GOP defends Kavanaugh against sexual assault allegation


Brett Kavanaugh

The flaring controversy does not appear to have shaken Republican plans to bring Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor before the Supreme Court’s new term begins in the first week of October. | Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO

Republicans rushed to defend the Supreme Court nominee with a letter from women who’ve known him since high school.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans on Friday released a letter from 65 women who knew Brett Kavanaugh during his high school years calling him “a good person” — escalating their defense of the Supreme Court nominee as a decades-old sexual misconduct allegation surfaced.

Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley’s (R-Iowa) office circulated the pro-Kavanaugh letter less than 48 hours after the committee’s top Democrat, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, referred the allegation against the nominee to the FBI. Feinstein, who declined to say when she first became aware of the accusation, said she had “honored [a] decision” by the woman making the charges to maintain confidentiality. But the senator’s handling of the matter has stoked already-fierce partisan tensions over a confirmation the GOP is still pushing to wind up by the end of this month.

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The woman leveling the charge against Kavanaugh attended a nearby high school at the same time as the nominee. She, Kavanaugh, and another high-school male were alone in a room together when the alleged misconduct took place, according to two sources. The New Yorker reported Friday that the woman alleged Kavanaugh had attempted to force himself on her while physically restraining her.

The flaring controversy does not appear to have shaken Republican plans to bring Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Senate floor before the Supreme Court’s new term begins in the first week of October. With the GOP holding a 51-49 advantage, Republicans on the Hill described Kavanaugh’s prospects for approval as still on track barring any fresh public skepticism from swing-vote GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Kavanaugh’s female contemporaries countered the damning portrayal of the nominee that has surfaced the past 24 hours. “Through the more than 35 years we have known him, Brett has stood out for his friendship, character, and integrity. In particular, he has always treated women with decency and respect,” the women wrote. “That was true when he was in high school, and it has remained true to this day.”

The White House also released a statement from Kavanaugh that fully rebuts the woman’s charge. “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation,” the 53-year-old appeals court judge states. “I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”

Democrats have remained notably mum about the situation since Thursday, even as liberal groups off the Hill call for a pointed push to withdraw Kavanaugh’s nomination.

“That’s now in the hands of the FBI. That’s all I’m going to say about it,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who pressed Kavanaugh on the #MeToo movement during his confirmation hearing, told POLITICO’s Off Message podcast in an interview set to run Tuesday.

Brian Fallon, a former senior aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) who now helms the left-leaning group Demand Justice, nudged Democats for a more pointed response. “The message needs to be clear: withdraw,” he said.

The White House first heard vague rumors about the allegation against Kavanaugh late last week, but the specifics of the alleged high-school sexual assault landed on White House Counsel Don McGahn’s desk on Thursday, hours after Feinstein referred the matter to the FBI.

McGahn received the letter from the FBI around noon and immediately passed it to Capitol Hill, according to a White House aide. Kavanaugh and a network of clerks and former clerks who have been working with him during the confirmation process immediately lurched into action, contacting more than five dozen women who have known the judge since high school to sign the letter attesting to his character.

Nonetheless, most Republicans on Capitol Hill preparing to defend Kavanaugh amid attacks from Democrats were not aware of the letter as recently as Thursday, according to two people working on the nomination. Grassley still had not seen the letter as of Friday, according to his office, although a White House aide said the Judiciary panel received a physical copy of it within an hour after McGahn did.

Kavanaugh’s denial may do little to stanch the damaging trickle of revelations. The co-author of the New Yorker’s story, Ronan Farrow, has traveled to California in an attempt to persuade the woman behind the allegations to share her story, according to a source familiar with his reporting. The woman’s letter was channeled to Feinstein as well as to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) through a Stanford Law School professor.

The White House has been acutely conscious from the outset of the need to portray Kavanaugh as a champion of women — and to have a stable of impressive women, Republicans and Democrats alike, ready to speak on his behalf — because of his likely role, if confirmed, as the high court’s new swing vote. They were prepared for Democratic charges that he was hostile to women and that if confirmed he was likely to strike down Roe v. Wade.

