1 00:00:04,795 --> 00:00:26,555 Speaker 1: Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production of iHeartRadio justin Time. 2 00:00:37,035 --> 00:00:41,355 Speaker 1: The Nashville Council unanimously voted Justin Jones back into the 3 00:00:41,395 --> 00:00:44,715 Speaker 1: Tennessee State House at four thirty pm yesterday. He was 4 00:00:44,795 --> 00:00:49,635 Speaker 1: sworn in to that applause at five fifteen. He was 5 00:00:49,795 --> 00:00:53,195 Speaker 1: leading a protest march two hours later. And the Memphis 6 00:00:53,315 --> 00:00:56,435 Speaker 1: vote to reinstate Justin Pearson to the State House will 7 00:00:56,475 --> 00:00:59,875 Speaker 1: be tomorrow. And I'm trying to think of exactly what 8 00:01:00,195 --> 00:01:04,675 Speaker 1: Republicans got out of all this. The two young represent 9 00:01:04,755 --> 00:01:06,915 Speaker 1: enitives will have been out of office for a total 10 00:01:06,955 --> 00:01:11,315 Speaker 1: of four days, maybe five. They went from obscure state 11 00:01:11,395 --> 00:01:17,555 Speaker 1: legislators to superstar magnets, drawing international coverage. They have energized 12 00:01:17,595 --> 00:01:22,755 Speaker 1: and activated Goodness knows how many young politically disaffected Tennesseeans, 13 00:01:22,795 --> 00:01:26,275 Speaker 1: to say nothing of young politically disaffected Americans, some of 14 00:01:26,275 --> 00:01:29,235 Speaker 1: whom will doubtless wind up in other state houses and 15 00:01:29,395 --> 00:01:34,115 Speaker 1: Senates and congressional races and governor's offices and White Houses. 16 00:01:34,955 --> 00:01:38,395 Speaker 1: And most importantly of all, the Republicans who turned Jones 17 00:01:38,435 --> 00:01:42,235 Speaker 1: and Pearson into national figures, they did something that many 18 00:01:42,275 --> 00:01:46,475 Speaker 1: of us thought would never be done. They provided energy 19 00:01:46,635 --> 00:01:50,035 Speaker 1: and hope to the movement support for which had inspired 20 00:01:50,075 --> 00:01:53,395 Speaker 1: the racist acts of a racist legislative body to do 21 00:01:53,635 --> 00:01:56,835 Speaker 1: something about the epidemic of gun violence in this country. 22 00:01:57,155 --> 00:01:59,915 Speaker 1: The forces of right have not had a real win 23 00:02:00,115 --> 00:02:03,675 Speaker 1: in this area in perhaps two decades, and even though 24 00:02:03,675 --> 00:02:08,395 Speaker 1: this one was just symbolic, it resonates. The Tennessee State 25 00:02:08,435 --> 00:02:11,435 Speaker 1: House tried to punish not just its own members who 26 00:02:11,435 --> 00:02:14,475 Speaker 1: want things to change, but its own citizens who want 27 00:02:14,515 --> 00:02:20,195 Speaker 1: things to change instead. No Justin's no peace, This just in, 28 00:02:20,955 --> 00:02:27,395 Speaker 1: just in time, the justin case, etc. This gigantic petard 29 00:02:27,475 --> 00:02:31,395 Speaker 1: on which the Tennessee crackers hoisted themselves may not make 30 00:02:31,435 --> 00:02:35,075 Speaker 1: a tangible, immediate difference in gun control and a correction 31 00:02:35,075 --> 00:02:37,875 Speaker 1: to the fraudulence of the Second Amendment, but it shows 32 00:02:37,955 --> 00:02:41,355 Speaker 1: us that the whole thing is not impossible to fight, 33 00:02:41,675 --> 00:02:52,795 Speaker 1: and that the dramatic and important milestones can occur almost spontaneously, virtually, immediately, breathtakingly, panoramically. Also, 34 00:02:53,395 --> 00:02:56,515 Speaker 1: the Tennessee Republicans managed to switch back on a bunch 35 00:02:56,515 --> 00:03:00,235 Speaker 1: of spotlights on their own dubious behavior and upgrade those 36 00:03:00,475 --> 00:03:03,755 Speaker 1: dubious behaviors from minor topics even in their own state, 37 00:03:03,995 --> 00:03:07,675 Speaker 1: to one's of national import. They tried to cut the 38 00:03:07,795 --> 00:03:11,995 Speaker 1: Metro Nashville Council in half from forty members to twenty, 39 00:03:12,035 --> 00:03:15,555 Speaker 1: clearly because they thought they could fight and win for 40 00:03:15,675 --> 00:03:19,035 Speaker 1: a twenty seat council and not a forty seat one. 41 00:03:19,275 --> 00:03:22,395 Speaker 1: A three judge Bannel ruled yesterday the power grab was 42 00:03:22,435 --> 00:03:27,315 Speaker 1: almost certainly illegal and slapped an injunction against it. Suddenly, 43 00:03:27,355 --> 00:03:32,155 Speaker 1: the Speaker, Cameron Sexton, is being scrutinized because flatly, the 44 00:03:32,235 --> 00:03:36,155 Speaker 1: independent news outlet Popular Information reports he don't live where 45 00:03:36,155 --> 00:03:39,555 Speaker 1: he says he lives, and the state constitution demands that 46 00:03:39,595 --> 00:03:43,595 Speaker 1: he has to. And he represents a place called Crossville, Tennessee, 47 00:03:43,995 --> 00:03:47,115 Speaker 1: out in District twenty five, and he lists a home 48 00:03:47,235 --> 00:03:50,275 Speaker 1: there as his address, a home he's sold in October 49 00:03:50,315 --> 00:03:53,915 Speaker 1: twenty twenty. This clown Sexton is Speaker of the damned 50 00:03:53,915 --> 00:03:58,275 Speaker 1: Tennessee House and reportedly represents a district two hours outside 51 00:03:58,275 --> 00:04:01,675 Speaker 1: of Nashville, but he lives in Nashville, and he's also 52 00:04:01,715 --> 00:04:04,875 Speaker 1: apparently taking reimbursements for travel to and from a home 53 00:04:04,915 --> 00:04:07,475 Speaker 1: he's not traveling to in a district he apparently doesn't 54 00:04:07,515 --> 00:04:09,555 Speaker 1: live in, and a week ago, frankly, none of us 55 00:04:09,555 --> 00:04:13,235 Speaker 1: outside Nashville knew whether the Tennessee state government had a House, 56 00:04:13,435 --> 00:04:17,035 Speaker 1: a Senate, an Assembly of Parliament, a Duma, was inflated 57 00:04:17,155 --> 00:04:22,755 Speaker 1: or stuffed. You want more? The Republican National Committee has 58 00:04:22,755 --> 00:04:26,195 Speaker 1: a long scheduled donor retreat coming up starting this Friday. 59 00:04:26,475 --> 00:04:31,995 Speaker 1: Trump will be there, Pence, Rick Scott, Marcia, Glitter and Glitz, Blackburn, 60 00:04:32,435 --> 00:04:37,115 Speaker 1: Kelly an con Job, Blake, Googly Eyes, Masters, and many 61 00:04:37,155 --> 00:04:41,515 Speaker 1: many less. And guess where they are holding this fundraising 62 00:04:41,595 --> 00:04:48,275 Speaker 1: retreat Nashville. The major problem facing Democrats local and national 63 00:04:48,435 --> 00:04:53,315 Speaker 1: is that, generally speaking, Republicans wield metaphorical political knives better 64 00:04:53,355 --> 00:04:57,355 Speaker 1: than Democrats do. They exploit the nooks and crannies of 65 00:04:57,395 --> 00:05:00,435 Speaker 1: government that democrats don't even know exist, and they are 66 00:05:00,555 --> 00:05:06,675 Speaker 1: just better at politics than democrats are until suddenly they're 67 00:05:06,715 --> 00:05:14,315 Speaker 1: not my God. For all we know, Justin Jones and 68 00:05:14,435 --> 00:05:18,595 Speaker 1: Justin Pearson inspired Dick Durban to do something yesterday. As 69 00:05:18,675 --> 00:05:21,435 Speaker 1: late as yesterday morning, it looked like Clarence Thomas and 70 00:05:21,515 --> 00:05:24,195 Speaker 1: John Roberts and the other proprietors of the all you 71 00:05:24,235 --> 00:05:28,675 Speaker 1: can eat graft buffet, that is, the fascist theocratic Supreme Court. 72 00:05:28,875 --> 00:05:31,355 Speaker 1: We're going to get away with no more practical damage 73 00:05:31,395 --> 00:05:34,915 Speaker 1: than a Susan Collins level of concern and lesson learning. 74 00:05:35,075 --> 00:05:38,955 Speaker 1: And then suddenly, yesterday afternoon, the eleven Democrats on the 75 00:05:38,995 --> 00:05:43,235 Speaker 1: Senate Judiciary Committee wrote the Chief Justice a letter whose 76 00:05:43,275 --> 00:05:45,995 Speaker 1: actual contents take up a little less space than do 77 00:05:46,115 --> 00:05:50,155 Speaker 1: their big blue signatures. That's kind of the point. It's 78 00:05:50,155 --> 00:05:53,635 Speaker 1: a cordial letter. It drips with the language of ancient 79 00:05:53,715 --> 00:05:59,755 Speaker 1: Washingtonian bureaucracy. It is nevertheless a threatening letter. It reproaches 80 00:05:59,835 --> 00:06:02,915 Speaker 1: Roberts for ignoring the corruption of his court and Senate 81 00:06:02,955 --> 00:06:06,515 Speaker 1: inquiries about that as long ago twenty eleven. And it 82 00:06:06,555 --> 00:06:09,955 Speaker 1: tells him that the Judiciary Committee will hold quote, in 83 00:06:09,995 --> 00:06:13,555 Speaker 1: the coming days, a hearing regarding the need to restore 84 00:06:13,755 --> 00:06:18,035 Speaker 1: confidence in the Supreme Court's ethical standards, and if the 85 00:06:18,075 --> 00:06:20,515 Speaker 1: Court does not resolve this issue on its own, the 86 00:06:20,515 --> 00:06:27,155 Speaker 1: Committee will consider legislation to resolve it. Unquote. I am 87 00:06:27,195 --> 00:06:30,795 Speaker 1: not holding my breath that Dick Durban, whose concept of 88 00:06:30,875 --> 00:06:35,475 Speaker 1: combative politics on behalf of honesty and the Constitution consists 89 00:06:35,755 --> 00:06:39,355 Speaker 1: largely of staring daggers at the malefactors on the right, 90 00:06:39,595 --> 00:06:42,875 Speaker 1: I am not holding my breath that Dick Durban is 91 00:06:42,915 --> 00:06:47,995 