laura ingraham

SERIES 2 EPISODE 118: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: His whores in the House of Representatives led by Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik have inadvertently admitted that Trump HAS been DISQUALIFIED from being president under the language of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. They have introduced a bill in the House declaring that Trump did not engage in insurrection and J.D. Vance did the same in the Senate and why does that sound SO FAMILIAR?

Oh, right! The final sentence of the 14th Amendment!

"Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.” 

No they’re not CALLING it that; they may not even understand that THAT is what it IS, but they have just introduced measures in the House and the Senate to legally or symbolically enact the Congressional override OF The Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment AS PROVIDED IN the The Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment. 

And to DO that you are admitting, explicitly or tacitly, that the 14thAmendment APPLIES TO TRUMP. Why declare him “not an insurrectionist” if it doesn’t matter whether anybody CALLS him an insurrectionist?

And the only reason you would actually INTRODUCE such a bill is if you A) were just told that the Supreme Court may very well agree that the Constitution is clear and Colorado is right and Trump is ALREADY disqualified and you had damn well better at least TRY to legislate him OUT of disqualification… OR – more likely - B) if you had just become convinced that all the other phony-baloney arguments saving Trump from disqualification like “he’s not an OFFICER” were falling apart and that this battle – in the Supreme Court, or in the legislature of every state of the union – is going to revert back to, is going to BOIL DOWN to, whether or not Disloyalty J. Trump “engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies” and you need to give your master something – anything – a fig leaf, a cheeseburger, with which to cover himself for the battle to come.

Maybe a diaper.

ALSO: The DC District Court not only voted unanimously against Trump's hallucination that there is "presidential immunity" but took 57 pages to tell him, thus leaving the Supreme Court almost no way to overrule them. The trial now could start as early as June 1 and should be done no later than October 20. 

House Republicans aren't just schmucks they're fail-schmucks. When they couldn't impeach DHS Secretary Mayorkas Greene blamed the Democrats for "hiding" their votes because of course nobody knows how many Democrats there are in the House. And President Biden did exactly what I suggested, pointed to the border deal, said the Republicans blew it up merely to serve Trump. And then, Nikki Haley agreed with him. 

B-Block (26:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham and Speaker Mike Johnson openly laugh at the idea of paying the members of the Border Patrol more. What WAS Marjorie Taylor Greene doing in the House Men's Room? Tucker Carlson is interviewing Putin because he thinks no other American reporters bothered to. Does this asshole know who Evan Gershkovich is?

C-Block (30:18) MUSICAL PREMIERE: Brian Ray and John Philip Shenale bring you the world premiere of our new Trump Trials Theme "91 Trombones"

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Title: Do We Need MORE Conservative Media to Counter the RINO Shills? Description: How many conservative Americans are still watching Sean Hannity thinking that he represents them? It's shocking that he and other Fox News hosts still have such large audiences considering they are, at best, controlled opposition. Outside of Tucker Carlson, the personalities at Fox News rate somewhere on the "RINO Shill" scale ranging from full-blown Uniparty Swamp spokespersons like Hannity to on-again, off-again conservatives like Laura Ingraham. It isn't just them. Talk radio was once a bastion of American First thought. Lately, it seems that far too many "conservative" show hosts have been echoing the Republican Establishment talking points and opposing America First patriots for the sake of keeping the status quo. We're seeing that play out in real time during the Speaker of the House battle in Congress as "Team McCarthy" keeps calling on his patriotic opposition to stand down. On today's episode of The JD Rucker Political Report, I focused on several issues that are being manhandled by conservative media, including the radio silence from right-leaning journalists regarding the stolen elections in Arizona. I also covered 12 things we need to watch in 2023 among other important topics. But the main focus throughout the show was whether or not I should add a new radio-only daily show to run on America Out Loud. We do well on Rumble, Brighteon, Bitchute, Substack, and other venues but there's a distinct need for talk radio to expand. By doing a separate show without video, I'll be able to address issues in a different way. The medium is not dead despite many claiming it is, especially with podcast networks helping to amplify both terrestrial and digital radio shows. That's why I want people to chime in. Let me know if this is a good idea. As editor at The Liberty Daily, I go through news feeds that include over 250 conservative and alternative news sources. I read every headline and tons of stories every day. This gives me a unique insight into the conservative media zeitgeist, and I must admit I haven't been impressed lately. While we have 10 million visitors a month at TLD, I still want to do much more. That's why I also launched Discern Report. The Liberty Daily is the "conservative alternative to Drudge Report." Discern Report is more like Revolver News, where Darren Beattie does a fabulous job with fewer stories than TLD. Both styles are desperately needed, and more Americans need to access them. By going with a radio-only show on top of my regular daily show, I'll hopefully be better able to break into more terrestrial radio stations. We are currently negotiating to put the show on three stations in Tennessee as well as one in northern California. Whether it's me or someone else, the old guard of conservative media needs to be replaced for the most part. Far too many American First patriots are still stuck with too few choices. They're forced to take in lukewarm conservativism from bombastic news outlets that are somehow able to be loud and milquetoast simultaneously. We need more voices, and I'm willing to volunteer mine. Please let me know what you think. If enough people call for it, we'll do it. https://jdrucker.com/talk Recorded: January 05, 2023

