Real Time with Bill Maher #345 03/06/15 "American Crime"

by Catherine Giordano


American Crime, ABC drama

The discussion on Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 345, which aired on March 6, 2015, was all about crime, American crime in many different forms.

Crime on TV

When I say crime, the first things that come to mind are things like murder, rape, theft, etc. Our newscasts are filled with that type of crime. Maher’s mid-show guest John Ridley is the show runner for a new ABC TV series American Crime. The show begins with a murder, but it is not your usual police procedural. The show is about the families--white, black, and Hispanic--and the effect this crime has on their lives.  it shows the aftermath of a crime and explores the reasons for crime.

Ridley won an Oscar 12 Years a Slave for the screenplay. He is also a novelist who has written several books (His most recent book is What Fire Cannot Burn.) I watched the first episode which aired (Thursday March 5, 2015) and the writing and story-telling reflect Ridley’s talent for writing and storytelling.

Maher and Ridley discussed how network TV is changing. Network TV is now doing the type of shows that you see on cable TV like HBO. In the past, an Oscar winner would not follow up his win with a TV series. Now writers (and actors) go wherever there are good opportunities for good story-telling and increasingly that is to be found on network TV.  

Scientology

Lawrence Wright, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, screenwriter, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and a fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law has a new book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. In this book he shows how Scientology is more a criminal enterprise than a religion.

I knew scientology was a nutty cult, but I didn’t know the half of it. The creation myth of this ‘religion” is that a Galactic overlord named Zenu lived on a planet very much like planet Earth in the 1950’s. About 75 million years ago due to over population he sent people to a prison planet, our Earth, and dropped them into volcanoes. So now we are all possessed by “fetens” and we have to get “clear.”(I may not have this exactly right-it is very confusing. I will need to read the book to get all this straight.” 

Why does Scientology attract so many Hollywood celebrates. It’s because the founder of the religion, L. Ron Hubbard (who may have be psychotic and who founded the religion in 1953), realized that Americans worshiped celebrities. If he could entice celebrities into his cult, other Americans would follow. They did to a certain extent—there are about 25,000 “members” of this “religion” in America. The Scientology Center in California is run like a prison—once in you can’t leave. 

Maher drew a parallel with more mainstream religions. “They sell you a problem and then they sell you a solution. “ In some religions the problem is sin; in Scientology, it is demons.

Hillary’s Emails

Did Hillary Clinton commit a crime when she used her own personal server for email while she was Secretary of State? Maher said that using the government email was only a rule not a law, and therefore there was no crime.  

David Axelrod, director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, former political adviser to President Obama, and author of Believer: My Forty Years in Politics said that they would not be any Republican outrage if Hillary was not presumed to be planning to run for President.  

However, even Democrats are calling for an explanation. Hillary’s refusal to explain why she did it is turning what may have been a perfectly reasonable action—previous secretaries of state and Jeb Bush did it when he was governor of Florida-- into a scandal.  

Maher said Hillary’s emails are probably boring. He’d rather see Bill’s emails.

Chris Christie

Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie has a new scandal every day. I think there are lots of crimes to be uncovered. The latest one involves a lawsuit against Exxon for environment damage for $11 billion. After 10 years of litigation, Christie stepped in and settled for 3% of the total amount $250 million!   

Genevieve Wood, senior contributor to The Daily Signal, multimedia news platform for the conservative Heritage Foundation, dismissed the whole thing saying, “These amounts always go down.” People like her treat politics like a religion. No matter how unbelievable, everything must be defended. Democrats are willing to question Hillary; whey can’t Republicans question Christie. Why are Republicans willing to look like fools to protect someone like Christie? 

The mid-show comedy segment

Wood gave me the perfect segue into the mid-show comedy segment. Maher based it on the white/gold or blue/black controversy. Democrats and Republicans just see things differently. He gave some examples using pictures.

Republicans see an elephant with 5 legs in this optical illusion photograph. Democrats see Chris Christie. 

