Monday, June 29, 2015

Real Time with Bill Maher #358 06/26/15 "A Very Good Week"

by Catherine Giordano


Rainbow  flag
The rainbow flag flies.
Real Time with Bill Maher, episode #358, which aired on 6/26/2015, reminded us that it was a very good week.  

“The Confederate Flag went down and the Rainbow Flag went up,” Maher said in his opening monologue. It was a very good week, except maybe for Lindsey Graham. Maher chided the Republicans for acting like a bunch of “drama queens” about the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. “They do realize that same sex marriage is not mandatory?” Maher quipped. You wouldn’t know it by how outraged they are.

It was a great week for Obama. It was such a good week for Obama that Maher said, “It was like an episode of The West Wing.”

The Affordable Care Act survived the challenge to it in the Supreme Court. It was saved by a six to three ruling, with Kennedy and Roberts joining the liberals. They actually ruled on only a very narrow bit of law—whether or not four words, essentially just a typo, could overturn the clear meaning and intent of the act as a whole. They ruled that it could not. This ruling said nothing about the merit, or lack of merit, of the law as a whole. However, just the fact that the law survived is cause for celebration.  

Next Obama got the fast track approval he wanted in order to negotiate the TPP trade deal. He did it by getting mostly Republican votes. So weird that this time it was Democrats opposing him. I trust Obama. What could be his reason for negotiating a bad deal that hurts American jobs? He doesn’t need campaign donations. And he certainly doesn’t need to do something that would tarnish his legacy. 

Obama has finally learned how to play the political game. It is so sad about how long it takes presidents to get savvy enough to get their legislation passed. One good thing about having Hillary as president is that she won’t have that learning curve. She’s done it all before when her husband was president. She can be an effective president on Day One.  


So many times I have said, “Obama gave the best speech ever.” He did it again on Friday afternoon at the funeral for Clementa Pinckney. The White House announced that it would not be a political speech, and in some ways it wasn’t. It celebrated the life of “Clem” (as the president called him a few times), and he joined the family and friends in grief. However the political message for gun control, for voting rights, for equality, and against the remnants of Jim Crow came through loud and clear. I could see how his years as a community organizer when he worked with black churches was proving to be time well spent because he learned oratory from the best during those years, His speech rivaled the “I come to bury Caesar not to praise him” speech given in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, in the masterful way he wove his political themes into a funeral oration.  


Obama had barely finished speaking before those confederate flags started coming down. 


If you missed that speech, listen to it right now.




 
The interview
I am supposed to be reviewing Bill Maher’s show here and I went way off on a tangent. You can’t blame me--even the interview began with the sentence “I am so proud of this president.” 
The interview was with Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She said, “Renewables are how we protect public health. That’s my job and I’m doing it.” 

Talking about the coal industry, Maher said, “Why do we want to save the worst jobs in the world.” There should be money for retraining so the coal minors can have jobs that don’t kill them. McCarthy agreed saying “It is not a choice between saving the planet and jobs.” Exactly right. Investing in renewable fuel will help save the planet while being good for jobs and the economy. 

ObamaCare/Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Maher, speaking about Republicans vows to repeal the Act, said, “When it (the ACA) is five years old, you have to stop talking about abortion." I'll add: It is even too late to kill it in its crib.  

You can always count on Michael Eric Dyson, MSNBC political analyst, contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, and author of several books, including Debating Race: with Michael Eric Dyson, to speak his mind—straight up and with eloquence. Dyson said: “If you think it is bad, then fix it.” “They are against it, but they don’t know what they are for.” “Why doesn’t Congress let the people have [the health insurance plan] that they have?”  

Mary Katherine Hamm, contributing editor to Town Hall magazine, contributor to Fox News, and co-author of End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun) chimed in. “There aren’t enough doctors.” Of all the arguments against the ACA this is the most despicable. Other people should die so Hamm doesn’t have to wait an extra week for a doctor’s appointment. If there are not enough doctors, then get more doctors, allow nurses to do more of the routine tasks, etc.  
I know nothing about this woman. However, based on the title of her book, I predicted that I would not like her and that she would talk over the other guests. I was right on both counts.

