Real Time with Bill Maher #363 09/11/15 "Crazy Mad"

by Catherine Giordano

The Wind in the Reeds

Bill Maher had an excellent lineup of guests for episode #363 of Real Time with Bill Maher which aired on September 11, 2015. Enjoy the recap and review.

  

Alexandra Pelosi:

The interview was with Alexandra Pelosi. She is an Emmy-winning documentarian film maker and writer. Her latest project, San Francisco 2.0--debuting on HBO on 9/28/15--

 explores the impact of Silicon Valley’s tech influx on the city. It has forced the middle class out of the city. The film is about the effect of income inequality in San Francisco, but it is happening all over the country. Bill Maher mentioned the problem with “ghost apartments” in New York City—about 40% of the apartments are occupied only a few weeks out of the year because the rich people who own or rent them do not use them as their primary residence.

It is a crazy mad world that forces middle class people out of its cities.

Alexandra Pelosi is also the author of several books including Sneaking Into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Campaigns into Freak Shows and Citizen U.S.A.: A 50 State Road Trip (Citizen USA is also available on dvd).

Refugee crisis

The panel discussed the crisis caused in Europe by the Serbian refugees.

CLICK HERE

Panel member, Salman Rushdie is a well known author, and I always enjoy his appearances on Maher’s show. (Rushdie’s 12th novel, Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Days, was published on September 8. In this novel. Rushdie conjures up a whole universe of jinns, blending elements of One Thousand and One Nights, Homeric epics, and sci-fi and action/adventure comic books.) Rushdie said, “We have to fix the reason the refuges are fleeing.”

Panel member Linda Chavez, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, nationally syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, and author of An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of AnEx-liberal called the emigration of Syrians to Europe “a time bomb. She said “Europeans are not having babies anymore.” She said that Europe is having problems because, unlike the United States, they do not do a good job of assimilating immigrants. Rushdie said that there is some assimilation among the young, “the young immigrants in France feel French, Not Muslim.”

The whole mid–east has gone crazy mad when people are forced from their homes and countries.

Donald Trump

In the monologue, Maher said the Trump was talking about winning so much that he sounded like Charlie Sheen. “But Sheen had an excuse—he was on crack.” Next he called Trump “the insult comic dog.” He wrapped up saying “I’ve seen schizophrenics with Tourette’s with more control over their mouth.”  

Trump is such an easy target even I could get my licks in. (Read my essay, Donald Trump: I Love the Bible and Other Panders.) However, most of the entire Republican field will likely be grist for the joke mill. It is getting hard to tell satire from reality with these candidates.

Maher referenced the finding of a formerly unknown species of early human. Maher said, “It had a tiny brain… and a hat saying “make America Great Again.’

Panel member Michael Moynihan is a columnist for The Daily Beast and host of The Business of Life on Vice News. (His documentary, Launching Balloons into North Korea: Propaganda Over Pyongyang, aired on Vice earlier this year.)  Moynihan didn’t mince words. “Trump is completely bat-shit crazy.” He’s attracting the mad-as-Hell crowd.

Even Linda Chavez said, “He is a vile human being.”

Kim Davis mugshot

Kim Davis

Maher called Kim Davis “the Rosa Parks of homophobia” and Mike Huckabee “the white Al Sharpton.” He mocked her for saying God’s law supersedes the courts by saying, Yeah, in Saudi Arabia.”

Kim Davis would have been an excellent premise for the mid show comedy segment, but Maher shoes another topic. I put together some of the jokes he could have used in

Kim Davis Satirical Meme Photo Album. If Maher had done it, they would have been raunchier. Still they are pretty funny.

Panel member, Salman Rushdie said, “In Europe religion is not a big public thing. They had to conceal Tony Blair’s religious beliefs to get him elected.

Maher mocked Huckabee for saying “Send me to jail instead. He said, “It’s like saying, ‘I will take your cancer.’”

Wendell Pierce

Wendell Pierce was the mid show guest. He‘s an actor, author, and chairman of the Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to rebuilding the neighborhood where Pierce grew up, after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. His recent book is The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, A Play, and the City That Would Not be Broken.

Pierce talked about the rebuilding f New Orleans and how the poor have been pushed out of the city. Only about one-third of the low-income housing has been replaced.

It is a crazy mad world that forces poor people out of its cities.

Mid show comedy bit

The mid show comedy bit was about how the venerable National Geographic would change now that Rupert Murdoch has taken it over. He listed the titles of the stories we could expect to see.

Space: Our Hillary’s Emails Out There?

Aborigines and White Face—Where is the Outrage?

