Retail Apocalypse: 23 Big Retailers Closing Stores

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By Fox Business. Some of the United States’ most prominent retailers are shuttering stores in recent months amid sagging sales in the troubled sector . . .

Facing declining sales, the once-prominent fashion brand announced last March that it would close 60 of its U.S. stores with expiring leases during its 2017 fiscal year. [Abercrombie & Fitch] has closed hundreds of store locations over the last few years while placing an increased emphasis on online sales . . .

The New Jersey-based women’s footwear company filed for bankruptcy last year and announced plans to move forward with a “significant reduction” of its retail locations. While it’s unclear how many of Aerosoles’ 88 locations will be affected, the chain said it plans to keep four flagship stores in New York and New Jersey operational, NJ.com reported . . .

A fashion brand known for its edgy offerings, American Apparel shuttered all of its 110 U.S. locations last year after filing for bankruptcy. The brand has since been acquired by Canada-based Gildan Activewear, which acquired its intellectual property in an $88 million deal . . .

The Los Angeles-based brand listed liabilities of more than $500 million when it filed for bankruptcy last February. [BCBG] closed 118 store locations nationwide last year, though more than 300 remained in operation under a company-wide reorganization. (Read more from “Retail Apocalypse: 23 Big Retailers Closing Stores” HERE)

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Retail Alert: Best Buy Is Closing 250 of These Mall-Based Stores

By Clark. The new year is shaping up to be another difficult one for traditional retailers. After shutting down more than 5,000 stores in 2017, we’re already getting word of closings for 2018.

J.C. Penney is among the latest to announce plans to close stores, joining Bon-Ton, Toys R Us, Sam’s Club, Macy’s, Sears, Kmart and others . . .

Your local mall may have another vacancy soon. Best Buy has announced that it will shut down 250 mall-based mobile phone stores in the United States, Reuters reports . . .

Bad news for Sam’s Club members! The Walmart-owned warehouse club has abruptly shut down multiple locations across the country, according to local media reports . . .

In a news release, the company announced the closure of 11 Macy’s stores. It’s part of the retailer’s plan to close approximately 100 stores, which was announced back in August 2016. (Read more from “Retail Alert: Best Buy Is Closing 250 of These Mall-Based Stores” HERE)

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BETRAYAL: Trump Says Government Should ‘Take the Guns First, Go Through Due Process Second’

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On Wednesday, President Trump met with Congressional Democrats and Republicans to discuss measures to bolster student security in the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida massacre. There, Trump proceeded to make an anti-Second Amendment statement so radical that it put President Obama’s gun control sermons in the shade.

“I don’t want mentally ill people to be having guns,” Trump said. He continued:

You have to do something very decisive. Number one, you can take the guns away immediately from people that you can adjudge easily are mentally ill, like this guy. You know, the police saw that he was a problem, they didn’t take any guns away. Now, that could have been policing. I think they should have taken them away anyway, whether they had the right or not. But I’ll tell you this, you have to have very strong provisions for the mentally ill.

Just in case you missed the part where Trump explicitly denounced due process of law, he repeated it again.

After Vice President Mike Pence explained that Republicans in Congress wanted legislation that could allow friends and family members to apply to a court to suspend Second Amendment rights for the dangerously mentally ill, and stated that with such due process, Second Amendment rights would not be endangered, Trump stepped in.

(Read more from “BETRAYAL: Trump Says Government Should ‘Take the Guns First, Go Through Due Process Second'” HERE)

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SHOCKING: South African Parliament Votes to Seize Land Owned by All White Farmers

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On Tuesday in South Africa, a shocking vote in the National Assembly ruled that white South African farmers will be removed from their land. The vote, prompted by a motion brought by radical Marxist opposition leader Julius Malema, was not even close; 241 legislators voted for it with only 83 voting against it. Malema told his supporters in 2016 he was “not calling for the slaughter of white people — at least for now.”

