarantee that this will be the only time in history The Undertaker and Rand Paul write a forward for the same book, Jacobs said. I asked Mark [Calaway] (Undertaker) to do it, and he said he would be honored as well. It blew my mind. Of course, asking Senator Paul was much of the same. Mark has meant so much to my career and to me personally. That was not even a question that I would ask him to do it.

Ultimately, its the final couple of chapters Jacobs hopes resonate. Ones that can spark thoughts, conversation and some inspiration.

Its not designed to be a motivational book, but Ive been incredibly fortunate and blessed. Im not especially unique. I might have a different skill set than most folks do. The fact that someone like me can have the opportunities Ive had in my life. If I can do it, anyone can do it, Jacobs said.

To me, the American Dream is creating the life that you want to live. Thats what Im most proud of. I want someone who reads it to see applicability in their own life and in their own way know they achieve what they want to achieve.

A part of the book sure to get chatter focuses on President Donald Trump. Jacobs felt it was necessary to include the polarizing and often controversial figure for a number of reasons. And not necessarily for the WWE Hall of Famer himself.

Unfortunately, politics are so divisive and polarized in our country. Nevertheless that is the field Im in and have to offer an opinion on that, he said. The most important thing to me about Trump is the fact that he was not an establishment person. I think whether you love Trump or hate Trump, we need a lot more people who are not politicians in politics.

I hope that is the thing people take from that chapter is the fact career politicians are ruining America and have ruined America. We need a lot more people that dont come from that background. That dont want to get in office and stay in office their whole life. They want to get in, do a good job and go home. I do realize with the divisiveness that we see now, some people are going to read that chapter and say, I disagree. Thats the risk you take.

Jacobs stresses not discounting local politics. Whether republican, democrat or independent, he believes all need to collaborate on solutions because people are expecting results.

We see the folks on TV, and Im just like everyone else. Im tired and disillusioned at the dysfunction of Washington D.C. And its not one faction or party that has caused that. We can do a lot of things at a local level, Jacobs said.

Thats the beauty of state and local politics is that kind of political component, even though it is politics, that blatant divisiveness because of the political component is not nearly as overwhelming as national politics.

Jacobs follows in a line of pro wrestlers who have gone into public office. Names like Jesse Ventura, B. Brian Blair and Matt Morgan. When it comes to who the mayor thinks would do well next in politics, he doesnt want to venture a guess. Though for Jacobs there are a lot of smart folks in the locker room who, Jacobs feels has good characteristics for it.

They do great things for the community, he said. Titus ONeil in Tampa is doing wonderful things. Mark Henry does a lot of good stuff. John Cena, we know the work he has done with Make-A-Wish and other things. He can do whatever he wants because he is so talented and a good guy. I think there are a lot of people in the locker room that if they decided this was what they wanted to do, theyd be successful at it.

Jacobs may not be on Raw or SmackDown each week, he hasnt ruled out Big Red Machine appearances from time to time. However, if the former WWE world champion decided to walk out for a match one final time, he wouldnt want to do it alone.

Even though Undertaker and I had a match with DX that has never happened before, it would be great to reunite the Brothers of Destruction, he said. That is always so special. That would be for me the ultimate thing.

Jacobs documents the evolution of Kane in the book. A character which made him a top performer in WWE and evolved in many ways since his debut in 1997. Since then, these types of personas have become few and far between. Though Jacobs considers himself a fan just like he when he was searching to realize his own dream.

It has become harder because there is so much more content and exposure demanded. We look at the internet and social media and all the different platforms we are competing against. One of the things that frustrated me is that we move so quickly sometimes it felt like you werent getting the depth of the storyline because you just had to put stuff out and things would get lost. Thats the nature of the business, Jacobs said.

...You look at a guy like Bray Wyatt who has done a phenomenal job. That character has really taken off. Its difficult. I think its harder than ever to get into that kind of patient story-telling. Its unfortunate evolution of the business. But I think what Bray Wyatt shows is that we have a performer who can do it and given the opportunity, its still something that strikes a cord with people.

"To me, thats one of the best parts of the wrestling business is the stories. Sometimes they get sacrificed a little bit to keep the machine going. So its nice to see a guy like Bray have that opportunity to really get over as a character in a unique storyline.

Mayor Kane: My Life in Wrestling and Politics is available Tuesday, November 26

See the rest here:
Glenn Jacobs on Writing 'Mayor Kane' and Transitioning From WWE to Politics - TVInsider

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