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Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul took aim at the "one-sided" contract that airlines give its customers, responding to this week's United Airlines controversy in which a man was forcibly removed and bloodied after refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked plane.

"But it is [in] their 30,000 word contract so it must be ok," Paul said in the first of a pair of tweets Wednesday, mocking the airline. Paul was referencing an opinion piece from City Journal titled, "May I drag you from your seat?: Corporate cluelessness is leading to a decline in institutional confidence."

"We retain the right to take back the ticket you paid for, handcuff you, beat you about the head & bloody you," Paul continued his mock impression of a United Airlines contract in a follow-up tweet. He added: "This contract seems one sided."

The controversy started when video appeared online showing David Dao, a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, struggled with security guards and later, seemingly unconscious, being dragged off the overbooked United Airlines plane. The widespread backlash has prompted United CEO Oscar Munoz to apologize for the "horrific event" and said the company takes full responsibility and "will work to make it right."

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Rand Paul mocks United contract: We will 'bloody you' - Washington Examiner

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, addresses a crowd during a rally at the Western Republican Leadership Conference, in Sandy, Utah, April 25, 2014.(Photo: Associated Press)

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, joined Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, in introducing a bill Tuesday that would require presidents to get congressional approval before taking military action over humanitarian concerns.

The bill comes on the heels of President Donald Trumps order last week to fire missiles at a Syrian air base in response to that governments use of chemical weapons in an earlier attack.

"Since the U.S. cruise missile strikes against the Shayrat Air Base in Syria last week, President Trump and several senior administration officials have indicated that the United States may be prompted to act again in retaliation to other attacks against civilians or for broader humanitarian purposes," Lee said in a written release. "We are all angered by the pictures and stories from Syria in recent years, and the desire to retaliate for these unfathomable attacks is understandable. However, over the past 200 years, the separate and distinct roles of the executive and the legislative branches to declare war, launch military attacks, and defend against or retaliate for an attack against the United States have become blurred."

The proposed legislation, the Military Humanitarian Operations Act, would require congressional approval before any military operations conducted to fulfill a humanitarian purpose where hostilities are anticipated.

"While such operations and interventions are well intentioned, recent history has shown they are often risky and may result in unintended consequences that are detrimental to our national security, Lee said.

Follow David DeMille on Twitter, @SpectrumDeMille, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SpectrumDeMille. Call him at 435-674-6261.

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Mike Lee joins Rand Paul on bill requiring congressional approval ... - St. George Daily Spectrum

A shocking statistic from the Department of Homeland Security has appeared recently shown that cell phone searches of U.S. citizens reentering the country has gone from 5,000 in 2015 to 25,000 in 2016.

This is something Kentucky Senator Rand Paul finds obscene, or so he puts it when he was questioning DHS Secretary John Kelly during a hearing for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Weve gone from 5,000 people having their cell phones searched, to 25,000, said Paul. We are denying people entry who are citizens or green card holders who are coming back home, and your department is saying to them you cannot return to your home without giving us your fingerprint, and giving us all the data on your phone.

Paul made it clear that he understands the difference between a citizen, and a visitor, and that sometimes safety measures are warranted, sometimes in the form of denying someone entry into the country, however this does not need to apply to citizens.

I could travel abroad, and be told I cannot enter America unless I let you look at my phone. Thats obscene, said Paul.

Kelly maintained that the reported statistics were untrue, and that citizens were not being denied entry without giving up their phones. However, Paul maintains that the DHSs own numbers dont lie.

Watch the exchange below:

Due to this information, a bipartisan bill has been drawn up that would require border agents to have a warrant before they searched the phones of any American citizen, or green card holder. According to CNN, the legislation has been introduced in both the House, and Senate, by both Democrats, and Republicans.

Privacy hawks Sens. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, introduced it in the Senate, and Reps. Jared Polis, a Democrat from Colorado, and Blake Farenthold, a Republican from Texas, sponsored it in the House.

