Podcast appearances and mentions of Keith Olbermann

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell break down what it actually looks like to leave a job with grace. In this episode, they unpack the candid conversation with New York City-based actress and novelist Clare Solly on why the employer-employee relationship doesn't require lifelong debt, how to keep your exit short and sweet, and what to do when getting fired feels deeply personal. They also dig into her biggest piece of advice: give yourself space before jumping into the next job. If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How The Trevor Project's escape-key feature protects LGBTQ youth.Why the employer-employee relationship doesn't require lifelong debt.The two-sentence advice for exiting a job gracefully.Being fired is professional feedback, not personal failure.The importance of building a career exit strategy like a house fire plan.Episode References/Links:OPC – https://opc.meOPC Summer Tour – https://opc.me/toureLevate Mentorship Program – https://lesleylogan.co/elevateOPC Flashcards – https://opc.me/flashcardsBalanced Body - https://www.pilates.com/Contrology - https://contrology.pilates.com/The Trevor Project – https://www.thetrevorproject.orgThe Center Las Vegas (LGBTQ Center) – https://thecenterlv.orgThe Pitt (TV series) – https://www.max.com/shows/the-pittSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsIf you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! 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DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  Yeah, the employer-employee relationship does not inherently require a lifelong debt, meaning that, of course, when you're working for someone, do everything anything that's part of your role, but you don't owe them your life.Lesley Logan 0:15  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started. Lesley Logan 0:58  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the gracious convoy I had with Clare Solly in our last episode.Lesley Logan 1:06  If you didn't listen, you missed out on the third time. Clare Solly has been, she's one of few people who've been on three times.Brad Crowell 1:13  She is, but I think she's been on way more than that, because she's done recaps for me and all sorts of stuff. So, as a guest three times, yes, but longtime listeners will definitely know who Clare is. Clare and Lesley go way, way back, before I was in the picture, by like years.Lesley Logan 1:32  We go back to like 2001.Brad Crowell 1:33  But way, you go back to 2001? So, like, I think I was still, what? 2001 we were graduating from high school.Lesley Logan 1:45  I went to college in 2001 as well.Brad Crowell 1:48  That's when you met, your first year in college.Lesley Logan 1:50  Yeah, I got a job. I was broke.Brad Crowell 1:53  I was broke. Well, amazing. Yeah, well, anyway, I was listening to your pod, and the two of you are hilarious, because it's like blah-blah-blah, just 100% riffing off each other. Lesley Logan 2:13  See why people are like, "I'm going to pod my best friend, and we're just going to talk about things." Because inevitably something good is going to come out of it. Oh yeah, you said, "Be organized," to like, what are we talking about? Which is like, so we originally, the team was like, "Do we want her on the pod," and I was like, "What will we talk about?" And then she and I were like, doing whatever recaps it is, she's like, "We should talk about ending," whatever, it was, and I was like, "Okay, great," exiting, "The team will be thrilled to know that we have a topic."Brad Crowell 2:38  You picked a topic. Lesley Logan 2:39  We did it. You guys, just so you know, we love that you listen. We love that you share those with friends. Another way you can support this podcast is by being an OPC member. If you go to onlinepilatesclasses.com, you can actually check out what we do. We have real Pilates for real bodies, it's the workout that works for you. There's lots of different ways to do it, and people are often like, "How can I support this show?" And Brad and I have talked about, like, do we do a commercial-free one where people pay?Brad Crowell 3:04  Yeah, we thought about that, like having a second one that's no ads, like all these different things.Lesley Logan 3:08  No, we're not doing more work. What actually would be really meaningful for us is, if you're going to give us money, we want you to actually get something out of it, not just like listening to us take up space. We really want you to actually take time for yourself and move your body, and that's what OPC is all about. It's actually about you having time for yourself. The classes are 2% of your day, and you get to compare yourself to yourself. So, go to OPC, I guess, what do they do? Go to opc.me/40?Brad Crowell 3:34  Just go to opc.meLesley Logan 3:36  Oh, great. Do that, even easier. Okay. Today is June 11th and it's Certified Nurses Week, aka CNA Week. It takes place on Thursday of the second full week of June. I really do love.Brad Crowell 3:50  The Thursday of the second full week.Lesley Logan 3:53  I love when it's not.Brad Crowell 3:54  Of the month of June.Lesley Logan 3:55  It can't be, it can't be the second Thursday. It has to be the second Thursday, the Thursday of the second full week.Brad Crowell 4:01  Yeah.Lesley Logan 4:01  So, Thursday can't be, it can't be the eighth ever. Brad Crowell 4:04  Because if the week starts on a Wednesday, that first Thursday does not count. If the month's first week starts on a Wednesday, or like not a full week, right? Then the first Thursday might not count.Lesley Logan 4:17  Right. Brad Crowell 4:17  Right. So, the Thursday of the second full week. Lesley Logan 4:22  I think that's complicated. Instead of saying. Brad Crowell 4:27  Because there might not be a second Thursday.Lesley Logan 4:29  But what they, well, they could just say the second Thursday of June.Brad Crowell 4:31  No, it might not be the second Thursday.Lesley Logan 4:33  No, if June 2nd is a Thursday, then June 9th is a Thursday, that's the second Thursday. I think they made it complicated.Brad Crowell 4:40  But that wouldn't be it, it would be on the next week.Lesley Logan 4:42  So, listener, hold on, you mean to tell me that people don't grab the 30-day calendar and go one, two?Brad Crowell 4:52  Not necessarily, if it's not a full week, that's the caveat here.Lesley Logan 4:56  I think that's crazy. I'm telling you, I always, when we do FYS, I don't go skipping the first Friday because it wasn't a full week, I do all the Fridays.Brad Crowell 5:08  I am with you on this. I am agreeing with you. This is not simple.Lesley Logan 5:12  It's not simple to be a CNA either. So, it takes place on the second full week of June. Do you like that? Like that lead back, is a week full of, oh, because they also want a week. Okay, notice.Brad Crowell 5:26  It's a full week.Lesley Logan 5:26  It's a full week of celebrations, but it starts on a Thursday, it's a full week of celebrations honoring the hard work. Do you all want to know why I think I'm ADHD? Here's the autism. I'm so stuck on this second Thursday. This year it is held from June 11th to June 17th. Certified nursing assistants began working under the Red Cross program during World War One, and have served alongside US Army nurses. Hundreds of young women were trained to care for wounded soldiers in reserve, field-based, and civilian hospitals. Did you know that before 1987 nursing assistants were not required to have a formal education?Brad Crowell 6:01  I did not know that.Lesley Logan 6:03  Okay, so who's seen The Pit? Because there's actually a whole episode on the medics. Did you know that?Brad Crowell 6:08  Well, this is why I was asking you what the name of the show is that you're watching right now. I yelled it across the house earlier when I was like, "What's that show called?"Lesley Logan 6:15  I'm hyper-vigilant, but okay. One, I'm not new to The Pit. It's already like, I don't know, filming season three or something like that, and won many awards. All of my friends talk about it week after week when it first came out.Brad Crowell 6:26  But you're new to it.Lesley Logan 6:27  I'm new to it, because as much as I appreciate the nostalgia of a weekly show that we all talk about, I don't have that capacity. If I'm going to sit down and watch a show, I want to binge through, like I really like that I can, and all that stuff anyways, because I won't. The next week I'll forget, and then I'll be like, spoiler alerts that I'm trying not to watch, like when Love is Blind was dropping in increments. I'm like, "Fuck, I have to get off my Instagram, because the spoilers are coming." So, because it's spoiled, and I didn't pay attention to it because it wasn't what I was clicking on, I saw on a plane yesterday, I watched 10 episodes in a row, I'm obsessed, and the head nurse is like kicking ass. But they did have a whole episode on this guy talking about what the first field medicals were and how they became one. Anyways, I also believe, maybe it wasn't the nurses, that might have been the women who were doing the phone lines, but they had to pay for their own uniforms and things like that, so there's all this different stuff. Anyways, you guys, we have a nursing shortage in the United States of America because it sucks to work in healthcare. The only people making money in healthcare is CVS and the insurance companies. This is not sponsored by them, but you know they've got the money, so come on over. So the reality is, please be kind to your nurses, we need every single one of them. I know it's frustrating when you have to go to, I wasn't even at the hospital, I was at a doctor's office, and they make me fill out this online check-in sheet every single time. I have to fill in my allergies, my first period, my family stuff, every single time. And the second time I went in a month, I said, "Hey guys, is there any way where I can just tap a box that says nothing has changed, everything is the same, there's zero. Brad Crowell 8:12  I just felt that I wasn't filling it out.Lesley Logan 8:14  Yeah, like the only thing that's different is my last cycle. I'll give you that, because it's a female doctor, anyway. But I said, "Look, I'm not trying to, I'm just here." But be nice to them, be nice to them, it is their CNA week, so go.Brad Crowell 8:29  So, there are apparently on average 190,000 annual openings for registered nurses each year, projected through 2032.Lesley Logan 8:42  Wow.Brad Crowell 8:43  Due to retirements, burnouts, and rising care demands. And while the workforce is growing, it cannot keep pace with the needs of an aging boomer population.Lesley Logan 8:54  Oh, this boomer population, man, they just, love you, because some of you are boomers, but, man.Brad Crowell 9:00  Yeah. So, anyway, nurses are very important, and it's a high-stress job, so all the props to the nurses out there.Lesley Logan 9:10  Yeah, okay. Upcoming travel notes, you guys, we're around, we're sticking.Brad Crowell 9:14  Yeah, we're home for a minute, and it's nice.Lesley Logan 9:17  Kind of at home. Although, although, when you're watching this, what day is this? Brad Crowell 9:21  We are June 11th.Lesley Logan 9:22  Oh, yeah. No, I'm home, solidly in the house.Brad Crowell 9:25  June and July, we're home.Lesley Logan 9:27  We might even foster a puppy or something like that.Brad Crowell 9:29  Yeah, we're gonna go take some dogs and hikes. We're rebuilding the van right now.Lesley Logan 9:34  We means Brad.Brad Crowell 9:35  We means Brad. Brad is rebuilding the van right now from the inside out, obviously.Lesley Logan 9:40  Well, the outside's done.Brad Crowell 9:41  Yeah. Well, not necessarily. Well, actually, I guess I'm adding a roof rack and I'm adding all the solar and all this extra stuff. So, like, we're getting fancy, and I got some really cool specs done for the interior, and we're, we're gonna be completely overhauling it before the summer tour, which is coming up, so tickets are definitely available. You can go to opc.me/tour we're actually going to be doing a Saturn's ring loop around the middle of the country, like Lesley said last week, which I thought was hilarious.Lesley Logan 10:08  Oh, just so you know, our tours are again sponsored by Balanced Body and Contrology, so we're also bringing the Contrology Reformer, Mat and Spine Corrector. Brad Crowell 10:17  We sure are. Lesley Logan 10:17  They all have some great prizes for you. I put another request in for the liner, because everyone loves it. It's so fun, easy to take with you. It's a really great community, and it's time, and you also can go to multiple locations on this tour, because we are on a status ring, but that also means, since the map isn't 3D, we're really just, you know.Brad Crowell 10:37  Okay, okay. I think they got the idea. The point is, we're going in a circle.Lesley Logan 10:41  Stops are within a couple of miles.Brad Crowell 10:42  It's a squeeze circle.Lesley Logan 10:43  It's a squeeze circle,Brad Crowell 10:44  Yeah, a couple of hours, several stops within a couple of hours, not a couple of miles.Lesley Logan 10:48  A couple of hours.Brad Crowell 10:49  But anyway, the go to opc.me/tour we're doing 14, I think it's 14 stops, and we're.Lesley Logan 10:55  I have no idea, it's not we're going to this, I haven't even seen the list.Brad Crowell 10:58  It's good, it's gonna be great, we're excited, we're visiting some new spots, revisiting some old spots, and can't wait to see everyone. So, if you want to come have a Pilates party with us, join us on tour. And then, if you're new here, Lesley teaches a mentorship program for teachers, it's called eLevate, and we might be sold out at this point, but we only do one turn, one round of it per year, and next year we're doing 16 spots, and it's you can find all the information about that at Lesley logan.co/elevate and also we have almost completed the full project here of these flash cards that we've been on a mission for for six years, the last that came out last year. Now we're working on, like, you know, like a.Lesley Logan 11:41  Collector's box that has like a cute little stand. I don't know, I've got some ideas. It might take us a little longer than we thought.Brad Crowell 11:47  Yeah, it's not as much of a priority, that's for sure. But you should go check out the cards themselves, because they're epic. Go to opc.me/flashcards, opc.me/flashcards.Lesley Logan 11:56  You know what, I wish maybe it's more of like somehow it's a stand where the you could put, you could put the card on the front or the back of this clear thing, and the back could be a magnifier.Brad Crowell 12:09  Oh, that's interesting.Lesley Logan 12:10  So, like, it, you could put the card in the front and of the slot, and it would just hold it up super cute, but if you put it on the behind, it would magnify it. For our perimenopausal ladies, I cannot get enough words on there and get the font to 10, so.Brad Crowell 12:24  That's why we linked back to the website on every card, because the website we can write as much as we want.Lesley Logan 12:29  And you can make it bigger.Brad Crowell 12:31  Yes, and you do that too. Cool. So, check this out. Go to opc.me/flashcards. Okay, so this week's charitable organization.Lesley Logan 12:38  Yes, yes, we made this change a couple weeks ago. Go back and listen if you want to know why we made the change. We don't have time for it today. June is Pride Month, you guys, and that means I wanted to, I thought it'd be interesting on our recaps to just talk about different LGBTQ IA charities that are doing great work for that community, because that community right now needs all the support it can get, because it is fighting the good fight and trying to help people. The whole community is just being hit with laws left, right, and center in the country. So, I want it, in the US, anyways, and so I wanted to highlight the Trevor Project. So, the Trevor Project was found in 1998 in West Hollywood, California, by James Lecesne.Brad Crowell 13:20  Lecesne, I think, Lecesne.Lesley Logan 13:21  Lecesne or you don't think it's Lecesne.Brad Crowell 