Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool

All Episodes

Previous Next

April 28, 2022 - Dinesh D'Souza

46:59

THE FLORIDA MODEL Dinesh D’Souza Podcast Ep320

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Time	Text
	The left is really creeped out over Governor Ron DeSantis.
	Why? Because he is putting forward a new, let's just call it, Florida model that could transform politics in this country.
	On the eve of the release of the new movie coming out next week, I'm going to tell you some options for how you can see it and also how you can share it and become part of the solution.
	I'm going to examine the left's comic discovery that billionaires can use social media platforms to control the debate and shut down their opposition.
	Who knew? And finally, we're going to read the opening lines and reflect on them.
	The opening lines of Dante's Paradiso.
	This is the Dinesh D'Souza Show.
	America needs this voice.
	The times are crazy, and a time of confusion, division, and lies.
	We need a brave voice of reason, understanding, and truth.
	This is the Dinesh D'Souza Podcast.
	Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is creating a new model.
	Let's call it the Florida model.
	And this is turning heads all over the country.
	Turning heads, I'm quite sure, among fellow Republican governors who now go, wow, this guy's really showing how to get it done.
	How to deal with the media, how to neutralize opposition, and really how to insulate yourself from scandal and from counterattack.
	And DeSantis is showing that he's really a multi-talented guy in the political sphere.
	CNN is taking notice.
	There's an interesting article. It talks about DeSantis, and it's not negative.
	It actually has a grudging appreciation for him.
	I'll just read a few lines.
	He is a generational talent at seizing headlines.
	Now, he's talking here.
	The writer is about DeSantis' star quality.
	I don't think DeSantis compares in star quality, say, to Trump.
	But nevertheless, he does have that star quality.
	He knows how to, not so much on the force of personality, but more by seizing on the correct issue to put himself out front and put himself in the headlines.
	CNN goes to talk about his, quote, campaign inevitability.
	And this is another important point.
	A phenomenon, namely the idea that I'm unbeatable.
	I've established myself in Florida.
	Yeah, you can run against me, but it's going to be kind of token opposition.
	And so DeSantis, having won a very narrow race to become the governor, is now making it look like his re-election is going to be, well, if not a foregone conclusion, then at least a great likelihood.
	DeSantis has turned his state position into a national platform more than any governor in recent memory.
	People have talked about other governors, Greg Albert in Texas, Kristi Noem, as being potential candidates in the future, but I think it's probably fair to say that neither of them are commenting or taken as national figures yet.
	But DeSantis really is.
	He's not just taken as a prospect for the future, but as a national figure now.
	And CNN has noticed that.
	They go on to talk about the way that DeSantis has, across the board, been advancing the conservative agenda.
	Of course, his very latest move is to set up, I kind of love the term, the election police.
	Now, I don't even think this guy has seen 2,000 mules yet, but he's clearly aware that A, there's a problem, and B, there's a lot of concern on this side of the aisle about that problem.
	In other words, no one is ready to forget about, well, there are a few Republican establishment, let's forget about the 2020 election.
	Let's not look in the rear view mirror, Dinesh.
	Well, we can't really go forward without knowing the truth about what actually happened.
	So DeSantis, I think, has a political antenna that recognizes this.
	And so he's taking steps in that area.
	He's obviously pulled the tax support for Disney.
	And I'll talk about that a little bit later in the podcast today and on the show.
	He's taken on critical race theory.
	The Florida, the state of Florida recently rejected a whole bunch of math textbooks.
	Why?
	Because they have all kinds of emotional and quote social learning.
	Well, how do you when you look at an equation, how does it how does it make you feel?
	You feel sort of intimidated by numbers.
	And look, I'm not saying that there's no place at all for some consideration of how you feel.
	But a little bit of ruthlessness, I think, is the right approach.
	I mean, I say this as someone who is subject to a pretty heavy-handed math education.
	Memorize this, remember these formulas, and then just apply them to see which one works in a given situation.
	This is not ultimately about whether you are feeling sad today.
	This is about getting the correct answer.
	DeSantis has gone after these big tech companies.
	Now, the Florida law that reigns in these big tech companies has been put on hold by a court, but nevertheless, it was passed through the legislature in the wake of the George Floyd regulations.
	Riots. DeSantis has called for, and in fact performed, a review of policing policies.
	He has welcomed police from other states who are feeling demoralized with bonuses.
	Hey, come to Florida. And we know it's all kind of working.
	And we know it's working. Why?
	Because there are a thousand people who are moving to Florida every single day.
	So this is the kind of test.
	Immigration, you might say, is the sincerest form of flattery.
