96 posts tagged with trump.
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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: State Medical Boards  Season 11, Ep 4

This week.... Kamala Harris appeared to call for a cease fire in Gaza... but then qualified it by adding "for the next six weeks." Trump endorses North Carolina Republican candidate for Governor Mark Robinson by calling him, inexplicably, "Martin Luther King on steroids." And Now: C-SPAN Callers Show Once Again Why They're America At Its Best. Main story: state medical boards, the organizations whose job it is to issue, suspend and revoke licenses to practice medicine in each state. These boards tend to be underfunded, but also are often composed entirely of doctors, who can be biased in their judgements on behalf of their colleagues, a phenomenon called "the white coat code of silence." On Youtube (23 minutes). And Now: People On TV Love To Talk About Their Big Fuckin' Heads. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 14, 2024 - 5 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Boeing  Season 11, Ep 3

This week.... Biden "hopes" for a cease fire in Gaza. The Supreme Court says they will take up Donald Trump's claim of absolute immunity while in office. And Now: Newscasters React to a Seasonal Phenomenon (iguanas falling out of trees). Main Story: The problems with aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which has fallen from grace in recent decades, after their merger with McDonnell Douglas brought with it a focus on using stock buybacks to juice their shares at the cost of all else, paid for by cutting corners on safety. LWT presents a more honest ad for Boeing at the end of the episode. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 4, 2024 - 3 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Supreme Court  Season 11, Ep 1

Welcome back! This week (and the past two months).... The Chicago Rat Hole. (wait, what?) Tucker Carlson had a fawning interview with Vladimir Putin. Israel continued its horrific assault on Gaza. Courts have hit Trump with gigantic fines, but he keeps on Trumping, saying (amidst the word salad) all the horrifying things he's now been saying for over eight years, including telling Russia to "do whatever the hell they want." And Now: Chuck Grassley Celebrates His Favorite Holiday (Groundhog Day). Main Story: The Supreme Court, which has been losing respect among many, has been rocked by news of gross financial impropriety by Justices, which is dangerous for an institution with no enforcement power. Thomas, in particular, has accepted millions of dollars of trips and other gifts from conservative billionaires, including some who frequently are involved in matters before the court, and almost never recuses himself from their cases, and in recognition of its status as the highest court, the law explicitly carves out exceptions for Supreme Court justices. Last Week Tonight offers to resolve the appearance of impropriety with its characteristic bluntness: if seats on the highest court of the land are so invulnerable to appearances of influence without consequence, then John Oliver himself will offer Justice Clarence Thomas a $2.4 million-dollar motor coach and a million dollars a year for the rest of his life, if he will just step down from his office. In Oliver's words: "How is this legal?" [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 19, 2024 - 7 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Biden's Border Policy  Season 10, Ep 10

This week.... Matthew McConaughey's had a five-and-a-half-hour-long "The Art of Livin'" Virtual Live Event that was bonkers. In the UK, they prepare for Charles' coronation despite facing serious economic problems. And Now: Is Matthew McConaughey OK? Main story: Biden, and the ways in which he's failed to live up to his campaign rhetoric regarding immigration, like the continued abuse of Title 42, a public health law, which began under Trump as a way to prevent access to immigrants and asylum seekers was began under Trump policy golem Stephen Miller, and which Biden has notably failed to stamp out." And Now: Wait, Did Tucker Carlson Know This Was Coming? (Statements Carlson has said on Fox News that could be seen to refer to his recent resignation-probable-firing.) On Youtube. (20 minutes) Finally, an update over the ads fo Radiant Plumbing and Air Conditioning, who makes strange and wonderful toilet-themed parodies of big movies for commercials. Last month LWT challenged them to make a toilet-themed commercial parody based on a movie of their choosing. They accepted in brilliant fashion, and the movie choice was, of all things, Magnolia. What they produced, awesomely, was... Magtoiletolia.
posted by JHarris on May 1, 2023 - 2 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Timeshares  Season 10, Ep 5