The conservative Judicial Crisis Network spent millions of dollars on ads featuring women and minorities backing Kavanaugh, and during his Senate confirmation hearings former female clerks were seated directly behind him — in a shot captured by television cameras and broadcast across the country.

Andrew Restuccia and Edward-Isaac Dovere contributed to this report.

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Justin Bieber Dons A Fake Mustache To Dance With Strangers In Central Park



Getty Images

It’s been nearly three years since Justin Bieber released his latest album, Purpose, and it’s been over a year since he ended his gargantuan, continent-spanning Purpose tour early due to pure exhaustion. Since then, JB’s mostly chilled out, played hockey, gone to church, contributed to some top-notch one-off bangers, and most importantly, found love in a hopeless place.

But even when not directly in the spotlight, he’s still one of the biggest celebrities on the planet; all it takes to remember that is a quick jaunt through Central Park. That’s what Justin did alongside Jimmy Fallon for an extremely silly and good Tonight Show segment on Thursday (September 13).

In keeping with Fallon’s love of disguising famous people to goof off in the middle of New York City, the pair don wigs, fake mustaches, and suits to romp through the park’s grassy fields and running trails, dancing all the while to Bieber’s “What Do You Mean?” Eventually, they end up at Bethesda Fountain, where all pretenses get stripped away.

I have to say, it’s really nice to see Biebs let loose like this! The dude has also recently introduced more Hawaiian shirts into his wardrobe, according to many street-shot photos, and it’s evidently all in keeping with his impending nuptials to Hailey Baldwin.

Fallon, meanwhile, filmed the entire Tonight Show episode in Central Park, using SummerStage for his home base with guests Carrie Underwood, Blake Lively, and Henry Golding. But nothing was as farcical — yet whimsical — as his rumpus time with Bieber, the two of them dressed like rejects from the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” video set.

Experience all the glee in the video above.

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Please enjoy this grandmother’s perfect bottle flip

By Martha Tesema

Bottle flipping, America’s favorite pastime, will never die. It’s a skill that few possess, and produces an unmatched thrill when you finally land your first bottle. Take this grandma, for example, who stacked three cans of beans  and then defied all odds by flipping a wattle bottle onto the top can. 

An American hero.

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Google teases Pixel 3 launch in the wake of Apple’s iPhone event

It’s the Friday after a major Apple event, so you know what that means: it’s new iPhone pre-order day.

And if you’re Google, it’s also a strategic day to drop a reminder that your new Android phone, Pixel 3, is about to go on sale, too.

SEE ALSO: Google will likely announce the Pixel 3 on Oct. 9

In an update to its online store, Google has rolled out big number “3,” along with an option to sign up for updates. Yes, that’s it.

As small as it may seem, it’s not a bad move to drop a hint to remind people that there’s a new alternative coming to take on your competitor’s latest product. It creates some talk around your upcoming smartphone on what’s supposed to be their big day. And hey, we’re covering it.

Last week, Google announced an October 9 event for what’s expected to be the release of the new Pixel 3 phone. There’s not much yet known about Google’s latest Android offering. There’s been rumors that there may be more than a single phone model unveiled, with talk of a “Pixel Ultra” phone.

While the Apple diehards are getting their pre-orders in, there are surely many others — including those who aren’t currently iPhone users at all — looking into the surrounding hype of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max and deciding whether to buy Apple’s newest phones.

With this hint, there’s a good chance some people might, at the very least, wait to what the Pixel 3’s got going for it before deciding on what will be their phone of choice for the next year or two (or three).

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Marcus Peters Fined $13,000 for Touchdown Celebration vs. Raiders

OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 10:  Marcus Peters #22 of the Los Angeles Rams dives into the endzone after an interception of Derek Carr #4 of the Oakland Raiders in the fourth quarter of their NFL game at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on September 10, 2018 in Oakland, California.  (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Los Angeles Rams cornerback Marcus Peters reportedly received a $13,000 fine from the NFL for his crotch-grabbing touchdown celebration during his team’s 33-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Monday night.

Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports provided the update Friday.

