Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Drone Strikes, Ayn Rand and Kansas Sex Toys

September 29, 2014 7:50 PM - Season 1, Episode 19

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York. Continued riots in Ferguson, Missouri, and the failed PR response. Mahmud Karzai steps down as President of Afghanistan. And now: Words newscasters coyly refuse to say. (At least one for every letter of the alphabet!) A damning piece on US drone strikes. How Is This Still A Thing: Ayn Rand. Kansas selling seized porn and adult toys to help make budget shortfall.
posted by JHarris (5 comments total)

A nice post thank you! I will hold it until I've seen the episode: I tend to forget about this show and then watch it in bursts of 2 or 3 to catch up.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 8:08 PM on September 29, 2014

I'd dearly love to know if Modi really knew what he was saying.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:22 PM on September 29, 2014

On Ayn Rand's books: "Stories of rapey heroes complaining about how no one appreciates their true genius".
posted by Gary at 12:04 AM on September 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Keep in mind Modi made over 1000 campaign appearances via hologram (at least, the Tupac/Coachella type). He uses Twitter and Google Hangouts, and doesn't strike me as a particularly out of touch type.

Working link for the Ayn Rand bit. I did appreciate the "someone like this" reveal. And I wonder when Mark Cuban has been treated this snarkily on any major TV show. Did seem a bit short for the multiplicity of available targets, though.
posted by dhartung at 5:44 PM on September 30, 2014

Oh man, the damning piece on US drone strikes is good, and heavy. Fearing the blue sky is a terrifying reality. And the level of accuracy and understanding of targets is even more frightening. Killed the wrong person, because they were roughly the right height? FFS.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:41 AM on October 6, 2014