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“This Administration will not hesitate to take his citizenship back.”

'I definitely don't look like an angel'

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Movies & TV A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Prophecy and Revelations in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: “The Squire” As always, the Targaryens are basically Westeros’ messiest telenovela. By Tyler Dean | Published on February 2, 2026 Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO The midway point of the season has arrived, and it comes with major revelations and a set-up for what the rest of the season will look like. Also, as a heads up, there is a clearly marked section in today’s explainer that gets into some very, very big spoilers that go beyond the scope of this week’s episode. (It’s only that specific section, though, so please take that in mind when you read ahead.) Let’s get into it.  The Title Tonight’s title, “The Squire,” feels pretty self-explanatory insofar as it centers on the ultimate reveal of Egg’s identity. It’s a bit of a misdirect as well, seeing as Egg is, of course, not a squire at all.  Cracking the Egg This show’s big spoiler was always going to be Egg’s true identity. There are plenty of other major plot points and bits of intrigue that will unfold this season, but the main thing that a book reader might be able to ruin for someone who’s going into the show cold is now out of the bag, and we can speak about Egg plainly. It is interesting, however, that the show did not take great pains to hide this fact. Some of my non-book reading friends guessed his identity after the first episode based on the fact that he shaved his head. After all, on House of the Dragon, Alyn of Hull (Abubakar Salim) shaves his head to hide his telltale Valyrian hair. Ironically, that is a plot point that was invented for HotD that was likely taken from Egg in the original Hedge Knight novella.  But the Egg as Prince Aegon reveal is great: The show underscores it with some truly bonkers choral music to try and lend it a telenovela-level of seriousness and, as in the book, it comes in the moment when Dunk’s life must be saved and the fantasy of playing a squire needs to end. This little twist has always felt the most like a fairytale of Martin’s plot lines—the Prince in disguise revealing himself to save the life of the chivalrous peasant. I’ll talk a little bit more about it in my more spoiler-y section, but for those of you who wish to remain unaware, all the tropes here speak to this Golden Age of Westeros—a time when the sorts of things that happen in fairy tales (or less grim fantasy novels) are possible.  I also love that the show has preserved the distinction between “my lord” versus the commoner’s version, “m’lord,” which was introduced all the way back in season 2 of Game of Thrones when Tywin Lannister immediately recognizes Arya as a noble for getting it wrong. Egg consistently says “my lord.” Greatness and Madness Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO This episode also reveals Prince Aerion Brightflame (Finn Bennett) as one of the Targaryens who has teetered over the edge into incest-born madness. Martin uses all sorts of ways to describe and discuss this aspect of the family, but the original show coined the most succinct description: “every time a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin.” Aerion is, according to Raymun Fossoway (Shaun Thomas) “vain and cruel,” but the show also hints more thoroughly at his madness when he breaks Tanselle’s fingers for the crime of portraying a knight who slays a puppet dragon. In the books, they take this a step farther, with Aerion believing (as some Targaryens do throughout history) that he is actually a dragon in human form.  It’s also worth noting how tenuous the peace is here. In the book (told in close third person through Dunk’s eyes) we never really clock the reaction of the smallfolk to Aerion intentionally killing Ser Humphrey Hardyng’s horse, but the show makes it clear that this makes him deeply unpopular with the crowd. Baelor is doing his best PR spin by letting Aerion dangle right up until the point when the Kingsguard needs to intervene. While the Blackfyres are dead or imprisoned or exiled, lots of Westerosi houses had fought for them, wanting to see them ascend and replace the main branch of the family. Raymun Fossoway also illustrates these looming tensions when he excoriates the Targaryens as “incestuous aliens” who destroyed Westerosi culture.  Down the Royal Line Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO (Spoilers!) This section is going to be an interesting one, seeing as it might spoil things from future seasons of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms or even for House of the Dragon or other shows in the Westeros TV universe. If you don’t want to be spoiled for major events—seriously—skip ahead to the Odds and Ends section below. So: Egg grows up to be Aegon V (Aegon the Unlikely), King of Westeros and the great-grandfather of Daenerys Targaryen (though Game of Thrones implies that there is a missing generation and Egg is Dany’s grandfather). Dunk does indeed achieve lasting fame as Ser Duncan the Tall, who becomes something of a legendary figure as the head of Egg’s Kingsguard and one of his closest confidantes.  