Showing posts with label #StandWithRand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #StandWithRand. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Rand Paul unleashes on the White House after it dubbed Trump "disqualified"





Here are the 10 reasons the Kentucky senator and White House hopeful cited:

  1. "Tried to take over 1/6 of the economy in Obamacare, wrecked the system and hurt patients and taxpayers."
  2. "Thinks an executive order is legislation and how you make law."
  3. "Fought an undeclared, unconstitutional war in Libya, turned it into Jihadist wonderland."
  4. "Fighting an undeclared, unconstitutional war in Syria, [and] trying to put ISIS in Damascus."
  5. "Signed into law the indefinite detention of American citizens." (Paul is referring to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed by Obama in 2011, which earned heavy criticism from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union).
  6. "His copy of the bill of rights obviously goes from 1 to 3, skipping the 2nd amendment."
  7. [A federal appeals] Court ruled his NSA spying on every American was illegal."
  8. "He has added more debt than anyone in history."
  9. "Appointed an attorney general who thinks speech against Muslims is a bigger threat than terrorism."
  10. "[Environmental Protection Agency] rules by executive FIAT trying to kill an entire American industry and way of life (coal)."
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Friday, May 22, 2015

The Senate has refused to reauthorize NSA bulk data collection





























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The Bill of Rights is worth losing sleep over.

























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Friday, June 21, 2013

Ted Cruz and Rand Paul Just Might Save America

◼ Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (of course) is marshaling his forces to oppose the villainous Gang of Eight and their foul scheme to break America’s border, bank and sovereignty. - Bryan Preston/PJMedia
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) launched a national petition on Thursday to stop the Senate Gang of Eight’s amnesty bill and send Washington a “strong signal” of the grassroots opposition to the bill.

“This is urgent,” Cruz wrote in an e-mail to supporters. “We must stop this Gang of 8 immigration bill, which would give amnesty to an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants with no guarantee of a secure border.”

“The Senate debate is in the final stages and we need to send Washington a strong signal of the overwhelming grassroots opposition to this amnesty bill from Americans across the country,” Cruz explained.

That petition is ◼ here.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky is dropping the political f-bomb: ◼ Filibuster.
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Friday, March 15, 2013

I Filibustered to Defend Millennials

◼ Last week, a Senate colleague of mine said that when I questioned whether or not the president could order a drone strike on American citizens on American soil, I was just catering to "libertarian kids in their dorm rooms." - Rand Paul at Policymic

Standing up for the Bill of Rights and the Fifth Amendment was not a political stunt designed to appeal to certain audiences. I took an oath to protect the Constitution and it is an oath I intend to keep.

But we do need a Republican Party that addresses the concerns of young people. We need a different kind of GOP, a party that speaks to the rising generation, who may have unique interests and concerns....

Young Americans — conservative, libertarian, independent — are as fed up with big government as their parents and grandparents. A Republican Party willing to address their unique concerns could build a new majority that might finally turn this country around.
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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Mr. Paul Goes to Washington

◼ The broadly positive reaction to Paul’s filibuster suggests, to me at least, that many Americans now fall outside the bipartisan Washington consensus that there’s little need for serious congressional scrutiny or debate when it comes to the War on Terror, and are relieved to hear that dissatisfaction echoed on the Senate floor. - Julian Sanchez/CATO.org

The crucial message we should take from Paul’s marathon oration, then, may be this: If it’s absurd to pose the question that inspired his filibuster, surely it’s far more absurd that we’ve arrived, after a decade of complacency about government secrecy and unfettered executive discretion in the sphere of counterterrorism, at a point where the question would need to be posed.

◼ as his time on the Senate floor went on, Paul went much further. He called into question aspects of the war on terrorism that a typically bellicose Congress rarely questions, and most often defends, often demagogically so. - Spencer Ackerman/Wired

◼ I’m happy today to welcome all the new fans who made #StandWithRand a number one topic on Twitter last night. And let’s hope they all stick around, and keep trying to rein in the president’s authority to incarcerate and even assassinate American citizens on American soil. - David Boaz/CATO.org
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Saturday, March 9, 2013

The Most Interesting Man In The World

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Friday, March 8, 2013

"The Senate has the power to restrain the executive branch — and my filibuster was the beginning of the fight to restore a healthy balance of powers."

◼ Sen. Rand Paul: My filibuster was just the beginning - Senator Rand Paul/Washington Post

"The president still needs to definitively say that the United States will not kill American noncombatants. The Constitution’s Fifth Amendment applies to all Americans; there are no exceptions.

