'Oslo' earned two nominations at the 2021 Emmy Awards

I finished 'RuPaul's Drag Race' leads competition program nominees at the 2021 Emmy Awards while modeling diversity and acceptance by telling my readers "Stay tuned for the television movie nominees as the next installment of the series." Here are the three categories at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards with television movie nominees.

Outstanding Television Movie

Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square (Netflix)
Oslo (HBO)
Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (Lifetime)
Sylvie's Love (Prime Video)
Uncle Frank (Prime Video)

The leading nominee is "Oslo," an adaptation of a Tony-winning play about the Oslo Peace Accords and one of only two nominees with another nomination. Watch Oslo: Official Trailer | HBO.

Adapted from the Tony Award-winning play of the same name, Oslo follows the secret back-channel talks, unlikely friendships, and quiet heroics of a small but committed group of Israelis and Palestinians, plus one Norwegian couple, that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. Oslo stars Ruth Wilson as Mona Juul, a Norwegian foreign minister, and Andrew Scott as Terje Rod-Larsen, a Norwegian sociologist and Mona’s husband. The film is written by Tony-winning writer of the stage play J.T. Rogers and will be directed by Barlett Sher (Tony winner for South Pacific).

Of all the nominees, "Oslo" has the strongest politics and government themes. For an inside view of the project, watch Gold Derby's interview, Emmy nominee Bartlett Sher ('Oslo' director) on bringing legendary peace negotiations to the screen.

Emmy nominee Bartlett Sher ('Oslo' director, producer) on bringing the legendary peace negotiations to the screen. The Tony winner chats with Gold Derby's Sam Eckmann about the HBO TV movie.

Bartlett Sher described both the genesis of the play and the process of adapting the play into a movie. I found his explanation of the differences of using space in the two media particularly interesting.

Now the second nominated category for "Oslo."

Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score)

Jeff Russo for Fargo (Episode: "East/West") (FX)
Jeff Russo and Zoë Keating for Oslo (HBO)
Carlos Rafael Rivera for The Queen's Gambit (Episode: "End Game") (Netflix)
Nicholas Britell for The Underground Railroad (Episode: "Chapter 2: South Carolina") (Prime Video)
Christophe Beck for WandaVision (Episode: "Previously On") (Disney+)

I present Oslo End Credits as a sample of the nominated work.



Oslo End Credits · Jeff Russo · Zoë Keating
Oslo (HBO® Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Gold Derby interviewed double nominee Jeff Russo ('Fargo,' 'Oslo,' 'Star Trek: Discovery' composer) talks 'visually evocative' scripts.

"That may actually be the longest piece of music I've ever written," reveals composer Jeff Russo about the nearly 12-minute track that he composed for the season four premiere of FX's Fargo. Set in Kansas City in 1950, the fourth installment of the anthology series used Russo's "opus" to tell the backstory of 50 years of mob family warfare, and Russo drew on the city's "jazz and blues flare" to situate the audience in the show's particular time and place. Watch Russo's full chat with Gold Derby's David Buchanan.

Russo certainly has the track record to win the award along with two chances to win, but he has stiff competition in 2019 Emmy winner Nicholas Britell, 2018 Emmy winner Carlos Rafael Rivera, and 1998 Emmy winner Christophe Beck. While I was personally impressed with Rivera's music for "The Queen's Gambit," I have a feeling that the groundswell will be for "WandaVision," a show about television that isn't about show business, but about the viewer experience. As I reiterate whenever I write about awards shows, electorates matter, and the Emmy electorate loves a good story about itself. "WandaVision" isn't really that, but it's close enough and I think that, all things being equal and they are with all nominated scores having an Emmy winner as one of its composers, that will influence the members of the Television Academy to vote for it, including in this category.

Follow over the jump for my discussion of the nominees I consider to be serious contenders for Emmys.

'RuPaul's Drag Race' leads competition program nominees at the 2021 Emmy Awards while modeling diversity and acceptance

I told my readers "Stay tuned for competition nominees at the Emmy Awards for the next installment of this series" at the conclusion of 'RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked' vs. 'Below Deck' for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program at the Emmy Awards so it's time to move on to the main show and its competitors. Here are the nominees from the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Competition Program

The Amazing Race (CBS)
Nailed It! (Netflix)
RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)
Top Chef (Bravo)
The Voice (NBC)

I called the series "a good show for inclusion and mutual respect, to say nothing of great fashion and grooming tips." In an interview with Gold Derby, 'RuPaul's Drag Race' director Nick Murray called it 'The most culturally significant show of the past decade.'

