The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Cocaine Shark

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

Comedian Nery Saenz joins Billy Corben in the co-host chair this week...and he learns that there are sharks off the coast of Florida eating bricks of cocaine. We spin the Wheel of Corruption as well. Dr. Marvin Dunn joins us to dispel the notion that "slaves benefitted from slavery." Plus, actor and brand new author Ben McKenzie talks about the info he gathered while writing the book, Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. Cocaine Shark is the new cocaine bear. Have you seen these stories? Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

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Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. It's click shark bait. So the story is that the sharks off the coast of Florida are eating cocaine bales that of course are prolific off our shores.

South Florida is the cocaine interdiction like capital of the Americas. Just in the last month, there had been fishermen and beach goers in the Florida Keys that have found what we call white lobster. That's the sort of like for weed, it's square grouper or seaweed if you find like marijuana floating,

but white lobster is the turn of art. So apparently, all right, there's this article, I mean a series of articles about these cocaine sharks, and here they come, Roy, I can hear them coming. Yeah. Yeah, so the cocaine sharks are coming, and here's the thing though, it's all in service to promote a documentary on the Discovery Channel for Shark Week. By the way, I don't knock their hustle. I've been there. It's tough to promote documentaries these days.

I'll admit, but here's what they did. They did this study, but they shot it for this Discovery Channel Shark Week documentary, where they dropped fake cocaine bales in the ocean to see how sharks would behave. So here's the thing, it's really, there's really not a lot to this, but I'm sure it's a very funny and entertaining documentary. And there's no question, by the way, that there is like a shit ton of drugs in the waters off the coast. And last year the Florida National University did a study that showed that they found like for three years They studied the waters like like 200 miles of waterway off of off of Florida and they found

58 prescription drugs in like a sample of like a hundred different Fish that they looked at one fish alone had 17 different drugs Inside of it because when we, when we flush our medication or we pour them down the drain or we take drugs and then we use the toilet and all ones up in our waterways. So we have fish that are high AF out there right now. And some fish have great blood pressure. They've been making blood pressure.

It's been made to understand, you know, is kicking in and they have, yeah, but very local esteral. Very localestero. There's acid refluxes, it's down to a minimum. So well, let me ask you, you spend a lot of time, you do a lot of gigs on cruise ships.

So you've dealt with a lot of creatures at sea on cocaine before not necessarily. Not in a water. Yeah, not in the water on the boat. Really? So, and I always laugh because like, you post on your Instagram some of the ridiculous and amazing crowd work you do.

How do you work in a room? It's one thing when you're in a comedy club, right? I'm at the Miami in Prague, this is a Miami crowd. I'm in Des Moines, this is Des Moines, but on a cruise ship, it's like a cross section of humanity. Yeah, it really is because you do a show in on a cruise ship and it's really performing

for somebody that lives in Idaho, sitting next to a dude from Opalaka, sitting next to a lady from Kansas and it's all this, but I just do mean it's like, and then people who hate me weed themselves out, they're like, yeah, we're fine, we're the one. So you just kinda do that, but there's been multiple times

where somebody would be yelling at a show, and with a stock line, people would be like, oh, that's the drink package talking, that there's been multiple times where somebody would be yelling at a show, and where the stock line people would be like, oh, that's the drink package talking. That guy's drunk. I have said many times, I'm like, do they have a cocaine package on their seat? Because it's so fun, and then people start laughing, and then you can see the faces of people who are like,

do they have a cocaine package? People are really, like, I would take a cocaine package and they had one, and I always make the joke. I'm like, you got to ask for it. It's off the menu. You can't just, it's not, they're not going to advertise it, but you get it.

Carnival they definitely do. Carnival Cowboys. They definitely have a cocaine package. Later on in the program, we're talking with, I know you're a fan of this guy, Ben McKenzie. Yeah, star of the OC, star of Gotham. Gotham has got me.

Is, I went back for the OC, but Gotham has got me. Young, young three commissioner, James Gordon. Correct. And, but Gotham is what got me. Young James Young three commissioner James Gordon. Correct. And not in Gotham. He is now an author. His new book came out just last week. Easy money.

Cryptocurrency casino capitalism. The golden age of fraud. You can imagine there's a lot of lot of Miami connections there on this story. And speaking of Miami connections. I had a segue there and then I decided to kind of give up on it. Yeah. Oh, no. Bang, bang, snort, snort.

So we're talking about Governor Ron DeSantis this week because we have to talk about Governor Ron DeSantis this week. So the campaign's not going well. No, they've laid off, I don't even know how many, they've laid off so many people that Rick Wilson of the Lincoln Project just tweeted, he's down to three fifths of a campaign. That's tired. Damn, that's Jesus. Too soon. Wow. And he's now, he's announced a reboot. We have some good artwork for his reboot. His reboot consists of about me, high white rubber boots for Rhonda Santis.

