#Witness the precision of the quarterbacks

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Houston Texans versus Baltimore Ravens Game Features | NFL 2023 Divisional Cycle 2024

[agchishti]

Buffalo Bills vs. Los Angeles Chargers

Experience the electrifying clash between two powerhouse NFL teams as the Buffalo Bills face off against the Los Angeles Chargers in an intense Week 16 showdown. The stage is set for an epic battle on the gridiron, where every play counts and the stakes are high.

From the first kickoff to the final whistle, witness the thrilling highlights that define this pivotal matchup. The Buffalo Bills, known for their dynamic offense and tenacious defense, go head-to-head with the Los Angeles Chargers, a team equally adept at explosive plays and strategic maneuvers.

As the game unfolds, watch star quarterbacks deliver precision passes, skilled receivers make jaw-dropping catches, and relentless running backs break through defensive lines. The tension builds with each play, keeping fans on the edge of their seats as the teams jockey for field position and control of the game.

Expect momentum-shifting moments, crucial turnovers, and spectacular touchdowns that will leave fans cheering and gasping in equal measure. The atmosphere is charged with the energy of two teams fighting for playoff contention, and every yard gained or lost becomes a critical factor in determining the outcome.

The clash between the Buffalo Bills and the Los Angeles Chargers promises not only a display of athleticism and skill but also a dramatic narrative that unfolds on the field. Don't miss the unforgettable moments that will shape the course of the season and set the stage for the playoffs. Tune in for the Week 16 highlights, and immerse yourself in the excitement of this gridiron battle between two football juggernauts.

WATCH FULL VIDEO

[frontproofmedia]

FSU Dominates LSU in Season Opener

By Joseph Correa

Follow @Frontproofmedia!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id))(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

What an exhilarating start to the college football season! Picture this: a pulsating atmosphere at Orlando's Camping World Stadium as over 65,000 avid fans packed the house to witness an epic showdown between the Florida State Seminoles and the LSU Tigers. It was a game that had everyone talking—a tale of two halves that had the crowd holding their collective breath.

Early on, both teams displayed unwavering determination, trading blows in nail-biting fashion. But the Seminoles seized the moment when the second half rolled around and never looked back.

One player who showed up and showed out was Keon Coleman, a highly-touted transfer for the 'Noles. Coleman proved his worth with jaw-dropping plays precisely when the 'Noles needed them. He lit up the night with 122 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

The game began with Florida State winning the coin toss and choosing to defer to LSU for the second half. The stadium came alive as the ball soared through the air, setting the stage for a game that would go down in history. LSU's quarterback, Jayden Daniels, wasted no time, launching a 55-yard strike to running back Tre Bradford. Yet, Florida State's defense stepped up to the plate, sacking Daniels thanks to the efforts of linebacker DJ Lundy.

Then came the Seminoles' offensive magic. Tight end Jaheim Bell made a crucial catch, while wide receiver Johnny Wilson ignited the crowd with two key 12-yard receptions, including a pivotal conversion on third and long. And before you could blink, Michigan State transfer Keon Coleman electrified the field with a breathtaking 40-yard reception for his first touchdown in garnet and gold.

LSU, however, was not to be outdone. They orchestrated a nine-play, 75-yard drive, capped off by Bradford's gutsy one-yard touchdown run.

When it seemed like the game could sway in any direction, FSU went three and out, resulting in a punt back to LSU. The Tigers capitalized on two costly penalties, advancing deep into the red zone. But at the 20-yard line, FSU's linebacker Tatum Bethune and defensive tackle Malcolm Ray made a stand, setting the tone for what was to come. The first quarter concluded with two incomplete passes by Daniels, and the Tigers were met with a crucial fourth and short, which was shut down by a heroic sack from defensive back Shyheim Brown.

The game continued to be a rollercoaster, with both teams exchanging turnovers. First, LSU's Aaron Anderson muffed a punt, allowing FSU's Azareye'h Thomas to recover. However, Travis threw an ill-fated pass on the ensuing play, resulting in an interception by Duce Chestnut. LSU couldn't capitalize, pinning FSU deep on their one-yard line.

Then came brilliance as Daniels broke away on a 40-yard scamper, putting LSU within striking distance. Their second touchdown followed swiftly with a one-yard rush by Noah Cane, putting the Tigers ahead 14-7.

But the Seminoles weren't ready to concede defeat. Wilson showcased his prowess with a 22-yard reception, while wide receiver Winston Wright, Jr., followed suit with an 18-yard catch, marking his debut as a Seminole. And when the pressure was on, Coleman rose to the occasion, securing a 21-yard touchdown reception, tying the game at 14-14.

With halftime looming, the Tigers made one last push to snatch the lead. But FSU's linebacker Kalen DeLoach and defensive back Fentrell Cypress stood tall, denying the Tigers a touchdown and forcing them to settle for a 36-yard field goal. The halftime score read LSU 17, FSU 14.

As the second half kicked off, the 'Noles found their rhythm with an unstoppable ground game. A wild trick play by wide receiver Duece Spann to Wilson ignited the crowd and propelled FSU into the red zone. Although they couldn't find the end zone, kicker Ryan Fitzgerald calmly nailed a 33-yard field goal, leveling the score at 17-17.

But Florida State's defense truly shone in the third quarter. Cornerbacks Jarrion Jones and Fentrell Cypress stepped up, shutting down the Tiger attack. And in the fourth quarter, it was the turn of defensive back Renardo Green to give the offense a golden opportunity.

In a pivotal moment, FSU faced a fourth-and-two situation, and they turned to running back Lawrance Toafili, who delivered on a 41-yard pass play. Quarterback Jordan Travis then took matters into his own hands, rushing in for a touchdown, propelling FSU ahead 24-17. Travis's stellar performance included 342 passing yards, three touchdowns through the air, and an additional rushing touchdown.

The show wasn't over yet. Coleman once again proved his worth, snagging a seven-yard touchdown reception from Travis, extending Florida State's lead. The defense was unrelenting, with consecutive tackles for loss by Joshua Farmer and DJ Lundy forcing the Tigers to punt and granting the 'Noles excellent field position. The scoreboard now showed FSU 31 and LSU 17.

The final, decisive blow came from tight end Jaheim Bell, who made a stunning 44-yard touchdown reception thrown by Travis, pushing FSU ahead 38-17. Bell added to the spectacle with another touchdown, making it 45-17, while a late score by the Tigers added some final points.

Ultimately, the scoreboard read FSU 45, LSU 24, and the college football world is now on notice of the Seminoles. This victory marked FSU's first top-10 win since 2016, and it left fans and analysts alike wondering if this could be the year when the Seminoles emerge as the nation's top team.

With an electrifying start to the season, the 'Noles return to Tallahassee, riding high on their impressive victory as they prepare for their next challenge against Southern Miss. The buzz surrounding this team is undeniable; anything is possible for Florida State in 2023.

Featured image credit: Charles Mays/Tomahawk Nation

[packernet]

New Post has been published on https://www.packernet.com/blog/2023/07/09/the-explosive-legacy-eight-legendary-players-in-packers-history/

The Explosive Legacy Eight Legendary Players in Packers History

The Green Bay Packers, one of the most storied franchises in NFL history, have witnessed the rise of numerous explosive players who left an indelible mark on the team’s legacy. From record-setting receivers to game-changing return specialists and dominant running backs, these players have captivated fans with their electrifying performances. 

In this article, we delve into the eight most explosive players in Packers history, highlighting their remarkable abilities and contributions to the team’s success.

Don Hutson – The Pioneering Receiver

Don Hutson, widely regarded as the greatest receiver of his era, revolutionized the game with his exceptional speed, acrobatic catches, and touchdown-scoring prowess. Dominating the 1940s, Hutson set numerous records that stood for decades. His speed, combined with his unmatched catching ability, enabled him to become a prolific scorer and secure the NFL touchdown receptions title eight times.

James Lofton – The Dynamic Playmaker

James Lofton was a mesmerizing presence on the field during the 1980s. Known for his game-breaking speed, Lofton was a dynamic receiver capable of turning any play into a touchdown. His explosive skills extended beyond receiving, as he also excelled as a return specialist, recording two punt and two kickoff return touchdowns throughout his career.

Ahman Green – The Fear-Inducing Running Back

Ahman Green, a dominant running back during the 2000s, struck fear into the hearts of defenders with his combination of power, agility, and breakaway speed. Green’s ability to break tackles and outrun opponents made him one of the most feared rushers in the league. 

Additionally, his reliable hands and 35 career touchdown receptions showcased his versatility as a dual-threat player. Off the field, Green’s popularity among fans and his exceptional performance on the field made him a prime candidate for endorsements, including online sports betting platforms seeking to capitalize on his thrilling gameplay.

Sterling Sharpe – The Productive Record-Breaker

Sterling Sharpe’s productivity as a receiver is unparalleled in NFL history. In his first eight seasons, Sharpe caught an astounding 70 touchdowns, a record that still stands today. His precise route-running and innate ability to find the end zone made him a force to be reckoned with on the field.

Jordy Nelson – The Reliable Target

Jordy Nelson’s consistency and reliability as a receiver made him a favorite target for quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the 2010s. Nelson’s dependable hands and route-running skills resulted in 69 career touchdown receptions. Additionally, his deep-threat capabilities led to numerous memorable and game-changing catches.

