Logic

I would really love for anybody -- anybody at all -- to explain to me how what happened with this tax bill last night was okay. The last minute hand-written additions, the fact that many of said additions were literally being written by lobbyists, the fact that no one had any real time to read or debate this bill, the fact that even the people voting FOR it didn't know what was in it, the fact that it does cartoon-villain things like give tax breaks to private jet owners...This whole process was absolutely vile and a complete attack on common sense and democracy. "The party of fiscal responsibility". Sure.

https://qz.com/1144480/mike-flynns-guilty-plea-muellers-investigation-into-trumps-russia-ties-and-everything-else-you-need-to-know/ Everything you need to know about Mike Flynn’s guilty plea Mueller threw the kitchen sink at Manafort and Gates, with 12 criminal charges against them, but Flynn has just one. That’s because Mueller wants to bludgeon Manafort and Gates into cooperating, while Flynn has already been doing so. To get this kind of light deal, Flynn would probably have had to offer highly damaging information about other people in last year’s presidential campaign, writes University of New Hampshire law professor and former public defender Seth Abramson (Abramson’s Twitter account is a must-read for those following the probe and heavily informs this piece). What’s more, that information has to be onsomeone higher “up the food chain” in the organization. For someone of Flynn’s seniority, there are very few people who fit that bill. President Trump and vice-president Mike Pence are two of them. Whether Trump’s son-in-law and right hand man Jared Kushner is a big enough fish could be open to interpretation. Abramson argues that Flynn could only have got this very easy deal by offering incriminating information on Trump or Pence. The first early sign that he’s done just that is ABC’s report that Flynn will testify that Trump “directed him to make contact with the Russians.”

I say it's a big deal because Flynn is going to be testifying against the sitting president directly. It's the biggest development in the Russia probe thus far.

Former National Security Advisor accepts plea deal with Russia probe and plans to cooperate by testifying against the sitting president....and the Trumpies in here are STILL trying to paint a picture of "crazed, conspiracy loving leftists!" and "nothing to see here!". For those who AREN'T completely unwilling and unable to accept the idea that maybe there's something TO all this smoke, here's a well reasoned thread written by an intelligent and sane person that explains this all very clearly. This IS a big deal, it IS significant, it IS historic, and it IS ridiculous that the usual suspects on here are still trying to paint it as a nothing burger. **** is getting real.

Haven't read all the way through this thread, but... Everyone agrees Dareus was valuable in terms of stopping the run. That doesn't change the fact that he is a one-dimensional player getting about 30--40% of the snaps per week, and it was unwise and unsustainable for the Bills to continue to pay his bloated contracted for those contributions, ESPECIALLY considering that he is one run-in with the law away from a long suspension and doesn't have a work ethic.

Lots of great stuff in here. Right on the money. Too much to copy and paste all the good quotes, so I only picked one. Check the article out, though. Worth your time. https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/11/18/week-11-preview-bills-tyrod-taylor-nathan-peterman-jerry-jones-roger-goodell-case-keenum-teddy-bridgewater "I like Taylor, I’m hopeful for the Bills, and I’m bummed it didn’t work out. In short, for a flawed team, what Taylor brought wasn’t good enough, and he really hadn’t shown any signs that a drastic improvement was on the way. Are the Bills better off with Nathan Peterman under center? We have no idea yet. But they made the change because they wanted something different. This team was speeding toward the edge of the cliff, and sometimes you just gotta turn the wheel and hope for the best."

It's not the Manafort indictment that has so many people's attention regarding collusion, in my opinion. It's the Papadapolous guilty plea. https://www.vox.com/world/2017/10/30/16570826/george-papadopoulos-russia-trump-mueller According to the special counsel’s statement of the offense, Papadopoulos joined the Trump campaign in March 2016 as a foreign policy adviser. That month, he met with a Kremlin-linked professor in London who also introduced him to a woman possibly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. When the FBI interviewed Papadopoulos as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the document says, he lied to FBI agents. Papadopoulos was arrested on July 27 and pleaded guilty, and a special counsel document dated October 5 says he agreed to plead guilty. However, special counsel Robert Mueller asked the court to keep all of that secret until now because, in Mueller’s words, the “[d]efendant has indicated that he is willing to cooperate with the government in its ongoing investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.”

Too early to say. White and Milano look like keepers. I have faith that Dawkins, at the very worst, will be an excellent guard. So that would be three quality players. We won't know how the draft stacks up completely until Vallejo and Peterman get playing time.

Yes, I was a member of the BBMB. I have no idea what other nonsense you're talking about. And for those keeping score: Donald Jr. Kushner Manafort Sessions Papadopoulos Flynn That's the list of people who met with Russians and lied about it. Keep laughing it all off as a hoax, though. Meanwhile, Manafort was just indicted for Conspiracy against the United States. But again, keep downplaying everything.

So Trump's campaign chairman turning himself into the FBI because -- among other things-- he was an unregistered agent of a foreign government, and Papadapolous now cooperating with the Mueller investigation after being forced to accept a plea because he had a meeting with a Russian official to receive damning information about Hillary Clinton, all while the commander in chief throws panic hissy fits on Twitter...those things aren't a big deal, eh? Sure, right, nothing to see here. Keep laughing it off. MAGA!

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/adam-gase-says-hes-fed-up-and-done-compromising-with-unprepared-dolphins/ There isn't necessarily just one problem the Miami Dolphins need to address after their embarrassing 40-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night. Head coach Adam Gase made that clear in a tangent of a press conference on Friday, where he addressed a litany of issues with the Dolphins and repeatedly remarked how "fed up" he is with his team, according to Hal Habib of the Palm Beach Post.

