All Episodes
Previous Next
Sept. 15, 2023 - Dennis Prager Show
01:24:59
Vax Vibrations
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Dennis Prager here.
Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast.
To hear the entire three hours of my radio show, commercial-free, every single day, become a member of PragerTopia.
You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives, as well as the daily show prep.
Subscribe at PragerTopia.com.
Hi everybody, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.
It's already Friday.
And the battle for our society continues.
DeSantis spreads vaccine skepticism.
Headline in the New York Times.
Why would anybody not spread vaccine skepticism?
The jury is out on whether the vaccine did more harm than good or more good than harm. - This country entered a panic because it believed liars.
I can't tell you how difficult it is for me to describe any government agency as liars.
You're talking to a guy who has had a lifelong love affair with his country.
To see the utter corruption of the intelligence agencies, the various departments, whether it's transportation or education, and the medical community, not in the forefront, but certainly, well, maybe in the forefront.
It's hard to say.
Is there something that is more woke, meaning...
Unconcerned with truth in the American Medical Association?
Yeah, there is.
Maybe.
There is.
Maybe the teachers' unions.
American Medical Association announced a couple of years ago that birth certificates should not contain the sex of the child when it's born because it will be determined later.
American Medical Association?
Is there any medical association in the world that has made such an announcement?
I don't know.
If there is, I presume it's the Canadian Medical Association.
Because Canada is a drop more corrupt than the United States in terms of nearness to an authoritarian tyranny.
As you saw when the truckers refused to be vaccinated and were in danger of being fired, and so went on strike, and their bank accounts were closed by order of the Castro-loving petty man tyrant, all tyrants are petty men, Justin Trudeau.
People don't want to remember these things.
It's like it happened in ancient history, the lockdowns, the mandates.
There was a woman, the Daily Mail had a headline about a woman, I don't recall her name, forgive me, was not familiar with her name prior to this article.
She claims that because she wouldn't be vaccinated, all Hollywood acting jobs were closed to her.
And she was a middle-aged woman, attractive enough to then decide that she will pose on Instagram.
And that's how she made her living.
Because she couldn't get a job in Hollywood.
Because she was not vaccinated.
The sheep of Hollywood did their job.
DeSantis spreads vaccine skepticism.
With guidance that contradicts CDC. Skepticism with guidance.
Yes.
Well, I want to say on behalf of the New York Times, the headline is fair.
That's exactly what he's doing.
He is spreading skepticism with the guidance that contradicts the CDC. The CDC on Tuesday recommended at least one dose of the updated COVID-19 vaccines for most Americans six months.
Six months?
What is your feeling?
I'm directing this, obviously, to all of you, but specifically to my producer.
Do you think the CDC is recommending that six-month-olds get the so-called COVID vaccine?
Because mRNAs are not, strictly speaking, vaccines by the definition of the term, but I'm not going to go there because it's not relevant.
Do you think that it is because they believe it will help six-month-olds or because they are panic-stricken, which is part of answer number one, actually, choice number one, or because...
Of the power of Big Pharma.
So again, sincerely believe, panic, Big Pharma.
I don't think there's a fourth option.
Yeah, but I think you can combine the two.
You can combine all, you mean all three.
Well, yeah, so the pressure from Big Pharma.
The pressure from Big Pharma, obviously repeating his words, yeah.
It makes an impression.
Yeah.
How much is the CDC funded by Big Pharma?
I don't have an answer to that.
Maybe Sue would know.
I'd like to know what is in it financially for them.
If you give your six-month-old or even a teenager a vaccine...
I believe that you are endangering your child.
I'm proud to go on record as protecting your child.
The fact that I would believe that, however, is really something.
Yeah, so show it to me, yeah.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida's administration.
What does that mean?
What does that mean, Governor?
Wait a minute.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida's administration issued COVID vaccine recommendations?
Isn't it?
Why did they just say Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida?
I never heard of that term.
Okay, I mean, I'm not criticizing.
I just never heard that usage.
Issued COVID-19 vaccine recommendations this week that directly contradicted federal officials' guidance.
As his presidential campaign tries to use the resurgence of the virus to appeal to Republican voters.
So this is the New York Times at work.
So he's doing it in order to appeal to Republican voters.
Well, not because the CDC has no credibility anymore.
Not because of all the healthy people who have been injured by the vaccine.
There is a man in my life, I won't say his name, he was a very precious man in my life, incredibly healthy, and his brother, whom I have never personally met, but we spoke afterwards, we are both convinced the vaccine killed this man.
I have a sort of collection of athletes.
Fit young athletes who just drop dead for absolutely no apparent reason and who are vaccinated.
In Denmark, they actually said if you're under 50, don't get vaccinated.
I guess the Danes don't get big pharma money.
I'd like to know exactly why Denmark, which is one of the countries that the left adores because it's Scandinavian, did that.
How many Americans even know that?
With cases ticking up, so what?
Cases are ticking up.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended on Tuesday that everyone six months and older who had not received the COVID-19 shot in the last two months receive a booster vaccine.
Thank God I was never...
I never took the...
COVID vaccine.
The new shots approved by the Food and Drug Administration this week.
I have a friend, by the way, a very close friend, whose heart was affected by the vaccine.
The new shots approved by the FDA this week appear to be effective against a vast array of COVID-19 variants now in circulation.
How do they know?
What does it mean it appears to be effective?
It's a brand new virus.
I just wonder.
How do they know?
Mr. DeSantis' administration advised that Florida residents under the age of 65 skip the updated boosters.
I truly admire this man.
He's a walking courage machine.
I wonder who the left hates more, DeSantis or PragerU?
