The Nicole Sandler Show

Friday evening, just an hour or two after this show featuring a conversation with Leon Schagrin, an actual survivor of the Holocaust who was liberated at Auschwitz 78 years earlier, we saw the video of a group of police officers beat an innocent young man to death. Whether at a concentration camp in Germany under the orders of Hitler, or on the streets of the United States, we have witnessed the seeming unlimited capacity for cruelty that one human can inflict on others.   I still had Leon's words swimming around in my mind, having a tough time reconciling the stories he told with this lovely old man talking with us over Zoom, unable to comprehend that level of brutality, savagery, of sadism, and thinking about how important it is that people listen to that interview. We must share the stories of Leon and the other survivors, and pass them down to future generations to insure that nothing like this ever happens again.  But atrocities like those that emanated from Hitler and his followers do continue in places and sizes and permutations that civilized minds can't comprehend, and occasionally the tormentors, torturers and murderers are caught in the act. And that's what we witnessed Friday night when the video of the gruesome, horrific beating of Tyre Nichols was released.  As this is our first gathering since we saw those images we can now never un-see, I thought we should open the phones and talk about it. 954-889-6410 is the number (or you can Skype in to nicolesandler).  Meanwhile, in another corner of the unthinkable, mass shootings are back in the news and in our peripheral vision again. So of course, the fascist governor of the state of FloriDUH takes this opportunity to push for no-permit needed open carrying of weapons. Yes, that was introduced today in Florida's legislature. I'll talk with Samantha Barrios, the new Florida state director of Giffords.org, the organization founded by former Rep Gabby Giffords and her husband Sen. Mark Kelly to combat our big problems with guns.

A bit of what's news, for now

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which comes on the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camps. Leon Schagrin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Schagrin] was there. He was an 18-year old man, weighing all of 80 pounds, on this day back in 1945 when the Soviet army came through and liberated the prisoners. Leon was just 12 or 13 when the Nazis invaded his homeland of Poland and his long holocaust nightmare began. That he lived to tell about it is a miracle. Leon settled down in South Florida, where he and his wife would spend many Passover dinners at a neighbor's welcoming table. The neighbors happened to be the in-laws of someone with whom I went to high school, many years ago. It turns out that my old friend Stephen Shooster [https://www.shoostyandco.com/] wrote Leon's story. It's immortalized in a book titled THE HORSE ADJUTANT: HOW ONE YOUNG BOY SURVIVED THE HOLOCAUST. [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-horse-adjutant-a-boy-s-life-in-the-nazi-holocaust-leon-schagrin/9356117?ean=9780983031918] Leon is now 96 years and still tells his story, as it's one directive among the Jewish people -- Never forget, never again. So, today, I'm joined by both my old high school friend Stephen Shooster and holocaust survivor Leon Schagrin. Never forget. Never again.

A bit of what's news, for now

I'm back today after taking yesterday off to indulge my inner musical needs. After interviewing Dave Mason last week, his people invited us to the show. So we made a nice day and night of it.  Today is Thursday, so Howie Klein is here with lots to discuss including Adam Schiff throwing his hat in the senate race ring to replace Dianne Feinstein, the implosion of the Blue Dog caucus, the least educated member of the House, McCarthy's dilemma and lots more... But first, some news and items of interest that we missed yesterday, and more from today. Sadly, there is never a dull moment...

A bit of what's news, for now

A bit of what's news, for now

We can begin the list of reasons today is Terrible Tuesday with the numbers 7 and 11. Seven more people killed yesterday in two related shooting incidents in Half Moon Bay, California. The madness will never end. This is the new normal in the USA. And the death toll from Saturday's massacre in Monterey Park has grown by one, so the number of dead victims is now 11. (Can we leave now?) Uh oh. Breaking news today... The Justice Dept has taken possession of a "small number" of documents with classified markings that former Vice President Mike Pence found in his Indiana residence. PENCE HAD CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS AT HIS HOME TOO! WTF is wrong with these people?? It's a bad day for four Oath Keepers who were found guilty yesterday of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the 1-6 attack on the Capitol. And it's truly terrible for the former head of FBI counterintelligence Charles McGonigal, who's been charged and indicted in federal court on charges that include money laundering and violating US sanctions. There's more, including the fact that there's a new WH Chief of Staff incoming. Ron Klain is leaving. Biden chose Jeffrey Zients, who's getting reamed by critics not happy about the decidedly conservative choice, including Jeff Hauser [http://twitter.com/jeffhauser]at The Revolving Door Project [http://threvolvingdoorproject.org/], who'll join us today to explain what's so bad about Zients.

A bit of what's news, for now

Yesterday marked the beginning of the 15-day celebration of the Lunar New Year as we leave behind the Year of the Tiger for the Year of the Rabbit. Billions of people celebrated around the world including in the Southern California city of Monterey Park, where the population is around 65% Asian and Asian-American... a city that's historically safe and consistently ranks as one of the country's best places to live due to its good schools, growing economy, and central location.  But a shooter, later identified as a 72-year old man of Asian descent, entered a dance studio and killed 10 people and injured another 10 before fleeing the scene. One the the injured victims died today.  The shooter went to another studio in the neighboring community of Alhambra, where two men managed to wrestle his gun away from him. He still managed to escape. But he was surrounded by police in the town of Torrance and on Sunday evening, it was confirmed that the shooter killed himself as police were closing in.  This was the 33rd mass shooting so far this year... a year that's only 23 days old.   Our guest today is not  here to talk about mass shootings, though he probably could. These days, Jason Leopold is doing his reporting for Bloomberg news, but his focus remains on getting the information that the government doesn't release on its own. Jason Leopold has been dubbed the "FOIA Terrorist" by those who have to deal with his never-ending stream of FOIA requests, but I prefer the term FOIA Master, as what he's doing is masterful, not terrorism!  I invited Jason on today because it's been a few months... and due to a story published by the NY Post's Page Six of all places, dealing with Morrissey (musician, formerly of The Smiths), the Secret Service and a statement he made about the former guy a few years ago!