The Nicole Sandler Show

It was an awful weekend filled with horrific news of mass murder of Jews in Australia, another on-campus shooting at Brown University, the murder of an American film icon and the attempt by the narcissistic US president to inject himself into something that had nothing to do with him and more... Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com is here for our regular Monday get together to try to make sense of the senseless and cruelty.

Thank goodness this week is nearly over, as yesterday alone was exhausting. And I'm truly grateful that we have Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net each Friday to help us figure out all that transpired, or most of it anyway.

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 ba...

Today on the show, we recap the two big hearings on Capitol Hill today. The split screen made me feel even sicker than I already do! First, a Senate hearing on the future of the ACA's extended subsidies and the votes. Nothing good happened there. The House Oversight Committee hearing was ostensibly about the global threats the US is facing, but Kristi Noem was in the hot seat, so you can guess where this hearing went... Later in the hour, I speak with Tommy Dorfman, a long-time EDM music/event planner/DJ and club owner who's been waging at 15...

One of my favorite columnists, Will Bunch, national opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, took a road trip. Last week, he left Philly and showed up in New Orleans, along with ICE. Yeah, on purpose. He reported on the ugliness these unqualified goons spread in their wake. Will returned home to PA just in time to hear Dump's word and brain salad that he spewed over the people who went to hear him for 90 minutes at the Mount Airy Casino, which itself has a shameful, storied past. Will joins me today with some of his observations.

Back in 2012, People for the American Way put out the campaign button on today's show graphic. They knew it then, but the Democrats never pushed the issue enough. It was and still is the Supreme Court, stupid! The Extreme Court yesterday heard a case that will likely give the guy in the Oval Office even more power than he's already grabbed. And the case they heard today could likely open the campaign contribution floodgates even wider than they already are. Law Dork's Chris Geidner joins me today to help us understand WTAF it all means!

Mondays are inevitable and, these days, so is a lot more fucking news. On Mondays, I'm joined by Jonathan Larsen of The Fucking News, who injects humor and the necessary expletives to accurately present so much of what we're forced to endure every day... the Boat Murders, the Immigrant mistreatment and bigtry and racism, the Extreme not-Supreme Court, the lies, illegal pardons, D'ump's ego and more...

It's been 10 days since our last gathering with Marcy Wheeler as we did last Friday's show on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. And it's been quite an eventful 10 days at that! On today's show. we cover much of what happened during that time-- from yesterday's arrest of the alleged Jan 6 pipe bomber to Pete Hegseth's many problems including Signalgate and the Murder Boats, Trump's sickening pardons, the prosecutions of James Comey, Maurene Comey, Letitia James and John Bolton. Then there are the two truly hated men in DC, Mike Johnson & Kash Patel. Oh, and the National Security Strategy which...

"America's Dirty Secret" is what today's guest, Catherine Coleman Flowers calls the problem she is devoted to fixing, and it's a problem that's not much-discussed unless you live in some of the poorest rural communities in the US where it's more prevalent that most of us realize.

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...

If you're not terrified by Trump, you're not paying attention. I'll share some of the latest as I share latest news and things that should terrify all of us. As for AI - Artificial Intelligence- I'll admit that I'm not an expert. So I have one joining us today.

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...

Perhaps the headline should have read "Reel" News, because today's guest's website (under construction) is ReelPoliticalNews.com.

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...

Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday for more than the obvious reasons. And now it's even more special.

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...

We asked and you voted.. so we're here today. Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me on Fridays to try to make sense of the news of the week. Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, we're dong it today. And that's a good thing and this short week felt like a year!

The Nicole Sandler Show has been on the air/net in one form or another for a long, long time. For probably 10 of those years, I had a few regular guests. One of them is my old friend who's known to the social media world as @GottaLaff (or Laffy). She used to run a breaking news website called "The Political Carnival" and built a huge following on the old Twitter. We became fast friends and, as I said, appeared on my show weekly. Occasionally another semi-regular, Amy Simon, a cultural HERstorian of ShesHistory.com would join Laffy and Me...

Each Monday we bemoan the start of yet another week, filled with the news of the orange pig in the White House. So each Monday I'm joined by Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com to discuss the news with his usual snark and the occasional f bombs too.

