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...

While conventional wisdom has long held that Republicans, and particularly evangelicals, are the staunchest allies of Israel in the U.S., the latest bloody exchanges between the state and Hamas militants have revealed fault lines in that critical base of support. Rather than close ranks to back Israeli attacks on Gaza, some right-wing influencers have turned on each other. For instance, Islamophobic conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer and pro-Russia MAGA influencer Jackson Hinkle, who mere weeks ago appeared to have a friendly relationship on X (formerly Twitter), are now sniping at each other over the conflict. Loomer, who is Jewish, has endorsed...

No, says Judge Fernando Gaitan's opinion today in Geico Gen. Ins. Co. v. Brauner (W.D. Mo.). The policy covered "bodily injury" "arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use" of an automobile, but the court held that this language didn't cover such a situation: Kansas courts have held that "For an automobile insurer to be liable for an automobile accident, unless the express language of an insurance policy provides otherwise, the automobile must, in some manner, be involved in the accident, and the mere fact that an accident takes place in or near the automobile does not impose responsibility upon...

This old-timer has a libido bigger than his bank account. A former Wilhelmina model claims her on-again-off-again octogenarian beau persuaded her to ditch her career, rent-stabilized Chelsea apartment, and move into his sprawling Rye home — where he sometimes demanded sex a staggering 10 times a day, according to a Manhattan Supreme Court suit. Janet Bedin, 68, claims Vito Verni, 84, pulled an emotional bait-and-switch between the beginning of 2019 and end of 2021 “when they lived together as a couple” in the 5,000-square-foot Westchester manse, the suit says. Bedin is now suing Verni for $80 million, charging a laundry...

A school in Australia has allowed one of its students to be non-verbal in class and behave like a cat, as per her wishes. The unnamed teenage girl, who is in Year 8, is reportedly allowed to act like a feline and be non-verbal at the private school in Melbourne, as long as it does not become a distraction to the other classmates. According to the Herald Sun, the school, which has called the girl "phenomenally bright," has stated that some of their students have displayed a range of identity and mental health issues. “Our approach is always unique to...

Jim Cousens is my bogan (Aussie for redneck) comic character. www.jimcousens.com has been found to be not up to community standards on facebook .......... one of my proudest achievements in film.

Uri Geller reckons aliens will stop Vladimir Putin if he tries to fire his nuclear weapons. The spoon bender thinks they will use advanced technology to scramble the Russian dictator’s warheads. Uri, 75, said: “With one click of a button we can stop the traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and we can knock out radar systems. “We can do anything with cyber today – you can imagine what extraterrestrials can do” Uri thinks aliens could visit us in the next five years – and will come in peace. He predicts they will land at an iconic...

EVERETT — Ryan Leenders collapsed and wept in the arms of his defense attorneys Thursday as the verdict in his murder trial was read aloud. Not guilty of first-degree murder. Not guilty of second-degree murder. Not guilty of first-degree assault. It took a jury of five women and seven men less than two days to acquit Leenders, 36, of all charges related to the deadly shooting of William Harper, 28, who was a guest at a party in 2020. Leenders walked out of the courtroom a free man, two days before Christmas. The jury sat through nearly four weeks of...

There Is No Such Thing As A Future The Antichrist. By JAG October 5, 2021 (1) Intelligent extraterrestrials have visited Earth. (2) There will be a future The Antichrist. (1) and (2) are in the same category. Both are bald assertions without a shred of credible evidence in support. Its impossible to produce even one (1) Bible verse that says there will be a future The Antichrist. There were/are antichrists (little a, plural) in the world, but there is no such thing as an evil political world ruler, in our future, to be known as The Antichrist ~ try to...

In a rare occurrence, the George Soros-funded anti-Israel Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday admitted Hamas was guilty of committing war crimes during its May conflict with Israel by indiscriminately firing thousands of terror rockets toward Israeli population centers. The attacks “flagrantly violated” the laws of war, the New York-based group said in its report. The report also acknowledged Israel’s claim that Palestinian rockets and mortars had misfired, and landed within Gaza, killing and injuring an unknown number of Palestinians. According to the report, one rocket that had fallen short above the city of Jabalya killed seven civilians and injured...

