Monday is Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer. So today, I'm joined by my friend Boca Britany Somers for a special Trans Summer Kick Off in honor of the fascist Florida man who had the gall to announce his candidacy for president this week...  We'll have a gay old time!

20230626 Nicole Sandler Show - Unofficial Floriduh Summer Kickoff with Brit Somers

Sometimes life just doesn't make sense. Although today's show isn't really about two governors, it does involve two (actually three) southern governors whose actions were not reflected in the paths their lives and careers have taken. But, in all fairness, one of the stories hasn't yet reached a conclusion, so the odds are pretty good that fairness will win. But we'll see.

I'm talking -in the second instance- of Florida's sad excuse for a governor. Ron DeSantis, who signed the bill into law just yesterday that will allow him to run for president without resigning as governor first, made his candidacy official yesterday, launching his campaign on Twitter Spaces. Yes, the correct response to that is "Twitter what?" . The little-known audio only section of Twitter did exactly what we expected: It crashed! The headlines "Failure to Launch" wrote themselves.

Meanwhile, the day before, we heard from two former Alabama governors, one of whom I know much more about that the other. The one I don't know is Robert Bentley, a Republican, who resigned from office before he could be removed. The other is Don Siegelman [http://donsiegelman.org/], a Democrat, and one of the best Democratic governors from the south who could have been (and should have been) president. If only he hadn't been targeted, set-up and prosecuted (persecuted) by the nefarious forces on the right, likely led by one Karl Rove.

--Click here to hear my interview with Gov. Siegelman about his story from June 12, 2020 ---- [https://nicolesandler.com/6-12-20/]

Siegelman was accused of bribery and convicted based on lies and fabrications from the right, and he served a sentence as an actual American political prisoner. Unfortunately, the Democratic president Barack Obama did noting to right the wrongs perpetrated on him by those who sought to discredit him.

He's not coming on to talk about that today, though. Instead, Gov. Siegelman joins me to talk about an op-ed he and Gov Bentley co-authored for the Washington Post [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/23/alabama-governors-death-penalty-regret/]earlier this week, expressing their regrets for going along with the death penalty when they each had the power to refuse.

20230525 Nicole Sandler Show - Tales of two Governors in Opposite World

Today's the big day! The Fascist Florida Man Ronald DeSantis is officially declaring his candidacy for president in 2024 this evening. We knew it was coming; we just didn't know where, exactly when or how he'd do it, but now we do, and it's par for the ridiculous course that is this authoritarian Trump-in-training.

You could almost hear the jeering and laughs accompanying the announcement that the big campaign kick-off event would take place on Twitter with one of the few people on the planet who's as big a laughingstock as is the FFM (fascist Florida man) and TFG (the former guy) -- Elmo, er, Elon Musk. I know, you're thinking "on Twitter? Huh?" But wait, it's even better... it'll be in a Twitter SPACES.

Say it with me now, a Twitter WHAT?

Twitter Spaces is akin to a party line! As telephones were just being introduced, many people shared the same line... so if you picked up the phone to make a call, you might have to wait until another call finished... or you could just join in. "Spaces" are audio-only group calls.

I know what they are, though I've never actually participated in one, and can't understand how a serious presidential candidate would ever launch their campaign in this manner. Then again, nothing about DeSantis is serious except for his quest to be a dictator.

So, DeSantis makes it official tonight, on the first anniversary of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, so I thought I'd combine both occasions for today's show because they are absolutely related. Stay tuned and find out how...

20230524  Nicole Sandler Show -  Friends Don't Let Friends Vote for Fascists

The word on the street is the DeSantis will make it official tomorrow, declaring his candidacy for president on 2024 with an announcement live on Twitter Spaces with Elon Musk.  Twitter Spaces? That's like a phone party line, right? Either way, I guess I'll miss it. But I continue doing my civic duty as someone who still (unfortunately) lives in Florida to warn the rest of the nation (and planet) about the sorry, sniveling, authoritarian, dictator wannabe and keep him as far away from the White House as is possible.  Today on the show, I'll share more writings to show you that yes, it could happen here (and already is). And I'll be joined by Maria J. Stephan who has a new article at Salon.com, "The Battle Against Fascism: Lessons on how to beat back authoritarianism from abroad".  Let's get all anti-fascist together! -- ANTIFA!

20230523 Nicole Sandler Show - STOP HIM BEFORE HE RUNS!

The news is that Ron DeSantis is going to declare his candidacy for the presidency this week, as ridiculous as that is.... So I figured we'd spend the better part of this week enlightening the rest of the world about what we've known about moRon DeathSentence since he was elected.... and no one knew anything about him before he became governor, as he was just some snivelly back bench nobody congressman. Strap in, and feel free to call in (954-889-6410)  with any questions about the fascist Florida man. If I don't know the answer, I'll do what he does and make something up.