Peters intercepted a Derek Carr pass late in the fourth quarter and ran 50 yards untouched to the end zone to seal the Rams’ season-opening win. He capped the score by leaping backward across the goal line, a move Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch popularized.

Last October, Lynch was ejected from a game against the Kansas City Chiefs (Peters’ former team) after pushing an official in an effort to defend the corner.

“They can say what they want, but one thing’s for certain: Family do come first,” Peters told reporters after that game. (“The two have been close since Peters was young,” according to SI’s Dan Gartland.)

Peters alluded to Lynch’s nickname and trademark TD celebration after Monday’s pick-six: “I did the Beast Mode. That’s what I did.”

The running back received a $11,500 fine in December 2014 and a $20,000 fine in January 2015 for the same crotch-grabbing gesture.

Peters, meanwhile, is eligible to play in Week 2 versus the Arizona Cardinals.

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Brazil’s Pankararu finally win land rights, but fight isn’t over

Jatoba, Brazil – Sarapo Pankararu, 36, sits in front of his house on the indigenous reserve in Brazil‘s semi-arid Sertao region, where, after a bitter 25-year struggle, his Pankararu people have finally won their land rights.

But intitial relief has given way to tension and unease as a long-running land conflict in the region flares up again. 

“We have had cameras installed on our houses because of the threats,” Sarapo tells Al Jazeera.

The indigenous leader says the threats – physical, verbal and online – are from the settler farmers who live on the edge of the reserve and are set to be evicted this month. He and nine other Pankararu leaders are part of a state government human rights protection programme.

The settlers’ eviction was first ordered in 1993 and a final eviction was ordered in June this year. Under the order, about 300 settler families must leave the 8100-hectare reserve in Pernambuco state where 6,500 Pankararu tribespeople live and was demarcated by the Brazilian government in 1987.

In the Sertao, long-running land disputes between indigenous people, settlers and landowners are common and often deadly. Experts blame slow-moving courts, impunity and the state’s incapacity or indifference to resolve conflicts in this poverty-stricken region.

“The biggest provoker of land conflict is the Brazilian state, with its failed land policy,” says Saulo Ferreira Feitosa, a professor and indigenous specialist at the Federal University of Pernambuco.

In the early 20th century, indigenous groups began to demand their ancestral lands back [Sam Cowie/Al Jazeera]

During Brazil’s colonisation in the northeast, indigenous people were boxed into villages by the Portuguese crown. In the 19th century, these lands were given to farmers, where indigenous people were forced to work. Then, in the early 20th century, they began to organise and demand their ancestral lands back.

In February of this year, Brazil was convicted at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for its 16-year fumble to demarcate the Xucuru indigenous land, also in Pernambuco, during which several were killed, including tribal leader Francisco de Assis Araujo.

Today, in Pernambuco, where 12 indigenous groups live, only one has its land fully demarcated while hundreds of other territories across the country remain in limbo with demarcations all but frozen in recent years.

Under Brazil’s 1988 post-military dictatorship constitution, indigenous people have the exclusive right to their traditionally occupied lands. Demarcation of indigenous territories throughout Brazil was supposed to be completed by 1993.

Last year was one of Brazil’s deadliest years on record for land conflict killings, according to local watchdog Comissao Pastoral da Terra, with a disproportionate number of indigenous people attacked or murdered. 

Land conflict heats up again

The Pankararu reserve is a 10-hour drive from Pernambuco state capital Recife, through Brazil’s impoverished dry backlands, passing mud houses, failed and abandoned water irrigation projects, and vast plantations commanded by powerful local landowners. 

Sarapo and nine other Pankararu leaders are part of a state government human rights protection programme [Sam Cowie/Al Jazeera]

The reserve sits behind a mountain range by the great Sao Francisco River where centuries ago Sarapo Pankararu says his ancestors roamed the river’s banks, fishing and hunting. Today, this stretch of the river is mostly riverside properties and tilapia fish farms.

Sarapo was just a boy when Pankararu leader Quiteria Binga was forced to flee her reserve after an attempt on her life by hired gunman believed contracted by the settlers. As with most murders and death threats to life in the Sertao, there wasn’t a conviction.

