For some reason it seems like President D'ump likes those Friday night news dumps. So of course, after throwing out his standard delay brain crutch of "2 weeks," the man who can't think for himself launched an attack on three "nuclear sites" inside of Iran, breaking a big campaign promise to keep us out of Middle East wars, inserted us right in the middle of one.

Shortly before showtime we learned that Iran retaliated. However, AP reported that “this missile attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar matched the number of bombs dropped by the United States on its nuclear sites this weekend, signaling its likely desire to deescalate. Iran made the announcement via a statement from its Supreme National Security Council after the attack, which Qatar said caused no injuries. Iran also said it targeted the base because it was outside of populated areas.”

And I read an editorial from The Onion , a satirical letter to Congress, that the paper hand delivered to all members of Congress and also appeared as a full-page ad in the NY Times! As much as I appreciate the sentiment, I also had to mention that while it applies to many Democrats (and Republicans) in Congress, there are quite a few of them who are making the effort to do whatever they can to stop the madness. The problem is that while the Republicans control both houses of Congress, there's very little the Dems can do.

But while I was on the air, the ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, Jamie Raskin and Dick Durban presided over a hearing "Defending the Rights of the People - Bicameral Spotlight Forum" which addresses some of the issues we're facing...

Oh sure, there's lots more news and I'm sure we'll get around to some of that on today's show - both before and during our weekly conversation with Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com. But there's also a bunch of breaking news today saying that Iran launched retaliatory strikes against a US base in Qatar - the largest US base in the Middle East& home of US Central Command's forward headquarters.

We survived another week, though this one had quite a few precarious moments, much of which went unreported by the mainstream, corporate media and certainly ignored by the right-wing media which most of MAGAt-world erroneously considers news and trusts to (dis) inform them. It's a big reason why I do this show and why these Friday episodes with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net are so important. And although we usually run over our allotted hour (like today), there's still a lot of real news that we don't have time to cover.

Since our last get-together last Friday, so much has happened. It was overnight Friday night/Saturday morning that an assassin in Minnesota murdered the former speaker of the MN House, Democrat Melissa Hortman, and her husband and attempted to murder a Democratic state senator and his wife. The massive #NOKINGS Day rallies and the big dud of D'ump's military birthday parade happened on Saturday. Yes, that - and a lot more happened this week...

Today, Marcy and I cover much of the week's important news including the continuing ICE assaults on Los Angeles along with the pushback it deserves, the arrest of another elected Democratic official, NYC Comptroller and NYC Mayoral candidate Brad Lander, and the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain. That hearing was ostensibly about the DoD's 2026 budget, but much of the Democrats' questioning concerned the unconstitutional deployment of the Marines to US cities to aid ICE in rounding up and arresting alleged undocumented migrants, with a few questions about the Israel-Iran war and our potential involvement and other issues.

Marcy and I record these Friday shows at noon ET due to our time difference. She's in Ireland, I'm in Arizona. Because of the insane volume of shit they're constantly throwing at us, there's often something that changes before this show goes live at 3pm ET. As is the case today. During the show I mentioned that the first publicized ice detention on bullshit grounds - Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia grad student who helped organize pro-Palestinian protests - was still incarcerated despite winning in court. Marcy explained what the case was about and that it didn't require he be released. BUT, as we were wrapping up today's show, the news broke that a federal judge ordered he be released from the detention center in Louisiana where he's been held.

Try to rest up this weekend... though D'ump does like to dump more crap on us on Friday evenings. Ugh.

Happy Juneteenth! It's our newest federal holiday, recognized as such in 2021 after President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. Even D'ump proposed making Juneteenth a national holiday during his first re-election bid.

But he's done an about face since somehow getting back into office in January, with a vendetta against "DEI" and, by his attitude and actions, reaffirming his followers' rights to let their racists flags fly. He's bringing back Jim Crow which did NOT recognize Juneteenth.

Today is also the first day of summer and things are literally heating up...

On today's show, in addition to Juneteenth, we'll continue going over the avalanche of news that's bombarding us including the war between Israel and Iran and our - er- Trump's role in it, ICE raids, Trump's mental decline, Trump's ridiculous lies and a lot more.

Plus, it's Thursday so we'll check in with Howie Klein of DownWithTyranny.com and the Blue America PAC...

And at the end of the show, I share a ridiculously funny story about how Google's AI claims I had a close personal relationship with the late, great Clarence Clemons of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band! I did meet him once, around 40 years ago when I worked at WPLJ in NY and did have my picture taken with him...

This is is one of those days in the middle of one of those weeks during one of those months in the inconceivable, unbelievable second term of an imbecile. There's an avalanche of news, precious little of it good. We don't have a guest today, so our pal Spocko joined in to talk about much of the day's news.

