The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Breaking Up with Spring Break

Episode Date: March 8, 2024

This week on Because Miami, Joel Anderson of Slate joins Billy Corben to talk about the University of Florida eliminating it's DEI programs, firing its staff in the process. Eliana Salazar is the former city commissioner of Surfside, FL. Her son was arrested as a means of political revenge. She joins the show to talk about it. And the city of Miami Beach has had enough of spring break. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Open an account today at questrade.com. The New York Times The New York Times The New York Times The New York Times The New York Times This is because Miami, and we're gonna begin today's episode

with a very brief Florida, three flashback. Roy, last May when Governor Ron DeSantis, he signed a bill into law passed by the legislature that would bar the state's colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and limit how race can be discussed in many courses. Joel Anderson tweeted, I'm still looking for slash hoping for prominent black Floridians, especially those who are top college football recruits and transfers to use this as a pretext to boycott all schools affected by this bill. If they don't want us, don't go.

affected by this bill. If they don't want us, don't go. Flash forward, this week Roy, the University of Florida, in response to this bill that passed last year, fired its entire DEI staff. It's at least 13 full-timers and a bunch of contract workers. Turns out that the f*** your feelings and First Amendment absolutist crowd are super offended by certain words

and those words are diversity, equity, and inclusion, you know, critical, race, and theory, things like this. There's always a boogeyman. Lo and behold, Joel was ahead of his time here because the legendary University of Florida graduate, NFL Hall of Famer, Escambia High School legend, Emmett Smith. We can actually talk good about Gators players now, and that's great.

Well, let's not get carried away, Roy. I'm gonna read you an excerpt here from what he tweeted this week in response to UF's action. I'm utterly disgusted by UF's decision and the precedent that it sets. Without the DEI department, the job falls to the office of the provost who already has their hands full to raise money for the university and continue to advance the academic studies and athletic programs. We cannot continue to believe and trust that a team of leaders all made up of the same background will make the right decision when it comes to equality and diversity.

History has already proven that is not the case. We need diverse thinking and backgrounds to enhance our university and the DEI department is necessary to accomplish those goals. Instead of showing courage and leadership, we continue to fail based on systemic issues and with this decision, UF has conformed to the political pressures of today's time.

To the many minority athletes at UF, please be aware and vocal about this decision by the university who is now closing the doors on other minorities without any oversight. And to those who think it's not your problem and stay on the sidelines and say nothing, you are complicit in supporting systemic issues. Joel Anderson is a staff writer for Slate, the host of Slate's slow burn podcast on

Biggie and Tupac at the LA Riots, and Clarence Thomas. You can check him out frequently on Slates, Hang Up and Listen, sports podcast. And before all that, he covered college sports for ESPN. He is overqualified to be here today. Joel, first off, what is your reaction to Emmett Smith's statement? How are you feeling about your, it's not really your call for a boycott,

but almost your fantasy, you know, for a boycott. And how could that actually practically take place? Well, man, it's a long overdue moment, but I'm really excited that somebody, and somebody previously and mostly apolitical Emmett Smith speaking out in this moment, and I mean, we're talking about Emmett Smith, one of the best players to ever play at the University

of Florida, one of the best to ever come out of the state. And for him to speak out in this moment really speaks out to his anger, in the anger that is bubbling under the surface among people that will be affected by DeSantis's legislation priorities here, and also the desperation of the moment. Because if you think about it,

DeSantis and his cronies have mostly completed in public, in full view of everybody. He's called his shots. There's no surprise here. He said what he was going to do, and now he's almost accomplished a full takeover of the education system in Florida. And that's going to have implications for years,

if not decades. And so I did not want to be right about where this was going to go, but I am cautiously optimistic that image Smith speaking out means that there might be more people on the way. Before we get into kind of the practicalities, again, I don't want to say you've called for it, you've not called, you've sort of like, you know, you're

a type of manifesto. I believe we should have one. Yes, I'm calling for it. Yes, like if it's possible, people should do it. Yes. Okay. Is it possible? I mean, you know, 18-year-old kids making a decision that they've worked their whole lives for. Is this on them to sort of to have to rise to this, to this moment, these kids? Right, well it depends on what we mean by possible, right? Like it's probably not possible to attack or target every institution in every state

that is pursuing these sort of initiatives. Like similar initiatives have been considered in Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia. I'm under no illusions that all of these schools in the elite black athletic talent that they want are going to be able to say no to all those schools. I know that, but one school can be made an example out of and that's very possible.

