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The TMI moment comes about a month after Slatten publicly announced her ALS diagnosis.

Before the Knicks raise their championship banner at the Garden, a different one was erected on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon."

The French Laundry, a three-Michelin-star restaurant in Yountville, is now facing three labor lawsuits filed in Napa County Superior Court.

Iran's 2026 FIFA World Cup opener against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium became a politically charged spectacle as anti-regime protests, banned flags, diaspora tensions and the promise of soccer's unifying power converged in Los Angeles.

Former Villanova coach Jay Wright saw the same qualities with these Knicks, not simply because they included three of his championship-winning players, Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart. 

Gun Safety: Violent Crime Drops As More Americans Pack Heat

Authored by John R. Lott jr via RealClearInvestigations,

Alessandra Coote was walking on a trail with her 2-year-old daughter and dog two-and-a-half years ago when a man began yelling at her and threatened to kill her dog. When the petite single mom made it back to her Utah home, she decided she needed a firearm for protection.

A few months later, while living in what she described as a “shady part of town,” a homeless man threatened her. After that encounter, she began regularly carrying a firearm under Utah’s Constitutional Carry law.

Coote, who just graduated this spring from the University of Utah, says carrying the gun has given her the confidence to feel safe in public. “It’s been life-changing,” she told RealClearInvestigations (RCI). Although she has never had to draw or fire the weapon, she has faced a threatening individual when she was armed, but stopped the attack by merely letting the man know she was carrying.

Coote is part of a growing trend of strapped Americans. A new survey of 1,000 general election voters conducted last month by McLaughlin & Associates found that almost 30 percent of respondents said they carry a firearm. More specifically, the survey found that 13.2 percent respondents said they carry a firearm all or most of the time, while an additional 16.6 percent said they carry one sometimes or rarely. These results show a 5.5 percent increase in the number of respondents who said they carry firearms since a similar poll was conducted in December 2024.

Both polls were commissioned by the group I lead, the Crime Prevention Research Center, and have a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

Since 2021, 13 states, covering 34 percent of the U.S. population, have adopted constitutional carry laws. As a result, 29 states do not require law-abiding citizens to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun. A little less than two-thirds of those who are carrying a concealed handgun in these states have a permit.

The survey is the latest evidence challenging claims linking firearms and violent crime. As data show both the number of firearms and the percentage of people carrying them is increasing, preliminary estimates show the U.S. murder rate is likely to hit a record low in 2025—at least 10 percent below the previous record low.

“It doesn’t surprise me that while the country is experiencing record-low murder and violent crime rates, we are also experiencing a record high number of people legally carrying concealed handguns for self-protection,” Alan Gottlieb, the executive vice president and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, told RCI.

Bradford County, Fla., Sheriff Gordon Smith said lowering crime rates “isn’t rocket science.” He told RCI, “You reduce crime by putting more cops on the street, increasing arrest and conviction rates, and imposing meaningful prison sentences. But you also cut crime by empowering law-abiding citizens to defend themselves and their families through constitutional carry.”

Gun control groups—Everytown, Brady United, and Giffords Law Center—declined repeated requests to respond to the survey data and crime statistics.

Blacks, Hispanics & Women

The CPRC survey also found that politically engaged citizens are more likely to carry firearms. Respondents who identified as general election voters were twice as likely to have concealed handgun permits as other adults.

Blacks and Hispanics also carry at disproportionately high rates. Black people make up 11.0 percent of likely voters but account for 15.9 percent of those who carry all or most of the time. Hispanics are even higher, accounting for 18.8 percent of frequent carriers despite comprising only 11.0 percent of likely voters. By contrast, whites and Asians carry at rates below their shares of likely voters. Whites constitute 72 percent of likely voters but only 62.6 percent of those who carry all or most of the time, while Asians account for 4.0 percent of likely voters but just 2.0 percent of frequent carriers.

Audrey Bodiford, a 5’2” black woman living in Lansing, Michigan, told RCI she owes her life to her handgun and having a concealed handgun permit. On Valentine’s Day in 2022, she said, the over 6-foot-tall man she had been dating “kind of went crazy,” threatened to kill her, and pulled a knife on her. Fearing for her life, she shot him in self-defense.

