WASHINGTON  — 

In their search for a presidential nominee, Democrats have argued about all manner of things.

They’ve debated “Medicare for all” and a “Green New Deal.” They’ve weighed a wealth tax and free college tuition. They’ve clashed over campaign donations from millionaires.

But their most important dispute isn’t about ideology or policy. It’s about a more elusive quality: electability.

Who is most likely to defeat President Trump in November? Many Democratic voters say that’s their top priority — not whether they agree with a candidate’s positions.

So far, the electability primary has a clear winner: former Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden’s campaign hasn’t been inspiring or error-free — far from it. He’s clung to first place in national polls, with support from about 28% of Democratic voters, but he’s running behind other candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire, where the first votes will be cast.

Nevertheless, when voters are asked who they think is most electable against Trump, Biden wins. Even some voters who prefer other candidates say Biden has the best shot.

In a CNN Poll released last week, 40% of Democrats nationwide said they believe Biden has the best chance of winning a general election, well ahead of his rivals. Other surveys have shown similar results.

Polls like that help explain why Biden, who launched his campaign with a soaring promise to “save the soul of America,” now focuses on a blunter, more practical message.

“We all have big progressive plans,” he said at the Democrats’ debate in Los Angeles on Thursday. “The question is … who has the best chance, the most likely chance, of defeating Donald Trump?”

He’s hoping to persuade voters desperate to win in 2020 to back him in the primaries, whether they like his moderate positions or not.

That pitch appears to have helped stabilize Biden’s campaign after a series of gaffes and uninspiring debate performances that sent voters shopping for alternatives.

First, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) rose in the polls, only to fall back to Earth and withdraw from the race. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also soared, only to lose altitude after unveiling a big, costly proposal for government-run health insurance.

“Warren has fallen because Democrats, especially liberal democrats, believe she has an electability problem,” Stanford political scientists David Brady and Brett Parker reported last week.

They suggested that Warren’s proposal for a single, government-run health insurance plan cost her some support. Other surveys have found that many voters, including women, fear that female candidates are less electable than men.

Biden turned in his best debate performance of the year on Thursday — crisp, combative and gaffe-free. For once, he sounded like Fighting Joe Biden, not Befuddled Joe Biden.

Asked about his earlier promise that Republicans would become more moderate if he were elected — a forecast that seemed out of sync with political reality — he offered a tougher-sounding formula.

“If anyone has reason to be angry with the Republicans and not want to cooperate, it’s me — the way they’ve attacked me, my son, and my family,” he said. “But the fact is, we have to be able to get things done. And when we can’t convince them, we go out and beat them, like we did in the 2018 election.”

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

The real world test of electability starts with the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3. Polls suggest a tight race among Biden, Sanders, Warren and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind.

“If [Biden] just finishes close to first in Iowa … I think that he will be well on his way to being the nominee,” predicts David Axelrod, the former strategist for President Obama. “The danger for him is if he drops to fourth or fifth.”

Biden may get help once the Senate starts President Trump’s impeachment trial, probably in early January. It will tie down Democratic senators in the race, including Warren and Sanders, for weeks.

Trump was impeached for trying to muscle Ukraine into investigating Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who took a lucrative job with a Ukrainian energy company. House Republicans argued that as vice president, Biden intervened inappropriately in Ukraine to protect his son. Democrats have largely ignored the allegation, which is not supported by evidence.

Biden argues that Trump’s attacks on him prove that he’s the candidate the president fears most. In other words: electability.

Electability is an odd burden for voters to assume. It asks them to guess how millions will vote in November, and how a candidate will perform in a heated showdown with Trump.

“I just try to imagine how each of them would do in a debate against Trump,” a woman in Fort Dodge, Iowa, told me last month.

At the time, Biden was stalled in the polls. I wrote that his caravan felt like a “zombie campaign.” I forgot one thing: Zombies never expire.

None of this means Biden is on his way to the nomination. Iowa caucuses are notoriously unpredictable. And he’s still an imperfect candidate.

But he doesn’t have to be perfect, especially against Trump. Under this year’s rules, he just needs to appear electable.

WASHINGTON — 

A senior White House official and leading Senate Republicans predicted Sunday that congressional Democrats would fail in their bid to force the Senate to summon witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial.

Democrats countered by asking why, if Trump were innocent, he would block the testimony of top aides with direct knowledge of his dealings with Ukraine — actions that led the House of Representatives to approve two articles of impeachment against the president last week.

Following Wednesday’s vote, only the third time in history that the House has impeached a president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not immediately forward the articles to the Senate for trial.

Democrats said that, in light of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s pledge to work in close concert with the White House, they were not satisfied the proceedings would be conducted fairly and impartially. Pelosi said she wanted clarity about what rules the Senate planned to follow before deciding which members of the House would act as the prosecutors, known as managers, of the case in the Senate.

Pelosi (D-San Francisco) is expected to send the articles to the Senate after the holiday recess. Senior White House aide Marc Short said he expected Republicans would make no concessions in return, even though Trump says he wants a quick trial in the GOP-controlled Senate.

“We’re confident this position is untenable, and she’s going to move it along,” Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence and a former White House legislative director, told “Fox News Sunday.”

“She will yield — there’s no way she can hold this position,” he said, referring to Pelosi.

The White House’s current opposition to witnesses in the Senate marks an about-face. Until recently, Trump was insisting he wanted extensive witnesses. He hoped to turn a trial into an opportunity for his lawyers to call prominent Democrats and force them to answer questions about his so-far-groundless allegations of misconduct among that party’s members. McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Senate Republicans opposed that idea and appeared to have convinced Trump to drop it.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

Democratic lawmakers defended Pelosi’s delay.

