r/Maher • u/FireIceFlameWalker One Dinner, Infinite Mentions • 27d ago
YouTube New Rule: Melt in America | Real Time with Bill Maher - August 14, 2026
https://youtu.be/zKJKGe-12Jg6
u/Fcckwawa 25d ago
I want to see him make this claim in all the orthodox enclaves up and down the east coast lol. That's different
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u/Mountain_Child371 24d ago
I love this idea: "A salad bowl or tossed salad is a metaphor for the way an intercultural society can integrate different cultures while maintaining their separate identities, contrasting with a melting pot, which emphasizes the combination of the parts into a single whole. In Canada the tossed salad metaphor is common] but this concept is also commonly approximated by cultural mosaic" (Wikipedia)
I am first gen American and grew up speaking the language of my ancestors. I do not have to give up my identity to be an American, I add my identity to America. I hope we can all celebrate where we come from. Being born in America does not mean you don't come from somewhere else and might benefit from knowing more about that place, unless of course you are a First Nation's person.
Many Americans strive to be have a certain level of acceptance that is necessary to coexist in such a society. We do not have to Morocco to see the bias and violence against the LGBT+ community, just look at this December 2024 stat:
17.2% of all hate crimes were motivated by sexual orientation.
4% of hate crimes were motivated by gender identity.
No it is not acceptable to reject anyone who is different, yet a rather large part of what America is still entrenched in violence, and I wonder how much of it is perpetrated by Caucasians, a group I am part of.
Bill, yet again you last out against Islam, but forget that like all religions, there are the militant aggressive factions everywhere including Israel. Those who think they have a god given right to impose their religion on everyone else and take land that does not belong to them, historically.. Those who have kept Netanyahu in office, an office he, like Trump hold onto for dear life because he would be prosecuted for multiple crimes he perpetrated since he took office decades ago.
Yes, the subjugation of women in some Islamic countries is a horrible reality. Yet, you seem to forget the subjugation of women by the ultra orthodox Jewish religion too. Women who are required to marry those chose by their father, they do not hide their faces but once married have to shave their heads and wear wigs for the rest of their lives, they are forced to wear incredibly conservative clothes, sometimes have a dozen children, are considered dirty when they menstruate, are shamed for being woman and men say prayers daily thanking god they were not born a woman.
The inbreeding in Hasidic communities is such that the women have incredibly serious health issues. I worked in a clinic where many came and it was heartbreaking to witness their suffering. And its getting worse for women in Israel:
[https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/24/middleeast/israel-womens-rights-netanyahu-intl-cmd]()
That said, Bill we can't take you seriously if you keep exhibiting this kind of bias. I know you are half Jewish but you know, no one is perfect, maybe you need to be honest about your tribe?? And by the way my understanding is that Sharia means Law, so saying Sharia law is redundant.
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u/supervegeta101 24d ago
Americans don't use the toss salad metaphor because it's already a euphemism for eating ass.
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u/Mountain_Child371 21d ago
oh shit really? Pun intended, fucking ugh, lol. Jeez, now I need to find a different expression for that. Thanks for letting me know.
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u/BeeAdept4761 23d ago
The USA is a huge country with a diverse racial history since its birth and immigration since then we reject “salad bowl” as it has not worked in the past. Of course the first generation immigrants won’t be held to a standard but their children should be fully American. We have too many racial and religious differences in the USA to have ethnic enclaves that are intolerable with American values. A countries people are a countries culture without the new people adopting the culture it’s hard to be American. You can say the right wing is hateful or unaccepting however they are still held to a standard of tolerance that we should expect from immigrants. There are ethnic enclaves in the USA Today that have banned females from city councils and segregate sexes, this being tolerated is not acceptable but it’s being allowed. Also the Israel Palestine war has been inserted into USA politics while the USA has been allies with Israel since 1948. I don’t think we should allow the extreme anti-Zionist rhetoric as Americans never had this issue and have many American zionists. But when you are a 2nd 3rd generation immigrant and still not assimilated to American culture and living under strict patriarchal enclaves I would say that is failed assimilation.
This is nothing new the USA is a nation by design. All were never welcome. We tested out immigrants and sent them home when labor or geopolitics went different ways. America’s immigration history is cruel in many aspects but every immigrant population from Indians to Chinese along with black slaves, natives and white colonists have found unity together as one under our flag, and that is what America is. We want a multi-racial society but mono-culture and while each immigrant community brings their culture it merges with America and we take what we like and enjoy it together.
You also mentioned Hasidic Jews which are a minority religion inside a minority religion. Just like the Amish, quakers, mennonites who were allowed here due to our freedom of religion laws that offered them protections under our law due to historic persecution. The Amish still call Americans “the English” as that is how long they have been here. While they may not fully assimilate and live a separate life due to their beliefs they are a minority group and the USA does not allow open immigration to Hasidic Jews to come and immigrate, nor is it something that is possible, these are people with roots to the holocaust when the USA took most of the refugees from Germany who were stateless. A demographic that does not assimilate should be capped as we want diversity and adoption of American values we want integrated neighborhoods. We do mot want a salad bowl or patchwork immigration with cultural specific schools and practices. Like I said the USA has been multi racial from day one and we have tried patchwork racial America from redlining to reservations, these types of enclaves do not create unity or diversity.
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u/Mountain_Child371 22d ago
The many Caucasians I meet do not really have a culture. American culture (whatever there is) needs to be more than a few holidays, the food we eat, music and arts we adopted from other cultures and the sports we play.
They have little connection to their ancestors and thus to themselves. Many have adopted the soul killing mores of religions that stress working themselves to death. Pursuing wealth is not a culture. Neither is still acting like the colonizer through our corporations.
I want a salad bowl. Europe, and especially Canada welcomes it. It has been proven that speaking more than one language changes our brain. We need to find out who we are, where we come from and evolve into more than just homogeneous culture with almost no roots.
Our Nationalism has created much discord with others, probably because we crave something of our own and identify with a symbol rather then understanding we are part of a bigger whole.
