July 14, 2023 • 46 mins
EPISODE 246: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN
A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT:
As a Democratic Congressman Jared Moskowitz asked the trillion-dollar question – whether James Comer and the House Oversight Committee and their indicted fugitive Chinese Agent witness have quote “jeopardized Homeland Security in their search to help Donald Trump” – Comer and Nancy Mace and Speaker McCarthy and all the others attached at the hip to Gal Luft have Thelma-And-Louised it and they are headed right for the edge of the Grand Canyon. Moskowitz is not yet trying to put this directly under noses AT Homeland Security but that is the inevitable outcome. Gal Luft is indicted as a Chinese agent and the Republicans are trying to use him to help Trump seize power. People go to prison for this.
Is Comer adroitly fleeing? Not at all. He has scheduled more hearings next week with his OTHER discredited "witness." And Speaker McCarthy has claimed the revelation that Luft was indicted 254 days ago only increases his credibility because it emphasizes that nobody indicted Hunter Biden and McCarthy is not a bright man, just a clever one, like the rat who can find the quickest way through the maze to the cheese that is the House Speakership.
NOW would be the right time to explain this whole thing with the Chinese Energy company C-E-F-C that Gol Looft and Hunter Biden did indeed both work for, and why the similarity ends there, and why it is a dangerous thing to let a man as dumb as Kevin McCarthy try to “extrapolate” anything when it is a remarkable development that in that sound bite you just heard Kevin McCarthy SPELL “C-E-F-C” correctly.
Here is the Kevin McCarthy-Jamie Comer “extrapolation.”
Hunter Biden consulted for the Chinese energy company C-E-F-C.
Thus to the Republicans that means he WORKED for C-E-F-C.
Thus to the Republicans that means he TOOK MONEY from C-E-F-C.
Thus to the Republicans that means the ENTIRE BIDEN FAMILY was BANKROLLED by C-E-F-C.
Thus to the Republicans that means the ENTIRE BIDEN FAMILY was BRIBED by C-E-F-C.
This is known not just as extrapolation but as sophistry. Let’s use the same process here about somebody else: ME.
I used to be the lead sportscaster Fox Sports News owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.
Thus to the Republicans that means I WORKED for Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.
Thus to the Republicans that means I TOOK MONEY from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.
Thus to the Republicans that means that the entire OLBERMANN FAMILY was bankrolled by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.
Thus to the Republicans that means that the entire OLBERMANN FAMILY was BRIBED by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.
I think I am spotting a subtle failure in the chain of logic here.
Plus: his name is Eli Crane and until yesterday his only claim to fame was founding a company that made shell casings into bottle openers. And then he explained he was NOT trying to keep "colored people" out of the military.
Ooops.
B-Block (22:40) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Hats of to Representative Kamlager-Dove of Los Angeles. She responds to Marjorie Barney Rubble Greene in the truly correct manner: by asking for Advil. And the Actors' and Writers' strikes are seen from many perspectives but have you ever considered it this way: L.A. is a factory town. 18 of every 1000 employees works IN entertainment and the other 982 want to. Southern California could be in a new Great Depression within six months. (35:02) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The congressman who reportedly edited his own wikipedia entries; the "Fresh Fit" podcast that suddenly added "Fuentes Holocaust Denial;" and Ohio State Representative Bob Young, who in two hours attacked his wife, his brother, and his brother's Storm Window. In the case of the latter - by crashing through it.
C-Block (41:00) FRIDAYS WITH THURBER: Only a master could combine obvious misogyny with equally obvious certainty that women were better than men. And James Thurber was a master, as you'll hear in his deadpan epic "Mr. Treble Gets Rid Of His Wife."
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. As
a Democratic congressman asked the trillion dollar question whether James
(00:26):
Comer and the House Overside Committee and their indicted fugitive
Chinese agent witness have quote jeopardized homeland security in their
search to help Donald Trump. Comer and Nancy Mace and
Speaker McCarthy and all the others attached at the hip
to Gallloft have Thelma and Louise the thing and they
(00:48):
are headed right for the edge of the Grand Canyon
at one hundred and fifty miles an hour because the
guy they let take the wheel is well. Congressman Jared
Moskowitz specified all this in some letters Wednesday, but he
really let loose on Comber's oversight commit yesterday at a
meeting of Comer's oversight committee.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
They want to talk about national security. That's why you
guys are here. It's about national security. But the main
committee is working with an indicted Chinese agent who does
business with the Iranian regime and is an illegal arms
dealer to Libya. All of this in order to own
Hunter Biden. That's how far they've stooped. Because I'm deeply
worried about whether the CCP has manipulated the information that's
(01:32):
been provided this committee through their foreign agent that they're
working with, and the information that they're then providing to
the American people. It's also a wife's in a letter
to the Chairman of Foreign Affairs and the Chairman of
Homeland Security, because I need to know, and the American
people need to know. They have a right to know
whether the indicted foreign agent, the illegal arms salesman who
is working within the Iranian regime, who is a supporter
(01:53):
of terrorism around the world, that's who they're working with.
We need to know whether they have jeopardized homeland security
in their search to help Donald Trump in his re election.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah. Fugitive gun running, embargo breaking, unregistered Chinese agent, bribing
Trump advisor. Well, when you put it that way, it's
a lot. Congressman Moscowitz is not yet trying to put
this directly under noses at Homeland Security, but that is
the inevitable outcome. Gall Looft is indicted as a Chinese
(02:26):
agent and the Republicans are trying to use him to
help Trump seize power. People go to prison for things
like this. It's a lot. In fact, it is enough
that even Lindsey Graham says, if the charge is accurate,
gall loofts quote activities as an unregistered foreign agent go
(02:48):
to his credibility. Now, look, even Lindsey Graham sees this.
But instead of fleeing from Galllooft and his puppet or
puppeteer James Comer and the Hunter Biden's scandal fairy tale
and fleeing from them faster than God himself fled from
the authorities after they arrested him in Cyprus, Kevin McCarthy
(03:10):
has hugged gall Loofed tighter than ever before to his bosom.
We have all seen that while McCarthy is clever, clever
like a rodent who has learned the quickest route through
the maze to get to the cheese that is the speakership,
McCarthy is really not a bright guy. He has concluded
(03:31):
that the revelation that his star witness in the supposed
case against Hunter Biden was indicted long before any of
this started last November, for bribing a Trump transition team official,
for illegally running guns, for acting as an agent for China,
for violating the embargo on Iranian oil, and the other
embargo on deals with Libya, that none of that undermines
(03:55):
the supposed case against Hunter Biden. This debacle, a debacle
that has now collapsed on top of Kevin McCarthy twice
this week alone, and for which Comer is now scheduled
another hearing next week so it can get undermined anew
and collapse on McCarthy yet again. Undermine what do you mean?
(04:15):
Undermine no?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
What about of mind case?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Because I he strapulated that even further the Justice Department
went after him. Well, Hunter Biden received.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
More money from the same forum.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
CEFC company that this informat did, much more, so it
only made.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
The case stronger that the government really didn't look into.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
A Hunter Biden.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Now would be the right time to explain this whole
thing with the Chinese energy company CEFC, that Galllooft and
Hunter Biden did, indeed do work for both of them,
and why the similarity ends there, and why it is
a dangerous thing to let a man as dumb as
(05:03):
Kevin McCarthy try to to quote extrapolate anything when it
is a remarkable development that in that SoundBite that you
just heard, Kevin McCarthy managed to spell CEFC correctly. Here
is the Kevin McCarthy, Jamie Comer. Extrapolation. You ready, Hunter
(05:24):
Biden consulted for the Chinese energy company CEFC. Thus, to
the Republicans, that means Hunter Biden worked for CEFC. Thus
to the Republicans, that means Hunter Biden took money from CEFC. Thus,
to the Republicans, that means the entire Biden family was
(05:45):
bankrolled by CEFC. Thus, to the Republicans, that means the
entire Biden family was bribed by CEFC. This is known
not just as extrapolation, but also as sophistry. Let's use
exactly the same extrapolation process here, but let's use it
(06:10):
about somebody else and one of their employers. Somebody else
is me. I used to be the lead sportscaster for
Fox Sports News, owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus,
to the Republicans, that means I worked for Rupert Murdoch
and News Corp. Thus, to the Republicans, that means I
(06:32):
took money from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus, to
the Republicans, that means the entire Olberman family was bankrolled
by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus, to the Republicans,
that means that the entire Olverman family was bribed by
Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. I think I am spotting
(06:52):
a subtle failure in the chain of logic there. In reality,
Hunter Biden consulted for this Chinese energy company SEC. There
is no evidence of any crimes, no evidence that he
had anything to do with the crimes that didn't happen.
