ISIS held a victory parade in Mosul today. You can view all the photos here. It was a big turnout, and lasted into the evening. Noticeably absent from the photos: women. I saw one figure that looked like a female in all of them (to the right of the headlights) and given her trench coat and purse and black head scarf, I'm wondering if she wasn't a reporter.

ISIS got whacked by Syrian jets near Al-Qa'im and Rutbah today. They lost some men, including Sheikh Abdul Majeed al Otaibi (@OT_48 on Twitter). They also were able to take two towns south of Baghdad, Iskandariya and Mahmoudiya.

The U.S. has sent its first group of advisors to Iraq. Here's the transcript of the Defense Department briefing.[More...]

A quick hit with just the picks:

Group D - Belo Horizonte, Costa Rica vs. England, Over 2½ Goals. Gun to my head, I pick England, burt I'm not wagering on that.

Group C - Cuiabá, Japan vs. Colombia, Draw +280

Group C - Fortaleza, Greece vs. Ivory Coast, Over 2. I'm trying to talk myself into Greece, but the price is too short. Only +(285), needs to get above 300.

The game to watch of course is Uruguay-Italy. Group D - Natal. I'm taking the Suarezes Pick.

I have been so wrapped up in following ISIS this week, I've forgotten to post open threads Here's one, all topics welcome.

A new CBS poll finds 75% percent of Americans do not think the Iraq War was worth the cost in lives and money. This is 8% more than in 2011 when the U.S. withdrew from Iraq, and 30% higher than in August 2003.

Republicans, Democrats and independents alike view the Iraq war as not worth the costs.

A whopping 77% oppose sending troops back in now.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has released a redacted version of a July, 2010 memo by acting chief David Barron of the Office of Legal Counsel on targeted killings. You can read it here. The memo was the subject of an FOIA lawsuit by the ACLU and New York Times, and was authority for the 2011 killings of cleric Anwar al-Awlaki his son, and Samir Kahn, all of whom were U.S. citizens.

The Court also re-issued its opinion from April removing some redactions the Government still wanted to keep secret. The Court said there is no longer any reason for secrecy as to what country Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in and that the CIA was involved. Both had been disclosed by Administration officials in the White Paper and in media interviews. The ACLU has highlighted the unredacted portions in the decision here.

The ACLU will be posting analysis of the memo here.

Groups A and B finish today in relatively unclimactic fashion, as both groups are basically decided, with one exception - Mexico v. Croatia, which is the marquee game of the day. It kicks off at 4 pm. There is some drama in the Chile v. Netherlands tilt, in that one imagines both will want to avoid Brazil in the Round of 16, and winning their group is how to do it. The other games lack drama.

Yesterday I went 2-1, with good payoffs. Today's picks:

Group B - Curitiba, Spain -1½ (+115) over Australia. The end of an era. Spain's scrubs are all stars too.

Group B - São Paulo, Chile Pick over Netherlands. Get the feeling Chile more excited to be here. Plus great fan contingent will keep Chile energized.

Group A - Brasília, Brazil -2½ over Cameroon. Brazil has qualified but can realistically lose top group spot to Mexico, either outright or on goal differential. what's not realistic is Brazil losing this game, though rumors of match fixing have been swirling.

Group A - Recife, Croatia vs. Mexico, Draw +250. Two very good teams, Arguably Croatia has more talent, but Mexico on better form. Through sheer effort, I think El Tri gets through (draw qualifies them for Round of 16.).

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.