TDS 3.0: Season One Talk

[attica]

I love Dahlia Lithwick; I bet she'd be a hoot to hang at a bar with.

[ganesh]

I caught the "african boss" too.

The guest was right though, scotus can't be issuing 4-4 rulings all the time because that's effectively useless. So I would disagree with Trevor that they "are just like congress". I don't think they can actually do their job. 

I have been saying all along that there will be a confirmed nominee by the time the congress hits the summer recess. The lame duck option is a huge huge (stupid) gamble because if Clinton wins, Obama is going to just withdraw the nominee and let her do it once she's president. Which will be so awesome because Obama has been a paragon of restraint with all the obstruction, and personal insults piled on him over the last seven years. One flip of the bird to congress is ok for me. "Welp you guys convinced me. We shouldn't appoint a justice in an election year. I'll just let Hillary do it. Thanks!" micdrop

[Victor the Crab]

8 hours ago, shok said:

Me too! The whole thing was very funny but it was also good to see Canadians in such a positive light. The (Cdn) right wingers are going to go nuts on Trudeau though for making an appearance on the show. They already blather on about how he gets so much publicity.

Someone should ask them if they want some cheese and crackers to go with their whine. They still can't get over the fact that their guy, Stephen Harper, lost the federal election to someone they consider inferior in every aspect. If Harper and the Tories were still in power, no way most, if any, of those refugees would be welcomed into the country.

[canter]

3 hours ago, attica said:

I love Dahlia Lithwick; I bet she'd be a hoot to hang at a bar with.

She was hilarious! I wish she was a correspondent -- she was really terrific. 

[angora]

Forgot to mention it yesterday, but in both of Hasan's pieces, I love that he kept using shots of White Walkers to represent to "threat" of Syrian refugees; it made me laugh every time (even though it's actually very apt as a demonstration of just how bent out of shape Fox News is about refugees.)  I like the way this piece continually mused on the idea of America being a nation of immigrants that loves to hate on the newest immigrants.  Stacking up all the statistics of other refugees America has been opposed to accepting over the years was effective, and having Trudeau edging in on "America's turf" with the melting-pot philosophy was a good way to facilitate Hasan coming around at the end.

I know doing the whole "talking super seriously about the Angry Birds movie" thing is a blindingly obvious joke to go for, but Trevor and Jason Sudeikis did it so well, especially Jason.  I loved when he started comparing it to Braveheart and getting all "it's not playing, it's more existing."

[peeayebee]

Yes, Jason and Trevor did that pretty well, though I thought Trevor looked like he was about to give up or crack a couple of times.

The Trudeau interview was great. I'd never seen him interviewed before. He was serious when it was called for, but ready for the jokes, too.

Loved the whole takedown of the Trump/Kelly interview. I didn't watch it, but I read about it. It was even more awful to see (the clips) than read about them. I don't know if she's a good actress or what. Maybe she believed or was convinced that her talk show would be a lightweight one rather than serious. Loved when Trevor said the interview had been promoted as a bloodbath, but it was more like a Cialis bath; however, Trevor hoped that, unlike Cialis, Megyn was just softening up Donald. So great when Trevor did the Urkel, "Did I do that?" So perfect. Desi, Roy, and Chang all getting charmed by Trump was funny.

[ganesh]

Kelly saying she is "doing good journalism" is laughable and patently absurd. Oh, you're the person who has to "hold these people accountable?" The entire network is about as far from journalism and accountability as you can get. The only reason she is involved with this is because she's just as much making the news as he is. 

Is she holding these candidates accountable for their cold war foreign policies? Or inciting murder?

Really good journalism touching your interview subject's hair too. 

Edited May 19, 2016 by ganesh

[redfish]

Quote

Kelly saying she is "doing good journalism" is laughable and patently absurd. Oh, you're the person who has to "hold these people accountable?" The entire network is about as far from journalism and accountability as you can get. The only reason she is involved with this is because she's just as much making the news as he is.

I think we forget for a brief second after all that posturing about "doing good journalism," is that she works for Fox. And their journalism cred is rather spotty.

