this is it we point around which hollywood is going to say we're starting last with this is we're going to head into the swamp we're going into the belly of the beast i think i'm gonna leave now don't forget in morganza the earth you may be completely different. this is florida man country florida man is famous world famous because anytime like the freakiest of the freaky happens in america you can count on it being florida man florida man the lead on a news story is it could be colorado man or new york man or california man but usually if it's a freaky story of stars a florida man florida man jumps into a pool of alligators jumps back in that happened just today so we were googling this florida man and we're heading to st augustine and there is a florida man jumps into pool of alligators at alligator park in st augustine

specular why that is i mean california they say is full of crazy people because they all end up rolling into california and the girl across the country and then they stop and go for you but. like i was the promised land it's sunny all the time and it's got some appeal. somehow to crazy person in the country we are so it neatly as americans and barest about florida that we said that is plymouth rock back the first settlement by europeans was here in st augustine florida for a man once florida man before there was. a florida man with the strong. suit strudel. florida is the sort that would actually retirees in jersey and other surrounding. if the. drank the

space program artificial. made in a factory it was buried at the altar of fish dishes. propane. mac that's the way the. ground work domination surveillance technology is located in the every year history a car driven door. within the context of having lost all imagination. to becoming more and more hunter s. thompson as we go along we see this blue skies up ahead we went through the cleansing. and now we're on the other side and it's all blue skies again we've been baptized now we are ready to embrace our inner florida florida woman so. if we jump into an alligator pit and that's how this. can be

reduced stacy seen augustine is the perfect place to end. i ready to surrender to florida man to brace are in a florida. you know we learned a lot on this journey max we basically learned that we hail from swamp we are swamp and no matter what the swamp shines through you don't need to linear thought in this town or this country or this universe just go with what you know go with the flow only dead fish go with the stream you gotta fight the stream spawn up to the place of your birth and this is where we were all born or haunted by the past being chased back to the swamp from which we all came to feel about chase hot breath of the past breathing down my neck daily trying to pull me back into the whether it's the tar pit in los angeles or the swamp of st augustine it's the.

center of the earth the gravitational force pulling on hope you can't hide the swamp stinky and it's real murky but basically all life at one point crawled out of the swamp oh it's stinky but it's stinking good all that's right just comes out of the murk and the depths nothing really great come out of something that's pure virginal white that's not where it's all happened and happens down in the dirt stinky stink that's where the. good stuff so that's what i get by the end of this journey is quite thank you. and trying to be in. my school. beautiful. hello hi. i'm stacy i'm susan smith is unless i sent you to. the oldest

house that we claim. technically i'm a historian so i'm always skeptical. i think that's a good way to but we know we have we have documentation that we're standing here in the seven hundred twenty six so it could be older than that before that it was st augustine in monk's no that's that's an old advertisement that was made up one hundred years ago and is incorrect now across the street was the monastery they were across the street but now that's an advertisement one thousand nine hundred ten or something like that it was a fake movie it was fake news. everywhere we've gone across america and there's always like legends and goes and made up stories for selling tourists and coming to this town i have worked here a long time as a historian and so it's kind of interesting the mix between. doing doing history selling history and then the history of selling history the history of selling history is interest which is which is

a whole different aspect well this is what we've been doing on our journey is looking at the history of this country much of it was actually a myth it was kind of exaggerated but even the axis family were sold by william penn got a lot of germans to come over to pencil and they actually posters in the palace not region of germany that said it was like shangri-la and everybody arrived half of them died because it was actually a song that happened to an awful lot of people i mean in. same situation are they ready they lure them over they they get them over here is indentured servants and they didn't they didn't survive and the other thing was you know that not only did they put them there they hardly ever had enough supplies to feed people but let me show you around because this is the oldest house in florida. from the seven hundred twenty s. but the grounds don't look old at all and it's not what they would have been at the time now we were in new orleans and you mentioned you're familiar with new orleans