You remember those? Yeah, when he was, when he was trying out for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleading squad there. He looks like he's about to film Debbie does Dallas. So yeah. I like a Goucho. Yes. Rhonda Santis was on a podcast this week, not this he's about to film Debbie does Dallas. So yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's Have you actually requested like center request? I think we have we we've invited my Maybe you have a suarez on the program. We've invited Miami-Dade Mayor Daniel even Kava Right, pretty much everybody we've talked about or criticized on the show has been invited on the program nobody nobody says Yeah, I just I just I'm only curious and I'm not trying to you know start anything

But I'm only curious because if somebody talks shit about me and then invite me on the show There's a part of me that would be like, okay bring it, I would love to have that face-to-face, you know, interaction, but they're like, nah, we're fine. The campaign reboot is not going well. Here's how he answered a question about January 6th, 2021, on the Russell Brand podcast. It was not an interaction.

These are people that were there to attend a rally. And then they were there to protest. Now it devolved and it devolved and do a riot. But the idea that this was a plan to somehow overthrow the government of the United States is not true. And it's something that the media had spun up just to try to basically, you know, get as much mileage out of it and use it for partisan and for political aims. And so I know there were a lot of people that were there who were just there and they didn't have any designs on doing anything.

And so we just have to be honest about it. If somebody is honestly doing an insurrection against the US government, then prove that that's the case. And I'll be happy to accept it. But all you're showing me is that there are a lot of protesters there, and it ended up evolving in ways that was unfortunate, of course, but to say that they were seditionists is just wrong.

Wait a second. This guy is a yaley. He's a Harvard law trained attorney. Did he miss the trials of the oath keepers? Yes. And the proud boys, two separate trials in which his own constituents, in which Florida then were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Didn't they admit it, too? Didn't they?

My bad. Like one of them was like, oh yeah. I shouldn't have. I didn't fail. I didn't. Did sedition. Yeah, of course. That's a. We inadvertently insurcted. It was premature insurrection.

What is the, but by the way, that not a problem the fish off the coast of Florida don't have because they have all the necessary medication for that. These are some hard fish. I don't understand. Like that, like I really wonder if he really just picks, like is there, like what's the stupidest thing I can say

this week or what's the craziest thing I can say that my, that not, the nuts are quite dog whistle would just like yeah like foghorn right that's what I'm asking like dogs of barking. I'm sorry. Neri was that a challenge? Well, you know what they say hit dog will holler. But was that a challenge Neri? What is the craziest dumbest thing Florida governor Ron DeSandes? I just want to know how he picks what he's gonna say i feel like when does has a clip keyed up just for this moment

well you should talk to them about i mean i didn't do it and i wasn't involved in it uh... but i think uh... i think what they're doing is i think that they're probably gonna show uh... some of the folks that eventually parlayed uh... you know being a blacksmith into into doing things later in life. But the reality is all of that is rooted in whatever is factual, they listed everything out, and if you have any questions about it, just ask the Department of Education. You can talk about those folks,

but I mean, these were scholars who put that together. It was not anything that was done politically. I probably should have set that up a little bit better. That was Ron DeSantis responding to the Florida Department of Education this week announcing the new standards for black history which include the benefits of slavery. Who's approving this?

What part of the education department, who's in charge of the education? If it's not him, is it Jim and the Greek? Who's coming the Greek who's coming up who the fuck is coming up with this logic whether like we're gonna put this in there in our tiner here this is gonna be part of the syllabus I think it's a very good question the answer is former state senator from Miami and high alia of course senator manny d s junior no not that many d s junior a different manny d s junior this is a guy who in recent years we learned Wasn't he a teacher that he hit on students?

He was a teacher at Hylia Mimeleck High School and he was known as a quote unquote pervert and Inappropriate teacher. He was hitting on girls. He was commenting on their looks He was rolling on ecstasy allegedly with students. He would talk about night clubs, right? Like he was talking about like going to like space, club space and it's a, yeah. Like space and talk, Baja Beach Club. He would talk about doing drugs.

He would talk, he would see in his car allegedly rolling blunts when he was in the campus parking lot. And this is the guy now who is dictating also, by the way, works for the largest charter school company in the state of Florida. So while he's destroying the public education system here in the state of Florida, he is personally profiting by misappropriating tax dollars

into charter schools. Jesus Christ. That's Christ. He can't help us, he can't help us now. I'm not a lot of now. Neri. Amen. Neri. It's a crazy story. Like this story has so many layers of crazy. There's just so many layers of bullshit. Oh, God. Neri, I'm so happy you were the guest co-host on what is a very special episode of because Miami. I like being from Nicaragua. Nicaragua is a weird place. It's even with Latinos, right? Like, especially in Miami, you mentioned,

fucking Nicaragua, people start yelling food at me. Like, hey bro, Fritanga. Fucking gas of Frito. I'm like, that's a weird, fucking reaction to have to somebody telling you where they're from. There's three people that were from Cuba here on stage. Nobody yo, dog, cacata, bro. Nobody yo, that shit out.

