The Nicole Sandler Show

If I had to chose a week to be sick this would have been the one. That's because as lousy as I feel, watching the festivities out of Chicago for the DNC is making me feel so much better. Although the first night was a difficult act to follow, the Harris/Walz team did just that. With a number of moving and motivational speeches -- as expected from former President Barack Obama and the man who could have been one Bernie Sanders, the two that floored me were from the first Second Gentleman - and soon-to-be first First Gentleman Doug Emhoff and the knockout speech delivered by Michelle Obama. By the way, Doug Emhoff chose for his entrance and exit music one of my favorite songs, "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals. New Radicals released their one and only album in the late 90s, Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too.  It quickly rose to the top of my favorites of that year. I was Music Director and later Program Director of the radio station I worked for at the time, Los Angeles' Channel 103.1. And I was fortunate enough to interview Gregg Alexander, the man who was New Radicals. He didn't do many interviews, and never recorded another album, though he continued writing and producing for other artists, preferring to remain out of the spotlight. To honor our first Second Gentleman, and the man who will be our first First Gentleman, here's my interview with Gregg Alexander, recorded May 3, 1999 ( the day that my daughter was likely being born on the other side of the world in Kazakhstan... a story for another day)... Enjoy! I am still recuperating so will share with you a couple of full speeches from last night (can you guess which ones?) as well as some clips and observations as my still-on-the-mend psyche can conjure up. Either way, the chat room is open during the live show and we're partying like it's 2024!!!

Talk about good medicine! As you may know, I've been pretty sick for the past week or so. But the best medicine possible came last night in the form of Night 1 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention!It just kept getting better as the night went on, and I cried tears of joy as President Joe Biden received the love and adoration of a grateful nation. Tonight's program will begin a little earlier than last nights to allow for the extended periods of unbridled appreciation! But the big guns won't come on until after we're done with this program for the day. So, today, we'll talk about some of what happened last night and watch and listen to some of it together. We'll hear the full speeches from Congressmembers AOC, Jasmine Crockett,  first daughter Ashley Biden and a bit from Rep Jamie Raskin, Sen Raphael Warnock and whatever else time permits... We're not going back!!

I spent the weekend resting and recuperating, slowly regaining my strength and planning to be back on the air today. But E Coli seems to have other plans. I am feeling much better, but far from normal (even for me, which is also far from normal).So it's lucky for me that the Democratic Convention gets underway today in Chicago. Unfortunately, the festivities and streaming don't begin until the show ends... Good thing I recorded an interview a couple of weeks ago with Jessica Goudeau who just released a new book, WE WERE ILLEGAL. She has a fascinating story to share, and the story is certainly timely as the MAGAt presidential candidate is threatening mass deportations should we screw up and allow him anywhere hear the oval office again. So, we'll hear that interview, I'll update you on my ordeal (minus the tears today, I hope), and somehow make it through the hour. A programming note... for the rest of the week, I'll share highlights from the previous nights' convention happenings. And I WILL be back to host Marcy Wheeler on Friday. I'm going through emptywheel withdrawals too!

I'm sorry I've been MIA all week, but I've been really sick. I'll give a brief update today, but I'm still not well enough to come back. And it pains me (sorry for the pun) to say there's no Emptywheel Friday episode today. I really had hoped to feel good enough enough to do the show, but I need the rest. So we'll go back to August 7 of 2020. The Meidas Touch was just starting out with some really creative videos that caught my eye. So I figured today would be a good day to re-live those early moments of the now media empire (that really should put this show on their network... just a thought!)

What a weekend this was! On Friday, I was at the Glendale AZ Kamala Harris/Tim Walz record-breaking rally. On Saturday night, I saw the Pretenders in concert (Chrissie Hynde is still amazing!), and I spent Sunday sick in bed... But today is Monday and there's lots of fucking news to get to, so the show must go on.As we do most Mondays, we're joined by Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com to talk about what's happening in our fucking world...

We made it to the end of another eventful week. The best news of the week is that Kamala Harris named her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz! He almost seems too good to be true! So, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net and I  discuss our VP nominee, the so-called press conference Trump held yesterday at Mar a Lago, and the latest on the Jan 6 case which is back in Judge Tanya Chutkin's hands again...    I'm heading out to the Phoenix  rally with Kamala Harris & Tim Walz... I'll try to post on Xitter, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky if possible...

It's Thursday, so Howie Klein is here from Down with Tyranny and the Blue America PAC. Today, one of the congressional candidates they've endorsed -- Eric Wilson from Wisconsin! First, some of the news of the day, including that spectacle the former guy called a press conference, and VP/ soon to be POTUS Kamala Harris shows how you deal with hecklers...

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

t's a big day.. VP Kamala Harris announced her running mate this morning: Gov Tim Walz of Minnesota The two will appear at their first rally together in Philadelphia this afternoon during our live show. They're expected to speak at around 5:30ET (2:30 AZ time). So I'll keep an eye on the feed and pick it up to carry it live... For the first part of the show, I'll be joined by David Daley. You'll recall his last book, RATFUCKED - he's been on the show a few times talking about why our votes don't count. Today, his new book hits shelves... ANTIDEMOCRATIC: INSIDE THE FAR RIGHT'S 50-YEAR PLOT TO CONTROL AMERICAN ELECTIONS. The perfect subject to discuss before we officially meet the President and Vice President we'll be working to get elected in November.

Yes, a lot of fucking news for a fucking Monday, and that's not even all of it. As we do on Mondays, I'll chat with Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com about much of what I don't get to in the first half hour of the show on my own!