Winterfell is Burning

Unlikely. Part because they can't afford to fire him, part because they can't really get anyone better, part because if he fails (which is almost certain) at the CL and La Liga, he can be a good scapegoat, where as if he's fired now, Laporta will have no one to blame for himself if he chooses poorly and things go wrong.

I only read the first novel of the series, but it needs to be a very stupid and narrow type of person (probably the same kind that think Martin Scorsese's films glamorize the Mafia, for example). Paul's role is very much a poisoned chalice, and is quite clear there will be terrible consequences for it, his victory being very much a hollow one.

This is actually part of the point I was making: that anti-communism doesn't equal support for capitalism, at least not in the sense people think of neo-liberal, free trade economics, or even an alliance with the US doesn't mean indisputable support from or for it. Of course, US' history of interference is long and disastrous, but at the same time is often used in the era a crutch used by politicians to justify their own failures, as their own scary boogeyman, as much as the right uses communism.

Ed Sheeran is the #1 argument for the revolution.

Also, to what point can capitalism be blamed for individual actions of players and governments is debatable in many cases, particularly in cases of kleptocracies and/or authoritarian regimes- for example, here in Latin America, Pinochet's government love of capitalism and free market, neoliberal economics became (in)famous, but that was in part because this was very much the exception among the dictatorships and their supporters (not a coincidence than when Fernando Henrique Cardoso begun a privatization program in Brazil in the 1990's, Bolsonaro suggested he should be sent to the firing squad for treason). Also, mind you, while I never saw anyone say the US is the source of all evil in the world, I never saw anyone say they were voting for Trump because all those black and brown people need to be put in their place, and yet...

The problem with certain sections of the left is to assume the US (often coupled with capitalism) is, directly or indirectly, the source of all evil in the world, which, ironically enough, still is a form of American exceptionalism if you think about it.

Now, I'm not American nor have any sympathy for US foreign policy, or that much for country in general, but it only a complete idiot would see no difference between the two.

And Rudiger!

I would gladly bet all the money on your bank account on that.

I disagree, it was just waaaay too easy for him to pull off. Reminds me of House of Cards, trying to make Frank Underwood a genius by portraying everyone else as a moron.

I am unable to watch the games today, but that's a great result for Ajax and a hilarious one for PSG.

Frankly, it would not surprise me at all to see either Dinamo Kiev or Benfica getting that 2nd spot. They have tradition, less chaos off the pitch (though Benfica only slightly less so), better managers and decent and experienced squads,.

Not gonna lie, after this trailer, #1 reason I'm watching is to see Rogers: the Musical.

Also, they can reproduce with each other fairly easy and generate healthy offspring.

The gods of football are mad at me because I didn't sacrifice enough virgins for them and decided to punish me by making Flamengo, my team, sign David Luiz. To make matters worse, he was nearly set for Benfica, but our former coach in the 2019 Libertadores and Brasileirão title, Jorge Jesus, blocked it because with Otamendi and Vertonghen there, he didn't need another aging overpaid central defender. Meanwhile in the aging overpaid Brazilian defenders department, Daniel Alves has refused today to play anymore for São Paulo due to a debt of about 1.5 million pounds the club has with him, meaning some sucker in Europe might sign him (there were rumors of Sevilla interest). While of course any player must be paid for what they are owed, despite the fact he was still playing well in Europe at PSG as well as for Brazil in 2019 Alves was really a failure on pretty much every level on his return to Brazil. Despite playing for what he claimed was his boyhood club, he always clearly felt he was bigger than it, and I strongly suspect he thought playing here would be easier than it actually was, and he leaves without coming close a major title and being hated by his supporters.