Free Republic

Piece linked unpainted nails to class and racial stigma before widespread backlash prompted an editorial The BBC removed an article that suggested the trend of leaving fingernails unpainted could perpetuate "White supremacist" beauty standards after it drew backlash Saturday. The original article, "How the bare nails trend became a class issue," explored the beauty trend of women preferring clear and polished "naked" nails over the more stylish nail designs over the past few years. The BBC reported that while some consider this trend part of the ever-shifting standards in fashion, critics suggested the image said "something about class" and could...

A backlash has forced the disgraced, far-left BBC to remove an article that declared “bare nails” racist. That’s “bare nails,” as in fingernails, as in women choosing to not have their fingernails colored with nail polish. That’s now considered racist, y’all. Why? Because when the market for racism is as starved as it is for actual racism, the market is filled with crap like this… “Nail art’s historical and creative roots are linked back to black, Latino, and Asian communities and the suggestion that bare nails are now a sign of high status could stigmatise bold manicures,” wrote the BCC....

For months, Hamas has been releasing the names of "martyrs," including doctors, aid workers, and "journalists"; that fact has been screamed from the rooftops by independent journalists. More "mainstream" journalists have looked the other way, after spending years peddling the lie that Israel has been targeting journalists for execution in Gaza. Much has been made of the fact, and it is part of the ongoing propaganda campaign against our ally. Now, finally, the story is getting picked up, and the Beeb is "urgently" reviewing its coverage. The BBC has reported the deaths of 53 “journalists” in Gaza who have been...

Recent remarks by US Vice-President JD Vance about the Antichrist and "the end times" are a "very common belief", one of his friends says. Vance recently mused on his religious views while responding to a question on a Christian podcast. He said he would "not [be] shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us" and speculated on whether the end of the world was nigh. Rod Dreher, a conservative writer, rejected any suggestion that the comments would harm the vice-president. He told the BBC's Today programme: "Most Americans who are inclined to vote Republican already believe this stuff." In his...

At first glance, Iran's surprise missile strike on a US base in Jordan earlier this week appeared difficult to explain. The attack effectively ended the fragile pause in direct US-Iran fighting and prompted Washington to resume strikes inside Iran. It was also unusual. If Tehran's priority had been a ceasefire, the strike is difficult to explain. But if Iranian leaders judge that a controlled confrontation could offer greater strategic leverage, the decision becomes more understandable. One possible explanation is that Tehran believes that, despite its risks, a limited war serves its interests better. Today, neither side appears ready for an...

Reform UK say they are reporting Green Party leader Zack Polanski to the police after he shared a post to his Instagram which included a photo of a man wearing a top featuring the name "Nigel" alongside an image of a guillotine. Polanski accepted a request to collaborate with another account and shared a series of pictures of a Green Party event on Sunday with his 713,000 followers. One of the images showed a man wearing a T-shirt which said: "We're only making plans for Nigel". A Green Party spokesperson said: "Once this image was brought to [Zack's] attention he...

OpenAI has revealed some of its most advanced AI models went rogue and hacked a start-up after it lost control of them during a security test. The ChatGPT-maker said its agent - an AI system which can operate alone after some human instruction – was being tested in a controlled environment, but found vulnerabilities and managed to escape. They targeted Hugging Face, one of the world's largest hubs for sharing AI models, gaining access to some internal company systems. OpenAI said the incident was "unprecedented", and it was conducting an investigation alongside Hugging Face, whose boss Clement Delangue said in...

as climate change drives increasingly intense and frequent heatwaves to the UK, experts are calling for better awareness of the risks to women and more targeted efforts to protect them

Thousands of people have marched in South Africa's main cities to demand that all undocumented migrants leave the country. Police officers - backed by private security guards - have been deployed because of fears that protests could turn violent. Anti-migrant groups had set Tuesday as the deadline for undocumented migrants to leave. Many foreigners have already fled to escape violence and intimidation. South African police say 25,000 have been repatriated so far. Most are from other African countries. One undocumented Malawian told the BBC he was "happy to be going back" but "heartbroken" to be leaving behind four young children....

Trump said in the post on Wednesday: "The big Oil Companies are not dropping their price at the pump commensurate with the sharply lower prices they are paying for Oil. "Those prices are dropping like a rock! In other words, customers are being 'gouged.'" He added that he had ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to "immediately start looking into this".

Israel has hit southern Beirut in the first attack on the Lebanese capital since a truce brokered by the US last week. Two air strikes on two apartment buildings in a stronghold of Iran-backed Hezbollah killed two people and injured at least 20, including women and children, Lebanon's health ministry said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had struck "terrorist headquarters in the Dahieh district of Beirut, in response to Hezbollah's firing at Israeli territory". Israel had limited its Beirut attacks under US pressure over concerns strikes there could put a wider peace deal in jeopardy. But on Sunday night,...

