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March 14, 2023 - Dennis Prager Show
01:23:19
A New Iranian Revolution
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You better watch out.
You better not cry.
You better not pout.
I'm telling you why.
Santa Claus is coming to town.
Look at him.
He's making a list and he's checking it twice.
Dennis Prager with you.
I don't know if I have spoken about Meghan and Harry ever.
Do you recall me ever?
I think you've referred to it a few times.
Okay, so I'm not saying I didn't.
I'm just saying I don't recall.
But if I did, it was fleeting.
Is that fair to say?
Yeah.
I made fleeting reference.
To this couple.
Now that their Netflix series is out, and it's...
Have you seen anything of it?
Have you seen the trailers?
Yes, I've...
Yeah.
So, anyway, it's supposedly a real expose of the royal family, etc., etc.
I think what pushed me over the brink...
Was the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Campaign.
Did you see that?
You know how many people were at that dinner where he or they were given the award for 2022?
1,500 people, and I'm sure they paid a lot of money.
Yeah, 100%.
I really want to choose my words carefully.
In the public sphere, I'm not sure I can identify people who are as much a nothing as they are.
I have to say, I actually feel bad...
For King Charles, for whom I have never had particularly great respect.
He's just another fellow traveler of the woke, in my opinion.
Although he sort of grew up as soon as he became king.
But I'll put that aside.
I'm not saying this out of love for King Charles or the royal family.
But it is so unimpressive the way he has treated his family to make...
I heard today...
Do you know how much Netflix allegedly has paid them?
Do you know?
It's obviously in the millions.
Millions.
I heard a hundred million.
I'm not saying it's correct, but I heard it from a source that I respect.
Take a look, if you can, to verify it.
You know, I really feel strongly about children honoring parents.
So you can only imagine how I feel about children disgracing parents.
Did King Charles, did Queen Elizabeth, did his brother William, did any of these people abuse him?
So this tells you about the...
So how much is it?
Well, no, this is just a story about them receiving the award.
Oh, about the award?
Yeah, you should kind of fill people in.
Yes, so let me tell you about it.
I have a lot of comments about that.
It's 100 million in Netflix and 25 million was bought.
Okay, so I knew the source I heard it from was reliable.
That may be some overall deal.
I'm not sure it's for the one.
Alright, an overall deal of $100 million, according to Forbes.
Okay, that's...
Harry and Megan accept ripple of hope.
Oh, God.
The left's use of language borders on the genius.
Ripple of Hope.
Okay.
Britain's Prince Harry and wife Meghan accepted a Human Rights Award at a Ripple of Hope Gala.
In New York, where they were honored for addressing racial injustice and mental health.
Oh, they address racial injustice.
Wow.
So, what is their racial injustice?
She claims to have been mistreated by the royal family because she's black?
This is not meant in any bad way.
It's an honest question.
Does anybody look at her and think she's black?
No.
So what does black mean?
You identify as black?
One parent is black, right?
In her case.
By the way, you've got to admit it's an interesting thing that on the one hand, the left tells us how mistreated blacks are.
That this is a systemically racist country that mistreats people of color, or blacks and people of color, blacks indigenous people of color, BIPOC. They also own acronyms.
Are there any right-wing acronyms?
I think all acronyms belong to the left.
But you see, it's an interesting thing.
She would have to identify publicly and say, I'm black, for anybody to think she's black.
And she has opted to, as have so many, Because you get so many advantages, actually.
It's advantageous to be black at this time in America.
Much more than disadvantageous, it's advantageous.
If you were applying for a scholarship to an elite university and you were black, do you think you'd have a better chance?
If you were applying for an acting position in Hollywood and you were black, do you think you'd have a better chance?
Of course you do.
And everybody knows it.
So it's an odd thing that in an anti-black country, it's advantageous to be black.
I'll go on.
So he's addressing, he gets this big award.
Well, I don't know how big it is.
1,500 people came because they wanted to be in the same room as Meghan and Harry.
The appeal of stars is universal, almost universal, but it is especially so on the left.
I am proud to tell you that whenever people say to me, and I get this on the radio, so if you could have lunch or dinner with anyone in the world, who would you pick?
And I honestly answer, my friends.
That's who I would honestly pick.
One of them is sitting here, and you believe me, correct?
Who would I rather have lunch with?
A star?
Megan and Harry?
So they're all there at this RFK group.
The RFK said, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, which honors leaders across government, business, advocacy and entertainment to have shown an unwavering commitment to social change.
These people have no other deep meaning in life.
Social change provides meaning in life to these people.
That's what it is about.
Oh my God, listen to this.
Kerry Kennedy, president of the Foundation, daughter of the slain U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, said the couple had been incredibly brave to talk about their experience of racial injustice and mental illness.
They're incredibly brave?
One of the terrible things that the left does, remember everything it touches it ruins, including language.
When you hear the term now, sexual assault, do you have any idea what they're referring to?
I assume it could be anything from the terrible thing of rape to an unwanted touch.
Everyone is a survivor.
The term survivor was used if you were in a plane crash, if you went through a Nazi death camp and lived.
Now everybody is a survivor.
Word inflation.
As bad as monetary inflation.
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Christmas tree is ready.
The candles all glow.
But with my baby for a wingpole.
When I see ads that people can save a dollar or even 75 cents on an item, it makes it so clear to me how profoundly the inflation we're living through is affecting a lot of people.
people.
Do you know how shameful it is?
To badmouth your family publicly unless they have been evil.
And the royal family has not been evil.
I feel bad for William.
I feel bad for Charles.
What did we do to have a child like him?
The amount of money that they have received because he is from the royal family, the $100 million Netflix deal.
And what has he done?
What has he achieved in his life other than making money on the name that he has, being a prince?
It's so upside down, everything.
Is there anything admirable about him or his achievements in life or about her?
She goes on Oprah and speaks about what a difficult life she's had.
One of the most important things I wrote in my happiness book, Happiness is a Serious Problem.
