Massdriver

I love the show, but lots of things are bothering me Prophecies- Dead end. Nevermind all the other shit in the show alluding to them. The people that could tell us about prophecy are pretty much dead or don't talk. While the books make a bigger deal of them and warn not to trust them, in the show it just feels like they decided to drop it altogether because it's easier. And yes, Melisandre did talk about the prophecy in the show. No explanation necessary I guess. Just move along. Magic- Over with. Melisandre is dead, Bran just talks about living in the past in one liners. The dragons are down to one and useless now. Warging is only used to fly around as crows (BRAN!) instead of I don't know, warging into the undead, or perhaps a dragon!? The Mountain and a dragon I suppose is what we have left. Strategies and tactics- Someone should force the CGI animators and the directors to play some Age of Empires at least. How about you make the trenches wider, use cavalry to flank after they charge, protect your siege weapons, and fire arrows and dragon fire after you light the trenches instead of staring. Dany, take a look around when you're up that high and maybe you'll spot the Iron Fleet! Cercei, you just had to fire your new weapon you used to kill the dragon to finish off Dany! Ghost- Just don't even have him in the show if this is how you're going to treat him. Good job Jon not taking your most loyal companion with you into the most dangerous situation you could imagine! Story- The Night King should have been saved for last, not the political squabbles. This is anti climatic. The peak of the show was The Long Night, even with its flaws. Bottom line is that should have been the episode 5 battle. Plot Armor- Without GRRM, the writers have failed to kill anyone off in surprising ways for far too long. At least 1 or 2 major characters should have died already. It's easy to predict that now we will have major characters dying left and right over the final two episodes. Jaime- If he's really running back to his sis, then his arc is ruined. He had one of the best arcs going. Bran- So much potential, so many interesting conversations we didn't get to hear, and so useless (as far as we are aware) Jon- Hasn't learned a damn thing, even after dying. He doesn't deserve the throne. I'll take Cercei over him. He would be a terrible ruler, easily manipulated and far too soft. He's also the worst strategist and tactician I've ever seen Dany- A terrible leader, entitled, and apparently a nut. However, she at least has more sense than Jon. I still love the show, but there is a lot that could have been done better.

What’s shocking is Biden’s post announcement bump is ridiculously high. I might as well forget about Pete and Beto. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/democratic_nomination_polls/

The House vote Monday is the first time the lower chamber approved such a measure, marking significant progress. But the opposition of the lieutenant governor remains a major hurdle. https://www.texastribune.org/2019/04/29/texas-marijuana-house-penalty-reduction-bill/

The beginning of the episode tonight: A troubled Jon comes into focus in a dark bedroom. He lifts a pillow and firmly shoves it down onto someone’s face. She struggles, and suddenly Dany’s dead eyes come into focus as Jon slowly pulls the pillow away. Jon smirks. Bran smiles from the doorway watching. Opening credits.

Well done. I’m so curious on what comes next.

Fuck all the anti vaccine horseshit. Trump has already done tons of damage on this. I'm glad he may have reversed course for a few seconds, but he is really terrible on this. We need a leader that will take the misinformation on.

Sorry, stoners, but when it comes to marijuana legalization, Biden is basically the worst candidate in the race Not only is he old, but he is worse on marijuana than Trump!

Despite her best intentions and her description of the plan as progressive, a quick analysis finds the Warren proposal to be regressive, expensive, and full of uncertainties. More evidence from the Brookings Institution

I pretty much agree and understand where you're coming from. I haven't looked for other detailed arguments against it, but I imagine we will start to see more of them since so many are adopting it as a policy position this primary. The issue is more complicated than just FREE TUITION. Education reform is complicated and we should direct limited funding where it helps the most people.

Interesting. It probably doesn't matter.

I thought someone said Far From Home was actually the beginning of Phase 4?

