Free Republic

When the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a ban on plastic bags and required businesses to charge a nickel for paper bags, city leaders believed it would be better all around. "I think we've gotten to a place where it's really going to work for the environment, businesses and the community in general," Councilman Mike O'Brien said at the time. But the bag ban is contributing to thousands of dollars in losses for at least one Seattle grocery store, and questions have been raised about the risk of food-borne illness from reusable bags that shoppers don't often wash.

Yesterday I decided to head-out and get a bit more ammo before the Obama and his congressional minions had a chance to impose more regulation and/or bans... Luckily, I picked up 8mm, .357, and 12-gauge shells, and after a considerable wait in line it was my turn to pay. So then the cashier says 'strip down, facing me.' I couldn't believe it- all I could think was 'this time these pinheads in Congress have gone WAY too far...' Making a mental note to complain to the manager about the gun registry people running amok, I did just as she had instructed....

Assemblyman Marc Levine announced today he will revive a proposal banning all single-use plastic bags in California grocery stores. Under the proposal, most grocery retailers could no longer provide thin plastic bags for customers starting in 2015. For 18 months, retailers could offer paper bags made of recycled materials or reusable plastic bags for customers to bag their milk, eggs and other groceries. Starting in July 2016, grocery retailers could only provide reusable plastic bags, which many stores already offer at a fee. The new proposal, Assembly Bill 158, also leaves room for stores to provide recycled paper bags at...

NOTE The following text is a quote: Alabama Men Arrested on Terrorism Charges U.S. Attorney’s Office December 11, 2012 Southern District of Alabama MOBILE, AL—U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama and Stephen E. Richardson, Special Agent in Charge of the Mobile Division of the FBI, announced that Mohammad Abdul Rahman Abukhdair, 25, and Randy Wilson, also known as Rasheed Wilson, 25, both U.S. citizens living in Mobile, were arrested today on terrorism charges filed in the Southern District of Alabama. A criminal complaint signed on December 10, 2012, charges Abukhdair and Wilson with conspiring to...

A recent King 5 News broadcast reported on gun violence around the Puget Sound. The fact that the reporters referenced Champion Arms and the Kent gun store’s licensing issues is a case history in how the news media often portray gun issues in a false light. Champion Arms had almost nothing to do with the stated subject matter of the story, which was how people like the Cafe Racer killer, Ian Stawiki, obtain guns. Stawiki, who killed four people in Seattle and wounded another, did not have a criminal record nor any record of mental illness. It is hard to...

All Food Lion stores on the First Coast, including a dozen in Jacksonville, are closing, company officials announced Wednesday night. The stores will be closed within 30 days, the company said. Stores in Clay, St. Johns, Nassau, Baker and Alachua counties are also closing. In addition, the Food Lion in Waycross is among the Georgia stores slated to be closed. The company will convert its Food Lion in Lake City to a Harveys store. All of the other stores in Florida are closing.

Muammar Gaddafi's 'trophy' body on show in Misrata meat storeLibyans queue to see dictator's body as wounds appear to confirm he was killed in cold blood Andrei Netto in Misrata, Ian Black in Tripoli and Luke Harding Friday 21 October 2011 15.13 EDT Bloodied, wearing just a pair of khaki trousers, and dumped on a cheap mattress, Muammar Gaddafi's body has become a gruesome tourist attraction and a macabre symbol of the new Libya's problems. Hundreds of ordinary Libyans queued up outside a refrigerated meat store in Misrata, where the dead dictator was being stored as a trophy. A guard...

LAS VEGAS -- The U.S. Air Force led a rare raid against a Las Vegas gun shop Friday afternoon. Investigators removed pieces of evidence and took several people into custody. The initial raid lasted less than an hour. "These guys were in full get-up, automatic weapons," said Bahama Mamas manager Joe Gold. Armored SWAT tanks, officers carrying machine guns, K-9s, the FBI, ATF, and the U.S. Air Force made a grand entrance at the business park on Dean Martin Drive near Flamingo Road. Heavy on action and light on information, investigators remained tight-lipped about the warrants served at the Citadel...

BEIJING – At first, it looks like a sleek Apple store. Sales assistants in blue T-shirts with the company's logo chat to customers. Signs advertising the iPad 2 hang from the white walls. Outside, the famous logo sits next to the words "Apple Store." And that's the clue it's fake. China, long known for producing counterfeit consumer gadgets, software and brand name clothing, has reached a new piracy milestone -- fake Apple stores.

