Countdown with Keith Olbermann

EPISODE 115: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) It's kind of a drag: The Republican Party has persecuted, vilified, targeted, and endangered every drag performer (and any of the rest of us who have refused to join them in their smears) by branding them 'Groomers' has been twisting itself in knots for a month all to protect a new New York Congressman who has been identified by a Brazilian Drag Star as a fellow Drag Artist.

Just when we thought "George Santos" had run out of new names, he got his best yet: Kitara Ravache. And there's a photo. And there's apparently a new VIDEO. And this is all that's left to Kevin McCarthy: throw Kitara overboard and risk a smaller House majority, or stick with him and spend the rest of the next two years answering questions about SANTOS'S DRESS SELECTION AND ABILITY TO ACCESSORIZE.

It's. Perfect.

Plus: the only Republican who's lied more than Santos does it again. Trump inadvertently gives the DOJ evidence of his intent to steal classified folders. And under oath in the E. Jean Carroll rape lawsuit he is asked who's the woman in the photo with him. He answers "that's my wife Marla Maples." It's not. It's... E. Jean Carroll.

Could've been worse. Could've been Kitara Ravache.

B-BLOCK (16:24) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: "Critical Boy" in Texas. (17:50) IN SPORTS: The National Hockey League destroys its own "Pride Night" in Philadelphia, choosing to defend not the LGBTQ community it pretended to celebrate, but the bigoted player who hid behind his religion that endorsed Russia's attack on Ukraine because Ukraine has Pride Parades. It's a disaster. (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Compromises in exchange for debates, Boris Johnson's new book, and a Tesla engineer says there's a problem with the 2016 "Tesla X Drives Itself" video. He says: it's fake.

C-BLOCK (29:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Republican Primary Debate Chairman David Bossie - THAT David Bossie - says he's willing to put some debates on CNN and/or NBC. Do you know how much CNN and/or NBC had to prostitute themselves just to get this far? I do, from personal experience. Because in 2008, the Republicans' debate price to NBC was: "Fire Olbermann."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 114: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: May George Santos burn in hell, and the sooner the better. A homeless disabled Navy veteran tells the Oyster Bay NY "Patch" news site that Santos told him he would raise the $3,000 needed for life-saving surgery for the vet's Service Dog, Sapphire. And Santos raised it. And Santos kept it. And Sapphire died.

It boils down to this: George Santos as good as killed a dog, for money.

And today, a political prostitute named Kevin McCarthy will lecture this country about the will of the voters, and refuse to call for Santos merely to resign from Congress, and will insist "I try to stick by the Constitution" solely because McCarthy needs Santos's vote to keep his sorry ass in the Speaker's chair. And I tell people that once, maybe Republicans were just as soulless and evil as they are today, but they used to have a fear of getting caught doing and being it, and so they would refuse to enable wretched, disgusting sociopaths like George Santos. And now the fear is gone, and so with it is any claim of either morality or humanity in that party. Because as amoral as McCarthy is, he was not alone in turning away from the story of Sapphire and god knows how many other Santos stories like it, and giving him seats on the House Small Business and Science Committees. Steve Scalise is guilty, too. And Tom Emmer. And Elise Stefanik. And Mike Johnson. And Gary Palmer. And Richard Hudson. And the rest of the Republican "leadership" in the House.

And today not one reporter will ask any of them, the question: "How can you defend your man George Santos? He ran a fake pet charity and by proxy killed a disabled veteran's service dog so he could take the money from the GoFundMe. How can you defend him? How can you NOT spit in his face?"

B-Block (23:41) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Ravioli (24:41) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Madison Square Garden's face and facial recognition device attacked by all of New York's politicians; what's that on Kyrsten Sinema's shoulder, and hey, Ted Cruz, why didn't you wager some incest porn? (29:58) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: First came the ten hours in a blizzard in a car that had just had its snow tires removed by George's father because after all it was April and it NEVER snows in April. But then, after the trial-by-snow, there was... The Adler Letter.

C-Block (44:32) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, PART 2: The Adler Letter, written by the-then News Director of WCBS Radio in New York, Lou Adler, changed my life. Nearly 44 years later it still hangs in a place of honor on my wall, and 37 years later I got to repay his kindness and support.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 113: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Now that George Santos has been tied financially to the cousin of a sanctioned Russian Oil Oligarch, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy has confirmed he won't move to oust him, the Democrats have to run with the gift the Republicans have given them. Whatever the issue, whatever the question, whatever the talking points, every Democrat, every time, must answer: "George Santos." GOP tries to blame Biden for the looming debt ceiling crisis? "You sound like George Santos!" McCarthy asks about the documents? "Why isn't the Speaker as angry at George Santos?" CNN writes another Bothsidesist article about documents? "Why isn't CNN probing George Santos and the Russian Oligarch?" Everybody insists nobody needs to investigates his ex-girlfriend's allegations of violence against Rep. James Comer? "Speaker McCarthy? In Comer, are you worried you've got another George Santos on your hands?"

B-Block (16:33) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Waffles (17:31) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: If she's secretly governor why would she run for Governor? And what do the Biden documents make Ronny Jackson think of? Drugs and hookers! Of course EVERYTHING makes Ronny think of drugs and hookers. (19:36) IN SPORTS: The LIV Golf tournament, formally tied to Prince MBS and Trump; why would baseball expand, especially to Nashville? And 1962 Met Frank Thomas dies, and leaves a troubling legacy on race and teammates and Dick Allen. (26:32) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jordan Peterson runs a climate change denial chart that ends in 1885; Germany needs a new Defense Minister (to say nothing of 5000 new helmets), and Tucker Carlson needs you to explain candy to him.

C-Block (31:02) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: CNN's Chris Licht reportedly wants to hire a comedian to do a nightly newscast you can laugh at (intentionally, this time). He and others at Clicks Not News think this is a great, brand new idea. In fact, it's a lousy old one. It was first proposed at CNN...in 2001! I know: I was in the room. And it was THE SAME COMEDIAN!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 112: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Garland has to go - and NOT because he appointed a Special Counsel; that'll probably work to Biden's advantage. We have to have somebody there to protect the Trump Investigation and Merrick Garland has again shown he's not smart enough to be trusted with doing it.

Garland has to go because of a question nobody's asking: Who illegally leaked this confidential investigation to CBS News? How could it leak barely four days after the internal recommendation to name a Counsel? How could Garland have handed this case requiring ultimate secrecy to a Trump appointee? How could he NOW hand the case over to a DIFFERENT Trump appointee who used to clerk for Justice Rehnquist and has his own page as a "contributing expert" to The Federalist Society? We've all long had reasons to question Merrick Garland's intelligence and savviness, but these are the last straws. He's just no damn good at this, and right now we have no margin for error for a guy whose Department of Justice is a sieve, and doesn't understand the realities of the Trump cult.

B-Block (16:48) SPECIAL COMMENT No. 2: This is the third time I have suggested Garland must either act or resign. In September, as Trump tried to block the Mar-a-Lago investigation via the "Special Master" there was a way around the stall for Garland. And he just sat back and did nothing.

C-Block (25:30) SPECIAL COMMENT No. 3: And in October, Garland seemed to willfully ignore that week-long orgy of Trump's boastful confessions about the documents he stole. (40:45) It's so bad that there's even a James Thurber fable, the moral of which is the story of Merrick Garland. It's called "The Bear Who Let It Alone."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 111: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Washington Post's huge scoop. The Justice of Department is now investigating whether Trump or his minions paid for the attorneys of witnesses in the Special Counsel's investigation and to the Grand Jury. It's the Cassidy Hutchinson question and it's critical to proving perjury, suborning of perjury and obstruction of justice. DOJ is subpoenaing witnesses' retainers with their attorneys. For the second time in three nights the breadth of Jack Smith's investigation has widened. Did you see it on CNN? Are the Post and the Times pushing it? They are not, because they have the "new" Biden story: NBC has one source saying somewhere (their source doesn't know where) somebody (their source doesn't know who) found something (their source doesn't know what). And another stampede reminiscent of the Clinton-Lewinsky "Anything Is News" mindset of 1998 is underway. The knives are out for Joe Biden, and CNN's goal is obvious: it will participate in the cover-up of the crimes as Donald Trump. It's so bad CNN actually brought Maga Maggie Haberman in to "analyze" the Biden sliver and she actually said "We don't know the details, BUT..."

Oh by the way, on the same day it broke its "story," NBC News... fired its president.

B-Block (19:44) SPECIAL COMMENT 2: I really think we have forgotten how serious the allegations are against Trump. Donald Rumsfeld's onetime speechwriter wrote "If Trump's classified document mishandling was 'irresponsible' so is Biden's." Well, no, it wasn't 'irresponsible.' Trump's classified document mishandling was 'when Ethel Rosenberg did the same damn thing in the 1950's we executed her.' Let's really play the CNN Whataboutism game. Here's what I reported on August 9, 2022.

C-Block (36:10) SPECIAL COMMENT 3: Oh and lookee here: this is from September 8, 2022, when we first realized that Trump had stolen nuclear documents outlining what nukes another nation did and didn't have. Not only did this espionage and kleptomania hit home, but three months and four days ago I actually said here that sooner or later, CNN would join the cover-up of Trump's crimes. Point to moi.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It is amazing but true: the coverage of the Biden document story by Fox News has been more restrained and responsible than has CNN’s. The desperate attempt to position the Think Tank Papers story  as one that - in the words of a CNN commentator - "almost exonerates" Trump, continued last night. The raw numbers are startling: between 5 and 11 PM ET Monday, MSNBC gave the story 14 minutes, Fox News gave it 29 minutes, and CNN gave it 107 MINUTES. Three and a half times as much as Fox! And the worst perpetrator of CNN’s willingness to literally lie to its viewers has been Anderson Cooper. The first words out of his mouth last night were how quote “President Biden’s first public statement on the classified documents uncovered at his former private office” were 'breaking news.' I suggested in real time that if Cooper had any remaining self-respect he would quit before his program was over. He didn't. He doesn't.

There is much more than money to what CNN's new fascist troika - Chris Licht, David Zaslav, and John Malone - is doing. This is the Clinton-Lewinsky night-after-night brainwash play: convince America that if Biden is not guilty, Trump is not guilty. And having sold their souls, they will keep pushing this as long as we don't stop them.

B-Block (18:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Poor Mike Pompeo couldn't get anybody to blurb his book so he had to do it himself. He competes with a climate denier who insists if we reinstate wind power we will automatically reinstate The Atlantic Slave Trade, and the nimrods like Tomi Lahren who complained that Ukraine's president went to Hollywood for the Golden Globes last night - even though he didn't. (23:58) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL No. 1: The perfidy of using cable news to brainwash didn't start with Chris Licht. I was there the day the Chairman of GE was ready to shut down MSNBC because his Mommy the Bill O'Reilly fan believed her son was building IEDs to kill America because Fox told her so.

