Free Republic

COVINGTON – U.S. Senator Rand Paul told members of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce on Friday that he is hopeful that legislation which would lower the tax on foreign corporate profits for U. S. corporations might have chance of passing, just not right now. The bill would allow companies like Apple to bring profits back to the United States at reduced tax rate. A similar tax holiday was enacted in 2004. Paul, who was speaking at the chamber’s government forum, said that the legislation probably would not come up for a vote this summer, but could see action at...

The town of Somerset, Kentucky, opened a city-run filling station on Saturday, the Associated Press reported, offering gas to the public at below-market rates. From the Associated Press: The Somerset Fuel Center opened to the public selling regular unleaded gas for $3.36 a gallon, a bit lower than some nearby competitors. In the first three hours, about 75 customers fueled up at the no-frills stations, where there are no snacks, no repairs and only regular unleaded gas. The mayor says the station was created in response to years of grumbling by townspeople about stubbornly high gas prices in Somerset, a city...

Former Congressman Ron Paul defended the Russian government on Sunday and slammed Western leaders for spreading "propaganda" after a Malaysian Airlines plane was allegedly shot down by Kremlin-backed separatists in Ukraine. "Western politicians and media joined together to gain the maximum propaganda value from the disaster. It had to be Russia; it had to be Putin, they said," the former presidential candidate wrote. "While western media outlets rush to repeat government propaganda on the event, there are a few things they will not report." One of those unreported things, Paul claimed in his weekly "Texas Straight Talk" column, was the...

Senator Rand Paul is in Silicon Valley, and the Republican lawmaker and Tea Party hero has reportedly met with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel, according to reports. What does the GOP leader want? "Cash and geeks," according to TIME.com. Paul is hoping to fundraise among libertarian techies, whose political leanings are toward independence from government interference, meaning the red-blooded lawmaker has a shot in deep-blue California, observers say. He wants more of the $2.7 million Thiel donated to Ron Paul's 2012 presidential run, the website reported, and along with the cash, he's hoping for some tech...

What may have started out as an ordinary evening in February 2012, ended with a dead teen-ager and a national controversy that is still unresolved. The fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and the subsequent not-guilty verdict of the shooter, George Zimmerman, on July 13, 2013, prompted citizens across the nation to question the "stand-your-ground" laws. Such laws, often criticized as being "shoot first" laws, make it hard to prosecute cases against people who shoot others and then claim self-defense. Kentucky, as well as the other states with such laws, should revise them so that the one who initiates a...

Rand Paul has a little-discussed problem. Yes, he’s riding a wave. Yet another new poll brings happy tidings, putting him at the top of the GOP heap in both Iowa and New Hampshire (although still well behind “undecided”). He keeps doing these clever things that titillate the Beltway sages, like coupling with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (ooh, he’s black!) on sentencing reform. All this, you know. He’s a shrewdie, we have to give him that. But here’s what you maybe don’t know. Paul is up for reelection in 2016. One assumes that he would want to hold on to his...

Event organizers of the 134th Fancy Farm Picnic are firming up the last of their speaking roster for this year’s event as the main attraction of Grimes versus McConnell has staff updating the venue, and guests are being warned to be respectful as a national TV audience descends upon the village of Fancy Farm. Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s staff confirmed that the senior Senator for the state will be at the event. McConnell’s Democratic challenger Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes will share the stage with McConnell in a repeat of last year’s showdown. Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator Republican...

The issues of gender equality and women’s rights are being used by Democrats in the Kentucky U.S. Senate race to illustrate the disconnect between Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and women voters as a pro-choice group begins to run ads in the state and a big name McConnell foe criticizes his stances. NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC, a group which has endorsed Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes and called her a “pro-choice champion”, released an ad Tuesday to run statewide in Kentucky for a week. The group says the 30-second ad, titled “Mitch McConnell Will Never Do the Right Thing for...