20230522 Nicole Sandler Show - FloriDON'T

We wrap up the week today with another visit from independent journalist Marcy Wheeler. She does a better job of covering the actual news dealing with national security and the various investigations into the former guy (and all news items related) than I see anywhere in the corporate mainstream press. You find her work at emptywheel.net. I'm honored that Marcy checks in with us every 3-4 weeks or so, and fills the hour with information. Today is no different.  We mostly discuss the Durham report that was released on Monday, on the 4-year long investigation into the oranges* of the Russia investigation. (Yes, I know it was supposed to be the origins, but TFG couldn't remember the word origins. Yikes.)

20230519  Nicole Sandler Show - Emptywheel on the Oranges of the Russia Investigation

Howie Klein is a fascinating man. We first met some 30+ years ago. At the time, I was doing music radio in Los Angeles and Howie was President of Reprise Records.  When he saw the writing on the wall ahead of the AOL/Time Warner merger in 2000, he took the payout and got out just before everything started going to shit.   Howie quickly pivoted and turned his energies toward electing progressives to office. He began blogging at DownWithTyranny.com, and formed the Blue America PAC with other progressive bloggers Digby and John Amato. And they're all still going strong.  When I moved from music radio to progressive talk, Howie quickly became a regular guest, eventually joining me weekly. We've been at it for well over a dozen years already. You'd think we'd run out of things to talk about. But sadly, the state of politics today insures that we'll never be at a loss for topics - and politicians - about which to talk.  Today, aside from wherever the conversation takes us, I'll definitely ask Howie about Dianne Feinstein. Howie lived in San Francisco back in the day and was friendly with Harvey Milk. I've heard that Harvey shared his private feelings about the former Mayor of SF, now the sickliest senator in Congress who refuses to stay home...

20230518 Nicole Sandler Show - Thursdays with Howie Klein

One sure-fire way to get me to return for a live show is to have Digby booked as the guest. I've been taking a few days to try to regain some sanity as I've been struggling with some demons lately. Still struggling, but happy to be here today to talk with Heather "Digby" Parton. She's the Queen... the OG progressive blogger who's been at it with Digby's Hullabaloo since the start, fighting the good fight. (Though in my current state of mind, I keep asking if anything can stop the descent into full-blown fascism, and haven't come to a decent answer yet...)  Anyway, I've unplugged from most of the news in the past week or so, I've been catching up this morning and things are even worse than before.  Should be a lively discussion today.

20230517  Nicole Sandler Show - Wise Women Wednesday with Digby

I'm going to see Melissa Etheridge in concert tonight, so will not have a live show today. So I thought you should enjoy Melissa today too. So it's a Flashback Friday. I'll share three of the many interviews I've done with Melissa in the 35 (gasp) years since her first album was released in 1988.
We start with an interview from October of 2008. It was three weeks before the Nov 4 2008 election that gave us President Obama!

The second interview I'm sharing is from five years earlier. It was Christmastime 2003, and Melissa joined me on the air at WXRV/Boston 92.5 The River for an interview and performance.

And we wrap it up with an appearance on my show from 2014...
Enjoy! And I'll see you Monday.

20230512  Nicole Sandler Show - Flashback Fri w Melissa Etheridge

We have a euphemism in our house. Instead of announcing the need to take a shit, we merely say it's time to Trump. Well, CNN Trumped itself last night. The so-called Town Hall  which was, in reality, a Trump rally hosted live on CNN, was itself a Trump of massive proportions. But now you know exactly what CNN is... and it and Trump are on the same level. Trump inducing sickness.  I started out watching it, thinking that I had to for my work. But about 20 minutes in, I could take it no longer and simply left the room. I was done.  Howie Klein is here today. If I had to guess, I'd say he didn't watch last night's spectacle. And I wouldn't blame him. We still have George Santos to talk about, if that is indeed his name

20230511 Nicole Sandler Show - The Day After CNN Trumped Itself with Howie Klein

Nicole Sandler has worked in radio her entire adult life. After a successful career in music radio in NY and Los Angeles (WPLJ, KLOS, KSCA and others), she returned to talk radio to host mornings on then-progressive talk WINZ/Miami. After a flip to sports, she moved to Air America Radio for a nightly show. When AAR went off the air on Jan 21, 2010, Nicole Sandler moved online where she continues to question authority daily at nicolesandler.com.

The Nicole Sandler Show