The Daily Show: Ears Edition - SCOTUS Ruling Makes Bribing Easier | Sharon Lerner

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Michael Kosta reports on the highs and lows of yesterday’s primaries, the Supreme Court’s ruling that makes it easier for politicians to accept bribes as “tips,” and AI’s effect on the music industry as record labels scramble to protect their artists from fake tunes. Plus, a helium-leaking spaceship from Boeing has left two astronauts stranded, and Ronny Chieng joins with updates from the ISS. Then, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog sits down with a group of undecided voters and tries a handful of tactics to get them to make up their damn minds, from sandwich comparisons to Cheesecake Factory metaphors. And ProPublica reporter Sharon Lerner sits down to discuss her latest piece in collaboration with The New Yorker on 3M’s use and concealment of forever chemicals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. You're listening to Comedy Central. From the most trusted journalists at Comedy Center, it's America's only source for noon. This is the Daily Show of D.J. Michael Costa. We've got so much to talk about tonight. The squad is down a man. The Supreme Court is cool with bribery and a special appearance

from Triump, the insult comic dog. Let's get into the headlines. Let's get into the headlines. Let's kick things off with the primaries yesterday in New York. Progressive Jamal Bowman lost re-election to his opponent, Money. And in Colorado, Congresswoman Lauren Bobert won, despite being caught fondling her date at Beetlejuice the musical last year. But what can I say in the end, she won this race handily. I guess she's just really good at working the base. Hand job.

But the biggest politics news of the day didn't come from the primaries. It came from the Supreme Court, who just made it even easier to bribe elected officials. Oh sorry, tip elected officials. Breaking news from Washington. The United States Supreme Court has overturned the high-profile bribery conviction of former Indiana Mayor James Snyder. In a 6-3 opinion, the court ruled that gifts to public officials can only be considered illegal bribes if they're given before the official act, not after.

Justice Kavanaugh wrote that it was not a crime for politicians to quote, accept gratuities that may be given as a token of appreciation after the official act. Ah, I see. So if you give a politician money before they do a favor, it's a bribe, but if you give it to them after, the Supreme Court says it's a gratuity, I mean, seriously, a gratu tipu tipu tip tip tip tip tip tipu-a tipu-a tipu-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-c-a-a-i thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi that it is that it is that it is that it is to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thi to 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 their their their their the the the the toe the toe toe toe to to to to to to to to the Supreme Court says it's a gratuity because they think I'm an idiot. I mean, seriously, a gratuity? Tipping culture is already out of control. I got a tip at the coffee shops. I got a tip at the dry cleaner.

I got a tip when I get takeout, even though I picked it up and I took it out. That's why they call it the out take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take the up up up the up the up up and the up, and I their up, and I their up, and I's their up, and I's their up, and I'm thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their up, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, and I'm tip it up, and I'm tip it up up up, and I'm the up up up the up up up and I the up up up and I the up up up up up up up up up up up up up up and I the up up up up up up up up up up and I the up up up and I the up up. And up up. And up. And the up. their up. their up. their thi. tip. I's tip it up. I'm tip it up. tip it's tip, tiped. tiped. tiped. tiped. tiped. tiped. tiped. tip it up and I've tip it up. I'm tip it takeout. Okay, fine, fine. But if my state senator turns that little screen around on me, I'm going to lose my mind, all right? I'm still going to give 20% but I'm going to be pissed about it. It seems like every few months, the Supreme Court makes it easier and easier to bribe government officials. And I don't know why they would do that, but as soon as Clarence Thomas Thomas Thomas Thomas Thomas Thomas Maldives we can ask them. Let's move on to the tech world and talk about artificial intelligence. AI is everywhere these days, which is interesting because it also fucking sucks.

You know, it gives me bad Google searches, it gives me fake Amazon products. It keeps generating images of women with six fingers when I very clearly said I wanted six nipples but the tech companies won't stop shoving it down our throats because they need something new to sell to us because we didn't go for the metaverse or self-driving cars or those weird cyborg helmets so now I can't sit on a toilet without it being like hey let AI flush your poop for you I mean sometimes it shoves the poop back up your butt, but it's getting better.