The Medicare claims from a budget plan proposed in 2011 are again at the center of the Kentucky U.S. Senate race as the campaign of Kentucky U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell released another ad on the topic Monday defending his record. The McConnell campaign released a new web ad Monday morning hitting Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes on her campaign’s first negative TV ad , which caused controversy because of claims made by Grimes. The ad, titled “Asked and Answered”, uses clips of news programs questioning the claims in the Grimes ad where a retired coal miner asks Senator McConnell why...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (Incumbent) Republican Age: 72 Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes Democrat Age: 35 No doubt about it: The Kentucky Senate race will be the most watched 2014 contest of them all, and the stakes could not be higher. It is a rare occurrence that a congressional leader in the House or Senate is ousted, but with McConnell’s favorability ratings in the state low, Democrats see the opportunity of a lifetime in the Bluegrass State. Democrats see the numbers and are buoyed. McConnell won’t go down without a fight like we’ve never seen before, and this will...

A bank teller in Kentucky claims she was fired from her job for telling customers, "Have a blessed day." Polly Neace wished customers at U.S. Bank in Walton, Kentucky, well with those words of blessing for more than two years. She said she never had anyone complain about the saying, which she said she was inspired to adopt when someone said the phrase to her in 2009. "I mean, in my opinion, I don't think there's any better way to have a blessed day," she explained in an interview with Fox News. But Neace said she was told she could...

We released a new web video today, entitled “Out of Touch,” exposing Elizabeth Warren’s weak stance on illegal immigration. The video highlights Warren’s opposition to the border fence and her support for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. From her Ivory Tower and the comfort and safety of her multi-million dollar home, Professor Warren insists that Massachusetts taxpayers turn a blind eye to illegal immigration and even subsidize college tuition for illegal aliens.

Former Rep. Ron Paul said the law enforcement that swarmed around Boston in the days following the marathon bombings was scarier than the actual terrorist attack. “The Boston bombing provided the opportunity for the government to turn what should have been a police investigation into a military-style occupation of an American city,” he said on the Lew Rockwell website, Politico reported. “This unprecedented move should frighten us as much or more than the attack itself.” The terror attacks on April 15 in Boston killed three and injured 264. Mr. Paul, a former libertarian political candidate who served in Congress as...

New research takes a look at decades of corruption convictions to find the crookedest states in the union. When we think of government corruption (as one tends to do), our biased minds often gravitate to thoughts of military juntas and third world governments. But, of course, corruption is everywhere, in one form or another. And it’s costing U.S. citizens big time. A new study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University estimates that corruption on the state level is costing Americans in the 10 most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per year, or 5.2% of...

Kentucky's same-sex marriage ban was struck down Tuesday by a federal judge who ruled that it is a violation of the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment. "In America even sincere and long-held religious views do not trump the constitutional rights of those who happen to have been out-voted," U.S. District Judge John Heyburn in Louisville argued. The ruling follows similar decisions in Utah and Indiana where gay marriage bans were also dismissed. In his decision, Heyburn stated that his ruling does not "diminish the freedom of others to any degree." There is an "utter lack of...

This is Noteworthy for three reasons. One: The judge is a Bush 41 appointee, nominated to the federal bench by, er, Mitch McConnell. Two: This decision doesn’t matter much on the ground because the Sixth Circuit, the federal appellate court with jurisdiction in Kentucky, is set to hear arguments on gay marriage on August 6th. They’re going to end up superseding this decision one way or the other in the next few months anyway.Three: Heyburn, the judge, went out of his way to make clear that he thinks this issue is a no-brainer. Usually when a court examines the...

Judge John Heyburn issued an opinion on Tuesday that Louisville gay couples are entitled to marry one another because denying them to do so violated the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, couples can't rush to get married. In Love vs Beshear, Judge Heyburn stayed the order pending the 6th Circuit of Appeals ruling. Oral arguments are set for August 6.

I never thought I would see the day when there were participants in this forum openly advocating voting for a liberal Democrat. Yet that is what many are doing in advocating Kentuckians vote for Alison Lundergan Grimes. This makes no sense unless one is a liberal or leftist anti-American or are unable to move beyond emotion and irrationality or a nihilist mind set that lets anger, fear, lack of faith and hatred dominate one's logical faculties. Alison Lundergan Grimes was born in 1978. That's the year I graduated High school. Many here are older than I, and in politics, at...

