SFMO: Make Fire Safety First on Spring ‘To Do’ List

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SFMO: Make Fire Safety First on Spring ‘To Do’ List

NASHVILLE – With the arrival of the first day of spring (March 20, 2019), the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office (SFMO) is reminding Tennesseans to keep fire safety at the top of their ‘to do’ lists as they start spring house cleaning or hit the road for a quick getaway.

“Spring provides the perfect opportunity to get outside and get some work done around your home and yard,” said Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Julie Mix McPeak. “As the weather turns warmer, we’re encouraging Tennesseans to always keep fire safety in mind at home or traveling to ensure that their spring remains fire-safe.”

To help consumers practice focused fire prevention this spring, the SFMO has created a checklist to add to consumers’ spring ‘to-do’ lists:

SMOKE ALARMS

  • Test alarms to ensure they are working. Replace batteries, if necessary.
  • Place working smoke alarms in every bedroom, outside each sleeping area, and on every level of a home, including the basement.
  • Check the age of the smoke alarm on the back of the unit. If the unit is 10 years old or older, it no longer provides reliable fire protection.
  • If you need a free working smoke alarm, contact your local fire department today.

PLAN YOUR ESCAPE

  • Create or update a home fire escape plan for your family. The SFMO has a free escape plan grid with instructions that you can download online.
  • Ensure everyone in the home knows two ways out of each room.
  • Check that all windows are easily opened. If security bars are present, ensure they have a quick-release device that is accessible from inside your home.
  • Practice home fire drills with the entire family.
  • Remove any items that may block your way out of the room or your home. Remember, your exit routes may change as new items are brought into the home.

CLOSE THE DOOR

  • When going to bed at night, close the door. A closed door can hinder the spread of deadly smoke and flames, potentially adding invaluable seconds to your escape.
  • In the event of a house fire, close the door behind you as you exit when possible. This can drastically reduce property damage and fire spread.

OUTDOOR FIRE SAFETY

  • Reduce your chances of an accidental home fire that starts outdoors by removing leaves, pine needles, and other flammable materials from your roof and gutter. Remove dead vegetation and other flammable materials from around your home’s exterior. Also, keep construction materials, trash, and woodpiles at least 30 feet away from the home to prevent an accidental fire from spreading to your home.
  • Before firing up a grill, check the gas tank hose for leaks and clean any grease or fat buildup that may be left over from previous barbecues.
  • If you’re planning to conduct an outdoor burn, remember that burn permits are required in Tennessee from October 15 – May 15. Always check with local authorities to make sure there are no additional local restrictions in place.
  • Do not throw out cigarettes into vegetation, potted plants or landscaping, peat moss, dried grasses, mulch, leaves, or other similar items—they can easily catch fire.

GOING ON VACATION?

  • Choose a hotel or vacation rental that is equipped with both hard-wired smoke alarms and fire sprinklers.*
  • During check in, ask the front desk attendant what the fire alarm sounds like.
  • When you enter your room, review the posted escape plan. This is often found on the back of the door.
  • If the fire alarm is sounding, use the stairs. Never use an elevator in the event of a fire.
  • If you must escape through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your exit.
  • If the fire is in your room, get out quickly, sound the fire alarm, and notify the front desk.

*The Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act of 1990 was enacted by Congress to save lives and protect property by promoting fire and life safety in hotels, motels, and other places of public accommodation. Fire safety in places of public accommodation is encouraged through creation of a National Master List (NML) of hotel and motel properties that voluntarily comply with the provisions of the Act. The U.S. Fire Administration encourages the traveling public to use the list when making reservations for lodging accommodations, be they for business or pleasure. To search the list, go to http://apps.usfa.fema.gov/hotel/.

For more tips on keeping your family fire safe year-round, visit tn.gov/fire.

Jason Momoa shaved his beard and people are freaking out

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Jason Momoa shaved his beard and people are freaking out

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Before you ask “Why is this news?” remember that it’s Jason Momoa.

The Jason Momoa whose role on “Game of Thrones” and as “Aquaman” has caused more than a few hearts to flutter and whose marriage to actress Lisa Bonet is absolute #relationshipgoals.

Just when you thought you couldn’t love the dude more, he goes and shaves his beard for the environment.

