Jon Stewart Returns to Form on ‘The Daily Show’ – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
‘Now, Where Was I?’
Jon Stewart returned to “The Daily Show” on Monday, nearly nine years after he signed off as host.
“Welcome to ‘The Daily Show.’ My name’s Jon Stewart,” said Stewart, who will host Monday nights for the foreseeable future. “Now where was I?”
“Why am I back, you may be asking yourselves. It’s a very reasonable question. I have committed a lot of crimes. From what I understand, talk show hosts are granted immunity — it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but take it up with the founders.” — JON STEWART
“We’re going to have so much we are going to talk about this year. Obviously, the elections, maybe we’ll talk about China, maybe we’ll talk about A.I., maybe something a little lighter, Israel-Palestine. Who knows?” — JON STEWART
Stewart, who received a warm welcome from the studio audience, addressed the state of the presidential election, with a focus on differentiating between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, who both face questions about their age and ability to lead. The next nine months, Stewart said, “they’re going to suck.”
“Look, Joe Biden isn’t Donald Trump. He hasn’t been indicted as many times, he hasn’t had as many fraudulent businesses or been convicted in a civil trial for sexual assault or been ordered to pay defamation, have his charities disbanded, or stiffed a [expletive] ton of blue-collar tradesmen he hired.” — JON STEWART
“We are not suggesting neither man is vibrant, productive or even capable, but they are both stretching the limits of being able to handle the toughest job in the world. What’s crazy is thinking that we’re the ones, as voters, who must silence concerns and criticisms. It is the candidates’ job to assuage concerns, not the voters’ job not to mention them.” — JON STEWART
“I’ve learned one thing over these last nine years, and I was glib at best and probably dismissive at worst about this: The work of making this world resemble one that you would prefer to live in is a lunch pail [expletive] job, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, smart and dedicated people bang on closed doors and pick up those that are fallen and grind away on issues until they get a positive result, and even then, have to stay on to make sure that result holds. So, the good news is, I’m not saying you don’t have to worry about who wins the election. I’m saying you have to worry about every day before it and every day after, forever. Although, on the plus side, I am told that at some point, the sun will run out of hydrogen.” — JON STEWART
Jon Stewart kicks off his Daily Show Monday night residency by coming to grips with the reality of America’s two chronologically challenged presidential candidates: Joe Biden and Donald Trump. #DailyShow #JonStewart #Election2024
more from our cavalry of comedians to the rescue
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce won big in Las Vegas on Super Bowl Sunday, Democrats are panicking about President Biden’s age and mental fitness, and Donald Trump told Pennsylvania voters that their state would be renamed if he loses the election.
Our long nightmare is over. Thank goodness Jon’s back. Now maybe if he’d consider working more than one day a week…
BTW senate passed the foreign aid bill 70-29
Senate approves Ukraine, Israel foreign aid package (msn.com)
Attribution: Cognitive Concerns? by Jeff Koterba, patreon.com/jeffreykoterba
I like winter down south because in winter I have more pockets.
But winter up north?
Too many pockets.
Pass The pancakes. It’s Shrove Tuesday
Counting on Jon to get under Trump’s skin
Kudos to Senate Republicans who defied Trump in the middle of the night to aid Ukraine. His NATO craziness got enough of them to do the right thing and break the filibuster. Now they’ll pay, Dear Leader is gonna be mad. Guess they’ve finally figured out he works for Putin.
The 17 Rs who voted in favor of Ukraine funding: Capito, Cassidy, Collins, Ernst, Grassley, Kennedy, McConnell, Moran, Murkowski, Romney, Rounds, Sullivan, Thune, Tillis, Wicker, Young, Cornyn.
Special knocks to Rubio and Graham, longtime Russia hawks now under the thumb of Putin’s useful idiot.
How Republicans used to think —
Romney on Senate floor last night:
So good to have Jon back. He pulled no punches.
There sits Mitch Romuley ……talking as if he had absolutely nothing to do with the rise of magats.
Scheisskopf.
Rachel goes deep into the threat to Nato by Putin & Plumpty starting @ 13:00. This topic is just getting started. What a dupe and sucker is Tucker.
Mondays are going to be Must See TV thanks to Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow.
