Why Are We Like This?

It's Thomas' last podcast recorded from Florida as he makes his way up north, but rest assured, we will still discuss "Florida fuckery." We empty the ol' Ron DeSantis notebook, catching up with our least favorite soon-to-be also-ran in the GOP presidential primary and his very funny failures in recent weeks. We also discussed Proud Boys leader and local Miami boy-made-bad Enrique Tarrio, and how m...

About the Intro: Jacksonville was once known as "Stinky City" because of two paper mills that befouled the entire town. The documentary "The Smell of Money" was an expose of how commercial and business interests made the city so smelly, and how it eventually cleaned up its act. In the episode: We talked with journalist Craig Pittman ( @craigtimes ) about his recent coverage of the Manatee County C...

We welcome back Jordan Zakarin ( @jordanzakarin ) from More Perfect Union to discuss the difficult-to-watch uncanniness of the GOP debate on... Fox? Rumble maybe? Come for DeSantis campaign deathwatch and stay for our exploration of Eric Adams and Frances Suarez, two of America's weirdest and slimiest mayors.

The guys discuss news and notes from things we missed during the summer break, including the Barbenheimer phenomenon, the brutal effects of manmade climate change on our Florida summer, declining tourism and our slumping economy that is also experiencing a skyrocketing cost of living. We finish up with a check-in on Governor Ron DeSantis' spasming and thrashing presidential campaign as it lets out...

Carlos Guillermo Smith ( @CarlosGSmith ) joins us to discuss the bizarre and hateful obsession that Ron DeSantis and Republicans in the Florida Legislature have with the LGBTQ community and their collective efforts to further marginalize these communities. Our interview with Carlos comes at the 12:40 mark after a quick cold-open where the Gerald and Thomas do their best to convince David to re-joi...

DONATE: You can contribute to Danny Agnew's family's Go Fund Me here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/celebrate-the-life-of-danny-agnew They're calling it... "The Freakshow at Wilkie Ferguson..." In this episode we break down Donald Trump's no-good, very bad day in Miami, the media circus that followed it, and how Trump turned lemons into lemonade -- and then forced a bunch of restaurant-goers to pay f...

Professor Mark Paul ( @MarkVinPaul ) is a former-Florida Man who is now Assistant Professor of Economics at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. His new book, THE ENDS OF FREEDOM , outlines a new economic bill of rights that cuts to the core of many of our nation's problem. We discussed this, and how much a state like Florida would have to gain by thi...

Joe Carollo. Francis Suarez. A broken city government. First amendment violations. The same old names. A lighthearted episode about some dark-hearted stuff today as we're joined by Billy Corben of Rakontur and Because Miami to discuss some of the biggest scandals heading into and coming out of Thursday's commission meeting. We wrap up the show with a rousing game of Guess The Grifter, so stick aro...

It took years of fighting and organizing, but New York has finally passed Build Public Renewables Act, which is being called one of the most transformational green energy jobs initiatives in the United States. The legislation aims to scale up New York's renewable energy production and is a major step on the path of putting utilities back in public hands. Joining us to explore the implications of t...

We go Director's Commentary-mode on the 42 minutes of leaked audio from a recent DeSantis 2014 donor dinner, and get under the hood of a campaign that seems to be flailing and failing from all outside (and now inside) appearance. Credit to Florida Politics for breaking the story of the leaked audio.

Are you wondering how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' official presidential campaign event went off? Well, we're not saying it was anything like hanging out on-set with Will Smith and Kevin James in 2005, but there were definitely some Hitches. From an aborted Twitter Spaces launch to the absolute glazing of Elon Musk's entire genitalia by a procession of right-wing freaks, to said freaks lobbing s...

We were joined this week by McKenna Schueler ( @SheCarriesOn ) about the successful attempts by Florida's GOP to ram anti-labor and anti-renter bills through Tallahassee, and the affects they will have on unions and the cost of living crisis we are experiencing across Florida. Check out McKenna's reporting at the Orlando Weekly .

As a native Miamian, Andrew Otazo ( @AndrewOtazo ) has seen the Magic City go through heartache and pain, but its current incarnation -- fueled by a new type of radicalism that feels foreign to many of us -- feels different. He talked with us about that, Miami's future, it's past, and his book/project The Miami Creation Myth (available at a bookseller near you).

