S04.E06: Federal Budget

[Tara Ariano]

Lead topic is Trump's proposed budget.

[purist]

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed Ollie's jumping up and down in his chair exclaiming, 'Oh, shake her hand, you weird, weird man!'

In other news: What have you done, America? That proposed budget is unspeakable. I loved the show's examination of it - so very many good lines (especially the hilarious 'tippy-top' bit) - but was cringing in horror the whole time Ollie was making me laugh.

[Primetimer]

'You know what: it is sort of fitting that the list of budget cuts scroll by like the end credits for America.'

View the full article

[dusang]

I wonder why he decided to finally acknowledge the wrongness of the bangs?

[spaceghostess]

Zebras make everything better! (I know it's not this clip, but still.)

[Traveller519]

Loved his excitement over the Zebra bit! "Why had no one told me about this? If there's anything I'm clear on enjoying it's indiscriminate South American countries and people in stupid animal costumes!"

That was a really neutered take on the budget in my opinion though, there's a lot more to get into than just the whimsical nature of his cuts, which are by and large ridiculous.

[ganesh]

That was a good high level analysis of the budget. It's not just cutting from this program to put into defense. Pointing out that you're cutting a program at counts for 0.2% of the budget is just petty and vindictive. 

I especially like the takedown of "asking the mom in Detroit to not pay for art, but for security and defense," and then point out all the programs that these families rely on that could go away. I live in a city with a regional airport, and I've been to a lot of places for work conferences that have them too. The airport is less than a 10 minute drive. The nearest one after that is 3 hours. It's not only convenience, but if those airports have to close, that's a lot of jobs and revenues. JO made a good joke about 'flyover states' but that's not nearly the whole story. 

It isn't surprising that people who voted for Trump are going to get shafted from his policies. I wish it would actually sink in with them though.

[attica]

I'd never noticed how much Napolitano looks like a werewolf in transition, and now I'll never not see it.

[cpansy]

I wish I thought people were catching on to him. Unfortunately, I don't. I think it's going to take much, much longer.

[iMonrey]

You can't say people like coal miners and single mothers shouldn't have to pay for things they don't use, because that's not how taxes work. Our tax dollars go to all sorts of things we may not use ourselves like public education even if we don't have children, the fire department even if we never have to call on them, and bridges and roads even if we don't drive a car. 

I've come to the sad conclusion that as much as I appreciate the investigative work of John Oliver's team and Samantha Bee's, their irreverent take on the current political climate does nothing to lessen my depression and horror over it all. In fact watching them just makes me more upset. 

[ganesh]

33 minutes ago, cpansy said:

I wish I thought people were catching on to him. Unfortunately, I don't. I think it's going to take much, much longer.

I hope they catch on by 2018! But no, it's not happening anytime soon simply because those people are is massive denial and not exposed to information like what this budget proposal is really about. That airport goes away, you lose your job. That Wings program is cut, what's your daughter going to do after school?

[peeayebee]

5 hours ago, purist said:

I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed Ollie's jumping up and down in his chair exclaiming, 'Oh, shake her hand, you weird, weird man!'

Many outlets were saying that Trump apparently didn't hear the question, but if you watch the longer clip, you see him answering various other questions, like what they talked about (NATO), but when he was asked about the handshake, he just sat there like the arrogant, self-centered turd he is.

A few lines and phrases I particularly enjoyed from John were 1) "Steven Miller, the least popular boy at vampire school"; 2) referring to "the noises that come out of Trump's face"; 3) "toddler psychopath." I also loved his comment that if someone tells Trump WWI was called The Great War, he will want a better one out of sheer pettiness.

[ganesh]

I had initially thought that Trump might not have heard either. I never saw this longer form clip that they showed here though. He clearly hears and reacts but then just ignores them. 

I don't think he was arrogant though. He just looked petulant to me. But he's going to pivot anytime now right?!

[attica]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Many outlets were saying that Trump apparently didn't hear the question, but if you watch the longer clip, you see him answering various other questions,

I think maybe he just can't hear questions from women (that aren't a 10). Still, you can tell that good ol' Angela has dealt with this kind of dipshit before; she was sitting there all familiar-like.

[meowmommy]

I'm very proud of myself because I instantly knew Bolivia was in the wrong place and I knew where to place it.  Who knew geography class in the 60s could so come in handy?  Do they still teach geography?  Maybe that's another budget cut...

