"The panel held that in the context of a public university's professional certification program, the university may evaluate a student's speech, made in the course of the program, in determining the student's eligibility for certification without offending the First Amendment under certain circumstances. In this case, because the University of Hawaii's decision to deny plaintiff's student teaching application directly related to defined and established professional standards, was narrowly tailored to serve the University's core mission of evaluating plaintiff's suitability for teaching, and reflected reasonable professional judgment, the University did not violate plaintiff's First Amendment rights. In addition, because the University granted plaintiff adequate procedural protections in denying his student teaching application, it did not violate plaintiff's due process rights."

I would disagree with Oyama's attorney Eric Seitz that what happened to his client here amounts to the censorship of free speech. Rather, the faculty at the UH College of Education took Oyama's provocative statements about child predation at face value, and further considered the poor performance reports he received from his student teaching assignment at a Honolulu middle school, in determining that he failed to meet the accepted standards for the profession, and further deciding that he was inherently unfit for the classroom. Again, per Judge Wardlaw:

"[T]he university's decision was, by necessity, prospective in nature Oyama stood in the doorway of the teaching profession; he was not at liberty to step inside and break the rules. But that does not mean that the university was obligated to invite him in. Rather, the university could look to what Oyama said as an indication of what he would do once certified."

In April 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte, their 7-year-old daughter and their 13-year-old son. The couple, both former CIA analysts, awoke to pounding at the door. When Robert Harte answered, SWAT agents flooded the home. He was told to lie on the floor. When Addie Harte came out to see what was going on, she saw her husband on his stomach as SWAT cop stood over him with a gun. The family was then held at gunpoint for more than two hours while the police searched their home. Though they claimed to be looking for evidence of a major marijuana growing operation, they later stated that they knew within about 20 minutes that they wouldn't find any such operation. So they switched to search for evidence of "personal use." They found no evidence of any criminal activity.

If it took them "20 minutes" to figure out that there wasn't a grow in a standard suburban house, admission standards to the Pinhead Blue Line are lower than even I believed possible.

"While testing the specificity of the KN Reagent test kits with 42 non-marijuana substances, I observed that 70% of these tests rendered a false positive," said Dr. Omar Bagasra, director of the Center for Biotechnology,

"That research came as part of new report,(actually 2008) False Positives Equal False Justice, by forensics expert John Kelly in collaboration with former FBI chief scientist and narcotics officer Dr. Frederick Whitehurst. In the report, the pair uncovered "a drug testing regime of fraudulent forensics used by police, prosecutors, and judges which abrogates every American's constitutional rights," as Kelly wrote in the executive summary.

"Law enforcement officials, forensic drug analysts, and prosecutors knowingly employ the flawed Duquenois-Levine and KN Reagent tests as well as mere conclusory police reports to wrongfully prosecute and convict millions of individuals for anti-marijuana law violations," Kelly wrote.

Police say a St. Cloud mom accidentally shot and killed her 27-year-old daughter late Tuesday night, mistaking her for an intruder.

The woman was asleep in her bed and thought she heard an intruder enter the house, according to St. Cloud police.

She told police she heard the person quickly approaching her, so she fired a single shot. She then discovered the person was her daughter.

"At this time, the incident appears to be an accidental shooting," police said in a news release.

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Know I've been mostly absent from my former regular haunt, and when I do show up I realize I tend to get ranty in odd ways, just been a very odd year in our house. My son is miserable in traditional high school, is most likely going to take the proficiency exam and go to JC next year at 16. Never woulda thunkit a year or two ago. But life happens, the kid is just out of his mind having to deal with the idiocy of butts in seats, learn to take the test, weirdo American consumer teen social scene, blah blah blah. It's killing him. We are going to try to steer him to this place first, but he has to be accepted. Fingers crossed. (link)

He mopped the floor with them.

However.

Trump has been on TV for over 25 years.  There are literally weeks worth of video of Trump weighing in on every possible subject, offering contradicting views on everything he has ever opined on.

I am of the opposite opinion.

I think we should support Sanders in the primaries - because I think that he is the one that could defeat Trump.

I see Trump wasting Clinton.

Of course, I think that those of us who choose to participate in this process - whatever it is - of choosing a candidate for President, owe it to ourselves to vote for the one who best represents our views on the issues. On a "leftist" blog, I would think that this would be self-evident. I am really surprised that there is virtually no support here for Sanders.

For me, the choice is easy.
To put it simply, I don't think that there is a regime in the ME that Clinton doesn't want to overthrow. She even criticizes Obama for not arming the Syrian "rebels" fast enough. She blames the mess in Syria on him.

I take the opposite view.
I wish he had resisted that pressure from the bedraggled hawks.

So I would rather not vote for a militarist like HRC.

Having said that, I also feel, as I said, that she would be the weaker candidate to face Trump.
So either way - on moral grounds or tactical grounds, I think Sanders is our best hope.

A lot of Trump"s allure is his penchant for expressing exactly what he feels. He does not search for words and phrases that leave you wondering.

Sanders popularity is based on that same quality - and I think that he would cancel out Trump - and they would be actually be presenting their views on issues - and faced with a choice of between the compassion of Sanders v/s whatever Trump is expressing, Sanders wins hands down.

On Friday, Hawaii will become the first state in the U.S. to raise the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21. A secondary measure specifically prohibits the sale of electronic cigarettes to anyone under 21.

On Jan. 1, Hawaii's State Department of Health will start a three month campaign to let the public know about the new law, which was signed in June by Governor David Ige. After that, people under 21 caught smoking will be fined $10 the first offense and $50 every time after that.

Businesses that are caught selling tobacco products to people under the age of 21 will be fined $500 for their first violation and up to $2,000 for subsequent offenses.