Free Republic

Partial Transcript Courtesy of ABC News of Sunday’s Freedom Partners 2016 Presidential Forum with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen Marco Rubio (R-FL), moderated by ABC’s Jonathan Karl, on the issue of Iran sanctions.

With Republicans in Congress split over the best approach to Obama's executive amnesty - and with many establishment Republicans splitting form grassroots Republicans on the issue of illegal immigration more generally - it's clear that immigration will be a hot-button primary issue in 2016. ... So where do the potential candidates stand? Here's a rundown: ...

<p>President Barack Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he travels to Washington in March, the White House said Thursday, one day after being caught off-guard by Republicans' invitation for the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress.</p>

For now, senators say it’s not a problem that one of the most powerful Republicans in D.C. already has a likely presidential candidate. “I work with Sen. McConnell on stuff, I make sure he knows what I’m doing to try and get it across the finish line,” Paul said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made no secret that he’ll support his fellow Kentuckian, Sen. Rand Paul, should Paul run for president in 2016. And Paul has also made no secret that he very, very likely will do just that. But there’s a lot of time between now and the...

After collecting endorsements from various labor groups throughout his gubernatorial campaign, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway received the Kentucky State AFL-CIO’s backing on Tuesday. The AFL-CIO represents a number of labor organizations, some of which have already endorsed Conway’s gubernatorial bid. Still, the group’s support brings the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, United Steelworkers and United Association of Pipefitters, among others, to the fold. Conway and his running mate, House Majority Caucus Chairwoman Sannie Overly of Paris, remain the only prominent Democratic ticket in the race with a week until the Jan. 27 filing deadline. The 45-year-old,...

If Americans were honest with themselves they would acknowledge that the Republic is no more. We now live in a police state. If we do not recognize and resist this development, freedom and prosperity for all Americans will continue to deteriorate. All liberties in America today are under siege. It didn’t happen overnight. It took many years of neglect for our liberties to be given away so casually for a promise of security from the politicians. The tragic part is that the more security was promised — physical and economic — the less liberty was protected. With cradle-to-grave welfare protecting...

With 2016 rumblings abounding, we forgot about Rick Santorum. The former Pennsylvania Senator threw some early punches last week at his potential rivals, calling Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “bomb throwers,” who had no real accomplishments on their resumes (via NYT): Discussing Mr. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, Mr. Santorum raised four policy issues that he said would prompt questions about Mr. Huckabee’s fealty to conservative principles. Mr. Santorum was even harsher when discussing Mr. Paul of Kentucky and Mr. Cruz of Texas, both first-term senators, dismissing them as...

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes says she will run for statewide office this year. The former Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate said she has been encouraged to run for governor, attorney general and to seek re-election as Secretary of State. Grimes said she has not decided what she will do yet but that she will file for office before the Jan. 27 deadline. On Monday, Grimes attended the Alpha Phi Alpha Unity Breakfast in Lexington with former state Sen. Georgia Davis Powers. With a campaign photographer in tow, Grimes worked the room of about...

A proposal in the Kentucky legislature would require that transgender students avoid school restrooms, locker rooms and showers that don’t correspond with their sex assigned at birth. The Kentucky Student Privacy Act, sponsored by Republican state Sen. C.B. Embry, is also designed to punish school administrators who give transgender students access to school facilities designated for the opposite sex. “Parents have a reasonable expectation that schools will not allow minor children to be viewed in various states of undress by members of the opposite biological sex, nor allow minor children to view members of the opposite sex in various states...

During his breaking news coverage of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear four different cases challenging same-sex marriage bans in four different states this term — Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee — Fox News’ Shepard Smith compared the remaining resistance to marriage equality in this country to those who wanted to keep segregation intact during the Civil Rights Movement. “Not in every case, but in most cases, the same states which were fighting integration are fighting this as well,” Smith said. “Those states which always seem to be behind the curve for reasons which are explainable and understandable. Those are...

In a recent speech, Senator Rand Paul urged an audience of conservatives to embrace judicial activism. According to Paul, judicial activism is a good thing because it advances liberty and furthers conservative goals. Legislatures do “bad things,” Paul argues, and judicial activism is helpful to stop that: Judicial activism can overturn liberal laws such as Obamacare and the employment laws at issue in Lochner v. New York. According to Senator Paul, there is “a role for the Supreme Court to mete out justice.” As a result, he considers himself a judicial activist in debates over Locher, the New Deal in...