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...

Another Friday has arrived and with it another weekly chat with independent journalist Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net on The Nicole Sandler Show.

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...

As usual, the orange man continues rotting. This time he's suggesting that six Democratic House members are guilty of "SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR - punishable BY DEATH". Yes, that was a direct quote from his early morning social media ramblings. Our friend, Heather 'Digby' Parton wrote about that this morning at digbysblog.net - her long-running blog "Digby's Hullabaloo" where she rose to fame as one of the OG pioneers of the progressive blogosphere. She's since added her regular columns at Salon.com where her wisdom is regularly on display.

My chats with Digby are not only informative, but al...

At the end of yesterday's show, I made the mistake of believing Mike the meeker Speaker Johnson who inferred that the Senate under John Thune would collude with him to delay passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Thune instead allowed it to pass by unanimous consent. But I was correct in my assumption that Dump's directive for Bondi to open a new investigation into Epstein and only Democrats (wtf?) would allow them an excuse for not releasing the files. Sure enough, Bondi basically admitted that today and D'ump, despite his promises to, has not yet signed the bill.

I knew today was going to be a huge day filled with news, but it turned out to be bigger than I thought. So I invited a real journalist, Brian Karem, to join me on today's show. There was much to cover, as the day began early with a presser outside of the Capitol with Epstein survivors. The Orange Dumpkin welcomed his soul brother MBS to the Oval Office, which was more sickening than I imagined. The House 'debated' before voting on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which passed 427-1... but not before the Meeker Speaker little Johnson hinted...

Jonathan Larsen, the man behind "The Fucking News" and the Jonathan Larsen Substacks joins us every Monday to help explain wtf is happening in the news. Today, we will discuss wtf is going on with Dump threatening war with Venezuela. He has original reporting on the whole f'n mess at jonathanlarsen.substack.com.

Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me every Friday to recap both the momentous and the newsworthy events of the week that you might not have heard enough about. Obviously this was a heavy-duty week. Unfortunately, I've been out of commission and certainly didn't pay as much attention as I usually do this week as I've been dealing with the death of my dog Jaxson, who was a member of my family. My baby boy.

But Marcy brings us up to date not only on the Epstein emails that dropped on us like a bomb, but the...

It's Nicole Sandler, back on this Thursday, Nov 13. I was out earlier this week because my dog Jaxson, my fur baby, got very sick Monday and we lost him. I could probably use a few more days off, but Jason Leopold was scheduled to join me, and he's a dear old friend, so I thought I could make it through... For the most part, I did.

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...

Every Friday, we wrap up the week's news with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net. And this was certainly a momentous week! Just this morning, Marcy posted a blueprint for much of today's discussion in a post titled "May This Week Be a Pivot". I second that emotion!

It's Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025. I was dreading yesterday's Supreme Extreme Court hearing regarding the felon's illegal and unconstitutional tariffs because of how the court has demeaned itself by bending over backwards to appease the dick-tator over the past year. But to my layperson's ears, it sounded like they - or at least enough of them - have finally reached their limit.

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...

Today is Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. Yesterday was Election Day. It was about as close to a clean sweep as possible, with the people rebuking D'ump and taking back control. And hopefully, showing what's still to come.... That's not all we're talking about today. This morning, The Supreme Extreme Court heard arguments about the felon's illegal and unconstitutional tariff debacle that has cause prices we pay for just about everything to skyrocket.

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...

This year, my birthday falls on election day, something that wouldn't necessarily warrant a day off. But when my daughter tells me she's coming to town to spend my birthday with me, that's another story. So I figured we'd go back in time to Nov 4, 2016. That year, election day fell on Nov 9, so this was just a few days out. I was truly mortified at the idea that Donald Trump could actually become president. But we still had a few days left of relative sanity.

Those days I did a daily news segment with the Talk Media...

It's the Nicole Sandler Show for Monday, Nov. 3. Election Day is tomorrow. Unfortunately it's an off-off year so we don't get to dump the garbage, yet. But some of us will be able to get rid of some annoying trash, so there's that.

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?

