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Yesterday, James Comey caused quite the stir when he went on Instagram and posted a picture of a shell formation on the beach — obviously one he made — that spelled out “86 47,” which many interpreted as a threat on President Trump’s life. Since then, everyone’s been arguing over the definition of “86.” As slang goes, it has a wide variety of uses, some of which are more innocent, such as when you run out of a menu item at a restaurant you “86” it or when you get kicked out of a bar for being too drunk or...

As the single largest player in the ecommerce industry, Amazon generates between 10% and 15% of global online sales. In its home market, the US ecommerce giant makes up to 40% of total ecommerce sales and generates the highest revenue in three out of four major product categories, outperforming competitors by a large margin. But ironically, while Amazon is seen as emblematic of American success in ecommerce, Chinese products are the backbone of its marketplace.According to data presented by AltIndex.com, more than 70% of all products sold on Amazon are made in China.

The adjusted firearm sales for March 2025 are the eighth highest in the 26-year history of the National Instant Background Check System (NICS), administered by the FBI. The numbers before 2016 are not as accurate because the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) started adjusting the number to account for the large number of firearm permit checks and rechecks in 2016.No permit rechecks were entered before 2016, and total permit checks were less than 10 million a year. Permit and permit rechecks peaked at about 20 million a year in 2021. Illinois alone had almost 8 million permit and permit rechecks...

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) for February 2025 shows a drop in both Firearm sales and overall background checks. Firearm sales are down about nine percent from 2024. NICS background checks are down about five percent from February 2024. Handgun and “multiple” sales moved up a bit from January to February while long gun and “other” sales dropped a bit. In the graphic below, the lines are for 2024. The bars are for 2025.President Trump has been in his second term in office for over a month. The rapid pace of corrections produced by the Trump administration signals...

On February 27, 2025, the Kansas Senate voted 39 to 1 to pass a police and firearms sales reform bill. The bill allows police to sell/transfer (trade) forfeited firearms to a federally licensed firearms dealer. From legiscan.com:Session of 2025 SENATE BILL No. 137AN ACT concerning the Kansas standard asset seizure and forfeiture act; relating to the disposition of forfeited property; authorizing the sale or transfer of forfeited firearms to a licensed federal firearms dealer;The Kansas legislature appears to be correcting a weird quirk in Kansas law, K.S.A 60-4117 (5)(b) allowed for four ways to dispose of forfeited firearms:Destroy themUsed for...

Can you remember the last customer service experience that left you fuming? Not too hard, right? We all want to be treated with a level of respect, and with so many people veering on the edge of a boiling rage these days sometimes all it takes is one nasty exchange with a company's representative to send you teetering over the edge. It happened to me recently when I made a call about an item I'd returned to a company for an exchange that had seemed to vanish. The agent on the phone interrupted me repeatedly and was actively unhelpful. Even...

Champagne sales have lost their pop as people around the world aren’t in the mood to say “cheers.” The total number of Champagne shipments from France sank nearly 10% last year to 271 million bottles, marking the second consecutive year of declines as inflation-weary consumers cut back and a generally glum mood permeates across the globe. That’s according to new report from Comité Champagne, a trade association representing more than 16,000 winegrowers and 320 Champagne houses, which painted a dour picture of the industry that aligns with sales of other alcoholic beverages. Maxime Toubart, co-president of the organization, said bluntly...

The trend line of 2024 as the fifth highest for gun sales and National Instant Background Check System (NICS) checks is holding for the year. November 2024 had the sixth-highest gun sales for that month. It was close. November of 2022 had .28% higher numbers. The NICS background checks were the fifth most for the month. November 2020 holds the record for gun sales in the month, with about 3.6 million sold in November 2020.With about 1.48 million gun sales, as recorded by NICS and our estimation process, November of 2024 continues the trend of 63 consecutive months of more...

A few years ago, automakers were celebrating record profits as the pandemic created shortages of new cars, allowing them to raise prices. Now the hangover is setting in. Nissan, the Japanese automaker, is laying off 9,000 employees. Volkswagen is considering closing factories in Germany for the first time. The chief executive of the U.S. and European automaker Stellantis, which owns Jeep, Peugeot, Fiat and other brands, quit after sales tumbled. Even luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz are struggling. Each carmaker has its own problems, but there are some common threads. They include a tricky and expensive technological transition, political...

