S20.E19: Danny Strong; Krystal Ball; James Kirchick

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Danny Strong; Krystal Ball; James Kirchick

Original air date 2022.06.17

[iMonrey]

Danny Strong will always be Jonathan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to me. Also, Dopesick has been out for a year, so why now?

I have never heard of either of the two panelists before. I was impressed with Krystal Ball (although her parents apparently hate her, giving her that name). Unfortunately, she and Bill were at cross-purposes, talking about two different things. She had a good point to make and Bill wasn't hearing it. Typical. 

James Kirchick - I had to Google what "Tablet" magazine was. As soon as he mentioned the Keystone pipeline he showed his ass. Anyone who pulls out the Keystone pipeline card in a discussion about gas prices is either woefully misinformed or deliberately lying.  Also, the stimulus checks did not cause inflation. WTF with this guy. 

I don't know the whole story about the assistant football coach and really don't care, but obviously this is Bill's pet bugaboo and he still won't acknowledge that free speech does not mean free from consequence. A sports organization may not want an employee who represents them making political statements. And that's their right. Journalists, for example, are not supposed to express political views. They might be fired for that. If they prioritize their need to speak on politics over their jobs, that's their choice, but don't start crying about it like your first amendment rights have been violated.

More of this crap in the final new rule - a complete waste of time.

[RealHousewife]

I'm a Krystal Ball fan. Krystal, Kyle & Friends is a really good podcast. Her boyfriend Kyle's Secular Talk YouTube channel is also very informative. I've mentioned it before, but he grew up a fan of Bill's but hates how he's changed. 

[nichelle]

I thought I would check here after seeing Maher trending on Twitter for his thoughts on free speech. I'm a football fan and don't care too much about the Commanders fining Jack Del Rio. That entire organization is a mess but I think the head coach was well within his rights. And good luck to Del Rio going into the locker room and coaching a team of young, black men who won't take his political comments too well.

I didn't watch the episode and think I'll let it stay that way.

[seltzer3]

How the hell does Bill Maher, or the other guy not know about the 2020 market crash?!  Jesus, Bill is so ignorant and dumb.

[Hedgehog2022]

1 hour ago, nichelle said:

I thought I would check here after seeing Maher trending on Twitter for his thoughts on free speech. I'm a football fan and don't care too much about the Commanders fining Jack Del Rio. That entire organization is a mess but I think the head coach was well within his rights. And good luck to Del Rio going into the locker room and coaching a team of young, black men who won't take his political comments too well.

I didn't watch the episode and think I'll let it stay that way.

Ron Rivera, the head coach fined Del Rio. I live in the DC area and am well acquainted with the Commanders and before that many years as the "Redskins". For Del Rio to spout some nonsense about the Jan. 6th riot as a mere "dust up" as a respresentative of a Washington team was just stupid and tone deaf...the false equivalency of the "dust up" not being nearly as bad as the BLM protests where there had been some violent actions that resulted in damaged or detroyed businesses and storefronts, is a popular trope put out by white nationalists and other right wings groups and broadcasters. In fact, as the FBI director Christopher Wray has testified to, those violent actions at the BLM protests were for the most part done by the Boogaloo Boys and Proud Boys. They wore masks and hoodies to disguise themselves and instigated violence to weaken the BLM movement. 

For Del Rio to make this statement, in a city that has been through hell the last few years and has a minority based majority population, smacked of being racially insensitive at the very least if not outright racist at the very worst. Also, a majority of the Commanders players are African American...it did not sit well with them...he doubled down on his comments and made the situation a firestorm within the organization and with DC fans and players. No one is canceling him and he is free to speak his mind but when you make statements that are insensitive and racially charged AND you are a representative of a team, then be prepared to take the heat. If anyone should be bitching and moaning about being "canceled" it should be Colin Kaepernick! All he did was take a knee and he lost his job and has never played football again. So quit whining about "free" speech Maher...Del Rio still has his job while Kaepernick is still waiting for an offer from any team.

Edited June 18, 2022 by Hedgehog2022

[nichelle]

16 minutes ago, Hedgehog2022 said:

Ron Rivera, the head coach fined Del Rio. I live in the DC area and am well acquainted with the Commanders and before that many years as the "Redskins". For Del Rio to spout some nonsense about the Jan. 6th riot as a mere "dust up" as a respresentative of a Washington team was just stupid and tone deaf...the false equivalency of the "dust up" not being nearly as bad as the BLM protests where there had been some violent actions that resulted in damaged or detroyed businesses and storefronts, is a popular trope put out by white nationalists and other right wings groups and broadcasters. In fact, as the FBI director Christopher Wray has testified to, those violent actions at the BLM protests were for the most part done by the Boogaloo Boys and Proud Boys. They wore masks and hoodies to disguise themselves and instigated violence to weaken the BLM movement. 