(07:14):
There's no evidence that the projects CEFC paid him to
consult on even came to pass. There is no accusation
against him of crimes involving CEFC. If he did not
pay his taxes here on those consulting fees, well maybe
that's why he agreed to plead guilty to a charge
of not paying his taxes. This is the difference between
(07:39):
Hunter Biden and CEFC and gall Looft and CEFC. On
November first of last year, Galllooft was indicted for Paragraph
twelve of the Looft indictment spells it out. Gall looofed
brokered illegal arms deals on behalf of CEFC with Libya,
(08:00):
also with Kenya, also with the United Arab Emirates. Biden
no illegal arms deals on behalf of CEFC. And here's
another difference between Hunter Biden and CEFC and gall Looft
and CEFC. As paragraph thirteen of the Looft indictment spells
it out. Gall Loofed broke the embargo on Iran by
(08:23):
selling Iranian oil and claiming it was Brazilian oil on
behalf of CEFC. Hunter Biden No Iranian oil on behalf
of CEFC. No oil at all, all right, maybe in
some of those videos. And here's another difference between Hunter
Biden and CEFC and gall Loofed and CEFC. As paragraph
(08:47):
nineteen of the Looft indictment spells it out. Gall Looft
bribed a member of then President elect Trump's transition team
on behalf of CEFC. It is widely reported that the
member was former CIA director James Woolsey. Hunter Biden, no
Trump transition team. No Jim Wolsey. And here's one last
(09:13):
difference between Hunter Biden and CEFC and gall Loooft and CEFC.
As paragraph nineteen of the Loofed indictment also spells it out.
Gall loof not only bribed the guy, but he left
an email trail about it, quote advising that he had
successfully recruited individual one for a fee. Hunter Biden, no
(09:35):
email trail, No recruiting no individual, one no fee. So
Galllooft and Hunter Biden are exactly the same, and I
am currently being bribed by Fox News. This is correct
if you are Kevin McCarthy, or if you are a moron,
(09:59):
which is the same thing. McCarthy's lone defense here is
is Chairman Comber is even dumber than he is. Comber
has not just scheduled more hearings next week about this crap.
He has scheduled more hearings starring the other con man
in the case, the discredited so called whistleblower, Gary Shapley
(10:22):
and the unnamed second whistleblower, whom the Republicans have variously
described as and named. And I'm serious about this. I
am not making this part up. The second whistleblower the
Republicans have variously described as quote whistleblower X and quote
(10:42):
the gay Democrat.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
America is going to get to see who witness X is.
And I think that both witnesses are going to have
a wealth of information that they're going to be able
to share with the House Oversight.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Comedie, you got to hand it to Comber. The old
joke is so and so is not the kind of
man who sits around and acts rationally when the situation
calls for panic. But this situation, if you're Jamie Comer,
it calls for panic, and Jamie Comer is not panicking.
I suspect there are two explanations for this. Again, seven
(11:17):
and a half years ago, James Comer was Kentucky's Commissioner
of Agriculture and chairman of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission
and failed candidate just to get the nomination for governor.
This is not an experienced nor a smart guy. This
is not a guy experienced nor smart enough to know
(11:40):
that he indeed might just have fallen off the turnip truck.
Part two. I think Comer watches Fox News and Newsmax
and reads the New York Post, and rather than recognizing
all that as propaganda that he could utilize, he actually
(12:01):
he actually believes all of it. The primary creative writer
pushing the gallloof nonsense is a woman named Miranda Divine,
who only returned to this country to work for the
New York Post about three years ago. And it seems
as if the principal rationalization for her getting that jump
(12:23):
was Trump retweeted her. I swear she's washed out of
journalism on three continents, worked briefly in architecture and in textiles. Textiles. Wait,
Jamie Kmer was commissioner of HEMP. It's a scandal. No,
it's a coincidence, divine writes, as I said for The
(12:45):
New York Post, and thus forty years of experience tells
us what appears in that paper under her bioline must
be presumed to be false. As she once pushed the
claim that white genocide was underway in Australia, she now
pushes the claim that Hunter Biden quote had an FBI
mole named one Eye. And she breathlessly wrote that the
(13:09):
mystery Biden witness had quote gone missing in Cyprus. A
lot of the comber House gang. Then implied that the
witness had met with foul play, when, as we now know, no,
he jumped bail and ran away in Cyprus and became
a fugitive from international justice, as one does when one
(13:30):
is a whistleblower and truth teller. By the way, yesterday's
starlink announced its satellite access is now online in Cyprus,
and hey, maybe they could use it to find goll
Looft nine days ago. Just a coincidence. Here a video
made by Loofed inexplicably turned up in the hands of
Rando Divine. There are two other primary salespeople here. One
(13:55):
is actually a surprise, one is not. Maria Bartiromo responded
to the unseiling of the Loofed indictment Wednesday by interviewing
McCarthy and doing nearly all the talking. This guy who
tried to tell the FBI and the DOJ what he
knew about the transactions business deals in the Biden family,
now he had to go on the run, and it's
(14:16):
getting indicted. In point of fact, he had already been
indicted two one hundred and fifty four days earlier, which
Maria Bartiromo was either too stupid or too dishonest to
mention or both. But so far, the dumbest conclusion sold
(14:37):
to James Comer and other viewers and believers in this
crapola was made by Fox's John Roberts. Though he has
long since been assimilated into the Foxborg, little moments of
his days as an anchor on the CBS Evening News
occasionally escape, though not in this case. Here he sounded
(15:00):
much more like his even earlier incarnation, Hard Charging mid seven.
These top forty disc jockey JD. Roberts of Toronto Powerhouse
chul Chum Radio quoting JD quoting John. The fact that
he's been arrested now and is accused of being an
agent of China has got the left just having a
(15:20):
field day with this, saying it shreds his credibility. But
the flip side of that coin is, if you're accused
of being a foreign agent for China, you probably know
who else is working with them unquote, Because yes, John,
the first rule of international spycraft is that you make
(15:44):
sure that all of your international covert agents operating in
other countries know the names and addresses of all of
your other covert agents. And now number one on the
chumb top forty magic by Pilot, Thank you Pilot, Thank
(16:22):
you Nancy Host one PostScript to one of the themes here,
the helpful deterioration in the shall we say mental acuity
of the Republicans in Congress. Eli Crane is a freshman
Republican from the Arizona Second, and more importantly, he is
(16:43):
the co founder of bottle Breacher, That is a company
that manufactures bottle openers made out of the leftover casings
from fifty caliber shells and Congressman bottle Breacher yesterday he
made a little oopsy, He made a little oopsy on
the floor, his own fifty alibershell kind of went off prematurely.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Well, mister Chairman, though that was unbelievably inspiring. My amendment
has nothing to do with whether or not colored people
or black people or anybody can serve.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Okay, It has nothing to do.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
With cost and any of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
What we want to what we want.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
To preserve and maintain is the fact that our military
does not become a social experiment. We want the best
of the best. We want to have standards, the guide
who who's.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
In what unit, what they do.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
And I'm going to tell you guys right right now,
the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans, they
are not They are not doing this because they want
the strongest military possible. I hope my colleagues on the
other side can understand what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Being to be recognized, to have the words with colored
people for what purposes generally seek recognition. I'd like to
be recognized to have the words colored people.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Stricken from the record.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
I find it offensive and very inappropriate.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Congressman Eli, think of all the things I could have
called them. Crane, co founder of the company that makes
bottle openers out of leftover casings from fifty caliber shells.
In case you want to mix the thrill of Canada
dry ginger ale and the risk of blowing your own
limbs off, where do we find these idiots? Also of
(18:44):
interest here, you've heard the lead traditional news story. But
let me tell you this lead traditional news story from
a perspective you may not have heard before nor even considered.
What is probably the biggest factory town in this country
has ground to a halt now because two of the
(19:07):
three critical unions that represent virtually everybody in the factories
in the factory town have gone on strike. The factories
are film and television studios. The town is Los Angeles,
and eighteen out of every one thousand employees in Los
Angeles works in entertainment and the other nine hundred and
(19:30):
eighty two would like to la factory town on strike.
That's next, this discountdown. This is countdown with Keith over
(19:52):
postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks,
some predictions. Dateline Washington snark of the year. The first
voice you will hear is, of course, congress Woman Barney Rubble.
The second voice you will hear is Congresswoman Sidney Kamlegger
Dove from South la and she is our winner. We
(20:15):
should be defending our border and not proclaiming our righteousness
talking about a.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
War in Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
With that, mister speaker, I yield.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Gentlewoman's time has expired for the gentlewoman from California is recognized.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Thank you, mister speaker.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
I request an advill and yield one minute to Representative
Joe Wilson from South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Thank you, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlicker Dove. By the way of late,
every time I have seen or heard Marjorie Taylor, Barney Rubbell,
white supremacist Karen Green, I have thought one thing, and
one thing alone. A future headline appears in my mind
that reads, woman arrested for shoplifting steroids. Thank you, Nancy Faust.