This week... it's slightly possible that maybe it could occur that Trump will be arrested soon, and he seems to be taking it "well." The fallout from the failure of Silicon Valley Bank continues. And Now: For St. Patrick's Day, Local News Did What They Always Fucking Do. The main story is on timeshares (on Youtube, 26 minutes), or as they're sometimes rebranded now, "Vacation Clubs," or "Vacation Ownership Plans." People are pressured to buy them on vacation, salespeople have diminished responsibility when they lie about them, and 85% of timeshare buyers come to regret their purchase, which are often subject to a "non-cancellable perpetuity clause," that can be an outright burden on the people they're left to in estates if they don't fire a disclaiming document within nine months. As the show tells us, timeshares suck, and companies that claim they can get you out of timeshares suck more. The show welcome's back John's "wife," Wanda Jo Oliver, to tell us about her new "company," Timeshare Exit2, which "has over 9.3 billion customers, and a 200% satisfaction rate!" [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 20, 2023 - 9 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Psychedelic Assisted Therapy  Season 10, Ep 1

Welcome back, John Oliver! This week... Fox News is being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for amplifying conspiracy theories involving them about Trump losing the election, revealing that privately, the people at Fox mocked Trump's lies. "Multiple Fox hosts seem to see telling the truth as a possible existential threat." The story after that was on the train derailment in East Palistine, Ohio and the burn from it, causing burning eyes and dead animals, despite not being termed a "high hazardous material train." And Now: Jim Cramer Will Not Shut Up About His Brioni Suits. Main story: Psychedelic drugs, like Psilocybin, LSD and MDMA, and their transformative use in therapy in treating conditions like depression and PTSD. The potential is vast, can we avoid stigma this time? And Now: A Retirement Tribute To NBC4 Washington's Beat Poet Pat Collins. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 22, 2023 - 4 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Carbon Offsets  Season 9, Ep 21

This week (for another day or so at least)... Sensitive documents found at Mar-A-Lago. Midterm elections and the legacy of deceased Alaskan Representive Don Young, and the possibility that they could step down from him to Sarah Palin. And Now: Sixty Seconds Of Tucker Carlson Being Right About Stuff. Main story: carbon offsets, corporations idea to fix the environment that seems unlikely to work. The companies in charge of ensuring that offset deals are followed have such hugely lax regulation that John Oliver and LWT started their own offset company, Oliver's Offsets, simply because it's possible and easy. On YouTube (24 minutes) [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 28, 2022 - 3 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Afghanistan  Season 9, Ep 20

Last week.... Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act which contains substantial efforts to combat climate change, and the FBI searched Trump's Mar-A-Lago residence and found over 300 sensitive documents that he had taken when he had left office. But the main story is on Afghanistan and the problems created when the U.S. withdrew from it a year ago, a situation that was arguably necessary and long overdue, but that also caused issues for the people living there, who it is difficult to help due to the many (reasonable!) prohibitions on cooperating with the Taliban. On YouTube (21 minutes). And Now: Shepard Smith Has The Best Story Intros In The Business. And finally, they visit the phenomenon of AI-generated art, and the curious images prompted by a user named "postpoopzoomies," that resulted, at last, in Steve Buscemi marrying John Oliver to a large prop cabbage.
posted by JHarris on Aug 26, 2022 - 1 comment

Book: The Southernization of America

A series of essays by two noted left of center personalities in the South (Frye Gaillard and Cynthia Tucker) that looks at what went wrong in the US, and how we got to a place in the county where 40% of the electorate are flat out racists. [more inside]
posted by COD on May 16, 2022 - 0 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Trump & Election Results  Season 7, Ep 30

This week, it's one more installment from the White Void of Sad Facts. The main story is about Trump's refusal to concede the election and the webs of conspiracy theories he, his supporters and right-wing media have woven to claim that there was massive voter fraud. On YouTube (18m) And Now: 2020 Bingo. Finally... John Oliver takes a FaceTime call from Adam Driver. Uh-oh.... We find out what's outside the White Void! And we get some vengenance against the hellish, hateful year we're now nearing the end of. On YouTube (11m) This is the final episode of Season 7 of Last Week Tonight. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 16, 2020 - 12 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: US Election 2020  Season 7, Ep 29

This week, the white void is a cheerier place. Launching in with the main story, the 2020 Election, and Joe Biden's election to US President, denying Donald Trump a second term. We take some time to celebrate that (including 30 seconds of awesome octopus facts). On YouTube (27m) And Now: At The End Of A Long, Exhausting Week: Dumps. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 9, 2020 - 3 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Trump's Handling of COVID and William Barr  Season 4, Ep 28

