Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Iran Deal
April 23, 2018 10:21 AM - Season 5, Episode 9 - Subscribe
This week....
Trump Administration: "The Sharknado of administrations, in that they are spinning out of control destroying everything in their path, and they will almost certainly, eventually, hire Tara Reid."
Diplomacy: "That thing which keeps us from immediately going to war with our enemies, and what keeps us from telling Liechtenstein how we really feel."
Here's a Buzzfeed article with examples of those knockoff Iranian fast food restaurants.
F. 37 Nemesis Pruittus, EARTH DAY
- The FBI raided Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen's offices. Everyone's asking, "Will he 'flip?'"
- Ryan Zinke, Trump's Secretary of the Interior, oversees the largest reduction in America's public lands in our nation's history, and calls himself a geologist under oath despite having never worked as one. He's also a deeply strange man.
- And Now: Somebody Please Tell Ryan Zinke He's Not a Geologist
- Main story: The Iran Deal, which Trump has been loud about disliking, asserting the people who wrote it were "babies." LWT takes a deep look at what it is and what it's for. The deal is important for limiting Iran's nuclear hopes, but Trump, his national security advisors and Sean Hannity are all against it. In a last ditch effort to get it through to him, LWT has paid for ad time during Hannity's show in the DC area featuring everyone's favorite, the Catheter Cowboy.
Trump Administration: "The Sharknado of administrations, in that they are spinning out of control destroying everything in their path, and they will almost certainly, eventually, hire Tara Reid."
Diplomacy: "That thing which keeps us from immediately going to war with our enemies, and what keeps us from telling Liechtenstein how we really feel."
Here's a Buzzfeed article with examples of those knockoff Iranian fast food restaurants.
F. 37 Nemesis Pruittus, EARTH DAY
I had hoped Oliver would mention that Zinke is the jerk who insists on being referred to as "in garrison" when he's in the building (and they fly his flag) but I guess there's only so much time in the show.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:57 AM on April 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Servo5678 at 10:57 AM on April 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
they did address that, it was quick, but John said it's was ridiculous because the only other person that does that is the queen of england
posted by numaner at 11:18 AM on April 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by numaner at 11:18 AM on April 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
what's hilarious is that Pizza Hat's logo is actually stolen from Red Hat, a Linux OS company
posted by numaner at 11:20 AM on April 23, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by numaner at 11:20 AM on April 23, 2018 [5 favorites]
they did address that, it was quick, but John said it's was ridiculous because the only other person that does that is the queen of england
Every general / admiral does this. That’s why Zinke wants it done for him. He’s never gotten over getting stuck at Commander (two ranks below the admiral ranks) after he got caught trying to steal a couple hundred bucks from the government.
posted by Etrigan at 4:58 PM on April 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
Every general / admiral does this. That’s why Zinke wants it done for him. He’s never gotten over getting stuck at Commander (two ranks below the admiral ranks) after he got caught trying to steal a couple hundred bucks from the government.
posted by Etrigan at 4:58 PM on April 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
He’s never gotten over getting stuck at Commander (two ranks below the admiral ranks) after he got caught trying to steal a couple hundred bucks from the government.
Which is the most absurd thing of all. Any civil servant can tell you not to screw with travel reimbursements. Someone will find out eventually.
I absolutely loathe Zinke. I hope his non-geologist ass gets ousted or is forced to resign soon.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:49 AM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
Which is the most absurd thing of all. Any civil servant can tell you not to screw with travel reimbursements. Someone will find out eventually.
I absolutely loathe Zinke. I hope his non-geologist ass gets ousted or is forced to resign soon.
posted by elsietheeel at 10:49 AM on April 24, 2018 [3 favorites]
What, no love for the John Oliver and James Van Der Beek podcast Talkin' Tehran? Not even a mention?
I got a giggle out of the "Zinke claims to be a geologist" thing, because I used to work with a guy who'd gone to the University of Toronto for a year or so before dropping out (or, as I suspect, flunking out), and he would say things like, "Speaking as an archaeologist..." on the strength of having taken a single course in archaeology and having gotten an A in it. From the sounds of it, it may have been the only A he ever got and he had an exaggerated notion of the significance of getting an A in one course.
posted by orange swan at 4:59 PM on April 24, 2018
I got a giggle out of the "Zinke claims to be a geologist" thing, because I used to work with a guy who'd gone to the University of Toronto for a year or so before dropping out (or, as I suspect, flunking out), and he would say things like, "Speaking as an archaeologist..." on the strength of having taken a single course in archaeology and having gotten an A in it. From the sounds of it, it may have been the only A he ever got and he had an exaggerated notion of the significance of getting an A in one course.
posted by orange swan at 4:59 PM on April 24, 2018
I really liked this episode - Oliver (and team) has been getting the show and its format increasingly polished.
Acknowledging that the history of the US/Iran is incredibly complicated and difficult to convey - yet managed to distill it down to a few sentences - and do a relevant human interest bit - made my blackened and shriveled heart begin to reanimate for a few moments.
Contrasted with calling Zinke out for inflated self aggrandizement - Zinke dropping that he's a geologist is bad enough, but the promiscuity of his invocations is damning.
What kind of geologist are you? Volcanologist? Hydrogeology? Petroleum? Seismology? Paleontology?
Bit of a meta demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
--
I got a giggle out of the Van Der Beek/ Oliver piece but had to google who JVDB is. There's the theme that the (political) "Right" can't do humour/ parody. This is how one should be doing humour - it was an elite example of poking fun at yourself (the "Left") without being mean about it but still catty enough to bite.
Which reminds me how much I hate the nomenclature of Right/ Left, Liberal/ Conservative, and of course the mechanisms that produce a political dichotomy with little nuance.
posted by porpoise at 6:25 PM on April 24, 2018
Acknowledging that the history of the US/Iran is incredibly complicated and difficult to convey - yet managed to distill it down to a few sentences - and do a relevant human interest bit - made my blackened and shriveled heart begin to reanimate for a few moments.
Contrasted with calling Zinke out for inflated self aggrandizement - Zinke dropping that he's a geologist is bad enough, but the promiscuity of his invocations is damning.
What kind of geologist are you? Volcanologist? Hydrogeology? Petroleum? Seismology? Paleontology?
Bit of a meta demonstration of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
--
I got a giggle out of the Van Der Beek/ Oliver piece but had to google who JVDB is. There's the theme that the (political) "Right" can't do humour/ parody. This is how one should be doing humour - it was an elite example of poking fun at yourself (the "Left") without being mean about it but still catty enough to bite.
Which reminds me how much I hate the nomenclature of Right/ Left, Liberal/ Conservative, and of course the mechanisms that produce a political dichotomy with little nuance.
posted by porpoise at 6:25 PM on April 24, 2018
10 > 0
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:54 AM on April 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by DrAstroZoom at 7:54 AM on April 25, 2018 [2 favorites]
ge·ol·o·gist
jēˈäləjəst/Submit
noun
an expert in or student of geology.
I guess that makes him a geologist by technicality (and Merriam Webster), which is the best kind of geologist.
posted by dr_dank at 7:08 AM on May 6, 2018
jēˈäləjəst/Submit
noun
an expert in or student of geology.
I guess that makes him a geologist by technicality (and Merriam Webster), which is the best kind of geologist.
posted by dr_dank at 7:08 AM on May 6, 2018
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posted by Samizdata at 10:32 AM on April 23, 2018