The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Justice Samuel Alito Caught Flying Insurrectionist Flags | John Legend

Episode Date: May 24, 2024

Michael Kosta dives into Justice Sam Alito's collection of radical right-wing flags hung outside his house, Nikki Haley’s backhanded endorsement for Trump, and daily weed use surpassing alcohol consumption. Plus, Troy Iwata unpacks the meaning of Alito’s controversial flags. If you're planning to travel this Memorial Day weekend, then you're gonna want to hear Michael Kosta's travel tips. And EGOT-winning artist, John Legend, discusses his new audio documentary “Afghan Star” about a singing competition show that created a cultural movement. Legend relays stories of people who risked their lives for music during Taliban control, the television show that unlocked opportunities for women and re-instilled a love of music in a whole generation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, coming out every Thursday. We're going to be talking about the election, earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Central, it's America's only source for new.

This is the Daily Show with your host, Michael Costa. We've got so much to talk about tonight. Summer vacation is coming up. Nicky Haley is giving up and the Supreme Court might face consequences. But don't worry, they won't face any consequences. So let's get into the headlines. So let's get of the ages. Not the one between good and evil. Evil won that immediately. I'm talking about the fight between marijuana and alcohol.

Alcohol has had the upper hand for decades, but now it appears that marijuana is pulling ahead. Well, for the first time ever, daily marijuana use is outpacing daily alcohol use. This is according to a new national study. Millions of people in the first time ever, daily marijuana use is outpacing daily alcohol use. This is according to a new national study. Millions of people in the US report using marijuana daily or nearly every day, according to the national survey on drug use and health. Those people now outnumber those who say they are daily or near daily drinkers of alcohol. That's right.

Daily pot smokers are beating daily alcohol drinkers in the race to see who can escape their sad lives more quickly. But in some ways it makes sense. You know, edibles are just much more efficient than booze. I mean, have you ever tried to get a trick-or-treater drunk? It's almost impossible. Of course, the rising popularity of weed is a good reminder to the beer industry that they got lazy. They thought they could just sit back and relax while Tommy Chong bought every goddamn ad on Twitter, you know? Congrats beer companies. You lost to that well-known, super ambitious, Type A, hard-working go-getter, Tommy

Chong. Now, weed and alcohol aside. The larger issue is that maybe, just maybe, we shouldn't be depending on all these substances in the first place. You know, life is much better when you're sober and we can really feel everything authentically. That's an epiphany I had on my weekly Ayahuasca voyage, so... Let's move on to the presidential race. You may remember that the end of the Republican primary campaign saw a bitter feud between

Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. She criticized him for his record and conduct. And he mocked her, Indian birth name, promoted birth or conspiracies about her and implied that her husband deployed to Africa just to get away from her. So, high-brow stuff. The attacks got so personal that when Nikki Haley finally dropped out of the race in March, she made it a point to not endorse Donald Trump. I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee.

But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, quote, never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind. It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that.

Wow, go Nicky Haley, right? A Republican standing up to Trump. That's pretty rare these days. It's like seeing an eclipse or a movie without Timothy Shalamee. But basically, Nicky Haley said, Trump, if you want my endorsement, you've got to earn it. So let's see how Trump courted Nikki Haley's supporters. You've talked about trying to unify the party.

How do you bring these Nikki Haley voters, some of who voted for you in 2020 but say they don't want to now. How do you bring them back into the 10? They're all vote for me again. Too many. Damn. That's cold. Trump's like, yeah, let me reach out to Haley supporters. Oh, gotcha. Trump just doesn't care about winning over Haley voters. To Trump, Haley voters are like vegetables.

You know, he's gotten this far without them. Why worry about him now? But that's Trump for you. He doesn't come to you. to him. He's not going to work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to work to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the too. I. to. to. to. to. to. to. to.. You come to him. He's not going to grovel for your support. He's not going to work to unify the party. He's not going to meet you at a coffee shop halfway between his house and your house. You come to the coffee shop near his house. He doesn't care if you met up there the last three times. He's not dealing with that. He's not dealing with that means? Donald, if you're going to take Nikki Haley's voters for granted like that, then good

luck getting Nikki Haley to vote for you. Breaking news, Nikki Haley declares she will vote for Donald Trump, endorsing the former rival she fiercely attacked during her GOP presidential bid. I will be voting for Trump. Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech. Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me. What the hell, Nikki? You know, what happened to that Margaret Thatcher quote about never following the crowd? Is there another Margaret Thatcher quote where she said, you know what, who gives a shit? Just follow the crowd, whatever.

