Showing posts with label Bill Maher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Maher. Show all posts

Monday, June 5, 2017

Al Sharpton, Bill Maher, and The Double Standard Behind The "N- Word"

June 05, 2017 Al Sharpton , and The Double Standard Behind The "N- Word" 0 Comments


By Huffington Post, June 05, 2017

When Bill Maher jokingly referred to himself as a “House N—” on his show this past Friday, it drew immediate fury and condemnation from all sides. Not surprisingly, the Rev. Al Sharpton was at the head of the pack, quick to capitalize on the moment to call Maher out for his error. Even though they’re apparently friends.

Those of us who grew up in the eighties remember Mr. Sharpton’s rise to “prominence” rushing to the defense of Tawana Brawley, an African-American teenager, who, back in 1987, falsely accused a local prosecutor, and others, of rape. Mr. Sharpton was found guilty of libel as a result of that case and ordered to pay $65,000.00 (the balance of which was entirely covered by his supporters, including famed O.J. Simpson attorney, Johnny Cochran).
 
 
Read More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

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Friday, March 3, 2017

Bill Maher, Michael Moore Blast Trump for ‘Using’ Navy SEAL Widow as a ‘Prop’

March 03, 2017 Bill Maher , Michael Moore Blast Trump for ‘Using’ Navy SEAL Widow as a ‘Prop’ 0 Comments


By The Daily Beast, Feb. 28, 2017 
On his own, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has been known to offer up some attention-grabbing reactions to major political moments. On Tuesday night, he had some help.

Following President Donald Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress, Matthews hosted a special late-night edition of Hardball. His panel included a murderer’s row of outspoken celeb voices from the left, from Bill Maher and Michael Moore to Kathy Griffin and Rob Reiner. As expected, emotions were running high.
Read More: http://www.thedailybeast.com

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Friday, July 17, 2015

Only Bigger Race Card Hustler Than Bill Maher--Is Sharpton

Only Bigger Race Card Hustler Than Bill Maher--Is Sharpton

July 17, 2015 ‘Asshole’ Garrett , Bill Maher 0 Comments

Asshat Bill Maher Calls Major Garrett A Racist "Ass-hole"

By Evan McMurry, July 16, 2015 Mediaite

CBS News White House correspondent Major Garrett raised everyone’s hackles yesterday with his question about President Barack Obama’s “contentment” in excluding American prisoners from the Iran nuclear deal, a question that drew a sharp reaction from Obama. Garrett’s colleagues quickly divided over whether they found the question contentious or Obama’s response unacceptable.


Read More: http://www.mediaite.com

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Monday, June 22, 2015

Hollywood's Biggest Idiot? If Not, He's Close

June 22, 2015 Bill Maher , Charleston Shooter 0 Comments
Bill Maher Says Matt Drudge, Fox News And Conservative Media Inspired Dylann Roof [VIDEO]

 By Chuck Ross, Jun. 20, 2015, Daily Caller

 Comedian Bill Maher said conservative media — including the Drudge Report, Fox News and The Daily Caller — may have had a hand in inspiring Dylann Roof to shoot up a black church in Charleston, S.C. this week.
What do you think?

Maher was discussing the massacre with a panel on his HBO show, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” that included Daily Caller senior contributor Matt Lewis.
What do you think?

“We can never know why someone snaps, but I bet you I know where he got his news,” Maher said, referring to Roof, who killed nine people in the attack on Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church.
What do you think?

“I looked at your website the last week,” Maher continued, referring to The Daily Caller. “There were a lot of stories about black people. A lot of stories.”

More: www.dailycaller.com

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"Asks How Imaginary Friend Jesus Christ Would Feel"

June 22, 2015 Ann Coulter , Bill Maher 0 Comments
Bill Maher Slams Ann Coulter Over Immigration

 By Anna Silman, Jun. 20, 2015, Salon.com

 Ann Coulter was on “Real Time with Bill Maher” last night to promote her anti-immigration book “Adios, America!” — which claims that there are 30 million undocumented immigrants in the US — and as expected, Maher didn’t go easy on Coulter. “What about your imaginary friend Jesus Christ? Would he be OK with this attitude?” asked Maher, to which Coulter responded “Of course. You don’t need to take homeless people to bed to prove you’re a Christian. This is our home.”

 Maher reminded Coulter that official government data suggests the number of undocumented immigrants in the country is closer to 12 million, to which Counter responded that she believes her own estimate is still low. “The point and issue is, should America’s immigration policy be used to benefit the people already here, or should it be benefitting Pakistani push-cart operators — illiterate in their own language, never mind ours — who come here, go on welfare, commit terrorism, engage in crimes?” asked Coulter.

