Free Republic

Michael Steele, with a knowing laugh, notes how "packed'' the shopping malls are these days, in the midst of a daunting recession. The Republican National Committee chairman was commenting on a caller's comment on Bill Bennett's radio show. The caller questioned how bad the economy really is, considering the fact that when he looks around he doesn't "see people spending any less money than they have been.'' "I've heard a number of people say that across the country,'' Steele replied with a laugh, and pretty well laughing all the way through the nodding comment: "The malls are just as packed...

If you've ever arrived home safely from a shopping spree, thank a mall cop. Tom Walton of AlliedBarton Security Services, one of the nation's largest providers of mall security professionals, complains that his people aren't getting any respect from Hollywood filmmakers who increasingly portray them as dorks, slackers and wannabe police officers. "These hard-working, highly trained men and women are our country's first responders who have a wide range of skills — from the sensitivity to deal with lost children to the ability to address criminal activity," Walton wrote in an article carried in several publications. As if malls didn't...

Haven't walked through the Del Amo Fashion Center in a few months, but the wife needed an eye exam, so I went to drop her off at Pearle Vision and take the kids for Dippin Dots. Well, there's no more Pearle Vision. They've been bought out by LensCrafters. Them's the breaks. Del Amo's a huge mall. Dippin Dots is quite a haul from the eye doctor, And I couldn't help but notice that about every third store was shuttered up. Many left were having closing sales--everything must go. We get to Dippin Dots and...well that's where it used to be....

Mar 21, 2009 22:05 | Updated Mar 21, 2009 23:45 Major Terror Car Bombing Averted at Haifa's Lev Hamifratz Mall By YAAKOV LAPPIN A major terrorist car bombing was averted at a Haifa mall on Saturday night when one of several explosive devices hidden in a parked vehicle malfunctioned. After being alerted by an employee of the Lev Hamifratz shopping center, who reported hearing an explosion, police sappers were dispatched to scan the area. The sappers found a partially exploded bomb in the trunk of a white Subaru car which was parked outside the shopping center, and registered to a...

The dismal holiday shopping season may sink some retailers and could take down some U.S. malls struggling with rising vacancies, softening rents and their own large debt loads. "This is probably going to go down as the worst season in history as far as retail sales," said Victor Calanog, director of research for real estate research firm Reis. "The difficulty of ascertaining what the effect would be at the property level is because we're already heading toward a train wreck." At the end of the October, the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) forecast that national chains would announce 6,100...

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – On the day Muslims around the world began to celebrate Eid al-Adha, Fatuma Mohamed was at the Mall of America (MOA), far away from where she would normally say her prayers. But she and other Muslims needed to take time from the activities of the mall and find a quiet area to pray as Muslims do during the festival that commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his only son for God. “I said my prayer right at that corner,” Mohamed said, pointing to the spot. Another Muslim, Amran Ali, did the same. “I had to say my prayer...

Police used pepper spray Monday night to dispel up to 300 Muslim young people who caused disturbances outside Fisketorvet mall in downtown Copenhagen. The youths had gathered at the shopping centre in connection with the celebration of the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha. But several of those present got out of hand, according to police. Bicycles were thrown onto the nearby S-train tracks, shoppers at the mall were harassed and rocks were thrown at police who arrived on the scene. Officers managed to split the group in two and drive them away from the mall. Five youths were eventually arrested...

  Buyer beware! Or in this case, booster beware. Staten Island Mall is posting faces of shoplifters on video terminals.   Slapping the faces of convicted shoplifters on video terminals in the Staten Island Mall is a big hit - or not, depending on who you ask."I think it's fabulous," said Dan Ozimek, a 62-year-old mall shopper. "If you want to do something wrong, you should be prepared to have your face on a screen." "I think it's unfair because people should be forgiven," countered Jason Harr, 24. "People make mistakes and shouldn't have their faces publicized for stealing, say,...

Islam convert gets 35 years in plot to attack mall The Associated Press - 30 Sep 2008 CHICAGO (AP) — A 24-year-old convert to Islam has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for plotting to set off hand grenades in a crowded shopping mall ... Man gets 35 years in '06 terror plot Chicago Tribune

A national American-Islamic group is calling on local, state and national law enforcement authorities to investigate an alleged incident in which a Muslim woman was ejected from the Oakwood mall near Gretna for refusing a security guard's demand to remove her headscarf, known as a hijab.