	I mean, The actual proverb is imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but it applies just as well to immigration.
	If people are leaving your state and you're the governor, you kind of have to ask why.
	And if people are coming to Florida from other places, it's going to be because they think it's a better place to live.
	It offers them better prospects for them, for a good life, a good retired life, or a good life for...
	Your children. I don't know what DeSantis' future is.
	I think that Trump, even now, dominates the party.
	And in a sense, if Trump sort of wants the nomination in 2024, at least at this point, it's hard for me to see Trump having a serious competitor.
	And again, I think DeSantis knows this.
	He's kind of in the Trumpian trail.
	Now, it may well be.
	We don't know.
	That Trump, in retrospect, will turn out to be kind of a William Wallace who sort of takes things to the battlefield, but it's DeSantis who ultimately wins the battle.
	I'm here using the analogy of Robert Bruce winning the battle at Bannockburn and giving the Scottish independence.
	But this is all pure speculation.
	Who really knows? I think DeSantis' point is, look, it's Trump's moment in the sun.
	He's clearly the de facto leader of the party.
	If he wants to run, let him run.
	I will sort of travel in his wake.
	I'll be sort of the next Trumpster.
	And if Trump runs and is successful and Trump gets a second term, then who's next in line if not DeSantis?
	There might be a few other names to consider.
	And I think, again, it's early to decisively make proclamations about this kind of thing.
	But if one is looking for kind of an early favorite, then you'd be hard-pressed to do any better than the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis.
	Ordinary towels just don't seem to dry you anymore.
	They feel soft and lotion-y in the store, but you take them home and they just don't absorb.
	Well, why not? Because ordinary towel companies typically import the product and they add softeners that make the towels feel good, but they don't dry you very well.
	Now, Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, has solved this problem.
	he founded the best towel company right here in the USA.
	They have proprietary technology to create towels that feel soft and actually work. They're all made with USA cotton. They come with a MyPillow 60-day money-back guarantee. We only use MyPillow towels in our home. Now for a limited time, Mike is offering a really good deal on a six-piece towel set. That includes two bath towels, two hand towels, two washcloths, all made with USA cotton regularly $109.99 but now $39.99. Call 800-876-0227 or go to mypillow.com.
	You can take advantage of this offer, get deep discounts on all the other MyPillow products, but make sure to use promo code DINESHDINESH. It's so exciting with the movie right around the corner.
	Basically, next week is our premiere week.
	And I kind of want to go over some ways in which you can watch the movie.
	And I also hope that you'll help us get the word out about the movie.
	Remember, we're releasing this movie in a very novel way because we're in an age of censorship.
	And so the normal places that I put movies, which is you find them in Apple, iTunes, and Amazon Prime, no, this movie is not going to be available in those ways.
	Now, it is in limited theaters, 300 or so theaters, and you can go to the website, 2000meals.com, put in your state, it'll tell you the theaters.
	Now, a lot of our theaters are filling up really fast, so if you want to see this movie in the theater, kind of act now.
	But don't be disappointed if you can't, because we might do another one-day theatrical a little later in the month.
	And moreover, there is a virtual premiere.
	A virtual premiere is basically an in-home premiere.
	So what do you do?
	You basically, you buy a ticket, you're sent an access code, you log in, you click on the access code, and this is all happening on Saturday, May 7th at 8 p.m.
	Eastern. And it's fantastic.
	There'll be an introductory program.
	Debbie's actually going to sing live.
	Then we're going to show the movie.
	And then there's a live Q&A with some of the key figures in the movie.
	So this is actually a full program, an exciting program out of a magnificent 360-degree round studio in Las Vegas.
	We'll be there in person.
	You'll be watching online.
	And it's for the same price as a movie ticket.
	It's a fantastic deal.
	So if you go on the website, you'll see the little tab for Virtual Premiere.
	I want to make an announcement about groups.
	We're hearing from a lot of groups who say, hey, you know, we want to show the movie as a fundraiser, the local GOP here or the local women's Republican group.
	I want to say one thing about that, and that is what we don't want you to do is to get a DVD for 20 bucks and then invite 100 people and show them the movie because we cannot afford to make movies on that kind of economics where essentially, you know, you're...
	You're buying one DVD for $20, and then you're having 100 people see it.
	We've set up a kind of very easy system for groups to watch the movie for a very modest kind of license fee.
	Essentially, it's like $5 a person for your group.
	So if you want 200 people to see it, it's going to cost you $1,000 and a license fee.
	The way to get the license is just to go to my website, DineshJasuzo.com.
	And send us a query about it.
	We'll be in touch with you.