 

More: www.salon.com

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Monday, March 16, 2015

Maher--The Socialist "Libertarian"

Maher--The Socialist "Libertarian"

March 16, 2015 Bill Maher , HBO 0 Comments
Bill Maher: GOP Happy To Give Gov’t Handouts — to ‘F*ckface’ Rich Kids

Mar. 13, 2015

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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Eastwood "opposed both the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan"

February 12, 2015 American Sniper , Bill Maher 0 Comments
Clint Eastwood Agreeing With Michael Moore And Bill Maher?

By Joel Himelfarb, Feb. 10, 2015, Newsmax.com

Clint Eastwood surprised many people recently by saying he agreed with critics who have attacked his Oscar-nominated film "American Sniper."

Since the film was released last month, it has been attacked by film director Michael Moore, who called military snipers "cowards."

Comedian Bill Maher questioned whether the subject of the film — the late U.S. military sniper Chris Kyle — was a "hero or not" and called him a "psychopath patriot," The Daily Beast reports.

Special: Drugstore Drink Stops Migraines in 5 Minutes

As he was leaving a West Hollywood restaurant Monday night, Eastwood was asked by TMZ what he thought about the recent criticism by Moore and Maher.

"They were right," he said.

"Did Clint Eastwood Just Agree with 'American Sniper' Critics?" a Daily Caller headline asked.

Read the full story:  www.Newsmax.com

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Sunday, January 18, 2015

It's self-preservation for potty-mouthed Maher

January 18, 2015 Bill Maher , Boycott 0 Comments
‘You’re Just A Baby’: Bill Maher Calls Out Rush Limbaugh Boycotters

Chuck Ross, Jan. 17, 2015, Daily Caller

Maher was referencing liberal activists who began organizing the boycott of Limbaugh’s radio show advertisers after comments Limbaugh made in 2012 about birth control activist Sandra Fluke. Websites like StopRush.net track Limbaugh’s advertisers, publishing their contact information. The sites, part of the “Stop Rush” or “Boycott Rush” movement, encourage their thousands of followers to boycott the companies.

Read more: www.dailycaller.com


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Monday, January 12, 2015

Has Hillary lost Jay?

January 12, 2015 Bill Maher , Hillary Clinton 0 Comments
Jay Leno: Hillary Clinton 'Seems Very Slow'

Lydia Wheeler, Jan. 10, 2015, The Hill

While on the HBO show “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Jay Leno said Hillary Clinton seems “very slow" and appears to be older than Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren despite their 18-month age difference.

“I don’t see the fire,” he said of the likely Democratic presidential contender in a clip of the show on The Daily Caller. “Her and Elizabeth Warren are almost the same age and I see Elizabeth Warren come out throwing punches boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,” he said with his fist up jabbing the air.

Read more: www.thehill.com

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Thursday, November 6, 2014

But he did flip off a few folks

November 06, 2014 Bill Maher , Lucy McCalmont 1 Comments
Bill Maher Does Not Flip A District

By Lucy McCalmont, Nov. 5, 2014

Bill Maher’s “flip a district” campaign failed to toss Republican Minnesota Rep. John Kline from his House seat.

“I am humbled and honored to once again serve Minnesotans in the 2nd District for the next two years,” Kline tweeted late Tuesday evening.

With nearly 70 percent of precincts reporting, Kline was leading his opponent, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party candidate Mike Obermueller by 20 points — 57 to 37 percent, the Associated Press reported.

Maher responded to Kline’s victory on Wednesday.

 “Well, i guess we picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. And flipping Republicans. Enjoy it John Kline, at least people are on to U now,” Maher tweeted.

The host of HBO’s “Real Time” took to Twitter on Tuesday as well to urge voters, and specifically college students, to show up and cast a ballot.

Read more:  www.politico.com


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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Just a standard lefty--except on religion

October 28, 2014 Bill Maher , Change.org 0 Comments
Berkeley Students Protest Speech by ‘Blatant Bigot and Racist’ Celebrity

Bill Maher / HBO
By Jason Howerton, Oct. 27, 2014, Theblaze.com

Some students at the University of California-Berkeley are petitioning to get comedian and talk show host Bill Maher’s planned graduation speech at the institution cancelled due to his “racist and bigoted” views on Islam.

Maher, who identifies with liberal and some libertarian views, has been an outspoken critic of radical Islam, accusing the left of being too politically correct on the subject.

So far, 1,925 people have signed a Change.org petition to stop Maher from speaking at UC Berkeley in December. The petition was reportedly created by two members of the Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian Coalition.