Because she lives in what she describes as a “not good” neighborhood, this was not the only time she relied on her firearm for protection. In another incident, she said she accidentally let a door slip from her hand while trying to hold it open for a man leaving a store. The man became verbally abusive, followed her, and aggressively closed in on her. She turned slightly so he could see that she was armed. He immediately backed off, ending the confrontation. Asked if carrying has given her more confidence: “I feel more safe, definitely,” she said.

The survey found relatively small differences between men and women. While women make up 52 percent of general election voters, they comprise 45.1 percent of Americans carrying concealed weapons; men are 48 percent of the electorate and 54.9 percent of those who carry all or most of the time. The breakdown for Constitutional Carry states is relatively higher for women, with 47.5 percent of those carrying all/most of the time being women and 52.5 percent men. Constitutional Carry may benefit women who suddenly face threats from a stalker or former partner and often do not feel they can wait the months it takes for officials to approve a permit application.

Research shows that two groups benefit the most from carrying firearms: physically weaker individuals, such as women and the elderly, and those most likely to become crime victims, such as poor blacks living in high-crime urban areas. These groups have also experienced the largest percentage increases in concealed handgun permits over the last decade (2015–2024). During that period, permits for women increased 112 percent faster than permits for men, while permits for blacks increased 284 percent faster than permits for whites.

“A firearm dramatically increases a woman’s ability to defend herself,” Professor Carl Moody, a crime researcher at the College of William & Mary, told RCI. “Without a firearm, a woman is almost always at a significant disadvantage if attacked by a man. With a firearm, she can avoid an unfair fight with an opponent who usually has a size and strength advantage. Almost always, it is only necessary to announce or display the weapon to dissuade the attacker.”

More Guns, Fewer Violent Crimes

After the Supreme Court struck down a New York state law in 2022 which had sharply limited the number of people who could carry concealed weapons, six states, including California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York, were forced to make it easier to get a concealed handgun permit by eliminating arbitrary discretion and establishing objective rules on training and other qualifications. “This dangerous decision will make America a less safe country,” Democratic New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy warned. Those states did, indeed, see an enormous increase in the number of permits issued. In New Jersey, the number of concealed carry permit holders increased from 1,212 in 2022 to 57,245 in 2025. In Hawaii, the total has now gone from zero to 4,000.

Violent crime, however, has fallen in all six states. The murder rate in New Jersey fell from 3.9 per 100,000 people in 2022 to 2.4 in 2024, and the preliminary numbers show it falling to as low as two per 100,000 in 2025. A press release from New Jersey’s attorney general announced a “Historic Low in Gun Violence for 2025.” Some attribute the drop to the increase in permits. “Today, more than 58,000 law-abiding New Jerseyans can exercise their right to carry a firearm. And while some warned this would turn our streets into the Wild West, the reality has been far different,” Republican New Jersey Assemblyman Greg Myhre claimed.

An easier thing to measure is that permit holders are exceptionally law-abiding. States revoke their licenses for firearm-related violations at rates measured in thousandths or even tens of thousandths of a percentage point. Police officers rarely commit crimes, yet concealed handgun permit holders prove even more law-abiding than cops. Permit holders are convicted for firearms offenses at just one-twelfth the rate at which police are convicted of comparable firearm-related crimes.

“The data clearly show that concealed carry permit holders are among the safest and most responsible users of firearms,” David Mustard, a distinguished professor at the University of Georgia who researches extensively on crime, told RCI. Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith confirmed that this is his experience with Constitutional Carry: “The data is clear: The vast majority of concealed carriers are among our most responsible residents, not the problem.”

Despite the fears raised by gun-control advocates, over 91 percent of street police officers support concealed handgun laws. Law enforcement professionals understand that self-defense is a key element of public safety, in part because they know they usually arrive only after criminals commit crimes. An overwhelming body of academic research finds that allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces crime.

This is especially true for women, who often struggle to defend themselves against much larger and stronger men, who also tend to run faster. While both men and women benefit from carrying a concealed handgun, research shows that each additional woman who carries a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by roughly three to four times more than an additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men.

