Hours before President Obama arrives to give a speech advocating gun control, more than a dozen Colorado sheriffs held a rally supporting gun rights.

"While these dedicated county sheriffs stand here publicly for the rights of their citizens, the president later today will be hiding behind the walls at the Denver Police Academy, surrounding with a handpicked audience of gun-control supporters and police employees coerced (into attending) his political rally as he declares victory for the Denver Gov. John Hickenlooper," Smith added.

Smith accused Obama and fellow Democrats of exploiting the tragedies of deadly shooting rampages at an Aurora movie theater and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. He said a package of Colorado gun control legislation recently passed by Democratic lawmakers and signed by Hickenlooper would not have prevented those mass shootings.

Colorado just passed new gun control laws last week. Obama is trying to drum up support for changes to federal laws. I doubt he'll get it from Republicans here.

#StartMeUpWednesday is here. The Rolling Stones have been teasing today's 9 am announcement of their 18 city U.S. tour all week. There are billboards up in some cities, like Chicago. Las Vegas seems to have made it. I'm writing this before the 9am announcement so no one knows for sure which cities will be included.

If Denver doesn't make the list, I'll be:

To get the latest, head over to The RollingStones.com, Rolling Stones on Twitter, Rolling Stones on Instagram, Rolling Stones on Facebook, and of course, @GRRRegory [Update below]

It's about time. The Associated Press has dropped the term "illegal immigrant" from its stylebook. It explains:

The stylebook no longer sanctions the term “illegal immigrant” or the use of “illegal” to describe a person. Instead, it tells users that “illegal” should describe only an action, such as living in or immigrating to a country illegally.

Why did we make the change? The discussions on this topic have been wide-ranging and include many people from many walks of life. (Earlier, they led us to reject descriptions such as “undocumented,” despite ardent support from some quarters, because it is not precise. A person may have plenty of documents, just not the ones required for legal residence.)

[More...]

At TPM, Salil Kapur writes regarding the U.S. v. Windsor DOMA case:

I'll be busy at work the rest of the day. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Arapahoe County District Attorney, recently elected George Brauchler, has advised the Court his office will seek the death penalty against James Holmes, charged with the Aurora theater killings.

Chief Judge William Sylvester's response: He assigned the case to another judge due to the amount of resources that will be necessary now that the death penalty is being sought. [More...]

I hope everyone is enjoying Easter Sunday.

You Tube is already in the spirit of April Fools. It has posted a video announcing that at midnight, it will go dark. It will be stop taking uploads for a decade -- the length of time it will take to decide which of the videos uploaded during the past 8 years is the best,

We've been thrilled with all of the diverse, creative entries we've seen so far, and we can't wait to begin the process of selecting the best video. We'll be announcing the winner in 10 years.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The investments:

Louisville -3½ over Duke (4 units), Michigan +2½ over Florida.

Go Gators!

Yesterday, 0-2 ATS, -7 units (29-23, +18 units for MM.)

Happy Easter!

Open Thread.

The investments:

Ohio State -4½ over Wichita State (5 units), Marquette +4 over Syracuse.

Yesterday 2-2 ATS, + 0 units (31-23 ATS, +23 units for MM.)

Open Thread.

There will be a hearing Monday in the James Holmes Aurora shootings case. Monday is the date by which the District Attorney is expected to announce whether he will seek the death penalty. According to a recent defense filing republished by the Denver Post, Holmes offered to plead guilty before his arraignment earlier this month and accept a sentence of life without parole.

Prosecutors dispute the defense made an "unconditional" offer to plead guilty and object to the defense referencing its "purported" offer in a court pleading. It appears from the DA's response that they wanted information from Holmes before deciding whether to take the death penalty off the table. The DA says Holmes has refused to provide the requested information, thus it does not consider his offer to be a true offer. I don't get the state's position at all. [More...]

Fox News reporter Jana Winter, who has been battling a subpoena to appear and testify about her source of information for an early article on the James Holmes case which contained court-restricted information, is scheduled to appear in court Monday pursuant to a defense subpoena. On Wednesday, the Court denied her latest request for an extension. The Court wrote: [More....]

The investments today:

Michigan +2 over Kansas, Michigan State +2 over Duke, Louisville -10 over Oregon, and Koch Bros U, aka FGCU +13 over Florida.

Yesterday 4-0 ATS, + 8 units (29-21 ATS, +23 units for MM.)

Go Gators!

Open Thread.