Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Encryption

March 14, 2016 12:38 PM - Season 3, Episode 5

This week....Hillary Clinton apologizes for remarks made about Nancy Reagan on the occaision of her death. Trump rallies erupt in violence, but he claims (despite multiple recorded examples) not to have encouraged it. International Women's Day is observed, sometimes oddly, throughout the world. Swiss president Johann Schneider-Ammann commemorates the Day of the Sick with a weird speech. And Now: Everybody Listen, Bernie Sanders Has Something to Say. Main story: Software encryption (18m), especially relevant concerning Apple's current court case. LWT made a commercial on behalf of Apple about the nature of software security.

• The US Election: "Or, as you may know it, the 'Holy Shit, Please Make It Stop, Trash Fire Two Thousand Fuckteen.'" Donald Trump: "An ill-fitting suit filled with chickens coming home to roost."
• International Women's Day: "The day when men with girlfriends wake up, see the words 'International Women's Day' trending on Facebook, and suddenly wonder 'Shit! Do I have to do something right now?'"
• Switzerland: "Where the national dance is collapsing from altitude sickness."
• Apple: "Join us as we dance madly on the lip of the volcano."

BTW in case you hadn't heard, John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman's news podcast The Bugle is updating again.

posted by JHarris (10 comments total)

Sigh. Why can't "Gary" ever be the name of a cool guy?
posted by Gary at 4:36 PM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

"You know why, Gary. You know why."
posted by cardboard at 5:59 PM on March 14, 2016 [8 favorites]

My middle name is Gary. It really is.
posted by juiceCake at 6:16 PM on March 14, 2016

Henchman 21 from The Venture Brothers is named Gary, and he's pretty great.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:16 PM on March 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

I quite enjoyed the Rich Sommer cameo.

Sometimes I wonder if Donald Trump as any shame at all, and then I think, why am I even wondering this? Of course he doesn't. I read something about how he might be arrested for inciting a riot, and I hope he will be. It would be lovely to see him facing criminal charges in the middle of his campaign.

Man, those International Women's Day speeches were SO weird. How can someone become a head of state when they are so clueless? Don't answer that -- unfortunately I know the answer.
posted by orange swan at 8:56 PM on March 14, 2016

My secret suspicion/hope is that it's just a big scam, and it'll get right up to the convention and Trump will go to his competitors or the party bigwigs in secret and say "how much money will you give me to drop out and, on the way out the door, endorse you/your favored guy?"
posted by JHarris at 12:31 AM on March 15, 2016

I quite enjoyed the Rich Sommer cameo.

I am against Rich Sommer doing anything that's not his Cardboard podcast, but I guess that ship has sailed.
posted by Etrigan at 7:07 AM on March 15, 2016

Is it my imagination, or is the FBI (at 2:20 or so) flying a 48-star flag for some reason?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:25 PM on March 15, 2016

International Women's Day piece now on YouTube.
posted by Gary at 4:45 PM on March 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oliver is pretty on the money in that Apple does seem like its on the defensive to many people. I thought he did a good job in pointing out just how fragile Apple's lead over hackers is and how quickly it could be eroded. I also draw a little faith in knowing that even Apple's employees can't easily get into some of these products, which I doubt is something many people widely understood before this.
posted by ComicsSleepRepeat at 11:27 PM on March 16, 2016