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My view is completely different. My analogy (dueling analogies all over the internet on this) is…oh….a bear. In a cage. With a sign. “Dont poke the bear, it has nuclear weapons.” And Mr Nato Countries comes along and pokes the bear. Repeatedly. And the bear warns Mr Nato Countries repeatedly. And…more poking.
The bear than decides to erupt. Yes its a specific decision by the bear.
No, he doesnt ‘have’ to erupt. But do i only blame the bear? Nah, I blame both.
Wouldn’t a better metaphor be–your dumb ass, drunken buffoon of a neighbor buys a big old pit bull. He, of course, treats the dog like shit and doesn’t train it.
One day, the dog gets out and bites your daughter in the face. You get to spend a whole day in the ER, your daughter has a scar on her face for the rest of her life, and when you call the cops they don’t do shit.
You put up a fence and tell your neighbor if you see his dog in your yard you’re going to shoot it. He spends the next decade pissing on your fence in front of your 8 year old daughter before one day he tears it down and has a bunch of his buddies attack you.
This analogy is getting unwieldy here, but you get the point, right?
Yes, NATO expanded before Putin ever came to power. But was that because the west coerced countries like Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, etc. or because those countries lived with corrupt Soviet control for years and felt legitimately threatened by their large, nuclear power neighbor who had a history of expanding its borders with imperialistic zeal?
The only means of security and independence for some of those countries is nuclear weapons or joining NATO.
This seems like an easy choice to me.
Heck the Rams used disguised coverages expertly against Brady in the superbowl and that was the first postseason game where the Brady Patriots were held to 13 (or fewer) points since 2012. Previous to that it was 2005.
Brady also suffered from a serious lack of talent around him. In 2019, he threw for only 24 tds compared to 40+ this year with the Bucs talented receivers.
I found this whole part of the article from one “team source” puzzling.
“Goff struggled to recognize coverage disguises and didn’t consistently identify coverage post snap as the play developed. When a defense ran Cover 0 with no safeties deep, his decision-making process often didn’t happen quickly enough to hit the big play.
“As a quarterback, you can’t lose games,” a team source said. “We just needed him to manage it and do his part.””
McVay’s plan often this year was to put the ball in Goff’s hands. I distinctly remember McVay attacking the Bears and the Bucs with Goff and the passing game. That plan worked in those two games. McVay approached the Miami game the same way, but that didn’t work at all.
The problem for the Rams is that they don’t have anyone that truly scares defenses AND the o-line is average at best. There are NO, ZERO, pro-bowl players to place around the qb, aside from the 39 year old LT.
Even the Lions have a couple of pro-bowl players. If you want to punish teams for blitzing or loading the box, you need a Gurley, Cooks, or Sammy Watkins to make some big plays.
The Rams still don’t have that. And they still have an average o-line with a 33 year old qb who prides himself on being tough enough to take hits so that he can make plays down the field.
This really seems like a bad plan for the future. Kind of like expecting John wolford to step in play like Drew Brees. I wonder what happened to the team’s excitement for “Baby Brees”?
this should be real interesting.
we always talk about how much a system makes a player. and how much the player makes the system.
nature vs nurture even.
the story is this is a super talented qb not just physically. but mentally he’s got what you want in a pro qb as well. he’s just been stuck in a crappy situation.
how does he do when he’s got all that support around him? not just players but a system that should maximize his talents.
i’m interested to see how it goes.
I’m expecting some head scratching moments from Stafford. Watch some highlights of the Lions games.
He may be good at analyzing the D pre-snap, but once the action starts Stafford is tough and wants to make plays, but he can press & make mistakes. Sound familiar?
In the opening game of last year, with the Lions ahead against the Bears Stafford took a bad sack that resulted in a 57 yard fg that the Lions missed, of course.
On the next possession with like 3 minutes left, Stafford threw late over the middle into the middle of two Bears. The ball bounced in the air and the Bears grabbed the int to take over in Lions territory.
Stafford DID lead an impressive last minute drive. The Lions rookie rb, of course, dropped a good pass that should have been the game-winning td. I don’t know if I’ve seen a Rams loss like that, ever. Man, it would be hard to be a Lions fan.
Anyways, from what I’ve seen, Stafford is a guy who will take chances trying to make plays & he will make mistakes. I don’t see how a 33 year old qb changes at this point of his career, especially playing behind the Rams o-line.
“I’m not going to sit here and beat my own drum, but I have a lot of pride in being able to be resilient, to have that as a part of my makeup. We had so many great times here, and then there were times that I did have to dig deep, be a man about it, and handle things the right way. I think I did that.”
Ha! That’s a nice closing shot from Goff. I will definitely be rooting for him next year.
McVay looks like a real dick after this and has moved into the territory of Jeff Fisher here for me. Even without his 7-9 Bullshit, Fisher wasn’t easy to root for.
And, Fisher, of course, wasn’t very good at leading a winning NFL franchise. I feel like McVay is going down the same road if he feels that substituting Stafford for Goff makes the Rams a legit super bowl contender. Giving a coach too much control over personnel is always tricky. The Rams might be giving McVay too much here.
This quote from the Peter King article and some of the rhetoric about this team as legit Super Bowl contenders from the talking heads baffles me:
McVay said “It’s not about winning the trade. It’s about winning the Super Bowl.”After this trade, I’m finding it hard to root for a McVay-led team.
I’ve watched 3 or 4 Lions game highlights on Youtube from the last couple of years just out of curiosity.
In those games (Bears 1st game, Colts, Saints) Stafford makes some back-breaking mistakes. He’s a guy who takes some bad sacks and throws some bad ints trying to make plays.
I don’t know if this Rams team with just a decent o-line and pretty good weapons is going to suddenly elevate Stafford to that top level of qbs. The idea that the Rams are a serious super bowl contender after this trade seems real iffy to me.
