• Hunter Biden has been convicted on three felony gun charges.
• Republicans seem divided on what to make of it.
• Some of them are celebrating it, while others say it's a ruse. Some even seem to be defending him.

Hunter Biden was convicted on Tuesday of three federal charges related to him purchasing a gun while using illegal drugs.

It's the first time that the child of a sitting US president has been convicted of a crime. And it comes less than two weeks after former President Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York.

One might expect Republicans to be unanimously cheering the decision — to the extent that it will affect the presidential election at all, it's likely to hurt President Joe Biden more than it helps.

Yet that's not how all Republicans are reacting.

That's because much of the party has argued in recent years that the Biden administration has targeted former President Donald Trump, and the conviction of the president's son complicates that idea.

"This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family," said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt following the verdict.

Also, some Republicans happen to like guns.

Here are the four different ways the GOP is responding to the conviction.

It's not enough

While Republicans who go with this line aren't criticizing the conviction, they argue that there's much more out there.

Congressional Republicans have long been investigating the Biden family, aiming to eventually impeach the president on charges of influencing-peddling related to his son's business dealings — though it appears increasingly unlikely.

Some Republicans are also pointing out that Hunter Biden initially had a plea deal with the federal government, only for it to fall apart.

It's a sham or a smoke screen

More than a few Republicans are arguing that the conviction is some sort of smoke screen or ruse — either to cover up for more grave crimes supposedly committed by the Biden family, or to create the appearance of impartial justice.

"Hunter Biden just became the Deep State's sacrificial lamb to show that Justice is 'balanced' while the other Biden crimes remain ignored," wrote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Similarly, Stephen Miller — a top Trump advisor on immigration-related matters — argued that the conviction constituted an "easy op for DJ to sell to a pliant media."

"This is all about protecting Joe Biden and only Joe Biden," Miller wrote.

It's justice served

Some Republicans, believe it or not, are indeed satisfied with the result.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said that Hunter Biden's actions had given "law-abiding, Second Amendment-loving gun owners a bad name," while praising the conviction as the right decision.

Rep. Josh Brecheen, a freshman House Freedom Caucus member from Oklahoma, also celebrated the verdict.

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan — a GOP Senate candidate who got in trouble with Trumpworld for urging people to respect the verdict in Trump's case — simply said "we must respect the legal process."

It's a travesty

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, an idiosyncratic libertarian, isn't a fan of the gun charges.

"There are millions of marijuana users who own guns in this country, and none of them should be in jail for purchasing or possessing a firearm against current laws," said Massie.

And top Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida — without elaborating — said that the conviction is "kinda dumb."

• Jon Stewart is done with "hollow corporate pandering."
• He criticized corporate America, arguing companies exploit Pride Month for financial gain.
• Companies like Target and Bud Light have backed down from their pro-LGBTQ stances after facing criticism.

Jon Stewart wants corporations to stop their "hollow corporate pandering" and just admit that all they care about is their bottom line.

The comedian and late night host railed against corporate America on Monday night's "The Daily Show," arguing that corporations' Pride Month celebrations really just "financially exploit the decades-long struggle of gay people for acceptance and equality."

In a segment on the show, Stewart said big-name companies want to appear LGBTQ-friendly only as long as it makes them money, but when they receive backlash, they reverse course.

Target, for example, came under fire from conservative groups last summer over its Pride-themed merchandise that included "tuck-friendly" bathing suits for adults and t-shirts with the phrase "Trans people will always exist!"

In response to the backlash and threats lodged at employees, Target removed the merchandise from a number of stores across the country, which a spokesperson previously told BI was done to protect workers' "sense of safety and wellbeing."

Company shareholders even filed a lawsuit last year arguing that the company's diversity initiatives were detrimental to shareholder value.

And this year, Target slashed its Pride collection even more, reducing the number of items from more than 2,600 down to just a few dozen.

Target isn't the only company to backtrack after receiving negative feedback for promoting LGBTQ perspectives.

Conservatives boycotted Bud Light last summer after the beer maker partnered with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney for a social media promotion. The boycott even fueled a drop in sales as right-wing beer drinkers around the country abandoned the "woke" product.

And Bud Light waffled in response. Mulvaney said Bud Light never reached out to her after the backlash, criticizing the company for not standing by her. Meanwhile, Bud Light sought to win some of its customers back by offering free beer promotions.

The US CEO of Bud Light's owner, Anheuser-Busch, also followed up with a statement outlining steps the company was taking to alleviate the fallout, acknowledging that conversations about the company had "moved away from beer," and telling fans "We hear you."

Jon Stewart said that these controversies are just a few examples in a "long line of hollow corporate pandering meant to convince you that not only are corporations people, they're good people, decent people who care about the systemic ills of this great nation."

"Let's stop pretending that a corporation can even be woke or un-woke, patriotic or unpatriotic," Stewart continued. "Because corporations have but one value: shareholder value."

• Elon Musk criticized Apple and its CEO years ago before appearing to patch things up during an Apple HQ visit with Tim Cook.
• On Monday, Musk slammed Apple for its OpenAI partnership and threatened to ban iPhones and MacBooks at his companies.
• Here's a history of the beef between the Tesla CEO and the tech giant.

