'SNL' laughs at Facebook's bad week

After Facebook's bad day became Facebook's bad week, it's no surprise that "Saturday Night Live" lampooned the scandal in Facebook Hearings Cold Open.

Senators (Cecily Strong, Mikey Day, Kyle Mooney, Aidy Bryant, Chris Redd, James Austin Johnson) on Capitol Hill question the Facebook whistleblower (Heidi Gardner), Mark Zuckerberg (Alex Moffat) and Tom from Myspace (Pete Davidson) during a hearing.

That was more fun than watching the actual hearings and it still got the point across.

"SNL" continued laughing at Facebook's problems in Weekend Update: Facebook Under Fire.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Bill Cosby defending R. Kelly.

I'd have used this for the first video because of the preview image, but that description was not what I wanted to share. Talk about not helping!

I think that's enough about Facebook for now. Stay tuned for a multi-holiday pileup tomorrow, as it will be Columbus Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, Indigenous People's Day, and National Coming Out Day. I think I'll celebrate the last the way I did two years ago, by blogging about the Emmy wins for "Queer Eye" and "RuPaul's Drag Race," including the first Emmy for "RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked." That should be fun.

Part 3 of the 2020 Golden Coffee Cups movie shortlists: updated documentaries.

I promised "the third installment of the movie shortlists, which will recognize the appearances by public officials in shortlisted documentaries" in Part 2 of the 2020 Golden Coffee Cups movie shortlists: actors. That was two months ago. The reason for the delay was that I realized I needed to add the documentaries that qualified by being nominated at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards to the shortlisted films for the 2020 Golden Coffee Cups movie awards. Here is the updated list, which Coffee Party USA invites its followers to stream as a way of encouraging their appreciation of politics and government in film.

Best Documentary about Politics or Government of 2020 (Best Political Documentary)

20/20: In the Cold Dark Night
31 Days in March: The Month Coronavirus Unraveled American Business
76 Days
A Concerto Is a Conversation
A Love Song for Latasha
Advocate
Agents of Chaos
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Assassins
Athlete A
Belly of the Beast
Boys State
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Challenger: The Final Flight
City Hall
Coded Bias
Colette
Collective
Crip Camp
Do Not Split
Essential but Deportable: Undocumented Immigrants in the Trump Era
Father Soldier Son
Feels Good Man
Finding Yingying
Frontline: Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos
Frontline: Inside Italy’s COVID War
Frontline: Opioids, Inc.
Frontline: Policing the Police 2020
Frontline: Return From ISIS
Frontline: Tutwiler
Frontline: United States of Conspiracy
Hunger Ward
I Am Greta
In Event of Moon Disaster John Lewis: Good Trouble
Kill Chain: The Cyber War on America's Election
Kingdom of Silence
Lessons of Auschwitz VR project
MLK/FBI
Mr. Soul!
Not Done: Women Remaking America
Notturno
Once Upon A Time In Iraq
Rebuilding Paradise
Rewind
Rising Phoenix
Scandalous: The Untold Story of the National Enquirer
Softie
Stockton on My Mind
The Art of Political Murder
The Fight
The Last Ice
The New Yorker Documentary: When Humanitarian Aid Is Considered a Crime
The Perfect Weapon
The Social Dilemma
The Trade
The Zo
The Way I See It
The Weekly: The Sicario
This Ain't Normal
Time
Totally Under Control
Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller: Scams
VOCES: Building the American Dream
Welcome to Chechnya
With Drawn Arms

Now that I've finished the updated list, I'll post the shortlist for Best Appearance of a Government Official in a Documentary during 2020 in part 4. I'm already compiling it, so stay tuned.

Coffee Party USA is a project of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the public education arm of Bridge Alliance, a coalition of 100 organizations working together for a thriving, just, and healthy democracy based on a culture of inclusivity and equity. Readers can support the Coffee Party's and Bridge Alliance's work by becoming a Friend of Bridge, which is tax deductible. Follow the Coffee Party at our website and on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

To be cross-posted to the Coffee Party USA blog.

Gold Derby interviews the director and producer of 'The Social Dilemma,' which won two Emmy Awards for documentaries

After writing Colbert on Facebook's bad day plus '60 Minutes' whistleblower interview and Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah take closer looks at Facebook's bad week, I reversed the decision I made in 'Saturday Night Live' returns after winning eight Emmy Awards.

