Overtime - Episode #439: Puerto Rico, Police Militarization, Hugh Hefner

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Welcome to an HBO podcast from the HBO Late Night Series, Real Time with Bill Moore.

Okay, here we are back.

And the questions for the panel.

April, Ryan, what are your thoughts on the Howard University protesters who shouted down James Comey?

I don't know about this.

What happened?

Well, first of all, the Howard University students are very upset that James Comey will now have this position for a year.

He's given the money back to the school.

What position?

He's going to be kind of like a fellow.

He's over top of

this, its policy,

governance, this.

At Howard University.

At Howard University.

They brought him in.

He turned away other colleges and took this position at Howard.

Howard students are very upset.

I thought it would be more so about the Hillary election and his part in those remaining days, like the 11 days or so prior to the election.

And it wasn't.

It was mostly about the history of the FBI and the black community.

Now, the the kids have the right freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

They had a right to protest, but the president of Howard University says, Comey, no matter what, we'll be there for the year.

But it's interesting finding out about James Comey, and I found this out through the president of Howard,

President Wayne Frederick.

He said that James Comey, whenever he brings some, well, when he used to be FBI director, whenever he would bring someone in, he would make them look through the records, the FBI records of Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

to show how the department overreached.

And he would make them go to the King Memorial.

It's interesting.

It's interesting this dynamic.

He did a bad thing, but he's not a bad guy.

He's doing six.

Well, that's debatable, but he's doing six speeches out there.

Do you think Comey's a bad guy?

I think it's yet to be.

I think the verdict is still out on Comey.

Yeah.

And I think

that's a lot of stuff.

There's a lot of stuff.

I don't know.

A lot of stuff still to know about your memory.

The Howard students are right, and the FBI has been no friend of the African-American people.

That much is that.

Well, he's trying trying to speak, though.

The whole point is he's supposed to be doing these six speeches, and they're basically going to be about police reform and criminal justice reform.

As April said, that was what the first speech was about, and I think it's supposed to be a series.

They were chanting the chant that I found most poignant was a lot of them chanting, Comey's not my homie.

But he thinks he's down.

He does.

Okay.

Well, Hawkin, do you think that storm-ravaged places like Puerto Rico can be rebuilt to withstand future extreme weather events?

That's a good question.

I mean, some of these places, you know.

Which extreme weather events, the ones we just had or the ones we're going to have in 10

years?

What if they become uninhabitable?

That could possibly happen.

It can.

It actually can.

And the thing is with global warming is that even if we stopped emissions today, warming is locked in for the next 20, 30 years.

It's locked and loaded.

And the instability that we're seeing, it shouldn't be called global warming.

It should be called climatic instability or volatility.

Because what you're getting is much more rain, much powerful wind, more powerful winds.

You're getting more severe droughts.

British Columbia had the biggest fire season ever in history.

We had the third biggest in California.

That's our fire season hasn't even started and it started.

It's the pre-season.

Exhibition.

But it's already cost like $2 billion.

That's a really good question.

There's only two rainforests in the United States.

Now there's only one.

The whole rainforest of Puerto Rico was destroyed.

So, and that's just a Cat 5.

You say just a Cat 5, but I mean, Cat 6 is coming.

Right.

I mean, that's writ large.

And the thing is, it should be about pattern recognition, which is you can't say it's due to global warming.

You can't say that.

But you do know that warmer water is going to intensify whatever happens.

And we know that 90% of all the warming that's occurred since the industrial age, 90% goes into the water, not the land, the water.

So, yeah.

Al Gore predicted this.

Yes.

He did.

Of course.

And the internet.

Would you agree?

He said he invented it.

Would you agree?

Well, he did not say he invented it.

Yes, he did.

He did not say those words.

Now you're parodying the Republican.

No, I was there.

I was there.

I know I look young, but I was there.

He said.

He was instrumental.

That's right.

That's it.

He was instrumental.

He believes that he was one of the people who created the internet.

