Culture

There was a real plot twist in the personal life of FBI Assistant Director Edgar Reade (Rob Brown) in the March 2 episode of NBC’s Blindspot, titled “Warning Shot.” His girlfriend, Meg Butani (Reshma Shetty), reveals to FBI Special Agent Tasha Zapata (Audrey Esparza) that she is an illegal alien. Oh, by the way, Meg is a high profile journalist who was in a storyline about African refugees.

It’s hard -- nay, impossible -- to have anything but contempt for The Washington Post. Whether it’s the dishonest arrogance of the “news analysis,” the one-sided reporting, or the high school journalism club motto, Jeff Bezos’s plaything isn’t good for much but getting your kindling going.

The vice president fits in with Margaret Atwood’s story of a forced-birth dystopia, according to the author herself. In an interview published Thursday by The Irish Times, author Margaret Atwood revealed that Vice President Mike Pence (not President Trump) is like the “puritanical model” that she “imagined” while writing The Handmaid’s Tale.

If it’s not outright gun control then it’s not helpful. Clearly, Jason Chaffetz did not get the memo, when he encouraged survivors of the Parkland school shooting to find faith in “Jesus.” Luckily, Salon was on hand to condemn any sort of goodwill that didn’t include instituting government policy.  

In the March 1 episode of CBS’s S.W.A.T. titled “Fences,” Hondo and the team find themselves in the middle of the immigration debate in Los Angeles. Given the hot-button issue of DACA, naturally, a DREAMer was spotlighted along the way.

How to Get Away WIth Murder has some pretty interesting ideas on race in America. In the March 1 episode "Lahey v. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Annalise (Viola Davis) is headed to the Supreme Court with a big class-action judicial reform case alleging inadequate public representation for black and underpriveleged defendendents. Being a Shonda Rhimes show, this was an excuse for race-baiting…

FX’s profanity-laced hit series Atlanta returns for its second season, and what a nonsensical premiere it was. On top of Katt Williams owning a pet alligator, the new episode introduces us to a new alt-right boogeyman: the Florida Man.

Will & Grace is kind of obsessed with saying that Republicans are secretly gay. Usually, the jokes (and I use the term loosely) are about Mike Pence but, in the March 1 episode "Three Wise Men," they mixed things up by making Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham the targets of their aspersions.

Fresh off the U.S. Olympic Committee's boasting of fielding a diversity-rich (if not medal-rich) team at the Winter Olympics comes a new report that college athletics are plagued by a lack of diversity. ESPN contributing writer Richard Lapchick recommends the NCAA intervene directly into the hiring process of colleges and universities, and race hustler Jesse Jackson labels the lack of African-…

The media and entertainment industry constantly pose as champions of female empowerment. But when it comes to Hope Hicks, all bets are off – including attacks targeting her as a woman. After the news broke Wednesday that White House Communications Director Hope Hicks had resigned, Twitter erupted. Media figures and celebrities attacked Hicks, from one artist asking about the president trying to “…

Twitter is shocked -- shocked! -- that people use it to be mean to each other. CEO Jack Dorsey took to his platform March 1 with a series of tweets that were part mea culpa and part plea for help. Dorsey wants suggestions to solve Twitter’s anger problem. Question is, what does that mean for conservative tweeters, who’ve had their wings clipped disproportionately when Twitter has tried policing…

Gender roles are a getting a makeover, literally. The “Beauty Boys” of Instagram are here to show society that traditional gender concepts are a thing of the past. For those of you struggling with trying to live up to the pressures of cis-kind, don’t worry, these boys believe that “make-up is for everyone.”  

Finally, the socialists at The Guardian have something positive to say about conservatives. It turns out we’re way more fastidious about personal hygiene than our liberal counterparts. To be sure, it’s a low bar, as anybody who ever walked by an Occupy encampment or a Phish concert can tell you. Still, if we must dwell on the things that divide us, it may as well be conservatives’ aversion to…

When it comes to liberal shows, the rule of thumb seems to be that no matter how bad the situation is, Republicans are still the worst. Even in a life-threatening scenario, Republicans can always find a way to make it worse. ABC’s Designated Survivor takes this to an extreme with a Republican congressman in a disastrous hostage situation on foreign soil.