We caught up with our own Thomas Kennedy after he and a group of other protesters who occupied Governor Ron DeSantis' office were arrested in Tallahassee on Wednesday. Along with serial #WAWLTmafia pod guest Ryan Ray ( @ryanray_fla , Tropical Depression Podcast ) we talk about how the governor's office has become a well-worn path for lobbyists, special interests, and political climbers -- everyday...

Eighteen months out from what promises to be a torturous, awful Presidential election, the race is beginning to take shape and, wouldn't you know it, Florida is at the center of it. We talked with Tallahassee's finest, Ryan Ray, about the role Florida plays and some other news and notes from the past few weeks. This episode started as a grab bag about Twitter, Trump eating pizza, and Heat-Knicks,...

Maybe no state has benefitted from immigration more than Florida. From agriculture to hospitality, tourism and food service, the Sunshine State runs largely on people who either a.) are not from the U.S., or b.) have parents who were not from the U.S. That hasn't stopped the state from putting a target on the backs of the undocumented with a brand new bill that aims to punish family, friends, soci...

With the ripe stench of fascism in the air, we envision a future that could be better with one of the people who can help make it happen. State Rep. Angie Nixon joins us to talk about the potential for the Florida Legislature's rules to be levied against her or fellow legislators. We also got into the rightward lurch happening in the world of online black tabloid media outlets, and why it's happen...

You'll forgive us if we're a little distracted this week, if our attention is somewhat scattered. In this super-sized episode, we catch up with returning guest, State Representative Anna Eskamani, to talk about her effort to cut through the media's obsession with indicted ex-presidents and turn focus on the dangerous precedents being set in places like Tallahassee and Nashville. Later, we talk wit...

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the absolute finessing that its stakeholders ran on the Fed to get all their deposits back, we talked with The Nation contributing editor Doug Henwood about what this failure means for our banking system, and how a SVB's fallout could affect folks 3,000 miles away in Florida. Doug hosts Behind The News with Doug Henwood, which you can find here . H...

In 1972, then-unknown actor Burt Reynolds approached Florida Gov. Reubin Askew about bringing director John Boorman's new feature, "Deliverance" to film in Florida. Askew declined, and what happened next changed the course of movie and television history. Today we explore an alternate future where Florida (and specifically Miami) became the de facto home away from home for Hollywood, the economic...

Joined by Matt Lech ( @MattLech ) we take a look forward at the raft of legislation coming online here in Florida and the implications of how it could take hold nationally should the man behind all of it, Gov. Ron DeSantis, find his way to the Oval Office. But before that, let's talk Twitter files, Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and some of our other favorite free speech warriors. You can follow Ma...

In the '90s, Miami's hip-hop scene was undergoing a radical transformation that would evolve the then-Booty Bass-obsessed city into a critical outpost for a new MC/lyric-driven iteration of the genre. Names like Pitbull, DJ Khaled, DJ Raw and many more would come to define "Miami Hip-Hop" in the years after 2 Live Crew and Luther Campbell blazed trails. John Cordero was there, editing the undergro...

This week we’ve prepared a comprehensive case file on maybe the highest-profile criminal occupying public office in our state, his role overseeing what has been called the largest Medicare fraud in history, how he’s used his vast fortune to buy three statewide elections despite enjoying very little popular support, and his (maybe just a bit overly ambitious) plan to run for president. Welcome to o...

Thanks to supermajorities in the state legislature, Gov. Ron DeSantis has full, unfettered control of Florida's legislative agenda -- and he's using it. Last week, DeSantis' friendly coterie of lawmakers sent him a slate of bills aimed at burnishing his national credentials for an eventual run at the Presidency. Alongside Jason Garcia ( @Jason_Garcia ) from Seeking Rents , we explore DeSantis and...

It's been a few months since we talked about the confounding case of Eric Silagy and Florida Power & Light, and while deductive reasoning could lead some folks to the conclusion that the nation's largest public utility engaged in election tampering at the behest of its CEO, we generously extend the benefit of the doubt. We're joined on this episode by Mario Ariza ( @marioarizabaez ) whose rece...