The investments:

Indiana -11 over Temple, Illinois +8 over Miami Florida (3 units), Mississippi -3 over La Salle, Ohio State -7 over Iowa State, Minnesota +8½ over Florida, Duke -5 over Creighton (5 units), San Diego State -7 over Florida Gulf Coast (5 units), Kansas -6 over North Carolina (3 units.)

Go Gators!

Yesterday - 5-3 ATS (22-16 in MM), +6 units (+17 units in MM.)

Open Thread.

Day 3. The investments: Louisville -11 over Colorado State (3 units), Butler +1½ over Marquette, Michigan State -6 over Memphis (3 units), St Louis -3½ over Oregon (5 units), Wichita State +6½ over Gonzaga (5 units), Syracuse -7 over California (4 units), Michigan -3½ over Va Commonwealth (3 units), Arizona -10 over Harvard (3 units)

Yesterday - 9-6 ATS (17-13 in MM), +8 units (+11 units in MM.)

Open Thread.

If March Madness is not your thing, tonight at 10 Eastern, you may want to take a look in at a crucial World Cup qualifying game for the US mens team against Costa Rica. The team is reportedly in turmoil. But as Michael Bradley says, "it is time to play."

The home team needs this one bad.

Open Thread.

A suspect in the murder of Colorado prison chief Tom Clements has been killed in a shootout with Texas police. The suspect, a 28 year old white supremacist and parolee from a Colorado prison, was stopped by a police officer in Texas. He shot the officer and took off.

The officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Two shots were to the chest and did not injure him. The third shot grazed his head. He was able to radio in the car description.

According to a live news conference I just watched here, it was a a drug interdiction stop. The officer had no idea the driver might be connected to the Colorado shooting of Director Clements.

When officers in Wise County, TX spotted him, they tried to stop him and he stuck his gun out the window and started shooting. A high speed chase ensued, and a big 4-wheeler crashed into Ebel's car, setting it on fire. Ebel got out and started shooting at the officers. They shot him multiple times, including in the head. [More...]

Day 2. The investments:

North Carolina -4 over Villanova, Kansas -19½ over Western Kentucky, Minnesota -3 over UCLA, Notre Dame -1 over Iowa State, San Diego State -2½ over Oklahoma, Pacific +13 over Miami Florida, Florida Gulf Coast +13 over Georgetown, Ohio State -13 over Iona (4 units), Mississippi +6 over Wisconsin, Duke -17½ over Albany (3 units), Creighton -3 over Cincinnati, La Salle +6 over Kansas State, Indiana -22 over James Madison, Illinois -1 over Colorado (3 units), Northwestern State +21 over Florida.

Yesterday, 8-7 ATS, +3 units.

Go Gators!

Open Thread.

I've been spending all my free time and then some tinkering with my new creation. It should be ready in a few days, hopefully over the weekend. I'm also going to check into having a professional add the commenting features everyone asked for.

Tonight my eyes need a break from staring at tiny coding symbols, and I need a break from the computer. The TL kid is bringing Chinese food over from the place we used to get it when he was a kid (I'm no longer in the delivery area)so I'll leave you all with an open thread, all topics welcome.

It starts today. Investments:

Michigan -11 over South Dakota State (3 units), Syracuse -13 over Montana (3 units), Akron +7½ over Va Commonwealth, Missouri -3 over Colorado State (3 units), New Mexico -11 over Harvard, Oregon +3 over Okla. St., Marquette -3½ over Davidson (3 units), Gonzaga -21½ over Southern, Pittsburgh -4½ over Wichita State (3 units), Butler -3½ over Bucknell, Michigan State -10½ over Valparaiso (3 units.), Memphis -1 1/2 over St. Mary's (3 units), Belmont +5 over Arizona, Cal +3 over UNLV, Missouri - 2 1.2 over Colorado St, St. Louis -9 over NM State.

Open Thread.

I think the biggest problem in our criminal justice system for the past 25 years has been rigid mandatory minimum sentencing laws.

Today, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rand Paul introduced the bi-partisan Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013. According to Sen. Leahy:

The bipartisan Justice Safety Valve Act of 2013 expands the so-called “safety valve” that allows judges to impose a sentence below the mandatory minimum in qualifying drug cases to all federal crimes. By giving judges this greater flexibility, they will not be forced to administer needlessly long sentences for certain offenders, which is a significant factor in the ever-increasing Federal prison population and the spiraling costs that steer more and more of the justice budget toward keeping people in prison, rather than investing in programs that keep our communities safe.

[More...]

It's been ten years since we invaded Iraq. Al Qaeda is marking the anniversary with bombings. At least 60 people have been killed.

Der Speigel has "10 Lessons From America's 'Dumb War.'

The Atlantic looks back at the cost, in lives and dollars. The BBC has the Iraq War in Numbers.

Tom Clements, the Executive Director of Colorado's Department of Corrections, was at home last night when someone rang the doorbell around 8:30 p.m. He opened the door and was shot dead.

There are no suspects and it does not appear robbery was a motive. Clements' home is in Monument, Colorado, which is near Colorado Springs.

Officials with the El Paso County sheriff’s office said they were looking for a “boxy” two-door car that had been spotted Tuesday night in the neighborhood, its engine running but with nobody inside. There were few other insights about who had shot Mr. Clements, or why.

...They said Mr. Clements’s post, overseeing more than 20,000 inmates in Colorado’s prisons and parole system, might have made him a target.

[More...]

The record companies are happy today. Text book publishers and authors are not.

The Supreme Court has denied cert in the case of Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a native American who uploaded, downloaded or otherwise shared 24 songs on Kazaa, a now-defunct music file-sharing service, for personal use. The record companies sued, and the ultimate judgment against her, after several retrials and appeals with jury verdicts as high as $1.9 million, was $222,000, or $9,250 per song. The issue, according to the Petition for Cert (which includes the 8th Circuit and trial court's opinions in the Appendix portion):

Is there any constitutional limit to the statutory damages that can be imposed for downloading music online?

My picks for March Madness mens bracket below the fold. (Will try the womens bracket this year as well.)

Brackets are not "investments," so I'll be offering my picks (ATS) on the day of the game. For example, today I like Middle Tenn. St. +3 over St Mary's CA (3 units) and North Carolina A&T -2½ over Liberty.

Open Thread.