Podcast appearances and mentions of George Carlin

SEASON 3 EPISODE 120: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: We’ve all known it would come to this; we’ve all WARNED it would come to this; we’ve all PREDICTED they’d try to ease the knife in slowly, they’d take the boiling frog route, and here it comes. It’s in every piece of political science fiction from "1984" to "Brazil" to "V For Vendetta." And it is now real: if everything Trump does deserves criticism and gets criticism there is only one thing for Trump and his gang to do: prosecute criticism of Trump and claim those WHO criticize him are aiding and abetting terrorists. The ultimate Thought Crime was given voice by no less a figure than Trump's Counterterrorism Director, who, since Trump found the worst possible person to do each job (and bin Laden is dead) is Sebastian Gorka. The threat is connected to the push to send not just immigrants to rot in a For-Profit El Salvador Rendition Center, but American citizens too, especially those who standup to Trump's attempt to purge Hispanics from this country. Axios reports that one of the other potential new Orwellian crimes would be advising detainees of their rights. If that's not directed at AOC I don't know what could be. B-Block (25:20) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Derrick Van Orden attacks Wisconsin's governor because Van Orden thinks Milwaukee kids are stupid - and he misspells the word "how" in his post. Brian Kilmeade's Hegseth spoiler alert: he calls him "former secretary." And we are all very proud here that one of 'our own' has reduced Bill Maher to graffiti. Further details on "My Dinner With Adolf." C-Block (37:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I had literally forgotten - until I literally worked through the neighborhood - that I made my Broadway singing and dancing debut seven years ago. I mean literally, on stage, during an actual Broadway show. If it made that much of an impression on me, imagine how bored the audience was! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time for our favorite George Carlin bit! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 119: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Senator Lisa Murkowski may be the most important person in the country right now. Her public confession that she too is afraid of the Trump nightmare and her HINTS at talking to Senate colleagues ABOUT her fear – could provide just enough Republican rebellion to rein Trump in. It feels as if she just got it, as if she just understood that yes Trump is Nazi-esque and yes Trump often emulates the Soviets but the closest parallel to him is O'Brien and "The Party" in Orwell's "1984" and the simple terrifying conviction that "the object of power is power." That's why I think when Kristi Garden Noem and Secretary of Defense (and Vodka) Hegseth (if he's still on the job after ANOTHER Signal chat came to light) file their report on the border to Trump this week and tell him no, they don't need to invoke The Insurrection Act, he may do it anyway because... the object of power is power. Murkowski and thirteen other Republican Senators and at most four Republican Representatives can stop this. They can save the country. They can impeach Trump or if they still can’t get over the hump, the 18 of you can use the THREAT to impeach him, to virtually fetter him, to at least control the width and breadth of his damage, to make him know the Senate WILL vote against him. She can also talk to anybody on the Supreme Court except Alito or Thomas. The other seven, in the middle of the damn night - at 1 AM Saturday - stepped in to freeze any further disappearing Americans under the phony premise of The Alien Enemies Act. And there is reason to hope that these Murkowski-led conversations might happen before the iron curtain of dictatorship descends: Later in her confession of fear, she hinted at doing exactly what I just suggested. Meanwhile, how many times can you self-destruct on this? Gavin Newsom dismisses the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case as a "distraction" and calls Democrats sheep for defending the constitution. On the other hand, Senator Ed Markey is crafting a sense of the senate resolution stating Trump cannot again be elected, and cannot again serve, as president or vice president. Damn Straight. B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Musk Crappertruck Owner who claims to also be a "girl dad"; Pennsylvania congressman Dan Meuser kinda blames Governor Josh Shapiro's criticizing Trump for provoking the attempt to incinerate him and his family in the governor's mansion on Passover. And Trump DEI hire Pam Bondi lies that compulsive martyr and 85th Place Olympic Trials finisher Riley Gaines "went to the Olympics." Not unless she bought a ticket, Pam Blondie. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: The renewed Trump bid to ban the Associated Press got me talking to a friend: How MANY times have I been banned, as a reporter? Do you mean this century, or in total? It's... a lot. From the LA Clippers to the ESPN Campus, I've been banned... a lot. And je ne regret rien!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode we discuss teeth pulling, Zyn OD, Chicken giveaway, Baseball mum, Chimichangas, Mazda Minata, Pelmet disasters, Black music, Ian Carroll, Podcast chat, Human vibration, George Carlin, Fresh hooker legs, Bread n circus and much more. Enjoy. Support The Joel and Tim Show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=74670148 Support us with caffeinated beverages at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/thejoelandv  

SEASON 3 EPISODE 118: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: ICE Director Tom Homan and his boss Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem must be arrested for contempt of court. It SHOULD be President Ted Bundy Trump being arrested for contempt of court – potentially for ignoring the orders of the SUPREME COURT - but we already know how the laws of this land have been corrupted to protect the greatest criminal in our history. That it cannot be will simply hasten the latest iteration of the constitutional crisis created by a lawless chief executive who still has the military behind him. We are headed for a flashpoint, perhaps as soon as today. To summarize: Trump believes he is God. But in the interim it is time for U-S District Judge Paula Xinis to send this rogue government a message. In fact it is well past time. “Time” was two days ago, at 5 PM. Noem and Homan are now in contempt of HER order in the case of the Noem-Homan-ICE abduction, the DISAPPEARING of a Maryland man already under the PROTECTION of the government of the United States, Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They are in contempt of the orders not of some judge – as the fascist Stephen Miller and his brownshirts call any representative of law and order – they are in contempt of the LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. It is not some judge. They are in contempt of the NATION and they are on the VERGE of being in contempt of the Supreme Court. The point, of course, may be the admission that they abducted someone by "mistake." They sent a Massachusetts-born immigration lawyer a notice to leave the country by "mistake." They warned ICE will keep illegal "ideas" from entering the country, by "mistake." Maybe these are mistakes - God knows, it all involves Elon Musk - but now they see an opportunity to exploit even mistakes to deliver the message, passively but still aggressively, that even when they are wrong they are still RIGHT because even when they are wrong what do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it? What do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it, Mrs Abrego Garcia? What do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it, Judge? What do you think YOU are going to be able to DO about it, AMERICA? B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: We have a new member of the WPITW Hall of Fame, Linda McMahon. We dedicate this episode to Stephen A. Smith, still making a fool of himself. And then the nominees: Bill Maher makes a propaganda video for Trump saying all the nice things about Trump that Maher has forgotten he already said about them in 2016 and then repudiated. Trump butt dials the wrong McMaster. And Jeanine Pirro may be the dumbest person to ever work at Fox News. Do you know what an accomplishment this would be? C-Block (1:04:05) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK: A quick announcement about the immediate future of this podcast. Sounds more ominous than it is.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EPISODE 83 - “TCM FILM FESTIVAL 2025 PREVIEW” - 4/14/2025 It's that time of years again. Time for the 2025 Turner Classic Movies Film Festival, which takes place April 24-27 in Hollywood California. This year, the theme is “Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film.” This week, Steve and Nan offer a fun preview of the highlights of the upcoming festival and they discuss the films they are most excited to see, including great titles such as BEN HUR, SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, GUNFI*GHT AT THE OKAY CORRAL and A GUY NAMED JOE.  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: Wikipedia.com; TCM.com; IMDBPro.com; Movies Mentioned:  The Empire Strikes Back (1980), starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, & Harrison Ford; The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), starring Jeff Bridges, Michelle Pfeiffer, & Beau Brides; Cooley High (1975), starring Lawrence Hilton Jacobs & Glenn Turman; Car Wash (1976), starring Richard Pryor, Bill Duke, & George Carlin; Greased Lightning (1977), starring Richard Pryor, Pam Grier, & Beau Bridges; Which Way is Up (1977), starring Richard Pryor & Lonette McKee; Bustin' Loose (1981), starring Richard Pryor & Cicely Tyson; Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978), starring Peter Frampton & The Bee Gees; The Last Dragon (1985), starring Taimak & Vanity; Krush Groove (1985), starring Russell Simmons & LL Cool J; Beau Geste (1926), starring Ronald Colman; The Freshman (1925), starring Harold Lloyd; Misery (1990), starring Kathy Bates & James Caan; The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, & Barry Bostwick; Babe (1995), starring James Cromwell; The Enchanted Cottage (1945), starring Robert Young & Dorothy McGuire; Jaws (1975), starring Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, & Roy Scheider; Blue Velvet (1986),starring Kyle McLaughlin, Laura Dern, Dennis Hopper, & Isabella Rossellini; We're No Angels (1955), starring Humphrey Bogart & Joan Bennett; Gunfight At The Okay Corral (1957), starring Burt Lancaster & Kirk Douglas; Cape Fear (1962), starring Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck and Polly Bergen; The Ritz (1976), starring Rita Moreno & Treat Williams; Gunman's Walk (1958), starring Van Heflin, James Darren, & Tab Hunter; Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), starring Robert Mitchum & Deborah Kerr; The Divorcée (1930), starring Norma Shearer & Robert Montgomery; Talk of The Town (1942), starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, & Ronald Colman; Moonlight & Pretzels (1933), starring Leo Carrillo & Mary Brian; A Guy Named Joe (1943) starring Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, & Van Johnson; Ben Hur (1959), starring Charlton Heston & Stephen Boyd; Suddenly Last Summer (1959), starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, & Montgomery Cliff; Brigadoon (1954), starring Gene Kelly & Syd Charisse; --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Celebrate, The Savior is Here!Jesus Christ is Alive!Get to know Jesus Christ, He will change your life!!!Go to GOD for discernment and wisdom.Know the Truth as the Truth will make you free! (John 8:32)___The Pledge of AllegianceNEO420 = Real News + Real Information for WE THE PEOPLEWE THE PEOPLE are at war with the deepstate criminal cabal!!!Turn off your tv, radio, and stop listening to paid professional liars spreading propaganda.***SUPPORT Independent Free Speech Reporting***Thank you for the SUPPORT & SHARING the TRUTH!!!___Podcast  link is here http://neo420.com/talks-podcast/The video channel link is here. https://odysee.com/@NEO420TALKS:4The Viral Delusionhttp://www.theviraldelusion.com/HAARPDARPA BlackjackAshli Babbit false flag Jan 6 video evidence___NEVER FORGET 9 11!!!Rumsfeld admitted $2.3 Trillion missing from Pentagon Sept 10 2001.  https://odysee.com/@NEO420TALKS:4/rumsfeld-2.1Trillionunaccountedforb-ccriminalsstoleit:7Planes did NOT bring down the two towers.AE911Truth.orgGeorge Bush Sr was CIA director before being Vice President then President.Towers that fell:-Building 1-Building 2-Building 7 (seldom reported even though BBC reporter reported building down before it happened) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0VFMqi--Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.Support the show

SEASON 3 EPISODE 117: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has already LOST the tariff wars he finally claimed he paused yesterday (without really pausing). Already. Took him only eight days. From Liberation Day to a day when in any other war, literal or figurative, he would have been deposed - 8 days. And never mind how much YOU AND I think he’s crazy; a high-priced adviser to macro fund managers says “a few have quietly wondered if the president might be insane." And after Wall Street came off the ledge and got back to where it was Monday – only, what, seven trillion lost – he declared victory. “Up 2500 points. Nobody has ever heard of it. Gotta be a record.” Because he can’t admit he made a mistake; his head would fall off. His approval numbers have cratered. He’s underwater by an AVERAGE of six points. LAST Wednesday it was an average of TWO points. Since the election he’s lost 20 points among those over age 65; he’s lost 50 points among those under age 30. And he still raised the tariffs on the Chinese again – to 125 percent – because he’s mad at them. Because they of course are winning. Because the Chinese are not negotiating; the Chinese are as they have been for centuries, waiting for their opponents to DIE. The Chinese are apparently dumping our 10-Year Treasuries, driving up our debt. And they’ve opened trading partnership negotiations with the head of the European Union. And for all the claims about pausing the tariffs, a universal TEN percent tariff will be maintained. He didn't pause anything. He simply lost everything. B-Block (27:10) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Joe Manchin writes a book celebrating his middle of the road bona fides. The cover photo shows only the right half of his face, naturally. Marjorie Stupid Greene reveals she does not know what the word "Merch" means. And the president of the hockey writers' association, a bonehead named Frank Seravalli, not only defends Wayne Gretzky's attacks on Canada but his bringing FBI Director and Election Denier Kash Patel to the Ovechkin game - and calls CRITICISM of those decisions "political BS." Instead of, maybe, calling out Gretzky for BRINGING political BS into a moment of sports history. C-Block (49:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She's still at it. Even as Trump's boasts of pausing the tariffs while INCREASING them on China and maintaining them on everybody else, Laura Ingraham is still carrying his water for him. It's time for me to review my dates with her last century, and the extraordinary revelation she made during the first of them about the then-nascent Republican-Media Industrial Complex.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

https://linktr.ee/DarrenCarterhttps://buymeacoffee.com/darrencarterComedians Darren Carter and Daniel Lobell deliver a hilarious episode recorded in a Jeep parked behind the Hollywood Laugh Factory!Daniel spills the beans on working with and befriending comedy giant Jackie Mason, nailing a spot-on impression that'll crack you up. He also recounts wild times with the iconic George Carlin.Raw, funny, and full of insider gems—this one's a comedy lover's dream!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/darren-carter-pocket-party--3090090/support.

