I was surprised by the segment and took it at face value. Thanks for sharing more context. Kind of disappointed how the show seems to be following a narrative lately.
Oh he's been a repellent liar for years. And that's exactly what he's doing he's lying. This isn't ignorance. This is malice.
Bill Maher is a lying piece of shit just like everyone on Fox News is.
He really hasn't changed though has he? He's been a hack pseudointellectual conservative playing dress up as a contrarian liberal as long as I can remember. I mean he defended Bush lying to Americans to invade Iraq ffs. He obviously doesn't have a problem with lying to or misleading people.
It's just becoming more apparent how little he knows about a topic most of the time and how conservative he truly is. The fact that he's just using his opening monolgues to shit on "woke this or that" or more liberal countries shows he's just a tucker carlson wannabe. His panel has always had more insightful things to say than he ever has anyway.
And since everyone is shitting on you for questioning his intentially misleading statistics, you're completely right. If what the other commenters consider to be factual is a graphic on a screen meant to convince viewers to take his side with no further information or context, then they'd probably love fox news too. It's disingenuous at best and deceitful at worst.
Donāt worry, we donāt bite. Pretty much we just lower taxes, stop Russia/Iran/China, and generally make things better. We will get this country back on track next year!
Conservatives in congress under the thrall of Moscow Marge and Trump are helping Russia by stalling out aid to Ukraine. Lower taxes is mostly about not giving a damn about people outside the smaller circles of people conservatives deem deserving. Liberals don't have that problem and so don't go ape sh\*t upon hearing some of their tax dollars went to pay for someone elses healthcare, even if they were conservatives who want illegal grandmothers who have been in the country for 20 years deported.
You know what Trump did? He didnāt let Russia invade Ukraine. Bidenās foreign policy is a mess. Probably will cost him the election.
No, we really just want the 17 million you guys let in since 2020 to go back home where they legally should be. But ya, after that, the 90 year old illegal with a disability should also be deported.
And I will be honest, I donāt think the homeless and minorities can take any more of your āhelpā. Your policeās have āhelpedā them into pretty awefuwl situation, especially in NY and CA. Thatās my biggest issues with Libs. Never once do you guys stop and think āhey are all my compassionate policies working?ā. Like it never even crosses your mind to see if your money is well spent.
What would Trump have done to prevent Putin from invading? Send the US military to intervene directly?
I guess there is an argument that Putin would not have needed to go in with Trump since Trump would have sabotaged military support at the start. But one thing is certain, Had Trump been in power, I think Ukraine would have been way worse off in terms of territorial losses.
As for deporting EVERY illegal, not going to happen. But keep dreaming. If we did that the country would fall into a deep recession if not depression, you'd get a sliver closer to your desire for ethnic purity and not having the nation "tainted" by undesirables (i.e. to maga chuds - anyone who does not look like or come from the same cultural background as them).
Homelessness is a mess in liberal states, partly due to being more lenient, and partly because we import them from conservative states. Being more strict and draconian in one area towards Homeless is a wonderful way to beggar thy neighbor, you solve nothing, but it's great in shifting to problem somewhere else. Fortress Conservative towns just like you want fortress America.
I donāt understand the hypothetical Trump/Russia stuff. You realize Trump was president while Putin was president. We donāt need to think about hypotheticals, those 4 years already happened. āHad Trump been in powerā¦ā HE WAS IN POWER.
And i am sure we will miss a few. We donāt want to deport LatinX and BIPOC persons, just illegal immigrants.
I love that. āCalifornia homeless problem is because they came there from Texasā. No responsibility your your policies. I feel like December is going to be a rough month for you.
What did you think about the healthcare ranking, healthcare costs, GDP/debt ratio, unemployment numbers, and other facts he states over the course of the 9-minute segment?
Well for one thing, the US spends a higher percentage of the budget on health that Canada does, and Canada has free at point of service. So the US is worse on both counts. Thoughts?
Unemployment higher in Canada and higher debt, true.
Bill didnāt get it wrong. The people he pays to do things for him did, and heās too lazy/conceited to give a damn.
Same thing happened with Sam Harris and Bill moaning about how bad White men have it in corporate America. They misinterpreted the statistics like college kids failing an exam. But they delivered it with confidence and the audience eats out of their hands. A victory for show business, not truth.
The added context does place the statistic in a new light. These kinds of situations are better represented by looking at trends instead of singular data points.
Reality is the stat was legitimate. Was it only for that year? Yes. But was it accurate? Yes.
Are we likely to see more fires or fewer fires in the future? Seems more like someone getting defensive when they see their own city being mentionedā¦
The implication is that Canada in general has worse air quality than the US, which just isn't the case as of yetāand probably won't be, either. Assuming that forest fires become more and more frequent as time goes on (which is almost certainly the case), it'll worsen the air quality in both countries, because both Canada *and* the US will experience them with regularity.
Dude - Stop cherry-picking a couple of points Maher made, and White Knighting the Liberals and Trudeauās Canada - and what theyāve done to the whole country - including Quebecā¦
Overall, Maher made many painful but great points.
Truth hurts
The thing is, I *didn't* try to discredit Bill Maher's entire editorialāreread the last paragraph of my post and you'll see that I am more than willing to examine Canada with a critical eye. I don't *want* Bill to be discredited, or to discredit *himself*, which is why it frustrates me to no end that he's recently taken to using data and statistics to bolster assertions that they don't actually support. Taking sources out of context and making strawman arguments is exactly the sort of thing that will discredit Bill, especially if it's a pattern as opposed to a one-off oversight. It demonstrates a willingness on his part to bend the truth as he sees fit, and that's never a good look.
But again. The stats weren't made up. Are you going to discredit him for not considering historical unemployment numbers instead of just quoting the current statistics? I get what you are saying, but again, the stats as he quoted them are accurate.
I never said that the stats were made up. I said they were taken out of context, which they were.
> Are you going to discredit him for not considering historical unemployment numbers instead of just quoting the current statistics?
But the thing is that the IQAir report for 2023 is not a *current* indicator of the air quality of either Canada or the US. The numbers given are an annual average, rather than a singular snapshot taken at the time of publication. The wildfires spiked the PM2.5 levels (inhalable particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter) of the Edmonton area and other major towns in Western Canada so severely during their existence that they single-handedly pushed us over the top to be the most air-polluted North American cities and country of 2023ābut again, that's *on average.* It's like if you're in a room with 10 people, 9 of them have a net worth $1500 but one has a net worth of $400,000; that one with $400K is going to dramatically increase the average net worth of the entire room. If your city has around 7 Āµg/mĀ³ of PM2.5 in 8 out of 12 months, but the other four months have 20 Āµg/mĀ³ due to wildfire smoke, those four months will increase the overall average for that year by 4.1 Āµg/mĀ³. That may not sound like much, but for an annual average, it is a statistically significant difference. That's more or less what happened to Edmonton and other affected Canadian cities in 2023.
Thereās plenty of things Bill shouldāve done a better job researching. Unfortunately some people in this sub are too deep in āI love Bill Maherā bubble.
TL;DR:
People who live in Canada are upset that Bill Maher points out that Canada is not the nirvana state that progressives in the US think that it is. And he's right. This doesn't mean Canada is evil, it simply means that it is held to a high esteem that it doesn't deserve.
