TDS 3.0: Season Two Talk

[peeayebee]

Loved Trevor saying that Ben Carson came out of hibernation to LUKEWARM-UP the crowd.

I knew that other countries have dealt with national shame -- like Germany and Rwanda -- but why can't the US do so also? What is the difference?

[GHScorpiosRule]

I have missed Trevor SO MUCH these past two weeks! So glad to have him back! And now I have to call my dad to find out what's up (again!) between China and India!

I was hoping he'd use his Indian accent for the piece.?

[Victor the Crab]

I liked Trevor cutting down Drumph's rally and exposing the bubble mentality that he and his followers live in. But there's one thing that needs to be pointed out. Drumph's rally really wasn't that well attended, as this story seems to indicate.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Hey British reporter: it's pronounced as "Taalaaak," not Talick.???

[peeayebee]

I liked Trevor as Trump modeling his different personalities. 

I have no desire to watch Jordan's new show (because I don't really like him), but I got the impression that his show might be along the lines of the Colbert Report, in that Jordan plays a right-winger. Does anyone else feel that way?

[catrox14]

3 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I liked Trevor as Trump modeling his different personalities. 

I have no desire to watch Jordan's new show (because I don't really like him), but I got the impression that his show might be along the lines of the Colbert Report, in that Jordan plays a right-winger. Does anyone else feel that way?

I'm not sure. But I can see where you are coming from. He'll never be Colbert that's for sure LOL

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

I liked Trevor as Trump modeling his different personalities. 

I have no desire to watch Jordan's new show (because I don't really like him), but I got the impression that his show might be along the lines of the Colbert Report, in that Jordan plays a right-winger. Does anyone else feel that way?

I don't like Jordan, either. And his show looks...obnoxious. Where Stephen Colbert did an amazing job playing "Colbert," Jordan just sounds like a pompous, tone deaf jerk. Like he did in his segment with Trevor last week.

[ganesh]

I don't think Jordan would recreate the Colbert model. I didn't get the impression he'd be playing a right winger. I thought he would be doing his deal as a white guy that can get into places to expose people like he did on TDS.

[AmandaPanda]

Jordan's new show is supposed to be a parody of Alex Jones, from what I can tell. However, I think using that persona in just a segment like what we saw in the latest episode is about all I could take. I don't know about a full 30 minutes of it. 

[ganesh]

That doesn't sound good. I was hoping he'd be doing stuff life the good guys with guns piece where he puts down stupid GOP talking points. 

[Miss Dee]

I think it might be. That crack about enjoying the same economic growth enjoyed under Obama was subtle.

Anyhow I like Klepper, think he must be wise to the ways of arrogant, clueless white male douchebags to play one as well as he does (a different parody of white male privilege than Colbert), and I'm looking forward to his show and more "sneak previews" on this one.

[ganesh]

That's what I thought he would be doing. He's plays that guy when he's out talking to people at Trump rallies, etc., well. 

[2727]

12 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

... Jordan just sounds like a pompous, tone deaf jerk. Like he did in his segment with Trevor last week.

It seems as though Trevor likes some correspondents more than others, to the extent that he's friends with them off the show. Which is normal human behavior, but I don't think Jordan is one of Trevor's favorites. Their interactions still have a slight twinge of awkwardness to me.

[dusang]

23 hours ago, ganesh said:

That's what I thought he would be doing. He's plays that guy when he's out talking to people at Trump rallies, etc., well. 

I kind of worry for him doing a whole show of that -- was it me or could you see him ... breaking as a human being by the end of 2016?

[formerlyfreedom]

Let's take further conversation about Jordan and his show over to the forum for that - The Opposition with Jordan Klepper.

Thank you!

[peeayebee]

I loved Trevor's introduction of Neil deGrasse Tyson as the only black scientist in the world. :D

It was also great when he was talking about the reason Trump pardoned Arpaio now instead of at the end of his term being that Trump doesn't have any idea when his last day will be.

[ganesh]

Arpaio is scum. It's a salient point on Trevor's part on the violation of separation of powers. Can the office of the president get sued on a unconstitutional pardon?

I do like the stardust monologue, but Sagan came up with it first, and Tyson knows that well enough. I'm kind of over Tyson's deal. It's not totally his fault, there needs to be a lot more people promoting science literacy, but he can also be condescending at times and that's not doing anyone any favors. 

Edited August 29, 2017 by ganesh

[Victor the Crab]

Michael Kosta made some good points about the reasons Drumph pardoned Arpaio. Problem was, his delivery sucked donkey balls. He doesn't come across as genuinely funny to me.

[Temperance]

I found Joy Reid incredibly tone-deaf? or something.  The Dems need to find ways to expand the base. they can't win the way without trying to do something new. 