SEASON 2 EPISODE 95: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's historic, it's epic, it's unprecedented, it's just the start of a landslide of events in which the will of the nation to take every precaution against giving Trump the chance to turn us into his totalitarian, Hitlerian state will crash against a Supreme Court torn between serving its money-paying fascist masters, and enraging the public just enough to threaten its continued existence.

Plus, we've kinda buried the lede: the clock is already clicking on the Colorado State Supreme Court's verdict that the Disqualification Clause of the 14th Amendment does TOO preclude Trump from appearing on the state's presidential ballot (or its Republican primary ballot). Circumstances and printing deadlines give the United States Supreme Court just SEVENTEEN DAYS to overrule, or at least agree to hear an attempt TO overrule (and six of those days are Saturdays, Sundays, and/or Holidays).

Also the verdict? It came on an unlikely anniversary. It'll be wild.

JUST TO EMPHASIZE THE POINT HERE: Trump quadrupled down on his "destroying the blood" HItler rhetoric last night in Iowa, condemning immigrants. And he artfully denied he had ever read Mein Kampf (he's right; the book he kept by his beside in the '80s according to his first wife was "My New Order" - Hitler's favorite speeches). 

And thank you, Senator Tommy Tuberville. He's criticized Trump for NOT USING STRONG ENOUGH LANGUAGE against immigrants. Tommy lost too many games without a helmet.

B-BLOCK (28:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox Baseball commentator says he's not afraid to say Shohei Ohtani is the "most important signing" in Dodgers history. Huh. Woulda thought that Jackie Robinson guy was still more important. Lawyers dump a Trump co-defendant. Glenn Beck flunky Jason Whitlock pushes for ending votes for women.

C-BLOCK (35:35) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we’re talking about the Colorado Supreme Court and the 14th Amendment and the Conservatives and how they have had their way with this country for a quarter century, especially at the Supreme Court, maybe it’s time to mention the time I dated a conservative pundit who A) confirmed the vast right wing conspiracy postulated by Hillary Clinton, denying only that it was “vast” and B) was herself a former clerk to a Supreme Court Justice and C) who took me on our first date – of TWO – TO the Supreme Court where she arranged for me to sit… in Clarence Thomas’s chair.

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SEASON 2 EPISODE 65: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The likeliest explanation is that she said it in order to fool the cultists to think that there is no chance Trump could actually go to JAIL in Washington, Florida, New York, or Atlanta (or to fool Trump himself) but Trump's noted parking lot attorney Alina Habba has gone on NewsMax and insisted that she tells anybody who panics about the prospect that Trump will be arrested that "He's protected by Secret Service. Period. He's protected by Secret Service, number one...Number two, he did nothing wrong...Secret Service will always protect President Trump. That's the truth. They have to. Wherever he is. But it's not even something we think about." The NewsMax host then literally dares a judge to try to jail him. Did they literally present a passive-aggressive threat? Or just carefully phrased one to reassure the idiots that Trump, who is at great risk in four different courtrooms, is not at risk at all?

DEMENTIA J. TRUMP SCOREBOARD: He has gotten the day wrong again (and this time it's on videotape) AND gotten the year wrong - twice - while the time stamps of his posts indicate he's being plagued by insomnia. We can't ignore these little-for-Trump things. The bar has to be: if Biden did this, what would The Times, The Post, and the Networks say about him? Remember the polling: if both are thought too old, Biden wins in a landslide.

AND YOUR JOHNSON MAY NOT LAST: The 5th-String Speaker continues to pile up L's and the creepy factor continues to mount. Not only did he try to tie aid to Israel to cutting IRS investigation of wealthy tax cheats, but it turns out that as late as seven years ago he demanded that every candidate for office be subjected to a religious purity test - exactly the opposite of what the constitution says.

B-Block (25:03) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Senator Josh Hawley humiliates himself while trying to brand Holocaust survivor DHS Secretary Mayorkas as an antisemite. Wait, there are POPULAR Senators and Governors? And woo hoo, Elon Musk proves that you are safe in his Cybertruck if you are attacked by a squadron of medieval French archery. (30:29) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: My ex Kyrsten Sinema, followed by my ex Laura Ingraham, followed by... Dean Phillips. Who I don't even know. But - Harlan Crow DOES know him.