Rolling Stone, known for its commitment to truth, is the latest to have a massive attack on PragerU because some states are considering allowing teachers to use our videos, our wholesome, decent, fine videos.
Gold dealers are a dime a dozen.
They're everywhere.
What sets these companies apart and whom can you really trust?
This is Dennis Prager for AmFedCoin and Bullion.
My choice for buying precious metals.
When you buy precious metals, it's imperative that you buy from a trustworthy and transparent dealer that protects your best interests.
So many companies use gimmicks to take advantage of inexperienced gold and silver buyers.
Be cautious of brokers offering free gold and silver or brokers that want to sell you overpriced collectible coins.
They appreciate more than gold and silver.
What about hidden commissions and huge markups?
Nick Grovich and his team at AmFed always have your back.
I trust this man.
That's why I mentioned him by name.
Nick's been in this industry over 42 years, and he's proud of providing transparency and fair pricing to build trusted relationships.
If you're interested in buying or selling, call Nick Grovich and his team at AmFed, Coin & Bullion, 800-221-7694, AmericanFederal.com, AmericanFederal.com.
Whenever I'm down, I call on you, my friend, helping hand you land in my time of need.
Well, I sit here in amazement at what our country is going through.
Americans are losing faith in the value of higher education.
Isn't it interesting?
This is a logical choice, whatever side you're on.
The more you have attended university, in other words, gone even on to graduate school, the more likely you are to trust authority.
I had an hour interview yesterday on the show, the third hour.
What is that terrific man's name from Chile?
Axel Kaiser.
Axel?
That's his first name?
Yeah.
Okay.
He is a serious thinker, relatively young man, early 40s.
And we were talking about the acceptance of authority in the West.
When I bounced off this man, my theory, Germany is always wrong.
Not every German.
He, who was half German, half Chilean, said absolutely that's correct.
The collective fools with many, many individual intelligent people.
And he believes that the genesis of the love of authority is in great measure owing to Germany in the 19th century.
Which I have often said, For example, U.S. universities were not issuing PhDs almost ever, so people went to Germany to study, and there they picked up the idea of collectivism and the love of authority.
The United States was founded by people who don't trust authority except divine authority.
They trusted no human authority because they knew that humans are so profoundly flawed.
However, there must be something, when I say this with absolute seriousness, there must be something in human nature that likes to bow down to people.
And the more secular you are, the more likely you are to bow down to people.
A truly religious Jew or Christian bows down to God.
But people bow down.
One of the questions in life really is, to whom do you bow?
Before whom do you bow?
Leftists bow before, what is it?
Let's see.
Authority.
That's it.
They bow before authority.
The CDC says, is equivalent to, thus saith the Lord.
Is the CDC right is not a left-wing question.
It is how do we smash people who don't listen to the CDC. That is the leftist question.
Is the CDC right?
Means already you have started to leave the left.
The irony is, I remember when George W. Bush was president, there were so many bumper stickers here where I live in Los Angeles, where a lot of lefties live, and the bumper sticker was question authority.
It was so interesting.
Or remember another one?
Dissent is patriotic?
Those were two of their favorite bumper stickers.
They lied because truth is not a left-wing value.
The people who had that bumper sticker don't believe in questioning authority.
They believe in genuflecting before it.
Oh, the CDC said.
Oh, the Department of Education recommends.
Oh, oh, oh, of course, naturally, yes.
Oh, I will give my six-month-old a vaccine.
How many six-month-olds died of COVID? Why would you do that?
Can't wait to have Robert Kennedy Jr. on my fireside chat.
It's going to take place in about a week.
I know it's taking place this September.
He's coming to my home, where I do the videoing of my fireside chat for PragerU.
And he is really, he is a giant, and he will be...
I will talk to him exactly about that.
Oh my God.
Question authority.
That is the last motto of the left.
Bow down, you fool.
That should be their motto.
The CDC says, let's see, what else does the New York Times have to say here?
I want to get that up.
Talking about authority, by the way, forgive me because it weighs on me.
The sentences given out to J6 people who committed no violence.
We have political prisoners.
I'm going to have, next week, I believe Tuesday, I'm going to talk to someone who was following the case of John Strand, who the video shows never hit an individual, just entered the Capitol, was offered a simple misdemeanor charge.
He would have been in prison for, I don't know, a few months.
But he's a religious Christian, and he doesn't believe he can lie because he's not guilty.
So he had a trial before a Washington, D.C. jury, which is analogous to a white being put on trial in the Jim Crow South, or for that matter, a black being put on trial, to be more precise, in Jim Crow South.
Your chances of being accused I hope they gave him reading material.
I, by the way, I have always considered...
Solitary confinement torture.
decades before this particular issue.
To give you an idea of how much they lie, the...
Our medical authorities, which I've been delineating for you for quite some time.
Where is this?
What date is this article from?
Let me see.
Why do they hide dates so often on website pages?
This Just the News piece, Alan, does not appear to have a date.
That's really weird.
I'm going to show this to you.
I hope I'm wrong because you have to date articles.
And it is fascinating to give you an idea of why I don't trust these people in the federal government involved in medicine.
The Food and Drug Administration, you see that I forwarded that to you on IM? This is very recent.
The Food and Drug...
I just don't have a date for whatever bizarre reason.
The Food and Drug Administration is claiming in federal court that it never told doctors not to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
Wow.
Really?
Not the CDC? Not the FDA? Not the NIH? Really?
Do you know that doctors were threatened with loss of license if they prescribed ivermectin?
Do you know how ridiculed any of us who advocated?
I took ivermectin for about half a year.
I took hydroxychloroquine with zinc because I trust doctors.
I don't trust authorities.