Two missing Kentucky residents have ditched one stolen vehicle in Georgia and might have switched to another, Grayson County, Ky., Sheriff Norman Chaffins said Thursday. Cheyenne Phillips, 13, and Dalton Hayes, 18, have been missing from Grayson County since early this month. And Chaffins says he's getting increasingly concerned because they could be headed into serious trouble. "I don't think they know where they are going, to be honest with you," he said Thursday. "I think they're just driving, and it's getting increasingly dangerous for them." Chaffins said the teens ditched a stolen red Toyota pickup they had been driving...

The Obama administration is stepping up its push to stave off a bipartisan congressional effort to enact new economic sanctions on Iran as the United States tries to secure a permanent deal to wind down the country’s nuclear program. At a University of Louisville event alongside new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose chamber is expected to pursue new sanctions in the coming weeks, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power argued that new congressional sanctions will upset ongoing negotiations with Iran and turn off a multilateral international coalition that has worked together to isolate Iran politically and...

There’s been little heat so far in Kentucky over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a technique of drilling for oil and natural gas that has caused division elsewhere in the country, but now the controversy has gushed up here. The potential to develop a vast underground shale layer that curves from the northeastern part of the state through Central Kentucky has sparked increased interest among oil and gas companies within the last 18 months. Companies signed hundreds of additional oil and gas leases with landowners in 2014, according to local officials. Much of the interest has been in Lawrence, Johnson and...

The state Senate passed an abortion-related measure by a 30-5 vote today. Senate Bill 4, introduced by Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, calls for a face-to-face meeting between the pregnant woman and a healthcare provider at least 24-hours before an abortion takes place. Adams said current law states a physician, licensed nurse, physician assistant or social worker must verbally inform the woman of the medical risks and abortion alternatives at least 24-hours before an abortion, but it does not specify that the information be given in a face-to face meeting. She said it is sometimes done via a recorded telephone...

At the start of the last Congress, John Cornyn wrote an editorial titled “Partial Government Shutdown May Be Needed to Restore Fiscal Sanity.” He’s singing a different tune today. “I’ve evolved,” the Texas Republican and newly minted Senate majority whip said in an interview last week with CQ Roll Call. For starters, the memory of the 2013 shutdown over Obamacare instigated by his fellow Texas senator, Ted Cruz, remains fresh. “Part of wisdom is to learn from your experiences, and I think we learned the hard way that shutdowns are not well received by the American people,” Cornyn said. “And...

Democrats launched the first filibuster of the new Congress on Thursday, objecting to the GOP’s effort to try to bring the Keystone XL pipeline bill to the floor early next week. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to schedule action early next week on the bill, and promised an open process, including allowing both sides to offer amendments to the bill — an attempt to break with the previous few years, when Democrats controlled the floor and kept a tight lid on amendments. But Democrats objected to Mr. McConnell’s request, forcing him to begin the procedure for breaking a filibuster.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush appears poised for a presidential run and is currently leading the polls among potential Republican candidates for 2016, but the comments he made in 1994 during his first run for Florida’s highest office may come back to haunt him.The Associated Press reports that Bush described himself then as a “head-banging conservative” and used fiery rhetoric — such as claiming he would do “probably nothing” for African-Americans if he became governor — in his ultimately unsuccessful bid. Bush made that statement in response to a question on what he would for African-Americans if elected to office.“It’s time...

The House on Friday passed a bill to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline hours after a Nebraska court ruled in favor of the proposed route. The legislation now goes to the Senate, where it is expected to be approves. The White House has warned President Obama would veto the legislation. Passage fell largely along party lines, 266-153, with 28 Democrats joining nearly all Republicans in favor. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) voted "present." That is short of the necessary two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. The vote marked the 10th time the House has voted to authorize the...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appears to be touting the accomplishments of the new GOP-controlled Congress even before its members have gotten the chance to hammer out any legislation. In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday morning, the newly elected majority leader suggested that the growing signs of an economic recovery -- 5 percent GDP growth, 320,000 additional jobs in November, all-time highs in the markets on Wall Street and plunging gas prices, to name a few -- just might have something to do with the election of a Republican Congress. "After so many years of sluggish growth,...

~~snip~~ Voting against Boehner (10) Gohmert* Yoho* Rep. Steve King (Iowa) Rep. Jim Bridenstine (Okla.)* Rep. Dave Brat (Va.) (freshman) Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.)* Rep. Gary Palmer (Ala.) (freshman) Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.)* Rep. Paul Gosar (Ariz.) Rep. Marlin Stutzman (Ind.) Said prior to 2014 election that they would vote against Boehner (2) Rep. Jody Hice (Ga.) (freshman) Rep. John Ratfliffe (Tex.) (freshman) Voted against Boehner in 2013/haven't weighed in (2) Rep. Steve Pearce (N.M.) (spokesman says he's "undecided") Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.) Voted against Boehner in 2013/will support him (3) Rep. Mick Mulvaney (S.C.) Rep. Raul Labrador (Idaho) Rep....

