Real Time with Bill Maher #366 10/2/2015 “Politicizing”

Neil deGrasse Tyson shows off his awesome vest.

by Catherine Giordano

Is politicizing a bad thing? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. When Bill Maher politicizes on Real Time with Bill Maher, as in did on episode 366, which aired on October 2, 2015, he combines news with comedy and politics both for our elucidation and entertainment.

Science should not be politicized

What a rare treat! There were two renowned scientists on the show. Richard Dawkins was the first interview and Neil deGrasse Tyson was the mid-show interview. They spoke about the wonders f science.

Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist, founder of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (which works to promote scientific literacy and a secular worldview), and author of several books. His most recent book is Brief Candle in the Dark, My Life in Science, is a follow-up to his 2013 autobiography. He said that the wonder of science is that life came into being without being designed.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of Star Talk Radio, and author of several books including Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. He also talked about the wonders of science. He loves the cosmos so much that he often wears outrageous ties and vests that depict the cosmos.)

 For Tyson, the wonder is that science can change the world. He explained how Einstein published an obscure paper many years ago, and it was considered to be a waste of time—but that discovery led to lasers and bar codes. Quantum physics gave us the technology for the internet.

Did the microscopic "water bear"
come from Mars?

Neil deGrasse Tyson is excited about the discovery of water on Mars. He thinks life may have evolved on Mars and Mars seeded the Earth. He spoke about the microscopic organism known as the “water Bear.” He said you can’t kill the thing. If it dries out, you can just add water, and it comes back to life. He said there was no reason for this to evolve on Earth; it might have evolved on Mars and arrived on Earth embedded in some space debris.

On Overtime, Richard Dawkins and Neil deGrasse Tyson revealed their two different approaches to the problem of religion. Richard Dawkins advocates engaging with religionists about the falsity of religious beliefs. Tyson, who describes himself as an educator, wants to offer religionists the scientist’s way of seeing the world and they can come to it on their own.”

Read more about Neil deGrasse Tyson’s views on life, the universe, and everything, including religion.  Neil deGrassse Tyson: The People’s Astrophysicist

Benghazi was politicized by Republicans

In the monolog, Maher said that Republicans are fond of saying that we shouldn’t politicize tragedies like school shootings. And then they immediately follow-up with “Now back to Benghazi.” Now that Kevin McCarthy boasted in an interview with Fox News TV host Sean Hannity about how the ninth and most recent Benghazi hearing took down Hillary’s poll numbers, we have the proof of how Republicans politicize tragedy when it suits their purposes. Maher quipped “Fox News is furious with McCarthy because he broke with the format of Fox News by saying something true.”

Hillary seized the opportunity to attack the Republicans for this. I hear the commentators on TV saying, “Why didn’t she go on the offensive before this?” The answer is obvious. If she had said it was a Republican witch hunt before Kevin McCarthy let the cat out of the bag, Republicans would have scoffed saying she was having “vast right-wing conspiracy” delusions. Now that McCarthy has admitted it, Hillary is finally free to speak up.

Maher said that this latest investigation has lasted longer than Watergate. Panelist Adam Gopnik, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of several books including the best-seller Paris to the Moon, said it was a “tragedy in search of a scandal.” He added that McCarthy blurted out the truth because he was making a campaign promise—he would use his position as speaker for political purposes.

Planned Parenthood was politicized by Republicans

Another wholly political Congressional investigation is the one on Planned Parenthood and the donation of fetal tissue for medical research. Maher said, “It was not a hearing, it was a yelling.” The video has been totally discredited, plus seven states have already conducted their own investigations and none of them found any wrongdoing. Panelist Angela Rye, a Democratic strategist and CEO of Impact Strategies (a government relations and political strategy firm based in D.C.) called it “a witch hunt.” She added, “They do not talk about the benefits to medicine that is derived from research using fetal tissue. Maher had the last word, saying, “The opponents of fetal tissue research should pledge to forgo any personal use of treatments that arise from this research.”

The Pope was politicized by Kim Davis

Kim Dais is the story that will not die. She is politicizing her religious beliefs. She claimed to have had a private audience with the Pope when he was in DC at which time the Pope told her she had his support. It turns out that is not at all true. It is true that she met the Pope, but it was a brief “drive-thru” type of meeting--Or as Maher described it. “Wham! Bam! Bless you ma’am! The spokesmen for the Pope have made it clear that they did not discuss her actions.

The Pope gave only one private audience on that day and that was to his former student, a gay man, who brought his partner of 19 years to the meeting.

Kim Davis lied about her meeting with the Pope.

