Latest Posts
-
Jon Stewart's Extended Interview with Newt Gingrich
You know how all those people went and saw Avatar and then got really depressed afterward because they couldn't stay in Pandora forever and have sex with blue aliens? Well, that's how I felt after Jon Stewart's interview with Newt Gingrich on last night's Daily Show. I just didn't want it to end, and also wanted to have sex with blue aliens. Fortunately, we've got an exclusive extended clip that more than doubles the length of the interview. Here's what aired last night:
The extended portion of the interview can be found below.
The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.
Tags: Economy, Jon Stewart, Newt Gingrich, Terrorism, The Daily Show, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Video -
Stephen Colbert Presents The Crapification of the American Pant-Scape
In the days following the attempted underwear bombing of a US-bound airliner by a Nigerian terrorist, many questions have been asked. Which races, faiths, genders and blood types should we unconditionally strip search? Do we have to limit it to people getting on airplanes? Is war with Yemen inevitable? What about Nigeria? What about Finland? Have you seen the way Chile has been looking at us? But the only question that really matters is, should we be scared? On last night's Colbert Report, Stephen provided the answer.
The Crapification of The American Pant-Scape continues below.
The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30pm / 10:30c.
Tags: Stephen Colbert, Terrorism, The Colbert Report, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Video, Yemen -
Jon Stewart on the Underwear Bomber
It's been said that big news often uncannily happens when The Daily Show is off the air. For example, the Hindenburg conspicuously crashed sixty years before the show even premiered. Well, as you know, this recent holiday hiatus was no different; The Daily Show went on vacation, and a dude tried to blow up a plane with a chode-bomb. So last night, the show returned (in HD!) and Jon Stewart made up for lost time, taking on the story from all angles.
The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.
Tags: CIA, Dan Burton, Homeland Security, Jon Stewart, Karl Rove, Pete Hoekstra, Peter King, Richard Reid, Terrorism, The Daily Show, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, Video, Yemen -
12/25/09 May or May Not Equal 9/11/01
Remember last year, when this guy tried to blow up a plane with his underwear? Well, sorry to disappoint anyone who might be planning a run for office by nine elevening twelve twenty-five: according to President Obama's counterterrorism advisor, the numbers don't add up…John Brennan, the assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the security breakdown in the failed bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight was different from the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"It's not like 9/11," Brennan said, adding that the "system didn't work as it should have" due to "lapses" and "human error."
"There wasn't an effort to try to conceal information," he said, referring to the well-chronicled competition and turf wars among security agencies prior to the 2001 attacks, which was later blamed for the failure to prevent them.
Plus thousands of people didn't die and no buildings collapsed, but then again…
[T]he Republican chairman of the 9/11 commission said Brennan was "wrong when he says this wasn't like 9/11."
Thomas Kean, a former governor of New Jersey, said both events occurred because the U.S. intelligence community failed to piece together various bits of information it already possessed in the weeks and months prior to the attacks.
In other words, that time you failed calculus because you didn't remember the formula you'd written in your notebook just two weeks before the exam? Pretty nine eleveny, according to Thomas Kean. Mere "human error," according to John Brennan.
Either way, the important thing is that we never forget how to use 9/11 for political accusations and fearmongering. Never, never forget.
Tags: 9/11, John Brennan, Terrorism, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab -
Christopher Hitchens, Believe It or Not, Has an Opinion About Airport Security
Christopher Hitchens on why flying on commercial airlines just got a little bit even more shitty…Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent? The answer to the first question is: Because we can't — or won't. The answer to the second question is: Because we can. The fault here is not just with our endlessly incompetent security services, who give the benefit of the doubt to people who should have been arrested long ago or at least had their visas and travel rights revoked. It is also with a public opinion that sheepishly bleats to be made to "feel safe." The demand to satisfy that sad illusion can be met with relative ease if you pay enough people to stand around and stare significantly at the citizens' toothpaste…
What nobody in authority thinks us grown-up enough to be told is this: We had better get used to being the civilians who are under a relentless and planned assault from the pledged supporters of a wicked theocratic ideology. These people will kill themselves to attack hotels, weddings, buses, subways, cinemas, and trains. They consider Jews, Christians, Hindus, women, homosexuals, and dissident Muslims (to give only the main instances) to be divinely mandated slaughter victims. Our civil aviation is only the most psychologically frightening symbol of a plethora of potential targets.
Anyone out there think the average American is grown-up enough to be told any of that?
Anyone?
Tags: Christopher Hitchens, Islam, Religion, Terrorism, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab
