TheLeviathan

I hope you're right about that, it's just a LOT of money for him to walk away from.

Well, that is part of it, I agree. There are reasons to do this beyond just what Faried can or can't do - if the proposed deal did include dropping Pek's contract.

He can't shoot as well, but he's a better rebounder. I'll agree to disagree about Love's defense. It's clear you guys think much more highly of him.

I'd take the Faried trade idea 10 out of 10 times over Love.

I actually agree about the Jojen paste theory.....I'm less convinced about Euron. And if it is true, we could probably do with less catastrophic coming apocalypses. If you need more than one, you're probably not selling any of them well enough. That or you're threatening to nuke what's left from a meteor. At some point it's just like "meh"

I think you're probably right. But I think he basically gets smashed by Dany when she comes over. So, for TV purposes, having her come over and take out the Lannisters instead makes for a much better story. Having some fresh faced dude that we barely know take out the Lannisters, only to get promptly demolished doesn't work as well for me.

I know, was just playing around, I don't think he's important or will be important. I think that may have been something GRRM changed his mind on mid-stream.

Still rowing. Davos could've at least pointed his butt in the right direction....

For me, Kershaw is the best overall pitcher in baseball. But damned if I wouldn't buy a ticket just to see if Scherzer can pull another 20ish strikeout feat of dominance. Has anyone had as many high points as him the last 3 years? Kershaw is the more consistently lights out, whereas when Scherzer is on he's a threat to the history books every time. I also like Sale, mostly because he looks like some kind of circus freak and pitches equally as freaky.

I don't have much of any confidence in Dozier, but I wouldn't give him away. But I'd send a basket of muffins with Plouffe if anybody would take him.

Speaking of wasted time on princes, anyone else think the show has all but confirmed that fake Aegon is also nothing but another long winded dead end?

Plus, rumors of ranger deaths do nothing to dispell the idea they are a myth. Having a POV character and many others was a major turning point. In the books, even most of the Watch doesn't believe in them as of the end of the last book.

Lebron was a much better option at the 4 because he was more versatile. Love has an extremely limited skill set and basically no skill set for defense. That's the problem.

My read on them was rather recent. Plus I have other nerdy friends, a lot of your questions are ones we've already had our own discussions about.

I tend to think Varys went back to KL. (I have book reasons for believing that) But his mission is rather interesting.

The time taken to travel and do that sort of thing is absolutely messed up. As GRRM let his story spiral out of his control, it caused a ripple effect. The show, this season, has all but used teleporters. They've thrown time out the window. (Which, I think, has caused some of the issues. Showing people slowly traveling down the road doesn't make for good television, but you can't just warp people around) But like I said, the battle with the Night's Watch and the Others happened here. That was two books and several years ago. Look at the proximity to the Wall. It's ridiculous to suggest they are just wandering around for that long and not attacking. I guess you could argue they are "waiting" for winter, but they seem to be able to bring that with them. Dorne, I think, joins a Queen's Alliance with Dany. Dany and Elia both have ample reason to hate the Lannisters and to team together for past alliances.

Like the refugees. One of the best ways we can reach out and show the believers of Islam that we care about them is to welcome them with open arms. These are the people we need to embrace. They are the reformers waiting to happen.

Good point, the Fist of the First Men happened like 5-6 years ago in the books and they haven't been heard from since other than a throw-away paragraph. I've long thought that they have been forgotten as GRRM has struggled to figure out the rest of his storylines. He's forgotten them enough that it's easy to forget them entirely, but it's a huge mistake.

I commend him, that probably took more guts than many of us realize. It's a really nice article for context for how some of the young men in the West become self-radicalized too. Let's be clear though Brock - Muslims in America (and those that want to come here) are overwhelmingly not part of the problem. These are the believers who have already adopted progressive ideas of their religion. Around the world that is not as clear. We have some solid evidence that, at the very least, the belief system is very non-Western and non-progressive. Certainly their feelings on homosexuality and women are not. (Sharia Law is a boogeyman to the right, but it's some medieval S*%^ and it's largely supported) The degree to which terror is supported is much murkier to establish, but there are positive signs that it is generally frowned upon. That's a good thing. At the same time, it finds many recruits and safe harbors. Rejecting it, for Muslims abroad, means you are rejecting a fellow believer of their interpretation. We know how difficult that is even in more progressive religions. That's going to be the really hard part to get past. The reformers around the world trying to help Islam are badly, badly outnumbered. Changing that tide is going to be tough.

That's the key - tease us but don't let us forget about them. Too often the book was on the wrong side of that while the show has built up the menace slowly.

Guess I forgot Shane Robinson in my list of ugly names Arcia was benched for. He deserved (and earned!) better.

At some point you need to do more than have old ladies tell stories about your big villain. Showing Hardhome (an event the books glossed over) was brilliant. We do need to know the enemy, not just have them show up largely out of the blue.

Remember when people were suggesting, not totally implausibly, that he would be our All-star rep?

Trade him, like, in the next 8 hours.

Well said Bark, it took a long time to get some of the other Abramaic religions to accept secular governments. And the cost of that time was brutal. I'd like to see Islam progress faster than that and move themselves towards a more progressive outlook on the world. Many believers already have. Far, far too many have not. The unfortunate reality is that religion is being used to prop up a lot of brutal behavior. In our country we have one sect of people trying to ban a religion from the country - a racist, ridiculous notion. Or boot them from the country as an earlier poster suggested. We have another sect of people honestly comparing 50 dead people in a club to harassment (however reprehensible, is still only harassment, not murder). Or comparing abortion clinic bombings by Christians to terrorist attacks by Muslims. I'd love it if we could have some nuance in the conversation. Islam is part of the problem, it's being widely perverted towards violence. That doesn't mean Islam itself is any more dangerous than the other religions. It isn't. Many believers of Islam, especially those in the west, are good people. People who are part of our culture every bit as much as we are. At the same time, let's not equivocate what is happening in the world in the name of Islam has any equal. It's a religion that is sick with corruption, abuse, violence, misogyny, and exploitation. Rape victims are killed for the audacity to have been raped. Gays are thrown off buildings. Non-believers of Islam are tortured, flayed, burned alive, and brutally killed in nearly every fashion imaginable. Children are indoctrinated further. Women have no upward future. This is the world of Islam for millions of people. It's not racist to say - Islam and its adherents are the central force behind all this brutality. We have to rally together to reject that in no uncertain terms. Your link said it best earlier - when we hide behind words, try to minimize the realities, and cede the ground of confrontation - we give that ground to nut bags like Trump. We need to take it, own the issue and stop thinking we can soft-shoe around the reality. I'm tired of hearing the people who fight for these same rights in this country rush to yell "racism!" every time we try and confront this real force for human misery in the world. Islam, as I've found through many of its believers, can be such a wonderful religion. It'd be nice if more of its adherents around the world followed it the same way those I've met here have done. We need to fix that, so count me in Bark.