Countdown with Keith Olbermann

EPISODE 152: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: New government document in a separate January 6 case filed yesterday, sworn under oath and under penalty of perjury, confirms that by September 2021 Jacob Chansley and his attorneys were given all but 10 seconds of the J6 video Carlson showed last week. Carlson's claim that Chansley and his lawyers had never seen the video, is a lie. Carlson's claim that it was "withheld" from Chansley and America, is a lie. Carlson's claim that they were sightseers, is a lie. Carlson's claim that it's a false flag, is a lie. Tucker Carlson is a liar. What's worse: he could be guilty of Obstruction of Justice. Because what has this all been about? This was Kevin McCarthy providing Tucker Carlson access to the materials with which to lie, gaslight, and whitewash. He did all three things. This is a conspiracy to turn guilty perpetrators of insurrection, coup, and violent attack on the Capitol during the official transfer of power, into victims - and the victims into defendants. And THAT is called "Obstruction Of Justice." B-Block (20:47) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Yay Capitalism until its speculative bank fails then it's Yay Socialism. At least it shuts up Junior Trump. Mike Pence talks tough against Trump but still won't lift a finger to stop him. And Tom Hanks broke my Cummerbund at the Oscars. (24:23) IN SPORTS: DeSantis's brilliant idea to get a hated tennis player arrested, MSG's Jim Dolan vows to win alcohol fight (it'd be his first win) and what sportscaster solidarity can do: BBC's Gary Lineker has brought the UK's fascist government to its knees. (30:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: On the other hand, the UK mailed in its uniforms for the World Baseball Classic. The House Freedom Caucus's debt limit demand includes...Defunding the police? And why DeSantis needs to read every snowflake first. C-Block (35:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My Dad died, 13 years ago today. But instead of telling you some somber remembrance let me tell you about something he did that, 47 years later, still strikes me as the epitome of selfless parenting and still leaves me speechless. Oh and it features me meeting Howard Stern when he was 20 and I was 15.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 151: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42): New Tucker Carlson bombshell in the Dominion Documents Dump. Media Matters discovers a text in which Carlson praised and disseminated the writings of a racist holocaust denier, only 2-1/2 years ago. He sent somebody close enough to Carlson to have his cell number a link to a column written by David Cole - who denies that Auschwitz was an extermination camp and questions whether six million Jewish people perished in the Holocaust. Carlson added "This is a good piece." That Carlson would praise such scum is hardly news: he works for Fox "News." But this shocker coming out at such a critical time for him and Fox is indeed news. Because it reopens the 2019 scandal that vanished into the pandemic year, in which radio recordings surfaced of Carlson being crassly racist and sexist, and insulting in those ways to the likes of everybody from Barack Obama to Martha Stewart's daughter. Carlson also defended convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs and attacked statutory rape laws. His other problems continue. A fourth night of "January 6 Video" produced only more re-runs. And he impeached his own Wednesday guest. The Q Shaman's first attorney Albert Watkins was, on Wednesday, a victim of the vast plot Carlson claimed to have uncovered. But last night Watkins became a villain who had let the "shaman" down. In point of fact, Watkins had been fired after he called his client "retarded" and one of the "short bus people" and Watkins was cited for "ineffective assistance of counsel." Every time Rupert Murdoch and Fox have squirmed out of a scandal they've done so by firing somebody big: Roger Ailes, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly. Rupert is in survival mode and the new revelations make it easier for him to scapegoat Carlson. B-Block (19:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Yeah yeah sure Trump's gonna be indicted any day now (says the Times. Again). Jenna Ellis, the Canary in the Rudy Giuliani gas coal mine, confesses. Lauren Boebert can't count nor tell time and shock of shocks, a new George Santos scandal. (22:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump has a new book that sums him up. It's stuff other people wrote TO him. Letters. Now I may have to publish the letter HE wrote to ME. Elon Musk's novel way to promote employees. And Lindsey Graham. No - not that one. A far funnier one. C-Block (28:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: When he went to the 4th Grade at the turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries, the great writer lived in a world where if you failed the 4th Grade, you stayed in the 4th Grade. If his wonderful account is true, some of his classmates had been there for more than a decade, and constituted the best amateur baseball team in the state of Ohio, good enough to beat Ohio State. "I Went To Sullivant."