Speaker 1: actually planning legislation to resolve it. But when it comes 92 00:06:47,995 --> 00:06:51,475 Speaker 1: to its own reputation, this Supreme Court is as soft 93 00:06:51,675 --> 00:06:56,515 Speaker 1: as church music. All of them, John Roberts especially, managed 94 00:06:56,555 --> 00:07:00,515 Speaker 1: to walk this tight rope over reality, the reality that 95 00:07:00,595 --> 00:07:05,635 Speaker 1: American confidence in their honesty and their necessity has plummeted 96 00:07:05,675 --> 00:07:09,075 Speaker 1: faster than the general opinion of the news media has. 97 00:07:09,475 --> 00:07:13,235 Speaker 1: They all think they're Oliver Wendell Holmes, when in fact 98 00:07:13,395 --> 00:07:17,155 Speaker 1: we all think they're closer to Judge Judy or maybe 99 00:07:17,195 --> 00:07:22,595 Speaker 1: worse Janine Piro. Somewhere in the back of John Roberts's 100 00:07:22,755 --> 00:07:26,555 Speaker 1: mind is the fear that he could end up like 101 00:07:26,875 --> 00:07:30,835 Speaker 1: Chief Justice Roger B. Tawney after dred Scott, overseeing the 102 00:07:30,955 --> 00:07:36,715 Speaker 1: Supreme Court that has degraded, sidelined, and humiliated itself. Roberts 103 00:07:36,755 --> 00:07:41,835 Speaker 1: actually thinks he has a reputation to uphold. There is 104 00:07:41,955 --> 00:07:46,755 Speaker 1: actually the chance that John Roberts could be shamed into 105 00:07:46,915 --> 00:07:53,315 Speaker 1: formally accepting the standard US government employee ethical conduct minimums 106 00:07:53,435 --> 00:07:57,155 Speaker 1: for the Supreme Court. And of course we know how 107 00:07:57,195 --> 00:07:59,795 Speaker 1: we can get Clarence Thomas to vote for it. You 108 00:07:59,835 --> 00:08:03,915 Speaker 1: want that in fifties or hundreds? Or would you prefer 109 00:08:04,675 --> 00:08:13,355 Speaker 1: airfare vouchers? Pal The politics of ignoring a judge got 110 00:08:13,475 --> 00:08:17,395 Speaker 1: very dicey for Democrats yesterday for about ninety minutes, Actor 111 00:08:17,435 --> 00:08:20,675 Speaker 1: Senator Ron Widen and then AOC said that the Texas 112 00:08:20,675 --> 00:08:25,315 Speaker 1: abortion pill ruling should be ignored, and then HHS Secretary 113 00:08:25,475 --> 00:08:30,035 Speaker 1: Javier Pechera said everything is on the table. Republican Congressman 114 00:08:30,075 --> 00:08:33,395 Speaker 1: Tony Gonzalez went on CNN and almost lit something on fire. 115 00:08:33,715 --> 00:08:36,995 Speaker 1: It's very dangerous, he said, when you have the Biden 116 00:08:37,035 --> 00:08:40,915 Speaker 1: administration coming out and saying they may not uphold a ruling. 117 00:08:41,435 --> 00:08:44,235 Speaker 1: Never mind that the Trump administration did this seemingly on 118 00:08:44,235 --> 00:08:47,875 Speaker 1: a weekly basis. This is Washington. The response was to 119 00:08:48,075 --> 00:08:51,435 Speaker 1: immediately assert that the Democrats had just made a terrible, 120 00:08:51,675 --> 00:08:55,075 Speaker 1: unforced error that could never be corrected, that neutralized their 121 00:08:55,075 --> 00:08:58,395 Speaker 1: own advantages over the Republicans on the entire abortion issue 122 00:08:58,595 --> 00:09:02,235 Speaker 1: forever and for all time. And soon the missionary position 123 00:09:02,395 --> 00:09:07,155 Speaker 1: DC political media industrial complex, represented by the likes of Politico, 124 00:09:07,795 --> 00:09:10,635 Speaker 1: declared that the debate was about to work to the 125 00:09:10,675 --> 00:09:13,995 Speaker 1: Republicans advantage and the Dems would wind up being portrayed 126 00:09:14,035 --> 00:09:18,075 Speaker 1: as anti law or anti court or anti something that 127 00:09:18,155 --> 00:09:21,355 Speaker 1: Gonzalez could become a star by amplifying his latest new 128 00:09:21,395 --> 00:09:27,155 Speaker 1: message defund the FDA, and Jesus H. Christ as an asside, 129 00:09:27,195 --> 00:09:30,435 Speaker 1: think about the implications of defunding the FDA and how 130 00:09:30,515 --> 00:09:34,915 Speaker 1: much arsenic would you like in your baby's food. Anyway, 131 00:09:34,915 --> 00:09:37,955 Speaker 1: the thing was about to ignite when a different member 132 00:09:37,955 --> 00:09:40,075 Speaker 1: of the House went on TV and announced there was 133 00:09:40,155 --> 00:09:44,555 Speaker 1: quote no basis for the Texas ruling intended to overturn 134 00:09:44,595 --> 00:09:47,315 Speaker 1: an FDA approval from nearly a quarter of a century ago. 135 00:09:47,555 --> 00:09:51,035 Speaker 1: Quote it's not up to us to decide as legislators 136 00:09:51,275 --> 00:09:53,835 Speaker 1: or even as the court system whether this is the 137 00:09:53,955 --> 00:09:58,075 Speaker 1: right drug to use or not. I agree with ignoring 138 00:09:58,115 --> 00:10:01,315 Speaker 1: it at this point. This thing should just be thrown 139 00:10:01,435 --> 00:10:05,915 Speaker 1: out quite frankly, who said that Nancy Mace of South 140 00:10:05,955 --> 00:10:10,915 Speaker 1: Carolina Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina. So ignoring the 141 00:10:11,075 --> 00:10:13,835 Speaker 1: ruling is back on the table, because my god, it's 142 00:10:13,875 --> 00:10:18,075 Speaker 1: suddenly bipartisan, because once again Republicans are better at politics 143 00:10:18,555 --> 00:10:25,195 Speaker 1: until they are not ask the defendant. The defendant will 144 00:10:25,235 --> 00:10:28,075 Speaker 1: be back in my neighborhood starting tomorrow, so he can 145 00:10:28,435 --> 00:10:31,635 Speaker 1: not answer the questions of New York State Attorney General 146 00:10:31,675 --> 00:10:37,555 Speaker 1: Tish James about the Trump organization's quote business practices unquote 147 00:10:37,955 --> 00:10:41,635 Speaker 1: on Thursday morning, widely expected to take the fifth, and 148 00:10:41,675 --> 00:10:43,795 Speaker 1: we all know what he said about people who take 149 00:10:43,835 --> 00:10:47,995 Speaker 1: the fifth. This will of course serve principally to remind 150 00:10:48,035 --> 00:10:54,195 Speaker 1: everybody that way back when last week the defendant was arrested, 151 00:10:55,275 --> 00:10:58,675 Speaker 1: with the news cycle cut down from the formerly insanely 152 00:10:58,875 --> 00:11:02,555 Speaker 1: fast twenty four hours to something closer to two hours 153 00:11:02,555 --> 00:11:04,955 Speaker 1: and forty minutes, it feels like that half and a 154 00:11:05,035 --> 00:11:07,715 Speaker 1: year ago. It may feel like the arrest had no 155 00:11:07,835 --> 00:11:10,635 Speaker 1: impact and was in a previous century, but there is 156 00:11:10,635 --> 00:11:15,155 Speaker 1: actually polling that suggests the opposite. ABC has one of 157 00:11:15,195 --> 00:11:19,995 Speaker 1: these rare useful polls out, asking people the same questions 158 00:11:20,035 --> 00:11:24,195 Speaker 1: before and then after an event that might have impacted 159 00:11:24,235 --> 00:11:28,435 Speaker 1: their decisions on this On April first, in a previous 160 00:11:28,515 --> 00:11:32,915 Speaker 1: ABC poll, fourteen percent of those polled did not know 161 00:11:32,955 --> 00:11:35,875 Speaker 1: how they felt about the severity of the charges against 162 00:11:35,875 --> 00:11:38,555 Speaker 1: the defendant. In the new poll, that is down to 163 00:11:38,795 --> 00:11:42,795 Speaker 1: eight percent, almost cut in half a week ago, Forty 164 00:11:42,835 --> 00:11:45,675 Speaker 1: three percent of independence thought the charges were serious that 165 00:11:45,755 --> 00:11:48,715 Speaker 1: it's fifty four who do. In the first poll, forty 166 00:11:48,715 --> 00:11:52,035 Speaker 1: three percent of Americans believed the defendant should then suspend 167 00:11:52,075 --> 00:11:56,315 Speaker 1: his candidacy after the arrest. Forty eight percent due, and 168 00:11:56,395 --> 00:12:00,915 Speaker 1: the jump among independents went from forty one to fifty two. 169 00:12:02,235 --> 00:12:04,955 Speaker 1: Things are so bad that the New York Post reports 170 00:12:04,995 --> 00:12:08,915 Speaker 1: that the defendant actually has asked for help from Misses. 171 00:12:09,035 --> 00:12:15,475 Speaker 1: The defendant, Philotus Milania, reportedly reappeared at Marilago for Easter 172 00:12:15,675 --> 00:12:20,595 Speaker 1: brunch Sunday behind a velvet rope, of course, no picchuzz 173 00:12:21,155 --> 00:12:24,275 Speaker 1: after Trump told her quote, I really need you for 174 00:12:24,275 --> 00:12:26,715 Speaker 1: this because we are going to be campaigning. A source 175 00:12:26,755 --> 00:12:29,635 Speaker 1: said they had a major talk over the weekend and 176 00:12:29,675 --> 00:12:34,315 Speaker 1: she has agreed to be on board. He must have 177 00:12:34,355 --> 00:12:38,315 Speaker 1: gotten a new contract, and the defendant has stepped up 178 00:12:38,355 --> 00:12:42,715 Speaker 1: his attacks on Ronda a long, actually coherent press release 179 00:12:42,875 --> 00:12:46,195 Speaker 1: with actual data about how much time Ronda Santis has 180 00:12:46,195 --> 00:12:49,075 Speaker 1: spent outside Florida while he has not been running for 181 00:12:49,115 --> 00:12:53,275 Speaker 1: the Fascist nomination for president. The press release's point is 182 00:12:53,315 --> 00:12:57,915 Speaker 1: to emphasize that DeSantis has skirted Florida's resigned to run law, 183 00:12:58,515 --> 00:13:00,475 Speaker 1: and also has been rumored to be planning to have 184 00:13:00,555 --> 00:13:04,955 Speaker 1: his toadies in the state legislature change that law. Of course, 185 00:13:04,955 --> 00:13:09,075 Speaker 1: there was also the incoherent, data free social media post 186 00:13:09,115 --> 00:13:12,115 Speaker 1: from the defendant which began Ron de Santis is a 187 00:13:12,195 --> 00:13:14,635 Speaker 1: young man who is not doing well against me in 188 00:13:14,675 --> 00:13:18,115 Speaker 1: the polls. To put it mildly, this goes on to 189 00:13:18,195 --> 00:13:21,835 Speaker 1: insist that an announced DeSantis candidacy would only hurt and 190 00:13:22,075 --> 00:13:25,475 Speaker 1: somewhat divide the party and cost to Santis the MAGA 191 00:13:25,555 --> 00:13:28,515 Speaker 1: vote and will, oh, you know, end his political career. 