“I think what she’s just trying to do is make sure the best possible case for a fair trial happens,” said Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Addressing Trump directly, Booker said: “If you’re innocent, have acting Chief of Staff [Mick] Mulvaney come before the Senate, swear to an oath — settle this whole thing.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland said Pelosi was doing “exactly the right thing” in “focusing a spotlight on the need to have a fair trial in the United States Senate.”

Since an impeachment inquiry began nearly three months ago, Trump has refused any cooperation by the executive branch. The blanket rejection of subpoenas for documents and squelching of appearances by key figures such as Mulvaney and Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo formed the basis for one of the two articles of impeachment, alleging obstruction of Congress. The other accuses Trump of abuse of power.

More than a dozen diplomats and current or former administration officials defied Trump’s instructions and testified in the House proceedings. Those witnesses helped House Democrats make their case that the president withheld crucial military aid and a coveted White House meeting as a means of pressuring Ukraine’s newly elected leader to announce investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

Trump, who has never consistently accepted U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on his behalf, also asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into a debunked theory that Ukraine interfered in that election on behalf of Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent.

Although new evidence continues to emerge, Democrats say it is impossible to establish key details of what transpired if Trump blocks testimony by senior aides.

In the latest disclosure, documents obtained Friday by the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity, indicate that the White House ordered congressionally mandated Ukraine aid frozen less than two hours after Trump’s now-famous July 25 phone conversation with Zelensky.

Democrats so far have remained unified behind Pelosi, with even vulnerable Senate Democrats from red states not criticizing her delay in transmitting the impeachment case to the Senate.

Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama told ABC’s “This Week” that it was not “unreasonable” for the speaker to wait to determine “what kind of playing field” House managers would face.

“She’s not going to hold these [articles] forever,” said Jones, who faces an uphill fight for reelection next year in a state where Trump remains popular. “I don’t think it’s unfair to ask, ‘What are the rules that we’re playing by when we go and we get this over there?’”

But Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s most vociferous defenders, accused Pelosi of taking a “wrecking ball” to the Constitution. The South Carolina Republican, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” that the speaker had overstepped her bounds.

“She’s actually trying to tell Mitch McConnell how to run the Senate,” he said. “Can you imagine if the roles were reversed?”

Trump has responded to his impeachment with fury, and on the Sunday news-talk shows, he was rebuked and defended for his attacks on critics of his temperament and behavior.

The editor of an evangelical magazine, Christianity Today, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he had not wavered from his judgment, in an editorial published Thursday, that Trump was “morally unfit” to be president.

Trump denounced the magazine after the editorial came out, calling it a radical leftist publication.

Short, on “Meet the Press,” said many evangelicals — a crucial constituency — “take great gratitude that he’s our president.”

Short also defended Trump over mocking comments last week about Rep. John D. Dingell, formerly the senior Democrat in the House, who died in February at age 92. Speaking at a rally in Michigan, the congressman’s home state, Trump, apparently angered by the vote to impeach cast by Dingell’s widow, Rep. Debbie Dingell, suggested that the congressman had gone to hell.

Debbie Dingell said on “Fox News Sunday” that the president’s comments “sort of kicked me in the stomach.”

Short, on NBC, said he was “sorry she’s hurting” but noted that the late congressman, soon before he died, had referred to Trump as an “imbecile.”

In advance of the Senate trial, whenever it does take place, the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat, Rep. Richard Durbin of Illinois, urged fellow senators from both parties to keep an open mind and stop talking about whether they would vote to convict and remove the president.

“I’m going to take an oath … when it comes to this impeachment,” Durbin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I promise ‘impartial justice, so help me God,’ and I want to stick by that.”

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — 

Le’Veon Bell helped deal his former team’s playoff hopes a big blow, leading the New York Jets to a 16-10 victory over the banged-up Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

The Steelers (8-7) entered the game controlling their postseason destiny and would have clinched a berth with wins in their final two games, but now need some help. Pittsburgh now needs to win next week at Baltimore to stay in the mix.

The Steelers also have more injury concerns as running back James Conner, center Maurkice Pouncey and quarterback Mason Rudolph all left with injuries.

Bell ran for 72 yards, including 7 on a big third-down play in the fourth quarter, on 25 carries while facing the team with which he spent his first six NFL seasons. After sitting out all last season in a contract dispute, Bell signed with the Jets (6-9) in the offseason.

Devlin Hodges, who was benched earlier in the game after throwing two interceptions, came back in early in the fourth quarter when Rudolph went out with a left shoulder injury.

Hodges had a chance to lead the Steelers to a comeback win, but fell short. His deep pass for James Washington on third-and-7 from the Jets 44 was knocked away by Marcus Maye in the end zone. On fourth down, Hodges’ pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster fell incomplete in front of a MetLife Stadium crowd that appeared to be at least half-filled by Steelers fans.

Smith-Schuster, who returned after missing four games with a knee injury, had two catches for 22 yards.

Former Steelers star wide receiver Hines Ward, now an offensive assistant on Adam Gase’s staff with the Jets, said he hoped to celebrate a win with a Gatorade shower — and he got one moments after New York’s final defensive stop sealed the win.

Hodges was 11 of 17 for 84 yards and the two interceptions, while Rudolph was 14 of 20 for 129 yards and a touchdown to Diontae Johnson that helped the Steelers erase a 10-0 deficit to tie it at halftime.