Gay Marriage
Dyson talked about the many politicians like Obama and Hillary Clinton who have changed their minds on this issue along with most of America (Today about 60% of Americans are for allowing same sex couples to marry.) Dyson said, “People do evolve.” Then a slip of the tongue: “Why shouldn’t gay people be as miserable—I mean as happy as …”
Kristen Soltis Anderson, co-founder of Echelon Insights (an opinion research firm), contributing editor for The Daily Beast and the author of The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials are Leading the Country (and How Republicans Can Keep Up), agreed that opinions on this had changed rapidly, but “not as fast as they did for the Confederate flag.” True enough, the Confederate flag thing seemed to happen overnight.  

Maher pointed out that Chief Justice Roberts had a “hissy fit,” and although “he was not as bad as Scalia, that is not saying much.”)  

Mid Show comedy: Headlines
Whenever Real Time goes on hiatus, Maher does a headlines segment, where he predicts headlines that you might see while he is off the air. Here are some of them: 
  • Justice Scalia Gets Show on fox News
  • Jesus Christ Returns. Declares Climate Change Real. GOP Says “He’s No Scientist.”
  • Lindsey’s Graham: “He’s Not Gay” Says Roommate of 25 Years
Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow
Josh Apatow and Bill Maher Discuss Bill Cosby
Maher and Josh Apatow have known each other a long time and you could see the friendship that exists between them. Apatow is the producer and director of the new film Trainwreck and author of a new book, Sick in the Head: Conversations About Lifeand Comedy. He is a comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter, best known for the 90’s TV show, Freaks and Geeks.

They began by talking about Bill Cosby. Maher said, “He has put more people to sleep than warm milk.”  

Apatow said that the 40 women who have accused Cosby had no reason to lie. They were not seeking fame or fortune; many of Cosby’s accusers already had both. Apatow said he knew one woman who has not come forward who was one of his victims. Maher replied,” I don’t know any women who don’t have a story about him." 
 
Conald-Trump-Ape
Maher likes to depict Trump as an ape.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump entering the Republican primary and immediately shooting up to second place in polls of Republicans is another reason it was a very good week. Maher said, “He is the guy for people who like belligerence. And added “He’s the white Kanye.” 

Dyson said, “His views are what millions of people think.” When Maher said, “He’s all id.” Dyson said, “Id as in Idiot.”

Maher suggested a Trump-Christie ticket. “Fuhgeddaboutit.”

I think Trump is the best thing that could have happened for liberals. He just ups the clown factor of the “clown car.” He will be slandering every serious candidate. He’s already had plenty to say about JEB!. He will get on the debate stage and make outrageous statements about how all Mexicans are rapists. If the other candidates agree, they alienate the base of the party that agrees with Trump. If they disagree, they alienate middle of the road Americans and Hispanics who they must win to their side. Further, just by being on the stage with the other candidates makes Americans think that this is what the Republican Party is all about. Why would anyone want to be part of a party that puts Trump in the top tier of candidates for the presidential nomination?

New Rules—Doubt Sourcing
Bill Maher thinks we have a right to know where our meat comes from. Certain business interests don’t want us to know. Republicans want to erase meat labels and repeal the estate tax so Maher has the perfect slogan for them “Eat shit and die!” That line got one of the biggest laughs of the night. 

Maher told us that a single burger could have meat in it from 100 cows. “A big gang bang in your mouth.” Another big laugh.

Republicans think “We should balance facts with anti-facts. We are the United States of We Don’t Wanna Know.” 

Maher pointed out that it is a crime to film inside a slaughter house. (It seems the last time that was done, it resulted in the biggest meat recall in history. Apparently pushing cows too sick to stand into a meat grinder just wasn’t appetizing.) “Everyone in America is under constant surveillance—except livestock.” 

He ended, “Your right to know something will always be outweighed by their right to hide it from you.” 

It was a very good week
It was a very good week for the country. It was a very good week for Bill Maher’s show. Maher will be back on August 6, 2015. Until then, we will have to cap off our week on Friday night with reruns.   
 

