Biotech engineers have developed the first entirely internal cochlear implant that will allow users to move, exercise, swim, and enjoy a full range of human activities without worrying about external hardware. This external hardware typically sits on top of the ear or around the head and prohibits all manner of vigorous activities—including sleep, since the […] The post Incredible Fully Internal Cochlear Implants on the Way as Massachusetts Engineers Overcame All Obstacles appeared first on Good News Network.

Movies & TV house of the dragon Daemon’s Visions, a Full-Scale Dragon Battle, and a Major Character Death in House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4 The show leans into the supernatural, as well as curious doubling between key characters, and bids farewell to a fan favorite. By Tyler Dean | Published on July 8, 2024 Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO We’re now halfway through House of the Dragon’s sophomore season and just past the first actual dragon battle of the titular Dance of the Dragons. We also have our biggest character death of the season thus far, and some exploration of the supernatural that has been largely missing from HotD up to this point. Let’s discuss the episode—there will be spoilers below—and how it adapts (and differs) from Martin’s original version of this story… The Title Episode four is titled “A Dance of Dragons.” In-world history remembers this Targaryen civil war as “the Dance of the Dragons,” so this first full-on dragon battle of the conflict is using the indefinite version of the name to signal that war truly has begun. Incidentally, the fifth book in Martin’s ASoIaF series references this, styling itself A Dance with Dragons. That book roughly corresponds to elements of seasons five and six of the original Game of Thrones series (though there was enough of a butterfly effect from changes in adaptation that large portions of it were never represented on the show) and takes “dance” slightly less euphemistically as it centers on the numerous Westerosi suitors who have traveled to Mereen to try and marry Daenerys Targaryen and benefit from her growing power.  Archmaester Gyldayn, Martin’s in-world author of Fire & Blood, chooses to refer to this period in Westerosi history as “the dying of the dragons” saying: “The Dance of the Dragons” is a flowery name bestowed upon the savage internecine struggle for the Iron Throne of Westeros fought between two rival branches of House Targaryen during the years 129 to 131 AC. To characterize the dark, turbulent, bloody doings of this period as a “dance” strikes us as grotesquely inappropriate. No doubt the phrase originated with some singer. “The Dying of the Dragons” would be altogether more fitting, but tradition, time, and Grand Maester Munkun have burned the more poetic usage into the pages of history, so we must dance along with the rest. (Martin 391) Martin’s hatred of war and his penchant for regularly calling attention to the ways in which warfare is (grotesquely) glorified seems to be something that the show is consciously playing with. The tapestries during the title sequence show public and often misremembered versions of events (no changes to them from the version we saw last week, incidentally). And now the episode titles use the language that Gyldayn hates. Despite the brutal slaughter, despite the pointless maiming and death, this is a “dance” to all the knights and maidens dreaming of glory in subsequent eras. Velaryon Sons Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO Rhaenys (Eve Best) approaches Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and, with despair in her voice, says that his mother must have been beautiful. This brings forward the subtext that the show has been dancing around—that Alyn (and Clinton Liberty’s Addam) are Corlys’ bastard sons. In Fire & Blood, the brothers are silver-haired and purple-eyed, making them clearly Valyrian. Gyldayn reports that, when they come to the attention of the Black council, they declare themselves to be “the natural sons of the late Laenor Velaryon” (Martin 442). But Gyldayn also notes, in the next paragraph, that “Laenor Velaryon’s disinterest in women was well remembered.”  Gyldayn puts two and two together, saying “it should not surprise us, therefore, that Grand Maester Munkun [an apprentice to Grand Maester Orwyle during the Dance] and Septon Eustace [the Green Court’s household Septon] both dutifully assert Ser Laenor’s parentage… but Mushroom [Rhaenyra’s court fool], as ever, dissents. In his testimony, the fool puts forth the notion that [Addam and Alyn were fathered] by the Sea Snake himself” (Martin 442-443). Mushroom goes on to say that it was only after the death of Rhaenys that Lord Corlys (Steve Toussaint) feels comfortable bringing his alleged bastard grandsons into view (the book introduces us to both brothers immediately following the events of this episode). The show has made the fiction about Laenor’s parentage even more unlikely, as HotD’s versions of both Alyn and Addam are far too old to be Laenor’s kids. John Macmillan, who played the adult Laenor roughly eight in-world years ago, is about 35. Salim is 31 and Liberty is 26; in F&B, the brothers are 14 and 15, respectively.  So it’s a nice bit of work that the show has, in excising any doubt about Addam and Alyn’s father, also made Rhaenys aware of their existence and her husband’s infidelity. She not only knows—given her conversation with Corlys, it sounds like, though she has never met Alyn before, she has always been aware of his existence. We’ll talk about Eve Best’s incredible work on this show more below, but it’s a great wrinkle to see her both angry and resigned to the fact that the Sea Snake has been untrue. So much of her marriage is characterized as being deeply romantic and passionate; Corlys and Rhaenys share a number of post-coital scenes of pillow talk across the two seasons—strong representation (for a GoT show) of a more mature couple having a sex life. Between Corlys’ admission that he enjoys being topped by her and Rhaenys tending to him during his convalescence, they have one of the healthiest-looking marriages in either show’s history. How shatteringly great, then, to slide, underneath it all, the notion that, this whole time, Rhaenys has struggled with the knowledge of her husband’s unfaithfulness. Corlys is such a disappointing husband in so many other ways—obsessed with naval glory to his own physical detriment, unwilling to name his capable granddaughter as his heir (despite being married to the most passed-over woman in Westeros)—that this shouldn’t surprise us. It’s a heartbreaking move to make this acknowledgement the focus of their last scene alone together; as much as Corlys has tried to hide his infidelity, Rhaenys has always known. Both personally and professionally, the Queen Who Never Was is an exemplar of putting peace above her deeply-felt wrath and her well-deserved vengeance.  A Moon Tea Retreat Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO This episode sees Alicent (Olivia Cooke) taking “moon tea,” an in-world abortifacient brewed from tansy root. It’s unclear if this is because she knows that she is pregnant with Cole’s child or if she is merely taking precautions against the possibility, but the resulting pain causes her to miss Aegon’s council meeting. We do get an update on her itinerary after her meeting with Rhaenyra last episode: She appears to be searching out Viserys’ books, looking for more info on the Prince That Was Promised and the Song of Ice and Fire.  Larys (Matthew Needham) confronts her about her absence, dripping with innuendo suggesting he knows about Alicent’s affair and perhaps tinged with jealousy given his own sexual desires (which Alicent briefly capitulated to at the end of last season). But he pivots to a probing line of question that implies that he has surmised Alicent’s own doubts about her original interpretation of Viserys’ intentions for succession. He may, through his vast spy network, even know that she met with Rhaenyra.  