Nicole recaps last night's farce of a gubernatorial debate, including the fan-tastic idiocy of Rick Scott. Randi Weingarten, president of AFT (the 2nd largest teachers union) joins to tell about this morning's conference call on Ebola. And Amy Simon of She's History brings some fabulous female facts.
Today we did what you're not supposed to do in polite company: talk religion and politics. Then again, I never said we were polite around here. We began with religion, courtesy of Bill Maher, Sam Harris and Ben Affleck with a little Michael Steele and Nicholas Krisof thrown in for good sense ... Although I agree with most of what Affleck said, he needs to learn to shut up once in a while and let others speak. Religious scholar Reza Aslan took issue with Maher's prior Islamophobic rants... Although Upworthy cited lots of sources that back up Azlan's [...]
And after you witness an instructor get his brains blown out by a 9-year old shooting an Uzi sub machine gun, you can eat a giant, juicy burger. Mmmmm. This is what we've apparently come to. Welcome to America. The website for Bullets & Burgers was down this morning. I expected either to see an apology and notice that children would no longer be able to shoot these lethal weapons - or a memorial to the now-dead instructor, Charles Vacca. Sadly, the website is now back up - with pictures of all the weapons that you can go there to [...]
Greetings from the land of hanging chads and stand your ground insanity. It's also a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 4,587,502 to 4,128,098, yet the GOP controls both chambers of the legislature and all cabinet positions. Maybe it's the heat combined with the humidity that make people vote against their own best interests time after time. Regardless of the reasons, Florida has a chance to rid ourselves of some of the DUH that's infected our land. But to do that, Floridians have to vote in the August 26 primary, and vote for the only progressive Democrat in the race. If [...]
"Political discourse" and "Bullshit" are synonymous these days. It often feels like we need a dictionary to decipher and unpack some of the drivel that comes out of politicians mouths. Enter my old friend Stephen Goldstein. He's an op-ed columnist for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and author of a number of books including one of my favorites, Atlas Drugged: Ayn Rand Be Damned. And now, he's back with The Dictionary of American Political Bullshit! It's a must-read, especially in today's political climate. Stephen joined in for a spirited discussion about bullshit this morning, and we had a spirited debate about [...]
We'll begin with the fun stuff. Yes, that's a young me at KLOS in Los Angeles with Ringo Starr. Proof that I have met a Beatle! As the nation remembers back 50 years ago this week when The Beatles invaded America, played the Ed Sullivan Show and changed our lives, I noticed an article about an old friend of mine who owns a piece of that Beatles history! Andy Geller hit it big in the world of voiceover. In 2002, at the top of his game and a known collector, he learned about the piece of backstage wall at The [...]
Before today's show began, I spent some time listening to the House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing on Healthcare.gov's problems. Today, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was in the hot seat. When I tuned in, she was being questioned berated by TN Representative Marsha Blackburn who couldn't have been any more shrill or nasty if she tried. I'm pissed about the problems too, and I think that Sebelius should probably be fired for the disaster. But that doesn't excuse the lack of civility displayed, not only by Blackburn but by her GOP colleagues on the committee as well. They bitched (and [...]
There's one running and that's Nan Rich. I've had two opportunities to question her - the second time was this morning on my show - and she answered each and every question exactly as I'd hoped she would. The first time I interviewed her was a few weeks ago at the Boca Raton-Delray Beach Democratic Club. You can watch that Q&A here, as we livestreamed the event: This morning, she joined me for a one-on-one conversation and, again, I am so impressed. Not only do we need to rid ourselves of the embarrassment and scourge on our state that is [...]
I don't always hate Mondays, but the Monday after driving six hours in each direction to drop my kid off at camp is a day I'd rather be sleeping. But it's such a busy week that there's little time for rest for the weary... On the road, I saw a slew of billboards for the law firm Morgan & Morgan, with Charlie Crist's face smiling down on me, reminding me that I have no clue what he stands for other than political ambition. The former Republican governor of Florida decided to eschew a second term in order to run [...]
Although I don't often quote Politifact, I couldn't help but agree with their summation of Charlie Crist's penchant for "elasticity" in his stance on, well, everything... Charlie Crist and "never wavered" are words that don't seem to naturally fit together these days. He vetoed anti-abortion legislation in June 2010 after painting himself as fiercely pro-life. He buddied up to Sarah Palin during a "Drill, Baby, Drill" event in 2008, then called for a special legislative session to ban oil drilling in July 2010. Most famously, he abandoned the Republican party after pegging himself as a both a Jeb Bush and [...]