Yes, a lot of fucking news for a fucking Monday, and that's not even all of it. As we do on Mondays, I'll chat with Jonathan Larsen of thefuckingnews.substack.com about much of what I don't get to in the first half hour of the show on my own!

Every Friday, Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net joins Nicole Sandler to recap and discuss the week's news. Today, that includes the $10 million transfer from Egypt to Donald Trump in 2017, the huge prisoner swap that President Biden was negotiating while sick with Covid and the media was declaring him too old to do his job, and lots more.

He's been gone for a few weeks, but Howie Klein is back today. A few things happened while he was out... we'll catch up on the political sea change that took place over the past three weeks, and then some...

She's been our Vice President for almost four years now, but do we really know Kamala Harris? Joan Walsh first interviewed her for a 2003 San Francisco magazine profile when Ms. Harris was running for district attorney. She sat down with most recently just a few weeks ago, for a cover story profile of the VP for The Nation magazine. The timing was fortuitous -- or maybe just slightly early, as they spoke just before the ill-fated debate between President Biden and his orange White House predecessor and now again-opponent. And then everything changed. Regardless, we'll speak with Joan Walsh on today's show about the woman who will (hopefully) be the first female President of the United States... But first... what a contrast. Kamala Harris held another rally last night, this time in Atlanta. It was quite brilliant and yes, I have clips. And as I'm writing this an hour before showtime, I just finished watching the livestream of TFG's appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, which was the polar opposite of quite brilliant.. And yes, I have clips of that too....

I'll admit it. I don't know much about ancient history.

I read The Iliad and The Odyssey, but most other historical literature from the ancient world is like Greek to me.... And although I excelled in Advanced World History in high school, that was a very long time ago and sadly, I've forgotten most of what I knew.

But I do remember that most of what we learned was centered around men. As usual. So when I was pitched on an interview with a classicist - Daisy Dunn 0 about her new book, The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World, I thought that would be an interesting diversion from today's politics.

The book is just out today, but we recorded this interview last week... Two days earlier, President Biden announced he'd withdraw from the presidential race and endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris. By the time Daisy and I met on Zoom to record this segment, it was apparent that something big was happening....

Also today-- it's Primary Day in Arizona where the Republican mayor of Mesa yesterday endorsed Kamala Harris for President!

And the Olympics are in full swing. The Women's Team Gymnastics finals are happening as I write this... I won't give any spoilers, but I will say (American) Girls fucking Rule!

Another Monday has arrived and the outlook is much rosier than in recent weeks. Needless to say, there's lots to discuss.

And it's Monday, so Jonathan Larsen of The Fucking News (thefuckingnews.substack.com) joins in for the second half hour of the show. We'll venture into the world of the weird, which we acknowledge that there are different strains of weird... Some weird is good, while some is just, well, weird.... creepily weird. (Did someone say Don-Old Trump and JD Vance - or what ever variation on that name he might be using today?)

Another week that feels like a decade gone by since our last Friday get-together. There’s no shortage of news to discuss today as Marcy Wheeler of emptywheel.net and I try to recount what all happened.

Of course, it was this week that President Joe Biden stepped away from his re-election campaign and passed the torch to VP Kamala Harris. With that change came a renewed sense of hope. I witnessed that first-hand on a massive Zoom call last night, which will continue Sunday evening as Women for Harris all come together. For details visit answerthecall2024.com.

Today, Marcy and I went a bit over our usual hour. But can you blame us?

The blurb I posted on the live video stream today read

I watched two speeches from Washington DC yesterday. One that shouldn't have happened, and one that should (though the way we got there is troublesome). One brought out the best of America; the other, the worst. We'll discuss both of them today and more news of the day.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), I didn't comment on the quite offensive missive from Netanyahu because I spent that time railing against a regular listener who made a ridiculous comment in the chat telling me (somewhat paraphrasing) that I'm often balanced but too often say that Israel can do no wrong.

I responded that he obviously doesn't listen closely, and went off on him. One thing that sets me off like little else is ascribing words or feelings to me that I never said and don't feel.

Here's what I wrote on social media after watching that travesty of a speech that SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN GIVEN from the US Capitol or on US soil

Watching the war criminal Netanyahu speechify in the US Capitol, and it's making me sick. Those words are difficult to write because I am Jewish, believe that Israel has a right to exist and defend itself. However.... Bibi- you had advance knowledge of 10-7 attacks yet the attacks still happened. Innocent ppl slaughtered with no help for HOURS. What's with the propaganda you're spewing? This is offensiveBibi celebrating the IDF- not for protecting Israelis on 10/7 (THEY DIDN'T) but for horrific slaughter of (mostly) innocent Palestinians in Gaza. I'm Jewish & support Israel's right to exist, defend itself. This isn't defense, it's doing what you claim to abhorThis speech is inappropriate in the US Capitol. The response of too many of these MoC are as offensive as is this speech. And I also reject Rashida Tlaib's blatant ugliness. Neither side is being represented fairly. It's all sickeningThat being said, I shared President Biden's speech -- but instead of playing back the video and audio, I read the text. Hearing it made me sad because, which Joe Biden has never been a strong orator, it's clear listening to him that he made the right move in pulling out of the race. He just doesn't have the strength for this campaign. He is, after all, 81. But the words he delivered were magnificent and deserve to be heard. I also went off on MSNBC and Elise Jordan's "focus group" segment in which she led the people with the question "Who is to blame for Joe Biden being in office in his condition? What condition is that Elise? MSNBC? And people wonder how we got here? JFC, it's journalistic malpractice.