Juliajms

It's semi normal here. It's usually done in a good natured kind of way. I said a few months ago this is the only time in my whole life that chant has scared me. Before Trump, I would say that these chants and flag waving were never a call to true nationalism the way Europeans would think of it. Now, who knows what the hell is happening. I think we are going to need to look at this from the distance of 5 or 10 years to see the true effects of this election, no matter who wins.

I just caught the end of his speech. Wow. I'm getting vicarious embarrassment already.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/antonio-sabato-trump-225718 I feel like General Hospital is being treated unfairly here. This guy hasn't been it's star in 20 years. I'm only kind of kidding. A few years ago I decided to stop using the world "surreal" because it had become so overused, but I feel like this election is getting more surreal by the day. It's really shaken my view of the US as a stable country.

I was watching people talk about the open carry rules at the convention. I really hope this convention comes and goes without a shooting. Just so much crazy going on.

What? Kimberlin Brown is going to be a convention speaker? Holy hell.

So Antonio Saboto Jr. is speaking at the convention. Alrighty then.

It's really odd to me that not being willing to compromise has become a good thing in some people's minds. Where has that landed us except in situations where the government is shut down or on the edge of defaulting on our national debt? No thanks!

I'll check it out. I love shows that are set in places other than LA and NY.

That sounds really good. I'm craving Five Guys. What I'm actually having tonight is salmon and rice.

^ Given the alternative, I sure hope so. If it were up to me, the democrats would have a candidate with less baggage. the process feels broken, but like Roman said, I'll be rooting for the lesser evil.

I do love the Clinton's, but I sure don't trust them. You'd have to be a fool to fully trust them. However I do trust them to run the country better than Trump or any of the other Republicans who ran this time around. That's kind of a low bar, I know. I sort of dread the next four years of inevitable scandal. I just hope Bill has more impulse control this time around.

That's good news. I was worried he might convince some people due to fear.

Way back when Khal Drogo died, I thought obviously Dany and Jon will marry and rule the seven kingdoms together. People may have died, but there will be a general restoration of the status quo I don't think that any more. Then I thought Dany is bringing in a lot of people who haven't lived under the system of the seven kingdoms. The wildings are coming, so maybe this is about a new world order. Jon will sacrifice himself and Dany will rule. Now a lot of those new people are either dead or staying in Mareen. Some of them will be canon fodder for the Night's King, so I don't think that anymore either. Now I think of Ramsey saying "If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention".

I'd say Cersei started to lose her mind a bit when Joff died and Myrcella completed the process. When Cersei said Myrcella was pure and made her think maybe she wasn't an awful person (I'm paraphrasing) I figured the girl's would be a break of sorts for Cersei. Whatever she and Jaime said about keeping Tommen safe, I don't think Cersei ever believed it. I agree that Little Finger probably won't be able to break Sansa and Jon apart. If Sansa wanted to be The Lady of Winterfell, Jon offered it to her. She said he's a Stark to her and I believe her. What I don't understand is why various people think they can marry Sansa when she has a living husband. Makes me wonder if Tyrion will die by the end or if the marriage will be annulled. I can't see him holding her to it at this point, but Little Finger must know that Tyrion lives? Maybe there is so much chaos he thinks he can do whatever he wants. I wonder if Little Finger will get farther along in his plot to take the iron throne and marry Sansa in the book. That may be why GRRM has kept her in The Vale. I agree that the adaptation is really good, but this version of the world is by necessity smaller and more compact. I'm interested to see what GRRM comes up with, if he ever manages to finish. If he doesn't, I don't hold it against him as some do. I'm also sad really sad about Maegary and Loras. One hard thing about the show is that I've lived with some of these characters for a long time and they are being dispatched with little fanfare. At this point there are too many to name them all, but people like Osha and Rickon are the hardest for me. I would have at least had a 30 second scene of her and Rickon talking. Something to make their deaths feel more substantial. As it stands I feel like HBO has done a good job though. You can't make everyone happy.

The Mad King Aerys was Dany's father. Rhaegar was Dany's brother, by most accounts a reasonably good guy. She was just much younger than him. She was at Storm's End when Robert (and the Lanisters) took the Red Keep. She was taken across the narrow sea along with Visaery's to hide her from Robert. Rhaegar was in love with Ned's sister Lyanna. Robert was betrothed to her which started Robert's Rebellion. Rhaegar took her. There's a dispute in the fandom about whether it was a kidnapping/rape or consensual. My opinion is that it was consensual and Rhaegar took Lyanna as a second wife. Not sure this story makes a lot of sense if Jon is still a bastard and Dany is the only rightful heir, but we don't know. That's why we see Robert so determined to kill every single Targaryen. In the second episode he still tells Ned that he still wants to kill every Targaryen and it's 15 years later. That scene was to show us Ned was right to lie to everyone and not even risk telling Cat (debatable, of course). So to sum it up Dany is Jon's aunt. Elia is the Dornish woman married to Rhaegar. Her children were killed by The Mountain.

