4 matches today in Groups C and D:

Group C - Belo Horizonte - Colombia vs. Greece. I expect Colombia to win but like the price on DRAW +340

Group D- Fortaleza Uruguay -1 over Costa Rica. Will Suarez play today? In Manaus, in an Old World battle, I like England PICK over Italy. England always chokes at World Cup. I feel like something different will happen this time. But hell, Spain was my favorite.

OVERALL -1-2-1 ATS.

As ISIS continues to storm its way through Iraq, President Obama today ruled out sending ground troops to Iraq. (Transcript here.) Sounding like a stern parent, he said whatever other aid we provide will depend on the Iraqi Government getting its act together, and the U.S. will not be making any hasty decisions.

Over the past decade, American troops have made extraordinary sacrifices to give Iraqis and opportunity to claim their own future. Unfortunately, Iraqi leaders have been unable to overcome, too often, the mistrust and sectarian differences that have long been simmering there. And that's created vulnerabilities within the Iraqi government, as well as their security forces.

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3 matches on tap today, starting at noon continuing till 8 pm. Here are my picks : Cameroon (PICK +160) over El Tri (Mexico), Mexico is cpaable of losing to anyone. I think they are 3 and out at this World Cup.

Spain (-130) over Netherlands. Spain is my favorite. I think they repeat.

Chile (-1 -120) over Australia. Chile is very good. Australia is not. Really like this one.

My group picks are: Group A - Brazil, Group B- Spain, Group C- Colombia, Group D -Uruguay, Group E - Ecuador, Group F - Argentina, Group G -Germany, Group H - Belgium. As you can see, I'm big on home continent advantage.

I have court at 8:00 am this morning, 45 minutes away. So there will be nothing from me this morning.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Wall St. Journal reported earlier today Iran has sent its Quds soldiers to Iraq to battle ISIS:

At least three battalions of the Quds Forces, the elite overseas branch of the Guards, were deployed support the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an offshoot of al Qaeda that is swiftly conquering territory across Iraq, they said.

One Guards unit that was already in Iraq fought alongside the Iraqi army, offering guerrilla warfare advice and tactics that helped reclaim most of the city of Tikrit on Thursday. Two Guards’ units, deployed from Iran’s western border provinces on Wednesday, were tasked with protecting Baghdad and the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, these security sources said.

The QUDS are the overseas branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard. ISIS has reportedly seized a huge cache of U.S. military equipment. The Washington Post reports Iraq is falling apart, splintering into three factions: Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish. The Kurds have taken Kirkuk, ISIS is moving south towards Baghdad, and the Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki is reduced to calling for volunteers and some help from Iran.

Has Obama's position changed? The Post quotes him as saying, “It’s fair to say . . . there will be some short-term things that need to be done militarily."

Foreign Policy says ISIS blindsided U.S. intelligence. [More...]

As ISIS beheads its way to Baghdad, leaving scores of headless bodies of police and soldiers along the roads, and President Obama promises aid, refusing to rule out military engagement, there are lots of questions.

• How did the U.S. and its allies not see this coming? It sure didn't happen overnight.
• Were the billions of dollars we spent training Iraqi forces just a waste?

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World Cup starts today in Brazil with the host country facing Croatia.

Much polemic in USA ranks as Jurgen Klinsmann, the German great who runs the USA team, left the greatest player in USA soccer history, Landon Donovan, off the team.

Probably doesn't matter as USA is in a group of death, with Germany, Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal and the best African team who knocked USA out of the last 2 World Cups, Ghana. It'll take a near miracle for USA to advance.

Teams to watch - Belgium, Colombia. While the casual fan will not be aware, the soccer world knows the talent on these 2 squads. Otherwise the usual favs - Brazil, Messi's Argentina, defending champs Spain and the perennial favorite Germany.

Players to watch: Brazil's Neymar, Messi, Uruguay's Suarez (recovering from knee surgery) and of course Cristiano Ronaldo.

Should be tons of fun. Picks tomorrow. Today I like Croatia (+2 goals) to keep it close. Open Thread.

Tonight is the gran finale of El Capo 3. It began March 25, and I have watched all 56 episodes at least once. I'm totally not okay with it ending tonight.

The past few weeks have not been as compelling as the first weeks, but I can't tell if that's because without subtitles, I'm missing too much, or whether they decided to cut the number of episodes after filming and did a less than stellar editing job. I suspect it's the latter, but of course have no way to know. [More...]

Quartavious Davis was convicted of various robberies during which he possessed a gun. He was sentenced to 162 years. His primary argument on appeal was the the Government obtained his cell phone's location information from his wireless provider by court order under the Stored Communications Act rather than by search warrant. Unlike a search warrant, the SCA does not require a showing of probable cause. The Government used the location data Davis at trial to show that as to six of the seven robberies, Davis and his co-defendants placed and received cell phone calls around the time of the robberies near the locations of the stores that were robbed. The 11th Circuit ruled Davis had a valid privacy interest in his location under the Fourth Amendment, and obtaining the data via an order under the SCA (section 2703(d)) was unconstitutional. The opinion is here.

The AP reports:

In the first ruling of its kind nationally, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined people have an expectation of privacy in their movements and that the cell tower data was part of that. As such, obtaining the records without a search warrant is a violation of the Fourth Amendment's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures, the judges ruled.

However, Davis gets no relief from the Court because of the violation. The Court determined the "good faith" exception to the exclusionary rule applies under United States v. Leon. [More...]

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission today held a hearing on whether to make the two point reduction in drug sentencing guidelines that becomes effective November 1, 2014 retroactive so that it applies to those already sentenced. The hearing agenda with witness statements is here.

The Justice Department, unfortunately, is asking the Commission for limited retroactivity. From its prepared testimony:[More...]

Juan José Esparraoza Moreno,"El Azul", the veteran narco-trafficker and co-leader of the Sinaloa cartel along with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Ismael Zambada-Garcia, has reportedly died of a heart attack while convalescing from an accident he had about two weeks ago in which his vertebrae was injured. He was 65.

"El Azul" spent 40 years in the drug business, first with the Guadalajara cartel, then the Juarez cartel (where at one point he was second to Amado Carrillo Fuentes,aka Senor de los Cielos) before teaming up with El Chapo Guzman and Ismael Zambada-Garcia as leaders of the Sinaloa Federation. [More...]