Donald Trump is the Orange Hitler

It was a great pre-election special on Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday November 4, 2016. The discussion was serious and the barbs against Donald Trump were biting. Here is a quick review of the show.

Bill Maher called Donald Trump "The Orange Hitler". 

An Interview with President Obama

The show began with an interview with President Obama. It was pre-taped because of Obama’s schedule. This was good for the show because it allowed the interview to go for about a half hour, with additional bits put on YouTube. [See the full interview on YouTube]

Obama defended the ACA (ObamaCare) saying he would have preferred single payer, but it wasn’t possible to start from scratch. He needed to build upon the existing institutions. He calledlikened the ACA to a "starter home." saying that it should be improved.  

Maher pointed out that the news used to be a loss-leader—it didn’t have to make money. Obama said that  it wasn’t possible in the environment we have today. He said that we need "to create a space where truth gets eyeballs" We must have "some common baseiline of facts." Did Obama give a hint about his post election plans? He said, "Maybe we could build some platforms where everybody says let's agree on the facts and argue about means after that."

Obama is optimistic about America and Americans. “I’m a glass half full kind of guy. A government is as good as the people.” He indicated that the problem is that information is not getting to the people. “If I could sit in every living room in the country, I would have the large majority of on my side.” He added, “If I watched Fox News, I wouldn’t like me either. This was a reference to his earlier comment that there is a “Balkanization of the media.”

The best part of the interview was about the upcoming election. Obama said, “The choice should be really clear.” He called out people who say because both parties have problems nothing will change. He enumerated all the changes he was able to accomplish: Reigning in some of the excesses of Wall Street, establishing a Consumer Protection Bureau, health insurance reform, protections for “The Dreamers” were among them.

Obama said, “Every single issue we have made progress on is on the ballot.” He praised Hillary Clinton. “I have worked with her. She cares about people.” He warned that a third party vote is a vote for Trump.

At the end, Obama told Maher, “I watch your show all the time.” I’m sure that Maher who waited eight years to get an interview with Obama was glad to hear it.

Fascism in America

Bill Maher repeated what he has been saying for months. “Trump could win this election.” Maher described it as “a slow-moving right wing coup.” The FBI becoming Trumplandia, doing things to help Trump. The Russians being in league with Trump.

Jennifer Granholm, the former Governor of Michigan was on the panel. She said, Trump would be an "authoritarian nightmare.”

Maher called Trump “The Orange Hitler.” He said, “We would have fascism in this country with Trump. There would be no rule of law.” He pointed out that the Republican dominated Supreme Court shut down the Voting Rights Act, and the states were quick to deny people voting rights by reducing the number of polling places and other tricks. [Fortunately, some state courts have pushed back and limited these attacks on democracy.]

Granholm added, “Trump is undermining democracy. He has said the election is rigged. He has said he won’t accept the results of the election.”

Another panelist, Martin Short, an actor and comedian, said that if you want to sell aspirin you have to tell the truth. We need a Consumer Protection Act for politics. The Trump campaign is filled with lies."

Maher reminded everyone that Hitler was elected to office.Then he declared an emergency to dismantle democracy and seize total power. [I’m sure Trump would try to do the same thing here. He is an authoritarian who says that “I am the only one who can fix it.” A republican Congress would let him do it.]

Maher said that the Republican Congress is already talking about impeaching Hillary. “First they decide you are a criminal, then they look for a crime.” He added, “We are where Rwanda was. Doing God’s work by eliminating the enemy.”

In his facebook special, titled "Whiny Little Bitch, Maher said “Hillary is like a black driver in a white neighborhood and the Republicans are the cops. They keep pulling her over and they keep having to let her go.” [Republicans have investigated her umpteen times, and every time they come up with nothing. Yet the Republican Congress is threatening continuous investigations. This is not how democracy is supposed to work. Please vote for Democrats up and down the ballot so we can have a country that works again.]

Maher said, “Once fascists get power, they don’t give it up.” He expressed concern that people would not take the threat that Trump poses to America seriously. “We cried wolf with McCain and Romney, but this is real.”