And it doesn't really actually take that many players to probably cause some problems for them. Our friend, Bermany Jones talked about this yesterday and I talk about it with him offline a lot of the time. Florida could easily become Ole Miss. Now, a lot of people don't remember like in the 80s and 90s, this is after desegregation where a few decades were moved, but it was still very difficult for them to get in elite athletic black talent despite being one of the blackest states in the country. It is the blackest state in the country. And because of that is the legacy of racism and hostility they had toward black people.

And so, you know, right now, Florida seems to have caught the attention of a lot of people and they, fortunately for people that are on the side of justice and unfortunately for people that would like to see the Gators do something more than what they've done in the last few years, they've caught the attention of people that maybe have the opportunity to move some folks.

I mean, look, already right now, I don't live in Florida anymore, but I can only imagine. Lucky you. I mean, California is a good safe haven for right now, I will say that. I would say that our Florida Gator fans happy with their recruiting right now. Do they think it's really, are they really excited about it? And they have a lot of hope for it? Well, this is the sort of thing that if Florida doesn't address this sort of stuff, and there's some momentum on the side of people like me who would like to see a boycott, they could be dealing with this for a very long time. They could easily become the kind of school that people say, hey man, are you sure that you

want to send your son down there? Do you think they'll be comfortable? Do you think they'll be taken care of? Do you think that people will welcome them with open arms when they're playing days over? So yeah, man, I'm again, cautiously optimistic is the word I think. And to let Balmani tell it, Mississippi, I will never, ever call them Ole Miss.

Mississippi decided that it'd rather be white on their football team and be sorry. Yeah. Didn't actually recruit black players and you're saying that all the state institutions, except for the HBCUs are going to go down the same route. And first, I would say this about Ole Miss. They they had the misfortune of loudly and proudly flying the Confederate flag at games, and that made the hostility that much more apparent.

But if you were in states within that southern footprint, Texas, LSU, Georgia, all of those schools for a number of years had a lot of difficulty recruiting black athletes. People that had families that lived in those states could go back generations, and they were mostly tied to HBCUs. They had no particular love for the flagship lived in those states could go back generations and they were mostly tied to HBCUs, they had no particular love for the flagship schools in these states. And so it took them a long time. If you may have noticed, SCC schools really did not have this,

they did not become this behemoth in football until very recently. And because for a very long time, black people were uncomfortable going to schools there. They had no particular fondness for it. But do I think that Florida State or FIU or FAU, like that they have to go down this road? No. It would be really easy for Mike Norvell. Well, easy in quotation marks. But somebody like Mike Norvell could say, I don't like this. This is going to have a negative influence

on recruiting. Do you know why I know that he can do that? Steve Spurrier did it for years in South Carolina. In 2015, Mike Leach, who is, I mean, I talked to Mike Leach a number of times before he passed, that dude is no flaming liberal. But he ended up going to the state house in Mississippi, asking them to take down the Confederate flag off part of the state house because it was affecting recruiting and people were like, hey man, they're looking at us us they can see our racism in public maybe we should do it's hard to get good black players and want to come down here maybe we should do something about that so no

fs you all those other schools in this footprint they don't have to go down the road that you know u of f seems to be going down but it would help if they said something they're going to have to stand apart from the schools that are eagerly uh... pursuing these sort of initiatives i'm a white guy in miami i don't to tell you the truth know what it is the the d e i department at the

university of florida in gainsville did i don't know if there is a good faith argument to be made that it was well managed or that money could not have been better allocated elsewhere but what I do know is here in the state of Florida there has now emerged a pattern or practice from the legislature which has shown that we are not dealing with good faith actors. Just the latest in a debate this week for the passage of yet another anti-CRT bill because, you know, we just don't have enough of those and the takeover of public education apparently is not complete. We had a Florida Republican

legislator actually he represents believe it or not where Emmett Smith's high school, Escambia High is located right in which by the way is more it's more in Alabama than it is in Florida it is literally the... Florida, right? This is Florida. It is right it is the far left tip of the state of Florida, of the panhandle and the headline, of course, we're making national headlines as always Rolling Stone, Florida Republicans keep trying to argue

that slavery wasn't so bad. To be fair, that's not exactly what this representative, Alex Andrade said, but I'll let you guys listen to what he said and react to the point he was evidently trying to make. There is only one way to teach about slavery in Florida, and that is that it was evil. But if we can't have an honest discussion and say that some slaves were paid for their work, and were able to actually get a portion of payment that slave owners received for their labor, then we're afraid of teaching

accurate history. If you were not aware that some slaves received payment, not payment that was good, not payment that was valid, not payment that was moral, but if we can't even have that discussion in this room, what hope do we have to teach and actually agree on facts? I would agree with the latter part of his point is, what hope do we have? What hope do we have? I certainly agree with that part. Remember this is 2024 and last year in 2023,

there was a scandal about the Florida educational standards, including the quote unquote fact that slaves developed skills. You remember that from last year. So this seems to be a continuing part of this. And Joel, thoughts? Well, I mean, so here's the thing. So if I cared about a black child ages, you know, 17 to 23, and they're trying to just figure out where they want to go child ages, you know, 17 to 23, and they're trying to just figure out where they wanna go to school, you know.

