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Sen. Rand Paul wrote an OpEd piece in a publication called The Hill relative to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. In it he said, To argue that any politician (Trump) that tells a crowd to fight to take back your country is somehow guilty of incitement is absurd. Had former President Trump made a similar statement at a press conference or in a tweet I could agree. Instead his remarks were made to an angry crowd made of some of his most extreme followers on a day that many believed they could reverse the result of the election. Shouting fire in an empty field or on Twitter does not carry the gravitas as shouting fire in a crowded theatre. Context is everything and no matter how his supporters try to spin it the president was the match that lit the flame that figuratively torched the peoples house. Shame on both Trump and those who support his actions.

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Letter: Paul got it wrong on incitement theory - Buffalo News

The Kentucky legislature wont meet this week due to a series of winter storm events across the state.

Lawmakers are at the halfway point during this years 30 working-day session and the closure means they have to adjust theofficial meeting calendar.

Legislators will return for the sessions 15thworking day on Monday. The deadline to file bills will now be Tuesday, Feb. 21 and the legislature will be in session on some days previously designated as drafting days.

The legislature is still required to adjourn by March 30, per the state constitution.

As of Tuesday, the winter storm knocked out power for about 145,000 Kentucky households, according to Gov. Andy Beshears office. More winter weather events are expected to roll in later this week, prolonging dangerous road conditions across the state.

Leaders of the Republican-dominated General Assembly spent most of the first half of this years session passing bills that curtail Democratic Gov. Andy Beshears powers, especially his emergency powers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lawmakers still need to pass a one-year budget, a process that is trickier than usual because of economic uncertainties amid the pandemic.

So far the legislaturehas only advanceda placeholder budget, which continues state spending at the same level over the past year.

Lawmakers could consider several other proposals, includingmoving future teachersinto a hybrid pension plan,banning no-knock search warrants, legalizing medical marijuana andbanning anti-LGBTQconversion therapy.

The public is also waiting for details of anelection reform billpromised to be unveiled earlier this week, ahead of the original filing deadline, but delayed due to the closure.

Though the measure has been reviewed and supported by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, both Republicans, the bill still hasnt been filed and its contents havent been revealed.

The closure will also delay the Kentucky House Impeachment Committee, which is still reviewing citizen petitions to remove Gov. Beshear and Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The committeedismisseda petition filed against Republican Rep. Robert Goforth last week.

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Kentucky Legislature Won't Meet This Week Due To Winter Weather - WKMS

That one senator is Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Paul is a trained ophthalmologist, not an infectious disease doctor or an epidemiologist. And those doctors who are specialists in viruses like Covid-19 disagree with Paul's views on immunity and masking.

And we all know that wearing a mask isn't just about keeping ourselves from getting sick. It's also to avoid infecting others with the virus. (There's no evidence that someone who has recovered from Covid-19, like Paul, can't still spread it to others.)

(Side note: I reached out to Paul's press shop for an explanation on why he refuses to wear a mask on the Senate floor. They didn't respond by the time we published this piece.)

Paul's colleagues aren't letting his masklessness go unchallenged. Late last week, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio called out Paul by name on the floor.

On Wednesday, Capitol Hill reporters spotted Paul on the Senate floor handing a note to one of former President Donald Trump's lawyers. He wasn't wearing a mask.

The Point: Paul clearly fashions himself as rebel. But endangering other people during a pandemic isn't rebellious. It's just dumb. And dangerous.

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Why won't Rand Paul just wear a mask? - CNN

The House Democratic impeachment managers failed to prove that former President Donald Trump incited the deadly riot at the Capitol Jan. 6, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told "Your World" Thursday.

The managers, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., wrapped up their case earlier Thursday following two days of presentations, including gripping video footage of the violence andnever-before-released audio of police radio communications. A large portion of Thursday's presentation centered on statements from rioters who implied that they went to the Capitol at Trump's behest.

Trump's defense team, which will get the chance to present its case Friday, has argued that the House managers have not proved that the violence was instigated by the former president.

SEN. RAND PAUL:They admitted that President Trump was not impeached for his words. This is sort of extraordinary, because I'm not sure how you incite someone to insurrection or to this violence [that]they say he's alone responsible for if it's not through his words.

They finish up by saying, 'Well, it's not through his words. It's because he advocated that the election was stolen.' Well, so has Nancy Pelosi ... So has Hillary Clinton in 2016. So has [Rep.] Jamie Raskin[D-Md.], the lead House impeachment managerwent to the [House] floor in 2017 and said, "Trump stole the election and I am objectingto seating the certified electors from Florida."