“Too often, women who are being stalked or threatened are told to limit their movements, alter their routines, or rely on a piece of paper to stop someone determined to harm them,” Robyn Sandoval, the president of A Girl & A Gun, told RCI. “Women deserve better than living in fear. By learning to responsibly carry a firearm, they can gain the confidence and means to protect themselves and live their lives without fear.”

“Every day, more law-abiding citizens choose to legally carry firearms because they refuse to be victimized by criminals and thugs,” Brevard County, FL, Sheriff Wayne Ivey told RCI. “Responsible gun owners know that even the best police response times takes minutes, while violent criminals can take a life in seconds!”

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/15/2026 - 22:35

The country singer and the "Dumb Blonde" podcast host tied the knot in August 2016.

The country singer and the "Dumb Blonde" podcast host tied the knot in August 2016.

As former British Prime Minister Tony Blair aptly said: A good way to measure a country is how many people want to get in, and how many want to get out. The same can be said of a state.  And when it comes to California, people are increasingly opting for “out.”  The state is unaffordable,...

The Mets needed a Knicks-like comeback Monday night, but instead of getting Josh Hart, they showed little heart.

Teoscar Hernández is quickly making progress in his recovery from an injury. Tyler Glasnow, not so much. First, the good news for the Dodgers: Less than three weeks removed from a hamstring strain that was expected to keep him out roughly a month, Hernández is nearing a return to action. On Monday, he went through...

A San Marcos homeowner is preparing for future wildfires by giving her home fire-resistant upgrades.

Swift looked retro in jeans and a loose-knit sweater, plus chunky sandals, for a stroll around NYC's Greenwich Village.

Swift looked retro in jeans and a loose-knit sweater, plus chunky sandals, for a stroll around NYC's Greenwich Village.

When SpaceX hit the Nasdaq on Friday and made Elon Musk the first trillionaire, plenty of Americans saw cause for celebration. Adam Schiff saw a crime scene. Something is “terribly wrong,” the Democratic senator wrote, with an economy that mints a trillion-dollar fortune while people go without health care. He called it the cost of...

New Study Exposes How The Left Turned Mental Illness Into A Political Identity

Something researchers have observed for decades is finally crystallizing into a measurable cultural phenomenon. Political conservatives consistently report higher levels of happiness, better mental health, and stronger psychological well-being than their liberal counterparts. A new study published in Political Behavior takes that finding several steps further, arguing that mental illness has begun functioning as its own political identity, and that identity clusters most tightly on the left.

Columbia University's magazine originally flagged the underlying trend back in 2023, reporting that "American adults who identify as politically liberal have long reported lower levels of happiness and psychological well-being than conservatives," Based on the data of four different studies, researchers from the Universities of Florida and Toronto, found an explanation: conservatives tend to exhibit greater personal agency, religiosity, moral clarity, self-worth, and a more optimistic general disposition.

The Political Behavior study was conducted by Prof. Lauren Van De Hey of Utah State University, and the implications of her findings were significant. "I further find that there is an emerging mental health political identity that is most pronounced among younger (Gen Z) and more liberal Americans," she said.

She also noted that "the political predictors and political consequences for the emerging mental health identity differ from those for physical disability and serious physical illness categorization and identification," suggesting that mental health, unlike physical illness, has acquired a distinctly ideological character in American life.

Approximately half of the study participants with mental illness reported that their identity as a person with a mental health condition is "very important or somewhat important" to them. Meanwhile, conservatives are less likely than liberals to categorize anxiety and depression as mental health conditions and seek clinical treatment at lower rates. Van De Hey speculates this may reflect a "personal responsibility ethos: they do not seek help when they think they can resolve the issues on their own." That framing, notably, does not treat the conservative approach as a pathology.

The study concludes that "these findings have far-reaching consequences for mental health advocacy, and the role mental health identity will play in the political sphere - especially as Gen Z matures as a cohort," with conservative and specifically Christian beliefs credited as having a stronger track record for producing happiness and well-being than leftist counterparts.

"It is becoming increasingly clear which ideas do what! Conservative, and specifically Christian, ideas have a much better track record than their leftist counterparts," writes Glenn T. Stanton of Daily Citizen. "This has deep personal and political implications."