The number of doctors who told me that this was good stuff was pretty high.
The number of doctors who differed with the FDA and CDC was pretty high.
Remember the Great Barrington Declaration?
You know what would be interesting?
See if one major left-wing source, New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, reported on the thousands of scientists who signed the declaration differing with the medical authorities.
The left bows to authority.
They're psychologically predispositioned, as leftists, to unquestioned authority.
So the FDA is claiming in federal court it never told doctors not to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
Federal judges are not buying it, and state medical boards that rely heavily on FDA guidance continue to investigate doctors for such prescriptions.
Echoing a federal district judge nine months ago, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pressed a Justice Department lawyer to reconcile the FDA's repeated public denunciations of ivermectin as an off-label COVID treatment with its insistence That the agency is not liable for resulting investigations of doctors who prescribe or promote it.
Three doctors are suing the FDA for exceeding its statutory limits by deliberately interfering in the doctor-patient relationship.
Throughout their lawyer called a years-long campaign against ivermectin.
The case was at Tuesday's hearing.
So let's see what the date is Tuesday.
Well, that's not coming up either.
Okay.
The case came before the Fifth Circuit panel of Republican presidential appointees that two days later compared the Biden administration's strong-arming of social media companies to censor what it called misinformation to a mafia movie.
That's right.
Epidemiologist Harvey Risch, he's been on this program a few times.
Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.
So does he qualify on the left as an expert?
A professor of epidemiology at Yale.
Shared recent Cleveland Clinic research that found that the more doses people receive, the higher the risk they have of contracting COVID. Talking about the COVID vaccine.
My God.
These boosters are incrementally doing harm to the immune system in general.
Does he qualify as an expert?
You know why he doesn't qualify on the left?
Because he's not in authority.
And he's not scared.
If you're not scared, you're considered a right-wing extremist.
If you really don't believe global warming poses an existential threat to mankind, you're a right-wing kook.
Only those who walk around scared qualify.
Mike Lindell has a passion to help you get the best sleep of your life.
He didn't stop at the pillow.
Mike also created the Giza Dream bed sheets.
These sheets look and feel great, which means an even better night's sleep, which is crucial for overall health.
Mike found the world's best cotton called Giza.
It's ultra soft and breathable, but extremely durable.
Mike's latest deal is the sale of the year for a limited time.
you'll receive 50% off the Giza Dream Sheets, marking prices down as low as $29.98, depending on the size.
Go to MyPillow.com, click on the Radio Podcasts square, and use the promo code PREGER.
There you'll find not only this amazing offer, but also deep discounts on all MyPillow products, including the MyPillow 2.0 Mattress Topper, MyPillow Kitchen Towel Sets, and so much more.
Call 800-761-6302 or go to MyPillow.com and use the promo code Prager.
It's the happy, happy...
I went in too fast, Sean.
It's your fault.
I was watching your conducting and you signal me too soon.
It's always, it's always Sean's fault.
Yes, it is.
It always is.
Sean's fault.
And everybody knows that's true.
It's the happy, happy, happy, happy hour.
Hi, everybody.
That's right.
I don't know.
I used to say it, you know, blood, frogs, vermin.
Lice, smiting of the firstborn, darkness, we still have the happiness hour.
In some ways we are going through plagues in our society.
It's completely self-induced, however.
It didn't take God to bring these plagues.
Humans are bringing them.
Welcome to the happiness hour.
I'm Dennis Prager.
Given that tonight begins the high holy days of the Jewish faith, The Jewish New Year begins tonight.
All days, and therefore holidays, begin at sunset, not at midnight, in the Jewish calendar.
So tonight I will be conducting for the 17th year.
I only missed 2020 because it was impossible to find a venue.
I would have done it.
I did one in 2021, maskless.
I will be conducting the services to make them as meaningful as possible to people of any faith who wish to watch it, we're streaming it, or to attend it.
If you're in Southern California, wish to fly to Southern California, go to PragerHighHolidays.net.
PragerHighHolidays.net.
I promise it will touch you intellectually and emotionally.
So, it's the happiness hour, and I want to talk to you.
About the subject of religion and happiness.
Everybody is aware of the fact that every poll, including left-wing, secular, whatever the source, notes that religious people are generally happier than non-religious people.
I'd like to offer you two big reasons.
I'm sure we'll come up with more.
I have more, but two big ones.
The issue of community and the issue of hope.
And I'll begin with hope.
You realize that a secular outlook on life, a godless, secular doesn't mean godless, it means religionless to be precise, but nevertheless.
A godless, Bible-less, Well, you don't even need Bible because there are non-biblically based faiths that believe in a hereafter.
So I won't even say that.
That Bible is necessary for wisdom, at least in the West.
But that, too, I'm putting aside.
Where is the hope?
It is literally a hopeless doctrine, atheism.
Literally.
Without a God, without indeed a good God or a God who knows us, and by the way, every founder believed in such a God.
Not all believed in the Trinity of Christianity, but all believed in that God.
Like Benjamin Franklin.
Benjamin Franklin was not a deist, it's another lie of one part of our political spectrum.
In fact, Benjamin Franklin's Overall view is identical to my own.
Nobody's called me a deist.
He believes in a God who judges us and a payment in the hereafter.
We talk about how many young people are depressed.
How could they not be depressed?
They have a hopeless doctrine of secularism.
Literally hopeless.
Hey kids, you're gonna die and that's it.
That's it.
This one big joke known as life.
And that's it.
You die and that's it forever and ever and ever.
Da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
I know that that was truly absurd because it awakens Sean.
and Sean takes periodic naps during my show, which is very humbling on my part.
Forever, you're just not here.
