All Episodes
Previous Next
March 14, 2023 - Dennis Prager Show
01:13:27
Inflation
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
The End
Hello everybody and welcome to The Dennis Prager Show.
I am he.
Many Thanksgiving food prices rose faster than ever last month headline in USA Today.
It is very rare that I read a headline from USA Today.
I will admit it struck me as remarkable as I said it.
Regardless of what your Thanksgiving dinner includes this month, it's probably going to be more expensive than last year.
September's Consumer Price Index showed a 21% annual increase in all foods.
Maybe most troubling for home chefs, though, the price of many Thanksgiving staples rose at the highest annual pace ever.
And the Democrats are blaming Putin.
When the blame is overwhelmingly that of the environmentalist extremists, the fanatics who will destroy civilization in order to protect it.
This is a classic example.
What is it we have to destroy the village in order to save it?
A very sad statement that was cited in the Vietnam War.
Butter and margarine, 32% up.
This is from last year.
So last year was up.
Flour and prepared flour mixes, 24%.
Frozen and refrigerated bakery products, pies, tarts, turnovers, 20%.
Canned fruits, 18.6%.
Uncooked poultry, including turkey, 17%.
Frozen vegetables, 16.6%.
Fats and oils, 22%.
Other dairy and related products, 21%.
And how many people?
I mean, it's everything.
Everything.
Remember, this inflation began before the invasion of Ukraine, so it is a lie that the issue is the invasion of Ukraine.
And the argument that they give as well, but it's inflation is found in other countries as well.
That's correct.
And other countries are just as much in the thrall of environmentalist fanatics as the United States is.
That's correct.
Energy is the staple of society.
When energy prices rise, everything rises.
Under Donald Trump, the world got oil.
Parts of the world got oil from the United States.
The United States got oil from the United States, and inflation was minuscule.
I got a home loan during that period.
I refinanced my home, and I think we got it at 3 point something percent.
Does that sound right?
Yeah.
And now it's over 7 percent and rising.
I spoke to a real estate dealer just this past Sunday who advertises on my show and he was saying how business is drying up.
I hope, I'm sure he did.
He's a wise man and he's a good investor.
I'm sure he put money away during the fat years.
You remember Pharaoh's dream?
I take that back.
How many people remember anything from what they didn't study?
Can't remember what you never knew.
And had I spoken about Pharaoh's dreams a hundred years ago, Americans who never went to high school would have known what I'm talking about.
Today, who's Pharaoh?
Let alone water his dreams.
But Pharaoh in Genesis...
The Egyptian ruler, the demigod, had dreams which were deciphered by Joseph.
The Hebrew in prison, who was then released and became ultimately the second most powerful figure in Egypt.
And the deciphering of the dream was, Egypt will have seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine.
So you better save up during the plenty.
It is an interesting question why people didn't all refinance during the period of exceedingly low rates.
And I think part of the answer is that people think, or buy a house if they were looking for a house, people think that whatever exists will exist permanently.
The bad will exist.
Continue, and the good will continue.
That is why the famous story is told of King Solomon, who asked his wise men to make him a magic ring that would uplift him when he was down and bring him down to earth if he was ecstatic.
And the magic ring came back.
They made one.
And the magic was the inscription.
Three Hebrew words.
In English, it's more than three words.
This too shall pass.
It's a very important thing for people to understand that this too shall pass.
When you're young, you think you're young forever, but this too shall pass.
Not everything passes.
Well, I guess life passes, but not everything passes.
But most things do.
People should have gotten their mortgage when the rates were very low.
But back to the issue of inflation, it is overwhelmingly the result of people who are almost as destructive.
As the doctors who are surgically removing healthy girls' breasts.
That is the low man on the totem pole of moral degradation.
The surgeons who lop off breasts of healthy young women.
Is he obligated?
What is the excuse of a surgeon who does that?
It's her choice?
Hmm.
Would you give her cigarettes if she asked for cigarettes at 18?
So let me understand.
A doctor would not give an 18-year-old cigarettes, but he would surgically remove her breasts because she says she's a boy.
That's a fact, what I just told you.
So the competition for the most destructive force in our society is between the environmentalists and the teachers slash doctors.
And it's a tough call who is doing more destruction in our society.
Teachers unions, medical establishment, Or environmentalists.
Can you think of a fourth?
Have I missed an equally destructive force in society?
Teachers unions, medical profession, and environmentalists.
Maybe feminists, you want to add that?
No, they don't qualify today.
They've done a lot of damage feminists.
It's true.
But I would say that those three are a race to the bottom.
Thank you.
My heart breaks for my fellow American, but not if you vote Democrat.
If you vote Democrat, my heart doesn't break for you.
You have voted to ruin your life and ruin the rest of the country.
So I have to say in the belief that consequences are significant.
And when deserved, deserved.
There's nothing I can say.
But at a given point, it is okay for you to say you were wrong.
All you get is admiration.
Nobody thinks people who say that they were wrong deserve anything but admiration.
I spoke to Ben Shapiro yesterday because I wanted to commend him.
On the courage to say that he had changed his mind on the vaccines.
Although he made it clear to me he had always opposed mandates, firing people who didn't get vaccinated.
He was opposed to vaccines for children.
But he was very pro-vaccines for adults.
And now he has concluded he was lied to by the medical establishment.
His wife is a doctor, by the way.
It's not easy for him to say any more than it is for me having family relatives, having family who were doctors.
They lie.
They lie because the left took them over.
The Dennis Prager Show The Fed is unstable.
Interest rates could go up at any moment.
If you're relocating and need to buy a new home or invest in real estate, get fully underwritten and approved with Andrew Del Rey and Todd Avakian at Sierra Pacific Mortgage before you make an offer.
Their fast-track approval process will allow you to compete with cash offers, whether you're buying today, tomorrow, or a year from now.
