FanFare

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

Fixing Frobo: Polly tries to fix Frobo, the frog robot made when they found the factory way back in early Season 2. As a result they almost die. Anne-sterminator: The other frog robot, the advanced model sent to kill Anne, is given an ultimatum by Andrias: kill Anne in an hour, or be self-destructed. It finds the Boonchuy residence and attacks. As a result, yeah, you get the picture. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Oct 30, 2021 - 1 comment

An impoverished preacher who brings hope to the Miami projects is offered cash to save his family from eviction. He has no idea his sponsor works for the FBI who plan to turn him into a criminal by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams. [more inside]
posted by elgilito on Oct 7, 2019 - 3 comments

A legendary American war veteran is recruited to hunt a mythical creature.
posted by paper chromatographologist on Jun 30, 2019 - 3 comments

An F.B.I. agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a known terrorist from bombing the event. There's a lot of falling down in high heels. [more inside]
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs on Sep 20, 2018 - 6 comments

A ten-part miniseries from Hulu that traces the rising threat of Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and takes a controversial look at how the rivalry between the CIA and FBI might have set the stage for 9/11 and the war in Iraq. (from IMDB) Based on the book. [more inside]
posted by sylvanshine on Mar 5, 2018 - 2 comments

Carrie and Dante investigate the woman in Wellington’s house; Saul heads for O’Keefe’s backwoods hideout; Keane's struggle for power comes closer to home than she expected. [more inside]
posted by penguin pie on Feb 26, 2018 - 5 comments

Elliot tries to save Darlene, but things do not go as planned; Mr. Robot must decide whether to step up or step back. There's a discussion or three on a farm that cleans up some loose ends, and some new family bonding. Oh, and a brave traveler returns. [Season finale] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Dec 14, 2017 - 18 comments

Elliot becomes encouraged trying to undo five/nine; Darlene gets stuck between a rock and a hard place; Mr. Robot sparks a panic. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Oct 19, 2017 - 14 comments

In 1977, frustrated FBI hostage negotiator Holden Ford finds an unlikely ally in veteran agent Bill Tench and begins studying a new class of murderer.
posted by Fizz on Oct 13, 2017 - 18 comments

Elliot realizes his mission, and needs help from Angela; Darlene worries about them coming out clean. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Oct 12, 2017 - 7 comments

International master thief, Simon Templar, also known as The Saint, is asked by a desperate rich man to find his kidnapped daughter. However, in addition to evading the authorities, Simon must face a dangerous adversary from his past. [more inside]
posted by jojo and the benjamins on Jul 22, 2017 - 9 comments

It's a very special episode of Last Week Tonight that, for once, actually focuses on the previous week's events, as the Trump Administration continues to be mired in scandal. John Oliver takes a stab at answering these questions:

• What The Fuck Is Going On?
• How Big A Deal Is This?
• Where Do We Go From Here? and
• Is This Real Life?

YouTube (24m) In addition to answering those questions, there is And Now: Yet Another Look At Whatever The Fuck Is Happening On WCBS 2 News At 11, and a severely abbreviated Main Story concerning the TSA. (More on that last part....) [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 24, 2017 - 9 comments

New events worthy of mention:

• Trump again. The fallout from his firing of FBI Director James Comey, and the many problematic things about it.
• Congressfolk's continued denial over the situation mentioned above as every functioning adult in the nation gets steadily angrier about their refusal to do anything about it. "When you've got the Presidential equivalent of a five-year-old shitting on the salad bar at Ruby Tuesdays, at some point you stop blaming the five-year-old and you start blaming the people who are not stopping him."
• Back to New Zealand's ruling National Party's appropriation of Eminem music. New Zealand PM Bill English heard about Last Week's Last Week Tonight mention of the court case and said, "some of the stuff I've seen he does isn't very funny." LWT, in retaliation, found an actual Facebook post Bill English made, with pictures: "Cooked dinner for the family last night - like if you agree with tinned spaghetti on pizza!"
• And Now: A Series of Terrible Pizzas That New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English Would Probably Enjoy
• Main Story: Kidney dialysis clinics, particularly those operated by DaVita, and the dangerous extents many go through to save costs, like rushing patients through dialysis, and the deeply terrible methods some employ to keep customers using their services and not seek out life-saving transplants. DaVita has had to settle nearly a billion dollars to settle lawsuits over the past five years, while their CEO compares his business (willingly!) to Taco Bell. LWT offers a commercial for Taco Bell stating how it's not a proper business model for dialysis clinics. YouTube (24m)

