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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharles Booker @Booker4KY: Rand Paul was just busted and fined by the FEC
Link to tweet
Rand Paul is one of the worst.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article253112668.html
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Thanks. I don't want Booker associated with the slimeball.
Thanks for sharing!
NullTuples
(6,017 posts)I'm not sure this $21 thousand dollar fine will even be noticed.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)I am hoping Booker can show effectively that Rand Paul is a fraud who has done nothing for poverty or education in Kentucky but made it worse.
Rabrrrrrr
(58,349 posts)... clearly also part of the big conspiracy against conservatives (that is, actual American Patriots who love the Constitution and are for law and order and blah blah blah white supremacy blah blah I love Jesus blah blah fuck the poor blah blah).
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)I can't stand libertarian policies, nonsense re-branded.
calimary
(81,220 posts)either they dont want to say theyre republi-CON (ashamed, cowardly, or just dont want you to know) or saying a long fancy word like libertarian makes them feel smart (smarter than you, certainly, because they think theyve fooled you and made you think they werent republi-CON).
I bet many of those folks dont even know what being a libertarian actually means.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)But policy by policy, most are horrendous with few exceptions. His father was adamant against crazy wars, but willing to let charities somehow take care of millions without health insurance. The cruelty is off the charts.
WinstonSmith4740
(3,056 posts)I was volunteering on the Dukakis campaign and mentioned to someone in the group that I really wasn't a Democrat, but Bush scared me more than Reagan and we had to beat him. He kind of laughed and said that he used to be a Liberatarian, too, until he started to really look at what they stood for. We started talking and he said think about it...what exactly do they support the government doing? Education? Nah. Health care? Not a chance. Infrastructure? Hell, no. Private industry should do that. The list kept going, with Libertarians not wanting any of it, until he got to "war". THAT they'll fund. We were training on registering voters. I picked up a form and re-registered right then and there, and have never looked back.
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)It is one of the aspects of DU I love. We all see politics from a set of experiences, for the most part, and how we might change perspective.
I am a black woman, so Ron Paul always scared me.
calimary
(81,220 posts)I always felt Ron Paul wasnt wired quite right. Just something wrong in there. And CERTAINLY not fit to represent anybody in any government position! And Im as white as cheap toothpaste.
His son? Even WORSE!!!
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)I don't think and I could be wrong, Ron Paul would have been supportive of a guy like Trump during his time in Congress.
Fortinbras Armstrong
(4,473 posts)"A simple-minded right-wing ideology ideally suited to those unable or unwilling to see past their own sociopathic self-regard."
My first objection to libertarianism is that it denies reality. After all, modern libertarianism pretends that only the state intrudes on our liberties. It ignores the role of banks, corporations and the rich in making us less free. It denies the need for the state to curb them in order to protect the freedoms of weaker people. It is the disguise adopted by those who wish to exploit without restraint. It also ignores the libertarian paradise, Somalia.
I know, libertarians will claim that Somalia has nothing to do with libertarianism, and linking the two is a sore point with them. They claim that it isn't true libertarianism, it's anarchy. True libertarians believe in just enough government to protect private property and personal safety; without those protections, they argue, anarchy ensues. The problem is that they cannot point to even one current or historical example of a government that functions as they imagine it should. They have no real world examples, so they ply their arguments as a theoretical construct.
Every example of places with little centralized government is dismissed by libertarians as an anarchistic situation, not a "true" libertarianism. It's the "no true Scotsman" fallacy, Ron Paul edition. The situation in Afghanistan is blamed on 30 years of war and tribal anarchy, rather than the lack of a proper central government. Somalia is blamed again on war, on American intervention, Russian intervention, and on tribal anarchy. Historical examples of feudalism arising in the absence of a centralized state, or dark ages arising after civilization collapses, are dismissed as either irrelevant or invalid because of war and anarchy. The fact that corruption and the Mafia are more prevalent in southern Italy where tax collection and central government are weaker than in the North, is again dismissed as a cultural or anarchistic issue. It's always the same. Libertarianism is an infallible theory of the way things should be, just as Marxism is seen by its adherents. Wherever it fails, it does so because the people weren't ready for it, or there was too much violence to allow it to work, or because the government wasn't powerful enough to protect people from harm.
