Maedhros

Got tickets for the opening match of the Premier League next season, finally going to visit Anfield. Can't wait! I think this season will be even easier for City though. Can't see Liverpool getting 97 points again, especially with Klopp refusing to buy new star players. That's both Klopp's strength and weakness - he absolutely loves his players and truly believes in them, which leads to him not wanting to replace them, or buy competitors for them (seemingly).

Yes, the government should always fear the people, and consider themselves servants rather than masters. That's one of the reasons why I think that politicians should not be able to enrich themselves when in power, or when campaigning. Their wage should be on the same level as a normal job. I'm not referring to a non-democratic powerful state. Of course such entities will fail. I don't disagree on the second part. Though I suspect I interpret it in a way you don't intend. It all comes down to how you define "freedom".

Safety IS freedom. When you know someone's got your back, it's easier to pursue your goals (= free). A good government that represents the people CAN exist, and that's far more preferable to an absent one.

Strange and wonderful. Happy 4th of July!

Pretty interesting interview with Noam Chomsky. On US foreign policy, the Iran situation, Trump and Co creating alternate realities ("China is killing us!"), and more. https://truthout.org/articles/noam-chomsky-trump-is-consolidating-far-right-power-globally/

Geralt looking good:

They're doing alright. Their reputation in third world countries (and Eastern europe) is horrible though. It's a huge problem for parents here who don't understand how they work. Yes, you're not allowed to beat your kid...that doesn't mean you're supposed to refrain from setting boundaries for it. I'm a big sympathiser for them in most of those scandal cases that happened some years ago. Because of confidentiality rules they couldn't really defend themselves properly to the public, so we only got to hear it from one side. From my experience with them they've been thourougly professional. Children should have the freedom to grow up without abusive parents. My own girlfriend was given a new foster home by barnevernet and her life changed for the better because of it.

I live in a "big government" country - the cops here aren't even armed. Big governments are fine as long as you have fair political elections, and a relatively educated population. I think it's also important to have laws that prevent politicians from enrichening themselves, which seems to be the case over there. It's fully possible to have a larger degree of social and economic justice from the state without losing any "freedom".

There aren't really a lot of scenarios that makes much sense here. Framing your enemy to gain casus belli has been known to happen in history. On a sidenote, Japanese Tanker Owner on the attack: https://www.thedailybeast.com/japanese-oil-tanker-owner-says-us-is-wrong-about-gulf-attack

Shinzo Abe is currently in Teheran for diplomatic talks. Would be really strange if Iran decided it was a good idea to attack a japanese oil tanker amidst that. This smells more of Mossad/Saudis to me, sanctioned by Bolton/Pompeo/Trump. Manifactured crisis.

10, 796 false or misleading claims in 869 days, not bad: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/?utm_term=.db6d5f34fbfd

Thorne & Daughters, one of many talented wine producers in South-Africa. This is their Tin Soldier Semillon, named so because Semillon was once the foot soldier of the wine industry there. Great wine, btw. It's a white wine, but with extended grape skin contact.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusive-saudi-arabia-execute-three-prominent-moderate-scholars-after-ramadan I'm seriously considering stopping reading news concerning the Middle-east. Depressing stuff, as usual.

The only episode of GoT I liked this season was episode 2. Bryan Cogman should've written far more episodes, it's pretty obvious he's the only one of them who really likes the books. I think the characters endings will be similar in the books (if they're ever written), but with far better character development, and buildup. When it comes to shows ending well I have Breaking Bad, The Wire and The Sopranos as the holy trinity.

Watched True Detective season 3. A pleasant surprise, after the mediocre season 2. Mahershala Ali with yet another great acting performance.

I actually thought the Night King wasn't gonna take part in the battle, instead directing a large part of the forces to take King's landing, thereby boosting his army a lot. And then the later solution would of course be to wildfire-bombard the whole capitol, and the Iron chair with it - like the Mad King originally planned.

Targaryens aren't immune to fire in the books. Dany's pyre was a one time thing according to GRRM. Also, the Night King isn't in the books. There is another character by the same name, but he's a dead Lord Commander. This episode was pretty much 100% original content I think.

Beto released a pretty comprehensive climate change plan: https://betoorourke.com/climate-change/ Or wasting money to fight a threat that doesn't exist, depending on you you ask

Yeah this episode was better than the last. Loved the shoutouts to the books (Jenny of Oldstones, Tormund finally telling one of his stories), and Brienne being knighted was oddly touching. Something's definitely going to happen in the crypts in the next episode. Are the corpses there decomposed, or are we going to see a gang of Stark skeletons wreaking havoc there?

My favorite charity is SOS Children's villages. I like that they send you an update on what your money has been used for, so you can see the concrete results. I don't give much, partly because I don't earn much, and because I already do my best to help children in different life situations every day. So I don't really feed bad about not giving more.

Thought this was pretty funny: "Mueller noted that Trump “challenged” his lawyer for taking notes of their conversation. “Why do you take notes?” he asked McGahn, according to the report. “Lawyers don’t take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes.” McGahn said he kept notes because he is a “real lawyer” and to establish a record. Trump replied, “I’ve had a lot of great lawyers, like Roy Cohn. He did not take notes.’’ Cohn, who was chief counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) during McCarthy’s communist-hunting hearings in the 1950s, was disbarred by a New York court in 1986 because of “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation."

So Trump vetoed the bipartisan bill to end U.S military support to Saudi-Arabia in the Yemen-conflict. Trump describes it as a 'dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities.' Down is the new up. Peace is dangerous!

Good to see both Harris, Sanders, Warren and O'Rourke releasing tax returns from the last 10 years. Transparency is a good thing. Of course, you probably don't wanna go as far as we do over here, with everyone's tax records being public and searchable.