Hasta La Gadget!

NEW YORK (AP) — Early-bird shoppers headed to stores on Thanksgiving in what’s becoming a new holiday tradition.

There were 200 people in line at the Toys R Us in New York City’s Times Square when it opened at 5 p.m. Mary Smalls, 40, was there trying to get all her shopping done on Thanksgiving. She said she wanted to avoid heading out on the day after the holiday known as Black Friday.

“I’m going to try to avoid the crowds,” said Smalls, who plans on spending $300 or $400 on gifts this year.

Thanksgiving shopping has come a long way. Just a few years ago when a few stores started opened late on the holiday, the move was met with resistance from workers and shoppers who believed the day should be sacred.

But last year, more than dozen major retailers opened at some point on Thanksgiving evening. And this year, at least half of them — including Target, Macy’s, Staples and J.C. Penney — opened earlier in the evening on the holiday.

The Thanksgiving openings are one way retailers are trying to compete for Americans’ holiday dollars. Used to be that Black Friday was when they’d focus their sales promotions. But increasingly, they’ve been pushing those promotions earlier on Friday — and eventually into the holiday itself — to grab deal-hungry shoppers’ attention.

Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak, which tracks data at 70,000 stores globally, is expecting a sales increase of 3 percent to 5 percent to $2.57 billion to $2.62 billion on Thanksgiving. Last year’s figure grew two-fold from the year before.

The National Retail Federation expects 25.6 million shoppers to take advantage of the Thanksgiving openings, down slightly down from last year.

Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman at the retail trade group, said that earlier promotions in the month and shoppers’ uncertainty about when they can get the best deals are factors that could lead to fewer shoppers coming out on the holiday.

Nevertheless, Thanksgiving is starting to take a bite out of Black Friday business. Indeed, sales dropped 13.2 percent to $9.74 billion on Black Friday last year. Analysts said Thanksgiving sales were in part responsible for the decline.

And Gerald Storch, who runs a retail consultancy called Storch Advisors, said stores that open on Thanksgiving get more of their share for the weekend than others who open on Friday.

“That’s why they keep doing it,” he said. “You have to be first.”

Being first lures shoppers like Raquila Wilkinson, 34, who arrived at the Target in New York’s East Harlem neighborhood about 3.5 hours before its 6 p.m. opening. She has been deal hunting on Thanksgiving for a few years now.

“It’s a tradition,” said Wilkinson. “I look forward to it.”

On Wilkinson’s shopping list? A 40-inch TV for $119 and headphones for $97 and pajamas for $5. “I made a map in my brain,” she said.

Not every shopper is happy about stores opening on the holiday. A number of petitions have been circulating on change.org targeting Wal-Mart, Target and other retailers for opening their stores on Thanksgiving, or starting their sales that day. Most of Wal-Mart’s stores already open around the clock.

Even some shoppers who were out on Thanksgiving felt a tinge of guilt for shopping on a holiday. “Every year, you have to keep coming in earlier and earlier,” said Hector Huayamade, 34, who was shopping at a Toys R Us store in New York while visiting from Florida with his family. “I’d prefer to spend the whole day with my family, but the stores are open so we do it.”

Not every store was open on Thanksgiving, though. Some, including GameStop, Costco and Ikea, have said they won’t open because they want their workers to enjoy the holiday with their families.

“At GameStop, we often use the phrase ‘protect the family’ in reference to our business,” the video game retailer said in a company statement.

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AP Business Writer Mae Anderson in New York contributed to the report.

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Follow Anne D’Innocenzio at www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

On November 30th, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 will be leaving leaving Earth aboard a Mitsubishi-made rocket to make its way to an asteroid — but not to blow it up. The Japanese spacecraft will follow in its predecessor’s footsteps and observing a space rock …

You aren’t the only one who wanted to ‘gram your Thanksgiving meal. From Jessica Alba’s jalapeño turkey to Karlie Kloss’ mother’s pumpkin bread, here’s what the celebs chowed down on this Thanksgiving.

