Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
“TMZ” of course, is an entertainment news network, including a TV show and a website. The reference is to kids of this generation being filmed and photographed all the time, which is said to cause anxiety and paranoia. One example is his reference to the Wall Street Journal article, “Suddenly everyone is scared to dance at concerts and clubs.” But the whole culture has turned voyeuristic, making everybody afraid to be themselves.
This is not a particularly good episode, as the point is not that earthshaking, but I post it for the record.
This week Bill Maher’s comedy/news bit on “Real Time” mourns the lack of bipartisanship in American politics—something that was once admired but now is denigrated. His two examples of how both parties contributed to improving society involve drugs—the dramatic decrease of death from street drugs like fentanyl as well as the price drops in widely-used prescription drugs. Maher argues that this wasn’t due to deliberate collaboration between the Dems and GOP, but was “accidental bipartisanship”:each party independently did things that contributed to the overall welfare.
People aren’t going to be happy with Maher saying that the GOP did anything worthwhile, though.
This week’s “New Rule” bit on Bill Maher’s Real Time show is about the financial apocalypse that might result from the American national debt now being $40 trillion. And despite that, Trump keeps increasing it, despite his promises to cut it. He also says that he’ll give every American $5,000, which will add another trillion to the debt.
And the Left, as exemplified by the Democratic Socialists of America (but also “progressives”), tells us that in the future the government will pay for everyone’s housing, health insurance, food, daycare, medicine, and transportation. (Maher says the DSA promises will cost the government between $72 trillion and $212 trillion.) On top of this we have a growing rate of unemployment, defined as “people who are looking for work but can’t find it.” Maher’s conclusion about what this assumes: “Money is free (to be given away) and consequences don’t exist.”
And he’s right—we do have a problem. Although the problem will not afflict my generation so much, it will squeeze future generations: raising interest rates, reducing government benefits, increasing inflation, and reducing purchasing power.
The panel guests are Democratic political strategist Jessica Tarlov and conservative political activist Christopher Rufo x
At the end of September I posted about the BBC’s refusal to use the word “terrorist” when referring to Hamas. They could use it when quoting other people, but you can’t call a terrorist a terrorist when it applies to Palestinians who kill civilians for political, ideological, or religious aims. This also applies to other media outlets, as you can see in Bill Maher’s latest “Real Time” segment below.
A reader sent me a link to the 9-minute comedy-and-news bit, which this week was more news than comedy. And the reader noted that this was one of “his best ever” and that it “should be required viewing for every incoming college freshman in America.” It is indeed, as Maher calls out the young generation for coddling terrorism, valorizing Luigi Mangione, and touting America as the worst country ever.
The moral confusion afflicting the young and the “progressives” is most pervasive when discussing Israel’s response to terrorism emanating from Gaza, which, Maher emphasizes, is NOT a genocide but a “counterattack in a war. . . that’s been waged by Israel since 1948”. And he quotes a poll saying that 20% of Gen Z members have a “positive view of Osama bin Laden.” Seriously?
The genocide canard is the most infuriating lie told by progressives, even though it’s easily dispelled by citing the many things Israel did to protect Palestinian civilians from harm during its counterattack. But that doesn’t matter; the chuckleheads waving the “genocide” banner ignore both vocabulary and history, so eager are they to smear Israel. (You never hear them accusing Hamas of genocide.) As Maher says, that Big Lie is not only wrong, but also promotes antisemitism:
“Gaza equals genocide is a lie—an easily provable lie. And the fact that so many prominent Democrats get along with it is to me, the party’s worst moment since they ended Reconstruction after the Civil War.”
“This is where antisemitism is coming from. . . because if you really think someone is committing genocide, of course you have full permission to hate them. And history shows, for whatever reason, when it comes to hating the Jews, people don’t need a lot of permission.”
The guest whose faces and applause appear in this segment are Max Brooks, an author, actor, and historian, and Sarah Longwell:. a conservative publisher and political strategist.