Apparently having not done enough of the bidding of the creature who appointed him, Trump stooge and corrupt Special Counsel Robert Hur is negotiating with two House Committees to testify and/or provide transcripts of his interview with the president before the end of the month. If Merrick Garland will not invoke DOJ rules to prevent this, Biden must fire Garland and replace him with an Attorney General with an actual spine.
And NBC and ABC need to fire everybody involved in the scandals at Meet The Press and This Week, in which the conclusion so obvious even Hur had to report it – that there was no evidence Biden willfully retained or shared classified documents – was reversed and both Kristen Welker and Jon Karl reported that Hur HAD found such evidence. It was the same as taking the verdict “NOT GUILTY” and reporting it as “…GUILTY” Welker and Karl and the producers and executives above them must be fired.
e fired.
And having had the editorializing door cracked open for them by Hur’s willingness to assess Biden’s memory even though he’s not only not a neurologist, he’s barely a lawyer, the media is running with the idea that, as Politico put it, Hur may have forced the Democrats’ hand to switch to a “Plan B” instead of Biden.
“Plan B” assumes a lot of things: like Trump won’t seize upon it, like Biden would agree to it, like there IS a perfect alternative, like everybody else who isn’t the chosen perfect alternative is going to NOT try to take the nomination anyway, like there has been any evidence of Biden failing at any actual task or presidential function – and most importantly like there’s any other candidate who would actually BE a better candidate than Joe Biden – no matter his real, imagined, or As-Seen-On-ABC-and-NBC flaws.
I’ll War-Game the possible outcomes. They’re ALL worse than leaving things as is.
Rachel referenced Masha Gessen’s very insightful analysis of the Putin-Tucker interview and recommended it as required reading. Masha’s perspective is unique and eye popping.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/tucker-carlson-promised-an-unedited-putin-the-result-was-boring
As always, there is much more spoken than written.
Ya know, MAGAt Mike Johnson & the GQP got a lot of blowback when they took direction from tRUMPsky & killed the immigration bill.
Then, the tRUMPsky-appointed Hur, added personal opinions about President Biden’s mental status in a report in which he was unable to indict him for any wrongdoing so that folks would talk about Biden’s age.
Now, Poo-tin’s lapdog, tRUMPsky, has publicly sided with his handler over our NATO allies, again pulling focus to something new.
Republicans up and down the ticket NEED an issue to unite them, and they’ve angered so many women and their male allies that they can’t comfortably push stricter abortion controls as they campaign. (Although, it’s happening in court with mifepristone, and contraceptives are next.)
Their central issue, the thing they’re dying to talk about, is the thing they’ve been trying to make us forget over the last week.
IT’S THE BORDER, STUPID!
They want everyone to forget that it was Republicans who were the obstacle to resolving the border/immigration issue.
The Republican chaos machine is good at misdirection. They’re far from perfect, though, if we pay attention.
I still think POTUS Joe should EO things that were in the bill, like shutting down the border at 5,000 asylum seekers. He needs to do something that his surrogates can point to as being proactive, and then kick the grenade back to Congress. Republicans’ refusal to work on immigration, to fund anything Biden could put in an EO, will get at them from the other side.
The one thing the Jon Stewart did which completely undercut the point he was trying to make about aging, was showing the side-by-side of himself now and twenty years ago.
Yes, he looks much older. Is he still as capable of doing his job? Yes.
Mobile Carnival poster from 1900.
Floats lining up for an Order of Inca parade in 2007.
Mardi Gras is the annual Carnival celebration in Mobile, Alabama. It is the oldest official Carnival celebration in the United States, started by Frenchman Nicholas Langlois in 1703 when Mobile was the capital of Louisiana. Although today New Orleans and South Louisiana celebrations are much more widely known for all the current traditions such as masked balls, parades, floats and throws were first created there.[1][2] From Mobile being the first capital of French Louisiana (1702), the festival began as a French Catholictradition. Mardi Gras has now evolved into a mainstream multi-week celebration across the spectrum of cultures, becoming school holidays for the final Monday and Tuesday (some include Wednesday), regardless of religious affiliation.[3][4]
Ivy, Mobile’s FT (aka MG) is the celebration upon whose shoulders NO stands. The only thing missing in Mobile is the French Quarter.
