Free Republic

VIDEOKentucky Governor Andy Beshear thought it was a good idea to start a podcast. He must have noticed Gavin Newsom's podcast and thought it was the thing to do if you are a presidential contender. Wrong move! As you can see, all Beshear accomplished was to expose himself as a really really BORING person. His words are spoken in very carefully measured staccato portions chock full of ennui. Nothing about his personality shines at all since all he projects is the cold soul of a professional member of the Nomenklatura who dares not risk saying anything interesting for fear of...

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said on Sunday he does not think the law would allow President Trump to send United States citizens convicted of violent crimes to Salvadoran prisons, despite the president’s suggestion that he might be open to that possibility. “No, ma’am. Nor should it be considered appropriate or moral,” Kennedy told NBC News’s Kristen Welker when asked on “Meet the Press” whether he thinks such a move would be legal. “We have our own laws,” he continued. “We have the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. We shouldn’t send prisoners to foreign countries in my judgment.” Trump, in a...

A Washington state man accused of making more than 20 swatting calls across the U.S. and in Canada, leading to law enforcement responses to his false reports of bombings, shootings and other crimes, pleaded guilty. Ashton Garcia, 21, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to two counts of extortion and two counts of threats and hoaxes regarding explosives, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a news release. Garcia was initially charged with 10 felony counts. Garcia placed the calls to agencies in Washington state, California, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado,...

At 106 years old, Vaughn Drake Jr. was the oldest known survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor until his death on April 7, according to his obituary. Born Nov. 6, 1918, in Winchester, Kentucky, Drake served in the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He saw the battles of Pearl Harbor and Saipan in the Marianas, collecting an array of honors including the special congressional medal for Pearl Harbor veterans and the World War II Victory Medal. In 2016, the Lexington Herald-Leader sat down with Drake to record some of his memories of the fateful attack on...

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Tuesday promoting the deregulation and expansion of the “beautiful, clean coal” industry in the U.S. The first order White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said might be “one of the most significant executive orders” the president has issued so far. “This directs all departments and agencies of the federal government to end all discriminatory policies against the coal industry. This ends the leasing moratorium that prevents new coal projects on federal land, and it’s going to accelerate all permitting and funding for new coal projects,” Scharf said. The other...

The president will direct agencies to boost coal leasing, mining and exports. But these steps are unlikely to usher in a coal renaissance.President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order Tuesday aimed at boosting the struggling U.S. coal industry, according to White House officials.Flanked by coal miners wearing hard hats at the White House, Trump will direct federal agencies to loosen various restrictions on coal mining, leasing and exports. He will instruct the Interior Department to resume coal leasing on millions of acres of public lands, and he will order the Energy Department and other agencies to study whether...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:Section 1. Purpose. In order to secure America’s economic prosperity and national security, lower the cost of living, and provide for increases in electrical demand from emerging technologies, we must increase domestic energy production, including coal. Coal is abundant and cost effective, and can be used in any weather condition. Moreover, the industry has historically employed hundreds of thousands of Americans. America’s coal resources are vast, with a current estimated value in the trillions of dollars, and...

Sen. Rand Paul — a right-wing firebrand from a deep red state — is in some ways an unlikely figure to articulate a searing case against Donald Trump’s agenda. But the senator from Kentucky is issuing a stark warning to fellow Republicans that Trump’s tariff policies could lead to a generational political loss for the party. And he’s raking in surprising praise from his Democratic colleagues as he pushes back relentlessly on the airwaves and the Senate floor against what he describes as Trump’s executive overreach and infringement on Congress. In an impassioned floor speech ahead of his vote to...

President Donald Trump has fired several members of his National Security Council team. DailyMail.com confirmed an Axios report released Thursday morning. The dismissals come after National Security Advisor Michael Waltz accidentally added The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat where top administration officials were discussing an attack on the Houthis in Yemen. Trump has publicly supported Waltz, a former Florida congressman, in the aftermath of Signalgate, despite some White House insiders labeling him a 'f***ing idiot.' However The New York Times reported Thursday morning that far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer visited the Oval Office on Wednesday and pressed...

Four Republicans – Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky; Susan Collins, of Maine; and Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, sided with Democrats in voting for a resolution that would repeal the emergency declaration that permitted Trump to levy taxes on Canada by citing deadly fentanyl flowing across the border. The measure, introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., passed the upper chamber of Congress by a 51-48 vote.