192 00:13:28,715 --> 00:13:31,275 Speaker 1: Then comes the nonsense that only somebody who doesn't really 193 00:13:31,395 --> 00:13:35,115 Speaker 1: understand any other human being on the planet could write 194 00:13:35,195 --> 00:13:37,955 Speaker 1: quote if he remains governor, it would be a whole 195 00:13:37,995 --> 00:13:43,395 Speaker 1: different story, just saying, but who knows what the hell 196 00:13:43,435 --> 00:13:47,715 Speaker 1: does that mean? I will say I love that line 197 00:13:47,875 --> 00:13:51,395 Speaker 1: quote Ron de Santis is a young man when it's 198 00:13:51,395 --> 00:13:55,435 Speaker 1: obviously intended as an insult. But clearly the only person 199 00:13:55,435 --> 00:13:58,275 Speaker 1: who could dismiss a man who hits forty five this 200 00:13:58,475 --> 00:14:02,555 Speaker 1: September as a young man and think that's an insult 201 00:14:02,635 --> 00:14:05,755 Speaker 1: to a forty five year old is an old man. 202 00:14:06,755 --> 00:14:09,875 Speaker 1: It is fascinating that, for all his missteps on the 203 00:14:09,955 --> 00:14:14,115 Speaker 1: national stage and his vulgarities and his you know, fascism, 204 00:14:14,395 --> 00:14:17,955 Speaker 1: good old Ronda has not really fired back at a 205 00:14:18,075 --> 00:14:22,435 Speaker 1: guy who was arrested last week. You have to wonder 206 00:14:22,475 --> 00:14:25,995 Speaker 1: what happens if Dessantis formally runs and the next year, 207 00:14:26,195 --> 00:14:28,875 Speaker 1: is just the two of these idiots beating in each 208 00:14:28,915 --> 00:14:33,835 Speaker 1: other's brains. If Ronda responds to that at some point 209 00:14:34,355 --> 00:14:38,435 Speaker 1: with victory or elimination evident in the near future. If 210 00:14:38,515 --> 00:14:42,115 Speaker 1: Ronda then says, I'm going to turn on Trump, and 211 00:14:42,195 --> 00:14:46,315 Speaker 1: he starts emphasizing the fact that the defendant is you know, 212 00:14:48,075 --> 00:15:17,875 Speaker 1: the defendant. Thank you, Nancy Faust. And lastly here, as 213 00:15:17,915 --> 00:15:21,555 Speaker 1: I mentioned, the defendant is coming back to visit fund City. 214 00:15:22,115 --> 00:15:24,475 Speaker 1: So if you need me, I'll be out there battening 215 00:15:24,515 --> 00:15:27,875 Speaker 1: down the hatches. But next Monday, we will have another 216 00:15:27,955 --> 00:15:32,315 Speaker 1: out of town Rube stopping by the House Judiciary Committee 217 00:15:32,555 --> 00:15:37,595 Speaker 1: Chairman Jim Jordan Jacket missing in Action, will stage a 218 00:15:37,715 --> 00:15:42,755 Speaker 1: quote field hearing quote victims of violent crime in Manhattan 219 00:15:42,915 --> 00:15:47,275 Speaker 1: to attack the da Alban Bragg, of course, on Trump's behalf. 220 00:15:47,955 --> 00:15:52,235 Speaker 1: Jordan even leaked that the committee may invite Bragg to testify. 221 00:15:53,315 --> 00:15:55,835 Speaker 1: Somebody should tell this snotty little Pip squeak that the 222 00:15:55,915 --> 00:15:58,675 Speaker 1: rate of property and violent crime in New York for 223 00:15:58,875 --> 00:16:02,035 Speaker 1: one thousand people is forty one, and the rate of 224 00:16:02,075 --> 00:16:05,875 Speaker 1: property or violent crime in his hometown of Lima, Ohio 225 00:16:06,675 --> 00:16:12,995 Speaker 1: is forty eight, which would be more watch where you park, Jim, 226 00:16:13,035 --> 00:16:30,795 Speaker 1: and whatever you do, don't resist. Arrest. Still ahead on 227 00:16:30,835 --> 00:16:34,075 Speaker 1: this edition of Countdown, another mass shooting eleven days after 228 00:16:34,195 --> 00:16:37,755 Speaker 1: Ted Cruz tried to rationalize the slaughter of school children 229 00:16:37,835 --> 00:16:40,715 Speaker 1: by insisting that the solution was to put as many 230 00:16:40,795 --> 00:16:44,555 Speaker 1: guards in schools as we have in all those safe, 231 00:16:44,755 --> 00:16:50,595 Speaker 1: impenetrable banks. Five are dead and eight more are injured 232 00:16:50,795 --> 00:16:55,115 Speaker 1: at a Louisville bank. Once again, there is a solution 233 00:16:55,155 --> 00:16:58,035 Speaker 1: to this madness, and it starts with stopping all thoughts 234 00:16:58,075 --> 00:17:01,075 Speaker 1: that goodness has anything to do with that solution. This 235 00:17:01,275 --> 00:17:06,315 Speaker 1: is economics, and we need to financially cry those companies, 236 00:17:06,355 --> 00:17:11,035 Speaker 1: those politicians, and those states that profit off gunslaughter. Some 237 00:17:11,195 --> 00:17:13,515 Speaker 1: thoughts on that coming up. And then, to lighten the 238 00:17:13,555 --> 00:17:15,755 Speaker 1: mood a little bit, the story of the day I 239 00:17:15,795 --> 00:17:19,755 Speaker 1: almost had a fist fight with Bill Maher, because three 240 00:17:19,795 --> 00:17:23,115 Speaker 1: decades earlier I had almost had a different fist fight 241 00:17:23,475 --> 00:17:46,755 Speaker 1: with Bill Maher. That's next. This is Countdown. It was 242 00:17:46,795 --> 00:17:50,475 Speaker 1: actually overshadowed slightly by the reality of the racism and 243 00:17:50,515 --> 00:17:54,275 Speaker 1: the plantation mentality so starkly presented of which they were 244 00:17:54,635 --> 00:17:59,075 Speaker 1: so proud. But when that cabal of Cracker fascists in 245 00:17:59,155 --> 00:18:03,475 Speaker 1: Tennessee expelled the Justins. They did so, or at least 246 00:18:03,475 --> 00:18:06,635 Speaker 1: they used as pretext the fact that the Justin's had 247 00:18:06,675 --> 00:18:09,515 Speaker 1: participated in a protest at the State Assembly, and the 248 00:18:09,595 --> 00:18:14,595 Speaker 1: protest at the State Assembly was about anyone remember about 249 00:18:14,595 --> 00:18:17,155 Speaker 1: the gun murders at the Covenant Christian School and the 250 00:18:17,155 --> 00:18:18,955 Speaker 1: fact that the only thing the Republicans want to do 251 00:18:18,995 --> 00:18:21,475 Speaker 1: about them and all the other gun murders at all 252 00:18:21,515 --> 00:18:24,395 Speaker 1: the other schools. Who has to put more cops or 253 00:18:24,555 --> 00:18:27,635 Speaker 1: more armed teachers, or for all we know, armed robotic 254 00:18:27,755 --> 00:18:33,595 Speaker 1: dogs in schools and in every American building, everywhere, every city, 255 00:18:33,675 --> 00:18:37,955 Speaker 1: every state, all the time. Oh and blame transpeople for 256 00:18:38,035 --> 00:18:43,435 Speaker 1: every mass gun murder in American history. Yesterday Louisville in 257 00:18:43,435 --> 00:18:46,755 Speaker 1: a bank. Somebody asked me after it happened, when this 258 00:18:46,875 --> 00:18:48,515 Speaker 1: is going to stop? And I said, flatly, it is 259 00:18:48,555 --> 00:18:53,995 Speaker 1: not going to stop. Think about that. Unless we not 260 00:18:54,075 --> 00:18:57,875 Speaker 1: only try, but succeed. There will be another Louisville before 261 00:18:57,915 --> 00:19:00,155 Speaker 1: the end of this month, maybe before the end of 262 00:19:00,155 --> 00:19:03,315 Speaker 1: this week, and certainly another Covenant School before the end 263 00:19:03,355 --> 00:19:06,315 Speaker 1: of this spring. It doesn't matter that it's mass madness. 264 00:19:06,395 --> 00:19:09,115 Speaker 1: It doesn't matter that one of the leading propagandists on 265 00:19:09,155 --> 00:19:13,235 Speaker 1: the right came out last week and actually said, seriously, well, sorry, 266 00:19:13,635 --> 00:19:16,595 Speaker 1: it's like automobile accidents is the price we pay for driving. 267 00:19:16,755 --> 00:19:20,595 Speaker 1: We have to accept some gun deaths to protect our 268 00:19:20,715 --> 00:19:25,475 Speaker 1: Second Amendment rights. It doesn't matter that the life expectancy 269 00:19:25,475 --> 00:19:27,875 Speaker 1: in this country has gone down in large part because 270 00:19:27,875 --> 00:19:30,755 Speaker 1: of guns. It doesn't matter that kids dying by guns 271 00:19:30,755 --> 00:19:36,595 Speaker 1: in this country has doubled in two years. Doesn't matter. Right, 272 00:19:37,155 --> 00:19:40,635 Speaker 1: has nothing to do with It doesn't matter that one 273 00:19:40,635 --> 00:19:44,235 Speaker 1: of the student survivors at Michigan State was a student 274 00:19:44,355 --> 00:19:47,035 Speaker 1: survivor of Sandy Hook, and at least three of the 275 00:19:47,075 --> 00:19:50,355 Speaker 1: student survivors of Michigan State. We're student survivors of Oxford 276 00:19:50,395 --> 00:19:52,755 Speaker 1: fifteen months before that. And we can all say with 277 00:19:52,835 --> 00:19:54,715 Speaker 1: all too much certainty that some of them will be 278 00:19:54,755 --> 00:19:58,835 Speaker 1: survivors of Toledo twenty twenty nine, or Dallas twenty thirty three, 279 00:19:58,995 --> 00:20:02,035 Speaker 1: or your city twenty thirty five or my city twenty 280 00:20:02,035 --> 00:20:04,555 Speaker 1: thirty seven, because and here is the essence of what 281 00:20:04,675 --> 00:20:06,675 Speaker 1: we have to address and trying to stop this. Not 282 00:20:06,875 --> 00:20:10,875 Speaker 1: what's right, not what's humane, not what's logical, not what 283 00:20:10,995 --> 00:20:14,075 Speaker 1: about the children. This will begin to stop when we 284 00:20:14,115 --> 00:20:21,835 Speaker 1: recognize that mass gun murders are profit centers. Greg Popovich, 285 00:20:21,995 --> 00:20:24,835 Speaker 1: the basketball coach, kind of hit the nail on the 286 00:20:24,835 --> 00:20:27,355 Speaker 1: head Sunday night. They're going to close all this stuff. 