C-Block (36:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's nerve-wracking enough to be handed, at age 20, the home phone number of a very famous athlete and be told he's expecting your call and you have to interview him. When it gets interesting is when he picks up the phone and pretends to be a woman.

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SEASON 2 EPISODE 11: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: “Donald Trump cannot BE president – cannot run FOR president – cannot BECOME president – cannot HOLD OFFICE – unless two thirds of Congress decides to grant him amnesty for his conduct on January 6th." That’s from Will Baude, Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School, and member of the ultra-conservative FEDERALIST SOCIETY, and former clerk for Chief Justice Roberts. He was summarizing, for The New York Times, an article he and Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen will publish next year in the University of Pennsylvania law review.

They insist that there is no doubt Trump has triggered the disqualification aspect of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and that it should be applied automatically by State Secretaries of State. “Section 3’s disqualification rule may and must be followed – applied, honored, obeyed, enforced, carried out – by anyone whose job it is to figure out whether someone is legally qualified to office.” The Federalist Society constitutional scholars say it's automatic. If you put Trump on the ballot, you are breaking the law.

And as academic and theoretical and dilettantish as this all sounds, these guys think it should be made really real: “There are many ways that this could become a lawsuit presenting a vital constitutional issue that potentially the Supreme Court would want to hear and decide,” said Professor Paulsen. And Paulsen is a distinguished university chair and professor of Constitutional Law and Federal Courts at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. And Steven Calabresi, co-chairman of the Federalist Society, co-founder and co-chairman of the Federalist Society, says the Baude-Paulsen article is “a tour de force" that proves “Trump is INELIGIBLE TO BE ON the ballot, and each of the 50 state secretaries of state has an obligation to print ballots without his name on them,” unquote – or they may be SUED.

There could be enough to knock Trump off the ballot in individual states. And with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) having successfully sued to remove a January 6th insurrectionist from office in New Mexico, there is a guidebook to how to literally stop Trump before he starts.

Also: Jack Smith really was pushing a Rocket Docket. He wants the J6 trial to launch on January 2. Meanwhile Trump's lawyers are so stupid they think the 2021 insurrection was three-and-a-half years ago, and his apologists like Jon Turley think January 2, 2024 is 18 days before the inauguration that the rest of us seem to believe doesn't happen until a YEAR and 18 days later.

B-Block (23:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: In Iowa, Ron DeSantis literally phones it in. Senator Tommy Tuberville - of Florida? And when it doesn't work the fascists only have one play: yell louder. So Laura Ingraham says they MUST RUN ON HAVING REPEALED ROE-V-WADE. For once I agree with her! (27:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Unbanned Twitter QAnon loser has a new conspiracy and a new made-up source; Florida GOP County Chair allegedly plagiarized his university Honors Thesis from Wikipedia; And when Conspiracy Theories collide: the Antivaxxer "running" for POTUS is endorsed by the guy whose father claimed he assassinated the Antivaxxer's uncle.

C-Block (34:15) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: My father so loved "I Went To Sullivant" that he literally listened as I read it to him one last time - and only when I finished did he pass away. Now THAT'S an endorsement!

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EPISODE 240: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: One of Trump’s stochastic terrorists went to Barack Obama’s house to assassinate him. Anybody else notice this, or was it just me? And that a Washington judge was having a hard time last night finding an excuse to hold him without bail? Hold the WOULD-BE ASSASSIN without bail? And that Trump had doxxed Obama and finally found a sucker willing to do his bidding for him? AND park his van full of ammo and weapons a few blocks from Obama’s home. AND livestreamed himself threatening Jamie Raskin and Kevin McCarthy and oh he was going to take his van to Maryland to a federal facility containing a nuclear research reactor and blow up the van and the nuclear reactor and… I mean am I the only one seeing this anywhere?

Trump – crazier and more dangerous by the minute – is finally clearly and inextricably linked to a guy ready to answer Trump’s constant drumbeat to try to get one of his cultists to kill, without TELLING them to kill and thus leaving himself open to prosecution FOR killing or incitement-to-kill, and the Department of Justice remains asleep at the switch. The US Magistrate Judge in DC, Zia M. Faruqui managed to avoid having to release Trump’s figurative flying monkey – his name is Taylor Taranto – by keeping him in stir overnight and putting the onus on the government to answer the judge’s question: if the original charges against this would-be political murderer Taranto were simply left over trespassing accusations from January 6th, and the government wanted him held without bail because he’s a flight risk, what if the Judge finds he’s NOT a flight risk? Is it enough that threatening key Democratic and Republican congressmen and talking about going to a government nuclear reactor and blowing up your van next to – oh and responding to one former president’s publishing of another former president’s address by going there with a van full of weapons of death – is THAT quote “clear convincing evidence” of a danger to the public and even if it is, does that mean the judge can really hold him in jail?