Momoa shared a video of him shaving on YouTube.

“Goodbye DROGO, AQUAMAN, DECLAN, BABA! I’m shaving this beast off, it’s time to make a change,” he wrote in the caption to the video, bidding farewell to the look of several of his most famous characters. “A change for the better…for my kids, for your kids, the world.”

It was all done to draw attention to a new line of canned water that he is helping launch with the Ball Corporation and he is encouraging people to “make a switch to INFINITELY RECYCLABLE aluminum.”

Since folks are still getting over this being the final season of “Game of Thrones,” Momoa’s actions appear to have the internet in mourning.

“I know the redacted Mueller Report is out today, but please don’t let that overshadow the news that Jason Momoa shaved his beard,” former Minneapolis mayor Betsy Hodges tweeted Thursday.

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‘Exhausted’ polar bear found prowling for food in Russian village, 400 miles from home

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‘Exhausted’ polar bear found prowling for food in Russian village, 400 miles from home

By Gianluca Mezzofiore, CNN

(CNN) — Russian authorities are growing increasingly concerned about a polar bear that has been wandering in a village hundreds of miles from its usual habitat in search of food, according to local reports.

The bear, which looks exhausted but doesn’t show any signs of aggression, has been spotted several times over the past five days in the village of Tilichiki in the far eastern Kamtchatka Peninsula, according to local residents who have posted photos and videos on social media.

Russian state-controlled news agency Ria Novosti reported that the bear had traveled about 700 kilometers south (434 miles) from Chukotka to the peninsula by sailing on a chunk of ice from the Bering Sea.

Sea ice across the Arctic is rapidly retreating due to climate change, forcing the bears to travel farther to find food.

Alina Ukolova told CNN she took videos and pictures of the polar bear wandering in Tilichiki on Tuesday and posted them on Instagram.

“The bear is about two years old,” she told CNN. “It is not very used to living independently, they usually live with their mother until they’re about three.

“It is exhausted, not aggressive. Locals feed him fish, and he eats it. Today, it felt better and went hunting.”

Authorities in Kamchatka are planning to sedate the bear and airlift it back to Chukotka, according to Ria Novosti.

It would not be the first polar bear displacement thought to be caused by climate change. In February, the remote Russian archipelago of Novaya Zemlaya declared a state of emergency over what local authorities described as an “invasion” by dozens of the hungry animals.

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Pinterest pops 28% in its Wall Street debut

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Pinterest pops 28% in its Wall Street debut

By Seth Fiegerman, CNN Business

(CNN) — For years, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann has insisted his company is not an outright social network. As he told CNN Business in a recent interview, the platform is not focused on hard news or amassing followers. “At its most basic level, it’s just about you,” he said.

Now we will find out whether that positioning is enough to help it avoid the curse of social media companies that go public.

Pinterest, a social platform for bookmarking pictures from around the web, ended its first day of trading at $24.40 a share, an increase of 28% from its IPO price of $19 a share.

At its IPO price, Pinterest valued at $12.66 billion — about half as much as Twitter and slightly less than Snapchat’s parent company, Snap. Both companies may also serve as a cautionary tale for Pinterest.

In August 2017, Twitter fell below its IPO price less than two years after it went public. Snap slipped below its IPO price after just four months. The two companies faced investor concerns about slowing growth and an audience size that paled in comparison to Facebook, which measures its user base in the billions.

In its IPO prospectus, Pinterest said it now has more than 250 million monthly active users, less than Twitter’s 321 million monthly users and barely a tenth of Facebook’s audience size. Unlike Facebook, Snap and Twitter, Pinterest chose not to disclose its number of daily active users and said that it does “not anticipate that most of our users” will use the service on a daily basis.

“I think it’s got a compelling case for saying it’s not a social media company,” said Matthew Kennedy, an analyst with Renaissance Capital, which manages IPO-focused exchange-traded funds. But he says investors will nonetheless judge the company by “the same things that other social media companies need to do.”

The short list, Kennedy said, includes proving it can grow its user base, make more and more money off those users, and “in the process be profitable.”

