John Oliver turns his attention to Vice President Mike Pence. Poor Mike Pence. Update!

Courtesy of the AV Club: 

With the chaos at the Trump White House mounting every single day to what seems like an inevitable flashpoint involving a constitutional crisis, impeachment, indictment, diversionary declaration of war, or simply a White House staffed with no one but Trump relatives and their wedding planners, it’s tempting to look ahead to the theoretically more stable prospect of President Mike Pence. But, as John Oliver lays out in the main story of Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, be very fucking careful what you wish for.

Oliver, calling Pence “the opposite of whatever a silver fox is” (settling on “ashen weasel”), takes a hard, typically incisive and hilariously pissed off look at exactly how extreme the positions of the (current) Vice President are. From his vocal opposition to women in the military, his prayer-based non-response to an HIV outbreak in Indiana when he was governor, to his ongoing abetting and excusing of literally every ignorant, hateful, or outright lunatic and untrue thing that dribbles out of his boss’ mouth, Oliver presents a portrait of a man whose outward appearance of un-Trump-ian sanity barely conceals the frothing, right wing loon within. Especially when it comes to the LGBTQ community, where Pence’s long history of bigotry includes overt, verifiable support of one James Dobson and the organization Focus on the Family, your go-to zealots for “shock ‘em ‘til they’re not gay anymore” “conversion therapy.”

Of course the point Oliver is trying to make is that Mike Pence is a fucking three car pile up, which we all seem completely oblivious to because he is always standing next to the human train wreck.

Look I want Trump out of office at least as much as the next guy, probably more actually, but if we take him out and leave Pence in place we may simply find ourselves exchanging one walking nightmare for another.

Update: So apparently John Oliver's bunny book is outselling Mike Pence's bunny book.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:  

On Sunday night John Oliver announced on HBO’s Last Week Tonight that A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, a children’s book about a gay bunny, named after a pet rabbit owned by the family of Vice President Mike Pence, would be available immediately. That meant it beat a rival children’s book, Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President, written by Pence’s daughter, Charlotte, and illustrated by his wife, Karen, by mere hours to the digital shelves. 

As of Monday afternoon, Last Week Tonight’s book—which was written by Jill Twiss and illustrated by E.G. Keller, an artist from Pence’s home state of Indiana—was the No. 1 seller on Amazon, with the Pences’ book lagging noticeably behind at No. 6. With over 1,200 user reviews by that time, the Last Week Tonight book earned a rare five-star rating. The Pences’ effort had less than 50 reviews, and a woeful one-and-a-half-star rating.

I swear John Oliver is a national treasure. 

Bill Maher has a message for Democrats and I think we need to listen.

I think that sometimes Bill Maher can be a little strident, and I certainly do not agree with him on all issues.

But his defense of Nancy Pelosi here is spot on.

And his call for Democrats to start showing some real balls goes right along with my thinking these last several years as well.

I always thought that our first Democratic Senator in decades, Mark Begich, could actually have won a second term if he had only acted more like Congressman for life Don Young.

I do not mean ideologically of course, but when people criticize Don Young he says "fuck you!"

And I don't mean that figuratively.

Republicans in Alaska, and most other places in the country, are arrogant assholes, and yet they keep getting reelected because the voting public takes that for confident leadership.

Alaska politicians Ted Stevens, Frank Murkowski, and Don Young were, and some still are, incredibly arrogant assholes who never apologized for ANYTHING.

If Democrats want to win elections they may not have to be actual assholes, but they do have to have the confidence of their values, and an unapologetic stand on the issues they believe in. 

This upcoming blue wave may get a lot of Democrats into office, but if they want to stay there they better learn to stand defiant against bullshit attacks and attempts to paint them as wishy washy. 

Real Time returned last night and Bill Maher wasted no time in courting controversy by talking about the #MeToo movement.

Maher is making some very good points here, that I think a number of us have also discussed in the past.

