• U.S. Supreme Court Rejects California Counties’ Challenge to State Medical Marijuana Laws

“The Supreme Court’s order marks a significant victory for medical marijuana patients and advocates nationwide. This case struck at the core of the contentious intersection between state and federal medical marijuana policy, and, once again, it is clear that state medical marijuana laws are fully valid. Coupled with the Department of Justice’s recent pronouncements that the agency will respect state medical marijuana laws, the Court’s order leaves ample room for states to move forward with enacting and implementing independent medical marijuana policies.”

• The Logic of Suicide Terrorism

The central fact is that overwhelmingly suicide-terrorist attacks are not driven by religion as much as they are by a clear strategic objective: to compel modern democracies to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland. From Lebanon to Sri Lanka to Chechnya to Kashmir to the West Bank, every major suicide-terrorist campaign—over 95 percent of all the incidents—has had as its central objective to compel a democratic state to withdraw.

(Thanks to Surrealestate for that.)

That last one actually reminds me of a related story…. Let’s take a moment to mark the passing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam. I don’t know as much about the Sri Lankan civil war as I do about lots of other conflicts, and I certainly don’t have a side I cheer for, but if you’re interested in assymetrical warfare, you should know about the LTTE. The article above mentions that they pioneered the suicide vest, but on top of that, how many guerrilla groups do you know with their own navy and air force?

• Rebels Routed in Sri Lanka After 25 Years of War