“Bill Maher is a blatant bigot and racist who has no respect for the values UC Berkeley students and administration stand for,” the petition states. “In a time where climate is a priority for all on campus, we cannot invite an individual who himself perpetuates a dangerous learning environment. Bill Maher’s public statements on various religions and cultures are offensive and his dangerous rhetoric has found its way into our campus communities.”

Read the full story:  www.theblaze.com

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Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Ask Bill Maher

October 14, 2014 Ben Affleck , Bill Maher 0 Comments
Islamophobia: Fact & Fiction

Source:  www.ridzdesign.com
By Seth Leibsohn, Oct. 10, 2014, Townhall.com

The blogosphere and cable channels are all atwitter over a discussion Bill Maher had with Sam Harris, Ben Affleck, and Michael Steele last week. The topic? Whether too many Americans are engaged in Islamophobia in their criticism of Islam. At one point, Affleck said, “We've killed more Muslims than they've killed us, by an awful lot.” At another, he called the criticism of Islam “ugly,” “gross,” and “racist.” He compared the criticism of Islam with someone calling a Jew “shifty.” Is he right?

He is not—and neither is the decade-plus shutting down of this important discussion. The shibboleths used to shut down these discussions, the very labels Affleck used, are what cow too many of us into silence and prolong and delay the serious conversation that is long overdue and long misunderstood.

Let us start with the notion that America has a problem with Islamophobia, and that we have killed more Muslims than have killed us. To be sure, we have killed more Muslims. But, then again, we also killed more Germans than killed us in World War II. Why did we kill Germans? The same reason we’ve killed Muslims: when America goes to war, a war that is declared on us and that we rarely have ever initiated against an enemy, we go to liberate, not colonize, torture, or maim. Indeed, as Wolf Blitzer of CNN pointed out about a decade ago, “[A]lmost every time U.S. military forces have been called into action to risk their lives and limbs, it’s been on behalf of Muslims….[T]o assist the Afghan mujahaddin . . . during the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, to liberate Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990, to help Somali Muslims suffering at the hands of a warlord in Mogadishu, to help Muslims first in Bosnia and then in Kosovo who faced a Serb onslaught, and more recently to liberate Afghanistan from its Taliban and al Qaeda rulers.” Since then, one can add the attempted liberation of Iraqis from the thumbscrew of Saddam Hussein, and now Africans facing an Ebola pandemic, and those targeted by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

We do not kill Muslims because of our religious, nationalist, or patriotic motives, we do so to protect civilization and save innocent Muslims—and Christians and Jews and others. And we do so regrettably and with the most precision we can. Let us recall: We did not declare war on Islam; rather, a substantial part of Islam, call it Radical Islam if you like, declared war on us and civilization. And, as no less than President Barack Obama said recently: “Our Armed Forces are unparalleled and unique. And so when we’ve got a big problem somewhere around the world, it falls on our shoulders. And sometimes that’s tough. But that’s what sets us apart. That’s why we’re America. That’s what the stars and stripes are all about.” Who else is going to stop the scourge of civilization abuse Radical Islam has been waging? And how else, other than militarily, do we defeat those who slit throats, use civilian airliners as missiles, stone apostates to death, and have brought back killing fields?

As for Islamophobia and Islam, America has a record of exquisite decency and non-racism that belies everything Mr. Affleck implied. Just how racist are we as a nation? The FBI tracks crimes based on race, religion, and other characteristics, and the numbers it reports are rather striking, even laudatory. Throughout the long war we have been in, the American civilian reaction has been anything but “gross” or “racist.” In 2012 (the latest year statistics are available), there were 1,340 hate crimes based on religion. Too many to be sure. But how many were against Muslims? 11.6 percent. How many, by contrast, were there against Jews? 62.4 percent. These numbers have been fairly consistent since 9/11. In 2002, for example, one year after 9/11, just under 11 percent of the anti-religious bias incidents in America were anti-Muslim, in contrast to the 70 percent of anti-Jewish incidents constituting religious bias reported that year. Yet would anyone today say “America is anti-semitic” or has a Jewish problem? Of course not. Every hate crime is a wrong, but the idea that America has a problem with Muslims is discounted nearly ten-fold by the obviously false statement that America has a problem with Jews.

Which gets us to the absurd comparison Mr. Affleck made about “shifty Jew”s. Do thousands or hundreds of thousands of Jews commit acts of grotesque or any other kind of violence in the name of their God? Of course not. Do Muslims? Of course. And they cite religious tracts and tell us they are doing it in the name of Allah. Burying or ignoring this fact does exactly the wrong thing: it refuses to acknowledge the obvious and lets off the hook the moderate Muslims who have a duty to confront the violent aspects of and within their religion. Is Radical Islam a minority position within Islam? To be sure, but it’s a rather large minority, isn’t it? Estimates of the size of Radical Islam vary from seven to 20-plus percent of the world Muslim population, but even at the low end, that number may constitute over 100 million followers throughout the world. But let’s assume that number is too high by half for just a moment, and the number is 50 million? Say that’s wrong, again by half, 25 million? We can keep downplaying and cutting those numbers, but even if the number is one million, that is an awful lot of people—and we know what 19 can do with less than the annual salary of most college presidents.

