🏰 Trump's billion-dollar ballroom got killed by the Senate parliamentarian and some help from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse — because Republicans forgot which committees have jurisdiction over the White House. Oops.

💰 The so-called "terrorist slush fund" — a $1.8 billion bounty that could, allegedly, pay pardoned January 6th rioters, cop assaulters, and at least one convicted child sex abuser who used the promise of a payout to try to silence his victim. And Todd Blanche lied his face off about it in front of the Senate. There are a few lawsuits already challenging this travesty.

⚖️ The Broadview 6 case is OVER — dismissed with prejudice after a judge discovered the DOJ had hidden grand jury misconduct with redactions. This is a pattern.

🎸 The Late Show's final night was last night, with Paul McCartney helping Stephen turn off the lights. Oh, and the right wing billionaires who killed off one of Trump's biggest TV critics is also shuttering the original news authority - CBS News Radio no longer exists after today. For someone whose entire career has been in radio and who spent a few years in the CBS building on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, this is a true punch in the gut, and just plain wrong.

Plus — what YOU can do this Memorial Day weekend while your representatives are out in public. Listen now!

Trump created a $1.776 billion slush fund to pay off his Jan. 6 insurrectionists (yes, that number was chosen on purpose — cute, right?). And now the Pillow Guy wants $400 million from it, a Proud Boy leader wants $5 million because his "life was messed up," and actual Republicans in Congress are starting to say... wait, what? We cover the pushback from Rep/ Brian Fitzpatrick and Sen. Bill Cassidy, and Todd Blanche's testimony that makes less sense the more you listen to it.

Ryan Cooper from The American Prospect joined me to talk about all of it — plus the military getting run into the ground, the Ebola outbreak nobody's prepared for, and the DNC's post-election autopsy that somehow forgot to mention inflation OR Gaza.

Oh — and tonight the Late Show ends, thanks to the right-wing takeover of our media. Bruce Springsteen was on last night and had a few things to say. And as usual, I have feelings.

That someone is Driftglass — brilliant OG Progressive political blogger and co-host (with the incomparable Blue Gal Fran) of the Professional Left Podcast. And he delivered.

We trace exactly how we got to this insane moment in history: from Bill Clinton's budget surplus (say it with us — surplus) to George W. Bush blowing it all up, to Republicans meeting at a DC restaurant the day Obama was inaugurated to plot his destruction, to the rise of the birther king himself, to here. It's a long story. But Driftglass tells it better than anyone.

Also: eight Senate Democrats voted to confirm a judicial nominee who wouldn't say Biden won in 2020. We have thoughts. Many thoughts.

Subscribe. Tell your friends. We'll keep going as long as we can.

Spoiler: it's court reform. And Lisa makes the case better than anyone.

From the Strait of Hormuz double blockade and Pakistan's surprising role as peacemaker, to Trump's visit to China and fears he'll give away Taiwan, to the death of the Voting Rights Act, the dismantling of CBS and Voice of America, and Trump calling a female reporter "Piggy" — nothing is off the table. Nicole and Kaswar have known each other since 2011, and this reunion is exactly the kind of global, unfiltered conversation you won't find anywhere else.

On the news front: Trump's Iran nuclear negotiations have collapsed after he rejected Tehran's response with a dismissive Truth Social post; the Supreme Court takes another sledgehammer to the Voting Rights Act; and a shadow hearing in Florida gives Epstein survivors — including Jenalisa Jones — a platform to speak out about how Pam Bondi's DOJ exposed their names and identities in the document release, re-traumatizing women who had told no one about their abuse.

Plus: the no-bid Reflecting Pool contract, Trump berating a reporter, and Nicole's honest reflection on why she keeps doing this work.

This week: the Iran War is far more catastrophic than the White House is letting on — bases may be permanently abandoned, Saudi Arabia is furious, jet fuel prices are spiking, and Spirit Airlines is the first casualty. Plus, Kash Patel's whiskey brand may have gotten him into serious legal trouble, Howard Lutnick testified behind closed doors about his Epstein ties, Trump's new counterterrorism strategy conspicuously omits far-right extremists, and the Voting Rights Act is basically history. It's a lot — because it always is.

Then it's wall-to-wall news: Hegseth's two-day Congressional testimony (day one: a disaster; day two: damage control, sort of), the Supreme Court finishing off the Voting Rights Act and the redistricting scramble that followed, gas prices at record highs, Trump's approval ratings at record lows, the Comey seashell "threat," DOGE handing voter data to outside political groups, a Fox News contributor nominated as Surgeon General, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good getting reassigned instead of prosecuted, and — to end on a weird note — an Indian medical student who made a fortune scamming MAGA men with a fake AI conservative influencer.

And then, the DOJ's strange indictment of the SPLC; why the Kash Patel/Atlantic lawsuit is going to backfire spectacularly; a Special Forces soldier arrested for insider-trading on the Maduro raid; and the story barely anyone is covering — Joe DiGenova put in charge of the Mueller review, despite being a subject of the very investigation he's supposed to oversee. 

And probably more...

And you know I have a few things to say about how the orange bloviator tried to block the Democrats from doing what he suggested first, claiming that when the Dems do it, it's illegal and immoral, but when he does it, it's brilliant and we're entitled to it.

After that: Kash Patel filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against The Atlantic — and his own lawsuit appears to confirm several of the things he's claiming are lies. Classic. Plus, Trump is reading from the Bible tonight on camera (pre-recorded, naturally), The Onion takes over InfoWars, the Iran war is affecting condom supply, and the tariff refund website is off to a "glitchy start" (that's the diplomatic version). My guest Dayna Steele from Today's Facts joins to break down what's real and what isn't in today's news — and shares the exciting news that her one-woman show is heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August.

We started with the big news: Viktor Orban lost in Hungary. And honestly? It gave us both a little hope — not just because a mini-Trump got shown the door, but because of how it happened. The candidate who beat him ran on corruption. Just flat-out told people they were being robbed. Democrats, it's your turn.

From there we got into Kushner and Witkoff playing diplomat while cashing billion-dollar checks from the same countries they're "negotiating" with, Trump's increasingly unhinged feud with Pope Leo, JD Vance telling the Pope to watch his mouth about theology (I can't), Pete Hegseth reciting Pulp Fiction as Pentagon scripture (I genuinely cannot), RFK lying under oath, Scott Bessent and the immortal "Straits of Vermouth," and the Eric Swalwell implosion and what it means for the California governor's race.

It's a lot. It's always a lot. But Digby helps me make sense of it — or at least survive it.

Plus: Viktor Orbán is out after 16 years, Trump declares war on the Pope, the Eric Swalwell situation, and comedian JL Cauvin doing what he does best.

We'll dig into three major stories Fred is currently reporting on: Trump's recent promotion of a decades-old prophecy from a dead charismatic preacher to build support for his Iran policy; a guide to the 24 most influential NAR apostles and prophets operating in the U.S. today — many of whom were connected to January 6th; and the largely unreported story of newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin's ties to City Elders, a Tulsa-based NAR-affiliated organization with an explicit goal of placing its people in government at every level.

From "holy war" rhetoric in the military to theocratic creep in the GOP, Fred helps us understand how a movement most Americans have never heard of is quietly reshaping the political landscape — and why that matters for democracy.

I also shared a segment from my show from January 3, 2020. Trump had just launched an attack on Iran that killed Iranian General Sulieman. I called a random hotel in Tehran, hoping to reach someone who speaks English so we could have a conversation between two humans who don't want war. It was everything I had hoped for!

Also, the orange pustule showed what a spoiled brat of an insolent child he is with a nasty UNtruth social post about Bruce Springsteen. So, I reached out to The Nation's Joan Walsh (who's as big a fan as I am), and asked her to join us. And last night, I pestered by friend Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog (who's on vacation this week) because I thought I should interrupt his time off to see what he thinks of all of this.

Today was supposed to be spring cleaning... that'll have to wait for next week. Tomorrow, it's another Emptywheel Friday with Marcy Wheeler!

But we know that every accusation is a confession everything he says is projection, it's not surprising. Thankfully, our favorite legal expert LISA GRAVES will take some time out of her very busy day to spend some time with us today too... And Bruce Springsteen kicked off his special Land of Hope & Dreams tour in Minneapolis last night...

Yes, it's depressing, but we all need to arm ourselves with the truth and as much of it as we can stand, because information is power. We need to know what's happening so we can fight back against D'ump and his ilk who are trying to kill off democracy. Bring the information with you tomorrow to the No Kings rally near you!

We'll attempt to peek in and see what we can find. News reports are not very encouraging. The Month of March is winding down, and I've been remiss. March is Women's History Month, and I haven't even mentioned it yet. We'll change that on today's show too, as Cultural HERstorian Amy Simon returns with some stories, both good and some not so much...

I'm a bit over-taxed today and almost didn't do a show. But when Brian Karem responded to my email inviting him on today, I figured that if he can do it, so can I. I'm still on a high from seeing Jesse Welles in concert last night (wow), but unfortunately didn't sleep last night.. again. Hopefully my brain and mouth will cooperate with each other as I try to discuss some of the news that defies sanity...

And that's just as well, as I recently found an old stash of shows that I did on Air America back in 2009, and I didn't stream video then.

Today, we go back to August 17, 2009. Congress was in the middle of fighting over health care and the legislation that would become the Affordable Care Act. On that day, one of my guests was former Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton, Robert Reich, who was a professor at US Berkeley. Just over a week later, Senator Ted Kennedy, one of our biggest proponents of a single payer health care system succumbed to brain cancer. Robert Reich wrote a lovely tribute to him an Huffington Post. So I reached out to him again and he joined me again on my show the following day, August 26, 2009.

I had also produced a bit of a tribute to him so, today on the show, I shared both of those interviews, followed by the tribute.

And in the few minutes I had left, I shared another production piece I put together to celebrate George W Bush's finally leaving the White House, "Bushisms A to Z". Enjoy!

Every Friday, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to discuss what happened since we spoke the week before and today, Marcy goes in-depth to pull all the crazy together and tries to help us make sense out of the senseless.

Both Marcy and I will be out next week. I'll run a combination of some of the best shows of the recent past and pull out a few interviews I just unearthed from my time at Air America radio which I think you'll truly appreciate...

Also, I want to send a big thank you to all who have supported my work with donations, subscriptions or in other ways. I couldn't continue doing this work without you, and just wanted to thank you all again. I know that not everyone can afford the support my work monetarily, but do share my stuff. Thank you for helping to let others know what I do here every day.

And it was great. It is no longer because of his actions. This group has only been in office just over a year, though it feels like eons already, so some of his horrific actions in their first few months have faded from memory. They can't... We can't let them. Today, I speak with Chuck Borges, better known to millions who care about our futures, as the Social Security - DOGE Whistleblower! And lucky for some of us, he's now running for office.

Then Will Bunch joins in from the Philadelphia Inquirer, where he's been opining about many of the same issues that have me freaked out lately.

Oh, and have I mentioned that Pete Kegsbreath is an obnoxious bully who thinks he's in charge? If not, I will...