Who isn’t a Paul Reiser mega fan? The dramas like Stranger Things! The comedies like “Mad About You”! How about the action/adventures with The Boys! And who could forget him in Aliens! ALIENS! And now after a 32-year hiatus he’s back on the road doing stand-up comedy again. Really, no Really! Comedian, actor, television writer, producer, author and musician Paul Reiser is one of Hollywood’s most prolific creatives. Voted by Comedy Central as one of the Top 100 Comedians of All Time, Reiser – who came up alongside folks like, George Carlin, Robert Klein, and Jerry Seinfeld. His most recent standup special – his first in 30 years – Life, Death, and Rice Pudding, was released late last year. *** IN THIS EPISODE: Comedian or actor? Which is it? Why can’t robots recognize crosswalks and bicycles? Why the 30+ year break with stand-up? How do comedians decide what to wear on stage? Jason’s feet are smaller than you can possibly imagine. Can couples switch which side of the bed? How a comedian bagged a role in Jim Cameron’s Aliens. When Paul realized Mad About You was a hit. Jason pushed Helen Hunt into accepting Mad About You! How Paul cowrote a book with Doobie Brother’s frontman, Michael McDonald. Columbo’s Peter Faulk was… difficult. How’d “The Problem with People” get written? Is Paul Broadway bound? *** FOLLOW PAUL: Comedy Special: Paul Reiser: Life, Death, & Rice Pudding Stand-Up: Comedy & Magic Club/Hermosa Beach/April 17 Website: paulreiser.com X: @PaulReiser *** FOLLOW REALLY NO REALLY: www.reallynoreally.com Instagram YouTube TikTok Facebook Threads XSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 116: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: I want polling on a special, emergency, extra-constitutional Presidential Recall Vote. I know there isn't going to BE a Presidential Recall Vote. I know we're not going extra-constitutional, we're not REPUBLICANS dammit. But they are always making up laws (inside the Supreme Court and outside of it) on the premise that the people really want it, so after this week of unprecedented insane unnecessary failure on the part of Trump and his Team of Imbecilic Rivals, I want to know where we stand. Because the moment we get 10 Republicans in the House and 14 in the Senate to believe that if Trump stays in office, their careers are over, he's gone. Half of them think he's nuts already and a quarter have had doubts. They need to be pushed and I don't want to wait until the mid-terms for them to get the damned message I want SOME pollster - independent, news-related, hired by the Democrats, SOMEBODY - to ask these questions: 1) if the election were re-run today would you vote for Trump or a Democrat. Or another Republican. Or a fairly intelligent farm animal. 2) would you support a special recall vote to potentially reverse the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. 3) would you describe the current financial panic and the upcoming tsunami of inflation and unemployment as a national emergency. 4) do you think Donald Trump has lost his mind. 5) do you think Donald Trump is mentally fit to run the country. 6) do you think Donald Trump is acting to destroy the United States on behalf of a foreign country. 7) do you think it is necessary to act outside the constitution if necessary to save the United States of America FROM Donald Trump. 8) if the midterm elections for the Senate and the House were tomorrow would you vote Republican or Democratic? WHATEVER the percentages are they could easily scare the crap out of 10 House Republicans and 14 Senate Republicans and the day they do, Trump vanishes. You doubt me? Ask Richard Nixon. Ask Abraham Lincoln, whom they were ready to get rid of seven months before Lee surrendered at Appomattox because they thought he wasn't going to be re-elected. Also is it possible the Democrats are listening to me? Obama emerges to spout sense, as I've asked. The DNC Chair founds "The People's Cabinet." All we need now is POLLING ON A PRESIDENTIAL RECALL VOTE. B-Block (31:28) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Pittsburgh Pirates rip a Roberto Clemente memorial off their outfield wall to make room for an ad for seltzer, a Republican influencer insists there are no tariffs on Russia because we don't import anything from Russia (we import $2.5 Billion a year from Russia), and the Secretary of the Treasury wants YOU to buy American while he buys British. (41:28) SPORTSBALLCENTER: Alexander Ovechkin DOES have more goals than Wayne Gretzky now, but no, that's still not the big league hockey record (and Gretzky managed to throw himself out another window during the celebrations) and the date of the first American, maybe the first human, to be photographed giving the finger to the cameraman has to be pushed back from 1886 to 1882 after a discovery this weekend about baseball Hall of Famer Old Hoss Radbourn. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I have been asked by a listener to expand on last week's news that Chuck Todd not only does not realize that his news career is over but he thinks investors are going to give him $2,000,000,000 to go buy a news organization now. The answer to the question "Chuck Todd: Why?"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Accede a los episodios completos y contenido exclusivo en chisteinterno.com y en patreon.com/chisteinterno Episodio 74 - Julio Rodríguez Julio Rodríguez es un comediante y actor colombiano con más de 20 años de experiencia en el mundo artístico. Nacido en la ciudad de Ibagué, Julio es conocido por su estilo de humor político y de crítica social, el cual estuvo fuertemente influenciado por la tradición de la cuentería colombiana. Actualmente, reside en Miami y forma parte, junto a Raquel Maldonado e Iván Camejo, de “El Trio”, un show de comedia que reflexiona sobre las experiencias de la comunidad migrante en EE.UU. En nuestra conversación hablamos sobre su infancia en Colombia, la diferencia entre un Cachaco y un Rolo, la escena de la comedia en Miami, la influencia de la cuentería en su trabajo, las paradojas de la migración en EE.UU, su afición por George Carlin y sobre su trabajo cómo instructor en la Escuela Colombiana de Inteligencia y Contrainteligencia. ¡Gracias, Julio, por visitar Chiste interno! Eventos Chiste Interno Tres Comediantes Hablando Sobre Comunismo. Miami. 17 de Abril Entradas: https://ci.ovationtix.com/36022/production/1233818?performanceId=11611761 Chiste Interno Academia (Cursos On-Demand y Talleres en Vivo) Cursos On-Demand: "Aprendo Stand-Up" y "Acelerador de Chistes" con Reuben Morales Disponible en: chisteinterno.com/reuben “Antes de Escribir Comedia” con Elio Casale Disponible en: chisteinterno.com/elio Talleres en Vivo: El seminario “Produce tu Podcast” con Oswaldo Graziani, Adrián Salas y Alexandra Colmenarez será el 12 de abril en Miami. Tickets en https://www.chisteinterno.com/producetupodcast Para más información, visita: chisteinterno.com/academia Créditos Creado y conducido: Oswaldo Graziani Producción ejecutiva por Oswaldo Graziani y Adrián Salas Producción, post-producción y música por Adrián Salas Asistencia de producción por Katherine Miranda Edición de formato largo por Yamn Milán Edición de formato corto por Ricardo Carmona Comunidad y Contenido por Pedro Graterol Diseño gráfico por Bodega Creative (bodegacreative.xyz) Redacción por Yxa Fuentes Estudio de grabación: Astro Studio chisteinterno.com

SEASON 3 EPISODE 115: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: It only took Trump losing a critical election by 10 points in a state he carried last November for even HIM to figure out that Elon Musk is the best electoral friend the Democrats have right now. The White House has leaked that Elon's 130-day exemption as a "Special Government Employee" is up at the end of May and so is his time inadvertently saving democracy from the MAGA cult. We CAN'T LET HIM LEAVE! Also, INDICT ELON! Also also, PROTECT ELON AT ALL COSTS! The reporting suggests Trump intends to keep Musk as an informal advisor and frequent White House visitor and that is great news. If Trump won't keep Musk attached to him sufficiently, we have to do it for him. ELON MUSK'S UNFAVORABILITY AMONG DEMOCRATICS IN WISCONSIN IS 97 PERCENT. Let's take that national! OH BY THE WAY TRUMP JUST TANKED THE WORLD ECONOMY. 54% tariffs on China? 26% on India? Huge on the EU and UK? 10 percent on the people he likes? This is the day the Leopards of Wall Street discover that Trump of the Leopards Eating Faces Party is a cannibal: he eats the faces of other leopards! Also I'll explain how this whole tariff crap mainlines back to Trump's insane fixation with gold and the color gold. MEDIA DISASTER: Bill Maher self-destructs. Stephen A. Smith thinks he's the first person to discover the Trump 3rd Term Scam. MSNBC's attempt to tank is so successful "Morning Joe" is now behind CNN in the demo. B-Block (36:14) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Whoever let the BBC start a piece about the Myanmar Earthquake with the line "On the road to Mandalay." Ex-journalist Matt Taibbi will never testify to the House again. And Richard Carlson, at the center of transphobia, sports, TV news, Fox News, Renee Richards, and even worse things, is dead. C-Block (49:45) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: With the New York Times reporting Chuck Todd is seeking to buy a podcast or local high school sports news company for two billion dollars, it's time for me to note that we are nearing the six year mark since I finally said "I have had enough of this idiot for one lifetime."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew For America talks about how education and economics can be (and often are) corrupted by the system of control or the type of "state" or “government” that a large group of people live under. A small group of people are always in control of everyone else, be it capitalism, democracy, socialism, whatever…and that small group of people end up dictating how everyone else in the society is “supposed to” live. Andrew plays clips from and reads pieces by Milton Friedman, Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, Matt Kibbe, Dr. Richard Wolff, Jordan Maxwell, Alec Zeck, and George Carlin to help illustrate his points.The song selections are the songs, "Firecracker," "I'll Be Fine, It's The World That's Not Right," and "Push the Button, Start The End" by the band Noise Republic (aka RPBLiK)Visit allegedlyrecords.com and check out all of the amazing punk rock artists!Visit soundcloud.com/andrewforamerica1984 to check out Andrew's music!Like and Follow The Politics & Punk Rock Podcast PLAYLIST on Spotify!!!Check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Y4rumioeqvHfaUgRnRxsy...politicsandpunkrockpodcast.comhttps://linktr.ee/andrewforamericaWatch and learn about these awesome offers for your survival needs from former Afghanistan war veteran, police officer, and citizen journalist, Mr. Teddy Daniels:Operation Blackout Survival Guide: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://internalblackout.com/?a=683&c=434&s1=⁠⁠⁠⁠Famine Fighter Survival Food Supply: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://foodforthesoul.co/?a=683&c=407&s1=⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FinalFamine Survival Food Growing Book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://finalfoodprepper.com/?a=683&c=433&s1=⁠⁠⁠⁠Devils Dollar Currency Survival Book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://dbhtrkg.com/?a=683&c=468&s1=⁠

TV, movies, and politics get the full BFG Podcast treatment this week. First up, Omar Gallaga stops by the podcast dome to talk with Neal Pollack about 'The Studio,' Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's terrific Apple+ satire about Hollywood and the movie business. Neal calls it "the best constructed TV comedy since Veep.' Omar compares this "ongoing panic attack" to The Larry Sanders Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm. It's a fine lineage, and it features the best Martin Scorsese cameo you'll ever see. Omar points out how "cinematic" the show is, and it's hard to disagree. This is peak streaming. What will the 'Kool-Aid Movie' look like.Death of a Unicorn does not reach peak cinema. Stephen Garrett pretty much hated this horror comedy about, well, killer unicorns. Neal saw Death of a Unicorn at South By Southwest, whose audience responded to it as though they were seeing Ghostbusters for the first time. Well, this is not Ghostbusters. It is Death of a Unicorn, and it is a huge bomb. Stephen found himself sympathizing with the so-called "villains". Sometimes you have to kill a unicorn, he says. Neal is a little less heartless. He just doesn't much like Jenna Ortega. Death of a A Unicorn is a footnote. A unicorn-shaped footnote.Bill Burr is on a tear lately, boosting the legend of accused healthcare CEO murderer Luigi Mangione, giving the business to Elon Musk, and generally excoriating billionaires even though he himself is quite wealthy. Bobby Hilliard is all about Bill Burr. He calls him the heir to George Carlin. Whereas Neal thinks that though Burr is a top-end comedian, he also thinks that Luigi is a murderer. Therein lies the debate. Bobby is an avowed socialist. Neal is an avowed not socialist. Bill Burr and his magic helicopter are getting rich all the way to the banking app, and on the way back, too.Enjoy the show!

SEASON 3 EPISODE 114: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: NO, NBC NEWS AND KRISTEN WELKER - YOU IDIOTS - TRUMP HAS NEVER BEEN 'JOKING' ABOUT A 3RD TERM: Only to dimwitted media types who have been lying to themselves and their audience was it a shock when Welker insisted yesterday to Trump that he’s “joking” about stealing an unconstitutional and illegal third term and the Dictator replying “No I’m not joking, I’m not joking" and he alluded to several ways to game the 22nd Amendment Term Limits. Trump has been serious about this since at least 2023 and the first time I reported on that fact on this podcast was on Wednesday, November 8th… 2023. This has been the plan (like all the other plans) take something unconstitutional and illegal and do it anyway and dare you to sue and get his Concierge Supreme Court to invent a new law and a new country to LET him do it anyway AND insist THIS is the law and if you oppose him, YOU’RE breaking it. That’s the way they papered over Trump’s violation of the Insurrection Clause in the 14th Amendment. Worse yet, the man who has best encapsulated the evil inside Trump, Yale History professor Timothy Snyder, is leaving the country. Literally. Moving to the University of Toronto. If that doesn't tell you all you need to know about how much Trump is NOT kidding. IF ANYBODY STOPS TRUMP it'll be the corporations and Wall Street types who suddenly realize that when he said he'd cook the economy to give all the money to the rich guys he meant just him and Musk. Or maybe it'll be Trump's Intel Community. Somebody is leaking career-ending stories about Pete Hegseth and Bring-Your-Wife-To-Secret-Meetings-Work-Day and Bring-Your-Brother-Into-A-Nepo-Job-Day and I wonder who it could be. Perhaps the National Security Advisor who needs Hegseth to take the fall for SignalGate and just happens to have the number of the editor of The Atlantic programmed into his phone? If we're lucky maybe Hegseth and Mike Waltz will accomplish the rare simultaneous double knockout! B-Block (33:06) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Anna Paulina Luna thinks NBC is hiding a videotape with time code proving Oswald wasn't at the JFK Assassination (three years before time code was invented). A would-be GOP Nominee for Governor of Virginia thinks Anne Frank appeared in a classroom in California 20 years ago to tell gang bangers about the holocaust. And Bill Maher has self-destructed again. Now he thinks he's going to meet Trump because they respect him, because he was the first to predict Trump wouldn't leave office, and to heal the country. And Chris Cuomo and Gavin Newsom are there to reinforce Bill's gullibility! C-Block (49:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: So I've resumed my TV sports career! I am back on the air this week in pre-season specials on nine regional baseball networks that carry nine major league clubs. This kinda conflicts with my complaints about the same guys doing sports and politics at this time. I'll explain my rationale.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Memory of Marty Callner August 25, 1946-March 17, 2025In this classic and exclusive episode of Industry Standard, Marty Callner shares the story of his rise to show business success, from beginning as a local news director in Ohio, then on to directing Celtics broadcasts, before moving to Los Angeles where he directed numerous classic comedy specials for comedian like Robin Williams, Chris Rock, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, and more, as well as directing iconic music videos for Aerosmith, Cher, Fleetwood Mac, Twisted SIster and more. Marty also reveals his proudest achievement in entertainment: creating the NFL x HBO series Hard Knocks. Marty also offers his advice for aspiring directors, producer and comedians working towards success in the entertainment industry.Blueprint for SuccessAre you a comedian, actor, writer, director, producer, manager, host, podcaster or agent? Would you like personalized help to reach all of your goals in the entertainment business? Click the link to learn more & join our FREE industry networking group full of decades of experience!Barry Katz Entertainmentbarrykatz.com