Fucking weird. Bro, I'm cutting the salad. I'm like, all bro, nobody yo da shit out. Fucking weird. Well, I'm cutting the soil out. I'm like, well, alright bro, yes, it's fucking delicious. Leave me alone, bro. I'm not running a food truck, bro. Why are you asking me this shit? You know the wheel of issues. Well, today on, because Miami were introducing a new segment, wheel of corruption, because Miami. Miami. Oh, and, and, and, and, and, and. That was classic. That was classic. Classic Florida censorship. Centering the comedian. I see how it is. I see how they show these. You've been canceled right here in the middle of the podcast. Neri. So on the wheel of corruption today, the corruption includes

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine-Kava, City of Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz-Laportia, State Senator Fabian Basabi and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez Roy shall we spin the wheel All right, let's see where I line it on um State Representative Fabian Basabi Um, state representative Fabian Bessabi. Nari, do you know who Fabian Bessabi is? I have no idea who Fabian Bessabi is. Let me tell you something of all the things we're about to say about him on this show.

That's going to be the thing that offense and most is that you don't know who he is. I've never even heard those syllables put together in the same in that order. Oh, yeah. He is beside himself about that right now. This guy is a classic narcissist like foe, fabulous reality show reject kind of guy. I mean, just this, in fact, let's put up this tweet. This is a tweet last week from a city of New York councilman, Eric Bachar, who writes, I knew Fabian Bissabi from gay bars in NYC in the early 2000s.

And I'm rather shocked to learn. He's a straight married Republican lawmaker in Florida who voted for the don't say gay bills. So this is a guy, I mean, I don't know what to tell you, just like a classic, he's known as Miami's George Santos. We call him like Fabian Kunanan. He's like a classic amorphous, a kind of grifter character. He's married with a son, a young son.

He also has a boyfriend who he kind of parades around Tallahassee with. He's now been accused by not one, but two of his young male legislative aids and an intern of pervasive sexual harassment, including groping a young man in the back of an elementary school classroom in North Beach, during career day, he grabbed his buttocks

and said the following. I want all of that but. That's what he told him, in an elementary school classroom. Did he really say that? Is that what he's been like, that fre- or did you get that clip from a movie? Or is that like, I'm glad you asked. We have a song for that.

Miami Beach State Representative Fabian Bessabi is accused in a lawsuit of sexually harassing former intern and his legislative aid. Bessabi stated to his legislative aid, I want all of that but... Ooh, George and Dose, Pee on blush, Cause your grifting is too much, Ooh baby, but some beat, my ant is right, queen queen In Miami, the V bar is real low But who's elected and runs the show? From the side your class closet You push your policy

Lately and again Don't say gay But you have a boyfriend and have a wife You love living a double life, Cracking AIDS and interns, not an ounce of class Cause you want all of that You want your interns ass You were the right wing queen

Lying from racist and obscene Right wing queen You get a fun full of ego, yeah Criminal, misogyny A dead file from bankruptcy So you've got a lot to know Should come on me, my enshrining queen My name is Ray Queen Queen. I'm going to go.

I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I'm going to go. Roy, I'm going to venture a guess that that's going to be the first elected official that makes one of our parody songs, The Ringtone. Probably. I think he's going to love that. So he's what he's married to the heiress of the La Pearla lingerie fortune.

That's it. First of all she looks gorgeous Like beautiful right stun. Yeah, beautiful. My question is the sheen like is that an open man or is that like is it open? Is it known that he's because you guys got we're talking about it right now? But I'm saying but you guys got actual pictures of him like kissing men again, nothing's done anything wrong with that I'm just saying The card is not that there's anything. Yeah, but what I'm just asking is, is the wife aware, or is this like an openly, is this an open thing like,

hey, I'm bisexual, I'm not a foul with that. I know pretend to understand the nuances or inner workings of a marriage or relationship. That's entirely their business. The concern here is this guy is a griffin and a criminal who votes to the right of the Taliban. And this is a guy who is an notorious racist. The right of the Taliban. And this is a guy who is an notorious racist. The right of the Taliban.

Yeah, I mean, this is a guy who, I can just put the Taliban looking at him and wound up getting brought back to Miami by the US Marshall's fugitive task force. Now these were youthful indiscretions that he made back in like 2021. Right. So you know when he back when he was his early 40s. You know the errors of a young man. Which who one of us has not made an error in the early 40s that we can, that's stupid, he's something. That's amazing. I'm like, this is my first time watching the video, so I have no idea who he was. So I just need to be learning. Now you know, and knowing of our state representative. Knowing it's half the battle. Roy, let's

spin the wheel of corruption. All right. I Lend it on Miami-Dade County, Maya, Dengiella, Levine, Cava. Hi D.O. Smeele, where do I begin? Your favorite you you you vouch for her man vouch for her you did when she when she was running You said I believe in her. I have that post. I saved it. It's my screenshot. I was lying to this This is this is that Matt Matt Matt says we need we need under a cold billy out, right in front of his face. This is what you meant, like why don't we invite people on the call and call them out right in front of the face. I absolutely did.