287 00:20:27,395 --> 00:20:29,355 Speaker 1: You know, the second of the myth of the Second Amendment, 288 00:20:29,395 --> 00:20:31,475 Speaker 1: the freedom, you know, it's just it's a myth. It's 289 00:20:31,475 --> 00:20:34,995 Speaker 1: a joke. It's just a game they playing. Why does 290 00:20:35,035 --> 00:20:40,035 Speaker 1: this supposedly sophisticated nation abide the ritual sacrifice of our 291 00:20:40,155 --> 00:20:44,195 Speaker 1: children and our brothers and sisters and parents to the 292 00:20:44,235 --> 00:20:49,315 Speaker 1: moloch of insane gun owners like Lauren Bobert or Thomas 293 00:20:49,475 --> 00:20:53,035 Speaker 1: Massey or whoever, the ones who get some kind of 294 00:20:53,075 --> 00:20:58,155 Speaker 1: sexual gratification from owning and displaying and stroking and firing 295 00:20:58,195 --> 00:21:04,435 Speaker 1: weapons because it makes other people millions of dollars. That's 296 00:21:04,435 --> 00:21:11,835 Speaker 1: why we are owned by guns. And so we go 297 00:21:11,875 --> 00:21:16,435 Speaker 1: on calculating the averages and deciding if by age five 298 00:21:16,515 --> 00:21:18,835 Speaker 1: it is already too late to teach kids how to 299 00:21:18,955 --> 00:21:23,715 Speaker 1: play dead in their classrooms, And we go on listening 300 00:21:23,755 --> 00:21:27,475 Speaker 1: to fascist asshole madmen like Ron de Santis talk about 301 00:21:27,515 --> 00:21:32,875 Speaker 1: fortifying schools and fortifying movie theaters and fortifying churches, and 302 00:21:33,035 --> 00:21:36,475 Speaker 1: we go on listening to messianic buttonheads like Eric Adams 303 00:21:36,915 --> 00:21:40,715 Speaker 1: talk about giving more guns to more police, when police 304 00:21:40,715 --> 00:21:43,995 Speaker 1: often turn out either to be the murderers or the 305 00:21:44,075 --> 00:21:46,755 Speaker 1: cowards who idol in the hallways as the children of 306 00:21:46,875 --> 00:21:50,475 Speaker 1: Uvalde are executed one by one, And we go on 307 00:21:50,595 --> 00:21:54,155 Speaker 1: listening to the fatuous idiots, like the Missouri House where 308 00:21:54,195 --> 00:21:56,635 Speaker 1: the police said we need laws to stop fourteen year 309 00:21:56,635 --> 00:21:59,635 Speaker 1: olds from walking down the streets of Saint Louis carrying 310 00:21:59,675 --> 00:22:02,555 Speaker 1: AAR fifteens, and the House voted one hundred and four 311 00:22:02,595 --> 00:22:06,715 Speaker 1: to thirty nine to keep open carry legal in Missouri 312 00:22:06,875 --> 00:22:11,435 Speaker 1: for kids. And we go on listening to amoral monsters 313 00:22:11,475 --> 00:22:14,835 Speaker 1: like Donald Trump talk about arming teachers and bringing back 314 00:22:14,875 --> 00:22:18,715 Speaker 1: firing squads, and we listened to these paid scum Republicans 315 00:22:18,715 --> 00:22:22,355 Speaker 1: bribed by the gun manufacturers and the gun organizations, recite 316 00:22:22,355 --> 00:22:26,115 Speaker 1: what they have been paid to say about responsible gun owners, 317 00:22:26,435 --> 00:22:30,115 Speaker 1: when after half a million gun deaths in this country 318 00:22:30,275 --> 00:22:32,835 Speaker 1: in the last ten or twelve years, it is no 319 00:22:32,955 --> 00:22:37,755 Speaker 1: longer in doubt there are no longer any responsible gun owners. 320 00:22:41,155 --> 00:22:45,435 Speaker 1: On this nightmare so familiar, so routine, and so constant 321 00:22:45,595 --> 00:22:50,635 Speaker 1: that we no longer remember the details or the location, 322 00:22:51,195 --> 00:22:54,195 Speaker 1: or the motive or the sequence of them. And now 323 00:22:54,235 --> 00:22:57,195 Speaker 1: we are no longer even remembering that there was a 324 00:22:57,355 --> 00:23:00,555 Speaker 1: nightmare last night or the night before, and we're now 325 00:23:01,035 --> 00:23:04,475 Speaker 1: marbling them into other things in American life, as if 326 00:23:04,475 --> 00:23:08,955 Speaker 1: they were snowstorms or flight delays. And a hockey podcaster 327 00:23:09,155 --> 00:23:11,755 Speaker 1: begins by saying, well, it's tough to do this after 328 00:23:11,795 --> 00:23:15,395 Speaker 1: the Michigan State news, but let's talk about the Carolina hurricanes. 329 00:23:15,475 --> 00:23:18,555 Speaker 1: Needs at the deadline, and the New York Times can 330 00:23:18,635 --> 00:23:22,435 Speaker 1: run a sidebar that the shooting, well, it upended the 331 00:23:22,515 --> 00:23:25,795 Speaker 1: lives of thousands, but it also put the school back 332 00:23:25,835 --> 00:23:29,315 Speaker 1: in an uncomfortable spotlight, what with the sexual assault scandal. 333 00:23:29,395 --> 00:23:34,555 Speaker 1: There we go on in an unacceptable world in which 334 00:23:34,635 --> 00:23:41,155 Speaker 1: we are owned by guns. We go on to borrow 335 00:23:41,155 --> 00:23:46,635 Speaker 1: from Churchill, in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, 336 00:23:47,235 --> 00:23:54,595 Speaker 1: resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, 337 00:23:55,635 --> 00:24:03,075 Speaker 1: all powerful to be impotent. The dead of Michigan State, 338 00:24:03,955 --> 00:24:08,275 Speaker 1: the dead of Las Vegas, the dead at the Pulse, 339 00:24:09,155 --> 00:24:13,995 Speaker 1: the dead at Well. Why do we bother with individual 340 00:24:14,115 --> 00:24:19,515 Speaker 1: place names anymore? The dead of the killing field, the 341 00:24:19,635 --> 00:24:23,795 Speaker 1: dead of the transcendent national shooting range that is the 342 00:24:23,875 --> 00:24:29,275 Speaker 1: United States of America. They are dead. Because somebody is 343 00:24:29,315 --> 00:24:34,915 Speaker 1: making money off them, and because Ted Cruz is making 344 00:24:34,995 --> 00:24:39,595 Speaker 1: money off them, and Marjorie Taylor Green is making money 345 00:24:39,635 --> 00:24:44,195 Speaker 1: off them, and every Hoore politician is making money off them, 346 00:24:44,475 --> 00:24:47,835 Speaker 1: and rarely even bothering anymore to wash the money through 347 00:24:47,995 --> 00:24:54,555 Speaker 1: seepack or save America this or shoot America, that the 348 00:24:54,595 --> 00:24:57,755 Speaker 1: donations come straight and unhidden, and whether it's Trump or 349 00:24:57,835 --> 00:25:01,795 Speaker 1: DeSantis or Poor soon to be very very surprised, Nicki 350 00:25:01,875 --> 00:25:05,995 Speaker 1: Haley or just some other idiot it free from morality 351 00:25:06,075 --> 00:25:09,755 Speaker 1: or conscience, whom the moneyed interests select. It is fair 352 00:25:09,755 --> 00:25:12,515 Speaker 1: to say that the Republican nominee for president in twenty 353 00:25:12,555 --> 00:25:15,675 Speaker 1: twenty four, whoever that is, will be underwritten by the 354 00:25:15,715 --> 00:25:19,595 Speaker 1: gun manufacturers and the gun lobby and their masters, the 355 00:25:19,795 --> 00:25:24,075 Speaker 1: death lobby, who pay good money to bad people to 356 00:25:24,235 --> 00:25:27,995 Speaker 1: maintain not just our culture of guns and shooting and 357 00:25:28,275 --> 00:25:33,155 Speaker 1: dead children and thoughts and prayers, but also maintain the 358 00:25:33,195 --> 00:25:36,595 Speaker 1: world's culture of continuing to poison the atmosphere and kill 359 00:25:36,595 --> 00:25:40,235 Speaker 1: off the species one by one. Because the one billion, 360 00:25:40,435 --> 00:25:44,155 Speaker 1: nine hundred and sixty three million dollars in profit made 361 00:25:44,315 --> 00:25:49,115 Speaker 1: last year by big oil just isn't enough. Because they 362 00:25:49,155 --> 00:25:52,035 Speaker 1: stay up at night anguished by the thought that there 363 00:25:52,075 --> 00:25:57,635 Speaker 1: remains somewhere one dollar not yet stolen from a child 364 00:25:58,075 --> 00:26:01,635 Speaker 1: dying next to the earthquake rubble in Syria or Turkey, 365 00:26:01,915 --> 00:26:05,755 Speaker 1: one dollar yet to be pocketed by Darren Woods, the 366 00:26:05,875 --> 00:26:14,435 Speaker 1: CEO of Exxon Mobile Away God intended it. It is economics, 367 00:26:15,435 --> 00:26:23,275 Speaker 1: and thus the only solution can also be economics, because 368 00:26:23,355 --> 00:26:25,595 Speaker 1: we will not defeat them in the states that are 369 00:26:25,635 --> 00:26:29,595 Speaker 1: already lost to the control of the death lobby. And 370 00:26:29,715 --> 00:26:32,995 Speaker 1: even if President Biden said tomorrow we are not owned 371 00:26:33,035 --> 00:26:35,715 Speaker 1: by guns, and I don't give a damn. If I'm 372 00:26:35,755 --> 00:26:38,995 Speaker 1: reelected or even renominated, I'm going to issue four hundred 373 00:26:38,995 --> 00:26:42,635 Speaker 1: and fifty executive orders and take every damn gun I 374 00:26:42,755 --> 00:26:45,235 Speaker 1: can get off the streets. And if the House and 375 00:26:45,315 --> 00:26:48,155 Speaker 1: send it won't reinstate the assault weapons man, I will 376 00:26:48,195 --> 00:26:51,035 Speaker 1: do so unilaterally and come and get me in the courts. 