It's Friday, October 31, 2025! Nicole Sandler here, finally here in my newly rebuilt studio in our new home. Hopefully we'll stay at this one for a while!

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...

Today is the final day of my move, so we're up and running for good from the new home studio after today's special pre-Halloween episode, and this one is scary as Trump. David Daley literally wrote the book about gerrymandering. Now make that books, as he's written two more sequels since the original, Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count, was released in 2017.

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...

It's the day before Halloween. Since today's the day we have to be out of the old house and do a walk-through with the slumlord so we can get our security deposit back, I have to run another 'Best of' show. So I figured I'd pull out a truly frightening episode to run today.

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 th...

It's Wednesday, October 29, 2025. I've been in and out over the last few weeks because we moved, again. I'm exhausted and every inch of my body hurts. But I somehow managed to rebuild my studio in the new digs. Today, we take it out for a spin.

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...

March 6, 2020 was a Friday. As I wrote in the description back then of that day's show, "We made it to the end of a horrible week that included a brutal Super Tuesday, the end of a number of campaigns, a stock market crash and the global explosion of the coronavirus. We have two great guests today: Jason Leopold of BuzzFeed News whose lawsuit might bring us the unredacted Mueller Report (read about it here), and OG blogger Heather “Digby” Parton (find her blog here, and at Salon here) to help me muddle through this crazy week that was!

Of...

Nicole is almost done moving, so will be back here full-time with all-new live shows. In the meantime, we're listening back to some past episodes that are still relevant today. In August, she read an article by Professor of Sociology Dr. Art Jipson about a frightening religious sect that's been working its way into all branches of our American life. Actually, seven. And instead of branches, they refer to them as Mountains. Government is just one of the seven. This White "Christian" Nationalist movement is also known as the New Apostolic Reformation or NAR. Who better to teach us...

It's Nicole Sandler, back live in the studio today, 10/24/25. I've been in and out as I've been moving, but I don't miss an Emptywheel Friday show unless it's completely unavoidable! After today's show, I'll break down my studio and move it to the new house where it'll take a few days to rebuild it. So I'll have a couple of Best of shows to start next week, and then I'll be back from the new digs.

Although it feels less certain we'll actually reach the end of the week intact these days, we have. Sadly, the East...

While Nicole is out moving, she's running some newsworthy shows from the past and throwing in a couple to take our mind off of the crap coming from Washington DC. Today we’ll take a break from the depressing, stress-filled world of news and politics to talk about the best job ever. Today’s guest is Paul Rappaport who spent his career at Columbia Records promoting rock records to radio and wrote a wonderful book recounting those glory days, GLIDERS OVER HOLLYWOOD: AIRSHIPS, AIRPLAY AND THE ART OF ROCK PROMOTION.

I'm back live today - Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.

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...

While Nicole is out moving from one house to another, she's running some shows from the past that are relevant today. This one originally aired four years ago this week, Oct. 26, 2021. With the rise of Donald Trump to dear leader of the Republican party and wannabe dictator for life, er, president, came the unmasking of white supremacists in America. Today, we'll get the history behind our nation's giant leap backwards. Our guest is Kathleen Belew, one of the two editors of a new book released the day this show originally aired, A Field Guide to White Supremacy.

The Nicole Sandler Show for Monday 10-20-25

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...

Another seemingly endless week comes to a close, but not before we've had a chance to talk about it with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net. We began with three detentions this week. The first, an ICE officer driving drunk with his kids in the back seat in Florida. The second is Portland Protestor Robby Steamroller explaining his arrest to Tim Miller at the Bulwark. And the third, Marcy wrote about Sydney Reed who was arrested in July for filming ICE making arrests when one of them pushed her causing a boo boo on the agent's hand. Jeanine Pirro tried...

While Nicole's out moving, she's running some shows from the past that are essential listening today. First, from March 19 of this year, Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works brings us some hard truths to understand. Then Nicole takes us back 17 years to the day to Oct.16, 2008. She was filling in for Thom Hartmann on Air America radio and had a few minutes with Melissa Etheridge just weeks before the Nov 4, 2008 presidential election.