From the first day of 2011, Mitt Romney was the favorite to win the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign. No one else was even close. The 2016 outlook could not be more different. Offered the choice to bet on one single candidate to win the nomination versus the rest of the field, the choice would have to be "the field." For the first time in years, there is no one next in line. And without a former vice president or powerhouse former candidate looking likely to run, Republicans are shaping up to spend the next year and a half fighting...

For those of us who have managed to survive 2014 with our lives intact and our freedoms hanging by a thread, it has been a year of crackdowns, clampdowns, shutdowns, showdowns, shootdowns, standdowns, knockdowns, putdowns, breakdowns, lockdowns, takedowns, slowdowns, meltdowns, and never-ending letdowns. We’ve been held up, stripped down, faked out, photographed, frisked, fracked, hacked, tracked, cracked, intercepted, accessed, spied on, zapped, mapped, searched, shot at, tasered, tortured, tackled, trussed up, tricked, lied to, labeled, libeled, leered at, shoved aside, saddled with debt not of our own making, sold a bill of goods about national security, tuned out by those...

A second round of poll results from a survey of Republican voters taken Christmas week was released on Sunday. The poll shows that a revolution is at hand with a stunning majority of 2014 GOP voters who gave their party control of both houses of Congress ready to throw out the Republican leaders of both houses in favor of new leadership. Only sixteen percent of voters surveyed want both John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to serve as leaders of the House and Senate respectively when the 114th Congress convenes this week. Boehner’s support on his own for Speaker of the...

A flock of 2016 presidential hopefuls will be attending a major GOP event in Iowa this month co-sponsored by anti-immigrant gadfly Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has made outreach to minorities part of his appeal, won’t go. His office says there is a scheduling conflict. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush also begged off. What to make of all this? (SNIP) He is no David Duke, but his distasteful and flamboyant attacks on illegal immigrants are well known. (SNIP) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie headlined a fundraiser for King and reportedly announced, “I will be a supporter...

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) issued a statement on Saturday detailing why he’s going to vote against House Speaker John Boehner’s re-election on Tuesday. Massie, who’s entering his second term as a member from Kentucky, now becomes the second Republican House member announcing the coming rebellion against Boehner. Massie joins Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) in the fight for fresh leadership, and in his statement he detailed how Boehner and his leadership actually have misled members of the House GOP conference. “For years I watched Washington from afar and suspected that something was broken. Why is it that so many people approve...

[Ky.]Republican gubernatorial primary candidate James Comer announced the endorsement of a prominent tea party figure in U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie of Vanceburg who represents the geographically diverse 4th Congressional district Wednesday. Massie has not endorsed in other GOP primary contests, including U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 bid for re-election against primary contender Matt Bevin. “James Comer is my choice for Kentucky’s next Governor because he exhibits the leadership qualities that our Commonwealth needs,” Massie said in a statement. “I’ve seen him in the halls of Congress advocating effectively on behalf of Kentucky’s farmers and entrepreneurs. I’ve watched him restore trust...

Kentucky State Police found the wreckage of a small plane Friday night after a disoriented 7-year-old girl walked to a home and reported that she had been involved in a crash that killed her entire family. The plane, believed to be a Piper Seneca, was discovered just before 11pm Eastern time near KY 810 South in Lyon County. A family of four were found dead inside the wreckage, including the little girl's parents, older sister and a cousin. Early Saturday morning, Kentucky State Police identified the victims of the crash as Marty Gutzler, 49, his wife Kimberly Gutzler, 45, their...

A 7-year-old girl survived a plane crash that killed four people Friday night, and the disoriented little girl walked away from the wreckage and reported the crash to a local resident, authorities said.

Future Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says President Barack Obama is not popular in Israel “and for good reason”. Speaking to the Israel Hayom newspaper, McConnell, who has become one of the most powerful and influential people in Washington since November’s midterm election, said, “It is no secret that president Obama isn’t popular in Israel, and for good reason.” “In my view, he has tilted on numerous occasions in a direction that would lead Israelis to believe that he is not as solemn an ally as past presidents have been,” added McConnell, a senator from Kentucky. …

In a new poll of likely Republican primary voters nationwide by Zogby Analytics, 2012 GOP nominee Romney leads the pack with 14%, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (12%), Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (10%), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (8%), former Arkansas Governor and now Fox News Host Mike Huckabee (7%), Florida Senator Marco Rubio (7%), Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (5%), Rep. and former Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan (4%), Texas Governor Rick Perry (4%), Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (3%), Texas Senator Ted Cruz (3%), South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (2%), former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum (1%), and both...

Florida has long been the home of a large Cuban-American community. The issue of American-Cuban relations is a major issue in the state. Charlie Crist, Florida's former governor, joined CBSN on Wednesday to discuss how President Obama's move to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba will impact the state. According to Crist, the economic impact will be significant because the easing of restrictions on the island will spur redevelopment. Former Florida gov. Charlie Crist GETTY IMAGES "You talk about housing changes, schooling, infrastructure, the natural launching pad for much of that redevelopment is the state of Florida," Crist said. Cuba is...

FLORENCE, Ky. – Briana and Kaitlyn Himes said they feel lucky they're not planning a funeral for their parents after five adults overdosed on heroin at their parents' mobile home Saturday. While the adults got high and passed out, three children they were supposed to be caring for – ages 1, 11 and 12 - were in the house with them, according to a Boone County deputy's report. The Himes sisters said the adults might have died if their uncle, Michael Young, hadn't arrived just in time to save them.

Congress will be so disappointed: A comprehensive nuclear agreement between Iran and the West will not lead to a larger rapprochement between Tehran and Washington, according to one senior Iranian official. Iran and the US “can behave in a way that they do not use their energy against each other,” Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told the Financial Times on Monday in his first interview with international press. “Everything will depend on the honesty of the Americans in the nuclear talks,” he said. “We will not die if there is no agreement, and we will not...

Again and again, conservatives have cut Senator Rand Paul at least some slack when his pronouncements have moved in the realm of, but not fully shared, his father’s nuttiness on foreign affairs. It’s almost as if some nuttiness of his own was allowable as long as it didn’t go as far as his father’s did. But just about every fortnight or so, a new Rand Paul speech or a newly resurfaced old video or news report shows not only that the senator is dangerously neo-isolationist and militarily penurious, but that he is also bizarrely spiteful toward those who disagree. Worse,...

Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) defended President Obama from former vice president Dick Cheney’s critiques of his policy in Iraq, saying that he faults Cheney and the rest of President George W. Bush’s team for launching an invasion of Iraq that ultimately strengthened Iran. “What’s going on now, I don’t blame on President Obama,” Paul told NBC’s David Gregory. “But I do blame the Iraq War on the chaos that is in the Middle East. I also blame those who were for the Iraq war for emboldening Iran.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is out with another clarification of his foreign policy positions, saying unequivocally in a Washington Post op-ed that he is against a strategy of containment when it comes to Iran.Asked Sunday about his 2012 vote against a bill that would have prevented a policy of containment -- that is, allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons or nuclear weapons programs but keeping tabs on them -- Paul said all options should be left on the table. (Paul was the lone vote against the legislation.)That led some to say that the potential 2016 presidential candidate was open to...

Via Think Progress, this one’s a few days old but worth noting belatedly. Skip to 4:25 for the key bit. Three weeks ago, this would have been a big deal legislatively. Rumors were swirling at the time that the Senate had 67 votes — a veto-proof majority — to slam Iran with a new round of sanctions that would, in theory, pressure them to faithfully carry out their obligations under the Geneva nuclear deal. The Iranians countered that new sanctions would be a dealbreaker; Obama threatened to veto them if they passed, but 67 votes would mean taking the pen...

In my view, his presence on these shows alone should disqualify him, but Sarah Palin thinks he’s just wonderful because Sarah Palin doesn’t think. She’s a dummy, and it’s time her blind worshipers woke up to that, but they refuse to awaken from their slumber. Does it not bother her that, as the Sultan points out, Rand Paul compared the U.S. military to Hitler? Hellooooo . . . ? Either Sarah Palin supports Rand Paul’s nutty views against torturing terrorists and siding with Iran against America or she’s just ignorant and uninformed beyond belief. I vote for both, which is...

Frankfort, Ky. (CBS CLEVELAND) – A man indicted on arson and burglary charges allegedly set fire to a woman’s home after she rejected his advances on Facebook. Frankfort police say the “disturbing” reason that James Graham, 37, broke into a 22-year-old single mother’s Franklin County home and set it on fire on Nov. 28 is because she “rebuffed” several uncomfortable comments he posted to her Facebook wall, WLEX-TV reports. Investigators say Graham set Joanie Yount’s Hillview Drive home on fire in November, although she and her 3-year-old son were not home at the time.