The reason I feel compelled to write about this here is twofold. First of all, the story of Aegon V and Ser Duncan as older men ruling over the very last era of Targaryen peace and prosperity before the end of the dynasty is deeply important in Song of Ice and Firelore. Aegon’s attempts to hatch dragon eggs at the Targaryen winter palace, Summerhall, led to a conflagration that killed him, Ser Duncan, and many other Targaryens, placing his younger son Jaehaerys II on the throne and paving the way for Aerys II (the Mad King) and eventually Daenerys herself. We know something magical happened that night. It was, incidentally, the same night that Rhaegar, Dany’s potentially prophesied brother (and Jon Snow’s father), was conceived and it may have played a key role in why Dany’s dragon eggs were able to hatch in the first place.  This is a story that the TV version in GoT largely eschewed but that HotD, with its focus on prophecy and “the Prince That Was Promised,” remains deeply interested in. Martin hasn’t fully revealed what happened at Summerhall in the books, and when and if he finishes The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring it will likely play an important role in understanding ASoIaF as a whole. But weirdly, in the TV universe, there isn’t really a place to tell this story. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms follows the Dunk and Egg novellas which, as of this time, finish decades before the tragedy of Summerhall and at least a decade before Egg becomes King. I doubt this show will depict those events. Maybe a future series, not yet announced, will delve into that era of Westerosi history, but it seems unlikely. As a result, I’m not sure how these revelations will ever come to light in the HBO version. Showrunner Ira Parker has said he’d like to cover the entirety of Aegon’s life, but that was in a statement that said it would take 15 seasons (30 years at the current rate) so let’s call that a slightly facetious plan.  The second reason Egg’s ultimate fate is worth discussing is because this episode does literally foretell it. The fortune teller they encounter tells Egg that he “shall be king” and “die in hot fire, and worms shall feed upon your ashes. And all who know you shall rejoice in your dying.” It’s hard to tell if this is meant as an Easter egg for book readers or if it’s something they plan to follow up on. If it’s the latter, it would have to come to extreme flash forwards or prophetic visions that don’t seem like they are part of this show’s general ethos. Though, it’s worth noting that the show did include Daeron’s dragon dream in the first episode, when he tells Dunk that he saw a dragon fall upon him.  We are left in a strange situation where I don’t know if any of the later history of Aegon V and Ser Duncan the Tall will matter for this show (or another) but, because the original GoT did not fold those particular bits of the lore into its mysteries (and remember that, especially in the last few seasons, showrunners Benioff and Weiss dropped tons of plot points in their desire to end it quickly) it seem likely that the end of the story won’t be told in a meaningful way. It’s also interesting insofar as The Hedge Knight was written in 1998, concurrent with the second main series novel, A Clash of Kings, and predates a lot of the series’ more mystical backstory. In later Dunk and Egg novellas, it becomes much more important that we are watching not only the story of how Egg becomes one of the best kings Westeros has ever seen, but also one of the most consequential to the entire mythos of the series.  Okay. Rant over. Resuming spoiler-free discussion now!  Odds and Ends Credit: Steffan Hill/HBO I really love the show’s weirdo comedy bits. Opening on that long take of Egg only to have him whicker like a horse before smash cutting to the title was fantastic.  Ser Robyn Rhysling (William Houston) makes his first appearance in this episode. In the novella, Egg simply tells Dunk that Ser Robyn lost his eye to a splinter from a broken lance in a previous tourney. Here, we get a cutaway to him riding down his opponent with his eye dangling from the socket. It’s a great bit of visual grotesquerie that drives home the point of the story: Robyn is driven and single-minded; the “maddest knight in the Seven Kingdoms.” It’s also good to hear his house name pronounced aloud. I’ve been pronouncing it “Riesling” (like the wine) for the last twenty-five years.  We get more backstory about the First Blackfyre Rebellion (which I went into detail about in last week’s explainer) in the form of a dirty schoolyard rhyme that Egg sings. This is not one of the songs from Martin’s source material (as a fair amount of the diegetic music in GoT, HotD, and AKot7K’s tends to be) but a delightful original creation that seems to take inspiration from “Miss Susie” or “Bang Away Lulu”— the playground rhyming songs that cheekily walk up to the line of swearing before swerving into the next verse and a more innocuous word. I’m here for it! We get a brief shot of a joust between Humfrey Hardyng and Humfrey Beesbury during this episode. It’s really just a backdrop for Dunk and Egg to have a fun back and forth, but in the novella, this is a grueling and lengthy match that gets memorialized as “the Battle of Humfrey” later in the tourney. Again, always great to see the show nod to things they had to cut for time. The subplot about Plummer asking Dunk to challenge Ser Androw Ashford as a way of easing Lord Ashford’s beleaguered coffers is new to the show. That said, it does follow some general themes in The Hedge Knight. First, that this is an era of uneasy peace when the shadow of war has everyone worrying about an imminent shift in the balance of power and scrambling to maintain the status quo. Second, it’s another great illustration of the effect that Dunk has on people—every good-hearted person that meets him wants, in their own way, to reward him for his honesty and bravery. I like expanding Plummer’s character to give him this bit of courtly intrigue.  