C-Block (41:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL No. 2: My first experience with the ad salesmen who pretend to be cable's journalistic decision-makers came even before my first MSNBC show in 1997. That's when the big meeting with the man Microsoft thought shared editorial control of MSNBC was to meet with me, and NBC's execs were worried about only one thing: how effectively I ignored him.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 109: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: We're really doing "But Hillary's Emails" again, huh, CNN? Huh, NBC? Huh, CBS? Huh, New York Times? Huh, Washington Post? THE HELL WE ARE. CBS's website broke the story accurately ("Documents MARKED classified...found at Biden's think tank") and then Norah O'Donnell dropped the caveats and mitigations and tarted the story up. The Post bothsidesed and whataboutismed the Biden story, invoking Trump in the subhead. The Times comped Trump in Paragraph 5. And worst of all, an hour after CNN broke a genuinely important story: Special Counsel Jack Smith subpoenaing Rudy Giuliani in the Trump Post-Election "Save America PAC" Fundraising crimes, what did Anderson Cooper lead with? His network's own, important, resonating scoop? Nope. The Paste Eaters of CNN buried their own scoop - six nights before their Giuliani Documentary Series starts, too! - so television's longest-running failed marketing experience Anderson Cooper could alter the facts and mislead the nation by saying "Turns out the former president is not the only one with a classified documents problem. The CURRENT president has one as well." Sure, Coop. If a Swiss Army knife is the same as Jack The Ripper's Murder Weapon.

Fire. Them. All.

B-Block (20:02) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL PART 1: That "bronchial thing" turned out to be a sinus infection, but happily in September I brought you the career story that fits perfectly this descent into "But Her Emails 2". I would've just re-read it anyway: It was June 5, 1998, when I tried to quit as the anchor of MSNBC's top Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr show and two NBC News executives asked me to see an NBC official as part of a process to leave the network - except she turned out to be their leg-breaker and told me NBC versus me would be "David and Goliath" and NBC would crush me.

C BLOCK (33:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL PART 2: But it was even worse: she promised that if I quit, NBC would put my parents "out on the street." That's how closely Ken Starr forged the link between his live made-for-tv political reality show and the profits at all the networks.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 108: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Rules Package the new Speaker of the House/Hostage Kevin McCarthy will present today will include a subcommittee with which Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz insist they can investigate ANYTHING the Justice Department does, including active criminal investigations. What these toads don't know is that they're not the first half-baked fascists to try this, and something called The Linder Letter will protect DOJ from testifying, supplying evidence, or prosecuting anybody for contempt of Congress for ignoring the Gaetz-McCarthy masturbatory star chamber. Trump can't escape justice - not this way. Though the Holman Rule, which in theory could allow the House to zero out the salary of anybody in government, is a little more of challenge, there's a way to work around that, too. So as you hear the Taliban 20 and their puppet McCarthy emit dire threats today, have a good laugh.

B-Block (15:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Waffles in Shreveport. (16:52) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Deport Bolsonaro back to Brasil? Why? Deport Bannon and Jason Miller to Brasil - DETAIN Bolsonaro here. And, just when you thought Matt Schlapp had lost his grip. (19:23) IN SPORTS: Now we have to worry about the popular baseball pitcher Liam Hendriks. (21:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: How to delete an offensive tweet and get others to disseminate it for you, by a Florida MAGA Congressmen, plus the National Hockey League has an idea for its All-Star Skills Competition: ALLIGATORS.

C-Block (25:49) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Two happy anniversaries, within days of each other. How I helped to launch ESPN Radio, and then days later while traveling FOR the new network, happened to meet the lovely, delightful, gifted actress - the late Elizabeth Montgomery.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 107: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) Kevin "Oceans 11" McCarthy is overshadowed by The Daily Beast report that CPAC lynchpin and MAGA Caucus inspiration Matt Schapp has been accused of "sustained and unwanted and unsolicited" sexual groping by a man working for Herschel Walker's Senate campaign. The Schlapp story overshadowed what should've been the real headline: Congressman Don Bacon floated, on Fox News no less, a plan to offer the Democrats improved committee ratios and other procedural (but not insignificant) goodies in exchange for support for McCarthy because the GOP is going to have to be bipartisan to get anything done and it might as well start now. (6:00) But at least half a dozen other Republicans stepped on rakes. One of them led to the House breaking out in chants of "Ha-keem Ha-keem" and another is as remarkable a diatribe as I've ever heard in politics. (9:30) I don't put much stock in Ali Alexander, but he accused Marjorie Taylor Greene of an unspecified crime in Georgia and went deeply misogynistic to insult her. Get your popcorn.

B-Block (14:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Zsa Zsa in Georgia (15:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The January 6 Presidential Citizen Medals vie for news space with a wrongful death suit against Trump, a sexual harassment suit against Rudy, and Prince Harry's Frozen Junk (19:00) IN SPORTS: You can use the word miracle: Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin is moving his limbs and asking for scoreboard updates, and Alex Rodriguez may have gotten caught shoveling about shoveling (21:07) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Conservatives blast Hannity, Bothsidesism in the House, and Joe Rogan is the dumbest guy on the planet. Again. Still. Forever.

C-Block (26:47) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Sunday would've been Elvis Presley's birthday so it's time to play it again: not only did I - at age 18 - actually do a radio commercial for an Elvis Presley Concert that he never lived to see, but the tape of it still exists!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 106: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECAL COMMENT: OK, you guys. I got it. I got the solution to the Republican debacle over the endless Sisyphean votes for Speaker of the House. BEFORE Congress convenes at Noon, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries walks into Kevin McCarthy's office and says "Kevin! Do you WANT to be Speaker? Do you REALLY want to Speaker? I can MAKE you Speaker. Right now." And he hands him a small index card which reads "212 DEMOCRATIC VOTES" and then he says...

B-Block (15:23) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The Mt. Vernon, New York, shelter is closing. We need to save its dogs and cats by the end of the month. (16:22) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: FBI tries to goose the 1/5-1/6 Pipe Bomber investigation and hey, Trump, guess who's back in town? (18:11) IN SPORTS: The Red Sox do SOMETHING, will anybody get in the Hall of Fame, and meet Marcel Marcel (21:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Roll Call introduces the political equivalent of baseball metrics (and will regret it for the rest of time), Kari Lake goes nuttier, and MSNBC whores itself out - again.

C-Block (27:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: He was the most famous newscaster in Los Angeles from 1960 through 2002 and he had the most famous sign-on catchphrase and everybody in Southern California knew it by heart - except for the night HE FORGOT IT.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 105: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Taliban Caucus lights the Republican Party and the House of Representatives on fire, while on his first day, the New Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries perfectly whips his members to do literally do nothing more than bring their popcorn and watch everybody from Gaetz to McCarthy burn, baby, burn. It was a beautiful thing, and it left the full range of fascists from Tucker Carlson to Rep. Byron Donalds having to cobble together the nonsensical sophistry that their self-defenestration was actually democracy in action. If Jeffries can manage to keep the Democrats from reverting to their natural desire to do ill-timed good on behalf of the institution rather than let the Republicans shoot themselves again today, he will have won the 118th Congress no matter which Liz Truss the GOP eventually settles on in place of the wounded McCarthy.

B-Block (15:15) SPECIAL COMMENT No. 2: There is the tragedy of Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills, and then there is the disgusting reality that the National Football League is now trying to gaslight us. OF COURSE the league intended to resume Monday night's game even after the stricken player fell. And now the NFL has lied about it and sleazily blamed Joe Buck, Suzy Kolber and all of ESPN, to cover up its own insensitivity and callousness. This is, of course, the history of the NFL, which did the wrong thing after JFK was assassinated, and after Mayor George Moscone and Councilman Harvey Milk were assassinated hours before a Monday Night Football game in San Francisco, and after it was told flights could not be guaranteed to get its players and media to games the weekend after 9/11. But this lie makes the Hamlin nightmare even worse - as does the rank exploitation of it by the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, who spit on the memories of Chuck Hughes and J.V. Cain and Hank Gathers and so many athletes who died on the field, from cardiac distress. (30:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump and Michael Flynn are no match for Congressman-Elect George Santos.

C-Block (36:09) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In 1973, Charles Crawford was interviewing me for his TV news story from one of the earliest baseball card shows. In 1983, he was sitting next to me on the anchor desk at CNN. He introduced himself and I said "we've met before." His reaction when I told him how and when is worth your time.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 104: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) Of course, in the spirit of the candidate, and the entire Republican Party, when I say "I know who the secret candidate for speaker is," I might be lying. I am, however, telling the truth about the inevitability of the farce that must result if you run endless Political Purity Tests and try to use The Universal Solvent as a political tool. (6:20) Also ruining the Republicans' day, the George Santos saga. More lies - about Covid and Brain Tumors - and the Brazilians reviving their prosecution of Santos for fraud. (7:39) And were that not enough to spoil the coronation or schlock-blocking of McCarthy, there are the final Farewell Gifts from The House January 6th Committee, from Steve Bannon's plan for a January 21st Coup to Hope Hicks' breathless worry about her resume leading to the rhetorical question "Whaddya mean, NOW?"

B-Block (15:30) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Polo in New York (17:11) IN SPORTS: The health of Martina Navratilova, the self-defeating success of Outdoor Hockey games, Jim Harbaugh's latest NFL dalliance and the day I operated on his knee, and how in the hell was Trump claiming a 2015 tax deduction for a football team he bankrupted in 1985? (21:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: two New York politicos, one blocking measures to save shelter dogs, the other resigning for Election Fraud (guess his party?) compete with Sean Spicer who can't spell, Period.

C-Block (26:57) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Next Monday it'll be exactly 40 years since I looked out my apartment window just before bed, and looked down to the street and got a big surprise. The saga of Keith and the Molotov Cocktail.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 103: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:55) BARBARA WALTERS: IN MEMORIAM. Since her death Friday, there has been one story after another about Barbara Walters the groundbreaker and Barbara Walters the feminist and Barbara Walters the interviewer and Barbara Walters the role model and each of these accolades is more than justified. But I'm not seeing enough about Barbara Walters, the person with a large soul who survived as huge a disaster as ever befell the career of anybody in television, who fought her way back from punchline to immortal, and who thanked everybody who protected her, and tried to protect everybody - women and men alike - who might be facing any of the attacks she fought off in the years following 1976. As she wrote me once: "I'm not as tough as I pretend to be and the support means the world to me. I cannot thank you enough."

B-Block (16:40) SPECIAL COMMENT: Chief Justice Roberts reinforced his reputation as the human embodiment of the "This Is Fine" dog in the burning room meme. Did his year end message on the judiciary for New Year's 2023 address Samuel Alito's insults towards this country? The revelation that he discussed Hobby Lobby with one of the theocrats before ruling? The madness of Ginni Thomas trying to overthrow the government? The Court throwing away its remaining credibility? No. He knows who the real victims here: The Justices.