The #MeToo movement is overall a very positive thing, but it can render itself completely ineffective if those participating do not exercise a little objectivity.

Tina Fey teams up with director of "Game Change" to make film about shooting at Kent State.

Courtesy of Philly Voice:  

Tina Fey is co-producing the film “67 shots,” which will depict the events leading up to the 1970 shooting at Kent State University. 

The film will be directed by Jay Roach, who previously worked with Fey on “Sisters,” which Roach produced.

Roach’s other work as a director includes “Game Change,” the HBO drama depicting Sarah Palin’s rise to a vice presidential nomination (and, no, Fey did not play Palin), and “Trumbo,” among others. His more recent political work comes after directing franchises like “Austin Powers” and “Meet the Parents.”

The film will be a historical drama detailing the events that led to the shooting of Kent State students during a Vietnam War protest in May 1970. Sixty-seven shots were fired by the Ohio National Guard, four students were killed and nine were injured. 

“There was a prevailing movement in the country – they measured it with polls – where the vast majority of Americans blamed the students for what happened,” Roach told Deadline. “We have footage of the people on the streets saying, ‘I wish they’d shot them all.’” 

Roach also compared the 1970 events to today’s political protests, specifically the controversy surrounding athletes' choice not to stand for the national anthem. 

“The tamer version of this now is the NFL protest, the hatred that comes out for any show of what some people consider lack of patriotism,” he said.

"Four dead in O-h-i-o."

A troll asked me recently how I could have been so politically aware at such a young age.

Well the answer to that were events like this which shocked and inspired my generation to become more aware and ultimately more involved in the political process.

For me this was a seminal event in my life, and it definitely impacted how I saw government and the military for decades to come.

And I think a movie about it at this time in America will send a very powerful message about how terrible things can become in this country if we do not stand up as speak truth to power.

Bill Maher's New Rules: Get it in Writing.

This was a great one last night. And oh so true.

I have to admit I'm a little jealous that Maher found such a great bad photo of Sarah Palin which apparently escaped my attention.

Last night Bill Maher's New Rules featured a face familiar to all of us here on IM.

What did he call Sarah Palin?

The Daenerys Stillborn of the House of Pancakes? Yeah, I liked that.

Of course what most people are talking about concerning the show today, was this:

This just happened on @RealTimers with @billmaher pic.twitter.com/P58uThgMYs

— Matt Wilstein (@mattwilstein) August 12, 2017

I am not sure that is an actual unretouched photo, but I firmly believe one just like it exists somewhere.

Pretty good show last night though it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Trump administration is becoming so ridiculous as to defy any attempts at parody.

All Maher has to do is dictate what is actually happening to his audience and then wait for the shocked gasps and uneasy laughter.  

John Oliver reveals that Alex Jones is not only selling batshit crazy conspiracy theories, he's selling batshit crazy merchandise to go with them.

Courtesy of the LA Times:

On Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight,” John Oliver noted that Jones’ status as a Sandy Hook "truther" qualified him for an Easy Pass to “hell’s version of the champagne room.” But he spent most of his time on a relatively overlooked aspect of Jones’ conspiracy empire -- the wide range of products that he sells in order to fund it. 

According to Oliver, Jones spends nearly a quarter of his airtime plugging InfoWars-branded merchandise, including Wake Up America Patriot coffee to Combat One Tactical Bath Wipes and a powder called Caveman True Paleo (made from “chocolate and domesticated bird corpses,” Oliver joked). 

As the comedian pointed out, it just so happens that many of the products Jones sells, often at a significant markup, purport to address the conspiracy theories with equally wild-eyed zeal. Think: water filters to remove chemicals that supposedly turn frogs gay or vitamins to boost your immunity and ward off germs from allegedly disease-ridden refugees. 

Jones even has his own in-house “expert,” Dr. Edward Group, with dubious qualifications (and equally questionable hair) to back up his various outlandish claims. 