The outpouring of support for my filibuster has been overwhelming and heartening. My office has fielded thousands of calls. Millions have followed this debate on TV, Twitter and Facebook. On Thursday, the White House produced another letter explaining its position on drone strikes. But the administration took too long, and parsed too many words and phrases, to instill confidence in its willingness or ability to protect our liberty.

I hope my efforts help spur a national debate about the limits of executive power and the scope of every American’s natural right to be free. “Due process” is not just a phrase that can be ignored at the whim of the president; it is a right that belongs to every citizen in this great nation.

I believe the support I received this past week shows that Americans are looking for someone to really stand up and fight for them. And I’m prepared to do just that."
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How the GOP forced Obama´s hand

◼ The White House entered the sequester debate in January hoping to replicate the playbook of the $620 billion fiscal cliff deal: warn of a looming threat, highlight the damage to regular Americans, push a politically popular solution, hammer Republicans as protectors of the wealthy, watch their poll numbers crumble, wait for them to splinter and capitalize on the divisions. This approach forced Republicans to accept tax rate hikes for the first time in a generation. But with the sequester, it didn’t work. - Politico
◼ The simple power of saying, "no." - Discussion at Lucianne

◼ The new GOP generation stands up - New York Post

...in sharp contradistinction to Sens. McCain and Graham, I find it nigh impossible to imagine a situation in which it is wrong for Rand Paul to press the president on a constitutional question. The Republican Party is lucky to have someone prepared to do so.
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Thursday, March 7, 2013

In praise of Mitch McConnell

◼ Barack Obama’s basic filibuster mistake. - Moe Lane/Red State

It’s pleasant to see the candidates that you worked so hard to elect – often while being actively opposed by the establishment GOP – demonstrate competence and flair at their craft in public. It’s pleasant to hear your beliefs and opinions get properly articulated in public. And it’s very pleasant to watch the Establishment itself back the grassroots’ play – and, make no mistake: Mitch McConnell (whatever else you might think of him) had a perfect chance to shut down the filibuster last night. McConnell instead backed Rand Paul’s play, stopped a point-of-order bobble before it cascaded into a filibuster-ender, and made dang sure that it was made clear that Republican Senators were lining up to support this thing.
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Drudge, this morning...


◼ OLD BULLS BUCK RAND STAND - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times
Almost exactly 24 hours after Mr. Paul began his information-seeking filibuster against John O. Brennan, Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham took to the Senate floor to denounce his demands and say he was doing a “disservice” to the debate on drones.
◼ McCain tells Sen. Paul to 'calm down' - Brian Doherty/Reason
The Republican Party is at war, folks, and let's hope Rand Paul and his troops win.
◼ Graham calls freshman 'ridiculous' - Jim Hoft/Gateway Pundit
◼ DUO DINED WITH OBAMA DURING FILIBUSTER: Obama Pays Dinner Tab - Keith Koffler/White House Dossier
◼ WH finally answers Rand Paul's question - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum
◼ Holder's Letter to Rand Paul: 'No,' the U.S. Can't Use Drone to Kill Citizen Not Engaged in Combat on U.S. Soil - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ DRONE WARS: 12-HOUR RANDPAGE! - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times
◼ President Barack Obama has the authority to use an unmanned drone strike to kill US citizens on American soil, his attorney general has said. - Telegraph
◼ Holder: 'The Government Has No Intention' of Carrying Out Drone Strikes in America - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ KRAUTHAMMER: 'Stroke of political genius' - Noel Sheppard/Newsbusters
◼ Young bucks, new GOP power brokers join Paul - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

◼ Lindsey Graham: Premise of Rand Paul’s filibuster is ridiculous - Doug Powers/Michelle Malkin

Yesterday’s filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul was all about a fairly simple question for the president: Is it constitutional to order a drone strike on an American citizen who is not an imminent threat on American soil without due process?

There was no response from the White House where a Nobel Peace Prize adorns a West Wing wall.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham — being a courtly southern gentlemen who doesn’t believe in troubling the man who just bought him dinner — found Paul’s entire premise outlandish:
“This idea that we’re going to use a drone to attack an American citizen in a cafe in America is ridiculous.”
Well, in that case it should be an easy question to answer, shouldn’t it?

◼ The many and varied Rand Paul filibuster accomplishments - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion



◼ Rand Paul filibuster energizes Tea Party against GOP establishment - Susan Ferrechio/Washington Examiner

"There couldn't have been a starker contrast between the new leadership of Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz and the old guard of McCain and Graham," noted one GOP aide.

