Countdown with Keith Olbermann

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.