Real Time With Bill Maher: 'A System of Racism'

Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- panel talking about racism in America.

Source:The Daily Review 

"Bill Maher and panelists Baratunde Thurston, Zanny Minton Beddoes and former Rep. Tom Davis discuss the comments made by FBI Director James Comey and the police shooting of an unarmed man in Washington state. (Warning: Graphic Content)"

From Real Time With Bill Maher

Instead of trying to take fascist unconstitutional actions like trying to ban free speech on campus, or anywhere else in America, how about we ban Red Bull, Starbucks, every other coffee-house and alcohol in America. And instead legalize pot so students can learn how to chill. Then we’ll see who really wants to go to college in America and as a result we would save a lot of money on student debt. Especially for people who perhaps the only thing they got out of their student debt was how to protest and bitch about nothing.

College students, should just relax and realize they live in a society where not everyone loves them. And when they do see racist behavior, especially crimes, they should report them to the appropriate authorities. With those authorities acting appropriately.

Racism, is not the issue in America. A blind racist could see that there’s racism in America. I guess now I’ll get hate email about making fun of blind people and perhaps even blind racists. The question is what can we do and what should we do about it. And when you live in a liberal democracy where everyone is guaranteed a constitutional right to free speech, not a hell of a lot can be done as far trying to close the mouths of stupid people.

We have to let stupid assholes be themselves and laugh like hell, because of how incredibly stupid they are. While at the same time teaching kids who haven’t graduated with a degree in stupidity yet about how to treat people. Especially people you don’t know and may not look and sound like you.

The only cure for racism when it comes to speech and thought is education and commentary. If it is possible to teach a bigot how dumb they are by all means try, but if not make an example of them and show other people who have a full brain why you don’t want to be like that asshole.

The only thing that political correctness and fascism in general does is piss people off. Even people who aren’t bigots, because when even stupid people lose their free speech protections, that puts everyone else’s free speech in jeopardy. So at the end of the day assholes are to be made fun of and made examples of. And the uneducated should be educated which cuts down on future stupidity.

Salon Magazine: Sophia McClennen: 'Lets Listen to Bill Maher: How Bill Maher Walks a Fascinating & Tricky Line'

Source:Salon- Real Time With Bill Maher.

Source:The Daily Review 

"Bill Maher has made his mark as the comedian who refuses to toe the party line—any party’s line.  He has come under attack by both the right and the left for his positions. This week’s show exemplifies his unflinching desire to muddy the waters of extremist thinking and get viewers to ask tough questions and refuse pre-packaged scripts.

He hit the spotlight after September 11 when he rejected the idea that the 9/11 attackers were cowards. Talking with conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza, Maher stated: "We have been the cowards. Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building. Say what you want about it. Not cowardly.” The comment cost him his ABC show. But he soon landed back on his feet with HBO for “Real time with Bill Maher.”

This week’s show, which tackled both the Paris attacks and campus protests over racial discrimination, reminds us why Maher is a comedian we need to watch.  In the wake of the crises on the campuses of University of Missouri and Yale and on the heels of the Paris attacks, Maher rejected the fundamentalist thinking that often tends to frame these issues.  With regard to the student protests, he attacks racism, but defends free speech.  And in connection to the Paris attacks, he asks why liberals refuse to condemn the oppressive fundamentalism connected to the version of Islam practiced by terrorists." 

From Salon Magazine 

"Bill Maher and panelists Dylan Ratigan, Michael Steele and Jay Leno discuss the motivations behind extremists’ attacks on western countries and the GOP's approach to foreign policy in this clip from November 13, 2015." 

Source:Real Time With Bill Maher- with Dylan Ratigan, Michael Steele, and Jay Leno.

From Real Time With Bill Maher

I think the best way to look at Bill Maher’s politics is to look at him from a George Carlin perspective as someone who leans left and Democrat, but in his heart he’s an Independent. Whose free to critique both sides especially the fringes on both sides when it comes to issues that he cares about.

Bill Maher, will go after the Christian-Right when they proposing outlawing adultery, or homosexuality and create a national time machine that will take America back to 1955. Or economic Libertarians when they call for outlawing all social insurance programs in one hand, as they fight like hell for their corporate welfare. That in many cases keeps them in business if you look at how they mismanage their own companies. 