Conner, who left in the second quarter with a thigh injury, had 32 yards on six carries before leaving. Pouncey hurt his left knee at the end of the third quarter.

Sam Darnold went 16 of 26 for 183 yards and a touchdown to Robby Anderson. Bell also had four catches for 21 yards.

Chiefs 26, Bears 3

Patrick Mahomes outplayed Mitchell Trubisky, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another score, and Kansas City beat host Chicago to stay in contention for a first-round playoff bye.

Kansas City (11-4) earned its fifth straight win and remained a game behind New England for the AFC’s second seed. The Patriots clinched their 11th consecutive AFC East championship by beating Buffalo on Saturday. The Chiefs hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over New England thanks to a victory two weeks ago that helped secure their fourth AFC West title in a row.

Mahomes’ big game in his first appearance at Soldier Field is just another blow for Chicago in a rough season that began with Super Bowl hopes. The Bears passed on Mahomes when they traded up a spot to grab Trubisky with the No. 2 overall pick in 2017. Mahomes went to Kansas City at No. 10 and won the MVP award last season.

Trubisky has not performed the way the Bears envisioned. And with their playoff hopes already dashed coming off an NFC North championship, they got outclassed by Kansas City.

Mahomes, playing his 30th game, became the fastest player to reach the 9,000-yard passing mark. He was 23 of 33 for 251 yards, giving him 9,238 in three seasons. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner did it in 32 games.

Mahomes also has 75 touchdown passes, making him the fastest player to hit that mark.

Travis Kelce, already the first tight end with four straight 1,000-yard seasons, became the first to reach 1,200 yards in back-to-back years. He caught eight passes for 74 yards, giving him 1,205 this year. That included a 6-yard touchdown near the end of the first half.

Harrison Butker kicked a career-best 56-yard field goal that was the fourth-longest in franchise history. He also hit both the left and right uprights on a missed extra point.

The Bears (7-8) dropped their second straight after winning four of five.

Trubisky completed 18 of 34 passes for 157 yards. Khalil Mack had a sack, and fans let the Bears have it before heading toward the exits in the closing minutes.

Saints 38, Titans 28

Drew Brees threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns and Alvin Kamara ran for two TDs as New Orleans kept its chase of the NFC’s No. 1 seed alive by rallying from a 14-point deficit to beat host Tennessee.

The Saints (12-3) had to win after San Francisco beat the Rams 34-31 on Saturday night. They scored 24 straight points to keep alive their chance at one of the NFC’s top two seeds and a first-round playoff bye going into their regular-season finale at Carolina.

Pro Bowl wide receiver Michael Thomas also set the NFL record for most catches in a season. The Saints receiver needed 10 to tie Pro Football Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison’s mark of 143 catches in 2002. Thomas finished with 12 catches for 136 yards, his last reception a 2-yard TD with 2:10 left for a 38-28 lead.

The Titans (8-7) still have a shot at the AFC’s final playoff berth after Houston won the AFC South title beating Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Jets beating Pittsburgh 16-10 means the Titans must beat the Texans in Houston in the finale to earn their second playoff berth in three seasons.

Tennessee had the ball with 4:24 left and down 31-28. The Saints turned over the ball after lining up for a punt and snapping the ball short to Taysom Hill. He threw to a wide-open Justin Hardee Sr., who dropped the ball.

On the next play, Ryan Tannehill threw to Kalif Raymond to the New Orleans 40. Saints rookie safety C.J Gardner-Johnson hit Raymond, knocking the ball loose. Gardner-Johnson picked it up and ran 38 yards to the Titans 25.

Tennessee had one last chance. Tannehill threw incomplete to Tajae Sharpe in the end zone with 1:44 left to turn it over on downs.

The Titans sat Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry to rest the left hamstring that has limited him the past two weeks. Even without the NFL’s second-leading rusher with 1,329 yards, the Titans jumped to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Cardinals 27, Seahawks 13

Kenyan Drake rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns, Larry Fitzgerald added a 21-yard TD reception, and Arizona stymied Russell Wilson and the injury-depleted Seahawks in Seattle.

The Seahawks (11-4) saw their hopes for the No. 1 seed in the NFC potentially vanish with another late-season loss to the Cardinals. Seattle can still claim the NFC West with a win next week over San Francisco, but will need major help to earn total home-field advantage after entering the week as the top seed in the NFC.

Drake had an 80-yard TD run in the first quarter and provided the capper with a 3-yard TD with 4:18 remaining to take a 27-13 lead. Drake’s 166 yards were a season high against Seattle.

The question now is Seattle’s health going into next week. Seattle faced the Cardinals without four key starters: left tackle Duane Brown, safety Quandre Diggs, cornerback Shaquill Griffin and defensive end Jadeveon Clowney. The Seahawks depth was thinned further when starting running back Chris Carson went down with a hip injury early in the second quarter and backup C.J. Prosise suffered an arm injury only a few minutes later.

Arizona (5-9-1) lost No. 1 overall draft pick Kyler Murray to a hamstring injury midway through the third quarter. Murray was tended to on the sideline after leading a drive that finished with Zane Gonzalez’s 46-yard field goal that gave Arizona a 20-7 lead early in the third quarter. Murray scrambled on the final play of the drive for 4 yards and never returned.

The absence of Brown and the lack of a run game left Seattle’s offense stuck in neutral. The Seahawks gained 89 yards on their opening drive that was capped by Wilson’s 3-yard TD pass to Nick Bellore. They gained 49 total yards combined in the second and third quarters. Between the six-minute mark of the first quarter and Tyler Lockett’s 12-yard catch early in the fourth quarter, Seattle had one first down.

