HAPPY 250th USA

Back to the USA now, and we'll begin with some spying news from October 2013.

Here I am with John Oliver.

Top story this week, spying update.

Everybody snoops.

[laughs]

It's got to the point now, Andy, where if you live anywhere in the world, and the NSA is not monitoring your phone and emails, you should probably feel deeply hurt-

[laughs]

... or at the very least, you should check to see that you're still alive.

Uh, the reason, uh, we're still finding out about this is that Edward Snowden has been continually leaking away like a BP oil rig.

[laughs]

Constantly, with significant consequences, and with no clear way to stop it, short of shoving a cork in the USB drive of his laptop.

Uh, the latest revelations, uh, show that the NSA has been monitoring the phone calls of thirty-five world leaders, including Germany's Angela Merkel.

Uh, the news of which is likely to have pissed off at least thirty-five people-

[laughs]

... including Germany's Angela Merkel.

Although I will say, Andy, monitoring that last one, I don't really have a problem with.

[laughs]

I still think that monitoring the German leader, however dubiously, is significantly safer than not monitoring a German leader.

And I think deep down, even though she's justifiably upset about this, Andy, she can probably understand that.

[laughs]

"This is an outrage.

What gives these foreign agencies the right to tap my personal phone? I cannot possibly let it...

Well, yes, we did do that.

We did do it, yes.

I mean, it was a long time ago, but well, when you put it like that, it was, I guess, less than a hundred years.