	It's a very simple process.
	And this enables us.
	I mean, our model here is we have investors put up money to make these movies.
	I promise them I'll work hard to get you your money back so you can do it again.
	The idea is we're doing this for the cause, but we also want to be able to stay viable in being able to do it.
	After next week, the movie is going to be literally everywhere.
	And by that I mean it is going to be on uncancellable platforms.
	And I want to mention two.
	One of them is SalemNow.com.
	And by the way, SalemNow.com, you can go there now, just as you can go on the movie website, 2000meals.com.
	Either place, you can order DVDs.
	And what's cool about Salem Now is you can buy a DVD, yes, but they also have these packages.
	You want to buy a bunch of DVDs and hand them around?
	You have some liberal friends, you're like, listen, I'm going to, you know, there's one thing I want you to do.
	I'm going to give you the free DVD, but I want you to watch it and then tell me what you think about it.
	This is a great way for you to become a kind of agent, a kind of missionary for this movie and for the issue and for the cause.
	SalemNow.com is that website and you can order the DVDs right now and they'll be shipped out early next week.
	The other platform I want you to think about is the Rumble-owned platform called Locals.
	Locals. Now, Rumble, I'm delighted to say, has put out a press release.
	They're getting behind this movie 100%.
	They're going to be promoting it aggressively.
	They don't put movies on Rumble itself, but Locals, the Rumble-owned platform, can feature movies.
	And the movie will be featured inside of my Locals channel.
	And what that means is that the traffic will be driven from Rumbles, but I'll have a link up on the website shortly, probably in the next day or so, When you click on the link, it'll take you to locals and you'll have two options.
	You can actually subscribe to my locals channel.
	That's $50 a year.
	If you do that, you'll get the movie for free.
	So it's kind of an incentive to subscribe to my locals channel.
	But the other option is you don't have to do that.
	You can say, I just want to rent the movie.
	And so you click, you put in your credit card, you basically buy the ticket and then the movie plays right then.
	So you'll notice that these are places where the movie 2000 Mules cannot be taken down.
	And that's very important for us because this is a movie that's going to be profoundly disturbing and unnerving for the left.
	And their first impulse, and you see this right now in the way that they're responding to Elon Musk on Twitter.
	Their first response is to try to shut it down.
	It's not to debate it.
	It's not to engage it. It's certainly not to refute it.
	I mean, it's going to be really interesting to see if I get invited to defend the movie or debate the movie on any of the mainstream or liberal platforms or media.
	That's going to be an open question.
	But their first impulse is to shut it down.
	And I'm going to set it up so that they cannot shut it down.
	Some of us wish we could rewind the clock when it comes to our health.
	Exercising, climbing stairs, all the things young people take for granted.
	Well, these aren't things that have to stop just because you age.
	Neither do you have to endure the normal aging aches and pains without complaint.
	Why? Because now there's a 100% drug-free solution.
	It's called Relief Factor.
	Relief Factor supports your body's fight against inflammation.
	That's the source of aches and pains.
	The vast majority of people who try Relief Factor order more because it works for them.
	Debbie loves using Relief Factor When her shoulders started acting up about a year or so ago, this was the only thing that worked for her.
	And she's like, hey, if I quit taking this, the pain's going to come right back.
	So I'm not going to be without this again.
	You too can benefit. Try it for yourself.
	Order the three-week quick start for the discounted price of just $19.95.
	Wow! Go to relieffactor.com or call 833-690-7246 to find out more about this offer.
	That number again, 833-690-7246 or go to relieffactor.com.
	You'll feel the difference. Elon Musk hasn't officially taken the helm at Twitter, but it looks like he's already running the place.
	And you might wonder, how can that happen if he's not officially taking it over for six months?
	Well, the way it happens is that Elon has a round and probably a bunch of...
	You know, VPs and consiglieres, and they basically say, listen, we're coming in in six months, but we're going to start putting our tentacles in there now.
	And this is having an immediate effect.
	So let me talk about some of those effects.
	Well, the first effect is that...
	That my Twitter following is surging.
	I've gained over 100,000 followers in a few days.
	And then I've seen reports that this has happened to a lot of conservatives.
	They have gained 20,000, 30,000.
	And liberals are losing following.
	Maddow's down 18,000.
	And Matt Gaetz is up 21,000.
	DeSantis is up 96,000.
	Hillary's down. Obama's down.
	So what's going on here?
	Well... Some people might think, foolishly, well, Elon is in there and he's boosting.
	That's not what's going on.
	Elon is not in there that way.
	I think what's happening is that you've got these vicious nerds at Twitter and they had their hands on the dials.