Now, it's not a bad thing.
I admit it.
The actual thing isn't bad.
You're not aware.
You're not aware when you're put under for surgery.
You don't dream nothing.
You wake up and it's like no time took place.
But you don't wake up if there's no God.
That's it.
It's like being put to sleep forever.
It may not be a painful denouement to life.
But it is certainly a hopeless one.
You don't think that that has an effect on people, young or old?
It's over, baby.
That's a big deal.
So, the non-religious world has hopelessness built into it.
And of course, you've been hurt unfairly by disease or by another human being.
That's the way the cookie crumbles, baby!
That's it.
That's the atheist view of suffering.
That's the way the cookie crumbles.
Or if you'd like another cliché, that's the way the ball bounces.
Or if you'd like another cliche, that's the way the grape juice spills.
I wish you could have been privy to what just came through my earphones.
Thank you.
From what's his name.
You made that up.
That was incisive.
That was an incisive realization on your part.
Yes, I did make that up.
Well, that's what it is.
I do believe in luck.
A lot of religious people don't.
I do believe rationally that there is bad luck and good luck in life.
But whether you do or not, I do believe in a hereafter where things are worked out in ways that only God understands.
I don't believe that the connections to everyone with whom I have this spectacular emotional bond...
I do believe...
That we will have, in some way, our souls will contact one another.
This is not the end of all of these love connections.
Everything ends, and forever, outside of the religious world.
You don't think this is having an effect on the happiness of Americans?
Our educational system.
Truly morons.
I read to you their recommendations.
More mental health professionals.
Remember that one?
That's a big recommendation.
Oh, and fewer guns.
That's it.
Those were their big two recommendations.
If your child came home from college a fool, it is because fools taught your child for four years.
That is why.
Maybe the absence of any transcendent meaning might just have had a depressing effect on your child or you.
You know the first question I ask any atheist with whom I debate?
Privately or publicly?
I prefer not to debate privately.
But should it happen?
Do you hope you are right?
Or wrong?
If the atheist says, I hope I'm wrong, I know that I am having a dialogue with an intellectually honest human being.
If an atheist hopes he is right, he is not intellectually honest.
Because he has not confronted the consequences of his belief.
Why would you hope you're right and render life ultimately meaningless?
Ultimately, there is nothing beyond the grave.
You hope that is the case?
You hope you will never see your child or children or spouse or parents or friends again?
You hope that?
Happiness Hour, 1-8 Prager, 776. I will follow him.
Happiness Hour, Friday, second hour.
Since 1999. Yep, I've been doing this now.
Ooh, sorry young man.
For two centuries.
It's really remarkable when I think about it.
20th century and 21st century.
And when you think that the 20th century is just one century ahead of the 19th, it gives you an idea of how long I've been doing the Happiness Hour.
Since tonight is the beginning of the High Holy Days, one of the two High Holy Days, the Jewish New Year.
By the way, you probably don't know this unless you've been a listener of my show, or you are a knowledgeable Jew.
This is not a Jewish holiday, according to Judaism.
This is a universal holiday.
Passover is a Jewish holiday.
Tabernacles is a Jewish holiday.
Pentecost is a Jewish holiday.
Hanukkah is, Purim is, but not this.
It is, in fact, in the Jewish liturgy, it is Hayom Harat Olam.
Today is the birthday of the world.
And not only that, Are you ready?
I hope you're seated.
The belief is that God judges everybody between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, called the Ten Days of Penitence.
Everyone, not just Jews, everyone is judged, because the Jewish belief is that God judges your behavior, not your theology.
In fact, Ernest von den Haag, one of the greatest thinkers of the last century, not well known, but so what?
Significance and fame are rarely connected.
Ernest von den Haag wrote a book, The Jewish Mystique.
He said, you want to know why Jews have been hated?
The biggest reason is they brought an invisible, judging God into the world.
This ticked people off.
People don't want to be judged, let alone by a transcendent God.
Yeah, that's right.
So I just want you to know that in light of that you might want to follow my services or attend them.
PragerHighHolidays.net is the way to find out about streaming or attending.
I make it all meaningful.
That's why I started this.
It's a lot of work for me.
And hopefully a lot of meaning for those who attend.
It is a call to an accounting of the soul.
What type of person was I in the past year?
That's a big question.
I wish everybody asked it every year.
Not to mention, how about even every season?
Or really pushing it every month?
Talking to you about religion and happiness?
That religion provides hope.
Atheism does not.
There are very nice atheists.
I don't deny that.
They're very not nice religious people.
I do not deny that.
But atheism is hopeless.
You die, it's over.
There's no ultimate justice.
Those tortured to death, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
The bad people who have prospered, that's the way the cookie crumbles.
That's the atheist worldview.
It is not a happy one.
The other powerful source of happiness in religion is community.
Can you name an atheist?
Communal group, or even a secular communal group, analogous to a religious community?
Yes, in the past you could.
Rotary clubs, Lions clubs, Kiwanis clubs, Glee clubs, barbershop quartets, sewing clubs, but as a Harvard professor wrote a few decades ago in a book titled Bowling Alone.
More Americans were bowling than ever, but there were fewer bowling leagues than ever.
The loneliness is so great in the secular West that the United Kingdom actually had a governmental position minister of loneliness.
That's how many lonely people there are.
A religious community enables one to have a community.
It doesn't work for every single person, but it works for most.
I have a Shabbat dinner I've had for decades with a dozen or so people.
I did it throughout the lockdowns.
We missed two Friday nights.
And then we realized what a farce the lockdowns were, and we met just as we did prior to the lockdowns.
All of us.
Nobody skipped it, whatever their age.
Not the kids, and not the old-timers.
