When a gun is pointed at you, even for a split second, the barrel seems a whole lot larger than it really is. I’ve been unfortunate enough to experience that due to someone’s unsafe gun handling, so I’m talking from first-hand experience. Because of that, I don’t get worked up when there’s an officer-involved shooting, and the person shot by the police has a BB gun. I hate that it happened, and I feel awful for the officer, because I know that’s got to screw with a person’s head. They’re not going to measure the…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military stopped a merchant vessel trying to break through its blockade of Iranian ports by firing a missile into its engine room, the U.S. Central Command said on Saturday. The Gambia-flagged cargo ship Lian Star ignored more than 20 warnings from U.S. forces overnight as it tried to enter an Iranian port, the military said. The ship remained adrift in the Gulf of Oman and U.S. forces have not boarded it, said a U.S. official with knowledge of the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations. With the latest action, U.S. military…

This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog.  No matter what happens now, the world is facing a very painful energy crisis. Let’s be as wildly optimistic as we possibly can and assume that Iran agrees to allow free passage through the Strait of Hormuz with absolutely no tolls or restrictions starting tomorrow. Before normal traffic through the Strait could resume, Iran would first have to remove all of the mines that they have laid in the Strait, and that could take months. Once all of the mines have been removed, it will take the…

I’m not going rehash the embarrassing end to the campus carry bill that died an ignominious death this session after New Hampshire’s Republican-controlled House and Senate couldn’t even agree to sent the bill to a conference committee to work out the differences in opinion about what the final bill should look like. Suffice it to say I’m a little salty about the fate of that bill. I’m a little more optimistic, though, about another carry measure that is moving forward, and could soon provide more protections (and opportunities) to carry in public buildings.   HB 609’s…

Success and tragedy often go hand in hand for the private Illinois nonprofit search and recovery dive team Chaos Divers. One of their last successful diving missions led authorities to recently confirm an Oak Park family’s heartbreak: the positive identification of their long-lost loved one, Army veteran John “Johnny” Pisano Jr., who vanished more than two decades ago. “After 25 years of not knowing where your lost loved one is, it’s a humbling experience to bring answers like that to a family,” Jacob Gruggs, founder of Chaos Divers and part of the recovery team that found Pisano’s remains, told Military.com.…

Five years after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, a new book shines light on one of the war’s most consequential local partnerships: the U.S. relationship with Abdul Raziq Achakzai, the powerful police chief who controlled security in Kandahar province. “America’s Favorite Warlord” by Jacob Hagstrom traces how Raziq became a central figure for coalition operations in southern Afghanistan. Hagstrom, a military veteran and historian, chose Raziq as a case study after his West Point roommate Thaddeus Fox (who deployed to Spin Boldak with the Second Cavalry Regiment in 2010) first introduced him to the story. Author Jacob Hagstrom with “America’s…