The Nicole Sandler Show (Nicole Sandler)

Marcy Wheeler is on holiday and I'm still on the mend from a nasty case of Covid, but we managed a fascinating hour of conversation about everything from Hunter Biden's trials to Aileen Cannon's and the Supreme Court's assaults on democracy and lots in between. Read Marcy at emptywheel.net, and hear her at the end of each week here...

A bi of what's news for now

I'm back today, hopefully my voice will hold up for the hour.
I'm no longer testing positive for Covid, so I've got that going for me. Any my brain isn't as foggy as its been, so there's that too... But much news has transpired in the week and a half I've been gone, and I can't sit idly by.
And it is Thursday, so Howie Klein is here from downwithtyranny.com and the Blue America PAC...

It's that time of year again... open enrollment for Medicare and just a week away for the ACA. With your life on the line, it's important to know your options. So I'm thrilled that the health insurance industry whistleblower Wendell Potter returns to the show today to answer your questions and give you actual facts.
You should also be reading Wendell Potter's "Healthcare Un-Covered" newsletter by subscribing to healthcareuncovered.substack.com!

As we continue our week-long break from news and politics, we're dipping into my music radio archives for some special interviews. Today, we go back to 1995 for an interview with Colin Hay, former frontman of the band Men at Work. Then it's to 2000 with Melissa Etheridge.

Howie Klein is here today, as he is every Thursday. Last week we spent our entire time together talking music, so today I promise at least some news and politics. After all, where else can you get talk about RFK Jr's descent into another world and Marge Traitor Greene showing dic pics in an official House hearing? Oh there's more, and we'll get to a lot of it

A bit of what's news for now

As we lurch ever closer to X-Date - the day when the US government can no longer use extraordinary measures with our money to avoid hitting the ridiculous debt ceiling now appears to be coming on June 1 -- neither side is budging. It's been a few years since we've dealt with this unnecessary crisis, but because the Democrats control the White House but the House is controlled by a magaT contingent intent on blowing up the nation, many of us have been getting a bit nervous. Thankfully, The American Prospect [http://prospect.org/] today launched a new "X-Date: A Debt Ceiling Newsletter [https://prospect.org/economy/2023-05-03-x-date-debt-ceiling-newsletter/]" in which they promise to bring us the latest status, news and information about the issue until there's some resolution. Today, I'm joined by Ryan Cooper [http://twitter.com/ryanlcooper], managing editor of TAP, who'll give us a primer on the ridiculous obstacle and how we can get past it...

Rachel Bitecofer is a political scientist who doesn't mince words. Her new book, HIT 'EM WHERE IT HURTS: How to Save Democracy by Beating Republicans at Their Own Game is out and should be required reading for all of us concerned about the future of this American experiment. I'm excited that Rachel returns to the show today to teach us how to win!

t's a big day.. VP Kamala Harris announced her running mate this morning: Gov Tim Walz of Minnesota The two will appear at their first rally together in Philadelphia this afternoon during our live show. They're expected to speak at around 5:30ET (2:30 AZ time). So I'll keep an eye on the feed and pick it up to carry it live...

For the first part of the show, I'll be joined by David Daley. You'll recall his last book, RATFUCKED - he's been on the show a few times talking about why our votes don't count. Today, his new book hits shelves... ANTIDEMOCRATIC: INSIDE THE FAR RIGHT'S 50-YEAR PLOT TO CONTROL AMERICAN ELECTIONS. The perfect subject to discuss before we officially meet the President and Vice President we'll be working to get elected in November.

It's Friday! Although this was a short week, there was no shortage of news to discuss with Marcy Wheeler today...

The fall season of the Trump Trials has begun. Trump was in court this morning to appeal the verdict in the first E. Jean Carroll case. Yesterday Judge Chutkan issued her scheduling order for the next developments in Trump's Jan 6 trial. And unfortunately, while we were recording (we tape on Friday mornings due to the fact that Marcy is in Ireland and I'm in Arizona), the news broke that Judge Merchan will delay the sentencing in the Manhattan criminal case for which he was convicted in May of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal. The sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 18 will now happen on Nov. 26.

In other news that we discuss on today's show, AG Merrick Garland announced new charges in a new case alleging Russian interference in the 2024 presidential election, Hunter Biden pleads guilty in the tax case that was set to begin yesterday in a California courtroom, Liz Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris, and there was yet another school shooting...

Here we go....

Dayna Steele is one of my heroes. She moved on from a very successful career in rock radio to basically take on the world. If nothing else, hearing from Dayna today should give you some new inspiration that you can do anything you set your mind to. From rocking the Houston TX airwaves to authoring over a dozen books, running for Congress (now for a second time), to writing and mounting a dark comedy play about navigating her mother's battle with Alzheimer's (running in Palm Springs this March) to spending a year on the road with her husband #oneplanetoneyear. Seriously. Get ready to be inspired.

We're in the final stretch. I'll probably have a week or two more of new shows from here before I pack up my studio as the last room in the house before we move away. Leaving the formerly free, now fascist state of Florida for Arizona which is far from perfect, but they voted against the fascists! To join me in explaining the myriad of reasons we're outta here, I'm joined today by my old friend and fellow radio refugee Boca Brit Somers, and Florida state Representative Robin Bartleman. Thankfully some good reasonable people are staying behind to fight the good fight. But I'm getting the hell outta here....

We made it through another eventful week in the most insane decade of my life, and I'm old. We celebrate Fridays because the weekend is here, but not before we recap some of the news made during the week that's ending. It seems that each week these days is more outlandish than the one before, and this one is no different.

Among the news and stories that Emptywheel.net's Marcy Wheeler and I discussed today are the complete mess that is the Supreme Court. ProPublica this week confirmed and shared photographic proof that Justice Samuel Alito flew a second flag (this one at his NJ shore beach house) supporting Trump's insurrection and, this one specifically, Christian Nationalism. We discussed fascism and the staffer who reportedly posted the blatantly fascist "Reich" video to TFG's 'Truth Social' account. There was the lie told by Trump and his minions that the DOJ had an order to assassinate him during the execution of the search warrant at Mar A Lago, and we spent a few minutes talking about the "hush money" trial in NY where closing statements will be argued on Tuesday. The jury could get the case as soon as Wednesday. And, who knows? We might have a verdict by the time Marcy and I reconvene next Friday.

Oh, and of course we spoke about the circus surrounding Hunter Biden, whose second trial will get underway in Los Angeles in September.  The first one (on gun charges) will happen in Delaware in early June. Strap in...

Marcy is actually doing another podcast these days. She's working with the awesome Jason Statler (aka @LOLGOP) on a new podcast called Ball of Thread.  Follow the link for more info or to listen.

My first existential question is whether we, as a nation, are too broken. Our politics are broken. Our 'news' media is broken. Our ability to talk with one another is broken. Believe it or not, I'm not as depressed as I was yesterday (or the past few weeks), but that changes too... Journalist, columnist, author, podcaster, musician, dog lover, White House correspondent and Trump provocateur Brian Karem returns to talk about all of it on today's show...

He's baack! I've been a fan of Jonathan Larsen's before I knew his name. He worked behind the scenes on some TV shows you probably watched -- he helped create and launch Anderson Cooper 360 at CNN, worked on Countdown with Keith Olbermann for about five years, then created and ran Up with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Did I mention that he also worked at Air America Radio as Executive Producer of Morning Sedition with Marc Maron and The Rachel Maddow Show? Now you get it, right? Well, Jonathan Larsen just relaunched his daily irreverent news roundup, The Fucking News. (Subscribe at thefuckingnews.substack.com). He'll join us today for the first of what I hope will be a regular segment on the show because we all need the fucking news delivered with the attitude it deserves!

