John Oliver's Last Week Tonight

I started using a delivery app over the winter when I was in a pretty deep depression and getting a burger from my favorite place made me feel better than heating something in the microwave. I do always tip in cash on top of the in-app tip because I know the drivers don't get paid enough.

I never used them myself on account of how much it cost in spite of the fact that I don't drive.

The main story from the newest episode is available on YouTube now, and it's about executions. Debunking the idea of lethal injections being a humane death. Discussing the secrecy behind the sourcing of drugs for lethal injections, and how the federal government and the state of Arizona probably broke the law in sourcing lethal injection drugs from Absolute Standards, a company which is not registered with the FDA to manufacture drugs of any sort.

That a veterinary medicine company makes drugs for lethal injections doesn't seem like nearly the scandal I think John Oliver thinks it is.

But I appreciated his passion against the death penalty and outrage no one in America really seems to care versus Europe.

Now I understand how military coups happen.

Okay, that's just veering into doomsaying. Trump may be a terrible person, but I don't see him holding mass public executions.

Get a grip, people. And stay on topic.

I mean every time someone says Trump won't do X, he tries to do X.

Like January 6th absolutely would have killed congress if they'd let them have guns like he wanted.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Apr 12th 2024 at 7:06:43 AM

I find it curious that John mentions the Trump administration, and the government generally, but never the Biden administration. It gives the distinct impression of absolving the Biden administration of any and all responsibility here, as if the exact same thing hasn't been going on under Biden's watch as well.

This is textbook tribalism. Only right wingers do something wrong in the narrative this video paints, and Democrats are let off scot-free. Not really what I'd expect from John, to be honest.

I mean he called out Biden and said he should commute all of the executions.

That's hardly going to solve the underlying problem, is it?

Biden could indeed commute the sentence of every person in the country who is sentenced to death. He can't stop courts from imposing that sentence, though, and such an action might not work to his political advantage. As of November 6, 2023, a majority of poll respondents think the death penalty is used unfairly in the US, but overall support remains at 53%.

Granted, the "in-favor" numbers lean strongly Republican, but it's not exactly a Democratic litmus test and there's no incentive for Biden to take a hard stand on it when there are so many other hot-button topics.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 13th 2024 at 6:39:18 AM

I also assume that "pardoning" means just commuting the death sentences to a different sentence? I mean, it's one thing to pardon people who did little more than possess weed or something, but the kind of folks who get the death sentence are probably not generally the kind of people deserving of a presidential pardon in the first place.

I mean commutation. He can do that without issuing a full pardon. Every President has used this power, generally by establishing a commission that reviews individual cases and provides impartial recommendations. To my knowledge, Trump is the only President in recent history to issue pardons without this veneer of impartiality, possibly excluding Ford's pardon of Nixon.

Commutation may be used for any criminal sentence. The President could reduce someone's time from twenty to five years, for example. This power is rarely publicized, but it is used from time to time.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 13th 2024 at 6:51:19 AM

John Oliver has also never hesitated to call out Biden, even in this episode. It's just that it was under Trump there were federal executions and Trump is very pro execution, so of course he's getting critiqued the most.

(Not sure if this is off topic.)

If I were Biden, I would commute all the sentences to life imprisonment before I left office (in case I lost the election) or about a month before my second term began (if I didn't).

In either case, I think he should go for it, because whether or not he wins or loses reelection, there is still the period to do so. And besides, he campaigned on abolishing it.

The current President doesn't lose all power the instant they lose the election. That's why the coup happened; Trump had the power to remove all security in the last hours of his presidency, so the rioters could get in.

Biden could lose, and commute a bunch of sentences on his last day. I think that's a thing presidents do, actually? Spend their last few weeks doing a few minor deeds like that?

Let's leave the speculation about potential lame-duck actions of the Biden administration to a different discussion thread, one that is currently locked.

The answer to the question that was asked is, "Yes, he could do that." Why or why not are veering off the topic.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 13th 2024 at 9:15:11 AM

Yeah, but that's the thing, it's not like things changed after Biden took over, so I'm not sure why Trump is singled out for this. Not to mention that these issues were there under Obama as well, and for much longer too.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 13th 2024 at 3:15:00 PM

This is also very much a Europe vs. America thing.

One of the observations someone made is that a character being pro-death penalty in an American show makes him mildly conservative or harsh, particularly if he's in law enforcement or a lawyer. In Europe, it would mark him as a complete lunatic.

Well, not necessarily "complete lunatic", but it's definitely not considered politically viable.

I mean Trump said a while ago he wanted Snowden executed, so there you go.

Yeah it sounds like the Death Penalty system is a massive clusterf*** that can't guarantee humane Executions and that they can't get the proper drugs to do so is just one particular problem right off the bat. Concerns are obviously not unfounded.

As for Food Delivery Apps, not financially practical for someone like me constantly paying loans and bills and yet, I can't help but also think about how important they are when I'm in the office and it's either not practical to leave or I think a place is gonna close before I can go there to shop. I manage through the use of my credit card for the time being though.

The argument is whether there's such a thing as a humane execution. The roadblocks to execution are part of the reason why it's so difficult but people put up those roadblocks because they don't want people executed.

T Here is a huge difference between callously saying someone ought to be executed for their crimes, and orchestrating mass executions.

People say stuff like that all the time when they are upset enough with someone's crime. Over here it often starts with "I'm not in favour of the death penalty, but...".

Honestly, out of all options, the guillotine is probably still the most humane one.

Edited by Redmess on Apr 15th 2024 at 10:37:28 AM

Can we bring back sacrificing people to volcanoes?

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 15th 2024 at 8:49:34 AM