The Nicole Sandler Show

Fridays are filled with info here on the show because Marcy Wheeler [http://twitter.com/emptywheel] is my regular Friday guest. Yes, she writes and publishes news at emptywheel.net [http://emptywheel.net/] that you're not getting from the corporate mainstream media, but she joins me on Fridays for an in-depth look at what's happened during the past week. Today, it's a deep dive into the various Trump trials happening now, coming soon and coming eventually. This week, we got Don Jr and Eric on the witness stand, with Eric's testimony ending today. Monday it's TFG himself and Ivanka is scheduled to testify on Wednesday. But there's much more from partial gag orders to Aileen Canon to the co-conspirators -- both indicted and unindicted -- and their shenanigans. And of course, we couldn't end the show without a few words about the new Christian Nationalist Speaker of the House... As usual, Marcy Wheeler is a font of information with the facts at the top of her mind. She is truly incredible and I'm extremely grateful she now joins us weekly. Stand by... lots of info coming your way!

We spent most of the hour Tuesday with Health Insurance Industry Whistleblower Wendell Potter. That was after I recounted my troubles trying to get new insurance here in AZ to get me through the last two months of this year. I haven't yet told you of the horrors I experienced yesterday while looking for a plan for my final year before Medicare eligibility, and you should be happy about that. But today I toss all of that aside with the very sad news that Ady Barkan, advocate for Medicare for All, lost his battle with ALS and passed away last night. Though we all knew it was coming, that makes the devastating news no less awful. I'll pay a small tribute to the the man who was taken way too soon. As he does each Thursday, Howie Klein [http://downwithtyranny.com/]joins in at the bottom of the hour. Something happened yesterday in the House that I'm hoping Howie can clarify for us. A vote to remove that lying sack of shite George Santos from office came before the House in, I believe, a bipartisan motion. While most of his GOP colleagues voted to keep the lying liar in their ranks (not surprised), I was surprised that 31 Democrats voted with the Republicans and George the liar Santos remains firmly ensconced in his seat. Most of those 31 weren't a surprise, but one completely shocked me... Jamie Raskin?!?!?! I'll certainly ask Howie what that was about, and get the scoop on the new Magat Speaker of the House too.

The asterisk in the title of today's show isn't mine; it's in the title of the book I'll be discussing with the one & only Joan Walsh [http://twitter.com/joanwalsh] today: CORPORATE BULLSH*T: EXPOSING THE LIES AND HALF-TRUTHS THAT PROTECT PROFIT, POWER, AND WEALTH IN AMERICA [https://bookshop.org/a/1630/9781620977514]. Joan wrote the book with two co-authors-- progressive billionaire Nick Hanauer (who I've long wished to interview) and founder and executive director of In the Public Interest Donald Cohen (who I have interviewed before). Joan, of course, is now national affairs correspondent for THE NATION [https://www.thenation.com/authors/joan-walsh/], who's been writing about the news from a progressive perspective for years. (She's also, like me, a mega Springsteen fan!) Joan will join in at the 30 minute mark. Until then, I'll recap the latest news, including what, if anything, we're hearing from inside the courtroom where TFG's eldest spawn is testifying today. And I may tell you about our morning at the Emergency Animal Hospital this morning. #notfun

It's that time of year again and I'm not talking about Halloween. Open enrollment for Medicare began two weeks ago, and tomorrow (Nov 1), the Obamacare exchanges open for those of us still under 65. Both are like the worst haunted houses to navigate as you never know what scary monsters are hiding in those provisions and plans.  So today, our old friend Wendell Potter returns to the show. Wendell is still the only former health insurance executive to become a whistleblower, so we thank him even more for his courage and dedication to informing the public about the horribly deceptive practices of the for-profit health insurance industry. Today, we'll cover exactly what Medicare "Advantage" is and isn't (hint: it's neither Medicare nor is it any advantage!) and hopefully get some advice for those of us navigating that maze. And for those of us unfortunate to not be Medicare eligible yet, we'll discuss the ACA healthcare.gov and state exchanges, and the changes that have been made to the program in the over 10 years (!) it's been up and running. Hopefully Wendell can answer your questions. If time allows, we'll open the phones!