I may never recover from the parts of Kristi Noem's testimony this morning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. And it seems like every minute, there's some other breaking news that, alone under a Democratic administration, would have sent Republicans into conniption fits.

Thankfully, the one and only Heather 'Digby' Parton is here to commiserate with me as we get sucked further into Opposite World.

It's a new week, a new month, a new war... and thankfully Jonathan Larsen is here from thefuckingnews.substack.com and jonathanlarsen.substack.com to help us wade through the muck on today's show.

And there's a lot of it to cover today, from SCOTUS on tariffs and El Dumpo's reaction to their opinion, to his vengeance on Minnesota. Plus Epstein files massive coverup, waging war on Iran, taking over the media, Hegseth & Noem stupidity, his attempt to take over our elections and more... 

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There's lots more on top of that. Thankfully, Jonathan Larsen will be here from TheFuckingNews.substack.com to help me wade through the mountain of much he spews.

I somehow manage to make it through each day, taking it one day at a time. And I don't even drink! As you probably know by now, I seek out guests to join me on the air who also don't hold back. Today it's one of the OGs of the progressive blogosphere, Driftglass. He's been speaking truth to power since the beginning at driiftglass.blogspot.com. And with his wonderful wife, BlueGal Fran, co-hosts the Professional Left Podcast. You can find them at proleftpod.com. It's Driftglass today, hanging here with me!

Alex Pretti was murdered by ICE this past Saturday. That's how this week started, on Saturday morning. And it kept on sliding downward since. The FBI raided the Fulton County, GA Elections office. Curiously, Tulsi Gabbard was there along with, as Marcy pointed out, Deputy FBI Director Andrew Bailey;

Don Lemon and four others were arrested, the government shutdown may have been averted as Schumer got a two week deal to get Dems' demands on a new funding deal, Greg Bovino is out of Minneapolis and probably out of DHS and more Epstein files were released about an hour before we started recording today's show.

And more... 

And we also touched on some of the other breaking news of the day, which has changed since today's show ended. I'll explain in the longer post on my Substack and tomorrow with Marcy Wheeler on Emptywheel Friday!

I opened the show with Erica Connell, a familiar face to those who show up at Phone area protests. She was at one such gathering Sunday, at one of 15 Zips Sports Grill locations raided by Ice, and wound up getting sprayed directly in her face, landing her in the hospital! But she's out now, surrounded by friends and fellow activists, already helping to get Friday's nationwide standoff going.

And, there's some excellent new protest music out that I shared today because I could... or thought I could. We'll see....

Today, I chose not to have a guest on the show and instead, share clips from today's hearing. It's the first time Jack Smith has testified publicly, and I thought it was important for everyone to hear what he had to say.

Today we'll meet two great candidates running for the Democratic nomination in their congressional districts - Elizabeth Lee who's running in my district, AZ-05 and J-L Cauvin who's running in the special election to fill the seat that NJ's Governor Mikie Sherrill just vacated in NJ-11. Neither is a politician; I think you'll understand why I like both of them!

We'll begin with an old friend and Air America Radio colleague, Jack Rice. He's a former prosecutor and public defender, CIA Special Agent, Talk Radio host and is now back in his home state of Minnesota with his own criminal defense law firm. He gives us his thoughts on the federal invasion of his state, the ICE murder of Renee Good and the rest of the shit this administration is doing to his city/state/country...

So I went back and forth on it and decided, since I have to put together a show to air regardless, that I'd do a hybrid -- part live, and part pieces of shows from MLK Days past. And I'd end the show with some of the day's news. I'll explain all when I hit the air at our usual time... Either way, especially this year, it's more important that we observe this holiday. Now, more than ever!

I still had plenty to talk about between the shitty news of the day and another project I'm working on that I can't tell you about until tomorrow. And because of that, I'll be out tomorrow.

But, as Jesse Ventura was in the news last week, and the YouTube chat room was discussing him at length yesterday, I located an interview I did with him on Air America radio in 2009 that I'll share on tomorrow's show. Along with that, I'll tell you about this other project that I'm both excited about and a bit unsure about...

They lie, they cheat, they steal. They refuse to investigate crimes --even murder - when they think it makes them look bad. They refuse to follow the implicit demands codified by law, ie the Epstein Files Transparency Act. At the direction of the dick-tator, they target law abiding citizens who he feels have wronged him or who he simply doesn't like.

He ignores court rulings against him. I could go on, and I will on today's show when my favorite legal expert LISA GRAVES author of the must-read book, WITHOUT PRECEDENCE joins us.

The week began when, just a few hours after we recorded last week's show, the White House idiots invaded Venezuela and kidnapped its president. Also this week, ICE murdered a US citizen - a white, Christian woman, Renee Good, who was a mother of three and a poet.

Yes, there was a LOT of bad news (what else is new?), but there was also some good news to share, and that's where we began today...

As usual, we'll begin with today's news which is dominated by this administrations lies, disinformation and brutality that yesterday took the life of an innocent 37-year old mother, Renee Nicole Good, slandering her and blaming her for her murder by ICE thugs in Minneapolis.

Executive Editor of The American Prospect, David Dayen joined me at the start of the show. We addressed this sickening news and spoke a bit about some of the rest of the stories we should be following as the new year proceeds.

In the second half of the show, I welcomed Houston rock radio legend Dayna Steele back to tell us about a new daily feature she recently started called Today's Facts. She's got perfect timing as I'm always ranting about how important it is to double-check everything you read to make sure it's true before trusting or sharing it.

I was on the air that day; I actually went live earlier than our regular showtime because of what was unfolding live on television. We will not, we cannot forget, so I'll share a little bit of that broadcast today. Then I'll welcome Craig Unger back to the show. He's the NY Times bestselling author of six books about the Republican Party's assault on democracy including American Kompromat, House of Trump, House of Putin and, most recently, Den of Spies, which expose Donald Trump's relationship with Russia and Putin. Somehow, all of this is connected...

Jonathan was all over the Venezuela attack early Saturday morning, and we will certainly discuss that today. We'll try to ease into it slowly because, in addition to bringing you the truth about what's happening, we must take care of ourselves if we're going to survive this shitstorm.

Today, we’ll talk about what happened over the holiday break (Epstein files, Jack Smith deposition, Mamdani swearing in as NYC Mayor, etc).

And Marcy will walk us through the article she posted this morning at emptywheel.net, “Where We Go From Here: 10 things we can do in 2026 to hold Trump accountable”.

Here we go….

I've been sick over the holidays, so please excuse my voice as I introduce the various segments I'll share.

Today is also the 10th Anniversary of my wedding to David. I actually did a live show that afternoon. So I'll share a few minutes of that program to kick things off... and then we'll take off on a journey through the past with perhaps a peek into the future.

Happy New Year everyone. May 2026 bring us an end to the D'ump insanity and begin our march back into democracy.

Following that interview, we'll move ahead about 20 years to July 26, 2019 for an interview with Jon Scott about his book, TOM PETTY AND ME. Jon Scott was a record promoter for MCA records who really is the man responsible for Tom Petty breaking through by getting the label to change its plans to drop the record and getting him airplay. In fact, at what turned out to be Petty's final concert, on Sept. 25, 2017 at the Hollywood Bowl, Tom thanked Jon Scott for that from the stage as he introduced "I Won't Back Down".

So we'll go back to January of 2021 for my interview with Craig Unger about his then-new book AMERICAN KOMPROMAT.

Then I thought we'd look back a decade... actually, 10 years ago yesterday. It was Dec 28, 2015 for a chat with my old friend, Joel Silberman, who was a media strategist, consultant to politicians and celebrities and so much more, Joel Silberman. Joel joined me for a weekly segment when we'd cut through the media bullshit. And 10 years ago, there was plenty of it, but nowhere near what we're dealing with today.

Regular listeners/viewers of this show are familiar with Howie, as he appeared with me on Thursdays, going back probably 15 years. We talked about politics, as that's been his focus since he retired from Warner Brothers and his position as president of Reprise Records.

His career in the music business was monumental, starting at NY's Stoneybrook University where as head of student activities, he booked bands to perform on campus.

And the rest is history, which we'll discuss a bit on today's show. When he turned to progressive politics, Howie began blogging at DownWithTyranny.com, and co-founded & ran the Blue America PAC, identifying potential candidates and raising money for the best progressives running. I have dozens or more episodes with Howie, going back to 2009. I'll share some of those today as we remember my friend, Howie Klein.

We kick off two weeks of holiday shows featuring moments from my radio past, and kick it off today with a celebration of Jill Sobule. I pulled together a few of her on-air appearances with me from 2000, 2020 and 2021. Please visit jillsobule.com to learn more about this very special person who was taken from us way too soon.

This week got off to a shitty start. Yesterday, we spent a lot of time talking about Rob Reiner, for good reason. I still can't believe he's gone. Then last night, my husband David sent me Brian Karem's Substack column, "Shoebootie" - which I was planning on sharing with you today. Lucky for us all, when I reached out to him, he was able to join us today so he can tell you about it himself. Good thing too, because I'm still not feeling great, so I almost shared my episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy with you...

There were hearings and pardons and lies, oh my! And more evidence that D'ump's mind is deteriorating even faster than before...

I'm really not feeling well today, so I'm keeping the write-up short and sweet. It's all in today's show, so sit back, put on some headphones and listen. It's all there! I hope to be back to my usual feisty self on Monday....

Catherine Coleman Flowers is an environmental and climate justice activist. She's been called the "Erin Brockovich of Sewage" because her work focuses on improving sanitation and water infrastructure in places where it is disgustingly unavailable.

In regular English, shit stinks and raw sewage dumped into your yard and leeching back into your house is literally toxic!

I also invited friend of the show, host of the Environmental Coffeehouse, Sandy Schoelles to join us for what I promise will be an enlightening conversation.

Rahul Powar is and AI expert and cybersecurity entrepreneur. And he'll help us understand what about AI that we should fear, how it should be used and what it is capable of doing. That includes the good, the bad, and the really, truly ugly!

And we'll begin with a creative satirical song and video about Whiskey Pete Hegseth by @scaredketchup on Youtube . Yes, it utilizes AI...

With so much insanity coming at us from the White House, I wanted to get someone who is an actual journalist covering it all to help us catch up. Back in my Air America days and for a few years following that network's demise, I used to have a daily news update from the (now defunct) Talk Radio News Service. One of the correspondents there was Jon-Christopher Bua, who I always enjoyed speaking with. I found him recently on Bluesky (@jcbua.bsky.social), and invited back on the show. He is the founder and White House Correspondent for Reel Political News, and he's our guest today on the show.

I'll explain with some not just good, but excellent news. Don't worry, there is the usual news that deserves the Fucking News title as we usually bring you on Mondays with Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com.

And yes, he's here today too.... But first, there's that really good news that I'll share at the start of today's show. Then we'll get in to the outrageous shit, and the rainbow that is hopefully coming on the other side!

