My guy Doc Rivers – for the win… pic.twitter.com/cNyefukcVD

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) August 26, 2020

10 Observations from the Rams’ Aug. 25 training camp practice

Stu Jackson

https://www.therams.com/news/10-observations-aug-25-training-camp-practice

After each practice of Rams Training Camp presented by UNIFY Financial Credit Union, Rams staff writer Stu Jackson will share 10 observations from the session. Here are his notes from Tuesday, Aug. 25.

1) Another clutch play from cornerback Jalen Ramsey in training camp. The former Florida State star nabbed a one-handed interception off a Jared Goff pass intended for rookie wide receiver Van Jefferson in the endzone and ran it all the way back, tossing the ball to defensive tackle Aaron Donald just before the goal line. Donald then somersaulted into the endzone to celebrate.

2) Speaking of Jefferson, he picked up where he left off from Saturday’s scrimmage, getting more reps with the first team offense. He made a nice play during the 2-minute drill portion of practice, hauling in a first down catch from Goff inside the 15 after Goff escaped pressure in the pocket.

3) Goff’s ability to maneuver a collapsing pocket is something he has been working in practice with offensive coordinator Kevin O’Connell, today included.

4) Defensive back Nick Scott had another strong moment in practice today, recording an interception during 11-on-11 drills on a John Wolford pass attempt. Unofficially, it’s his second takeaway of training camp after posting a forced fumble last week.

5) Practice ended with another takeaway by the secondary, as rookie defensive back Tyrique McGhee intercepted a pass in the endzone on the ensuing series after Ramsey’s pick. It was the group’s fourth overall – in addition to Ramsey, McGhee and Scott’s picks, cornerback Adonis Alexander had a fumble recovery at the end of 11-on-11 drills.

6) On a positive note for the offense, Goff and wide receiver Robert Woods were clicking during earlier portions of 11-on-11 work. The two connected for a pair of completions into tight windows, giving Goff enough confidence to try a deep sideline pass to Woods with Ramsey in coverage, though the pass fell incomplete.

7) Overall, it was a good day for the defensive reserves, as indicated by takeaways from Scott, Alexander and McGhee.

8) As some of the observations may indicate, Wolford got quite a bit of work during 11-on-11 drills against starters and reserves. It makes sense, though, as O’Connell said earlier this month that he will get a lot of those types of opportunities.

9) Outside linebacker Terrell Lewis showed off the length of his 6-foot-5 frame, breaking up a Goff pass near the line of scrimmage. during 11-on-11 work.

10) Running back Darrell Henderson Jr. (hamstring) did not participate in practice today. McVay said after practice that he had “no update” on Henderson’s status.

And remember – Jacob Blake was shot 7-times in the back – in front of his children… #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/ZQqNVbTKGg

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) August 25, 2020

from https://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/41882/terrell-lewis-among-rams-rookies-that-have-made-strong-early-impressions

on Terrell Lewis

Since arriving at practices, Lewis has joined an outside linebacker rotation that includes projected starters Samson Ebukam and Leonard Floyd, as well as Ogbonnia Okoronkwo, Natrez Patrick and Jachai Polite.

“He’s everything and then some more,” Ebukam said about Lewis, emphasizing his length and other physical attributes.

“He’s looked good the last three days in practice and has got a long way to go,” McVay added. “But you definitely see the flashes.”

Pete Prisco@PriscoCBS
Watch out for the Cardinals this year. Can be a playoff team — even in a tough division.

Jon Machota@jonmachota
Cowboys kicker Greg Zuerlein is now 18 for 18 on his field goal attempts in training camp. All have been indoors. He hit today from 33, 37, 40, 42, 44, 46

Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
Yeah well is his name as fun to pronounce as Lirim Hajrullahu? I think not.

=

Bucky Brooks@BuckyBrooks
Despite the narrative, safeties are increasingly considered marquee players on defense. Controlling the MOF is one of the top priorities on defense. Safeties w/cover skills, versatility and solid tackling ability in and around the box are game changers.