Larys, of course, has his own motivations, first and foremost of which is to rise and survive. He is not quite like his rhyming Game of Thrones counterpart, Varys, insofar as he is nobly born and does possess lands and titles. But those lands include Harrenhal, where he is despised by his great-uncle and he may also possess an understanding that being granted Harrenhal as a seat is a fragile and hollow achievement at best. So in that regard, he is a free agent. Gyldayn has little to say about Larys during the events of this first half of season 2, so I would not be surprised to find that the show has given him some ulterior motives to further pressure Alicent.  Alicent’s defense against Larys’ inquiry ends in her saying that “Rhaenyra’s supporters will believe what they wish and so will Aegon’s. The war will be fought, many will die, and the victor will eventually ascend the throne. The significance of Viserys’ intentions died with him.” It feels like a pretty spot-on articulation of her general response to her meeting with Rhaenyra last episode. She believes herself to be powerless to stop what is to come, and so she is simultaneously attempting to figure out if Rhaenyra’s assertion is true (and that she herself was wrong), while also leaning back on her absolute lack of ability to stop the war.  And I am not convinced that she is wrong in this assessment. Alicent does have more power than she thinks she does, it’s true. Her berating of Aegon in this episode helps spur him to join the battle at Rook’s Rest which, in turn, may utterly alter the course of the war. But it’s also true both that she can’t stop the Green Council (especially Aemond and Cole) from backing down on Aegon’s claim and that even before she believed that Viserys had changed his mind, her own father had put the coup in motion. Finally, Larys is right, in this scene, when he notes that even uncontested, Rhaenyra’s succession might have started a civil war anyway.  Alicent Hightower isn’t a character with a spine of steel, nor is she fully aware of her own ability to influence the world around. She’s not so much bought in on the good of the patriarchy as she cannot imagine who she might be without it. But she’s never been more vulnerable on the show, and finds herself repeatedly facing and reiterating the fundamental truth that there is no world where she could single-handedly stop the Greens.  Dreams in the Witch House Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO For the second episode in a row, we see Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) having creepy dreams where a younger version of his niece-wife, Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock), appears. He later follows a figure he believes to be Aemond only to discover it’s himself dressed as Aemond (we’ll talk a bit more about that in the Odds and Ends section, below). While many of these events might be the show playing up the first signs of that genetically inherited Targaryen madness, it feels far more likely that the show is leaning into the witchcraft and Old God magic that surrounds Harrenhal.  Key to this is Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) who cryptically implies that she’s taken over the Maester’s duties after the spirits of Harrenhal drove him mad. Of course, in the real world, there is a long history of both enshrining and disregarding femme-held medical traditions by calling it witchcraft and, in this regard, Westeros is not much different. Alys may simply be a knowledgeable midwife and herbalist, but Gyldayn notes that many who spent time at Harrenhal thought she was a witch. And, of course, the difference between our world and that of Westeros is that some forms of knowledge deemed “magical” in Westeros may really have supernatural power behind them.  Martin’s world is low-magic as far as fantasy settings go, but it is definitely not no-magic. And Harrenhal—even before the growing legends about being haunted by Black Harren’s ghost gained traction—has always been a witchy place. It sits on the North shore of the Gods Eye Lake and in the middle of the lake is an island known as the Isle of Faces—so named because of the massive grove of weirwood trees, all of which bear faces carved into them by the Children of the Forest. The Children are, of course, the diminutive, elf-like race of magically gifted shamans who inhabited Westeros before the First Men arrived. They practiced all sorts of nature magic, including divination, warging (like Bran in GoT), and, occasionally, cataclysmic spells like “the hammer of the waters,” which either flooded the Neck or smashed the Arm of Dorne into the Stepstones, depending on the evidence you look at. They could also, supposedly, astrally project using the weirwood trees as mounts, seeing through the eyes of the carved faces. The Isle of Faces is where the pact that ended the war between the First Men and the Children was made and where the order of Green Men was founded—Green Men being the term for humans who perform the same magical “greenseeing” as the Children. Maesters, Gyldayn included, sometimes surmise that, though the Green Men and the children were mostly destroyed when the Andals invaded Westeros thousands of years later, some Green Men and even some Children may still live, undisturbed on the Isle. So that’s the most succinct history of Harrenhal’s adjacency to Westerosi witchcraft. Alys Rivers may be a Green Man or some hedge witch schooled in the Children’s magic. Gyldayn describes her as being about forty but looking much younger—unnaturally so—and, of course, Game of Thrones’ Melisandre famously used magic to hide her own longevity and advanced age. Certainly, it seems likely that Alys’ potions and salves are, at least partially, the source of Daemon’s hallucinations. We’ll see what the show does with her, moving forward, and how much it wants to make Martin’s witchy subtext into text.  DragonWatch: The Dance Begins Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO We got a bit of what war with dragons looks like during the fighting in the Stepstones in season one and there was, of course, the brief and tragic skirmish between Aemond on Vhagar and Lucerys on Arrax in the finale. But this episode shows us what dragons fighting dragons really looks like and the show nailed it, both from a VFX perspective and in terms of dramatic stakes. There are also some neat, general dragon details in this episode. The fact that they burn from their wounds either when they die or are gravely injured is a neat touch. That fire must come from somewhere inside them. Also, in Martin’s text, dragons have black bones and black blood due to an unusually high iron content (it’s why dragonbone is such a strong material). The shot of Sunfyre’s blood falling onto some soldiers and scalding them is a fun little detail since Martin often notes that dragons run supernaturally hot.  