For sixteen years, the mariner has been a fan of Jon Stewart. There are millions of fans who truly will miss his self-deprecating humor, his wild impersonations of the Jewish dialect, the New Jersey style of banter, and particularly his turtle impression of Senator Mitch McConnell. It is hard to imagine how he sustained his energy for so long as a counterpoint to mediocre news media, especially Fox News, and pusillanimous politicians. His humor was sharp, insightful, educational, and despite his ‘fake news’ moniker, was a legitimate source of truth. His last broadcast of The Daily Show will be August 6 with President Obama as his guest. We truly shall miss Jon.

However, Jon has left an apt successor in John Oliver who appears in Last Week Tonight, The John Oliver Show at 9:30PM on HBO. John is a spinoff from Stewart’s staff. His episodes also can be viewed at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8xwLWb0lLY

Oliver is at his best when delivering an accusatory tone about the inadequacies of human nature and American values. John certainly will fill Jon’s shoes as the official muckraker of TV.

The link above will take the reader to a show about food waste. According to Oliver, food waste – only food waste – can fill 740 NFL-sized football stadiums each year. The mariner is aghast at our personal food habits and shared with John Oliver his disbelief about how charity tax breaks for small businesses do not survive Congress. Small business needs a tax break to cover the expense of charitable distribution which costs as much as normal distribution. The food episodes are truly enlightening. Write to your Congressional representatives requesting a charity tax break for all businesses that process food – from the farmer to the distributor to the retailer.

An odd but dependable observation: Why won’t we buy the last head of lettuce or the last peach?

Ancient Mariner