Thursday of this week is Thanksgiving and I have more than a few things to be grateful for. It was 25 years ago today that my daughter Alison left the orphanage where she was living and came home with me. We call it our 'forever day'! And there is actually some good news to share today too!

There was so much to talk about today so we went even further into overtime than usual. So, we discussed the latest on Russia/Ukraine, and the murderer from Saudi Arabia who came to DC to be treated like a hero by the orange one.

Marcy explained some of the good news from this week which includes a federal court denying Texas' motion to stay the order blocking their new congressional map (along with the Republican's lawyer gunking things up).

Then there are the Comey and Letitia James prosecutions and of course all of this week's developments regarding the Epstein files.

And more....

My chats with Digby are not only informative, but also cathartic. Join us for today's group therapy session!

Same old..... So, maybe it's time for a General Strike! Today on the show, I spoke with Eliza Blum, cofounder of the website GeneralStrikeUS.com and General Strike US Coordinator about their efforts to get Americans to sign on, and to join their first organizing call this Saturday, Nov.22 at noon Pacific/ 3 Eastern at bit.ly/whygenstrike

But Marcy brings us up to date not only on the Epstein emails that dropped on us like a bomb, but the keystone cop-like prosecutors of this administration and, as you'd expect, much more.

Jason is the government-anointed "FOIA Terrorist," and with all the news and Epstein emails that dropped yesterday, the timing to have Jason on couldn't be better. He's been writing an ongoing series about the pedophile and Trump BFF and the 18,000 emails they uncovered at Bloomberg News where he's a Senior Investigative Reporter. Their latest on Epstein focused on the money laundering scheme he had going alongside the federal sex crimes that have been virtually shrouded for decades. Jason also recently started his new podcast, Disclosure and, of course, has his weekly newsletter, the FOIA Files, so you can keep up with his work when he's not here on my show.

And it wasn't only me. The actual legal experts who I read seem to have heard what I did yesterday. But, of course, when the Extreme Supremes are in the picture, I like to turn to my favorite legal expert, Lisa Graves. Though she's currently on a book tour in support of the excellent WITHOUT PRECEDENT, Lisa will take an hour off today to spend with us, explaining what happened yesterday and what the ramifications might be.

Joining me on today's show to discuss what it all means - as only he can - Driftglass! One of the OG progressive bloggers of the blogosphere (at driftglass.blogspot.com), Driftglass also co-host the Professional Left Podcast with his with, BlueGal Fran...

Those days I did a daily news segment with the Talk Media News Service. On that particular day, the correspondent was Bob Ney, former Congressman from Ohio who got caught up in the Jack Abramoff scandal and did time in jail. (Google them if you're not familiar with the sordid story!)

Then Brad Friedman of the BradBlog and BradCast joined in and so did actress and activist Mimi Kennedy.

A slice of life before the world went completely mad...

I'll be back tomorrow with OG blogger Driftglass. We'll have to ease back in to the real world slowly and with lots of humor...

Please vote! As he does on Mondays, Jonathan Larsen brings his latest scoops from thefuckingnews.substack.com and jonathanlarsen.substack.com. And we'll do our best to make light of the really dark and evil plans being cooked up in what's left of the White House. Are we having fun yet?

Today is Halloween, but every day is frightening in this D'umpster fire of a nation these days... Thankfully, Marcy Wheeler is here to help us muddle through much of what transpired this week. I'm not much help today because I've been in moving hell. The good part of it was that I opted for more music, less of the old, addled, orange incapacitate squatter in the oval office.... But here we go....

Now that Trumpkin has enlisted his army of dirty tricksters to figure out how to use the gerrymander to guarantee a few more congressional seats from Texas are held by Republicans, he's coercing other Republican governors to do it in their states too. When the Texas story began heating up, I invited David Daley back on the show to explain just wtf is going on. This episode originally aired August 12, 2025.

Yes, this episode is frightening. I hope it scares the bejesus out of everyone how hears it because we are the ones who'll save us...

This episode originally aired on August 12 of this year. Here's what I wrote about this episode on that day:

Just a couple of hours before I hit the air today at 3ET, the Washington Post sent a breaking news alert with the headline, “Texas Republicans dare Democrats to stay out of state another month.” (gift link)

They further explain,

“The lawmakers put new pressure on absent Democrats to return to the state, testing whether they’ll stay away another month to try to kill a plan to redraw congressional districts in favor of the GOP.”

In other words, the Republicans who rule the Texas state legislature, following the Oval Office felon’s directives, are stretching the norms of the gerrymander to do away with any districts that might vote for the Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterms.

Redistricting in the middle of the decade? Not a regular occurrence. Is it illegal?

That’s one of the questions I have for David Daley, author of three books on the subject. The one that started it all was Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count. He followed that with Unrigged: How Americans are Battling Back to Save Democracy in 2021. Unfortunately, the landscape has since changed.

Dave’s newest book, released in 2024, is Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections.

Dave is also the former editor of Salon.com, and is a senior fellow at FairVote, who advocates for ranked choice voting and proportional representation, so he knows this subject.

Dave gave us the lay of the land regarding gerrymandering, apportionment and where we currently stand, and it’s not a pretty picture.

I'll be back live tomorrow to wrap up the week with Marcy Wheeler on a new edition of Emptywheel Fridays on the Nicole Sandler Show.

Today I'm thrilled to welcome Jim Earl to the show for the very first time. You know I like to deliver the news with some snark and attitude, especially when the news is as fucked-up and evil as it's been for much too long. Jim's the perfect guest to help me do that.

You know Jim Earl even if you think you don't know him, but you know him! First of all, he's a former writer/performer for The Daily Show (even has an Emmy to show for it). He's a veteran of Air America Radio where he wrote and performed on the best morning show I never worked on, "Morning Sedition" as well as WTF with Marc Maron (RIP- the show, not the man) and National Lampoon's Final Edition. He thankfully quit the Jimmy Dore Show in disgust. He even wrote for the first incarnation (2016) of The Fucking News, which we dip into with Jonathan Larsen on Mondays...

With all of those defunct jobs, it's no wonder that Jim Earl is obsessed with death. OK, I don't know that that's the case, but one of his Substacks-and his book-- are called "Mourning Remembrance: A Collection of Mocking Obituaries". Again, Halloween week.... He also writes "Jim Earl's Substack of Bile" where he says he likes to "spew ill-informed nonsense about current events, stupid and horrific". Perfect for dealing with the dumpster fire in DC...

Of course now, five years later, Jason Leopold shares his FOIA Files from his current work home at Bloomberg News, and Digby's still plugging away at the same places linked above. And we're still screwed...

Although it feels less certain we'll actually reach the end of the week intact these days, we have. Sadly, the East Wing of the White House has not. That's where Marcy Wheeler and I began today's weekly wrap up of what transpired during the week.

As usual, we covered a lot of ground today, starting with the White House grounds that will soon have D'ump's Epstein Ballroom with his new luxury bunker built beneath it.

We spoke a lot about the many forms of corruption D'ump and his so-called administration have and are engaged in, including his ongoing quest to bilk the American public out of our hard-earn dollars. In this case, $230 million of them because we dared to investigate, charge, try (and find him guilty) his crimes. Well, some of them, anyway. Sadly, we never even got to the most serious ones...

We talked about the "purported interim US Attorney" Lindsey Halligan and her idiotic stalking of Lawfare's Anna Bower via Signal chat, and then proactively attempting to say the 33-hour long text conversation was "off-the-record."

NY Attorney General Letitia James was arraigned this morning. She, of course, pleaded Not Guillty. Trump freaked over a TV as run by the Ontario, Canada government, so had a social media tantrum and cut off all trade negotiations with our neighbor to the north. And a reminder that his illegal tariffs go before the Supreme Extreme Court in two weeks! We discussed the wannabe dictator's latest pardons for play and extrajudicial murders of people who happened to be in boats off the Caribbean...

Yes, it was a busy episode. Strap in!

For more news, come on over to nicolesandler.com/10-24-25 or subscribe to nicolesandler.substack.com.

If you watch TV, you've no doubt been inundated with commercials touting "Medicare Advantage." If you listen to this show, you've heard me tell you, consistently over the years, that Medicare Advantage is neither Medicare nor an advantage.

Wendell Potter returns to the show today. We've spoken often over the years since he first appeared before Congress on June 24, 2009 as the first health insurance industry whistleblower to testify about the corruption built into this system. He's kept up his advocacy for we, the people and what should be our right to affordable, humane health care. Wendell runs the nonprofit Center for Health & Democracy, and as publisher and executive editor of HEALTH CARE un-covered at healthcareuncovered.substack.com.

I always make sure to invite Wendell on around open-enrollment time to help you all navigate the muddy health insurance waters. This year, the waters are not only muddied, they're filled with D'ump's shit too.

For more of today's news, find today's post over at nicolesandler.com or by subscribing to nicolesandler.substack.com.

I usually bemoan the beginning of a new week, but Saturday's No Kings Day rallies instead energized me, as I hope it did you. There's power and strength in numbers, and we numbered 7 million plus around the nation this weekend!

As I've been busy with packing and moving, I didn't go into Phoenix on Saturday, opting instead to go to the rally in my town of Chandler Arizona, where an estimated 5,000 like-minded, democracy-loving neighbors turned out. All shapes and sizes, colors and species, from typical humans (like yours truly) to inflatable zebras, unicorns, pigs, chickens very many others somewhere in-between.

The official estimate places the number of people who attended one of the 2700+ events around the country at just around 7 million. Each Monday, I'm joined by Jonathan Larsen, a veteran of the corporate news media who, like so many of us, went the indie route to be able to report the absolute truth with no overlords dictating what he can or can not say. To accomplish that, he publishes two Substack newsletters. His snark-filled, expletives included, funny take on the news while reporting the truth comes out every morning via TheFuckingNews.substack.com. His original reporting, with a more serious tone, can be found at JonathanLarsen.substack.com. He brings it all here to my show each Monday, including today.

For the rest of the blog and more news, subscribe to nicolesandler.substack.com or come over to nicolesandler.com.

We also talked about Trump's vindictive prosecutions of his "enemies" Jim Comey, Letitia James and John Bolton. And, of course, tomorrow's No Kings Day 2, wherever you are. I'll be back here live on Monday. Until then, be safe! Peace out.

So today, we talked about D’ump’s invasion of Chicago and Portland and how those cities and others are pushing back. Then there was the Senate Judicary Committee’s oversight hearing of the batshit crazy Attorney General Pam Bondi and her sickening, contemptuous display of disrespect in her performance for the orange man. We also discussed the government shutdown and its ramifications , the Nobel Peace Prize that did NOT go to Dumpo, and more.

I dealt with all of that on today’s show… starting with David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect, and the shutdown.

Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Lisa's here today to share some of what's in her brand new book (just released this week) WITHOUT PRECEDENT: HOW CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS AND HIS ACCOMPLICES REWROTE THE CONSTITUTION AND DISMANTLED OUR RIGHTS.

This morning, the cabinet member formerly known as Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, made it clear to the 800 highest-ranking US military officials from around the world he hastily called home for an unprecedented meeting, that he means war. And he means WAR!!! And Trump spoke too... for 74 interminable minutes...

