Free Republic

Joy Behar is supposedly a comic. It’s hard to tell, as the only time she’s really funny is unintentionally. Can you really build a career from that? With a voice that makes The Nanny sound as sweet as Ella Fitzgerald, and a manner that makes a frontier mining camp madam seem like Grace Kelly, Behar has turned irritating into an art form. And if you really want to hear her at full-out bray, just bring up Sarah Palin. Here are a couple of notable examples. “She is SO dumb” “She is not coherent. The woman cannot construct a sentence.” So...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Cash was king for consumers who shopped over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to survey results released on Sunday, and that factor could have cost retailers additional sales. Only 26 percent of people who shopped over the weekend said they used credit cards for their purchases, according to a poll conducted for Reuters by America's Research Group. "That's an amazing shift in consumers' habits," said Britt Beemer, founder of America's Research Group. Consumers shunning credit cards is a bad sign for retailers, since people who buy gifts with a credit card tend to spend anywhere from 20 to...

Paltry growth indicates we may be looking at one of the worst years in all time. If you were counting on what Glenn Reynolds calls "the retail support brigade" to come riding over the hills, you might want to rethink. After last year turned in one of the worst holiday shopping seasons in decades, people were hoping that things might perk up this year, but Black Friday's results don't look too good for retailers. Sales were up a paltry 0.5% from last year, and that only because a lot more people came out bargain-hunting. Sales on the day after Thanksgiving...

This year, the Muslim holiday of Eid El-Adha fell on the same weekend as Black Friday, the famous shopping spree tradition. Best Buy, one of the retailers participating in the event, posted a season’s greeting on one of their flyers: a little circle with “Happy Eid El-Adha” above the giant “Thanksgiving” greeting. It was a gentle nod toward a minority group whose holiday happened to fall on the same day. It was a great gesture toward inclusiveness. No one could possibly spin glad tidings and season greetings into a negative thing, right? Think again. The noble gesture has caused quite...

American consumers shopped more for bargains at the start of the U.S. holiday season and spent significantly less than a year ago, according to early data released on Sunday. Consumers said they will have spent nearly 8 percent less on average, or about $343 per person, over the weekend that includes U.S. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and runs through Sunday, according to the National Retail Federation. American consumers shopped more for bargains at the start of the U.S. holiday season and spent significantly less than a year ago, according to early data released on Sunday. Consumers said they will have...

US Shoppers Spent Less Over Black Friday: NRF US, RETAIL, ECONOMY, SHOPPERS, SHOPPING, BLACK FRIDAY, TARGET, WAL-MART, GAP, SAKS Reuters | 29 Nov 2009 | 03:41 PM ET American consumers shopped more for bargains at the start of the U.S. holiday season and spent significantly less than a year ago, according to early data released on Sunday. Consumers said they will have spent nearly 8 percent less on average, or about $343 per person, over the weekend that includes U.S. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and runs through Sunday, according to the National Retail Federation. While traffic to stores and retail...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - American consumers shopped more for bargains at the start of the U.S. holiday season and spent significantly less than a year ago, according to early data released on Sunday. Consumers said they will have spent nearly 8 percent less on average, or about $343 per person, over the weekend that includes Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and runs through Sunday, according to the National Retail Federation. While traffic to stores and retail websites rose to 195 million people from 172 million in 2008, the early data this weekend represents a worrisome sign for retailers, who had braced...

Vote with your Wallet -- Don't Buy Products from Companies That Support President Obama's Cap-and-Trade Policy Today the Free Enterprise Project of the National Center for Public Policy Research calls on patriotic Americans to vote with their wallets starting on Black Friday and avoid buying products from companies that are working with President Obama and liberals in Congress to impose cap-and-trade policies. "The only reason why cap-and-trade is on the national scene is because CEOs of major corporations are actively lobbying for the legislation. Every time we buy products from these companies our money is rewarding CEOs who are the...