The Democratic circular firing squad continues and TFG keeps proving HE'S the one with mental issues we should be truly concerned about. I talk about Opposite World all the time. We're stuck there.
Today we're joined by Heather "Digby" Parton - one of the smartest and most sensible people I know who you should be reading regularly at digbysblog.net and salon.com

I had planned on carrying President Biden's press conference today. It was scheduled to start at 5:30 ET, right in the middle of our show. But then they pushed it back an hour. Ugh....

We'll still watch, and discuss that tomorrow with Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net.

Here in Floriduh, the gubmint, under the authoritarian rule of Rhonda Santis, is trying its hardest to rewrite our history and take their fabricated stories to our schools. It's happening right in front of us, and no one is stopping them. And it's not only here. It's happening in other states, coincidentally all states controlled by Republicans. Why are they afraid of history? I guess the same reason they're afraid of science. Boy do I have a story to tell about that one, but I digress.  Today, we'll speak with a man who was a Vietnam war "draft dodger". When I speak with Bob Zaugh on the show today, you'll understand why I put that term in quotation marks. The thing you should understand as a starting point for today's interview is that young people today have no idea about the Vietnam War... or the protest movement that grew from it, or anything else for that matter. He has a big story to tell, one that isn't being taught in schools.  There is some news to tell you about... we'll begin the show that way.  And I will be gone for the next week, taking time off after surgery on Monday. BUT if there is big breaking news next week, I will jump in with a special report. Stay tuned!

Howie Klein is a fascinating man. We first met some 30+ years ago. At the time, I was doing music radio in Los Angeles and Howie was President of Reprise Records.  When he saw the writing on the wall ahead of the AOL/Time Warner merger in 2000, he took the payout and got out just before everything started going to shit.   Howie quickly pivoted and turned his energies toward electing progressives to office. He began blogging at DownWithTyranny.com, and formed the Blue America PAC with other progressive bloggers Digby and John Amato. And they're all still going strong.  When I moved from music radio to progressive talk, Howie quickly became a regular guest, eventually joining me weekly. We've been at it for well over a dozen years already. You'd think we'd run out of things to talk about. But sadly, the state of politics today insures that we'll never be at a loss for topics - and politicians - about which to talk.  Today, aside from wherever the conversation takes us, I'll definitely ask Howie about Dianne Feinstein. Howie lived in San Francisco back in the day and was friendly with Harvey Milk. I've heard that Harvey shared his private feelings about the former Mayor of SF, now the sickliest senator in Congress who refuses to stay home...

So the court ended this term with a bang that blasted us back to the Middle Ages. My favorite legal expert Lisa Graves [https://truenorthresearch.org/lisa-graves/] returns today to help us understand exactly what happened and what freedoms of ours are at stake next. What a way to start the 4th of July holiday weekend, huh? Is there much left to celebrate?

Well, they sure took their sweet time to stick a dagger in the heart of democracy and now the Supreme Extreme Court is dragging it's feet before it strikes the death blow. Rather than immediately put us out of (or increase our) misery quickly (like they did in Bush v Gore 2000), they're draaagggging it out another six long weeks. Yes, the court will hear TFG's bullshit case where he's claiming "absolute immunity" for his actions related to the January 6 insurrection that he led! It took the court three weeks just to say they would hear the case (also a horrendous decision), and now they're obviously delaying hearing the case. One can only assume it's to help their dear leader, the twice impeached, orange tinted, failed former occupant of the White House. To add insult to injury, Clarence Thomas - who never should have been confirmed in the first place - refuses to recuse himself, despite overwhelming evidence that his wife, Ginni Thomas, not only participated in the planning of the Jan 6 coup attempt, but was a major instigator and funder of the whole mess. To help us understand this and how the laws have been so perverted, LISA GRAVES returns to the show. Lisa is executive director of True North Research, which investigates and exposes those distorting American democracy and public policy. She then went on to helm the Center for Media and Democracy, the group who gave us ALEC Exposed and who took on and publicly exposed the Koch Brothers. Previously, Graves was Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Office of Legal Policy/Policy Development and served as Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for Senator Patrick Leahy.

The Republicans always go back to the teleprompter. They claim that Joe Biden can't speak without one, but won't admit that they use them too. And when they fail? They got nothing. Seriously. The first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee was replete with Teleprompter troubles. We'll share a few laughs at their expense,.

And because the media rarely shows a Joe Biden rally or speech, we will! President Biden is set to speak to an NAACP conference in Las Vegas while we're on the air, so we'll carry the feed (finally found one that had decent sound, though it took a few tries).

Also, I promised a link to the new expose that Lisa Graves' organization True North Research has been working on. It's called Project 2025 Administration. She'll be here Thursday to tell us all about it, but in the meantime, you can read some of it for yourself!

Primary Night Coverage isn't going to win any awards for suspense! The networks called it for Trump just moments after the polls closed in New Hampshire last night. And despite pronouncements to the contrary by the idiots at Fox, they called the Democratic primary for Joe Biden shortly after, even though his name wasn't on the ballot thanks to some DNC nonsense. Yawn. Until Trump is convicted, it'll continue like this. Then, all bets are off.

Today's the big day! The Fascist Florida Man Ronald DeSantis is officially declaring his candidacy for president in 2024 this evening. We knew it was coming; we just didn't know where, exactly when or how he'd do it, but now we do, and it's par for the ridiculous course that is this authoritarian Trump-in-training. You could almost hear the jeering and laughs accompanying the announcement that the big campaign kick-off event would take place on Twitter with one of the few people on the planet who's as big a laughingstock as is the FFM (fascist Florida man) and TFG (the former guy) -- Elmo, er, Elon Musk. I know, you're thinking "on Twitter? Huh?" But wait, it's even better... it'll be in a Twitter SPACES. Say it with me now, a Twitter WHAT? Twitter Spaces is akin to a party line! As telephones were just being introduced, many people shared the same line... so if you picked up the phone to make a call, you might have to wait until another call finished... or you could just join in. "Spaces" are audio-only group calls. I know what they are, though I've never actually participated in one, and can't understand how a serious presidential candidate would ever launch their campaign in this manner. Then again, nothing about DeSantis is serious except for his quest to be a dictator. So, DeSantis makes it official tonight, on the first anniversary of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, so I thought I'd combine both occasions for today's show because they are absolutely related. Stay tuned and find out how...

We watched it so you didn't have to. Yes, I suffered through the entire two hours last night, though it wasn't easy. I was ready to bolt before the first question was even asked, for good reason. I'll explain and share some of the moments that had me almost throw my phone through the TV screen! Then we'll get Howie Klein [http://downwithtyranny.com/] on the line. I really didn't expect him to watch the spectacle, but I guess it's like that train wreck you can't turn away from. But I was watching his feed on Xitter pronounced Shitter and he was all over it. So we'll certainly talk about the shit show that it was. And of course, tonight's the night TFG surrenders to the Fulton County jail, gets mug-shotted and finger printed and whatever other indignities happen to people who break numerous laws. Bring on the mug shot!! PS Well, I couldn't get hold of Howie. My calls went to voicemail (once I got the phone to work). He said he could hear me but I couldn't hear him. I have no idea what happened other than the fact that Mercury went retrograde again yesterday! Of course it did....