At least on the last point, Pinterest is better off than some of its rivals were when they went public. The company generated more than $750 million in revenue for 2018 — an increase of 60% from the prior year — while shrinking its losses to $63 million. Snap, by comparison, reported losing $515 million in the year before its IPO.

Its stronger financial footing is a testament to how Pinterest is run. Under Silbermann’s leadership, Pinterest chose to move slower and more deliberately in stark contrast to the faster pace of larger rivals like Facebook. The company resisted throwing money at its problems, debated product tweaks extensively and did not rush to copy features that helped larger competitors achieve viral growth, according to former employees.

“It’s not a move fast and break things type of culture,” said Danny Karubian, a partner at Valiant Capital, which led a $200 million round of funding in 2013. Instead, he described the leadership’s approach as “be very thoughtful and strategic about each action you take.”

Karubian told CNN Business this week he believes Silbermann will “continue with that sort of philosophy and culture” after Pinterest goes public.

Pinterest’s initial traction on Wall Street may be viewed as a bellwether for the growing list of tech unicorns that are racing to go public. Uber, Slack and Postmates have also filed paperwork to go public.

Lyft, which began trading on Nasdaq at the end of March, has since been hammered by investors due in part to worries over its steep losses. Its stock opened at $56.50 a share on Wednesday, more than 20% below its IPO price of $72.

Zoom, a video conferencing company, spiked more than 70% in its public market debut Thursday, after pricing shares above its original proposed range at $36 each on Wednesday. Unlike most of the other brand name technology companies going public this year, Zoom is profitable and still growing sales fast.

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Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Nadira Freeman
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Don’t Shoot the Messenger

I know MNPS board member Will Pinkston and I’m always amused by the useless attacks leveled against him by those who seem determined to advance their own self-interest despite the detriment to public education.

Here’s what we’ve always known about the soon-to-be-former Nashville School Board member, even before he was elected in 2012. First: He takes principled stands on the issues, no matter whose ox gets gored. Second: He doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and because of that he sometimes comes off like a jerk. Third: He always puts students and public schools first.

Pinkston’s decision to quit the school board initially raised eyebrows. But after looking at his reasoning — the board, in its current configuration, is “impossibly inept” amid “racially motivated” decisions — who would want to stay? Pinkston just stated the obvious at a time when many Nashvillians sat on the sidelines or were too polite to chime in.

Truth is: While some might like to believe our city is post-racial in 2019, we’re not. The first African-American school superintendent in our city’s history inherited a mess from the previous superintendent. Then, he was subjected to an unprecedented double-standard by a local TV station coordinating with ill-intentioned school board members who were at the same time calling for masked protests of black administrators, harkening back to a darker time in history.

Here’s what’s real: Nobody wins in this situation. There are only degrees of losing.

Our city has lost a dynamic superintendent who dared to push for equity for all students in our majority-minority schools.  

Everyone wants equity until it is time to start allocating resources equitably. Everyone wants equity until there is a sense of loss which causes a fear of losing ground even when there is no data to substantiate it. A sect of the city painted Dr. Joseph as a big, black man playing Robin Hood – taking from the rich and giving to the poor. The fear of those communities losing something fueled the push to get rid of the man leading the charge for equity.

Nationally, urban school systems whose boards exhibit a commitment to educational equity and success in raising academic achievement are recognized and celebrated. Rather than supporting our former superintendent’s work to advance educational access and equity in MNPS, some of our school board members spent all their time, energy and effort to penalize, criminalize and demoralize him for doing the work he was hired to do.

Our school board has also lost a voice who consistently fought for low-income students and students of color (including young New Americans in his South Nashville district), early childhood education, and adequate school funding. And, now, we’re no closer to fixing the problems.

So where do we go from here?

We need to honestly recognize what happened here. The community should come to terms with the systemic racism that has debased our current school board and furthermore acknowledge the impact that its had on the school system over the last 60 years. We have to face the hard truths. The MNPS board needs to reorganize and recommit to prioritizing the student achievement of its diverse group of 86,000 students who attend MNPS.

We need excellence in governance. It will be critical that our next superintendent is allowed do his or her job — without board members personalizing decisions made in the best interest of the students the district serves, or constantly trying to micro-manage or second-guess every incremental decision.