[nodorothyparker]

Megyn Kelly has the uncanny knack of doing something right just often enough, like going after Mike Huckabee when he basically called New York women trashy, that a lot of people mistake her for something she's not.  Like tough or a good journalist.  I see this on a couple of progressive sites I follow.  She makes sense for five full seconds and suddenly they all forget this is the same woman who emphatically told viewers that Santa Claus and Jesus are white.  She's in full on Fox News mode now, playing the persecuted victim of big mean Trevor Noah for calling her on rolling over and showing Trump her belly like her corporate masters have likely told her to.

With the Democratic Party seemingly hellbent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, I'm otherwise having a very hard time finding any humor in Trump right now.   

[ganesh]

3 hours ago, nodorothyparker said:

She's in full on Fox News mode now, playing the persecuted victim of big mean Trevor Noah for calling her on rolling over and showing Trump her belly like her corporate masters have likely told her to.

The problem is, who watches the watchmen? There was a time were there was actual journalists who did this. You have people calling themselves 'journalists' who are just making themselves part of the news. "You and I have had issues." Who cares? You're literally playing with Trump's hair. He also literally doesn't know what the *nuclear triad* is. What's really more important here?

You're not seeing Trump on PBS News. They actually are journalists and do not play. 

[nodorothyparker]

And that is a problem.  Once upon a time, there was enough competition among media outlets that you could generally count on them keeping each other more or less on the up and up and actually, you know, reporting.  This also meant that they generally had to at least go through the motions of trying to appear fair and balanced.  But then media consolidation happened to the point that an overwhelmingly huge percentage of media outlets in this country are now owned by five or six companies. The Fairness Doctrine died.  Fox News happened.  And now here we are where Megyn Kelly is the story as much as any half-assed interview where she did everything short of lick Trump up and down only a month after she was claiming she was receiving death threats because of him.

I like that the show is at least trying to call out the increasingly nonsensical and violent rhetoric of some of the Bernie Bros.  I think it could have been a little more forceful considering he issued the classic "sorry but" response to what happened in Nevada.  I like the new correspondent though and the way she plays off of Roy's complete deadpan about it all. 

Edited May 20, 2016 by nodorothyparker

[angora]

I really loved Trevor's monologue about all the gross trans panic.  It was strong and made its points very well, while still mocking all the ridiculous arguments against just letting trans people use the damn bathroom already.  I liked the bit about all the perverts sitting around waiting for their legal loophole, and comparing the current hysteria to past hand-wringing over the gay community and the Black community was really well-done - I especially liked how he took the repeated use of the word "absurd" and flipped it to talk about how absurd these arguments are as we look back at them.  I'm also glad that he mentioned the fact that NO ONE in all this is talking about trans men using the men's bathroom.

The interplay between Roy and Eliza in their piece was fun.  It cracked me up that he had to keep shutting down her Black Power salute, and "If you do this at the convention, you know which one of us is getting arrested!" was a great cap to the piece.  Oh yeah, and I think "Orange Julius Caesar" might be my favorite Trump description yet.

Arianna Huffington stalking Trevor on social media made me smile.

[WhatDoYouKnow]

Quote

You're literally playing with Trump's hair. 

Not that her interview didn't totally suck (it did, at least the parts we were shown and that I read about) but that Moment of Zen with her playing with his hair wasn't from the same interview. She was wearing different clothes and had different hair. According to my google search, it was from an interview when Megyn was on The Five and is from 2011.

[needschocolate]

2 hours ago, angora said:

I really loved Trevor's monologue about all the gross trans panic.  It was strong and made its points very well, while still mocking all the ridiculous arguments against just letting trans people use the damn bathroom already.  I liked the bit about all the perverts sitting around waiting for their legal loophole, and comparing the current hysteria to past hand-wringing over the gay community and the Black community was really well-done - I especially liked how he took the repeated use of the word "absurd" and flipped it to talk about how absurd these arguments are as we look back at them.  I'm also glad that he mentioned the fact that NO ONE in all this is talking about trans men using the men's bathroom.

I thought this piece was very well done - except when he compared one guy's neck to a scrotum.  Yeah, the jokes were funny and the guy is a fool, but when you make fun of someone's looks, you cheapen your argument.  I didn't like him making fun of Cruz's melting face either - yeah, the guy looks odd, but there were a lot of other things to make fun of him for.  However, I don't mind it at all when they make fun of Trump's hair, cirtrus-y skin tone, and tiny hands, because Trump was the one who decided to bring lookis into the discussion, with his multitude of comments on the looks of his opponents and even non-opponents.

