Sunday, June 12 – After John’s
opening remarks on Orlando, which were heartfelt, angry, and mournful, he
apologized for the jarringly-upbeat “stupid show” that was to follow. The first story looked at a recent Twitter
war between Clinton and Trump, wherein John bemoaned Clinton trying to beat
Trump (the personification of Twitter’s id, per John) on his home turf. The overview of Clinton’s past social media
mishaps didn’t instill confidence, and the whole thing makes me dread the
forthcoming campaign. The main story was
on retirement plans and the various ways financial planning companies can
nickel-and-dime your savings away.
Cheery subject, I know, but as usual, I learned a lot. John does such a great job of taking
complicated topics and breaking them down in a way that makes me feel like I
actually get them, and when it comes to money, you definitely don’t want to
mess around.
Monday, June 13 – Naturally, the
show opened with the Orlando shooting.
Trevor’s initial expressions of grief and horror gave way to a larger
story about gun violence in America. He
vented his frustration at America’s seeming refusal to see a correlation
between underregulated gun access and gun violence, challenging those who try
to making it about any other issue. A
serious but wonderful insightful piece – I was really impressed by it. Next was a field piece from Jordan on the
insane levels of rancor over selecting the Virgin Islands' GOP delegates. The insult “carpetbagger” was thrown around
unironically, and one of the men involved admitted that he’d “been told” he
concealed and carried. The guest was
Democratic strategist James Carville, who seems more sanguine about Trump than he
should be. Finally, the Moment of Zen
was an excerpt from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s beautiful Tony speech in tribute to
the Orlando victims.
Tuesday, June 14 – A group of
anti-Muslim nationalists in India celebrated Trump’s birthday – let’s add this
to the “white supremacist endorsement”/“quoting famous facists” pile. The rest of the show was on Orlando, with the
next story looking at speeches from Clinton (compassionate, policy-focused, opposed
to Islamaphobia and scapegoating) and Trump (fearmongering, filled with lies, creepily
opportunistic.) In other news, Trump, in
his “I’m not saying anything!” way, implied that Obama is an ISIS agent – that happened. The first of two guests was Michelangelo Signorile, Huffington Post’s Queer Voices editor. He talked about how the battles are far from
over, as the shooting reminds us. Eddie Huang was the second guest (like Trevor, I still think of him as the actor who
plays young Eddie on Fresh Off the Boat.) I hadn’t thought of the Orlando connection,
but Huang discussed his experiences growing up and seeing the gun culture
there.
Wednesday, June 15 – Jordan and Desi
opened the show to discuss the much-talked-of importance of white voters in the
upcoming election (the best takeaway?
Trump’s approval rating with Black voters is in the single digits. Warms my
heart, that does.) There were plenty of
jokes about white people “finally having a voice” that mostly landed, and
Trevor breaking up the report at the end was fun. Next up was a trio of scandals featuring all
three branches of Alabama’s state government, including their governor’s
incredibly creepy sex scandal. I
especially liked Trevor’s comments about the governor’s retort that he “loves
all [his] employees,” loving “some more than others.” (Gross.)
Independence Day director
Roland Emmerich was the guest, talking about the imminent sequel. I’ll admit to being a little shocked at how
low-rent the CGI looked in the clip they showed.
Thursday, June 16 – Opening blurb on soccer fan brawls, complete with a Russian fan “filming his rampage” with a
head-cam. Good piece on the Democrats’
filibuster in the Senate to get a vote on a pair of gun legislation bills. Trevor had a great riff on the poor
stenographer for the 15-hour talking session, and I loved his response to one
senator’s statement that no one should need an AR-15 to shoot a deer. Next up was a segment on Australian animals
who’ve become threatened, endangered, or extinct through human action in recent
years. Some is unintentional (a rodent
that’s the first mammal to go extinct from climate change,) some less so (there’s
a plan to introduce herpes into the invasive carp population – wow.) Deshauna Barber, the first active-duty
service member to be crowned Miss USA, was the guest, talking about her
experience in the pageant and her hope to use her platform to bring awareness
to PTSD.
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