Free Republic

The Senate and House are on a collision course over whether to repeal comprehensive sanctions on Syria, a rare area where there are bipartisan coalitions on both sides of the debate. Discussion centers on whether to completely repeal the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019, a severe sanctions mechanism that blocked nearly all U.S. and international cooperation or engagement with the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. Legislation to repeal Caesar is included in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2026. But an amendment to the House version of the NDAA to repeal Caesar...

wo new Democrats who are expected to be sworn into Congress this month will be able to finalize the push to force a vote for a full release of the criminal files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. As Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) discharge petition is merely two signatures short of forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to put Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna’s (D-CA) bill on the House floor for a vote, two special elections will take place this month in which the Democratic candidate will likely be the victor.

The dads were not all right. It was 2017, and across Kentucky, divorced fathers were coming together against a common enemy: a custody system they felt favored their ex-wives. Although custody laws in Kentucky and elsewhere granted judges discretion to decide what split was in a child’s best interest, aggrieved fathers claimed that this typically meant relegating them to the role of every-other-weekend “Disneyland dads,” forced to cram two days of fun into what mothers had two weeks to create. “You become like ‘Uncle Dad’ instead of a parent,” said Rob Holdsworth, 53. In 2014, he reluctantly uprooted his life...

A Kentucky judge who was allegedly killed by a local sheriff didn’t have a relationship with the county’s top cop’s daughter, according to new grand jury testimony. Former Letcher County, Kentucky Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines allegedly shot and killed former Kentucky 47th Judicial District Judge Kevin Mullins on Sept. 19, 2024. The shooting happened following a lunch outing that included Mullins and Stines, officials said. Video earlier obtained by Fox News Digital shows Stines entering Mullins’ chambers, where he asked everyone else to leave the room so he could speak with the judge privately. The pair talked for around seven...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Wednesday criticized the Trump administration’s decision to take a 10% stake in embattled chipmaker Intel , calling the investment “a step towards socialism.” Intel announced last month that the U.S. government made an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, purchasing 433.3 million shares at a price of $20.47 per share, giving it a 10% stake in the company. Intel noted that the price the government paid was a discount to the current market price. Paul said government ownership is “a bad idea.” “It’s always a mistake to say, ’Well we have this one bad...

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said late Tuesday that President Trump “may be covering for some rich and powerful people,” as the lawmaker pushes for more transparency in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “I think the best way to clear President Trump’s name is to release all the files,” Massie told MSNBC’s “All In” host Chris Hayes. “I actually don’t think he’s done anything criminal; I think he may be covering for some rich and powerful people that are friends of his. And in fact, some of those billionaires are running ads against me in Kentucky right now.”...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said a gay leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who resigned last week in protest of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had “no business being in government” due to the “lifestyle” he led. Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, was among the four CDC leaders who resigned last week, saying in their resignations that the changes under Kennedy were preventing them from carrying out the agency’s public health mission. “One of the guys that is the biggest proponent of...

A beauty queen and cheerleader at the University of Kentucky was arrested after giving birth and hiding her newborn's body in a closet. Laken Snelling, 21, was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and concealing the birth of an infant. Officers with the Lexington Police Department were called to a home on the 400 block of Park Avenue for a report of an unresponsive infant on Wednesday morning, LEX 18 reported.

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — BOISE, Idaho – U.S. Senators Jim Risch of Idaho and Rand Paul of Kentucky have introduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, commonly referred to as the "Audit the Fed" legislation. This bill aims to mandate a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve's operations and enhance congressional oversight of its decision-making processes. "Idahoans deserve to know what the Federal Reserve is doing to our nation’s economy," said Risch. "Congress must hold the Fed accountable and pull back the curtain on the actions of this unelected Washington establishment." Paul emphasized the significant influence of the Federal Reserve, stating,...

Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed that almost 2,000 Kentucky driver's licenses have been revoked following allegations of a fraud scheme involving undocumented immigrants. The governor said 1,985 driver's licenses were discovered during routine reviews of credential applications and have since been revoked. The revoked credentials, if used, would not work at an airport and would be flagged if pulled over at a traffic stop," Beshear said on Wednesday. Beshear addressed the criminal investigation after a news report detailed a former clerk's allegations earlier this week. A former clerk told WDRB News that her co-workers were selling driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants...

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie's political fortunes have shifted dramatically, with new polling showing a steep drop in support after an aggressive MAGA-backed push to unseat him. According to a new internal poll by McLaughlin and Associates, posted by Donald Trump on his Truth Social account, Massie's favorability rating dropped from 54 percent in June to 43 percent this month, while his unfavorability rating rose to 54 percent from 40 percent. His overall job approval slipped from 52 percent to 39 percent. The poll attributed Massie's falling support to a barrage of ads from MAGA Inc, a pro-Trump super PAC...

Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman is urging state leaders to ban bromazolam, an illicit drug linked to dozens of overdose deaths in the Commonwealth last year, according to our news partners at WCPO-TV. Bromazolam, known as ‘designer Xanax,’ is being sold as prescription pills and has proven to be highly potent and lethal, especially when combined with opioids or other depressants. Coleman credits Northern Kentucky law enforcement for alerting him to the threat, stating, ‘You had a very determined leader from your Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force who wanted to put this threat from this synthetic, this designer Xanax, on...

The Capitol Hill battle over Jeffrey Epstein is poised to heat up when Congress returns to Washington next month. While GOP leaders left town early to avoid the radioactive issue, the conspiracy-ridden saga is set to ramp back up come September for a number of reasons. A bipartisan pair of lawmakers have vowed to force a vote on their resolution requiring the administration to release the federal files it’s withholding and plan to bring survivors of Epstein’s abuse to Capitol Hill in the first days of Congress’s return. Separately, a number of court cases surrounding the fate of those files...

Melissa Moorman worked at Louisville’s Nia Center Licensing Branch through Quantum Solutions, a staffing agency contracted by the state to help staff regional offices for 2 years and 3 months before she was fired. Moorman was fired after interviewing with an investigator following her brave testimony about co-workers allegedly secretly selling licenses to illegal aliens for $200 each. The brave whistleblower said the driver’s license scam was taking place between 4-5 times per day for at least two years. According to Moorman, the licenses for illegal aliens scam took place in multiple Kentucky licensing branches. Moorman stepped forward and blew...

A rebel Republican congressman has invited multiple victims of Jeffrey Epstein to a press conference at the U.S. Capitol as part of a bipartisan push to force the release of legal files linked to the late pedophile. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a thorn in Donald Trump’s side for his frequent objections to the president’s spending bills and foreign policies, said that he and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna will be co-hosting the Sept. 3 conference. The event will feature survivors of abuse by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, several of whom “will be speaking out for the first time,”...

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, confirmed Friday that his committee’s review of Joe Biden’s pardons so far calls into question their legality. Biden granted more acts of clemency than any other president in U.S. history.. During just one term, he gave a total of 4,245, which included 4,165 commutations of sentences and 80 pardons. By comparison, Barack Obama issued 1,927 acts of clemency over two terms, and Donald Trump issued 238 during his first term. The vast majority of Biden’s pardons came during his final two months in office.. The pardon for his son,...

A Louisville woman was abducted from her home near The Oxmoor Center, along with her two children before being forced to withdraw $20,000 from a local bank at knifepoint Friday morning, police said. The suspect, Armond Langford, 32, was arrested later that day and faces multiple charges including robbery, kidnapping, and assault. Friday morning, Jennifer Strong was making breakfast for her children when she heard her back door open twice. A man, later identified as Langford, entered her home armed with a knife. “He had a knife …. And he started to yell 'how many people are in this house,'"...

Three out-of-state neocon billionaires are funding the PAC created to oust Kentucky’s Republican Congressman, Thomas Massie. The legislator claims they’re coming after him because of his opposition to foreign aid for Israel.The backers behind MAGA KY are John Paulson, Paul Singer, and the Preserve America PAC, whose primary financier is Miriam Adelson, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).Massie brought attention to the PAC’s financial backing on Friday in an X social media post. Massie’s 12-year run in Congress will end next year if President Donald Trump has his way. The independent Republican congressman has bucked the president’s wishes one...

Republican Nate Morris had deftly warmed up a crowd of party faithful, gushing about President Donald Trump and recounting his own life’s journey — from hardscrabble childhood to wealthy entrepreneur — when he turned his attention to the man he wants to replace, Sen. Mitch McConnell. That’s when things got feisty. While bashing Kentucky’s longest-serving senator at a GOP dinner on the eve of Saturday’s Fancy Farm picnic, a tradition-laden stop on the state’s political circuit, Morris was cut off in midsentence by a party activist in the crowd, who noted that McConnell isn’t seeking reelection and pointedly asked Morris:...

A Senate panel voted Wednesday to approve a biomedical security bill sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) that would create an executive branch board to conduct oversight of life science research with pandemic-causing abilities, a measure inspired by the research conducted in Wuhan, China, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Risky Research Review Act advanced from the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in an 11-2 vote, with two Democrats voting against. The panel also approved the bill last Congress in an 8-1 vote, but it never received a vote on the Senate floor.