S10.E10: Biden and the Border

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic: Immigration at the Southern Border

Also: Matthew McConaughey: The Art of Living; King Charles coronation; Is  Matthew McConaughey okay?; Radiant Plumbing and Air Conditioning Magnolia ad

Original air date 2023.04.30

[Annber03]

Oof, the immigration discussion tonight. Unfortunately, I feel like even if Biden's administration had the most liberal immigration policies imaginable, they'd probably find themselves in some kind of fight with Republican politicians from the border states, and I can see some of that being a factor in why the border situation is such a mess, and why the Biden administration hasn't moved faster...

...but yeah, that still doesn't excuse the areas where his administration does have the power to do something and is still causing or adding to the mess. That app situation alone, at the very least, should be run a HELL of a lot more smoothly, as should the issues around people trying to seek asylum. Even when you support a party/politician, it's still fair to demand more/better action. 

As for other topics...why did those clips of McConaughey look like something from a creepy video for a cult? 

Tucker Carlson in the "find out" phase of his "fuck around and find out" period. I love it :D. 

I also love these local businesses that have a great sense of humor and play along with these ad challenges the show gives them to do :D. That Radiant Plumbing ad was brilliant. I've never seen Magnolia, so it was great to see John highlighting all the similarities between the movie and the ad. Kudos to them going all out with the details like that, and for their donation to the food bank as well. I hope their business continues to flourish. 

(But uh...what's this about a scene involving a falling frog stopping a suicide attempt now...?)

[ebk57]

That Radiant Plumbing ad was absolutely brilliant!  I sincerely hope they're as good at plumbing as they are at advertising. 

[kittykat]

Ugh never depend on a government app to streamline your policy. Immigration will always be a hot topic but yeah Biden is not exactly delivering here and it's important to point out no matter what party is in charge.

I never would have in a million years guessed Magnolia was the mystery but damn that was marvelous.  And all the easter eggs Radiant Plumbing put in was just masterful.

[Lantern7]

"After I rail upon the monarchy I left behind, I'm going to focus on immigration . . .  specifically, how President Biden has come up short on campaign promises, and how he cannot seem to clear a bar set so low by his predecessor. (awkward pause) And then we're going to see a toilet repair place spoof Magnolia because we convinced them to do it plot unseen, and I'm going to spend the last few minutes of the episode jizzing under my desk in sheer delight!!"

Well, that's how it felt to me.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Lantern7

[swanpride]

Well, while I have to agree that a Quiche is usually a pretty boring dish which is bound to leave you hungry unless you adjust the recipe by adding at least something more hearty in it, that is the most idiotic discussion I ever heard about. 

Oh, another actor who has fallen off the deep end. What happened? Not enough roles to support his life style? 

And who the hell is dying because of immigration other than the immigrants trying to reach a safe place in the hope that they won't end up exploited there (small reminder of the recent segment about farm workers). And frankly, what the hell is the US even complaining about? It is a huge country with a pretty small population density and only one border to protect (unless you count the one to Canada). Ironically at the same time there are adds running in the TV over here trying to convince people that the US is a great place to life (because apparently Europeans are welcome immigrants - or at least welcome workers). 

The world has gone crazy. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I fully admit I'm a terrible person. When they showed how the app could recognize people with a darker complexion, I immediately thought of the Better off Ted episode. 

On a more policy note. I don't think one president can singularly 'fix' immigration because it is far too complex and nuanced, and executive power is limited. I'm not a 'both sides' guy, but Congress as a whole has shipped it's legislative power to the executive branch on far too many issues. It's easier to watch the president flail around and complain about it, then take the political risk to actually fix this. 

[peeayebee]

47 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I fully admit I'm a terrible person. When they showed how the app could recognize people with a darker complexion, I immediately thought of the Better off Ted episode. 

That does not make you a terrible person. That makes you a person of exceptional intelligence and wit! That BOT ep was brilliant. I need to watch it again.

The asylum app definitely needs to be fixed. I understand not everyone having internet access, but this can be a good tool... if they fix the bugs. 

I like quiche. I didn't used to. Of course I'm not sure how I would like that royal quiche. Doesn't sound very appetizing. When we see it being assembled, I thought the black stuff was caviar! Major EWWWW. But black beans? Oh, I guess they're broad beans. I guess the dark stuff was spinach. Also, I noticed a chyron on the Nigel Farage clip said something about an egg shortage. I didn't realize there was a shortage there as well as in the US. 

