The Chargers are missing one of the premiere edge rushers in the game, their starting right tackle, a good young tight end, and Corey Liuget who a couple of years ago was really solid on the interior d-line. He had a foot injury and his stats have been unimpressive the last 2 years so I don’t know what kind of player he is now.

It’s tough to miss all of those players and still compete with one of the best teams in the NFL (which is what almost everyone thinks the Rams are).

I see a game where the Rams have a sizable lead going into the 4th quarter. I also thought the Cards game last week would be a physical, division game that stayed kinda close. Then the Rams went out and blew the Cards away. So what do I know??

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Cal.

Try this link. You’ll have to check a couple of boxes and hit the “retrieve data” button.

https://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpswktab1.htm

Finding the link, I noticed the data is based on “full time jobs”. That may explain the difference between what I saw in the data and the info you’ve seen.

I subjected myself to watching about half of that interview with Giuliani and was amazed at how much the interviewer sucked.

If the media didn’t suck so bad, Trump would be getting his butt kicked by the Mueller investigation more than he already is.

Giuliani said something about the Mueller investigation being illegitimate because Comey leaked classified info to create a special counsel. And, of course, there were no follow up questions about whether Comey would be arrested if he really did something illegal.

There were no follow up questions about what happened to Trump’s belief in transparency.

There were no follow up questions about what vital information was released in the Comey memo.

I don’t watch much news, but I’ve not heard anyone question the Trump people about when this informant/spy started talking to Page, Papadopolous, etc.

The democrats, in general, don’t do a good job of holding Trump accountable. They should mention almost every time they’re on tv that Trump was off with a porn star with a 4 month old baby at home.

Jeezus that’s a dark perspective.

But he gets a lot right from my view. I tend to worry more about America’s demise stemming from the increasing debt and costs associated with Social Security and Medicare when America doesn’t have a solid foundation of good jobs to support the country’s needs.

And Climate Change. What do we do when/if climate change presents more and more challenges?

On a different note, as I was driving to work behind a co-worker with a “Hillary for jail” & “Retired Coast Guard” I couldn’t help but think about something Gandhi said.

“Everywhere wars are fought and millions of people are killed. The consequence is not the progress of a nation but its decline…Pride makes a victorious nation bad-tempered. It falls into luxurious ways of living. Then for a time, it may be conceded, peace prevails. But after a short while, it comes more and more to be realized that the seeds of war have not been destroyed but have become a thousand times more nourished and mighty. No country has ever become, or will ever become, happy through victory in war. A nation does not rise that way; it only falls further. In fact, what comes to it is defeat, not victory.”

I wonder how many military members are Trump supporters. Almost all of the people who are in the military really like trump.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 12 months ago by Cal.

But what are those policies, Cal?

I paid very close attention to Trump during the campaign, and he never spelled them out for anyone. And I would ask his supporters what they were, and they couldn’t answer, other than to say Make America Great Again.

If he does get credit for the economy, it will likely only be among the people who would vote for him anyway, and he’ll get it from them without ever revealing exactly what he’s done to “earn” that credit.

I have no interest in defending Trump. But what I would like to do is have an accurate picture of the conditions in our country.

How would you explain the fact that an important industry saw a small retraction in 8 of the 12 months before Trump AND then reversed course and saw significant growth in 12 of the 13 months after Trump took office?

Is that just a coincidence? Maybe, the economy does seem a bit mercurial to me.

But i know–and I think you do too–what Republicans will say.

And they have a damn good argument too.

Here’s a link to an interview from the time of the discussions about the tax cuts that underscores the arguments that Republicans will be making in the mid-terms if the trends in job growth continue.

https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace/11162017

By my math, the US spent 560 billion on safety net programs (SNAP, EIC, Medicaid, TANF, HUD) in 2016.

We spent 2.4 Trillion on everything besides medicare and social security, which should be paid for with payroll taxes. See my link to wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget#/media/File:CBO_Infographic_2016.png

So, about 1/5 of the budget, apart from medicare and social security costs, went to supporting the safety net.

Based on that graphic from Occupy Democrats, I would have paid 200 bucks in taxes if 1/5 of my taxes went to supporting the safety net. I paid a helluva lot more than that last year. And I’m probably unusual in that I can claim 3 kids.