SNIP The Oscar winner, 53, is seriously contemplating running for governor of California, Us Weekly reports. SNIP “George has said his ultimate goal is to become a US senator, but he knows he would have to hold a position like governor first,” the source adds. SNIP

"Rand Paul: No more aid to Christian-killers Exclusive: William Murray reports on senator's demand to Islamic-supporting Obama" Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., surprised several thousand people with the truth about Syria in a speech to the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference at the Omni Hotel in Washington, D.C., today. Most in the room were social conservatives and already knew that the administration of Barack Obama was arming Islamists in Syria who are killing Christians. The real surprise was a senator standing up in front of national TV news cameras and telling America that yes, your tax dollars are being used to...

“Yes, we should prevent them exporting terror, but I’m not so sure where the clear-cut American interest is.” Hello? You just laid out the the clear-cut American interest and then said you didn’t know where it was. ISIS has made it clear that they intend to use the resources of Iraq to launch terror attacks on the U.S….

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)One U.S. lawmaker firmly believes the United States should keep its sons and daughters out of Iraq's increasingly tangled and bloody conflict. "I'm not willing to send my son into that mess," Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, told CNN chief political correspondent Candy Crowley on Sunday. Appearing on "State of the Union," Paul acknowledged that while the chaos in Iraq intensifies by the day, he believes advances by jihadist Sunni militants on Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shiite government forces do not pose an immediate threat to U.S. national security. Though he refused to rule out some kind of U.S. assistance, Paul...

ormer Vice President Dick Cheney fired back Sunday after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized his position on Iraq. In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Cheney argued Paul, who is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, is an "isolationist" who doesn't understand the "absolutely essential" need for America to be involved in the Middle East. "Now, Rand Paul and — by my standards, as I look at his — his philosophy, is basically an isolationist. That didn't work in the 1930s, it sure as heck won't work in the aftermath of 9/11, when 19 guys armed with...

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press," Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warned conservatives when it comes to immigration reform the party needs to “get beyond” the term amnesty and move the focus to border security and work visas. The Kentucky Republican said, "I don't think any immigration reform will get out of Washington. I do think there is a path to a secure border and an expanded work visa program." “I think that everyone needs to be for some form of immigration reform because the status quo is untenable," he continued. "So I consider myself a bridge to conservative community because...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that the Sunni militants taking over Iraq have quickly gained power because the United States has armed their group in Syria. “I think we have to understand first how we got here,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We have been arming [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria] ISIS in Syria.” ISIS, an al Qaeda offshoot, has been collaborating with the Syrian rebels whom the Obama administration has been arming in their efforts to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Paul explained. The administration has reportedly assisted the moderate opposition in Syria,...

Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has waded into the ongoing blame game over who is responsible for the unfolding crisis in Iraq. A constant critic of President Barack Obama, this time the Republican presidential hopeful sided with the president and criticized the George W. Bush administration. Paul’s intervention follows an op-ed written by Paul for the Wall Street Journal in which he criticizes President George W. Bush’s decision to go to war to oust the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. “Much of the rationale for going to war did not measure up” to the “Weinberger Doctrine” by which President Ronald Reagan decided...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Sunday said he blames the current crisis in Iraq on those who backed the 2003 U.S. invasion, not President Obama. Paul was asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether former Vice President Dick Cheney is a “credible critic” after he blasted Obama for his strategy for Iraq in an op-ed last week. “I think the same questions could be asked of the same people who supported the Iraq war,” Paul said. “What’s going on now..I don’t blame President Obama. I blame the Iraq war and I blame the people who supported the Iraq war for...

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is a commonly quoted line from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet appears to argue that the names of things do not matter, only what things really “are.” The line’s meaning is applicable in America in the sense that although the overwhelming majority of religious conservative Americans hate everything Jesus Christ preached and taught, calling themselves Christians and followers of Christ does not change the fact they are anti-Christ in every sense of the name. The notion of so-called Christians exposing themselves as the anti-Christs they really...

Presidential hopefuls Sen. Rand Paul, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Rick Santorum are in Iowa to deliver their prescriptions for how to unite the Republican Party. […] It is Paul’s third trip to Iowa since the 2012 election. The Kentucky senator says the GOP should maintain its core message but make the party more attractive to black and Hispanic voters. …

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — In methamphetamine's seedy underworld, traffickers are disguising the drug as a liquid to smuggle it into the United States from Mexico.