==

Russell Lande@RUSSLANDE
One way you can tell if the football team/organization has issues is when both sides, coaching and personnel, are constantly blaming each other for the lack of success on the field as opposed to working together to address issues that both sides may have to improve.

from Facebook

Former President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, has a message for people who are excusing President Trump’s racism:

“I had fully intended to ignore President Trump’s latest round of racially charged taunts against an African American elected official, and an African American activist, and an African American journalist and a whole city with a lot of African Americans in it.
I had every intention of walking past Trump’s latest outrages and writing about the self-destructive squabbling of the Democratic presidential field…
But I made the mistake of pulling James Cone’s ‘The Cross and the Lynching Tree’ off my shelf — a book designed to shatter convenient complacency.
Cone recounts the case of a white mob in Valdosta, Ga., in 1918 that lynched an innocent man named Haynes Turner. Turner’s enraged wife, Mary, promised justice for the killers. The sheriff responded by arresting her and then turning her over to the mob, which included women and children. According to one source, Mary was ‘stripped, hung upside down by the ankles, soaked with gasoline, and roasted to death. In the midst of this torment, a white man opened her swollen belly with a hunting knife and her infant fell to the ground and was stomped to death.’
God help us.
It is hard to write the words.
This evil — the evil of white supremacy, resulting in dehumanization, inhumanity and murder — is the worst stain, the greatest crime, of U.S. history. It is the thing that nearly broke the nation. It is the thing that proved generations of Christians to be vicious hypocrites. It is the thing that turned normal people into moral monsters, capable of burning a grieving widow to death and killing her child.
When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020.
It is a cause for shame. It is the violation of martyrs’ graves. It is obscene graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial. It is, in the eyes of history, the betrayal — the re-betrayal — of Haynes and Mary Turner and their child.
And all of this is being done by an ignorant and arrogant narcissist reviving racist tropes for political gain, indifferent to the wreckage he is leaving, the wounds he is ripping open.
Like, I suspect, many others, I am finding it hard to look at resurgent racism as just one in a series of presidential offenses or another in a series of Republican errors. Racism is not just another wrong.
The Antietam battlefield is not just another plot of ground. The Edmund Pettus Bridge is not just another bridge. The balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel is not just another balcony. As U.S. history hallows some causes, it magnifies some crimes.
What does all this mean politically? It means that Trump’s divisiveness is getting worse, not better. He makes racist comments, appeals to racist sentiments and inflames racist passions. The rationalization that he is not, deep down in his heart, really a racist is meaningless.
Trump’s continued offenses mean that a large portion of his political base is energized by racist tropes and the language of white grievance. And it means — whatever their intent — that those who play down, or excuse, or try to walk past these offenses are enablers.
Some political choices are not just stupid or crude.
They represent the return of our country’s cruelest, most dangerous passion.
Such racism indicts Trump. Treating racism as a typical or minor matter indicts us.”

2,000-year-old redwoods survive wildfire at California’s oldest state park
Though feared destroyed, most of the ancient trees at Big Basin Redwoods State Park withstood the blaze.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-000-year-old-redwoods-survive-wildfire-california-s-oldest-n1237949?cid=sm_npd_ms_fb_ma&fbclid=IwAR3x4c3l6NV0_RINmIBmOTe0mUPYCfMdMiWc8czz4HI367JGnxG-02CcsfY

Jonathan Lemire@JonLemire
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Father of a Black man shot by Kenosha, Wisconsin, police tells Chicago Sun-Times that son is paralyzed from waist down.

Olayemi, Esq.@msolurin
Jacob Blake wasn’t committing any crime. Instead of asking why he didn’t comply, ask why an officer who was called to the scene for 2 white women fighting somehow shifted his attention to this Black man, drew his gun on him, and shot him 7 times in the back.