The Gay Penguin Agenda

New Rules: Migrant Headache

Maher said the real immigration problem was not Mexicans, but Australians. “You can’t swing a dead wallaby without hitting one,” Maher quipped. “They flawlessly mimic our American accent and take all the acting jobs.” WE can’t build a wall across the ocean to keep them out, but [mimicking Trump’s voice] “We will build a great barrier reef.”

He segued to Mexican immigrants. “No one takes a job, he said, someone has to hire them. We have to build a war to protect us from people so dangerous that we just can’t stop ourselves from hiring them to raise our children.”

He took a whack at Sarah Palin at the end with a reference to her mangled syntax. . “Why are the ones who demand we speak English always the ones who can’t speak English.”

It’s a crazy mad world. It’s a good thing we have Bill Maher to make us laugh each week.

Bill Maher’s Guests September 11, 2015

The Interview

Alexandra Pelosi: Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and writer. Her latest project, San Francisco 2.0, explores the impact of Silicon Valley’s tech influx on the city.  (It debuts on HBO on 9/28/15) She is the author of several books including Sneaking Into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Campaigns into Freak Shows and Citizen U.S.A.: A 50 State Road Trip (Citizen USA is also available on dvd).

Mid-show guest

Wendell Pierce: Actor, author, and chairman of the Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to rebuilding the neighborhood where Pierce grew up, after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  His recent book is The Wind in the Reeds: A Storm, APlay, and the City That Would Not be Broken.

The Panel

Salman Rushdie: Author. His 12th novel, Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Days, was published on September 8, 2015. In this novel,Rushdie conjures up a whole universe of jinns, blending elements of One Thousand and One Nights, Homeric epics, and sci-fi and action/adventure comic books.

Linda Chavez: Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, nationally syndicated radio talk show host, columnist, author of An Unlikely Conservative: The Transformation of An Ex-liberal

Michael Moynihan: Columnist for The Daily Beast and host of The Business of Life on Vice News. His documentary, Launching Balloons into North Korea: Propaganda Over Pyongyang, aired on Vice earlier this year.   

“Real Time with Bill Maher” #302 “Drama Queens and Cocaine Dreams”

By Catherine Giordano

Maher does a great tribute to JFK.

Drama queens and cocaine dreams ruled on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” #302, the season finale

which aired on 11/22/13. In the monologue, Bill Maher talked about the change in the Senate rules so that a filibuster could not be used to block a vote on President Obama’s nominees for the courts. Majority rules—at last!. Maher said Republicans are acting like a bunch of “drama queens,” red faced with fury. 

The so-called “nuclear option” was so easily accomplished—it was done in an afternoon. Why did they wait five years? It should have been done four years ago as soon as the Republican plan to do nothing but obstruct became evident. Bill Maher joked, “Just wait until President Ted Cruz fills the D. C. Circuit Court with Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, and a fetus.”

The “cocaine dreams” part of the title refers to Trey Radel, Republican congressman from Florida. He pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to one year of probation and a very small fine. He’s going to “Club Rehab,” but not resigning. He said that his arrest was a wakeup call. Maher quipped, “His wakeup call used to be a ginormous line of cocaine.”  Maher added that “he is taking a page from Rob Ford [mayor of Toronto also busted for cocaine and also refusing to resign], blaming it on alcohol.”  As if abuse of alcohol makes the use of illegal drugs OK. 

It should also be pointed out that Radel voted to drug-test recipients of food stamps and also voted to cut food stamp spending. Maybe he did those votes while high on cocaine.

Later in the show there was a discussion of cocaine use. Maher says he knows several very successful people in Hollywood who use cocaine.  It doesn’t interfere with their ability to function.  Maher didn’t take it one step further and bring in the proposition that it is not the drug, but it’s illegality that causes problems. For rich people, it really is just like drinking too much sometimes.

The interview was with Dan Savage, who is gay and dramactic, but anything but a drama queen. He is the epitome of cool with a biting wit. He is the author of a sex-advice column named “Savage Love” and the author of several books.  His most recent book is AmericanSavage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics. Maher called him our “unofficial ambassador to Gaytopia.”

Maher mentioned a priest who recently testified in Hawaii that the children of gay couples are more likely to commit suicide.  Dan coolly delivered the priest’s comeuppance. “He’s confusing children with gay parents with the children molested by gay priests.” Pow!

Savage also had quite a few things to say about the two daughters of Former VP Dick Cheney. Liz Cheney (who is straight) is in a primary election in Utah. She is down 50 points in the polls. She thought she could improve her standing with conservatives by condemning her sister, Mary, who is a lesbian married to another lesbian. The ploy only made things worse for Liz.  Bill said, “Liz misjudged people. The only thing ickier than gays is throwing your sister under the bus to win votes.” 