C-Block (26:15) SPECIAL COMMENT: Roberts, of course, is nothing compared to Sam Alito. Where is Alito's reply to The New York Times report about his leak to Hobby Lobby? Where is the Court's reply to the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate demanding answers about it? Alito is a clear and present danger to this country.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 102: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT No. 1: George Santos is the Brian Williams of politics. I joked last week "If that IS your real name." Now there's question as to whether or not it is. And about where he went to HIGH SCHOOL. And the time he claimed he was black. And about how he could get Kevin McCarthy elected speaker - and get him fired later. As the Feds begin to follow his equally dubious campaign money, I repeat my plea to Democrats: don't try to keep him from being seated by the House of Representatives next Tuesday. After it dawned on me that the comp for Santos is my unfortunate former friend Brian Williams, it also dawned on me that there might still be a way for Santos to worm his way out of it. And that's also reflected in the saga of the George Santos of 1954: Congressman Douglas Stringfellow of Arizona.

B-Block (18:36) SPECIAL COMMENT No. 2: There is method to the January 6th Committee's madness of waiting until the Christmas-New Year's Break to release its final report and these fascinating deposition transcripts. I think they did it to shield the recommendation to invoke the Insurrection Clause of the 14th Amendment. As a bonus yesterday we got testimony that Kim Guilfoyle is an idiot, and that Melania Trump lived in mortal fear of being seen in her robe by Rudy Giuliani.

B-Block (33:51) IN SPORTS: The death of Pele, an analysis of the athletic gifts that made him his game's greatest ever, and his surprising legacy in New York and the United States. (37:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bad reporting at The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Politico is no match for - as Scottish tweeter Al Kennedy wrote - "I have to hand it to Andrew Tate, this is the first time I've seen someone be so outwitted by a teenager that they end up in jail without it involving a dog that solves fake ghost mysteries."

C-Block (43:21) FRIDAYS WITH JAMES THURBER: His most reprinted story: "The Night The Bed Fell."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 101: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Be as righteously indignant as you want, Democrats. But do NOT attempt to block the seating of George "If That Is Your Real Name" Santos. No matter which way Kevin McCarthy turns, Santos will be his undoing, so just shut up and invest in popcorn. As a Republican District Attorney opens a probe of his campaign and his cornucopia of lies, Santos is still doubling down and dismissing as "nitpicking" those recoiling at his lies about his religion, family, the Holocaust, the Pulse Nightclub, 9/11, his finances, jobs, education, time spent in Brazil, time spent in Russia, possible criminal records, buildings he does or doesn't own, and lies about a DOG RESCUE. This is not a man even approaching the building that contains the hallway that leads to step one of the 12-Step Program for compulsive liars. It's so bad one Republican ex-Congressman is openly hoping they can seat Santos, then talk him into voting for McCarthy for Speaker, and only then resigning!

B-Block (19:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Maltipoo Honey in New York (20:53) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I'm running for CEO of Twitter, the health of Jamie Raskin, the Bill Cosby Comeback-And-Spiked-Drink Tour (22:54) IN SPORTS: The Raiduhs Quarterback must go down and he must go down hard (24:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The New York Times can't stop itself: now it's hyping books written by three correspondents who held news back from The Times in order to get book deals. Plus Elon Musk, and Mayor Eric Adams endorsing turning New York over to "Big Brother."

C-Block (29:12) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Because I found the cassette recently, please enjoy the first professional sportscast I ever did, on July 10, 1979, plus sportscasts from Disco Demolition Night and the retirement of Catfish Hunter. Or don't. I won't hold it against you if you don't listen to 43-year old sportscasts!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 100 REVISED: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:53) BREAKING OVERNIGHT NEWS IN SPORTS: 24 hours ago Carlos Correa was on his way to a press conference for a $350 Million dollar deal with the San Francisco Giants. Then the shindig was cancelled and now Correa has instead signed with the New York Mets! Invoking the college basketball coached who changed his mind on the way to HIS press conference. And sadness in football as Franco Harris died, two days before the 50th Anniversary of the "Immaculate Reception" and three before the Steelers were to retire his uniform.

SPECIAL COMMENT (7:17) Merry Christmas! We got you six years of Trump's Tax Returns! No accounting expertise? No problem. There are apparently no receipts, no substantiations - and somebody stopped the IRS from its mandated audit of Trump's returns while he was in the Oval Office (9:00 The walls haven't just closed in on Trump, they've crushed him. The 1/6 Committee is now shipping all its evidence to DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith (10:52) Remember the attorney who told the Trump witness not to tell everything to the Committee? She's been identified - and her lawyer was the Trump White House Ethics Attorney! (10:45) Bigger picture: The Omnibus Spending Bill will include "The Electoral Count Reform And Presidential Transition Improvement Act," or as it has also been described: Trump-Proofing Our System (14:00) And the right wingers are beginning to look for the Emergency Exit. They can't survive an actual Trump Trial, so they are floating "The Agnew Option" (16:00) But couldn't Trump then transfer his cult to some up and coming young Republican like Representative-Elect George Santos and his helpers? I will not make Simpsons references I will not make Simpsons references I will not make Simpsons references. (17:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: He really thought the name was "John Mastodon;" the owner of the Knicks, Rangers and Radio City owner is using facial recognition technology to keep out people he doesn't like, and Sean Hannity says you're not allowed to have his phone number (23:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Grizzly in California.

B-Block (25:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Amid dark rumors at MSNBC, the day that GE was ready to shut us down because the chairman's mother loved Fox News.

C-Block (44:00) JAMES THURBER: Maybe the best of his longer works, that almost predicted Joe McCarthy, O.J. Simpson, Donald Trump. The saga of fame without character, "The Greatest Man In The World."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 99: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: The House 1/6 Committee's criminal referrals of Trump are historic and headline-grabbing but they are symbols. The testimony and newly-released text of Hope Hicks, the ubiquity of the obscure Ken Klukowski in at least three tentacles of the coup plot, and the introduction of a whole new line of Obstruction of Justice are the real keys. Because not only are they the evidence the Department of Justice can use, but they also give us the shape of things to come: what the trial of Donald Trump will look like. And he says "what does not kill me makes me stronger"? OK, fella. Deal.

B-Block (16:36) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Buddy (18:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: It's not just that the Republicans elected a Congressman in New York whose entire resume is a lie, it's that the lazy, sloppy New York Democrats only found out about it when they read it in The New York Times (23:35) IN SPORTS: No, the NBA is not expanding to Mexico City now, any more than it was expanding there in 1992. And baseball mourns the pitcher who walked out on a World Series game because the baby was on the way - and the team had the play-by-play announcers try to beckon him back.

C-Block (32:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: How is this possible? Probably the two most prominent blackmail stories of this century - and I once worked alongside the blackmailer in the first case, and I once worked alongside the blackmailee in the other!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 98: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: As Elon Musk votes himself off Twitter Island, the shocking news from The Washington Post: though the two things were unconnected and Musk irresponsibly blamed reporters and the Elon-Jet kid for something that none of us caused or even influenced and had happened two days EARLIER, the mother of two of his children, the singer Grimes HAS an alleged stalker and there was a confrontation last Tuesday. It wasn't our fault and incredibly Musk tried to argue the Elon-Jet kid down from $50,000 to $5,000 for his help. But as somebody who was himself stalked - for FIVE years - IN Los Angeles - by a woman who had the same kind of delusion about 'secret coded messages' from me that Grimes' alleged stalker claims about her, I feel nothing but empathy for Grimes and the kids and - even though Musk tried to humiliate me, mocked my efforts to save death row dogs, and literally told 120 million followers that I had committed a crime, I have empathy for him and would've helped if asked. WHY DIDN'T HE TELL US FIRST, OR EVEN EXPLAIN, INSTEAD OF SUSPEND, THREATEN, AND BULLY?

B-Block (22:51) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Violet in New York POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Criminal Referrals are coming; why Kari Lake must be arrested; Kyrsten Sinema to finance Independent Senate run by selling her old shoes IN SPORTS: Oh great, you decide the soccer championship of the world by a shooting competition. What a pathetic conclusion to a great tournament. The guy who caught Aaron Judge's homer auctions it for half what he would've gotten a month ago. THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Larry Elder invokes Mao, Musk, and Hitler, Marjorie Taylor Greene is back with a second reference to the sex toys for sale, and Chris Licht strikes back at me - and misses.

C-Block (37:11) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: You have to admit, if you want to listen to somebody who's an expert on getting suspended - from Twitter or anybody else - I'M YOUR GUY. Where my top three suspensions rank (and the Twitter one doesn't make the cut). The sagas of MSNBC 2010, ESPN 1997, and UPI 1980.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 97: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: So you probably haven't heard anything about this (LOL) but last night Elon Musk reenacted the church scene from "The Godfather" where Al Pacino as Michael Corleone has all his rivals murdered while his own son is being baptized. I was almost incidental in this: on November 6th, Musk wrote "My commitment to free speech extends to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk." Five weeks later Elon Musk-leone banned the account and threatened legal action against the kid, called it "Assassination Coordinates," even though the information is legally and publicly available and as Phil Bump of The Washington Post writes "identifying the location of an airplane provides 'assassination coordinates' to, like, the operator of a Patriot missile battery." Journalists like Aaron Rupar, Ryan Mac, Donie O'Sullivan from CNN, Drew Harwell of The Post, Matt Binder, Micah Lee, Tony Webster, Steve Herman from the Voice of America - and me - who defended the account, or mentioned a new account had begun on Twitter's rival Mastodon, or linked to it - were immediately banned, permanently, without explanation or notification. I"ll give you the full saga of Apartheid Clyde here, but what a friggin candy-ass lying hypocritical self-contradicting little paranoid snowflake Elon Musk is!

B-Block (20:57) SPECIAL COMMENT: I swear I wondered if maybe Musk did this anti-free speech crap just to make everybody forget about Trump's ridiculous "SuperHero Digital Baseball Cards" which show such illustrations as liquid pouring out of the seat of his pants, him standing in front of something called "RUMP TOWEL," and him standing dressed as a cowboy and way in the background it sure looks like two horses are having sex.

C-Block (27:27) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His classic story "The Catbird Seat."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 96: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) Do you have a dog? Seems like a simple question. Until you're reminded that Donald Trump never had a dog in his life and only refers to dogs as insults, while Joe Biden got a shelter shepherd who apparently had the insight to bite somebody from the corrupted Secret Service. I'm a late-life dog guy and there's no zealot like a convert, so let me tell you about two of my five pups. The first - was my first. The story of how I was adopted by my gal Stevie is the stuff of improbability, including the role played in it by... Rudy Giuliani?

B-Block (14:03) Stevie's story led me to the American Maltese Association's rescue arm and soon she and her sister were joined by a little guy with a bad heart, who recovered after delicate surgery. (28:42) And then last year I was asked to take in another pup named Mishu whose heart was even worse and for whom there was no surgery to have.

C-Block (37:00) Mishu's story ended in the only way it could. And every moment was worth it. And every moment, he remains with me.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 95: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: You'll be happy to know that Kevin McCarthy, whose only gift is making up excuses for the violent, insane, anti-democracy, murderous, treacherous, traitorous, seditious mob otherwise known as "The Republican Party," has reassured us that when Marjorie Taylor Greene said SHE would've "won" the January 6th Coup, she was just being "facetious." (2:11) So now, what rationalization will he come up with Rep. Ralph Norman and his text of 1/17/21 urging that Trump get busy "invoking Marshall (sic) Law!?" There's quite a few of these McCarthy needs to excuse: the Republicans who want to hang Democrats, who want to hang them from cranes, or put them before firing squads. What words might he choose? (7:05) And how would he describe what Trailer Park Greene asked Laura Loomer to find out about McCarthy's own "affairs"? (8:19) And what word would we use if McCarthy grew a pair and acted to expel Marjorie Taylor Greene under the Rebellion Clause of the 14th Amendment?

