roger clemens

SERIES 2 EPISODE 131: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump under-performs AGAIN, falling short of polling by at least 17 points in the Michigan Republican. And Biden OVER-performs AGAIN, and so does the “Uncommitted” protest votes against his Israel-Gaza policy, in what is looking like a gentle rebuke in the Michigan Democratic Primary.

PLUS: LEGACY NEWS MEDIA BREAKTHROUGH: After Trump did a hatful of racisms at “The Black Conservative Federation Gala” (the one that had almost no blacks in attendance) the president of ABC News Kim Godwin emailed people on her staff that “these remarks are as racist as they come…mind blowing. Shocking.” Of course they were NOT shocking and Godwin’s response might as well have been “wait – Trump was PRESIDENT?” and that only underscores the media disconnect from the reality of the evil of Trump.

But the headline is: SHE TOOK A STAND and did so in writing, knowing it would get out. She may have had ulterior motives (she’s been dreadful and loathed on the job; she just got another boss appointed above her; she may be trying to stave off dismissal) and they don’t matter. She SAID something – more than her network or any network actually has. It may have moved the needle a bit.

COMER DOUBLES DOWN: You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. But he and Jim Jordan – with a new jailed witness replacing the first jailed witness as the primary asset in their President Biden Impeachment/Hunter Biden Smear – have doubled down. They’ve subpoenaed Merrick Garland for all of corrupt Special Counsel Robert Hur’s transcripts, videos, etc. If Garland were smart, he’d fight the subpoena and say that of course while it’s being ajudicated, Hur can’t say anything, especially to the House Committee.

Because it would be useful if Democrats began to ask themselves: What dirty trick would a Republican play in this situation. And apply it not just to a subpoena from some whores in Congress, but to the dilemma in Michigan and, for that matter, at the border. Which leads me to a modest proposal: Biden should steal the issue, control the process, and neuter Trump all in one fell swoop. HE should declare HE is building a wall and destroy the feeble minds of 60 million Trumpists.

A wall can be anything more than six inches long.

B-BLOCK (30:08) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Axios slams Biden for having note cards at fundraisers. Then, a Democratic county chairman finds pictures of the Axios reporter and the Axios co-founder reading questions off note cards. A NewsMax host thinks the DHS Secretary can be impeached for breaking not laws, but laws NewsMax would like to see. And besides the foolishness of the GoFundMe to pay the now $466 Million Trump owes the state of New York, there’s a hidden reveal inside the boilerplate at the website that suggests the right may have another “Moms For THAT Kind of Liberty Wocka-Wocka” scandal in its bed.

C-BLOCK (38:38) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Well we started on baseball spring training yesterday. Let’s continue. Let me tell you the tale of day I paid cash to suppress a story that would have rocked the World Series – the most famous pitcher in the game had gotten within inches of a fight, with a fan of his own team, and I made sure… nobody saw the video.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Sports the NEMO Way we bring the Mount Rushmore of the Boston Red Sox to the table for discussion. 

We thought we were going to do an episode on the greatest players of each decade starting with Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio.  It was more difficult to do that but we did compare several sets of Hall-of-Famers like Ted and Joe (we added in Stan the Man just for fun) as well as others from later decades.  Let us know if you'd like to hear us do more of this.

Thanks to all of our listeners and followers.  We appreciate you!

Watch on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/kEwMMmhfWmU

Please subscribe to our podcast and thanks for listening! If you have a suggestion for an episode please drop us a line via email at Almostcooperstown@gmail.com.  You can also follow us on Twitter/X @almostcoop or visit the Almost Cooperstown Facebook page or YouTube channel.  If you can please give the podcast 4 or 5 star rating!

www.almostcooperstown.com

While up in Maine a large immaculately organized binder was dropped off to Liam’s Grandfather in Maine to give to Liam. We weren’t told who gave it to him but, he knew Liam appreciated baseball cards and gave it as a gift.  

