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On July 16, U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a joint press conference.

In their two-hour meeting in Finland, the two apparently discussed a wide range of topics, from the conflict in Syria to the annexation of Crimea.

But it was Trump's response to a question about 2016 election meddling that raised the most eyebrows stateside.

Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

When pressed about the Kremlin's cyber attacks and disinformation campaign during the presidential election, Trump avoided criticizing his Russian counterpart — and, in doing so, seemingly backed Putin's claims that Russia did not interfere.

"My people came to me, [Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me and some others saying they think it's Russia," Trump said. "... President Putin ... just said it's not Russia. I will say this, I don’t see any reason why it would be [Russia] ... I have confidence in both parties.”

Both parties?

"I have great confidence in my intelligence people," Trump continued, "but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."

Putin gave Trump a soccer ball from the recent World Cup played in Russia. Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images.

This ... is not good. Whichever way you spin it.

And TBS's "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" spun it in quite the interesting fashion.

Using altered past presidential quotes with the hashtag #BothSidesHistory, "Full Frontal" illustrated just how absurd Trump's remarks on Russian meddling truly are.

"A house divided is actually just fine," the first fake quote from Abraham Lincoln read. "Both sides are great! Excellent people on both sides."

Why is everyone so upset about the #HelsinkiSummit? Our greatest presidents did exactly what @POTUS did today.… https://t.co/6GvkfOlnlV
— Full Frontal (@Full Frontal) 1531765525

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for our dear friends in the Soviet Union," John F. Kennedy could've said (but didn't).

#BothSidesHistory https://t.co/ibXIUGwsIu
— Full Frontal (@Full Frontal) 1531765526

"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that the King of England treats us real good and the whole tea mess is our fault," our Founding Fathers definitely did not say.

#BothSidesHistory https://t.co/No4H8tND5E
— Full Frontal (@Full Frontal) 1531765527

"This is a day that will live in normal-famy because I talked to Japan and they said they didn't do it IDK," Franklin D. Roosevelt said. (Not really, but you get how this works.)

— (@)

"Mr. Gorbachev, this wall is so cute!" Ronald Reagan said. (Nope.)

#BothSidesHistory https://t.co/3cBC5pykgS
— Full Frontal (@Full Frontal) 1531765529

"Full Frontal's" lighthearted spin on the Trump-Putin press conference may be a little too flippant for some to get on board with ("Funny but too soon for me, gut is still churning" one user commented in the replies). And that's understandable.

But the sobering point being made — that the moral equivalency of "both sides" is a dangerous one to promote — is resonating with many Americans.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle condemned Trump's answers at the Helsinki press conference.

"It's difficult to overstate the damage done by Donald Trump's shocking and disgraceful show of weakness on the world stage," Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth tweeted. "The strong global alliances and global belief in American leadership that he has taken just days to tear down over the last [week] will take generations to rebuild."

"Trump flattered Putin who attacked our democracy and insulted the brave men and women of our Intelligence Community," fellow Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris wrote. "It is disgraceful."

Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and John McCain also blasted Trump's refusal to condemn Putin with the world watching.

I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President… https://t.co/qwqtrGT6pU
— Jeff Flake (@Jeff Flake) 1531757642

— (@)

Whether it's funny fake quotes from past presidents or terrifyingly real ones from present-day senators, they both make one point crystal clear: Cozying up to — and, potentially, colluding with — authoritarians who murder journalists and rig elections in order to win is not the American way.

Samantha Bee hasn't given up on America. Here's what's keeping her hopeful.

Over the weekend, Samantha Bee stopped by Ozy Fest in New York's Central Park to talk about running for office ("Never! God, no!"), creating an internship program for female ex-convicts, and the restorative power of connecting with other people.

Upworthy caught up with Bee to ask how she balances being late night's most formidable player with the increasingly challenging task of staying hopeful and optimistic.

(This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.)

Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Ozy Fest 2017.

