Free Republic

Cook County has erased nearly $665 million in medical debt for local residents since launching the effort in 2022, according to new figures released Thursday. County leaders are celebrating the latest milestone of the program, which has so far helped almost 557,000 people have some of their debt abolished. The effort has relieved the most debt for people on Chicago’s South and West sides and in the south and west suburbs.The amount erased ranges from around $600 to $4,000 on average per person depending on where they live.

Musk and Gor disliked each other since before Trump reclaimed power on Jan. 20 — with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO describing Gor as “sleazy” during the transition and questioning his staffing picks. But the world’s richest man had the president’s ear and friendship through last week. Simmering behind the scenes was a grudge nursed by Gor over a March 6 Cabinet meeting, during which Musk “humiliated” him by slamming the pace of staffing the administration, said the sources, each of whom have interacted closely with Gor. “He was bragging to other people that he was going to get one...

Kirk argues that feminization of males by schools and society is leading to a decline in mental health. A believer in "toxic masculinity" challenged Charlie Kirk to defend his position against the "hyper-feminization" of the West, and the challenge led to a thoughtful discussion, even if combative at times. The Turning Point USA founder took on students of the Oxford Union in the U.K. on May 20 about various topics, but one exchange about toxic masculinity was especially engrossing. 'We're actually living under a hyper-feminist West that is toxic. What does that mean? Speech police, feelings first, emotion over reason,...

S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI) Ratings has downgraded Ukraine’s issue rating on its GDP-linked securities to ’D’ from ’CC’, following the country’s failure to make a $0.67 billion payment due on June 2, 2025. The agency does not anticipate the payment to be fulfilled within the securities’ ten business day grace period, due to the government’s moratorium on payments for this bond unless it is restructured….

6 June 2025 Friday of the 7th week of Eastertide Saint Norbert of Xanten Church - AntwerpReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 25:13-21'I ordered Paul to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar'King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul’s case before the king. ‘There is a man here’ he said ‘whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation. But I told...

Iran has ordered thousands of tons of ballistic missile materials from communist China, raising new concerns about the regime’s intentions and its growing alliance with America’s adversaries. This development comes amid tense negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of Iran’s nuclear program, as the regime works to rebuild its military capabilities. According to a Wall Street Journal report, shipments of ammonium perchlorate are expected to arrive in Iran within the next several months. An Iranian company, Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co., recently placed the order for this missile component, with the material sourced from Hong Kong-based Lion Commodities...

Elon Musk posted a poll on X on Thursday asking followers whether they support the idea of a new political party to take on the Republicans and Democrats. Why it matters: The richest man in the world is publicly feuding with the most powerful man in America, whom he spent record-setting sums to elect. We're about to find out what Musk is prepared to do about it. Driving the news: Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he was "disappointed in Elon" for coming out against his "Big Beautiful Bill." Trump speculated it was because the bill...

President Trump is planning to give TikTok another lifeline. With a mid-June deadline approaching and trade talks with China in limbo, Trump is expected to sign an executive order staving off enforcement of a law banning or forcing the sale of the app, according to people familiar with his plan. It would be the third extension since Trump took office in January. The current one expires June 19. The White House had been facilitating a deal for investors to take ownership of an American-operated TikTok, but it got tangled in Trump’s imposition of heavy tariffs on Chinese imports in early...

Is America giving up on peace in Eastern Europe and preparing for military action in the Middle East? The Trump administration is diverting anti-drone weaponry that was initially allocated for Ukraine to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East, according to a Wall Street Journal exclusive. “The Pentagon quietly notified Congress last week that special fuzes for rockets that Ukraine uses to shoot down Russian drones are now being allocated to U.S. Air Force units in the Middle East,” the Journal reported Wednesday.What the Journal didn’t mention is that Russia has received thousands of drones from Iran, which is...

Judicial Watch announced last week that in a report to the court in its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) stated it “cannot fully predict” when records about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be released. The National Archives estimates that there are “over six million pages” of responsive records.

Veterans gathered in Normandy on Friday to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings — a turning point in World War II that ultimately precipitated the downfall of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s regime. Roughly two dozen veterans who served in World War II traveled to the beaches of Normandy to honor the thousands that died on D-Day, as well as the tens of millions that died in the second World War. D-Day marked a significant turn in World War II as it set the stage for the defeat of Nazi Germany by effectively establishing a Western front. It essentially...

