Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Food Waste in the US
July 21, 2015 12:35 AM - Season 2, Episode 21 - Subscribe
This week.... The US and Iran are on the verge of signing a historic nuclear arms deal. Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escapes from prison by constructing a surprisingly elaborate tunnel a mile long. North Korea gears up to celebrate their "Liberation Day" with a concert by Slovenian band Laibach. And Now: CBS This Morning's Awkward Sex Talk. Main story: The fact that the US wastes 40% of the food it produces each year, and its consequences. YouTube (18m) Last Week Tonight produced their own, more honest version of an "American" cheeseburger commercial produced by Carl's Jr.
Iran: (America's relationship with Iran is) "the Star Wars of international relationships: good in the 70s, terrible for a long time, and now hopefully on the brink of a revival."
Mexico: "Or as you may know it, 'Spicy Canada.'"
North Korea: "Earth's Florida."
First interesting fact of the episode: food sell-by dates (other than for baby formula) have no legal basis and are determined by the manufacturer, and refusals by stores to donate expired food are due to false conventional wisdom that they might get sued, which has never happened, and is in fact even covered by federal legislation stating you cannot be sued for making a food donation in good faith.
Second interesting fact of the episode: A bill to give tax credits to businesses that donate food passed the House as the "America Gives More Act of 2015," but the Senate completely gutted it, refilled it with entirely different and unrelated language, retitled it The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, and passed that.
Iran: (America's relationship with Iran is) "the Star Wars of international relationships: good in the 70s, terrible for a long time, and now hopefully on the brink of a revival."
Mexico: "Or as you may know it, 'Spicy Canada.'"
North Korea: "Earth's Florida."
First interesting fact of the episode: food sell-by dates (other than for baby formula) have no legal basis and are determined by the manufacturer, and refusals by stores to donate expired food are due to false conventional wisdom that they might get sued, which has never happened, and is in fact even covered by federal legislation stating you cannot be sued for making a food donation in good faith.
Second interesting fact of the episode: A bill to give tax credits to businesses that donate food passed the House as the "America Gives More Act of 2015," but the Senate completely gutted it, refilled it with entirely different and unrelated language, retitled it The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, and passed that.
My impression was that for El Chapo the tunnels are just a formality given police corruption and coercion.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:01 AM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:01 AM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think the tunnel escape piece was a bit sloppy - Sure, they COULD expect him to escape in a tunnel, but finding out where and when is a bit harder (as it was surely not him doing the digging), plus, knowing Mexico's violence and corruption problem, I wonder how many guards could have known of such a plan and told to be shush or else.
Given that the tunnel went directly to his cell, I don't think figuring out where would have been a problem.
I can't believe that the lazy fuck couldn't even be bothered walking through his 1 mile long custom built escape tunnel - he had a freaking motorcyle put in! It's only a mile! He probably had a limo pick him up from the exit, with his butler inside holding a fresh martini. He's basically the Kingpin from Daredevil.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:34 PM on July 22, 2015
Given that the tunnel went directly to his cell, I don't think figuring out where would have been a problem.
I can't believe that the lazy fuck couldn't even be bothered walking through his 1 mile long custom built escape tunnel - he had a freaking motorcyle put in! It's only a mile! He probably had a limo pick him up from the exit, with his butler inside holding a fresh martini. He's basically the Kingpin from Daredevil.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:34 PM on July 22, 2015
well, it would end up somewhere in jail where El Chapo could have private access and be unsuspiciously out of sight for a few moments, but from where the tunnel would be excavated is a different matter. The fake new house was one mile away, it's not like one day a construction site appeared just outside the jail exclusion zone.
Also, I think the bike may have been used to cart dirt in the tunnel. Doing the literal Underground Railroad was just a bonus.
posted by lmfsilva at 4:13 AM on July 23, 2015
Also, I think the bike may have been used to cart dirt in the tunnel. Doing the literal Underground Railroad was just a bonus.
posted by lmfsilva at 4:13 AM on July 23, 2015
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I think the tunnel escape piece was a bit sloppy - Sure, they COULD expect him to escape in a tunnel, but finding out where and when is a bit harder (as it was surely not him doing the digging), plus, knowing Mexico's violence and corruption problem, I wonder how many guards could have known of such a plan and told to be shush or else.
The best before date (and all its confusing varieties) is something that irritates me because it causes so much waste, very often unnecessarily. I did ate a wedge of brie a couple of days past the date last week, so, uh, I win?
posted by lmfsilva at 6:29 AM on July 21, 2015 [1 favorite]