There's a lot of options out there. And I would say to that child, it's like, do you think you will be comfortable there? Do you think they will welcome you with open arms there? Do you think that you will have the range of academic experiences that you might have somewhere else. When you graduate, do you think it's a place that you will want to settle? Because one of the things that people talk about when you go to college, more than likely

you're going to end up somewhere within a fairly close vicinity of your alma mater. Is that some sort of place that you would want to stay, set up shop, raise your own family someday? And you hear that sort of thing you see what the sentences done to the schools when he continues to push us to do people like that that in the state not know that he's by no means representative of the entire you

know house representatives well out of it we partially right here right like he's part of a growing wave of republicans there is in the super majority joe yeah he's the they say crazy shit and it becomes law. Yeah, I mean, man, it's just great because I just remember things were so bad in Florida when I left that they were running Charlie Christ as a Democrat. And I was like, man, like, have we given up here?

Right? This is the state of second chances. The state of second chances, Joel. Yeah, I did not know. It has really gotten out of place, but I'm from Texas, so I should know better than that. Yeah. But yes, I just, look man, I don't think that I would feel comfortable if I had a child and I do have a son, he's almost two years old and he's not ready

for a cause decision yet, but I would tell him, I was like, I don't think that that's what you're gonna wanna be and it would be real easy to make that case and talk to other black kids throughout the state, throughout the Southeast that also happened to be six foot four, 250 pounds, that can run four or six. And if you have an option to go somewhere else, you go to USC, you could go to University of Georgia.

I mean, they haven't passed that legislation there yet. They go to Ohio State. There's a lot of other places you can go that might welcome you. That kind of talk, I'll open. There'll be some honest discussions being had in some homes as well about whether or not you want to be privy to that discussion if you go to school in Florida. Roy, in response to this scandal, Representative Alex Andrade tweeted, apparently Florida Dems want to ban the narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass from Florida school

libraries. They're fighting tooth and nail to keep this passage from his book out of Florida schools. By the way, for the record, fact check, nobody is trying to ban this book. Certainly not Democrats are trying to ban this book, but here's the quote. There I was immediately set to caulking and very soon learned the art of using my mallet in irons. In the course of one year from the time I left Mr. Gardeners, I was able to command the highest wages given to the most experienced caulkers. I was now of some importance to my master. I was bringing him from six to seven dollars per week.

I sometimes brought him nine dollars per week. My wages were a dollar and a half a day. So this is, I guess this is in his defense, he's saying, see, this is from the words of Frederick Douglass. Roy, you look like you, I'm not sure if you look like you have something to say or you have nothing to say. I'm not really sure. All right, Roy just threw off his headphones and exited the studio. So I guess I'm flying solo. For the rest of the show. I encourage many other black people in Florida solo for the rest of the show.

I encourage many other black people in Florida to pursue the path out that door. You know, there are other places to live if you can do it. Because that is not, no, but look man, seriously, I think people should also stand and fight. And what Imbud Smith is doing is great. And when Roy comes back into the studio and puts on his helmet and his mouthpiece

and his shoulder pads, you know what I'm saying? I'm sure he'll be ready to run to Oklahoma drill too. I think Roy just jumped on his helmet and his mouthpiece and his shoulder pads. You know what I'm saying? I'm sure he'll be ready to run to Oklahoma drill too. You know, I think Roy just jumped on his Zamboni and is just cruising right down Biscayne Boulevard right now. I don't think we're ever going to. I don't think we're going to ever hear of Roy. He's going to cruise for the freedom of Georgia at this point. Well, you know what?

You know, it's like oftentimes a conflict fight or flight. You know, say sometimes people choose to flee. So I'm not saying it's wrong, but some people need to stay and fight. Well, you only got what, 3,000 miles away? How far are you going to go? Yeah, I mean, you know, this is what Zoom is for, right? You know, I can have a good phone line, you know, I pay my mom up the date on my phone bill,

so, you know, I can help. Follow him at by Joel Anderson. Joel Anderson, thank you so much for being here. Oh, my pleasure, my honor, thanks so much. Remember the best vacation you've ever taken? Make your next one even better with Get Your Guide. With Get Your Guide, you can book over 100,000 unforgettable experiences in the US