And some AI companies are now offering songs made by AI. But now the people who actually make music, they're fighting back. The world's biggest record labels are teaming up to sue, two prominent AI music companies. Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group are among the companies that filed lawsuits against the AI companies. The lawsuits accused the companies of illegally using copyrighted sound recordings to train their AI, raising

concerns about the impact on artist rights and earnings. On a statement, Suno's chief executive defended his company's product saying that it's quote, designed to generate completely new outputs not to memorize or regurgitate pre-existing content. Uh-huh. All right. Well, if the chief executive of the AI company said they're not stealing, that's good enough for me.

If the songs it's creating are completely new, then we're good. So let's move on. You know what, maybe it's better to listen to one of these songs, you know, just to see. Lawyers for the record labels wrote the prompt, 60s British Rock, Male Voice, by a band that rhymes with the Smedles, since the generators do not allow naming specific artists. Still the record labels say, the AI generator spit out a Beatles song. Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. Wow.

That was supposed to be a completely new song. Those were the exact words to imagine. The AI could have at least used the thesaurus, don't you think? Envision, there's no heaven. It's easy if you endeavor to. Who wants this? Who wants this? I got a eye to create a brand new song for me. Why? There's no shortage of music. Did you finish Spotify? But I can make a brand new Taylor Swift song. She drops a double album every two weeks.

We don't need it. But this song does bring up an important question, which is, should AI be involved in art? And the answer is, no, it shouldn't. We need to decide as a society that AI, it's not allowed to make art. It can help make an elevator go faster or analyze medical data, that's fine. But leave art art to human artists. Because yeah, human artists, they have the things that computers will never have, terrible parents, right?

And that motivates great art. The bottom line is no matter how good AI gets, it'll never need to prove that it's just as deserving of love as its sister who went to medical school. Moving on to a story that is truly out of this world, and it's going to stay out of this world considerably longer than it would like. The return of Boeing Starliner and its crew has been delayed again. Veteran astronauts, which Wilmore and Sonny Williams were only supposed to be up in orbit for a week. They've now been up there for about a month, if you can believe

it, as NASA and Boeing investigate helium leaks and thruster issues on the Starliner Spaceck. Just hours after Starliner's June 5th launch came the first sign of trouble. Starliner looks like we picked up a couple more helium leaks. All right, we're ready trouble. Starliner, looks like we picked up a couple more helium leaks. All right, we're ready to copy, find out exactly what you mean by it picked up another helium leak. This guy is very chill considering his spaceship has sprung a leak. If my wife called me to say, oh, we've got a few fire situations at the house, I don't think I'd be like, copy, let's chat

when you've got some more details about whatever fuck that means. Just so you know, there's no real danger to these astronauts, they're going to be fine. But a leaky pipe, that's such a boring earth thing to go wrong. You know, once you're in space you should be dealing with problems like a quantum overload and the dlythium crystals. Not a leaky pipe. That's something you call the super for. You know what? That's probably why it's taken so long to fix. They call for the super and NASA was like, sorry he's a little busy. We can send his son. No, tomorrow's fine. Tomorrow's fine. Either way I hope they can fix this. Imagine if the helium leaks got really bad and they had to say goodbye to their families, like...

Tell my wife I love her. Life is so precious. How am I going to do the rest of the act now? How am I going to do the rest of the act now? But good luck to the astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams. Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams, who I'm confident will figure this out because they have incredible astronaut names, don't they? Does NASA screen for that kind of thing? They're like, well, your physics scores are the highest we've ever seen,

but unfortunately, we just can't put a Braden on the moon. Sorry, I'm getting a little dizzy right now. By the way, you heard right, that spaceship, it's made by Boeing. Jesus Christ! It must be so embarrassing to work at Boeing right now. They're engineers, they're meeting people at parties like, oh me, no, I'm Diddy's publicist. For more on the situation at the International Space Station, let's go there live with Ronnie Chang. Wow.

Wow, you're floating. You're embedded with the cool. What is the mood up there like, Ronnie? It's fine, Costa. Everyone needs to calm down, okay? This isn't the Mets. These people are professionals. Yeah, okay, well, a couple of leaks,

but they all fixed and we'll be back on Earth soon. That's great. And perfect timing because the Trump-Biden debate is tomorrow and we need you back to watch the whole thing. Oh right, uh, the debates are tomorrow. Yeah, they're very, very excited for that. Oh, oh, oh, wait, what, what's that? What did you say? Real astronaut right over there? Uh, uh, oh, oh, wow, Michael, they just discovered a new leak. It's going take exactly one more day to fix it. Well, that's terrible news. I mean, that means you'll miss the debate. Oh, I know, I know. I really wanted to cover two men trying to out-dementia each other, but...

