Top Story: Appeals Court Strikes Down ATF’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Restrictions
Day: November 12, 2023
01: Biden’s Basement
Top Commentary: As Education Decentralizes, Those Who Like Control Are Nervous
Appeals Court Strikes Down ATF’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Restrictions
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday unanimously struck down the Biden administration’s restrictions on “ghost guns,” or firearms without serial numbers, determining that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lacked authority to enact them.
The decision upholds a lower court decision that held the ATF exceeded its authority. The U.S. Supreme Court had allowed the restrictions to take effect while the case made its way through the appeals process.
Read MoreU.S. Population Projected to Start to Decline in 2080
America’s population gains won’t continue forever.
The U.S. population is projected to reach a high of nearly 370 million in 2080 before falling back to 366 million in 2100, according to the latest projections from the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.
Read MoreTSSN Featured: Fifth Straight Pro-Palestine, Anti-Israel Rally Held in Nashville
Vatican Approves Allowing Transgender People to Receive Baptism and Become Godparents
On Wednesday, the Vatican released a document declaring that people who believe themselves to be “transgender” will now be allowed to be baptized and be named as godparents, with certain limitations.
As reported by Fox News, the document in question was an official response to a dubia seeking guidance on how to deal with the issue, submitted by Brazilian Bishop Giuseppe Negri of Santo Amaro. The document was signed by Pope Francis himself and promoted by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Read MoreCommentary: As Education Decentralizes, Those Who Like Control Are Nervous
As more parents gain the opportunity to abandon a compulsory schooling assignment for other options, including homeschooling and microschooling, it’s no surprise that those who favor top-down control of education feel anxious about this bottom-up education transformation. This nervousness is occurring on both ends of the political spectrum.
On the political left, The Washington Post did some pearl-clutching last week around the possibility that “no government official will ever check on what, or how well, [homeschoolers] are being taught.” On the political right, the Fordham Institute expressed similar concerns about hybrid homeschoolers and microschoolers: “To ensure that those children receive the education they deserve, it will require policymakers to craft smart laws to govern these new institutions….”
Read MorePoll: Voters Satisfied with Local Schools but Not Public Schools in General
A new poll shows a large disparity between how voters think of their local public school system and the nation’s school system as a whole, signaling frustration with larger education issues as opposed to more area-specific ones.
Respondents’ approval of their local schools held constant in the most recent The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, which was conducted by Noble Predictive Insights.
Read MoreCDC: School Vaccination Exemptions Highest Ever Among Kindergartners
A record high number of kindergartners started last school year with an exemption from one of the vaccines U.S. health authorities require.
The overall percentage of children with an exemption increased from 2.6% during the 2021-22 school year to 3% during the 2022-23 school year, the highest exemption rate ever reported in the U.S., according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published Thursday.
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