B-Block (11:55) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Zenith in New York (13:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senate progress to close the coup loophole? Commutations in Oregon. And the Drag Show Must Go On. (14:46) IN SPORTS: The NBA does an odd job in suddenly naming all its awards after its greatest players. How is a guy who played in nine finals and lost eight of them, to be the face of the "Clutch" Award? And this raises the question of re-naming hockey awards. If the people for whom they are named are not worthy, you should find new faces, yes? That means the racist Conn Smythe. Does it also mean the colonialist anti-native Lord Stanley? (19:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Brittney Griner's situation is original but not unique as The Wall Street Journal claims; many ex-prisoner athletes have played again - including one who played in the country that imprisoned him! Plus Rudy Giuliani changes the Hunter Biden laptop story AGAIN. But can they compete with Elon "I Might Be Elizabeth Holmes Only With A Higher Voice" Musk and his new scheme to cut costs by not paying his debts.

C-Block (24:42) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I went past my first New York Apartment the other day. It was a great place for $483 a month. Until that night I noticed that the light peeking in around my shades was way too bright because somebody had thrown a Molotov Cocktail into our lobby!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 94: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) Trump and Musk (and it would've been Marjorie Taylor Greene, too, but she screwed it up) are working simultaneously and perhaps in some coordinated form to portray Trump's 1/6 Coup as a "false flag" operation run by Democrats. (4:05) Trump pitched this in an interview yesterday, because it's obvious public opinion will change significantly once the 1/6 Committee issues its report and probably criminal referrals (6:05) As to Greene, she was supposed to make the same claim, but instead inadvertently disproved the whole thing by invoking Guns and the 2nd Amendment in her speech Saturday (9:26) Musk's "Twitter Files" failure has clearly been leading up to the latest claim: that Twitter violated its rules by "illegally de-platformed" Trump (when obviously Federal Laws against sedition and the violent overthrow of the government make your little Twitter rules unnecessary). This all taps into Musk's urgent need to be worshiped on a site that has so far cost him his status as the richest man in the world and forced him to fabricate excuses for why he got booed during a walk-on at Dave Chappelle's show Sunday. Until there's a more complicated explanation, Musk's need of Trump's approval is pretty simple: he's just another rich guy, terrified it will all go away as fast as it arrived, and Trump represents the type of government that will always protect Money.

B-Block (18:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Hershey, in Oregon (19:02) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: No SPF for SBF; TPM buries Rep. Scott Perry and Rep. Andy Biggs; No press conference for Putin. (22:09) IN SPORTS: Grant Wahl comes home, baseball continues to shuffle stars, and why would you pay $63 million for a pitcher whose whole thing is delaying and waiting and pausing, if they're instituting a 20-second pitch clock next year? (25:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Rush Limbaugh cosplayer says supporting vaccine mandates makes you the equivalent of a Slave owner; A Michigan GOP official threatens to shut down a library "by force" and Senator-Elect Vance moves to ban porn. This presumably puts him up against Ted Cruz in a head-to-head battle, as it were.

C-Block (30:31) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: No, I haven't been fired as many times as you've been told. But yes, after years of rumors, it turns out to be true: I WAS fired - personally - by Rupert Murdoch!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 93: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (2:02) SPECIAL COMMENT 1: The attack on power stations that blacked out Moore County, North Carolina turns out to be just one of THIRTEEN attacks on the softest targets of our power grid, in Florida, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington State - just since September. What's going on about this domestic terrorism that could leave the entire nation without power, and what are we doing about it? (9:15) SPECIAL COMENT 2: You might be mystified by Kyrsten Sinema's declaration she's suddenly an "Independent" - as somebody who's known her, I am not (11:00) This is her only chance at staying in politics: Convince the Democrats that as a third-party candidate she can steal away at least 6% of the vote from the Democratic nominee for Senate in Arizona in 2024 so they need to clear the field for her. It's nonsensical, but then again, so is she. (14:46) The obvious explanation is the corporate money poured into her campaigns (and her life) but I keep wondering how such a genuinely progressive person could have destroyed herself so quickly. And each time it hits me anew: she's messianic but she's also messy and if I'm not the only one to whom she revealed details of her unconventional personal life, perhaps she's been blackmailed.

B-Block (18:49) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Benji in New York; (19:52) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Trump confesses: he turned down a Russian offer to send American Marine Paul Whelan back in a prisoner swap; Will we learn tomorrow that there's been a breakthrough in nuclear fusion?; Will Dr. Fauci sue Elon Musk and has The New York Times figured out what Q-Elon's politics are yet? And Marjorie Taylor Greene says if she'd planned it, January 6th would've succeeded, then lies about there being no guns involved, then switches to topics she can comprehend: "a butt plug or a dildo." 25:55 IN SPORTS: Another journalist dies at the World Cup; In a new interview Grant Wahl's brother is still "legitimately suspicious;" Britney Griner hits the court; and 51 years later, in defense of the Mets trading Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi; (31:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Chuck Todd vies with Kyle Rittenhouse and Justice Brett "I Shouldn't Be At This Party, Should I?" Kavanaugh for the honors.

C-Block (35:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I have seen the view from the top of the mountain. It's not quite so good if you're there to cover the Gold Medal race in the 1980 Olympics Men's Downhill skiing and you have not brought anything to record your interviews on!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 92: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:46) SPECIAL COMMENT: Their response to the extraction of Brittney Griner - unpatriotic, simple-minded, the Real-World-Is-Just-A-Fantasy-Basketball-League-And-You-Made-A-Bad-Trade - has not only reaffirmed that Republicans ARE stupid, but it has also underscored that when a glimmer of smart might sneak through, Republicans will deliberately pretend to be even more stupid, to appeal to their stupid base full of stupid people. Some are born stupid, some achieve stupidity, and some have stupidity thrust upon them. (3:50) Trump's stupid statement stupidly reminded people how HE failed to rescue Paul Whelan; Marjorie Greene's reminded people she wants to give the Russians not just an arms dealer but Ukraine. (10:00) I truly believe this is a choice: their stupidity is a language all its own, a reverse-superiority, an indecipherable code, impervious to logic or intelligence (11:28) And it was the Lutheran Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from the depths of a Nazi concentration camp after the failure of the plot he participated in to kill; Hitler, who observed "Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice."

B-Block (18:58) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Moon, in New York (19:57) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: DOJ insists Trump is still hiding documents, wants lawyers cited for contempt; Who the 1/6 Committee will refer criminally (22:45) IN SPORTS: Late baseball signings, and why would an NFL team even think about signing a 49-year old receiver? (24:36) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jim Jordan denies the tweet he tweeted, Eric Trump Trumps, and Paul Gosar's spokesman is so confident in him, he won't give the press his name.

C-Block (29:35) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: My Dad's favorite, Thurber's story of the school in which some students repeated the 4th Grade a dozen times and the baseball team was good enough to beat Ohio State: "I Went To Sullivant."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 91: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Ludicrous or imminent, Trump and his minions are planning some sort of violent revolution, something not unlike what has percolated in Germany these last few years. Yesterday, the Germans had the presence of mind to recognize insurrection and mass violence and terrorism and revolution when they saw it. WE damn well better do the same - and fast. The Germans sent 3,000 police and Special Forces troops to arrest 25 coup plotters who planned to attack their capitol, assassinate the chancellor, take over the government. (3:00) Lost in the Trump/QAnon bluster, nobody is saying the obvious: to "terminate" the constitution or just part of it, Trump will have to foment violence. Even in the Trumpian fantasy, Biden and the military don't just stand aside because somebody decides Trump is right (7:44) This is what Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar and failed governor candidate Kari Lake endorsed yesterday. ARREST THEM. (10:53) And Trump continues to meet with plotters. The latest? A QAnon/Pizzagate lunatic named Liz Crokin, at Mar-a-Lago, Tuesday night.

B-Block (16:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Chestnut in New York (16:52) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: More stolen classified docs in Trump's possession; SCOTUS may actually NOT legitimize 'Independent Legislature Theory'; Putin has a 'Noah's Ark'? (20:17) IN SPORTS: The NHL's most goals in a game record is threatened, and there are more baseball signings. (22:01) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jesse Watters decides girls want alcohol, the Virginia restaurant that stood up to the Bible-thumping bigots, and Sean "D-Day in December" Spicer.

C-Block (26:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It is 42 years since the night John Lennon was murdered in New York. Impossibly, one of only two times I was ever a rock disc jockey, it was at the exact hour Lennon was killed. The air check of the show still exists, and it re-tells the nightmare as it unfolds in real time.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 90: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Eight different things - led by Raphael Warnock's victory over Herschel Walker in the Georgia runoff - went drastically wrong for Trump on Tuesday, so PARTY DOWN. (2:10) The Special Counsel not only issued subpoenas he expanded his investigation to include electoral fraud; the 1/6 Committee is (probably) going for criminal referrals; the Trump Organization convicted of 17 counts of...free cable? Ronna McDaniel turns on him over Georgia; Mitch McConnell turns on him over 'terminating' the Constitution; and the families of the January 6th Congressional Gold Medal recipients with a never-to-be-forgotten diss of Trump's nearest proxies, refusing to shake the hands of McConnell and Kevin McCarthy.

B-Block (14:57) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Eddy in New York; (15:59) IN SPORTS: Cody Bellinger moves, Aaron Judge about to, J.T. Daniels AGAIN (19:39) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A New York newspaper confuses Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander; Arson Judge? Who the hell is ARSON Judge? And Kanye West is a long way from rock bottom.

C-Block (23:46) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 17 years ago this week we found out the president of MSNBC didn't have cable, and was still congratulating himself on changes to Countdown he'd made a year before, and which we'd dropped after actually doing them only once. Also, as Lester Holt, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Jesse Ventura and I realized - in the men's room - the guy wasn't 6'7." He was 6'5" and for some reason he was lying about it!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 89: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump: "Who you are going to believe? Me on Truth Social, or Me on Truth Social? I never said I wanted to terminate the Constitution! I only said I wanted to terminate articles OF the Constitution! (2:50) Trying to backpedal on his latest coup call, Trump just digs his hole deeper: he is now subject to 18 USC 115 Section 2385: Advocating the overthrowing of the government of the United States. (4:30) Some current GOP figures finally - mildly - defend the Constitution against Trump (6:30) But best of all: dozens of GOP quotes, from Boebert to Hannity, vowing eternal vigilance to protect the Constitution, including Kevin McCarthy's "That Constitution, and the freedoms it protects, must be defended and preserved for us and for our children." Take these quotes and put them on signs and drape them around the necks of these blowhards: Corner. Them.