Nicole is out for a few days between now and the end of the month, so she's running some shows from the past that are still applicable today. Today we go back to Jan 16, 2024. She spoke with Erin "in the morning" Reed and Boca Britany Somers about Trans Rights in the US.

The Nicole Sandler Show for Tues, Oct. 14, 2025 This Saturday, Oct 18, millions of people will take to the streets for a massive peaceful protest on the day designated for the second No Kings Day. Though the poor fools who believe the lies and propaganda fed to them by this law-breaking, fascist administration and its cult members like Speaker Mike Johnson are afraid of blow up frogs, furries, clarinet-players and creative sign carrying people of all ages and colors who are against fascism in any form, these 2500+ planned protests across the nation (and the rest of the world, I'm sure) will...

Today is a legal holiday here in the US. The Pumpkin in chief declared it Columbus Day, which it already was, despite the facts we've learned about Christopher Columbus. Many of us prefer to, instead, use the misguided holiday to honor the people who were here long before Columbus or other explorers set foot on this land -- the Indigenous People. Meanwhile, Trump was in Israel this morning celebrating the "end" of the war and taking credit for the long-awaited release of the remaining 20 still-living hostages kidnapped from Israel just over two years ago by Hamas. And he's still...

Every Friday, Marcy Wheeler joins me from emptywheel.net to discuss the craziness that happened since we spoke the previous Friday.

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’m back today. I’m sorry there was no show yesterday, but I was at the Emergency Room until about 2AM yesterday morning. When I awoke in the morning, I wasn’t feeling well and was exhausted. So, I decided to take care of myself and rest. But I'm back today, I got started with a rant about how frightening things are in this country right now. Lisa Graves was here last week to talk about the law, the extreme court and her new book, Without Precedent. Of course, so much happened this week that I felt compelled to ask...

We are one week into this government shutdown and it doesn’t appear to be opening back up any time soon. Today is the 260th awful day since Trump took office again, meaning there are still 1200 days until this term ends. And today also marks two years since Hamas’ deadly, horrific attacks on Israel, provoking a deadly, horrific war that’s still raging in Gaza.

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

It feels like deja vu all over again. It is weird that the weeks go by so slowly, yet it seems as if Mondays come too quickly. It must be a sign o’ the times...We begin each week with a discussion about some of what’s going on with Jonathan Larsen, who writes about the news with the snark and expletives it deserves at thefuckingnews.substack.com. He also does quite a bit of original reporting without the expletives. You find those stories at jonathanlarsen.substack.com.

I love Fridays, not just because the weekend is almost here and I get to catch my breath, but mostly because I get to hang out with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net for an hour (and then some) to recap and attempt to explain/understand what happened this week. So strap in, this was a busy, crazy one....

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

If you’ve been listening to or watching this show for a while, you’ve definitely heard my friend, the brilliant Lisa Graves, on this show, as she’s been on dozens of times over the years. Aside from the fact that she’s an extraordinary person, her history and work experience makes her my favorite authority on all things concerning the Judiciary.

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.

One of the few things I like more than reading Digby is talking with her. I try not to impose on her generosity too much, so she joins me on the show about once a month or so. And wow, our conversations really are cathartic. As it was today. And wow, was it needed!

There was a Shutdown Showdown in the Oval Office yesterday but, like everything D’ump does, this was a ruse. The deadline is tonight at midnight...

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 Tr...

Last week turned out to be one of the worst in the eight months since a phalanx of incompetents took over the US government and has been working to disassemble the work-in-progress of the last 249 years. This week portends more of the absurd and the frightening, from a likely government shutdown, a strange meeting with 800 or so of our highest ranking military officers called back from all over the world and who knows what else... Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com joins in as he does each Monday.

Every week in D’ump’s America seems to be worse than the week before. I’m reeling from all that has happened this week and frankly, I’m truly worried about what next week will bring with a shutdown likely beginning Tuesday night. On Fridays, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to recap most of what happened each week.. and this week was a doozy.

Greg Palast returns to The Nicole Sandler Show today to explain why and how we must protect our votes. Yes, they are at risk. And he answers my question about what happened too Bobby Kennedy. And no, it wasn't Tylenol.