But let’s talk about the dragons involved in the Battle of Rook’s Rest. Vhagar — The “hoary old bitch” has been featured plenty before, but we get to see her in battle during this episode. Named, like Balerion and Meraxes, for one of the gods of Old Valyria, she’s by far the oldest and largest of the dragons in this era of history. She was born on Dragonstone 52 years before Aegon’s conquest, which makes her 181 years old—the second oldest dragon in recorded history. She was originally ridden by Visenya, Aegon I’s more dour and bellicose sister-wife—the mother of Maegor the Cruel and the original wielded of Daemon’s sword, Dark Sister. She was ridden by Baelon Targaryen, Viserys and Daemon’s (and possibly Ulf’s) father before going feral for a period after his sudden death. Years later, she bonded with Laena Velaryon, Rhaenys and Corlys’ daughter (and Daemon’s second wife) until her death. The show rewrote Laena’s death to be a self-immolation with Vhagar as the tool. The show also showed us the moment when Aemond claimed her, perhaps denying Rhaena Velaryon a chance to try and bond down the line. In F&B, Vhagar is described as bronze with green highlights and green eyes. The show has opted to more or less reverse those colors, giving her green scales with bronze horns, talons, and wingtips. The show has made her overall design reflective of her age. She has a huge, iguana-like wattle, her horns are tiny stunted spikes around her crown—almost like hair that has gotten thin and wispy in her dotage. And she’s huge, twice the size of Caraxes and Meleys—the two largest dragons currently ridden on the Blacks’ side. Both the show and the books treat Vhagar as some sort of unstoppable kaiju—the terrifying grandmother of the brood who, prior to the Dance, was the only battle-tested dragon other than Caraxes. The show also seems to be going with the narrative that her years as a feral dragon have made her ornery and slightly unpredictable. She’s my absolute favorite. She should be your favorite too.  Sunfyre — King Aegon II’s dragon is the youngest of the three combatants. Their name obviously is a reference to their coloration with the “y” in “fyre” being a common spelling for “fire” in dragon names (Dreamfyre being Queen Helaena’s dragon). Martin never discloses when, precisely, Sunfyre is born, but mentions that they were quite young when Aegon bonded with them in 120 AC, nine in-world years before tonight’s episode. It is overwhelmingly likely that Aegon is Sunfyre’s only bonded rider. According to Archmaester Gyldayn, they’re remembered as the most beautiful dragon to have ever lived, with bright golden scales and pale pink wing membranes. The show gave us an unfinalized version of Sunfyre last year (they’re one of the dragons hanging out on Driftmark in S1, Ep. 7) and seems to have greatly upped the saturation in the redesign. They do, indeed, glitter in the sunlight now. The show has also given them one of the more expressively “cute” faces and the mutual smile that Aegon and Sunfyre give one another in the montage leading up to the battle is both deeply endearing and the happiest we have ever seen Aegon look. Of all the dragons we’ve seen, Sunfyre is the least threatening looking, the most dog-like. And that mien proves true; Sunfyre is not combat tested, and relatively weak. They are a reflection of Aegon himself and unable to stand up to their opponent (arguably their opponents, as Aemond, on Vhagar, has a notable lack of interest in sparing his brother or his brother’s dragon). We’ll see how the show handles the design of Sunfyre’s maiming at episode’s end (you’ll note the dragon, despite having a maimed wing and deep rents across their neck and chest, is still breathing by episode’s end). Meleys — This episode bids a final farewell to Meleys, the Red Queen. Martin never explain the meaning of her name but, given that the dragon was named after David J. Peterson had done a huge amount of work in creating High Valyrian, we can safely assume that it’s derivative of the Valyrian word, mele, which mostly means “red” but can also refer to a number of dark, warm tones. We don’t get a birthplace or precise birthdate for Meleys in F&B, but we know she was an adult and the fastest dragon alive in 75 AC, making her somewhere north of 52 years old. She’s had two recorded riders, Princess Rhaenys and her aunt Alyssa Targaryen (more on that in the Odds and Ends section). The book describes Meleys as having scarlet scales, pink wing membranes and copper-colored horns and claws. The show has kept the majority of those notes and also given her a larger and spikier number of horns than other dragons, probably to simulate a crown that might have inspired the “queen” part of her nickname. It’s unclear if Meleys was battle-tested prior to this conflict—other than her escape from the Dragonpit in S1, Ep. 9 (an invention of the show), we don’t get any specific battles she’s been involved in. That said, we know that Alyssa and Rhaenys are both martially inclined and perhaps took her through extensive training. We also know that she is one of the most frequently ridden dragons in Westerosi history. Both Alyssa and Rhaenys were avid riders—with Alyssa taking the infant Viserys and the infant Daemon for rides with her and Rhaenys riding Meleys to her own wedding—so Meleys is well traveled and among the most used to bearing a rider and taking commands. In the show, Rhaenys also, curiously, says “we’re off to battle again old girl.” It’s unclear what this refers to, though it’s possible that the show is claiming that Rhaenys fought (off-screen) in the Stepstones It’s also possible that this just refers to the time that Rhaenys and Meleys have spent patrolling the Gullet since the end of season 1. Alternatively, it might just be an acknowledgement that Rhaenys has been fighting for legitimacy her entire life and this is just one more battle, albeit a more literal one. Meleys and her rider are both killed this episode, felled by the older, larger Vhagar.  A Farewell to the Queen Who Never Was Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO During the excellent montage that precedes the Battle of Rook’s Rest, Rhaenyra looks at the skull of Meraxes in the Dragonstone library. You can see the shattered eye socket where the great beast was felled by a Dornish scorpion bolt. The death of Meraxes was the last time a Targaryen princess died in battle. That princess, Aegon the Conqueror’s beloved sister-wife, was also named Rhaenys. The shot is a great bit of grim foreshadowing for the death of this Princess Rhaenys at episode’s end.  HotD, even more than its source material, figures Princess Rhaenys as the voice of reason in the midst of the Targaryen civil war. She is the only person who both knows that Rhaenyra is setting herself up for a grotesque, uphill climb with regards to the realm accepting a woman as monarch and also among the few people who understand that Alicent has always sold herself short in acting as a tool of the lesser men around her. Book readers have been observing the way that the show has been doubling down on her sage counsel this season, the better to make her loss more catastrophic, specifically to the Blacks, but to proponents of peace and reason generally.  Eve Best played Rhaenys as steely, grim, and possessed of a quiet contempt that was obvious in all the scenes where the disappointing men of the show made fools of themselves. She also imbued her with a secret warmth, typically reserved for her husband, that spoke to a version of Rhaenys that did not have to be the Queen Who Never Was had fate played out differently. She has many great moments over the course of the last two seasons—her keen questioning of Rhaenyra and Alicent at various points in season one, her confrontation with the Greens at the coronation, her bristling with Daemon in episode one of this season—but among her best moments are her last.  Gyldayn tells us, of her final moments: “Princess Rhaenys made no attempt to flee. With a glad cry and a crack of her whip, she turned Meleys toward the foe” (Martin 434). Best plays it differently. There is no glad cry, just a heartbroken look of determination and sorrow as she turns back towards Rook’s Rest, knowing she can’t abandon Rhaenyra’s allies, even knowing it will likely mean her death. When she witnesses Meleys’ death, she purses her lips slightly and lets go of the reins, accepting that this is the end of the battle she has been fighting her entire life.  