• I’ve always wondered this, too.
• Practical!
• Newark cops illegally arrest, detain, and cuff a 17-year-old honor student for using her cell phone to record them in public. They then illegally deleted the video, destroying evidence. The student is suing. That isn’t enough. This crap isn’t going to stop until the cops who engage in it are criminally charged.
• “Every Member of Seattle’s Legislative Delegation Goes on the Record in Favor of Legalizing Pot”
• Lots of you have sent me this segment of This American Life on a draconian Georgia drug court. And you’re right. The court is insane, and run contrary to everything drug courts are supposed to be about.
• Judging from the speeches of the protectionists in this article, you’d think that state interior design licensing is the only thing keeping us from plague, pestilence, and a civilization-ending collision with a meteor.
• Speaking of Obama sycophants, Ed Schultz does his best Sean Hannity impersonation. Only unknowingly. Note the “Is Obama *your* president” mantra. You have expect Schultz to announce that he’s boycotting the Dixie Chicks.

“Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.”

–Britney Spears, in 2003, commenting on the war in Iraq.

“But the reason I voted for Obama in 2008 is because I trust his judgment. And not in any merely abstract way, either: I mean that if he and I were in a room and disagreed about some issue on which I had any doubt at all, I’d literally trust his judgment over my own. I think he’s smarter than me, better informed, better able to understand the consequences of his actions, and more farsighted. I voted for him because I trust him, and I still do.”

– Mother Jones blogger Kevin Drum, in 2011, on Obama’s war in Libya.

(Hat tip: Jeromee P. Snash.)

So in December, I introduced you to a great local band called the Cold Stares.

Last month, they came to my apartment for a “Songs From My Couch” session. I’m planning to post the four songs they did from that session with video at Nashville Byline next month after I move to Huffington Post.

But in the meantime, I thought I’d give you legacy Agitator readers a little preview gift. The guys played three originals and one cover. All four songs are fantastic. But here’s the cover, a really badass, acoustic take on “Whipping Post”, the great Allman Brothers song. Thanks to Mark Crozier for the amazing sound work. (Pipe this through some decent speakers or headphones to fully appreciate it.) Thanks to the Cold Stares for playing in my living room. And thanks to my couch, for some excellent couching. If you like this, there’s more to come.