InfoWars is essentially a “QVC for conspiracy,” Oliver argued. 

My favorite line: "Current Russian Ambassador to the United States Donald Trump."

That almost made me blow chardonnay out of my nose. 

John Oliver warns about the conservative take over of local TV news.

Courtesy of The Guardian:

John Oliver took a look at the Sinclair group on Sunday night, examining the conservative-leaning station’s ownership of many local news networks. 

“Our main story tonight concerns the potential problems in corporate consolidation of local news,” Oliver began. “National cable news gets a lot of attention with their big budgets and their fancy graphics packages. Meanwhile, local news often has to do a lot more with a lot less.” 

He went on to show clips of broadcaster Mark Hyman railing against “political correctness and multiculturalism”. 

“Hyman is a commentator and former executive at Sinclair Broadcast Group, and Sinclair may be the most influential media company you’ve never heard of,” Oliver explained. “Not only are they the largest owner of local TV stations in the country, they could soon get even bigger,” referring to the company’s proposed $4bn acquisition of all Tribune Media stations.

Once again John Oliver has exposed an incredibly troubling problem that many of us did not even realize existed.

Like I said this is even more troubling than Fox News or Right Wing radio.

At least with those you can have the expectation that the news you are hearing is slanted and possibly even exaggerated for effect.

But your local news is supposed to be tailored to the needs of its viewers, not shaped by the odeology of its conservative overlords.

Bill Maher laments the end of the summer mental health break.

My favorite part:

"So I don't know how this happened, or when exactly this stupidifying of the whole year. Maybe it was the advent of Fox News. Maybe it was when we made stars out of the Kardashians. Maybe it was the day John McCain decided to let an ill advised summer fling with a ditzy moron last all the way into November.  Whatever it was we have got to get summer back. We've got to be able to enjoy stupidity again. Hard earned, respectable, stupidity. That's what my goal is in the age of Trump."

By the way the whole show last night was very solid.

From the opening monologue, to the interview with  Dan Savage, to the great folks on the panel, the show pretty entertaining from start to finish.

Which is great, because the show last week was absolutely terrible and was bad to the point where I almsot skipped this one.

Glad I didn't.

John Oliver being sued by "coal king" over segment which included threats of just such a lawsuit.

So you guys might remember that on Tuesday I posted a story about John Oliver's brilliant take on Donald Trump's inability to actually bring back coal jobs.

Part of that show also featured references to "Coal King" Bob Murray, a close friend of Donald Trump's, who threatened to sue Oliver if he included him in the segment.

Of course Oliver did just that, and even mocked a story told about Murray that suggests he once had a conversation with a talking squirrel.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome to Last Week To-nut, I'm Mr. Nutterbutter. Just time for a quick recap of the week..." pic.twitter.com/Gsveb3PUfb

— Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) June 19, 2017

Well for some reason Mr. Murray did indeed take offense, and now he is actually suing John Oliver and HBO: 

A Republican coal baron is suing John Oliver, HBO, Time Warner, and the writers for Oliver’s show over the most recent episode of Last Week Tonight. 

The suit, filed on June 21 in the circuit court of Marshall County, West Virginia, holds that Oliver and his team “executed a meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character of and reputation of Mr. Robert E. Murray and his companies” by airing an episode that ripped into him. Murray runs the country’s largest privately owned coal company, Murray Energy Corporation. 

“They did this to a man who needs a lung transplant, a man who does not expect to live to see the end of this case,” reads the complaint, which also lists Murray’s companies as plaintiffs. 

The lawsuit isn’t a surprise to Oliver. In fact, the British comic said on the episode of his show that aired on June 18 that he expected it, noting that Murray has sued several other media outlets in the past (including, in May, the New York Times). In the episode, Oliver criticized Murray’s business practices, saying he doesn’t do enough to protect his miners’ safety. Oliver also noted that his team contacted Murray’s company before the episode aired, and that the company sent a cease-and-desist letter––the first time that had ever happened to his show. 

