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.

What's on your mind this today? I'll try to put up a Daily ISIS this afternoon.

I'm glad I'll have some free time later today and over the weekend. Our webmaster Colin says he's spent the past few months building a conversion program so that the TalkLeft posts and comments can be "translated" to wordpress language and moved over to the new server. He thinks everyone will be able to use the same user name and password. He needs a few more weeks to test it and get the bugs out, but it seems like we finally may get to move and get off "Scoop." If you have forgotten what the new site looks like, here it is. There won't be any ads and it will be free. As always, I'll ask for donations 3 times a year or so. Readers here have been quite generous, and I really appreciate it.

Enjoy the weekend.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has requested a change of venue to Washington, D.C. The judge has not yet ruled on the motion.

Since Mass. does not have a death penalty, many thought the defense would prefer to have the trial there, notwithstanding the pretrial publicity. But the expert surveys conducted by the defense showed Mass. residents presumed Tsarnaev guilty in greater numbers than residents of other places:

Attorneys said they had enlisted an expert to survey public opinion in four cities: Boston, Springfield, Mass., New York City and Washington. Respondents were asked a series of questions, including whether they believed Tsarnaev was "definitely guilty, probably not guilty or definitely not guilty" of the April 2013 bombings that left three dead and more than 260 wounded.

In Boston, 58% said they believed Tsarnaev was definitely guilty, as did 52% in Springfield and 48% in Manhattan. Only 37% in Washington said the same.

[More...]

The federal judge in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev case has denied the Government's request to include "betrayal of the U.S." as an aggravating factor in the penalty phase of his trial, calling the attempt "highly inappropriate."

Federal prosecutors have argued, in part, that Tsarnaev, now 20, deserves the death penalty because he betrayed his allegiance to the country that granted him asylum and, later, citizenship.

The defense countered with:

"(I)n not one of the 492 cases before Mr. Tsarnaev's has the government cited the fact of a defendant's American citizenship, the way he became a citizen, any aspect of his immigration history, or his enjoyment of the freedoms of an American citizen as a reason to sentence him to death,"

The Judge ruled it was "highly inappropriate" for prosecutors to draw a distinction between a "naturalized" and "natural-born" U.S. citizen.[More...]

Sorry I'm late with this. Yesterday 1-1-1 ATS. Now 4-10-1 for the World Cup. Today I have a pick in the first game but did not get it up here in time so a NO ACTION for TL purposes. I'll give you a Live Bet Australia (+1) (+150)

Group A - Manaus - Cameroon +½ (+135) over Croatia.

Group B - Rio de Janeiro - Spain -1 (-115) over Chile. It's do or die for the defending champions.

The Financial Times reports that for two years, ISIS has been publishing annual reports (al-Naba) with detailed accounts of its operations -- just like General Motors or any other huge corporation.

It is not a corporation and does not have shareholders, but the military success and brutality of the jihadi group surging through Iraq have been recorded with the level of precision often reserved for company accounts.

ISIS' 400 page 2013 report is filled with statistics of the number and type of attacks it carried out and even the number of people it has converted to its cause. [More....]

Bit of a bounceback yesterday as I hit 2 out of 3 (and frankly, in terms of the run of play, all 3). Now 3-9-1 ATS for the World Cup. Today's picks:

FIFA World Cup 2014 - Group H - Belo Horizonte - Belgium -1½ over Algeria. Belgium provides good betting value as they are a top team but punters do not give it top team respect. Now if you look at FIFA rankings, the line is fair, if not favorable to Algeria (ranked 22 to Belgium's 10.) My view is that FIFA rankings are not particularly predictive (Ghana was 38 for example, Portugal 4.) And I think that's the case here. I like Belgium a lot in this spot and in this tournament.

Group A - Fortaleza - Mexico +1½ over Brazil. Off first game performance, Mexico was better than Brazil. Brazil as a team does not convince me at this point. I was thoroughly impressed with Mexico who could have won by 4. Brimming with confidence they will give Brazil all it can handle, and if the refereeing is fair (Ha!), even win.

Group H - Cuiabá - South Korea Pick (+240) over Russia. This is a fitness in the oppressive conditions (South Korea ALWAYS very fit) and price pick. Despite bad recent form, (Korea was beaten by Ghana 4-0 in WC tuneup) this is one of the best propositions all tournament imo.