B-Block (13:50) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Bentley in Santa Rosa (14:48) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Georgia: Trump literally phones it in. What does ABC News do about its love co-anchors? (18:09) IN SPORTS: Verlander, Turner, Kershaw get paid. Yankees spend on...Brian Cashman? (21:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Times headline slip, Kanye West's latest racist hallucination, and Glenn Greenwald compete for the honors.

C-Block (25:34) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I've been quiet about her since 2006 and despite a series of jaw-dropping mistreatments since 2016. And I probably would've remained so. But when my ex, Katy Tur, turned her husband's vasectomy into a photo-op for their newscasts, something snapped. When the New York Times and Washington Post asked to talk to me about her, this is a person who told them she'd ask me, then told them I declined - without ever telling me. And that, sadly, is just the tip of the iceberg.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 88: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: A man whose words have previously unleashed an attempted coup now calls for the 'termination' of the Constitution, and 48 hours later he has not been arrested, apprehended, or detained? Like we've done it to everybody else who has launched a seditious conspiracy, TWICE? (2:55) Ohio Congressman Dave Joyce speaks for a complacent nation and media with this rationalization: "He says a lot of things. But that doesn't mean it's ever going to happen." (5:30) This was also unleashed by Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi and what even right wingers confess was no "smoking gun" in the saga of Hunter Biden's Lap (as opposed to laptop) yet it in turn inspired still more Fascist Angertainment: an ex-GOP candidate for congress responded "we can no longer get rid of tyranny by the ballots. It's only by the bullets now," and two attempted domestic terrorist attacks over the weekend may have been connected (9:11) There is an irony here: hours before Trump went ANTI-Constitution he had positioned himself as PRO-Constitution (11:00) But the real danger of ignoring these latest words of madness is best processed by asking yourself: What if somebody else had said these exact things?

B-Block (15:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: AMA Animal Rescue urgently needs fosters (15:55) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Have the Morality Police been abolished in Iran, or not? Sesame Street's icon has passed away. And here come antisemites like Steven Crowder to defend the antisemite Kanye West (19:27) IN SPORTS: For once a baseball Hall of Fame voting committee gets it right: Fred McGriff is in, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens aren't. Which permits me to reveal for the first time the mind-boggling story the former General Manager of the Yankees told me of how they gave away McGriff: a Yankee player insisted to owner George Steinbrenner that he had to make the deal! Plus did the Texas Rangers overpay for Jacob deGrom by $185,000,000, and a really cheap joke about the U.S. at the World Cup (24:24) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Points Bet "Lightning" Commercial competes with Chris Christie's niece against Rudy "Protect Democracy By Cancelling The Elections After 9/11" Giuliani for the honors.

C-Block (28:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not only did I work for Ted Turner but at the 1982 NFL Strike Talks I covered Ted Turner and I nearly decked Ted Turner. The saga of why my camera crew was wearing CBS baseball caps, what Ted said when he saw them, and why I responded to the humiliation by quick thinking as opposed to horse-collaring him.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 87: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: There is no such thing as being "slightly Nazi" and that is the reason, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, The House Judiciary Republicans, Tucker Carlson, Paul Gosar, Greg Gutfeld, Benny Johnson, Jeanine Pirro, Will Cain, and Jason Whitlock, you do not excuse and rationalize and defend somebody who had only said relatively minor antisemitic things. Because one day they will announce "I see good things about Hitler" and "I love Nazis." (12:44) As a gentile of largely German heritage I learned this lesson when I was a kid, the day my Dad came back having stormed out of a final interview for a great job because the directors really wanted to be reassured he wasn't Jewish. "It is always there," he said. "It is always beneath the surface. And often as we think we have gotten rid of it for good, still it is there. And I've had to fight it. And I had to fight it today. And YOU'LL have to fight it tomorrow." Because - there IS no such thing as being "slightly Nazi."

B-Block (18:46) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Jupiter in New York (19:39) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senate abandons Rail Workers, Herschel Walker threatens and hallucinates again, and CNN fires Chris Cillizza - and why that's bad news for Joe Biden! (23:09) IN SPORTS: Chaos after Germany is eliminated at the World Cup, and the passing of baseball spitball - and NON-spitball - pitcher Gaylord Perry (24:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: New York City hiring a "Citywide Director of Rodent Mitigation" competes with Herschel, and ABC's Amy Robach for the honors.

C-Block (29:22) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: One of the very few times the great humorist dipped a toe in the world of the occult: how Thurber's imagination turns an accent into a man who "traffics with the devil" in "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 86: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Three weeks ago - so quietly it has barely been noticed - the government declassified the 31-page "memorandum for the record" of the 9/11 Commission's 2004 interview with President George W. Bush (2:20) In it, Bush's words are beyond damning - they are confessional. They confirm his dereliction of duty, his culpability, his malfeasance, in the months before 9/11. Bush lied (5:38) about the August 6 President's Daily Briefing (6:58) Bush lied about the only threats being "overseas" (7:53) Bush lied about Al-Qaeda cells in the U.S. (8:23) Bush lied about aircraft as missiles (8:57) Bush lied about being warned about domestic threats (9:30) Bush lied about George Tenet never warning him (10:00) Bush lied about never being told how Al-Qaeda would attack (14:28) Sadly the 9/11 Commissioners never asked Bush about the allegation that he rushed through the August 6 2001 PDB because he wanted to go fishing and told the briefer "All right, you've covered your ass now." That's unfortunate because ALL Bush did in his interview with the Commissioners was try to cover HIS ass. For more than 20 years he's succeeded, but after the declassification of this memorandum, history will conclude two things: Osama Bin Laden attacked America - no one else. And George W. Bush made sure that America was unprepared - no one else.

B-Block (19:29) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lucky in California (20:21) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: McCarthy promises a committee to investigate the 1/6 Committee - IF he can get elected; and after promising no layoffs, CNN's Chris Licht lays off hundreds (22:26) IN SPORTS: How IS Pele? And Don Mattingly's new job and why whenever he sees me he says "That's Mel on the right!" (25:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The man who ignored the warning 'never drink while playing Monopoly' and the gullible website Semafor compete with Elon "I Lied About Apple" Musk for the honors.

C-Block (29:31) 37 years ago this month I was new in L.A. and on my way to a great interview with baseball immortal Mickey Mantle. That's when I ran into the most elegantly dressed couple I have ever seen in my life. They were fans of my new local sportscast, and they introduced themselves as Joseph and Patricia Carlton. But who WERE they and why he look SO familiar? An amazing explanation in "Things I Promised Not To Tell."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 85: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Kevin McCarthy says: "Stop Picking On Elon Musk!" FINALLY, because two of the worst Republican politicians shot off their big bazoos, we get a clue as to what Musk is doing to Twitter. He's running the same play on it that John Malone ran on CNN: (4:02) see the platform that permits criticism of fascists, buy the platform, claim you only want to make it again into "sensible and centrist" media, shift the Overton Window as far right as you can, and turn it into radical right propaganda.(7:46) After Musk's self-martyring battle with Apple, his next fight may come from Google. Axios reports Google is "monitoring developments" on the lack of content moderation at Twitter and could remove the App from its Google Play Store (11:25) What specific political rewards Musk should be expecting is still unclear but to hear Kevin McCarthy and Ron DeSantis whine about it, you'd think Musk had been kidnapped by pirates. DeSantis went so far as to suggest that if Apple removes Twitter from its App Store, Congress should "respond."

B-Block (17:35) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Meatball, in Staten Island (18:33) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senate passes Same-Sex Marriage, House to take up Paid Leave for Railroad Workers, Stewart Rhodes convicted, Trump still avoids condemning Nick Fuentes (20:49) IN SPORTS: World Cup Win, Golf War could end if they fire Greg Norman, Joey Votto beaten by 9-year old (22:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: So, yeah, I ate a box of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups without taking off the brown wrappers - of course this was in 1966. I compete with Herschel "Texas Ranger" Walker and Marjorie "Masks Can't Stop Farts" Greene for the honors.

C-Block (29:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's roughly the anniversary of the day I got a call about how they were going to fire Jimmy Kimmel and could I replace him? It's not exactly what it sounds like - I'll explain.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: I think Republicans just found a window to push Trump out of the party over Nick Fuentes and Kanye West. His VP, at least a dozen Senators, and others rushed for the exits - and to publicly slam him for dining with the two antisemites (2:30) Relax. I'm not interested in their flexible and utterly reversible morals. They did this exact same thing with the Access Hollywood tape. They don't CARE. Trump doesn't CARE. But when Rick Scott says "there's no room in the Republican Party for white supremacy and antisemitism" he's setting in motion a political timeline that ends with Trump as a 3rd Party candidate who splits the Republican vote. (7:15) It isn't yet a full-fledge run on the bank, but it was enough for Mike Pence to demand Trump apologize (10:42) and even Herschel Walker to run for cover. (11:50) As a footnote, why is it all Fuentes and not Kanye? Last night the host of a livestream didn't immediately agree with West's proclamation that "The Media" and "The Jews" were the same, so seconds later West walked off the show in protest.

B-Block (17:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Luca in New York (17:57) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: 1/6 Committee interviews Kellyanne ConJob, and the top puppy and kitten names for 2022 (20:05) IN SPORTS: How the World Cup started or accelerated the Chinese anti-government protests (23:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Marsha Blackburn destroys a kitchen and the subtle threat for more Colorado Springs shootings from "Gays Against Groomers," competing with the tag-team of Elon Musk and Steven Crowder for the honors.

C-Block (25:05) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Enjoying Alexi Lalas on the Fox Sports coverage of The World Cup? A quarter century ago he and I did a "This Is SportsCenter" commercial. If you've ever wondered how much fun it would be to grab a guitar out of Lalas's hands, in a crowded newsroom that hasn't been warned, and smashing it against a wall - it pretty much couldn't be MORE fun.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (0:15) SPECIAL COMMENT: Of COURSE Trump knew who Nick Fuentes was. Of course Trump knew what Kanye West has become. Of course Trump wanted them there, because they are hate-peddlers with followings and they are all he has left. And you don't get past security as Kanye's "Plus One." (5:30) Trump is exploring going all-in on antisemitism because if you hadn't noticed, nobody but Lindell-level freaks have even referenced The Big Lie about the 2020 Election since Trump lost the 2022 Election. While House Republicans promise to investigate every crackpot rumor from Hunter Biden's Laptop to Fentanyl to Covid's Origins, did you notice they are NOT investigating the 2020 Election? Trump needs a New Act. (8:39) Though Trump is vulnerable, prominent Republicans are still hesitant to accuse him of antisemitism, which is odd since he's been antisemitic far longer than Fuentes or West.

