Relaxed Focus: "Wisdom, alone, doesn't work. You have to have a method for applying it."

What a great song. The cheeriest/truest thing you'll hear all day.

"he said baby what’s the big deal

feel what you wanna feel

say what you wanna say

you’re gonna die one day

for example I could kiss you

just because I want to

what’s the difference if you turn away

I’m gonna die one day

why do you waste your time thinkin bout your reputation

trying to meet an expectation

wonderin what they’re gonna say

when everyone you ever known

is headed for a headstone

I don’t wanna give the end away

but we’re gonna die one day

your body is an animal

doesn’t ask for much

a little music and a soft touch

why don’t you let it out to play..."

USA's no-fly list is unconstitutional, says federal judge in landmark ruling - Boing Boing: "U.S. District Court Judge Anna Brown's decision says the procedures lack a meaningful mechanism for people to challenge their placement on the list. Thirteen people challenged their placement on the list in 2010, including four military veterans. Initially, Brown said she couldn't rule on the case. In 2012, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision and sent the case back to her. Brown said placement on the no-fly list turns routine travel into an "odyssey," and some of those on the list have been subjected to detention and interrogation by foreign authorities."

New ACLU report takes a snapshot of police militarization in the United States - The Washington Post: "The American Civil Liberties Union has released the results of its year-long study of police militarization. The study looked at 800 deployments of SWAT teams among 20 local, state and federal police agencies in 2011-2012. Among the notable findings...

Just under 80 percent were to serve a search warrant, meaning eight in 10 SWAT raids were not initiated to apprehend a school shooter, hostage taker, or escaped felon (the common justification for these tactics), but to investigate someone still only suspected of committing a crime. In fact, just 7 percent of SWAT raids were “for hostage, barricade, or active shooter scenarios.”

...In at least 36 percent of the SWAT raids studies, no contraband of any kind was found. The report notes that due to incomplete police reports on these raids this figure could be as high as 65 percent...

65 percent of SWAT deployments resulted in some sort of forced entry into a private home, by way of a battering ram, boot, or some sort of explosive device. In over half those raids, the police failed to find any sort of weapon, the presence of which was cited as the reason for the violent tactics...

"In other words, where violent, volatile SWAT tactics were once used only in limited situations where someone was in the process of or about to commit a violent crime — where the police were using violence only to defuse an already violent situation — SWAT teams today are overwhelmingly used to investigate people who are still only suspected of committing nonviolent consensual crimes. And because these raids often involve forced entry into homes, often at night, they’re actually creating violence and confrontation where there was none before."