Monday, January 30 – Obviously, we
started with the ban. Trevor covered the
protests, the airport chaos (I laughed at his depiction of a refugee
reluctantly helping a customs agent understand what the order said,) and stories
of those detained. Hasan shared his own
experience; as a U.S. citizen, he wasn’t subject to the ban, but he still
witnessed how it’s inspired people to rally around those Trump would have us
fear. I loved his amazement at being
hugged and thanked for being Muslim, as well as his delight at seeing Muslims praying
in front of a cheering crowd. Comedian
Neal Brennan had a quick guest spot, accusing Trump of being a “snowflake” who
can’t stand having his feelings hurt.
The main guests, though, were Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, Trayvon
Martin’s parents. Five years after his
death, they talked about their continued advocacy and the importance of letting
their son be remembered for all he was.
Tuesday, January 31 – The thing with
Pelosi’s mic was funny, but I wish Trevor had gone more into the sense of “Yes –
and…?” with the Democrat response to
the Muslim ban. I loved, however, him
taking the Trump administration to task for being a mess. Enacting a sweeping, sure-to-be-challenged
immigration order without consulting lawyers or any relevant departments was an insane fail, as was making a
Holocaust Remembrance Day statement that didn’t mention the Jews. Hasan did a great piece examining the veryshady, thin-but-existent legal ground the ban stands on; good points about how
often the US falls into the same troubling history it ought to have learned
from long ago. Anthony D. Romero, head
of the ACLU, was the (awesome) guest. I loved
his description of what it was like in the courtroom, not just challenging the
ban but hearing how ill-informed the government lawyers were on the actual
order they were defending.
Wednesday, February 1 – Loved the blurb
about Beyoncé’s twins announcement, especially the idea of a pair of twins combating
the rise of the Empire. Next was Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch; I liked Trevor’s remarks on Senate Republicans
being rewarded with “everything they want” after close to a year of
petulantly-obstructive behavior, and the whole crying-while-skiing bit was way
too funny. I liked the jokes on the
fervor over Obama’s backwards baseball hat in his vacation photos, with Trevor
gleefully anticipating a post-White House Obama getting his “full Black on.” This was sadly followed by Trump’s BlackHistory Month “listening session” – bless Trevor for that impression of Trump
asking Frederick Douglass to please stand.
The guest was David Miliband from the International Rescue Committee,
who highlighted the urgent need to get refugees relocated and pointed out what
a propaganda gift the ban is to ISIS.
Thursday, February 2 – Trevor’s
Groundhog Day remarks, an exact repeat of what he said last year, made me
smile. More craziness from the Black
History Month “listening session,” wherein tiredness was a valid excuse for
conflating “top gang thugs” with “one (former) gang member.” Good piece on Trump’s week with world leaders. I liked Trevor questioning what
“officially on notice” means and pondering how no one would’ve ever picked Australia (Koala Island, hee!) as one of
the first countries Trump would feud with.
In a field report of a Super Bowl media event, Roy tried in vain to get
his mind off politics and on football; I especially enjoyed his sinking
realization that there were both Muslims and Mexicans in the NFL. Blair Underwood was the guest. I was really interested in the documentary he
narrated looking at the Black athletes from the 1936 Olympics, and his story about
meeting pre-presidency Obama was pretty cool.
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