Yeah, you guys let Taranto loose while the lot of you argue over how many angels can dance on the head of this proverbial pin, and, you know, if he goes back to Obama’s neighborhood or, I dunno, tries to ram the White House with his van while screaming “TRUMP IS GOD” as he does so, maybe then prosecutors can indict him for various vehicular and parking offenses.

B-Block (20:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Miles Taylor says Trump negotiated with Erik Prince to form his own private mercenary army to dispatch to Afghanistan and Venezuela; RFK needs money more than power; Steve Bass's new horizon; farewell to Dr. Frank Field and Marvin Kitman. (25:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Laura Ingraham wants to defund Jack Smith. How about demoting him to 7 PM? The warmest day since July 4, 122,977 BC. And GQ Magazine first neuters a piece that offended David Zaslav of Warner BROS, then kills the piece completely, then it turns out GQ's Editor is producing a film FOR WARNER BROS.

C-Block (34:10) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Angelina, L'il Bit and Prince in Georgia (35:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Nothing makes me smile more than a week with July 4th in the middle. It's because of that kind of calendar that I got my first network job just 44 years ago. The holiday ate up nearly all the business days they would've had to look for anybody besides me! (Plus that first broadcast from July 1979).

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EPISODE 239: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Jack Smith is reportedly ready to indict Trump on between 30 and 45 MORE counts. And he is preparing to indict several of Trump’s lawyers from the Fake Electors Scheme including (voluntary interview notwithstanding) Rudy Giuliani. And all that is reported by the same British newspaper that correctly nailed the Miami indictments two days before they were finally handed up. CNN adds that the main Trump campaign official in charge of the Fake Electors will take the immunity deal he was offered and testifying for the Special Prosecutor.

If the source for Britain's "The independent" is correct, Trump could be facing as many as 77 counts in a superseding indictment, although its sources are not clear if those charges would come in a superseding indictment in Florida or might be filed in a different jurisdiction (and we have already discussed the possibility of Trump being indicted in New Jersey for The Trump Confession Tape, plus all the crimes still on the table in D.C.). There is one intriguing new twist to the seemingly trivial question of where to indict. It will, quoting the story, “depend in part on whether they feel the Trump-appointed district judge overseeing the case against him in the Southern District of Florida, Aileen Cannon, is giving undue deference” to Trump. As to the hapless Giuliani, Feinberg’s source says that despite the ex-Mayor’s proffer offer to prosecutors, Rudy will quote “most definitely” face at least some charges from Jack Smith’s office, dating to his actions in the interval between the election and January 6th.

Also: Trump showed that secret map to the co-chair of a lobbying firm taking millions from at least three Chinese tech firms closely linked to the Chinese government. The “I should not be showing the map” map? The “so don’t get too close”map? Wednesday night ABC News identified the person Trump showed the classified map to as Susie Wiles, a Trump adviser and campaign official and his potential 2024 campaign chair. Last night the NEW YORK POST, of all news outlets, identified Susie Wiles as the co-chairman of Mercury Public Affairs, lobbying mouthpieces for at least three really bad, really dangerous Chinese firms including Alibaba – the online retailer and web services company that is actually partially owned BY the Chinese GOVERNMENT and which the Post says Susie Wiles’ company, Mercury, is STILL receiving payments from.

And the nightmare unfolds at the Supreme Court: Affirmative Action is struck down and although work-arounds are offered and President Biden lambasted the Fascist Theocratic Court's interference with the settled law of the nation and agreed that the court is not a "normal" one, when offered the cure, he shied away: "If we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it, maybe forever, in a way that is not healthy, that you can’t get back.”

President Biden? It's irredeemably politicized NOW. It's FOREVER. It is ALREADY not healthy. And we can't get it back.

(17:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The 5'7" Prime Minister of the UK violates the first rule of comparative height: NEVER give away 14 inches in a photo. Pirro, Ingraham, others at Fox mock Biden's use of CPAP machine despite own physical and emotional problems; New York Mayor Eric Adams must resign: he rages against a renters' advocate, compares her to a slaveowner, insults her repeatedly. She's an 84-year old woman who escaped the holocaust yet within seconds of her remarks he played the race card against her.

B-Block (28:06) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not only did Joe Biden spend most of his senatorial career fighting a reputation as a hothead, but when he decided to fight it he turned to advice about how to productively focus his anger to...me?

C-Block (39:10) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: I succumb to Bothsidesism! If I have a long Biden story, I must offer a long Trump story. And Thurber wrote one, and somehow managed to do it 15 years before Trump was born. When success is mistaken for character and the worst person in the world is mistaken for "The Greatest Man In The World."

