RINOs Surprised? Biden Administration Stabs Gun Control Partners in the Back

Moderate members of both political parties are criticizing the Biden Administration for its recent move to defund longstanding scholastic archery and hunter education programs under a recently passed gun control law.

The programs, which have no demonstrable connection to crime or violence, are the latest innocent victims of the misnamed Bi-Partisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA).

The episode reinforces two critically important lessons that any pro-gun legislator should remember. One: there is no such thing as harmless gun control. Two: Moderates who join forces with anti-gun extremists will eventually be embarrassed by the partnership.

We have already explained how the infamously anti-gun Biden Administration is abusing authorities established under the BSCA to implement de facto waiting periods on certain firearm purchases, fund unconstitutional firearm seizure schemes, and curtail private firearm transfers. These steps have caused supporters of the law who are not reflexively hostile to the Second Amendment to complain the administration is misinterpreting its provisions. But if anti-gunners can interpret the individual right to keep and bear arms out of the Second Amendment itself, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the far more ambiguous language of the BSCA could be twisted to nefarious ends.

The latest issue arises out of an obscure provision of the BSCA that amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA). That act is the “primary source of federal aid for elementary and secondary education” and is meant ““to strengthen and improve educational quality and educational opportunities in the Nation’s elementary and secondary schools.”

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The court ruled that since the law hadn’t actually been enforced yet, the plaintiffs didn’t have ‘standing’, as they weren’t yet subject to harm.

New Jersey Can Sue Gun Companies As A ‘Public Nuisance,’ Appeals Court Rules

The state of New Jersey can sue firearms manufacturers under a new state public nuisance law designed to target the industry, a federal appellate court ruled on Thursday.

New Jersey, in July of 2022, enacted new statutory law that allows the attorney general to sue gun manufacturers for being a “public nuisance” if they have “endangered the safety and health of New Jersey residents through the sale, manufacture, distribution, and marketing of lethal, but nonetheless legal, gun-related products,” according to the law. The state was then sued by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) in November of 2022 in a “pre-enforcement action,” to stop them from bringing a suit under the law, which was on Thursday dismissed for a lack of ripeness — meaning that it hasn’t matured to the point where a genuine dispute exists — according to the court’s ruling dismissing the suit.

“Pre-enforcement challenges are unusual. To bring one, the plaintiff must show that the stakes are high and close at hand … Yet this suit falls far short of even the ‘normal’ pre-enforcement challenge. A brand-new civil tort statute, without more, does not justify a federal court’s intervention,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, for a unanimous three-judge bench. “[W]e see little evidence that enforcement is looming … the Foundation has jumped the gun,” Bibas noted.

New Jersey’s law was passed in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, where the court in a 6-3 ruling struck down a New York law that required pistol permit applicants to prove that a “proper cause exists” for having such a permit. The Supreme Court ruled that the law violated the Second Amendment.

“The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority in the case. The ruling was widely criticized by Democrats and left-wing groups, who argued that it would increase gun violence and prompted the passage of laws by Democratic-led states to curtail firearm access.

“A gun industry member shall not, by conduct either unlawful in itself or unreasonable under all the circumstances, knowingly or recklessly create, maintain, or contribute to a public nuisance in this State through the sale, manufacturing, distribution, importing, or marketing of a gun-related product,” reads the New Jersey statute, which was challenged by the NSSF. The law also specifies that “[t]he Attorney General shall not be required to demonstrate any special injury” to prevail in a legal challenge on these grounds.

The law had previously been blocked by U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi of New Jersey for purportedly violating federal law, which currently immunizes gun manufacturers from lawsuits when their guns are used to commit crimes.

The law adapts a model — creating a civil cause of action for private citizens to sue — that had been adopted by some conservative states, notably Texas, to enforce abortion restrictions prior to the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Democratic-led states, such as California, then vowed to use the same model to target gun manufacturers.

“During oral arguments, the panel appeared to have concerns with the law, as did the district court that enjoined enforcement,” said Lawrence Keane, the NSSF’s senior vice president and general counsel. “Should New Jersey’s attorney general attempt to enforce the law, we will immediately refile our complaint.”

“I am thrilled,” said Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey.

