Mediaboss Marketing

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Updated: Wednesday, January 25, 2017, 5:25 PM

Sen. Rand Paul is sticking his turtleneck out for civil liberties, though the internet is more interested in his clothing.

The Kentucky libertarian told CNN that he opposes a possible return to torture after fellow Republican President Trump ordered a review of policies around it.

However, those watching the Jake Tapper interview focused less on CIA black sites and more on Pauls sweater, which appeared to be a half-turtleneck or mockneck.

Paul has also become known for his appreciation of high-necked sweaters, with Mother Jones once calling him "the leading fashion visionary of DC, nay, the world."

Not everyone is buying the tie story behind Cam Newton's benching

Its new iphone time already? Twitter user Shoshana Weissman posted as discussion of the mock turtleneck began Wednesday, recalling the favorite apparel of late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Others such as Maggie Serota said that Paul was looking like he just got back from his semester abroad.

Another common comparison for the senators sartorial choice was to the cartoon Archer where the secret agent main character is fond of a tactical turtleneck or "tactleneck."

However, he appeared on CNN to call for greater oversight of the CIA, and the senator said that among the 119 people detained by the CIA, more than 20 had been mistakenly identified.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson on his infamous fanny pack

He also discussed his proposed replacement to the Affordable Care Act, which gives tax credits for health savings accounts.

Go here to read the rest:
Internet mocks Rand Paul's mock turtleneck wardrobe choice - New York Daily News

Sen. Rand PaulRand PaulOvernight Finance: Ryan lays out timeline for ObamaCare, tax reform | Dow hits 20K | GOP weighs how to pay for border wall Trump review exposes GOP divide on torture Rand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan MORE (R-Ky.) is criticizing an ObamaCare replacement plan put forward by other GOP senators, arguing it doesn't go far enough to repeal the law.

Paul, who on Wednesday introduced his own replacement plan, swiped at a proposal from Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan CollinsSusan CollinsRand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan Trumps abortion gag rule threatens long-fought global health gains Senators move to nix Trump's ban on funding NGOs that provide abortions MORE (R-Maine) that was introduced early this week.

The Cassidy-Collins planismore centrist than some other Republican plans because it allows state legislatures to keep ObamaCare operating in their state if they choose and also keeps ObamaCares taxes in place to provide revenue.

" 'If you like ObamaCare you can keep it' is not a ringing rallying cry, Paul said on a call with reporters Wednesday when asked about the Cassidy-Collins plan.

For example, Paul, like other conservatives, is pushing to repeal all of ObamaCares taxes.

I dont think a lot of Republicans are going to want to keep the ObamaCare taxes, Paul said.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) has also called for repeal of all the taxes and said the Cassidy-Collins plan would not pass muster with conservatives.

I'm not a fan of that, Meadows said of the Cassidy-Collins plan on Tuesday. I don't think that that would pass conservative muster.

Still, both Meadows and Paul applauded the senators for introducing a plan of some sort. Both are vocal proponents of having a replacement ready to pass at essentially the same time as repeal.

GOP Sens. Lindsey GrahamLindsey GrahamTrump stirs fear with voter fraud probe Trump review exposes GOP divide on torture Rand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan MORE (S.C.), Shelley Moore CapitoShelley Moore CapitoRand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan GOP senators: Give states the option of keeping ObamaCare Five takeaways from Pruitt's EPA hearing MORE (W.Va.) and Johnny IsaksonJohnny IsaksonRand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan GOP senators: Give states the option of keeping ObamaCare Trump, Democrats can bridge divide to make college more affordable MORE (Ga.) are also co-sponsoring the Cassidy-Collins plan.

Paul said that his plan had consensus ideas that he thinks all Republicans can support.

Pauls plan would provide a tax credit of up to $5,000 per person to use as part of a Health Savings Account. He proposes a two-year period where people with pre-existing conditions could get coverage. After that, people with pre-existing conditions would be protected if they continuously maintained coverage.

Read the original here:
Rand Paul criticizes alternative GOP health plan - The Hill

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) explained Monday night that he voted against President Donald Trumps pick for CIA director because he worries Rep. Mike Pompeos (R-Kan.) desire for security will trump his defense of liberty. The Senate confirmed Pompeos nomination Monday in a66-32 vote.

Paul, who wrote about his decision in an op-ed posted at Rare, seems to have two problems with Pompeo: his record on torture and his position on government surveillance.

When the Senate Intelligence Committee released its 2014 report critical ofthe effectiveness of the CIAs torture program, Pompeocriticized the results, which concluded thatenhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding and sleep deprivation were not an effective means of obtaining accurate information or gaining detainee cooperation.