Upworthy (UP): Speaking not as the host of "Full Frontal" but as a person who has to work in news every day, how’re you holding up?

Samantha Bee (SB): Terrible! Terribly! How are you holding up?

UP: I’m doing pretty good.

SB: Oh, you are? OK. OK.

UP: How are you coping with things?

SB: I don’t think very well. I mean, as a citizen of this country, I’m reasonably worried. The news is coming at us pretty fast. Still, I’m trying to lead a happy life.

UP: You were at "The Daily Show" when Jon Stewart left. He gave an interview around that time in which he said, "I’m in a constant state of depression. I think of us as turd miners. I put on my helmet, I go and mine turds, hopefully I don’t get turd lung disease." Are you getting turd lung disease?

SB:[laughs] Oh my gosh. I forgot that he said that! I’m totally getting turd lung disease. Yeah, I have that. I’m getting turd COPD.

UP: So what do you do to manage that, to draw boundaries around that?

SB: Well, the one thing — this doesn’t really make it totally better, but — we only make a show once a week. So we do get a tiny pause at the weekend. I mean, news never stops. There’s no getting around it. But at least we have a little bit of space between shows to breathe for a half second. And I get to go off and travel around and do things that get me really excited.

We have a bunch of pieces coming up where I went to — [laughs] as the words are coming out of my mouth, I’m like "What am I talking about?" But I went to Iraq, and that actually gave me great joy! [laughs] So we’re gonna roll out the Iraq pieces in the next couple of weeks, and that type of thing makes me, I love going out. The freedom to go out in the world does make it a little easier.

Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for TBS.

UP: Do you find that looking people in the eyes is a little bit better than reading about it in the news and hearing it recorded?

SB: A hundred percent. Yeah.

UP: What do you think is the value of that connection?

SB: I mean, just learning on the ground. I don’t think it’s just valuable from a news perspective. It’s just a good exercise as a human being, to go somewhere else and check out the scene.

UP: A lot of people are struggling with this feeling of being fatigued. But on your show, you encourage civic responsibility and you encourage people to stay engaged.

SB: It’s hard to do. People do get fatigued. I did have a feeling that once the warm weather hit, people would lose that feeling of fervor but I actually don’t think they did. I don’t think people are slowing down. When I see that, it does lift my spirit. I love it. Killing that health care bill — it felt good. Those small victories.

UP: The Democrats are having a pretty hard time coming up with a slogan to unite the party. If that was your responsibility, what would you write?

SB: Oh my gosh. I don’t know what I would write. I’m afraid to say anything because I’m afraid they’ll use it. I’m sure they’ll land on something. In 2019.

UP: Obviously the script of your show is very sarcastic, but you seem to be less jaded than most. How do you stay hopeful?

SB: You know, just that. Meeting people, witnessing people’s engagement — they really care. They’re very alive. That makes me feel hopeful. And if that’s all we have to feel hopeful about — that’s actually a lot.

The true story of how Georgia's politicians came together to solve a major problem.

Sometimes it seems there's nothing that can bring Democrats and Republicans together, but Georgia state Rep. Scott Holcomb begs to differ.

On "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee," Holcomb shared the true story of how Democrats and Republicans joined forces to tackle a thorny issue: the state's massive backlog of untested rape kits.

Photos and illustrations from "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee"/YouTube.

If it seems ridiculous that law enforcement chooses not to analyze every sexual assault evidence kit, that's because it is.

Sadly, this problem is not confined to any one state. Holcomb's bill, the Pursuing Justice for Rape Victims Act, did one very simple thing: It required law enforcement to test each and every rape kit collected. No longer would it be fair to deny a survivor justice because of cost.

"'Schoolhouse Rock!' on steroids," Holcomb called the bipartisan effort. "That’s a side of politics that people don’t get to see very often, but it does happen," he said in the "Full Frontal" segment.

As time ran out, the bill made it through the necessary legislative hurdles, and Holcomb was showered with bipartisan applause. Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, signed the bill into law. With the law in effect, more than 4,200 previously untested pieces of evidence will finally be analyzed.

