Highlights from this week’s episode of Saturday Night Live: The sketch that everyone’s talking about: “White House press secretary Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) and secretary
LaunchCrowd scientists say women’s march in D.C. had three times as many people as Trump’s inauguration
Two crowd scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain worked with the New York Times to compare the size of Trump’s Friday crowd with the next day’s women’s march. They “analyzed photographs and video taken of the National Mall and vicinity” to draw their conclusions.
LaunchSNL mercilessly mocks Trump’s ridiculous press conference
Alec Baldwin brought his impersonation of Trump back to the show for an entertaining eight minute cold open, with appearances by fellow SNL players portraying reporters and other celebrities + political leaders.
LaunchWatch Meryl Streep’s incredible Cecil D. DeMille Award acceptance speech at the Golden Globes
Without mentioning him, Meryl Streep eviscerated Donald Trump’s bigotry and his despicable campaign for the presidency. “Violence incites violence,” she noted.
LaunchFive years after phone hacking scandal, Sky agrees to £18.5bn takeover deal with Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox
Big media is always trying to get bigger. Rupert Murdoch and his son are making another attempt to gain control of British broadcaster Sky, formerly known as BSkyB. Sky is the United Kingdom’s largest digital subscription television company. NPI urges the British government to scuttle this deal.
LaunchInside a fake news sausage factory: ‘This is all about income’
“A computer science student in a former Soviet republic found there was money to made mixing real and made-up stories, as long as they were pro-Trump,” The New York Times reports.
LaunchHere’s how to report fake news on Facebook
“Many people don’t realize that you can report fake news when you see it on Facebook. This helps stop it from spreading. The problem is that the option is kind of hidden. So here’s how to use it,” writes BuzzFeed’s Craig Silverman.
LaunchSNL’s pre-Halloween episode features some notable sketches
NBC’s Saturday Night Live will be on hiatus next week, making last night’s incarnation of the show the annual pre-Halloween episode. Notable sketches included: Cold
LaunchA multibillion dollar merger of AT&T and Time Warner would cost customers dearly
Any time you hear media executives talking about synergies, throwing around the business-babble that always accompanies these rumors, you know it’s time grab your wallet
LaunchBig media wants to get even bigger: AT&T is said to be in advanced merger talks with Time Warner
Bad news: Telco giant AT&T is trying to acquire Time Warner, with the apparent intent of creating a behemoth that would rival Comcast and Disney. Apparently the suits at Time Warner have not learned anything from the disastrous merger with AOL sixteen years ago. In 2000, AOL memorably bought Time Warner in what was one of the largest acquisitions in history. Time Warner eventually shed the money-losing AOL and spun it off into an independent company; it was subsequently purchased by Verizon. This rumored deal must not go through. Big media is already too big.
LaunchSNL returns to mock the 2016 election — with Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump
Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) and Hillary Clinton (Kate McKinnon) face off in the first presidential debate, moderated by Lester Holt (Michael Che). SNL also aired
LaunchA spoiled brat named Little Donnie Thwimp: The importance of sound symbolism
“As strange as it may sound, the sound symbolism of a name has become an unnamed central issue in the 2016 presidential campaign. As a cognitive linguist, my job is to study the issue and, at the very least, to name it,” George Lakoff writes.
LaunchReliably conservative Dallas Morning News: We recommend Hillary Clinton for president
The Dallas Morning News backs the Democratic nominee for the first time in seventy-five years.
LaunchDonald Trump likes to read “The Snake” at his rallies. The author’s family wants him to stop.
We don’t want him using these lyrics… If Dad were alive, he would’ve ripped (Trump) with a great poem in rebuttal. Not only a poem
LaunchFox Noise Channel, Roger Ailes hit with $50 million lawsuit by ex-host Andrea Tantaros
Fox News masquerades as defender of traditional family values, but behind the scenes, it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency,
LaunchGawker Was Murdered by Gaslight
If you want to write stories that might anger a billionaire, you need to work for another billionaire yourself, or for a billion-dollar corporation. The
LaunchJon Stewart takes over Stephen Colbert’s Late Show desk and it is glorious
Jon Stewart Takes Over Colbert’s Late Show Desk (via CBS)
LaunchDonald Trump’s former ghostwriter calls him a “sociopath”
I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more
LaunchMeet the new Librarian of Congress: Patriot Act opponent Carla Hayden
This is a big win: The longtime leader of Baltimore’s public library system was confirmed by the [United States] Senate on Wednesday to head the
LaunchThe Seattle Seawards (another must-watch segment from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee)
Five councilwomen in Seattle have been receiving a lot of hate for the insidious crime of doing their jobs. Samantha Bee noticed, and created a must-watch segment for her show mocking the angry misogynist horde for its nastiness.
LaunchUW had ‘Fight Club’ rule of secrecy about KPLU deal
“Emails and records show UW and KUOW officials worked to keep details secret about the Seattle public radio station’s intentions to buy its competitor KPLU until the day university regents approved the plan. PLU, meanwhile, insisted on not revealing that it initiated the deal,” The Seattle Times reports.
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