I should add that I tweeted this segment yesterday, and the antisemites came out in droves. It’s scary, but also evidence that Jew hatred is more pervasive than we—or at least I—know. Have a look at the comments on this tweet (click on it):
Sometimes I feel that these people wouldn’t be happy unless either Israel never fought back against terrorism, or in fact disappeared from the face of the Earth.
In yesterday’s “Real Time” comedy-and-politics bit, Bill Maher calls attention to the fact that much of the real work in Congress isn’t done by the older Senators and Representatives, but rather by their staff, who may be “too young.”
In other words, the 20-somethings are writing the bills, and, as Maher said, “the kids are not all right.” In Maher’s view, these kids , whatever their politics, grew up on social media, and on the Left they’re too woke and on the Right they’re too conservative and racist (40% of Republican staffers are fans of Nick Fuentes!). Neither side, he maintains, understands the art of compromise and of rational analysis aimed at producing solution. The Democrats, though, seem to get most of Maher’s flak. At the end he says, “The problem isn’t just the old farts; maybe it’s also the new little shits.”
Maher’s guests on this segment include Byron Donalds, a Republican Congressman from Florida, and Molly Jong-Fast, author and host of the Fast Politics podcast (as well as the daughter of Erica Jong).
In his “New rule” comedy-and-news/opinion segment of Real Time, Bill Maher argues that there’s been too much disapproveal of romances in the workplace. (He mentions the draconian rule proposed by AOC, which demonizes romances between people in Congress and any staffer, no matter who they work for, even though Congresspeople are already prohibited from dating someone who works in their office.)
I agree with his view that we should “not throw out the babymaker with the bathwater”, so long as the romance does not result from a power imbalance that could affect careers, was consensual, and does not involve two people in which one is the other’s boss. I’ll add, though, that Maher’s notion that “consensual” relationships are okay becomes problematic when “consent” is given to avoid angering someone who has power over you. That’s solved by prohibiting romances in Congress (or in universities) when such a power imbalance exists.
Feel free to weigh in here. Maher notes data from Forbes that 43% of workplace romances end in marriage, and his defense of Representative Chuck Edwards, forced to end his campaign for no clearly improper behavior at all, is both sensible and funny (“the only thing this guy couldn’t keep in his pants was his credit card”). The point, which others have made before, is that wokeness often goes hand-in-hand with puritanism.
This comedy video, starring Barack Obama and Larry David, shows that the ex-President is a natural actor and comedian. (I’ve added a Facebook post below that also shows Obama’s comedic talents.) Here the Calm Man interacts with the Neurotic Man. As for the tan-suit thing, Wikipedia has whoe article on “Barack Obama and tan suit controversy,” which includes this:
On August 28, 2014, President Barack Obama held a press conference about the situation regarding ISIS in Syria, and how the U.S. military was planning to respond to it. At the conference, Obama said that the U.S. had yet to develop a plan regarding the removal of ISIS, and talked extensively about his concerns in the region. During the conference he wore a tan suit, which until that point was uncommon for Obama.
Although it is common for men to wear light-colored suits in Washington during the summer due to the city’s heat and humidity, it was seen by conservative commentator and Fox Business Network host Lou Dobbs as “shocking to a lot of people”.[6] The controversy was seen in the context of the slow news season before the run-up to the 2014 election campaign. The suit received mixed reviews from a sartorial perspective.
At the time, the unusual attention given to a male leader’s fashion choices was contrasted with that of his 2008 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s “regular experience” as a woman in politics.
This bit gives a fictitious backstory about the Obama Tan Suit Incident, showing that it was all Larry David’s fault when he interacts with a mango smoothie. This could have been right out of “Curb Your Enthusiasm“:
Here’s Obama in an actual tan suit worn when he was President:
President Barack Obama meets with John F. Tefft, U.S. Ambassador to Russia, in the Oval Office, Aug. 28, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza). Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain
Merilee found this video of Barack being funny at other times.
Merilee found this video of Barack being funny at other times.