Ted Cruztook a victory lap of sorts this week after Eric Cantor's primary defeat. And why shouldn't he? The junior senator from Texas helped fuel the anti-establishment furies that devoured the House majority leader. "This election should be a reminder to all in Congress—Republicans and Democrats alike—that the conservative base is alive and well, and the American people will hold us all accountable," said Mr. Cruz. "Each of us needs to do what we said we would do and tell the truth." If this sounds like a threat, that's because it is.Mr. Cruz is wont to criticize Republican politicians who...

A restaurant in Newport, Kentucky is making national headlines putting a ‘no tipping’ policy in effect. Packhouse Meats‘ tipping ban may seem strange, but it’s way more awesome than you think. The restaurant has ‘No Tipping’ signs posted throughout its facility, and when customers pay by credit card, there is no option to leave a tip on the order receipt. Bob Conway, the owner of Packhouse Meats, revealed in an interview that he’s been inundated with negative reviews on Yelp for what appears to be mistreatment of his servers. A closer look at the new policy reveals that it’s...

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul has started airing ads attacking Democrats who recently voted to continue foreign aid to Egypt, Libya and Pakistan, but one of his GOP Senate colleagues has risen to their defense. On Tuesday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham joined West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on a conference call defending Machin’s foreign aid vote, the Charleston Gazette reported. “A lot of debate goes on about foreign aid,” Graham said. “Foreign relations are not a Democrat or Republican issue, but a American issue.” “Joe Manchin works with Barack Obama to send billions of our taxpayer dollars...

“I’m a Verizon customer. I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States. I don’t think you’re talking to the terrorists. I know you’re not. I know I’m not. So we don’t have anything to worry about.” That’s the eternal rationale for the surveillance state: If you’re not doing anything wrong, you should have no objection. What happens when the definition of “wrong” changes after your information’s been collected? Why would any Republican make this...

Caitlin Halligan, general counsel for Manhattan’s district attorney’s office, was nominated in 2010 to fill a vacancy on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and has been re-nominated four times since then. A cloture vote to move forward with her nomination failed 54-45 in 2011. The presidential judicial appointments – by custom – should be taken under consideration by the Senate, but not this one. For starters, Halligan is a pro-abortion, anti-gun zealot, who just received the support of Sen. Lindsey Graham. As Paul Mirengoff of PowerLine wrote yesterday, Halligan would be more of an activist, than a judge. …let’s...

Does Lindsey Graham truly believe that his highest calling as a senator is to work with the likes of Ted Kennedy? Apparently so, judging by the South Carolinian's statement on this morning's "Today." Meredith Vieira interviewed Graham, a staunch supporter of the president's immigration plan, during the show's first half-hour. TODAY CO-HOST MEREDITH VIEIRA: When you went home recently you were at a GOP meeting and you got booed over immigration. There are a lot of people in a lot of states -- conservatives -- who think this bill is bad and they see this as a litmus test. SEN....

Let me repeat what I said last week after he clapped the NSA on the back for collecting Americans’ phone records: It’s not just the fact that he endorses ideas like this, it’s the ease with which he does it. There appears to be none of the usual angst you see from other pols about security/liberty trade-offs when he talks counterterrorism. He’s almost entirely on one side of that topic in much the same way Ron Paul is, but even if you think Paul’s naive about security risks, at least he’s on the side of personal freedom. You get the...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) addressing the National Council of La Raza ("The Race") had the nerve to stand before this organization - that supports Hispanics above all - and tell them that by pushing through amnesty for all of the illegal aliens in this country that it'll "tell the bigots to shut up". Lindsey Graham says that I am a bigot because I want no amnesty and illegal aliens to be deported and our immigration laws to be enforced. Also since about 80-90% of you Americans out there reading this also have my views, Senator Lindsey Graham is also telling...

With Democrats holding a stiff majority in the House and the Senate, and with Obama chomping at the bit to sign some major bill into law to stave off criticism about a lack of accomplishment (though, personally, I’d be happy if we went on vacation for the next 3 years), we need every single Republican and Democrat vote against cap and trade we can find. Unfortunately, one Republican will be siding with the liberals on this issue. “ A top Senate Republican on Sunday announced his support for sweeping climate change legislation, disputing the “conventional wisdom” that says Congress simply...