Comments made by Robert Haack Diamonds owner Brett Eulberg have put him in the center of a concealed-carry controversy. Last week, Wisconsin lawmakers approved lifting the ban on carrying concealed weapons, leaving Illinois as the last state to do so. Wisconsin businesses, however, will have the right to post signs at the entrance of their business prohibiting concealed weapons, and it was Eulberg's thoughts he shared with FOX 6 NOW on posting the sign that has caused plenty of backlash. "It's crazy, now I have to put a sign up saying 'no guns allowed,'" Eulberg told FOX 6. "Again, it's...

The meats were like a bad joke gone bad. $7-10 for a small package of chicken breasts. I got enough food for a week and it was $107. The cashier lady told me some woman (when she noticed) milk at $4 a gallon asked if there was s milk shortage. Are people this stupid? I am truly afraid for this country in so many ways and as the cashier lady said she told the ditz lady it will get far worse before it gets better. And the cashier was in her 20's and she figured this out- so there is...

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, reports that several of the country's museums have been attacked by looters taking advantage of the political turmoil in the country. In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, looters stole jewelry from the museum shop and smashed a statue of Tutankhamun and other artifacts. In a Sinai store containing antiquities from the Port Said Museum, "a large group, armed with guns and a truck, entered the store, opened the boxes in the magazine and took the precious objects. Other groups attempted to enter the Coptic Museum, Royal Jewellery Museum, National...

While grocery shopping a few weeks ago, I ran across this sign in the parking lot of a well-known grocery store: “Reserved Parking For Low Emissions and Fuel Efficient Hybrid Vehicles.” As can be expected, the sign designated a spot near the entrance of the store, right next to the handicapped spots.

Earlier today, Apple officially launched its application store for Macintosh, with about 1,000 free and paid applications available. Snow Leopard users download the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update, and the store is included. But people using the software are in for a change. Consumers typically buy software by machine. Those people buying from the Mac App Store purchase by person. The software is attached to an identity. This is a dramatic departure from how consumer software is typically licensed. Licensing agreements typically restrict installation on one PC, sometimes two or even three...The Mac App Store changes the paradigm and usage...

WOODBRIDGE, Va. - Be careful who you choose to hold up. That's the message two alleged robbers got from a clerk at a gas station in Woodbridge, Va. The clerk did not want to be identified, but told FOX 5 his story. He's hoping by speaking out, it could help find the suspects and also help deter other criminals from attacking citizens. The clerk said he was just finishing up a shift at the gas station and was sitting in his car warming it up. He said two men approached him and used a taser to stun him. Because he...

Vegan activist Walter Edmund Bond, of Utah, today pleaded guilty to felony counts related to an April fire that burned down the Sheepskin Factory in Glendale. Bond, 34, was arrested on July 22, accused of using fire or explosives to damage property involved in interstate commerce and of using force, violence or threats involving animal enterprises. The blaze caused more than $500,000 in damage to the Sheepskin Factory in the early hours of April 30. On July 28, Bond pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. By changing his plea today, he may be eligible for a shorter prison sentence....

(Reuters) - A self-described animal-rights activist known on the Internet as "Lone Wolf" pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to arson in a fire that destroyed a local sheepskin business.

Obama's 'Slurpee summit' has convenience store salivating Washington, Nov 5 : Barack Obama seems to have a thing for naming summits after drinks. The makers of those beverages couldn't be happier. The US president jumped on a reporter's suggestion Wednesday that he call an upcoming meeting with top Democratic and Republican legislative leaders a "Slurpee summit" to hash out a way forward after Tuesday's elections, in which Obama's party suffered major losses in Congress. "They're delicious drinks," Obama quipped, joking that he might serve the popular slushed ice drinks at what is likely to be a frosty meeting between leaders...

It’s odd but no so odd at the same time. By now, many people expect to walk into a beauty supply store and see a Korean store owner manning the register. Whether you’re in the suburbs of Houston or on MLK Blvd in Anytown, USA, you know what to expect. And yet, walking down a street in a Black neighborhood with Black residents and Black customers buzzing about the retail shops, that image of the few Koreans in the neighborhood only existing behind the cash register of liquor, beauty supply and other retail shops is still perplexing.

The A & N Food Market on Main Street in Flushing, Queens, has an almost entirely Chinese clientele. The inventory includes live eels, turtles and frogs, frozen duck tongue and canned congee. These goods, like products sold in every neighborhood of the city, attract their share of shoplifters. But A & N Food Market has an unusual way of dealing with the problem. First, suspected shoplifters caught by the store’s security guards or staff members have their identification seized. Then, they are photographed holding up the items they are accused of trying to steal. Finally, workers at the store threaten...