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Rand Paul: Citizens reentering US having their phones searched is 'obscene' - TheBlaze.com

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Saturday criticized President Trump's decision to launch a missile strike on a Syrian airfield, saying the Trump administration should have sought input from Congress first.

"You know, I guess what I've been more concerned is not the military aspects of the mission or even whether or not it will have any significance," Paul said on CNN. "My concern has been mostly that this is an inappropriate way to begin a war, that the Constitution says war begins with a vote in Congress."

Paul, whose libertarian leanings have led him to advocate for far less foreign intervention than most other members of his party, pointed to the example George W. Bush set with his decision to seek an official Authorization for Use of Military Force from lawmakers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"Even George Bush, who was often treated mercilessly by the media as being so far out there, he came to Congress and asked to go to war against the Taliban and those who attacked us on 9/11," Paul said. "He also did the same in Iraq."

Congressional leaders have signaled a willingness to consider the Trump administration's request to pursue additional military actions in Syria if the president decides to put one forward, although few lawmakers have indicated that they are open to returning from their two-week recess to debate an AUMF.

"I think this is a wrongheaded notion, that we just skip the most important step, and that is whether or not we should go to war," Paul said.

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Rand Paul: Syria strike an 'inappropriate way to begin a war' - Washington Examiner

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) shot back at his fellow Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for demanding that President Trump ask for Congressional approval for the airstrikes he ordered on a Syrian airfield Thursday. He made the comments on CNN Friday to Wolf Blitzer.

Blitzer read Pauls statement about the airstrike to McCain and asked for his reaction: While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked. The President needs congressional authorization for military action as required by the Constitution, and I call on him to come to Congress for a proper debate. Our prior interventions in this region have done nothing to make us safer, and Syria will be no different.

I dont really react to Senator Paul, McCain said disdainfully, were just too different, and he doesnt really have any real influence in the United States Senate.

Blitzer reminded him that many other Senators agreed with Paul, and McCain said he would talk to them but not address Pauls statement.

So you dont even want to respond to that, Blitzer tried to ask again.

Pardon me, I dont pay any attention frankly, to whatSenator Paul says, McCain reiterated his disdain.

Buttell me why you disagree with him so much, Blitzer asked.

Because hes wrong, McCain replied.

Just on this issue or a whole bunch of other issues? Blitzer responded.

Every other issue that I know of, that has to do with national security, McCain answered.

McCain said that he wasnt surprised by the attack for several reasons. I got a call before the launch from Mattis and also from Kelly, he said, but when I talked to [President Trump] the morning before, I could tell that he was deeply concerned. Now, to the point where I thought it was entirely possible that he would decide to act on the advice of his national security team.

McCain also said that if Trump followed his advice to press on against President Bashar al-Assad, that he wouldnt need Congressional approval for that either.

He does not, he said about needing approval from Congress. President Reagan didnt need it when after the bombing at a disco in Berlin that killed Americans, striking Libya. But if this is a long term campaign, then I think we oughta examine it.

But Ill tell you the practical problems, he explained. The practical problems is, and Ive dealt with this issue for a long time, and that is, its called the War Powers Act, is the president is the commander in chief. And he proposes, Congress disposes, as far as money is concerned. But as far as the actual mechanics of the war are concerned, theres never been agreement. The War Powers Act has never been challenged in the courts because every president, Republican and Democrat, has been afraid that it was going to be ruled unconstitutional.

Rand Paul has been an outspoken critic of any military action made without Constitutional approval, a position that not many members of Congress have agreed with publicly.

Trump ordered the strike on a Syrian airfield in retaliation for a chemical attack on civilians many blame on President Bashar al-Assad. Secretary of State Tillerson said there was no doubt that Assad was guilty of the chemical attacks.

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John McCain tramples on Rand Paul's foreign policy cred TheBlaze - TheBlaze.com