The penalty for drug trafficking in Saudi Arabia is death, which it carries out regularly through public beheadings. Either the death penalty is not much of a deterrent, or some people are pretty confident they won't get caught.

The Saudi Government announced today it seized 1/2 ton of cocaine (526 kilograms)at the port of Jeddah on June 7. The drugs were in a shipment of refills of photocopy paper that came from an unspecified country in South America.

Where did the drugs ship from? Ecuador is a possibility. Last week, the foreign minister of Ecuador announced on Twitter that 4 tons of drugs had been seized at the port of Guayaquil, bound for Saudi Arabia. (The police later corrected him and said it was 400 kilos.) In January, 227 kilos were seized en route to Saudi Arabia from Ecuador hidden in pineapples. In April, 600 kilograms were seized en route from Ecuador to Saudi Arabia. hidden in bananas.[More...]

ISIS has taken over two more border crossings in Western Iraq, Turaibil (with Jordan) and al-Waleed (with Syria).

It now moves on to Haditha and its dam, which has a major hydroelectric power plant. It may also try to take Al-Asad, a large Iraqi air force base and the nearby town of Hit, before moving on to Baghdad.

Obama, in an interview Friday with Face the Nation that was aired today, says the U.S. military can't play "whack a mole" with every new terrorist threat that pops up. [More...]

This is the most important day in USA soccer history since the last most important day in USA soccer history But seriously, it is a huge day, USA needs to not leave qualifying for Round of 16 to a game with Germany where Germany is not already through. Klinsmann needs to design an approach that is intended to play for the win, not be content with a draw. Ghana WILL beat Portugal. The USA needs to do that today.

In the early game, Group H - Rio De Janeiro, I like Belgium EVEN over Russia. Belgium is one of the top teams in the tournament and finally found itself in the second half of its opening game. Russia seems lackluster.

In the second game, two weak teams meet, Group H - Porto Alegre, South Korea vs. Algeria, I pick Draw +230.

The marquee game, USA v Portugal, is in the Amazon rain forest. Group G - Manaus. I believe the USA needs to win this game. I believe they will not. DRAW (+300).

Go USA!

Reuters reports ISIS has taken the towns of al-Qaim on the Iraq side of border with Syria and Albukamal, on the Syrian side. ISIS says it has also taken Rawa and Aneh. It may soon have control of the entire Euphrates Valley.

The militants seem to be trying to connect up these two pockets and secure control of the whole Euphrates valley from the Syrian border to Baghdad.

....If the rebels can join up those two areas and take full control in Ramadi, they would be in a position to prepare for an assault on the western approaches to Baghdad, using Falluja as the springboard.

Up next: Haditha and Hit, which are between Aneh and Ramadi. It will then control everything from the Syrian border to Baghdad.

Reading ISIS literature and twitter feeds, it seems what ISIS cares about is tearing down geographical boundaries set long ago by the Sykes-Picot agreement and establishing a unified Islamic state which it refers to as Khilafah or a Caliphate state -- and overthrowing the U.S.- backed Shi'a government in Iraq, which discriminated against the Sunnis and through violence, reduced their numbers.

0-2-1 yesterday, 7-14-3 overall ATS in the World Cup. The choices today:

Group F - Belo Horizonte - Argentina -2 over Iran. My reasoning: Messi, Aguero, di Maria, Higuain . . .

Group G - Fortaleza - Ghana +1 (+180) over Germany. My reasoning: Ghana was much better than USA in that first game. Think they can scare Germany.

Group F - Cuiabá, Bosnia-Herzegovina -1 (+165) over Nigeria. My reasoning: Bosnia is the better team. Did you see the Iran-Nigeria game?

ESPN Washington Football Team Reporter John Keim writes about the Redskins trademark dispute:

Stay out, government: I agree with this take from The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins. If the Redskins are going to change their name, let it come from societal pressure and not from congressional action. She made it clear that she’s in favor of a name change, but also wrote: “You don’t really want government agencies to become the arbiter of acceptable words and images. You really don’t. The main reason you don’t is because, like it or not, what’s offensive is subjective.” Totally agree. This isn’t as much about them needing to take care of other issues as it is about that slippery slope. I'm not a fan of slippery slopes. [Emphasis supplied.]

This is in the best uninformed Tea Party tradition (though Kleim clearly is not a Tea Partier, he supports a name change) - a sort of "Keep The Government's Hands Off My Medicare." Did the government go out of its way to get involved in the controversy? Of course not. I'll explain on the flip.