And it's not the hypocrisy that annoys me here. Every loser ends up supporting their party's nominee, but Haley made this whole big show about withholding her support. And then she gave it up for nothing. She'd be the worst kidnapper ever. I want, if you want to see your child, send me $1 million in unmarked bills. Actually forget it, I'll drop him off at five. Anyway, I'm sure it'll be worth it and Trump will reward her for it. Enjoy being ambassador to those islands where the nuclear bombs get tested, Nikki.

Let's move on for politics. I'm good. It's a good joke. Let's move on for politics to a place that's completely above politics, the Supreme Court. Now, usually we expect this esteemed body to sit above partisan pettiness while it issues rulings that let corporations sell my organs for profit, but last week an unfortunate issue sullied that image. Justice Samuel Alito is facing calls to recuse himself. This comes after the New York Times published a photo

outside Alito's home of an upside-down American flag that's widely viewed as a symbol of efforts to overturn the last election. Alito confirming the photo, telling the times, quote, I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag. It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs. Yeah, Mrs. Alito's fault, huh? I feel you, Sammy, you know?

My wife's always squabbling with the neighbors, too. I mean, her squabbles don't usually end with her raising the flag of insurrection against the United States, but maybe your neighbors are just that bad. But hey, Sam Alito is a Supreme Court justice, the pinnacle of moral integrity. If he said he has nothing to do with it, th. T, th. T, th. And, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th justice, the pinnacle of moral integrity. If he said he has nothing to do with it, then I believe him, and I believe it's never going to happen again. New questions surrounding Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, after a second controversial flag was hanging outside one of his homes. The New York Times reports an appeal to heaven flag carried by January 6 rioters

was photographed at his New Jersey Beach House last summer. The flag which features a pine tree and the phrase appeal to heaven dates back to the Revolutionary War. But today the flag has become quote a symbol of support for former president Donald J. Trump for a religious strand of the stop the steel campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. What the Stop the Steel campaign and for a push to remake American government in Christian terms. What the hell, man? Another flag?

Did this guy get a two-for-one deal at the MAGA flag store? Look, I'm not an expert, but I always thought a judge was supposed to be impartial and neutral. And I'm not naive. I know he's not, but can can he at least respect us enough to pretend to be? You know, it's not like he's a judge on American Idol. He's a Supreme Court judge. But he's stunting on us like a soccer player popping his jersey after a goal. I killed Roe v. Way, bitches.

I kill Roebey Way, bitches. But if you're upset about this, the good news is the Supreme Court has a code of ethics. Now the bad news is they wrote that code of ethics and they don't follow it. So I guess there is no good news and the bad news is even worse. For more on the flag controversy with Justice Alito, we turn to Troy Iwada. Troy, Troy, you're outside Justice Alito's house at the Jersey Shore right now. What's the mood down there? It's awful, Michael. It's the Jersey Shore.

Stop sending me here. It's like if Florida wore too much cologne. Okay, but what can you tell us about the flags at Alito's house? They're very provocative. Well, it's worse than that, Michael. These flags are very confusing. I don't know what any of these weird right-wing symbols mean. One is upside down. This one has a clip-art pine tree on it. I don't get the message. I don't get the message thi thi thi th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the th. the thr- thr- tho- tho- tho- tho- tho- tho- tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s tho-s th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th the the the the tho tho' tho' tho' tho' tho' the toooooooooooo'-s too-s tooo-s. toeaauuuuuu-s toeauuuuu it. I don't get the message. The first time I saw that Blue Lives Matter flag, I thought the smirps finally got citizenship. Yeah, yeah, so they're fine. Well, right. this is a reference to the divine right to violently overthrow the government.

Then say that! Right. This is a reference to whatever the government. Then fucking say that! I don't, right, this is a reference to whatever shit Michael just said on the flag. Because right now, this is just an ugly flag with a Christmas cookie on it. I think the bigger question is what Justice Alito thought the flag meant. I'm going to stop you right there, Michael, because he just put up a new flag. Okay, so it's a big blue meant. I'm going to stop you right there, Michael, because he just put up a new flag. OK, so it's a big blue wave. I'm guessing that means Alito likes surfing. Or maybe they're fans of that Japanese wave painting

that white people put in their first apartment. I'm going to look it up. OK, so the wave is Noah's flood washing away the sodomites, and drowning them in an ocean of tears. Troy, that's terrible, that's a terrible flag. I know, I did not get any of that from the fun wave flag. Yeah.