Is that if you don't know early that life is difficult, period, or as they say in Britain, full stop, you cannot navigate it.
It's like being in one of these track and field events, you know, where they run and they have to jump over hurdles the whole time.
Imagine if they thought there would be no hurdles.
How angry they would be.
Who put these hurdles up?
I thought this race was just a straightaway with no hurdles.
And then somebody would say, you have to be choking.
That's exactly what this race is.
That's exactly what this life is.
hurdles he served in the royal army for 10 years And did two tours in Afghanistan.
Thank you.
It's worthy of note.
A lot of people did that.
And they're not getting the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award.
The left is always into hope.
It's like Barack Obama's campaign was hope and change.
And I thought of it in contemptible terms at the time.
Hope and change.
We don't need much change.
And what is the hope about?
Hope is if you're born in a poor third world country.
Hope?
The middle class of America?
It's probably been a year, Sean, since I played the Barack Obama one week before His first election.
What was the comment that he made again?
We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.
The applause is what depressed me.
It was overwhelmingly a white middle-class audience, and they're screaming about fundamentally transforming the United States of America.
This is what change looks like.
Well, you got your wish, those of you fools who cheered for Barack Obama.
Every one of you is a fool.
You're not a fool in every arena of life.
You're a fool when it comes to the country and when it comes to wisdom about what is going on around you.
You may be a very wonderful human being otherwise, but you're an enormous...
America-destroying fool, if you cheered that comment.
Well, you're getting it, my friends.
We are fundamentally transforming the United States of America from a free country to an unfree country.
In my synagogue, and my is appropriate, because along with two other wonderful human beings, I founded this synagogue in Los Angeles where I teach Torah each week.
There is a prayer for the United States of America and it begins something to the effect, Bless the United States of America.
God, please bless the United States of America.
A beacon of hope in a...
Was it a beacon of hope of liberty or just a beacon of light?
A beacon of liberty and justice.
A beacon of liberty and justice?
No, justice?
I don't remember that.
I think it's a beacon of liberty in a dark world.
And I can't say it anymore.
That's fundamental transformation.
I can no longer say the prayer.
I think it should be rewritten.
May it be a beacon of liberty.
You're agreeing with me that the change should be made?
Aren't you the one who usually reads it?
I often read it, but I don't.
No, I know you often read it, and you don't even read that part.
I think it should be read with may it be.
Yeah, I agree with you.
So Barack Obama began it, and of course it has been...
He's fundamentally transformed under Joe Biden, a despicable human being who is president of the United States.
History is made when a leader steps up, stays true to his values, and charts a fundamentally different course for the country.
That's right, he has.
He's made a free country much less free.
Those of you who cheered Barack Obama, you got your wish.
We return.
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Hello, everybody.
One of my favorite people is Steve Cortez, former CNN political analyst, And former senior advisor to the Trump administration.
I'm sick of these formers, Steve.
Let everybody know what the present is in your life.
Yes.
Well, the present is two things.
I'm working on political campaigns, and believe it or not, we're already starting to ramp up again for 2024. But I also will be launching an online show soon.
I don't have details to share yet, but that is going to be happening very soon.
There will be a Steve Cortez show in some flavor in the new year in 2023. Very nice.
By the way, Steve Cortez is one of the most important PragerU videos we've put up.
It is about the Charlottesville lie.
How many views between PragerU and...
Do we know how many see it through PragerU or only do we know how many see it through YouTube?
We know both?
So how many has Steve's gotten?
Like 6 million or something?
At least 6 million.
I think last I looked over 8 million.
Don't try to shortchange me here, Prager.
Yeah, you know.
Well, I want to speak to the people at PragerU.
I know them.
Anyway, it's a very important video, folks.
Anyway, I read your piece in the New York Post.
And I'm going to do this gingerly because it's a sensitive subject, but we're both big boys.
So you and I, and you especially, because you worked for President Trump, Extraordinary fans of his presidency.
And here you are writing a really positive piece on DeSantis.
Is there something to be read into that fact?
No, there isn't.
And that's why I try to be careful about this in the piece.
To point out that right now, there is one person in the 2024 presidential field, and that is President Trump.
No one else has declared in that field might well not really take shape for many months until next spring or next summer.
And what I point out there, though, is I think this is a fake sort of binary choice.
I have to be sort of Team Trump or Team DeSantis.
I have tremendous admiration for both of them, and I think this country is blessed to have both of them.
I think President Trump remains the foremost leader of the America First movement.
And at the same time, and there's no chasm here, there's no battle, at the same time, Ron DeSantis is the best elected official in all of America.
Not just the best governor, I think he's the best elected official in all of America.
Now, if they do choose to run against each other, if Ron DeSantis does enter, because of course Trump's in, if Governor DeSantis does indeed enter, what I'll say is this, Dennis, I believe that the eventual victor of that competition...
Will be so much better for having beaten a very worthy opponent.
It would be good for the movement.
Competitive primaries are good for the movement and good for the country.
So if that, in fact, does happen, either one of them, whoever wins, will have really earned that victory over a very, very worthy competitor if it indeed happens.
Yeah, you and I are so often in substantial agreement.
I think that's really well put.
So you don't see any danger that if it would be someone other than Donald Trump nominated that he would form a third party or run independently?
I don't.
Now look, none of us here can tell the future, and particularly predicting Donald Trump, who is a famously difficult-to-predict man.
It's not an impossibility, but I would certainly strongly advise him against that.
And I think he would realize, really, the folly of a third-party movement, that you can only play spoiler.
You have no reasonable chance, given the current constraints of our two-party system, of winning.
So I don't see that as a substantial risk.
I really do not.
So I'll put you on the spot.
Even more so right now.
Did you predict a red wave?
I did.
And I was too optimistic, yes.
And the reason I did, by the way, though, is because I looked at the state of the economy, which is really my wheelhouse before I got into politics.