Libertarians fail to realize that there has never been -- and never will be -- a government that functions according to their principles because it runs entirely contrary to human nature. As any libertarian understands when it comes to authoritarians, power tends to corrupt; and absolute power corrupts absolutely. When you decentralize and remove the modern state, leaving only essentially a glorified police force in charge to protect private property and personal safety, one of two things happens: 1) The central police force turns into a right-wing military dictatorship invested in stamping out all leftist thinking, then appropriating the country's wealth for themselves and their friends (for example, Chile under Pinochet) or 2) All central authority and protection break down completely as power localizes into the hands of local criminals and feudal/tribal warlords with little compunction about abusing and terrorizing the local population (feudal France, Afghanistan, Somalia, western Pakistan, etc.)
The devolution of local authority and taxation into the hands of criminal groups willing to provide a safety net in exchange for their cut of the action is the inevitable result of the breakdown of the government-backed safety net. People want a safety net; they'll either get it from an accountable governmental authority, or from a non-governmental authority of shadowy legality. Both kinds of authority will levy their own form of taxation, be it legal and official, or part of a protection scheme. In its own way, the "No True Libertarianism" argument is very similar to the "No True Communism" of the far left, who argue that the fault of Communism lies not with the idea, but with the practice -- despite the fact that no successful large-scale Communism has ever been implemented in the world. Neither ideology can fail its adherents. They can only be failed by imperfect practitioners. Both ideologies run counter to human nature for the same reason: power abhors a vacuum. The people with the money and guns will always abuse the people who don't have the money and guns, unless there are multiple levels of checks, balances, and legal and economic protections to ensure the existence of a middle-class with a stake in maintaining a stable society. The modern state didn't arise by accident or conspiracy; it evolved as a means of avoiding the failures of other models. Libertarianism is a philosophical game played by those without real-world experience of localized, non-state-actor tyranny, or enough awareness of history to understand the immaturity of their political worldview. It is based, like Marxism, on fantasy and rejection of the real world.
2Gingersnaps
(1,000 posts)All the benefits of a civilized society, none of the responsibility.
MagickMuffin
(15,936 posts)Federal Election Commission is fining Rand Paul.
Rabrrrrrr
(58,349 posts)And yes, you're correct. Whoops! An embarrassing typo.
Though it would be hilarious to see Rand Paul ultimately getting taken down by something obscure like the FCC.
summer_in_TX
(2,735 posts)They deal with campaign corruption. I haven't heard the same RW lines against them as against the FCC.
StClone
(11,683 posts)crickets
(25,965 posts)Another article covering this:
https://news.yahoo.com/federal-election-commission-fines-sen-131218004.html
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)The coward: A spokesperson for Paul declined to comment Wednesday.
Ford_Prefect
(7,895 posts)It's not even 10% of what he kept and used for personal expenses under this ruling. He needs to be nailed for all of the other abuses, too.
oasis
(49,379 posts)SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)Guessing not, but fingers xd... 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)lol
SheltieLover
(57,073 posts)IronLionZion
(45,433 posts)There may be fewer conservatives in Kentucky by next year
BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Kentucky is a mess. Rand Paul will have Koch money and then some but we'll see.
SunSeeker
(51,550 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Booker met with a group of coal miners prior to a community meeting at the Pike County Courthouse, a move he said was all about learning more and diving into the critical concerns about the economy.
For us to realize real change, we need to listen to the Kentuckians. Because weve been ignored for so long, he said. And thats what Im doing now. And Im talking about structural change, how we can get more money in the pockets of Kentuckians, and how we can transform our future.
From discussions about black lung to hearing what has the people of Eastern Kentucky fired up, Booker promised the people in attendance that, if he is elected, the woes of the mountains would be carried to the White House.
https://www.wkyt.com/2021/07/23/charles-booker-carries-senate-campaign-pikeville/
Blue Owl
(50,355 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)DFW
(54,369 posts)To Republicans, getting busted for financial crimes is like winning the Congressional Medal of Honor.
KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)Only way Moscow Mitch won reelection, we will probably have the same problem with Rand Paul.
They that count the votes win.
Duppers
(28,120 posts)brooklynite
(94,513 posts)There's no indication Amy McGrath was competitive with McConnell, much less ahead.
KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)Local election board reQublicans counting the votes decide the winners & losers.