Here’s the point: So long as this serious discussion keeps getting shut down, it will be ignored and the radicals as well as the moderates will get a pass in confronting what they must confront among their co-religionists. We would tolerate that pass of no other religion where millions in the name of their God committed truly gross and racist acts. Our local Muslim leader, Zuhdi Jasser, of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, has it right in confronting his religion and its false prophets head on. Perhaps he is also right that discussing “moderate Islam” is folly and we should talk more of a “reformed Islam.” But the point, the point of the sword, is in front of all of our eyes: Islam has a problem and it needs to be confronted—not those of us who point it out.

Source:  www.townhall.com

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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Maher Vs. Affleck On Islam: Maher Should Apologize To Christians And Jews By Larry Elder

October 08, 2014 Articles by Larry Elder , Ben Affleck 0 Comments
Ben Affleck on Real Time With Bill Maher / HBO
By Larry Elder, Oct. 9, 2014

Actor Ben Affleck, star of the hit film "Gone Girl," recently appeared on Bill Maher's HBO show along with Sam Harris, author of the book "Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion." Maher and Harris accused Affleck of ignoring the extent of intolerance within Islam.

Maher said: "Liberals need to stand up for liberal principles ... like freedom of speech, freedom to practice any religion you want without fear of violence, freedom to leave a religion, equality for women, equality for minorities -- including homosexuals. These are liberal principles that liberals applaud for. But then when you say, 'In the Muslim world, this is what's lacking,' then they get upset."

Harris concurred: "Liberals have really failed on the topic of theocracy. They'll criticize white theocracy. They'll criticize Christians. They'll still get agitated over the abortion clinic bombing that happened in 1984. But when you want to talk about the treatment of women and homosexuals and freethinkers and public intellectuals in the Muslim world, I would argue that liberals have failed us. ... The crucial point of confusion is that we have been sold this meme of Islamophobia, where every criticism of the doctrine of Islam gets conflated with bigotry towards Muslims as people. That's intellectually ridiculous."

Affleck, who informed us that our rights came from our "forefathers," called this analysis "racist." He sniffed: "Are you the person who understands the officially codified doctrine of Islam? You're the interpreter of that?"

For the record, Affleck dropped out of University of Vermont after one semester, and Occidental College after one year. Harris has an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from UCLA. On the other hand, Harris never starred in "Argo," a film about rescuing American hostages held in Iran, which apparently makes Affleck an expert on Islam and Middle Eastern politics.

Harris agreed that not all Muslims want to strap on bombs and blow things up. But he said: "Just imagine some concentric circles. ... At the center, you have jihadists -- these are people who wake up in the morning wanting to kill apostates, wanting to die trying. They believe in paradise; they believe in martyrdom. Outside of them, we have Islamists -- these are people who are just as convinced of martyrdom and paradise and wanting to foist their religion on the rest of humanity, but they want to work within the system. They're not going to blow themselves up on a bus. They want to change governments. They want to use democracy against itself. Those two circles arguably are 20 percent of the Muslim world. ... But outside of that circle you have conservative Muslims who can honestly look at ISIS and say, "that does not represent us; we're horrified by that." But they hold views about human rights, and about women and about homosexuals that are deeply troubling."

Affleck grimaced as if he'd just seen the box office returns for "Gigli."

Maher added: "One reason (Muslims who oppose jihadists and extreme acts) don't get exposed is because they're afraid to speak out, because it's the only religion that acts like the mafia -- that will f---ing kill you if you say the wrong thing, draw the wrong picture or write the wrong book. There's a reason why Ayaan Hirsi Ali needs bodyguards 24/7."

"It's racist," Affleck insisted, no different from stereotyping Jews or blacks.

Maher responded: "I can show you a Pew poll of Egyptians. They are not outliers in the Muslims world. It's like 90 percent of them believe death is the appropriate response to leaving the religion. If 90 percent of Brazilians thought that death was the appropriate response to leaving Catholicism you would think it was a bigger deal."

Poor Affleck -- not so easy without a script.

Conservative pundits have praised Maher for "telling the truth" about Islam. Maher, they applaud, effectively explained how Islam -- at least how many followers interpret Islam -- makes their religion disturbingly different than any other dominant religion.