@legend, the problem is these proposals will eventually get priced by the CBO and they will have to be paid for. Every dollar is an opportunity cost both ethically and politically. There is no way that all of Waren's proposals as written will pass because the amount of taxes she would need to bring in would also have to pass. WaPo is simply saying that it's a lot of money, and that money could be put to better use than paying for rich kids' college tuition. I posted this a while back and I think it also makes some good points: https://www.thirdway.org/memo/why-free-college-could-increase-inequality Edit: Universal pre-k seems to have more evidence behind it for good outcomes. I also think we need to be thinking about vocational tracks in grade school which involves reform, and streamlining different paths for different professions which involves reforms on the college level. What is driving these costs and where can cuts be made?

Bernie Sanders Scares a Lot of People, and Quite a Few of Them Are Democrats

You really think that Democrats are going to risk losing the incumbent advantage just because they won't agree to exactly what Bernie or Warren wants? You guys are using Trump as an example of someone that is strong and pushes his party into line, but he couldn't get rid of the ACA and he couldn't even get his wall built. Then he lost the House and he is increasingly losing support from the public. The public is for Medicare for all, but more of the public favors the idea of the public option. How will the public feel about Bernie destroying senators in his own party over a policy that is less popular than what the Senator is for?

No, thank you sir!

Public pressure, from where? I think this is naive to think that moderate Senators are suddenly going to pass all of Warren and Sander's proposals into law. They have to get elected in swing states. The political realities and their desire for reelection will override whatever pressure you can fathom coming from Sanders or the public. It's not about what I say, it's about what Sanders would do. He's against trading with poor nations. He doesn't care about the global poor enough to have policies that would help them. Giving political speeches doesn't help their wages or bring them economic prosperity.

No, it depends on Congress. The Vox article you just linked to just stated the reality of the Senate: Edit: One large exception to this is trade, which as we've seen with Trump, a president has tons of authority and power on without Congress which is one reason why Sanders is so dangerous to me.

Elizabeth Warren has the wrong answer to America’s student debt problem

I don't see how Obama could have done any better if you are judging him by how much progressive legislation he passed. Congress is the reason Obama couldn't get his policies through, including Democrats, particularly in the Senate. Remember Pelosi got cap and trade passed in the U.S. House, but it failed in the Senate because senators from certain states said no. Take a look at the history of Obama's first term. He jammed through a lot of shit, but the politics of Congress are real. You actually believe that Bernie Sanders is going to do better at convincing moderate senators to vote for his plan than Obama was? Sanders connects with a third of the Democratic base, and the rest don't like him all that much. Most of Congress doesn't like him, and the only reason they support some of his bills now is out of trying to appeal to that third of the base, not because they like the guy. Honestly it's worthy of massive eye rolling to think that Sanders, the least pragmatic nutcase the Democrats have running, is going to be the golden ticket to a better America. I agree with @ByWatterson, Sanders is in this for himself. He was born in 1941. He has no business running the country on that alone. As for why Mayor Pete isn't coming out with 30 policy papers, it's probably because it boxes him in just like you guys said. The Bernie wing of the party isn't going to support him anyway because they're going to support Bernie no matter what, so what does he have to gain by turning off most Democrats who at least have some respect for markets? If Bernie wasn't running, I would bet more people would define their positions better this early in, but there just isn't a point strategically to do so yet.

What's wrong with elites running the country? I'm all for it.

Sanders has at least 25% of the base locked in. I think he has a lower ceiling than many of the other candidates, but that may not matter if many of them stay in the race and split the vote.

I haven't given either story very much attention, but I do care more about this one. The bottom line is attacks in developed countries get more attention than attacks in developing countries. I guess fires too.

I imagine their anger is directed to GRRM hosting movie nights of old films at his private theater instead of finishing the series. I can't imagine their frustration.

I subscribe to the not so popular theory that Jaime is Azor Ahai, The Prince that was Promised. I think things are going that direction, but for all I know he will have an ice spear through his heart on Sunday.

I agree that she's really annoying in the book as well. I mostly dread her chapters to be honest. I guess the romance was critical to the story. We can already see the tension it adds coupled with Jon's claim, but I agree it isn't a great romance to say the least. I think Jaime/Brienne is the best romance of the show, and they stole the episode with the knighting scene. Ygritte/Jon and maybe Sam/Gilly are runner ups? I don't know.