I spent 25 years on Wall Street trading financial markets for the biggest hedge funds in the world, and then specifically interest rates, which is where I really focus.
And with inflation out of control, I perhaps more than most in the political arena have really paid attention to this issue, this absolute created crisis of Joe Biden.
And I believe that it would translate into a massive political wave for the Republicans.
Now, it did translate into a wave.
We're going to take the House back.
That's great news.
The gavel is going to be taken away from Nancy Pelosi.
And that's really important.
And it's a hugely important lever of power in Washington that we will finally control the U.S. House.
But clearly, it was not the election that I predicted.
It was not the election that so many of us wanted.
And I think what that really comes down to, I don't think it's the issues, and I would disagree with a lot of folks.
I really don't think it was so much the candidates.
We've failed to grasp the importance of the mechanics of ballot collection, and the Democrats have damn near perfected it.
And given that disparity, unfortunately, we didn't get the kind of wave that we should have given the circumstances of the country right now, given the anxiety in the country, the massive disapproval of Biden, etc.
I want to develop that issue with you.
I'm speaking to Steve Cortez.
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Everybody knows A turkey and some mistletoe Helps to make the season bright Tiny tots All right, everybody, I'm Dennis Prager.
Good to be with you.
So I want to bring to your attention, especially, I assume that this is known in the Denver area, but the nation should know about this.
So let me get the headline up for you.
CBS Colorado, it was just anarchy or rampage.
Victim recalls being attacked by more than a dozen teens on light rail train.
October 14th, but the report is from today.
Let's see, actually yesterday.
October 14th was a typical Friday afternoon for Zachary Chupko.
He hopped on the light rail to head back to work after his lunch break.
It was just supposed to be a quick thing, you know, just jump on the light rail, it's one stop, said Chopko of Lakewood.
When he boarded the RTD, eastbound W-Line at the Garrison Station, he noticed the only other passengers was a group of teens.
Listening to music, he didn't acknowledge them, but out of the blue, they attacked.
So that sort of addresses your question, did he provoke them?
And in any event, even if he provoked them, it's not defensible, but I was curious.
I got on, I got hit in the back of the head, and they just started beating me.
There's a video of them beating him, by the way.
It's linked to this piece on CBS News Denver.
Punching and kicking Chopko, the teen screamed profanities.
By the way, they were white and he is white.
Just so you'll understand better even what happened.
The violent attack was caught on video and shared with CBS News Colorado.
I was being pushed.
I was being hit.
I don't know.
It was just anarchy, a rampage, just horrible.
Chopko somehow stumbled out of the train and flagged down a police officer, but the kids were already gone.
He was rushed to the hospital.
Where he learned the extent of his injuries, concussions, ribs, stitches in my eyes, my face, my ears.
Everything was messed up, said Chopko.
But as Chopko began his recovery, the group appeared to strike again.
On November 3rd, a 47-year-old man was assaulted by a group of teens on another light rail train.
According to the district attorney's office, the victim broke several bones.
You know how painful one broken bone is?
You can't empathize.
The human is not capable of empathizing with things they did not experience.
Required facial reconstruction surgery.
That's how badly his face was beaten, out of nowhere.
By a group of teens.
This is not the only incident.
I mean, it happened more than once, said Chopko.
It makes you look at the world differently.
Not me!
Doesn't make me look at the world differently.
Human nature is not impressive, my friends.
Lord of the Flies is working its way through American society as the left destroys everything that built character.
The left!
Put it into your brain.
They have destroyed the entire system of character development in young people, which was rooted in self-control, not self-esteem.
Get it?
Hey, kid, you're great.
Hey, kid, you're great.
Remember how much the left mocked me?
Well, I love when they mock me because it means I got to them.
So keep doing it, folks.
It helps me.
It brings people, actually...
To awareness of what I'm talking about.
The sign in the fifth grade class or third grade class, what was it again?
The world is a better place because you're in it?
Yeah.
Nobody told me that or my colleague here when we were in third grade, the world is a better place.
We were told, you better work on your character, kid, or the world will be a worse place.
What do these kids have?
They live in a country that stinks.
They'll die from climate change.
Their founders are scum.
That's what the left gives kids today.
And, of course, you don't need a father.
What is their entertainment?
It's nihilism.
Gee, where do these gangs come from?
How come they didn't do this in a more religious America?
How come?
How come there weren't gangs of kids beating strangers up?
Gangs of kids going into store after store after store, massive stealing and looting while people watched.
Oh, Hillary Clinton was right.
It takes a village to raise a child.
child, but if it's a left-wing village, the child is screwed up.
The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office has arrested 13 teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17 for assault.
Nine are charged in Chopko's case and seven in the second attack weeks later.
There are three teens who allegedly took part in both attacks.
All involved teenagers are currently being charged as juveniles.
Well, it'll be very interesting to see what happens to them.
I'd love to know how many of these kids have a father in their lives.
I really would love to know.
I'm not saying they don't, but I would love to know how many.
And for those of you on the left who can't take responsibility for the nihilism you have caused in our society, just out of curiosity, how many of them went to church that Sunday?
Curious.
Yes.
Don't you want to know?
Don't you want to know?
I am curious.
For those of you on the left who monitor my show, and to the extent that you're capable of challenging yourself, what do you think caused these kids to beat strangers up?
Climate change?
Systemic racism?
They're white kids.
Poverty?
They're probably middle class.
What's your explanation, O ye who cause the mayhem of our society?
What is your explanation?
There's a debate on YouTube between me and a rabbi who held the unbelievably foolish position that human nature is basically good.
There are very few positions I have more contempt for than the belief that humans are basically good.
I don't say humans are basically evil, but the tendency, if you're not raised with a strong, strong...
Moral code is to do bad.
Beating people up is apparently exciting for a lot of people, since a lot of people have beaten up a lot of people in history.
Who wrote Lord of the Flies?
What was the author again?
William Golding, is that his name?
Wow, that's quite a story out of Colorado.