Well, not created, but he was very instrumental in having it.

And he should never have laughed at him.

You know, that's the mistake the Democrats make.

They don't back up what they say.

And when the Republicans were saying, oh, you're a liar, he's like, okay, you know what?

You got me.

I'm a liar.

And I'll laugh at myself.

Instead of saying,

that's why I said that.

I do.

Yeah.

But you know, I want to say this about Al Gore because he's just a wonderful guy.

He is.

But I think the world is tired of hearing from privileged white men about disasters that are going to come in the future.

I don't think

it doesn't connect.

It does not.

What does being white have to do with Gordon global warming?

Well, brown, it doesn't matter.

I'm just saying.

People are privileged.

Why does everything have to be that?

Really?

I'm a white man.

I can't talk about global warming because I'm privileged.

What should I fucking do?

No, no.

Just send an apology to Kendrick Lamar tomorrow and then I can talk about global warming.

Sorry, Doc.

It's privileged.

It's privileged.

It's people who are well-to-do, sentiment millionaires telling the world that it's getting bad and it's going to get worse.

Well, Katrina happens to be a lot of people.

Whoever's saying that it's a welcome message.

Katrina happens to low-income black people in the ninth ward, you're seeing what's happening in the Virgin Islands, you're seeing what's happening in Puerto Rico.

People who live on the water, people who are in these communities tend to be those, the least of these.

So, I mean, people don't, and I hate to say this, but this is the way societies, they don't listen to us.

It took a former vice president to stand up and speak, and he even received the Nobel Prize.

And he created that great documentary, and people are not listening.

And now, he was like Chicken Little.

The The sky is falling.

The sky is falling.

It is falling now.

But the falsehood that there is no climate change and it's not caused by factories and cars, of course, was put out by privileged white people in the form of the Koch brothers and the Republican Party, who put out this fantasy and convinced that worked.

That convinced a lot of people.

So, you know, if privileged white people can make that untruth be widely believed, why can't we?

I don't care.

It needs to be forced.

Okay, it does.

All right.

Tom Morello, what is your relationship with Ted Nugent?

We're friends.

We're friends.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'm friends with you.

That's great.

You know, I get shit for being friends with right-wingers, too.

And you have to have friends.

Yeah, and

there is a good deal of overlap as well.

We're big advocates of the First Amendment.

We're family men.

We enjoy rock and roll music.

And there are things that, you know, things we differ on.

And occasionally, you know, when Ted says something that fires up the racist element of his bass, I'll shoot him a text and say, back off, Ted.

Just shoot him.

Back off, Ted.

Yeah, no, I'm trying to get him on the show again.

We used to have him on the old show a lot.

You know, and he's

a good friend of mine.

Yeah, okay, good.

Kurt, do you think the militarization of the police force is another symptom of living in fantasyland?

Well, I do.

And it happened without us even noticing it.

I discovered in the course of my research is that it started, of course, right here in Los Angeles, the SWAT team that Daryl Gates wanted to start and created on the Universal Back Lot.

What?

Yes, that's where they trained.

Oh, wow.

And then there was the Aaron Spelling show SWAT, which came out.

That is the key thing that convinced dozens and then hundreds of cities around America

to create their SWAT team.

Whatever we see on TV.

That is where reality starts.

It can work for good, like with gay marriage.

Yes, you know, Will and Grace, I see, back on the air but i mean will and grace did a lot to change how people feel they saw we saw trump on tv we saw trump that is i mean

i don't know if you're being physicians but i'm not but for i know

for the the jaded washington types who think comey's a bad person if don't if donald if donald trump had never been on on the apprentice he would never have been president exactly we you know i never saw the apprentice you did no

Why, are you serious?

You think that's crazy that I never saw the apprentice?

Right.

I mean, it was a phenomenon at one time.

No, no, no, no, no.

But I mean, when it first started,

25 million people a week watched that show.

Yes, I mean, at least the first time.

Do I have to watch?

