S20.E04: Ricky Williams; Vivek Ramaswamy; Marianne Williamson

[revbfc]

Bill continues to walk his new path, and his guests are Ricky Williams, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Marianne Williamson.

[revbfc]

If I could get Bill to answer one question about last night, it would be: “How many Nazi flags at a protest is an acceptable amount, and at what number does it become unacceptable?”

Edited February 12, 2022 by revbfc

[iMonrey]

Good grief, what a mess. No less than you could expect when Marianne Williamson is on the panel, I suppose. Just one person shouting over the other. It was clear she and Vivek each had an agenda. His, to promote the thesis of his book, and hers, whatever nonsense she usually spouts. I mean, some of it actually made sense except they were both talking over each other at cross purposes. 

Note how the conversation immediately pivoted away from protesting truckers to pandemic relief money going to the top 20%. WTH? The truckers aren't protesting because they didn't get relief money. They are protesting against Covid mandates. But clearly neither panelist was interested in talking about that. 

Which is just as well because apparently Bill is on the truckers' side. Figures. What an idiot. I mean, sure the "elite" can stay home and wait it out, but shouldn't the "essential workers" want the vaccine if they're delivering door to door and still interacting with the public? And shouldn't their employers want to protect their employees, as well as insure they aren't sued by customers for spreading Covid?

I've never heard of Vivek Ramaswamy before, but he's one of those motor mouths that makes me check to see if I'm listening at 2x speed.

Oh well. At least the interview guest wasn't there to prop one of Bill's usual grievances. 

 

[Milburn Stone]

2 hours ago, revbfc said:

If I could get Bill to answer one question about last night, it would be: “How many Nazi flags at a protest is an acceptable amount, and what number does it become unacceptable?”

If you'll indulge a question from someone who has moved from being a hate-watcher of the show to simply a hate-reader of this forum, did Bill actually defend the display of Nazi flags?!??!?

[ICantDoThatDave]

No. He said sometimes the signs at a protest are calling "the other side" Nazis, which, while hyperbolic, is not equivalent to people proudly waiving Nazi flags.

[Caseysgirl]

The only thing Bill was thinking about during the panel discussion was getting to Ricky Williams “ present”.  He had no interest in moderating these two.

[revbfc]

8 minutes ago, ICantDoThatDave said:

No. He said sometimes the signs at a protest are calling "the other side" Nazis, which, while hyperbolic, is not equivalent to people proudly waiving Nazi flags.

Yeah, but one doesn’t go out of their way to get a Nazi flag if they’re not into it.  Add to that mix a Holocaust denying spokesman by the name of Jeremy McKenzie, and the presence of Proud Boys & Sons Of Odin, and it’s easy to see that Bill’s being willfully obtuse.

[Milburn Stone]

So wait, were there Nazi flags at the protest? And is there any distinction between people waving Nazi flags and people who are Nazis? (I should probably butt out because I don't even know what protest Bill was talking about--Canadian truckers maybe?--but for some reason it's important to me to know where Bill stands on this.)

Edited February 12, 2022 by Milburn Stone

[Pete Martell]

13 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

So wait, were there Nazi flags at the protest? And is there any distinction between people waving Nazi flags and people who are Nazis? (I should probably butt out because I don't even know what protest Bill was talking about--Canadian truckers maybe?--but for some reason it's important to me to know where Bill stands on this.)

https://thecjn.ca/perspectives/swastikas-and-other-symbols-of-hate-displayed-at-ottawa-protest-arent-just-offensive-but-dangerous-says-andrea-freedman-ceo-of-ottawas-jewish-federation/

[tessaray]

8 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

So wait, were there Nazi flags at the protest? And is there any distinction between people waving Nazi flags and people who are Nazis? (I should probably butt out because I don't even know what protest Bill was talking about--Canadian truckers maybe?--but for some reason it's important to me to know where Bill stands on this.)

I'm not sure about the actual truckers. Some of the trucks I saw did display Confederate flags.  But some protesters on foot have been waving Nazi flags. I'm going on news sources for that but I did see one photo myself that looked like a guy was wearing a Nazi armband. 

[Milburn Stone]

Now that I know more about the event--and thank you, @Pete Martell and @tessaray--Bill minimized this?!?????

[revbfc]

19 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

Now that I know more about the event--and thank you, @Pete Martell and @tessaray--Bill minimized this?!?????

Yes.  He’s on Team Convoy 100%.  

[aghst]

The truckers may cause auto workers and other associated workers to lose a lot of wages as they’re unable to transport parts across those bridges and borders.

Auto factory workers are well paid, better than frontline workers.

But they’re not elites, who are supposedly making out in the pandemic.

Canada may be on the verge of forcibly removing trucks.

Bill said something about how they have the right to refuse pharmaceuticals meaning vaccines in this case.