Call it a wash. The biggest retail day of the year managed to match up against the sales figures from last year, eking out a 0.5% increase — perhaps not even enough to cover what little inflation may have occurred over the past year. Retailers took in $10.66 billion on Friday, but the news reports leave out an important question: Shoppers who endured long lines and sometimes-frigid temperatures spent only slightly more during their Black Friday shopping sprees than they did last year, according to data released Saturday by a research firm. At the same time, their pajama-clad counterparts, a...

I’d like to specifically request that retailers all over the U.S. stop saying “Merry Christmas” altogether. In fact, I want retailers to remove the word “Christmas” from all of their print ads, radio spots, TV spots, billboards, and in-store displays and decorations. I think it’s the least we can do for our Savior.

Another Thanxmas shopping season, another collection of news stories about social retards who don't know how to behave in public... People in other parts of the world fight over food, water or religious freedoms; we fight over DVD players and toys Store employees are to blame when two women get in a fight over a pair of discounted pajamas.  Just like... ... Teachers are to blame because our kids behave like spoiled brats, little sluts, and junior gangbangers. ... George Bush is to blame when people too benumbed by corrupt liberal governance don't know how to get out of...

Joy Behar is supposed to be a comedienne, but on The View she is more like unintentional comic relief. It is a wonder how someone this stupid is let out of the house without wearing a helmet...and to be on two different TV shows...what, did everyone else in the world who wanted to be on TV Die all of a sudden? Today the village idiot of "the View" announced that she is uncomfortable with the term "Black Friday" because she thought it was a bit racist (see video below):

There's nothing like tuning into an episode of "The View" for a little exploration of social sensitivities in the modern American culture. In keeping with that tradition, on Black Friday, a term used to describe the Friday following Thanksgiving, which is the beginning of the traditional Christmas shopping season, the use of the word "black" to mark this occasion was a topic of discussion on "The View" for its potential "racist" implications. Co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, who has her own primetime HLN cable show, debated the use of "black" on the Nov. 27 pre-recorded broadcast. Goldberg, a black...

Dubai, being one of the "birthplaces" of an entire category of investment known as "Islamic Bonds", was considered a "new dawn" for finance. Wednesday evening into today shows four things in stark relief: "Islamic Finance" is no more of a revolution than is "Western Finance." Indeed, the entire premise of "Islamic Finance" is nothing more than a dodge around a religious stricture of lending at interest. It is still lending at interest, no matter what sort of dodge someone puts into the agreement to make it comport with some claimed religious stricture. Welcome to reality. Leverage - that is, debt-based...

Early Reports Point Toward A Nationwide Black Friday Shopping Frenzy John CarneyNov. 27, 2009, 10:58 AM If local media reports are accurate, shoppers have turned out in huge numbers across the country for Black Friday. We did a survey of local news sites to gather the latest Black Frdiay news. And it looks very good for retailers. Cincinnati, Ohio: "A long line of shoppers looking for the best priced toys for Christmas waited outside a Western Hills Toys R' Us store on Glenway Avenue, since late Thursday night to be among the first in line. After the doors opened at...

Stocks down 214 already this morning

Dow Futures down 327 as of 2:41AM. NASDAQ down 70.75. S&P down 41.70.

When all is said and done after the holidays, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection may be the only option for many chains, Cohen added. Then again, maybe retailers can rely on Cramer's optimism that everyone is massively underestimating the unemployed consumer who has bet the house and the dog on those one hundred shares of Amazon stock. In the past, for example, retailers like Nordstrom would bring in holiday merchandise early and reorder the best-selling items. This strategic tool likely will not be available to them this year. “Reorders will be down significantly this year, simply because the merchandise...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US retailers are taking desperate measures to spark holiday sales in the face of what promises to be another troubled year-end shopping season. Merchants are furiously working to ramp up consumer interest ahead of "Black Friday," on November 27, the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday that marks the traditional kickoff of the holiday gift season. Some are promising price cuts of 50 percent or more on some hot electronics, and planning for big events to bring out shoppers for big sales promotions.

