Aggregator

The exes quietly parted ways in May.

The exes quietly parted ways in May.

Backers of California’s controversial billionaire tax initiative on Thursday publicly challenged Gov. Gavin Newsom to support a scaled-back version of the proposal, arguing a one-time levy on the state’s wealthiest residents is needed to prevent what they called a looming healthcare crisis.

But here, there and everywhere these are the “butcher’s bill” prices we all must pay.

Stephen A. Smith is calling Jalen Brunson a hero. 

Comedian Carlos Mencia’s Encino mansion was raided by tax fraud investigators Thursday, hauling out boxes of evidence.

More Gunmakers Relocate To GOP States

Authored by Kevin Stocklin via The Epoch Times,

Firearms manufacturers Ruger and Rideout Arsenal are heading south, continuing a trend of firearms companies leaving Democrat-run states.

On June 10, Virginia-based Rideout Arsenal, a firearms designer and manufacturer, announced that it would invest $22 million to build a new manufacturing facility in Thomasville, Georgia. The investment would create 120 new jobs over the next several years, the company said.

"This relocation was not something we originally planned to pursue," Rideout founders Travis and Kelsey Rideout said in a statement.

"The reality is that recent anti-gun legislation in Virginia created a significant uncertainty for our company and ultimately forced us to look for a state where we could continue operating, investing, and growing with confidence."

These moves follow a trend in which firearms manufacturers such as Remington, Winchester, Stag Arms, Magpul, Troy Industries, Smith & Wesson, Dark Storm, and others have relocated over the past decade from left-leaning states such as New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Colorado to conservative states such as Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee.

"Firearm businesses are migrating to other states primarily because states like Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, Massachusetts, and others are becoming increasingly hostile to Second Amendment rights and the ability for these companies to produce firearms in their states," Mark Oliva, public affairs director for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told The Epoch Times.

"While Virginia was the latest example with Rideout Arsenal moving to Georgia, the move of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., to move their headquarters and expand production to Tennessee underscores the importance of firearm businesses finding greener pastures."

With Democrats in control of the legislature and the governorship, Virginia recently passed an array of new gun control laws, effective on July 1, including among other things a ban on the sale of various semi-automatic firearms, and certain large-capacity magazines, unserialized firearms, as well as new restrictions on carrying firearms in public places. Virginia also enacted laws to expand civil liability for gun manufacturers and dealers.

In welcoming Rideout to his state, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp stated that his state's "pro-business approach, skilled workforce, and enduring support for constitutional freedoms make us an ideal home for manufacturers like Rideout Arsenal."

In May, it became public that Ruger had relocated its head office from Fairfield, Connecticut, to Mayodan, North Carolina, at the start of the year. Although the company has not issued a public statement, it listed Mayodan as its location in its quarterly earnings report and has since confirmed the move.

Connecticut, once known as the "arsenal of democracy," had been home to several of America's largest firearms manufacturers, including Smith & Wesson, Winchester, and now Sturm, Ruger & Co. Since the 2012 massacre of 26 first-grade children and teachers at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, the state has passed a series of laws to limit access to guns. In addition, the state has been the site of a number of lawsuits against gun makers, such as the $73 million settlement of a lawsuit brought by the parents of Sandy Hook children against Remington and threats of civil litigation against Ruger in November 2025.

Moving out of left-leaning states may lead to a more business-friendly environment, but it will do little to protect firearms manufacturers from lawsuits, Oliva said.

"The threat of litigation is still alive, since states like New Jersey and New York have pursued laws that allow for loosely designed 'public nuisance' lawsuits to skirt the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act," Oliva said. "The move to these states is more about the ability to produce the firearms today's gun owners want and the legislative threats to that business."

The 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act prohibits lawsuits against manufacturers or dealers of firearms and ammunition for harm solely caused by criminal misuse of their products.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 20:05

For some, 2026 looks like a bridge to 2027 for the Jets.

Is Shohei Ohtani pushing himself a little bit too hard now? That’s what California Post baseball writers Dylan Hernandez and Jack Harris are discussing on the latest episode of the Dodgers Post podcast, coming off Ohtani’s six-inning, four-run start against the Rays on Wednesday. Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani has been playing through a knee...

North Hollywood residents woke up Thursday to a costly mess after a brazen thief tore through a neighborhood street overnight, smashing windows and rifling through vehicles in a crime spree that left nearly 20 parked cars damaged.

Closer extraordinaire Aroldis Chapman always struck me as a pretty smart cat, but he seems to have things backward this time.

Stefon Diggs, who grew up and went to school in Maryland, said playing for the Commanders in 2026 isn't out of the question.

That vision could be complicated by James Dolan's own sentiment, though. 

Once again, the state Board of Regents is undermining education standards, this time by creating an "path" to a high-school diploma that doesn't rely on schooling.

A Brooklyn woman was arrested after two dozen animals — including a dead dog — were discovered in her deplorable Brooklyn apartment, according to authorities.

Bad News Overload? News Avoidance On The Rise

These days more than ever, it often feels like there’s no end to bad news.

In the age of social media and constant exposure to news, doom scrolling can take a heavy toll on people’s mental wellbeing.

As a consequence, more and more people actively try to avoid the news or at least limit their exposure to it.

As Statista's Felix Richter shows in the chart below, according to the Reuters Institute’s latest Digital News Report, an average of 42 percent of respondents from 48 countries included in the survey said that they sometimes or often actively avoid the news, a significant increase from 29 percent in 2017, when the question was first asked.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Selective news avoidance, as the Reuters Institute calls it, became significantly more widespread across all markets in recent years, with half of all respondents from the United Kingdom and 45 percent of U.S. respondents making an effort to reduce their news intake.

The Reuters Institute finds that news avoidance is often linked with low trust in the news and that there are generally two types of news avoiders: consistent avoiders who typically have low education levels and little to no interest in the news; and selective avoiders who struggle with news overload and try to insulated themselves from certain topic to protect their mental wellbeing.

Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 19:40

The heat is on!

Dash claimed Teresa Giudice followed and quickly unfollowed her on social media during a Season 1 episode of "Next Gen NYC."

Dash claimed Teresa Giudice followed and quickly unfollowed her on social media during a Season 1 episode of "Next Gen NYC."

As Los Angeles struggles to keep its 911 system from collapsing under the weight of non-emergency calls, a Florida tech company says a ready-made solution is already waiting on the other end of the line.