Furthermore, President Barack Obama, whomPompeoknocked for ending our interrogation program, banned waterboarding in 2009, just two days after taking the oath of office.

Our men and women who were tasked to keep us safe in the aftermath of 9/11 our military and our intelligence warriors are not torturers, they are patriots, Pompeo saidin 2014 of the Senates report.

Though he voted in favor of the 2015 USA Freedom Act, which came as a result of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowdens 2013 revelations about the intelligence communitys surveillance of U.S. citizens,Pompeohas since voiced support for reinstating the very powers the previous controversial Patriot Act established.

In 2013, Snowden revealed that the NSA, through the Patriot Act, had been collecting the telephone and internet records of virtually every American citizen and storing that information in a database. The federal agency was storing metadata, often referred to as data about data. Analysts were collectingdataaboutphone calls, such as the phone numbers of both the caller and the receiverandthe duration of conversations, and about emails, including therecipients and time stamps of those messages.

The passage of the USA Freedom Act barred the bulk collection of Americans telephone and internet metadata and limited the governments data collection to the greatest extent reasonably practical, which means the intelligence community could no longer collect and storemass amounts of data without cause.

In a 2015 op-edin National Review, Pompeo asserted that those who suggest the Freedom Act, which he claimed gutted the NSAs metadata collection program, enables the intelligence community to better protect the U.S. are lying.

To share Edward Snowdens vision of America as the problem is to come down on the side of President Obamas diminishing willingness to collect intelligence on jihadis, he wrote.No Republican candidate who does that is worthy of our vote.

Paul strongly disagrees with the incoming CIA director on both government surveillance and torture.

When it comes to torture, the Kentucky senator wrote thatthe U.S. let fear get the better of our responsibility to liberty following the attacks on 9/11.

Many of our military leaders, including incoming Sec. of Defense James Mattis, have acknowledged that waterboarding is torture, is ineffective, and sends a signal to our enemies that it is justified to torture U.S. soldiers when they are captured, Paul wrote.

Paul also called the intel communitys collection of metadata an incredible invasion of privacy in some ways more intrusive than the English soldiers that invaded American households to search for any untaxed papers.

The existence of the database itself is a violation of our right to privacy, he later added. Our intelligence community needs more oversight, not less.

Paulvowedto be a skeptic when it comes to the the CIA and the intelligence community in general because, in his words, someone must pledge to watch the watchers.'

I swore an oath to defend the Constitution and the rights of the American people. Shielding the CIA from needed oversight is not consistent with that oath, he concluded.

Go here to read the rest:
Rand Paul explains why he voted against Trump's pick for CIA director - TheBlaze.com

By Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

I voted against the new CIA Director because I worry that his desire for security will trump his defense of liberty.

More than ever before, oversight of the secretive world of intelligence is critically important.

Programs are authorized, money is spent, and operations are carried out in the name of the American people, yet only a few members of Congress are even allowed to know what is happening in the dark corners of these U.S. intelligence programs.

Most of Congress was surprised to learn that the U.S. government was collecting all of our phone records in bulk. Most of what our intelligence community does is shielded from the rank and file of Congress. Only eight legislators are privy to the full extent of the surveillance state.

RELATED:Rand Paul: Repeal all of Obamacare and replace immediately

Under oath, the former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lied to Congress about the existence of the bulk collection of Americans phone records. Without the revelations of Edward Snowden, this gross violation of privacy might still remain unknown.

Only begrudgingly are the American people being told about the scope of the massive intelligence apparatus that has steadily grown in secret.

Yet when oversight of the intelligence community is most needed, Congress has demonstrated an insufficient appetite for curbing the worst excesses of our countrys domestic surveillance.

Some in Congress advocate that government collect financial and lifestyle information on Americans, combine it with their metadata, and store it in a government database.

A database that cross-references our every online action would be a devastating assault on liberty.

The new CIA Director described a congressional report on the CIAs past use of torture as a narcissistic self-cleansing. He went on to say that those senators who voted to release the torture oversight report were quintessentially at odds with [their] duty to [their] country.

I couldnt disagree more.

In the years following 9/11, we let fear get the better of our responsibility to liberty.Of the 119 people detained by the CIA, 39 were tortured.In our haste, at least 26 people were wrongfully detained, not even meeting the governments own standard for detention.

If it was your husband or son that was mistakenly tortured, wouldnt you want the world to know so that it never happened again?