Yeah, what they needed was more self-esteem, these kids.
Do you know how much self-esteem you have to think you can beat somebody up?
I am terrific.
You are unworthy.
So I have the right to beat you up.
Correct?
Doesn't that make sense?
While we're on the topic of crime...
Let's see here.
That's one.
Here's another one.
Philadelphia gas station owners...
Excuse.
Wow.
That's fascinating.
American Greatness is one of the great sites.
Their headline is a grammatical error.
The headline?
Philadelphia gas station owners hires armed security.
It's gas station owner hires.
I assume gas station owner hires.
How did that get through?
It's the headline.
It happens.
I agree.
It's a fantastic site, American Greatness.
But if any of you at American Greatness are listening, change the headline to Philadelphia gas station owner hires.
That's really something.
But they vote Democrat in Philadelphia.
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.
Oh, what fun it is.
Hello, everybody.
I'm Dennis Prager.
I want to remind you that we're doing the Angel Tree campaign.
If this time of the year doesn't prompt you to be charitable, obviously another part of the year won't.
There's a beautiful charity that...
Gives a gift, hopefully a note, and introduces kids to religion if they have a parent in prison.
Apparently 1.5 or 1.7 million kids have a parent in prison.
It's a very difficult issue.
$25 takes care of a kid with a gift, a note, hopefully.
Of the introduction of religious life to the kid or religious texts.
So go to the Angel Tree banner at my website DennisPrager.com and please donate.
If you could take care of 10 kids for $250, that would be great.
One kid for $25, that's great.
Again...
It's at my website, DennisPrager.com, the Angel Tree campaign.
My wife, who has been IMing me every show for now, wow, about 17 years, wow, about 17 years, - Yes.
notes that she saw Lord of the Flies when she was in sixth grade and it made a big impact on her.
It's both the movie and, of course, the novel.
I'm sure kids are not there reading it today.
They're reading about American racism and transphobia.
So there's no time for literature that will affect their lives for the better.
But they should.
Because it's revealing about kids' natures.
If you think people are basically good, just watch kids.
God.
It is so indefensible to think something so stupid after all the horrors of history.
The number of people who actually assess reality and then come to a rational conclusion is a true minority.
Most people believe what they want to believe or what they are told to believe.
And it doesn't take much.
It just takes a commitment to truth.
Just say to yourself, I'm committed to truth.
Should two-year-olds be masked?
If you said yes, you weren't committed to truth.
You were part of the herd.
H-E-R-D. Why isn't it obvious to anybody that you don't mask two-year-olds, that it's bad for them?
Because experts told you otherwise?
God gave you a brain so that you are blindly obedient?
The content people have, oh, you religious people, you blindly follow God, blind faith.
Nobody has blind faith like the secular.
Some people do.
Some religious people do.
But if you want to talk blind faith, you go to the left.
That's blind faith.
Well, the consensus of experts, consensus of experts.
Would he now take a vote on scientific truth?
The outlier doesn't ever have a point to make?
you take a vote philadelphia one gas station owner has taken matters into his own hands when it comes to addressing the city's rising crime wave The New York Post reports that Neil Patel...
Owner of a Carco gas station has hired armed security guards brandishing AR-15s and shotguns and wearing bulletproof Kevlar vests.
Battelle told local news outlet Fox 29 that he hired the guards from the private security firm SITE in response to the worst crime wave he has seen in his 20 years in the city.
Patel said that he recently witnessed a gang completely ripping out and making off with his store's ATM machine.
They didn't rob the machine.
Well, they didn't rob the contents of the machine.
They robbed the machine.
So they could take the money out at their leisure?
Yes, while they have a barbecue chicken.
We are tired of this nonsense, robbery, drug trafficking, gangs hanging around, Patel said in an interview.
I am fearful for my employees, as well as my nice neighborhood, all the customers.
He said that the spike in crime is forcing us to hire the security.
I'll bet he didn't vote Democrat.
He's a small business owner.
So they live with reality.
Andre Royer, the head of site, is a former police officer with the city of Philadelphia, said that most of his employees are also former law enforcement.
We wear Kevlar.
We're trained.
My guards go to training every other week, Boyer explained.
As a Pennsylvania state agent, the law tells us that we have a right to protect this property by any means necessary and with whatever force necessary.
A poll conducted by Fox 29 after its airing showed that an overwhelming majority of the station's viewers expressed their support for the hiring of private security.
80% of respondents said the Guard's presence would make them feel safer at the store.
That's the end of the article.
Wow.
So guess what?
Here's the punchline of all.
Ready?
Staying in Philadelphia.
A woman writes for The Guardian.
The Guardian is a left-wing paper.
Therefore, its columnists are almost all fools.
And this one is Arwa Madawi.
She's a Guardian columnist.
That's extraordinary.
She's one of the more foolish columnists at The Guardian?
Whoa.
She writes foolishness on a weekly basis.
As a proud progressive, which is immediately identifying her as foolish, admitting that I feel unsafe in Philadelphia feels way more embarrassing.
That's a riot.
What a great line.
Why is she so embarrassed?
Because they have progressives running Philadelphia and the city stinks.
That's why.
But the punchline, I'm reserving it for when we return.
It summarizes just about everything.
We return momentarily.
I'm Dennis Prager.
The Dennis Prager Show.
Just rocking around the Christmas tree left to Christmas spirit rain.
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie.
Dennis Prager with you.
I like it.
I like it, gentlemen.
It's cheerful.
If you think clearly, you're not a leftist.
It's definitional.
You can be a liberal, you can be a conservative, you can't be a leftist.
This is proof.
I'm talking to you about the gang of kids who beat up a guy for no reason in Denver on the light rail.
And again, another group of kids did it to another guy, crushed his ribs.
The guy needed facial reconstruction for no reason.
They just enjoy beating people up.
And, of course, those of you who believe human nature is basically good, how do you explain these kids?
They're all sick.
They're all sick.
Victims, you have zero basis upon which to say they're all mentally ill.
