Sunday, October 29 – Great takedown of
Trump’s “not really” help on the opioid crisis, opening access to funds that
would divvy up to approximately $.02 per addict. John touched on hateful remarks in multiple
countries, looking at Roy Moore’s Senate race and the old “homosexuality ---> bestiality”
chestnut, as well as the gross statements made by those opposed to Australia
potentially legalizing same-sex marriage.
The main story was on floods.
Rather than spend time on whether or not climate change contributes to
larger and more destructive storms (taking that as a given,) John focused on
the systems that keep people in the path of flood damage. It was fascinating to me that, back in the
day, a big push for flood insurance was intended to make people realize how
dangerous it was and move, when the people instead stayed put and depended on
the insurance claims to rebuild their houses when they inevitably flooded.
Monday, October 30 – Trevor looked
briefly at Trump terribly interacting with children in Halloween costumes
before getting to the main event: the
indictments of Paul Manafort and George Papadopoulos. Trevor revisiting Manafort’s horrendous poker
face is always funny, and I liked him imagining Trump popping the champagne
that the Manafort charges weren’t connected with Russian collusion right when
the Papadopoulos indictment went public.
Next was an Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That, covering the accusations
against Kevin Spacey (wish there’d been more time for this,) how a Montana
company got the opportunity to rebuild Puerto Rico’s electricity through Linked In, and an inventive protest at a
white supremacist rally. I always
appreciate guest Ta-Nehisi Coates, who pondered how we got where we are (in
going from Obama to Trump) and where we might go from here.
Tuesday, October 31 – Too early to get
into the New York attack, so Trevor instead looked at GOP responses to the
Manafort and Papadopoulos indictments. Sean
Hannity’s “but Hillary!” non-sequitur was ridiculous, and I loved Trevor’s
jokes about the clip of Chuck Grassley slipping behind a flag to escape the
press. Good story on John Kelly’s “many
sides” comments about the Civil War. Especially
on the “compromise” insanity – Trevor came with receipts, showing how America’s
early history is littered with compromises on slavery. Desi had an amusing horror-movie-esque bit
about being haunted by Trump tweets no matter how she tried to avoid them. Interesting interview with Gretchen Carlson;
you could tell the atmosphere in the studio was awkward, but Trevor, repeating
his belief that sexual harassment should be an apolitical issue, kept the
discussion on what went down with Carlson at Fox News and what’s needed for
change.
Wednesday, November 1 – The major story,
understandably, was the terror attack in New York. After showing some New Yorkers refusing to
let terror dictate their lives, it was on to the fearmongering and opportunism. You had Trump calling for an end to the
diversity visa lottery (while failing to correctly say “diversity,”) featuring Trevor’s
reminder that “immigrant” doesn’t just mean “brown people,” and a montage
comparing Fox News’s insistence on “not politicizing a tragedy” after the Las
Vegas shooting with their agitating for blood and legislation after the New
York attack. The rest of the show was
devoted to the guest, none other than Hillary Clinton. I really enjoyed the interview; Trevor gave
her a lot of space to talk, and she covered Trump’s less-than-presidential
reactions to tragedy, the “Clinton dossier,” aspects of the campaign, and her
experiences with misogyny. A bright spot
in the darkest timeline.
Thursday, November 2 – I loved Trevor’s
excitement for the Lion King remake
and his disappointment that he’s not in it.
Next was more on Russian hacking, with the heads of big tech companies
(Facebook, Google, etc.) speaking before Congress about their failure to root
out the Russian troll content that worked to influence the election; I think we
were all Al Franken in that moment. A
new segment, “In Other News,” sort of a less depressing “Ain’t Nobody Got Time
for That.” It included knitting
tutorials found on Osama bin Laden’s computer, Obama getting called up for jury
duty, and and a police department claiming a suspect was denied counsel because
he asked for a “lawyer dog” (as opposed to “lawyer, dawg.”) Guest Gabrielle Union was great. She joined the string of recent female guests
to address sexual harassment/assault, and she also discussed the intersectionality
of not having the luxury “just” to be an actor.
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