In a picture of Senator Cory Booker carrying a dog from a burning building, Democrats see him rescuing a dog; Republicans see him stealing a dog. (Cory Booker is a black man and Republicans see all blacks as thugs. Of course that is an exaggeration, but as Maher said, “Not all Republicans are racists, but all racists are Republicans. If you are a racist looking for a political party, you are going to become a Republican.”) 

Selma

This weekend there will be a march on Selma on the 50^th anniversary of the infamous march on Selma. Not a single prominent Republican had planned to join the march, although there are many elected Democrats participating. (Late Friday, one Republican from congress said he would go.) Even Wood, for once said something reasonable, when she said that it was stupid for no Republicans to go.  

Fergusson

Matt Taibbi, "The Divide"

The entire city of Fergusson is involved in a “criminal shake-down” of poor black people. Instead of taxes, they fund the city with fines. Panel member Matt Taibbi is a journalist and author of several books including, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. He told us that he has researched this and Fergusson is not the only place that does this. “The courtrooms are filled with this.”  

Fergusson had a mostly all white police force to police a city that is 2/3 black. Ninety percent of the arrests they made were of black people. Axelrod said that Rand Paul was one of the few Republicans “on this, suggesting that perhaps left and right could come together on this. My response: Did you listen to Wood on this subject? She wasn’t on Paul’s side. She said that in New Orleans black police officers were arresting poor blacks—like that made it OK. [She was infuriating. She said the most insulting things with a smile.]

 

I Witnessed News
Being a news anchor who lies is not a crime, just a disgrace. Brian Williams made a couple of misstatements and apologized. He is no longer on the air. Bill O’Reilly tells whoppers and not only defends them, but threatens any reporter who dares to call him out. He’s still on the air. Granted he’s on Fox News and Fox News lies constantly and thus is not an actual news channel, but still.

ObamaCare/Socialism

ObamaCare is back in the Supreme Court. A typo in the bill could cause the whole thing to come crashing down if the Supreme Court does a partisan ruling again. The intent of the law as written is clear despite the one incidence of ambiguity.

Maher said that the plaintiffs in the case didn’t have standing. Two were veterans who get socialized medicine from the VA and one was only a few months short of being on the socialized medicine program Medicare.

Wood spouted the usual Republican clichés and lies about ObamaCare-- it’s a fiasco that was “not ready for prime time” and ”no one read the bill.”  

Axelrod defended ObamaCare. He spoke about how he nearly went bankrupt because his child had serious medical issues. He had insurance, just lousy insurance. Plus, because his child had a pre-existing condition, he could no longer get insurance until ObamaCare became law. 

On the subject of socialism, Maher pointed to all the good news on the economy—the Obama economy. In the monologue he said, “The economy is in a good state ready for the Republicans to come in and wreck it again.”  

Later Maher said that Obama is always accused of the “crime” of being a socialist. “The economy shows that either Obama is not a socialist or that socialism works.” It was a pleasure to watch Wood sputter when she could not come up with a way to answer this.  

[By the way, statistics show that the economy usually does better under Democratic presidents than under Republican presidents.] 

New Rules: Battle Loyal


Gotta love that picture of Giuliani

Republicans are very fond of accusing Obama of not loving America. The latest episode involved Giuliani sneering remarks. (This was discussed on the previous weeks show. See the review, Pardon Me.) 
 

Maher pointed out that Obama has repeatedly talked about loving America. One can love America and still point out mistakes this country has made and problems it needs to address. Maher said, “Republicans are like parents who think their kids can do no wrong and blame the teacher.”  
 

Republicans want to ban the history books that discuss any issues that reflect negatively on this country (e.g., racism, treatment of Native Americans.” He said “We can’t turn the page on America’s bad things, if we don’t read the page first.  

Maher pointed out that we have done some things to remedy the past like giving the Native Americans casino’s, but “it wouldn’t have been necessary if we hadn’t been dicks in the first place.”

