Free Republic

From stopping dust and dirt getting into the eyes to prompting our blink reflex, eyelashes do more than just look pretty. Which makes it hard to explain the social media trend of men trimming down — or even entirely shaving off — their eyelashes in a bid to look “more masculine.” Videos posted to TikTok, Instagram and X in recent weeks show men braving blades very close to their eyes, in barber shops from Turkey to New Zealand, in a quest for stubby lashes. While some barbers are seen wielding buzzing electric clippers, others are freestyling with just a pair...

ive years after the worldwide hyperfocus on COVID-19 began, some are concerned about the next pandemic — whether it could be caused by influenza, bird flu or another pathogen. Too easily overlooked are non-influenza, non-COVID viruses and bacteria that are burgeoning and spreading unchecked — both in the U.S. and around the world. While they may not cause the next pandemic, they do cause a lot of illness and death. One such bacteria is Streptococcus Group A, an old enemy that colonizes the throat and tonsils of close to 20% of U.S. children, according to Dr. Joshua Osowicki, team leader...

Robert De Niro’s daughter is speaking her truth. At 29, Airyn De Niro is coming out as a trans woman and discussing the surprising motivation that led her to follow through with her gender journey, which included beginning hormone therapy last November. Speaking candidly with Them in her first-ever interview, the movie star’s daughter, whom he shares with ex Toukie Smith, shared that Halle Bailey’s “The Little Mermaid” in 2023 had a huge impact on her. In the article, De Niro said the turning point came when she made her first appointment at a black hair salon after seeing Bailey...

Tesla’s sales in the United States fell almost 9 percent in the first three months of the year even as the overall market for electric vehicles grew, according to data compiled by a research firm. Car buyers are moving away from Teslas and toward models like General Motors’ Chevrolet Equinox electric vehicle, which starts at around $35,000 and can travel more than 300 miles on a charge, Cox Automotive, the research firm, said in a report. Sales of all-electric vehicles in the United States rose 11 percent during the first quarter to about 300,000 cars and light trucks, Cox said,...

The liberal group Data for Progress conducted the survey of likely Democratic voters. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading Chuck Schumer by double digits in a new head-to-head poll of the 2028 New York primary. The survey by the liberal firm Data for Progress, first shared with POLITICO, found that 55 percent of Democratic likely voters said they supported or leaned toward supporting Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, while 36 percent backed or leaned toward backing Sen. Schumer. Nine percent were undecided. The poll is the latest sign that Schumer’s standing among the Democratic base has taken a hit since he voted to advance a...

China’s BYD reported annual revenue of 777 billion yuan ($107 billion) for 2024, leapfrogging Tesla as competition between the two EV rivals heats up. “BYD has become an industry leader in every sector from batteries, electronics to new energy vehicles, breaking the dominance of foreign brands and reshaping the new landscape of the global market,” Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD, said in a statement. The filing comes shortly after BYD announced a new battery technology that it claims can charge EVs almost as quickly as it takes to fill a gasoline car. Last week, BYD unveiled an ultra-fast...

Samples drilled from deep beneath the sea have revealed just how much global sea levels changed following the last ice age. Melting ice caps in North America, Antarctica and Europe caused sea levels to rise quickly as temperatures warmed after the last ice age. But researchers have lacked robust geological data from this period, so how much sea levels climbed was unknown. Now, new geological data show that sea levels rose about 125 feet (38 meters) between 11,000 and 3,000 years ago, according to a study published March 19 in the journal Nature. The findings could help scientists and policymakers...

Climate change is already causing all sorts of problems on Earth, but soon it will be making a mess in orbit around the planet too, a new study finds. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology calculated that as global warming caused by burning of coal, oil, gas continues, it may reduce the available space for satellites in low Earth orbit by anywhere from one-third to 82% by the end of the century, depending on how much carbon pollution is spewed. That’s because space will become more littered with debris as climate change lessens nature’s way of cleaning it up....

Independent Veterans of America CEO Paul Rieckhoff claimed Friday on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour” that Ukrainians are “more American” than the American people. Rieckhoff said, “Donald Trump has completely betrayed Ukraine. He has stabbed them in the back and every week he needs to twist it and drive it deeper with a new move that cuts more of their legs out from under them.” Host Stephanie Ruhle asked, “What do you say to the person who says, I don’t care about Ukraine, I want Donald Trump to stand up for Russia?”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Giving a new meaning to the phrase mad scientists, angry researchers, doctors, their patients and supporters ventured out of labs, hospitals and offices Friday to fight against what they call a blitz on life-saving science by the Trump administration. In the nation’s capital, a couple thousand gathered at the Stand Up for Science rally. Organizers said similar rallies were planned in more than 30 U.S. cities. Politicians, scientists, musicians, doctors and their patients made the case that firings, budget and grant cuts in health, climate, science and other research government agencies in the Trump administration’s first 47...