And anyway, the mentally ill don't tend to beat people up.
Just for the record.
The vast majority of mentally ill don't do that.
Poverty, they're middle class.
If not richer, I don't know.
Racism, the crowd I saw in the video were all white.
Victim was white.
Oh, all the liberal idiocies, and this is liberal as much as leftists.
On the crime issue, liberals are as foolish as conservatives, excuse me, as leftists.
So here is this columnist.
We're still in...
Oh, I want you to play for me.
Is that the Denver report?
Oh, no, no, no.
This is the Philadelphia.
So I moved on to Philadelphia where a gas station owner has hired armed guards.
But I want you to hear the Philly report about the poll taken among Philadelphia viewers of this news station.
Continue, please, Mr. McConnell.
Absolutely.
All right, we got a question for you.
Would this make you feel safe?
Take a look.
A security guard armed with a semi-automatic weapon.
It's happening at a North Philly gas station.
The owner coming up with the idea to scare off criminals.
If you saw this, this is our go vote for tonight.
Would you feel safer or uncomfortable?
Okay, before we continue, before we continue.
I can't ask any of you here what you would predict the vote would be, because you already heard this before we put it up for the public.
However, one would think that if you saw an armed guard at a station, given the crime rate in Philadelphia, you would be relieved, you would be comfortable.
So you would think it would be like 80-20, 90-10.
Let's hear what the real vote is.
Show them.
The vote is 65% of you saying safer, 35% uncomfortable.
Okay, that's it.
65-35.
So let me get this right.
I don't know if the poll is representative of the public.
I suspect it is.
35% of those seeing an armed guard at a gas station in Philadelphia would not feel more secure.
secure, they would feel more uncomfortable?
And I've got a question for you.
Yeah.
How do you think 90% of the 35% vote?
If you see life in a bizarre way, in a reality-denying, wishful-thinking way, the odds are overwhelming you vote Democrat.
Which brings me to my Guardian article by one of its truly foolish columnists, a woman named Arwa Madawi.
As a proud progressive, admitting that I feel unsafe in Philadelphia feels embarrassing.
Right-wingers in the U.S. are obsessed with the narrative that Democrat-led cities such as Philadelphia are dystopian hellscapes where you will almost certainly be killed if you step out of your house.
Okay, that's so exaggerated as to be simply dishonest, which is fine.
Truth is not a left-wing value.
But yes, we are obsessed with the narrative that thanks to the left, America has more crime.
That is correct.
She has another reason.
And that's what I called last segment, my punchline.
I'm going to take your calls in a moment.
We've got a lot of interesting ones.
I'm talking to you about the Colorado case of these bands of kids beating up, really beating up, cracking bones, lacerating faces, not lacerating, breaking bones in the face.
One guy needed a facial reconstruction, beaten up by a gang of kids.
If you have a good kid, you're lucky, or you did a great job, or both.
But by and large, kids are not morally impressive.
Anyway, back to this fool at the Guardian, which tends to print fools.
Okay.
So she admits that she's very embarrassed by the fact that she feels unsafe in Philadelphia.
While the right cynically politicizes crime, what does that mean, politicizes crime?
State that there are political origins to the crime wave in Philadelphia?
There aren't?
Oh, okay.
Well, there aren't.
According to her, and this is the punchline I've been waiting to share with you, shootings have surged.
They are not entirely wrong about the problem.
Shootings have surged in Philadelphia since the pandemic.
By early August, more than 1,400 people have been shot in Philadelphia this year.
Now, here we go.
The right blames this violence on liberals, and no, we blame it on the left.
Liberals vote for the left, but we blame it on the left.
On George Soros-funded district attorneys, on the Democrats who believe defund the police, and the like.
The right blames this violence on liberals and the movement to defund the police.
Philadelphia has a famously progressive district attorney.
The fact that she calls him progressive shows how despicable the label is.
I assume you are hurting society if you define yourself as a progressive.
District Attorney who they argue is too easy on criminals.
Right.
They argue.
She doesn't.
Ready?
And here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the punchline!
Sean!
Wake the drummer up.
Or the trumpeters.
We need one or the other.
Nah, nah, nah, nah, that's not right.
Nah, nah, nah, nah.
Alright.
Better than nothing.
Here it goes.
Do you know what I'm going to say?
You know what I'm going to read?
I'm trying to think of the most outrageous thing I can think of.
Okay.
No, you don't have to think of the most outrageous thing you can think of.
Think of what everyone on the left ascribes crime to.
The real reason...
That's right.
Of course.
The real reason for all this violence, however, this is the crap that The Guardian publishes.
By definition, if you're a leftist, you're stupid.
By definition.
Doesn't mean you lack brain matter.
You can have great brain matter.
Brain matter and stupid are not mutually exclusive.
The reason for all this violence, however, is that Philadelphia has high rates of poverty and easy access to guns.
Of course.
Is that precious, ladies and gentlemen?
High rates of poverty!
I guess there's so much more poverty since the lockdowns.
Which, by the way, may be true.
I warned that the lockdowns would increase poverty all over the world.
The lockdowns were another asinine, left-wing idea.
One country in the world decided not to do it.
Sweden, which ironically is...
I don't know, Sweden.
It's interesting.
Sweden is right of center on many cultural issues.
What is rumbling here?
Oh, okay.
Well, that's it.
Now you know.
The antidote for all this violence is in rocket science.
You increase social safety nets.
You decrease poverty.
You decrease access to guns.
Philadelphia has easy access to guns?
So what is she talking about?
Anyway, that's it.
Decrease poverty!
Two things at a very early time in my life.
I mean, I'm talking high school.
Two things convinced me I was not a leftist.
I still thought I was liberal.
But I knew the left was despicable.
And just plain stupid.
One, poverty causes crime.
I thought of my grandparents who were very poor and it was inconceivable they would commit crimes.
So I knew it was a lie from my own experience.