SEASON 2 EPISODE 59: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The cheese slid COMPLETELY off Trump’s cracker yesterday in Derry New Hampshire. The first time I ever posited in public that his brain doesn’t work right was in a piece and video I did for Vanity Fair in 2016 called Could Trump Pass A Sanity Test and I do NOT know what the next step DOWN is mentally or psychologically or intellectually from “no he could NOT pass a sanity test” but Trump has now reached it: one speech, five statements that in a previous century would have been examined as signs of possible tertiary syphilis. At Derry, New Hampshire he a) showed he believed he was the first person to ever realize the letters U and S could spell "us" AND "U.S;" b) revealed he didn't know why FDR "sat" while he spoke nor what the thing he sat in was called; c) confused Turkey's Erdogan and Hungary's Orban; d) claimed he was Nelson Mandela; and e) told his voters not to bother to vote.

Trump is crazy. Those who opposed him shied away from this in 2016 and 2020. It needs to be mentioned hourly, because it's not only true and an existential danger - it's also perfect politics - the ideal answer to the slanders about Biden's age and acuity. 

Also: Judge Michael Luttig is back with another Constitutional answer to a Trump lie. If you don't know about the Presidential Vesting Clause in Article 2, it's why Trump does NOT have "absolute immunity" for trying to overturn an election while president. Luttig and 23 other former Republican officeholders filed a brief with the court saying this was a threat to the integrity of all future elections.

Trump continues to dare a judge to jail him for violating his various gag orders; he's caught in a bald-faced lie about whether or not Sidney Powell ever worked for him; the essence of the Jack Smith case against him is proved by Kenneth Chesebro taking a plea deal; and is the Republican Civil War over the Speaker of the House (now extended to Trump pretending he's not trying to sabotage Tom Emmer) enough to send five Republicans to form their own third party and get one of their group elected by the Democrats as the new Speaker? Is the GOP about to re-enact what destroyed the Whig Party in 1852?

B-Block (24:04) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Have you ever heard of the poll that indicated a third of all Trump supporters favor building a wall along the Atlantic Ocean to keep Muslims out? (32:27) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Tom Cruise's agent discovers what "genocide" actually means. A Stanford neurobiologist concludes there is no free will. A Jim Jordan colleague says the naysayers got all those death threats because they deserved them. And why, yes that WAS a picture of Hitler on Michigan State's football stadium scoreboard. Why do you ask?

C-Block (38:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The anniversary was Sunday, and the story continues to unfold 23 years later. The night in the 2000 World Series when Mike Piazza's bat shattered and Roger Clemens picked up the barrel and threw it near (or at, if you were a Mets fan) Piazza. And I thought Clemens was throwing it at me. And then Piazza announced he was suing me. And then it turned out he'd threatened others. It's an amazing saga within a saga.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 2 EPISODE 48: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Kevin McCarthy is out and the ensuing chaos mainlines directly back to an episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." House Republican Radicals caught that proverbial car they’ve been chasing and they had no idea what to do next and they look like idiots.

The offing of Kevin McCarthy is actually notable only because a) it underscores the reality that the Republicans have bluster and the novelty of having opened the pandora’s box of fascism and political violence, but they don’t have any leaders, as evidenced by b) Kevin McCarthy saying on Face The Nation, two days before they garroted him, that he’d survive and they should bring it on and now THAT’S probably the worst political TV interview of our time leading to c) his epic news conference last night in which he compared Vladimir Putin to Hitler in the ‘30s and concluding with d) McCarthy’s only actual accomplishment – he lasted 270 days in the job, 12 more than the record holder for shortest speakership.

But the REAL lead story did not happen in Washington yesterday. WHICH idiot Republican becomes the NEW Future Former Speaker of the House doesn’t much matter. Because the real lead story is summarized by the phrase AND NOW WE WAIT. Turns out that not only did Judge Arthur Engoron issue a gag order against Trump hours after Trump attacked the clerk of Engoron’s court room yesterday, but he issued a gag order against Trump less than a day after he WARNED Trump’s lawyers informally that their client needed to shut the eff up. Engoron – of whom they should be installing a statue outside his courtroom – provided a template for Judge Tonya Chutkan for a week from next Monday.

Judge Engoron not only gagged Trump but HOW he gagged him ALSO gags Junior Trump and Eric Trump: “Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I won’t tolerate it. Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing or speaking publicly about any of my staff.” But this trial is ultimately MOST valuable because what we just saw was the if-then scenario play out. Engoron didn’t just issue a gag order because Trump attacked the clerk. He had WARNED HIM, via his lawyers, informally but clearly. And twelve hours later Trump did it anyway.