(21:26):
Dateline Hollywood sag Aftra has gone out, the actors now
joining the writers on strike. There are very few regional
secrets in this country anymore, but this story includes one
of the ones I have discovered that people do not
know still exist, especially people who have never lived in
Los Angeles or Southern California. The secret is this, Los Angeles,
(21:49):
all of SoCal from the desert to the seat, to
all of southern California is a factory town and a
sag after strike following upon the heels of a WGA strike,
a Writer's guild strike, and in six on, Southern California
will sink into something akin to the Great Depression. Los
(22:11):
Angeles may be America's last factory town. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics says eighteen out of every one thousand employees
just in the stretch from LA to Long Beach, eighteen
out of a one thousand work in entertainment. But that
just scratches the surface. Those are the people with full
time jobs in entertainment. I lived for two and a
(22:35):
half glorious years at a great hotel in Santa Monica
called Shutters, and I knew all the staff, and I
knew all the waiters at both the great restaurants. And
a couple of years later, when I was back in town,
I went in there for breakfast, and my old pal, Steve,
the waiter, brought me my granola and said, I got it.
I got it. So the granola is on me. What
(22:57):
Steve had gotten was the role of the fake husband
to be in the reality show My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiance,
And for six weeks, Steve Bailey was the talk of
American television. And the next year I came back into
town and I went in for breakfast, and you know
who brought me my granola? Steve. I think Steve counts
(23:21):
as one of those full time entertainment people because he
banked that money and built on that to a full
time career as an actor. Other than the money he
spent on my granola that one time. Ninety eight percent
of the members of the Combined Screen Actors Guild at
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, ninety eight percent
do not make their living acting. For every Steve, there
(23:45):
are one thousand people who want just to be Steve.
All the other waiters envied Steve, and they were and
are vastly outnumbered by the people who want to write
for Steve. If the population of the La Megalopolis is
eighteen million, four hid two and forty two people, my guests,
(24:08):
of the number of residents who have never worked in
entertainment or business that serves entertainment or have never tried
to work in entertainment. Out of that eighteen million, four
hundred nine two hundred and forty two people, my guess
is the people who've never tried to be in entertainment,
those last two hundred and forty two. The first of
the two times I lived in LA, the CBS station
(24:33):
used to put the news on at four o'clock. They
went through till six point thirty, then they cut out
to Dan Rather's CBS Evening News, and they came back
at seven with another half hour of entertainment news, not
entertainment tonight, with reviews and celebrity features and goofy anchors.
Stock reports only about the stocks of Disney and Viacom
(24:54):
and CBS and all the rest, the news of the
newest vice president hired at Warner Brothers, which movies were
going into production, which were going into the theaters. No,
it's no glam, just the money. I find a New
York Times article from September nineteen ninety which is perfect
for my point because it was right in the middle
(25:15):
of my tenure at that CBSTV station in LA. And
the article is mind boggling because it can't have gotten
any better in the ensuing time. It's mind boggling unless
you ever lived in LA to which you would go, yeah,
I know. Thirty three years ago, the Writer's Guild, which
would register your screenplay or TV script so nobody could
(25:36):
steal it from you, was getting twenty five thousand new
unsolicited scripts per month. To keep from literally getting its
members buried under the avalanche of bad writing, it offered
a service to all writers and would be writers. Send
us a one page synopsis of your script, and we
will print it in a book which we will send
(25:58):
free to all the studios. It will be thousands of
pages long, and you have to pay us one hundred
dollars for that one page. They were swamped with more
one page synopsies than they could print. The stories and again,
these are the stories from nineteen ninety are not only timeless,
but they underscore that every genius idea you may ever
(26:21):
have had to get Tom Cruise or Benedict Cumberback to
look at your script was, to quote James Thurber, done
faster and Better by Robert Benchley in nineteen nineteen. In
nineteen ninety New York Times piece quoted a movie publicity
agent quote she had recently attended traffic school in Beverly Hills,
(26:45):
and the instructor, a police officer, had opened the session
by holding up several scripts he had written and asking
if there were any agents in the class. A prominent
psychologist used to spend her nights typing other people's movie
script because she would pick up some pointers as she
(27:06):
did this, and she got to meet the real writers
and pitch them her ideas. No script reader can ever
say how many, but they do all agree that not
a day goes by when they do not receive at
least one script from a prison inmate who includes his
number and it a'ate for his phone. At KCBS, my
(27:27):
lead sports producer used to write sitcom episodes in his
spare time, and his wife, who was the videotape editor,
she used to write drama episodes in her spare time.
It's easy, she told me, you got five minutes, I'll
show you how, and she was right. I then wrote
a movie script for a baseball book that I had enjoyed,
and I thought Jeff Daniels would have been perfect in
and I tried to buy the film rights to the book,
and then I said, what the hell am I doing.
(27:48):
I have a full time job here that pays half
a million a year. Let somebody else make a dollar.
Maybe the would be writer who said that or got
that dollar was the one I was thinking of. Upon
his arrival in LA he took a job as a
waiter in the commissary at Fox so he could hand
(28:12):
his scripts to the executives as they ate. Sounds stupid, right,
He's the guy who wound up editing that directory with
the one page synopsis of everybody else's script. He's full
time in entertainment. I'm making a point here that while
you may understandably see the joint WGA and SAG after
strikes as an annoyance, as a harshing of your binging
(28:35):
buzz in the months to come, understand it not only
shuts down eighteen out of every thousand people in LA
they don't have an income now, but eighteen more who
press their suits and dresses, and eighteen more who sell
them the computers they write their scripts on, and eighteen
more who service the cars or who run the subways
(28:58):
they take to work. It is a cataclysm. Los Angeles
is a factory town, and I mean the writers can
usually do other things to make some money. They can write.
But the actors. How many actors do you know? I
know a lot without a script. It often surprised me
(29:19):
that they could find their way to the restaurant we
were supposed to have dinner at. I won't mention any names.
I don't have an hour one last anecdote, and I
looked hard for the facts of this online. I can't
find it. Let me know if this rings a bell.
(29:40):
But at some point in the last thirty years, a
truly genius idea hit a small time filmmaker. He went
to one of LA's ubiquitous giant twenty four hour supermarkets.
Might have been a Ralph's, might have been a Hughes,
might have been the Hughes I used to live in
at Beverly and Dohaney might have been an alpha beta. There.
(30:02):
He set up his camera and his microphone, and he
simply stopped everybody who went in or came out, and
who would give him thirty seconds to answer his one
and only three word question. He asked young men and
old women with walkers. He asked mothers with babes in scrollers,
and punkers with purple hair, and gay couples and cops
(30:24):
and gay cops and everybody, and how I wish I
had this video or just the stats from it in
front of me. But the bottom line was more or
less this. His three word question that he asked hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of Angelino's in front of the
supermarket was simply, this, how's your screenplay? If I remember
(30:50):
it correctly, I believe that only one third of them
answered what screenplay? The other sixty six percent said, Oh,
it's in development at Warners, or just finishing the rewrite
tonight in fact, or yeah, it's here in my bag.
Do you know anybody? The lesson was, the lesson is,
(31:16):
the lesson to remember as a consumer during this strike,
is that these people he interviewed were from all the
different walks of life, except in southern California, for all
intents and purposes, all the different walks of life are
acting or writing or producing. Still ahead on Countdown Fridays
(31:54):
with Thurber and a story that is simultaneously misogynistic and
a confirmation of Thurber's belief repeated again and again in
story after story for sixty years that women were far
superior to men. Mister Prebble gets rid of his wife
first time for the Daily round up of the miss Grants,
morons and Dunnan Kruger Effect specimens who constitute today's worst
(32:19):
persons in the world. The Bronze New York State Congressman
Mike Lawler, who I am ashamed to say, reps my
high school haunts of Tarrytown, New York. The Daily Beast
reported this exclusively. They ever looked at a Wikipedia page,
like your Wikipedia page or some Wikipedia page that you
know something about, and wondered, what would happen if you
(32:39):
decided to correct some of the calumnies and the inaccuracies
and outright fictions that maybe are about you. Well, Mike
Lawler did twenty six times, and he made the edits.
