Real Time with Bill Maher #346 03/13/15 "Real Mature"

Congressional Republicans
and other spoiled brats are like this baby.

by Catherine Giordano

Bill Maher summed up the week’s news with two words “Real mature!” on Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 346, which aired on HBO on March 13, 2015.  

The letter to Iran

“Real mature,” was Maher’s summation of the letter to Iran. It was spoken sarcastically and it referred to the 47 Republicans who signed the letter to Iran in order to undermine the negotiations that Obama and the leaders of other allied countries are having with Iran to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran responded saying the letter was condescending. [It was—it lectured them on American politics while getting the facts wrong. The negotiations are not a treaty and thus Congressional approval is not needed. } Prior to sending this letter some Democrats were actually on the same side as the Republicans, but the letter ended that. Real stupid! And I don’t mean that sarcastically.

Only 7 senators did not sign the letter. Some of those who did are doubling down and some are backing off. Senator McCain said he signed it because it was snowing and he was in a hurry to get home. Now I feel better. (That is being said sarcastically.) Senators sign things without knowing what they are signing because they are in a hurry to go home. 

Thrive:
Arianna Huffington

Arianna Huffington is the editor in chief of The Huffington Post, author of several books. Her newest book is Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. She said that Republicans want to go to war, but they have no idea of how to pay for it. My response: It is just Republicans being immature again. If they love was so much, can’t they get their jollies playing video games? Our economy is just finally recovering thanks to Obama, and they want to plunge us into deficit spending again.  

Senator Marco Rubio is either an idiot or else he just plays one on TV. He thinks Iran is with ISIS. Secretary of State Kerry has emphatically told him that he is wrong on this, but Rubio is too immature to understand. 

Sean Penn

Sean Penn, an actor and human rights activist. (Penn has won two academy awards, one for Mystic River and one for Milk; his newest movie is The Gunman which Maher described as an intelligent action thriller. Penn. Has also been very involved in relief programs for Haiti and Katrina.)  

Penn said, “There is a division in the generations in Iran. There is progressive people thinking among young people and they are for separation of church and state. Maher pointed out that may people in Iran are sophisticated and westernized. They could be won over. Can the Republicans just go to their rooms and play video games, and let the adults handle things.

Hillary’s email

The other big thing in the news is Hillary’s email. This is all Republicans have to talk about. Real mature! [Sarcasm again.] Let’s say Hillary had two email accounts as some people think she should have had. Couldn’t she have used her personal account for state department business if she wanted to keep some email secret? One account or two--someone who wants to hide something can hide it. I think they are just pissed they can’t get their hands on her personal emails to go fishing for something embarrassing. A fight with Bill, spending too much for Chelsea’s wedding—anything they could use against Hillary.

Hillary says she turned over all relevant emails. Maybe she’s telling the truth; maybe she isn’t. Until a recipient of a hidden email comes forward, I’m going to take her at her word.

Maher said they won’t be satisfied until they find an email in which Hillary says “I hate America and I love scissoring.” He added that Republicans attitude is like saying “We’re not saying she is a witch, we’re just asking why she won’t let us dunk her in a pond.”

Rape on campus

The interview was with Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, co-founders of The End Rape on Campus" group and producers of the documentary, The Hunting Ground, about rape on college campuses. These two well spoken young women want us to know that one in every four or five women on campus are sexually assaulted. Colleges are not taking this seriously. Maher said it was like with the Catholic Church—they act not to protect the victim, but to protect the institution.



Racism in America

Racial issues

More immaturity from men on campus. A California fraternity was caught on tapes singing chants about how no blacks were allowed in their fraternity. They didn’t say “blacks;” they used the N-word. Maher said, “The fraternity got in big trouble for the chants, but they would have gotten away with sexual assault. “

Maher said, the U.S. is definitely not post racial despite what the Supreme Court ruling said when they struck down the voting rights act. Sharyl Attkinson, journalist, and author of Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington, showed her conservative stripes by responding “You can’t find any place where people don’t have thoughts against others.” Definitely no maturity in that response. Yes, Sharyl “haters gonna hate,” but does that mean we should just shrug our shoulders. Maher pointed out that in Fergusson people were fired for racist emails, but not for the shootings.