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So both sides have done this, and the fact that they're admitting that they're not impeaching him for his words, because, frankly, they said that his words weren't much different than the words of Democrats.

So really, I think they've given up their case, but they showed endless hours of the terrible violence and mayhem and those people should be punished and on both sides of the aisle, we agree to that. But they never made their case that the president incited them through any kind of unusual language that Democrats, frankly, haven't done much worse.

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Sen. Rand Paul: House managers 'never made their case' that Trump incited Capitol violence - Fox News

Sen. Rand Paul criticized U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who's the House of Representatives' lead impeachment manager, on Twitter Wednesday while the Senate was in the midst of former President Donald Trump's trial.

"So, its ok for Dem Jamie Raskin to try to 'overturn'Trump electors but its incitement to violence when Trump urged Congress to "overturn" Biden electors? Isnt that called hypocrisy?" Paul tweeted shortly before 1 p.m., as theHouse's team laid out their case against the ex-president, who has been accused of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Paul, R-Ky., was referring to Congress'certification of Trump's 2016 victory. Raskin was one of a small handful of House Democrats who objected in January 2017 to certain states' Electoral College votes. Raskin specifically objected to Florida's electoral votes, saying at the time that some of them had been cast by electors who weren't lawfully certified.

President Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time, deemed that debate out of order.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., listens to a reporter after speaking on the Senate floor, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)(Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

The day before Raskin made his objectionin January 2017, he told The Baltimore Sun:"I would love to challenge the Electoral College vote because our election was badly tainted by everything from cyber-sabotage by Vladimir Putin, to deliberate voter suppression by Republicans in numerous swing states..."

"But it's a very hard thing to prove that an election would have turned out differently than it did," he said at the time.

Four years later,Raskin's role as the House's lead impeachment manager has put him in the national spotlight.

More: His son died. A week later he survived the Capitol riots. Now, he's leading the impeachment case against Trump.

Paul tweeted Wednesday:"Naming Raskin to lead impeachment of Trump for advocating for the same thing Raskin did in 2016. Isnt that called hubris?"

"Rep Raskin says Trump promoted the "big lie"that the election was stolen but didnt Raskin promote the "big lie"that Trump stole the election in 2016? Wasnt it Jamie Raskin who 'incited violence'by objecting to Trump electors?" continued Paul, who has made spurious claims of his own about the 2020 election results.

More: Twitter flags Sen. Rand Paul for baseless speculation on voter fraud

Paul, who has been avocal critic of both Trump's impeachments, falsely claimed in December that the presidential election "in many ways was stolen."

The House's impeachment case against Trump does focus heavily on the former president's decision to repeatedly and falsely claim the 2020 election was "stolen" from him, but that isn't the sole basis of their contention that he incited an insurrection on Jan. 6. For example, they also have cited variousstatements he made on the day of the riot, including during a speech he gave at a rally as well as ina video he releasedafter the Capitol was breached.

The violent riot Trump is accused of incitingforced Congress to evacuate and resulted in the deaths of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick and four other people.

Later Wednesday afternoon, as the trial proceedings continued,Paul tweeted out a criticism of another member of the House's prosecution team: Rep. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat.

"This afternoon we have been lectured to by Eric Swalwell, a guy accused of consorting with a Chinese spy. How appropriate!" Paul tweeted.

Kentucky's senator was referring to Swalwell's past connection to someone who allegedly acted asan intelligence operative for China when former President Barack Obama was still in office.

Swalwell's office addressed thematter in a statement it sent to the news outlet Axios in December: "Rep. Swalwell, long ago, provided information about this person whom he met more than eight years ago, and whom he hasnt seen in nearly six years to the FBI. To protect information that might be classified, he will not participate in your story."

The Senate's impeachment trial began in earnest Tuesday, during which Raskin got emotional as he describedhis experience during the rioton Jan. 6, as he and his family grieved overthe recent death of his son.

Raskin told senatorsabout how his daughter and son-in-law were at the Capitol that day and barricaded themselves in an office during the riot,hiding there under a table.

Afterward, he said his daughter told him: "Dad, I dont want to come back to the Capitol."

"Senators, this cannot be the future of America, Raskin said during his tearful speech Tuesday. We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government and our institutions because they refuse to accept the will of the people under the Constitution of the United States.

Reach reporter Morgan Watkins: 502-582-4502; mwatkins@courierjournal.com; Twitter:@morganwatkins26.

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Rand Paul roasts Reps. Jamie Raskin, Eric Swalwell on Twitter during impeachment trial - Courier Journal