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Jeff Rose, after a commission meeting. He was charged with felony assault on an elected official. He arrested my son to teach him a lesson, the silence residents from speaking out. This is third world thuggery. To use the police force to silence a political opponent is something we see happen in Russia. May your surf sides,

an underhanded slimy little shlug. That place is aid-relaxed, Don't ask me to get the police involved, have a seat. Insofcide, psychotic racist ponks, yeah they extend, zinger, wiener, bad guy Does anybody know how to speak Spanish to tell her to her? Because I've said it like four times Vice Mayor Jeff Rose, a fakes of guy who likes to bully kids He put you in the corner, you already put you in the corner the bully kids We got a vote on Mount on March 19th. Come on and sing. Slow Mo and Singer. Screw that guy. A ringer for developers. There's dollar signs in his eyes. For cocked a little schmuck. Yeah, that's Dan Singer. Weiner. Ow! I just want to let everybody know I have a few black friends. There are 34 municipalities in Miami Dade County, and they each have like

their own mayors, their own commissions and councils, many of them their own police departments and really what they've become is their own fiefdoms and their own places where these racketeering organizations masquerading as local governments kind of take over. They're like dictatorships in some cases like in Miami for dynastic political crime families and in the case of Surfside which was in most recent years famous for the tragedy of the Champlain Towers collapsing while people slept at night, killing 99 residents. And now it is known for somehow managing to be more corrupt than the city of Miami. This whole town, Roy, is eight blocks long and it is turned into this like third world cesspool where you have mayors and vice mayors who are basically real estate hustlers at this point because what the Champlain tragedy has

ushered in is this era of opportunity and really exploitation for real estate predators who wanna come in, build higher, build newer, you know, force residents out for so-called life safety issues and take over. And so you have this influx of big money from developers and you have a vice mayor who is in fact himself a real estate hustler who owns like a significant percentage of the town and operates with impunity. He actually changes the laws to benefit himself

and his real estate hustle. Joining us now is former Surfside Commissioner Eliana Salzauer, who is also the mother of this 18 year old activist, Josh Epstein, who was just arrested for my understanding is nothing. Like this is when I say third world, like Thuggery, like I mean they are training their Tantan Makut onto local activists who they disagree with. Eliana, you've been very vocal before this. Obviously you've been very vocal since your son's arrest last Friday. What the hell happened in this incident

and what the hell is happening in Surfside? This is the foreseeable consequence of no checks and balances in Town Hall. This began a year ago when the mayor fired the town manager the police chief and the assistant town manager financial officer in twenty four hours all of them were gone and he appointed the former head of the garbage department uh... as the manager i'm sorry i'm sorry what the former head of the

garbage department the former public works director who had only been the public works director for a year because the last guy got forced out because of a sexting scandal. He had only been in that position a year and he appointed him to be town manager with no prior experience. It was like, that's where we jumped the shark.

In the immortal words of Miami Mayor Ponsy Postalita. If you put garbage in, you're gonna get garbage out. So you had this hostile takeover. You had this Fidel Castro-esque revolution in this little seaside town just north of Miami Beach. They replaced what I presume were somewhat competent professionals with the garbage man, okay? And so what has happened since then?

How do we get to this situation where your son is getting arrested for being a concerned citizen? The mayor, you have to understand in our town, we have a strong manager form of government. The mayor is supposed to only be 20%, but this mayor moved into town hall. He gave himself a big office

so we can micromanage the staff without creating a public record. So what began as moving the line and moving the line on his sort of abuse of power has resulted in them, you know, everyone else is a puppet. So the police force is their enforcers. You go to a commission meeting and you start, you know, critiquing their administration

and you get the threat of the copter coming to get you. And we have so many incidents on record video where they literally use the police chief and we've had several police chiefs because I think some of them have left because they don't feel comfortable being that role where they literally are using them to threaten residents. And so my son being arrested is shocking.

It's a new low. It's a new low because in the past they just threatened to arrest you. They said, you don't sit down, we're gonna come for you. The vice mayor himself has sat up there at commission meetings and said, hey residents, you start reporting to outside agencies, you go to the state, you go to the agencies,

we know who you are and you're going to get called out. So he pretty much was threatening residents that if you try to seek outside help from the state agencies that are out there to try to protect us, he's going to call you out. He's going to hold you accountable, he's gonna hold you accountable. And this thuggery, this v-thress, when they're being made by the people

that have control over everything in town are real. But we never imagined, I never imagined that they would come and arrest someone. And I thought they would come, maybe for me, but this is worse, right? Because how do you really deliver a message to a mother? By taking their son off the streets with no notice in the nights, with no notice,

and taking them down to GDK, right? An 18-year-old honor student. So let me be clear about this. This incident, so this arrest last Friday, stemmed from an incident last Wednesday at Town Hall, where there was a candidate forum, because you have an upcoming election, the mayor, Shlomo Danzinger, this Vice Mayor, Joe, what's his name?