The other thing I disagreed with in Trevor's Trans segment was that being gay is now accepted everywhere - unfortunately, I think there are a lot of gay people who would disagree with that.  

A guy says that Obama's Trans Bathroom's in School Law means that men can just go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes if they say they feel like they are female, and this is something he thinks we should be very afraid of.  Meanwhile, the various Anti-Trans Bathroom Laws all mean that men can go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes  and say that they were born female and are just dressing male or had gender re-assignment. The only difference is that they had to have a really close shave first.  

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, angora said:

I really loved Trevor's monologue about all the gross trans panic.  It was strong and made its points very well, while still mocking all the ridiculous arguments against just letting trans people use the damn bathroom already.

Yes, it was very strong. Really well done. The only thing I didn't like was the director's decision to do a couple angles where Trevor isn't looking at that camera. I'm sure the director felt that a long, single shot was monotonous, but the cutaways were very distracting to me.

 

1 hour ago, needschocolate said:

I thought this piece was very well done - except when he compared one guy's neck to a scrotum.  Yeah, the jokes were funny and the guy is a fool, but when you make fun of someone's looks, you cheapen your argument.  I didn't like him making fun of Cruz's melting face either - yeah, the guy looks odd, but there were a lot of other things to make fun of him for.  However, I don't mind it at all when they make fun of Trump's hair, cirtrus-y skin tone, and tiny hands, because Trump was the one who decided to bring lookis into the discussion, with his multitude of comments on the looks of his opponents and even non-opponents.

I agree with you. I've been feeling that the personal appearance jokes were uncalled for and juvenile. I would think they'd be easier to forego since this type of insult is so Trumpian.

Quote

A guy says that Obama's Trans Bathroom's in School Law means that men can just go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes if they say they feel like they are female, and this is something he thinks we should be very afraid of.  Meanwhile, the various Anti-Trans Bathroom Laws all mean that men can go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes  and say that they were born female and are just dressing male or had gender re-assignment. The only difference is that they had to have a really close shave first.  

I don't understand (the bolded). The anti-trans laws ok this circumstance? I think I'm being very dense this morning.

 

2 hours ago, WhatDoYouKnow said:

Not that her interview didn't totally suck (it did, at least the parts we were shown and that I read about) but that Moment of Zen with her playing with his hair wasn't from the same interview. She was wearing different clothes and had different hair. According to my google search, it was from an interview when Megyn was on The Five and is from 2011.

I meant to ask yesterday what the MOZ was because my DVR cut off. Thanks for the info.

[ganesh]

5 hours ago, angora said:

I really loved Trevor's monologue about all the gross trans panic.  It was strong and made its points very well, while still mocking all the ridiculous arguments against just letting trans people use the damn bathroom already. 

I have zero fucks to give who is in the bathroom with me. I'm probably in the minority, but if I'm at the urinal and some woman walks in, whatever. And it's happened. I do not get the "expectation of privacy" argument. They're only ignorantly talking about the women's bathroom. There's only stalls in there. As far as I know, the stalls lock. So, what then? There's the privacy. If trans women come in the bathroom, they're going to use a stall too. What is the expectation? It's the same right?

4 hours ago, WhatDoYouKnow said:

According to my google search, it was from an interview when Megyn was on The Five and is from 2011.

So she was a fake journalist for over 5 years then and feeds the argument that she's being directed in her narrative.

[needschocolate]

6 hours ago, peeayebee said:

Quote

A guy says that Obama's Trans Bathroom's in School Law means that men can just go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes if they say they feel like they are female, and this is something he thinks we should be very afraid of.  Meanwhile, the various Anti-Trans Bathroom Laws all mean that men can go into a women's bathroom in their regular clothes  and say that they were born female and are just dressing male or had gender re-assignment. The only difference is that they had to have a really close shave first.  

I don't understand (the bolded). The anti-trans laws ok this circumstance? I think I'm being very dense this morning.