On the Left, Maher will go after so-called Progressives (Socialists, in actuality) that have this marijuana high utopian notion that minorities aren’t entitled to any criticism. And they should be left to a world where there’s no criticism of anything that they do or say. While the New-Left goes after the Far-Right every time they breathe on someone they care about.

What I think the New-Left in America and I call them that, because they are made up of Democratic Socialists and New-Marxists, who apparently aren’t fans of either economic or personal freedom and just wants a society where government takes care of protects everyone, especially minorities, even everyone from themselves, but what I think they don’t get about Bill Maher is that his show is called Real Time with Bill Maher for a very good reason. He tells it like it is (at least from his perspective) and what he knows and in many cases is right. 

So Salon, the AlterNet, TruthOut, etc, if you’re looking for someone to put down America and bash the Christian-Right, while calling Islāmic terrorism and culture, Freedom of Religion and expression, even though you don’t believe in Freedom of Religion, Bill Maher is not your boy. If you want someone to defend both the welfare state when it comes to Bernie Sanders and nanny state when it comes to Mike Bloomberg, Bill Maher is not your boy. And you should just stick with people who are in your league like Michael Moore.

The Nation: Laila Lalami- 'To Defeat ISIS, We Must Call Both Western and Muslim Leaders to Account'

Source:The Nation- Love instead of peace, is that the idea here?

Source:The New Democrat

"What happened in Paris on November 13 has happened before, in a shopping district of Beirut on November 12, in the skies over Egypt on October 31, at a cultural center in Turkey on July 20, a beach resort in Tunisia on June 26—and nearly every day in Syria for the last four years."

From The Nation

"After the attacks in Paris, some in ISIS are emboldened and have uploaded a video threatening further attacks. Specifically on Washington, D.C. We must remain vigilant and not be terrorized. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

"The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) warns in a new video that countries, including the U.S., that are taking part in Syrian airstrikes will suffer the same fate as France.

"We say to the states that take part in the crusader campaign that, by God, you will have a day, God willing, like France's and, by God, as we struck France in the center of its abode in Paris, then we swear that we will strike America at its center in Washington," a man said in the video,according to Reuters.

The authenticity of the video could not be immediately verified.”*

From Cenk Uygur at The Young Turks

Source:The Young Turks- ISIS Islamist leaders

I watched Senator John McCain, whose not exactly amateur when it comes to national security and foreign policy experience and knowledge, give a speech on the Senate floor today about the Paris attack and ISIS. Because I’m a current affairs blogger who has better things to do than watch celebrity TV and mess around with my smartphone all day. And I guess it was half-hour speech and in it he said one thing that I agree with him other than the non-controversial lines that, “if America is strong and together we can defeat ISIS.”

The part in Senator McCain’s speech that I liked was calling for a no-fly zone over Syria back in 2011. He and Senator Lindsey Graham, another heavyweight on these issues, might have been the only two members of Congress in either chamber to had support that back in 2011. Not last year, or even in 2013 when President Obama called for a new war against ISIS. But failed to get the support from it in Congress.

Laila Lalami, in her column in The Nation today, (not exactly a neoconservative publication) said that Saudi Arabia is a big reason for the creation of ISIS. That is true with their Far-Right Wahabi version of Islam that encourages Sunni Muslims to treat women and non-Sunnis like trash. And they’ve spread this horrible ideology in their schools and give money to private Wahabi groups and have been an inspiration for ISIS. I’m not saying that had America as part of NATO along with Turkey and perhaps help from the Arab League, had they took part in a Syrian no-fly zone back in 2011 and that America went after Saudi Arabia through sanctions or whatever else when it came to Wahhabism, that Syria would be a peaceful stable country today. But Bashar Al-Assad, would certainly be out of power and hopefully rotting in a Syrian desert prison right now.