[I disagree about the "crying wolf" part.. McCain and Romney would have been very bad for the country and they were rightly criticized. It is just that Trump is a threat of such magnitude that the threats of previous Republican candidates seems minor in comparison. As Maher said in his facebook special, “This isn’t the choice between Coke and Pepsi, this is the choice between Coke and the tap water in Flint.”

Trump doesn’t want to “shake things up” as he so often says; he wants to tear it all down. In Maher’s facebook special on 11/2/16,  Maher said Trump would shake things up like a Great Dane at a toddler’s birthday party or like soccer played with handguns.]

Harking back to the Obama interview about the lack of information among the public, David Frum, a Republican on the panel who is currently editor of The Atlantic magazine urged everyone to “buy a subscription to a newspaper, and don’t rely on facebook.”

A Useful Idiot

Maher told us that “Russia is in collusion with the Republican candidate. He is an unwitting agent, a useful idiot.”

[This phrase “a useful idiot” has been in the news a lot. It is spy talk for someone who you don’t even have to convince to betray his country--He is just too stupid to know that the enemy is using him. It is why Hillary Clinton, in the third debate called Trump, Putin’s Puppet.”]

Bible Trumper

In New Rules, Maher said, “There is one good thing that Donald Trump did—He exposed evangelicals for the shameless hypocrites they are. Trumps Commandments are the regular ones with LOL added.”

“He is the world’s least godly man.”

 “Jesus Christ is his Personal Lord and Taylor.”

 “Jesus Christ is from the Middle East. Trump wouldn’t even let him into the country.”

He concluded with praise for the Mormons. Essentially he said they believe a lot of dumb-ass ideas, but they rejected the Orange Hitler.

Here are some other essays that address Bill Maher’s views about Trump and religion.

 Donald Trump: Move Over Jesus

 Donald Trump: I Love the Bible and Other Panders

It Can't Happen Here

CLICK HERE
for more info

Sinclair Lewis wrote"It Can't Happen Here" in 1935. The reprint of this novel is now on amazon’s best-seller list.  I guess a lot of people are worried about fascism in American.

The plot summary in Wikipedia says it all. The novel is about ”the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a populist United States Senator who is elected to the presidency after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes a plutocratic/authoritarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of Adolf Hitler and the SS.”

You could use the exact words to describe Donald Trump is you remove the words “United States Senator.”  Trump has never held elected office before.  

  

Thumbs Up for the Show Format

The show was great tonight. It began with a serious interview with Barack Obama I’m so glad Maher finally got to have Obama on his show. The interview was long so there was not mid-show comedy bit and no mid-show special guest.

The main reason I wanted to praise this episode was the quality of the guests. I wish every show would have one comedian, one Democratic politician and one thoughtful, intelligent, and polite Republican who does not tell lies. David Frum was that Republican on this show. Some weeks, I just can’t watch the show because the Republican is a loud-mouthed idiot who interrupts everyone, talks over the other guests constantly, and spews lie after lie.

I want to hear intelligent discussion of issues. I don’t want a bar brawl. Please give us guests who know what they are talking about and who can comport themselves like an adult.

P.S. The full interview includes a discussion of atheism. 

--By Catherine Giordano

Addendum: To you want to fight against fascism in America? Please join this facebook group: Blue America Fights Back 

Real Time with Bill Maher #370 11/06/15 Wild

Quentin Tarantino

by Catherine Giordano

Remember Keith Olbermann from the old days of MSNBC. He was the first successful host of a TV news show—Countdown with Keith Olbermann-- with a liberal slant. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, and his commentary was as brilliant as it was scathing to Republicans, conservatives, and Fox News. His pugnacious temperament led to some wild and searing commentary, but sometimes got out of hand. He got into some disputes with MSNBC and his show was cancelled. However, it was Olbermann who transformed MSNBC from a wanna-be Fox News into the liberal news channel it is today.