We cover a lot of ground, share a lot of video - especially from a contentious hearing today in the Senate Armed Services Committee where the completely in-over-his-head Defense Sec (sic) Whiskey Pete Hegseth and the also unqualified and wrong person for the job head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain refused to give a straight answer to any question posed by the Democrats on the committee. Makes you wonder wtf they're hiding!

Today, there was also an unconscionable ruling from the Supreme Extreme Court. Well, a few really bad ones but one on transgender care rights was as bad as we could imagine.

But wait, there's more! Bombs are flying between Israel and Iran and, of course, the idiot in chief has to get in the middle of it making clueless threats - and Iran's "supreme leader" is hitting back -- over social media. Seriously.

And so much more... #NoKings attendance numbers, Utah pushing back on the heinous Mike Lee, Dump left the G7 meeting early, the Senate passed the so-called Genius act regarding crypto currency ... There's more. But like I said, it's impossible to cover it all in one show. We'll continue tomorrow...

While the guy who obviously thinks of himself as America's "dear leader" demanded Iran's "Unconditional Surrender" and unilaterally (I guess) decided that "we" will not kill their supreme leader (though he boasts of knowing where he is), it's another Tuesday in America.

DC is still grappling with the Big, Ugly Bill and the Republicans continue vacillating on Trump's immigration pronouncements... the chaos continues. And in New York City, ICE and other masked and unidentified thugs rough up and detain Brad Lander(gift link) the NYC Comptroller who is also a Democratic candidate for Mayor!

We'll deal with some of that, and then speak with today's guest, one of my very favorite columnists. Will Bunch is the national columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He went out to the flagship event of Saturday's #NOKINGS protests. After all, it was in that city where, as Will wrote in his column (gift link) that the Continental Congress formally adopted the Star Spangled Banner as our national emblem on that very date 248 years ago... BTW, if you haven't yet, sign up for Will's free newsletter now.

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We begin each week here on the Nicole Sandler Show by catching up on the news with Jonathan Larsen of TheFuckingNews.substack.com and yes, there certainly was a lot of fucking news made over the weekend.

When we last spoke on Friday, we were reeling from the treatment of California's Senator Alex Padilla at a press conference at the federal building in Los Angeles held by DHS secretary Kristi Noem. He was forcibly removed, tackled to the floor and handcuffed. It was awful.

That didn't prepare us for the horrific news of Israel striking Iran and Iran striking back. War. Damn. Or for the horrific news we awoke to on Saturday morning of an assassin murdering a loved and respected Minnesota state representative (and former Speaker of the MN House) and her husband and the attempted murders of a Minnesota State Senator and his wife. The killer remained at large until last night!

We were preparing for the weekend's planned activities -- the No King Day marches and rallies around the nation and Trump's ego boosting military parade in DC.

On today's show, we discuss a lot of that news, and I'll share some videos I put together of the two Saturday planned events...

Also, if you're wondering how to keep up the momentum from the No Kings Day events, Indivisible has a call planned for this evening 8pm ET/5pm PT: "No Kings: What's Next in the Fight" - sign up here.

Tomorrow, we'll continue the conversation with Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He wrote about the No Kings Day event in his free newsletter today. If you're not already subscribed, you can do so here.

Every Friday, Emptywheel.net's Marcy Wheeler joins Nicole Sandler to recap much of went down since we spoke the Friday before. We usually start the show amazed at just how much had happened in a week, but today seems to be in a new category altogether. We knew at the start that we'd be running a bit longer than usual, and on Fridays we do tend to run over the one hour this show usually runs.

Today, we were dealing with the inept and grossly incompetent Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's congressional testimony this week, Trump's unconstitutional deployment of the CA National Guard and US Marines to put down mostly peaceful protests in Los Angeles (a small area of downtown), Governor Gavin Newsom's lawsuit against Trump for that, and Trump's appeal of his loss. As if that's not enough, there was the forcible removal and assault of Sen. Alex Padilla at Kristi Noem's press conference about DHS' raids, Kilmar Abrego Garcia's return to the US (which they told us could not ever happen)... and yes, there was even more. And no, we still didn't cover all of it.

One final reminder. tomorrow is D'ump's planned ego boosting military parade through the streets of Washington DC (for which the forecast is RAIN!), and more than 1800 planned #NOKINGS protests around the country. If you plan on taking part, be careful and stay safe. Find the one nearest you, information and safety tips at NoKings.org...

My plans for today's show changed just moments before showtime as there was really disturbing breaking news! Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed - wrestled to the ground and handcuffed at a Kristi Noem press conference after LOUDLY AND CLEARLY identifying himself.

