Watch highlights from the fourteenth episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Josh Brolin, with Ariana Grande as the musical guest, including the State of the Union cold open.
Launch‘He nailed it’: Republican strategist reacts to Biden’s 2024 SOTU speech
Republican strategist Sarah Longwell reacts to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, saying Biden “nailed it,” and explains the mistake some in the GOP made about the president.
LaunchSNL mocks Republican senators for being forced to worship Donald Trump
Watch highlights from the twelfth episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Shane Gillis, with 21 Savage as the musical guest, including the Trump Victory Party Cold Open cold open.
LaunchJon Stewart returns to The Daily Show desk for the first time since 2015
Jon Stewart is once again hosting The Daily Show, but only on Mondays, in an arrangement similar to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. Here’s the first monologue of his new residency, looking at the 2024 presidential election and commenting on the ages of the expected major party nominees.
LaunchAnd Ain’t I A Woman: A poem in honor of Sojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth, a former slave, spoke at the Women’s Rights Convention, held in Akron, Ohio, in 1851 – a decade before the first shots of the Confederate insurrection were fired.
LaunchNikki Haley appears in SNL cold open to spar with fake Donald Trump
Watch highlights from the eleventh episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Ayo Edebiri, with Jennifer Lopez as the musical guest, including the CNN Town Hall South Carolina cold open.
LaunchF.D. Flam discovers the truism that if common sense existed, we wouldn’t talk about needing it
“There’s a productive, illuminating debate to be had between disagreeing sides — and it won’t be solved by appeals to common sense.”
LaunchSNL returns and serves up another Trump cold open with James Austin Johnson
Watch highlights from the ninth episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Jacob Elordi, with Reneé Rapp as the musical guest, including the Trump courthouse cold open.
LaunchThe key to fighting pseudoscience isn’t mockery — it’s empathy
“Evidence shows that shoving data in peoples’ faces doesn’t work to change minds,” Paul Sutter writes.
LaunchBowen Yang offers perhaps his final George Santos impression with “Scandal in the Wind” cold open
Watch highlights from the sixth episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Emma Stone, with Noah Kahan as the musical guest, including the George Santos expelled cold open.
LaunchCalifornia commits to teaching media literacy in schools
“Beginning next year, California’s public school students will be required to take media literacy courses that will help them identify fake news posted online while also being able to tell the difference between legitimate news articles and paid advertising,” The Los Angeles Times reports.
LaunchJason Momoa has a blast hosting SNL’s 2023 Thanksgiving episode
Watch highlights from the fifth episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Jason Momoa, with Tate McRae as the musical guest, including the Biden Panda cold open.
LaunchSNL satirizes third Republican debate by imagining how Trump might have interrupted it
Watch highlights from the fourth episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Timothée Chalamet, with boygenius as the musical guest, including the Republican debate cold open.
LaunchChristopher Walken shows up for SNL’s 2023 Halloween episode
Watch highlights from the third episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Nate Bargatze, with Foo Fighters as the musical guest, including the Biden Halloween cold open with Christopher Walken.
LaunchSNL gleefully mocks Jim Jordan after failure of his bid for Speaker
Watch highlights from the second episode of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Bad Bunny, who also performed as the musical guest, including the Jim Jordan cold open.
LaunchSaturday Night Live returns at last; Pete Davidson comments on violence in the Middle East
Watch highlights from the season premiere of SNL’s forty-ninth season, hosted by Pete Davidson, with Ice Spice as the musical guest, including Davidson’s cold open commenting on the violence in the Middle East.
LaunchFollowing Elon Musk’s lead, YouTube and Facebook are surrendering to disinformation
“Facebook and YouTube are receding from their role as watchdogs against conspiracy theories ahead of the 2024 presidential election,” The Washington Post’s report.
LaunchWhat Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán understand about your brain
“[T]hroughout history, speeches by dictators and autocrats have one thing in common: they use dehumanizing metaphors to instill and propagate hatred of others,” Marcel Danesi writes.
LaunchIt’s time to stop saying ‘woke,’ equity expert says
NPI guest contributor Erin Jones says the word has acquired deeply negative connotations after years of use as a pejorative insult. (NPI nominated “woke” for banishment five years ago, as 2018 began.)
LaunchReport: Studio bosses plan to stay away from bargaining table in gambit to starve writers into submission
Via Deadline: “’The endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,’ a studio executive told Deadline. Acknowledging the cold-as-ice approach, several other sources reiterated the statement. One insider called it ‘a cruel but necessary evil.'”
LaunchPutin gets caught in his own trap, with Russians not caring enough to save him
“After spending years cultivating public apathy, the Russian president found his people indifferent to his fate,” Anne Applebaum writes.
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