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EPISODE 223: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: 

Donald Trump has been indicted on seven charges and the foremost of them is  a violation of the Espionage Act, specifically designed to send to prison for ten years, someone who was legally allowed to possess UN-classified National Defense Information, but refused to return it to the proper government authorities. It's 18 US Code 793-D. It fits the allegations against Trump better than any of his suits. It erases all his stated defenses and excuses, like Trump’s belief he owned a magic wand of declassification, and a new one posited in just the last few days that he was the president so of COURSE he had the right to possess defense information. It describes a crime involving information that ISN’T classified, which the defendant at some point HAD the right to possess. Trump lawyer James Trusty says even he hasn’t even seen the actual indictment but only had broad strokes painted to him, and mentioned the Willful retention part of the Espionage Act (confirming 18 US Code 793-D), multiple charges about false statements, conspiracy, and quote “several obstruction-based charges” including witness tampering.

At approximately 7 PM Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday June 8, 2023, his attorneys were informed by the Department of Justice by PHONE, and HE was informed by those attorneys, that Trump had been indicted in Miami on seven separate SEALED counts of criminal conduct none of them yet formally revealed to the public but clearly pertaining to the classified and defense documents he stole and kept in his home and office at Mar-a-Lago and reportedly including charges of Illegal Retention of National Defense Information, Conspiracy To Obstruct Justice, False Statements to government investigators. Seven counts. For context: the usual number of indictments for former presidents or current presidential candidates is… approximately… zero.

CBS News is reporting that for all his bravado, Trump reacted to the indictments with anger because Trump had quote “people in his inner circle who reassured him for months that it was very unlikely to happen.”

And this momentous day in history is capped by the worst home video ever recorded. It is a masterpiece of missteps. On the Rushmore of Rushed-Work. A new high in low. Trump posted it at 7:57, from his golf club in Bedminster New Jersey, he is standing in front of a large painting, seemingly depicting a White House office scene from the late 19th Century. Trump has been positioned directly under a spotlight of some kind so his Flock of Seagulls combover that he has honed to exactly his preferred shade of spray-on Gold Rust-O-Leum has been bleached white and it looks like a yarmulke that has slid forward towards his bright white eyebrows. He is also perfectly placed in front of the painting in such a way that a man shown standing in the painting now appears to be one foot tall and standing ON TRUMP'S SHOULDER. And were that not stupid enough, he is twirling his mustache like Snidely Whiplash just back from tying Sweet Nell to the train tracks. It's startlingly fitting. 

B-Block (22:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: SCOTUS shocks with voting rights decision that could tip House to Democrats; Chris Licht is gone but so are CNN's ad revenues; We cross our 10 millionth download! (25:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Why bash Gene Simmons because he knows about the politics of Northern Ireland? You can still taste the air on the Atlantic seaboard but Fox will still mock it all. And OF COURSE George Santos's lawyer went to the Capitol on January 6th!

C-Block (32:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Some James Thurber stories are funny and some are poignant and some are supernatural. But some also have plots worthy of Arthur Conan Doyle writing Sherlock Holmes. And such a one is "The Catbird Seat."

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EPISODE 205: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour has become the first on-air CNN journalist to openly criticize CNN's televising of last week's Trump Town Hall - and she did it in no less a venue than the Commencement Speech at Columbia's Journalism School. She was polite and diplomatic but still left little pieces of CEO Chris Licht spread all over the campus as she stealthily apologized for CNN, and one casual remark about how she "would have dropped the mike at 'nasty person'" completely erased the hapless moderator Kaitlan Collins 

Full coverage and recorded excerpts of Amanpour's speech to Columbia J-School grads.

B-Block (17:20) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Jamaal Bowman, evokers of the 14th Amendment, the National Archives and the DA in NY are among those who are reminding Democrats: THROW THE FIRST PUNCH.

C-Block (31:12) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Venice - who you helped save when he was still named "Venom" again pleads for your help (32:10) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The day I fell off a cliff making a Boston Market TV commercial: Eat Something! Well, I sure did.

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EPISODE 193: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: CNN's betrayal of journalism, democracy and America by giving Trump editorial control over part of its primetime next Wednesday has actually gotten worse. It is intended by Trump as a precursor to a "jump start" of his relationship with the new management of CNN, and it may be intended by CNN as a precursor to a pronounced lurch to the right in primetime - maybe even an 8 PM show featuring former Tucker Carlson employee Kaitlan Collins.

Barely anybody noticed that the start time for the New Hampshire "Town Hall" next week suddenly shifted from 9 PM EDT to 8 PM EDT and if you think that's trivial, think again. 8 PM is suddenly the Wild West of cable news. There are between a million and a million-and-a-half disaffected Tucker Carlson viewers looking for a new home and the signs are all there: CNN's Chris Licht wants their new home to be CNN. The network's primetime is in disarray (no CNN show is in the Top 25; the network just lost the 'ad demo' ratings to MSNBC for the first time in four years) and there would be no hesitation to shift Anderson Cooper from 8 to some later hour.