SEASON 3 EPISODE 113: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (SPECIAL COMMENT): The reason Trump’s Team of Idiot Rivals sent each other their war plans on Signal wasn't to keep them secret from the Senate, or from future investigations it was to keep them secret from TRUMP. They no longer TRUST Trump. They no longer think Trump UNDERSTANDS what’s going on. There WAS a work-around – AROUND TRUMP. They are CUTTING TRUMP OUT. I'm NOT defending any of these sloppy, stupid, dangerous, morons. But behind their blithering incompetence is the WHY. WHY did they conduct this Signal Chat? Because they have established at least one Ghost Mechanism to allow Trump’s cabinet to try to get something done without him destroying the world (yet) and if THAT’S the case the POINT of this is: you have a president whose own people think he is now a complete FEEB, that he can not function, and cannot be trusted not to do something at least disastrously stupid, IF that thing requires him to do anything more than blather for 40 minutes and morph slowly into Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. We need a whole new president, like, later today. This guy’s nuts. Also, they can all be charged with espionage under 18 U-S Code 793 “Gathering, transmitting or LOSING defense information."And a German newspaper found live mobile numbers and email addresses for Waltz and Gabbard and Hegseth. I’ll circle back to that. Also Waltz and Gabbard and Hegseth are three of the biggest idiots in this nation’s history. And I’m going to go further out on a limb and answer the MOST intriguing, MOST unaddressed question of this entire mess: why in the hell would the name of the editor of The Atlantic pop up automatically in the auto-composition in the phone of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz? Huh? Is MY name in there too? How about Jasmine Crockett? Goldberg was in Waltz's phone because Waltz put him there, and Waltz is denying it because Trump will fire him if he believes that's true. The other issues here are all valid and intriguing and as a story, boy did they hit the cloud just right and we got 77 inches of snow, this story has TWICE as much engagement world wide as any other news story this year. But the NEWS here is, this is NOT a Trump plan to keep reality from America. THIS is an AMERICAN plan to keep reality… from TRUMP. B-Block (31:30) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: American governments mishandle information as if that's what they were hired. It's been true since the Confederacy dropped Robert E. Lee's battle plans on the ground in Maryland in 1862. It was true when the Bush Administration spent a day unable to send me an email, and instead wound up revealing to me all the people inside NBC News that Bush could count on to give him favorable coverage. C-Block (51:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A Pennsylvania legislator is dumber than she looks. She's touting her career 100% Score from...The John Birch Society. Steve Bannon has finally been broken - he is caveating his own violent imagery. And Bill Maher keeps growing, keeps innovating, keeps finding new ways to make an idiot out of himself. This one involves Kid Rock and Trump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 112: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Give me liberty or give me death. Patrick Henry said it 250 years ago yesterday, to galvanize Americans against the tyranny growing around them brought by an insane dictator-king. Not whatever was manifesting near St. John’s Church in Richmond where the Second Virginia Convention was meeting; not what threatened them individually; not what was at their door, but what they knew WOULD be at their door soon or late because it was already inside the homes of their fellow Americans in far off Boston. Give me liberty or give me death - because whether or not the tyrant is here for US now, he is here for our brothers and sisters. He will be here for us soon enough. And what would OUR Patrick Henry have said on March 23rd, 2025? Give me liberty or give me… a free 12-ounce coffee with the purchase of a dozen donuts while supplies last at participating outlets. Add Columbia University, my alma mater Cornell and a major Democratic-heavy law firm to the list of those who when the chips were down saved themselves and told the rest of us to drop dead. The list already , the American news media, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party (save for AOC and Bernie), the former presidents, the laws, the courts, the Supreme Court, and every supposed guardrail you can think of It's not just that democracy is being raped by Trump. It's that we're standing around shrugging. And as soon as Columbia caved, Trump decided to Disappear a Cornell student. As soon as Paul, Weiss collapsed, Pam Bondi was sicced on all firms supplying lawyers to deportees or suing Trump. Give me liberty or give me up to 30 percent off on rooms at select Disney Resort Hotels when I stay five nights or longer. B-Block (33:15) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Trump again threatens MSNBC and NBC, saying MSNBC (and CNN) "will be turned off." A week ago he declared them "illegal." Do not misunderstand him. He means it. And I suspect since it's a month since MSNBC fired Joy Reid and the other anchors of color, NBC is going to through someone or something out the MSNBC window, and that right soon. C-Block (54:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: How unpopular is Wayne Gretzky in Canada? They smeared feces on the statue of him outside the Edmonton hockey arena. New York's Mayor may have Trump but he also has raised $36,000 this year. And while celebrating the demise of the Department of Education, Musk misspelled "Department."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Fleuret, CannCon, and Alpha Warrior return for another wild ride through the absurd, the inappropriate, and the unexpectedly inspiring. From Blink-182 nostalgia and George Carlin's legendary “seven dirty words” to insane martial arts knockouts and a fast-food worker dishing out justice, this episode has it all. The guys debate hobby horsing, Quidditch, triple-breasted women, and what qualifies as corporal punishment in a house that doesn't play games. It's chaos, it's comedy, and it's 100 percent Y Chromes.  

Conservatives Buying Tesla's Now That It's Expected Are All Clowns, Back To Video The Sly Show Goes, Fuck The World, Speed Cameras Being Installed By The Bay Area / California Government Is Overreach As Fuck & I Reject It All, The Government Has Already Said That They Want To Implement A Mass Surveillance State, Old Time Radio Shit, Movies About Pirate Radio, Good Morning Vietnam Movie, RIP Robin Williams, The Boomer Generation: The News Said It So It Must Be True, Democrats Remind Us Why They Are Pro Government Everyday Getting Mad Over Federal Employees Getting Fired, Democrats Are The Govern Me Harder Daddy Crowd, Government Shutdowns Are Always A Great Thing, The Mario Test, Trump Republican Distractions Are Everywhere, People Been Programmed For Many Years, Kanye West Fuckery, People Who Live Disciplined Premium Lifestyles, Viral Video Shows Fitness Influencer Living A Premium Lifestyle, People Who Are Successful Work Out & Have Routines, Sometimes People Change & Sometimes They Don't, Wet Wet Mess Up Ya Bedset, Plies Rapper, Government Is Going To Either Deport You Or Throw You In Jail.For Opposing Israel, Rollercoaster Rides, Everyone In The U.S. Government Is Compromised By Israel, Democrats & Republicans Both Are Against Free Speech, Tipper Gore Hates Free Speech, Public Enemy Was All For Fighting The Power Until They Criticized Jews, Girl Be Evil As Fuck Gossiping, Bad Girls Club, Bill Burr Is Very Rich & Has His Own Helicopter, George Carlin & Bill Burr Are The Same Comedian That Lies, + Much More Fuckery! 

SEASON 3 EPISODE 111: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: The White Supremacist Trash Trump Administration thought it had gotten away with memory-holing Baseball immortal and Civil Rights immortal Jackie Robinson. They eliminated the Pentagon web page honoring Jackie's service during WWII and re-directed you to a URL reading "DEI SPORTS." They thought they had gotten away with it so much that a Pentagon spokesman named John Ullyot boasted loudly about eliminating the DEI Robinson represented (and the Navajo Code Talkers and that one Native American at Iwo Jima and the Tuskegee Airmen). And then when all hell broke loose, within 90 minutes they actually backed off and restored the page - and made it MORE racist, insisting that they would only honor Robinson as an ex-serviceman, not as a man who may have saved this country from becoming then, what Trump is trying to make it into now. And for all the reversals, one other company's website associated with Jackie Robinson DID scrub any references to "DEI" from its mission statement and has not responded to the Robinson blowback. The other company is of course... Major League Baseball. This is hardly the most important of the daily parade of Trump Atrocities. It may, however, may the most symbolic. B-Block (23:40) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A podcaster insists what's happening to Tesla is "worse than January 6." Life comes at you fast: Friday, Minnesota State Senator Justin Eichorn introduced a bill to make "Trump Derangement Syndrome" an actual legal thing there. Monday he was being arrested for trying to pay a 17-year old for sex. And why did Jake Tapper drink another pitcher of Kool-Aid and call it "The Gulf of America"? Well there are some people who become their salaries, nothing more. C-Block (43:00) GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK:See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's time to party on dudes, as the boys celebrate and revel in a significant victory for NSC on the road versus Philly.  In this episode, the boys review the recent game in the City of Brotherly Love, heaping praise all over the pitch on the boys in gold while also voicing their utter contempt for the whiny Philly players.  They highlight big games from Joe Willis, Sam Surridge and a bit of redemption for Hany Mukhtar, and then touch on some favorite pop culture items like movies about working at theme parks and the brilliance of George Carlin.  Then, the boys predict big things for Ahmed Qasem before breaking out the crystal balls to predict what will happen in the upcoming match versus CF Montreal.  And they drink beer. 

BULLETIN SEASON 3 EPISODE 110: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) BULLETIN: Schumer follows his cowardice towards Trump with cowardice towards Democrats, cancels book tour the day it was to begin. Insane Dictator Trump decides Biden's pardons are "void, vacant, and of no future force of effect" because he questions Biden's mental awareness, raising three small problems: 1) this puts TRUMP's mental awareness on the table and at the center of all HIS legal decisions going forward; 2) it obviously didn't occur to him but if President 47 can invalidate the pardons of President 46 for any reason, then President 48 can invalidate the pardons of President 47 for any reason - and all those people doing potentially indictable things like Marco Rubio and Tom Homan and Pete Hegseth and Elon Musk can no longer be certain they will avoid legal exposure (DUH) just as Rubio (with the help of countless agents and with Karoline Leavitt joining the plot from the White House podium) add to evidence of a conspiracy to violate the rulings of federal courts; and 3) it means that all the pardons Trump has already issued (like of the January 6th terrorists, or Steve Bannon, or Charles Kushner) or the ones he's about to (like Pete Rose) are in doubt. Great work, Sparky. THE REST OF THIS BULLETIN IS A REPRISE OF TODAY'S REGULARLY SCHEDULED PODCAST (17:15) SPECIAL COMMENT: How do you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? CAN you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? Oh my, yes. You can do it before the top of the hour. Certainly before tomorrow. I'll lay it out for you. It can happen provided you note Schumer is having a book event tonight at the Enoch Pratt Central Library in Baltimore at 7 PM. It takes a little guts. Takes angry civilians. Takes the 36 Senate Democrats and one Independent whom Chuck Schumer betrayed to stick their necks out again. Takes the whole lot of them to run the minor risk of fracturing the Senate caucus or the Democratic Party - but why not? It's not like they're doing anything. Not when TWO new polls suggest Democrats are fed up with this group, that vast majorities demand RESISTANCE to Trump, not bipartisan crap, that the leader who best represents the ideals of the party is AOC (10%) as opposed to Obama (4%) and Schumer (2%) and worst of all - nobody (30%). We should be talking about resistance, about Trump being twelve points underwater on the economy, about Musk retweeting the claim that Hitler didn't commit the holocaust, his public sector workers did, about Trump beginning to defy court orders to illegally deport people to third-party strongman states. But we're not - because of Chuck Schumer. Time for him to GO. B-Block (38:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The world is coming apart and Politico devoted its lead 26 paragraphs to a journalism party. Alina Habba is a moron, Part 9,763. And Marco Rubio and the "president" of El Salvador are mocking American law. See you at the World Court, boys. C-Block (49:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm under the weather and that always flashes me back to the day I was 21 and my doctor since my childhood gave me some muscle relaxants without warning me of the side effects. Hilarity ensued.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 109: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: How do you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? CAN you remove a Senate Democratic Leader? Oh my, yes. You can do it before the top of the hour. Certainly before tomorrow. I'll lay it out for you. It can happen provided you note Schumer is having a book event tonight at the Enoch Pratt Central Library in Baltimore at 7 PM. It takes a little guts. Takes angry civilians. Takes the 36 Senate Democrats and one Independent whom Chuck Schumer betrayed to stick their necks out again. Takes the whole lot of them to run the minor risk of fracturing the Senate caucus or the Democratic Party - but why not? It's not like they're doing anything. Not when TWO new polls suggest Democrats are fed up with this group, that vast majorities demand RESISTANCE to Trump, not bipartisan crap, that the leader who best represents the ideals of the party is AOC (10%) as opposed to Obama (4%) and Schumer (2%) and worst of all - nobody (30%). We should be talking about resistance, about Trump being twelve points underwater on the economy, about Musk retweeting the claim that Hitler didn't commit the holocaust, his public sector workers did, about Trump beginning to defy court orders to illegally deport people to third-party strongman states. But we're not - because of Chuck Schumer. Time for him to GO. B-Block (23:45) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The world is coming apart and Politico devoted its lead 26 paragraphs to a journalism party. Alina Habba is a moron, Part 9,763. And Marco Rubio and the "president" of El Salvador are mocking American law. See you at the World Court, boys. C-Block (33:40) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I'm under the weather and that always flashes me back to the day I was 21 and my doctor since my childhood gave me some muscle relaxants without warning me of the side effects. Hilarity ensued.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rick Mitchell joined me to discuss Carol recognizing him from TMZ; writing a performing speeches in his past ; it really not being that hard to write a good speech; giving a good speech requires you know your audience; this book can help save you from listening to bad speeches; differences in different religious weddings; worst speeches are graduation and bar mitzvah; not being Jewish and everyone thinking he is; taking a DNA test to find he's half Jewish; attending UC Davis; working at Second City and Improv Olympic; SNL being a big impetus; Norm MacDonald, Rodney Dangerfield, Mitch Hedberg, and George Carlin; his style; writing for Yakov Smirnoff; trying stand up after killing at his high school graduation; corporate gigs; his career at TMZ; writing monologues for Ellen; having her voice before being hired; her being from New Orleans; backstage gossip; what hurt her was always saying "be nice"; telling stories; guest hosts; Eugene & Dan Levy were hard; Wanda Sykes & Jennifer Anniston were easy; Robert Downey Jr, his favorite and Jason Sudeikis

