Covid sidenote:

Watching the proceedings. They’re being pretty good about masks, until they go up to the mic. Then they remove it and start to talk.

No one is wiping down the mic or the area before a new speaker holds forth.

I’d be very surprised if there aren’t some brand new cases of Covid, due to this oversight.

The whataboutism employed by Trump’s third-stringers entirely missed the context in each case. There was no attempt to set it in context, or extend the quotes to include what was relevant. If they had done so, their BS would have been exposed.

And in no case did the Dems in question try to provoke actual violence. Trump did, and has from Day One. Repeatedly. Knowingly. Knowing that he was provoking fascists, neo-nazis, etc. etc.

And you know, WV, as a lawyer, you can’t mount an effective case for your client by saying, “But judge, lotsa people break the law!!”

What other people have done isn’t germane in this case. It’s about Trump. If they want to put those Dems on trial for what they did or said, win back Congress and go for it.

That’s not a defense of the Dems. That’s a defense of reality, in my view.

I agree with you about the entire system being horrible. But there’s a difference between the Dem wing versus the GOP and Trump. A difference worth caring about, IMO. Biden stopped the XL pipeline, for instance, reversed dozens of Trump’s earth-killing orders, stopped our support of the Saudi’s war in Yemen, and is actually trying to defeat the pandemic. Environmentalists are hopeful, for the first time in years, that progressive change is possible.

While we’re stuck with capitalism and empire, I think it matters which wing of the Money Party is in charge, and that neither wing attempts a violent coup.

Hope all is well in West Virginia.

Zooey wrote:

zn wrote:

Republicans, on the other hand, are sticking with Trump no matter the consequences because they simply can’t imagine a world in which they have to appeal to anything beyond white identity to win elections.

Another point of interest here is that the Democrats aren’t calling in witnesses. The GOP was shitting itself at the prospect, and my guess is that is because witnesses would have testified about who knew what and when, exposing the complicity (or outright support) of the Capitol police and several GOP congressmen, both in the House and Senate. It would have ripped the GOP in half, and decimated the party. But they would not have gone down without taking as many Democrats as possible down with them by bringing up ANYTHING they had on them, no matter how irrelevant to the Jan. 6 incident. I suspect the Dems caved on this in order to preserve “stability.” But that’s just armchair speculation. They have certainly been very careful to confine the case to Trump alone, however, and even tried to make the case that the GOP is not responsible as a whole.

I think the Dems did an excellent job overall with their presentation, but witnesses likely would have made it better. You make good points by saying they may have feared some sort of general exposure of non-germane issues. Who knows?

But my earlier take has only been solidified. Trump should have been arrested on January 6th, along with Nosferatu, Gosar, Cawthorne, Taylor-Greene, Boebert, Gohmert and anyone who worked for/with Trump to foment the coup. In fact, it’s appalling to me still that he’s able to walk about as if he didn’t use violence to cling to power. He did. And there’s not a shadow of doubt about that for me.

Whether folks despise Biden, see him as “meh,” or support him, is irrelevant. This is about Trump’s endless criminality and sociopathic actions. Not throwing him in jail for what he’s done just sets the table for a smarter, more clever, more “subtle” coup leader in the future, and that’s going to come from the far-right again.

That means POCs and “the left” will be in even more (existential) danger next time.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by Billy_T.

Not too many better combos in NFL history, on the outside, than Bruce and Holt. And, of course, the Rams didn’t stop there. The only thing they lacked, really, to make the other team just concede before the kickoff was a great tight end. Throw in a Kelce, Gonzalez, or a Billy Truax, and the Greatest Show on Turf would have turned into a full-on circus of horrors for opposing teams.

Holt should have made it, and this must has pissed off SanfRAM to no end. He was a huge Holt fan from Day One.

There’s always next year.

IMO, this isn’t a question of who’s the better QB right now. It’s Stafford. But, also IMNSHO, the difference just isn’t enough to warrant what was given up for him. I’d also say that when Goff was playing well, he was as good as, or better than, Stafford. And that was basically for the Rams’ entire Super Bowl year and parts of all his other seasons.