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

You can't say people like coal miners and single mothers shouldn't have to pay for things they don't use, because that's not how taxes work. Our tax dollars go to all sorts of things we may not use ourselves like public education even if we don't have children, the fire department even if we never have to call on them, and bridges and roads even if we don't drive a car. 

I've come to the sad conclusion that as much as I appreciate the investigative work of John Oliver's team and Samantha Bee's, their irreverent take on the current political climate does nothing to lessen my depression and horror over it all. In fact watching them just makes me more upset. 

I don't think you're supposed just to laugh at their jokes although sometimes it's if you don't laugh, you'll cry.  They want you to be furious enough to do something about it.

And you're right that tax dollars aren't distributed back to give everyone what they need, but people usually expect either to get something back for themselves, or at least if it doesn't go to them, it goes to a "worthy cause."  Right now we're in a guns vs butter struggle and guns are winning.

[peeayebee]

Here's the extended clip of Trump and Merkel. The one I had seen earlier was subtitled, but I think you still get the gist with this one.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

You can't say people like coal miners and single mothers shouldn't have to pay for things they don't use, because that's not how taxes work. Our tax dollars go to all sorts of things we may not use ourselves like public education even if we don't have children, the fire department even if we never have to call on them, and bridges and roads even if we don't drive a car. 

I've come to the sad conclusion that as much as I appreciate the investigative work of John Oliver's team and Samantha Bee's, their irreverent take on the current political climate does nothing to lessen my depression and horror over it all. In fact watching them just makes me more upset. 

Not to mention that kids of coal miners and single mothers are pretty likely to be watching PBS to be inspired and educated to fill the gaps that are going to be prevalent as the Department of Education gets their budget axed as well.

[Eliza422]

47 minutes ago, HawaiiTVGuy said:

Not to mention that kids of coal miners and single mothers are pretty likely to be watching PBS to be inspired and educated to fill the gaps that are going to be prevalent as the Department of Education gets their budget axed as well.

It's also a low blow to assume coal miners don't enjoy watching shows like masterpiece theater, nature, nova, and so on. Quite judgemental on those assholes' part.

[spaceghostess]

9 hours ago, attica said:

I'd never noticed how much Napolitano looks like a werewolf in transition, and now I'll never not see it.

Yup; that's one low hairline.

[Lantern7]

Yes, I know, weird man makes things weird. But why aren't the Zebras of La Paz not up on the LWT YouTube page? That's a bigger mystery than why the episode has an extended runtime. John was friggin' overjoyed. All we get is the greenscreen stuff.

[Gulftastic]

Stop saying 'Zee-bra' John! It's  'zeb-ra' and you damn well know it.

[Hanahope]

I have to wonder why no one challenged that asshole about what single mothers in Detroit, or coal miners should be paying for.  Further, single mothers and coal miners aren't really paying all that much in taxes.  And yes, we should be asking the millionaires and billionaires to pay more taxes in order to fund these programs for poor, sick and old people.

[Danny Franks]

I'm sorry, but how could anyone ever vote for a man who made those comments about Russia's "tippy-top nuclear"? It doesn't mean anything, and immediately betrays a man that doesn't understand anything about weapons systems. He sounds like a drunken idiot who just got challenged to back up his stupid bar talk.

Thank you, John, for pointing out that cutting the budgets of certain agencies is being done as a "fuck you", by Trump. It's obvious that his malice and pettiness know no bounds. Sadly, those left supporting him love to wallow in the same revolting behaviour. Although I understand that stuff like the NEA and public broadcasting have been targets for the GOP, because they hate anything that supports people who don't think like they do.

But Trump is so fucking evil that he's even gleefully cutting welfare programmes that specifically helped his voters, along with those that help the 'inner cities' (black people). This should be an education for all Americans that rich, racist old white men really don't have your best interests at heart, unless you're also a rich, racist old white man. People just keep voting against their own interests, in some blind, wilfully stupid adherence to partisanship, and it's baffling. Vote Republican (or Conservative), and this is what you get. Rich people taking what they want, and fucking over the poor.

I guess we'll be stuck with Trump stuff for a while... at least until he resigns or is removed from office. As much as John might want to, he's going to have to do an episode or two on the Russia investigation.

All the American St Patrick's Day stuff is embarrassing. It comes off as so disingenuous and condescending, for all these morning show hosts to be putting on the faux Irish accent and wearing green. You're not Irish, you bunch of smug arseholes.