I'm joined by Coltan Scrivner, author of "Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can't Look Away", perhaps explaining the Trump cult.

I think we’ve entered a new era with the murder of Kirk. We’ll hear what Jeff has to say when he joins us on today’s show.

Trump is in the UK, Interested rates are lowered. Our guests Reynolds Holding wrote the book Better Judgement and says not to give up on the Judiciary!

But today, we’ll bring along some extra snark! We'll begin the show with an old friend of mine, CLIFF SCHECTER of Blue Amp who like Jonathan and I, also works to bring you actual news in an entertaining way.

I'm sorry that Charlie Kirk was killed yesterday. Gun violence is never the answer to anything, especially a political disagreement. It's sickening. On Today's show, I'll sound off and check in with Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch.

Two shootings today. One at a college in Colorado, injuring three.. The other at a college in Utah, killing Charlie Kirk. Unreal.

On today's show, Impolite Talking Religion & Politics with comedian John Fugelsang & Democratic strategist Mike Nellis.

With Captain Cankles' relationship with pedophile/child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein dominating much of the news today, that's one of the shitty news items we discussed today. The Epstein connection and stories surrounding it are really at the center of everything Trump related these days, as it appears the both Brian and I believe that it will ultimately be Epstein that brings Trump down. I just hope the end comes sooner rather than later!

Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com joined in and gave us more breaking news. This time it's good news!

We'll reschedule Greg Palast for next week. Today I'll try to cover Trump's illegal killing of 11 people in a boat off the coast of Venezuela who he claimed were smuggling drugs (sure), and RFK Jr's testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee in which he proved he's as batshit crazy as we thought.

To that end, over the weekend a campaign announcement caught my eye because someone jumped in to the congressional race for my district (AZ5) for the seat now held by the atrocious Andy Biggs!

So to help Elizabeth Lee - and all of us - jumpstart the 2026 midterm campaign, Nurse (Elizabeth) Lee will join us for a few minutes. Maybe she'll motivate you to run?

Peace out...

On holidays, I prefer to let the music do the talking. And today’s show celebrates Labor Day.

Sadly. organized labor has taken the slings and arrows from the right for gar too long. But it is through the efforts of unions that we have what few workers’ rights we still enjoy.

Today, I support unions through song… Enjoy!

No video today as YouTube copyright violates me any and every time I play a song. So I’ll see you tomorrow.

Tim has authored a new report called "A More Perfect Media: Saving America's Fourth Estate from Billionaires, Broligarchy and Trump". That report accompanies Free Press' online Media Capitulation Index, a performance rating of the nation's 35 largest media conglomerates.

It's regarding the constant barrage of fundraising emails and texts and the fact that, in many cases, they’re scammy spam. Sadly, I'm not hearing much about some information that's recently come to light. We'll try to shine a brighter light on that on today's show with writer/organizer Micah Sifry, writer and organizer of TheConnector.substack.com. He's been writing about Mothership Strategies and their aligned PACs who are doing us wrong.

We now know her as much as Heather Parton as we do as Digby. Heather is still writing at her Hullabaloo blog and also writes a regular column for Salon.com. Both are on my must-read list.

The days when Heather joins me on the air are some of my favorites. So I'm looking forward to today. As difficult as it is to talk about the absurdity and horror that is the current administration, it's great to be able to discuss anything that's going on with a friend who's as knowledgeable, smart, incredulous, and pissed off as we are.

Chris also just returned from a vacation. He was in the UK and wrote about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and seeing Rosie O'Donnell perform there. I have so many questions for him about Europeans' thoughts about the US in the Dump era and how it feels to unplug from this shit for two weeks!

kingNews.substack.com and get Jonathan’s original reporting without much snark at JonathanLarsen.substack.com.

Accelerationism also happens to be the topic of an article Art wrote for The Conversation recently, “A Field Guide to ‘Accelerationism’: White supremacist groups using violence to spur race war and create social chaos”.

They further explain,

"The lawmakers put new pressure on absent Democrats to return to the state, testing whether they'll stay away another month to try to kill a plan to redraw congressional districts in favor of the GOP."

In other words, the Republicans who rule the Texas state legislature, following the Oval Office felon's directives, are stretching the norms of the gerrymander to do away with any districts that might vote for the Democratic candidates in the 2026 midterms.

Redistricting in the middle of the decade? Not a regular occurrence. Is it illegal?

That's one of the questions I have for David Daley, author of three books on the subject. The one that started it all was Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count. He followed that with Unrigged: How Americans are Battling Back to Save Democracy in 2021. Unfortunately, the landscape has since changed.

Dave’s newest book, released in 2024, is Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections.

Dave is also the former editor of Salon.com, and is a senior fellow at FairVote, who advocates for ranked choice voting and proportional representation, so he knows this subject.

Dave gave us the lay of the land regarding gerrymandering, apportionment and where we currently stand, and it’s not a pretty picture. Sadly, a woman in the YouTube chatroom during the show, Stephanie, commented saying,

“Dave is so pessimistic. I’m sorry I tuned in.”

Wow. I’m so sorry she felt that way. But, as I said before, David Daley is an expert on this subject and he was just telling us the facts that we need to know. He wasn’t trying to discourage us, but not knowing the truth about what is happening will not make the situation any better. Not understanding how dire the situation is will just give people (the wrong) reason to not try their hardest to correct the problems. We NEED TO KNOW THE TRUTH!

As depressing as that truth may be…

I thought we’d also get to the rest of the news on today’s show. It’s the usual these days… D’ump creates chaos as he keeps the ball in motion trying to steal another election (while he invokes opposite world and claims the Democrats are stealing the elections).

Then there’s the soft launch of Martial Law in Washington DC and other anti-democratic and harmful machinations set in motion by the guy who, if he were a Democrat, would have been 25th amendmented by now…

Instead, I got sidelined by a call from our friend Spocko who filled us in on the work he’s doing to amplify our voices and help truth tellers come together to get our message out.

Tomorrow on the show, one of social media’s most prolific Tweeters, podcast producer, columnist and all-around really smart guy, Jason Sattler, better known as @LOLGOP.

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Today is Monday, so we check in with our pal Jonathan Larsen who writes all about the shit that won't stop at The Fucking News and on his personal breaking news site, jonathanlarsen.substack.com.

We get together every Friday to stick a fork in the week, as Marcy fills in the blanks and explains some of the news stories and issues that came to light during the week.

Today we touch on the resurrection of Trump's "Russia Russia Russia" lies, the Durham appendix, Trump's Putin capitulation, Marcy's explanation of "competitive authoritarianism", more Epstein fallout and more. And then we can rest for a couple of days, rinse and repeat....

That's why I often invite journalist, author, filmmaker, podcaster Brian Karem on the show. You can read him on his Reporter’s Notebook Substack and at Salon.com, hear him on his Just Ask the Question podcast, read any of his seven books - the latest being Free the Press and find him on social media everywhere. And occasionally, like today, on The Nicole Sandler Show.

We were both a bit fired up today, so be ready for some fireworks.

Allison is incredibly busy, currently hosting three podcasts, plus interviews & writing articles on her substack at muellershewrote.com, and running MSW Media, Inc. while breaking news regularly.

Most recently, Allison broke the story of Ghislaine Maxwell's sex offender status being downgraded to allow her to be moved to a minimum security "Club Fed" "prison" in Texas... Now she's in the middle of lawsuit she filed against the DoJ for the training videos instructing FBI personnel how to flag mentions of Trump and others in the Epstein files - the existence of which she was the first to report on last month.

So strap in, there's a lot to talk about today with Allison Gill.

Thanks for reading/listening to The Nicole Sandler Show! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

For years I've struggled with the party. When I lived in California, I was registered NPA - no party affiliation- because I was still able to vote in primaries and be involved in a productive manner. When I moved back to Florida, I registered as a Democrat so I could vote and participate in the primaries. Sadly, it seems as if the Democratic Party hasn't learned the lessons it has needed to learn for decades.

The conundrum is what to do about it! That's something we'll discuss with Mike Lux on today's show.

The shit keeps coming at us, by Trumpian design, and I've accepted the challenge to report on as much of it as I can physically and mentally stand.

Thankfully, I'm joined in this task each Monday by Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com who makes the ugliness of it all a little less distasteful by injecting snark and irreverence into his reporting as I usually attempt as well.

Thankfully, today is Friday so Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net gets me pretty much caught up on what happened and is still happening.

As usual, we cover a wide range of issues all revolving around the shitstorm that emanates from Dumpworld.

We'll talk about that and check in with Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny and the Blue America PAC too.

Steve Benen, longtime political writer, now producer for Rachel Maddow who writes the MaddowBlog, wrote the book on the subject last year. MINISTRY OF TRUTH: DEMOCRACY, REALITY, AND THE REPUBLICANS' WAR ON THE RECENT PAST should be required reading for everyone as it examines the warped alternate reality under which we are trying to exist. Steve Benen joined me on the air last summer when the book was just-released. I thought this conversation was the perfect way to wrap up this vacation. I'll be back live tomorrow!

That interview happened on August 2, 2021, so four years ago next week. It’s amazing how much has happened, yet how little has changed with regard to this case. Listening back to it, I can’t help but realize how different the interview would have been if I were doing it now. Perhaps when I get back from vacation, I’ll reach out to Julie again. Though she is the hot get these days… That’s a good thing. She’s a good journalist.

For the second half of today’s vacation show, I pulled a really important interview considering what the orange moron has been doing to this nation in the six months he’s occupied the White House this time around. Too many people use a lot of words they don’t quite understand, so I thought it was time for a primer on fascism, socialism, communism and the other -isms that many of the people who yell at me on social media think are all interchangeable.

Last May, as we were girding ourselves for the possibility another D’ump term, some of us were studying Project 2025 for an idea of what would be in store. It was frightening. And we had good reason to be frightened. It’s bad and continues getting worse. On May 22, I interviewed Federico Finchelstein who had just written his eighth book on fascism - THE WANNABE FASCISTS: A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING THE GREATEST THREAT TO DEMOCRACY.

I promise you, this was important then, and even more so now. Unfortunately we had a lousy phone connection (if I recall correctly, he was in Europe on a ski trip with his son when we spoke) and has a thick accent – he’s from Argentina. Maybe the YouTube or podcast’s transcription will help, or just take your time listening… It’s worth it!!

We spoke on Feb 5, just about a week after the book’s release, and only a couple of weeks after the inauguration that shook me and so many of us to the core.

Although Catherine’s main area of activism and focus deals with the environment, I felt her inspiration to go much deeper into the soul… I think you’ll fall in love with her as I did.

We begin today’s vacation show with Catherine Coleman Flowers who is an amazing, trailblazing hero.

Then we switch gears and find out about the women from ancient history - most of whom we know little to nothing about - who paved the way for today’s inspiring women.

Daisy Dunn is pretty remarkable herself! She’s a classicist and award-winning author of The Missing Thread: A Women’s History of the Ancient World. She makes this history fun!