List of Guests  #358, June 26, 2014

The Interview:
Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Mid Show Guest:
Judd Apatow, Producer and Director of the new film Trainwreck; author of the new book, Sick in the Head: Conversations About Lifeand Comedy, comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter, best known for the 90’s TV show, Freaks and Geeks

Panel
Michael Eric Dyson, MSNBC political analyst, contributing op-ed writer for the New York Times, author of several books, including Debating Race: with Michael Eric Dyson

Kristen Soltis Anderson, Co-founder of Echelon Insights, an opinion research firm, contributing editor for The Daily Beast and the author of The Selfie Vote: Where Millennials are Leading the Country (and How Republicans Can Keep Up)
 
Mary Katherine Hamm: Contributing editor to Town Hall magazine, contributor to Fox News, co-author of End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun)

Friday, June 19, 2015

Real Time with Bill Maher #357 6/19/15 "Kick-Ass"

Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders
by Catherine Giordano

Real Time with Bill Maher was a kick-ass show on June 19, 2015, when episode 357 aired.


The interview was with Bernie Sanders. He is kicking ass on the issues hard and I love him for it. I believe he has changed his registration from Independent to Democratic so I am claiming him for the D’s. 

Another guest, Ann Coulter, just kicks ass because it is all a game to her and a way to sell her stupid books and I hate her for it. [Ann Coulter is a conservative commentator and author of many diatribe books. Her latest book is Adios,America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole.]

Bill Maher had to give his conservative guests an ass-kicking several times for telling lies and for their bad behavior on the show. He had to remind Coulter and panelist Matt Lewis (political blogger for the libertarian Daily Caller, contributor to The Week magazine, and author of Too Dumb toFail: How the GOP Won Elections by Sacrificing Its Ideas (And How It CanReclaim Its Conservative Roots) that guests are not allowed to talk over each other. You would have thought they would have learned that in kindergarten. Wait your turn, a--holes!
 
The SC murders
There is not a lot of humor to be milked from these horrific murders. The only thing funny was watching the Republican presidential candidates twist themselves into knots trying to avoid saying that this incident had anything to do with race. The confessed murderer said, “I want to kill black people.” And “I want to start a race war.” But Republicans (some, not all) and Fox News (pretty much everyone) were saying “What could have motivated him?” Maher asked, “Isn’t denying racism a form of racism.”   

The senseless murders of good decent people in a SC church on Wednesday June 17, 2015 got me to thinking about the death penalty. If anybody ever deserved the death penalty it is Dylann Storm Root who murdered nine people in cold blood with premeditation after spending an hour with them in Bible study because he hated black people. When I first heard about this, I was thinking no punishment is too harsh for him. 
 
But then I watched the families of the victims, one by one, look Root in the eye as they struggled to contain their grief, and say that they forgave him. And I knew that the death penalty is immoral no matter how heinous the crime or the murderer. The families showed immense dignity and set an example for us all about how to hold to your moral ideals no matter how great the challenge.  
 
The family members of the victims are true heroes. 
 
The Confederate flag and racism

Luis Gutierrez
Luis Gutierrez: "Take the fag down."
The only good thing to come out of this is that the Confederate flag may finally be removed from public property. Panel member Luis Gutierrez, Congressional Representative (D, IL), was especially eloquent. He said “Take the Flag down! The Civil War was over 150 years ago." 
 
Maher said, “It is the flag of treason.” [I agree.]
 
Matt Lewis, of course, had to defend the flag and introduce misinformation to do so. He said it was still flying because of a SC Democratic governor. True enough, but misleading. Maher had to explain that was a governor who held office in the “Old South,” before the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and the consequent Republicanization of the South, back when the Southern Democrats were the racists. 

Maher handed Lewis’ ass to him when he said, “We can never know why someone snaps, but I know where he got his news. I looked at your website, Matt Lewis, there was a lot of news about blacks.”

Maher scoffed at those who are trying to make this part of the war on Christians just because it took place in a church. (He was talking to you Republicans and Fox News hosts.) Lewis tried to claim that the killer murdered Christians in a church because he was an atheist because of Maher’s atheist’s views. 
 
