Senator Rand Paul's testimony before Senate Judiciary Committee on “Reevaluating the Effectiveness of Mandatory Minimum Sentences.” - Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate

Senator Rand Paul's testimony before Senate Judiciary Committee on “Reevaluating the Effectiveness of Mandatory Minimum Sentences.” - Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate: "If I told you that one out of three African-American males is forbidden by law from voting, you might think I was talking about Jim Crow 50 years ago.

Yet today, a third of African-American males are still prevented from voting because of the War on Drugs."

"The majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, but three-fourths of all people in prison for drug offenses are African American or Latino.

Why are the arrest rates so lopsided? Because it is easier to go into urban areas and make arrests than suburban areas.

Arrest statistics matter when applying for federal grants. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand that it’s easier to round up, arrest and convict poor kids than it is to convict rich kids."

"John Horner was a 46-year-old father of three when he sold some of his prescription painkillers to a friend.

His friend turned out to be a police informant, and he was charged with dealing drugs. Horner pleaded guilty, and was later sentenced to the mandatory minimum of 25 years in jail.

Edward Clay was an 18 year old and first time offender when he was caught with less than 2 ounces of cocaine. He received 10 years in jail from a mandatory minimum sentence.

Weldon Angelos was a 24-year-old who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for three marijuana sales.

Federal Judge Timothy Lewis recalls a case where he had to send a 19-year-old to prison for 10 years for conspiracy. What was the “conspiracy?”

This young man had been in a car where drugs were found. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure one of us might have been in a car in our youth where someone might’ve had drugs.

Before the arrest, this young man was going to be the first in his family to go to college."

The Rational Choices of Crack Addicts - NYTimes.com

The Rational Choices of Crack Addicts - NYTimes.com: "“Eighty to 90 percent of people who use crack and methamphetamine don’t get addicted,” said Dr. Hart, an associate professor of psychology. “And the small number who do become addicted are nothing like the popular caricatures.”"

" “They didn’t fit the caricature of the drug addict who can’t stop once he gets a taste,” Dr. Hart said. “When they were given an alternative to crack, they made rational economic decisions.” "

"when he raised the alternative reward to $20, every single addict, of meth and crack alike, chose the cash. They knew they wouldn’t receive it until the experiment ended weeks later, but they were still willing to pass up an immediate high."

“If you’re living in a poor neighborhood deprived of options, there’s a certain rationality to keep taking a drug that will give you some temporary pleasure,”

“Addiction always has a social element, and this is magnified in societies with little in the way of work or other ways to find fulfillment.”

" “Eighty to 90 percent of people are not negatively affected by drugs, but in the scientific literature nearly 100 percent of the reports are negative,” Dr. Hart said. “There’s a skewed focus on pathology. We scientists know that we get more money if we keep telling Congress that we’re solving this terrible problem. We’ve played a less than honorable role in the war on drugs.” "

Study says wind farms have killed 'alarming' number of eagles in past 5 years | Fox News

Study says wind farms have killed 'alarming' number of eagles in past 5 years | Fox News: "wind farms in 10 states have killed at least 85 eagles since 1997, with most deaths occurring between 2008 and 2012, as the industry was greatly expanding. Most deaths -- 79 -- were golden eagles that struck wind turbines. One of the eagles counted in the study was electrocuted by a power line."

"the scientists said their figure is likely to be "substantially" underestimated, since companies report eagle deaths voluntarily and only a fraction of those included in their total were discovered during searches for dead birds by wind-energy companies. The study also excluded the deadliest place in the country for eagles, a cluster of wind farms in a northern California area known as Altamont Pass. Wind farms built there decades ago kill more than 60 per year."

Senator Johnson and Staff File Comment to OPM’s Proposed Rule - Press Releases - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin

Senator Johnson and Staff File Comment to OPM’s Proposed Rule - Press Releases - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin: "The answer is not to protect the privileged few here in Washington from this legislation. The answer is to repeal a law that is fundamentally flawed, is driving up health insurance costs, is impossible to implement efficiently, and is increasingly unfair to the American people."

Unwise and Undeterred | Cato Institute

Unwise and Undeterred | Cato Institute: "The president was naive when he supported the election of Mohammed Morsi as president of Egypt. He assumed that having a democratically elected leader would result in greater freedom for the Egyptian people, while ignoring the fact that many democratically elected leaders have turned into oppressors — such as Adolf Hitler in Germany and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. Mr. Obama often and unwisely confuses democracy with liberty, seemingly not realizing that the goal is liberty."

"It is hypocritical to argue that we need to attack Mr. Assad for humanitarian reasons, but not Kim Jong-un."

"If Syrian government officials — other than diplomats — were notified they were liable for arrest by the non-allies of Mr. Assad anytime they left Syria, it would exert pressure for a change in behavior."

Federal wildlife officials plan to crush more than 6 tons of seized ivory in Denver next month | Fox News

Federal wildlife officials plan to crush more than 6 tons of seized ivory in Denver next month | Fox News: "The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said publicly crushing the expensive smuggled tusks and carvings is part of an effort to put an end to what has become a $10 billion illegal industry."

How does reducing supply help?!? It will just drive up the price and therefore the risks that smugglers and poachers will take!

The Post Office Is Broke: It's Time to End Washington's Postal Monopoly | Cato Institute

The Post Office Is Broke: It's Time to End Washington's Postal Monopoly | Cato Institute: "The system reflects the typical government attitude: customers are to be captured by coercive laws, not attracted by innovative goods and services."

"USPS is exempt from taxes, regulations, and even parking tickets."

"complain that the post office is forced to prefund its employees’ retirement. Although the practice is common in the commercial world"

Where Are Protests against Murders of Christians? | Cato Institute

Where Are Protests against Murders of Christians? | Cato Institute: "“For the first time in 1,600 years, they didn’t pray this past Sunday at the Virgin Mary and Anba Abraam monastery in a village in southern Egypt.

“Islamists firebombed and looted the monastery, which dates back to the fifth century. For good measure, they destroyed a church inside. They then announced that they would be converting the monastery into a mosque”"

Another Failed Gun Control Experiment | Cato Institute

Another Failed Gun Control Experiment | Cato Institute: "…why didn’t the gun-control lobby warn legislators in 1998 that adopting the toughest gun law in America would do Massachusetts no good unless every surrounding state did the same thing? Far from explaining why the new law would do nothing to curb violent crime, they were positive it would make Massachusetts even safer. …But crime in Massachusetts didn’t just continue, it began climbing. As in the rest of the country, violent crime had been declining in Massachusetts since the early 1990s. Beginning in 1998, that decline reversed — unlike in the rest of the country. …Guns-across-borders might have explained homicide levels in Massachusetts continuing unchanged. But how can other states’ policies be responsible for an increase in Massachusetts homicides? Relative to the rest of the country, or to just the states on its borders, Massachusetts since 1998 has become a more dangerous state. "

Marijuana, Sex and Amsterdam | Cato Institute

Marijuana, Sex and Amsterdam | Cato Institute: "In 2009, the past year marijuana use rate was 11.3 percent in the United States but only 7.0 percent in the Netherlands. This does not prove that legalization lowers drug use; many other factors are at play. But these data hardly support the claim that prohibition has a material impact in reducing use."