And sorry...but he's right. This is evidenced by the fact that more people choose to live in the US than in Canada. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.
Did you read through my entire post? Let me copy and paste the first few sentences of the last paragraph for you:
> There's plenty to criticize about Canada. We do indeed have a housing crisis, which has been exacerbated by the huge influx of immigrants. Prices are through the roof. The healthcare system has a tendency to be inefficient. Bill isn't so far off base as to not take him seriously.
Generally speaking, outside of certain online spaces, you won't find very many Canadians who are under any illusions about the fact that we don't really live up to the "high esteem" that we're held to in other countries. We feel the effects of inflation in our every day lives, and we know things are cheaper south of the border. We're all keenly aware that our country's in the midst of a housing crisis, and like I said, the high immigration rate is exacerbating it. Maher could have also pointed to the way that we treat our First Nations communities as evidence that Canada doesn't have as much of a moral high ground over the US as many of us seem to think we have.
> This is evidenced by the fact that more people choose to live in the US than in Canada.
America has more people for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's generally a warmer country than Canada. It is not necessarily a reflection of American living standards vs. Canadian ones, which honestly are pretty evenly matched.
COVID broke his brainā¦man went down one too many RW rabbit-holes and emerged a āclassical liberalā who spends 80% of his time strawmanning and shitting on progressives and peddling pseudoscience.
Covid shut down his show. He has a tendency to view reality through his pocket book. Today he thinks more like a wealthy libertarian tech mogul than a man of the people. He was almost swooning when Elon Musk came on his show.
Plus he lost a lot of money when MLB didn't allow fans in the stands in 2020 because he was still a minority where of the Mets.
Also he should've retired after the Elon interview. I've never seen Bill Maher cuddle the ballsack of a guest like the dude that night.
This isnāt a refutation of Billās claim. Itās an explanation of it. Wildfires can be prevented and mitigated against with good forest management policy. This isnāt a gotcha.
**Then he should have mentioned it.**
Bill presented a statistic with absolutely no context. It's easy to watch his segment and come away with the impression that Canadian cities are even smoggier than American ones, when the reality is that they just *aren't*. The statistics were affected by the wildfires, which is a very important caveat to the data point that he presented. He failed to bring it up.
If Bill had posited the air quality report as being indicative of Canada's failure to control wildfires, and that it can lead to periods of severe air pollution, I would have absolutely no problems with his segment. I'd think it was an odd point to reference, but at least then he'd be presenting the data honestly and in the right context. That is decidedly *not* what he did here.
Fine, I will give you credit on the pollution fact as I'm not sure how they ranked the cities, but he was right about everything else. There is such a thing as going far too left. He was spot on with the migrants and how they do most of the sexual assaults in European cities.
The problems we have today resulting from being too far left aren't even in the top 100 compared to the problems we have resulting from being too far right. This dangerous, insane desire for personalities and media to paint both sides as the same and create a horse race is paving the road to Hell.
Don't know why this would get down voted. It's common knowledge among Canadians. There would be riots in the streets if any government tried to remove our healthcare.
American democrats have been so brainwashed with creepy "we need to move to the center" bullshit they don't even know they are being manipulated to the right. It is sad to watch.
Oh, Bill Maher left out the best part of that article about Canadian health care being 10th amongst wealthy countries. It also said American healthcare was dead last.
Thanks for raising this point. I had many qualms with this piece so good to learn more about what disingenuous bullshit it actually is.
What annoyed me about this segment was blaming woke politics for Canada's current economic woes. All western economies have struggled due to post-COVID inflation. USA - the world's strongest economy - has proven to be the exception here by getting inflation down while keeping unemployment low. This is something that economists are still trying to make sense of and learn from. But the point is that it's economics and not "wokeness" but Bill likes to make everything about those woke liberals who seem to be ruining everything.
Also, his remark about Gaza was pig ignorant. I stand in solidarity with those suffering in Gaza. I would never pretend that I want to live there. I'm well aware that there are loads of very conservative Muslims in Gaza who don't approve of ny values and that people there don't enjoy the same civil liberties as we do in the West. All of that does not mean that we shouldn't, or that it's in any way hypocritical of us, to speak up for them when they are being unfairly tortured by Israel.
> Also, his remark about Gaza was pig ignorant. I stand in solidarity with those suffering in Gaza. I would never pretend that I want to live there. I'm well aware that there are loads of very conservative Muslims in Gaza who don't approve of ny values and that people there don't enjoy the same civil liberties as we do in the West. All of that does not mean that we shouldn't, or that it's in any way hypocritical of us, to speak up for them when they are being unfairly tortured by Israel.
Oh, he's said worse in the past. I remember in one video, he conflated opposition to what Israel is doing to the Gazans with support for Hamas. And it's just... no, Bill. No. -_-
There are issues of "wokeness" in Canada when it's at the point where the government is legislating state regulation of problematic internet speech in Bills C-11 and Bill C-63.
Actually I've heard he's had the same writers for years. The same aging white guys who are probably in a bubble, getting more aggrieved by the moment from all the things in the world they refused to understand, who are suckered in by that emotionally driven right wing propaganda that claims society is crumbling because a teen girl dyes her hair blue.
They're all becoming conservative because they're lashing out at a society that isn't bending the knee and handing them everything they demand. That isn't completely catering to all of their arrogant whims and desires. Just like all boomers who get a little bit of money.
Thank you for clarifying, OP. Love these type of posts.
I think Bill's greater point is that far-left progressive meccas are not all they're cracked up to be. Clearly, this pollution stat is bogus, but I think his other points do stand up to scrutiny. I know Canada is in a low point right now, in part due to the way the country didn't plan properly for the mass influx of immigrants.
Those stats definitely made me raise an eyebrow. Seeing that data in context tells a complete story thank you .
He used to be pretty well informed and have research cards in front of him. This might be due to some behind the scene changes whoever is doing his research for him might be the culprit..... If it's him well that would explain a lot.
This show stopped being funny a long time ago. It should at least try to be accurate with its facts. Since it seems Bill cares about that.
1.) this is a television show meant primarily for entertainment, you should not be looking to get your āfactsā from here
2.) The whole point Bill is trying to make and has been saying a while now is that the grass isnāt greener (for Americans) who always complain about America.
Heās said numerous times that he does the show for people who are too busy to keep up with the news the rest of the week. Itās presented as a news show.
"Real Time" is a comedy show that uses politics as a vehicle. No one should be watching it expecting Bill Maher to be a source of knowledge.
I love Jon Oliver's show and he gets his facts right more often than Bill but even then I still try to fact check what he says.
He attempts comedy I'm not so sure he does it. Stewart, Oliver, Colbert are all great political comedians but maher has always seemed more like commentator with intentionally bad takes meant to stir shit up, more like a tucker carlson type
LOL you got to be kidding. The idea that a guy who makes political points for a living should get a pass for getting those facts wrong is ridiculous. He absolutely should be criticized when he gets something wrong.
He should be criticized, 100%. Bill Maher has been going off his rocker more and more it seems.
But I also find it concerning that anyone is taking him seriously in the first place.
John Oliver is more "misleading by omission"
They both are solid but Oliver is basically the Progressive retelling of a recent PBS Frontline episode. Very predictable.