I may be wrong, but wouldn't Black Friday be a perfect day for "tea parties"? Everyone off work, many going shopping. Also it would be another way to "starve the beast".

When the U.S. holiday shopping season kicks off on the day after Thanksgiving, retailers can expect to see millions of less frightened but even more bargain hungry customers cross their thresholds. Industry experts expect a strong turnout on Black Friday, which falls on November 27 this year, as deep discounts lure shoppers after more than a year of subdued spending. But they caution it will not mean a bumper holiday season in the weeks leading up to Christmas since consumers still remain cautious. "Given what we know about consumer shopping patterns, even this month, I would suspect it will turn...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Wal-Mart's much-awaited Black Friday deals will focus on a gamut of gadgets such as high-definition TVs, laptops and Blu-ray players, as well as holiday gift favorites such as toys and DVDs, according to a copy of the retailer's circular obtained by CNNMoney.com. While not confirming the entire circular, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman confirmed some of the deals, which will be available between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m. local time on Nov. 27, that appear in the leaked circular. "There's a lot of excitement that builds up around electronics," said Wal-Mart's Tara Raddohl. Items with confirmed prices for...

At about this time of year someone starts a thread in which everyone can chip in his ideas and leads for extraordinary shopping bargains in the run-up to the big shopping day after Thanksgiving. Two years ago I got a terrific deal on a computer and 24 inch screen from Dell through these threads. It was a rather complicated affair in which the computer had to be selected, then upgraded, then have a rebate and coupon applied, yet it was well worth the effort and it was certainly a deal I never would have found otherwise. Any good tip on...

I'm posting this thread earlier than usual this year due to the economy, people looking for good buys, and as a help for you to make a shopping list. Please add to this thread. I'll update this thread through CyberMonday. Happy Shopping. Cindy

Wal-Mart Watch, a group that has been beating the drum for unionization of the retail giant, cited the “Black Friday” trampling death of Wal-Mart employee, Jdimytai Damour as further evidence of the “carnage this capitalist miscreant has been inflicting on humanity.” “Wal-Mart’s incessant grubbing for profit cost a man his life on this tragic day,” complained David Nassar, executive director of Wal-Mart Watch. “A union could’ve prevented this.” Nassar contended that there are a number of obvious ways in which a unionized Wal-Mart could have avoided such an outcome. “First, it is not inconceivable that a union would have negotiated...

Black Friday. I always thought it was called Black Friday because the streets and stores were overrun with people. Turns out it's called Black Friday because it's the time of year when retailers finally see their profits' column turn from red to black. If the story is true, it's not until the holiday season at the tail end of the year that the stores and their owners finally start making money. Except for this year. This year, the only ones making money are the companies the government is bailing out. And the money they're making is ours, although it's not...

Lawsuit: Marketing Blamed in Wal-Mart Trampling Death Advertising 'Specifically' Designed to Attract Large Crowds By Jack Neff BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Security should have been better, but advertising also helped kill a temporary worker at Wal-Mart, according to a lawsuit filed by the estate and relatives of the 34-year-old man trampled by a pre-dawn Black Friday crowd at a Valley Stream, N.Y., store. At least one local police official and one retail marketing consultant also argue that Black Friday marketing and merchandising practices need to change in the wake of the incident. A complaint filed today in New York State...

Saturday, November 29, 2008 Black Friday Yesterday's death-by-trampling of a Wal-Mart employee invites, even demands, moral condemnation, and further points symbolically to a profoundly sick culture in which the prospect of cheap pleasures trumps the value of human life. Like a morality play, we have the satisfaction of seeing SIN and GREED personified, and the pleasure of condemning their bloodthirsty lusts from the comfort and even self-satisfaction of our place amid the audience. We experience the odd and what should be discomfiting satisfaction of moral disapprobation, the tut-tutting over morning coffee, the shaking of one's head and then the outraged...

