BB King was the greatest bluesman the world has ever seen. We look back at his life, with a little help from his friends

What is devastating in Springfield aren’t pouched cats. It is the lack of housing, the overwhelming of schools, medical care, and welfare services. In any case, JD Vance has verifiable information on animals being taken and eaten in at least ten cases. He said reporters should speak with these people and find out if the […] The post JD Vance Nuked TV Anchors with Truth appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

President Trump survived a second assassination attempt while golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service agents observed a man pointing a rifle at the course where the former president was playing golf. The suspect, pointing a rifle with a scope, was hiding in the shrubbery 400 to 500 yards from Donald Trump. After being […] The post President Trump Survives Second Assassination Attempt appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Federal and local law enforcement officials released new information Sunday evening about a would be assassin who was allegedly planning on murdering Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as he played golf at Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that the Secret Service put out the call that shots had been fired at which point a witness told authorities that they saw a person running out of the bushes, getting into a black Nissan, and driving away. Because the witness got a photo of the vehicle and license plate, law enforcement was quickly able to locate the vehicle and take the suspect into custody. “Now in the bushes where this guy was, is an AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks, which were hung on the fence that had ceramic tile in them, and a GoPro, which he was going to take pictures of,” Bradshaw said at the press conference. “The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job. What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time to where the President was at, and he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual, at which time the individual took off.” The FBI said that they were investigating “what appears to be an attempted assassination of” the former president, the second time that someone tried to murder him. Trump was shot in the head in July during a political rally in Pennsylvania after the Secret Service failed to provide adequate protection. The Secret Service said that would be assassin was only one or two holes behind Trump when the confrontation occurred. Bradshaw added that the suspect was only “between 300-500 yards” away from Trump, and that “with a rifle and a scope like that, that’s not a long distance.”

'AK-47 style rifle with a scope'

Wyatt, Adam and Kevin share stories from RetroCon 2024 including meet-ups with fellow Geekster contributors, celebrity encounters and what retro collectibles they walked away with. Plus, a report on the very special tribute to co-founder CONTINUE READING... The post RetroCon 2024 appeared first on The Retro Network.

NEW: 2nd Trump Assassination Attempt Thwarted; Update: Identified?

After bashing Donald Trump nonstop for spreading various conspiracy theories, the PBS News Hour seemed quite comfortable spreading its own election conspiracies on Thursday evening, going beyond even MSNBC in suggesting that Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy (retained by the Biden administration) could somehow be fostering ballot delivery delays to help Trump win election, or something.. Bennett talked potential ballot delivery delays to Mandy Vigil, elections director for the blue state of New Mexico and president of the National Association of State Election Directors. Anchor Geoff Bennett: In a new letter, election officials from across the country say the U.S. postmaster general has not addressed persistent mail delivery delays and has not adequately prepared for the general election. And that, they say, could cause ballots to miss election deadlines, lead to fewer people voting, and undermine trust in the voting process.... After asking Vigil about the hazard of delivery delays in big battleground states that accept mail-in ballots, and whether or not the USPS had assuaged her concerns (it had not), Bennett got conspiratorial. Bennett: The postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, his history as a Trump supporter, a Trump megadonor, that has raised questions for some about his motives as the Postal Service sees these slowdowns, these delivery delays. Is there any reason to think that these slowdowns are intentional, as some Trump critics have suggested? Vigil demurred. Vigil: You know, I don't think that election administrators as a whole see things in a partisan way. We're not elected officials. We're election administrators…. Even lefty MSNBC, in an article about potential late ballot delivery critical of DeJoy, likened Bennett-style questions to “conspiracy theories.” Ryan Teague Beckwith wrote on Saturday: “Genuine concerns among Democrats over the possibility of mail ballots’ being rejected for late delivery began to bleed into conspiracy theories about Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman who donated more than $685,000 to help put on the 2020 Republican National Convention.” When MSNBC suggests your left-wing suspicions may be a bit conspiratorial, take it to heart. This segment was brought to you in part by American Cruise Lines. A transcript is available, click “Expand.” PBS News Hour 9/14/24 7:12:08 p.m. (ET) Geoff Bennett: In a new letter, election officials from across the country say the U.S. postmaster general has not addressed persistent