13:24  Actually, I think it's Lecesne.Lesley Logan 13:25  Yeah, Lecesne.Brad Crowell 13:26  Yeah, James.Lesley Logan 13:31  Randy Stone, creators of the film Trevor. The Trevor Project is an American non-profit organization, is leading national organization providing crisis intervention, suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people aged 13 to 24 That's a really, really tough at age, but you know it's really important that they have support. The organization offers a confidential telephone helpline, the Traverse Space Forum, and the educational programs, while reporting increase revenues and dedicating 80% of its budgets to programs. That's huge for a big charity, as them 80% to go like that. This is what we're looking at when we're looking at charities, you know. It has faced criticism regarding its promotion of gender ideology and allegations of mismanagement. So, okay, no, it's perfect, but I do, I do, I've heard of the project with different groups of different podcasts talking about how it can be helpful, and so, you know, I definitely hope it hope it helps people who are listening, who have friends whose kids or loved ones who need this help. Brad, why don't you tell what you liked about their website?Brad Crowell 14:28  Yeah, well, if you want to support them, go to their website, thetrevorproject.org thetrevorproject.org and I was looking at their website and learning a little more about them, and a pop-up happened, and it said, hey, if you need a quick exit from our website, you can just hit the escape key three times, and I was like, what, I'm really interested about this, so I tried it, you know, 123, bam, it closed the tab that I was on with The Trevor Project, and it opened Google, and so if you are looking for support from the Trevor Trevor Project, and you're concerned about someone barging in on you, you know, or you don't want to share that information with the people that you might live with or be around, what an amazing way for them to think ahead, and I mean it's pretty awesome.Lesley Logan 15:18  Speaking of The Pit, there was this one episode about human trafficking, and they were giving this girl a pen before they gave her the pen, because they thought the person that she was with was trafficking her. They opened up the pen to show her that on the in the ink part is the phone number, so the pen just looks like this like stupid pharmaceutical pen, but when you open it up, it actually had a helpline. And so I just think that, like, I love that groups are getting really creative with how can they actually help people, because just putting, you know, a flyer in a place, like, here you go, it's like no one can take that.Brad Crowell 15:51  Well, it's like it's like in, in the when we fly around the world, and we're in the airports, there's not just signs everywhere there, but they are there. Are hidden posters on the inside of the bathroom stalls that are about trafficking, and it says, hey, and it's in like multiple languages, like, like half a dozen languages. It's like, if you are being trafficked, here's the helpline, how to get support right now.Lesley Logan 16:16  Yeah.Brad Crowell 16:17  And you can call a number if you have access to a phone, of course.Lesley Logan 16:19  Oh my gosh, there was a bar in Miami that's like all these bars, they have, if you order an angel drink, they call it the drink, it's called angel, like, oh, I'd like to order the angel shot, then that tells the waiter that you feel unsafe with the date that you're on, and they will help you know you get out of that situation, which is amazing, like, they like, I don't know how they're helping, like maybe they call you a ride or something like that, something like that. I don't quote quote me, but I know the word was like angel, I guess. If the men find out what the word is for, you know, I don't, that's probably not so. The street was probably only in the women's restrooms, but yeah.Brad Crowell 16:53  The angel shot, it's a coded phrase used to signal bar staff that you feel unsafe and need help, such as a bad date.Lesley Logan 16:59  So, going back to the Trevor Project, you know, there's different things you can do, like if you want to do things more local to you, we, whenever we order, whenever you come to a retreat at our house, if you're in eLevate, things like that, we actually order from Bronze Cafe, and proceeds from their restaurant go to support the mental health of LGBTQ community in Las Vegas, so it's June is Pride Month, so you're gonna find all these different things around where you are that are gonna help people in this community, obviously, try to do it all year long, because they need it, but I just think that, like, it's a real shame that this group of people is being marginalized and made the reason why people's lives are so difficult. The trans community specifically, they're 2% of the population, and the actual 2% that is ruining people's lives across the world are the billionaires, those are the welfare people, those are the people who, like, I shared a post was showing, like, Amazon pays like 1.87% in taxes or something like that, it's like something stupid, Alphabet actually pays 10% that shocked me, I was like, they're not getting the best deal, like, so, so, anyways, if we all got together and supported people who are different than us and actually took out the small amount of people who are getting rich off of us, there will be a much different place. And then this group of people would actually get to live with human rights like the rest of us get to have. So, anyways.Brad Crowell 18:15  I just wanted to quickly check that stat. In the US, roughly one out of 10 identifies as LGBTQ as of 2024.Lesley Logan 18:23  Right, but trans is 2%Brad Crowell 18:25  Trans, trans, yeah, okay.Lesley Logan 18:26  Yes, but yeah. What I understand, you know, I know we're smart supposed to spend a lot of time on this, but the internet really pisses me off when these men are like, I'm not gonna have a gay kid.Brad Crowell 18:35  Right, like it's there choice.Lesley Logan 18:36  I shared this thing with you, this guy got this person to like, like, like, he's like, "Oh no, you, you choose to be gay. It's like, "Oh, okay, we'll be gay right now. He's like, "Be gay right now. He's like, "Oh no. He's like, "He's like, he's like, 'Well, you said you could choose, you choose to be gay, so be gay right now.' So the guy's like, "Okay, I choose to be attracted to you right now. He's like, "Yeah, well, I'm not gay, I can never choose to be gay, but you, you didn't.Brad Crowell 18:59  He just chose to be gay. He's like I'm only gay for like 10 seconds.Lesley Logan 19:02  Yeah, well, you're gay, so actually you're bisexual. It was such, was so well articulate, was so great. At any rate, it just shows that a lot of people have idiocies.Brad Crowell 19:13  Ridiculous.Lesley Logan 19:13  Fears, all this different stuff. And I think, like, the reality is that we have to make sure that children today, especially this group of people have love, support, and community, know that they are there's nothing wrong with them.Brad Crowell 19:24  Yeah.Lesley Logan 19:25  You know.Brad Crowell 19:26  Yeah. So.Lesley Logan 19:26  I could never imagine, I was bullied in school for having a big nose, for having big lips, for being poor, for my clothes being not like, I could never imagine, because when you're bullied for that, it changes, they change people, they get to somebody else, it changes all the time. To be bullied for who you're attracted to or how you identify? Holy fuck, that is relentless. That'd be non-stop. Anyways. Okay, well, we'll be right back.Brad Crowell 19:56  Thanks for sticking with us here.Lesley Logan 20:00  thetrevorproject.org, that was the linkBrad Crowell 20:00  Go to thetrevorproject.com yeah, all right. Brad Crowell 20:03  So let's talk about Clare Solly. Clare is a New York City-based actress, singer, novelist, and creative multi-hyphenate. She has self-published three women's fiction novels, is on the board of two theater companies in New York City, and currently works a day job she genuinely enjoys. Clare is also pursuing a PhD in creative writing, adding another chapter to her already wide-ranging creative career. I did not know she was doing that.Lesley Logan 20:32  Oh, she is. We're gonna call her Dr. Clare.Brad Crowell 20:36  Dr. Sally. Lesley Logan 20:37  I remember when she said, "I think I'm gonna do this. Do you think I'm crazy?" And I was like, "You're gonna do it anyways." That's when you know you have a real friend. It doesn't matter, I know you're gonna do it anyways. It doesn't matter. All right.Brad Crowell 20:54  Yeah. So, like I said, the two of you just beat off of each other. So, what was one of the one of the things that you loved, that she said.Lesley Logan 21:02  Oh my god, we got through so much, I think. I feel like, by the way, it's exiting, and it's a very, I find out of all the podcasts we've done, it's not just a theory, like she gave actual tangible things throughout the whole pod.Brad Crowell 21:17  Yeah, it was great.Lesley Logan 21:18  And it made me realize that we do the "Be It" action items, because in case someone's a little ethereal or a little esoteric, I wanted you to have tangible things to do.Brad Crowell 21:25  That's very true. That's why.Lesley Logan 21:26  That's why it exists, because of the woo-woo people are just like, get to know yourself, love everyone, and I wanted, like, okay, well, what do I do today? But this whole episode is like that. So she was talking about employer-employee relationships, so that's really what this is. We know not everybody works for someone else, so, but this is a great episode to present to your friend who's probably struggling with their boss, and sometimes you end up in one, right? Like, I have a girlfriend who's been an entrepreneur for decades, and now she's an employee again. So, she said the employer-employee relation does not inherently require a lifelong debt, and I think a lot of people who listen to this podcast, maybe not young kids today, because they've just seen it happen like they don't, they've not even, well, what they're saying is that the jobs don't even exist when they get older, but for those elder millennials and Gen X, like, where our parents had the same job forever. So, like.Brad Crowell 22:11  My dad just retired from 43 years at the same company.Lesley Logan 22:14  And just, I know we, I think we had it on the pod already, but how many people have retired since that person took over the job?Brad Crowell 22:20  When my dad retired, he asked the exit interview HR lady, "Hey, how many people have you had this interview with?" And she said, "Since Covid, five."Lesley Logan 22:34  FiveBrad Crowell 22:35  YeahLesley Logan 22:35  Only five.Brad Crowell 22:35  Only five.Lesley Logan 22:36  Five in six years. So that's how many people are retiring, which means a lot of them are leaving. But it does not inherently require lifelong debt, and I think that's really important, because I think especially, the majority of our listeners are women, we tend to worry about.Brad Crowell 22:51  I think we need to qualify that. What does lifelong debt mean in this context?Lesley Logan 22:56  Okay. I'm going to just say your parents on their vacation were worried about when they should tell their bosses that they were retiring, and I was like, "You don't," because somebody had left, and I was like, "You don't owe them that information, you're on vacation right now, you shouldn't even know that that person left." I was literally arguing with them, I'm like, "Why would you even go, 'Oh, I'm gonna retire too, so look for two people'? No, not your responsibility. It's their responsibility to be thinking about if people leave," and so that's what I would say.Brad Crowell 23:25  Yeah, I mean, lifelong debt, I would say, is just your entire life orients around the company that you work for. And I know how I operate, and that would be to pour myself into this company, whatever company that I'm working for. Lesley Logan 23:41  I did that for every company I worked for, I just kept being promoted because I poured so hard. They're like this girl doing so much, we should give her this next job.Brad Crowell 23:47  Yeah, and so, the employer-employee relationship does not inherently require a lifelong debt, meaning that, of course, when you're working for someone, do everything that's part of your role, but you don't owe them your life, right?Lesley Logan 24:04  Yeah, right. We were in Paris for four days. Let me tell you right now, they enjoy their life, they go to work. And our friend of ours who lives there, she's like, "Oh, it would be rude to eat at your desk, you literally have to eat in the lunch cafeteria."Brad Crowell 24:20  She works from home, and she goes into the office to have lunch with the group.Lesley Logan 24:24  Yeah, that's not even on her team, they're just the people of that office that she's at, because it's like rude to not be part of it. And she's like, "Yeah, you have a full hour-long lunch, and no matter what you've got going on, you sit there and you enjoy it." People really have a life, and I think there is a way to give 100% at work and then have a life, and I think that's a balance we're missing if you're in the States. If you're outside of the States, we travel a lot, I see you, you're doing a great job, you are living your life. But so let's go back to one thing she said, so she explained you don't actually owe the company anything, like, telling them where you're going.Brad Crowell 25:06  She was talking about actually, in this case, quitting, and you know, if they asked you like, "Well, where are you going to go work next?" Like, you don't need to tell them that.Lesley Logan 25:13  You don't actually have to, it's not a thing. And so, in fact, somebody asked L on demand, our agency member, because they were making a plan to leave, and they're like, "Well, how do I, do I tell them what I'm doing?" And she wrote, "No, you can just say, 'Thank you so much. As of this date, I'm no longer available for this role. I am still available and excited to do this part of my job.'" Because you actually don't need to tell them that you're gonna go run your own thing, especially like it's not, we tend to feel like we have to give them an excuse or a reason. It can just be that you're done. Done is a reason. Yeah, so it's your business. Lesley Logan 25:50  She also said you can be fully transparent about your feelings, but leaving is—it's when you're—it's not required. You can be, but you don't have to be. It's not required. So, the best policy she said is to just walk in and say, "I'm so sorry, I found X, Y, or Z," or "I found another job," and then keep it short and sweet. And I would say the shorter and sweeter the better, and try to do it in a succinct way so they're not the enemy and you're off to greener pastures. You never know if you have to come back.Brad Crowell 26:22  You guys were talking even about the, "Oh, they're paying me more," or whatever. Like, "This other company offered me this role, and they're offering me more money." But you don't even need to say anything like that, because that would then open up the conversation with the current company of, like, "Oh, well, we could pay you more." What if you actually just wanted to leave, you know? So you don't need to be building in an excuse. You can just say, "Hey, you know, I have to move on." You can give an excuse, but you don't need to. Brad Crowell 26:53  I had a very difficult time leaving my job because my old boss liked to sue people, and so I needed to come up with a reason that was acceptable so that he didn't think that I was going to go try to compete with him. Because if that happened, he was going to sue, he sues everybody. So I told him that I was going to focus on my family, and I left that open-ended.Lesley Logan 27:18  You know what, my last—the job that I left, they were litigious-ish because if certain trainers took clients, because they had a non-compete, which is not enforceable, and the non-solicitation as well, which means you couldn't solicit. But I was so afraid that