rgio wrote:

 Dssident wrote:
All that dope catches up to you.

He seems honestly oblivious to the notion that folks who hide their dark impulses when appropriate aren't at least partially good people.  It's a bit like saying Jeffrey Dahmer was a wonderful soccer coach... just skip the dinner parties.

 rgio wrote:

Yeah, It's too bad about Bill Maher. In my opinion, he's getting more and more full of himself. He still doesn't seem to realize that Trump played him to kiss his ring without Bill even knowing it. The kicker was when on the first show back he gave Trump a bit of a reach-around too.

For anyone who watches Bill Maher on HBO/CNN, and has been following his "visit to the Donald" book report and subsequent commentary, here is a very well done rebuttal to it from Larry David.

The link is a "paywall free" gift link from the NY Times

My Dinner with Adolf

 hobiejoe wrote: 
Free, and worth every penny?!  

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
Now you mention it, my uncle has a 2000 Lincoln something-or-the-other-barge in a garage in Manhatten that we really need to get rid of. You can have it for free, but sucker buyer collects.

 hobiejoe wrote: 
And if it goes up and down too much, you end up selling Buicks.  #upchuck

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
A great party, but the membership does tend to go up and down.

 islander wrote: 
Your a boater floater.

 sirdroseph wrote: 

 hippiechick wrote: 
Yes, but he does occasionally have "real journalists" on his panel. His dialogues are on timely topics, frequently including politics.  And his monologue, while coming from a know comedian, aspires to being taken seriously.  Frequently he is dead on and should be taken seriously.  He is kind of a "hybrid personality" with good ideas frequently.  His "comedian" label, though, is deserved and largely neutralizes his attempts at focused discourse being taken seriously, imo.  He has always owned his partisanship/opinion on many subjects.

 ScottN wrote: 

Bill Maher is a comedian. There is no reason to expect non-partisan conversation.

 ScottN wrote: 
Agreed, "infotainment" or even "opinotainment".

BBC is good. I like CNN International also. And thank FSM for NPR!

 Monkeysdad wrote: 
Same with most news outlets.  True journalism has given way to "infotainment" with most shows having a bias, frequently stated if not already well known.  I like BBC America for a somewhat more balanced look at our politics.

 hippiechick wrote:  

 You're either his target audience or you're not.

 hippiechick wrote: 


If you want an intelligent news show watch Up With Chris hayes on msnbc on sats and suns

Bill maher is the same as he's always been. He is a political humorist for the liberal, not a commentator or news person. You're either his target audience or you're not.

 MsJudi wrote: 
When Air America was getting going I thought "good idea, this will be a nice counter to the AM right wing drumbeat". But after just a few listens it quickly became apparent to me that it was just the flip side of the coin. The answer to right wing hate isn't left wing hate.  We need to recognize that we all exist on a continuum of ideas. On any given issue, I may have a different solution to you, but we also probably have a lot of common ground. Once we get there, and can accept that there are more than one solution to the many problems, we can consider compromise in order to move ahead. Does it really matter if we get to 4 by adding 2+2, or 1+3?  And can we live with 5 instead?  If we simply decry that there is a problem and we can't accept any part of the other guys solution then we'll have to learn to live with problems. 

I've not been a Democrat or a Republican in a long time. I occasionally call myself a libertarian (lite), but I don't really fit that set of ideas either.  I'm forced to compromise when I make a selection for my representatives because not one of them matches my ideas 100%. But this doesn't bother me, because I recognize that they are not there to represent me exclusively. They are also representing all my neighbors, and we clearly don't agree 100% on everything (did you see the color they picked for their trim?). So now why can't those same representatives recognize this simple truth and take the majority view that put them there, but go seek compromise and forward motion that is needed to lead?

I used to think as the worlds diverse populations intermixed more we would get more acceptance. But it seems like the more that people see differences, the more they retreat into their enclaves of sameness (band name). I don't have a solution other than keep trying. Call out the BS when you see it and keep acting in the best interest of everyone moving forward.

 hippiechick wrote: 
I'd rather be considered politically incorrect for having bright, uncommon ideas about how to move the plant forward in its evolution, rather than because I have a platform from which to scream, and an aging reputation for being cutting edge in another life, on another network.