B-Block (16:30) DON'T FORGET. A MONTH AGO, TRUMP THREATENED AMERICAN JEWS: "No president has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S...U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel. Before it's too late." (20:04) Translating Trump's manifold antisemitism, including the 'real loyalty' trope, his history of calling Israel "your country" to American Jewish groups, the 'You know some people would mistreat you Jews but I didn't so why haven't you rewarded me' threat, and especially (22:39) invoking the Evangelicals, for whom the Jews are a prop in their "End Times" fantasy of the return of Jesus followed by all Jews converting - or being slaughtered (27:00) Given Trump's history of Hitler worship this is especially virulent stuff. He praised Hitler's generals and economics and kept a book of his speeches in his bedroom 

C-Block (30:00) I'LL REPEAT MY ASSERTION. TRUMP IS NOW AMERICA'S HITLER. We saw it first in September in Youngstown, Ohio, with the modified Sieg Heil, and the QAnon Music, and the rewritten history. it is time to use the real words. Trump has stopped pretending, and embraced QAnon, Christofascism, and Violent Revolution. He is America's Hitler, and he must be stopped while we still have any capacity to do so.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: OK maybe I am. (1:58) Trump has about as bad a day as you can have in court and not be Al Pacino in the movie "And Justice For All." But first, I'm worried about The Washington Post profile of new Trump Special Counsel Jack Smith and my haunting fear he is there to run out the clock on behalf of Merrick Garland. A former colleague is quoted as saying "It was understood that the fastest way for a case to die was to give it to (Jack Smith's) Public Integrity Section." (3:00) Happily, though the Post gave not the slightest hint of  it, the guy who said that is not just a revenge-obsessed right wing nut job but the worst kind: one who thinks he's an impartial analyst. (6:07) So we can look instead at Trump's FIVE legal setbacks in one day: on the tax case at the Supreme Court (and what Dems can do with the taxes with only 41 days until the GOP takes the house); at the hearing to dismiss the Special Master from the Nuclear Documents Kleptomania case; at Lindsey Graham's Grand Jury appearance in Georgia; at the efforts to revitalize Manhattan's Stormy Daniels hush money case; and at the impending SECOND lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll. No comment from Trump Attorney Lionel Hutz.

B-Block (12:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Max in North Carolina (13:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Yes, you didn't imagine it. The 2nd Woman produced a tape of Herschel Walker phoning her and saying "this is your stud farm calling, you big sex puppy you," and then he said something much dumber live on Fox News. Herschel's Erection Election plus the AP taking its "Russian missiles in Poland" screw-up and making it much worse and Bolsonaro contesting after all (19:29) IN SPORTS: Lionel Messi's Employers upset Lionel Messi's Team at the World Cup: It's A Messi Situation, plus the Rob Thomson surprise, and what a fan did to Pete Rozelle the day he wouldn't cancel the NFL schedule even after the JFK Assassination (23:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bothsidesist Ashley Parker and GOP Talking Point Merchant Katherine Herridge of CBS can't compete with producer Stew Peters whose movie about supposed deaths after Covid vaccinations "DIED SUDDENLY" actually shows people who a) didn't get vaccinated b) didn't die and c) didn't do anything suddenly.

C-BLOCK (28:44) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It is ESPN's most beloved outtake and since it was about the World Cup, I present it now in annotated form. Ladies and gentlemen: It's the famous "SOCCER BREAKDOWN.":

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Tucker Carlson, who has spent months conflating LGBTQ issues with "sex crimes" and "castrating children" and two months ago demanded his viewers not "put up with this, for one second, no matter what the law says," last night insisted stochastic terrorism is impossible and no one could be indoctrinated by his or others' words while repeating that gay and trans people and doctors and teachers were indoctrinating children and then throwing to a commercial for Golden Corral because OF COURSE things said on television can't influence you to do ANYTHING. (8:49) And the right wing continues its attempt to get others to act violently: GOP presidential wannabe Mike Pompeo insists "The most dangerous person in the world is (American Federation of Teachers leader) Randi Weingarten" because of "the filth they're teaching our kids."

B-Block (15:23) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Cottage and Sheff (16:36) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Comer Scandal-latest. Bob Iger returns; I will repeat the best advice I've ever gotten in my life, which Iger gave me in March 1979! (20:16) IN SPORTS: US "loses" World Cup opener 1-1; Iran's brave players win the day while the cowardly captains of Belgium, Denmark, England, Germany, The Netherlands, and Wales lose it. The new baseball Hall of Fame ballot is out and once again the top new candidate will be excluded because of a cheating scandal (24:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: 32 paragraphs of Trump Special Counsel/GOP BS Biden Investigations bothsidesism from CNN, competing with Cesar "Crisis of Confidence" Conde of NBC News and ex-Press Secretary Kayleigh "I Dunno How To Say This Name" McEnany for the dishonors.

C-Block (28:53) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL. It is 59 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and I may be the youngest person you know with a distinct memory of that terrible day and the days that followed. From the adults crying to the cancellation of all the cartoons to the muted Thanksgiving Day Parade, it made its impression on me, two months shy of my fifth birthday.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 80: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) 1st SPECIAL COMMENT Is America free? Or are we slaves to the mob rule of Republican gun owners? These Americans - just out for a Saturday night in a place in Colorado Springs that they considered their "haven," just like the children were in Uvalde and just like the shoppers in Buffalo, were killed - directly or stochastically - by Republicans.(5:40) We always ignore the darkest, truest part of the equation of gun violence: there are people in this country who WANT this to keep happening. It is why more children die by gunfire every year than do on-duty cops or active military. And the Republican Party has prostituted itself to these people. (9:10) The 2nd Amendment is a lie; there are 103 words related to money or ownership in the Constitution as amended and none of them are in 2A; (13:41) Right now the President could make enormous inroads into the availability of the guns with which Republicans hunt minorities and children, just by Executive Orders. He must make them, and more over he must lead us in the truth: once again, in Colorado Springs, REPUBLICANS MURDERED AMERICANS.

B-Block (18:51) 2nd SPECIAL COMMENT: If you were Attorney General and you were trying to run out the clock on prosecuting an ex-president and make sure it was the clock that got the blame - and not you - you'd do exactly what Merrick Garland did in appointing a Special Counsel nearly two years after the crime (22:08) There are seven major rationalizations for Garland's act. I'll let them by refuted by Neal Katyal, William Barr, Jill Wine-Banks, Bradley Moss, Matthew Miller, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Samuel Alito - and Robert Mueller.

C-Block (30:50) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: The extraordinary offer by dog rescue champion/singer/comedian Elayne Booster (31:25) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Nothing new on the James Comer Scandal (32:21) IN SPORTS: Qatar didn't ban beer at the World Cup. It just raised the price to $22,600; the infamous "Mantle Lewd Questionnaire" is up for auction (and I'll tell you about the only baseball document even more profane than Mantle's: the 1898 Special Instructions To Players (38:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Geraldo Rivera and Ronny Jackson are no match for Maggie "Trump's Change of Tone" Haberman (40:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 40 years ago, the media guy for the NFL Players Union and all but one of the reporters covering the NFL strike talks pranked the one remaining reporter. It. Was. Epic.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) How could the Republicans be THIS stupid? The man who will lead their attack on Hunter and Joe Biden, Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, has been credibly accused by his college girlfriend of violence, psychological abuse, threatening her life, and driving her to the clinic to abort their child. (2:05) Did they think that because the story broke seven years ago it had fallen off the internet? The first full day they are the Majority-Elect they trot out a new head of House Oversight, James Comer of Kentucky, who announces a Hunter Biden investigation and then says "I want to be clear: This is an investigation of JOE Biden." (3:05) No, let ME be clear: this needs to be an investigation of JAMES COMER. This is where this crap STOPS. (5:20) You don't like this kind of stuff? This is the only way to STOP this kind of stuff: the bully has to get the crap beaten out of him, and James Comer is the bully here. Let's Go. (7:15) What the GOP should've announced it was investigating was Ticketmaster (9:10) Still the co-defendant in the Republican Investigation Machine is the media. The Washington Examiner and Red State didn't headline Comer's Folly over Pelosi's Retirement - CNN and The New York Times did. (11:50) And once again CNN's Chief Chris Licht stepped right up with that big "Hit Me" sign around his neck and said "So the play is not to be offensive to A side, right?" I'll explain how wrong he is. (13:43) The good news is: the Democrats are finally getting smart, and David Brock has left Media Matters to run a "SWAT Team" that will investigate the GOP investigators. And they can start with the James Comer scandal. Oh, did I mention the James Comer scandal?

B-Block (20:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Miller in Pennsylvania, who ate a sock (21:16) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Space Karen kills Twitter; 1/6 Subcommittee to decide whether to make criminal referrals (23:43) IN SPORTS: The Most Valuable Players are named. If a guy finishes 2nd in that vote AND 4th in the vote for best pitcher, isn't he by definition the "most valuable?" What the hell does "most valuable" mean? (26:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mike Pompeo forgets his part in the insurrection, the New York Post has never heard of "Run Of Show" or "Rundown" documents. They compete with Baseball's Commissioner who suddenly announced that if you bet on baseball, you should be banned BY baseball.

C-Block (31:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: His classic stories of Man vs. Life: "Nine Needles" and "The Mouse Who Went To The Country."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 78: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: 12 Republicans join the Democrats to give the codification of Marriage Equality a filibuster-proof majority. The Respect for Marriage Act will be law by Christmas (2:37) It seems so obvious; it is in fact breathtaking. 14 years ago a Democratic candidate could be elected POTUS without endorsing same-sex marriage. 26 years ago a Democratic president could sign legislation defining marriage as only between a man and a woman (4:02) And 14 years and exactly one week ago, I could startle viewers, my bosses, and some liberals by decrying the passage of Prop 8 in California - which TOOK AWAY Marriage Equality awarded by the courts - in a Special Comment called "A Question of Love" (12:15) This is how far we have come: Two months later I was approached by Sir Ian McKellan who said that the fact that I was able to incorporate those opinions into an American cable newscast meant "some of my hope for the future is restored." Today, with the path to codified Marriage Equality assured, some of MY hope for the future is restored.

B-Block (17:48) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Penny, in Missouri (18:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Mike Pence defies Congress (and logic), now it's Stu Varney trashing Trump (to Trump's daughter-in-law), and a Democrat beats a Faux Democrat in LA (20:22) IN SPORTS: Two unanimous Cy Young Winners for the first time since Bob Gibson's 1.12 ERA and Denny McLain's 31 wins, Virginia cancels its football game, Kyrie coming back - but why? (23:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham continuing to try to make the fabricated Pelosi Conspiracy Theory happen and Chris Licht drowning at CNN, compete with the executives of MSNBC, NBC News, and NBC. After getting fricasseed for firing Tiffany Cross to appease fascists like Tucker Carlson, they knew what to do: Trash her anonymously in The New York Post.

C-Block (32:21) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 30 years ago today, the Colorado Rockies and then-Florida Marlins were born in the baseball expansion draft which I anchored on ESPN. The draft followed one of the weirdest you're-gonna-die-on-THAT-hill things I ever witnessed in sports broadcasting. But most importantly: I can now confess that to get the scoop as to who would be the first pick, I did a terrible, terrible thing ;-)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: God what a terrible speech! Trump's official declaration he's running was so bad Fox News bailed out of it! And CNN bailed out of it! And Mick Mulvaney trashed it. And two ex-Trump Press Secretaries. AND DURING IT IVANKA TRUMP ANNOUNCED SHE'S LEAVING POLITICS! (5:00) The mainstream GOP continues to distance itself; Fox News lists 13 GOP presidential possibilities - none of them are Trump (5:40) Chris Christie trashes Trump to GOP Governors conference, gets applauded (8:30) These are not moral judgments, not patriotic ones, not decency ones, not pro-democracy ones. But these people have the survival instincts of cockroaches and somebody just flipped on every kitchen light in America (8:40) Even crazy Wendy Rogers in Arizona is wondering if she's been living in an echo chamber (11:15) And yet there's just enough loyalists to remain to make sure if the GOP can keep Trump at bay, he'll run as a third party candidate in 2024. They were the ones outside Trump Tower yesterday screaming "Trump or Death" - to which we say "OFFER ACCEPTED!"