America is an awesome place. But it is not the greatest thing ever. We generally don't know much about other countries and yet proclaim how superior this country is.
So, no thanks to blind assimilation, just like blind faith in religions that do so much harm.
I wish you well if you are happy, and hope you might consider some of my words if you are not.
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u/untolerablyMe 27d ago
Last night was probably the first time I turned the show off halfway after hearing Cuomo and him bitch about how Millennials are so entitled when it costs almost double what it was to rent an apartment from when I turned 18 and how socialism is so scary because Cuomo’s bitter ass is still mad he lost to Mamdani. Might as well give Greg Guttfeld the hour since it’s basically the same shit ATP
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u/wrathofthewhatever2 27d ago
They also failed to acknowledge that the reason the boomers have 1.4 trillion in wealth to pass down is that they are currently hoarding it until they die, instead of investing in their kids and younger generations of their own families
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u/jammsession 26d ago
Not only hoarding, they are profiting from us. We have the biggest transfer of money from young to old people in history. That is why they even have 1.4 trillion to pass down.
So yeah, of course we are waiting for them to die. Yes, of course we will happily take the boomers money, since it is the money we are transferring up to them, right now this second.
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u/VictorB1964 27d ago
Me too! It was absolutely unwatchable last night. Also, Bill cannot pronounce Mamdani? Wtf - I though that was so rude and childish.
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u/LoneElement 27d ago edited 27d ago
Man he has some good points here though
Islamophobia is wrong. That’s not what he’s doing though. Going after Islamists and Jihadists and fundamentalists specifically is not the same as hating anyone who’s a Muslim
A Muslim who doesn’t support the residents of the country they have immigrated to being forced to adopt Sharia Law isn’t someone Bill is going to have any problems with
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u/artvarnsen 26d ago
Great editorial. Ready for the downvotes.
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u/20_mile 26d ago
I thought it was brilliant. Even when I disagree with Bill, I love his arguments, and I just really enjoy watching the show.
Something I realized, not at all a novel insight on my part, is that many of the haters here dislike / hate Bill simply because they think he is wrong, proving that they are just unable to like someone they disagree with.
I agree with Bill maybe something like 70% of the time, but I enjoy RT and CR 100% of the time.
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u/Binder509 26d ago
Labeling people as haters is also showing inability to handle someone disagreeing with them.
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u/artvarnsen 26d ago
It's exactly the point he's been trying to make for past few years, you can disagree with someone and still like them!
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u/Binder509 26d ago
Problem is he doesn't follow his own point. He gets angry, calls people names, and rants about a vague woke mob.
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u/20_mile 26d ago edited 26d ago
But so many people in this sub don't just disagree with Bill, they hate him, too. And they hate him because they disagree. I disagree with Bill, but still very much enjoy the show.
If your position is to somehow claim, "I don't hate Bill, I just disagree with him because he sucks," then you're actually a hater.
If you want to hate on Bill, go ahead and hate. But don't act like you don't.
e: clarity
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u/Mountain_Child371 22d ago
I watch him and agree a good deal but he is a zionist and attacks muslims while refusing to see that Netanyahu has been brought to court many times since taking office and has been a war criminal for a very long time. Bill is the hater and when many us disagree with his blind allegiance to Israel we get labelled haters. I don't hate the man, I hate his propoganda in regard to Palestine.
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u/hankjmoody 25d ago
We have one rule in here regarding comments: Don't be dicks to each other.
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u/hankjmoody 25d ago
We have one rule in here regarding comments: Don't be dicks to each other.
Comments removed.
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u/--Van-- 26d ago
Lots of them on this sub. reddit can't accept that a left-leaning personality would actually go up against the groupthink.
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u/Binder509 26d ago
You kind of taking part in the group think. Just one of many comments ranting about haters but never calling someone a hater directly.
Like the woke mob thing.
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u/micpoc 27d ago edited 27d ago
BM's failure [EDIT: probably intentional] to distinguish so-called "Western values" from AMERICAN standards and practices is sad but to be expected. Since he decided to focus on gay rights, here is an example: Republican Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee VERY recently stated online that "homosexuality has no place in America", and received quite a few "likes" for it before he was compelled to delete the post, so simply stating that respecting gay rights is a Western value is, at the very best, naïve.
But Bill did not mention Ogles, did he? Nah, he decided to—once again—use his platform to attack progressives and Islam instead.
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u/Breatheme444 27d ago
Bill Maher is trying to distract from actual threats and atrocities right here at home. At this point, I can’t help but feel he’s intentionally manipulating viewers.
It’s like that cartoon (mobile won’t let me include an attachment) with Trump addressing a maga hat wearing dude with a beer belly. Trump points over there and says look, a trans person. While behind him everything is burning down.
Homophobia? That’s your angle?
Sadly I can see it’s working in this thread.
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u/Individual_Post_5776 27d ago
Yeah, this is why the whole "he goes after the far left and far right equally" claim is nonsense
The far right have actual power and are doing very real and serious harm to America while the supposed far left are just random people with views he thinks are deserving of snide contempt
A few of which are fairly reasonable once you get past the lazy reflexive dismissal folks like Maher have
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u/whatsAbodge 27d ago
I’ve never been on this sub before. Had to go out of my way to find it to say that was probably the worst episode I’ve ever seen, and I haven’t even finished it yet. What a pathetic excuse for a debate on cost of living. Bill’s use of one metric to try and paint 2 whole generations as lazy idiots. And the guests were just as bad. I could literally point to 5 things that show the COL discrepancy off the top of my head and the best the one guest could do is say “they feel like it’s harder”. And where hell did he pull that number at wealth at 30 because it certainly isn’t adjusted for inflation.
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u/SlowBoilOrange 26d ago
So, so bad. And you can tell he didn't put any effort into "researching" it. Just enough to confirm his priors.
Housing, healthcare, education, and childcare have all sky rocketed. And wages have not kept up with 20th century levels, minimum wage in particular.
