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Sunday, February 18
· Recap of the Week – The Chicago rat hole, Tucker Carlson interview with Vladimir Putin, IDF attack on Rafah
o Last Week Tonight is back! Side note: I canceled my Max subscription after they canceled Our Flag Means Death, but because I had an annual subscription, it won’t actually end until September. Eventually, I’ll probably have to switch to just catching the main stories on YouTube, but for now, I continue to watch the whole thing on Max.
o This made me smile – “Filling in the rat hole is a grave injustice, both figuratively and literally.”
o I liked John’s reaction to Putin’s remarks about Tucker Carlson’s softball interview – “Wow. There’s embarrassing, and there’s ‘getting roasted by Putin for being a lapdog’ embarrassing.”
o It’s been reported that Biden has privately called Netanyahu an “A-hole” on multiple occasions – “Whoa! Careful there, Joe! What if Bibi hears you? Nothing shames the guy comfortable with bombing hospitals and refugee camps like knowing that, 6,000 miles away, an 81-year-old is saying PG-13 words under his breath.”
o This is a valid reaction to watching a clip of Trump rambling about pictures of himself golfing – “I know no one watching this needs a reminder that we have a long, grim election year ahead of us. But keep in mind, it’s only February. We need to pace ourselves, or we’re going to get burned out.”
· And Now This – Chuck Grassley Celebrates His Favorite Holiday
o Numerous instances of Grassley making statements along the lines of “immigration is becoming the Groundhog Day of America.”
o However, I wasn’t prepared for how deep he was going to get into it – more than once, he spoke in front of stills from the movie printed on poster board. What?!?
· Main Story – The Supreme Court
o Specifically, this story looked at possible corruption/conflicts of interest on the Court, and the fact that there’s hardly any apparatus to stop it from happening – this of course led into various lavish trips and gifts different justices have received, many without disclosing them.
o I liked John’s response to Samuel Alito’s claim that taking a private jet to an exclusive vacation was no big deal, since the seat would’ve been “otherwise unoccupied” if he hadn’t flown along – “It’s a private jet! All the seats are otherwise unoccupied. They don’t overbook them like it’s the 5:05 Spirit Airlines flight from Myrtle Beach to Vegas.”
o Then there was Neil Gorsuch, who spent years trying to sell a piece of property in Colorado – He sold it just nine days after his confirmation, to the CEO of a giant law firm that’s since argued 22 cases before the court.
o Naturally, a good chunk of the piece was spent on Clarence Thomas. Reporters discovered that they could work out how often Thomas was visiting luxury clubs with billionaire Harlan Crow from noting the club logos on his shirts in Facebook photos – “Look, journalism is a crap shoot. Sometimes you spend weeks hunting down leads, painstakingly building a timeline. Other times, your target posts a photo of himself on Facebook wearing a T-shirt that says ‘Secret Undeclared Yacht Vacation 2003.’”
o John had a great summation of Thomas’s Facebook page – “Every single one of these photos look like it was on the mood board for Get Out.”
o In looking at Crow’s collection of Nazi memorabilia, we heard a quote that one reporter “let out a gasp” upon seeing the collection – John said, “Yeah, I bet you do, ‘cause that is a bit of a red flag.” The show threw up a graphic of a Nazi banner and he added, “Specifically, this red flag!”
o Thomas and other justices have argued that these expensive trips and gifts don’t need to be disclosed because it’s just close friends showing hospitality – “A good rule of thumb is, if it can be a prize on The Price is Right, it’s not personal hospitality!”
o I loved this line – “Honestly, it’s starting to feel like Thomas doesn’t have friends so much as a collection of human ATMs.”
o Great observation about Thomas’s wife Ginny and her behind-the-scenes cheerleading about overturning the 2020 election – “First, Ginny looks like exactly the sort of person who would try to speak to the manager over a presidential election.”
o This was an excellent point about the rarefied and reverent treatment we give to Supreme Court justices, to our detriment – “We don’t treat them like what they are, which is people, who can be motivated by ideology and greed like anybody else.”
o Because Thomas has expressed his desire for a lavish lifestyle and that a justice’s salary isn’t the way to get it, John ended with an offer for him – If he announces his resignation in the next 30 days, John will give $1 million a year for the rest of his life.
o He insisted, “This is not a joke. If you watch this show, you know jokes aren’t really our thing.”