Wilson finished 16 of 31 for 169 yards, but was sacked five times — four by Chandler Jones, who also forced a key fumble early in the second half.

Murray was 11 of 18 for 118 yards and a touchdown before leaving.

Ravens 31, Browns 15

The road to the Super Bowl in the AFC goes through Baltimore, where its MVP candidate will be waiting.

Lamar Jackson threw three touchdown passes — two to tight end Mark Andrews late in the first half — and rushed for 103 yards as the visiting Ravens won their 11th straight game to lock up the conference’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Ravens (13-2) shook off a sluggish start and avenged their last loss, a 40-25 to the Browns on Sept. 29.

But Baltimore looks nothing like the team it was three months ago as the marvelous, multi-dimensional Jackson has taken the league by storm with his arm and legs. Jackson finished with 238 yards passing and went over 100 yards for the fifth time this season.

The Ravens did suffer an injury that could hurt the playoff hopes as running back Mark Ingram went down without being touched in the fourth quarter. Ingram immediately grabbed his lower left leg and collapsed when he tried to stand. Ingram, who went over 1,000 yards rushing in the second quarter and caught a 12-yard TD pass from Jackson in the third, was able to walk to the sideline to be evaluated before limping to the locker room.

The Browns (6-9) were officially eliminated from the postseason, and now first-year coach Freddie Kitchens may be down to his last game. Kitchens has appeared overwhelmed at times and the home finale was a microcosm of this disappointing season as the Browns underperformed and will miss the playoffs for the 17th straight season.

Baker Mayfield threw a 3-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter to Odell Beckham Jr., whose acquisition by the Browns in March sent expectations soaring.

In the closing minutes, Beckham flung his helmet on the sideline in frustration and exchanged words with Kitchens.

Mayfield finished 20 of 33 for 192 yards with two TDs and a pick.

Dolphins 38, Bengals 35 (OT)

A laugher became a thriller for the Dolphins, and they needed overtime to beat visiting Cincinnati.

Miami gave up 16 points in the final 29 seconds of regulation but regrouped, and Jason Sanders kicked a 37-yard field goal as time expired for the win.

Andy Dalton threw for 396 yards and four touchdown passes, including three in the final 5:01 of regulation as Cincinnati rallied from a 35-12 deficit.

After the gallant comeback, the Bengals (1-14) settled for clinching next year’s No. 1 draft pick. They’re assured of at least tying for the worst record in club history; they went 2-14 in 2002.

The Dolphins (4-11) again hurt their chances of landing a franchise quarterback in next year’s draft, but rookie coach Brian Flores has repeatedly said he’s all-out to win now. Rebuilding Miami has four victories in the past eight games with a ragtag roster.

Miami’s Ryan Fitzpatrick threw for 419 yards and four scores, including one to rookie defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. Each team punted twice to start the extra period before Fitzpatrick led a 10-play, 51-yard march for the winning score.

The stadium was mostly empty when the Bengals cut the deficit to 35-27 with 29 seconds left on Dalton’s TD pass and 2-point conversion throw.

They then recovered an onside kick and reached the 25 with four seconds left. Miami dropped eight defenders back to the goal line, but Tyler Eifert reached above two of them in the end zone to catch Dalton’s throw.

On the 2-point conversion, Dalton couldn’t find an open receiver and scrambled to tie the score, sparking the sort of celebration that has been a rarity for Cincinnati this season.

Colts 38, Panthers 6

Nyheim Hines pulled off a rare feat for Indianapolis.

He scored on two punt returns, set up another touchdown with a 40-yard return four plays into the game and provided the jolt of energy the host Colts needed to pull away from Carolina.

The Colts (7-8) snapped a four-game losing streak in their home finale and can avoid their second losing season in three years with a win next week.

Carolina (5-10), meanwhile, lost its seventh straight on a day it hoped new starting quarterback Will Grier could help the franchise change directions.

Instead, Hines never gave the Panthers a chance with a record-breaking performance.

His 195 yards on three returns is the highest single-game mark in franchise history — and the most by any NFL player since Eddie Drummond had 199 against Jacksonville in 2004.

And he wasted no time, either.

Just eight plays after Hines’ 40-yard return, Jacoby Brissett converted a fourth-and-goal with a 1-yard TD plunge for a 7-0 lead.

Hines made it 14-0 when he fielded the punt at his 16-yard line, found a lane in the middle of the field, cut left and eluded punter Michael Palardy right in front of the Colts’ bench before turning left in the end zone and running through the stadium tunnel. It was longest return by a Colts player in 12 years.

Giants 41, Redskins 35 (OT)

Daniel Jones put together the best performance of his rookie season fresh off an ankle injury, throwing for 352 yards and five touchdown passes in New York’s overtime victory against Washington at Landover, Md.

Jones was 28 of 42 in his first action since missing the past two games with a sprained right ankle. He tossed two TDs to Kaden Smith — including the game-winner — and also connected with Sterling Shepard, Saquon Barkley and Cody Latimer. His career-best fifth TD pass, 3 yards to Smith, came with 4:15 left in overtime after the Redskins (3-12) tied it in the final minute of regulation.

Barkley was the perfect complement for Jones and tormented a Redskins secondary missing several regulars. He was responsible for 279 total yards: 189 rushing and 90 receiving and a score each way.