Memo to Judge Chutkan: Get ready to issue a gag order, on penalty of revoking his bail, after that hearing October 16. And get ready to have to enforce it.

B-Block (24:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Campbell Brown is out as news chief at Meta/Facebook so I have to tell you the story of how CNN's president was forced to hire her instead of me at 8 PM there (and they then all got fired), which in turn means I have to tell the story of how Brown's Meta colleague Anne Kornblut wound up being interviewed by the MSNBC anchor (Savannah Guthrie) her husband left her for. And then there's Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who apologized for referencing Nazis in the Republican Party. Why? There ARE Nazis in the Republican Party. We call them...Nazis.

C-Block (33:25) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It's baseball playoff time again, so it's time for me to tell you about the year I was in the middle of a riot in Fenway Park, and I overheard a Yankee swearing at his manager in the clubhouse, and I bought - and chose not to air - videotape of Roger Clemens nearly getting into a fistfight with a Yankee fan before Game 3 of the World Series.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 220: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:43) SPECIAL COMMENT: Mark Meadows has flipped. There’s no other possible conclusion. The news has been coming for weeks. Per ABC, Meadows testified to the Jack Smith Election Grand Jury and to the Jack Smith Documents Grand Jury. And 20 members of the Trump Secret Service detail - past or present - have been subpoenaed to testify in Washington, while we begin to see what the third Smith Grand Jury in Miami is all about and how it might but Trump on trial there and not Washington.

And this all explains both why Bloomberg reports "Trump representatives in recent weeks have asked for recommendations of Washington-based counsel with trial experience…” and why Trump returned yesterday to stochastic terrorism. He made social media posts demanding that his thugs "fight" to prevent his indictment, just as he told the crowd on the Ellipse in Washington on January 6 to "fight" the certification. Dismiss Trump and his animal-like cunning and destructive skill at your peril and OUR peril. What you think you see in him is as bad as you think it is. Or worse. Always. Always. On January 6th. Yesterday. The Truth Social posts were made in hopes of getting somebody to attack Jack Smith or Merrick Garland or someone. The Trump thinking is not complex: "This other creature is in my way. Destroy this other creature."

B-Block (17:32) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Chris Licht does it again! ANOTHER presidential town hall - and how you can get one. And when is the parade for CNN Media Reporter Oliver Darcy and will he be riding in the front car or in the metaphorical hearse in the back? (21:29) IN SPORTS: Don't delude yourself. The PGA golf tour did not "merge" with LIV Golf. It sold itself to the Saudis, after a year of talking about Saudi blood money. It's despicable and it will either be prevented, or it will destroy the sport in the country. And Jacob deGrom is probably out of baseball until Opening Day 2025. Who didn't see that coming? (26:59) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's condescending, proselytizing Harris Faulkner of Fox - and her pronouns are D,U,M,B.

C-Block (32:20) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Speaking of a great pitcher like Jacob deGrom, I actually once covered for one of the great pitchers of all-time, a jerk named Roger Clemens, because while he almost got in a fight with a fan during the World Series and I got it on tape, it truly wasn't his fault. So I suppressed the tape and cost myself a job.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 190: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: This. Is. Not. A. Game. The Democrats MUST have the decisive vote in The Senate Judiciary Committee so AT LEAST we can subpoena the central figures in the Supreme(ly Corrupt) Court scandals. There are now so many of them I've lost track.

And Dianne Feinstein isn't there to cast that vote.

A whistleblower tells us John Roberts's wife has been soliciting money from top law firms seeking to have cases heard by SCOTUS. Her role is headhunter/matchmaker for lawyers, and maybe it really is only that. But it sure as hell looks like a cross between Influence Peddling and Protection Money. There's new evidence of multiple exposures by Brett Kavanaugh at Yale and the primary alibi just dissolved over the weekend. Roy Wood Jr was half right: Clarence Thomas AND Neil Gorsuch are NFT's. And from beyond the grave Antonio Scalia is still corrupting the high court with "Scalia Law" - basically a club to get Conservative judges more money.

