Here’s the latest opinion/comedy bit from Friday’s Real Time show with Bill Maher, with the episode called “Let’s be frank.” Maher starts out by citing the recent Democratic Party Autopsy (here) about why the party lost the Presidency and Congress in 2024. But he then faults both parties for having politicians in office who won’t…
New Rule from Bill Maher: Let’s be Frank
New Rule from Bill Maher: Let’s be Frank
31 May 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
Put it into Plain English! | Yes, Minister | BBC Comedy Greats
22 May 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
Bill Maher’s new rule: “No Jews, no news”
19 May 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
Bill Maher continues his defense of Israel on the country’s birthday by pointing out the pervasive Israel-dissing of the mainstream media, adding that there is one thing that the American Left and Right agree on: Israel is the “monster country of all time” (he includes the NYT in this category). He also calls out Democrats,…
Bill Maher’s new rule: “No Jews, no news”
Bill Maher’s newest rule: young people and political violence
13 May 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
This week Bill Maher’s comedy-and-news bit is about the “Assassination Generation,” referring to all the young men who kill or commit arson for ideological reasons. As we know, a big proportion of young people (about 40%) think that political violence is sometimes warranted. As you might expect, Maher deplores this behavior and the ideas behind…
Bill Maher’s newest rule: young people and political violence
Bill Maher’s New Rule: When bad people do good things
13 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
There’s no real “rule” here, but simply Maher’s assertion—one that many people won’t sccept in the Time of Demonization—that people can do both good and bad things (it’s better to say that then brand someone as good or evil, though of course people can lean toward one side or another). This monologue was prompted, of…
Bill Maher’s New Rule: When bad people do good things
Bill Maher’s New Rule: Oscars so wrong
19 Mar 2026 1 Comment
in movies, television, TV shows
Well, the Oscars have been awarded, and you can see the winners here. In this latest news-and-comedy bit from “Real Time,” Bill Maher argues that the Oscars have finally succeeded, through both social pressure, appeals to reason, and changes in Academy rules, in making their awards so diverse that one can no longer argue that…
Bill Maher’s New Rule: Oscars so wrong
Bill Maher’s latest New Rule: “Trump Estrangement Syndrome”
08 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
Bill Maher’s latest news-and-comedy shtick on “Real Time” deals once again with the flak he got for having dinner with President Trump. Remember? Despite Maher constantly criticizing the President’s policies durin gthe dinner, he also reported that he found Trump affable and friendly. That was enough for liberals to come down on Maher like a…
Bill Maher’s latest New Rule: “Trump Estrangement Syndrome”
Yes Minister | The Whisky Priest | Civil Moral Vacuum
27 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
Bill Maher’s new rule: The King’s speech
23 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in politics - USA, television, TV shows
Bill Maher’s latest “Real Time” clip argues that we should get rid of the State of the Union Address (coming up Tuesday), at least under Trump. That’s because to Maher it’s ludicrous that Trump keeps appropriating the powers of Congress for himself, violating our Constitutional separation of powers. The speech has become, says Maher, not…
Bill Maher’s new rule: The King’s speech
Bill Maher’s latest Rule
17 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
In this week’s news-and-snark piece, Bill Maher offers a piece that may be controversial, for it’s about how men need to be “men” again. He avers that the loss of masculinity in males is one reason why women are disappointed in men, and why people are having less sex. The data are eye-opening; for example,…
Bill Maher’s latest Rule
Bill Maher’s New Rule on gambling
13 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
Well, I can’t omit Bill Maher’s 8-minute weekly comedy monologue, especially because this week it’s about betting. I’ve always called gambling, betting enterprises, and lotteries “taxes on the stupid”, because people who spend their money that way don’t seem to know that the expectation of money is far less than they’re spending. And it’s a…
Bill Maher’s New Rule on gambling
Bill Maher on deranged Republicans
12 Feb 2026 1 Comment
in television, TV shows
I missed this Bill Maher “New Rules” clip from last October, but better late than never. In this segment called “Crazy in gov,” Maher assesses whether Democrats or Republicans are more deranged, Although he does point out some craziness on the part of “progressives,” but it is the Republicans who get the Most Deranged prize.…
Bill Maher on deranged Republicans
Bill Maher is back with New Roolz
01 Feb 2026 Leave a comment
in television, TV shows
Bill Maher is back, and this week he has a particularly good comedy bit: “New Rule: Eyeroll Activism.” His topic is similar to Ricky Gervais’s scathing remarks at the 2020 Golden Globes in that both men excoriate Hollywood for its virtue signaling, with Maher beginning with the wearing of anti-ICE pins at the Golden Globes.…
Bill Maher is back with New Roolz
Knowing When It Works: Artists vs Producers
09 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economics of education, movies, Music, television, TV shows
Great artists are often distinguished not merely by talent, but by judgement. They possess an internal compass—hard-won, intuitive, and sometimes infuriatingly resistant to external advice—that tells them when a work works. This judgement is not always aligned with commercial logic, institutional taste, or the anxieties of producers and executives. The history of twentieth-century culture provides striking […]
Knowing When It Works: Artists vs Producers
What Star Wars AND Star Trek can teach us about economics
01 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, defence economics, economics of regulation, international economics, labour economics, labour supply, movies, television, TV shows, unions
This is not a “Star Wars vs Star Trek” post. I’m non-partisan. I enjoy both Star Wars and Star Trek about equally. And it turns out that I am not alone. Last December, John Hawkins (University of Canberra) wrote in The Conversation about what Star Wars can teach us about economics. This year, Hawkins (with Tesfaye…
What Star Wars AND Star Trek can teach us about economics
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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