Disclaimer: Please note that the following story is unconfirmed speculation at this stage. I have no idea if it is true and if anyone else but Howell had sent it to me, I wouldn’t be publishing it. However, given Howell’s history of proving me wrong, I am going to just put it out there. For all I know, John Roberts may have some other, perfectly plausible reason for throwing his home nation under a bus. We have no evidence whatsoever of John Roberts wrongdoing. However, any powerful people who were associated with Epstein now have a cloud hanging over them...

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — More than 100 racing homing pigeons were stolen from a Greenville County home. According to the sheriff’s office, 116 racing homing pigeons were taken from a home off Roper Mountain Road. An investigation is underway and anyone with information regarding the stolen pigeons is asked to contact Investigator Burdine at 864-467-8293 or Crime Stoppers of Greenville at 23-CRIME.

Tina Lawson expressed indignation that Kentucky’s attorney general paused the highly scrutinized investigation into Breonna Taylor’s killing to get engaged. Lawson’s scorching Instagram post comes two weeks after daughter Beyoncé expressed exasperation in an open letter to Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron. Both are anguished that it has taken months to decide whether to charge the three Louisville police officers who killed Taylor while she slept in her bed at 1 a.m. Lawson is especially vexed that the 34-year-old attorney general is not working around the clock to expedite the conclusion of this monumental inquest.

A man angry with teenagers who reportedly threw items at his car was captured on video emerging from his vehicle with a double-bladed, wrist-strapped weapon — quickly dubbed a “wolverine claw” online — in Whitestone, Queens, Wednesday afternoon. The footage, shared by NBC New York reporter Myles Miller, shows a man shouting at the youths before turning his grey SUV around to drive up to them. The man is seen quickly exiting his vehicle and chasing down one of the young men as he asks, “You want to throw shit like that?” while pointing the weapon at him.

If you're bored, here's a video about 'the most unusual musical instruments in the world'. I'm a fan of Ben Franklin's Glass Armonica, and of the Hang; but I had never seen most of the others. (I'd really like to know what that fourth instrument is, after the Kalimba - it looks home-grown; and would like to have seen a didgeridoo and a steel drum.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCYHMVlQezAhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_harmonica#Franklin's_armonica

Can you tell me what this is flying around Trump during the briefing? Looks like a feather or an angel... If you were trying to kill the president would you think of floating a feather from the audience laden with toxins? https://youtu.be/fVeEmARzvfo?t=6153

Back in the summer of 2015, the co-directors of Disney’s “Zootopia” went rogue, disregarding the advice of their corporate colleagues and appearing onstage at the Annecy animation festival disguised as the talking-animal cartoon’s fur-covered lead characters, an anthropomorphic rabbit and her foxy best friend. The audience ate it up, but behind the scenes, the Disney suits were sweating. For decades, the family entertainment company had been dealing with a very specific group of enthusiasts, identified as “furries,” who get off on dressing up in full-body animal costumes, drawing inspiration wherever they can find it. By now, Disney lawyers know how...

**SNIP** David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori’s perplexing new musical “Soft Power” attempts to do three things at once: tell the real story of a 2015 stabbing attack on Hwang; do a “The King and I”-like turn that both romanticizes and criticizes a stereotypical America; and opine on the 2016 presidential election. There is an intermission, and the Public Theater has two bars. Start a tab. **SNIP** The first act of the dreamy show-within-a-show sees Clinton begging for votes, attempting to dazzle citizens and desperately trying to relate. That’s when she has that big production number at that ritziest of...

A gang of ghoulish bullies broke into a bizarre Halloween dance in front of a television director on his way to work, then pummeled the senior when he tried to walk around them, police said. John Sullivan, 72, had just gotten off the train at Sixth Ave. near W. 43rd St. about 2:20 a.m. Monday and was heading to 30 Rockefeller Center when nine people in their early 20s suddenly blocked his path. “They were circling around me, and they were pointing their fingers in my face. They’re dancing, and all of a sudden they’re punching me. They beat the...

Windell Davis-Boutté, a DeKalb County dermatologist who caused a bride-to-be to become permanently brain damaged while dancing and singing during a tummy tuck, has been ordered to pay $190,000 in consumer restitution after a slew of malpractice suits against her. Attorney General Chris Carr said that Boutte’ and the practices she owns—Premiere Dermatology & Surgery, LLC, Aesthetic Laser & Boutique, Inc. and Boutté Contour Surgery & Dermatology, P.C.—have entered into a consent judgment with the State of Georgia in response to allegations that they violated the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act by falsely representing Boutté’s medical certifications and failing to...