A bipartisan pair of senators is warning the White House that recent US strikes on the Houthis in Yemen risk “emboldening” the Iranian-backed group and flouted the law regarding congressional oversight of military operations. The letter from Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., shared first with Semafor, concerns the strikes that have made headlines recently.... “Neither the U.S. strikes since October 2023 ordered by President Joe Biden, nor the previous years-long campaign against the Houthis conducted by Saudi Arabia were successful in establishing deterrence against the Houthis,” Merkley and Paul wrote in the letter sent to President Donald...

Parents are in an uproar over a coloring book created by Planned Parenthood, which was reportedly distributed to children on a field trip at the Kentucky Science Center. The museum hosted five local schools for an event called Health and Wellness Days, with students ranging from 8 to 13 years old. Groups present included the University of Louisville, Louisville Metro EMT, Norton Pediatric Neurology, the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI), and more. The museum said Planned Parenthood requested to be a vendor at the event, and was given permission to attend, according to Taylor U’Sellis, senior manager of marketing...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Thieves took eight Corvettes from the lot of a Kentucky automobile plant where the legendary muscle car is built, but officers recovered the vehicles and made an arrest, police said. The cars were taken from the GM Bowling Green Assembly plant in southern Kentucky, the home of the Chevrolet Corvette since the early 1980s. The eight cars were valued at $1.2 million, police said. Police said the thieves cut a fence at the plant to get the cars out. A man later arrested and charged with the theft of three cars said while being booked into...

A federal negligence lawsuit can proceed against West Linn police alleging that officers should have entered the home of a man reported to be hallucinating on mushrooms and harming himself, a judge ruled.But U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon threw out allegations that officers discriminated against Michael A. Relloque IV because of his race or intentionally caused him distress in their handling of the November 2020 call. His lawyer alleged that West Linn police were reluctant to confront Relloque because of the national turmoil and mass racial justice protests that occurred that fall over the police killings of George Floyd...

At the request of Planned Parenthood, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear vetoed a bill this week that aimed to clarify the state’s law protecting preborn children from abortion and also could have allowed the opening of freestanding birth centers in the state. House Bill 90, an act relating to maternal health and declaring an emergency, sought to clarify the state’s pro-life law, which abortion advocates claimed was confusing for doctors. Most preborn children are protected from abortion in Kentucky, except in cases in which their mothers’ lives are considered to be at risk. The Prohibition against intentional termination of life of...

LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. (WZTV) — A former Kentucky sheriff accused of murdering a judge inside his courthouse chambers is planning to use an insanity defense in his trial, Fox News Digital reports. Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn "Mickey" Stines is accused of fatally shooting District Judge Kevin Mullins. A new court filing, reported by Fox News, says Stines now plans to plead insanity. courthouse Stines is accused of shooting Mullins in the judge's chambers last September. Authorities said the two had been friends for two decades. Stines was indicted on one count of murder of a public official and pleaded...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a GOP-backed bill Thursday to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities, declaring that diversity should be embraced as a strength while branding the legislation as being “about hate.” Beshear, who is seen as a potential candidate for the White House in 2028, announced his veto in a social media video. His forceful defense of diversity initiatives comes as Republican President Donald Trump seeks to end government support for programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. “I believe in the Golden Rule that says we love our neighbor as...

Major federal law enforcement raids in Kentucky have taken down dozens of dangerous illegal aliens and executed a large-scale deportation operation. 81 illegal aliens were arrested in a four-day sweep as part of “Operation Take Back America.” ... United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Kentucky confirmed that 25 of those arrested are now facing serious federal criminal charges. The crackdown, based out of Louisville, saw immigration enforcement officers detaining individuals from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba, India, and Palau. Among them, 25 are now charged with crimes such as unlawful reentry, illegal firearm possession, and drug-related...

Republicans are pushing for the swift passage of a Continuing Resolution (CR) to ensure the government remains funded and avoid a potential shutdown. Party leaders emphasize that passing the CR is crucial to maintaining stability while providing an opportunity to secure vital conservative priorities, such as preventing unnecessary spending and holding the line against liberal overreach. With fiscal responsibility at the forefront, GOP members rally behind the CR to ensure the nation's focus stays on essential issues, protect taxpayers from potential disruptions, and advance President Donald Trump's agenda. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) stressed that the CR must be passed so...

@RandPaul Despite @DOGE’s findings of loony left-wing USAID programs, the Republican spending bill continues to fund the very foreign aid @elonmusk proposes to cut! The bill continues spending at the inflated pandemic levels and will add $2T to the debt this year. Count me as a hell no!