The Nicole Sandler Show

We lost a trailblazer and one of the people who most influenced my way of thinking as a child this week, Norman Lear. I grew up on his TV shows, from All In the Family on. I believe his framing of social issues via comedy is, in large part, responsible for my fierce opinions today. I got to interview Norman Lear once. It was April of 2007. At the time I was working with Jim DeFede (one of the best journalists working today) at WINZ/Miami. Jim was out sick, so interviewing Norman Lear fell to me. It was an honor that I remember fondly. I'll share that conversation at the top of the show today. Then, at the bottom of the hour, I'll bring on Howie Klein [http://downwithtyranny.com/], as we do every Thursday. Howie sits on the board of People for the American Way, the organization founded by Norman Lear. Before we get to politics and the shrinking House Republican majority, I'll ask Howie to share a story or two about the great Norman Lear.

Desi Doyen is my guest today for the whole hour. I know, she was just here, in studio, with Brad Friedman for some Thanksgiving Week fun and frivolity, but today it's a serious conversation about the weather.  No, not "the weather" but climate change.  For some reason, the corporate mainstream media has shirked its responsibility to inform us of actual news! Like the once-every-five-years release of the National Climate Assessment. This was only the fifth one ever. Its goal is to help us survive the catastrophic changes wreaking havoc on the planet already. I didn't see coverage of its release anywhere other than on the BradBlog/BradCast/GreenNewsReport! (That's not to say there wasn't coverage; just that I didn't see any of it, and I'm a voracious consumer of news media.)  And COP 28 got underway this week in the UAE. Not seeing coverage of that either. So, Desi Doyen, the woman behind the Green News Report joins me to tell us about both of those.  Of course, there's some breaking news today. Norman Lear died.  He shaped my young sensibilities! I got to interview him once - in April of 2007. I'll share that interview tomorrow, before Howie Klein's regular Thursday visit. And will certainly ask Howie to share some stories about him. Norman Lear was the founder of People for the American Way, on whose Board Howie sits.  Kevin McCarthy resigning, Taylor Swift Time's Person of the Year. We'll talk about the weather... (If only I could play music on here....)

The Philadelphia Inquirer' [http://inquirer.com/bunch]s Will Bunch [http://twitter.com/Will_Bunch]joins us today. I invited him on after reading his column about the death of Henry Kissinger and how the man who finally died would have likely applauded MSNBC firing Mehdi Hasan. Selfishly, I want to point out that Mehdi's not the only one who had a show canceled because management (or some other entity) didn't like his stance or coverage of the war between Hamas & Israel... But there's more news to talk about including Liz Cheney's revelations in her new book, Tommy Tuberville finally lifting his military promotions blockade, the Republican's impeachment threat, the Trump second term threat... I could go on, but I've got a show to prepare for.

No guest today. Just a lot of what happened while we were weekending.  From Liz Cheney to Pramila Jayapal and lots more...

The best way to end the week is with an @emptywheel [http://emptywheel.net/] news wrap up. Today, George Santos is finally gone, Matty Dick Pics is back in the news, and the world is basically fubar. Marcy Wheeler explains it all....'

It's Thursday, so Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny [http://downwithtyranny.com/] day on the show. And, as usual, there's no lack of stories to discuss. Just a few hours ago, the House again debated the move to expel George Santos from Congress. Henry Kissinger finally died. And Howie made a surprising statement in a post on Down with Tyranny that I was happy to read... we'll talk about all that and more. But I'll start the show with an apology and a letter (email) from a listener, the recipient of that apology. Yes, I do admit when I get something wrong, especially when the person I wronged is as gracious as my new friend is.

Deborah Ben Aderet grew up in Illinois, but moved to Israel a dozen or so years ago. She met her husband there, they had two children and lived on a Kibbutz just a few miles north of the Gaza border. She's my guest today. We're not going to talk politics, but instead Deborah will tell us about life in Israel, life on a Kibbutz, life near the Gaza border where they were under constant rocket attacks serious enough so that every home in the area has a safe room designed with fortified walls to protect against the regular barrage incoming from Gaza. But the rooms didn't have locks, as they weren't designed to protect from a house to house massacre by terrorists, just from incoming rocket attacks. There are so many misconceptions and flat-out disinformation being spread like wildfire via the internet. Deborah is here today to debunk the lies, tell the truth, tell what she and her family lived through just about a mile from the Gaza border before and on October 7.

It's one of those Tuesdays when GottaLaff [http://gottalaff.mstdn.social/]is here.... Rosalynn Carter is be memorialized today at a ceremony in DC in which all the living first ladies attended. (There are five, for those keeping count.) I'm not sure what we'll talk about today, but we'll figure out something to get us through the hour... Feel free to join in the fun!

There are few days when it's more difficult to get back to work than the Monday after Thanksgiving, but here we are, back for more. Thankfully, today I'm joined by OG progressive blogger Driftglass [http://driftglass.blogspot.com/], who co-hosts the Professional Left Podcast [http://proleftpod.com/] with his wife, BlueGal Fran.... I'm sure we can find something to talk about...

I was going to take the whole week off, but Brad Friedman [http://bradblog.com/] & Desi Doyen [https://bradblog.com/?author=9] are visiting today, so we'll do a special bonus show. We are live today and yes the phone lines are open. And no, we have absolutely no idea what we'll be doing...