Even though housing prices are stabilizing or coming down, economic uncertainty, supply chain issues, and limited construction means the real estate market is limited and competitive.
Go to AndrewAndTodd.com.
That's AndrewAndTodd.com right now.
Get fully approved today and have confidence so that when you're ready to buy, you'll have the money ready to go.
Don't wait.
Go to AndrewAndTodd.com.
Lock in today's still historically low rates.
Go to AndrewAndTodd.com.
That's AndrewandTodd.com.
Whenever I'm down, I call on you, my friend.
Helping hand you land in my time of need.
Whenever I'm down, I call on you, my friend.
Hi, everybody. .
Ah, the world, the world, the human condition.
Climate doomsday is nigh again.
And the UN says it's your fault for eating meat, among other sins, editorial board, Wall Street Journal.
Now, did you ever stop and wonder, why did the editors of the Wall Street Journal mock these scenarios?
And the editors of the New York Times find them compelling, serious, and frightening.
For the same reason that I assume when I see somebody walking in the street, as I did today, my dear producer driving into the studio today in Glendale, California, a suburb, if you will, of Los Angeles.
Big city.
Anyway, I saw a man crossing the street, a middle-aged man, wearing a mask, and it's the clone type.
Is that the K95? So he really can't breathe.
N95, yeah.
Yeah, K95. It just shows how much I take this stuff seriously.
Anyway, N95. The man was walking alone.
There was no one...
Not only no one near him, there was no one else.
He was the only person I could see in the street.
And he was wearing a mask.
Early in the morning.
So my question is, by the way, I want you to know, if I could do it, I would have said to him, Sir, can I interview you for $100?
Here's a $100 bill for your time.
That is how much I would have loved to have had him on the show or even interview him privately.
So why would I ask him?
Interesting question, right?
Why would I ask?
I would ask him the obvious, why are you wearing a mask outdoors and alone?
So let's try to anticipate his response.
He would say, what do you think he would say?
So I have this dialogue in my brain.
I had it when I saw him.
What would he say?
And my assumption is he might say, I really want to play it safe.
That would be the obvious.
My mother lives with me, and she has comorbidities.
I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
So I want to protect myself so that I don't bring her the virus.
But he's walking alone.
How is he going to contract it?
And it's outdoors.
And if you contract it, what's the big deal for most people at this time?
Of course, the medical profession has disgraced itself by saying that in California, if you offer therapeutics like ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine with zinc, you can lose your license as of January 1st.
I don't know if it has ever happened in American history A perfectly legitimate and safe drug?
What is not called off-label?
What is it called when it's not for the...
when it's for another illness?
There's a term.
Anyway, doctors do that all the time.
That's why a doctor is supposed to think for himself.
You know what?
Dennis, you've got an early case of COVID. I suggest you give this a try.
Can't say that.
Well, anyway.
My question was, why does the New York Times people believe in doomsday and the Wall Street Journal editorial board doesn't?
Because conservatives are more rational.
The more left you get, the less rational.
That's why.
This is all panic.
Human beings, the wretches, continue to disappoint the savants at the United Nations, and never more than on climate change, writes the Wall Street Journal.
The global body announced last week that despite all of the world's climate sacrifices and trillions of dollars in renewable spending, we're all still doomed unless mankind makes radical changes in lifestyles.
The 2015 Paris Climate Agreement required countries to commit to reducing their emissions to keep the world from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
It's already warmed about 1.1 degrees.
Not even the alms offered up by President Biden and European leaders.
We'll do much good.
More to come.
Important stuff.
Back in a moment.
Hey folks, coming together again after two years of waiting.
I'm going on a listener cruise again.
It's called Gems of Southeastern Europe.
May 31 to June 13. 13 days combined land and cruise on AMA Waterways.
We are chartering our own ship for you and me.
The cruise was just announced.
It's already almost sold out.
Book today at 800-345-2483 or click the banner on my website.
Go to coastlinetravel.com.
Again, everybody, we're chartering the entire boat.
800-345-2483.
It will sell out.
Or click the banner on my website.
Or go to coastlinetravel.com.
Hi, everybody.
I'm Dennis Prager.
Good call from Mark in Ohio.
The media is up there with the most destructive people.
Didn't think of that.
Environmentalists, medical profession, teachers, media.
By teachers, we mean college as well.
So Mark in Solon, Ohio, thank you.
I appreciate that call.
Here's an interesting one.
Los Angeles, Madeline, hello.
Hi, Dennis.
Hi.
When I heard you talk about people wearing masks alone, Whenever I see a man on the street or in his car wearing a mask, what I think to myself is, that's a man I would never date.
You gave me a great subject for a male-female hour.
That's terrific.
Let's remember that.
I couldn't agree with you more.
I would not say that a man wearing a mask...
A man acting as a sheep is not a masculine man, in my opinion.
That's it.
And that's how I regard people wearing masks, certainly now and certainly outdoors.
However, I would imagine that in their self-perception, they are precisely the type of man a woman would want because they take they are precisely the type of man a woman would want because they They are not wearing it for themselves, or so they would like others to believe.
They are wearing it for others' sake.
That's how I would look at it.
Anyway, I want to get back to this.
You have no idea what's going on.
No idea.
What the United Nations has just announced, as reported here in the Wall Street Journal editorial.
So, here we go.
According to the UN report, all climate policies currently in place will result in warming of 2.8 degrees.
Alright?
Most countries have not implemented policies to meet their emissions targets.
But, even if they did, temperatures would still rise by 2.6 degrees.
Remember, their target is 1.5 Celsius.
And if Western countries meet their net zero goals, the world would warm 1.8 degrees.
Ponder that.
Even if Europe and the U.S. banish fossil fuels from the electric grid, ban gas-powered vehicles, and find a way to capture carbon dioxide from factories, the world still wouldn't avoid the U.N.'s climate doomsday.
