I'll be in court today, which means a new open thread for you. Please be civil.

If you are interested in the Marysville WA school shooting, and learning the "cast of characters, I highly recommend you read this 3,000 word post, with photos, that I posted yesterday. Some of the media outlets have tried, but they tend to misidentify at least one of the principals involved, which I think is bad journalism. So i spent three days combing the FB, Twitter, and Instagram accounts of the kids and their siblings and parents, to compile a chronology and a "who's Who" list with photos and links to their twitter accounts, as well as a rundown of the media theories making the rounds as to Jaylen's possible motive, so you can read the source documents for yourselves. You needn't read it all in one sitting, but I spent a lot of time on it and think it is a handy guide for those wanting to learn more about the shootings, the relationship between individuals in the group, and the community reaction to the shootings and to Jaylen Fryberg.

Again, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

What's on your minds today? Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Here's a new open thread, all topics welcome.

Our last open thread is full, so here's a new one. All topics welcome.

I'm just catching up on today's news.

The Supreme Court will decide whether police can seize hotel registries of guests without a warrant. The 9th Circuit ruled the California law allowing warrantless access to the data violated the 4th Amendment. Among the data hotels are required to obtain from guests:

[I]dentification, method of payment, the license plate numbers of their cars and how much they paid. For guests who pay in cash or stay for less than 12 hours, it requires even more details.

The fighting in Kobane increased today. ISIS launched more suicide attacks, including one on a Kurdish village in Iraq where they disguised themselves in Peshmerga uniforms. They also struck again in Baghdad, killing 17 or 19 people attending a funeral at a mosque, and in Karbala. Congress approved the sale of $600 million in tank ammunition to Iraq. Who's the lucky seller? General Dynamics Corp. [More...]

Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

The House held a hearing on Ebola today. Several advocated for a travel ban. Here is the National Institute of Health's Ebola page. The Center for Disease Control's page is here.

James Cole, #2 at the Justice Department, is resigning. I like this quote of his:

“We have to stop filling our jails,” Cole said. “The only way you’re going to do that is to take people who are addicted and start dealing with addictions, dealing with their mental health issues, instead of just throwing them in jail.”

British ISIS hostage John Cantlie released episode four of his video messages today. You Tube took it down, but it's available on Daily Motion. More of the same, with a focus on how the media and government feed each other and ramp up fear. [More...]

No ruling yet in Oscar Pistorius sentencing. The judge wants the parties to finish by the end of the week.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

This is a very funny video (and unfortunately, very accurate) about civil asset forfeiture from John Oliver's HBO show.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Staying up all night is for the young. I finished my project at 6 am and am just now getting to sleep (5am.) I'lll be back this afternoon. In the meantime, since our last thread is full, here's a new open thread, all topics welcome. I hope I don't get a really big number to pay when my acct. hands me the return. I might just go hide under the bed if that happens.

Hope your weekend is more relaxing than mine.

October 15, the deadline for filing last year's tax returns, is right around the corner. My accountant's deadline was today, but I'm not done, so he has graciously given me until tomorrow morning to get everything to him. I will be buried in paper until the wee hours, with no time to read the news or blog.

For those of you smart enough to have filed on April 15, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.