This week, from the white void, two main stories tonight, focusing of two different aspects of the Trump presidency. #1: the Coronavirus. Bewilderingly, a lot of US Americans seem to think Trump has handled it the best he could. LWT identifies three crucial areas he definitely didn't: Preparation, Coordination and Communication. First main story, on YouTube (21m) #2: Trump's Attorney General William Barr, hailed as a responsible figure when brought on, but quickly revealed himself to be a kind of ultra-toady. Second main story, on YouTube (19m) Other items-- And Now: Our Annual Look At What Happens When Local News and Halloween Collide, and, And Now: Public Officials Prepare Children For A COVID Halloween." Playing the show out is a clip of Attorney General Bill Barr playing the bagpipes. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 2, 2020 - 4 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Asylum  Season 7, Ep 27

This week from the white void. Trump is beset with October Surprises (contracting COVID, news finally breaks about his tax avoidance, and we find out he had a previously-unknown bank account in China), although his supporters think Hunter Biden's laptop is a thing, entirely because Fox News keeps telling them it is. Trump gets a pass from the press on the final debate because he acted like less of a loon than usual. And Now: The Movie Taste of People On CNBC Is Exactly What You Think It Is. Main story: Immigration, specifically, how the Trump administration has been extraordinarily cruel to asylum seekers trying to enter the US. On YouTube (21m) And Now: Like We Said, The Movie Taste Of People On CNBC Is Exactly What You Think It is.
posted by JHarris on Oct 26, 2020 - 6 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The World Health Organization  Season 7, Ep 26

Main story: the World Health Organization, Trump's stupid blaming them for the pandemic, and his decision to pull the U.S. out of it, which takes effect in July if nothing else changes (say in two weeks), and which could have huge consequences. It has 194 member states, nearly every country on Earth, but not the US if Trump's plans are not thwarted. On YouTube (19m) And Now: There's An Old Saying In Politics. Finally an update on Danbury, Connecticut, which is naming a sewage plant after John Oliver in exchange for donations to local food banks. At the end is the show's first location piece since the pandemic began (don't worry, John Oliver was wearing protection). [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 19, 2020 - 3 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Election 2020  Season 7, Ep 25

This week, again from the White Void of Sad Facts: Trump comes down with COVID-19 in an epic display of poetic justice. And Now: Newscasters Trying To Have Fun With What Month It Is. The main story is the election, now coming in less than a month. Remember: in most states, you don't have to vote on election day or rely on the mail to count your ballot, you can vote at home and hand it to your registrar. Go to canivote.org for information on how to vote in your state, perhaps doing so early to take pressure off of voting systems. And Now: People Miss A Lot Of Things Due To The Pandemic. Finally, museums are experiencing significant issues during the pandemic, with around a third of them expected to close forever. To attempt to help them out, Last Week Tonight is offering to donate money to museums that sponsor their tour of paintings, including the rat erotica they bought, Lisa Kudlow's tie paintings, and a painting of Wendy Williams enjoying a lamb chop. Direct queries to john[at]johnoliverhasyourraterotica[dot]com. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 6, 2020 - 2 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Supreme Court  Season 7, Ep 24

This week, again in the white void: A grand jury declined to indict the perpetrators over the death of Breonna Taylor, heaping more fuel onto the Black Lives Matter protests. Main story: the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, giving Republicans a third Supreme Court pick during Trump's term, largely and ultimately due to the machinations of "mule piss" Mitch McConnell and the weird anti-democratic games the US system plays to preserve power to the powerful. And Now: An Unexpected Update Regarding Peeps. Finally, the Census, and the importance for US residents to fill it out. 14 million households haven't yet despite its tremendous importance to our systems to have an accurate count of people. You can complete it, probably in just a couple of minutes, at my2020census.gov. To help encouraage viewers to do that, the show played a couple of minutes of the audiobook version of Sean Penn's novel Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff (hoo boy), to drive people away in order to do this essential thing. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Sep 29, 2020 - 5 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: RNC 2020 & Kenosha  Season 7, Ep 23

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 - 9 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Border Wall, Revisited  Season 7, Ep 22

This week, again from the void: The Democrats' "unconventional convention," and their decision to give a significant amount of speaking time to Republicans. The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee issued a report that Trump's 2016 campaign had repeated contacts with Russian operatives, more news for who's saying it than what was said. And Now: Yes, It's Still August, But Guess Who's Back? (Pumpkin spice, the go-to autumn conversation topic of newscasters nationwide.) Main story: Remember the border wall? In the home stretch of Trump's first (and hopefully only) term, how has that gone? Not well at all. On YouTube (23m) [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 25, 2020 - 2 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: China & Uighurs  Season 7, Ep 19

