Paul Rand: nobody in Congress 'has a strong belief in the rights of minorities that I do'

Senator Rand Paul (R - KY) is pushing with efforts at the Republican voters black and Hispanic, stating in an interview that Yahoo News not "believes there is someone in the Congress, which has a strong belief in the rights of minorities to me."

Reviews were given as a result of the controversy in the lathe to Assistant of Senator Jack Hunter, who resigned last week. Hunter, co-author of the book from Paul The Tea Party Goes to Washington, was attacked by its last radio commentary supporting the ideology neo-Confederate and denouncing the possibility of "a majority of non-whites in America".

Paul has addressed this controversy front, defending the Hunter as reflection and a talented writer whose previous work was designed to shock political.

"If I thought it was a white supremacist, he would be dismissed immediately," Paul told The Huffington Post earlier this month. "We will not tolerate, and I have not seen any evidence of that."

During an appearance at the University historically black Howard University earlier this year, Paul described his efforts to revamp the image of the Republicans to make it more appealing to minority voters.

"Frankly, it's an uphill battle, to try to convince him that we have not changed," said Howard students, referring to the older history of the Republican party as a defender of civil rights. "But that's part of me."

Paul, recognizing the scope of such an enterprise, is optimistic about his chances for points in common between the Republicans and minority communities.

"[The image of Republicans is] not something to change overnight, so I'm not realistic," the Senator said that Yahoo News. "If you were to poll American Africans only on issues without party, you'll find that they are actually sympathetic to Republican problems on many fronts [social]."

While critics often point out the ambivalence he expressed in an interview Louisville Courier-Journal's 2010 on whether he would have voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Paul posture against the imprisonment for non-violent drug offences has gained favour with civil rights groups.

"Many African Americans, particularly young men, make mistakes like children and I do not think that they should be punished for the rest of their lives," he said, referring to mandatory minimum penalties for non-violent drug offences.

At the beginning of this year, Paul, and Senator Patrick Leahy (D - VT) presented a draft law that give judges more flexibility to cancel those minimums and dictate sentences more appropriate.

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Chris Christie Nudged By Gun Rights Group In Key Primary State

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By David Jones

NEWARK, N.J., Aug 2 (Reuters) - A gun-rights group in the bellwether presidential primary state of New Hampshire has warned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that signing gun control bills passed by his state's Legislature could have consequences if he runs for president in 2016.

The Pro-Gun New Hampshire coalition urged its members this week to call and email Christie to ask him to veto the proposed laws, posing a political dilemma for Christie as he seeks re-election in November in the Democratic-leaning state while also eyeing the national stage.

Christie has a September deadline to sign a number of firearm-related bills seen by their supporters as necessary for tackling gun violence, and the gun rights group is targeting four of those measures.

One bill would ban .50 caliber rifles, another would require police to report lost and stolen firearms to a federal database, a third would create a system for instant background checks during gun purchases and a fourth bill would ban gun sales to anyone on a watch list of militants.

"This is an acid test," said Sam Cohen, executive vice president of Pro-Gun New Hampshire, which describes itself as the state's largest gun rights group.

"If he decides to support these horrible bills, then we in New Hampshire are going to do everything we can to tell our voters not to vote for him in the New Hampshire primary," Cohen said.

Christie, a rising star in the Republican Party who rejected appeals from fellow Republicans to run for president in 2012, said in a television interview in January that he would be "more ready" to campaign for the White House in 2016 after finishing his work as the governor of New Jersey.

New Hampshire, which has played a significant role in past elections by holding the nation's first presidential primary, is known to have a strong libertarian streak. The state allows nearly every resident to obtain a concealed weapons permit unless he or she is a convicted felon.

A spokesman for Christie did not return calls.

Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science at Montclair State University in New Jersey said Christie had been careful about tipping his hand on gun control, because he is running for re-election in heavily Democratic New Jersey but understands the pro-gun values of anticipated Republican primary voters in the 2016 race.

"What we've seen is him walk a fine line by delaying decision-making," Harrison said.

State Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in this month's special election to replace the late Frank Lautenberg, said Christie had been carefully weighing his political future with regard to his position on gun control.

"Yes, he is going to pay attention to the threats that are being issued by the gun rights groups," she said.

Oliver added that severe gun violence in New Jersey cities like Newark, Trenton, Camden and other urban areas made gun control a serious issue in the state.

"If he could take politics out of the equation, I do believe Governor Christie would sign some of those bills," she said.

Christie in June vetoed a bill that would ban state pension fund investments in firms that sell or make assault weapons. (Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis; and Jackie Frank)

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Desmond Tutu: A Year for Human Rights in China

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This statement is cross posted on TheCommunity.com. Please go to this link to add your voice to the call.

From June 2013 to June 2014, the world will approach the 25th anniversary of China's crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, when the Chinese military opened fire, killing thousands of students and other peaceful demonstrators.

Today there are calls from incoming President Xi Jinping for a "renaissance" in China, and the realization of the China dream. At the same time, many in the Chinese leadership and media have recognized that the dream for China cannot become a reality without social and political reform.

We have taken President Xi Jinping's statements as a small opportunity for hope that China, in expanding its role as a world power, will begin to throw off some of its more oppressive practices.

We find reason to hope that he and others in the Chinese leadership will hear the voices of ordinary citizens across the globe, when we say that the China dream will not and cannot be realized while its citizens are subject to "thought reform" through the oppressive laogai labor camps.

Since China's Cultural Revolution literally millions of Chinese citizens have been forced into slave labor camps for offenses related to thought and expression. In recent times these include increasing percentages of innocents, including lawyers who tried to defend their own rights and rights of others, ordinary public who tried to uphold their rights and were abducted and sent to jail to be persecuted; and those who have done nothing more than state their loyalty to their religious leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, participate in Christian religions which have not been "authorized" by the Communist Party, or practice Falun Gong, a spiritual meditation system based on the ancient traditions of China itself.

Reports from former inmates of the laogai camps detail prisoners living on the edge of starvation and exhaustion in infested and horrific environments, while being forced to produce commercial goods -- goods that we have unknowingly purchased in Western stores. Uncounted numbers of prisoners, credibly believed to be in the tens of thousands, have been executed and their organs harvested for sale -- a practice so despicable it is nearly beyond our comprehension.

As we approach this historic anniversary, today's world's leaders have the opportunity to distinguish themselves from leaders of the past who, for the sake of economic progress or in the name of "national security," have turned a blind eye to atrocities committed by Chinese leaders against their own citizenry. We ask our leaders to speak on our behalf to President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party. Tell them what they already know -- that the dream of China can be realized only when its citizens' universal human rights and dignity are upheld and respected. And that the laogai system and the brutal repression of freedom of thought, conscience and speech, the most basic of human rights, will remain a festering sore on the China dream until it is addressed and removed.

God Bless You,

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Chen Guangcheng

Get Alerts This statement is cross posted on TheCommunity.com. Please go to this link to add your voice to the call. From June 2013 to June 2014, the world will approach the 25th anniversary of China's crackdo... This statement is cross posted on TheCommunity.com. Please go to this link to add your voice to the call. From June 2013 to June 2014, the world will approach the 25th anniversary of China's crackdo...