Free Republic

For decades, retirement advice has focused on one question: How much should you save? But two veteran financial experts argue that’s the wrong place to start.The stock market has rewarded investors handsomely over the long run, and with major indexes hovering near record highs again, it’s easy to assume that simply investing consistently will be enough to fund a comfortable retirement.History suggests otherwise.According to retirement researchers Edward McQuarrie and William Bernstein, building a successful retirement has less to do with chasing market returns and more to do with understanding the kind of life you actually want to live.Their upcoming book,...

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Raids conducted against 'far-right' political operations in multiple European countries including France. They included contractors linked to France's National Rally and its leader the candidate leading opinion polls in next year's Presidential Election Jordan Bardella. The European Public Prosecutors Office on a search for evidence involving a group of nationalist parties in the European Parliament... Amended 'assisted dying' legislation approved by the National Assembly in a 295-232 vote. The euthanasia bill rejected by France's Senate forcing it back to the National Assembly. The new provisions said to give medical professionals the ability to abstain and end the notion of... Banning...

Baseball has some really cool moments now and then. This is one. Some background: 1. Since College Baseball World Series, and 2. Several recent World Cup games ... Fans have taken up singing John Denver's "Country Roads." Well at today's Brave's home game, when our star catcher came up to bat (he's a good hitter) the crowd started signing 'take me home, country roads,' And Olsen (the batter) LAUNCHED a home run far into the right field stands. The crowd sang loudly and cheerfully as he circled the bases. Happy Birthday, USA.

More ignorance from the New York Times: “Without Climate Change, U.S. Heat Wave Called ‘Virtually Impossible.” Heat and humidity as severe, prolonged and far-reaching as this week’s would have been “virtually impossible” in the Northeast and eastern Canada before humans began warming the planet, a team of scientists said on Friday. *** To estimate how much climate change increased the likelihood of this week’s sweltering conditions, the scientists analyzed records of a measurement of heat stress called “wet bulb globe temperature,” a figure that accounts for humidity, wind and direct sunlight. Given that the heat wave is still unfolding, the...

Flames erupted on the Brooklyn Bridge as fireworks were being shot from it during Macy’s July 4 display over the East River. Video shows a plume of smoke emerging from a flaming section of the bridge as fireworks soar and burst around it Saturday night. Two other sections also appeared to burn as the pyrotechnics were being shot from the span.

When Jesus explained to His disciples how He was the ONLY way to God, He knew the impossibility of living by way of the Spirit on their own. And so, He promised to send them a helper. Jesus told His disciples, “[T]he Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you (John 14:26).” Forty days after the resurrection and before He left the earth, Jesus reminded His disciples, “[Y]ou will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you...

Leo Praises Liberty While He Puts Écône in ChainsAs Leo praised freedom of worship, Rome branded the SSPX, threatened the faithful, and tolerated a conciliar world where sanctuaries become playgrounds and Christendom becomes a punchline.Liberty for Everyone Except TraditionOn July 3, Leo XIV accepted the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center and spoke like a man defending freedom of conscience.He praised the American founders’ appeal to nature and nature’s God. He spoke of human dignity as something that precedes the State. He described authentic freedom as the capacity to know the truth and adhere to the good, even at...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, and the Media. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men,...

Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel launched a series of controversial criticisms and predictions about AI and Western democracy during remarks at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado on Tuesday. In his most provocative statement, Thiel accused Pope Leo XIV of serving the interests of China with his stance on AI.CNN reports that Thiel, co-founder of Palantir and PayPal and an early Silicon Valley supporter of President Donald Trump, accused Pope Leo of inadvertently functioning as a Chinese communist agent by advocating for AI regulation. He also warned of what he described as an impending democratic-socialist takeover of the United States...

On a lark, I just decided to find out what the Drudge Report was doing nowadays. "What the heck?", I said. I loaded it into my up to date browser, and discovered that its main web page really didn't work anymore. It froze up. I had to reload it several times just to get to a different place on it, and as I just said, my browser is up to date. I know practically nobody reads it anymore - and check it only as a barometer to keep track of what th elite left who bought it think now. But...