But unfortunately, now I have to stay up here and eat that cool astronaut ice-dreem. Oh, no, that's okay. thiiiiiiiii. that's. thii. thi. thi. thi. thi, I. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th-I's th- thi. I's thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I thi. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I's th. I's thi. I thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. theee the thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thi. know, you'll be back in plenty of time to report at the convention, so that's good. Uh-huh, uh, great. Awesome, awesome. Oh, shit, Michael has been another malfunction. It looks like the anti-matter crypto Wi-Fi is down. So probably going to take a couple months to fix whatever that was. Oh, my God, Ronnie, that's, that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's great. Uh, uh, that's great. Uh, uh, uh, that's great. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, th. Uh, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Yeah, th. Uh, th. Yeah, th. Uh, th. Uh, take a couple months to fix whatever that was. Oh my God, Ronnie, that's terrible. I know, I'm so bummed. I really wanted to be in Chicago in the summer with the team, but I guess we'll have to be up here until then. All right, you know, just take all the time you need. You'll be back in time for the rest rest the the the the the the the the the the the the thee the the of to the to the the the to the to the the rest of the campaign season, lots of opportunities to report on Trump and Biden.

Ronnie, Ronnie? Blah! I'm an alien. I have taken over the ship. It will take Ronnie exactly six months to defeat me. Leave him alone and send potato chips. Ronnie, that's obviously a sock puppet. If you don't want to come back, just say so. I don't want to come back. Ronnie Chang, everyone, and we come back, Triumph, the insart pilot will do this. 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. You know, as crazy as it might seem, there are still a lot of voters who aren't sure whether to vote for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. So we sent a special correspondent to interview some of them. their toe.

There's still a lot of voters who aren't sure whether to vote for Donald Trump or Joe Biden. So we sent a special correspondent to interview some of them. All right, welcome to our focus group of undecided voters. Thank you for coming to our marketing research offices. I want to stress that there is nobody masturbating behind this two-way mirror. No matter what you hear. So, as undecided, let's go around the room. Tell us your name and what your fucking problem is.

We've never had worse choices in my opinion. I don't like either candidates. Same as other people said. I'm not really crazy about either candidate. Okay, I see some of you feel you need more information about the candidates. And I get it. We know so little about Trump and Biden. Apart from their campaign issues, their actions as president, their handling of the global pandemic, their criminal indictments, whom they've showered with, and a very detailed description of Trump's penis from a former porn star. But we still don't know. Okay.

If you're leaning towards Biden, please raise your hand. If you're leaning towards Biden, if you're leaning toward Trump, raise your hand. Okay, raise it at the 45 degree angle, please. Little straighter, don't bend the elbow. That's good. It's a Hitler joke, you see because you support a fascist. Alright, we're having fun. Okay, raise your hand if you feel like voters are easily manipulated. Who doesn't think so? Okay now lower your hands.

Okay now raise them again. Okay now lower them again. Raise them up one more time. raise both hands. Now lower one. Now everyone say I cannot be manipulated. Which candidate would you have a beer with? Trump. Trump. Which candidate would you go to a baseball game with? Biden. Biden.

Biden. Trump. Which candidate would you let eat sugar cubes out of your hand? Why? More gummy? Less likely to bite you? Yeah. Gentle.

Gentle. Gentle. Which candidate would you want to be behind in a human centipede? And keep in mind, no matter what you answer, we will all think you're disgusting. Okay, this is tough guys. I mean, I sense you find yourselves undecided about a lot of things. My problem is I'm not sure which one's going to die first. Thomas, I just have to ask, why are you struggling with this decision when you had no problem deciding to leave the barber shop with those sidebirds? Seriously. It's like my mom always used to say, shit or get off the law? It's. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to, th. to, to my mom always used to say, shit or get off the law. It's your civic duty.

Yes. Would you agree with that? Yes, I would agree with it. What is your gut telling you? I mean, other than seatbelts do not come in my size. I can't trust Biden or Trump, so. Okay, I bet you're gonna- So I like RFKK Jr. interesting, also known as the evidence that the Kennedys f-ed each other. Okay, maybe this will help you guys decide between the candidates.