Maybe being on the brink of complete economic collapse (as we've been told) is a good thing. Perhaps seeing the crumbling American economy on the verge of descending into the second coming of the Great Depression is just what the doctor ordered.After all, the 2008 edition of Black Friday saw a 3% increase from last year's.That's right ... an increase.According to Bloomberg: U.S. holiday retail sales increased 3 percent yesterday from a year earlier, the smallest gain for a “Black Friday” in three years, research firm ShopperTrak RCT Corp. said.Sales rose to $10.6 billion, the Chicago-based company said in a...

We camped out with friends at Best Buy and bought a lot of laptops. We're selling them a little above the Black Friday price but below retail, good deal for everyone. We have 14 days to sell these, then we're taking them back to Best Buy for a refund. We have a receipt for everything so you can buy a warranty on them if you want. Type in the model number on the Best Buy site for all the specs. Prices are obo.

CHICAGO -- The nation's retailers got a much-needed sales boost from Black Friday's traditional shopathon as consumers, lured by deep discounts, spent nearly 3 percent more than last year. Sales on the day after Thanksgiving rose to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released yesterday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets. Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion on the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday because it was historically the sales-packed day when retailers would become profitable for the year. Although it isn't a predictor of overall holiday-season...

The holiday shopping season got off to a surprisingly solid start, according to data released Saturday by a research firm. But the sales boost during the post-Thanksgiving shopathon came at the expense of profits as the nation's retailers had to slash prices to attract the crowds in a season that is expected to be the weakest in decades. Sales during the day after Thanksgiving rose 3 percent to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets. Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion...

So much for fighting materialism. As Black Friday dawned on Long Island, 2,000 shoppers waited in line outside a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York. The anticipation of low-priced flat screen televisions and children’s games too much for them, they pushed and shoved their way past the locked doors before the store even opened. In the ensuing madness, a temporary Wal-Mart worker, a 34-year-old man, was trampled. As he lay on the ground, the bargain crazed shoppers stomped over him, and continued to shop even as the shocked Wal-Mart workers tried to get them to leave the store. Is this...

The nation's retailers got a much-needed sales boost during Black Friday's traditional shopathon as consumers, lured by deep discounts, spent nearly 3 percent more than they did last year. Sales on the day after Thanksgiving rose to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets. Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion on the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday because it was historically the sales-packed day when retailers would become profitable for the year. While it isn't a predictor of overall holiday...

NEW YORK – A Wal-Mart worker was killed Friday when "out-of-control" shoppers desperate for bargains broke down the doors at a 5 a.m. sale. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers shouted angrily and kept shopping when store officials said they were closing because of the death, police and witnesses said. At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours before reopening. Shoppers stepped over the man on...

The Wal-Mart store in Secaucus is preparing for Black Friday as if its reputation depends on it.   Secaucus Wal-Mart manager Tracy Ferschweiler reviewing Black Friday details. It does.  Last year, the Secaucus store was the biggest seller on Black Friday of all of the 5,700 Wal-Mart stores around the world. (Black Friday is a big deal at only about 2,500 of those stores — in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.)  Wal-Mart usually never releases store rankings, but a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed for The Record that last year Secaucus was the Black Friday winner, followed by another New Jersey store,...

PALM DESERT, Calif. – Two men pulled guns and shot each other to death in a crowded toy store Friday after the women with them erupted into a bloody brawl, witnesses said. Scared shoppers fled but no one else was hurt. The violence erupted on Black Friday, the traditional post-Thanksgiving start of the holiday shopping surge, but authorities indicated the shooting wasn't related to a shopping frenzy. Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said the fight was not over a toy. He said handguns were found by the men's bodies, but he released little other information. He would not answer...

This is all so far at link. http://www.knx1070.com/Shooting-at-a-Toys-R-Us-in-Palm-Desert/3400555

<p>SEATTLE (Nov. 28) - Sears.com was inaccessible to U.S. shoppers for two hours on Friday in what was the most notable Web hiccup of the holiday gift-buying season's official start.</p> <p>Other sites, including Amazon.com Inc., experienced minor slowdowns, according to Shawn White, director of external operations at Keynote Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based research group.</p>

The 34-year-old man was at the entrance of the Valley Stream Walmart store just after it opened at 5 a.m. local time and was knocked to the ground, the police report said. The exact cause of death was still to be determined by a medical examiner.