377 00:26:52,875 --> 00:26:58,875 Speaker 1: Even if Biden did that, we the anti death people, 378 00:26:59,795 --> 00:27:04,675 Speaker 1: we would lose in the Supreme Court because Clarence Thomas 379 00:27:04,715 --> 00:27:08,235 Speaker 1: us the whore is on the Supreme Court because of 380 00:27:08,355 --> 00:27:11,355 Speaker 1: and bought and paid for by the death lobby, and 381 00:27:11,555 --> 00:27:14,755 Speaker 1: Samuel Alito the whore is and John Roberts the whore 382 00:27:15,075 --> 00:27:19,035 Speaker 1: Is and Neil Gorsich and drunken Brett Kavanaugh and Bible 383 00:27:19,155 --> 00:27:24,875 Speaker 1: paralegal amy Coney Barrett. And so we must ask ourselves, 384 00:27:25,835 --> 00:27:30,435 Speaker 1: what economically can we do to the gun lobby, to 385 00:27:30,715 --> 00:27:34,915 Speaker 1: the oil lobby, to the death lobby, and to their 386 00:27:34,955 --> 00:27:38,115 Speaker 1: minions in the Senate and the House, and all the 387 00:27:38,195 --> 00:27:41,635 Speaker 1: Senates and all the houses, in all the states in 388 00:27:41,675 --> 00:27:46,315 Speaker 1: America and in this country. There are only a couple 389 00:27:46,355 --> 00:27:49,835 Speaker 1: of measures that might possibly work, and might possibly work 390 00:27:49,955 --> 00:27:53,355 Speaker 1: fast enough so that enough of us won't be killed 391 00:27:53,955 --> 00:27:58,395 Speaker 1: in next year's three hundred gun massacres or the next 392 00:27:58,395 --> 00:28:03,995 Speaker 1: decade's three hundred climate crises. And that one thing is, 393 00:28:04,035 --> 00:28:07,195 Speaker 1: to spare you the kind words, the soft words. That 394 00:28:07,235 --> 00:28:11,635 Speaker 1: one thing is economic civil war. It can start simply, 395 00:28:12,555 --> 00:28:18,675 Speaker 1: buy nothing from Texas, do not go to Florida, do 396 00:28:18,755 --> 00:28:24,915 Speaker 1: not patronize Missouri. We can start there, and then we 397 00:28:24,995 --> 00:28:29,955 Speaker 1: can get serious. It is a simple mathematical fact that, 398 00:28:30,035 --> 00:28:32,755 Speaker 1: with some exceptions, and a little more nuanced than time 399 00:28:32,795 --> 00:28:36,555 Speaker 1: permits me here, it is a simple mathematical fact that 400 00:28:36,595 --> 00:28:39,435 Speaker 1: the blue states of this country keep the Red states 401 00:28:39,435 --> 00:28:43,555 Speaker 1: of this country from going bankrupt. It is a simple 402 00:28:43,635 --> 00:28:47,435 Speaker 1: mathematical fact that the Blue states pay in more to 403 00:28:47,515 --> 00:28:50,035 Speaker 1: the federal government than they ever get back in services 404 00:28:50,155 --> 00:28:54,995 Speaker 1: or infrastructure, or certainly in per capita representation. New York 405 00:28:55,715 --> 00:28:59,875 Speaker 1: pays a net twenty four billion a year, California pays 406 00:28:59,875 --> 00:29:02,715 Speaker 1: in a net fourteen billion, and most of that goes 407 00:29:02,755 --> 00:29:08,475 Speaker 1: to keeping Florida and Texas US from starving. Florida gets 408 00:29:08,995 --> 00:29:12,715 Speaker 1: thirty six billion a year, more than it pays in 409 00:29:13,915 --> 00:29:20,635 Speaker 1: Texas nearly that much. It is state to state socialism, 410 00:29:20,675 --> 00:29:24,875 Speaker 1: and we all know that we can't have socialism. And 411 00:29:25,075 --> 00:29:28,555 Speaker 1: it is a simple fact that the Blue states restrict 412 00:29:28,595 --> 00:29:32,875 Speaker 1: and regulate guns, and the Red states sell guns and 413 00:29:33,115 --> 00:29:38,955 Speaker 1: sell guns and sell guns and profit off dead children. 414 00:29:40,355 --> 00:29:44,875 Speaker 1: And when the political whores like Ted Cruz and Tucker 415 00:29:44,915 --> 00:29:50,715 Speaker 1: Carlson and Rupert Murdoch point to the gun carnage of Chicago, 416 00:29:51,555 --> 00:29:54,275 Speaker 1: they are actually pointing to the gun carnage of weapons 417 00:29:54,315 --> 00:30:00,475 Speaker 1: smuggled in from Indiana to Chicago. And it is also 418 00:30:00,515 --> 00:30:03,075 Speaker 1: a simple fact that we can dance around for decades 419 00:30:03,155 --> 00:30:05,995 Speaker 1: yet to come about how to the gun massacres of 420 00:30:06,955 --> 00:30:11,115 Speaker 1: February twenty forty seven and the chemical disasters of June 421 00:30:11,155 --> 00:30:14,715 Speaker 1: twenty sixty one, so bad they reminded old timers of 422 00:30:15,195 --> 00:30:19,715 Speaker 1: where was that East Palestine, Ohio? Or we can cut 423 00:30:19,755 --> 00:30:21,675 Speaker 1: to the chase and put it this way. If the 424 00:30:21,715 --> 00:30:25,755 Speaker 1: Red States do not agree to strict and enforced gun 425 00:30:25,795 --> 00:30:30,795 Speaker 1: regulation and the removal and the outlawing of gun manufacture, 426 00:30:31,315 --> 00:30:33,635 Speaker 1: and a revision of the Second Amendment so that the 427 00:30:33,715 --> 00:30:37,035 Speaker 1: vagueness that isn't actually there but the death lobby has 428 00:30:37,035 --> 00:30:40,755 Speaker 1: spent a century convincing millions is there, that all doubt 429 00:30:40,755 --> 00:30:42,875 Speaker 1: about the Second Amendment be erased and replaced by the 430 00:30:42,915 --> 00:30:46,835 Speaker 1: simple statement that private gun ownership is illegal without a 431 00:30:46,875 --> 00:30:50,115 Speaker 1: series of licenses and mental health tests, and that the 432 00:30:50,195 --> 00:30:52,635 Speaker 1: owner is liable for whatever is done with his gun, 433 00:30:52,635 --> 00:30:55,075 Speaker 1: and if that includes murder, then the owner is liable 434 00:30:55,115 --> 00:30:57,555 Speaker 1: for life imprisonment, whether he fired the gun or not. 435 00:30:57,835 --> 00:31:00,475 Speaker 1: If the Red States do not agree to that, and 436 00:31:00,555 --> 00:31:03,635 Speaker 1: by the way, to reapportioned representation in the House and 437 00:31:03,675 --> 00:31:07,475 Speaker 1: the Senate, Idaho does not have as many senators as 438 00:31:07,515 --> 00:31:11,635 Speaker 1: a real state and not a welfare state like Idaho. 439 00:31:12,795 --> 00:31:14,755 Speaker 1: And if they do not agree to the resignations of 440 00:31:14,835 --> 00:31:19,475 Speaker 1: Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Barrett, gorsych Kavanaugh, and Thomas. 441 00:31:19,555 --> 00:31:21,995 Speaker 1: If the Red States do not agree to that then 442 00:31:22,035 --> 00:31:27,235 Speaker 1: the Blue states will simply stop paying money into the 443 00:31:27,355 --> 00:31:30,475 Speaker 1: federal government, and the Blue states will simply spend that 444 00:31:30,555 --> 00:31:35,475 Speaker 1: money directly on their own citizens. And if the leaders 445 00:31:35,995 --> 00:31:38,355 Speaker 1: of our Blue states who will not comply with this, 446 00:31:38,875 --> 00:31:41,995 Speaker 1: then the only solution we have. Since the murders at 447 00:31:41,995 --> 00:31:45,115 Speaker 1: Michigan State Monday night and the murders at your town 448 00:31:45,235 --> 00:31:49,875 Speaker 1: name here next week are profit streams for many people, 449 00:31:50,115 --> 00:31:54,315 Speaker 1: the only solution we have is to then stop paying 450 00:31:54,315 --> 00:31:57,995 Speaker 1: our federal taxes until our state leaders recognize that the 451 00:31:58,035 --> 00:32:00,915 Speaker 1: only way out of this nightmare is to threaten the 452 00:32:00,955 --> 00:32:05,475 Speaker 1: Red states, and thus threatened the gun lobby, and thus 453 00:32:05,595 --> 00:32:08,075 Speaker 1: threatened the oil lobby, and thus threatened the death lobby 454 00:32:08,675 --> 00:32:16,635 Speaker 1: with economic strangulation, economic civil war, to save the country, 455 00:32:17,595 --> 00:32:22,955 Speaker 1: to save the next six hundred thousand Americans who will 456 00:32:23,035 --> 00:32:27,395 Speaker 1: die by gun violence almost certainly by the year twenty 457 00:32:27,435 --> 00:32:30,675 Speaker 1: thirty five, if it does not get worse before then 458 00:32:31,275 --> 00:32:36,035 Speaker 1: six hundred thousand, the same number who were killed in 459 00:32:36,035 --> 00:32:40,875 Speaker 1: the actual Civil War. And if you ask yourself, or 460 00:32:40,915 --> 00:32:45,355 Speaker 1: you are asked by what right we could threaten economic 461 00:32:45,475 --> 00:32:51,195 Speaker 1: civil war, just say this is constitutional under the Second Amendment. 