Instead of recounting some of the stories she tells and writes about in the book, I’ll just encourage you to listen.

Not only do Girls Rule now, they always did.

Today’s show via Youtube: (audio only)

Here’s what I wrote when this interview first aired on February 12 of this year:

I frequently exclaim that we’re living in ‘Opposite World’. It’s a place filled with gaslighting where things are pretty much the exact opposite of what we’re being told. D’ump and his cult followers, while screaming that WE were stealing the election are actually the ones who’ve been stealing OUR votes. Remember the newish warning: Every accusation is a confession.

In his new film, VIGILANTES, INC: AMERICA’S NEW VOTE SUPPRESSION HITMEN, journalist Greg Palast explains how they’ve been doing this and why Donald Trump is sitting in the Oval Office again. See the film now at gregpalast.com, here on YouTube and embedded at the bottom of this post, or on Amazon Prime for free. I hope you’ll watch both the film and my interview with Greg Palast, share them widely, and work to insure this never happens again.

There was plenty to talk about today too, as the shit really has hit the proverbial fan. Thankfully, Digby pulled together much of that shit show in a post this morning headlined, “Are They Over It?”

Meanwhile, while meeting with the president of the Philippines today in the Oval Office and showing off his gaudy “gold” decorative embellishments, D’ump showed just how frightened he is about what is hidden in those Epstein files that he went off on his latest attempt to distract us — claiming to have uncovered the biggest scandal in American History!

It’s difficult to paraphrase because it’s so batshit crazy, but he’s claiming, with an assist from Tulsi Gabbard, that Hillary Clinton, Jim Comey, Joe Biden and just about every Democrat alive took place in a coup orchestrated by Barack Hussein Obama (yes, he’s back to calling him that) to steal elections, thereby allowing millions of immigrants (or “illegals” as he calls human beings") into the country to rape and murder white people…. or something like that.

We aim to make it a little easier to swallow on Mondays by bringing you up-to-date with the news with some snark and few well-placed fucks with Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com.

Oh sure, there's plenty of Epstein news - the story that just won't die, even though Epstein has been dead for a few years. But since we last spoke on Friday, more news has broken about the files, the birthday book and the most important part of it all, THE COVER UP!!

Believe it or not, there's even some non-Epstein related stuff to talk about.

These days, it's overwhelming, which is why I say we'll cover some of it.

We record these Friday sessions at noon Eastern time due to our physical locations and the time difference. I'm in Arizona; Marcy is in Ireland. The show goes live a few hours later, at 3pm ET, which is what time I begin my live show weekday afternoons.

I don't edit for content, our conversations run as if they were live. Even when I sometimes realize that I had an "oh shit" moment. Such was the case at the start of the show when I attempted a clever opening by quoting D'ump's alleged letter to Jeffrey Epstein that the Wall St. Journal reported last night....

“Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything,” the note began.

Donald: Yes, there is, but I won’t tell you what it is.

Jeffrey: Nor will I, since I also know what it is.

Donald: We have certain things in common, Jeffrey.

Jeffrey: Yes, we do, come to think of it.

Donald: Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?

Jeffrey: As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.

Donald: A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.

Marcy tried to figure out where this week's insanity began and as she was searching through her notes, said "Are we still talking about Epstein?"

We were obviously on different planes at the start of the show as I thought she was asking the question, which I found odd. But she was quoting the orange cankle as he ranted about the Epstein story on Saturday! The second time she "asked" that question, I finally realized she wasn't asking, she was quoting him. Thankfully, we then got in sync. Whew.

What follows is a information-filled discussion about the events of the week, mostly pertaining to this story that seems to have put a decent-sized schism in MAGA world.

It‘s the story that also won't go away, and that is really freaking old DonOld out!

A reminder that I'll be taking a week off beginning Wednesday. But I will be running special vacation shows that I've been putting together, consisting of interviews that are worthy of a second listen (or a first if you missed them when they originally aired).

They'll all be posted on my website at nicolesandler.com and will go out via email to subscribers (paid or free) here on Substack.

As I mentioned during today’s show, next Friday I’ll run an interview with Julie K. Brown, the Miami Herald reporter who covered the Epstein story from South Florida in real time. She was on my show in 2021 when her book, Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story was published.

Have a great weekend. I’ll be back Monday with Jonathan Larsen from The Fucking News to pick up where we left off today!

I believe, as is enshrined in the constitution, that we all have the right to worship - or not. But I also believe in the other tenets of our democratic society including the separation of church and state. That one is being challenged by the current administration, but it’s not news. Trump has only capitalized on this effort that's been a goal of the “religious right’ for many years.

I've done interviews before about the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, over the years. But as with many other dangers to society, in the Trump administration, this perverted quest is now on steroids.

I was alerted by a friendly acquaintance- a journalist who covers religion and politics -to an article at The Conversation titled "What is the ‘Seven Mountains Mandate’ and how is it linked to political extremism in the US?". In it, Dr. Art Jipson explains how much progress (in their view) they've made toward their goals to gain influence, or dominion, over seven major cultural spheres of influence - the ”Seven Mountains' Mandate" - and particularly government.

We just finished a wonderful, even cathartic, conversation. I knew Art would be interesting, but frankly, I’m blown away. He’s a fascinating man. Art is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Dayton - but there’s so much more to him I know I’ll be inviting him back on the show. I wish I had professors like him in college.

And, to put the icing on the cake, he’s hosted a weekly music show on the campus radio station for the last 21 years! It’s Your Tuesday Afternoon Alternative on WUDR. I know I’ll be checking it out.

I began the show with some of the latest news, then got deep into the warped religion goal of taking over the world. I’m really not exaggerating.

Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up the week’s news on Emptywheel Fridays with the great Marcy Wheeler.

Peace out…

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

We are experiencing the complete gaslighting of America. The most confounding part of this opposite world in which we're stuck is why so many people are comfortable in it, or claim to be. There is a slight window through which some clarity is attempting to break through, I think.

Who would have guessed that it would be a defunct child predator, rapist, sex trafficker & "creep" who'd strike the most damaging blow to the heretofore Teflon cult leader? I know, it's not over until it's over, but we are seeing those cracks in the armor forming.

It is a tough coating to penetrate, though, which has allowed DonOld Trump to impose his demented ideals on our nation. While we wait for his complete demise, the sensible among us try to use the tools at our disposal to stay afloat -- the law. When it’s followed…

That's one of the reasons I invite my friend and favorite legal expert Lisa Graves on the show so often! And did again today. Lisa is busy... tonight and every Wednesday evening, she co-hosts the podcast 'THE FIVE 8 1/2' here on YouTube. She's also a co-host at Legal AF, writes the Grave Injustice newsletter (graveinjustice.news), and has an important day job too. And her forthcoming book, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and his Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled our Rights is now available for pre-order!

Inquiring minds have lots of questions about the assault being perpetrated on our nation, so we cover a lot of ground today.

But we begin with some of the day’s news including:

* The Supreme Extreme Court’s decision allowing Dump to proceed with plans to carry out mass layoffs at the Dept of Education or in plaing English, to dismantle the DoE

* ICE instructing its officers to hold immigrants who entered the country illegally “for the duration of their removal proceedings (including millions who crossed the border from Mexico over the past few decades). Meaning without a bond hearing. Just held indefinitely, as the “removal proceedings” can take months or years

* The House rules committee voting down an amendment offered by Rep. Ro Kanna that demands the release of all the Epstein files by a vote of 5-7 (one Republican, Ralph Norman, voted with the Democrats), killing the amendment

* Inflation continues rising apparently as Dump’s tariffs start to bite

Then, it’s on to my guest today. Shannon Watts is here to tell us about the lessons she shares in her new book, FIRED UP: HOW TO TURN YOUR SPARK INTO A FLAME AND COME ALIVE AT ANY AGE.

Yes, this is the same Shannon Watts who founded Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

Shannon describes the book as

part memoir, part manual, part manifesto for women of all ages who are ready to come alive, overcome their fears, and take action to turn a small spark of desire into a fire that will transform their lives.

She explains that much of it is about the lessons she learned during her journey from starting a Facebook group for moms to do something about our gun epidemic the day after the Sandy Hook murders to building it into the nation's largest grassroots organization against gun violence.

I've been in awe of Shannon Watts for many years though this is the first time I've spoken with her. Although her book will undoubtedly help men too, I realize she wrote it for me, and the millions of other women who are struggling with life as it is and need some help.

Or as Shannon describes it, "For women ready to stop living on autopilot and playing it small, FIRED UP invites you to shatter your self imposed limitations and unleash your potential so you can finally start living the life you deserve."

In September, Shannon will launch Firestarter University, a year-long online course that provides an interactive, action-driven curriculum and a curated, supportive community for people who are ready to prioritize their personal, professional or political desires. It’s a bonus that comes with the purchase of the book. (You can get it from Shannon’s site, or use this link from Bookshop.org, which also gives a small commission to this show).

If that’s the case, I prefer to take my news with a healthy dose of snark and some well-placed profanity.

So we begin the week here on The Nicole Sandler Show with Jonathan Larsen, the man behind thefuckingnews.substack.com.

I'm particularly enjoying watching the MAGAts eating their own over the Epstein files coverup and lies. But there's more that appears to be the impetus for right wing implosion, like tariffs, weapons, war and more...

In addition to his profane "fucking news" Jonathan writes another newsletter where he does his original reporting, sans snark. Lately he's been reporting on the sickening form of "Bible Study" at the White House, where they claim to be diligently fighting antisemitism, while seeming to stress their quite anti-Semitic mythology in teaching that "the Jews killed Jesus." This is exhausting already.

**Postscript: I knew this was one of those days. We never did get to the part about the Bible perversion today. Just about 53 minutes into the show, my power went out. So the show suddenly ended. That's the bad news.

It got worse when the power company said the estimated time power would be restored would be 2:52 local time. I got that news right around 1:00. Oh, and the temperature was 100 degrees. That’s a problem because with the power went the AC! The good news is that the power kicked back on right around 1:20...

Yes, it could have been worse. Sorry about the end of the show. It was good while it lasted.

I'll be back tomorrow. Activist and author Shannon Watts is my scheduled guest!

Today, really, the only link you need is emptywheel.net. That’s Marcy Wheeler’s info-packed site where she wrote about pretty much everything we discussed today on the show.

Marcy took last week off - as did we. It was the 4th of July here, but Marcy lives in Ireland these days. She did write a piece about what she did with her week off that you can read here.

Thankfully, she’s back today. We always seem to mention how long each week in the D’ump era feels. In this case, two weeks felt like an eternity.

We had a lot of territory to cover today. The Big Ugly (now) law, Emil Bove's corruption and bid to become a federal judge, the Epstein files deception, lies & coverup, the Brazil and other bullshit tariffs, the Texas floods and DHS/FEMA mess and a lot more.

Our main topic today deals with more hypocrisy from D'ump and his lemmings. It’s become one of the biggest issues pissing off his MAGAt followers and fracturing his support. It should. It’s Jeffrey Epstein.

