Ballot with Patrick Gutfield - Fun Politics. Late-Night Energy.

Deep in the Florida Everglades, where corruption runs as thick as the swamp, a broken immigration detention center becomes ground zero for a darkly comic uprising. When mild-mannered maintenance worker Tommy Esperanza is wrongfully detained, he teams up with a mysterious fellow inmate to turn the system upside down—using bureaucracy’s own chaos against it. With wisecracking narration from Southern legend Beau Thibodaux, Alligator Alcatraz is a sharp, satirical romp through government failure, family separation, and unlikely heroism. It’s Shawshank Redemption meets Veep, with gators. Follow Alligator Alcatraz on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alligator-alcatraz/id1824993575] or whever you get your shows.

Director James Gunn triggered outrage by pointing out Superman is—gasp!—an immigrant. Conservatives melted down, Fox News lost its mind, and the cast of the new Superman movie clapped back. Also: Stephen Miller blames immigration for... traffic jams. Seriously. Because nothing says policy genius like blaming Somalia for your commute.For more political absurdity and culture war chaos, subscribe to Ballot. Go ad-free with Caloroga Plus at caloroga.com/plus

Donald Trump reportedly told Vladimir Putin he’d “bomb the bleep out of Moscow”—and he said it at a fundraiser. Meanwhile, a Rhode Island couple bought a $640 luxury “Trump” watch... but it just says “RUMP.” We also cover Elon Musk’s AI Grok going off the rails with antisemitic posts, and Trump’s official letters filled with typos and gender mix-ups. Welcome to diplomacy, twenty twenty-five style.Subscribe to Ballot and unlock ad-free listening with Caloroga Plus: caloroga.com/plus

An AI voice clone impersonating Secretary of State Marco Rubio fooled foreign ministers and a member of Congress—proving even top officials can't trust their own voicemail anymore. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is crowdsourcing her official portrait on Instagram… dressed as a cowgirl. And just in time for summer travel, say hello to a new COVID variant: XFG. It’s spreading fast, but should we panic?

The Justice Department says there is no Epstein “client list,” despite years of speculation—so what was Pam Bondi waving around on Fox News? Meanwhile, Ted Cruz is caught vacationing in Greece while deadly floods devastate Texas. His office says he came back “as fast as humanly possible,” which apparently means “after dessert.” And finally, good news: the TSA might be letting us keep our shoes on—but what does that mean for TSA PreCheck?