Free Republic

Sky 4 flies over the former Century III Mall as demolition continues The demolition began last year and is expected to finish sometime in 2026. The mall has been closed since 2019. JCPenney, the last remaining store, closed its doors in 2020..

More young men in California rise in pitch at the end of their sentences when talking, new research shows. This process is known as "uptalk" or "valleygirl speak" and has in the past been associated with young females, typically from California or Australia. But now a team says that this way of speaking is becoming more frequent among men.

Has anyone ever seen Kirsten Gillibrand and Meghan McCain in the same room together? The two seem to share the same vacuous Valley Girl inflection, and perhaps even some superficial physical characteristics. Check out the junior senator from New York in an interview with Andrea Mitchell this afternoon, and see if you don't note the Meghan-Kirsten nexus. View the video here.

TO HOLLYWOOD it smacked of desperation. That's why the reaction to a new John McCain ad attempting to portray Barack Obama as a kind of mindless celebrity -- likening him to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears -- drew collective yawns and shrugs of irritation from politically active members of the entertainment industry. "I didn't think McCain could look silly," mused Norman Lear. "But that ad diminishes him and makes him look silly." Just for a start, industry types say the ad is wrong: In the Hollywood lexicon, Obama is not a celebrity. He's a rock star. (Note to McCain strategists:...