Where There's Woke

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...

The woke in New York are getting ready to release allllll of the criminals! Murderers! Rapists! Sex offenders! The worst of the worst!!!!! At least according to the New York Post's latest rant. Lydia shares the details from this coverage specific to parole bills in New York State, and we break down exactly why this fear-mongering is so out of line. Trapped in Time: The Silent Crisis of Elderly Inc...

How is it that every racist "Karen" or right-wing completely cancellable person seems to crawl out of their negative viral moment and sometimes land jobs, book deals, or other opportunities? Naomi Bethune investigated this phenomenon for her piece, "The Far-Right Cash Machine," with The American Prospect, and joins us to break it all down. " The Far-Right Cash Machine " (4/2/2026, The American Pro...

We conclude our visit to Greg Gutfeld's terrible corner of the world for now. What was that professor that so terribly triggered Buttfeld actually talking about? How wrong could he actually be about Zohran Mamdani's electoral win? Does he get any better at making jokes? SOGI-Inclusive Resource Guide SOGI 123 Parent Brochure (archived) **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star revie...

It's been a while since we've stopped by Gutfeld's corner on Fox News - and boy, was that a rude awakening. He's the biggest ass, and strips ALL context from anything he ever talks about in order to own the libs or something. Lydia's here to give us the context and debunk while we call out Gutfeld's disgusting behavior on his terrible show. **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star...

You have to hear how badly local news fell for this completely made up trafficking story... it's so good. But before that, Lydia's got our vegetables with some "where are they now" and final thoughts and discoveries about the funding of these grifty orgs. Gaza and Trump's "Preference" of Private Armies (Michael Picard - Incubator for Media Education and Development , 12/3/2025) HIDDEN COSTS: US PR...

We reach the end of our journey into the human trafficking grift, and it's not a good ending. The very same lying idiots we've been tracking are now being paid government money to point guns at civilians in Gaza. And allegedly shoot them. "Amateur Hour": The Man Sending US Military Contractors to Gaza (Noah Lanard - Mother Jones ; 9/17/2025) US contractors say their colleagues are firing live ammo...

The deep dive into the right wing trafficking panic industrial complex gets even more interesting, as our web of characters expands to include Tim Tebow, Sound of Freedom, and that guy from Sound of Freedom who turned out to be horrible (surprise!). **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com .** Plea...

Fox News declared that WOKE HOLLYWOOD is dead with the great success of anti-woke film, Project Hail Mary. Lydia takes us through the world of right-wing film critique as they attempt to make this bizarre claim. **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 p...

We finish off the discussion on bogus child trafficking/missing children statistics. Also, what should we ACTUALLY be worried about when it comes to our children?

It's 2026, do you know where your Ashton Kutcher's 2011 anti human trafficking campaign is?

We've got so much to say on this one that it's a WT-DOUBLE episode! (tm). After the USA men's hockey team won the gold, not only was Kash Patel in the locker room celebrating with them, but he also got Trump on the phone. Trump made an incredibly sexist joke and the men laughed. After they received some backlash, we wanted to take a look at how they responded and see if ANY of them could muster th...

The New York Post went off on a bioethicist after he published his concerns surrounding the marketing after Trump signed legislation bringing whole milk back into federally subsidized school lunch programs. Lydia breaks it all down: the NYP's attacks, the actual article from the "woke professor," some history of dietary racism, and a smattering of the propaganda that's been coming out of the Admin...

Hoooooo boy. You thought we were having fun before? Just wait until you hear some of the claims in this one.

We get to delve deeper into the right wing fear porn, moral panic that is human trafficking and child trafficking. If you're worried about this being too heavy, don't be, because Matt Murphy's claims are so absurd it becomes funny.

We go deeper into the bizarre (possible) grift that is rightwing anti-trafficking organizations. This episode delves into Matt Murphy's past. Sentinel is weirdly not even the first anti-trafficking org that he has been the president of....

AmeriKKKaFest is the gift that keeps giving. We venture into day 2, which turns into a QVC channel of right wing crap. Jason Aldean introduces us to the crazy world of rightwing non-profits grifting on a sex trafficking panic.