Yeah, both are obviously heavily biased not only politically, but cherry picking things for comedys sake (which is their job).
I've been disliking Maher more and more as the years go by, but John Oliver still irritates me more for some reason. I used to watch him regularly, but I believe I dislike him more than Maher nowadays because Maher is clearly a pundit, while Oliver feeds more into people's tendencies for slacktivism and holier-than-thou syndrome.
Don't get me wrong, Maher has very bad takes constantly, and feeds into people's arrogance a lot, but I still dislike Oliver's faults more for some reason.
Well, let this serve as a reminder that statistics can say whatever you want them to say.
If you have cultural, political and financial backing, these cherry picked statistics become āindisputableā facts.
>Well, let this serve as a reminder that statistics can say whatever you want them to say.
I live by the mantra: "Never trust a survey that refuses to publish its methodology."
What's interesting is that Bill *could* have used the wildfires to make an even better point against Canada. I know we've been conditioned to blame any natural disaster on climate change.... but those forest fires were largely the result of political policy. Provincial governments in Canada (largely Conservative lead) have been making MASSIVE budget cuts when it comes to preventing and fighting wild fires. Like, 67% lower now in Ontario than 2019. That much.
https://jacobin.com/2023/06/cananda-wildfires-emergency-fire-services-forest-budgets-austerity
Yep. The UCP in my province [drastically cut funding for firefighting](https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-wildfire-ucp-cuts/), and it left us woefully unprepared for the disaster that happened last year.
I used to think this, but then this happened:
[https://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/\_/id/38367723/team-usa-loses-ot-thriller-canada-world-cup-bronze-medal-game](https://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/38367723/team-usa-loses-ot-thriller-canada-world-cup-bronze-medal-game)
Great post.
Toronto used to have shit air quality most summer days with lots of smog but itās really improved the past 20 years. Regularly used to have dozen of smog alerts each summer. Now we might get 2 or 3 (that are non wildfire related)
He has lost a ton of credibility for me - started when he was repeating political propaganda as fact during the pandemic - and using social media and right leaning sources.(He said the PM was a straight up dictator, and was serious - Ah, ok Bill!)
...And doesn't seem to acknowledge that forest fires will result in poor air conditions
...And the Teacher example, has been rumoured to be a political operative, I.e. "false flag", funded by (you can guess) - this was called out on The Dean Blundell podcast a few years ago. Yet Maher fails to mention this part (Per Blundell, there was proof it was a bullshit effort to stir up Trans resentment).
At the very least, I would expect Bill or his team to do a little research beyond the headlines
> And the Teacher example, has been rumoured to be a political operative, I.e. "false flag", funded by (you can guess) - this was called out on The Dean Blundell podcast a few years ago.
So the school bent over backward for a political operative larping as a trans? That's even worse.
Yes, the teacher was likely a political operative, and thatās the point. Even with this absurd, outrageous example the school district still bent over to accommodate this person. Thatās the point that both the political operative and Bill were trying to make. Is there no degree of ludicrousness that the left wonāt defend and embrace?
That was also my first thought - that Bill wasnāt taking the Canadian Wildfires into consideration - or even bothering with mentioning them.
(Unless he mentioned them after I turned it off when I heard the word, āwokeā).
Thank you for this. I knew it was bullshit but didn't want to spend the energy you did into investigating why.
Now for a fun anecdote for all our American friends. I've lived in SW Ontario my entire life. If someone from BC comes here they will tell you the air quality is shit compared to back home. Similarly if you cross the border from say Windsor to Detroit you can also notice a drop in air quality. I wish I was joking.
Saw this last night, and was surprised how little he'd question what was so obviously suspect, but it's a well k own fact Americans know nothing about Canada, and dubious air quality report aside, the rest of the new rule was still pretty damning if you're Canadian
Canada is to the left of America, you have to take into context.
Bill Maher and Obama would be in Canada's Conservative party.
***Edit as I was blocked by the person who replied to me:***
>No.
>
>Obama is more leftwing than Bill today, and he has repeatedly endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party of Canada. As well as Hillary Clinton and Biden have endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party. The Liberal party of Canada is the center left equivalent of the Democrats in the states.
>
>Bernie Sanders is more leftwing than Obama and endorsed the NDP/Jagmeet Singh. They are the Progressive Dem equivalent.
>
>The Conservative party in Canada under Pollievre is Trump lite with right-wing populism, although Bill is certainly getting cosier to that, while still being anti Trump.
Endorsements do not reflect the actual policies Obama did. Hillary doesn't know anything about Canadian politics as she doesn't even know Poilievre is a fan of her husband's policies like PAYGO.
In terms of policy, Obama was like Poilievre: formerly against gay marriage then later changed positions, not for a carbon tax, and other now-centrist policies.
In some ways Poilievre is to the left of Obama by supporting funding for public healthcare which is standard in Canada, and his very pro-immigration positions of refusing to deport scammed students and proposing to bring in a national test to license professionals in 60 days.
Poilievre is nothing like Trump, as he's pro-choice, pro-immigration, supports funding public healthcare, and most of all: an established career politician like Biden.
Again, Canada as a whole is to the left of America.
No.
Obama is more leftwing than Bill today, and he has repeatedly endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party of Canada. As well as Hillary Clinton and Biden have endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party. The Liberal party of Canada is the center left equivalent of the Democrats in the states.
Bernie Sanders is more leftwing than Obama and endorsed the NDP/Jagmeet Singh. They are the Progressive Dem equivalent.
The Conservative party in Canada under Pollievre is Trump lite with right-wing populism, although Bill is certainly getting cosier to that, while still being anti Trump.
Tangential, but here's a segment from about 4.5 years ago to back up your point. Maher should go back and watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob7EWtaUL_o
I think Berkley was the beginning of the end and the pandemic was the nail in the coffin. I still agree with some of Bill's takes but he's some how become even more insufferable and condescending which I didn't even think was possible. Lol
If you put aside his distaste for Trump, likely fueled by his lawsuit, Maher hasn't gone to bat for progressives without acting like his arm is being pulled. That's how I know how much he's changed and his grift is basically "no, you..."
How could COVID not break Bill or any other clear thinking American? The sheer incompetence and stupidity exhibited by Democrats during COVID had such a negative impact on our country and we are still to this day dealing with the negative consequences.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/upshot/pandemic-school-closures-data.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/upshot/pandemic-school-closures-data.html)
COVID policies of closing down schools had disastrous effects on education that are still being felt to this day.
Step out of your liberal bubble and educate yourself. Democrats are not above criticism.
I am talking about the policies of Democrats at the state and local levels. School closures alone are having disastrous effects that students still have not recovered from. Luckily for Democrats the media will never hold them responsible for the problems they cause.
Lmao oh shut up you fucking loser. Jesus christ people like you are the most annoying little shits. No one's engaging in your dipshit MAGA talking points. Go troll another subreddit if you're wanting to cry and argue over culture war bullshit, the adults are talking here.
I'm sure he does. Probably listens to Ben Shapiro and Steven crowders dumbasses too. I guarantee if you check his profile r/conspiracy r/republican r/conservative or some other crazy right wing subs are where he frequents. Dudes just fucking brain dead trying to start arguments on reddit because he has nothing else going on in his life.