Chk out my blogpost on my early #Thanksgiving w my family #jalepeñoturkey http://blog.honest.com/honest-jessicas-early-thanksgiving-diary/ do we have the same recipes? Will you try some of our family recipes? Let me know in comments! #happythanksgiving

Une photo publiée par Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) le Nov. 11, 2014 at 10:31 PST

Miss you mommy!! Happy thanksgiving everyone!! @dinalohan

A photo posted by Lindsay Lohan (@lindsaylohan) on Nov 11, 2014 at 9:16am PST

Lorenzo made his turkey cupcakes!! What a baker

Ett foto publicerat av NICOLE (@snookinic) Nov 11, 2014 at 8:33 PST

I am #Thankful for my moms legendary Pumpkin Bread. (My favorite thanksgiving memory is waking up to the delicious smell of this baking in the oven, spending all morning watching the #MacysDayParade and munching on this delicious bread!)

A photo posted by @karliekloss on Nov 11, 2014 at 10:04am PST

Literally getting a sunburn (I know poor me in 85 degree weather)..in my outdoor kitchen cookin up my thanksgiving feast! Hope you all have a blessed day…&hope to see u all give us your best #thanksgivingdancewars dances!

A photo posted by maria menounos (@mariamenounos) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:19am PST

Happy thanksgiving homemade desserts

A photo posted by Lucy Liu (@lucyliu) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:35am PST

Making collard greens with Granny! Happy Thanksgiving!

A photo posted by John Legend (@johnlegend) on Nov 11, 2014 at 11:55am PST

Making andouille sausage cornbread stuffing from scratch. #HappyThanksgiving

A photo posted by Oprah (@oprah) on Nov 11, 2014 at 12:58pm PST

A sneak peak of my craziness today I know you see my OCD in high gear when you look at my cookie jars. I have a problem… I know… but I like everything neat and in its place. This kind of stuff makes me SO happy!! #HappyThanksgiving

A photo posted by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Nov 11, 2014 at 12:50pm PST

Thankful for my Nanny’s secret family recipe for French Silk #Pie! I can feel her close to us, especially on these special holidays! #Family

Melissa Joan Hartさん(@melissajoanhart)が投稿した写真 – 11月 11, 2014 at 12:46午後 PST

Tatoes! http://sodelushious.com/peppers-scalloped-potatoes/

A photo posted by @chrissyteigen on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:20pm PST

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

A photo posted by @azizansari on Nov 11, 2014 at 3:19pm PST

All of my homemade greatness. My first Thanksgiving all by myself ❤️❤️❤️

A photo posted by Khloé (@khloekardashian) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:54pm PST

Happy Thanksgiving ❤️

A photo posted by Miranda (@mirandakerr) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:51pm PST

More Than Thankful. God is Amazing. #happythanksgiving #love

A photo posted by @ludacris on Nov 11, 2014 at 1:48pm PST

With over 1.6 billion followers, one third of them living as minorities, Islam is a major force in the world today. An active factor in international relations, its influence is far from local or confined to countries and communities classified as “Muslim.” With the presence of Muslims in Western capitals and the rapid diffusion of mass-communication media, Islam has become a globalized subject, albeit one largely viewed through the prism of security and intelligence. Amidst the rise of al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups, it has become increasingly perceived in Europe and the U.S. as a generator of crises and a threat to global stability and security.

In spite of the deluge of images and narratives of Islam that has flooded the public space since September 11th, knowledge and understanding of the subject has remained limited. Few know the enormous diversity of the Muslim world and its societies, on the levels of schools of thought, religious interpretations, or sectarian pluralism. Fewer still realize that there exists no uniform Islam but divergent tendencies fostered and promoted by the general political climates where different Muslim communities happen to find themselves.

It is such conditions that define the form of Islam that gains prevalence in a given historical context. Like any other major religion, Islam has been in its past, and continues to be in the present, subject to multiple strategies of interpretation. In general terms, we can speak of three prominent trends competing over the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world today.

The first is theocratic, at the service of absolutist rulers for whom Islam is a means of acquiring a de facto authority wrested by the force of the sword and hereditary succession, above any checks and restraints, and free of any accountability. This Islam is armed with its network of institutions, funds, and functionaries. The essence of religion as an authentic spiritual experience is irrelevant here. What matters are the rituals and outward forms of religiosity as the source of power legitimation. Religion is a mere obedient and obliging servant of the ruler, his interests and whims. In the Arabian Peninsula, a Wahhabism wedded to rule by the sword represents the clearest embodiment of this form of Islam.