The story of Musk's beef with Apple dates back several years.

The first signs of Musk's one-sided beef with Apple came in 2015 when he joked that Apple employed Tesla's rejects.

"They have hired people we've fired," Musk told German newspaper Handelsblatt. "We always jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard'. If you don't make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I'm not kidding."

In the interview with the news outlet, the Tesla CEO shrugged off reports that Apple was looking into making its own electric car — which the company has since reportedly scrapped — and took a dig at some of Apple's latest products.

"Did you ever take a look at the Apple Watch?" Musk said. "No, seriously: It's good that Apple is moving and investing in this direction. But cars are very complex compared to phones or smartwatches. You can't just go to a supplier like Foxconn and say: Build me a car."

But in the years since, Musk has continued to pick fights with Apple and its CEO Tim Cook. After a recent period that seemingly seemed peaceful, the Tesla CEO set things off again with social media posts on June 10 that slammed the company for partnering with OpenAI, the AI company Musk cofounded and had a falling out with. 

Here's a history of Musk's criticisms of Apple and its CEO.

In 2016, Musk reportedly tried to take CEO Tim Cook's job.

According to Tim Higgins' book "Power Play: Tesla, Elon Musk, and the Bet of the Century,"  Tim Cook had suggested that Apple acquire Tesla in 2016. 

At the time, Musk reportedly said he wanted to be CEO and Cook allegedly agreed, until Musk clarified that he wanted to be CEO of Apple — not just Tesla.

According to the book, which cited a source who had heard Musk's retelling of the exchange, Cook said "Fuck you" before hanging up the phone on Musk.

Both Musk and Apple have denied the reports, saying the two CEOs have never spoken. 

"There was a point where I requested to meet with Cook to talk about Apple buying Tesla," Musk said on Twitter when the book came out last year. "There were no conditions of acquisition proposed whatsoever. He refused to meet. Tesla was worth about 6% of today's value."

Six years ago, Musk said Apple's devices don't "blow people's minds" like they used to.

In a 2018 interview with Recode's Kara Swisher, Musk said Apple's products have grown stale.

"There's not many products you can buy that really make you happier," he said. "I still think, obviously, that Apple makes great phones. … I still use an iPhone and everything. But Apple used to really bring out products that would blow people's minds, you know? And still make great products, but there's less of that."

Musk compared Apple to Tesla, saying Tesla planned to avoid Apple's pitfalls when it comes to consumer interest.

"I don't think people are necessarily running to the store for the iPhone 11," Musk said. "But I think with Tesla, we really want to make products that people just love, that are heart-stopping."

He doubled down his criticisms of Apple's technology in 2020.

In 2020, Musk criticized the iPhone's software while speaking at the Satellite 2020 conference.

"Technology does not automatically improve," Musk said. "People are used to the phone being better every year. I'm an iPhone user, but I think some of the recent software updates have been not great."

He continued to say that the software seemingly  "broke" his email system.

 

A key Apple executive deleted his Twitter account amid Musk's changes to Twitter.

Phil Schiller, the senior Apple executive who runs the company's App Store, deactivated his Twitter account in November 2022, shortly after Musk reinstated Donald Trump's account.

Schiller had hundreds of thousands of followers on the site and had formerly served as the company's head of marketing. His decision to delete his account spawned headlines and raised eyebrows across the industry.

Musk has slammed the tech company for its App Store fees.

"Did you know Apple puts a secret 30% tax on everything you buy through the App Store?" Musk tweeted in November 2022.

It was one of many times the billionaire has criticized Apple for its App Store fees.

In 2021, he called the fees a "de facto global tax on the Internet," and in November 2022, he tagged the Department of Justice's antitrust division in a criticism of the fees.

Now that he owns X, formerly Twitter, Apple's fees could have an impact on Musk's business and his plans to generate revenue by charging users $8 per month for verification on the social media site. 

The tech company controls app distribution for the iPhone and iPad, and takes between 15% and 30% of most in-app purchases made on iOS apps. The company typically requires that developers use in-app payment systems, though it has slightly softened that requirement for certain apps like Netflix and Spotify.

 

Elon Musk seemingly declared "war" on Apple in a since-deleted tweet in 2022.

The billionaire accused Apple of monopolizing the market and opposing free speech in a series of tweets.

"Apple has mostly stopped advertising on Twitter," Musk posted on Twitter in November 2022. "Do they hate free speech in America?"

In a series of tweets, Musk accused Apple of being politically biased, called for Apple to publish all actions it has taken toward censorship, and asked his followers for support in his fight against the largest tech company in the world.

The Tesla CEO and "Chief Twit" later added that Apple had "threatened" to take Twitter off its App Store and "won't tell us why."

A spokesperson for Apple did not respond to a request for comment at the time.

 

Musk took aim at Cook in 2022.

Musk said Apple stopped spending ad money on Twitter in 2022, but Cook never publicly responded.

