Category Archives: Ron Paul

Ron Paul, byname of Ronald Ernest Paul, (born August 20, 1935, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.), American politician, who served as a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives (197677, 197985, 19972013) and who unsuccessfully ran as the 1988 Libertarian presidential candidate. He later sought the Republican nomination for president in 2008 and 2012.

Paul grew up on his familys dairy farm just outside Pittsburgh. He earned a bachelors degree in biology from Gettysburg College in 1957 and a medical degree from Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, in 1961. He later served as a flight surgeon for the U.S. Air Force (196365) and the Air National Guard (196568). In 1968 Paul moved to Brazoria county, Texas, where he established a successful practice in obstetrics and gynecology.

Paul was inspired to enter politics in 1971 when Pres. Richard M. Nixon abolished the Bretton Woods exchange system. Paul believed that the abandonment of the last vestiges of the gold standard would lead to financial ruin for the United States. Though he was unsuccessful in his initial run for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1974, his opponent resigned before completing his term, and Paul won a special election to complete it. He lost the seat in the subsequent general election, only to regain it two years later. He chose not to seek reelection in 1984 and instead campaignedunsuccessfullyfor the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. He broke from the Republican Party to run as a Libertarian in the 1988 presidential election, ultimately winning more than 430,000 votes. He returned to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican in 1997, though his votes were often at variance with the majority of his party; for example, in the early 2000s he voted against authorizing the Iraq War and the USA Patriot Act.

Pauls presidential campaign platform remained libertarian in spirit. It focused on free-market economics, a radical reduction in the size of government, increased privacy protections for individuals, and a reduction of U.S. participation in international organizations. Having claimed only a handful of delegates, he ended his bid for the White House in June 2008 and launched Campaign for Liberty, a political action committee. In April 2011 Paul, who was popular within the Tea Party movement, formed an exploratory committee to assess the viability of a third presidential run. The following month he formally announced his candidacy. In July 2011, in order to focus on his presidential campaign, Paul announced that he would not seek a 13th term in Congress. Although supported by a devoted and energized base, Paul was selective in the states where he actively campaigned. A second-place showing in New Hampshire was among his best performances in January 2012. He garnered a number of other second-place finishes before announcing in May that he would not campaign in the remaining states. Paul did not endorse the Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, and said on the night of the general election that he believed the only winner would be the status quo. He retired from the House in January 2013, at the age of 77.

Pauls views are outlined in Freedom Under Siege (1987), A Foreign Policy of Freedom (2007), and The Revolution: A Manifesto (2008).

See the article here:
Ron Paul | Biography, Education, Books, & Facts | Britannica

Last week the world stood on the very edge of a nuclear war, as Ukraines US-funded president, Vladimir Zelensky, urged NATO military action over a missile that landed on Polish soil. "This is a Russian missile attack on collective security! This is a really significant escalation. Action is needed," said Zelensky immediately after the missile landed.

But there was a problem. The missile was fired from Ukraine likely an accident in the fog of war. Was it actually a Russian missile, of course, that might mean World War III. But Zelensky didnt seem to be bothered by the prospect of the world blown up, judging from his reckless rhetoric.

While Zelensky has been treated as a saint by the US media, the Biden Administration, and both parties in Congress, something unprecedented happened this time: the Biden Administration pushed back. According to press reports, several Zelensky calls to Biden or senior Biden Staff went unanswered.

When US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan finally returned Zelenskys call, he is reported to have said, tread carefully on claims Russia was behind the missiles landing in Poland. The Biden Administration went on to publicly dispute Zelenskys continued insistence that Russia shot missiles into NATO-Member Poland. After two days of Washington opposition to his claims, Zelensky finally, sort of, backed down.

Weve heard rumors of President Bidens frustration over Zelenskys endless begging and ingratitude for the 60 or so billion dollars doled out to him by the US government, but this is the clearest public example of the Biden Administrations acceptance that it has a Zelensky problem.

Zelensky must have understood that Washington and Brussels knew it was not a Russian missile. Considering the vast intelligence capabilities of the US in that war zone, it is likely the US government knew in real time that the missiles were not Russian. For Zelensky to claim otherwise seemed almost unhinged. And for what seems like the first time, Washington noticed.

As a result, there has been a minor but hopefully growing revolt among conservatives in Washington over this dangerous episode. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene introduced legislation demanding an audit of the tens of billions of dollars shipped to Ukraine with perhaps $50 billion more in the pipeline. The resolution currently has eleven co-sponsors.

Rep. Matt Gaetz has publicly stated that he would not vote for one more dollar for Ukraine. Others, like US Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ),have gone even further. In a recent Tweet Rep. Gosar called US support for Ukraine a corrupt money-laundering operation. As the fallout from the recent collapse of the FTX crypto exchange points to possible political corruption, his claims may prove to be accurate.

When Sen. Paul introduced an amendment to the massive aid package to Ukraine calling for someone to audit the funds, he was ridiculed and attacked. Some seven months later, his position appears far more accepted. And thats a good thing.

When the Ukraine war hysteria finally dies down as the Covid hysteria died down before it it will become obvious to vastly more Americans what an absolute fiasco this whole thing has been. Hopefully Republicans will accelerate that process when they take the House in January. It cannot come too soon!

Originally posted here:
The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : Is Washingtons ...

A Swiss billboard is making the rounds on social media depicting a young woman on the telephone. The caption reads, "Does the neighbor heat the apartment to over 19 degrees (66F)? Please inform us." While the Swiss government has dismissed the poster as a fake, the penalties Swiss citizens face for daring to warm their homes are very real. According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, those who violate the 66 degree heating limit could face as many as three years in prison!

Prison time for heating your home? In the free world? How is it possible in 2022, when Switzerland and the rest of the political west have achieved the greatest economic success in history, that the European continent faces a winter like something out of the dark ages?

Sanctions.

While long promoted often by those opposed to war as a less destructive alternative to war, sanctions are in reality acts of war. And as we know with interventionism and war, the result is often unintended consequences and even blowback.

European sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine earlier this year will likely go down in history as a prime example of how sanctions can result in unintended consequences. While seeking to punish Russia by cutting off gas and oil imports, European Union politicians forgot that Europe is completely dependent on Russian energy supplies and that the only people to suffer if those imports are shut down are the Europeans themselves.

The Russians simply pivoted to the south and east and found plenty of new buyers in China, India, and elsewhere. In fact, Russias state-run Gazprom energy company has reported that its profits have increased by 100 percent in the first half of this year.

Russia is getting rich while Europeans are facing a freezing winter and economic collapse. All because of the false belief that sanctions are a cost-free way to force other countries to do what you want them to do.

What happens when the people see dumb government policies making energy bills skyrocket as the economy grounds to a halt? They become desperate and take to the streets in protest.

