The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: The Toxic Revenger

Episode Date: November 3, 2023

Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign continues to be a disaster. Investigative reporter Jason Garcia updates Billy Corben on the ongoing court battle between Florida's governor and The Walt Disney Company. Lisa Zayas of Florida Watch joins us to talk about DeSantis' bad polling numbers and bad PR. Plus, the Wheel of Despair. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. You know your campaign is going terribly wrong when people only want to talk about your shoes, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll get to Israel and Palestine in a second. First, what the f**k's up with those boots, bro? Now I know why D'Santhus is in that huge fight with Disney. It's not because of openness. What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, because Miami we will talk about the ultimate Godzilla-esque showdown in Florida of Disney versus DeSantis.

I'm waiting on the bell, Sunset. Yes. I'm always talking about the cards before we do them. But yes, Roy, it's true that FBI director Christopher Ray said this week that anti-Semitism is reaching historic levels in the US as the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies. Our statistics would indicate the FBI director says that for a group that represents only 2.4% of the American public,

they account for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. And so today we're talking about Rhonda Sandes' boots on the program. Yeah, that's what it's. My segue, that's my segue there. But bootgate, bootgate has taken over the internet. So it's breaking TikTok as we speak.

You have to look at this split screen, Roy. They're calling it cowboy boot truthers is what they're being called. There's all these seemingly conspiracy theories about Rhondisantis' cowboy boots that appear to be lifts. They appear to actually have his foot crammed into them in such a way that he's basically standing on his tippy toes with his heels in the air to give him some extra air space.

Why? Why is he wearing a cowboy? He's from Ohio. Why is he wearing a cowboy boots? Well, it's kind of the pudwacker from what Jacksonville or the pudwacker from Dunedin. Oh, yes. I eat.

So this is, people have been posting these diagrams and conspiracy theories to show where his bones should be like on his legs and why he's all out of proportion. So, Politico, God bless them. Politico published this amazing article. The headline is, three expert shoemakers say Rhonda Santas is probably wearing height boosters. This article is unbelievable. Roy, they examine the available video and photographs like the Zabruder film. They're going kind of framed by frame and they actually have three world expert

shoemakers and bootmakers who chime in and explain how basically what appears to be happening here is that they have done a series of things. First thing they've done is shave down the outside like boot heel because it would mess with his balance because he's getting all of his lift from an interior heel that basically is almost tantamount to like a four or five inch stiletto. That's basically what he's wearing. And for those of you watching at home,

you look at this diagram. They have a close-up of Rhonda Santas' boots when he's sitting on a stool. And Schemaker Nicholas Templeman notes that there's this weird wrinkle in like the shaft of the boot, suggesting that his ankle is sitting up high. The second telltale clue according to Cowboy Bootmaker, Graham Ebner, is that the leather appears stretched further suggesting a lifted heel,

like on the ankle, because his ankle's not where his ankle should be, low in the boot, it's much higher. And then you can see at the toes, they almost look like clown shoes, Roy were like, he see all the toe like curls up. And when he walks, you can see it in video, it curls up at an unnatural angle if his feet were there, but in fact, what's happening is his toes end about like almost two inches back in the boot. And finally, Graham Ebbner, the cowboy bootmaker,

believes that there's a knot in the side of the shoe that looks very unnatural is coming from his toe. You could see where his right toe is pressing against the inside of the boot. And his right toe is pressing against the inside of the boot. And his toe is obviously not at the tip of the boot. It's said, back several inches, but they talk about the degrees at which his heel is and like how the the ankle is unnaturally kind of like warped. They also talk about how the shaft of the boot on cowboy boots, they're supposed to fit properly, like almost form fitting against your calf.