It was 1993, the first time the settlers were told they had to leave. Civil society groups intervened and the indigenous reached an uneasy truce with the settlers: they could stay until the government provided them with land and compensation.

“It was like a cold war,” says Tiago Da Silva Oliveira, 34, a Pankararu leader and indigenous school teacher. But with the looming eviction, the conflict has begun to heat up again.

Pankararu leaders say the human rights protection programme installed the security cameras because a gunshot was fired at a house last year. Al Jazeera confirmed with the public prosecutor’s office that an official complaint about the gunfire had been filed and that federal police were called to the scene. 

“It’s a very tense situation,” says Maria Beatriz Ribeiro Goncalves, a prosecutor who visited the reserve. “It’s clear that there are political interests involved, referring to the leaders of the settlers.”

Settlers say they’ve been cheated 

While some have already left, 302 settler families remain. They claim they’ve been cheated and that compensation cash offered for their homes and land is inadequate.

“Our fight is for all 302 families to be justly compensated and resettled here in the municipality of Jatoba,” says Eraldo Jose de Souza, 63, the group’s leader and a former city councilman for Jatoba. Souza denies the accusations by Pankararu leaders that he incited violence against them.

“This is fiction,” he tells Al Jazeera. 

Hilda Isabel da Silva, 64, will receive 88,000 Brazilian real (about $21,100) for her home where she lives with her sons Jailson and Nildo and three other family members and keeps livestock and crops. She says the money is not enough for her to buy another home in Jatoba where a three-bedroom house with no land goes for more than 100,000 Brazilian real (about $24,000). 

“We are children of this land and we want to stay here,” she tells Al Jazeera.

Hilda Isabel da Silva will receive 88,000 Brazilian real (about $21,100) for her home where she lives with her sons Jailson and Nildo [Sam Cowie/Al Jazeera]

Fernanda Antonia Bezerra, 35, who is blind, will not receive any compensation because her home was built after an agreed 1994 timeframe. Altogether, 153 families will not receive any compensation.

Brazil’s National Indigenous Foundation (Funai) is charged with providing compensation and told Al Jazeera in an email that the payments were “scientifically elaborated by official agencies and priced in the region where it is located”. 

Regarding the settlers who will not receive compensation, the agency said: Homes “existing before the timeframe are considered as having been installed in a time of good faith,” and “only such improvements are entitled to compensation.” Last year, Funai’s budget was cut by 44 percent.

The settlers also say the land where they will be resettled is not suitable for family agriculture. A report by Brazil’s state-owned Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, produced at their request, noted the land was “considered unfit for crops”.

The state needs to act, because we need our land and [the settlers] need somewhere to go

Sarapo Pankararu, indigenous Pankararu leader

Felipe Mota Pimentel de Oliveira, a Pernambuco judge who ruled on the settlers’ eviction in March, tells Al Jazeera that he has sympathy for all parties, “but above all, we must uphold the law.”

The settlers appealed, but judge Pimentel’s decision was upheld. In late June, a 90-day limit for the eviction was established. Failure to comply means police will evict the settlers.

In the meantime, Sarapo and other Pankararu leaders continue to live in unease.

“The state needs to act, because we need our land and [the settlers] need somewhere to go,” he says.

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Full text: New charging document in Manafort case


Paul Manafort

Paul Manafort has agreed to plead guilty in a foreign-lobbying and money laundering case brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. | Susan Walsh/AP Photo

The charges indicate Trump’s former campaign chairman is taking a plea agreement.

Prosecutors filed a new slimmed-down set of charges against President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Friday morning, indicating that Manafort is taking a plea agreement.

Here’s a look at the charges:

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Read our story here: Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort reaches plea deal

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‘The Predator’ is underwhelming, but also fine: Review

Warning: vague spoilers for The Predator, including characters deaths and major plot points, lie ahead. (Also, weirdly a small portion of The Meg is discussed.)

If you had no other plans than to stare at your ceiling fan and ponder your own mortality this weekend, boy do I have exciting news for you. 

