Thursday, February 27, 2014

Sounds Legit - "I prayed to the Lord and God said ‘Open up a pot shop.'"

"The idea for merging marijuana and ministry came through prayer, the couple said during testimony. They had been exposed to medical marijuana when a doctor recommended Lanette Davies’ daughter use it to alleviate symptoms from a bone disease and it “made her life livable,” she said. Bryan Davies became a convert after finding it helped ease an arthritic condition that affects his spine. Trying to live on Social Security benefits and short on cash, Davies says he asked God for guidance. “I got on my knees, and I prayed to the Lord,” he told the court. “And God said … ‘Open up a pot shop.’”"







"Christi Seale says her 17-year-old son Chaz accidentally confused a beer can for a soda can and packed it in his lunch. "He was in a hurry, running late. We were talking about school and he put it all together and took off for school," she said. When he realized his mistake at school, Chaz gave the unopened beer to his teacher. But that teacher then reported it to the principal at Livingston High School, who suspended the boy for three days and then sent him to an alternative school for two months. Chaz said, "I gave it to the teacher thinking I wouldn't get in trouble, and I got in trouble."

...That kind of tone deaf, zero tolerance informed move isn’t going to discourage students from underage drinking, it’s going to discourage them from alerting school officials to inadvertent infractions of school policy. Meanwhile, a student in Tennessee learned never to consent to a search, even when you don’t think you have anything to hide.

On Thursday, Duren-Sanner, a senior at Northeast High School drove his father's car to school. During a random lockdown, his car was chosen to be searched. Duren-Sanner gave permission because he said he had nothing to hide. His father is a commercial fisherman on the West Coast and had apparently left a fishing knife in the car. Duren-Sanner's father said it might have been wedged between one of the seats...

He’s probably learned his lesson, not about the dangers of fishing knives, but about the dangers of consenting to a search. The beer can and the fishing knife cost the two students a combined 13 days of suspension and five months at “alternative” schools. Administrators at both schools insist procedures were followed, and what are they getting paid the big bucks for if not to defer to the rule book and deny access to their schools to students who’ve inadvertently run afoul of those rules, even when they haven't hurt anyone. Whether they like it or not, they’ve taught the students, and any classmates paying attention, a valuable lesson on authority and how stupid and dangerous it can be."



"Crotchety old geezers always complain about "the kids." The Boston Globe frets about "Idle Trophy Kids." The New York Post asks if millennials are "The Worst Generation?" Older folks (my age) complain that young people spend so much time texting each other that they can't communicate. And because young folks spend hours playing violent video games, violence is up. Bunk...

It's true that kids today play incredibly violent games like Halo and Grand Theft Auto, but as the games' popularity increased over the past 20 years, youth violence dropped 55 percent...

Kids "can't communicate" because they text all the time? Recently, kids invented Facebook, YouTube, Firefox, Groupon, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and so on. They communicate something. But inevitably, we older people misunderstand new ways young people do things—we are frightened by the risks and oblivious to the benefits...

Some people like the sensation of getting "buzzed." Some are not satisfied with their current state of mind. Good. That's what gets people to learn new things. Altering our minds is a most basic right. We alter our minds—often for the better—every time we read a book, fall in love or watch a TV show...

I wish outraged oldsters remembered how we once laughed at those who were frightened by Elvis Presley. In 1956, The New York Times said Elvis had "no discernible singing ability." The New York Daily News called his act "animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos." Even Frank Sinatra said his kind of music is "deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac (that) fosters destructive relations in young people." Somehow, America survived Elvis...

...outrage undermines perspective. It creates a false impression of how risky the present is, and it fuels unnecessary, freedom-killing regulations. Old people always talk about the good old days. But the good old days were not so good. When I was young, more kids were intolerant, racist, sexist and homophobic. They had little knowledge of life beyond their neighborhoods. Today, thanks to the Web and other innovations, life is better, not worse."


 "...in the early 1980s I was an appointed official in the Department of Justice and part of my area of responsibility involved the production of statistical reports on Federal criminal activity for the United States Marshal Service. 

When Reagan took office and appointed his divorce attorney, William French Smith, as AG, everything changed. Where Civiletti and ol’ Griffin Bell wanted everything straight and accurate, my first report, which had to go through the new, ambitious Associate AG before delivery to congress, came back to my desk with the notation, “Not good enough.” When I asked for guidance, I was told that they wanted to show that more than 50% of cases under USMS jurisdiction had drug related offenses as their original offense. This was just not true — most were wire and mail fraud — drug laws are mostly state matters. I was ordered to make it 55%, with the admonition that “Nobody can check.” Noting that “Well, YOU can check,” and understanding that I would forever be under his control ever afterward under the threat of a perjury charge if I swore to a knowing lie, I was given the choice upon my refusal to be demoted for insubordination to GS6 or resign. I chose to resign."


"Party Hard."

"Fuck Your Fences."





Paul Rudd Next Levels It.

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