462 00:32:52,115 --> 00:32:57,795 Speaker 1: Quote a well regulated militia being necessary to the security 463 00:32:57,915 --> 00:33:00,955 Speaker 1: of a free state. The right of the people to 464 00:33:01,035 --> 00:33:04,595 Speaker 1: keep and bare arms shall not be infringed. Our rights 465 00:33:04,755 --> 00:33:08,395 Speaker 1: to the security of a free state have been infringed 466 00:33:08,475 --> 00:33:12,635 Speaker 1: upon by the gun lobby and the death lobby, which 467 00:33:12,675 --> 00:33:15,595 Speaker 1: has convinced generations of gun fetishists that an amendment that 468 00:33:15,675 --> 00:33:19,675 Speaker 1: does not contain the word own nor any synonym for own, 469 00:33:20,915 --> 00:33:24,155 Speaker 1: does contain it. The Constitution is a property document. It 470 00:33:24,195 --> 00:33:28,035 Speaker 1: mentions rights only fifteen times. It mentions voting only thirty 471 00:33:28,035 --> 00:33:30,595 Speaker 1: seven times. This is out of nearly eight thousand words, 472 00:33:30,635 --> 00:33:33,595 Speaker 1: but it mentions money and ownership one hundred and three times. 473 00:33:34,995 --> 00:33:39,515 Speaker 1: The Second Amendment is about making sure nothing interferes with 474 00:33:39,595 --> 00:33:44,915 Speaker 1: a well regulated militia. Well regulated militia that is there 475 00:33:45,155 --> 00:33:48,915 Speaker 1: protecting our rights as citizens to have, as it says 476 00:33:48,915 --> 00:33:52,315 Speaker 1: in the Second Amendment, the security of a free state. 477 00:33:53,435 --> 00:33:57,035 Speaker 1: Our Second Amendment rights have been trampled on by Donald 478 00:33:57,075 --> 00:34:02,875 Speaker 1: Trump and the Republicans, the anti Second Amendment Republicans. We 479 00:34:02,915 --> 00:34:09,835 Speaker 1: need to start enforcing the Second Amendment. We need an 480 00:34:09,835 --> 00:34:12,115 Speaker 1: economic civil war against the gun lobby and the death 481 00:34:12,155 --> 00:34:14,915 Speaker 1: lobby and those corrupted and financially insolvent red states that 482 00:34:14,995 --> 00:34:16,955 Speaker 1: stand in the way of peace. And security in this 483 00:34:17,035 --> 00:34:26,635 Speaker 1: country because we are owned by guns. But god damn it, 484 00:34:27,875 --> 00:34:32,355 Speaker 1: we are not going to be owned by guns any longer. 485 00:34:37,675 --> 00:34:39,435 Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I need a break 486 00:34:39,435 --> 00:34:42,275 Speaker 1: from the assault on my heart from all the corners 487 00:34:42,275 --> 00:34:45,955 Speaker 1: of this current cycle of news and with him in 488 00:34:45,995 --> 00:34:49,715 Speaker 1: the news about the news again. Lately, the repurposing of 489 00:34:49,755 --> 00:34:52,475 Speaker 1: part of his show has gotten CNN audiences in the 490 00:34:52,475 --> 00:34:56,755 Speaker 1: so called advertising demo of forty five thousand one night, 491 00:34:57,075 --> 00:35:00,195 Speaker 1: sixty three thousand one Night, and the Big one eighty 492 00:35:00,235 --> 00:35:03,315 Speaker 1: three thousand one Night. In other words, he's kind of 493 00:35:03,355 --> 00:35:06,755 Speaker 1: remaining competitive with the podcast, but it doesn't look so 494 00:35:06,795 --> 00:35:10,195 Speaker 1: good for him. The wall that Bill Maher has obviously 495 00:35:10,315 --> 00:35:13,595 Speaker 1: hit in terms of his insight is now being reflected 496 00:35:13,915 --> 00:35:18,115 Speaker 1: by his ratings. While speaking of hitting the wall and 497 00:35:18,275 --> 00:35:21,555 Speaker 1: Bill Maher, I have to confess twice in my life 498 00:35:21,595 --> 00:35:24,035 Speaker 1: I was ready to make Bill Maher hit a wall. 499 00:35:24,475 --> 00:35:27,395 Speaker 1: He and I nearly had a fist fight in college. 500 00:35:28,435 --> 00:35:31,635 Speaker 1: We each forgot all about it, and as I began 501 00:35:31,835 --> 00:35:36,235 Speaker 1: to remember it vaguely thirty years later, we almost had 502 00:35:36,275 --> 00:35:39,595 Speaker 1: another fist fight about the fist fight that we didn't remember. 503 00:35:39,635 --> 00:35:44,235 Speaker 1: From nineteen seventy eight, The saga of how I was 504 00:35:44,315 --> 00:35:56,995 Speaker 1: aware of Bill Maher. Next, sometime in nineteen eighty five 505 00:35:57,155 --> 00:36:00,675 Speaker 1: or nineteen eighty six, I saw a movie on cable 506 00:36:00,795 --> 00:36:03,715 Speaker 1: called DC Cab. There was a character in it. Clearly 507 00:36:03,755 --> 00:36:06,555 Speaker 1: the actor portraying him was talented and funny, but for 508 00:36:06,595 --> 00:36:08,995 Speaker 1: some reason I felt like I knew him from somewhere, 509 00:36:09,195 --> 00:36:12,635 Speaker 1: and I really didn't like him. I remember the feeling 510 00:36:12,675 --> 00:36:15,395 Speaker 1: was so strong that I stuck around to watch the 511 00:36:15,475 --> 00:36:17,915 Speaker 1: credits to find out who he was. His name was 512 00:36:18,035 --> 00:36:23,795 Speaker 1: Bill Mayher m ah er Well. I had a teacher 513 00:36:23,875 --> 00:36:26,555 Speaker 1: named Bill Mayer, but his name had a y in it. 514 00:36:26,595 --> 00:36:28,915 Speaker 1: He was my adviser in high school. Now I wasn't him, 515 00:36:29,675 --> 00:36:32,155 Speaker 1: but I knew three things. He was talented, I didn't 516 00:36:32,235 --> 00:36:35,995 Speaker 1: like him, and I knew him from somewhere. This is 517 00:36:36,115 --> 00:36:38,395 Speaker 1: pre Internet, of course, so no way to find out 518 00:36:38,395 --> 00:36:42,355 Speaker 1: where I knew him from. Hallowell's annual film Guide would 519 00:36:42,395 --> 00:36:44,195 Speaker 1: be my best bet. Maybe he'd be in the new 520 00:36:44,195 --> 00:36:48,595 Speaker 1: one coming out checked calendar just eight or nine months 521 00:36:48,595 --> 00:36:52,075 Speaker 1: from now. Eventually I found out Bill Maher was in 522 00:36:52,155 --> 00:36:54,715 Speaker 1: the year ahead of mine at Cornell University. He was 523 00:36:54,795 --> 00:36:57,715 Speaker 1: not at my radio station, he was not in my college. 524 00:36:57,955 --> 00:37:00,715 Speaker 1: Maybe I knew him from a class somewhere. I could 525 00:37:00,755 --> 00:37:03,435 Speaker 1: never nail it down. I like to say I have 526 00:37:03,475 --> 00:37:07,075 Speaker 1: a photographic memory, but it's all polaroids, and I haven't 527 00:37:07,075 --> 00:37:10,835 Speaker 1: always bothered to label them. Almost everything that ever happened 528 00:37:10,955 --> 00:37:13,675 Speaker 1: is stuck inside this big empty head of mine. But 529 00:37:13,795 --> 00:37:17,755 Speaker 1: often key details like who, what, when, and where are 530 00:37:17,875 --> 00:37:23,275 Speaker 1: just missing. Never wrote him down, and honestly, in this case, 531 00:37:23,275 --> 00:37:25,755 Speaker 1: it was not worth the effort. I knew I was 532 00:37:26,635 --> 00:37:29,675 Speaker 1: the right word, the word. Was aware of him when 533 00:37:29,715 --> 00:37:32,755 Speaker 1: we were both in college. Occasionally, especially after I went 534 00:37:32,755 --> 00:37:36,275 Speaker 1: from ESPN to MSNBC in nineteen ninety seven, a writer 535 00:37:36,715 --> 00:37:39,795 Speaker 1: would note the coincidence of university and years and ask 536 00:37:39,915 --> 00:37:41,795 Speaker 1: me about it, and I would say just that I 537 00:37:41,835 --> 00:37:43,755 Speaker 1: don't remember if he was in a class with me, 538 00:37:44,155 --> 00:37:47,635 Speaker 1: or I knew him somehow, but I was aware of 539 00:37:47,675 --> 00:37:51,395 Speaker 1: Bill Maher. And then twenty two years ago, this month, 540 00:37:51,475 --> 00:37:54,355 Speaker 1: no remember, twenty third, two thousand, I went on his 541 00:37:54,435 --> 00:37:57,315 Speaker 1: old show, Politically Incorrect, used to be the late night 542 00:37:57,315 --> 00:38:00,675 Speaker 1: show on ABC. This was when I was doing sports 543 00:38:00,675 --> 00:38:03,395 Speaker 1: for Fox in LA and it was an all sports episode. 544 00:38:03,475 --> 00:38:07,595 Speaker 1: Lennox Lewis, the boxer, Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas, Mavericks, 545 00:38:07,915 --> 00:38:10,115 Speaker 1: Todd Zeal the first basement of the New York Mets, 546 00:38:10,155 --> 00:38:13,715 Speaker 1: and Me from Fox Sports. When I met Bill mar 547 00:38:13,755 --> 00:38:16,075 Speaker 1: before the show, I asked him about Cornell and whether 548 00:38:16,115 --> 00:38:17,635 Speaker 1: or not we ran into each other. I didn't know 549 00:38:17,635 --> 00:38:20,555 Speaker 1: anybody there. I didn't see anybody. I didn't goo comedy anywhere. 550 00:38:20,635 --> 00:38:24,315 Speaker 1: I didn't talk to anybody. I didn't meet you. Okay, 551 00:38:24,355 --> 00:38:27,995 Speaker 1: excuse me. That settles it. Except during the recording of 552 00:38:28,035 --> 00:38:31,395 Speaker 1: the show, when Mark contradicted me on some point, I 553 00:38:31,435 --> 00:38:34,315 Speaker 1: got angry at him, and there was no reason to 554 00:38:34,355 --> 00:38:37,635 Speaker 1: get angry at him, so I dismissed the anger, and 555 00:38:37,635 --> 00:38:40,155 Speaker 1: I dismissed the moment. Except on the way home, I 556 00:38:40,235 --> 00:38:44,955 Speaker 1: kept thinking, I know him from school somehow, no matter 557 00:38:45,035 --> 00:38:49,395 Speaker 1: what he says, and I know I didn't like him 558 00:38:49,555 --> 00:38:54,435 Speaker 1: in school. In the next decade, Bill switched to his 559 00:38:54,475 --> 00:38:57,155 Speaker 1: weekly HBO political show, and I went back and turned 560 00:38:57,315 --> 00:39:00,395 Speaker 1: MSNBC into a political network. And the Internet happened so 561 00:39:00,435 --> 00:39:04,115 Speaker 1: that Cornell juxtaposition became easier for reporters to stumble over. 562 00:39:04,835 --> 00:39:07,755 Speaker 1: So I would tell them the same thing. I can't 563 00:39:07,755 --> 00:39:10,235 Speaker 1: remember the details, but for twenty nine years now I 564 00:39:10,275 --> 00:39:13,675 Speaker 1: have been convinced I was aware of Bill Maher at Cornell. 