Monday, February 19
· Headlines – Reaction to last Monday’s show, Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin
o Jon opened with, “Welcome to The Daily Show. I’m your host Jon Stewart, captain of this dying medium.”
o I thought Jon was pretty thin-skinned about criticisms of his first episode – After sharing several critical tweets, he exclaimed, “But that was on Twitter! Everything on Twitter gets a backlash! I’ve seen Twitter tell labradoodles to go f**k themselves. Labradoodles.”
o His subsequent piece on Tucker Carlson’s Russia trip was funny, but it was somewhat marred by his framing it as “teach me how to unquestioningly kowtow to Dear Leader,” complete with taking notes on Carlson’s “technique.”
o This line made me laugh, about Carlson’s facial expressions as he listened to Putin talk – “Okay, so it’s not really a straight face, as much as you convey what appears to be a mixture of shame, arousal, and…I’m gonna say irregularity?”
o Since Carlson didn’t, Jon pushed back on some of Putin’s outrageous statements – “By the way, Poland started World War II? Why would a country whose navy had submarines with screen doors want to instigate a war?”
o Carlson also toured Russia, where he was wowed by a coin-slot system to incentivize people to return their carts (he’s apparently never heard of Aldi) and took time out to be smug about homeless people – “I didn’t realize that America’s homeless problem is caused entirely by easy access to grocery carts. ‘I had all my stuff in my house, but you put it on wheels, and it’s so much easier!’”
o After Carlson’s propaganda-friendly tour of Russia, Jon contrasted it with the murder of Alexei Navalny and the crackdown on his supporters – “The difference between your urinal-caked chaotic subways and your candelabra beautiful subways is the literal price of freedom.”
o Michael, however, thought Carlson had the right idea and decided to renounce his citizenship after visiting a North Korean candy store – He held up a bucket of candy that he said cost a nickel but would probably be $20 in the U.S., asking, “And who can afford that besides capitalistic American pedophiles?”
· Interview – Podcast hosts Melissa Murray & Kate Shaw
o Murray, Shaw, and their colleague Leah Litman host the podcast Strict Scrutiny, all about the U.S. Supreme Court.
o The first thing Jon did was ask about John Oliver’s offer to pay Clarence Thomas $1 million a year to step down – They weren’t optimistic that it would work but said, “I think it’s time for a Harlan Crow counteroffer.”
o While Trump has been trying to paint himself as a Navalny-like figure, persecuted by an authoritarian political rival, John asked, “Would you say that Donald Trump has actually received ‘due-er process’ than most people in America? I mean, this guy is clearly on the platinum due process plan.”
o This was a good quote from Murray – “Yes, of course the courts are a bulwark against the most totalitarian forces in our society, but we forget that the court system we have, the Supreme Court we have, the debates we’re having about the Supreme Court, are all right now the product of what Donald Trump did.”
Tuesday, February 20
· Headlines – Nikki Haley campaign speech, Trump compares himself to Alexei Navalny, Trump-branded cologne and sneakers
o We had Desi Lydic behind the desk the rest of the week.
o I smiled at Desi’s reaction to Nikki Haley’s “big announcement” speech – “Do what you want, but it’s not a good sign for your campaign that you have to keep announcing that you’re not dropping out of the race.”
o She had a good impression of Haley bringing up repeated marks against her during her speech – I laughed at, “They claim I have a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I’m not even a movie!”
o On Truth Social, Trump posted, “Biden:Trump::Putin:Navalny” – “This is utterly disgusting, but I have to give Trump credit. I didn’t realize he could make analogies. Look at that, he’s got the double colons and everything!”
o Great line – “Yes, it is unacceptable to compare Navalny with Trump. Navalny sacrificed his life for democracy. Trump tried to sacrifice Mike Pence’s life to kill democracy.
o We got a fake ad for Trump’s new cologne – “Victory 47: smelling this good should be illegal, and it probably is.”
o I liked Desi’s reaction to the new Trump sneakers – “Finally! A sneaker that won’t make me feel bad when I accidentally step in shit!”
o New correspondent Josh Johnson took to the streets to see what sneakerheads thought of the shoes – He asked one guy, “Do you think it’s a situation where, as soon as you put them on, you get indicted?”
o
Josh
said to another guy, “I’m wearing these, right? I get robbed, they get taken
off of me” – The man quickly replied, “You’re not gonna get robbed for those,
brother.”