Sen. Lindsey Graham spent his summer testing out lines on global warming. As the Republican hit the town halls in South Carolina, a state with a major military presence and one of the country's highest unemployment rates, Graham would ask people if they thought climate change was a problem. Few did. But Graham quickly followed with another question, asking for a show of hands from those concerned about energy security. The response was strong, and Graham wasted little time making the connection. "You can't look at it in isolation," Graham said in an interview last week. "I'm trying to say,...

As Republicans prepare for their likely takeover of the House and possibly the Senate after next Tuesday’s elections, at least one prominent GOP legislator thinks the party should prepare to work with President Barack Obama. That’s Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, The Hill reports. Lindsey Graham, ObamaHe says Republicans should engage the president on issues such as an energy bill that doesn’t include cap and trade, Social Security, and job creation. "My belief is that, if we get back power in the House, and get close in the Senate, that we ought to really clamp down on spending and...

Vice President Joe Biden has reached across the aisle to offer some unorthodox campaign help to Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham: “I will rip your skin off for you.” The tongue-in-cheek pitch was made at a recent forum with Sen. John McCain as Graham was sitting in the audience. Biden joked that he wanted to give “my buddy Lindsey” some help with his re-election campaign. “I told him I’ll come to South Carolina and campaign for him or against him – whichever will help the most,” said Biden. “I know – against,” the VP added when the audience laughed. Graham, who...

When Barack Obama wanted to organize a dinner with Republican Senators he knew just who to call – Senator Lindsey “Tell the Bigots to Shut Up” Graham. Last night Lindsey and twelve other Republicans went to dinner with Barack Obama in an attempt to make the far left president look bipartisan. Lindsey spoke with reporters after the dinner. “So when the president asked to get together a group, I was willing and honored to do that.” While Lindsey and others were dining with Obama, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was holding a thirteen hour filibuster against Obama’s unconstitutional domestic drone policy.

Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty. ---Derek Zoolander. The campaign of Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is running as the Democrat candidate for Senate from Kentucky, was in a rush to differentiate her from President Obama's new EPA regulations on coal. Apparently they didn't have time to check out the background of the "coal miner" whose picture they used in their initial newspaper ad run. It turned out that he was a European male model, hardly the coal mining type. The crew of Morning Joe had a good laugh featuring the model in his...

The Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority sent out books to every junior in the state, outlining what they need to know while preparing for college.  There's only one small problem: the word "Kentucky" is misspelled on the spine of the book. The photos at right were provided by viewer Liz Palmer.  We talked with Erin Klarer with KHEAA. She tells us several schools, parents, and even state officials have let them know about the mistake, but to reprint and redistribute them would cost about $70,000, so they opted to just - in her words - "deal with the egg on...

The Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule on carbon pollution is the latest headache for Democrats trying to defend a fragile Senate majority. With many vulnerable Democrats coming from energy-producing states, Republicans argued the Obama administration’s call for power plants to cut their carbon emissions 30 percent by 2030 would cost local jobs and increase energy prices. Democratic candidates in coal-rich West Virginia and Kentucky were among the first to try to distance themselves from the president after the changes were unveiled Monday.

Today is Statehood Day for Kentucky and Tennessee, the 15th and 16th states to join the Union. While Kentucky joined in 1792 and Tennessee only four years later, Kentucky's star was added to the United States flag in 1795 (Kentucky also got a stripe, as the flag was changed to 15 stripes as well). Tennessee's star was only added after four other states joined the Union and the flag was changed for the first time in 23 years, modified to 20 stars and 13 stripes in 1818.

Election 2014: Kentucky Senate Kentucky Senate: McConnell (R) 48%, Grimes (D) 41% Friday, May 30, 2014 Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell now holds a seven-point lead over Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race following last week’s state party primaries. McConnell earns 48% support to Grimes’ 41% in the latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Kentucky Voters. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. The two were tied with 42% support each in late January in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the then-hypothetical race. McConnell, a...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is suggesting that Kentucky's health insurance exchange could survive repeal of ObamaCare, the law that created the marketplace.  In a statement, McConnell campaign spokeswoman Allison Moore said Kentucky should "decide for itself whether to keep" the exchange "or set up a different marketplace" if the healthcare law is repealed. The comment follows criticism of McConnell last week for arguing that Kentucky's exchange, known as Kynect, is not connected to the Affordable Care Act.  The healthcare law created a system of exchanges, including Kynect, where consumers in each state can purchase coverage, often while receiving assistance...