Aerion’s armor and his horse’s barding are great and very book-accurate. I will never tire of how these shows’ costumers are given enthusiastic carte blanche when it comes to decking out Targaryens in improbable dragon armor. It’s worth noting that every scene of Ser Lyonel Baratheon up to this point has not been in the original novella. The show loves Lyonel Baratheon and is working as hard as it can to shove him into every episode. I think it’s better for it.  When Dunk talks to Egg about his father, he mentions a pot shop in Flea Bottom that made “brown.” In Martin’s books, “bowls of brown” is the euphemism for perpetual stews made with all sorts of unsavory meats. They also serve as convenient cover for disposing of dead bodies, with royal spies and assassins selling the corpses of those who need to disappear to the proprietors of those shops. Grim stuff.  Bennett’s performance as Aerion is great. The temptation to play him as unhinged and frothing is probably high, but he lends him an unnatural calm even after being kicked in the teeth by Dunk. He’s fascinated at the idea of someone standing up to him and curious about what comes next. That seems like an infinitely scarier depiction. In Conclusion What do you think? If you are new to this tale, did you see the reveal about Egg’s identity coming? Are you excited for what lies ahead? If you read my long spoiler section, do you think that the show will ever catch up to the events of the far future? Bloodraven, anyone? And how about those breakfast sandwiches? Tell me all about it in the comments![end-mark] The post Prophecy and Revelations in <i>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</i>: “The Squire” appeared first on Reactor.

Notes In Absentia I want again to thank everyone for the wonderful expressions of concern and reassurance that I have received from listeners and readers. In response to inquiries, and some quite detailed questions and advice, here is a brief update concerning my current temporary absence. As I wrote, the removal of a cancerous lung mucinous adenoma carcinoma along with the lower right lung lobe roughly a month ago was successful. But a post-op aneurism/bleed soon developed. That required a quick second reentry operation into the lung to stop the hemorrhaging—adding considerable time under anesthesia and requiring about five blood transfusions. As a result, over the last 30 days, I developed low red blood counts, fatigue, and bouts of arterial fibrillation. All that has sort of slowed my recovery. This type of nonsmoker’s lung cancer has a rare genetic/mutation profile. And it seems to recur about 40% of the time in the general lung area—even when, as in my case, the removed and biopsied lymph nodes, along with adjacent vascular/pleural samples, were all negative. And the pre-op PET scan shows no signs of malignancy outside the lower right lung lobe. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are said to be not particularly effective against this rare sort of tumor mutation. But they can offer a 5%-10% edge in stopping recurrence. So I’ll do a cost-benefit analysis, depending on how quickly I regain energy, to determine whether to start the preventative drug regimens. The bottom line is that I’m hoping to come back as soon as possible. But I don’t know exactly when I’ll be back to near normal. In the meantime, I hope to post things now and then on days when I feel better. Sincerely—and again thanks to everyone! Victor Davis Hanson The post ‘I Hope to Post Things Now and Again’: Victor Davis Hanson Offers New Health Update appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Institutions sometimes outgrow their names not because they erred, but because they succeeded. The Heritage Foundation’s Capital Markets Initiative has reached that point, prompting its transition to the Free Enterprise Initiative, a change that is candid rather than cosmetic. Our work expanded beyond its original remit, so its label must follow that reality. American prosperity does not depend solely on capital markets. It rests on whether the broader ecosystem is allowed to function: property rights, entrepreneurial freedom unencumbered by bureaucratic permission slips, competition judged by merit rather than political pull, and the elementary principle that one may harvest what one plants. The former Capital Markets Initiative proved its effectiveness quickly. In 2024, we filed four shareholder resolutions. In 2025, we filed 26 across companies ranging from Salesforce to Meta, a more than fivefold increase in direct engagement with corporate leadership. Heritage has, to date, withdrawn eight of these proposals after corporations adopted our recommendations or demonstrated that they had already discontinued the objectionable practices we targeted. The eighteen that remain guarantee Heritage’s continued influence in boardrooms well into 2026. This is how leverage works when it’s applied deliberately. We have not lingered in the idle realm of aspiration: our record in corporate governance marks real triumphs of probity and accountability, the sort of victories that speak for themselves. Yet capital markets, indispensable though they are for allocating resources and bankrolling innovation, represent but one chamber in a far more capacious edifice. Free enterprise is broader in scope, neither slogan nor abstraction. It’s the shopkeeper hanging out his shingle, the inventor laboring in her garage, the farmer cultivating his acreage, the employee