Randall Cobb – The Versatile Game-Changer

Randall Cobb showcased remarkable versatility as a player during the 2010s, contributing as a wide receiver, running back, and returner. Cobb’s ability to excel in multiple positions made him a constant threat to score whenever he touched the ball. His impact extended to special teams, where he returned two punts for touchdowns in his career.

Davante Adams – The Elite Receiver

Davante Adams has emerged as one of the premier receivers in the NFL today. With his explosive speed and precise route running, Adams consistently stretches defenses and finds the end zone. His big-play ability and knack for scoring have made him an integral part of the Packers’ offensive success.

Christian Watson – The Rookie Sensation

Christian Watson, a second-year receiver with immense potential, has the opportunity to etch his name among the Packers’ explosive greats. Known for his combination of size and speed, Watson possesses the ability to make explosive plays after the catch. With his versatility and skills, he has the potential to become a valuable asset on special teams as well.

Conclusion

The Green Bay Packers have been fortunate to witness the brilliance of numerous explosive players throughout their illustrious history. From the pioneering days of Don Hutson to the modern-day excellence of Davante Adams, these players have thrilled fans and propelled the Packers to great success. Their speed, athleticism, and ability to change the course of a game have made them legendary figures in Packers history.

While these eight players represent the pinnacle of explosiveness for the Packers, they are by no means the only ones. The team has been blessed with other notable players like Travis Williams, Paul Hornung, Leroy Butler, Charles Woodson, Reggie White, and Clay Matthews, who have left an indelible mark on the franchise. Each of them brought their unique set of skills and electrifying performances, further solidifying the Packers’ reputation as one of the most successful teams in NFL history.

As the Green Bay Packers continue to forge their path in the NFL, fans eagerly anticipate the emergence of new explosive talents like rookie Christian Watson. The potential for future stars to captivate audiences and etch their names in Packers lore is an exciting prospect.

[mindthump]

The secrets of small data: How machine learning finally reached the enterprise https://ift.tt/2GLpekW

Over the past decade, “big data” has become Silicon Valley’s biggest buzzword. When they’re trained on mind-numbingly large data sets, machine learning (ML) models can develop a deep understanding of a given domain, leading to breakthroughs for top tech companies. Google, for instance, fine-tunes its ranking algorithms by tracking and analyzing more than one trillion search queries each year. It turns out that the Solomonic power to answer all questions from all comers can be brute-forced with sufficient data.

But there’s a catch: Most companies are limited to “small” data; in many cases, they possess only a few dozen examples of the processes they want to automate using ML. If you’re trying to build a robust ML system for enterprise customers, you have to develop new techniques to overcome that dearth of data.

Two techniques in particular — transfer learning and collective learning — have proven critical in transforming small data into big data, allowing average-sized companies to benefit from ML use cases that were once reserved only for Big Tech. And because just 15% of companies have deployed AI or ML already, there is a massive opportunity for these techniques to transform the business world.

Above: Using the data from just one company, even modern machine learning models are only about 30% accurate. But thanks to collective learning and transfer learning, Moveworks can determine the intent of employees’ IT support requests with over 90% precision.

Image Credit: Moveworks

From DIY to open source

Of course, data isn’t the only prerequisite for a world-class machine learning model — there’s also the small matter of building that model in the first place. Given the short supply of machine learning engineers, hiring a team of experts to architect an ML system from scratch is simply not an option for most organizations. This disparity helps explain why a well-resourced tech company like Google benefits disproportionately from ML.

But over the past several years, a number of open source ML models — including the famous BERT model for understanding language, which Google released in 2018 — have started to change the game. The complexity of creating a model the caliber of BERT, whose aptly named “large” version has about 340 million parameters, means that few organizations can even consider quarterbacking such an initiative. However, because it’s open source, companies can now tweak that publicly available playbook to tackle their specific use cases.

To understand what these use cases might look like, consider a company like Medallia, a Moveworks customer. On its own, Medallia doesn’t possess enough data to build and train an effective ML system for an internal use case, like IT support. Yet its small data does contain a treasure trove of insights waiting for ML to unlock them. And by leveraging new techniques to glean these insights, Medallia has become more efficient, from recognizing which internal workflows need attention to understanding the company-specific language its employees use when asking for tech support.

Massive progress with small data

So here’s the trillion-dollar question: How do you take an open source ML model designed to solve a particular problem and apply that model to a disparate problem in the enterprise? The answer starts with transfer learning, which, unsurprisingly, entails transferring knowledge gained from one domain to a different domain that has less data.

For example, by taking an open source ML model like BERT �� designed to understand generic language — and refining it at the margins, it is now possible for ML to understand the unique language employees use to describe IT issues. And language is just the beginning, since we’ve only begun to realize the enormous potential of small data.

Above: Transfer learning leverages knowledge from a related domain — typically one with a greater supply of training data — to augment the small data of a given ML use case.

Image Credit: Moveworks

More generally, this practice of feeding an ML model a very small and very specific selection of training data is called “few-shot learning,” a term that’s quickly become one of the new big buzzwords in the ML community. Some of the most powerful ML models ever created — such as the landmark GPT-3 model and its 175 billion parameters, which is orders of magnitude more than BERT — have demonstrated an unprecedented knack for learning novel tasks with just a handful of examples as training.

Taking essentially the entire internet as its “tangential domain,” GPT-3 quickly becomes proficient at these novel tasks by building on a powerful foundation of knowledge, in the same way Albert Einstein wouldn’t need much practice to become a master at checkers. And although GPT-3 is not open source, applying similar few-shot learning techniques will enable new ML use cases in the enterprise — ones for which training data is almost nonexistent.

The power of the collective

With transfer learning and few-shot learning on top of powerful open source models, ordinary businesses can finally buy tickets to the arena of machine learning. But while training ML with transfer learning takes several orders of magnitude less data, achieving robust performance requires going a step further.

That step is collective learning, which comes into play when many individual companies want to automate the same use case. Whereas each company is limited to small data, third-party AI solutions can use collective learning to consolidate those small data sets, creating a large enough corpus for sophisticated ML. In the case of language understanding, this means abstracting sentences that are specific to one company to uncover underlying structures:

Above: Collective learning involves abstracting data — in this case, sentences — with ML to uncover universal patterns and structures.

Image Credit: Moveworks

The combination of transfer learning and collective learning, among other techniques, is quickly redrawing the limits of enterprise ML. For example, pooling together multiple customers’ data can significantly improve the accuracy of models designed to understand the way their employees communicate. Well beyond understanding language, of course, we’re witnessing the emergence of a new kind of workplace — one powered by machine learning on small data.

[micent]

That was made clear from day one

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini 'can't understand' Premier League sackingsThe Chilean put an end to the speculation over his job by signing a new contract in August, but he feels the 'patient' culture of the Premier League is changing22:30, 7 NOV 2015Updated23:36, 7 NOV 2015Impatient: Pellegrini says he cannot fathom why Premier League bosses are getting sacked so quickly (Photo wholesale nfl jerseys: Reuters / Eddie Keogh) Get football updates directly to your inbox+ SubscribeThank you for subscribing!Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid EmailManuel Pellegrini is exposing the folly of the Premier League sack race.While Jose Mourinho and Louis van Gaal find themselves in the firing line for the respective lack of style and substance their teams are producing at Chelsea and Manchester United, the Manchester City boss is proving that Sheikh Mansour was right to stand by him last summer.City are top of the Premier League and have already qualified for the knock out stages of the Champions League.And Pellegrini, who has learned the live in the shadow cast by the constant linking Pep Guardiola with his job from the day he took over 29 months ago, Cheap Jerseys from china believes security is the key to success.City travel to Aston Villa on Sunday to face a team that will be managed by Remi Garde for the first time.In pictures Sevilla 1 3 Man City:And Pellegrini, who is already the third longest serving manager in the top flight behind Arsenal's Arsene Wenger and Eddie Howe, of Bournemouth, has a warning for the Frenchman."Things have changed in England and I don't why they are now so impatient," he said"Several years ago in England, most clubs in the Premier League had patience with their managers. That is changing."And it is not just more difficult for young managers it is difficult for all managers. I read every day that Chelsea will sack Mourinho.

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[unnecessary-database]

You know what I’m really here for? The Danvers sisters becoming the next hottest thing at Midvale High a couple months post Kenny’s death.

From what we see in the flashbacks, neither Alex nor Kara are above being petty, like, ever, despite their actual good-person morals. I think they’d become the coolest thing 90% out of helping other strays and 10% out of spite to Vicky and others like her

So one night several weeks after the whole shindig, they’re lying in bed about to go to sleep and Kara mutters how glad she is she and Alex are friends now and Alex sleepily affirms the statement. Kara sighs as she turns to her side and mumbles “I bet a lot of people wish they could have a friendship like this. I bet Kenny would have loved hanging out with both of us.”

Alex murmurs her agreement and is just about to drift off to sleep, satisfied with the knowledge she upgraded her shitty friendship with Vicky what’s her name the slut for the teacher to her superhero sister when it hits her.

Alex sits bolt upright. “Kara,” she says, and then they’re both awake. “Kara, I’ve got the most brilliant plan.”