"What's going on here @tim_cook?" Musk tweeted in November 2022.

In the first quarter of 2022, Apple was the top advertiser on Twitter, accounting for 4% of the social media company's revenue, according to The Washington Post.

Up until Musk's takeover, Twitter and Apple appeared to enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Apple has frequently used the site for product announcements, and Apple even integrated tweets in its iOS operating system in 2011.

In a op-ed with The New York Times, Yoel Roth, Twitter's former head of trust and safety, said that "the calls from the app review teams had already begun" when Musk's rollout of paid verification badges led to chaos, with users impersonating public figures and major companies.

 

But Musk didn't seem afraid of the consequences of beefing with Apple.

In the past, Musk has said he doesn't see Apple as a threat to Tesla.

Musk said in November 2022 that he'd create his own smartphone if Apple booted Twitter off the App Store.

"I certainly hope it does not come to that, but, yes, if there is no other choice, I will make an alternative phone," Musk posted on Twitter.

Musk hinted that his next step could be an iPhone following Apple's WWDC event. 

After a user on X, formerly Twitter, posted that they foresee the platform partnering with Samsung to manufacture an X phone, Musk responded, "It is not out of the question."

 

Musk seemed to let go of his beef with Apple after he visited its headquarters on November 30, 2022.

Days after declaring "war" on Apple, Musk posted a video that appeared to show him at Apple's campus in Cupertino, California. New York Times reporter Kate Conger also posted on Twitter at the time that Musk and Cook were spotted together on Apple's campus by employees. 

"Thanks @tim_cook for taking me around Apple's beautiful HQ," Musk posted on Twitter later that day.

In an interview with GQ several months later in April 2023, Cook opened up about his relationship with Musk and said he felt "very strongly about engaging with people regardless of whether they agree with you or not."

"I actually think it's even more important to engage when there's disagreement," Cook said in the interview.

Since then, Musk seemed to quiet down about his criticism of Apple and its CEO — at least temporarily. 

Musk has never shied away from picking a fight online.

The billionaire has been known to start his fair share of feuds on X, and he's never appeared hesitant to speak his mind.

Musk has public feuds with both Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman. Most recently, the billionaire sued OpenAI accusing it of betraying its original mission of being open-sourced and "developing AGI for the benefit of humanity."

Musk has also publicly argued with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Stephen King on X. The billionaire also seems to have a tense relationship with Don Lemon. After Lemon interviewed Musk and asked some tough questions, including about antisemitism on the platform and his ketamine use, the billionaire abruptly canceled X's partnership with the former CNN host. 

Musk has also personally called up CEOs of companies that have pulled ads from X to complain, Financial Times reported in November 2022.

 

Now, Musk is threatening to take action against Apple users after denouncing its partnership with OpenAI.

After Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI at the WWDC conference on Monday, Musk published a number of posts on X denouncing Apple's move to integrate ChatGPT as an opt-in feature across its software on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.

"If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies," Musk wrote. "That is an unacceptable security violation."

He also added that anyone visiting his companies would have to store their Apple devices in a Faraday cage, which is a type of container that blocks electromagnetic transmissions.

Musk, whose Grok AI chatbot is a ChatGPT competitor, also mocked Apple's artificial-intelligence chops, posting that it wasn't "smart enough to make their own AI."

Musk also took hits directly at Apple during and after the WWDC event.

In addition to multiple posts slamming Apple's partnership with OpenAI, Musk also made it clear he wasn't impressed with the company's other offerings.

During the event, Musk replied to a post on X about the crowd cheering when Apple introduced an iPhone home screen revamp with, "Um ok."

He also responded to a post from Cook that promoted Apple Intelligence with disinterest in its offerings. 

"Don't want it," the Tesla CEO said."Either stop this creepy spyware or all Apple devices will be banned from the premises of my companies."

Apple has yet to comment on Musk's criticisms.

In the meantime, it appears that Musk's one-sided beef with the company will continue.

Apple's Apple Intelligence features are scheduled to roll out later this year alongside the new iPhone lineup. Tesla, SpaceX, and X employees will likely be waiting to see whether their boss makes good on his word and bans the company's devices.

• Travel expert Samantha Brown has tips to help you enjoy waiting in airport terminals.
• Brown, a seasoned traveler, emphasizes stress reduction by arriving early for flights.
• She suggests exploring terminals, people-watching, and helping others to enhance the experience.

Enduring the airport is an essential part of air travel, and I think I speak for most when I say it's typically not a great experience.

From navigating busy terminals and security checkpoints to waiting for your plane to board at a packed gate, going to the airport is possibly the least enjoyable part of any trip.

But it doesn't have to be that way, travel expert Samantha Brown told Business Insider. 

Brown has hosted several travel shows worldwide over the past 25 years, including Travel Channel's "Great Vacation Homes" and her Emmy-award-winning PBS show, "Samantha Brown's Places to Love." She recently partnered with Klarna on a summer travel trends report with packing essentials and a trip itinerary based on hot destinations. 

Brown estimates she's been to more than 90 countries and flies 100,000 miles a year on average. Unlike most, she said she loves airports and has four tips for making the most of your time in terminals. 

