S16.E04: Adam Schiff, Bari Weiss, April Ryan, Johann Hari, and Richard Painter.

[formerlyfreedom]

Quote

Calif. Rep. Adam Schiff is the top-of-show interview guest. Editor Bari Weiss is the mid-show interview guest. The roundtable guests are journalist Johann Hari, reporter April Ryan and law professor Richard Painter.

[Kirbyrun]

I love Richard Painter.

That is all.

[sualbu]

Hated the giggly young journalist at the end.   Let the others talk!!   Richard Painter is awesome.

Would have loved to have heard them litigate Chelsea Manning's curious behaviour at the end there.

Russia all over the place!!

[GHScorpiosRule]

Much better show this week. Well except for bringing up Monica Lewinsky.  AGAIN. Thank goodness for April Ryan. And I learned how the whole blowjob happened. Didn’t know it was during the government shutdown.

And sorry, Bari, but Lewinsky was no victim. And neither is she a hero. This is the same woman who referred to President Clinton as her “sexual soulmate.”

And maybe it’s because I’m tired, but what did Bari mean that if Hillary were President, there would be no MeToo movement? She does know that the MeToo movement originally wasn’t borne as a result of the Weinstein sexual harassment/abuse/rape allegations, right? Tarana Burke is responsible. 

I figured Rose probably wouldn’t be on as I’d read she cancelled her media tour last week.

New Rules was really good. I ???at Bill’s using latte for late and cat for car when talking about typos when texting.

Overtime was also decent.

When Bill has sane guests, we get a decent show.

Edited February 10, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[Victor the Crab]

Bill is such a delicate snowflake when the audience oooz just a tiny bit over one of his jokes not going over well 100% with them. When will HE ever learn to get the fuck over himself? ( trick question, seeing as he never will because he's so full of himself)

[lexytheblasian]

2 hours ago, Kirbyrun said:

I love Richard Painter.

That is all.

I agree! I chuckle at the ongoing “stormy weather” joke. I don’t have anything against Monica Lewinsky but as April Ryan pointed out, it’s over and done with. Why this is still a conversation, I’m not sure. 

New Rules was funny this week! 

“Stop using the same two pictures in those ‘signs of a troubled relationship’ articles. I don’t even need to read the article. If my partner is sitting on the edge of the bed while I’m out of focus in the background, it’s over!” LOL they do use very similar pictures for those kinds of articles.

 On Trump’s reading skills during the state of the union address:

”The man is an afternoon special waiting to happen. He read so slowly they had to set the TelePrompTer speed to Schatner.”

(LOL. he goes on to say): 

“You can tell Trump has not taken IN new information for decades because he’s always saying, most people don’t know that... about things that most people do, in fact, know.” Clips of Trump using the catchphrase play, including two of my favorites:

”Most people don’t know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican!”

”Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated!”

LOLOLOL. Yeah, nobody but the almighty Trump knew any of this, ladies and gentlemen. Still makes me laugh seeing those old clips.

Overall, much better show tonight.

[amsel]

I wish Schiff was on the panel and that midshow guest came first. It's easier to just skip the first guest. 

Overall, pretty good show. 

Overtime was great, too. 

[magdalene]

So much more enjoyable than last week.  Maher seemed more relaxed and "on" too. I thought all the guests made good points.  Tonight was an example of why I watch this show.

[Robert Lynch]

Bari Weiss reminded me of Tracy Gold's character from Growing Pains. I really thought it was her because of her nerdy goody two shoes attitude she had with Maher and the other guests. Out of all the guests, she was really annoying with her explanation about Lewinsky. The woman was no angel, so why paint her as a Mother Teresa? Doesn't make sense. 

Edited February 10, 2018 by Robert Lynch

[attica]

Monica was an adult. But the misdeeds were Bill's,  ffs. Why do we still need to make women responsible for every dude's  nonsense? Women fighting amongst themselves mean men never have to change. [/weary]

[sistermagpie]

Really couldn't stand Bari Weiss. She's just another Cool Girl to explain how the real problem with the Me Too movement is apparently crazy feminists don't know what rape is. Oh, and a guy she worked with is obviously becoming hyper-aware of how he talks to women and so apologized for calling her cute. For somebody who's appointed herself defender of butt grabbers from people who have no sense of proportion, it's ironic she acts like a guy being overly respectful and careful about sexism is akin to women being silenced about sexual assault. I read plenty of stuff about AA too and I didn't see anyone arguing that he was like Harvey Weinstein or that it's okay if a few guys get thrown in jail for rapes they didn't commit. I only ever see that argument from people arguing that this is totally what Me Too is doing all the time.