See more funny Kim Davis memes: The Kim Davis Satirical Memes Photo Album

The shooting victims were politicized by Ben Carson

Maher said, “Ben Carson can separate conjoined twins, but he can’t separate fact from fiction. Maher has talked before about the “smart stupid person,” and Carson is a prime example of the type. He’s a highly skilled neurosurgeon, but he doesn’t believe in the Big Bang and he thinks evolution is a theory from the devil.

Maybe Carson knows how to perform neurosurgery, but he apparently is an ignoramus on everything else. Nonetheless, he is rising in the polls. Rye said that his tax plan was a 10% tithe. Tyson added, “It’s like the government is God.”

Carson was thoroughly ridiculed and he had not yet even said his stupidest thing. He blamed the victims in the Oklahoma shooting for not rushing the gunman. [By the way, one student did rush the gunman, but I guess Carson didn’t know anything about the subject he was talking about. The student was shot, but survived. He may have helped to keep the death toll down.]

Carson said he would have rushed the gunman. I doubt it. First of all, Carson is so slow- thinking that the gunman would have shot 50 people before Carson even figured out what was going on. Second, Carson is so slow-moving, that the idea of his “rushing” anyone is ludicrous. Third, he’d be too busy praying to do anything. And fourth, he doesn’t strike me as the hero type.

Note: I wasn’t sure if Trevor Noah would be able to fill Jon Stewart's shoes. Then I saw this bit about Ben Carson blaming the Oregon victims for not "rushing the shooter," and Noah has won me over. Watch this amazing bit from The Daily Show on 10/7/2015.  It’s as good as anything Stewart has ever done.

 

The mid-show comedy segment

Bill Maher turned Putin’s speech at the UN into the mid-show comedy segment. He literally put words into Putin’s mouth as he pretended to translate Putin’s speech. Some examples are: 

• Your so-called “Russian dressing” is just ketchup and mayonnaise.
• You are a nation of fat people in workout clothes. The irony amuses me.
• The food here is poison, and believe me I know poison.

Donald Trump is getting better at politicizing

Maher opened his monologue with a reference to Trump. He remarked that he was already seeing Jack-O-Lanterns everywhere. Then pretending to correct himself, he said that it was only Donald Trump.

Donald Trump revealed his tax plan--and, guess what?--it was the same as all the others from Republicans He would reduce the top rate, cut the corporate rate, and eliminate the estate tax—all of which he would personally benefit from. Maher said, “We need more tax rates—another bracket for the obscenely rich.”

Panelist Matt Welch, Editor-In-Chief of Reason Magazine and co-author (with Nick Gillespie) of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America faulted Trump’s plan, saying, “He is not talking about cutting the size of government. Cutting taxes without cutting spending is just raising the deficit.”

New Rules: Il Papa Don’t Preach

Republicans and Conservatives don’t like the Pope talking about economic justice—you know, the things that Jesus said. Maher said, “There are two Jesuses—liberals have the traditional Jesus and conservatives have a small business man from Galilee, the Supply-Side Jesus, whose main gripe is big government and who wants to make Nazareth great again. He is the Jesus who gave all the loaves and fishes to the top 1% so they could trickle down onto everyone else.”

Supply Side Jesus

Maher concluded, “This is why Donald Trump is the perfect candidate for the Republican Party. He has he two favorite books. One is about a perfect God who teaches humanity the right way to live and the other is the Bible.”

Read more about Donald Trump's "two most favorite books:" Donald Trump: I Love the Bible and Other Panders

Republicans are great at politicizing. So is Bill Maher. Only, with the Republicans, the humor is unintentional. 

Bill Maher’s Guests October 2, 2015

Interview

Richard Dawkins: Evolutionary biologist, founder of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (which works to promote scientific literacy and a secular worldview), author of several books. His most recent book is Brief Candle in the Dark, My Life in Science, a follow-up to his 2013 autobiography.

Mid-show Special Guest

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Astrophysicist, Director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of Star Talk Radio, author of several books including Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries

Panel 

Adam Gopnik: Staff writer for The New Yorker, where he covers American politics and culture. He has written several books including the best-seller Paris to the Moon.

Angela Rye: Democratic strategist, CEO of Impact Strategies, a government relations and political strategy firm based in D.C. She was the Executive Director and General Counsel to the Congressional Black Caucus for the 112th Congress. 

Matt Welch: Editor-In-Chief of Reason Magazine, co-author of The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong With America. He was the host of Fox Business Channel’s The Independents, which aired from December 2013 until January 2015.

HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher #298 "Spies, Lies, and Nice Guys"

Valerie Plame

By Catherine Giordano

It was a great hour of conversation on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, episode 298, which aired
on 10/25/13 because it was the rare show with no conservatives spewing nonsense and lies, interrupting the people who have something worthwhile to say.