I hope his appearance on Bill Maher is part of a comeback tour. Maybe he could start as a guest commentator on MSNBC. If things work out, perhaps a hosting spot again. I used to love Up with Steve Kornacki from 8am to 10pm on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Now Steve Kornacki has moved to prime time. On Sunday mornings, MSBC now airs Politics Nation with Al Sharpton at 8am followed by an hour of Up with various hosts. Maybe Keith Olbermann would be a good fit for the second hour.

I can’t wait to see Olbermann do the interview with Maher. Olbermann was a bit of a wild man the last time I saw him—has he retained his biting edge and can he contain his impulse to go way over the top?

Quentin Tarantino is another wildman famous for his own over the top movies. He will be the guest for the mid-show interview. He has been very vocal recently about police shootings unarmed people (usually African-American people.) I expect he will be talking about that.

Anthony Weiner is on the panel and during his time as Representative to Congress (D I) he was a passionate, sometimes crossing the line into wild, defender of Democratic causes. Unfortunately, he couldn’t control his impulses to send inappropriate sexts to women. It cost him his job in Congress and the after supposedly reforming, he ruined his chances to become mayor of New York City because he couldn’t control his impulses to send these sexts. I hope this appearance on Maher’s show is part of his comeback tour. We need his voice.

The other two panelists are David Frum (former GWB speechwriter) and Jillian Melchior (reporter for The National Review). I’ve seen Frum on TV a lot—he’s usually not too wild. I’m not familiar with Melchior, but whenever there are two conservatives on the panel things often get wild.

Just a list of the guests for now. Come back later for the full review and recap. 


Bill Maher's Guests November 6, 2015 

Interview

Keith Olbermann: Broadcaster and commentator whose credits include “Olbermann” on ESPN2 and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC. He is the winner of three Edward R. Murrow awards for outstanding achievements in electronic journalism. He is the author of several books including Pitchforksand Torches: The Worst of the Worst, from Beck, Bill, and Bush to Palin andOther Posturing Republicans

Mid-Show Interview

Quentin Tarantino: Academy Award winning director and screenwriter whose newest film, The Hateful Eight opens in theaters December 25. (Some of his best movies have been packaged in a box-set Quentin Tarantino - The Ultimate Collection(Box Set), Includes: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol.1 & 2 and Death Proof. His recent efforts to call attention to those killed in police shootings have sparked controversy among law enforcement groups.

The Panel

Anthony Weiner: (D-NY) Former congressman (D NY), unsuccessful candidate for mayor of NYC

David Frum: Senior Editor of The Atlantic and Chairman of Policy Exchange, a UK think tank. From 2001-2002, he was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush. He is the author of several books about politics and one politically-themed novel, Patriots.

Jillian Melchior: Reporter for The National Review and a Senior Fellow at the conservative Independent Women’s Forum. She was recently named the 2015-2016

Tony Blankley Fellow at the conservative group, Steamboat Institute. 

Real Time with Bill Maher #332 10/17/14 “Going Viral”

Maher joked abut a virus "going viral"

by Catherine Giordano



Bill Maher opened his show with an ebola joke in his monologue. “This is the first time something went viral that was an actual virus,” he said. Later in the show, ebola got a series discussion on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 332, aired on October 17, 2014.

Ebola

Maher was passionately angry about the way the screw-ups in Texas that allowed the virus to spread. He was outraged that the nurses weren’t properly protected. Later I realized it was personal for him. His mother was a nurse.  

Everyone is panicking about ebola. Obama is being blamed. Why not? Doesn’t Obama get blamed for everything? Why isn’t Rick Perry being blamed? He is the governor of the state where the ebola cases occurred. If political leaders are being blamed, surely Perry should be the first one blamed.   

I don’t think that either Perry or Obama should be blamed. I blame the administration at the hospital where Eric Duncan, the initial patient ,was treated. First for turning him away untreated and secondly for having such poor containment measure that two nurses got sick. It is scandalous how badly they handled it. 

Representative Barbara Lee

Representative Barbara Lee, (D, CA), and author of Renegade for Peace and Justice: Congresswoman Barbara Lee Speaks for Me put the blame on Congress, specifically Republicans in Congress.  The United States does not have a Surgeon General, a medical profession who could have overseen the response to ebola in this country because Republicans have blocked his confirmation. Republicans have also cut funding for the CDC and other organizations which stopped or slowed their research for a cure and a vaccine. 