 

 

The recent laws state that you must use the bathroom for the gender you were born into.  So men can go into the women's room dressed as men as long as they lie and say, "I was born female, but I had gender re-assignment surgery, so I have to use the women's room" or "I was born female, but I dress like a man, so I have to use the women's bathroom."   They say that the law is to stop men from using the women's room, but their law doesn't actually prevent it at all - unless you assume that pedophiles would never lie.  At least under the old rules, men wanted to do horrible things in the ladies room would have had to at least go through the trouble of having to dress like a woman.  

I find the scare tactics so ridiculous - "Ooooh ...men will go into the women's room and do horrible things!!!" Is there a lot of sexual abuse going on in public women's restrooms?  Seems to me that using place that generally has only one doorway and is a place where someone could walk in at any moment, is not the best place to commit  a sex crime.  

And talking about how they wouldn't want to be in a women's room and have a man walk or be in a men's room and have a woman walk in is stupid, too.  I believe that before the laws, people used the bathroom that matched the way they were dressed, so people in the bathroom might be suspicious sometimes, but it wasn't obvious (and like Trevor said, no one pays that much attention).  Now, with the laws, A man who identifies with being female, may dress up as female, but will have to use the men's room - so now, with the law, men could be standing there at the urinal and someone in a dress may walk in.  

The reality is that these laws aren't to protect anyone, they are just attempts to force people to not be transexual - "If we make it difficult for them, then they will stop existing."

Edited May 20, 2016 by needschocolate

[ganesh]

No, what these ridiculous laws will do is cis-people are going to end up beat up or shot. Because there are masculine genetic women who are going to be in the bathroom and some ignorant and paranoid person is going to shoot them.

[Kromm]

11 minutes ago, ganesh said:

No, what these ridiculous laws will do is cis-people are going to end up beat up or shot. Because there are masculine genetic women who are going to be in the bathroom and some ignorant and paranoid person is going to shoot them.

I don't understand this statement at all. Why are you specifying "cis-people are going to end up beat up or shot"?  Seems to me if it's a situation with trigger happy assholes, both cisgender and transgender people will get shot, and both situations are equally evil.

[formerlyfreedom]

Topic please. Episode discussion.

[Victor the Crab]

Eliza was spot on in her portrayal of Bernie Sanders' extreme supporters as childish, nihilists that have done damage to his campaign and his reputation. Sanders should be wise to end his campaign now, seeing as not only is the math not even close to being in his favor, but the longer he drags it out, the greater chance he causes damage to himself and to the Democratic party. Especially now that the Republicans are starting to rally around Trump as its nominee.

Trevor's opinion on trans people using whatever bathroom they choose was good. It was also strange to see how they shot it, what with different angles at all. It's like they're trying something new at TDS.

[brgjoe]

Glad you mentioned the camera angles, VtC.  I didn't know whether it was an accident -- like the director and/or Trevor didn't realize what camera to utilize, or if it was on purpose. 

I hope it wasn't something they want to use on a nightly basis, since I found that whole camera thing very distracting.  But maybe the youngin's get bored if the camera was focused on one person all the time.  <shrug>

Other than that, I really enjoyed Trevor's bathroom rant.  American's have always been scared of change.  And of course, there's always some people out there trying to exploit that fear.

[marceline]

Trevor's "No YOU'RE fucking crazy!!" was everything. It's like Donald Trump is an heirloom handed down from one TDS host to another. I can't believe that lunatic is running for president.

[ganesh]

The thing is like it's been said with the taxes. No one cares. Trump's supporters are like, "yeah! Trade war Chinese! Get 'em!" It's not like Christie throwing his support to Trump for later favors is a new thing either. Trevor is 100% correct, but I just don't know what good it does. 

I am continually mystified how international airports just don't have these problems. It's the same thing! The thing with the preCheck though, you don't have to stop to take anything off or take your laptop out. I was in the preCheck line at Portland. Even though the line was kind of long, it moves faster. 

[peeayebee]

It seems that when Trevor announces the guest at the beginning, he's trying to get a big reaction from the audience. I wish he would stop that. People didn't cheer or applaud when he said Rose Byrnes until he said it a second time. I thought it was really awkward. 

[Victor the Crab]

I couldn't help but notice the fundraiser Drumph and Christie held last week was in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Isn't that Jon's hometown? Was that done directly on purpose?