I wonder if the monarchy is on its way out. At the very least, they need to give some of their money back to the people. I don't understand their mindset.

The immigration crisis is so upsetting. People fleeing their countries because of poverty and violence. I don't know if there's anything the US can do to help those countries deal with these issues. Corruption is a concern, so I don't know how we could give them money, or even if that would make a difference. 

Doesn't this country need workers? (Rhetorical question.) 

I wonder if one reason Biden isn't fulfilling his campaign promise is because of reelection. If he gets reelected, I wonder if he will really change the immigration policies.

Now onto more fun things... What an awesome ad Radiant put together. They are so creative. I never in a million years would have guessed Magnolia for the movie LWT gave them to work with.

[andromeda331]

I'm glad that John brought this up. I've been wondering for awhile why Biden hasn't done anything with immigration. When asked he doesn't say much and nothing is being done. It's basically the same as it's been before. I wonder if he's waiting until reelected but I have my doubts. The app is stupid.  Aren't places still hiring everywhere? It seems like there's still a lot of job openings everywhere.

 

[ShadowKnight2]

On 4/30/2023 at 11:50 PM, Annber03 said:

...but yeah, that still doesn't excuse the areas where his administration does have the power to do something and is still causing or adding to the mess. That app situation alone, at the very least, should be run a HELL of a lot more smoothly, as should the issues around people trying to seek asylum. Even when you support a party/politician, it's still fair to demand more/better action. 

Except that John Oliver seems to have a pathological hatred for President Biden at a time when American democracy is under attack, and people are whining and bitching that Joe Biden is too old to be running for president. Now I don't expect these late night hosts to be playing favorite politician for whomever, even if they are within their own party. But John Oliver can't seem to hide his personal disgust and contempt at the 46the US president for reasons that can only be described as petty and pathetic. It's starting to get to the point where John Oliver's reckless phrasing could be detrimental for democracy.

I'm not surprised by Matthew McConaughey's motivational seminar. That guy has always struck me as a huge weirdo who lucked out in the gene pool.

And if the British monarchy should end, sooner or later, well I won't have any sleepless nights over their demise.

[purist]

12 hours ago, ShadowKnight2 said:

Except that John Oliver seems to have a pathological hatred for President Biden ... John Oliver can't seem to hide his personal disgust and contempt at the 46the US president ...

I'm not seeing it. All his criticisms of Biden seem valid and coherent to me, and certainly not bitter or disgusted.

[ShadowKnight2]

6 hours ago, purist said:

I'm not seeing it. All his criticisms of Biden seem valid and coherent to me, and certainly not bitter or disgusted.

It's been like that since Biden threw his hat in the ring. I can still remember the tone in his voice when he said, to his audience, that his writers and research tram were looking deep into the whole Tara Reade situation and couldn't wait to show his audience what they uncovered.

[lasu]

On 5/3/2023 at 2:41 AM, purist said:

I'm not seeing it. All his criticisms of Biden seem valid and coherent to me, and certainly not bitter or disgusted.

I agree with this.  I'm not getting bitter or disgusted either.

[bilgistic]

It's almost as if those who disagree with John Oliver can just not watch his show.

[ShadowKnight2]

John Oliver can create an outstanding show. But his utter contempt of Joe Biden leave so much to be desired. Especially right now given how much pushback the president is receiving to not run again because of his age.

Applauding John Oliver's attacks on Biden mean standing with his enemies.

[purist]

8 hours ago, ShadowKnight2 said:

Applauding John Oliver's attacks on Biden mean standing with his enemies.

I'm sorry, what? John (and those of us who agree with him) is standing with Biden's enemies because he makes some valid criticisms? I would have thought that no political figure - not even Uncle Joe - is above criticism. If we can't criticise our politicians, we are living in a dictatorship, surely.

[ShadowKnight2]

9 hours ago, purist said:

I'm sorry, what? John (and those of us who agree with him) is standing with Biden's enemies because he makes some valid criticisms? I would have thought that no political figure - not even Uncle Joe - is above criticism. If we can't criticise our politicians, we are living in a dictatorship, surely.