I learned from our guest this time that only about %1 of Americans serve in the military. For most of us, our understanding of the military and military life comes from what we see in the movies, watch on television and sometimes from what we read in books. Our guest today, Rob Richard, has served in the U.S. army for over 20 years and is now about to be fully retired from the life that he has come to know. Rob's upbringing was in a military family. I asked him if all that he had learned and seen growing up prepared him for a life in the military. His somewhat surprising answer was “no”. We spend much of this episode learning from Rob what his life was like. We get a glimpse into a military world that is significantly different than what we see in the movies and elsewhere. Rob offers us many great insights and helps us see a side of leadership that we all could learn from. Rob has visited 31 countries both for pleasure and work. What I like most about my time with Rob today is how he has used his military time to learn and develop an understanding of others much less himself. I think you will find Rob's observations poignant and useful in many ways. About the Guest: Rob Richard is a retired Army officer and a native of Southern Maryland. With 20 years of military leadership experience, he has served two combat tours in Iraq during the mid-2000s at the height of the war and several tours in Korea and Germany. Rob spent over six years as a Logistics officer in various Special Operations Units and 14 years in Conventional forces, gaining invaluable experience in both specialized and general military operations. His military experiences range from tragic and harrowing events to comedic tales of misadventure as he navigated his career through the bureaucracy of the American war machine. Rob's career has taken him around the globe, visiting over 31 countries for both work and leisure. He holds a Master's degree in Leadership and Management from Webster University and a Bachelor's degree in Communications from Towson University and completed the ROTC program through Loyola University of Baltimore. He is a dedicated husband and father of two. An alumnus of The Honor Foundation, Rob has successfully transitioned his elite military service to the private sector. The Honor Foundation serves as the premier career transition program for U.S. Special Operations Forces, helping to create the next generation of corporate and community leaders. Ways to connect with Rob: LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-j-richard About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Well, hi everyone. I am Mike Hingson, your host here on unstoppable mindset, and we're going to have, I think, a lot of fun, as we usually do, and we love to anyway, I tell all of my guests who come on the podcast that the only rule that we have for unstoppable mindset, and it's a hard and fast rule is you got to have fun, so it's important to do that. Our guest today is Rob Richard. Rob has been in the military for these the last 20 years, and he is retiring, so I'm anxious to hear all about that, and any stories and other things that he wants to tell. But he's he's an intriguing individual. It's been fun chatting with him and preparing for this. So Rob, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here.   Rob Richard ** 02:08 Thanks, Michael. It's, uh, it's honor to be here. You know, last night I told my son, um, a little bit about your backstory, and then I was coming on here, and he was like, Oh, that's such an honor to talk to him. And he said, wow, they picked you, dad, really? And I was like, I was like, I guess, I guess he wants to speak with me. So it's an honor talking to you, and I appreciate your backstory. And my son, you know, learning about history in America over the past, you know, 20 years or so, being nine, he was very, you know, thought it was very honor for me to speak with you today. And I agree. I concur. So thank you very much for having   Michael Hingson ** 02:36 me. Well, I don't know, as a matter so much a matter of picking my belief is that everyone has a story to tell, and I believe that we're all more unstoppable than we think we are. And the problem is that we grow up mostly not really learning to have as much in the way of self confidence, and I mean that in a positive way, as opposed to just an ego, but self confidence and self respect as we should have, and all too often, were were encouraged not to really think as strongly about our capabilities and ourselves as we should. So my goal with unstoppable mindset has always been to give people an opportunity to come on and tell their story and help all of us realize that we're more unstoppable than we think we are. And I think that's really pretty important to do. So I Well, one of these days we we have to interview your son, and that ought to be fine. He's   Rob Richard ** 03:36 going to achieve great things. He's more kids, so it takes after his mom. So Well, there   Michael Hingson ** 03:41 you go. Well, I suspect that you have something to do with it too, sure. Well, tell us a little bit kind of about the early Rob growing up and all that sort of stuff.   Rob Richard ** 03:51 So I come from a military family. My father was in the army, and he's from New Jersey originally, but my maternal family was based out of Baltimore. My grandfather, paternal grandfather, was also in the military. I spent most of my formative years in Southern Maryland, in Charles County, Maryland, which is a distinctly unique place. It's about, you know, 45 to 50 minutes south of DC. So there's a bit of this sort of rural kind of where the south starts right the Chesapeake Bay and the lower Potomac River, a culture of nefarious characters and great fun growing up there. But I was close enough to DC to be around that that sort of government culture quite a bit. Also had a few formative years in Alabama and Alaska as well, moving around so that shaped a lot of who I was living in the South in the in the 80s and early 90s. And then, of course, you know, I went to college in Baltimore, very closely connected to that city, based on my maternal family's connection. There huge oils fan. I love the city of Baltimore. Brother was a police officer there for a while. So I'm a Maryland guy through and through. I'm from there. Very proud of it. I went to college at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. Ah. Where I did the ROTC program through Loyola College, and that's pretty much the gist of me. I think that growing up where I did around the folks that I did, the interesting characters, the type of youth that I had a little bit wild and and sort of free for all that sort of Gen Xenu youth, of just kind of being let, let go to my own devices kind of help shape who I am and help shape my character greatly. So that's pretty much my early start in life.   Michael Hingson ** 05:26 So there was kind of no doubt that you were going to go into the military. Probably family expected it, and you grew up expecting it, I guess.   Rob Richard ** 05:36 Well, you know, I to be honest, I never thought much about the military until I was going to go away to college, right? And so my dad was like, hey, you know, the ROTC program is a great way to give yourself an opportunity right out of college, and they pay for everything. So Truth in Lending, I probably joined the army more for financial reasons out of the gate than, you know, family patriotic reasons. They're certainly part of that. And obviously, when I was in ROTC, the second year, 911 obviously happened. And so I knew that my future was kind of written for me, with a lot of strife going forward as a military guy. So I knew probably around 2021, that's kind of what I wanted to do. But it wasn't always that way. There was a lot of other things I wanted to do growing up, and it just kind of, for whatever reason, that was the shining light that kind of, you know, directed me towards, you know, serving. So I ended up doing that for 20 years, and here I am now. So   Michael Hingson ** 06:30 Well, there you go. Well, on the other hand, if there were other things that you wanted to do, did you get to do any of them in the military? Did the military give you up an environment where you were able to stretch and grow and maybe do some things that that you wanted to do, or maybe that you didn't even think you were ever going to do.   Rob Richard ** 06:48 Yes, I think, you know, one of the great things that that the military offered me was a chance to, I love getting in front of audiences, and I love to tell a story, and I love to tell and, you know, and tell a joke, and tell the things, and do these sort of things. So as a leader, you have to develop a great sense of communication, a great sense to relate to people who come from different backgrounds and and, you know, different places than yourself. And I think the military, being a leader in the military, in particular, you know, the branch of service that I served in the Army, as a logistician, I got a chance to really work with a lot of different types of folks and a lot of different groups of people. And it let me kind of see just all walks of life. And then I kind of mentioned we sent our pre question was, I've been to 31 countries for fun, you know, not just for work. I met my wife in Germany. She's was an American soldier as well. I've got a chance to see the world. The world. The military gave me that privilege. They gave me that opportunity that a lot of people just don't get, you know, I've gotten to see all kinds of things and go out and see the world. So I was very fortunate. And so I guess meeting new and interesting people, seeing the world leading young men and women in combat, is very important to me. It's something that I, you know, never really thought I would have a chance to do growing up, and there's, there's no war now, there was one. So, yeah, I got a chance to do, do these things for many years over so I'm very thankful to the military for that,   Michael Hingson ** 08:11 just the military, and this is just just popped into to my head. So it's just a curiosity, does the military overall tend to evolve as society evolves. I mean, it's not a stagnant kind of a thing. I would assume. I   Rob Richard ** 08:27 think it's a little bit ahead of the game, but I don't necessarily think they're ahead of the game, because it's necessarily the righteous thing to do, but it's almost a business decision, meaning so they desegregated units before most of America, you know, in our general populace was desegregated, but that was more of a decision because they they needed to have people work together, right? Because they had wars and to fight and and things to do. So I think the military is often ahead of the curve when it comes to, you know, desegregation, when it comes to, you know, moving people forward that don't have the backgrounds that are necessarily totally accepted by society at the time. So I think they're a little ahead of the head of the game when it comes to to those sort of things. So I think they generally keep pace with society, yes, if not a little bit ahead.   Michael Hingson ** 09:11 I'll tell you why I asked. It just was something I was thinking about as you were talking. I grew up in the Vietnam era, and for what that was worth on all sides. But during that time, they instituted and had the draft and they even developed a lottery system to decide who was going to go first. And my lottery number was fairly low, but when I turned 18, I fairly quickly got a letter saying you are classified one, a which was the classification where you could be drafted into the military. And I knew that that wasn't going to last being blind, and that they would figure that out, and they did, but I've always thought for me and. And others, they missed it. Why is it that a blind person couldn't find opportunities to serve in the military? It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to be in in the middle of a war zone. There are certainly other aspects of working in the military that a blind person could do, and yet the military kind of never really took advantage of that. Now there are a few people who were blinded in in wartime or because of one thing or another with terrorists, and so they're in the military. They started in the military and then they continued. But it still is true that you don't find real opportunities for blind people to serve in any aspect of the military. And I had a company that I formed back in 1985 and one of the main people who helped me was a retired colonel from the Marines, and he even said there is no reason why there there aren't opportunities available for people who are blind and think tanks and doing other kinds of things that are outside the regular war zone. So it's kind of fascinating, but I think it's an interesting and relevant thing to think about that clearly there are opportunities that ought to be available. Does that make sense?   Rob Richard ** 11:23 It does. I agree. I think one, the one thing about being a soldier at any level is there needs to be a commonality and a standard of that people can do a baseline thing, right? So there's physical fitness assessments, there's things that people need to do based on, you know, certain levels of training, whether it's shooting or going out and doing all these things, that there needs to be a baseline where everyone's kind of even So certain things that I worked in recruiting, uh, ironically enough, for two years, and certain things that are just qualifiers take away from the universal, uh, set that people need a universal set of skills, that people need to be a soldier in general. So there's avenues and different things that you can do with a disability or with things that are would mitigate you from serving in the front lines. But a little bit of what we'll talk about is in these previous wars, not everybody that was necessarily considered a frontline soldier, you know, was, was certainly not negated from from facing combat. And we can, we can talk about that, expound that a little bit, but I think that every person needs to have a basic set of skills. And there are certain things that, if you are blind or if you do have a disability that would, you know, take away from your your ability to do things that are a standard set of things, like, even as a senior officer or a senior non commissioned officer, you still have to take a certain physical fitness test, you still have to, you know, go out and shoot your weapon. You still have to do things that require sight, that require a certain level of hearing. Once you take away from that commonality that everyone has, now you're looking at someone who's not brought into the field and accepted as a soldier of commonality. Does that does that make sense? Or   Michael Hingson ** 12:59 you make an assumption, though, that isn't necessarily so. For example, there are a number of blind people who do shoot their hunters and so on. And so the issue is you have to separate out the skill from how you exhibit the skills. So, for example, right, shooting at a target, if there is a, if there is an auditory cue that allows me to aim at the target, can I learn to shoot at a target and and likewise, yeah, but I hear what you're saying, but I think at the same time, the reality is that that there are, there are certainly options, and what we really need to do is not leave out intelligent minds that might very well be able to contribute to what we do. And that's kind of what prompted the question,   Rob Richard ** 13:58 Oh, I agree, too. And I think that when you see the recruiting crisis that in particularly the army is facing, there needs to be avenues that bring other folks in who might not have the traditional physical skill set that other soldiers have, and allow them to serve. I agree with that, and that's something, I think, especially modern technology, that could be something to be brought into the fold in the future, to be looked at. But I do think, for like, I worked in Special Operations for, you know, for several years, you know, as paratrooper these sort of things. There are certain things that you must have this physical acumen and things that you must be able to do in order to accomplish those tasks in those schools. And, you know, the different training assessments that you have. So if there's a separate place that people can go and have those technologies available to mitigate anything that perhaps their, you know, disability might stop them from doing, I think that's certainly something to consider and something to look at going forward. So that's a great point. Like, I appreciate you bringing that up. I never looked at it that way, to be honest. So I always thought about this linear way of looking at. That you have to have these certain physical attributes to serve. But that's great. I that's a good way to look at it. So it's   Michael Hingson ** 15:06 well and I think, I think it's important to look at what attributes are are necessary to have, but But I also think that a lot of times what we can discover is that exhibiting those attributes may not be the same for one person as opposed to another, but the point is, we can still exhibit the attributes. So it's an interesting thing to, you know, to explore. Great. So tell me about the you know, and I realize that you're speaking for you and your observations and so on. But tell me a little bit about the crisis. You mentioned that, and I read it elsewhere. Tell me a little bit more about the crisis that we're really exhibiting today.   Rob Richard ** 15:46 So I worked in the Dallas, United States Army recruiting Dallas for two years. I was executive officer there, and I was also a time operations officer. And so I got to see the big picture of how the army does recruiting. And even then, in the height of the war, when the what they call the numbers was up and recruiting was was pretty good, still, they struggled to to link up the kind of bridge where they call it military civilian gap, right? So there's a couple different things I think that we need to take into consideration here. Number one, I think about only 1% of the nation serves right? And a large percentage of those folks are like myself. There they are legacy people, people who have a connection to the military. So I think the first thing to do is you have to bridge that military and civilian gap, and you have to look at why aren't people joining the military, right? And I'll be honest with you, the the army itself is terrible at branding in comparison to, say, the Marine Corps, right? Things like uniform and commonality of identity, the Marines do that way better, I think, than the army does. Right? As far as like, we have this certain set of things that we go with are always kind of changing their motto and go in different directions. But in general, there's also a population of people, because we just hit on it. Now you talk about, you know, having something that's going to stop you from serving. There are a large number of people who just don't meet the criteria. It's actually harder to get into the United States Army than it is to go to a four year university. So you're talking about physical fitness requirements. You're talking about legalities. You know, people getting in trouble with the law that disqualifies them from service, prior drug use, things like that, things that are looking at packing away and taking away for waivers. But the number one biggest thing is, I just think society societal differences on how civilian people and the military are connected. I think people just have a general misunderstanding of what the military is. They have a general misunderstanding of what it is to serve. And I just don't think that in our in our current society, that enough people are willing to step up and do it because life is too comfortable, and that's my personal opinion. That's not necessarily, you know, the Army's opinion. That's my opinion. Do you   Michael Hingson ** 17:51 think that it also has to do with how the military is portrayed, like in movies and TV shows and so on? Does that enter into it at all? Yes, I think, you know, we think so, and that's why I asked, I think   Rob Richard ** 18:04 so. And I like to get your take on what it is that when you say that, is it the is it a negative portrayal? Is a good portrayal. If you look at how certain wars are portrayed, right, you take it away. World War Two was portrayed versus, say, Vietnam, right? They're not portrayed totally different ways, right? You look at the modern war, and often veterans are painted this picture of a tragic experience, a tragic a tragedy, right? There's often this experience that is okay. This is a person that had a tragic thing happened to them. The war is something that was they went through and now they have this ailment, or whatever it is. It's often framed as that, but it's more complex than that. Yeah, a service is more complex than that. And I think that another thing is people don't understand that most military folks are middle class by the time they hit a certain age, right? So by the time you are excuse, by the time they hit a certain rank or time in service, they have middle class, you know, houses they live in a certain way of of a certain lifestyle that the army and the military in general affords to them. And I don't think people understand the financial and monetary benefit that you get for from the military. I don't think that's clearly articulated as a as a form of, hey, this is something I want my kid to do. You know, there's a lot of this, not in my backyard, type, but hey, that's great. Thank you for your service. But I don't want to serve, right? There's a lot of that that goes around in American society, I think. And I don't know if that resonates with you or if you agree, or Yeah, I   Michael Hingson ** 19:23 do understand that. I certainly don't disagree. I think that there is a lot of merit to that. What, what strikes me, though, is that there is a great misunderstanding. You know, if you watch some of the TV shows that are on when they talk about the military, it's, it's kind of a romanticized sort of thing, but the the and the the tragedy of veterans and so on, certainly there, there's a lot of that is focused on that at the same time when. We, when we go back and look at it, what, what caused that tragedy? What did? What did we not do as a society, to say, Bring a veteran home and be able to completely integrate them back into or bring them fully into society? And that's something where I think we as a as a society, do miss the point that where is much to I don't I want to use the word blame, but be responsible for integrating people back in because clearly, one of the things that I think is true about the military, and I don't think it's a bad thing, is that it is a particular kind of lifestyle. It's a very regimented lifestyle, and that's okay. But now, when you bring people, say, who have been to war and who have seen things back into society, there are, there is a lot more that we probably really ought to do to make sure that we're helping people get back into into the world that we're most of us are used to, and the fact that we don't understand what the world was that they were in, sort of contributes to us not really knowing how to bring them back into it.   Rob Richard ** 21:16 I agree. I agree. I think one of the things about special operations, where I worked for the past seven years, is they do a really good job of helping veterans, like, transition out of the military, whether they've had four or five years, or whether they've had, you know, 20 years, like myself, they have great programs. I told you. I completed the Honor Foundation, which was, you know, did a great service for me, helping me trans. Help Me transfer into civilian life and help me prepare for not in the corporate world, but just life in general. I think the military is getting better at that. I certainly think that our modern day era veterans were treated far better than, say, Vietnam veterans who came home. Yeah, you know, I really do believe that. I know my grandfather was a Vietnam vet, and I know there were times where, you know, he couldn't wear his uniform anywhere, or there's just people weren't treated with the same level of respect that I was. I always felt that when I came home, right, not necessarily the integration piece, but the fact that, you know, being a veteran, I always felt that I was thanked, or at least it's somewhat some way, even though it might seem patronizing that I was at the very least welcomed home and welcomed back and people appreciated, you know, whether they've experienced it or not, appreciate what I had been through, and we're very grateful for the most part, as to where in Vietnam, they certainly weren't. I think we've gotten better as a society about that. But where does that take you in, in the real and Reality of Things, right? Is it? Is it better veterans care, better mental health awareness, you know, things that I think they're working on? I certainly don't think we do a great job, in general, providing mental health for soldiers outside of special operations, right outside of the elite units that get elite care to access a lot of what military mental health care is is simply just getting you to go back to do your job, right? But when you leave the military, then the behavioral health, mental health care, it should be about getting you back to being a, you know, a human that is going to enjoy and live life to the fullest, right? So there's a difference, right? One's kind of make you a person who's going to go back to work and do is, you know, run the machines and run the papers as a as George Carlin would say. And the other is going to help you kind of be a normal human that fits into society, and that's the difference, you know? I think, well, the   Michael Hingson ** 23:25 other, the other aspect of it is that in the military, it is a very regimented sort of thing, and most of the time, there are people above you, and you realize they make the decisions, and we just carry out the orders. And now being back in the mainstream of society, you are more responsible for doing a lot of those things for yourself. And again, that's something that we need to teach people how to do.   Rob Richard ** 23:52 Again, sure. Well, I would, oh, go ahead, Michael, go ahead. No, go ahead. I was going to say I tend to disagree with that a little bit. I think people have a stereotype about military folks. You know, I you know most military people after, I said, as I mentioned before, after they hit a certain time and service a certain rank, their life is somewhat individualized. It's not necessarily a control that's a good point. Yeah, it really much is, I live in my own house. I don't live on post. I don't wake up every day and go to listen to listen to the bugle at five o'clock in the morning. You know, I think there's a misconception that soldiers are robots. When they are individuals with families, they are individuals, you know, that live lives outside of the military. Is it regimented? Yes. Is it a lifestyle? Yes. But I do think there's a misconception that the military is this completely controlling organization that has every facet of your life under control, and that's just not the case. You know, like I said, it's a it's just not really the case of how most military folks are. And there's so many great minds and artists and people that have all these great ideas that serve in the military, that are very bright and articulate and all these things. There's just a misconception about what a veteran is, I think. And I. Think that's another thing that when we tie in service and why people will and won't join, is the misconception. I mean, how many veterans do most people know? Do they have an uncle or a cousin or somebody that serves and that's something that we miss? You know, it's not exactly all the things that you see in the movie, you know, the guy on the street corner with the fatigue jacket and the one arm missing asking for money, that's that's not really most veterans. That's not really most of us. I think that's a misconception. Michael, that's just my take. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 25:24 and I, and I certainly didn't want to imply that it's so regimented that everybody's a robot, but, but I, but I, but I do think that until you get to that level that you were talking about, and I think that's a very valid point, it's probably more regimented than than a lot of people absolutely are used to. But by the same token, it still gets back to what level of support do we really give people when they when they come back, and the fact that there probably is a lot more that we could do. But you, you said something that prompts another question. And I think I'm well, I think I know the answer to this, but I'll be curious to see what you say, and that is, you're right back in the days of Vietnam veterans came home and they were they were spit on, they were not treated well, and so on. And it's a lot different today. Do you think that September 11 had a lot to do with that?   Rob Richard ** 26:20 I do. I think that people became, I was a young college student in the ROTC program, not quite in the military just yet, but I think that that event was the single catalyst to people realizing that, you know, we came together as a nation, more so than any other thing in my lifetime, ever after 911 so we came together. Now the wars that followed subsequently were very controversial, right? And they were something that divided the nation, but that particular event, you know, made the nation come together at writ large, more than any other event in history. So I think that that that kind of triggered people to be more understanding and appreciative of the military and the things that they would go do right, regardless of the political landscape, of what the wars would follow. People were very grateful. So I think 100% that 911 was a catalyst for people to be more patriotic, more supporting of the military. You know, enlistments were up. People were left and right, looking to join during that time frame, at least the first five to six years prior to the wars kind of going on, becoming quagmire, if you will. So I think so. I think you're right,   Michael Hingson ** 27:30 yeah, well, and I also think that the whole issue with the wars that followed, unfortunately, politics got much too much involved with it. So after September 11, should we have gone into Afghanistan to go after Osama bin Laden? That's one thing, but then, but then we decided to go into Iraq and go after Saddam Hussein, which was a totally different thing. And I still, yeah, and I still believe that that made no sense to do, but we did Sure, and we took our eye off the bin Laden ball, which is part of the problem. So unfortunately, politics gets too much into it and and that, in part, comes from the low bar that we have for politicians. So what do you do?   Rob Richard ** 28:19 I agree with that, yeah, we can agree on that. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 28:23 it's, it's a it's a challenge, you   Rob Richard ** 28:25 know, here's something I'll say on that, as far as I think when you serve in in I was, I'm a wreck veteran, so I've been to Iraq. I spent 15 months of my life there. And I will tell you that when you're there, you know, and I went there kind of a starry eyed sort of young lieutenant, just with the delusions of how things were going to go. So it's really a movie character on those sort of like character Oliver Stone movie, and what I saw was quite different than the reality of what I thought I would see. But I will tell you this at the end of the day, regardless of the political implications of the wars and the meanings behind them, when you have the American military machine together, right? And however chaotic it is, or however things are, I can hang my head on the fact that I was able to lead my soldiers, men and women, young people from you know, like The Rolling Stones of that great song, the salt of the earth, right? Say, say a prayer for the common foot soldier. Those were my guys, the common truck driver, mechanic and people that you know join the military for a certain purpose, whether it's money for patriotism, whatever, when asked to do this mission, regardless of its political implications, they did it. They did it well, and they did it to a level that's impressive and something that is beautiful to watch in action and that I'll always be proud of. Yeah. So if Aaron ever says, hey, you know, you serve these wars, and they're this, that and the other. I don't think when you're there, you think too much about it. That's the Coming Home part. That's the that's the thing you face later. When you're dealing with, you know, whether it's PTSD or these other sort of issues, that's when the philosophical question is to be answered. When you're there, when you're in the fight, that is. This, you doing your mission, you and your guys, the old adage, adage of left and right, that's what you're doing, and that I'm proud of, and that I can think our military did a great job. Right. Losing the war in the political sense is far different than losing the battles right in the actual militarily sense. So that's just something I hang my hat on. And I think that if we overlooked that as a society, and we overlooked that as a culture, that the wars are just this negative thing, and they were kind of, you know, excuse my language, or kind of, Bs, whatever. Yeah, we're overlooking the accomplishments of the actual people that were asked to do these things, right?   Michael Hingson ** 30:32 Well, and also well, and ultimately, let's, let's take Afghanistan. You know, we have we were there for a long time. Should we have been there as long as we were? I think that's a question that you can you can discuss and debate, but at the same time, the ultimate thing we were looking to do was to deal with Osama bin Laden, and we did that. But then we did continue to stay, and there were reasons for it. Should we have or should we have been smarter about withdrawing again? Those are all discussions that one could have. But I think that ultimately, it seems to me, you know, if people said, and people ask me, Well, did we lose the war in Afghanistan? I don't know that we lost the war, but I think the politicians didn't help but I think that the military did what they were supposed to do. I   Rob Richard ** 31:24 agree. But, you know, I the the general who said this escapes me, but it was not a 20 year war. It was a one year war fought 20 times. Yeah. So when you so you have these wars, you have a different general, a different you know, whatever it is, come in and they all have a different take on how we're going to accomplish this goal. But both those wars, whether it was the one I fought in Iraq or the one in Afghanistan, you know, they there were no real clear objectives for us. They were one year at a time, little hash marks of trying to accomplish these small goals. And we were never given a clear picture of what victory looked like, very similar to Vietnam. So I think that's, I don't think that's put on the that's not put on the backs of the common veteran. That's put on the backs of the politicians. Yeah, that was that, I was sure that's put on. I The generals too. I think so they, they owe their, you know, by that time you hit to that, that level, it's, it's a political level. And I think they're, they owe an answer to that. You know, my personal opinion, me as a retired Army officer, I think they owe an answer to that.   Michael Hingson ** 32:23 Well, we don't necessarily have the same kind of generals as we had with a patent or even a storm in Norman Schwarzkopf. You know the Sure, sure.   Rob Richard ** 32:31 Well, there's some very particular generals out there. Some good there are. But I there are, I think, I think those wars were never, never given clear, clearly defined objectives by any political figure, and that makes it impossible to what you would traditionally call a win, right? Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 32:48 I do. I do. I know exactly what you're saying, and it makes and it makes perfect sense well for you. So you joined the military. Did you think that you were going to be traveling the world and seeing 31 countries and doing all the things that that you did, or was any of that a surprise to you? No,   Rob Richard ** 33:05 I'll tell you. So when you're in college and you're ROTC, you you know, or West Point, or whatever you're, you know, I was an ROTC guys. So you have West Point, you have OCS, your different commissioning sources, you're, you're branched a certain whether it's infantry or armor or whatever, I was a transportation branch. So I thought I, you know, I got stationed in Germany, my first duty assignment. And, you know, I had two deployments to the Middle East during that time. It was about a six year stint. And I never thought that I would have this amazing fun, adventurous and it's a family show here, adventurous show. Adventurous life that I had, that that that I was given. I thought I would just end up at some base somewhere in Texas, and barbecue on Sundays, drink more lights, watch football like everybody else. I never thought I'd have this great life. I never thought I'd travel the world in Gallivan so I'm very fortunate in that way. And I just, I don't think most people picture that, but when you get your first what they call assignment, your duty station, and it's Germany, and my second one being Korea, traveling all around Asia. You know, with my, my awesome wife, I I'll tell you, I never thought I would have that, to be honest with you, that's never something that crossed my mind. That level of adventure and fun, it almost kind of mitigates some of the things that you had to go through in war. It almost makes it like they kind of balance each other out, I think, well,   Michael Hingson ** 34:19 and traveling to and traveling to Germany, of course, got you your wife.   Rob Richard ** 34:24 Yes, true, yeah. So we met. You were both soldiers, and just, you know, we, we met by by sheer chance, and that's something that I look back on, and I'm always very thankful to Uncle Sam for that. So,   Michael Hingson ** 34:34 yeah, there's, there is that. Did she stay in the military?   Rob Richard ** 34:38 No, she got out. So we, we were in Korea, and then I got stationed to go work in recruiting in Dallas. And she made the decision that, you know, I was a little bit further along, a little bit older. And she made, we made the decision that, hey, the dual military thing is very difficult. That is one of the, I think, most difficult career choices you could make, is to have two service members in especially once you hit the senior levels. And so we decided, hey, you know. I'm going to stay in, she's going to get out, and she's a very successful entrepreneur, doing very well with with some things that she's got going on. So I think we made the right choice, and she gets to be mom and be this amazing mother. So I think that's something, I think collectively, was the right decision. Well, that that worked. How old? How old are the kids? I got a nine year old, my son, Alex, and then he's about to be 10, and then my daughter, Evie, named Evangeline, after a song by the the band the Great, the band Yvonne Hill, she is six. So they're, they're still pretty young. A lot of give me, give me a handful here. Well, that's,   Michael Hingson ** 35:34 that's fine, you know. And we'll see who, who does better and who handles who better? The kids handle you guys, or you handle the kids better. We   Rob Richard ** 35:43 were on a pretty tight ship here, Michael, so at least my wife does. I'm going to push over, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 35:49 Well, there you go. Well, but it, but it's, but it is interesting to to be able to see a lot of the world. And I, you know, I've, I've had the never been to Germany. I've been to Korea and spend some time there. And that was a lot of fun. I've been to Japan and to some places. I've been to the Netherlands, but not to Germany, when actually, in about a month and a half, no, actually about a month, I'll take my first trip to London to speak. Oh, wow. I've been to Ireland, but never to London. And then it's fun to go through the logistics of being able to take a guide dog to London and doing all the things to to clear the dog. I think it's a lot more work to get him ready to go than me, but we'll cope. Yeah, but it's, but it's, but it is fun. And I, I think there is so much value in seeing so many different places around the world and all that we can learn. I think that we take way too much for granted, and we we think that we're so much better, sometimes than than other places. And in some right, some ways, our country and our society works better, and some ways it doesn't necessarily do that, but I don't think it's my place to judge, but rather to go and learn and bring back knowledge and put it to use.   Rob Richard ** 37:04 I agree, it certainly makes you a better person as as a collective right to understand. You know, America's a great place, and I love this country dearly, but there are many things that that we can learn from other cultures. You know, we work so hard here in Germany, and I tell you about three o'clock, they take off and go have a beer and relax a little bit. You know, there's, and they still, they managed to run a very efficient society without the hustle culture that we have. And I, I am a stern capitalist. I love to work hard. But there's something to take away from that. You know, there's also, on the other side of the spectrum, in Korea and Asia, they work even harder than we do, right? So there's, there's a level of where to meet in the middle, and looking at these different cultural things. And, you know, it's just, I just very fortunate to have seen all that, and take a little bit from each one and kind of develop my own life, and these are gonna teach my children and stuff. So that's, that's great. I think I love London, too. The   Michael Hingson ** 37:54 founder of the National Federation of the Blind was a blind constitutional law scholar, Jacobus tembrick, who was at UC Berkeley, and one of the things that his wife told me, I never did get to know chick 10 Brook, but I knew his wife, and she said that he could go for long periods of time, because he would take what we now call a power nap for 20 minutes, and then he could get up and work for hours. And we don't encourage any of that, and I think it's truly unfortunate, because there's a lot of value in having a little bit of downtime that then keeps you able to keep moving a lot more than you think you might.   Rob Richard ** 38:33 No, no, I agree. I think that's something in the military they focused a few years, the past couple of years, on, which is, I don't know it's, maybe it's all for not but focusing on on sleep, you know, wellness and overall spiritual you know, thing that's going on here, trying to get everybody together in this sort of triad approach of wellness, sleep and physical fitness and stuff. And sleep is so important to being a successful leader. You know, one hour of sleep versus four makes all the difference in your decision making. Makes all the difference in your ability to lead, your ability to persevere through problems. So slaves huge, you know, even it's only four hours, yeah, well,   Michael Hingson ** 39:12 and but again, even during the day, taking a half hour and resting your eyes and then coming back gives you energy to continue, and we don't. We don't do enough of that. So I'm, I'm all in favor of exploring and and doing more to to deal with sleep and wellness and looking at other ways to help us move more effectively and more efficiently during the day. I agree. Yeah, so it makes sense well, now your career as a logistician and so on, as you said, is pretty unique. What what made it so unique, and why do you feel that that really helped shape you into what you are, and where do you think this is going to take you going forward?   Rob Richard ** 39:58 So I think a lot of times. When you are again, we talk about conditioning source. So when you go into the military, a lot of guys, they say, Okay, I want to be an infantry person. I want to be an armor guy. I want to be special forces, whatever. There's many different avenues that you can enter the military. And I think coming in initially as a transportation officer. You know, I went to Iraq, and I had these sort of experiences that, I think, again, we talk about movies, they're often overlooked, right? So I was in Iraq for 12 months. My first deployment, I was a platoon leader. I had 60 soldiers. I went on well over 60 plus missions that are, what are called convoys. So I was putting in these dangerous, arduous situations and these things that that could result in grave violence, and these sort of things that I experienced, and that my soldiers experienced, that gave me a unique out outlook on life, right? And I think that because of our underdog persona in nature, as logistics guys, you know, it's all a big wheel, and there's all these folks that make it work, right? And so as an underdog type character, and having these sort of salt of the earth type soldiers, it's given me a unique perspective on people, a unique empathy. I think a lot of military guys are kind of seen, seen as cold and stern, these sort of square jaw type characters. I don't really think I'm like that at all. It's giving me a unique perspective to grow and to be more loving and empathetic, to be a better dad. I think just serving that type of field and that type of profession is very different. It's also a little more diverse than, like, say, your standard, like Special Operations Unit, which is a lot of square jawed white guys from the Midwest, you know, as to where logistics, there's a much more diverse profile of people from all over, you know, from Jamaica or Puerto Rico, from every different state, from these, these different types of folks. And I really had a chance to just work with people who are different, who built my level of love and empathy overall. And I think being in the branch and the field that I was in really helped shape that for me. And then just, I don't think I would have had the experiences say I had been, you know, I mean, I went to airborne school when I was 38 so I did the paratrooper thing. I served in Special Operations units, airborne units, this sort of thing. And I'm honored to have been with those. But I think if I hadn't started in these sort of, like working class type units, you know, out of Germany, you know, under equipment, under trained, I really learned to persevere through things without the best of everything, right, without the best training, without the best you know, given the best tools to go accomplish, you had to accomplish more with less, right? And I think that really is a lesson that you can't really get necessarily in other fields and other branches of the military. I really think what I got assigned to do really helped me persevere through things and become a better person overall. And I don't know if that answers the question. But I think that's kind of, you know, the uniqueness of it that makes it different. And most people, again, haven't had the opportunity to travel and see the things I have. And I just think that, you know, I'm very fortunate in that realm. So I just think overall, holistically, my life has been better because of the job that I got. And to be honest with you, I mean, it's great to be an infantry guy, but a supply chain manager, professional supply chain manager, really does prepare you a little better for the corporate world. So in the end, it kind of helps you transition to the civilian thing that you can do and gain monetary advantage. So I think it all worked out. I   Michael Hingson ** 43:16 think it does probably just with the little that I know about it and understand about I think it does probably better prepare you, because the jobs are fairly similar to what you'll find in certain aspects of the corporate world, which is kind of important. And I like your idea on your analogy of doing things with less. I think a lot of us, especially for those of us who are blind, for example, and people with disabilities in general, oftentimes we have to deal with less, just because society hasn't emphasized making sure that we have alternatives that give us the same chances and opportunities as others do. So we have to deal with less like I work for accessibe. And so accessibe is a company that, among other things, helps makes websites more inclusive for for people with disabilities. Well, the bottom line is that people creating websites don't do things that they could do to make websites more usable and accessible right off the bat. And so the result is that we have to get creative in figuring out how, if it at all possible, we can use a website, and some we can't, because there's just no way, no way to have information that works. But there are also any number of websites that are accessible enough or have enough information that is a friend of mine once said, we can muddle through and make it work, but we do have to deal with those challenges, and I think it makes us better, because we face the challenges and we work through them.   Rob Richard ** 44:54 That makes perfect sense. That does Yeah. And   Michael Hingson ** 44:56 so you having to do that same sort of thing. Sometimes it it makes you a better person. It makes you probably more of a resilient person, but at least it makes you a more inventive person, because you don't take some things for granted.   Rob Richard ** 45:11 Yes, and you know, I think people when they have an idea of a soldier or a leader, I think emotional intelligence and empathy are something that people don't associate with the military. But when you're when you're a young, 24 year old lieutenant, all the way up through, you know, being a more senior officer or senior leader, you have so much of your life that is assigned and tasked to helping others and taking care of people. Their problems are your problems, right? You learn so much about the human condition through serving in the military that I don't think it can even compare in any other walk of life, you know, say, maybe being a first responder or something along those lines. But when you're with somebody in this this situation is arduous and dangerous for 12 months, you know, going on all the way through a 20 year career, you can't put a price or a value on how much experience you get of developing an emotionally intelligent approach to things, right? Some people, I think anybody who doesn't struggle with decisions as a human right, it goes through the experience of war and serving in the military. I think very rarely do you not come out of that with a real profound understanding of the human condition, right? And I don't think anything else could give you that, as far as a profession. And I think understanding people becoming more loving, it might not seem like something from a military guy to say, but loving empathy, you know, understanding the these, these folks and different types of people. I think it's a beautiful thing to be honest, you know, and I feel very cherished that I've had to have that opportunity to become a better human. Again, things aren't necessarily associated with like a military man who's straightforward and, you know, talks in a certain way. And again, some people aren't like that. Some people kind of go through, you know, self absorbed, like any profession, just about themselves. But I think a good military leader. You know, the army a leader, and particularly officers, we always eat last, right? So when I went to Airborne School at 38 years old, as an old, older guy, I was the second oldest guy in my class, the highest ranking person in my class, and so I ate after 200 soldiers, I let 200 people go in front of me, right? And that's not to be hubris or to brag about something, but that's just what you're supposed to do as a leader, to get to show that, hey, I'm here for you guys. You guys eat first, right? You always leaders, always eat last. There's that old adage. And I just think the regular world is not necessarily, the regular civilian world isn't necessarily that way, you know? And I think that's something that really made me grow as a human and to be a better person. So Well, I've always   Michael Hingson ** 47:40 felt, having worked in the corporate world, that a good boss is a boss who doesn't boss people around, who recognizes that leadership means sometimes you give up leadership to somebody else when there's a specific thing that you figure out they can do better. But also I believe that my role is to add value to each and every person who works for me, and I have to figure out with them how to add that value, but for the people who get it, it makes everyone a lot more powerful. And I mean that in a positive sense, it makes them a lot more productive and a lot more efficient. I think that that good leaders figure out how to do that, and that's important to do. Well, I wholeheartedly agree. So I'm curious about something. I keep coming back to it in my brain. So I'm going to ask in places like Israel, where everyone, at some point needs to go into the military, and goes into the military. And I understand why that happened. We don't do that here. How do you contrast, or what do you think about the contrast in those two methods of dealing with the military? Because then I asked that because you talked about the crisis, I'm not convinced that everyone should necessarily have to go in the military, but it's an interesting discussion to have.   Rob Richard ** 49:01 I kind of, I, you know, I like the way Korea does it. Korea has a societal conscription sort of program, right? So you can either join the military, you can be a paramedic, you can be a policeman. I don't necessarily think we need to go to that level, but I think there should be some general level of civic service, right? You have to have some level of commitment. And I think that not everyone, especially in our current society, is cut out to be in the army, to be in, you know, to be in the armed services, but there should be some level of civic conscription where people have to serve for maybe a year or two in somewhere. I really do believe in that. It might sound a little bit draconian libertarian, but I think it's something to look at. I think it would make people better humans. Because nowadays, like, there wasn't World War Two, there was a general understanding that we have a universal effort, that we're going forward as a nation. There was such a connection to the military service, and everyone chipped in, you know, everyone chipped in and all the time, and I don't think that really is the case. Everyone is going in their own direction. Shouldn't we're not going in a general direction. It's good for the country as a society, and without some sort of civic inscription, I don't know if that's possible people to truly understand what others go through, right? And so I agree. I think that we should have some sort of level of of civil civic service, not necessarily level of the draft, but right, not quite like how Israel does it, but   Michael Hingson ** 50:20 yeah, so, and I think that makes a lot of sense, and I think that also it's a great learning experience, yes, which is a part of what I think you're also suggesting, and I think that that makes a lot of sense, that that brings you into being a more well rounded individual as you go forward. And I think that it's important to do that, and we need to figure out some way to do that.   Rob Richard ** 50:46 No, I agree. I think that, you know, when you're in Israel, is a homogenous society, very similar. People have similar religions, similar takes. Our society, when you look at as a whole, is completely different than any other society in the world, as how different we are in the many cultures that we have in a collective approach to civil service, I think could help, I really do think could help something to unify us. Again, not quite to the 911 unification type, right, but somewhere where we can come together as society and say, Hey, we got a common purpose here. Let's go forward with it. You know, so   Michael Hingson ** 51:18 Well we, we were so unified after September 11, and I can point to specific political things that damaged that and took away from the unification and so unfortunate that that kind of thing occurred. And we have, there are other aspects. I mean, we also now have this technology where everyone has so much instantaneous access to so much information, some of which is real and some of which is false, but still the the fact is, we have access to things that we didn't before. And you mentioned World War Two, I collect old radio shows as a hobby, and I listen to many of the shows in the World War Two era, and listen to how all the actors, all the people on those shows, were part of the story that helped pull the country together, and everyone was committed. Yeah, there were challenges. Yeah, there were problems, but people really did come together for the most part, and worked because we knew it's what we needed to do, and that's the operative part. We knew what we needed to do. We needed to be unified, and if we weren't, that was a problem.   Rob Richard ** 52:36 Oh no, I agree. I think, though, there's a fine balance between unification and then a controlled narrative that takes people away from a independent free thought, right? One of the things we've gotten away from is independent free thought. There are two sides to everything. There's my side, your side, and a good collective would be great, but that you still have to have that, that approach to independent thought, right? And I also think something's missed about the military, if I could expound a little bit, is that many people in the military here are some of the world class cynics. You know, they're not necessarily these, hook, line and sinker, follow suit, type of folks. They're just the they're very aware of their situation and sort of what's going on. And they're very like, okay, is this really the deal here? You know, people are very skeptical. They're very they have a lot of free thought, a lot of independent thought. They're very politically engaged in what they think, and very go after things and have articulate points that that they clearly think of, as opposed to just like, Oh, we're all we all think the same. You know, that's a misconception about the military. We don't there are people of all different facets and walks of life and and think completely different on every issue under the sun, and that's important. So I think having a collective civic response and duty to things is great, but we start to keep our independent thought as a nation in a society.   Michael Hingson ** 53:53 I think the other part of that, though, is that we need to learn again, to be understanding of people who have a different position than we do, and we need to stop saying, Well, you're wrong, and because they think we're wrong, whoever they and we and you are. And the reality is it's it's more than just having the independent thinking ability and opportunity, but it's being able to talk about it and people who truly can, again, learn so much because you you learn to understand why people think the way they do sometimes or a lot of times. And that's important too.   Rob Richard ** 54:36 Yes, absolutely, I agree 100% so   Michael Hingson ** 54:40 logisticians are generally not part of when you watch movies and so on, they're not typically what's featured. What? Why is that? Or how do we get the logistics world a little bit more understood? And I know that that goes beyond the military, but you know, nevertheless, yeah.   Rob Richard ** 54:59 Yeah, well, so again, I think you're looking at what in this. This is to take nothing away from anyone. So when you look at most of the majority of TV shows and books, and rightfully so, I'll say rightfully so, so much of it is about special operations, yeah, frontline soldiers, what you would call, you know, in World War Two, there was a linear Battlefield, so there were two entities facing each other, face to face in a situation, but over the past 20 years, and even all going all the way back to Vietnam, they weren't linear battlefields. They were battlefields where all these support type soldiers, whether it's communicators or truck drivers, mechanics, even cooks and these other people, are combat veterans. They are facing combat. They have dangerous and arduous tales of heroics that need to be told often. You know, especially in particular in convoy operations throughout Afghanistan and Iraq. I think it's overlooked because it's well, it's not sexy, it's not what people want to see. It's not the conditioned thing of what people are supposed to see. But I think it can often be talked about in a humorous way, like we, I think you and I, we talked a little bit about mash, right? And that's about doctors, Army doctors who are support personnel and enablers. And there's a comedic approach to it. It's not all just serious, stoic, you know, movie sort of nonsense. It is a, it is a comedic approach to a real topic, and it covered it gracefully. You know, Hogan's Heroes, these sort of comedic shows that we all had, that we were elected, who understood, and that we love McHale's Navy again, another one. I think that logisticians and support folks are often overlooked because it's just not what is considered to be cool. But there are stories about war, about these brave and courageous things that people have done, and I've witnessed with my own eyes that I think is an interesting and fun story, not fun, but an interesting story that needs to be told so that legacy doesn't drift off into the wind, like the gun trucks in Vietnam, right? There was these things that were developed. A great documentary on Smithsonian about