And yes, Trump would love everyone talking about Monica Lewinsky some more. Yes she was absolutely old enough to give consent and it's good that she's always been honest about that, so why put the spotlight on whatever people want to claim she was "too young" to meaningfully consent when we have actual sexual predators running the country? All these abuse allegations coming out and we're talking about...Bill Clinton's affair.

Also, I'm not sure where Bill was going exactly by bringing up the Hillary issue, but it seems like the main difference there is that with Trump et al. the problem is both systemic and personal. There's a system and societal attitudes that protect predators, but Trump and his friends also are personally violently misogynist. With the Hillary situation it seems really more just about the system. She didn't fire the guy because for most of history nobody thought it was necessary to fire the guy. That's the system that needs to change. It shouldn't be about HC personally being anti-women or whatever. She's part of the system.

Edited February 10, 2018 by sistermagpie

[ganesh]

Didn't it also happen in 2008? I had thought it was the recent Clinton campaign. And I think Clinton apologized, but yes, I would agree it's a systemic issue. If she were president and this came out, the House would be drafting articles of impeachment, if they hadn't impeached her already. 

Richard Painter should be on all the television. The thing with him is, when he's on actual news shows, he's basically the same. I was impressed when he just up and "Leave Clinton alone. She's been kicked around for decades." 

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Didn't it also happen in 2008? I had thought it was the recent Clinton campaign. And I think Clinton apologized, but yes, I would agree it's a systemic issue.

Yes, it happened during her 2008 Campaign. And I didn't mean to imply or mean to blame women when I posted what I did about Lewinsky. It's just my frustration, that whenever anyone talks about the MeToo movement or sexual abuse/harrassment, someone always, ALWAYS brings up President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, as if it was something recent, instead of 21 years ago. And it seems to happen on every episode of this show, and last night was no exception.

6 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Richard Painter should be on all the television. The thing with him is, when he's on actual news shows, he's basically the same. I was impressed when he just up and "Leave Clinton alone. She's been kicked around for decades."

THIS. And he also said that she had done a lot of good/work for this country.

28 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Really couldn't stand Bari Weiss. She's just another Cool Girl to explain how the real problem with the Me Too movement is apparently crazy feminists don't know what rape is. Oh, and a guy she worked with is obviously becoming hyper-aware of how he talks to women and so apologized for calling her cute.

I thought that was just me! I just rolled my eyes at what she was saying and for once, was glad of Bill's interrupting.

Edited February 10, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[iMonrey]

I really liked the interview with Adam Schiff, but the Nunes memo isn't fooling anyone who isn't already in the right wing echo chamber. Everything Trump has ever done has set a dangerous precedent and this is no different so I think the hand-wringing is unnecessary. With the typical exception of Fox News this thing has been discredited and lampooned into the ground. 

Bill really needs to stay the hell away from the #meToo topic altogether. I cringe every time he even brings it up. You just know he's trying to proactively defend himself against accusations against him which are sure to come.

I did enjoy New Rules though, and thought it was particularly on point to call Trump a sub-literate president for a sub-literate country, and that staring at your phone all day doesn't qualify as "reading." One of the main reasons Trump is in office right now is nobody pays attention anymore.

[ganesh]

No, I know. When anything has happened since Jan 20th 2017, what about Clinton is basically the go to deflection. 

I was with Bill on new rules. I was watching the sotu on Facebook and most of us were like "wow he can't read". BUT - stop with the "people get news from Facebook." Yes, I get my news from Facebook. PBSNews publishes articles and provide updates on major things going on during the day. The New York Times posts articles. My friend posts articles from the Washington Post. Face the Nation publishes transcripts of their interviews. Or, Vice. Isn't Bill an EP for their show? Getting news from Facebook isn't an argument. 

If anything, the argument should be how can we better use Facebook to stay more informed? 

He's totally right that the current president is a moron though. 

[sistermagpie]

13 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Didn't it also happen in 2008? I had thought it was the recent Clinton campaign. And I think Clinton apologized, but yes, I would agree it's a systemic issue. If she were president and this came out, the House would be drafting articles of impeachment, if they hadn't impeached her already. 

Oh yes--I didn't mean to tie the two things together (Monica and Clinton not firing the sexual harasser). The 2008 thing is definitely worthy of being in the news. It seems like the only people who are trying to make it about Hillary personally are people who hate her and always want it to be that. But in general the criticism is just saying see, even someone who supports women's rights did this.