"It was an example of how people can come together to make a difference and to fix a very bad problem," Holcomb told "Full Frontal."

The story is a bright spot in a world that can sometimes seem so dark and divided. It also makes a powerful point that while we may disagree from time to time, there is almost always common ground to be found.

If you're feeling down about politics, if you're feeling like we're just hopelessly divided, remember the story of Scott Holcomb and the Georgia state legislature:

Lawyers' Committee

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights

Obama's hilarious Samantha Bee interview touched on voting, white hair, and sexism.

On Halloween, President Obama went on "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" to get to the bottom of some serious business — like what costume the president was trying to pull off.

GIF via "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee."

They also found some time to talk about voting. Bee put on her best millennial impression to see if Obama could persuade her to cast her ballot on Nov. 8.

“Young people have a bigger stake in this election than anybody," the president told her. "I would hope that you’d be willing to take about the same amount of time that you spend just looking through cat videos on your phone to make sure that democracy’s working."

Bee ... wasn't making it easy for him.

GIF via "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee."

They also talked about what Obama wants his legacy to be after he leaves the White House next year.

"If we can look back 20 years from now and say to ourselves, ‘There were a whole bunch of people who were inspired by what we did and are doing it even better,’ then we’ll feel pretty good," the president said of he and Michelle's impact in the White House.

Bee made him aware of the other monumental milestone his presidency offered America.

GIF via "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee."

The two also touched on the hardships Hillary Clinton will face as a glass-ceiling-shattering figure, should she become president — something Obama knows a thing or two about.

Being the first black president, Obama faced unique challenges no president before him had to endure, such as the racist, ludicrous notion that he's not really an American.

“If and when Hillary is president," Bee asked, "what do you think will be the female equivalent of 'You weren’t born in this country'?”

Obama responded (emphasis added):

“I think the equivalent will be, 'She’s tired, she’s moody, she’s being emotional.' When men are ambitious, it’s just taken for granted — ‘Well, of course they should be ambitious.' But when women are ambitious, ‘Why?’ That theme, I think, will continue throughout her presidency, and it’s contributed to this notion that somehow she is hiding something.”

Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Obama's answer is one many women are familiar with. Because even if you detest everything about Clinton, you can still respect the fact that she will face blowback from an electorate grappling with change.

Clinton's gender has played a role in the public's perception and attitudes toward her for decades, highlighting the double standards we often see between men and women in the workplace.

She's been accused of being too emotional, but also not emotional enough. She's been too soft, apparently — but somehow also too ruthless? Her "likability liability," which dogs many women in positions of power, is just as relevant in this election as it ever was before. And you already know what happens when she's caught — gasp! — not smiling on the campaign trail.

When photo blog Humans of New York profiled Clinton in September, a telling thing happened in the comment section on Facebook: women of all political stripes empathized with her story of handling sexism as a college student.

"While we’re waiting for the exam to start, a group of men began to yell things like: 'You don’t need to be here,'" Clinton recalled. "It was intense. It got very personal."

“I was taking a law school admissions test in a big classroom at Harvard. My friend and I were some of the only women...
Posted by Humans of New York on Thursday, September 8, 2016

Clinton's HONY story of having to deal with sexist classroom bullies transcended political boundaries for many women.

And you didn't need to like her to understand the struggle.

Sadly, history will probably prove the 44th president correct, should Clinton become our 45th.

Her gender will likely play a role in how she is seen and judged as a leader.

GIF via "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee."

But if enough nasty women (and the men who support them) stand up to the injustice, maybe we can make a difference — especially for the future madam presidents headed our way.

Watch President Obama on "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" below:

In eight states, schools treat active shooter situations like natural disasters. What?

Fire drills, earthquake drills, and tornado drills are common in schools around the country (and world, really). They represent response to an unpredictable, unstoppable natural disasters.