One reason is that China, which emits two-thirds more carbon dioxide than Europe and the United States combined, has only committed to peaking its emissions by 2030. So, the UN report says drastic changes in human behavior are needed.
To take one example, about a third of emissions come from the global food system.
According to the report, about 7 gigatons in CO2 reductions, roughly equal to those from today's global natural gas production, by 2050 will need to come from people eating less meat.
So let's see.
They're ruining your ability to have the transportation you want.
By banning the gas-powered car, which will have virtually no impact on the world's emissions, but it will have a horrible impact on the economies and the quality of life of people in the Western world and elsewhere.
I don't know what Germany is going to do.
A big chunk of its exports come from cars.
What's going to happen to Mercedes and BMW when we just go to electric cars?
And how exactly are we going to power electric cars when we can't power air conditioners right now?
So now the next will be, don't eat meat.
Then there are fewer flatulent animals on our farms.
Yeah?
The UN report suggests taxing foods based on their carbon emissions so that meat becomes so expensive, people have no choice but to go vegan.
You all have helped build MyPillow into the incredible company.
is today and have trusted in Mike Lindell to give you a great night's sleep On top of the special available to my listeners on the Percale and Giza Dream bedsheets, marked down as low as $29.98, Mike is now changing the game with his three-piece towel set.
This set is made with USA cotton, making it extremely absorbent, yet still providing the soft feel you look for in a towel.
This set comes with one bath, one hand towel, and one washcloth, typically retailing for $49.99.
For a limited time, you can get this three-piece towel set for the low price of $19.98 with the promo code PRAGER. Don't miss out on these extraordinary offers.
There's a limited supply.
So be sure to order now.
800-761-6302.
Use the promo code Prager or go to MyPillow.com, click on the radio listener square and use the promo code Prager.
Hello my friends, I'm Dennis Prager.
So I'm afraid to say I have a special guest because it sounds like a throwaway line.
Nevertheless, I have a special guest.
I'll gamble.
A man I've had on the show for almost as long as I've been broadcasting, I don't know what I think of it, Michael Oren.
He's the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, among many other things.
But he is, and I use this term rarely, a Renaissance man.
In addition to his being a major historian, a major diplomat, he's a major novelist.
That, I am curious, when in your life did you know you had that ability?
Twelve years old.
Twelve years old.
Twelve years old, I started writing poetry.
Oh, well, yeah.
My first poem about a dead pigeon.
Wait, did you write poetry to a girlfriend?
No, no, I wrote poetry every day.
I saw a dead pigeon in the road and I wrote a poem called Who Cries for the Soul of the Pigeon and began writing poetry every day.
I published my first poem in Seventeen Magazine when I was 14 years old.
You grew up in the United States?
In a small town, New Jersey, yeah.
And you moved to Israel when?
I moved to Israel in my 20s, my early 20s, but I started going when I was 15. So obviously you're completely bilingual.
When you speak Hebrew, is it with an Israeli accent?
I speak Hebrew with a nondescript accent.
People say, well, you're not from here, but it's not an American accent.
Uh-huh, uh-huh.
And they say, how come you still have an accent?
You've been living in Israel for 50 years.
And I'll say, well, listen, look at Henry Kissinger.
He's been living in America for about 85 years, and he still has an accent.
Yeah, right.
So give me a little slack.
People don't really know.
Shimon Peres had a heavy accent, and Achim Begin had a heavy accent.
But somehow Americans don't go to have slack.
But you know your Hebrew is good when you get on an Israeli talk show, because it's very different than American talk shows.
There, everyone screams at each other.
And you have to be able to use your elbows or else no one will take you seriously.
I can do that now.
By the way, it reminds me of this reaction people have to your Hebrew Israelis.
So when I was in the Soviet Union in my early 20s, I speak Russian, so I'd speak to people and they knew I was not Russian.
They thought I was from the Baltics.
And you know why?
Why?
Because I was well-dressed.
Right.
You were Latvian, Lithuanian, or Estonian if you had better clothing than a Russian and spoke Russian.
How interesting.
Totally interesting.
Totally interesting.
Yeah.
It makes sense, though, now that you think of it, because the Baltics were only incorporated after World War II, whereas the rest of Russia was communist since 1917. Amazing.
I spent some time in the former Soviet Union.
In the Soviet Union, I was sent by the Israeli government to work with the underground, and we had to dress like Russians.
Which was different than Israelis.
It didn't help.
We got arrested anyway.
And dressing like Russians was completely different than dressing like Israelis, and this was in 1981. Right.
So you can imagine, I was there in 69. Wow.
So just having any nice clothing was a giveaway.
Right.
Anyway, it is great to have you.
I want to talk to you about everything, including your novel.
We'll start with the world.
So I'm going to ask you a toughie.
And that is the Ukraine situation and Israel's reaction.
So as an outsider, obviously, not Israeli, but obviously very sympathetic to Israel's desire to survive.
I mean, it comes down to that, basically.
So they run into this problem.
Their hearts are with, I assume, the Ukrainians.
Most Israelis.
But they fear alienating Putin means a lot of danger in the Middle East.
Is that a fair summary of the Israeli dilemma?
Yeah, and I'll put the finer point on it.
What they fear specifically is that the Russian army in Syria will shoot at our planes and troops who are trying to prevent Iran from transforming Syria into a forward base against us.
And the Russians have been there since 2015, and we haven't had a clash with them yet.
We've been very effective in hitting those Iranian targets.
And the military establishment in Israel was very concerned that the Russians would start shooting at us if Israel supported Ukraine.
And I rejected this position.
I'm a frequent commentator on Israeli news.
And going back to February, right after the invasion, I said, our position is wrong.
I said it was wrong because, A, They're not going to shoot at us.
