Free Republic

<p>A round of better-than-expected data on the American labor market helped lift U.S. stock-index futures on Thursday.</p> <p>As of 8:34 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 39 points, or 0.24%, to 16395, S&P 500 futures advanced 4.5 points, or 0.25%, to 1877 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.2 points, or 0.17%, to 3734.</p>

The opening of Postal Service retail centers in dozens of Staples stores around the country is being met with threats of protests and boycotts by the agency's unions. The new outlets are staffed by Staples employees, not postal workers, and labor officials say that move replaces good-paying union jobs with low-wage, nonunion workers. "It's a direct assault on our jobs and on public postal services," said Mark Dimondstein, president of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union. The dispute comes as the financially struggling Postal Service continues to form partnerships with private companies, and looks to cut costs and boost revenues....

I've been promising a Texas Lt. Governor primary thread for a while. This thread is for discussion of the merits of primary candidates for the office of Lt. Governor of the State of Texas.Lt. Governor is the most powerful elected office in the State of Texas.

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- From Facebook.com: http://tinyurl.com/m4sjwfs For those without a Facebook account, it shows a photo of some members of MDA standing in a Staples with this title; “IT’S WORKING: Last week, members of Moms Demand Action made the case for gun sense at a Staples in Arlington, Virginia, and the manager agreed: He will put up signs saying no guns are allowed in his store! Be part of the campaign, bring gun sense to a Staples near you:” Trouble is when some of our members checked (click here for audio) with the store in question, the manager, Salaf, was...

Troubled Staples just realized its stores need more in the aisles than employees and unsold inventory, and that alienating millions of customers is an unprofitable marketing tack. Angry reactions following its disallowing a gun retailer to enter its small business contest has resulted in office supply chain Staples ending the discriminatory practice, Deena Winter of Nebraska Watchdog revealed in a report updated yesterday. “Maple Creek Gunsmithing, a gun retailer in Fremont, tried to enter a Staples small business ‘Push it Forward’ contest for a shot at winning a $50,000 marketing campaign,” Winter related. “Instead, the owners got an email from...

Conservatives need to be intelligent shoppers. Not only do we need to find the best deals to make our dollars go further, we also need to use our marketplace power to make sure that companies that fight against conservatism and our rights do not receive the benefits of our patronage. There is one big store we should ignore right now. This is one store that conservatives should not shop at. What is that store and why should we not shop there? The store is Staples office supplies. Yes, that big red, office supply big box store that is pretty ubiquitous....

A small Nebraska gun shop has decided to buy its ink pens and post-it notes somewhere else after they said Staples rejected their entry into a marketing contest because they are in the firearms business. Travis Vonseggern and Bill Jackson own Maple Creek Gunsmithing in Fremont, Neb. The store offers gunsmithing, guns, ammo, and firearms training.gunsmith They recently entered the Staples PUSH It Forward Contest – hoping to win a $50,000 marketing campaign for their small business. But a few days later, the men received a rejection email: “We’re sorry, but your small business entry into the Staples PUSH It...

In June, Staples will become among the first major retailers to offer a 3D printer. It will also be among the first to offer an affodable one, with 3D Systems’ Cube 3D printer being sold for $1,299, the company announced on Friday. Although $1,299 may seem expensive, there was a time when the cheapest dot matrix or impact printers cost more than that. The price will inevitably come down. The Cube 3D Printer works with both Windows and Mac OS X. It comes with 25 templates with more available online.

Even Democratic dirt-diggers are questioning the value of releasing Mitt Romney’s 1991 testimony in Staples founder Tom Stemberg’s divorce proceedings, which some partisans had hoped would produce an October surprise and derail his new momentum with women voters.

Mitt Romney has been implicated in a complex case involving perjury, stock manipulation, and possibly consumer fraud. Mitt Romney lied in the divorce proceedings of his wealthy friend, Tom Stemberg, founder of Staples, according to a story by radaronline.com. At least that is what Stemberg's former wife, Maureen, says. She is a MS patient who says her husband was so vindictive he even cut off her health insurance. Unfortunately the records for this case have been sealed, and participants are unable to discuss them. Other forces are in motion to lift the gag order. It is a matter of public...

Gloria Allred's Surprise For Mitt Romney Revealed! Posted on Oct 23, 2012 @ 05:15PM By Jen Heger - Radar Assistant Managing Editor Gloria Allred's October surprise for Governor Mitt Romney involves allegations about a child custody matter that the Republican presidential hopeful testified about involving his very good friend, and former CEO of Staples, Tom Stemberg and his divorce form one of his two ex-wives, RadarOnline.com is reporting. The founder of Staples, who spoke on behalf of Governor Mitt Romney at the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay, Florida last summer, has four sons from two different ex-wives, Maureen Sullivan...

