Free Republic

There's the Kentucky Derby, and then there's the mad Kentucky highway dash that a 2-year-old filly named Bold and Bossy made this weekend. She threw her jockey during a race Saturday in Kentucky, and then escaped the race park for a 30-minute gallop along a highway and an interstate before eventually getting corralled into a barn overnight. Then, that barn caught fire...

Sen. Rand Paul was told to "get f---ed" during a virtual town hall meeting. The Kentucky senator was taking calls from constituents when one caller named Alexis Toon said, "Hi Senator, I'm a proud Kentucky citizen, and I just wanted to tell you to get f---ed." Paul and his aide momentarily pause before the aide says, "Alright, we'll go ahead to our next question." Toon posted the exchange on TikTok with the caption, "for some unknown reason they called and asked if I'd like to join the town hall Q&A so I took the opportunity and ran with it." The...

Former state Rep. Charles Booker is jumping into the 2022 Senate race in Kentucky. Booker, a progressive who came within striking distance of the Democratic Senate nomination in 2020, announced his latest campaign in a video posted online Thursday. His decision was first reported by HuffPost. “As we go into this day where we celebrate our independence, let’s commit to making it mean something,” Booker says in his announcement video. “And I’m not just asking that of you. I’m going to lead by example. And it’s with that understanding that we have to lead ourselves that I’m going to run...

A Republican congressman called for Congress to repeal the Iraq War authorization and close the massive U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad on Wednesday. Both the war authorization and the embassy compound played a role in the near war between the United States and Iran last year. Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) called the president’s war powers “disturbingly broad” in a Wednesday morning floor speech as he urged members to repeal the 2002 authorization for the use of military force. That law, also known as the AUMF, was originally passed to authorize the war to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but gives...

In a town hall on small business held in his state of Kentucky, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) excoriated lockdown policies and criticized the state's Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Video...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday predicted that the Taliban could overrun the Afghan government by the end of the year as U.S. troops withdraw. “I think there's a high likelihood that the Taliban will be back in control of the country, maybe as early as the end of the year,” McConnell told reporters in Kentucky. McConnell has previously bashed President Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan as a “grave mistake” that will “leave coalition partners and vulnerable Afghans high and dry,” but his comments Thursday put a specific marker on the dire predictions. Some lawmakers and military officials, including...

@NicholsUprising “Rand Paul, he calls himself an eye doctor. He can’t see.” @Booker4KY on his state’s out-of-touch junior senator Video...

@JacobRubashkin Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is up for re-election next year, raised $1,925,637 this quarter and had $3,137,384 on hand on March 31. Charles Booker, who narrowly lost the 2020 KY-Sen Democratic primary, is exploring a run against Paul

One of the most noteworthy observations President Trump made in the statement is that “McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family’s substantial Chinese business holdings,” adding that the Senate Minority Leader “does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat.” National File reported on McConnell’s family ties to the People’s Republic of China in some detail in 2020, covering the various anomalies associated with McConnell’s marriage into the Chao family. Most notably, McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, is the daughter of shipping magnates James and Ruth Chao and the sister of businesswoman Angela Chao, who was appointed to...

President Donald Trump denounced Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday as an 'unsmiling political hack' – days after the Republican party's most senior elected official voted to acquit Trump of inciting the Capitol riot but then blasted his conduct in an excoriating speech. Trump blamed McConnell, whose office sits steps from where a large group of rioters were arrested on January 6, for causing the loss of two GOP Senate seats. Many GOP consultants and some elected officials have blamed Trump's own election overturn effort for costing the party control of the Senate. 'The Republican Party can never again be...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- UPS is suspending at operations Monday night at its global air hub in Louisville for inclement weather, a first since the hub was established around 2000. The company released a statement: At UPS, we are always safety first in meeting our service commitments. That’s why, with 6-10” of snow and ice expected in today in Louisville, we are taking the unusual step of suspending Worldport sort operations and cancelling domestic inbound flights on Monday night, Feb. 15.Sort operations also are cancelled Monday night at the company’s regional hub in Dallas due to severe weather conditions in...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday unleashed blistering criticism of former President Trump, blaming him for sparking the attack on the Capitol while also explaining why he didn't vote for a conviction. McConnell also suggested that Trump could face criminal prosecution for his actions. "There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president," McConnell said. "And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing...