As the Obama said at the Commemorative March on Selma just because we have made progress doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot more that needs to be done. Tom Rogan, a contributor to National Review Online, The Daily Telegraph, and a blogger at TomRoganThinks, gave a mature response. Talking about how only one Republican member of Congress showed up for Selma (and he decided to go only the day before the March) while 100 or so Democratic members were there, Rogan said, “It was noticed in Republican circles.” I’m sure it was noticed in African-American circles also.

The report on Fergusson proved that as it proved that there is systematic oppression of black people. Fergusson is not an isolated case.

Mid-show comedy segment.

The mid-show comedy segment was a parody campaign ad for Cletus J. McClintock, a fictional (I hope) character with the campaign slogan “Faith Flag and F-You”. In the ad, McClintock says he is the biggest Obama hater of them all and proves it with such stunts as mooning the president.

New Rules: Heir Supplies

The final New Rules segment railed against the hypocrisy of many rich people. For instance, Donald Trump who maintain that “handouts” robs people of the opportunity to improve.” But Trump got his money from his father—perhaps that explains why he is such a “dumb-ass.”

The rich are opposed to taxes on inheritances—they call it the death tax. (Maher pointed out that the best time to be taxed is when you are dead. NB: Maher has no children.)

“The one thing they believe more than the value of hard work is to leave all their money to their kids.” Maher then showed us video clips of Paris Hilton’s little brother, Conrad Hilton, an obnoxious young man, acting like a very spoiled rich brat on an airplane—the crew had to put him into restraints. Maher quipped, “Why can’t we book this kid on Malaysian Airlines?”  

Maher then spoke about another kid who never knew “the dignity of work.” Ethan Couch killed four people while driving under the influence. He got away with it—no prison time only rehabilitation. His defense: he suffered from a disease dubbed “af-flu-enza.” He was too rich to know boundaries. (In other words, he was too immature to be responsible for his actions because he was a spoiled rich brat.) 

Maher concluded: “Ask your doctor if being rich is right for you.”

 

Final word

Too bad there is no pill for immaturity. There are quite a few in Washington who need that prescription.

Bill Maher’s Guests March 13, 2015

The interview is with Andrea Pino and Annie Clark, co-founders of The End Rape on Campus" group and producers of the documentary, The Hunting Ground, about rape on college campuses.

The mid show guest is Sean Penn, an actor and human rights activist. He won two academy awards, one for Mystic River and one for Milk. His Newest movie is The Gunman which Maher described as an intelligent action thriller.

The panel guests are: 

Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post, author of several books.  Her newest book is Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder 

Sharyl Attkinson, journalist, and author of  Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington 

Tom Rogan, a contributor to National Review Online, The Daily Telegraph, and a blogger at TomRoganThinks

HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” #317 “A How-To Pow Wow”

By Catherine Giordano

 There was a lot of “how to” on episode 317 of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher which aired on May 9, 2014.  All the guests were telling us, and each other, how-to do something or other. I tell all in this review/recap of the show.

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The interview was with Sister Simone Campbell, a Roman Catholic nun, executive director of NETWORK, a lawyer, and the author of  A Nun on the Bus: How All of Us Can Create Hope, Change, and Community. She’s a friendly open woman with an easy manner and a charming smile and a heart in the right place. She said “The real issue is how we treat each other?” She said “Pope Francis is going back to the basics--touching people’s lives.” She works to make the dream of equality a reality in America.

Matt Welch, editor of Reason, a libertarian magazine and co-host of “The Independents” on the Fox Business Network is also the author of a book explaining how-to fix America, The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What's Wrong with America. He was an amiable panelist with a kind of smart-alec charm who defended Republican policies and tactics, but then turned around and said the Republican Party is “a total clown show.” I’m at a loss at how to know what he really thinks. 

Another panelist was Arianna Huffington, the editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post, and the author of numerous books, many of them how-to books. Her latest book, which tells us, how-to live is Thrive: The Third Metric to Redefining Success and Creating a Life of Well-Being, Wisdom, and Wonder. I’ll give her this: she knows how-to thrive. She seems nice enough, but sometimes she comes across as a bit contrived and inauthentic. She began her career as a Democrat, then became a fierce Republican, and then switched back to Democrat. In a review, I saw that her book was about “mindfulness” the biggest buzz-word in the self-help business right now.   

The final panelist was Baratunde Thurston, a comedian and author of How to Be Black.  I had never heard of him before, but I immediately liked him.  He’s charming and authentic and consistent in his views. 