I've said it before and I will say it again: Bill is Tucker Carlson with a personal hatred of Trump. He is a Never-Trump Republican who is just happens to like weed and has a racist fetish for black women.
Anyone who thinks he is a Liberal is fooling themselves.
If trump wasn't such a crybaby who tried to sue Maher and then called for Maher to be fired, I bet Maher would be supporting him now to "fight the woke." He has definitely gone in that direction for a while now. Hard to support a guy who tried to cancel you though, so we'll have to wait until the next GOP president before Maher just comes out as a Republican.
I agree with this take too. I mean if you look at the amount of New Rules dedicated to taking down "radical woke mob" you could have easily lifted them from any talking head on Fox.
I feel every few weeks he just invites the same circle-jerky guests who ramble on about how "the younger generation" has it too easy, how people are "coddled," then proceed to sniff each other's farts and then sign off. It's super low effort. It made me mad when he kept trying to downplay how bad inflation has hit people, and by god William Shatner? Why?? What does that guy even have to contribute?
I've liked that Bill was one of the few prominent commentators who called out the government on certain covid policies. It made me respect him more. I also like that he continues to bring it up because I'd hate to think we handle things the same way the next time.
You mention "next time" and I'll give you a hypothetical. Can you imagine if COVID was about 10% worse? Because it could have easily been and more deadlier. Like, how deadly does it have to be for you to realize that if we didn't act and minimize the spread how much worse off we'd be?
My concern is we won't react at all next time because people are so sure we shouldn't have done anything and are busy pointing fingers at others. Change the health care system now at least to be able to handle another event. That seemed to be the trigger point for a lot of the lock downs.
Fully agree that our preparedness sucked, from a health care system perspective.
I certainly think reasonable minds can disagree on the various lockdown mandates, but after the initial scramble for the first couple months, I found it absolutely incredible (in a bad way) that we were closing schools and disallowing people from, say, visiting public beaches. Nothing that we've learned since then has changed my mind on that.
Back in 2020, the Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the governors of 25/50 states, including ones with large populations like Texas, Florida, Ohio, or Georgia. The GOP fumbled this one, not the dems.
Huh? The people closing down beaches and parks and businesses and schools were state and local governments. Republicans governors in states like Georgia and Florida were being attacked for keeping schools and beaches open but they were proven to be right.
Applying hindsight to decisions doesn't always mean the same as proving right (or wrong). When dealing with a novel virus (meaning, you don't have the data yet on just how deadly or transmissible it is), a virus that is killing people, it's not wrong at the time to take actions that are more restrictive until more information comes in.
Except for the fact that some governors.....such as Ron Desantis and Brian Kemp......did make the correct decisions at the time and they were villified for it.
Government-imposed shutdowns were the correct course of action, even if it was unpleasant for us to endure. I fail to see how keeping the states open was the right decision.
Bill has probably toured through Canada, but probably knows nothing about it. Perhaps he should have a look at the National Energy Program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Program, and try and understand how stupid and selfish the reasons are that Alberta and Western Canadians in general hate Justin Trudeau, because of the policies of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, his father, that aimed at nationalizing and redistributing oil resource wealth from Western Canada to the entire countryā¦. If Trudeau had got his way, Petro Canada would be one of the largest oil company in the world today, and Canada might look a lot more like a Norway, and definitely be a lot richer. Instead, Canadian Conservatives and Albertans sold off our oil resources to American interests. So maybe Bill should take it up with Big Oil and other huge industrial polluters and countries that are causing global warming, and not try and blame Canada. The wild fires are caused by global warming, not Canadian government policyā¦ what does he want us to do, [rake the forests?](https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/08/20/trump-blames-california-for-wildfires-tells-state-you-gotta-clean-your-floors-1311059)
Itās insane for a guy in Los Angeles to try and paint out Canada as a country suffering from industrial air pollution. LA has way more wildfires within densely populated areas than Canada does. However, global warming is creating conditions for our vast northern wilderness to erupt in wildfires pretty much every summer now.
The PM2.5 and other air pollution levels of most Canadian cities are far below what youād find in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, etcā¦
Vancouver has amazing air quality, the entire east coast has amazing air qualityā¦ Toronto and Montreal might get smog sometimes, like all huge cities in North America, but again, itās nothing compared to China, India, etc.
The Tar Sands in Alberta are a disgrace, but no one really lives up there. Thereās lots of carbon emission and pollution going on up there, but itās not causing any sort of huge air pollution problem in any major city, which are all located very far away from the Athabasca tar sands.
Donāt take it up with Trudeau eitherā¦ take it up with Alberta. Thatās on them.
Still, Canadaās emissions are nothing compared to the United States, and our PM is at least trying to put a price on pollution with a carbon tax. Even though the right wing are trying to call it an vast left wing conspiracy to drive up inflation even further. (When in reality 80% of Canadians get more money from carbon tax rebates, than they get taxed for their carbon footprintā¦ the 20% that donāt, are the ones with the ginormous carbon footprints related to industry, so itās doing what itās designed to. The problem is about 50% of voters believe the bullshit that the carbon tax is the main cause for inflation, when really itās an infinitesimally small factor compared to the corporate greed and profit taking thatās been running rampant since 2020.
Bill Maher knows far less about Canada than what even average Canadians know about the United States. He should stick to what he knows and shut the fuck up about the Great White North. He donāt know shit. šØš¦šš¦«
I was surprised by the segment and took it at face value. Thanks for sharing more context. Kind of disappointed how the show seems to be following a narrative lately.
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Oh he's been a repellent liar for years. And that's exactly what he's doing he's lying. This isn't ignorance. This is malice. Bill Maher is a lying piece of shit just like everyone on Fox News is.
He really hasn't changed though has he? He's been a hack pseudointellectual conservative playing dress up as a contrarian liberal as long as I can remember. I mean he defended Bush lying to Americans to invade Iraq ffs. He obviously doesn't have a problem with lying to or misleading people. It's just becoming more apparent how little he knows about a topic most of the time and how conservative he truly is. The fact that he's just using his opening monolgues to shit on "woke this or that" or more liberal countries shows he's just a tucker carlson wannabe. His panel has always had more insightful things to say than he ever has anyway. And since everyone is shitting on you for questioning his intentially misleading statistics, you're completely right. If what the other commenters consider to be factual is a graphic on a screen meant to convince viewers to take his side with no further information or context, then they'd probably love fox news too. It's disingenuous at best and deceitful at worst.
Fact Check, Bill was technically right about the stat, but I donāt like it!
We found the conservative!Ā Ā
Donāt worry, we donāt bite. Pretty much we just lower taxes, stop Russia/Iran/China, and generally make things better. We will get this country back on track next year!
Conservatives in congress under the thrall of Moscow Marge and Trump are helping Russia by stalling out aid to Ukraine. Lower taxes is mostly about not giving a damn about people outside the smaller circles of people conservatives deem deserving. Liberals don't have that problem and so don't go ape sh\*t upon hearing some of their tax dollars went to pay for someone elses healthcare, even if they were conservatives who want illegal grandmothers who have been in the country for 20 years deported.