Jeff Sharlet has been covering the rise of religious fundamentalism and right wing extremism. He’s warned us for decades now about the rise of fascism in the US. And although he’s not a soothsayer, he really has predicted what was coming.

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.

Today on my show, I had the honor of speaking with my friend Kelly Carlin. Yes, George Carlin’s daughter was probably channeling her dad when, this weekend, she posted a video to Instagram  calling out Disney for bowing down to dear leader and suspending Jimmy Kimmel. Well, Kimmel returns to the public airwaves tonight, and Kelly spoke to us about how her dad fought and spoke out regularly about our “rights” (temporary privileges), which was a lifelong battle to preserve…

Today, in addition to yesterday's hate-filled funeral, we'll talk about the crackdown on Free Speech from the administration who promised a "return" to FREE SPEECH. There's also a little issue of a so-called president writing a DM to his AG but sending it out for ALL to see on his Orwellian-named "Truth" social media platform. I could go on, but it’s Monday, so Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com is here.

We made it to another Friday when we get together with the always-brilliant Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net to recap much of the important news of the week. This was the week that Jimmy Kimmel was unceremoniously yanked from the air with threats to the rest of the broadcast media not to cross el Presidenté or suffer their consequences.

I can't recall when Republican hypocrisy has been more evident than this week. It's an ugly and vicious cycle. Charlie Kirk was killed, shot by a killer's single bullet. It was evident in the actions leading up to Jimmy Kimmel's show being indefinitely pulled from the air yesterday...

Today is a doozy. At 7 this morning, dueling hearings in Congress began. The House Oversight committee held their hearing with Kash Patel in the hot seat - the House's version of yesterday's Senate hearing. Meanwhile, the Senate HELP committee held a hearing on wtf is happening at the CDC under RFK Jr's leadership (sic).

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!

The title of today's show suggests a mighty big supposition, that the "ills of Democracy" can be cured. When I suggest anything similar, those who disagree with everything I stand for quickly respond that "This is not a Democracy" instead of speaking to the larger issue. Today's guest is James S Fishkin, Professor of Communications, Prof of Political Science at Stanford, author of Can Deliberation Cure the Ills of Democracy?

Mondays are tough. I like to ease into the week by injecting humor and snark into the news. I prefer to do that every day, but Mondays are special. JONATHAN LARSEN of The Fucking News joins us every Monday for the second half of the show to discuss what's happening in our truly f'd up reality.

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.

Every Friday, the always brilliant and always informed Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to wrap up the week. We discuss most of the big and often the under-reported news of the week that you really should know about. And wow, was this a jam-packed week… From Charlie Kirks murder to the FBI’s malpractice. If not for the shooter’s father, he’d still be loose. To Trump’s power grab, SCOTUS crap, Bolsonaro’s guilty verdict & 27 year sentence (for basically the same crime Dump committed) and a whole lot more…

I was struggling this morning as I sat down to prepare for today’s show. I’ve had panic attacks since last November, and I’m doing my best to keep them at bay these days. But today is a tough one. As was yesterday.

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.

Today has been a shitty day on a few levels.

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.

Journalist, Author, Podcaster, Musician and a lot more, Brian Karem joins me today. Brian has had numerous run-ins with his orangeness.

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!

SCOTUS keeps issuing unsigned decisions from cases on the so-called Shadow Docket; two of them came this morning, neither one good. The first allows D'ump to fire commissioners at the FTC and other executive branch agencies without cause. In this case, that means his firing of Democratic member Rebecca Slaughter stands. The second one actually allows the administration to engage in racial profiling. In this case, it allows the feds to return to Los Angeles and use racial profiling in questioning and detaining people who look like they're here illegally. As usual, Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissent.

...

It was a chaotic week, again, in the Dumpster fire that is Trump's Amerikkka in 2025. As she does every Friday, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to unpack most of the important news we need to know, and injects some of her unique Wheeler wisdom to the insanity of it all.

Sometimes our best laid plans get derailed. Perhaps it was last week's massive haboob that ate Phoenix, or Quantum Fiber, my Internet provider, is just making excuses (I pick that one), but my internet has now been out more than 18 hours... and counting!