EXAMINING THE FOUNDATION It was back in 1962, I'm told, when cracks began to appear in the 42nd story of a very expensive high-rise in Hong Kong. It had already withstood numerous typhoons. And there was no ready explanation for the cracks' sudden appearance. Yet there they were. Obviously, there had to be a problem somewhere. So a team of architects and structural engineers was called in to ferret out the cause. Finally, one determined engineer stumbled upon the reason as he was prowling around the foundations deep in the basement. When he tapped the plaster, he noticed that...

Planned Parenthood will regain access to federal funding on Saturday, one year after Republicans were able to cut its clinics off from Medicaid. Last year, Republicans were successful in using the party-line One Big Beautiful Bill Act to achieve their long sought-after goal of defunding Planned Parenthood. But the complicated Senate rules involved in passing the bill meant the ban only lasted one year instead of 10. Come July 4, Medicaid will once again cover non-abortion care at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide. Medicaid is prohibited from paying for almost all abortions under the longstanding Hyde Amendment, but conservatives sought to...

A 4th of July weekend celebration turned into a fiery nightmare when fireworks went screaming into the stands at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles — sending panicked fans scrambling for cover. Just minutes after Angel City FC defeated the Orlando Pride 2-0, the club’s Independence Day weekend pyrotechnics display went haywire. Instead of launching into the sky, multiple mortars allegedly fired sideways across the field and toward packed seating sections. “The end is actually the worst. I saw several flames go into the crowd. It was terrifying!” one shaken Reddit user wrote. Another fan said the experience was still haunting...

Another take on ChristopherNolan's The Odyssey.

Nearly a dozen members of the wealthy Soros family collectively poured more than $1.6 million to Congressional candidates’ midterm campaigns so far, The Post has learned. The donations suggest the clan’s grip on American politics extends even beyond patriarch George Soros and his son Alex, who took control of his father’s $25 billion empire ahead of the 2024 presidential election. Topping the list of the other members of the clan was George’s son from his first marriage, Jonathan Soros and his wife Jennifer Allan Soros, who together donated $380,000 to House and Senate races all over the country. Jonathan, 55,...

Elon Musk is a builder. He has helped build things that changed the world. • Made EVs mainstream • Built Tesla • Built SpaceX • Built Starlink • Built Neuralink • Built xAI • Built The Boring Company • Co-founded PayPal • Co-founded Zip2 • 𝕏.com • Built reusable rockets • Landed orbital boosters • Reused rockets at scale • Cut launch costs • Restored U.S. astronaut launches • Sent astronauts to the ISS • Helped bring astronauts home from space • Built Dragon • Built Falcon 9 • Built Falcon Heavy • Built Starship • Caught a Starship booster...

4 July 2026 Saturday of week 13 in Ordinary Time St. Elizabeth of Portugal Church, Sacramento, CA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).First readingAmos 9:11-15I will restore the fortunes of my people IsraelIt is the Lord who speaks:‘That day I will re-erect the tottering hut of David,make good the gaps in it, restore its ruinsand rebuild it as it was in the days of old,so that they can conquer the remnant of Edomand all the nations that belonged to me.’It is the Lord who speaks, and he will carry this out.‘The days are coming now – it is the...

"Communism is an ideology of mass theft, mass control, mass lies, and mass murder—It is the Enemy of July 4th, 1776"As Americans celebrate the country's Semiquincentennial, the White House did not fail to deliver. What is one of the very best speeches of Donald Trump's career is a message, from Mount Rushmore, as much to Americans themselves as it is to Europeans and to the rest of the international community.After stating that "America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control; we are born free, and we will stay free" at his State of the...

3 July 2026 Saint Thomas, Apostle FeastSt. Thomas the Apostle Church Rochester, NYReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: A(II).First readingEphesians 2:19-22In Christ you are no longer aliens, but citizens like usYou are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a...