Here are two sandwiches, all right? One is old and moldy, and the other has Clemedia. Raise your hand if you're eating the sandwich on its deathbed, or raise your left hand if you want the sandwich that we have on tape using the N-word. Okay, they're having their first debate. Do you hope the moderators will ask Trump and Biden the really tough questions, like, do you know where you are?

And can you breathe on this mirror? They're probably going to call out each other on stuff. Both sides are constantly saying, this is the end of democracy! Both sides agree. So, maybe instead of worrying about all this voting stuff, we should just decide on an escape plan. Does anyone have a bunker?

Thomas, you look like you already live underground. Will the other more people mind if we crash? It was time to switch tactics. Perhaps if they practiced making any kind of decision, it would prepare them for November. You've all been given cheesecake factory menus to share. Now take a look at them and make a choice. You can do this. Fried Kalamari. A lot of trips. entrees. I know what I usually usually. thi. thine. thine. thine. thine. thine. 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. th. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the. thi. the. the. the. the. thea thea thi thi thea thi to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thi. tharies. A lot of options. Entres.

Ooh, I know what I usually get. I say fried calamury. I usually get on chickens. It's my great one. Come on. Come on. A little flaming out. Yeah.

All right. You know what, forget it. Forget it. I knew that wouldn't work. At this stage, there was only one option left. Look, you guys have barely given me anything, so I'm just going to tell you who you're voting for. Darrell, you're going to miss Election Day because there weren't any reminders on Pornhub. Pauline, you want a safer, brighter future for your children. So you're going to move to Ukraine. Thomas, I think you should

just stay home. This is a big one. Very important election. We need you to sit it out. And Mark, whatever you decide, I recommend you listen to your heart. Or at least let a medical professional listen to this. Thank you all for being here. We've learned a lot. We'll see you in four years when you can't decide between voting for AOC or Kyle Rittenhouse. Thank you, Trial. When we come back, Sharon Lerner will be joining me on the show so don't go away. 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 Daily Show. My guest tonight is a pro-public reporter whose recent article in collaboration with the New Yorker investigates 3M's use of Forever Chemicals. Please welcome Sharon Ler. Hi Sharon, how are you? Thank you for being here. All right. Thank you for coming.

Thank you for writing this piece. This is a testament to investigative journalism. How long does it take to write this piece? Well, it took about a year. Yeah. A little more than a year, but? Well, it took about a year. Yeah. A little more than a year, but I was doing other things in the middle. What exactly are Forever Chemicals? What did 3M do?

What were you uncovering in this piece? Yeah. So I was writing about Forever Chemicals, which are PFAS, is the name of the compounds. And basically, they're called forever chemicals because they last forever in the environment and they accumulate in your body. And we all knew, we've known for a while, that 3M made these chemicals.

And I have been reporting on them for a while. What was new with this story was that someone who had worked in the company came to me and offered to tell me her story. Right. And it ended up shedding terrible light really on the company and on the delay, the decades of delay for them to reveal the truth of what was going on. She was testing blood and was finding that everyone's blood had forever chemicals in it. And how did 3M respond to her research? Right, so she ended up, she was asked by her boss to test all these blood samples.

And these were samples of blood from the general public. So she starts testing them and she keeps finding trace amounts of this chemical, PFOS, which was made by her employer in everyone's blood. It's not supposed to be there, right? And then she tests different parts of the country, she tests animals, and she finally brings her results to her to her to her to her to her to her to her boss to her to her to her boss to her results to her results to her results to her results to her results to her results animals, and she finally brings her results to her boss. And in response, her superiors were not happy with her work. She thought they would be happy.

Hey, you found this amazing thing. She's a scientist. Yeah, she's a scientist. She's in the environmental lab. That's her job, right? And in fact, what they ended up doing was questioning her and saying, this can't be thia, thiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, thi, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she's, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, she, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, they.. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. t. te. t. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. the. was questioning her and saying, this can't be right. And your equipment's probably messed up. And why don't you repeat the experiment? And eventually, what she finds is that there is another chemist

at the company who had discovered the same thing in 1975. So decades earlier. And I, what you talk about in the article, but part of what what solidified her belief in her research was she actually tested old blood. Yeah. Yeah, what was that? So she's been, she's testing all these samples from around the country, and they all contained PFOS. And her bosses start saying, oh, you thinkthink you get PFA West you get PFO you get it's like we all got it yeah and they start saying are you sure

because maybe you just think it's everywhere right you just are delusional basically and then she ends up testing a sample from rural China and an old sample right and it was the first one she tested that didn't have any the chemical in it wow Wow. And she realized here it is. Yeah. Someone ruled China who's probably dead at this point doesn't have forever chemicals in their blood. And then she ended up testing someone for a war veteran who the blood sample was from 1957 before Scotchgard enter the market. So let's let's talk about that. What are Forever Chemicals in? You mentioned ScotchGard.