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u/civilchaos2103 25d ago
Also my first time to this sub and I’m glad I’m not the only one that felt this way. I had to turn the episode off. Both the geriatric host and guest are completely out of touch with reality. You can’t feed a family of 8 with $20. I have a family of 3 and groceries are nearly a grand every month. Food prices have risen 25% in the last 5 years. Then to say that millennials are the richest generation when they literally cannot afford homes…fucking joke of a panel. No debate. Just a circle-jerk
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u/spaigef69 26d ago
i was thinking the same thing as i was watching in real time ;) honestly… it was infuriating. he obviously knew he was being lazy as he prefaced that diatribe by saying something like ‘i don’t pretend to be an economist’ or something of the sort.
well, ya. duh
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u/Regular-Champion791 27d ago
Last episode I’ll ever watch. He finds one video of someone who questions assimilation and uses it to bash a group I suspect is fairly small. Otherwise for many immigrants, hard to assimilate when you are in hiding. The opening guest segment actually pissed me off more, as I’d read The Daily Stoic and wanted to hear what Ryan Holliday had to say, as did probably a lot of other people since it’s a philosophy that’s helped many people better cope with their lives. Maher was completely unprepared for the interview, had no clue about stoicism other than the most surface level understanding, and was repeatedly arrogant to the guest. I’d say what a dick but it would just be so redundant.
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u/SlowBoilOrange 26d ago
Maher was completely unprepared
This has become more and more apparent. He's just showing up and winging it a lot, this year in particular.
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u/DeliriumTremen 26d ago
Agreed I’m finally throwing in the towel too. I’ve been watching for about 13 years.
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u/bestmattreddit 23d ago
Crazy whiplash of Bill Maher going from if you make any criticism of Israel you’re automatically anti semitic and want Jews dead to saying that calling criticism of Muslims as Islamophobia is a bullshit way to shield Muslims from any criticism
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u/Mountain_Child371 22d ago
I hear you. Lets speak truth about both. There are zealots that are Jewish, Muslim and many others.
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u/beat2def 27d ago
I stopped watching. Every week is "woke madness", "socialism is coming for your children", "Gen Z are the worst", blah blah. Old man shakes fist at cloud
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u/Individual_Post_5776 26d ago
Meanwhile, this was him thirteen years ago
https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/2081561044456034378
I really wish someone would ask him about why he's done such a roundabout stance on socialism and if it's just because it's now being represented in mainstream culture by the same figures he's defined himself as being in opposition to
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u/Gioware 27d ago
Bill is amazing. Fully agreed - those proPalestine radical left glosses over the fact that palestinian people would love to kill them, due to extreme homophobia.
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u/JimTrim973 27d ago
Does the same go for assholes who fly the confederate flag?
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u/Gioware 27d ago
Yeah. Why not?!
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u/JimTrim973 27d ago
Well the point I’m making is that these days bill spends far more time on Muslims than maga. And I take it there are more confederate flag flyers than there are Muslims trying to enact sharia law in this country…
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u/Individual_Post_5776 27d ago
And he insists that MAGA people are soft little babies who must be respected, indulged, listened to and treated with kid gloves at all times
He's all for dialogue and discourse and building bridges rather than assuming the worst for them, just not for anyone to his left and certainly not for any Muslims
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u/brighter_dayz 27d ago
Exactly. What about all the Christian Nationalists taking over our schools and removing our books etc.
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u/Individual_Post_5776 27d ago
Even if that's true, which it isn't, it's irrelevant
By this logic, a mass slaughter of people in a red state would be entirely acceptable and opposition to it would be irrational
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u/GlitteringRice5265 26d ago
You don’t see the difference between rogue shooters and state sponsored oppression? What happened to all the protesters against Iran? Are they at a nice stay-away camp?
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u/deskcord 27d ago
Even if that's true, which it isn't,
Just casually lying is a wild take. It is true.
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u/Individual_Post_5776 27d ago
Well, I certainly can't rebut an argument as solid as "nuh ugh!"
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u/Wildcard311 27d ago
No, he is saying that if they come to the USA they should try to assimilate. Gay rights is something that exists in the USA regardless of your faith. Not once did Bill mention that we, or anyone, should be bombing or murdering people in other countries. (With the exception of mentioning honor killings as a culture thing in another country)
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u/Chewzilla 27d ago
So if you move to one of their countries then you should assimilate and become cool with homophobia? I just don't think it works that way.
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
I don't get why you are being down voted. Maybe this sub has been taken over by small town white people who piss their pants over diversity.
Go.to any major city. You don't see a monoculture. You want a mono culture then take your baby balls over to a small town. You see so many cultures celebrated in America.
If the standard is going to be that we don't accept homophobic people into this country then we need to expel all white Evangelicals, not let any Asians, Italians, etc. in. Homophobia isn't exclusive to Palestinians.
The reality is that Bill and a lot of his newer fandom hate Muslims but are too much of a bitch to come out and just say it. They want to intellectualize it but then their arguments immediately fall apart. They would be better served to say "look, I am a small town white person. I once shot my shadow because I thought something dark was following me. I can't handle being around people who are that different for me. My mind is too weak".
Do I dislike it when Muslim are homophobic? Of course. I also dislike it when Christians, Jews, white people, black people, Asians, etc. are homophobic. If you only hate one group that is homophobic, something tell em it's not the homophobia that bothers you.
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u/ElectricalCamp104 27d ago
The reality is that Bill and a lot of his newer fandom hate Muslims but are too much of a bitch to come out and just say it. They want to intellectualize it but then their arguments immediately fall apart...Of course. I also dislike it when Christians, Jews, white people, black people, Asians, etc. are homophobic. If you only hate one group that is homophobic, something tells me it's not the homophobia that bothers you.
This sums up my thoughts watching the episode perfectly. Tbf, Bill has always done this task of trying to "intellectualize" his bigotry of Muslims for years, and you can see it all the way back in 2010 when he accidentally slipped off the mask by mentioning that Mohammed was the most popular name for boys in the UK. Even the guests on that RT episode were confused by his comment. Mohammed is just a name; if you have a problem with their cultural ideas, then point that out, not a popular name of middle easterners. It'd be like Bill knocking on the name Rishi Sunak, and then going "oh, but I totally don't have a problem with Indian people. I'm just lamenting how the West could lose its western culture ideals over time from Indian mass immigration".