For Del Rio to make this statement, in a city that has been through hell the last few years and has a minority based majority population, smacked of being racially insensitive at the very least if not outright racist at the very worst. Also, a majority of the Commanders players are African American...it did not sit well with them...he doubled down on his comments and made the situation a firestorm within the organization and with DC fans and players. No one is canceling him and he is free to speak his mind but when you make statements that are insensitive and racially charged AND you are a representative of a team, then be prepared to take the heat. If anyone should be bitching and moaning about being "canceled" it should be Colin Kaepernick! All he did was take a knee and he lost his job and has never played football again. So quit whining about "free" speech Maher...Del Rio still has his job while Kaepernick is still waiting for an offer from any team.

All I can say is 'well said!!!'. I knew that it was Ron Rivera who issued the fine but muffed that in my post. I also lived in DC for a few years but it was in the mid to late 90's. I didn't like the Redskins name then and just could never join as a fan of the team/organization. No comment on Dan Snyder! I'm in Minnesota now and a season ticket holder for my poor Vikings franchise so I don't follow the Commanders much. I did see a bunch of people riled up about the fine, but it's all good with me. All of it just adds to the dysfunction in that organization. OTA's are done but training camps should be starting soon. This should get even more interesting since Del Rio 'offered' to talk to anyone on the team about his views and statements. At least he deleted his twitter account.

[Kenz]

3 hours ago, seltzer3 said:

How the hell does Bill Maher, or the other guy not know about the 2020 market crash?!  Jesus, Bill is so ignorant and dumb.

Apparently, they didn't notice the crash that occurred in March 2020, due to fear of Coronavirus worldwide outbreak. Google "stock market crash of 2020", Bill. (Maybe he's so rich that it wasn't that big a deal for him).

Edited June 18, 2022 by Kenz

[ApocalypseThen]

18 hours ago, RealHousewife said:

I'm a Krystal Ball fan. Krystal, Kyle & Friends is a really good podcast. Her boyfriend Kyle's Secular Talk YouTube channel is also very informative. I've mentioned it before, but he grew up a fan of Bill's but hates how he's changed. 

I listened to their podcast episode from a few days ago where they mention that Krystal Ball would be on Real Time on Friday. I was surprised to hear Kyle say that Bill's guests are asked for their take on a variety of issues ahead of the show. Krystal confirmed it to be true. I would have expected that from cable news shows but not Real Time. That's really inauthentic. I wonder if that's a recent development or if Real Time has been doing that from the start. 

I enjoyed the show overall. I think Bill needed a guest like Krystal Ball who can articulate clearly why the left is really annoyed at Biden. The Republican talking point that Biden is a crazy socialist is beyond ridiculous. I see Krystall Ball as one of the few "reliable lefties", like Thomas Frank as another example, who Bill invites somewhat frequently and can hold their own against him and the other guests. 

This Kirchik guy complaining that Biden had antagonized the Saudis and the oil industry was laughable. The US still gives huge subsidies to the oil industry and sells an endless amount of weapons to the Saudis. 

Bill chose a good news story for the new rules segment, but then he had to ruin it with his millennials rant. He had to go back to his "nobody wants to hire millennials because they're whiny and lazy" schtick. At least he didn't use the term "cancel culture" this time. Yay!

[ApocalypseThen]

11 hours ago, Kenz said:

Apparently, they didn't notice the crash that occurred in March 2020, due to fear of Coronavirus worldwide outbreak. Google "stock market crash of 2020", Bill. (Maybe he's so rich that it wasn't that big a deal for him).

That was embarrassing to watch. Bill didn't even have the decency to pull a Joe Rogan and go "Hey Jamie, could you look this up? Oh here it is, '2020 Stock Market Crash', my bad Krystal". 

[heatherchandler]

6 hours ago, ApocalypseThen said:

That was embarrassing to watch. Bill didn't even have the decency to pull a Joe Rogan and go "Hey Jamie, could you look this up? Oh here it is, '2020 Stock Market Crash', my bad Krystal". 

I think people forget about that crash because there was so much going on at that time, it was just one piece of the craziness.

I’m surprised anyone likes Krystal Ball, she was driving me nuts.  I felt like she just kept inserting herself and talking over James Kirchek. Bill seemed visibly annoyed with her, which makes me think she won’t be asked back.