 Ebola is not something new—it has been around for over 20 years, but it is only now reached epidemic proportions in West Africa. Many politicians are calling for a travel ban—a proposal that makes people feel good but which will do nothing to help and probably make the situation worse.  It was good to see that the panel was smart enough to oppose the travel ban.
    

David Millband, chairman and CEO of International Rescue Committee, a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization, said, “If you want to guarantee an epidemic of one million in West Africa, do a travel ban.’

David Frum, senior editor at The Atlantic, political commentator, former George W. Bush speechwriter, and author of several books, the most recent being a novel, Patriots said “I’m not panicked. There is only a small risk versus the damage that would be done by a travel ban.”

Maher told everyone to calm down. Ebola is spread by direct contact with the body fluids (diarrhea, vomiting, blood) of the sick person. It is not like the flu which kills thousands every year in this country and is an air borne virus. It appears likely that none of the people who were living with Daniel Duncan have become sick. I doubt that any of the people who were on the plane with the nurse who has come down with ebola will become sick.  

One of the medical staff who treated Duncan is currently on a cruise. They have voluntarily placed themselves in isolation. Of course, it is a Carnival cruise, the same cruise line where epidemics of norovirus have occurred.  Maher quipped, “Will there be an outbreak [of ebola] on the ship? How will they know?”

 

Everyone needs to calm down. Obama has appointed a “czar” to oversee prevention measures. The best way to ensure that we do not have an outbreak in the United States is too treat the problem at the source in West Africa, to closely monitor anyone who has been in close physical contact with an ebola patient in this country, and for hospitals and doctors to take fever seriously and test for ebola.     

There are no direct flights from West Africa to the United States. Why the fixation on planes—what about any place where there are crowds—shopping malls, movie theaters, trains and buses? If you take this obsession with planes to its logical conclusion, the whole country will come to a standstill.  I respect Obama for standing firm and not doing something stupid because of political pressure. 

Off the Sidelines
by Kristen Gillibrand

Women’s Issues

The interview was with Senator Kristen Gillibrand, (D, NY), author of Off the Sidelines: Raise Your Voice, Change the World. She said that although we now have 20 women in the Senate, thet is a very low proportion compared to othr countries.  She said women bring “different issues and different outcomes.”

She talked about feminism.  There is a viral meme that feminism means bra burning and men-hating.  It does not. It means equal pay for equal work, reproductive righs and opportunity for women.  

Maher talked about how appearance is always an issue for female politicians, whether she is attractive or unattractive.  Maher said, “Mitch McConnell looks like a muppet,” and no one cares.

 

ObamaCare

ObamaCare has now been in effect for a year and it is working.  You would thin that would put an end to ObamaCare-will-destroy the-country viral line.  Mahaer said Obamacare is containing costs–medical costs are being contained, insurance is more affordable and millions more people have it. Maher asked Frum who spoke against ObamaCare before its implementation if he will admit that he was wrong. Frum hemmed and hawed and finally said “cost control was being achieved by suppressing choice.”  People now have more choice than ever before.

Millband, who is British, said about “socialized medicine” in Great Britian,  “The Brits spend half as much as the U.S.”  Even Frum who is from Canada,could not fault the universal healthcare system in that country.

 

Lee pointed out some of the good things that Obamacare has done in addition to cost containment—for example, young people can stay on their parents plan until age 26, the elimination of people being refused insurance for pre-existing conditions. She told us that before ObamaCare being domestic abuse was a pre-existing condition. If a woman reported her spouse for domestic abuse, she could lose her insurance.  

Maher said that ObamaCare is making people healthy because it is removing some stress from their lives—the stress of being sick and being unable to afford care. Frum pointed out that ObamaCare gave him more stress--the stress of filling out the forms. I wanted to reach into the TV and slap him.  What a charmed life you lead, Mr Frum, your worse stress is filling out a form. People should die and suffer financial ruin so you don’t have to fill out a form.