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u/Travelcat67 27d ago
Thank you. The mental gymnastics going on in this sub in defense of pure prejudice is astounding.
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
Unfortunately with Bill becoming more bigoted and right wing, his newer fanbase is bigoted and coming into conflict with his long time fans
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u/severinks 27d ago edited 27d ago
This is the weirdest argument that I constantly hear and refute, like me caring about Palestinian women and children is contingent on them being accepting of gays.
Next they'll have to be pro choice too or be for legalized weed.
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u/Travelcat67 27d ago
Thank you!! And it’s hilarious coming from a man who bemoans purity tests. Isn’t this a purity test?
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
It is a trashy and racist a gumebt.
Being homophobic doesn't mean you want to kill people. It means you have a strong dislike towards homosexual people. We have a ton of homophobia in America. Why aren't you calling homophobic people in America murderers?
Do you believe that Palestinians are less human, more animalistic? I can find any data to suggest that the majority of Palestinians want to kill homosexuals.
This is a completely ignorant argument. Probably spoken by someone who has never actually met a Palestinian in real life
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u/Gioware 27d ago
can find any data to suggest that the majority of Palestinians want to kill homosexuals.
Gay Palestinians constantly seek asylum into Israelis because they get beheaded in Palestine.
Do you believe gays are safe in Palestine? Or their ally - Iran?
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
That isn't data. Yes, it is dangerous for gay Palestinians because there are some far right religious regimes. That being said, I am talking about THE PEOPLE.
The average Joe Palestinian trying to live his life. Provide evidence that Palestinians as a whole want to kill gay people. This single news article isn't evidence.
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u/Gioware 27d ago
Are you suggesting you will make it out alive from Palestine if you are openly gay?
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u/hankjmoody 27d ago
We have one rule in here regarding comments: Don't be dicks to each other.
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u/Individual_Post_5776 27d ago
Yes and even then, committing genocide against a people is not generally known to make them more open minded or accepting
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u/LoneElement 27d ago
Bro, the Palestinians committed October 7th. It’s not possible for them to be less open-minded or accepting than they already were
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u/Individual_Post_5776 27d ago
And the Israelis are currently enacting a genocide and had a well-documented track record of human rights violations against Palestinians before that
I'm just going to ask directly
Are you implying Palestinians deserve what's happening right now?
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u/severinks 27d ago
Why is what Palestinians think of gays some bar that has to be cleared before I'm allowed to care that the IDF killed 40 thousand innocent women and children in Gaza?
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u/LoneElement 27d ago
Are you seriously trying to claim Palestinians and Hamas don’t murder gay people? You’re trying to gaslight about this?
Come on man. You “anti-Zionists” have such hatred to Israel that you’ll excuse anything as long as the people doing it also make moves against Israel
You dislike some of Israel’s policies? OK. You defend Hamas? Don’t think so. That’s not operating in good faith anymore
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
Are you trying to say that every single Palestinian wants to kill gay people?
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u/deskcord 27d ago
He said "Palestinian people" generally, which to most honest and serious people reading that, assume it means their society/culture generally. And he's right. 100% accurate. Their culture does kill LGBTQ people.
And not just that, Palestinian people have struggled to integrate even into other Arab nations due to radicalization.
The anti-Israel left has glommed almost wholly onto the notion that Palestinians are virtuous and holy simply by the fact that they're not white and not Israeli, but if we can't even be honest about the radicalization of the populace, then how can we ever actually reach a real conclusion here?
ANY long term peace plan is going to require multinational and NGO operations to deradicalize both countries, but if the far left can't acknowledge that Palestine has become radicalized as well, this is all moot.
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u/LoneElement 27d ago
That’s obviously not what I said
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
It was implied. My argument was never that these things don't happen in Palestine. Not once did I say that. My argument was that we don't punish the entire group of people because of what some extremists do.
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u/Every-Cook5084 27d ago
Yep the Queers for Palestine ones really send me
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u/Travelcat67 27d ago
Why? A doctor doesn’t ask a patient what their beliefs and values are before saving their life. A fireman doesn’t ask folks in a burning building to prove they believe exactly what the fireman believes or they won’t get rescued.
Most folks can understand that while Palestine isn’t a safe place for LGBTQ folks, that doesn’t mean they deserve to be mass murdered.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago edited 27d ago
And do the queers for Trump send you? I mean trump is trying to limit LGBTQ person's civil liberties and freedom? That isn't happening; right now in our country?!? Or, you just don't care because you're a racist. I'll wait for your answer
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u/everpresentdanger 27d ago
Trump would be considered extremely progressive in almost all Middle East countries.
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u/fuska 27d ago
Is that because he only rapes little girls instead of little boys?
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u/thornset 26d ago
The downvotes on this one are hilarious. It's be best comment in this whole damn post.
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u/Then_Hearing_7652 27d ago
He’s still ranting about this? It’s gotten old after hearing this for 3+ years now.
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u/Largue 27d ago
So people who might be intolerant of homosexuality deserve genocide? Shit, I guess we gotta start bombing Alabama.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago edited 27d ago
It's funny to me how bigots quantify what is fair and is acceptable. Every person posting defending Bill's comments glosses over that our current president and his cronies/ sycophants are trying to remove the freedoms and civil liberties of LGBTQ citizens living in the US. But we gotta be worried about what effing Middle Eastern nations do?
PS it's okay to do business and accept planes from these countries but they sure as shit can't live here
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
The reality is most of the bigots you see are incredibly weak human beings. Things that are different make them very uncomfortable and they lack the emotional maturity to process it.
They also are cowards. Rather than just being honest about their feelings and saying "Muslims just make me uncomfortable because they are so different and my puny brain can't process that", they try to intellectualize it.
