EPISODE 56: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The old sports phrase is "No Pain, No Gain." The political corollary is: "No Pain, No Gain - But No Brain, No Pain." This is proved by Herschel Walker's latest lie about the abortion he paid for (3:00) To say nothing of similar amazingly stupid deceit from Ron Johnson, Mike Lee, Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Elon Musk (5:53) And yet the World Championship may be held by the new U.K. government. Only on Day 41 and already a lame duck, Prime Minister Liz Truss doesn't show up to face the House of Commons and when someone jokes she's hiding under a desk, Truss's stand-in answers seriously "I can assure the house she is not under a desk." It's the longest sustained laughter I've ever heard a group of politicians express at another's expense, and it proves another theory that has been festering in me for decades (9:30) Namely: There are no adults.
B-Block (13:21) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Jeezy, in Los Angeles (14:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: In the Senate debates, Utah's Mike Lee is caught seditioning and Ohio's J.D. Vance is caught lying, denying he ever claimed Alex Jones was a more credible source of information than Maddow (17:13) IN SPORTS: Baseball's jinxed post-season continues: they wait two-and-a-half hours to rain out the Yankees and Guardians when it never really rained. Plus the format is a disaster: the National League World Series team will have either the 10th or 11th worst record in the sport. And more taxpayers get scammed for a new stadium, this time in Nashville. I'll repeat the simple explanation proving all the 'benefits' of new sports facilities are non-existent folderol. (22:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Liz Truss's Health Secretary vies with Trump's balls and Oz drinking his own urine (yeah, they "made" you) for the honors.
C-Block (26:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: It was 48 years ago this month that I was at Boston University, aged 15, destined for an internship with the Boston Celtics, and to my shock I was offered a full merit scholarship - a free ride. And then a stringy-haired disc jockey at the college radio station said the set-up was all wrong and I would be making a mistake if I went there. Impossibly, that gaunt, snarky kid of 20 was named Howard Stern.