Maureen Sullivan Stemberg, ex-wife of Staples founder, sits in her $5,200 a month, 14th-floor, concierge-at-the-door, elegantly furnished Back Bay apartment and tells you she’s broke. She can’t work. She can’t afford a car, her medications, her rent, even the family springer spaniel, J.J., who she just gave away. She produces doctors notes detailing medical woes: possible lupus, bouts of pneumonia requiring hospitalizations, a history of cancer, petit mal seizures, plus recommendations for thrice weekly psychotherapy and psychiatry. She says her insurance won’t cover mental health care. “I’m going to be out on the street,” says Sullivan Stemberg, a tiny, 50-ish...

Is a $15 gift card enough to compensate for public humiliation at your local grocery store? According to one Georgia woman, the answer is absolutely not. Cindy Nerger, 28, who relies on food stamps to feed her family, said she was brought to tears after being embarrassed by a manager at a Kroger store in Warner Robbins, Ga. "He said, 'Excuse me for working for a living and not relying on food stamps like you,'" Nerger said the manager told her. The man's comment came after Nerger and two other store employees disagreed over whether her total purchase was eligible...

Michigan State Jewish student attacked at party, knocked unconscious; ADL "horrified by violent assault." A Jewish student at Michigan State University said he was attacked at an off-campus party in what he is calling a hate crime. Just before the assault, which broke his jaw, Zach Tennen said his attackers asked him if he was Jewish, according to reports. Tennen, 19, a resident of suburban Detroit, said he answered in the affirmative. He told WDIV-TV in Detroit that his attackers also "were making Nazi and Hitler symbols and they said they were part of the KKK." Tennen was knocked unconscious...

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A judge has tossed a wrongful death suit filed by a couple who sued the managers of Staples Center over the death of their 34-month-old son, who was fatally injured in a fall from the ledge of a luxury suite. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason heard arguments Friday on L.A. Arena Co.’s motion for dismissal of the case brought in May 2011 by Garden Grove residents Hoia Mi Nguyen and Henry Tang, parents of Lucas Tang. The judge took the case under submission and later in the day granted the defense’s dismissal motion. “The...

BOISE -- A teacher, political candidate, and former doctor is facing charges of aggravated assault after police say she threatened employees at a Staples store with a gun. We are beginning to learn more about Cynthia Clinkingbeard, and her behavior leading up to the incident on Friday night. At the time of her arrest, Clinkingbeard was part of the adjunct faculty at Boise State and the faculty at College of Western Idaho. Her students say that her behavior over the past few months was, at times, strange. Some students at CWI dropped her class because of what they called "erratic...

Mitt Romney's immense personal wealth has become a major issue on the campaign trail this week, in the wake of the unfortunate $10,000 bet he tried to make during the last Republican debate. The baffling moment reinforced the idea that Romney — who has a net worth of about $250 million — is an out-of-touch Wall Street fat cat. It's a well-known narrative that Romney can't seem to explain away, largely because voters still don't fully understand exactly what he did that made him all that money. According to federal financial disclosures Romney is now worth between $190 and $250...

Mitt Romney's immense personal wealth has become a major issue on the campaign trail this week, in the wake of the unfortunate $10,000 bet he tried to make during the last Republican debate. The baffling moment reinforced the idea that Romney — who has a net worth of about $250 million — is an out-of-touch Wall Street fat cat. It's a well-known narrative that Romney can't seem to explain away, largely because voters still don't fully understand exactly what he did that made him all that money. According to federal financial disclosures Romney is now worth between $190 and $250...

World food prices continued to rise sharply in December, bringing them close to the crisis levels that provoked shortages and riots in poor countries three years ago, according to newly released United Nations data. Prices are expected to remain high this year, prompting concern that the world may be approaching another crisis, although economists cautioned that many factors, like adequate stockpiles of key grains, could prevent a serious problem. The food price index of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization rose 32 percent from June to December, according to the report published Wednesday. In December, the index was slightly...

Soaring price of food 'leads to riots' By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent Last Updated: 2:45am BST 07/04/2008 Rising food prices threaten economic stability and could trigger riots, Gordon Brown has been warned. The World Bank said this week that the price of staple foods has risen by 80 per cent in the past three years. For consumers in wealthy nations such as Britain soaring prices are squeezing household finances and keeping inflation up. But for developing nations they can lead to malnutrition and social disruption. Food prices are being driven up by shortages of supply - often caused by bad...