Overtime - Episode #446: Immigration, Ethical Dining, Comedy vs. News

This podcast is supported by Progressive, a leader in RV Insurance.

RVs are for sharing adventures with family, friends, and even your pets.

So, if you bring your cats and dogs along for the ride, you'll want Progressive RV Insurance.

They protect your cats and dogs like family by offering up to $1,000 in optional coverage for vet bills in case of an RV accident, making it a great companion for the responsible pet owner who loves to travel.

See Progressive's other benefits and more when you quote RV Insurance at progressive.com today.

Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, pet injuries, and additional coverage and subject to policy terms.

Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO late night series, real time with Bill Moore.

You still like us.

Before I get to the questions that you folks have asked, the vote just came in.

Four GOPs, no.

Five Dems, yes.

Shutdown starts at midnight.

Yep.

Okay.

Andrew Sullivan, why do you think it is that Republican politicians in DC support policies with which virtually all of their constituents disagree?

Like...

Like who?

Well, I guess they're thinking about

something like the Dreamers.

People support the Dreamers overwhelmingly.

I mean, they do support a lot of the things that...

What I found interesting is that, you know, the Republicans have not, I mean, no one can be.

It's just, it's a question of human decency that people who have lived here for half their lives not be taken to a country they don't even recognize.

There's something about that that's just so disgusting.

It violates the core meaning of this country.

And so I haven't been, and thank God, I haven't heard a lot of Republicans actually going, rah, rah, rah, on that.

I mean,

some of their base may be wanting that, but the public, the senators have not been saying that, because they know.

So maybe that gives Democrats a lot of leverage.

On the other hand, if that is inhumane and you can get that stopped, then letting him build a wall for a year and a half doesn't seem to be a big problem.

I mean,

you talk about it like it's like it's not a giant thing, a wall from a 1900 miles of wall.

Just give him the wall.

It won't happen.

It won't happen.

No, it won't happen.

So give it to him

and save them.

Okay.

We'll shut the government down.

Okay.

How can we make sure that the restaurants we dine at are treating their staff?

Yeah, how do you know what's going on in the restaurant?

You know, we actually created an app.

It's called the ROC National Diners Guide.

It tells you which restaurants are faring better on wages, benefits, and promotions.

And I can tell you, most of the chains are not doing very well.

And, you know, most of the chains have a zero-tolerance policy around sexual harassment.

We call it a zero-tolerance policy for complaining about sexual harassment because you speak up and you get fired.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my God.

Those are the restaurants.

Is there an app that would tell me if the bus boy has the flu?

The app does tell you.

Yes, actually, the app does tell you if they have paid sick days because 90% of these workers don't have a single day to take off when they're sick, which means two-thirds of restaurant workers work when they have the flu.

Yeah.

Michael Wolf, do you feel like you had an advantage over traditional media because it didn't matter to you if you burned sources or bridges with your reports on the White House?

100%.

Absolutely.

Totally.

I mean, I'm not.

You said that like Dr.

Evil.

I'm not going back.

Are you Dr.

Evil?

I'm just noticing.

I'm trying to look like you.

Yes, you can.

Do this.

We might.

That internet would explode.

We're already.

Explode, it explodes.

Just say $1 million.

Oh, he's making that every day on this board.

How much have you made from the book?

I'm still maxed out.

I'd say from the side, though, you look a little bit like Professor Fonsworth from Futurama.

Really, I was thinking I would look a little like you, actually.

Actually, we all look a little...

We're all Michael Wolves.

Right.

Yeah, three baldies.

I feel pretty good

on my almost birthday.

Larry Milmar, do you think comedy shows are at the front line of combating the lies of the government because they can say and do things that normal news shows can't?

Well, that would be better if you still had a show.

Oh, well, it would be very kind.

Thank you.

That's the truth.

You know what?

Bill, I always used to answer this question differently, but it seems more and more it is.

You know?

I mean, there's no news person that's going to deliver

the statement that you just said.

You know, there's,

I haven't seen you on CNN.

I'm sorry.

I don't see you coming out on shows where we hear these things.

The way there's agendas that happen on newscasts now, they're not presenting news, they're presenting agendas.

And, you know, CNN, everything's breaking news except actual news.

I mean, it's insane, you know.

And now they've done a thing where they're in the business of media criticism itself, you know, where CNN will criticize Fox, Fox will criticize CNN.

It's like, what the fuck are you guys doing for Christ's sakes?

You're not the news.

They're making themselves the news.

And Jon Stewart, you, of course, I call the father of it with politically correct.

Jon Stewart.

Politically correct.

Politically incorrect, correct?

Yes.

And

Jon Stewart, people felt like they could trust you guys because they felt like you were telling the truth.

And I think that's just grown now.

All right.

Do you think the Supreme Court?

That's my long answer.

Do you think the Supreme Court will finally put an end to gerrymandering this year?

I mean, that could be huge.

That would be.

Something's happening in South Carolina on that right now, right?

What's going on?

With, I think there's.

There's the Wisconsin Supreme Court's,

which is the case.

No, this is the case.

This is the big one that the Supreme Court is ruling on this year.

year.

Looking at other countries the way they do their districts, this is crazy.

The idea that you would let the actual interested parties,

and depending just on musical chairs, who happens to be in after the census, determine your politics.

You could just, we have computers now.

You know, you can actually put into a computer, okay,

put in the factor of compactness and put in the factor of diversity, and I will put in the factor of whatever this region will make it closer, will make it more balanced so there's a real real battle.

And you can do all that and have a new map in a few seconds, and yet we can't.

It's another, like we were talking about tipping, one of those things where America, almost unique and not in a good way.

You know, one of the only countries now to pull out of the Paris Accords, one of the only countries left who hasn't had a woman president and the high incarceration rates, and one of the only countries that has direct advertising for prescription drugs, you know, all these things that make us, oh, I know we're not a shithole country, but

you know.

We kind of are.

In some ways, when you look at lots of stats like infant mortality and literacy, you know, we're not in the top 10.

And having a sexual predator for president.

Right.

We definitely

should be very careful about who we're calling a shithole.

I'm not going to defend all that, but I am going to say the comment y'all made in all those things is that people have more freedom here than they do elsewhere.

And I know you appreciate that.

Absolutely.

And

that means that that things are not going to be as great as they might be if you have a very tightly controlled big government country to make sure everybody ends up the same way.

It's just a cost benefit.

There's a reason we have to have a wall to keep

people from coming.

Some people build walls to keep people coming.

But it should not prevent us from speaking up for injustices that happen in this free society.

That's right, because not everybody's as free as everybody else.

That's right.

We're going to fix that this year.

Thank you, everybody.

We're off to a good start.

Happy New Year.

Catch all new episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher every Friday night at 10.

Or watch him anytime on HBO On Demand.

For more information, log on to HBO.com.