[maraleia]

LOL to Desi's dad at the NRA convention.

[angora]

I really enjoyed the show last night.  I like that the whole episode focused on the theme of the NRA and gun control, kind of like the trans-centric episode they did back in April when North Carolina's bathroom bill first came up.  I wouldn't want it every night, but doing it occasionally can be really effective, and I think this one was a knockout.

I liked the background on the history of the NRA and how it's changed over years (the one guy "keeping his gun" during rock, paper, scissors cracked me up,) and Trump trying to feel out where the NRA's "line" was was funny.  I really need to find an excuse to use "nothing like the smell of demagoguery in the morning."

I liked the angle with Desi's piece, approaching it from a 1st Amendment perspective.  "Any lunatic can walk into Walmart and buy a camera," hehe.  Interesting how much it did seem to be the vocabulary giving people pause more than anything else, a la, "No, we don't need regulation of any kind!  ...Oh sure, universal background checks are just common sense."  (As opposed to the people Katie Couric was talking to in that clip from her documentary.  No amount of semantic finessing is going to help there - wow.)

[ganesh]

I really don't think Trump feels strongly about guns either way. I mean, who else was the NRA going to endorse? 

That might have been Desi's best piece. I'm not surprised that the issues of background checks just needs some rebranding. "No, it's not gun control." Ok, what would you like to call it? Let's pass that law, ok?

I disagree with KC about "demonizing" both sides. Those people in her group who actually thought "the government" was going to come in and take their guns are delusional. The people at the NRA convention were much more level headed. Why aren't we seeing more of those people on the news when the subject of guns comes up? 

Someone needs to stand up and say Wayne LaPierre doesn't speak for gun owners. 

[DeLurker]

3 hours ago, ganesh said:

That might have been Desi's best piece. I'm not surprised that the issues of background checks just needs some rebranding. "No, it's not gun control." Ok, what would you like to call it? Let's pass that law, ok?

I thought that piece was really good too.  She did a good job with it.

[peeayebee]

I liked last night's show, too. I think I just might check out Couric's NRA doc.

I really enjoyed Trevor's Drumpf impression. It's probably not really a tough one to do, but everything was great about this one. Loved the CD title Now That's What I Call Tragedy.

That Congress, with direction from the NRA, prevents the ATF library of weapons from using computers is jaw-dropping. What is the reasoning? The "fear" that the guvmint will credit a database to round up all our citizens' guns?

Desi's segment was really good. Good job. Her dad was great. 

[DeLurker]

Desi's shout out to "John Oliver with a mustache" was unexpected and hysterical.

[angora]

I cracked up at the line about how the US wouldn't skip the Olympics because Americans love "winning medals and going on vacation."  Trevor dwelling on the "woke to find a new president" thing was good, too.

George Stephanopoulos grilling Trump about Obama's birth certificate warmed my heart (also, Trump hinting that the birth certificate might show that Obama's a secret Muslim?  How exactly does he think religion works?)  I liked Trevor telling Jake Tapper he had to pace himself for when Trump accuses Hillary of wiping out the dinosaurs, and I approve the characterization of Trump as a guy you'd be scared to sit next to at a bar.

[peeayebee]

I despise the way that Trump often makes accusations. "People say..." "I don't know. I just heard/read..." I'm sickened that so many people fall for this uncritically. 

[DeLurker]

Well, he might just be repeating what those voices in his head prattle on about...

[ganesh]

It's on the media for not holding him to it though. He can say whatever he wants. He's been getting away with it is the problem. 

[DXD526]

I'm glad someone finally brought up Trump's blathering about "investigating" Obama's birth certificate during the '12 campaign. Back then, he went on and on about how the things he was finding out would 'blow our socks off', they were so incendiary. But then when Trump dropped out of the race, he just dropped the 'investigation'. If the stuff he found out was so important to the nation, why would the fact that he dropped out have any effect on releasing it? Apparently, these things he discovered about our president were no longer important, now that Trump wasn't a candidate. Some other shiny object got his attention, and he forgot all about how he found out that Obama is really a Kenyan-Muslim-communist-socialist-Marxist. Oh, and he's gay. That was on his birth certificate, too.