B-Block (15:31) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Elsa in Brooklyn (16:26) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Latest on the Russian missile or rocket that hit Poland; (18:14) IN SPORTS: Angels with their annual dubious free agency signing; Richard Nixon's alma mater ends 107 years of football; and the merchandisers of the NBA finally outsmart themselves (22:03) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Republicans keeping 50-99% of what they raise for Herschel Walker and Fox's Kevin Corke are no match for Worst Persons Hall of Famer Bill O'Reilly - he's baaaack!

C-Block (26:43) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: O'Reilly's contretemps with the "News Nation" channel reminded me Dan Abrams has a show there, on the cable tv news version of 'Nick-At-Nite.' And THAT reminded me of the day MSNBC tried to switch the disrespected Abrams from hosting its unpopular 9 PM show, to being network General Manager. After the staff stopped laughing, it wound up being worse than we could have dreamed. Within ONE WEEK management had reassured us he would be fired. He became a Lame Duck in ONE WEEK!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 76: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: New leak to Washington Post clearly confesses Trump stole documents, but insists he didn't do it for evil reasons, he did it for EGO. He's not a TRAITOR! He's just a hoarder! He's not a foreign spy who might face the death penalty. He's just a collector! He's like YOU: YOU'D keep a White House cocktail napkin wouldn't you? So HE kept a White House Ultra-Classified Document (or 200 of them) (3:28) This transparent attempt to minimize the charge and the sentence again suggests it's not only unbelievably bad for Trump but it's far worse than we could possibly imagine. (6:30) "He seemed motivated by a more basic desire not to give up what he believed was his property," the Post writes, and suddenly I'm watching Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck breaking into the den of the 40 Thieves and Daffy sees all the diamonds and gold and screams "IT'S MINE! DOWN, DOWN, DOWN! GO, GO, GO! MINE, MINE, MINE!" He's not Julius Rosenberg! He's Daffy Duck! (9:35) The Guardian also reports evidence secret documents were mixed with post-presidential letters in Trump's desk drawer. What collector doesn't do THAT? (10:15) Trump still scheduled to formalize his 2024 candidacy today, even as a London paper reports Murdoch called him personally to withdraw support.

B-Block (16:08) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Spaghetti, again (16:58) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Not only did Katie Hobbs win, but she was right about not debating Lake. And we need to worry about the phenomenon of not just TV types, but TV newscasters, seeking office. Plus Jay Leno is recovering and he's nicer than you know, and NBC suspended the reporter who ran the fake Pelosi conspiracy theory (21:31) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Virginia's hypocritical lieutenant governor takes on Elon "Bloatware" Musk and Herschel Walker attacking how Senator Warnock is raising his kids, for the dishonors.

C-Block (25:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not one but two of my ex-ESPN colleagues entered the media wing of hockey's Hall of Fame last night. One saved my scoop about the retirement of Mario Lemieux, and the other was in the booth the night New York player Sergio Momesso was called "Sergio Mimosa."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 75: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Well THAT was fun! Enjoy retaining the Senate and the fascists turning on Trump and then FORGET IT AND GET BACK TO WORK (2:32) Ever seen the movie "Carrie"? There is a lesson for us in it. When you think you have ended Carrie's reign of horror, make sure you burn the grave, salt the earth, and encase everything in concrete before she can reach up from hell to grab you. They are not defeated, they are developing a new Supreme Court scheme as we speak (4:26) Be aggressive - like Pelosi and Schumer planning to raise the debt limit during the Lame Duck session (5:44) And consider the more outlandish ideas: nominating Liz Cheney to be Speaker or offering cabinet or ambassador slots to uninfected GOP Congressmen (7:20) Because the fascists will now cut to the chase: supporters of a different Kari are calling for a military takeover of the government so they can get a new vote in Arizona (8:47) Now is the time to strike because they are burning down their own house: attacking Trump, McConnell, McCarthy and Ronna Romney while Trump cultists like Ann Coulter and Glenn Youngkin's Lieutenant Governor and even the DILBERT GUY bail on Trump (10:43) But now the next threat comes into focus: The Federalist Society is so hellbent to enact "Independent State Legislature Theory" that it has purged its own co-founder because he doesn't believe in it. Supreme Court Barbie - Amy Coney Barrett - and the other fascists do, as you'll hear. And to stop them, we'll need to designate The Federalist Society as a terrorist organization.

B-Block (18:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Maslow in Pennsylvania (19:02) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Coincidence? Trump wanted to "get the IRS on" Comey and McCabe. And each was then hit with a rare invasive audit. (21:07) IN SPORTS: No experience? No problem! Jeff Saturday wins in NFL coaching debut (23:39) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A New Jersey Republican official calls the cops on a 9-year old African-American girl who "scared him." He competes with Sarah "They think we're stupid" Palin and Donald "They stole the ELECTRON from Blake Masters" Trump for the dishonors.

C-Block (29:36) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I really did fall off a cliff (well, a pretty tall rock outcropping) filming a TV Commercial for Boston Market. But that's only part of the story. The ads paid so much I was willing to quit ESPN to do them instead, and the ads were so perversely effective that the company went bankrupt!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 74: Countdown With Keith Olbermann

A-Block (1:45) Let me tell you what is to come: Trump and DeSantis will both run for the '24 Republican Nomination. When DeSantis wins, Trump will run anyway as an independent, cinching the White House for Biden (or any Democrat) (2:05) The Republican establishment has, overnight, turned on Trump and burned the bridges to him. The front page of Murdoch's New York Post has an illustration of Trump as an egg, atop a wall, and in big block letters: "TRUMPTY DUMPTY" and a column inside nicknames him "Toxic Trump." (7:00) Let's review your doubts: Do you doubt DeSantis will run? You think he made that two-minute miniature Bible Epic movie just to run up the score in Florida? Do you doubt the GOP has bailed? Peter King has just said Trump "should no longer be the face of the Republican Party." (12:10) Now Kevin McCarthy gets to lead an impotent, fractured Republican party in the House with not enough power to crush the crazies but not enough power to impeach Biden, either (11:50) And Trump got them a runoff in Georgia where the 203,000 Georgians who voted for Brian Kemp but did not vote for Herschel Walker are really expected to vote for Walker in the runoff? 

B-Block (17:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Spaghetti in Staten Island (18:22) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Glenn Youngkin apologizes to the Pelosis but only after the election is over, and competes with Chris Cillizza and Elon Musk screwing twitter into the ground and threatening to turn your non-blue-checked tweets into junk mail, for the honors. ( 23:14) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The story of the anniversary of my late beloved puppy Mishu.

C-Block (37:02) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL, CONTINUED: The passing of Mishu. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT There WAS a Red Wave: A wave goodbye to your tsunami. Sanity got up off the mat. We beat the undead zombies with some well placed shovels. Fetterman defeated Oz. Free Crudites for EVERYONE. This could turn out to be the BEST midterms for any first-term president in decades. Joe Biden just went from nomination Dark Horse, to superhero Dark Brandon. And as a bonus, regardless of who ultimately gets the House and who gets the Senate, among Republicans, Trump will get much of the blame.

B-Block (15:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Princess Wiggles in New York (15:58) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: 1/6 Commish interviews Trump's driver, big countries may finally pony up at COP27, Zelenskyy softens stance on negotiations with Russia (18:15) IN SPORTS: Dusty Baker will return, invoking memories of Jesse Orosco and the poet Rolfe Humphries (21:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Peacock, with its upcoming Casey Anthony series, battles Tucker "One of the Largest Sources of Death Threats" Carlson and Brett "Another Day, Another Scandal" Favre for the dishonors.

C-Block (25:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 25 years since I met her and nearly as long since I went out on a date with Laura Ingraham. It was worse than you'd expect, and it was followed by a second date that was actually closer to me being kidnapped and held hostage. But I learned a valuable lesson about how - and how efficiently - "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" actually works, that remains instructive to this day.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) OH GOD I so wanted Trump to declare his candidacy last night. He was THISCLOSE to doing it at his fascist rally in Ohio and thus snatching defeat for the Republicans from the jaws of victory, like he did in Georgia. But somebody got to him! (3:46) Whatever happens today, the media is doing everything it can to stick to the "Red Wave" narrative: Their polls all indicate Democratic leads in the Generic Congressional Ballot so what did Politico, Yahoo, and Reuters do? THEY DISMISSED THEIR OWN POLLS AS OUTLIERS. It all underscores the real media narrative: The media corporations are sucking up to the fascists (8:30) Last night, the Republicans gave away the next narrative: any election undecided by Wednesday morning has been fixed by the Democrats (10:48) Oh by the way, a key member of Russia's 2016 Conspiracy with Trump confessed to interfering in the election (11:45) And Elon Musk tweeted more Nazi names and six months after saying "for Twitter to deserve public trust it must be politically neutral" he told his 115,000,000 followers they should vote Republican. Oh and he's also talking about putting all of Twitter behind a paywall. 

B-Block (16:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Ace has been reserved! Today it's Angie, in Brooklyn (17:33) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Bannon incarceration delayed, Ted Cruz hit by a White Claw and Texas police actually just don't stand there (19:24) IN SPORTS: Check with me Monday after new Coach Saturday makes his debut Sunday; It's the strangest NFL coaching move since Rock Island fired its coach mid-game in 1921. Baseball free agent news and the new Veterans' Hall of Fame Ballot is out: McGriff, Murphy, Mattingly, four roiders, one jackass - where's Keith Hernandez? (23:27) Brit "Trash OnThe Street" Hume and CNN's New Morning Show, called "Fascists? Please Let Us Live!" are no match for the all-time champion of Conventional Political Lack of Wisdom and Groupthink: Chris Cillizza with an all-time great column, telling History Teacher Jim Clyburn he doesn't understand history.

C-Block (34:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day in 1981 the disc jockey on the top New York radio station tried to kill me and then get me fired for daring to criticize "his" New York Giants on his show. The saga of Ted Brown and "he won't remember that either" (49:55) Plus, because it was handy, a complete sportscast from December 30, 1981, and 22-year old me doing an entire sportscast on WNEW Radio in New York, complete with the latest Wayne Gretzky news (and Ted Brown).

