Where There's Woke

It's election night recap time, and Thomas and Lydia fly state to state checking in on the anti-woke villains WTW has covered in the past: Ken Paxton and Dan Patrick in Texas, Vivek Ramaswamy for Ohio's Governor, Susan Collins's Senate streak in Maine, voter ID measures across the country, James Lindsay's smug "Woke 2.0" prediction, and even Oklahoma. Not everything went the right way...but overal...

A Texas school board got so spooked by a girl playing the male lead in Little Shop of Horrors that they canceled the whole show and tried to swap it for Frozen . Their legal justification shifted citations mid-scandal, from the 2023 drag ban to a 2025 parental-rights bill, and somehow neither one actually says what they claim it says. Now the 17-year-old they benched is suing in federal court, and...

Elon Musk told Joe Rogan that California made it illegal to show ID to vote. Rogan ran with it, Rand Paul repeated it, and now it's a ballot fight. Lydia walks through what California's 2024 law, SB 1174 , actually does: it stops cities and counties from adding their own voter ID rules, and that's it. Then she digs into the voter ID initiative headed for California's ballot, the conservative activ...

Remember Public Square, the self-declared "anti-woke Amazon" that promised conservatives shopping without funding a rainbow flag? Yeah that didn't work. But not for lack of trying! Lydia has the history and also the business that DID work out: infinite grift and corruption. Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke ! You get ad-free episodes and patron-only bon...

WTW150 and we're celebrating with Bari Weiss's baby, the University of Austin (UATX), which wants you to know it's a "Renegade Academy" with FREEDOM, rigor, and merit. You sure about that? Lydia brings the receipts on the money, the exits, and one very questionable man with a million dollars and a fondness for wiring it places. Also, look closely at the chessboard in their ad. Just look. Sources:...

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a legit nut job. But don't worry, he's platforming EVEN NUTTIER jobs. Like this random church lady who can't stop banning books. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com .  

Dan Scavino's wife who has absolutely no experience in art whatsoever definitely got her job as "person in charge of all art worldwide at every US Embassy" for completely merit-based reasons. Why would you even insinuate otherwise? Anyway she's tearing paintings off the walls if they're too... not a US flag. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email quest...

A grab bag of woke panics this week, and Lydia has receipts for all of them. Seattle's interim police chief said "trigger pullers" at a press conference, and conservative media decided this was a brand new woke euphemism. You sure about that? Then: Nike fell out of the S&P 100 and everyone is blaming DEI. What does the actual JP Morgan analysis say? What does a brand-new study on "go woke, go brok...

Jordan Peterson wrote a very long article for The Telegraph about climate change. He has a study. Well, sort of. He has a reference to a study that he didn't bother to link, that doesn't say what he claims it says, and whose own authors explicitly warned against the exact conclusions he's drawing. Thomas and Lydia dig into the actual paper so you don't have to, and the gap between what Peterson cl...

Jordan Peterson is back, sort of. He hasn't been on camera or a microphone, but he has been writing, and his big return piece for  The Telegraph is... a lot. He set his sights on "Climate Catastrophism" and barfed the usual 40 page manifesto. Lydia digs into the claims, the creative use of the medieval warm period, and why  The Telegraph  keeps running so much climate skepticism. Turns out there's...

We still need to talk about the AOC "woke 1 was crazy" comment. While well-meaning wokies might want to engage in some self-flagellating, the reaction pieces show why we just absolutely should not entertain that for one moment. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com . Please pretty please consider...

AOC told ABC News something that set off a thousand hot takes: was "Woke One" actually crazy? Meanwhile a Wisconsin governor's primary decided by a few thousand votes means DSA is dead. Also, AOC please consider our proposal(s). If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com . Please pretty please consider...

Which is great because it's in plenty of time before the holiday season so now you know what to get your loved one! This extremely weird person has a whole framework for Woke 2.0. Thomas and Lydia sit through the entire launch event so you don't have to. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com . Ple...