3-0 yesterday (and with nice odds), 7-12-2 ATS overall for World Cup. The hot streak continues today! the picks:

Group D - Recife, Italy vs. Costa Rica, Draw +350. My reasoning, this is the most gut wrenching result for England.

Group E - Salvador - Switzerland Pick (+250) over France. My reasoning? One of the favs is due to throw in a stinker.

Group E - Curitiba, Ecuador -1 (+115 over Honduras. My reasoning - South american teams on a roll.

Some justice at last to the Central Park Five -- New York City agreed to pay $40 million to the five Black and Latino men wrongfully charged as teens with the rape of a Central Park jogger in 1989.

Kharey Wise, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam were exonerated in 2002. They filed their lawsuit in 2003. It has taken the city 12 years to finally pay up.

Four of them served 7 years in prison and one served 13 years. Their convictions, largely the product of false and coerced confessions, were overturned when the true perpetrator, Mattias Reyes confessed. DNA evidence confirmed he was the rapist, and although he could not be charged due to the statute of limitations, by the time of his confession he was already serving a 33 year to life sentence for other rapes. More background here. Also see When Justice is a Game and Marked as the Enemy, and New Light on Jogger's Rape Calls Evidence Into Question.[More...]

ISIS is claiming on Twitter it has executed the Judge who ordered the hanging of Saddam Hussein. It says Khalil Hussein Attia,a Jordanian official has confirmed the news, and said Judge Raouf Abdel-Ramen tried to flee disguised as a dancer.

In 2007, Judge Raouf Abdel-Ramen (aka Rashid Abd al-Rahman ) sought asylum to Great Britain but later canceled his application. In 2008, in Iraq, he condemned the hanging.

Several non-English newspapers are also reporting the claimed execution (here too), as is Wikipedia. He was apparently kidnapped a few days ago.

The Inspector General recently issued a report on the use of mail covers to spy on mail. It found procedures were not being followed in a substantial number of cases. Politico reports:

The U.S. Postal Service failed to observe key safeguards on a mail surveillance program with a history of civil liberties abuses, according to a new internal watchdog report that USPS managers tried to keep secret, citing security concerns.

...The Office of Inspector General audit of so-called “mail covers” — orders to record addresses or copy the outside of all mail delivered to an individual or an address — found that about 20 percent of the orders implemented for outside law enforcement agencies were not properly approved, and 13 percent were either unjustified or not correctly documented.

The post office issued 40,000 mail covers last year. The postal inspectors didn't want the report made public, but the inspector general's office published a redacted version anyway. You can read it here.

The Rolling Stones are tweeting lyric lines from songs played at their Dusseldorf concert last night. Is there a message?

• "Lost all the treasure in an overseas war-just goes to show you don't get what you pay for" Doom and Gloom
• "Just as every cop is a criminal & all the sinners saints, as heads is tails, just call me Lucifer" Sympathy for the Devil
  
• "Say now baby, I'm the rank outsider, you can be my partner in crime" Tumbling Dice
  
• You Got the Silver
• Worried About You
• Out of Control

And the winner of the Dusseldorf contest for favorite song request: Street Fighting Man.

It's been a pretty exciting World Cup so far. There has been only 1 scoreless game and it may have been the most exciting one of the tournament, Mexico-Brazil. Now my account is not so excited as I went 0-2-1 yesterday dropping me to a dismal 4-12-2 so far. But hope springs eternal, though I don't really care for today's games as great betting propositions. In any event, today's picks:

Group C - Brasília, Colombia over Ivory Coast. The 2 favorites in this rather weak group. A slight lean to Colombia though I expect a tightly played game where both teams know a point suffices for them.

Game of the Day - Group D - São Paulo, Uruguay +265 over England. Suarez comes back today, claims to be 100% Not a chance in hell of that. If he is, he would have played in the first game, a devastating loss to Costa Rica. This is a mini-Group of Death with Italy as well, and with a loss to the Ticos, Uruguay has to win today, with Italy up next. For England, a draw might suffice as they face Costa Rica in their final game and a win there probably puts them through. But a loss pretty much ends it I think. Given all of the variables, I expect both teams to gun for the win and play with great abandon. England looks the better team but they always seem to blow these type of games. Should be a fine spectacle.

Group C - Natal, Japan vs. Greece, Draw +240. Both teams lost their openers, look relatively weak and not likely to challenge for advancement. But they don't think so, so they may put on a good show.