So You Have Been Exonerated

The mid show comedy segment was about a woman who had been falsely convicted and spent 17 years in prison before being exonerated and freed.  She remarked abut how everything has changed. 

Maher suggested a pamphlet for newly released prisoners to tell them about the changes. Some of the changes Maher listed were:

• Your old video store now sells pot.
• You must take a picture of your food before eating it.
• If someone says you have a gigantic ass, it is now a compliment.
• Things that are bigger: TV sets, mortgages, Americans [Shows a picture of fat people].
• But, Donald Trump is still a jackass

Read more about this segment and see the video clip at Bill Maher Exonerated.

Joel Stein

The special guest was Joel Stein, journalist, humorist, and author of Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masculinity. Maher called him a “very ballsy columinist.”

Maher comment on a phrase that has gone viral, “Happy wife, happy life.”  It is always about a man doing something his wife wants him to do to prevent discord at home.  The man is explaining that he is only doing this thing that the othr men are mocking him about to keep his wife happy. Stein said, “He is saying he is pussy whipped.”  Maher pointed out it is never about a wife being happy because she just got a promotion at her job.  

Stein said, “We shouldn’t be talking about feminism.” Lee, jumped right in, “You are right about that!”

New Rules

The final New Rules segment was “The Lemon Party” Maher said Democrats must learn how to talk to whitey. He said “Democrats are as popular as a Liberian travel agent.” Because they don’t understand “what white people want.” 

“Maher said “I am a strong powerful beautiful white man” and the proceeded to give tips to Democrats.  The tips included:

• Talk a lot about the importance of hard work.
• Tell blacks to pull their pants up.
• Talk a lot about dads and personal responsibility  
• Talk about how much you love small business. Every white man thinks that one day he is going to tell his boss that he is a #@%* and then go off to start his own business.
• Talk like John Wayne and about “kicking ass.”

Maher said "White dads watch the History channel and the only history on it is Hitler." They know all about Munich and Neville Chamberlin appeasing Hitler. They don’t want Neville Chamberlin they want Wilt Chamberlin who will dunk in your face.

For More on this and to see a video clip, see Bill Maher's Rules for the Lemon Party.

The stupid virus

Sometimes I think there are a whole lot of people in this country who are infected with the “stupid virus.”   Republicans for being against science and policies that actually help the people of this country and the rt of the country for thinking it doesn’t matter who is in office so why should they even bother to vote.

Man Made
by Joel Stein



Patriots
by David Frum

HBO "Real Time with Bill Maher" #319 May 25, 2014 "Jose Can You See"

Jose Antonio Vargas,
filmmaker, "Documented"

Jose Can You See
by Catherine Giordano

It's Memorial Day weekend, a time set aside for Americans to honor their war dead, so I have titled this review and recap of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," episode 319, which aired on 5/23/14 with a nod to The Star Spangled Banner, "Jose Can You See."
  

Jose Antonio Vargas, is a journalist, filmmaker, the founder of “Define American,” and an undocumented American. His new documentary, Undocumented, is in theaters now.  When he first heard our nation’s anthem after his mother sent him to the United States from the Philippines at the age of 12 to live with his grandparents, he thought the song lyrics were “Jose can you see” and the song was for him. In a way it is, as it is for all Americans.

 

Oh say, can you see all the wrongs in our society that need to be made right? I’ll discuss a few of them in this post. 

 

Please like, share, and tweet this post. Use the buttons at the end of this post.

We can all see that our immigration situation is a mess.  Maher did the interview this week with Vargas calling him the face of “The Dreamers.”  (“Dreamers” refers to young people brought to this country illegally as a child who feel as American as anyone else having grown up here, and who want a path to citizenship.) 

Vargas said this is not just a Mexican issue; there are Central Americans, Europeans and over 1 million Asians.  Maher pointed out that most undocumented immigrants don’t come over the border; they come by plane as a visitor and just don’t leave.  

Vargas talked about family separations. There are 17 million “mixed status” families in this country. In many cases, American citizen kids born here, have their parents deported. Vargas said that he had not seen his mother in 17 years. 