A majority of Kentucky voters do not want to see the Senate convict former President Trump of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to a new survey from Mason-Dixon Polling and Research. A slight majority of respondents – 51 percent – said they would oppose Trump’s conviction in his impeachment trial should the Senate find him guilty of stoking an effort by his supporters to storm the Capitol and disrupt the congressional certification of the Electoral College vote last month. By comparison, 41 percent said they believe Trump should be convicted on the charges, while another 8 percent...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday said hearing that Chief Justice John Roberts would not preside over former President Trump's upcoming impeachment trial "crystalized" the GOP argument that the proceedings are unconstitutional. Paul emerged as a hero for Trump supporters this week after he used a little-known procedural tactic, a privileged constitutional point of order, to strike a severe blow to Democrats' hopes of convicting the former president on a House-passed article of impeachment. Forty-five GOP senators voted this week to support Paul's motion that said Trump's impeachment trial of Trump is unconstitutional since he's no longer in office. "We've...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Three grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case have filed a petition to impeach Attorney General Daniel Cameron, accusing him of committing "misdemeanors in office" that include lying to them about the Taylor investigation. The petition, filed with the state House of Representatives on Friday, accuses Cameron of lying repeatedly to citizens about what was presented to the grand jury reviewing the March 13 fatal shooting of Taylor by Louisville police.The grand jurors, who are not identified in the petition, claim Cameron (R) and his employees excluded information from jurors, and misled them and citizens in...

American conservatives know that after Democrats all but cheered on violence and rioting for months, the idea that Trump incited an insurrection is pure nonsense. It’s a lie and McConnell’s parroting of it is disqualifying for leadership. So why is McConnell playing along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s charade of impeachment? He thinks he can get the conservative movement back on his and the Chamber of Commerce’s team. He can’t. If he pushes this impeachment conviction, as he seems to be, he should have no place in Republican leadership. It is nothing short of a betrayal of Republican voters.

"The text of the Constitution is clear. States select electors. Congress does not. Accordingly, our path forward is also clear. We mush respect the states' authority here," the statement said. "Though doing so may frustrate or immediate political objectives, we have sworn an oath to promote the Constitution above our policy goals." The seven Republicans began their statement by expressing outrage at the "significant abuses in our election system" through "reckless" adoption of mail-in ballots leading up to the November election. Trump and several other congressional leaders have complained of voter fraud tied to the widespread use of mail-in ballots...

Sen. Mitch McConnell: There's "growing willingness on both sides of the aisle to at least re-examine the special legal protections afforded to technology companies under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act." Video...

LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – A 32-year-old would me robber is killed by a store employee during an early-morning robbery attempt in Laurel County, investigators say. According to Laurel County Sheriff John Root, Jacob S. Vann, of Keavy, died from gunshot wounds during an attempted robbery of the Bait Bucket store on Highway 312 about 11 mils south of London. Just before 7 a.m. Saturday, Vann entered the store and demanded money, “inferring he had a weapon and assaulted a male store employee during the robbery attempt,” Root said in a statement. Another male employee pulled a weapon and shot...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced early Tuesday morning that the Senate will return to Washington on Dec. 29 in order to respond to a potential veto from President Trump of a mammoth defense bill. McConnell, speaking from the Senate floor, said that he had struck a deal with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the chamber to return for a rare post-Christmas session where he said they will "process" a veto override, if it's passed by the House. "My intention was and is to ensure the Senate continues fulfilling our obligation to the men and women of...