mail delivery delays and has not adequately prepared for the general election. And that, they say, could cause ballots to miss election deadlines, lead to fewer people voting, and undermine trust in the voting process. Mail-in voting has already started in Alabama, and at least 36 states allow all of their residents to vote by mail. I spoke earlier today with Mandy Vigil. She's elections director for the state of New Mexico and president of the National Association of State Election Directors, one of the groups that issued the letter. And I asked about what election officials see as the lack of understanding and enforcement of Postal Service policies for handling election mail. Mandy Vigil, New Mexico State Elections Director: The USPS has a lot of different election mail policies. Those policies are in place for good reason. And the unfortunate reality is that we're seeing an inconsistent application of those policies, which could make a difference in the ability to count a ballot or not. So, as an example, there's a requirement to postmark ballots. We are hearing of instances across states where that is not occurring. And depending on state law, that may prohibit an eligible ballot from otherwise being counted. Geoff Bennett: We know that critical battleground states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia, they all accept mail-in ballots. All of these states will likely be decided by extremely thin margins. Do you think that these delivery delays could swing the outcome of the election in any one of these states? Mandy Vigil: I think that's something that we are concerned about. I mean, to your point, this is an incredibly historic election. Voters do have many ways in which they can participate, and that might vary depending on what state they're in. But many states, including one like ours in New Mexico, offer an opportunity for voters to participate by mail. And so voters should have that opportunity without concern that something isn't going to get there in time to be counted. So we do see contests that when we're looking at a local level could be determined by small margins. We see changes when it's 100 to 200 ballots. I have even seen contests where there's a tie in our state when we get down to the local level. So every ballot is something that we want to feel confident in being able to account for and count appropriately. Geoff Bennett: Well, I reached out to the U.S. Postal Service yesterday to see how they responded to this letter. And they say that they're aware of your concerns. They say that mail is typically delivered in less than three days across the country. They say they don't believe there'd be any critical election issues resulting from their handling of ballot mail. And the director of election mail issued a statement that reads this way. It says: "We are ready to deliver. We were successful in 2020, delivering a historic volume of mail-in ballots, also in 2022, and we will do so again in November 2024." Have they done enough to address your concerns? Mandy Vigil: No. That's really the reason that that we felt it was critical to come together as an election community. This is coming from state down to local election administrators. So we see these issues across states, across kind of government levels. And we don't see the change that makes us feel confident in their ability to really address what's necessary for election mail. It's not about volume. It's really about reliability and accuracy. So if we look at their busiest time of year, where they're able to handle holiday Christmas mail, if a Christmas card gets to your friends and family a little bit beyond the deadline, though it might be a little embarrassing, I think that nobody really is really worried about it in the same way when we apply that to a ballot. So if we are following kind of their standards and expectations of when a voter should receive and then the timeline in which they should return a ballot, but that's not accurate. We are hearing about ballots coming in weeks, days. That is critical to being able to count them. Many states, it has to either arrive on election night by 7:00 p.m., like ours here in New Mexico, or they may have a postmark requirement. So either way, the post office is a critical partner in making sure that all of those items are aligned and that the voters can trust that it's going to get to us timely. If it doesn't, that's really where election officials and voters are the ones left paying the price. Geoff Bennett: The postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, his history as a Trump supporter, a Trump megadonor, that has raised questions for some about his motives as the Postal Service sees these slowdowns, these delivery delays. Is there any reason to think that these slowdowns are intentional, as some Trump critics have suggested? Mandy Vigil: You know, I don't think that election administrators as a whole see things in a partisan way. We're not elected officials. We're election administrators. So we have seen issues with the post office in the past. I think what we can speak to is the fact that it's certainly something that has increased over the past 12 months. And we certainly don't feel like we're seeing any effort to really make a difference on the pattern across kind of the post office as a whole. Many states may have positive relationships with their state and local or regional support in the post office. But that's really just not enough to be able to see kind of the industry adjustments necessary to change this pattern. Geoff Bennett: Mandy Vigil, president of the National Association of State Election Directors, thanks so much for your time. Mandy Vigil: Thank you.