Bill Maher’s Guests #344 March 6, 2015

 

Lawrence Wright:  
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, screenwriter, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, fellow at the Center for Law and Security at the New York University School of Law. His newest book is Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief 

David Axelrod: Director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, former political adviser to President Obama, and author of Believer: My Forty Years in Politics

 

Matt Taibbi: Journalist and author of several books. His latest book is The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap

John Ridley, Jr.: Screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave (for which he won an Oscar in 2013), film director, currently television show runner for American Crime, an ABC drama about race relations (inspired by Trayvon Martin and Fergusson) and novelist. His most recent book is What Fire Cannot Burn

Genevieve Wood: Senior contributor to The Daily Signal, multimedia news platform for the conservative Heritage Foundation

Real Time with Bill Maher #267 "What About Dick"

By Catherine Giordano

I’m naming this review of the season finale of Real Time with Bill Maher, episode #267, aired on November 16, 2012, “What About Dick?” Don’t go there!  Dick is a man’s name and Eric Idle, the special guest this week, wrote a play entitled “What About Dick.”  (It is in a Los Angeles theater.)

Okay, now I am going to go there—into the land of double-entendres. Now usually, I try to keep things clean here, which if you know Bill, is not all that easy to do. This week Bill and friends (and the stuff in the news) have made that a really hard task. 

Bill’s opening monologue was unusual this week. It was devoted almost entirely to a single topic—the David Patreaus-and-friends sex scandal. Bill is not one to condemn anyone for their sex lives, but he had a good point when he said “I do sorta care that the CIA director can’t keep a secret.”  He referred to Jill Kelly, the other other woman as a Gypsy Grifter—part Khadashian, part Sarah Palin, part Snooki. This is the “insult-one-get-three-free” moment of the week.  He took down four airheads with one line.

Patreaus really screwed-up giving Bill enough material for the entire monologue. What was Patreaus thinking when he wrote all those emails. Or maybe the question should be what was he thinking with? “His d---.”

Bill did the interview with Dave Axelrod. Naturally, they talked about the election and Obama’s victory. Bill asked Axelrod why Democrats won’t come on his show. “I know I’m a pot- smoking potty-mouth, atheist, but…”  “There you go,” Axelrod said. They got it right, but I feel it is a shame that prominent Democrats feel that it would hurt their reputation to be seen with Bill. Bill is also an insightful political commentator and a great comedian. 

Bill and Axelrod discussed the tea party for a while. They said that losing made the Republicans nuts, although some of them were that way before, even before there was a tea party. However the tea party made them nuttier because special interests came in and shaped the group and exploited them.

There is a lot of discussion among Republicans about changing the party’s message.  I don’t see how that is successful for them. One, they want to change the words they use (try to be a little less insulting), but not the things they believe and want to do. Two, if they become more moderate, they lose the radical right wing base of the party, and if they become more right wing (as they did in the last election), the lose the moderates. They have become the party of the super rich and since that is too small a base for winning elections they have to bring in the haters, thee crazies, and the misinformed.  (Research has shown that people who watch no news at all are better informed than people who watch only Fox News.) Further ,the people who have become rich pandering to the haters and crazies (e.g. Rush Limbaugh) are not going to stop saying the things that have made them rich. I don’t think the Republican party has a path back. Republicans know this, hence all the efforts at voter suppression. They know they can’t win elections with their ideas.

The panel included Ana Navarro who was billed as a Republican strategist and CNN contributor. She lost me at “Hello.” She had that smug, condescending, know-it-all smile on her face. However, she did make a few good points all the while speaking in a school-marm voice.  She tried to dismiss Romney as “old news.” She said he should GOP—Get Out of the Picture.  She noted that Republicans twisted themselves into pretzels trying to defend Romney prior to the election, and now Republicans condemn him when he says the same things he said before. (Awww, no one loves a loser.) She said Republicans had to take the asylum back from the inmates. However, everything she said sounded like rehearsed lines, and not like something that was the result of genuine thought. It sounded like she had decided to position herself as a moderate, and so she said moderate-sounding things.

