The Nicole Sandler Show

A bit of what's news for now

Heather "Digby" Parton is always one of my favorite guests. But I always lament that we ran out of time at the end of the hour. Well, today, for logistical purposes, we had to tape the conversation, and boy did we talk. We discussed the sad reality of where this nation is today, politically, and it's frightening. So venture down the rabbit hole with us today, and see how weird it gets!

A bit of what's news, for now

It's another busy day on Capitol Hill with hearings galore going on. I'll try to give you the Readers Digest version of what's happening today, though I'm sure I'll get sidetracked with the various sideshows happening. It's Thursday, so Howie Klein is here. He'll introduce us to Christine Olivo, who's primarying Frederica Wilson, a centrist Democrat from Miami.

A bit of what's news, for now

Lots of news to catch up with at the start of the show, as it's hearing time in Congress. I'll try to bring us up to speed on what's happened so far today. Then, I'm thrilled to welcome historian and author Rick Perlstein back to the show. His books are all about the rise of modern American conservatism. His newest book (soon to be out in paperback) "Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980" ends with Reagan being sworn in as the 40th POTUS. I'm thinking that his next book should detail the beginning of the end of the Republican party, from Donald Trump through the death of Rush Limbaugh.

A bit of what's news for now

Now that the impeachment is over and Congress is back from its President's Day Week Off, it's time for some hearings. We got your Merrick Garland confirmation hearings. We got your Deb Haaland for Interior Secretary hearings, and your Xavier Becerra for HHS hearings. And we got your first hearing about the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol hearing -- a joint venture by the Senate Homeland Security and the Governmental Affairs & Senate Rules committee-- in which the members grill mostly former law enforcement who were charged with protecting Congress that day. The House has its go at those same January 6 witnesses on Thursday. So there's a whole lotta hearing going on this week. CNN announced yesterday they'd no longer carry the daily White House press briefings... are things back to normal there? Is that a good thing? We'll ask Brian Karem, Playboy's senior White House correspondent, our guest today!

A bit of what's news for now

Today kicks off a busy week in the US. Congress is back from its recess and that's good, as they have a lot of work to do. First up, Merrick Garland finally gets his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee- but this time it's his confirmation hearing to be Attorney General under Joe Biden. Others will follow this week, but that one has been a long time coming. And heaven knows we need some equal justice under the law in this country. Can we achieve that? I'll ask today's guest, Jennifer Taub. She's a legal scholar and advocate, law professor and author. Her new book is "Big Dirty Money: The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime". Our timing is great, because there's SCOTUS news today about Trump's tax returns and other financial records (he must turn them over), and apparently Ghislane Maxwell told a '60 Minutes' producer that Epstein had tapes of both Trump and Clinton. We'll see where the conversation takes us today!