Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insists that the reason murder is on the rise in his city is Donald Trump’s refusal to spend billions of dollars on “gun violence prevention” programs across the United States, including in the Windy City. The biggest problem with that argument is that Chicago is an outlier, and homicides are down by nearly 20% this year nationwide.  Johnson doesn’t want to talk about things like Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, which puts many violent offenders out on the street without having to post any bail, or the law that requires judges to include…

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah’s leader on Saturday criticized a framework agreement that Israel and Lebanon signed a day earlier to end months of conflict between the militant group and Israel, raising concerns about its effectiveness. Lebanon and Israel signed the deal in Washington on Friday without Hezbollah. The agreement links Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon to the Iran-backed militant group’s disarmament, something Hezbollah rejects. Several previous ceasefire agreements that Lebanon has negotiated with Israel since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hezbollah war were never implemented on the ground. In a statement Saturday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem said his group will keep…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A gay rights activist is suing the Department of Defense to answer a simple question: Did Scouting America actually agree to ban transgender members in a deal with the Pentagon? James Dale, who filed a complaint in a New York City federal court Thursday, alleges that both sides have provided conflicting answers, while the Pentagon is refusing to release a copy of its agreement with the organization. The Pentagon made a deal with Scouting America in February that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said would refocus the organization away from diversity initiatives and other “woke” policies. Hegseth threatened…

The U.S. v. Hemani case is sending shockwaves across the country. The New Jersey Office of Attorney General commented on the opinion when queried about it and it’s — interesting. What a whirlwind couple of weeks in the United States with U.S. Supreme Court opinions flooding the halls of jurisprudence. Naturally, at Bearing Arms we’ve had our eyes cast on two cases ripe for opinions: U.S. v. Hemani and Wolford v. Lopez. The case less controversial to more progressive jurisdictions was Hemani, dealing with so-called “unlawful” users of drugs. No press release came from New Jersey…

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz separately came under attack Saturday, likely Tehran’s response to overnight airstrikes by the United States. The attacks across the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict. The U.S. had launched its airstrikes in response to an Iranian drone attack on a ship trying to get out of the strait on…

A 270-foot medium endurance cutter offloaded approximately 7,720 pounds of cocaine and 4,000 pounds of marijuana Friday at Port Everglades in Florida, amounting to more than $63 million in allegedly smuggled drugs. The service said Friday that the seized contraband resulted from three interdictions in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean made by Coast Guard Cutter Bear, home-ported in Portsmouth, Va. They reflect a continuation of the service’s efforts to counter drug operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Pacific Viper. As roughly 80% of drug interdictions occur at sea, the Coast Guard works with entities…