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March 29th, 2024

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Government in Action

News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd

By News of the Weird by Chuck Shepherd

Published Jan.22, 2015

 Government in Action

A November order from China's State Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television appears to impose a ban on the use of all idioms -- including puns -- as part of the government's crackdown on nonstandard language, especially since that discourages children from learning proper vocabulary and grammar. All mass media outlets must "avoid changing the characters, phrasings and meanings" of words -- even though, according to the Beijing reporter for London's The Guardian, Chinese culture is saturated with puns. [The Guardian, 11-28-2014]

As revealed in a spirited public meeting of the Huron Valley (Michigan) Board of Education in November, gun-carriers' freedoms in the state appear complicated, in that a person with training and who submits to state licensing to carry a concealed weapon may carry it even on school grounds (despite the federal Gun-Free Zones Act of 1990). Michigan's lawful exception to the act requires concealed permit-holders to carry the gun unconcealed, which many parents contend frightens younger children. Also, though it is illegal for anyone alcohol-impaired to carry a gun anywhere, the legal threshold for presumed impairment in Michigan is only .02 percent for a licensed permit holder, but probably .08 percent for unlicensed "open"-carriers (who are not covered by the "concealed" law). [Detroit Free Press, 11-8-2014]

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