Check out the originators of the Liberty Tree and friend of liberty

Rand Paul

U.S. Senator for Kentucky | I fight for the Constitution, individual liberty and the freedoms that make this country great.

Posted on August 12, 2021

'Seriously people—STOP BUYING MASKS!' - Surgeon General Jerome Adams

Jeffrey H. Anderson writes at City-Journal:

"Seriously people - STOP BUYING MASKS!'

So tweeted then–surgeon general Jerome Adams on February 29, 2020, adding, 'They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus.' Two days later, Adams said, 'Folks who don’t know how to wear them properly tend to touch their faces a lot and actually can increase the spread of coronavirus.'

Less than a week earlier, on February 25, public-health authorities in the United Kingdom had published guidance that masks were unnecessary even for those providing community or residential care: 'During normal day-to-day activities facemasks do not provide protection from respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19 and do not need to be worn by staff.'

About a month later, on March 30, World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Program executive director Mike Ryan said that 'there is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any particular benefit.' He added, 'In fact there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite' because of the possibility of not 'wearing a mask properly or fitting it properly' and of 'taking it off and all the other risks that are otherwise associated with that.'

Surgical masks were designed to keep medical personnel from inadvertently infecting patients’ wounds, not to prevent the spread of viruses. Public-health officials’ advice in the early days of Covid-19 was consistent with that understanding. Then, on April 3, 2020, Adams announced that the CDC was changing its guidance and that the general public should hereafter wear masks whenever sufficient social distancing could not be maintained.

Fast-forward 15 months. Rand Paul has been suspended from YouTube for a week for saying, 'Most of the masks you get over the counter don’t work.”

Read the entire report here.

Posted on August 12, 2021

Kentucky's Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has issued a mask mandate for school children. Here's my response

Kentucky's Democratic Governor Andy Beshear has issued a mask mandate for children returning to school in my state this fall.

Here's my response.

Posted on August 10, 2021

Rand Paul after getting suspended by 'leftwing cretins' at YouTube: A 'badge of honor'

Last week, YouTube censored a video posted by Sen. Rand Paul for contradicting government guidelines on masks.

On Tuesday, YouTube removed the video and suspended the senator's account for seven days, as reported by The Daily Wire (where you can also watch the banned video).

Paul told Liberty Tree that he considered being banned by YouTube a "badge of honor" and scorned the "leftwing cretins at Youtube banning me for seven days for a video that quotes two peer reviewed articles saying cloth masks don’t work."

Paul said in a video in which he responded to YouTube's actions, “Censorship by YouTube is very dangerous as it stifles debate and promotes groupthink where the ‘truth’ is defined by people with a political agenda."

Titled “It Is Time For Unfiltered News,” that video was also removed by YouTube. You can still watch it on Paul's Rumble channel.

Google said it removed the content because “This video has been removed for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines."

Paul said in response, which is no longer on YouTube, “YouTube said the video violated their policy because of my comments on masks, and that they don’t allow videos that contradict government’s guidance on COVID."

Sen. Paul expressed concern that Big Tech companies are behaving like the government during a press call on Tuesday.

“I’m not sure when YouTube became an arm of the government, and I’m not really sure it’s good for journalism to also be an arm of the government without any repercussions or push back, Paul said.

Paul said that private companies have the right to host content or not as they please, Big Tech's lack of interest in free speech is concerning.

“As a libertarian-leaning Senator, I think private companies have the right to ban me if they want to, but I think it is really anti-free speech, anti-progress of science, which involves skepticism and argumentation to arrive at the truth,” Paul said.

He continued, “We realize this in our court systems that both sides present facts on either side of a question and complete an adversarial process to reach the truth in each case.”

The senator said such decisions being made by Big Tech companies could also affect the quality of journalism.

“Journalism isn’t far from that and in some ways, the adversarial part of the courtroom is ideally what you would find in journalism, where both sides would present facts, there is a period of argumentation and people figure out the truth for themselves,” Paul explained.

