We've had non-stop guests and lots of news recently, so I thought we'd take the day to catch up and talk. Phone lines are open for you to weigh in on anything we've been talking about... from the Extreme Supreme Court, Trump Trials, College protests, Israel-Hamas, or anything else on your mind.
If you've listened to my show, you know that I often refer to myself as an "atheist Jew". My Judaism comes by way of heritage, family, generational stories and history. I have real disdain for organized religion of every stripe, and have often commented about how virtually every war ever fought had its basis somewhere in religion. I've been struggling since the news broke of the Oct 7 attack by Hamas terrorists with the images that play on a loop in my mind. Making it worse is the reception I've gotten from some listeners, former friends [...]
Ahh we joke, but that's how the news gets digested better. Every Monday, I'm joined by Jonathan Larsen who writes at TheFuckingNews.substack.com. Mondays are difficult enough, so I figure it's best to ease back into the new week with a bit of humor injected into the normal awfulness of it all. Today we'll have some actual funny observations about the news, something that was mostly missing from Saturday night's Nerd Prom (aka WH Correspondents Dinner). Then there's the lovely revelations about SD Gov Kristi Noem as a dog murderer, college campuses racked by protests, Bill Barr says the [...]
Each Friday, Marcy Wheeler takes a break from writing at emptywheel.net to join me for a conversation about what happened that week. This week was insane, and ended at the Supreme Extreme Court. That hearing consumed much of today's show, with a few minutes at the end dealing with Trump's current criminal trial, underway in Manhattan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ3LJJ0rcyA
It's a Thursday, so we have a date with Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny & the Blue America PAC. It's not like there's a shortage of things to discuss... in fact, too much news for a one-hour show. There was the SCOTUS hearing this morning on Trump's ridiculous concept of absolute immunity (but there are some ridiculous people sitting on that extreme bench these days), the were 3 members of the AZ Republican House voting with all the Dems to kill the 1864 abortion ban (now goes to the senate and then the governor?). The FCC restored [...]
I'm always honored when Lisa Graves joins me to lend her legal expertise to the discussion about the trials and tribulations of TFG and, of course, the machinations of the once Supreme, now Extreme, Court. Lisa has the bona fides... she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Policy Development/Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice under Attorneys General Janet Reno and John Ashcroft, Chief Counsel for Nominations for Senator Patrick Leahy on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the Administrative Office of the U.S. [...]
Today was only the second day of Trump's first criminal trial and I honestly don't think he'll survive this one, let alone three more! But I guess we'll eventually find out. With no cameras allowed in the courtroom, the media is left to its own creativity to bring the action to the public. Some outlets are doing a better job of it than others, but I thought we'd call on an actual journalist to help us navigate the coverage. Brian Karem was the last man standing (literally) at Playboy where his official job title was senior White [...]
Welcome to a new week. As expected the first criminal trial of Donald Trump is now underway in a NYC courtroom. Both sides delivered their opening statements and the first witness began giving his testimony. The prosecution started strong with David Pecker as the first on the stand. Notwithstanding his quite appropriate name, the former head honcho of the National Enquirer who ran interference for TFG with his "catch & kill" schemes to deal with stories that would be damaging for the orange one, will return to the stand when the court reconvenes tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, this trial will [...]
Each Friday, we get to spend an hour with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net for a conversation about much of what happened that week. This week was pretty remarkable in that Donald Trump is finally on trial for some of his crimes. By the time we finished recording this morning, the entire jury and six alternates had been seated. It appears that opening statements are possible on Monday. Stay tuned... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBr4xMP-Y1M
Another Thursday has arrived, which means we have two things going for us today: 1. Howie Klein is here and 2. Tomorrow's Friday so the weekend is near. This has been a crazy week at a moment in history that promises to be among the craziest, certainly in our lifetimes! The number of jurors seated in the first criminal trial of TFGDJT has dropped from 7 to 5. Why? Because the defendant is intimidating potential jurors, thumbing his nose at the judge's orders not to do that. And the media is also complicit. We'll discuss that and more. Like [...]