I’m not against helping the poor. I’m just arguing that the system is broken and conservatives who complain about an over sized safety net have a point.

This country needs to do a better job of providing poor people with good paying jobs.

waterfield wrote:

We have far better and more accurate ways of identifying people in need today than 50 years ago. I say that’s a good thing not a bad thing.

Maybe that explains the growing safety net, but I don’t thinks so.

The amount the US pays for SNAP has tripled since 2000 and doubled since 2007. Our ability to identify people who need help hasn’t grown that much since 2007.

I’ve not investigated this, but I’d guess we’d find the same trend for WIC, EIC, Medicaid, etc.

I would guess the increasing cost of helping poor people can be linked to Wal-Mart and McDonald’s trends in America. Instead of decent paying full time jobs, people now are forced to work at Wal Mart and make 10 bucks an hour.

As a result, Wal Mart owners and execs are billionaires and millionaires while the US tallies a bigger and bigger debt for my kids’ future in order to save poor people from abject poverty.

I think Bernie might have put forth a version of this argument in 2016.

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by Cal.

While I don’t have any sympathy for wealthy people who complain about paying taxes, as a middle class person trying to raise three kids I am sympathetic to Trump voters who complain about big government.

Trump voters complain about a government that year after year runs big deficits partly because of a social safety net that has grown by billions and billions of dollars since the 70’s.

Yes, it’s important to help lift people out of poverty. But something seems broken at this point.

Schools are a mess.
Young people incur massive debt getting a college education.
Health care is a mess.
The economy is supposed to be strong and running smoothly but it seems broken.

I can understand people who are pissed off, tired of paying taxes, and what to get theirs before this ship goes down.

It’s not a smart, rational response but I understand the emotional appeal behind giving a big F U to the system.

All that said, I hate Trump. At this point I would pay to see someone call him lying sack of dog shit in a nationally televised debate if he makes it to the next election.

I love what the Rams did this weekend. Snead stayed away from the Auburn players and I really think he kicked the rest of the league’s ass.

I’ve always been envious of 3-4 teams who can pick up guys who are a little too small that turn into pass rush terrors. I think the Rams did just that with Obo.

I’m really impressed with the first 3 defensive players that Snead took. They all have athletic numbers and were really productive in college. The Franklin kid didn’t play in a big conference but he was still put up some nice stats.

Someone, I think it was Pat Kirwan, wrote an article about how explosive players have a score of 70 if you combine the vertical, bench press, and broad jump. An elite athlete like Donald registered a score of 77.

Here’s Obo & Franklin:
Franklin-Myers: 69
Obo: 75

And Kiser outperformed Ogletree on EVERY combine test, except the broad jump.

I really wouldn’t be surprised to see any of those 3 defensive guys step in this year and make good plays. All 3 of them seem like they could help provide the foundation of a 3-4 defense for a good bit.

Noteboom’s quick feet are really impressive when I watched a little of his play on youtube. That quickness is verified by his short shuttle (which should be .5 seconds slower than the 40 time for players who have good quickness.)

Noteboom put up a sub 5.00 40 time, which seems to be important for LOT prospects, & backed that up with a 4.44 in the short shuttle. For comparison’s sake, GRob’s 40 time was 4.92 but his shuttle was 4.86.

Noteboom also looked really good in space on a play or two from his bowl game. It’s easy to see him making some plays in the screens that the Rams were successful with last year.

I have no idea about the center, but he seems a little small. We’ll see about him.

The interest in Crosby suggests the Rams will seek a trade down. I can’t see a player like Crosby lasting until round 3. He was the Pac-12 o-lineman of the year & had solid numbers at the combine.

Crosby, in fact, sounds a lot like Whitworth–big, physical tackles who had good college careers but were viewed as sub-par athletes for the position. Whitworth played guard his first two years in the league.

I like the moves. I was a never fan of Ogletree and think the Rams should be able to find someone to match his production this offseason.

A couple of LBs I wouldn’t mind seeing the Rams sign next week: Nigel Bradham and Trent Murphy.

Bradham impressed me playing inside for the Eagles after they lost a couple lbs last year. He could probably match Ogletree’s production and wouldn’t cost too much.

Trent Murphy is an interesting replacement for Quinn. In his 3rd and best year, he had 9 sacks and 3 forced fumbles with Washington–so McVay and Joe Barry should know him–in 2016. He missed all of last year with an ACL he tore in August.