The mid-show guest was Dinesh D’Souza, a contributor to the conservative American Enterprise Institute and author of several books including his most recent book, America: Imagine a World without Her. He wants to tell us how to be an American, but he has it all wrong. American is first and foremost about equality. The founders wrote, “All men are created equal,” not “It’s all about wealth.” He has a very unpleasant demeanor—His movements are cramped (as if he doesn’t have enough space), and he seemed nervous and unsure of himself because he kept bobbing his head like a bird. I think he should read Huffington’s book and learn how-to loosen up a little. Perhaps he looks so sour because he has such a bitter view on life.  

Dinesh admitted that all of his dire predictions about the Obama presidency have failed to materialize. Things are actually much better in this country than when Obama took office. Unable to criticize Obama on the economy, Dinesh pivoted to his “Obama is an anti-colonialist” theme. Maher said, “Isn’t anti-colonialism a good thing?”  According to Dinesh, not if you are Obama. He states that Obama has taken up his father’s anti-imperialist views—even though Obama had next to no contact with his father. Dinesh thinks that Obama wants to take down imperialist countries. Like America.  [I wonder if this isn’t a classic case of projection. Dinesh’s family is from India. India was a colony of Britain. Perhaps it is Dinesh and his father who are the anti-imperialists. Perhaps Dinesh wants to take down Obama in order to take down America.  How’s that for a conspiracy theory.] 

Now that I have introduced you to the cast I’ll move on to the issues discussed.  Benghazi was a biggie. Maher described the Benghazi uproar as being “like a bad case of the shingles. I thought it was gone, but now it is back, and I am itching again.” 

Maher said “There is no there there.” Welch disagreed saying, “There is a scandal.” When he gave his reasons, it became clear that the events in Benghazi weren’t the scandal. No, the scandal was Susan Rice and her talking points on a Sunday morning talk show. The seven previous investigations into Benghazi, some actually dealing it the events that took place in Benghazi, have found no wrong-doing, before, during, or after the events. (However, there are recommendations about how to improve security for diplomats serving in dangerous areas.) 

The eighth Benghazi investigation is about to begin—the “Congressional Select Committee on Benghazi” has been convened. Thurston called it “The Select Committee on Nonsense.”  I told you I liked him.  

Monica Lewinski is back in the news because of her article in Vanity Fair. She said, “I was taken advantage of, but it was totally consensual.” In his monologue, Maher joked,” “Ironically, that as was what Bush said about Dick Cheney.”  

Huffington stated, “I know 20 women in Washington who would have given Clinton a blow job.” Welch blurted out, “And that’s just the Republicans.” Huffington feels that Lewinski’s problems stem not from the sex, but from her bad judgment.  She couldn’t keep her mouth shut about it.  

There was some discussion about whether the Republicans had learned their lesson from the whole impeachment brouhaha which led to huge mid-term wins for the Democrats. The consensus was that they probably had not. Welch scornfully dismissed the likelihood that Republicans had learned anything and referred to that year as a “bad year.” [Right now Welch is gung-ho on Benghazi, I wonder if 10 or 20 years from now, he’ll be describing 2014 with its Benghazi witch hunt as a bad year?] 

There were also discussions about the role of religion, especially Islam, in terrorism, sharia law, and whether or not multi-culturalism was a good thing.  

The mid-show comedy segment was about the messages that some graduates tape to the mortarboards of their graduation caps.  Maher said that it used to be things like “Thanks, Mom,” but now, the messages reflect the economic difficulties facing graduates. The new messages read something like this: 

·         My other hat is a hairnet.

·         Don Sterling, If you pay off my loans, I’ll be your “archivist.”

·         My other tassels are on my nipples. 

The final New Rules segment was about the issue of privacy—the lack of it in our personal lives even when we are speaking in our own homes. Lewinski was brought down by tapes made by a friend and Don Sterling was brought down by tapes made by his girlfriend. Maher quoted a column written by Kathleen Parker that essentially said that we should all be more careful about what we say even when we think we are having a private conversation and that “speaking your mind is over-rated. “That from a columnist who makes her living speaking her mind,” Maher scoffed. Maher seemed pretty angry on this issue and said he was not about to give up “speaking his mind.” He made valid points, but he forgot how-to make it funny.