08 February 2008, 16:47 CET (BELGRADE) - A bomb blast rocked a Slovenian-run shopping mall in Serbia on Friday, while another had to be evacuated following an anonymous bomb threat, B92 radio reported. An explosive device went off early Friday at the entrance of Mercator Center in the New Belgrade area of the capital, which is located next to a police station, shattering glass but causing no casualties, the report said. The blast occurred at around 5:00 am (0400 GMT), according to a statement by police, who launched a probe but revealed no possible motives. Several hours later, employees and...

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

Calculating the Risks in Pakistan A small group of U.S. military experts and intelligence officials convened in Washington for a classified war game last year, exploring strategies for securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal if the country's political institutions and military safeguards began to fall apart. The secret exercise — conducted without official sponsorship from any government agency, apparently due to the sensitivity of its subject — was one of several such games the U.S. government has conducted in recent years examining various options and scenarios for Pakistan's nuclear weapons: How many troops might be required for a military intervention in...

Omaha, Nebraska -- The day after my hometown was rocked by the senseless murder of eight innocent people and the wounding of five others in a local shopping mall, ‘Today Show’ co-host Meredith Vieira asked this obtuse question of two of the shooter’s friends: “Do you think your friend was a victim?” Therein lies the problem with our society’s view of guns and gun violence. The rights of victims are forgotten while murderers are called victims. Poor Robbie Hawkins. Apparently 265,000 of our hard-earned tax dollars spent on this “victim” over the last several years by our Health and Human...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In what one FBI spokesman described as "almost an annual ritual," the bureau has obtained uncorroborated intelligence indicating al Qaeda would like to strike shopping malls during the holiday shopping season, two law enforcement sources said Thursday. Those sources confirmed there is intelligence dating back to August that al Qaeda would like to attack malls in Los Angeles, California, and Chicago, Illinois. The FBI's information is contained in an intelligence report and is intended for law enforcement and intelligence partners. "There is no information to state this is a credible threat," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in...

An FBI report warned al Qaeda may be planning to strike shopping malls in Chicago and Los Angeles during the Christmas season, but a bureau official said on Thursday there was no information it was a credible threat. ABC News first disclosed portions of the report that was based on intelligence received by the FBI in late September. The report said al Qaeda hoped to disrupt the U.S. economy and had been planning the attack for the past two years. The document, called an intelligence information report, was intended for law enforcement and the intelligence community, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko...

U.S. to Offer Turkey Help on PKK The U.S. is to offer Turkey a package of measures to dissuade Ankara from mounting a large-scale military incursion into Iraq to attack PKK Kurdish guerrillas, who have killed scores of Turkish soldiers in recent weeks. Ahead of a meeting in Washington on Monday between President George W. Bush and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, U.S. officials said Ankara would have to get concrete American help to combat the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq from where it frequently launches attacks into Turkey. “Erdogan has to go back with the...

The FBI is warning that al Qaeda may be preparing a series of holiday attacks on U.S. shopping malls in Los Angeles and Chicago, according to an intelligence bulletin distributed to law enforcement authorities across the country this morning.

HAYWARD -- Hayward police closed Southland Mall late Saturday afternoon after about 200 teenagers and young adults stormed the popular shopping center and began ransacking stores. The young people poured out of bleachers, set up in the parking lot outside Macy's, after a basketball game known as streetball ended. Police Lt. Mark Koller said clothes were pulled off hangers and advertising displays overturned. Employees and shoppers saw the intruders kick merchandise and mall kiosks as they made their way past Mervyn's and J.C. Penney stores. Thousands of shoppers left the mall by car and on foot as more than 60...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A Muslim man is demanding police take action after, he said, he was discriminated against at a local mall. Mustapha El Mahjahtti said he was at a store at the Prime Outlet Mall on I-Drive when a woman tried to cut him in line. He said he told the woman to go to the back of the line, but she allegedly physically attacked him and even called him a terrorist. Mahjahtti said security guards failed to help. Now he's working with the local Council on American-Islamic Relations to get action. "We are not criticizing the Orlando Police...