Mr.TaterSalad

Marine Le Pen is allegedly crook and a far right grifter? Where have I seen this story before? Looks like Le Pen may spend some time in the Pen if these allegations are true.

I really don't care what Jacksonville does at this point. While I'd love to have Hutchinson, I would be almost as happy to have Thibodeaux at #2. So if they take Hutch, I'm taking Thibs, unless I get a gangbusters deal to trade back.

Do you think that Viktor Orban in Hungary (who Trump endorsed) and Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus (who Trump only haphazardly sanctioned and was hardly critical of) are dictators in their respective countries? If so, how is Trump different than Orban or Lukashenko? He wants state controlled media as they have and lashes out about jailing journalists, doing physical harm to them, and changing libel laws so he can sue them. He has tried to manipulate the results of elections by openly calling for votes to be changed/doctored and working with his advisors like Donald Trump Jr. to have voting machines seized. As well, he has tried to stop the legal counting of votes in certain battleground states and tried to stop the counting of electoral votes at the federal level. Trump also openly talked about suspending the 2020 elections. Those seem like autocratic acts to me.

I would like to welcome Fred Upton to the Republican Party that has been building since Nixon and the Southern Strategy over the last 50 years.

I disagree with the argument that Trump doesn't want to end the American Republican. Trump literally wanted to install himself as a autocratic dictator and that's what January 6th was all about. At best he wants rigged, unfair elections like his boy Viktor Orban has in Hungary with a state-controlled media apparatus backing him up. At worst he wants what Putin has in Russia and Alexander Lukashenko has in Belearus. January 6th was an orchestrated attacked on the rule of law, democratic institutions, and free, fair elections. Trump wanted the legal counting of electoral votes stopped. He wanted his people to seize voting machines. He wanted a Secretary of State in Georgia to change over 11,000 votes to declare him the winner of a state he lost. He wanted votes overturned in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as well. That is autocratic by its very nature and spits in the face of democracy and our American Republic.

This appears to be the moment that the Officer fired the gun at Lyoya. It appears to be in the back of his head and the Officer appears to have leverage over him in this situation. Now, what you can't see is the taser or what may or may not be in Lyoya's hands at this moment. If Lyoya had gained control of the taser in this moment I guess I don't know what would be the proper course of action and ultimate justification. My initial reaction was that Lyoya shouldn't have been shot. But if he grabbed the Officer's taser, is the Officer then justified in this situation?

No, the suspect shouldn't flee, but the Officer doesn't know the suspect nor why he's fleeing. It's the Officers responsibility to protect himself, protect the alleged suspect, and protect other innocent bystanders. Suppose Patrick Lyoya suffered from a mental illness like Paranoid Schizophrenia and something/someone in his mind told him to flee. Suppose he had a developmental disability and couldn't comprehend the situation entirely. Suppose he was just scared shitless and panicked. The Officer involved doesn't know Patrick or what's going on in his mind. Thus, in this situation, given that Patrick was not wanted at the time as a suspect for a violent crime, maybe pursuit wasn't the best course of action.

MLive: Experts say Grand Rapids police officer could have avoided fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya From Professor Harris, the legal expert cited in the article . . . This goes along the lines of what I was asking earlier. Was it really necessary to hunt and chase him down like that? Was the ensuing scuffle really necessary?

So I did a different mock, that I don't even like, and traded both our #32 and #34 for future 1st round picks in the 2023 draft. I traded our pick at #32 to Miami for their 1st round pick next year and traded our pick at #34 to the Bears for their 1st round pick next year. If we want Bryce Young or CJ Stroud we're going to either need to stink it up badly or have assets to move up and get them. 4 1st round picks should do it for next year.

This is likely just pre-draft due diligence on the Lions part and means nothing in the end . . .

What I wonder though is short of the Officer discovering that Mr. Loyoya committed or is wanted as a suspect for a violent crime of some nature, why pursue him at all? Should simply running from an Officer be grounds for pursuit? Should Officers in this type of a situation be required to wait for backup before pursuing and/or should the individual be allowed to escape and then be apprehended later? Also, suppose Mr. Lyoya did get a hold of the Officers taser. If a taser is supposed to be a non-lethal weapon, is the Officer justified in using a lethal weapon against an individual holding what is supposed to be a non-lethal weapon?

Unarmed black man Patrick Loyoya killed by Grand Rapids Police Officer. In the video below and the bodycam footage it looks like there was an ensuing struggle, a struggle for the Officers taser, and then a shot fired into the back of Patrick's head. Questions I have after watching the footage. 1. Why was Patrick stopped just for the plate not matching the car and was it a necessary stop? 2. Does running from a Police Officer automatically mean you get to pull out your taser and use it on someone/an alleged suspect? 3. When the Officer was on top of Patrick, why did he feel the need to shoot this man and why in the back of the head, execution style?