It's Monday and this promises to be an interesting week. The former guy's three eldest spawn all will take the stand in the fraud trial against the organization with their name on it. Wars continue raging overseas while antisemitism has been ratcheted up to levels I've never experienced in almost 64 years on the planet. Speaking of 64, I will be asking if you'll still need me or feed me come Saturday, and boy could I use the help. Although I'm loving Arizona, everything is more expensive, from my shitty internet service (can you say DOUBLE THE COST?) to my shitty health insurance (almost twice the price for half the benefit) to gas and food and everything else. No, I'm not starting the week in a good place. But thankfully Heather 'Digby' Parton [http://digbysblog.net/]is here to talk with about how awful everything is. Sorry, I tried to put a positive spin on it. It's just not going to happen today. Maybe Digby [http://twitter.com/digby56] can help...

It's  Friday, so we have another date with Marcy Wheeler [http://twitter.com/emptywheel] of the essential news site emptywheel.net [https://emptywheel.net/]. Today, the scoop on the new Republican Speaker of the House -- he's all and so much more (or less) that you expected, the various trials of the former guy, the overnight news of the US bombing of Syria and more. Take notes, or listen a few times. There's much to grok, as always, from Marcy Wheeler!

Howie Klein, your host at DownWithTyranny.com [http://downwithtyranny.com/] and the Blue America PAC [http://downwithtyranny.com/blue-america-pac] is my standing guest every Thursday, today introduces us to the newest Blue America endorsee... Zach Shrewsbury [http://shrewsburyforsenate.com/]! The Marine veteran who served as a member of the Fleet Anti Terrorism Security Team (FAST) is putting his mind and skills to thwart another threat to democracy: Joe Manchin. But we begin the show with the latest atrocities. Not from Gaza or Israel, but from Maine. Yes Maine, where a deranged individual armed with a weapon of war, gunned down scores of innocent people, killing 19 and injuring at least that many more. When will the madness end? When we get rid of the damn guns.

I'm still getting adjusted to living in Arizona... the biggest hurdle that I've yet to overcome is that, although the show still runs at the same time --5ET/2PT, I'm not in the ET zone any longer! Where I am, the show starts at 2pm. That means I lose three hours of prep time. I know I need to start earlier... but the brain hasn't gotten the message yet. So, today was a no makeup day. Time just ran out.  And Halloween is right around the corner. Anyway, the House Republicans finally got their act together and voted in a new Speaker of the House, changing the old slogan to "If at first you don't succeed, try, try, try and try again" or something like that. So the fourth time was a charm, or was that a curse? I'm not so sure... One thing that the new Speaker Mike Johnson said was that he's going to establish "debt panels" which would serve one purpose: to kill Social Security. In response, I was thrilled to welcome Nancy Altman back to the show. She's president of Social Security Works, [http://socialsecurityworks.org/] and it does...

If you don't know GottaLaff, you probably never were active on Twitter. Now that it's Xitter, Laffy is off Twitter but continuing to aggregate news on Mastodon. You can follow here there @GottaLaff@Mastodon.social. And of course, you can hear her here every other Tuesday (or thereabouts)... Today we'll likely be all over the place (what else is new?). Laffy and Mr. Laffy are dealing with the loss of Mr. Laffy's father a few days ago. Those who remember Laffy's former website, The Political Carnival, might recall that she often posted some of his comedy writing. We'll see if she can find some of his writings to share with us. Plus, Michael Cohen is testifying against his former boss, the former guy, today. And the Republicans have a new nominee for Speaker. Word is that some Democrats may sit out the vote to help the Republicans since they obviously can't help themselves, and there must be a Speaker in place in order for any votes to come to the floor. Since they can't help themselves, the Democrats will have to come to the rescue. Laffy's been live tooting it, so she'll bring us up to date on what's happened today. But wait, there's more. Another former attorney for the former guy has also flipped. Today it was Jenna Ellis who took a plea deal to sing. Stay tuned!

The news is horrifying. It doesn't matter what side of the issue you fall, and you know what issue I'm talking about, it's beyond comprehension. So we did just that yesterday. Turned off the news and drove up to Sedona to take in the beauty of nature and the magic of Sedona I've heard so much about.   Sadly, today is Monday, so it's back to the real world and the ugly reality of hate and war.  And the Republican party.  After a few minutes about the lack of any legitimacy in the House Republican Caucus, I will share an important article that went up today on The Nation website, written by Professor Maurice Isserman, "Why I Just Quit DSA".