Free Republic

Mitch McConnell is facing a frontal assault from emboldened pro-Trump Republicans eager to unseat him as the Senate’s GOP leader. Why it matters: The Kentuckian has long been viewed as the most powerful Republican in Congress, a figure many in the party have feared turning into an enemy. His endurance has allowed him to reshape the Supreme Court and dictate much of the national political agenda for over a decade. Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free. Taking on McConnell risks not only triggering his wrath in the Capitol but making candidate-critics vulnerable to...

Mitch McConnell is facing a frontal assault from emboldened pro-Trump Republicans eager to unseat him as the Senate’s GOP leader. Why it matters: The Kentuckian has long been viewed as the most powerful Republican in Congress, a figure many in the party have feared turning into an enemy. His endurance has allowed him to reshape the Supreme Court and dictate much of the national political agenda for over a decade. Taking on McConnell risks not only triggering his wrath in the Capitol but making candidate-critics vulnerable to targeting by his ample supply of campaign cash. The challengers have been emboldened...

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called for an end to Republican Mitch McConnell's term as Senate Minority Leader because "the Old Crow" is "giving the Democrats victory on everything." In a statement made through his Save America PAC, Trump accused McConnell of "hurting the Republican Senators and the Republican Party," saying that he didn't "have the guts" to play the debt ceiling card, which would have "given the Republicans a complete victory on virtually everything. The Dems were ready to fold!" Last week, McConnell negotiated a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to allow the Democrats to...

GOP primary challenger Kelly Tshibaka said Monday that she would not support Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to lead Senate Republicans if she wins her election in 2022. Tshibaka, who is challenging Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski with the backing of former President Donald Trump, said in a statement that McConnell was responsible for repeatedly helping President Joe Biden. “Mitch McConnell has repeatedly bailed out Joe Biden, giving him gifts of Senate votes, which are the only things keeping the Biden administration on life support,” Tshibaka said, attaching a video to her recent appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. “As an...

From the CO2 Coalition – December 12, 2021 President Joe Biden wasted no time in politicizing the recent tornado tragedy that claimed nearly 100 lives in Kentucky, Illinois, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri. Speaking less than 24 hours after the devastation of communities and lives, Biden linked the storms to man-made climate change. “All I know is that the intensity of the weather across the board has some impacts as a consequence of the warming of the planet and climate change,” Biden said. “The fact is that we all know everything is more intense when the climate is warming. Everything. And...

Jail inmates were "working their tails off" to rescue people trapped in the ruins of a Kentucky candle factory after it was leveled by a tornado on Friday night, a factory worker told NBC News. Kyanna Parsons-Perez, who Insider interviewed about her experience of being trapped under debris, told NBC News that she saw inmates from Graves County Jail taking part in the effort to free factory workers from the rubble... "They were helping," she said emphatically during the video interview. "And to see inmates — because you know they could have used that moment to try to run away...

Gov. Andy Beshear said dozens, maybe up to 100, were killed in western Kentucky after a long and significant tornado ripped through the area overnight. "We believe our death toll from this event will exceed 50 Kentuckians and probably end up 70 to 100," said Beshear. The city of Mayfield, Kentucky was hit particularly hard, including a candle manufacturing factory that was operating at the time the twister hit. There were 110 people in the building at the time that it was nearly collapsed by the tornado. Dozens are expected to be lost from there, Beshear said.

Many discrete supercell storms are trying to develop from S IL south into MS..many are starting to rotate another area back more NW in MO and yet a third from central AR to NE TX wide moist warm sector and cooling temps aloft will increase instability over night as storm dynamics and low levels winds increase models showed this happening and a moderate risk was issued however it now appears those models are correct at this early stage

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - The Bowling Green area is seeing significant damage after a potential tornado moved through the area early morning. According to Western Kentucky University, emergency crews are assessing significant storm damage and the university is in contact with all residential staff. There have not been any injuries reported on campus at this time. Bowling Green Police say all agencies in the city and county are responding to damage at this time. Police say several warehouses at the Industrial Park are “completely collapsed.” Power is out at the park which makes it difficult to see anything at...