In the aftermath of the school shooting near Winder, Georgia, the first week of September, CNN and MSNBC not only promoted more gun control without considering the evidence that arming teachers would make schools safer, but they also helped Democrats smear the GOP presidential ticket by taking out of context running mate J.D. Vance's comments about the attack. On the day the story broke, MSNBC's Katy Tur repeatedly asked gun control activist David Hogg, and then Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) if they were surprised that there were not more Americans protesting in the streets after each mass shooting. And several hosts and liberal guests claimed that mass shootings only happen in America in spite of studies finding they also happen in other countries. Anchors also misleadingly claimed that there have been several dozen school shootings so far in 2024 even though in the overwhelming majority of cases, no one was killed, and, in some cases, no one was even injured. After Senator Vance spoke out on the issue, describing it as a "fact of life" that some psychopaths target schools, making it necessary for lawmakers to make schools more secure, some CNN and MSNBC hosts picked up on Democrat distortions of his comments and promoted them. MSNBC's Joy Reid snarled: "...the Republican response to the tragic shooting in Georgia has been generally horrific, but of course J.D. Vance again takes the cake because of course he's J.D. Vance." She soon added: "Vance's cold, matter of fact and honestly heartless response is reminiscent of Donald Trump's reaction to a school shooting in Perry, Iowa, ... 36 hours after it happened." Without the context that Trump was telling supporters they needed to get past a school shooting that happened in Iowa in January so they could focus on the upcoming Iowa caucuses, Reid showed a clip of Trump talking to supporters after the Perry, Iowa shooting. Trump: "It's a very terrible thing that happened, and it's just terrible to see that happening, and that's just horrible. So surprising to see and hear. But we have to get over it -- we have to move forward. We have to move forward." Frequent guest Basil Smikle angrily responded: "Gun violence has been present in my life for almost all my life. I lost many of my friends growing up to gun culture. So screw you if you think this is a fact of life that I should just get over tomorrow." He soon added: "But Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are saying, 'Hey, you know what, just get over it.' Well, screw you in that mindset. We are drunk off of guns in this country." A bit later, Reid demonized Senator Vance as not caring about children: "Yeah, and imagine being somebody like J.D. Vance who demands that women give birth to as many kids as possible -- he always calls them kids -- but then says, 'You know, if those kids get shot dead at school, sucks for them.'" CNN's Jim Acosta had on gun control activists Fred Guttenberg and David Hogg on separate days, and allowed Guttenberg to distort Vance's comments to accuse him of thinking that school shootings are "a fact of life that we must accept." The liberal activist also promoted Kamala Harris for President. MSNBC weekend host Ayman Mohyeldin similarly allowed The Atlantic's Tom Nichols to falsely claim that Vance argued that school shootings should just be tolerated as a "fact of life" even though Vance and other Republicans have advocated greater school security, including arming teachers, as a solution. Transcripts follow: MSNBC's Katy Tur Reports September 4, 2024 3:04 p.m. Eastern KATY TUR: Are you surprised that there aren't people marching in the streets? The number of people in this country who want gun control outnumber the number of people who do not -- big numbers. Are you surprised there are not marches in the streets after shootings like this all across this country? (DAVID HOGG) ... I appreciate what you say about the number of schools that came out, the millions of students. That is impressive. I'm just wondering if you're surprised -- because I sort of am -- why there aren't more Americans -- parents -- coming out in just cities across this country in less of a structured way after this happens. I mean, we see these large-scale protests in other places against things that are happening there. I know we're a large country, but given that we are seeing kids die so frequently in schools. We're seeing individuals die in supermarkets, on splash