John Oliver's Last Week Tonight

The optimal number of children that a couple should have is and always should be "however many they want." Because as soon as you set a limit, you have to set a punishment for exceeding that limit or else there's no incentive to stay within the limit. And if the punishment is a fine, poor people are going to suffer. And we've already seen that China has forced abortions for women pregnant with their second or third child, which is fucking horrendous.

Edited by alliterator on Oct 7th 2019 at 10:09:21 AM

The whole "one-child" policy is such a perfect microcosm of everything wrong with mainland China. It's horrifically callous, leads to atrocities, and has backfired horribly.

Edited by M84 on Oct 8th 2019 at 2:23:12 AM

The importance of the NWS and its *FREE* weather models,the symbiotic relation of public and private sectors in providing each other weather data, and how the latter, specifically Accu Weather, would rather let us pay for the weather and weaken the NWS in providing said info.

And, to the surprise of no one, Trump trying to nominate Barry Lee Meyers, (former) CEO of Accu Weather, to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Twice I might add and he keeps trying because it's on no one's radar.

AKA multi-million businessman with absolutely no expertise on the subject of the weather and very transparent conflict of interest given he supported Rick Santorum's National Weather Service Duties Act of 2005 (basically move taxpayer funded data on the weather behind a goddamn paywall) and wants to make it a mission to make sure we have to pay to know our weather.

Edited by terumokou on Oct 14th 2019 at 1:21:13 AM

It doesn't surprise me at all. Giving positions to people he knows personally, from TV, or because they give him money or political cover, is pretty much par for the course with that guy.

I don't know if he will be the worst president (that dubious honour probably goes to the guys responsible for the Civil War and it's racist aftermath), but he could well be the most corrupt.

Oh, and he sexually harasses women, because of course he does. It's like Trump is actively selecting creeps to run his government.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 14th 2019 at 1:35:25 PM

I think you might be underestimating the longterm geopolitical ramifications of the current administration. The United States' international reputation has taken a massive hit these past few years, even among those who would usually consider the US their ally.

I think it depends on how you define "worst", and how you define it. For Americans, their Civil War might weigh a little heavier. Internationally, I agree that Trump is pretty much the worst US president, though again, some regions might disagree.

I imagine Japan would put Roosevelt and Truman a lot higher on the list of worst presidents for their roles in Japanese concentration camps and the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 14th 2019 at 4:17:54 PM

Of course, that would require the government of Japan bringing up that time period. One they'd rather forget ever happened (when they aren't engaging in apologia and historical revisionism of course).

Edited by M84 on Oct 14th 2019 at 10:20:17 PM

Apologia and historical revisionism that America has been all too happy to encourage, mind you. You should read up on the massive coverup of documentary material on Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the war, intended to keep the American public ignorant of the horrors of that attack, so the US could justify their arms race against Russia.

If any other country had nuked two cities, it would be called a war crime, and America would be first in line labelling it so. But since they were the perpetrator, they were all too eager to glorify nuclear warfare while glossing over the horrors of it. There is a reason you saw so many pictures of impressive mushroom clouds, but rarely the wreckage that followed, never mind the sort of injuries survivors would sustain from it.

Coincidentally, Kurzgesagt did a video on the effects on nuking a city today. They also emphasize that there will be no emergency response to speak of, and that no nation is remotely prepared for such a situation, something governments would like to stay quiet about.

The point is, a country that wants to call out the USA for doing something awful to them wouldn't point to a time when they were also doing awful things. Especially if said awful things were just as bad if not worse in ways.

Especially if said country's approach to said dark time is to try and pretend it didn't happen.

Anyway, the Japanese would be more inclined to point to a USA president who screwed them over in peacetime.

Edited by M84 on Oct 14th 2019 at 10:43:51 PM

Yes, that is certainly true, too.

Here's an LA Times article from a few years back on reasons the government of Japan doesn't even want an apology for the bombings.

Japan doesn’t want the U.S. to apologize for bombing Hiroshima. Here’s why

One of the reasons is something I brought up:

The article did mention a poll showing 60% of people in Japan would like an apology. Though the poll is from a Russian news agency. So maybe not the most reliable.

Edited by M84 on Oct 14th 2019 at 10:48:40 PM

Something that got lost in the main story was Oliver taking HBO to task over HBO Max. Apparently HBO is trying to distance itself from the service (reflecting the old model of all the Warner Media outlets fighting with each other before AT&T came in and demanded restructuring). Given how he keeps laying into AT&T I expect the attacks to ramp up before the service launches in spring.

Edited by Beatman1 on Oct 15th 2019 at 8:22:55 AM

Heh. John Oliver always slams "Business Daddy."

Is kind of hilarious that US would apologize fo rsomething most of the people saw as right and yet the goverment of japan denied because THEM would have to do the same.

Is kind of weird.

But again, most people saw it as the right thing to do because the US government witheld information about the nuclear attack from them. Had they been able to see firsthand witness reports, public opinion would have been very different.

Suffice it to say, in today's internet and cellphone age, this sort of coverup simply could not happen. If a city was nuked today, pretty much anywhere in the world, there would be footage spread all over the internet within hours.

Ugh, the more he talks (Trump), the more I want to drill a ice pick into my inner ear canal.

Six American casualties. Eleven thousand Kurdish casualties.

Is it me, or is there a bit of an imbalance, there?

You also hear that imbalance in the way the US military talks about operations. I heard at least one guy mention that they allied with the Kurds so Americans don't have to take the risks. And that is indeed the impression I get from those numbers.

And then the Kurds get abandoned, just like that.

I'm not surprised the Kurds are upset. If I was there, I'd be throwing fruit at the US troops, too.

Edited by Redmess on Oct 28th 2019 at 12:01:22 PM

Voting machines

Stuff like this is why the US has been downgraded to "flawed democracy".

Meaning the US is now on the same level as France, Italy, and India when it comes to democracy.

Edited by Redmess on Nov 4th 2019 at 12:52:24 PM

Wait... voting machines? O.o *from Hungary where voting is completely paperbased*

Then again I forget voting in the US is never on a day off...

PS: when I read "voting machine" I first thought of bots attacking the system where they convert the counts into statistics to distort the data.

Edited by akanesarumara on Nov 8th 2019 at 1:58:16 PM

Yeah in the UK it’s all paper, I know they count my vote right because it’s a bit of physical paper (also I’ve actually been to election counts in the past).

If it’s just about the turnaround time then states could use a dual system but base the count not off the electronic count but off the paper count that they spend a few days doing.

But that means hiring a bunch fo trusted vote counters for multiple days, which costs money.

In Canada we use paper ballots that are manually counted for federal and provincial elections.

In munucipal elections we use paper ballots, but because the ballots are large (lots of municipal counsellors), they’re counted by machine; the same type of machine used for marking multiple-choice tests. I’m not aware of any issues with those.

Since the US votes for federal, state, and local officials all on the same day, I can see a rationale for them using the latter - the votes are still physical and can get recounted manually if necessary.

But electronic voting, where there’s no physical documentation of the votes, is a lot more questionable and open to abuse. They should go back to paper ballots.

Wait, what’s wrong with France?

Edited by Galadriel on Nov 8th 2019 at 7:56:00 AM

Why say it when you can spend the HBO budget again to do a musical about how Bob Murray can go fuck himself again.

Oh and something about SLAPP suits.

Edited by terumokou on Nov 11th 2019 at 12:49:47 PM

That. Was. Glorious. Eat shit, Bob!

You must be some major asshole to warrant this big a production from John Oliver.