Vargas said “Get politics out of it. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue. It’s about doing the right thing.” 

Sarah Silverman

The mid show guest as Sarah Silverman: comedian, writer, and actress, author of The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, star of the former (very funny) TV series, The Sarah Silverman Show. She has a new movie titled A Million Ways to Die in the West. Among other things, she spoke about abortion. She is firmly on the side of choice and is something of an activist for the cause. 

She told a story about being on a picket line for choice where a little girl told her she was going to Hell. Silverman’s response: “’I can’t go to Hell. I don’t believe in Hell. Do you really think God hates me?’ Then I told a doody joke and we were all good.”   

Silverman said, “I love kids. I’ve never had an abortion. But I would fight to the death for a woman’s right to choose.” 

Of course, Silverman loves kids. She still looks and acts like a kid, despite being 43-years old. Like kids everyone she finds jokes about bodily functions related to elimination very funny.  I think she is great. I loved her TV show. 

Another topic discussed was capital punishment. Maher mentioned it in his monologue. “Tennessee is reinstating the electric chair. They are firing up the grill. They really do fry everything in the South. They don’t call it an execution; they call it ‘empowering minorities.’” 

It strikes a nerve because minorities are disproportionately given the death penalty.  Maher said, “We are a very vengeful country, but we don’t want to be seen so.” Of the industrialized countries only China, Iraq, Iran, and Saudi Arabia still execute people. Not the best of company for our country. 

To maintain the façade of being civilized, we try to do executions “humanely,” as if an execution could ever be humane.  Maher said, “We have assisted suicide, we know how to kill people. Put them under [like when you are anesthetized for an operation in the hospital,] then guillotine them, shoot them, whatever.” 

My opinion: We can all see, if we take a moment to understand the issues, that execution is morally wrong. (In my public speaking career, I do a talk about this.) Read more on this topic at Bill Maher Rules.
 

One of the panelists, David Frum: senior editor at The Atlantic, political commentator, former George W. Bush speechwriter, and author of several books, the most recent being a novel, Patriots, said that executions were down in the United States.  (A bit of hope, perhaps, that our country is moving away from this barbaric practice.) No! Frum said “lower crime rates mean fewer executions.” 

Maher replied that the lower crime rates were due to abortion. A lot of unwanted kids were not born and did not grow up to become criminals. “Thank Sarah Silverman,” he concluded. 

Maher brought up the VA Hospital scandal. “It’s Memorial Day, and the big story is how bad we treat vets.”   

Anna Devere Smith: actress, playwright, and professor, currently featured in Showtime’s Nurse Jackie was panelist on the show. She said, ”We are so good at sending people to war, not so good at taking care of them.” 

Frum accurately described the situation. “We took good care of WW II vets. Then we had an influx of people from a different kind of war. We were not prepared for these vets.” 

Another panelist,  David Frum, senior editor at The Atlantic, political commentator, former George W. Bush speechwriter, and author of several books, the most recent being a novel, Patriots, weighed in on the topic. “How are you going to fix it? Let the vets go to private hospitals, private physicians, to lessen the burden on the VA.” 

The third panelist, Michael Smerconish, who is a political talk show host on Sirius radio and CNN, the author of several non-fiction books and author of one non-fiction book, the newly published novel about a talk show host, Talk: A Novel, added,“It takes time to train people to treat traumatic brain injury.” He also pointed out that the “VA used to treat only service related injuries, not all of the veterans’ medical needs.” 

The VA is under a lot of stress right now and Republicans are blaming Obama, just as they blame him for everything. But Obama wanted to increase the budget for the VA, and Republicans wouldn’t vote for it. There ended up being budget cuts and hiring freezes. So the VA is left trying to do more with less—no wonder there are problems.  

The mid-show comedy segment was really brief. There’s a hit song “Happy” that has inspired people all over the world to create their own music video. Some kids in Iran did one, and got stomped on by their government. So Maher did a spoof of a video that would please the mullahs.  It showed people standing around looking glum. 

