S18.E12: Nancy Pelosi, Dr. David Katz, and Jay Leno

[GoldenGirl90]

Guests: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cali.); Dr. David Katz, a preventative medicine and public health specialist; comic Jay Leno.

Edited April 24, 2020 by GoldenGirl90

[Guest]

I try to miss this show as much as possible recently but I did happen to tune in tonight to see a bit of the segment with whoever the hell Dr Katz is. I take it he's a made-for-tv doctor? (I've diagnosed him as such based on his ridiculously cartoonish white teeth.)

Anyway, I didn't watch the whole thing -- but was this man suggesting one could eradicate COVID through lifestyle changes? Or was he bemoaning the fact that only 1% of people who got the virus were dying because they were old, out of shape, and/or fat? Because, it that's the case, Jay Leno ... you better eat a salad, man.

[heatherchandler]

Is something wrong with Pelosi or is she always like that?  Wow.

I think Dr. Katz is 100% right, he makes sense.  The flattening of the curve was never meant to reduce the number of deaths, just draw out when people would get infected as to not overwhelm the hospitals.

Edited April 25, 2020 by heatherchandler

[Pete Martell]

3 hours ago, bobbyjoe said:

The final New Rule on animals was the best part of the show, because animal rights and issues are something Bill actually cares enough about to research and know some facts, a rarity on the show these days.  95% of the show was still pretty bad, because he keeps making the same mistakes and still hasn’t adapted very well to the new format.

That's the best thing I've seen from Maher in many years. Very little sneering or elitism, very persuasive and to the point. And he summed up just why I won't watch Tiger King. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Pete Martell

[Vikki Krupp]

Where can we see this? Where can we get the segment when Bill is discussing wet markets and factory farming? Great segment....

[Guest]

Reminder: If Bill discusses a political topic on the show, or something a politician said, it's on topic here and can be discussed in the context in which Bill said it. If a political topic or something a politician said was not discussed on the show, it's off topic here. 

Discuss the show only, please.

[bobbyjoe]

I’m not sure when Bill is shooting his monologues,  but if it’s at all possible, he really should try and shoot them Friday afternoons rather than days in advance (if this means getting rid of the stupid edited-in “audience” shots, then win/win).  He keeps missing some big things that have happened in the last 24 to 48 hours before the show, a lot of which would be excellent joke material and it seems weird that he doesn’t touch on it.  One thing I always liked about Real Time is how when something stupid or outrageous happened the same day they could comment on it and considering the news cycles now move so fast that what took place three days ago can feel like three years, Bill should really try and adapt if he can— I know he can’t do it live,  but maybe shoot the rest of the show and save the monologues for Friday mornings or afternoons?

The final New Rule on animals was the best part of the show, because animal rights and issues are something Bill actually cares enough about to research and know some facts, a rarity on the show these days.  95% of the show was still pretty bad, because he keeps making the same mistakes and still hasn’t adapted very well to the new format.

1)  Bill seemed like he had a total of exactly one question he wanted to ask Pelosi. You have Nancy Pelosi for gosh sakes, which could have made for some great back and forth, and Bill asks one question (notably more pointed than the softballs and suck-ups he asks rightwingers these days), and then feels like he zones out.  Seriously disappointing.

2) This is starting to become the weekly “Bill is really going crazy not getting out there and having an audience so he finds somebody to downplay the virus” segment.  I’m not sure how you both-sider the coronavirus, but this man really wanted to try— so his argument is that people who want everyone to isolate and people who want nobody to isolate are both wrong, and we should determine who’s most at risk and isolate them.  That’s one of those arguments that sounds reasonable until you put the slightest thought into how that would work exactly, considering how big the country is, how difficult it would really be to genuinely calculate this, and how you’d keep the many dummies in non-isolation from thinking “hey, I’m fine it won’t hurt if I slip in to see grandma just this once.”  But when the guy started to get into the whole “sure some young people are going to die but they also die in car accidents” thing I was like bad faith, goodbye, next.

3)  Jay Leno is Jay Leno.  I’m not a particular fan, but I don’t dislike him either, so his segment was it-is-what-it-is.  Wow, do I really miss Bill’s panels, but he obviously doesn’t want to try these in the new format, so my fast-forward finger is going to keep getting a good workout every episode.

 

[Victor the Crab]

I'd agree with Bill's New Rules sermon, if it wasn't for his pot shot at "woke liberals" he claims love Tiger King. He just can't help taking pot shots at them, like they were the worst form of evil in the world.

Bill can fuck right off to Hell for giving a platform to that disgraced doctor David Katz and his bullshit opinions about easing up on self isolation and having everyone be exposed to the virus in order to build up immunity. He might as well say we should all visit Chernobyl so that we can build up an immunity to nuclear radiation. And Bill, being the anti medicine asshole that he is, agreed with him. How much do you think the execs at HBO can stand putting up with Bill's dangerous bullshit?

Going after Nancy Pelosi, after giving Dan Crenshaw the kid glove treatment a week ago, is your standard "BOTH SIDES!!!" bullshit that hurts the country. You'd think Bill would know better until you realize he never knows any better.

And Jay Leno is...Jay Leno. A humorless comedian and sniveling excuse of a man. No wonder Bill loves him so much. They're both sympatico with each other.

[Milburn Stone]

13 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

Is something wrong with Pelosi or is she always like that?  Wow.

Wow indeed. I love her, but she. would. not. stop. talking.

