Free Republic

I was asked this week how I can be a Christian and support Donald Trump throwing out thousands of illegal aliens. But one of the toughest things about being a Christian is trying to be a citizen. No — scratch that. I mean trying to be a good citizen. Saint Paul was a citizen, too, but I don’t think he cared a bit about the Roman Empire. He gave the impression that if the Gauls invaded tomorrow, he would just shrug his shoulders and try to baptize them, too. And although he was the polar opposite of Thomas Paine in...

CANNES, France (AP) — Cannes is a short trip from Bono’s seaside villa in Eze-sur-Mer. He bought it with The Edge in 1993, and considers himself grateful to a coastline that, he says, gave him a “delayed adolescence.” “I can tell you I’ve slept on beaches close to here,” Bono says with a grin. “I’ve woken up in the sun.” But that doesn’t mean the Cannes Film Festival is a particularly familiar experience for the U2 frontman. He’s here to premiere the Apple TV+ documentary “Bono: Stories of Surrender,” which captures his one-man stage show. Before coming, Bono’s daughter, the...

May 11 (UPI) — Operations are returning to normal after a unrelated equipment issues prompted ground stops at Newark Liberty and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airports Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced. “Technicians are working to address the problem,” the FAA said of the Newark issue. “The FAA briefly slowed aircraft in and out of the airport while we ensured redundancies were working as designed,” the agency said on X. “Operations have returned to normal.” As of Sunday afternoon, at least 150 flights to and from Newark were delayed and 80 were canceled. The FAA issued the ground stop Sunday morning...

The court’s three liberal justices said they would have kept the policy on hold. Just after beginning his second term in January, Trump moved aggressively to roll back the rights of transgender people. Among the Republican president’s actions was an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.

Newark Liberty International Airport is “not safe” for travelers, one air traffic controller at the has reportedly warned. “It is not safe. It is not a safe situation right now for the flying public,” the federal air safety employee reportedly told NBC News correspondent Tom Costello. “Really an incredible statement, unsolicited. He just said that to me, and separately, ‘Don’t fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs,’” Costello recounted on MSNBC. The airport, which saw 24.3 million passengers and is the second busiest in the New York City area, has been drowning in delays and cancellations for days. Federal...

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...