· Alabama Supreme Court rules frozen embryos are children
o Desi succinctly laid out the implications of the Alabama Supreme court ruling – “Tens of thousands of women have children using IVF every year. And since it’s not possible to do that without creating some excess embryos, the state of Alabama has now ruled that starting a family is basically murder. You know, pro-life!”
o Ronny came on to discuss the issue further, where he claimed a fertilized embryo as his son – “This is a legal child in the state of Alabama, which means I get all the benefits of being a dad without having to be a dad. I get to claim it on my taxes! I get to have paternity leave. I get to hang out at the McDonald’s ball pit without getting hassled.”
· Interview – Actor Danai Gurira
o Gurira loves her work on The Walking Dead and its new spinoff The Ones Who Live, but she admitted that being smeared in fake blood and dust got old, and that she missed wearing cute clothes – Desi clarified, “You still wanna kill zombies—”, and Gurira enthused, “Oh yeah, don’t take away the katana! Let me hold onto that.”
o
I
liked this comment – “What attracted me to [The Walking Dead] when I was
asked to audition back in, like, 2012, was that it was about people, characters.
And it was like, who would I be if the world ended? If everything that was
convenient to me and normal to me just was gone, then who would I become?”
Wednesday, February 21
· Headlines – Trump town hall, FBI informant in Biden impeachment inquiry indicted
o At Trump’s town hall on Fox News, Tim Scott had to sit in the crowd sycophantically while Trump talked about him – “God, that was so humiliating. Trump basically said, ‘You’re only useful when you talk about how wonderful I am,’ and Tim just had to sit there and smile. I mean, who knew Trump also liked to grab ‘em by the balls?”
o An FBI informant who played a major role in the GOP’s impeachment case against Biden was indicted, and it’s come out that he had dealings with Russia – Desi said, “Yeah, Russia, again. Can we please just get a new storyline? Just once, I want to hear that, like, Bhutan is meddling in our elections, just to mix things up. Like, didn’t we just find out that aliens are real? Maybe they wanna get in on this!”
o After Jesse Watters previously crowed on Fox News how the importance of the informant’s “evidence,” he’s now insinuating that Biden had him indicted for political reasons – Desi remarked, “I personally would not have responded to this by accusing Biden of arresting his enemies, but hey, every news outlet has different standards. Some issue corrections, Jesse issues an all-caps Facebook comment. That’s the beauty of free speech—you can say whatever you want out of your big dumb mouth.”
o Jordan broke down these accusations for Desi – “If you watch Fox News, they make a simple, compelling argument. Joe Biden is a diabolical scheme machine with the tyrannical heart of a 50-foot Joseph Stalin. He’s a master conductor, playing America’s justice department like he’s Bradley Cooper in Maestro, but without the problematic nose.”
o Of course, Desi pointed out, “But isn’t Fox News also constantly painting the picture of Joe Biden as a doddering old man?” – Jordan admitted, “Well, yes, because…he’s also that too!”, and proceeded to paint a dual picture of Biden as a scheming mastermind who’s also “too old and feeble” to be able to handle anything.
· Correspondent Piece (Michael) – Duluth as a climate refuge
o As the effects of climate change become more evident, the Great Lakes region has been marked out as a potential climate refuge – To investigate, the show sent Michael to Duluth, Minnesota, which he was not happy about.
o Michael thought this was something to be addressed decades into the future, but an expert he talked to pointed out that a small number of people have already started moving to Duluth as a climate refuge – When the expert cited California as a place people are coming from, Michael exclaimed, “You’re telling me people are moving here from the good states?”
o During his person-on-the-street interviews in the frigid cold, Michael asked, “Do you think those big UN climate change summits would be more effective if people knew that the alternative was having to move to Duluth?”
o Michael also talked to a former mayor of Duluth. She talked up the city as a great place to move, saying, “Duluth is gritty and resilient and real. We work hard, we really care about each other” – Michael countered, “That’s gonna be tough for some of these people in LA, because they don’t work hard, and they don’t care about each other.”
· Interview – Director Maite Alberdi
o Alberdi is up for an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for her film The Eternal Memory.
o The film follows a couple where the wife is caring for her husband with Alzheimer’s – Desi praised it for emphasizing the love and good times between them.
o When asked why that’s what she chose to focus on, Alberdi explained, “I think that was very important for me, to don’t make the chronicle of deterioration that—I think we are very used to see films about Alzheimer’s, in fiction films, that are drama of deterioration. And in this case, I wanted to build the story of a memory of a relationship, and how you see that relationship through the years.”
o At the end of the interview, Desi said, “I just want to thank you for making this film. It’s something that has affected my family as well, and it is so inspiring to see this story being told in such an honest way, and in a way that doesn’t grieve what has been lost but celebrates all the love and joy that we make.”