August 19

43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus ‘Octavian’ is elected consul by the Roman Senate.

14 – Emperor Octavian ‘Caesar Augustus’ dies in Nola, Italy.

1153 – The same day his army retakes Ascalon, Baldwin III of Jerusalem takes control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende.

1692 –In Salem, Massachusetts, 5 people, 1 woman and 4 men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.

1782 – In the last major engagement of the Revolutionary War, a force of  Loyalists, along with Indians, ambushes and routs a force of Kentucky militiamen near the Licking River in Virginia

1812 – The frigate USS Constitution earns the nickname “Old Ironsides” during battle with the British frigate HMS Guerriere when an American crewmen yells “Her sides are made of iron!” when a shot merely bounces off the oak hull.

1848 – The New York Herald breaks the news to the east coast of the U.S. of the gold strike earlier in the year in California.

1854 – The 1st Sioux War begins near Fort Laramie, Nebraska Territory, when U.S Army soldiers, under the command of John Lawrence Grattan,  mortally wound Lakota Chief Conquering Bear while attempting to arrest one of his tribe and in return are massacred to the last man.

1862 – At the beginning of an indian uprising in Minnesota, called U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, or more commonly ‘Little Crow’s War’, lasting only a few months, Santee Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.

1883 – Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel is born in Saumur, France.

1909 – The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for automobile racing.

1934 – Adolf Hitler’s appointment as combined head of state  –Der Führer– is approved by a vote of the German people.

1942 – The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division and allied forces begin a near disastrous assault on the French port of Dieppe during World War II.

1944 – Free French and French Resistance forces, with allied troops, begin the assault to liberate Paris from German occupation.

1945 – Viet Minh forces led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

1960 – At trial in Moscow,  U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for espionage.

1964 – NASA’s Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral.

1981 – 2 U.S. Navy Grumman F-14 fighters intercept and shoot down 2 Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighters over the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean.

1991 – During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, hard line communists attempt a coup d’état against President Mikhail Gorbachev

2009 – In Kandahar, Afghanistan,  U.S. Army Sergeant Paul Dumont Jr. is killed in a vehicle accident.

2010 – Operations Iraqi Freedom and Laser Escort ends, with the last of the U.S. Brigade Combat Teams and certain Special Operations Forces crossing the border back into Kuwait.

2017 – A open water net pen at a fish farm near Cypress Island, Washington state, run by Cooke Aquaculture Pacific, breaks, accidentally releasing into the Pacific Ocean over 300,000 non-native Atlantic salmon.

Gas station customer who shot suspected thief won’t face charges

The QuikTrip gas station customer who police say shot and killed a larceny suspect Wednesday will not face charges, Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz has learned.

The case, which authorities are investigating as a self-defense case, began Wednesday morning at the gas station off Mount Holly-Huntersville Road and Bellhaven Boulevard.

Police said a suspected thief, 32-year-old David Leonhardt, fired a shot at that customer while at a gas pump, and even tried carjacking him.

Detectives said that’s when the customer shot and killed Leonhardt.

Police said minutes before the shooting, that suspect was seen stealing things from the gas station.

Alleged intruder killed by woman near Tucson was sex offender

A man deputies say was shot to death while trying to break in to a woman’s home in a rural area near Tucson last week was a registered sex offender who lived nearby, records show.

Jayson Magrum, 43, was shot dead Aug. 11 when the Pima County Sheriff’s Department says he was trying to get into a house in Three Points, about 30 miles southwest of Tucson.

Sandra Tracy, 54, was home alone when the incident occurred.

She told deputies she grabbed a gun and fired a warning shot through the window hoping it would scare the intruder away, according to an initial news release from the department.

She fired a second time, striking Magrum.

Responding deputies tried to revive Magrum, but he died at the scene.

Magrum listed a residence in the same block of West Pyle Road where the alleged attempted break-in occurred, records shows.

More Young People Are Getting Cancer, And We Don’t Know Why.

Cancer is a horrible diagnosis to receive at any age, but an apparent rise in the rate of cancers among young adults uncovered by a recent study is posing a concerning mystery epidemiologists are especially keen to solve.

