EPISODE 197: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN

A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: The United States of America is under attack by armed right-wing terrorists. The Texas Mall Shooter and every other one bent on killing the enemies living in their own mind might as well be Suicide Bombers, might as well be ISIS. The receipts on the Texas Mall Shooter are a mile long; he was a right wing media addict, he dedicated a hate-filled online rant to the terrorist “Libs Of Tik Tok” twitter account, he posted screenshots from the right-wing troll Tim Pool, a swastika tattoo covered those parts of his body not covered by an SS tattoo, he signed one comment with the name Adolf Hitler, he repeatedly posed in NAZI uniforms, he used a meme that suggested there were only two routes for Latino children: identify as black or become a white supremacist, and his pedigree as a right-wing, MAGA-inspired, neo-Nazi, perpetrator of stochastic terrorism, fueled by every component of Donald Trump and his coalition of hate, could not possibly be more easily discovered, more rapidly verified, more thoroughly self-convicting… and the right completely denies any of it is true.

I do not know what we do about the people in a society who deny any fact that does not serve them. Only once before was the nation faced with a third or more of its citizens believing in things that were did not true and did not exist, and that was before and during the Civil War. 

It sounds like madness to ask WHEN we need to consider an Executive Order declaring a State of National Emergency about right-wing terrorism but look at Allen, Texas and imagine the dozens and hundreds and thousands of Mauricio Garcias out there, becoming literally connected to the Proud Boys and a just-slightly-more-evil version of CPAC or MAGA or another Trump front group and then ask yourself what other means EXIST for us to stop a pervasive nation-wide violent suicidal reality-denying cult that looks ahead to November 5th, 2024, and sees opportunity.

B-Block (15:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Tucker Carlson's first heavy-hitter, Conservative icon ally in his newly-launched war against Fox is BRETT FAVRE? Was he wearing pants? Junior Trump has never heard of Nick Fuentes? MSNBC took WHOSE money? (18:27) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: One of the great New York newscasters, John Roland, has died at the age of 81. By itself, his career is worthy of remembrance. But to me he in part defines my youth: when I was 19 I was an intern in his newsroom, as I witnessed for the first time the bloody transition from a mandarin of anchors, Bill Jorgensen, to Roland. It's an amazing story from an amazing newscast best remembered for the words with which it began: It's 10 PM. Do you know where your children are?

C-Block (37:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS, PART 2: The thing is, to get my one college credit for spending the summer of 1978 working on Channel 5's "The 10 O'Clock News" and a half-hour nightly prototype of SportsCenter called "SportsPage" (with the man who a year later would anchor the first-ever episode OF SportsCenter), I had to write a very long, very blunt paper on my experience. I thought only my supervisor at Channel 5 and my professor would see it. Then, she liked it so much she made 100 copies and distributed it to her staff. Suddenly everybody knew which reporter all the producers called "Ted Baxter" and which talent drank so much that he'd be dead within five years. I still have the paper: I'll read you the highlights.