For years we've been waiting for the so-called Epstein files to be released. This administration, who claims to be the most transparent ever, has said they'll be releasing everything to the public. The unqualified Trump shill posing as Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has been emphatic about it until she was emphatic that there's no there there.

Some background I promised you on today’s show:

The shit hit the fan on Monday when the Department of Justice and the FBI released a statement saying that there is no “Epstein Client List” and that no further information regarding the accused rapist/pedophile and reported former friend of Trump’s would be forthcoming.

This despite AG Bondi’s statement on Fox (not) News in February claiming that the “Epstein Client List” was at that moment on her desk.

At D’ump’s media circus posing as a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, July 8, the orange one berated a reporter for asking about Epstein when “we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. Wha… and are people still talking about this guy? This creep…”

And Pam Bondi then attempts to explain that when she said the client list was on her desk, that’s not what she meant. Right…

Of course, Trump called Epstein “this creep.” But in an interview with author Michael Wolff, detailed by The Daily Beast in a paywalled article in November of 2024, but entered into the House record (so you can read it here), Epstein says Trump was his “best friend” and gave many details of their years-long friendship and escapades.

Filmmaker Don Winslow posted this on Xitter:

As for Trump being implicated as having participated with Epstein in the “forcible rape” of a then-13 year-old girl at one of the creep’s parties, here are a couple of articles to read:

* From Courthouse News Service 9/30/2016 “Rape Allegations Refiled Against Trump”

* From Politico 11/4/2016 “Woman suing Trump over alleged teen rape drops suit, again” No reason was given for the abruptly dropped suit (for the second time), but the attorney who canceled the scheduled press conference “said Trump’s accuser had received threats and was too frightened to show up.”

That’s not proof of anything, but it’s related information nonetheless…

The Miami Herald’s Julie Brown reported tirelessly for years about Epstein and his sickening crimes. A Xitter account for Project Constitution on Wed July 9 posted a throwback video taken from a Miami Herald film about the case along with related information.

Critics on both sides of the aisle - including some big-time D’ump acolytes are crying foul.

This is an older one from the idiot who would become VP…

Even Alex Jones is on video, literally crying... and apparently puking about it! (Sorry, I couldn’t bring myself to actually post anything from that psychopath.)

One more. Even Tucker Carlson…

I think that’s enough for now… When does everyone finally get it?

And there was some breaking news this morning too… A (Bush appointed) federal judge in New Hampshire placed a new block on D'ump's ban on birthright citizenship. Confused yet? You should be.

Here’s a gift article from the Washington Post that explains what happened: “Federal judge places new block on Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship”

As for what happens next, perhaps Marcy Wheeler will have some thoughts on that on tomorrow’s show. Talk to you then!

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

Thanks for reading The Nicole Sandler Show! This post is public so feel free to share it.

It's a lie. Steve Benen had a great article about it the other day at MaddowBlog. But there are many others out there echoing similar sentiment. The email makes other claims too that are, at the very least, confusing.

To help clear up the confusion and debunk the lies and explain just how dire the situation is, Alex Lawson joins us today right at the top of the show. Alex is Executive Director of Social Security Works, and he knows how to cut through the bullshit and bring us the facts. That's exactly what we need right now.

Wendell Potter is a best-selling author, journalist and above all, a leading advocate for health care reform. He's also editor-in-chief of the newsletter HEALTH CARE un-covered (subscribe at healthcareuncovered.substack.com). He returns to the show today in the wake of the passage of the horrendous Big Ugly Trump Tax and Kill Bill to help us figure out what it means for the future of health care in this country.

It reminds of of the limbo dance. It's really a game that asks, "How low can you go?" The aim is to pass forward under a bar, which keeps getting set lower and lower, without falling or dislodging the bar.

Unfortunately, in this Trumpian world, there seems to be no bottom. The lows keep going lower and there is no winner!

Last week we were incredulous about the war the orange madman injected us in to. This week, I still can't believe we couldn't find enough Republicans in a Congress with the tiniest majority margin to vote against the most damaging piece of legislation in our nation's history.

And now we move back to the tariffs to inflict yet more pain on the American people, enough of whom are masochists still under the spell of that madman asking him to hurt them more.

When will it end? Or maybe I should ask, Will it end? Subscribe to both TheFuckingNews.substack.com and JonathanLarsen.substack.com!

Hopefully Jonathan will lighten the mood a bit!

BTW, I mentioned the website to sign up for a General Strike... it's generalstrikeus.com.

And tomorrow, Wendell Potter will join us to tell us how the Big Ugly Tax & Kill bill will affect your healthcare.

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Just when I thought that just maybe three or four Republican House members would find a spine and actually represent their constituents and fulfill the oaths they swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, I realize that I only wind up disappointed.

In the middle of the night last night, the traitors who would sell out the people to help the wealthiest of the wealthy caved. As I prepare to go live on the air at 3pm Eastern/noon Pacific, the Democratic Leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries wrapped up a record-breaking speech (Dems are good at that). After 8 hours and 44 minutes, he yielded back so the Republicans could hold the final democracy-killing vote on the big ugly democracy killing tax bill.

Here’s his big finish:

Then some smug, jerk rank and file Republican spoke for a minute or two, and handed it off the the even more rude, nasty, lying Trump sycophantic Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to make some rude and condescending remarks before opening the vote.

Sickeningly, literally, they voted and passed the monstrosity of a killer bill 218-214.

We spent most of the show explaining how they went from five House Republicans opposing the procedural motion to proceed to the final vote, which would have killed it, to somehow coercing all but one to vote in favor of it. Johnson kept the vote open all night to changed those four votes, but they did it. Only Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania held strong.

After that, Jeffries did his thing… and after 8 hours and 44 minutes, the inevitable happened.

In the end, two Republicans joined all the Democrats to pass the piece of shit 218-214. The two who are now on Trump’s shit list are Brian Fitzpatrick and Thomas Massie.

Just in time for them to destroy the meaning of Independence Day.

Thankfully, we were able to inject a bit of fun to lead us into an ironic holiday weekend... Spinal Tap is back! There's a new film opening September 12, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues. And this weekend for a limited run July 5-10, the original, This Is Spinal Tap returns to theaters, 41 years later... Spinal Tap's bass player, Derek Smalls, better known to most of us as Harry Shearer, joins us at the start of the show.

We talked about the legendary band, the movies as well as Harry’s long, long, long run on The Simpsons, his excellent radio show Le Show, his wonderful and talented wife, singer, songwriter, performer Judith Owen, and of course, the political shit we’re living through…

Tomorrow, I’m taking the 4th of July off. I’ll be doing a special music show that’ll stream at nicolesandler.com all weekend long. Just hit the audio player on the home page and it’ll play for you… or listen here:

I’ll be back Monday, as usual, with Jonathan Larsen of The Fucking News because life goes on, sort of…

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

All Democrats voted NO. Three Republicans --Thom Tillis, Rand Paul and Susan Collins stepped up. But it was Alaska's Lisa Murkowski who betrayed the nation and caved in to the pressure and more likely, the threats lobbed at her. She's spoken of them in the past. Now she's publicly hoping the House will save the nation. She didn't when she could have. Her vote would have done it. Unconscionable.

This comes just days after the Extreme Supreme Court gave President D'ump his wet dream of a term-ender.

Today's guest is Chris Geidner of www.lawdork.com. That's home to his newsletter where he draws on his 15 years of legal and political journalism with his own unique style.

I invited Chris to join us to talk about the big, seriously bad Extreme Supreme Court finale. And now there's this extra shitty news that broke this morning thanks to the shit show in the Senate. Never a dull moment!

The senate right now is in the middle of the vote-a-rama on its way to passing the Behemoth Barbaric Bill Act which is worse than anything we could have imagined. The orange idiot-in-chief has also taken us down through the depths of Opposite World as his lies continue confusing those who somehow still retain some semblance of sanity. It's the kind of shit that proves Jonathan Larsen chose the perfect title when he launched his daily newsletter and called it The Fucking News because it really is!

For a really good explanation of what's happening with that Big Bloated Bullocks Bill, check out David Dayen's article "Trump Tax Cut Magic Wand Kicks Off Vote-a-Rama."

And here's John Oliver's funnier but still truly informative segment on it from last night's Last Week Tonight:

As we do each Monday, Jonathan joins us today to recount some of that fucking news- both the shit that has us banging our heads against brick walls & sinking deeper into despair and the crap that we probably wouldn't know about if Jonathan didn't report on it. He did just that Saturday in his other newsletter where he writes up his original reporting -jonathanlarsen.substack.com- with a truly upsetting, despicable exclusive story headlined "White House Bible Study Teaches that Jews Killed Jesus". Yes, this is the same White House who claims that the motivating issue driving so much of their horrific policy is fighting anti-semitism.

Yes, that's why I call it Opposite World.

Strap in, we've got a lot of territory to cover!

The Supreme Court today handed down four of their 10 remaining decisions, and announced they'll finish them off tomorrow! Of course, that doesn't count the outstanding shadow docket cases, or does it? (That's a gift link to a NY Times article "The Major Supreme Court Decisions in 2025" - jam-packed full of info!)

The former Fox weekend host who now plays Secretary of Defense and the guy who was named Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because he has a tough-sounding nickname that D'ump likes (Dan 'Raising' Cain) held a media-scolding, whiny press conference this morning where they seemed oh-so-defensive about the outcome of the war they inserted the US into and for which they claimed victory.

The Big Ugly clusterfuck of a bill is still being pushed by the WH, while the Senate Parliamentarian, thankfully, keeps trying to explain-and delete- items that DO NOT fly under reconciliation.

The NYC Mayoral Primaries are done with a surprise outcome for the Dems, but where's the laughter about the GOP nominee? (It'sCurtis Sliwa... you can laugh now)

And there's lots more... At the end of the show, I shared a tiny bit of history I enjoyed with Bobby Sherman, the pop star and teen idol who died this week. Watch the video of today's show below, and you'll see both of us in 1992 at a radio event in Los Angeles from when I was producer of The Mark & Brian Show at KLOS... fun times. I'll also include the video below.

And just after today's show ended, the sad news broke of the passing of the great Bill Moyers. (Another gift link.) It truly is the end of an era.

There's also a confirmation hearing for Judge Emil Bove, a person wholly unsuitable for a federal, lifetime appointment to the bench, this morning. And the orange wannabe dick-tator held a press conference in The Hague where he's been for a day at a NATO gathering. He's leaving early, probably because he wanted to claim hero status for himself (and a future Nobel Peace Prize) for his orders to bomb Iran... Instead, he had to deflect to criticize the US media, blaming them for "demeaning the US military and the pilots who flew those bombing missions. Talk about embarrassing the US on the world stage!

My favorite legal expert, Lisa Graves of the Grave Injustice newsletter & podcast & the Five 8 1/2 podcast, and author of the forthcoming book, Without Precedent (available for pre-order now), and a whole lot more, returns to the show to talk about where we stand, today's confirmation hearing of Emil Bove to the federal bench, the latest unconscionable decisions from the (far from) Supreme Court and more....