but one thing we found was that it was a catholic city surrounded by all sort of protestant areas right and became very decadent and you could of course like commit all sorts of sins on thursday friday and saturday night and then go to confession and say you know be forgiven for your sense so st augustine the spanish catholics that they seem a little bit more astaire than the french ones running that they were a little more austere but when book when florida and of course st augustine became part of the united states in the early eighteenth twenties the americans i mean there's just this surge of americans that wanted to you know get rich in florida on what land selling cotton things like that but they they really did not like the catholic practices in selling in august and we had a very minor mardi gras carnival yeah you know and they talked about how decadent it was and the editor of the newspaper who was northern you know complained about this sort of they would have this pseudo burial you know they'd march in the street

with the coffin and things like that and he and the northern editor of the brand new newspaper complained about this so the next time they had their little coffin parade they put the editor in the coffin not the editor of. the editor marching down the street is that gonzo journalism you know that's become sounds like twentieth century journalism where the facts don't matter really it's about the story of the story and what how did you put it the history of the history the history of doing history. the history of doing history i mean that's the history of selling history as art this is true if the selling history is gonzo journalism in a way when you have you know you have to appeal to what people i mean you know look look how pirates have become so important in in visitation and things such as that they were all was that that that that attractive photogenic. and actually i did an article two weeks ago about being on the other side being on

the receiving end of a pirate and what it felt like if you want to play pirate you'd better be the pirate. and not be the not be the people they're attacking that's. element to the pirates right because the pirates are seen as the roic and they're now in hollywood as being the fabulous two you know are cute and so this is revisionism this is the history of selling yesterday once again it definitely was a story and then you know we've been as you point out there's a sister is very hard to find the real history from of souls history the fake history and trying to find like an american identity and it seems very allusive. kind of quarry to find something that really represents. the american character and you know a story and how would you describe to say the american character how would i describe the mirror character. you know from the start we were told that americans are exceptional i'm not so sure we're all that exceptional and most of us learn and

maybe never learn much more just because they don't have to learn our history in school and history as it's taught in school is largely done to encourage patriotism which i'm not opposed to patriotism but that's not the same thing as history because it tends to be a very one sided perspective what do you think about those trying recently to a racist or especially some of the southern history and history the confederate in the confederate army that your thoughts on this i have you know. ambivalent feelings about that and their feelings i think if you a race too much you or people don't realize it ever happened which means slight which means they're not. they're not aware if it happens again they don't read they don't recognize it but i also just recently served on the confederate monument. committee here to tekken textural is a put in a historical context i think that's a good idea to put it into context and we had some pushback but you know that there

are multiple sides to it and we talked about you know the the the confederate war debt to whom the monument is dedicated but also that the emancipation proclamation was probably read twenty feet from where the confederate monument will be put about ten years later yeah this is the oldest settlement the country but these are not the oldest buildings in the country no they're not the oldest buildings in the country and we can thank the english for burning the challenge more than once for that and also a hurricane or two. after the previous stage of my career was over everyone wondered what i was going to do next the ball different clubs on one hand it is logical to sort of know from fields where everything is familiar on the other i wanted a new challenge and the fresh perspective i'm used to surprising people and us old

one also you think. i'm going to talk about football not for you or else you think i was going to do it. by the way what is it that sliding here. question countries are very reluctant to recognize the fact that is that is why and i formally had also to make that they were perhaps wrong and condemning them or siding against and so with glee in the early stages of the war so very tactically to me to undermine the reconstruction process by the prolongation of sanctions i think it was in countries with winds as you ation where it's a serious reconstructed by the base you know ways in which he started by a third power not russia and iran now. by the west and by the decency of my child.

my seven years doing drugs my nephews was still in drugs my sister just with doing drugs it was like an epidemic of drug abuse america's public enemy number one in the united states is drug abuse we started going after the users in the prison population. we started treating sick people people who are addicted to these drugs like criminals while i was on the hill. the war on drugs. there are a number of people who are in prison for. this for whom our own are minor offenders in the drug trade it's a lot watching your children grow up and miss you in waves and say bye daddy as you're walking out of a business it's just it doesn't get easier. all

right eric yes great to catch up with you yeah likewise likewise so why don't you just give us a breakdown what exactly do you do so i am a supervisory agent. law enforcement agent for the federal government. i've been there for twelve years of switching agencies i've been but the offense for about fifteen your soul and before that i worked for the sheriff's department los angeles. and i want to follow this man ok you know if you're going to check on my hands always on face value on the face. the spot. they're going to think when you see something like this i would have to actually ask the individual what their purpose are and i don't i don't make assumptions i see the confederate flag and you know. some people would assume or as an african-american man i automatically take offense to well i would ask the individual you know what's the intent behind the