If you're gonna be hateful, stop being so subtle. Okay, add a tiny gay person drowning under the wave or something. You know what flag works? That don't tread on me, flag with the angry snake? I get that. I know where not to tread. Or the punisher skull? When someone is wearing that on their shirt, I know that they're saying, I'm divorced. Right. You know?

Or you can have a flag like Saudi Arabia. I can't read Arabic, but I know what a sword is. So like, message received. Maybe Samuel Alito should hire Saudi Arabia's flag guy. Okay. Hold up. There appears to be a new flag is up behind you. Ugh, okay.

All right, it's a Bible holding a gun. Oh my God! I love it. Okay. See, I get that. Straight to the point. I am pissing my pants and fear, but I know why. Yes.

Thank you, Justice Alito. God, it must be nice to own a home. Troyawada, everyone. When we come back, I'll give you some tips for summer travel. Don't go away. John Stewart here. Unbelievably exciting news. My new podcast, The Weekly Show.

We're going to be talking about the election, economics, ingredient to bread ratio, on sandwiches. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the Daily Show. It's Memorial Day weekend, which means summer is just about here. The time of year when my armpits begin to resemble that swamp planet where Yoda lives and people set off for fabulous vacations. But if you've got travel plans coming up, it's important to remember a few simple tips, which I'll give you in my brand new advice segment. Now that I think about that title, it's perfect. So let's talk about some of the mistakes people make on vacation and how you can do better. For instance, like these guys.

Tonight, new video of two men damaging ancient rock formations here in the west. Two men seen damaging ancient rock formations at Nevada's Lake Need National Recreation Area outside Las Vegas. The vandals not once, but twice, knocking massive redstone boulders off a cliff last week at the popular Redstone Dunes Trail. A young girl standing behind them screams out as the rocks come toppling down. Amazing. The first time these guys work out in their lives and they do it by pushing over million-year-old boulders. Hey, should we get a Bowflex? No, let's just f-fix.

their let's just f-fluc up nature, you know? Someone should go find these vandals. And it shouldn't be too hard. th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone th. Someone thi. Someone thi. Someone thi. Someone tho? thi. Someone tho? S, tho? S, tho? S, tho, tho, the the the the tho, the the the the the tho, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. the. the. to to to toe. to. to. too. too. too. too. toe. toe. to. to. to to to to to totoo hard. Just look for the guy whose daughter has a blurry face. There can't be too many of those. So here's just the tip. Next time you're in the desert, ask yourself, would Wiley E. Coyote do this? Then do the opposite. Now maybe you're thinking, this doesn't apply to me. I'm more of a lie on the beach kind of gal. Well, guess what? There are plenty of ways you can mess things up, too. Like, what happened to this lady?

First up, don't be a fool. And never mess with a raging bowl. Shocking video shows a woman on a Mexican beach refusing to get away from the beast and paying a price. Jesus. They didn't get away. We're not doing us any favors. Get me, get me. We tried to f-tell you.

Yeah. They tried to f-fli tell you. Did you think let me speak to the manager would work on a giant bowl? They are the manager. But that's my tote bag. I have a bag of warm grapes in there. Lady, those are his warm grapes now. Just walk away, you know? And then for dinner you can have Karnayasata for revenge.

So here's just the tip. Next time you go to the beach, pack a matador. Now here's a story to remind you that smart traveling begins when you're packing your suitcase. There's a plea for leniency this morning in the Turks and Caicos. Another American tourist has been detained after security officials found live ammunition in their luggage. That's illegal in the Caribbean territory and carries a mandatory sentence of 12 years in prison. Right now, five Americans faced those charges. None were carrying firearms. And all claim they didn't even know the bullets were there. Five people, and none of them knew they