Parts of the complaint read like it had been written by President Donald Trump. One paragraph says Murray “has built a strong reputation as one of the as one of the staunchest defenders and most ardent champions of the United States coal industry and America itself.” The complaint also claims that “[d]efendants’ broadcasts have vigorously supported and advanced Mrs. Clinton’s agenda.”

God this is going to be good!

Personally I hope that the HBO lawyers put the giant squirrel on the stand to testify.

Speaking of lawyers HBO once hired 160 of them in preparation for the lawsuits they expected from Scientologists for broadcasting the documentary, "Going Clear."

Even the Scientologists were not crazy enough to go through with any lawsuits. But then again I don't think they talk to squirrels.

By the way if you have not seen the segment which inspired this hullabaloo you really owe it to yourself to do so. It is actually very good.  I anxiously await this upcoming episode, because you KNOW that much of it will focus on this lawsuit.

John Oliver challenges Donald Trump's ability to keep his promise to bring back coal jobs and it is glorious.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Setting aside the "fact that [coal] is environmentally catastrophic," Oliver argued that Trump is less concerned with helping coal miners than in bolstering the coal industry -- two groups whose interests do not always align. With assistance from a giant talking squirrel, naturally, he focused on "the divide that can exist between a coal company’s interests and those of its workers." 

Oliver conceded that while coal jobs declined under President Obama, it was merely the continuation of a decades-long decline caused by a number of factors, including declining use and mechanization. 

These jobs have been disappearing "at roughly the same rate as careers in the zeppelin industry and babies named Adolf." 

Oliver has done some amazing segments on The Last Word, but I have to say that this was one of his very best.

Made even more so by the fact that he was threatened with a lawsuit by coal mining CEP Bob Murray telling him not to air it.

Once again Oliver delivers solid journalism interwoven with genuinely funny jokes a to tell a complicated story in an interesting and entertaining manner.

Excellent job and I cannot recommend it enough.

Last night Bill Maher addressed progress and the jobs we will never, and should never, see again.

I thought last night's show was pretty entertaining, though I could have done without that Breitbart apologist coming on and attempting to suggest that his website does the country a service by covering the news stories that the MSM will not cover.

In other words the fake ones.

However apparently he got schooled by intelligence analyst Malcom Nance who demanded an apology for a false article on Breitbart that resulted in he and his family receiving 31 death threats. 

John Oliver's take on Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate accords is something you should not miss.

Courtesy of The Guardian: 

Trump’s decision was “hardly surprising”, said Oliver. “As a title, [Paris accords] is so off-brand for him it might as well have been called ‘the globalist cock surrender’ or a light jog. 

“But pulling out of this is a huge deal,” he continued, firing back at Trump’s claim that the deal made the US a laughingstock to other countries. “They were happy because they secured a landmark victory for the future of the planet, you fucking egomaniac. The whole world is not secretly conspiring against the United States.”

Oliver then addressed the president’s belief that the deal harmed American businesses, 25 of which, including Microsoft and Intel, bought an advertisement in the New York Times in a last-ditch attempt to persuade Trump to remain a part of the agreement. 

“Well, come on. He was clearly never going to be convinced by an ad in the New York Times,” Oliver joked. “How was he going to see it? If those companies really wanted to get his attention, they needed to talk KFC into putting out a full-bucket ad which he could read on the toilet while eating chicken, because that, at his core, is who our president is.”

Oliver of course goes on to suggest that Trump may have actually done the climate change movement a favor by providing a symbol for them to rally against.

The large gassy orb that is Donald Trump. 

Bill Maher calls Democrats out over their passivity.

Even if you are not a fan of Bill Maher, if you are a progressive you need to hear this .

And what's more we need to hear a lot more talk like this.

Until we figure out that playing by the rules makes us the losers, we will never be the winners again.