De Blasio? Sharpton? Nope. The biggest blowback will be against the “reforming” Kentucky senator, because Republicans back cops, period.After New York City Police Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were gunned down in a retaliatory ambush on Saturday afternoon, the collateral damage was immediate. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio relationship with the police went from horrible to horrendous. Rev. Al Sharpton’s campaign to cleanse his race-baiting past grew more difficult, and Sen. Rand Paul—who had gone out of his way to break bread with Sharpton and to criticize police militarization—may now be facing an even more difficult task...

Of course Barack Obama’s latest treachery – normalizing relations with the Castro Brothers prison state – is a terrible thing. It is as fraudulent as Obama is and it will further crush any hopes the average Cuban might have of ever being free. By infusing cash to prop up a torture regime Obama has all but guaranteed the Cuban people’s nightmare will continue after the Castros have died. They need only look to Venezuela to see their own desolate future. Yet, as sad as this is for the Cuban people, it is fraught with dangers for us as well. The...

Barack and Michelle Obama, speaking to People Magazine, of all disappointments, shared the disheartening news that they have experienced what they called racism. Barack, for example, apparently has had trouble, before he was president, hailing a cab in Chicago, to which an immediate thought might occur to anyone who has been to Chicago: Who hasn't? Also, Barack, at a black-tie event, when he, too, was in festive livery, apparently was asked by another guest if he would get them a cup of coffee. For her recollection, Michelle came up with a visit to a Target store as first lady. She...

Ron and Rand Paul have complained about being wrongly dubbed “isolationists� even though that name arguably fits whatever passes for their foreign policy.Now Rand Paul has decided that opponents of bailing out the Castro regime are isolationists. All this proves is that Rand Paul doesn’t know what an isolationist is.“I think a policy of isolationism toward Cuba is misplaced and hasn’t worked,� Paul writes in Time Magazine.Isolationism is a policy that the United States would adopt toward the larger world. An embargo on an enemy state in response to its actions against the United States is not isolationism.Rand Paul is...

Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued that the GOP should not listen to the “cabal” of consultants in the 2016 presidential race and should also not nominate another Bob Dole, John McCain, or Mitt Romney on Wednesday’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on the Fox News Channel.

The war of words between two likely 2016 contenders over President Obama’s sweeping changes to Cuba policy heated up further on Saturday, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) repeatedly blasting remarks from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as “rude.” “I never start a fight but I'm happy to finish a fight,” Paul told Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File on Friday.” “You know, I think the remarks were a little bit rude and intemperate.” In an interview on the same show one night prior, Rubio said that Paul — who supports President Obama’s move to roll back trade and travel restrictions and...

An entire nation votes, tens of millions of Americans come out to their local polls to tell Washington it is going in the wrong direction on amnesty and Obama Care, and endless deficits, and cowardice in the face of terrorism…and what do the Republicans leaders do? They give the president everything he could ask for, while turning on one of the few in the Republican ranks that understands we are fighting for the very life of the nation. The Republican Party simply is not up to the task of changing the course of this nation. Too many in the Republican...

Beginning on Thursday night, a fight erupted on line between Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul over the new diplomatic opening to Cuba. Rubio slammed Paul for his ignorance, while Paul bizarrely accused Rubio of “isolationism” for opposing Barack Obama’s policies. Before that battle began in earnest, I spoke with incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in a wide-ranging interview about his plans for the 114th Session of Congress. We discussed Cuba, and McConnell made it clear that he was relying on Rubio’s leadership on the issue — which might make for an awkward moment or two between McConnell...

Noah already wrote a policy rebuttal to Paul’s position, which Paul elaborated on this afternoon in a new op-ed at Time. (The op-ed, unlike his tweets, doesn’t mention Rubio by name. Although it does approvingly cite … George W. Bush?) Anyone want to make the case that the politics of attacking Rubio on this issue were smart, at least? I can’t figure out why Rand would do it. When I tweeted out my surprise a few hours ago, a dozen people tweeted back, “Maybe Paul’s just saying what he really believes.” No doubt. But the thing that distinguishes Rand from...

Does Rand Paul classify himself as a "free-thinker?" I was looking around to see how he might be associated with that atheist/agnostic group and the word "dignity" came up in the first piece below [that uses the term free-thinker]. So I search "Rand Paul" and "dignity" and found that he uses that word in his speeches. So just wondering what anyone knows about his religious leanings other than his traditional association with the Episcopal church. And does he use "dignity" as a euphemism for "social justice" - "getting along" - as a liberal-libertarian stand in [REPLACEMENT] for religion [Islam, Judaism,...