565 00:39:15,075 --> 00:39:18,675 Speaker 1: Finally came the day March twentieth, two thousand and nine, 566 00:39:19,195 --> 00:39:21,635 Speaker 1: when they asked me to go on Real Time and 567 00:39:21,835 --> 00:39:26,435 Speaker 1: Bill Maher Cornell University seventy eight asked me Cornell University 568 00:39:26,555 --> 00:39:29,715 Speaker 1: seventy nine, something about colleges, and I said, well, as 569 00:39:29,715 --> 00:39:31,435 Speaker 1: you know, we overlapped at Cornell, and I don't know 570 00:39:31,435 --> 00:39:33,355 Speaker 1: if we met, but I was aware of you there, 571 00:39:33,995 --> 00:39:37,515 Speaker 1: and he interrupted and said, no, you weren't, and I 572 00:39:37,595 --> 00:39:40,995 Speaker 1: just went back and answered his question. Now, after every 573 00:39:40,995 --> 00:39:44,195 Speaker 1: episode of his program, Mar has or at least hand 574 00:39:44,315 --> 00:39:47,915 Speaker 1: a little party back stage, I mean catered with booze 575 00:39:48,475 --> 00:39:50,475 Speaker 1: and with more guests than there are people in the 576 00:39:50,475 --> 00:39:54,435 Speaker 1: studio audience, and usually a bunch of models having done 577 00:39:54,475 --> 00:39:57,155 Speaker 1: that show four times, where they will fly you in 578 00:39:57,195 --> 00:39:58,955 Speaker 1: first class and put you up for the weekend in 579 00:39:59,075 --> 00:40:02,355 Speaker 1: LA just to do their show, and there's a party. 580 00:40:03,275 --> 00:40:06,155 Speaker 1: I began to suspect that, like many of the guests, 581 00:40:06,235 --> 00:40:09,275 Speaker 1: Bill Maher does the show just so he can have 582 00:40:09,355 --> 00:40:14,435 Speaker 1: the party. Anyway, not long after it started, it overcomes 583 00:40:14,475 --> 00:40:17,635 Speaker 1: Mar and he's mad at me. And mind you, even 584 00:40:17,675 --> 00:40:20,755 Speaker 1: if his allegation that he is five feet eight is correct. 585 00:40:21,035 --> 00:40:23,275 Speaker 1: I'm just under six four, So he's giving up a 586 00:40:23,275 --> 00:40:26,195 Speaker 1: lot of height during an argument, and he starts yapping 587 00:40:26,235 --> 00:40:27,955 Speaker 1: about how I should stop saying I was away here 588 00:40:27,955 --> 00:40:29,955 Speaker 1: of him at Cornell, and I'm just trying to get 589 00:40:29,955 --> 00:40:32,435 Speaker 1: publicity off something that never happened. And who could remember 590 00:40:32,435 --> 00:40:35,555 Speaker 1: that kind of crap anyway? And he never talked to 591 00:40:35,595 --> 00:40:38,115 Speaker 1: anybody in four years in college because quote except for 592 00:40:38,155 --> 00:40:41,675 Speaker 1: the ethical high school students, I sold drugs too, unquote. 593 00:40:42,275 --> 00:40:46,275 Speaker 1: And I notice he's getting heated, and this is just 594 00:40:46,435 --> 00:40:50,835 Speaker 1: triggering that core belief of mine that I was aware 595 00:40:50,995 --> 00:40:54,595 Speaker 1: of him in college and I didn't like him, and 596 00:40:54,715 --> 00:40:58,555 Speaker 1: now it becomes clear to me he didn't like me either. 597 00:41:00,235 --> 00:41:03,155 Speaker 1: He's getting loud enough and he's swinging his arms around 598 00:41:03,195 --> 00:41:06,275 Speaker 1: now and it looks funny, but apparently it happens in 599 00:41:06,315 --> 00:41:09,955 Speaker 1: the office sometimes. And this is when Scott Carter, who 600 00:41:10,035 --> 00:41:12,875 Speaker 1: was the executive producer whom I definitely did know since 601 00:41:12,915 --> 00:41:15,755 Speaker 1: like nineteen ninety two when he worked at Comedy Central 602 00:41:15,795 --> 00:41:18,835 Speaker 1: with my friend Alan Haby, Scott Carter comes over to 603 00:41:19,115 --> 00:41:23,195 Speaker 1: defuse the situation. Scott was a three piece suit kind 604 00:41:23,195 --> 00:41:25,875 Speaker 1: of guy with the thumbs tucking the vest who would 605 00:41:25,875 --> 00:41:29,915 Speaker 1: call a group of men fellows, as in say fellows. 606 00:41:30,795 --> 00:41:34,595 Speaker 1: So Scott comes over and says, say fellows with your 607 00:41:34,595 --> 00:41:37,795 Speaker 1: at Cornell alumni reunion here, And of course this makes 608 00:41:37,795 --> 00:41:40,595 Speaker 1: Bill Maher even angrier. Let me ask you something. I 609 00:41:40,675 --> 00:41:43,795 Speaker 1: used to drive down from Hobart to see concerts at 610 00:41:43,795 --> 00:41:46,755 Speaker 1: Cornell to say, I think Cornell was the leading concert 611 00:41:46,795 --> 00:41:50,555 Speaker 1: school in the nation back an hour day. And now 612 00:41:50,595 --> 00:41:53,515 Speaker 1: Scott starts the list who he saw in concert at Cornell, 613 00:41:53,675 --> 00:41:57,155 Speaker 1: Robert Palmer and the famous Grateful Dead concert at Cornell 614 00:41:57,195 --> 00:42:00,115 Speaker 1: at Barton Hall. He was there, And I say, I 615 00:42:00,155 --> 00:42:03,915 Speaker 1: went to Springsteen, and mar mumbles something about Loggins and Messina, 616 00:42:03,995 --> 00:42:06,315 Speaker 1: and I know what Carter he's doing here, he's diffusing, 617 00:42:06,955 --> 00:42:09,075 Speaker 1: And we do a couple of rounds of who saw 618 00:42:09,115 --> 00:42:11,955 Speaker 1: which Cornell concert? And finally I say, I can top 619 00:42:12,035 --> 00:42:16,635 Speaker 1: both of you comic geniuses. I saw Robert Kleine in 620 00:42:16,715 --> 00:42:21,795 Speaker 1: concert at Cornell. Now it is criminal, but there's an 621 00:42:21,795 --> 00:42:25,235 Speaker 1: excellent chance you may not know who Robert Klein is, 622 00:42:26,995 --> 00:42:30,515 Speaker 1: suffice to say, as prominent a comedian in the sixties, 623 00:42:30,515 --> 00:42:34,715 Speaker 1: seventies eighties as George Carlin or Richard pryor. HBO itself 624 00:42:34,835 --> 00:42:39,235 Speaker 1: was built on annual George Carlin concerts and annual Robert 625 00:42:39,315 --> 00:42:43,795 Speaker 1: Klein concerts and everybody else. And Robert Klein wasn't quite 626 00:42:43,795 --> 00:42:46,555 Speaker 1: as deep or eternal as George Carlin, but he was 627 00:42:46,675 --> 00:42:50,195 Speaker 1: really on the money during Watergate and during Reagan. So 628 00:42:50,235 --> 00:42:53,595 Speaker 1: I say, I saw Robert Kleine in concert at Cornell, 629 00:42:53,995 --> 00:42:57,515 Speaker 1: and Mark looks at me funny and not angrily, and 630 00:42:57,595 --> 00:43:02,795 Speaker 1: says quietly, I was at that too. I saw Robert 631 00:43:02,835 --> 00:43:06,395 Speaker 1: Klein too, and I don't really register that Mar's mood 632 00:43:06,435 --> 00:43:11,195 Speaker 1: has now utterly changed. He's not angry, he's confused. Well, 633 00:43:11,235 --> 00:43:13,395 Speaker 1: I say, I can still top you, because after that 634 00:43:13,515 --> 00:43:18,635 Speaker 1: concert I interviewed Robert Klein. Now Bill Maher starts to squint, 635 00:43:19,275 --> 00:43:21,835 Speaker 1: and he looks at me, and he looks at Scott Carter, 636 00:43:22,075 --> 00:43:24,755 Speaker 1: and he looks back at me, and he says, wait, 637 00:43:26,395 --> 00:43:32,235 Speaker 1: I interviewed Kleine after that concert too. And I'm smiling 638 00:43:32,235 --> 00:43:34,475 Speaker 1: through all this, and smiling and smiling and smiling, And 639 00:43:34,515 --> 00:43:38,155 Speaker 1: then suddenly, simultaneously it hits Bill Maher and me at 640 00:43:38,195 --> 00:43:40,395 Speaker 1: the same moment, in the same fullness of detail, and 641 00:43:40,515 --> 00:43:43,675 Speaker 1: I stopped smiling, and I shout at Bill Maher, you 642 00:43:44,955 --> 00:43:47,555 Speaker 1: and he pulls his arms in towards his stomach and 643 00:43:47,675 --> 00:43:50,155 Speaker 1: kind of bends forward at the waist and covers his 644 00:43:50,235 --> 00:43:52,395 Speaker 1: face with his hands, and he says, oh God, I'm 645 00:43:52,395 --> 00:43:55,075 Speaker 1: so sorry, Jesus, it can't be. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. 646 00:43:56,315 --> 00:43:59,875 Speaker 1: And while the anger wells up inside me so powerfully, 647 00:43:59,915 --> 00:44:03,235 Speaker 1: I can almost see it in my own eyeballs. Bill 648 00:44:03,315 --> 00:44:08,395 Speaker 1: Maher's concert going pretty. Scott Carter is really confused. Say, fellows, 649 00:44:08,835 --> 00:44:11,275 Speaker 1: did I miss something or did I have a brief 650 00:44:11,395 --> 00:44:16,235 Speaker 1: stroke or episode? And I say, Bill, and I just 651 00:44:16,435 --> 00:44:21,915 Speaker 1: remembered how I happened to be aware of him in school, 652 00:44:22,115 --> 00:44:24,635 Speaker 1: And Mars still has got his hands over his face, 653 00:44:24,915 --> 00:44:28,435 Speaker 1: and people are looking at us, and Bill is shouting apologies, 654 00:44:28,475 --> 00:44:31,395 Speaker 1: and I say, you want to tell him? Or should I? 655 00:44:32,355 --> 00:44:35,915 Speaker 1: And Mar just shakes his body no and mumbles, no, God, dude, 656 00:44:36,075 --> 00:44:38,875 Speaker 1: I can't, I can't, I can't. And it all came 657 00:44:38,915 --> 00:44:42,715 Speaker 1: back to me. For years I would tell people the 658 00:44:42,755 --> 00:44:46,435 Speaker 1: story of the Robert Klein concert at Cornell University in 659 00:44:46,515 --> 00:44:50,995 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight. Our radio station co sponsored his appearance 660 00:44:50,995 --> 00:44:54,195 Speaker 1: along with the Cornell Concert Commission, and in the contract 661 00:44:54,595 --> 00:44:57,875 Speaker 1: we specified that a couple of us real comedy nerds 662 00:44:57,915 --> 00:45:00,395 Speaker 1: at the radio station would get to go backstage afterwards 663 00:45:00,595 --> 00:45:03,515 Speaker 1: and tape a brief ten or fifteen minute interview with 664 00:45:03,595 --> 00:45:06,995 Speaker 1: Robert Klein. Basic we paid We paid him not much, 665 00:45:06,995 --> 00:45:10,435 Speaker 1: but we paid him to do an interview. And when 666 00:45:10,475 --> 00:45:13,635 Speaker 1: my pal Andy Grossman and I get backstage to talk 667 00:45:13,675 --> 00:45:15,835 Speaker 1: to Robert Klein, and we have our two microphones and 668 00:45:15,835 --> 00:45:18,715 Speaker 1: two mic stands and three tape recorders, there is this guy, 669 00:45:19,435 --> 00:45:23,595 Speaker 1: this short guy, and he's yelling at the chief of 670 00:45:23,635 --> 00:45:27,235 Speaker 1: the Cornell Concert Commission, and he's yelling at Robert Klein's manager, 671 00:45:27,355 --> 00:45:29,315 Speaker 1: and he's demanding that he should get to interview Robert 672 00:45:29,355 --> 00:45:31,595 Speaker 1: Kline because like Klin. This kid says he is a 673 00:45:31,675 --> 00:45:34,755 Speaker 1: stand up comedian and he publishes the Cornell Humor magazine. 