I always enjoy John's 'a country you think so little about' bit, and how he changes it up each time. But he's spending too much time in America. 'Zeh-bra', please. Who have you become? It was a bit of a pointless story, really. Felt like one of those 'and finally...' waste of time bits at the end of a local news show. That was a waste of ten minutes.

[ganesh]

10 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

I'm sorry, but how could anyone ever vote for a man who made those comments about Russia's "tippy-top nuclear"? It doesn't mean anything, and immediately betrays a man that doesn't understand anything about weapons systems. He sounds like a drunken idiot who just got challenged to back up his stupid bar talk.

I think you answered it yourself. The people who voted for him don't know anything about nuclear either. 

10 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

But Trump is so fucking evil that he's even gleefully cutting welfare programmes that specifically helped his voters, along with those that help the 'inner cities' (black people).

As Jon pointed out, Trump didn't actually do anything or even knows how to prepare the budget proposal. The budget guy just read his tweets. So when it tanks, he'll just say, "talk to the budget guy." Trump didn't even appoint those people. He hasn't taken ownership of anything he's done since he's been in office. Something needs to blowback in his face so he'll shut up. 

Edited March 21, 2017 by ganesh

[Danny Franks]

28 minutes ago, ganesh said:

As Jon pointed out, Drumpf didn't actually do anything or even knows how to prepare the budget proposal. The budget guy just read his tweets. So when it tanks, he'll just say, "talk to the budget guy." Drumpf didn't even appoint those people. He hasn't taken ownership of anything he's done since he's been in office. Something needs to blowback in his face so he'll shut up. 

Yeah, I don't really buy the Trump Administration's excuses that all these fuck ups are someone else's fault. Mulvaney couldn't have written and released that 'skinny budget' without Trump, or someone close to him, signing off on it. The people in the White House have no idea what they're doing, but there's no way that things are that chaotic. While I very much doubt Trump had anything to do with the numbers, I don't doubt he had a bullet point list of things to include in the budget. That would have included more military spending, so he can brag about having a bigger metaphorical penis, and cutting spending on everything he doesn't care about, which would be all the things that actually help needy citizens.

[ganesh]

I'm not making excuses for Trump by any means. He appointed horrible people who don't care about the American public, and Jon is 100% correct that the budget is just petty. I just don't think Trump actually knows what's in the budget, just like I don't think he's written a single word of any of the EOs he signed. 

I actually do think things are fairly chaotic. Just going by the EOs, it's clear no one knows how to actually do these things. 

26 minutes ago, Danny Franks said:

Mulvaney couldn't have written and released that 'skinny budget' without Trump, or someone close to him, signing off on it.

Likely Bannon had the most influence and told Mulvaney what to do. But sure, Trump has said on numerous occasions that he wanted to "rebuild the military" and stuff like that. There's no way he said directly, "hey, cut the Wings program." He doesn't even know what that is. 

My main point is that Trump hasn't taken ownership of any of the policy making coming out of the White House. When this budget tanks, he'll blame someone else and it won't stick to him. 

[Hanahope]

5 hours ago, ganesh said:

My main point is that Trump hasn't taken ownership of any of the policy making coming out of the White House. When this budget tanks, he'll blame someone else and it won't stick to him.

When the guy won't even take ownership of his own tweets about wiretapping (re Napolitano, who was just benched by FNC, heh), you know he won't take ownership of the budget, healthcare or almost anything else.  About the only thing he's "owned" so far was the travel ban, that's getting defeated in the courts.

Many items in the budget have been on the Republican wish list for years.  Every time there's a republican president, there's talk of less funding for all the social programs.  While the "author" of the budget may have followed 45's tweets, I'm sure he also spoke at length with Paul Ryan and other's of that ilk.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

For a while I couldn't quite figure out why I felt a "liberal/Democrat" ideology appealed to me versus "conservative/Republican" one in spite of my personal traits and characteristics and I realized it came down to breaking down all the policies and bills and rhetoric to simple ideologies:

"Conservative/Republicans" are primarily driven by "how does it help ME directly, and then how MAY it help others" while "Liberal/Democrats" are primarily driven by "how does this help OTHERS directly".  Seriously, have the conservative/republicans ever come up with a tax plan that didn't involve tax breaks for the rich?  Why not just tax break the poor, the ones who actually need it, and you know, see if the rich can live with 99 million instead of 100.