Indorcer, full-throated endorsement of her. And guess what, I'm not an occult. Sure. So our job in a democracy is to look at the best of the worst candidates in a given race. We pick the person we think is gonna do the job best. And then whoever wins, we have to call them out. We have to hold them accountable. I don't make excuses for her just because I voted

for her and encourage other people to do it. My job now is to tell you when she's screwing up. So you're flip flopping. I'm, you're flip flopping. Just say you're flip flopping. Just say your flip flopping. Just say your flip flopping. What I'm doing is I'm doing the right thing and I will tell you right now in hindsight,

even looking back at that election, she was still the best candidate running and she has dropped the ball in a big way. The people who voted her into office, she has not stabbed us in the back, she has stabbed us directly in between the eyes. There is an episode of South Park where they did every election is between a douchebag and a turd sandwich.

And a turd sandwich. Yes. And I think whichever decision you made, I guess, this thing. Yes. A giant douche or a turd sandwich. By the way, I like that I have live fact checking in my ears right now. This is the important shit going on at this program. This is a multi-million dollar media company, you know.

We have fact checkers in my ear, giant douche or turd sandwich. Exactly right. So Danielle Levincava, Cruella Levincava, as we have here, has had a banner, bad, bad week. I don't even know where to begin, but the worst of it is that it turns out that the county has sending cops to people's homes

to seize their dogs, their family pets for euthanasia. But here's the thing, they don't notify the association. I say, no, no. They just kidding. I'm just kidding. I said, listen, you've been canceled. I literally have a friend who said that to me one time. I had, when I had a day job, a thousand years ago,

I had a day job and he's like, we need to use the nicest company. And I was like, we all looked at each other, like we were in a group and I said, what do you, he said, you know, make it younger, like get rid of the old people, make it younger. I go, that's not what this means though. That's not what, but he really,

English is not his first language obviously, but we all knew immediately, he was like, this is not what he meant. But he should've told you, was don't quit that day job. That's what he should have told you. But so it turns out they've got 21 dogs that they seized. Never notifying the owners by the way that there's a court hearing

that we're going to take your dog away and we're going to kill your dog. The county is going to come in your home, seize your family pet and kill your dogs. Now, and it turns out that this is like an epidemic here in the county. But like honestly, that's the best thing we learned about Danielle Levine-Cava in the last several weeks. She is 21 dogs. So far, that we know of. And this year, this calendar year,

I don't know what the time frame is, but WSVN has discovered at least 21 of these cases, which by the way could cost taxpayers a lot of money because these owners could say our constitutional rights were violated. You murdered our family member, and now you got to pay. And so i think we have just enough time for one more spin of the wheel of corruption

all right we got uh... city my i mean mayor france is war as charmer your bro you're super smart oh i don't even want to talk about him I don't even want to talk about him. I don't even want to talk about him. So the latest on Francis War is, and this is not gonna do much for the, to dispel the theory that his presidential campaign is nothing more than like a money laundering operation, but he is now, his super PAC and a donor,

or under investigation, because it turns out that some like 11 month old artificial flower company, with no imprint other than like some obscure storefront on like Amazon marketplace, donated $500,000 to him, to his super PAC. And the only evidence they can find is that this is apparently a Chinese company.

So it may be that they're trying to obscure an illegal foreign contribution. And this is a guy who you know has been very, very vocal against the Chinese communist government. Somebody call the weebles. Let my weebles go. So, Francis War as it's not so much a presidential campaign as it is like a quasi legal lottery. Have you seen the tickets, the raffle tickets he's been selling? Donate a dollar to my campaign and you can win, you know, tickets to, to see messy play. Donate a dollar to my campaign. You can, you can get tickets to like a pit bull concert.

Donate a dollar to my campaign. I'll give you a $20 gift card. It's where to go. Wow. Yeah. Does he get the tickets in a chocolate bar and then like the winner? Like a golden ticket? Like I'm just, that would be the next level. That would be the next level marketing.

I do smell. Underhanded man child fell son. Dr. Marvin Dunne is a former naval officer, professor emeritus at Florida National University, the former chairperson of FIU's Department of Psychology. He is the founder and president of the Miami Center for Racial Justice. He is also a very noted author. Black Miami in the 20th century is one of those books that I recommend that everybody, when they say, what books about Miami do I need to read to understand this place?