And then Pow! Ana said something so stunningly stupid. The panel was talking about why Patraeus had to resign, she said, “Women are smarter than men. Women can get around men especially when men are horny.”  (She evidently thinks that women can lead all men around by their “d---s.”) Everyone just stared at her because her statement had nothing to do with the subject they were talking about. (Also, I doubt this pasty-faced over-stuffed sofa of a women knows anything about what men do when they are horny, never having been around a horny man. ) (And yes, I’m ashamed for my gratuitous insult, but she really annoys me.)

The panel spoke about gerrymandering and how that was the only reason the Republicans kept their majority in the house.  In the Congressional races, more people voted for Democrats than Republicans, but the Republicans had “safe” districts.  Ana said that gerrymandering was good because some districts were gerrymandered in favor of Hispanics and African-Americans.  Wrong again, and very self serving because she is Hispanic. I don’t want any “safe” districts. I want congresspeople to be accountable to the voters on election day. Good African-American and Hispanic candidates can win in fair districts. My thought is that redistricting should be given to an impartial team of cartographers. They should have population counts and NO other information. Then districts would be fair and would represent neighborhoods.

Michael Moore, the documentary filmmaker, author, and Democrat was another panelist. (Just to show that I am fair, I want to say Michael’s appearance leaves a lot to be desired. He reminds me of the sagging over-stuffed arm chair, springs-popping, stuffing-hanging, upholstery-fading. Michael, you are a successful intelligent man—start looking like one!)

Michael is a great guest because he is intelligent and witty. He spoke about these petitions to secede from the United States that have popped up all over since Obama won re-election.  (Remember, the old “love it or leave it” taunt—maybe these secessionists should just all leave to a country more to their liking—if any will have them.)  Michael said, “Let the Red States go. The Blue States have all the money. The Red States are one big Mississippi.”

David Frum, a republican and author of Why Romney Lost was the third panelist. David Frum is an intelligent and reasonable person, although he is one of the ones who has to occasionally twist himself into a pretzel to defend Republican ideas. Unlike most of the Republican guests, he speaks in a calm and thoughtful way. He tried to defend Romney’s post election comments by saying every losing candidate is bitter, but they are not usually taped.  (Bitter? I think Romney is “acting like a d---.)

Frum thinks that in the Republican party “the ice is cracking, and new ideas are coming.”  Well, I guess that is win-win.  If Republicans don’t change, they go the way of the Whigs and Democrats rule.  If Republicans do change, they stay in the game, but they govern better.

For the mid-show comedy bit, Bill went on a rant about Romney’s comment that Obama won because he gave “gifts.” Some see gifts; some see good policies that invest in America and make her a stronger, better country. Plus, turnaround is fair play. Bill listed the gifts that Romney promised his backers—the rich ones: Tax cuts, deregulation, defense contracts, turning Medicare over to insurance companies, and giving high-interest student loans back to the banks.

Towards the end of the show, Bill continued his tradition of giving end of season predictions—the headlines we might see while the show is on hiatus. One of them was “Romney’s second and third wife revealed.” (I know cheap shot—but funny.)

In New Rules, Bill had these cautionary words for Obama. “You can interpret the election in two ways. One, we love you. Two, we like you 3% better than Romney.”  He told progressives to hold Obama’s feet to the fire. He told Obama, “There’s no third-term. Throw caution to the wind.”  He suggested never say “clean coal” again—it’s an oxymoron, “like internet privacy, tea-party intellectual, or Fox News journalist.” He said, how about a “surprise retreat” from Afghanistan.  He suggested that we don’t rewrite social security; we rewrite the Patriot Act.

Bill closed with the topic near and dear to his heart. End the “war on drugs.” Colorado and Massachusetts made marijuana legal. Don’t send the feds in. Republicans can’t object—it’s States Rights. He ended with “I’m not a teenager and you are not my mother. There’s a much better way to confirm your suspicions that I’m smoking pot and hanging out with the wrong people. Just watch the show!”

Of course, I will watch the show. Bill and friends will be back on January 18 2013, and so will I.

 

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