The Trump administration has recovered a cell phone and hard drives used by Dr Anthony Fauci during the Covid pandemic, the president's FBI chief has revealed.Speaking Thursday on the Joe Rogan Experience, FBI director Kash Patel described the discovery as 'a great breakthrough' in the government's ongoing investigation into the origins of the pandemic and the federal response. Patel said investigators had long struggled to locate the devices Fauci used while serving as chief medical advisor to the White House — records that could shed light on key decisions surrounding lockdowns, mask mandates, and ties between Fauci's former agency and...

Members of Congress Introduce Comprehensive U.S. Gold Audit Legislation By Jp Cortez Sound Money Defense League Friday, June 6, 2025 WASHINGTON -- As U.S. debt soars and foreign central banks stockpile gold, four members of Congress today introduced a bill to require the first comprehensive audit of America's gold reserves in decades. Sponsored by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Troy Nehls (R-TX), Addison McDowell (R-NC), and Warren Davidson (R-OH), the Gold Reserve Transparency Act (H.R. 3795) would require a full assay, inventory, and audit of all United States gold holdings. Importantly, H.R. 3795 will also require full disclosure of all transactions...

Not sure what to make of this, perhaps people more knowledgeable about computers than I can add some insight: I opened up my Lenovo laptop, I had not shut it down over night, just closed the screen. I could faintly hear music and some background noise. It sounded as if I was listening to a phone, that had been left off the hook with the line open. I had no programs running. I then shut down and restarted. Problem went away. I do subscribe to a computer help system that has in the past come into my computer to resolve...

The war between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying, growing more violent and escalating rather than moving toward peace. A recent Ukrainian drone strike deep inside Russia damaged bomber bases, but this has provoked a major retaliatory response: Russia launched over 400 drones and missiles, overwhelming Ukraine’s air defenses. Many of these were advanced Iranian-made drones now upgraded by Russia, making them harder to intercept. Ukrainian forces reportedly intercepted only about half the attacks, and even Patriot systems were either ineffective or destroyed. Footage shows multiple successful Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, with minimal air defense response in cities like...

The inventor of the Sarco gas chamber assisted suicide pod, Dr Philip Nitschke, has announced the creation of a ‘kill switch’ implant for people with dementia that would automatically release a lethal substance into the user’s body once they stop responding to daily prompts. Nitschke, who is nicknamed “Dr Death” and “the Elon Musk of assisted suicide”, has told the MailOnline that his ‘kill switch’ implant is nearing the test phase.. The device would be sewn into a patient’s body – most likely in their leg – and set to beep and vibrate daily to warn the patient to turn...

Statement from the Libertarian Party of Guadalupe County. The Libertarian Party of Guadalupe County firmly believes that all affiliates—whether at the state or county level—should uphold the core principles and bylaws of the national Libertarian Party. In light of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire’s continued support for authoritarian rhetoric and tactics, as well as their open endorsement of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, we no longer recognize them as an official affiliate of the Libertarian Party. Furthermore, the refusal of the Libertarian National Committee majority to condemn this rogue affiliate leaves us with no choice but to take a principled...

[What if] Innovative education models, including competency-based, three-year DVM programs, distributed clinical models, professional skills training, shared faculty, asynchronous offerings, distance learning, and AI-assisted instruction, enable new graduates to enter the workforce as competent, confident, and financially stable professionals.

[Catholic Caucus] One Month of Leo XIV by Caminante WandererArgentina, June 5, 2025Almost a month has passed since the beginning of thge pontificate of Leo XIV. In this blog we said that we would be waiting for the first one hundred days, and there is still more than half of it to go. However, that does not prevent us from gradually getting an idea of his character, based on his words and first decisions.I have the impression, reading what is published in X, that the progressives began a few days ago to lower the level of enthusiasm with which they...

President Donald Trump is free to bar the Associated Press from some White House media events for now, after a U.S. appeals court on Friday paused a lower court ruling mandating that AP journalists be given access. The divided ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily blocks an order by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, who ruled on April 8 that the Trump administration must allow AP journalists access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and White House events while the news agency's lawsuit moves forward.