I'm sorry I've been MIA all week, but I've been really sick. I'll give a brief update today, but I'm still not well enough to come back. And it pains me (sorry for the pun) to say there's no Emptywheel Friday episode today. I really had hoped to feel good enough enough to do the show, but I need the rest.

So we'll go back to August 7 of 2020. The Meidas Touch was just starting out with some really creative videos that caught my eye. So I figured today would be a good day to re-live those early moments of the now media empire (that really should put this show on their network... just a thought!)

The Philadelphia Inquirer' [http://inquirer.com/bunch]s Will Bunch [http://twitter.com/Will_Bunch]joins us today. I invited him on after reading his column about the death of Henry Kissinger and how the man who finally died would have likely applauded MSNBC firing Mehdi Hasan. Selfishly, I want to point out that Mehdi's not the only one who had a show canceled because management (or some other entity) didn't like his stance or coverage of the war between Hamas & Israel... But there's more news to talk about including Liz Cheney's revelations in her new book, Tommy Tuberville finally lifting his military promotions blockade, the Republican's impeachment threat, the Trump second term threat... I could go on, but I've got a show to prepare for.

Another Monday has arrived and the outlook is much rosier than in recent weeks. Needless to say, there's lots to discuss.

And it's Monday, so Jonathan Larsen of The Fucking News (thefuckingnews.substack.com) joins in for the second half hour of the show. We'll venture into the world of the weird, which we acknowledge that there are different strains of weird... Some weird is good, while some is just, well, weird.... creepily weird. (Did someone say Don-Old Trump and JD Vance - or what ever variation on that name he might be using today?)

August 17, 2021 was the day after President Biden pulled the last troops from Afghanistan, finally ending our longest war. It was an ugly end to an ugly war, and we dealt with it on the show that day.

It was also the 52nd anniversary of the last day of Woodstock, billed as three days of Peace and Music. I was joined by Melanie for a treat of an interview. I'm sharing it today to honor the woman who passed away just about a week ago.

How do you make Fridays better than they already are? By listening to and learning from Marcy Wheeler [http://emptywheel.net/]. She covers much of the way things work (or don't) here in the US from her home in Limerick, Ireland. But whether she's in Michigan or Ireland, Marcy has her fingers on the news and what's happening on this side of the pond. Today, it's more debunking of the chaos caucus in the House and their almost keystone cop-like vendetta against Hunter Biden. Plus the Trump trials, both in progress and coming soon, election results, Bill Barr's complicity and a whole lot more. As usual, you might want a pen and paper handy to take notes. Marcy does it all off the top of her head. I just watch and listen in amazement.... Apologies to those watching the live stream on YouTube today. We were having problems there, but the video was fine on Facebook, Twitch and even Xitter. And the audio was good too. So I'll put this one off on YouTube, and will embed the Xitter stream, should you care to watch.

We witnessed history yesterday, and it streamed live right here. As our regular hour together was just finishing up yesterday, VP Kamala Harris and MN Gov Tim Walz took the stage at a massive rally in Philadelphia PA in their new roles as Democratic nominee for President introducing for the first time her running mate. It was magical. And we're just getting started. We'll begin the show by reflecting on this amazing moment! At the bottom of the hour we'll be joined by my old friend Jason Leopold, the FOIA Master! He needs our help in decoding some of the newest documents he got thanks to one of hundreds of his FOIA requests. And I have a few questions for him too about the plea deal with KSM and two other 9-11 terrorists still being held at Guantanamo Bay... and the sudden and very quick revoking of the deal by Sec of Defense Lloyd Austin...

She is the OG of the progressive blogosphere. Heather Parton, known to her readers as Digby, began blogging at her Hullabaloo blog (now at digbysblog.net) back around the turn of the century. Truly.... And here we are today -- not only in Opposite World, but also in the Surreal World. We'll talk about Trump on trial and the rest of the absurd news of the day that illustrates just how completely screwed we are!

I was looking forward to a quiet Thursday in which I could talk with Howie Klein [http://downwithtyranny.com/] about the travesty of ticket prices for live concerts on the day after a new Bruce Springsteen tour's start. I'll likely miss my first Bruce tour since 1980's The River due to Ticketmaster's "dynamic" and exorbitant prices. But we have politics to talk about... The racist, bigoted Republican party that has a majority in the House of Representatives today ignored the racists, bigots and criminals in their caucus, but booted Rep. Ilhan Omar from her place on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, calling her anti-Semitic. (Cue the Opposite World sounder here) But that's not all... Some members of the House Democratic caucus (109 of them to be specific), went along with the Republicans' gaslighting, and voted with them in favor of a resolution from magats Maria Elvira Salazar and Steve Scalise condemning the "HORRORS of socialism". Seriously? So, music will have to wait until next week.... And, sometime in the first half-hour, we'll likely hear from Randi Weingarten [http://twitter.com/rweingarten], president of the American Federation of Teachers [http://aft.org/] to ask her how they're dealing with the fascist assault on education that 's taking hold here in Florida, with the other fascists states looking to DeSantis for guidance...

A bit of what's news for now

It's Thursday, and since I tear down my studio after tomorrow's show for the move, this is the last time I'll speak with Howie Klein for a few weeks. Today, he brings along Maebe A. Girl [http://maebeagirlforcongress.org/], a Blue America-endorsed candidate who's running to replace Adam Schiff in the House. Schiff is, of course, running for Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat, leaving his congressional seat up for grabs. It also happens to be the district where Howie Klein lives, so this one is personal for him.

It's Tuesday, and I don't think any former president is getting arrested today. So we jump back into the archives to see what happened this week in years gone by. Today we go back to March 23, 2010 - thirteen years ago. ACORN had been targeted by the twerp we've come to know and loathe as James O'Keefe. Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com covered the story better than most, so he joined me that night -- that day ACORN shut down.

Sometimes things happen for a reason. Digby was scheduled to be here on Friday, but due to technical problems beyond my control (Grrr Microsoft update), I opted to take the day off. Well, Digby is here today, and I'm kind of glad I blew her off on Friday because we have so much more to talk about today! We learned this morning that on Sunday evening, the former guy received a target letter from Jack Smith informing Trump that he was a target of the Jan 6 investigation. Boom! Interesting timing, as this comes as the New York Times published a stunning story about Trump and the Republican party's plans to go all in on a unitary executive (think dictatorship along the lines of Orban, Erdogan and Putin) should they take back the White House in 2024.

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which comes on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camps. Leon Schagrin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Schagrin] was there. He was an 18-year old man, weighing all of 80 pounds, on this day back in 1945 when the Soviet army came through and liberated the prisoners. Leon was just 12 or 13 when the Nazis invaded his homeland of Poland and his long holocaust nightmare began. That he lived to tell about it is a miracle. Leon settled down in South Florida, where he and his wife would spend many Passover dinners at a neighbor's welcoming table. The neighbors happened to be the in-laws of someone with whom I went to high school, many years ago. It turns out that my old friend Stephen Shooster [https://www.shoostyandco.com/] wrote Leon's story. It's immortalized in a book titled THE HORSE ADJUTANT: HOW ONE YOUNG BOY SURVIVED THE HOLOCAUST. [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-horse-adjutant-a-boy-s-life-in-the-nazi-holocaust-leon-schagrin/9356117?ean=9780983031918] Leon is now 96 years and still tells his story, as it's one directive among the Jewish people -- Never forget, never again. So, today, I'm joined by both my old high school friend Stephen Shooster and holocaust survivor Leon Schagrin. Never forget. Never again.