Being stuck in an airport is inevitable for air travelers, so you might as well enjoy it.

Arrive early to eliminate stress

Although she loves airports, Brown expressed that, like most of us, she dislikes the pre-terminal check-in and TSA experience. But she said this is mostly due to stress, which can be avoided by arriving early.

"If you do not allow enough time, you will be stressed out," she said. "However, that stress goes away when you actually plan."

For example, during peak travel seasons like summer, she arrives at the airport three hours before boarding time.

Once she gets through security, Brown said she walks to her gate to ensure it's correct. Then, she can relax until her boarding time.

"I have never regretted how much time I've spent in the airport," she added.

Think of the airport as a mall

"Airports are my teenage mall," Brown said. "Some feel like cities in themselves, like the Denver airport is bigger than Manhattan."

With miles of stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and gates to explore, Brown said she likes to put on AirPods and take long walks through terminals before a flight. After years of doing this, she said she feels "at home" inside an airport.

People-watch to pass the time

On her long terminal walks, Brown said she loves to people-watch.

"I love to check out the different gates, and I will play a guessing game of who's waiting and where they look like they're going?" she said.

Help others in need

In airports, you tend to see other travelers keeping to themselves, only worrying about getting where they're going.

"So many people are traveling, and they forget how hard it is for other people to be in these massively overwhelming terminals with thousands of people," she said.

Brown shifts the tone by helping other travelers — especially when flying solo.

"When I am solo traveling, I'll look around and see if there's a mom who's busy with kids, or a caretaker with someone who's elderly, or if there's someone with a walker," she said. "And I will go up to them and say, 'I'm getting a cup of coffee. Do you need one?'"

Brown added that she has also helped families board with strollers.

Brown said that people are grateful for her assistance, which makes her feel good.

Brown's tips may help you avoid stress and enjoy your time at the airport by changing your perspective.

"We're all in this place for a short moment," she said. "We're all going somewhere else. It's magic."

• Dr. Donald Chalfin is an ICU physician.
• He was diagnosed with liver disease and needed a transplant.
• Being a patient made him a better doctor, he says.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dr. Donald Chalfin, an internist, and director of external engagements and collaborations for diagnostics with Siemens-Heathineers. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In March 2018, I was excited to leave my Bay Area home for a work trip. But my wife refused to take me to the airport unless I agreed to go to the hospital for a blood test first.

We had both noticed that I had concerning symptoms over the past few months. I was itchy, and my skin was yellow, which I recognized as jaundice. I'm an internist who works in the intensive care unit, and my wife is a pediatrician and public health physician. I was still firmly in denial despite my medical training, but she couldn't ignore the obvious anymore. So, we went to the lab on the way to the airport.

I tried my best to convince myself I was fine. Getting sick was something that happened to my patients, not me. But in the airport I checked my lab results. Unlike most patients, I didn't need to consult Google. I knew immediately something was very wrong.

I needed a liver transplant, which could have been avoided

My labs weren't just mildly concerning. They were abnormal enough that I knew I was in danger. After my short trip, I immediately reached out to my doctor, who sent me to see a specialist.

I was soon diagnosed with decompensated cirrhosis, or liver failure, caused by metabolic-dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), which used to be called fatty liver disease. Two months later, I was diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer that's common in people with liver failure.

My condition may have been reversible if it were caught early, but because I put off taking care of myself, I needed a liver transplant to survive. I've learned that there's no sense in ignoring warning signs — "If you see something, say something" applies to your health, not just public safety.

I switched hospitals to get a transplant

The medical center I was going to said I was too sick to get a transplant. That was absolutely terrifying to hear. I was only 58, and without a transplant, I was nearing the end of my life.

Luckily, my wife and I know a lot about the medical system in the US and just how byzantine it can be. That's especially true with the transplant system. Different regions set their own qualifications for who is eligible for a transplant.

After my wife did research, we moved from the Bay Area to New Orleans in July. The hospital in New Orleans cleared me to receive a transplant. It felt like my previous center was looking at the 100 reasons they shouldn't give me a transplant instead of the one reason they should. The New Orleans hospital took the opposite approach.

That — along with my wife's advocacy — saved my life. I was approved for a transplant, and just two days later got a match.

Being a patient made me a better doctor

As a doctor, I'm used to being in control. As a patient, I had very little control. I lost my independence and felt vulnerable. Sometimes, laying in a hospital bed with even my clothes taken away, I felt I had no dignity.

That experience made me a more compassionate doctor. Now, I realize that even seemingly small things, like nausea or a toothache, are really major to patients. They can ruin their whole day. I'll never brush off those concerns from my patients again.

It took me about a year and a half to feel like myself again after the transplant. At one point, I was too sick to play my guitar or kayak, let alone care for others. Now, I'm back in the ICU and advocating for awareness about liver health. I'm lucky to be here and determined to help remove barriers to healthcare so that others can have the happy ending I did.