This weekend thousands of Austrians took to the streets in a Freedom Rally to demand an end to sanctions and the opening of Nord Stream II, the gas pipeline on the verge of opening earlier this year. Last week an estimated 100,000 Czechs took to the streets of Prague to protest NATO and EU policy. In France, the Yellow Vests are back in the streets protesting the destruction of their economy in the name of defeating Russia in Ukraine. In Germany, Serbia, and elsewhere, protests are gearing up.

Even the Washington Post was forced to admit that sanctions on Russia are not having the intended effect. In an article yesterday, the paper worries that sanctions are inflicting collateral damage in Russia and beyond, potentially even hurting the very countries that impose them. Some even worried that the sanctions intended to deter and weaken Putin could end up emboldening and strengthening him.

This is all predictable. Sanctions kill. Sometimes they kill innocents in the country targeted for destruction and sometimes they kill innocents in the country imposing them. The solution, as always, is non-intervention. No sanctions, no "color revolutions," no meddling. It's really that simple.

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The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : Europe Commits ...

American Presidential campaign

The 2012 presidential campaign of Ron Paul, U.S. Representative of Texas, began officially in 2011 when Paul announced his candidacy for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for the U.S. Presidency.

On April 14, 2011, Paul announced the formation of a "testing-the-waters" account, and had stated that he would decide whether he would enter the race by at least early May. Paul announced the formation of an exploratory committee on April 26, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. He declared his candidacy for President of the United States on May 13, 2011, in Exeter, New Hampshire.[4]

On July 12, 2011, Paul announced that he would not seek another term as the Representative of Texas's 14th District to focus on his presidential campaign.[5] By April 2012, the campaign had raised more than $38 million.[6][7][8][9][10]

On May 14, 2012, Paul announced that he would end active campaigning for the remaining primary states and instead focus on delegate selection conventions at the state level.[11] On July 14, 2012, Paul failed to win a plurality of delegates at the final convention in the state of Nebraska, which ended his ability to ensure a speaking spot at the Republican National Convention.[12] At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Paul's campaign won 190 delegates.[13]

Heavily speculated as a possible Republican candidate in the 2012 presidential election, Paul appeared in the 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) straw poll. Paul won the poll, defeating Mitt Romney, who had won it the previous three years.[14] Paul also won the 2011 CPAC straw poll with 30 percent of the vote. Following that, he also won the paid, online Arizona Tea Party Patriots straw poll on February 28, 2011, with 49% of the vote.[15]

In February 2011, Paul asked supporters to donate to his Liberty Political Action Committee to fund trips to Iowa and elsewhere to explore a possible 2012 presidential candidacy. On February 21, a Presidents' Day money bomb raised around $400,000 in 24 hours. Liberty PAC raised more than $700,000 during its February relaunch.[16][17] By the end of March, Liberty PAC had raised more than $1 million.[6]

On April 14, 2011, it was announced that Paul had formed a "testing-the-waters" organization, similar to Newt Gingrich's efforts in exploring his potential candidacy. Paul's spokesman, Jesse Benton was quoted as saying, "He remains undecided on what his plans will be, but as a final decision draws closer, his team has put the pieces in place for him to flip a switch and hit the ground running if he decides to run for president."[18] Paul announced the formation of an exploratory committee in Des Moines, Iowa on April 26 in preparation for a potential bid for the Republican presidential nomination.[19][20]

On May 5, Paul participated in a debate in Greenville, South Carolina among only five candidates.[21] A moneybomb was scheduled for the same day, which raised over $1 million for Paul's campaign.[22]

On May 13, 2011, in Exeter, New Hampshire, Paul announced his decision to seek the Republican nomination in the 2012 election. The announcement was broadcast live nationally on ABC's Good Morning America.[4]

On May 14, 2012, Paul made a statement on the campaign's website that he would no longer be actively campaigning in remaining state primaries, but would instead continue his presidential bid by seeking to collect delegates at caucuses and state conventions for the Republican National Convention in August 2012.[23]

He participated in a debate on June 13, 2011, at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire.[24]On June 18, 2011, Paul won the Southern Republican Leadership Conference straw poll with 41%, winning by a large margin on Jon Huntsman, who trailed second with 25% and Michele Bachmann with 13% (Mitt Romney came in fifth with 5%).[25] On June 19 he again won the Clay County Iowa StrawPoll with 25%, while Michele Bachmann trailed second with 12%. Paul indicated in a June 2011 interview that if nominated, he would consider former New Jersey Superior Court judge Andrew Napolitano as his running mate.[26]

Paul also participated in another debate on August 11, 2011, in Ames, Iowa, and overwhelmingly won the post-debate polls.[27] He then came in second in the Ames Straw Poll with 4,671 votes, narrowly losing to Michele Bachmann by 152 votes or 0.9%, a statistical first-place tie finish according to some in the news media.[28][29][30][31] He received the fourth most votes for a candidate in the history of the Ames Straw Poll.

On August 20, in the New Hampshire Young Republicans Straw Poll Paul came again first, again overwhelmingly, with 45%, Mitt Romney trailing second with 10%.[32] On August 27, in the Georgia State GOP Straw Poll Paul came in a close second place behind Georgia resident Herman Cain, who had 26% of the vote, with Paul receiving 25.7%.[33]

On September 5, Paul attended the Palmetto Freedom Forum in South Carolina along with fellow candidates Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann and Newt Gingrich. The forum was paneled by congressmen Steve King of Iowa, senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Dr. Robert P. George, the founder of the American Principles Project which hosted the event.[34]

On September 12, Paul attended the Tea Party Republican presidential debate broadcast by CNN. During the event, Paul received both unexpected "cheers" and "boos" for his responses to the questions posed by the debate moderators and fellow debate participants.[35][36] When Rick Santorum questioned Paul about his position regarding the motivation behind the September 11 attacks, some of the audience jeered his response that U.S. foreign occupation was the "real motivation behind the September 11 attacks and the vast majority of other instances of suicide terrorism".[35]

When one of the moderators posed a hypothetical scenario of a healthy 30-year-old man requiring intensive care but neglected to be insured pressing Paul with "Are you saying that society should just let him die?", several audience members cheered "yeah!" Paul disagreed with the audience reaction stating that while he practiced as a doctor in a Catholic hospital before the Medicaid era, "We never turned anybody away from the hospital."[36] Paul elaborated further a few days later that he believed the audience was cheering self-reliance and that "the media took it and twisted it".[37]

Jack Burkman, a Republican Party (GOP) strategist, was asked of Paul's performance in the debate. While Burkman stated that his national radio program's polling suggested Rick Perry won the debate (156 Perry votes to 151 Paul votes), he believed Paul's support is extremely deep like Democrat support for Bobby Kennedy decades before and predicted "he could come from behind as the horses turn for home and win the nomination."[38]

On September 18, Paul won the California state GOP straw poll with 44.9% of the vote, held at the JW Marriott in downtown Los Angeles. Out of 833 ballots cast, Paul garnered the greatest number of votes with 374, beating his nearest competitor Texas Gov. Rick Perry by a wide margin.[39]

On September 24, Paul finished fifth in the GOP's Florida Presidency 5 straw poll with 10.4% of the vote.[40] Paul won with 37% of the vote at the Values Voter Summit on October 8;[41] the highest ever recorded at the event.

