By ,
Published May 08, 2017
And now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...
All In
CNN reports nearly every American went shopping over Black Friday weekend -- really almost every one of you.
The headline on its website reads "247 million shoppers visited stores and websites Black Friday weekend."
But the Weekly Standard notes these numbers are a bit suspicious.
Taking away those too young to shop it would mean that for the statistics to be believed shoppers would include 4.4 million people aged 75 to 79; three million aged 80 to 84; about two million aged 85 to 89; nearly a million between 90 and 94; and almost 300,000 95 and older.
The numbers include those who just visited websites which suggests some folks were counted more than once.
All I Want for Christmas
Also in Black Friday news it appears there is going to be plenty of firepower under the Christmas tree this year.
Gun buyer checks hit an all-time record high Friday.
FBI Buyer Background check requests were up 20 percent from last year's one-day record. Demand reportedly was so overwhelming it caused outages at the FBI background check center twice.
Big Time
Time Magazine has nominated feminist activist Sandra Fluke as one of 40 contenders for its Person of the Year.
Fluke makes a list of luminaries that includes President Obama, Mitt Romney, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Fluke's inclusion might come as a surprise. As a newsmaker, one might say she was dwarfed by some of the others.
Looking at the top 50 major newspapers this year, Sandra Fluke appeared in 1,059 articles; Mitt Romney in 71,000; President Obama – 59,000; and Bill Clinton – 11,000.
The winner will be announced December 14th.
Check Your Source
Finally, China's Communist newspaper the People's Daily has been hoodwinked.
The paper ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a tribute to Kim Jong Un under the headline "North Korea's Leader Named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012."
Quoting the Onion, the paper wrote -- quote -- "`'With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true."
The Onion is, of course, a satirical website famous for headlines such as "Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeros" and "Hate Crime Bill Stalled by Pro-Hate Lobby."
https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/grapevine-sandra-fluke-in-contention-for-person-of-the-year