Tag Archives: Jon Stewart

A Jon Stewart Two Fer’

He’s at the top of his game.

But he’s right.  And while I disagree with Chik-Fil-A on this one, I don’t think we should actually ban them from opening.

Jon Stewart On Harry Reid

As is my habit, I record the Daily Show and watch in batch.  Most enjoyable.  Imagine my excitement when I hit on this episode.

When Harry Reid made the claim that Romney hadn’t paid his taxes in 10, years I called shenanigans and claimed that he was in in Birther territory.  I was SO wrong that my main man Jon Stewart agrees with me:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-august-1-2012/you–harry-reid–are-terrible?xrs=share_copy

Now, the end of the clip where he mocks Fox?  That’s hilarious.  But the fact remains that by saying, “Romney could end all the speculation by just releasing his tax returns.” is the same argument as, “Obama could end all the speculation by just releasing his birth certificate.”

Now, with that said, I wonder why he isn’t releasing them.  I also wondered why Obama didn’t release his birth certificate.  Maybe, deep inside, I’m hoping for the stand up and cheer moment when a candidate, when asked if he has ever smoked weed, played D&D made a mistake when he was 13 would say, “None of your business.  I’m here to run a country and that isn’t relevant to the conversation.”

However, this is politics, and like it or not, by refusing to release how much money he makes he’s giving the impression that there is something wrong.

But for tonight, I’m happy to listen to Jon Stewart take Harry Reid to task for being a birther.

Media Incompetence: Jon Stewart

To be fair, I don’t think that Jon Stewart, CNN or the reporter are bias in their reporting.  For his sake, Stewart is just running a clip that makes his point and probably just missed it.

But for CNN and the reporter, their mistake is a little bit more egregious.  Again, I don’t think there’s bias, rather, they think they have a story – they might well have- and they are just trying to push the numbers they have to make that story more compelling.

Watch.  Hint, it’s all over by 00:35

The error was in the numbers the CNN reporter was displaying.

Here is the graphic she used:

So the numbers and the graph are:

  • Correct
  • Off High

The graph accurately reflects the White unemployment.  The graph does NOT reflect AfricanAmerican unemployment.  In fact, it shows it lower.  Then again, the graph doesn’t show Hispanic unemployment correctly either, however it too shows the data as lower than the raw numbers.

Which is right?

Let’s listen:

… in the black community 14% compared to whites which is 7%.  Latino community 11% compared to white’s 7%.

In the dialogue we have white unemployment at 7%.  Both the data and the chart show it at 7.4%  She reports that black unemployment is 14% but the data shows 13.6% and the chart shows 13%.  Depending on which you believe, that’s a whole point.  Next she moves to Latinos.  In both comparisons she mentions 11%; consistent with the data but not the graph.

Again, I don’t think there is bias here.  Jon is setting the table for his bit.  But Lordy, how do we trust that these people are saying true things?

Jon Stewart: Occupy Wall Street

It doesn’t matter the organization.  Or the society.  Or the group.

People stratify.

It is the nature of man to maximize self interest.  It’s bred into us through 1000’s of years of evolution.  We look out for ourselves.  And when ourselves are looked out for, we look out for “the us”.  We are tribal individuals.  We just are.

If you can find a system that changes humans from the selfish creatures we are to ones that live in “peace” and “harmony”, then we can talk about how better to arrange human society.  But until then, free and open markets are the single best way to organize ourselves.  If you don’t like human greed and our focus on the material thing, open a church or a synagogue or a mosque.  Something that speaks to improving a man’s character.  His inner self.

But don’t legislate it.

Which brings me to Jon Stewart.  And Occupy Wall Street.

Jon continues to be my 2nd source of comedy; Modern Family is hands down #1.  And in this episode he actually takes down the Occupy crowd.  To his credit.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-november-16-2011/occupy-wall-street-divided

I love the fact that the park has segmented into two classes.  And my favorite part is when the protester dweeb is rambling about “access to the goods of life”.  You know, the guy who is worried about “personal property” as opposed to “private property”.

Props to Jon for a humorous sketch on OWS.  Good stuff.

Jon Stewart

I think the man is gifted.  He is mad funny.

But I seriously think that a significant proportion of young people get their news from him.

And that’s scary!

I’m With The Government, I’m Here To Help You

I wish life were a Jon Stewart show.

I love watching me some Stewart.  Now, I don’t watch it daily, in fact, I don’t watch it weekly, but I record it and watch 4-5-6 episodes a night every so often.  And I’m always glad I did.  He’s hilarious.  His comedic rhythm is very nearly unmatched, his voices are crazy funny and the physical communication he brings to his verbal communication is nothing short of perfect,

The man is mad skilled.

And he’s able to see the funny in the everyday.

Yes indeed, I wish that everyday was a Jon Stewart show.

Today, I have good news for you.  Today is a Jon Stewart show kinda day.  The day when you blissfully walk through life and the normal inane aspects of the day strike you as hilarious.  Simply hilarious.

So, we all know that the bankers on Wall Street caused the crash in 07 ’cause they’re greedy.  Right?  And after the crash of 07, the government bailed out those bankers in order that our financial system didn’t completely crash.  And, after getting bailed out by said government, those banks went on to report record profits and lavish themselves with more high salaries and bigger bonuses.