On October 22, Paul won the Ohio Republican straw poll with the support of 53% of the participants, more than double the support of the second-place candidate, Herman Cain (26%).[42]

Paul won the National Federation of Republican Assemblies Presidential Straw Poll of Iowa voters on October 29 with 82% of the vote.[43]

On November 19, Paul won the North Carolina Republican Straw Poll with 52% of the vote, finishing well ahead of the second-place candidate, Newt Gingrich, who received 22% of the vote.[44]

In an August Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters across the political spectrum asking if they would vote for Paul or Barack Obama, the response narrowly favored Obama (39%) over Paul (38%), but by a smaller margin than the same question asked a month ago (4137%).[45] Paul finished 3rd in a late-August poll of likely Republican primary voters, trailing Rick Perry and Mitt Romney and ahead of Michele Bachmann,[46] climbing from 4th position which, according to another poll, he occupied only a few days earlier.[47]

In a September Harris Poll, respondents chose Paul (51%) over Obama (49%).[48]

In the Illinois Republican Straw Poll held in the beginning of November, Paul took 52% of the votes of those polled with Herman Cain coming in second with 18%.[49]

In a November 1012 Bloomberg News poll of Iowans likely to participate in the January 3, 2012 Republican caucuses, Paul was in a four-way tie at 19 percent with Cain, Romney and Gingrich at 20, 18 and 17 percent respectively.[50]

A Bloomberg News poll released on November 16, 2011, showed Paul at 17% in New Hampshire, in second place to Romney's 40%.[51]

A Public Policy Polling poll released on December 13, 2011, put Paul in a statistical tie for first in Iowa with Newt Gingrich, polling 21% and 22%, respectively.[52] The RealClearPolitics.com average shows Paul in second place in New Hampshire at 18.3% on December 28, 2011.[53] Public Policy Polling results from December 18 show that Paul is now leading in Iowa with 23%, followed by Romney at 20% and Gingrich at 14%.[54]

A January 2012 Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters across the political spectrum found that in a hypothetical two-candidate race between Paul and Barack Obama, respondents preferred Obama (43%) over Paul (37%).[55] The RealClearPolitics.com average of polls also found Obama (47%) favored over Paul (42%), in a two-candidate race.[56]

A January Pew Research Center poll of registered voters across the political spectrum on the eve of the South Carolina primary found that in a hypothetical three-way race between Obama, Romney, and Paul, with Paul running as a third-party candidate, respondents would choose Obama (44%) over Romney (32%) and Paul (18%). (Paul had repeatedly stated he had no plans for a third-party run.)[57][58]

In polls of likely Republican primary voters on the eve of the South Carolina Republican primary, Paul placed third both in South Carolina (15%)[59] and nationally (14%),[60] trailing Romney and Gingrich.

A Rasmussen poll in April 2012 showed Paul as the only Republican candidate able to defeat Obama in a head-to-head match-up. Paul beat Obama by one point in the poll with 44% of the vote.[61]

Paul's second moneybomb (the first being before his official announcement) was scheduled for June 5, 2011, the anniversary of the 1933 joint resolution which abolished the gold standard. The June 5 moneybomb, which was themed as "The Revolution vs. RomneyCare: Round One", raised approximately $1.1 million.[62] A third moneybomb themed "Ready, Ames, Fire!" was executed on July 19, 2011, to provide support leading up to the Ames Straw Poll on August 13, 2011, raising over $550,000.[63]

In the second quarter of 2011, Paul's campaign ranked second, behind Mitt Romney, in total dollars raised with $4.5 million.[64] This was $1.5 million more than his original goal of $3 million.[65] During that quarter, the Paul campaign had raised more money from military personnel than all other GOP candidates combined, and even more money than Barack Obama, a trend that has continued from Paul's 2008 presidential campaign.[66]

A fourth moneybomb took place on Paul's 76th birthday on August 20, 2011. It raised more than $1.8 million despite a cyber-attack against the site that took it down for several hours, after which the donation drive was extended for another twelve hours.[67]

A fifth moneybomb began on September 17, the date of the 224th anniversary of the creation of the United States Constitution. Continuing throughout the following day, it raised more than $1 million.[68] Shortly after the Constitution Day moneybomb, a sixth moneybomb, entitled "End of Quarter Push", began on September 22 in an attempt to generate $1.5 million before the 3rd Quarter fundraising deadline.[69]

In the third quarter of 2011, Paul raised over $8 million.[8] A three-day moneybomb entitled "Black This Out" brought in more than $2.75 million in mid-October.[70][71]

On December 16, a moneybomb titled the "Tea Party MoneyBomb" took place and raised upwards of $4 million over a period of two days.[72]

Paul was also supported by the Super PAC Endorse Liberty. By January 16, 2012, the PAC had spent $2.83 million promoting Paul's campaign.[73]

In June 2011, online publisher Robin Koerner coined the term "Blue Republican" to refer to U.S. voters who consider themselves to be liberal or progressiveor who generally vote Democraticbut plan to register as Republicans and vote in the U.S. 2012 Republican presidential primaries for Paul. The phrase "Blue Republican" quickly spread after Koerner's article "If You Love Peace, Become a 'Blue Republican' (Just for a Year)" was published in The Huffington Post on June 7. Social media entrepreneur Israel Anderson then promoted the term on Facebook, later teaming with Koerner to expand the movement.[74]

Five days after his original article coining the term, Koerner published a follow-up article on the term's popularity: "'Blue Republicans': an Idea Whose Time Has Come."[75] The article was shared on the social networking site Facebook more than 11,000 times by the time the second article was published.[76]

On June 21, 2011, Paul was the first 2012 Republican presidential candidate to sign the Cut, Cap, and Balance Pledge.[77] This pledge seeks commitments from politicians for changes of the debt limit, spending decreases, and taxation. The pledge also implores signers to endorse passage of a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

During his previous presidential campaign, it was alleged by many supporters that there was a media blackout and suppression of coverage of Paul.[78] Similar allegations arose in the 2012 campaign and received some media coverage.[79] Politico columnist Roger Simon noted on CNN's Reliable Sources that Paul has received considerably less coverage than Michele Bachmann, despite earning a close second to her at the Ames Straw Poll.[80] Simon later opined in Politico that the media was treating Paul unfairly.[81]

Comedian Jon Stewart similarly complained about the lack of coverage, despite Paul polling much better than candidates who received coverage. Stewart presented a montage of mainstream media clips that showed commentators ignoring, and two CNN correspondents admitting to suppressing, coverage of Paul.[82] Will Wilkinson opined in The Economist that "Ron Paul remains as willfully overlooked as an American war crime", arguing that if Paul had won the Ames straw poll, it would have been written off as irrelevant, but since Bachmann had won, it was claimed to boost her campaign.[83] Other commentators noted that Paul has had success at past straw polls but has not turned that into broader success as a reason for the relative lack of media attention.[84]

Paul was asked in a Fox News interview "What are they [the media] afraid of?"[85] He answered "They don't want to discuss my views, because I think they're frightened by me challenging the status quo and the establishment."