One of them done by an account using the same
handle as Lawler's personal Facebook and YouTube accounts, was to
(33:02):
the notable alumni list on the Manhattan College Wikipedia page,
which suddenly listed Congressman Mike Lawler. Wikipedia warned Lawler in May,
you can't edit stuff about yourself surreptitiously. If you want
to put in a quote from yourself, that's one thing,
And then when he kept doing it, they apparently banned
him from making any more edits. At least that's what
(33:24):
the Daily Beast reports, So the congressman can't now add
in the fact that he's just made worse persons in
the world. So if some friend of his could do
it for him, I'm sure he'd appreciated. The runners up
the Fresh and Fit podcast, hosted by Likely closeted in
cells Myron Gains and Walter Weeks, which proclaims itself as
(33:44):
the voice of the man o sphere, covering quote, females
fitness in finances, well, make that females fitness and finances,
and Fuentes the Holocaust denier. Two episodes this month served
from why women deserve less to quote the JQ, that's
the Jewish question unquote, and the questions then became should
(34:10):
you try to cop a feel on a first date
or simply sit around with her and listen to their guest,
the anti Semiti scumbag Nick Fuentes, rant on about white
supremacy and how the Holocaust never happened and we'll never
once realized that most white supremacists don't consider Nick Fuentes
to be white. Surprised Nick, they'll get you yet anyway.
(34:31):
But our winner's state Representative Bob Young a beautiful downtown
Green Ohio, and Bob is a very active Republican. How
active you say, Summit County sheriffs say, Republican Bob was
arguing with a friend at his own home at one
am Friday, as one does. When Republican Bob's wife, Tina
(34:51):
stuck her hand up in front of his face to
quote stop him from yelling, well, Republican Bob grabbed her arm,
then hit her in the face with his open hand.
When she started to phone the police, he threw her
phone into the swimming pool. She then put the kids
in the car to get them out of there, and
she drove to her brother in law's house. That would
be Republican Bob's own brother. The brother in law protected
(35:14):
her and the kids, and when Republican Bob drove up,
his brother went outside to tell him he was not
welcome there, whereupon Republican Bob, quoting the police report, lowered
his shoulder and charged, and he went through the glass
storm door at about three am his brother's glass storm door.
(35:34):
Republican Bob has been charged on counts including domestic violence,
but no, he will not resign, even though the Republican
speaker wants him to because he's Republican Bob. Punchline. Republican
Bob is also being sued for one million dollars by
his Democratic opponent in the last election, a man named
Matt Shawnesty. Because Republican Bob ran ads falsely accusing Matt
(35:59):
Shawnesty of domestic violence.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
State Republican Bob Storm doors a specialty young to days
worst Person and.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
To the top of the Countdown and Fridays with Thurber,
and I am not going to dare suggest to you
that there isn't at least something misogynistic about mister Prebble
gets rid of his wife. But the ultimate point of
this short story, so masterfully crafted by James Thurber, this
matter of fact style that almost makes you forget you
are hearing about a man trying to murder his wife,
(36:50):
is in a larger sense, about the fact that women
are more successful than men. This story does not compliment men,
it does not compliment women, It does not compliment human beings,
but it is still marvelous. Preble Gets rid of his
Wife by James Thurber. Mister Prebble was a plump, middle
(37:13):
aged lawyer in Scarsdale, He used to kid with his
stenographer about running away with him. Let's run away together,
he would say, during a pause in dictation, alrighty, she
would say. One rainy Monday afternoon, mister Prebble was more
serious about it than usual. Let's run away together, said
(37:34):
mister Preble. Alrighty, said his stenographer. Mister Prebble jingled the
keys in his pocket and looked out the window. My
wife would be glad to get rid of me, he said.
Would you give you a divorce, asked the stenographer. I
don't suppose so, he said. The stenographer laughed, you'd have
(37:55):
to get rid of your wife, she said. Mister Preble
was unusually silent at dinner that night. About half an
hour after coffee, he spoke, without looking up from his paper,
Let's go down in the cellar. Mister Prebble said to
his wife, what far? She said, not looking up from
her book. Oh, I don't know, he said. We uh
(38:21):
never go down in the cellar anymore the way we
used to. We never did go down in the cellar
that I remember, said missus Preble. I could rest easy
the balance of my life if I never went down
in the cellar. Mister Preble was silent for several minutes.
Supposing I said, it meant a whole lot to me,
began mister Prebble, what's come over you? His wife demanded.
(38:45):
It's coal down there, and there's absolutely nothing to do.
We could pick up pieces of coal, said mister Prebble.
We might get up some sort of game with pieces
of coal. I don't want to, said his wife. Anyway,
I'm reading, listen, said mister Prebble, rising and walking up
(39:06):
and down. Why won't you come down in the cellar.
You can read down there as far as that goes.
There isn't a good enough light down there, she said.
And anyway, I'm not going to go down in the cellar.
You may as well make up your mind. That gee whiz,
said mister Prebble, kicking into the edge of a rug.
Other people's wives go down in the cellar. Why is
(39:28):
it you never want to do anything? I come home
worn out from the office, and you won't even go
down in the cellar with me. God knows, it isn't
very far. It isn't as if I was asking you
to go to the movies or someplace. I don't want
to go, shouted missus Prebble. Mister Prebble sat down on
the edge of a davenport. All right, all right, he said,
(39:54):
He picked up the newspaper again. I wish you'd let
me tell you more about it. It's it's kind of
a surprise. Well you quit harping on that subject, asked
missus Prebble. Listen, said mister Prebble, leaping to his feet,
I might as well tell you the truth instead of
beating around the bush. I want to get rid of
you so I can marry my stenographer. Is there anything
(40:16):
especially wrong about that? People do it every day. Love
is something you can't control. We've been all over that,
said missus Prebble. I'm not going to go all over
that again. I just wanted you to know how things are,
said mister Prebble. But you have to take everything so literally.
Good Lord, do you suppose I really wanted to go
(40:39):
down in the cellar and make up some silly game
with pieces of coal. I never believe that for a minute,
said missus Prebble. I knew all along you wanted to
get me down there and bury me. You can say
that now after I told you, said mister Prebble. But
it would never have occurred to you. If I hadn't,
(41:00):
you didn't tell me. I got it out of you,
said missus Anyway, I'm always two steps ahead of what
you're thinking. You're never within a mile of what I'm thinking,
said mister Prebble. Is that so I knew you wanted
to bury me the minute you got some foot in
this house tonight? Missus Prebble held him with a glare.
Now that's just plain damn exaggeration, said mister Prebble, considerably annoyed.
(41:25):
You knew nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact,
I never thought of it till just a few minutes ago.
It was in the back of your mind, said missus Prebble.
I suppose this filing woman puts you up to it.
You needn't get sarcastic, said mister Prebble. I have plenty
of people to file without having her file. She doesn't
(41:45):
know anything about this, She isn't in on it. I
was going to tell her you'd gone to visit some
friends and fell over a cliff. She wants me to
get a divorce. That's a laugh, said missus Prebble. That's
a laugh. You may bury me, but you'll never get
a divorce. She knows that I told her that, said
mister Prebble. I mean I told her I'd never get
(42:07):
a divorce. Oh, you probably told her about burying me, too,
said missus Prebble. That's not true, said mister Prebble. With dignity,
that's between you and me. I was never going to
tell a soul. You'd blab it to the whole world.
Don't tell me, said missus Prebble. I know you. Mister
(42:29):
Prebble puffed at his cigar. I wish you were buried
now it was all over with, he said. Don't you
suppose you would get caught, you crazy thing? She said,
they always get caught. Why don't you go to bed.
You're just getting yourself all worked up over nothing. I'm
not going to bed, said mister Prebble. I'm going to
bury you in the cellar. I got my mind made
(42:50):
up to it. I don't know how I could make
any plainer listen, cried missus Prebble, throwing her book down.
Will you be satisfied and shut up? If I go
down in the cellar. Can I have a little peace
if I go down in the cellar, Will you let
me alone? Men? Yes, said mister Prebble. But you spoil
it by taking that attitude. Sure, sure, I always spoil everything.
(43:14):
I stop reading right in the middle of a chapter.
I'll never know how the story comes out. But that's
nothing to you. Did I make you start reading that book,
asked mister Prebble. He opened the cellar door. Here you
go first, said missus Prebble, starting down the steps. It's
cold down here. You would think of this at this
time of the year. Any other husband would have buried
(43:35):
his wife in the summer. You can't arrange those things
just whenever you want to, said mister Prebble. That didn't
fall in love with this girl till late fall. Anybody
else would have fallen in love with her long before that.
She's been around for years. Why is it you always
let other men get in ahead of you, Mercy? But
it's dirty down here. What have you got down there?
I was going to hit you over the head with
(43:56):
a shovel, said mister Prebble. You were huh, said missus Prebble.
We'll get that out of your mind. You want to
leave a great, big clue right here in the middle
of everything. We're the first detective to come snooping around.