'RuPaul's Drag Race' director Nick Murray on being part of 'the most culturally significant show of the past decade.' The director won his first Emmy in 2018 and has submitted the Season 13 episode "Gettin' Lucky" for consideration this year. Gold Derby's Denton Davidson hosts this interview.

Murray also credited the show being in tune with the culture's increasing diversity and acceptance for its success. I agree, which is why I made the decision years ago to blog about the program.

Now for the likely runner-up, Audrey Morrissey ('The Voice' executive producer) teases new coach Ariana Grande, Emmy nominations.

Audrey Morrissey ('The Voice' executive producer) teases new coach Ariana Grande and 7 'incredible' Emmy nominations with Gold Derby's Denton Davidson.

"RuPaul's Drag Race" has won this award three years in a row, so I consider it the favorite on that criterion as well as its leading in nominations among competition programs with nine for the main show as well as two for "RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked." Its closest competition is "The Voice" with seven nominations, followed by "Dancing with the Stars" with six, "Top Chef" with five, "The Amazing Race" with four, and "Nailed It!" with two. The reality programming peer group snubbed "The Masked Singer" for this category, but it has three nominations in craft categories. Speaking of which, here's one of them at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction, or Reality Programming (Juried)

Black Is King (Disney+)
The Masked Singer (Episode: "Super 8 - The Plot Chickens! Part 2") (Fox)
Sherman's Showcase Black History Month Spectacular (IFC)

Watch Gold Derby interview Marina Toybina ('The Masked Singer' costume designer) on her 'artistically explosive' characters.

"Season 4 and 5 we really tried to push our limits," says five-time Emmy winner Marina Toybina, the costume designer on Fox's reality TV competition series "The Masked Singer." "Of course we went into the pandemic mode so it was really being artistically explosive and trying anything and everything we could." Watch her exclusive video interview with Gold Derby's Denton Davidson.

If this category were up for the vote of the entire Television Academy, "The Masked Singer" would probably win, but it's not. My intuition says "Black Is King" has the advantage, but I have no good evidence or reasoning beyond that.

Now for another category with a nominated competition program I haven't blogged about before.

Outstanding Choreography for Variety and Reality Programming

Sergio Trujillo for Christmas in Rockefeller Center (NBC)
Artem Chigvintsev for Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Derek Hough for Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Derek Hough for The Disney Holiday Singalong (ABC)
Parris Goebel for Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2 (Prime Video)
Marie Haince Lebel for World of Dance (NBC)

Last year's winner "So You Think You Can Dance" did not return, so I'm turning to the two remaining previous winners, "World of Dance" and "Dancing with the Stars" for this year's favorites. Between the two of them, I think "World of Dance" has the better chance.

Follow over the jump for the categories in which competition shows earned nominations that I've already written about.

Colbert and Kimmel make fun of the news after coming back from break

I've been taking a very serious view of the news lately, with the funniest post this month so far being John Oliver and NPR explain the Sackler family/Purdue Pharma opioid settlement and that was still about a pretty grim subject. In large part, that was because two of my favorite late-night comedians, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, were on vacation. Both returned from their breaks last night and both had funny if pointed things to say about what happened while they were gone. I begin with Colbert asking Hurricanes, Reproductive Rights, Ivermectin: Did Anything Happen During Our Break?

Stephen returns from hiatus wearing something he's calling a "mustache," and uses his monologue to get caught up on all the major news that happened during Late Show's hiatus. Did you hear about that talking duck?

Yes, a lot happened while Stephen grew his mustache — hurricanes, Afghanistan, Texas effectively outlawing nearly all abortions, and of course, the pandemic. Stephen's line that what once felt like the End Times have just become the times reminded me that my wife remarked after looking at the news over the weekend that it feels like it's one apocalyptic event after another. My response was that the pandemic alone isn't the Apocalypse, but it is an apocalypse. The same with all the rest of the calamatous events this summer.

In his return to the studio, Jimmy Kimmel is BACK and Very Much ALIVE, Jimmy K. expressed his disappointment that the health situation hadn't returned to the pre-pandemic normal. I have news for him; that isn't going to happen.

