Latest news with #Barnes&Noble
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
FBI Director Kash Patel fumes over James Comey ‘copycats' forcing overwhelmed agency to pull agents off child sex predator, drug trafficking cases
The FBI has been overwhelmed investigating James Comey 'copycats' in the wake of his controversial '86 47' Instagram post, Director Kash Patel revealed Wednesday. 'Do you know how many copycats we've had to investigate as a result of that beachside venture from the former director?' Patel told Fox News 'Special Report' host Bret Baier, during an interview from the bureau's academy in Quantico, Virginia. Patel indicated that the uptick in potential threats against President Trump since Comey's May 15 post has been so substantial that the FBI has had to redirect significant resources – including agents focused on child sex crimes and drug trafficking – to investigate them. 4 Patel discussed the Comey copycats during an interview with Bret Baier. Fox News 4 James Comey, former FBI Director, speaks at the Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on May 19, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images 'Do you know how many agents I've had to take offline from chasing down child sex predators, fentanyl traffickers, terrorists .. because everywhere across this country people are popping up on social media and think that a threat to the life of the president of the United States is a joke … and they can do it because [Comey] did it?' the FBI chief said. 'That's what I'm having to deal with every single day,' Patel fumed. 'And that's why I'm having to pull my agents and analysts off – because [Comey] thought it was funny to go out there and make a political statement.' The FBI did not immediately respond to The Post's request for details on the surge in possible threats against Trump since the former FBI director's Instagram post. 4 Patel indicated that the uptick in potential threats against President Trump since Comey's May 15 post has been so substantial that the FBI has had to redirect significant resources. comey/Instagram 4 Former FBI Director James Comey departs after giving a private deposition to the House Judiciary and House Government and Oversight committees on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 7, 2018. REUTERS In the since-deleted post, Comey shared an image of seashells arranged on a beach to form the numbers '86 47,' which many Republicans, including Trump, viewed as a call to assassinate the 47th president. Comey, who was fired by Trump in May 2017 after serving as FBI director since September 2013, was interviewed by Secret Service investigators the day after the post. The former director indicated during an interview with MSNBC last week that he doesn't expect criminal charges or any additional action from the Trump administration over the shell post, which he viewed at the time – and still does – as 'totally innocent.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
What's that moving in by The Container Store in Germantown Collection shopping center?
A notable bookstore chain plans to open a new location this summer in a busy Germantown shopping center. Work is underway on a new Barnes & Noble store at 2130 Exeter Road in Germantown. Janine Flanigan, vice president of store design and planning for Barnes & Noble, recently told The Commercial Appeal that the new store is expected to open on July 23. The location is at the Germantown Collection shopping center off Poplar Avenue. The Barnes & Noble will be next to The Container Store. The Germantown Collection includes other popular tenants such as Trader Joe's, Chicken Salad Chick and Nest Décor. GERMANTOWN DEVELOPMENT: Germantown's TraVure development gets new design change: A look at why and latest plans "We are always on the lookout for new markets and excited to be opening in this area," Flanigan said. "The store is approximately 12,000 square feet and will carry the very best selection of books, toys, games and puzzles curated for the Germantown customer." A commercial alteration permit was filed in February with the Memphis and Shelby County Division of Planning and Development for the Barnes & Noble location. The permit valued at roughly $587,000 was filed by New York-based HBC Architects. Flanigan noted hiring numbers for the new Germantown store have not yet been finalized. Any open positions will be listed on the Barnes & Noble website on the career page. New-York-based Barnes & Noble has more than 600 bookstores in the country and also operates an online bookstore at It has Memphis-area locations in Wolfchase Galleria area at 2774 N. Germantown Parkway and in Collierville's Carriage Crossing at 4610 Merchants Park Circle, Suite 521. Barnes & Noble appears to be on the rebound. After more than 15 years of declining store numbers, the bookseller expects to open more than 60 new locations across the country, following a period of 'strong sales' in existing stores. Corey Davis is the Collierville and Germantown reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at or 901-293-1610. To keep up with the latest news from the Shelby County suburbs, sign up here for our Suburban Pulse weekly newsletter. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Barnes & Noble opening new store in Germantown: See where and when
Boston Globe
7 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
A wave of new owners brings fresh energy to independent bookselling