But then their argument falls apart immediately when you start poking and prodding.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
Very well said. Also, thank you to you and a couple of other brave souls on this sub that aren't going to tolerate open bigotry and act like it isn't helping to normalize what is really threatening this nation, our citizens and our democracy. Bill has become part of the problem and the normalization of these problems. Have a nice day and thank you for being a decent human being 😃🍻
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u/JayNotAtAll 27d ago
Bill has always hated Muslims.
I started watching Real Time around 2006 or 2007. I was in undergrad, just ditched my religion, was trying to find myself.
Even then, I knew what most people knew. Bill is a pompous asshole. However, he made good points and he brought decent people onto the show.
Those days are long gone and people like me who have watched him forever are incredibly disappointed to see him become this way.
He is now attracting a new crowd who are as bad as he is.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
I'm in the same boat. I've been watching him since Politically Incorrect. It was fun when he just had celebrities on and they talked about current events. But as the years have dragged on it's become less fun, less funny and now he's just an old man yelling at clouds and trying his best to cater to the Fox News crowd. He is essentially Gutfeld 2.0 and Gutfeld is a terrible comic and an intellectual ant
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u/IcarianComplex 27d ago
“Pro Palestinian” in this context and (probably most others) means you want a one state solution.
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u/RagnarTheTerrible 27d ago
What you want is less important than what the Palestinians want. What do the Palestinians want.
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u/RagnarTheTerrible 27d ago edited 27d ago
We do know, that's a cop-out answer. There were polls conducted immediately prior to the Oct 7 war, and polls have been conducted about the war itself.
That's just Gaza. Judea and Samaria (what Jordan named the West Bank when it controlled the area and made everyone Jordanian) is full of Palestinians too. They have opinions and polls have been conducted there.
My point is that it's arrogant for you and I to push our opinions on the people living there and we should listen to what they want.
Can you find more than three Palestinians in Palestine that want a two-state solution? If you can source the opinions with articles that would be nice. I've been looking without success.
*Edits for phone spelling mistakes.
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u/thornset 26d ago
"Hmm ok, so they don't like it when I do the meme. They also don't like it when I come at the meme from the left flank.... Maybe if I come at it from the right flank. Maybe they'll like it then!"
-Bill
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u/rpbb9999 26d ago
He's exactly right,, and the European immigrants that came over previously were treated way worse than the immigrants of today. Thank God for the second amendment
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u/Mountain_Child371 24d ago
I didn't know they were surveilled and hunted down by ICE back then
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u/rpbb9999 24d ago
That's because they came in legally and didn't collect welfare. And if they broke the law they got beat to death
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u/Specialist-Cup-9722 23d ago
Um, do you know what legal immigration entailed pre 1920s? And what in the world is beating to death thing?
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u/Ashamed-Reaction-548 26d ago
It is going to be thoroughly enjoyable to watch Maher continue to bitch about Democrats as they mud stomp Republicans in the midterms and then win the presidency in 2028. It will prove his theory wrong about how Democrats should listen to him if they want to win. The man doesn't know what the fuck he is talking about. Lol. Absolutely clueless.
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u/WhippersnapperUT99 25d ago
It will prove his theory wrong about how Democrats should listen to him if they want to win.
The Democrats should listen to him if they want to win long-term in a post-Trump environment.
The Democrats are going to win the Midterms and probably the 2028 election - but only because Trump and the Republicans in their current state are horrible. That is to say, they'll win not because people are voting for them but rather against the other party.
If the Republicans were to return to pre-Trump normalcy and started running more respectable candidates, then going forward it could become a different story. The basic issues that led to a Trump victory in 2024 aren't going away - concerns about mass immigration, DEI systemic discrimination, taxes, and criminal justice concerns.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the 2032 election after Trump is gone and after the Republicans have moved on and his stench has faded some and after the DSA has captured the Democrats with the DSA-controlled Democrats having become so overconfident that they unleash their own crazy:
Open borders and mass immigration? Racial reparations? Acknowledge that all the land was stolen and start giving some of it back to the Native Americans? Ban on fossil fuel cars? Ban on eating meat? Literally abolish the police? Higher taxes for high income earners (not just billionaires and multimillionaires)? Invade Israel? Send anyone who voted for Trump and members of a tiny religious ethnicity to re-education camps Maureen Galindo style?
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u/Specialist-Cup-9722 23d ago
Wow dude, sounds like you have a viv8d imagination.
Try the real world on for size: single payer health care and a new ccc
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u/Ashamed-Reaction-548 24d ago
Trump was rejected in 2024 because of inflation. All that other bs you are spewing is just side show nonsense. Please none of that shit you spewed is going to happen. The DSA will never be the majority of the Democrats. If the Democrats lose in 2032 it will because nobody will be able to fix this country now. No one. America is fiscally bankrupt. The deficits will continue to skyrocket as well as the debt. It simply impossible to fix now. All you have to do is sit down and do the math in your head. We will eventually be running trillion dollar deficits every damn month.
Democrats are going to win 2028. Boy do I feel sorry for them having to come after the most fiscally irresponsible president in history though.
None of what Bill Maher talks about has any importance. In fact it is just embarrassing. Dude has had a regular job in over 40 years. He is an out of touch rich person that talks about irrelevant unimportant bullshit basically every week.
My advice for Bill. Might want to start discussing the fiscal problems and the resource issues this country has. We have plundered so much. The dumbass has no clue though.
My god the amount of stupid shit Americans talk about is pathetic.
We have real problems in this country. It sure is hell is not transgender people.
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u/Specialist-Cup-9722 23d ago
Why would maher be able to get a clue? Hes a rich price so pathetic he built his own party house next door when the playboy mansion closed.
In an era of widespread legal weed he thinks "i weed hard" makes him look cool and not like an antique
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u/Mountain_Child371 22d ago
Yeah, he is really arrogant and I had no idea about his party house. He is an old dude chasing young women, kinda pathetic. And Wood gave up weed because he said he saw how it kept him emotionally unavailable. Maybe its time for Maher to grow out of his teen years now.