You think that did not help my happiness?
Having this every single week?
And folks, Zoom has its benefits, but it is incomparable to life.
If you really think Zoom is the same as in person, you have fooled yourself.
Of course it isn't.
1-8 Prager 776 877-243-7776 Given the fact that everybody knows that religious people tend to be happier, why don't people who are less happy not adopt a religious life?
And I'll tell you why.
This is a problem that the religious community has helped make.
They think, well, if I don't believe in it, why would I do it?
That's a big mistake.
You should act religious even if you are not a believer.
That does not make you a hypocrite.
It makes you wise.
You have determined to live a life, whether or not you accept all of its tenets, that will benefit you.
I have convinced a staggering number of people to take religion seriously, almost never with the argument of faith, almost always with the argument of its benefits, moral and personal.
If God doesn't say, do not murder, the notion that murder is wrong is an opinion, not a moral fact.
And the benefits.
1-8 Prager 776, The Happiness Hour.
Hi everybody, Dennis Prager and The Happiness Hour.
Given that tonight inaugurates the highest holy days of Judaism.
And again, I remind you they are considered universal holidays.
The belief is that Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, is everyone's New Year.
It's called the Jewish New Year, but it's not.
Judaism believes it is the human New Year.
And that all humans are judged for the next ten days leading up to the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
That's right.
That's my belief.
You're being judged during this period.
Bothers people.
They don't want to be judged.
They want a God who loves them but doesn't judge them.
I think that's true in general.
Parents have become love machines.
They should be judging machines at least as much.
Anyway, it brings me happiness that God judges humanity.
The thought that all these disgusting people who have done evil Are not judged.
That, to me, is depressing.
All these good people who have suffered.
There is no makeup, as it were, in the hereafter.
That's depressing.
All right, let's go to your calls, my friends.
And Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Thomas, hello.
Hi, Dennis.
Hi.
You're my second favorite Jew.
Good.
So you know my story about that, right?
Yes, that's why I said it.
Yeah, okay, fair enough.
I'll tell it later.
Go ahead.
I attended a funeral for a three-year-old this week.
Wow.
And I can't even fathom how the parents could have any sort of peace or comfort with the situation.
Luckily, they are religious.
That's really all I wanted to say.
Well, so do you know that that brought them some comfort?
Yes.
Okay, that's fair.
Thank you so much for your call.
Right.
I mean, religious people have pain too.
But let's be honest.
If you think that you will reconnect with that child in some way in the hereafter, it's got to have some comfort that is not available to people without belief.
You can say it's diluted.
I'm not talking about what is...
What is rationally the most tenable position?
I happen to think that is the rationally most tenable position, but that's beside the point.
This is about happiness, this hour.
I've done many, many hours of rational arguments for religious faith.
That's why the name of my Bible commentary is The Rational Bible.
Three of five volumes are out.
Genesis.
Exodus and Deuteronomy.
They're meant to be life-changing.
Read the 5,000 reviews.
You will see that they are.
I urge you from the bottom of my heart to get the latest Deuteronomy.
Even if you never heard of the book, just know that it was the most cited book by the founders of the United States, secular or religious.
The parents who lost their three-year-old have some comfort in a belief that there is a transcendent God that makes things make sense.
That is correct.
As for the second favorite Jew line, he has heard me tell the story many years ago.
I spoke to a mixed group of Jews and Christians in Agoura, California, or Agoura Hills, And there were about 500 Jews, 500 Christians.
And a woman got up during the Q&A period, question and answer period, at the microphone and said, Dennis, I'm a Christian and I want you to know you're my favorite Jew.
And people applauded politely.
When the applause died down, I looked at her and I said, you mean your second favorite Jew.
The Christians all cracked up, and the Jews looked at each other.
Why was so funny about that?
That cracked me up.
We'll be back.
Let Dennis be Dennis.
Let Dennis be Dennis.
This is it, everybody.
The final hour of the broadcast week.
Not of the week.
That would be egocentric.
There are still hours left in the week.
Dennis Prager here.
Whatever is on your mind about you, about me, about life, about death.
And needless to say, about fountain pens, audio equipment, photography equipment, cigars, and classical music.
That's right.
And now enjoy.
Amazing how fast the weeks go.
you *music* It truly is when you think about it.
And I do think about it.
Who doesn't?
1-8-Prager-776.
Whatever's on your mind.
If I don't take your call, don't be offended.
People get offended too easily in America today.
It's obviously not personal since the phone callers are not known to me.
It just might be, you might call in on something I know nothing about.
If you want to call in, let me think of something, for example.
Yeah, anything about fishing.
I admit it.
And I want you to understand my grandson's greatest joy is fishing.
Whose bar mitzvah is next week, by the way.
I can't believe it.
I started radio work in my 30s, and now I have a grandson who's going to be bar mitzvah in a week.
Wow-y.
Yeah.
I'll give you reflections on that in, I guess, 10 days.
I like reflecting, and you like my reflecting, or you wouldn't be listening.
That's what I do most, is reflect about life.
Okay, so whatever is on your mind...
What else, by the way?
So fishing...
Oh yeah, gardening.
And I, by the way, I fully, 100% understand how people love gardening and or fishing.
The fact that it doesn't...
Get included in my list of joys in my life doesn't mean anything.
Fountain Pens is not on your joy of life list.
I fully appreciate that fact.
Okay, let's see.
Oh, wow.
Oakdale, Minnesota.
And Troy.
Hello, Troy.
Hello, Mr. Brigger.
Pleasure to speak with you.
Thank you.
Hi.
I had the chance to listen, was it this past Wednesday, the Male Female Hour, when you were talking about the cartoon, or was that a week ago?
