Good morning:
Wednesday morning, a gunman opened fire through the windows of Annunciation Catholic Church while schoolchildren were assembled for the first Mass of the academic year. Two children, aged 8 and 10, were killed. More than a dozen other children were wounded. The shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Multiple outlets have confirmed the alleged 23-year-old shooter’s name. Sources have told reporters that the alleged shooter’s mother is a former employee at Annunciation Catholic School, which serves children in Pre-K through eighth grade.
The alleged shooter appeared to identify as transgender. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that court records confirm the shooter, a biological male, legally changed his name to a female name while he was still a minor.
In response to the horrific attack, President Trump ordered that flags be lowered to half-staff in honor of the victims. Pope Leo XIV sent a message with “his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of spiritual closeness to all those affected by this terrible tragedy, especially the families now grieving the loss of a child.” He “commend(ed) the souls of the deceased children to the love of Almighty God.”
Children and families were an especially prominent theme of Manhattan Institute scholars this week.
Recently, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment’s free exercise clause protects the rights of parents to demand that public schools exempt their children from taking part in curricular practices “that pose ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that parents wishes to instill in their children.” In the wake of this ruling, senior fellow and Notre Dame law professor Nicole Stelle Garnett wrote about the future of the force of parents’ religious liberty claims in the education of their children, for National Review.
The MI Research team published a new report from education scholar Roberta Schaefer on the New York State Board of Regents’ flawed plan for high school education reform. Schaefer argues that the proposal de-emphasizes academic learning in the name of “equity.” But many parents still expect their students to acquire substantive knowledge of basic subjects. Weakening the quality of the curricula and abandoning academic rigor won’t lead to more learning, only lower standards.
In Bloomberg, senior fellow Allison Schrager wrote about why timing explains how members of the Baby Boom generation have more money than everyone else, and why Millennials and Americans under age 35 shouldn’t give up hope for building their own nest egg. Give it time, and the young will increasingly resemble the old.
However, two groups increasingly unlike each other in an important way are men and women. The two sexes are diverging ideologically, even as they become more alike economically and educationally. In a new video for the Manhattan Institute, senior fellow Rob Henderson explains why, in affluent and egalitarian societies, deep-seated biological and psychological differences between men and women become more pronounced.
Finally, in City Journal, senior fellow Christopher F. Rufo weighs in on the importance of so-called culture wars, including the ongoing tussle over the Cracker Barrel logo and brand redesign. And vice president of external affairs, Jesse Arm, breaks down the top priorities of a recent MI focus group of uncommitted New York City mayoral voters.
Continue reading for all these insights and more.
Kelsey Bloom
Editorial Director