flag i mean without any. preconceived notions just talk about it i'm open to it i mean because i've actually seen people with flags that i've gone up to and had great conversations with so it's not an automatic deal breaker would say oh you've got a confederate flag you and i stand on two different sides of the situation where the moon a country right now same to be. a confederate flag with aberrant behavior and so there's a real movement out there in the country to get rid of this past and to associate these images and symbols with. something that's completely on except the ball is what or how do you weigh in on that. i think that once again it's i don't think anyone's ever bothered to ask what the confederate flag means to those who wave it proudly. it's. i mean the american flag i mean there are some people right clearly right now that have issues with the american flag with the star-spangled banner once again it has that that's

a discussion that has to be as it gets back to what we were saying about the identity of the country a lot of people have difficulty different view of the country from their point of view a completely different view of what the country is all about and i think what we're saying also is at the moment it's really difficult to define a common ground and that ability to find the common ground is a challenge to even more because of the militarization of the police like any even the right to assemble to have a conversation about what the common ground is considered potentially a threat and. the criminal activity so these rights are being impinged upon and a very unhealthy direction do you have hope is there a hope for the future how do you look ahead yes i do hold on to hope because without hope would we have i mean i believe hope is what inspires us to continue to vote changed. and without hope i would not be doing what i do and i would not have impacted the people who i have seen change and just from my rear interaction

whether it be the the young man who i could've arrested are quite a young man with an entire backpack full of copper wire that he just stole from a construction site and i had to make a choice was i better to teach him a lesson right there. and figure out if i could change his mentality or i could ruin his life and put him in jail and that's exactly what they would have been he would have felony convictions and he wouldn't even get a job he actually worked for the company. called midnight and asked him so what's going on why are you in this circumstance what's going on that you're still this wired he told me i could not make my rent this month i'm getting ready to take that i have two children and i'm a single dad i'm not making excuses i made a terrible decision i said well now your decisions ten times worse because you're going to lose your kids or go to jail if you lose your job and you're going to get felony convictions so i'm going put in the back of the car and you could think about that for fifteen minutes why do paperwork and i'll take you to jail and he

sat back there and cried and cried he cried and then fifteen minutes later took him out the car to be himself has said today's your lucky day you go you know put the wire back if i ever see you doing it again you're absolutely going to jail for this crime as well as the new crime but there was a lesson if you will right and good day but i want to magine that you also. appreciate the chance from time to time. breathing a little bit some room for. a different outcome than just. you broke the law you go to jail it's. a moment their humanity if you were in that that's really what drove would drive me to be a law enforcement is. the officer discretion officer discretion is a very powerful tool and i told my agents to work for me so what is the most powerful weapon you have you know some people rattle off a baton a gun i got my hands again you know officer presence is not. or your biggest tool is also discretion that is your most powerful weapon is also discretion how do you . think yes yes yes yes.

yes exactly. right absolutely it was it was very profound it was it was comedic but the only say no to a lot of strong points i mean if you don't want to go to jail don't do what you have to do to go to jail is that simple it sounds very elementary but there's a lot of truth to that it's you know but you believe in some sort of redemption because you were talking about the confederate flag and you would talk to that guy over here you saw a guy doing a bad thing stealing somebody else's property and yet you saw that it was possible for him to read deem him self we have a sort of moment right now in this country where you do see people wanting to just deep platform people with ugly ideas or opinions and anybody who posts the meaning of pepper the frog there's never any good to come from talking to them which again on a micro level seems ridiculous when we have whole state departments to go talk to

bad guys across the world you know in order to communicate and the like find a common ground absolutely don't be a bad guy ok and doesn't feel like we we should talk more oh absolutely and that's really what it comes down to is a lot of these situations can be resolved with conversation we need to understand where people come from and we need to respect differences doesn't mean the ruin agree at the end of the day but we can respect that you have an opinion i have an opinion and what makes his goat you great is that we're allowed to have those opinions because in some countries you don't get opinion and if you do express your opinion it's going to result in serious consequence exactly and it often seems like maybe their bad opinion is based on mis education or are being fed bad ideas or only listening to one sort of opinion so if they go with the confederate flag here is your side of the story sure story he might or she might think something different absolutely. what's going to be pong. you know that's i'm sure. yes that's