	They were sort of shutting down the right and amping up the left.
	But then the memo came around, Elon's in the building or Elon's approaching.
	And so these guys were like, well, our fingerprints may be on the dials.
	We better take them off.
	And so what has happened is that you've got these sensors This is what these guys are worried about.
	Josh Hawley has a great idea.
	He sent a letter to Elon Musk basically saying, you need to do a comprehensive audit of Twitter, revealing how they've been operating behind the scenes to restrict and ban and shadow ban.
	In other words...
	Throw some public sunlight on the actual workings of their censorship policies.
	I think this is an excellent suggestion for Musk.
	I'm kind of laughing because since Musk has bought Twitter, there are all kinds of ideas out there about what he should buy next.
	And I think this is getting a little bit out of hand because essentially people want Musk to buy everything.
	Hey Elon Musk, you should buy Disney!
	Buy Disney and sort of throw out all the groomers.
	Hey Elon, you need to buy the History Channel.
	Let's have some real history.
	It's true. There's very little history on the History Channel.
	Hey Elon Musk, you should buy MTV and show music videos again.
	Another excellent idea.
	Hey Elon, you should buy the Travel Channel and make it about traveling again.
	So, the reason I'm...
	I find all this amusing as you see how distorted our culture has become.
	You've got all these channels that are supposedly about something, but they're really not about that.
	They've become these kind of ideological vectors that are only incidentally about travel, only incidentally about music, just like Hollywood right now is only incidentally about making movies.
	I love the fact that Elon Musk is all over Twitter himself.
	He's tweeting away.
	He's even responding to other guys.
	He's engaging in the debate.
	Recently, he engaged on the issue of the Hunter Biden story.
	He said, look, it's obviously incredibly inappropriate.
	Very interesting words. Obviously, which means this is not up for dispute.
	In retrospect, it is obvious.
	And it's not just inappropriate.
	It's incredibly inappropriate that Twitter shut this down.
	And they did it for election interference.
	They did it because they didn't want their guy to be embarrassed.
	And Twitter was not alone in this, by the way.
	The shutdown was across the board in the media.
	So we don't really have a genuine media in this country.
	I've said this before, but I want to emphasize it again today.
	I shared my trailer on Twitter.
	And interesting, I'm not afraid to do it.
	I am afraid. And in fact, I will not put the trailer on either Twitter YouTube or Facebook where I would, I think, face a straight out man.
	But Twitter has been now for some time, even before Elon, more open to free speech.
	But what I did is I tagged Elon and I basically said, Elon Musk, listen, watch this trailer.
	You know why? Because this is the topic that they want.
	This is the reason they have the censorship.
	Yeah, they have censorship on a whole bunch of issues, but this is the issue that really scares them.
	This is the truth that they really want to suppress.
	It's not ultimately about shutting down disinformation.
	It's about shutting down information.
	And I want Elon to be fully aware.
	It's not just about free speech in principle.
	In fact, the left doesn't mind free speech in principle.
	It's just on the critical issues.
	They want to make sure that their opposition doesn't have a hearing.
	This is what it's all about.
	It's not about hate speech. It's not about, you know, I'm reading all these articles.
	They're talking about perhaps no group of people is more alarmed about Elon Musk's hands-off approach than those most likely to be targeted for harassment, women, racial minorities, and other marginalized groups.
	This is the Associated Press.
	And basically, you know, this, what I just read, could be the headline of every story.
	This is the same recycled garbage that they put out every single day.
	And nothing could be more untrue.
	I mean, the idea that these people are most likely to be targeted for harassment, in any circle that I've ever moved in or seen, and I've moved in the most conservative circles of America, it's the opposite.
	What do people do? They kowtow to these groups.
	These groups are overpraised.
	They're pampered. They're indulged.
	We have minority privilege in this country.
	And you see the proof in the fact that our laws discriminate officially in favor of ethnic groups that are, quote, minorities and are, quote, marginalized.
	And what racist society would that actually happen?
	The best-selling EdenPure thunderstorm air purifier uses proven Oxy technology that quickly destroys viruses, odors, mold, and more.
	People all over the nation are raving over how well the thunderstorm freshens their homes.
	Musty, mildewy smells vanish after a few seconds.
	Now, odor will disappear when you use the thunderstorm.
	We ought to know. We have one in our kitchen by the trash, and we have one in our studio.
	We love the fresh smell, so we're ordering more and have ordered others for other people as well.
	Best of all, no filters.
	You can save $200 on an EdenPure Thunderstorm 3-pack for whole home protection.
	You'll get 3 units for under $200.
	Put one anywhere, you need clean, fresh air.