Stafford was on pace to have one of his best seasons last year before he missed the last half of the season. Stafford was on pace for 38 tds and 10 ints in his first year with Bevell, Russell Wilson’s old OC, as his OC.
Looking at this post season and the teams in the championships game, I wonder if having some dynamic players at the skill positions is essential today. The Chiefs have Hill, the Bucs have Evans & Godwin, the Bills have Diggs, and the Packers had Adams.
I don’t think the Rams have anyone close to that level.
It is just crumbs compared to what we spend on our war fund. I think the WaPo article estimated that this program would cost 120 billion a year.
But still. 300 bucks a month for a mom working at Wal-Mart for $12 / hour is a big deal.
My wife recently got a raise that will give her an extra $500 per month and we regarded this as life changing.
A few hundred bucks a month is a big deal. That can be the difference between renting a home and owning your own home.
I don’t completely understand how the program will work, but it sounds like it might be used to target America’s working poor instead of the middle class. And I thought that was impressive.
As bad as the Dems are, you can bet there will be NO Republicans who would support this type of program.
I love Floyd (Pink & Leonard) and he is great for this system.
But he still doesn’t look like a typical pass rusher to me. I think he would be disappointing for most teams. It will be interesting to see what kind of contract he gets this off season.
Fowler, btw, underwhelmed with THREE sacks in 14 games this year!
Biden a socialist? I have conservative friends tell me that. And a few are not dumb. I watch interviews of these anarchists in D.C. and its like ” we won’t let Biden turn this country into “socialism”. Then I come here and its like Biden is no different than a free market capitalist.
It is no wonder to me that, from a political standpoint, we are so far apart in our views. You guys here must laugh when you hear Trump supporters yell about Biden and his band of socialists.
I just can’t figure this stuff out anymore.
A couple things about the Republican nonsense about socialism and Biden pop into my head.
1. I wonder if that was the GOP plan for attacking the Dems after watching the Democratic debates and the first couple of primaries. Many Dems were / are proposing a massive increase in the size of government–free college, Medicare For All, pay off student loans, etc.
Yes, that’s still not socialism, but that is a massive increase in the role of government. Maybe the GOP just got stuck in that rut of attacking the Dems after watching the beginning of the Democratic nomination process.
It would have been interesting to see how Bernie or Warren instead of Biden would have done against Trump.
2. The socialism nonsense is still kind of effective. It wasn’t a good national strategy against Biden, but it seems like it may have worked in South Florida with the anti-Castro and anti-Chavez immigrants.
And the election was still pretty close. Georgia, Arizona, Wisconsin, and PA were still pretty close. If not for the black turnout (Thank you Kamala?) would Biden have won this election?
3. Democrats suck at countering the Republican message about socialism. I don’t watch much mainstream news, but I am pretty sure that the Democrats don’t do this.
Dems should be constantly telling middle class voters in my age range (40s and 30s)something like this:
“Republicans will NOT protect the thousands and thousands of dollars that your generation has put into social security. Social Security is socialism to Republicans and Trump and your money will be gone in 20 years if they continue to help lead our country.”
I don’t think Democrats ever say anything like that because they suck.
I am very curious to see what happens to the Trump rioters. I seriously doubt most of those fools will see serious prison time. Biden and Merrick Garland (I assume he will take the lead on the prosecutions) will probably talk about the nation coming together or some nonsense. We’ll see.
This is the best discussion that I have seen so far of serious charges that should be applied to hundreds of people who stormed the Capitol.
From the Detroit Free Press
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/01/06/us-capitol-breach-sedition-legal-expert-says/6571725002/On the high end, charges of civil disorder, interfering with law enforcement, or inciting a riot could all be possible, up to seditious conspiracy — a federal charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison, he said.
That latter charge seemed most appealing to two professors of Western Michigan University’s Cooley Law School.
It reads:
“If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
The phrase “delay the execution of the law” is key, and what was seen from some of the Trump supporters Wednesday, said Devin Schindler, a law professor who once clerked for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“For at least some of these protesters, particularly the ones that broke into the Capitol, I think there’s an extraordinarily strong case that they used force to delay, to hinder, the execution of our laws governing the election and how electoral votes are counted,” he said. “It seems fairly clear to me, based on what we’re seeing, that folks are in fact, almost textbook violating this seditious conspiracy statute by using force to interfere with lawful government activity.”
Though people on Twitter were levying the term “treason,” he and Schneider both agreed the charge didn’t quite fit with what is known, because treason requires the involvement of enemies to the U.S.
Retired Brig.Gen. Michael McDaniel, associate dean for the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law School, too, pointed to sedition as a key possible charge in the case, after possible lesser charges.
He also said the defense might be difficult; First Amendment protections aren’t in play once a break-in occurs.
The idea of “sedition” has changed, he said, pointing to the version President John Adams used against his political opponents. It’s been narrowed by the courts in the present day.
He also raised concern for a different federal charge of rebellion or insurrection, which could carry a sentence of 10 years in prison, and Trump’s words at the rally earlier in the day.
“Remember it’s got to be ‘against the authority of the United States,’” he said, using the language of the law. “So a really interesting question to pose to my law students later on this week is whether or not the president’s speech … was inciting them to violence against the authority of the government of the United States.”
Depending on that answer, given the president’s role, another impeachment would perhaps be more appropriate than a charge, he said.
There likely won’t be any court action quickly on the events of the day, Michael Traugott, a professor emeritus of communication studies and political science and research professor emeritus at the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan, said. There will be jurisdiction issues, even among which agencies will be doing investigations.
_____________________________________________Are you lefties in favor of serious jail time for nearly all of those fools who stormed the Capitol? Or is that too draconian?