We'll find it. Come out in the street and find
some piece of iron or something. Something doesn't belong to you,
all right, said mister Prebble. But there won't be any
(44:18):
piece of iron in the street. Women always expect to
pick up a piece of iron anywhere. If you look
in the right place, you'll find it, said missus Prebble.
And don't be gone long, don't you dare stopping at
the cigar store. I'm not going to stand down here
in this cold cellar all night and freeze, all right,
said mister Prebble. I'll hurry and shut that door behind you.
(44:41):
She screamed after him. Where were you born in a barn?
Mister Preble gets rid of his wife by James Thurber.
(45:06):
I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank
you for listening. Here are the credits. Most of the
music arrange produced and performed by Brian Ray and John
Phillips Shanelle. They are the Countdown musical directors. Guitars based
and drums by Brian Ray, all orchestration and keyboards by
John Phillip Shanelle, produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections
have been arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed.
(45:28):
Sports music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two, written
by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical comments
by Nancy Fauss. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our
announcer today was my friend Stevie van Zant. Everything else
was pretty much my fault. Don't forget Countdown now also
available on YouTube. Subscribe there as well as here, give
(45:48):
your self options. Let's countdown for this the nine hundred
and twentieth day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against
the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest him
again while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is Monday,
though I'm going to warn you if the news continues
this light, I might give myself a two and a
(46:10):
half day weekend and just do headlines on Monday and
a bunch of things I promised not to tell. We'll see.
There'll be something on Monday. Bulletins is the news warrants
till then. I'm Keith Olderman. Good Morning, good afternoon, good night,
and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production
(46:33):
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, Visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio. As
a Democratic congressman asked the trillion dollar question whether James
(00:26):
Comer and the House Overside Committee and their indicted fugitive
Chinese agent witness have quote jeopardized homeland security in their
search to help Donald Trump. Comer and Nancy Mace and
Speaker McCarthy and all the others attached at the hip
to Gallloft have Thelma and Louise the thing and they
(00:48):
are headed right for the edge of the Grand Canyon
at one hundred and fifty miles an hour because the
guy they let take the wheel is well. Congressman Jared
Moskowitz specified all this in some letters Wednesday, but he
really let loose on Comber's oversight commit yesterday at a
meeting of Comer's oversight committee.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
They want to talk about national security. That's why you
guys are here. It's about national security. But the main
committee is working with an indicted Chinese agent who does
business with the Iranian regime and is an illegal arms
dealer to Libya. All of this in order to own
Hunter Biden. That's how far they've stooped. Because I'm deeply
worried about whether the CCP has manipulated the information that's
(01:32):
been provided this committee through their foreign agent that they're
working with, and the information that they're then providing to
the American people. It's also a wife's in a letter
to the Chairman of Foreign Affairs and the Chairman of
Homeland Security, because I need to know, and the American
people need to know. They have a right to know
whether the indicted foreign agent, the illegal arms salesman who
is working within the Iranian regime, who is a supporter
(01:53):
of terrorism around the world, that's who they're working with.
We need to know whether they have jeopardized homeland security
in their search to help Donald Trump in his re election.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah. Fugitive gun running, embargo breaking, unregistered Chinese agent, bribing
Trump advisor. Well, when you put it that way, it's
a lot. Congressman Moscowitz is not yet trying to put
this directly under noses at Homeland Security, but that is
the inevitable outcome. Gall Looft is indicted as a Chinese
(02:26):
agent and the Republicans are trying to use him to
help Trump seize power. People go to prison for things
like this. It's a lot. In fact, it is enough
that even Lindsey Graham says, if the charge is accurate,
gall loofts quote activities as an unregistered foreign agent go
(02:48):
to his credibility. Now, look, even Lindsey Graham sees this.
But instead of fleeing from Galllooft and his puppet or
puppeteer James Comer and the Hunter Biden's scandal fairy tale
and fleeing from them faster than God himself fled from
the authorities after they arrested him in Cyprus, Kevin McCarthy
(03:10):
has hugged gall Loofed tighter than ever before to his bosom.
We have all seen that while McCarthy is clever, clever
like a rodent who has learned the quickest route through
the maze to get to the cheese that is the speakership,
McCarthy is really not a bright guy. He has concluded
(03:31):
that the revelation that his star witness in the supposed
case against Hunter Biden was indicted long before any of
this started last November, for bribing a Trump transition team official,
for illegally running guns, for acting as an agent for China,
for violating the embargo on Iranian oil, and the other
embargo on deals with Libya, that none of that undermines
(03:55):
the supposed case against Hunter Biden. This debacle, a debacle
that has now collapsed on top of Kevin McCarthy twice
this week alone, and for which Comer is now scheduled
another hearing next week so it can get undermined anew
and collapse on McCarthy yet again. Undermine what do you mean?
(04:15):
Undermine no?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
What about of mind case?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Because I he strapulated that even further the Justice Department
went after him. Well, Hunter Biden received.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
More money from the same forum.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
CEFC company that this informat did, much more, so it
only made.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
The case stronger that the government really didn't look into.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
A Hunter Biden.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Now would be the right time to explain this whole
thing with the Chinese energy company CEFC, that Galllooft and
Hunter Biden did, indeed do work for both of them,
and why the similarity ends there, and why it is
a dangerous thing to let a man as dumb as
(05:03):
Kevin McCarthy try to to quote extrapolate anything when it
is a remarkable development that in that SoundBite that you
just heard, Kevin McCarthy managed to spell CEFC correctly. Here
is the Kevin McCarthy, Jamie Comer. Extrapolation. You ready, Hunter
(05:24):
Biden consulted for the Chinese energy company CEFC. Thus, to
the Republicans, that means Hunter Biden worked for CEFC. Thus
to the Republicans, that means Hunter Biden took money from CEFC. Thus,
to the Republicans, that means the entire Biden family was
(05:45):
bankrolled by CEFC. Thus, to the Republicans, that means the
entire Biden family was bribed by CEFC. This is known
not just as extrapolation, but also as sophistry. Let's use
exactly the same extrapolation process here, but let's use it
(06:10):
about somebody else and one of their employers. Somebody else
is me. I used to be the lead sportscaster for
Fox Sports News, owned by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus,
to the Republicans, that means I worked for Rupert Murdoch
and News Corp. Thus, to the Republicans, that means I
(06:32):
took money from Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus, to
the Republicans, that means the entire Olberman family was bankrolled
by Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Thus, to the Republicans,
that means that the entire Olverman family was bribed by
Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. I think I am spotting
(06:52):
a subtle failure in the chain of logic there. In reality,
Hunter Biden consulted for this Chinese energy company SEC. There
is no evidence of any crimes, no evidence that he
had anything to do with the crimes that didn't happen.
(07:14):
There's no evidence that the projects CEFC paid him to
consult on even came to pass. There is no accusation
against him of crimes involving CEFC. If he did not
pay his taxes here on those consulting fees, well maybe
that's why he agreed to plead guilty to a charge
of not paying his taxes. This is the difference between
(07:39):
Hunter Biden and CEFC and gall Looft and CEFC. On
November first of last year, Galllooft was indicted for Paragraph
twelve of the Looft indictment spells it out. Gall looofed
brokered illegal arms deals on behalf of CEFC with Libya,
(08:00):
also with Kenya, also with the United Arab Emirates. Biden
no illegal arms deals on behalf of CEFC. And here's
another difference between Hunter Biden and CEFC and gall Looft
and CEFC. As paragraph thirteen of the Looft indictment spells
it out. Gall Loofed broke the embargo on Iran by
(08:23):
selling Iranian oil and claiming it was Brazilian oil on
behalf of CEFC. Hunter Biden No Iranian oil on behalf
of CEFC. No oil at all, all right, maybe in
some of those videos. And here's another difference between Hunter
Biden and CEFC and gall Loofed and CEFC. As paragraph
(08:47):
nineteen of the Looft indictment spells it out. Gall Looft
bribed a member of then President elect Trump's transition team
on behalf of CEFC. It is widely reported that the
member was former CIA director James Woolsey. Hunter Biden, no
Trump transition team. No Jim Wolsey. And here's one last
(09:13):
difference between Hunter Biden and CEFC and gall Loooft and CEFC.
As paragraph nineteen of the Loofed indictment also spells it out.
Gall loof not only bribed the guy, but he left
an email trail about it, quote advising that he had
successfully recruited individual one for a fee. Hunter Biden, no
(09:35):
email trail, No recruiting no individual, one no fee. So
Galllooft and Hunter Biden are exactly the same, and I
am currently being bribed by Fox News. This is correct
if you are Kevin McCarthy, or if you are a moron,
(09:59):
which is the same thing. McCarthy's lone defense here is
is Chairman Comber is even dumber than he is. Comber
has not just scheduled more hearings next week about this crap.