The tragedy here is: of all people, Sam Alito has inadvertently revealed how SCARED the justices are of exposure right now. It's the moment to strike. But we can't, because Durbin and Schumer don't have the guts to risk asking Feinstein to quit. Well then to hell with all of them: Move to EXPEL HER.

B-Block (20:38) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Reading the tea leaves in Jack Smith's Special Counsel investigation, they will use Mike Pence's BOOK to prove Trump knew fully he lost, and the $250,000,000 he raised afterwards to attack the election result was in fact massively large wire fraud. (24:11) IN SPORTS: Why did generic background NYC video on a playoff telecast yesterday include... The Twin Towers? And the passing of Mike Shannon, once seen leaping in hopes of catching a Mickey Mantle home run that was only 120 feet over his head. (27:21) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: HOW much has Twitter hate speech gone up under Elon Musk? Unironically, this Texas fascist wants to ban "Handmaid's Tale." And the OTHER Texas fascist mocks the execution-style murder of five people, and - as usual - disgraces himself.

C-Block (32:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Jacuzzi Bubbles, on death row in NYC (33:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: 39 years ago yesterday I began as a rookie TV sportscaster in Boston. Two weeks later, the Boston Red Sox brought up a rookie pitcher. And 16 years later that pitcher - Roger Clemens - picked up part of Mike Piazza's broken World Series bat and THREW IT AT ME (or at least that's what it looked like from where I was sitting in the Yankee dugout). The saga of the Clemens-Piazza bat, now approaching its 23rd year.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this Episode of Sports the NEMO Way we bring the right handed starting pitchers to the table for discussion. 

The Book of Joe Podcast begins with hosts Tom Verducci and World Series Champion Joe Maddon discussing the Winter Meetings getting underway in San Diego.  We learn what Dusty Baker did after winning the World Series and the motivation behind him.  Joe relives his journey of starting in baseball to winning a championship. Turning to the Winter Meetings, find out what happens throughout the day and how teams target players they're interested in.  The Mets sign Justin Verlander and will have to deal with the competitive relationship between Verlander and Max Scherzer. We have the MLB Hall of Fame Class for 2023 and Joe couldn't be happier for Fred McGriff getting the call.  Tom addresses the future of steroid users getting into the Hall of Fame with Joe bringing a team's perspective to the discussion. We wrap up with a 'Pick a Page' reading from the Book of Joe. Joe picks page 70...find out what story it is!

The Book of Joe Podcast is a production of iHeart Radio.

#fsr

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Book of Joe Podcast begins with hosts Tom Verducci and World Series Champion Joe Maddon discussing the Winter Meetings getting underway in San Diego.  We learn what Dusty Baker did after winning the World Series and the motivation behind him.  Joe relives his journey of starting in baseball to winning a championship. Turning to the Winter Meetings, find out what happens throughout the day and how teams target players they're interested in.  The Mets sign Justin Verlander and will have to deal with the competitive relationship between Verlander and Max Scherzer. We have the MLB Hall of Fame Class for 2023 and Joe couldn't be happier for Fred McGriff getting the call.  Tom addresses the future of steroid users getting into the Hall of Fame with Joe bringing a team's perspective to the discussion. We wrap up with a 'Pick a Page' reading from the Book of Joe. Joe picks page 70...find out what story it is!

The Book of Joe Podcast is a production of iHeart Radio.

#fsr

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.

Matt Harlan is a "troubadour of the first degree," and a guiding light in the Houston folk and Americana scene for over a decade. Harlan has released five studio albums and has earned a devoted following in the American Southwest and in Europe. He has won several songwriting awards and appeared in the film "For the Sake of the Song: The Anderson Fair Story." He joins us this episode to talk about his latest LP, "Best Beasts;" Texas music's enduring popularity in Europe; and the Houston music scene in the pandemic's aftermath.

Also this episode, a few thoughts on the Hall of Fame's Contemporary Baseball Era ballot and yes, Craig already has Albert Bell buyer's remorse.

"Catching On," "Best Beasts," and "Elevator Ride" appear courtesy of Matt Harlan. All rights are reserved to him. Thank you, Matt!