Right, so initially they were in ScotchGard, which is this coating for fabrics. Carpets. Yeah, and carpets. Couches. And then they had also a product that was for food packaging. And it was also in firefighting foam. And that was the beginning. Now I cannot name all the products that it's in. Thousands, really.

And the companies say they're in every car and cell phone, they're in makeup, they're in everything. And 3M put out a little spreadsheet in 2022 of just their products that contained PFAS, and it had more than 16,000 inches. I love that they put out a spreadsheet in th spreadsheet th spreadsheet th spreadsheet th spreadsheet th spreadsheet in th spreadsheet th spreadsheet thir products that contain PFAS and it had more than 16,000. I love that they put out a spreadsheet in 2022 and they've known about this since 1975. So 50 years later, super helpful. Do you, when you start digging into this, when you start digging into this, do you ever just want to go, ah, blah, blah, I don't want to hear about this shit.

Well, you know, when I dig into this what I want th. want to hear about this shit. Well, you know, when I dig into this, what I want to do is tell people. And that's why I'm here, you know. Yes, right. I mean, it is utterly depressing, but I think it would be slightly more depressing not to report on it. Well, yeah, I mean, your article triggered my awareness. And then I remembered the Mark Ruffelowl movie, and I th. th. th. thrake. th. th. th. th. thr-in, thr-in, thr-in, thr-in, thr-in, thr-in, thr-in, thr-I. thr-I. thr-I. thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thr-I thi is thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thr-in, thr-in, thr-in, thr-a, thr-a, thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thr. thri-s. thri-s. thri-s. thri-s. thr. thr about this even before that, and it's like, holy shit, we got to pay attention to this stuff.

You know, I have a four-year-old daughter, and I often am trying to tell her to stop being so pushy, right? Hey, chill, you can't keep pushing back, pushing back, but then I meet you and I read this, and I heard you say you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you say that you've that you've that you've that you've got that you've got that you've got th. thi, that you've got that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've that you've, that you've, that you, that you, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th..... I've the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, the. the. the. the. the. the. the. theiii. the. the. thi. the. the, I've the, I've and I read this and I heard you say that you've got to be pushy to dig in and fight against 3M that made $14 billion last year. Am I a shitty parent? Well, to be an investigative journalist or not. Well, to be an investigative journalist or not. Well, to be an investigative journalist or not. Yeah. We're working not just putting your pants out at this an investigative journalist or not. I mean you're, you're, you're

we're working out just putting your pants out at this point. So, yeah. I mean, you have to find out things that people don't want you to know. And so, you know, the, so with this story, the, you know, the response I got from 3M when I was writing about this in 2015 and 2016, you know, it's, um... This is, you know, yeah. You know, it's totally different from the story I got from someone who was on the inside and it only took me nine years. Right, right. Right.

Is there something that you do now differently in your life, a habit knowing knowing what you know, are you not drinking water out of the hose like we did in Michigan growing? I mean, is there just something besides, because look, a single American citizen taking on 3M or DuPont, because 3M's not the only company with these rep, you know, what can you tell me that I can do that I can do, besides being aware, which is a positive step. It is. Yeah.

And, you know, it is so widespread now, as you said, it's tons of products, it's some water all over the place. So I don't actually, I mean, I don't use non-stick pans and that kind of thing, that's easy. That's easy. Don't use microwave popcorn. And I have to say, I don't know how it's been, if it's been reformulated recently, but that was one of the original things that it was in. Yeah.

I'm sticking by what I said earlier. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, as an environmental reporter, a lot of things, you know, horrify me. I would say actually the, my reporting on plastics maybe left me with more of a, you know, change my habits. So, like, I don't use single-use plastic because you cannot.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And my, my question is flawed to you because it always find, I always find in capitalism the onus goes on us. Yeah. Right? Like, hey, Sharon, why are you using that plastic bottle?