Rounding out a summer of blockbusters that dramatically varied in quality, The Predator, director Shane Black’s multimillion dollar attempt to bring the intergalactic franchise back online, is hitting theaters this Friday. And it’s fine, I guess.

SEE ALSO: Fish are friends, not food: Meet the world’s first known omnivorous shark

A sequel to the series’ last two sequels, the new installment wastes no time getting its audience caught up on the alien hunting people for sport premise. (This movie isn’t exclusively geared towards longtime fans, but you’ll get it better if you’ve seen, at the very least, the 1987 original.)

In an effort to reach its handful of big payoffs and springboard a possible trilogy, the film blasts through a paper thin premise with the most shallow characters since Gossip Girl

Mostly cheap thrills and green goo, The Predator is projected to score a hefty box office this weekend. Here’s everything you need to take into account when pondering a ticket purchase—excluding controversy surrounding the removal of a scene involving a registered sex offender. (Details on that here.)

The plot is simple, stupid, and effective

Remember The Incredibles “Honey, where is my supersuit?” scene? Turns out that’s basically the premise of The Predator

In short, a predator crash lands on Earth (he’s trying to help mankind by the way, more on that later) and a soldier steals some of his equipment as proof of the alien sighting. This doesn’t thrill the predator… so he starts hunting down that soldier and his equipment, of course. 

“Don’t touch things that don’t belong to you.”

This leads to a rag-tag group of operatives banding together to help out that soldier and protect the Earth from the monster now wandering its streets. 

Also, there’s a jerky scientist guy involved. He just sort of sucks.

Overall, the fairly simple premise makes things enjoyable in the same campy fashion as the 80’s original. It’s pretty dumb, but the “don’t touch things that don’t belong to you” moral helps give the movie’s events some sense of direction without getting too self-aggrandizing. 

If you liked The Meg, The Predator might be for you

Plot twist: as a result of some space politics not really worth getting into, a larger, second predator shows up midway through the film. Yes! Like the even bigger megalodon of The Meg! What a summer.

Evidently, the first predator was trying to save humans from extinction by providing Earth with some very high tech. The second predator doesn’t love that. P2 calls P1 a traitor and then rips him apart like a potato chip bag. It’s a hoot.

The Russian nesting dolls of predators stops at two, but is genuinely super fun upon first discovery. Nothing says, “oh shit” quite like watching your supposed antagonist get dwarfed by his big brother.

This movie has a way better cast than it deserves

When you have The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Yvonne Strahovski kind of just hanging out in the background, you know you’ve hit the jackpot. 

The Predator has some great actors. Our aforementioned rag-tag crew includes Moonlight‘s Trevante Rhodes, Game of Thrones Alfie Allen, The Daily Show‘s Olivia Munn, Key & Peele‘s Keegan-Michael Key, and Narcos‘ Boyd Holbrook, among others. 

Plus, you’ve got This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown and acting protégé Jacob Tremblay of Room.

Less a movie cast and more an expensive corral of livestock, The Predator‘s actors are literally and metaphorically mauled by the film’s events. Luckily, the lack of emotional grounding makes their deaths more palatable. 

Things get laughably disgusting

With that lack of emotional impact in mind, you should definitely be prepared for The Predator to get comically gross. 

Not even John Mulaney could get those kinds of laughs.

To wit, at one point during the film’s climax a major character is trying to help save Jacob Tremblay from being kidnapped by the predator. This leads to his standing atop a moving spacecraft while its alien pilot attempts to shake him off. When a forcefield forms around the ship, an energy beam (or whatever) gruesomely cuts off this character’s legs and sends the rest of his body hurdling towards Earth. 

The howling laughter that emerged from my theater upon viewing this monstrosity was so loud that it made the film’s other characters’ exaggerated grieving almost inaudible. Seriously. Not even John Mulaney could get those kinds of laughs.

Jacob Tremblay’s plot line could be fantastic, but isn’t

My one major complaint with The Predator is that it had something so good and then just didn’t do it justice. 