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 17, 2017 - 15 comments

When Shinwell comes to Holmes and Watson for help after he's framed for a gang killing, they have three days to find the real murderer before he is arrested and sent back to jail. [more inside]
posted by CMcG on Dec 12, 2016 - 1 comment

Week of 10/30:

• Regrettably, more on the 2016 Election, putting aside a story on Pirate Party making progress in Iceland, among others, to make room for it. OH WELL:
• The FBI finds a few Clinton emails in an investigation into oh god I can't believe I'm typing this Anthony Weiner, yes HIM again, Carlos Danger himself. Worth watching just for the footage of Biden reacting to the words "Anthony Weiner."
• And Now: The Stream-Of-Consciousness Musings of WCBS-2 Meteorologist John Elliott
• Main story: School segregation, and its surprising continued prevalence, not in the South, but in New York state. YouTube (18m)
• How Is This Still A Thing: Voting On Tuesday (It turns out to have started because, in the 1800s, people were expected to be spending Monday travelling to the polling place to vote.) YouTube (4m)

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 6, 2016 - 2 comments

As Jane's past and primary purpose is revealed to the Kurt's FBI team, they must decide whether they can ever trust her again as part of the team. We learn about Jane's real identity and origins, while she struggles with loyalty for either side. [more inside]
posted by numaner on Oct 24, 2016 - 8 comments

Current: A terrorist group attack and block off a section of Manhattan during the G20 Summit. Past: Alex and Ryan are recruited by the CIA and begin their espionage training at The Farm. We meet a bunch of new classmates. [more inside]
posted by numaner on Oct 8, 2016 - 0 comments

Diane, Bos and Donna hit the road in hopes of building support for Mutiny. Everyone else awaits the big day. Joe approaches Cam for a favor.
posted by Pong74LS on Oct 4, 2016 - 10 comments

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. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 14, 2016 - 10 comments

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a law. It's been on the books for almost 30 years. And it makes totally mundane online behavior illegal.
posted by Cash4Lead on Oct 29, 2015 - 11 comments

An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by an elected government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico. [more inside]
posted by starman on Oct 17, 2015 - 16 comments

Using the two 20th Century "Red Scare" eras as case studies, Dan looks at the fear that can be generated by potentially dangerous ideas and examines the way such powerful mass emotions can cloud human judgment. (2:37:38) [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns on Dec 22, 2014 - 12 comments

When a Russian musician defects in Bloomingdale's department store in New York, he finds adjusting to American life more difficult than he imagined. [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on Oct 4, 2014 - 3 comments

After a setback, the Detail scrambles to make the most of a bad situation. For once, interdepartmental communication (or lack thereof) helps the case instead of hindering it. For once, good policing is rewarded with rock solid evidence and suspects in custody. For once, all the police seem to get what they want—closed cases, busted unions, scrambling crime lords. But for all that finally went right for the Detail, the world continues to turn, criminals adapt, and the scope of what they're fighting to bring to justice just keeps scaling up.
posted by carsonb on Sep 21, 2014 - 6 comments

As much as they'd like to continue investigating the sprawling criminal activities of the (still largely unknown) Greek, The Detail's hand is forced and with the help of the FBI they break down all the doors they know, gathering evidence and suspects. Valchek finally gets to participate in a very special perp walk. Sobotka eventually visits Ziggy, after a stop at the union hall and a quick trip downtown. Lieutenant Daniels and Omar Little dash off to deliver very personal messages to Landsman and Mouzone, respectively. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 14, 2014 - 9 comments

Ziggy continues to wreak havoc but this time his unchecked impulsiveness takes him over the line and into a lot of trouble. Trouble that spreads and pools and spatters on everyone. – Valchek is pissed and brings in the Feds to assist the Detail. The Feds assist the Detail, and Valchek is pissed. – Just as Stringer's off-brand plan goes into effect, Brother Mouzone arrives to enforce the status quo and so Bodie and crew begin to understand the nature of the new arrangements. [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 11, 2014 - 4 comments