Rose? Jeff Rose. Jeff Rose, not Joe Rose. Jeff Rose. Jeff Big Dog. Not Joe Rose. He was there by half a dozen witness accounts. This Jeff Rose Vice Mayor was the aggressor,

crossed the room to confront another resident. Your son was there, kind of got his cell phone out to film this confrontation ensued. You already pushed me once and it's on camera. If I did, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. That's what I thought. I didn't push you though, I'm not sure when. Yeah, learn how to keep going. Go inside your seat. Go. Just take it out and get with the teeth. We've all seen it.

We've all seen it. And then the vice mayor signs, makes a complaint, kind of bogus complaint, signs a no prosecution order, like I don't actually want to prosecute. Your son posts this unflattering video of this guy who behaves like an animal. I mean his conduct is absolutely unbecoming of an elected official in a town hall at a public event and then come Friday afternoon, by the way Roy, they did this late, so he would have to stay in jail basically for almost 36 hours.

And they pick him up while he's registered to swim. He signed up to swim at the pool. They know he's going to leave the house and walk to the pool and they arrest him on the street. Mind you, I'm guessing they could have just called you and said, bring him to the police department. You would have walked right over. You listen, the reason I'm so furious is because I was proactive.

First of all, my son is the one who went to the police on Wednesday to say I want an order protection from Jeff He's threatening me and I don't feel safe. He said on the video see what happens push me again and see what happens And of course the pushes the metaphorical pushing his buttons, right? And he mentions me he says just like your mother just like your mother you're pushing me, right? And and so my son was went to the police because he was fearful. And of course the police turned that around into Jeff Rose is going to press charges, but he's being nice and doesn't want to and tells us we're not going to do anything. So on Friday, I was texting the town manager.

I called the protective. I said, there's a bunch of witnesses in the room. Look at the video. There's like a dozen people in the room. Here are their names and numbers, please call them. And that was given to the detective before my son was arrested. That was communicated in the afternoon.

We had a conversation. I said, we're happy to come in and talk to you on Monday. This was nothing. When we were told on Wednesday when we left, that this was an incident report and it was nothing. The town manager told me, this is open. We don't know what we're doing here. And the next thing you know, I get this frantic phone call, but you know, your son's been arrested from another commissioner who happened

to call my son's iPhone happened to call my son's iPhone while he's being cuffed. I mean, that was fake because I think the police intended to have him disappear for the weekend, for the weekend at least. For the weekend. They deliberately did this after hours on a Friday night. This was done deliberately to teach him a lesson, to teach me a lesson, to show us, don't open your mouth because we have all the power and you are going to pay. And that was what they were trying to do. And of course, they tipped off the media

to try to get a perp walk of this 18-year-old kid with a clean record. Roy. So what is the legal recourse that you have in this situation? the media to try to get a perp walk of this 18-year-old kid with a clean record. Roy. So what is the legal recourse that you have in this situation? Oh, well, the first thing we're trying to do is have the state attorney look at this and go, my God, this is baloney. You know, we're hoping that the volume of evidence, we have six sworn witness statements

saying that this never happened, that my son did not touch anyone, and that Jeff Rose was the aggressor. Jeff Rose came rushing across the room at another resident named Oliver, who in Jeff's mind had disrespected his mother by insulting way. That doesn't mean Jeff Rose can come across the room with his arms waving, whether it was to swing at him, whether it was to threaten him with that finger pointing. That was what Jeff Rose did. And my son just took his phone out, you know, to video. Let me be clear. This charge is a felony battery of an elected official, which in some cases could result in you staying custody and I want to show this clip because it's a really good question Roy

asked in terms of what the consequences are and what hopefully the remedies will be for you later on because the moment this kid's in jeopardy. I mean he's facing his felony charge but I want to play this clip from Josh Epstein's arraignment with a Judge Mindy Glazer last Saturday. I'm ordering that you stay away from the alleged victim, Jeffrey Rose. I'll say you have to stay at least 25 feet away from the victim.

I think with a 25 feet stay away order, he's still allowed to attend any city commission meetings, maybe while this case is pending. There should make a decision not to go to any of those meetings. If you pick up another law violation and you're re-arrested, you're gonna stay locked up in jail until your trial. Your community organizing from home, maybe,

or near your house where your parents are supervising, okay? This judge, I don't know what choice she had. She's gotta do a stay-away order, but what she's basically saying is you have no First Amendment rights right now, because you run the risk of in this tiny town running into this guy and inadvertently violating this order, maybe being in a public meeting, doing your activism, exercising your First Amendment rights as a citizen,

and getting re-arrested for violating that order and you're going to be in jail. Eliana, I want to know, you know, two things first. I mean, this guy's got houses all over town, right? So your son doesn't know where the safe zones are. I mean, he's basically under house arrest right now. And second, what kind of effect, a chilling effect, is this having townwide in terms of the political enemies or opponents of these nefarious wannabe dictators?