Odds and Ends Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO The introduction of Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes) settles that the show has simplified the Tully family in this era and combined a bunch of characters. That’s probably for the best seeing as Martin named all the Tullys of this era after his favorite Muppets. Oscar, in both the show and the book, is the grandson of Grover Tully. In F&B, however, Oscar’s father, Elmo, is still alive. Additionally, Oscar has a brother, Kermit, who also turns up in the Riverlands muster. I feel like Condal et al. did the best job they could of picking out the Tullys whose names would not be too obviously Muppet-y to viewers. Personally though, I think Martin missed out on a grand opportunity to throw in a Telly Tully.   When Alicent accepts the moon tea from Grand Maester Orwyle, she drops and shatters the carved stone dragon she gave Viserys as a girl. Shattered symbols of the past are everywhere this season, and no prop is taking more abuse than Viserys’ model of Old Valyria.  In Ser Steffon’s absence, Ser Lorent Marbrand sits on Rhaenyra’s council. Like the Broomes, the Marbrands are a Westerland family, sworn to the Lannisters and likely declaring for Aegon. But Kingsguard knights swear an oath to disregard family loyalty in favor of service to the crown. Speaking of the Kingsguard, Aegon’s three drinking buddies who were named to the Kingsguard last episode are identified on IMDB now. They are Ser Martyn Reyne (Barney Fishwick)—a Westerland knight and ancestor to the Reynes who Tywin Lannister will later put to death for sedition in the event that results in the song, “The Rains of Castamere” (“rain” being a pun on “Reyne”)—Ser Leon Estermont (Ralph Davis)—a knight from one of the islands in the Stormlands and potential antecedent of Cassana Estermont, the wife of Steffon Baratheon and mother to King Robert, Stannis, and Renly—and Ser Eddard Waters (Tok Stephens) who is a nobly-born bastard from the Crownlands. They join the other two knights on the Green Kingsguard, Rickard Thorne (Vincent Regan)—from a Crownlander House that will eventually produce Ser Alliser Thorne, Jon Snow’s prickly superior officer in the Knight’s Watch—and Ser Willis Fell (who hasn’t been cast and is played by an uncredited, helmeted extra), a knight from a minor house in the Stormlands. Duskendale’s Dun Fort is rendered in the background of a scene. It’s great that a storied locale, relatively unimportant to this particular tale, still gets consideration, design, and delightful execution (I may have set an ASoIaF Dungeons & Dragons game in Duskendale so I’m a little biased). If TV shows are going to be ungodly expensive, let’s have that money show up in this level of detail.  Cole executing Lord Gunthor Darklyn (Steven Pacey) follows in the grand tradition of GoT scenes where a nervous man in power has to execute an honorable or, at least, complicated prisoner who curses his name. Theon Greyjoy did it to Ser Rodrik Cassel in season 2 of the original series. Robb Stark did it to Rickard Karstark in season 3. Both of those are implicit mirrors of Ned Stark’s execution of Will, the Night’s Watch deserter in one of the earliest scenes of Game of Thrones’ premiere. Ned tells Bran that “the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword.” It’s a pithy truism on the necessary weight of stewardship. Ironically, Ned killing Will is one of the moments where the Westerosi turn a blind eye to the problem of the White Walkers.  Lord Darklyn names Ser Criston “kingmaker.” Jasper Wylde (Paul Kennedy) later repeats it as a good thing. In the books, the epithet is a mark of shame. Martin vaguely implies that it has to do with the fact that Ser Criston literally crowns Aegon II at his coronation, but it becomes associated with the idea that Ser Criston is the organizing power behind the Greens. Though we know better, it would look from the outside that a man who first crowned a contested king and, within a week, ousted that king’s own grandfather as Hand, before leading an army to conquer the Crownlands, is a power-hungry social climber reaching beyond his station. Either way, you can bet that some of the vitriol is leveled as his being Dornish.  Daemon sees himself dressed as Aemond in one of his Harrenhal dreams this week. The uncle-and-nephew/brothers-in-law (damn Targaryens!) are often treated as doubles of one another in the book. They are the two most personally dangerous and martially inclined members of each faction’s household; they currently both ride the largest dragon on each team (though Caraxes is about half the size of Vhagar). They are also both deeply troubled narcissists who feel unfairly overshadowed by their king-of-the-Seven-Kingdoms older brothers. They are also both coded as part of the “bad” Targaryen line—the part more disposed towards madness than greatness. This line is associated with Visenya Targaryen: Aemond rides Vhagar, her dragon, and Daemon wields her Valyrian steel sword, Dark Sister. Both the book and the show now have them hunting one another, sensing a rival they must destroy. The pairing even is even reflected in their names: they both have the standard Targaryen name “Aemon” with a “d” placed either at the beginning or end. In the book, Alyn and Addam’s mother is Marilda of Hull. She’s a badass wharf urchin who rises to become the owner of a small fleet of merchant vessels. She doesn’t have anything to do in Fire & Blood that is necessary to the main plot and most of her story happens about twenty years before the events of season 2, so I can understand why she has (likely) been cut from the show—but she’s cool and worth mentioning. She’s diminutive and was nicknamed “Mouse,” a name she eventually gave to her capital ship!  Aegon speaking High Valyrian badly is a spot of much needed humor on the show. Also, it helps to signal the worthiness of Aemond. True Targaryens, in the context of the show, seem to know their ancestral tongue. Is Alys Rivers making weirwood paste? She certainly could be, given the coloration. Weirwood paste is the mind-altering and magic-strengthening substance that Bran is fed by the Three-Eyed Raven and his Children of the Forest attendants beyond the Wall. It’s made from crushed weirwood seeds and, possibly, the blood of a human/Children sacrifice. In the ASoIaF books, a popular fan theory has it that Jojen Reed (played by Thomas Brodie Sangster in the show) was killed by the Three-Eyed Raven and had his blood used to help Bran ascend.  Ser Willem Blackwood (Jack Parry-Jones) represents a rare moment when the show has split, rather than combined characters. As Daemon comes out of his addled trip after sipping Alys Rivers’ concoction, we can hear Ser Willem say that “[he] rules his house as regent until [his] nephew Benjicot comes of age.” This is, of course, in reference to the (offscreen) death of Lord Samwell Blackwood during the Battle of the Burning Mill last episode. In the books, Benjicot Blackwood is eleven at this time and has no uncle Willem (He has a natural-born uncle, Rob Rivers, and an aunt, Alysanne Blackwood, who may still become important on the show). Benjicot becomes known as “Bloody Ben” for leading the Blackwood men to various victories during the Dance. He’s a minor character, but he stands out in Fire & Blood because he’s a bloodthirsty, deadly eleven-year-old boy and that’s precisely the sort of perverse mythmaking that Martin loves. So Willem seems to be a stand-in for Benjicot. After all, we saw him last in S1, Ep. 4, as a suitor to Rhaenyra (and then played by Alfie Todd), where he, aged about eleven, brutally murders the much more age-appropriate rival suitor Jerrel Bracken (Gabriel Scott), abruptly ending Rhaenyra’s reception of suitors at Storm’s End. Many fans assumed this was an aged-up Benjicot at the time, given the similar image of a murderous little boy. But we know the show’s full plan now. They took all of Bloody Ben’s child-fury and gave it to an invented uncle Willem, who will now