Jimmy returns to the show after his summer off and addresses the many comments of concern for his well-being, being apart from Guillermo, our new set, the number of new COVID cases being up 300% from a year ago, people taking livestock medicine to fight the Coronavirus and internet lunatic Alex Jones giving it a big endorsement, Dr. Jill Biden returning to the classroom, Jeff Bezos investing in a company that intends to reverse the human aging process, and Jimmy thanks the many talented people that filled in for him this summer and shares a video of their fondest memories from hosting.

LOL, Alex Jones. That clip showed him as even more unhinged than I remember and reminded me that "the voices in Alex Jones' head are not reliable sources." I hope my readers have all learned that by now. I hope my readers have also learned what actually works: "Mask up, keep socially distant, and wash your hands. Those will work against both COVID-19 and the flu. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!"

Skipping last flu season may be an example of 'there is no free lunch,' a pandemic update

One silver lining of the efforts to slow down the pandemic is that the measures intended to prevent transmission of COVID-19 worked even better against influenza. Consequently, We Skipped Flu Season. That's Bad SciShow thinks.

Some experts feared we were in for a "twindemic" during the 2020-2021 flu season. That didn't happen, which might mean that there will be more people susceptible to getting sick this year.

Hosted by: Rose Bear Don't Walk

As I teach my students, there is no free lunch and everything is connected to everything else. Suppressing last winter's flu season prevented a lot of suffering and death but it could come at a price of not being prepared for the next flu season. Let's hope we can still prepare by knowing which strains to culture so we can have effective vaccines in the future.

Speaking of lessons I teach my students, I was looking for a video to show them about how the influenza virus recombines in animal hosts, particularly pigs, but this might not be it. The script the host read described the virus's genetic material as DNA. Sorry, it's RNA. That alone might disqualify the video. Darn.

Good Morning America included some of SciShow's concerns when it asked Is the flu season going to be worse because last year's was so mild?

Dr. Jen Ashton answers questions about the coronavirus vaccines and your health.

The answer is that Dr. Jen Ashton doesn't know, either. As she said, "The only thing predictable about a flu season is that it is unpredictable." We might experience the "twindemic" we feared last year, or the same measures that suppressed flu last year might work again.

Dr. Ashton mentioned those measures in another segment, What we know about the impact of COVID-19 for the fall.

Dr. Jen Ashton discusses the impact of COVID-19 in the summer and what to expect in the fall.

Mask up, keep socially distant, and wash your hands. Those will work against both COVID-19 and the flu. Stay safe and healthy, everyone!

History of Labor Day plus drinks and marching bands to celebrate the holiday

Happy Labor Day! I'm returning to my pre-pandemic themes of history and drinks for the holiday with some bonus marching band. I begin with history from CBS Mornings Labor day recognizes fight for fair wages, hours from 2014.

Millions of Americans are enjoying the day off work and school, but some may have lost the significance of the national holiday. Kenneth C. Davis, author of "Don't Know Much About History," joins the "CBS This Morning" co-hosts to talk about Labor Day.

Let us not forget that Labor Day is not only a celebration of the end of summer and beginning of fall, but one of work, working people, and their struggle for better working conditions and the ability to enjoy their lives. Workers are still pursuing the latter today, but in a more individualistic fashion through the Great Resignation, a subject I might return to in a future post.

Follow over the jump for the drinks and marching bands.

'RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked' vs. 'Below Deck' for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program at the Emmy Awards

I explained why I skipped unstructured reality show nominees in the footnote to 'Queer Eye' leads structured reality program nominees again at the Emmy Awards while 'preaching love, acceptance, pride, and compassion'.

The nominees in the show category for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program failed to inspire me. Part of the reason, as I wrote last year, was "Only 'RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked' returned." Some of the longer-running shows, like "Deadliest Catch" and "Life Below Zero," did earn nominations in the craft categories. I'll probably make diversity and nature the focus of that post when I get around to writing it. The other part is what I also wrote last year: "I wonder what was going on in the reality branch of the Television Academy this year. Or maybe all these new shows were that much better; I don't know." It turns out the Television Academy calls reality programming a peer group, not a branch, but the question remains.

