Free Republic

“Marines can carry an all-black, plain, standard or collapsible umbrella at their option during inclement weather with the service and dress uniforms,” according to a new All Marine Corps message, the site reported. Previously, only female Marines were allowed to use umbrellas while in their service or dress uniforms. They are required to carry it in their left hand so they are free to salute with their right.

MANASQUAN, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey’s senior U.S. senator wants federal officials to take more aggressive action to protect beachgoers from wind-swept beach umbrellas. Bob Menendez held a news conference Monday in Manasquan to once again call on the Consumer Product Safety Commission to improve its regulations and develop an aggressive campaign to educate beachgoers on the dangers the umbrellas can pose if they’re not properly staked in the sand.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama. Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18- to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008. “Is the recession, which is hitting young people very hard, doing lasting or permanent damage to what looked like a good Democratic advantage with this age group?”...

SEX workers have rallied in Sydney to demand an end to "whore-phobic" attitudes and greater protection under anti-discrimination laws. Chanting "sex worker rights are human rights" and "no bad whores, just bad laws", dozens of protesters marched from the Opera House today in a bid to have their rights recognised. Many carried red umbrellas, a symbol of the global movement, while others made statements with T-shirts reading "whore power" and "sluts unite". "We are human beings, we are people, we do a job and we are continually vilified for that job," sex worker Julie Bates said, noting that little had...