Researchers have observed this worrying trend for some time, although they need to keep abreast of data to see how things might have changed, for better or for worse.

Last year, a review of three decades of global cancer data found adults under the age of 50 have increasingly developed cancer from the 1990s onwards.

Benjamin Koh, a physician-scientist at the National University of Singapore, and colleagues wanted to understand what has been happening more recently, specifically in the United States. The results of their new analysis echo the changes seen abroad.

Research shows young adult cancers are distinct from the kinds of cancers affecting the same organs in older adults – differences that influence treatment options – so we need to understand which cancers are affecting who, and how.

Aside from global trends, data on specific populations is useful to inform public health policies and research funding priorities. Overall, age remains the biggest risk factor for cancer, a disease of accumulating genetic mutations.

But now something is happening in younger age groups, and health experts aren’t sure what.

Across many countries, but particularly the US, the rising rates of young adult cancers could be due to a range of factors: changing diets, lifestyles, and sleep patterns; increasing obesity, antibiotic use, and air pollution.

Teasing out trends is complicated by the fact that cancer screening programs are finding more cancers, hopefully earlier, while vaccination programs are preventing them too.

However, the 2022 international review suggests the rise in early-onset cancers has emerged over and above increased screening programs – which rarely include people under 50 anyhow.

Although this new study didn’t account for the impact of these programs, in scouring existing data sources it has provided a comprehensive, updated overview of cancer rates in under-50s between 2010 and 2019 for the US.

Koh and colleagues identified a total of 562,145 young adults in 17 linked data registries that record new cancer diagnoses across different parts of the US, and used these records to estimate population-wide incidence rates over the decade to 2019.

Incidence refers to new cases diagnosed in a population over a period of time.

Overall, the incidence of cancers in under-50s rose such that an extra 3 cases were diagnosed per 100,000 people in 2019 compared to 2010.

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August 18

1227 – Genghis Khan dies in Yinchuan, China

1487 – The city of Málaga in the Emirate of Granada, Spain falls to the combined forces of Castile and Aragon during the final years of the Reconquista.

1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.

1636 –  The Covenant of the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts is signed.

1774 – Meriwether Lewis is born in Ivy, Virginia.

1826 – British Brevet Major Gordon Laing becomes the first European to enter the city of Timbuktu.

1838 – The United States Exploring Expedition to explore Puget Sound and Antarctica, under the command of Lt Charles Wilkes, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

1846 – During the Mexican–American War, General Stephen W Kearney’s US forces capture Santa Fe.

1864 – Union forces attempt for the second time to cut the Wilmington & Weldon Railroad supply line into Petersburg, Virginia near the Globe Tavern.

1868 – Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

1920 – The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified

1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting Wellesley Island in New York with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by President Roosevelt.

1945 – U.S. Army photographer SGT Anthony J. Marchione is the last American to die in WWII when the B-32 he is flying in over Tokyo is damaged by enemy fire.

1958 –  Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is published in the United States.

1965 – Operation Starlite, the first major combat ground operation by purely U.S forces begins when U.S. Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula.

1976 – While attempting to cut down a tree that blocked the line of sight between a United Nations Command checkpoint and an observation post, in the Joint Security Area in the Korean Demilitarized Zone, North Korean soldiers kill two US Army officers supervising the operation.

1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas Gulf coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage.

1989 – Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá

1993 – American International Airways Cargo Flight 808,  a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes on landing at Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, injuring the 3 crew members aboard.

2005 – Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killings in Sedgwick County, Kansas.

 

Another pissant wanna-be tyrant, shilling for those BloombergBucks.
But it is so nice when pictures for positive ID are provided.

the need for that assault weapon ban. Not one on the buying of weapons in the future. One on ALL military style assault weapons in American hands now. Buy them back and make the penalties so severe that no one will be tempted to keep one

We aren’t doing enough to address gun violence

C.J. Mikkelsen is a retired Lieutenant/paramedic for Dallas Fire Rescue in Dallas, Texas. He was born and raised in Michigan and is glad to be back in his home state.

CJ Mikkelsen

Mark Barden’s face looks out from my phone imploring me to contribute to Sandy Hook Promise to stop gun violence about every three minutes while
I swipe it away as soon as that five second countdown ends. But it bothers me when I do it.

