Sorry, wokies. Guess we have to close up shop. Bill Maher and The New York Times have said that the Left needs to moderate. Thomas guides us through the ridiculous source material that takes this position and we get plenty of debunks along the way!

Also, chime in: Should we do a recurring Bill Maher segment? And: Is Maher Thomas's arch nemesis?

Of course we barely scratched the surface, so we'll be back soon with additional parts on this one!

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: December 5, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Logan was an out trans man serving children of servicemembers overseas as their pediatrician until the Trump Administration targeted trans folks in the military. Now that Logan has safely discharged, we're honored to have him join us to talk about the entire experience.

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: December 3, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Professor Josh Fernandez was accused of soliciting students for violent activities because of an antiracist club he helped start on his community college campus, and his administration investigated him for a year and a half.

• The Hands That Crafted the Bomb: The Making of a Lifelong Antifascist

**If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

Published: December 1, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

We return for an update to our ACTUAL-THREATS-TO-FREE-SPEECH series for our 100th episode! Lydia shares what's been happening with the various cases we discussed in Episodes 98 and 99, and then she walks us through some "highlights" from Auburn University's Turning Point USA event that seemed to be in the middle of the termination of one of our cases.

**If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

Published: November 29, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Part 1. We dive headfirst into stories in which a teacher's First Amendment rights appear to have been violated. It seems clear to us how wrong this all is after reading the complaint, but how will these cases play out in court?

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: November 24, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Part 2 in our Kirk's Free Speech series. The cases of teachers being suspended, investigated, and/or terminated based on their comments about Charlie Kirk never seem to dry up. We continue our examination of some of these instances.

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: November 24, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

A few weeks ago, Lydia and Thomas did an episode on the steps of the California Capitol for California Freethought Day, highlighting the differences between a fake free speech professor-story and a real one. This juxtaposition sparked a research effort to dig into more of these cases, some of which will be featured in the following episodes.

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: November 3, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

FOLKS. Oklahoma Superintendent Ryan Walters is GONE. Lydia breaks down the final few things he pushed before he abruptly resigned with 15 months still left in his term, the bizarre happenings of that resignation and where he's headed next, and finally, what we've learned in the aftermath.

• This Is Ground Zero in the Conservative Quest for More Patriotic and Christian Public Schools, Jennifer Smith Richards/ProPublica (10/22/2025)

• Fox25's Wendy Suares Attempts to Question Walters After His Resignation Announcement

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: November 2, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Lydia continues sharing the very-good-examples from The Federalist of times when the Left abandoned Free Speech principles because the impacted person was a Conservative. Yep, they're still going.

• How Outrage at Kimmel Grew to a Shout From a Whisper, Stuart A. Thompson (9/19/2025)

• The Censorship-Industrial Complex, Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government (5/1/2024)

• The Mechanics of Government Censorship, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation (9/29/2025)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

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Published: October 7, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Jimmy Kimmel caused significant outrage a couple of weeks ago that you likely heard about. The "outrage" on the Right was that he dared to say Charlie Kirk's name and imply that the alleged killer was MAGA. The outrage on the Left was that after Kimmel said that single sentence, the government mafia-bossed the broadcasters to pre-empt his show, ultimately leading to Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from the air by ABC and his silence.

The Right will have you believe that the Left is blowing this completely out of proportion, and since when did the Left even care about Free Speech anyway?! Lydia takes us through a piece in The Federalist: 6 Times Leftists Melting Down Over Jimmy Kimmel Were Happy To Deny Conservatives 'Free Speech', and we discuss how comparable the examples were that they came up with.

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: October 3, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

It's part 2 of our little foray into the disturbing transphobia-addled mind of Bill Maher. This one features a hilarious clip where Bill yells at Neil DeGrasse Tyson while not understanding a word Neil has said.

Published: October 2, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Bill Maher decided to bless us all with his sage advice on our country's fascism problem - why don't we all just stop doing the things that the fascists use as their excuse to do the fascism they already were going to do anyway? How did we not think of that??? Are we all the dumbest bunch of idiots?

Published: October 1, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

After the release of our PragerU videos (WTW88 & WTW89), we received a comment in the Facebook group from a listener pushing back on the characterization we made regarding a one sentence bit from Ben Shapiro's commencement speech video. This feedback emboldened Thomas to dig into the story further to see if we owed an apology to Ben. Was this a unique instance in which the anti-woke were right and there truly was a miscarriage of justice?

**If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.**

Published: September 12, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Kaiser issued the most infuriating statement last month announcing that they were "pausing" their gender-affirming surgeries for patients 19 and under. Why in the world did they do this when the majority of Kaiser members are in California - a protective state for the transgender community and one of the most likely states to stand up to the Trump administration? Lydia breaks down what happened, who has been speaking out, and a particular theory about why Kaiser Permanente might have made this decision.

• Massachusetts et al v. Trump et al (8/1/2025)

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: September 3, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith

Part 2 of 2. Now that we're Oklahoma-certified teachers, it's time to learn more about PragerU. Who are they, where does their money come from, and are they really going to be the new PBS? We break down one of their PragerU Kids videos, and end with a pretty unhinged video presented by a WTW frenemy.

If you enjoy our work, please consider leaving a 5-star review! You can always email questions, comments, and leads to lydia@seriouspod.com.

Please pretty please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com/wherethereswoke!

Published: September 2, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Lydia Smith