This is what the DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, was saying before Sen. Padilla spoke up. “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country.”

Really? I thought they were there to quell so-called riots! And then, after the fact, you can hear how Noem, blatantly lies!

I'm still shaking with rage and terror. Those people are evil. They twist and lie about everything. If one thing is more apparent to me now, it's that we all must take to the streets. Participate in a NO KINGS protest on Saturday. Go to nokings.org, find one happening near you. Show up, DO IT PEACEFULLY, but get involved. This is our future we're protecting. We cannot let them take over and destroy what's left of our democracy.

I was going to talk about other things on the show today. Here's what I wrote up before the show:

It's a busy Thursday with multiple hearings going on simultaneously in the House and Senate. Whiskey Pete Hegseth is showing how incompetent and unqualified he is to be Defense Secretary while Democratic governors are testifying about Sanctuary State Policies before the House Oversight & Government Reform committees.

Senate Republicans are meeting (arguing) with the official White House Nazi Stephen Miller, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struggles to answer questions about his 2026 Budget, and D'ump tries to answer some questions from the press after signing more bullshit resolutions barring electric vehicle sales mandates and diesel engine rules for California as he continues lying about the protests in California and why he called out the National Guard and the Marines!

Meanwhile, DC braces for a military invasion for D'ump's ego birthday party — er — parade on Saturday. And he denies knowing about the 1800 and counting NoKings protests happening that same day. Opposite World indeed.

Today is Thursday, so we'll check in with Howie Klein of downwithtyranny.com & the Blue America PAC on his way for another cancer treatment...

In the aftermath of the Padilla assault, the hearings that were still ongoing turned ugly too.

Make no mistake. This is D'ump's MO. This is what he wants. He's fomenting division just as he fomented insurrection on Jan 6 at the Capitol. He WANTS to call in the National Guard and the Military on peaceful protestors everywhere, despite his claim that he knows nothing about the No Kings protest plans. He's lying about that as he lies about everything else!

Tomorrow we'll wrap up the week with Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net as we do every Friday.

The news keeps getting worse but, for the most part, the narrative is manufactured by Trump and his sycophantic cabinet. We ARE living in 'Opposite World' where the 'news' is reporting the lies Trump posts at his Truth (sic) Social propaganda platform. Journalists from corporate media who dare to attempt to speak up are punished (see Torry Moran, now formerly of ABC News).

The gaslighting underscores our need for real, courageous, independent news sources and the call to support them. One of the best sources for unfettered journalism is The American Prospect, led by executive editor David Dayen, our guest on today's show.

Dayen has been reporting the truth for decades now. A few years back he joined The American Prospect and made a good publication even better. Just yesterday, he wrote two must-read articles about what's happening now in LA and to our country: "Cries of Defiance and Songs of Joy in Los Angeles" and "The Big Beautiful Bill Will Bring ICE Raids to Your City." (Peruse his other articles here.)

I can't promise that we'll unravel the whole mess created by Trump and his minions in the one hour we have together today, but we'll certainly do our best to expose the lies being pushed on us, the consequences of that gaslighting and some of what we can do to stand up for our rights.

The song I began the show with today is one of five or six that John D. Cundle already posted to his channel today. He's quite prolific and just as talented. Here's the very timely and topical one I opened with today.

These are scary times in our country. The incompetent orange idiot occupying the White House is doing everything we were afraid he'd do if he took power again. In advance of his North Korea-style military salute to himself happening this Saturday on the streets of Washington DC, he's created a showdown with mostly peaceful protesters who've been exercising their constitutional rights in a small sliver of downtown Los Angeles. He's breaking norms and the constitution by using military force against the American public to create a spectacle, take the media's attention away from the massive harm he's inflicting on us in a number of other ways. And issuing threats to those of us planning to protest his absurd, expensive and immoral parade planned for Saturday.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

As if that wasn't concerning enough, we'll change the focus in the second half of today's show when I speak with Megan Greenwell. Her book, BAD COMPANY: PRIVATE EQUITY AND THE DEATH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, hitting stores today, shows how private equity firms are taking over businesses from every sector and upending how virtually everything has worked until this destructive trend. I try to remain positive on this program, but that'll be a tough hill to climb today!

Tomorrow on the show, David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect who’ll bring us up to speed on the LA protests, Trump’s unconstitutional over-reaction, and the latest on the Big, Butt-ugly Bill!

LIVE show update! We’ve moved the live broadcast of the show back a couple of hours. We now stream live video on YouTube and audio on the Progressive Voices Network and at nicolesandler.com weekday afternoons from 3-4 Eastern/ noon-1 Pacific.