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 150: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Tucker Carlson's Trump Derangement Syndrome Dance Party went into re-runs last night, then was cancelled, and then the star ran away. Carlson literally ran out of new 1/6 video and re-ran much of his Monday segment; his conspiracy theory rant went from the rage and drama of Monday to something closer than kvetchy. It ended with not a bang but a whimper. Did Carlson sense that his schtick was less gaslight and more stomach gas and it couldn't have done more damage to himself and Fox "News" if it had planned that way? Did somebody at Fox tell him to stop? There certainly was no mistaking what Carlson did after bailing on 1/6: he had a reporter do the softest, squishiest, credulous report on Trump's promise that if elected everybody would get their own new "Freedom City" - and a flying car. The message was obvious: Trump heard about the "I hate him passionately" text and exacted retribution. But while Carlson bailed out, America piled on. Carlson was slammed by everybody from Ben Shapiro to Joe Biden. Liz Cheney attacked the possible new investigation of the 1/6 Commission by tweeting "bring it on" and four presidential ethicists asked the House to investigate the McCarthy/MAGA Congressmen/Carlson deal. B-Block (13:51) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Comer and Marjorie Traitor Greene are going to jail. Unfortunately we think they won't be staying. In Paste Eating news, CNN's boss tells his employees not to go for the "sugar high of ratings." He needn't worry about the ratings - there aren't any. (18:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jesse Watters thinks he can arrest Dr. Fauci. A new trick in high school book-banning: just check out all copies of the book you want to shadow ban. And the Texas state legislator pushing a secession referendum also wanted the death penalty for abortions and wanted a tax break for married straight couples. Then a reporter found out the legislator seems to have gotten his wife off a website that bills itself as an alternative to "mail order brides from Thailand and the Philippines." Ooops. C-Block (24:45) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Basil, in New York (25:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Somebody asked me the other day: "Where In The World Is Mitt Lauer?" And I said I didn't know, but I hoped it was somewhere unpleasant. Before the ugly violent stuff came out, everybody at NBC knew he was a dangerous manipulative vindictive jackass. One day I got a scoop he thought he deserved, so he tried to get me fired. We should have done more to stop him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 149: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Free advice for Rupert Murdoch: Fire Tucker Carlson - now. And Ingraham. And Hannity. Because between how the January 6 Video Gaslight Gambit failed and backfired and self-owned, and Round 3 of the Dominion Lawsuit Document Dump, it's gonna be him or them and history has proven again and again that it's ALWAYS him. Carlson's fraud was so bad, and angered so many, that Senator Thom Tillis said "It's bulls**t" and Mitch McConnell said Fox News made a mistake and half a dozen other Republicans ripped the network. And internally, no other Fox host said ANYTHING supportive, on the air or off, until Laura Ingraham finally hit McConnell back at 10 PM last night. And the Dominion 3rd Tranche may be the killer. Not only is there now a paper trail to Murdoch sharing info - maybe even a copy - of Biden's commercials with Jared Kushner. But in a phrase you will soon see on every political billboard everywhere, there's Carlson texting a Fox producer on January 4 2021: "We are very very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait. I HATE HIM PASSIONATELY." How much would you pay to charity for the privilege of showing Trump that text? B-Block (21:0) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Why are TVs in the US Capitol required to be tuned to Fox 'News?' Trump's genius plan to solve Ukraine: give it to Russia. Marjorie Taylor Greene talks about women who take testosterone what was that about every Republican accusation being an admission? (24:21) IN SPORTS: For the third time, the NHL (The National Hypocrisy League) has screwed up Pride Night. Is this a Russian problem? (28:52) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Before signing a deal to become "Sister Cities" make sure the other one exists. The UK's Prime Minister touts the nation's Modern Slavery (?) And poor Musk thought he was just mocking the differently-abled. Actually he was confirming he owed somebody $100 million. C-Block (35:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Four poor pups in Dallas (36:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A lot about Russia and Ukraine in this episode so time to tell the tale of my musical genius Great Grandfather. Ever heard the story of the guy who gave away the name "General Motors" for free? That was my Ukrainian Great Grandpa, Antony Zelensky, whose saving grace was: he TOLD that story on himself every day of his life!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 148: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: As he set out to gaslight his Gullibles into believing the January 6th video "proves" there was false flag, with "sight-seers" led astray by a few "hooligans," what was the ONE thing Tucker Carlson could NOT do? What, as the prospect of a $1,600,000,000 damage judgment against Fox loomed in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, did he need to avoid at all costs? Say something like "The 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy, given the facts that have since emerged about that election. No honest person can deny it." He RE-ENACTED FOX'S LIES FROM 2020 as documented in the Dominion depositions and texts. If that weren't good (bad) enough he also defamed Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. I guess they'll have to co-own the channel with Dominion. Now what? Does Rupert Murdoch throw Carlson overboard? Fire him to try to tamp down the Dominion Crisis AND the Cheney/Kinzinger crisis? How did Fox let him put this on? How did Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and the others not strangle Carlson into unconsciousness rather than let him do what he did? Carlson's shtick was unsurprisingly thin. But at least he added a catchphrase to the lexicon of lying and manipulation: "The Video Proves This." (NARRATOR: The video didn't prove this). B-Block (22:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Transgenderism eradicator Michael Knowles doubles down, Senator Mike Lee defends him, Adidas may burn Yeezy Shoes (26:44) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Never TWEET a QR code, Mr. Prime Minister. Speaking of, Boris Johnson nominates Dad for a knighthood. And Elon Musk needs two guards to escort him to the bathroom, fulfilling the old joke about the guy too stupid to relieve himself without the help of a committee. C-Block (32:55) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: August, in California (33:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we're talking Fox and Dominion and whether Rupert Murdoch is now going to scapegoat Tucker Carlson, how about the other guy he DID scapegoat, Lou Dobbs? 