News Satire Roundup: March 20th-March 24th

Sunday, March 20 – The opening included corruption in Brazil (I loved the the comment about their legislative body having only 40% fewer criminals than their prisons) and Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination; while the latter story didn’t have much new to say, the intransigence of McConnell and co. should be pointed out whenever possible, so I liked it.  Even better, though, was the ending tag, in which John brought out the potential Garland stand-ins for the show’s all-dog Supreme Court.  But before adorable judiciary dogs was the main story:  Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.  In John’s trademark fashion, he systematically tore apart every claim and rationalization about the wall.  It will not 1) cost $4-12 billion, 2) be easy to erect/maintain, or 3) be widely effective in keeping out undocumented immigrants (who, by the way, are statistically less likely to commit crime, not more.)  Any other questions?

Monday, March 21 – While it feels kind of contradictory to do a news/satire story on how Trump has benefited from news over-saturation, the show did an interesting job with it.  The statistics shared were especially enlightening (Trump’s campaign coverage has been comparable to that of the entire Ebola crisis,) and I liked Trevor calling out the uncoolness of news moguls who admit to knowingly contributing to the Trump machine in exchange for ratings.  So-so piece from Ronny on robots and AI technology.  My favorite part was his point that, if we don’t want to AIs to rise up against us, we should stop teaching them war strategy games like chess.  The guest was Shaka Senghor, who talked about his experiences in prison and the need for reform.  I especially liked his comments about adjusting to contemporary life/technology after a long prison sentence.

Tuesday, March 22 – It felt odd that Brussels didn’t come up until the interview (although there was a brief tribute at the end – along with Ankara, which I appreciated.)  As such, the first story, a blurb about the online voting that may result in a British research vessel being named “Boaty McBoatface,” was funny but felt weirdly chipper.  Good story on Obama’s visit to Cuba; I loved Obama “cock-blocking” Castro’s attempt at a photo op, as well as Trevor calling out “braving the rain” as a first-world phrase.  Nice to see Desi back, reporting on the planned gentrification of Cuba.  Roy did a field piece on an NBA player who fought/beat the charges that had involved him being injured by police, comparing his case to the many that don’t go in Black people’s favor.  I liked the interview with Taavi Rõivas, prime minister of Estonia.  I liked hearing about some neat things he’s done there, as well as his remarks on not giving in to fear amidst terrorism.

Wednesday, March 23 – On Monday, Trevor looked at the media’s culpability in the Trump mess; tonight was the GOP’s turn.  It was a great story, pointing out that, despite the GOP’s insistence that Trump doesn’t reflect the Republican Party, a lot of their stances align pretty closely.  All the comparative clips were perfectly chosen, and I loved Trevor taking Trump to task for calling America a third-world country.  This led well into the guest, Senator Lindsey Graham.  He was a surprisingly good sport about Trevor undermining his endorsement of Cruz by repeatedly showing clips of Graham talking about how awful Cruz was, including one where he compared the prospect of a Cruz presidency to being poisoned.  Graham got two segments of the episode, the final one featuring a pool game between him and Trevor in which they had to read compliments about Trump every time they missed a shot.

Thursday, March 24 – We opened with Tay, Microsoft’s new AI that was taken off Twitter when users taught her to be racist (with Twitter, it was inevitable.)  Next came a story on reactions to the Brussels attack.  The juxtaposition between calls for unity/strength (most world leaders) and opportunistic fearmongering (Cruz and Trump) was just as pronounced as you’d expect.  There was an update on the Apple vs. FBI showdown, or lack thereof; I loved Trevor’s annoyance at the FBI for the whole thing.  All this, unfortunately, was crammed into the first segment to make way for more Third Month Mania stuff in the second.  Roy and Hasan’s commentary wasn’t even as funny to me this time (except for their description of Congress as a surfeit of assholes.)  Enjoyable interview with Ethan Hawke, promoting his Chet Baker biopic.  I liked his story about how his wife keeps him accountable when his characters get into his head.