My grandparents would not have robbed a bank or beaten people up or raped.
Why?
Because they had a moral code that made it inconceivable.
The other thing that convinced me I could not be on the left was that the left was anti-anti-communists.
They hated anti-communists, which showed that they didn't hate evil.
They hated people who fight evil, which is true to this day about the left.
So that's it.
There you go, my friends in Philadelphia.
You didn't know this, did you?
And what about the gangs in Denver that beat people to a pulp for no reason?
Is it poverty there too?
That's what they said originally about the 9-11 attackers.
Poor Arab Muslims.
Turns out that they were upper middle class.
Pretty wealthy.
Leftists believe what they want to believe.
That's why I say truth is not a left-wing value.
I mean it literally.
They don't ask what is true.
They ask, what do I want to believe?
At The Guardian, they want to believe poverty causes crime.
And that's what they believe.
Hey, everybody.
Let me take some calls here.
Fair.
And appropriately in Philadelphia, Craig, hello.
Hello, guys.
Hi.
Hey, Don.
I just wanted to make a note on that news segment you played where they had the poll that 65% were poor and 35% felt nervous about it.
I actually watched that live on television, and at the end of their segment...
The poll had already changed to 80-20.
Very good.
Thank you.
You've relieved me.
I'm not kidding.
That's why I took your call.
Oh, yeah.
Didn't some article say 80-20?
That's right.
Yeah.
That makes more sense.
I don't even believe the 20%.
With crime in Philadelphia, one out of five people think that an armed guard at a gas station makes them more uncomfortable than it makes them feel secure?
Why, are armed guards known for shooting innocent people?
Anyway, I'm glad I took that call there.
Denver, Colorado.
Good.
See, both cities have people calling in.
Hi, Dan.
Hello, sir.
Nice to speak with you.
Thank you.
I just wanted to say that I used to work on that W line, the very same line where that gentleman was attacked.
And Denver's not the city that I grew up in.
We have lots of issues where the district attorney basically throws out charges.
The cops are doing what they can to try and get a hold on what's going on.
But with the decriminalization of drugs, it's just gotten rampant.
And the police are not backed by the district attorneys.
You know, everything's being thrown out.
I believe you.
Hey, how many people can say that the city they grew up in is the city they're living in now?
What city has not deteriorated?
I moved to Los Angeles in the late 70s.
It was so exciting to go from the East Coast to the West Coast.
It was the embodiment of the American dream of freedom and natural beauty and great climate and freedom.
And if I didn't mention it, freedom.
And now, Los Angeles and San Francisco have been largely ruined.
There's a massive exodus of its middle class.
Oh yes, it's thanks to a certain group in America.
But I won't name them, because you all know what it is.
The Dennis Prager Show.
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you. it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you.
Giddy-yap, giddy-yap, giddy-yap, let's go.
Let's look at the show.
All right, everybody, Dennis Prager here.
One of the most important things happening in the world today is happening in Iran.
I don't predict it by any means, but if that regime, that evil vile, I don't even call it medieval, and I'm not at all being sarcastic when I say...
To call the Iranian regime medieval is an insult to the medieval times.
There were better people in the Middle Ages in some places, certainly in Iran, than the people, the gangsters, the thugs, the sadists who run Iran today.
And if there really is the beginning of some sort of uprising in Iran, we need to know about it.
And I have a famous and important and courageous woman in studio.
I'm honored to have her because it's a very big deal to be with you.
And I am going to read your name from the Farsi as soon as I pull it up because I want people to know about you and how they can contact you.
Masih Alinejad.
M-A-S-I-H, but it's a H in Persian.
Alina Jad, A-L-I-N-E-G-J-A-D. And you are an Iranian-American journalist, author, women's rights activist.
You write for the Washington Post.
As I said to you right before, not many people write for the Washington Post and come on the Dennis Prager Show.
So that's a victory for you, and I'm very happy for you and very happy for my listeners.
So, tell us a little bit about you and your background when you left Iran and your activities.
First of all, thank you so much for having me.
Second of all, I was a troublemaker when I was in Iran, so I got kicked out from everywhere.
I didn't have any other option.
I should have stayed in Iran, kept silent, imposed self-censorship, or leave Iran and be loud.
As a journalist, I got expelled from Iranian parliament just because of...
Publishing their payslips, their salaries that the member of the parliament received.
I mean, I'm sure if you do that here in America, you will receive an award.
But my award was just being kicked out from Iranian parliament.
Then I became a columnist, criticizing the former president of Iran, Ahmadinejad.
Then I lost my column.
So that's why in 2009 I left Iran.
Clearly, in 2009, Iranian regime were happy to kick out all the troublemakers because they didn't know that the power of social media can make us, like, nightmares for them.
Now, here I am, with a big platform on social media, more than 10 million followers, and echoing the voice of Iranian people who want to get rid of Islamic Republic.
I want to tell you an interesting theory I have, and then we'll talk about the women's issue and Iran in general.
There's so much to talk about.
My wife and I attended an opera in Sydney, Australia, a number of years ago, and our waitress, a beautiful young woman, as soon as I heard an accent, I always ask people, because I've been to Iran, and I've been to 130 countries, so the odds are I've been to their country.
So I said, where are you from?
She said, Iran.
So then I said, I'm just curious, are you a Jew, Christian, or Muslim?
And her answer was, I'm an atheist.
And I have a theory.
And I've said this on my show.
I think that the Iranian regime has created more atheists than any atheist group in the world.
That was the only benefit of the Islamic Republic.
You know what?
First of all, I have to say...
Keep repeating Iran, Iran, Iran, because I think you're one of the rare Americans that you know how to pronounce Iran.
This is beautiful.
It's not Iran.
I really want to say that actually, in the map, we have one country, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
But in reality, there are two.
One is Iran, which is...
You know, stealthy, sacred, like everything was going on behind the scene, which now is taking to the streets because a lot of people now dare to say that Iran is being, like, hostage in the hand of Islamic Republic and we want to get rid of Islamic Republic.
