Government Is Deadly

The death penalty is a really thorny issue. First, I think I can say definitively there are people in the world we just don't need; people we're better off without - Saddam Hussein, Charlie Manson, Celine Dion come to mind, but we know that too often we're killing the wrong people. 

New and emerging forensic techniques have turned up false convictions all over the place, and the death penalty being a permanent "solution" makes it kinda hard to say, "Oops - dang, I guess we got that one wrong" and go on to whatever's next.

The fact that we keep trying to find "more humane ways" of killing people only points up the fact that we're working maybe a little too hard to rationalize our attempts to substitute retribution for justice.

"...we are some real motherfuckers" is the big takeaway in this John Oliver piece:

Coulda Been A Lot Worse

John Oliver.

How fucked up is our "system" when millionaire Press Poodles working for billionaire media company owners barely touch on the real problems, and we end up having to rely on half-hour cable comedy shows to get a good look at what the Plutocrats and Rent-Seekers are doing to us?

Rise Like The Phoenix

John Oliver on shaming and reclaiming.

Last Week Tonight

John Oliver.

The part with Susan Collins is fucking stellar.

And the payoff at the end is classic - exactly what we need journalism to do.

Last Week Tonight

John Oliver reminds us about a future that's impossible for us even to imagine.

I think I can confirm that the countdown to Zardoz is now well underway.

The En-Dumb-ening Continues

Last Week Tonight returns (finally), and we get a glimpse of Idiots on TV in the second block.

Welcome back, John Oliver.

(there's a glitch at about 9:00 where they cut the clip of the "reality show" - I'm thinking because of copyright trouble)

This Week Last Night

John Oliver - cuz an awful lot of the real investigative journalism, and in-depth reporting is happening on cable comedy shows.

John Oliver

John Oliver two days ago.

John Oliver

The addiction treatment industry is dangerously unregulated. John Oliver explains why many rehab programs should incorporate more evidence-based care and carefully reconsider their doctor-to-horse ratio.

Makes me wonder if there are dots in need of connecting - something that would give us a clearer picture of a legalized system of Drug Cartels right here in USAmerica Inc.

• Pharma
• Prescribers
• Insurance
• Healthcare
• Law Enforcement
• Prisons
• Lobbyists
• Congress

I'm a capitalist because god's a capitalist.

I have to take in more calories than I need right this minute because I need a surplus of  energy in order to do the work required to get my next meal. I have to make some profit.

And I insist on appropriate regulation because god insists on appropriate regulation.

Without a properly functioning pancreas, my blood sugar goes wacky and I die.

Without a properly functioning brain stem, my heart rate goes wacky and I die.

...my body temperature

...etc etc etc

"Government Interference in the Free Market System" is what freed the slaves, dummy.

Every once in a while, we have to step up and save capitalism from the capitalists.

John Oliver

Again - comedy shows on cable TV are doing a better job of covering real problems than any of the "real" news shows anywhere else.

And just to keep it out there - notice how Boris Epshteyn looks and sounds like one of those old Soviet guys from the late 80s who spent way too much time and energy trying way too hard not to look and sound like one of those old Soviet guys in the late 80s.

Waist Deep In Dead Canaries