In the opening monologue,  Bill said that the scariest Halloween costume was the government health care website. The thing we have waited 70 years for, but if it takes more than an hour, forget it. The thing the Republicans are outraged about because it doesn’t work that they didn’t want to work. The thing that makes us spend more time at our computers than Anthony Weiner spends on his computer. If only I could laugh.  I’m too sad to laugh. This thing needs to work. And it has become the butt of endless jokes.

The interview was with Maajid Nawaz, co-founder of Quillim, a organization to turn Islam away from terrorism and the author of “Radical: My Journey out of Islamist Extremism.” He is working to inoculate Muslims against extremism and the half-truths charismatic leaders. In Overtime, Bill said, “We need about 1000 of you out there.”

The panel included Michael Moore, the documentary film-maker and author. His most recent book is autobiographical. Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life.  He also was dismayed about the problems with the healthcare website.  Another panel member Valerie Plame, co-author of Blowback, an intense spy thriller with a smart sexy heroine, was optimistic.  She said, ‘In five years time, people will cry if you try to take it away." Bill argued that we need to give it time. He said, “RomneyCare took a year. Most people visited the site 18 times before enrolling and most signed up at the last minute.”  He said that judging the ACA by its website is like going to a restaurant, and when the door sticks, deciding that the food must be lousy.  The third guest was the Reverend Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC’s Politics Nation and author of The Rejected Stone: Al Sharpton and the Path to American Leadership. He pointed out "The objective was not a great website, but to provide health care. We are not going to fix the car to keep it on the parking lot.”

After a bit of talk about the Republican brand losing popularity-- 53% of Americans blame the Republicans for the shut down and fewer than half viewed them as better at managing the economy or even better at defense.  

The talk then turned to the NSA and Snowden and the proper balance between security and populatity. Plame pointed out that we wouldn’t even be having this conversation if it were not for Snowden.  Bill argued for more targeted surveillance, saying that  “The bigger you build the haystack,the harder to find the needle. Plame warned that the potential for abuse is enormous.

The comedy segment was about the Japanese and sex.  It seems to have become unpopular in Japan—not even young people are not doing it. This is the “you- gotta-be-kidding-me” moment of the week. But no., it is true. Among Japanese men, 25% reported no interest.  It’s gotten so bad that there are subway posters about it.

            Pokemon—it’s also a verb.

            Don’t think of it as sex, think of it as getting to level 6 of her vagina.

            Real girls don’t have gigantic eyes. Deal with it.

            Honest. It tastes like sushi.

            You eat raw eel for breakfast and you are disgusted by a penis?

The special guest was Richard Dawkins, the scientist of genetics and author of books about atheism. His latest book is An Appetite for Wonder: TheMaking of a Scientist. He gave Bill a T-shirt that said “Religion: Together we can find a cure.” Bill said that Dawkins was religious as a youth. Dawkins responded, “When I became a man, I put away childish things."

Dawkins talked about the five skulls--a;; very different from each other-- that were found together in a cave suggesting that all five were from the same place and time. It claimed it as a victory for the “lumpers” over the “splitters.” The splitters always want to create a new species; the lumpers interpret the differences as variation within a species. Dawkins spoke about the misunderstandings around evolution. Natural selection is not random. The mutations are random; the selection is quite organized.

Dawkins  referred to both Obama and Kennedy as atheists. But he refuted Bill’s contention that Pope Francis is an atheist.  Dawkins said, “He’s just nice.”  Bill said, “Islam needs a Pope Frank.”

Bill’s final New Rules segment focused on the minimum wage.  Michelle Bachman and Ted Cruz are among those who want to eliminate it. Bachman said we would have full employment if we eliminated the minimum wage. My view: We had a system like that once—it was called slavery. 

Bill said eliminating the minimum wage would put us in an economic death spiral. Most fast food workers, average age 29, earning minimum wage are on public assistance--food stamps, for instance.  If the minimum wage was raised taxpayers wouldn’t have to pick up the slack.  So do we want no minimum wage or do we want no welfare—we can’t have both. Bill said “We are tired of helping highly profitable companies to pay their employees.” 

Bill didn’t mention it but there are a few new fast food chains paying their employees very well-- $15 an hour and up. The one I have heard about is Moo Cluck Moo in Michigan. They have low employee turnover, good food, and good customer service. They are making a pofit and opening new stores.

Bill concluded saying that he had not been to a McDonalds drive-thru in years. “If I want to talk in the face of some red-nosed clown, I’ll debate John Boehner.”