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Biden gave a speech today condemning the recent surge in antisemitism: I don't agree with him on everything, but in this respect I think he's spot on.

More details about the Polaris Dawn mission plan: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/05/private-astronauts-to-fly-highest-mission-since-apollo-make-groundbreaking-eva/

Well I do agree, it is just that I would then be making predictions about what will happen, and there remain a wide range of options available. As I said, the most likely place where this question of lineages is going to become extremely significant is in the Vale. The current known line of succession is very very short. But LF knows things he is not telling Sansa, and it basically never ever happens that a line of succession simply doesn't exist: rather it is a mater of more distant family connections needing to be dug up. Even King Robert Baratheon, who won his Kingdom by conquest, needed to use his grandmother to underpin his claim. Littlefinger wants everything. All the power. And somehow he thinks Sansa is the key to that. People should really be wondering why that is. And IMO it is because of lineages - a wife who is beautiful and has some diplomatic finesse alone is simply not enough to get someone as lowborn as Littlefinger all the way to the top. I think the true Vale line of succession is as follows: Sweet Robin -> Harry Hardyng -> descendant of Jasper Arryn's sibling who was the mother of Minissa Whent -> Edmure Tully (his infant heir would be passed over) -> Bran and Rickon (assumed dead) -> Sansa Meaning that LF sees Sansa's claim to the North, but also to the Riverlands, and also to the Vale. Meanwhile her Tully line may even include a claim to the Iron Throne itself (via Daella, Aegon V's sister). That may be how we see it, but Daeron I was very much admired. As we know that Aegon IV set out to invade Dorne all over again, sending a huge fleet (which was destroyed in a storm) it is clear that Aegon IV was one of his admirers. The only was I could see Tytos Blackwood being named after Tywin's father is if it was done as a provocation: as in, KNOWING that Tywin was so embarrassed by him, a family that hated Tywin set out to rub the name in Tywin's face - Tywin by then being Hand of the King to Aerys. I generally agree, but I also have concluded, from looking at a large number of names, that there often is nothing in common between many of them in terms of themes or story roles etc. Sometimes a name is literally the only information we have, which begs the question of why a name was needed at all. Meanwhile we have an author who wrote a great many interesting female characters, paying great attention to some at certain points of history. Patriarchal family trees can not possibly be the only tool he is using to consider the path of history via lines of descent because that would imply that ultimately all these women of the past are utterly irrelevant to the main series. IMO we need to be asking ourselves WHY did he bother ever telling us about Jeyne Nutt? Shiera Blackwood? Lysara Karstark? Yes, he gets his kicks out of this kind of thing certainly, but these names, precisely BECAUSE they trigger associations (Jeyne Westerling, Shiera Seastar, Lysara Rogare) and open up questions, imply that he has a reason why he makes the choices he makes.

Much like a certain young boy who is currently lying dead in the snow. Nothing much to add, except that I agree with the replies. He might have some small victory over, who knows, the Lannisters maybe. Their world isn't fair at all, but I'd love to see Elia finally getting justice. Or maybe he will enjoy some time of peace and power with Aegon... But I don't see the Martells being endgame. Doran reading these replies will be like:

Biden is not a good president. Attacking your own citizens for not supporting your shitty foreign policy with Israel and labeling those protesting it bigots with a broad brush to protect a foreign nation is actually the mark of a truly horrible person.

Lol, I'd say skim milk for me! I drank whole milk as a young kid, then eventually switched to skim milk. Then I gave up dairy for soy milk in my young adulthood. Some time when I was grad school (2007-2012), I had some cookies with whole milk and fell back in love, and I haven't quit whole milk since! And this is coming from someone who's lactose intolerant. I do need to watch my intake, of course. I grew up in a fairly big blue collar family (2 parents, 5 siblings, foster kids cycling in and out) and so we had a lot of cheap food options. My mom was also not a great cook, and a lot of our meals were bland. So the main thing that I tend to steer away from is instant food. I found that I love Brussels sprouts (my ancient enemy), as long as they're cooked fresh and at least lightly seasoned.

Rice pudding.