Its proponents are as eager to exhibit the ritualist and formalistic aspects of Islam in a crudely interventionist way, such as the imposition of prayer, the segregation of men and women and enforcement of the niqab, as they are to keep it remote from politics and the realms of power and authority. As soon as these taboos are touched, the religious establishment, with its guardians of the sacred army comprising official scholars, clergymen and preachers, springs into action, denouncing the culprits as deviant and unorthodox, thereby furnishing the religious cover for their silencing, oppression and elimination.

The second strategy is as morally absolutist, dogmatic, legalistic and exclusionary as the first but espouses a different type of politics. It is an anarchist form of Wahhabism. It feeds on the climates of crisis, wars and conflicts raging in Muslim lands and seeks a source of justification for the perpetration of violence and terror in the theology of Islam.

This minority current had been isolated in Khandahar and the distant mountains of Tora Bora. But the military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and widening circle of political, sectarian and ethnic conflicts has strengthened it and enabled it to resonate with growing sectors of angry, anxious and disillusioned Muslim youth. The Arab awakening, which gave people in the region hope of the possibility of peaceful political change, had dealt a powerful blow to this tendency.

But as its great aspirations were crushed under the boots of generals in Egypt, burnt in the furnace of civil wars in Libya and drowned in the bloodshed of Syria, this violent anarchist current gained fresh momentum and rose to the forefront once more. For all its noise and the enormous exposure it receives, however, it still fails to command religious legitimacy or acceptance in the eyes of most Muslims, who still dismiss it as religiously deviant and politically counterproductive, damaging to the image of Islam and the stability of Muslim societies.

The presence of such extremist groups and the extent of their influence depend to a large extent on the general political climates prevailing in the Muslim world. Unfortunately, these conditions, particularly those reigning in the Arab hemisphere, show no sign of rehabilitation or stabilization.

These two trends are at loggerheads with democratic modernist Islam, whose roots lie in the 19th-century Islamic reform movement founded by Jamaluddin al-Afghani and Mohamed Abdu, which revolves around the notion of compatibility between, on the one hand, Islamic spiritual and religious values and, on the other, what it describes as the “requisites” of modern times. These include the imposition of checks and balances on power, the adoption of democratic mechanisms and procedures, and the emancipation of Islam from what proponents of this reformist school describe as the “prison of stagnation and imitation.”

With the advent of modernization, urbanization and mass education, this current has amassed considerable influence in Muslim societies (and later among Muslim minorities). Today, it is under pressure from multiple quarters. One of these is the theocratic camp, which considers the very presence of an Islam that calls for restrictions on the authority of rulers and respect for the will of the people, expressed through electoral democracy, a direct threat to its existence. This explains the unrelenting war waged by certain Gulf states on the wave of democratic change in the Arab region for the last three years.

Alongside pressures from Arab theocracies, democratic Islam is challenged by Salafi jihadists who dismiss it as “diluted,” “soft” and “naive,” pinning its hopes on peaceful protests and ballot boxes, which, unlike armed warfare, lead nowhere.

And beyond the Muslim landscape, this brand of Islam is viewed with mistrust by many in American decision-making circles and across the Atlantic. In the name of realism and pragmatism, these prefer to deal with rulers who, though authoritarian and ruthless with their masses, are pliant and willing to leave their markets wide open for Euro-American goods and squander billions in their nations’ resources on weapons no one else would buy. These are, therefore, infinitely preferable to elected leaders bound by the will of their people and committed to their interests.

Those who call for the reformation and democratization of Islam seem to miss an essential fact: that a democratic reformist Islam has existed since the 19th century. It has its own literal body, pioneers, and thinkers, within both Shia and Sunni Islam. The question is: Does the situation of present-day Muslim society, marked by crisis, tensions, foreign interventions and political despotism, foster this reformist democratic Islam, or does it promote its violent and theocratic rivals?

Rather than sifting through Muslims’ religious texts, theological tracts and medieval polemical disputes, those agonizing over the “problem” of Islam would do well to ponder the concrete reality of real, living Muslims and seek to fix it rather than striving to fix Islam.

Large-scale solar plants are monstrous construction projects, that cover hundreds or thousands of acres of land in photovoltaic goodness. This amazing video shows how they go from concept to reality.

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