Now that I got that off my chest, I'm feeling much better about the unstructured reality show nominees, so here are their nominations at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program

Becoming (Disney+)
Below Deck (Bravo)
Indian Matchmaking (Netflix)
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (VH1)
Selling Sunset (Netflix)

As I wrote above, RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked" is the only returning nominee for two years running. It's also one of only two nominees with another nomination, the other one being first time nominee "Below Deck." I think it's between the two for the award, especially since last year's winner "Cheer" did not return and three-time winner "United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell" is competing in a different category.

Gold Derby interviewed San Heng (RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked): 'Queens show parts of themselves we don't have time to see', the showrunner of "RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked," who expressed her frustration at the show being repeatedly nominated but never winning along with explaining the show.

San Heng ('RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked' producer) on 'letting all of these queens show parts of themselves that we don't have time to see.' Gold Derby editor Rob Licuria hosts this chat as part of our 'Meet the Experts' Emmy nominee panel for showrunners.

I'm rooting for "RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked" to win and think it's the nominal favorite given its history of nominations, but I wouldn't be surprised if "Below Deck" upsets it.

Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program

Below Deck – Editing Team[note 5] (Episode: "Steamy Vibes") (Bravo)
Deadliest Catch – Editing Team[note 6] (Discovery Channel)
Life Below Zero – Tony Diaz, Matt Edwards, Jennifer Nelson, Eric Michael Schrader and Michael Swingler (Episode: "The Other Side") (Nat Geo)
Naked and Afraid – Editing Team[note 7] (Episode: "Sand Trapped") (Discovery Channel)
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked – Kellen Cruden, Yali Sharon and Shayna Casey (Episode: "The Bag Ball") (VH1)

When I groused about the nominees for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program this year and last year, wondering what the reality programming peer group was thinking, it was because I was expecting a field more like this, a face-off between diversity-themed shows and outdoors-themed shows featuring long-running series. In the end, the right show won, as I think "Cheer" deserved all three awards it took home, including this one, winning against a very similar field in this category last season.

Gold Derby interviewed Joseph Litzinger ('Life Below Zero' showrunner) on 'emotional vulnerability' of Emmy-winning series and congratulated him on the show winning multiple Emmy Awards.

Joseph Litzinger ('Life Below Zero' showrunner) on 'emotional vulnerability' of Emmy-winning series. Gold Derby editor Marcus Dixon hosts this special 'Meet the Experts' panel with reality contenders for the 2021 Emmy Awards.

I'm going to be a good environmentalist and recycle my handicapping from two years ago: "'Life Below Zero' won the year before and 'Deadliest Catch' has been nominated every year this award has existed, so the two man versus nature shows have a sporting chance of winning." Just the same, this category could still surprise me.

Follow over the jump for two categories I'm recycling for this entry.

'Queer Eye' leads structured reality program nominees again at the Emmy Awards while 'preaching love, acceptance, pride, and compassion'

As I wrote at the end of Dave Chappelle's four Emmy nominations for 'SNL' and '8:46', "It's time to move on to reality and competition series nominees." I'm skipping the unstructured reality series for now and going directly to structured reality series, won by "Queer Eye" the past four years and nominated again this year.*

Outstanding Structured Reality Program

Antiques Roadshow (PBS)
Property Brothers: Forever Home (HGTV)
Queer Eye (Netflix)
Running Wild with Bear Grylls (Nat Geo)
Shark Tank (ABC)

The favorite for Outstanding Structured Reality Program is three-time returning winner "Queer Eye," which, as the promotional image from Twitter shows, has a total of six nominations, including Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program, Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program, Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program, Outstanding Cinematography for a Reality Program, and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Structured Reality or Competition Program. I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling last year's description of the returning nominees.

"Queer Eye" preaches "love, acceptance, pride, and compassion" and, as I wrote last year, "'Queer Eye' [is] not only...a fun show that helps people be more fashionable, but [is] also...an example of diversity, inclusion, and acceptance. Keep up the good work!" It did...The other returning nominees are "Shark Tank," which...features diverse guests and hosts, and "Antiques Roadshow," which I praised last year for its educational content.

Just like last year, two new shows joined the three veteran nominees. "Property Brothers: Forever Home" took over the home improvement slot that "A Very Brady Renovation" occupied last year, "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo" squatted in the year before, and "Fixer Upper" held two years before that. Fittingly, the original "Property Brothers" pioneered that niche in 2015. The other new nominee is "Running Wild with Bear Grylls" replacing "Love Is Blind." Although the show has been around since 2014, this is its first Emmy nomination.

