Only in America

The Roxy 8 multiplex in Dickson, Tenn., is defending its decision to call the new Hellboy movie Heckboy on signs outside the theater. Manager Belinda Daniel explained that the theater does not use “profanity” on signs. “We are located next to an elementary school and across from a church,” she said.

A Michigan lawmaker has introduced a ban on the banning of bans of plastic bags. When bans on single-use plastic bags were sweeping the nation in 2016, Michigan lawmakers passed a law pre-emptively prohibiting any such ban. Now, Democratic Rep. Robert Wittenberg wants to overturn that law and ensure that it is never reimposed. “There was a push to ban, and then they banned banning,” Wittenberg said. “And now we are banning the banning of banning.”

New rules to dissuade asylum seekers

President Trump signed a memorandum this week calling for new limits on asylum seekers at the Mexican border. The memo orders that asylum seekers be charged a fee for asylum applications, which are currently free to file, and blocks those who entered illegally from getting work permits while their claims are pending. Another proposed rule mandates that immigration courts process asylum claims within six months. A backlog of more than 800,000 cases means claims often take years to process, though only about 20 percent are ultimately approved. The new regulations could take months to go into effect. The application fee would be devastating for many asylum seekers, says a former immigration official, who notes that many come with “little more than the shirts on their back.”

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May 3, 2019 THE WEEK