This week, again from the void (but with a glass desk now): the protests in Portland over the death of George Floyd escalate sharply as Donald Trump sends in anonymous federal agents in unmarked vans to kidnap protesters off the streets, dear god. And Now: Martha Stewart Loosens Up During The Lockdown. Main Story: the Uighurs, an ethnic minority in China whose culture that nation is trying to destroy. And Now: We Promise You These People Are Not Saying "Masturbate." [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jul 27, 2020 - 2 comments

Movie: Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn

A look at the paradoxical life and work of evil power broker Roy Cohn. A new HBO documentary looks at the dirty trickster who helped send the director’s grandparents to their execution. NYT review. [more inside]
posted by growabrain on Jun 20, 2020 - 0 comments

Movie: Fahrenheit 11/9

Michael Moore's 2018 documentary explored two questions of the first Trump Era: How the fuck did we get there, and how the fuck do we get out? It's good/bad! to look back at the beginning of this cluster. A lot of his usual stuff, plus some original / new POV's, for those who didn't watch tv during that time.
posted by growabrain on Jun 7, 2020 - 1 comment

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Voting By Mail  Season 7, Ep 13

This week: another installment from the white void. Protests over the death of George Floyd, and the terrible take on it from Tucker Carlson. This week's main story is about mail-in voting which Trump incorrectly says is "corrupt," and its dire importance during the pandemic. To help encourage people to vote by mail and be safe, Last Week Tonight reminds us that their stamps are still available at stamps.com/laststamptonight, and they have also made available some "I voted!" stickers with a mail-in ballot theme, which you can get from ivotedbymail.com. And Now: TV Hosts Want to Know: What's That Behind You? On YouTube (19m) Finally, on the UFC, who had been planning on holding fights on what they had called "Fight Island." Two weeks ago John Oliver had suggested a much better name would be UF-SEA. It looks like UFC agreed; they filed a trademark on that name two days after it aired, and in a Sportscenter interview the head of UFC admitted he got the idea from John. You can also buy a baby onsie with the expired UFC trademark phrase "You Will Submit," at tugslabmeatsbabypalace.com. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 1, 2020 - 4 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Coronavirus: Sports  Season 7, Ep 12

This week: Another episde from the Void. Rick Bright became a whistleblower into Trump's Coronavirus response, while Trump dissipated his energies unveiling the "Space Force" flag. There is a scandal around North Carolina Senator Richard Burr for profiting off of non-public Coronavirus briefings back in February. And Now: Rachael Ray Is Doing Her Best With Her New, One-Man Production Crew. Main story: Sports, why shutting them down for a while was the right thing to do, and what they've been doing in the meantime, some of which is actually fairly positive! Although some are fairly sucky, with the drive to earn profits overruling some team owners and even schools' desire to keep their players healthy. Which brings us... to Last Week's Tonight's newly-announced sponsorship of Marble League 2020, Jelle's Marble Runs (the producers of Marbula One) Olympics-like marble sports competition! On YouTube (22m) LWT is off next week. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 18, 2020 - 9 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The U.S. Postal Service  Season 7, Ep 11

This week, from the Blank White Void: Someone flushed a toiled during oral arguments in a remote Supreme Court conference. Justice Department head and apologist for power William Barr seeks to throw out case against Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI, not even trying to cover up that it's nakedly an abuse of his position. [internal screaming] Trump flubs a photo-op by touring a mask factory without wearing one, and seems to be trying to convince the US to open up despite the additional deaths it would cause, while also shutting down CDC guidelines as to how businesses could best do that safely. And Now: FOX 4 Dallas's Steve Eagar Reads Viewer's Complaints Out Loud. Main story: the U.S. Postal Service and the issues, in terms of safety and budgetary, it faces during the Coronavirus crisis. YouTube The episode mentions that, while it will not go anywhere near meeting the USPS's $90B shortfall, you can at least help out a little by buying stamps, such as the ones they themselves have produced through stamps.com, at stamps.com/laststamptonight, available through June 15. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 11, 2020 - 1 comment

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Coronavirus V: Misinformation Edition  Season 7, Ep 9

This week, we launch right in with the main story: the misinformation on COVID-19 that's been going around, and the places people have been getting it from. On YouTube (21m). And Now: An All-Coronavirus Installment of Coming Up On "Inside Edition." Finally, talk-show host Wendy Williams and her at-home adventures. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 20, 2020 - 5 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Coronavirus IV  Season 7, Ep 8