Paul added, “YouTube and Google though, have become an entity so huge that they think they are the arbitrator of truth.”

Sen. Paul also urged seeking other alternative platforms, “I will try to channel my anger, not in breaking these companies up but by publicly expressing my disagreement with them and publicly promoting other channels that offer free speech alternatives."

Posted on August 10, 2021

I have been BANNED by YouTube

I haven't lied. I haven't used expletives. I haven't spread misinformation.

I have only told the truth about what our government seeks to do to us, curtailing our most basic liberties, using the COVID-19 pandemic as their excuse.

So let me repeat: We must reject any new lockdowns. We must defy any new arbitrary mandates. They didn't work the first time and we shouldn't tolerate them again.

It is time for us to resist.

It appears YouTube has now banned me for seven days for telling the truth. Don't expect to see Anthony Fauci or any other government official get the same treatment from YouTube, even though so many of their recommendations are anti-science and therefore detrimental to our nation's health, both physical and mental.

Censorship by YouTube is very dangerous as it stifles debate and promotes groupthink where the 'truth' is defined by people with a political agenda.

So in the meantime, I encourage everyone to visit my Rumble channel instead, where I will not be censored. News will not be censored at Rumble.

In a free society, truth should never be censored. If only YouTube agreed.

Posted on August 9, 2021

It’s time for us to resist

It’s time for us to resist. They can’t arrest all of us. They can’t keep all of your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government building closed…

We don’t have to accept the mandates, lockdowns & harmful policies of the petty tyrants & bureaucrats. We can simply say "no, not again."

Nancy Pelosi, you will not arrest or stop me or anyone on my staff for doing our jobs…We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport. We will not wear a mask. We will not be forced into random screenings and testings so you can continue your drunk with power reign over the Capitol.

President Biden, we will not accept your agencies’ mandates or your reported moves toward a lockdown.

No one should follow the CDC’s anti-science mask mandates. And if you want to shut down federal agencies again, some of which aren’t even back to work yet, I will stop every bill coming through the Senate with an amendment to cut their funding if they don’t come back to work in person…

Will we allow these people to use fear and propaganda to do further harm to our society, economy and children?

Or will we stand together and say, "absolutely not. Not this time."

"I choose freedom."

Posted on August 8, 2021

Former Biden COVID adviser: cloth masks 'are not very effective'

Just The News reports, "A key SARS-Cov-2 expert acknowledged this week that a mainstay of the global coronavirus response — the use of cloth masks — does little to stop the spread of the virus.

Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and an adviser on President Joe Biden's transitional COVID-19 advisory board, made the stunning claim on CNN this week amid escalating worldwide fears and concerns over the "Delta variant" of COVID-19.

"We know today that many of the face cloth coverings that people wear are not very effective in reducing any of the virus movement in or out," Osterholm said during the interview.

"We need to talk about better masking," he said. "We need to talk about N-95 respirators, which would do a lot for both people who are not yet vaccinated or not previously infected."

Posted on August 5, 2021

Americans deserve the truth about Gain-of-Function research and the Wuhan lab

Rand Paul writes at National Review:

"Fact: Dr. Anthony Fauci, without a doubt, knew the National Institutes of Health (NIH) granted funds for gain-of-function research to the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab.

It’s no secret that gain-of-function research has been deemed a controversial practice since its beginning. However, that hasn’t stopped the NIH from approving funding for it abroad and in the United States under Dr. Fauci’s watch.

Time after time, Dr. Fauci has refused to take ownership of lying to Congress about the funding…

It’s evident that Dr. Fauci doesn’t want to acknowledge funding this dangerous type of research, in this case gain-of-function research.

Dr. Fauci is obfuscating the truth and trying to cover up for the fact that he lied and got caught. I won’t let him get away with this and will continue to shine a light on this issue."

Posted on August 4, 2021

Rand Paul on NIH Director: 'How can people who are so smart say such stupid things?'

After National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins advised parents to wear masks indoors around their unvaccinated children on Twitter on Tuesday...