seeking greener pastures. In short: economic life conducted without bureaucratic sufferance from regulators who will never meet a payroll. Whereas capital markets concern themselves with financial instruments, corporate governance, and investor machinations, free enterprise poses more elemental questions: Can Americans build without petitioning Washington? Are rewards distributed by value creation or partisan fluency? Are we cultivating ownership or dependency? Such concerns animate Heritage’s Four Cornerstones for preserving the Republic, among them “The Dignity of Work and the Future of Free Enterprise.” The truth is plain: people thrive when they are free to work, build, and provide for their families without ideological supervision or supplication. Such flourishing presupposes respect for private property, entrepreneurial autonomy, and economic arrangements that fortify rather than corrode family stability. Free enterprise depends on moral and institutional foundations: enforceable contracts, sound money, and competition governed by neutral rules, not by regulatory favoritism or rent-seeking alliances between corporate power and the state. Ownership must mean ownership. Exchange must be voluntary. Success must follow service, not proximity to power. Ultimately, it comes down to people: their resourcefulness, ingenuity, and accountability. The system establishes conditions in which diligence produces upward mobility, family enterprises persist across generations, and labor furnishes not merely remuneration but also dignity and meaning. Wall Street allocates capital. Main Street allocates lives. The latter deserves at least equal solicitude. The rechristening from Capital Markets Initiative to Free Enterprise Initiative acknowledges what our work has already become: a comprehensive defense of economic freedom that underpins American strength, family cohesion, and national greatness. As consolidation menaces competition, regulation suffocates innovation, and the nexus between effort and reward frays beyond recognition, defending free enterprise will prove indispensable to what America most urgently requires: renewal. Not merely GDP expansion—though growth matters—but restoration of an economic order that honors human dignity and rewards virtue. The Free Enterprise Initiative will pursue this agenda with characteristic analytical rigor, now unencumbered by nomenclature too confining for its actual scale. The task is simple to state yet formidable to execute: to preserve the conditions under which all Americans, we the people, remain free to accomplish extraordinary things. We’re ready for the challenges this moment presents. The post From Capital Markets to Free Enterprise appeared first on The Daily Signal.

In a significant legal win for the Trump administration and the pro-life movement, Planned Parenthood dropped its court case to restore federal funding through Medicaid. Last year, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill that, among other things, defunded the nation’s largest abortion provider for a full year. The defunding, though temporary, itself was a long-sought achievement for pro-life lawmakers. In September, the U.S. First Circuit of Appeals ruled to allow the Trump administration to withhold Medicaid reimbursements to Planned Parenthood while the appeals proceed. On Friday, the plaintiffs—Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and state affiliates in Massachusetts and Utah—dismissed their complaint. “Planned Parenthood and others have spent months running to court to claw back more than half a billion dollars and subvert the will of the taxpayers, who strongly oppose being forced to fund the destruction of human lives,” Katie Daniel, director of legal affairs and policy counsel for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told The Daily Signal. “Abortion businesses are not entitled by the Constitution to taxpayer dollars, and their efforts will not succeed.”  While a win for pro-life supporters, there are separate ongoing court cases involving Democrat-run states defending funding state Planned Parenthood clinics. Further, unless Congress acts in an additional reconciliation bill, federal funding of Planned Parenthood will resume in July, noted Melanie Israel, visiting fellow at The Heritage Foundation. “It’s a win for women, girls, and unborn babies when Planned Parenthood gives up its quest to force taxpayers to foot the bill for Big Abortion – over half a billion dollars per year, to be precise,” Israel told The Daily Signal. “We’ve known all along that nothing in the Constitution entitles Planned Parenthood to the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars.” Pro-life groups have pushed for a full 10-year defunding provision before Planned Parenthood funding returns in July, she said. “Denying big abortion its big payday doesn’t mean cutting funding for women’s healthcare generally,” Israel added. “Funding can still go toward real healthcare providers, including the thousands of Federally Qualified Health Centers and pregnancy resource centers that vastly outnumber Planned Parenthood clinics.” Last year, the abortion group’s annual report covering the years 2023 through 2024 found it had more than $2.5 billion in net assets, with $792.2 million in government funding. During that time period, the group conducted 402,230 abortions, an increase from the previous annual report that showed 392,715 abortions. Planned Parenthood has argued that federal dollars do not go to abortions at affiliate clinics, but rather to other women’s health care services. Critics have long noted that the money is fungible. Planned Parenthood leaders have vowed to fight for funding on other fronts. “President Trump and his allies in Congress have weaponized the federal government to target Planned Parenthood at the expense of patients —  stripping people of the care they rely on,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a public statement. “Through every attack, Planned Parenthood has never lost sight of its focus: ensuring patients can get the care they need from the provider they trust.” The post Defunded and Defeated: Trump Scores Win as Planned Parenthood Drops Lawsuit for Tax Dollars appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday shot back at criticism of immigration enforcement from celebrity artists at the 2026 Grammy Awards.   “It’s gross Hollywood would choose to demonize our law enforcement as they are putting their lives on the line to arrest murderers, pedophiles, rapists, kidnappers, and robbers from our communities,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Signal.   The 68th annual Grammy Awards ceremony took on a political tone Sunday night as celebrities like Justin Bieber and Kehlani protested Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sporting “ICE Out” pins on the red carpet. Rapper Bad Bunny repeated the sentiment on stage.   “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say, ICE out,” Bad Bunny, who’s real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, said while accepting the award for Best Música Urbana Album. “We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens, we are humans, and we are Americans,” the Grammy winner, who is from Puerto Rico, added to a loud applause.   Bad Bunny also won Album of the Year at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 8.   Bad Bunny condemns ICE during his #GRAMMYs speech for Best Música Urbana Album“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say, ICE out. We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we are humans and we are Americans.” pic.twitter.com/BHjKyZXrDN— infolky (@infolky) February 2, 2026 Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish won Song of the Year and also used her acceptance speech to speak out against immigration enforcement.   “Nobody is illegal on stolen land,” Eilish said, adding, “f— ICE.”   Billie Eilish at the Grammys: “Nobody is illegal on stolen land. We need to keep fighting and speaking up. Our voices do matter… F*ck ICE.” If you hate America so much, then please leave! pic.twitter.com/czZ4eh4AAP— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) February 2, 2026 In response, McLaughlin said, “This type of garbage is contributing to our officers facing a 3,200% increase in vehicle attacks, 1,300% increase in assaults against them, and an 8000% increase in death threats.” The criticism comes after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, 37, on Jan. 24, and an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, also 37, on Jan. 7 amid anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis. Both incidents are under investigation.   Despite opposition, DHS continued its operation in Minneapolis over the weekend.   “While Hollywood celebrities embarrassed themselves trying to drum up hatred of ICE officers from the Grammys, DHS law enforcement was hard at work arresting sex offenders, child abusers, and criminals convicted of assault in Minnesota,” McLaughlin said.   Recent ICE arrests in Minneapolis include Vong Som, Houa Xiong, Ze Ger Vue, Lor Thor, and Fong Vang – all illegal aliens from Laos with criminal convictions that include terror threats, sexual assault, obstructing police, weapons possession, and receiving stolen property.  Five criminal illegal aliens from Laos taken into custody over the weekend, according to DHS. (DHS) ICE also arrested Charanjit Singh, who is from India and has been convicted of cruelty toward a child, drug possession, and flight to avoid prosecution.  Guatemalan Baltazar Camposeco-Ros has a criminal record that includes domestic assault and a domestic abuse–violation.   Minh Tien Quach is from Vietnam and has been convicted of robbery, possession of a firearm and drug trafficking. Ernesto Alexander Dominguez-Cruz is from El Salvador and has been convicted of multiple crimes, including assault.   Minh Tien Quach (R), and Ernesto Alexander Dominguez-Cruz (L). (DHS) “We need Minnesota sanctuary politicians to let us into their jails to arrest these vicious criminals instead of releasing them and allowing them to create more victims,” McLaughlin said, adding that DHS has filed over 1,360 detailers for “criminals in Minnesota jails.”   “We are once again calling on Minnesota’s sanctuary politicians to commit to turning these criminals over to ICE,” she continued.   Minnesota is a sanctuary state, according to the Department of Justice, meaning state and local law enforcement are restricted in the extent they can cooperate with federal immigration officials.   The Minnesota state prison system does honor ICE detainers, according to Homan.   Homan met with Minneapolis Attorney General Keith Ellison last week and Ellison, according to Homan, says county jails are allowed to “notify ICE of the release dates of criminal public safety risks, so ICE can take custody of them upon the release from the jail.”  Homan says a reduction of federal immigration officials in Minneapolis is dependent upon state and local officials cooperating with ICE. The post EXCLUSIVE: DHS Slams Hollywood Over ‘Gross’ ICE Rhetoric at Grammys  appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Polling Brutal for Democrats on Immigration Enforcement According A-Rated Pollster