	With this special offer, you're getting 3 units for under $200 plus free shipping.
	Go to EdenPure and put in my personal discount code Dinesh3, the number 3, to save $200.
	That's EdenPureDeals.com.
	EdenPureDeals.com.
	Discount code Dinesh3.
	When Elon Musk bought Twitter, he delivered a devastating blow against the censorship regime, not only in this country, but really all over the world.
	And I think it was Nicole Wallace who said something like...
	Those of us who are concerned about disinformation, the anti-disinformation group worldwide is really concerned, is really disturbed about what Musk has done.
	And this is the voice of the establishment.
	Their idea is that we need to have these social mandarins, not just in America, but around the world.
	And they all decide, you know, we're not going to We're going to police the parameters here.
	We're going to set the fence posts.
	And you can speak, but you've got to operate within the rails that we set up.
	And they love having this kind of power because for them, it's we are the aristocrats and you are the peasants.
	And we're going to allow you to speak, but you're speaking kind of at our leisure to the degree that we allow you to.
	And Elon Musk should have anticipated, and in fact, I believe he has, that there's going to be sort of pushback coming both in the United States and abroad from authorities that like to have this kind of power, even if they're exercising it through surrogates.
	The government, in many cases, is not directly censoring.
	They're telling Facebook to censor.
	They're telling Google to censor.
	And they were telling Twitter to censor.
	Now, the Europeans are a little bit up in arms.
	I see an article in the Financial Times, EU warns Elon Musk over Twitter moderation plans.
	And they're quoting Thierry Breton, the EU's commissioner, who's basically saying, listen, we've got some rules on moderating illegal and harmful content, and Elon Musk needs to comply with these rules, or else he's going to face some fairly severe fines, or he might even be banned from operating in Europe.
	Now, I think that this is bluster.
	The realistic chance of Twitter being shot down in Europe is close to zero.
	But I think Elon Musk is going to have to pay attention to the fact that the EU does have some rules.
	Now, by the way, these rules are not the same as the rules that the left wants in this country.
	And Elon Musk is probably going to...
	Have to arm wrestle these guys at the EU. Arm wrestle them not over their rules, they can make rules, but over the interpretation and the way that those rules are implemented.
	So it's always the case that an organization like Twitter can argue about how a rule is to be understood and what it means in practice.
	Musk himself has said, quote, free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.
	Couldn't agree more.
	And he describes Twitter as, quote, the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.
	And I think this is the key.
	When we talk about free speech, we can debate the absolutism of free speech if somebody wants to go and shout Nazi slogans in a Jewish neighborhood, but that's really not where the debate is.
	Whatever you think about that, I'm close to an absolutist myself.
	My thought is, by and large, if it's legal, you should be able to say it.
	End of story. Full stop.
	But reasonable people can say, no, a society needs to have some rules of decency.
	We don't really want the...
	Extreme forms of obscenity or pornography.
	We don't want people to be bullied beyond a certain point.
	Obviously, you can criticize someone, but at a certain point, arguably, that crosses the line.
	So, all that is the case, but what Elon is getting at is that there are critical issues to be discussed.
	And by the way, all the topics heavily censored fall within that category.
	Isn't climate change a critical issue?
	Well, it should be debated. Isn't the issue of whether men can be women and women can be men and people can sort of traffic across that line, isn't that a critical issue?
	Well, it should be debated. Isn't COVID and the sort of evolving strains and the efficacy of various types of masks and vaccines and treatments, isn't that a vital issue?
	Well, it should be debated.
	Election fraud, isn't that something that's a vital issue?
	Of course it is. Election integrity couldn't be more important.
	It should be debated. So this is Where Elon is going with all this.
	And now, the Biden administration, you can see that a chill has gone through them.
	Because the reason that these people are so scared is they need all the platforms for the censorship to work.
	You need a kind of coordinated assault, kind of of the kind that they launched against Parler.
	And they were able to cripple Parler for almost half a year.
	Now, the reason they did that is they had everybody coming together on the left.
	They had Amazon, they had Google, they had Apple.
	And similarly, in ordinary censorship, they have Facebook, they have YouTube, which is to say they have Google, and they had Twitter.
	So the significance of what Elon has done is he's pried Twitter out of their claws.
	And this is really why they're quivering and gasping and wailing so much, because they realized that Twitter was the driver of the debate.
	And with Twitter gone, the whole censorship regime is now in jeopardy.
	And so the Biden administration has created a disinformation governance board, an absolutely idiotic and preposterous idea.
	I mean, this is like the Politburo.