Sure but supposedly 90% of Canadian truckers are vaccinated.  Unvaccinated truckers can cross the border but they’re subject to quarantines.  They’re not being denied their livelihoods at all.  Just that they made a choice to make things more difficult for themselves.

other thing, the funding for the protests are coming from the US, at least a substantial portion.

It’s probably another astroturf campaign, like those angry school board confrontations in the fall were scripted and funded by right wing organizations.

 

[Tiggertoo]

I was actually a little curious to see what said about the trucker convoy, but it was completely derailed.  Made no sense.  Just people mad at lululemon wearing remote workers.  Huh?  And the Govt misspent funding was an  American issue.  Things were handled quite differently in Canada.

[opus]

Where was Bill getting those numbers that Trump is down 20% with his base? I can’t find anything saying that.

[aghst]

9 minutes ago, opus said:

Where was Bill getting those numbers that Trump is down 20% with his base? I can’t find anything saying that.

Found this article, which recites several recent polls.

https://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2022-02-11/bidens-loss-isnt-trumps-gain

He is down in some key demographics, which he won in 2020.  Overall, some Republicans like DeSantis are not kowtowing to him.

[ApocalypseThen]

It looks like I'm in the minority here but I really enjoyed this episode. Whatever you may think of Vivek Ramaswamy and Marianne Williamson, they at least have some interesting points of view IMO. They had some pretty good discussions, which forced Bill to take the back seat for a change. I prefer this type of panel, in which the guests have heated discussions about some topics but manage to find some common ground. As opposed to the panels in which guests agree with each other on everything or are polar opposites on every issue. 

Those figures regarding the relief money were insane - 72% going to the top 20%. I think Bill does have a point regarding Americans' reluctance to pay more taxes. While some people are just greedy assholes, others do care a lot about the fact that the money goes to the wrong people. Partly why people in Scandinavian countries accept the higher tax rates is because they trust the government to allocate the money the right way. US federal and state institutions have a big trust deficit with the American people in this regard. 

 

[Shermie]

The trucker protest thing is being covered in a pick-and-choose way by the media. And I’m not one of those “mainstream media is evil” people; I watch MSM all the time and you couldn’t pay me to watch FOX News. However, since I actually know people who attended the truck rally in Ottawa, I think I have some inside info. 

Yes, there are some assholes there with Nazi and Confederate flags, but they are not part of the group organizing the protest. Whether or not you agree with the protest, you must know that anything like this will attract the lunatic fringe and they make the best TV so that’s what the media focuses on. Plus, if the storyline is that the trucker protest is bad, then the reporters will find the images to assert their claim. I have seen many videos of people attending the protest feeding the homeless, cleaning the streets of garbage, singing O Canada, and generally being peaceful. There are no burning police cars or looted stores or riots. 

Do I agree with their methods? No, I think you mount a one-day protest to make your point and then go home. Blocking the border at Windsor/Detroit was stupid and counter-productive. But Trudeau had failed miserably in his response to this crisis, and I had great hopes for him and his sunny ways styling as a leader. 

So Bill’s take on it was actually refreshing to me, the way he covered Trudeau’s fumblings and the truckers in general. One small exchange I found interesting was between Bill and the female guest (sorry, I don’t know who these people are) where she said something to the effect of, “At least they didn’t storm the Capitol” (meaning the Parliament Buildings), and Bill, knowing Canada doesn’t have a “Capitol” said, “Yes, they’re filling the capital” (meaning Ottawa, the capital city) and the woman countered again. I guess Bill assumed a political guest would know that Canada doesn’t have a Capitol so he assumed she meant capital, and their exchange got confusing. 

[shok]

On 2/19/2022 at 2:10 PM, Shermie said:

I have seen many videos of people attending the protest feeding the homeless, cleaning the streets of garbage, singing O Canada, and generally being peaceful. There are no burning police cars or looted stores or riots. 

The people being fed were homeless only because they had left their homes and decided to live in a truck for three weeks, and if they cleaned the streets they did a lousy job. They left behind huge piles of junk and garbage and dirt that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to be hauled away. While they may not have burned police cars they certainly participated in riotous behaviour that was so bad many many people had to move out of their apartments in the area because of the noise and the fireworks and the constant honking of truck horns. Peaceful is not a word most Canadians would think of to describe the idiots taking over the streets for three weeks.

On 2/19/2022 at 2:10 PM, Shermie said:

So Bill’s take on it was actually refreshing to me, the way he covered Trudeau’s fumblings and the truckers in general.

Bill sounded like some of those in the convoy who regularly left Ottawa and flew to New York to appear on Fox News and other right wing media. There are plenty of them who have been causing problems at "protests" they've been holding in cities across Canada for months now but just started to get American media coverage when they occupied Ottawa.