Meanwhile Putin is already taking on NATO.
Russia issues arrest warrant for leader of NATO member Estonia — Associated Press
Putin has already taken over much of it’s Parliament, and planning for war.
Putin Planning For Conflict With Nato, Warns Estonia
Baltic state issues intelligence report on Russia’s military plans — Huffington Post
I enjoy listening to Olbermann.
It’s not that he’s some kind of guru or someone who is always right, it’s just that I appreciate hearing from someone so utterly invested in seeing that liberals WIN and who is totally adept at expressing himself. Plus he gives a behind the scenes look at the workings of broadcasting and the news business from the perspective of someone who has worked at Fox, CNN, MSNBC, UPI, Current TV, and others. And as I said he is always absolutely dedicated to Full Speed Ahead with seeing that fascism and Republican Nazis are crushed out of existence.
I agree with that viewpoint.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/finlands-stubb-seen-frontrunner-presidential-run-off-2024-02-11/
Since some Finns can actually see Russia from their house…
“Alexander Stubb of the centre-right National Coalition Party narrowly won Finland’s presidential election on Sunday, defeating liberal Green Party member Pekka Haavisto, who conceded defeat.”
“Stubb is pro-European and a strong supporter of Ukraine who has taken a tough stance towards Russia.”
“Finland new head of state will be responsible for its security and foreign policy, including the recently approved NATO member’s stance towards Russia, with which it shares a long border.”
It was all quite civil. There was no violence. Nobody took a dump on anyone’s desk.
“The vote marks a new era in Finland, which for decades has elected presidents to foster diplomacy, in particular with neighbouring Russia, and opted not to join military alliances so it could soothe tensions between Moscow and NATO.”
“But Finns changed their minds after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, in a rapid U-turn that led to the country joining NATO in April last year.”
“Now under the Western alliance’s security umbrella, Stubb will replace Sauli Niinisto, who is retiring after two six-year terms in which he earned the nickname “the Putin Whisperer” for his previous close ties with the Russian leader.”
Here in the US, we just call him “Tucker.”
Sturge, thanks for keeping Keith in the mix here. I oughta do more work in catching podcasts but I haven’t gotten into them. I will give it a go. I do miss Keith on my TV screen.
Looks like we may get our chance to join the resistance. We’ll all be Hogan’s Heroes.
BID: I spent time in Finland, Helsinki and the countryside (vast and breath-taking.) Such a peaceful and industrious place. I was confused, therefore, to detect a strain of militarism. When I asked what was that about, they told me to look at a map.
The Finns and Swedes were the first settlers of Delaware. Strong cultural heritage (and descendants) survives.
“The Swedes landed in 1638, becoming Delaware’s first permanent European settlers. The Finns among them brought the vital skill of log building, which produced cabins later considered a quintessentially American style. Also known for farming and, later, egg production, the Finns’ nation would gain independence from Sweden in 1917 and, although they were Swedes at the time of settlement, now are celebrated as Delaware founders in their own right.”
https://www.delawareonline.com/story/life/2019/03/29/delaware-history-new-sweden-and-founding-state/3309427002/
Back in the day, no one, absolutely no one, was allowed to graduate from the University of Delaware without passing a two-credit course in Delaware history.
I won’t be watching. He won’t be helping if that’s what you think. Not with comments like that about Biden. It’s like the NYTimes whch runs a minimum of 15 articles a day about how Biden is too old.
The whole genre is passé, and there are 100 people doing it
or maybe i’m too old 🤷♂️
oh if he’s gonna rag on Biden i can comfortably say Jon Stewart was never funny and is the darling of people who aren’t, either
I’m with KGC on that.
Trump’s Knock On The Door
And just when they were making some progress with Hispanic/Latino voters.
The former president and his aides are formulating plans to deport millions of migrants.
The Atlantic free link —
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/02/trumps-immigration-plan-is-even-more-aggressive-now/677385/?gift=NRiHslr75Dl8nzQxUmBxSpTg6zZChbHo9ziu9ntHGDU
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/12/trump-republican-national-committee-chair-whatley-00141061
“Trump endorses new RNC chair and Lara Trump as co-chair”
Is there normally a co-chair or is this a new position so the fascist apparatus can control what used to be a legitimate political party?