But Maher's made a career out of attacking all believers as equally moronic and manipulated, steeped in superstition and hocus-pocus whether Jew, Christian or Muslim.

Just six years ago, Maher made a documentary called "Religulous." In an almost Borat-like fashion, Maher interviews and then mocks Christians and other believers, but mostly Christians. Maher mocked the Christian belief in the rapture as intensely as he mocks Osama bin Laden for his belief in a global caliphate.

Maher ends his film with an exhortation for rational thinkers of the world to disavow all religions as vehicles used by bad people to exploit the mindless for their own purposes: "The plain fact is, religion must die for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people, by irrationalists. ... And those who preach faith and enable and elevate it are intellectual slaveholders, keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunacy and destruction."

Note the distinction Maher made between Christianity and other faiths and radical Islam? What, no distinction?


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Sunday, October 5, 2014

But, hey, he's a decent actor...

October 05, 2014 Ben Affleck , Bill Maher 0 Comments
Ben Affleck Just Got His Butt Kicked About Islam--It Was Awesome 

By Joshua Riddle, Oct. 4, 2014, Youngcons.com



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Saturday, September 20, 2014

Michael Moore logic

Michael Moore logic

September 20, 2014 Bill Maher , ISIS 0 Comments
Maher: When You Oblige Terrorists Who Bait You Into Overreaction, Aren't You The Appeaser?




Read the full story:  www.realclearpolitics.com

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Sunday, September 14, 2014

Locusts may even attack!

September 14, 2014 Bill Maher , Chuck Ross 0 Comments
Nancy Pelosi: Civilization In Jeopardy If GOP A Takes Senate

 By Chuck Ross, Sept. 12, 2014, Dailycaller.com

 On the one hand, California U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi claims that Democrats are not “fear-mongers;” on the other hand, she believes civilization is doomed if Republicans take control of the Senate from Democrats in November.

 The former speaker of the House made those dramatic, incongruous statements on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” which aired live from Washington, D.C. Friday.

 Maher asked Pelosi about recent polling which shows that the GOP is likely to take over the upper chamber and asked, given gridlock in Washingon, why it matters that Democrats keep control.

 “It would be very important for the Democrats to retain control of the Senate,” Pelosi told Maher. “Civilization as we know it today would be in jeopardy if the Republicans win the Senate.”



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Monday, June 16, 2014

FLASHBACK: Did GWBush 'Squander' The 9-11 Unanimity? By Larry Elder --Even Bill Maher was pulling for Iraq

June 16, 2014 al Qaeda , Articles by Larry Elder 0 Comments
By Larry Elder, Sep. 15, 2014

Sept. 11 unified America. But President George W. Bush "squandered" this shared sense of purpose.

We still hear this drivel, mostly from the left, 10 years after the terror attacks. But how did Bush blow this alleged consensus, this shared sense of purpose presumably expected to last, well, forever?

Bush's critics pretty much give the same three reasons.

First, "America was ready to sacrifice," they say, but Bush made no demands. "Go shopping," Bush urged Americans, a comment that somehow came to symbolize Bush's alleged wrong-footedness as commander in chief. He blew it! Why, he should have convened a joint session of Congress, asked for network airtime, stared sternly at his teleprompter and barked: "All you American men and women between the ages of 18 and 45, hit the floor and gimme 25 push-ups. I got all your names. I got your addresses! So move those fannies, America!"

Bush wanted the 9/11 Islamofascists to understand that they did not and would not succeed in decapitating the country by attacking the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and our seats of government. His message to the terrorists: Americans do not cower behind closed doors and would not be intimidated. And we intend to take the fight to you.

Second, Bush "divided America" in how he chose to fight the war on terror. Well, yes, figuring out exactly how to fight this war did, indeed, cause a rift or two. Imagine that. Yet the now controversial and much-criticized decision to invade Iraq received broad public support. At the beginning of the Iraq War, over 70 percent of Americans supported it. Seventy-seven members of the Senate voted for the Iraq war resolution. This included several Democrats who ran for president in 2008: Joe Biden, Chris Dodd, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton -- all of whom later renounced their vote and blamed it on everything from "having been misled" to bad sushi.

Biden even co-wrote a pre-invasion op-ed piece explaining his support for the war. He warned that while toppling Saddam Hussein would be easy, it would then take about 10 years to stabilize Iraq. Then, the war, pre-surge, went south. Things turned bleak. Biden pivoted. He suggested a dividing of Iraq into three parts. Then he pivoted again. Alas, he admitted, he erred in voting for the war. Now vice president, Biden pivoted again, calling Iraq, in February 2010, "one of the great achievements of this administration." Don't ask. Just Joe being Joe.

