Jury Closing Arguments are in Tsarnaev today.

I'll be in court most of the day.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Happy Passover everyone.

And for tomorrow,

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

ISIS has taken over the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus, Syria. They battled rebel group Aknaf Bait al-Maqdi.

Al Nusra is now in control of Idlib. Will they rule with as heavy a hand and sword as ISIS? Al Nusra fights along with rebel groups, but it is not a rebel group. It's an Al Qaida affiliate, equally as desirous as ISIS of implementing a Caliphate (just not al Baghdadi) and its version of Sharia law.

Not everyone agrees that Iraq has retaken Tikrit. ISIS has imposed a blackout on Twitter among its supporters so as not to disclose the location of its fighters. They still hold some critical parts of Tikrit.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Time for a new open thread. All topics welcome.

An exhausting week at work. I'm so glad it's Friday. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Time for a new open thread. All topics welcome.

I'm about to catch up on the day's news, and watch the Voice. Our last open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Many media outlets, including the New York Times reported Saturday that ISIS has released the names and addresses of 100 service members on a website and urged followers to find and kill them. It's far from certain this release has any official connection to ISIS. Instead of "ISIS Urges Sympathizers to Kill U.S. Service Members It Identifies on Website", the headline should be "Group Supporting ISIS Urges Killing of U.S. Service Members Named in Internet Posting."

The release was announced Friday night on Twitter and uploaded to PasteBin, the site used by many groups to post messages. [More...]

We have such beautiful weather this weekend. It's hard to stay online.

Our last (non-sports) open thread is full. Here's a new one, all topics welcome.

Didn;t decide the full slate, but I did pick the following ATS:

Kentucky -16 over Cincinnati, Ohio State +9 over Arizona, Georgia State +7 over Xavier, UAB +6 over UCLA.

My ATS picks for Day 2 (outright winners in BOLD):

Duke -22 over Robert Morris, Providence -3 over Dayton, Iowa -2 over Davidson, Cal Irvine +8 over Louisville, Maryland -4 over Valparaiso, Wyoming +6 over Northern Iowa, North Dakota State +20 over Gonzaga, Belmont +17 over Virginia, Georgia +6 over Michigan State, Oklahoma -13 over Albany NY, Wichita State -5 over Indiana, Wisconsin -20 over Coastal Carolina, West Virginia -4 over Buffalo, San Diego State -4 over St John's, Oregon -2 over Oklahoma State, Kansas -10 over New Mexico State.

Brackets are fun. I have a couple. But here are provided my individual game picks ATS for today with outright winners of each game in BOLD:

Northeastern +13½ over Notre Dame; UAB +14 over Iowa State; Baylor -9 over Georgia State; Mississippi +2 over Xavier; Arizona -23 over Texas Southern; SMU -4 over UCLA; Texas -2 over Butler; Va Commonwealth +4 over Ohio State; Stephen Austin +7 over Utah;Villanova -22 over Lafayette; North Carolina -10 over Harvard; Cincinnati -1 over Purdue; Kentucky -34½ over Hampton; Arkansas -7 over Wofford; LSU +2 over North Carolina State; Eastern Washington +8 over Georgetown.

Enjoy your brackets!