Black Miami in the 20th century is one of the must reads. He's also the author of a history of Florida through Black Eyes, go to done. D-U-N-History.com for more information. He's also the man who said, if there is such a thing as the woke mob in florida i aspire to lead it doctor done i you have long been on my wishlist of people to have as a guest on this podcast

and what better week so you can help us answer the question of uh... uh... what were the benefits of slavery jesus christius right well i mean this is what we've heard we've heard i i'm a producer of what were the benefits of slavery? Jesus Christ. He's serious, right? Well, I mean, this is what we've heard. I'm a productser of the Miami-Dade County Public School System. So I'm basically a functioning illiterate is what I'm trying to tell you.

But it was a good school system when I was in there. And now I'm seeing the standards of the quality of education changing before my eyes. And one of the things that we've learned this week is that according to the Florida Department of Education, slavery was beneficial. So this was news to me. And so I'm wondering, you know, what you think? I was first shocked. I didn't believe that someone would say something like that. Much less the state of Florida than dozing that. there were no benefits to enslavement. There just were no

benefits to being treated like an object of property. There was no benefit of it at all. And even if that were, for the few, maybe 1% of enslaved, once they were free, had some skills that were marketable, maybe 1% had some skills. What about the millions who died before in emancipation? What benefits did they have? So this argument that we're hearing about slavery not being so bad, what about slavery in China and slavery in Asia? Why are our kids in the Black History course being asked to study slavery in China or Africa or Asia? Because they're trying to equivocate it. As if everybody had slavery.

America just was another country that had slavery. It don't knock us. American slavery was particularly evil. American slavery was the only system of slavery in which the enslaved were property. No one else did that except in this country. So to say everybody was doing it, then that's what that's what's being enforced in the school system in Florida. And then

to equivite racial violence, I'll stop with just this last point. To suggest that there were times when black people committed racialist-barred violence against whites in Florida. That has never happened in the history of Florida that I know of. Just has not happened. They said it happened in Okoe. They say that it happened in Rosewood. Did not happen. So next month August 12th and 13th, I'm taking a school bus load of teachers. My mid-day teachers to Okoe and to Rosewood, and I would teach them the truth in person at those places next month. And Florida's, in fact, Dr. was one of the top states for for lynching, for racism. People don't, you know, in Miami, it's hard to realize that we were a Jim Crow, you

know, we were the part of the Jim Crow South. Florida has, it was not one of the top states. If you lived in Florida during the lynching era, your chances of being lynched were greater than if you lived in Mississippi, Alabama, or any other southern state. It was an intensely important period in Florida. So just setting the record straight. Now, that's not mentioned in these new standards. The word lynching is bare, I think, twice in a sentence here and there. That should be a whole section of these people who died at the hands of racial violence. Anyway, that's just one of the problems I have with this. It's a suggestion that there were times when black people committed racial violence against whites.

Simply has not happened in Florida history. To me, the tell here, or the giveaway of what the motivations are here, not just what they are teaching, but as you brought up, what they won't allow to be taught. You are a plaintiff in the ACLU's lawsuit against the state claiming that the Stop-Woke Act amounts to unconstitutional, racially motivated censorship. I have to wonder, sir, have your books been banned or could they be banned from Florida schools? My book, The History of Florida Through Black Eyes,

if a date-timey school system or any teacher in any school system had that book in his or her classroom that could be fired. That book talks about institution races. It talks about how Florida was bathed in it from the very beginning. Teachers can't be teaching that anymore in far-ter-stores. So it doesn't take the banning of a particular book. I'm so glad you asked that question. It's not the book banning itself that is so bad.

It is the banning of ideas. If you ban the ideas, the books will follow. So if you save the idea of institution racism cannot be discussed in a classroom in Florida, you don't need to name books, starting with mine. So we've seen this playbook before. They saw it in Europe in 1933, when the Nazis came to power,

using some of the same things, defining morality. In this case, we're now all supposed to be Judeo Christians. That's the new push from the conservatives. And to have the school system complete with this message that we are Judeo-Christian nation. I'm a Christian, but I don't appreciate that. What about the folks who are not Christians or Jews in our country?

They don't count. It's the backwood slide in our nation that I, and now 83 years ago, years of age, cannot believe that it's come to this. I cannot believe that in 2023, the year of our ago, years of age, cannot believe that has come to this. I cannot believe that in 2023, the year of our Lord, we have to have a conversation with the phrase slavery had no benefits. Like that's insane to me, that that's something

that needs to be said, that needs to be said out loud. And on that note, we have experienced, particularly in the state of Florida, a lot of marginalized and underserved communities being targeted by this government, the LGBTQ plus community, all women, but there seems to be a particular target on the back of black Americans, black Floridians, black history. There has been no suggestion that we teach in our public schools, the benefits of the Holocaust to my people.