They’re up way too late, but it doesn’t matter. Kara and Alex are both unusually chipper at breakfast that morning but while Eliza is suspicious she doesn’t find anything broken so she ignores the evil glint in their eyes for now.

Kara spots them. She’s much better at it. The lonely kid, there in the corner. Not quite the corner, that’s where kids who are desperate to finish homework in the relative quiet sit. But to the side. Wallflowers. She nudges Alex and they purposefully stride towards the girl with the purple hair and the ripped jeans in the corner, who pokes at her food without interest. They sit across from her and smile.

(She looks startled. Alex elbows Kara, who tones down her smile until it’s less feral and more welcoming. They practiced not coming on too strong.)

Alex takes a nonchalant bite of her apple. “I like your hair,” she tells the girl. “I wanted to do mine like that but my mom is convinced I’ll regret it after a couple weeks. I still think it’d be awesome.” Kara smiles convincingly and tries to pretend she didn’t just realize she deformed her lunch tray by mistake on the way over here.

It takes only a couple minutes of the girl looking warily at the pair of them for her to ask. “Look, not that you don’t seem nice, but why are you sitting next to me? I thought you had friends.”

“I had one friend,” Kara says, half shrugging and half sad. “Kenny.”

The girl nods in sympathetic understanding but still looks to Alex. “They sucked,” Alex says, unaffected. “We’re looking for people that don’t,”

The girl’s mouth twists in a half smile. After a moment’s indecision she reaches a hand over the lunch table. “Well. My name’s Val. Can’t promise I don’t suck all the time, but I’ll try.”

And from there it’s almost easy. Kara helps a girl with her rope-climbing techniques in gym and then takes several hits for her in dodgeball (she always tries to get out anyway, she can’t throw not-hard-enough yet) and just like that, Monique is sitting with them at lunch and has a wit that matches Alex’s.

Alex picks up a freshman boy’s books when a couple football players knock him into the lockers and escorts him to lunch with a promise of “don’t worry about those jerks, I’ll buy you a cookie.” She gets in the face of the quarterback next week when he comes near little Jack again and threatens him with pressing charges of harassment (she would have used Kara again but felt she didn’t need to) and just like that Jack has hero worship in his eyes and invites all his nerd friends to lunch with them and turns out nerds are actually hilarious.

Alex helps her new lab partner who’s a transferred new student in bio and the girl is really, really pretty and Alex isn’t sure why precisely she’s so desperate to have this girl come eat with them but she really is and Katie is really nice ok

A boy who’s on the football team and saw Kara twist the quarterbacks arm shyly approaches her one day in the hall and asks if she could show him how to do that because he’s been getting bullied over his two moms and she smiles so big and brings him home for dinner with Eliza who immediately loves Cole and Alex teaches him self-defense like Jeremiah taught her that night and

Soon half the football team, the whole freshman class, every wallflower and kid who’s bad at gym or feels left out or bullied knows they can go to Kara and Alex. And their lunch table is overflowing with genuinely nice kids, laughter at no ones expense, and genuine compassion. They spill onto a second and sometimes third table and everyone who sits there knows the only rule is that anyone who looks like they want to join should be invited over.

“They’re toxic,” Vicky the slut for the teacher insists. “They got a teacher fired for no reason.”

“Didn’t he get arrested for statutory rape?” Someone nearby asks.

“That’s not the point,” she insists. “The Danvers Sisters are horrible. They should come with a warning label.”

[paulbenedictblog]

%news%

New Post has been published on %http://paulbenedictsgeneralstore.com%

Fox news Cam Jordan on Drew Brees' remarks: Can't tippy-toe on issue - NFL.com

Fox news

Editor's Show veil: After this legend used to be printed, Saints quarterback Drew Brees apologized for his comments and any peril he would possibly possibly well presumably additionally honest savor caused. You would possibly possibly presumably read his pudgy statement right here.

When Drew Brees used to be requested Wednesday what he conception relating to the likelihood of NFL avid gamers kneeling at some level of the national anthem to screech police brutality at some level of the upcoming season, the future Hall of Popularity quarterback added fuel to an already charged design back, telling Yahoo Finance, "I could possibly well presumably additionally honest now no longer ever have faith any one disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our nation."

To many of Brees' New Orleans Saints' teammates, alongside side huge determine defensive finish Cam Jordan, the quarterback's framing of the kneeling gesture initiated by then-49ers QB Colin Kaepernick four years ago landed like a punch to the intestine.

Jordan, who on Wednesday evening attended a packed Sad Lives Matter rally at New Orleans' Duncan Plaza held in the wake of the videotaped killing of George Floyd whereas in the custody of the Minneapolis police, used to be shy by Brees' comments, which echoed the unfounded charges most often levied by critics depicting the gesture as anti-armed forces and unpatriotic. And whereas Jordan and Brees had a phone conversation Wednesday afternoon to work thru their variations, it is sure that issues would possibly possibly well presumably additionally honest now no longer be fully healed when the personnel experiences to practicing camp later this summer season.

"I feel like I gave him my level of view -- it used to be almost like I used to be seeking to force him to mosey a mile in my sneakers -- and I am hoping it will get thru," Jordan advised NFL.com Wednesday evening. "I am hoping it will get thru to my guy Drew, because that's what he's ... he's been my guy since I entered the league (in 2011).

"He's been the leader and a man I can depend upon -- on the field. Successfully, off the field has to align. I can now no longer enable other folks to tippy-toe on the line of this design back. You can not play all facets on this one. We're combating to total social injustice, and you would possibly possibly well presumably be either with us or you are now no longer."

Jordan, a 5-time Pro Bowl various, wasn't the totally Saints player to rebuke Brees publicly. Safety Malcolm Jenkins and All-Pro receiver Michael Thomas also took design back with the quarterback's stance, which Brees attributed to his regard for "my two grandfathers, who fought for this nation at some level of World Struggle II." And Jordan conceded that the fallout will likely lift over to the begin of practicing camp, if now no longer past.

"I indicate, for certain it will," Jordan talked about. "In our locker room, we withhold other folks to blame. I've already talked to 10 to 12 teammates, and a coach or two, and with the person himself (Brees). It is critical to put him legitimately in our sneakers, and on the same time, I don't are seeking to force feed him. I are seeking to mosey in his sneakers, too. [The national anthem] is a provide of enjoyment for him. But he has to know what that act is all about, and what it if truth be told represents."

Jordan, an African-American, talked about he understood that Brees used to be trying to converse his personal feelings relating to the anthem and the symbolism it provokes. Yet from Jordan's level of view, kneeling to bolster the rights of oppressed American citizens and taking pleasure in the flag and military are now no longer mutually weird and wonderful.

"I tag that Drew has armed forces ties, and he went on to indicate that [in our conversation], however the first 9 words ('I could possibly well presumably additionally honest now no longer ever have faith any one disrespecting the flag') are essentially the most hurtful," Jordan talked about. "He's increasing the emotional phantasm that all americans who takes a knee is disrespecting the flag, when we've spent years seeking to indicate what the screech is often about.

"This flag is speculated to present protection to all of us. I reinforce the armed forces, too -- I've performed multiple USO Tours. My grandfather used to be in the Navy and later served because the first sad dual carriageway patrolman in Phoenix. My uncle used to be in the Navy. And my accomplice's dad used to be in the Marines.

"I do know Drew is a marvelous person. I do know he gives lend a hand to the community. I do know what's in his coronary heart and how he pours out his coronary heart. But maybe I didn't gather sure ample about what the coast supposed in 2017, when we all knelt in unison in London."

That pudgy-personnel level to of team spirit, which took place sooner than a 2017 game against the Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium, got right here in the wake of President Donald Trump's derisive comments about Kaepernick at an Alabama rally, at some level of which the nation's chief executive advised supporters, "Wouldn't you bought to peek this form of NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to notify, 'Get that son of a bitch off the field factual now?' "

Trump, who decrease than two months earlier had described a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an event that integrated "very dazzling other folks, on all facets," has continued to develop racially divisive statements. In recent days, he has made references to taking pictures and demise on his Twitter feed geared toward these protesting the mistreatment of African-American citizens by legislation enforcement officers following the annoying video of Floyd's killing.

On Tuesday, Saints coach Sean Payton advocated for the likelihood of replacing Trump by electing Democratic challenger Joe Biden in November. Payton tweeted photos of Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, an African-American who in February used to be chased and shot needless whereas jogging in an upscale Georgia neighborhood, writing, "Had been Murdered now no longer Killed on Video. How many savor we now no longer considered? 22 weeks from nowadays for alternate."

Jordan, too, regards the upcoming election because the largest car for horrifying alternate. Whereas attending rallies at Duncan Plaza the past two days, he has had a gigantic number of discussions with fellow protesters, many of whom known him no matter the incontrovertible truth that he used to be sporting a hoodie and two masks (fragment of the CDC-counseled protocol for combatting the COVID-19 pandemic).

"It is been so empowering," Jordan talked about. "The numbers savor doubled everyday, or even even tripled, and nowadays the crowd used to be maybe 60 percent white, which is uplifting.

"I am pushing narratives of, 'Let's vote.' If we can have the opportunity to invent a system of alternate, and we resolve on to invent that by electing the factual other folks in any recognize levels of executive. I clearly don't heart of attention on in this president -- I name him, 'Impeached 45,' because he used to be impeached, but factual now no longer eradicated -- and I fully heart of attention on that every vote counts.

