Since music heals, and we could all use some healing right about now, I thought today would be a good day to dig back into my archives to my music radio days in Los Angeles for some favorites.Today I take you back to Sept of 1996 with Jackson Browne. And then, to May of 1999 with Gregg Alexander of New Radicals. Healing, indeed.

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I had planned on just playing some non-traditional Christmas music today, but my plans changed when I read the awful news yesterday that my friend Howie Klein died.

Regular listeners/viewers of this show are familiar with Howie, as he appeared with me on Thursdays, going back probably 15 years. We talked about politics, as that's been his focus since he retired from Warner Brothers and his position as president of Reprise Records.

His career in the music business was monumental, starting at NY's Stoneybrook University where as head of student activities, he booked bands to perform on campus.

And the rest is history, which we'll discuss a bit on today's show. When he turned to progressive politics, Howie began blogging at DownWithTyranny.com, and co-founded & ran the Blue America PAC, identifying potential candidates and raising money for the best progressives running. I have dozens or more episodes with Howie, going back to 2009. I'll share some of those today as we remember my friend, Howie Klein.

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It's Christmas Eve, so we're spending it with the Marsh Family! I first found them on YouTube in the early days of the pandemic, and was fortunate enough to meet them here, on our show, on March 26, 2021. They came back for Christmas Eve (we recorded on 12/21/21, but aired it on 12/24), and again, the following year on December 21, 2022. I thought that today, we'd share a bit of each of those three appearances, and start the show with their newest video. Yes, The Marsh Family is still going strong... and my, how those kids have grown!

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For my second of this years' holiday shows, we look back at 2021, beginning with Inauguration Day when Joe Biden was sworn in (and the orange pig left). Then, since today is Festivus, we revisit our 2021 celebration with a bunch of listeners/viewers on Zoom, airing our grievances and Feats of Strength...

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2025 was a rough year all around. It took too many precious souls from us way too soon, On May 1, the amazingly talented singer/songwriter Jill Sobule was tragically killed in a house fire. She was so much more than her wonderful music. She was a truly special person, and she was my friend for around 30 years.

We kick off two weeks of holiday shows featuring moments from my radio past, and kick it off today with a celebration of Jill Sobule. I pulled together a few of her on-air appearances with me from 2000, 2020 and 2021. Please visit jillsobule.com to learn more about this very special person who was taken from us way too soon.

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Today is the last time we'll spend an hour plus with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net in 2025... We'll return on Friday January 2, 2026. That is, unless the orange fascist does something unthinkable, in which case we'll jump back in. Both Marcy and I are hoping to take some down time to relax, unplug, and regroup, but with things as they are these days, we just don't know. Today, we discussed Four Ways to Fight Fascism, taken from Marcy's post this morning at emptywheel.net. And a discussion of some of the more important news that's broken since we spoke last week. Needless to say, this was a long one... but you can pause and come back anytime....

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As anyone who's listened to this show for a while knows, Lisa Graves is my favorite go-to expert on the courts, the laws and the many ways this administration acts as if the laws don't apply to them/him. As we near the end of the year, there are many illegal actions D'ump has been trying to invoke. Thankfully, there are many who abide by our laws trying to stop him. And then there's the issue of due process, which the orange one thinks doesn't exist for us mere humans. Lisa also published her first book a few months ago, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and his Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights. Although the year is ending, the SCOTUS term goes through June, and there are still many cases to be heard, and lots of decisions to be handed down, including the fate of the tariffs... Lisa Graves is our guest today with so much to discuss.

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As we near the end of the year, the administration is showing cracks at the seams, and sadly, things are getting scarier. I've long realized that the news goes down easier when you can inject some humor into it. Thankfully, John Fugelsang is our guest today to add that spoonful of sugar to the sour notes.

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We have 15 days left in 2025. But many of us take time off around the holidays, so we're really counting the days until the end of the week... I'll be taking some time off for the holidays, but won't know my complete schedule until I talk it over with Marcy Wheeler. But I'll try to let you know in the next day or two.

This week got off to a shitty start. Yesterday, we spent a lot of time talking about Rob Reiner, for good reason. I still can't believe he's gone. Then last night, my husband David sent me Brian Karem's Substack column, "Shoebootie" - which I was planning on sharing with you today. Lucky for us all, when I reached out to him, he was able to join us today so he can tell you about it himself. Good thing too, because I'm still not feeling great, so I almost shared my episode of Rock & Roll Jeopardy with you...

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It was an awful weekend filled with horrific news of mass murder of Jews in Australia, another on-campus shooting at Brown University, the murder of an American film icon and the attempt by the narcissistic US president to inject himself into something that had nothing to do with him and more... Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com is here for our regular Monday get together to try to make sense of the senseless and cruelty.

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