For the record: original reports were stating that officers were called to the scene for 2 white women fighting + recent reporting has just stated women fighting, no specification as to race. Regardless, the question remains. He shouldn’t have become a focus + we know why he did

Jacob Blake wasn’t committing any crime. Instead of asking why he didn’t comply, ask why an officer who was called to the scene for 2 white women fighting somehow shifted his attention to this Black man, drew his gun on him, and shot him 7 times in the back.

There was no reason for an officer to be stopping him, there was no reason for a gun to be drawn on him, there was no reason he should’ve been given orders to have to comply with.

Centrists during primary: “We cannot vote for Bernie because the Republicans will call him a socialist.”

Every Republican Tonight: “@JoeBiden is a socialist.”#RNCConvention2020

— Ryan Knight 🌹 (@ProudSocialist) August 25, 2020

The police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black Wisconsin father, explained
The shooting put Blake in serious condition and launched a night of civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

https://www.vox.com/2020/8/24/21399690/jacob-blake-police-shooting-wisconsin

A police officer shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man, in the back seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin — a city 40 miles south of Milwaukee — on Sunday evening.

A video circulating on social media, which has now been viewed more than 5 million times, captured the incident, showing Blake being shot at close range as he attempted to enter a vehicle.

On Monday, the Wisconsin Department of Justice released a statement saying the shooting occurred as Kenosha officers were responding to a reported domestic incident. It is unclear who was involved in the domestic dispute and how Blake is connected to it, and available video offers little evidence about what took place in the minutes before the shooting. Blake was taken to a Milwaukee hospital, where he remained in serious condition Monday.

The officers involved in the shooting have been placed on administrative leave. The state Justice Department is leading an investigation into the incident alongside Wisconsin State Patrol and the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office. The state DOJ says it will submit its findings to a prosecutor within 30 days, who will determine whether to press any charges.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers addressed the shooting in a statement Sunday, writing, “While we do not have all of the details yet, what we know for certain is that he is not the first Black man or person to have been shot or injured or mercilessly killed at the hands of individuals in law enforcement in our state or our country.”

National figures have offered their thoughts as well. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden responded to the shooting on Monday afternoon. “The nation wakes up yet again with grief and outrage that yet another Black American is a victim of excessive force. This calls for an immediate, full and transparent investigation and the officers must be held accountable,” Biden said. “These shots pierce the soul of our nation.”

The shooting comes amid ongoing demonstrations against police brutality and protests advocating for Black Americans, like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who have been killed at the hands of police officers.

International protests erupted in late May after Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, and Blake’s shooting set off demonstrations in Kenosha late Sunday night as large crowds of protesters gathered outside of a local police precinct and courthouse, demanding that the police officers be held accountable for the shooting.

Videos on social media showed protests that included garbage trucks being set on fire, windows of buildings at and near the courthouse being smashed, and crowds clashing with police dressed in riot gear. Other accounts show that an entire car lot and building were burned down during the night. This activity prompted county officials to institute a curfew until 7 am Monday.

As protests carry on, about 125 members of the Wisconsin National Guard are also expected to be deployed in Kenosha on Monday evening, the governor said at an afternoon press conference. The county has set a curfew from 8 pm Monday until 7 am Tuesday and plans to use the military officials to protect city infrastructure from vandalism and looting after Evers declared a state of emergency.

Blake’s shooting only sharpens the calls of protesters who say Americans must continue to take to the streets to fight the harmful cycle of police brutality. The protests have put pressure on lawmakers across the country to defund the police. However, in Wisconsin, where there have been several high-profile police shootings of Black men in recent years, lawmakers are already pushing back on a package of police reforms.

Police were called to the scene of a domestic incident at 5:11 pm on Sunday in the Wilson Heights neighborhood of Kenosha, according to a police report. It is unclear who made the call to police.