They also program the voting machines with no paper trail.
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)Or is the blogosphere just not as aware of fraud as the blogosphere is?
We spent months slapping down Trump's voter fraud accusations. But apparently rigging voting machines is real if the Democrat loses?
KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)For over 15 years, election security experts and election integrity advocates have been communicating to their state and local election officials the dangers of touch-screen voting machines. The danger is simple: if fraudulent software is installed in the voting machine, it can steal votes in a way that a recount wouldnt be able to detect or correct. That was true of the paperless touchscreens of the 2000s, and its still true of the ballot-marking devices (BMDs) and all-in-one machines such as the ES&S ExpressVote XL voting machine (see section 8 of this paper*). This analysis is based on the characteristics of the technology itself, and doesnt require any conspiracy theories about who owns the voting-machine company. In contrast, if an optical-scan voting machine was suspected to be hacked, the recount can assure an election outcome reflects the will of the voters, because the recount examines the very sheets of paper that the voters marked with a pen. In late 2020, many states were glad they used optical-scan voting machines with paper ballots: the recounts could demonstrate conclusively that the election results were legitimate, regardless of what software might have been installed in the voting machines or who owned the voting-machine companies. In fact, the vast majority of the states use optical-scan voting machines with hand-marked paper ballots, and in 2020 we saw clearly why thats a good thing. In November and December 2020, certain conspiracy theorists made unsupportable claims about the ownership of Dominion Voting Systems, which manufactured the voting machines used in Georgia. Dominion has sued for defamation. Dominion is the manufacturer of voting machines used in many states. Its rival, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), has an even bigger share of the market. Apparently, ES&S must think that amongst all that confusion, the time is right to send threatening Cease & Desist letters to the legitimate critics of their ExpressVote XL voting machine. Their lawyers sent this letter to the leaders of SMART Elections, a journalism+advocacy organization in New York State who have been communicating to the New York State Board of Elections, explaining to the Board why its a bad idea to use the ExpressVote XL in New York (or in any state). ES&Ss lawyers claim that certain facts (which they call accusations) are false, defamatory, and disparaging, namely: that the ExpressVote XL can add, delete, or change the votes on individual ballots, that the ExpressVote XL will deteriorate our security and our ability to have confidence in our elections, and that it is a bad voting machine.
Full Article: ESS voting machine company sends threats
Go and do a google search on ES&S voting machines, which R states/counties use them,
and ask why the R always wins, even when behind in the polls.
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)Except when they don't.
The year before, Governor Beshear (D) won in Kentucky using the same voting machines.
No Democratic candidate, campaign manager or Party official has claimed that voter machine rigging has occured.
KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)DOWN WITH MAIL-IN BALLOTS
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)I didn't say paper ballots were bad. I said there's no evidence of claimed voting machine fraud.
KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)Knowledge is free....try it
https://jennycohn1.medium.com/es-s-is-americas-largest-voting-machine-vendor-7ac10934a923
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)...were the same machines we won on in 2006, 2012 and 2018.
Also funny that none of candidates who lost due to rigged voting machines complained about it.
KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)Didn't read the above article I presume.
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)Bayard
(22,062 posts)Moscow Mitch's approval rating here has been in the 30's for quite awhile. Of course now, he can claim he was all for the Infrastructure bill. Rand Paul will probably ride that horse too.
Rhiannon12866
(205,251 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)KS Toronado
(17,213 posts)Now I've got a good reply when some _rumper in my red town talks about Biden's "Deep State"
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)Booker is a former Kentucky lawmaker and among other pressing issues, he will be speaking about the price of prescription drugs.
Rand Paul will be screaming about imagined freedumbs.
brooklynite
(94,513 posts)In 2010, Paul won 56-44.
In 2016, Paul won 57-42.
Andy Beshear won the 2019 Governor's Election because Matt Bevin was uniquely unpopular. Absent a criminal indictment or a truly unexpected political scandal, I see no practical was Paul is going to lose.
standingtall
(2,785 posts)especially in a midterm. Having said that there is value in running Booker, because if we are ever going to flip Kentucky blue again then we need to run candidates who can make a dent in the culture there. So that sometime in the future Democrats can win there, but it's not going to happen in one election cycle it's going have to be a long term process.