Joy Reid, host of The Reid Report on MSNBC, managing editor of the Grio.com, columnist for the Miami Herald, and the author of Fracture:Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide, had to point out that the killer’s clothing and car bore the flags of Rhodesia, South Africa, and the Confederacy—all white supremacy Christian countries.
 
Gutierrez added that the killer said “They [Black people] are taking over our country, raping our women.” Does that sound familiar? It is exactly what Donald Trump said when he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president. Only he said it about Mexicans.
 
The Pope and climate change
Pope Francis
Pope Francis
Bill Maher loves Pope Frank again. Maher said that the Pope “opened up a can of whoop ass” when he delivered his encyclical.
 
On climate change, the Pope said, “Halfway measures delay the inevitable. We are creating a world of filth.” And he also had plenty to say about poverty, justice, and economic inequality. All the Republicans came at the Pope hard.
 
Gutierrez said that the Republicans are running scared because the pope is coming to the United States. He will talk about these issues and it may cause them to lose the Catholic vote.
 
Lewis’ opinion is full speed ahead, business as usual, was a matter of public policy—it creates jobs. Reid flung his words back in his face. “Is it public policy to not be able to drink the water [because of fracking and oil spills]?” I will add that renewable energy and other “green” policies will create jobs.
 
Desperate for a comeback because he was obviously losing the argument, Lewis said to Maher, “You come to Right to Life and I will be a radical environmentalist.” Is that how it works Lewis? You trade your principles like kids in a schoolyard trading baseball cards?
 
The presidential nomination race
If Donald Trump gets elected president, will the presidency become a reality TV show? I don’t think Trump really wants to win. He just wants a platform from which to tell the world how great he is. Maher said, “Trump was talking out of his ass so much that a roadie came up and put a mic behind him.”
 
Trump said Mexicans bring drugs, crime and they are rapists. Maher said, “No that’s fraternities.” He added, “It is like your abnormal psych textbook came to life.”
 
Jeb Bush earned some Maher contempt also. This week Jeb Bush told the Pope that he should keep faith out of politics. Maher said, “This from the person who brought faith INTO politics.” (As governor of Florida he appointed a guardian for the fetus to prevent a mentally incompetent woman from aborting a pregnancy that resulted from rape despite a court ruling that she could do so. He interfered to keep a brain dead woman—Terry Schiavo—on life support after the courts had ruled that life support should be terminated. He was constantly ignoring the law and making faith-based decisions. 

Bernie Sanders is the best presidential candidate out there in terms of his ideas. He says, “Our country belongs to all of us, not just a few billionaires.” Sanders believes that the United States should join the rest of the world on things like health care and free college education. He said, "We are the wealthiest country in the world, but it is not sustainable with wealth concentrated in the hands of the few."
 
Senator  Sanders (D, formerly I, VT), is running for  the Democratic nomination for president. He is well-known for being America’s only Socialist senator and for his 8.5 hour filibuster against tax cuts for the rich and other economic injustices. You can read his full speech in his book, Bernie'sSpeech: Complete and Unedited. [You might also want to learn more about socialism. John Nichols has written an excellent book on the topic: The S Word: A Short History of an AmericanTradition...Socialism.
 
I’ll give my opinions here. Bernie is closing in on Hillary Clinton in the polls. He is so refreshing because he tells the truth and he looks like he is excited about his ideas. Hillary is the far more qualified candidate but she gets called inauthentic. I think it is because she has this robotic quality about her. She needs to throw away her scripts and give a speech from the heart. Talk like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. No one calls them inauthentic. They sound like they mean what they say. Show a little passion, Hillary.
 
Here’s another recommendation to Hillary. If you are running against Jeb (whose wife is Mexican or Rubio who is Cuban (or even if you are not), you might want to have a Hispanic on your ticket. You couldn’t go wrong with Luis Gutierrez. He’s authentic.
 

Dad Bods
Dad-Bods
Dad Bods
Dads who let themselves go got ribbed in the midshow comedy segment--once hot movie stars start to get a bit of a paunch.