John Oliver hysterically responds to criticism over his attempt to shame the FCC into protecting Net Neutrality.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

John Oliver wasn’t about to let it go when Fox Business News hosts attacked his net neutrality campaign. In previous episodes, Oliver has worked to explain the complicated topic and began a campaign to encourage people to express a plethora of public comments about the opposition to the Federal Election Commission removing independence from internet service providers. 

In a web exclusive, Oliver explained that over 1.6 million comments have been made on both sides of the issue, but Fox took issue with the fact that some were from people saying that their names were “Donald Trump” or “John Oliver.” Other comments were insulting or racist, and Oliver told those commenters to “cut it out.”

Oliver is doing very important work in a very humorous manner, and he deserves nothing but support.

Everybody, and I really mean EVERYBODY, should be helping to protect access to the internet.

Because if you don't think these internet providers would eagerly slow down or interfere with your access to sites like IM, you are sadly mistaken.

I'm pretty sure we are on a list somewhere. 

John Oliver helping us all to protect Net Neutrality.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

One of the first John Oliver segments to gain national attention came in 2014, when he called for viewers to flood the FCC's website with comments opposing net neutrality restrictions. The next day, that site crashed due to “technical difficulties with our comment system.” It was the first of many instances in which Oliver would spur grassroots activism among his viewers, whether it be through pushing a hashtag or flat-out soliciting donations to worthwhile organizations. On Sunday night, Oliver ran back his initial call to action by once again encouraging viewers to visit the FCC's website and make their voices heard. This is because, once again, net neutrality is in trouble.

Two years after Oliver shut down the FCC's website, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld new net neutrality rules supported by President Barack Obama. "Today’s ruling is a victory for the open, fair, and free Internet as we know it today—one that remains open to innovation and economic growth, without service providers serving as paid gatekeepers," the Obama administration said in a statement. 

Now that Donald Trump is in office, however, that "open, fair and free internet" is in jeopardy. His administration in April announced plans to roll back Obama-era net neutrality protections. 

Here is the link that Oliver is providing to help the American people protect their access to the internet.

And as he says this really is something that should unite ALL of us.

Bill Maher has a message for liberal purists, "Go f**k yourself!"

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

“That begins learning the difference between an imperfect friend and a deadly enemy,” Maher said. He went on to quote Jill Stein, who famously said both candidates were like being murdered just in different ways. “Well, I’m sure with Trump in charge and a racist attorney general there will be a lot more of both.” 

Before the election, Edward Snowden tweeted “2016: The difference between Donald Trump and Goldman Sachs.” Maher noted that Trump has actually hired Goldman Sachs executives and former staffers to work for him. “The only people he hasn’t hired from Goldman Sachs is Goldman and Sachs.” 

He then cited Cornell West who called Trump a neofascist and Clinton a ‘neoliberal disaster.’ “I don’t even know what a neoliberal disaster even means but whatever it is, isn’t it better than a fascist one? Have you people lost your f*cking minds? 

“If Hillary was president now, would we be turning the clock back on the one issue on which there is no more time: climate change?” Maher asked. “Would we have to wonder if our president’s fascination with dictators is foreshadowing a coup here? Would we ever have to wonder if she was Putin’s b*tch? And instead of trying to kick millions off health care to pay tax cuts for herself, she would be trying to raise her own taxes to get more people covered. She wouldn’t be complaining, ‘It’s complicated! Who knew?’ She knew.”

At the end of his rant Maher suggests that the liberal purists who refused to recognize the clear and obvious differences between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should go fuck themselves with "a locally grown organic cucumber."

That's a little crude for my tastes, but I certainly agree with the sentiment.

Our country would be in such better shape if these idiots had not allowed themselves to be manipulated by the Russians into believing that Hillary was winning because she was "the anointed one," and had put on their big boy pants and cast their vote for the good of the nation instead of pouting like children because they did not get their way.