they would think I was soliciting that I also said, "I'm focusing, my husband, you know, I don't need to work this much anymore." I just wanted them, it wasn't their business, and I didn't want them to be looking for something, you know. And we're still friendly, I still talk to everybody, one of my bosses there, like, it's so great. So it doesn't have to be a big deal. I think the gist of that topic is like you can literally, in two sentences or less, exit given the information that they need to process the paycheck and get to your next thing.Brad Crowell 28:08  Yeah, and when I was listening through the whole thing, I liked the idea of being gracious with the exit—like graceful, meaning short, succinct, and clear. And that's what Claire was talking about when exiting not on your terms, basically meaning you're fired. She said if you really want to hand-grenade things, you can, but it's a small world. The industries we all work in are small. Everyone knows everyone. If you have a tumultuous exit, word will get around, right? She said while being fired is definitely an ego stab in your heart, it is crucial to remain polite because the professional world is very small, even if the human instinct is to internalize blame. And what we will do effectively, because it's the human instinct, is internalize the blame. "What did I do wrong?" You know, and we keep reviewing it over and over again in our own minds, picking on ourselves effectively. She said, "Hey, let's turn it around to a positive instead of sitting there picking yourself apart. Maybe you can go and take this new time and learn a new skill." Alternatively, you can evaluate your peers by asking yourself, like, "What are the skills that I have? What can I add to my resume that makes me more excitable as a hire for the future?" So, really shifting back to working to put yourself back out there.Lesley Logan 29:34  Yeah, I think, going back a couple episodes ago, you have to feel your feelings. It's important to grieve that it's a loss, like even if you leave on your own terms, it's still a closure of something, so definitely do that.Brad Crowell 29:48  I always think about people who are almost arrogant, and I think in a situation like this, how lucky are they that they can look at someone firing them and go, "Well, it's your fucking loss, because I'm awesome." You know what I mean? Imagine that perspective versus, "Oh my god, what did I do wrong? Why are you firing me? It's my fault, I fucked up somewhere, I'm not even sure what I did wrong." Those are the two extremes. Maybe we can land in the middle and do ourselves a kindness and not beat ourselves up over it. Because I had to fire someone, and was this person perfect at their job? No. Were they coachable and teachable, and did we actually enjoy having them on the team? Yes. And ultimately, it wasn't because they fucked up a spreadsheet or a document that I had to fire them; I had to fire them because our company couldn't sustain paying them at the time, this many years ago, right? And so it was a shame and not fun, right? So it had nothing to do with her, and I wrote a glowing review.Lesley Logan 30:56  Yeah, no, and for the most part, especially if you're a boss listening to this, most people know, if you do it right and you're coaching correctly, people know that their job is not safe. So, in California, I have to write you up at least three times, because the employers' HR, when you let go of someone, they want to be like, "Here are the instances, here's what the thing was that you were supposed to do."Brad Crowell 31:21  Meaning they should be seeing it coming. "I've got two write-ups already, I know."Lesley Logan 31:25  Like, "Yeah, I'm in the hot seat," you know. And so now, just because you have three doesn't mean you're getting fired—like maybe they happen over 10 years, you know? One of them you fix, whatever. But especially if they're happening in a row, they're coming for it, they're looking for things to come at you with. So you should be watching for that. Lesley Logan 31:42  But you should also like—if I'm consistently having to remind you how to do something, or I'm questioning, like, if there's these things that you're being coached on in your job, and it's like, "Wow, you've been here a year, and we're still working on this" if you're a boss, they should not be blindsided by it if it has to do with the way that they're doing their job, because they're not mind readers. You actually have to tell them if they're doing their job well or not, and if they're not doing their job well, you have to tell them how to do it well to give them that opportunity. And if you don't do that, then they're gonna be blindsided. But if you're constantly re-coaching them on their job and bringing up, like, hey, even if you don't write them up, "Hey, this is the third time we've had to go over this, what's going on here?" Hopefully they're aware. Lesley Logan 32:22  Now, some people are dense and they don't get it. I fired people who yelled at me and all these different things—not like "my loss," but like, "How dare you," right? And I remember going, "You didn't see this coming, dude? This is our third write-up. You're not on time for your clients. What do you want me to do? You're not on time, you've not been on time multiple times."Brad Crowell 32:44  Yeah.Lesley Logan 32:45  This is on you. Brad Crowell 32:46  Yeah, exactly.Lesley Logan 32:47  If he had been taking the bus, I would have been like, "Okay, we got to find a new bus route, we got to find a new shift." Nope, this is all on him driving, you know. So, I think for the most, it doesn't always happen that way, but that's always my ideal goal, is like people know.Brad Crowell 33:01  I had someone try to write me up one time, and I told them that I would not sign the paperworkLesley Logan 33:05  You, you also don't have to sign.Brad Crowell 33:07  And I said, "I disagree with you 100%. I'm happy to talk to your boss about all of this, because I will not sign this."Lesley Logan 33:13  You don't have to sign, they still, you still got it, but you don't have to sign if you don't agree with it. That's true. Yeah, that's fine. It's all combo. Anyways, this is like, thank fucking God I'm not in an office. Jesus. Okay, hold on. She said more great things about exiting.Brad Crowell 33:29  Yes. Well, stick, stick around really quick. We'll be, we will be right back. Brad Crowell 33:34  All right, welcome back. So, let's talk about those "Be It" action items. If you're new here and you're like, "What the hell is that?" "Be It" is the Be It Till You See It podcast acronym, what bold, executable, intrinsic, or targeted action items can we take away from your convo? Claire said, "Hey, give yourself space." Okay, she explicitly warns against immediately jumping back into work after making an exit, whether you made it or they made it. She stated, "Make sure you give yourself a week or two off between jobs, because in any capacity, you have to decompress. It's just good for your mental state." She cautions against skipping this decompression phase, because when you immediately jump back into the next thing, you might actually already be angry or sad or frustrated, or whatever. She said she has rage-updated her resume before, and it just never works out very well.Lesley Logan 34:29  Sounds like if you get dumped, and then you go and do your Tinder or Hinge profile, it probably isn't gonna be as great as if you just waited a moment to be like, "Wow, that person wasn't so great for me. Let me.Brad Crowell 34:42  Yeah, don't rage-update your resume, it's hilarious. What about you? What was your big takeaway?Lesley Logan 34:45  II mean, personally, I never want to have to update a resume like that. I never want to do.Brad Crowell 34:50  I know we've had to update a resume to submit for some things for the business, and we're like, "Where is our resume? What did we.Lesley Logan 34:59  Now, Lex's job is like every so many months, go—because eventually, how long is the resume, you know? How many pages? Because I'm not vying for a job, but loans and stuff want things like that. Anyways, she said take a look at yourself and where you are, look at where you can improve and create an exit strategy. So I like this, because you might not like the job that you're at, you might be frustrated with where it's at, but this kind of is like taking a little bit of radical responsibility—like, where can I improve so that when I find the next place, I'm already a better person for it at the next job, you know? And that allows you to create an exit strategy as well. And I think this is kind of like, you know, if in anything you're wanting to leave, there's a reason you want to leave, and some of it's the situation, and some of it is ownership of how you could be a better person given the new situation, right? She compares this action to having an emergency strategy for a house fire, so you already know where your exits are, and I like that, right?Brad Crowell 36:01  She has some great tips, you know, especially if you know you're leaving and you had already taken things home, slowly start to bring them back to the office, not all at once, and vice versa. If you have things at the office, you could slowly start to take them home again, not all at once, because you're not trying to make your office look empty, but just practical stuff. Pretty cool.Lesley Logan 36:21  Because you never—I mean, even if you think you know your employers the most, like when I worked in, when I ran retail shops, if you gave us a two-week notice, our goal was to see how quickly we can get you a paycheck and end your shift before two weeks in your job, because it was an at-will state, so we could do that. So you put the two weeks in because then you get the better review, like, "Oh, they left and they gave notice," and all these different things, but especially in Pilates and in retail, you have clients, you have customers, so the longer you're there, the longer you can take client phone numbers, emails, different things. Like, we're protecting stuff, so we would just be like, "Out. Bye."Brad Crowell 37:02  Yeah, I think notoriously Netflix is like crazy. If you go in and you quit, before you get back to your desk, you're locked out of every, yeah.Lesley Logan 37:12  Yeah, no, I think it's even in their handbook of like what happens. Keith Olbermann is the one who—it's so funny because he's like, "I was on—they let me be on the air for three months, I could say whatever I wanted." But I do—you never—you just don't know how people are going to react to exits, so make sure that you have prepared well for the exit that you are in control of so that if they do decide, especially if you're an hourly employee or something like that, that they're changing it, you're not needing that money as the in-between, you know. Anyways, well, love it. I'm Lesley Logan.Brad Crowell 37:53  And I'm Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 37:54  Thanks, Clare, for being our Be It Babe, ready to jump in. She'll be back because we'll have her at an interview.Brad Crowell 38:00  The Boomerang Buddy.Lesley Logan 38:01  Oh, I'm interviewing the person in two days, I better finish that book. I'm interviewing a really great doctor, and she's like, "I want to be in the Be It Book Club, and I want to be the recap person." So, Brad, you're unfortunately,unless you want to, you can join us for the recap if you want.Brad Crowell 38:19  It's fun. I love it.Lesley Logan 38:20  Yeah, all right, guy, go Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 38:23  Bye for now.Lesley Logan 38:24  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 39:07  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 39:12  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 39:16  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 39:23  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 39:26  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

he Untolld Story of NYC's Weed KiingpiinGenovese mob-scion Silvio Eboli lived within the shadows of history, and now for the first time, the untold story of a mafia legend is revealed. The Ganja Godfather (Trineday, March 23, 2015, ISBN: 978-1937584955) s the story about an ongoing organized criminal operation, in real time with firsthand accounts and experiences by award-winning author and investigative journalist, Toby Rogers.Shadowing the Ganja Godfather, Rogers witnesses it all standing next to the Boss himself: violence, drugs, celebrities, girls, construction hustles, crime-family business meetings and social gatherings. From strip clubs in Atlantic City to Sunday night dinner with the wife and kids, Rogers experiences whatever the Ganja Godfather does on any given day. As exhilarating as Silvio's life had become, it certainly was much more stressful behind the scenes. Being the Empire State's spliff king was undoubtedly the hardest job in New York. And it was only after Silvio finally got to the top of the mountain that he realized just how easy it was to fall over the edge.With a wife and kids, dysfunctional family business obligations, and an out-of-control social life all pulling him in conflicting paths, Silvio struggled keep the empire moving forward without detection from law enforcement. But when he was introduced to a Colombian cocaine princess with aspirations to become a model, he saw an opportunity to expand the family's profit margins to unimaginable heights and risked it all despite the collision course with disaster he saw right before him.Toby Rogers is an award winning author and investigative journalist. He has written for the New York Times, New York Post, Village Voice, High Times, Clamor Magazine, and Houston's Public News. He has been featured on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Democracy Now, with Amy Goodman as well as the National Enquirer. He was a consultant and featured in HBO's Horns and Halos documentary.Rogers' first book, Ambushed: Secrets of the Bush Family, was featured in newspapers and magazines in America and internationally. rThe New York Times described Rogers as “a hell of a journalist,” and Ambushed as “very impressive top notch stuBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-opperman-report--1198501/support.

OnlyFans content creators angry at Euphoria, Britney Spears erratic dinner, Chud the Builder arrested, Meghan Markle rebranding, women mad at Stephen A Smith, Maz joins us with his NBA crushes, and Jim's picks: Top 10 Michael Jackson cover songs. "It's so stupid that I'm in this world." Now we have to know about Chud the Builder. Trudi is on assignment about The Church of Scientology TRYING to come to Danny Masterson's defense. Hey Randy Jackson, why you look different? Hey Demi Moore, why you look different? Bye, Big Jim. They're tearing his house down. Britney Spears is out of rehab and totally normal at dinner. Brand new Bonerline time. Did you know Michael Jackson allegedly did some crazy things with children? Spencer Pratt still is ahead in the polls to become Mayor of LA, but word on the street is he still doesn't live in that Airstream on his property. Clay Aiken has a kid? With a woman? Cardi B is going off on Stefon Diggs...They're back together again?! Meghan Markle rebranding begins and is sure to fail. Could Blake Lively be more hated than Meghan Markle? Sex workers are mad at Sydney Sweeney because of her character on Euphoria. We call up Tom Mazawey and he's thinking about doing OnlyFans. The Detroit Lions schedule has been leaked! How many wins do you predict? The Detroit Pistons blew it last night with the ref's help. Maz has a crush on Max Strus and Jalen Duren. Tom supports Michael Jackson. See ya, Tom! Keith Olbermann looks great going after his ex Katy Tur. Stephen A Smith has sparked fury over his comments on women. Breaking News: Britney Spears busted buying alcohol right before going to the bar and acting weird. Jim's Picks: Top 10 Michael Jackson Cover Songs Merch is for sale! Buy it. Or don't. But do. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (Drew Lane, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley, BranDon, and Roberto).