McCain defended his criticisms of Paul, telling The Washington Examiner that the Kentucky lawmaker's opposition to drones would limit the president's power to stop terrorists.

"I think the whole argument, if we went that way, would threaten our national security," McCain said.

But Paul told The Examiner that McCain is wrong and that the public backs his efforts to curb government overreach, a central Tea Party tenet.

"He's dismissive of something that involves the discussion of whether the Fifth Amendment applies to American citizens," Paul said. "And I consider that to be a very important issue."
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REBRANDING: NEW GOP GUARD STANDS UP FOR CONSTITUTION


◼ Rand Paul Yields The Floor, Ending Nearly 13 Hour-Long Filibuster Over Obama’s Drone Strikes - Mediaite

◼ On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) served notice to both the Republican establishment and to the Democrat-Media Complex: conservatism isn’t gone. It’s not even on vacation. The new wave of conservatives is here, and they know how to play the game. - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart

Citing everyone from left to right, Paul pointed out the hypocrisy of an administration ripping into waterboarding of terrorists but happy to target them for death from the skies. He asked repeatedly why the administration could not answer his simple question about the boundaries of government power. And the American people listened.

It was an astonishing demonstration of the power of ideas. Paul spoke directly to the American people from the floor of the Senate. No media interrogators. No Obama functionaries. No spin machine. He was not strident, but he was firm. “No American should ever be killed in their house without warrant and some kind of aggressive behavior by them,” said Paul. “To be bombed in your sleep? There’s nothing American about that …

Over the next 24 hours, look for the Democrat-Media Complex to strike back against Paul. They know the battle is on.

Finally, it appears that Republicans do too.
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Rand Paul found that sliver of principle on which right and left agree

◼ Rand Paul’s filibuster of John Brennan yesterday, which went on for over 12 hours, was a phenomenon. He was joined at various times by Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ron Wyden, and late in the night, Tim Scott, Ron Johnson and others. - William A. Jacobson/Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion

Progressives bemoaned the fact that other than Ron Wyden, their heroes like Elizabeth Warren were nowhere to be found on the most basic of civil liberties principles, the right of an American citizen in America not to be deprived of life without due process of law.

Paul’s filibuster on the specific and narrow issue of using a drone to kill an American on American soil who was not engaged in an imminent and substantial threat of violence was the perfect issue on which to mount this historic filibuster. It is an issue which, as narrow as it were, was so basic that even the normally Obama-worshipping media could not crazy Paul over it.

This is another example of what I said in the aftermath of the suicide of Aaron Swartz. Groups which do not normally agree on so many political and economic issues can find common ground on limited government.

◼ HOW DID THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA COVER RAND PAUL’S HISTORIC FILIBUSTER? - Mike Opelka/The Blaze

Late Wednesday night, as Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster entered its 12th hour, there was significant reaction from people all across America.
◼ C-Span experienced viewership levels rarely seen
◼ The hashtag #IstandwithRand topped the Twitter charts.
◼ Even Liberals like Van Jones, actor John Cusack the far Left group Code Pink were supporting the filibuster.
The New York Times had the story buried well into the middle column of the front page with the headline, “Rand Paul Does Not Go Quietly Into The Night”

Over at NBC News, a banner was placed across the top of its website, but the big stories appear to be focused on gun control and allegations race-based different standards being applied in schools...

Curiously, CBS News had no mention of the filibuster on their front page....

ABC News gave the top positions to other stories, but did find a place for Senator Paul on the second tier...

CNN’s U.S. edition missed the story completely...

◼ WILL THE LEFT FINALLY GET THE TEA PARTY NOW? - Joel Pollak/Breitbart

Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster against the confirmation of CIA Director and "drone czar" John Brennan offers a "teachable moment" to the media and the left about the Tea Party. As they seethe in outrage and confusion that it took a Republican to question the constitutionality of drone attacks, it is important to remind our friends on the other side that it wasn't just any Republican, but a--gasp!--Tea Party Republican who spoke "truth to power."

Not only that, but the Senators who were first to offer their assistance were also Tea Party Republicans--the so-called McCarthyist Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco "Water Break" Rubio of Florida. All three of these Senators won their primary elections against candidates favored by the Republican establishment. All three have been attacked by the left and smeared as racist and extremist for belonging to the Tea Party. Yet without them, no one from either party would have questioned a policy that the left once saw as a dangerous abuse of executive power.