You don’t defeat a group like ISIS, by slapping them on their hands and saying, “you’re bad! Don’t do it again, or else!” When they punch you, you knock them out and take it to them. You go with the Colin Powell doctrine of full and and overwhelming force. America can’t do this by ourselves, but we sure as hell have a major role here to prevent ISIS from hitting Washington, or New York, like they hit Paris. We, Europe, the Arab League, Kurdistan, Iraq and Turkey, need to be over there and frankly kicking ass in the air and on the ground. Until ISIS is no longer running any part of Iraq or Syria and Bashar Al-Assad’s brutal evil regime is out of power in Syria. And Congress needs to get off their asses and stop Monday morning quarterbacking and pass a resolution in the House and Senate that gives President Obama the authority to work with Europe and the Arab League to get this done.

TIME: Charlotte Alter- ‘Here’s What All Successful Student Protests Have in Common’

Source:TIME Magazine- a 1960s civil rights protest.

Source:The Daily Review

“Many college graduates have a story of marching in the quad, or holding signs, or gathering to chant slogans in front of a university building. Protest is as much a part of college as late-night pizza or last-minute exam cramming. But some movements make change, while others die down when midterm season comes or leaders graduate.

Students at the University of Missouri found themselves in the former category on Monday, when their protests over the University of Missouri president’s handling of racial issues on campus led to his resignation. Students had been ramping up pressure against Tim Wolfe for weeks, arguing that he had ignored or minimized problems including racial slurs hurled at black students and a swastika drawn in feces on a campus wall. On Monday, as a graduate student’s hunger strike stretched into its eighth day, and the school’s football team threatened to go on strike (which could have cost the university $1 million), Wolfe announced that he would step down and students celebrated.”

From TIME Magazine 

“Six years in the making and with a cast of thousands, Berkeley in the Sixties recaptures the exhilaration and turmoil of the unprecedented student protests that shaped a generation and changed the course of America. Many consider it to be the best filmic treatment of the 1960s yet made.

This Academy Award-nominated documentary interweaves the memories of 15 former student leaders, who grapple with the meaning of their actions. Their recollections are interwoven with footage culled from thousands of historical clips and hundreds of interviews. Ronald Reagan, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mario Savio, Huey Newton, Allen Ginsburg, and the music of Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and the Grateful Dead all bring that tumultuous decade back to life.”

Source:California Newsreel- protestors for free speech.

From California Newsreel 

What separates the student protest movements of the 1960s from today, is that the 1960s protesters were protesting for freedom. Protesting for civil and equal rights for all Americans. Protesting in favor of free speech on campus and in general. Protesting against an unjust war that they hated and so they wouldn’t have to go fight in that war themselves.

The so-called student protesters today are protesting in favor of political correctness over Freedom of Speech. They want a special new right for minorities: the Right Not to be Offended. No American currently has that right in the U.S. Constitution, but these New-Left protesters feel that minorities in America are entitled to it.

So you have the 1960s student protesters, the Baby Boomers the hippies, the real Liberals from this era who wanted the ability to be left alone, live their own lives and live in freedom, before the New-Left emerges in the late 1960s, that wanted to tear down the American establishment and our form of government and move to a socialist system.

The 1960s hippies marching for individual freedom for all Americans and not have to fight wars they think are immoral. And you have the sons and daughters, perhaps even grandsons and granddaughters of the New-Left of the 1960s and 1970s, protesting today against free speech. And create a new right for minorities that doesn’t exist for anyone else.

The hippies, we’re successful, because America was politically changing in the 1960s and becoming that country that we really are today of people who believe in the right to be left alone and be free to live our own lives and even freely express ourselves. While the New-Left, represented a fringe in the 1960s that believed capitalism was immoral and even racist, that our form of government was even undemocratic and completely wanted to change the American way of life and impose their socialist and even Marxist values on the rest of the country.

And today you have the New-Left still representing a fringe that sees free speech as dangerous and that minorities deserve the right not to be offended. The 1960s protesters were successful, because in many cases they had the country with them. The New-Left protesters today don’t have that.

The Carol Burnett Show: Disaster 75

Source:The Chick in The Middle- Carol Burnett & Harvey Korman: Disaster 75.

Source:The Daily Review

"Here's a classic spoof of the "Airport" series and other disaster films of the period, with guest stars Ken Berry and Carl Reiner. Carol Burnett also reprises her character of Nora Desmond, parodying Gloria Swanson's role in "Airport 1975" (1974).