Salazar is among a wave of new — and, often, younger — owners who have helped the independent book community dramatically expand, intensify, and diversify. Independent bookselling is not a field for fortune seekers: Most local stores, whether run by retirees, bookworms or those switching careers in middle age, have some sense of higher purpose. But for many who opened in recent years, it's an especially critical mission. Advertisement Independent stores will likely never recover their power of 50 years ago, before the rise of Barnes & Noble superstores and the online giant But the days of industry predictions of their demise seem well behind. In 2016, there were 1,244 members in the American Booksellers Association trade group, at 1,749 locations. As of this month, the ABA has 2,863 individual members, at 3,281 locations. And more than 200 stores are in the process of opening. Advertisement This photo provided by Amber Salazar shows books at the Third Annual Winter(ish) Market hosted by Lost Friend Brewing Company on Nov. 30, 2024, in Colorado Springs, Colo. Amber Salazar/Associated Press 'It's incredible, this kind of energy,' says association CEO Allison Hill, remembering how, during the pandemic, she feared that the ABA could lose up to a quarter of its membership. 'I don't think any of us would have predicted this a few years ago.' Hill and others acknowledge that even during an era of growth, booksellers remain vulnerable to political and economic challenges. Costs of supplies remain high and could grow higher because of President Trump's tariffs. ABA President Cynthia Compton, who runs two stores in the Indianapolis area, says that sales to schools are down because censorship laws have made educators more cautious about what they purchase. The ABA's own website advises: 'Passion and knowledge have to be combined with business acumen if your bookstore is to succeed.' Salazar herself is part of an Instagram chat group, Bookstores Helping Bookstores, with such like-minded sellers as the owners of The Crafty Bookstore in Bloomington, Ind., 'specializing in Indie books & custom bookish accessories,' and the Florida-based Chapter Bound, an online store with a calling 'to connect great books with great people — at prices everyone can afford.' Advertisement 'In the age of social media, people are craving genuine connection and community,' Salazar says. 'And books often provide a catalyst to that feeling of community.' Stephen Sparks, who is 47 and since 2017 has owned Point Reyes Books northwest of San Francisco, believes that the pandemic gave sellers of all ages a heightened sense of their role in the community and that the return of Trump to the White House added new urgency. Sales are up 20 percent this year, he says, if only because 'during tough times, people come to bookstores.' The younger owners bring with them a wide range of prior experience. Salazar had worked in retail management for nine years, switched to property and casualty insurance sales 'in search of advancement opportunity' and, right before she launched her store, was a business process owner, 'a blend of project management, customer and employee experience management.' Courtney Bledsoe, owner of Call & Response, had been a corporate attorney before undertaking a 'full career shift' and risking a substantial drop in income. The 30-year-old held no illusions that owning a store meant 'pouring a cup of coffee and reading all day.' Calling herself 'risk averse,' she researched the book retail business as if preparing for a trial, before committing herself and launching Call & Response in May 2024. 'This endeavor is probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life,' she says, acknowledging it could take a couple of years before she can even pay herself a salary. 'We're just doing this to serve the community, doing something we love to do, providing people with great events, great reading. It's been a real joy.' Advertisement
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Here are the details for grand opening at new Lakewood Barnes & Noble
The official grand opening celebration for a long-anticipated new Barnes & Noble bookstore in Lakewood is set for next week and will include an author event. The store relocated to a new site at Lakewood Towne Center to make way for new apartments next to the shopping center. The store's new address is 10330 59th Ave. SW, Unit A. The former store at the shopping center closed earlier this month. The new store officially will open to the public 10 a.m. May 28, 'with acclaimed fantasy authors Terry Brooks, Robin Hobb and Shawn Speakman cutting the ribbon and signing copies of their books, including Brooks' newest release, 'Galaphile,'' according to a Barnes & Noble release issued this week. The bookstore also will feature an updated B&N Cafe. 'After nearly 30 years, our well-trod Lakewood Mall bookstore was in dire need of an update,' said James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, in a statement. 'Here in Lakewood Towne Center, we are very proud to present a fresh, new Barnes & Noble, which our booksellers have expertly curated. Our Lakewood booksellers are looking forward to greeting their longtime customers and welcoming new ones into this beautiful new Barnes & Noble.' The bookseller expects to open more than 60 new stores in 2025. The Lakewood location is one of three new U.S. Barnes & Noble bookstores set to open in May, along with new stores in Connecticut and Ohio. In April, The News Tribune reported that the bookseller is planning a new store at South Hill Mall in Puyallup, tentatively set to open in October. 'I am thrilled to partner with our talented local booksellers to welcome the Lakewood community into a new space that is designed for every book lover,' said Store Manager KJ Anderson in a statement.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
James Comey is back in Trump's crosshairs. This time, it's different.