This vice mayor is the biggest builder in town. He's a contractor. He has over 19 projects going on right now. So every block in town has one of his projects. Every block in town has a big rose sign on it. So my son is effectively by this order, a prisoner, because he doesn't want to run into Jeff Rose town hall. Maybe Jeff Rose is there all the time getting his building permits. This is a man who has who swore before he got elected that he would recuse himself on zoning issues and has done nothing, nothing but reinterpret our zoning code, clarify the zoning code, grease the

wheels to allow him to be able to build, build, build, flip, flip, flip, profit, profit, profit. And my son is now essentially under house arrest. I mean, he is upset about this because he wants to continue to walk around the neighborhood. When we went to the pool yesterday, we had to have two other adults with him. We are very concerned because of this continued abuse of power that they would try to violate him. They are looking for an excuse and every resident here is terrified and we're terrified of our own town hall.

And that's the problem and that's what they intended. That exactly, that was their message and that was what they're trying to do. We need the state attorney's office to come in to do a deep dive into Town Hall and to hold these people accountable. There are witnesses that have come forward, there are witnesses that want to talk to the state attorney and we need to go through the state attorney because Town Hall is not safe. No resident is safe under this administration. Listen Roy, this could result in a first amendment, you know, federal lawsuit. This could result in filing of false charges, filing false

police report against this vice mayor. Well get that done, let's go. My last question, Leon, is as a mother, clearly this is political retaliation more for aimed at you than your son and this political infighting in the town seems to predate, obviously, this incident. And how does it feel for you as a mother to know that they're aiming at your innocent teenage son with no criminal record, you know, who wants to go to law school and has a future ahead of him? How does this feel for you? Yeah, you know, like I said, they were trying, trying to hurt me. And it makes me angry. Of course, I'm devastated.

My son spent 27 hours in one of the worst jails in Miami with actual criminals, with murderers, with rapists, with real criminals. And my son's crime was revealing Jeff Rose's horrible temper on a video. That was his crime. And that is why this is unacceptable because he didn't do anything wrong here. But what they did was vindictive. What they did, the consequence did not fit what he did. He did nothing. But even assuming in their fantasies that something happened here, to pick a kid up, an 18-year-old honor student kid up, and to terrify him like

that on the street, to handcuff him behind his back, to yell at him, to go to the car, he's having trauma. He's never going to get, we're never going to that on the street. He said, handcuffed him, behind his back, to yell at him with a car. He's having trauma. He's never gonna get, we're never gonna get that time back. He is never going to be the same again. That was 27 hours of hell that I wouldn't wish on any child and I wouldn't wish any mother to experience that terror. And that judge, I was terrified.

We're lucky that that judge let him out because had that been before another judge, my son would still be rotting in jail. And I guarantee you that that's what Town Hall hoped. Town Hall hoped that they would tie him up and me up and terrify everyone until after this election so they could get another two years of abuse. So they could have two more years of this self-dealing of this reign of terror. Former Surfside Commissioner, Eliana Salzauer,

thank you for being here. Good luck to Joshua. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Everyone needs to really help out here and step up. We really need people to sign our petition. We need people to make, we need the state attorney to step in. We need the state to step in and clean up Town Hall. Where can we find the petition? It's going to be unchanged, Dodd. The work, I think it's called, it's Justice Hyphen for Hyphen Joshua. Again, you know, this just happened on Friday. We are just a grassroots group of residents that are trying to protect our little town from this kind of corruption. And it's we're fighting a beast. We're fighting. It's a David and

Goliath. And we're hopeful, but we're also, you know, we're terrified. We need people to vote. We need people to vote on March 19 and to give a strong message that this will not be tolerated. Thank you commissioner. Thank you Crypto is like the financial system, but different it doesn't care where you come from What you look like your credit score or your outrageous food delivery habits? Crypto is finance for everyone everywhere all the time delivery habits. Crypto is finance for everyone, everywhere, all the time. Kraken, see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. Kraken's registration details at kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer. The attorney can't...

Cell phone video capturing the dramatic aftermath of an arrest gone wrong in Miami Beach. I heard the gunshot when I was like 10 feet away. I was right there. Jeremy Moeller visiting South Florida for the weekend, seeing the whole thing go down Saturday afternoon, just after 12.30. Police SUV kind of following a guy walking down the street and the man, an older gentleman, had a big backpack. He was kind of yelling at the police. The police say the police are looking for a gun. The police say the police are looking for a guy walking down the street.