Trump bleated endlessly about how he discovered vital information about our president, and then never told us what it was. And he got a complete pass on that. Why is no one but TDS bringing this up??

[fastiller]

3 hours ago, peeayebee said:

I despise the way that Trump often makes accusations. "People say..." "I don't know. I just heard/read..." I'm sickened that so many people fall for this uncritically. 

&

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

It's on the media for not holding him to it though. He can say whatever he wants. He's been getting away with it is the problem. 

Yep - as previously mentioned, the fact that he's given so much leeway really irks me.  I don't know why all the news networks are okay with him doing phone interviews.  Have him sit in the studio so we can see his face as he answers and so we can see that he's not being coached...

[ganesh]

3 hours ago, DXD526 said:

I'm glad someone finally brought up Trump's blathering about "investigating" Obama's birth certificate during the '12 campaign.

Yeah, but as you said, the only media outlet to do so is a comedy show. I don't think Trump's minions care what he said about Obama because they hate Obama too. 

The problem is the media tacitly validates it by not fact checking the man who potentially could be president. 

[Victor the Crab]

7 hours ago, DXD526 said:

Trump bleated endlessly about how he discovered vital information about our president, and then never told us what it was. And he got a complete pass on that. Why is no one but TDS bringing this up??

Because, BOTH SIDES DO IT, DUUUUUH!!!!! Listen to what Douchenozzle McWeaselface Chuck Todd says, he am sooo smart!

Edited May 26, 2016 by Victor the Crab

[formerlyfreedom]

Discuss the episode please, not coverage of the topics as handled by other shows or networks.

[angora]

I loved Trevor's tangent on the things Obama does/doesn't need to carry on him, along with waiting until China was looking before selling Vietnam weapons.

Seeing the intersection point on that approval-ratings graph freaked me out.  I agree with Trevor - how in the world did we get here?  I liked his point about having 17 different kinds of corn flakes but only 2 choices for president, both (widely) varying degrees of uninspiring.  I think this might be my favorite piece from Michelle so far; her delivery still feels a little nervous/stilted to me, but I liked the general "be the boss, not the buddy" point (the only problem is getting people to VOTE for the boss) and there were some good jokes in there.

If Trump really wants to "set records with women" (although, I agree with Trevor - ew,) has it occurred to him that the first step is to stop saying sexist shit?  Yeah, the Trump archives will always be full of it, but at least stop adding to the collection.

[needschocolate]

1 hour ago, angora said:

 I think this might be my favorite piece from Michelle so far; her delivery still feels a little nervous/stilted to me, but I liked the general "be the boss, not the buddy" point (the only problem is getting people to VOTE for the boss) and there were some good jokes in there.

I thought the jokes were good, but she laughs at the jokes too much.  It seems like a comedy act, not a news report. Yes, it a comedy act, but it is a comedy act that is supposed to look and sound like a news report/commentary.  

[peeayebee]

Loved the cut to Trevor screaming, "HOW THE FUCK DID WE GET HERE!"

I enjoyed Michelle's piece. Plus it's always good to see that photo of Clinton with sunglasses on looking at her phone. Indeed, she eats enemies and shits policy.

Trump says, "I will never say this, but she screams, it drives me crazy. I didn't say it." Well, I WILL say it. Trump drives me crazy. He doesn't need to scream, just open his mouth.

[nodorothyparker]

I liked Michelle's piece a lot too because she's absolutely right.  People getting hung up on who they think they like best as if it were a reality competition or if they were ever really going to be hanging out having a beer with the president gave us Bush II and we know how that turned out.  Hillary does not have the natural charisma of Obama or her husband and the harder she tries, the more obvious it is that she's trying and she comes off like a much older Tracy Flick.  But as completely over it Terminator Hillary, she knows how to get shit done and she's the only competent grownup left in the room at this point.  I actually like her more when she's honest about this being who she is.  

Michelle's delivery is a little rough still but it wasn't so much to be distracting like a lot of Ronny Chieng's early pieces.

Edited May 28, 2016 by nodorothyparker

[ganesh]

Asking the question whether you like a particular candidate is stupid. And the stupid "Trump and Clinton have the highest unlikeability ever" is a false equivalency and misleading. The problem is the electorate is largely uninformed so it does come down to a popularity contest.