Yes.
So that brings us, obviously, to this moment.
I am always amazed that there are any demonstrations in Iran.
First of all, I'm curious.
Is there social media?
Are there social media that let people know there will be a demonstration in, you know, whatever city at this time on this day?
How ironic.
Yes, we have social media which all being filtered by the leaders of the Islamic Republic.
I mean, it's unbelievable that the same leaders are enjoying freedom of expression on social media like Twitter.
Facebook, Instagram, they're all filtered.
So basically, Khamenei banned 18 million people from using social media, but the tech companies allowing them to enjoy freedom of expression on social media.
Using social media is a crime in Iran.
But people are smart.
The young generation, they're smart.
They know how to bypass the filtering.
Okay, so that's what they're doing.
They're bypassing the filtering.
Yeah.
I always wonder, how do they know, given the censorship of the media in Iraq?
I get bombarded by people sending videos to me and risking their lives in the streets.
Not only people who are protesting, but the family members of those who got killed.
The mothers, which we know.
I mean, they called themselves mothers for justice.
When the Iranian regime killed their beloved one, they take to the streets.
The same street that the regime killed their beloved one, holding the picture and saying that this is the street that you killed my son, my daughter.
Now I am the voice of my beloved one.
And they're using social media.
That's why the Iranian regime is really scared of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.
Can you believe that in 21st century?
They have guns and bullets.
They have prison.
They can execute people.
They can do whatever they want, but they're scared of people using social media.
Because this mobile phone and social media became like a weapon for us.
Are your parents still in Iran?
I don't have anyone here.
All my family are there.
Are they threatened?
My brother was in prison for two years.
They arrested him to punish me.
The reason that they arrested my brother was because they actually brought my sister on TV to denounce me publicly.
She did.
My mother was interrogated for two hours.
They asked my mother to take me to Turkey.
They said that we're not going to touch your daughter.
We just want to talk to her.
We have some advice for her.
So my brother exposed us, which is a kidnapping plot, and that's why they arrested my brother.
Where were you at the time?
Turkey?
No, I was in America.
They wanted to take me to Turkey.
I see.
My brother exposed the plan.
Really?
Yeah.
No one in your family supports you?
I have to say my mom.
Because, look, my mom is a tiny woman.
She's not even able to read and write.
But she's a true feminist.
Because when the Iranian regime brought my sister on TV, I was just watching my sister denouncing me.
I was expecting my mom to come out and say, you know, I curse my daughter, I disown my daughter.
But my mom said to the people who went to their house, if you come back to my village...
I will set fire on myself.
I kill myself, but I'm not going to go to TV and denounce my daughter.
So I think this is kind of showing solidarity.
So is she unhappy with your sister?
Yes.
Yes.
But listen, this is not just me.
This is Iranian people who actually know that.
The regime using family members against them.
I was just curious.
But, you know, the daughter, oh my God, the sister of Khamenei just yesterday.
Came out and said that I disown my brother.
He called Khamenei.
You're kidding.
Yes, a dictator.
This is the truest story.
So they want to use my mom?
My sister?
Who cares?
Khamenei's sister?
Yes, Khamenei's sister.
Wait a minute, Khamenei's the supreme ruler.
Khamenei is the Islamic ruler.
Exactly.
He's not the political ruler.
That's a shame for him.
Shame?
Oh my God.
That's the truest story.
I mean, yeah, I was broken.
Where was this reported?
Yesterday in Iran.
And she lives in Iran.
And she came out and she said that my brother cannot hear the voice of Iranian people.
He only hears the voice of those who are in his pay list.
Wow.
So when we see pictures of tens of thousands of Iranians screaming, Margbar Ameriki, Margbar Israel, death to America.
I was one of them.
Okay, that's my question.
I was one of them.
Look, I'm being honest with you.
No, that's why I'm asking it.
How many really are there because they sincerely want Israel dead or America dead?
Answer when we come back.
I know it.
Because I know from the Soviet Union when they would demonstrate and they would basically say down with Brezhnev instead of down with America.
All right, we'll return.
She has 10 million followers.
I hope after this show she has 20 million.
Masih Ali Nejad.
She is a major activist on behalf of Freedom in Iran.
Back in a moment.
Masih Alinejad.
A-L-I-N-E-J-A-D. The reason there is good in this world is because a handful of people make sure in every generation.
I'm going to tell you a very touching thing, Masih, that you probably are not aware of.
So there is a traditional Jewish belief that at any time in the world, there are 36 righteous people.
And if it ever went to 35, the world would collapse.
And you don't even have to react, but when I meet someone like you, I think that legend is probably accurate.
So I just need you to understand.
I have met people like you.
I was sent into the Soviet Union when I was 21 years old, and I met dissidents.
And they suffered for being...
Dissenters in the Soviet Union.
It's the rare individual that is.
So we're talking about what is happening in Iran today.
So I asked you, how many people screaming Marek Bar Ameriki, death to America, actually believe it?
And I told you I was one of them.
Maybe it's good for your audiences to hear a pure story.
I was told and brainwashed when I was just seven years old in my school, in my village, that I have to say death to America as loud as the White House can hear me.
School boys and school girls are still being told that you have to say death to Israel as loud as the Tel Aviv can hear you.
But what you hear now in the streets of Iran, right now, tell me.
That's right.
What does it mean?
The fear is gone.
Death to Khamenei, for those who didn't pick up on it.
Because now we know that our enemy is the Islamic Republic.
Actually, this is the main slogan in the streets.
People saying that they lie to us when they say that our enemy is America.
Our enemy is right here.
It's the Islamic Republic.
It means that our enemy is right here.
So, clearly, we the people of Iran want to be friends with everyone.
We don't want to say death to America.
Death to, you mentioned about Jewish.
Thank you for sharing that.
We used to say death to Jewish people, death to Bahai, death to Munafeq, death to England, death to everyone.
I mean, we grew up with hate.