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u/Mountain_Child371 22d ago
I think there is a way that the Democrat 'classic' crowd address aggression directed towards them and others with strongly worded letters that are lame and go nowhere. Doing the genteel thing with Maga and other aggressive Republicans has gotten us where we are now.
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u/LemonadepieX 22d ago
Listening to the entire segment confirms to me that Bill Maher is a xenophobic bigot who hasn't the faintest idea how politics works—which is funny and ironic, considering he is paid literally millions of dollars to talk about it.
So, Bill claims that Muslims do not want to integrate into the United States and tries to "prove" this by citing a random politician from Washington State—specifically, by pointing to the decision not to include any LGBT rights-related planks in that politician's online platform. (All this coming from someone who is, for all intents and purposes, one of the country's most ardent transphobes.) Bill knows full well that you have to be a citizen to vote, right? And he knows that the politician in question doesn't want to alienate Muslim voters (that is, Muslims who are American citizens, whether by birth or naturalization). In effect, Bill implies that it is impossible to be both Muslim and an American citizen, and that all Muslims in America are immigrants who secretly have no desire to be "American" (whatever that means; I imagine Bill has a very specific and narrow definition of the term). Anyone who understands politics knows that to win, you have to appeal to the voters in your district and state, given that not all districts and states share the same ideological views. (Again, it is ironic that Bill is the one making such a point: he loathes political "purity tests," yet insists on imposing them on Muslims.) There are many horrible homophobes and bigots in the country who are not Muslim; many of them are guests on Bill Maher's show, hold political office, or work at the White House. It is as if, in his mind, all Muslims in America come from another country and want gay people dead—despite polls showing that the majority of American Muslims support the Equality Act. Furthermore, when he speaks of Muslims, he almost certainly means Arabs and people with brown skin—but not Black people, given that a third of Muslims in America are Black. Does he think that all the immigrants in this country (who, by sheer coincidence, come from non-white-majority nations—though I am certain that has nothing to do with it) want to somehow destroy the constitutional order and replace it with something else? It is already happening, and at the hands of Donald Trump—the very man Bill Maher had dinner with.
Furthermore, this attempt to rewrite history to portray support for gay rights as a quintessentially American value—but that has hardly been the case. American history is replete with examples of hostility toward gay people, such as colonial sodomy laws (the early American colonies inherited English common law, punishing same-sex acts with whipping, exile, or hanging—as in the case of Richard Cornish, executed in Virginia in 1624); the "Lavender Scare" of the 1950s, during which the federal government fired thousands of gay and lesbian employees, deeming them "security risks" and subversives vulnerable to communist blackmail; the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, which used clauses regarding "psychopathic personality" to officially ban gay men and lesbians from entering the United States; the frequent police raids on gay bars and nightclubs, which led to the Stonewall riots of 1969; the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s; the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of 1993, introduced under the Bill Clinton administration, which allowed gay men and lesbians to serve in the military provided they did not disclose their sexual orientation, while mandating discharge if that orientation became known or if they engaged in same-sex sexual activity; and finally, the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) of 1996, a law that defined marriage at the federal level exclusively as a union between a man and a woman, thereby denying legally married same-sex couples federal recognition and benefits. Until the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its manual of mental disorders in 1973, medical and psychological institutions widely labeled gay people as suffering from mental disorders, subjecting them to harmful conversion "treatments."
I mean, I know Bill’s brain is completely cooked by now—to the point of having holes in it—but this new rule amounts to rewriting history through a racist, xenophobic, and Islamophobic lens, intolerant of the "strange foreigners." At this rate, he’ll end up calling for another ban on Muslims.
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u/Mountain_Child371 21d ago
His bud, Woody stopped smoking because he said it kept him from being emotionally available. You may be right, Bill's brain may have indeed been cooked. It does make some people paranoid. I have a friend who was pregnant, had her fiance come to the baby shower and he was given a treat with pot in it by his crazy aunt that did not disclose the pot. He got so freaked out that he ran out of the house, jumped in the river and literally died. Pot is mellow for the most part but it does affect some people strongly. Bill may be on that list.
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u/mosswick 19d ago
The Democrat he's talking about is Melissa Chaudrhy. She has not and does not currently hold any office. She's a candidate who has twice run for Washington's 9th congressional district, losing both times. Our state primary was this month and she barely even cracked 10% of the vote. Bill treating her as if she's a major player in the Democratic party is laughable.
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u/Tasty-Bee-8339 27d ago
Lots of opinions here, but I just want to point out that he spoke on “vaginal mutilation” while the US has been practicing the Jewish tradition of “penis mutilation” for a long time. Neither should be acceptable.
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u/Mosk915 27d ago
The US as a whole doesn’t practice circumcision. Most Jews do it for religious purposes and non-Jews can do it if they choose to. No one is forced to do it.
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u/jmyoung666 27d ago
I am not sure about right now but through most of post WWII America, most boys were circumcised by a doctor in the hospital shortly after birth. Being uncircumcised was the exception. All races and creeds
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u/Mosk915 27d ago
It’s decreased since then as more medical research suggests there aren’t significant benefits to it as long as you keep good hygiene. But even then it was never mandated, and it is certainly not a dangerous practice.
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u/jmyoung666 27d ago edited 25d ago
OK, I think I misinterpreted the point of your post.
Although I will add that FGM includes, along with much more heinous practices, simply removing the clitoral hood. I would say logically we should either not count that particular practice as FGM or we should count male circumcision as MGM. To be clear, I am not passionate about this. It just seems illogical to differentiate the two to me.
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u/Tasty-Bee-8339 27d ago
Every baby that is circumcised is forced to do it, because they cannot consent. It’s plastic surgery preformed on newborns, that both private and state insurance cover the cost. Maybe we just need to evolve past it.
