On Friday's Real Time program, Bill Maher defended teachers and managed to take down two of Donald Trump's spawns by referring to them as "useless burdens on society."
He began the segment by surprisingly standing up for children, even though he admitted his antipathy for them, and compared his defending children was like "Mike Pence fighting for gay adoption."
"Even when I was a kid, I didn't like kids. I remember being in kindergarten, thinking 'These people are such children,'" he quipped as a photo of himself as a cocksure prepubescent appeared on the screen.
A much younger Maher.(Real Time with Bill Maher/YouTube)
But, enough about him. He was on the show to discuss an important topic about educators' salaries.
Maher noticed a post from Elizabeth Milich, a second grade school teacher from Arizona, who shared a photo of her paycheck stub that went viral "probably because she's one of the people we trust to care for and educate our children. And she makes $320 a week."
He commented how we're prone to coddling our children and expressing how much we care for them, but we fail to give teachers their due.
"There is a revolt brewing in the teachers lounge these days in schools all across this country, and it's long overdue. Time's up, pencils down," he said, talking about teachers across the country protesting for increased public school funding.
Teachers are tired of being told of what (former GOP vice presidential candidate) Sarah Palin once said of a teacher, that 'her reward is in Heaven.' Maybe, but the rent is due here on Earth.
In her post, Milich wrote, "I buy every roll of tape I use, every paper clip I use, every Sharpie I grade with, every snack I feed kids who don't have them..."
Elizabeth Milich pays for her own school supplies.(Real Time with Bill Maher/YouTube)
"How do people, even the burdened tax payer, justify this?" Maher asked. "We were all kids once."
He mentioned school teachers in West Virginia started the protests asking for a meager 5% salary increase. The host added the pay raise wasn't much, "but it helps when you have to pay for your own paper, your own pencils. And now, your own bullets."
Here's an idea, don't give the teachers guns. Give them a living wage.
After joking about disliking babies and wanting to refrain from holding your "Roswell alien," Maher admitted, "As much as I can't stand to be around them, I would rather American children be well educated, productive, contributing citizens as opposed to what they otherwise might become: useless burdens on society."
And the image of Eric and Donald Trump Jr. materialized as a prime example.
"Useless burdens on society."(Real Time with Bill Maher/YouTube)
Viewers responded favorably to Maher's segment focusing on teachers.
Retired teachers expressed their gratitude for the Real Time segment.
H/T - YouTube, HuffingtonPost