"This rally is designed to investigate cross-check to bring an finish to police brutality as a total and to investigate cross-check to space off reforms. They've performed some factual work already in Minneapolis (where Floyd used to be killed), but we want bigger than factual Minneapolis. I am seeking to assemble other folks to register to vote, and to observe thru. Because by now no longer vote casting, you would possibly possibly well presumably be doing all americans who fought for the factual to vote a disservice."

Jordan, who played thru a painful core muscle injure for essentially the most attention-grabbing 5 games of the 2019 season and underwent surgical operation two days after the Massive Bowl, talked about he's nearly recovered from the injure.

"Rehab's almost completed," he talked about. "I am about 95 percent, damn attain sure. My family's wholesome. God is factual. I am happy."

Yet in the wake of Floyd's killing and the following unrest, Jordan talked about, he and his accomplice, Nikki, savor been fearful whereas pondering the idea of how most attention-grabbing to guardian their 4-yr-feeble son, Caleb, thru the crisis.

"My son is 4, and as grand as my accomplice and I savor openly talked about these factors, he's going to resolve on to know this stuff," Jordan talked about. "I talked to a (white) coach who also has younger formative years, and he talked about, 'We do no longer even throw on CNN; we're factual keeping it all Disney so the formative years keep now no longer resolve on to witness.'

"I haven't got that luxury. Our son barely understands the color barrier because it is, and in an good world, he keep now no longer must. But we are going to resolve on to savor the same form of conversations with him that I had with my mom initiating after I used to be 6 or 7.

"As sad other folks in America, we've to switch over issues that others would possibly possibly well presumably additionally honest now no longer heart of attention on, issues that also resonate: What invent you invent will savor to you gather pulled over? Make sure you fully turn off your tune, and savor your license with you at all cases, now no longer factual will savor to you force. When you store, continually savor a receipt with you. Things like that."

It used to be precisely this level of view that Jordan talked about he tried to portion with Brees on their phone name Wednesday. And whereas he's now no longer definite that fences had been mended fully, Jordan believed the conversation used to be precious and indispensable.

"Things will savor to be talked about," Jordan talked about. "If I am now no longer my brother's keeper, I am doing a disservice to him and to our teammates."

[junker-town]

Isaac Bruce was the perfectly overlooked wide receiver for a passing revolution

Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Bruce was a route-running surgeon, and now he’s finally getting his due.

The year before Isaac Bruce entered the NFL, the 1993 Los Angeles Rams averaged just 189 passing yards per game. Ten years later, with Bruce as one of the stars of their aerial attack, that number was up to 268.

Bruce played against the backdrop of a passing boom in the NFL. He wasn’t just a witness to that movement, either; he was a catalyst. That’s why he’s a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020.

No player in Rams history has more catches than Bruce’s 942. None have more receiving yards than his 14,109. The only player who’s close is Torry Holt, leaving legends like Henry Ellard and Elroy Hirsch far in his rearview mirror. Bruce’s 15,208 total receiving yards over a 16-year career ranks fifth-best in the NFL all time, sandwiched between Randy Moss and Tony Gonzalez. Now, like Moss, Gonzalez, and the rest of the players at the top of that list, he’ll have a gold jacket to prove his greatness resonated outside of Saint Louis.

Bruce was the under-the-radar force that helped the Rams change the game

Bruce wasn’t a shotgun blast downfield. He was a surgeon’s scalpel, carefully slicing through opposing secondaries with routes so precise they served as unofficial borders downfield.

He thrived in the split second between a cornerback giving up his position and a safety dropping in to help. His post routes centered on creating the perfect angle for his quarterbacks — some great, some ... very J.T. O’Sullivan-ish — to drop an easy 15+ yard gain. His ability to find holes in a thick fog of coverage was virtually unmatched.

His game wasn’t just cerebral. His hips spun through directional changes without a hitch, fluidly leaving defensive backs to guess at what was coming next. Then, with his direction set, came the burst.

Bruce’s second gear, sometimes coming off an upfield cut or through the contact of a bump-and-run corner, was the system shock that left opposing DBs staggered. It was also a necessity for a wideout who, at 6’0 and less than 190 pounds, could have been swallowed whole by physical safeties. This didn’t necessarily make sense — he clocked in at a relatively slow 4.55 seconds in his NFL Combine 40-yard dash — but the way he harnessed his quick-change ability to shift directions and then plant his foot and GO made him a star.

By his second season in the league — the Rams’ first in Saint Louis — he was averaging more than 111 receiving yards per game. In 1996, Bruce sprang for a league-high 1,338 receiving yards. His Rams only threw for 2,765 yards that fall. He was responsible for nearly half his team’s aerial offense.

This was impressive and meaningless until the Rams realized just how special a Bruce-led passing offense could be with the right support. He’d waste his first six years in the league on losing teams before Marshall Faulk came to St. Louis via trade and Kurt Warner assumed the team’s starting quarterback role.

Then the revolution came.

Bruce is the latest member of the Greatest Show on Turf to be enshrined in Canton

Faulk made the Hall of Fame in 2011. Orlando Pace got the call in 2016. Warner earned his gold jacket in 2017.

Now Bruce is the latest testimony to how special those turf-burning Rams really were. He was the foundation from which that offense was built, a standby from the Tony Banks and Steve Walsh days who seemed destined to be a big-stat, low-win non-star.

But when St. Louis changed its image, the Pro Bowl wideout was the biggest-name holdover from an era where the team averaged five victories per season.

Faulk gave the team a reliable rushing presence to prevent opponents from scattering defensive backs across the secondary. Holt, drafted with the sixth overall pick in 1999 and liable to join his teammates in Canton someday, was the perfect complement downfield. With Holt and Bruce capable of burning defenses deep or with short passes over the middle, rivals had to pick their poison when it came to double-teams. In the center of all of it was Warner, the former Arena Football star who threw his franchise to new heights.

From 1999-2001, the Rams led the league in scoring and offensive yardage each season. While the median NFL team averaged 5.0 yards per play in those three years, their offense sprang for 6.8. In 2000, Bruce had 1,471 receiving yards, nine touchdowns, and a staggering 10.9 yards per target (fourth-best in the league and, somehow, third-best among his teammates). The Rams passed for nearly 1,000 more yards that fall than any other team in the league.

Those performances gave Bruce his first postseason experience in 1999, his sixth year as a pro. He refused to let that opportunity go to waste. He helped lead the Rams to their first Super Bowl title with 317 playoff receiving yards — on just 13 catches. He saved his best game of that season — a six-catch, 162-yard explosion — for Super Bowl XXXIV, where his 73-yard touchdown catch served as the winning points.

Bruce was more than just the brief burst of starlight that made the Rams relevant at the start of the millennium. Holt’s presence took some of the heavy lifting from his shoulders, but Bruce still averaged 116 targets per year between 1999-2008. He was a trusted contributor for nearly two decades, but with the exception of a few big moments, rarely found himself under the league’s spotlight as a pro.

Bruce was an overlooked star throughout a long NFL career

That’s where his greatness truly lay. Bruce’s impact dropped after the superhuman 99-01 run with Warner and Faulk, but he remained a valuable piece of high-impact offenses well into the latter half of a 16-year career. He managed to lock in his final 1,000-yard season at age 34, the same season when he ranked among the league’s top 20 wideouts in targets, receptions, and yards-per-target.

All the while, Bruce toiled in relative obscurity. The Rams made it back to the Super Bowl once after that 1999 run (a loss that sparked the Patriots’ dynasty in Super Bowl XXXVI), and Bruce would go on to spend his last five years in the league on non-playoff teams. Holt’s presence meant the veteran wideout didn’t even lead his own team in receiving after 1999, despite five seasons with 1,075 receiving yards or more in that span.

Bruce’s average 16-game season: 74 catches, 1,091 receiving yards, seven receiving touchdowns and 14.9 yards per catch. In his most productive years (1995-2008, which is an extremely long stretch), his full-season pace looked like this: 78 catches, 1,178 yards, seven TDs.

If put up to a blind vote, those numbers almost certainly add up to a Hall of Fame career. Bruce was easy to cast aside, however; for many years, he wasn’t even the most prolific wideout on his own roster. Once he became eligible for the Hall of Fame, he was easy to ignore in favor of other higher-profile colleagues. How could Bruce make it to Canton before Terrell Owens, who played in the same era and had more catches and receiving yards than he did? Who would stan for the man who welcomed football to Saint Louis with a 1,700-yard season after the NFL publicly spurned the city by taking its franchise away?

But Owens got his call in 2018 along with Randy Moss. The clutter that had obscured most of Bruce’s career — whether it was his spot on bad teams, sharing the spotlight on good ones, or his quiet demeanor off the field — finally cleared in 2020. He rose to the top of a group of semifinalists that also included wideouts like Hines Ward, Reggie Wayne, and former teammate Holt. He’d finally earned recognition for a career that began with a hopeless Rams franchise and peaked with one of the greatest offenses in NFL history.

Bruce was great for a long time and good for even longer. Now, the man with the fifth-most receiving yards in NFL history is a Hall of Famer. And while he may have spent much of his career as an overlooked ship in a rising tide of offense, he was an undeniable force who helped transform the game into the high-flying, pass-heavy series of explosions it is today.