We've had non-stop guests and lots of news recently, so I thought we'd take the day to catch up and talk. Phone lines are open for you to weigh in on anything we've been talking about... from the Extreme Supreme Court, Trump Trials, College protests, Israel-Hamas, or anything else on your mind.

Dysfunction in the House, dysfunction in the media, dysfunction in the world. That's our current reality. We'll talk about all of it today. No guest, but I welcome your calls on any of it. 954-889-6410 or Skype to nicolesandler.  I welcome respectful commenters who disagree with me. I don't welcome people who think they know what happened and is happening with no proof of any of it. So, bring it on!  5-6pm ET/ 2-3 PT for the live show. Watch and comment in the comment section any time.

Like death and taxes, there's no stopping Mondays. They come every week whether we want them or not. But there's a silver lining... we get The Fucking News every Monday from Jonathan Larsen who writes the fucking news every fucking day... Then again, there are some weeks when there's good fucking news, like Trump being convicted and like Mexico electing its first woman President -- a Jewish woman at that! But don't fear newsfuckers, there's some fucked-up news to talk about too...

President Joe Biden owned TFG this morning when he issued his challenge for not just one, but TWO debates to happen in June and September. Surprisingly, TFG agreed...BUT then, true to form, he lied about a THIRD debate, hosted by Fox (NOT) News, saying he accepted that one too. But, true to form, he made it up. A third debate and especially one hosted by FOX was NEVER on the table. The poor schmuck just can't abide by anyone else's rules. Yesterday, Digby told me that the sycophants who are still cult members aren't even denying that TFG wears diapers. They've embraced it. And today I saw lots of evidence of that, which I'll share. You know that, if there was ever even an accusation that President Biden was suffering from fecal incontinence, the ridicule would never end. But for the orange turd they embrace the anal leakage (and, I guess, the reported stench that accompanies it). Now that you have that mental picture... We have a show today, but no guest. So we'll talk about the news and whatever is on our collective minds. The phone lines are open at 954-889-6410. If we get through all my stuff and you aren't calling in, I have an interview cued up from last summer when I spoke with the artist I'm going to see on Friday night, Michael Franti. At a time like we're living through right now, we could all use a shot of positivity. So I'm happy to replay that one... unless you have something more important we should discuss?

A bit of what's news for now

As regular listeners of this show know, I started undergoing Ketamine therapy to treat depression. I promised I'd keep you all posted on the progress as well as the experience. Today I'm going to share my most recent session. I run an audio recorded as I rarely remember much if anything from each treatment afterwards. This one was wild! We'll also have a visit from my husband, David Sloane [http://twitter.com/davidmsloane]. He spent his whole career as an agent representing Major League Baseball players [http://taurussports.net/]. We finally got him to sit down and create a podcast! So today, we'll introduce the "Follow the Moneyball" Podcast [http://zencastr.com/follow-the-money-ball]. (You can subscribe there or simply listen right from the site) And we'll begin with the latest news (as of this writing, still no word on a grand jury vote or third indictment for the former guy, but we are expecting it any minute now....)

A bit of what's news for now

We missed Howie last week due to a power outage thanks to the crazy rains that have drenched Southern California for the past few weeks, but he's back today. I'm not sure where to begin, as so much has happened since we last spoke.  Kevin McCarthy is Speaker, only because he sold the position to the MAGAt crowd. The proof is in who's on which committee. Let's just say, looking at Oversight, the foxes are now guarding the henhouse... or the insurrectionists are taking over control of the January 6 committee. Before we get to Howie though, I have a bone to pick with Congressman Eric Swalwell that we must deal with...

I always look forward to Fridays for the obvious reasons: the weekend and Marcy Wheeler! Emptywheel.net's Marcy Wheeler and I have a standing date every Friday to discuss the week's happenings in Trump Trial and other national security and other news of importance. Today we speak on the morning after President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, likely the last time before the convention that he'll have the opportunity to speak to the nation and the world. My quick review? He hit it out of the park, exactly what we needed at this juncture. Marcy Wheeler is a self described SOTU fan, so we begin with her thoughts on what happened last night. Of course, we'll also bring you the latest news in insurrectionists, the extreme court, and lots of other somewhat related news to complete the hour. But today is SOTU Bonus day. After Marcy leaves, we'll go into overtime!

Marcy Wheeler reports the important news daily at emptywheel.net. She joins me on Friday's to recap what the highlights (and lowlights) from the week. Today, the latest Comer farce impeachment inquiry hearings and the various pending cases against him. Plus NBC News' latest hire and more...

It is finally Friday. There's a slew o' news, as usual, and I'll run down a bunch of it. We'll also visit with Cody Cassidy [http://twitter.com/codycassidy], author of the new book, HOW TO SURVIVE HISTORY: HOW TO OUTRUN A TYRANNOSAURUS, ESCAPE POMPEII, GET OFF THE TITANIC, AND SURVIVE THE REST OF HISTORY'S DEADLIEST CATASTROPHES. [https://bookshop.org/a/1630/9780143136408] We'll find out if he has the answer to the 64 million dollar question: How to survive the Trump years? Nom Nom: Try Nom Nom today, go to trynom.com/sentbynicole [https://www.trynom.com/sentbynicole] and get 50% off your first order plus free shipping.

Every Friday, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins Nicole Sandler to recap and discuss the week's news. Today, that includes the $10 million transfer from Egypt to Donald Trump in 2017, the huge prisoner swap that President Biden was negotiating while sick with Covid and the media was declaring him too old to do his job, and lots more.

The blurb I posted on the live video stream today read

I watched two speeches from Washington DC yesterday. One that shouldn't have happened, and one that should (though the way we got there is troublesome). One brought out the best of America; the other, the worst. We'll discuss both of them today and more news of the day.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), I didn't comment on the quite offensive missive from Netanyahu because I spent that time railing against a regular listener who made a ridiculous comment in the chat telling me (somewhat paraphrasing) that I'm often balanced but too often say that Israel can do no wrong.

I responded that he obviously doesn't listen closely, and went off on him. One thing that sets me off like little else is ascribing words or feelings to me that I never said and don't feel.

Here's what I wrote on social media after watching that travesty of a speech that SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN from the US Capitol or on US soil

Watching the war criminal Netanyahu speechify in the US Capitol, and it's making me sick. Those words are difficult to write because I am Jewish, believe that Israel has a right to exist and defend itself. However.... Bibi- you had advance knowledge of 10-7 attacks yet the attacks still happened. Innocent ppl slaughtered with no help for HOURS. What's with the propaganda you're spewing? This is offensiveBibi celebrating the IDF- not for protecting Israelis on 10/7 (THEY DIDN'T) but for horrific slaughter of (mostly) innocent Palestinians in Gaza. I'm Jewish & support Israel's right to exist, defend itself. This isn't defense, it's doing what you claim to abhorThis speech is inappropriate in the US Capitol. The response of too many of these MoC are as offensive as is this speech. And I also reject Rashida Tlaib's blatant ugliness. Neither side is being represented fairly. It's all sickeningThat being said, I shared President Biden's speech -- but instead of playing back the video and audio, I read the text. Hearing it made me sad because, which Joe Biden has never been a strong orator, it's clear listening to him that he made the right move in pulling out of the race. He just doesn't have the strength for this campaign. He is, after all, 81.  But the words he delivered were magnificent and deserve to be heard. I also went off on MSNBC and Elise Jordan's "focus group" segment in which she led the people with the question "Who is to blame for Joe Biden being in office in his condition?  What condition is that Elise? MSNBC? And people wonder how we got here? JFC, it's journalistic malpractice.