had live ammunition in their suitcases. This is how gun crazy some Americans are. Most people going through their luggage, find old hotel keys or sand from that beach trip. These guys are like, oh, good, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi thi thi, tho, tho, thi thi thi tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th th th th th th th th th th, th, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, their their their their their their their their their thi, thi, thi, thi, their, the theeeeeeeeea. theeeauuuiiiiiiiii. their their their their their their luggage find old hotel keys or sand from that beach trip. These guys are like, oh good, my spare bullets. But this one isn't entirely on the tourists. Okay, Turks and Caicos, I get that you're worried about rising gun violence on your island, but I don't think it's coming from Americans bringing in two bullets at a time. You know, bullets don't do anything without a gun, right? They're not running around your island like throwing bullets at people. So I think Turks and Kekos is being a little unreasonable. And if this were up to me, I'd have those Americans back in a second. It just takes one simple phone call. Hey, Turks? Hey, can you release the prisoners, please? No? All right, let me talk to Kekos. But as it turns out, someone else is already on the case.

Tonight, several members of Congress pleading for leniency for the five Americans facing 12 years behind bars in Turks and Kekos. A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers going to the territory, meeting with government officials urging light sentences instead. Wow, nothing motivates bipartisanship like a free trip to Turks and Kekos. So here's just the tip, okay? If you're going to do something idiotic that gets you arrested, make sure it's on an island paradise your elected officials want to fly to. Yes, you'll still be in prison, but at least you can look through your bars at the congressman holding a surfboard waving, hey, we're doing everything we can.

Now watch me rip this double barrel flip side, you know? When we come back, John Legend will be joining me on the show. Don't go away! Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show, it's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID, thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they

obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance, it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast. My guest tonight is an egot-winning multi-platinum artist and activists who hosts the new original audio documentary Afghan star.

to their show. My guest tonight is an egot-winning multi-platinum artist, an activists who host the new original audio documentary Afghan star. Please welcome John Legend. Here we go. What's up? Egot winning, multi-platinum. I wasn't expecting to see your name on audio documentary Afghan star. Yeah, I'm a podcast host now. My biggest aspiration, finally come to life.

Tell me about this new project, and how did you get involved? Afghan star is the name of a competition show, so it's like American Idol or to life. Tell me about this new project and how did you get involved? Afghan star is the name of a competition show so it's like American Idol or the voice, but the revolutionary fact was that it was in Afghanistan. Yes. And prior to the US invasion, the Taliban was in charge and they had basically outlawed music in the country. So literally they would have bonfires to burn CDs and records and musical instruments. And so there was a whole generation of people that were growing up not having access to the most basic thing that we all love,

that's a part of all of our lives, music. And so when the Taliban was deposed and there was this new freedom that was permeating through the country, one of the producers there who had started this network called Tolo TV, he decided to start a singing competition show and he had no idea how revolutionary it would be because not only was it displaying music on television but it was giving women opportunities that they never had before? It was challenging a lot of the societal norms and some of the religious strictures that have been on the country for a long time.

And it was quite a cultural moment that impacted the entire country. I mean, you talk about in the podcast how the Taliban used to stop people's cars, and if there was a cassette tape in there, they would beat up the driver and then rip up the cassette tape and hang it from a tree as like a truth. They would unspoal the actual tape from the cassette and hang it up so people would know, you can't have this. As an American, I listen, I listen, I's, I's, I's, I's, I's, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm the their. their. their, I'm their, their, their, their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their, their their, their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their. T. T. T. their. their their. their. their. th. theat. tape. tape. tape. tape. tape, tape, tape, the, the. the. the. their their their almost seems fictitious. Yeah. I just, it's never even, I mean, this is how it's spoiled I have, it's never crossed my mind that people cannot have music. Yeah.

Is your approach to music any differently now, knowing that? Is it your approach to music now any different knowing that? Well, I always knew music was such a gift, but I think you can take it for because it's something that's just part of your lives. And we've had it as part of our culture forever. And every country's pretty much had it as a part of their culture forever. But to have it taken away is quite a thing. And to see the links people went through to get music back into their lives, the underground networks that they would have to use to smuggle in records, their music, the thrugthe parties they would have with live music, out of the reach of the government and police.