SEASON 4 EPISODE 84: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Back from a week off just in time to put the podcast on health hiatus...details within today's supersized edition. Plus, befitting the time off, some meta pictures on how Democrats should plan for what they want this country to look like on its 300th anniversary, if it lasts that long. Will we have jailed Trump and gotten back the money he took? Undone his damage? Eliminated the anachronistic idea that Wyoming should have as many senators as California? Let the Supreme Court continue to lie, cheat and steal the democracy from under us? As John Candy said in "Splash": Think big, be big, my friend. MORE IMMEDIATELY: Whaddya mean the Governor of Virginia hasn't been BRIEFED on the way to overturn her state's Supreme Court's usurpation of redistricting? Why the hell not Hakeem Jeffries? Anybody notice Trump is simply rotating the same three lies about Iran? Why are only independent journalists like Garrett Graff still covering the WHCD non-shooting when the New York Times is doing 31 paragraphs on the future of the dinner like anybody gave a crap? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: stop saying Trump is painting everything GOLD. That color is not GOLD. It is the color of WEE WEE. Say it. Use the clinical terms, use the gutter terms. The gutter terms define this idiot president. Stop saying gold when you mean whizzzzzzzzzzzzzz. B-Block (56:00) ON THE PASSING OF TED TURNER: Hard to believe few of the obituaries mentioned how he also invented 7-day-a-week sports on national television. Or how Jane Fonda kept him from destroying himself in, like, 1982. One particularly harrowing saga had him telling the lowest ranking staffer at CNN's Washington Bureau which way, when he finally decided he'd do it, he'd do it. And this is said with admiration and affection for the man who created the place where I and so many of the figures of the last 45 years began our TV careers. C-Block (1:30:00) ALL TED ALL THE TIME: I was holding back until I was certain I wouldn't jinx him. My beloved first rescue dog, Ted, was up against it last fall. I took him to the University of Florida for life-saving open heart surgery and boy, did they! Eight hours on the table, eight hours of SICU, all for an eight pound dog and now - he's not even on any medications! It's a long story and I would insist it's worth hearing it. And if you have a dog (or know of one) moving from Mitral Valve Disease to Heart Failure, maybe this will provide you with hope - and an option.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous soul Subscribe to Christian's Music NewsLetter "New Music for Olds" VENMO CHRISTIAN : Hi there! if you want to buy Christian a coffee, send it to Christian-finnegan-1 (if it asks for the last four digits of his phone number it's 1814) Christian Finnegan is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in New York City. BUY HIS NEW ALBUM--- "Show Your Work: Live at QED" Finnegan is perhaps best known as one of the original panelists on VH1's Best Week Ever and as Chad, the only white roommate in the "Mad Real World" sketch on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. Additional television appearances as himself or performing stand up have included "Conan", "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", "Would You Rather...with Graham Norton", "Good Afternoon America" and multiple times on The Today Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and on History's I Love the 1880s. He hosted TV Land's game show "Game Time". As an actor, Finnegan portrayed the supporting role of "Carl" in the film Eden Court, a ticket agent in "Knight and Day" and several guest roles including a talk show host on "The Good Wife". In October 2006, Finnegan's debut stand up comedy CD titled Two For Flinching was released by Comedy Central Records, with a follow-up national tour of college campuses from January to April 2007. "Au Contraire!" was released by Warner Bros. Records in 2009. His third special "The Fun Part" was filmed at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston on April 4, 2013 and debuted on Netflix on April 15, 2014. On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Listen rate and review on Apple Podcasts Listen rate and review on Spotify Pete On Instagram Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on Twitter Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift Send Pete $ Directly on Venmo All things Jon Carroll Buy Ava's Art Subscribe to Piano Tuner Paul Paul Wesley on Substack Listen to Barry and Abigail Hummel Podcast Listen to Matty C Podcast and Substack Follow and Support Pete Coe Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing

SEASON 4 EPISODE 83: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has given away his labyrinthine plot to stay in office past 2028 in one social media post and he’s just crazy enough to think it will work. It is in his rant claiming the indictment of a political opponent means "The 2020 Presidential Election Should Be Permanently Wiped From The Books And Be Of No Further Force or Effect…” He is not going to try a new Constitutional Amendment or say the limit is two CONSECUTIVE terms. He's not going another coup (at least not initially). He is going to try to nullify the 2020 Election - and hold that vote again. ANOTHER 2020 Election. In 2028. If you think that's too crazy easy for him - is it crazier than Trump insisting yesterday that we are in a war against UKRAINE? Crazier than indicting the former FBI Director on a threat to kill Trump with a seashell meme? Crazier than trying to get a comedian fired for a joke about Trump’s death and his wife when TRUMP then goes out and makes a joke about his death and his wife and all America is talking about is the dreaded D-word? Crazier than indicting a man for trying to shoot him at the Correspondents’ Dinner when it is now unmistakably clear that the suspect never fired a shot and was never on the same floor as Trump was? Crazier than Trump's insistence that we should pay for this damn ballroom because it'll protect presidents? What - are they sealing themselves in like Saddam Hussein in his Hidey Hole? And then I'll detail Trump’s bid to MATA: Make America 2020 Again. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Two competing Bari Weiss entries because while nobody's watching her version of the CBS Evening News, everybody seems to have seen her prized reporter Olivia Reingold making a fool of herself on video from the Correspondents' Dinner. And speaking of that, Stephen A. Smith came out of that experience knowing who is to blame for all America's problems: those evil liberals! Whose presidential nomination he expects to win. ESPN has a choice: platform a political idiot and Conservative tool and destroy your franchise, or get rid of him and keep it. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I often wonder WHY I ever became a political commentator. It wasn't planned and it wasn't supposed to be permanent. And the story of HOW I became a political commentator is even crazier.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 82: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Call me a cynic but I am beginning to get a sense that you may have some doubts about this Not-An-Assassination Attempt at The White House Correspondents Dinner. Well - that's what it was. Or in this case, what it wasn't. The acting attorney general says the alleged perp quote “was stopped before he got anywhere near the President.” So, NOT an assassination attempt, per the attorney general. But of course the White House is still trying to sell it as one (its 'protocol director' insists it was "the hand of God" again; its deputy chief of staff tried to start another 'USA!' chant after the incident). Even though proximity is the definition of such a nightmare scenario. Saturday Night? Obama had 15 of those. Still, among my fellow Americans who are NOT in the Trump Mass Hypnosis Cult, I may be in the minority because I DON’T think it was staged. Why are you so cynical? Just because an hour beforehand Karoline Leavitt told Fox quote “There will be some shots fired tonight!” That’s a coincidence. Just because Trump has gone insane about his quote “militarily top secret ballroom” and the next thing you know he’s GOING to a ballroom and after that the Secret Service screws up security AT the ballroom and after THAT he’s holding a press conference saying this is WHY he needs that ballroom and all his sock puppets are tweeting about the ballroom. Coincidence! Just because Trump and his filth have lied to you about every THING, every DAY, for 11 years… that’s no reason for you to think that was STAGED. It’s a coincidence! It’s all a coincidence. ALSO: for God's sake stop saying there's no room for violence in American politics and we don't resolve our differences this way! Certainly we all wish that were true. But in point of fact there's room for almost nothing BUT violence in American politics! Ask JFK, Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Garfield, Lincoln, McKinley, dozens of others! What was the Civil War if not political violence? B-Block (28:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The Staten Island cop who has reportedly amassed more than 500 speeding tickets, and last year averaged one every other day. Jeff Bezos' Washington Post will only print a letter to the editor responding to its editorial if the authors take out the references TO Jeff Bezos. And Tom Cotton makes a hilarious mistake: Iran will meet its match not on the battlefield but at the bargaining table because it's never faced the author of "Art Of The Deal." Who's gonna tell him? C-Block (41:00) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: We need a break from media people talking about themselves so let's drop "Things I Promised Not To Tell" and instead read you his wonderful, weird, slightly spooky "The Black Magic Of Barney Haller." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 81: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: "Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind." It's the headline on a column in perhaps the most prominent MAGA magazine headline. It's not me saying it this time. Not Jimmy Kimmel. Not George Conway. Not a psychiatrist. The Washington Examiner: “Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind.” Why? Just because he’s also losing IRAN? Just because he’s COMPARING Iran to Vietnam (which he dodged)? Just because he threatened to go General Sherman on Teheran? Just because he's just announced you are no longer ALLOWED to CRITICIZE him ABOUT Iran? “Donald Trump Is Losing His Mind” writes The Washington Examiner - guess that makes it unanimous (and there is now polling on this!) ALSO: House Democrats want Kash Patel to take an alcoholism screening test. His choices amount to: a) ARE you an alcoholic? b) Are you so FULL of alcohol you’re at risk of bursting into flames, or c) are you J. Edgar Boozer. AND about the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday. The Correspondents Association is obeying in advance to Trump, calling him an "honoree" and welcoming his rats like Brendan Carr and Stephen Miller. If you’re attending this dinner, and you are not planning to storm out or otherwise using this rare opportunity to protest Trump’s presence, you’re not only a traitor to JOURNALISM, you’re a traitor to America. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Trump's "National Garden Of Heroes" with 250 statues of everybody from Elvis to Whittaker Chambers is dumb enough. What happens when they forget to order the statues? Interior Secretary Burgum wants Theodore Roosevelt in the pro football Hall of Fame even though there wasn't pro football while T.R. was alive. And new Congressman Clay Fuller says he was only joking when he said Georgia was named after George Washington. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Talking about dinner in DC Saturday (The White House Correspondents) led me to mention my disastrous dates last century with Laura Ingraham on social media and there was considerable disbelief so it's time to tell that story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 80: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (3:00) SPECIAL COMMENT: Nobody is at the wheel of Trump's war in Iran. Is the Strait of Hormuz open or is it closed? Are there peace talks with Iran in Pakistan TOMORROW… or nah? Is Jayvee Vance going? Is Iran going? Has Trump scheduled peace talks where we’re the only ones there? Will it make any difference if we’re the only ones there? Doesn’t “blowing a hole in the engine room” of an Iranian cargo ship yesterday mean we aren’t honoring Trump’s own ceasefire he boasted about? Are we paying 20 billion dollars for the Iranian uranium and hostages? The same uranium and hostages Obama bought for 400 million and Trump called him a traitor? Or is that a no? Don’t ask Trump – he doesn’t know. But that won’t stop him from answering anyway. Yes. Then Nope. Then Yes again. Then: All of the Above. in 48 hours he went from 13 posts congratulating himself on winning, to insisting he would stop being “Mr. Nice Guy” and blow up all of Iran. By the way, eactly when was he “Mr. Nice Guy”? We are LOSING the war in Iran and as of today a total idiot is still president and commander-in-chief. He gets questions about the pointless war he started to divert attention from Epstein and the economy he crashed, so he orders the reporters out of the Oval Office, and sits there with hapless munchkin Little Joe Rogan standing behind him, the shine off his cueball noggin blinding cameras and journalists alike. Trump has set off a chain of events over which he no longer has any control – except to withdraw and flee – and to withdraw and flee is to acknowledge he screwed up. And this man would jump off the roof of the White House before admitting he screwed up. The Trump “Administration” has so UTTERLY jumped the shark, that the truthers are coming out from inside MAGA: Alex Jones now insists Trump has done all this DELIBERATELY, because he has made a “deal with the deep state to throw the election to the Democrats." Marjorie Taylor Greene has joined the Trump Assassination Truthers and Trump himself has floated a kind of conspiracy theory ABOUT himself… he wrote ‘Praise Be To Allah’ on Easter morning to “seem as unstable and insulting as possible.” He wanted to seem as unstable as possible? MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, Trump! You’ve finally done something you promised! B-Block (28:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Before the year is out, Major League Baseball will threaten to lock the players out and cancel the season in 2027 because the smaller market teams can't make enough money to compete. One of those teams just sold for $3.1 billion more than it did in 2012. New York's hockey teams support a) Trump putting his name on public buildings or b) legal funds for cops convicted of killing unarmed civilians. Vivek Ramaswamy dismisses his opponent talking about being raped as a child as her "complaining." And Lauren Boebert thinks Congress is too horny and she won't remain, uh, hands off. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Netflix stock took a huge hit, supposedly after the co-founder Reed Hastings announced he was bowing out. But I think it might've been another announcement that did it. They are going into news podcasts with - Brian Williams? The story of how he imploded at NBC, while I was literally an eyewitness to his public self-destruction, and the advice I gave his bosses that could have saved him (and them) if they hadn't ignored it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 79: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump doubles down on bashing the Pope and appropriating Jesus. This time it’s not him pretending to be Dr. Jesus or whoever. It's, it's, it's...well the image he posted looks like he’s about to make out with him. I mean this isn’t one of my areas of expertise but JC is fondling Trump's chest. It’s so bad even Speaker Mike Johnson noticed. The Republicans aren’t mad about the other part, slamming Pope Leo, because right wing governments have been attacking the Catholic Church since King Henry the 8th. But some of the comments do underscore that if they want the Pope to "stay in his lane," the MAGA evangelical squad needs to stay in its. This also underscores how MANY wars can Trump start at the same time? War against the Pope, War against European governments, War against Iran, War against Reality. He again insists he’s blockading the Strait of Hormuz when the American navy is clearly NOT blockading the Strait of Hormuz. He again insists he’s already beaten Iran, when Iran now says IT may also halt shipping in the RED SEA. Does Trump even KNOW how bad it’s going for America in the Gulf? In world capitals? Or is this like Germany 1942 where citizens – and many government officials – were actually told the Luftwaffe had totally destroyed New York City. Let me tell you the story of what happened when German POW’s actually SAW New York City… Plus: watch where you put your hands, J. B-Block (26:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Is naming a large pothole on the Moon in honor of the late wife of one of the astronauts an "act of colonialism"? One anti-colonialism commenter thinks so. When you OD and that isn't the worst thing you did all week - the story of Clavicular. And the Swalwell Disaster prompts one Congressman (Andy Ogles) to propose hanging rapists (who's going to tell him?) and one Fox host (Jesse Watters) to pontificate on the proper time to "whip it out." C-Block (39:15) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: She was a five-hour a week camerawoman who had already survived several years on Capitol Hill. He, owned the network and invited her to the best French