Before the shooting occurred, Blake was trying to break up a “verbal altercation” between two women just after 5 pm, several witnesses told Kenosha News. Witnesses also told the publication that Blake was unarmed. Officials have not yet confirmed these details.

In the video of the incident, Blake can be seen wearing a white tank top and black shorts. The video starts with Blake walking around the front a gray van, coming from the passenger’s side, and heading toward the driver’s side. Four officers are visible at the beginning of the video; two of them follow closely behind Blake.

The two officers have their firearms pointed at Blake’s back. Many people can be heard yelling. As Blake opens the driver-side door, one officer snatches the tail end of Blake’s tank top. It stretches out as Blake attempts to enter the vehicle; seven shots are fired at Blake’s back. It is unclear whether the second officer fired any shots. The van’s horn blares, the officer continues to hold on to Blake’s shirt, and a woman screams at the side of the vehicle where Blake was shot. One of the officers pushes the woman away, and the 19-second video comes to an end.

Police officers said in a statement that Blake received immediate aid and was airlifted to the hospital in Milwaukee.

On Monday, Jacob Blake’s family retained civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who also represents the family of George Floyd. According to a statement from Crump, Blake was shot by police in front of his three young sons, who were inside the vehicle.

“We all watched the horrific video of Jacob Blake being shot in the back several times by Kenosha police,” Crump said in the statement. “Even worse, his three sons witnessed their father collapse after being riddled with bullets. Their irresponsible, reckless, and inhumane actions nearly cost the life of a man who was simply trying to do the right thing by intervening in a domestic incident. It’s a miracle he’s still alive.”

According to Kenosha News, city officers and sheriff’s deputies do not wear body cameras. The police department has not responded to Vox’s request for comment on the incident.

A night of unrest in a region where police shootings aren’t uncommon
On Sunday evening, crowds of people arrived at the scene of the incident to protest Blake’s shooting. Later in the night, protesters confronted police officers who carried batons and dressed in riot gear.

The protests continued those that began after Floyd’s death and underscored the fact that police shootings of unarmed Black civilians are not new occurrences in Wisconsin, a state in which Black people make up just 6.7 percent of the population. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Milwaukee region has been home to a number of high-profile police shootings — particularly of Black and Latinx men — in the past two decades in which officers were not charged. One of the victims, 22-year-old Adam Trammell, died in 2017 after officers from the West Milwaukee Police Department broke down the door of his apartment and repeatedly tased him as he showered.

The 2019 police shooting of Ty’Rese West in Racine County, just north of Kenosha County, also resulted in no charges against the police. A police sergeant stopped West one evening for not having the proper lights on his bicycle. A struggle ensued after the sergeant thought West had a gun. The incident ended when the sergeant fatally shot West. The death sparked protests across Racine County, and West’s family has not stopped issuing calls for justice.

Years of grassroots organizing after the police shooting of 21-year-old Kenosha County resident Michael Bell in 2004 led to the passing of a Milwaukee law in 2014 that prevents police officers from conducting their own investigations of officer-involved shootings. As in Blake’s case, an outside law enforcement body must step in to lead the investigation.

But in the wake of George Floyd’s death, criminal justice reform advocates have argued that law doesn’t go far enough, and protesters have demanded state legislators make changes to the criminal justice system. Some local officials across the state responded to these demands by terminating school district contracts with police officers. In June, Evers announced a legislative package that included banning chokeholds and no-knock warrants, adding the requirement that officers take deescalation training, and putting $1 million in grants toward community-based anti-violence programs, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

However, lawmakers likely won’t take a vote on any of the proposals until next year. And the package of bills from the state’s Democratic governor has received little support from the Republican lawmakers who control the state’s legislature. On Monday, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called the governor’s package “liberal policies that will only deepen the divisions in our state.”

Evers has used Blake’s shooting to call for a renewed focus on race and policing in his state, saying in a statement Sunday, “We stand against excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging with Black Wisconsinites. … In the coming days, we will demand just that of elected officials in our state who have failed to recognize the racism in our state and our country for far too long.”