This week, coming to you once again from the Blank White Void of Sad Facts... we launch right in with the main story, regarding two groups harmed greatly by social isolation: the unemployed, and essential workers who cannot work for home and are particularly at risk. On YouTube. And Now: In Honor of Easter, Our Annual Fuck You to Peeps. Finally, good news: zoos letting animals visit other animals and aquariums, the Queen of England giving a speech to the nation while wearing a chromakey-friendly green dress, and success in the search for for that painting of cartoon rat erotica John Oliver was looking for two weeks ago! Also: Here's The Late Show with Steven Colbert's interview-from-home with John Oliver from a week ago. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 14, 2020 - 6 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: One America News Network  Season 7, Ep 7

This week... although this is another episode coming to us from the Blank White Void of Sad Facts, the main story is not the Coronavirus, although it, and the Trump administration's continued bungling of the response to it, does lead. And Now: Are You Wearing Pants? The main story is on OAN, "One America News," aka "Fox News with even less shame and even fewer scruples." [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 6, 2020 - 10 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Coronavirus III  Season 7, Ep 6

This week... main story: The Coronavirus pandemic, how some on the right seem willing to reopen the country to help the economy despite it meaning the deaths of hundreds of thousands more, and the many ways Trump has flubbed the nation's response, including getting visibly angry at reporters doing their jobs questioning him about his statement that he wants to reopen the country by Easter RGRGHA%$%&$@ sorry I can't even. It's on YouTube. And Now: Yes, We Are Still Doing These. And Now: Hey, Look! We're Social Distancing. And finally, South-Central Pennsylvania's Gallery Thirty-Three video art auction from 1992, and the work of a certain Brian Swords of York, aka Biohazard. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 30, 2020 - 20 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: More Coronavirus  Season 7, Ep 5

This week: coming to you from the EMPTY WHITE VOID, Last Week Tonight, like many shows, is doing without a live audience for the length of the epidemic, not just to help slow transmission of Coronavirus but because their usual studios, CBS Broadcasting Center in New York, had confirmed cases. The whole show is about the pandemic, the media and Trump administration's handling of it, and what you personally can do to slow the spread of the disease, which includes not spreading stupid misinformation of the type being broadcast on Fox News. The show was unclear when the next episode would air. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 16, 2020 - 11 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Coronavirus  Season 7, Ep 3

The Coronovirus, the speed of its spread, nationwide panic caused by it and the mishandling of it around the world, including by Trump. And Now: Chris Matthews Just Cannot Seem To Nail His Sign-Off. And what could be the unpfortunate pfinal days of the Phillie Phanatic. #respecttheconicalhonker [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 2, 2020 - 3 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Narendra Modi  Season 7, Ep 2

A tiny Trump intro, Mike Bloomberg's attempts to buy a candidacy, Larry King weirdness, and the religious fundamentalism and nationalism of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his circle. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 23, 2020 - 3 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Medicare For All  Season 7, Ep 1

The first episode of Season Seven. Republicans claiming Trump's impeachment "changed him" (hint: it absolutely didn't), US Prosecutors steping down in protest over Trump's terrifying interference with the Roger Stone case, And Now: Another Installment of "Coming Up On 'The Doctors'," and the main story: Medicare for All, not the politics of whether it can pass, but what it is. Psst! You want a link to a metric TON of LWT clips? CLICK THROUGH FOR OVERKILL-- [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Feb 17, 2020 - 8 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Impeachment  Season 6, Ep 15

Episode 6-15 was about the U.S. process of presidential impeachment, the means provided by its Constitution to remove a sitting President from office. But impeachment itself doesn't imply the process will be successful--Clinton was infamously impeached. To this day the process has never been successfully used to unseat a president. What would it entail, and what are the pros and cons of impeaching Donald Trump? On YouTube (20m)
posted by JHarris on Jun 23, 2019 - 0 comments

Book: The Mueller Report

The final report by Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election, whether the Trump campaign conspired with the Russians, and whether the President obstructed justice by getting to limit the effectiveness of the investigation.
posted by Going To Maine on Jun 1, 2019 - 17 comments

The Twilight Zone: The Wunderkind  Season 1, Ep 5

A down-on-his-luck campaign manager is determined to get a kid elected as the President of the United States. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Apr 26, 2019 - 4 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Muller Report & Chiitan  Season 6, Ep 9