pads, at parades, in banks, in churches, in synagogues, at New Year's Day celebrations. I mean, the list goes on and on. Every single place you go to in your daily life has now been touched by gun violence or a mass shooting -- not just daily gun violence but a mass shooting, movie theaters even. Given that and given the way we live with fear of going outside of our house -- every one of us now because of a person with a gun, are you surprised there is not more of an organic explosion of outrage across this country? (HOGG) (...) When do you expect your generation will become a powerful enough voting block to force the issue? (HOGG) ... If the Democrats win the White House -- say they win the House and say they are able to maintain their lead in the Senate, that's going to be a big lift, and it would just be that it would be a very small margin if there's a margin at all. It might be a tie-breaking vote with the Vice President again. Do you want the Senate to get rid of the filibusters to try to pass gun control legislation? And if so, what sort of legislation? (HOGG) What do you think of Kamala Harris's leadership on this issue? (HOGG) (...) 3:44 p.m.  TUR (to Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA)): On the issue of guns, the majority of Americans want that to happen. They want universal background checks -- they want more safety checks around these assault weapons. They don't want someone to go out with a bump stock and shoot up a concert. They don't want a kid to have an assault rifle that he took from his parents or that he was going to buy on his own or get a ghost gun online, whatever, walk into a school and shoot people. They want to feel safe in their grocery store. I asked David Hogg this -- I'll ask you this as well. Do you find it surprising that there aren't more Americans in the street in the aftermath of these things -- just organically coming out and saying enough is enough? (...) MSNBC's Morning Joe September 5, 2024 6:33 a.m. JOE SCARBOROUGH: And this is just yet the latest in school shootings where AR-15s or AR platform weapons used to kill children. And just a reminder, again, that gun deaths are the number one cause of deaths for children in America. And, as we've said before, and as Kamala Harris said yesterday, this is a choice that Republican legislators make every single day to not pass meaningful gun safety laws. This is a choice. MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Oh, but, Joe, this is not the time to talk about that. That's what they always say. SCARBOROUGH: Well, the problem is, you know, they used to say that -- the problem is, they say, "Oh, you should wait a week." Well, no, there are so many mass shootings in America now that 1,708 young people died in acts of gun violence last year. Again, the number one cause of death for children in America. Why? Because it's a choice. (...) MSNBC's The ReidOut September 5, 2024 7:40 p.m. JOY REID (before commercial break): Coming up, the Republican response to the tragic shooting in Georgia has been generally horrific, but of course J.D. Vance again takes the cake because of course he's J.D. Vance. (commercial break) REID: Days after the murder of two teachers and two 14-year-old students at Appalachee High School in Georgia, J.D. Vance weighed in on what could be done to stop the epidemic of school shootings. He said gun laws were not going to solve the problem. J.D. VANCE, GOP VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I don't like that this is a fact of life, but if you're -- if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets, and we have got to bolster security at schools. REID: Vance's cold, matter of fact and honestly heartless response is reminiscent of Donald Trump's reaction to a school shooting in Perry, Iowa, 36 after it -- 36 hours after it happened. EX-PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP (from January 2024): It's a very terrible thing that happened, and it's just terrible to see that happening, and that's just horrible. So surprising to see and hear. But we have to get over it -- we have to move forward. We have to move forward. REID: Huh! Back with me Basil Smikle, Tim O'Brien, and Molly Jong Fast. I just want to throw it out there for you guys. Here's Donald Trump speaking behind a bullet proof glass at a rally in Asheboro, North Carolina, on August 21. So he doesn't have to get over it. He gets to be behind a bullet-proof glass -- 14-year-olds, our