The trio of Jones, Barkley and Shepard showed further evidence that whoever is running the Giants (4-11) next season has talented building blocks to work with on offense, along with a high draft pick.

With the loss, the Redskins moved into the driver’s seat to draft Ohio State pass rusher Chase Young.

The Chase Young Bowl was a showcase of prolific playmaking and porous defense. Barkley ran for 108 yards on his first four carries, while Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins was 12 of 15 for 133 yards and two TD passes before injuring his left ankle on the first play of the second half.

Veteran Case Keenum relieved Haskins and threw his first passes since Oct. 24, when he was concussed at Minnesota. He was 16 of 22 for 158 yards and rushed for the tying score with 29 seconds left in the fourth.

Falcons 24, Jaguars 12

Devonta Freeman scored two touchdowns for the host Atlanta Falcons before Jacksonville took a snap, and that was enough to beat the woeful Jaguars in a match-up between teams long since eliminated from the NFL playoff race.

Matt Ryan threw for 384 yards and Julio Jones had his biggest game of the year, hauling in 10 catches for 166 yards.

Before thousands of empty seats at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Falcons (6-9) won their third straight game while holding the Jaguars (5-10) to 288 yards in Atlanta’s final home game of a disappointing season. The Falcons piled up 518 yards.

Jacksonville came out flat in its first game since the firing of top executive Tom Coughlin, who was let go on Wednesday after several questionable roster moves and a scathing critique from the players’ union over his draconian disciplinary methods.

The Jaguars have lost six of their last seven games and 20 of 27 since a 3-1 start to the 2018 season, which came on the heels of a surprising run to the AFC championship game.

The Falcons took the opening kickoff and drove 82 yards in six plays, capped by Freeman’s 17-yard touchdown run. He took a quick flip from Ryan and scampered to the end zone without being touched.

On the ensuing kickoff, Michael Walker was stripped of the ball by Keith Smith. Brian Hill fell on the fumble at the Jaguars 25, sending Atlanta’s offense back on the field with barely enough time to catch its breath. Four plays later, Ryan hooked up with Freeman out of the backfield on an 8-yard scoring pass.

He broke through for his team — finally — reaching the end zone to end nearly an entire first half’s worth of misplays and lacking production.

The score was about to be tied, and maybe this was the instant that the Chargers were going to seize control.

Melvin Gordon, ready to celebrate the occasion en masse and ignite the moment, held his arms out wide and looked up toward the seats at Dignity Health Sports Park.

Then, he did nothing more.

“I caught myself trying to pump up the crowd today after I scored,” Gordon explained later. “I realized it was all black jerseys and I was like, ‘Man, it’s not a home game.’ ”

Technically, this was the Chargers’ home Sunday. But, by every conceivable measure, this was the Oakland Raiders’ house.

In their final game ever in a venue built for soccer, the Chargers were rudely booted aside, again treated like unwanted guests in a foreign place.

They lost 24-17 in the NFL’s most awkward environment, and the decidedly titled stadium wasn’t the only troubling aspect.

The Chargers gained only 19 rushing yards on 16 tries. Their first three possessions each lasted just three plays before punting. They didn’t get a first down until the final five minutes of the first half.

“They played with more heart,” Gordon said. “That’s just what it was. You know, I thought it’d be different. I thought we were going to be the ones to come out with the fire and the passion, and it was different.”

The Raiders did have more incentive. They improved to 7-8 and — thanks to the rest of the NFL’s results Sunday — kept alive playoff hopes that seemed to be an extreme long shot when this game kicked off.

But the Chargers, even while tumbling to 5-10, were forecast to be a greater challenge than this to an Oakland team that entered without its 1,000-yard running back and beaten up along the offensive line.

They were favored comfortably early in the week and the odds shifted more in their favor as the Raiders’ injuries mounted in advance of Sunday.

Yet, Oakland scored on its first possession, never trailed and held the ball for 21 of the 30 minutes of the second half.

“They played harder than us,” Gordon said. “There’s not much more you can say … In the first half, we just didn’t come out with a passion. It showed. They hopped on us and we couldn’t get the lead back.”

The most symbolic sequence happened immediately. The Chargers committed penalties — a false start by Gordon and an illegal use of hands by left tackle Trey Pipkins — on the game’s first two snaps.

Before they managed to execute a play that even as much as counted, the Chargers had gone backward 15 yards.

Later in the first quarter, defensive back Desmond King missed a tackle on wide receiver Hunter Renfrow to gift the Raiders a 56-yard touchdown.

On a third-and-one midway through the second quarter, the Chargers tried a trick play that involved bringing in backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor … and lost yardage.

Early in the second half, on another third-and-one, quarterback Philip Rivers passed in the direction of Keenan Allen and nearly hit him in the back of the head. Instead of running a route, Allen was blocking.

“They dictated the pace of this game,” coach Anthony Lynn said. “They outplayed us. We lost too many one-on-ones and critical situations.”

The Chargers have dropped five of six games overall. They lost their final two at Dignity Health Sports Park. They will finish a disappointing season next weekend in Kansas City.

In 2020, they’ll join the Rams in the new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

That move can’t come soon enough for a franchise that relocated from San Diego before the 2017 season and has struggled to establish itself in a new market.

“I think that would be an excuse and a crutch for us to say that’s had an effect on our play,” Rivers said of the lopsided crowds in Carson. “But it’s certainly not ideal.”

The Chargers finished 11-11 in the stadium known as StubHub Center during their first two seasons. They were 14-9 during that same span on the road.