Yes, I’ve contributed. “I’ve done my part,” I say to myself.
But have I? Have we, as a society?

Do we protect our most vulnerable citizens, our children, like we should?
So many of us go on ridiculous rants about drag queen story hour or share posts about the “Sound of Freedom” movie on our Facebook page. We’re all about “saving the children” as long as all it takes is a painless couple of clicks of a mouse.

Sorry, folks. I can’t let it go and fade into the background.
I know, I’ve written about gun violence and I’m supposed to have moved on to the next big topic. Something keeps bringing me back to guns. It’s either Mark Barden’s face or another tragic mass shooting or something as mind-boggling as an article about a mini-AR15 that a company is marketing to children less than eight years old.

America is, according to Everytown Research & Policy, (The Impact of Gun Violence on Children and Teens | Everytown Research & Policy) killing or maiming our children at a rate of 53 each and every day of the year.

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Kyle Rittenhouse Launches Foundation Aimed At Fighting Gun Control

Kyle Rittenhouse has launched an anti-gun control nonprofit in Texas, according to a filing with the Texas Secretary of State’s office, which was first reported on by the Texas Tribune—a sign the young man who became a conservative star after being acquitted of killing two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020, is ramping up his political activity in Texas.
Rittenhouse Conference

Rittenhouse filed with the Secretary of State on July 23 to create the Rittenhouse Foundation, a nonprofit based in Fort Worth, Texas, which aims to protect “an individual’s inalienable right to bear arms” through “education and legal assistance,” according to the filing.

Rittenhouse is listed as a director alongside Chris McNutt, president of the gun advocacy group Texas Gun Rights and Shelby Griesinger, treasurer of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which has financed the campaigns of right-wing candidates across the state.

The foundation’s registered agent is the law firm of Tony McDonald, a long-time legal representative of conservative organizations in Texas, including Empower Texans, a now-defunct Tea Party-aligned group that was active from 2006 to 2020 and was described by Texas Monthly in 2013 as “one of the most influential advocacy groups in Austin.”

Defend Texas Liberty and Empower Texans have been given tens of millions of dollars by Tim Dunn, Farris Wilks and Dan Wilks, conservative mega donors who’ve spent decades using their oil wealth to promote their ultraconservative causes, according to the Tribune.

Forbes has attempted to contact Rittenhouse and his foundation via the foundation’s attorney.

KEY BACKGROUND
Rittenhouse first became a household name in August 2020 when he shot three Black Lives Matter protesters, two fatally, during the aftermath of the death of George Floyd. Rittenhouse, who was 17 years old at the time, attended a racial justice protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, armed with an AR-15-style rifle with the stated goal of protecting private businesses from protesters.

After being chased into a parking lot, Rittenhouse fatally shot a man who had grabbed the barrel of his rifle. He then fatally shot another man who struck him with a skateboard, and shot and wounded a third person who subsequently pointed a handgun at him.

The incident was widely condemned by liberals, but many conservatives came to his defense. U.S. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) and Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) both offered the then-teenager internships, and then-President Donald Trump hosted him at his Mar-a-Lago estate. In a closely-watched criminal trial in November 2021, a jury acquitted Rittenhouse of murder charges and ruled that his actions were done in self-defense. After the trial, Rittenhouse moved to Texas.

Since moving to Texas, Rittenhouse has become active in conservative politics. He has endorsed right-wing Republican political candidates including Andy Hopper, who attempted to unseat Lynn Stucky for her Denton-based seat in the state House of Representatives, and Brandon Herrera, YouTube star known for supporting gun rights, running against U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio). He also worked with Texas Gun Rights in May to oppose a House bill that unsuccessfully tried to raise the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. On social media, he railed against the Texas House impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton and posted messages in support of gun rights.

August 17

1386 – Karl Topia, the ruler of the Principality of Albania allies with the Republic of Venice, committing to participate in all wars of the Republic and receiving coastal protection against the moslem Ottomans in return.