Yeah, I probably was.
It's the funniest cartoon I think I ever saw.
Yeah.
I was just going to say that.
I agree how funny it is.
It just kind of hit me a little personal just because I was almost that person hanging from the ceiling.
I did have some family that reached out just in time, and so I'm still here, obviously.
How old are you now?
I'm 53. And how old were you then?
About 41. And you were on the verge of committing suicide?
Yes.
Why?
Just marital trouble.
Just pretty much like the cartoon said, it's criticism.
Yeah, but the cartoon is a joke.
True.
It's hard to believe that the most critical wife in the world would drive a man to kill himself.
Yes, yes.
It was certainly more than that as well.
Yeah, I have to believe that.
Did you divorce?
We did not.
We actually reconciled and we're still together and now we have four kids.
Since then, you have four kids.
Yes.
What changed?
Part of it was I changed and I realized that I can't depend on her for my happiness and that if she's not going to be happy with me, that I have friends, family, that...
I can look for outside of that, that I can live life.
And once I realized that, then I started essentially trying again in terms of just being involved in life and not regressing and going into a shell.
Did she change?
Some.
Yes, the constant criticism has gone down, and what was worse than that was just the belittling and just...
Oh, so she humiliated you?
Yes.
Okay, that's a bad one.
What was it that, I think, what was his name, John?
Oh, I can't remember.
Something like...
Gothman, but it's not exactly the name.
He's widely considered one of the greatest experts on marriage.
Psychologist, I think, in Seattle.
And he said, I'm paraphrasing, but as I recall, marriages can survive almost anything except contempt.
Many marriages have even survived an infidelity.
I've talked to people on the air about that.
But you can't survive if one has contempt for the other.
That is the death of a marriage.
Okay.
Oh, by the way, I should tell you the cartoon because, I mean, you're all thinking, well, what is this cartoon Dennis is talking about and the caller?
So, at the risk of it not being nearly as funny as seeing it, but nevertheless, it is that good I could actually describe it.
So, the cartoon, the illustration is of a man hanging from the ceiling from a noose, by a noose, and he's obviously dead.
He's hanged himself.
The chair he stood on, he kicked over by his body, and he has a note.
On his body, the wife is staring at the note and says, you misspelled constant criticism.
Brilliant.
And I think both sexes find it funny.
Maybe men find it funnier.
I don't know.
I'm not absolutely sure about that.
Okay, Stan in Tenafly, New Jersey.
Hello.
Yes, first of all, I'm not bragging when I make this statement, but I have been very, very happy all my life, and I don't let anything bother me, and it's basically because of God and music and good reading and everything, and I feel left out.
I feel that I haven't experienced I just enjoy everything,
and I have a proper perspective, and I just believe so much in humor that I just want to enjoy each day.
And yes, there are problems in the world.
There are problems that occur in my life.
But I think they're all minor.
Well, all right.
But maybe you haven't had a major one.
I mean, hopefully you...
Oh, I have.
Oh, no, no.
One minute.
Oh, yes.
My twin brother, at the age of 43, committed suicide.
I would say that was major.
Yeah, that is major.
Okay, but you're the one who said that you never had anything major.
I didn't make that up.
Well, when I say major is that he was having trouble and I was trying to help him, and I'm not frustrated.
Right, so I want to go back to your opening comment about you never let anything get you down.
So the trick in life is to be happy and let things get you down.
The current state of the United States, The assault on every single noble institution and all that is beautiful by the left gets me down.
But I'm still happy.
It's like I can get a cold or even the flu and still be healthy.
So I don't understand fully how nothing can get you down.
And that might be an issue.
What is our timing, Sean?
Okay, yeah.
So we don't have time for your response right now.
That's a tough balancing act, but I wouldn't be real if nothing got me down.
On behalf of Sean McConnell and...
All those who make this show possible, I want Sean to know that in my belief, God will be judging him starting tonight through Yom Kippur ten days later.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry to bring you that news your whole life.
That's right.
Yeah, that's true.
But this is the ten days of judgment, the high holy days.
Go to...
Go to pragerhighholydays.net because I'm conducting services.
And both Rosh Hashanah and Kippur.
And it's meaningful to people of all faiths and even no faith.
And you can also stream it.
We go to a great expense to make that possible.
People need meaningful...
Rational religion in their lives.
Okay, let's see what you folks have to state here.
All right, let's see.
Valley View, Texas, and Larry, hello.
Oh, Dennis, I'm so glad I got through.
Me too, I think.
I have a question that's been on my mind for a long time.
Nobody in my circle of friends or family or church can answer it with any clarity.
I just would like to know how is it possible that an all-knowing, all-seeing, eternal God, the creator of all things, Could possibly be disappointed with humanity.
The early human times, God wiped out the population with a great flood, except Noah and his family and a few others.
And I don't think God was surprised.
I don't think it was an experiment that he was waiting to see how it would turn out.
If he knew us all before we were in our mother's womb, how could he possibly be disappointed in us?
Well, I have an answer that...
I have two answers, and I write about them in my commentary on Genesis.
One is that, given that God has given human beings free will, he may not necessarily know what we will do.
God is omniscient.
God knows everything, but it doesn't mean that God necessarily knows what the free-willed creature known as the human being will do.
Since we can, unlike the orbit of Jupiter, which is controlled by laws of science and God is in control of the physical world, Jupiter does not have a mind of its own to disobey God, but we do.
So it is very possible, I don't know this for a fact, but it is very possible that God does not know what we will do morally because he has given us the ability to go against his will.
In that sense, God was extremely optimistic.
When he created the human being, it is the only one of the six days of creation which God said was very good.