This year, as the losses mounted and the visiting teams arrived with postseason hopes still intact, the Chargers were subjected to an increased amount of hostility in Dignity Health Sports Park.

An October loss to Pittsburgh might have been the worst, though a loss last week to Minnesota and this game were nearly as bad.

“That didn’t have anything to do with the outcome of the game,” Rivers said. “But, as someone who remembers what it used to be like at home games, it’s pretty bad.

“You appreciate the Chargers fans that are out there. But it is disheartening to say the least. I don’t think all our guys understand that. But the guys that have been here a long time certainly remember what it used to be like.”

Memories — some of them good but many others not so much — are now all the Chargers have left from this place.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

PHILADELPHIA — 

Eagles cornerback Sidney Jones broke up Dak Prescott’s fourth-down pass to wide receiver Michael Gallup in the end zone with 1:15 left in the game, and Philadelphia denied Dallas a division crown in a 17-9 win on Sunday.

The Cowboys (7-8) would have clinched their second straight NFC East title with a win in Philadelphia. And, they would have eliminated the Eagles (8-7). The Eagles are still in the hunt, and need to win their final game next week against the Giants to clinch the East. The Cowboys can still win the East with a win next week against Washington and an Eagles loss to the Giants.

The difference between a division title and missing the playoffs could determine the fate of Dallas coach Jason Garrett.

Playing with a sore right shoulder, Prescott attacked the Eagles cornerbacks on the final drive and had Dallas in position to possibly tie the game until Jones made the clutch stop.

Carson Wentz was 31 for 40 for 319 yards and a touchdown, and Miles Saunders ran for a score to keep the Eagles’ playoff hopes alive.

Prescott finished 25 for 44 for 265 yards. Two-time rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott, who had averaged 114.8 yards rushing in five games against the Eagles, was held to 47 yards.

Wentz gave the Eagles needed breathing room when he hit former college quarterback Greg Ward for 24 yards and Miles Sanders scored on a 1-yard run on the final play of the third quarter for a 17-3 lead.

This was the game Wentz needed to win. He tried to rally the Eagles with a pep talk in the tunnel before they hit the field for perhaps the biggest game of the 26-year-old QB’s career.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

“We are built for this moment,” Wentz said. “Play with so much confidence, so much swagger, that everyone in the stadium can feel you. Believe in yourself, believe in the guy next to you and let’s go ball out for 60 minutes.”

Perhaps fueled by the emotional edict, Wentz came out connecting on almost every pass, and a maligned wide receiver group that suffered a season-long case of the drops suddenly made plays.

Wentz hit JJ Arcega-Whiteside — whose late-game drop cost them in a loss against Detroit — for 27 yards on the first play on a drive that ended with Jake Elliott’s 36-yard field goal.

He ended the second drive with an 6-yard TD pass to Dallas Goedert that had Eagles fans going wild. The Linc was rocking, and as Wentz started 9 for 11 for 107 yards and a touchdown.

The Eagles couldn’t keep it going, stymied in part by a questionable call from coach Doug Pederson. Pederson called a timeout on a fourth-and-1 on the Dallas 33-yard line, thought about the call, and drew up a pass play out of the shotgun that was incomplete.

Dallas’ Kai Forbath kicked field goals of 49 and 32 yards to keep the score a manageable 10-6 at halftime.

Pederson had Elliott try a 55-yarder early in the fourth that was no good and gave Dallas a short field that led to Forbath’s 49-yarder that made it 17-9.

With a blockbuster Christmas matchup on the horizon, Lakers star LeBron James won’t play against the Denver Nuggets, the team announced hours before Sunday’s game. The forward was listed as “doubtful” because of a thoracic muscle strain, an injury he suffered against Indiana on Dec. 17 and played through during the Lakers’ 111-104 loss to Milwaukee on Dec. 19.

James, who is averaging 25.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and a league-high 10.6 assists in his 16th year in the NBA, hasn’t missed a game this year, but did not participate in the team’s pregame workout Sunday, coach Frank Vogel said.

“We’re a next-man-up team, but this is not one guy has to step up and fill his shoes,” Vogel said. “It’s gotta be a team effort, everybody’s gotta be aggressive, we gotta make sure the ball is moving side to side.”

The Lakers (24-5) are coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this season after dropping games at Indiana and Milwaukee. The team has a marquee matchup Wednesday against the Clippers at Staples Center at 5 p.m. hoping to avenge a season-opening loss to their in-town rival.

Forward Kyle Kuzma, returning from an ankle sprain, will play Sunday against the Nuggets with a roughly 20-minute time restriction.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

LeBron James sat on the last chair of the Lakers’ bench wearing a hoodie and a black jacket, unable to play for the first time this season because of a thoracic muscle strain.

Then Anthony Davis injured his right knee in the third quarter of Sunday’s 128-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets, leaving the Lakers with their dynamic duo ailing heading into the showdown against the Clippers on Christmas day in the NBA’s featured game.

But the good news was that both were eyeing playing Wednesday when they left Staples Center.

The Lakers listed James as day to day after he suffered the injury in his rib cage area Tuesday at Indiana, and it didn’t stop him from playing at Milwaukee on Thursday.

“Only he knows his body,” Davis said of James.

“If he felt like he needed a game off, I mean, that’s something you have to ask him.”

James took some shots at practice Saturday, and the team was hopeful he would feel well enough to practice Monday and play Wednesday after five days off to heal.

“Hopefully he’ll be available for us on Christmas day,” coach Frank Vogel said.

Highlights from the Lakers’ 128-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

“But we’ll see how the injury heals up and whenever he gets back, we’ll benefit from that for sure.”