A reporter on twitter (Sal?) mentioned that Seantrel Henderson was lined up to the left of Cordy Glenn on a few plays. I believe that -- after some self evaluation during the bye week, in which the coaching staff realized both the success of last year's unbalanced lines and the current dearth of healthy Bills receivers -- the Bills will try to get the running game on track agains the Bucs using 22 and 13 personnel and some extra tackle Jumbo formations. Cover 1 recently tweeted a link to Jim Schwartz talking about how difficult it is to defend against 22 and 13 personnel, how hard it is to keep gap integrity. Given the vulnerability in run defense that the Buccaneers present and the lack of #85 and #87 on the field, I expect the ol' ground 'n' pound this week. Shady tops 100 yards rushing for the first time since week 1. Bank it.

You should always, ALWAYS wait until at least a quarterback's SECOND season to declare whether or not he is any good. Even that often isn't enough time. Once the book is out on a QB and the league learns his tendencies, THAT'S when you can declare whether or not he's any good. Saying Watson is better than Tyrod right now, or that Watson is definitely going to be a good NFL quarterback, are foolhardy statements. Both statements MAY turn out to be true in time, but are not true yet. Oh, and for what it's worth, I wanted the Bills to draft Watson. Tre'davious White looks like a stud and I'm glad he's a Bill, but I'd have rather had Watson. Time will till if you and I were right or not, but to say we know already is silly.

12 team auction draft, PPR. My first auction draft league. QB - Cam Newton HB - LeSean McCoy HB - Kareem Hunt WR - Michael Thomas WR - Terrelle Pryor TE - Jason Witten D/ST - Ravens K - Dan Bailey Bench: QB - Philip Rivers HB - Jamaal Charles HB - Terrence West HB - Rex Burkhead WR - DeSean Jackson WR - Sammy Watkins WR - Zay Jones TE - Charles Clay I'm pretty happy with the results, given that it was my first auction draft. McCoy, Hunt, and Thomas should be beasts this year. Cam Newton has finished top 7 in fantasy scoring in all but one of his seasons. Then I have high upside bench players like West, Charles, Burkhead, Zay, that I got on the cheap. We'll see how it goes. $600 prize for the winner.

In what world was Seymour the Bills' number 2/3 corner? It's been White, Gaines, Johnson, Wright for a while now. As for Reilly, fan favorite WRs get cut every year because they don't contribute much on special teams, which you absolutely must do if you're a WR5 or WR6. Witness Kasen Williams in Seattle and Victor Cruz in Chicago from this year. I do agree with the point about Ducasse, though. Dude's a bum.

You seem really upset about a few fringe roster moves. You should have an ice cream cone.

They "lost you" before the Bills even played their first game under their leadership? Yikes. Tough crowd.

Because when a player is cut, he is subject to waivers. Perhaps they liked Clay enough that they didn't want to risk losing out on him. I'm not saying I agree with them -- I know nothing about Clay, so it's hard to rate the move. I'm just saying that it's better to guarantee a player is on your roster by trading an asset for him that you didn't want to hang on to ANYWAY than it is to hope no one above you on the waiver order puts in a claim.

I'll say a few things for them: 1.) They have been tasked with building a team to compete for the long term. Not just a team to squeak into a Wild Card spot every now and again. 2.) They seem to have a definite and united vision for what it will take to accomplish that task. 3.) They are pursuing that goal with impressive gumption and fearlessness. As the press goes, "they're betting on themselves" BIG TIME. What they are doing may or may not work, but no one can say that they aren't attacking their plan head-on. 4.) They seem to be both able and unafraid to get assets back in return for players they don't see as long term fits. Ragland and Seymour were likely to be cut, but instead, Beane turned them into 4th and 7th round picks and a kick returner. Again, time will tell whether they know what they're doing, but it's hard not to be intrigued and cautiously optimistic, based on the decisiveness they have shown.

Seems pretty clear to me that McBeane want to build for the future, but are not doing so in a way that includes "tanking" this season. If they were, they would get draft picks for McCoy, Clay, Taylor, Dareus, etc. Reading the recent Ringer interview with McDermott, though, I would say that the primary purpose of this season is to build a culture and determine who fits in with said culture. They're gonna use the season to see what they've got, basically. While I expect them to compete hard and never throw in the towel or "race to the bottom", I also expect about a 6-10 season and an extremely interesting offseason to follow. The 2018 draft will make or break this regime, period. I fully anticipate the Bills drafting a QB in round 1. That makes this year little more than a transitional season.

More fake news below? Nothing to see here, right? At this point, I'm not even sure it's possible for Trumpsters to pull their heads out of the sand and realize the damage this man is doing to America's reputation abroad or the danger he has put our country in by glad-handing with a murderous autocrat. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/07/09/donald-trump-junior-russia-240339 Donald Trump Jr. confirmed Sunday that he met last year with a Russian lawyer who had ties to the Kremlin, saying she told him at the June 2016 meeting she had information that could damage Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. President Donald Trump’s oldest son said in a statement that an acquaintance from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which was held in Moscow, had asked him to meet “with an individual who I was told might have information helpful to the campaign.”

I had this thought as well, but I read a tweet from Andy Benoit today stating that he expects Darby to be BETTER in McDermott's defense. Certainly interesting, since I think of Darby more as a man-to-man specialist.

With the amount of money the Bills have left, I'd like to see them sign TWO safeties. Boston, Byrd, Gilchrist. Take your pick. I'd also like to see them trade a late round pick for Calvin Pryor and see how he does at nickel LB, like Mark Barron before him.

Darby White Wright Seymour Johnson Sayles

Congrats to Cardale. Of all the QBs on the Bills roster, Cardale seems to have the most sheer physical talent. It would be really awesome if he made a big step in year two and prompted a viable QB competition with Taylor and Peterman by 2018.