The Nicole Sandler Show

Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net [http://emptywheel.net/] joins me every Friday to fill us in on all the news the mainstream corporate media doesn't do such a great job of reporting. Today, we jump right in. You might want to take notes. Lots of info coming your way.

George Santos will not run for re-election, MAGA Mike averted a government shutdown, temporarily, but only thanks to Democrats, Tuberville is certifiable and more from Howie Klein at DownWithTyranny.com today. But first, my interview with Turi Ryder at WCPT/Chicago about being canceled by KPFK

Turi Ryder interviews radio pro Nicole Sandler about KPFK canceling her show that was scheduled to premiere on that station in two days, after being in the planning stages for three months. Why? Listen.

I have a story to tell you about that bastion of free speech, Pacifica Radio's ailing Los Angeles station KPFK. They tried to hire me as Program Director a few years ago. I turned them down because it was a cluster fuck, among other reasons.  A  few months ago, the interim Program Director got in touch and offered me a weekly show. I agreed and was to begin this Friday, yes, in two days. This morning the interim General Manager called to tell me they "won't be moving forward" with it.  Needless to say, I'm stunned and livid. I'll tell more during the show. Funny, today I have Jason Leopold scheduled to talk about his big FOIA scoop on the White House cocaine. We'll talk about that, but I'll also ask him to use his FOIA skills to call KPFK out on the bullshit excuse they gave me. Yes, this show will be raw. After all, it's online only and I know how to protect a license over the air. I've done it for over 40 years! So, strap in. Should be fun.

I'm pretty disgusted right about now. I've spent the better part of the day watching the March for Israel livestreaming online from a few different sources. None of the cable so-called-news channels aired the thing, as expected. But most of the streams came from right wing outlets including Fox. And the one or two that were allegedly "fair and balanced" were filled with ugly commentary from both sides in the chat. There were moments that made me proud, but just as many that made my skin crawl. Most notably, the inclusion of raging antisemite Pastor John Hagee who only "supports" Israel because his batshit belief is that all Jews must return to Israel so he can bring on the rapture. GMAFB.  On the other side of the split screen is Congress, where the Republicans will likely shut down the government in a few days because they won't work with Democrats and won't vote for a clean funding bill.  Astounding.   And then there was the Republican senator who threatened to fight the Teamsters president who was testifying at a hearing. Really!  I call it Opposite World... we're in the thick of it.

Veterans Day this year fell on a Saturday. It always falls one week after my birthday, and 8 days before my father's. My dad never talked about his time in the Army. I always thought he was in the Korean War, but it turns out he was in WWII. I don't think he ever saw battle though. He was the emcee of the variety shows. Think Bob Hope one liners, but cornier. (I found binders of his material after he died). Anyway, I've been thinking about my dad recently, and what soldiers were fighting for (or against) in WWII and wondering if those in today's military ever wonder which side they're fighting for. And then I heard about what the former guy said in a speech he spewed on Veterans Day, invoking the words of and praising dictators, some of them amongst the most vile to deface the planet. And I get sad.

How do you make Fridays better than they already are? By listening to and learning from Marcy Wheeler [http://emptywheel.net/]. She covers much of the way things work (or don't) here in the US from her home in Limerick, Ireland. But whether she's in Michigan or Ireland, Marcy has her fingers on the news and what's happening on this side of the pond. Today, it's more debunking of the chaos caucus in the House and their almost keystone cop-like vendetta against Hunter Biden. Plus the Trump trials, both in progress and coming soon, election results, Bill Barr's complicity and a whole lot more. As usual, you might want a pen and paper handy to take notes. Marcy does it all off the top of her head. I just watch and listen in amazement.... Apologies to those watching the live stream on YouTube today. We were having problems there, but the video was fine on Facebook, Twitch and even Xitter. And the audio was good too. So I'll put this one off on YouTube, and will embed the Xitter stream, should you care to watch.

War is ugly. Always is, always has been. There's a famous poster from the Vietnam War era that reads "War is not healthy for children and other living things". Sometimes we must restate the obvious and still, people who need to hear it just won't listen. Today, I'll speak with law professor, author and podcaster Jennifer Taub [http://jentaub.substack.com/] with whom I have formed a bond, out of necessity as I wade through the ugly and abusive social media waters looking for a sympathetic voice. Those voices seem more difficult to find as the ones who want to see us dead or neutralized are growing in numbers and boldness. So Jen joins in for a personal conversation that I'm hoping everyone listens to. If one person gain a bit of insight into what American Jews are going through now, then airing our conversation will be worth it. But we won't let the good election news go to waste. We'll celebrate the results that, once again, prove that the polls the media wants you to get all hot and bothered over aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

It's one of those Tuesdays when @GottaLaff@mastodon.social is here. That's where you'll find her live "tooting" events like yesterday's historic under-oath testimony in a multi-million dollar fraud suit for which TFG has already been found liable. This is not-so-simply the penalty phase. The bratty man-child had a tantrum on the stand and off the stand. Of course it was the circus we'd expected, but without cameras in the room, the extent of his bratty child act mostly went unreported. But Laffy was monitoring the coverage from reporters in the courtroom and she aggregated all the coverage on Mastodon. She'll do the same with Ivanka's testimony tomorrow, so make note of her Mastodon address.  Today on the show, Laffy will share some of what went on yesterday and preview what will happen tomorrow, maybe even bringing Vanky in for a quick visit. She'll also share the horror of realizing that the murder of an old man in LA - a Jewish man supporting Israel- happened right in her neighborhood.  Before I bring Laffy on, I promised I'd bring receipts to explain why I will no longer read The Nation or bring any of it's writers on my show again. This is a tough one, as The Nation has been a go-to for me for decades. But two of the writers, who I had considered friends, and the publisher, up to now a friendly acquaintance, have all chosen to support the terrorists over the hostages, Hamas over Israel and Jews.  And yes, it is that simple. I will sadly explain at the top of the show.

I tried to keep the title of today's episode light, though I'm feeling anything but. Yes, I was glad to hear that TFG was compelled to testify today, but it was more of the same from this teflon turd who gets away with crap that would find anyone else displaying the same juvenile lack of decorum bound and gagged at the defendant's table. But he does and says what he wants without a care in the world because he knows, as he's stated more than once, he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and get away with it. Trump did make history today, I believe, in that he is the first former Oval Office occupant to stand trial - civil or criminal (and face it, he's got both in the works). And today, history was made, as embarrassing as it is for this country. But we have lots to be ashamed of right now, with more gumming up the works further each day. The always awesome Lisa Graves [http://twitter.com/thelisagraves]is back on the show today, sharing her personal observations on this historic day. There's a parade of legal *experts* being trotted out by every cable news channel blaring their skewed take on the days' news endlessly. But I'd listen to Lisa Graves above all others. She's the real deal. Lisa is a DOJ veteran, having served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in both the Bill Clinton and GW Bush administrations under AGs Janet Reno and John Ashcroft/ Alberto Gonzales. She also served in the Senate Judiciary Committee as Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy, as 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, Lisa Graves works as the founder and Executive Director of True North Research [http://truenorthresearch.org/], a national investigative watchdog group that works with journalists and other researchers to shine a bright light on the dark money fueling regressive agendas targeting vital institutions in our republic, such as our courts and public schools. Today, she'll bring us her personal observations on today's testimony and the sad historic nature of where we are as a nation.