The Nicole Sandler Show

Howie Klein [http://downwithtyranny.com/] has been doing a weekly segment on this show for probably a dozen years already. I truly appreciate his participation in this program- especially knowing that if the politics of the day are too nauseating or overwhelming, we can always talk music. Perhaps 2024 is the year that Howie will release his memoirs, which we've been hearing about little by little over the years. Today, Rudy Giuliani filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy, erroneously thinking that'll save him from the $148 million judgement against him in the defamation case brought by Georgia poll workers Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss. We'll see what other Christmas treats we can bring you in our final get-together of the year. Plus we'll learn about the holiday of Seagull Day [https://www.huffpost.com/entry/christmas-canceled-seagull-day-holiday_n_655f82d3e4b0c91d8279f631]. Really.

Yes, I know that Festivus falls on December 23, which is when we usually observe the made up holiday. But this year, Festivus falls on Saturday, so we'll observe the traditions today. Seinfeld (the TV show) was huge in the 90s, and a few episodes spawned catch phrases and traditions that live on. One that I've embraced is the holiday made up by the fictional George Costanza's father. Rather than me trying to explain it, we'll go through all of that on the show. But the Festivus traditions will require your participation. Hopefully you'll call in -- 954-889-6410 or Skype to nicolesandler - to air your grievances, proclaim some feats of strength, or some combination of the two. Of course, I'll share mine. We'll see how it goes....

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

It's the last week before Christmas and we're still here. With a lot of legal issues popping up on Friday and in our near future, I thought today would be a great day to invite Lisa Graves back to the show. Lisa has those legal bona fides -- she  served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Policy Development/Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorneys General Janet Reno and John Ashcroft, Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts with oversight of the Financial Disclosure Office and more, and as an adjunct law professor at George Washington University Law School. She also worked as the Senior Legislative Strategist for the ACLU on national security and civil liberties, and held other posts.  These days, she serves as Executive Director and Editor of TrueNorthResearch.org, where she continues the work she's championed over the years, exposing people and organizations like the Koch Brothers, ALEC, Leonard Leo and others of that ilk. Today we'll talk Rudy, Ruby & Shaye, Clarence & Ginny and the lack of Supreme ethics, Jack Smith and his game of leapfrog the appeals court and more....

Just when you think a week can't be any crazier than the week before......... it's Friday and time for Emptywheel.net [http://emptywheel.net/]'s Marcy Wheeler to share her knowledge and reporting to let us know what's happening with the many prosecutions of the former guy and those who aided his attempt to overturn the results of a fair and free election. Today, Marcy tells us about her doppelganger theory involving Hunter Biden and Rudy Giuliani. And a whole lot more.

The most dysfunctional House of Representatives in my lifetime (and that's saying a lot) opened an impeachment inquiry yesterday into President Joe Biden. Why? We don't know. Neither do they. We'll talk politics today with Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny [http://downwithtyranny.com/] and the Blue America PAC [http://downwithtyranny.com/blue-america-pac]. Politics, it's creepy.

It was five months ago that SAG/AFTRA had just gone out on strike, joining the WGA writers on picket lines, when I invited my old friend David Jolliffe [http://twitter.com/TheDaveJolliffe] on the show to talk about what they were striking over. Dave is on the SAG/AFTRA Negotiating Committee and the National Board, and serves as 2nd VP of the Los Angeles local. Not only did he join me that day, but brought along two of his show biz royalty friends, actors Frances Fisher [http://twitter.com/frances_fisher] and Sean Astin [http://twitter.com/seanastin]. I think all three of them will join us again today to tell us about the deal they got, and how strikes work! They'll join in at the bottom of the hour. We'll get started with the latest insanity out of DC today...

It's that other Tuesday when GottaLaff [http://mastodon.social/@GottaLaff]is here. Rudy's in court, SCOTUS goes with Jack Smith, and Voldimyr Zelinskyy is much more confident than Ron DeSantis... just sayin'

Today's scheduled guest stood me up. Just as well. I wound up talking with Spocko for a while, bitching about how truly awful Cox internet service is, and told you about my Women Who Rock project dying. Monday. Blech.

Each Friday, we hook up with Marcy Wheeler [http://twitter.com/emptywheel]of emptywheel.net [http://emptywheel.net/] across the pond for the best coverage of what's happening on this side of world. Today, Marcy has the latest on the new charges filed against Hunter Biden, TFG's never-ending appeals, the incredible shrinking House Republican majority and even Time's Person of the Year causing magat heads to explode... Be informed... Listen!