Yes, that was a good season finale. I was sorry to see Maegary and and Loras die, but glad to see Lady Orlena in Dorn. It's disconcerting the way people can move around the kingdom so fast, but with only 13 episodes left (probably) I get why they have to move the pieces around the board faster. Cersei's coronation was so dark and forbidding. Looks like the Seven Kingdom's as a mad queen on their hands. Arya killing Walder Frey made my night. Bran knows the truth about Jon now, so it'll be interesting to see how all of that plays out. I'm also interested to see Little Fingers next move. On a shallow note the actor who plays young Ned is cute.

What frustrates me most is how opposed some people are to giving immigrants more financial aid, but I don't see that changing in the near future. We can hope things change with the House and Senate, but I feel like HRC's agenda will be fought tooth and nail. Just to clarify, some of us came from slaves. Immigration implies choice which a lot of our ancestors never had. I hear you.

^ Well, I always pause when the right wingers are on any side I sympathize with, that's for damn sure. I would hate to see the EU as a whole break up, since I see it as a stabilizing force. Anything that weakens Germany and keeps it yoked to the whole of Europe is something I'm in favor of, but I see these sort of historical movements (including Trump *shudders*) as so much bigger than myself. What will be will be.

I hear you Carl. These really are complicated issues. I just balk at the idea that I must be racist or a hater if I think we have to slowly assimilate people to a western way of thinking or worse yet that it's wrong to want to assimilate immigrants. I do not want to let in huge numbers of people who don't agree that women and gay people deserve equal rights. I don't blame the Brits for being wary of that either. I also do want to let in the maximum amount of people that we can bring in and help financially, especially since the US has contributed to the instability in the middle east to say the least. Also, it's just a matter of self interest for the West (especially Europe) to let in as many people as we can without causing social instability. Our aging demographics demand it. The West has really done a poor job of educating people on that front, imo. We also don't go out of out way to help people assimilate in the US. Some of the stories of the Syrian immigrants we have let into the US are down right sad. Just dumped in the midwest with little aid and left to make the best of it in the slaughter houses. At the very least we should make English lessons free and easy to access. Not because I think we need to be an English only society, if I had my way we would follow the Canadian example and teach all children English and Spanish, but because English is useful in getting a better job.

I don't agree that wanting controlled immigration is xenophobia. Trump is Satan as far as I'm concerned, but if you ask people to take in too many people from another culture at once, conflict tends to arise. Look at your own country, which is probably the gold standard for immigration. You don't take on more than you can chew, but the people you let in are actually given the help they need to make a good life. In the US, people aren't given much help and the school system is how people tend to assimilate, which means the older generation tends to be lost. Economics drives our immigration policy (which is why elite republicans tend to favor amnesty), but it is far from ideal from the pov of of working class Americans or immigrants, imo.

Carl, I apologize for taking my prosecution of Theon too far and for getting overly passionate about a TV show.

Cersei didn't have those children murdered. Joffery did. He did not mock Bran. He tried to help Bran overcome denial, by mocking himself. The murder of Shae was anything, except cold blooded. It was clearly done in the heat of passion after she lied to help get him the death penalty and screwed his father. I'm starting to doubt you really watch this show. Sansa didn't even know that those forces were coming. She also didn't psychologically torture the people of Winterfell, kill little boys, hang there bodies up for days to scare people into submission or betray Robb. She didn't make the small folk watch while she hacked off a guy's head. She didn't open the door to Ramsey's rule by taking over Winterfell. So you're really reaching by trying to equate Sansa holding back a possibility of help to all of Theon's crimes. But sure, Tyrion is the bad guy here and it's Theon's self esteem and identity issues that we should be worried about. I'm going to have to leave the discussion there, because I just can't relate in any way to your thinking.

I'm pretty sure Tyrion was shaming him for killing the Stark boys. That's a little more than failure and weakness. At the risk of sounding like Stannis, the fact that Theon was tortured and saved Sansa does not change the fact that he did have two (other) little boys killed. He also made a poor job of hacking off an old man's head and got countless other men, woman and children slaughtered. Those kind of behaviors may result in feelings of worthlessness and suicidal ideation. I'm with Tyrion in not exactly falling over myself worrying about Theon's feelings. It also seemed pretty clear that Tyrion had no idea what Theon had been through. He thought he was still addressing the same cocky bastard he left behind at Winterfell. If all Theon gets is a little shaming going forward, he should probably count himself lucky. If I were Jon Snow, I wouldn't be feeling especially merciful towards him considering how many people just died brutally to get Winterfell back.

Let me be more direct. He really got his ass handed to him this time. Before that time he was murdered he was being set up as a pretty good leader. I'd say that leadership is at the very least questionable after the Battle of the Bastards. I'm not sure I would be lining up to follow him after what we just saw. Honestly, I can't criticize Jon for trying for Rickon. If he hadn't, I don't think viewers could see him as the shows hero. It would make him look small and maybe like he didn't try save Rickon because they are half brothers and Rickon is the (possible) heir. So ultimately, I came away from this episode seeing Jon as more hero than leader, which makes me wonder if he will outlive the show.