[paigow]

15 hours ago, Gulftastic said:

Stop saying 'Zee-bra' John! It's  'zeb-ra' and you damn well know it.

When Elementary ran an episode with the "animal in question" at the crux of the mystery, it was odd hearing zeb-ra. Perhaps John Oliver did not want U.S.A. viewers to be distracted from his point. 

[attica]

I have a 'z' nestled in my surname, and I have found that its presence freaks people out. So I when I spell my name for people, I do it with "Zee as in zeebra." Of course, when I travel abroad, I have to remember that it's "Zed as in zeb-ra." It still freaks people out, but at least it's in their own vernac.

[purist]

John seems to have fully embraced American pronunciation - as an Australian, it's weird for me to hear a British person saying 'mom' instead of 'mum', 'bangs' instead of 'a fringe' and, of course, 'zee-bra' instead of 'zeb-ra'. (Australians generally follow British pronunciation.) I wonder if he only does it for LWT and still uses the British pronunciation in private.

[paigow]

9 hours ago, attica said:

I have a 'z' nestled in my surname, and I have found that its presence freaks people out. So I when I spell my name for people, I do it with "Zee as in zeebra." Of course, when I travel abroad, I have to remember that it's "Zed as in zeb-ra." It still freaks people out, but at least it's in their own vernac.

How about using "Zed's dead" ??

[DEL901]

10 hours ago, attica said:

I have a 'z' nestled in my surname, and I have found that its presence freaks people out. So I when I spell my name for people, I do it with "Zee as in zeebra." Of course, when I travel abroad, I have to remember that it's "Zed as in zeb-ra." It still freaks people out, but at least it's in their own vernac.

Or if you were in Canada, it would be "Zed as in Zee-Bra".  We mix our pronunciation and spelling between US and UK because consistency would be a bad thing! :)

[spaceghostess]

My soon-to-be-(but not soon enough)-ex husband is English, and after 25 years in this country, ZEB-ra and "zed" are still alive and well in his speech, although he now uses American rather than British slang and no longer calls a sweater a jumper. Weird which things go and which stay. I guess it's an individual thing, but I was surprised that John used the American pronunciation for a word he (and most of us) probably don't say every day.

2 hours ago, DEL901 said:

Or if you were in Canada, it would be "Zed as in Zee-Bra".  We mix our pronunciation and spelling between US and UK because consistency would be a bad thing! :)

This makes me very happy --don't know why, it just does!

[sacrebleu]

Quote

I always enjoy John's 'a country you think so little about' bit,

heh. I will say-- I did know where Bolivia is-- but only because I'm a former General Hospital watcher. Fans on the TWOP board were stunned when the show's writers referred to a boat 'off the coast of Bolivia' and no one could believe they could be so shoddy as to not look up whether Bolivia had a coast-- if they were going to set a story there. It went on to become sort of short-hand for poorly researched stories and dialogue. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

On 3/22/2017 at 8:12 AM, paigow said:

How about using "Zed's dead" ??

"Who's chopper is this ?"

[paigow]

Since these Chilean zebras are so good at community service, maybe they can help find that missing Georgian cat...

[Pallas]

On 3/21/2017 at 11:12 AM, Danny Franks said:

I'm sorry, but how could anyone ever vote for a man who made those comments about Russia's "tippy-top nuclear"? It doesn't mean anything, and immediately betrays a man that doesn't understand anything about weapons systems. He sounds like a drunken idiot who just got challenged to back up his stupid bar talk.

That's it. Donald Trump = Cliff Clavin. Hail to the Cliff.

[Gothish520]

On 3/22/2017 at 3:58 AM, purist said:

John seems to have fully embraced American pronunciation - as an Australian, it's weird for me to hear a British person saying 'mom' instead of 'mum', 'bangs' instead of 'a fringe' and, of course, 'zee-bra' instead of 'zeb-ra'. (Australians generally follow British pronunciation.) I wonder if he only does it for LWT and still uses the British pronunciation in private.

Way late to the party, but I'm catching up on old episodes. 

I love the British, love their accents, and usually love all of their slang and vernacular and different ways of pronouncing things - but for some reason, "zed" instead of "zee" makes me want to strike someone. Hard. Every time Jeremy Clarkson said it on Top Gear I wanted to punch him through the tv.

Hmm, maybe the problem is with Jeremy Clarkson...