[ganesh]

I thought she was spot on. She was talking about expanding the base in terms of going after all those people who didn't vote. I think she's also correct in saying those "Archie Bunker voters" aren't coming back. You get a ton of those people who didn't vote and another ton who voted for the moron Jill Stein or Aleppo Guy and the Archie Bunker vote shrinks dramatically. Over on Real Time, we call it the white butthurt dude voting demo. 

When she was talking about being bold, I think we was alluding to how the democrats consistently fail to control the political narrative. She's also right about how economic interests are the top motivating factor in how people vote. 

[possibilities]

I also think that if the Dems were more bold, they would win back people who used to see the party as on their side economically, when they were passionately pro-union, and not doing stuff like NAFTA and TPP. That would be how to get some of the Archie Bunker votes back. But I think Joy was right about her main point, which is that there are more people who used to vote Dem and are now just not voting, and going further to the right will only alienate them further. Dem policies poll higher than Rep policies, but the Dems are terrible at messaging and are losing support by trying to appease people who don't agree, rather than appealing to people who agree in theory but have lost respect and trust in the party because it's hedging its bets and trying to adopt a strategy of compromise rather than staying committed to values and convincing people of their trustworthiness and values.

[Temperance]

Well then maybe they don't have a party. How can they pick up states even if they don't attract new voters?She was dismissive about economics. She was too negative. She wasn't spot-on. But if she's right, there's long furture with republicans in control. 

Edited August 30, 2017 by Temperance

[ganesh]

The new voters are the people Joy was saying that didn't vote. She wasn't dismissing economics, she was saying it wasn't the primary reason people voted in this election. Clearly, it wasn't, because so many people who did vote for Trump were in fact voting against their own interests. As I was saying before, if the democrats can actually gain control of the narrative, then maybe they should address economics more. Her point that there's *some* of these Archie Bunker voters that just aren't coming back is valid; there's no reason to waste time on some of them, when you can expand the party to all the millions, tens of millions, of people who just didn't bother to vote. *Or* get those people who voted for Bernie and then voted for Trump. I'm not sure I would equate being critical with being negative.

But her analysis of the past election seemed fair. I might have a dis/advantage because I've seen her talk on Real Time before, so maybe I have access to a larger context than the few minutes on the show. 

[possibilities]

That's true; I watch her show on MSNBC and she's smart and informed, and asks tough questions. So when I hear her say something, I do ask myself what she means if it's not clear to me at first. It's hard for me to evaluate whether what she said on TDS was clear independent of that, because I don't it in front of me right now. But I took it to be in line with things I've heard her say at other times.

Even when "turnout is high" a very large number of eligible voters don't vote. I took her saying that appealing to those people is a more promising avenue than trying to appeal to people who are already engaged and committed to different things than what Dems have traditionally stood for.

[ganesh]

I take Hasan's point about taking down all the monuments. I'd rather just do that. The joke about sharia law though was misguided. The bible has a commandment about false idols too so it's not strictly the purview of islam. The more biting joke imo is calling out these so called christians on their hypocrisy because they are clearly worshipping false idols. 

Roy's piece was really good and pointed in calling that out much better imo. 

The interview was excellent too. I didn't realize the police didn't even announce themselves and just wrestled the guy to the ground. What if he thought he was being mugged and fought back?

I liked Michelle's take down of Ivanka too. I've been saying for months that she's just a more polished con artist than her father. She has zero interest in policies and is singularly devoted to promoting her own brand. She's leveraged her access to the Chinese president to obtain business licenses. No one should think she's there to do anything for anyone but herself.

Edited August 31, 2017 by ganesh

[Dewey Decimate]

That's the first I saw of the news clip with the white racist fuck who actually said "Martin Luther C--n" and then kept on going in support of his point. My mouth literally dropped open and stayed that way. I know I'm not quite the traditional bleeding heart liberal when all I could think of is how badly I want to slit that piece of human shit's neck and let him bleed out all over his precious statues.

And then to follow with James Blake's story? WOW. I only wish he had more time to talk about his book as well.

Michelle Wolf's piece on Ivanka was spot-on. And on a shallow note, I loved Michelle's camo top.

[ganesh]

So a bunch of high school kids made a $750 per pill drug for $2 per pill? I'm amazed this is the first time we've heard about this. I was really surprised that this drug hasn't changed at all in 60 years. How many others are like that? But the price keeps going up.

Imagine Congress actually got their act together and closed this loophole? 

I think this is where TDS really excels. Jordan's piece on the guns is my favorite, but it was inherently political, and that's ok with me. This was a really good piece by Ronnie in and of itself, and it's not even a political issue. 