SEASON 3 EPISODE 108: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: If Donald Trump were a foreign agent trying to destroy the U-S from within… what would he be doing differently? Crash the stock market, bring on a recession, make it worldwide, with economic policies so insane that yesterday CNBC called them insane, not only get out of NATO but pit the US AGAINST NATO, sacrifice countries to the Russian dictator, push a cease fire in Ukraine that serves only to give Russia 30 days to re-fortify their troop positions, threaten our forever allies like Canada and Mexico, cut off humanitarian aid fast enough to start killing people via disease outbreaks in the same month, start dragging citizens and LEGAL immigrants off the streets and hold them incommunicado in distant concentration camps without trial prior to deportation, try to break the constitution to hold office to avoid prison, blackmail the owners of the major media companies to support him or at least destroy their news outlets, violate every law and make sure all the prosecutors and judges are loyal to you and NOT to the law, decapitate not the EXCESS in government but the people who know how to stop plane crashes and epidemics, turn the agencies over to every con man and idiot and loser and lunatic he could find, roll back human rights for minorities, burn all governmental records, base his decisions on the failed economic policy of 1894 that the professor must’ve been talking about the ONE day he didn’t cut class in college, give a line item veto to a compulsive liar drugged-up foreigner who literally blows up everything he touches, and finally take a 100 million dollar bribe (I’m sorry, contribution) in public during a live infomercial for the druggie’s self-driving self-detonating cars. AND WHY WOULD Democrats give these creatures what they want? Why would Chuck Schumer try to finesse the Continuing Resolution as it comes to the Senate, when it is really just a bill to let Musk continue to resolve to shut down the government. Amazingly, Democrats fear being blamed if they block the bill and... there is a COMPLETE shutdown of the government. It's madness. The Republicans celebrate what the Democrats fear. AND UPDATED FOR 2025 with unspoken references to Trump and a video montage spanning the hero's time to literally this month that ended with Elon Musk and the loudest booing I've ever heard, last night saw the first preview of George Clooney's Broadway version of "Good Night And Good Luck" in which he stars as Murrow. It's a technical masterpiece and the message is as ever timely and even urgent. And I had the privilege of being there. B-Block (27:50) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Baseball has more new crap caps, only among these is one that spells out a vulgar Hispanic term for women's breasts. One of Marco Rubio's top State Department employees turns out to have been an online troll aimed at... Marco Rubio. And The Guardian asks "Is Stephen A. Smith The Answer for the Democrats" and the answer is surprisingly simply: no damn way. C-Block (43:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL. Since Stephen A. is clearly part of an organized campaign to make us all stop breaking into laughter at the thought of him running for president, let me just tell the story of why moving from sports into politics may not be the best idea. I use as my example... myself. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Content warning: Strong language. It may not be appropriate if you are in the carpool line! Jessimae Peluso is coming to Annapolis at Rams Head On Stage on Saturday, March 22nd, to take our collective minds off of whatever is ailing us! Remember--laughter heals! Fresh between her workout (sans deodorant) and a doctor's appointment, Jessimae hopped on the phone to discuss her upcoming show, and the conversation went off the rails in all sorts of ways. We hit on her advocacy for Alzheimer's research and our mutual experiences with it, to the greatness that was (and still is) George Carlin, her podcast about to celebrate its tenth anniversary, her outlook on life, and why an Italian girl from New York has a backwoods Kentucky, hillbilly-sounding name! And a whole lot more! If you are looking to forget about life for a while, Jessimae will be the one to help you along. She is in Annapolis for one night only (as long as her plane doesn't fall out of the sky) on March 22nd and tickets are available now! But for now, have a listen, and then grab some tickets!

