The Nicole Sandler Show

Lisa Graves is a frequent and one of my favorite guests on the Nicole Sandler Show. Though she appears here regularly in her personal capacity as opposed to speaking for her organization, she has impeccable legal credentials, including time spent as Chief Counsel for Sen Patrick Leahy on the US Senate Judiciary Committee. So she knows her way around senate confirmation hearings. Today's hearings included Pam Bondi, TCF's second choice for Attorney General (after his first, even worse pick Matt Gaetz, withdrew) and Marco Rubio for Secretary of State, among others. An actual ceasefire with a potential end to the war between Israel and Hamas has been announced... I'll have a few details on that too. Plus some news of a personal matter. The bottom line is that the meningioma that was diagnosed with when I had lung cancer has doubled in size. So I have a few doctors appointments in the coming days and weeks to determine what we're dealing with. I promise to keep you posted as we go along.

Well, the bad news is that I got a text from Jason Leopold at 3:30 this morning explaining that the situation near his home in LA has gotten much worse and that they have to leave. The good news is that they're evacuating and getting to safety, and we'll be able to reschedule Jason for when he's safe and sound, hopefully back home. It just so happens that there's a lot of news to cover today, so it'll just be us and a bunch of audio and video... The DoJ did release Jack Smith's report on The Convicted Felon's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election just after midnight last night/this morning. The bottom line, according to Smith, is that Trump would have been convicted at trial. We'll get a better analysis on that from Marcy Wheeler on Friday, but we'll talk a bit about it. I spent four hours that I'll never get back this morning watching Pete Hegseth's Senate Armed Forces Commitee hearing on his confirmation to be Secretary of Defense. It's just so surreal. I'll share some of the more interesting exchanges. And Spocko will join me to add to the commentary!

Just like death and taxes, Mondays come along every week, whether we want them or not. So, welcome to another Monday. Thankfully, Mondays are made less worse because Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com and jonathanlarsen.substack.com is here to help us digest some of the f'ing news that we also cannot escape. Oh, by the way, speaking of substack, we now send The Nicole Sandler Show out on substack every afternoon following the live show. So go and subscribe at nicolesandler.substack.com. (It's still free, though we do depend on your donations and generosity to keep this thing going!)

It's our first Emptywheel Friday of the new year, a year which promises to be anything but easy, productive or frankly good. Which makes it more important than ever that we keep speaking truth to power and expose the incoming administration for what they are. So Marcy Wheeler and I are back today, and every Friday going forward. Today, the Convicted Felon was sentenced by Judge Merchan in the NY Business Fraud case in which he was found guilty on all 34 counts. Unfortunately, due to the office he'll be assuming again in 10 days, the judge "sentenced" Trump to *unconditional discharge*. No jail time, no punishment except for the fact that he is now, officially, a convicted felon. A discussion of how we got here started today's discussion, after a brief conversation about the fires that have and are still devastating Los Angeles. We also talked about the courts gutting the Net Neutrality rules that have kept this show and other small independent outlets on an equal footing with the corporate media, much of who are complicit in perpetuating the propaganda that got us here in the first place. So now more than ever, it's important that you support the media you consume and appreciate. We need your support to keep going. If you can, I hope you'll support both emptywheel.net and my work at nicolesandler.com/donate-2. Let's do whatever we can to cut through the lies and deception by spreading the truth and making it go viral.

Today is a National Day of Mourning. Sadly, that works on so many levels. Today President Jimmy Carter's official funeral was held. The last truly decent man to be president is gone. Perhaps some of his goodness will now enter the souls of those who have or seek power. But I'm not holding my breath. The mourning is not only for Jimmy Carter - it's for our democracy, the future of the nation (and the world), and my former home of Los Angeles where so many friends and former neighbors have lost everything. Yes, we're in mourning. Today is Thursday, when we get together with Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny and the Blue America PAC. It's been a while since we've done this as I was challenge with some health issues that kept me off the air, and then the holidays. But we're back together today. And we're joined by NJ State Senator Andrew Zwicker who was supposed to be with us last month. Better late than never! He'll tell us about the law he got passed in NJ, The Freedom to Read Act.