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. <...

It was an historic morning on Capitol Hill as 10 of Jeffrey Epstein's victims gathered with their lawyers, Congressmen Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and lots of reporters, protesters and concerned citizens to hear the survivors speak out, some of them for the very first time. On today's show, we listened to these women. We heard them and we believed them. Meanwhile, Trump called it a "Democrat hoax," because that's all he knows how to do.

It's the day after Labor Day. Fall has unofficially begun. However, Autumn doesn't officially begin for another 20 days. And unfortunately, this is only 2025. At least if it was Sept. 2, 2026, we'd be gearing up for the midterms. But now is all-hands-on-deck time and we cannot wait to gear up for anything. We must anticipate everything that's coming at us and get prepared now.

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!

Happy Labor Day!

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.

It's another Emptywheel Friday when Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net and I get together to bring you up to speed on a lot of the important news that we need to know from this week. As usual, there's more than we could fit into an hour (and then some!).

It's been a while since I've spoken with Timothy Karr, Senior Director of Strategy & Communications at FreePress.net. We've spoken many times going back at least a decade about the challenges we've faced regarding the media, from broadcast to the internet. Looking back, they were all important issues, but I think they pale in comparison to the terror that the D'ump regime is wreaking on our media - from fake news (that emanates FROM HIM and his acolytes) to gutting all aspects of the formerly public airwaves.

Tim has authored a new report called "A More Perfect...

I often rail against the evils of Dump, the MAGAts and Republican politics in general on this show. And I also criticize Democratic strategies, policies and actions or inactions as I feel necessary. Today is necessarily one of those days.

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.co...

When Digby first began blogging in 2002, the very early days of the blogosphere, most readers had no idea she was a woman! When she went public a few years later after being presented with the Paul Wellstone Award, (according to a 2008 LA Times article), many were shocked. They shouldn't have been. I say that as a woman who knows, to quote Harry Belafonte (who I know didn’t write it), ‘Man Smart, Woman Smarter"‘!

We now know her as much as Heather Parton as we do as Digby. Heather is still writing at her Hullabaloo blog and also w...

It's another Monday, so on today's show, Jonathan Larsen brings us the latest of The Fucking News, which he diligently writes just about every day at TheFuckingNews.substack.com and discusses here on my show.

What a day this has already been, and I'm not even talking about the news! I'll explain, but the short version is I got sick today. But I soldiered through and was able to talk with the one and only Driftglass today about all the shit we're going through.

While we, mere mortals, try to discern fact from fiction when trying to get a handle on what is truly happening in the world, investigative reporter Jason Leopold has mastered the ins and outs of the of the few tools available to US citizens to dig through the drek to get at the truth. FOIA Man, as I call him, returns to the show today. Then I checked in with a town in Arkansas that's in the news today for a disturbing reason...

It's my never-ending question during the Dump Days of America... Delulu Don keeps signing Executive Orders that are expressly unconstitutional, but he doesn't care. In many cases he's breaking the law, but is he if there's no one to enforce the laws he's breaking?

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...

On Mondays, Jonathan Larsen joins me on the air to tell us wtf is going on with a bit of snark and humor because it sure beats letting the seriousness of what's happening make you sad, anxious or crazy.

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

It's another Emptywheel Friday! Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me each Friday to wrap up much of the news that happened each week to help us understand wtf is going on

It's that time of year again. The kids are going back to school! So today, we'll chat with Professor Art Jipson, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Dayton.This week marked the 8th anniversary of the Unite the Right Nazi rally in Charlottesville, so I thought this was a good time for a primer into these hate groups and "accelerationism."

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”.

The man known to social media denizens as @LOLGOP, but to his parents and others as Jason Sattler, joins me on the show today. Jason is still all over social media, has his own newsletter at thefarce.org (that's also his handle on Bluesky), and he produces Marcy Wheeler's Ball of Thread podcast and others too. He joins me on today's show to unpack ice, media and the right's monopoly over it and more.

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...

