In the first of a two-part series on immigration, DecodeDC looks at how humor can get closer to a problem than political talking points ever could.

Special thanks this week to Radio Ambulante, a Spanish-language radio program telling uniquely Latin American stories.  Check them out at http://radioambulante.org/!

The fine thinkers and doers of Transom asked Andrea to join the likes of Ira Glass, the Kitchen Sisters, Jad Abumrad (and more!) in writing a radio manifesto. Here's what Transom founder Jay Allison had to say about it:

"One of our favorite new podcasts is Andrea Seabrook’s DECODE DC. It approaches political reporting from a fresh angle and we like the way it sounds. Andrea doesn’t regurgitate party lines and buzznews. Instead, she flips stories upside-down and pokes at them, or she finds new stories that undermine the standard ones. Rather than ride the daily wave, she dives under it or floats above. That’s refreshing and illuminating.

She quit a pretty good job in order to do this. In her Transom Manifesto, she tells us how and why she got to this point. In true Manifesto Style, she lays out her principles and measures her work against them."

Check out Andrea's Transom Manifesto

Let's start from the beginning. To understand what underlies every argument in Washington these days, you have to know the basics of the federal budget. Problem is, most of us don't.

Interested in the Death and Taxes chart featured in this episode?  Get a copy for yourself via Amazon.

Eugene up and left for California one morning without packing a thing from his apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Lina and her roommate Adrian got the apartment at a discount. The condition, though, was that they took the place as Eugene left it—full of his left-behind life. For two years they enjoyed Eugene’s magazine subscriptions, ate out of his bowls, slept on his old couch and used his designer spices.

Sensitive listeners be aware that this episode discusses prostitution, drug use and animal abuse. We beeped the swears though.

In this episode, Lina goes back to her old neighborhood looking for... nothing in particular. She’s greeted by familiar faces, new tenants, and a series of loose ends that tell a modern ghost story.

More Here Be Monsters? Click here! 

Jim Kolbe, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1985-2003, is a political outlier. He is pro-choice, he supports same-sex marriage, and he's against any kind of institutional discrimination. Even more interesting? You probably haven't heard of him.