He has scheduled more hearings starring the other con man
in the case, the discredited so called whistleblower, Gary Shapley
(10:22):
and the unnamed second whistleblower, whom the Republicans have variously
described as and named. And I'm serious about this. I
am not making this part up. The second whistleblower the
Republicans have variously described as quote whistleblower X and quote
(10:42):
the gay Democrat.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
America is going to get to see who witness X is.
And I think that both witnesses are going to have
a wealth of information that they're going to be able
to share with the House Oversight.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Comedie, you got to hand it to Comber. The old
joke is so and so is not the kind of
man who sits around and acts rationally when the situation
calls for panic. But this situation, if you're Jamie Comer,
it calls for panic, and Jamie Comer is not panicking.
I suspect there are two explanations for this. Again, seven
(11:17):
and a half years ago, James Comer was Kentucky's Commissioner
of Agriculture and chairman of the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission
and failed candidate just to get the nomination for governor.
This is not an experienced nor a smart guy. This
is not a guy experienced nor smart enough to know
(11:40):
that he indeed might just have fallen off the turnip truck.
Part two. I think Comer watches Fox News and Newsmax
and reads the New York Post, and rather than recognizing
all that as propaganda that he could utilize, he actually
(12:01):
he actually believes all of it. The primary creative writer
pushing the gallloof nonsense is a woman named Miranda Divine,
who only returned to this country to work for the
New York Post about three years ago. And it seems
as if the principal rationalization for her getting that jump
(12:23):
was Trump retweeted her. I swear she's washed out of
journalism on three continents, worked briefly in architecture and in textiles. Textiles. Wait,
Jamie Kmer was commissioner of HEMP. It's a scandal. No,
it's a coincidence, divine writes, as I said for The
(12:45):
New York Post, and thus forty years of experience tells
us what appears in that paper under her bioline must
be presumed to be false. As she once pushed the
claim that white genocide was underway in Australia, she now
pushes the claim that Hunter Biden quote had an FBI
mole named one Eye. And she breathlessly wrote that the
(13:09):
mystery Biden witness had quote gone missing in Cyprus. A
lot of the comber House gang. Then implied that the
witness had met with foul play, when, as we now know, no,
he jumped bail and ran away in Cyprus and became
a fugitive from international justice, as one does when one
(13:30):
is a whistleblower and truth teller. By the way, yesterday's
starlink announced its satellite access is now online in Cyprus,
and hey, maybe they could use it to find goll
Looft nine days ago. Just a coincidence. Here a video
made by Loofed inexplicably turned up in the hands of
Rando Divine. There are two other primary salespeople here. One
(13:55):
is actually a surprise, one is not. Maria Bartiromo responded
to the unseiling of the Loofed indictment Wednesday by interviewing
McCarthy and doing nearly all the talking. This guy who
tried to tell the FBI and the DOJ what he
knew about the transactions business deals in the Biden family,
now he had to go on the run, and it's
(14:16):
getting indicted. In point of fact, he had already been
indicted two one hundred and fifty four days earlier, which
Maria Bartiromo was either too stupid or too dishonest to
mention or both. But so far, the dumbest conclusion sold
(14:37):
to James Comer and other viewers and believers in this
crapola was made by Fox's John Roberts. Though he has
long since been assimilated into the Foxborg, little moments of
his days as an anchor on the CBS Evening News
occasionally escape, though not in this case. Here he sounded
(15:00):
much more like his even earlier incarnation, Hard Charging mid seven.
These top forty disc jockey JD. Roberts of Toronto Powerhouse
chul Chum Radio quoting JD quoting John. The fact that
he's been arrested now and is accused of being an
agent of China has got the left just having a
(15:20):
field day with this, saying it shreds his credibility. But
the flip side of that coin is, if you're accused
of being a foreign agent for China, you probably know
who else is working with them unquote, Because yes, John,
the first rule of international spycraft is that you make
(15:44):
sure that all of your international covert agents operating in
other countries know the names and addresses of all of
your other covert agents. And now number one on the
chumb top forty magic by Pilot, Thank you Pilot, Thank
(16:22):
you Nancy Host one PostScript to one of the themes here,
the helpful deterioration in the shall we say mental acuity
of the Republicans in Congress. Eli Crane is a freshman
Republican from the Arizona Second, and more importantly, he is
(16:43):
the co founder of bottle Breacher, That is a company
that manufactures bottle openers made out of the leftover casings
from fifty caliber shells and Congressman bottle Breacher yesterday he
made a little oopsy, He made a little oopsy on
the floor, his own fifty alibershell kind of went off prematurely.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Well, mister Chairman, though that was unbelievably inspiring. My amendment
has nothing to do with whether or not colored people
or black people or anybody can serve.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Okay, It has nothing to do.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
With cost and any of that stuff.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
What we want to what we want.
Speaker 5 (17:25):
To preserve and maintain is the fact that our military
does not become a social experiment. We want the best
of the best. We want to have standards, the guide
who who's.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
In what unit, what they do.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
And I'm going to tell you guys right right now,
the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans, they
are not They are not doing this because they want
the strongest military possible. I hope my colleagues on the
other side can understand what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Being to be recognized, to have the words with colored
people for what purposes generally seek recognition. I'd like to
be recognized to have the words colored people.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Stricken from the record.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
I find it offensive and very inappropriate.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Congressman Eli, think of all the things I could have
called them. Crane, co founder of the company that makes
bottle openers out of leftover casings from fifty caliber shells.
In case you want to mix the thrill of Canada
dry ginger ale and the risk of blowing your own
limbs off, where do we find these idiots? Also of
(18:44):
interest here, you've heard the lead traditional news story. But
let me tell you this lead traditional news story from
a perspective you may not have heard before nor even considered.
What is probably the biggest factory town in this country
has ground to a halt now because two of the
(19:07):
three critical unions that represent virtually everybody in the factories
in the factory town have gone on strike. The factories
are film and television studios. The town is Los Angeles,
and eighteen out of every one thousand employees in Los
Angeles works in entertainment and the other nine hundred and
(19:30):
eighty two would like to la factory town on strike.
That's next, this discountdown. This is countdown with Keith over
(19:52):
postscripts to the news, some headlines, some updates, some snarks,
some predictions. Dateline Washington snark of the year. The first
voice you will hear is, of course, congress Woman Barney Rubble.
The second voice you will hear is Congresswoman Sidney Kamlegger
Dove from South la and she is our winner. We
(20:15):
should be defending our border and not proclaiming our righteousness
talking about a.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
War in Ukraine.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
With that, mister speaker, I yield.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Gentlewoman's time has expired for the gentlewoman from California is recognized.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
Thank you, mister speaker.
Speaker 4 (20:28):
I request an advill and yield one minute to Representative
Joe Wilson from South Carolina.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Thank you, Congresswoman Sydney Kamlicker Dove. By the way of late,
every time I have seen or heard Marjorie Taylor, Barney Rubbell,
white supremacist Karen Green, I have thought one thing, and
one thing alone. A future headline appears in my mind
that reads, woman arrested for shoplifting steroids. Thank you, Nancy Faust.
(21:26):
Dateline Hollywood sag Aftra has gone out, the actors now
joining the writers on strike. There are very few regional
secrets in this country anymore, but this story includes one
of the ones I have discovered that people do not
know still exist, especially people who have never lived in
Los Angeles or Southern California. The secret is this, Los Angeles,
(21:49):
all of SoCal from the desert to the seat, to
all of southern California is a factory town and a
sag after strike following upon the heels of a WGA strike,
a Writer's guild strike, and in six on, Southern California
will sink into something akin to the Great Depression. Los
(22:11):
Angeles may be America's last factory town. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics says eighteen out of every one thousand employees
just in the stretch from LA to Long Beach, eighteen
out of a one thousand work in entertainment. But that
just scratches the surface. Those are the people with full
time jobs in entertainment. I lived for two and a
(22:35):
half glorious years at a great hotel in Santa Monica
called Shutters, and I knew all the staff, and I
knew all the waiters at both the great restaurants. And
a couple of years later, when I was back in town,
I went in there for breakfast, and my old pal, Steve,
the waiter, brought me my granola and said, I got it.
I got it. So the granola is on me. What
(22:57):
Steve had gotten was the role of the fake husband
to be in the reality show My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiance,
And for six weeks, Steve Bailey was the talk of
American television. And the next year I came back into
town and I went in for breakfast, and you know
who brought me my granola? Steve. I think Steve counts
(23:21):
as one of those full time entertainment people because he
banked that money and built on that to a full
time career as an actor. Other than the money he
spent on my granola that one time. Ninety eight percent
of the members of the Combined Screen Actors Guild at
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, ninety eight percent
do not make their living acting. For every Steve, there
(23:45):
are one thousand people who want just to be Steve.
