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President Tinubu reveals major reason he won't reduce his cabinet sizeLOS ANGELES — The locker room after the Rams’ 37-20 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles was as quiet as any this season. Players shouldered blame in quiet, shorts responses to reporters’ questions before filing out and into the night. As they dissected what had just happened, the Rams (5-6) also looked ahead and stated they could not afford for this game to spiral into the next game, which is Sunday’s matchup with the New Orleans Saints (4-7). “Just make sure you turn the page. Obviously, there are things that we want to correct from the game and find ways to be better moving forward, but make sure that we come out with great energy today. It starts today,” Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said before Wednesday’s practice. “There are going to be things we want to clean up from practice, make sure we do that and move on day-to-day with the right attitude and the right spirit.” As the Rams have gone about making those corrections, a consistent word has come to mind: Consistency. Asked what he’s looking for from the defense Sunday after its worst performance since the early weeks of the season, head coach Sean McVay used that word. He spoke about playing as a unit, sticking to assignments, coverage and pass rush complementing each other. Then he added with a smile, “Same things I’m looking for on the defense would be exactly how I would answer your offensive question as well.” Even 11 games into the season, we still haven’t seen the Rams offense perform with the type of consistency you would expect from a group with this much talent. Against the Eagles, the Rams moved the ball well in the first quarter, reaching the red zone twice without needing a third down. But any momentum was quickly lost with a 10-play second quarter that resulted in a loss of six yards. It was the same story a week before, with the offense blazing in the second and third quarters against the Patriots while going nowhere in the first and fourth quarters. “It’s kind of the word ‘consistency’ right now,” Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur said. “There are times where it feels like we go right down the field and put it in, and there are other times where it just feels a little bit harder than it should. I think that’s the biggest key right now.” The defense is facing a similar obstacle. The Rams are among the best in the NFL at holding teams without a touchdown in the red zone, limiting opponents to a 48.8% success rate. That ranks eighth in the league, but the flip side is that the Rams allow teams 3.7 trips into the red zone per game, which is tied for 28th. Defensive tackle and captain Kobie Turner raised the issue of allowing too many long drives following the Eagles loss, and defensive coordinator Chris Shula agreed with the assessment. “Some of that, especially the other night, they were in third downs a decent amount of time and it was a third and favorable,” Shula said. “Then, finding a way to get stops, finding a way to play, get them off track, get them into 2nd-and-longs where you get those 3rd-longs, and you can earn the right to rush the passer.” Related Articles Entering Week 13, it’s not encouraging that the Rams are still struggling to find consistency in their execution. But to this point, it hasn’t upended their season. The wild card might be out of reach, but the NFC West title is still up for grabs. But that starts with a road win against a Saints team playing with nothing to lose. “We know that it’s going to be a great challenge, especially at their place. It’ll be rocking atmosphere and environment with the holidays and the momentum they have,” McVay said. “We’ve a lot of guys that are experiencing things for the first time. I have seen the resolve of this group show itself. Now, we’ve to do it.” When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday Where: Superdome, New Orleans TV/radio: FOX (Ch. 11)/710 AM; 93.1 FM; 1330 AM (Spanish); Sirius 382, 226
Andrew Luck returns to Stanford as the GM of the football programWith rookie QB Penix showing poise in starting debut, the Falcons again control their playoff hopes
Topline Charles Kushner, Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to France, is the father of Trump’s son-in-law and a former real estate mogul Trump pardoned for an earlier conviction on tax evasion and charges involving a revenge plot to set his brother-in-law up in a sex scandal. Key Facts Get Forbes Breaking News Text Alerts: We’re launching text message alerts so you'll always know the biggest stories shaping the day’s headlines. Text “Alerts” to (201) 335-0739 or sign up here . Tangent In an interview with PBS in 2019, Christie said his case against Charles Kushner was “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted” as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Christie has blamed Jared Kushner for pushing him out of Trump’s inner circle after the 2016 election, suggesting the younger Kushner was “still apparently seething over events that had occurred a decade ago.” Forbes Valuation The Kushner family has a combined fortune of $7.1 billion , which includes Kushner Companies, stakes in eight personal properties worth at least $100 million and investment firms owned by Jared and Josh. Kushner Companies has a market value of nearly $3 billion, according to our latest estimates, and Charles and his wife Seryl own about 20% of the firm. Josh, founder of the venture capitalist firm Thrive Capital, has an estimated net worth of $3.8 billion. Thrive Capital was an early investor in several startups, including Instagram, Spotify and OpenAI. Jared also holds a 20% stake and owns Affinity Partners, a private equity firm backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Key Background Charles Kushner was tapped by Trump as U.S. ambassador to France on Saturday, with the president-elect referring to his pick as a “tremendous business leader, philanthropist and dealmaker” on Truth Social. The elder Kushner and Trump reportedly knew each other while navigating the real estate market, and their children, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, married in 2009. Charles Kushner continued supporting Trump from behind the scenes, reportedly donating $100,000 to a pro-Trump group in 2015 and $1 million to a pro-Trump PAC in 2023. Jared Kushner succeeded his father as CEO of Kushner Companies and later served as a senior advisor during Trump’s first administration and as Director of the Office of American Innovation. He said earlier this year he did not plan on serving in a second Trump administration and would instead focus on his business ventures. Further Reading
NEW YORK-- Tesla CEO Elon Musk's net worth crossed $400 billion on Thursday, the Forbes real-time billionaires list showed, boosted by a nearly 71% surge in the automaker's shares this year and the soaring valuation of his rocket company SpaceX. Musk is Tesla's largest shareholder with about a 13% stake in the company. The EV maker's shares rose to a record high of $424.9 on Wednesday, extending a rally that kicked off following the Nov. 5 election. His net worth was also boosted by an insider share sale of SpaceX, which Musk heads. The rocket company and its investors agreed to purchase as much as $1.25 billion of its common shares, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday. "What's really crazy about this is that almost no investors wanted to sell shares even at a $350B valuation!" Musk wrote in a reply to a post on X referring to the Bloomberg report. He added that SpaceX has reduced the number of shares it bought back from employees in order to bring in some new investors. Tesla investors have pinned their hopes on Musk's relationship with President-elect Donald Trump, hoping the billionaire's role in shaping the incoming Republican administration's policy agenda would benefit the automaker. Besides Tesla, Musk also heads brain technology startup Neuralink. Both SpaceX and Neuralink rely heavily on government regulation and policy and could benefit from a business-friendly administration. Musk, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help Trump win the election, also owns social media site X and tunnel builder The Boring Company. Musk is followed on the billionaires list by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos - with a net worth of $243.7 billion, while Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison is in the third spot with a net worth of $223.4 billion.None