[duiresources156-blog]

Several Usual DUI Protection Questions You Need To Know

Getting charged with a DUI is often after deciding to drink and drive. Let's be reasonable - most DUI arrests followed some drinking. On the other hand, other drugs can likewise cause a DUI (one typical error). So let's get right down to it. What can you do to prevent errors in the past, throughout, and after a DUI arrest?

One key error individuals make is neglecting that DUI does not stand for "alcohol only." Really, utilizing even legal drugs can cause a DUI. You can be charged if you take any legal drug which impacts your capability to drive. And some even utilize illegal drugs and drive, thinking it does not effect their capabilities. You can be checked for both illegal and legal drugs through a blood test; if an officer believes you are plainly under the influence of some drug, she or he can apprehend you on the area. Any drugs in your system will reveal up when you get blood and often urine tests taken. This is no better than drinking and driving. So be clear on whether a legal drug will effect your ability to drive by asking your medical professional, and never mix illegal drugs with driving.

If you ever see sports you might become aware of the "Monday morning quarterback." Well, yes you can say "do not drink and drive" however often you may slip up. The crucial thing to do is understand that no quantity of alcohol or substance abuse is safe to combine with driving. But not all legal drugs will effect your ability to drive; you need to learn. Many typically, those who consume alcohol and drive believe they are great. Due to the cheapest dui classes near me fact that of choices like that, consuming and driving is a leading cause of death in all 50 states. Even if you have just a "few" drinks, you ought to be safe and prevent driving. Alcohol impacts everybody in a different way.

As soon as you're arrested, the officer will read you your rights. Listen to them, since what you say can be used against you. Do not give the officer any details which might harm your case. This does not suggest you lie. It indicates you do not produce an issue before dealing with a judge.

The biggest mistake in DUI cases is not working with a legal representative. There are some major horror stories when it concerns chauffeurs representing themselves in court: accepting a plea deal too early, not knowing when and how to present proof, unaware of how the laws are composed, and a list of other mistakes. Working with a lawyer is the best decision you can make.

Yes, you can listen to advice from loved ones who've remained in comparable scenarios. However just to a particular degree. Your legal representative is your legal expert, not your family member who beat a DUI. No 2 DUI cases are precisely alike.

Beyond hiring an attorney, you might think it's okay to just call one a couple of days before the trial. Your DUI legal representative requires to be able to prepare for your case. This means you should work with one immediately. If you call a DUI lawyer a day or 2 prior to the trial, you are providing little chance to do things like gather evidence, witnesses, and professionals. At the least, provide your lawyer numerous weeks to a month to prepare.

Lastly, those who do not employ a lawyer and think they are guilty quite often will take an offers the prosecution makes. This too is an error. By accepting the charges, you are accepting the penalties. If you employ an attorney, this error is missing; but if you do not, be weary of plea deals.

[pakcricwiz]

Patrick Mahomes’ brilliance is hard to explain, even harder to exaggerate

Only Aaron Rodgers can rival the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback’s athleticism and precision. We are witnessing the start of an all-time great career

Half human, half amazing, Patrick Mahomes cemented himself as the league’s MVP on a wild, wacky NFL Sunday. Mahomes overcame a talented Baltimore defense, as the Chiefs beat the Ravens 27-24 to wrap up a spot in the playoffs.

Mahomes’ brilliance is hard to explain, even harder to exaggerate. He is bending the boundaries of what is plausible on the football field. Only Aaron Rodgers is able to match the first-year starter’s blend of athleticism, precision and playmaking magic. Nobody has a more impressive arm than Mahomes. Baltimore entered Sunday as the fourth-best defense in the league by DVOA. Mahomes promptly set to work dissecting it, conjuring all kinds of magic, including no-look passes than had more than a whiff of sorcery:

Continue reading... from Blogger https://ift.tt/2EdNqsW

[better-inwriting]

The room I'm sitting in is silent, except for my own breathing and the low voice of the news channel on the communal television. Moments ago, it was full of life. No more than ten minutes ago I stood among my classmates in the dining hall trying to get lunch. There was chatting and laughing and smiling. Now, well, now there is nothing. The food is getting cold, the air conditioning is running just to me, and there is no smiling, or talking. I am completely alone, something I have never been in all my nineteen years of life but have longed for so. But I am alone with the dead bodies of at least one hundred fellow students. They were young and trying to build their lives and now they're dead. In an instant all of these lives were gone. Except for mine.

The air is growing foul with every passing second. The smell of feces fills the air and mixes with what was to be our lunch. I feel as though I could suffocate on the smell. My chest tightens and it gets harder to breathe.

To my left about three feet is a large window facing the quad. There are always students in the quad, but when i look out that window, the sight before me matches the one behind me; more dead bodies.

I back away from the window in shock and step on the arm of a girl in my American history course. Then, as I go to side step around her to the right I kick the head of the senior quarterback.

I stand frozen in my spot as I assess the situation. "How the hell did this happen?" I mutter to myself.

I was just sitting down with my plate and my laptop in the far right corner to eat when people suddenly started to collapse. There was no warning and no time to react. Still, I jumped up from my seat and ran to help the others. There was nothing I could do. Their bodies were already cold and none of them were breathing.

Then I hear something on the news that interests me: the woman is talking about similar deaths.

"An unexplainable phenomenon has just occurred in all corners of the world. People are dropping dead without a moment's notice." She says in a tired and sad voice. "At this time we have very little data regarding this event but we will remain on air with this topic until further notice. If you have witnessed such an occurance, please call the number on your screen and a federal research party will be at your location ASAP to record the damages. As of right now, the death toll stands at approximately 200,000. To our knowledge, being around the bodies will not put you at risk so please remain where you are. Call for help and stay put."

Once I have called the number, I sit before the screen and await more information. I'm starving but the food around me - the food all of these dead people pay to eat - is suddenly unappealing.

Campus police, along with the federal research party, estimate the deaths on campus to be close to 600 students and faculty members. I am taken to a holding area with the remaining survivors. At the end of the twenty-four hour holding period that follows, a total of 726 bodies are found on campus in various locations.

During that twenty-four hour period we are heavily questioned by the Feds. They ask us to recount the incident precisely how it happened in morosely vivid detail exactly how we remember it. They say if they find that we lied in anyway we can be fined over one thousand dollars. I tell them my story three times before they accept it. They can't believe that I'm the only one who survived. To be quite honest, I can't believe it either.

The universal death toll is 500,438 at the end of that holding period. The news remains on the topic of these sudden deaths the entire time despite no one having any answers.

For the next six months anyone who was on a "death site" is taken to a secret government facility to be tested for at least one week. The bodies were collected and never seen again, no one knows where they were taken. Conspiracy theorists go nuts. "It was the government's plan to reduce the population." "It was part of the neo-Nazi agenda." "Judgement day has come and the New World Order is taking names. We'll be the first contestants in the Hunger Games!" It's all a bunch of bologna but it helps people make sense of it all. Even the church goers can't explain it now.

After a year and a half of research the Feds give up and we go back to life as usual. They never found any cause or any indicators that it would happen again. The final death toll at that point was 976,453.

Unfortunately, those of us who survived and watched these things happen won't ever forget the way the bodies fell and the way they were so suddenly gone. We'll never wrap our heads around it.

That is, until we die of natural causes or some freak accident and we come face to face with the Grim Reaper who apologizes for that time they spilled some ink and traumatized us forever.

In Hell, at death headquarters, sits the Grim Reaper. There is a list of names of everyone in the world. Whenever he crosses off a name, the person dies. Suddenly, he bumps the ink pot and ink goes everywhere, covering up the names.

[rjhamster]