During the November 12 CBS/National Journal Debate, Paul was allocated 90 seconds speaking time. Paul's campaign responded, saying, "Congressman Paul was only allocated 90 seconds of speaking in one televised hour. If we are to have an authentic national conversation on issues such as security and defense, we can and must do better to ensure that all voices are heard. CBS News, in their arrogance, may think they can choose the next president. Fortunately, the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, and across America get to vote and not the media elites."[86]

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found in August 2011 that Paul received substantially less coverage than other candidates in the 2012 race.[87][88][89][90] Pew released another study in October 2011 confirming that Paul has been receiving disproportionately low coverage in the media. Paul polled 6.09.8% during the study period, but only received 2% of media coverage, the lowest of all candidates. It also noted that Paul's coverage among blogs was the most favorable of all candidates.[91] In January 2012, The Atlantic cited the weekly Pew study. They noted that despite steadily rising in the polls, Paul has been losing his share of press coverage, going from 34% in late-December 2011 to about 3% in mid-January 2012. They also noted a sharp drop in positive coverage and a small rise in negative.[92]

In June, a group of lawyers and legal experts filed a lawsuit[93][94] in the US District Court against the Republican National Committee and 55 state and territorial Republican party organizations for depriving Paul delegates of voice in the nominating process as required by law, and illegally coercing them to choose Mitt Romney as the party's presidential nominee.[95] Supporters of the effort say there is "evidence that the voting rights of Ron Paul Republican delegates and voters have been violated by nearly every state GOP party and the RNC during the 2012 primary election phase."

The plaintiffs claim that the party violated federal law by forcing delegates to sign loyalty affidavits, under threat of perjury, to vote for Mitt Romney, before an official nominee is selected. The suit alleged that there had been "a systematic campaign of election fraud at state conventions," employing rigging of voting machines, ballot stuffing, and falsification of ballot totals. The suit further pointed to incidents at state conventions, including acts of violence and changes in procedural rules, allegedly intended to deny participation of Paul supporters in the party decision-making and to prevent votes from being cast for Paul. An attorney representing the complainants said that Paul campaign advisor Doug Wead had voiced support for the legal action.[95] Paul himself told CNN that although the lawsuit was not a part of his campaign's strategy and that he had not been advising his supporters to sue, he was not going to tell his supporters not to sue, if they had a legitimate argument. "If they're not following the rules, you have a right to stand up for the rules. I think for the most part these winning caucuses that we've been involved in we have followed the rules. And the other side has at times not followed the rules."[96]

In August 2012, the lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge David Carter, who described most of the plaintiffs' claims as vague and largely unintelligible. The judge said that the one intelligible claim they had lodgedthat the Massachusetts Republican Party had illegally excluded 17 elected state delegates from participating in the national convention because they had refused to commit to a particular nomineefailed because political parties have a right to exclude people from membership and leadership roles. The judge left the plaintiffs "a third and final opportunity" to amend their complaint.[97] The plaintiffs filed an amended complaint just days before the scheduled start of the convention.[98]

Despite ceasing most campaign activities, the Paul campaign did some fundraising in July 2012, in an attempt to fund the transportation expenses of Paul delegates traveling to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.[99] Paul said one of his goals at the convention was to "plant our flag and show that our Liberty movement is the future of the GOP".[99] He also said he was expecting a conflict over "credentials" and the party's platform.[99] As of late August, Paul's pet issue of auditing the Federal Reserve is on the draft version of the Republican Party's national platform.[100] Presumptive candidate Romney would call for the plank's final inclusion.[101]

Paul finished third in the Iowa Republican caucuses, held on January 3, 2012. Paul was projected to receive 7 delegates out of 28, as many as Mitt Romney and one less than Rick Santorum, making him tied for second place in the delegate count at the time.[102][103]

Paul placed second in the New Hampshire Republican primary, held on January 10, with 22.9% of the vote, behind Mitt Romney with 39.4%. He gained 3 delegates from this contest. In the South Carolina Republican primary on January 21, Paul placed fourth and gained no delegates. Paul also gained no delegates in the Florida Republican primary on January 31, after he did little campaigning in the state because of its "winner-take-all" delegate apportionment.

The Nevada Republican caucuses were held on February 4. Paul finished third behind Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney with 18.7% of the votes and 5 of the delegates, behind the winner Romney's 50.0% and Gingrich's 21.1%.[104] The Colorado and Minnesota Republican caucuses were held on February 7. In Colorado, Paul finished fourth with 11.8% behind Santorum (winner with 40.2%), Romney, and Gingrich. In Minnesota, Paul finished 2nd (27.1%) behind winner Rick Santorum (44.9%), with Romney (16.9%) and Gingrich (10.8%) placing 3rd and 4th.[105] A non-binding vote in the Missouri Republican primary was held on February 7 as well, and Paul got 12.2% of the vote. The primary did not apportion any delegates; that will be done at the Missouri caucuses, scheduled to begin on March 17.[citation needed]

On February 17, with 95% of precincts in the Maine Republican caucuses reporting, Paul was running second to Mitt Romney with 34.9% of the vote to Romney's 39%.[106] Neither of the frontrunners have pressed for a recount, and the Maine Republican Party's chairman has stated that recounts are impossible due to the votes being physically thrown away.[107]

The Michigan and Arizona Republican primaries were held on February 28. Paul came in third place in Michigan, with 11.9%; and fourth in Arizona, with 8.5%.

A large portion of the delegates for the Republican National Convention were awarded in March, which includes the Washington Republican caucuses on March 3, Super Tuesday on March 6, and several other states later in the month. Paul came in second in the Washington caucuses, with 24.8%. On March 10, he picked up one delegate in the U.S Virgin Islands Caucuses while Romney added four delegates to the three super-delegates previously known to support him.[108]

Paul received 1.2% of the vote in the Puerto Rico primary, coming in sixth, his lowest polling of any territory during the campaign.[109][110][111]

On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Paul said he forwent Secret Service protection because he considered it "a form of welfare" and that he believed he should pay for his own protection.[112]

Ultimately, Paul accrued the most second place popular vote finishes in the primaries.