1585 – Sent by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by Ralph Lane, a group of English colonists found Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, North Carolina

1717 – The 2 month siege to retake Belgrade from the Ottoman empire ends when Austrian troops succeed in capturing the city

1786 – Davy Crockett is born in what is now Greene County, Tennessee

1807 – Robert Fulton’s steamboat North River leaves New York City for Albany, starting the first commercial steamboat service.

1862 – Major General J.E.B. Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.

1864 – Confederate forces defeat Union troops near Gainesville, Florida.

1915 – A category 4 hurricane hits Galveston, Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour

1942 – U.S. Marines of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, under command of Colonel Evans Carlson and Captain James Roosevelt, raid the Japanese held Makin atoll

1943 – The U.S. 7th Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Sicily several hours ahead of the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

1945 – Animal Farm by George Orwell is published.

1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, killing 256 people and causing $1.4 billion in damage.

1978 – Double Eagle II, piloted by Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman, becomes the first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Miserey, France

1998 – President Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an “improper physical relationship” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; later that same day he admits before the nation that he “misled people” about the relationship.

2008 – American Michael Phelps becomes the first person to win 8 gold medals at one Olympic Games.

2017 –  A moslem terrorist drives a van into pedestrians in Barcelona, Spain, killing 14 and injuring at least 100.

BLUF
America needs only look to the recent past to see how the federal government handles a “public health crisis.”…  The tendency of the government to assume police-state authorities is enough to warn Americans when their elected officials want to invoke a “public health crisis.”

VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS PROPOSES PUBLIC HEALTH GUN CONTROL REMEDY

Vice President Kamala Harris believes gun control is a public health issue, giving Americans more reasons to be wary of gun control efforts.

The problem is, crime isn’t a disease, as much as gun control advocates want to treat it as such. Criminal activity is a behavior and science has yet to bring about a medical remedy that prevents an individual from committing crimes. That’s not stopping Vice President Harris from tossing out debunked data, purposefully confusing suicides with criminal firearm misuse and conveniently glossing over the Biden administration’s failures to address the real problem of crime.

“I — as Vice President of the United States, I am acutely aware of the fact that gun violence is the leading cause of death of the children of America,” Vice President Harris told Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s Annual Gun Sense University Conference in Chicago last week. “It’s — it’s the number one cause of death — not some disease — well, although this is a form of a disease, to be sure.  Gun violence is the leading cause of death of our children.”

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Lucky the lady was slow on the trigger.

Oopsie! 15-year-old robber with pellet gun ran away when woman pulled out a real gun

CHICAGO — A 15-year-old boy who pointed a pellet gun at a woman during a robbery attempt in Uptown ran away when his would-be victim pulled out a real firearm, Chicago police say.

It happened around 12:31 p.m. Tuesday in the 5000 block of North Winthrop, not far from the Argyle Red Line station.

But the woman had another idea. She pulled out her own firearm, and the group ran away, police said.

Cops took the 15-year-old into custody a few minutes later and confiscated his pellet gun.

Charges are pending.

The ‘double homicide’ was two of the crims winning free trips straight to the morgue.

Double homicide began as vape shop robbery that ended in deadly shootout

SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) — A double homicide at a Shreveport vape shop began as a robbery that ended in a shootout between at least one customer and the robbery suspects, police say.

Two of the robbery suspects — 19-year-old Anthony Lee and 18-year-old Martavious Henderson — were struck by gunfire and ultimately succumbed to their injuries.

Now detectives are sharing surveillance camera videos and photographs in hopes someone can help them identify the third robbery suspect as well as the two customers who were in the store at the time of the robbery.

Police say these surveillance camera images show two customers who engaged three robbers in a...
Police say these surveillance camera images show two customers who engaged three robbers in a shootout Aug. 12, 2023, outside a Shreveport vape shop, killing two of the suspects. Now detectives are asking for help identifying the customers.(Source: Shreveport Police Department)

Lee, Henderson and another male were armed when they entered the business in the 1900 block of Centenary Boulevard about 4:55 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 12). At one point during the holdup, two of the three robbers jumped the counter and took a handgun and other items from the store clerk.