-This is VERY LONG but VERY INTESTING!!! Especially for you Kaepernick fans. Written by Larry Taunton Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has become the face of a movement that has filled our streets with protests and riots. He is not the voice, mind you, just the face. His handlers keep his image before the public through lucrative Nike endorsements but keep his public commentary to a minimum. Thus, it is difficult to really know the man and his mission. To that end, if we are to really understand our current social and political crisis, we need to know something of Kaepernick’s story. Colin Kaepernick was born in 1987 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the biological child of a single white mother, Heidi Russo, whose partner, an African American, fled the relationship when he learned she was pregnant. Russo, then 19, decided to allow Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, a white couple, to adopt the newborn boy. In their care, young Colin would be given a life and opportunities that almost certainly would have eluded him otherwise. Raised in a Christian family, Colin was baptized a Methodist and confirmed as a Lutheran. Quiet and good-natured, the boy, it soon became clear, was a talented athlete, too. In high school he excelled in baseball, basketball, and football, and eventually received numerous scholarship offers to play collegiate baseball. But Kaepernick had big dreams of playing football. “I hope I go to a good college in football,” he wrote in fourth grade, “then go to the pros and play on the Niners or the Packers, even if they aren’t good in seven years.” America being what it is, with his hard work and talent, his dream came true. In 2007, Kaepernick accepted the football scholarship and free education offered him by the University of Nevada. He took his Christian faith seriously, attending a Baptist church during this time and adding his now famous tattoos illustrating verses from the Bible and a Christian cross. With faith in his God, Kaepernick won the starting job as quarterback for the Wolf Pack, and in 2010, he led them to a 13-1 record and their first Top 25 ranking in 62 years. True to his dream, Kaepernick was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. After a rookie year as the backup to quarterback Alex Smith, Kaepernick earned the starting job and led the 49ers to Super Bowl XLVII. Although they lost to the Baltimore Ravens 34-31, Kaepernick played well. The following year, he steered the 49ers back to the playoffs and an NFC Championship Game berth in which they lost to the Seattle Seahawks. During the off season, Kaepernick signed a six-year contract extension worth up to $126 million. Life was good. Then came injuries, bad play, and a benching. In 2015, Kaepernick was replaced by Blaine Gabbert, as clear a sign as any that the San Francisco 49ers no longer believed in his ability to lead the team to a championship. Still, were he to never complete another pass, Colin Kaepernick had succeeded wildly in the only country on Earth where one could become a millionaire playing the game he loved. He was young and rich, and a world of possibilities remained open to him. It is here that Kaepernick’s story takes a dark turn. It is not uncommon for adopted children to struggle with identity, and Kaepernick often struggled with his. The impression one gets of the young Colin Kaepernick is that of a man with a genuine social conscience but whose Christian faith, while replete with platitudes, tattoos, and sincerity, was lacking in theological substance. As C. S. Lewis once observed, ideological deserts are fertile ground for propagandists, and in the summer of 2016, the likable kid who wrote in elementary school enthusiastically of his American dream fell under the influence of radical social justice warrior (SJW) Ameer Hasan Loggins, a Muslim convert and hip-hop icon cum Berkeley professor. With Loggins’s encouragement, Kaepernick audited Loggins’s course on popular culture at Berkeley. Loggins characterizes Kaepernick as a hard-working, earnest student who was eager to learn. What, exactly, was Kaepernick learning under this new mentor? In sum, Loggins, who styles himself as an intellectual and a modern-day Malcolm X. He teaches, among other things, Islam as a religion of black liberation, capitalism as a system of oppression, and American history as one act of violence and exploitation after another. According to the New York Times, Loggins introduced the NFL quarterback to Nessa Diab, an olive-skinned beauty of Egyptian parentage who has made her name as a Muslim-American activist and Bay Area shock jock. Diab is California-born but spent many of her childhood years in Saudi Arabia, where, she says, her sense of social justice grew. Outspoken in her support for Black Lives Matter (not to be confused with “black lives matter”) and in her respect for such champions of social justice as Fidel Castro, her views mirror those of Loggins. She and Kaepernick soon began a romantic relationship, and under the influence of Loggins’s teaching and her sweet nothings, the radicalization of Colin Kaepernick was well underway. It seems hardly coincidental that in Kaepernick’s social media posts there now appeared indications of a new identity. This Colin Kaepernick was an angry political activist. He tweeted of lynching, murder, and bodies in the streets of America. Unsurprisingly, he expressed his admiration of Fidel Castro and Malcolm X. The oppression of black people at the hands of white police officers was a theme. “We are under attack!” he wrote. “It’s as clear as day!” Worse, he increasingly sounded like the black equivalent of a white supremacist, assuming the language of the violent revolutionary complete with the Black Panther “Black Power” salute. It is not hard to see the influence of his new handlers in all of this. When Kaepernick decided to take a knee during the national anthem of a preseason game in 2016, he became the symbolic leader of “The Resistance,” a kind of domestic anti-Americanism that deems this country the root of all evil. Perhaps due to the distraction, perhaps due to the accumulated injuries, Kaepernick was a shadow of his former self, and facing release from the 49ers, he opted for free agency. When no team picked him up, Kaepernick, the man who had been an overcomer his whole life, who had lived the American Dream, now became a victim, accusing the NFL of collusion. But America being what it is, the NFL settled out of court — some estimates put the settlement as high as $80 million — and Kaepernick signed a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike. Soon, they were marketing his image on billboards and television as something like an American Che Guevara to those foolish enough to think either is worthy of emulation. Let’s recap: Colin Kaepernick was born in a country where adoption is not only possible, but where the prevailing moral attitudes made his adoption likely. He loved sports, and because his talents were valued, he enjoyed a free university education and a highly profitable career. When that career failed, he blamed others, and the American legal system rewarded him handsomely as if a deep and genuine wrong had been done to him even though no wrong was ever legally established. And since this is a capitalistic country where free enterprise is both legal and encouraged, he was even able to parlay his twin roles of victim and SJW into a major corporate sponsorship worth millions. By any measure, Colin Kaepernick has flourished and profited under an American sky. What a country, eh? ***** Colin Kaepernick’s story is instructive insofar as it gives us insight into the roots of his rage and that of the people who would place him in the pantheon of history’s great reformers. But a great reformer he is not. On the contrary, if one listens to Kaepernick’s extremely limited interviews, one can deduce no systematic platform or clearly articulated ideology as with a reformer of the stature of Martin Luther King Jr. Indeed, one detects little more than anger and hatred. No, the ideology behind the movement Kaepernick would champion is provided by the likes of a Diab or a Loggins, and in sharp contrast to MLK Jr., who, like all great Western reformers, anchored his argument in Creation and the eternal laws of the God of the Bible, their radical agenda has no such foundation. Their movement, full of hate as it is for Western values rooted in Judeo-Christian principles, has much more in common with Islam. As noted above, this is not coincidental, and the difference between Christianity and Islam is the difference between MLK Jr. and Malcolm X, peace and violence, freedom and oppression. That said, protest organizers are more than happy to capitalize on the confusion of many well-intentioned Americans, many Christians among them — let’s borrow a phrase from economist Ludwig von Mises and call them “useful innocents” — who would join these protests in the mistaken idea that this is really about equality and justice. It isn’t. My venerable colleague Ben Stein has written that “this country is going absolutely crazy.” In this he is correct. But there is a deadly logic driving these insidious groups that we must not overlook. What we are witnessing is the thin edge of a social, political, and economic wedge that seeks a radical makeover of America as we know it. Reform the police? Equal opportunity for all? Don’t be naïve. At its core, Kaepernick’s movement is fundamentally and chiefly anti-American, hence the veneration of Guevara and Castro over that of authentic reformers like Lincoln and MLK Jr.; an infatuation with socialism rather than capitalism; and the open embrace of Islam and rejection of Judeo-Christian values. Colin Kaepernick’s leadership is more symbolic than real. But symbols are important, as Kaepernick and the ideologues behind him well understand. Indeed, it is precisely for this reason that they have chosen to attack the most powerful American symbol of all: the flag of the United States of America. The American flag is, in itself, nothing more than a bit of colored cloth. Like the Constitution, which is nothing more than parchment and ink, it has no power beyond that which we as a people give it. For two and a half centuries it has been a symbol of the ideals for which we as a people imperfectly strive, and those are neatly summarized in the words “Liberty and justice for all.” G. K. Chesterton, recognizing the source of America’s greatness, wrote, “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.” In that document we find these words: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. The United States of America was born of rebellion to secure the blessings of liberty. From time to time, reformers have provided a necessary corrective by appealing to Americans in spirit of the very principles upon which this country was founded. If Colin Kaepernick and Black Lives Matter are really about social justice as, I believe, they disingenuously claim, why not hold Americans to these lofty ideals rather than desecrating the very thing that symbolizes them? Larry Alex Taunton is a freelance columnist contributing to USA Today, Fox News, First Things, The Atlantic, The New York Post, CNN, Daily Caller, and The American Spectato

[alwaystrustinbooks]

[I wrote this post on Jan 5th 2020 before everything when to hell the day after, an extension of the issues I mention at the beginning. I am starting to get back into the mix, I am certainly reading a lot more now. Thanks everyone for your support in my absence post. I hope you enjoy this list!]

Welcome to my top reads for 2019 post! I know these posts are flying about like nobody’s business but I thought I would add my opinions into the mix. 2019 has been a rocky year for me as a blogger. There has been a lot going on in my personal life which has gotten in the way of my blogging schedule (well not a schedule but a list of cool post ideas that I have bundled together on my notes app…).

The books I have managed to read have been pretty damn amazing which I am eternally grateful for. I have made quite a few posts celebrating all the epic reads I have had the pleasure of reading, separated into their relevant genres but I thought an overall 2019 post was in order too. These are the books that really hit me full force and made the reviews such a fun experience to write. I hope you had a fantastic 2019. I hope you will be seeing more of Always Trust In Books in 2020! [I had such high hopes for 2020, it was apparently not meant to be!]

Best Reads Of 2019

Synopsis: Sanctuary. It’s the perfect town. . . to hide a secret.

To Detective Maggie Knight, the death of Sanctuary’s star quarterback seems to be a tragic accident. Only, everyone knows his ex-girlfriend is the daughter of a witch – and she was there when he died.

Then the rumours start to fly.

Bereaved mother Abigail will stop at nothing until she has justice for her dead son. Her best friend Sarah will do everything in her power to protect her accused daughter. And the women share a secret that could shatter their lives – and their community.

It falls to Maggie to prevent her investigation – and Sanctuary itself – from spiralling out of control.