There has been no suggestion that we teach the benefits of communism. I mean, they have free health care in Cuba, but nobody suggests that we talk about the good parts of you. Don't talk about the fact that thanks to the oppressive communist government in Cuba, so many people, baseball players, flee to America and we get all kinds of great baseball players. So, isn't that a benefit of communism? No one has suggested that we adjust our curriculum

why why the target on black history because it gives political leverage if you're trying to appeal to the right have you noticed that every four years when we get into a presidential cycle election cycle somehow race comes up every four years and republicans are the ones who raise it. It's a plan. They know that that's a sore point in the undeveloped of our national history where we rather not have that exposed to people. But they bring it up because they know that there are folks who rally around the fear that these debates always render.

And this time with the centers is the worst that I've seen in my lifetime. I spent six years as a neighbor also befitting my country on aircraft carriers. It was a proudest time of my life. And I know that I live in the best country in the world. I'm an American citizen. But one of the reasons that I am one of the professors who is suing the state of Florida is I simply will not accept interrestraints on my speech except civility. So when the state of Florida tells me I can't mention institutional racism, really stop me. Dr. Dunn, I would say the point that you made about the political points

that these lawmakers are looking to score, that might be proof in and of itself of the very institutional and systemic racism that they won't allow to be taught in the schools. Good point. Well taken. You know, my first work in history really went into the history of Miami, along the community, where I was raised. The city of Miami was just born in institutional racism. There was not one institution in the birth and evolution of Miami that was not institutional racist.

Business, the police, education, in attainment, even the church. So when you say you can't teach that there were institutional racist practices in your community, then what do we suppose to teach? How are we supposed to deal with that history? Right now, I think what DeSantis and others want us to do is to ignore it and suppress it.

And that's something that's not going to work. Go to Dunn History. That's dunnhistory.com. Read his books. Find out more about his Teach the Truth tour. Find out about the upcoming Teach No Lies tour for teachers coming up in August. Dr. Marvin Dunn, thanks so much for being here. Please come back again. Thank you. Have a good day. Before he start in the hit series, the OC for four seasons on Fox, before he was a young

pre-commissioner, James Gordon, in Gotham for five seasons, before he was nominated for no less than 16 choice awards, the Susan Lucci of the Teen Choice Awards, by the way, and ranking on various important lists like the 100 Sexiest Men Alive, 25 Sexiest Stars under 25 and 10 hottest bachelors of summer, he attended the University of Virginia where he majored in foreign affairs and economics, which is kind of what brings us to his first book, Just Published Last Week, Easy Money, Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, co-authored with journalist Jacob Silverman. Ben McKenzie, we've been told that crypto currencies are decentralized and will democratize the

financial world, that crypto will help the unbanked and underbanked to more easily engage in financial transactions, that crypto was a hedge against inflation and untethered pun intended from traditional market fluctuations in volatility is any of that true no alright thank you good night all right by the book yeah you've testified in front of the senate banking committee you said the following you said in your opinion cryptos the largest paunzy scheme in history by an order of

magnitude in fact it may represent a fraud at least 10 times bigger than Bernie Madoff. Why? So we usually measure Ponzi's schemes, at least in popular opinion, by the sort of purported size. Obviously, a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent scheme. So the numbers, they'll say it's worth whatever, but it really matters. Sort of how much money is still left when the scheme collapses. So Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme is generally considered

to be the largest up to this point. That was 65 billion. I think they found like 20-ish, which actually was pretty good because the actual money that had gone in was 20-ish. I think they found like 75 cents on the dollar. So crypto, if it is effectively upon Z or a multi-level marketing would be you'd value that at three trillion which was the the crypto market cap in November of 2021 right about when

Jacob Silverman and I started running about how it was baloney. So if that's true then three trillion as opposed to 65 billion I mean you could do the math but it's it is an order of magnitude bigger if that's true, then three trillion as opposed to 65 billion, I mean, you can do the math, but it's, it is an order of magnitude bigger if that's on the agenda. But why, oh yeah, Nari's doing the math right now. Can you do it? You have your eye-abacus app on your phone? Can you, you wanna, yeah, sorry.

I mean, somebody do that for me, but. It's brilliant, I'm still posting zeros, I'm posting zeros. Yeah, exactly. But then why is it a Ponzi scheme though? And why is that everything that we've been pitched about crypto, as you said, is not true? Sure. So if you go to the SEC's website, Skirting Exchange website, go for it in a website.

Uh oh, be careful. They're tracking my shit. They have a, they have a page devoted to Ponzi scheme seven red flags for Ponzi scheme. Crypto checks off five arguably six of the seven. Here's a couple. Unregister on license investments. If you are investing in something as unregistered in license, which effectively cryptocurrencies are as securities, then that's a red flag. If you're being sold on unregistered in license exchanges, that's a red flag. That's a red flag. If you're being sold on registered and licensed exchanges, that's a red flag. And if they're promised you a guaranteed return on your money above market, that is a red

flag for pawns, which companies like Celsius, who see you, I interviewed, they claim stuff like that. That's a lot. You can't all investments carry risk. You cannot guarantee above market return, meaning above say T bills, which are correct rebels, which are considered to be effectively riskless in the sense that they're backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. You can't guarantee return.