restaurant in Georgetown. And she - as she told me back in '82 or '83 - wound up saying good night, by standing up in the middle of that restaurant and slapping him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 78: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) BREAKING: Trump attacks and threatens Pope Leo in insane online rant, criticizing him for being opposed to Nuclear Weapons. Then in an in-person interview upon his return to Joint Base Andrews tonight insists Pope Leo was wrong to SUPPORT Nuclear Weapons. Trump then posts an image of himself dressed in Jesus-like attire apparently healing a hospital patient. No comment yet from the world's 1,200,000,000 Catholics. (8:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I know, I know, lots of stuff just happened: Orban topples in Hungary, Vance beclowns himself there and in talks with Iran, Trump basically ends the ceasefire and threatens war against EVERY country in the world if they send a ship through the strait of Hormuz, the Houthis are trying to blockade the OTHER shipping bottle-neck there, Trump caught staring at cleavage at the cage fighting in Miami, Swalwell self-defenestrating. But I'll stick to this: The Melania Trump speech about Epstein was the single most important public statement by anybody connected to Trump in the last decade. She, personally, out of nowhere, moved the Epstein story back to center stage. A month of world-shaking cataclysm by her husband to bury the Epstein story and HIS COVER-UP OF IT and in 535 words she undid all that. And the thing that will keep this story alive for months: NONE of her words were in defense of her husband. She never said WE are innocent. She said I am innocent. She said it TWENTY FOUR TIMES. Her speech could’ve been only FIVE words long. Five words that may end the Trump presidency: I’M not taking the fall. PLUS: No, Swalwell isn't the victim and the allegations aren't anonymous and this isn't a Roger Stone set-up. He just knew there was a story, the way in 2017 I knew there was a story that would end up getting Matt Lauer fired from NBC and I knew it six days before Lauer knew it. That "B" follows "A" does not mean "A" caused "B." B-Block (42:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Chuck Todd blames Trump's pardons on Biden because Chuck Todd Disease. The Financial Times with one of the great corrections of our time. The banner if not the roof falls in on Gov. Shapiro. And what exactly are Kalshi, pro golf, and golfer Bryson deChambeau trying to sell in a commercial that ends with deChambeau evidently moving to a crashed UFO to beat an injured extraterrestrial to death with some golf clubs? C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My greatest sports record fell last night. It was 21 years and two months between episodes of ESPN's SportsCenter that I anchored. My old friend Rich Eisen has now made it 23 years. A good time to describe the Rip Van Winkle effect, and the bizarre stories about my goin' back to Bristol, Bristol, Bristol, in 2005, 2013, and 2018.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 77: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Did Trump lose to Iran because the war was escalating too quickly for him? Firstly, great cease fire, Trump. Oh did we mention it doesn’t include Lebanon but it DOES include Iran closing the strait of Hormuz on Day 1. CEASEFIRE? This is way more FIRE than CEASE. How do you LOSE a cease fire, El Presidente? But the bigger question: did Trump really call off his genocide because he didn’t need the missiles flying THIS week? Because this is way too early to precipitate a crisis HERE, in AMERICA? Did he give the Iranians control of Hormuz and let them keep their uranium and get out from under the sanctions because while the FIRST reason for this pointless brinksmanship was a distraction from the Epstein Files, the SECOND reason was to have a reason in late summer and early autumn to declare a domestic emergency HERE, and mess with the elections? To extrapolate from the cynical but entirely logical and disturbing writings of the great historian Professor Tim Snyder, is all this because Trump didn’t need retaliation from Iran and maybe the threat of Iranian terrorism (real or staged) on APRIL 9th… he needs it on OCTOBER 9th… so this was not only postponed, but it was postponed already pre-sabotaged, so he can keep it on a back burner TIL then, or bring it back later when he needs to lie and say Iran is a threat HERE? PLUS: Thank you Pam Bondi for putting Epstein back on the map, by not just going to the House deposition and taking the hit. Now we can again point at an all-too-obvious Trump Epstein cover-up. The other day I jokingly asked 'Where the F happened to Rudy Giuliani?" and all of a sudden he's back. And my old boss Jeff Shell did indeed get fired, for the second time, as a major TV network president. B-Block (29:15) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Dr. Naomi Wolf is an all-time great. This time, she is unaware of the sun. We have Trump-inspired Eggcorn propagators talking about "Litnis Tests" and the "Commander And Chief!" A boss at X describes writing on the site as "tweeting." And as Trump threatens to arrest reporters (again) the White House Correspondents Dinner looms and they will welcome him, but no critics, no comedians, and no protest except the lamest thing you've ever heard: The Jake Tapper Protest Pocket Square. C-Block (55:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: He was perhaps the greatest mechanical newscaster in history. Just perfect on the air. That, he explained, was because he never thought, he just read. Unfortunately if there was a mistake in the script, he'd read that too. And one night, boy was there a mistake in Jerry Dunphy's script!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 76: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The OTHER part of Dementia J. Trump’s vile, multi-religion blasphemous Easter post is the operative part “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge day… “There will be nothing like it… “You’ll be living in Hell… "Just watch…” All that was followed four hours and 35 minutes later by quote “Tuesday 8:00 PM Eastern Time," plus phone calls to his media stenographers: If there’s no deal Monday he’s quote “blowing up the whole country” and “I am blowing up everything over there." What that is, is at least a threat to use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran. Even if it’s JUST a threat, or the “nuclear” part is hyperbole, it is still a threat to use massive amounts of conventional ordnance but Trump of course has longed to use nuclear weapons since the first term, asking his generals why we had them if we didn’t use them. He wants to. He's a sadist who wants to see people die. And of course, he IS crazy: “I know him… and… he has gone insane.” Marjorie Taylor Greene said that. Oh and her postscript, as she joined our Club Reality: “Our president is not a Christian.” This is still all about the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said was irrelevant and would open itself and about which he has held 28 public positions in the last 35 days. So here we are. Tomorrow is either TACO Tuesday or Thermonuclear Tuesday. THE ALTERNATIVE VIEW: This is Trump's fault regardless, but could he have been manipulated into it by a soft-rollout Military Coup against the civilian government, led by Hegseth and the other religious nuts in the Pentagon? And when did this America actually go off the rails? You can point at the day Trump came down the escalator it didn't extend to hell. You could look at the sign-on of Fox News Channel. Just as relevant: January 19, 2009 and one of the last decisions by a President-Elect who taught future Republican leaders that the laws would not be enforced against them. B-Block (48:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Jeff Shell, who is one of the two people primarily responsible for scuttling my planned return to MSNBC in 2019-20-21, is about to get fired as a network president for the second time in three years. Sometimes I wonder: could it be me, and not them? In this case, I don't wonder. Plus Rep. Andy Ogles, baseball's Texas Rangers (MLB is boasting of 40% diversity; they rolled out an opening day line-up of 10 white guys and a statue of a Texas racist, and those who pushed a pastor claiming Trump was about to be the recipient of biblical "golden showers" make up the rest of the list. C-Block (1:02:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A lot of the yap on Threads over the weekend was about the late lamented food chain "Boston Market" and who killed it. Well, my bad, that was me. The story of the brilliant commercials I did for them that worked so well, but every time it worked it cost them $12!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 74: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: The buffoon who is, for better or worse, the actual president of this country has called the United States of America STUPID. No – seriously: “We are the only country in the world stupid enough to allow birthright citizenship” He didn’t call the Constitution stupid. He didn’t call the Supreme Court stupid. He didn't call the immigrants stupid. He didn't call the Democrats stupid. He called the ENTIRE COUNTRY stupid. You. And me. And his own supporters. Why again do we continue to permit this disloyal, deranged moron to remain president? Oh by the way that was him - even before his pathetic speech on Iran last night - signaling he will LOSE, that he is getting CREAMED, after the oral arguments OVER birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court, summarized by his lawyer saying “it’s a new world” and the Chief Justice replying but “it’s the same constitution.” When the Justices rule in June it could be 9-0, though 7-2 would be likelier. THE BESTEST WAR EVER: Near as I can tell, the essence of Trump's argument in his Iran speech last night was: It's going perfectly because it hasn't taken nearly as long as World War I or Vietnam. He didn't address NATO, he only tweaked the allies who have refused to jump overboard with him, and he only once gave any hint about what's next (Iran has "two or three weeks" to make a deal even though everybody in Iran is dead). The overriding theme of the speech was the tantalizing prospect that he might fall asleep at the podium while he was talking. TRUMP'S PERVERTS: The latest on Kristi Noem and whether she got a group discount on plastic surgery, the servitude of Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio and RFK Jr and Jeff Bezos, and the weird psychology behind why his former critics enslave themselves to Trump. A professional in the field says it's not masochism, and while it may be blackmail, it's more about Trump providing them with a way for them to lie to themselves and say they aren't deviants or hypocrites, that he will back up their delusions - provided they do exactly what he tells them to. B-Block ( ) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Oh, look, I'm dragging Katy Tur and Tony Dokoupil again. Tur and I used to talk about Trump's lack of acuity in 2015. She just did a tv segment on it this week and it was as if she discovered it. And a profile of Dokoupil by Columbia Journalism Review has revealed he was once a hair model. What do you mean "once?" Also on here, Navy Commander Tim Parlatore ragging on behalf of Gamblin' Pete Hegseth. Last time we saw him he was civilian Trump attorney Tim Parlatore. I'm waiting for Cardinal Parlatore. And if Cory Booker is paying for the astroturfed online support, he deserves a refund. C-Block ( ) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: If I'm dragging Tur, it's only fair I tell the story of when she went above-and-beyond even live-in girlfriend duties: the saga of the day my appendix exploded and it took me 48 hours to figure out it wasn't just an upset stomach. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us in Vegas for Podjam 3! Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous soul Subscribe to Christian's Music NewsLetter "New Music for Olds" Hi there! if you want to buy Christian a coffee, send it to Christian-finnegan-1 (if it asks for the last four digits of his phone number it's 1814) Christian Finnegan  is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in New York City. BUY HIS NEW ALBUM--- "Show Your Work: Live at QED" Finnegan is perhaps best known as one of the original panelists on VH1's Best Week Ever and as Chad, the only white roommate in the "Mad Real World" sketch on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. Additional television appearances as himself or performing stand up have included "Conan", "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", "Would You Rather...with Graham Norton", "Good Afternoon America" and multiple times on The Today Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and on History's I Love the 1880s. He hosted TV Land's game show "Game Time". As an actor, Finnegan portrayed the supporting role of "Carl" in the film Eden Court, a ticket agent in "Knight and Day" and several guest roles including a talk show host on "The Good Wife". In October 2006, Finnegan's debut stand up comedy CD titled Two For Flinching was released by Comedy Central Records, with a follow-up national tour of college campuses from January to April 2007. "Au Contraire!" was released by Warner Bros. Records in 2009. His third special "The Fun Part" was filmed at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston on April 4, 2013 and debuted on Netflix on April 15, 2014. On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete   Listen rate and review on Apple Podcasts Listen rate and review on Spotify Pete On Instagram Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on Twitter Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page

SEASON 4 EPISODE 73: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: I have figured out what might be the weirdest most pointless delusion of Trump's second term: his claim "Vince Lombardi - I knew him." Trump was just 21, in college, and living with his parents in Queens the day the most legendary figure in football in the '60s retired as coach of The Green Bay Packers. More over, the first time he claimed he knew him was a decade ago, filled with details of witnessing Lombardi grab players by the shirt and not getting beat up because he was a winner. Where? How? He never explained. Of course he didn't. He probably saw it on television. So why does he believe he met Vince Lombardi? Because he DID meet Vince Lombardi. Only - not THAT Vince Lombardi. He met Vince Lombardi, JUNIOR, son of the legendary coach. Vince Lombardi Jr. was an executive in the United States Football League while Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of that league. Lombardi Jr. recounts meeting Trump (Trump was a jerk) in Jeff Pearlman's perfect book "Football For A Buck." By this standard, I ALSO KNEW VINCE LOMBARDI. The younger was a negotiator for the owners during the NFL Strike of 1982 that I covered for CNN. But in the 44 years since I met him I never conflated him with his father. THIS IS NOT THE LEAD STORY, it's just maddening. The lead? Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be sending thousands of American troops into an ambush in Iran. Not that they care. The conservative publication “The Washington Post” reports Pentagon plans for thousands of Marines and other personnel conducting weeks of raids while Rubio insists it’s going so well, we’ll never need boots on the ground. But Trump and Hegseth and Rubio may be wildly exaggerating how EFFECTIVELY America has degraded Iran’s military capacities AND wildly underrating how effective Iran has been destroying American equipment – especially aircraft.The Pentagon said an AWACS – the giant command and control plane – was “damaged” while parked on an airfield in Saudi Arabia. Photos have leaked. The back half of the AWACs was blown off. Iran is successfully conducting a war designed to destroy our PLANES on the ground, and control or neutralize wherever American troops intend to land or be based. AND THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL doesn't know it is against federal law to send troops (or other "armed men") to a polling station during an election. Five years in jail for sending them, Todd Blanche. Losing eligibility for all offices or honors, Donald Trump. B-Block (36:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Bill Maher wins The Shania Twain Prize For Humor. I think I have that right. Laura Loomer takes a terrible risk invoking the term "a slap in the face" given what she's done to her own face. And who's worse? Scott Jennings (now accused by three fellow guests of faking his anti-Trump hysteria) or Abby Phillip (who lets her name be used on the grotesque CNN show where Jennings allegedly lies)? C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I mean this question literally: Whatever happened to Rudy Giuliani? Not that I miss him, not that I'm worried. It's just - he's vanished, hasn't he?