One of President Biden's final acts as president was signing the Social Security Fairness Act into law this week. If you are a public sector employee, this might affect you in a good way. But what about Social Security as a whole? Although the former and future guy said on the campaign trail that he wouldn't cut Social Security and Medicare, that's not what we're hearing from the Republicans that will control Congress for the next two years. We need answers. So, today, Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works will join me for the first half hour of the show and give us the facts. Then we'll get in to some of the other news of the day including the fires devastating Los Angeles and all of Southern California, and the status of Jack Smith's final reports on Dump investigations pertaining to Jan 6 and classified documents.

One of the best things about hosting this show five days a week is that I get to talk with some really wonderful guests. Heather "Digby" Parton is the OG progressive blogger, and continues at digbysblog.net and on Salon.com offering her brilliant take on the hand we've been dealt. As I've been looking forward to catching up with her, I've been reading about the intense Santa Ana winds that are fanning the flames of massive wild fires. I just checked my email to find that the winds have caused a power outage at Digby's home! Hopefully her power will return by showtime or that we can come up with another solution to get her on the air. It's always something!

Welcome to our first show of 2025. I'm rested and a bit refreshed after taking off a couple of weeks for the holidays. I'd say I'm happy to be back, but the fact is that today is January 6, four years since the guy whose election was just certified fomented an insurrection at the Capitol because he lost that election! To add insult to injury, the orange menace had the gall to rant today that President Biden was making the transition "as difficult as possible." We all know that's bullshit. Remember "every accusation is a confession". The next four years are going to be Opposite World on steroids. We'll begin the show today catching up on some of what happened over the holidays and setting some intentions for how we deal with our new reality. Then, as we do on most Mondays, we'll welcome Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com back to the show to get his take on what's happening in this ever-increasingly messed up world... Here we go...

Well, we made it to the end of the year. Or just about, anyway. Since I've been sick I've decided to do something I don't usually do which is take off and rest over the holidays. I've put together a great couple of weeks of shows to get us through January 3, and hope to return well-rested and ready to take on the challenges ahead. I did want to end with a final Emptywheel Friday episode and thankfully was able to record with Marcy Wheeler this morning. There's a lot we didn't get to (like the Matt Gaetz ethics report which should be out any time now). But we did spend the hour discussing the shit show that's already begun even before D'ump takes office again. Thanks for bearing with me through my health challenges the past few months. Here's to a better new year.

We last got together for a live show one week ago today. When Kelly Carlin was on with me, my voice started getting really gravelly and I felt progressively worse as the hour wore on. By Wednesday night I felt like crap and by Thursday night, my breathing was so labored that I feared it was pneumonia, so I went to the ER. (I'm now on Medicare with the Plan G supplemental insurance so won't have an obscene co-pay to deal with this time!). Numerous tests and chest x-rays later I was diagnosed with the flu. I had gotten vaccinated last month, along with the newest COVID booster. But the flu strain they vaccinate against is a guess, and this time they got it wrong. Or I did. Either way, I'm been in flu hell for the past week. I feel terrible every time I miss a show. But it couldn't be avoided. I'm still recuperating, but as I know I'll be taking some time off for the holidays, I really feel bad with each day that I'm out. So I'll do my best to soldier on for the next few days. I promise, if it gets to be too much, I'll stand down. Today's guest has been on the schedule for a while, so I thought I'd attempt to come back today. I first met Jesse Hagopian when he appeared on my show March 6, 2023. I had just learned of the existence of the Zinn (as in Howard) Education Project, and invited Jesse on to tell us about it. We were all glad I did. Last month, Jesse reached out to tell me about his forthcoming book, TEACH TRUTH: THE STRUGGLE FOR ANTIRACIST EDUCATION - a project as important as its title suggests. The book will be released on Jan 14, and is now available for pre-order. Jesse is here today to tell us all about it. With the assault on public education ratcheting up again next month, I thought we'd get a head start on it. Fingers crossed that my voice and health hold up, as I promise you'll love meeting Jesse Hagopian and learning about his dedication to teaching our children the truth.