Free advice: Stay home today. People are insane. This is insane. A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said. The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m. Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.

In poor third-world countries, people riot and stampede over food and basic necessities. It is literally a matter of life and death.In America, shoppers trample fellow human beings over DVD players and video games.A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said. Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him. Paramedics treated the woman inside the store and then, according to Keys,...

A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said. The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.

Beginning Friday, retailers across virtually all categories will mark down prices, sometimes 50 percent, 60 percent, even 70 percent. These post-Thanksgiving sales allow you to give without going broke. Home Depot Friday-until supplies last For those looking to buy big appliances this holiday season, Home Depot has a bevy of affordable options, from a $300 Amana "Tall-Tub" dishwasher to a $50 Magic Chef stainless steel, 900-watt microwave. For more information, visit homedepot.com. T.J. Maxx/Marshalls Friday, 8 a.m.-10 p.m. On top of the 20-60 percent off brand-name merchandise that T.J.Maxx and Marshalls already offers, both stores — owned by the TJX...

Black Friday is widely known for low prices on everything from electronics to toys and kitchenware but if you ask the average consumer what they will be purchasing on this, the day of massive sales; they're likely to respond, "HDTV!" For low and mid-range HDTVs there's no time like Friday to buy and this year the prices are reaching record lows even without the help of rebates. In fact, USA Today took a look at HDTV sales this holiday season and found that most retailers will be selling them, "at near cost." on Black Friday. Additionally, due to an oversupply...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Early bird shoppers filed into U.S. stores on Thanksgiving day on Thursday, drawn by bargains from retailers who hope to salvage what could be a disastrous holiday sales season. ... While most stores start sales on "Black Friday", the day after Thanksgiving, several opened their doors on Thursday, aiming to capture business even before consumers started their traditional holiday meal with family or friends. ... Retailers fear the shrinking economy and mounting job losses could cost them billions of dollars during the crucial season that brings in up to 40 percent of annual sales. Many started...

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year. Macy’s, for instance, usually serves a minimum of 50,000 shoppers on that one day. But as this week’s revelations of a terrorism plot targeting New York City’s subway system remind us, the holiday bustle is also an opportunity for those seeking to inflict mass casualties. That thought may well have been on the mind of Fidel Castro, when he planned a colossal terrorist attack on Manhattan on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 1962. On November 17, 1962, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI cracked a terrorist plot...

a weakening economy this holiday season, there are signs that many of the discounts will stick around through the end of the year. That means shoppers seeking a TV could have several extra weeks of lower-than-usual prices to find the right deal. The Black Friday discounts will be even heftier, according to estimates. A 32-inch LCD TV will be discounted 54% to an estimated $399 in limited quantities on Black Friday from an average $875 in October, according to iSuppli. If those prices don't spur sales over Thanksgiving weekend, Ms. Patel says, many of the discounts will continue in December....

Thank you Tom DeFrank for asking the Idiot Question of the Week: Tom DeFrank: Mr. President-elect, as we all know we’re — as we all know, we’re two — two days away from the biggest shopping day of the year, and a lot of retailers are worrying that this year it could be a disaster that this economy can ill afford. Do you — do you have any shopping advice for nervous consumers? And are you planning to hit the malls yourself on Friday? OBAMA: Well, we are going to do some — some Christmas shopping. And Malia and Sasha...

Retailers predict the economic equivalent of coal in their Christmas stockings. Who cares? As stated by Dr. Seuss' Grinch, Christmas does not come from a store, and we encourage our readers to let the Grinch have Black Friday and the whole holiday shopping season. Young children can be taught the virtue of delayed gratification with the explanation that Santa Claus can bring them more if they wait until after Christmas. This is, of course, because the same amount of money can buy far more after Christmas. Twenty or thirty years ago, there would have indeed been reason to care about...