He said of five of the other six that they were good.
But when he created human beings, it was very good.
He was very optimistic about us, and his optimism turned out to be ill-advised.
So it is not heretical.
I deeply believe that God knows me, knows everything I do.
But it may well be that God does not know what I will do.
That's one possibility.
The other is, even if God does know, it still would consadden him that we acted so poorly towards one another.
There are parents who pretty much know When they have a wayward child, that their child is going to screw up, and it still saddens them.
Yeah, I don't disagree.
It's just, it's very hard for me to reconcile in my mind that the knower of all things...
Well, wait, the knower of all things is not the same as the knower of the future.
I do believe God is the knower of all things.
As I said, it is possible, I don't know for a fact, but it is possible that since we have the ability, only human beings have the ability to disobey God's will because we have free will, maybe God does not know how we will use that free will.
It is a possibility.
I'm not saying it is definite.
So it does not negate God's omniscience for God to have been disappointed.
Saddened.
The Hebrew is, and God got sad unto his heart.
It's very touching.
There was no other, I think, similar expression of God.
There was a rabbi I heard speak about 40 years ago.
He looked at the audience one Shabbat night, and he was speaking, and he said, so who do you think is the most tragic figure in the Bible?
And everybody guessed their own guess.
And then he said, in my opinion, all those answers are wrong.
The most tragic figure in the Bible is God.
I thought it was a very compelling thought.
The disappointment that God must feel every day looking at the human race, I can't imagine he's consolable.
Okay, let's see here.
Westwood, New Jersey.
Frank, hello.
Hey, Dennis.
Great to speak with you again.
I thought, I think I heard it on your show years and years ago.
I could be wrong.
It might not have been your show.
But I've never heard you bring it up since.
And that is, I believe, from what I remember.
Not too great, my memory.
But John Hopkins University, I believe, was the first university medical center to do transsexual operations.
And then they stopped because they realized that there was absolutely no difference in the suicide rate from those pre-surgery to those...
Yeah, yeah.
This Johns Hopkins story is a very important one for people to know.
Did you sink?
You'd swim a little further.
And I bet you if you cried, you'd understand me better.
So I'd take a little time just sailing down the river.
I did some research during the break, when it turns out that Johns Hopkins has resumed after decades of not doing transgender because a Johns Hopkins crackpot psychiatrist ruined a kid's life, became an adult,
raised the raised the person with, what is the word, where you have both genitalia, I believe it is.
Anyways, yeah, but I wasn't thinking of a mafrodite.
Anyway, he was raised as a girl.
Parents didn't tell him.
Anything else.
And it hurt his life terribly.
So they abandoned it.
It's a very awful story, actually.
So they abandoned that for years and now they have resumed at Johns Hopkins.
So the caller should know that Johns Hopkins has resumed and embraced the mutilation known as transgender surgery.
Doctor, I think I'm a boy.
Please remove my breasts.
Okay?
We'll have you have an hour's appointment with a therapist, and she will okay it, and we're good to go.
You know, these people do keep me religious, because the religious community is the most outspoken against the mutilation of children in the name of science.
You know, these people do not want to be religious.
So that tells me something.
Just remember, the most secular institutions in the country are universities, and they are the most damaging to the fabric of the society, and they have the least wisdom.
The average professor is a fool.
Some are not.
I said, average.
You know I'm right, and I know I'm right.
It is not unrelated to the fact that they are part of the most secular institution in the society.
Wisdom begins with fear of God.
Famous statement in the Bible.
Turns out to be true.
I learned that in a graduate school at Columbia.
That's when I realized it.
Okie dokie.
Northfield, Illinois.
Rob, hello.
Hello.
Happy New Year.
Thank you.
You too, because it's for everybody.
All right.
Hall of Famer segue there by you.
Really?
I was reading.
What was the Hall of Famer segue?
Well, it was an NPR article I read, The Search for a Church that Isn't a Church.
Oh, so you had the Hall of Famer segue.
Well, no, you did, because this woman's interviewing this guy.
They were both raised in the church, their fathers both preachers, and they were going away from the faith.
And right before the transcript for the interview, she says, this is a direct quote, He started feeling distant from his faith when he left his home in Louisville, Kentucky to start college at Yale.
Oh, that makes sense.
So I thought you would get a kick out of that.
Yes, I do.
You think NPR or the New York Times or Yale has once noted to anyone That all the genocides of the 20th century, with exception of the Armenian, and even there, it's probably more secular, but all the genocides of the 20th century were committed by secular regimes.
You think that has been noted once?
Once!
In the New York Times, Washington Post, or on NPR or CNN. The answer is, of course not.
I'd love to know what their response to that fact.
That's not an opinion, that's a fact.
I'd like to know what their response to that fact is.
How about this?
With the exception of Hitler, so in other words, about 80% of the genocide of the 20th century was committed by the left.
Anybody listening to NPR ever told that?
The left lies because it's okay to lie on the left, because the purpose of a leftist is to destroy, and you begin by destroying the right, your opponents.
And if you have to lie, like Stalin said, Trotsky was a fascist, then you lie.
But the lying is by omission as much as commission.
The average graduate of Yale believes that more people have been killed in the name of God than anything else, which is historically perhaps true.
But that's thousands of years.
In just 100, it was all secular.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, we move to your calls on whatever you wish to talk about.
And Walla Walla Washington, Audrey, the famous Audrey of Walla Walla.
I don't think of myself that way, Dennis, but it's always a delight to speak to you.
Thank you.
I will get right to my point.
So you always say the left ruins everything it touches.
Correct.
They want to remove the four Snake River Dams.
These are hydropower dams.