There's more bad news. CNN Political Director David Chalian, living in terror of losing another job to Republican complaints, again underscores the network's intent to treat Trump no differently than any other candidate - as if there were true in any universe. And while there are finally blowbacks from within CNN against Licht's looming disaster, CNN Contributor and January 6 victim Michael Fanone says he wrote an Op-Ed for CNN's website comparing giving Trump this time on CNN to giving a deranged person an AR-15 - and CNN won't publish it.

B-Block (15:53) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Another News/TV News story continues to unfold. Most people seem to have gotten over the visceral shock of seeing Carlson assert "It isn't how white men fight" and understood that it's not the comment that got him fired but the prospect of Carlson being forced to read it aloud in court (and sending shock waves through the Fox Board and the cable carriers from which Murdoch is trying to get more money). But I'm still hearing two questions: Who leaked the text (and all those Carlson outtake videos) and Why? The Who is obvious: it's Fox. The Why should be just as clear: to dirty Carlson up. And how do I know all this? Because it's been done to me by my immediate-previous employer SIX TIMES in my career: in radio, in local TV, twice in cable sports, twice in cable news. 

C-Block (28:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since we're on the subject of cable and TV News and Fox and dirtying things up: what I learned from going out on two dates with Laura Ingraham. The second of them was a quarter of a century ago, just about this time of year. I'll let you know when I recover from it.

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EPISODE 180: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Why did Fox wait until the last minute to offer to settle the Dominion defamation suit? I was once in a media lawsuit involving tens of millions and I have a guess: Fox must have known there was SOMETHING WORSE. There must've been a text or an email or something discovered late in the game, worse than Carlson saying he hated Trump passionately, and they were willing to buy their way out of it.

(10:44) THE CLARENCE THOMAS SCANDAL: So Mom is living rent-free, for LIFE, in the house the billionaire Republican activist bought from Clarence Thomas? And Harlan Crow's next mistake? He gave a sit-down interview to a Dallas newspaper and a completely bald and unconvincing account of his friendship with Justice Thomas. Asked if he'd still be Thomas's friend if he wasn't on the Supreme Court, Crow answered that it was a great question and HE DIDN'T KNOW. Ask what they talk about and he mentioned... his dog Otis.

(17:13) YOU ENDORSED WHO? Florida Congressman Greg Steube with a teeny weeny little Freudian slip. For the presidential nomination he has endorsed Donald J. Chump.

B-Block (21:50) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: As was joked on twitter: is Ron DeSantis trying to destroy DisneyWorld because he's not tall enough to go on the rides? And George Santos is running for re-election and has already lied in the press release! (25:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: I got a Republican insurrectionist who calls others "pedos" asking a 15-year old boy for nude videos; I got a Republican Congressman sending a link to a Holocaust-denying website in his official congressional newsletter; I got Republican County administrators dreaming of lynching African-Americans.

C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Elsa, in New York (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of the perversion of news that is Fox, I was there at the moment cable news went to hell in a handbasket. It was the night three of us (the others were the president of NBC News and the future president of MSNBC) found out that Princess Diana was dead.

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EPISODE 179: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: The Fox-Dominion Trial is delayed until Tuesday so the two sides can discuss settling out of court. DON'T SETTLE! I'm like everybody else who ever worked for Rupert Murdoch, dated Laura Ingraham, and was asked to co-host a show with Tucker Carlson! I need to see them all in the witness box, under oath, WEEPING.

Seriously, America could use the catharsis of an on-the-record verdict that Fox is not and never has been a news organization but even that isn't enough to destroy it. It needs juries doubling the demanded damages in this case AND Smartmatic to literally bankrupt the place (and survive appeals, including the Supreme Court, where Fox's lawyers think they'd win.

The late tea leaves aren't good. The delay and story of settlement discussions was broken by another Murdoch outlet, The Wall Street Journal, AND the promised Sunday night attack on Fox by Mark Levin against Dominion and the judge mysteriously never happened. We don't want them snatching peace from the jaws of war.

(8:20) Even when Clarence Thomas discloses something, he does it dishonestly. The latest revelations of his utter disregard for the Supreme Court's disclosure regulations. And could the vague precedent Richard Nixon used to force Abe Fortas to resign from SCOTUS in 1969 rather than face possible indictment, work with Clarence? In the interim, where is the Senate Judiciary hearing?

(16:25) Speaking of which: looks like the Texas judge in the appalling abortion pill ruling lied to the Senate during his confirmation process. Dick Durbin needs to get to work and get Matthew Kacsmaryk charged for perjury.

B-Block (22:51) IN SPORTS: The Oakland A's may not have much of a team, but they do provide every visiting team's television crew with the entertainment that is a live Possum living in the wall of the booth. And a wonderful farewell to Spencer, the official dog of The Boston Marathon (26:49) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: They'll be using Marjorie Barney Rubble Greene in a House campaign 1800 miles away. Turns out Nikki Haley's campaign doesn't know you can't count the same donation twice. And MAGA turns on Junior Trump. Remember, Buddy, this is how the French Revolution started.