Heather "Digby" Parton joins me on the show today as summer is unofficially over. Congress returns to work, though in this world that's not necessarily a good thing... Here we go!

The first day back after a long holiday weekend is always tough. But here we are. News was made while America was using the day set aside to remember those lost in battle to buy mattresses and gorge themselves on food and beer. OK, I'm over-generalizing, but we really do need to step back and assess our priorities from time to time. And this would be a good time to do that. With the debt ceiling negotiations ongoing as the holiday weekend began, I was taken aback that the so-called cable news channel MSNBC opted to run the Rudy Giuliani story on repeat Monday afternoon into evening instead of offering some semblance of news, but that would be asking too much. (I guess they all had mattresses to buy or steaks to grill or something...) Today, I was happy to receive Will Bunch's newsletter [http://inquirer.com/bunch]. Will Bunch [http://twitter.com/will_bunch]is a national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and, thankfully, in today's edition, he gave a good roundup of what transpired while America was celebrating all of our war dead... or something. So, after I start the show by lamenting that my town suffered yet another mass shooting (when will it ever end?!?) and share a few other thoughts, I'll welcome Will Bunch back to the show and let him tell you what the media missed about the laughing stock that was the fascist Florida man's ridiculous presidential campaign launch and more! At the start of the show, I mentioned an article I wrote encouraging the rest of the world to issue travel advisories against vacationing here due to danger from guns, and it's finally happening, 10 years later! Here's the original column. [https://nicolesandler.com/travel-advisory-the-united-states-is-not-safe/]

Today marks 20 years since the US under George W Bush invaded Iraq. Today we mark that occasion by reaching into my radio archives. Today we hear a conversation with then-Congressman Dennis Kucinich and a production piece I put together both from May 20, 2009, and an interview with Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan from May 20, 2015.  We end on a peaceful note, with a 1996 performance and interview with musician Keb' Mo'...

Howie Klein  of ⁠Down With Tyranny⁠ took off for a few weeks over the holidays, and then another couple to battle Covid. Thankfully he's back today in time to tell us about TFG's latest troubles, about Matt Gaetz's resurrected troubles, about the impending blue wave and whatever else we have time for. (Awesome artwork courtesy of Down With Tyranny's official artist Nancy Ohanian)

It's Friday, time for our weekly get-together with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net for a discussion of the week's news and ongoing media malpractice.

Today, we discuss President Biden's solo press conference last night at the end of the NATO 75th anniversary summit, and the mainstream media's apparent missive to hand the election over to the fascists unless we can stop the circular firing squad and doomsayers.

Today is National Voter Registration Day, so I'll help you remember to check your registration! Actor and all-around talented guy Jason Kravits joins in to talk about his Schoolhouse Rock-inspired video about Project 2025 (and more), and we'll get a primer on how to stop voter harassment and intimidation at the polls from the people at Vote, Run, Lead Action.

We're covering a lot of ground today. First, we must deal with the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. My initial impression upon hearing that the government would make all depositors whole despite FDIC only covering up to $250k was to go ballistic. Again with the billionaire and banker bailouts while the little guy like you and me gets screwed - and most definitely not in a good way? Well, that's not necessarily what's happening. Writer Dave Johnson [http://twitter.com/dcjohnson] lives in Silicon Valley and just posted to a listserv we're both on, "I live a few blocks from Atherton where many of the libertarian Silicon Valley VC and types live. When I open my door I can hear screams for government bailouts from my house. They started this morning and it's getting so bad I have to wear earplugs when I go for a walk." We'll find out if he was kidding or not, and what is really happening here at the beginning of the show. Then it's time for Drag Queen Storytime Gone Wild!  Well, Spencer Brown and Jeff Manabat, better known as The Kinsey Sicks [http://kinseysicks.com/]members Trampolina and Trixie will join us. The Kinsey Sicks just started a month-long run of performances of their new show, "Drag Queen Storytime Gone Wild!" Yes we'll have some fun, but we'll also talk about the horrible attacks on shows like their and the giant leap backwards being attempted by too many authoritarian Republicans in this country today. Now go check out their YouTube channel [https://www.youtube.com/user/kinseysicks]. So many videos to watch, so little time!

It's Friday Eve...  Howie Klein is here. We talk politics, as he runs the Blue America PAC and writes a lot at DownWithTyranny.com. But we also often talk music. Before Howie went into progressive politics full-time, he was in the music industry. I met him probably close to 30 years ago when I was doing music radio in Los Angeles and Howie was president of Reprise Records! When politics gets too toxic we have somewhere else to go!  Today, I'll tell you about what I didn't have time for yesterday, and that's the secret about credit cards and usurious interest rates they're charging. I did some research and I'll tell you which cards to use, if you must... Also, it appears that the actors are the next group to go on strike and join the WGA. I reached out to an old friend yesterday who happens to be on the Executive Board of SAG/AFTRA. You might remember David Jolliffe (if you're an old fart like me) from when he played Bernie on the early 70s show ROOM 222.  He'll join us one day next week to fill us in on the behind-the-scenes stuff. But I'll share some of our back and forth with you today.

A bit of what's news for now

I'm hoping by the time today's episode airs, we'll have gotten to AZ, found a house to rent and moved in enough for me to get some kind of studio up and running to come back live on Monday, though that's not guaranteed. Either way, I'll keep you updated on my schedule at nicolesandler.com The final show I've prepared for these three weeks gives us another musical break. Jackson Browne, one of my all-time favorite artists, joined me in the studio at Southern California's Finest Rock, KSCA fm101.9 back on Sept 13, 1996. He brought a keyboard and a bunch of guitars and used most of them. What a magical session! To fill out the hour, a brief session with Lowen & Navarro. Dan Navarro is a dear friend, and was on the show just a few weeks ago, updating us on the SAG/AFTRA strike, as he sits on the executive board in Los Angeles. This quick session was from Dec 10, 1999, during our holiday toy drive.

A bit of what's news for now

Another week is winding down and, as we do each Friday, Marcy Wheeler and I stick a fork in it with a freewheeling discussion of what happened.

Today we begin with the release of Jack Smith's appendices to his filing that TFG fought but failed to prevent. Despite the corporate media's best efforts to prolong the horse race and their refusal to just report the facts and tell the truth, a few moments that could clarify actual truths were able to penetrate the barrage of right wing propaganda. The probing questions were asked by concerned citizens, not from members of the fourth estate who've been negligent in their duties...

And yes, we will touch on the big news out of the horrific situation in the Middle East. Yesterday came confirmation that the Israeli Defense Forces had killed Hamas leader and 10/7 architect Yahya Sinwar. The question here is can this please be the thing that will garner the release of the remaining hostages and start the peace process? Please?

It's Thursday, so I'm joined today by Howie Klein [http://twitter.com/downwithtyranny]. We've been doing this segment for about a dozen years now. Howie writes at DownWithTyranny.com [http://downwithtyranny.com/] and runs with Blue America PAC [http://downwithtyranny.com/blue-america-PAC], finding and promoting the best progressive candidates up and down the ballot. When we get together on Thursdays, pretty much anything goes, so you're as likely to hear a story from Howie's years in the music industry as you are about the evils of yet another fascist Republican...