Thursday, February 23
· Headlines – Commander Biden biting incidents, Beyoncé becomes the first Black woman to top the country Billboard chart, massive cellular outage, Nikki Haley’s reputation as a moderate
o Desi was impressed with Commander Biden’s record of biting Secret Service agents – “24 times. Even John Wick would be like, ‘I’m sorry, you’ve gotta get rid of that dog! That’s ridiculous.’”
o Beyoncé topped the country chart with her new song “Texas Hold ‘Em” – “This is very exciting for everyone. Well, except for Jay-Z. Lemonade was great, but if you get caught cheating in a country song? Thoughts and prayers, Jay-Z, thoughts and prayers.”
o Desi brought Troy on to talk about the massive outage that affected multiple carriers, asking, “What can you report about this outage? Emergency services had trouble all day” – In his state of unplugged bliss, he replied, “And you know who didn’t know about that? Me.”
o Good line – “Yes, obviously Nikki Haley is a moderate. It’s something that everybody knows, like Joe Biden is old, or RFK is a biohazard, or Tim Scott is crying on the inside.”
o Of course, Desi examined Haley’s policies for a different story, such as her hardline stance on abortion – “It’s not that she doesn’t care about women’s issues. It’s that she has a very unmoderate idea of what women’s issues are.” Cut to Haley talking about “the women’s issue of our time”: trans girls playing sports.
o In fact, Haley herself has touted her Tea Party roots and pushed back on the idea that she’s moderate – Desi exclaimed, “Guys, she says she’s not a moderate! Believe women!”
o But she pinpointed the ultimate reason why Haley is framed in this way – “Wow, what a reasonable, middle-of-the-road answer! The man who won the election won the election!”
o Great observations – “That’s where we’re at. That is the big split in the Republican party today. Do you think Joe Biden won the election, or did you take a shit on Nancy Pelosi’s desk? But the media’s not used to discussing democracy vs. fascism, they’re used to discussing left vs. right. So they put Donald Trump on the far right, and anyone who didn’t storm the Capitol becomes a moderate. But that means that any Republican, no matter what their views are, gets labeled as a moderate just because they believe in democracy.”
o Desi gave some examples of other Republicans who get that “moderate” label, like this one – “Liz Cheney: she denies climate change, she’s anti-abortion, and she loves bombing other countries just as much as her dad. Yeah, she’s a nepo bomber!”
o Zing! – “I’m sorry that I’m getting emotional about this, but I just believe that having biological conservatives competing in moderate sports, that is the women’s issue of our time.”
· Interview – Musician/actor Jason Isbell
o While Isbell just won a Grammy, he also recently got into acting with Killers of the Flower Moon.
o In talking about the film, Desi asked, “Now, did you find that the grind of touring and performing prepared you for the pure stamina you needed to sit through the entire movie, start to finish?” – Isbell joked, “I do really good at not peeing, and that helps a lot.”
o He told an amusing story about shooting an intense scene with Leonardo DiCaprio when someone in the crew loudly farted – He said, “Whoever it was, you could tell that that person had lost a great battle.”
o Desi asked Isbell what he’s saying about southern men in his song “Middle of the Morning” – He explained, “In my experience, we’re not always the best at talking about how we feel, and that makes us not very good at dealing with our emotions. Things will come out in ways that we don’t intend them to when we’re not able to say, ‘I am scared,’ or, ‘I am sad.’”
· Performance – Jason Isbell
o Isbell performed “Cast Iron Skillet,” which I thought was a really beautiful song.
o This was a poignant stanza – “Shower up and shave, / Put flowers on the grave, / And ask the Lord to save his soul, / Although you know it’s too late.”
o During the interview, he’d explained that part of the song was about a childhood friend who wound up going to jail for murder – “He was sweet and soft, / Shied away from the inside fastballs, / And died doing life without parole.”
o The other main “story” in the song was about a relative who was disowned by her dad after falling in love with a Black man – “Don’t wash the cast iron skillet. / This town won’t get no better, will right? / She found love and it was simple as a weathervane. / But her own family tried to kill it.”
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