lead Blackwood’s armies. It’s probably all been in the service of not representing a literal child leading an army into battle—an image that would probably either play as too silly or too uncomfortable on the show. For fans of Bella Ramsey’s Lyanna Mormont, remember that the original show was careful to make that child general more of strategist, leading from behind and was very clear that she was (tragically) hopelessly outmatched when it came to combat. Bloody Ben, by contrast, is known for acts of slaughter rather than keen insight and valor. Another nice bit of minor character-building to remind us that Anthony Flanagan’s Ser Steffon Darklyn is the son of the beheaded Lord Gunthor. In the book, Gunthor Darklyn is Ser Steffon’s nephew (the new Lord of Duskendale) and his beheaded Lord father is not given a first name. Given that the book’s Gunthor Darklyn doesn’t do anything meaningful, the show just gave the one with lines the name and has left the original Gunthor uncast and unmentioned. Rhaenyra is taking her legacy seriously this episode. Emboldened by Alicent’s confirmation that Viserys’ actual dying thoughts were about the prophecy, she finally shares the Song of Ice and Fire with Jacaerys.  Rhaenys wears an absolutely gorgeous iron kokoshnik (wait, is a kokoshnik made of metal just a diadem?) into battle. The choice to use the undeniably sexiest piece of headgear as a decorative helmet is great. Obviously, the costume design on the show has always been top-notch, but we should all be wearing filigreed iron kokoshniks this year. Meleys, Rhaenys’ deceased dragon, was originally ridden by Alyssa Targryan, Viserys and Daemon’s mother. Caraxes, Daemon’s dragon, was originally ridden by Rhaenys’ father, Aemon. The show did a great job, throughout this season, of pairing Daemon and Rhaenys, both as Targaryens who bonded with the dragons of one another’s parents, and as Targaryen heirs who were passed over for the throne. I didn’t really catch on until this episode, but I’m deeply enthused by that parallelism which the show never mentions outright, but clearly is aware of. Now that Rhaenys is gone, the show can focus, full time, on doubling Daemon and Aemond. In Conclusion I thought the Battle of Rook’s Rest would be much later in the season but, it seems, the show is hell-bent on shaking things up at the midway point. This was really the first time HotD made good on its promise to be a show that focused on the dragons to a degree that Game of Thrones was never able to. And it did not disappoint. Traditionally, GoT has had to be a bit sparing (until the final couple seasons at least) with how they staged their battles, especially the ones that involved dragons, but now we’re finally experiencing these epic showdowns in their full glory (and horror). It’s great. Absolutely great.  But what did you think? Let me know your thoughts on the dragons, the battles, the fashion choices, and anything else of note in the comments below…[end-mark] The post Daemon’s Visions, a Full-Scale Dragon Battle, and a Major Character Death in <i>House of the Dragon</i> Season 2, Episode 4 appeared first on Reactor.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The company behind Truth Social, President Donald Trump’s well-known social media platform, the Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (TMTG), has plans to further develop its media reach. A fresh licensing agreement will now see the free speech firm acquire technological assets designed to boost its foray into streaming. TMTG’s vision to transform its content distribution network includes a strategic roll-out starting with Truth Social before expanding into standalone apps. This development is part of TMTG’s wider plan to broaden its range of services and grow its user base. To facilitate this expansion, TMTG also sealed a long-duration equity funding agreement. According to the specifics of the arrangement, TMTG is now geared to amplify its TV streaming services. Following the successful completion of closing prerequisites, the Perception Group and its associates are anticipated to yield global non-exclusive, non-terminating licensing rights for new Content Delivery Network (CDN) technology. This technology will be leveraged by TMTG to power its content distribution platform. In return, Perception will endure limitations on operating in US markets, specifically around areas of potential competition with TMTG for the next five years. This deal contains provisions that might enable TMTG to outright acquire Perception in the future. “We are committed to creating value for our stockholders by following our stated growth strategy of pursuing strategic opportunities, expanding Truth Social’s user base, and increasing product offerings and services,” said TMTG CEO Devin Nunes. “We are rapidly pushing forward with our plans to launch a high-quality streaming service that we believe cannot be canceled by Big Tech. We believe this agreement will enable us to build a superior tech stack to support a cutting-edge streaming service. It’s a major step in fulfilling our mission to strengthen free expression and end Big Tech’s stranglehold on digital communication.” TMTG is preparing to launch a premium streaming service that stands resilient against being silenced by larger technology corporations. With the focus on hosting an array of content from news shows, religious channels, and family-friendly content, to programs under threats of cancelation or already-canceled shows, this service aims to diversify the digital media landscape. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Trump Media’s Move into Streaming World: Free Speech Meets Tech Expansion appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Letter from Biden (?): I'm Staying in the Race, and That's That

Revealed: Biden's Staff Spends Most of Their Time Training Him to Walk

Creatures of the deep dark ocean come in all shapes and sizes, but until now only one species of vampire squid has been known to be cruising along down there. However, Vampyroteuthis infernalis – which was discovered in 1903 – has now been joined by a second member of the genus, called Vampyroteuthis pseudoinfernalis, collected from the South China Sea. While V. pseudoinfernalis may not look like much, the new species has several differences to the OG of the vampire squid world. Notably, V. infernalis does not have a tail while the new species does, and the photophores, light-producing organs found on the side of the body, are on a different location of the body of the new species of squid.            Despite their name, vampire squid are scavengers, and float through the ocean eating debris and marine snow. They are not squids at all but sit in their own family called Vampyroteuthidae, explains the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In 1903, when V. infernalis was first discovered, the specimen was originally thought to be a species of octopus, but was later reclassified. The new species was collected near Hainan Island in the northwestern South China Sea in September 2016 from a depth of 800-1,000 meters (2,624 -3,280 feet). The specimen was photographed and measured, and DNA was extracted to compare to other known squid species. Previous other specimens have been found that were originally believed to be different species, but turned out to be juveniles of V. infernalis. Fortunately, the DNA results and morphological comparisons confirmed that this was a brand new species of vampire squid. The authors describe the specimen in the paper as “extensively gelatinous”. Further differences between the two species include V. pseudoinfernalis having a broad, elongated wing of the lower beak. Despite their differences in appearance, the molecular evidence also strongly suggests that the two species share a common ancestor. The study is published in Zoological Systematics.