Eli Merritt [http://elimerritt.com/] is a political historian, and an MD and psychiatrist. At Vanderbilt University, he's served as a professor and visiting scholar in three departments: History, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society. He's written and/or edited a few books, including the newly released HOW TO SAVE DEMOCRACY: INSPIRATION AND ADVICE FROM 95 WORLD LEADERS [https://bookshop.org/a/1630/9798987295229]. He's our guest today. Given his wealth of areas of expertise, I have lots of questions for him. Perhaps we will get the answer to the question of how to save democracy! And we'll share some listener mail too.. it's been a while!

Florida's  fascist excuse for a governor has vilified the woman who  tried to tell the truth about the number of covid infections in the  state of Florida for two years now. Rebekah Jones was fired from her  job, slandered, her home raided and guns were pulled on her young  children. A concerted smear campaign was mounted against her, to the  point where people who should know better are echoing the smears without  any proof. I invited Rebekah to join us, and she's scheduled to do that today.  I believe nothing from either Ron DeSantis or Matt Gaetz, and thought it  was important to hear Rebekah's story from her, and let her explain  what led to this mess...

It's a Thursday, so we have a date with Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny & the Blue America PAC. It's not like there's a shortage of things to discuss... in fact, too much news for a one-hour show. There was the SCOTUS hearing this morning on Trump's ridiculous concept of absolute immunity (but there are some ridiculous people sitting on that extreme bench these days), the were 3 members of the AZ Republican House voting with all the Dems to kill the 1864 abortion ban (now goes to the senate and then the governor?). The FCC restored Net Neutrality rules killed by TFG's administration, and the FTC said no more airline junk fees. Of course TFG is still nodding off in a Manhattan courtroom where his first of four criminal cases against him is being heard. But Howie asked me an important question this week that I never answered, and the "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame" class of 2024 was announced, and I think they need to change its name to the Popular Music Hall of Fame.

I'm a baby boomer.   I know that's not necessarily a good thing to publicly announce, but I'm not about to start lying about my age now. That said, I am among the last of the Boomers, having been born in November of 1959.  If you wonder why it matters, you probably should read THE AFTERMATH: THE LAST DAYS OF THE BABY BOOM AND THE FUTURE OF POWER IN AMERICA, the new book from Washington Post columnist Philip Bump. He's today's guest, and I'm looking forward to a fascinating conversation.  Hopefully the gremlins have been exorcised from this studio.  Yesterday was a rough day, not only due to the myriad of technical issues that doomed the show, but it was also the 5th anniversary of the Parkland shooting (my community), and I'm still processing the news of the death of a member of our community here at the show, Joy Williams. And the shooting at Michigan State, and it just never ends...  But today, we'll go boom.... Baby Boom, that is.

Last week, a video of my friend and former colleague Jim DeFede questioning a Republican member of Congress from South Florida went viral. I'm happy his regular diligence in reporting was recognized and praised so widely!

Jim DeFede is the last Florida guest I had on the show before leaving the fascist state. I thought I'd share that program today...

Friday evening, just an hour or two after this show featuring a conversation with Leon Schagrin, an actual survivor of the Holocaust who was liberated at Auschwitz 78 years earlier, we saw the video of a group of police officers beat an innocent young man to death. Whether at a concentration camp in Germany under the orders of Hitler, or on the streets of the United States, we have witnessed the seeming unlimited capacity for cruelty that one human can inflict on others.   I still had Leon's words swimming around in my mind, having a tough time reconciling the stories he told with this lovely old man talking with us over Zoom, unable to comprehend that level of brutality, savagery, of sadism, and thinking about how important it is that people listen to that interview. We must share the stories of Leon and the other survivors, and pass them down to future generations to insure that nothing like this ever happens again.  But atrocities like those that emanated from Hitler and his followers do continue in places and sizes and permutations that civilized minds can't comprehend, and occasionally the tormentors, torturers and murderers are caught in the act. And that's what we witnessed Friday night when the video of the gruesome, horrific beating of Tyre Nichols was released.  As this is our first gathering since we saw those images we can now never un-see, I thought we should open the phones and talk about it. 954-889-6410 is the number (or you can Skype in to nicolesandler).  Meanwhile, in another corner of the unthinkable, mass shootings are back in the news and in our peripheral vision again. So of course, the fascist governor of the state of FloriDUH takes this opportunity to push for no-permit needed open carrying of weapons. Yes, that was introduced today in Florida's legislature. I'll talk with Samantha Barrios, the new Florida state director of Giffords.org, the organization founded by former Rep Gabby Giffords and her husband Sen. Mark Kelly to combat our big problems with guns.

Three years ago, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell accepted my invitation to come on my show and talk about his assertion that he is a socialist, among other things...

We love Fridays around here for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is we get to review the week in Trump trials and tribulations with Marcy 'Emptywheel' Wheeler, the proprietor and independent journalist who shares her work with us at emptywheel.net. This was a ridiculously busy week with hearings and trials and more hearings Oh My. Because there was so much going on, we have a jam-packed hour filled with information and analysis from Marcy and we get to marvel at how much information she has and is able to reveal off the top of her mind. And since it's now the weekend, you have a few days to absorb it all before we hit the ground running again.

There's so much news dominated by the tragedy that is Donald J Trump. Just a glance at the headlines shows the news media can't quit him. They report on every cringy thing he says and does, somehow normalizing his anything-but-normal behavior.  At least he skipped today's third day of the second E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit against the former guy after being smacked down by the judge yesterday, so we're spared his antics there. But I'm sure we'll see more nonsensical clips from his rambling campaign speeches because, well, as I said before, they can't quit him.

We're in the home stretch of 2023. In addition to the usual holiday fare, this time of year brings with it hopes and dreams and wishes for a better future. All of those elements made it into Brian Karem's column at Salon.com [https://www.salon.com/2023/12/14/the-speech-joe-biden-should-give--and-we-need-to-hear/] last week in the form of a dream about a presidential speech. I enjoy Brian Karem [http://twitter.com/briankarem]'s writing style, and actually heard that speech as I read it. So I thought I'd invite him on one last time before the calendar changes to tell us about his dream speech (and maybe even deliver a few lines from it), and put it into context - that's the scary part. Before Brian comes on, a few thoughts on the news that broke during yesterday's show about the death of LA radio icon Jim Ladd. Talk about mortality banging on the door... this one hit close to home.

Now that we know the extent of the charges pending against the former guy, it was time to call on Marcy 'Emptywheel' Wheeler [http://emptywheel.net/] to fill in the blanks and answer my myriad of questions. As usual, she's got the answers. Get here on time, as we start right at the top and take it all the way to the end of the hour. You might want to bring along a paper and pen to keep score!

It's Thursday, so time to get together with Howie Klein of DownwithTyranny.com and the Blue America PAC... And North Carolina has a Mark Robinson problem.

Here we go... it's the last Emptywheel Friday episode before this election finally comes to a close. I've been struggling with awful anxiety for the last couple of weeks and have been off the air much of this week due to that. Another reason to be grateful for Marcy Wheeler's friendship and brilliance... Find and support Marcy's work at emptywheel.net. And you can always find me at nicolesandler.com

The interminable election season of 2024 will end in less than two weeks and then all bets are off. The future is so uncertain that no one can tell you what will happen. If they do, they're lying, though that's nothing new for one of the major political parties vying for control. If you're not nervous about it, you're not paying attention.

With so much at stake, we have a busy show today.

Voting is underway in most states. Some of us have already completed and returned our ballots, while others are procrastinating. Although I can't understand how anyone could still be undecided about the top of the ticket, those ballot initiatives often trip people up. We'll speak with Chris Melody Fields Figueredo of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center  about how to navigate those often huge ballots to make sure you're voting the correct way...

