'Full Frontal' Points Out Some Of The Less Awful Things In The World

By Emily Cutler | Late Night TV | June 15, 2017 |

By Emily Cutler | Late Night TV | June 15, 2017 |

Now before I get too far into this discussion, I need to acknowledge that there is plenty of awful in the world right now. Trump’s heinous policies are still in place and still destroying families, Mitch McConnell’s healthcare bill is still making its way through the Senate (call you Senator and ask them to vote against it. If they say they are, ask them to disrupt Senate proceedings until a hearing is held on the bill), and assholes are calling Sen. Kamala Harris “hysterical” for not putting up with Jeff Sessions’ bullshit. Which, as I will always remind you, makes him a sexist asshole.

But there are a few things in the world that are good, and worth highlighting. First Sam Bee and team cover the Rikers Island debate club.

Can we get these debate teams positions in the White House? Because the Trump staff desperately needs a few good people who can fully analyze a situation, and defend their position clearly. Without resorting to calling people “hysterical.”

Secondly, and hang with me for a second, is the piece about how child marriage is still legal in all fifty states and in D.C. Quick spoiler, kids as young as twelve are being married off in some states. It’s pretty horrific.

So what exactly about statutory rape being covered up by marrying rape victim to rapist is life affirming? Somebody’s doing something about it.

The issue of child brides (and, to a lesser albeit still very alarming extent, child grooms) doesn’t exist out in the open. It requires secrecy and isolation in order to exist. As is evidenced by the fact that the individuals shown news stories on child marriage assumed it was fake, because what kind of fucking country would allow preteens to get married? The conditions that allow abuse of minors thrives on no one talking about the abuse, and when we talk about it, we remove the conditions. We all know a little more about the ways in which small groups of people are manipulating the system in order to force children into horrible lives because Cassandra Levesque said, “WHAT? Well, fuck all that,” and decided to do something.

And now you get to do something about it too. Remember the Rikers’ debate team segment from the top? That made you feel a little warmer because it treated both inmates and debate teams as humans? Remember the first thing Bee said about it? New York is shutting Rikers because it’s a hellhole. A move that was fully supported by Mayor DeBlasio. That’s important because you’ve got a mayor. And a governor, and I’m suspecting some level of representation in your state legislator. There is very little that we at this point can do about the Russia/obstruction of justice investigation other than watch in near constant disbelief. But we can change how things are run at the state and local level. Keep calling your Senators and Representative (seriously, phone calls are back to pre-election levels, and we need the fuckers to know we’re still watching), but if the idea of a prepubescent wife makes your skin crawl, call your State Rep. Do something about it.