He's giving those that want to bring down Biden and the Democrats something to try and destroy him with. And they don't care if it's factual or not. As long as those that want to confirm the worst in him, be they left or right, get whatever it is they want in order to justify their own biases. And it comes at a time when the right in America are doing whatever it takes to bring down democracy in America and rule everyone with zero pushback.

In a perfect world, any faults and mistakes of Biden's can and should be open to debate. But we live in a world where the globe's biggest democratic superpower has a bad concoction of a generation or two being undereducated - due to deliberate cutbacks at the public school level by state Republicans, including doing away with civics courses that teach students how American governing works - and an internet where deliberate misinformation can be spread within seconds, and where social media has tailor made individual news to suit the person's own biases. That's how chaos agents, like Putin, were able to manipulate the American electorate in 2016. The old saying that a lie can circle around the world before the truth can put on it's pants has been turbocharged for today's discourse.

And it's in that fog of misinfo that John Oliver is purposely using his platform to attack Biden on a personal level whenever he can. And it very much looks personal with him, as he has displayed these past couple of years. It's one thing to point stuff out like immigration, once in a while. But he and his staff have certainly made it their mission to make Biden look bad to their viewers whenever they can, as their vow of attempting to dig deep into the Tara Reade nothingburger has proven.

Maybe you're not aware of all that where you're from. But those who do live in America, and are concerned about the future of the country, do. And John Oliver is not helping out one bit.

[peeayebee]

I live in America, and while I hate hearing about missteps, illegality, immorality about politicians I support, I can't fault any journalist (or comedian) for bringing up unwelcome news about them. Yes, I admit to hating that such news provides fodder for those on the right, but a journalist who ignores troubling information about any pol, left or right, is simply not doing their job and is leaving their other reporting up for criticism.

I have faith in Biden's morality, unlike the previous guy. Not to excuse the problems at the border, but I think the decisions Biden has made about immigration are due to reelection concerns. 

[possibilities]

What misinformation are you referring to? I didn't think this episode was using misinformation.

[ShadowKnight2]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I live in America, and while I hate hearing about missteps, illegality, immorality about politicians I support, I can't fault any journalist (or comedian) for bringing up unwelcome news about them. Yes, I admit to hating that such news provides fodder for those on the right, but a journalist who ignores troubling information about any pol, left or right, is simply not doing their job and is leaving their other reporting up for criticism.

 

Except that John Oliver has gone out of his way to dump all over anything Joe Biden has said and done because it's seems personal to him. Has he ever done anything that exposes the root causes of America's democracy being on shaky grounds, like the business of polling in which the questions asked by people are set up in a deceptive way to make the issues seem confusing to the people being asked, or their insistence on using land lines to call people when so many people are using smartphones? Or about today's mainstream media failing to cover and report hard news in favor of sensationalistic stories that are clickbait material, or their attempts to play the both sides game with what's going on in Congress?

John Oliver can do better with covering the issues that really affect millions of Americans, rather than carry on an agenda against President Biden, because he doesn't seem to like him.

[Lugal]

Watching the xenophobes freak out about asylum seekers is really something else.  It takes a special kind of idiot who, after seeing decades spent making countries unlivable, can still be shocked that people don't want to live there.

Biden is better than Trump, but like John said, that's a low bar.  Biden has a record, he shouldn't be immune to criticism, and it would make him a stronger candidate if he would address it.

[ShadowKnight2]

1 hour ago, Lugal said:

Biden is better than Trump, but like John said, that's a low bar.  Biden has a record, he shouldn't be immune to criticism, and it would make him a stronger candidate if he would address it.

Joe Biden's not afraid to answer questions about his record. The thing here is that John Oliver keeps going well out of his way to attack him for very personal reasons. As if he's got a huge grudge against him.

[Lugal]

19 hours ago, ShadowKnight2 said:

Joe Biden's not afraid to answer questions about his record. The thing here is that John Oliver keeps going well out of his way to attack him for very personal reasons. As if he's got a huge grudge against him.

I'll admit, I don't see it.  His criticisms seem valid and even mild compared to others I've seen.

[ShadowKnight2]

3 hours ago, Lugal said:

I'll admit, I don't see it.  His criticisms seem valid and even mild compared to others I've seen.

Well I've noticed it a lot. And it is quite excessive over the past couple of years!

[Lantern7]

With the dual strikes going on, this was probably John's last episode for 2023. How fitting was it that we ended on a toilet repair service goof on Magnolia because John convinced them to do it?