Tremblay’s character, Rory, is our main protagonist’s son, a young boy who happens to be on the spectrum. Early on in the story we discover Rory has a knack for operating alien technology. (In one hilarious scene, he accidentally uses a predator helmet to blow up a house.) 

Supported by IRL psychological theory, the narrative leads to the predator identifying Rory’s abilities as the next major improvement in the evolutionary chain. Consequently, it wants to take him captive and harvest his genetic code.

Unfortunately, this inclusive and clever storyline is shoehorned in at the last possible moment and given far less attention than it deserves. Here’s hoping someone someday approaches the same concept and actually explores its possibilities.

TL;DR The Predator is idiotic fodder for a slow day

If someone asks you to go see this movie, you should probably say yes. All in all, The Predator is a “meh” movie, but also a totally adequate way to kill a few hours this weekend. You won’t remember it beyond next week and it certainly isn’t worth the money you could be spending on A Simple Favor. But also… aliens. I get it.

The Predator hits theaters Friday, September 14. 

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Cynthia Nixon loses NY primary and shares a powerful message to young people on Twitter

New York Democratic primary candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon makes a concession speech at a Brooklyn restaurant.
New York Democratic primary candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon makes a concession speech at a Brooklyn restaurant.

Image: Getty Images

2018%2f08%2f08%2f71%2f20182f082f062f5a2fphoto.898b3.66f81By Laura Byager

Governor Andrew Cuomo won the Democratic nomination for a third term as governor of New York, defeating actress and activist Cynthia Nixon. 

SEE ALSO: Sarah Jessica Parker agrees ‘Sex and the City’ was ‘tone deaf’ on diversity

Nixon had campaigned hard on issues such as legalisation of marijuana and racial and economic justice. In her series of concession remarks posted in a Twitter thread, she chose to use her space to deliver a powerful message to young women and queer people. 

“I’m not discouraged. I’m inspired,” Nixon wrote after her defeat. 

While the result tonight wasn’t what we had hoped for, I’m not discouraged. I’m inspired. I hope you are too. We have fundamentally changed the political landscape in this state.

— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) September 14, 2018

She continued to address the young people of all genders directly.

“To all the young women. To all the young queer people,” Nixon writes. “When it’s your turn, you’ll win.”

To all the young people. To all the young women. To all the young queer people who reject the gender binary. Soon you’ll be standing here, and when it’s your turn, you’ll win.

— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) September 14, 2018

Nixon insisted that she and her supporters were on the right side of history.

You are on the right side of history, and every day, your country is moving in your direction.

But we can’t afford to wait.

— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) September 14, 2018

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Le’Veon Bell Reportedly Still Concerned About Usage Level Upon Steelers Return

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell (26) plays in an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2017, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

Keith Srakocic/Associated Press

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell is reportedly worried about being overused when he reports to the team.

After speaking with Bell, former NFL running back and current NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew discussed the situation on the Dave Dameshek Football Program on Tuesday.

“[Bell] was happy for James Conner after that performance, but that performance justifies why he’s not there right now,” Jones-Drew said. “If you’re going to give James Conner 31 carries, imagine how many you’d give to Le’Veon Bell.”

In Pittsburgh’s Week 1 tie with the Cleveland Browns, Conner finished with 135 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, adding five receptions for 57 yards.

Last season, Bell led the NFL in carries with 321 and overall touches with 406. No other player came close to approaching his workload, as Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy was second in the league with 346 touches.

Since Bell and the Steelers were unable to agree on a contract extension, he will play under the franchise tag. While that would pay him over $14.5 million this season, he has no long-term security should he get injured.

That isn’t outside the realm of possibility since Bell has played a 16-game slate only once during his five-year career. But by sitting out Week 1, he surrendered an $853,000 game check, and he appears to be on track to do so once again in Week 2.

To become a free agent during the offseason, Bell needs to report to the Steelers by Week 11. If his primary focus is on preserving his health and the opportunity for a big contract during the offseason, it’s possible Conner will be Pittsburgh’s bell-cow back for the first 10 weeks of the season.

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