Savage used somewhat stronger language. He called Mary and her wife a couple of “rich dikes.” He reported that Liz had donated money to politicians who seek to repeal gay rights (including $2,500 to Romney) and she never spoke out about the anti-gay statements by her father when he was running for VP. Anyway, it seems that Dick Cheney has been trying to patch things up between his daughters. Savage commented on this thusly: “It’s funny that you need a dick to adjudicate a dispute between a lesbian and her straight sister.”

The panel was introduced and the discussion went straight to the filibuster. Paul Begala, who is a political consultant and co-author of several books with James Carville; the most recent is Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future. He said, “The Constitution mentions nine things that require a super-majority; confirmation of judges is not one them. There is no filibuster in the Constitution.”

 Katty Kay, the lead anchor of BBC World news America and co-author  (with Claire Shipman) of Womenomics: Work Less, Achieve More, LiveBetter, said, “It had to be done to make the government work… Harry Reid has had 400 filibusters.”  

Former Republican governor of Maryland, Bob Erlich, said, “Be careful what you wish for. An election is coming up.” This is the “whistling-in-the-dark” moment of the week. Until Republicans change their policies concerning women, minorities, the middle class and the poor—and that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon-- they are not going to retake the Senate. Moreover, I feel positive that if Reid had not abolished the filibuster, the Republicans would have done it the moment they regained control of the Senate. The last time they were in control, they threatened to do it, and they would have if the Democrats hadn’t caved and allowed totally unqualified nominees to be confirmed.  So this move costs the Democrats nothing, and may allow them to get enough done to win favor with the voters and thereby keep their control of the Senate.

  

The comedy segment began with Maher wishing liberals “a very merry war on Christmas.”  Then he showed us some mock books from politicos about Christmas.

Bill O’Reilly:       Killing St. Nick

Paula Dean:        Extremely White Christmas           

Chris Christie:    The 12 Days of Thanksgiving

Barack Obama:  If You Like Your Present, You Can Keep Your Present

John Boehner:    Little Drama Boy

There was also a discussion about JFK and assassination conspiracy theories and the crazy conspiracy theories about Benghazi, especially those on Glenn Beck’s website..  Maher said, “We need conspiracies  like we need God, we’can’t accept that things are just random.”  Kay said, “They have almost a pathological mistrust of government. They project their feelings onto it.” Erlich tied to protest that Benghazi was really different, but no one took him seriously.

There was also a discussion about the Republicans shedding crocodile tears about the Affordable Care Act. They focus on the 1.5% of people who may have to get insurance without qualifying for subsidies. (This group is probably well–off and can afford the insurance.) Maher asked “What about the 5 million people who are not getting the Medicare coverage that the new law provides for them because the governors of their states have refused to take the federal money that will pay for it 100% for the first three years and 90% thereafter.  Erlich gave the “where-does-it-end” argument.  He said, “It was supposed to be just for poor women with children, not for everyone." Begala showed him up by informing him that it is not just poor people who suffer. Hospitals suffer because they are stuck with the bill for uninsured people who can’t pay.

The mid-show guest was the very talented and charming actor, Wendell Pierce, who appears on the HBO drama Treme and on The Micheal J. Fox show. He spoke with heart about New Orleans. After Katrina, some people had said we should let the city go. Wendell says that if anyone dares to sa let this cit go,"we will kick their ass." 

Pierce spoke about his new venture, Sterling Foods, bringing fresh affordable food to the inner city. Each store employs about 50 to 60 people from the community it serves paying them good wages. They even have the Sterling Shuttle—customers who arrive by bus get a ride home if they spend $50 or more.  He compared his store’s policies to Costco. Costco pays good wages, provides healthcare.  “If everyone did the right thing like Costco, we wouldn’t need government regulations.”  This is the “Amen-Brother” moment of the week.

Pierce’s comments wee a perfect segue to New Rules which began with Maher saying that the Wal-Mart Smiley Face is laughing at us. Wal-Mart was conducting a food drive for its own employees asking other employees to donate. “When you sell food and your employees don’t have enough food …”  Another “Amen-Brother” moment. The family that owns Wal-Mart is the one of the richest families in America—they should be donating to their employees who are in need or better yet, paying them a living age so they can buy their own food. (See Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.)  

The final New Rules segment compared Democrats to Republicans, and JFK to Reagan. Maher said, “We have gays in the military; they have gays in the airport restroom.”  The gist of his riff was that for Republicans, Reagan is their Kennedy. Then he made a bunch of comparisons to show how cool Kennedy was (and still is) and how Reagan was already way past is prime in the 1980’s, the era of “greed is good.” One example:  “Kennedy is James Bond; Reagan is Matlock.” He ended with, “You can call someone ‘your Kennedy’ but it will never make it true because ‘our Kennedy’ is Kennedy.  Another “Amen, Brother” moment.

  

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