And here they're like very wide. And they say they're pressing against the leg of his pant, his pant leg. Really? Really? I hope everyone can see the look on his face. I love it. We've talked far too much about a man's feet for my liking but yes uh... not your not your fetish right not your fetish no but right so ronda

s and so ronda sandis's campaign is basically saying all that's bs now totally totally bs so in an email to political magazine to sandis's press secretary brine griffin writes the following considering the fact that political magazine admittedly spent money to consult quote unquote boot experts to run this hit piece on DeSantis tells you all you need to know about their quote journalism and quote. The governor doesn't pat his boots if he ever needed anything to line a pet cage or fold up and wedge under a table leg, that would be the highest and best use for political

magazine. It's followed immediately by an editor's note that says, to be clear, political magazine did not compensate any of the bootmakers quoted in this story. Also, political magazine does not appear in print. I mean, political is kind of a famously online periodical. And of course, they're talking about lining a, a parrot cage with it. But listen, this is the, the campaign that can't shoot straight, okay? The Rhondasantus campaign is just going down in flames.

And he has short man syndrome too, so that explains why he's so theoretical. This guy said on a podcast that he's 5'11, okay, for him to be 511, it would have to be like me on David Samson shoulders and Rhonda Santis on my shoulders in a trench coat. And we would be 511. As promised, the main event, Disney versus DeSantis, in this corner, weighing 27,000 acres, generating about nine billion dollars of revenue every year is Disney World. One of the top employers and taxpayers in the great free state of Florida. And in this corner, weighing, alternately somewhere between like 180 and 300 pounds, depending on the ozemic intake, and definitely not 511.

I mean, definitely not 511 is Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and joining us now is friend of the show Jason Garcia, investigative reporter, covering corporate influence in Florida, which is basically just covering Florida, right, Jason? And as the publisher of Seeking Rents, you can find him at SeekingRenceFL.com. Oh, there we go. We got it. We found one. Got this is a, some multi million dollar

media company, Jason. We have, we have access to extraordinary technology. Jason big headline this week at Seeking Rens, Ron DeSantis sees control of Disney's district. Employees are now quitting and moss. So I guess not a shocker, right? But I guess what's most disappointing about this is apparently this was a great place to work that is now turn toxic. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So just to give you a little background about me is I actually covered the Walt Disney

Company for the Orlando Sentinel for nearly 10 years. And so I used to actually go to monthly reedy creek board meetings. You could you could find my name in old meeting minutes there, right? And there is plenty that is problematic about, you know, giving a company its own city government to do with as it pleases. But the one thing about Reedy Creek is it was the best run government in Florida. It was really well done. And now it has just become a gong show. What's funny about it too is that you hear a lot about

from Republicans in particular that the public sector sucks. You can't trust government. It's a bunch of bumbling idiots that waste our money. We have to rely on the private sector, right? Worst case scenario, public private partnerships, but best case scenario, privatized, privatized, privatized. Here's a government that actually does exist in the sunshine,

operates like a legit government, but because there is a multi-billion dollar, multinational, publicly traded company responsible for it, it was actually a better government, right? And what's happened to it now since Rhonda Santas has hijacked it? Since Rhonda Santas basically announced he was gonna take over this place.

He used to be Disney controlled the election, so essentially Disney appointed the board, and then Ron DeSantis is part of his punishment for Disney for both criticizing the don't say gay law and also cutting off campaign contributions to Ron DeSantis to punish them. He took control of the board. So now he appointed his own people. He put in there a mom's for Liberty co-founder, a guy who's who wants called homosexuality evil. Those are the kind of folks running this district now. And I believe he also who's who once called homosexuality evil. Those are the kind of folks running this district now. And I believe he also said that tap water causes homosexuality or something to that effect. He shared a conspiracy theory about it. Yeah. And then he, you know, just to show

you how far this government has fallen, one of their earliest meetings was this guy trying to explain what he meant by tap water turns you gay. Basically that that that's the level of discourse happening at this district right now. If you're explaining you're losing, is not what they say in politics. Exactly. And what you've just seen is a is a mass exodus. So more than three dozen folks have left since then, including basically half of the entire

senior leadership team, you've lost the district administrator, the fire chief, the building official, the district clerk, the head of the building division, the head of the facilities division. It's just, the list goes on and on. And in addition to losing all these people, we actually requested the exit surveys that they're doing. And these people are just utterly teeing off on the management there, both the, the governor's appointed board members and kind of the handpicked crony district administrator. They brought in who's another desantis loyalist.

