Free Republic

So many leaders in high perches chase titles, perks, bigger offices, and even bigger bonuses. But they’re not satisfied. The grass is always greener on the other side. Here’s a truth I learned the hard way: Status and bigger paychecks mean little. What actually count are impact and presence. Hard to swallow for many, I know. But think about it. No one remembers or really cares how charismatic a leader was or what car they drove. What stays etched in people’s memories is how a leader made them feel, how they showed up, and the moments they were fully human.

The TSA is expressing frustrations with travelers who are not providing a proper REAL ID to fly. In a Facebook post Wednesday, the TSA made it known that a Costco membership card is not an acceptable identification. “We love hotdogs & rotisserie chickens as much as the next person, but please stop telling people their Costco card counts as a REAL ID because it absolutely does not,” the TSA wrote in the post. Starting May 7, most adults catching a flight in the U.S. are now required to present either a passport or an upgraded identification card that meets federal...

Libs act like total retards in the street. watch and enjoy.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man at the center of a bitter, months-long political and legal fight after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, has been returned to the United States to face criminal charges, according to an indictment announced Friday. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced his return and the indictment at a press conference at the Department of Justice. "This is what American justice looks like," Bondi said. She thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele for agreeing to send Abrego Garcia back In recorded calls, reports of overcrowding and lack of food at ICE detention centers Bondi...

The bromance between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump seems to be over. And now Musk is flirting with the idea of new party that could represent "the 80% in the middle," he posted on X. But who would join Musk-led party? And, can a third party actually succeed? Republicans, Democrats and Independents like Musk as much — or as little — as they like Trump. In April, before the feud between the president and the world’s richest person began, approval ratings for Trump and Musk were very similar, according to multiple polls. For instance, an April poll by the...

***** The Freeper Canteen Music Dedication Presents: Tunes For Our Troops~ Planes, Trains, Boats And Automobiles ~ *****~ Support The Artists You Hear Throughout The Canteen! ~ ***** Warning: Not all music may be appropriate for children! Please click with caution. Thank you!Tunes For The Troops This music is provided for the entertainment of our Troops, Veterans, Allies & Their Families! Enjoy the variety of musical selections that the Canteen DJs provide throughout the thread. Please ping any DJ with your requests for the Troops! Thanks to all the DJs for their time & effort providing entertainment for the...

Ukraine is increasingly worried about securing more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, as stockpiles sent during the Biden administration are drying up and the new administration is resistant to sending more, according to six Ukrainian and Western officials. While Russia bombards Ukraine with drones and cruise missiles, it is the ballistic missiles that are the most feared, and they can be reliably countered only by Patriot missiles. Ballistic missiles travel several miles per second, and they obliterated half of Ukraine’s power capacity in strikes on power plants. Their speed and size, plus the fact that they are difficult to intercept,...

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" would cut taxes by $3.7 trillion while raising deficits by $2.4 trillion over a decade. The CBO makes projections based on information provided by Congress when considering legislation that includes spending and taxes. But is it always right? Not according to Larry Kudlow. During his show on Thursday, Kudlow outlined how the Congressional Budget Office missed projections related to the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, Trump’s signature bill in his first term. "The current cost of the 2017 tax cuts should be zero. Why should they...

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...