The final verdict in Italy's longstanding prosecution of Amanda Knox was delivered orally in March by the Court of Cassation, Italy's top criminal court. By law, the court has to follow up with a written ruling. The opinion has now been released. It says the case against Knox was very weak, there was no biological evidence linking her to the bedroom where her roommate was killed, prosecutors should have known the case was shaky early on.

Italy’s top criminal court has scathingly faulted prosecutors for presenting a flawed and hastily constructed case against Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend, saying Monday it threw out their convictions for the 2007 murder of her British roommate in part because there was no proof they were in the bedroom where the woman was fatally stabbed.

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Moving is so hard. And time is going so fast. This is my fourth downsize in 11 years, and each time I have more stuff than will fit in the next place.

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

Inauspicious start last night as Boise ad Mich St screwed the pooch for me (1-2 ATS). But today is the day I jumpstart my season. Here are the picks (all 2 units unless otherwise indicated):

Southern Mississippi +21 (3 units) over Mississippi State

Wisconsin +14 over Bama

Georgia Southern +18 (3 units) over West Virginia

New Mexico State @ Florida - Over 55

Texas +10 (3 units) over Notre Dame

Texas A&m -3 over Ariz State

Akron +34 over Oklahoma

Bowling Green +22 (3 units) over Tennessee

Penn State -7 over Temple

Louisville +11 1/2 (3 units) over Auburn

Nebraska -7 over BYU

Virginia +20 over UCLA

Stanford -10 (3 units) over Northwestern

Go Gators!

Open Thread

College pigskin is back!

And tomorrow the inaugural game choices.

Expecting to return to my 60% hit rate!

A little taste tonight - Boise State (-12) over Washington

Mich State (-16) over Western Michigan

Over 71 in the Baylor-SMU game.

Open Thread.

Here is a new open thread. All topics welcome.

I have a list of 50 or so things to do before I move. I'm on number 3.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

I dumped the spam from the last week. I'll try to check it every night.

Did anyone watch "Narcos?" I was not impressed. They should have named it "Narcs" -- it's the story of two U.S. drug agents helping Colombia nab Escobar. It's not the story of Esobar, it's the agents' story, and it's got some factual issues. If you want the real flavor of who these agents are, read some Congressional Hearing testimony from around 1993 or their description of their time in Colombia over at the DEA Museum where they gave a tour. [More...]

Sorry, doing lawyer things.

Open Thread.

College football just around the corner.

Open Thread.

A point I have tried to make a number of times on the "Eghazi: It's Classified!" "scandal" is that the originators of the "classified" e-mails were career State Department officials. Thus, I noted that the current US Ambassador to Bahrain William Roebuck originated a now "classified SECRET" e-mail that founds its way to Clinton's inbox after being forwarded by multiple careeer State officials.

Yesterday Josh Gerstein identified now "classified e-mails that were originated by 33 year State Department veteran William Burns.

Now today the AP reports what should have been obvious to any honest observer by now - State Department officials routinely sent subsequently classified information over unsecure e-mail:

I'm on a blogging break due to my impending move (September 10.) I'll put up open threads as I can so as not to leave readers high and dry, so to speak.

Blogging is a hobby but it's an expensive one. If you'd like to help out, donations are much appreciated. Paypal is very easy and takes credit cards, so you don't need a Paypal account. Or you can use snail-mail.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson, who supported Obama over Hillary in 2007 after his own bid ended, announced his support for Hillary today.

"I am pleased to announce I wholeheartedly support Secretary Clinton's candidacy for the Presidency. Her leadership on issues like foreign policy, immigration, climate change and economic populism are important to the future of the country."

He also said he might have set up the same email system as Hillary: [More...]