From there, the board and the community needs to address how Metro Nashville Public Schools is a chronically underfunded school system. Funding problems weren’t created overnight, nor will they be solved overnight. But we need to come to grips with the fact that Nashville’s per-pupil funding ranks too low when compared with other urban school systems in the U.S.

Will Pinkston was one of the board’s most outspoken voices in calling attention to funding inequities that undermine resources in the classroom and suppress compensation for employees who are increasingly being priced out of the so-called “It City.”

Before his resignation, he was angling for a city-wide conversation with the mayor, Metro Council members and others about how to engineer a multi-year solution to the school system’s funding woes. That work still needs to happen, but the board needs to first shed its distractions — and stop being constantly tempted to “major in the minors,” as a Tennessean columnist recently noted.

Like the rest of Nashville, I’m saddened to see our school board hit an all-time low. But as the salvage operation gets underway, maybe the events of recent weeks can inform and better equip Nashvillians to tackle issues of race and minority status in our city and the role that adequate school funding must play in providing an equitable education to all public-school students.

Finally: Some folks might not like what Will Pinkston had to say, or how he said it. But let’s face it: He was actually right.

ICE deported the husband of a soldier killed in combat even though he had been cleared to stay in US

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ICE deported the husband of a soldier killed in combat even though he had been cleared to stay in US

By Zachary Cohen and Amir Vera, CNN

(CNN) — The husband of a US Army soldier killed in combat was detained and deported to Mexico last week by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement even though he had been granted permission to stay in the US, according to his attorney.

The man, who is now back in Phoenix, where he lives, had been granted “parole in place,” clearing him to remain in the US after his wife was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, the attorney says.

Jose Gonzalez Carranza was arrested by ICE agents at his home in Phoenix on April 8 and was taken to Nogales, Mexico, on the border two days later, his lawyer, Ezequiel Hernandez, told CNN on Monday. Carranza was brought back to Phoenix and released Monday, hours after his deportation was first reported by The Arizona Republic.

Hernandez said that his law firm tried to contact ICE for details related to why Gonzalez was taken back to Mexico but did not receive a response until after his office notified the press.

Despite Carranza’s return to the US, Hernandez says his case isn’t over.

Carranza entered the US illegally as a teenager in 2004 from Mexico. In 2007, he married Army Pfc. Barbara Vieyra and the two had a daughter, who is now 12 years old.

“Pfc. Barbara Vieyra, 22, of Mesa, Ariz., died Sept. 18 of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked her unit using an improvised explosive device and rocket propelled grenade fire in Kunar province, Afghanistan. She was assigned to the 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas,” according to Department of Defense records.

After Carranza was arrested, his daughter went to live with her grandparents who were awarded joint custody after Vieyra’s death, Hernandez said.

Carranza was given “parole in place” status by immigration authorities after his wife was killed in 2010, Hernandez said. This designation, typically given in increments, means Carranza was allowed to stay in the US without the threat of deportation.

ICE refiled a deportation case against Carranza last year despite the parole-in-place designation. However, a notice for Carranza to appear in court was sent to an old address, Hernandez added.

As a result, Carranza did not show up to court and a judge ordered him deported.

“The government never revoked the (parole-in-place),” Hernandez said. “They detained (Carranza) because of the order of removal done due to the court hearing my client did not go to because he did not know. As of today, we do not know why the client was removed.”

CNN has reached out to ICE for comment. The agency said it would release a statement later.

“I don’t know if they confused the papers or just didn’t follow orders,” Hernandez told CNN, referring to the ICE officers.

Hernandez said ICE agents brought his client back from the border at Nogales to Tucson and ultimately dropped him off in Phoenix late Monday.

Hernandez said the next step is to wait for an immigration hearing in Phoenix to see if a judge will reopen Carranza’s case. Once in front of the judge, Hernandez said his team will ask for a cancellation of the deportation order.

Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema told CNN that her “office is in communication with Mr. Carranza’s attorney and we will assist the Carranza family in this process.”

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‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ sales soar on Amazon France

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‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ sales soar on Amazon France

By Taylor Nicole Rogers, CNN Business

(CNN) — The French have turned to fiction to help them mourn Notre Dame.

Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame” has become the best-selling book on Amazon France after the 856-year-old cathedral was destroyed by a massive fire Monday evening.

A different edition of the same novel, known as “Notre-Dame de Paris” or “Our Lady of Paris” in France, is the site’s second best-selling book as of Tuesday afternoon.

The 1831 novel tells the love story of a street dancer and the church’s bell ringer in medieval Paris and is credited with inspiring one of the church’s most important restorations. Before its publication, Notre Dame had been left to decay. The book was also the inspiration for Disney’s animated film of the same name.

Other titles featuring Notre Dame have also become best-sellers on Amazon France. An art history book on the cathedral is in the No. 5 spot. A Notre Dame travel guide is No. 7.

Paris’ most visited monument burned for seven hours before the flames were finally extinguished Monday evening. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but it is believed to have been an accident. Both the church’s wooden interior and its iconic spire were destroyed, although its facade and towers remain intact.

French president Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the landmark. Numerous French companies and billionaires have already pledged over $700 million to help fund repairs.

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Not Here For Voter Suppression

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Not Here For Voter Suppression

By: The Equity Alliance

Tennessee has been in the bottom five states for voter participation in the last three presidential elections. It is arguably the worst state in the country at galvanizing and encouraging its citizens to participate in the civic process and is one of the primary reasons that The Equity Alliance (TEA) was founded. With stats like 50th in voter turnout and 40th in voter registration in the 2014 midterm elections, similar stats in the 2016 presidential elections, and similarly abysmal turnout for local elections, TEA swung into action to address the underlying reasons people, particularly African-Americans don’t vote. Partnering with groups like the Tennessee Black Voter Project, TEA and coalition partners registered nearly 50,000 people for the 2018 midterm elections. Most of the registrations were from people of color.

In response, Tennessee’s Secretary of State, Tre Hargett, one of the highest paid in the country and in one of the lowest performing states in the country, recently introduced a bill that would significantly diminish voter registration efforts of advocacy groups. The bill, which is slated for a vote in the Tennessee legislature this week, attaches civil and criminal penalties on large scale voter registration drives that include registration forms with errors. It also imposes the requirement to attend a training prior to hosting a voter registration drive as well as requiring organizations to add an additional statement to all of their voter registration reminders that they are not authorized by the Secretary of State. If passed, Tennessee will be the only state in the nation to criminalize such a thing. There is a limited exception for volunteer groups. However, even groups that have a grant to conduct voter registration or have a paid staffer are still subject to these new requirements.  

The effects of this kind of legislation would be critically problematic. Voter advocacy groups, churches, sororities and fraternities and every other kind of civic organization that conducts voter registration drives would find themselves at an impasse. The risk of civil or criminal penalties for innocuous mistakes, oversights, or unverifiable information would dissuade any individual or group from conducting voter registration drives in a state that needs it the most – the volunteer state no less. Legislation that uses intimidation and scare tactic politics seems to be the new norm. In a supermajority state like Tennessee, those in power take for granted the grassroots efforts of groups and activists that expertly rally the troops to respond to what is ostensibly voter suppression efforts.

Groups like TEA, American Civil Liberties Union, Tennessee Immigrant, and Refugee Rights Coalition, Think Tennessee, Civic Tennessee, and others have excited a resounding response in opposition of the bill, and Tennessee has received national attention around the issue. Stacey Abrams, arguably the country’s most outspoken and preeminent avenger of voting equity, joined the conversation and vehemently opposed the bill. And while grassroots efforts have been promising and the national coverage heightens attention around the bill, we still need Tennesseans to contact their state representatives and urge them to vote down this overt attempt at voter suppression.

The House will consider the bill on Monday, and The Equity Alliance will host a rally to oppose it at 4:00 pm at the Tennessee Capitol in Nashville. Wear all black and show Tennessee that we will not stand idly by while our voting rights are stripped from us.   

 

‘Game of Thrones’ Episode 1 recap: You now know something, Jon Snow

Jason Luntz
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‘Game of Thrones’ Episode 1 recap: You now know something, Jon Snow

By AJ Willingham, CNN

(CNN) — SPOILERS AHEAD: If you haven’t watched Season 8, Episode 1 of “Game of Thrones,” scramble onto your nearest dragon and fly away because this post is full of spoilers.