Supporters of the motion issued harsh statements; News24 reported Malema saying before the vote was taken, “The time for reconciliation is over. Now is the time for justice.” Gugile Nkwinti, minister of water affairs, echoed, “The ANC (African National Congress) unequivocally supports the principle of land expropriation without compensation. There is no doubt about it, land shall be expropriated without compensation.”

As The Daily Mail noted, “A 2017 South African government audit found white people owned 72 percent of farmland.” (Read more from “SHOCKING: South African Parliament Votes to Seize Land Owned by All White Farmers” HERE)

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UNREAL: House Democrats Move to Outlaw Most New Guns in America, Virtually ALL Semi-Automatics

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Semi-automatic firearms would be banned in a new bill introduced by House Democrats Monday.

Rep. David Cicilline introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2018 and, according to Rep. Ted Deutch, over 150 Democrats have signed their support of the legislation.

The bill prohibits the “sale, transfer, production, and importation” of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that can accept a detachable magazine as well as those with a fixed magazine that can hold over 10 rounds.

It also bans the “sale, transfer, production, and importation of any ammunition feeding device that can hold more than 10 rounds” and any of the 205 “specifically-named and listed firearms.”

Cicilline’s 205 specifically banned firearms include the AK-47 and AR-15, according to the Washington Examiner.

The AR-15 has been used most recently in the deadly shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14 and the Las Vegas music festival on Oct. 1.

“Assault weapons were made for one purpose,” Cicilline wrote in a news release. “They are designed to kill as many people as possible in a short amount of time. They do not belong in our communities.”

He added, “When assault weapons or a highly-capacity magazine is used in a shooting, the number of victims who are killed increases by 63 percent.”

Gun control activists began to campaign against “assault weapons” in the 1980s, according to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

“The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons,” handgun ban activist Josh Sugarmann said in 1988.

An “assault weapon” ban introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and campaigned for by former President Bill Clinton was imposed from 1994-2004.

“It allowed the same firearms to be made without attachments such as a flash suppressor or folding stock, and allowed the importation of over 50 million magazines that held more than 10 rounds,” NRA Institute for Legislative Action reported.

After the flawed plan, many Democrats who supported the ban were voted out of office in the 1994 elections.

Feinstein introduced a bigger gun and magazine ban in 2013, banning 157 firearms by name instead of the 19 banned in 1994.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro commented on CNN’s Anti-Gun Town Hall last week and dared Democrats to ban all semi-automatic weapons and see how voters respond come Election Day.

“All that’s happening is the ongoing demonization of those who disagree with unrealistic, vague and evidenceless anti-gun buzzwords,” he said.

Shapiro doesn’t think a ban on guns will solve the issue of mass shootings, but in an op-ed, the editor in chief of The Daily Wire put forward several ideas that might actually work.

“We can insist that our law enforcement agencies actually enforce the law,” he wrote, pointing out that the FBI had received prior warnings about the suspected Florida shooter, but did nothing.

Moreover, “we should ensure more transparency in the background-check system with regard to mental health records, and we should look to ease the regulations on involuntary commitment of the dangerously mentally ill,” Shapiro wrote.

Finally, he wrote that “we should also radically increase security in schools.” (For more from the author of “Democrats Move to Outlaw 50% of New Guns in America” please click HERE)

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FLASHBACK: Donald Trump Rushed to Stop an Assailant in 1991 Even Though He Didn’t Have a Weapon

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Democrats, true to ignorant form, are once again frivolously giggling at President Trump for suggesting he would have entered the Parkland school building unarmed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. At a meeting with governors to discuss school safety measures, Trump explained, “I really believe I’d run in there, even if I didn’t have a weapon. And I think most of the people in this room would’ve done that too.” Trump’s opponents on the Left quickly pounced. Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane posted a GIF image of President Trump apparently showing fear as a bald eagle nearly bit him. 1970s film star Mark Hamill tweeted, “#ItsFunToPretend.” Twitter user Bryce Tache wrote, “You’ll never be the hero. Never.”