And the man older gentlemen had a big backpack. He was kind of yelling at the cop. Miami Beach police say they got a call the man possibly had a gun as the officer followed in the SUV witnesses say things then

got very intense. She jumped out of the car, pulled her gun and ran at him. It looked like the cop shot at the person and it hit the other cop. That's the attorney. Fellow officers running to help. His leg was bleeding out a lot. And they ran and they took him off in an ambulance. And cuffed the guy they were after. The officer rushed to Jackson's rider trauma.

As an investigation was underway along the Venetian causeway, shutting down all lanes of traffic for several hours. [♪ upbeat music playing As you heard from that WSVN report, spring break hasn't even started yet and the the F*** is already underway. I can't even just imagine the scene. This police officer is taking this guy into custody, unarmed man, who is having a mental health crisis, taking him into custody, loudly but safely,

and this cop drives up, and I imagine her car like hitting trash cans like Frank Drebben in a gun. I imagine her, this is like Reno 911 dude, I imagine her like running out of the car, like she forgets to put it in park, you know, it keeps kind of rolling, and then she like pulls her gun and starts running and trips on flat ground and then shoots the other cop.

I mean, and this other cop to his credit, manages to still take this guy into custody safely and non-violently while yelling for a tourniquet because his leg is bleeding, because she shot him. One of her, his fellow officers shot him in the leg. You know, first of all, this has been a hell of a week in Miami for cop on cop violence. Like just a couple days ago, a Miami Dade cop

was arrested for drunk driving while on duty after he crashed his unmarked car into an occupied police cruiser and then runs out yelling, holding his gun at the other cop. And they take him into custody. He won't do a sobriety test, but he says, I drank too much. They put him in the back of a police car and he pisses himself.

Sounds like a confession to me. Spring break is already underway. And this is starting to remind me, Roy of like Memorial Day weekend 2011, where the only shots fired that weekend were by police officers. They turned Collins Avenue into a shooting gallery with 116 shots where they killed one guy and they injured four bystanders,

just people standing around the busiest street in Miami Beach. Sheldon Fox at WSVN tweeted, notable recent Miami Beach incidents. This is, they're making spring break seem like they're, it's the villain, but we have a cop accidentally shoots another cop closing down the Venetian causeway. By the way, where some of the richest people who moved to Miami during the pandemic,

they bought multi-million dollar houses. And since they got here, it's been shut down for construction, for shit in the water on the east side of the Venetian is where they live. They always have the no contact order with the water on the east side of the Venetian. And now a cop shooting another cop accidentally. You have bullets flying into the Pelican Hotel on Ocean Drive, a 14 year old boy shot in Mid Beach, an off duty cop arresting a drunk gunman on Washington, a man stabbing another on Pine Tree Drive,

and marijuana is the problem, obviously Roy. But have you seen the clip of Miami Beach breaking up this viral video? Miami Beach produced this video, watch this. We need to talk. This isn't working anymore. We just want different things. You just want to get drunk in public and ignore laws.

We're breaking up with you. We're done. And just so you know, we're serious. This March, you can expect things like curfews, bag checks, and restricted beach access. DUI checkpoints, $100 parking, and strong police enforcement for drug possession and violence. Whatever it takes because it's time to move on. Maybe we can talk when you're done with your spring break phase, but until then. Roy, Miami Beach is breaking up a spring break.

You want me to get back in my Zamboni and drive away again? I don't, Roy. I really't Roy, I really don't. I really don't want to be here all by myself. I really don't. The lone hater out here. But it gets better Roy. It gets better? It gets better.

Your boy Ron DeSantis. Has come to town with reinforcements. If you're committing crimes causing havoc you are gonna pay the price and we will hold you accountable because that's what we do here. Last year Gunfire killed two people in spring break crowds on Ocean Drive. This year's response a zero tolerance crackdown. Tuesday Governor Ron DeSantis showed up promising reinforcement for city police that includes Coast Guard, Fish and Wildlife officers, Florida Highway Patrol drones,

and mobile command trucks. The city will share two dozen of the state's quick response officers. DeSantis is also sending at least 60 troopers for Dade, Broward, and Volusa counties to share. What all did you notice? Lots of police presence. Like even when we were coming in, there was notified signs of DOI checkpoints and walking out to the beach there are notified areas of checkpoints and lots of cars and marked vehicles and lights and things that you would see but nothing uncomfortable. This group of moms from Cincinnati felt good about the show of force Merrick did too when police explained their presence. Probably makes me more likely to come back to be honest because we're from a smaller community and so to come to a big community like Miami to

know that there's a big police presence everybody's live to whatever issues might be there would make us more likely to come back. Come on back Karen. Roy! You beat me to the punch. Glad you hopped off your Zamboni to rejoin me here. So the state is effectively sitting down Roscoe Pico train. The there's a new sheriff in town, everybody. Roy, you heard in that CBS News, Miami report that those white women from Ohio feel super safe,

used to spend a lot of time on Ocean Drive. You feel safer on Memorial and Spring Break with a military presence, state troopers and police officers and tanks and machine guns. I feel safer in Broward. Head for the hills. Head for the hills.