The gender dimension of this divide deserves its own examination. Academic literature going back to the 1970s establishes that women generally report worse mental health than men. A separate body of research establishes that conservatives report greater happiness than liberals. Among young liberal women, both trends converge. Last year, the Institute for Family Studies report found that 37% of conservative women report being "completely satisfied" with life, compared to 28% of moderates and just 12% of liberal women. Young conservative women are more than three times as likely as liberal women to report feeling very happy, and IFS found that "liberal women are two to three times more likely to report they are 'not satisfied' with their lives, compared to conservative women."

The loneliness numbers were just as striking. Among women ages 18 to 40, 29% of liberals reported feeling lonely many times a week. Among conservative women, that figure dropped to 11%. The explanatory variables IFS identified were that young conservative women are far more likely to be married, far less likely to be cohabiting, and nearly five times more likely to attend weekly church services.

IFS concluded that closing the happiness gap "will seemingly require not only a change in thinking but also a renewal of young liberal women's connection to America's core institutions - family and faith." That's a direct challenge to a progressive framework that has spent years telling young women that traditional institutions are the source of their suffering rather than the solution.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/15/2026 - 22:10

Steven McBee Jr. has a new woman in his life in this season of McBee Dynasty.

Federal Agents Dismantle Human Smuggling Stash House In Texas

Authored by Troy Myers via The Epoch Times,

U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents busted a stash house used for human smuggling in El Paso, Texas, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) exclusively told The Epoch Times on Monday.

U.S. Border Patrol agents monitor the southern border outside of San Diego, Calif. on May 27, 2026. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The joint investigation, which resulted in the arrests of 11 illegal immigrant adults and one unaccompanied child found in the house on May 27, highlights the need for strict enforcement efforts at the border to dissuade individuals from entering the country unlawfully through human smugglers, CBP officials said.

"This operation, in partnership with U.S. Border Patrol, reflects our mission to safeguard the homeland and uphold the integrity of our immigration system," HSI El Paso Special Agent in Charge Ryan McRae said. "We remain committed to ensuring the safety and security of El Paso and beyond."

Of the 12 illegal aliens arrested, 10 were from Mexico and two from Guatemala.

The 11 adults were processed and charged with violations of Title 8 of the U.S. Code, CBP said, which encompasses immigration offenses including unlawful entry, unlawful reentry, alien harboring or smuggling, and more.

The unaccompanied minor was "administratively processed," CBP told The Epoch Times.

Following apprehension, an unaccompanied child is transferred into the care and custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which sits under Department of Health and Human Services.

Chief Patrol Agent Jessie Munoz for the El Paso Sector said his agents and agency partners at HSI are making progress in dismantling criminal smuggling organizations in the region.

The Epoch Times exclusively spoke with other top leadership at the U.S.-Mexico border who echoed the same message.

They described the border as more secure than at any other point in American history, yet some vulnerabilities remain that criminal organizations will attempt to exploit, Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre of the San Diego Sector said.

"Our primary focus is to prevent people from illegally entering in the first place, and it is my strong belief that the only way we can do that is if people know if they choose to use the cartels to come to the United States, they will not be successful," De La Torre said.

Every individual who illegally crosses the border, the San Diego Sector chief said, equates to money going into the hands of the cartels, which charge roughly $10,000 per person to be smuggled into the country.

More often than not, an illegal immigrant doesn't have enough money up front to make this payment, De La Torre said. Instead, they have an agreement with the cartels that if they are successfully smuggled in, they will illegally work in the United States and send money back each paycheck.

"It could take them a year, it could take them six years, but they're paying the smuggling organization until that debt is paid off, and that's usually through fear [from the cartels saying] ... 'If you don't, we know where your family lives,'" De La Torre said.

CBP officials told The Epoch Times that they hear countless stories of illegal immigrants alleging they were sexually assaulted, robbed, or beaten by their smugglers.

"If they can't get a group through, they will kidnap people, call their family members for ransom, just to gain some type of profit," De La Torre said about the smuggling organizations.

Tyler Durden Mon, 06/15/2026 - 21:45

Paramedics met the actor at the gate in Los Angeles when he landed from Chicago Monday afternoon, TMZ reports.

Paramedics met the actor at the gate in Los Angeles when he landed from Chicago Monday afternoon, TMZ reports.