Where There's Woke

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 ideology" San Francisco Chronicle: Mike Krukow on Giants Pride Night Media Matters: Fox News coverage of James Talarico, March-June 2025 Offside News: NHL 2025-26 Pride Night Review 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!

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 repeating about homelessness that don't hold up to scrutiny, and why this is the Trump playbook running in one of the biggest cities in America. It's a lot. Lydia is not okay. Toward a New Understanding: The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, University of California - San Francisco; June 2023) Assaf RD, et al. Illicit Substance Use and Treatment Access Among Adults Experiencing Homelessness. JAMA. 2025 Apr 8;333(14):1222-1231. Spencer Pratt Is Running Trump's Playbook in Los Angeles—and Trump Approves (Philip Elliott, Time; 5/21/2026) LA City Ethics Commission campaign finance filings, Spencer Pratt 1/1/26-4/18/26: https://ethics.lacity.gov/viewdoc/141063 4/19/26-5/16/26: https://ethics.lacity.gov/viewdoc/142921 5/17/26-5/27/26: https://ethics.lacity.gov/viewdoc/143643 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!

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 fall 2025 Watertown Unified School District Policy 2240: Controversial Issues in the Classroom Educational Services Committee meeting, 5/5/2026 Special School Board Meeting, 5/12/2026 "A Mother of A Revolution!", Omar Thomas Watertown Wind Symphony at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, 5/20/2026 **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

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 Incarceration (9/22/2025, ACLU) "They Just Denied Me": Parole Stories and Case Studies (2/3/2026, Tinsae Gebriel and Marie Ndiaye; fwd.us) Organizations advocating for this: Release Aging People in Prison, People's Campaign for Parole Justice **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

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 review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

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 PRIVATE MILITARY AND SECURITY COMPANIES AND THE RISKS OF CORRUPTION AND CONFLICT (Michael Picard & Colby Goodman - Transparency International, 7/2022) GHF Core Pipeline (@BoycottDS on Twitter; 7/21/2025) Exclusive: US firm in Gaza aid program, criticized by UN, in talks for new role (Pesha Magid & Rami Ayyub - Reuters; 2/11/2026) **If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

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.** Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

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?

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 the SLIGHTEST bit of introspection and, dare we say it, maybe even contrition?

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

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....

Professor James Hankins wrote a literal essay, published in Compact Magazine, about his decision to leave Harvard's History Department for greener pastures in...Florida. He wants more western civilization focus in history, and Thomas and Lydia break down why this is problematic. "Western Values" Explained, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DUT4aCkeRA **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!

After nearly 10 years of covering the far right after Charlottesville, Chris Mathias has written an important book called "To Catch a Fascist, The Fight to Expose the Radical Right." In addition to modern efforts to out the fascists and racists, Chris takes us through some fascinating history of that as well. It is inspiring work at a time when we all could use some inspiration and uplift! Also check out his article in the Nation, Liberals Think Antifa Isn't Real. But It Is—and It Knows How to Win.