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 71: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) On the Friday before an election crucial to democracy, MSNBC fired its most outspoken host because Fox News complained about her. Where is the protest by Lawrence O'Donnell? By Chris Hayes? By Alex Wagner? Where is the threat to walk out, to boycott, to stand on principle, by Rachel Maddow? (3:10) NBC had to retract a fabricated Today Show story that reignited the fascists' homophobic conspiracy theory about Paul Pelosi. The correspondent was not fired. The Today Show executive was not fired. The head of news was not fired. Tiffany Cross? She was fired. (7:33) Cross joked about "castrating Florida," rightly savaged Alyssa Farah, Megyn Kelly, and Clarence Thomas - and her ratings were growing. But when Tucker Carlson devoted a segment to actually suggesting she was fomenting a Rwanda-style genocide of white Americans, NBC and MSNBC went crazy. (10:10) Joy Reid said something, more personal than professional (10:30) O'Donnell said nothing; then again when he filled in for me while my father was dying in 2010 he tried to replace me as Countdown host and then stole a group of producers from me for his new show (11:36) Chris Hayes, silent now, once stood up and refused to substitute for me when I had been improperly suspended (13:30) And Maddow, who in 2009 stood up and told the president of NBC News and all the executives and talent at MSNBC that if anybody interfered with the content of her show, she would walk out because "I cannot have the audience wondering what else I have not told them" (18:41) But now Maddow is making $30 million a year and the courage to walk out when it could cost you that much, is lacking. Rachel? Will you pretend the firing of Tiffany Cross is not your problem? Or will you stand up for what is right? You know - like you used to.

B-Block (23:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Ace in New York desperately needs a foster or adopter, anywhere from Virginia to Maine (24:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: DeSantis shocked head of The Leopards Eating People's Faces Party ate his face; Musk "likes" meme with quote from American neo-nazi pedophile, and that was the BEST thing he did to Twitter over the weekend (30:19) IN SPORTS: Astros get a World Series Parade; Phillies set World Series futility records; Boston Bruins destroy reputation by signing, then dumping, bully (32:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mark Levin admits his side consists of "White Supremacists" and competes with Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz padding a 50-page report to 1,050 pages, and former journalist Jason Whitlock going misogynistic, homophobic AND racist all in the same sentence.

C-Block (37:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In memory of Vinny Vassallo, or as a few SportsCenter viewers will remember him: Vinny The Stat Man.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: It goes without saying Trump should not merely already be under indictment - he should be under 24/7 guard in a SuperMax Prison. But he's not. So we have to view last night's leak about the Department of Justice considering a Special Trump Counsel as "good news." (2:45) CNN's report says the Special Counsel would be appointed as soon as Trump officially declares he's running (he came close last night at one of his Cult Rallies) (3:53) CNN also reported something strange: that DOJ has hired two high-priced prosecutors in advance, just in case they do decide to prosecute. Are you kidding? Who does this? You don't hire guys away from Law Firm Partnerships 'just in case' (5:55) Plus CNN discovered one of the hirings because the guy UPDATED HIS LINKED-IN PROFILE! (8:23) In actual stuff that's happened, CREW, which got a New Mexico County Commissioner removed from office for insurrection based on the 14th Amendment, says it will sue to get Trump similarly barred from serving (11:00) All of which leads me to invoke 19th Century British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone and an immortal quote about him supplied by one of his fiercest critics, Henry Labouchere.

B-Block (14:25) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Calto, in New York (15:17) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Golly, I guessed right: Elon Musk IS willing to sell YOUR Twitter identity to somebody else. I think we call this "blackmail." Plus CNBC fires Shepard "I Come From A Town Full Of Secrets" Smith. (17:54) IN SPORTS: World Series Game 5 Nailbiter; maybe those Phillies Powder Blue unis aren't good luck; and an imperfection in Don Larsen's 1956 Perfect Game you may not know about. Finally, Kyrie Irving is suspended. (24:37) WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A lawyer age-shaming the victim in an indecent exposure case and a medical school that played with the 1918 Influenza vie with Laura Ingraham for the honors

C-Block (29:57) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: "The Luck Of Jad Peters."

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 69: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) It's hard to believe a Presidential speech about domestic threats to democracy would have to take a back seat to another story (2:20) But the Department of Justice has given "Use Immunity" to Trump flunky Kash Patel so he can be brought back before the Documents Grand Jury and tell the truth about whether or not he witnessed Trump verbally declassifying all the stolen documents (Spoiler alert: he didn't) (5:40) Patel's testimony suggests DOJ is still on a timeline towards indicting Trump in the first week of January (6:02) There was nothing WRONG with Biden's Democracy-In-Danger speech but it lacked the controlled rage he mastered in his speech in Philadelphia in September. Thus, the advice he asked me for 15 years ago about channeling anger into righteous indignation was either too good or not good enough (7:52) Unless this was some kind of "this is the last time I say it nicely" speech, Biden's call to the better angels of our nature will completely elude those who disagree with him and believe America IS a zero-sum game, like Stewart Rhodes, whose terrifying manifesto for Trump was released (9:30) And there's no use throwing the new facts in the DePape/Pelosis case at the Right Wing. It's case closed for them and any new facts can be dismissed as Cover-ups or Conspiracies (11:55) IN SPORTS: What if they gave a World Series no-hitter and nobody cared?

B-Block (17:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lia in Staten Island (18:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Elon Musk not knowing that +$8 and -$8 are different things fights Captain Obvious from The New York Times and Kyrie Irving and the NBA trying to fight their way out of the antisemitism mess, for the honors (22:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's 22 years ago now when Roger Clemens of the Yankees threw part of the broken bat of Mike Piazza of the Mets - threw it either AT him or inadvertently NEAR him. I had to do the first interview with Clemens, and then I asked a question that has haunted me for 22 years - what happened to the shattered bat?

C-Block 41:09 THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The Piazza Bat saga continues through the present day, and includes everybody from John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, to Vin Scully, to Jay of Chez Jay restaurant in Santa Monica, California.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 68: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) "He was completely caught up in the fantasy. He really believed in the whole MAGA, stolen election. If you go to Fox News, if you look at QAnon - you know." David DePape's employer of six years makes it Case Closed: the would-be assassin of Nancy Pelosi was energized stochastically by every weapon the GOP can muster (2:24) And it appears that DePape's defense will be a claim of "vulnerability" to the MAGA/Fox News/Trump misinformation machine (3:24) Yet the GOP continues in full denial, to the extent that a Washington Examiner columnist insists the assassination attempt never happened (5:04) How does the GOP maintain this astonishing and apparently heartfelt hypocrisy? Their party DEPENDS on it. Let me review a couple dozen Herschel Walker/Peter Navarro/Samuel Alito cases (10:30) And finally we have the explanation of "Every Republican Accusation Is A Confession" from a psychology professional: it's not projection, it's not compensation.

B-Block (20:04) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Hex, in Devore CA (21:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Graham has to testify, Wisconsin fascist gubernatorial candidate says the quiet fascist part out loud, and Elon Musk's tries to make selling Verification into a populist issue when he's really just blackmailing the blue checks: pay me $96/year or I'll shadow-ban you, and maybe sell your identity to somebody else. Plus late word that the Treasury Department isn't happy with all those Saudi, Qatari, and Chinese investors and may try to hold up his purchase! (26:16) IN SPORTS: Even MORE home runs, yet another A's franchise shift, and the NBA screws up the Kyrie Irving disaster yet again (29:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLDS: Mehmet Oz, Jim "Yes MASA" Jordan and Andrea "Bothsidesism" Mitchell compete for the honors.

C-Block (34:02) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: You know how I know CNN is trying to swing to the right to protect its profits in case the country goes fascist? Because MSNBC tried it in 2003. The harrowing story of the day they tried to make me run a commentary by Michael Savage - literally dressed as a brownshirt - in the middle of Countdown and what I had to do to stop them.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 67: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) Since 2018 Republicans have spent at least $227 Million on TV advertising to get somebody to try to kill Nancy Pelosi and now we know how they finally got their money's worth with David DePape (2:15) They're not calling it a confession, but that's what it is (3:44) A confession to political terrorism versus the Democratic Party, engineered stochastically by the Republican Party. And every Democrat and every news organization that does not say that is an accessory after the fact (5:13) And this has all be inevitable since January 21, 2010 - since "Citizens United" when the Roberts Court ruled all curbs on how much money corporations could spend on political advertising illegal (10:33) What INFINITY MONEY would do to American politics, and America, was so obvious that night that even I was able to predict much of it on Countdown. If anything, I understated the impact (12:38) Which leaves us this question: if the corporations and the men who run them want more attacks on more Nancy Pelosis - who's going to stop them?

B-Block (20:41) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Pearl in Nashville (21:25) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: On top of everything else, Clarence Thomas is an idiot, and the producers of "2000 Mules" have been jailed! (23:49) IN SPORTS: It's simple. The NBA is going to have to ban Kyrie Irving, We've had the traditional Philadelphia World Series rainout. And I called Hoberg Hoiberg but not Zoidberg (26:16) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Tara Reid can't tell hearts from diamonds. She and Anti-Vax Nut Sherri Tenpenny compete with Don Bolduc - who actually NAMED a school where he thinks this "Litter Box" nonsense is happening - for the honors. But Bolduc is the only one likely to be sued.

C-Block (30:48) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I thought I had met Bill Maher 22 years ago this month. Turns out the date was much, much earlier. But it took 31 years and two near-fistfights to figure it all out.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Arrest the stochastic terrorists who instigated the attempted assassination of Nancy Pelosi on Friday. 18 USC 871, punishing threats against those in the presidential success, will suffice for Marjorie Taylor Greene, on video from 2019 (5:41) And Republican Congressional Committee chair Tom Emmer, who tweeted video of himself firing a weapon, with the hashtag "#FirePelosi (6:49) The GOP has been encouraging violence against Pelosi since 2010 (8:00) It got a gift to help satisfy its own adherents and gaslight others when Bay Area TV reporter Evan Sernoffsky falsely reported the assailant was wearing only underwear. All references to this stem from this terrible journalism, and none carry Sernoffsky's retraction (9:15) And then came the Elon Musk tweet spreading a nonsensical conspiracy theory from a pretend news outlet around the world (10:30) The GOP's effort to work the refs has produced results, especially in convincing media to pretend the party's use of the threat of violence is something new (11:00) Just my own experience, as a victim of four fake anthrax mailings in 2006 because I criticized Bush, and being on the second wave list of the "MAGA-Bomber" in 2018 for criticizing Trump, underscores how widespread this tactic has been. (15:15) And then there is the last component. How can the Marjorie Taylor Greenes of this world be sure that everybody they encourage to use violence is a Republican, and every one of the victims will be a Democrat - and not the other way around?

B-Block (19:20) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Droolius Caesar, in New York (20:22) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Lula wins, why did the DOJ add a Terror prosecutor to the Trump Documents team, the Mastriano confession, Musk charging for blue checks? (23:55) IN SPORTS: Did you see the perfect game in the World Series Saturday? And the Qataris celebrating the LGBTQ boycott of the World Cup (28:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The new UK PM gets roasted by a patient at a hospital photo op. He and Tom Cotton compete with the Kansas candidate who implied Tiger Woods killed a cop for the "honors."

C-Block (33:36) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day Brian Williams lied about Iraq but I thought I was the one going crazy, then the day I tried to save Brian Williams; then the day the president of NBC News explained why they didn't - and couldn't - fire him.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.