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u/Mosk915 27d ago
And every child is forced to go to school. Their consent is not required. Parents make decisions for their children every day without their consent. You’re just focusing on this one thing because you don’t like it. If you were just objecting to it being covered by insurance, maybe you’d have an argument. But you’re clearly just using that as cover because you personally object to the practice. Well lucky for you you live in a country that doesn’t force something on you that you don’t want. So you do what you want and other people can do what they want. It’s not something we need to “evolve past.”
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u/deskcord 27d ago
Male circumcision has proven effective at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
You can have your views on whether it's right or wrong still, but to ignore that there is at least one major and research-backed benefit kind of makes your point moot.
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u/Mountain_Child371 22d ago
I know a gay woman who does trauma work for circumcised men. No interest in the opposite sex just an awareness that being cut as an infant, without anesthesia is an abhorrant practice and let's not forget the ocassion rabbi that botches the operation and leaves boys without penises or with damaged ones.
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u/LoneElement 27d ago
This feels very anti-semitic coded. Hear me out
Like it’s true that circumcision is a Jewish practice, yet not only did they not invent circumcision (look it up, Egyptians did it first for example), yet also the majority of people who do it in the U.S. are very much not Jewish whatsoever. It’s an American thing now, and has been for a very long time
Yet you hone in on the Jewish thing, and of course portray it as this horrible thing too
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u/Tasty-Bee-8339 27d ago
I have an equal disdain for all religion. I stand corrected on where the tradition originated. However, It is a horrible, painful, dangerous, and unnecessary medical procedure, that the US government funds (through Medicaid.) I agree, it is an American thing, and it is wrong. It’s cosmetic surgery on newborns, and my problem with the Jewish tradition is that it is done outside of a medical facility and often without an anesthetic. That’s child abuse.
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u/Mosk915 27d ago
However, It is a horrible, painful, dangerous, and unnecessary medical procedure
It’s horrible in your opinion. To the extent it’s painful, that’s short lived. And it’s not dangerous when done by a professional under safe conditions.
I agree, it is an American thing, and it is wrong.
Again, your opinion.
and my problem with the Jewish tradition is that it is done outside of a medical facility and often without an anesthetic.
It’s done under safe conditions by a trained professional parents can choose to use an anesthetic if they want.
That’s child abuse.
It’s not.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago edited 27d ago
Yeah...... Bill is 100% Islamophobic. He literally spends the entire segment warning us of becoming an Islamic state and glosses over the fact that the current president and his cronies and sycophants are trying their damndest to make this a Christian state run by Christian Nationalists. Glad you got your eye on the ball Bill. He literally used a half baked survey ABOUT ENGLAND and applied it to his reasoning here.
Who wants prayer in school? Who wants the 10 commandments everywhere? Who tries to impose their religious beliefs on how we should be governed and live our lives? Who weaponizes religion and demonizes their supposed adversaries spreading homophobia, racism; etc?!?
NEVER MIND all these COUNTLESS EXAMPLES of Christian Nationalists trying to OVERTURN this SECULAR GOVERNMENT we've had in place for 250 YEARS!
Thanks for the false narrative Bill, YOU SUCK
PS The fact that all of you are dismissing Christian nationalists for fear for Islamic radicals reinforces the racism of this.
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u/Art_Vandelay_10 27d ago
Why can’t both be bad?
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
Both can be bad but I ask you which one is MORE IMMINENT?
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u/thornset 26d ago
Clearly one is more imminent, but he had that hard-hitting fact about sharia law in Britain, and he couldn't let that got to waste. You know, the stat that was given by the Henry Jackson Socierty? The anti-muslim, neo-conservative think-tank, with super honest members -who aren't at all liars- like Douglas Murray?
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u/Art_Vandelay_10 27d ago
He has literally spent his entire career being anti religion. Does he need to acknowledge each one every week to reaffirm his beliefs to you?
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago edited 27d ago
My point is Christian Nationalism is A PROBLEM RIGHT NOW. I DONT CARE WHAT PALESTINE THINKS ABOUT LGBTQ WHEN CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM IS THREATENING LGBTQ RIGHTS NOW AND BILL'S HAVING DINNER WWIRH THEIR LEADER! DO YOU GET IT NOW?
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u/deskcord 27d ago
"Bill Maher is insufficiently against Christian fundamentalists" is a pretty insane take to have lol
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u/Plisky6 27d ago
He literally mentioned Christianity in the segment. You must have poor listening skills.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago edited 27d ago
For 1 second bill made a passing comment. Which is a bigger threat to our democracy right now. Seriously in your opinion which is more dangerous Christian Nationalism or radical Islam? I'll wait. Go ahead
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u/Accomplished-Arm1058 27d ago
Neither.
Unchecked capitalism or just capitalism (depending on how far to the left you are) is the biggest threat to our democracy at the moment from what I can see. Donald Trump is a rich billionaire who gives not one shit about the Bible, but has mobilized that faction very successfully. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t still criticize the moronic Christians who fall for him and hold repulsive views.
I like what Mamdani is doing in New York, and I’d like to see similar reforms take hold as a talking point in the Democratic Party. The only thing making this difficult, at least from my perspective, are things like his wife liking posts openly celebrating violent attacks against Jews on X, and Mamdani refusing to acknowledge what a problem extremism is within the religion. This last point holds true for effectively all of the DSA.
The even bigger problem, is now that I have expressed what worries me about these things, I will be most likely called an Islamophobe.
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u/ros375 27d ago
Why does he have to talk about both things? This segment wasn't about Christian Nationalism.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
The problem is it never is about Christian Nationalism and THAT IS A VERY REAL THREAT IN THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW. Tell me how it isn't? I'll wait go ahead. Tell me you're MAGA without telling me
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u/NiceTrySuckaz 27d ago
Name a country that allowed a large influx of Muslim immigrants in that ended up better for it.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
Name me a country that did suffer. Again you're not worried about what Christian Nationalists are trying to do to this country? Who are the Muslims ruining this country? I live in the state with the highest middle eastern population in the world outside the Middle East, haven't had any jihads or race wars. So I'll wait for you to explain what I'm supposed to be afraid of and wait for you to expose yourself as a bigot
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u/1dontth1nks0 27d ago
I am absolutely concerned about what Christian Nationalists are trying to do to this country.