There are two topics covered at roughly equal length this week. The first is the long-awaited release of the Mueller Report, the contents of which reveal things that are entirely insane. On YouTube (15m). The other, almost as insane, is the story of Chiitan (TWITTER), an unofficial mascot for the Japanese city of Susaki. The behavior of Chiitan, a cartoon otter with a turtle on its head, was random, bizarre and violent, and so was asked to stop, by the city Susaki, associating with its official mascot, Shinjo-Kun (INSTAGRAM). But where some ways part, others join, so LWT sent one of their own mascots, Chii-john, a cute otter version of John Oliver, to Susaki to be Shinjo-Kun's new friend.
posted by JHarris on Apr 22, 2019 - 7 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Draining the Swamp  Season 5, Ep 29

This week (yes, a timely LWT post!):
  • The Republicans lose the US House of Representatives, an act which Trump actually said was "close to a complete victory" for him. Also, businessman Danny Darkanian loses his sixth straight election in Nevada, annoying his wife greatly. And three states voted to expand Medicaid, Flordia voted to restore voting rights to felons, and Utah voted to legalize medical marihuana.
  • Update in Stupid Watergate: Trump fires Jeff Sessions and replaces him, as acting head of the Justice Department, with Matthew Whitaker, a man known for many stupid things, foremost among them serving as an advisor to a company that had to pay out a $25M judgement for scamming inventors.
  • And Now: Steve Bannon's Election Night Coverage Went Just Great
  • Main Story: Donald Trump (again), and his campaign promise to "drain the swamp." A noble sentiment, but, predictably, absolutely the opposite of what he's doing. Here's the piece on YouTube.
  • And Now: Monday Night Football's Graphics Are Officially Out Of Hand
  • Finally, an epidemic of unnotified promotion of products by influencers on social media has been going on, including DJ Khaled hawking alcohol to millions of followers. To help illustrate, LWT reveals something they've been doing (not been getting paid for it, but doing it anyway) concerning Scientology....
[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 12, 2018 - 5 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Family Separation  Season 5, Ep 28

This week....
  • 2018 Midterms, which has been exceptional in negativity. California Congressman Duncan Hunter accused opponent Ammar Campa-Najjar of being a terrorist trying to infiltrate Congress; Iowa Congressman Steve King, who has been notorious for associating with white nationalists and got pissy when confronted about it before cameras, and lost the support of a number of corporate PACs; and in Nebraska's 1st district a sign promoting Jeff Fortenberry was defaced with googly eyes and changed to read Jeff Fartenberry, causing his Chief-of-Staff to accuse a local professor, who was unlucky enough to have "liked" a Facebook photo of the sign within his random notice, of supporting vandalism.
  • And Now: Out Annual Check-In With The Consequences Of Combining Local News Shows And Halloween
  • Main story: Immigration, "The system that brought you me, but it's still good, and I promise that won't happen again." Specifically, the Trump administration's family separation policy. It's faded from the news, but its consequences have not ended yet. Content warning: horrifying consequences of the enforced separation of children from their parents. YouTube
  • And Now: Halloween Part II: Just The Traffic And Weather
[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 4, 2018 - 2 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: The Nomination of Brett Kavanaugh  Season 5, Ep 24

This week (after a gap of some episodes, sorry about that), after an introduction acknowledging Trump's embarrassing UN conference and the Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty, the whole show was devoted to the main story, Brett Kavanaugh's looming confirmation, and the terrible implications if he is confirmed. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Sep 30, 2018 - 5 comments

Movie: Active Measures

Active Measures chronicles the most successful espionage operation in Russian history, the American presidential election of 2016. Filmmaker Jack Bryan exposes a 30-year history of covert political warfare devised by Vladimir Putin to disrupt, and ultimately control world events. In the process, the filmmakers follow a trail of money, real estate, mob connections, and on the record confessions to expose an insidious plot that leads directly back to The White House. [more inside]
posted by growabrain on Sep 8, 2018 - 2 comments

Movie: Nineteen Eighty-Four

A man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love in Orwell's dark novel of a bleak totalitarian society [more inside]
posted by growabrain on Sep 1, 2018 - 5 comments

Podcast: Love + Radio: F Your Feelings

Evan has a secret.
posted by Cash4Lead on Aug 24, 2018 - 0 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Sexual Harassment, Interview with Anita Hill  Season 5, Ep 18