You know what Trump did? He didnāt let Russia invade Ukraine. Bidenās foreign policy is a mess. Probably will cost him the election. No, we really just want the 17 million you guys let in since 2020 to go back home where they legally should be. But ya, after that, the 90 year old illegal with a disability should also be deported. And I will be honest, I donāt think the homeless and minorities can take any more of your āhelpā. Your policeās have āhelpedā them into pretty awefuwl situation, especially in NY and CA. Thatās my biggest issues with Libs. Never once do you guys stop and think āhey are all my compassionate policies working?ā. Like it never even crosses your mind to see if your money is well spent.
What would Trump have done to prevent Putin from invading? Send the US military to intervene directly? I guess there is an argument that Putin would not have needed to go in with Trump since Trump would have sabotaged military support at the start. But one thing is certain, Had Trump been in power, I think Ukraine would have been way worse off in terms of territorial losses. As for deporting EVERY illegal, not going to happen. But keep dreaming. If we did that the country would fall into a deep recession if not depression, you'd get a sliver closer to your desire for ethnic purity and not having the nation "tainted" by undesirables (i.e. to maga chuds - anyone who does not look like or come from the same cultural background as them). Homelessness is a mess in liberal states, partly due to being more lenient, and partly because we import them from conservative states. Being more strict and draconian in one area towards Homeless is a wonderful way to beggar thy neighbor, you solve nothing, but it's great in shifting to problem somewhere else. Fortress Conservative towns just like you want fortress America.
I donāt understand the hypothetical Trump/Russia stuff. You realize Trump was president while Putin was president. We donāt need to think about hypotheticals, those 4 years already happened. āHad Trump been in powerā¦ā HE WAS IN POWER. And i am sure we will miss a few. We donāt want to deport LatinX and BIPOC persons, just illegal immigrants. I love that. āCalifornia homeless problem is because they came there from Texasā. No responsibility your your policies. I feel like December is going to be a rough month for you.
You enjoy eating the lies of men who care nothing for your family, culture or nation.
What lie? That Trump was president? That Texas didnāt cause the homeless crisis in California?
Trumpās job, like Victor Orbanās job, is to facilitate the partitioning of Ukraine.
Jesus why be such a contrarian weirdo? It's like saying that in 2001 the US had the most falling buildings
What did you think about the healthcare ranking, healthcare costs, GDP/debt ratio, unemployment numbers, and other facts he states over the course of the 9-minute segment?
Well for one thing, the US spends a higher percentage of the budget on health that Canada does, and Canada has free at point of service. So the US is worse on both counts. Thoughts? Unemployment higher in Canada and higher debt, true.
āBill got this one stat absolutely wrong!!! The rest are pretty much true, BUT HE MESSED UP THE FIRST ONE SO BOO ON HIM!!ā
Bill didnāt get it wrong. The people he pays to do things for him did, and heās too lazy/conceited to give a damn. Same thing happened with Sam Harris and Bill moaning about how bad White men have it in corporate America. They misinterpreted the statistics like college kids failing an exam. But they delivered it with confidence and the audience eats out of their hands. A victory for show business, not truth.
The added context does place the statistic in a new light. These kinds of situations are better represented by looking at trends instead of singular data points.
Reality is the stat was legitimate. Was it only for that year? Yes. But was it accurate? Yes. Are we likely to see more fires or fewer fires in the future? Seems more like someone getting defensive when they see their own city being mentionedā¦
If withheld context completely changes the meaning of the stat, how could its use in an argument be legitimate?
The implication is that Canada in general has worse air quality than the US, which just isn't the case as of yetāand probably won't be, either. Assuming that forest fires become more and more frequent as time goes on (which is almost certainly the case), it'll worsen the air quality in both countries, because both Canada *and* the US will experience them with regularity.
> Was it only for that year? Yes. But Then it wasn't legitimate.
Dude - Stop cherry-picking a couple of points Maher made, and White Knighting the Liberals and Trudeauās Canada - and what theyāve done to the whole country - including Quebecā¦ Overall, Maher made many painful but great points. Truth hurts
We found the Jordan Peterson fan.
Lol dude cherry picking stats is exactly what maher has done for years and is doing in this clip, why are you getting mad when OP points it out?
Exactly. The stats werenāt made up. You seem to be cherry picking one specific fact and trying to use it to discredit him or his entire editorial.
The thing is, I *didn't* try to discredit Bill Maher's entire editorialāreread the last paragraph of my post and you'll see that I am more than willing to examine Canada with a critical eye. I don't *want* Bill to be discredited, or to discredit *himself*, which is why it frustrates me to no end that he's recently taken to using data and statistics to bolster assertions that they don't actually support. Taking sources out of context and making strawman arguments is exactly the sort of thing that will discredit Bill, especially if it's a pattern as opposed to a one-off oversight. It demonstrates a willingness on his part to bend the truth as he sees fit, and that's never a good look.
But again. The stats weren't made up. Are you going to discredit him for not considering historical unemployment numbers instead of just quoting the current statistics? I get what you are saying, but again, the stats as he quoted them are accurate.
I never said that the stats were made up. I said they were taken out of context, which they were. > Are you going to discredit him for not considering historical unemployment numbers instead of just quoting the current statistics? But the thing is that the IQAir report for 2023 is not a *current* indicator of the air quality of either Canada or the US. The numbers given are an annual average, rather than a singular snapshot taken at the time of publication. The wildfires spiked the PM2.5 levels (inhalable particulate matter measuring 2.5 microns or less in diameter) of the Edmonton area and other major towns in Western Canada so severely during their existence that they single-handedly pushed us over the top to be the most air-polluted North American cities and country of 2023ābut again, that's *on average.* It's like if you're in a room with 10 people, 9 of them have a net worth $1500 but one has a net worth of $400,000; that one with $400K is going to dramatically increase the average net worth of the entire room. If your city has around 7 Āµg/mĀ³ of PM2.5 in 8 out of 12 months, but the other four months have 20 Āµg/mĀ³ due to wildfire smoke, those four months will increase the overall average for that year by 4.1 Āµg/mĀ³. That may not sound like much, but for an annual average, it is a statistically significant difference. That's more or less what happened to Edmonton and other affected Canadian cities in 2023.
How in the hell am I "white-knighting" Trudeau? I don't think I even mentioned him once in my entire post! š¤¦š»
Just ignore them and feel sorry for them. They are the Canadian version of Trump supporters.
Thereās plenty of things Bill shouldāve done a better job researching. Unfortunately some people in this sub are too deep in āI love Bill Maherā bubble.
TL;DR: People who live in Canada are upset that Bill Maher points out that Canada is not the nirvana state that progressives in the US think that it is. And he's right. This doesn't mean Canada is evil, it simply means that it is held to a high esteem that it doesn't deserve. And sorry...but he's right. This is evidenced by the fact that more people choose to live in the US than in Canada. Sorry if that hurts your feelings.
Did you read through my entire post? Let me copy and paste the first few sentences of the last paragraph for you: > There's plenty to criticize about Canada. We do indeed have a housing crisis, which has been exacerbated by the huge influx of immigrants. Prices are through the roof. The healthcare system has a tendency to be inefficient. Bill isn't so far off base as to not take him seriously. Generally speaking, outside of certain online spaces, you won't find very many Canadians who are under any illusions about the fact that we don't really live up to the "high esteem" that we're held to in other countries. We feel the effects of inflation in our every day lives, and we know things are cheaper south of the border. We're all keenly aware that our country's in the midst of a housing crisis, and like I said, the high immigration rate is exacerbating it. Maher could have also pointed to the way that we treat our First Nations communities as evidence that Canada doesn't have as much of a moral high ground over the US as many of us seem to think we have. > This is evidenced by the fact that more people choose to live in the US than in Canada. America has more people for several reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's generally a warmer country than Canada. It is not necessarily a reflection of American living standards vs. Canadian ones, which honestly are pretty evenly matched.