Campbell makes a lot of sense as the DPoY to me, too. He’s had a great year with 14.5 sacks, a td, and anchoring a playoff defense.

Donald isn’t even in the top 5 for sacks this year. Has a D-lineman ever won DPoY without being in the top 5 for sacks?

I’d love to see Gurley get the MVP. I hope the voters don’t hold that bad fumble against Seattle against TGII.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Cal.

InvaderRam wrote:

i just want to say one thing about this. i do think goff has to be more mindful of situations. the rams had a lead. protecting the ball was of utmost importance.

still.

to put this in perspective.

on the season.

goff 418 pass attempts 5 fumbles 2 lost

other qbs.

tom brady 438 pass attempts 7 fumbles 3 lost
matt ryan 417 pass attempts 4 fumbles 3 lost
drew brees 442 pass attempts 4 fumbles 0 lost
carson wentz 440 pass attempts 9 fumbles 3 lost

I was begging for McVay to run the football there. The OC also has a lot of responsibility for protecting the ball, playing it a little safe, and protecting the lead. Especially when you have a young, inexperienced QB like Goff.

The other lost fumble, fwiw, came against Seattle in the 4th quarter when McVay dialed up 47 Goff passes and 14 Gurley runs even though the Rams only trailed by 3 with 3 minutes left in that game.

I hope someone sits McVay down and has him watch the last quarter of last year’s super bowl and Russell Wilson’s int on the goal line against the Pats in SB 49.

Deadpool nails Gurley as a size and speed back. But then he neglects that we saw Gurley’s speed in 2015 AFTER his injury. Gurley already showed that his ACL injury didn’t affect his speed and acceleration in his rookie year.

I thought he looked like he had good acceleration on a couple of his touches against the Colts. And he showed his size and power on that 5 yard td run. That was a good run.

That’s who Gurley is for me–he’s a good back, but he’s not the same caliber as SJ39.

Those 2 videos mainly show Brown is a JAG. In the first video by Mike Martz’s buddy, Jonathan Hankins (95 for the Colts) looks like he’s in control of Brown when Gurley gets the ball. I’m not sure there would have been a hole between Have and Brown if Gurley went that way. I thought Gurley made a good decision to barrel ahead and try to pick up 1 yard.

I’d add that on the next play, Gurley went outside and picked up 14 yards although Havenstein was called for holding.

By my math, if you don’t take away that run–his best one for the day–and you take away a run for -6 yards in the second half, Gurley has 60 yards for the day. That’s not bad for 3 quarters worth work.

If McVay and Kromer can just get some decent run blocking out of this offense, we’ll see more 100 yard games. That could be a tough task. There’s not a lot of talent on the ol–I noticed Wichmann didn’t make a roster and was added to the Jags practice squad. Brown is a questionable starter, Everett will probably never be a good blocking tight end, and I saw some weak plays from Sullivan on Sunday.

On Gurley’s worst run of the day, the 6 yard loss, Sullivan pulled, but was not able to reach the lb who nearly met Gurley when he got the ball. I think part of Sullivan’s failure was Everett’s chip on the lb at the los. Everett makes very little contact and allows the lb to attack Gurley.

Sullivan was also too slow to reach a block on a lb on a screen/dump-off to Gurley in the first half. Untouched the lb got a running start and was able to trip Gurley up just shy of a 1st on 3rd & 7.

I am still curious and still would like you to talk about the bad arguments that you hear Ag.

I had assumed that most people who knew something about global warming and weren’t employed by Exxon accepted global warming. It’s a very intuitive or maybe common sense theory. If you put tons of carbon particles in the air, there will be some type of impact. That’s Newton’s first law: for every action there’s an equal but opposite reaction.

I know though from my limited exposure to science that the world doesn’t always operate by rules that are intuitive. Light acts as both a particle and wave, a large percentage of the mass of the universe is made of material that we can’t see. So I am genuinely intrigued when you say that people are making bad arguments about this issue. I am constantly surprised by how many bad arguments I hear from professionals and “experts”.

And I am willing to listen and do a little reading because global warming isn’t issue that I’ve really examined before.

Can we start here? Do you believe NOAA when they say that 2016 is the warmest year ever recorded? Do you believe scientists who say that the ice caps are melting because of the warming?