Will Stafford upgrade and open up the offense? I’d bet on yes. But enough to lose Goff, and three draft picks, two of them being First Rounders? No. Not in a million years. They gave up enough to get an elite QB, DE, LT, Corner, etc. Top three, at least. That’s not Stafford. Stafford is good, not elite. And he’s not young. Give up a king’s ransom for a player, and he should be entering his prime, not looking at the back nine of his career, etc.

And the more we’re learning about the circumstances of this trade, the more it sounds like McVay’s idea all the way. So if it pans out, he rightfully gets credit. But if it doesn’t, we really don’t need to scramble around, trying to figure out who did what, etc. This is McVay’s baby — it appears — from start to finish.

Obviously, I hope he’s right about this.

Lotsa good comments from all of youze.

Mobility. From my memory of watching Stafford, and then double-checking his Combine staff, I’d bet Goff is actually more mobile, and has taken fewer hits.

Stafford does have the better arm. Possibly by a lot. But he’s also streaky, and can make dumb throws at times, like Goff.

I’m honestly not seeing enough of a difference to warrant the trade, even One for One. And the age difference is important, IMO. As mentioned, I’d do it if the Lions had given the Rams a pick. And, of course, to get that salary relief. But for two #Ones and a #Third?!?! No way on earth would this particular amateur GM do that. Not even . . .

When the moon is in the Seventh House
And Jupiter aligns with Mars

Not evah.

Hope I’m wrong. And cuz I have a good track record for that, I shouldn’t worry. But, when I read about the trade lastnight, I was shouting into the void all kinds of @#$%&! and @#$%&!. Luckily, I’ve learned Grawlix, so my neighbors couldn’t really tell.

I like Stafford’s game. He has arm talent is in excess of Goff’s. But, game in, game out, his track record is meh. Yeah, you can blame a lot of that on his surroundings. But not all of it.

If I had to choose between either QB for right now, I’d take Stafford. But he’ll turn 33 next month, so I wouldn’t choose him over Goff to “build a team around.” Goff turns 27 in October. I’m taking him for the future.

But what I find truly appalling is how much the Rams gave up in this trade. To me, it really should have been a one to one swap, at most. In fact, the Lions should have given the Rams a draft pick. Instead, the Rams made a trade, in terms of value given away, for a perennial All-Pro, in the top five, league-wise, at least. That’s not Stafford.

Dumb, dumb, dumb trade. And the Rams basically mortgaged their future on this one.

Just guessing: Goff has a confidence issue. You don’t motivate an insecure athlete by saying his status is insecure, especially in public. And if the idea is to get him to reduce his salary — so you can trade him — why would he do that? If he wants to stay with the Rams, why would he make it easier for the Rams to trade him — if that’s even possible? And, as others have mentioned, athletes don’t give back money, except in very rare scenarios. This is known, as Missandei would say.

Another guess: The Rams offense and Goff were at their best when they had the following:

1. A healthy Gurley to open up the passing game, cuz he scared the hell out of defenses. Rare athlete, with size and legit track speed.
2. A true vertical threat to open up the underneath passing game, especially for Woods and Kupp. Watkins and Cooks gave them that.
3. An O-line they could count on to protect Goff

The most generous way to look at the above, IMO, is that the Rams now lack two of three. Less than generous is that the O-line is too inconsistent to help Goff’s mental state.

To me, the Rams FO screwed up by paying Gurley and Goff too soon. It should be baked into the pie that football players get seriously hurt, and contracts need to reflect that. Running backs, especially. Running backs who come into the league with knee issues more than especially.

(I loved the Gurley pick, and rooted for him from Day One. He was the best running back in the league for at least two seasons, but it was never gonna last. The Rams FO should have taken its time and paid him when they needed to, not two years early. Same with Goff.)

Anyway . . . on balance, I’m good with the trajectory of this team, but I also think they’ve made some serious mistakes that were avoidable. Hope I’m wrong, but it looks like they may be at it again.

zn wrote:

Emory Hunt@FBallGameplan
What makes Eric Bienemy such a great coordinator, is his understanding of personnel. He thinks ‘players, not plays’ in critical situations. That’s a very tough thing for many coordinators to grasp

I would have thought every coach would know this.