The New York Times editorialized, on March 20, 2003, against the Iraq War. But the paper said it respected the administration's position and wanted success. Even pathological anti-Bush critic Bill Maher, who disagreed with the invasion, seemed almost impressed by Bush's vision in deciding to invade Iraq.

Maher, shortly after the war started, told CNN's Larry King: "I always said I did not think going after a country that was not directly involved in 9/11 ... was not the approach. ... But you know what? The idea that Bush has -- and it is a big idea, I got to give him that. He's a guy with big ideas. The idea of transforming the Middle East and fighting this in a long-range way by having democracy in Iraq is not the worst idea I could think of, and I'm rooting for that plan." Yes, that Bill Maher.

Third, Bush supposedly "squandered" the post 9/11 bipartisanship by finding no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, shattering the rationale for the war, and thus making many Americans feel "lied to."

Lied to? Bush retained the same CIA director, George Tenet, as served under Bill Clinton. Months after the start of the Iraq War, former President Bill Clinton visited Portugal. The Portuguese prime minister later said, "When Clinton was here recently he told me he was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime."

Kenneth Pollack, Clinton's Iraq expert, long opposed an Iraq war, believing the U.S. should use sanctions and inspections. But he insists that the intel unanimously supported the assumption that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD: "The intelligence community convinced me and the rest of the Clinton Administration that Saddam had reconstituted his WMD programs following the withdrawal of the U.N. inspectors, in 1998, and was only a matter of years away from having a nuclear weapon. ... The U.S. intelligence community's belief that Saddam was aggressively pursuing weapons of mass destruction predated Bush's inauguration, and therefore cannot be attributed to political pressure. ... Other nations' intelligence services were similarly aligned with U.S. views. ... Germany ... Israel, Russia, Britain, China and even France held positions similar to that of the United States. ... In sum, no one doubted that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction." So much for "lied to."

Ten years after 9/11, we have not suffered another successful major attack on our soil. That Bush did the right thing is evidenced by his successor's reluctant embrace of nearly all his predecessor's policies that -- along with a little luck -- have kept us safe for 10 years. And counting.

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Thursday, May 15, 2014

Hollywood's Beverly Hills Hotel Boycott: Sharia Or Islam?

May 15, 2014 Archbishop Desmond Tutu , Articles by Larry Elder 0 Comments
By Larry Elder, May 15, 2014

The Beverly Hills Hotel, owned by the sultan of Brunei, is a ghost town.

The sultan recently imposed Sharia on the citizens of this small country in Southeast Asia with a population of less than 500,000. The law includes the punishment of death for any who engages in the "crime" of homosexuality or adultery. Jay Leno, one of the celebrities attending a rally in front of the hotel, said: "It's people being stoned to death. Hello!"

Meanwhile, Bill Maher, another member of the almost-all-Hollywood left, discussed the kidnapping of mostly Christian Nigerian schoolgirls by a radical Muslim group. But, Maher added, "There's no mention here of connecting this to the religion, which is always what I am seeking to do because I think that's the elephant in the room." Maher, unlike the Hollywood lefties protesting the hotel, insists Islam itself, not merely Sharia, is the issue.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born critic of Islam. She, too, argues that Islam itself mandates a second-class status for women. She restricts her objection not to Sharia, but also Islam itself. She thinks reform may be possible, but receives death threats and is the subject of a Fatwa -- a religious decree that, in her case, commands that she be killed.

Hirsi Ali was recently invited to speak at Brandeis University, where she would receive an honorary degree. But after Hirsi Ali received the invitation, the Council on Arab Islamic Relations sent Brandeis a list of "offensive" things Hirsi Ali said about Islam. Brandeis retracted her invitation. The University called some of Hirsi Ali's opinions "inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values."

Brandeis had no problem bestowing an honorary degree on playwright Tony Kushner, who admits he has "a problem with the idea of a Jewish state." And Archbishop Desmond Tutu spoke at Brandeis despite having characterized Israel as an "apartheid state." Brandeis' tolerance of a variety of opinion, apparently, doesn't apply to those critical of Islam.

Robert Spencer, author of "Onward Muslim soldiers," ought not wait for an invitation to speak at Brandeis. He, too, argues that Islam itself is the issue: "There are millions of peaceful Muslims ... but the fact is that radical Muslims are using core texts of Islam that are deeply rooted in Islamic theology, tradition, history and law to justify their actions, and those radical Muslims are able to recruit and motivate terrorists around the world by appealing to these core Islamic texts. ... As far as the radical, violent elements of the religion go, they are very deeply rooted and we are naive in the extreme if we don't recognize that and try to get moderate Muslims to acknowledge it so that real reform can take place. ...