No one can predict the future. That's a sign that they're lying to you. When I looked at crypto as this novice, I was like, wait a minute, five or six or the seven red flags are checked off immediately. What the hell? This looks like it's a Ponzi scheme slash multi-level marketing scheme and it has aspects of both. I go into a book, but yeah. I recall your first public display of skepticism on this subject was, shall I diplomatically say your concern about celebrity endorsements of crypto

and basically taking financial advice from actors, singers and athletes who are being paid to promote these instruments. So that seems to be the seed of much of this for you, right? You were like, what the hell is going on here on television? No, that was pretty dispiriting to see my colleagues do that. Actually, I give Jacob Selverman a lot of credit here,

Jacob, my co-author in the book. He pointed out to me, I was blind to this, but we were like, look, how are we gonna sell a book about how crypto is baloney when there's all evidence to the contrary, right? When crypto is supposedly worth $3 trillion, he said, well, let's write articles and let's start with criticizing other celebrities

because that'll give us, that'll track some attention. And it's true, of course. And so we started with that and then we wrote articles. So that was in slate. We wrote articles for the intercept, the Washington Post, the New Republic. But yeah, I mean, the celebrities were pretty ridiculous. It was absurd. I mean, they're not licensed financial advisors and not supposed to be in financial advice. They're not hawking, car insurance, or soap. They're hawking unreg to be in financial advice. They're not hawking, car insurance or soap. They're hawking unregulated and licensed financial products. This was a disaster waiting to happen.

And how did it work? Everyone wants to know, well, the celebrity's got paid in real money to get a piece of you to take your real money and turn it into something else. It's pretty simple. And I was really pissed off about it, so I decided to write a photo check. And they clearly didn't do the cursory googling on the subject that you had started to do enough

to know that maybe I shouldn't be clocking this crap. It's a bizarre decision because really I think goes to the heart of how little people pay attention to this stuff. Look, your agent comes to you or manage her, whoever, and says, Hey, you can get X dollars, millions of dollars for doing basically nothing. And the celebrity goes, where do I sign? If you had just spent a little bit of time thinking about it, does it seem to be good to be true? Right.

Like, don't do it. And I'm not saying that bad motivations. I'm not. Like, I would imagine most celebrities just didn't really think about it and just were like, okay, great. The mad Damon had like, he was probably done by lunch. He walks around an empty warehouse, winning at random stuff that isn't there, that they're going to add later and CGI, how long can that possibly take. But it's a lack of due diligence and it speaks to like that the celebrities are not the core problem. Of course, they're just the megaphone necessary

at the end of the Ponzi life cycle. You have to get as many people in as possible, right? And eventually, you know, if it gets this big, you're, you end up with the most famous people in the world shilling it on the Super Bowl, the biggest advertising event of the year. And so as disappointing and sort of depressing as it was to witness that in February of last year, it almost felt like, well, it can't go up from here.

It's probably going to go down, and sure enough, it did. There is always a Miami connection for the last three years. The Bitcoin conference has taken place here in Miami no longer. Next year, I think it's in Nashville, but you came to— What? You came to, yes, sorry. Yeah, it's, yeah, to, it inflations too high here. But even though I thought it was, you know, not supposed to be inflationary,

cryptocurrency, nonetheless, you attended really what was the last hurrah, which was Bitcoin 2022. In fact, it was basically crashing almost in real time while they were desperately here in Miami trying to, trying to pump it. I mean, Peter Teal was pumping and dumping like simultaneously and ensuring that he was not

going to be the last man holding the bag there, but you were here in Miami, it's a fabulous scene. It's like fear and loathing at Bitcoin Miami. This scene, because it's a bit of Gonzo journalism the book where it's like told in the first person about your journey through the crypto con and coming to con man con down here in Miami. There's some wonderful quotes like this quote about Brock Pierce, you write like so many

people I interviewed in Miami, Brock appeared to become uncomfortable when asked basic questions, which to me describes talking to almost anybody. Yeah, in my end, but can you just set the scene a little bit about like what Bitcoin 2022 was like, these characters, and I'll tell you right now, I will pay good money for your Jesus for Bitcoin shirt. I do a lot of goodwill hunting for merch like that. I will have you know. I've got it. It's amazing. I'm sorry. It's not for sale. I will carry that around, you know. It's amazing. I'm sorry. It's not for sale. It is. I will carry that around. You know, it doesn't even fit me correctly. I did. I was doing push ups. So we walked on