 

7 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Yes, it happened during her 2008 Campaign. And I didn't mean to imply or mean to blame women when I posted what I did about Lewinsky. It's just my frustration, that whenever anyone talks about the MeToo movement or sexual abuse/harrassment, someone always, ALWAYS brings up President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, as if it was something recent, instead of 21 years ago. And it seems to happen on every episode of this show, and last night was no exception.

Right, exactly. Bringing up the Hillary thing from 2008 was fine. But eventually the whole panel was talking about Monica Lewinsky etc. when there's multiple abuse scandals going on in the White House right now. It's easier to criticize the people who actually want to do better, but it means that the people who don't want to do better get more and more bold about it--not to mention they get to shamelessly try to use it against the other side. Like demanding that Dems give back all Weinstein money while doing nothing about money from...God, I can't even remember his name now because he was a couple of sexual abuse scandals ago!

 

Quote

I really liked the interview with Adam Schiff, but the Nunes memo isn't fooling anyone who isn't already in the right wing echo chamber. Everything Trump has ever done has set a dangerous precedent and this is no different so I think the hand-wringing is unnecessary. With the typical exception of Fox News this thing has been discredited and lampooned into the ground. 

Yes, I think recent polls show Mueller gaining more trust and Trump losing ground. The Republicans have been so obvious about this the only people who are fooled are the ones who want to be--and they wouldn't read the Dem memo anyway.

Edited February 10, 2018 by sistermagpie

[GHScorpiosRule]

3 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

Like demanding that Dems give back all Weinstein money while doing nothing about money from...God, I can't even remember his name now because he was a couple of sexual abuse scandals ago!

Steve Wynn is his name. Last I heard, he finally resigned or stepped down from his whatever of his hotels, but haven't heard anything about Republicans returning the money they accepted from him.

[ganesh]

When I had an 80 minute commute on public transportation, I read several books on my phone. Go yell at a cloud Bill. 

I've literally given class lectures off my phone. 

[candall]

11 hours ago, amsel said:

I wish Schiff was on the panel and that midshow guest came first. It's easier to just skip the first guest. 

Overall, pretty good show. 

Overtime was great, too. 

Everyone was so hungry for Adam Schiff.  What a treat to hear him when he's not fighting so hard to be high road diplomatic.   It would have been terrific if Bill had just walked him over to the panel and seated him in the mid-show guest chair.  One or two additional sentences from Schiff would have been more valuable than the "cute" woman's entire contribution.  Oh. . . SORRY.

1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Steve Wynn is his name. Last I heard, he finally resigned or stepped down from his whatever of his hotels, but haven't heard anything about Republicans returning the money they accepted from him.

They decided it wouldn't be necessary to return the money.

Edited February 10, 2018 by candall

[ganesh]

There's a program in the Appalachian region that teaches out of work coal miners how to computer code that the administration defunded. 

18 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

They're just not saying what they want to hear, apparently, which is that if we let corporations kill more people with less regulation and get rid of all these foreigners it will be 1915 again in coal country.

That's the key point that Schiff missed in his monologue on OT. I don't doubt he's sincere, but tbh, these people just aren't interested in looking forward overall. I'm sure some actually are, but as a whole. So you know what? Tell them you've got programs for them. They don't want it? Move on. How many times have we talked about the butthurt white dude vote? 

Focus on what the needs are for the 65 million people who didn't vote, Schiff. 

[wknt3]

16 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

When Bill has sane guests, we get a decent show.

When Bill has sane guests or actually tries we get a decent show. He had a good panel this week and actually was engaged so we got a good show and if he had the common sense and self awareness not to talk about #metoo it would have been better than that. One of the most frustrating things for me as a viewer is that he only does one show a week, and has great bookers and a prestige platform, but he can't be bothered to book intelligent guests able to have a conversation and engage in back and forth without shouting or endlessly repeating talking points and put in his best effort every show. I understand why he went in for the theatrics and the cable pundits when he was doing Politically Incorrect. That was a daily show for a network audience and sometimes you need to take shortcuts or can't bring your A game. This is only one show a week on HBO. You need to raise your game instead of living off your reputation and coasting. Especially if you want to whine about not winning awards.
 

3 hours ago, arachne said:

He's been at it online as well, suggesting on his blog that sex ed classes need to instruct kids (especially boys) about "non-verbal cues" and such. Am I out of touch, or are people really that stupid? Anyway, I'm steeling myself for the day some woman (women?) start calling him out; it'll be ten times worse than that racial slur from last year, and we might just kiss this show goodbye. Sad.  