You had one former high ranking department official called the new leadership incompetent. You've had other people say they are, they claim they're building bridges, they're actually burning them down. Another person said the district is basically dysfunctional now. There are so many job openings. And to be clear, the reason why this matters

is that there is institutional memory here, right? Each one of these people represents each, probably decades of experience running a government, which is a legitimate responsibility, and now they no longer have that experience. Yeah, that's exactly right. I actually went up and totaled the experience. They've lost more than 350 years worth

of combined experience. Wow. And again, remember, this is the city government for what is the most important economic total of the experience, they've lost more than 350 years worth of combined experience. Wow. And again, remember, this is the city government for what is the most important economic engine in Florida, Walt Disney World. It's the biggest tourism driver, it's the biggest driver of sales tax, you know, hotel taxes, right? This is a place you want functioning normally, right? And you have just driven off all the people that, you know, help get the trash collected

there that makes sure the electricity is working, that make sure the elevators are working. It's just a really dumb place to be playing politics. And while we're on the subject, I want to talk about the latest in the lawsuit of Disney versus DeSantis. There were some developments this week involving a motion to dismiss on the part of Ron DeSantis in the state of Florida and Disney's rather intense response to that. I want to say the model here in Florida, particularly when it comes to education and just about everything, on the part of the Republican supermajority for almost what, 23, 24 years, nearly a quarter century, has been to privatize, subsidize, and brutalize, which is to say, privatize

these otherwise public functions like education, subsidize, meaning we're pumping our tax dollars into these private companies or charter schools or whatever they may be. And then when I say brutalize, I mean, there's no accountability or transparencies because you now have these private agencies who are not subject to public records laws, you know, sunshine laws as we call them here, and they can do whatever the hell they want with our money, with our kids, with our schools, et cetera. But here, I mean, Disney basically volunteered to pay their own tax. I'm not, you know, Disney apologists, but like, and as you said, there was problems with

this self-governing, reedy creek improvement district that probably could have been reformed in a meaningful way, but that's not what happened here. I mean, they went after a pretty responsible local government. As you said, one of the best run local governments in the state of Florida, and they destroyed it for political revenge. That at least is the argument of Disney. And what is the latest on the litigation? Yeah.

So, Disney has just pushed back there in pretty getting deeper into litigation right now. And right now, what's happening is we're onantis and the, uh, essentially, the, the new district board, he's appointed. They're trying to get this lawsuit tossed before they get to discovery, which is what they're really terrified here is that Disney's lawyers are going to get to start pulling all sorts of records that Ron DeSantis would normally sit on and refuse to provide in response to public records requests. They're going to get access to these things.

So they're trying to stop that from happening right now. And Disney has come back with a pretty powerful argument that basically says, listen, if they get away with this, which is like, as clear a day as you can find of punishment, free speech punishment, right? This is entirely because Disney spoke out against the Don't Say Gailaw and stop making campaign contributions and then they punished them, right? That if you allow this to go forward, then think about what they can do to everybody

else, right? Companies that aren't Disney, individuals that aren't Disney, right? So there's an enormous precedent at stake here. And Disney is really hammering that point over the court. Things aren't going so well for Rhonda Sannis on the campaign trail. We've been talking about his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week, week after week after week on this show. And it seems like he's tapped out, right? He's running out of campaign cash. And so you reported this past week that this is not how you say it, but I'm going to characterize it as a shakedown. Basically, he's going to the people that he has leverage over and that he can incentivize, let's say, to donate money to him. He's obviously not getting any money from Disney, as we've established.

And of course, he's sending a message, though, to the rest of these companies in Florida that if you do me like Disney, I'm going to do you like Disney, which means I'm going to try to, you know, destroy your company. So what is he doing here? He's basically keeps tapping the same resources in the state of Florida, companies that do business here in the state. What is he doing to try to generate more campaign cash for his floundering presidential hubs?

Yeah, that's exactly what he's doing. He's going to businesses that need favors from his administration, and he is just squeezing money out of them. So to give you just a couple of quick examples, the company that owns Florida Power and Light next-air energy, nearly 60 executives at this company all gave to them in the last quarter. It was more than $100,000 just from executives at this one company. We've also seen some things similar. Mosaic, the big phosphate miner that is right now trying to work with the DeSantis administration for on a plan to build.