Trump’s lightly-educated critics ignore history, including a 1991 incident in which The Donald rush to stop a mugging in New York and chased the armed assailant away, despite lacking any weapon himself. As James Rosen reported at the time in the New York Daily News, “When he saw ‘a big guy with a big bat’ bashing another fellow, Donald Trump did what any self-respecting billionaire would do: He ordered his driver to pull over.” Trump confronted the armed assailant, who recognized him and claimed not to have done anything wrong. Trump reportedly asked the mugger, “How could you not do anything wrong when you’re whacking a guy with a bat?” The mugger then ran away.

Lest readers write the story off as mere Trumpian fiction, Rosen adds that a witness corroborated the account. (Read more from “FLASHBACK: Donald Trump Rushed to Stop an Assailant in 1991 Even Though He Didn’t Have a Weapon” HERE)

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Scientists Make Major Breakthrough in Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease

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Scientists at the the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have successfully reversed Alzheimer’s disease in mice, a major breakthrough researchers are hopeful will translate into treatment for humans in the near future.

“To our knowledge, this is the first observation of such a dramatic reversal of amyloid deposition in any study of Alzheimer’s disease mouse models,” said researcher Riqiang Yan in a news release concerning the study . . .

Researchers found that the deletion of BACE1 in adult mice reversed amyloid deposition and improved cognitive functions.

“One of the earliest events in Alzheimer’s disease is an abnormal buildup of beta-amyloid peptide, which can form large, amyloid plaques in the brain and disrupt the function of neuronal synapses. Also known as beta-secretase, BACE1 helps produce beta-amyloid peptide by cleaving amyloid precursor protein (APP),” explains the Rockefeller University Press release.

The scientists successfully “generated mice that gradually lose this enzyme as they grow older. These mice developed normally and appeared to remain perfectly healthy over time,” notes the release. (Read more from “Scientists Make Major Breakthrough in Fight Against Alzheimer’s Disease” HERE)

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Cowardly Broward Sheriff’s Department Blocked Life-Saving EMT at School, Now Lies to Florida AG

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When asked about the multiple deputies outside of the school, the Florida attorney general was blunt about the cowardly Broward’s Sheriff Department:

“I know a lot more than you all do now so all I’m going to say is, yes, I believe there needs to be a full investigation,” she said. “I don’t think some people were honest and we’re going to investigate this situation in Florida and the right thing will be done.”

Bondi charged that some members of the Broward sheriff’s office “weren’t honest with me, nor were they honest with the governor.”

When asked to explain why they would not be honest, she suggested that some of the officers may have been more focused on covering their behinds.

“Well, if they were there and didn’t want people to know they were there, that could have been it,” Bondi said. “But I’m not going to discuss farther.”

Watch the video with the Florida Attorney General:

Read more from this story on the cowardly Broward Sheriff’s Department HERE.

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Florida EMTs Claim Broward Sheriff Blocked Them From Treating Dying Students

By True Pundit. Three high-ranking Florida officials close to the law enforcement response at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tell Fox News there was a delay in Emergency Medical Service getting into the school in the critical moments after Nikolas Cruz allegedly opened fire, killing 17 people and wounding at least 14 others.

Two separate sources told Fox News some of the EMS teams who requested to enter the school were told they could not. One source said it was the Broward County Sheriff’s Office – which was the commanding office – that ordered some of the EMS crews not to go into the school when they requested to enter. . .

“When you have a police agency saying we don’t want you going in, that’s a problem,” another Florida official said. “The training since Columbine has been [that] first responders, police go in immediately with paramedics” . . .

Three Florida officials confirmed to Fox News that the emergency response at Stoneman Douglas apparently went against standard EMS training in which EMS teams typically go into emergency situations right behind police as soon as possible. (Read more from this story about the cowardly Broward Sheriff’s Department’s blockage of EMTs HERE)

House Intelligence Chair: Proof Obama Colluded With Russia, Compromised US Security

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By WND. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is blaming former President Obama for being in cahoots with Russia for eight years and setting the stage for orchestrating a conspiracy theory of collusion between Moscow and Donald Trump during the 2016 election.