C-Block (31:55) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Anastasia needs a foster near Devore, CA to save her life (32:55) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: There must be 10,000 ceremonial first pitches at baseball games all around the country every year, and 9900 of them must be bad. Here is the advice I was given 17 years ago that can save you from being one of the bad ones. Best of all, it involves CHEATING.

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EPISODE 162: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:41) Special Counsel Jack Smith is reportedly constructing a conspiracy charge - Conspiracy To Obstruct A Congressional Proceeding - against Trump. CBS News reported this once, buried it, doesn't seem to realize what it has.

If the charge hangs off the statute 18 US Code 1512 (c) (2) it carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and Robert Costa reported Smith is "looking into a possible conspiracy case against Trump and people around him trying to block the Congressional proceedings on January 6th" and says witnesses "are being asked about what kind of NATIONAL SECURITY LEVERS Trump was asking about in those final days." And Smith's other primary investigation - the Classified Documents Trump stole and were found at Mar-a-Lago - are still very much in play.

Meanwhile back at the ranch: Trump has now made all three possible statements about his possible indictment in the Stormy Daniels case: A) He's Being Arrested B) The Case Has Been Dismissed C) He Really Doesn't Have Any Idea. And Stormy Daniels herself breaks a MAGA critic in half. The MAGA-splainer tweets Trump wouldn't touch Daniels with a 10-foot pole; she slams back: no, he did it with a 3-inch pole. Which circles back neatly to the idea that Trump could go to jail with his national defense lever in his hand.

B-Block (15:37) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Israel falls apart and 16% of the nation protests fascist changes there; pay attention, we may have to protest this way here. And Elon Musk has only lost $24,000,000,000 on Twitter in five months but he can make it up if everybody buys a $7 checkmark. EVERYBODY. (21:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Marsha Blackburn attacks Democrats for trying to "ban" everything. She's tried to ban at least 7 things in the last two years; The John Fetterman's Been Replaced By A Body Double conspirators get a tremendous disappointment as Facts ruin their fun. And this is 57-dimensional chess: You know what the Russian Sputnik Covid vaccine was for? To put chips in Russians so they can be targeted by...American missiles? Huh?

C-Block (26:40) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY (27:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I can tell you from my own experience - four different times - that there's nothing fake about receiving "fake anthrax" in the mail, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did Friday after Trump's threat of "death and destruction."

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EPISODE 157: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:41): The "Lock Her Up" Crowd needs to speak to the manager! It thought it made itself perfectly clear! It's "Lock HER Up!" It CANNOT BE "Lock HIM Up!" Whether Trump is arrested tomorrow, next week, or never, the fascist orgasm of naked pusillanimous fear over the rumors Trump himself spread, is COMPLETELY WORTH IT.

But the general "wisdom" is complete nonsense. These are bullies who have never before been stood up to. They do not know what to do next but utter dark threats they have no means of acting upon. A "human moat" to encircle Trump? Crashing the economy? Storming key cities in the blue states? As my cousin by adoption and marriage Mike Tyson says, verybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth, and Trump's cult just got punched in the mouth.

And if a Trump arrest would guarantee him a "landslide victory" then the obvious Democratic nominee next year is Hunter Biden, on a chain gang with his father, Pelosi, Fauci, Hillary, and Vice President Harris. I understand we've all been worn down by eight years of this Fun-House-Mirrors-crap but relax. Gravity still works.

Honestly: the arrest thing isn't even the most important Trump story. What a Washington judge did Friday to attorney-client privilege with Trump and lawyer Evan Corcoran - and what she did with Corcoran's notes that must implicate Trump in perjury - is the real deal.

Plus there was an omen in Manhattan yesterday. The Proud Boys attacked "Drag Story Hour" - and got the crap kicked out of them.

B-Block (18:18) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Capitol Police confirm what I guessed at: they not only NEVER saw the Tucker Carlson January 6 Gaslighting Video but they were tricked by Speaker McCarthy and Rep. Bryan Steil into setting up a viewing station the cops thought was for Congressman but was actually for Fox "News." (20:49) IN SPORTS: The World Baseball Classic has a problem and it's not just the injuries to Jose Altuve and Edwin Diaz. Why insurance may cancel or reschedule the next WBC. And a bigoted NHL goalie ruins another pride night, but with a twist: He says he can't be a Homophobe because one of his best friends is Muslim. (29:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Kayleigh McEnany tries to say "Ingraham Angle" while guest hosting the show. It goes poorly. The weakest flex ever by a failed candidate for governor. And does Senator Marsha Blackburn sound like an escapee from every 1987 TV Magazine Show special on streamlining your style? That's because she IS - and there's proof.