They produce enough energy to power a million holes.
They're huge.
They also provide transportation and irrigation.
The left wants to tear them out because they say they are destroying the salmon runs.
And all you really need to know is that rivers without dams have seen the exact same decline in salmon runs.
So it's clearly not the dance, but it doesn't matter to the left.
Well, I saw your call and I did some research.
You have one disadvantage.
We in California have been depriving massive areas of farmland, of water, because of, I forgot the name of the fish, the delta smelt.
Thank you.
Sean has a number of...
Pet Delta smelts at home.
He has a deep attachment to them.
And compared to the salmon, I mean the salmon compared to the Delta smelt, it's like, you know, Einstein compared to an ant.
If I have to live with the Delta smelt destruction of the California economy, you should have to live with the salmon destruction of Washington's economy.
It's so preposterous.
So I looked up, I found a quote from a Republican congressman, Dan Newhouse.
The Biden administration is playing politics with its energy future while ignoring recent data showing spring and summer Chinook returns.
At higher levels than they have been in years.
But it doesn't matter to them.
The point is to destroy.
The point is to control.
Letting things be and letting people be happy, letting people use their washing machines, mow their lawns, this disturbs the left terribly.
As does having an enormous supply of carbon-free power.
Yes, carbon-free power.
But hey, it's affecting the salmon runs.
Look, I love salmon.
I'm a big sushi eater, and I love salmon, and it's very healthy for you.
It's not like I don't care, but life consists of weighing.
Or as Tom Sowell put it, all left-wing thinking is stage one thinking.
The moment you ask, what is the price paid for a policy, you have become a conservative.
All right, let's see here.
Chicago and Moe.
Hello, Moe.
Hello, Dennis.
It's a pleasure to meet you, sir.
Thank you.
I've been a both watcher.
Thank you very much.
Likewise.
A pleasure.
Now, I don't know how this will be an easy topic for me to open, but much like the topic that you discussed, I think either yesterday or two days ago, it was pertaining to that player who got fired.
No, the president of the Spanish women's soccer team.
Not a player, the president.
President, my apologies.
No, you have to apologize.
Go ahead.
Of course.
Now, I was once a student at the Harold Washington College, and an incident had occurred, unfortunately, much similar to that case.
And this was right after when Obama got elected.
So I can't remember precisely what year it was.
I'd probably guess maybe 2008 or 2007. There was a very sick student in our classroom and I befriended with this person within class rates, I want to say probably two months or so in the semester.
And there was an incident where she...
Opened up to me about her health problems and the medication that she's on for chemotherapy of some sorts.
And I emphasize her.
I emphasize the condition that she was in.
Alright, so get to the key point.
Of course.
Because of the time.
Sorry, go ahead.
Not at all, sir.
In any case, when I befriended the students and both of us became comfortable and Trust of words were shared.
Upon exiting, you know, like normal students, when they finish class, they all leave.
She gave her goodbyes, I gave my goodbyes, and I did a gesture as a former gentleman.
I gave her a peck on the head.
Now, what this resulted was an expulsion from the college.
Well, let me say this, because obviously I'm hearing your side.
I believe you, but I obviously have to hear others.
But what the Obama administration did, and it was reenacted by the Biden administration, is they have deprived men of defense at you can't confront your accuser at a college.
A man is accused of some sort of sexual harassment.
Or even sexual assault, even a peck on the head, like you just described, you can be expelled.
There are two victims to these policies, men and women.
Women are taught to think of themselves as hopeless, helpless victims, and men, of course, the obvious.
They have no recourse to defense.
Everything the left touches, it destroys.
The horrible impact on male-female relations among young people, thanks to feminism and other left-wing ideologies, there is nothing pro-women about feminism.
It is another leftist organization.
It uses women like teachers' unions use students, communists use workers, and BLM uses blacks.
All left-wing organizations Use the groups on whose behalf they claim to speak to further their ends.
Am I supposed to talk?
I'm mesmerized.
You know he eats ice cream with chopsticks.
All right, everybody, Dennis Prager, final segment.
Of the final hour of the broadcast week.
Cleveland, Ohio.
Mark, hello.
Hello, Dennis.
Nice to talk to you.
Thank you.
Last week you repeated a story that you've said in the past about the woman who was distanced from her mother, specifically because she was overbearing.
But this time you phrased that she chose to punish her mother.
And I was thinking to myself, unless there's...
More to the story that you didn't reiterate last week.
If the best she could do was to extricate herself from the situation, why is that punishing the mother?
If you don't talk to a parent ever, I can't think of a greater punishment other than killing them.
I agree with you, but when you reiterated the story, you said that the woman chose not to have a relationship with the mother because the mother was too domineering.
Right.
And if you can't ameliorate that situation, is it better not to have a relationship?
No.
No.
I'm not asking her to have a relationship.
I'm asking her to talk to her.
Okay.
That's a very important distinction.
I've never asked children to like or love their parent.
I have asked them not to be cruel and despicable by never talking to them.
Unless they have been cruel and despicable in ways that are notorious, like child abuse.
But I established with that woman many years ago, in her late 20s, her mother was loving, but she was controlling.
That was the term I think she used.
I have a video coming out about this epidemic or pandemic of cruelty of adult children who won't speak to a parent.
And I give three reasons that are usually given, including ideological.
My father voted for Trump.
I won't speak to him.
That's cruel, my friends.
Please go to PragerHighHolidays.net for my big service.
A Happy New Year to all of you.
See you next week.
Dennis Prager here.
Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast.
To hear the entire three hours of my radio show, commercial-free, every single day, become a member of PragerTopia.
You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives, as well as the daily show prep.
▲
Export Selection