During the vape shop robbery Aug. 12, 2023, two customers escaped the business and went to...
During the vape shop robbery Aug. 12, 2023, two customers escaped the business and went to their vehicle, described as a blue Chevrolet 1500 extended cab pickup. There, they armed themselves then engaged the robbery suspects as the three left the business, killing two of the suspects, police say.(Source: Shreveport Police Department)

While this was going on, the two customers escaped the business and went to their vehicle, described as a blue Chevrolet 1500 extended cab pickup. There, they armed themselves then engaged the robbery suspects as the three left the business.

The third robbery suspect escaped on foot and has not been identified. He is described as a Black male who stands about 5′6″ to 5′8″ tall and who has a slender build. He was wearing gray shorts and a black hoodie.

People in Shreveport’s Highland neighborhood are shaken up by the double homicide Saturday evening on Centenary Boulevard near Olive Street.

“I’m going to tell you, it was scary. It was very scary,” one resident said.

Police said one of the slain men was found outside the shop while the other was inside.

“I’m going to be honest with you, I was taking my son to work. I was at the stop sign when it happened. When everything happened, yeah. We was in the car.”

He said he didn’t know if the incident occurred inside the store.

“It had to been because one in and one out. It had to been because the young man that was on the other side, it looked like he was running. But as he got closer to the end of the building, he got slower and slower. So I knew then he got shot. We heard gunshots and everything; but who did it, I don’t, I can’t tell you.”

The double homicide began as a vape shop robbery that ended in deadly shootout.
Police early on described both Lee and Henderson as suspects.

Neighbors said people in the community are upset.

“Maybe because they were children; I mean, that’s the only way I can see it. But when you doing wrong. You can’t say how it’s going to come back on you. And it just so happened the day they did whatever they did, it came back on them the same day.”

Even before police said so, neighbors also believed it could have been a robbery gone wrong.

Whoever those lil kids were, they actually went up in there and tried to rob them. And you know people going to protect their goods. You know so, that’s what I feel. I don’t know if that happened, but that’s what it seemed like.”

Biden Administration Argues Texas and Florida Anti-Censorship Laws Are a First Amendment Violation

Presented as an effort to safeguard speech rights, the Biden administration has called on the Supreme Court to dismantle controversial segments of the anti-censorship social media laws ratified in Florida and Texas.

We obtained a copy of the filing for you here.

(President Biden is also using the argument that banning his administration from asking platforms to remove speech is a First Amendment violation.)

The laws in question restrict the autonomy of leading social media platforms by preventing them from censoring citizens speech and discriminating on the basis of political viewpoint.

Both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott staunchly support these laws as a means of protecting voices from being suppressed. Governor DeSantis, at the law signing in May 2021, criticized Big Tech’s bias for Silicon Valley ideology and emphasized the need for accountability.

The Texas law, featuring a provision prohibiting discrimination based on viewpoints, incorporates several exceptions, permitting platforms to ban content promoting violence, criminal behavior, child exploitation, and harassment of sexual-abuse survivors and more. The law presses social media platforms to adopt user complaint procedures, disclose content and data management practices, and publish a comprehensive biannual transparency report.

The legislation only applies to platforms attracting over 50 million monthly users.

The Florida law has a similar scope and, in addition, mandates a detailed justification for each content moderation. The legislation also forbids the banning of political contenders or “journalistic enterprises.”

US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar perceives this as an encroachment on First Amendment rights. She contended in a recent court filing that such laws infringe the liberty of tech giants in selecting, editing, and arranging user-generated content. Essentially, she claimed these actions are all protected under the First Amendment.

Endorsing two industry trade groups that have formally contested the laws, she implored the Supreme Court to scrutinize both measures.

Federal appeals courts, however, are divided over the issue. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has primarily blocked Florida’s legislation, deeming it potentially unconstitutional. Conversely, the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit backed the Texas law but held it back to permit an appeal to reach the Supreme Court.

Certainly, both states, as well as the trade groups, are petitioning the Supreme Court to adjudicate on a range of issues concerning the two cases. An announcement of the court’s decision is expected as early as September.

While Prelogar largely aligns with the social media companies, she refrained from endorsing their protest against the “general-disclosure provisions” that require the publishing of content-management policies and production of transparency reports. These issues, she argued, are not the main subject of the lawsuits and high court review would be premature.