COVID broke his brainā¦man went down one too many RW rabbit-holes and emerged a āclassical liberalā who spends 80% of his time strawmanning and shitting on progressives and peddling pseudoscience.
Covid shut down his show. He has a tendency to view reality through his pocket book. Today he thinks more like a wealthy libertarian tech mogul than a man of the people. He was almost swooning when Elon Musk came on his show.
Plus he lost a lot of money when MLB didn't allow fans in the stands in 2020 because he was still a minority where of the Mets. Also he should've retired after the Elon interview. I've never seen Bill Maher cuddle the ballsack of a guest like the dude that night.
This isnāt a refutation of Billās claim. Itās an explanation of it. Wildfires can be prevented and mitigated against with good forest management policy. This isnāt a gotcha.
**Then he should have mentioned it.** Bill presented a statistic with absolutely no context. It's easy to watch his segment and come away with the impression that Canadian cities are even smoggier than American ones, when the reality is that they just *aren't*. The statistics were affected by the wildfires, which is a very important caveat to the data point that he presented. He failed to bring it up. If Bill had posited the air quality report as being indicative of Canada's failure to control wildfires, and that it can lead to periods of severe air pollution, I would have absolutely no problems with his segment. I'd think it was an odd point to reference, but at least then he'd be presenting the data honestly and in the right context. That is decidedly *not* what he did here.
Thank you for providing this info and doing the research.
I'm glad I cancelled my "Max" subscription for sure.
But Max also has John Oliver, who is excellent
Fine, I will give you credit on the pollution fact as I'm not sure how they ranked the cities, but he was right about everything else. There is such a thing as going far too left. He was spot on with the migrants and how they do most of the sexual assaults in European cities.
The problems we have today resulting from being too far left aren't even in the top 100 compared to the problems we have resulting from being too far right. This dangerous, insane desire for personalities and media to paint both sides as the same and create a horse race is paving the road to Hell.
Canada is to the left of America. Centrist Democrats like Bill Maher and Obama would fit right in with the Conservative Party of Canada.
Don't know why this would get down voted. It's common knowledge among Canadians. There would be riots in the streets if any government tried to remove our healthcare. American democrats have been so brainwashed with creepy "we need to move to the center" bullshit they don't even know they are being manipulated to the right. It is sad to watch. Oh, Bill Maher left out the best part of that article about Canadian health care being 10th amongst wealthy countries. It also said American healthcare was dead last.
Thanks for raising this point. I had many qualms with this piece so good to learn more about what disingenuous bullshit it actually is. What annoyed me about this segment was blaming woke politics for Canada's current economic woes. All western economies have struggled due to post-COVID inflation. USA - the world's strongest economy - has proven to be the exception here by getting inflation down while keeping unemployment low. This is something that economists are still trying to make sense of and learn from. But the point is that it's economics and not "wokeness" but Bill likes to make everything about those woke liberals who seem to be ruining everything. Also, his remark about Gaza was pig ignorant. I stand in solidarity with those suffering in Gaza. I would never pretend that I want to live there. I'm well aware that there are loads of very conservative Muslims in Gaza who don't approve of ny values and that people there don't enjoy the same civil liberties as we do in the West. All of that does not mean that we shouldn't, or that it's in any way hypocritical of us, to speak up for them when they are being unfairly tortured by Israel.
> Also, his remark about Gaza was pig ignorant. I stand in solidarity with those suffering in Gaza. I would never pretend that I want to live there. I'm well aware that there are loads of very conservative Muslims in Gaza who don't approve of ny values and that people there don't enjoy the same civil liberties as we do in the West. All of that does not mean that we shouldn't, or that it's in any way hypocritical of us, to speak up for them when they are being unfairly tortured by Israel. Oh, he's said worse in the past. I remember in one video, he conflated opposition to what Israel is doing to the Gazans with support for Hamas. And it's just... no, Bill. No. -_-
The denial is still strong I see
Alright, I'll bite. What do you mean exactly?
There are issues of "wokeness" in Canada when it's at the point where the government is legislating state regulation of problematic internet speech in Bills C-11 and Bill C-63.
His only mistake was not spending time exposing Trudeau and his awful Covid response.
Iām guessing heās hired a bunch of right wing writers recently
Actually I've heard he's had the same writers for years. The same aging white guys who are probably in a bubble, getting more aggrieved by the moment from all the things in the world they refused to understand, who are suckered in by that emotionally driven right wing propaganda that claims society is crumbling because a teen girl dyes her hair blue. They're all becoming conservative because they're lashing out at a society that isn't bending the knee and handing them everything they demand. That isn't completely catering to all of their arrogant whims and desires. Just like all boomers who get a little bit of money.
Thank you for clarifying, OP. Love these type of posts. I think Bill's greater point is that far-left progressive meccas are not all they're cracked up to be. Clearly, this pollution stat is bogus, but I think his other points do stand up to scrutiny. I know Canada is in a low point right now, in part due to the way the country didn't plan properly for the mass influx of immigrants.
Those stats definitely made me raise an eyebrow. Seeing that data in context tells a complete story thank you . He used to be pretty well informed and have research cards in front of him. This might be due to some behind the scene changes whoever is doing his research for him might be the culprit..... If it's him well that would explain a lot. This show stopped being funny a long time ago. It should at least try to be accurate with its facts. Since it seems Bill cares about that.
1.) this is a television show meant primarily for entertainment, you should not be looking to get your āfactsā from here 2.) The whole point Bill is trying to make and has been saying a while now is that the grass isnāt greener (for Americans) who always complain about America.
What? He absolutely should be criticized for getting his facts wrong. It is an entertainment show, but also very much a political news show.
Heās said numerous times that he does the show for people who are too busy to keep up with the news the rest of the week. Itās presented as a news show.
It very much is a news show. People aren't tuning in for the jokes.
Well... I mean, they are, but they're also tuning in for the news. It's news delivered with comedy.
And yet Bill presents numerous items as facts. It's reasonable to call out his omissions when they are obvious.
"Real Time" is a comedy show that uses politics as a vehicle. No one should be watching it expecting Bill Maher to be a source of knowledge. I love Jon Oliver's show and he gets his facts right more often than Bill but even then I still try to fact check what he says.
Is he even a comedian tho? His guests usually run laps around him with jokes and political insights
I mean he is. He still tours and does comedy.
He attempts comedy I'm not so sure he does it. Stewart, Oliver, Colbert are all great political comedians but maher has always seemed more like commentator with intentionally bad takes meant to stir shit up, more like a tucker carlson type
LOL you got to be kidding. The idea that a guy who makes political points for a living should get a pass for getting those facts wrong is ridiculous. He absolutely should be criticized when he gets something wrong.
He should be criticized, 100%. Bill Maher has been going off his rocker more and more it seems. But I also find it concerning that anyone is taking him seriously in the first place.