42 years ago Lou Dobbs' rumored messy personal life led directly to the start of my TV career at CNN.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 147: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Donald Trump is this close to declaring himself God. His announcement to his ever-grieved angry real-victim-here Cult of Karens -- "I AM YOUR RETRIBUTION" illustrates that even his eight-year long terrorist attack on this country had at least one more level to go. Trump has now imbued the 2024 GOP race with vengeance and vendetta. And a vote for Trump in 2024 is a vote for retribution and vengeance - and bloodshed. And thanks to a failed actor who looks disturbingly like the cartoon character "Quagmire" from "Family Guy," Michael Knowles, we now know the first targets of Trump's mob. "Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life, entirely." While Knowles tries the fascist trick of saying he never said transgender PEOPLE must be eradicated, most people have missed the key word in that hateful utterance. It's not "eradicated" it's "entirely," and it renders Knowles's hairsplitting meaningless. B-Block (16:45) IN SPORTS: One of the best of baseball's announcers, Dave Wills of the Tampa Bay Rays, has died suddenly, and the sport is grieving. (23:13) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Russian prime minister gets laughed at, a Florida Republican does something so dumb Newt Gingrich slams him, and Mr. Non-Opinion Journalism at Fox "News," Bret Baier, turns out to be just as bad as the rest of them. C-Block (30:48) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Brothers Brooklyn and Butter (31:49) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: One minute I was ruminating on the unappreciated beauty of the Hudson River as seen from a commuter train. The next they were prying me loose from the window I had become frozen to.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 146: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: As Rupert Murdoch prepares to scapegoat Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott for the Dominion Documents scandal, a reminder that no matter how hopeful we might be right now, Fox "News" isn't going to destroy itself! Here are ten steps to take to help kill the thing so that democracy may live. There are recommendations for actions by Democrats invited to appear as guests, for what the White House Correspondents Association and RTCA should do, what the Senate should do, what prosecutors should do, what media should do, what the network should do. Plus: there are three steps YOU can do at home to hasten the demise, including hurrying over to UnFoxMyCableBox-dot-com. Plus I will answer the question: How does Sean Hannity sleep at night (on a bed made out of money) and tell you that the man most responsible for Fox "News" existing today is, of all people, Rudy Giuliani. It's almost forgotten now, but what he did as Mayor of New York in October 1996 saved this godforsaken poisoner of this nation from vanishing almost before it began. B-Block (26:06) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Jim Jordan's "Weaponization" Committee is coming apart at the seams; DOJ says yes you can sue Trump over 1/6. But that doesn't mean you'll win, and Daniel Ellsberg says goodbye. (30:53) IN SPORTS: Did the New York Rangers' social media director abuse an LGBTQ fan because other LGBTQ fans complained when the Rangers screwed up Pride Night? And the ESPN offer of a true public service: a centralized place where you can find your game, no matter who's streaming it (35:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The NFL team where players say rats ran the practice facility; who would've guessed Marjorie Traitor Greene's press flak is an asshole; and the Florida legislator who wants to force bloggers who write about Ron DeSantis to REGISTER WITH THE STATE OR FACE HUGE FINES. C-Block (40:30) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: The only Thurber character who owns his own pet...Thunderstorm: "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 145: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The President must fire FBI Director Christopher Wray, and the Senate must conduct hearings into Fox "News" to see if it can be stopped and if the citizenships of Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch, and the others, can be revoked.  