The Paul campaign pursued a strategy of gathering support from state delegates as opposed to outright winning states.[113] For example, Paul had a strong showing in Romney's home state, Massachusetts, with supporters getting the majority of delegates there (though they are compelled to vote for Romney in the first round), causing a battle between the Paul delegates, the Massachusetts Republican Party, and the Republican National Convention Committee.[114] A similar situation played out in Louisiana, with the Paul campaign initially winning 17 of 30 available delegates before procedural and legal challenges changed the allocation.[115] Paul also managed a delegate win in Nevada, with 88% of delegates supporting him.[116] Paul won 21 of 25 delegates in Iowa.[117]

Paul remained active in the race through the 2012 Republican National Convention.[118] Leading up to the convention, he won bound-pluralities of the official delegations from the states of Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon (but not the Virgin Islandsdespite winning the popular vote there). During the credentials committee meetings the week prior to the official opening of the convention, the Paul members of the delegations from Louisiana, Maine, and Oregon were disputed (as well as the Paul delegates from Massachusetts), and many of his delegates from those states were unseated. At the same time, Paul delegates from Oklahoma disputed the credentials of the official Oklahoma delegation, but they did not succeed. In the end, he had bound-pluralities from Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada; however, he additionally had nomination-from-the-floor-pluralities in the states of Oregon and Alaska, plus the territory of the Virgin Islands. Under the 2012 rules, this total of 6 from-the-floor pluralities was sufficient to earn a fifteen-minute speech on national television; the rules were changed at the last minute to require 8 from-the-floor pluralities, and thus he did not speak at the convention.[119] Although he wasn't named the 2012 Republican nominee, he did not officially end his campaign or endorse nominee Mitt Romney for president.[120][121] At the convention, he received second place with 8% of the delegates; Gingrich and Santorum had released their bound delegates to Romney the week before the official opening of the convention. Paul's state-by-state delegates tallies were not verbally acknowledged by the RNC.

Paul would end the campaign with 118 delegates, coming in fourth behind Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney."2012 Republican Delegates".

A Ron Paul rally was held in Tampa, Florida, the site of the 2012 Republican National Convention, the day before the convention was to begin.[122]

Ron Paul endorsements

According to Forsythe, Paul has received support from 20 of New Hampshire's 400 state representatives as of early July 2011.[165]

Democratic Party officials

Republican Party officials

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Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign - Wikipedia

OPINION:

The Republic of Molossia is a 1-acre micronation in Nevada not recognized by anyone on Earth. Its currency, however, is sounder than the dollar, pegged to a fixed commodity the way U.S. currency was once fixed to the value of gold, a policy that serves as a built-in barrier to inflation.

Molossia is a 1-acre joke and a tourist destination. Its president, Kevin Baugh, rules as a benevolent dictator over 35 citizens 32 of his relatives and three dogs. Transactions are conducted in Valora, and bank notes and coins are issued in various denominations.

The currencys value is fixed to Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough at a rate of five Valora per 30-ounce tube, the way the dollar was once fixed to the price of gold, limiting the amount of cash the government could inject like heroin into the economy.

Our mission, according to Molossias website, is to pursue sound monetary and financial policies aimed at price stability and create an enabling environment for sustainable economic growth, worthy goals for the other 2.43 billion acres of America to pursue.

Inflation is at its highest in 41 years and the nation is in a recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. Printing presses at the Treasury are going full tilt, with 80% of dollars in circulation by December 2021 having been created in the previous 22 months.

In dollar terms, $4 trillion existed in January 2020; by October 2021, the number had increased five times to $20 trillion, and still, the lust for easy money continued, meaning greenbacks in your wallet, 401(k), and bank account are shedding value every day.

On Friday, Jeff Sommer wrote in The New York Times, The latest government figures showed that in August, even a fistful of dollars bought 11.4% less food, 25.6% less gasoline, and 6.2% less housing than they did a year earlier.

When America followed the gold standard, it needed sufficient reserves on hand to convert paper money into bullion. Since, like tubes of cookie dough, the amount of gleaming bars it was possible to accumulate was finite, it prevented the dangers of fiat currency that were experiencing today.

The nation abandoned the system for the most part in 1933, seeking more flexibility in the name of combating the Great Depression, and cut the last remaining links between the dollar and gold in 1971, when President Richard Nixon feared that foreign nations might call in the notes and clean out Fort Knox.

But by empowering flawed human beings at the Federal Reserve to crank out endless greenbacks as if the faces of dead presidents somehow gave them value, there was no longer any restraint. A member of President Ronald Reagans Gold Commission, Rep. Ron Paul, explained the dangers in a 2021 New York Sun column.

Ronald Reagan once told me that no nation has abandoned gold and remained great, he wrote. Fifty years after Nixon closed the gold window, prices are heading toward 1970s-era increases. It is clear that America is heading toward another Federal Reserve-created economic crisis.

The crisis is here, and although the gold standard seems a relic of the dusty days of President William McKinley, its worth another look to rein in the big spenders in Washington who have delivered nothing like the prosperity and sound money that produced to at last end the Long Depression of the Gilded Age.

Inflation is just like alcoholism, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman said. In both cases, when you start drinking or when you start printing too much money, the good effects come first, and the bad effects only come later, and like alcoholism, the fixes are long and painful.

But the first step is the same for both spending and drinking too much: Stop pouring.

Molossia may be a joke of a country, but all good comedy as my late boss Rush Limbaugh used to say is based in truth. And when a nation seeks to print its way to prosperity with fiat currency, its no laughing matter. Its the surest way to ensure that an economy, like the fabled cookie, crumbles.

Dean Karayanis (@HistoryDean) is a producer of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show, longtime Rush Limbaugh staffer, and host of the History Author Show on iHeartRadio.

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Nevada's micronation of Molossia has a sounder currency than the dollar - Washington Times

Timothe Chalamet in Dune/Warner Bros./Legendary

Despite a day-and-date release on HBO Max, Dune: Part One was a box office success, surpassing $400 million in global ticket sales en route to winning six Academy Awards. Its haul included an Oscar for Best Sound, won by Supervising Sound Editor Mark A. Mangini, Re-Recording Mixers Ron Bartlett and Doug Hemphill, Sound Mixer Mac Ruth, and Sound Designer/Supervising Sound Editor Theo Green.

At Mix magazines annual Sound for Film & TV confab on the Sony lot, Mangini and Bartlett detailed their work on the movie in a conversation moderated by Avid product specialist Jeff Komar, who pointed out that Komar, Mangini, and Bartlett had previously worked with Villeneuve on Blade Runner 2049 (released in 2017).

Did [that experience give] you a better idea of his aesthetic and how he values sound? asked Komar.

Mangini said that they developed a shorthand working on Blade Runner. We learned many vital things, he said. Although what I do sound design and sound editorial is considered to be post-production, Denis always considered sound to be an integrated part of the shoot all the way until it becomes post-production.

Mangini noted that he and Green develop sounds during production often driving portions of the edit. We learned that on Blade Runner and brought it to Dune, he added.

Denis loves to allow us to fail, explained Bartlett. If we try something, swinging for the fences, he might say, its really cool, but not in my movie. It teaches you where you can go maybe all the way, but then dial it back or go in another direction. That was a wonderful thing we discovered on Blade Runner and went for with Dune.

Mangini said the sound is planned early on, first by deciding an overriding sound ethos.

