Are zero-tolerance policies at American schools targeting harmless kids and actually backfiring? Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit blog is spot-on in his assessment: YES. NEXT QUESTION?; Rules-are-rules, and optics are optics. But at The White House, it's all fun and games with plastic guns with our do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do president!

Hope all the dads out there have a great Father's Day weekend: http://t.co/JFD34sfklp #QualityTime pic.twitter.com/2UvcSk1VYk
— The White House (@whitehouse) June 15, 2013

The sort of plastic gun you see above gets you suspended or expelled from lots of American schools these days, no matter how young or innocent you are, or even whether what's in your hand is actually a Pop Tart.
Really.

Rules-are-rules, and optics are optics. 
But at The White House, it's all fun and games with plastic guns with our do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do president!

Prof. Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit blog is spot-on: YES. NEXT QUESTION? 
Are zero-tolerance policies at school targeting harmless kids and actually backfiring?

Deseret News
Are zero-tolerance policies at school targeting harmless kids?
Compiled by Eric Schulzke, Deseret News
June 11 2013 12:05 a.m. MDT

School officials around the country have been reacting to the specter of the Sandy Hook shooting by targeting harmless behavior among some very young students, University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds argued in a USA Today op-ed.

The most recent case Reynolds cites was a Maryland kindergartner suspended for 10 days after being interrogated and wetting his pants because he brought an orange-tipped cap gun on the bus to show a friend.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865581435/Are-zero-tolerance-policies-at-school-targeting-harmless-kids.html

The Blaze
8TH GRADER SUSPENDED, ARRESTED OVER NRA T-SHIRT NOW FACES $500 FINE AND A YEAR IN JAIL
By Madeleine Morgenstern
June. 15, 2013 3:55 p.m.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/15/8th-grader-suspended-arrested-over-nra-t-shirt-now-faces-500-fine-and-a-year-in-jail/


Fox News Channel
Gun play: 'Zero tolerance' toward schoolkids could backfire, says expert
By Perry Chiaramonte
Published June 11, 2013, 
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/11/gun-play-zero-tolerance-toward-young-schoolkids-could-backfire-says-expert/


Reason Magazine
Zero Tolerance Watch: Teen Faces Felony Charges for Science Experiment 
By Jesse Walker
May. 1, 2013 9:45 am  
http://reason.com/blog/2013/05/01/zero-tolerance-watch-teen-faces-felony-c

Orlando Sentinel
Kiera Wilmot will not be expelled from school, attorney says Polk County teen was suspended for mixing chemicals on campus, causing firecracker-like 'pop'
May 29, 2013
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-05-29/news/os-kiera-wilmot-not-expelled-20130529_1_alternative-school-leah-lauderdale-school-police-officer

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Glenn Reynolds is at http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

@instapundit  https://twitter.com/instapundit

While Jon Stewart & Wyatt Cenac skewer America's understanding of Sweden for laughs, Reason TV's Ted Balaker adroitly explains how Sweden's embrace of individual choice and competition have created a better economic system for them, even while many in the U.S. remain resistant to many of the same free-market policies; The new 'Stockholm Syndrome' doesn't involve hostages, but well-educated, media-savvy people who visit and become besotted with a dynamic city and the great possibilities present there -and come to realize that they don't want to return home to a place that seems decidedly less-dynamic, innovative and fun; #sweden, #stockholm

 

ReasonTV YouTube video: Sweden: A Supermodel for America? Reason's Ted Balaker adroitly explains how Sweden's embrace of individual choice and competition -and free-market reforms- have created a better economic system for them, even while many in the U.S. remain resistant to many of the same free-market policies. Uploaded June 22, 2010. http://youtu.be/tDAQWJbEl9U

The Stockholm Syndrome, Part I on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-april-21-2009/the-stockholm-syndrome-pt--1

Above and below, two short but humorous videos that aired on U.S. TV in April of 2009 during the public policy debate over Obamacare, which as most of you regular readers of the blog know, I opposed.

In them, comedian and Daily Show talk show host Jon Stewart and the show's correspondent Wyatt Cenac tweaks the U.S. by toying with 1960's-era cliches about most Americans general understanding of Sweden and its culture, society and political system.

This only serves to prove what most people know -nobody laughs at cliches about American stereotypes as much as other Americans.

The Stockholm Syndrome, Part II on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Stockholm Syndrome Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-22-2009/the-stockholm-syndrome-pt--2

Brilliant because it's 100% true! TheWrap's Sharon Waxman interviews former LA Times editor Matt Welch on the persistent slide of the Times and why paywalls won't help but rather kill the patient -the newspaper

Reason Magazine editor-in-chief Matt Welch discusses the symbol-laden presidency of Barack Obama with Fox Business Channel's Stuart Varney.
http://youtu.be/b5W6KYFWN_Y


The blog post below is easily among the best things I've read, heard or seen all year, and I'm especially pleased that longtime HBB favorite Sharon Waxman is the one sharing the scoop with us via her blog on the website she created.


If you've read this blog for any period of time, you will know exactly why I feel this way, and just to give you a sense of the devastating and penetrating comments made by former Los Angles Times Assistant Editorial Page editor Matt Welch, now Editor-in-chief at Reason magazine, which he gave to Sharon on the telephone -wish I had the audio to play here!- take a look at this:

The paper is “blaming customers, blaming competition, blaming technology, instead of more forthrightly recognizing that the economics (of newspapers) got a lot worse,” he said. “If we don’t confront our own organizational pathologies, we’re in trouble.”

The Wrap
WaxWord blog
Former L.A. Times Editor Slams Paper For 'Blaming Customers, Competition, Technology'
By Sharon Waxman
Published: April 3, 2012 @ 2:58 pm, 

How badly does former Los Angeles Times editor Matt Welch think the paper is doing?

Its “attitude is killing the host,” he tweeted last weekend.

Read the rest of Sharon's post here -and be sure to read the readers comments!
http://www.thewrap.com/media/column-post/former-la-times-editor-slams-paper-blaming-customers-competition-technology-36768


For those of us like yours truly -and most of you reading this- far from The Left Coast who don't get the LA Times tossed into our front yard every morning, the costs under the LA Times: Digital Unlimited plan is 99 cents for the first four weeks, which includes unrestricted 24/7 access to latimes.com, plus special membership privileges, and then continues at $3.99 a week after promotional period, which comes out to roughly $196 for the year for digital access.

Here's a list of Welch's articles and blogs:  http://reason.com/people/matt-welch/all
Here's some pre-2007 pieces: http://mattwelch.com/


This post of Sharon's on Tuesday regarding the Tribune Company-owned Times actually follows by a few days an email I sent out last week about the decision of the Tribune's South Florida Sun-Sentinel to erect a paywall next week, and why I think that in their particular case -as opposed to the Chicago Tribune or even the Baltimore Sun, both of which are MUCH BETTER value-added newspapers- is positively a suicidal roll of the dice. 


I will post that email of mine online very soon.


And since many of you reading this probably never saw it the first time, I'll also include links to my critical and fact-filled email -and subsequent blog posts here- to  Miami Herald President and Publisher David Landsberg, with cc's to Herald executive editor Aminda Marques and managing editor Rick Hirsch regarding the Herald's continuing unsatisfactory news coverage of Broward County, which so often is either invisible when it should be anything but, or obtuse and condescending when it should be penetrating and hard-hitting.
As I said at the time, neither is acceptable.




Here's a list of Matt Welch's articles and blogs:  http://reason.com/people/matt-welch/all
Here's some pre-2007 pieces: http://mattwelch.com/