[Tristan] Harris is one of the subjects of "The Social Dilemma," which won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming last month. This week's events might be enough to change my mind about featuring "Ted Lasso" in my next installment of Emmy coverage and look at "The Social Network" instead. Stay tuned.

I'm following through with my change of plans by featuring three interviews of the director and producer of the documentary by Gold Derby, beginning with 'The Social Dilemma's' Jeff Orlowski on illustrating the amorality of social media algorithms.

'The Social Dilemma's' Jeff Orlowski on illustrating the amorality of social media algorithms. Gold Derby senior editor Joyce Eng hosts our 2021 Emmy documentary panel series.

I think it's no accident that Orlowski compared social media to fossil fuels. His previous award-winning films are Chasing Ice and Chasing Coral, both about the effects of climate change, so he's quite well-versed in the ill effects of fossil fuels on the environment.

Gold Derby interviewed him again in 'The Social Dilemma' documentary director Jeff Orlowski: Social media is not healthy for democracy.

'The Social Dilemma' documentary director Jeff Orlowski on how he believes social media is incompatible with a healthy democracy. The Netflix program examines how social media companies rely on getting people addicted to consuming content through their platforms. Gold Derby's Charles Bright hosts this 'Meet the Experts' documentary panel.

I going to be a good environmentalist and recycle my comment on this video for my reaction.

"If you're not paying for the service, you're not the customer. You're the product being sold." I'm glad Jeff Orlowski, who has shown in "Chasing Ice" and "Chasing Coral" that he knows how to portray scientific and technological issues, understands this.

Here's the meme.


Again, still true.

The final Gold Derby interview, Larissa Rhodes ('Social Dilemma' producer) on how she was skeptical of tackling harm of social media, connects the pollution of the natural environment depicted in "Chasing Ice" and "Chasing Coral" to the pollution of the social and information environment in "The Social Dilemma."

Larissa Rhodes ('Social Dilemma' producer) describes how she was skeptical of tackling the harm of social media. Gold Derby's Charles Bright hosts this interview about the Netflix documentary nominated for 7 Emmys.

Not only does Orlowski understand the subject, so does Rhodes. As Netflix's advertising slogan for the movie states, "The technology that connects us also controls us."

Follow over the jump for post-mortems of my prognostications about the awards and my congratulations to the Emmy winners.

Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah take closer looks at Facebook's bad week

I wrote "Facebook's bad 24 hours will become a bad 48 hours, as Haugen will be testifying before the Senate" in Colbert on Facebook's bad day plus '60 Minutes' whistleblower interview. That has turned into a bad week so far, which Seth Meyers chronicled in Facebook's Disastrous Week, from Whistleblower Bombshell to Global Outage: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at Facebook’s absolutely disastrous week filled with a damning whistleblower interview, an unprecedented outage and a shocking Senate hearing.

While Mark Zuckerberg is right that advertisers say they don't want their ads next to angry or depressing content, Seth is right that all that really matters are eyeballs on the ads. What about consumer boycotts? That only works if the people who don't like the content they dislike can see the ads supporting it. If the algorithms don't show them the offending content and they don't know whose ads appear alongside it, then activists and consumers can't target the advertisers. That's one of the topics discussed in Tristan Harris - Facebook & Rethinking Big Tech | The Daily Show.

Tristan Harris explains why he thinks Facebook’s business model is a threat to democracy, discusses China’s latest tech regulations and shares his hope for technology becoming a force for good in society.

"Democracy plus technology equals a stronger democracy" — I like that goal! Tristan Harris is now officially a fellow Crazy Eddie.

Speaking of which, Harris is one of the subjects of "The Social Dilemma," which won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming last month. This week's events might be enough to change my mind about featuring "Ted Lasso" in my next installment of Emmy coverage and look at "The Social Network" instead. Stay tuned.

U.S. passes 700,000 dying from COVID-19, a pandemic update

Only two weeks after I reported COVID-19 death toll passes 1918 flu epidemic as 1 in 500 Americans have died from coronavirus, I'm reporting another grim milestone. Watch CityNews in Toronto, Canada, announce U.S. COVID-19 death toll surpasses 700,000.

COVID-19 has now taken more than 700,000 American lives. Caryn Ceolin with why health officials say the most recent 100,000 deaths could have been prevented.

I foresaw this happening in March, when I wrote "Total U.S. mortality from the pandemic could exceed 700,000 before this is all over. YIKES! May none of my readers be among this toll." This is one of those times when I wish I hadn't been right.