• Following on from "House of the Dragon," there are lots more "Game of Thrones" spinoffs in the works.
• George R. R. Martin revealed that the Princess Nymeria spin-off "Ten Thousand Ships" was still in the works.
• Here's the status of every rumored and confirmed "Game of Thrones" spinoff, sequel, and prequel series. 

HBO has long planned to create a "Game of Thrones" television universe, giving fans of the global fantasy phenomenon more stories based on author George R.R. Martin's various book series that take place in Westeros and beyond.

And with the success of the first season of "House of the Dragon," it appears that the network is keen to continue to mine the world George R.R. Martin created with more spinoffs, sequels, and prequels.

Some of the series in development (which Martin prefers to call "successor shows") are based on existing stories that the fantasy author has written, while others would feature characters and locales he has created in brand new stories.

So here's everything we know about all the "Game of Thrones"-related projects that are in development, are rumored to be in development, or returning.

Kim Renfro contributed reporting to a previous version of this article.

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight"

HBO announced in April 2023 that the tentatively titled "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Night," based on Martin's "Dunk & Egg" stories, was officially moving ahead.

The show — which the author told Entertainment Weekly in 2016 would be the "most natural follow-up" to the much-loved fantasy series — has been given a straight-to-series order. It'll be written and executive produced by Martin and Ira Parker, with "House of the Dragon" showrunner Ryan Condal, Vince Gerardis, Owen Harris, and Sarah Bradshaw serving as executive producers.

It will take place almost a century before the events of "Game of Thrones" and focuses on the future Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, the future King Aegon V Targaryen. In April, Variety reported that the series had cast its leads: Peter Claffey as Ser Duncan ("Dunk"), and Dexter Sol Ansell as Aegon ("Egg"). 

The pair's adventures —  which appear across three novellas in the book "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" — are known fondly by fans as the "Dunk and Egg stories," but Martin explained in a blog entry why he and HBO had opted for a different title for the adaptation.

"There are millions of people out there who do not know the stories and the title needs to intrigue them too," he wrote. "If you don't know the characters, Dunk & Egg sounds like a sitcom. Laverne & Shirley. Abbott & Costello. Beavis & Butthead. So, no. We want 'knight' in the title. Knighthood and chivalry are central to the themes of these stories."

He added that "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Night" was a working title, and may be changed before the series lands on screens. Martin speculated that the first season of the series will "most likely" consist of six episodes "though that is not set in stone."

The greenlighting of the series may have come as something of a surprise to fans as Martin shared on his blog in 2017 that despite his initial enthusiasm for a "Dunk and Egg" show, he was putting the idea on a back burner since he was not yet done writing for the characters.

He wrote at the time: "Eventually, sure, I'd love that, and so would many of you. But I've only written and published three novellas to date, and there are at least seven or eight or ten more I want to write."

"We all know how slow I am and how fast a television show can move. I don't want to repeat what happened with GAME OF THRONES itself, where the show gets ahead of the books," he continued. "When the day comes that I've finished telling all my tales of Dunk & Egg, then we'll do a TV show about them, but that day is still a long ways off."

Martin was of course referencing the way that HBO's "Game of Thrones" wound up overtaking his published books in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, resulting in a divisive final season that may significantly deviate from Martin's planned (and still unwritten) book ending. 

The Jon Snow spinoff, "Snow"

"Snow," which would have explored what happened to fan favorite Jon Snow (Kit Harington) after the events of "Game of Thrones," was set to be the only spinoff in development that is not based on pre-existing material by Martin.

However, Harington told Screen Rant in April 2024 that the series was no longer in development.

"Currently, it's off the table, because we all couldn't find the right story to tell that we were all excited about enough," Harington said. "So, we decided to lay down tools with it for the time being. There may be a time in the future where we return to it, but at the moment, no. It's firmly on the shelf."

A representative for HBO declined to comment on Harington's remarks.

Writing on his blog in June 2022, Martin said that he was involved in the series, but revealed that the idea for the show had actually come from Harington himself.

He explained that Harington "brought the idea to us" and had assembled a "terrific" group of writers and showrunners, although he declined to share their names.

As audiences will remember, in the eighth and final season of "Game of Thrones," Jon discovered that he was not in fact the bastard son of Eddard "Ned" Stark (Sean Bean), but a potential heir to the Iron Throne as the secret child of Ned's sister Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. 

He also found himself exiled beyond the Wall to live out his days with the Free Folk after committing regicide by killing the crazed Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke).

According to Entertainment Weekly, speaking during a panel at a "Game of Thrones" convention in 2020, Harington himself said of Jon's future: "The fact he goes to the Wall is the greatest gift and also the greatest curse."

He continued: "He's gotta go back up to the place with all this history and live out his life thinking about how he killed Dany, and live out his life thinking about Ygritte dying in his arms, and live out his life thinking about how he hung Olly, and live out his life thinking about all of this trauma, and that, that's interesting." 

"So I think where we leave him at the end of the show, there's always this feeling of like… I think we wanted some kind of little smile that things are okay. He's not okay."