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HBO Real Time with Bill Maher #274 “Holes”

by Catherine Giordano

The March 8, 2013 episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” (#274) was a so-so episode with a few good moments. I’m titling the show “Holes” primarily because Bill asked “Are Americans assholes?”  Of course, Bill answers his own question. and the answer is “Yes”

Americans are assholes because they like looking down on other people, like the people on reality shows, and they like seeing people hurt and maimed. That’s why liberals watch Honey Boo Boo.  Now, here comes the joke: Conservatives watch Honey Boo Boo for the make-up tips. Pow!

During the opening monologue, Bill had a few good jokes. He mentioned that Rand Paul filibustered for 13 hours. During that time, he asked if drones can be used to kill Americans on American soil. Now, here comes the joke: Obama said, “Don’t push me.” Pow! Pow!

The interview was with Charlie Le Duff, a journalist and the author of Detroit: An American Autopsy.  I never heard of Charlie LeDuff before.  He’s a wiry, fast-talking, wise-cracking, street-fighting kind of guy. I’ve never known any meth addicts, but I’ve seen some on TV. Charlie LeDuff reminded me of a meth addict.

But, don’t get me wrong—Charlie is a smart guy. I learned some things about Detroit from him. Four decades ago, Detroit was the nation’s richest city. It was 83% white; now it is 83% black. The middle class, including the black middle class , left the city because the good jobs were shipped overseas.

There were two conservative Republicans on the show: Avic Roy, a writer for Forbes and the National Review, and an advisor to the Romney campaign and Michael Steele, the former chair of the Republican Party.   

The best Michael Steele lines came during overtime, the final segment of the show that is not aired, but is available on the internet.  Michael Steele pointed out the holes in the Republicans’ strategy of rebranding. He was pretty blunt saying that rebranding was important or “the Republican party will become even more irrelevant than it is now.” adding that “the leadership is stuck in a time-warp.”  He stated that there has to be substance to the Republican Party’s efforts. “We can’t just put a Marco Rubio out there and say “see, we got one too.’”

The liberal panelist was Arianna Huffington, President and Editor–in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group. Arianna looked beautiful as always. Last week’s guest, Monica Mehta, should get some fashion tips from her about how to look sexy without looking slutty.  Arianna wore a beautiful lacy grey short sleeved top with some kind of satiny flower-like designs on it. Girlfriend—where did you get that?  Oh, never mind, I’m sure I couldn’t afford it.

Bill led off the discussion with a mention about the Dow hitting record highs but 46 million people can’t meet basic needs. Roy added, “The bond market is doing great. The stock market is doing great. The housing market is doing great. But, the economy isn't doing great.” I agree with him there, but I think we have different ideas about why the economy isn’t doing great and how to fix it.

Arianna added that the crisis facing us is jobs--the American dream of upward mobility is no longer attainable. Then she added the “I’m-sure–this-was-rehearsed-but-I-love-it-anyway” line of the week. “America being behind France in upward mobility is a little bit like France being behind America in croissants and afternoon sex."

The comedy bit was about sinkholes.  We just had a big one in Florida—the ground opened up and swallowed a house. Bill riffed on how various publications might deal with sinkholes. Here are a few of his parodies:

            Newsweek:                           Are Sinkholes the Work of Jesus?

            Fox News:                             What you need to know about Obamaholes

Ann Coulter’s new book:    Hole: How Liberals are Sucking the Ground Out from Under Us

The special guest was David Cross, actor and comedian. David said, I never know how to dress for sinkhole season.”  He has a quirky understated sense of humor.

During New Rules, Bill asked, “Why does everything in America have to be political?”

“Conservatives like big portions; liberals like knowing where their food comes from. Conservatives like American beers; liberals prefer imported beer—socialism in a bottle. Liberals like new brands; conservatives like the tried and true brands…

“‘I believe in science’ didn’t used to be fighting words. Everyone thought that rape was bad, and everyone was anti-hurricane… 

“Walter Cronkite used to end his TV news show with ‘And, that’s the way it was’ because we all agreed on what was reality. Now we have Fox News for conservatives, MSNBC for liberals, and CNN for airports.”

I’m done with this review.  It’s time to stuff my pie-hole with some wholesome local-sourced organic food.

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Arianna Huffington on "Real Time with Bill Maher.'  I wish I could find a close up of her lacy polo-shirt.