The Nicole Sandler Show

Mondays are tough. I like to ease into the week by injecting humor and snark into the news. I prefer to do that every day, but Mondays are special. JONATHAN LARSEN of The Fucking News joins us every Monday for the second half of the show to discuss what's happening in our truly f'd up reality. But today, we’ll bring along some extra snark! We'll begin the show with an old friend of mine, CLIFF SCHECTER of Blue Amp who like Jonathan and I, also works to bring you actual news in an entertaining way. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Every Friday, the always brilliant and always informed Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to wrap up the week. We discuss most of the big and often the under-reported news of the week that you really should know about. And wow, was this a jam-packed week… From Charlie Kirks murder to the FBI’s malpractice. If not for the shooter’s father, he’d still be loose. To Trump’s power grab, SCOTUS crap, Bolsonaro’s guilty verdict & 27 year sentence (for basically the same crime Dump committed) and a whole lot more… Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

I was struggling this morning as I sat down to prepare for today’s show. I’ve had panic attacks since last November, and I’m doing my best to keep them at bay these days. But today is a tough one. As was yesterday. I'm sorry that Charlie Kirk was killed yesterday. Gun violence is never the answer to anything, especially a political disagreement. It's sickening. On Today's show, I'll sound off and check in with Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Today has been a shitty day on a few levels. Two shootings today. One at a college in Colorado, injuring three.. The other at a college in Utah, killing Charlie Kirk. Unreal. On today's show, Impolite Talking Religion & Politics with comedian John Fugelsang & Democratic strategist Mike Nellis. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Journalist, Author, Podcaster, Musician and a lot more, Brian Karem joins me today. Brian has had numerous run-ins with his orangeness. With Captain Cankles' relationship with pedophile/child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein dominating much of the news today, that's one of the shitty news items we discussed today. The Epstein connection and stories surrounding it are really at the center of everything Trump related these days, as it appears the both Brian and I believe that it will ultimately be Epstein that brings Trump down. I just hope the end comes sooner rather than later! Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

SCOTUS keeps issuing unsigned decisions from cases on the so-called Shadow Docket; two of them came this morning, neither one good. The first allows D'ump to fire commissioners at the FTC and other executive branch agencies without cause. In this case, that means his firing of Democratic member Rebecca Slaughter stands. The second one actually allows the administration to engage in racial profiling. In this case, it allows the feds to return to Los Angeles and use racial profiling in questioning and detaining people who look like they're here illegally. As usual, Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson dissent. Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com joined in and gave us more breaking news. This time it's good news! Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It was a chaotic week, again, in the Dumpster fire that is Trump's Amerikkka in 2025. As she does every Friday, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins me to unpack most of the important news we need to know, and injects some of her unique Wheeler wisdom to the insanity of it all. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Sometimes our best laid plans get derailed. Perhaps it was last week's massive haboob that ate Phoenix, or Quantum Fiber, my Internet provider, is just making excuses (I pick that one), but my internet has now been out more than 18 hours... and counting! We'll reschedule Greg Palast for next week. Today I'll try to cover Trump's illegal killing of 11 people in a boat off the coast of Venezuela who he claimed were smuggling drugs (sure), and RFK Jr's testimony in front of the Senate Finance Committee in which he proved he's as batshit crazy as we thought. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It was an historic morning on Capitol Hill as 10 of Jeffrey Epstein's victims gathered with their lawyers, Congressmen Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and lots of reporters, protesters and concerned citizens to hear the survivors speak out, some of them for the very first time. On today's show, we listened to these women. We heard them and we believed them. Meanwhile, Trump called it a "Democrat hoax," because that's all he knows how to do. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's the day after Labor Day. Fall has unofficially begun. However, Autumn doesn't officially begin for another 20 days. And unfortunately, this is only 2025. At least if it was Sept. 2, 2026, we'd be gearing up for the midterms. But now is all-hands-on-deck time and we cannot wait to gear up for anything. We must anticipate everything that's coming at us and get prepared now. To that end, over the weekend a campaign announcement caught my eye because someone jumped in to the congressional race for my district (AZ5) for the seat now held by the atrocious Andy Biggs! So to help Elizabeth Lee - and all of us - jumpstart the 2026 midterm campaign, Nurse (Elizabeth) Lee will join us for a few minutes. Maybe she'll motivate you to run? Peace out... Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