children, our fourth graders, no bullet-proof glass for them. They just have to get over it -- it's a fact of life. BASIL SMIKLE JR., ROOSEVELT HOUSE INSTITUTE: I was 12 years old, I was shot by a 14-year-old in front of my school. Gun violence has been present in my life for almost all my life. I lost many of my friends growing up to gun culture. So screw you if you think this is a fact of life that I should just get over tomorrow. There's a whole generation of school students growing up right now having to deal with the threat of somebody coming into their school room and killing their friend, themselves, their friends or their teachers. And if you consider the Parkland shooting and how those young people became active immediately after that shooting occurred and started lobbying elected officials of Congress to get rid of guns, that's the kind of culture of civil engagement we should be promoting. But Donald Trump and J.D. Vance are saying, "Hey, you know what, just get over it." Well, screw you in that mindset. We are drunk off of guns in this country. And I think it takes someone like Kamala Harris -- hopefully Kamala Harris to able to say, "Look, I've  dealt with a lot of people in my career who've had a lot of issues with guns, and we've got to figure out a way to get them out of our culture. REID: Yeah, and imagine being somebody like J.D. Vance who demands that women give birth to as many kids as possible -- he always calls them kids -- but then says, "You know, if those kids get shot dead at school, sucks for them." (...) CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta September 6, 2024 10:24 a.m. FRED GUTTENBERG, FATHER OF PARKLAND SHOOTING VICTIM: And also in the state of Georgia the laws are unacceptable. They had no red flag law, okay? There's no safe storage law, okay, and so, you know, the kinds of laws that smart states and smart communities and, on a national level are being pushed now are -- that are stopping these things -- they weren't in place here.  ACOSTA: And, Fred, let's talk about what you just mentioned a few moments ago. J.D. Vance, Republican vice presidential nominee, had this to say about what took place in Georgia. Here was his response. J.D. VANCE, REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Clearly, strict gun laws is not the thing that is going to fix this problem. What is going to solve this problem -- and I really do believe this. Look, I don't like this. I don't like to admit this. I don't like that this is a fact of life. But if you're -- if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security in our schools. ACOSTA: First of all, Fred, we've got to get it out of the way. I mean, it's a fact of life in the United States. It doesn't have to be. But it's not a fact of life around the world. Your response to that? GUTTENBERG: Well, but it's not even a fact of life in the United States. There's 115,000 schools in the United States. There are far fewer than 100 school shootings per year. And so here's my response. You know, I joined the Brady PAC as a senior advisor because there is only one way to solve the incorrect assessments and the bad policy prescriptions of people like J.D. Vance. And it's to make sure we get them out of the world of politics and we get them out of any decision-making when it comes to our public safety. What J.D. Vance says is a "fact of life," well, for me, that would be true. I visit my daughter at the cemetery. But I will tell you -- last year, we invited every member of Congress to walk through the Parkland school where my daughter was shot. It is still an untouched crime scene. The blood is there, the DNA is there, the course work was still on the desk as if the kids had just walked away from them. J.D. Vance never showed up. He didn't come. But you know who did? Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris came and walked that building with me. Because rather than thinking this is a fact of life that we need to accept, she wanted to see everything that led to the tragedy that could have been done to stop it, and how we actually need to rethink schools and public safety going forward in a world where there are 400 million plus weapons that aren't only making their ways into schools, but making them to political rallies. I mean, J.D. Vance forgets Donald Trump was shot just a couple of months ago. And so this is not something we have to say is a fact of life -- it is uniquely American. But it is also a fact of failed policy and failed politicians, and we get to fix this with our vote. ACOSTA: Right, and one of the other facts of life is the polls show that a vast majority of Americans want tougher background checks. They want a whole host of gun safety laws that just aren't getting through the Congress because of opposition from the gun lobby. And that, too, is a -- that, too, is a fact of life. I mean, that's just a fact. These laws can't get through Congress, and they can't get signed by the President because of the gun lobby. That's a fact of life. (...) MSNBC's Ayman September 8, 2024 8:26 p.m. AYMAN MOHYELDIN: I want to get to J.D. Vance's reaction to this tragic mass shooting -- the school shooting this week in Winder, Georgia -- that left four people dead, including two children and two teachers. Watch this. VANCE: Look, I don't like this. I don't like to admit this. I don't like that this a fact of life. But if you're -- if you are a psycho and you want to make headlines, you realize that our schools are soft targets. And we have got to bolster security at our schools. MOHYELDIN: Tom, how can Republicans claim to be working to protect children when they are doing nothing to prevent these shootings that, as J.D. put it, are "facts of life"? TOM NICHOLS, THE ATLANTIC: Yeah, you know, the school shootings picked up speed in the early 1980s, late 1970s, and they've been getting worse even as schools in other ways have become safer. These mass shootings have become more common -- these mass casualty events. And for someone who wants to be Vice President of the United States to simply say, "Eh, you know, what are you gonna do? These things happen." We don't -- we don't elect people to simply throw up their -- their hands and say, "Well, these things happen." We can argue about whether the issue is mental health -- I think that's a big part of it. We can argue about whether the issue is too many guns -- that's clearly a part of it. But, again, it shows you how Vance has approached his entire career as, "You're all here to help me, J.D. Vance, become, you know, prominent and the Vice President of the United States. You know, if these gun things happen, you know, what can you possibly ask me to do about it?" MOHYELDIN: Yeah, he basically wants our schools just to become bunkers, at this point, is the only policy proposal that J.D. Vance has. (...) CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta September 9, 2024 10:44 a.m. JIM ACOSTA: And, David, you've had some time to think about all of this since this latest school shooting. What's your answer to this? I mean, what needs to be done? DAVID HOGG, THE MARCH FOR OUR LIVES: I mean, look, we need to have a holistic approach to gun violence. We need to address what causes somebody like that young man to want to pick up a gun in the first place and use it to murder his classmates and teachers, but we also need to address how he got that gun and the laws surrounding that. And what we need to do is first, in my opinion, we need to abolish the filibuster. If we're going to get any action on guns, it's ridiculous that in Congress it takes them 60 votes for a, you know, to pass a bill. It's just absurd. (...) This is the leading cause of death for people under the age of 19 in the United States. There are children across the United States -- especially younger black and brown kids -- that don't go through a school shooting but go through gun violence outside of school but never get the attention or resources that many young people like I was when I was 17 who went through school shootings get. And that's not to say that we shouldn't no matter where they're impacted by gun violence needs that same attention and resources because that trauma is just as real, and we're failing to provide a lot of that coverage and care to a lot of communities that are the most impacted by gun violence. ACOSTA: And, David, what about the AR-15? I mean, we're talking about an AR-15 in the Georgia case -- just over the weekend, the I-75 shooters -- time and again, the AR-15 has shown up in these mass shootings. What is the message to the candidates? And we're going to have a debate tomorrow night. Does there need to be a debate over the AR-15? HOGG: Yeah, I think there needs to be a broader conversation about what we can agree on here. We've been debating this for, what, I was born a year after Columbine, right? We've been having this debate for a very, very, very, very long time.