"Nine Voyages" 

Deadline was the first to report in early 2021 that a spinoff series about the adventures of Corlys Velaryon, also known as "The Sea Snake," was being developed at HBO with a script from "The Mentalist" creator Bruno Heller and support from Martin himself.

Although an older version of the character was introduced in the first season of "House of the Dragon," (played by Steve Toussaint), it's expected he will be recast for the stand-alone series, as it follows a much younger version of the character on his sea-faring journeys to Pentos, Dragonstone and around the bottom of Westeros.

However, speaking to Entertainment Weekly in 2022, Toussaint said he would love to be involved, even if it's just for a brief scene."

"If I'm lucky, I might say to them, 'Let me just be at the beginning [of the show] sitting with a book saying, 'Let me talk about my life,'" he said. "That'll be me petitioning."

However, at the end of 2023, Martin announced that "Nine Voyages" would be moving from live-action to animation, and explained why.

In a blog entry on December 31, he wrote: "Budgetary constraints would likely have made a live action version prohibitively expensive, what with half the show taking place at sea, and the necessity of creating a different port every week, from Driftmark to Lys to the Basilisk Isles to Volantis to Qarth to… well, on and on and on."

"There's a whole world out there.  And we have a lot better chance of showing it all with animation," he added.

"Ten Thousand Ships" and "Flea Bottom"

At the same time that Deadline dropped the news about "Nine Voyages," it was also announced that another spinoff series titled "Ten Thousand Ships" was being considered at HBO too, alongside another project, "Flea Bottom," which would be set in the poorest slum district in King's Landing.

While "Flea Bottom" has since been shelved, it appears that "Ten Thousand Ships" is still going ahead. In an August 2022 interview with The New York Times, Martin stated that the series is set "like a thousand years before" the flagship series and described it as "an 'Odyssey'-like epic." 

Martin gave a progress update on the series in a June 2024 blog post, announcing that Pulitzer-winning playwright Eboni Booth was writing a new pilot for "Ten Thousand Ships." Booth isn't the first writer to reportedly take a stab at the series: Deadline reported in 2021 that Amanda Segel ("Person of Interest") was attached to the project, and screenwriter Brian Helgeland told Inverse that he had pitched a script but the series wasn't picked up at the time. 

"We're all very excited about this one," Martin wrote in the June blog post. "Though we're still trying to figure out how we're going to pay for ten thousand ships, three hundred dragons, and those giant turtles."

If it goes ahead, the series will tell the story of warrior queen Princess Nymeria (the namesake of Arya Stark's direwolf) and the surviving Rhoynars who traveled from Essos to Dorne following their defeat by Valyria and their dragons.

"The Golden Empire"

"The Golden Empire" is the working title for the animated series about Yi-Ti, Martin's own fantasy version of Imperial China, which has only been briefly mentioned in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" books.

Like "Nine Voyages," the series will be animated, and according to the author, the early concept art and script for the series are shaping up quite nicely — but caveated that it could potentially be shelved.

Writing on his blog in March 2022, Martin stated that they had "a great young writer" working on the show and described the art and animation he had seen as "beautiful."

In the same 2022 New York Times interview where he spoke about "10,000 Ships," Martin shared more. "We got a terrific script on that," he said of "The Golden Empire."

However, he added: "Obviously, not all these shows we're developing are going to make it to air, but I hope that several of them do."

Untitled Aegon's Conquest series

Almost a year after Variety reported that a show focusing on Aegon Targaryen and his conquest of Westeros was in early development at HBO, The Hollywood Reporter shared some new details about the series which appears to be actively now heating up.

According to the outlet "The Batman II," screenwriter Mattson Tomlin is working on the treatment for the series, which does not yet have a title. 

Tomlin will adapt the story of Aegon's bloody and brutal conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, which Martin wrote about in the first half of "Fire & Blood," the same book that "House of Dragon" is adapted from.

The story is essentially a prequel to the events of "HoD," as it details how Aegon successfully unified six of the Seven Kingdoms with his sister wives, Rhaenys and Visenya, and their dragons in just two years.

"House of the Dragon" season two

"House of the Dragon" was the first "Game of Thrones" spinoff series to air, after an untitled prequel series starring Naomi Watts, co-written by Jane Goldman and directed by S.J. Clarkson, was dropped in 2019. 

Its first season hit screens in 2022 and was a huge success. Its premiere episode broke viewership records at HBO and it went on to earn eight Emmy nominations.

Unsurprisingly, a second season was quickly confirmed by the network and will be premiering on June 16, 2024.

In a December 2023 blog entry, Martin stated that while visiting the set of "House of the Dragon" season two, he had discussed the third and fourth seasons of the show with showrunner Ryan Condal and the writing staff. So presumably, "House of the Dragon" won't be ending anytime soon.

• Céline Dion spoke with Today's Hoda Kotb about the challenges of living with stiff-person syndrome.
• Before her diagnosis, Dion said she had a sinus infection or other illness when she had to cancel shows.
• But she said that the "burden" of not telling the truth about her condition was "too much."

Céline Dion opened up about the "very difficult" challenges of living with stiff-person syndrome, and said she initially tried to brush off the illness as her body being run down from touring.