There were only 4,000 Russian troops in Ukraine.
Now there's only 1,000.
You mean Syria?
In Syria.
They had this S-300 anti-aircraft system, very advanced.
They're not going to shoot it at us.
One, because we're doing their dirty work.
The Russians don't want the Iranians in Syria.
The Iranians in Syria are for one purpose only.
It's to drag Syria into a war with us.
They don't want that.
And who should be afraid of whom here?
We have an army that's more than twice as large as the British and French armies combined.
So what kind of message are we sending to the region and the world that this army, the Israeli Defense Force, is afraid of 4,000 Russian troops, or now 1,000 Russian troops?
And they weren't going to fire the S-300 at us anyway, because if they fired at us and they missed, they're not going to be able to sell the thing.
The Russians like selling their arms.
And if they hit us, we'd hit it back.
And then they really wouldn't be able to sell it.
And so we were neutral back then.
Naftali Bennett, who was the Prime Minister, then actually ran off to Moscow, you remember, and photographed himself shaking the hands of Vladimir Putin, which I think the only democratic leader in the world to do that.
But far and beyond the strategic argument, Dennis was the moral one.
I thought that it was unconscionable that for a country that is a fellow democracy fighting for its freedom against an invader, it was unconscionable that Israel...
As the democratic and Jewish state would stand aside and not take a position.
And, we should add, a fellow democracy that's led by a proud Jew, led by a pro-Israel Jew.
You know, Zelensky once considered moving to Israel.
And I was morally disturbed by it.
We've come away.
I wrote recently in the Wall Street Journal that Israel's not officially neutral anymore.
We provide flak jackets and helmets and a lot of humanitarian aid.
I think we've had a lot of aid, particularly in the cyber field, under the radar.
But I think we can go further.
And I think we should not kick our eye off the ball.
And our ball is Iran.
Iran, Iran, Iran.
And we need all the help and friends we've got in this country.
When Lindsey Graham, a great friend, comes out and criticizes Israel's neutrality, we should take stock of that.
That's very important.
And now with this access of Moscow and Tehran, we should be on the right side here.
That is an access?
You were just saying at the beginning that...
Moscow doesn't want Tehran in the Middle East.
Doesn't want Tehran in the Middle East, but Moscow needs Tehran in Ukraine.
And what you have now is...
Why?
What are they getting from Tehran in Ukraine?
It's getting thousands of drones that are killing Europeans.
You have now Middle Eastern arms, Middle Eastern arms made in Iran, killing Europeans.
And you have, in effect, a proxy war between the United States and Iran in Ukraine.
And that's extraordinary.
Now, you know, we wouldn't want to say this is an opportunity for Israel.
But certainly we should take factor now that we want to get on the right side and come out four square on the side of Ukraine, on the side of the United States.
Well, you make such a compelling case.
What is the argument on the other side?
The other side is, and I would walk down the streets, I live in Jaffa, and people would come up to me and assail me.
You know, how could you risk Israeli lives for the Ukrainians?
Who cares?
These people have a great history of anti-Semitism, as you know.
And I mentioned before that I had worked in the Soviet Union, actually worked in the Ukraine, with the Zionist underground in the early 80s.
And the Jews back then, the Ukraine, didn't think of themselves as Ukrainian.
Ukrainians were the, you know, the KGB, were the anti-Semites.
Ukraine has changed, I think, a tremendous amount.
And it's not an easy position for me to take in Israel.
But among the actual Ukrainians who moved, the Iranian Jews who moved to Israel, and between one out of seven and one out of five Israelis speak Russian, and many of these Russian speakers are Ukrainians, they are very proud Ukrainians today and very anti-Putin.
So the Russian, now that you mention that, I am curious, what is the Russian...
Not the Ukrainian Jew and Israel think.
They have a strong cultural affinity to Russia.
Right, that's what I'm asking.
I interview a lot on Russian media.
I don't speak Russian, but they translate for me.
But they don't like Vladimir Putin.
And you know why?
Why?
Because he's KGB. And these people have, what can I say, less than fond memories of the KGB. Right, so why isn't that determinative?
It should be.
The influence should be on the other side.
Israel should be.
Far less neutral than it's been.
Has Zelensky said anything about Israeli neutrality?
Many, many times.
Now, just in the last week, he and his government have come out with more favorable statements.
He gave a disastrous talk in Knesset by Zoom, a really disastrous talk, where he talked about how Ukrainians helped Jews during World War II. Oh, he said that?
Oh, boy.
It backfired big time.
And he has since ceased that line of argument with us, but he has called repeatedly for Israel to provide anti-missile and anti-aircraft capabilities.
And we have them.
All right, we'll be back in a moment.
Michael Oren is the former ambassador of Israel to the United States.
He is also a novelist.
His latest book is just out, Swan's War.
It is up at DennisPrager.com.
I think I've read all of your non-fiction.
The Christian Zionism history, right?
No, it's the history of America and the Middle East, power, faith, and fantasy.
Okay.
Back in a moment. Back in a moment.
Thursday, Friday, Monday, Tuesday.
I'll be speaking in Denmark and give you a nice report when we come back.
So anyway, Michael Oren has written these non-fiction books on the Six-Day War.
This is, by heart, I'm not reading this.
This is How Well I Know Your Words.
And America in the Middle East, which is what I spoke about, the Christian Zionists.
But that's such a sharp part that I remember.
Because people think Zionists are Jews.
I live in the American colony in Jaffa.
It's called the American colony because in the 1850s, 1860s, there were two American colonies there.
About 200 Americans from New England came then, the middle of the 19th century, to teach the Jews how to farm, because we had forgotten how to farm for 2,000 years.
And they were good Jeffersonians.
They believed any modern state had to have an agrarian base because they wanted the Jews to create a state.