All the other waiters envied Steve, and they were and
are vastly outnumbered by the people who want to write
for Steve. If the population of the La Megalopolis is
eighteen million, four hid two and forty two people, my guests,
(24:08):
of the number of residents who have never worked in
entertainment or business that serves entertainment or have never tried
to work in entertainment. Out of that eighteen million, four
hundred nine two hundred and forty two people, my guess
is the people who've never tried to be in entertainment,
those last two hundred and forty two. The first of
the two times I lived in LA, the CBS station
(24:33):
used to put the news on at four o'clock. They
went through till six point thirty, then they cut out
to Dan Rather's CBS Evening News, and they came back
at seven with another half hour of entertainment news, not
entertainment tonight, with reviews and celebrity features and goofy anchors.
Stock reports only about the stocks of Disney and Viacom
(24:54):
and CBS and all the rest, the news of the
newest vice president hired at Warner Brothers, which movies were
going into production, which were going into the theaters. No,
it's no glam, just the money. I find a New
York Times article from September nineteen ninety which is perfect
for my point because it was right in the middle
(25:15):
of my tenure at that CBSTV station in LA. And
the article is mind boggling because it can't have gotten
any better in the ensuing time. It's mind boggling unless
you ever lived in LA to which you would go, yeah,
I know. Thirty three years ago, the Writer's Guild, which
would register your screenplay or TV script so nobody could
(25:36):
steal it from you, was getting twenty five thousand new
unsolicited scripts per month. To keep from literally getting its
members buried under the avalanche of bad writing, it offered
a service to all writers and would be writers. Send
us a one page synopsis of your script, and we
will print it in a book which we will send
(25:58):
free to all the studios. It will be thousands of
pages long, and you have to pay us one hundred
dollars for that one page. They were swamped with more
one page synopsies than they could print. The stories and again,
these are the stories from nineteen ninety are not only timeless,
but they underscore that every genius idea you may ever
(26:21):
have had to get Tom Cruise or Benedict Cumberback to
look at your script was, to quote James Thurber, done
faster and Better by Robert Benchley in nineteen nineteen. In
nineteen ninety New York Times piece quoted a movie publicity
agent quote she had recently attended traffic school in Beverly Hills,
(26:45):
and the instructor, a police officer, had opened the session
by holding up several scripts he had written and asking
if there were any agents in the class. A prominent
psychologist used to spend her nights typing other people's movie
script because she would pick up some pointers as she
(27:06):
did this, and she got to meet the real writers
and pitch them her ideas. No script reader can ever
say how many, but they do all agree that not
a day goes by when they do not receive at
least one script from a prison inmate who includes his
number and it a'ate for his phone. At KCBS, my
(27:27):
lead sports producer used to write sitcom episodes in his
spare time, and his wife, who was the videotape editor,
she used to write drama episodes in her spare time.
It's easy, she told me, you got five minutes, I'll
show you how, and she was right. I then wrote
a movie script for a baseball book that I had enjoyed,
and I thought Jeff Daniels would have been perfect in
and I tried to buy the film rights to the book,
and then I said, what the hell am I doing.
(27:48):
I have a full time job here that pays half
a million a year. Let somebody else make a dollar.
Maybe the would be writer who said that or got
that dollar was the one I was thinking of. Upon
his arrival in LA he took a job as a
waiter in the commissary at Fox so he could hand
(28:12):
his scripts to the executives as they ate. Sounds stupid, right,
He's the guy who wound up editing that directory with
the one page synopsis of everybody else's script. He's full
time in entertainment. I'm making a point here that while
you may understandably see the joint WGA and SAG after
strikes as an annoyance, as a harshing of your binging
(28:35):
buzz in the months to come, understand it not only
shuts down eighteen out of every thousand people in LA
they don't have an income now, but eighteen more who
press their suits and dresses, and eighteen more who sell
them the computers they write their scripts on, and eighteen
more who service the cars or who run the subways
(28:58):
they take to work. It is a cataclysm. Los Angeles
is a factory town, and I mean the writers can
usually do other things to make some money. They can write.
But the actors. How many actors do you know? I
know a lot without a script. It often surprised me
(29:19):
that they could find their way to the restaurant we
were supposed to have dinner at. I won't mention any names.
I don't have an hour one last anecdote, and I
looked hard for the facts of this online. I can't
find it. Let me know if this rings a bell.
(29:40):
But at some point in the last thirty years, a
truly genius idea hit a small time filmmaker. He went
to one of LA's ubiquitous giant twenty four hour supermarkets.
Might have been a Ralph's, might have been a Hughes,
might have been the Hughes I used to live in
at Beverly and Dohaney might have been an alpha beta. There.
(30:02):
He set up his camera and his microphone, and he
simply stopped everybody who went in or came out, and
who would give him thirty seconds to answer his one
and only three word question. He asked young men and
old women with walkers. He asked mothers with babes in scrollers,
and punkers with purple hair, and gay couples and cops
(30:24):
and gay cops and everybody, and how I wish I
had this video or just the stats from it in
front of me. But the bottom line was more or
less this. His three word question that he asked hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of Angelino's in front of the
supermarket was simply, this, how's your screenplay? If I remember
(30:50):
it correctly, I believe that only one third of them
answered what screenplay? The other sixty six percent said, Oh,
it's in development at Warners, or just finishing the rewrite
tonight in fact, or yeah, it's here in my bag.
Do you know anybody? The lesson was, the lesson is,
(31:16):
the lesson to remember as a consumer during this strike,
is that these people he interviewed were from all the
different walks of life, except in southern California, for all
intents and purposes, all the different walks of life are
acting or writing or producing. Still ahead on Countdown Fridays
(31:54):
with Thurber and a story that is simultaneously misogynistic and
a confirmation of Thurber's belief repeated again and again in
story after story for sixty years that women were far
superior to men. Mister Prebble gets rid of his wife
first time for the Daily round up of the miss Grants,
morons and Dunnan Kruger Effect specimens who constitute today's worst
(32:19):
persons in the world. The Bronze New York State Congressman
Mike Lawler, who I am ashamed to say, reps my
high school haunts of Tarrytown, New York. The Daily Beast
reported this exclusively. They ever looked at a Wikipedia page,
like your Wikipedia page or some Wikipedia page that you
know something about, and wondered, what would happen if you
(32:39):
decided to correct some of the calumnies and the inaccuracies
and outright fictions that maybe are about you. Well, Mike
Lawler did twenty six times, and he made the edits.
One of them done by an account using the same
handle as Lawler's personal Facebook and YouTube accounts, was to
(33:02):
the notable alumni list on the Manhattan College Wikipedia page,
which suddenly listed Congressman Mike Lawler. Wikipedia warned Lawler in May,
you can't edit stuff about yourself surreptitiously. If you want
to put in a quote from yourself, that's one thing,
And then when he kept doing it, they apparently banned
him from making any more edits. At least that's what
(33:24):
the Daily Beast reports, So the congressman can't now add
in the fact that he's just made worse persons in
the world. So if some friend of his could do
it for him, I'm sure he'd appreciated. The runners up
the Fresh and Fit podcast, hosted by Likely closeted in
cells Myron Gains and Walter Weeks, which proclaims itself as
(33:44):
the voice of the man o sphere, covering quote, females
fitness in finances, well, make that females fitness and finances,
and Fuentes the Holocaust denier. Two episodes this month served
from why women deserve less to quote the JQ, that's
the Jewish question unquote, and the questions then became should
(34:10):
you try to cop a feel on a first date
or simply sit around with her and listen to their guest,
the anti Semiti scumbag Nick Fuentes, rant on about white
supremacy and how the Holocaust never happened and we'll never
once realized that most white supremacists don't consider Nick Fuentes
to be white. Surprised Nick, they'll get you yet anyway.
(34:31):
But our winner's state Representative Bob Young a beautiful downtown
Green Ohio, and Bob is a very active Republican. How
active you say, Summit County sheriffs say, Republican Bob was
arguing with a friend at his own home at one
am Friday, as one does. When Republican Bob's wife, Tina
(34:51):
stuck her hand up in front of his face to
quote stop him from yelling, well, Republican Bob grabbed her arm,
then hit her in the face with his open hand.
When she started to phone the police, he threw her
phone into the swimming pool. She then put the kids
in the car to get them out of there, and
she drove to her brother in law's house. That would
be Republican Bob's own brother. The brother in law protected
(35:14):
her and the kids, and when Republican Bob drove up,
his brother went outside to tell him he was not
welcome there, whereupon Republican Bob, quoting the police report, lowered
his shoulder and charged, and he went through the glass
storm door at about three am his brother's glass storm door.