Only one Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, supported Paul.
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Wednesday, March 6, 2013

EXCLUSIVE: ACLU BACKS PAUL'S FILIBUSTER

◼ On Wednesday afternoon, Christopher Anders, Senior Legislative Council at the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington D.C., spoke with Breitbart News exclusively about Senator Rand Paul’s filibuster of the John Brennan nomination to CIA director over the administration’s failures to answer questions about domestic use of drones. - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart

Anders backed Paul to the hilt, and was highly critical of the Obama administration.

“It’s certainly a courageous and historic effort by Senator Rand Paul and his colleagues, who are now increasing in numbers and coming to the fore in support of his filibuster,” said Anders. “The information Senator Paul is looking for goes to the very core of what the US is and who Americans are as a people.” Anders pointed out that the information Paul seeks is easy for the administration to hand over – it “ought to be a no-brainer,” he said. “It ought to be upsetting for everyone, all Americans of both parties, to not be able to get a straight answer to what is a very straightforward question from Senator Paul.”
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Rand Paul has been *standing* for more than 9 hours

◼ He is filibustering President Obama’s nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA, objecting to the apparent Obama administration policy that it can execute, without trial or charge, U.S. citizens, even when they pose no imminent threat, and even when they are on U.S. soil. - Timothy P. Carney/Washington Examiner @TPCarney

...Paul has been standing the whole time: When Paul takes questions from other Senators, he continues to hold the floor. For that reason, he must continue to stand–on the floor. Some of his allies have deliberately given very lengthy questions, which gives Paul a break, and a chance to talk with his staff, but not to go to the bathroom, catch a smoke, or rest his feet....

Sen. Mark Kirk made a touching gesture, and reference to “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Around 6:15, Sen. Mark Kirk came onto the Senate floor. Kirk is recovering from a stroke, and so he painfully limped, with a cane in his right hand, and his left leg rigid, down the stairs to the well, where Paul’s desk was. Kirk then delivered to Paul — while Paul was speaking — a thermos and an apple. Those were Jimmy Stewart’s sustenance during his filibuster in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” The thermos had hot tea in it....


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About 30 minutes ago, Democrats blocked a resolution saying the US gov can’t drone an American on American soil. Democrats.



◼ Rand Paul Filibester Spectacle Rivets Senate. - Instapundit

The best part was when Rand Paul sought unanimous consent for a sense of the Senate resolution that the President shouldn’t kill American citizens in America — and Democrats, led by Dick Durbin, objected.

◼ This Is What A Republic Looks Like - Iowahawk/Breitbart

One man with principles beats the hell out of a vuvuzela-blowing mob.

◼ Rep. Gohmert Delivers Cough Drops And Chocolates To Sen. Paul During Filibuster - Kerry Pickett/Breitbart
Congressman Louie Gohmert (R - TX) went to the floor of the Senate and delivered chocolates and cough drops to the long filibustering Senator Rand Paul (R - KY). Senator Paul, with the help of Senators Mike Lee (R - UT), Ted Cruz (R - TX), and Ron Wyden (D - OR) among others has been filibustering Barack Obama's CIA nominee John Brennan since 11:47 AM on Wednesday. The Senators are discussing the the dangers of the government's use drones that could of kill Americans on U.S. soil.
◼ This is Exciting - Ace Of Spades/Breitbart
I have the same feeling of receding cynicism I did when the Tea Party first exploded on to the scene and began doing things that just weren't done in America anymore -- taking politics seriously, taking the Founders' legacy to us seriously, showing up at Town Halls to ask their once and future representatives some real questions, engaging, questioning, insisting, demanding.

There was a time 200 years ago when this was commonplance. Americans had just won their liberty and were enthused about it. They treated their civic duty not as a mere duty but as the highest aspiration of political man.

This filibuster excites me for the same reasons -- a return to the Old Ways, the ways that actually work, the way American politics is actually supposed to be conducted, with Senators offering thoughtful defenses of their positions and, above all, insisting that this nation is We the People not We the Ministers & Lesser Bureaucratic Warlords of Whatever Current Government the Public Has Had the Folly to Install In Office....
◼ Rand Paul Filibuster Inspires HuffPo to Blister Obama Over Drone Policy - John Nolte/Breitbart

Paul picked the exact right issue to filibuster on; bringing right and left together against Obama.

◼ The CONVERSATION at Breitbart covers the days events, check it out.