I'm recycling my handicapping of the category as well.

"Queer Eye" won this category last year and I expect it will win again. Its main competition is "Shark Tank," the winner of this category in 2014–2017 and Outstanding Reality Program in 2012 and 2013.

I think that's still true, as "Shark Tank" is the only other nominee with nominations in other categories, Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program and Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program.

Although I'm focusing on "Queer Eye" in this installment of my Emmy coverage, I'm sharing Drew Scott and Jonathan Scott ('Property Brothers: Forever Home') on emotional journey from Gold Derby, as this is the show's only nominated category.

Drew Scott and Jonathan Scott ('Property Brothers: Forever Home') chat with Gold Derby editor Daniel Montgomery about the 'emotional journey' of turning a house into a home.

Like "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives," "Property Brothers" is one of my guilty pleasures.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominated categories for "Queer Eye" and "Shark Tank," as well as two interviews with the creators of "Queer Eye" by Gold Derby.

Americans speeding during the pandemic is increasing traffic deaths, a driving update

I promised a driving update at the end of First 'murder hornet' nest of 2021 eliminated in Washington state. I'll have the particulars for Pearl the Prius over the jump, but first I'm revisiting Most Americans stay home, allowing people to speed on open roads, a driving update for Pearl during June 2020. Since this is a Michigan-based blog, I begin with WOOD-TV reporting Stepped-up enforcement aims to crack down on speeding after alarming rise.

The Michigan State Police is joining law enforcement agencies across the state in cracking down on speeding after reporting an alarming rise in speeding and fatalities since the start of the pandemic.

I expected something like this, as Paul Krugman linked to 2020 Fatality Data Show Increased Traffic Fatalities During Pandemic in the thread beginning with this tweet.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today released preliminary estimates of crash fatalities in 2020 involving motor vehicle occupants, motorcyclists, and people walking and biking...

While Americans drove less in 2020 due to the pandemic, NHTSA’s early estimates show that an estimated 38,680 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes—the largest projected number of fatalities since 2007. This represents an increase of about 7.2 percent as compared to the 36,096 fatalities reported in 2019. Preliminary data from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in 2020 decreased by about 430.2 billion miles, or about a 13.2-percent decrease. The fatality rate for 2020 was 1.37 fatalities per 100 million VMT, up from 1.11 fatalities per 100 million VMT in 2019. NHTSA’s analysis shows that the main behaviors that drove this increase include: impaired driving, speeding and failure to wear a seat belt.

“Safety is the top priority for the U.S. Department of Transportation. Loss of life is unacceptable on our nation’s roadways and everyone has a role to play in ensuring that they are safe. We intend to use all available tools to reverse these trends and reduce traffic fatalities and injuries,” said Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s Acting Administrator. “The President’s American Jobs Plan would provide an additional $19 billion in vital funding to improve road safety for all users, including people walking and biking. It will increase funding for existing safety programs and allow for the creation of new ones, with a goal of saving lives.”

NHTSA’s projections show significant increases in fatalities during the third and fourth quarters of 2020 as compared to the corresponding quarters of 2019. NHTSA will continue to carefully analyze various data sources to understand how the risks to vulnerable road users might have changed during 2020 and the contributing factors for the increase.

Krugman also created a chart of traffic fatalities per miles driven from 1990 to 2020.


He then compared it to Vox's graph of homicides from 1960 to 2020.


Krugman commented on the parallel between traffic deaths and homicides in the rest of the Twitter thread.

Lots of people blaming Black Lives Matter for the murder surge; good reasons not to buy this, including the fact that red-state cities saw the same surge as blue-state cities. But here's another reason: did BLM cause bad driving? 6/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 24, 2021

My point is that the pandemic and its disruptions seem to have done a number on social psychology in many dimensions. The worrisome thing is that troubled behavior seems to be persisting even as the country reopens. 7/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 24, 2021

And back to driving: watching people drive in heavy traffic as if it were last April and nobody else was on the road was pretty hair-raising 8/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 24, 2021

In the past week of returning to in-person teaching and resuming my pre-pandemic driving patterns, I've observed several people driving just as Krugman described, weaving in and out of traffic at high speeds. While a few Michigan drivers were doing that all along before the pandemic, I think I've seen more this week than the pre-pandemic average. Based on the data and my personal observations, I agree with Krugman that "the pandemic and its disruptions seem to have done a number on social psychology in many dimensions. The worrisome thing is that troubled behavior seems to be persisting even as the country reopens." Here's to hoping that subsides when the pandemic is over, which it isn't.

