'The Daily Show' recap 5/7/13 - Chris Christie, Foreclosures, Cinco de Mayo, and Mindy Kaling

The May 7, 2013 episode of the Daily Show focused on Chris Christie, wrongful foreclosures, immigration reform protests, and Mindy Kaling.

The episode opens with Jon Stewart talking about Governor Chris Christie’s recent efforts to lose weight. He recently announced that he quietly got lap band surgery and has been steadily losing weight. Some, according to a clip played by Stewart, say that this is a clear sign he wants to run for president. Stewart points out that a presidential run is not the only reason for an obese man with young children and a loving family to want to get healthier. Stewart seems of the opinion that Christie likely feels unwell and wishes to feel better. However, there is one incident that Stewart informs his audience of that is amusingly reminiscent of President Barak Obama. While some children were visiting Christie’s office, a spider walked onto the table and he smashed it. Stewart compares this to when Obama swatted a fly during an interview.

Stewart quickly moves on to discussing the wrongful foreclosures that have occurred. A number of banks foreclosed on houses they either had no right to foreclose since they did not control the mortgage or the person had not defaulted. Over 2 million homes a year were foreclosed on in this way. For years, the filing method for mortgages was simple and manageable. Any mortgages or changes to mortgages were registered in local court houses. However, a decade or so ago, this method was changed. The large lenders now use a system called MERS or Mortgage Electronic Registration System. This system is clearly flawed. There is no paper trail and changes to the mortgages are only registered within the system. Now banks have to scramble to find proof of who owes whom money. Stewart shows his usual disdain for when companies screw themselves over like this and informs his viewer that, of course, no one went to jail. They had to pay $9 billion dollars, a sum they admitted was arbitrary, and it was done. Stewart describes this arbitrary settlement as being just enough that the public thinks it is a lot, so little it will not teach any banker a lesson, and is so easily divisible that it will help no one. Even the government oversight that so many conservatives are afraid of failed to accomplish anything after the fact and gave up it up as too complicated. To add insult to injury, the government checks to those affected are bouncing.

In the second segment, Jessica Williams went to Dallas, Texas to see how the large Latino population would be celebrating Cinco de Mayo. The group she first talked to turned out to be protestors for reform to immigration law. Williams walked around trying to talk to them about partying and they told her about their terrible experiences with immigration. Williams tries to pump up the part, but decides to bring a few protestors to a bar and show them partying. The White people in the bar were drinking and directly said they did not want any political talk. Williams eventually turned the sad stories from the protestors into a drinking game. She ended her segment by saying that these immigrants want the jobs others do not, staying sober and being the designated driver.

The guest for this episode is Many Kaling promoting her show, the Mandy Project. It was a really fun interview. They talk about how popular Kaling is and how much she has been doing. She even talks about how a lot of her hair is a weave of other Indian women’s hair and jokes that she takes on the personalities of the woman whose hair it is. Kaling also talks about a ball she went to and how she felt like she stood out because she could not help being friendly in a punk themed ball. They briefly talk about her show, but most of that is in the extended interview.