Tag: John Oliver

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John Oliver Breaks Down The Numbers On The Infamous “Trump Wall”

John Oliver of HBOs Last Week Tonight breaks down one of the few “policy” proposals we have any kind of detail on from Donald Trump – the now infamous “Trump Wall.

Noting that Trump’s numbers on building the wall have changed over the past several months from $4-12 billion,  crunching the figures leads to a much higher price tag – more like $26 billion.

And, then the actual maintenance doubles that figure over the first 7 years of the project.

Oliver also delves into the idea of “making” Mexico pay for the wall, and more.

Some funny stuff in here, but at the very least you come away realizing that even the few things Trump thinks he’s thought out, actually have no “there” there.

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John Oliver On The Truth About Filling A Supreme Court Vacancy

John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” kills it on this segment addressing the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the sudden brouhaha by Senate Republicans claiming SCOTUS justices simply aren’t nominated in the fourth year of a president’s term:

GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz established an arbitrary 80-year time frame during which he said no president ever got a hearing for a nominee in the last year of his term, but Oliver pointed out that Cruz was wrong.

Dead wrong. Five times wrong.

Five nominees came before the Senate during that period, with three making it onto the highest court in the land.

Oliver then turned his eye on the Judicial Crisis Network — a conservative advocacy group that stumps for hardline right-wing judicial appointments — for their ad claiming “We the people” should wait until a new president is sworn in and let that president choose.

Oliver pointed out that “We have a perfectly good president” right now who was re-elected three years ago and is entirely capable of making that decision.

Of course, the bottom line is President Obama was elected to a second FOUR year term, not three year term. And it is his responsibility to nominate a replacement for SCOTUS, and the Senate’s job is to “advise and consent.” Not block anything from happening.

It’s a bad move by Republicans as it just cements the perception that they are the party of “no,” and nothing else.

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Donald Trump Vs. HBO’s “Last Week Tonight”

John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” told the team of CBS This Morning he had no interest in interviewing GOP White House hopeful Donald Trump on his show.

Trump lashed out via Twitter (for a change) and told the world he’d been asked to do “Last Week Tonight” but turned it down.

The producers of LWT had their own retort to contribute.

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HBO’s Last Week Tonight Takes On Sex Education In Our Schools

I’ll preface this with the obvious fact that I don’t have kids.

That being said, I’m always amazed at the outrage some parents’ have about their child learning basic sex education in school. You constantly hear “that belongs in the home!”

Except – as John Oliver points out in this segment, No parent wants to talk to their kids about sex, and no kid wants to talk about sex with their parents.”

From The Week:

There are no standards for what to teach kids about sex, federally or sometimes even locally. Only 22 states require sex ed, Oliver noted, and only 13 require that the information be medically accurate. Viewers of this clip will get to see a lot of really bad sex-ed videos, and learn some discouraging statistics.

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John Oliver Contemplates Statehood For Washington, D.C.

Have you ever wondered why Washington, D.C. isn’t a state? In fact, the city doesn’t even get a vote in the House of Representatives even though the residents pay federal taxes, the population is larger than Vermont and Wyoming, and has a Gross Domestic Product higher than that of 16 states. John Oliver of HBO’s Last Week Now wondered too. Make sure you stick around for the nifty little song at the end.

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How Is Daylight Savings Time Still A Thing?

Like most folks, I thought Daylight Savings Time was a “thing” for the farmers (or “farm people” as they put it in this video.)

Daylight Savings Time actually was started by the Germans during WWI.

Doesn’t that make you go “hmm…?”

For the record, I’ve never seen the point. It’s kind of like cutting 12″ off the top of a blanket, sewing it to the bottom and thinking you’ve made the blanket longer.