"When people say that jihad is a peaceful struggle -- it means 'struggle,' literally -- it means to bring the soul into line with the teachings of the Koran and the will of the law, that's true. But it's not the only meaning of jihad or even the principal meaning. Throughout Islamic history, and Islamic theology and law, you have violent jihad being the primary understanding of what it means -- this collective responsibility of the Islamic community to wage war against non-Muslims until they either convert or submit as second-class citizens under Islamic rule."

Hollywood's reluctance to raise the question about Islam's treatment of women is also about money, or more specifically the use of Arab oil money to help finance movies. Matt Damon's anti-fracking movie, "Promised Land," was financed by Image Nation Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media, the state media company owned by the United Arab Emirates.

But there's an even bigger reason why Hollywood refuses to address whether Islam itself needs reform -- President George W. Bush.

In making the case for the invasion of a Iraq, Bush said, "It is presumptuous and insulting to suggest that a whole region of the world -- or the one-fifth of humanity that is Muslim -- is somehow untouched by the most basic aspirations of life. Human cultures can be vastly different. Yet the human heart desires the same good things, everywhere on Earth." Bush viewed Muslim and Arab women's apparent acceptance of their second-class citizenship as akin to the Stockholm syndrome, rather than a matter of free choice. Bush hoped that a "free and peaceful" Iraq would provide a "dramatic and inspiring example" to the Middle East and the Muslim world.

Hollywood scoffed at his "cultural elitism" and his embrace of Western values of social, political, economic and religious freedom and equality of human rights.

But how long can Hollywood ignore the injustice Brandeis displayed toward the brave Ayaan Hirsi Ali? How long can the Hollywood left avoid the broader and more profound issue of the suppression and subjugation of Muslim and Arab women? The moral relativists of Hollywood may have to make a moral judgment about culture and values.

That means choosing sides.


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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Inquisitr: Not Everyone On Board Donald Sterling ‘Ban’ Wagon – Larry Elder Cites Bill Maher Hypocrisy

April 30, 2014 Al Sharpton , Bill Maher 0 Comments
"The Blind Leading the Blind" by Pieter Bruegel's 1568 
By Sean Mahoney, May 1, 2014, The Inquisitr

Donald Sterling has spent the week being figuratively pummeled, disgraced, humiliated, scoffed, derided, shamed, dishonored, tarred, feathered, and run out of town. Or at least out of the NBA.

Said NBA has also put forth a not so polite request for the Los Angeles Clippers owner to pony up $2.5 million dollars for what he was clandestinely recorded saying by his supposed “mistress”.

But not everyone in the media has jumped aboard the Donald Sterling is the worst human being to ever walk the earth “ban” wagon.

In fact, Larry Elder, who hosts an afternoon drive show on KABC 790 in Los Angeles, told TMZ, Donald Sterling is getting “SCREWED” by the NBA, and that it’s actually Magic Johnson who blew the whole Sterling-is-a-racist thing out of proportion.

The African American libertarian, author, and radio personality, Elder, acknowledges Donald Sterling is a “dolt” and that Sterling has long said stupid and racist things, but that the current outcry against Sterling is that of “black and white victicrats” and those in the “racism industry” are making the most of Donald Sterling’s idiocy.

Elder has long railed against the likes of Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Al Sharpton, Spike Lee and many other outspoken liberal personalities, generally winning any debate against anyone willing to take him on. Both Bill Maher and Michael Moore choose not to.

Appearing on Fox 11 in L.A. on Tuesday, TMZ says Elder defended Donald Sterling, arguing that the only reason Sterling was taking so much heat is because Magic didn’t keep his cool after the audio was released:

“Magic Johnson could have taken this thing to a nice high level… and he could’ve said, ‘I don’t care what Donald Sterling says,’” Elder said.

What TMZ leaves out, however, in a very Michael Moore-ish fashion, is that Elder started his comments by saying Magic should have acted more like Larry Bird when Isaiah Thomas said that if Bird was black, he’d just be regarded as just another player. Bird’s response when asked what he thought? “I don’t care what he said.” Which is what Elder thinks Magic should’ve said with regard to Sterling’s comments.

Read the full story: www.inquisitr.com

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The Sterling Shakedown -- Bill Maher’s Next By Larry Elder

April 30, 2014 Articles by Larry Elder , Bernard Parks 2 Comments
Donald Sterling
By Larry Elder, Apr. 30, 2014

 This is absolutely absurd.

 The 80-year-old rich, near-$2-billion-net-worth owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, gets set up by his thirty-something mistress/girlfriend. She secretly records him, clearly goading him into saying something incendiary.

