In a world of Grima’s, be a Theoden. Flawed and fallen, he, like all of us, could have “bow his old head, turn, and slink away to hide in the hills” but he chose to do the hard right over and over.
Gm boys it’s a day that ends with Y. Bring this energy into the new year.
No matter how far you have gone you can always turn it around.
Theoden was 71 years old when he charged the Pelennor
Today is Pete Hegeseth’s 46th birthday. Here are some FACTS you won’t hear from the news:
7 kids
3 successful marriages
1 term as Secretary of State
The corporate media won’t wish him a happy birthday because they hate the traditional nuclear family
Dear @WhiteHouse, my name is Rodney Smith Jr., founder of Raising Men & Women Lawn Care Service in Huntsville, Alabama. Through our 50 Yard Challenge, over 6,000 kids across the country have signed up to mow free lawns for the elderly, disabled, veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and single parents. With America celebrating its 250th birthday this year and me also being born on July 4th, I wanted to humbly ask if a few kids from our program and myself could travel to Washington, D.C. to help mow the White House lawn for this historic celebration.
More than anything, I want these kids to see how a simple act of service something as ordinary as mowing a lawn for someone in need can lead to extraordinary places. What better lesson in community service than showing them that helping others can take them all the way to our nation’s capital? I’d also love to bring my American flag-themed mower in hopes that the President might sign it, so I can later auction it off and donate 100% of the proceeds to a nonprofit supporting veterans. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight the importance of service, patriotism, and the impact young people can have when they choose to make a difference. 🇺🇸
OTD in @NYRangers history: 2015 - WHEW!
The Rangers are 1:41 from elimination when Chris Kreider ties it vs the Caps. Then Ryan McDonagh wins it in OT. The Rangers cut the Caps series lead to 3-2.
In 458 BC, Rome was on the brink of collapse.
An invading army had trapped the Roman consul and his legion in a mountain pass. Panic spread through the city. The Senate did the only thing they could think of:
They sent messengers to find a 60-year-old farmer plowing his field.
His name was Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He had once been a senator, then lost his fortune paying his son's bail. Now he worked his own four-acre plot just to feed his family.
When the Senate's envoys arrived, they found him sweating behind a plow. They asked him to put on his toga so they could deliver an official message.
The message: Rome was making him dictator. Absolute power. Total command of the army. No checks. No oversight. No term limit.
He accepted.
Within 16 days, Cincinnatus had raised an army, marched out, surrounded the enemy, and forced their surrender. The republic was saved.
He had legal authority to rule for six months. He could have stayed. He could have expanded his power. He could have done what every other ruler in human history did when handed unlimited control.
Instead, he resigned on day 16.
He took off the toga, walked back to his farm, and finished plowing the field he'd left half-done.
Twenty years later, when Rome faced another crisis, they called him back. He was 80 years old. He took command, crushed the conspiracy, and resigned again, this time after just 21 days.
He died poor. On his farm.
2,200 years later, when George Washington was offered a kingship after winning the American Revolution, he refused and went home to Mount Vernon. The reason he was hailed as "the American Cincinnatus" is because Europeans literally could not believe a man who had won would willingly give up power.
King George III, on hearing Washington would resign rather than rule, said: "If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world."
The lesson isn't that Cincinnatus was humble.
The lesson is that for most of human history, the people most qualified to lead were the ones who didn't want to. And the moment a society starts rewarding those who chase power instead of those who flee from it is the moment the republic begins to die.
Cincinnati, Ohio is named after him.
Most people who live there have no idea why.
Hawley's GUARD Act just passed committee 22-0. Every American would have to upload a government ID or submit to a face scan to use an AI chatbot. Even for asking for algebra help or fixing a billing issue. The framing is child safety but the result is a national ID system for talking to a computer.
https://t.co/z5jI8qASrZ
Fifteen years ago today (1 May 2011), U.S. Navy SEALs raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed Usama Bin Laden. The raid marked the end of a more than 15-year effort by partners across the Intelligence Community to find Bin Ladin.
Learn more: https://t.co/vA7dJxHClB
“What news of Boromir the Bold, for he is long away
Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry, there many foes he fought
His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought
His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest
And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls bore him upon its breast”
J.R.R. Tolkien reads the 'The Eagle's Song', hailing the defeat of Sauron to the people of Minas Tirith.
In this rare surviving audio, he delivers the Eagle's message with a formal, biblical cadence reflecting the style of the Psalms. The proclamation begins: 'Sing, People of the Tower of Anor!' a powerful moment where the high messengers of Manwë announce the dawn of a new age. 🦅