News Satire Roundup: June 18th-June 22nd

Sunday, June 18 – John caught up on what’s been happening with the American Health Care Act while Stupid Watergate has been imploding.  He had a great bit playing off of Orrin Hatch getting his lines fed to him in a discussion with Democratic Senators.  The main story was on the coal industry, coal companies, and coal miners, particularly emphasizing the idea that helping one (i.e., the companies) doesn’t necessarily help them all (i.e., the miners.)  I was stunned to learn that there are only about 76,000 miners in the U.S. – fewer than the country’s number of JC Penney’s employees!  And while the research is likely right that coal jobs aren’t coming back regardless of what deregulation occurs, I appreciate that John didn’t overlook the genuine hardship that a lot of miners are going through as they see their jobs disappear.  It’s a situation with no easy answer, but John strove to maintain balance throughout the piece.

Monday, June 19 – We got started with Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That.  Trevor covered Trump rolling back relations with Cuba (in his ongoing quest to “press ‘control Z’ on Obama’s presidency) and the confusion of whether or not Robert Mueller is investigating Trump, featuring the most bizarrely double-talking lawyer around.  I was hoping Trevor would talk about the verdict in the Philando Castile case, and he did, taking care to call out the NRA for staying silent on someone with a legal carry permit being killed by a police officer – despicable.  Not a whole lot to the story about a special election in Georgia, although I liked Trevor’s point about politicians wringing their hands about lack of money for things like education while they drop millions of dollars for campaigns.  Very good interview with Janet Mock about her new book – I especially liked her remarks about the language she uses and why.

Tuesday, June 20 – Opening bit on a collection of Nazi artifacts found in Argentina; I liked Trevor’s joke about the owner insisting it’s “just kiddie porn.”  I liked the latest piece on the health care bill.  After reminiscing about the fearmongering the GOP conducted in the run-up to Obamacare, Trevor urged Democrats to do the same in a different way, using outrageous claims to highlight the point that we can’t know for sure if they’re made up, since the Republicans won’t release their draft of the bill.  Ronny had a field piece on The Slants’s Supreme Court win over the right to use their name.  I don’t think the piece articulated what The Slants were really trying to do, but I liked Ronny realization that the trademark wouldn’t have been denied to a non-Asian group wanting that name.  John Harris of Politico was the guest.  He did a good job explaining how Trump/his administration are simultaneously secretive and transparent.

Wednesday, June 21 – The amusing opening bit about Michael Phelps racing a shark and the story about the Democratic loss in the Georgia election were good (in the latter, I loved Trevor’s remarks about how it’s too early for Trump supporters to be disillusioned with Trump, using the comparison of drunk people at a club vs. the designated driver.)  But the piece of the night was again on the Philando Castile shooting.  Trevor aired both the original post-shooting video and the recently-released dashcam footage – I’d read descriptions of both but hadn’t seen either.  Insightful and heartfelt as he always is with this devastating subject.  Here, I was really shaken by his comments about how Castile’s girlfriend still called the cop “sir” moments after the shooting.  After that powerful story, the weird cutaway sequence with DJ Khaled was weird and felt shilly, but I enjoyed the interview with folk musician Jason Isbell.

Thursday, June 22 – First up was the Senate’s release of the health care bill; Trevor covered lessening health care to provide tax cuts for the rich, the GOP’s ballsiness to push for such an unpopular bill when they don’t have votes to spare, and the Democrats’ less-than-hard-hitting response.  Good story on Trump supporters at a rally, cheering Trump on despite his claims that directly countered his campaign promises – I laughed at Trevor pondering the logistics of a solar-panel border wall.  Hasan interviewed Preet Bharara, a former US Attorney Trump fired; Hasan got Bharara to tell his (Hasan’s) parents that law school isn’t a sure path to success, deaf to Bharara’s assurance that he is currently employed.  Guest Jerrod Carmichael was ostensibly there to promote Transformers, but after commending Trevor on his coverage of Philando Castile, they spent most of the interview frankly discussing systemic racism in police forces.