Denis said to us that he wanted the movie to sound as if a documentary film crew was dropped on the planet and the sounds could be captured with a boom pole. To that end, Theo and I adopted FDR Fake Documentary Realism and that was the filter through which all the sound was heard. If it didnt fit that ethos, it wasnt in the film, so we didnt use anything synthetic that didnt happen in an acoustic space. We devised 3,200 original sounds and only three were not originated organically, he said.

Mangini then recounted an anecdote about the creation of one of the movies few synthetic sounds, for the shields.

In science fiction, it says that if theres a forcefield, you should see it and hear it, he said. But Theo and I were dead set against doing what we thought was a trope.

In what Bartlett called an experiment gone bad, he recounted that Theos computer made a strange sound that he captured. Theo saw the value in [that sound] and cut it in when the forcefield hit the shield. That showed us the way out of the problem. As that idea developed, those initial sounds would go on the strike [to the shield] and hold for eight seconds, with VFX adding a glow. Then we added a stutter, and VFX added a stutter also, he said.

This was happening before post-production even started, added Bartlett. This is a beautiful way to do it. Sound should be considered as an organic part of the production process.

Image via Paul Roman

Mangini added that on Blade Runner, Denis said he wanted us to compose with sound. (Hans Zimmer was the films composer.) That meant that Theo, Ron, and I brought a musical sensibility that doesnt necessarily mean melody, but the other aesthetics a composer brings to a movie, he said. We always wanted sound and music to overlap so you wouldnt see the joints [between them].

Bartlett noted that on both movies, they really exploited the spaces. On Dune, I used delays going into reverbs to try new things, he said. The film lent itself to that. You can talk plugins until youre blue in the face, but its how it affects you as a listener what matters is what we did to make you feel a certain way.

Komar asked the panel to explain their approach to Dolby Atmos.

Its not just the giant screen anymore, said Bartlett. This is the pinnacle of what you can do with sound. He revealed that the sound team and Villeneuve had a long talk about using Surround Sound on Blade Runner, but the director said he didnt like it. Then later, he said, I really love Atmos.'

On Dune, Bartlett said, he had so many tracks to play with. It started small but got bigger as I had ideas, he explained. Denis is very much a concept guy. Hell tell you what he wants out of the scene and you go get it. Or he can also be a show me guy. I could try things out and ask him what he thinks, so were showing him, not talking about it. He really has you bring your A-game.

Komar also noted that the dialogue is immaculate crystal clear and audible. Bartlett stated that Denis was adamant about hearing everything well. I clean up the dialogue, EQ it, compression, all the normal things I mix with clip gain to get every syllable heard and balanced, he said. With sound design, it piles up. Everyone wants to be heard but well mute it or push it out of the way. We call them gray sounds that arent useful to us. Its our job to create that clarity and depth for the audience.

Bartlett thanked Komar for Avid adding clip gain, something, he said, we use all the time. With regard to sound design elements, Mangini reported that Villeneuve encouraged the team to pitch their ideas and approved every design element and most of the music before post-production began.

Mangini and Bartlett then walked through the sonic creation of a handful of scenes, including when the Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling) tests Paul Atreides (Timothe Chalamet) by placing his hand in a box and holding a poison-tipped needle to his throat. Explaining that he will die if he removes his hand from the box, she emits an excruciatingly painful high-pitched sound the voice used as mind-control.

Image via Paul Roman

The voice itself was our most complex task, explained Mangini. It took 16 months to finish in the mix and [it] was the hardest thing for Theo to design. To leverage the voice as a weapon, Mother Mohiam must summon the strength of the ancestors. We didnt want to put a filter on the voice or a cocktail of plugins we wanted story-related ideas. So we brought in the voices of the ancestors by recording a group of authoritative women, and we hear their witchy voices throughout the room. He added that they thought it would be cool to also pull the oxygen out of the room. You didnt hear it, but felt it, he said.

Bartlett added that the beauty in that scene is from room tone. It gets sucked out to the high point of the sound, he said. You dont want to get there too fast but keep teasing people in anticipation of whats coming. In building up the sound and score, they used everything from dentist drills to guitars. It was a symbiotic relationship between me and Doug, he added. Zimmers score included Tuvan throat singing, creating cool layers of chanting that were spread out throughout this section.

The rescue of Paul Atreides is Bartletts favorite sonic scene in the movie. There are small sounds, giant sounds, both at the same time and everything in between, he said. Its real storytelling, with sound yanking you around and the score is so epic. It was really fun to mix.

Mangini recounted that the team went out multiple times to the desert to record sounds.

Apropos of FDR (fake documentary realism), I was trying to design the sound of a 400-meter-long worm sucking a Harvester into its maw, he said.

In addition to all the desert recordings, Bartlett said Hemphill came up with ideas such as using the sounds of ocean waves for the sand rippling sounds. When the big cloud of sand washes over Paul, that was Doug, filtering it with a live cue, he said. It was him performing it live.

Mangini noted that he also made a big growling sound as one of the elements of the wormhole. You cant move enough sand for the epic sound we needed.

Komar later asked Bartlett and Mangini to talk about how they exchanged and managed all the sound assets.

Avids ProTools and a shared server system at the studio, answered Mangini. I design sound, record it, populate a ProTools session, and hand that off. When Reel 1 is done, I have a typical review session and we have a Dewey decimal system to keep track of the latest iteration. He added that the way Doug and I work, we dont bring materials and import into another environment. We coordinated the plugins that people wanted to use, where they went, how many PCAs [Principal Component Analysis]. All that is pre-determined in the earliest stages of sound design and then dropped into a ProTools session.

Bartlett stated that he gave [the team] a template for dialogue very early on as well. You just keep carrying these things forward, he said. He also revealed that due in part due to COVID restrictions, he mixed the entire score in his home studio, which was outfitted with Dolby Atmos. It was fun and so intimate, he said. Thats where we really found the voice of the music and where it fit in. And it translated very well when we finally went back to Warner Bros.

For more coverage of the Sound for Film & TV event,click hereandhere, and click here for coverage of The Batman panel.

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Dune Sound Team on Finding "The Voice," Using "Fake Documentary Realism" & the Rescue of Paul Atreides - Below the Line |...

As he seeks his third nonconsecutive term, former Republican Gov. Paul LePage has attempted to soften his stance toward immigration. But his statements have been inconsistent and sometimes contradictory as he balances the desires of his base of supporters with those who view asylum seekers as vital to the states economy.

LePage has long embraced the immigration hardliners in the Republican Party.

He partially channeled concerns over illegal immigration to reelection in 2014, and as Donald Trump described the southern border as overrun with criminals during his successful bid for president in 2016, LePage that same year described asylum seekers as the biggest problemin Maine at a town hall meeting in Freeport.

And what happens is you get hepatitis C, tuberculosis, AIDS, HIV, the ziki fly, [sic] all these other foreign type of diseases that find a way to our land, he said.