<p>FORT MYERS, Fla. — Target has failed to persuade a judge in Florida to dismiss a lawsuit that accused the retailer of deceiving shareholders after its sales of LGBTQ-themed merchandise for Pride Month sparked a backlash and a customer boycott.</p>

Despite the never-ending drumbeat that the number of religious "nones" is on the rise and churches are emptying out, there is a curious trend involving Bibles that many religious and social pundits and prognosticators probably didn't see coming: Bible sales are spiking. The Bible has always been a bestseller, but according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Bible sales in the United States saw an increase of 22 percent at the end of October. The WSJ piece attributes the increase to worries about current events, including the recent election that had the entire country, left and right, chain-smoking...

Your long-held suspicions are confirmed, according to a report: Your phone really is listening to you. A marketing firm whose clients include Facebook and Google has privately admitted that it listens to users’ smartphone microphones and then places ads based on the information that is picked up, according to 404 Media. Cox Media Group, the television and radio news conglomerate, admitted in a pitch deck to investors that its “Active Listening” software uses artificial intelligence to “capture real-time intent data by listening to our conversations,” according to the report. “Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market...

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) numbers are in for September of 2024. They are slightly higher than those for September of 2023. There have been about two percent more gun sales than in September of 2023 and about three percent more background checks. Those increases are sufficient to place 2024 as the fifth highest September in the 25 years of NICS records, starting in 1999. In 2024, September numbers are about 6 percent lower than they were in August. Handguns are down about 8%, long guns are up about 2 percent. Multiple gun sales are down 2.4% and...

Interest in electric cars has slumped to its lowest level for four years as an increasing number of drivers say they will stick with petrol-powered vehicles. Figures from the Department for Transport show that just 13pc of all drivers plan to buy a fully electric car as their next vehicle. By contrast, interest in combustion-engine cars has risen, with 37pc of motorists saying they will buy a petrol-powered vehicle, up from 31pc a year earlier. The figures represent a new setback to Labour’s plans to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by the end of the decade. The...

NAGOYA -- Toyota Motor plans to significantly slow its production of electric vehicles, cutting its global output forecast for 2026 to 1 million cars, some 30% lower than the previously announced sales forecast for the same year, Nikkei has learned. The Japanese automaker's decision to cut EV production was prompted by the slowdown in the global EV market. Toyota has notified its parts suppliers of the decision.

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS), run by the FBI, shows July of 2024 is the fifth-highest July for both firearm sales and NICS background checks. According to the adjusted figures put out by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), July of 2024 is the 60th month in a row where over a million firearms were sold in the month. NICS has recorded five straight years where over a million firearms were sold through the NICS system in the United States each month. The number of firearms over the five years has been much more than the 60 million...

The State Department announced on Saturday that it would lift a three-year ban on selling certain weapons to Saudi Arabia, allowing some $750 million worth of bombs to be sold to the Saudi kingdom within the next few months. “The deliveries will include 3,000 Small Diameter Bombs and 7,500 Paveway IV bombs, which have been on hold since President Biden halted the shipments in 2021 over Saudi Arabia’s punishing war in Yemen,” the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Moderna’s stock price plunged more than 20% in Thursday morning trading after the company lowered its 2024 revenue guidance due to weak demand for its coronavirus vaccine in the second quarter. The vaccine producer netted $241 million in revenue in Q2, which aligned with analyst expectations. However, it was a significant drop from the $344 million generated during the prior year period. Moderna said the decline was due to decreased demand for its COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine generated sales of $184 million in Q2, a 37% decrease from the same period last year, but was higher than Jefferies’ estimate of...

National Instant Background Check System (NICS) numbers show firearm sales for June of 2024 were down five percent from 2023. They are still over 1 million for the month. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, this is the 59th month of over one million sales a month. If July sales are over a million, it will be five complete years of over a million firearm sales a month. May, June, and July are traditionally the lowest months for firearms sales during the year, although the pattern is not absolute. Specific events can increase firearms sales. The assassination attempt, which...

Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed legislation on July 12 blocking credit card companies from tracking firearm and firearm-related sales in New Hampshire. By signing the legislation, HB 1186, Sununu secured New Hampshire as the 17th state in which credit cards cannot track such sales. The NRA-ILA reported: firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories, and provides a civil penalty for violations. This critical legislation protects gun-owners privacy and ensures that bad actors cannot use credit and debit card transactions to create a gun-registry or block cardholders from making gun-related purchase.