HAZARD, Ky. (AP) — A sheriff has been charged with assaulting a teenage girl while trying to break up a fight at an eastern Kentucky high school, police said. Owsley County Sheriff Brent Lynch, 47, is also part of the Owsley County High School coaching staff and intervened in a Dec. 3 fight during a girls’ basketball game at Perry County Central High School, Kentucky State Police said in a statement. Trooper Matthew Gayheart told news outlets Lynch is alleged to have rushed the floor during the fight between players and struck a Perry County Central player while breaking up...

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie is facing backlash for a Christmas card photo he posted to social media showing him and every member of his family holding large guns in front of the holiday tree. "Merry Christmas!," Massie, R-Ky., said in the tweet with the photo he posted Friday. "ps. Santa, please bring ammo." The photo was posted just four days after a high school shooting in Oxford Township, Michigan, left four students dead and at least eight wounded. Prosecutors say the parents of the accused shooter, Ethan Crumbley, purchased the gun used in the shooting just days before it happened....

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's fines over mask rules are unconstitutional as GOP lawmakers fight back Video...

Dr. Rand Paul Joins Sean Hannity to Discuss Dr. Fauci's Ever-Changing Covid Guidance Rumble...

In response to the recent tragedy in Oakland County, Michigan, what did the anti-gunners do? Following their standard course of action, they are politicizing the deaths of four high school teens in an attempt to undermine your constitutionally-protected rights. In fact, bowing to the will of their far-Left overlords, anti-gun senators are bringing H.R. 8 to the Senate floor—which is a bill to institute Universal Background Registration Checks (UBCs). And to make matters worse, they are trying to do this by unanimous consent—without an actual vote. Please, contact your Senators and make sure they know you’re opposed to H.R. 8...

McConnell also reiterated his belief that the government wouldn't end up closing its doors. "We're not going to shut the government down," he said. "That makes no sense for anyone. Almost no one on either side thinks it's a good idea."

The State Department is working to secure the release of several hostages taken by Iran-backed terrorists after they stormed the U.S. embassy facility in Sana'a, Yemen, U.S. officials told the Washington Free Beacon early Thursday. A group of Houthi rebels reportedly stormed the U.S. compound on Wednesday seeking "large quantities of equipment and materials," according to regional reports translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute. The raid comes just five days after the Houthis kidnapped Yemeni nationals who work for the U.S. embassy. The State Department confirmed to the Free Beacon that the Yemeni staffers are being held hostage...

Houthi rebels have stormed the American embassy in Yemen and taken hostages, the Washington Free Beacon reported Thursday. State Department officials told the Free Beacon that “the majority of the detained have been released, but the Houthis continue to detain additional Yemeni employees of the embassy.” Houthi fighters reportedly took the compound on Wednesday, demanding “large quantities of equipment and materials,” per the Middle East Media Research Institute. Yemen has been embroiled in a brutal civil war between the Houthi rebels — who are backed, financed, and armed by the Iranian government —and the standing Yemeni government, which has the...

Isn’t great that America is back and the adults are back in charge? America is back, all right: all the way back to 1979, the last time we had a president so weak that enemies of the United States stormed one of our embassies and took hostages. On Thursday, the Yemeni media outlet Al-Masdar Online reported that Houthi jihadis in Yemen, which are backed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, stormed our embassy in Sana’a, seizing “large quantities of equipment and materials.” Just days before that, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), they “kidnapped three Yemeni nationals...

When progressive House Democrats fought a vote to pass aid for Israel’s Iron Dome defense shield, the outrage among both mainstream Democrats and Republicans boiled over. Florida Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch asserted that the opposition permitted “the dismantling of the one Jewish state in the world.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee labeled the progressives as “anti-Israel radicals.” In the end, just 4% of House Democrats -- eight in total, along with one Republican -- Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie -- voted against the $1 billion defense appropriation in September. But in the two months since then, the Senate’s taken no action...

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) says 34 percent of Kentucky’s total labor force is at risk of losing their jobs if the vaccine mandate goes into effect. The Kentucky Senator says a vaccine mandate is not necessary as he feels that Kentucky is protected based on the current vaccine rates for the older population, coupled with natural immunity. “So really, I don’t think we’ve ever had a vaccine that’s actually been this popular and successful. The main reason we’re still suffering from this is the virus mutated and in mutating, it’s escaping the vaccine,” said Paul.