And then we'll check in with Thom Hartmann who's just released the final installment in his Hidden History book series - this time it's The Hidden History of the American Dream... Let's hope we can get back too that dream and escape our current nightmare!

It's April 15. Have you done your taxes yet? Remember when TFG was in office and he told us we'd be filling out our taxes on a postcard? Yeah, not so much. But he's in a Manhattan courtroom today as his first criminal trial begins... And of course, Jonathan Larsen is here with the fucking news. And I'm in the perfect fucking mood for it. I just spent the morning at the doctor's office and she thinks it IS gout. FML.

She really needs no introduction- but in case you haven't been paying attention, Heather "Digby" Parton is one of the OG bloggers who took to this medium at its inception around the turn of the century... She launched her must-read Digby's Hullaballoo, still going strong- these days at digbysblog.net, and writes a regular column for Salon.com. Her words are some of the first I read each day and our conversations are some of my favorite over the many years I've been doing this show.

Today is the first time we'll speak since our world turned upside down on Nov 5.
If you were here yesterday, you know that I'm not handling this very well. But somehow talking with Digby always helps me see things a bit more clearly. I expect nothing less than that today.

I'm finally feeling almost normal after an awful infection that led me to two separate Emergency Room visits in one week. So today, it's back to the grind.
Somehow, the fact that today is Monday is not quite as awful as the last few hundred (or so it seems) Mondays have been...

So, we'll chat about all that's happening in the news today, and then bring on Jonathan Larsen who reports on all of that at thefuckingnews.substack.com every day....

She's been our Vice President for almost four years now, but do we really know Kamala Harris? Joan Walsh first interviewed her for a 2003 San Francisco magazine profile when Ms. Harris was running for district attorney. She sat down with most recently just a few weeks ago, for a cover story profile of the VP for The Nation magazine. The timing was fortuitous -- or maybe just slightly early, as they spoke just before the ill-fated debate between President Biden and his orange White House predecessor and now again-opponent. And then everything changed. Regardless, we'll speak with Joan Walsh on today's show about the woman who will (hopefully) be the first female President of the United States... But first... what a contrast. Kamala Harris held another rally last night, this time in Atlanta. It was quite brilliant and yes, I have clips. And as I'm writing this an hour before showtime, I just finished watching the livestream of TFG's appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, which was the polar opposite of quite brilliant.. And yes, I have clips of that too....

Every Monday we check in with Jonathan Larsen who tells us what's happening in our world at thefuckingnews.substack.com. Here at the Nicole Sandler Show, we use language like that, but apparently some are squeamish about expletives, so Jonathan is launching a second substack newsletter. He'll fill us in on that today, along with more important news like a second assassination attempt on TFG and the Trump campaign's latest attempt to pit Americans against Americans. Plus my thoughts on how we're coping with the sickening racism, xenophobia and contempt for our fellow human beings by Trump and his minions...

I'm out this week taking care of my mental health, so I'm running some shows from this year that deserve another listen, especially right now.

Today, from January 16:

The Trump slide into fascism has brought with it some dangerous new trends like the banning of books, whitewashing history and a massive backsliding of personal rights like abortion and bodily autonomy. One of the most heinous attacks has been on the rights of people to live their own authentic lives.
I’ve been hyper-focused on what’s going on in Florida as I lived there for much of my life. The current governor is the worst in the country when it comes to pushing his own perverted sense of morals on the rest of the nation from his sickening directives like the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, prohibitions on African American studies AP high school courses and 6-week abortion ban for a start.
Now, as the legislative session began this week, we learn of new legislation that would outlaw transgender adults. Really. I’m not overstating that.
I learned of this latest outrage last week though an article at Alternet written by one of today’s guests. Erin Reed, aka Erin in the Morning, whose substack of the same name reports on trans and queer news and legislation so that we’re all aware of what is going on.
Erin and I will be joined by our old friend ‘Boca’ Britany Somers, host of The Brit Somers Show, a trans woman trying to live her life in Floriduh.

We saw huge election wins for liberals over the far right in France and the UK in the last week. We can and should do it here as well, but we have to pay attention to what they did in Europe and learn from their actions. Today, we'll reach across the pond to an old friend of the show. Dave Johnson moved to England last year, and joins us today to talk about being an ex-pat, life in England, our political conundrum and how they beat back fascism over there.

And I explain how we win... truly, I hope you'll listen.

Last Wednesday, we were expecting journalist Brian Karem to pop into the Zoom room at any moment. That moment never came. When I invited Brian on the show, he told me that he had pool duty that day, but should be on the tarmac at LAX where he could jump on the air with me while waiting for the president to get back to the plane. Unfortunately, the Secret Service had a different idea that day, and Brian was unable to join us. So we'll try again today when, I think, he'll be in a more accessible position. We'll find out soon enough.

I'm hoping this will be the last show with recycled interviews while I move. As I post this Saturday morning, we're awaiting delivery of the PODS container with all our stuff!  But first I  have to run out to get some acoustic panels to deaden the sound in my studio. Right now it's an echo chamber, something we certainly are not. Today's show features the interview I did with historian/author Heather Cox Richardson whose new book was just released a couple of weeks ago. She's brilliant. If you haven't heard her you should listen.If you have heard her you should still listen! We finish it up with an interview I did with singer/songwriter/activist Billy Bragg back in 2009 on Air America (when it was still up and running). He was working on an updated interpretation of Beethoven's 9th/Ode to Joy. His new lyrics are quite fitting for what's happening in our world today. I'm planning on being back live on Monday. Fingers crossed and peace out!

The House passed the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling deal last night with more Democratic than Republican votes. Was it a great deal? No. But did the Dems come out ahead of the Republicans? Without a doubt. Well, that's my take. As for what Howie Klein [http://downwithtyranny.com/]thinks? We'll find out today. You never know with Howie. One of the things I'll ask him about today is his post at Down With Tyranny [https://www.downwithtyranny.com/post/california-has-3-good-choices-for-senate-barbara-lee-katie-porter-and-adam-schiff] in which he basically says that the three members of Congress vying to replace Dianne Feinstein in the Senate -- Katie Porter, Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff -- are all progressives, and he actually defends Schiff as just as progressive as Lee!

This has been a long, exhausting week and thank dog it's over. It wasn't all bad, though. I got to see Springsteen! I actually saw more live music last week than in the past three years combined! We saw Joe Biden deliver a widely praised State of the Union address. The poll numbers on the speech were great, even though his performance ratings are still not very strong. But Dark Brandon seems to have found his footing as he prepares to announce he'll run for reelection at the age of 80. Today's guest is Neil Gross. He's a former police officer, currently a sociology professor and author of three books. His third, WALK THE WALK: HOW THREE POLICE CHIEFS DEFIED THE ODDS AND CHANGED COP CULTURE [https://bookshop.org/a/1630/9781250777522], is set for a March 23 release. He also has an article in the current ATLANTIC magazine covering other police departments who are doing their jobs responsibly...

Almost every Thursday for the past dozen years or more (more), Howie Klein and I have spoken about what ever is on our minds. Yes, it's usually politics, and that's what we'll talk about today. The conversation could go any number of ways, so I'll just say tune in and join in the discussion!

Sorry for my absence yesterday... still feeling the effects of a nasty infection from a few weeks ago, and trying to listen to my body and take better care of myself. Getting old sucks, but it beats the alternative!

Anyway, I'm back today (with a follow up appointment with my doctor scheduled for tomorrow afternoon).