Where did classic clothing go? When did the standards become niche? All J.Crew had to do was offer the standards. Just bring them back. No frills. No extra synthetic garbage added. Just give us the classics. When did the basics become so hard to find that you could only get your hands on them if you were brave enough to venture down some dark alley on a cold rainy night? Next to the dumpster, past the broken-down truck, there’s a small window. Don’t tell anyone. “You got OCBDs? What’s the collar roll like?” “I’m looking for wide-wale cords. I haven’t seen them in years.” “What do I owe you?” This is what it was like. Well, you didn’t really lurk down a dark alley on a rainy night, but you did need to know where to look, and it wasn’t easy. It was off the beaten path. Over the years, it became a Herculean task just to get your hands on a pair of 100% cotton chinos with no stretch added. Is that so much to ask? As company after company moved toward athleisure and synthetic, stretchy slop, the standards became an endangered species. J.Crew seizes the day Amidst all this, there was an opportunity waiting for the right company to come along and bring back the classics. The formula would be simple. Offer them straight. Offer them standard. Offer them at some kind of reasonable price. There was a $100 bill sitting on the ground just waiting for someone to pick it up. J.Crew grabbed it. Before J.Crew decided to seize the day, it was struggling. Five years ago, the company had strayed far from its original mission. It was lost. Its clothing was unimpressive and uninspiring. But over the past couple of years, J.Crew has been in the process of rehabilitating its brand and bringing back the classics slowly but surely. It is returning to its roots. It is returning to tradition. The J.Crew golden era was the mid-'80s through the '90s. There is a fantastic Instagram account — @lostjcrew — that posts photos exclusively from the catalogs released during this glorious era. It’s a perfect aesthetic archive. Take some time and compare the photos on @lostjcrew with the photos in J.Crew’s new advertising campaigns. The connection is clear as day. Young people running on the beach. The waves crashing on the shore. A cottage, sand, waves, style. The beautifully down-to-earth imagery that characterized the golden era of J.Crew lives again. Simple, classic, American style. The dark ages have been deleted. New J.Crew is old J.Crew. OCBDs: Against the slim-fit menace Peruse J.Crew, and you will be pleasantly surprised. It currently offers a giant-fit Oxford shirt. The sizing reminds you of those beautiful roomy-fit Oxford cloth button-downs that were everywhere in the '90s. An oversized yoke that falls off your shoulders. Worn untucked with jeans on a Saturday afternoon. They disappeared one day, and slim fit took over. Grim. Bringing back the full-fit Oxford OTR is a clear rejection of the totalitarian slim-fit menace. Choice chinos When it comes to chinos, J.Crew currently offers six different fit options. Skinny, slim, athletic tapered, straight, classic, giant. The classic fit and the giant fit are the interesting offerings. These are the options to keep your eye on. These are the return pieces. These full-cut chinos give us what we have been waiting for: classic-fit chinos with no stretch offered at a reasonable price. Sweater swagger The sweater selection is robust. Preppy colors. Simple, beautiful, cashmere crewnecks. Chunky cotton knits. It offers a shocking number of sport coats. It even has a 3 roll 2. Rugby jerseys. 100% cotton polo shirts. Earthy barn jackets and suede penny loafers made by Alden. This is classic. This is standard. This is great. This is the kind of clothing that should be easy to find off the rack. Is everything perfect at J.Crew? Of course not. You can always find something wrong. It’s easy to be a critic of everything and everyone. The collar points aren’t long enough. The pants aren’t made in the USA. The rise isn’t high enough on the chinos. Okay, fine. Whatever. Perfection isn’t the point. It’s not going to happen. Forget it. Let it go. It’s about direction. That’s what all life is about. J.Crew is making clear moves in the right direction. It is offering the old classics again. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. It has decided to lean hard into the '90s throwback, and it is working. The styling in the ads is relaxed, nonchalant, and comfortable. The imagery is beautiful and aspirational. Joyful and nostalgic. Permanent style In a recent Instagram post titled “Chinos Through the Generations,” J.Crew fully embraces the intergenerational nature of classic style — handed down from father to son. The photos look like they could have been taken 30 years ago. This is all very intentional. The entire J.Crew Instagram account is becoming almost indistinguishable from the @lostjcrew account. Nature is healing. Who knows how long this trajectory will last? Trends are fickle. Two years, five years, or 20 years. Who knows? However long it lasts, it is a welcome development and an encouraging sign. J.Crew was down for the count for a while. To see a brand come back in such a strong way should give us hope. Other makers who are currently going through their dark ages may too come back again one day. It’s not over till it’s over. The formula was so simple. So easy. All J.Crew had to do was offer the standards. Just bring them back. No frills. No extra synthetic garbage added. Just give us the classics. The nostalgia. The '90s. That’s what it did. It picked up a $100 bill.