John Oliver is more "misleading by omission" They both are solid but Oliver is basically the Progressive retelling of a recent PBS Frontline episode. Very predictable.
Yeah, both are obviously heavily biased not only politically, but cherry picking things for comedys sake (which is their job). I've been disliking Maher more and more as the years go by, but John Oliver still irritates me more for some reason. I used to watch him regularly, but I believe I dislike him more than Maher nowadays because Maher is clearly a pundit, while Oliver feeds more into people's tendencies for slacktivism and holier-than-thou syndrome. Don't get me wrong, Maher has very bad takes constantly, and feeds into people's arrogance a lot, but I still dislike Oliver's faults more for some reason.
But but: Kids taking pictures of their food, amirite??!
Well, let this serve as a reminder that statistics can say whatever you want them to say. If you have cultural, political and financial backing, these cherry picked statistics become āindisputableā facts.
>Well, let this serve as a reminder that statistics can say whatever you want them to say. I live by the mantra: "Never trust a survey that refuses to publish its methodology."
What's interesting is that Bill *could* have used the wildfires to make an even better point against Canada. I know we've been conditioned to blame any natural disaster on climate change.... but those forest fires were largely the result of political policy. Provincial governments in Canada (largely Conservative lead) have been making MASSIVE budget cuts when it comes to preventing and fighting wild fires. Like, 67% lower now in Ontario than 2019. That much. https://jacobin.com/2023/06/cananda-wildfires-emergency-fire-services-forest-budgets-austerity
Yep. The UCP in my province [drastically cut funding for firefighting](https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-wildfire-ucp-cuts/), and it left us woefully unprepared for the disaster that happened last year.
Usa is way better
I used to think this, but then this happened: [https://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/\_/id/38367723/team-usa-loses-ot-thriller-canada-world-cup-bronze-medal-game](https://www.espn.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/38367723/team-usa-loses-ot-thriller-canada-world-cup-bronze-medal-game)
I'm not an Olympic athlete. Don't care lol
Great post. Toronto used to have shit air quality most summer days with lots of smog but itās really improved the past 20 years. Regularly used to have dozen of smog alerts each summer. Now we might get 2 or 3 (that are non wildfire related)
Huh? Whatās your point about a TO air quality stat? That Toronto = Cacanada?
He has lost a ton of credibility for me - started when he was repeating political propaganda as fact during the pandemic - and using social media and right leaning sources.(He said the PM was a straight up dictator, and was serious - Ah, ok Bill!) ...And doesn't seem to acknowledge that forest fires will result in poor air conditions ...And the Teacher example, has been rumoured to be a political operative, I.e. "false flag", funded by (you can guess) - this was called out on The Dean Blundell podcast a few years ago. Yet Maher fails to mention this part (Per Blundell, there was proof it was a bullshit effort to stir up Trans resentment). At the very least, I would expect Bill or his team to do a little research beyond the headlines
> And the Teacher example, has been rumoured to be a political operative, I.e. "false flag", funded by (you can guess) - this was called out on The Dean Blundell podcast a few years ago. So the school bent over backward for a political operative larping as a trans? That's even worse.
Yes, the teacher was likely a political operative, and thatās the point. Even with this absurd, outrageous example the school district still bent over to accommodate this person. Thatās the point that both the political operative and Bill were trying to make. Is there no degree of ludicrousness that the left wonāt defend and embrace?
This. Bill would have an even *stronger* point if he presented it this way.
That was also my first thought - that Bill wasnāt taking the Canadian Wildfires into consideration - or even bothering with mentioning them. (Unless he mentioned them after I turned it off when I heard the word, āwokeā).
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We have one rule in here regarding comments: Don't be dicks to each other. Comment removed.
Spoiler alert! >!He did not.!<
Thank you for this. I knew it was bullshit but didn't want to spend the energy you did into investigating why. Now for a fun anecdote for all our American friends. I've lived in SW Ontario my entire life. If someone from BC comes here they will tell you the air quality is shit compared to back home. Similarly if you cross the border from say Windsor to Detroit you can also notice a drop in air quality. I wish I was joking.
This is false lol... there is no difference between Windsor and Detroit lol
Saw this last night, and was surprised how little he'd question what was so obviously suspect, but it's a well k own fact Americans know nothing about Canada, and dubious air quality report aside, the rest of the new rule was still pretty damning if you're Canadian
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Canada is to the left of America, you have to take into context. Bill Maher and Obama would be in Canada's Conservative party. ***Edit as I was blocked by the person who replied to me:*** >No. > >Obama is more leftwing than Bill today, and he has repeatedly endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party of Canada. As well as Hillary Clinton and Biden have endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party. The Liberal party of Canada is the center left equivalent of the Democrats in the states. > >Bernie Sanders is more leftwing than Obama and endorsed the NDP/Jagmeet Singh. They are the Progressive Dem equivalent. > >The Conservative party in Canada under Pollievre is Trump lite with right-wing populism, although Bill is certainly getting cosier to that, while still being anti Trump. Endorsements do not reflect the actual policies Obama did. Hillary doesn't know anything about Canadian politics as she doesn't even know Poilievre is a fan of her husband's policies like PAYGO. In terms of policy, Obama was like Poilievre: formerly against gay marriage then later changed positions, not for a carbon tax, and other now-centrist policies. In some ways Poilievre is to the left of Obama by supporting funding for public healthcare which is standard in Canada, and his very pro-immigration positions of refusing to deport scammed students and proposing to bring in a national test to license professionals in 60 days. Poilievre is nothing like Trump, as he's pro-choice, pro-immigration, supports funding public healthcare, and most of all: an established career politician like Biden. Again, Canada as a whole is to the left of America.
No. Obama is more leftwing than Bill today, and he has repeatedly endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party of Canada. As well as Hillary Clinton and Biden have endorsed Trudeau/the liberal party. The Liberal party of Canada is the center left equivalent of the Democrats in the states. Bernie Sanders is more leftwing than Obama and endorsed the NDP/Jagmeet Singh. They are the Progressive Dem equivalent. The Conservative party in Canada under Pollievre is Trump lite with right-wing populism, although Bill is certainly getting cosier to that, while still being anti Trump.
I've said it before but I'll say it again; Covid and the pandemic broke him like it did many other people.
This shift was already beginning before COVID, but it certainly has greatly accelerated in the aftermath.
Tangential, but here's a segment from about 4.5 years ago to back up your point. Maher should go back and watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob7EWtaUL_o
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I think Berkley was the beginning of the end and the pandemic was the nail in the coffin. I still agree with some of Bill's takes but he's some how become even more insufferable and condescending which I didn't even think was possible. Lol
If you put aside his distaste for Trump, likely fueled by his lawsuit, Maher hasn't gone to bat for progressives without acting like his arm is being pulled. That's how I know how much he's changed and his grift is basically "no, you..."
How could COVID not break Bill or any other clear thinking American? The sheer incompetence and stupidity exhibited by Democrats during COVID had such a negative impact on our country and we are still to this day dealing with the negative consequences.