And this is like 50 years before Herzl.
Wow.
And they suffered terribly.
Suffered terribly.
It's a wonderful tour you can take.
And they brought 17 prefab houses from Maine, and two of them are still standing.
Wow.
Clappered houses.
Downtown Tel Aviv.
I will be bringing next year about 500 or so listeners, and we'll get in touch with you.
I would love to give them that tour.
It's fascinating.
Yes.
I totally agree with you.
Anyway, he has a new book out, which is fiction.
It's a novel, and you said that you knew you had novels in your release poetry from high school, which is remarkable, because if I were threatened with death, I could not write a novel.
I know I couldn't.
And it would be death for me not to write a novel.
Yes, that's known.
I have to write every morning.
I write fiction, nonfiction, or articles for the newspaper, but fiction is very deep inside.
This is my fifth work of fiction, but it's very different.
It's a work that takes place in World War II in 1944-1945 on an island off the coast of Massachusetts called Forth Cliff.
Don't look for it on a map.
I made it up.
And it's about a policewoman named Mary Beth Swan from South Boston who was a policewoman at a time when policewomen were called women policemen.
They didn't carry guns.
They didn't walk beats.
Women policemen.
They were called women policemen.
I love that.
There were no women police captains, but Mary Beth Boyle, as her name, meets Artsy Swan from Forthcliffe Island.
He is the police captain of this island.
He brings her to this island and then goes off to fight the Japanese in World War II with the Marines and leaves her in charge, which is hard enough because she's an Irish Catholic in a very Protestant area and alone, no support.
But on the island, there are 60...
Italian prisoners of war.
And this is a fact.
During World War II, some 51,000 Italian prisoners of war were moved to the United States and used as labor.
They kept them separate from the Germans.
The Germans were much more dangerous.
They worked in factories.
They worked in farming and fishing.
And they're on this island.
And they're working.
And then one after another, they begin to show up dead.
Murdered.
So Mary Beth Swan, alone and beleaguered, has to track down a serial killer.
Who's loose on Fourth Cliff Island.
And that's the story of Swan's War.
And do we learn his motive?
We do.
We do, we do.
I'm only going to tell you.
But I must say, the two-thirds of the book, I didn't know who did it.
And I was investigating this crime along with her.
And I adored writing this.
And I adored the history.
I had to know what people wore, how they spoke.
Well, it's one of the great ways to learn history is through historical fiction.
Sure it is.
Absolutely.
And for the writer, too, obviously.
Yeah.
So let's turn to the United States.
My producer reminded me during the break that I have been saying on the radio something very sad to me because I have always adored this country.
In fact, one of my books is called Still the Best Hope.
It is the case for bringing American values to the world.
And for the first time in American history, this is my take, and if you have a different take, I'm totally open.
We are exporting bad ideas.
We are a net exporter of bad ideas.
So much so that Macron, who was on the left, president of France, said, stop sending us your bad ideas, America.
And those ideas which originated in France, of course, in the 60s.
Oh, that's interesting.
It was Foucault and Derrida.
Oh, Derrida, yeah, right.
It's the revenge of the French postmodernists.
So, first of all, are Israelis aware of the cultural war in America, like boys becoming girls?
No.
They're not.
They're not.
And wokeism hasn't taken root in Israel.
And it's not only because Hebrew doesn't lend itself, you know, to...
Certainly doesn't.
Everything is male and female.
It doesn't lend itself in that way.
Even verbs.
I always tell people that's rare.
That verbs are male and female.
Yes, you can have that.
But I think Israelis would not go along with the censor culture.
They just wouldn't, you know, what are you going to tell me to shut up?
No way.
And you're going to censor me, I'll censor you.
But it's more than that.
I think that wokeism in this country has become a form of religion.
And we have a religion.
We don't need another one.
And I was mentioning during the break that while, you know, the pew...
Polls show that religious attendance, whether it be churches or synagogues, is falling in this country.
In Israel, it's going up.
More people attend a synagogue every week and every year in Israel.
More people keep commandments or keep kosher or keep holidays.
I belong to a community in South Tel Aviv and Jaffa.
We have to keep on looking for bigger buildings because it's bursting at the seams.
And young people.
By the way.
So it's a very different situation in Israel.
So wokeism hasn't taken root and Israelis don't necessarily understand it.
But it's something which strategically should very much concern us.
Because Israel, like other American allies, Germany, Japan, South Korea, we all have a keen interest, a fundamental interest, in a strong, united America that's willing to project its power and its good values abroad.
My father passed away last year.
Close to 96 years old.
He landed on Normandy.
He's a very decorated World War II veteran.
And I have this sort of mind game I play of doing a survey of who was in this landing craft, landing on Normandy.
And you probably look around this LSAT, and he'd be the farmhand from Oklahoma, and the med student from Boston, and some business guy from Brooklyn.
All right.
Stop there and continue.
I'm very interested.
By the way, my dad, also World War II, also died at 96.
Back in a moment, Michael Oren's book is up at DennisPrager.com.
Okay, everybody, welcome back.
I'm Dennis Prager, in studio, obviously on a book tour, right?
You're on a book tour around the U.S. How many cities will that take you to?
Oh, you know, about 12, 13 cities in fewer days.
Yeah, no, no, I just, I did something similar.
You know what?
That should be your worst problem.
That's my blessing to you.
I spent 35 years in the Israeli military, you know, and it was good preparation for this book tour.
Oh, that's funny.
That is funny.
So the book is actually a novel.
He's a major historian, former Israeli ambassador to the United States.
Michael Oren, O-R-E-N, his novel, Swan's War.
He gave a synopsis of it earlier.
So I asked you whether you're aware in Israel of the exporting of awful ideas from the United States, and that brought you to your dad, who I'm sorry to hear just passed away, but obviously had a full life.
Very full life.