I can't explain it. Perhaps Brian Karem can... He does a pretty good job of it at Salon.com, on his Just Ask the Question podcast, on his substack and social media and, occasionally, on this show. Hopefully he can help us a bit on today's show...

Shortly before showtime we learned that Iran retaliated. However, AP reported that “this missile attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the United States on its nuclear sites this weekend, signaling its likely desire to deescalate. Iran made the announcement via a statement from its Supreme National Security Council after the attack, which Qatar said caused no injuries. Iran also said it targeted the base because it was outside of populated areas.”

And I read an editorial from The Onion , a satirical letter to Congress, that the paper hand delivered to all members of Congress and also appeared as a full-page ad in the NY Times! As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I also had to mention that while it applies to many Democrats (and Republicans) in Congress, there are quite a few of them who are making the effort to do whatever they can to stop the madness. The problem is that while the Republicans control both houses of Congress, there's very little the Dems can do.

But while I was on the air, the ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Jamie Raskin and Dick Durban presided over a hearing "Defending the Rights of the People - Bicameral Spotlight Forum" which addresses some of the issues we're facing...

Oh sure, there's lots more news and I'm sure we'll get around to some of that on today's show - both before and during our weekly conversation with Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com. But there's also a bunch of breaking news today saying that Iran launched retaliatory strikes against a US base in Qatar - the largest US base in the Middle East& home of US Central Command's forward headquarters.

Since our last get-together last Friday, so much has happened. It was overnight Friday night/Saturday morning that an assassin in Minnesota murdered the former speaker of the MN House, Democrat Melissa Hortman, and her husband and attempted to murder a Democratic state senator and his wife. The massive #NOKINGS Day rallies and the big dud of D'ump's military birthday parade happened on Saturday. Yes, that - and a lot more happened this week...

Today, Marcy and I cover much of the week's important news including the continuing ICE assaults on Los Angeles along with the pushback it deserves, the arrest of another elected Democratic official, NYC Comptroller and NYC Mayoral candidate Brad Lander, and the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain. That hearing was ostensibly about the DoD's 2026 budget, but much of the Democrats' questioning concerned the unconstitutional deployment of the Marines to US cities to aid ICE in rounding up and arresting alleged undocumented migrants, with a few questions about the Israel-Iran war and our potential involvement and other issues.

Marcy and I record these Friday shows at noon ET due to our time difference. She's in Ireland, I'm in Arizona. Because of the insane volume of shit they're constantly throwing at us, there's often something that changes before this show goes live at 3pm ET. As is the case today. During the show I mentioned that the first publicized ice detention on bullshit grounds - Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia grad student who helped organize pro-Palestinian protests - was still incarcerated despite winning in court. Marcy explained what the case was about and that it didn't require he be released. BUT, as we were wrapping up today's show, the news broke that a federal judge ordered he be released from the detention center in Louisiana where he's been held.

Try to rest up this weekend... though D'ump does like to dump more crap on us on Friday evenings. Ugh.

But he's done an about face since somehow getting back into office in January, with a vendetta against "DEI" and, by his attitude and actions, reaffirming his followers' rights to let their racists flags fly. He's bringing back Jim Crow which did NOT recognize Juneteenth.

Today is also the first day of summer and things are literally heating up...

On today's show, in addition to Juneteenth, we'll continue going over the avalanche of news that's bombarding us including the war between Israel and Iran and our - er- Trump's role in it, ICE raids, Trump's mental decline, Trump's ridiculous lies and a lot more.

Plus, it's Thursday so we'll check in with Howie Klein of DownWithTyranny.com and the Blue America PAC...

And at the end of the show, I share a ridiculously funny story about how Google's AI claims I had a close personal relationship with the late, great Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band! I did meet him once, around 40 years ago when I worked at WPLJ in NY and did have my picture taken with him...

We cover a lot of ground, share a lot of video - especially from a contentious hearing today in the Senate Armed Services Committee where the completely in-over-his-head Defense Sec (sic) Whiskey Pete Hegseth and the also unqualified and wrong person for the job head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain refused to give a straight answer to any question posed by the Democrats on the committee. Makes you wonder wtf they're hiding!

Today, there was also an unconscionable ruling from the Supreme Extreme Court. Well, a few really bad ones but one on transgender care rights was as bad as we could imagine.

But wait, there's more! Bombs are flying between Israel and Iran and, of course, the idiot in chief has to get in the middle of it making clueless threats - and Iran's "supreme leader" is hitting back -- over social media. Seriously.

And so much more... #NoKings attendance numbers, Utah pushing back on the heinous Mike Lee, Dump left the G7 meeting early, the Senate passed the so-called Genius act regarding crypto currency ... There's more. But like I said, it's impossible to cover it all in one show. We'll continue tomorrow...

DC is still grappling with the Big, Ugly Bill and the Republicans continue vacillating on Trump's immigration pronouncements... the chaos continues. And in New York City, ICE and other masked and unidentified thugs rough up and detain Brad Lander(gift link) the NYC Comptroller who is also a Democratic candidate for Mayor!

We'll deal with some of that, and then speak with today's guest, one of my very favorite columnists. Will Bunch is the national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He went out to the flagship event of Saturday's #NOKINGS protests. After all, it was in that city where, as Will wrote in his column (gift link) that the Continental Congress formally adopted the Star Spangled Banner as our national emblem on that very date 248 years ago... BTW, if you haven't yet, sign up for Will's free newsletter now.

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

When we last spoke on Friday, we were reeling from the treatment of California's Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference at the federal building in Los Angeles held by DHS secretary Kristi Noem. He was forcibly removed, tackled to the floor and handcuffed. It was awful.

That didn't prepare us for the horrific news of Israel striking Iran and Iran striking back. War. Damn. Or for the horrific news we awoke to on Saturday morning of an assassin murdering a loved and respected Minnesota state representative (and former Speaker of the MN House) and her husband and the attempted murders of a Minnesota State Senator and his wife. The killer remained at large until last night!

We were preparing for the weekend's planned activities -- the No King Day marches and rallies around the nation and Trump's ego boosting military parade in DC.

On today's show, we discuss a lot of that news, and I'll share some videos I put together of the two Saturday planned events...

Also, if you're wondering how to keep up the momentum from the No Kings Day events, Indivisible has a call planned for this evening 8pm ET/5pm PT: "No Kings: What's Next in the Fight" - sign up here.

Tomorrow, we'll continue the conversation with Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote about the No Kings Day event in his free newsletter today. If you're not already subscribed, you can do so here.

Today, we were dealing with the inept and grossly incompetent Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's congressional testimony this week, Trump's unconstitutional deployment of the CA National Guard and US Marines to put down mostly peaceful protests in Los Angeles (a small area of downtown), Governor Gavin Newsom's lawsuit against Trump for that, and Trump's appeal of his loss. As if that's not enough, there was the forcible removal and assault of Sen. Alex Padilla at Kristi Noem's press conference about DHS' raids, Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return to the US (which they told us could not ever happen)... and yes, there was even more. And no, we still didn't cover all of it.

One final reminder. tomorrow is D'ump's planned ego boosting military parade through the streets of Washington DC (for which the forecast is RAIN!), and more than 1800 planned #NOKINGS protests around the country. If you plan on taking part, be careful and stay safe. Find the one nearest you, information and safety tips at NoKings.org...

This is what the DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, was saying before Sen. Padilla spoke up. “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country.”

Really? I thought they were there to quell so-called riots! And then, after the fact, you can hear how Noem, blatantly lies!

I'm still shaking with rage and terror. Those people are evil. They twist and lie about everything. If one thing is more apparent to me now, it's that we all must take to the streets. Participate in a NO KINGS protest on Saturday. Go to nokings.org, find one happening near you. Show up, DO IT PEACEFULLY, but get involved. This is our future we're protecting. We cannot let them take over and destroy what's left of our democracy.

I was going to talk about other things on the show today. Here's what I wrote up before the show:

It's a busy Thursday with multiple hearings going on simultaneously in the House and Senate. Whiskey Pete Hegseth is showing how incompetent and unqualified he is to be Defense Secretary while Democratic governors are testifying about Sanctuary State Policies before the House Oversight & Government Reform committees.

Senate Republicans are meeting (arguing) with the official White House Nazi Stephen Miller, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struggles to answer questions about his 2026 Budget, and D'ump tries to answer some questions from the press after signing more bullshit resolutions barring electric vehicle sales mandates and diesel engine rules for California as he continues lying about the protests in California and why he called out the National Guard and the Marines!

Meanwhile, DC braces for a military invasion for D'ump's ego birthday party — er — parade on Saturday. And he denies knowing about the 1800 and counting NoKings protests happening that same day. Opposite World indeed.

Today is Thursday, so we'll check in with Howie Klein of downwithtyranny.com & the Blue America PAC on his way for another cancer treatment...

In the aftermath of the Padilla assault, the hearings that were still ongoing turned ugly too.

Make no mistake. This is D'ump's MO. This is what he wants. He's fomenting division just as he fomented insurrection on Jan 6 at the Capitol. He WANTS to call in the National Guard and the Military on peaceful protestors everywhere, despite his claim that he knows nothing about the No Kings protest plans. He's lying about that as he lies about everything else!

Tomorrow we'll wrap up the week with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net as we do every Friday.

The gaslighting underscores our need for real, courageous, independent news sources and the call to support them. One of the best sources for unfettered journalism is The American Prospect, led by executive editor David Dayen, our guest on today's show.

Dayen has been reporting the truth for decades now. A few years back he joined The American Prospect and made a good publication even better. Just yesterday, he wrote two must-read articles about what's happening now in LA and to our country: "Cries of Defiance and Songs of Joy in Los Angeles" and "The Big Beautiful Bill Will Bring ICE Raids to Your City." (Peruse his other articles here.)

I can't promise that we'll unravel the whole mess created by Trump and his minions in the one hour we have together today, but we'll certainly do our best to expose the lies being pushed on us, the consequences of that gaslighting and some of what we can do to stand up for our rights.

The song I began the show with today is one of five or six that John D. Cundle already posted to his channel today. He's quite prolific and just as talented. Here's the very timely and topical one I opened with today.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

As if that wasn't concerning enough, we'll change the focus in the second half of today's show when I speak with Megan Greenwell. Her book, BAD COMPANY: PRIVATE EQUITY AND THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, hitting stores today, shows how private equity firms are taking over businesses from every sector and upending how virtually everything has worked until this destructive trend. I try to remain positive on this program, but that'll be a tough hill to climb today!

Tomorrow on the show, David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect who’ll bring us up to speed on the LA protests, Trump’s unconstitutional over-reaction, and the latest on the Big, Butt-ugly Bill!

LIVE show update! We’ve moved the live broadcast of the show back a couple of hours. We now stream live video on YouTube and audio on the Progressive Voices Network and at nicolesandler.com weekday afternoons from 3-4 Eastern/ noon-1 Pacific.