Sen. Paul asked Fox News host Ben Domenech, "How can people who are so smart say such stupid things?"

“There is no science to defend putting your kids in masks or parents wearing masks," Paul said. "No science whatsoever.”

Paul then explained at length the insanity of Collins' advice.

"If there were, we would be wearing masks for years and years, because for kids the death rate is about the same as the seasonal flu. It may be less than the seasonal flu.

So, is Francis Collins proposing that because the flu is with us forever that parents should be wearing masks around their kids that have the flu?

It is absolutely and utterly without scientific evidence.

Now they’re all freaking out right now about the Delta variant. One thing is in all likelihood true, it is significantly more transmissible.

But guess what? Every bit of evidence shows that it is less deadly. Significantly less deadly.

Public health England looked at 92,000 people. If you were vaccinated and under 50 there were no deaths. If you were unvaccinated and under 50, .08 percent. It’s still very, very small.

So it’s not an argument for not getting vaccinated, it is an argument for not getting hysterical over the Delta variant.

We shouldn’t be changing any mandates and really in all likelihood, the masks didn’t affect the trajectory of the virus at all. The only thing that is slowing the virus down is the vaccine and natural immunity, and they continue to ignore natural immunity, they think we’re too far behind, we have to vaccinate the children."

Paul added, "But in reality, I think its 90 percent of people over 65 have been vaccinated. That’s extraordinary."

"We should be celebrating!"

Posted on August 4, 2021

Stanford and Harvard professors: Despite alarmism, there’s no real resurgence in COVID-19 crisis

FEE's Brad Polumbo on how "Despite ‘Delta’ Alarmism, US COVID Deaths Are at Lowest Level Since March 2020, Harvard and Stanford Professors Explain."

“It is striking that COVID mortality is at such low levels despite the fact that we are seeing an increase in cases of late,' Stanford Professor of Medicine Dr. Jay Bhattacharya tells FEE. 'By immunizing the elderly and many other vulnerable people, we have provided them with excellent protection against severe disease in case they get infected. Also contributing is widespread natural immunity from recovered COVID patients. Though cases may rise, deaths will no longer follow in proportion.  We have effectively defanged the disease with our successful vaccination rollout.'

So, there’s simply no reason to expect the long downward trend in deaths shown in the above graph to suddenly spike upwards. And we can’t make public policy based on worst-case scenarios.

That’s right: despite all the alarmism and clamor for renewed restrictions on our liberty, there’s not really been a resurgence in the state of the COVID-19 crisis itself.

“We should be declaring a great and resounding success,' Bhattacharya told FEE in conclusion. 'The COVID emergency is over. We still need to take COVID seriously, and there are still vulnerable people here and abroad left to vaccinate. But we can start to treat it as one disease among many that afflict people rather than an all-consuming threat.”

Read more here.

Posted on August 4, 2021

Mask mandates and lockdowns from petty tyrants? No, not again. Choose freedom

From Rand Paul's Fox News column today in which he urges Americans to resist more mandates and lockdowns from "petty tyrants" and to instead "choose freedom:"

"Resist.

They can’t arrest us all. They can’t keep all your kids home from school. They can’t keep every government building closed – although I’ve got a long list of ones they should.

We don’t have to accept the mandates, lockdowns, and harmful policies of the petty tyrants and feckless bureaucrats. We can simply say no, not again.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi — you will not arrest or stop me or anyone on my staff from doing our jobs. We have all either had COVID, had the vaccine, or been offered the vaccine. We will make our own health choices. We will not show you a passport, we will not wear a mask, we will not be forced into random screening and testing so you can continue your drunk with power rein over the Capitol.

President Biden — we will not accept your agencies’ mandates or your reported moves toward a lockdown. No one should follow the CDC’s anti-science mask mandates. And if you want to shutdown federal agencies again — some of which aren’t even back to work fully — I will stop every bill coming through the Senate with an amendment to cut their funding if they don’t come to work."

Read the entire column here.

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