As I’ve gotten older — and hopefully wiser — I’ve changed my mind a bit about the relative importance of coaching. Used to weight it far behind player talent. Not so anymore. I still think you win with superior athletic talent, and that it’s the most important factor, but that coaching talent is close.

But one aspect of that coaching talent has to be to recognize player talent and how to best utilize it — macro and micro-wise. Isn’t that fundamental and obvious?

What good is a play, a scheme, even a team philosophy, if the personnel is all wrong for it?

Syncronicity, harmony, meshing, blending, etc. etc.

Um, a drop box, in the middle of a pandemic, is sanity, rationality, and logic all wrapped up in a smart package, and easily supported by the Constitution.

Calling that “harvesting” is like calling the entire vote, for Trump or Biden, “harvesting.”

Of course, the real issue here is this: It was always about projection and confession by Trump and the GOP. It was always designed to create the false narrative that the Dems were trying to cheat, when, in reality, it was Trump and the Republicans engaging in the(ir usual) cheating, rigging, stealing.

Best defense is a good offense, etc. etc.

And as everyone here knows, the GOP has been doing this for generations. Set up a “voter fraud commission,” whenever they’re in power, try to cover for their own cheating, and put the Dems back on their heels. In no case has their own commission ever found any substantial fraud. The most recent, massive non-partisan study, which looked at all votes cast between 2000 and 2014, came up with something like 30 votes, total. Out of roughly a billion.

Goddess, I despise right-wing politics and parties!!

How Biden’s executive order could reduce hunger today — and long after the pandemic is over

Excerpt:

Opinion by
Catherine Rampell
Columnist
Jan. 23, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EST

Stories of deep, pervasive hunger have been among the more disturbing undercurrents of the past year. Food lines stretch for miles. About 29 million U.S. adults — nearly 14 percent of the adult population — said last month that their household sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the previous seven days, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse Survey. The shares are even higher among Blacks, Latinos and households with children.

Congress has temporarily increased food assistance over the past year in response to the coronavirus pandemic, but the benefits are still not sufficient. Even with Congress’s temporary increases, for example, the average food stamp recipient still receives only $2.30 per person, per meal, according to estimates from Dottie Rosenbaum, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (Before the pandemic, the average benefit was closer to just $1.40 per person, per meal; without changes to law or administration policy, it would be slated to return to this level once the public health emergency ends.)

On Friday, however, President Biden took some important steps toward relieving this hardship. As part of an executive order on economic relief, Biden set in motion three major changes to food assistance programs.

Joseph-Day has impressed me. I think they hit on that late pick. I know he hates his new nickname, but it kinda fits. Seabass has game. I like Brockers, too.

It shouldn’t be that tough to transition, really. But they’re still going to need to bring in some youngins, cuz Brockers will turn 31 in season, and Donald will be 30. Got some yute if they keep Williams, who fits the hogmolly mode, kinda. Don’t really know what they have in Gaines yet.

You can never have too much talent at D-line.

That’s what initially drew me to the Rams in the first place, back in the 1960s. The Fearsome Foursome. I want them to get that all back, updated for 2021!

If I have the LDE and RDE rolls reversed, I can blame it all on lack of coffee. And, well, age.

;>)

Agamemnon wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

Did the Rams receive any compensation for losing Staley?

I’m not exactly clear about the new NFL policy.

I believe compensation is for minorities. A strategy to get more jobs for them.

Thanks.

Sounds like a good program. So if the Rams hire Morris, Atlanta likely receives comp, right?

Since it’s not a subtraction from teams, but an addition from a separate pool, there is no incentive to deny access to coaches . . . if I understand it correctly.

Again, I like it.

Does anyone doubt that if Obama and Dem enablers had done this, that if the shoe had been entirely on the other foot, they would have been arrested immediately? With the full support of the GOP as well?

I don’t.

And I honestly think Trump should have been arrested on January 6th, along with Giuliani, Gosar, Brooks and Cawthorne, and anyone else who was involved in whipping up the violent mob — whipping up the mob into violence.

To me, this isn’t at all about “free speech,” or “protected political speech,” and I don’t see it as a civil liberties issue, either. IMNSHO, when you incite violence, and this is all based on lies, you have to be held to account.

Fair trial, impartial jury, no kangaroo courts. But you get a taste of your own beloved “law and order,” at least.