I'm definitely feeling better.  But I lost my sense of smell last night (day 5) and tested positive this morning (day 6).  Other than some sniffles I feel perfectly fine.

Anyone else think Biden’s pardoning of small amounts of marijuana is a distraction from the fact Hunter is going to jail? And part of this investigation is going to result in the “chairman” being uncovered?

I distinctly remember when Biden told us this was Russian propaganda. I remember when the media repeated this line and made COVID out to be the greatest threat to humanity in 100 years. I remember social media banning the story and calling it misinformation.

What more do you need than to contrast the media and left pushing the Russian Collusion conspiracy shit on Trump and how they outright downplayed and attempted to hide that Biden and his family were everything they attacked the Trump’s of being. They overtly and knowingly lied and misled. Will there be accountability?

And how does this frame Trump’s state of mind after the election, knowing the “free” media and Democratic Party were working in concert?  Going to make this looming lawsuit against CNN and other networks very interesting. It’s time to hold the media and their corporate overlords to the same standard and scrutiny for their outrageous lies as Alex Jones is behind made to account for his.

I think it's fair to criticize the show for decisions done exclusively for shock value.  What did making the Crabfeeder a torturer, crucifying men to be eaten by crabs do to advance that story?  Polluxlm's right, this change only accomplishes making Viserys look even weaker and more stupid. 

Introducing black characters is fine, I couldn't give two shits.  But if you do it solely to be more "diverse", at least make the effort to change the story to accommodate the problems that creates.  Rhaenys is half Baratheon and has black/brown hair in the books.  The show chose to show all "true" Valyrians as having white hair.  Corlys has it, as do both his children.  They made Rhaenys have it.  Viserys, Daemon, Rhaenyra and all of Alicent's children have white hair.  The only ones who don't have it are Rhaenyra's children.  They made white hair the defining feature of Valyrian blood, so much to the point that even when a Baratheon and Hightower mate with a Targaryen, the offspring have white hair.  Baratheon blood being "powerful" was a central theme in the original show.  So with all this importance on white hair, they still have Rhaenyra's kids have brown hair like Harwyn.  All this change results in is making Viserys look like a complete and utter moron.  Comically stupid to the point it contradicts the character they created for Corlys.  Why the fuck would Corlys ally with Viserys?  His wife has a claim, his children are dragon riders, as is his wife.  He controls the navy, and we know Daemon marries Laena.  Why would he ally with this stupid, weak ass version of Viserys?

They're starting to do the shit they began in Season 5 of the show where they took a story arc and either butchered it or subbed in their significantly lower value fan fiction version.  No one who has read the books can say the show version of Dorne was in anyway an improvement and not a significantly poorer story than the one the book has laid out.  I get it changes need made, but they had a blueprint and "Bad Pussy" is what they chose to give us. 

It's not a compelling story, and they're making the characters too extreme to be anyway likeable.  There are no Starks until the end of this story, so they need some kind of good guy to balance out the narratively bad ones.  Everyone save Alicent absolutely is monstrous in this show, and they seem to be hell bent on making the audience dislike her if they don't already. 

It's entertaining, well acted and gorgeous to view.  But I like view these high level programs for the story more than anything else, and when you have a solid blueprint and choose to put garbage in its place, it's not "hating".  It's taking serious the source material, recognizing that changes need to be made, and appreciating the turns the show writers have taken.  And being puzzled and perplexed when people who have read and want to honor the same material you both enjoy by doing something that any serious group of writers should have identified as a problem.  I think it's interesting as fuck that Helaena is probably having green dreams.  I'm ok with Criston Cole actually sleeping and being spurned by Rhaenyra.  I think these are two great changes and am interested to see how that influences future events.  But that doesn't mean when they make characters impossibly stupid or naieve, everything is peachy keen.  Ned was the classic, honorable, good-natured hero.  And he got his head cut off within months of coming to King's Landing.  We've seen this bumbling buffoon rule peacefully and successfully for 20 years.  That's not the message GRRM wrote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 … altic-sea/

Weird how the EU seems to be collectively pointing the finger at Russia.  I guess the US suddenly is able to influence Europe and get them to agree with our conspiracy.  Crazy we couldn't do that for Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran or Ukraine but now suddenly have that power.

https://www.spiegel.de/politik/nord-str … 34de0b3d57

I don't speak German, but I know this article is claiming the CIA warned Germany weeks ago of the potential attack.  I know if I was plotting sabotage, I'd warn the nation I'm intending to do the sabotage to.