◼ Live Blog: Rand Paul’s Filiblizzard against Drones, Brennan; Mentions NR’s Kevin Williamson - Andrew Johnson & Nathaniel Botwinick/National Review

◼ The power of Twitter: Sen. Ted Cruz reads #StandWithRand tweets during filibuster; Update: Video added - Twitchy



◼ In the Senate, a Reverse Mr. Smith - Tim Groseclose/Ricochet

...Senator Ted Cruz asked Paul to yield for a question. Paul did, and Cruz asked if he was aware of the overwhelming support he is receiving on Twitter. Cruz then read several complimentary, sometimes moving, comments from people who had hashtagged “#StandWithRand” in their tweets.

Cruz’s maneuver was eerily similar to a moment from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (which you can view at the 7:00 mark of this video). One of the corrupt senators asks Mr. Smith if he would like to learn what his constituents have to say. Smith says “yes,” and the corrupt senator brings in baskets full of telegrams, all of them critical of Smith. The telegrams had been manufactured by the leader of the political machine that controlled the corrupt senator. Smith reads them and faints from exhaustion.

In contrast, the modern-day telegrams, the tweets read by Cruz, are honest. And they were overwhelmingly supportive of Paul....

◼ Newsweek Editor: Bush Would've Been Impeached If He Had Obama's Drone Policy - CNS

This has been said by many on the right recently in calling out the hypocrisy and silence of the media, but now it's been reiterated by Tina Brown, Editor-in-Chief of left-leaning Newsweek and The Daily Beast.
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Rand Paul brushes off Harry Reid’s attempt to end filibuster

◼ “I have no problem with people talking a long time,” Reid said, before asking if Paul and two other senators would limit themselves to speaking for 30 minutes more each. - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum

Reid asked for unanimous consent, but Paul objected. “The only thing I would like is a clarification,” Paul said, proposing that Holder retract his claim that “it is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”



◼ Thus far this has been a brilliant filibuster: Measured, respectful, thoughtful. - John Nolte/Breitbart
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FILIBUSTER: Marco Rubio Joins Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Jerry Moran, Ron Wyden, Saxby Chambliss, Pat Toomey, John Cornyn, John Barrasso

◼ Randpage: Rand Paul filibusters Brennan nomination for CIA director - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

◼ American Guts: #StandWithRand - Smitty/The Other McCain

Rand Paul took the floor of the Senate around noon today for a good, old-fashioned filibuster. Spot on. The purpose is to find out just where the 5th Amendment line is on drone strikes on Americans on American soil. The direct effect of the filibuster is to threaten a delay of a vote to confirm John Brennan as CIA chief.















◼ Sen. Marco Rubio: Why is it so hard for Obama to ‘just say no’ to killing American citizens with drones? - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering

















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TEXAS SEN. TED CRUZ JOINS RAND PAUL FILIBUSTER

◼ Thus far this has been a brilliant filibuster: Measured, respectful, thoughtful.

Senator Rand Paul is not only exposing President Obama's breathtaking hypocrisy on the issue of drones, he's also giving a Master Class on the U.S. Constitution.



◼ Cruz to Paul: You're 'Standing Here Today Like a Modern Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
"My only regret," Cruz continued, "is that there are not 99 of your colleagues here today standing with you in defense of the most fundamental principle in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution."

Paul's filibuster has been going on for almost 4 hours, and only recently have other senators joined the floor to ask Paul questions.
◼ Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Terry Moran Join Rand Paul’s Senate Filibuster Over Drone Strikes - Nice Deb

◼ WATCH LIVE AND ONLINE ON CSPAN here





◼ Democrat Senator: I'm Joining Rand Paul's Filibuster - John Nolte/Breitbart









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DR. PAUL GOES TO WASHINGTON
Rand Paul begins talking filibuster against John Brennan



◼ 'I will speak until I can no longer speak' - Washington Post ◼ Via Drudge
◼ Won't let Obama 'shred the Constitution' - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is staging an active filibuster of John Brennan’s nomination to be CIA director, a move prompted by Attorney General Eric Holder’s admission that it could be constitutional to carry out a drone strike on an American in the United States.

Paul said that all presidents must honor the Fifth Amendment. “No American should ever be killed in their house without warrant and some kind of aggressive behavior by them,” Paul said on the Senate floor. “To be bombed in your sleep? There’s nothing American about that . . . [Obama] says trust him because he hasn’t done it yet. He says he doesn’t intend to do so, but he might. Mr. President, that’s not good enough . . . so I’ve come here to speak for as long as I can to draw attention to something that I find to really be very disturbing.”

“I will not sit quietly and let him shred the Constitution,” Paul added.”No person will be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process,” he said, quoting the Fifth Amendment.
◼ 'No American should be killed by a drone on American soil'... - AP
◼ Invokes Hitler - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ LIVE CSPAN COVERAGE

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