"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Friday, March 17, 2017

News Satire Roundup: March 12th-March 16th

Sunday, March 12 – John commemorated International Women’s Day with several clips of men putting their feet in their mouth talking about women, from Putin literally talking about women smiling more to a co-anchor-less local news host segueing into “bikini bods.”  Next up was the CIA stuff on WikiLeaks, sharing some silly secret-project code names and picking apart leading news coverage that made the intel seem a lot more shocking than it actually is.  The main story circled back around to healthcare again, this time covering some of the content of the American HealthCare Act.  Even though it was a bit of a retread, it was still an excellent story.  Much was made of the fact that the bill has been getting harsh criticism on both sides, John mocked the pages spent on disenrolling previously-low-income lottery winners by imaging a “Freaky Friday proviso,” and Paul Ryan creeped us out with his palpable joy at taking money from poor people.


Monday, March 13 – Trevor opened on a hilarious gaffe from a news piece on the impeachment of South Korea’s president:  a man whose home broadcast for the BBC was interrupted first by his toddler, then his baby bursting into his study, with his wife racing in to extract the kids.  I could’ve died laughing at that, and I loved Trevor’s admiration for the wife’s kid-wrangling skills.  Next up was Trump’s wiretapping accusations and the zero evidence provided to support them.  Good stuff on the White House staff forced to defend the crap Trump spouts, especially Sean Spicer’s insistence that “illegal wiretapping” was clearly a metaphor for a broad range of general surveillance.  Roy and Hasan introduced this year’s “Third Month Mania,” pitting Trump tweets against each other.  Lee Daniels was the guest; I was interested in his comments about what it’s like being a gay man in close contact with the hip-hop world (due to Empire.)

Wednesday, March 15 – After a brief snow-day hiatus, the show was back, opening on a couple highlights from Rachel Maddow’s less-than-bombshell “reveal” of two pages of Trump’s tax returns from twelve years ago and Trump’s own people admitting there’s no evidence for his wiretapping claims.  Then, it was back to healthcare, this time challenging Trump’s support of the GOP bill given that it doesn’t do virtually anything he promised it would.  I especially liked Paul Ryan’s attempt to pull Trump “under the bus” and Trevor’s mirth at the thought of Trump helping to write legislation.  Ronny did a piece on snazzy new technology; I enjoyed how unimpressed he was with the current craze to make everything “smart.”  Nice interview with Jesse Williams.  He discussed his community outreach work, and he and Trevor bonded over their tendency to be constantly mistaken for other light-skinned PoC, including each other.

Thursday, March 16 – I liked Trevor’s prediction that Trump’s Muslim bans will forever be undone by his insistence on announcing his motives.  Nice story on the Netherlands’ election, more notable for Geert Wilders’s loss than Mark Rutte’s victory.  Some good angles here, especially America’s position as a cautionary tale and Trevor’s theory that xenophobic populist politicians are actually being mind-controlled by aliens that look like bad hair.  The centrist prime minister acquiescing to some populist/nativist notes was disturbing.  New correspondent Gina had a good first story on Brexit.  Her explanation of what’s happened to the pound post-Brexit was really good, and I liked her pointing out that Idris Elba isn’t the only Black person in the U.K.  Mixed feelings on the guest, former DNC chair Donna Brazile.  Her responses seemed slippery to me, and even as she was getting at good points, I felt like she was obfuscating.

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