[Hooper]

I'll give Dr Katz a tiny pat on the back for at least kinda sorta resisting Bill's "Sweden's not social distancing and they're doing just fine" bullshit.  Katz at least said that actually Sweden is experiencing a high number of cases.  He could have stated things a bit more strongly.  Actually, according to Worldometer's data, Sweden has recorded over 210 corona deaths per million population.  By comparison, Sweden's socially distancing nearest neighbors, Denmark, Norway, and Finland have per million death figures of 72, 37, and 34.  And Denmark and Norway's deaths appear to have peaked while Finland's are fairly level.  Sweden? Increasing.  So, put that in your bong and smoke it, Bill.  Honestly, I can't totally blame Dr. Katz for not having those figures stored in his head.  At least he offered some tepid push back.

But I wanted to slap both Bill and Katz upside the head for their "Flattening the curve doesn't reduce the number of deaths, it just postpones them" nonsense.  Depending on what models you look at, and what assumptions are built into the model, and how long it takes (if ever) to develop an effective vaccine, social distancing may or may not decrease the number of CASES.  But the point of flattening the curve isn't "just (emphasis mine) to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed".  There's a reason we don't want hospitals to become overwhelmed.  There's a better chance of survival if the very sick from the corona virus can be treated in an ICU unit than if they're left on a cot in the hallway of the ER because there aren't enough beds or ventilators or staff to care for them.  And fewer people will die of heart attacks, and outcomes from strokes will be better, and people will have a better chance of recovering from their ruptured appendix, kidney stones, inflamed gall bladder, mastectomy, hernia, plain ol' garden variety flu .... if they can be treated promptly at a hospital than if they are left waiting in a cot in the ER hallway, or don't even bother to go to the hospital at all for fear of contracting the virus. 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Hooper
There, they're, and their mean different things. Who knew?

[bobbyjoe]

Quote

Bill can fuck right off to Hell for giving a platform to that disgraced doctor David Katz and his bullshit opinions about easing up on self isolation and having everyone be exposed to the virus in order to build up immunity. He might as well say we should all visit Chernobyl so that we can build up an immunity to nuclear radiation. And Bill, being the anti medicine asshole that he is, agreed with him. How much do you think the execs at HBO can stand putting up with Bill's dangerous bullshit

I looked Katz up after the show, and, wow, did Bill misrepresent him— you’d think he was a frontline surgeon or something but the guy’s a nutritionist— a nutritionist with a lot of corporate connections, which feels pretty relevant to bring up when the guy’s pushing to open things back up.  Bill also downplayed how much pushback there’s been to Katz’s NYT column from other doctors.  Bill’s just really being shameless with this garbage.

[Milburn Stone]

27 minutes ago, bobbyjoe said:

I looked Katz up after the show, and, wow, did Bill misrepresent him— you’d think he was a frontline surgeon or something but the guy’s a nutritionist— a nutritionist with a lot of corporate connections...

This led me to think he isn't an MD, which surprised me--and I was right to be surprised, because he is one.

And he has a master's in Public Health from Yale.

I'm not saying that makes him right. But his credentials are beyond that of "nutritionist."

[heatherchandler]

4 hours ago, bobbyjoe said:

The final New Rule on animals was the best part of the show, because animal rights and issues are something Bill actually cares enough about to research and know some facts,

I was so glad he talked about that.  Whenever I get annoyed with Bill (often) I remember that he does care about animal rights, and I appreciate that he uses his platform to show the world what is really going on.  

[ottoDbusdriver]

I figured as Bill exited along the path in his backyard that at some point he would run into Jay Leno again.  :)

[scrb]

Well he did try a comic bit, those pickup lines.

not particularly a Leno fan but he was fine.  Joke about him  and his wife repeatedly watching the same Netflix movie because they fell asleep like his parents did with the same Matlock ep was good.

Seemed to have a good attitude, not bitching about disruption to his life, tying to make the beat of it by making masks.

 

I’m also not big on animal rights.  But pandemic experts have feared new zoonotic disease from the livestock industry.  

What he didn’t mention is there are going to be a lot of lab experiments on animals to test potential vaccines and drugs for this disease, so he could have gone full on PETA.

[bobbyjoe]

Quote

This led me to think he isn't an MD, which surprised me--and I was right to be surprised, because he is one.

And he has a master's in Public Health from Yale.

Katz’s relationship with Yale was something Bill also didn’t clarify but should have.   According to The Guardian when Katz wrote the NYT piece Bill was referencing it was a group of Yale epidemiologists who were the first to immediately write a rebuttal to the New York Times condemning his proposal, and Yale itself distanced itself from Katz the same week, rather remarkably tweeting from the University account that Katz had not been affiliated with them for at least four years.

[b2H]

On 4/25/2020 at 11:26 AM, bobbyjoe said:

1)  Bill seemed like he had a total of exactly one question he wanted to ask Pelosi. You have Nancy Pelosi for gosh sakes, which could have made for some great back and forth, and Bill asks one question (notably more pointed than the softballs and suck-ups he asks rightwingers these days), and then feels like he zones out.  Seriously disappointing.

I was more disappointed in the Pelosi segment because she went around and around and around on stuff and just never really answered the question.  I wanted her to be the concise Nancy and she was the Rambling Nancy.  I kept waiting for her to take a breath and go to the next topic, but she just went on and on.  She was the one preventing the back and forth - not so much Bill.