The Picks: Western Michigan +17½ Competitor: Iowa, Missouri -1 (3 units) Competitor: Indiana; Michigan State +4½ Competitor: Notre Dame, Wake Forest -3 Competitor: Army, Auburn +17 1/2 Competitor: LSU, Georgia Tech -7 Competitor: North Carolina, Utah State +7 Competitor: USC, Arizona State +6 1/2 Competitor: Stanford, Texas State +28 Competitor: Texas Tech, Utah +7 Competitor: BYU, Wisconsin -24 Competitor: Purdue, SMU +29 Competitor: Texas A&M, Louisiana Tech +10½ Competitor: Kansas

Season ATS - 20-22-1, +1 unit.

Listen to the Amato and Armando Show on Netroots Radio at Noon EST today.

Go Gators!

I'm off to visit a client in jail in the mountains. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Wall St. Journal has an article today about a recent 5th Circuit opinion reining in multi-district wiretapping. The opinion is here.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Busy jail today for me. The federal immigration detention facility is in the flood impacted part of Aurora. By tomorrow, it should be fine, so that's where I'll be.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The picks: Vanderbilt +14 Competitor: South Carolina; Alabama -8½ Competitor: Texas A&M (3 units); Oklahoma -24 Competitor: Tulsa; UCLA +3 Competitor: Nebraska; Georgia Tech -9 Competitor: Duke Mississippi State +6 Competitor: Auburn, Army +30 Competitor: Stanford; Utah -3 Competitor: Oregon State; Purdue +19 Competitor: Notre Dame; Kentucky +15 Competitor: Louisville; Oregon -28 Competitor: Tennessee (3 units); Bowling Green +3 Competitor: Indiana; Washington -10 Competitor: Illinois; Mississippi +3 Competitor: Texas.

Open thread.

Below, John Amato of Crooks and Liars and I talking sports and various sundry things. Also to be broadcast on Netroots Radio tomorrow morning at 9 am EST (noon PST):

Saturday College Football Open Thread tomorrow morning.

Open Thread.

The rains are expected to continue. Denver was spared for the most part, but Boulder, Lyons, Estes Park, Fort Collins, and some areas of Jefferson County are a mess. And we're not out of the woods. The latest alert has lots of counties including Denver under a flash flood warning until tomorrow morning.

Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, Park, Weld

Live Boulder Press Conference (4:00 pm MT): Boulder is reminding people to stay out of the water -- it's filled with sewage. Evacuation orders are not being lifted because more rain is on the way. 80 people are unaccounted for, and another death was confirmed today. For those with flooded basements, the city can't help, they need to call a recovery company. Here's how to find a reputable one. [More...]

Somewhere between where I parked my car at the courthouse and the courtroom today, I dropped my wallet with all my credit cards. Since I keep my ID in a separate card folder, I had no idea it was missing. When I got to my office after court to get the mail, the receptionist handed me my wallet and said a man in a sports coat dropped it off and didn't leave his name.

On a blustery, rainy day, this person drove or walked a half mile from federal court to my office to return a wallet I had no idea was missing. What an incredibly nice thing to do.

Since I have no idea who he is, all I can do is thank him here and hope he sees it. Thanks, stranger!

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Open thread.

Now that the entire world is following my advice on Syria, my work is done. (snark) Here is an open thread to comment on that and other important issues, like how the Oregon Ducks beat the Washington Redskins last night.

Open thread.

It's taken me ten days, but I have finally watched all 75 episodes of Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal. The version with English subtitles starts here and ends here.

The series does not use real names for most of the characters, but the characters are all real. If you do watch the series, be sure to read about who they are in real life, and what happens to them.

Of course, the real story of how Pablo Escobar was killed is much more interesting than the series reveals. As the result of a FOIA lawsuit, the U.S. had to release a treasure trove of documents, which are available here. The involvement of the U.S. military (to enable finding Escobar's location through phone-tracking technology), the Pepes, the Cali cartel, the CIA, the DEA, and corrupt Colombian politicians, police and military officials is enlightening, to say the least.

On to Breaking Bad. And the season premiere of Boardwalk Empire. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

My picks: Notre Dame +4 Competitor: Michigan, Georgia -3½ Competitor: South Carolina, Oregon -23 Competitor: Virginia, Utah State -10 Competitor: Air Force, Oklahoma State -27 Competitor: Texas San Antonio, Michigan State -23 (5 units) Competitor: South Florida, Syracuse +16½ Competitor: Northwestern, Western Kentucky +13 Competitor: Tennessee, Cincinnati -8 (3 units) Competitor: Illinois. -- Late CG Specia -OVER 43 1/2 in MSU-USF gamer

Season Record: 10-12 ATS, -3 units.

You can listen to the Amato and Armando Show (sans Amato this week, my bad) today at noon EST on Netroots Radio. Lots of college football (and soccer, NFL) Here is the player:

Listen LIVE here:The Daily Kos Radio Player

Can't see the Flash player? Click here to download the stream directly.

Open Thread.