I'm outsourcing the rest of my reaction to CNN and Dr. Anthony Fauci: 700,000 Covid-19 deaths is 'staggering' and 'painful'.

Dr. Anthony Fauci discusses the grim milestone of 700,000 Covid-19 deaths in the United States, religious exemptions from vaccines, and Covid-19 vaccines for children in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash.

The message is clear: If you aren't vaccinated and you can be, get vaccinated! I did that six months ago, which means that I'm eligible for a booster shot because of my age and diabetes. I'm planning on getting that, too, to protect me and help protect my readers as it will prevent me from spreading the disease. May my readers follow my good example.

Colbert on Facebook's bad day plus '60 Minutes' whistleblower interview

Facebook had a very bad 24 hours beginning with a "60 Minutes" interview Sunday night and all day yesterday. Stephen Colbert summarized it as comedy in Facebook's Bad Day: Whistleblower's Claims Go Viral Before Global Outage Takes It All Down.

Stephen investigates the worldwide outage at Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, which came one day after dark corporate secrets were revealed by a company whistleblower.

I'm with Stephen. As appalling as Facebook's conduct has been, it shouldn't be surprising. "Are you telling me a corporation chose money over the safety of consumers?" Of course it did, which is why it needs more regulation. At least Twitter was having a good day yesterday at Facebook's expense, just like Stephen.

Stephen showed clips from "60 Minutes." Here is the clip of the interview broadcast on Sunday night, Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen: The 60 Minutes Interview.

Frances Haugen says in her time with Facebook she saw, "conflicts of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook." Scott Pelley reports.

I have been critical of Facebook ever since I wrote Facebook: There is no such thing as a free lunch ten years ago, so while I'm appalled, I'm not surprised. That's when I first used the following meme.


It's still true.

By the way, Facebook's bad 24 hours will become a bad 48 hours, as Haugen will be testifying before the Senate today. MSNBC covered that in Facebook Whistleblower: They Put Profits Over Safety.

Facebook had an hours-long outage the day before a whistleblower, who is alleging the company of behaving dangerously, is set to testify to a Senate panel. We discuss with Kara Swisher, Philip Rucker, and A.B. Stoddard.

Haugen's testimony should be interesting. Stay tuned.

Saturday's Women's March for the first Monday in October

I opened Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee on reproductive rights for today's Women's Marches by noting that "MSNBC reported...Hundreds Of Women's Rights Marches Planned Nationwide Against Texas Abortion Law, but I'm waiting until they're all finished and the news departments of the networks and local stations have digested the story to share videos of the protests." I'm still sharing that video to begin today's entry.

NBC's Stephanie Stanton reports outside of the Texas Capitol where more than 5,000 people are rallying against Gov. Greg Abbot's new law that bans nearly all abortions in the state.

That report focused on Texas, particularly in Austin and Houston, but the important action will took place in Washington, D.C., where the Supreme Court, which begins its session today, will decide on a case involving Mississippi restricting the time period for legal access to abortion. CBS Evening News reported on that demonstration in Thousands gather in D.C. for 2021 Women’s March.

Thousands gathered in the nation’s capital Saturday for the 2021 Women’s March. This year’s march focused on reproductive rights as a response to abortion restrictions implemented in some conservative states. Nikole Killion has more.

Yes, that's Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel being interviewed at the end. Go Dana!

NBC News covered the demonstrations nationwide in As Thousands March, Women’s Reproductive Rights Divide The Nation.

Across the country thousands of women rallied for their reproductive rights, becoming the largest women’s marches since 2017. This comes as Texas recently placed a ban on abortions once a heartbeat is detected.

While I find the circumstances distressing, I'm glad this event had the highest attendance since the first Women's March in 2017. The causes needs that level of popular support.

Attorney General Nessel participating in the Washington, D.C., Women's March wasn't the only Michigan angle to this story. Follow over the jump for two reports from the west side of the state.

'Saturday Night Live' returns after winning eight Emmy Awards

"Saturday Night Live" returned last night, so with no further ado, here's Biden Unites Democrats Cold Open - SNL.

President Biden (James Austin Johnson), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Cecily Strong), Sen. Joe Manchin (Aidy Bryant), Rep. Ilhan Omar (Ego Nwodim) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Melissa Villaseñor) address the president’s infrastructure bill.