So Maher did a mockup of a magazine called Dad Bods. He gave the blurbs for the articles. Here are some of them.
 
  • Paul Giamatti: Sexiest man alive
  • What happens in the garage stays in the garage
  • 7 STD’s you wish you had a chance to get
  • 12 TV shows you should be falling asleep in front of
  • Ooff vs. Argh: Which picking-things-up grunt is right for you?
  • Finally, jeans that flatter your front butt
 
New Rules Gag-Reflex
The final New Rules segment was more “Explaining Jokes to Idiots.” Maher says there is a “new brand of censorship that doesn’t care if the joke is actually offensive. You just can’t say certain words.”
 
Maher says when Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy “all say you have a stick up your ass, u don’t need to wait for the X-rays to come back.” Maybe political correctness has gone too far. All three of these comedians will no longer play college campuses because too many things have been declared off limits. Maher said that it is like the start of a joke—“a black, a Jew, and a redneck …”

“Jokes about men? Yes. Gay men? No.” 

“Jokes about kim Kardahian's ass? Yes. Her stepfather's tits? No.“
 
To make his point, Maher told a Muslim joke. “Islam is a religion of peace. A piece of you here. A piece of you there.” He said it is funny because Muslims blow stuff up more than anyone with the possible exception of the U. S. military.  
 
Friday nights 10pm
Get your ass on the couch in front of a screen next Friday night at 10pm. Watch Real Time with Bill Maher. Because you never know when he will release a can of whoop ass.
 
 
Bill Maher’s Guests, June 19, 2015, episode 357:  
 
The interview 
Bernie Sanders: Senator (D, formerly I, VT), Candidate for the Democratic nomination for president. He is well-known for being America’s only Socialist senator and for his 8.5 hour filibuster against tax cuts for the rich and other economic injustices. You can read his full speech in his book, Bernie'sSpeech: Complete and Unedited. [You might also want to learn more about socialism. John Nichols has written an excellent book on the topic: The S Word: A Short History of an AmericanTradition...Socialism.]
 
Mid show guest
Ann Coulter: Conservative commentator and author of many diatribe books. Her latest book is Adios,America: The Left's Plan to Turn Our Country into a Third World Hellhole. [I wanted to dip my cursor into a vat of disinfectant just because it touched that title.]
 
Panel
Luis Gutierrez Congressional Representative (D, IL)
 
Joy Reid: Host of The Reid Report on MSNBC, managing editor of the Grio.com and columnist for the Miami Herald. She is also the author of Fracture:Barack Obama, the Clintons, and the Racial Divide
 
Matt Lewis: Political blogger for the libertarian Daily Caller, contributor to The Week magazine, and author of Too Dumb toFail: How the GOP Won Elections by Sacrificing Its Ideas (And How It CanReclaim Its Conservative Roots)   
 


Friday, June 12, 2015

Real Time with Bill Maher #356 06/12/15 "Turn Up the Heat"

by Catherine Giordano

Turn up the Heat Match flame
Bill Maher turned up the heat.


Bill Maher and his guests turned up the heat on a number of people and topics in the news this week on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday, June 12, 2015, on HBO at 10pm.

Maher and his guests were on fire.




The interview was with Ed Begley, Jr.

Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr.
Ed Begley, Jr. gave a wonderful interview. He is an actor best known for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series St. Elsewhere (1982-1988). However, as Maher said, Begley only takes actor work to support his true vocation, environmentalist. . He is in the process of building “North America’s greenest most sustainable home.” You can watch the progress of this project on the web series On Begley Street
Begley is building it with recycled steel and has a 10,000 gallon underground storage tank for water. Maher said that he gave up his lawn because of the drought and he doesn’t miss it Begley said lawns go back to feudal times. It was a way for a rich landowner to say, “I’m so rich that I don’t have to grow crops on vast swaths of my land.” 

CLICK HERE
However, the main thing Begley wanted to talk about was not his house, but bees--specifically colony collapse disorder (CCD. We may be in danger of losing our bees. If we do not have bees to pollinate the crops, we would lose a major part of our food supply.    