	We have a Disinformation Governance Board, and they have appointed some twit, Nina Jankowicz, by the way, a Russia collusion hoaxer, to head this up.
	And here's DHS. I mean, they're not doing the border.
	They're not doing drugs.
	They're not doing trafficking. They're focusing on, you know...
	We got to shut down debate about the 2020 election.
	Well, listen, morons, you're not going to be able to shut down the debate.
	The debate is going to explode in a massive way next week.
	So you may want to alert all your disinformation specialists because you're going to have to deal with this.
	Who likes to eat six servings of fruits and vegetables every single day?
	Who can realistically do that?
	Well, Balance of Nature provides that.
	And their products are 100% natural, vine ripened, whole food, third party tested.
	This is real science, real food, real nutrition.
	Debbie and I take 10 daily servings of fruits and veggies.
	They all come in six small capsules.
	Take a look. Absolutely no trouble swallowing, always fresh.
	Nothing artificial. They smell great.
	And Debbie swears by this, the fiber and spice keeps her regular.
	Invest in your health.
	Invest in your life. Join me and experience the Balance of Nature difference for yourself for years to come.
	For a limited time, all new preferred customers get an additional 35% discount and free shipping on your first Balance of Nature order.
	Use discount code BALANCE. Call 800-246-8751.
	That's 800-246-8751.
	or go to balanceofnature.com and use discount code balance.
	I talked earlier in the podcast about Ron DeSantis and his Florida model. Well, one aspect of the Florida model is not to take the pressure that is applied by woke corporations lying down.
	In other words, it's customary for Republicans to just be like, well, these corporations are browbeating us, they're browbeating us about election integrity.
	Well, we'll just kind of look the other way or hope that they don't prevail.
	But that's not the Ron DeSantis approach.
	His approach is, well, listen, Disney has declared war in Florida.
	Time for Florida to declare war on Disney.
	Disney has had this subsidy that's gone on for over 50 years.
	It's called the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
	It gives Disney essentially all kinds of control over levying taxes and collecting it, building roads and charging fees to do that, including tolls, running its own kind of fire department.
	These are the kinds of things normally done by the state, normally done by state and local governments, but somehow Disney was allowed to do this.
	Now, Disney is, with its 75,000 employees, the single largest employer in Florida, and it's an important part of the Florida economy.
	This makes it all the more brave that, even though, by the way, Disney has an army of lobbyists in Tallahassee, an army of lobbyists that have essentially insinuated themselves into both parties and thought that they had a kind of strangled hole over the state of Florida, but not so. This business with the groomers and Disney basically going, you know, full gay and threatening to sort of fight the state of Florida on this issue.
	Of a law that does nothing more than say, listen, very young children are off limits when it comes to explicit sex education.
	This is not about heterosexuals or gays.
	It's about the degree of explicitness in the way that sexual issues are discussed.
	And the state of Florida goes, no, no.
	Sex education, of course, can occur in schools, but it has to be age appropriate.
	And Disney faced a kind of revolt inside its company over this.
	And then came out publicly, this is Bob Chopik I believe, the guy's name is the CEO of Disney.
	He comes out, yeah Bob Chopik, he comes out and basically says, yeah we're going to go after you on this, we're going to make sure this law is taken down.
	This should never have been passed in the first place.
	And Florida took this as the kind of hostile act that it was intended to be.
	Now, apparently, Disney is saying now that the Reedy Creek Improvement Association has a billion dollars in outstanding debt.
	This is bond debt.
	And they say, listen, if we're going to have to relinquish control in the way that this new law says, then the state is going to have to pay off this debt.
	I'm not sure if this is factually true.
	This is just the Disney position.
	They're saying that the 1967 law had a kind of pledge from Florida to the bondholders saying that Florida will not impair the rights of these bondholders to be able to collect, get their money back essentially along with interest on the bonds.
	But it's not clear to me that from that you can get The conclusion that the Reedy Corporation can continue doing business as usual.
	Disney seems to be saying, well, until this debt is paid off by the state, we can continue to run the roads and we can continue to run the water supply and we can continue to run the police department.
	And this is merely a legal interpretation by Disney trying to sort of, you may say, protect its own territory and pretend like the law has no real effect.
	Well, I think this is a case where DeSantis needs to talk to his own lawyers and go back to Disney and say, guess what?
	We make the laws, you don't.
	And if you want to take this to court, you're welcome to do it.
	But in the meantime, turn over the keys to the police department.
	Turn over the keys.
	To the municipal district, stop collecting taxes.
	This is not your job anymore.
	Now, I realize the law hasn't gone into effect immediately.
	It goes into effect at a designated date.