I got my wish for this episode right off the bat. Cecily Strong played Kyrsten Sinema. Perfect.

The coverage continued on Weekend Update: Democrats Delay Infrastructure Vote, R. Kelly Found Guilty.

Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week’s biggest news, like Biden getting his COVID booster shot.

I guess Jost and the "SNL" writers don't find infrastructure as exciting as the pandemic or 2020 election, but the joke about it was still funny, if a bit dark.

Speaking of the pandemic, "SNL" had masks on the agenda in School Board Meeting.

Two board members (Alex Moffat, Ego Nwodim) try to keep the school board meeting attendees focused on one topic.

That captures how chaotic and heated school board meetings have become in a funny and not scary way.

I close the clips from last night's episode with a satire of the Billionaire Space Race, Billionaire Star Trek.

A new Star Trek spinoff follows the adventures of Captain Jeff Bezos (Owen Wilson) and his brother (Luke Wilson).

Ha, ha, "Ego Quest" — that's exactly what this three-way contest deserves.

Follow over the jump for the eight awards "SNL" won at the Emmys.

Trevor Noah and Samantha Bee on reproductive rights for today's Women's Marches

As MSNBC reported today, Hundreds Of Women's Rights Marches Planned Nationwide Against Texas Abortion Law, but I'm waiting until they're all finished and the news departments of the networks and local stations have digested the story to share videos of the protests. Instead, I'm sharing two "ha-ha, only serious" takes on the issue beginning with The Daily Show with Trevor Noah asking What Happens When a State Bans Abortions? - If You Don’t Know, Now You Know.

Texas’s new abortion law is the most restrictive in the country. Here’s why banning abortions isn’t an effective (or safe) way to lower the abortion rate.

None of this comes as a surprise to me, so I'm saddened but not disappointed. It's also the bad news. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee has some good news for reproductive rights in New Jersey Is Paving The Way For Reproductive Rights.

We love...New Jersey? As shocking as it may be, the Garden State has been planting seeds to ensure that Roe V. Wade always thrives within its borders. Sam breaks out the celebratory pork rolls with NJ Governor Phil Murphy and Kaitlyn Wojtowicz, VP Public Affairs at Planned Parenthood Access Fund of NJ.

This piece was produced by Amber Watson with Annie Kopp and edited by Daphne Gomez-Mena.

I wish Governor Murphy, Planned Parenthood of New Jersey, and all of the bill's sponsors and supporters good luck and success in passing the bill next month so the Governor can sign it.

Enough serious business, even if I filtered it through comedy. Stay tuned for more on the winners of the Primetime Emmy Awards, probably about "Saturday Night Live," the next biggest winner with eight Emmy Awards, as the Sunday entertainment feature.

Meyers and Colbert take closer looks at Manchin and Sinema

I have good, bad, and ugly news about the federal government. The good news is that it avoided a partial shutdown, as Congress passed and Biden signed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government. The bad news is that the debt ceiling still looms. The ugly news is that both infrastructure bills are being held up by two senators who are saying little or nothing about what they want. Seth Meyers talks about the last topic in last night's Manchin and Sinema Derail Biden's Agenda as Fox Fearmongers About It: A Closer Look.

Seth takes a closer look at two centrist Democrats blocking the entire Democratic agenda without saying what they want.

Seth implied it, but I'll come right out and say it: Fox News shouldn't threaten my readers and me with a good time. Also, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema need to state their demands instead of merely grandstanding while obstructing.

Stephen Colbert, who found the humor in using reconciliation to raise the debt ceiling the past two days, expressed relief about the good news, but frustration about the bad and ugly in Let's Not Reward Congress For Doing The Bare Minimum.

Congress passed a bill to fund the government for two more months, but moved no closer to solving the other crises on our hands: raising the debt ceiling and avoiding a catastrophic debt default.

At least Manchin gave a dollar figure. As I wrote in Seth Meyers and James Corden team up for Climate Night, I am "annoyed but not disappointed that Senator Manchin is gumming up the works; I didn't expect any different from him." On the other hand, Kyrsten Sinema Can't Seem To Figure Out What She Wants, which is disappointing; I did expect better out of her.



She truly can't be budged.
I think that's what Sinema really wants, the attention. The rest is secondary.

I'm sure I'll have more on both the debt ceiling and infrastructure. In the meantime, here is a meme I haven't used in ten years.