This "Porn Again" bit from New Rules was a lot funnier. Evidently there is a new trilogy about kinky sex, to rival Fifty Shades of Gray. This one is He Watches Me: The Seen Trilogy.   

The titles of the three books are:

·        He Watches Me

·        He Touches Me

·        He Claims Me

Maher suggest three new titles:

·        He Borrows Money From Me

·        He Impregnates Me

·        He Leaves Me 

The final New Rules was titled “Politically Incorrect.” It was about how political correctness has run amok. “The internet points to whoever says the wrong thing so we can all be morally superior.” 

Maher urged us to get over castigating people for every stupid thing they say. “The culture wars are totally over and we won. In five years, the NFL will be totally gay…. We can’t purge everyone who didn’t get enlightened just when you did.”  

“Don’t hound them out of their show. Just let them try to find an interior designer who will work with them.”   

Lots of issues to discuss. See what I mean.

Guests for May 23, 2014

Jose Antonio Vargas: journalist, filmmaker, and the founder of “Define American” an organization dedicated to immigration, is most famous for his New York Times article, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” His new documentary, Documented is in theaters now.

Sarah Silverman: comedian, writer, and actress, author of The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee, star of the former (very funny) TV series, The Sarah Silverman Show. She is in a new movie titled A Million Ways to Die in the West.

David Frum: senior editor at The Atlantic, political commentator, former George W. Bush speechwriter, and author of several books, the most recent being a novel, Patriots

Michael Smerconish: political talk show host on Sirius radio and CNN, and the author of several non-fiction books. His most recent book is a novel about a talk show host, Talk: A Novel 

Anna Devere Smith: actress, playwright, and professor, curently featured in Showtime’s Nurse Jackie.

HBO “Real Time with Bill Maher,” #294, "Love and Hate"

Chris Hayes, Joy Behar an David Frum
 on "Real Time with Bill Maher" on 09/20/13.

Love and Hate

By Catherine Giordano

There a lot of talk about love and hate on “Real Time with Bill Maher”, #294, that aired on 09/20/13.  

Bill Maher really loves Pope Francis.  Bill loves him because he thinks the new pope is an atheist.  It rally says something about The Church that when a pope preaches love he sounds more like an atheist than a Pope.  The Pope said that the church should not be obsessed with abortion, gay marriage, and contraception.  “What does this pope want?” Bill quipped during his monologue. “I’m starting to think it is my time slot.”

Later in the show Bill and the panel talked more about Pope Francis. Bill compared him to Pope John, the most liberal Pope in history who only last five years. Then he said something about poisoning. One of the guests, Joy Behar, an actress comic, author of When You Need a Lift: But Don't Want to Eat Chocolate, Pay a Shrink, or Drink a Bottle of Gin and former host of The View, said he was “hot” and a “metrosexual.” Chris Hayes, a host of MSNBC’s All In and author of Twilight of the Elites said that the Pope had not changed anything—for instance, the Catechism is the same, the Pope has only changed the tone because he chooses to focus on God’s love.  

The interview was with Billy Crystal who has a new book out Still Fooling Em.  Billy spoke about his career and told some funny stories.  He is so delightful.  I’d like to read his book.

A large part of the show was devoted to the discussion of ObamaCare and the right’s hated of the program as well as their hated of Obama. The third member of the panel, David Frum, editor of The Daily Beast and author of Why Romney Lost was on a roll telling everyone what a disaster the program was even though it hasn’t even started yet and all the signs are that the program is going to very successful   (That’s why Republicans are so intent are killing it now; they know people a going to like it once it is implemented.  

The latest tactic to sabotage the health care law is to try to scare young people away from participation.  Bill showed an ad with a young woman in a gynecologist’s office.  Once her feet a in the stirrups the doctor leaves the exam room and a leering Uncle Sam puppet, menacingly waving a speculum, rises from between the patient’s legs. Bill suggested that all this ad would do was convince people that Republicans were a bunch of creepy pervs obsessed with the ladyparts. Bill also commented how weird it was for the party that forces unwanted and unneeded ultrasounds on women to be doing an ad about vaginas. Behar piped up, “They just want to get into my pooch.”  

