Ted Cruz will seek the Republican nomination for President. Here's a place to discuss him and the 2016 Presidential race.

Many media outlets, including the New York Times reported Saturday that ISIS has released the names and addresses of 100 service members on a website and urged followers to find and kill them. It's far from certain this release has any official connection to ISIS. Instead of "ISIS Urges Sympathizers to Kill U.S. Service Members It Identifies on Website", the headline should be "Group Supporting ISIS Urges Killing of U.S. Service Members Named in Internet Posting."

The release was announced Friday night on Twitter and uploaded to PasteBin, the site used by many groups to post messages. [More...]

The Guardian has a very good account of what's happening in Yemen among the various factions. (For a backgrounder on the Houthis, see this Guardian analysis.)

Many are saying Yemen is on the brink of an all-out civil war, which would have repercussions for the entire region, and as in Libya, give ISIS a toehold to grab onto and spread. The Guardian says:

The fear is that the Houthi advance will drive a fresh wave of militarisation and radicalisation in the Sunni-majority Yemeni heartland, acting as a recruiter for jihadis. Western intelligence already considers the local al-Qaida faction – al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) – the world’s most potent franchise, a growing threat seeking to exploit regional turmoil to widen its scope.

[More...]

The Syrian pilot captured by militants after their helicopter crash-landed in Idlib today has been turned over to Jabhat al Nusra, the Syrian arm of al Qaida. In a rant on video, preacher and Nusra ally Sheikh Abdullah al-Mhaisni stands over the pilot with a gun. [More...]

We have such beautiful weather this weekend. It's hard to stay online.

Our last (non-sports) open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Didn;t decide the full slate, but I did pick the following ATS:

Kentucky -16 over Cincinnati, Ohio State +9 over Arizona, Georgia State +7 over Xavier, UAB +6 over UCLA.

The FBI is investigating the hanging death of Otis Byrd, an African American, in Mississippi. Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas said today it is not clear if Byrd's death was a homicide or suicide. He also cautioned against assuming it was a hate crime:

Lucas, who is himself African-American, said Friday that he's worried people will jump to the conclusions that Byrd was murdered and that race was a factor.

"I don't want the community to go excited saying it was a white-on-black thing. That's the worst thing that can happen, is people making it into a race issue," Lucas said. "And that's my biggest fear. And I don't want that to happen.

It sounds like a homicide from other remarks of Lucas: [More...]

General David Petraeus was back in Iraq last week at a conference. He said:

In fact, I would argue that the foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State; rather, it is Shiite militias, many backed by — and some guided by — Iran.

Petraeus also talked about Syria: [More...]

At least 137 people died in suicide bombing attacks at Houthi mosques in Sanaa, Yemen today. ISIS has released an official statement through its Wilayat Sanaa claiming credit.

Yemen is torn by a power struggle between the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the north and Hadi, who has set up a rival power base in the south backed by Sunni-led Gulf Arab states.

The mosques in Sanaa are known to be used mainly by supporters of the Shi'ite Muslim Houthi group, which controls most of northern Yemen, including Sanaa.

According to Reuters, the ISIS statement (available here in Arabic, but loosely translatable with Bing or Google translator) said: [More...]

My ATS picks for Day 2 (outright winners in BOLD):

Duke -22 over Robert Morris, Providence -3 over Dayton, Iowa -2 over Davidson, Cal Irvine +8 over Louisville, Maryland -4 over Valparaiso, Wyoming +6 over Northern Iowa, North Dakota State +20 over Gonzaga, Belmont +17 over Virginia, Georgia +6 over Michigan State, Oklahoma -13 over Albany NY, Wichita State -5 over Indiana, Wisconsin -20 over Coastal Carolina, West Virginia -4 over Buffalo, San Diego State -4 over St John's, Oregon -2 over Oklahoma State, Kansas -10 over New Mexico State.

Who does something like this?

According to the arrest warrant, Dynel Lane, the mother of two teenagers, told her family she was pregnant. In December, 4 months ago, she showed them ultrasound photos. She once worked as some kind of nurse. She put an ad on Craig's list to sell baby clothes. An expectant mother, 7 months pregnant responded. When she arrives at Lane's home, Lane beats her and then performs a caesarian section on her with a three inch knife, taking out the baby. Lane puts the baby in the bathtub upstairs, leaving the expectant mother bleeding the bed in the basement.

Lane's husband comes home early from work, around 2:15 pm to take her to a pre-natal appointment. (Apparently he never noticed his wife wasn't pregnant.) When he got there, he starts to go down to the basement when suddenly Dynel Lane "turns a corner" and appears. She has blood on her. She tells him she had a miscarriage and the baby was upstairs in the tub. He runs upstairs and finds the baby in the tub. He said the baby gave a gasp. They leave to take the baby to the hospital. [More...]

Brackets are fun. I have a couple. But here are provided my individual game picks ATS for today with outright winners of each game in BOLD:

Northeastern +13½ over Notre Dame; UAB +14 over Iowa State; Baylor -9 over Georgia State; Mississippi +2 over Xavier; Arizona -23 over Texas Southern; SMU -4 over UCLA; Texas -2 over Butler; Va Commonwealth +4 over Ohio State; Stephen Austin +7 over Utah;Villanova -22 over Lafayette; North Carolina -10 over Harvard; Cincinnati -1 over Purdue; Kentucky -34½ over Hampton; Arkansas -7 over Wofford; LSU +2 over North Carolina State; Eastern Washington +8 over Georgetown.

Enjoy your brackets!