Skreli is such a slime. Trolling high school kids on twitter. 

[2727]

Go Ronny! I admire a man who's willing to go on TV in his tighty whities.

[Victor the Crab]

Those Aussie "nerds" who made those pills probably don't realize it, but they'll have no problems getting laid if they ever visit the United States. One for making those pills exact for an insanely cheap price, and two for causing that slimy child Martin Shkreli to going into full poo flinging diaper baby mode. But why are we finding out about this now? Where the fuck was America's Liberally Biased Mainstream Media™ when these kids exposed Shkreli's scumbag game?

That cop who pulled over that white woman. And that guy who said "Martin Luther Coon" the other night. Do these assholes not realize just how horribly racist they present themselves to the rest of normal, decent society?

[peeayebee]

Ronny's story was interesting. I love that these high school kids made that drug AND caused Shkreli to blow a gasket. However, I didn't really care for how Ronny did the story. It's not just him. Sometimes the humor in field pieces just doesn't work for me.

BTW, what did Ronny attach to his smartphone? 

The Antifa piss me off. Like Trevor said, all they're doing is muddying the waters with shit that keeps people distracted from the toxic waste already in the water. Vegan ISIS is a great name for them.

[ganesh]

I agree with Trevor in that if you're breaking a window at Starbucks, then people are just going to the next Starbucks. That woman was a moron, and she should be called out on that. 

But when they showed the clip of the dude who was like, "oh someone just came up and sucker punched me!" Yeah, you came down to say how you hate everyone who doesn't look like you, so how about you eat this fist?

It's a false equivalency, and Trevor fed more into the narrative of bad people "on both sides." No. I am not required to be tolerant of your intolerance. This has absolutely zero to do with free speech, or "listening to other ideas", and to couch it that way is patently false. Now, if I punch you in the face and get arrested, yes, that's on me, and that's the risk I take for my actions. 

I wouldn't be going out any punching people myself, and I would argue that Boston provided a better blueprint on how to humiliate this scum, but I think this is more an issue of the media painting way too broad of a brush than having the courage to really cover racial issues. 

Trevor missed a really good opportunity in the clips they showed to call out the media for using "thugs" as a substitute for the n-word, and how these issues can't be covered in real depth because the people covering it are as bad as the people in Charlotesville. 

[possibilities]

It's also unclear how many of the violent incidents are (1) provocateurs rather than actual antifa, and (2) actually self-defense, in which the antifa are actually defending themselves and others against attacks initiated by supremacists (3) aberrations, i.e. people who are not really representative of the movement, but decided to show up and vent their crazy under cover of the label even if they aren't actually involved in the organized resistance.

Politically Reactive had interviewees who were talking about how in Charlottesville, antifa were actually protecting clergy who were being assaulted by the Nazis. The footage of them "being violent" was literally "beating back attacks against more vulnerable people" and the interviewee said that if the antifa had not been there, more people would have been killed.

There is a legitimate conversation to be had about whether to stay with non-violent tactics when under direct physical assault. Some will say yes, let them kill us on camera because it's in the long term interests of the movement. Others will say no, self-defense is a human right and we should not allow innocent people to be harmed. It's a legitimate debate, and it's not going to happen if all anyone does is look at some video from afar and draw BS conclusions. If you're not there on the ground and actively involved, maybe talk to the people who were, before you form opinions. But neither the MSM nor, apparently, the TV left, is willing to do that. It's disappointing.

Politically Reactive also talked with someone about what organized antifa do, that the media in general does not report, and it included creative approaches that are non-violent and de-escalate situations to prevent harm. But those methods are not photogenic. They are quiet and unglamorous and highly effective, so not good for ratings driven by image, conflict, outrage, and adrenaline.

The antifa subscribe to the approach that multiple tactics are needed, and that the fascist supremacist threat is serious enough that it must be vigorously resisted, but that does not mean they are not thoughtful and reasoned about how to do this. You'd never know it from what we see on TV, though, which seems to know nothing other than the word "antifa" (which they don't even pronounce properly) and how to make superficial judgments based on superficial evidence and a lot of bias, without actually finding out the truth.

Edited September 2, 2017 by possibilities

[Gulftastic]

'Wait a minute...you're Mumford!'

[ganesh]

As Trevor did point out in the piece, 'antifa' is a very loose term because there's so many different types of people under that label. Which makes it really easy for Fox News (like they showed in the piece) to just lump everything under that moniker and place the false equivalency of bad people on both sides. We've said here probably a million times, the right controls the narrative so well. No one is pushing back with the "so you're saying the nazis are the victims here? You're supporting them?" Really press them on it and make them try to deflect.