Maher said, “Bees have a special place in our eco-system. Einstein said that if we wipe out our bees, we got four years to live. They are our tiniest farm workers.” Begley quipped, “And they are paid about as much.”  

I was so surprised to hear them start off the interview talking about bees because I had just written an essay on CCD. Bees leave the hive to forage and they just disappear. No one knows what causes this but it may be as Begley said “death by 1000 cuts.” So many environmental factors are stressing them that it is more than they can cope with.

Learn more about this by reading my essay: What is Killing the Honey Bees? | Colony Collapse Disorder.


Jeff Ross
Roastmaster General Jeff Ross
The mid-show guest, Jeff Ross, talked about prisons.

Jeff Ross is a stand-up comedian who is known as the “Roastmaster General” because he often hosts roasts. . He is the author of a book I Only Roast the Ones I Love: How to Bust Balls Without Burning Bridges. You can also enjoy Jeff Ross on DVD: Jeff Ross Roasts America. He has a new special, Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals, airing on Comedy Central this week.

He was playing with fire when he went to a prison and did a comedy show roast with the inmates. He wrote about his experiences on The Huffington Post website. His article is: I Went to a Texas Jail to Roast the Inmates; Here's What I Learned About Incarceration in America

Ross began the interview by saying, “I’ve roasted Charlie Sheen and Justin Bieber so I am ready for criminals.” He had a lot of incendiary things to say about the prison system in the United States.  

  • There are more black men in prison in the United States now than there were slaves in 1850.
  • There are more prisons in the United States than colleges.
  • Jails are mental institutions now.  [The mentally ill are sent to prison instead of receiving medical treatment.]

Ross told the inmates, “Crime doesn’t pay. No, it doesn’t pay for you.” He was referring to the face that prisons are big business. Maher said the towns with prisons are company towns, like with military bases. It’s true that the prisons are often in rural areas. The jobs provided by the prison are vital to the local economy.   

My thoughts are that there are too many states turning to for-profit prisons. They will need a steady supply of convicts to be successful in this business. 

Ross told the convicts. “Some of you are here for possession of less marijuana than I have in my longs right now.” Some people are in prison for marijuana possession in states where marijuana is now legal.  

Ross and Maher also discussed that although the prisons are called correctional institutions, there is very little to no rehabilitation being done. There are often long periods of solitary confinement that can wreak havoc on a person’s sanity. Most of the inmates will be sent back into society worse than when they came in. Is it any wonder the re-incarceration rate is so high. But a high re-incarceration rate is good for business.

The out of control cop at the pool party
 
Maher discussed the pool party where a white cop got burned up about some black teenagers.

Mike Pesca
Mike Pesca
Panelist Mike Pesca is the host of Slate’s podcast, The Gist, a frequent contributor to PBS’s The Newshour, and a commentator on MSNBC and CNN. He was previously a national correspondent for NPR for nearly 10 years covering a variety of topics such as sports, pop culture, politics, and economics.  Pesca said, "At least there was no dead body this time.”  He added, “Twelve cops were on the scene, 11 were good, 1 was crazy.”  The crazy one did pull his gun at one point. I think the presence of the other 11 cops acted as a restraint and that is why there was no dead body.  
 


Alexis Goldstein
Alexis Goldstein
 
Panelist Alexis Goldstein is the communications director for The Other 98%, an organizer with The Debt Collective, and a contributing writer to Medium.com’s Bull Market blog. She said, “Cops see black kids as older and more violent than their black counterparts.” Later she added, “Police over-police people of color.” 

 
 
 

Ron Christie
 Christie

Ron Christie, a columnist for The Daily Beast and founder and president of Christie Strategies, LLC (an independent media and political strategy firm).  Christie is the author of two books: Blackwards: How Black Leadership Is Returning America to the Days of Separate but Equal and Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur.He was the conservative on the panel.
 
Christie went straight for blame-the-victim. He said, “People shouldn’t antagonize the cops.” He also claimed that the incident wasn’t racist.  