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 72: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has started World War 3 and has no idea how to stop it - and he doesn't know he's LOSING World War 3.How could he NOT know this? Because reportedly every morning they show him two minutes of highlights of "stuff blowing up" in Iran. His own personal SportsCenter Conflagration in the Middle East. Trump insisting Iran is dead. And yet Iran has struck Tel Aviv. Putin has sent a Russian oil tanker to Cuba just to remind us he can. Trump has now handed Iran de facto control of the worldwide price of a barrel of oil. Iran now controls 30 percent of worldwide fertilizer distribution. Because of Trump’s World War 3, the Philippines declares an energy emergency and Slovenia institutes energy rationing and United Airlines raised airfares twenty percent. Trump insists peace could be imminent and sends thousands more troops there. He mumbles about a peace proposal. It may be LAST year’s peace proposal and he's confused. Ukraine-Russia continues. Now the PAKISTANIS think they are mediators about Trump’s World War 3. Trump's World War 3, which is apparently being conducted, so crooks can make billion dollar bets on oil futures. And in the ultimate insanity: the military POINT of Trump’s World War 3 is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz after the Strait of Hormuz was closed by… Trump’s World War 3.All this while Rupert Murdoch insists if Trump DOESN’T put boots on the ground in Iran it will mean “American collapse.” World War 3 (TRUMP’S World War 3) in the new Thursday Countdown dropping at midnight. IT IS ALMOST SCAPEGOAT TIME: He's beginning to give Hegseth way too much of the credit he normally gives himself. That's what he's always done when he's about to fire somebody. He did it to Noem. Hegseth could be next. Or maybe MarkWayne Mullin, he's been on the job two days and already made an idiot out of himself (again). And talk about scapegoats: who's going to get it at CBS where the morning show's target audience is now 33% smaller than the target audience I had the last week I did Countdown on MSNBC. B-Block (26:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: When Patel's federally-funded girl friend Alexis Wilkins trashes Mike Flynn, Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson and Joe Kent - this must be some list: The Blaze, Glenn Beck, Scott Jennings, and Lauren Boebert, C-Block (40:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: A new baseball season is underway and this might be our last Opening Week until 2028 or later. My career began with covering the two most calamitous sports strikes in American history: MLB 1981 and NFL 1982. Of a drunken night with the football guys, and a broadcast in which a then-prominent sports columnist called them all communists (for the same kind of proposal OWNERS now offer TO players).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 71: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is paying Iran to try to kill Americans. $14 billion, he’s giving them. Fourteen billion for oil Iran can now sell, per Trump. What’s that called again? If you’re ‘adhering to our enemies, giving them aid and comfort’? And that fop Scott Bessent defended it yesterday as "jujitsuing" Iran, using its money against it. In fact Trump is using Iran's money against American troops. Trump, who is garbage - who celebrated the death of Robert Mueller just as he celebrated the death of Rob Reiner - who Friday said the Strait of Hormuz would open itself and then Saturday said he would destroy Iran’s power grid unless Iran opened it - who then compared the majority political party of this nation TO Iran - who announced he is sending his ICE terrorists into the airports because ANYBODY can be a TSA agent and apparently he forgot about his mass deportation thing – and who has had some sort of hallucinatory dream in which he decided this was quote “the death of Iran” when Iran is not only winning but most Americans recognize that Iran is winning... Trump has freed up $14,000,000,000 of Iranian oil because that will lower the price of a barrel of oil by like a dollar for like a week. Oh and remember when he made that joke to the Prime Minister of Japan about Pearl Harbor? Turns out President S-Stain didn’t know what HAPPENED… AT… Pearl Harbor. BY THE WAY the Iranians say if Trump does attack their energy infrastructure, that'll black out much of the Gulf, and they'll hit Israel's energy infrastructure, and all the neighboring nations' desalination plants. Good plan, Grampa Garbage. B-Block (36:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Twitter-X user Chris950003 has invented a new "eggcorn." Is Peter Navarro sticking to his prediction that Trump's war would lower energy prices? And the sabotage of CBS is nearly complete: Bari Weiss and the Ellisons have not only destroyed the birthplace of American broadcast journalism (Edward R. Murrow's CBS Radio) but she actually wants to have Stephen A. Smith host the CBS morning show. C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I am an alum of CBS Radio - at KNX in Los Angeles and for the radio network as a sportscaster and reporter in the '80s - and I bleed for its murder. But my connection is even more personal. The head of its all-news operation in New York personally validated, personally made tangible, my career aspirations. With one note he turned my possibility into a reality. The story of the Lou Adler Letter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 70: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: We are all looking at it backwards: That was Tulsi Gabbard’s passive-aggressive mini-coup against Trump - about Iran, and the elections. That's what she did in her Senate testimony – and what her deputy Joe Kent did when he resigned, a day earlier (and you think THAT was a coincidence of timing?) In a kind of bizarre code, through omission and not commission, they called Trump a liar about Iran and nukes. Not nobly or bravely. But they did it. They left no other conclusion that Trump was and is lying about Iran. Under oath. And THEN Gabbard passive-aggressively called Trump a LIAR AGAIN about the seized ballots in Georgia. Under oath. She testified that HE sent her. It might be a break in the damn; it might be trivial. It is NOT nothing. Because everybody has a moment in which they realize that they have to protect their own assets - and this might've been theirs. Lord knows all the allies have found theirs. Trump literally has no support from anyone, and the EU just started talking to Iran about a deal to get its ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is neck high in quicksand that he ordered and installed - and he's run out of people to blame. Plus I'll explain what the hell Trump meant when he said “DIG WE MUST" instead of "drill baby drill." (It was his brain defaulting back to 1962 and it's a really bad sign). B-Block (26:00) SPORTSBALL TONIGHT: Are there ANY good feelings left from the US Olympics Men's Hockey Gold? Now the scorer of the winning goal, Jack Hughes, is demanding they give him the puck rather than enshrine it forever at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and an ESPN commentator is demanding we ignore "politics" and admit Russia to the next international tournament (while Russia is aiding Iran, who we are - like it or not - at war with). (34:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Newt Gingrich falls for an internet troll who wants to create an instant Trump Canal in the Middle East using nukes. Rachel Maddow becomes the umpteenth commentator to insist HER favorite Trump scandal should be getting more attention than the others. And not only did the Los Angeles Dodgers desecrate Dodger Stadium by slapping a sponsor name on it - but they then lied and said they HADN'T sold the naming rights. C-Block (56:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: My great grandfather not only turned down stock - circa 1907 - in the company that would become General Motors, but according to family lore he gave the owner the idea for the NAME "General Motors." We are not businessmen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Send us Fan MailSome US service members say they were told a war with Iran wouldn't just be strategic—it would be biblical.According to complaints gathered by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, certain US commanders allegedly framed the conflict as part of God's plan: a step toward Armageddon and the return of Jesus.If true, that raises urgent questions about how religious ideology may be shaping military culture—and potentially influencing decisions with global consequences.In this episode of Breaking Green, we speak with journalist Jonathan Larsen about what troops are reporting, why the Pentagon's silence matters, and what this reveals about the growing influence of religious nationalism in US policy.On this episode:Why the Pentagon didn't deny thisWhat the Armageddon messaging looked like in a combat preparation contextHow religious framing of war can amplify danger and widen perceived enemiesHow end-times beliefs can influence real-world military and foreign policy decisionsWhy corporate media rarely investigates religion's influence on geopoliticsWho The Family is, how the National Prayer Breakfast fits in, and what “ministering to power” meansWhy we should avoid conspiratorial thinking and focus on systems and incentives Jonathan Larsen is a veteran reporter and former executive producer at MSNBC, where he worked on shows including Up with Chris Hayes and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. He has also reported for United Press International and Al Jazeera America.Find more on Jonathan Larsen at: JonathanLarsen.substack.comthefuckingnews.substack.comIf you're enjoying this episode of Breaking Green, please subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcasts. The interviews heard here are often ignored by mainstream media, and without your support, these stories would not be covered. Consider leaving a review and sharing it with friends and colleagues. You can find the full catalog of previous episodes and sign up to have future episodes delivered straight to your inbox at breakinggreen.org. Or find us on Substack at https://gjep.substack.comPlease help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights, and expose false solutionsSimply text Give G I V E to 1716 257 4187Support the show

SEASON 4 EPISODE 69: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is not qualified to continue as commander in chief. Not for another five minutes. He has to resign at least that role, immediately. Trump is personally LOSING THE WAR IN IRAN. Trump is personally TURNING IRAN into INSTANT PROCESSED VIETNAM. Never mind the politics, never mind his assault on democracy, never mind his instability, never mind his corruption, never mind the details: Just MILITARILY. Just MAKING DECISIONS THAT WILL KILL AMERICAN TROOPS - Trump is NOT qualified to continue as commander in chief and he needs to resign AT LEAST his command TODAY. A week ago Trump mocked England for trying to join the war after he 'won it.' Now Trump is BEGGING England and half a dozen other countries to send ships to save him from this disaster at the Strait of Hormuz. A week ago Trump insisted Iran would NEVER CLOSE the Strait of Hormuz. Now it turns out the Iranians directly WARNED HIM they would close the Strait of Hormuz - warned him in 2019. Because it’s not just a ten dollar gallon of gas that’s coming, it’s a ten dollar STRAWBERRY. Because a third of the world’s fertilizer goes through the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping is down ooh just 97-point-4 percent. Trump is the Commander-in-Creep. Trump is the Commander-in-Cheap. Trump is the Commander-A-Sleep. He needs to turn military command over to somebody else. Because Iran could never in a million years harm this country as much as Trump is harming it right now. THE GOOD NEWS: Dick Durbin has inadvertently produced the succinct message for all Democrats and everybody else opposing Trump and the Republicans' attempt to disembowel our elections, the bill they call with bitter irony 'The Save Act.' As he explains in less than a minute, it will disenfranchise roughly 10 percent of all American voters - and generally speaking the poorer ones. This is the line we must take, and sell. Just when you thought Democratic Senators weren't worth the proverbial price of the oil required to burn them in hell. Thank you, Senator Durbin. B-Block (30:00) SPORTSBALLCENTER: How could a team retire the uniform number of a former player they had to fire as manager because of his personal moral failings ON THE FIELD OF PLAY? And yet the New York Mets are doing exactly that. (35:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Cornelius Rudd warns you of the upcoming 'Raptor.' The CBS tire fire produces hilariously bad stories about David Ellison (and Epstein), Tony Dokoupil (and a new job somewhere else), Joe Rogan, and Jeff Shell (about to get fired from yet another network presidency). And then we have one of the greatest name mistakes of all time when Brian Kilmeade gets Markwayne Mullin's stupid first name completely wrong, Pilgrim. C-Block (46:00) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: I'm making a special request for your help finding a home for two bonded senior Malteses, apparent survivors of a puppy mill, named Mai Tai and Soraya. (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: And at the opposite end of the moral spectrum, there's the upcoming 25th anniversary of the day Rupert Murdoch fired me from Fox for following the exact instructions his office gave me. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 68: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump doesn’t REALIZE that he’s screwed in Iran. He can't decide if he's won and we should applaud now, or if he'll win later and we should applaud then - when the reality is, he's in a quagmire and about two weeks from handing the Democrats a majority that even White House strategists think might be enough to impeach AND remove him next year. Key Republicans and everybody behind the scenes in MAGA are looking for off-ramps. Does Trump know? Will he be temporarily not-a-moron and take one of them? Is Trump in a fugue state? Dissociative behavior? Temporary amnesia? No awareness that there are consequences? You know – his normal state – only WORSE. First about Iran he said “any time I want it to end, it will end." Now about Iran he says it will continue indefinitely until they quote “literally could never build that country back.” Is there a strategy? A plan? Anything? In the most important document of the war, Senator Chris Murphy told us what he could of a semi-confidential briefing about Iran by the administration. They seem to think all they have to do is destroy all of Iran's armaments and they'll never ever find a way to replace them. And while he’s demanding the world bend to his will, again he is helping the Russians help the Iranians try to kill our people and our allies. Monday I mentioned it was the Russians locating American Assets in the middle east for Iran's benefit. Now Trump is indirectly funding Russian advisors helping Iran with its drone strategy. Is Trump even aware he is awake? And what the hell is this with him trying to guess the shoe size of his cabinet members and buying them shoes that were already out of style in 1966? PLUS what is it with Pete PTSD Hegseth? He has now BANNED all outside photographers from Pentagon briefings because he thought the Associated Press images of him were unflattering. But ALL images of Pete Hegseth are unflattering. B-Block (32:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Poor Adnan Virk misses by an inch after trying to out-sing Michael Buble. Bill Maher gets run over at an NBA game. Alina Habba brings us her umpteenth malapropism; she can't tell her Cahoots from her Cajones; and the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee can't tell the difference between 1947 and 47 years. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Hardly that. Things I found on an ancient cassette. A bunch of radio sportscasts I did in my first 90 days in this business - just the other day (in 1979). Enjoy, or skip them, I won't be offended either way.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 67: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump is in essence paying to provide Iran with the location of our forces in the Middle East. Our ships, jets, troops. Trump has just waived part of the embargo against Russian oil. So Iran’s ally Russia can sell MORE oil to India to get more money. Thus Russia can spend that money to gather more information on where American forces are IN the war. So Russia can give that information TO IRAN, and reportedly is, AND nobody in the Trump Rogue Government is denying it. Trump is in effect paying Russia, to help Iran attack Americans in this war. And in case you had doubts over Russia's loyalty, its minister to Britain just repeated on television there that it is not neutral in this war, that it is siding with Iran and will help it., So, what’s that called again? When you’re fighting a war, and people in your government help a country that’s helping the country you’re fighting the war AGAINST? What’s that called again? Tree Surgery? Trea-Ting? Trea... Never mind the other problems: we a) have no business being there; b) we are not winning; c) we are going to be there for years or d) Trump is going to have to cut and run or e) Trump's setting us up for an Iranian revenge terror attack here. And just to follow up on the End-Of-The-World Rapture religious crap motivating dozens of US military commanders, one Senator has actually joined the hallelujah chorus: Senator Cramer of North Dakota says we are there because of a BIBLICAL COMMITMENT to Israel. Iran: it is far worse than you think. B-Block (38:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: It's a full scale pie fight over in Fascist Media. Megyn Kelly, Bill Ackman, Nepobaby Tucker Carlson, Grand-Nepobaby Buckley Carlson, and others all attacking each other - it's delightful. Then there's US Weekly's disastrous post about the passing of a celebrity-adjacent figure. And if you haven't heard this you won't believe it. They've managed to position the "White House" sign perfectly behind Karoline Leavitt in just the perfect place so when she stands all the way to her left, it reads behind her... Well, no, I'm going to make you listen to find out. C-Block (49:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I told somebody this story the other day so now I'll tell you. If you can envision me, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Lester Holt, and Jesse Ventura inside an MSNBC men's room talking about inches - this story is for you. Happily it was about our new president and how he was the tallest man any of us had ever met who was clearly lying about his own height. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest today on Mea Culpa is the notorious, Cenk Uygur. Cenk is an activist, political commentator and businessman known for creating and hosting, 'The Young Turks' — a progressive online news network that supports independent journalism. He was a prolific attorney in Washington D.C. before embarking on a career as a political commentator. He enjoys a massive fan base in the USA due to his fearless activism and heated debates conducted on his show — always with a hint of satirical humor. Cenk has been seen as a political commentator on MSNBC, and before being replaced by Al Sharpton, he hosted a weeknight show on the network. He also served as the chief news officer at Current TV and succeeded Keith Olbermann. Cenk has been an activist since his college days and he has raised his voice against the oppression of minorities and Muslims in the gulf countries.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 66: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: It's literally a disaster of BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS. Some of Trump’s Troops are being told that it isn't 'war with Iran' - it's a war to start a Biblical Armageddon: “Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to earth” says one whistle-blower NCO about his commanding officer. You heard it: a non-zero number of Trump Commanders aren't just fighting an illegal, ill-prepared, ill-fated war against an Iran that posed no realistic threat. To them it's a literal Holy War, start the apocalypse, end times, and then they all get raptured. More than 200 reports of such religious insanity, to a group called MRFF (Military Religious Freedom Foundation) and reported by one of my former MSNBC Coordinating Producers, Jonathan Larsen. MRRF is pushing back against us doing the whole Book of Revelations Crusades thing - and the newest development: the religious nuts in the military are holding emergency bible classes for those who may be deployed. Maybe not Apocalypse Now but Apocalypse SOON. The religious nut jobs are in charge, Hegseth may be in on the delusion, and so: no sign of bad luck in Rapture. B-Block (35:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The right wing allegation that MAGA Twitter twerp "Gunther Eagleman" only retweets if you pay him; Markwayne Mullin mistakes the smell of plumbing for the smell of war and keeps referring to "President Hegseth", and Weijia Jiang, CBS News reporter and president of the White House Correspondents Association. She and they not only actually insulted every journalist ever by inviting Trump to the Correspondents' Dinner - but he accepted and thinks he's getting an award. Trump is a man who has literally tried to get reporters killed for a decade, and they're going to sit in the same room with him. I guess because Goebbels is dead and is unavailable. I don't usually say 'I really went off on these idiots' but - I really went off on these WHCA idiots. C-Block (50:00) THURBER'S VERSION OF THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: His magazine-length version of his only non-fiction book, "The Years With Ross" about the founding of "The New Yorker" magazine (and its legendary, almost mythical founder, Harold Ross). It is as hysterical - and sometimes nearly as impossible to believe - as the best of his fiction.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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My conversation with Jonathan starts at about  42 minutes and Chris and I get started at 1:23 in to today's show after headlines and clips Join us in Vegas for Podjam 3! Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete From Jonathan Larsen Substack If you haven't heard of me, it's because I've spent most of my career behind the scenes writing and producing for Dan Rather, Keith Olbermann, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Anderson Cooper, Marc Maron, and a ton of other folks. Even when it wasn't part of my job, I've always broken news, breaking stories about the powerful and how the system is rigged against the powerless. Without trafficking in speculation or outrage-bait. Far too much of our journalism — from fringe to mainstream — is focused on feeding us info-bits that feel like they mean something (about what's going to happen, or who someone really is) but don't actually have any bearing on the material lives of everyday people. Until I was laid off in January 2024, I oversaw the original reporting of The Young Turks. Since then, I've been counting on reader support to continue breaking news here on Substack. (I also do an NSFW weekday-morning newsletter full of the kind of unabashed opinion-having that I make sure not to indulge in the reporting here on this Substack, because impartial journalism doesn't mean not having opinions it means being professional enough to ensure my reporting is intellectual honest.) Here's what one well-known political scientist has to say about my work: "Jonathan Larsen is a first rate investigative reporter … He just started a Substack. Subscribe! I did." — Norm Ornstein And here's Mr. Rather: "Jonathan is a first-rate, world-class professional… As a reporter, he's a deep-digger with an unrelenting dedication to fairness and accuracy." I'm obviously extremely lucky to have worked with the people I have. My ethos for journalism is that "evil" is a poor explanation for human behavior. That applies to everyone from muggers and presidents. I tend to reject simple and simplistic explanations for…why things are happening. People aren't perfectly logical, but anyone telling you that people are doing bad things because they're crazy or evil is selling you something you shouldn't be buying. A lot of big accounts out there rile everyone up and rack up likes by calling out people for being evil. My moral high ground isn't enough for me to make that my calling. So I focus on revealing destructive forces at work and crappy systems. And, yes, exposing the people responsible. It's my belief that elevation and illumination are how we get to a better place. I appreciate your support for these aspirations. And if that's too earnest and saccharine for you, you should probably subscribe to The Fucking News! I'm Chris Jones, and I'm running for Congress in Arkansas's 2nd District. I grew up in Pine Bluff, where my story began in a community that taught me the values of faith, family, and hard work. Arkansas shaped who I am, and it continues to guide my vision for the future. I grew up in Pine Bluff, where my story began in a community that taught me the values of faith, family, and hard work. Arkansas shaped who I am, and it continues to guide my vision for the future. My path took me into science and technology, and through that work I've always kept Arkansas at the center. My life's work is about building bridges — between faith and science, between rural towns and urban centers, across generations. Wherever I've gone, I've carried Arkansas with me, and I've always come home. I am a builder focused on opening doors and expanding opportunity and prosperity brick by brick, so every Arkansan has a seat at the table. I am a fighter who stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the people of this state. And I am a visionary who believes in the next Arkansas: a future shaped by a strong economy, democracy, growth, and entrepreneurship. The table we are building rests on four legs: justice that treats every Arkansan with dignity, an economy that allows people to prosper, a democracy that reflects the will of the people, and innovation that prepares us for the challenges ahead. I believe we can create good jobs and keep hospitals open. We can support families with access to health care and food security. We can invest in schools, teachers, and apprenticeships that prepare people for the jobs of tomorrow. And we can strengthen trust in government with fair maps, just rules, and effective leaders that listen to the people, not billionaires. Donate to Chris! Listen rate and review on Apple Podcasts Listen rate and review on Spotify Pete On Instagram Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on Twitter Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page Gift a Subscription https://www.patreon.com/PeteDominick/gift Send Pete $ Directly on Venmo All things Jon Carroll  Buy Ava's Art    Subscribe to Piano Tuner Paul Paul Wesley on Substack Listen to Barry and Abigail Hummel Podcast Listen to Matty C Podcast and Substack Follow and Support Pete Coe Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing  

Keith Olbermann trashes the late Lou Holtz on the day he dies. This once again proves what a true terrible person Olbermann is.

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SEASON 4 EPISODE 65: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: We rejoin your regularly scheduled Trump-Epstein Cover-up Scandal Show, already in progress! Trump’s disastrous attack on Iran – approved by only 27% of America and barely HALF OF REPUBLICANS, so DIDN'T move the needle that Trumpstein has erupted anew in New Mexico: The former Attorney General essentially accuses the Trump Department of Justice of SABOTAGING his investigation of Epstein’s Zorro Sex Trafficking Ranch in 2019; of telling him ‘we’ll just take it from here’ and instead burying it. They took all the evidence and simply did nothing. When New Mexico went back a year later and said 'seize the ranch, preserve the evidence' they were again ignored. And after a New York Times deep dive on all the non-sex allegations and involvements, an entire new Epstein realm has opened up: what about the thousands of Epstein's non-sex crimes and co-conspirators? Why hasn't Trump prosecuted them? Plus, all the attack on Iran did was remind the world that if WE can try REGIME CHANGE in other countries, what’s to stop OTHER COUNTRIES from trying REGIME CHANGE? And I’ll say it again: They called it ‘Operation Epic Fury’ because ‘Operation Epstein Diversion’ didn’t sound War-fightery enough. And media fails us yet again: CNN will now go the same Bari Weiss Way of CBS. Then again it was three-quarters dead already, and the real crisis is MS-NOW's president thought the future of her network (basically unchanged since we spun off my guest hosts Maddow, O'Donnell and Hayes to give them new shows in 2010) was...Anderson Cooper LOL. B-Block (43:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Postscripts to the US Olympic Hockey disaster include cheap jokes about Auston Matthews' hairline. Trump flunky Alina Habba retweets a call for violence against a judge. And the Worst Persons GOAT Bill O'Reilly is back from purgatory to win for the first time in years! Right you are, Mr. Mehoffer! C-Block (58:30) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: I told a friend the story of the day I met the incomparable actor and character Walter Matthau and how he used to do impressions of sportscasters - so I'll tell you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

COUNTDOWN BULLETIN PODCAST FEB. 28 2026: WAR WITH IRAN (2:30) BULLETIN: While you were sleeping Trump illegally and unconstitutionally declared war on Iran, began to bomb its cities including Teheran and its parliament and its security council and its military targets and its schools and its ordinary people – and its militia allies in neighboring Iraq. Israel has joined in the assault. To quote Marty Sheen as the president in The Dead Zone: the missiles are flying, hallelujah hallelujah. To quote Trump to President Zelensky: you are playing with World War 3. Trump has called it a war, USED the term “war” repeatedly, and inanely told Iranians to stay in their homes, which this country is bombing. It is war, he is calling it war, and yet he has sought no congressional approval and Trump is thus acting as a dictator – a military dictator – at this moment. Israel has joined the military action, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury" - because "Operation Epstein Distraction" didn't sound poetic enough And apparently the FIFA Peace Prize just doesn’t mean anything any more. Novel thought: You know what would be right and just? We should have our new war in Iran fought by our new patriotic triumphant flag-waving unbeatable brave American heroes who so inspired us at the State of the Union: The Olympic winning U.S. Hockey Team! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 63: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENTS: Trump should be in prison JUST for his new role in the new covering-up of the part of the Epstein files that are about him. Trump. The accusations are against Trump. The memos are about Trump. The investigations are OF Trump. They are missing. There is a law saying Trump must produce them. He has not. That is, by definition, a cover-up. A conspiracy to BURY evidence. Even if somehow it CLEARED him. SPECIAL COMMENT No. 2: As the Kash Patel Olympic Scandal expands exponentially, we have buried the lede. Patel claims he was at the Olympics, working, running American security. Let's suspend our disbelief and say he's NOT lying. If he really was at the Olympics to run American security - WHY WAS HE DRINKING ON THE JOB? Why was he out-of-control drinking with the people he was there to protect? The experts like my old MSNBC pal Juliette Kayyem are stunned: Security is not allowed to DRINK, during an event, during an Olympics. Not until the entire Olympics were over. ESPECIALLY if you are IN CHARGE of security! If you are hired for security, they put "no drinking" in your contract. SPECIAL COMMENT No. 3: Why are the US Olympic men's hockey players not only still digging but digging new additional holes? Now it's not just drinking with Patel and laughing at terrible misogynistic jokes by Trump, but all but five of them were used as political props by Trump at the State of the Union, one (Tage Thompson) was photographed in a complete MAGA hat with the Press Secretary, the winning goal scorer is complaining everybody else made it political - and Auston Matthews (a Mexican-American who captains Canada's team and has thus had two of his three countries threatened by Trump) is standing there grinning behind Trump in the Oval Office, disgracing his team and its fans and his mother and his own relatives. B-Block (47:30) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Fox's Jesse Watters doesn't want a president who struggles to read (prefers one who can't read at all). The popular internet delusion that the president the last time the Americans won Olympic hockey gold was Reagan (it wasn't). And MAGA internet disease victim Senator Mike Lee says ICE dresses like Mexican Cartels. C-Block (58:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: As CBS continues to dissolve before our eyes, the sad truth that network news has been collapsing since at least the night in September 1997 when I was summoned by the president of NBC to have dinner with the chief of the MS part of MSNBC with instructions to humor and ignore him because all we wanted was his money. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 62: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: In case you somehow missed it, Kash Patel's enablers at the FBI (Fan Boys International) were busily denying he went to Italy for the Olympics just to see the hockey game and jock-sniff the victorious U.S. team when all sorts of video leaked out of the dressing room showing him doing exactly that - dancing, drinking, cringing. And then Patel himself couldn't resist Supposedly we sent 100 agents to help with security and he just had to be there. Guesstimated cost just for his latest stage of his perpetual vacation on our dime? $400,000. It would be bad - a future administration will probably address it as misappropriation of funds. But what makes it worse is there's a piece by Patel from 2022 complaining about previous FBI directors wasting money on vacation, and a clip about his FBI predecessor Christopher Wray's vacation travel. Simply impeaching him is insufficient. He needs to go to prison. NOT THAT TRUMP WOULD DO THAT; THIS IS THE BEHAVIOR TRUMP TEACHES: Trump is a thief and he owes you and me at least 293 billion dollars - and we want it back. The worst thief in American history - and 270 billion of that is in tariffs. Because on tariffs, the Supreme Court has given him his COMEUPPANCE. Well – it’s given him A comeuppance. Because his new argument for the new REPLACEMENT Monday tariffs was his old argument AGAINST overturning the old Friday tariffs. But the key thing the Court actually did was give his cult a mortal shock. It is the first official body to give the Trump-Town Guyana Death Cult the message: that he is making this crap up, as he goes ALONG. -- Plus: an actual good idea from Boris Johnson: to send peacekeepers to Ukraine – NOW. And I’M the guy who thinks the Hockey Gold Medal is a BAD THING. And no, the John Barron who called into C-SPAN wasn’t Trump – he was too coherent. B-Block (40:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Mark Zuckerberg manages to lose a lawsuit before the trial starts, Kid Rock proves he's not charging $5000 for front row tickets by confessing he IS charging $5000 for front row tickets, and Stephen Miller's wife has another one of those Freudian slips that may be desperate pleas for help from inside a bad situation. C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Baseball has already started so time for my annual explanation: why I don't work for baseball's TV network even though they offered me my own show and I accepted it. It has to do with a big league club threatening them if they didn't renege.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My conversation with Christian starts at about 31 minutes in to today's show after headlines and clips Subscribe and Watch Interviews LIVE : On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. This show is Ad free and fully supported by listeners like you! Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 750 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous soul Subscribe to Christian's Music NewsLetter "New Music for Olds" Hi there! if you want to buy Christian a coffee, send it to Christian-finnegan-1 (if it asks for the last four digits of his phone number it's 1814) Christian Finnegan  is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in New York City. BUY HIS NEW ALBUM--- "Show Your Work: Live at QED" Finnegan is perhaps best known as one of the original panelists on VH1's Best Week Ever and as Chad, the only white roommate in the "Mad Real World" sketch on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. Additional television appearances as himself or performing stand up have included "Conan", "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", "Would You Rather...with Graham Norton", "Good Afternoon America" and multiple times on The Today Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and on History's I Love the 1880s. He hosted TV Land's game show "Game Time". As an actor, Finnegan portrayed the supporting role of "Carl" in the film Eden Court, a ticket agent in "Knight and Day" and several guest roles including a talk show host on "The Good Wife". In October 2006, Finnegan's debut stand up comedy CD titled Two For Flinching was released by Comedy Central Records, with a follow-up national tour of college campuses from January to April 2007. "Au Contraire!" was released by Warner Bros. Records in 2009. His third special "The Fun Part" was filmed at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston on April 4, 2013 and debuted on Netflix on April 15, 2014. On YOUTUBE.com/StandUpWithPete ON SubstackStandUpWithPete   Listen rate and review on Apple Podcasts Listen rate and review on Spotify Pete On Instagram Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on Twitter Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page