And this is true. A road made with radioactive waste. He got 30 more than $30,000 from more than a dozen executives at Mosaic, including the CEO, it's top lobbyist, it's general counsel, all these like basically the entire C suite. He's done the same thing with Geogrupe, the private prison company that just got a new contract renewed with the state of Florida. He's done the same thing with Ashbrit,

the big debris removal contractor that gets all sorts of business out of the, after hurricanes. And he's done the same thing with the companies that run all the seminal tribe, casinos and hard rock. Jason, I can't let you just gloss over the toxic highways. You said, this is real, which I appreciate you confirming that,

but can you go, I don't want to go too deep, because then you're going to hit the toxic phosphate mines, but like, remind us please, because I think we talked about it on the show before. What is going on with the mosaic company? And Ron DeSantis's plan to build highways and roadways in Florida out of toxic waste. Right, yeah, yeah. And Ron DeSantis's plan to build highways and roadways in Florida. And if it's toxic waste.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's basically it, right? Mosaic is a phosphate minor and it turns phosphate rock into fertilizer at chemical factories. And that chemical process produces this toxic byproduct called phospho gypsum. But it's mildly radioactive and you can't use it for anything, right? Because, you know, again, it's radioactive. So it just gets piled into these stacks. And so this year, Mosaic got the Florida legislature to pass a law and Ron DeSantis to sign this law that allows it to test the use of this stuff is basically like the road bed material and roads. And so they're not, they're trying to build a test road

and they're working with the DeSantis administration directly on it. So, so you can see like, you know, you might have some concerns about this company giving tens of thousands of dollars to Ron DeSantis at a time when he is desperate for cash when it's gonna be up to Ron DeSantis to decide like how much toxic waste he gets to put into its road.

All that's BS, no, totally, totally BS. To be clear, this is a company that produces not only a useless byproduct, but a toxic byproduct. And they're looking to just find more places to put it because otherwise it's either like, well, wait, it's too expensive for us to dispose of it or to store it safely. So what if we can turn it into,

I don't know, dog food or baby toys or like, what can we pass or yoga mats or subway candy subway sandwiches? Yeah, someone argue, someone argue peeps and candy corn already are made from toxic substances. I happen to love them. But I saw Roy shaking his head because it's stupid. It's dumb. Because you know, you know, Broward is going to be where they're going to put a test highway for this shit. You know, Broward, you know, you're county. That's right. It's 75. Right. You know, it's going to be some roadway where there's like six waffle houses off

of every exit east and west. I mean, you just know every, every democratic city in Florida, like, the U.S. and Gaines, though, they're all, they're all about to get a brand new highway. Yeah, it's like you want to be blue. You want to be blue. Your roadways are going to be glowing blue by the time I'm done with you. I have to do this one more story. Now, you did not specifically cover it, but I've seen it on your Twitter feed all over

everybody's Twitter feed. We're going to put a headline up from the Harold Tribune out tribune out of sarasota but this has been all over the place over the past week the headline here is florida senator trying to start insurance company after making it harder to sue insurance companies i mean basically what we talked about this on the show we talked to uh... to john morgan

of all people who is obviously dramatically affected by these new laws that the florida legislature passed in basically what they did was they well you explain it jason they made it and of all people who was obviously dramatically affected by these new laws that the Florida legislature passed. And basically what they did was they, well, you explain it Jason, they made it harder to sue insurance companies, not only to sue insurance companies, but basically compel insurance companies to pay up on the policies that they wrote and that you have been or we have been paying for. And now the same legislatures, are the same legislators who pass these laws