This is an "Encore Presentation" of an audience favorite, my interview with the late, legendary George Carlin, originally taped in 2005.  

Send us a textAt a recent fundraiser, I produced a show for a sold out 400 seat room in Placerville CA. The headliner was Dennis Blair; a comic/musician who has toured with Rodney Dangerfield, Joan Rivers, Barry Manilow, and for over 18 years with George Carlin.A very funny standup comic who you will hear here, is funny and a talented musician.Listen, Enjoy, & Share!Dennis Blair, a seasoned comedian with over four decades in the entertainment industry, has made a significant mark with his stand-up performances and writing talents. Known for co-writing the Rodney Dangerfield movie "Easy Money" and spending 18 years opening for George Carlin, Blair has proven his comedic prowess time and again. His recent stand-up comedy special in Placerville garnered high praise from host R. Scott Edwards, who emphasized Blair's impressive career and ability to connect with audiences. The sold-out show, which featured material on diverse topics such as song lyrics, reggae music, and Elvis Presley, left a lasting impression, reaffirming Blair's status as a seasoned and engaging performer.(00:00:21) "Dennis Blair's Stand-Up Comedy Showcase"(00:00:21) Blair's Hilarious Performance at Sold-out FundraiserSupport the showWebsite: Standup Comedy Podcast Network.com www.StandupComedyPodcastNetwork.com Free APP on all Apple & Android phones....check it out, podcast, jokes, blogs, and More!"NEW" Video Podcast: Tag Team Talent Podcast on Spotify & YouTube See your favorite comics and other performers...Fun!Please Write a Review: in-depth walk-through for leaving a review.Interested in Standup Comedy? Check out my books on Amazon..."20 Questions Answered about Being a Standup Comic""Be a Standup Comic...or just look like one"

SEASON 3 EPISODE 107: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: He has to go. And Minority Whip Katherine Clark. And Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar. And for that matter, Gavin Newsom has to go. Because after these standard-issue moderate Democrats vanished on election night they have suddenly reappeared 125 days later to address the REAL issue: Democratic House members who actually DID something to protest Trump - even just something symbolic like Al Green did, or those who supported him did. Jeffries and the others called them to a "come to Jesus" meeting to warn them never to ignore his "Dear Colleague" letter again, that the way to stand up to Trump lighting the county and the world on fire is to hold up mincing little pickle ball paddles with mild words on them and especially to coordinate outfits while not clapping. Out. Jeffries, Clark, Aguilar. And anybody else who doesn't realize that the last people capable of piercing Trump's bubble are Democrats at his speeches to Congress, and the media which has failed at the task even more than the Dems have. We need civil disobedience and instead Jeffries is warning Democrats, and 10 Democrats are joining the fascists, in punishing Democrats. And Newsom? His comments about trans athletes are bad enough. That he did them during a podcast with Charlie Kirk, arranged by Newsom's ex-wife Kim Guilfoyle, is far worse. I mean Newsom's judgment was already in doubt (he married Kim Guilfoyle FFS), but this is insanity. The nation is ablaze and the Dems are sending strongly worded notes. The media continues to collapse.It believed Trump's lies about pressuring Russia while he was in fact increasing his demands of Ukraine to include Zelensky resigning. And when Trump told a reporter he couldn't ask a certain question the White House Correspondents Association continued its policy of not commenting. And golly why did Trump think he could publicly threaten Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow? Well, because of Joe Scarborough, obvs. B-Block (38:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Stephen A. Smith is not running for president, but keep asking him. Happily he IS showing he doesn't understand the first thing about any of this. His newest political crush? Candace Owens. Meanwhile Musk doesn't understand sports or America. And the Prime Minister of New Zealand fired a diplomat for reminding Britain that Trump is simply doing now what they did to Czechoslovakia in 1938. C-Block (49:20) THURBER SPECIAL: Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio, needs about $200,000 to keep going. The least we can do is raise consciousness. So for the first time since the election here is not just one but two Thurber stories: my favorite ("A Box To Hide In") and my late father's ("I Went To Sullivant." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 106: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Hidden behind Trump’s complex multi-layered endless hallucination that his address to Congress shows he is beloved and the stock market isn’t crashing and Speaker Johnson’s Chief of Staff WASN’T arrested on a DUI right after the speech and the MAGGOTS aren’t furious at him and the newest polling doesn’t suggest he’s already lost nearly a fifth of the Trump Bros under 30… there is a much more real and much starker truth: he has already moving to make NOT LOVING HIM… illegal. The attempt is underway to make PROTESTING THE TRUMP DICTATORSHIP against the law. Early Tuesday, Trump posted what seemed like a warning against pro-Palestinian protests on American campuses. In fact it says nothing about what kind of protests he'd make illegal, so let me tell you what he really meant: Let me re-write this to reflect reality – the reality inside Trump’s plans to imprison you. 'All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Protests like ‘Black Lives Matter’ are now illegal. Protests to save Medicare are now illegal. Protests against your favorite president (me) are now illegal. Agitators will be imprisoned… American students will be permanently expelled or depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! NO DEMOCRATS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.' He also dropped a second hint inside that test of human endurance in front of the House and Senate of how he will use the new anti-Deepfake law to prosecute you for sharing videos of him, whether they're real or they're not. Because therein lies the true danger of a deepfake law: claiming a REAL video is just a fake. And of course don't miss out on the attempt to censure Rep. Al Green, the true hero of Tuesday night. They will vote today on punishing him for doing nothing compared to the previous Karen-ing by Boebert and Greene, or the infamous Joe "You Lie" Wilson. WE should be voting on whether we want Al to be the Democratic nominee in '28. Or the head of the entire party. Or the mandatory role model behind whom all the Democrats should've walked out in solidarity. B-Block (31:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: Those Trump Bros? The under 30s who pushed Trump over the finish line? They have abandoned him. Poll numbers among them down 15-30% in the first MONTH. Ukraine and the peacekeepers explained. Which Trumper would you take first in the Moron Draft, JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt, or Alina Habba? And when Joni Ernst campaigned on going to Washington to get hog and make 'em squeal, little did we know! C-Block (44:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jeff Shell, reportedly running CBS before he's legally allowed to? Well 15 years ago he tried to run NBC before he was legally allowed to, and I have the receipts. Appeaser Governor Polis of Colorado learns what you get for helping Trump: Trump wants to cut off funds to Colorado. And Nancy Mace has a Lion Gender Identity Crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 105: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has just lost World War Three. Trump listens to Musk maybe because he recognizes Musk is more insane than he is. Musk literally wants to own and rule the world. Musk just demanded this country withdraws from NATO. Other Muskers and Trumpers are following. If we leave NATO its remaining members will turn into a private hunting ground for Putin, or China, or both. Eventually he or they will run out of European countries to destroy and subsume and he or they will turn to destroying us. As Senator Chris Murphy said yesterday: "The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin." It's that simple. Trump is the Russian Commissar of America. And he's already lost World War Three - and evidently so have the British. Back home, Prime Minister Starmer did the unthinkable, met Zelensky not at the front door of Number 10 but he went INTO Downing Street to embrace him on the sidewalk. The front page of yesterday’s far right tabloid the Daily Mail headlined “outrage over U-S President’s humiliation of Zelensky” and insisted “Now stop the state visit for Bully Trump.” Demanded the British WITHDRAW their invitation for Trump to go there. But within hours their ambassador here undid all of that. Lord Peter Mandelson went on ABC This Week here and called for a “very radical re-set” that “has to consist of the United States and Ukraine getting back on the same page and President Zelensky giving his unequivocal backing to the initiative that Trump is taking to end the war and to bring a just and lasting peace to Ukraine.” Europe's nations “need to back the calls for a ceasefire and by the way I think that Ukraine should be the first to commit to a ceasefire and defy the Russians to follow." Hey, Lord Mendacious? Forgotten already? Zelensky already signed a cease-fire with Putin. Signed in 2019. Putin broke it in 2022. 200,000 guys named Lord Gaseous and Sir Toby Belch and they sent the one who sounds most like Neville Chamberlain. The British are defending Zelensky but their Ambassador just surrendered to Hitler. I mean Trump. No, Hitler. It’s impossible to believe the Prime Minister hasn’t fired Mandelson already (“recalled” is the polite term; “vaporized” would be the accurate one). Regardless the schism is present and the schism is a repeat, a throwback, a re-enactment of 1938, where as Churchill said the British leaders had a choice between shame and war. They have chosen shame, they will get war later. The war THEY got later was World War Two. The war WE will get later will be World War THREE. We will have to go to war – the real thing, none of this Iraq bullshit – the real thing, millions dead – not just to free Europe and all the other places who thought we understood that the world is simply successfully managed tension between the forces of more-or-less-good and the forces of the Putins, Hitlers, Musks, Trumps, Chamberlains, and Mandelsons… not just to free them but to save whatever’s left of this nation after the headstart Trump and Musk are giving, right now, as we speak, to Putin and China. Thus I’ll repeat what I said in the bulletin after the pre-planned performative and nauseating ambush of Zelensky last Friday: Trump has not only imperiled the freedom of the United States of America AND the existence of Ukraine AND the independence of all the nations of Europe he has also lost all moral right to keep power in this country and he must lose that power. B-BLOCK (25:00) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: So. HOW does he non-violently lose power (and it must be non-violent, albeit probably unconventional)? I have the beginnings of ideas: a shadow cabinet, weekly press conferences to co-opt the Sunday and Monday news cycles, a huge multi-faceted protest at Trump's speech to Congress tomorrow. Aggressive behavior. Maybe the Democrats can do it, maybe not. Also: some thoughts on Trump pardoning and baseball seeking to reinstate Pete Rose, the alleged pedophile and child rapist. C-BLOCK (48:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Andy Ogles just proposed a law that will fire anybody who altered the FBI evidence on Jeffrey Epstein. So you want a law forcing the firing of Kash Patel and Trump? Cool! Trump stooge Ed Martin wants to prosecute something that never happened. And we've missed the true meaning of the Jeff Bezos launch of Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez and Gayle King on Blue Origin: BEZOS WANTS TO SEND HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND INTO SPACE LOL.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 104: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN: Firstly I apologize to President Volodomir Zelensky and the people of Ukraine, on behalf of the United States of America. The REAL people of the United States of America, not the half-brained Russian stooges and assets. Our sense of shame and regret is immeasurable. OURS, the REAL people of the United States of America - almost always generous, largely well-intentioned, and when we are neither, when we are at our most self-centered, at LEAST smart enough and willing to let other people fight our fights for us, and die battling fascists and dictators like Putin instead of us. We will never let Trump forget what he did to you do today. We will make him atone. And all those who serve him and do not resign just in sheer embarrassment over being so wrong so loudly and in the service of such a moron as Trump – they have from this day forfeited their legitimacy as quote “leaders” of this nation, as the pack of diarrhetic farm animals Trump calls a cabinet has from this day forfeited ITS legitimacy as a government. And to that point, Trump must now lose power. Today was a 24-hour consumer boycott, poorly publicized, poorly covered by our increasingly stenographic media. Now we must have a 24-day consumer boycott. Then a 24-month consumer boycott. Today we witnessed the most disgraceful and un-American act by any president in our history and I include Nixon and Watergate, and Bush and Iraq, and everything Trump has previously done. Now we must consume his presidency and force it to do nothing but defend this disgusting, pre-planned act on behalf of Putin and Russia every hour and every day and every week until we force him to resign the presidency. On Presidents Day the 50501 Movement protested in Washington and in state capitols. Now we must protest Trump and his attempt, of which today’s shameful attack on Zelensky WAS a part, to install him permanently in power, and we must do it every day, in every city, until nothing else in this country matters and nothing else in this country HAPPENS. In the ‘60s and before and after we mobilized on the street to protest and stop the degradation of our citizens of color and the murder of our citizens of EVERY color via the draft and the Vietnam War. Now we must have protests that recognize that at this moment, all of us, you and me, are being shaped by Trump and his terrorist gang into the equivalent of the victims of segregation and the draftees sent to Southeast Asia to be slaughtered. Civil disobedience, tax strike, general strike. Today, CNN, Politico, The Washington Post and others downplayed what Trump did and positioned it as a "scolding" or a "shouting match" as opposed to a deranged attack by a deranged man. Now, these news organizations must either stop pandering to an immoral dictator or lose as he will. Because Trump crossed his Rubicon today.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 103: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: There is an alternate, rogue religious theory about an afterlife. It goes like this: "Hell" is not some place deep in the earth or anywhere else with eternal torture and fire. In fact, what we call "life" - THIS is hell. There is considerable new evidence this week that this theory is probably correct. The Washington Post had already been proving that its slogan "Democracy Dies In Darkness" was not a warning but Jeff Bezos's game plan. Now he's made it official: Op-eds are out; pro-Trump "liberties" and "free markets" are in. Other opinions need not apply. Bezos is a fascist. And he's only the third of three media disasters this week. To my surprise, Rachel Maddow DID say something about the Racist Purge at her MSNBC. Unfortunately, it wasn't the truth. She gave out the corporate cover story that Joy Reid "left" and "went out the door" and and and... she was FIRED. I guess I should've known. Rachel also didn't tell the truth when I left. I had kept her in my confidence as I negotiated my exit in 2010 and 2011 and the night it happened she was on Maher's show and though she knew everything, when he asked her about the breaking news - a few hours after my last email to her suggesting "this is it" she answered "This is the first I’m hearing about any of this. I know nothing about it.” And Trump's response to MSNBC throwing Reid into the volcano as a human sacrifice? He's threatening to sue them all anyway. And change the laws. And then there's the White House Correspondents Association. It did nothing about Trump trying to rewrite the Associated Press's stories. So now he's told them they will no longer select the pool reporter. But don't worry, the WHCA's cowardice won't go unpunished. Its president will be one of the new MSNBC hosts who can get sacrificed in the Trump Bottomless Bit later. B-Block (35:38) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Welcome to political scrutiny, Stephen A. Smith. Musk loves Trump - now. 2020? Called him an effing idiot. And this is how bad it is: Trump put one of my exes on the Kennedy Center board. C-Block (44:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She's in the news and we need the laugh, so once again, the saga of my two dates with Laura Ingraham, one of the last times I thought "this might be the night I die."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 101: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and replaced him with a junior officer he brought back from retirement whom HE claims once wore a MAGA cap in his presence. Then he fired the Judge Advocate of the army, the Judge Advocate of the Navy, and the Judge Advocate of the Air Force. What you have been told by news organizations – even ones that still have good reporters – that this is part of the Trump Racism Orgy. The fired Joint Chiefs Chairman Charles Q. Brown is black. The Chief of Naval Operations was a woman. Their identities are cover stories and red meat for the Trump cult. Trump looked at the top lawyers at the Army, Navy and Air Force, the ones who would tell him, no, you can’t have the Army shoot civilians, and you can’t have the Navy blockade Vancouver and Greenland and the Panama Canal, and you can’t bomb the next Democratic convention… and he fired them. At least six different reporters and commentators on the military beat said the same thing. Firing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is bad and a red flag. Firing the T-JAGS, the Judge Advocates, the lawyers who tell you when something you are going to do with the military is illegal… can mean only one thing… you are planning to do something with the military that is illegal. You fire the people who would SAY it’s illegal and replace them with people who would say it ISN’T illegal. There are degrees of nightmare ahead. They all amount to different versions of Trump's plot to permanently take over the government by using the military. B-Block (26:20) THE FIRING OF JOY REID: Yes, firing her is racist and maybe worse yes it is designed to keep out people who might think differently and it is designed to reward professional political salespeople like party chairmen and press secretaries. But most of all, since they also fired Alex Wagner, it means that four women of color have solo hosted prominent shows ON MSNBC and all four of them have now been fired. C-Block (58:00) SPORTSBALL CENTRAL: I could not have been more wrong about hockey's Four Nations Faceoff. But at least I wasn't as wrong as Wayne Gretzky, now under deserved attack in Canada as a remorseless Trumpist, and rapidly becoming The Man Without A Country. (1:11:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Senator Thom Tillis begins to suck up to Trump. Jared Polis, "Democratic" governor of Colorado, should resign. So too should Phil Murphy, "Democratic" governor of New Jersey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 100: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump thinks we are not vulnerable to attack because the Atlantic Ocean separates us from Europe. He literally wrote this yesterday. This illusion of oceanic walls was shattered no later than the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 and more likely the first time a German craft was seen off the shores of this country during the First World War. It's madness. It's disqualifying. And it got lost amid the madness about calling Zelensky a dictator and threatening Ukraine and Trump describing himself as "King" and and and... "This war is far more important to Europe than it is to us. We have a big beautiful ocean as separation.” Ironically, the man who disproved the "separation" was Charles Lindbergh with his solo crossing of the Atlantic and it is Lindbergh's America First Isolationists of the '30s whom Trump is now emulating. If you've ever wondered what it would have been like had Lindbergh become president and done a deal with Hitler, stop wondering. We're living through it now - only with Putin. AND DON'T DISMISS THE "KING" STUFF: “Congestion Pricing Is Dead. Manhattan and all of New York is saved. Long live the king.” I don’t know who the king could BE in this construction if Trump doesn’t mean Trump. I do know a Tea Party slob Trump made Deputy White House Chief of Staff promptly tweeted it with an AI image of Trump in fetching king’s robes that like his suits was clearly cut to hide his belly. The official White House account then put out a fake magazine cover with him wearing a crown two or three sizes too small. It is tempting to dismiss this as trolling but at minimum this is part of the effort to make him look omnipotent and mandated instead of a president with 49-point-eight percent of the vote and a disapproval poll rating that went from 41 percent on inauguration day to 51 percent last week. B-Block (31:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Markwayne Mullin makes everybody really uncomfortable at a Senate hearing. The NHL somehow thinks Trump's threats against Canada are an excellent marketing tool for their little hockey game tonight. And Stephen A. Smith thinks it's an embarrassment that people keep saying he should run for president and by people he means himself and by embarrassment he means please somebody say it. C-Block (42:20) COMIC RELIEF: Two lighter stories. There's the weirdest thing ever said to me by an athlete in an interview, by the late hockey great Bobby Hull, who is posthumously in the news. And there was a flashback to my original MSNBC show at of all places The Animal Medical Center. And the flashback involved making fun of Wolf Blitzer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 99: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: There's a small problem (naturally) that Trump overlooked (of course) when he misquoted (evergreen) the probably-apocryphal (saw that coming) Napoleon quote "He who saves his country does not violate any law.” The problem should be obvious. What if I think I'm saving my country FROM Trump? What if you think you are saving your country FROM Trump? Set aside for a moment the implicit stochastic call to terrorism or just law-breaking from Trump to his supporters. What about his message to them? Us? You? Me? Did he just indemnify all of us? Seems kind of dangerous. On the other hand, seems like something that somebody who has slipped fully into a delusion of universal support would say. The implications are, like Trump and Musk, just staggering. ALSO WHY IT'S TIME FOR A NEWS BOYCOTT OF THE WHITE HOUSE: Again, I don't have enough space or words to tell you how much this won't happen, but the response to the White House attempt to dictate what the Associated Press gets to write (and open the path to telling you what YOU get to write) should be obvious and unanimous: don't send any reporters to the White House or Air Force One until the AP is restored. And I'm sure The Washington Vichy Post and The New York Bothsidesist Times and CNN (Certainly Not News) will be right out front. On the other hand, there IS a good media pushback idea: A Democratic Shadow Press Secretary,. B-Block (31:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Some Dominican voters in Reading, PA, who according to the Mayor there voted for Trump because they just assumed when he said he'd deport "illegals" he'd give them amnesties because they're good people. Mark Zuckerberg is back, suppressing ads for the ever-controversial (checks notes) Invictus Games. And Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen praise the "masculinity" of Musk and Trump even though the four of them don't have enough masculinity to fill up a thimble. C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A confession. I didn't lie when I said why I discontinued the 2016-17 GQ Series "The Resistance." Nor did I tell the entire truth. I will now. It involves a threat against me, an inadvertent meeting with old SportsCenter friends, a deep hatred of the topic of Trump, and the firing of a loyal colleague.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vic Kaplan's career is a masterclass in entertainment history. From producing some of the most iconic comedy specials to working alongside legends like Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and George Carlin, his behind-the-scenes experiences offer a rare look into Hollywood's golden era. Starting at Dick Clark Productions, he played a pivotal role in shaping comedy and music television, from Fridays and Ellen to HBO stand-up specials and Comic Relief. His stories bring to life the fast-paced, ever-evolving world of television production. Episode Highlights: Producing legends – Worked with Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, George Carlin, and Larry David Fridays vs. SNL – The rise and fall of ABC's late-night sketch show featuring Michael Richards and Andy Kaufman Behind the Moonwalk – The night Michael Jackson stunned the world on the American Music Awards Robin Williams, unfiltered – The chaotic brilliance of An Evening at the Met and how it almost didn't happen Ellen's coming-out episode – The intense process behind one of the most groundbreaking sitcom moments ever Building HBO's comedy empire – Producing specials for Richard Lewis, Bob Saget, and Dennis Miller Zendaya before the superstardom – How a chance meeting led to producing K.C. Undercover From Dick Clark to Disney – A career spanning decades of entertainment innovation   You're going to love my conversation with Vic Kaplan IMDB Follow Jeff Dwoskin (host): Jeff Dwoskin on Twitter The Jeff Dwoskin Show podcast on Twitter Podcast website Podcast on Instagram Join my mailing list Subscribe to my Youtube channel (watch Crossing the Streams!) Yes, the show used to be called Live from Detroit: The Jeff Dwoskin Show Ways to support the show: Buy me a coffee (support the show) TeePublic Store: Classic Conversations merch and more! Love the books I talk about on the show? Here is my Amazon store to shop.  