Ziki fly was an incorrect reference to the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne illness, but nevertheless, the former governors comments were typical of the language he used during his first two terms as he opposed public assistance for asylum seekers awaiting work permits and embraced Trumps foreign travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries.

The rhetoric hes using now is much different at least sometimes.

And Ill tell you, the governor of the state of Maine should have been parked in Washington, D.C., telling the President to let these people go to work, he said. If youre going to send them to Maine, were going to put them to work.

That was LePage during a debaterecently hosted by Maine Public and the Portland Press Herald as he took a position similar to his rival, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.

Mills and members of Maines congressional delegation support changing a federal law that bars asylum seekers from getting work permits until their asylum application has been in process for more than 180 days.

Weve got to lower the work eligibility, she said. Those people who are here legally and I have met personally with many of them. Lower it to 30 days. Theyre here to enjoy our freedoms and contribute to our economy. They should be allowed to do that.

Mills stance is supported by business groups, including the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, which views asylum seekers as key to solving the states workforce shortage.

LePage, whose political brand is closely associated with his business background, reiterated his view that asylum seekers should be allowed to work during a recent forum hosted by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce even going so far as to obliquely chide Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for recently flying asylum seekers to Marthas Vineyardto make a political statement.

Instead of sending them to Marthas Vineyard, I want to put them to work, he said.

But thats different than what LePage told attendees about immigration at a town hall-style meeting in Mount Vernon in August, according to audio from the event shared by the Maine Democratic Party.

At one point, a man asks LePage how the state can deal with all the illegal aliens that are being dumped into our state, towns and cities.

Well, the only way you can do it is to do what Gov. Ducey and Gov. Abbott are doing. You rent a bus line, like Cyr bus line, and you ship em. You ship em to Washington, D.C., he said.

LePage goes on to say that the bused asylum seekers should be delivered straight to the White House.

That contradicts what he told a crowd of business leaders about immigration during the Portland chamber forum, but LePage also displayed a range of inconsistencies during the Mount Vernon event itself.

After initially suggesting asylum seekers should be bused to D.C., he tried to come around to the position hes taken in debates that asylum seekers should be allowed to work only to get wildly inaccurate pushback about immigration from some members of the crowd.

Well, we are the workers. Theyre coming into our little towns. Theyre bringing rape, murder, everything else, one woman yelled.

LePage again said the state has a lot of unfilled jobs, but the audience shouted over him.

Bring em in legally! Bring em in legally.

Yeah, they dont work!

Look, youre speaking to the choir. The person who has that policy is named Joe Biden, he said.

Im not sure why he [LePage] is saying both things at the same time, said Beth Stickney, director of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition.

Stickney is an attorney and director of the Maine Business Immigration Coalition, which includes chambers of commerce and individual businesses.

Stickney listened to LePages Mount Vernon comments, as well as immigration remarks hes made during debates, and shes identified accurate statements mixed with an array of false ones.

For example, she said LePage has at times insisted that asylum seekers are here illegally, which is false, and at others hes said they are here legally, which is correct.

And Stickney said LePages claim that federal rules prevent asylum seekers from working is also correct, although his claim during the Maine Public debate that the state could circumvent that prohibition with work IDs is not.

State law cannot override federal law. And the only way that asylum seekers will be able to get their work permits more quickly is for Congress to change the law back to what it once was, she said.

Up until 1994, asylum seekers could apply for work permits at the same time they applied for asylum.

That changed in 1996when Congress installed the 180-day wait period that exists today.

In Maine, the wait period has put pressure on host communities to provide food and shelter to asylum seekers through general assistance programs, which was made possible by a bill that passed in 2015 and that LePage attempted to veto, but not on time.

Now, his campaign is currently criticizing Mills for backing the program in an ad that falsely claims asylum seekers are illegal.

Mills giving taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal immigrants, the ad claims.

LePages campaign declined a request to interview the former governor to help reconcile his divergent claims about immigration.

A LePage spokesperson instead tried to make a distinction between asylum seekers who present themselves at a border checkpoint and those who cross illegally and then request asylum when caught by border patrol.

Stickney said the distinction does not change an asylum seekers legal status, nor does it justify bussing them to Washington, D.C.

This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.

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Paul LePage has softened his stance on immigration. Or has he? - Bangor Daily News

1. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw have been married for 26 years. 2. Steve Carrell and Nancy Carell have been married for 27 years. They met at an improv class at The Second City in Chicago and got married in 1995. 3. David E. Kelley, the creator/writer of Ally McBeal, The Practice, Chicago Hope, Picket Fences...the list goes on...and Michelle Pfeiffer have been together for 29 years. They met on a blind date in 1993, and were married later that year. 4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Brad Hall have been married for 35 years. They met at Northwestern (and then both ended up on Saturday Night Live), and got married in 1987. 5. Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin have been together for 51 years. They met in 1971, and after 42 years together, got married in 2013. 6. LaTanya Richardson and Samuel L. Jackson have been married for 42 years. They met at Morehouse College, and then wed in 1980. 7. Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen have been together for 21 years. They started dating in 2001 and got married in 2010. 8. Bo Derek and John Corbett have been together for 20 years. They started dating in 2002, and got married after 18 years in 2020. 9. Peter Hermann and Mariska Hargitay have been together for 21 years. They met in 2001 on the set of Law & Order, and got married in 2004. 10. Pauletta Washington and Denzel Washington have been together for 45 years. They met on the set of Wilma, which came out in 1977, and got married in 1983. 11. Maya Rudolph and director Paul Thomas Anderson have been together for 21 years. They've been dating since 2001. 12. David Beckham and Victoria Beckham have been together for 25 years. They started dating in 1997, and were married in 1999. 13. Tom Selleck and Jillie Mack have been together for 39 years. They met when Tom saw Jillie in Cats in London in 1983, and they got married in 1987. 14. Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy have been together since the '80s, and married for 25 years. They got married in 1997. 15. Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance have been married for 25 years. They met at Yale but didn't start dating until they met again 10 years later, and got married in 1995. 16. James Brolin (father of Josh Brolin) and Barbra Streisand have been together for 26 years. They met in 1996, and got married in 1998. 17. Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond have been together for 28 years. They met at The Second City (like Steve Carell and Nancy Carell) and got married in 2001. 18. Doug Savant, from Desperate Housewives, and Laura Leighton, from Pretty Little Liars, have been married for 24 years. They met while they were both starring on Melrose Place, and got married in 1998. 19. Mark Ruffalo and Sunrise Coigney have been married for 22 years. They got married in 2000. 20. Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly have been together for 21 years. They met while doing A Beautiful Mind, and got married in 2003. 21. Jason Bateman and Amanda Anka (daughter of musician Paul Anka) have been married for 21 years. 22. Elton John and David Furnish have been together for 29 years. They met in 1993. In 2005, they joined in a civil partnership, and in 2014, got legally married. 23. Bryan Cranston and Robin Dearden have been together for 38 years. They met in 1984, and got married in 1989. 24. Jack Davenport (from Pirates of the Caribbean) and Michelle Gomez (from The Flight Attendant) have been married for 22 years. 25. Frances McDormand and Joel Coen (of the Coen brothers) have been married for 38 years. 26. Anna Kournikova and Enrique Iglesias have been together for 21 years. They started dating in 2001, and have been together since. They have three kids. 27. Jim Carter (from Downton Abbey) and Imelda Staunton (who will be playing Queen Elizabeth on The Crown next season) have been together for 39 years. They got married in 1983 after meeting while doing theater together. 28. Adam Sandler and Jackie Sandler have been together for 23 years. The met on the set of Big Daddy, and got married in 2003. 29. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard have been together for 20 years. They started dating in 2002, and got married in 2009. 30. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. have been together for 22 years. They started dating in 2000, and then got married in 2002. 31. Jonathan Jackson (from Tuck Everlasting and Nashville) and Lisa Vultaggio (from General Hospital) have been married for 20 years. He was 20 when they got married in 2002. 32. Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline have been together for 37 years. They started dating in 1985, and got married in 1989. 33. Chynna Phillips (of Wilson Phillips, but also most recently known as the voice behind the viral TikTok sound "Holy Spirit Activate") and Billy Baldwin have been married 27 years. They got married in 1995. 34. Dan Finnerty (of The Dan Band) and Kathy Najimy have been married 24 years. Gloria Steinem officiated their wedding in 1998. 35. Robyn Lively (Blake Lively's half-sister) and Bart Johnson (aka Troy's dad from High School Musical) have been married for 23 years. 36. Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker have been together 20 years. They starred together on Soul Food, and started dating in 2002. They were married in 2005. 37. Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon have been together for 35 years. They met in 1987, and got married in 1988. 38. And finally, Bonnie Bartlett and William Daniels have been married for 71 years. They actually met at Northwestern University, and got married in 1951. BuzzFeed Daily

