For the first time in U.S. history, a parent has been convicted of murder for their role in their child’s violence. Colin Gray, the father of the student who shot and killed four people and injured seven others at Apalachee High School in Georgia in 2024, was sentenced to 15 years behind bars on Thursday. Gray purchased the rifle that was used in the shooting for his son as a gift even after an earlier police investigation into his son for allegedly threatening a school shooting as well as his documented history of mental health…
One of the most consistently underused benefits available to service members and their families is also one of the simplest to access: free, confidential, nonmedical counseling through Military OneSource, up to 12 sessions per issue, with no referral, no diagnosis and no reporting back to anyone’s chain of command. What It Actually Covers Military OneSource counseling is designed to be short-term and solution-focused, aimed at the everyday pressures of military life rather than clinical mental health treatment. That includes relationship and marital communication problems, parenting challenges, grief and loss, stress management, deployment and reintegration adjustment, anxiety, self-esteem, loneliness and working…
Skinny sport ropes feel great until they don’t. When I go sport climbing these days, I usually want a skinny cord. I want one that is easy to clip and feeds lightning fast out of my belayer’s GRIGRI, so I waste no time on hard redpoint attempts. But I’ve started to realize those thin ropes often wear down pretty quickly. They get soft spots from too many big whippers, turn fuzzy from running through draws, or end up with core shots after a hard season of projecting. Enter the Petzl Arial 9.5 ($280-350). This rope feeds nicely, but it comes…
When the VA announced its first-ever MDMA-assisted therapy clinical trial for veterans with PTSD this spring, it was treated, reasonably, as a single, discrete story: one drug, one trial, one company’s compound moving through one arm of a massive federal health system. What that framing misses is that the VA is not running just one psychedelic research program right now. It’s running several, involving different drugs, different sponsors and different points of entry into the same veteran population — and at least one of those programs is being built with direct help from a company that is also quietly preparing…
It’s a debate as old as time: Are expensive sunglasses really worth it? In one camp, there are those who believe sunglasses are bound to break or get lost, so why spend more than $20-30 on them? The counter to that reasoning posits that not only are expensive sunglasses a better product, but the very fact that they cost so much means you will take care not to break or lose them. To be sure, there are klutzes out there (no shame), and if misplacing or mishandling things is in your nature, then cheap is the way to go. But…
A year ago, the Army did something it had never done before: It commissioned four of the most senior technology executives in the country as lieutenant colonels, allowed them to bypass the standard training pipeline, and told them to help modernize the force part-time while keeping their day jobs at Meta, Palantir and OpenAI. On June 10, the Army added three more. The unit is called Detachment 201, officially the Army’s Executive Innovation Corps. Its second cohort commissioned during a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia, timed to the Army’s 251st birthday celebration in June. The new officers are:…
A climbing rope made entirely from recycled materials has no business handling this well. The Mammut Crag Recycled 9.8mm Dry Rope ($200) looks and feels surprisingly similar to some of the thinner ropes I already own. That caught my attention because it had been a long time since I’d been interested in using a 9.8mm rope. The more experienced I became as a climber, the lighter I wanted my ropes to be. Lighter and thinner ropes have several advantages. They’re easier to feed out of a belay device, faster to clip, and lighter to carry. But they lose points in…
Homicides hit historic lows in 2025, and all indications seem to suggest that we’re going to set a new low here in 2026. That’s fantastic news, especially as this drop has coincided with the fearmongering among anti-gunners following the Bruen decision. The problem is, though, that anti-gunners don’t actually care about reality. All they need is enough of a perception that there’s a problem to sort of justify them doing stupid things, like, say, calling for a special legislative session to pass gun control in one of the most anti-gun states in the nation.The Delaware-based…
Your vehicle’s brakes are its most important safety system, but they’re also one of the easiest components to overlook when something goes wrong. While brake pads and rotors wear over time, your vehicle usually gives you warning signs before braking performance becomes dangerous. Paying attention to unusual noises, changes in pedal feel, or differences in how your vehicle stops can help you catch problems early. Knowing what to look for can help you avoid more expensive repairs – and keep you and your passengers safe on the road. 1. Squealing or Screeching When You Brake A high-pitched squeal when you…
With characters in games, as with people in real life, I always like to know where I stand. Much as I believe in second chances, betrayal is something that it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to come back from. It’s always very emotionally effective, then, for developers to subvert those kinds of expectations. Sometimes, they’ll give us the whole length of a game’s story to bond with a protagonist, only to reveal at the end that they weren’t at all who you thought they were. There’s nothing quite like a game that completely betrays player expectations. Other titles allow you…
An Oregon initiative petition that could effectively criminalize hunting and fishing has cleared a major early hurdle. Initiative Petition 28, formally called the People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions Act, or PEACE Act, has submitted more raw signatures than it needs to qualify for Oregon’s 2026 ballot. That doesn’t (yet) mean voters will definitely see it in November. The Oregon Elections Division’s May 29 submission log lists IP28 with 126,115 signatures received. A statutory initiative needs 117,173 valid signatures to qualify. Those signatures still have to survive verification. If the petition qualifies and voters approve it, IP28 would…