Sweet relief! “Game of Thrones” is finally back, and to celebrate, everyone gets a reunion! Jon and Arya! Gendry and Arya! Jon and Sam! Tyrion and Sansa! Jaime and the creepy omniscient child he pushed off a tower mid-coitus all the way back in the very first episode!

Bet you didn’t see that one coming (unless you’re Bran).

When we left the gang at the end of Season 7, the Army of the Dead had breached the wall and were heading southward. While this is the most pressing issue of the entire series, one foretelling an epic battle of life and death, there is still time for a royal procession and various heart eyes, hugs and political squabbles before everyone gets their hands dirty.

‘GoT’ Episode 1 sets stage for wild ride to finale

Unsurprisingly, the Northmen don’t take it well that Jon has bent the knee to Daenerys and her fancy coat, and Sansa and Arya make it abundantly clear that they aren’t down with a Targaryen coming in and acting like she owns the place. Jon hears this and, yes, he understands, but counterpoint: She has dragons and they are extremely fun to ride.

He and Dany pull a “Whole New World” moment on Drogon and Rhaegal, and while it’s beautiful and romantic, you may have gotten a twinge of foreboding when Dany looked at a frozen waterfall and said,”We could live here a thousand years and no one would know.”

The last time Jon canoodled with a woman in the craggy splendors of the north, he heard something similar: “I don’t ever want to leave this cave, Jon Snow. Not ever,” Ygritte told him in Season 3. “Let’s not go back.” But they did, and things went terribly.

10 critical ‘GoT’ details to remember during the final season

Dany also has some pecadilloes to answer for, like the minor issue of using her dragon to rotisserie the father and brother of one of Jon’s most trusted and important friends. Sam doesn’t take well to the news of the Tarley-cue, and he finally tells Jon the truth: Jon is actually a Targaryen, and as much a royal as his beloved Dragon Queen. Also, she’s his aunt, so … there’s a lot for him to unpack. (Spoiler Alert: The next five episodes are just Jon going to therapy.)

Meanwhile, in parts south, Cersei cashes the check her mouth wrote and sleeps with Euron Greyjoy after he brings her the Golden Company. Maybe it’s just a vibe, but it seems like the Golden Company’s leader has absolutely no idea what he’s gotten himself into and will not be pleased when he figures it out.

Track every major ‘GoT’ character and plotline

Luckily, while Euron is otherwise engaged, Theon rescues Yara and they reconcile, but instead of hunkering down in the Iron Islands, where the Army of the Dead can’t get him, Theon chooses to bail on her to go fight with Jon and Dany in the north. A Theon redemption arc is high on a lot of viewers’ wish lists, but are they really telling us he could have opted out of this whole mess but instead chooses to get back into it? That boy will never have any sense.

Also in the south: Qyburn, professional lurker, offers Bronn an obscene amount of cash to kill Jaime and Tyrion, two men the former sellsword truly admires. Can’t wait to see how that pans out.

Finally Tormund, Beric and company meet up with Dolorous Edd and company at an abandoned Castle Umber only to discover a gruesome version of “The Army of the Dead wuz here” in the form of little Ned Umber, impaled among a spiral of severed arms.

As the band of men discuss this horror, Ned’s eyes suddenly turn blue and Beric has to literally set the whole array on fire. Just as soon as you thought “Game of Thrones” was getting soft by showing you 55 minutes of happy reunions and gratuitous nudity, they give you a shrieking, flaming undead-child pinwheel. Be careful what you wish for.

Burning questions

Sam’s one of Jon’s most trusted friends, and he’s definitely NOT over the fact Dany roasted half of his family. Jon also didn’t seem too thrilled that Dany didn’t slip that little tidbit in among all the pillow talk and dragon riding. Will this affect Jon’s rosy outlook on his queen/aunt/girlfriend?

Will Arya ever stop being coy about the obscene amount of people she’s killed?

What can Bran and Jaime possibly have to say to each other?

And is Cersei still pregnant? Tyrion mentions that she still has something to live for, but then Euron, ever the charmer, talks of putting a prince in her belly (UGH) and she gets that inscrutable Cersei look on her face. What’s the deal?