I've said before that I'd actually be a bit surprised if he gets caught up in this. Everything from his past statements when he was open about being a sleazy womanizer and his reactions to these scandals suggests he has been happy to use his fame to get laid consensually. And women have been calling him out for being a sexist misogynistic prick for years without harming his career too much. In fact it may very well be what saved him from doing something inappropriate - he doesn't hire women so it's hard to abuse his power and he prefers vapid to talented and intelligent so he doesn't go after guests or young female comics.

[Mr. R0b0t]

I kinda liked what Bari was saying...was she a quarter cup too precious in her delivery? Yes, but I felt like it was good to hear her articulate some of the points she was making (i.e Damon, zero tolerance).  I hate to sound too much like our SCROTUS, but when Johann said we've had more civilian deaths from drone strikes in this administration than Obama's that got my attention.  Most people don't know that! (right guys?)

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-has-already-killed-more-civilians-obama-us-fight-against-isis-653564

The more you know...

[iMonrey]

Quote

When I had an 80 minute commute on public transportation, I read several books on my phone. Go yell at a cloud Bill. 

Yes but you know you are the exception. Bill is really talking about millennials who have their phones glued to their hands and are always texting or Tweeting or Instagramming or Snapshatting. That's not reading. 

[ganesh]

Yes, that's correct. I was objecting to the "people get their news from Facebook." He was being far too general. When he says "X% haven't read a book in the last year;" while that's true, he's discounting people who are actually reading on their phones. Or saying people who read Harry Potter aren't reading. 

[Victor the Crab]

Adam Schiff came out looking pretty good. I hope he has bigger ambitions for the country besides being a congressman.

23 hours ago, wknt3 said:

I've said before that I'd actually be a bit surprised if he gets caught up in this. Everything from his past statements when he was open about being a sleazy womanizer and his reactions to these scandals suggests he has been happy to use his fame to get laid consensually. And women have been calling him out for being a sexist misogynistic prick for years without harming his career too much. In fact it may very well be what saved him from doing something inappropriate - he doesn't hire women so it's hard to abuse his power and he prefers vapid to talented and intelligent so he doesn't go after guests or young female comics.

All the more reason why I wouldn't be surprised if Bill WAS caught up in a sexual harassment allegation, given his 1960s Mad Men attitude towards women, past and present, if someone like Jenna Jameson is to be believed. In fact, Bill needs to just STFU altogether about women's issues, like the MeToo movement, because his sexist, misogynistic attitude, past and present, makes him look disingenuous and dishonest altogether - and kind of like Drumph. Which makes him look really bad on behalf of liberals.

And I don't believe Bill doesn't hire women so that he wouldn't be tempted to go after them sexually. I think Bill doesn't think they can do the job of comedy properly.

[wknt3]

14 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

All the more reason why I wouldn't be surprised if Bill WAS caught up in a sexual harassment allegation, given his 1960s Mad Men attitude towards women, past and present, if someone like Jenna Jameson is to be believed. In fact, Bill needs to just STFU altogether about women's issues, like the MeToo movement, because his sexist, misogynistic attitude, past and present, makes him look disingenuous and dishonest altogether - and kind of like Drumph. Which makes him look really bad on behalf of liberals.

And I don't believe Bill doesn't hire women so that he wouldn't be tempted to go after them sexually. I think Bill doesn't think they can do the job of comedy properly.

To be clear I don't think this is some sort of deliberate Mike Pence style policy on Bill's part, just that he is a sexist dinosaur who doesn't think women can be funny or that someone who is smart and funny is attractive and that ironically that brand of misogynistic asshattery may keep him from indulging in others. And I'm sure he's made plenty of crude passes and wouldn't be shocked if some accuser comes forward, but he just seems to completely not understand how this works hence all his seemingly genuine confusion. I totally agree that he should STFU about women's issues!

[navelgazer]

At last, no "you're so brave for coming on my show" conservo-whackadoodle to suck up all of the oxygen on the panel, yay! 

Agree about his cluelessness and that Bill should just STFU when it comes to women's issues.  However, about Bill's misogynistic asshattery and the possibility of harassment/assault allegations upcoming, my feeling is he probably doesn't have to worry.  Bill doesn't seem to like power-over sex of the Trumpian model, but rather likes it much better when women come to him.  My mom and I went to a book signing here at Powell's Books in Portland in 2003 or so for "When You Ride Alone, You Ride With Bin Laden."  We didn't buy the book -- we just sat in the back of the room staring adoringly at him while he chatted and signed.  He seemed to dig it/us.  He made sure we knew he noticed us.  Anyway, JMHO, YMMV., of course.  

[monakane]

On 2/9/2018 at 11:06 PM, Kirbyrun said:

I love Richard Painter.

That is all.

Me too.  He's smart and funny as hell.  He needs his own show.