Over at CNN, Wolf Blitzer has been making a fool of himself with his shock over the rioting in Baltimore, Jon Stewart said on Tuesday's Daily Show. The eruption of violence in black neighborhoods of American cities come cyclically, like "tragedy cicadas, depressing in their predictability, similarity, and intractability." But Blitzer is saying the Baltimore riots are "hard to believe," and something he's never seen, just months after saying similar things about the violence in Ferguson, Missouri.
"Elvis leading a herd of Orthodox Jewish unicorns through a city street — that would be hard to believe," Stewart scoffed. "This sh-t happens all the time." So, he walked his viewers (and, presumably, Blitzer) through the socio-economic factors that made Baltimore a pile of kindling waiting for a match. He even offered a band-aid of a sort, a "more nuanced alert system" in cities that "would allow for more productive intervention beyond 'You have 10 seconds to disperse.'" Stewart even had a sensible, nice thing to say about the police. Watch below. —Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
'No war is good'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
-
The Week Unwrapped: will the US end child marriage?Podcast Why some states have no lower limit on marriage age, plus Black maternal health and the price of olive oil
-
Perplexity AI: has Google finally met its match?In The Spotlight Generative AI start-up provides fast, Wikipedia-like responses to search queries
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproarSpeed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
-
Kevin Hart awarded Mark Twain PrizeSpeed Read He is the 25th recipient of the prestigious comedy prize
-
Is Downton Abbey set to return for a final film?Speed Read Imelda Staunton reveals that a third movie may be in the pipeline
-
'Oppenheimer' sweeps Oscars with 7 winsspeed read The film won best picture, best director (Christopher Nolan) and best actor (Cillian Murphy)
-
'Rust' armorer convicted of manslaughterspeed read The film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by actor Alec Baldwin during rehearsal
-
The Beatles are getting 4 intersecting biopicsSpeed Read Director Sam Mendes is making four separate movies, each told from the perspective of one band member
-
Taylor Swift to Miley Cyrus: female artists dominate 2024 GrammysSpeed Read SZA, Phoebe Bridgers and Lainey Wilson were also among the winners at LA gala