And he served in World War II and fought in Europe.
And go ahead.
And we were talking about his land.
I have this image of his landing craft on Normandy Beach and who's in the landing craft.
And I give you a little, little canvas.
You've got the farmhand from the Midwest and you've got the medical student from Harvard and you've got some business guy from New Jersey.
And if you asked everybody in the landing craft, okay, what are you fighting for?
Why are you here?
Why are you about to risk your life?
I think you get something close to a consensus.
They understood what the values were.
They understood that those values were worth fighting for and maybe even dying for.
And you scoot ahead less than 80 years later.
And you can't envision a landing craft like that.
Who's in the landing craft?
You know, you're not going to have the Harvard Med School.
You may not have the business person.
And you would not have the consensus about values.
And then you wouldn't have the further consensus about whether those values are worth fighting and dying for.
And that is very bad news for Americans.
But from my perspective, it's very bad news for the world.
Because Israel, like what we'd like to call the free world, has a profound interest.
In an America that does believe in its values, that has an elite that's willing to defend it and stand up for those values in the world.
Very disturbing.
Are you aware of how disturbing it is?
Because the average Israeli is not.
The average Israeli is busy worrying about housing prices and terror in our streets and is not thinking about cancel culture in this country.
Though I think they should be.
I think it's very important.
That impacts our security.
So you are aware.
I'm very keenly aware.
How do you explain this decline in this wonderful country?
Oh, it begins in the 60s.
And this was a process that took over 50 years.
And in the 60s, there was a rebellion, a largely communist rebellion, a Marxist rebellion.
They tried to export that rebellion beyond the gates of the university.
They didn't succeed in the 60s, so they went back into the campus and they closed the gates behind them.
And they created a situation where generation after generation of academicians had to subscribe to this formula, to this marketing formula, in order to get a position, in order to get tenure, to stay in the university.
And then they passed those ideas on to their students, and those students went forth and became the leaders of this society, both in government, in business, in the field of ideas.
Undoing this may take another half century.
But my great concern is for the pillars of democracy, and certainly one of the great pillars of democracy is the notion of a loyal minority.
That's the minority that loses an election and looks at the President of the United States and says, okay, Mr. President.
And if you begin to lose that, then the experiment begins to unravel, and that's my great concern.
It's completely legitimate.
Look, I could speak for myself, spending my life defending America and its values, and believing in its institutions.
There is no institution in America I believe in at this time.
You're speaking to a different dentist than maybe the last time we even spoke, three years ago, if that was when it was.
But I think you're symptomatic of what's happened across the board in the United States.
It's the meltdown of confidence in institutions.
And it's not just happening in this country.
It's happening internationally.
It's happening in Israel.
And it's interesting, in this country, and correct me if I'm wrong, most of the criticism, this meltdown vis-a-vis the Supreme Court, vis-a-vis the police in this country, is coming from the left.
But in Israel, the meltdown around the Supreme Court and the police is coming from the right.
But it's still a meltdown.
And the fact that now Israel's going into its fifth election in 43 months is actually expediting, accelerating the meltdown.
There's a lack of confidence in our political system.
And so democracy itself has to be defended as an idea, as an organizing principle for human beings.
Wow!
Well, I knew things were strange when I kept citing Sweden as my model during the lockdowns.
And by the way, Israel did disappoint me in its acceptance of unscience-based lockdowns, like here.
The book is Swan's War.
It is a novel, is a short novel, and he writes magnificently.
It's up at DennisPrager.com.
To be or not to be.
That is the question.
Where was God?
Isn't God supposed to be good?
Isn't he supposed to love us?
Does God want us to suffer?
Ten years, you're not finished yet?
Marty!
Why did you do this to me?
Who are you?
Bruce?
I'm God.
Bingo!
Yahtzee!
Is that your final answer?
Our survey says...
God!
Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
Well, it was nice to meet you,� God.
Thank you for the Grand Canyon, and good luck with the apocalypse.
Well, my friends, it's the Ultimate Issues Hour.
Every Tuesday, the third hour of my show, is about some great issue of life.
Today is a little different.
I was thinking about this.
I won't be here Friday.
I will be in Denmark.
It really is a statement about the world in which we live.
I'm going to Denmark for the weekend.
It's a long trip from California, I might add.
It's 15 hours to wherever you go, and then an hour or an hour and a half to Copenhagen.
There's very few.
There's only one nonstop to Copenhagen, and I won't be on that one.
So I have decided to make this hour an open line.
Whatever you would like to ask me as if it were Friday.
I mean, I would love it to be ideally an ultimate issue, but it could be any issue.
Whatever you want to raise.
1-8 Prager-776-877-243-7776.
Who's going to be sitting in for me on Friday?
On Friday, it'll be John Hinderraker.
John Hinderreicher.
Oh, terrific.
We've got some terrific people sitting in.
And again, 877-243-7776.
I'm going to Denmark to receive an award, and as I think I mentioned to you, I don't generally take awards, but this was meaningful to me.
It's about free speech, and I will be speaking in the Danish Parliament building.
So it's a serious...
It's a serious weekend going with my wife, although I wouldn't go if she weren't coming.
So it's a chance to have some sort of mini-vacation as well.
It's about free speech.
There's a realization on the part of many Europeans.
Not many.
I don't know how many.
I'll find out and I'll let you know.
That there is a battle with regard to free speech in Europe as well.
Wherever the left is ascendant, free speech declines.
There is no exception in the history of the world.
It doesn't matter where it is.
I'm not talking about liberals.
Every day I make the distinction.
Liberals believe in free speech.
They vote for people who don't believe in free speech, but they believe in free speech.
But the left does not.
Neither freedom nor truth are left-wing values.
We'll see next Tuesday.
By the way, I'm coming home on Tuesday, on Election Day, so as to be able to talk about the elections the next day.