My Thoughts: I was actually a tiny bit ‘meh witches’ when I picked up Sanctuary but I was hit so hard in the face with my wrongness that it shot straight to top of my top recommendations list. V.V. James mixes the rich history and lore of witchcraft with a small town murder mystery and teen drama. There is a heap of tension that transforms over the course of this magical investigation and the suspense is captivatingly intense. It is a modern insight into prejudice and how easy it is to sway opinion and encourage violence against a minority under suspicious circumstances. V.V. James love of witches and crime investigation blends well together and with a trio of compelling female leads, it is a true showstopper.

Synopsis: You have heard the story before – of a young boy, orphaned through tragic circumstances, raised by a wise old man, who comes to a fuller knowledge of his magic and uses it to fight the great evil that threatens his world.

But what if the boy hero and the malevolent, threatening taint were one and the same?

What if the boy slowly came to realize he was the reincarnation of an evil god? Would he save the world . . . or destroy it?

Among the Academy’s warrior-thieves, Annev de Breth is an outlier. Unlike his classmates who were stolen as infants from the capital city, Annev was born in the small village of Chaenbalu, was believed to be executed, and then unknowingly raised by his parents’ killers.

Seventeen years later, Annev struggles with the burdens of a forbidden magic, a forgotten heritage, and a secret deformity. When he is subsequently caught between the warring ideologies of his priestly mentor and the Academy’s masters, he must choose between forfeiting his promising future at the Academy or betraying his closest friends. Each decision leads to a deeper dilemma, until Annev finds himself pressed into a quest he does not wish to fulfil.

Will he finally embrace the doctrine of his tutors, murder a stranger, and abandon his mentor? Or will he accept the more difficult truth of who he is . . . and the darker truth of what he may become . . .

My Thoughts: I thought Master Of Sorrows sounded like it had a cool and familiar concept for a fantasy story that I could easily appreciate from the beginning. Upon starting the novel I was treated to the best fantasy prologue I have read in years and it plunged me into this story of a boy, who unbeknownst to him, is destined to be a villain. A boy stolen away from his destiny and hidden in plain sight in a community who would kill him on the spot if they knew who he truly was. A young man who is being dragged between both good and evil, while trying be the person he wants to be. I sank so far into this story that it was genuine shame for it to end. The finale is so fiercely intense that it has stuck in my mind for the whole year (I read this in Jan 2019). Master Of Sorrows is familiar yet refreshingly original and it is a must read for all fantasy readers.

Synopsis: The first book in The Last War series: a debut epic fantasy full of crunching revolutionary action, twisted magic, and hard choices in dark times.

The war is over. The enemy won.

Jia’s people learned the hard way that there are no second chances. The Egril, their ancient enemy, struck with magic so devastating that Jia’s armies were wiped out. Now terror reigns in the streets, and friend turns on friend just to live another day.

Somehow Tinnstra – a deserter, a failure, nothing but a coward – survived. She wants no more than to hide from the chaos.

But dragged into a desperate plot to retake Jia, surrounded by people willing to do anything to win the fight, this time Tinnstra will need to do more than hide.

If Jia is to get a second chance after all, this time she will need to be a hero.

With all the grit of Joe Abercrombie, Mark Lawrence and Ed McDonald, this is fantasy with the sharpest of edges.

My Thoughts: We Are The Dead caught my eye from a mile off. I loved the concept this novel was built on. A powerful nation blindside by their own ignorance. A cast of young, naive and almost hopeless teens forced to survive or die. The old guard that must face their failures and adapt to the new future in front of them. Insights into the evil forces that will kill and maim their way to victory. All taking place in an interesting and well thought out fantasy world. We Are The Dead is brutal, cool and intense. I wrote a lengthy and over-indulgent review that showcases my reactions to each character and the many unforgettable moments. There is so much story packed into this novel, shoulder to shoulder with emotion, pain and outstanding fantasy imagery. Mike Shackle has kicked off this series with a blast, I hope he can keep this momentum.

Synopsis: TRP: Don Tillman has got his love life planned out. He knows exactly who he wants, but is it who he needs?

Love isn’t an exact science – but no one told Don Tillman.

A thirty-nine-year-old geneticist, Don’s never had a second date. So he devises the Wife Project, a scientific test to find the perfect partner.

Enter Rosie – ‘the world’s most incompatible woman’ – throwing Don’s safe, ordered life into chaos.

But what is this unsettling, alien emotion he’s feeling?

TRE: Forty-one-year-old geneticist Don Tillman had never had a second date before he met Rosie.

Now, living in New York City, they have survived ten months and ten days of marriage, even if Don has had to sacrifice standardised meals and embrace unscheduled sex.

But then Rosie drops the mother of all bombshells. And Don must prepare for the biggest challenge of his previously ordered life – at the same time as dodging deportation, prosecution and professional disgrace.

Is Don Tillman ready to become the man he always dreamed of being? Or will he revert to his old ways and risk losing Rosie for ever?

My Thoughts: I had seen The Rosie Project here and there but thought little of it. When I perusing the library website it popped up and I reckoned why not give it a go. It took me less that a minute to get absorbed in this book. Don Tillman is a fantastic character that had me laughing in amazement pretty much every time he opened his mouth. Don is a geneticist who is on the high function end of the autism spectrum. His view on life is one of objectivity, evaluation and information. Don is formulating an extensive questionnaire to help find him a suitable partner, elegantly named the ‘Wife Project’. While working on this precise and time consuming project, Don runs into Rosie, who is an absolutely awful candidate for his tests but who Don finds fascinating none the less. Rosie is looking to find her biological father and Don offers to lend her his expertise. It is a fascinating and hilarious story of social deficits, rationality and improbability that is a clever idea for a romantic comedy. The Rosie Effect continues the story in even more socially confusing and emotionally challenging ways.

Synopsis: Nine suicides. One Cult. No leader.

Nine people arrive one night on Chelsea Bridge. They’ve never met. But at the same time, they run, and leap to their deaths. Each of them received a letter in the post that morning, a pre-written suicide note, and a page containing only four words: Nothing important happened today. That is how they knew they had been chosen to become a part of the People Of Choice: A mysterious suicide cult whose members have no knowledge of one another. Thirty-two people on that train witness the event. Two of them will be next. By the morning, People Of Choice are appearing around the globe; it becomes a movement. A social media page that has lain dormant for four years suddenly has thousands of followers. The police are under pressure to find a link between the cult members, to locate a leader that does not seem to exist.

How do you stop a cult when nobody knows they are a member?

A shocking, mesmerisingly original and pitch-black thriller, Nothing Important Happened Today confirms Will Carver as one of the most extraordinary, exciting authors in crime fiction.

My Thoughts: Nothing Important Happened Today is by far the most radical book I read in 2019 and I thought it was genius. Will Carver took an interesting concept and turned it into an explosive and consuming novel that I am still trying to process months after reading. A novel about a suicide cult might feel like a bit too much (yes there is a lot of suicide) but Will Carver’s perspective and voice turn this objectively unpleasant idea into an opportunity for consideration and reflection. It is also a clever crime thriller that has an incredibly satisfying conclusion which is always good.

Synopsis: The explosive conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Arc of a Scythe series.

It’s been three years since Rowan and Citra disappeared; since Scythe Goddard came into power; since the Thunderhead closed itself off to everyone but Grayson Tolliver. In this pulse-pounding finale to Neal Shusterman’s internationally bestselling trilogy, constitutions are tested and old friends are brought back from the dead.

My Thoughts: I am going to miss this series. I am gutted that it is over already. The Arc Of The Scythe novels took me somewhere special. Fantastic characters, thrilling plot ideas and a setting that is truly inspired, I never wanted the story to end. But its over and The Toll is the epic finale. If you haven’t given this series a go yet then I highly recommend it. The Toll was a satisfying (and unexpected) conclusion to events surrounding Citra, Rowan and Grayson and Schusterman definitely saved the biggest spectacles for last. The Arc Of Scythe novels are easily my favourite series from the last decade and I will be talking about them and re-reading them for years to come.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my list of best reads in 2019. It has been a great year for books and I was spoilt for choice when compiling my absolute favourites. I didn’t do a huge list because I didn’t want to drown out these spectacular reads too much but I do have several more lists (yay!) for everyone to checkout in the coming weeks. 2019 was a rocky year for me in pretty much every regard. I have seriously considered stopping the blog for some time now but every time I start the process I just can’t face the prospect of not blathering on about books as much as possible.

I am hoping 2020 will be a year of focus, of even more reading and extra effort. I already have a stack of 2020 novels that I am excited to start. Thanks everyone for supporting the page by coming by and leaving a comment or a like. It really helps with my encouragement and positivity. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and are ready for another brilliant year for books.

Best Reads Of 2019 #amreading #bestof #top #fivestars #mustread #books #bookblog #booknerd #blog #2019 #recommended #fantasy #thriller #scifi #horror #supernatural Welcome to my top reads for 2019 post! I know these posts are flying about like nobody's business but I thought I would add my opinions into the mix.

[marrisawrites]

Ink

I wrote this a million years ago. Enjoy!

The room I'm sitting in is silent, except for my own breathing and the low voice of the news channel on the communal television. Moments ago, it was full of life. No more than ten minutes ago I stood among my classmates in the dining hall trying to get lunch. There was chatting and laughing and smiling. Now, well, now there is nothing. The food is getting cold, the air conditioning is running just to me, and there is no smiling, or talking. I am completely alone, something I have never been in all my nineteen years of life but have longed for so. But I am alone with the dead bodies of at least one hundred fellow students. They were young and trying to build their lives and now they're dead. In an instant all of these lives were gone. Except for mine.