But the governor’s statement — and currently proposed initiatives — have garnered pushback. Pete Deates, president of the union representing Kenosha police officers, denounced the governor’s statement, calling it “wholly irresponsible and not reflective of the hardworking members of the law enforcement community.” Deates asked that people “withhold judgment” about the shooting and let the investigation “play out fairly and impartially.”

Protesters in Kenosha and across the country are still demanding systemic change. Michael Bell Sr., the father of shooting victim Michael Bell, told the New York Times following the shooting of Blake, “The system is broken. The system here is broken.”

from Facebook

Marla Rose
·
In 1998, I was arrested in Kenosha, WI. It’s a long, complicated story that I don’t want to focus on because it’s not the point of this post, but just to say I was arrested doing non-violent activism at a rodeo protest. Basically, I was holding a cattle prod to show media what they use at the rodeo and I was arrested for “threatening people with a stun gun.” It was 24-hours in jail and I was out. (I had a long and expensive legal fight afterwards because – go me! – I got charged with a felony the very first time I was arrested.)
My point is, though, as a white woman, I have some experience with the Kenosha police and justice system. As a white woman, though, I had only the merest of glimpses, practically just as an observer.
Today, we are learning more about the horrific shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake, in front of his three children in Kenosha. He is now fighting for his life. What happened to him is very different from my experience, but my little lens into the criminal justice system there absolutely corroborates what a nightmare BIPOC face at the hands of the Kenosha police.
Here are some of the things I learned from my experience in Kenosha.
• They had something like a 95% conviction rate when I was “in the system”. I was told by multiple Chicago lawyers that Kenosha was a “black hole” even in an already unjust legal system. If you got arrested there, it was going to stick, especially if you couldn’t afford good legal representation.
• Every single other person in my cellblock was Black or Latina, this despite the fact that Black and Latinx people make up less than 13% of the population of Kenosha.
• The guards (all white) treated me like absolute garbage, so I can only imagine how BIPOC are treated. All they know how to do is bark at people and be as mean as possible. Like literally the lights were on all night and they were having some big, loud celebration that reverberated through the cellblock to the point where it sounded like it was piped in just to be cruel. All night long.
• When one woman in the cell was transferred to prison, the others in the cellblock were high-fiving and congratulating her. I thought this was odd. It turns out it’s moving up to go from jail to prison. You have more resources. (At least that was how it was explained to me.) Many people in my block who’d been there for months were sleeping two to a room designed for one.
• When I was released the next afternoon, I saw resignation in the eyes of the women I came to know and like in my short time there. It seemed like they were saying, “Of course she’s going. She’s white.” Resignation and disgust.
• I got to move on with my life. I never thought for a second that getting arrested for a non-violent offense in Kenosha – or anywhere – could be a life-or-death matter for me. At most, it’s an interesting story. At most honest, though, it reveals just how entrenched racism is at a core, structural level.
To this day, when we drive through Kenosha, even just from the expressway, I get panicky and I don’t feel calm until we leave the city limits. Now imagine if the whole world were Kenosha, if the whole world represented a police force that could easily imprison or kill you without a second thought, a justice system that was almost guaranteed to fail you.
People are rioting in Kenosha now. A state of emergency curfew has been declared. It only makes sense. This is criminal, it is racist and it has been going on far too long. No wonder people are past the breaking point.
Kenosha to me represents the whole country to BIPOC on steroids. It is unfair, it is unjust and it is absolutely lethal.

Field Yates@FieldYates
The Falcons have released veteran G Jamon Brown after one season with the team. Brown is still due $4.75M guaranteed from Atlanta this season.

Terrell Lewis' lock screen wallpaper – a list of every outside linebacker drafted before him this year. https://t.co/Kx4o5J5hVi

— Stu Jackson (@StuJRams) August 24, 2020