And it's good to be prepared in these types of situations. Whether that means crouching down under desks or filing out the door, it's important to have a plan in these scenarios.

Duck and cover. GIF via "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"/YouTube.

In response to near-weekly school shootings, educators in eight states now practice another kind of emergency plan with their students: active shooter drills.

Since 2013, there have been more than 170 school shootings. While it seems like the obvious focus should be on figuring out how to prevent shooters from accessing guns in the first place, we've kind of accepted this as the new normal, a disaster as unpredictable as a fire.

Image via "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"/YouTube.

Last night's episode of "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" gave viewers a look at these drills and the industry behind them.

Bee met with Alon Stivi i, a former Israel Special Forces Op, to better understand what these drills mean. Essentially, it's a lesson in how to turn classroom items into weapons.

Stivi shows Bee how to use a pencil to stab someone. Seriously. Image via "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"/YouTube.

It's kind of terrifying.

Do active shooter drills do anything to stop the ever-rising number of school shootings?

No, and that's why they're not enough. All but two of the eight states (Illinois and New Jersey) have especially lax gun laws with wide loopholes that allow people to sidestep background checks in certain situations. In one of the states, a bill was proposed that would have made it a felony for lawmakers to even try to enact gun control.

Family members of gun violence victims gather before the second anniversary of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.

If lawmakers are serious about stopping school shootings, it's time they stand up to the gun lobby and the NRA.

Many politicians shy away from working on gun control legislation out of fear that they'll get a failing grade from the National Rifle Association and will lose their funding as a result. But maybe what they need to do is adopt the same type of bravery they're asking of kids in these situations and stand up to the organization.

If they, as a legislative body, stand up to the lobby and pass common sense reforms like background checks, waiting periods, and limits on the number of bullets a gun can fire before needing to reload, they can effectively strip the organization of its power.

"Full Frontal" demonstrated this with a brilliant children's theater production about why lawmakers are scared into voting against gun control legislation.

They point to Republicans — like New Mexico's Nate Gentry — who've stood up to the NRA as examples to follow. In 2013, Gentry pushed to close the "gun show loophole" that allowed some people to sidestep background checks. Even though the NRA was opposed to the bill, Gentry was reelected.

The dreaded F rating from the NRA! GIF via "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"/YouTube.

School shootings are not natural disasters, and we don't need to just accept this as the new normal. It's odd that there's only one country where this happens again and again, right? Let's change that.

So while there's nothing wrong with students being prepared for the worst-case scenario when it comes to active shooter situations, we need to do more to prevent those events from even taking place.

Right? It's pretty easy to understand. GIF via "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"/YouTube.

Watch Bee's segment on active shooter drills below.

Samantha Bee just can't with Texas' ridiculous new abortion law.

Lawmakers from around the country are so concerned about women's health, they've gone out of their way to make sure clinics that offer abortions are as "safe" as possible.

These laws — which regulate everything from the sex segregation of changing rooms in a facility to the width of the hallways — are so strict that dozens of clinics across the U.S. have been forced to close.

Between 2010 and 2013, more than 50 had shut their doors.

Samantha Bee spoke to one of the authors of one such law — Texas' HB2 — which currently is being challenged at the Supreme Court. To hear him tell it, he's just a sweet old guy who's concerned for everyone's safety. How considerate!

As funny as Bee's segment was, these laws are no joke.

Unable to overturn Roe v. Wade, abortion opponents have resorted to a sort of slow chipping away of abortion access at the state level. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights advocacy organization, states have enacted 231 abortion restrictions in just the last four years. After Texas' HB2 was passed, more than half of Texas' clinics were forced to close.

Areas like Texas' Rio Grande Valley — home to many poor and immigrant women — have seen their last clinic close in the last several years, forcing those seeking abortions to travel 240 miles to the nearest facility. As a result, reports of illegal abortions or people crossing into Mexico for the procedure are on the rise.