Enough of the big picture. Follow over the jump for the numbers about my personal driving.

John Oliver and NPR explain the Sackler family/Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

This morning, NPR reported The Sacklers, Who Made Billions From OxyContin, Win Immunity From Opioid Lawsuits.

Members of the Sackler family who are at the center of the nation's deadly opioid crisis have won sweeping immunity from opioid lawsuits linked to their privately owned company Purdue Pharma and its OxyContin medication.

Federal Judge Robert Drain approved a bankruptcy settlement on Wednesday that grants the Sacklers "global peace" from any liability for the opioid epidemic.

"This is a bitter result," Drain said. "I believe that at least some of the Sackler parties have liability for those [opioid OxyContin] claims. ... I would have expected a higher settlement."

"A bitter result" that Judge Drain still approved. This came as no surprise to me, as "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" previewed that clause of the settlement in Opioids III: The Sacklers last month.*

John Oliver explains how the Sackler family has been handling lawsuits related to the opioid crisis, how hard they’ve been fighting to defend their name, and why you should judge the situation for yourself.

On the one hand, the affected states and individuals will get some relief. On the other hand, permanent immunity from future lawsuits looks like a bad legal precedent. So do other parties, as NPR reported.

Critics of this bankruptcy settlement, meanwhile, said they would challenge Drain's confirmation because of the liability releases for the Sacklers.

"This order is insulting to victims of the opioid epidemic who had no voice in these proceedings — and must be appealed," said Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Twitter.

The U.S. Trustee Program, a division of the Justice Department that serves as a bankruptcy watchdog, also announced that it would seek a stay of Judge Drain's ruling pending the resolution of appeals.

The legal drama will continue even though Judge Drain approved the settlement. Stay tuned.

*Oliver mentioned that this is his show's third episode about opioids. I embedded the first in 'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' on opioids updates decreasing life expectancy for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News. Here's the second, Opioids II, where the Sacklers play a starring role.

Following some recent revelations about the role of large companies in America’s ongoing opioid epidemic, John Oliver takes another look at the crisis.

Vox and FiveThirtyEight examine Afghanistan, 'America's longest war'

With the United States ending its military intervention in Afghanistan yesterday, it's time to examine the subject seriously after laughing so I didn't cry in Colbert and Meyers take closer looks at the Taliban taking over Afghanistan. I begin with Vox explaining How the US created a disaster in Afghanistan.

What was the purpose of America's longest war?
...
On August 15, 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. The Afghan president fled the country. Almost all of Afghanistan is now under Taliban control. It marks the end of an era: America’s longest war is now over, and it lost. And it happened fast, stunning the world and leaving many in the country racing to find an exit.

But even among those surprised by the way the end played out, many knew the war was destined to end badly. According to some experts, the seeds of disaster were planted back at the war’s very beginning.

Ever since the American war in Afghanistan began in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the US government has struggled with answering exactly why the military was there. In the very beginning the goal was relatively clear: to capture the perpetrator of the attacks, Osama bin Laden. But almost immediately, the goals became murkier, and more complicated.

In this video, investigative reporter Azmat Khan and former US ambassador to Afghanistan Michael McKinley explain what the US military was actually doing in Afghanistan, what it got wrong, and why America’s long intervention there is considered a failure.

Welcome to mission creep. As I wrote ten years ago, we should have gone in, got the job done, then got out while declaring victory. It would probably have been better than what actually happened.

That's the past. What about the present and future? FiveThirtyEight examines that in The War In Afghanistan Is Officially Ending. Now What?

In this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, Robert Crews, a professor of history at Stanford University, joins to reflect on the history of the Taliban and talk about the current political landscape in Afghanistan. The podcast crew also discusses how Americans are responding to the Biden administration’s handling of the end of the Afghanistan War.

Dr. Crews told a series of depressing truths about Afghanistan, including that the counter-terrorism mission ultimately failed with the situation made worse by the addition of ISIS, AKA the Sith Jihad, during the past decade and that oppression of women and ethnic minorities will return. Sigh. At least the American people generally support ending our military involvement and leaving the country, even if they're not pleased about the execution. Still, it's enough to make me return to comedy the next time I examine the subject. Stay tuned.