Immediately started passing around a prospectus for a new company. That's like hey We legislated our way into this opportunity. Let's exploit it. What the hell is going on Jason? It's war profiteria is what you see I got a telly I see Although believe it or not. This is actually worse than you think it is. Oh good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just in case you were like talking to yourself and to be an okay with it. One of the things they did in that bill,

in addition to making it virtually impossible to sue an insurance company that won't pay a claim, they also did a bunch of stuff that essentially makes it forces people, if you're in citizens right now, the states insurance company, they made a bunch of changes that will force you to leave citizens and take higher priced offers from private insurers. They call them takeout policies and they're basically going to force like tons of people in citizens to go pay a lot higher prices for worse insurance from the private

market. This company, Joe Grooters, is chilling for a big part of their business model is going to be taking out those policies out of citizens. They just passed a law that's like forcing people to pay higher rates to their own insurance company. The current insurance company that Joe Grooters is going to start. Joe Grooters to be clear is a Florida state senator, an ally of Donald Trump, a former ally to San Jose. I'm not exactly sure where anybody stands now with the whole president. Yeah, that one was always an uneasy alliance. He's pretty well been with a Trump guy. And obviously he's learned pretty well from Trump about sort of how you, how

you profit off public service. And now though DeSantis was certainly a party to this. He signed this into law after the legislature passed it, but they invented a business model. They carved a profit center for themselves, basically, like what like, and there is a prospectus. It says top secret, do not share with anybody. And now it's gone public. And it's basically Florida state Senator Joe Grooters, who is shopping it around to other lawmakers in the Florida legislature to say, hey, like, let's take advantage of this opportunity. And let me throw even one other part of this that makes this even grosser somehow.

So one of the ways these insurance companies become profitable when you start up one of these like, Italy, Dink, like, Grooters Insurance that's just going to come in like, Vulture a bunch of people out of citizens, right? What they do is, you know, I have more, people out of citizens, right? What they do is, you know, I have more, not only in insurance, there's like the rates are pretty regulated, right? But they find ways to sidestep that stuff by setting up separate companies and paying themselves,

they call it like management fees. So like, Grooters Insurance Agency will pay a bunch of money to like Grooters Management Co, right? And that's how you like essentially strip money out of the main company and give it all to yourself, right? There was legislation this past session to sort of crack down on that behavior. And they killed it. They refused to pass it, right? Right before they start this up. So I mean, everything about this is disgusting. This segment of because Miami has brought you by the Grooters Insurance Company, I am Grooters. Jason Garcia, investigative reporter,

covering corporate influence in Florida, find him at seekingrendsfl.com. Thanks Jason. Yeah, thanks for having me. And speaking of bad news for DeSantis, we're back to fear and Florida men on the campaign trail. He just can't get out of his own way. The latest is a poll that says Ron DeSantis is among the least popular governors in the United States of America.

According to the latest morning consult survey, Ron DeSantis, when you factor in his unfavorables, he has the 10th lowest approval rating of any state leader surveyed tied with the New York Democratic governor, Kathy Hocal. He's at like 51% approval and 45% disapproval, but you've got other Republican governors like Vermont's Phil Scott at 83% approval, 14% disapproval and New Hampshire's Chris Sanuno with 67% approval and 45% disapproval. So this myth that he is like America's governor is right up there with the myth that Rudy Giuliani is America's mayor. His whole, Roy is cracking up.

Roy is. America, I'll be talking about here. Cracking up. Well, I think we know exactly who's America. That is here in the free state of Florida. Lisa Zias is the Latina Communications Director for Florida watch. And Lisa, every week we talk about, we're on the Santantis and is terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week, nothing but bad headlines. And in fact, this headline from

Marcaputo at the messenger with the actual phrase, another PR disaster in the headline. And this is from yet another bad poll, the Iowa poll, which shows that really he is basically not or barely running in second. That a lot of people are not responding well to him or his campaign on a national level. Republicans, that means what is going on? Is this implosion that we've been watching in slow motion seems to be continuing here? So, really, this is another reflection of the fact that the more people get to know him,

they dislike him more. He's very unlikable, he's not charismatic, he's not genuine, and that comes out, that shows. And regardless of the corporate and billionaire money that he's campaigning, he's pouring to like, you know, the, the efforts. And actually in Iowa, he has visited almost 90 counties in the state. And these strategies are not working because he doesn't have the personality or his weakness. These are so every then to everyone. So it's not surprising.