James Comey, the polarizing former FBI director, walked into a Barnes & Noble in New York City, sat down on a three-legged stool and began to extol the virtues of his new crime novel to the few dozen people who came to his book signing Monday night. Days earlier, he sparked a firestorm on the right — and a Secret Service investigation — when he posted a photo on Instagram that Donald Trump and senior administration officials insist was a call for the assassination of the president. Now Comey, as talkative and confident as ever, was brushing aside the chance that he might face criminal charges. 'They were total pros,' Comey said of the Secret Service agents who interviewed him, adding of the brouhaha: 'Maybe it'll go away.' But while he was signing books, Trump's former defense lawyer Alina Habba, now the acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, announced that she has filed criminal charges against Rep. Lamonica McIver, D-N.J., for her actions during a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Newark. The announcement underscored how differently the Justice Department has operated in the first four months of Trump's second term compared with the first four months of his first term. Trump loyalists — like Habba, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel — hold top law enforcement roles, and this administration has been even more aggressive in targeting political foes, as well as universities and law firms. While Comey downplayed the investigation of his Instagram post as a 'distraction,' the indictment of McIver put into stark relief how he may not be as safe from prosecution — or at least a long-running criminal probe — as he indicated Monday. Trump 'is surrounded by people willing to cater to his worst instincts,' said Ilya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University and the B. Kenneth Simon Chair in constitutional studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. 'I was no fan of Jeff Sessions or Bill Barr, but it seemed to me that they had some limits,' Somin added, referring to Trump's first-term attorneys general. 'It seems like Pam Bondi has a lot fewer limits.' Hours before he showed up at the Barnes & Noble, Comey appeared on MSNBC for his first interview since the Instagram post last Thursday. It showed seashells arranged in the shape of '8647' on the beach. Trump is the 47th president, and 86 can informally mean 'to get rid of,' according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Comey said he never considered that the post would generate controversy. 'I really thought that I was done,' he said. 'I was in another life. I was a grandfather and an author wearing sweaters and jeans and then went for a walk on the beach and posted a silly picture of shells that I thought was a clever way to express a political viewpoint. 'And actually, I still think it is. I don't see it the way some people are still saying it,' Comey added. 'But again, I don't want any part of any violence. I've never been associated with violence, and so that's why I took it down.' Trump fired Comey in 2017 amid the FBI's investigation into whether the 2016 Trump campaign coordinated with Russia. He was investigated by John Durham, a special counsel appointed during the first Trump administration to investigate the propriety of the FBI's Trump-Russia probe, and he was not charged with a crime. 'It's not my first rodeo,' Comey said. But he did express dismay at the Trump administration's targeting of political opponents. 'One of the real problems we have in this country right now is the use of the president's power aiming at individuals who don't have my background or experience,' he said. 'My thing, to me and I hope to everyone else, is just a distraction that goes away in a weekend. But there's something much more important going on here — the use of power to aim at individuals, eroding the rule of law.' Last month, Justice Department and FBI officials opened a federal criminal investigation of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who won a $454 million civil fraud judgment against Trump last year, alleging she made false statements on a mortgage application. The Department of Homeland Security said this month that a former federal official who denied Trump's claims of 2020 election fraud, Chris Krebs, is the subject of an unspecified federal law enforcement investigation. And the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia has opened an investigation into Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who is now running to be the mayor of New York City, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News late Tuesday. The New York Times was first to report on the probe, which it said focuses on Cuomo's congressional testimony about the pandemic. All deny any wrongdoing. McIver, the New Jersey congresswoman, was charged with two counts of 'assaulting, resisting, and impeding' two federal immigration agents at a protest outside a migrant detention facility in Newark on May 9. She faces a maximum penalty of eight years in prison if she is convicted, but sentences are usually well below the maximum. 'It's political intimidation, and I'm looking forward to my day in court,' McIver told reporters Tuesday in Washington. Federal investigations can drag on for years, damaging people's reputations and depleting their finances. 'They can hurt you by investigating you for three years,' said a former federal prosecutor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation. 'The question is do you want to hurt people or convict people?' the former prosecutor added. 'The first thing is easy. The second thing is hard. You need evidence.' Pressed about the Secret Service investigation in his television interview, Comey said the judiciary is the only branch of government left that will protect him from a dubious prosecution. 'I believe in our judiciary,' Comey said. 'I believe in that one remaining leg of our three-legged stool — that independent judiciary — is alive and well, and that gives me great comfort.' This article was originally published on