674 00:45:34,835 --> 00:45:36,835 Speaker 1: And he points at me and he says he should 675 00:45:36,875 --> 00:45:42,195 Speaker 1: get priority over these quote corporate sellouts from the Cornell 676 00:45:42,315 --> 00:45:50,315 Speaker 1: radio station. I hated him on site. Oh wait, I 677 00:45:50,435 --> 00:45:52,875 Speaker 1: say to him in nineteen seventy eight. And he's small 678 00:45:52,915 --> 00:45:55,795 Speaker 1: and he's got dirty, stringy hair, and he's loud, and 679 00:45:55,875 --> 00:45:59,675 Speaker 1: I say, you are the publisher of the Cornell Humor magazine, 680 00:45:59,715 --> 00:46:02,795 Speaker 1: the Cornell Widow And he snorts and says I would 681 00:46:02,915 --> 00:46:07,115 Speaker 1: get caught dead publishing, that corporate sellout Cornell Widow and 682 00:46:07,155 --> 00:46:09,635 Speaker 1: so I say, oh, so, then that means you're the 683 00:46:09,635 --> 00:46:13,595 Speaker 1: publisher of the Cornell alternative humor magazine, the Not So 684 00:46:13,755 --> 00:46:16,195 Speaker 1: Big Red or whatever it is they call it. He says, 685 00:46:16,395 --> 00:46:20,475 Speaker 1: no way, they're corporate sellouts. I publish this, and he 686 00:46:20,555 --> 00:46:24,555 Speaker 1: pulls out a stack of mimeograph pages stapled together and 687 00:46:24,635 --> 00:46:27,235 Speaker 1: there's like a drawing on the front of a naked 688 00:46:27,355 --> 00:46:33,355 Speaker 1: girl and handwritten it says it's his comedy magazine. And 689 00:46:33,435 --> 00:46:36,915 Speaker 1: I look at Robert Klein's manager and I say, so, 690 00:46:37,035 --> 00:46:40,115 Speaker 1: it's ten o'clock and if you leave now while this 691 00:46:40,155 --> 00:46:42,675 Speaker 1: idiot is screwing this up, the limo can still get 692 00:46:42,715 --> 00:46:46,435 Speaker 1: mister Klein to Elan's in the city before it closes, right, 693 00:46:46,835 --> 00:46:50,315 Speaker 1: And the manager is wildly impressed, you know of Elanes? 694 00:46:50,835 --> 00:46:53,795 Speaker 1: And I said yes, and I felt like an adult. 695 00:46:54,395 --> 00:46:56,715 Speaker 1: And I also said, if we give this guy five 696 00:46:56,715 --> 00:46:58,795 Speaker 1: minutes of our time right now while we're setting up 697 00:46:58,795 --> 00:47:00,635 Speaker 1: our tape recorders, can we still have ten minutes with 698 00:47:00,675 --> 00:47:03,835 Speaker 1: mister Klein. And the manager says, good plan. I like 699 00:47:03,875 --> 00:47:05,715 Speaker 1: the way you think, and he points to the kid 700 00:47:05,715 --> 00:47:09,155 Speaker 1: and gestures for him to come along. No, the kid shouts, 701 00:47:09,195 --> 00:47:12,275 Speaker 1: I want half an hour. These corporate sellouts deserve nothing. 702 00:47:13,835 --> 00:47:18,355 Speaker 1: And now I'm getting angry. I say, buddy, so far 703 00:47:18,555 --> 00:47:22,275 Speaker 1: all the corporations in the world have paid me about 704 00:47:22,315 --> 00:47:26,115 Speaker 1: a hundred bucks. So I threatened him. Now, mind you, 705 00:47:26,155 --> 00:47:28,835 Speaker 1: I believe this is literally true. Since nineteen sixty seven, 706 00:47:28,835 --> 00:47:30,515 Speaker 1: when I was eight years old, I have started two 707 00:47:30,555 --> 00:47:34,595 Speaker 1: fist fights, two in fifty five years. I am a 708 00:47:34,635 --> 00:47:38,395 Speaker 1: man of peace. I am loud, but I am a 709 00:47:38,475 --> 00:47:43,995 Speaker 1: man of peace. But I say to this guy, you 710 00:47:44,875 --> 00:47:48,515 Speaker 1: now have two choices. Kid, five minutes with Robert Klein 711 00:47:49,155 --> 00:47:52,915 Speaker 1: or I hit you in the face. And he runs 712 00:47:52,955 --> 00:47:55,235 Speaker 1: to where Klein's manager is still gesturing towards him, and 713 00:47:55,275 --> 00:47:59,235 Speaker 1: he screams corporate sell out, and he disappears to do 714 00:47:59,315 --> 00:48:03,355 Speaker 1: his interview, and behind him he leaves his little homemade 715 00:48:03,435 --> 00:48:06,755 Speaker 1: nimiograph ten or twelve page humor publication. And I pick 716 00:48:06,795 --> 00:48:10,395 Speaker 1: it up, and I read it and register it and 717 00:48:10,595 --> 00:48:13,835 Speaker 1: dismiss it before I leave the building. And if I 718 00:48:13,875 --> 00:48:16,235 Speaker 1: had only remembered what it said on the cover, all 719 00:48:16,355 --> 00:48:18,595 Speaker 1: the years of mystery and I was aware of him, 720 00:48:18,595 --> 00:48:20,995 Speaker 1: and all that would never have happened, because the cover 721 00:48:21,115 --> 00:48:26,835 Speaker 1: of the magazine read Bill Mars Comedy Magazine by Bill Maher, 722 00:48:28,595 --> 00:48:33,515 Speaker 1: and now back in well, technically this is correct, back 723 00:48:33,555 --> 00:48:36,435 Speaker 1: in real time at the party in the Hollywood studio 724 00:48:36,475 --> 00:48:39,035 Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine, the producer Scott Carter says nothing, 725 00:48:39,475 --> 00:48:42,195 Speaker 1: and Bill Maher is still doubled over in shame, and 726 00:48:42,275 --> 00:48:46,515 Speaker 1: I say, are you satisfied that I was aware of you? 727 00:48:47,035 --> 00:48:51,075 Speaker 1: And he mumbles yes. And I say, will you ever 728 00:48:51,235 --> 00:48:55,595 Speaker 1: question my memory again? And he mumbles no. And he 729 00:48:55,595 --> 00:48:58,555 Speaker 1: says if I need him to do my show or 730 00:48:58,595 --> 00:49:01,595 Speaker 1: a charity benefit or something, just call. And he says 731 00:49:01,635 --> 00:49:04,115 Speaker 1: he's ashamed, and he offers me his hand to shake, 732 00:49:04,155 --> 00:49:06,715 Speaker 1: and we shave can Finally, I say, and by the way, 733 00:49:06,755 --> 00:49:09,595 Speaker 1: Bill Maher, if Bill Maher's Comedy Magazine by Bill Maher, 734 00:49:10,035 --> 00:49:15,275 Speaker 1: are you a corporate sellout? And he says kind And 735 00:49:15,475 --> 00:49:30,875 Speaker 1: that's how I was aware of Bill Maher in college. 736 00:49:33,635 --> 00:49:35,435 Speaker 1: I've done all the damage I can do here. Thank 737 00:49:35,515 --> 00:49:37,675 Speaker 1: you for listening. Here are the credits. Most of the 738 00:49:37,795 --> 00:49:40,475 Speaker 1: music was arranged, produced, and performed by Brian Ray and 739 00:49:40,515 --> 00:49:43,635 Speaker 1: John Philip Channel, who are the Countdown musical directors. All 740 00:49:43,755 --> 00:49:47,355 Speaker 1: orchestration and keyboards by John Philip Channel. Guitars, bass, and 741 00:49:47,475 --> 00:49:50,995 Speaker 1: drums by Brian Ray, produced by t Ko Brothers. Other 742 00:49:51,035 --> 00:49:53,755 Speaker 1: Beethoven selections have been arranged and performed by the group 743 00:49:53,835 --> 00:49:56,915 Speaker 1: No Horns Allowed. The sports music when we have it, 744 00:49:56,955 --> 00:49:59,755 Speaker 1: of course, is the Olderman theme from ESPN two. It 745 00:49:59,795 --> 00:50:03,395 Speaker 1: was written by Mitch Warren Davis courtesy of ESPN, Inc. 746 00:50:04,795 --> 00:50:08,795 Speaker 1: Musical interludes courtesy of Nancy Fauss, the best baseball stadium 747 00:50:08,875 --> 00:50:12,955 Speaker 1: organist ever. Na. Everything else pretty much my fault. So 748 00:50:13,035 --> 00:50:15,075 Speaker 1: let's countdown for this the eight hundred and twenty sixth 749 00:50:15,115 --> 00:50:18,475 Speaker 1: day since Donald Trump's first attempted coup against the democratically 750 00:50:18,515 --> 00:50:22,275 Speaker 1: elected government of the United States. Don't forget. Keep arresting 751 00:50:22,355 --> 00:50:25,555 Speaker 1: him while we still can. The next scheduled countdown is 752 00:50:25,555 --> 00:50:28,995 Speaker 1: tomorrow until ben on Keith Alderman. Good Morning, good afternoon, goodnight, 753 00:50:29,315 --> 00:50:43,035 Speaker 1: and good luck. Countdown with Keith Olderman is a production 754 00:50:43,155 --> 00:50:48,475 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 755 00:50:48,555 --> 00:50:51,955 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.