If the last argument of kings is war, the best response from the citizenry is guns.Machiavelli wrote that “The chief foundations of all states… are good laws and good arms.” Those good arms must be in the hands of citizens, and the world is waking up to the need for guns for themselves to fight the tyrants who persecute them or seek their extermination. We Americans are not fools for holding onto our firearms. Corporate media stateside and around the world can laugh at us or condemn us for the high number of gun-related deaths,…
What started as a routine spring turkey hunt ended in tragedy last month after searchers found the body of a missing Ohio hunter deep in Colorado’s backcountry. According to reporting from CBS Colorado, 27-year-old Kaden Sites was found deceased after more than a week of intensive search efforts near Mount Shavano in Chaffee County. Sites, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, was reported missing after failing to return from a turkey hunting trip and missing a scheduled doctor’s appointment later that day. The disappearance immediately triggered a large-scale search operation. Over eight days, more than 100 volunteers, law enforcement personnel, search-and-rescue…
A three-panel court blocked the Trump administration from banning transgender troops from the United States military, though it did not alter precedent for new troops wanting to enlist. The 2-1 ruling, issued Monday by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, blocks the administration from removing currently enlisted transgender service members but continues to allow the policy to continue for new transgender recruits. On May 6, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court in a party-line decision granted the Trump administration’s request to enforce a Department of Defense policy banning transgender individuals from serving in…
Every experienced fly angler has a list of their favorite rods ever created. These are specific models, no matter how old and outdated, that, for whatever reason, spoke to you as an angler. For me, the original Orvis Recon easily makes my top-five list. When the Recon launched in 2015, Orvis touted it as a high-performing rod with a middle-of-the-road price of $425. I thought it performed too well. It was ridiculously light and fast, and reminded me of my old Sage ONE. Honestly, when sitting in my drift boat next to flagships from Winston, Sage, Loomis, and Orvis itself,…
New Jersey has never made it easy for law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm. Before the Bruen decision, it was downright impossible for most. It was one of those states that said you needed a good reason to get a permit, and as at least one reader informed me directly, “self-defense” wasn’t considered a good reason. They can’t do that now, but that doesn’t mean they’re making it much easier. What they do now is charge a lot of money for a permit, and that makes it difficult for many people to get one, especially…
A large luxury sedan, such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, often sits near the top of a premium brand’s lineup. These vehicles blend the latest technology and ultimate luxury into a complete package. However, with the rising demand for SUVs and the introduction of new luxury SUVs, the importance of the luxury sedan has diminished over the past few years. While other brands have removed flagship sedans from their product lineups, Volvo has taken a different approach to the segment. The brand-new Volvo ES90 is the company’s first fully electric luxury sedan, a bold statement by the Swedish carmaker to a…
Health officials in Brazil are currently monitoring two people for possible Ebola infections. One suspected patient, a 37-year-old man from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), who began exhibiting symptoms such as fever, São Paulo’s state government said. The other case is in Rio de Janeiro. These two cases are in Brazil’s two largest cities, sparking concern for the country. The test results for both patients should become available next week. If confirmed, they would be the first cases of infection outside Africa since the outbreak began in the DR Congo, according to a BBC report. There are…
When you think of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., you likely imagine the alpine grandeur of resort skiing and snowboarding. What often goes overlooked, however, is the surrounding landscape of forests, wilderness areas, and pristine alpine lakes. A wider lens opens up one of the most geologically dynamic landscapes in North America. Volcanic energy, tectonic forces, and glacial activity shaped (and, in some cases, continue to shape) this corner of the Eastern Sierra with features that inspire both awe and exploration. When Michael Washington and Sam Reese set off to uncover the story behind the geology of Mammoth Lakes, they targeted four…
The ATF has recently moved to end the “zero tolerance” policy put in place under Joe Biden and then-ATF Director Steve Dettelbach that treated even minor paperwork errors as “willful” violations of agency regulations worthy of license revocations. Under the policy, revocations grew more than 500%, from 30 in 2020 to 195 in 2024. Additionally, more than 1,400 FFLs decided to “voluntarily” surrender their licenses or close their doors in 2024, in some cases after ATF indicated it would pursue revocations. Biden and his supporters in the gun control lobby claimed that these were “bad…
Marines and additional National Guard troops were headed to Los Angeles this week on President Donald Trump’s orders in response to protests over immigration raids. The authorization came amid mostly peaceful protests in the city on Monday. California officials sued Trump on Monday to roll back the administration’s National Guard deployment, saying the president trampled over the state’s sovereignty. Local officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom don’t want the military presence and the police chief has said it creates logistical challenges for safely handling protests. Read More: Trump Deploys Hundreds of Marines to LA in Growing Military Response to Immigration Raid…