The FBI: The Washington Post's reporting on the FBI's attempt to shut down the investigation, then the search, and finally the prosecution in the Trump case requires nothing less than the immediate dismissal of the director - if we can get him off Fox Non-News for a moment - and most of the now-rogue FBI Washington Field Office. Agents and then the Bureau Chief believed Trump and his attorney, instead of their bosses, and the judge, and the Constitution. Fire everybody. Fox Non-News: Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries sent a searing six-paragraph letter to Murdoch et al. It demands they chose between "lying to their viewers" and "honest reporting." The money is in the former, and Rupert Murdoch made this decision in 1952. What is necessary is something to scare the crap out of Murdoch: charges against hm for an illegal contribution-in-kind to the Trump campaign, if Tucker Carlson shows any of the 1/6 video - and convening a hearing dragging these bastards before the Senate. B-Block (20:53) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: I got Senator Mike Lee's twitter account suspended briefly yesterday. So THAT happened. And boring as he is, Merrick Garland still managed to blow up Ted Cruz yesterday. (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Rep. Boebert forgets about them new states, Alaska and Hawaii; Rep. Donalds, who met with a 1/6 Seditionist INSIDE THE CAPITOL, and Ronda Santis, who has forgotten one detail in his scheme to dictate what Disney does and doesn't put in their movies and shows. C-Block (30:15) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Poor Magnus got pulled out of the NYC pound only to come down with pneumonia. (31:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A sports fan so ardent he used to wager on baseball spring training games AND do impressions of sportscasters, including me. It's the story of the day I got to meet the late great actor Walter Matthau.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 144: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Good news everyone! We don't have to worry about Kevin McCarthy turning over 44,000 hours of January 6 Video to Tucker Carlson. Because Tucker has promised Kevin that he won't use any of the sensitive stuff that could get congressmen or senators or Vice Presidents killed next time. And we know how we can trust Tucker Carlson! Just look at all those Carlson texts from the Dominion defamation suit! His word is the coin of the realm. Provided the realm in question is Russia. Perhaps never before in American history has their been such a pairing of Political Scum with Media Scum as McCarthy and Carlson. And McCarthy's response to the criticism of his unprecedented and indefensible act: "It almost seems like the press is jealous...He'll have an exclusive. Then I'll give it out to the entire country." And McCarthy's henchman in this sleazy nightmare turns out to be Barry Loudermilk, the Georgia Congressman caught ON the January 5-6 video giving at least one January 6th defendant a tour of security checkpoints. There are still steps the Biden Administration and the Democrats can do to stop this farce. It stops with ending access to all representatives of all NewsCorp employees, for the simple reason that Fox News and its cousins are NOT news organizations. I'm not holding my breath. B-Block (21:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The Fools on the Hill: Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene humiliate themselves during congressional hearings, while trying to play "gotcha" with people smarter than they are. (26:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Chris Licht again, this time for putting on an ex-Norfolk Southern lobbyist to comment on the Norfolk Southern disaster; How could you possibly misspell Jackie Robinson's name? And help us: NYC has elected a messianic theocrat as mayor. Eric Adams goes nuts - again. C-Block (31:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Dora and Lee, starved puppies in Arkansas (32:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The Fox News/NewsCorp perfidy is not limited to television. When the tv arm of the octopus is criticized and threatened, the Murdoch monster uses the print arms to try to strangle the opponent. When a right wing would-be terrorist sent fake anthrax to me and a dozen other liberals, the FBI asked me - and all news organizations - to keep it quiet just for a day. Murdoch's New York Post not only refused, but wrote the story concluding that the person to blame here was...me.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 143: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Rupert Murdoch showed Joe Biden's 2020 Presidential Campaign Commercials to Jared Kushner before they were public. This - the most startling of the second tranche of revelations from the Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit against Fox and NewsCorp - doesn't just violate electoral and journalistic ethics. It may be criminal - and it certainly should mean the metaphorical 'Death Penalty' for a dark, evil propaganda channel masquerading as a news organization. Fox News must be de-platformed and the company drive into bankruptcy. We can have democracy in this country, or we can have Fox News. We cannot have both. Fox is still in a position to do the damage outlined in the newest revelations (including, in essence, selling time on Fox News panels to Mike Lindell, and when its own researchers confirmed the crazy claims against Dominion were false, ignoring them and firing them) in part because in 2009 MSNBC and NBC cut a deal with Fox to circumscribe what news it could report about Fox, and what news Fox could report about MSNBC, NBC, and parent company GE. It's time to tell that nauseating story in full detail. B-Block (30:56) SPECIAL COMMENT: The 2009 NBC-Fox collusion began with conversations among then-NBC President Jeff Zucker and Roger Ailes of Fox, and included a threat by GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt to take MSNBC off the air, and the attempt to buy off Fox by having GE advertise on Fox Networks. C-Block (53:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The saga of NBC's deal to help Fox News stay out of the full glare of public criticism climaxed in a July dinner in the GE Chairman's Private Dining Room on the top floor of 30 Rock. It was a scene worthy of the movie "Network" - only they didn't wind up actually assassinating me - only symbolically.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.