[dusang]

Just watched the Dulce Sloan piece on NY Fashion Week / Cultural Appropriation.  When she said "Look at big butts" and Trevor said "I always try to" -- the look she gave him and that little pause was THE MOST ADORABLE THING.

[ganesh]

I figured the joke was scripted but maybe the way Trevor said it wasn't. 

What was up with the interview? I've never seen so many platitudes. "I took risks." "It's an experience." I guess if I knew more about the guy it would make sense, but he certainly wasn't making himself accessible to a general audience. Good for him for trying to get more diversity with the models, but that's all I took from it. I didn't understand why he was so successful. 

[possibilities]

I liked him give Trevor The Look when he was selling his "food to seduce someone" story. .

Trevor was on Colbert's show last night. He's a good guest. Funny. Clearly he's working on some new material for his stand up act, but still-- I liked it.

[Temperance]

31 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I liked him give Trevor The Look when he was selling his "food to seduce someone" story. .

Trevor was on Colbert's show last night. He's a good guest. Funny. Clearly he's working on some new material for his stand up act, but still-- I liked it.

He was on Seth Meyers on Wednesday. What's the deal?

[GHScorpiosRule]

41 minutes ago, Temperance said:

He was on Seth Meyers on Wednesday. What's the deal?

He's here in DC tonight and tomorrow for a show and then in Baltimore. Though I don't remember the date for Baltimore.

[Miss Dee]

Really?? That must have been Friday's show? Yay, my two favourite talk show hosts together!

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Miss Dee said:

Really?? That must have been Friday's show? Yay, my two favourite talk show hosts together!

Yup. I ????when the tickets sold out super fast before I could buy one.

[possibilities]

Maybe I am remembering wrong. I swear in my head he was talking with Colbert. But maybe it was Meyers?

[Temperance]

definitely Meyers and not Colbert.

[Skyfall]

Aren't we nearing a season 3 Thread?

[AmandaPanda]

1 hour ago, Skyfall said:

Aren't we nearing a season 3 Thread?

Yep, in about 2 weeks.

[peeayebee]

On 9/8/2017 at 1:23 PM, ganesh said:

What was up with the interview? I've never seen so many platitudes. "I took risks." "It's an experience." I guess if I knew more about the guy it would make sense, but he certainly wasn't making himself accessible to a general audience. Good for him for trying to get more diversity with the models, but that's all I took from it. I didn't understand why he was so successful. 

Was that an extra long interview? I had no interest in him, so I started FF'ing thru it. Seemed to go on forever.

[possibilities]

I can't stop laughing about Trevor describing Bannon as a Trump turd that came to life.

I was disappointed that Idris Elba was weird about Trevor calling him sexy. Trevor's comfort complimenting other men is one of the things I like about him. I thought Elba's reaction was homophobic as well as ungracious, and it put Trevor in an awkward position. As the host, Trevor was not in the best position to call him out on it, but it's also not the kind of thing he usually likes to be complicit in.

Trevor also earned more good will when he responded to Don Lemon's reaction to the "beautiful curvy" reporter. It was weird, and he get exactly why.

I liked Roy's commentary about his hoodie. The show has been good about not pulling punches or trying to, as Larry Wilmore might say, unblacken the show.

We don't see much of the other contributors anymore, though. It's mostly Trevor with the occasional cameo. I wonder why they don't use the rest of the "correspondents" more. Are they all part time now? Or are they just behind the scenes being writers only?

[ganesh]

I think the interview was an extended one with the fashion guy. I mean, his chocolate cake is "decadent". Stop it. 

I thought it was weird that a grown woman calls herself a "chunky girl", but I don't think I would have said anything either. 

It's massively stupid for news people to go out in a hurricane to do a piece. Not just for them personally, but for all the support staff, drivers, etc. 

[iMonrey]

I really, really enjoyed Michelle Wolf's piece on the Miss America pageant. And I would gladly replace Trump with any one of those 51 contestants in a heartbeat. Every last one of them had to show they had a brain in their heads before they could even get where they were. What if we ran the presidential election the same way they run Miss America? And all 50 states plus the District of Columbia sent a representative to compete and prove they were worthy of the job? Imagine that. 

[ganesh]

What worked for me as part of the bit with the contestants was that these were slam dunk questions. "White supremacists should be condemned." It's not like it's remotely controversial. It's like Bob Belcher singing about nice things being nice. Showing the president fumbling around trying to answer literally the exact same question makes him look addled and completely uninformed of the larger context. Which he was. He doesn't know a thing about the Paris agreement. 

Although, I thought it was a little edgy for the woman to say they should be labeled as terrorists, so good for her. 

The yodeler had some skillz for real tho.