Yeah, maybe against the Lannisters. But ultimately? No. I think it's pretty well established that Prince Doran has missed multiple opportunities. At least four. But even if he had caught ahold of one opportunity, he has not even prepared his family for said opportunities Ellaria and Mellario have both opted out, with Mellario saying that she'd rather be on the other side of the world than deal with him. Oberyn's lack of self-control not only destroyed himself, but it also destroyed some of the best advantages and tools that the Martells had Arianne and Quentyn are completely out of their league. They weren't raised right. The Sand Snakes are ticking time bombs, all parts worse than their father. They also weren't raised right. Trystane is even less prepared than Arianne and Quentyn...and that's saying something. Manfrey and his side of the family are glorified butlers. Even if everything went Doran's way, things would have still backfired and gone sideways because he would've been the only one who was ready. I understand the need for secrecy, but Doran is a terrible communicator.

I'd like to explore the parallels between Sansa (Alayne) and Ashara (Wylla). Sansa escaped Kings Landing with the help of Ser Dontos (the fool) and Littlefinger, sailing on a ship named The Merling King under cover of night. The name of the ship seems to hint at a parallel to the Manderlys whose sigil is a merman, because a merling is exactly that: half man half fish. The Manderlys have their own Wylla as well as other names that are along that same line, like Wyman and Wyllis. Seems like Ashara may have been inspired by this to come up with her new identity. If Ashara were the fisherman's daughter and Maester Walys was with her, but died on the trip just like Maester Aemon did with Gilly and Sam, then after Ned crossed the Bite he would have gone on to White Harbor and to the Manderlys. Some fool, probably her brother Arthur Dayne, helped Ashara escape Kings Landing by ship - probably after witnessing the executions of Rickard and Brandon. It was widely known at court that Ashara was pregnant. If King Aerys knew or even thought the father was a Stark, her life was in mortal danger. Being a pregnant/soiled lady at court is paralleled later by Lollys Stokeworth. Sansa is brought to the Fingers (or the Five Fingers) where Petyr Baelish's home is. She poses as LIttlefinger's daughter Alayne and he soon brought her to the Vale. Ashara's ship probably did go the Fingers or Saltpans first with Ashara's intention to go to the Vale to find Ned, but they must have crossed paths after he left the Vale to call his banners, and then travelled together to the Bite and on to White Harbor to see the merlings. ...to be continued.

Very reasonable analysis, and I pretty much agree with everything he said. Unfortunately, near term, it doesn't look like a deal is going to be possible. They've been stuck at the same impasse for the last several months - temporary vs permanent ceasefire. Negotiations are back at square one, with no credible way to move either party off their positions. I think after Israel completes its Rafah operation, which could be completed in the next 2 or 3 months, they'll declare some sort of "victory", and would potentially agree to a permanent ceasefire then. However, I think the primary sticking point then will be the complete exit of the Israeli forces from Gaza. I don't think this will be acceptable to Israel, since it would clearly just lead to the immediate reconstitution of Hamas in Gaza. I'm not sure how long Hamas will hold to this requirement, but I don't think they'll give this term up for quite a while. If they hold out to 2026, there's a good chance that a more favorable government will take power and they can negotiate for better terms.

Realistically, it would never get that far -- the ICC would be negotiated with (or browbeaten) until they let whoever the US wants go. However, due to an amusing quirk of US law, as pointed out in the previous page, the President of the US does in fact have the authority to invade the Hague if the ICC detains an American or one of our allies. There is some debate about whom exactly The Hague Invasion Act (more formally, the ASPA) covers; it definitely covers all Americans and almost certainly all NATO personnel, but it probably also covers Israel and other non-NATO allies. The ICC is a weird construct. It calls itself a court, but it does not really have the resources of a court nor the limitations of most courts. Partly because of this lack of limitations and the potential for politicization, many nations either declined to sign to begin with (China, India, Indonesia, Turkey, etc), refused to ratify (the US, Russia, etc.) or ratified and withdrew (the Philippines and Burundi). The result is that the vast majority of cases (the sole exceptions being Russians and their South Ossetian vassals who don't particularly care) and the only ones which have seen anyone detained are from various African countries. Honestly, this is definitely not how international justice should work and I'm not even convinced that it is better than not having anything of the sort at all: selective enforcement of is one of the hallmarks of unjust regimes.

