Sunday, November 17 – Last Week Tonight season finale. Today’s Stupid Watergate II update
went refuted various defenses from the GOP and Fox News, ranging from, “No,
attempted bribery/extortion is still a crime,” to, “Well, if this impeachment
hearing isn’t sexy enough for you,
take any one of Trump’s umpteen other scandals!” The main story looked at the
census, both the reasons why it’s so important to get an accurate count and the
ways the administration has tried to undermine it. Trump dismissing the census
by claiming it asks “how many toilets you own” was just gobsmackingly absurd,
and it’s gross that one late lawmaker had a server full of “this is our evil
plan to suppress minority voters” emails (even though it’s obviously good that
this evidence was found – it still just disgusts me.) Finally, we got to
revisit the “Chiijohn” mascot the show made and sent to Japan, which was very
nice after some depressing news.
Sunday, November 17 – Excellent episode on
the Trump administration’s various strategies to eliminate asylum in the U.S.
We’ve seen so much of this in the last few years, and Hasan gathered it all
into one place. Major points included the “Remain in Mexico” policy (it’s
sickening that its official name is “Migrant Protection Protocol,” given that
its aim is to deter asylum-seeking by forcing migrants to remain in camps along
the border for months on end, where they’re vulnerable to violence, kidnapping,
and rape,) metering at the border, and the so-called “safe third country
agreements” (how can Guatemala qualify as a safe third country for asylum
seekers from Honduras and El Salvador if people are fleeing Guatemala too??) I
loved the ending, in which Hasan acknowledged that all the “immigrants make
this country better” arguments are true but said that the real reason to
support asylum is because it’s right.
Monday, November 18 – Loved the British
interviewer who shut down Prince Andrew’s euphemistic description of Jeffrey
Epstein. We also got opening blurbs on the Netherlands’ Christmas figure “Black
Pete” (loved Trevor’s point, “If he’s just black from the soot, then why does
he have an afro?”) and Michael Bloomberg just now realizing that stop-and-frisk
was bad (I’m sure it has nothing to do with his potential presidential run.)
Good story on Trump’s hospital visit for “phase one” of his physical. I loved
the bit about how the administration wouldn’t admit it even if he showed up
with amputated limbs: “The president’s arms have always been brooms! He uses them to clean up Washington!” More on
the impeachment hearings, with plenty on the quote that President Zelensky
“loves [Trump’s] ass.” Democratic candidate Tom Steyer was the guest, selling
himself as a billionaire who believes in a wealth tax.
Tuesday, November 19 – We opened on the
rise of superbugs being worse than we thought (Trevor had a great riff on
returning to the 17th century, when you’d start getting your affairs
in order after a paper cut,) followed by the continuing protests in Hong Kong.
In lieu of an update on the impeachment hearings, the show highlighted
“Fartgate,” in which either Rep. Eric Swalwell or Chris Matthews appeared to
fart live on the air on Hardball.
While the story was silly, I was amused by the fact that the Internet is so
obsessed that both parties had to issue official denials. Roy and Michael did a
sports piece on some football news, from the Cleveland Browns and the infamous
helmet fight, to Colin Kaepernick training again, to an uncomfortable
University of Florida tradition. The guest, Lin-Manuel Miranda(!), geeked out
over being in His Dark Materials and
discussed the “opposing muscle groups” of composing vs. freestyling.
Wednesday, November 20 – Latest debate. We
covered Pete Buttigieg flexing his lack of
wealth, a showdown between Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard, Andrew Yang taking
a rare chance to speak, Joe Biden attempting to swallow his own foot, and
everyone being on the same page about Trump. Couldn’t spend the whole show on
the debate, though – we had to check in with Gordon Sondland’s burn-it-all-down
testimony at the impeachment hearings. Plus, there was Trump’s bizarre address
to reporters; I loved Trevor’s comment that innocent people don’t need notes to say they’re innocent. Roy sat down
with a group of Black voters to discuss what they want in a president. Everyone
side-eyed the one Trump supporter, and they discussed pandering and the
tendency to be harder on Black candidates. Great interview with Alicia Menendez, talking about the double-edged sword of “likability” with female
candidates.
Thursday, November 21 – First was Trevor’s
victory lap for his Grammy nomination (loved him hoping he gets arrested so the
news will refer to him as “the Grammy nominee,”) a new tool to measure costs
vs. earning potential for different majors, and a teenager’s mad airport dash.
Next, we looked at Andrew Yang, whose media coverage doesn’t match his polling
numbers. I loved Trevor demanding to know Yang hasn’t brought up the fact he
worked for Obama. Interesting CP Time from Roy on Black people’s contributions
to Thanksgiving. Among other bits of history, one of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves,
Sally Hemings’s brother, is thought to have invented mac and cheese! Great
interview with Lena Waithe, talking about Queen
& Slim. She was proud that her film has none of the white gaze, and it
broke my heart when she talked about wanting to tell stories that humanize
Black people so “maybe [the cops] will stop killing us.”
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