[Welshman in Ca]

16 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

I think people forget about that crash because there was so much going on at that time, it was just one piece of the craziness.

I’m surprised anyone likes Krystal Ball, she was driving me nuts.  I felt like she just kept inserting herself and talking over James Kirchek. Bill seemed visibly annoyed with her, which makes me think she won’t be asked back.

I thought I had been watching in a bad mood or something & I was the only one who found her as annoying as hell.

[deirdra]

22 hours ago, seltzer3 said:

How the hell does Bill Maher, or the other guy not know about the 2020 market crash?!  Jesus, Bill is so ignorant and dumb.

It probably wasn't a crash for Bill or the other guy.  Their money managers would have strategically held onto or moved investments around and still made money over the year. Amazon, Walmart, Zoom, major grocery stores, etc. boomed like crazy during Covid.  I have a modest retirement account but still had net gains by the end of 2020, nothing like the crash of 2008 that took three years to recover from.

Edited June 19, 2022 by deirdra

[childeroland]

10 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

I’m surprised anyone likes Krystal Ball, she was driving me nuts. (...) Bill seemed visibly annoyed with her, which makes me think she won’t be asked back.

Good.

[ahpny]

20 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

I’m surprised anyone likes Krystal Ball, she was driving me nuts.

What I found most annoying about her was her repetitiveness and interruptions. Though I may agree with much of what she said, what she said doesn't become more credible by repeating it half a dozen times. Also, the vague digs at ostensibly hidden powers pulling all sorts of strings and screwing the working class were a bit much for me. Who exactly are the evil monopolists and bankers of whom she speaks?

[seltzer3]

[iMonrey]

Good clip. I mostly agree with them, except I don't think Bill was or is embarrassed, he doesn't have the self-awareness to be. I agree he is shockingly unprepared to discuss the very topics he raises but that's because he's not really interested in learning anything and thinks he already knows everything.

[Tachi Rocinante]

After watching that show, it is painfully obvious that clip was very carefully edited, even though Bill deserved it.

Apparently those two geniuses already know who the "boogeymen, puppeteers, and shadow operatives" are that Ms. Strippername is referring to ad nauseam.  Did they reference her horribly vague accusations later in their show? Care to clue us plebeians in?  "Wall Street" is not an answer.

[sugarbaker design]

On 6/20/2022 at 10:34 AM, ahpny said:

What I found most annoying about her was her repetitiveness and interruptions.

I don't have a problem with anyone repeatedly interrupting when they're repeatedly interrupting Bill's big bag of bullshit.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I don't have a problem with anyone repeatedly interrupting when they're repeatedly interrupting Bill's big bag of bullshit.

Or when the two men on either side of her are constantly talking over her and interrupting her.

[Pete Martell]

On 6/19/2022 at 1:49 PM, heatherchandler said:

I think people forget about that crash because there was so much going on at that time, it was just one piece of the craziness.

I’m surprised anyone likes Krystal Ball, she was driving me nuts.  I felt like she just kept inserting herself and talking over James Kirchek. Bill seemed visibly annoyed with her, which makes me think she won’t be asked back.

Not that this makes her unique for one of these panelists, but to me, she's entirely performative. I don't really believe anything she says. I have no great use for Bill Maher, but he's been saying the same things for a long time, so I know they are at least his opinions and he mostly backs them up. She says one thing while she works closely with people who practice another entirely (and until recently was a big star at The Hill, which often makes Maher look like Emma Goldman). The whole thing is just a little dance to distract us from a world on fire. 

[RealHousewife]

1 minute ago, Pete Martell said:

Not that this makes her unique for one of these panelists, but to me, she's entirely performative. I don't really believe anything she says. I have no great use for Bill Maher, but he's been saying the same things for a long time, so I know they are at least his opinions and he mostly backs them up. She says one thing while she works closely with people who practice another entirely (and until recently was a big star at The Hill, which often makes Maher look like Emma Goldman). The whole thing is just a little dance to distract us from a world on fire. 

Bill has changed, but it's hard to discuss due to board rules. Krystal has said her views changed from when she was younger, but they have been pretty consistent for many years now. She's only 40, so it's a little different changing from 25-40 than Bill 50 to 64. Not sure if there are others, but if you are referring to Saagar, I think she has her views and he has his. Krystal's views are very similar to her boyfriend's, who she does a podcast with. They both seem like they genuinely care about serious issues and not just cancel culture.