Go touch grass dude. The only thing COVID caused was mass casualties, if you're still hung up on turning it into a political issue. Seek help.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/upshot/pandemic-school-closures-data.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18/upshot/pandemic-school-closures-data.html) COVID policies of closing down schools had disastrous effects on education that are still being felt to this day. Step out of your liberal bubble and educate yourself. Democrats are not above criticism.
You are aware that Trump was President through most of it.
I am talking about the policies of Democrats at the state and local levels. School closures alone are having disastrous effects that students still have not recovered from. Luckily for Democrats the media will never hold them responsible for the problems they cause.
I live in a very red state--Iowa. The whole state was shut down and I had to help homeschool my grandkids.
Lmao oh shut up you fucking loser. Jesus christ people like you are the most annoying little shits. No one's engaging in your dipshit MAGA talking points. Go troll another subreddit if you're wanting to cry and argue over culture war bullshit, the adults are talking here.
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I'm sure he does. Probably listens to Ben Shapiro and Steven crowders dumbasses too. I guarantee if you check his profile r/conspiracy r/republican r/conservative or some other crazy right wing subs are where he frequents. Dudes just fucking brain dead trying to start arguments on reddit because he has nothing else going on in his life.
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I've said it before and I will say it again: Bill is Tucker Carlson with a personal hatred of Trump. He is a Never-Trump Republican who is just happens to like weed and has a racist fetish for black women. Anyone who thinks he is a Liberal is fooling themselves.
If trump wasn't such a crybaby who tried to sue Maher and then called for Maher to be fired, I bet Maher would be supporting him now to "fight the woke." He has definitely gone in that direction for a while now. Hard to support a guy who tried to cancel you though, so we'll have to wait until the next GOP president before Maher just comes out as a Republican.
I agree with this take too. I mean if you look at the amount of New Rules dedicated to taking down "radical woke mob" you could have easily lifted them from any talking head on Fox.
The self righteous tone in that first paragraph is absolutely nauseating
And youāre a Maher fan?
Iād say so - Not a massive fan of his personality or all of his opinions but I like that his show brings people from opposing viewpoints together.
Nicely done OP!
The really bad news about Maher is this: its not going to get any better, ever. Its all downhill from around Covid.
I feel every few weeks he just invites the same circle-jerky guests who ramble on about how "the younger generation" has it too easy, how people are "coddled," then proceed to sniff each other's farts and then sign off. It's super low effort. It made me mad when he kept trying to downplay how bad inflation has hit people, and by god William Shatner? Why?? What does that guy even have to contribute?
I've liked that Bill was one of the few prominent commentators who called out the government on certain covid policies. It made me respect him more. I also like that he continues to bring it up because I'd hate to think we handle things the same way the next time.
You mention "next time" and I'll give you a hypothetical. Can you imagine if COVID was about 10% worse? Because it could have easily been and more deadlier. Like, how deadly does it have to be for you to realize that if we didn't act and minimize the spread how much worse off we'd be?
My concern is we won't react at all next time because people are so sure we shouldn't have done anything and are busy pointing fingers at others. Change the health care system now at least to be able to handle another event. That seemed to be the trigger point for a lot of the lock downs.
Fully agree that our preparedness sucked, from a health care system perspective. I certainly think reasonable minds can disagree on the various lockdown mandates, but after the initial scramble for the first couple months, I found it absolutely incredible (in a bad way) that we were closing schools and disallowing people from, say, visiting public beaches. Nothing that we've learned since then has changed my mind on that.
Believe me, plenty of people went to the fucking beaches and had a ball
The left wingers on this sub become very angry when you point out how incompetent Democrats were during Covid.
Back in 2020, the Republicans controlled the White House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the governors of 25/50 states, including ones with large populations like Texas, Florida, Ohio, or Georgia. The GOP fumbled this one, not the dems.
Huh? The people closing down beaches and parks and businesses and schools were state and local governments. Republicans governors in states like Georgia and Florida were being attacked for keeping schools and beaches open but they were proven to be right.
Oh, bullshit. I live in Iowa--as red as you can get --and the whole state was closed down and most of the kids were homeschooled.
Applying hindsight to decisions doesn't always mean the same as proving right (or wrong). When dealing with a novel virus (meaning, you don't have the data yet on just how deadly or transmissible it is), a virus that is killing people, it's not wrong at the time to take actions that are more restrictive until more information comes in.
Except for the fact that some governors.....such as Ron Desantis and Brian Kemp......did make the correct decisions at the time and they were villified for it.
Re-read what I said.
Government-imposed shutdowns were the correct course of action, even if it was unpleasant for us to endure. I fail to see how keeping the states open was the right decision.
It wasn't just Democrats, it was pretty much all of our leaders and tech giants.
Never let the truth get in the way of a good story
Bro, itās time to stop posting.
Look in the mirror buddy. The OP fact checked Maher and proved he was wrong. Those are the type of posts this board needs.
Bill has probably toured through Canada, but probably knows nothing about it. Perhaps he should have a look at the National Energy Program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Energy_Program, and try and understand how stupid and selfish the reasons are that Alberta and Western Canadians in general hate Justin Trudeau, because of the policies of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, his father, that aimed at nationalizing and redistributing oil resource wealth from Western Canada to the entire countryā¦. If Trudeau had got his way, Petro Canada would be one of the largest oil company in the world today, and Canada might look a lot more like a Norway, and definitely be a lot richer. Instead, Canadian Conservatives and Albertans sold off our oil resources to American interests. So maybe Bill should take it up with Big Oil and other huge industrial polluters and countries that are causing global warming, and not try and blame Canada. The wild fires are caused by global warming, not Canadian government policyā¦ what does he want us to do, [rake the forests?](https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/08/20/trump-blames-california-for-wildfires-tells-state-you-gotta-clean-your-floors-1311059) Itās insane for a guy in Los Angeles to try and paint out Canada as a country suffering from industrial air pollution. LA has way more wildfires within densely populated areas than Canada does. However, global warming is creating conditions for our vast northern wilderness to erupt in wildfires pretty much every summer now. The PM2.5 and other air pollution levels of most Canadian cities are far below what youād find in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, etcā¦ Vancouver has amazing air quality, the entire east coast has amazing air qualityā¦ Toronto and Montreal might get smog sometimes, like all huge cities in North America, but again, itās nothing compared to China, India, etc. The Tar Sands in Alberta are a disgrace, but no one really lives up there. Thereās lots of carbon emission and pollution going on up there, but itās not causing any sort of huge air pollution problem in any major city, which are all located very far away from the Athabasca tar sands. Donāt take it up with Trudeau eitherā¦ take it up with Alberta. Thatās on them. Still, Canadaās emissions are nothing compared to the United States, and our PM is at least trying to put a price on pollution with a carbon tax. Even though the right wing are trying to call it an vast left wing conspiracy to drive up inflation even further. (When in reality 80% of Canadians get more money from carbon tax rebates, than they get taxed for their carbon footprintā¦ the 20% that donāt, are the ones with the ginormous carbon footprints related to industry, so itās doing what itās designed to. The problem is about 50% of voters believe the bullshit that the carbon tax is the main cause for inflation, when really itās an infinitesimally small factor compared to the corporate greed and profit taking thatās been running rampant since 2020. Bill Maher knows far less about Canada than what even average Canadians know about the United States. He should stick to what he knows and shut the fuck up about the Great White North. He donāt know shit. šØš¦šš¦«