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/leader-of-nato-member-estonia-wanted-by-russia-over-removal-of-soviet-era-monuments
“Leader of NATO member Estonia wanted by Russia over removal of Soviet-era monuments”
“Russia may believe that issuing a fictitious arrest warrant will silence Estonia,” she said. “I refuse to be silenced – I will continue to vocally support Ukraine and advocate for the strengthening of European defenses.”
“Estonia and fellow NATO members Latvia and Lithuania have pulled down monuments that are widely seen as an unwanted legacy of the Soviet occupation of those countries.”
KGC, NYT does seem to have an age hang up. here’s an excerpt listing the 20 oldest in their piece on the congress last september:
gonna be pretty crowded for those old folks on that ice floe the times seems to be launching them on.
https://news.yahoo.com/poland-counters-putin-historical-distortions-164900892.html
“Poland counters Putin’s historical distortions, debunks claims in Tucker Carlson interview”
“Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski refuted Putin’s claims about Ukraine’s origins and Ukrainian identity, labeling them as “paranoid justifications” for the war against Ukraine.”
“Putin’s claim that Poland “collaborated” with Nazi Germany and “forced” Hitler to attack in 1939 is debunked by Warsaw, which explains that Polish diplomacy sought normal relations with Germany and rejected Hitler’s proposals.”
“The Ministry clarified that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed between Nazi Germany and the USSR, led to the attack on Poland.”
I wonder if Ronna will go back to using Romney
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/poland-france-and-germany-vow-to-make-europe-stronger-as-fears-grow-over-russia-and-trump
“Poland, France and Germany vow to make Europe stronger as fears grow over Russia and Trump”
“There is no reason why we should be so clearly militarily weaker than Russia, and therefore increasing production and intensifying our cooperation are absolutely indisputable priorities,” Tusk said in arguing for the European Union to become “a military power” in its own right.
“NATO’s promise of protection is unrestricted — ‘all for one and one for all,'” Scholz said without mentioning the former president by name. “And let me say clearly for current reasons: Any relativization of NATO’s support guarantee is irresponsible and dangerous, and is in the interest of Russia alone.”
Well, tRUMPsky is a tool of the Russian state.
John Fugelsang has a new podcast on satellite, and HE is leading with trump’s promise to abandon NATO
—— – ——, Jon
https://people.com/donald-trump-nominates-lara-trump-rnc-co-chair-8576653
“Alongside his endorsement of Lara for the RNC’s No. 2 position, Trump named North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley, a fellow election denier, as his pick for national chair.”
“The former president also hopes to instate his senior 2024 campaign adviser Chris LaCivita as the RNC’s chief operating officer — though under Trump’s plan, LaCivita would reportedly continue supporting the campaign while acting as COO.”
Setting the table for Project 2025. Fascism is the only thing in their menu.
Busy week in Court for Dumbass. WaPo WARNING!!! POTENTIAL BANDWIDTH VIOLATION!!! Donald Trump on Monday asked the Supreme Court to block a lower-court ruling that he can be criminally prosecuted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, insisting that presidents are shielded from prosecution and that a trial would “radically disrupt” his reelection bid. If a president can be criminally charged for actions taken while in office, Trump’s lawyers warned, “such prosecutions will recur and become increasingly common, ushering in destructive cycles of recrimination.” They added: “Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist.” It was the second time in less than a week that the leading Republican presidential candidate turned to the nation’s highest court to intervene inan unprecedented legal question that could shape his political future, in this case explicitly requesting that the Supreme Court keep his criminal trial on hold to allow his political campaign to move forward unimpeded. At oral argument in a separate case on Thursday, the justices seemed inclined to reverse a ruling from Colorado’s top court that Trump should be barred from the ballot because of his conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Monday’s filing asks the justices to temporarily suspend— pending a formal appeal to the Supreme Court — the sweeping rejection by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of Trump’s claim that he is shielded from prosecution for actions he took while in office. It came on the same day that Trump attended a court hearing in Florida in a separate criminal case, in which he faces federal charges of mishandling classified documents and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them. In Georgia, a different hearing addressed allegations of misconduct against a state-level prosecutor who has charged Trump in connection with alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results there. In all, Trump faces 91 counts across four different indictments. He has denied all wrongdoing. Forcing Trump into a months-long criminal trial, his lawyers said in their Monday filing to the Supreme Court, effectively sidelines him from… Read more »
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/13/politics/biden-trump-nato-comments/index.html
“Biden accuses Trump of bowing to Putin by encouraging Russia to invade NATO allies that don’t meet their obligations”
“Can you imagine a former president of the United States saying that?” Biden asked incredulously from the State Dining Room. “The whole world heard it. The worst thing is he means it.”