“We went through a whole European infrastructure consolidation process of military installations across Europe, abandoned a lot of abilities in the North Atlantic to track Russian subs,” Nunes said. “We actually had the president of the United States, who said on a hot mic to the prime minister of Russia at the time, ‘Just tell Vladimir to wait after the election.’ That was President Obama who said that. So who created this Russian threat? Who? It was the last administration that put us in this position.”

Nunes also turned up the pressure on the Democratic Party and the media in his point-by-point refutation of the recently released memo by the House Intelligence Committee minority.

“We actually wanted this (memo) out,” said Nunes, R-Calif. “It’s clear evidence that the Democrats are not only covering this up, but they’re also colluding with parts of the government to cover this up.” . . .

Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said the probe and the media’s focus on it was designed to distract from scandals around defeated 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Read more from “Nunes Says Obama Colluded With Russia” HERE)

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Obama Colluded With Russia FOR REAL; Here’s the Proof

By Deroy Murdock. The Obama administration’s Russian Reset began in Geneva on March 6, 2009. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton huddled with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, and together they pressed a red button that should have been labeled “Reset” in Russian. Instead, Hillary’s aides had mislabeled it with the Russian word for “Overload.” Regardless, once pushed, the button symbolized a red dawn of increasingly cozy U.S.–Russian affairs.

Obama announced on September 17, 2009, that he would cancel President George W. Bush’s plan to station missile-defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. “This is a U-turn in U.S. policy,” complained former Czech ambassador to Washington Alexander Vondra. “Russia had furiously opposed the project, claiming it targeted Moscow’s nuclear arsenal,” added Luke Harding and Ian Traynor of London’s Guardian. “Obama’s climb-down is likely to be seen by Russia as a victory.” Indeed, Vladimir Putin applauded Obama’s strategic abandonment of the Poles and Czechs. The Russian strongman said: “I do anticipate that this correct and brave decision will be followed by others.”

. . .Rosatom, the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation, announced plans on June 8, 2010, to buy a 51.4 percent stake in Uranium One — a Canadian company whose international assets included some 20 percent of America’s reserves of the active ingredient in atomic reactors and nuclear weapons. This $1.3 billion purchase of a strategic-commodity company required the approval of the mysterious Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Hillary was one of nine federal-agency chiefs on CFIUS. Three weeks later, Bill Clinton keynoted a Moscow conference staged by a Kremlin-tied investment bank that promoted Uranium One’s acquisition. Renaissance Capital paid Clinton $500,000 for his one-hour speech that June 29. CFIUS’s evaluation of Rosatom’s offer, Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer observed, coincided with “a spontaneous outbreak of philanthropy among eight shareholders in Uranium One.” Then-chairman Ian Telfer gave the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative $3.1 million. Founder Frank Giustra gave the Clinton Foundation $131.3 million. Before, during, and after CFIUS’s review, Schweizer calculates, “shareholders involved in this transaction had transferred approximately $145 million to the Clinton Foundation or its initiatives” . . . CFIUS let Rosatom purchase a majority stake in Uranium One. Subsequent investments pushed the Kremlin’s share of Uranium One to 100 percent by January 2013. Soon after taking total control of Uranium One, Rosatom CEO Sergei Kiriyenko crowed: “Few could have imagined in the past that we would own 20 percent of U.S. reserves.”

Obama clearly signaled the Kremlin that the Russian collusion would continue in his second term. At a March 26, 2012, meeting in Seoul, South Korea, an open microphone captured his conversation with Medvedev, which neither knew was being recorded. Obama asked for Russia’s patience, “particularly with missile defense.” Obama added: “This is my last election. . . . After my election, I have more flexibility.” Medvedev replied: “I will transmit this information to Vladimir.” (Read more about proof that Obama colluded with Russia HERE)

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Churches Tell Town Council: Leave Our Beliefs Alone

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A lawsuit has been filed against the city of De Pere, Wisconsin, over a new nondiscrimination ordinance providing special protections for same-sex duos that purports to “control aspects of religious employment, facility use, and even advertising.”