With me still?

So, then, in response to the unfairness of the whole thing, the government, led by the Intrepid Due of Frank and Dodd, crafted and then passed legislation into law that would protect the consumer from the predatory actions of those mean banks that crashed the system and then stole the government’s bailout money.

One of the things that said legislation did was to restrict the amount of money that banks could charge merchants for using a debit card at the point of transaction.  See, banks have record profits already and by the use of those fees, they were strangling economic growth at the checkout counter all over America.

Poof.  Just like that, the fees used to pay for the use of a debit card were sliced in half.

Thank gawd for that, right?

Wrong.

It turns out that managing debit card transactions isn’t free.  Further, that cost isn’t negligible.  And now that the banks are unable to charge the merchant, the banks went after another target to gather their money; the consumer!  Ahh yes, the very consumer that Dodd and Frank were trying to protect.  The irony is as delicious as it was unpredictable.  Certainly NO ONE would have seen this coming.

Dear Government, thank you for trying to save me from myself by passing ignorant laws that only make matters worse.  However, the consequences of your well intentioned law is that I am actually worse off now than I was before.  Can you please help me?

Love,

pino

And just like a great Jon Stewart show, the hits just keep coming:

WASHINGTON — North Carolina Democrat Congressman Brad Miller has introduced legislation he said will make it easier for customers to change banks if they aren’t happy with new fees.

The bill will modernize and streamline the opening and closing of personal checking and savings accounts, Miller said Tuesday.

“As megabanks flirt with menus of new fees, an increasing number of Americans will want to switch banks,” Miller said. “That is the way things work in a competitive, free market as unrepentant banks are still trying to rake in vulgar profits from their customers.”

With such flowing and beautiful language, I’m sure, just SURE, that this bill is gonna be a good one!

Miller’s legislation would allow customers to close an account without being charged a fee, even if the account has a negative balance. Customers would also be allowed to close accounts without actually showing up in person.

It would also prohibit banks from levying fees to a customer’s account after the account has been requested to be closed.

The great thing about great comedy is that future riffs are set up by hilarious content early in the show.  A great comic is able to set himself up for future use.  Most often this is done within the context of the single show and will have to be re-created for the next one.  But the truly great are able to so skillfully build content that it can span episodes.

This is one of those times.

I predict nothing but really great news for consumers should Brad Miller’s bill make it to law.

Okay okay okay.  In all seriousness.  I have already demonstrated that Liberals don’t understand things like economics.  So the fact that Miller is proposing this legislation isn’t so much surprising as it is an argument for better public education.

Jon Stewart Winked

So, last we spoke about Jon Stewart, I was complaining that he let Weiner off the hook.  I made mention of this fact because I felt that Jon is Liberal, Anthony is Liberal and so, Jon let him free.  In retrospect I suspect that the reason Jon Stewart went easy on Anthony Weiner was because the two are friends.

Fair enough.

But tonight I’m catching up on my “The Daily Show” and Jon is mocking Chris Wallace and his interview of Stewart.

In that interview, Jon asks Chris, “Do you think I’m an ideological partisan activist?”

Chris answered, “Yes.”

And Stewart responded that he disagreed with Wallace.

Really?

Jon devouts hours of his time to the mocking of Fox News for being “unbalanced.”  A view I happen to agree with.  It’s clear that Fox takes the conservative “side” in the reporting of the news.  And if Jon felt that he needed to defend his honor in being a comic that comes across as a neutral player, you would think that he would mock MSNBC for the same bias tendencies that Fix has.

None.  Nary a word.

CNN?  Sure.

MSNBC?  Maddow?  Matthews?  Obelrman?

Chirp Chirp.

Stewart is a partisan hack.  He’s funny and talented.  To be very clear, he’s VERY talented.

But he’s a hack.

I was wrong, Jon didn’t blink; he winked.

Jon Stewart Blinked

Anthony Weiner is a dumb ass.  We knew this long before his recent history making revelations.  However, now we know about his history making revelations.

And, if you have any kind of sense of humor, his history making revelations are hilarious.

Just the kind of story for Jon.

But Anthony is a friend.  And so Jon let him off.

Jon Stewart claims he’s a comedian and that he just makes fun of the political theater in front of him.  But he doesn’t.

He had The Weiner in his sights.  And he blinked.

He’s a good friend.  But he’s not just a “political comedian” either.

I like Jon Stewart

Because of the interview he did with Rachel Maddow.

I’m not sure which should surpise my Liberty loving friends more, the fact that I watch Maddow or that I like Stewart.

Post Thnaksgiving Day philosophy to be sure:

Anyway:  Click on the picture for the whole interview.

Rachel Maddow interviews Jon Stewart

Enjoy.

Stewart and Colbert: Insulting Without Being Funny

I am a huge fan of the Daily Show.  I think it’s well written and funny.  I say this knowing that it’s often the conservatives who are on the receiving end of the jokes.

But serious; funny is funny is funny.

And I’m nothing if not the funniest guy I know 😉

But the rally these two guys held before the election was just, well, funny.

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