And it's like, well, I assume what's on the shelf is safe for me. Yeah. And that's not a safe assumption. And does our government step in on this? Well, yeah, there are a lot of government failures here in this story. One is that when the 3M ended up giving in studies that they had done in 1975, 1980, they finally gave them all to the EPA in the late 90s in 2000s. So that's, you know, two and a half decades after they did them. You're supposed to hand this give it in immediately if you see that there's evidence of real harm.

So they were fined $1.5 million. And what they made on that single chemical. I make that a week. But like in the year that they phased out the chemical, they made $300 million. It was on the, you know, market. so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, I, I, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm, I, I'm, I'm, I was, I'm, I'm, the, th. thi, 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. th. th. th. th. th. thi, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, thi, thi, th. th. th. the. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. th made $300 million. It was on the, you know, so it makes no sense. So we have to make it actually, there have to be consequences for companies that do this kind of thing.

Well, you mentioned the EPA and there was a, you know, there was a new, I forget, I forget guideline that they've set up recently, and this has to do in the in the article use the term PFOS right but that can mean a lot of different well PFAS is the class of compounds so and and the one chemical that Chris who is talking about was discovering was PFOS that's one chemical in this class is called PFAS the class there are thousands right so PFOS is not made anymore but it's still in the drinking water and EPA

recently said drinking water limits for PFOS and PFOA. Fabulous. Great. Very great. Very great. The only problem is one they're no longer made, but there are thousands of chemicals in this class and we've only gotten, you know, a couple. So... And it's in New York City drinking water. I mean, it's in everyone's drinking water. And, yeah. And now the challenge is local cities are going to have to find a way to pay for filtering this out.

Right. And there was just a big suit, a big settlement with 3M, where they're going to pay 12.5 billion dollars And you th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th tho th tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thoes the. And tho tho thoes thoes thoes thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And thoes. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And the. And the. And the. And the. And the. And the. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. And thean. going to pay 12.5 billion dollars and you think, oh that's a lot of money and it's not when you have to actually remove these chemicals from water everywhere. Environmental crime. That's a new term that I recently heard and when I read your piece I said, this is environmental crime. Three M has committed assault on us. Yeah. Maybe murder depending on the classification. Has anyone at 3M? Are there anybody in trouble?

No. Not in a criminal way. Sweet, love this fucking story, you know? It's just. Yeah, not in a criminal way. But I like the way you put that. It is a crime, right? And I mean, part of the reason I think it's a crime is because we weren't given any

choice in the matter, right? So nobody said, in exchange for this beautiful stain-free couch, we're going to put a toxic chemical in your body and leave it there forever. Yeah. It wasn't like that. It was here's this product and we know this thing we're not telling you. So it's like bodily trespass really. Like, they're, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I their, I their, I their, I their, I their, I 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, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. th. the. th. the. th. th. th. th. It was, here's this product, and we know this thing we're not telling you. So it's like bodily trespass, really. Like they're, I mean, these chemicals are in infants when they're born, before they're born. Right. One of the saddest and scariest parts was when in the article you talk about, and this is going to be really sad, thi. sad but how women actually finally showed that they had less forever chemicals in their body but that was after they gave birth because they passed it on

to their child. Yeah, right? So this is this is a problem. What can you leave us with? Everybody here is now newly aware. Should we call our Congress people? Should we stop buying plastic? Should we? Well I mean here's something really something really focused. Great. I like focused. Like the entire audience. I mean, so one of the crazy things is that PFAS are still being new ones are still being introduced. So we still have thousands that are being used, but they're still introducing new ones. That is, like, that seems bananas to me, and that seems like a very very, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, 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 the the the the the the the the the the the the the thr. thr. thr. thrownean. too too th thr. too th thr. thr. thr. thro thro thracea. thr. thr. th too to me and that seems like a very focused point that we could you know do something about. Yeah, thank you very much for writing this article. Thank you

for coming on the Daily Show and talking with us. You Make Me Sick is available online at the New Yorker and ProPublica Sharon Ler we're gonna take a quick break we'll be right back after this. Hey everybody John Stewart here. I am here to tell you about my new podcast. The weekly. 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 th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. 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 the the the the the the the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. thean. thean. thean. thean. tean. to. tea. tellea. thea. thea. thea. thea. 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. That's our show for tonight. Don't forget today, tomorrow night at 11 when John Stewart's back at the desk to cover

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