Sexting has previously been linked to an increase in mental health problems for teenagers, but a new study challenges this idea. It argues that efforts to reduce sexting among adolescents may not help prevent mental health issues after all.Anyone who has gone through their teenage years will likely remember how formative and complex they were. Adolescence is a time when the body develops from being that of a child to that of an adult, and with it comes a range of physiological and psychological changes. At the same time, the influence our social relationships have – especially with our peers - tends to increase, which also leads to the initiation of romantic and sexual curiosity.The rise of the digital age has brought with it additional changes and pressures that impact adolescents. Smartphones and digital media are now important forums for socialization as well as for sexual exploration. “Sexting” is one such outcome, which is an umbrella term covering all forms of sending, receiving, and forwarding explicit sexual messages and images online. As time has gone on, the prevalence of sexting among adolescents has increased, though its levels have stabilized in recent years.Sexting isn’t unproblematic, despite it being an established part of the contemporary social world. Sexual images may be shared without consent, their production coerced, and they may compound existing sexual double standards. At the same time, there are concerns that sexting may be linked to growing mental health problems among teenagers. However, previous research has tended to focus on cross-sectional studies that only reveal a snapshot of the situation at a specific time. They don’t account for the possibility of pre-existing differences between those who sext and those who do not.This is where a new study comes in. Researchers from Norway analyzed longitudinal panel data to find out whether high scores on sexting are indeed associated with depression symptoms and conduct problems, and whether poor mental health is associated with changes in sexting over time.The data was drawn from MyLife, a longitudinal research project that examines the health and development of adolescents in Norway. The researchers examined a sample of 3,000 teenagers aged between 15 and 19 who took part in at least one of three assessments in the period from 2019 to 2021. Using standardized questionnaires, the researchers measured sexting, depression symptoms, and conduct across each time point.Sexting was measured through three questionnaire items based on the Pennsylvania Youth Risk Behavior Study. Participants were asked about sharing or sending sexual photographs or videos, with responses that ranged from “never” to “every day or almost every day”. Depression symptoms were measured with a nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire that was modified for adolescents and included items covering low mood, sleep problems, and low energy. Conduct problems were measured by questions concerning stealing, bullying, and destroying things.The analysis found that the proportion of teenage sexting varied over time, with 30.5 percent of girls reporting engaging in it at the first time point, then 36.7 percent at the second, and 33.7 percent at the third point. On the other hand, 33.1 percent of boys reported engaging in sexting at the first time point, then 29.9 percent at the second, and 21.6 percent at the third. At the same time, depression symptoms appeared higher among girls, while conduct problems were higher among boys.The results were then subjected to a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM).“This approach separates differences between individuals (between-person effects) from the effects of fluctuations around the individual’s average level (within-person effects)”, the researchers explain in their paper.This effectively means the team could explore whether changes in one variable predict changes in others over time in the same person. The results showed no significant within-person effects on depression symptoms, either in boys or girls.“High sexting scores relative to a person’s average at one time point thus appears to have no association with depression symptoms being higher than the person’s average at the next time point”, the team write.Interestingly, conduct problems among girls measured at one point were associated with increased sexting at a later point, which suggests that conduct problems may lead to more engagement with sexting, rather than it being the other way around. For boys, “there were no significant associations between conduct problems and sexting.”“The analyses provide unique knowledge that can help disentangle the complex interplay between sexting and mental health during adolescence. We found no evidence to support sexting as a cause of deteriorating mental health over time,” the team concluded.However, the study has its limitations. Firstly, the questionnaires failed to distinguish between consensual and non-consensual sexting, which could have a range of impacts on mental health that differ from consensual sexting. Another limitation concerned the fact that parental consent was needed before teenagers could participate. This may have introduced bias into the responses due to the sensitive nature of the survey.Nevertheless, the results are interesting.“Extending previous cross-sectional research on sexting among adolescents, this longitudinal study suggests that such sexual practices are not predictive of the development of depression symptoms or conduct problems”, the team explained. “Although our data show poorer mental health among adolescents who more frequently participate in sexting, the results do not indicate that sexting increases depression symptoms and conduct problems over time.”“An important implication of our findings is that interventions to reduce sexting among adolescents are unlikely to help prevent mental health problems.”Rather than focusing on interventions that aim to prevent sexting, they argue, further work should try to educate adolescents on the importance of sexual consent and protecting another’s privacy when engaging in this activity.The paper is published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

You do not want to end up on the business end of a skunk. These black and white animals look incredibly cute on the surface, but with a flick of the tail, they can unleash an almighty stench that lingers for days if you don't know how to get it off.As a defense mechanism, it’s incredibly effective – but as a human who had no intention of eating the damn thing anyway, getting sprayed by a skunk can be a bit of a nightmare. If you’re currently staring teary-eyed at your screen wondering “how do you get rid of skunk smell?”, fear not. The American Chemical Society has come through with the answers.How to get rid of skunk smellThere’s a common misconception that dousing yourself in tomato juice can tackle skunk spray, but the truth is that all this does is cover the smell. The real key to getting rid of skunk smell centers around oxidation, as that way you can transform the stinky compounds it contains into odorless sulfonic acids.   How to get rid of skunk smell:Skunk spray on human skin is best tackled in the shower with some soap and vigorous scrubbing. We know it smells bad, just hang in there.For dogs or fabrics you aren't precious about changing color, you can create an oxidizing mixture made up of hydrogen peroxide (as the oxidizing agent), baking soda, and some baby shampoo. Watch the video to find out the best ratio.Apply that mixture to the affected area and let it sit for five minutes.You can repeat this step if needed, but the ACS warns it can lighten your dog’s fur so avoid unnecessary rounds.What are skunks spraying?Skunk spray contains a pungent mix of sulfur-based compounds known as thiols. They’re highly volatile, so you can smell them in the air almost instantly, but the smell then lingers thanks to thioacetates that continue releasing that awful rotten egg smell for days. That is, unless you can get the spray off.All those smelly compounds are packed into an oily yellow liquid that the skunk stores in glands positioned around its anus. When it lands, it acts as a lachrymator, making your eyes water in a way similar to tear gas. Nature really did a number on us when it made something so cute smell so bad.  How to avoid getting sprayed by a skunkThe smell of skunk spray is so intense that some people throw up from it. Add to that the burning in your eyes and it’s an experience you’re better off avoiding altogether. The best way to do that? Keep out of the way of any skunks.Look out for the warning signs – Cooking up that stinky cocktail takes work – and once they use it, they’ve got to make more. As such, skunks will avoid spraying threats if they can. First, they’ll raise their tails (sometimes do a handstand), stamp their, feet, hiss, and point their butt in your direction. If you ignore all of those warning signs, you’ve really got it coming to you.Avoid going into skunk territory at night – Skunks are nocturnal, so you’re most likely to run into one when it’s dark. Unfortunately, that also means they may be harder to see. If you don’t spot the skunk until it’s too late, the bad news is they can hit you from a range of 3 meters (9.8 feet). The smell of their spray is so strong that we can detect it in 1 part per 10 billion, which the ACS says is like one pinch of salt on 100 tons of potato chips.Keep an ear out for skunks – Skunks make lots of noises, from defensive hissing, screeching, and grumbling to more adorable stomps and squeaks. Their camouflaged bodies make them harder to spot when they’re active at night, but if you can hear a skunk coming, you just might make it out of their way before disaster strikes.As for teaching this advice to your dog? Well, good luck with that.

NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck both began and ended the week on the Fox News Channel’s Fox News @ Night with Friday’s installment featuring a lead-off panel discussion of President Biden’s ABC interview with Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos with the presidency in peril thanks to Biden’s cognitive decline. Houck told fill-in host Mike Emanuel the answer to Stephanopoulos’s final question about whether he’d feel for democracy if Trump wins was “the answer that really concerns” liberal journalists and leftist allies “even more so than maybe some of the cognitive” answers “about him forgetting whether he watched the debate or not, or where he pauses mid-thought and he moves on.”     Houck also addressed Stephanopoulos questioning with some coming off as tough on paper, but his tone was softer: You know, George Stephanopoulos teed this up for him. George Stephanopoulos – a lot of these questions, he did ask some of the questions that needed to be asked, but I think some of them came from a place of concern, like he was a concerned son or grandson of Joe Biden, urging him to get out of the race and that was the last question of the interview notably. So, that was how the interview ended on a really bad note, not just from a cognitive standpoint, but from a policy standpoint, because this is the thesis of the Biden campaign. Physician Dr. Houman Hemmati was also on-set and opined on Biden’s refusals to submit to independent neurological testing (click “expand”): EMANUEL: [H]ow do you react to that comment? HEMMATI: Yeah, that's interesting. You know, look, as a doctor, I've learned how to do mental status exams. There is a full steam mini-mental status examination. It takes, like, 10 minutes to do max. You ask simple questions, remember three different words, count down from 100 by seven, subtracting 7, 7, 7, handful of other easy things. Read, a thing – a piece of paper that says, close your eyes and actually perform the task, et cetera. Why doesn't he do that? I can do it right now for him on television if he wanted to. But he doesn't, because I think they know what the answer may be. This is time for the person who is the leader of the free world to actually submit openly and transparently to something that is pretty obvious he is in need of. Later, Hemmati and Houck also discussed the shocking piece published last week in New York magazine by Olivia Nuzzi entitled, “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden”.  Hemmati went first and said this “was obvious to people who have been looking at the President for quite some time” and argued “[e]ven several weeks ago, I tweeted that the President is exhibiting signs of Parkinson Disease, perhaps, or Lewy Body dementia”. Houck noted Nuzzi spoke “to Fox Digital about why she made this decision to write the story now, when she had this information in January” and he “encourage[d] people to take a look at that, because it would – no matter what you think about it, it's really disturbing stuff and these are the real anecdotes that really, I think, move the needle, because New York magazine is a really liberal magazine that a lot of power players read.” In between, Emanuel asked the two about MSNBC host Joy Reid’s deranged Fourth of July TikTok video saying she’d vote for Biden even if he was in a coma. Houck lampooned Reid for spending her day off worrying about Trump: Joy Reid? On her TikTok? On the Fourth of July? Mike, I mean, this is what some of these people do with their free time. Where they are sitting around, thinking about Donald Trump. It reminds me a few years ago, Ana Navarro from CNN and The View was skiing, and Utah or Colorado, and something, and she was trying to – saying, I'm trying to have a good time, but I'm too busy thinking about Donald Trump and these Hitler references and talking about voting in a coma. She is fulfilling all these type – stereotypes people have about her and the left. Houck returned at the end of the hour for The Nightcap segment with the debate being whether Biden can turn his campaign around. Our managing editor agreed with Republican strategist Matt Gorman’s take that it’s too late.     “It’s going to be hard to turn this boat around. These things should have happened last weekend after the debate. You know, the post-debate – or post interview discussion on ABC, the look of the four panelists, my colleague Jorge Bonilla tweeted that out, they looked like they were out of wake. That said it all,” he argued. To see the relevant transcript from July 5, click “expand.” FNC’s Fox News @ Night July 5, 2024 11:04 p.m. Eastern [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ABC’s Stephanopoulos Scores Big Biden Interview] MIKE EMANUEL: Let's take a deeper dive into all this drama with NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck, and board-certified medical doctor, Houman Hemmati. Gentlemen, welcome. CURTIS HOUCK: Thanks. Mike. EMANUEL: George Stephanopoulos asked President Biden if he would be willing to get an independent medical evaluation. Let's play it. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Biden: “I Have a Cognitive Test Every Single Day”] GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Would you be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognitive tests and release the results to the American people? PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day, I have that test. Everything I do. EMANUEL: Let's start with our doctor, how do you react to that comment? DR. HOUMAN HEMMATI: Yeah, that's interesting. You know, look, as a doctor, I've learned how to do mental status exams. There is a full steam mini-mental status examination. It takes, like, 10 minutes to do max. You ask simple questions, remember three different words, count down from 100 by seven, subtracting 7, 7, 7, handful of other easy things. Read, a thing – a piece of paper that says, close your eyes and actually perform the task, et cetera. Why doesn't he do that? I can do it right now for him on television if he wanted to. But he doesn't, because I think they know what the answer may be. This is time for the person who is the leader of the free world to actually submit openly and transparently to something that is pretty obvious he is in need of. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Biden Asked About His Reaction If Trump Wins Race] EMANUEL: Stephanopoulos also asked the President, what if he loses in November? STEPHANOPOULOS: And if you stay in and Trump is elected, and everything you're warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January? BIDEN: I will feel as long as I gave it my all, and I did the goodest job. EMANUEL: Give my all. Does that show he's out of touch, Curtis? HOUCK: Yeah, Mike. I mean, if you're a liberal partisan, a liberal journalist, this is the question, the answer that really concerns you, even more so than maybe some of the cognitive ones about him forgetting whether he watched the debate or not, or where he pauses mid-thought and he moves on. You know, George Stephanopoulos teed this up for him. George Stephanopoulos – a lot of these questions, he did ask some of the questions that needed to be asked, but I think some of them came from a place of concern, like he was a concerned son or grandson of Joe Biden, urging him to get out of the race and that was the last question of the interview notably. So, that was how the interview ended on a really bad note, not just from a cognitive standpoint, but from a policy standpoint, because this is the thesis of the Biden campaign. EMANUEL: Then, there is MSNBC's Joy Reid calling for keeping Hitler out of the White House. [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Joy Reid Says She Would Vote for “Biden in a Coma”] JOY REID: If it's Biden in the coma, I'm going to vote for Biden in the coma. I don't even really particularly like the guy. A lot of his policies, I don't like him. He is not Donald Trump, right? Yeah. Hitler, White House, we keeping them out, keeping Project 2025 out. That's all I care about. Up and down the ballot from the rooter to the tooter. School board, all the way up to White House and everything in between. Governors, members of Congress, I'm just going to vote all the way down to keep these people out. EMANUEL: Dr Hemmati, how do you assess that one? [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Rpt: “Conspiracy of Silence” to Protect Joe Biden] HEMMATI: You know, this is a ridiculous set of comments, and I expect it during election season, right? We're at a pretty crazy time right now where there's a lot of hysteria and a lot of panic, and when that happens, you're going to see very big public figures using their platform to spread more hysteria and so, to me, it's expected, I don't think it's going to move the needle for one candidate or the other. EMANUEL: Pro-tip, Hitler references don't typically go well. What's your take, Curtis? HOUCK: This is the thing. Joy Reid? On her TikTok? On the Fourth of July? Mike, I mean, this is what some of these people do with their free time. Where they are sitting around, thinking about Donald Trump. It reminds me a few years ago, Ana Navarro from CNN and The View was skiing, and Utah or Colorado, and something, and she was trying to – saying, I'm trying to have a good time, but I'm too busy thinking about Donald Trump and these Hitler references and talking about voting in a coma. She is fulfilling all these type – stereotypes people have about her and the left. EMANUEL: New York magazine, “The Conspiracy of Silence to Protect Joe Biden”. We’re nearly out of time, but this was striking to me. She said she'd been noticing differences going back to January. Doc, why didn't you report on it six months ago? HEMMATI: I think it was obvious to people who have been looking at the President for quite some time. Even several weeks ago, I tweeted that the President is exhibiting signs of Parkinson Disease, perhaps, or Lewy Body dementia, and I got attacked for making a partisan statement. I said, this is not a partisan statement. This is a medical statement that just looks at how he is behaving and acting mentally as well as physically, with his rigidity, the way his face looks, how it looks so different than before and now, everyone is finally jumping on this, because they are realizing you can't hide from absolute fact. EMANUEL: Quick, final word, Curtis. HOUCK: Yeah. I mean, this is – it's interesting, Olivia Nuzzi, came out – this – she spoke to Fox Digital about why she made this decision to write the story now, when she had this information in January, encourage people to take a look at that, because it would – no matter what you think about it, it's really disturbing stuff. And these are the real anecdotes that really, I think, move the needle, because New York magazine is a really liberal magazine that a lot of power players read. EMANUEL: Right. Curtis, Houman, thank you so much. HOUCK: Thanks, Mike. HEMMATI: Thank you. (….) 11:53 p.m. Eastern [ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Get Up and Joe; Has Biden in the Spotlight This Week Helped or Hurt?] EMANUEL: We know that Hakeem Jeffries is having a meeting with top House Democrats on Sunday. There's also been reporting about Senator Mark Warner trying to gather Senate Democrats together to ask the President to step aside. Curtis, what about you? HOUCK: Yes, I mean, I'm with Matt. It's going to be hard to turn this boat around. These things should have happened last weekend after the debate. You know, the post-debate – or post interview discussion on ABC, the look of the four panelists, my colleague Jorge Bonilla tweeted that out, they looked like they were out of wake. That said it all. EMANUEL: [LAUGHS] Alright!

The San Francisco Pride Parade was one for the books — and not in a good way. Turning Point USA’s Savanah Hernandez covered the parade, and what she discovered was “the number-one most disturbing” scene she claims ever to have witnessed. Much of the debauchery took place in the “Fetish Zone,” a sectioned-off area where Hernandez recalls seeing a man lying in an inflatable pool of urine — as well as multiple people urinating on each other. “These men were there to position themselves so as many people as possible could see them — children included — some fully erect,” Hernandez tells Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered.” Those children were in attendance with their parents, who Gonzales is shocked would allow them to attend such an event. “Do they seem to be horrified at the fact that there are fully erect men where their children are?” She asks. “Are they enjoying it? Like what are the parents doing when they run into this?” Hernandez interviewed some of those parents, and their responses were disturbing, to say the least. “Some of the parents were saying ‘Well, we brought our kids here because my daughter is trans,’” she says. “I spoke to a father who said that it was really his son decided to be a trans girl and he wanted to bring him to this event because he wanted to show his son that there were other people like him.” “It was shocking and horrifying again to watch the innocence leave the eyes of these kids, who are being accosted by fully naked men and these adults performing sex acts on each other,” she adds, noting that there were plenty of sex acts being performed in the “Fetish Zone.” While San Francisco banned public nudity in 2012, those behind the parade were able to get a permit to allow public nudity at the event. “This took place only with permission from the San Francisco local government,” Hernandez explains. “I want to go up to every parent and be like ‘What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you bringing your child here? These are obvious pedophiles that are positioning themselves so that your child has to see their fully naked body, and you’re okay with that,'” she adds. Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.