James will be needed to help the Lakers (24-6) stop a season-high three-game losing streak, with the loss to the Nuggets their largest margin of defeat this season.

James had to watch Rajon Rondo start in his place at point guard and Avery Bradley move back into the starting lineup in place of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. They were joined by Davis, Danny Green and JaVale McGee, while the bench got Kyle Kuzma back after he missed the previous five games recovering from a sprained left ankle.

Davis tried to carry the load in James’ absence and did more than his part with 32 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, while Kuzma added 16 points in 22 minutes. But no one else reached double figures, and with the Lakers down by 20 late in the fourth quarter, Davis limped to the bench for good.

1/13

Lakers guard Rajon Rondo puts up a shot in front of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the first quarter at Staples Center. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

2/13

Lakers forward Anthony Davis defends against Nuggets center Nikola Jokic during the first quarter of the Lakers’ 128-104 loss at Staples Center. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

3/13

LeBron James, far left, watches from the bench as the Lakers play the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

4/13

Lakers big men Dwight Howard, left, and JaVale McGee celebrate after a basket by McGee against the Denver Nuggets during the first quarter at Staples Center. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

5/13

Lakers forward Anthony Davis tries to put up a shot between Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr., left, and center Mason Plumlee during the second quarter. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

6/13

Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma looks to shoot in front of Denver Nuggets center Mason Plumlee during the second quarter. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

7/13

Lakers center Dwight Howard fights for position under the basket with Denver Nuggets center Mason Plumlee during the second quarter. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

8/13

Nuggets guard Gary Harris drives to the basket in front of Lakers forward Anthony Davis during the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 128-104 loss at Staples Center. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

9/13

Lakers forward Anthony Davis fights for a rebound with Nuggets forward Paul Millsap during the fourth quarter. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

10/13

Lakers forward Anthony Davis challenges a shot by Nuggets forward Will Barton III during the third quarter. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

11/13

Lakers coach Frank Vogel, center, is upset with an official’s call during the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 128-104 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

12/13

Lakers guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, left, battles for a loose ball with Nuggets guard Jamal Murray during the second quarter. 

(Luis Sinco)

13/13

Lakers center Dwight Howard pulls a rebound away from Nuggets forward Jerami Grant during the third quarter. 

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

He had tweaked his knee late in the third quarter after slipping on the court and fouling Denver’s Paul Millsap in the process. Davis got the knee looked at while on the bench but returned to play and started the fourth quarter.

“I felt fine enough to go back out and play,” said Davis, who played almost 34 minutes.

He said, “I’ll see how it feels tomorrow” before making a decision about playing against the Clippers.

“We got two days before our next game, so that should be plenty of enough time to get it back right,” Davis said. “But obviously the game just ended so we got to see how it feels overnight and then hopefully nothing significant happens and get some treatment on it and continue to move forward Wednesday.”

The Lakers fell behind by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter. They gave up 73 points in the second half and turned the ball over 19 times, turning a close game into a rout.

Millsap led the Nuggets with 21 points.

Considering James is ninth in the NBA in scoring (25.8) and first in assists (10.8) — not to mention the Lakers’ primary ball handler and their leader — not having him to help carry the load was a big loss from the beginning.

“LeBron is obviously a game-changer,” Vogel said. “Our offensive flow. Defensive communication, quarterbacking, playmaking offensively, being able to get guys shots. Probably all that stuff.”

Mark Galli made news last week with his editorial in Christianity Today calling for President Trump’s removal from office on moral grounds.

It’s not the first time that the editor of the evangelical magazine has called Trump’s leadership and morality into question.

For the record:

8:11 PM, Dec. 22, 2019
An earlier version of this article said that Galli in 2016 had implored readers not to be silent about Donald Trump’s “blatant immorality.” More accurately, he approved an editorial that year that implored readers not to be silent on Trump.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Galli approved an editorial that implored readers to “not be silent about Donald Trump’s blatant immorality,” writing that the candidate was “the very embodiment of what the Bible calls a fool.”

In April 2017, just months into the Trump presidency, Galli wrote another editorial, “What to do with Donald Trump’s soul.” In it, he wrote, “the gospel of Jesus Christ casts the behavior of Trump in a transcendent light, and that light looks to us like darkness.”

But last week Galli called for Trump’s removal from office on the grounds that he is immoral, and that the character of the country’s leader is vital to the nation’s well-being.

The message sparked debate in and outside the evangelical community. On a typical day, the magazine’s website has 300 to 500 readers at a time. In the peak hours after the editorial published on Thursday, there were 15,000 to 17,000 readers on the site, Galli said in an interview Sunday with The Times.

By Friday night, the magazine had lost 600 of its roughly 80,000 subscribers, and received countless messages from Trump supporters lambasting the piece, he said. But Galli said he also has done about a dozen media interviews, received more encouraging notes of support than not, and the magazine gained 1,800 new subscribers, he said.

“I wasn’t aware of the deeply felt need…for a leading evangelical institution to speak out” publicly and clearly about the “public moral character” of the president, Galli said.

The 67-year-old California native has been the editor for the Illinois-based magazine for seven years, and worked at the magazine for about two decades total. He wrote the editorial to capture the timeliness of the impeachment vote, just weeks before he is scheduled to retire as editor in chief.

The timing is coincidental, he said. While the Mueller investigation findings seemed murky and always shrouded in a layer of fog and confusion, the findings of the impeachment hearing were clearer to Galli.