To be clear, earlier this week, this Iowa poll came out, which showed that DeSantis has lost three percentage points in two months. That puts him at 16% tied with Nikki Haley, who has jumped 10 points in that same time period. Trump, meanwhile, has gained a marginal one point and has a 43% support overall with which is preposterous to me, but he is clearly not being threatened by either Nikki Haley or DeSantis, but DeSantis seems to be legitimately threatened by Nikki Haley. So I think it's that classic situation. The more people get to know Nikki Haley,

the more they like her, and the more they get to know Ron DeSantis, the less they like him. Listen, it's inevitable that he will drop out. I mean, at this point, he's just sort of like the understudy waiting in the wings for Trump to, I don't know, flee the country or go to prison. But I don't even think he is going to be the anointed successor

at this point. It's much more likely it'll be, you know, a Nikki Haley kind of character. Now with Mike Pence out of the race, I think it's only a matter of time. Maybe it'll be Iowa. Maybe he can last that long, although he is running out of money, the,

the DeSantis campaign. My question is what happens when he comes back to Florida? There's conventional wisdom that says that the lawmakers will distance himself from him, but I don't know about that. I think that that's probably what's going to happen. We see that in their expressions recently, like we've heard, but also like we're concerned about, you know, he's coming back with the vengeance as we say, he is dangerous always everywhere. And we have to contain him in Florida. So yes, we are very concerned

about him coming back. My, my because he didn't get any support, not even in Florida. I think he has the support of the people. So yeah, I don't know. I think the legislators are going to line up in lockstep with him again, the assumption that he is still somehow the future of the Republican party. And it just wasn't his time or his turn yet. And I think he's going to come back and wield a lot of that same power and control that iron fist really, that dictatorial iron fist and basically get past whatever the hell he wants.

That's certainly my concern. Unless they understand that if they keep on doing that, they're going to suffer in the next election. Because you know, the decisions that he's making and they are making just to please him are not right for the people of Florida. Floridians are mad about

them. I mean, there's an affordability crisis. They haven't been able to tackle because he's traveling all over the nation. And they are not making right decisions. They keep on arranging for this special sessions. We have one upcoming now and they're not going to solve anything. So at the point when they see that what the his decisions are affecting them politically, I'm sure that they're going to cut ties with him. Yeah, I mean, Florida, we are the inflation capital. We are the, of the country.

We are, we pay more for insurance than any other state in the union. While inflation's coming down, I should say everywhere. Hours continues to go up. The cost of living is unsustainable. We're right. We have real problems that this governor and these lawmakers in Florida are not tackling. And this Florida f**kery is going national. CNN has finally picked up on something we've been talking about for some time.

And I've been saying the sad sick reality of the MAGA movement and Trumpism of which DeSantis is definitely an acolyte of is that despite the demagoguery and the racism and misogyny and Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and the death and destruction, it's really just a heist movie, right? That's really the story. It's just about stealing money from the taxpayers in this headline at CNN. DeSantis allies earned big paychecks on the front lines of his culture fights. Is that what's going on down here? Lisa, I mean, they're exploiting these culture wars to line their own pockets and to profit from the paychecks and the front lines of his culture fights. Is that what's going on down here, Lisa? I mean, they're exploiting these culture wars

to line their own pockets and to profit from the public sector. That's 100% right? That's what we're seeing every single day. People paying the bills. I just got my insurance renewal, almost $500 monthly for a car. So we're leaving it every one of us, working for a audience. And like, you know, we're leaving it. Everyone was, you know, working

for idiots. And he's not paying attention to us because he wants to pay to his corporate donors. So that's how he's achieving it. So it's interesting. You can look at it that way. We're almost paying a corruption tax through all of these outrageous inflated expenses that we pay for the honor of being in Florida. What are we paying? We're paying a quack like Dr. I'm using air quotes there, you know, Joe Ladapo, the state surgeon general who collects like half a million dollars through an arrangement at the University of Florida College of Medicine, which is nearly twice as much as his predecessor was making. You've got a secretary of state overseeing DeSantis' new failed election police who makes almost $200,000 a year, a page of about 32% compared with office holders in the previous administration.