So it's one of the reasons I'm keeping the trip down to four days, is to be back in time to discuss these seminal...
Elections.
People ask me every speech, what are my predictions with regard to the elections?
And I have an honest answer.
People are not happy with it, but in the long run, honesty works.
I never make predictions.
I didn't predict...
Have you ever heard me make a prediction in the political realm?
You once predicted that...
I did.
Wesley...
Oh, God, that's right.
This is, what, 30 years ago?
That general...
Yes.
...would be the Democratic nominee.
And after that, you've never met.
Yeah, after that.
Yeah, I learned my lesson.
Now, I don't make political predictions because there's nothing gained.
It's a very interesting question.
Wesley Clark.
Wesley Clark.
Yes, that's right.
Thank you.
It's an interesting question.
Why do people want to know whom you predict?
I have never asked anyone, whom do you think will win?
But people ask it all the time, and I certainly don't regard it as a negative.
I just, I don't identify with the question.
I guess they want to feel good.
And that's a completely legitimate desire to feel good.
But I feel good if people fight.
That's what I'm interested in.
And if you don't fight, we'll lose.
See, that's the prediction that I make.
If you don't fight for American values, you'll lose.
We will lose America.
America is an idea.
By the way, talking about America as an idea, I have a very interesting piece of information for you.
And that is Juan Williams, correct?
Mm-hmm.
Will be on tomorrow.
That's the plan.
So I have to admit, I was wrong.
I was sure that he would not accept an invitation to come on.
I was wrong.
I apologize.
And I'm thrilled that he is.
I thought his article was, well, frankly, awful.
And I even said, and I'm happy I said it, I said, he's such a nice man.
Remember I said that?
And he is.
But nice and right are not related.
But in any event, I just wanted you to let you know about that.
So I will be taking your calls now.
Given that I will be away, I look forward to reporting to you about my time in Denmark.
Incidentally, today is Tuesday, so my column is out.
I have 1,000 columns on the Internet, 20 years' worth.
Today is Tuesday.
It's out at my website or at townhall.com.
And it is about Kanye West, Candace Owens, and anti-Semitism.
I worked very long and hard on this, and I think you'll find it relevant and important.
I just want to say a word about that.
Maybe I'll have it as an Ultimate Issues Hour sometime in the next month.
People don't realize the suicidal nature of anti-Semitism.
There is no example of anti-Semites thriving.
Anti-Semitism is the proverbial fire that one plays with and it burns your own house down just as much as it burns the Jews' houses down.
There is something unique to a Jew hatred, because there's been something unique to the Jews.
It's not a compliment.
It's not an insult.
It's just a fact.
But you're playing with suicidal fire when you deal in anti-Semitism.
Okay, let's go to...
Let's go to Cupertino, California, and John.
Hello, John.
Hey, Dennis.
A comment about Ukraine.
I'm an American.
We have no vital interest whatsoever in Ukraine.
And I'd just like to point out for your listeners, they should be aware that this government that we're supporting is infested with Nazis.
If you go to Ukraine, you'll see monuments everywhere to a man named Bandera, with a B as in boy.
He is the Ukrainian Nazi who oversaw the murder of over 800,000 Ukrainian Jews during World War II. Bandera is his name.
And they worship him in Ukraine.
It is a thoroughly corrupt government.
The war there is pointless, doesn't affect our security or freedom in the slightest.
And I hope to God that after November 8th, the Republican majority will cut off eight altogether.
So thanks very much.
Okay.
So I don't agree with the call, but he didn't want to continue it.
That's fine.
It doesn't matter.
He was very polite.
So I would like to know what our caller would have said in 1953 when Harry Truman sent tens of thousands of American troops to Korea.
What interest does the United States have in Korea?
If we don't have an interest in a European country, why would we have had an interest in a Far Eastern country most Americans could not identify on the map?
So I have more responses, but that's a good beginning.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.
It's the Ultimate Issues Hour, but I'm opening it up to whatever subject you'd like, because I won't be here Friday.
As I explained, I'll be speaking in Denmark, which is still funny, even for me, and I've been to 131 countries.
Not that I'm counting.
Well, believe me, I do count.
Do you know that I don't know how many books I've written, but I know how many countries I've been to?
I don't know, what does that say about me?
It may not be a positive, but it is.
I'm just being, I'm open with you guys.
Okay, folks.
So the last caller says we should, we have no interest in Ukraine.
And I don't follow that line of argument.
If we didn't have an interest, if we don't have an interest in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, let Russia swallow up.
An independent country, then where do we have an interest?
Do we have an interest in protecting Taiwan against China, Israel against Iran, the South Korea against North Korea?
Outside of New York or California being invaded, do we have any interest?
There is a segment of the American population that believes God has graced this country with the greatest might in the world, but we're only to use it to save ourselves.
I don't agree.
I don't agree on moral grounds.
I don't agree on religious grounds.
I don't agree on political grounds.
I don't agree on American grounds.
I don't agree on any grounds.
I don't understand the argument.
Now, you might say, okay, so should we intervene everywhere?
No.
Nobody says that.
So you have to decide.
Is it important enough?
Russia taking over Ukraine.
How important is it?
I'll give you the proof.
Ready?
Sweden and Finland are applying for NATO membership.
They haven't been members of NATO since NATO was created after World War II. They have wanted to remain neutral.
They are so scared of Putin's Russia that they are willing to give up neutrality and join NATO. That is Finland, which boards Russia, and Sweden, which virtually does.
Okay?
But the moral is the one that animates me.
It's the country that people look to for liberty.
Why was it in the French interest to aid the American colonies when they rebelled against Britain?
You can always make the argument, if we're not invaded, we have no interest.
I will tell you this, I am convinced, I may be proven wrong, obviously, but I am convinced that Xi, the dictator, the Maoist head of China, has been made to think twice about invading Taiwan.