Joel Anderson was like, how far away can I get and still be in the United States? It was like 3,000 miles. Let's do that. Is that in, I'm sorry, is that in the United States? It's called a territory. Is that right? Of course your elected officials probably don't know that. Is that in, I'm sorry, is that in the United States? It's called a territory. Right, is that right? Of course, your elected officials

probably don't know that. Speaking of police accountability, I did wanna do a quick update to last week's story when we talked to Rodney Jacobs about the state attempting to pass a bill that would effectively ban civilian oversight of police in Florida. It passed.

And I'm sure Rhonda Santis will sign it and there will be no civilian oversight of law enforcement in the state of Florida. Fantastic. Anymore. And remember, we talked of some weeks ago about the city of Miami starting a bunch of podcasts to kind of like counter the haters here on because Miami. How can I help our rivals? Yes. So they haven't done a lot of episodes of those. In fact, there's like one or two that that seem to have kind of been soft canceled by the city of Miami, including Art General Noriega, the city manager, who's who's shit talk and lies podcast.

I believe that's what it's called the shit talk and lies podcast. But Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, his podcast, which is called How Can I Help podcast? He has done some additional episodes, including this one. The reason why I'm doing this is because I want the public to know what we're doing. I want the public to know people like you who are working every day, grinding to, you know, to make our city better and to provide care for those who are the most vulnerable in our community who maybe are forgotten

but also could be family members of us. Bullshit. I love that music. I mean, it's no but it's still pretty catchy. And so he posted that clip to Instagram interviewing the head of Camila's house, who's a homeless shelter here in downtown Miami. And I'm gonna do the top five, Roy. Instagram comments to that post on that video

you just saw and heard there. Number five from Sophos of Little Havana. We know why you're doing this podcast. Your reputation laundering. Solid. Number four, this is from screen name, Fact Check D's Nuts MF. Yes.

I repeat, that is Fact Check. That's me. I repeat, that is Fact Check D's Nuts MF. We have found your... My burner. You found your burner, Count Roy. By the way, this is a good comment. It only made the list so I could say for the third time fact check D's nuts MF Let me guess invest in crypto. I'd invest in getting you to move from office

Back check these nuts mofo Not that funny, but I'm delighted. Number three is from Easy Breezy. I'm gonna have to take a deep breath for this one. Uh-oh. Let's be honest, that the reason you do this is because you love to hear yourself talk. If you cared and did your job, you'd be in every city commission meeting

weeding out all the corruption. But instead, you're podcasting like you're a celebrity. We would be proud if you did real work instead of getting rich and famous off of your constituents. Actually do work to improve people's life by addressing the housing insecurity, rent affordability, public transportation, enhancing our parks and keeping our city clean, demanding better wages and protection for workers, etc.

For the first half I felt attacked. I'm not going to be lied by that comment. And then it got a little more on point there. Number two is from Maritze 125. You lost me when you failed to stand up for Art Acevedo. Remember, you were smack dab in the middle of the city's corruption and you did nothing, nada, shame on you.

I feel like all of these are your burner accounts Roy. Yep. And number one, Instagram comment on Francis Suarez's latest How Can I Help? podcast post is from poshlife Miami. Bro, we're tired of your big picture economic development plans, which is just code for lining my pockets.

Y'all get richer, the further you destabilize our local economy and y'all still salivating as you pick on the bones of Miami residents Shit bro, that was brutal pick on the bones and we have one outside looking in from be rad rock Hmm It's followed by some emojis, which I'll have to describe, Roy. The comment is, sa-ping-gito, which kind of means like little yuts or little idiot. It is followed by a series of pig emojis, a series of clown emojis, and a series of poop emojis.

I couldn't have said it better myself, Roy. You know why? Because of Miami. Mr. Mayor, right? Yeah. You know why? Because Miami. Mr. Mayor, you're brilliant. You were super smart. Cocanes. Everybody in your crew identifies as either Big Mac Burger, McNuggets, or McCrispy Sandwich. But you're the Filet-O-Fish sandwich all day.

That crispy fish, that savory tartar sauce, that melty cheese, that pillowy bun? Yeah, you get it. Every time. And if you love the filet of fish, right now you can catch two of the classics you love for just six dollars. Limited time only. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Single item at regular price. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.