That was a good rant by Michelle. 

Edited May 27, 2016 by ganesh

[redfish]

Goddamn. When Trump said he'd get angry if dinner was not on the table. I was thinking, "You're rich. You have people for that." Although it sets a weird implication. Either he's cheap and fired all the staff and expects Marla to cook/clean for him Or he has a staff and he has this bizarre fetish of Marla serving him hand and foot. Either way, ew. Why isn't clips like those aren't released to every media outlet.

Michelle's piece was a little rough in the beginning but I think she got the point, and I wish Hilary saw the show and took her advice as well.

[Victor the Crab]

I too loved Michelle's take on all this bullshit surrounding Hillary Clinton. Why the fuck do people think that a main criteria for becoming U.S. president is that you could have a beer with that person? And even if that were a batshit reality, why would anyone try and gravitate towards Drumph? He'd be the type of deadbeat who would manage to stick the tab onto you. When all is said and done, Clinton is more qualified for president than Fuckface Von Clownstick (Drumph) or Oldington McAsswipe (Sanders).

[attica]

Sigh. I've finally come to accept that TDS has fully abdicated its role as the leading contributor of my Books To Read list. I used to want to read, like, a book a week based on Jon's guests and interviews, and worried my list of stuff to read would outstrip the hours I would ever have to read. No more. Now I'm dependent upon my library, or ::shudder:: the internet to let me know what's out that would be interesting to read. Which is much harder work for me, with a much less great success rate. Hence my current dyspeptic state.

Phooey. ::shakes fist::

[possibilities]

I don't have trouble with Michelle's delivery and I thought a lot of what she said was funny/true. However, Jon always said if it's not true, it's not funny (and I agree), so the part where she said it didn't matter about the server, as long as the emails got to where they were going-- that fell flat for me, big time. Even leaving aside the issue of security (which I don't think is insignificant) or rule-breaking (which I also think matters), with regard to the specific joke in question: the FBI report says that her own staff was concerned that her emails were in danger of going to spam because the private server address would not be recognized by the system. So, a joke about them getting where they were going? Not funny.

I would still rather have Hillary than Trump, but I really think TDS is more effective both as comedy and as commentary when it doesn't rely on gut assessments. Anyone can be outraged, and pick a side. We don't need professionals to give us the gut version of this election-- I'm pretty sure everyone watching is already on that train. The show is better (and worth staying up to watch) when it actually bothers to inform itself of details greater than who or what is the most obvious villain in the realm before going to air.

I think a lot of us have scandal fatigue because of all the incredible BS that has been erupting from numerous directions during this primary season... and before then, too. But I also think if the same story was being told about a Republican, there'd be more mockage against the person than in support. Again, it's easy to pick a side and just bash it or support it no matter what. Because of this, I have been finding TDS pretty surfacey and lazy in its critiques a lot of the time. Did the researchers leave when Jon did? The jokes hit harder and the commentary is more satisfying when it really bites, and doesn't just amount to a knee jerk reaction because we all know who's the good vs the bad guy before the story's really researched.

I don't get HBO, so I don't know if John Oliver has looked into this at all. He made net neutrality interesting, so maybe he could make email security interesting. I realize it's a tough job. But if you don't want to do it, then stick to another topic. I think they do a great job when they're motivated to dig for juicy details, and a bland or failing job when they just go for the obvious and easy joke based on general support or general revulsion. The show doesn't seem to know when it's in over its head anymore. If they had stuck to the issue of having a beer with/boss-hating/the country needs a tough leader and maybe a hardcore disciplinarian-- it could have worked. Even just Hillary as badass vs Trump as bully might have been a valid distinction. But "as long as the emails get where they're going" misses several points. Even Obama had his Blackberry assessed for security when he was inaugurated. No one can say it wasn't a known issue. When the holes in your joke are that obvious, go back to edit.

And yeah, the old footage of Trump wanting dinner on the table was ok, but we already know how bad Trump is. And he's still winning. So instead of exposing what we already know, and have heard already a thousand times on this very show, how about look for something new to tell us, like why the hell the electorate doesn't care? Give us some relief, comedic or insightful or SOMETHING-- not just the same depressing bullshit at a deeper and deeper level.