Precisely because of what has happened to Russia in its invasion.
As regards the Nazis and Ukraine, as a Jew, as one who sat on the board of the Holocaust Museum, as one who's written a book on anti-Semitism, as one who went into the Soviet Union to help Jews sent by the State of Israel when I was in my early 20s, I have a pretty good record of taking anti-Semitism seriously.
There was a lot of anti-Semitism in Ukraine.
There was a lot of anti-Semitism in France.
The French outdid the Nazis in rounding up Jews.
Would we therefore not come to France's aid if Russia invaded France or whomever invaded France because they were so awful with regard to their Jews?
Anti-Semitism was a European phenomenon, tragically.
One more point about the Ukrainians and World War II, putting the Jewish question aside.
The Ukrainians, like the Estonians and Latvians and Lithuanians and Poles and Czechs and Hungarians and Romanians and Bulgarians, hated the Russians.
For imposing communist totalitarianism on their countries.
So when the Nazis invaded, or better, in their view, just the Germans, they figured, hey, we can get rid of Stalin this way.
And they realized that it was not a great trade.
It is very depressing to think about someone in Eastern Europe.
Who had two choices, Stalin or Hitler.
It's a very bad time to have been alive.
Okay, let's go to Lakewood, New Jersey, and Michael, hello.
Dennis Prager here.
Hi.
Hi, I hope my service is good.
It was better before, but hopefully you can hear me clearly.
I do.
Okay, great.
So a few comments.
I'll try to make it quick and brief.
Number one is interesting that my wife works for a school district, and we're talking about cuts, cutting some of the employees and the staff.
So the teacher union sent out an email and reminded me of one of Sean's favorite recordings on your show.
And I was trying to quote to you, okay, and they're giving the background of that.
It's not certain the cuts are going to happen, but it might happen.
And therefore the following.
In the meantime, and I quote, it is likely that you will be hearing all sorts of misinformation and rumors.
The only information you should trust as fact will be shared with you by the blank cabinet, which is the union that I'm talking about, or the superintendent of schools, and signed by the president of the...
Oh, so you're comparing this to the New Zealand prime minister?
Correct.
Yeah.
That's precious.
Send me that note.
That's how the left regards it.
The only truth you will hear.
I am committed to truth as I am to God.
That's how much I'm committed to truth.
It's a massive sin to deliberately tell something false.
So I... Nevertheless...
I don't think I've ever said the only truth you will ever hear is on my show.
I would crack myself up if I were saying it.
But on the left, they take it seriously.
They're the only purveyors of truth.
If you disagree, you are lying.
We return.
The Dennis Prager Show.
Hi, everyone.
Since I won't be here Friday for the third hour, so I'm taking the Ultimate Issues Hour to just open it up to whatever's on your mind and to ask me about whatever is on your mind.
All right.
Cleveland, Ohio.
Mark, hello.
Hello?
Yes, sir.
Yeah, I called a couple weeks ago.
I'm glad to get through finally.
You've helped me a lot in dealing with a son who had an opiate addiction.
And he got through it.
He's doing better.
He's gameplay employed.
He had some horrible experiences.
Went through extensive surgery after a shooting.
But he's doing very good.
And the problem, not the problem, but the situation I'm dealing with is specifically One of the things they taught us in one of his rehab programs was, you didn't create the problem, you can't fix the problem, it's up to the individual.
And now that he's progressed where he's at, I'm finding it more difficult for me to deal with the retardation in his mind due to chemical addiction and the physiological and chemical effects of opiates in the brain.
Two years post-addiction.
And I see in his mindset, and I'm not sure if it's personality or addiction or brain lack of development.
And I'm just looking for, you know, where's the next plateau to develop?
How old is he?
He's 21. Actually, he's just turned 22. Okay.
So he was addicted from what age to what age?
It started the summer before high school.
His friend had cancer and got addicted to opioids.
And of course, when you're that age, you share your euphoric experiences with your buddies.
And they both became heavily addicted.
And he's been clean now for two years.
But you're convinced that it's affected his brain development.
Well, all the literature that I was exposed to in all the different programs that he dealt with and in reading different stuff since then, they talk about how opiates specifically affect the brain chemistry.
Just a normal male doesn't even fully develop...
Brain until mid-twenties.
Right, that's why I asked what age he was.
He was at the age when the brain most develops.
Exactly.
And I don't know if that's my question.
So if I met him, would I be aware of cognitive disability?
No.
No?
No.
So how are you aware?
Because you know him so well?
Because when he says, I need to do this or that, and it never happens, it never changes.
It's indicative of a person his age.
It's indicative of a person who had a drug addiction.
It's indicative of a person who had a cognitive disability.
And I find it very problematic of trying to discern.
And the other thing, again, it's his problem, not my problem.
And it's like, okay, you've been telling me this now for months, so it's on you.
Does he acknowledge it's on him?
He does, but nothing happens.
Yeah, okay.
So it's a very tough call.
I don't know if this has been opioid-induced or drug-induced.
The number of people who don't follow through on commitments who have never taken a drug in their lives is pretty high.
So I don't know if it's a character issue, and I'm not...
Saying he's a bad character by any means.
I'm not thinking that.
But that's not the same as a physiological issue.
That's why I asked if I met him, would I be aware of a cognitive disability involved?
He needs to be motivated.
And you can't be the motivator.
That's entirely accurate.
He has to be...
Look, there are vast numbers of Americans who were not motivated since the lockdowns, when they were given money for not working, and have decided that it's more fun not to work than to work.
And they're right, it might be more fun not to work than to work.
But generally speaking, It's far better for you to work than not to work.
You don't develop sitting at home.
So, that doesn't fully answer your question, but I don't know if it's opioid-induced.
▲
Export Selection