The air is growing foul with every passing second. The smell of feces fills the air and mixes with what was to be our lunch. I feel as though I could suffocate on the smell. My chest tightens and it gets harder to breathe.

To my left about three feet is a large window facing the quad. There are always students in the quad, but when i look out that window, the sight before me matches the one behind me; more dead bodies.

I back away from the window in shock and step on the arm of a girl in my American history course. Then, as I go to side step around her to the right I kick the head of the senior quarterback.

I stand frozen in my spot as I assess the situation. "How the hell did this happen?" I mutter to myself.

I was just sitting down with my plate and my laptop in the far right corner to eat when people suddenly started to collapse. There was no warning and no time to react. Still, I jumped up from my seat and ran to help the others. There was nothing I could do. Their bodies were already cold and none of them were breathing.

Then I hear something on the news that interests me: the woman is talking about similar deaths.

"An unexplainable phenomenon has just occurred in all corners of the world. People are dropping dead without a moment's notice." She says in a tired and sad voice. "At this time we have very little data regarding this event but we will remain on air with this topic until further notice. If you have witnessed such an occurance, please call the number on your screen and a federal research party will be at your location ASAP to record the damages. As of right now, the death toll stands at approximately 200,000. To our knowledge, being around the bodies will not put you at risk so please remain where you are. Call for help and stay put."

Once I have called the number, I sit before the screen and await more information. I'm starving but the food around me - the food all of these dead people pay to eat - is suddenly unappealing.

Campus police, along with the federal research party, estimate the deaths on campus to be close to 600 students and faculty members. I am taken to a holding area with the remaining survivors. At the end of the twenty-four hour holding period that follows, a total of 726 bodies are found on campus in various locations.

During that twenty-four hour period we are heavily questioned by the Feds. They ask us to recount the incident precisely how it happened in morosely vivid detail exactly how we remember it. They say if they find that we lied in anyway we can be fined over one thousand dollars. I tell them my story three times before they accept it. They can't believe that I'm the only one who survived. To be quite honest, I can't believe it either.

The universal death toll is 5.3 million at the end of that holding period. The news remains on the topic of these sudden deaths the entire time despite no one having any answers.

For the next six months anyone who was on a "death site" is taken to a secret government facility to be tested for at least one week. The bodies were collected and never seen again, no one knows where they were taken. Conspiracy theorists go nuts. "It was the government's plan to reduce the population." "It was part of the neo-Nazi agenda." "Judgement day has come and the New World Order is taking names. We'll be the first contestants in the Hunger Games!" It's all a bunch of bologna but it helps people make sense of it all. Even the church goers can't explain it now.

After a year and a half of research the Feds give up and we go back to life as usual. They never found any cause or any indicators that it would happen again. The final death toll at that point was 6.2 million.

Unfortunately, those of us who survived and watched these things happen won't ever forget the way the bodies fell and the way they were so suddenly gone. We'll never wrap our heads around it.

That is, until we die of natural causes or some freak accident and we come face to face with the Grim Reaper who apologizes for that time they spilled some ink and traumatized us forever.

[buddyrabrahams]

10 NFL players who will thrive with their new team

The 2019 offseason has seen no shortage of major trades, big names on the move, and players full of potential landing in new locations. Some of the fits appear obvious, while others may make you scratch your head. But which moves will turn out to be the best? Which players will thrive in their new locations? Let’s take a look.

10. Earl Thomas, Baltimore Ravens

As talent began to depart in Seattle, Earl Thomas saw his production and playing time decrease — the latter the result of injuries over the previous three seasons. A fresh start in Baltimore may prove revitalizing for Thomas, who will bring to the Ravens the same sort of playing style the team lost when Ed Reed walked following the 2012 season. Needless to say, it’s been a long drought for the once defensively superior Ravens, but that comes to an end in 2019 — at least at the safety position. Thomas provides the exact style of play Baltimore has been in search of, while his veteran experience and leadership in the locker-room can not possibly be overstated.

9. Jabrill Peppers, New York Giants

Jabrill Peppers entered the NFL essentially position-less and unsuccessfully tried to take over the free safety role during his rookie campaign. The growing pains were obvious, but more than the first-year transition, Peppers simply wasn’t cut out to take on big-time receiving threats in coverage. In 2018, Peppers took a dramatic leap forward playing strong safety and playing closer to the line of scrimmage. In New York, taking over for Landon Collins, that is precisely the role Peppers will assume, allowing him to develop his strength without having to concern himself with playing free safety.

8. Joe Flacco, Denver Broncos

The pressure had begun mounting for Joe Flacco in Baltimore years ago, so his benching a season ago came as little surprise. However, contrary to popular belief, Flacco was actually performing at a solid clip early on, ranking 16th overall in DVOA just behind Jameis Winston, Baker Mayfield and Aaron Rodgers. In Denver, Flacco will takes the reigns with far less pressure while also providing the Broncos’ offense with the one thing they’ve been lacking: a quarterback capable of throwing the deep ball. Expect Flacco to produce at or above his career averages, especially if John Elway & Co. cut him loose.

7. Michael Bennett, New England Patriots

Michael Bennett has already established himself as a quality defensive lineman capable of playing both inside and outside, but even after an arguable career year in 2018, he’s poised to get even better as a member of the Patriots. His off-field controversies and locker-room presence aside, Bennett is the exact type of player Bill Belichick tends to get the most out of. As for those potential locker-room issues, they won’t fly in Foxborough. The Patriots have a way of nipping that stuff in the bud and keeping players completely focused on the game of football. Expect big things from Bennett in 2019, which may be frustrating to hear for those who are sick and tired of New England.

6. Nick Foles, Jacksonville Jaguars

It’s been a wild and rewarding ride for Nick Foles in recent years, and he has the Eagles to thank not only for that, but also for doing the right thing and letting him walk into free agency unimpeded. Now Foles finds himself in Jacksonville as the face of their franchise. There’s no one looking over his shoulder, his job is secure, and he knows what to expect going into work each day. All of that will culminate in Foles finally reaching his ceiling, which was witnessed in a glimpse during the team’s improbable Super Bowl run just two seasons ago. So long as the Jaguars can shore up their offensive line, Foles may rapidly develop into one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

5. Trey Flowers, Detroit Lions

Trey Flowers had a level of success with the New England Patriots, but was capped by their system and style of play. That’s not a bad thing. For some, like the aforementioned Michael Bennett, it will work out. But for Flowers, he needs a little more defensive freedom, which he will find in spades in Detroit. Additionally, the Lions have suddenly begun to churn out pass rushers with remarkably frequency — Devon Kennard, Romeo Okwara and Jarrad Davis come to mind. Flowers, of course, is more of a pure pass rusher who will excel in those situations, wracking up the sacks at a faster clip than his new teammates. Expect double-digit sacks in 2019 and beyond.

4. Landon Collins, Washington Redskins

It was only a few seasons ago that Landon Collins was in the running for Defensive Player of the Year. Since then, Collins’ production has steadily declined and the “box safety” label that plagued him coming out of college has returned. Part of that is due to repeated defensive coordinator changes, a lack of talent alongside him, and being forced to play out of position due to injuries. Whatever role Collins has in Washington will be defined, which immediately puts him ahead of the curve. So long as they pair him with a quality ball-hawking safety, Collins will be able to return to the player who was one considered on the level of elite defenders.

3. Le’Veon Bell, New York Jets

After sitting out an entire year, Le’Veon Bell will return to the field as a member of the upstart New York Jets, who are suddenly feeling quite good about themselves. Not only will Bell be running with a chip on his shoulder, but he’ll do so behind a quality offensive line and ascending young quarterback. And that is precisely where Bell will bring the greatest value. Although he’ll likely gain upwards of 2,000 yards from scrimmage, providing Sam Darnold a trusted outlet will go a long way is helping to build his confidence. It will also boost Darnold’s numbers and create opportunities for other playmakers to step up as Bell draws the vast majority of defensive attention.

2. Antonio Brown, Oakland Raiders

It was clear to anyone with a pulse that Antonio Brown had worn out his welcome in Pittsburgh and was no longer capable of coexisting with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Accordingly, he forced a trade to the Oakland Raiders where he will be able to start fresh with a new quarterback. And as the Raiders continue to retool, head coach Jon Gruden will lean heavily on his veterans and superstars, meaning Brown immediately will become the focal point of Oakland’s offense. How high he can fly as the centerpiece of a potentially talented offense is anyone’s guess, but we’re all going to find out in short order.

1. Odell Beckham Jr, Cleveland Browns

Odell Beckham Jr. is already an elite superstar, but things simply weren’t working out in New York. Fresh scenery and a new start in Cleveland could be just what he needs, not only because Beckham escapes the bright lights and gossip of The Big Apple, but also because he reunites with friends and former college teammates. Additionally, Beckham now has the added benefit of playing for a team on the rise with a young quarterback who may fit his style of play better than Eli Manning did previously. So long as he can stay healthy, Beckham should have his best season in 2019.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2YMLZsW