Pogo -TDS did a nice graphic of SFB’s “appointments,” but it’s too big to post here. They’re calling it Courtchella.
An obtuse and obscure observation regarding the traitor and puttie “interview”. I am mostly sure that was the real puttie. But, the media team was sure to not show his right side and the tremors he has with his hand and legs.
Ivy – I am mostly Finnish. My cousins and family fought the soviets/russians starting in 1939 in the Winter War. We lost family in the fighting. My cousin died a couple years ago with shrapnel from soviet artillery in his body. We do not forget. Finns are big supporters of Ukraine. There is more. Finns, especially in the Finland South, are big support of Estonia. There is much sharing of family and history. If puttie invades Estonia he has to know Finland will be right there to repel the monsters. There are lots of Finnish snipers.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/mayorkas-impeachment-house-vote-02-13-24/index.html
“The latest on the House GOP push to impeach Mayorkas”
Again? Wow, Republicans really want to keep that border open. If they wanted to help fix it, they could’ve done do. They aren’t serious about the border/immigration.
Republicans are all MAGAt, fascist liars in the cult of tRUMPsky, so they are also in service to Putin.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/13/us-house-alejandro-mayorkas-impeachment/
“House Republicans Tuesday evening succeeded in impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a single vote over his stewardship of the U.S. immigration system.”
It was a sham impeachment by the Politburo, er, House Republicans.
Mayorkas didn’t commit treason, bribery, nor any crime.
The next time MAGAt Mike Johnson and the GQP calls it an immigration “crisis” or a border “crisis,” call them fucking liars to their faces.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ny-special-election-santos-02-13-24/index.html
Woo-hoo!
“Democrat Tom Suozzi will win the special election in New York to succeed disgraced former GOP Rep. George Santos, CNN projects, shrinking the House GOP’s narrow majority.”
And, Roevember is coming!
ps – Everyone will remember (or be reminded, loudly) that it was MAGAt Republicans who tanked the immigration bill and left the border open.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/13/europe/ukraine-russia-zircon-hypersonic-missile-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
“Ukraine claims it has evidence Russia fired an advanced hypersonic missile – one that experts say is almost impossible to shoot down – for the first time in the almost 2-year-old war.”
“Its hypersonic speed makes it invulnerable to even the best Western missile defenses, like the Patriot, according to the United States-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).”
“The alliance says its speed has been put at Mach 8, or almost 9,900 kilometers per hour (6,138 mph). Hypersonic is defined as any speed above Mach 5 (3,836 mph).”
“During flight, the missile is completely covered by a plasma cloud that absorbs any rays of radio frequencies and makes the missile invisible to radars. This allows the missile to remain undetected on its way to the target,” it says.
“Additionally, the MDAA says the Zircon is “a maneuvering anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile” with a range of somewhere between 500 and 1,000 kilometers (310 to 620 miles).”
“When the Russian navy frigate Admiral Gorshkov set out on a combat mission last January, leader Vladimir Putin boasted about the Zircon missiles the ship was carrying.”
“There was also no mention of the launch platform for the missile, though previous reports in Russian state media say it has been deployed on a warship.”
Well, if they can’t be stopped once launched, Ukraine will just have to sink the rest of Russia’s toy boats.
BB – On the Putin’s body double thing, has anyone tried to get good pictures of the ears. Ears tend to be very distinctive (that’s why they want to see an ear on a green card pic), and I don’t know how a plastic surgeon world reform ear cartilage to match exactly.
NEW THREAD