FanFare

The President of Chile was undermined during a speech by a toddler on a bicycle in a Superman outfit. Queen Elizabeth died, and Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister of the UK. And Now: Sean Hannity Does The Opposite Of An Ad For Walmart. Main story: Law & Order, not the concepts but the show, and how it's taken as a true depiction of how policing is done when it really shouldn't be. On Youtube (27 minutes).
posted by JHarris on Sep 17, 2022 - 2 comments

This week.... The Queen of England's Platinum Jubilee. The school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. That leads us directly to the main story: school resource officers, pitched as a way to deter school shootings, but there is little evidence that they do, and there are many drawbacks to their presence in schools. Get ready for terrible stories of police involvement in schools, including a girl getting arrested for a science project that made the cap of a coke bottle pop off. On YouTube (27 minutes) And Now: People On TV Get A Little Too British For The Platinum Jubilee. Finally, vandals last November attacked a banana-and-skull sculpture in Melbourne. The show offers the city, if they will give their sculpture to them, to compensate with donations, plus as a return gift, their statue of a cartoon alligator flipping the bird that they've had pointed at the offices of Dr. Oz. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 6, 2022 - 6 comments

This week: police officers around the US threaten to quit rather than get vaccinated. And Now: The Weather Channel's Graphics Department Is Still Not Fucking Around. Main story: Taiwan, its history as an anti-communist tool by the West, its current-day democratic miracle, and its fraught relationship with Communist China. And Now: James Corden Loves Cinema. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 25, 2021 - 6 comments

This week, again from the White Void of Sad Facts: the killings by police of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo, kicking off yet another cycle of media condemnation, right-wing defense of police, and criticism of righteous anger from protestors. To attempt to change their part in this terrible cycle, LWT did short pieces on blissfully stupid topics (see inside). And Now: The Commercials On FOX News In The Middle Of The Night Know Exactly Who They're Talking To. Main story (21m): Personal bankruptcy, a resource employed by millions of people, and has been often unduly stigmatized. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 19, 2021 - 2 comments

This week: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo faces a Federal investigation for intentionally under-reportng nursing home deaths due to COVID, reportedly having threatened to end a state senator's career over it. And Now: Did Fox Business's Liz Claman Mention That She Likes Peloton? Then the main story (26m): Police raids, a tool that law enforcement arguably relies on way, way too often, and disproportionately against minorities. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 1, 2021 - 0 comments

This week, from the void: The RNC convention is filled with tonedeaf shouting people who think the world is great and only getting better! But also there's the recent horrors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with Jacob Blake being repeatedly shot in the back by police and a teenage vigilante killing two people. On YouTube (20m) And Now: The RNC Gets Off To A Great Start. Finally, the city of Danbury, Connecticut responds to John Oliver's playful dissing of their town, up to their mayor threatening to name their new sewage plant after him. But they didn't actually do it, leading John to make a promise: name their sewage plant after him, and he'll donate $55,000 to various charities in the Danbury area. And in case the major is reluctant to spend public money on the sign, LWT went ahead and made one for them. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 31, 2020 - 7 comments

This week:

• Trump tries to spin his terrible debate performance by citing terrible, exploitable online polls, and his thin skin somehow gets even thinner, as he casts aspersions on a former Miss USA winner by, well.... Oliver: "That is a candidate for President of the United States urging America to check out a sex tape. Just do me a favor. Look up into the sky right now. Higher. No, higher still. Do you see that? Way up there? Way up above the clouds? That's rock bottom. And we are currently way down here."
• And Now: Newscasters Quoting Movies
• Main Story: Police accountability, or rather its lack, as it turns out that police who use deadly force practically never get called on account for it, due to a variety of increasly infuriating reasons. YouTube (20m)
• And Now: Newscasters Quoting Movies, All Christ Matthews Edition
• More on Wells Fargo, how the company retaliated against whistleblowers who called an internal ethics hotline to warn of wrong-doing. It turns out that the case for ethics had been made by a training video that Wells Fargo themselves had commissioned. The host of that video, it turns out, now works as a writer for Last Week Tonight! He stars in an update for that video. YouTube (4m)

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 4, 2016 - 6 comments

This (last) week:

• The protests in Charlotte over yet another police shooting, and the release of video from the incident.
• Employees for Wells Fargo created a huge number of accounts for people without their knowing, in order to extract fees for those accounts, due to an "aggressive" sales campaign.
• And Now: Wait, Is WCBS2 News at 11 Just Fucking With Us At This Point?
• Main story: The scandals plaguing the Clinton and Trump campaigns, how the Clinton ones tend to be more annoying than truly serious, while the Trump ones tend to all be blockbusters that would doom any other candidate, resulting in scandal fatigue. YouTube (21m)

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 4, 2016 - 2 comments

A round table discussion about the evidence available to the second Morgan inquiry. While the investigation is on hold, Alastair makes an important connection. <
posted by ellieBOA on Jun 30, 2016 - 0 comments

In one of the most explosive inquests in British history, the Morgan family are told the details of Daniel's murder and the conspiracy behind it.
posted by ellieBOA on Jun 24, 2016 - 0 comments

Another violent death of a police officer associated with Daniel, while the suspects use TV and press contacts to derail the first Morgan Murder inquiry.
posted by ellieBOA on Jun 24, 2016 - 1 comment

In the immediate aftermath of Daniel's death, Alastair becomes the one true detective into his brother's brutal axe killing. But who else can he trust?
posted by ellieBOA on Jun 24, 2016 - 0 comments

Exploring Daniel Morgan's background, and the murky world of private detectives and police in South London in the 1980s after an £18,000 heist.
posted by ellieBOA on Jun 24, 2016 - 0 comments

This week: Vladimir Putin holds his yearly four-hour marathon Q&A session with the Russian public. Oklahoma volunteer deputy Robert Bates shoots black suspect Eric Harris. In preparation for Earth Day (it's in a week), they took a quick look at the plight of the polar bear; not only is their habitat shrinking, but pollution is threatening the species by weakening male polar bears' pelvic and penile bones. In studio we meet Marshmallow, the Polar Bear With A Broken Penis. And Now: The Most Patient Man On Television Endures The American Public. (That would be Steve Scully of C-SPAN's Washington Journal call-in show.) Main story: Abuses of the US Patent system. (YouTube 11m) And Now: The Continuing Adventures Of The Most Patient Man On Television. And finally, we return to CNN's infamous "end of world" video, with Last Week Tonight's own proposed version (YouTube 7m), narrated by Martin Sheen and featuring footage of an old-time Western saloon peopled by cats.
posted by JHarris on Apr 21, 2015 - 7 comments

This week: Hong Kong protests China's increasingly intrusive control. A roundup of silly candidates for Brazil's upcoming mandatory election. Norway drops out of the running for the 2022 Winter Olympics due to excessive IOC demands, leaving China and Kazakhstan as the sole remaining candidates. How Is This Still A Thing: Columbus Day. Main story: police abuse of civil forfeiture (16m MeFi). Special guest: Jeff Goldblum. Jell Goldblum outtake clips (1m).
posted by JHarris on Oct 7, 2014 - 11 comments