C-Block (40:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Nacho in Brooklyn (44:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Now it's The New York Times burying CNN's Chris Licht. I'd just like to point out I started the Moby-Licht ball rolling, and I should tell you the tale of how when we worked together at MSNBC he was infamous as Joe Scarborough's henchman who tried to interfere with Maddow's show and Matthews' and mine and get preferential coverage for Joey Scars' buddies.

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EPISODE 153: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:42) SPECIAL COMMENT: Wait - what?

After a lurid week of claiming the entire January 6 Insurrection was just "peaceful sight-seers" disturbed by "hooligans" and insisting that the greatest conspiracy in the history of the country had been effected to transform the country and weaponize this and lie about that, Tucker Carlson suddenly, abruptly, completely and without explanation DROPPED THE JANUARY 6TH VIDEO STORY LAST NIGHT. No Jacob Chansley. No withheld video. No punish Liz Cheney. 

It's quiet. It's too quiet.

What happened? The Department of Justice released three videos implicating Chansley, putting him within feet of a Senator (probably Chuck Grassley) during mid-evacuation. A New York State Supreme Court judge let the OTHER voting machine company's defamation lawsuit against Fox proceed. For all we know, Rupert Murdoch called Carlson and said "shut your pie hole." But the sudden silence was almost universal. Seen a tweet from a Congressman lately? Even Elon Musk stopped trying to convince people - on Saturday.

B-Block (19:26) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Yes, you read right. South Carolina state representative introduces bill to institute death penalty for women who get abortions (be pro-life or we'll kill you). A (dubious) report CNN may fire Chris Licht before Labor Day (22:14) IN SPORTS: Garrapolo to Raiders; Bauer to Japan; Unknown Nicaraguan WBC star gets big league contract; in memory of Joe Pepitone. (25:43) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Wall Street Journal blames SVB failure on bank not having enough white guys; Trump talks about education, like he ever had one; and Ron DeSantis can do an interview AND throw a baseball while wearing high heels!

C-Block (34:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Sloane in California (35:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Sportscaster Gary Lineker beats the BBC. It ends his suspension, he keeps expressing his political opinions. Utter deja vu for me. In 2010 MSNBC suspended me for doing something I had the right to do, vowed to not pay me for months. That was Friday. By Tuesday I was back on the air and they owed me much, much more money than they had owed me on Friday.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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MSNBC’s Ari Melber hosts “The Beat” on Friday, February 24, and reports on Dominion's defamation lawsuit against Fox News, Mike Pence’s subpoena, and Ron DeSantis’ book ban. Plus, Melber is joined by comedian Godfrey and NBC’s Harry Smith for Fallback Friday. Brian Covey, Chai Komanduri, and Emily Bazelon join.

EPISODE 140: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN: 

A-Block (1:41) SPECIAL COMMENT: Speaker Kevin McCarthy has jeopardized the security of every Representative and every Senator and every staffer, and the continuity of the government of the United States, and thus the safety of every CITIZEN of the United States - and he has publicly admitted to, and boasted about, committing the act by which he did so. This is treasonous. Indict him and arrest him.

We now know that Tucker Carlson gained access to the January 6 video by the deception of McCarthy and/or House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil. Steil asked the Capitol Police for a video terminal on which he personally could look at the video. Without warning the Capitol Police, McCarthy unilaterally gave Carlson access to that terminal. 

And then, yesterday, McCarthy not only admitted "he released" the video - he began to FUNDRAISE OFF HIS DECEPTION.

"The Speaker," says Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, "is needlessly exposing the Capitol complex to one of the worst security risks since 9/11..it also risks exposing the carefully laid out and highly guarded plans for the continuity of government, intended to preserve our democracy in the event of an attack." These are not minor infractions, nor mere political conflicts.

This is treachery. McCarthy admits to doing it. Indict him and arrest him.

B-Block (15:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Special Counsel subpoenas Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner (Trump) and before you think they can't try to evade it by making up yet another ludicrous privilege: You forgot Nepo-Baby Privilege, didn't you? GOP still denies it wants to cut Social Security and Medicare while Paul Ryan and Mike Pence announce they want to cut Social Security and Medicare. And in the new Marist Poll Biden does what 100% of political pundits insisted he could not do. (18:18) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Never light a Pride Flag on fire. Especially not if there's a high-def surveillance camera right next to it. Sean Hannity endorses a plan to disenfranchise Sean Hannity. And Barney Rubble's Body Double explains why "black people" should be proud of Confederate statues.

C-Block (22:50) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Since I'm calling for the government to shut down "Fox News" I probably need to fess up: I went out on two dates with Laura Ingraham. Admittedly, it was a century ago, but I think you need to know. Besides which it's cheaper than telling it to a therapist. Thank you.

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