I do not own any of the footage or music featured. All rights are reserved and belong to their respective copyright owners. No copyright infringement intended. For entertainment purposes only."

From The Chick in The Middle 

“Here’s Part 2 of “Disaster ’75”. Keep an eye out for a meta-referential Q & A session, a textbook example of meta humor, now commonplace in comedy."

Source:The Chick in The Middle- Carol Burnett: Disaster 75

From The Chick in The Middle 

“Highlights of this program with guests Ken Berry and Carl Reiner include: “Disaster ’75” (a parody of “Airport 1975”) with Carol as both the airline stewardess and silent film star Nora Desmond; Ken performs in a late 1800’s barbershop number; and a musical spoof of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, with Harvey as both host Alistair Cookie and King Claudius, Ken as the title character, and Carl as the ghost of Hamlet’s father. Written by W.B.” 

Source:IMDB- Carol Burnett: Disaster 75

From IMDB 

Any guesses to what movie this is a spoof from? I’ll give you a clue: you need to be familiar with movies from the 20th Century and at the very least have heard of the 1970s decade. If that era seems like the Civil War, or old school, or whatever to you, then you’ll have no idea what this is from. And you’ll probably have no interest in this piece.

Carol Burnett, of course is playing off from Airport 1975. I at least believe is the best of the 1970s disaster movies and perhaps the best disaster movie of all-time. Where you have a mid-air collision in it and you have the head stewardess flying the plane for a few hundred miles at least and getting help from the tower in order to do that.

Watching Nancy (played by the great Karen Black) fly and airplane and watching that little beautiful baby cutie fly that huge 747, was all the motivation I needed to see that movie.

I saw it for the first time when I was 18 and it quickly became one of my favorite movies. This movie combines I believe the best of soap opera, with all the side stories, humor and people going through rough times, with how professionals react when they’re put in the worst possible situation possible with hundreds of lives depending on them.

Carol Burnett, not as cute as Karen Black, but who is and she’s a lot funnier and perhaps just as good an actress. And it was great to see her flying a jumbo jet as well. Especially with I don’t know, Carl Reiner (just to throw out a name) talking her through the experience.

The 1970s, was a depressing can’t wait to get to the nearest ledge to jump off of Niagara Falls decade. But the movies were great and the genres and what people were interested in seeing from Hollywood was great. America, was interested in disaster movies, terrorism, cop movies, detective movies, soap operas, especially if the movie was well done with great casts and was also funny. And Airport 1975, was an example of that and perhaps the best movie from that genre in this decade. 

Lifetime Network: Intimate Portrait Ava Gardner

Source:Drew David- North Carolina & Hollywood Goddess Ava Gardner.

Source:The Daily Review

I don't know of another actress other than maybe Lana Turner, (speaking of drama queens) who lived her real-life as close to many characters she played on the big screen than Ava Gardner. She was a real-life drama queen and I don't mean that in a negative sense. But nothing was ever boring with her. Starting with her gorgeous baby-faced adorable looks. Very similar to Elizabeth Taylor and her great voice as well. Also similar to Liz Taylor. Her beautiful black hair, again Liz Taylor. And that she was this incredible real-life character with a great sense of humor and the ability to play almost anyone on the big screen. With the best and most interesting character that she ever played being the one and only Ava Gardner. Perhaps the prettiest and most interesting drama queen of all-time.

You put Ava in soap operas in the 1950s when they came out on TV and she would've been the queen of soap. Susan Luci, would've had nothing on Ava. Because Ava was almost not acting when she was playing very dramatic roles especially women with quick-witted sense of humors. She was just playing herself, this beautiful, adorable, sexy, intelligent brunette, who was also one hell of a great actress. She lived her personal life the way the played many roles in the movies. A women who always did things her way, (to paraphrase Frank Sinatra) who wasn't alive, but always living life and enjoying every moment of it that she possibly could. Perhaps why she and Frank didn't work out, because he might have been too much and too much fun for him.