It's Thursday, so Howie Klein is usually here... but I got a message from him a few minutes before showtime apologizing that he hadn't let me know that he had a doctor's appointment and wouldn't be able to be here today. Obviously I know how that goes... so hopefully, Howie will be back next week.

In the meantime, there's lots to talk about today, from Liz Cheney formally endorsing Kamala Harris for President, Trump's trials back on track (at least in Judge Chutkin's court), Merrick Garland is alive and filing charges to fend off Russian interference in the 2024 election, Tim Walz's weird brother surfaces, Trump's "town hall meeting" with no audience questions, MAGAts Nazi bromances,.... you get the idea...

I love the days when Marcy Wheeler [http://emptywheel.net/] is on the show. With so much going on these days, I find it difficult to stay on top of everything. But Marcy manages to cover virtually all the important issues at emptywheel.net, and remarkably, can answer just about any question I put to her regarding the most important issues of the day. Today, we'll discuss the Dominion lawsuit against Fox, and the massive discovery file they released on Friday [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/20527880-dominion-v-fox-news-complaint]. Although we've always known that Fox is the original home for Fake news, it's nice to have the proof in writing, in the direct words of their biggest, ahem, stars. We cover the basics of the filing -- which you should just go ahead and read. [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23684885-230216-dominion-fox] We also touch on other stories in the news, from Kevin McCarthy giving Tucker Carlson access to the Capitol surveillance video from 1-6, Project Veritas giving the boot to their skeezy founder James O'Keefe, the ridiculous obsession with Hunter Biden's alleged laptop by the House GOP, the deterioration of Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi... you get the idea. Oh, and the AP interview with the Fulton County Grand Jury foreperson [https://apnews.com/article/politics-new-york-city-only-on-ap-donald-trump-georgia-266e28c4e47e54731b233e0f770f6729] that Marcy referenced.... Buckle in, we'll cover a lot of territory today!

War is ugly. Always is, always has been. There's a famous poster from the Vietnam War era that reads "War is not healthy for children and other living things". Sometimes we must restate the obvious and still, people who need to hear it just won't listen. Today, I'll speak with law professor, author and podcaster Jennifer Taub [http://jentaub.substack.com/] with whom I have formed a bond, out of necessity as I wade through the ugly and abusive social media waters looking for a sympathetic voice. Those voices seem more difficult to find as the ones who want to see us dead or neutralized are growing in numbers and boldness. So Jen joins in for a personal conversation that I'm hoping everyone listens to. If one person gain a bit of insight into what American Jews are going through now, then airing our conversation will be worth it. But we won't let the good election news go to waste. We'll celebrate the results that, once again, prove that the polls the media wants you to get all hot and bothered over aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

I couldn't think of a better guest to kick off the new year than Heather  "Digby" Parton. She is THE OG progressive blogger, still writing  liberally at digbysblog.net as well as in her regular columns for  Salon.com. We'll talk about the end of 2022, the J6 committee and the  117th Congress, and preview what's in store for 2023...

What a way to end the first week of the new year. Today marks the second  anniversary of the Trump-led attack on the capitol as insurrectionists  attempted to overturn the results of a fair and free 2020 election. It's  been a long, frustrating couple of years, usually with the public being  kept in the dark about how the insurrectionist's prosecutions are  going... with one major exception.  Marcy Wheeler is an independent journalist who deals with this kind of  shit... She covers national security, government malfeasance and so much  more on her own site at emptywheel.net.   She's been joining me  regularly to keep us up to speed on all of the investigations and  everything else happening in this shit show that some on the right are  trying to undermine.  So Marcy joins me for a great discussion on this, the second anniversary  of the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol, and on the fourth day of stalemate  in the House of Representatives, as Kevin McCarthy keeps getting  humiliated in his quest to be speaker.   But as I'm getting ready for today's show, they've just finished  voting... for the 13th time. And for the 13th time, Kevin McCarthy still  couldn't garner enough votes to win. And now they're taking another  vote on adjourning....  Like I said up top, what a way to end the first week of the new year....

This was a pretty momentous week which came to a climax lat night as the former guy went down to Georgia where he was officially booked, fingerprinted, mug-shotted, and released on $200,000 bond. It was a first in US history, but the fourth arrest for the embattled, twice-impeached, former guy who now has 91 felony counts officially charged in four separate indictments. It's a lot to keep all the facts straight, which is why I'm so lucky to be able to call on Marcy Wheeler to help us understand what's happening.  Marcy is an independent journalist specializing in national and foreign affairs, writing at emptywheel.net. As I do with this show, she operates without a paywall, trusting that those who value her work and can afford to support it will do so.  Marcy has been a fairly frequent guest on this show for about a dozen years or so already, and she just agreed to come on for a regularly weekly segment. With all the action coming up over the next months and years, we have lots to discuss.   So we start today with Trump surrendering at the Fulton County Jail last night. In true Trumpian form, he tweeted out his mug shot with the caption "Never Surrender". He had just surrendered. Welcome to opposite world.

Another busy day in today's strange new world. We begin today with breaking news from my adopted state of Arizona where we moved from Floriduh because AZ was a bit less fascist... Well, today the AZ Supreme Extreme Court upheld an 1864 near total ban on abortions. The only exception is to save the life of the mother. Yeah, I'll have a few words on that one to start today's show. While we're on the subject of abortion, the orange weather vane backtracked on his promise of a national abortion ban yesterday only to be criticized by some of magaT world, including the sycophantic Lindsey Graham. TFG lashed out so Lindsey did what Lindsey does and dropped to his knees to do magaman's bidding. You can't make this shit up. Then, I'll speak with the author of a new book hits the shelves today. TRIPPED: NAZI GERMANY, THE CIA, AND THE DAWN OF THE PSYCHEDELIC ERA by author Norman Ohler recounts the reason psychedelic drugs are classified as dangerous narcotics. Of course, one need look no further than the Nazis. Figures.

Another Monday arrived way too soon, but we'll deal with it.
It was a strange weekend -- complete with TFG's obsessing over Arnold Palmer's dick size and Harvey Weinstein getting "schlonged" (I don't believe that's even a word, though "schlong" is Yiddish slang for dick). What more or less would you expect from a demented narcissist who wants to be a dick-tator?

As it is Monday, we will visit with Jonathan Larsen from The Fucking News at thefuckingnews.substack.com and the less expletively-challenged jonathanlarsen.substack.com....

And you thought Don-Old was vulgar! He is, but also know that I'm not running for president. He is.

It's Thursday. Weekly for the past dozen years or so, Howie Klein has stepped away from the desk at downwithtyranny.com to join me on the air for an hour to talk politics... and usually music too! Today, lots of politics to discuss from Trump indictment #4 to those conspicuously absent from any of the indictments (ie Lindsey Graham, Ginni Thomas, and the Trump spawn, just to name a few), to the implosion of the Florida man's campaign and more...

It was one year ago today that Vladimir Putin's Russia invaded Ukraine and began the bombing. It's been a horrific year for the people of Ukraine, who did nothing to provoke that monster. But a year later, they're still taking incoming fire, living without reliable power and under the constant warnings of sirens. Yet the people are strong and aren't willing to give an inch.  Today, we'll look back on a year ago, and our calls to people in Ukraine. I'll share one with a hotel clerk in Kyiv who didn't believe that forces were amassing on the border getting ready to attack.   And we'll check in with Philip Ittner. He's an American journalist who's been in Ukraine for the past year, and says he'll  be there until the war ends!