SEASON 3 EPISODE 98: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Many Americans will not stop lying to themselves about Trump’s insanity. But the rest of us have to. The rest of us: every politician who steps in front of a microphone, every news producer who begins a newscast with some other story made trivial in contrast, every columnist who writes about alarm or some quarters or this Ohio diner, every commentator tempted to say this was the moment Trump truly became president. Trump is manifestly insane and this week he has entered that stage of whatever it specifically IS that’s wrong with him, that is characterized by mania: the conviction that something that is impossible WILL happen simply because he SAYS it is going to happen. HIS mania happens to be about Gaza. The next one could be about the sun rising in the west. Or about how Americans would survive a nuclear war because he’s leading them and he’s immortal. Mania doesn’t have to be MANIC. It doesn’t require hyperbolic words nor unsuppressed rage nor vivid hallucinations. He’s insane. He believes in things that aren’t true and can’t be true and he has a rationalization ready for whenever somebody tells him that they can’t be true. There is nothing of the cliched crazy man in his voice as he talks about Gaza. Nevertheless this guy is metaphorically about one inch away from having conversations with invisible gophers. He says the land is beautiful and he will "cherish" it. His language matches what someone would say if they were having sex with the land. It's a form of what film-maker Billy Wilder allegedly told Nancy Reagan when she quizzed him about why the character played by Gloria Swanson had a pet chimp in their movie “Sunset Boulevard”: "that's because she was f'ing the monkey." Trump talks about Gaza like he is f'ing the monkey. B-Block (30:04) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Emily Compagno knows how to reform the media. Literally have them just republish Trump press releases. Well, it works for Fox. Dinesh D'Souza celebrates an Army Base NOT being re-re-named after a Civil War General, and Eric Adams, polling at 10% to be renominated for Mayor of New York, has not only sold out his city but now he is actively toying with switching to the GOP, where he will probably poll at LESS than 10%. C-Block (41:10) IN SPORTS: Oh man do I hate it when leagues shut down their seasons so the players can play made-up international tournaments. Wait, only the National Hockey League does that? As part of its marketing strategy to make this great game even LESS prominent? And by the way its new tournament unfolds as the 45th anniversary hits of a truly great international tournament: the 1980 Olympic Hockey medal competition. I covered it, and I'm still cold. Memories, and one of my radio reports, included.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 97: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:45) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump and Musk and Vance are now clearly signaling their intent to ignore the court orders keeping Musk from pillaging the government financial computers and your personal information. It is the informal beginning of their Civil War against the government of the United States of America. We're not at Fort Sumter yet but it's visible. Yet there has been no update on the news that Trump’s minions have already been giving loyalty tests to applicants to the FBI, other law enforcement, national security, that include questions like “Yes or No: Was The 2020 Election Stolen” and “Who is your REAL boss?” No updates from Saturday’s Washington Post story and as nearly as I can tell it didn’t even COME UP during any of the Sunday shows. The question NOW becomes what happens when – and this seems increasingly inevitable – Trump and Musk defy the court orders and again access the treasury. First of all, who is there to STOP them? What do the courts who have ruled against them, and the others who are likely to rule against them THIS week, and the litigants like the 19 Attorneys General, do next? Does this go directly to the Supreme Court where the corrupt theologians can say “ah but we have precedent in this area. If you can’t prosecute an EX-President for crimes, if HE’S immune, how can you prosecute anybody for crimes ordered by a SITTING president?” in which case it’s official, it’s a dictatorship. Or TRUMP looks at the judges and say THEIR behavior is actually an attack on the country and HE invokes the Insurrection Act and rounds up the judges and the Democrats and… me. The other option is intermediate steps by the judges who really really don’t like being ignored and who while they might hesitate to pursue Trump, would probably line up to pursue Musk and the others. They could quickly order Contempt of Court orders against Musk and his employees and there are scenarios in which they move quickly enough to put them in holding cells for defying legitimate orders. Or there could be a confrontation between Court Officers and police loyal to them, and Musk’s people and police loyal to THEM. Or there could be a VIOLENT confrontation between those groups. Or this could end up the Juan Merchan route in which the courts act so slowly, so stupidly, so violating their purpose and indeed their history of blocking corruption, especially corrupt businessmen maneuvering a hostile takeover of the government, do… nothing. There IS one wild card I see here. Trump says he will have Musk look next at the Education Department and then the Army. If Musk tries to do to the Pentagon what he's done to the Treasury and goes in there, they may never find him. The rest of this episode repeats Sunday's emergency edition about Trump is having them ask candidates for jobs in his administration’s FBI field stations away from D-C what is probably the most chilling question ever asked by any government of the United States: “Who is your real boss?” This is, if you do not know, in The Washington Post’s brief, damning, almost (despite everything) unbelievable, nightmarish report posted late Saturday night. The Post is quoting applicants for the FBI and other top National Security positions – and they hint some of these are people who were IN these organizations, dismissed, and are being the opportunity to return to work. At least two FBI applicants were asked at least two questions out of George Orwell or the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. One, you heard: Who is your real boss? If you need more, don’t worry, there IS more. Who were “the real patriots on January 6th?” We know through the Post’s reporting, of at least two other questions, asked of those being interviewed for some kind of leadership positions WITHIN the Trump national security apparatus IN Washington. They are told to answer yes or no to each. Question one: was January 6th an “inside job?” Question two: Was the 2020 presidential election stolen? At least these two applicants told their interviewers ‘no.’ Neither was hired. Just the asking of these questions alone – never mind the answers, let alone the implications that it is anything BUT political science fiction to conclude that some people have already answered YES and are moving into roles at the FBI and other law enforcement and national security organizations – just ASKING these questions, signals the end of democracy because if today you can ask candidates for FEDERAL law enforcement positions to swear personal loyalty to their “real boss” and if today you can ask candidates for those same positions to insist lies about January 6th and the 2020 election are the truth, and that the truths are lies… then tomorrow you can make it ILLEGAL to answer that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then next week you can make it illegal to publish or broadcast that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then the week after that you can put anybody who does in prison. We are already here. To be in law enforcement, you have to prove in advance you are willing to lie for Trump. I hope every bothsidesist reporter and whatboutist executive and bipartisan Democrat has a secret plan they've been saving for the last possible moment. Because we are at the last possible moment. PLUS: Musk is now hinting at ignoring the court ruling restraining him from further access to government computers and payroll systems. If he and Trump don't obey the rulings force of some kind will have to be applied and this entire issue of democracy versus dictatorship may come to a head faster than ever anticipated B-Block (41:42) MORE SPECIAL COMMENTS: We are at the point where I hope I've never been righter and the continuation of democracy actually does depend more on the stupidity of those trying to destroy it than it does on the efforts of those of us trying to save it. But there are measures we take - or at least our wobbling, dubious opposition party can take: deny support for anything in the House and put a personal hold on anything Trump wants from the Senate. And we need a Wartime Consigliere or if you're from this century, The War Doctor. C-Block (56:45) WRAPPING IT UP: I don't know when the next episode will be. I do know we need our own answer from Hakeem Jeffries and every other Democrat to the question of the hour: Who's Your Boss? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 3 EPISODE 96: EMERGENCY EDITION A-Block (1:45) (AN EMERGENCY PODCAST): Trump is having them ask candidates for jobs in his administration’s FBI field stations away from D-C what is probably the most chilling question ever asked by any government of the United States: “Who is your real boss?” This is, if you do not know, in The Washington Post’s brief, damning, almost (despite everything) unbelievable, nightmarish report posted late Saturday night. The Post is quoting applicants for the FBI and other top National Security positions – and they hint some of these are people who were IN these organizations, dismissed, and are being the opportunity to return to work. At least two FBI applicants were asked at least two questions out of George Orwell or the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany. One, you heard: Who is your real boss? If you need more, don’t worry, there IS more. Who were “the real patriots on January 6th?” We know through the Post’s reporting, of at least two other questions, asked of those being interviewed for some kind of leadership positions WITHIN the Trump national security apparatus IN Washington. They are told to answer yes or no to each. Question one: was January 6th an “inside job?” Question two: Was the 2020 presidential election stolen? At least these two applicants told their interviewers ‘no.’ Neither was hired. Just the asking of these questions alone – never mind the answers, let alone the implications that it is anything BUT political science fiction to conclude that some people have already answered YES and are moving into roles at the FBI and other law enforcement and national security organizations – just ASKING these questions, signals the end of democracy because if today you can ask candidates for FEDERAL law enforcement positions to swear personal loyalty to their “real boss” and if today you can ask candidates for those same positions to insist lies about January 6th and the 2020 election are the truth, and that the truths are lies… then tomorrow you can make it ILLEGAL to answer that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then next week you can make it illegal to publish or broadcast that the 2020 election wasn’t stolen, and then the week after that you can put anybody who does in prison. We are already here. To be in law enforcement, you have to prove in advance you are willing to lie for Trump. I hope every bothsidesist reporter and whatboutist executive and bipartisan Democrat has a secret plan they've been saving for the last possible moment. Because we are at the last possible moment. PLUS: Musk is now hinting at ignoring the court ruling restraining him from further access to government computers and payroll systems. If he and Trump don't obey the rulings force of some kind will have to be applied and this entire issue of democracy versus dictatorship may come to a head faster than ever anticipated B-Block (26:20) MORE SPECIAL COMMENTS: We are at the point where I hope I've never been righter and the continuation of democracy actually does depend more on the stupidity of those trying to destroy it than it does on the efforts of those of us trying to save it. But there are measures we take - or at least our wobbling, dubious opposition party can take: deny support for anything in the House and put a personal hold on anything Trump wants from the Senate. And we need a Wartime Consigliere or if you're from this century, The War Doctor. C-Block (41:20) WRAPPING IT UP: I don't know when the next episode will be. I do know we need our own answer from Hakeem Jeffries and every other Democrat to the question of the hour: Who's Your Boss? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.