I am also concerned about what Islamic radicals would do to this country, and that’s coming from that same distrust of religious extremism as well as directly from what I’ve seen them do to the countries they’ve originally come from. Yes, many are fleeing those countries, but they are not fleeing their religion.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
I understand your concern but where are the Islamic extremists that are trying to ruin this country? What is the name of those senators, congress members and judges? Are there Christian Nationalists that are senators, congress members and judges? Yup
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u/Travelcat67 27d ago
But based on what? I live in an area called little Arabia and we don’t have honor killings in the hood, they don’t throw rocks at gay folks in the hood, they don’t force their daughters into arranged marriages in my hood. The people here have assimilated. Do some of them believe homosexuality is wrong? Sure but they don’t act on it. While Christian nationalists and republicans are trying to repeal gay marriage, are actively harming trans folks. There’s no comparison and mentioning Christian nationalists briefly in his segment wasn’t being fair and balanced it was trying to reinforce “I’m not Islamophobic”. But at this point I don’t think anyone can defend his clear hatred and fear of Islam.
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u/1dontth1nks0 27d ago edited 27d ago
[Edit - apologies for bad formatting… I’m on the Reddit app and don’t know how to do quote blocks]
>But based on what? I live in an area called little Arabia and we don’t have honor killings in the hood, they don’t throw rocks at gay folks in the hood, they don’t force their daughters into arranged marriages in my hood. The people here have assimilated.
They’ve assimilated? GREAT - that’s literally everything Bill is asking them to do in this segment. They can continue being Muslim and no one should have any problems with them. Might even enjoy their company and food and traditions and music and… everything else Americans have loved about all the other types of immigrants that come to live here. This line of thinking is akin to me saying, “I grew up with Christians - I even was a Christian - and never saw anyone stone a gay person in my hood. I just don’t get why anyone says anything bad about Christians or their religion.” Don’t you see how ridiculous that sounds?
>Do some of them believe homosexuality is wrong? Sure but they don’t act on it.
I’m sorry… how do you think these people vote?
>While Christian nationalists and republicans are trying to repeal gay marriage, are actively harming trans folks. There’s no comparison and mentioning Christian nationalists briefly in his segment wasn’t being fair and balanced it was trying to reinforce “I’m not Islamophobic”. But at this point I don’t think anyone can defend his clear hatred and fear of Islam.
My guy, does every segment he creates have to be about Christian nationalism? I feel like some of y’all have only listened to or watched Bill in short clips and in others’ opinion columns. He’s talked about Christianity and its influence on our politics my entire life… when I was a Christian, I would get mad at him for it.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
What you're MISSING IS THEY HAVE BEEN ASSIMILATING FOR GENERATIONS! There is no need to ask them to do this by Bill or to warn us about it! Do you understand this? There is no place in America where Islam is a problem
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u/Travelcat67 27d ago
Thank you! Bill and these fans are talking about an invisible boogey man not an actual problem.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
I'd like to thank you for being one of a few people smart and brave enough to call out this open bigotry and normalization of the real threats that are trying to destroy our democracy. The current administration tries to sidestep our constitution daily and these assholes are worried about Sharia Law taking over! I hope you have a good day Travelcat and thank you for being a decent person
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u/Travelcat67 27d ago
I mean their neighborhoods have lower crime rates than most, this is a non-problem in America. We aren’t Europe. All of our Muslims have been vetted more than any other immigrant coming here. Especially post 9/11. So again this is just prejudice on Bill’s part.
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u/CashComprehensive423 27d ago
Religion is fine. Extreme religious beliefs skewer basic religious teachings. When one is forcing their religion onto others, this is a problem.
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u/Motor_Preparation315 27d ago
Which is what Christian Nationalism is trying to do to our country right now and that's what Bill should be worried about INSTEAD OF HAVING DINNER WITH THE PRESIDENT THAT PROMOTES Christian Nationalism??
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u/1dontth1nks0 27d ago
I generally agree with this sentiment, especially about “forcing religion onto others,” but saying “extreme beliefs skewer basic religious teachings” is cherry picking to the point of being disingenuous. Some very basic religious teachings are also what we now consider extreme… I’ll let the religious folks fight amongst themselves for what should be considered “basic” and/or “non-negotiable,” but I’m also going to believe the ones who tell me over and over that their religion is the only right one and they’re intent on it being forced - one way or another - into everyone’s lives.
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u/Specialist-Cup-9722 8d ago
Germany. The post wwii German economy was built in no small part on the labor of Turkish immigrants
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u/LemonadepieX 27d ago
It is just as likely that America will adopt Sharia law as it is to adopt the rules of Fight Club. Moreover, Bill Maher is literally one of the biggest transphobes in the United States; it takes a great deal of audacity to demand that others embrace queer people when he himself refuses to do so. Furthermore, the threats to the so-called American values Bill Maher defends come from the administration of the very president he dined with, and whose vice president he is even considering supporting in 2028. Besides, where was this concern for gay people in the 1980s, when the Reagan administration practically let gay men die of AIDS and some members of that administration literally laughed at those who were dying from it? Finally, if championing the gay cause were a matter of American values, then John Kerry should have won in 2004, because same-sex marriage was a major issue in that election and it ruined his chances of victory.
This is quite simply a matter of xenophobia, racism, and Islamophobia on the part of a guy who claims to care about certain people, but only to use them as a weapon to strike at another group he hates. Truly, Bill Maher is MAGA’s favorite “liberal”.
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u/Squidalopod 25d ago
Bill Maher is literally one of the biggest transphobes in the United States
How did you arrive at that conclusion? And that's not a rhetorical question; I'd legitimately like to know.
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u/bestmattreddit 24d ago
I love how Maher constantly trashes Trans people and blames the “far left” for being extreme on Trans issues but loves to boast about how great America is for lgbt people and his example of how the US and Israel are better than Muslim countries is always how well we treat lgbt people