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38 Celeb Couples Who Have Been Together More Than 20 Years, Which Is Like, 150 Years In Normal People Time - BuzzFeed

Last week the New York Times ran a shocking article claiming that the US intelligence community believes the Ukrainian government to be responsible for the August attack that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian philosopher.

Surely the established narrative that Ukraine is a model western democracy standing strong for our shared values against an aggressive Russian invader is damaged with reporting that Kiev conducted an al-Qaeda style attack on an innocent civilian inside Russia. The murder of Dugina was a textbook definition of terrorism, which is, the use of violence or the threat of violence, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political goals.

Just over a month later, the Nordstream pipelines were blown up, seemingly ending at least in the near term the possibility that Germany may find a way to save its economy by mending fences with its main energy supplier. A leading Polish politician thanked the US for doing the job.

Then over the weekend, the bridge connecting mainland Russia to Crimea was bombed, killing at least six civilians and leaving part of the bridge under water. Traffic was restored hours after the attack, but Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the blame on Ukraines intelligence service. We all know that Ukraine relies on its US masters, so we can assume the US provided the intelligence allowing the targeting of the bridge.

There is a pattern here. More and more brazen attacks are being launched against Russia and Washington is doing little to hide US fingerprints. Why?

The Biden Administration seems to be moving us closer to nuclear war over Ukraine and Biden himself seems to know it. Last week he said, Putin is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons For the first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of nuclear weapons] if in fact things continue down the path they are going.

So the question is if he knows that his proxy war against Russia is moving us closer to the unthinkable nuclear annihilation why does his Administration persist in crossing red line after red line? Apparently, Bidens experts believe that Putin is bluffing and will do nothing about the Dugina assassination, the Nordstream pipeline sabotage, and the Kerch Bridge attack.

But what if theyre wrong?

Normally foreign policy action should be weighed on a cost/benefit basis. Will adopting one particular policy benefit the United States more than the risks involved? In this case there is absolutely nothing on the positive side of the ledger. Will the security and prosperity of the United States benefit more from regime change in Russia than it would suffer should nuclear war break out?

It doesnt seem all that hard. No.

So whats going on here? Why does the US Administration with the support of most Republicans in Congress continue to send tens of billions of dollars in military aid and move us toward nuclear war over a conflict that has nothing at all to do with the United States?

The time to end US participation in this war is yesterday. And if it takes millions of Americans in the streets peacefully protesting while demanding that their representatives stop this madness, then bring it on. Tomorrow may be too late.

This article was published by RonPaul Institute.

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Ron Paul: It's Time To Tell Biden We Say 'No!' To Nuclear War OpEd - Eurasia Review

In Partisans, Hemmer picks up that story where she left off in Messengers of the Right, but with a fresh insight: that Reagans triumph was the end of an old regime, not the beginning of a new one. As Hemmer argues, the opening for populists to make their case was the strategic vacuum created by the end of the Cold War in 1989: Republicans no longer had the fight against communism to unify conservatives of many different tendencies. Reagan had also laid the groundwork for a new kind of presidency, one that promised disruption. Yet, although he attended to traditional conservative valuesdefunding the welfare state and spending lavishly on the militaryReagan largely avoided divisive cultural issues. Right-wing anger festered as it became clear in the 1980s that eliminating abortion and affirmative action, and restoring school prayer, were nowhere on the Republican Partys agenda. A young congressman named Newt Gingrich complained that Reagan had not polarized the country enough. He should have been running against liberals and radicals, Gingrich wrote in a journal published by the conservative Heritage Foundation after the 1984 election.

Although Reagans sunny, optimistic style contrasts sharply with Trumps lament of American carnage, he, too, successfully distracted voters from his lack of policy achievements by blowing the smoke that his voters wanted to inhale. As economic journalist William Greider wrote in December 1984, a few weeks after Reagan thumped Democrat Walter Mondale by 18 points, the president cruised to victory on a gauzy cloud of lies and obfuscation. Even journalists had yielded to the techniques of mass propaganda, Greider wrote, large lies told through the calculated repetition of soothing imagery and potent symbolism. The harsh facts of contradictory realities were no match for it. If the recent election describes the future, he continued, then Americans are being reduced to a nation of befogged sheep, beguiled by false images and manipulated ruthlessly.

Well, hello. And while that new voting public would not emerge full-blown until 2016, populisms capacity to disrupt old arrangements became clear by 1992. In Hemmers telling, the possibility of a populist president in the Trump mold emerged when mainstream GOP strategists understood that Pat Buchanans bid for the Republican nomination, and the independent candidacy of Texas tech billionaire Ross Perot, generated a fervor that Reaganismwith its focus on abstract economic theories and weak response to culture wars issues like feminism, immigration, and gay rightslacked. Buchanans nativist, isolationist, racist, and homophobic appeal to old-style Cold War conservatives resonated with a younger generation of aggrieved white candidates and voters who were coming out of the shadows. Its no accident, Hemmer points out, that only one week before Buchanan entered the race, David Dukean active Nazi, and former Klansmanannounced his own campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

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The Moment the Republican Party Lost Control - The New Republic