You've got many deas, the Florida's Education Commissioner who's a total fraud, who has a salary of $314,000, $38,000 a year above the previous two people to hold the job, which includes Richard Corcoran, who's now running new college with 700 students, and he's making what, over a million dollars. He's like one of the highest paid college presidents in the country, certainly in the state. And it's the smallest public, also the smallest public college in Florida. It's absolutely wild.

I mean, this is just like a heist. And you wonder, you know, their competency to do the job. Not only is they getting paid that much money, but, you know, I wonder what's the background, just because you're being an ally to the sun, these are getting paid so much money. Sure, these guys who graduated, you know, summa yell loudly from Trump University,

and DeSantis hires the same way Trump hires based on loyalty, not based on the quality of the person, their education, their background, their experience. It's just if you're a friend and an ally with blind loyalty, you get an overpriced public position, which is wild. I thought the Republicans were fiscally conservative, right? They want to shrink the size of government and when she decided government lower taxes leases that right they're like all

do you honestly believe that's credible leases is that is latina communications director for florida watch thanks so much for being here thank you for inviting me take care That was a whole lot of DeSantis, huh? Too much. You got them right, Meatball. Now it's time for... Too much DeSantis feet.

Sorry, okay. It's time for Roy's favorite segment, The Wheel of Despair. The weekly Wheel of Despair. That's because that is your default emotion, Roy. No, despair, I was gonna say, but yeah. Well, you alternate between resting Mephace and despair. Yeah, I'm bipolar, yeah, exactly.

We have bad boys and girls. Yes, the topics for... Yeah, that's us, bad boys and girls. Bad boys and girls. Studio for the show. Bad boys and and girls Miami-Dade can't spell Miami-Dade may it doesn't know what the hell is going on. That is an evergreen. Yeah, that's evergreen and Miami a band and ship another evergreen another ever green. Let's let's spin the wheel Miami-Dade can't spell.

This is so pathetic. So the Miami-Dade County government, the commissioners passed this thing where they put banners all over the town for various events and holidays. In this case, it's veterans day. So each of the 13 commissioners gets in their district. These banners commemorating veterans day that say happy veterans day. It has their name on it. It has Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine-Cava on their Cruella-Le-Lavine Cava as we call her in this program. So on this banner, Roy, there are no less than

three mistakes. Starting at the top of the American flag, where flag etiquette requires the stars to be on the left, the stars are on the right. Then as you go down, it says, happy veterans day and veterans is spelled wrong. It says veteran apostrophe S as opposed to, it's not just one veteran. It's all the veterans. It is veteran with an S. This day belongs just one veteran. It's all the veterans. It is veteran with an ass.

This day belongs to this veteran. I don't know, do they alternate every year, which veteran gets honored? I'm veteran apostrophe S's day. Depends on the state, yeah. And lastly, there is clip art, Roy, of like a white silhouette of three fighter jets. And it turns out according to military experts,

the jets appear to be Russian jets and it turns out according to military experts, the jets appear to be Russian jets and not American jets. I explain it. I think we should just move right along here. Okay, here we go. Might be a band in ship. BAM! Our friend, senior NBC meteorologist John Morales, who has appeared on this show, spreading his well-educated brand of doom, posted this week, an article from the Miami Herald talking

about the impact of King Tides. So King Tides are what we have what's called sunny day flooding. Where you don't need rain, you don't need any kind of weather. You just need a moon. You just need the sun to rise, the moon to fall, and we've had this week, Roy, almost three feet above sea level flooding in some areas of Miami. And so last year that, we only got that of flooding, maybe like a handful of times, they're estimating that by 2050, that'll happen 50 days out of the year. And by 2060, that will be sea level, meaning the three feet over, that will be where sea level begins.

And what they are saying, Roy, is that it doesn't matter how much money we throw at this problem, there are certain areas of Miami, like the Shorecrest neighborhood, for example. We could spend billions, but we'll simply have to abandon. That is the word that the Chief Resiliency Officer uses. We'll have to abandon those neighborhoods in the decades to come. This article in the Miami Herald, by the way, is absolutely sensational. It starts. The lead is like an image out of like a far side comic.