Even before HB2 was passed, a Texas Policy Evaluation Project report found that an estimated 100,000 Texans have tried to self-induce abortions. Many of those surveyed in the study cited lack of affordable access to reproductive health services as a reason.

As part of the Supreme Court case against HB2, real people who have chosen abortion have been sharing their stories with the justices. And they're critically important.

One woman:

\n\n

"I often tell people — and I believe it to be true — that access to a safe, legal abortion saved my life. If I had not had an abortion, I would have never been able to graduate high school, go to college, [or] escape my high-poverty rural county in Oregon.

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Another:

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"I was living in a three-bedroom house with nine people in an economically struggling area of town and I had no child care options available, besides dropping out of school. ... However, once I had my abortion, I was registered back in school three weeks later and went on to earn the highest grade-point average (GPA) in my high school, earning the opportunity to speak at graduation."

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Another:

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"[A]t the age of 18, I knew that I wanted to be a lawyer and did not want to follow in the footsteps of my mother, my grandmother and my great-grandmother in becoming a mother by the age of 18. Taking control of my reproductive freedom gave me the ability to be the first person in my family to graduate from high school, the first person to graduate from college, and the first person to achieve a post-graduate degree."

Many court watchers expect the justices will deadlock 4-4 on the case, which would leave the lower court ruling upholding Texas' law in place.

Should that happen, millions of Texas women will continue to have poor access to safe, reliable reproductive health care.

Relying on the courts to strike these restrictions down is no guarantee. If we want to get rid of them, we need to elect lawmakers who won't pass them in the first place.

Not just presidents and senators, but congressmen. State senators. State legislators. County executives. Mayors. Look up who supports the right to safe, affordable abortion services, and support them in turn.

\n\n

Not just this year, or every four years when there's a huge presidential election, but every election year, no matter how boring or insignificant. (Bee ran a pretty terrific segment on why this is so important in the same show.) Small elections can have big consequences.

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Vote.

From Your Site Articles

Samantha Bee's infuriating segment on sexual harassment is required viewing.

Cruise ships: For passengers, they're a chance to see the world without having to give up constant access to the cheese that makes America so great.

Many of the women who work on board these cruise ships, however, report getting a raw deal.

Last month, Jezebel reported that, since November 2015, Norwegian Cruise Lines no longer offers employees access to emergency contraceptives (the morning-after pill) unless they've been raped or sexually assaulted, forcing many women who either get pregnant or fear becoming pregnant to quit their jobs if they want to access family planning services.

On an episode of "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," Bee decided to interview several female former cruise ship employees to find out what was really going on behind the scenes.

What she found was disturbing and, sadly, all too real.

All the women she spoke to reported being subject to frequent sexual harassment on board and said that, when they reported it — surprise, surprise — many found their supervisors completely indifferent to their complaints.

\n\n

(The cruise ship section starts about 1:45 in, but the whole video is worth a watch.)

This problem doesn't just happen on cruise ships, unfortunately.

Bee also mentioned park rangers at the Grand Canyon, who reported facing withheld meals and intimidation when they rejected sexual advances from colleagues, and female comedians in Los Angeles, who have started online discussion groups to trade stories of harassment — on stage and off — as well as sexual assault.

There are, obviously, depressing statistics about this.

A Cosmopolitan survey of women in the workplace from 2015 found that an incredible 1 in 3 respondents had been harassed on the job. An ABC/Washington Post poll from four years earlier puts the number at 1 in 4.

Can anything be done about it?

While workplace harassment isn't currently on the congressional docket, a bill that seeks to add new protections against sexual assault and violence on college campuses is currently making its way through the House and Senate. There's not much movement on it, however, and unfortunately, a similar bill that sought to make it easier to prosecute rape crimes in the military recently failed.

\n\n

Our representatives won't feel the need to support these (or similar) measures unless we call them on it — and only vote for the ones that do. So let's do that.

And of course, the obvious...

Men (and women) can just ... stop sexually harassing and sexually assaulting their colleagues.

It's that simple!