Bird Road Podcast

It’s Just Dem Boyz coming to you on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, catching up on Warren, Clinton, Biden, the New York Times endorsement, and what Jewish Dave wants to do for his bachelor party. 

? LIVE SHOW ALERT ?Feb. 17: Golden Tiki, Las Vegas, NV, 7 p.m. | All Presidents Go To HellMarch 15: GRAMPS Wynwood, Miami, FL, 7 p.m. | The Rising Tides of March 

Notorious Bernie Bro Tough Guy Geoff Campbell (@GeoffMiami) joined us in the Unicorn Fire Radio studios to break down all things Bernie Sanders, including Elizabeth Warren’s assuming her true form as the callow shill we hoped she wasn’t (but kinda always knew she was).

We also talked about Bernie’s surge in almost every poll ahead of Iowa, how the right seems to understand his appeal better than Democrats do, the undoing of Amendment 4, and how Florida’s independent voters seem to be feeling Bernie’s message. 

***NEW LIVE SHOW ALERTS***

February 17: Golden Tiki, Las Vegas NV, 7 PMMarch 15: GRAMPS Wynwood, Miami FL, 7 PM

Bird Road staff dance reviewer Monika Leal joins us to review the moves, grooves, and assorted “boogeys” of the Democratic hopefuls (and a few of the hopeless). Join us for a star-studded two-stepped hour of madness. Hope you brought your dancing shoes. 

Check out Monika’s podcast, Entre Dos. 

Music is by David Rosen. 

Great news for those of you who miss the old-school aimlessly meandering Q and Jewish Dave episodes replete with awkward pauses and defined by a lack of preparation–we gotcha covered this week. 

Live Shows:

February 17: Golden Tiki, Las Vegas NV, 7 PMMarch 15: GRAMPS Wynwood, Miami FL, 7 PM

Music in this episode is by David Rosen. 

In Miami, where many communities feel a wide gap between themselves and their police, law enforcement can often feel more like an occupying force. Part of the problem is that there is very little accountability for bad cops. From unions that protect the worst members of the force to a state attorney that is loathe to charge officers in even the most cut-and-dry cases of police brutality or abuse of authority, law enforcement operates with impunity in Miami. 

After the recent shootout in Miramar that resulted in the deaths of two innocent men, we caught up with Ray Taseff, a civil rights lawyer and defense attorney, a member of the Florida Justice Institute, and an advocate for victims of police abuse and brutality. Ray has been a vocal critic of police abuse of authority in South Florida, and of our long-serving state attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle. We talked about what real police reform would look like, and how it’s possible to get there. 

(Yes, we know that the US is on the brink of war with Iran, and yeah we’ll talk about it on the next episode. But frankly, crooked cops in Miami are a hell of a lot more dangerous than a dead general in Iraq.) 

Katherine Fernandez-Rundle’s challenger is likely to be Melba Pearson. She doesn’t have a campaign site up yet or we’d link it here, but check back later. 

The book Ray mentions is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. 

This episode was recorded at Unicorn Fire Radio in Miami. 

Music in this episode is by David Rosen. 

For disambiguation purposes, this article/podcast about Mayor Pete’s Folly refers to the mayor of South Bend’s stupid predilection of curating his own Wikipedia page. Mayor Pete’s Folly may also refer to:

* Lying about black supporters 

* Working for an evil management consulting firm 

* Probably helping to fix bread prices in Canada 

* Probably laying off healthcare workers in Michigan 

* Trying to go toe-to-toe with Amy “Clobberin’ Time” Klobuchar 

* The wine cave thing lol 

The GoFundMe for Maria Galindo is here. They’re still about $500 short. Please donate. 

Merry Christmas!

You thought Broward County was just fun, sun, and voting debacles? Think again. Elijah Manley is a 20-year-old student at Broward College who’s running for Florida State House District 94, and he needs your help to make it happen. We caught up with Elijah and talked about education, climate change, gentrification, and his plans for a better Florida (hint: it involves a new governor). 

Follow Elijah on Twitter @iElijahManley and donate or volunteer on his website.

Music by David Rosen.

Recorded at Unicorn Fire Radio studios in Miami. 

You know what you come to Bird Road for: informed criticism of television as an art form, of course. 

In this supersized Bird Road/Piecing It Together mega-episode, Q and Jewish Dave share their favorite television from the past 9 years and 11 months.  

Also, if you haven’t heard of Amazon’s The Patriot, check out this teaser that someone made. Then go watch The Patriot. 

Alejandra Agredo was only 17 but she had already accomplished an incredible amount. As the cofounder of Miami Riders Alliance and a tireless advocate for public transportation in Miami, she had developed an open source software solution devised to optimize Miami’s fractured transit systems. She also designed a new, practical EASY Card, showed up to county commission meetings, and hectored lawmakers and politicos into advancing public transportation solutions that would make Miami more livable. 

Alejandra also struggled with depression, and on Nov. 26 she took her own life. We spent time discussing her legacy with her friend and colleague, Kevin Amézaga, fellow cofounder of Miami Riders Alliance. We talked about the unique challenges Miami faces in pushing rapid transit, buses, rail, and how to change culture and get our lazy asses out of our cars. 

Learn more about Miami Riders Alliance at ridersmiami.org. You can also find them on Twitter and Instagram. 

There will be a celebration of Alejandra’s life at Maspons Funeral Home at 3500 SW 8th Street on Saturday, December 7.  

Music in this episode is by David Rosen. 

Episode recorded at Unicorn Fire Radio studios. 

We wasted most of this episode doing a Do I Have. Jewish Dave loved the soundtrack album for Perpetual Grace, LTD by the Jones Sisters. Q hated the way that Beach Bum made him feel. So a good day, all in all. 

Music in this episode is by David Rosen.