Dion spoke in an extensive interview with Today's Hoda Kotb about her condition, and how she's managed it. Dion first announced that she had been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome in December 2022.

According to NBC News, Dion first started to experience symptoms of the condition 17 years ago.

"I could say that it's like a little cold starting, or just because I pushed too much. It's the third show in a row, you're working too hard," Dion told Kotb. "But the thing is that it was different. I started to feel that the body was like, getting more rigid."

Stiff-person syndrome is a disease that makes a person's muscles involuntarily stiffen and spasm, Business Insider previously reported. It has no cure, but those with the illness can manage it through treatment. Muscle spasms can be triggered by stress or environmental triggers, and can sometimes be strong enough to make bones pop out of their joints. Dion told Kotb that she once had broken ribs as a result of the condition.

Dion said that during a stop in Germany on her 2008 and 2009 "Taking Chances" world tour, she was experiencing symptoms before the show but still went onstage to perform. The symptoms caused her voice to sound more nasal, she said, and she and her team compensated by lowering the key of her songs.

Kotb recounted a moment from Dion's upcoming documentary, "I Am: Celine Dion," in which the singer says that she was forced to tell her audiences that she had a sinus or throat infection when she canceled shows.

As Kotb recounts, Dion says in the documentary that "not telling the truth was too much to carry." Despite her illness, Dion told Kotb she didn't slow down her schedule to rest and seek treatment. But after receiving a diagnosis, she eventually went public.

"Lying for me, was… the burden was like, too much," Dion told Kotb. "Lying to the people who got me where I am today, I could not do it anymore."

In 2022, Dion began to cancel and delay shows. After going public with her diagnosis in December of that year, she canceled her full tour in May 2023. She told Vogue France in April that she was undergoing physical, vocal, and athletic therapy to "live with" the disease.

The singer told Kotb that she is determined to perform again.

"I'm gonna go back on stage, even if I have to crawl, even if I have to talk with my hands, I will," she said. "I am Céline Dion, because today my voice will be heard for the first time, not just because I have to, or because I need to, it's because I want to. And I miss it."

"I Am: Celine Dion" premieres June 25 on Prime Video.

• I tried Gordon Ramsay's 10-minute scampi and angel hair pasta recipe. 
• The dish features shrimp, cherry tomatoes, lemon, and white wine — perfect summer flavors.
• The cooking time was shorter than my skincare routine, but the flavors were complex and delicious. 

Gordon Ramsay may have multiple Michelin stars, but he still loves whipping up simple dishes that require little time in the kitchen. 

And Ramsay's quick pasta recipes haven't let me down yet. His 15-minute Bolognese has become one of my family's favorite dishes, and we also loved his 10-minute turkey and leek pasta — which Ramsay makes for his kids every week. 

So, when I learned he had a 10-minute summer pasta recipe, I knew I had to try it. 

This 10-minute scampi pasta by the "MasterChef" star looks perfect for summer.

Ramsay's shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta is featured in his cookbook "Ramsay in 10," which is full of recipes that can be made in 10 minutes. 

When temperatures spike in the summertime, I never want to stand over a hot stove for too long. So a 10-minute pasta with some refreshing shrimp sounded like the perfect dish. 

Ramsay's 10-minute pasta includes shrimp, cherry tomatoes, and a handful of basil.

To make Ramsay's shrimp scampi with angel hair pasta for two, you'll need: 

• 8 ounces angel hair pasta 
• 5 ½ ounces raw shrimp 
• 2 banana shallots 
• 2 garlic cloves 
• 2 tablespoons small capers 
• 1 lemon (zest and juice) 
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes 
• ¼ cup white wine 
• ¼ cup vegetable or fish stock 
• Large handful of basil leaves 
• Pinch of chili flakes 
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving 

Ramsay says you can use any very fine pasta for this dish, including vermicelli, tagliolini, or spaghettini. 

I should also note that I couldn't find banana shallots at my local supermarket. Since they're a bit larger than the regular variety, I just added an extra shallot while testing this recipe.

To get started, I brought a pot of water to boil for the pasta.

I made sure to season the water with salt.

I also got my prep out of the way.

As a novice chef, I'm still not very quick when it comes to chopping ingredients. So I opted to prepare everything before I started cooking. 

Per Ramsay's instructions, I halved my cherry tomatoes, zested a lemon, minced my garlic, and peeled and sliced the shallots. 

Don't throw away the rest of your lemon — you'll need its juice later on!

I also tried Ramsay's trick for chopping the basil.

"To chop the basil quickly, gather the small leaves and roll them up in the biggest leaf, like a cigar, then chop with a large knife," Ramsay writes in his cookbook. 

It was time to get cooking, so I placed my nonstick pan over medium heat.

I added one tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and let it heat up.

Then, I added the shallots and garlic.

I threw in the shallots first, seasoning them with salt and pepper. 

After I added the garlic, I seasoned everything with a pinch of chili flakes and let the garlic and shallots cook together for two minutes. 

Once the two minutes were up, I added the cherry tomatoes to the pan.