As always, both the audio and video also stream live to the homepage at nicolesandler.com, and are archived there as well by date.. (So today's show is posted at nicolesandler.com/6-9-25 -- all shows use that format). And you can still get it delivered to your inbox each day by subscribing at nicolesandler.substack.com

Making the move back two hours with us on Mondays is Jonathan Larsen, proprietor of The Fucking News.

And as you'd expect, there's no shortage of fucking news to talk about today -- the big buttugly browmance breakup (and backtracking?), Dump dumping the National Guard on Los Angeles, Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to US soil with new charges wholly unrelated to why Bimbo Bondi told us he was sent to El Salvador in the first place and much more... All else remains the same, we're just doing it earlier.

Tomorrow, I'll update you on the assured insanity of all that will transpire between now and then. (In the moments since today's show ended, breaking news alerts tells us that 500 Marines have been deployed to Los Angeles and that Sly Stone has died.) And I'll speak with Megan Greenwell about her new book, just being released tomorrow, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream.

But we also did the responsible thing and point out the questions that journalists should be asking instead of just exploiting the spectacle.. Most notably, the national security risks of the president having given Musk virtually limitless access to very sensitive personal data of all Americans and unfettered control over so many aspects of our government.

And although Elon Musk might be physically gone from the government, his DOGE boys and computers remain, and his access to all that data is a big question mark.

We also talked about Trump's meeting with German Chancellor Frederick Merz, phone calls with Putin and Xi, tariff deals and legal woes and more...

A programming note... our show time is moving! Beginning Monday, June 9, this show will go live on YouTube and at nicolesandler.com weekdays at 3pm ET/ noon PT. We'll still be here Monday through Friday, but a couple of hours earlier. You can also get the program posted at nicolesandler.com delivered to your inbox by subscribing at nicolesandler.substack.com.

Thanks for reading The Nicole Sandler Show! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Over at downwithtyranny.com, Howie Klein wrote about it, and came up with a great headline: "Musk to Senor Trumpanzee: Go Fund Yourself". Today is Thursday, so we will check in with Howie, who also has the amazing results of a special election in South Carolina this week, where in a Democratic challenger, Keishan Scott, "blew his his Republican rival, Sumter County Republican Party chairman Bill Oden, out of the water, 70.6% to 29.3%." Hmmm. Howie goes on to say, "Scott out-performed Kamala by over 20 points and beat the Republican by over 40! That bodes poorly for Republicans in swing-districts, even in as red a state as South Carolina."

And he introduces us to a great candidate for the Democratic nomination for Senator from Maine, Jordan Wood.

Oh yes, we have a lot to talk about today.

By the way, Lisa also co-hosts a couple of podcasts, The Five-8 1/2 (which airs tonight and every Wednesday night at 8 ET) and Legal AF. And, as if that's not enough, she has a new book coming out soon dealing with what we talked about today. At Grave Injustice today, she wrote:

* Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights

* This is my new book, which details Leonard Leo’s regressive agenda for our rights and his ambitions to capture the U.S. Supreme Court by filling it with right-wing operatives, and I am making the final edits to the galleys before it gets printed and digitized (it’s available for advance orders here).

One quick programming note: The Nicole Sandler Show streams live five days a week, Monday through Friday. Beginning Monday June 9, the live show will run from 3-4pm ET/noon-1 PT. It will continue to be available to watch anytime after the live cast on YouTube, at nicolesandler.com and here at nicolesandler.substack.com. As always, we are not behind any paywall, but this program is made possible only by the support of our listeners and viewers. I truly appreciate your support via subscription or donation. Lots of ways to help out here! Thanks!

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

It's not only a Monday, but it's the first Monday in a new month. Welcome to June, busting out all over with more inanity and insanity.

We've missed Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com for the past couple of weeks, but he's back!

Although it's not yet Tuesday, we'll talk TACO, Town Hall stupidity, terrorists and sadly, Trump too. Ugh. It's Monday.

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

We made it through another week. It's Friday, when we are joined by Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net to discuss some of the important news from the week. Due to scheduling issues, we recorded this episode on Thursday. As things tend to happen at warp speed in Dumpland, there's an update in at least one of the stories we covered. On Wednesday evening, a court we previously knew virtually nothing about -- the US Court of International Trade - ruled that Trump does not have the authority to impose sweeping tariffs, and issued a permanent injunction against most of the tariffs he unilaterally tried to levy. On Thursday morning, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay, allowing the tariffs to continue for the next week or so while on appeal. To be continued...We usually record these episodes on Friday mornings, a few hours before they go live. In these strange times, shit is constantly changing and moving quickly, but we do our best to stay as current as possible.I'll be back live on Monday to update you on all the latest...

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Although we have a lot of work to do in keeping democracy alive until then, we have the most important election in our lifetimes coming up on Nov. 3, 2026. Either the Democrats take back control of Congress or we resign ourselves to living in a dictatorship with an autocratic orange lying blob determining just how bad things will get. And based on the past four months, we know that'll be horrific.

So it's time to get serious about the next election. Thankfully, some excellent candidates are already getting started. Today, we'll meet one of them or, more accurately, get reacquainted with him.

As you probably know, Howie Klein of downwithtyranny.com also runs the Blue America PAC. He was one of those responsible for recruiting Randy Bryce to run for Congress from Wisconsin in 2018. Thankfully, he still is involved, and Randy has declared his candidacy to run in Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District in 2026.

Today, we'll speak with both Randy Bryce and Howie Klein. Since Randy just declared his candidacy a week ago, his website is still under construction at bryceforcongress.com. But you can go there to see his kickoff video and to support his campaign.

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

The Nicole Sandler Show is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I’ve been in a bit of a haze lately, so I may have crossed wires with Digby when I booked her to appear on today’s show. I’m guessing she may have put it in her book for next Tuesday.. either way, I apologize. We’ll have her on soon.

So I spent much of today’s show talking about the disconnect between a really great commencement address delivered by CBS News’ Scott Pelley at Wake Forest University last week, and the speeches (sic) given by the orange blob at the West Point commencement and at Arlington National Cemetery for Memorial Day this weekend. Talk about two extremes.

Pelley’s speech was what I would like to hear from every member of the media, calling out the dangers of this administration and the perils we’re facing at this time in history.

And Trump’s disjointed and inane ramblings were incomprehensible and offensive on every front.

We also heard from our friend Spocko who writes at Digby’s blog, helping us to know what we can do to spread truth in the face of all the lies we’re being hit with constantly.

Watch today’s show courtesy of YouTube:

It’s another Emptywheel Friday, when we get together with the seemingly indefatigable Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net to take a look back at what happened in this years-long week! From action in the courts, to the flying bribe palace and presidential corruption on a scale never seen before, we have a lot to talk about today.

Before I sign off for the weekend, I have some info to share with you about my podcast. For some reason Spotify, the platform that has syndicated my podcast for the last couple of years, deleted my show and its rss feed - 15 years worth of shows - with no warning and no explanation. I'm trying to get it all back, as you can imagine. In the meantime, I've moved the hosting of my podcast from Spotify to its new home, here at Substack.

If you haven’t already done so, PLEASE subscribe!

As always, this show is not behind a paywall, but I do depend on your support to keep it going. So if you appreciate my work and can afford to, please upgrade to a paid subscription in whatever amount you deem appropriate and affordable.

The show will also be available for download, hopefully wherever you get your podcasts. If it's not already there, it should be soon, though you will likely have to re-subscribe. The new link to get the show via Spotify (if you chose to use that platform) is

I will soon be updating the podcast page of this website to reflect the new information. Please bear with me as I do all of this myself and I'm by no means proficient in any of it. But I'm working on it, and I truly apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks, as always, for bearing with me!

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The second time is the charm! We had our wires crossed on Tuesday, so John Fugelsang did not join us then. But he is here today. We have much to catch up on since the last time we spoke. He jumps in for the second half hour of the show.

To get us started though, a bit of an update. I was out yesterday for a medical test. It seems that as we get older, our bodies don't work as well as they used to. So I'm trying to figure out what's going on... As if that and all of the angst and depression that goes along with the shitstorm that's raging thanks to the mess that's taken over the government these days, it seems that I'm having to battle for survival on every front.

If you usually listen to this show via the podcast, chances are you've had some trouble with that today. That's because Spotify, for some reason, deactivated my account yesterday. It's completely gone! They sent an email telling me I violated some policy, but there was no explanation of what I did. There was no warning that if I didn't fix something, my account would be deleted. They just deleted it.

While I'm dealing with the hell of trying to get back my rss feed that contains 15 YEARS of my work, I'm trying to start a new podcast here, through substack, where I've been posting my shows for the past few months already. You may have to subscribe there. To be honest, I'm not really sure how it works, but I'm working on getting it up and running again and will obviously have multiple hoops to jump through over the coming days and weeks. Hopefully not longer than that...

So please subscribe at nicolesandler.substack.com. As always, you can subscribe for free. But if you can afford to and appreciate my work enough to, please subscribe with a donation or recurring monthly donations to help keep me afloat. I'll never put this show behind a paywall, but your monetary support is what allows me to continue. So thank you for listening and for whatever support you can offer.

I'll be back tomorrow for our Emptywheel Friday show with Marcy Wheeler to wrap up the shit show that was this week. Thanks for bearing with me!

Watch today’s show via YouTube:

The Nicole Sandler Show is a listener/reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

The world lost one of its better inhabitants this week. On May 1, 2025, Jill Sobule was killed in a tragic house fire. Words can’t express our loss. Jill was truly a remarkable human being. I’m heartened by the continuing show of love and support I’m seeing all over social media for the last few days from her friends and fans alike…

I was lucky enough to be working at a radio station who played Jill’s first hit single, “I Kissed a Girl,” when it was released on her debut self-titled album in 1995. Over the next few years, she visited radio stations I worked at to perform live and sit for interviews, and she attended a number of industry conferences where we got to hang out and become friends.

Jill’s many interests included news and politics. After I segued from my career in music radio to progressive talk, Jill remained a fairly frequent guest. She was always informed about what was going on. Jill was an outspoken activist in both her actions and songs. In 2011, she appeared at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis to perform an original song she wrote for the occasion honoring immigrants and groups who help them, “America Back.” (You can find the recording of that song from that event here on YouTube.)

I was going to put together a show to honor Jill with clips of her various appearances on my show over the years. While searching through my archives, I found this recording from September 1, 2009. At the time, I was hosting a show weeknights on Air America Radio, usually from my home studio in South Florida. That week, I was visiting Los Angeles, broadcasting live from studios there.

Jill Sobule had just released her first crowd-funded album on her own new label, Pinko Records. It was produced by Don Was and titled “California Years.” Jill and Don joined me in the studio one evening. With the commercials, news and other non-related content edited out it runs just over an hour. Sadly the recording stopped while we were wrapping up, with Jill in mid-sentence singing a “happy song” about a dream in which she was fighting Nazis.

I hadn’t realized I had that recording until I came across it this weekend. After listening to it I realized that I should just share this entire broadcast. We spent the time talking about so many different things, and she and Don performed a few songs. In that setting, you get to hear Jill just being Jill. Sweet, funny, immensely talented and quite humble.