This episode aired on July 29:
  • More Stupid Watergate, "Something with the potential gravity of Watergate, if the entire White House was on bath salts and Nixon was a raccoon with his head stuck in a jar of peanut butter." Revealed is that Cohen secretly taped interactions between him and Trump, and some of one of the tapes was leaked, relating them planning to keep a story about Trump's affair with Playboy Bunny Karen McDougal secret. Also, Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of the meeting with Russian representatives in Trump Tower. And, Mueller is looking into whether Trump's tweets constitute obstruction of justice.
  • Facebook loses $119 billion dollars of value, 19% of its total valuation, overnight. That's more than the value of the entire global cheese market: Facebook's stock dropped by the concept of cheese. It's because of piracy issues, which they've apologized for via an ubiquitous ad. LWT provides one of their trademark more honest versions.
  • Main story: Workplace sexual harassment. In the wake of a number of prominent male executives being brought down, it's looking like something may finally be done about it... except that the current situation shares a lot of things in common with the 90s, at which time everything was supposed to change, and then, didn't. The issue became national news with the testimony of Anita Hill before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  • The last act was a great interview with Anita Hill herself.
Both the main story and the interview are on the show's official Youtube channel. (29m) [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 13, 2018 - 1 comment

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Gene Editing and CRISPR  Season 5, Ep 17

Let's catch up a bit, shall we? This was the episode that aired July 8, 2018:
  • Trump's "We got more money, we got better brains, we got more houses," etc. speech.
  • The week's prerequisite bombshell was the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. As of this writing his position has still not been filled. Oliver reminds us that this has the potential to be really really bad for reproductive and LGBT rights. Democrat hopes to block mean once again playing America's most depressing game show, HOPE SUSAN COLLINS FLIPS AND BE DISAPPOINTED WHEN SHE DOESN'T!!! Jeffery Toobin made a tour of talk shows to make sure everyone's hopes were appropriately dead.
  • And Now: For Canada Day, The Most Canadian Thing Imaginable: Polite Interactions Between Professional Curlers At The 2018 Tim Hortons National Championship
  • Main story: Gene editing, and how a revolution in technology, "CRISPR," puts it into the hands of people literally working in their garage. Contents: jacked, sexy beagles; work on reviving wooly mammoths; irresponsible biohackers; the hope to wipe out malaria; an Australian man who hates invasive cane toads; a Lyme disease experiment on Nantucket Island; the question of whether deafness and dwarfism are diseases that should be eliminated; and China's pushing the boundaries of gene editing. It's on YouTube (20m).
  • And Now: Hey Guys--What The Fuck's Going On With Animals In Florida?
[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 13, 2018 - 1 comment

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Mexican Elections  Season 5, Ep 16

Last week (at one remove)....
  • Trump reacts to outrage over his policy to separate the children of illegal migrants to the US from their parents, first by insisting he couldn't change it, then when the outcry became too great, changing it. Because he LIES.
  • 7-11 courts controversy in Norway by advertising condoms on television and in train stations there a defense against chlamydia, which has especially high incidence rates there. The spots called Norway the "Land of Chlamydia."
  • And Now: Local News Is Concerned About Teens
  • Main story: Mexico, and their upcoming (well, yesteray's) elections, the largest in that nation's history. The approval ratings of their current President, Enrique Peña Nieto, went down to 12% from public anger over corruption. The show looks at a number of competitors for the top job, and their issues, sometimes considerable ones. The main story can be watched on YouTube (20m).
  • And Now: Kathie Lee and Hoda Are Slowly Becoming One.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jul 1, 2018 - 1 comment

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: China President Xi Jinping  Season 5, Ep 15

This week:
  • Trump's summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un happened. The result was what Oliver reminds us is a Trump speciality, something akin to an "Ice Cream Blow Job." Something that sounds great, but when you think about it, doesn't actually mean anything.
  • Thousands of children were forcibly taken from parents due to the Trump administration's zero-tolerance policy over illegal imigration, an act that has infuriated millions.
  • And Now: Senator Chuck Schumer Is Caught In An Endless Graduation-Speech Time Loop
  • Main story: China President Xi Jinping has overcome term limits, had his ideas enshrined in China's constitution, and cultivated a cult of personality around himself. Under him, China's released catchy viral videos to advance their economic interests. LWT made their own to remind everyone of their human rights issues. The main story (20m) is available on YouTube.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 20, 2018 - 2 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Stupid Watergate II: Fox News' Cries Of "Witch Hunt"  Season 5, Ep 14