It's at the Little River Pocket Park in Miami. And there are pumps that we've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on. These pumps, Roy, are sucking the water out of the streets. And there is a hose behind the pump that is dumping that water into the Little River. And then if you look 10 feet away from the hose, the little river is overflowing back out onto the street again. Well. I'm laughing at this existential threat,

and people are gonna call me out for it and hate me for it, but what am I supposed to do? They want you to stay silent, Billy. If I cry, my tears will only flood the city further, will I? Shall we spin the wheel of despair again? I don't know if I want to. Yeah. No.

No. No. Roy, your, your mefface is definitely shifting to, to deep, deep profound despair. Bad boys and girls. Oh, man. I don't even know where to start with this. This week has been a banner week for law enforcement here in South Florida.

We have a former retired Miami-Dade police detective. She shot at her ex-boyfriend, who was also himself a retired Miami police officer. Then she ran and barricaded herself into a house where she had a 12-hour standoff with a SWAT team. Continue to fire and then they finally stormed the house. They like busted in and took her out while she was resisting arrest. Evelyn Fernandez is actually also the ex-girlfriend of former Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Hernandez, who you may remember he got removed from office, recalled, after he supported the Marlins Park boondoggle.

And then he started to compete in these like local, over 60, like Mr. Universe style competitions, where he got all roided up and buff. He greased himself, he like painted himself orange and greased himself up. Those of you watching on YouTube, it's going to be worth it because you're going to be seeing images of this. And then he got busted a few years ago in shackles for domestic violence against this woman, Evelyn Fernandez, who is now herself under arrest for the standoff. But that's not all.

There's more. We have a Miami police officer who just this week was found drunk and passed out reeking of alcohol outside Miami Edison high school by Miami-Dade schools police officers with a gun on his lap. So this city of Miami police officer was unconscious.

This was like at 6.30 a.m. in the morning. Justice school was about to start. high school was about to start. And he's asleep drunk, coming in and out of consciousness with a gun on his lap outside in nearby high school. And it gets worse. A Miami-Dade veteran, Miami-Dade police officer was arrested on multiple felony counts for molesting three young girls, one under the age of 16, two under the age of 12, including a six year old girl, and two of whom were close family members. You don't hear me laughing about that, but that is he is the, now

the second Miami-Dade police officer in his many years to be either arrested in this case or last year convicted for sexually assaulting an underage family member because Miami. I know you don't want to spin the wheel Roy again. Should we quit while we're behind? Roy, what you mean? I Should we quit while we're behind? Roy what you're gonna do? I think we'll just- Hopefully behind. I think we'll. I'm so sorry.

It got real, real dark and I don't think we can rebound from that. I think we should probably just see rebound. You see what, that was a metaphor. It's worth. So I think we just go right from one disaster to the next. This week's Miami Moment Roy is from Governor Ron DeSantis' disastrous meet the press. Interview, it's not about his feet,

so you don't have to worry about that. Your fetishes is off the hook here. No, no, no, no, no, no. This meet the press interview was a disaster filled with lies, hypocrisy, and apparently misunderstandings because he can't seem to hear a host, Kristen Welker, who was trying to ask him about the gun violence in Florida since he has taken over as governor, particularly since the passage of the Permanentless Kerry bill that he happily signed and has said he would happily sign

open Kerry as well in the state of Floridaida if you thought it would pass the legislature but he blames the increased gun violence in florida on covid uh... i don't know cocaine look you know in florida uh... our crime rates out of fifty year low and our violent crime rates down thirty percent

uh... since i've been governor so so we're handling it strong governor actually statistically speaking speaking, the CDC says that the firearm mortality rate is actually higher under your administration than it was under your predecessor's administration. But I do want to move on to the campaign. And just the what mortality rate? No, no. Firearm mortality rate. But it was actually higher under your administration than your predecessors. That's according to the CDC. Let me move on to the campaign. Well, right, because you had COVID and all that stuff.

Access mortality, is that what you're saying? That went up everywhere in the country from 2020 on. Our access mortality went up less than anybody. The firearm mortality rate. Let me move on to the campaign. The firearm retaliate. Let me move on to the campaign.