	But when that date comes, the state of Florida should realize that running the state in terms of the municipal functions is the responsibility not of Disney, but of Florida.
	Imagine the lifelong impact of a journey to the Holy Land.
	Surrounded by like-minded travelers, picture yourself stepping foot in iconic locations right out of scripture. Join Dr. Sebastian Gorka and Dinesh D'Souza on this life-enriching Israel tour, November 30th through December 9th, 2022. For more information, call 855-565-5519 or visit StandWithIsraelTour.com.
	The French, I think we all know, are a little different from the rest of us.
	And they're different in a number of ways.
	But one way that they are clearly different is that they are obsessed Now, I'm a little obsessed with food.
	Debbie and I are kind of foodies.
	But I don't think we're as obsessed as the French.
	And in France, chefs are not ordinary citizens.
	They're celebrities, particularly the chefs who are recognized, who get Michelin stars, which is a way of them distinguishing themselves in a very competitive field.
	And when it comes to French newspapers, French TV shows, the best-known chefs in France are household names.
	People could say who they are.
	Now, of course, we have in America shows like Celebrity Chef, but they have kind of a niche following.
	Now, what made me laugh is when I saw this, an article here, which I'm just going to read a few lines of because this is the French in their classic French mode.
	Renowned chef Marc Verrat.
	On Tuesday announced that he has sued the France-based Michelin Guide after the restaurant guidebook demoted his La Maison de Bois in Manigault, France from three stars to two.
	Now, by the way, this may seem like a very aggressive action.
	I mean, there are chefs that have committed suicide in France because their Michelin rating has gone down by one star or that they haven't been rated in a particular year at all.
	So let's continue with this.
	Verat, this is the chef, he claimed that Michelin's reviewer wrongly determined that a cheese souffle had cheddar in it.
	Apparently the Riviera thought, cheddar?
	I mean, what kind of a plebeian peasant cheese are you putting in the souffle?
	But Verat says the color was from the saffron.
	It's not actually cheddar.
	Quote, they dared to say we put cheddar in our souffle!
	He's indignant.
	He told the French magazine La Pointe, he says, they have insulted our region.
	My employees are furious.
	So I love this stuff.
	This is somebody who clearly takes not just food, but takes his profession seriously.
	Very seriously. Now, by the way, there are people who sometimes think, well, you know, the Italians are serious.
	Look at Italian food. It's famous all over the world.
	But no, the Italian food matches the Italian personality.
	And the Italian personality is fresh food and fresh ingredients, but, you know, don't try too hard.
	Basically, you take spaghetti or macaroni, cut it six different ways and give it six different names.
	You have fresh fish.
	You throw on some capers.
	The Italian philosophy is life should not be too much trouble.
	But that's not the French. The French take a great deal of trouble with their food and they're also unbelievably daring.
	I mean, these are guys who will, they'll take a duck or venison and they'll throw apricots into it.
	Or they'll take a fish, a turbo.
	Debbie and I... Well, Debbie came to, met me in Paris, and we went to this great restaurant.
	It's called Atelier, and it was Joel Robuchon's restaurant.
	Now, the reason the restaurant came to my attention is I was reading one of these magazines, and the food reviewer said that if he was on his deathbed, and if he had one last meal...
	Where would he eat? And he goes, I would go to Joel Robuchon's restaurant, L'Atelier, in Paris.
	And so when Debbie and I were having this meeting in Paris, we were actually on our way to India.
	I said, we're going to L'Atelier because that's where this guy was going to have his last meal.
	Now, it wasn't our last meal, happily.
	And it was a delicious meal.
	In fact, we had the fish turbo.
	And what was funny about it, and Debbie was chuckling out loud right now, is the waiters stand around you.
	And as you have a bite, they lean forward like, how was it?
	How was it? And you're supposed to give a running commentary on the magnificence and deliciousness, not of the meal as a whole, but pretty much every single bite.
	And that applies to the soup, it applies to the dessert, and so on.
	There are certain cultures, and I notably hear the French, but also the Persians and the Indians, who take food very seriously.
	I mean, food is obviously an important part of life.
	It's not the most important part of life, but it's one of those things that gives life its kind of spice and its variety.
	And so, even though some people may look at this French chef and go, I'm an absolute kook.
	Who would dare to do that in the United States?
	I mean, you'd be a laughing stock.
	But no, I think in France, this is normal behavior.
	Lots of things that are considered highly abnormal here in the United States are normal behavior in France.
	I've been talking about the preamble, a kind of introduction to Dante's Paradiso.
	But what I want to do here is really go to the text and look at the opening lines of the poem.