This week:
  • Trump prepares for the (then) upcoming North Korea summit, of course, by not preparing.
  • Philippine President and strongman Rodrigo Duterte very uncomfortably kisses a young woman before a crowd.
  • And Now: Julie Chen Has A Few Questions For The Audience of "The Talk."
  • Main Story: More on Stupid Watergate, this time about Fox News' efforts to normalize the idea that the Mueller investigation is a "witch hunt" by calling that through every channel available to them, in an desperate (yet somewhat effective) effort to get ordinary Americans thinking it must be one, despite the fact that they've already charged 20 people and three companies, and gotten five guilty pleas. Watch it on YouTube (18m).
  • And Now: The Entire Seventeen-Minute Piece You Just Saw, Boiled Down To Eight Seconds.
  • Finally, a bit about the UK. Last week's episode had a segment about the putdowns of House of Commons speaker John Bercow that could not air in the UK, because of a stupid law saying footage of the chamber could not be used in "light entertainment" or "political satire." Because they used such footage this week and thus UK viewers again cannot be shown the whole program, LWT offers five minutes of replacement content: Gilbert Gottfried reading Yelp reviews.
[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 16, 2018 - 1 comment

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Guardianship for the Elderly  Season 5, Ep 13

This week:
  • The summit with North Korea is called off. North Korea sends Trump a message in an oversized envelope. Trump calls the summit back on. Trump admits he hadn't read the contents of the envelope. Leader of the greatest nation in the world, folks.
  • Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko is declared to be dead on worldwide news, but then discovered to be alive, his faked death an element in a sting to catch a group of Russian assassins.
  • In the UK, the chairman of the British Monarchists Society, one "Thomas J. Mace-Archer-Mills, Esq.," a fixture on TV during the royal wedding, is revealed to actually to have been born and lived to his teens in the US, and even got an unrelated elderly British couple to call themselves his grandparents.
  • And Now: The Very British Put-Downs of Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.
  • Main story: Legal guardianship, a state under which senior citizens can be put where they have limited rights, and can find it difficult to get out of.
The main story (16 minutes long) is available on YouTube. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 7, 2018 - 6 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Rehab  Season 5, Ep 12

This week....
  • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get married. Next!
  • North Korea may call off the summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un over demands that the country denuclearize. John Bolton says on air they were using "The Libyan model," which turns out to be the worst thing he could have said; autocrats the world over have obsessed over Gadaffi's horrible death since it happened in 2011.
  • And Now: Local News Gets A Little Too British For The Royal Wedding ("Hello gov'ner." "Cheerio!" "Hallo hallo!" "Tally-ho." "A spot of tea?" etc.)
  • Main Story: Rehab, a 35 billion dollar industry. Federal law requires health insurance to pay for some of it, but there are no federal standards for what "Rehab" means, leading to a situation ripe for abuse by unscrupulous people.
  • And Now: Just Look At This Bunch of Royal Wedding Shit.
The Rehab segment is on YouTube. If you are suffering from addiction, instead of jumping right into a rehab clinic that may have a strong motive to take advantage of you, you could try The American Board of Preventative Medicine's search site for board-certified doctors, here. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 21, 2018 - 6 comments

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Venezuela  Season 5, Ep 11

This week....
  • A Trump aide was heard to say something unkind about John McCain, regarding his dying of brain cancer, thus fulfilling everyone's dreaded expectations for the kind of people Donald Trump would employ in his office.
  • Scandals swirl around the Trump administration yet yet again again, as Michael Cohen comes under allegations for selling access to Trump.
  • And Now: Local News Gets Real About Mother's Day
  • Main Story: Venezuela. A piece reminiscent of the pre-Trump era, about the serious problems faced by a country that isn't the United States, about the trials currently suffered by Venezuela, which are less about socialism and more about epic levels of mismanagement. Its next elections are on May 20. Its former President was Hugo Chávez, an extremely popular leader who nationalized the oil industry and allowed his citizens to reap the rewards, although his government was notoriously corrupt. His successor, Nicolás Maduro, has not fared nearly as well. It's a long and very interesting piece, ending with Lin-Manuel Miranda in a bird suit pleading with Maduro to get his act together.
The main story is on LastWeekTonight's YouTube channel. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 17, 2018 - 4 comments

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