It’s a rule that city officials adopted just months ago, but the lawsuit explains that they not only neglected to include exemptions for churches and other religious groups whose faith forbids same-sex relationships, they specifically refused to offer assurances religious beliefs would be protected.

The case on behalf of Hope Lutheran, Crosspoint, Destiny, St. Mark Lutheran and Christ the Rock churches, as well as a local radio station, by Pacific Justice Institute and Heidi Miller of Wauwatosa challenges the requirements the city had scheduled to implement March 1.

“The ordinance bars discrimination, broadly defining that term as well as public accommodation and employment decisions in ways that would severely curtail religious exercise,” the legal team said. “The only exception for religious entities like the churches and radio station is for hiring people of the same religion.”

The lawyers insisted that even that exception is faulty, since it would “afford no ability to make employment decisions if a pastor, other employee, or applicant acts inconsistently with church teaching but continues to claim to be of the same faith or denomination.” (Read more from “Churches Tell Town Council: Leave Our Beliefs Alone” HERE)

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Child Calling for Gun Control Fails to Realize the Truth Behind Purchasing Guns

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A student survivor of the deadly shooting attack earlier this month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, appeared to claim that an AR-15 can be purchased for $130.

Addressing state lawmakers and members of the media last week, 17-year-old senior Delaney Tarr called for increased gun control regulations in the aftermath of the shooting, which left 17 people dead.

“We know what we want,” she stated. “We want gun reform. We want common-sense gun laws. We want stronger mental health checks and background checks to work in conjunction. We want a better age limit.”

Then, calling for regulations on private gun sales, she made a claim about how much it costs to buy an AR-15.

“We want privatized selling to be completely reformed so you can’t just walk into a building with $130 and walk out with an AR-15,” Tarr stated.

Tarr’s concerns over the AR-15 stem from the fact that the suspected gunman in the Florida school shooting did indeed use that type of semi-automatic firearm to murder his victims.

AR-15s are popular in the United States, and in Florida, there is no waiting period to purchase one. However, Tarr was vastly understating how much they normally cost.

According to Alain Stephens, a military veteran who currently serves as a criminal justice expert for NPR, some AR-15s can cost thousands of dollars. Even if a would-be buyer wanted to purchase a basic model at a local sporting goods store, he or she would be looking at spending at least $800.

As noted by Time magazine, many AR-15s cost less than $1,000. But that doesn’t take into account the hundreds of dollars one might spend on ammunition, extra magazines and additional accessories.

Regardless, it’s difficult to buy any gun for as little as $130, let alone an AR-15.

Though it’s unclear as to where Tarr got her facts regarding AR-15 prices, she admitted during the same speech that the movement to tighten gun control laws in the aftermath of the Florida shooting is “based on emotion.”

“This movement, created by students, led by students, is based on emotion,” she stated. “It is based on passion and it is based on pain. Our biggest flaws — our tendency to be a bit too aggressive, our tendency to lash out, things that you expect from a normal teenager — these are our strengths.”

“The only reason that we’ve gotten so far is that we are not afraid of losing money, we’re not afraid of getting reelected or not getting reelected, we have nothing to lose. The only thing we have to gain at this point is our safety,” she added, according to Quartz Media.

Though Tarr is not yet legally old enough to vote, she warned that she and her fellow students are “coming after” lawmakers who refuse to act.

“To every lawmaker out there: No longer can you take money from the NRA. No longer can you fly under the radar doing whatever it is that you want to do,” she stated, as reported by CNN. “We are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action.” (For more from the author of “Child Calling for Gun Control Fails to Realize the Truth Behind Purchasing Guns” please click HERE)

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