No, you don't have to watch, but I think you've never watched.

I'm not surprised.

25 million people is a lot.

Here's a crazy one.

I never saw Dancing with the Stars either.

You're not alone.

I'm not sure.

Okay.

Okay.

It's a phenomenon.

What are you crazy?

That's where they go after they're convicted of things.

But you're so right.

You know, we on the coast, we turned our nose up, The Apprentice, that stupid show.

And a lot of people in America saw a guy who was, you know, in a position of authority and he fired people and he was in charge.

And it turned out, you know, he didn't even do all that.

He just came in and read his lines like any other actor, like Ronald Reagan.

I gotta say,

but he's spotted.

I always say it's the White House apprentice now.

Yes.

Nobody ever says, why did you hire all these idiots to begin with?

He's like, I fired him.

Yeah, you shouldn't have hired him in the first place.

I gotta say, I was a little disappointed with this show tonight only because we didn't get a chance to have a broader conversation about Hugh Hugh Hefner.

And go ahead.

Well, I'll just say, I know when I heard that he had passed away,

I thought I kind of reached for a tissue, and then I reached for a few more, and then I thought, that's

how Hugh would have walked, that's how Hefno water there, right at the end of memorial.

But seriously,

just think about the fact that in the last couple weeks we've lost Hugh Hefner and Rolling Stone's being sold.

I would contend that if you think about what shaped modern culture,

and there's a lot of stuff that Kurt writes about in his book, those two institutions, Playboy and Rolling Stone, had as much effect on shaping the culture, post-60s culture, as any two institutions in America.

And now Hepner is dead, and Jan Wenner is selling off Rolling Stone.

It's an interesting moment that those two are kind of.

I would say, even more Playboy, because it was

rock and roll culture, the drug culture, the rock and roll existing.

That existed.

I mean, they just.

Well, sex existed too.

Before Playboy, not in a magazine like that.

No.

And not

mainstream.

Not mainstream.

He was a mixed bag, though.

He was a big.

Who isn't?

No, but I mean, but it's.

Who is not?

Yeah, but I mean, but think of this.

I mean, you know, yeah, he helped a lot of people reach their potential.

And a lot of people.

A lot of people.

A lot of people.

What a great thing.

I don't agree with you.

That's a totally new euphemism.

That was that incident.

That was

the Appalachian Trail and reaching your potential.

Yeah, and then a lot of people learned how to read.

But then also,

but then there's this real situation, and just hold on for a minute before you jump me.

There's this real situation, you know, I don't like the fact that women are portrayed as objects.

We're more than TNA.

But, thank you.

So,

but, but wait a minute.

Oh, I'm on your side on this one.

Okay, but wait a minute, but wait a minute.

But when I duck deeper,

He really was a great man when it came to issues of civil rights.

He was on the cutting edge.

Exactly.

And, you know, sometimes you have to say,

all right, but for the greater good.

Trump is an inheritor of part of that Playboy mantle.

Is he?

Absolutely.

His vibe,

his fear of women, the kind of the objectification of women.

That's part of the, that's part of one big piece of Playboy's.

He doesn't fear women if he doesn't like women.

I think it's all wound up together.

Okay.

But I've just imagined like you, and it was sad.

Well, maybe at the end.

At the end, it was sad.

But so if you just look at a naked woman, that's objectifying?

No, okay.

No, no, no, no.

When you look at a woman and all you see is

what God gave her and not see her for a woman that's going out there knocking down the barriers and walls trying to make a living, a woman who's got a mind who's working hard to change things that are going on.

Really?

We have to see everything and everybody

at all times?

No, you don't.

He just got a box of Kleenex.

He just wants to jerk off.

Wow, I mean, the second life is it's a bad thing.

It's not a bad thing.

And it's actually a necessary thing and a helpful thing.

It is healthy.

It is healthy.

Absolutely.

So, you know, I mean, we don't have

all of that.

It's not that conversation.

All right, we'll get you out of here then.

Thank you very much.

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