NASA's stranded astronauts have put on a brave face throughout their uncertain nine-month stay on the International Space Station - but that appeared to slip in a recent interview. Barry Wilmore seemed to suggest he and his crewmate Sunita Williams had been caught up in political games in Washington. SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, whose spaceflight company was tasked with bringing Williams and Wilmore home later this month, has repeatedly said the Biden administration 'abandoned' them for 'political reasons.' Musk has also said that former president Joe Biden rejected his offer to bring the astronauts home early because it would've...

Folk rock legend Neil Young and his band Chrome Hearts will open an upcoming European tour with a free concert in Ukraine, according to a post on his website. The 79-year-old Toronto-born musician, who was part of the supergroup Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, said it would be “a free concert for all.” Details are still being worked out, including the show’s date and location: “We are currently in talks,” Young said. “Keep on Rockin’ in the free world,” he ended the statement, a reference to his 1991 hit song, alongside an image of the Ukrainian flag against a blue...

A Democratic Rep. drew criticism on social media Monday when she told DOGE Chief Elon Musk to "Go back to South Africa" and asked "What the hell" he is doing in the United States. "It was interesting yesterday I was watching a video of an interview of Elon Musk with someone where he said that the Italians should stay in Italy and the Chinese should stay in China, my question to Elon Musk is what the hell are you doing here in America?" Democratic Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez (N.Y.) said outside the HUD Department on Monday evening. "Go back to South...

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” host Lawrence O’Donnell stated that “Elon Musk himself, personally, could pay for the entire budget of USAID, the entire budget, by himself, without missing that money at all, and easily, easily pay for all of the life-saving work that USAID does.” And “He says USAID isn’t doing it right, but why doesn’t he just step forward and show us how to do it right with his own billions? That, of course, will never happen.” O’Donnell said, “So, one of the ugly truths of this is that, unlike anyone else in the history...

On March 1, 2025, Hobart Police were dispatched to the Comfort Inn regarding a disturbance. Upon arrival, the officer observed a male and what appeared to be a female arguing in the hotel lobby. The male began yelling that he was scammed, while the female advised she did not scam him. According to court documents, the female subject is a biological male transitioning to a female, and was identified as Tyler Lockhart. Lockhart stated that he met the other male online, and that the male reached out to him to meet up. Lockhart advised the male then bought him an...

When President Trump threatened tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China in January, saying those countries needed to do more to stop the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States, Canadian and Mexican officials raced to Washington, bearing charts and videos detailing their efforts to toughen their borders. Canada created a “fentanyl czar” and committed fresh resources to combating organized crime, while Mexico dispatched troops to the border and delivered cartel operatives into U.S. custody. As a result, Mr. Trump paused tariffs on America’s North American neighbors for 30 days. China never made these kinds of overtures and, in...

EXCLUSIVE: @GrossmanHannah and I [e.g., Christopher Rufo] have obtained logs from the NSA’s secret transgender sex chatroom, in which NSA, CIA, and DIA employees discuss genital castration, artificial vaginas, piss fetishes, sex polycules, and gangbangs—all on government time. This is insane. 🧵 The NSA maintains a chat system for the "intelligence community" called Intelink. The servers are supposed to be used for government work, but gender activists have hijacked at least two channels—LBTQA and IC_Pride_TWG—to discuss fetishes, kink, and sex, all legitimized as "DEI." One popular chat topic was male-to-female transgender surgery, which involves surgically removing the penis and turning...

CNN - President Donald Trump keeps lying not only about the 2020 election he lost but the 2024 election he won. In a Saturday speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump correctly noted that he earned 77 million votes in 2024 — then falsely said his vote total was “actually much more than that,” since unspecified people “cheated like hell.” There’s no basis for this claim. Trump’s official vote total is his actual vote total, and there is no evidence of unsuccessful cheating by vote counters or by his Democratic foes. Trump made various other false claims at CPAC,...

Barack and Michelle Obama are quietly carving up their $70 million empire and edging closer to confessing that their 32-year marriage is kaput, Knewz.com can reveal – with their sensational split set to be the first-ever post-White House divorce between a former president and first lady. Hard-nosed lawyers and mediators for the former Democratic Party power couple are attempting to come to terms and divvy up their dollars and assets before the estranged spouses come clean with the American people later this year, said sources. "They want to have everything ironed out in advance," an insider with knowledge of the...