Matt Harlan's official website: https://www.mattharlan.com/
Matt Harlan on Bandcamp: https://mattharlan.bandcamp.com/. Support artists by purchasing their music at shows or via Bandcamp.
"Catching On" on You Tube: https://tinyurl.com/hooks126mhco
"Best Beasts" on You Tube: https://tinyurl.com/hooks126mhbb NOTICE: THE LYRICS ARE NOT SAFE FOR WORK
"Elevator Ride" on You Tube: https://tinyurl.com/hooks126mher

Hooks & Runs - www.hooksandruns.com
Hooks & Runs Discord -  https://discord.gg/tT8d3pVUsN
Hooks & Runs playlists on Spotify - https://tinyurl.com/hooksspotify
Hooks & Runs on TikTok -  https://www.tiktok.com/@hooksandruns
Hooks & Runs on Twitter - https://twitter.com/hooksandrunspc
Craig Estlinbaum on Twitter
Link: https://twitter.com/CraigEstlinbaum
Andrew Eckhoff on Tik Tok (it's true)
Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@hofffest
Rex von Pohl (Krazy Karl's Music Emporium) on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/people/Krazy-Karlz-Music-Emporium/100063801500293/ 
Theme Music: "Warrior of Light" by ikolics (Premium Beat)
This podcast and this episode are copyright Craig Estlinbaum, 2022, all rights reserved  

Alex, Curtis, and Jesse discuss the athletes they love to hate, and those they hate to love (4:27), e.g. Brad Marchand, Eli and Peyton Manning, Curt Schilling, and Tiger Woods. The conversation shifts to fantasy football as Curtis lays blame on the Indianapolis Colts for his underachieving fantasy football team (29:51). They guys take a moment to appreciate their friend Darcy's mad skills as a fantasy football GM (33:34), and then nominate their Schooler Awards for the most rookie play of the week (36:36). The trio give their Qualin Awards for most timely play of the week (41:34) before playing two NHL themed rounds of Start-Bench-Cut (Canadian Wingers & HOF Defensemen) (48:05).

EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

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

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 69: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

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

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

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 61: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Am I really seeing this WaPo headline? "ANTISEMITES RALLY AROUND KANYE WEST" (3:20) As Adidas (finally) and his agents, documentarians, and others drop him (3:35) LAPD ties the 405 Freeway sign to antisemitic leaflets in Westwood (4:36) And something worse looms in Colorado: a Republican member of the State Board of Education has gotten the word "Nazis" replaced by "National Socialist German Workers Party" and demanded America acknowledge "this party was and is a socialist party." (7:05) The next stage has begun: assume a MAGA will come up to you shortly and say "Hitler was a Democrat. The holocaust is your fault. Antisemitism is your fault. Kanye West is your fault." Let's walk through his history: appointed as Chancellor by Conservatives, arrested Communists, sent Union Leaders to concentration camps, dissolved the Social Democratic Party, had Goebbels say "National Socialism opposes liberalism...liberalism broke under the blows." (14:00) On a much much much lighter note: you'll never believe who's advertising for a Concept-to-Consumer Manager? Yep: Adidas and Kanye.

B-Block (17:09) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Jerry in Houston (18:08) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: DeSantis freezes when Crist asks him ONE debate question; Senate/Governor polling improves for Dems; Proud Boys embarrass Pen State; Coerce or Caress Walt Nauta and Kash Patel as Document investigators press hard for testimony (22:02) IN SPORTS: Yankees embarrassed themselves but Yankee fans did themselves proud saying helloooooo to Ted Cruz; my fellow giant-head Bruce Bochy gets a new gig; and you'll never believe who predicted, NINE YEARS AGO, that the next Phillies World Series appearance would be in 2022! (25:16) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Soccer's World Cup vies with Right Wing Troll Jacob Wohl and Justice Sam Alito - who gets pounded from beyond the grave by Ted Kennedy - for the honors.