Demented Don hit the ground running this morning with a soft launch of Martial Law. That's really what it is. He announced that "today is Liberation Day" in DC. Wait a minute. Didn't we just have "liberation day" on April 2, and wasn't that about tariffs? It's all so confusing. I guess every day is Liberation Day in the Dumpster fire that is his brain. It would be really funny if it weren't so dangerous.

Today is Monday, so we check in with our pal Jonathan Larsen who writes all about the shit that won't stop at The...

Thankfully we made it to the end of another week. Not only because I get to unplug from the news for the weekend, but because I get to wrap up the week with Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net.

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"...

Bringing you the honest, real news - the truth- is what I strive for each day. In order to do it effectively, I believe we need to inject a bit of humor, irreverence and snark lest we lose our minds (or I do mine, anyway).

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 hi...

It's about time! I've been a fan of Allison Gill's work for years but have never had the pleasure of meeting her. I've cited her reporting regularly, as she has been on top of the news since she launched the Mueller, She Wrote podcast back in 2017.

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...

There was a time when, upon hearing the term "party down," I'd think it was time to get ready to have fun. Today, sadly, I think of the headlines telling me that despite the complete transformation of the Republican Party to a frightening cult led by an orange buffoon, the Democratic Party is still struggling to find its way to being what we need it to be and to do!

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...

It's the first Monday in August when many Americans are - or used to be- or wish they were on vacation. August used to be what was known as a "slow" news time, but those days are long gone.

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...

Yes, my vacation is over and it's as if I never took a week off at all. Ugh. I did tune out from the news and Dump's chaos while I was away, but there was still plenty of shit hitting the fan.

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.

I'm back! I was on vacation for the past week and did my best to completely tune out from politics, the news and, most importantly, D'ump. Did anything more happen this week other than a continuation of our descent into hell?

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

I've been using a new "Opposite World" theme to open the show each day because we living in a time where nothing is as it should be. Dump even said the quiet part out loud, "What you're seeing and what you're reading is NOT what's happening." That might be the only truth he's ever actually spoken!

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...

It's my penultimate vacation show. I'll be back live in the studio on Thursday. For this episode, we span the decades! We spend most of the hour with Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works. He joined me on July 9 to help dispel the bullshit put out by the SSA regarding the big ugly bill (now, unfortunately, law). Alex explains the ramifications from this shitty legislation for seniors and every American's healthcare and quality of life. Then, since I realized we could use a bit of hope, we go back to October of 2010 for my one and only...

I grew up learning about America as "The Great Melting Pot." It was taught with pride. Today, the governing cabal has nothing but disdain for immigrants, unless they're married to Trump, I guess. Today on the show, we'll hear a conversation with David Dayen of The American Prospect that happened at the height of the government's assault on Los Angeles. And for a different and surprising look at immigration and what it actually is about, my interview with author Jessica Goudeau about her surprising book, "We Were Illegal: Uncovering a Texas Family's Mythmaking and Migration".

Since the Jeffrey Epstein ugliness has been front and center recently and the Miami Herald's Julie K. Brown has been covering it for over a decade, I thought we'd reach back to 2021 for the interview I did with her when her book PERVERSION OF JUSTICE: THE JEFFREY EPSTEIN STORY was released. It's a snapshot in time, and a pretty ugly one at that.

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 he...

I didn’t know much about Catherine Coleman Flowers before I was pitched on an interview with her by her publishers about her forthcoming book, Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope. When I did some research on her, I realized that she has been front and center, doing amazing work and getting recognized for it all… We go through some of the accolades in the interview… but more important is the woman herself.

We spoke on Feb 5, just about a week after the book’s release, and only a couple of weeks after the inaugura...

I thought we’d begin this week of vacation shows with an explanation of how we got here. Investigative reporter, author, filmmaker and more Greg Palast’s latest film explains how it is possible that the orange dick-tator in the White House could have possibly been elected for a second time.

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’um...

I'm heading out on vacation after today's show, so I couldn't think of a better guest to join me today than our old friend Heather "Digby" Parton. You can always read Digby at digbysblog.net and at Salon.com, but I love chatting with her here on the show.

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 t...

The worst thing about weekends is that they inevitably end. They're always followed by Mondays. And these days, there's no rest for weary as news keeps being made.

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...