Congress hauled the Smithsonian's top history museum director in for a grilling this week, and it got dumb fast. Republicans wanted to know if Mickey Mouse is racist, whether RuPaul is transgender, and why she cares more about butterfly wings than aborted fetuses. Lydia digs into the White House's 162-page report and the very specific word choice it borrowed straight from a 1937 Nazi art show. Sou...

Netflix rebooted Little House on the Prairie and Megyn Kelly declared war on it a year before anyone saw a single frame. Meanwhile West Virginia funded a taxpayer-backed "anti-woke" civics center run by a philosophy professor with some truly unhinged advice for testing your own free speech, and Florida just built its own college accreditor to route around a court loss. Lydia's got the receipts. So...

The Trump administration quietly filed 400 pages of regulations that could gut science, housing, arts and victim services funding across the entire country. Political appointees would get veto power over grants once decided purely on merit, and money could vanish mid-project with zero appeal. Lydia breaks down exactly how bad it gets. But we can fight back! Listen in to find out how. Stand Up for...

Politico just published new allegations against Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, and they are about as bad as it gets. It is not a close call: Platner is done. We did an emergency, live unedited response. We thought it was warranted given our previous coverage. Sources: Politico: woman says Platner sexually assaulted her NYT Platner texts NYT women recall behavior Reckoning Action If you enj...

However bad you think the Freedom250 nonsense is, it's worse. It's actually straight up crazy how much grift and ineptitude there is. And Vanilla Ice. If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com . Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Gad Saad, a marketing professor who calls himself an evolutionary behavioral scientist, made a PragerU video called Suicidal Empathy , based on Paul Bloom's book I MEANNNN his own "new" book. This pile of crap has 2.8 million views. Lydia and Thomas go through every single claim. Sources: Gad Saad: Suicidal Empathy (PragerU) German Federal Crime Statistics (Bundeskriminalamt), 2015-2016 Peer-revie...

It's Pride Month, so conservatives are DYING. The MLB team in SAN FRANCISCO has anti-gay bigots who can't STFU. Fox News airs a segment fear mongering over the mere presence of rainbows places. And more raging fragility. Lydia breaks down the Republican effort to literally rebrand June. Sources: Office of Management and Budget proposed rule conditioning federal funding on rejection of "gender ideo...

A second wave of coverage has hit Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, and this time it's a New York Times deep-dive into his past relationships. Thomas breaks down both the texting article and the "several women" piece: who the sources actually are, what the reporting can and can't corroborate, why one accuser's background raises serious questions, and whether either story should have run at al...

If you have lived in blissful peace not knowing who Spencer Pratt is, Lydia is so sorry, but it's time. The former The Hills reality TV villain is a serious contender in the Los Angeles mayoral race (as of recording - votes are still being counted) and Lydia breaks down everything: who he actually is, what his campaign infrastructure reveals about who's really behind it, the claims he keeps repeat...

We're SO excited to welcome journalist Kat Tenbarge to Where There's Woke! Over the years Kat's beat has been focused on internet culture and influencers, and the transformation of that space pre-COVID to now. Naturally, we had tons to talk about -- Why does it matter to pay attention to these spaces at all? Did influencers really make an impact in the 2024 election? What can we glean about the po...

  A Wisconsin school board was so appalled by a song selection for a high school wind symphony concert that they held a board meeting to determine if the students should be allowed to play it at all. Lydia breaks down this full story, why the song was so "controversial", and gives us more details about the snowflake board members that were so offended. The Opt-Out Notice sent home to families in f...

Ron DeSantis was so bothered by the mere IDEA of AP African American Studies in 2023 that Florida created a "competitor" to College Board's Advanced Placement, and they've just released their course framework for U.S. History. It's....not good. Historians are chiming in, and Lydia's here to break it down: why does Florida have this, what does it actually do for students and teachers, what's in thi...