Happy Labor Day! On holidays, I prefer to let the music do the talking. And today’s show celebrates Labor Day. Sadly. organized labor has taken the slings and arrows from the right for gar too long. But it is through the efforts of unions that we have what few workers’ rights we still enjoy. Today, I support unions through song… Enjoy! No video today as YouTube copyright violates me any and every time I play a song. So I’ll see you tomorrow. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's another Emptywheel Friday when Marcy Wheeler of Emptywheel.net and I get together to bring you up to speed on a lot of the important news that we need to know from this week. As usual, there's more than we could fit into an hour (and then some!). Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's been a while since I've spoken with Timothy Karr, Senior Director of Strategy & Communications at FreePress.net. We've spoken many times going back at least a decade about the challenges we've faced regarding the media, from broadcast to the internet. Looking back, they were all important issues, but I think they pale in comparison to the terror that the D'ump regime is wreaking on our media - from fake news (that emanates FROM HIM and his acolytes) to gutting all aspects of the formerly public airwaves. Tim has authored a new report called "A More Perfect Media: Saving America's Fourth Estate from Billionaires, Broligarchy and Trump". That report accompanies Free Press' online Media Capitulation Index, a performance rating of the nation's 35 largest media conglomerates. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

I often rail against the evils of Dump, the MAGAts and Republican politics in general on this show. And I also criticize Democratic strategies, policies and actions or inactions as I feel necessary. Today is necessarily one of those days. It's regarding the constant barrage of fundraising emails and texts and the fact that, in many cases, they’re scammy spam. Sadly, I'm not hearing much about some information that's recently come to light. We'll try to shine a brighter light on that on today's show with writer/organizer Micah Sifry, writer and organizer of TheConnector.substack.com. He's been writing about Mothership Strategies and their aligned PACs who are doing us wrong. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

When Digby first began blogging in 2002, the very early days of the blogosphere, most readers had no idea she was a woman! When she went public a few years later after being presented with the Paul Wellstone Award, (according to a 2008 LA Times article), many were shocked. They shouldn't have been. I say that as a woman who knows, to quote Harry Belafonte (who I know didn’t write it), ‘Man Smart, Woman Smarter"‘! We now know her as much as Heather Parton as we do as Digby. Heather is still writing at her Hullabaloo blog and also writes a regular column for Salon.com. Both are on my must-read list. The days when Heather joins me on the air are some of my favorites. So I'm looking forward to today. As difficult as it is to talk about the absurdity and horror that is the current administration, it's great to be able to discuss anything that's going on with a friend who's as knowledgeable, smart, incredulous, and pissed off as we are. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's another Monday, so on today's show, Jonathan Larsen brings us the latest of The Fucking News, which he diligently writes just about every day at TheFuckingNews.substack.com and discusses here on my show. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

What a day this has already been, and I'm not even talking about the news! I'll explain, but the short version is I got sick today. But I soldiered through and was able to talk with the one and only Driftglass today about all the shit we're going through. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

While we, mere mortals, try to discern fact from fiction when trying to get a handle on what is truly happening in the world, investigative reporter Jason Leopold has mastered the ins and outs of the of the few tools available to US citizens to dig through the drek to get at the truth. FOIA Man, as I call him, returns to the show today. Then I checked in with a town in Arkansas that's in the news today for a disturbing reason... Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

It's my never-ending question during the Dump Days of America... Delulu Don keeps signing Executive Orders that are expressly unconstitutional, but he doesn't care. In many cases he's breaking the law, but is he if there's no one to enforce the laws he's breaking? Chris also just returned from a vacation. He was in the UK and wrote about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and seeing Rosie O'Donnell perform there. I have so many questions for him about Europeans' thoughts about the US in the Dump era and how it feels to unplug from this shit for two weeks! Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe

On Mondays, Jonathan Larsen joins me on the air to tell us wtf is going on with a bit of snark and humor because it sure beats letting the seriousness of what's happening make you sad, anxious or crazy. kingNews.substack.com and get Jonathan’s original reporting without much snark at JonathanLarsen.substack.com. Get full access to The Nicole Sandler Show at nicolesandler.substack.com/subscribe