a whole nother episode all right you know some of these so just kind of opportunities to talk about those yes. but yeah what would you count as suspicious activity by florida everything you. believe that. they could that went over there this is where florida man jumped in. does it go through your mind looking at these and go hey she i wonder what it would be like to jump in there and go hang out with these alligators oh they're fighting my god this is like being in the halls of congress these are the swamp creatures that rule us they're just swallow exist lying there in wait ready to pounce on any dime they're like turning into demands and when it's turning into this alligator back and forth through hundreds hundreds and millions of years of time we

have d.n.a. that we share with them they have d.n.a. they share with us some molecular cellular level we're equal or part of each other but they're completely still and they are drawing us in. thirty american alligators and this is going to come through as one of the longest alligators if you're. a hunter s. thompson ready for food and how he looks like he's smiling at you now he's looking at me. just make sure to tell this to the news if i. open your mouth hunter hunter hunter hunter. come on. who don't know. what's up what is that although we have on the bottom here we have on the. right going all the way you go.

so this is what happened to hunter s. thompson after he got shot out of the cannon. this been reincarnated. back that's going to be my hunter s. thompson reincarnated as an alligator. right back so you feeling nervous because i know. you've got a. florida man takes. impressed and that's the only florida man. went on the journey knowing that i would really. journey and i would see america for what it really is all happened you know we made fun of florida man and then we realized that that is america trump is america so now you are florida man i've fused with my spirit animal the alligator you know we're in

the pit there with with hunter and now i see it i see where this is all going now i and i understand however if it's in because without that krypto well we can all come together like we need to that's the beauty of it so you are florida man now just to be clear until you get into the pit with alligators you really don't understand florida man and therefore you don't understand america i may never understand men as a result but i love the publisher the other thing we learned is that you can't drain the swamp it's impossible because once you get to the swamp. you become one with the alligators and you become a song it's hard to describe but till you see what it's like to be with the alligators you cannot appreciate alligator man and florida man and therefore our president and therefore the voters of this country wow what a trip yeah you know we're getting ready for the next you know series and we solved america kind of what it's all about well yeah it's definitely comes from the swamp

and it lives in the swamp and it's about entrepreneurial ism within the swamp and now it's the globe you know or think of maybe africa europe asia i mean what where do you where would you recommend we were going to take the average message that really is in the midst clearly right i think we should find as many animals as we can for you to put t. shirts on that involve you putting your life a great personal risk where we're at it and i'm in the car i'm looking for it's american the moment all right. we'll go to florida man actually no. florida. to. hear on the trip manifest destiny and the second term was american exceptionalism and these two terms go together because

a. certain mindset suggests that anything that gets in the way of progress read white people is to be destroyed and of course the first way one west and it killed all the not african population now the third way is the final way is the way that will kill all the white people because ever on out of everybody else to wave over with their manifest destiny and american exceptionalism. quiet. trying to take all this information and actually florida. this is profound this information this insight. we have arrived at the truth. and i think we have arrived at the truth finally they put a florida man in the white house. it's a very small and it never. gets to trial florida man over over everything you know

really nothing else needs to be said because. those are the final words gonzo we are florida. we're all florida. i think that's a fair thing and. this is my dominion. jane. couple of times. they do it i say. else implement.

the maternity town the slums go in and you may never get out some sort of people to . my teenage gang rules here. go to one of you then let the mind of a drug lord you were through with but. name you will be. told will come out. minus seeing her spirit. and now it's looking for the yeah. and melanie let the little fool. you know the mccain who commutes all i see.

it all. we can combat. ethiopian airlines plane with one hundred fifty seven people.

minutes after taking off from. we've got the very latest developments coming up. also protests. while the u.s. resorts to sanctions. we reported on washington's approach to be. surrendered to u.s. forces in the syrian village of. the terrorists are rutted from their last stronghold near the iraqi border.