This article was originally published by Frank Shostak at The Mises Institute. The yearly growth rate of the consumer price index (CPI) closed at 2.4 percent in February against a similar figure in January. In February 2025, the yearly growth rate stood at 2.8 percent. Note that, in June 2022, the yearly growth rate was 9.1 percent. Most analysts are of the view that the sharp increase in the price of oil to around $95 per barrel (from around $64 at the end of February) is likely to lift the rate of inflation as depicted by the yearly growth rate…
Author: Tommy Grant
Your GPS battery is dead. The cell signal is gone. The trail you were following disappeared two miles back. What you have left is a folded paper map and a compass. That is the moment when knowing how to read a topographic map stops being a hobby skill and becomes a survival skill. Topographic maps, often called topo maps, show the three-dimensional shape of terrain on a two-dimensional surface. They tell you not just where things are, but how steep the ground is, where the water flows, and what lies over the next ridge. For preppers, hikers, hunters, and anyone…
DUBAI/WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face widespread attacks on its civilian infrastructure.Iranian state TV flashed an announcement claiming that Trump had accepted Iran’s terms for ending the war, describing it as a “humiliating retreat” by the U.S. president.Iran said talks between the U.S. and Iran would begin on Friday in Islamabad, Pakistan.Trump’s announcement on social media represented an abrupt turnaround from earlier in the day, when Trump issued an extraordinary…
Springfield Armory has just launched the SA-35 4”, a compact version of the company’s Hi-Power clone.We reviewed the original SA-35 back when it was first released a few years ago, and it left us very impressed. Now, Springfield Armory is releasing a very cool new compact version more suitable for concealed carry: the SA-35 4”. Featuring an abbreviated 4-inch barrel instead of the original’s 4.7-inch barrel, it should ride a bit nicer in the waistband while still maintaining the Hi-Power’s renowned ergonomics, full 15-round 9mm capacity and supreme shootability.As far as I know, the first factory-produced compact Hi-Power variant was…
Born in Newgulf, near Corpus Christi, Texas, on Nov. 6, 1924, Michael Castaneda Pena chose his calling as a man of action early in life. He didn’t complete the sixth grade, but in 1940, after lying about his age, he persuaded his mother to sign a release allowing him to enlist at the young age of 16. Mike, as his comrades-in-arms universally called him, spent World War II fighting in the Pacific and helping to liberate the Philippines. He was wounded twice over the course of the conflict and after the Japanese surrender, he served in the occupation of Japan.…
At 4:40 a.m. local time on Friday, a U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, call sign Dude 44, was downed over southwestern Iran. Both crew members ejected, landing miles apart behind enemy lines. What followed was what President Donald Trump, speaking at a White House press conference on Monday, called “one of the largest, most complex, most harrowing combat search-and-rescue missions ever attempted by the military.”The following is a chronological account of how events unfolded, based on U.S. Central Command statements, the White House press conference and reporting citing U.S. military and defense officials.April 3: F-15E Strike Eagle shot downThe…
A U.S. soldier’s wife who was detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency last week was released from detention on Tuesday while President Donald Trump’s administration attempts to deport her from the country.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, said Annie Yaritza Ramos Alvarado was arrested on April 2, with a DHS spokesperson saying “she has no legal status to be in this country.”Ramos, 22, recently married Sgt. Matthew Blank, 23.On April 2, the couple were joined by relatives at Fort Polk, Louisiana, who were there to help register Ramos as a military spouse…
Images by the author (Part of me wants to put “… is failure to communicate!”, but this isn’t a movie review). What we have here is something wearing a S&W logo that’s more rare than hen’s teeth… a five-shot, .44 Special revolver. Now, please understand that S&W is no stranger to either 5-shot revolvers – the J-frame comes to mind – nor to .44 Specials. They’ve made many of both of those over the years. What IS different, however, is that they combined those design characteristics into one gun. I would say to think of the 396 as a J-frame…
The Department of Veterans Affairs would see its budget increase by 7.7% in fiscal 2027 under the White House’s proposed $2.2 trillion budget for the federal government. According to budget documents released this week by the Trump administration, the VA would receive a record $488 billion, including $205.6 billion in discretionary funding for programs and operations and $282.6 billion for mandatory spending — the column that covers disability benefits, pensions, insurance and other requirements. Highlights in the discretionary spending proposal include $500 million to build permanent facilities for homeless veterans at the new National Center for Warrior Independence in West…
The 300 Blackout is one of the most purpose-built cartridges in the AR world, designed from the ground up to perform in short barrels, run suppressed, and cycle reliably with both supersonic and subsonic loads. But that versatility comes with a catch: barrel length matters more with 300 BLK than with almost any other AR caliber. Get it wrong, and you’re either leaving performance on the table or fighting reliability issues. So what’s the optimal barrel length? The data points to 10.5 inches, and here’s why. The Case for 10.5″ 300 Blackout was specifically designed to be run in a…