Best line

Sansa: “What do dragons eat?”

Daenerys: “Whatever they want.”

Forgive us but … OOH, BURN!

Best scene

Fans have been frothing at the mouth for a Jon and Arya reunion for SEVEN SEASONS NOW. Are you happy? You should be happy. Tempered but tender. Stern but loving. And what better way for brother and sister to show their true affection than by comparing swords?

It was a perfect illustration of their respective accomplishments and how far they’ve come to find their true selves. Jon is on the cusp of discovering his royal potential, shining in the Valyrian steel of his sword. And despite facing her facelessness, Arya has managed to hold on to Needle, and with it, her truest identity: A Stark of Winterfell.

Ship watch

Gendry and Arya

Look at Arya, being a normal human person and flirting with her long-lost blacksmith bud! Both of these crazy kids have been through some slop, so if they want to trade barbs and m’ladys and weapons commissions before the Army of the Dead destroys everything good and beautiful in the world, let them!

Cersei and Euron

Raise your hand if you absolutely did not need to know how good or bad Euron Greyjoy is at sex! Is that everyone? You in the back, too? Still, it seems like Cersei is more than happy to pick up what he is putting down. Will this this one-off transactional coupling morph into the dark ship of our nightmares? Seven hells.

Death count

~10 random Greyjoy grunts skewered by Theon +

1 poor innocent Ned Umber +

~10 armless Umbers (hey, those spiral limbs had to come from somewhere)

______

= 21 deaths. All in all, a very gentle “Game of Thrones” total.

Stray observations

Bran clearly knew Jaime was heading toward Winterfell. Which means there’s probably some greater stakes to Jaime’s visit beyond informing everyone of Cersei’s treachery (duh).

Cersei is crazy, but come on. Of course elephants shouldn’t sail across the sea.

Turns out, dragons are like cats. They absolutely WILL watch you get busy with your honey, and maintain eye contact throughout.

Varys very clearly hates being cold and it is very relatable.

One bold prediction

Sansa and Dany are going to be BFFs.

The tension between Sansa and Daenerys is so intense (and well-justified), it wouldn’t be surprising if there was a single event or exchange that flipped their whole vibe and drew these two intelligent, headstrong women together under a shared motivation.

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It cost Facebook $22 million to keep Mark Zuckerberg safe last year

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It cost Facebook $22 million to keep Mark Zuckerberg safe last year

By Heather Kelly, CNN Business

(CNN) — Keeping Mark Zuckerberg safe is expensive.

Facebook paid its CEO an additional $13 million for his personal security and travel costs in 2018, according to a proxy filing on Friday. That included a new $10 million pre-tax allowance for additional security costs such as security guards, equipment, services and residential improvements.

“He is synonymous with Facebook and, as a result, negative sentiment regarding our company is directly associated with, and often transferred to, Mr. Zuckerberg,” said the filing.

Like many wealthy CEOs, Zuckerberg receives an official salary of $1 a year. He also did not receive bonuses or stock awards in 2018. However, Zuckerberg’s total compensation jumped from $9.1 million in 2017 to $22.6 million in 2018 in order to cover the increase in security costs for the high-profile CEO.

The increase is partially the result of specific threats against Zuckerberg and Facebook’s high visibility, according to the company.

Facebook pays for Zuckerberg and his family’s personal security at his homes and when he travels. Approximately $2.6 million of Zuckerberg’s compensation package in 2018 was for private aircraft travel, which the company said was part of the security program.

The company is entering the second year of a seemingly non-stop series of scandals. It has been under fire for everything from personal privacy issues following revelations that data-firm Cambridge Analytica collected information on 87 million Facebook users, to enabling the spread of white supremacy and hate speech on the platform. Those events have drawn a large amount of exposure for the company and its 34-year-old co-founder.

“Mr. Zuckerberg is one of the most-recognized executives in the world, in large part as a result of the size of our user base and our continued exposure to global media, legislative, and regulatory attention,” said the filing.

The filing said Facebook also increased the amount of money it put towards COO Sheryl Sandberg’s personal security by $1.1 million.

Zuckerberg is one of the richest people in the world and is worth just over $70 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire’s index.

The-CNN-Wire
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