SEASON 4 EPISODE 61: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN BULLETIN: On his 66th birthday, British police arrest the former Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) on suspicion of supplying confidential government financial information to Jeffrey Epstein. They have 96 hours to decide whether to formally charge him for that or anything else. And we prosecute no one - least of all our parallel, Trump. HOURS EARLIER a South Korean court did not sentence insurrectionist former President Yoon Suk Yeol to death, as prosecutors had demanded. He tried to impose martial law on his nation in 2024 in a plot to use spurious charges of election fraud to justify ending democracy there. He gets life in prison. And we prosecute no one - least of all our parallel, Trump. AND JUST TO ROUND IT OUT: Overnight, President Zelensky of Ukraine snapped - to some degree, throwing an S-bomb at the Russians after the latest round of Trump-led stalling-tactic phony "peace talks" broke out with no result (or more correctly the result Putin wanted Trump to achieve: delay it all further). And we did nothing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 60: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Arizona Senate Republicans just introduced a measure to make ICE MANDATORY at polling places this November. Mandatory. At voting booths. This November. No - It won’t pass. This time. But this does dispel any MAGA crap that this isn't the goal, that rounding up immigrants isn't just practice. Happily, DHS and MAGA are too busy purging themselves. Maybe just as importantly: Does Trump look drawn and unnaturally thin in the face? Like, lost a lot of girth in the face - the kind of thing where people who don’t know say “you’ve lost a lot of weight, you look great” – except you don’t? Also he has just confused Harmeet Dhillon for Phyllis Diller. Standard stuff. But he made a different gaffe that you just can’t write off because it’s new. It’s not something stupid – it’s something he’s misplaced, mentally. The one Trump blunder that suggests he’s getting WORSE: The Penn Station post. AND HOW THE DEATH OF ROBERT DUVALL mainlines into the death of CBS News and the prophesy of Duvall's most important film: Network. Which you should go watch, today. B-Block (50:00) PART TWO of my list of the nearly two dozen destructive changes we are now suffering from, in television news and media in general, that we were warned by, by Paddy Chayefsky, by Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, and director Sidney Lumet. C-Block (1:10:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: A little out of order, but still really good. Tom Emmer, Minnesota moron. Peter Navarro, economic consultant who doesn't know the Dow Jones number isn't in dollars. And the joy of Candace Owens, so lost she can't pronounce ordinary American English words like "Bureau" and "Grandiose" and as chronicled by one of the best of all Twitter-X follows: @CandaceReading1See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 59: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Just because we're paranoid, that doesn't mean Trump isn't out to get us. Trump has just accidentally revealed crucial details of his conspiracy to steal the midterms. It starts with the cadaver-in-chief, demanding of active troops at Fort Bragg – “you have to vote for us” – that’s in case the Generals or even the Joint Chiefs realize Mark Kelly is right: they HAVE to disobey illegal orders, ESPECIALLY Trump’s illegal orders. If it came to that, Trump would have the raw troops overthrow the generals And then Trump succubus Kristi Noem vowed to make sure Trump only lets the RIGHT people voting, electing the RIGHT leaders. And he’s already had ICE PRACTICE voter suppression – murder of civilians – in Minnesota. How do we stop Trump? Talk about it endlessly. Talk about his attempt to make the troops loyal to HIM and not the constitution. Talk about his attempts to seize ballots. Talk about his attempt to use ICE to intimidate voters. Talk about it, now, now, now. Trump is plotting to steal the midterms. We not only CAN stop him - we have to. MEANWHILE, HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE MEDIA BETRAY US? Jake Tapper - as guilty as anybody in the business of putting his salary ahead of all journalism - tells us to hang in there? An old boss of mine says something stupid. CBS decides to platform Stephen A. Smith, the Jill Stein of 2026. B-Block (55:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: What happened to Congressman Randy Fine demanding the arrest of everybody who enjoyed Bad Bunny's Swear-filled Super Bowl Show? The White House doesn't know how to spell "cue." And enjoying the Olympics? It's all crap - especially what it did to the history of the Olympics and the National Hockey League. C-Block (1:25:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: More media criticism. This disaster didn't start yesterday. By 2004, when an anchor on MSNBC told one of his viewers - live on the air - to "get AIDS and die" - and his boss said he had to be fired for that, his boss's boss (THE PRESIDENT OF NBC) tried to intervene to save his job. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 58: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: Trump has attempted another coup. You may have missed it. Trump and Jeanine Pirro with the acquiescence of the hapless Speaker of the House and Porn Monitor attempted another coup: Attempted to get Senators Mark Kelly and Elise Slotkin and four members of the House INDICTED for obstructing Trump’s dictatorship. Tried to convict, tried to jail, for imaginary crimes of disloyalty to him that Trump bleated are quote “punishable by death” six military veterans because they told other Americans to follow the law. For expressing fealty to the Constitution, for publicly reminding service members that THEIR allegiance is to the constitution and not some rapidly deteriorating psychopathic despot. And ordinary Americans in a Grand Jury stopped Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government of the United States. For. Now. Which means the lesson Trump and Pirro and Johnson and the other deputy despots will take away is: next time don’t bother with Grand Juries, just have ICE blast them in the head. What to do to STOP “next time”- what to do RIGHT NOW in the Senate Continuing Funding Resolution - what to do in state houses before the midterms. PLUS: Trump's either-or: either he Narc'd on Epstein or knew nothing about his crimes. Either way, Trump is now the CEO of the Epstein Cover-up. And maybe even more disturbing, he is actually, seriously, hallucinating. Full-on crazy talk. Not his normal delusions: this is A Chinese plot to destroy the National Hockey League. He thinks this is really happening. B-Block (37:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: He won Olympic Bronze but was disqualified in the game of life. The three weird sisters are still whining about Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl: Megyn Kelly, Sage Steele, Michele Tafoya - the latter of two using language that matches almost word-for-word what was said by racists and sexists who called the ESPN complaint voicemail line to try to get THEM fired. And then there's the Twitter Rando whose 'egg corn' is as delightful as any I can remember. He's complaining about solitaire confinement! C-Block (50:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: In the old days baseball spring training wasn't already unofficial underway as of... last week. It was limited and exciting and one of my joys was going to it and reporting from it. So it's time to try to recreate some of that, because naturally I still have the tape of my 1978 Spring Training reports from Florida! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 57: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: When they insist Trump's Thursday night racist video depicting the Obamas as apes wasn’t posted by Trump but by somebody else in the White House – and then he undermines the lie they spread on his behalf by saying he selected the video and had them post it but he just didn’t see the whole thing but so what it wasn’t a mistake they just deleted it – I think each part of that is a lie. It was a set-up. I conclude that this is not just blatant, human garbage racism, inherited Trump Family Branded racism, but I conclude the entire thing was designed – to whatever degree anything Trump and these scumbags do is DESIGNED – it was DESIGNED to turn out this way. Event happens, justifiable backlash, unrighteous indignation from press secretary Eva Braun, oops it wasn’t supposed to be posted, oops bad staffer, oops Trump comes out at the end of the day and… endorses the original racism anyway, quote, “I didn’t make a mistake.” And he did it this circuitous way, the way he expresses ALL his racism against BLACK people, because he can’t send ICE after them. But the point of the video was he was reminding his putrid, hate-driven base that he can't send ICE after them...FOR THE MOMENT. B-Block (33:00) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: There are actually people in politics and media who for some reason don't see that Jeff Bezos hired Will Allen to slowly destroy The Washington Post (to please Trump) and think this was all some sort of mismanagement, rather than a well-executed plan. Unfortunately at least two of them wrote it on their sites: Jim Vandehei and Dylan Byers. Sage Steele is back with not only anti-athlete, anti-freedom of speech conservative swill, but stuff that is almost a word-for-word duplication of what Laura Ingraham wrote 20 years ago. And incredibly, in Year 11 of the Trump Scam, there's still a guy on CNN thinks Trump just changed his tone. C-Block (45:00) THINGS I PROMISED NOT TO TELL: Not to say I've had a lot of jobs but I just remembered one that I had FORGOTTEN: my two weeks as the entire sports department on a New York City newspaper that went daily, while the big papers were out on strike in 1978!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 56: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: In destroying The Washington Post yesterday, Trump-fluffer Jeff Bezos has gone far enough. Democratic leaders must commit to using anti-trust laws to destroy Amazon, Prime, Blue Origin - and Bezos, financially. Every would-be president, senator, representative must vow to break the oligarchs - Bezos, Musk, Trump, and all the rest. Bezos first hollowed out the Post to make it servile to Trump and his gang. Now he's destroyed its foreign and sports desks, and its viability as a counterweight to the anti-democracy forces abroad in the land. All so he could spend $75,000,000 or more on a vanity project designed to tell Trump a life: that his wife is an attractive "movie star." We are not going back to the America of 1885. We must bankrupt Jeff Bezos. (And I apologize for the slipshod nature of this episode. I'm under the weather, throat bad, was planning to postpone this episode but this could not wait. Please forgive for the extemporaneous nature of the commentary; the rest of the show is interesting but not new) B-Block (30:00) OLYMPICS TIME: As the 2026 games begin in Italy let me take you back to the most famous winter games yet: the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, which I covered as a 21-year old rookie with United Press International (while my bosses tried to teach me how to work and drink at the same time). C-Block (42:00) MORE WITH JAMES THURBER: Continuing the broadcasting theme, his first person story of the timelessness of on-air nerves and the labyrinth that is radio, TV, streaming or any other medium in any century: "How To Relax While Broadcasting."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 55: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (2:30) SPECIAL COMMENT: So would you like to collapse the Trump Regime? Today? Peacefully? Legally? You - the White House press corps. It only takes one of you. You go into the next Oval Office Scrum, and you ask him politely for his explanation of something released by his administration, by Pam Bondi’s office, on the government website, and you read – quoting this FBI 302 interview file: “Maxwell presented (her) to Trump…by the things Maxwell said, it was clear that (she) was available…”And don’t stop reading and don’t make eye contact. THEN from the sworn affidavit, reed, quote: “I personally witnessed Defendant Trump telling the plaintiff that she couldn’t ever say anything, if she didn’t want to disappear like the 12-year old female (redacted) and that he was capable of having her whole family killed…” Quote: “the physical and sexual abuse that I personally witnessed of minor females at the hands of Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein... under penalty of perjury even though I fully understand that the life of myself and my family is now in grave danger” unquote, what SIR is your explanation SIR about when you threatened this girl’s life, sir. Just keep asking. Don't make eye contact, don't stop, don't stop talking when he starts talking. Just reel off those quotes. And the one about becoming fertilizer. And the "Calendar Girls" story (as nonsensical as that probably is). And all the others. Because we don't always see the escape hatch when it appears before us, and it just appeared. Because the Epstein Files are part of an official Department of Justice Document Dump. Their contents are Pam Bondi's problem, not you or your lawyer's. And if you don't bear down and do this job as it was designed by the Founding Fathers, you will sooner or later face one of these outcomes: you'll be arrested, you'll be replaced by some automaton Bari Weiss likes, or the country will survive and the next people running media will never consider you for work because you were cowardly when we needed your courage. Oh and you can peacefully, legally end the careers of Elon Musk and Marco Rubio and Bari Weiss and lots of others. The material is all in front of you. Just have the courage to pick it up and fling it, like he'd fling his poo at you. ALSO: Don Lemon was arrested not because Jesus but because Trump has always hated him. And if you've forgotten, I explained two weeks ago why Trump was trying to restart the 2020 crap, now sending Tulsi Gabbard to Georgia. They're sitting up not a claim that the election was fixed, but that the election was fixed by another country (hey, Nicolas Maduro, you mind taking the rap, in exchange for a pardon?) and there is no statute of limitations on THAT. B-Block (34:55) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: Harriet Hageman, the blob they elected to the House from Wyoming to replace Liz Cheney, is now running for Senate. Emphasize "running": she has fled a town hill. The Bill Maher Pretzel Logic: Celebrities should shut up, voters don't listen to TV and movie stars. But Bill, you expect them to listen to you. So you're saying you're not a star? And the latest Bari Weiss firing target is supposedly Face The Nation host Margaret Brennan and one of the names being thrown around (probably nonsensically) is Matt Lauer. C-Block (54:00) MONDAYS WITH THURBER: We need a doubleheader. I heard an audio book with a famous actor doing Thurber's tribute to what would be called Dunning-Kruger Syndrome: "The Macbeth Murder Mystery" and it was one of those rare times when I actually said "No - I did this better." So I bring it to you, and as a bonus, a second great unheralded Thurber story: "Meet Birdey Doggett." Enjoy them at your leisure.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.