Many of our military leaders, including incoming Sec. of Defense James Mattis, have acknowledged that waterboarding is torture, is ineffective, and sends a signal to our enemies that it is justified to torture U.S. soldiers when they are captured.

Despite this evidence, many in Congress have continued to maintain that waterboarding is not torture.

In addition, many in Congress support a comprehensive, searchable database equipped with public data like lifestyle choices, an incredible invasion of privacy in some ways more intrusive than the English soldiers that invaded American households to search for any untaxed papers.

Advocates of such a database argue that it will only be searched after obtaining some type of court order.

These advocates fail to understand that our privacy and the Fourth Amendment are breached merely in the collection of our personal data. Our privacy is invaded first by the collection of private information and only secondarily by searching that databank.

The existence of the database itself is a violation of our right to privacy.

Our intelligence community needs more oversight, not less.

RELATED:Rand Paul and Mike Lee urge Donald Trump to follow the Constitution on foreign policy

There are many supporters of the Surveillance State in Congress. There is, however, a shortage of skeptics. Now that technology and fear have combined to allow the state to watch virtually our every action, someone must pledge to watch the watchers.

I swore an oath to defend the Constitution and the rights of the American people. Shielding the CIA from needed oversight is not consistent with that oath.

Protecting the entire Bill of Rights is one of the main reasons I ran for office, and I will remain vigilant in that cause.

Rand Paul isthe junior senator from Kentucky.

Continue reading here:
Rand Paul: Why I voted against the new CIA director - Rare.us

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

A collective show of defiant fists were lifted in the air at the conclusion of an anti-Trump rally in downtown Louisville on Tuesday morning. 1/24/17(Photo: Marty Pearl/Special to The C-J)Buy Photo

A group of protesters gathered in downtown Louisville Tuesday to rally against President Donald Trump's Cabinet picks and in support of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who voted against one of the selections on Monday.

Approximately 50 people showed up to the "Stop Trump's #SwampCabinet Rally" outside the Romano Mazzoli Federal Building. For 30 minutes, the group held signs and cheered on fellow rally-goers as they read personal accounts of why they oppose Trump's picks.

Kim Hibbard, co-founder of Indivisible Kentucky, a state-wideprogressive movement, and protest organizer, said she plans to hand-deliver the stories to Paul, who has an office inside the Federal Building.

"The goal of today's rally was to thank Sen. Paul for voting 'No' on the confirmation of CIA director Mike Pompeo," said Hibbard, of Louisville. "We also wanted him to come down and listen to the stories people read with their concerns."

In response to the rally, a spokeswoman for Paul directed the reporter to an op-ed he wrote for Rare.us, in which he explained why he did not vote for Pompeo."I swore an oath to defend the Constitution and the rights of the American people," Paul wrote.

The packet of stories, which was read aloud and provided to the media, featured six personal accounts opposing Cabinet nominees, including potential Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

?READ MORE: Will the court ruling kill Aetna-Humana deal?

?READ MORE: Woman who shot attacker sues 4th Street Live

?READ MORE: Log cabin in the Highlands to be razed

Constance Merritt, of Louisville, read a story about her opposition of Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price, R-Ga., who has previously proposed a bill to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Merritt, who has a disability, said she's been on Medicare for most of her life and is concerned that her health care will be cut under Price. She said she feels that the proposed Cabinet members are all about their self-interests and not the interests of the public.

"I wanted to tell my personal story," she said, adding that her wife has also benefited from the mental and physical healthcare provided by the Affordable Care Act. "I was an activist in 2006 against the Iraq War and I did see how activism turned the tide and got senators to move against the war."

Lori Hurley, of Louisville, attended the rally with her husband, John, to protest against Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for Secretary of Education. She said she feels that DeVos would not help close the education gap in Kentucky, which was ranked No. 46 in the countryin terms of educationby Wallet Hub on Tuesday.

"We can't afford in this day and age to not educate people properly," she said. "We also need to bring attention to the fact that people are paying attention. None of these nominees are good, but it comes down to education for me."

Hibbard, who co-founded Indivisible Kentucky just three weeks ago, said that the group plans to continue sharing stories with Senators Paul and Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) The Tuesday protest was held in solidarity with more than 100 protests nationwide, which were organized by MoveOn.org.

"We're trying to get the word that we have concerns and want them to hear them," she said.

Reporter Justin Sayers can be reached at 502-582-4252 or jsayers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at@_JustinSayers.

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Read or Share this story: http://cjky.it/2kpmRDK

Go here to read the rest:
Local group rallies against Trump, for Paul - The Courier-Journal