All of these things just shows you how important music is to our lives and how meaningful it can be. And to see it taken away, makes you really appreciate it. It's almost like the Taliban hasn't seen footloos. I know, exactly. You got the the the gonna do music. They're still gonna do music. And you know, what's happened since the Taliban's back in charge again. So, you know, you would think maybe there is no music again in Afghanistan, but once you let the genie out of the bottle, it's really hard to suppress the people's desire to

get music. And now with the internet being more prevalent and everyone kind of getting used the fact that music that music that music the fact that music to the fact to to to the fact to the fact to to to to the fact to to the fact to to the fact the fact to their music... to their music. to do their music. their music. their music. their music. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. And, you're their. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you. And, you, you. And, you, you, you. And, you, you, you, you. And, you's, you's, you's, you's, you's, you's their, you're their, you're their, you're their their their their their their they. And, you know, you know, you know, their their their their their their their their their their's desire to get music and now with the internet being more prevalent and and everyone kind of getting used to the fact that music was in their lives it's kind of hard for the Taliban to stop them from listening to music now. One of my favorite parts in the pod was when he decides to have auditions and he's like is anybody going to show up oh my god and then he gets to this hotel and security is furious at him because there's hundreds of people there. Everybody wanted to be part. But then he starts rolling cameras and he's like, guess what? Everybody's a bad singer.

And he's like, which wasn't the case, there was good singers, but there's also a lot of bad singing too. Sure. As there is everywhere. You have to go of the things that Afghanistan hadn't done was vote for anything. And so this was like an opportunity for them to vote. That's crazy.

And they were like, we're like, I mean, I'm laughing at this, but it's like, holy shit, another thing Americans just, we take for granted. You know, it's like, yeah, talk, and another thing, I mean, let's talk about the role of women in Afghanistan. This was such a, this was such a groundbreaking cultural change for them. Yeah, so one of the most controversial things at the beginning of the show was when a woman was performing on the show and she started dancing just a little bit, a little shimmy and they were very upset about that. And the her hijab starts to sneak back a little bit, you see a little bit of her hair,

and these are, you know, norms that had been enforced with the gun, with the threat of death. And so the fact that people were doing this on national television was quite daring. And then we had a judge named Ariana Saeed, who was a pop star, and she was very well known in Afghanistan, and she became a judge, and her life was under threat all the time because she was a symbol of women's liberation, just by the fact that she was there as a judge, and she actually mentored a few of the female contestants, and one of them finally won after several years of the

show being on the air and it was quite a moment for women in Afghanistan to have access to this and one of the things that we are doing with our fundraiser with the art sale that we're doing is making sure we raise money for the Norr Foundation in Afghanistan which makes sure women have access to education and all the things they need. And, yeah. There's, there's some unique pieces of art per episode. There's art created or something. Yeah, so we have unique pieces of art. I've signed some of them.

And each of them represents stories from the episodes. And so they're very vivid and beautiful and people can check them out. Cool. They're nice stories from the episodes. And so they're very vivid and beautiful, and people can check them out. Cool. It's nice to have you here in New York. I mean, Trump's in the Bronx today. I was wondering, you know, is that why you're here? You're politically outspoken. I feel like he would be here a lot of days nowadays.

That's true. I think he has to be to be to be to be to be to think he has to be. It's true. How are you feeling this election? I mean you're politically outspoken. What can people be doing? What should people be doing? Well of course they should vote and I'll be voting for Joe Biden. I think it's a clear choice. You know it's a clear choice. You know it's a clear choice and we talk about things we take for granted, but there is one candidate that isn't too keen on democracy, isn't too keen on us having the right to vote.

He literally tried to steal an election and nullify the votes of the American people and I feel like that is utterly disqualifying and he should not ever be anywhere close to the nuclear codes, the White House, the Oval Office. And I'm going to do my best to make sure he doesn't get back there. I appreciate you chatting with me. Thank you very much. John Legend everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Explore more shows from the Daily Show Podcast Universe by searching the Daily Show, wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.

Hey everybody, John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast, The Weekly Show. It's going to be coming out every Thursday. So exciting. You'll be saying to yourself, TGID. Thank God it's Thursday. We're going to be talking about all the things that hopefully obsess you in the same way that they obsess me. The election. Economics. Earnings calls. What are they talking about on these earnings calls? We're going to be talking about ingredient to

bread ratio on sandwiches. And I know that I listed that fourth, but in importance it's probably second. I know you have a lot of options as far as podcasts go, but how many of them come out on Thursday? I mean, talk about innovative. Listen to the weekly show with John Stewart, wherever you get your podcast.