(35:34):
Republican Bob has been charged on counts including domestic violence,
but no, he will not resign, even though the Republican
speaker wants him to because he's Republican Bob. Punchline. Republican
Bob is also being sued for one million dollars by
his Democratic opponent in the last election, a man named
Matt Shawnesty. Because Republican Bob ran ads falsely accusing Matt
(35:59):
Shawnesty of domestic violence.
Speaker 6 (36:04):
State Republican Bob Storm doors a specialty young to days
worst Person and.
Speaker 1 (36:27):
To the top of the Countdown and Fridays with Thurber,
and I am not going to dare suggest to you
that there isn't at least something misogynistic about mister Prebble
gets rid of his wife. But the ultimate point of
this short story, so masterfully crafted by James Thurber, this
matter of fact style that almost makes you forget you
are hearing about a man trying to murder his wife,
(36:50):
is in a larger sense, about the fact that women
are more successful than men. This story does not compliment men,
it does not compliment women, It does not compliment human beings,
but it is still marvelous. Preble Gets rid of his
Wife by James Thurber. Mister Prebble was a plump, middle
(37:13):
aged lawyer in Scarsdale, He used to kid with his
stenographer about running away with him. Let's run away together,
he would say, during a pause in dictation, alrighty, she
would say. One rainy Monday afternoon, mister Prebble was more
serious about it than usual. Let's run away together, said
(37:34):
mister Preble. Alrighty, said his stenographer. Mister Prebble jingled the
keys in his pocket and looked out the window. My
wife would be glad to get rid of me, he said.
Would you give you a divorce, asked the stenographer. I
don't suppose so, he said. The stenographer laughed, you'd have
(37:55):
to get rid of your wife, she said. Mister Preble
was unusually silent at dinner that night. About half an
hour after coffee, he spoke, without looking up from his paper,
Let's go down in the cellar. Mister Prebble said to
his wife, what far? She said, not looking up from
her book. Oh, I don't know, he said. We uh
(38:21):
never go down in the cellar anymore the way we
used to. We never did go down in the cellar
that I remember, said missus Preble. I could rest easy
the balance of my life if I never went down
in the cellar. Mister Preble was silent for several minutes.
Supposing I said, it meant a whole lot to me,
began mister Prebble, what's come over you? His wife demanded.
(38:45):
It's coal down there, and there's absolutely nothing to do.
We could pick up pieces of coal, said mister Prebble.
We might get up some sort of game with pieces
of coal. I don't want to, said his wife. Anyway,
I'm reading, listen, said mister Prebble, rising and walking up
(39:06):
and down. Why won't you come down in the cellar.
You can read down there as far as that goes.
There isn't a good enough light down there, she said.
And anyway, I'm not going to go down in the cellar.
You may as well make up your mind. That gee whiz,
said mister Prebble, kicking into the edge of a rug.
Other people's wives go down in the cellar. Why is
(39:28):
it you never want to do anything? I come home
worn out from the office, and you won't even go
down in the cellar with me. God knows, it isn't
very far. It isn't as if I was asking you
to go to the movies or someplace. I don't want
to go, shouted missus Prebble. Mister Prebble sat down on
the edge of a davenport. All right, all right, he said,
(39:54):
He picked up the newspaper again. I wish you'd let
me tell you more about it. It's it's kind of
a surprise. Well you quit harping on that subject, asked
missus Prebble. Listen, said mister Prebble, leaping to his feet,
I might as well tell you the truth instead of
beating around the bush. I want to get rid of
you so I can marry my stenographer. Is there anything
(40:16):
especially wrong about that? People do it every day. Love
is something you can't control. We've been all over that,
said missus Prebble. I'm not going to go all over
that again. I just wanted you to know how things are,
said mister Prebble. But you have to take everything so literally.
Good Lord, do you suppose I really wanted to go
(40:39):
down in the cellar and make up some silly game
with pieces of coal. I never believe that for a minute,
said missus Prebble. I knew all along you wanted to
get me down there and bury me. You can say
that now after I told you, said mister Prebble. But
it would never have occurred to you. If I hadn't,
(41:00):
you didn't tell me. I got it out of you,
said missus Anyway, I'm always two steps ahead of what
you're thinking. You're never within a mile of what I'm thinking,
said mister Prebble. Is that so I knew you wanted
to bury me the minute you got some foot in
this house tonight? Missus Prebble held him with a glare.
Now that's just plain damn exaggeration, said mister Prebble, considerably annoyed.
(41:25):
You knew nothing of the sort. As a matter of fact,
I never thought of it till just a few minutes ago.
It was in the back of your mind, said missus Prebble.
I suppose this filing woman puts you up to it.
You needn't get sarcastic, said mister Prebble. I have plenty
of people to file without having her file. She doesn't
(41:45):
know anything about this, She isn't in on it. I
was going to tell her you'd gone to visit some
friends and fell over a cliff. She wants me to
get a divorce. That's a laugh, said missus Prebble. That's
a laugh. You may bury me, but you'll never get
a divorce. She knows that I told her that, said
mister Prebble. I mean I told her I'd never get
(42:07):
a divorce. Oh, you probably told her about burying me, too,
said missus Prebble. That's not true, said mister Prebble. With dignity,
that's between you and me. I was never going to
tell a soul. You'd blab it to the whole world.
Don't tell me, said missus Prebble. I know you. Mister
(42:29):
Prebble puffed at his cigar. I wish you were buried
now it was all over with, he said. Don't you
suppose you would get caught, you crazy thing? She said,
they always get caught. Why don't you go to bed.
You're just getting yourself all worked up over nothing. I'm
not going to bed, said mister Prebble. I'm going to
bury you in the cellar. I got my mind made
(42:50):
up to it. I don't know how I could make
any plainer listen, cried missus Prebble, throwing her book down.
Will you be satisfied and shut up? If I go
down in the cellar. Can I have a little peace
if I go down in the cellar, Will you let
me alone? Men? Yes, said mister Prebble. But you spoil
it by taking that attitude. Sure, sure, I always spoil everything.
(43:14):
I stop reading right in the middle of a chapter.
I'll never know how the story comes out. But that's
nothing to you. Did I make you start reading that book,
asked mister Prebble. He opened the cellar door. Here you
go first, said missus Prebble, starting down the steps. It's
cold down here. You would think of this at this
time of the year. Any other husband would have buried
(43:35):
his wife in the summer. You can't arrange those things
just whenever you want to, said mister Prebble. That didn't
fall in love with this girl till late fall. Anybody
else would have fallen in love with her long before that.
She's been around for years. Why is it you always
let other men get in ahead of you, Mercy? But
it's dirty down here. What have you got down there?
I was going to hit you over the head with
(43:56):
a shovel, said mister Prebble. You were huh, said missus Prebble.
We'll get that out of your mind. You want to
leave a great, big clue right here in the middle
of everything. We're the first detective to come snooping around.
We'll find it. Come out in the street and find
some piece of iron or something. Something doesn't belong to you,
all right, said mister Prebble. But there won't be any
(44:18):
piece of iron in the street. Women always expect to
pick up a piece of iron anywhere. If you look
in the right place, you'll find it, said missus Prebble.
And don't be gone long, don't you dare stopping at
the cigar store. I'm not going to stand down here
in this cold cellar all night and freeze, all right,
said mister Prebble. I'll hurry and shut that door behind you.
(44:41):
She screamed after him. Where were you born in a barn?
Mister Preble gets rid of his wife by James Thurber.
(45:06):
I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank
you for listening. Here are the credits. Most of the
music arrange produced and performed by Brian Ray and John
Phillips Shanelle. They are the Countdown musical directors. Guitars based
and drums by Brian Ray, all orchestration and keyboards by
John Phillip Shanelle, produced by Tko Brothers. Other Beethoven selections
have been arranged and performed by the group No Horns Allowed.
(45:28):
Sports music is the Olderman theme from ESPN two, written
by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. Musical comments
by Nancy Fauss. The best baseball stadium organist ever. Our
announcer today was my friend Stevie van Zant. Everything else
was pretty much my fault. Don't forget Countdown now also
available on YouTube. Subscribe there as well as here, give
(45:48):
your self options. Let's countdown for this the nine hundred
and twentieth day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against
the democratically elected government of the United States. Arrest him
again while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is Monday,
though I'm going to warn you if the news continues
this light, I might give myself a two and a
(46:10):
half day weekend and just do headlines on Monday and
a bunch of things I promised not to tell. We'll see.
There'll be something on Monday. Bulletins is the news warrants
till then. I'm Keith Olderman. Good Morning, good afternoon, good night,
and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production
(46:33):
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, Visit the iHeartRadio app,
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