I let the tomatoes cook for 30 seconds.

Then, I deglazed the pan with white wine.

Ramsay says you should allow the wine to bubble for 30 seconds.

Once those 30 seconds were up, I added the vegetable stock.

I let the vegetable stock reduce in the pan for two minutes.

While the sauce was reducing, I prepped my shrimp.

I peeled the shrimp and seasoned them with salt and pepper.

Then, I added my capers and chopped basil to the sauce.

Per Ramsay's instructions, I removed the pan from the heat.

To cook the shrimp, I placed a second nonstick frying pan over high heat and added a drizzle of olive oil.

Ramsay says the shrimp should cook for about 30 seconds, until they turn golden brown. Keep an eye on the color — it took my shrimp about a minute. 

I also threw my angel hair pasta into the pot of boiling water.

I cooked the pasta until it became al dente, which took about three minutes. 

Once my shrimp had turned golden brown, I removed my second pan from the heat and flipped each shrimp.

This allows the shrimp to finish cooking in the residual heat. 

I drizzled some olive oil and sprinkled lemon zest over the shrimp, then added them to my pan with the sauce.

Ramsay says you should then return the pan to the heat to warm everything up.

Once my pasta was ready, I drained it and returned it to the pan where I had cooked the shrimp.

I added a drizzle of olive oil to the pasta and tossed it to combine. 

Then, I added the pasta back to the pan of sauce.

I topped my finished pasta with Parmesan cheese, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some lemon zest.

The pasta smelled amazing, and I loved the bright pops of color — it looked like the perfect dinner for summer. 

Ramsay's 10-minute pasta tasted delicious, and I couldn't believe it had only taken 10 minutes.

There was a lovely lightness to Ramsay's 10-minute scampi that I always look for in a great summer dish. Even though the overall cooking time was shorter than my nightly skincare routine, the flavors were still complex and interesting. It tasted like an elevated version of Martha Stewart's famous one-pot pasta dish. 

I should note that I found the angel hair was a bit sticky and hard to mix, which means I probably overcooked it a little — so be really careful when you're boiling your thin pasta. And next time, I'll add more chili flakes and tomatoes; they were my favorite part of the dish, and I loved their blistered texture. 

I'll definitely whip up Ramsay's 10-minute scampi again when I need something quick but delicious on a busy summer weeknight. 

• Sam Altman and OpenAI might be the biggest beneficiaries of Apple's WWDC announcements.
• Apple announced an integration with OpenAI that will let iOS 18 users ask ChatGPT questions.
• The partnership makes ChatGPT an option for the billions of prompts that people ask Siri each day.

Forget Tim Cook: OpenAI and Sam Altman might be the biggest winners after Monday's announcements at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.

While Apple announced Apple Intelligence, its in-house artificial intelligence tool, it also said that Apple users will soon be able to use ChatGPT in Siri through an integration it created with OpenAI. The feature is part of Apple's iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and Sequoia, its computer operating system.

ChatGPT has grabbed the public's attention since its surprise launch in November 2022. And though it's still much smaller than search giant Google, users have been turning to the chatbot to get concise answers to questions instead of having to use the right keywords and sift through search results.

Apple wants its customers "to use these external models without having to jump between different tools," Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president, software engineering, said in a presentation during WWDC on Monday. You can currently use ChatGPT on your iPhone, for example, but through its app.

With the integration, Siri will draw on ChatGPT to answer questions beyond Apple Intelligence's capabilities, such as requests for recipes that use certain ingredients, according to Monday's presentation.

Users will have to give permission for Siri to share their prompt with ChatGPT beforehand, one of several nods to privacy that Apple made as it rolled out its AI features at WWDC.

It's a big endorsement for OpenAI and its CEO Altman, especially since Apple was reportedly also considering Google's Gemini earlier this year for the next iPhone release.

It also represents easy access to a massive new user base for ChatGPT. Apple's iOS is installed on about 2.2 billion devices, Wedbush estimated in a note on Monday. And Siri handles 1.5 billion voice requests daily, Kelsey Peterson, Apple's director of machine learning and AI, said at WWDC on Monday.

Apple selected OpenAI because ChatGPT provides "world knowledge" that Apple customers can draw on, Apple CEO Tim Cook told The Washington Post in an interview published Tuesday. He added that OpenAI's refusal to track users' IP addresses was also a factor that led to the partnership.

"We're integrating with other people as well," Cook said, referring to other AI models. "But they're first, and I think today it's because they're best."

Apple and OpenAI haven't revealed the financial details behind the deal. OpenAI said in a statement that "the ChatGPT integration, powered by GPT-4o, will come to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS later this year. Users can access it for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their accounts and access paid features right from these experiences."

History shows what Apple can do for the companies it partners with. Google's 2005 agreement with Apple to make its search engine the default on the Safari internet browser, for instance, paid dividends for Google, especially once Apple started selling iPhones that came with Safari a couple of years later.

Today, Google has that pact to thank in part for its dominance of online search. Monday's agreement with OpenAI could be the start of something similar.