Forgetting the trade back scenarios for a second, these are the players I like at each of the picks ideally . . . #2 Overall: 1. Aidan Hutchison/Edge 2. Kayvon Thibodeaux/Edge 3. Travon Walker/Edge 4. Garrett Wilson/WR 5. Drake London/WR #32 and #34 Overall: 1. Lewis Cine/S 2. Jaquan Brisker/S 3. Christian Watson/WR 4. George Pickens/WR 5. Leo Chenal/LB 6. Chad Muma/LB 7. David Ojabo/Edge 8. Boye Mafe/Edge 9. Jalen Pitre/S 10. Arnold Ebiketie/Edge

Yes, if you are drafting any player inside the top 10 you ideally want them to be a top-tier play at their position. In the case of a DE, you'd want double digit sack seasons and 40-45-50+ tackles in a season. Here's Mel Kiper on Hockenson, comparing him to a generational TE in Rob Gronkowski . . . "He's got a basketball background. He's nearly 6-5, 250 – talking about an athlete. ... You can see him blocking there and as well getting downfield with that release, sealing the edge. He's a throwback to the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s. He can block, get down the field, make the catch. You see Bob Quinn, the GM, is thinking Rob Gronkowski. You can think about how he added Jesse James, bringing him in in free agency. Now you bring in TJ Hockenson, who is an offensive (threat) for Matthew Stafford now. You have Kenny Golladay, you have Marvin Jones, you have Tommylee Lewis and Kerryon Johnson at running back and Danny Amendola in the slot. Now you get a guy who can block for Kerryon Johnson and can be another option for Matthew Stafford on third-down situations. In red zone situations, you can go to Hockenson and he can bring down the football."

Look, this team needed both receiving threats and pass rushing help at the time they drafted Hockenson. Would you rather have an average blocking TE that gets you 60-65 receptions/750 yards/5-6 TDs like Hock or or an edge rusher that gets you 8-9 sacks and 45-50 tackles like Burns/Sweat. I get it, both probably balance out and one is not anymore valuable than the other at the end of the day. What ultimately hurts Hock in the eyes of the fans is that we had already as an organization drafted Brandon Pettigrew and Eric Ebron with 1st round picks and people were burnt out on the whole Lions wasting a 1st round pick on a TE when other organizations were finding great talents in later rounds. That argument isn't right and really offers no merit because what does one player have to do with another. Just because Butterfingers and Edrop flamed out has no barring on Hockenson as a player. But once again, fans were sold on the idea that they'd be getting a mismatch and a generational talent and thus far we didn't get it. What we got is a nice player, which really, is what both Burns and Sweat are too at the end of the day.

Brian Burns, Montez Sweat, Devin Bush were all choices people wanted. Don't act like Oliver was the only other option.

Of 32 starting TEs in 2021 Hockenson was 16th in total yards, 10th in receptions, 15th in TDs. So he is right near the middle/median for starting NFL TEs. Are you implying he is above or below average?

The minute I saw this mock I knew I was going to be listening to Karsch and Anderson today so I could here them and half of Metro Detroit call in and lambast this crap. Imagine having top 10 picks 4 years running and your team comes away with an average pass catching/pass blocking TE, a CB who has started 7 games over 2 years, a great LT, and another CB. I don't think there is any planet where they pass on a DE for Sauce Gardner or any CB.

Loading Zones is the corniest fucking jam in the world.

Look, 40 times aren't the be all/end all of what makes a good player, Safety or otherwise, in the NFL. But if Hamilton really ran a 4.74 that is a giant red flag in my book. It indicates to me, even if his GPS time was faster, that he can't keep up with NFL-level players at WR and will get torched. I hope the Lions don't get cute at try to be smartest guys in the room by drafting Hamilton. I've wavered back and forth on him a bit, but I am officially out on wanting to even consider the guy anywhere in the top 10/top 15, whether picking at #2 or trading back a few spots.

If you go off the trade value chart for draft picks I don't think they are realistic. Pick #2 is worth 2,600 points on the chart and picks #5 and #7 combined are worth 3,200 points. Of course the NFL draft and draft trades aren't perfect mathematical equations. If the Giants new GM Joe Schoen is as big an idiot as some other GMs who've made draft-related terrible trades, like Bruce Allen trading up for RGIII, then it could happen. I would think it's highly unlikely though.

If we get the chance to draft Hutch I wonder how that effects our ability to trade back down. Is he the type of Edge Rusher, ala a Bosa brother or a Myles Garrett, that someone would want to pay a high price for and get?

Really sad, awful news about Haskins. Thoughts go out to those who were the closest to him.

That's something strong by Boris Johnson. Good for him for going and meeting with Zelensky and committing to aid for Ukraine.

I'd be underwhelmed if they took George Karlaftis or Boye Mafe at #2 overall. The point was made earlier that Johnson was more productive in college than Walker was, so if you're willing to take Walker, why not Johnson. I think there is some merit to that argument, but Walker does seem to be a bit more explosive and athletic than Johnson in. I'm not smart enough to know who to take where, but my preference is still Hutch #1, Thibs #2, Walker #3. I guess I would slide Johnson in ahead of Kyle Hamilton or a WR at #2 at this point in the game too.