How do you say death to everyone in Farsi?
I want to remember that.
That's the motto of Iran.
That should be the new motto.
I mean, honestly, that's not acceptable that you force your people.
All right.
So, of course, you don't have a scientific answer.
But what is your guess as to the percentage of Iranians who support the regime?
Look, even the...
People who supported the revolution, they are against the revolution.
Even the relative of the ayatollahs, the relative of the officials, they're not supporting this backward mullahs, as I told you.
One of the main journalists who got executed, Ruho Lazzam, his father is a cleric and is still supporting the regime and the clerical regime.
Wait, the regime executed his son?
Yes.
And he supports the regime?
My father supports the regime, but I'm here to tell you that just a few numbers of brainwashed people and backward people, they're supporting the regime, some of them being...
Right, but I want to know what you think the percentage is.
Look at the election.
Like our previous election, only 20% of the society turned up to the election.
So now...
Oh, I didn't know that.
That is remarkable.
Exactly.
Only 20% of Iranians voted?
Only 20%.
And clearly it's not election.
It's selection.
No, correct.
So that means 80% don't support the regime.
Exactly.
And just ask the regime.
So what is it?
The Revolutionary Guard keeps it in power?
Money.
And I'm being very honest with you.
The West.
The West, the only thing that can help the Islamic Republic to survive, it's the nuclear deal.
When people are getting killed right now that I'm talking to you, Iranians are getting killed in the street.
Teenagers, schoolgirls, children.
More than 500 people got killed only in two months.
This is the longest protest in the history of Iran.
At the same time, Secretary Blinken just said yesterday that America is all about...
Diplomacy.
And it means that we continue to talk with the Iranian regime.
So that's going to help the Iranian regime to survive.
Don't start me on the current American regime.
No, I'm here in L.A. to actually give a talk in American-Persian women's conference.
I'm going to actually take the attention of Americans that this is not a fight for Iranians.
This is a fight for democracy.
And I want actually Americans to understand that people who are getting killed in the streets across Iran, they're not just fighting for themselves.
They're trying to protect democracy.
They're trying to save the rest of the world from one of the most dangerous regimes who is sending drones to Putin to kill innocent Ukrainians.
That is what it is doing.
So, this current series of protests began with one woman?
Yes.
Tell us about that.
Only 22-year-old.
I cannot believe that people see me now and they don't get shocked that a woman got killed because just a little bit of her hair, just like that much hair, was visible.
In 21st century.
For the record, those of you who do not see Masih, much of her hair is visible.
Yeah, I know.
I have massive hair, so I'm a master criminal because it's not easy to cover him up.
But listen, this is beyond sad that some of the backward mullahs, they tell me that cover yourself.
Why?
Because men, how many men are here?
You get excited.
You cannot control yourself and you rape me if you see my hair.
This is an insult to you.
This is an insult to you.
This is an insult to everyone.
And what makes me furious that I see female politicians, you know, high representative of the EU, they go to my country, those feminists who say, my God, my choice.
And then they wear a head covering.
It means that they believe that if they don't cover themselves, then they're more going to rape them.
Why do you accept to cover yourself when you believe that you're a feminist and you say, my body, my choice?
But suddenly, when you go to Iran, your body is the choice of the Islamic Republic?
Because they're phonies.
Okay, because they're cowards.
She did this...
Angela Merkel, I'll never forget that, when I saw her in a...
Catherine Ashton, Federico Mogrini.
I'm sure you understand my anger.
I share it.
Yeah.
It's time for Carol.
Did you hear that?
Did you hear her?
No, you were on.
My husband.
Okay, now you're on.
You can repeat what you said for some very tough.
You're an amazing person.
Not just because pronouncing my name perfect.
I love your knowledge about Iran.
And I love...
That you're passionate about what I say.
Thank you.
And I'm going to invite you to my beautiful country very soon.
I will be there.
I promise you.
I am very touched by what you said.
I get a lot of compliments, but I also get a lot of insults.
There's a lot of hatred of me, but that's fine.
But you're a remarkable human being.
I'm thrilled that we met.
I'd like people to know how they can follow you or support you even.
I mean, when they support Iranian women, it means they support me.
When they stop buying the wrong narrative of, like, don't touch the issue because you cause Islamophobia, be brave everywhere you are.
Just take to the streets and support your sisters.
You remember a women's march in New York, Washington?
I was one of them.
I joined the women's march, but I was being abandoned by my sisters in the West.
Because they believe that hijab is part of our culture, which is an insult to a nation.
So I want to see an international women's march for Iranian women who are getting killed.
This is how you can support me.
From your school, organizations, everywhere you are, call for an international women's march to support your sisters in Iran.
This is what I want.
Yes, well that's beautiful.
And how can they follow you on the internet?
Do you have an English presence or only Farsi?
No, both.
English, My Stealthy Freedom, the website.
You can go and find me.
But mostly I'm active on Instagram, Masi Alinejad, Twitter, the same name.
You can follow my page.
You can share the videos that I receive from Iranians.
And don't forget, Iranian regime actually made a law saying that if anyone sent videos to me, to Masi Alinejad, will be charged up to 10 years prison.
Can you believe that?
Just sending videos to me is a punishable crime.
So that's why I want you to support the women and men in Iran who send videos because they want to be hurt.
That's beautiful.
So could we put it up at dennisprager.com, the link?
That way it would be very easy.
Masih is M-A-S-I-H. Yes.
Alina Jad is A-L-I-N-E-J-A-D. Unfortunately, she has to live in a safe house.
The word safe is too luxury for me.
Still, as far as the Islamic Republic is in power, I don't feel safe.
And you shouldn't feel safe.
None of us who fight against Islamic ideology, Islamic dictatorship, we're not safe when the dictators are more united than freedom fighters.
Well, even though you've become an atheist, I will end with God bless you.
Thank you so much.
I have so much respect for your God.
he has for you.
Dennis Prager here.
Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast.
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