Why Are We Like This? - Interview: Angie Nixon's Florida

Interview: Angie Nixon's Florida

Explicit content warning

04/12/23 • 52 min

Why Are We Like This?

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

Previous Episode

Conversations: Trump, Tennessee, & Abortion Bans Grab-Bag Episode, feat. Anna Eskamani & Jordan Zakarin

You'll forgive us if we're a little distracted this week, if our attention is somewhat scattered.

In this super-sized episode, we catch up with returning guest, State Representative Anna Eskamani, to talk about her effort to cut through the media's obsession with indicted ex-presidents and turn focus on the dangerous precedents being set in places like Tallahassee and Nashville.

Later, we talk with Jordan Zakarin about Florida's most famous big-boy resident's made-for-TV arrest, the circus that he witnessed firsthand, and how news coverage could better meet these critical moments by dismissing positions that deserve to be dismissed.

You can follow Jordan on Twitter @JordanZakarin and read his work on More Perfect Union and on his Substack, Progress Report. He's also got a project alongside our own Thomas Kennedy, which is called SWORD. So go follow all that stuff!

Next Episode

Interview: Florida's Brutal & Hypocritical Immigration Bill feat. Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)

Maybe no state has benefitted from immigration more than Florida. From agriculture to hospitality, tourism and food service, the Sunshine State runs largely on people who either a.) are not from the U.S., or b.) have parents who were not from the U.S.

That hasn't stopped the state from putting a target on the backs of the undocumented with a brand new bill that aims to punish family, friends, social groups and churches that lend them any material aid. The bill before the Florida Legislature is maybe the most punitive in recent memory, and like so many other legislative priorities here the cruelty is the point. We talked with Paula Muñoz and Yareliz Mendez-Zamora from the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) about the bill and the man behind it, Gov. Ron DeSantis. You can learn more about FLIC at https://linktr.ee/weareflorida, and you should join their day of action this Tuesday if you can get to Tallahassee.