The Republicans in the House of Representatives have vowed to hold the country hostage (their words) to try to bring ObamaCare down.  Bill said they had a coke addict’s obsession with ObamaCare.  In the monologue he spoke about Senator Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) vow to do everything he can to defeat ObamaCare. Bill suggested that he set himself on fire because “it works for Buddhists.” 

Even David Frum had to admit that holding the country and the world economy hostage was not a plan.  He said, “It is what you do when you don’t have a plan.”

Frum tried to sound reasonable by saying he favors health care reform, but not “in one gigantic leap. Hayes pointed out that this was a much more modest change than Medicare and people love Medicare.  Frum said that ObamaCare is already having a devastating effect of pushing more people into part-time work (employers don’t have to pay insurance costs for pat-timers.) Hayes countered that the trend towards part-time work began long before ObamaCare.    

Bill suggested that we give ObamaCare a chance and see what works. Hayes pointed out that the increase in healthcare costs were already rising at a slower rate. Frum tried to claim that this wasn’t a result of Obamacare, but Hayes set him straight. Hayes also addressed the complaints about the bill being too complicated.  The reason it is complicated is because every special interest group had to have something that they wanted; single payer would have been much simpler.

Bill also discussed the right’s hatred of Obama, a theme he hits on every week. Bill said that so many people think we are already in the end times so therefore they should favor a war with Syria since the prophecy says that Jesus will return after a war in the Mideast. Then he held his hands up like a balancing scale and said, “We want Jesus to come back, but we hate Obama.”   

The comedy segment was about Bashir Al Assad getting away with being a genocidal monster because he looks like a men’s wear salesman.  Then Bill showed a series of pictures of dictators from Mao to Hussein to Hitler.  He changed their outfits to make them look like a tourist, a pizza man, a singer with an all-female back-up band.  The funniest was Osama bin Laden as a member of  of Duck Dynasty.

The special guest was Jeremy Seifert, a documentarian with a new film about genetically modified crops, titled GMO OMG. Frum tried to claim that GMO was nothing more than cross breeding that has been going on since the beginning of agriculture.  Once again he was set straight. Seifert said, he had never seen “a tomato have sex with a fish” in nature.  GMO technologically is transgenic technology splicing a gene from one kind of organism into another kind of organism. 

Frum was on the correct side of only one issue—guns.  Hayes pointed out that the percentage of household with guns way down, the sale of guns was up.  Fewer people are buying guns, but gun buyers are buying more guns.  Frum said that people buy guns because they feel it will make them safer. However, crime is way down and having a gun in the house only increases the likelihood of someone in the house using it for suicide or for the homicide of another family member.

  

Bill was back on the subject of hate in New Rules. The segment was called Web-Grousers. He spoke about the barrage of hate that erupted on Twitter when a woman of Indian (from India) descent was crowned Miss America. Bill ridiculed the tweets that called her an Arab (and a terrorist): “Her parents are from India, so she is an Arab.”   

Bill showed a number of other tweets hating on just about everyone and using vile obscene language.  Bill asked why hate has become the national pastime.  He said that the percentage of Americans who call themselves poor has doubled in the last five years.  In contrast, in the past the poor consistently, and erroneously, described themselves as middle-class. They change has occurred because “the poor used to have hope; they bought into the Ponzi scheme that is the American dream.” Now they recognize that there are indeed two Americas—wages may not go up, good jobs may not come back.

I don’t know if there is more anger in society now or if people just feel less inhibited about showing their hate. Maybe they feel it is OK because they see everyone else doing it. Maybe it was always there, but we just didn’t see it because it was done in private, in small groups. Whatever the reason, it is scary.

 

A new pope preaches a message of love and acceptance, and hatred is more prevalent than ever.  Are people hating on the pope too because he is not hating enough for them?

 Please share this review by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing".

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.

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.

 

Please share this review by tweeting, "liking" on facebook, and "+1 ing" on google circles. 

Please ""follow" so you don't miss any of my reviews.