Economic Inequality
 
Economic inequality is going to play a role in the presidential campaigns.  

Maher said that Scott Walker was stealing Bill Clinton’s signature line “Work hard and play by the rules.” Christie couldn’t resist an off-topic snide remark, saying, “I think Bill played by his rules.” 

Pesca said the problem was the decrease in social mobility. “It’s impossible if you are not born into the top 20%.” 

Goldstein said, “We must tax capital the same as labor. Ronald Reagan said that.”  

Maher said that Republicans were starting to talk about economic inequality, but their answer is the same as before--Tax cuts for the rich which is pretty much their answer for everything.   

And then Christie did that thing that conservatives always do: Tell a bald-faced lie with an air of great conviction. “The tax cuts increased tax revenue.” No one had ever heard this before, but no one happened to have the tax revenue data on hand to refute him. So they stared at him stupefied, and then the conversation moved on.  

Bernie Sanders Liberal Erotica—mid show comedy
 
Bernie Sanders has come under fire to an essay he wrote in 1972 about women and gang-rape fantasies. He says it was meant as satirical fiction.   

This led to Maher doing some satirical fiction of his own as he spoofed erotic fiction with a book called “Be Still My Bleeding Heart.” The bit was about a man shopping at whole foods who has a burning desire for the woman with a body "like Ruth Bader Ginsburg” who works there as a cashier.  

“’When do you get off?’ he asked. She replied, ‘When Elizabeth Warren talks about credit card abuse.’”   

Later our couple gets it on and “she screams like Howard Dean after he wins a primary.” It ends with our young man saying “You are the sexiest woman” and she says, “Call me Caitlyn.” 

New Rules: Spy vs. I
 
Maher quoted the advertising line, “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” and then told us how burned up he was about the fact that there is no privacy anymore. "I bought a pair of shoes online and now facebook thinks I’m obsessed with shoes." If you carry a smart phone everyone knows where you are. And “every stupid thing you say or do is recorded and uploaded to the internet for all eternity.” 

[Interestingly, Maher did this rant right after a previous New Rules segment that featured him making fun of a fight between two women at a Wal-Mart that was recorded and uploaded to the internet for all eternity.] 

Maher ended saying, “There is never a moment to let your guard down” and “Everyone starts to alter their behavior for the camera.” Then we see the video clip of the cop at the pool party doing that infamous “drop and roll” on ground and Maher concludes, “Except for the cops. They still don’t give a shit.”


List of Guests: June 12, 2015  
St. Elsewhwere
St. Elsewhere



 

The interview 
Ed Begley Jr. is an actor and environmentalist. He is in the process of building “North America’s greenest most sustainable home.” You can watch the progress of this project on the web series On Begley Street.    

Begley has won six Emmy nominations for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series St. Elsewhere (1982-1988).



Mid-show guest
Jeff Ross is a stand-up comedian who has a new special, Jeff Ross Roasts Criminals, airing on Comedy Central on Saturday June 13, 2015. He actually went to a prison and did a comedy show roast with them. He wrote about his experiences on The Huffington Post website. His article is: I Went to a Texas Jail to Roast the Inmates; Here's What I Learned About Incarceration in America I expect he will be talking about his experiences in the prison on Maher’s show. 

Ross is known as the “Roastmaster General” because he often hosts roasts. He is the author of a book I Only Roast the Ones I Love: How to Bust Balls Without Burning Bridges. You can also enjoy Jeff Ross on DVD: Jeff Ross Roasts America.
 
The Panel
Mike Pesca: Host of Slate’s podcast, The Gist, frequent contributor to PBS’s The Newshour, commentator on MSNBC and CNN. He was previously a national correspondent for NPR for nearly 10 years covering a variety of topics such as sports, pop culture, politics, and economics.  

Alexis Goldstein: Communications director for The Other 98%, organizer with The Debt Collective, contributing writer to Medium.com’s Bull Market blog.

Ron Christie: Columnist for The Daily Beast, founder and president of Christie Strategies, LLC (an independent media and political strategy firm). He was formerly a Special Assistant for domestic policy to former President George W. Bush.