And the other thing that she had in common with Liz Taylor, is that they both lived life to be alive. Not simply to try to get through it like you're in prison, or serving in combat and simply trying to survive. She was free as a squirrel who lived her whole life the only way she knew how to, which was to have as much fun as she possibly could. And she paid a heavy price for that with the alcoholism and having several different male relationships that never worked out. But it was her life to live, to enjoy and make mistakes with. Not someone else's to live for her, or for her to live in someone's else's image of what kind of life she should have. Which takes a lot of guts to literally be that free in life and that I have a lot of respect for her.

TruthDig: Kasia Anderson: Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank Gives His Take On Campaign 2016

Source:Truth Dig talking to former U.S. Representative Barney Frank (Democrat, Massachusetts)

Source:The New Democrat

Campaign 2016, will be another opportunity for Americans to sober up and make a big decision by sending the escaped mental patients back home to their institutions, or retaking control of the prison and putting the administration back in charge of the prison, or whatever analogy you want to use, or stick with the status-quo. Where you have people who don’t believe in government even as much as new Speaker Paul Ryan might be an optimistic pragmatist, who don’t believe in government. Letting the Tea Party run the House of Representatives, is like putting an alcoholic in charge of a bar. The alcoholic would never make any money, because he never has anything left to sell, because he always drinks everything. Or putting a serial rapist who hasn’t been convicted yet in charge of a rape counseling group. Or a sexual harassment class. It makes no sense, because you end up pointing your gun at your own two feet instead of your enemy.

I think in a normal election year with normal American voters, the Democrats should win back the House. Having said that I might as well hope for the elimination of world poverty. We don’t have a normal electorate right now and instead have a country that pissed off at everyone who is not them and who is doing better than them. Instead of looking at why government doesn’t work and why government can’t meet its basic needs and responsibilities for the country. Because you have one party who now controls both chambers of Congress and not just the House, who don’t believe in government. Who hate President Barack Obama so much, that they rather try to make him look worst than they do. Assuming that is even possible when President Obama is in the fifties and the Republican Congress is like at ten-percent. Depending on if everyone you ask in your poll is both sane and sober.

That is just the House elections. The Senate, should go Democratic just because it’s a presidential election year. Where we’ll have huge Democratic turnouts with African and Latin-Americans perhaps turning out in record numbers with new voters coming out. With so many new women and not just Caucasian women voting for Hillary Clinton. The most likely Democratic nominee for president. And then throw in that 24-34 Senate seats that will be up for reelection in 2016 will be Republican. Democrats other than Nevada, don’t have any real vulnerable members up and vulnerable open seats other than Nevada. Also a lot of those Republican seats that are up like Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, are all states that voted Democrat for president in 2008 and 2012 and voted Democrat in huge numbers. So Senate Democrats, won’t need a sane sober electorate to win back the Senate. They just need to get their own voters out and for the Democratic presidential nominee to do fairly well.

As far as the presidential election. Hillary Clinton against who? After perhaps Iowa and New Hampshire and Vermont, where does Bernie Sanders have any shot at beating Hillary? Martin O’Malley, my preferred candidate, is still in single-digits and not raising any money. And then go to the Republicans who go by the campaign slogan, “vote for us if you hate government!” In other words vote for people who don’t believe in government to govern. Unless you’re an Anarchist, why would you take that seriously. And that is before I get into Donald Trump and Ben Carson. If the Republican campaign was mostly about Marco Rubio, who should be the future of the GOP and John Kasich, who by far is the most qualified Republican presidential candidate, if not candidate period for president, I might be worried. Because not leading a non-suicidal Republican Party, Senator Rubio and Governor Kasich, could both give Hillary a long run for her money.

Predicting presidential elections twelve months in advance, is probably about as smart as going bike-riding without a seat, or with only one tire. How far you think you would get? But doing stuff that is fun is not always smart. Just ask people who get drunk every weekend, if not more often and ask them how they feel the next morning and how much work do they lose from doing that. But its fun and they feel its worth it. I think we already have a pretty good idea what the 2016 presidential election will look like. And unless the Republican Party is cleared sane between now and in the next twelve months and nominate someone like Marco Rubio, or John Kasich, they have nobody who can beat Hillary next year. Unless she starts shooting her own two feet off to see how it feels to be a Republican right now. 2016, leans Democratic at the presidential level and for Senate. And we’ll see what if anything changes within the next year.