Three-and-a-half-thousand hungry Alsatians wolf down platters of charcuterie and periodically burst into noisy chorus....the latest iteration of a feasting phenomenon that is sweeping provincial France. The Alsace town of Colmar – famous for its half-timbered medieval centre – was the scene last weekend of one of the banquets géants – huge banquets whose popularity in the country has suddenly become a hot political issue. Run by a company called Le Canon Français (The French Cannon), the banquets are massively attended – €81 (£70) buying you four courses of local gastronomy, all the wine you can drink, and several hours of...

Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr has not been seen in Washington or his New Jersey hometown for months, but he is expected to easily win his party's backing for re-election on Tuesday, after a recent endorsement from President Donald Trump. "Tom Kean has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election," Trump wrote on social media, adding, "HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Kean is running unopposed so has not needed to campaign with voters. But US media report he also has not been in Congress, and has missed more than 100 votes. He was last seen on 5 March. His...

Iran has damaged 20 US military sites since the start of the war, satellite images and videos analysed by BBC Verify show, suggesting the attacks are more extensive than publicly acknowledged. Iran has targeted key facilities across eight countries in the Middle East since the end of February, causing millions of dollars of damage to state-of the-art air defence systems, refuelling aircraft and radars. Tehran has targeted both US bases and shared military facilities in retaliation to the US-Israeli strikes across Iran and Lebanon over the past three months. The Pentagon says it has hit more than 13,000 targets in...

Christian and Islamic faith leaders have said they are "disturbed and saddened" after it was announced that Tommy Robinson had been invited to speak at the Oxford Union. The far-right activist is set to take part in a debate in support of the motion "This house believes the West is right to be suspicious of Islam". In a joint letter this week, the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Steven Croft, and Imam Monawar Hussain called on the society to withdraw its invitation. The Oxford Union has been contacted for a comment. The debate was set to take place on...

The BBC repeatedly sanitizes jihadist violence against Israelis through carefully loaded language. Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks targeting Israeli civilians are softened into “retaliatory strikes,” as though years of terrorism and aggression are merely understandable reactions rather than deliberate acts of violence by an Iranian-backed Islamist militia. At the same time, when Israel targets Hamas commanders responsible for terror operations, the BBC frames it as Israel acting “despite a ceasefire,” subtly casting Israel as the aggressor while minimizing Hamas violations and ongoing attacks. The pattern is not neutral reporting — it is narrative engineering that reshapes terrorism into grievance and...

Europe is dealing with a full-blown sexual health crisis as cases of gonorrhea and syphilis skyrocket to unprecedented levels, shocking new data show. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) revealed the continent is in the grips of a dirty STI explosion not seen in over a decade. Gonorrhea cases across Europe hiked a staggering 303% since 2015, clocking in at 106,331 painful infections, while syphilis cases more than doubled over the same period, topping more than 45,550 cases. Spain ranks as Europe’s hotspot, racking up 37,169 gonorrhea cases and 11,556 syphilis infections in 2024, according to the...

As dawn breaks, hundreds of men gather at a dusty square in Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province in Afghanistan. They line the roadside with weary faces, hoping someone will come along offering any work. It will determine whether their families eat that day. The likelihood of success, however, is low. Juma Khan, 45, has found just three days of work in the past six weeks that paid between 150 to 200 Afghani ($2.35-$3.13; £1.76-£2.34) per day. "My children went to bed hungry three nights in a row. My wife was crying, so were my children. So I begged a...

BBC: When “Civilian” Becomes Propaganda The Bias Behind Caitríona Perry's Broadcast Word Stress, Narrative Control. BBC's (just another) Caitríona Perry biased anchor emphasizes the word “civilians” even when there is no evidence distinguishing who is a Hezbollah operative and who is not. Today 5/19/26, while reporting JD Vance’s statement on Iran, the Perry placed noticeable verbal emphasis on the word “civilian,” carefully inserting Iran’s propaganda narrative regarding its alleged nuclear aims. Perry hosts 'BBC America.'

At a rally in a car park outside his campaign headquarters in Florence, Kentucky, on Saturday, congressman Thomas Massie said that the Republican politicians who joined him had made a brave choice. "I'm sure they'll be punished for coming here today," he said. It didn't take long for Massie's warning to prove prophetic, as Donald Trump took to Truth Social to make his displeasure known. Congresswoman Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who had been barnstorming with Massie all weekend, and Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who endorsed Massie and shares his unorthodox small-government libertarianism, were "parading around like fools for the...