C-Block (30:04) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I paid $2000 plus a game ticket for it, but I promised never to run exclusive video of a near-brawl between Yankees' ace Roger Clemens and a Yankees fan in the middle of the 1999 World Series. What happens when you have facts, but not truth? You side with truth - and your bosses start looking for a reason to fire you. It's quite a saga.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 58: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:45) The vague and underwhelming Bloomberg report about how prosecutors "believe there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump" was surprisingly specific about one thing: the timeline is developing in such a way that a Trump indictment for Obstruction of Justice and other crimes would not happen before the week of January 2 (or, as a longshot, the week of December 26) 3:44 Bloomberg also gives away its source: the FBI agents in "the team that's part of the classified records probe." (5:00) There is an unclear claim that DOJ would not indict ONLY on Obstruction. Does that mean they DO intend to file other charges, or that if they don't file others, they won't file ANYTHING? (6:50) DOJ may also be trying to time any announcement to fit appropriately with Trump's other legal vulnerabilities, like the Eastman Coup Georgia lying-in-a-sworn-statement case that just grew in seriousness yesterday (7:26) But probably not the E. Jean Carroll rape lawsuits for which Trump was deposed yesterday (8:00) Finally I take a wild guess at the EXACT date of any Trump indictment - at least the most appropriate date for it.

B-Block (12:37) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Griffin, in California (13:36) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: The voice of the Ohio voter is heard loud and clear: "F You, Fascist!" So why aren't Dem bigwigs funding Tim Ryan? And push comes to shove in the slowly-expiring British cabinet. No: Literally. Pushing and shoving in parliament. (17:31) IN SPORTS: You may think pitching decides baseball's post-seasons, but those with more homers won both games yesterday - and 101 of the last 120. And a Christmas Album allows me to confirm the ancient story of Philadelphia fans booing Santa Claus, plus New York fans throwing snowballs at Tiny Tim's tulips (21:11) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Sean Hannity tells us way too much of how his dad used to beat him with a belt. He and Jim Jordan compete with Kimberly Guilfoyle actually making a joke about Nancy Pelosi and plastic surgery. Can we start a GoFundMe to get Kim a mirror?

C-Block (27:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With Netflix's profits in the news, the story of the day I met with them to propose not just a streaming political show, but how they could own ALL of the TV News field in the post-cable future and all they could think about was...the necessity of putting on Italian subtitles.

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EPISODE 53: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:47) SPECIAL COMMENT: The FBI has an informant! He's told them that after the subpoena, Trump ordered the boxes of documents moved, and it was all captured on Mar-a-Lago security video! He's the equivalent of Watergate's "Deep Throat" - let's call him "Deep STORAGE"! (2:25) But why does this Washington Post scoop sound so familiar? BECAUSE THIS ISN'T THE FIRST TIME THIS STORY HAS BROKEN (3:08) On August 10th, we learned there was an informant inside Mar-a-Lago, and a subpoena for security tapes. (3:41) Let me replay the relevant part of the August 11th Countdown commentary, to show that we first encountered "Deep Storage" that moment, and that the only true element to this story is WHAT the informant told the FBI about - moving the boxes. (11:45) So now we ask: did the informant tell the FBI anything that hasn't been reported? Is there more than one informant? But if there's only "Deep Storage" - WHO IS IT!?!?!?

B-Block (15:52) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Thor, in North Central L.A. (16:53) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: That $1 Billion figure in the Alex Jones case? That's a minimum. There are still punitive damages to be assessed against the scum; Kanye does another "hate speech" and the show gets shelved; and another family member catches Herschel Walker in another lie. (19:54) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Joe Rogan, LibsOfTikTok and Tulsi Gabbard team up to battle Blake Masters and Chris 'I Used To Pretend To Have Hearing And Vision Problems To Explain My On-Camera Gaffes' Matthews - MSNBC's new undead guest - who trashed John Fetterman for using the equivalent of the text dictation device you have on your phone, during an interview.

C-Block (27:42) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: We're in the baseball post-season now so I'll take you back to 1999. In one Yankees-Red Sox series as the host and dugout reporter for Fox, I was a) caught in the middle of a bottle-throwing melee at Fenway Park b) witness to a Yankee swearing endlessly at a manager c) visited by a pitcher (El Duque Hernandez) who supposedly didn't speak English but had a bunch of questions about SportsCenter, and d) was also visited by Bernie Williams, who was so deeply worried that I might be a Red Sox fan that he kept asking me about it even while he was due in the on-deck circle during the 1st Inning.

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