the convention floor. So it's basically just a trade show. I mean, that's the kind of long and short of it, except it's wrapped in all this language of like, well, that's going to free everybody. We're all going to make money. So like any trade show, you know, it's Americana. It's overpriced stadium food, overpriced beer. And they don't take Bitcoin for $8 beers. Yeah, I tried to pay, so I went to the main bar there, which was behind this massive volcano that they had built to symbolize the issuance of Bitcoin bonds in El Salvador. Unfortunately, the headliner for the event, the president of El Salvador, couldn't make

it in person because there was a gang warfare that he needed to deal with. Unfortunately, the headliner for the event, the president of El Salvador couldn't make it in person because there was a gang warfare that he needed to deal with. That's one does. Because El Salvador. That's one does. Yeah, and unfortunately, because America, if you wanted to go deep, we were largely responsible for the state of that country. Anyway, so there was this massive, basically, like a high school science project on steroids,

this huge volcano, that like burped school science project on steroids, this huge volcano that like burped steam, you know, it was ridiculous. Like literally like hundreds of feet high. And behind it was a bar. And so of course, I asked, you know, the obvious question, can I buy my $9 Bud Light with some Bitcoin? Unfortunately, their Bitcoin into real money machine was down. But you know, I thought it was Donald's machine for the ice cream. Yeah. Oh, it's down. It's down. But you know, I thought it was Donald's machine for ice cream. Yeah.

Oh, it's down. It's down. Oh, it's down. It's never. I'm knowing it is the order of McDonald's, by the way, my daughter is seven. Like, of course, you must be the kind of, I really did try to go, I've gone to McDonald's now twice in the last like, and that machine is so annoying. It's so down. It's always down. It's always down. I like the fact that you try to clarify, you try to do them. I'm fat. You don't got to tell me why you're going to McDonald's. I got you, man.

This is Ben's next book right now. The McDonald's ice cream time. Ice cream machine. Yeah. That's right. I mean, I start big and I go small. Yeah. So yeah, there's so many great details in Miami.

I mean, my favorite detail was your beloved mayor. Your beloved mayor was he did the unveiling of the of the Bitcoin bull, which was like an homage to the Wall Street original, like this big bull that was made of like fiberglass and steel. And it was like, you know, going to symbolize the future of money and all this stuff. And actually look pretty kind of cool in a little over the top way. And Mayor Suarez was like, in Miami, we have big balls. There's just one problem. The bowl didn't have any balls. Or any dick for that matter.

The bowl was unfortunately of the castrated variety. So I asked various people standing outside admiring this bull and taking selfies with it and all that. I was like, have you guys ever heard of in cells? They had it. It was very disappointing. Anyway, I was, you know, it was a weird man. It was interesting because like, you're talking to those people and they believe in it. I mean, they're also trying to sell you stuff.

Like, let's be honest, like there was a father, son, team selling panties for Bitcoin. It was a family business where they were trying to sell you panties for Bitcoin. I don't know why I maybe worked in the undergarments industry and they had product and they want to, I don't, it was very, maybe you just saw his audience and he was like, this is going to sell here. It was not a high quality, less, I would say. Right. Yeah. I would say, I would take a Jesus for Bitcoin thong as well at this point. Ben McKenzie, author, easy money, cryptocurrency, casino capitalism, and the golden age of fraud along with Jacob Silverman.

I loved this book. I had so much fun with it. I could talk to you about it for hours. This guy interviewed Sam Bankman Fried. Yeah. Yeah, got some investment advice from that guy. Ben, congratulations on the book and good luck with it. Thanks, Billy.

Really appreciate it. Thank you to Ben McKenzie. Thank you to Dr. Marvin Dunn. Most importantly, thank you to Neri Sines. See him live. August 24th at the Miami improv. Go to Miamiimprov.com for tickets, please come back and roast me anytime. I would love, this is just fantastically great.

Like I would love that. Thank you very much. And make sure you check out my website. If you can't remember the Nares signs, you go to whatwashisname.com. That's a real website. That's seriously what it got. What was his name?

What was his name? Is that what people say they leave the club? They're like, what was his name? He was, he was pretty good. What was his name? They say that all the time. I get that all the time. So what was his name.com? I have another one was his name? They say that all the time I get that all the time. So what was his name.com?

I have another one, but it's part of one of my bits. It's a whole thing. Well, what was his name.com is a thing? I love it. Not that I need to be roasted. It's 6,000 degrees outside. The ocean water hit 101.1 off the coast of Florida. That's hot tub.

That's why the strikes are doing the coke, man. That's weird. Yeah. Too hot. Too hot. Too hot, dude. Too hot. Too hot. This week's Miami Moment is Miami Mayor Francis Juarez,

aka Ponzi Postalita, at the right-wing turning point conference last week in West Palm Beach. He did not get a very good greeting there. He was heckled with cries of rhino and traitor, cocaines. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. You do so far, you do so far. I'm not alone. You can do it. I'm not alone. I'm not alone. No, no, no. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, that's the beauty of our country. If you put garbage in, you're going to get garbage out.