I think Biden is straight up a good president. Whether that's from his own personal merits or because he simply has good advisors around him, I can't say. But that doesn't matter; most of the job is being good at delegating anyway. Biden's been dealt a tough set of cards: the aftermath of COVID, rampant inflation, a truly insane opposition party, etc. And in spite of that he has been the consequential liberal President since LBJ (and like LBJ he has a foreign policy problem threatening to overshadow his massive domestic achievements; though at least tens of thousands of Americans aren't dying in it). IMO he's in the upper third of US presidents already (though that's not too hard, there's been a lot of terrible and/or forgettable ones), and if he wins re-election he probably ends up in the top 10.

The fascists also adore college uprisings and insurgencies in other countries, but condemn them as satanic here. It all goes together.

I think that you may be missing the obvious, that Jon will become King of Winter

After Andor, every tourney has the possibility of a Mystery Knight entry now though.

Funny how the right loves to call Biden old, when Trump is only younger than him by 4 years. Double standards anyone, lol

Good interview w/ Daniel Levy.

If we've learned one thing is that Star Wars is dead unless it hires great writers. Crazy that people are still holding out hope. That said, there's nothing in this trailer that looks remotely interesting.

Wolves were built by the same guy who built the Nuggets, and they were built to beat the Nuggets. And it's working right now. Kinda crazy.

Yeah. Obama had two terms so it’s tough to make too direct a comparison, but I think it’s fair to say Biden has had the most successful - and progressive - presidential term in my lifetime. Especially considering everything he’s had to deal with.

Arya travelled along the Gods Eye in a repeat of Lyanna's path with a Man of the Black named Yoren and a bunch of children: with Gendry, Hot Pie, Lommy Greenhands, and Weasel. The Man of the Black that Lyanna travelled with was yet a little boy named Benjen. Lommy Greenhands seems to hint that he may be a parallel to Howland Reed. Lommy of course is killed by a spear to the throat wielded by the Sweetling. Howland may have also been injured during the abduction, but survived. Why do you think so? I agree that GRRM has set up the conflict for Winterfell, but if Jon were older than Robb then that could be one reason as well. If Ashara got pregnant at the Harrenhal tourney and Catelyn not until before the Battle of the Bells, then Jon is about 7-8 months older than Robb. Added to that, Jon is described as small and slight where Robb is more robust so their physical appearances make them look closer in age.

Ask, and ye shall receive.

Exactly, he allows us to draw the connection between Jon and King using R+L=J, but he's then able to have fun with that (Corn King, also Night's king?). A good example of a wrinkle.

Provoked by our own reactions to the WKCR broadcasting of the NYPD invasion of Columbia, a friend wrote this; she has given permission to put it here, as it deals with US history, including political and academic history: Even among people who've heard about "Kent State" -- those not old enough to remember it firsthand -- nobody knows that pretty much all the colleges, universities, and many high schools across the US were shut down by a national student strike in the spring of 1970 and did not finish out the semester, because it hasn't been part of our recycled pop-history memory. Evidently the journalists breathlessly seeking campus violence don't know this either, and, in breach of their profession, haven't researched either.

I agree with the symbolism, but it still begs the question, what does George mean when referring to Jon as a “king”? Does he mean King of the Iron Throne, does he mean King of the North or does he mean something else? We learn very early on that long before there was a King on the Iron Throne there was a Northern King. Much later in the story he starts throwing around the term Corn King. A Corn King, is someone who is less a ruler and more of a sacrifice to end winter and bring about a Spring. Personally I think that there are only two possibilities of Jon’s parentage that Ned would keep such a closely guarded secret. I think George has basically conceded Lyanna is Jon’s mother. He’s been less talkative about Jon’s father. The obvious possibility is Rhaegar, the less obvious possibility might be Brandon Stark. Two instances which would be a deep dark secret that Ned would keep from everyone to protect Jon. George has done very little to set up Jon’s story arc to take advantage of Rhaegar being Jon’s father. In fact we see just how awkward that reveal turned out to be in the HBO show. Instead George has presented Jon’s primary conflict as his duty to the Night’s Watch vs his desire for Winterfell. It’s a conflict that Rhaegar’s reveal wouldn’t advance, but this conflict would advance if it turned out that Jon’s father was Eddard’s older brother. But regardless, I think ultimately no matter who Jon’s father is, Jon will turn out to be a Corn King, someone who will sacrifice themselves to end winter.