	And analyze them because they're clearly significant.
	For Dante, openings, middles, and ends are significant.
	And he puts a great deal of care and thought into how he gets things going.
	So let's look at Paradiso.
	Let's remember here we are in a little bit of a different zone or domain than we were in Inferno or Purgatorio.
	Even the language of Paradiso is different.
	And this is part of the sublime genius of Dante.
	The language of Inferno is sort of earthy and in some ways vulgar.
	Vulgar not in the sense of obscene but in the sense of common.
	And then in Purgatorio the language becomes a little bit more stern but also a little bit more elegant.
	And here in Paradiso, Dante moves into, I'd call it the rhapsodic mode.
	You have a sort of sense of wonder, almost a dreamlike state.
	And Dante's going to tell us why that kind of language is completely appropriate.
	So, let's begin here.
	The glory of the One who moves all things penetrates all the universe, reflecting in one part more and in another less.
	So Dante here is now making a point about what does the other world, the world of God and of Heaven, have to do with the Earth.
	And his answer is, they're not as disconnected as you think.
	The glory of God, which is throughout heaven, also penetrates the earth itself.
	Is also part of our universe.
	And as we'll see later in the Paradiso, you might think that now that we're in paradise, you know, we're not going to be talking anymore about politics.
	And we're not going to talk anymore about poetry.
	Because, you know, those are earthly things.
	Those are things for our world down here.
	But Dante is going to be kind of in some reverie where everyone is kind of playing a harp or singing a choir or contemplating God.
	No, you'll find in Paradiso that all those same concerns...
	Are also present, albeit discussed now from a sort of more elevated, lofty, more broad-minded perspective.
	What Dante is really saying is that the God's eye view, the view of earth from heaven, is a very different view than the view of earth from earth itself.
	So let's continue. I have been in his brightest shining heaven...
	So here's Dante making again, and he's made this multiple times in the poem.
	Not the insinuation, the assertion that he was there.
	I have been. Not I am imagining, but I have been.
	I was there. So Dante, in a sense, is taking on the pose of the reporter.
	I'm a journalist. I was there.
	I'm not going to tell you.
	Let's keep going. And have seen such things that no man once returned from there has wit or skill to tell about...
	For when our intellect draws near its goal and fathoms to the depths of its desire, the memory is powerless to follow.
	Alright, so now we are moving into something very subtle, where Dante is saying that once you reach a certain point in your spiritual journey...
	You are pursuing the object of your deepest desire and your description no longer matches the reality.
	In fact, language fails you.
	The memory is powerless to follow.
	Dante is saying that he is experiencing God and part of what he's hinting to us is try, dear reader, to experience this Paradiso with me.
	Not just to know about it, not just to put it in words, but to sort of experience it.
	Now, I want to say here for a moment that we often think of language as a kind of transcript of reality, and particularly those of us who love language, majored in English, make a living using words.
	We think words kind of do a lot of work.
	Words are a kind of match for the reality that they describe.
	But I want to take a moment to show why that is not the case.
	Most of our experiences are largely incommunicable in words.
	And I'm talking about our simplest experiences, not something extremely complex where, yeah, I felt so much happiness but mixed with sorrow and therefore from me to capture.
	No, I'm not talking about that.
	I'm talking about something really basic.
	For example, let's say you met somebody who has never eaten roast beef.
	They've never tasted it. They don't know what it tastes like.
	And they tell you, describe for me in a way that will get me to really know what roast beef tastes like.
	Can you do it? What possible description can you give using all the words available in the English vocabulary?
	Bring in Shakespearean comprehension and Shakespearean felicity of expression.
	But can you describe effectively to another guy who's never tasted roast beef such that when you finish describing it, he goes, Yeah, you know what?
	I really do know what roast beef tastes like.
	I submit that you cannot do it.
	Which is to say that the only way to know what roast beef tastes like is to eat it.
	And the words, the description of it, only work when somebody has already tasted roast beef and they go, ah, that's what you're talking about.
	In other words, you're recalling in their memory the taste that they already have.
	Your words aren't, in a sense, positing the reality.
	They're merely prodding the other guy to remember the reality that he already knows.
	So this is what Dante is getting at.
	I was there, I experienced heaven, but kind of there's no way for me to fully be able to tell you.
	And Dante continues, but still, as much of heaven's holy realm as I could store and treasure in my mind shall now become the subject of my song.
	Dante is saying, I will tell you not the way it was because I can't, but I will tell you that part of it which I remember that to the best degree that I, this is one of the supreme wordsmiths of all time, am best able to communicate and we're going to have to be content with that because that is all that can be accomplished here.

▲