Bill Maher tells Liberals that they are wasting their time trying to win over Trump supporters with facts.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

“Trump supporters aren’t changing their minds because the problem isn’t in the mind. It’s lower. It’s emotional,” Maher said. “He could have Ann Frank’s skeleton in his closet. They’d all vote for him again.” 

Asking why, Maher walked through the cultural crisis many of the undervalued white voters face that Trump managed to harness. “I think it’s a gut feeling that the world has changed and they don’t like it,” he said. “Trump is going to change it back to the way it was.” 

Speaking occasionally in a thick southern accent, Maher railed against “damn Mexicans” flooding baseball fields like “the parking lot at Home Depot.” He was furious about two boys kissing on the kiss-cam. “And did I mention Bruce Jenner has tits now?” 

“I ain’t no racist, but why does American need to have a black Santa Claus?” Maher asked. “I think I speak for most liberals when I say, I don’t care about black Santa. I don’t think it’s going to make the Little Drummer Boy start cutting himself. But to Trump voters, making Santa black is unthinkable. It’d be like making Jesus Middle Eastern.”

Not only was that pretty damn funny, but it was also pretty damn true.

And I think is what really frustrates those of us whose thinking is reality based.

In my mind if Russia is working hard to get a candidate elected, that disqualifies them out of hand.

And if a candidate is caught on tape talking about grabbing pussies, that is a non-starter.

But to the Trump supporters those are either forgivable sins, or bullshit made up by the "liberal media."

Stupid is stupid, and it is apparently impervious to change.

So in response we just need to flood the upcoming elections with smart, liberal, forward thinking candidates, and push these paint chip eaters back to the fringe where they belong.

Last night Bill Maher said that "Republicans need to learn the difference between being conservative and just being a dick." Wait, there's a difference?

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

In the New Rules segment of HBO’s Real Time, host Bill Maher tore into the Republican Party for rolling back safety and environmental regulations simply because “they’re d*cks.” 

“So much of what they have done since Trump took over isn’t moving the party in a more conservative direction. It’s also not Libertarian. It’s just a d*ck move,” Maher began. 

“Republicans have to learn the difference between being a conservative and just being a d*ck,” the HBO host said before adding that conservatism has become “just about some warped idea that the way to show strength is by being a d*ck and that, in a nutshell, is what Republicanism has become – looking at any problem and saying, ‘What would a d*ck do?’”

The examples that Maher provides are brutal, and make it virtually impossible for most of us to believe that anything motivates the Republicans other than greed and abject sadism.

I mean seriously, asbestos?

It's like we are living in a country where half the politicians are fighting to protect as many people as possible, and the other half are attempting to loosen the gun laws so they can walk around arbitrarily shooting people in the head.

And I have to say it really makes me worry about the future of this country.

Last night Bill Maher took aim at Donald Trump's enablers.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Singling out Vice President Mike Pence, press secretary Sean Spicer, and advisors Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Miller, the Real Time host called them out for going on TV and pretending, “Trump didn’t say what everybody just heard him say.” 

“New rule,” Maher began, “If you get up everyday and try and make Donald Trump’s ludicrous and dangerous pronouncements sound normal and sane, you are an enabler.” 

“Twenty years from now when your kids ask you, over a glass of Soylent Green, ‘What did you do during the Trump years, daddy?’ You don’t want your answer to be, ‘My job was to go on TV and say my job was to go on TV and pretend Trump didn’t say what everybody just heard him say,'” Maher continued. 

“Without these professional liars and deniers, there is no Trump,” Maher added. “It takes a village to help a man-child stay in power. And the excuse, ‘I am just doing my job’ is starting to sound a whole lot like I was just following orders.”

You know just last week I wondered what kind of person can go on TV and defend Donald Trump in the morning and then look at themselves in the mirror at night and not want to hold their head under the bathwater until the bubbles stop.

I still don't know, because I can tell you that if it were MY job to defend Donald Trump you would have found me face down in my tub on day two of my employment.