{"id":442490,"date":"2025-09-22T04:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T04:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/442490\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T04:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T04:49:10","slug":"rand-paul-vows-to-protect-free-speech-but-says-theres-no-right-to-employment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/442490\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand Paul vows to protect free speech but says there’s no ‘right to employment’"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jaime Lueke<\/strong>
Kentucky Lantern<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brandon Carr\u2019s criticism of comedian Jimmy Kimmel was \u201cabsolutely inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FCC was wrong to weigh in. And I\u2019ll fight any \u2014 any \u2014 attempt by the government to get involved with speech. I will fight,\u201d Paul said Sunday on\u00a0NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Paul said, \u201cpeople have to also realize that despicable comments, you have the right to say them, but you don\u2019t have the right to employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sen. Rand Paul (File photo)<\/p>\n

The Kentucky Republican dodged saying anything directly critical of President Donald Trump as host Kristen Welker asked about\u00a0Trump\u2019s threats\u00a0to broadcasters\u2019 license over negative coverage of him and the president\u2019s demands over the weekend that Attorney General Pam Bondi\u00a0criminally prosecute\u00a0his political enemies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think lawfare in all forms is bad,\u201d said Paul, asserting that Democrats had misused the justice system to unfairly punish Trump when Democrat Joe Biden was president.
\u00a0
\u201cIt\u2019s wrong now. But you have to put it into context also and acknowledge that the king of all lawfare was Biden and the Democrats for four years. What they did to Donald Trump was an abomination. But yes, it is not right for the Trump administration to do the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul also contended that the Biden administration had engaged in censorship, pressuring social media companies during the pandemic to police content related to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

ABC, which is owned by Disney,\u00a0suspended\u00a0comedian Kimmel\u2019s late-night show after FCC chairman Carr criticized some of his remarks about the killing of right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk and Trump\u2019s response to it.
\u00a0
Paul said that he and his wife, Kelly Paul, had spoken at Kirk events, including on college campuses. Kirk was debating with students at a college in Utah when he was fatally wounded.
\u00a0
Paul said that Kirk stood out from \u201ca lot of the argumentation you see either on TV or on the internet where everybody\u2019s drowning people out\u201d because of his willingness to hear opposing points of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually would listen to people. So I think he\u2019ll be remembered for that and also being remembered for a guy that was trying to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that I think should be applauded.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0risk of a government shutdown looming\u00a0at month\u2019s end if the Senate cannot agree on a temporary spending plan, Paul, a deficit hawk, said, \u201cI\u2019m not going to vote for the Republican plan or the Democrat plan. I think eventually they come together. But typically, the compromise is to make things worse. The compromise through the years is the right gets more military spending, the left gets more welfare spending, and the deficit continues to explode.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur debt has been downgraded; our triple A rating has been taken away. There is unrest, and I do believe that we face serious problems as a country if we don\u2019t do something so simple as just start spending what comes in. Balance our budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul was one of only two Senate Republicans to vote against Trump\u2019s tax and spending bill in July.<\/p>\n

This story first appeared in the Kentucky Lantern, a part of States Newsroom, the nation\u2019s largest state-focused nonprofit new organization. It is reprinted here under Creative Commmons license.<\/p>\n

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