What damaging thing does she get him to say? What’s the very, very worse thing she gets him to say? He doesn’t want her to bring her “black friends” to the basketball game, one in particular, Magic Johnson.

 Now these “black friends” can attend games without her. Why Sterling even said she could “f--k.“ these friends. Just don’t bring them to my games, and while you’re at it, take their pictures off your social media.

 For this the NBA announced a lifetime ban, and the commission recommends that the other owners vote to force Sterling to sell his team. Lifetime ban? Marge Schott, who referred to her “million dollar nigger” player and collected Nazi memorabilia, among other offenses, received multiple suspensions -- not a total ban.

 George Steinbrenner, a convicted felon who made illegal donations and who once hired a private detective to dig up dirt on one of his ballplayers, received multiple suspensions -- but not a total ban.

 The “racist” Sterling practices his “racism” this way.

For 22 years, Elgin Baylor, a black legendary ex-Laker, served as Sterling’s general manager. True, he refused to give Baylor the money to build a competitive team. But Baylor, not exactly in bondage, stayed and even won NBA Executive of the Year in 2006.

The Clipper’s head coach, Doc Rivers, is a championship-winning black man who came at a price. Their black starting guard earns $18 million this year. And Sterling’s mistress/girlfriend -- the one in question -- is a black Latina.

 Regarding Sterling’s exclusion of blacks from games, unless you are a black friend of his girlfriend, you need not worry. If you are, you can go -- just not there with her. Now, you can sleep with her. Just don’t sit with her at the game. Not a bad deal, coming from a “racist.”

 Spike Lee said Sterling has the “mentality of a slavemaster.” Sterling’s “slaves” have the sixth highest payroll in the 30-team league, where NBA salaries average about $5 mil. And the massa tells his girlfriend she can “f---“ the slaves, just don’t do it on the plantation. This is the same Lee who said he dislikes interracial couples, who called then-Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., “a card-carrying member of the Klan,” who speculated that the levees in New Orleans during Katina were intentionally breached, and who said of Charlton Heston, president of the NRA, “somebody should shoot him with a .44-caliber Bulldog.”

 We get a lecture on race sensitivity from Lee?

 The Rev. Al Sharpton, ironically scheduled to headline an NAACP event bestowing Sterling with a lifetime achievement award, condemned Sterling. Sharpton. Sharpton! SHARPTON? Where to start? Falsely accuses a white D.A. of raping a black teen. Calls whites “interlopers” and Jews “diamond merchants.” Caught on FBI surveillance tape attempting to arrange a huge drug deal. Owes million in unpaid taxes. Encouraged riots that resulted in deaths. And that’s just the short list.

 Rapper/actor Will Smith, in a rap song, takes a swipe at a certain libertarian host by calling him “Uncle Tom.” Smith owns a piece of the Philadelphia 76ers. Should the NBA launch an investigation into this alleged “hate speech” against a radio host with a differing political point of view?

 Of course not. But that’s where this road leads.

 I interviewed L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks. Tell me the most offensive thing on the tape, the most, I asked? He said the part where Sterling said that he provided this and that to his players in a demeaning way. Specifically, Sterling said: “I support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars and houses. Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them?”

 Well, he does. And the checks don’t bounce for either the black or white players.

Okay, Sterling, also the owner of thousands of rental units in Los Angeles, got nailed for his body of work: losing seasons, refusing to pay enough to keep good players; lawsuit by Baylor for wrongful termination and age and race discrimination (Baylor lost); two major settlements with housing authorities for discrimination.

 Somehow none of this disqualified Sterling -- until now.

 Sterling is not afraid of court. He has nearly $2 billion. He can hire private dicks in every franchise city and dig up -- or extract by set up -- damaging information about a lot of owners, players, executives.

 Attention city council: We taxpayers pay your salaries. We provide you with cars, clothes, housing. Have I insulted you?

 And why is “sexism” given a back seat to “racism”? Bill Maher owns a piece of the NY Mets. He called Palin a “c--t,” Michelle Bachman a “dumb t--t” and made a joke about Palin’s son who has Down Syndrome. Why is that okay? Because he’s a comedian. Yes, one who appears on news shows, and whose opinion people take seriously.

 Imagine a hidden mic in the kitchen of some foul-mouthed comic who uses words like “c--t” in public. Imagine what he says, how he feels, what he thinks in private?

 The left railed against the impeachment of Bill Clinton, insisting to this day that Clinton was punished for private behavior, never mind the perjury thing. But the way Sterling was set up, not a problem.

 Does Sterling see the hypocrisy and double standard? If so, hell hath no fury like a near multi-billionaire scorned.
Related: TMZ: Donald Sterling: BAN IS COMPLETELY UNFIAR… says Larry Elder
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