“For me, what was the clarifying issue was the business of the president of the United States using his power to manipulate the heads of foreign governments to essentially harass and harangue one of his political opponents,” Galli said.

On Sunday, Christianity Today’s president and CEO, Timothy Dalrymple, published a post addressing the controversy stirred by Galli’s editorial and to support the editor without endorsing his writings.

“Galli has stood in the trenches for men and women of faith for over three decades. He has been an outstanding editor in chief. While he does not speak for everyone in the ministry—our board and our staff hold a range of opinions—he carries the editorial voice of the magazine,” Dalrymple said. “We support CT’s editorial independence and believe it’s vital to our mission for the editor in chief to speak out on the issues of the day.”

Galli was born in San Francisco and grew up in Santa Cruz — liberal hotspots and somewhat unlikely cities in which to develop strong evangelical influences. And yet Galli has spent much of his career at Christianity Today, which Billy Graham founded in the 1950s.

“When I was a teenager…my mother had a conversion experience actually watching Billy Graham on TV,” Galli said.

During a difficult emotional time, Galli’s mother got on her knees in their home, in front of the the television, and accepted Jesus Christ, he said. A few months later, on Dec. 19, 1965 — 54 years, to the day, before Galli published this editorial — he too accepted Christ during an altar call at church.

Galli’s upbringing in California, his college years at UC Santa Cruz and serving as a pastor at a Sacramento church that “was much more liberal than I was” all prepared him for instances when his religious and political views don’t align with the majority, he said.

“That’s been my whole upbringing and the way I approach things,” he said. “With people with whom I disagree strongly …the first thing I try to do is understand them charitably: Why do they believe what they believe, how did they come to that conclusion? I really enjoy the conversations we have.”

The language of the editorial is harsher than a conversation he would have in real life, he said, but the sentiments stand.

He doesn’t think that he will necessarily change minds. In fact, “not a single person has said that” he did change their mind about their support of Trump, he said. But he considers it his duty as editor to the say “most truthful and honest thing” he can during important moments in history, and to do so without any animus toward Trump or more conservative evangelicals.

Like those evangelicals who support Trump, Galli shares their anti-abortion stance and support for religious freedom. But he said he doesn’t understand why Trump’s supporters seem to dig in their heels when defending what he considers the president’s immoral behavior.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

“It’s something much deeper and much more visceral and, I’ll be honest with you,” Galli said, “I’m not quite sure what’s going on.”

Police release video of shooting at Bottoms Up bar in Long Beach. (Warning: Graphic content)

Authorities have released surveillance and body camera footage of a man who shot at two people, one fatally, in a Long Beach sports bar in October before police arrived and shot him dead.

In a community briefing video released Friday, the department detailed the Oct. 23 shooting in the 1700 block of Artesia Boulevard. It remains unclear why the man began shooting inside the establishment.

About 12:20 a.m., several patrons outside the Bottoms Up sports bar flagged down a Long Beach police officer to report a man wearing a Lakers jersey inside who was shooting at people.

While the patrons were talking to the officer, more shots were fired. The officer then walked up to the bar’s entrance and positioned himself so he could see inside the bar.

According to the eight-minute video, he saw a man pointing a gun at people inside the bar and fired two shots inside, striking the man, later identified as Delfon Kinney, 48.

Moments before the officer arrived, surveillance footage inside the bar shows a man, identified as Kinney, walking up to another man, holding a gun to his head, then stepping several feet away and shooting at him, while other people inside run for cover. The man, who ran out of the bar, survived.

Police believe that Kinney then exchanged gunfire with another person inside the bar, before moving on to shoot a man later identified as Manuel Marquez, 44, of Paramount.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey

Marquez, an employee of the bar, was discovered by police in the bathroom with several other people who were hiding.

Marquez had just started working at the bar to make money for the holidays, owner Suzanne Blevins previously told The Times.

According to the bar’s surveillance footage, the man with the gun, Kinney, arrived at the bar shortly after 9 p.m. Blevins said that he was a first-time customer who spent the evening watching a Lakers basketball game and chatting with her staff and the other patrons.

“This was not gang-related, not a stupid neighborhood fight. It was a man who was angry,” said Blevins, who watched the shooting later on surveillance video. “He shot at everybody; he shot at happiness and life. His first shot was at the cook he’d had a good conversation with earlier that evening.”

After the officer fired at Kinney, additional police arrived and found Kinney on the ground, unresponsive, still holding the gun. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Times staff writer Jeanette Marantos contributed to this report.

A pair of rockslides closed part of Malibu Canyon Road on Sunday night as forecasters warned that heavy rain could also cause debris flows in the burned Sepulveda Pass area.

The California Highway Patrol reported that Malibu Canyon Road had been closed roughly from Mulholland Drive to Pepperdine University. The area was hard hit by last year’s Woolsey fire, making steep hillsides vulnerable to mudslides. CBS Los Angeles reported that one motorist was injured when a boulder crashed into her car.

The National Weather Service tweeted Sunday night that “moderate to locally heavy rain” was hitting the Sepulveda Pass, including the area burned by the Getty fire in late October.

“A flood advisory is in effect for most of L.A. County including recent burn areas,” the weather service said. “There could be minor shallow debris flows with this band of rain through midnight.”

Sunday night’s rainfall caused traffic problems throughout the region, including for travelers trying to get to airports.

In the Mid-City area, a Los Angeles Police Department motorcycle officer collided with a car and was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to an L.A. Fire Department spokeswoman. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash, which occured at 9:09 p.m.

Click Here: liverpool mens jersey