Border BS

Check out monorail.com, America's affordable investment app made for conservatives who want to keep their hard-earned money with companies that share their values. Download the Monorail app today. Join Monorail. Hi everybody, welcome to the Monday show, The Dennis Prager Show. The very end of the week, I will be broadcasting from Miami for over a week.

For—

well, actually for an entire week. It's a fascinating reason. I, I am being brought there by The Daily Wire to do part 2 of the Book of Exodus with Jordan Peterson and a group of us. And it is, uh, it's become quite popular at The Daily Wire if you're interested, and You would be. What do people do, just go to The Daily Wire and type, type in Exodus? I guess it'll just be there. Yeah, Daily Wire and PragerU and me have a very wonderful relationship, as you can probably tell. So the President of the United States went to the border where vast numbers of people have been coming in illegally almost entirely thanks to him. Not entirely, but almost entirely. But not just him, of course, the Democratic Party and the left generally. And then when you accuse the left of having no interest in the United States surviving as a sovereign state, you're accused of exaggerating. That's what you call gaslighting. Watch me destroy America, but if you in fact charge me with destroying America, well, you're lying. What aspect of America is the left not destroying? There's a great picture of the President of the United States by the wall with 5— what are they? Not National Guardsmen, Border Patrol people. It's a powerful— it's just a powerful and inspiring sight. You know what I would like to know? What did those people think of him? Wouldn't you love to know? You know what I asked myself looking at the picture? And many of you might have seen the picture. It's, it's literally, I think, 5 Border Patrol people and the president. I, I would— I asked myself, if I worked at the Border Patrol there and I was one of the 5, I, or I were one of the 5, What would I do? Would I shake his hand? Let's say I had the views that I have, which hold him in utter contempt. I think he's actually a bad human being aside from a bad president. So it is a very— it's a tough issue because I also believe that you respect the presidency even if you have contempt for the president. So I would shake his hand, because if I didn't, it's not like he would say, gee, what have I done wrong that this member of the Border Patrol wouldn't shake my hand? A gesture has to actually have some desired effect. I think that we would all agree to that. So I would probably shake his hand and then say nothing, or maybe say my piece. Mr. President, I assume you are aware of how many people are entering every day, week, month illegally. And maybe that would be it. But I do— I always ask myself the question, what would I do? What would I at least ideally do? It's hard to know how one would react. I'm not drawing any parallel. I want to make that clear for the people who like to take snippets of me out of context. But I had an analogous problem when I visited death row, and I just— and I discussed it on the radio at the time. How many years ago would you say that was? In Louisiana. I think about 7 years ago. Yeah, so I actually broadcast from Louisiana.

Bobby Jindal.

So, uh, Bobby Jindal was on the show.

He—

it was, it was fascinating. It was a very funny moment. He actually came to my hotel room from which I was broadcasting with my mobile broadcast box, the Comrex box. But for whatever reason, he came early and I greeted him in my underwear or my pants. I don't know if I had my pants on. I don't want to overstate this case. He was very, very cool about it, but you don't normally greet a governor So in such a way, he came, he came too early for whatever reason. Anyway, uh, on a very serious note, I thought about this when I was told that my wife and I would visit— this was at Angola State Penitentiary, the largest state prison in the country, was in Louisiana— and we were allowed, my wife and I, to enter death row. And I remember asking myself— there's a very strong internal debate— what do I say to these men? And I'll tell you why it was such a debate. These men, presumably beyond a shadow of a doubt, had murdered at least one person. And I thought of the terror that the person who was murdered experienced, not to mention a shortened life. And I thought of the loved ones of the murdered, and I thought, would they want me to, to make nice? Hey, good to meet you, how you doing? On the other hand, there's a, there's a non-human element to somebody extending his hand to you in closed quarters of, of this row of cells that constituted death row. And what do I do? Just ignore the hand? Say nothing? Just stare at them? Because then there's a voice in me that says, you know, they too were created in God's image as evil. As they might be, or the evil that they did. Anyway, I reached some sort of compromise. I would— if they extended a hand, I would shake it and not say much. But I don't remember. I wrote it out, so it's actually— in fact, I inserted this experience in my Bible commentary. I don't remember what verse would have prompted it, but it was, it was apt. It was relevant to the verse. So again, I'm not drawing a parallel. There's not a parallel between Joe Biden and someone on death row. I'm just drawing the parallel of having to confront the question of when you hold someone in contempt Do we do— what do you do? Anyway, I would shake his hand because I would expect the same from people who held someone I voted for in contempt. That it— we have a president whether you like it or not. I don't like it, but he is the president. And I have, I have to honor the presidency, just like you have to honor parenthood even if you don't like your parent. That's what honor your father and mother is about. Of course, these are things that are known as falling under the heading of wisdom. Wisdom is not taught, and so you, you, you regularly see in the in comments, for example, on my commentaries, either in columns or in my actual commentary, The Rational Bible. Oh, what a stupid idea, honor your father and mother. They actually say it's a stupid idea. You know, if you want to, you honor them. If you don't want to, you don't. I will probably— I think I know now what my Ultimate Issues topic will be tomorrow. It's the, it's the column that I've already largely written, which comes out tomorrow, and it asks the question, is the conscience useful? Have you ever opposed that question? Everybody thinks the conscience is critical to, to a moral world and to moral behavior, but everybody who does bad has a clear conscience. Just about everybody. There's no such thing as everybody. But just about everybody, everybody on, on two sides of an issue, they both say that they're responding to their conscience. If you're pro-life, that's what your conscience tells you. If you're, if you're pro-choice, that's what your conscience tells you. So of what use is the conscience? Since it doesn't seem to direct good behavior, uh, any more than bad behavior. Very, uh, very tough issue. The conscience has to be built just like every other muscle, because on its own doesn't do much. These are all issues that should be discussed at schools. Schools teach no wisdom. That's why 45% of young Americans can say, I believe in free speech but not for hate speech. It is a completely self-contradictory statement. It is what is known in philosophy as an oxymoron, a self-negating statement. If you don't believe in free speech for hate speech, you don't believe in free speech. The best-selling Eden Pure Thunderstorm air purifier uses proven Oxy technology that quickly destroys viruses, odors, mold, and so much more. With over 265,000 units already sold, you know it works. Works in my house. Any smell will vanish after just a few seconds with the Thunderstorm being on. Odors from litter boxes, trash cans, cigarette smoke, dirty diapers, and more. Are no match. Best of all, no filters are needed. Saves you money and effort. Right now you can save $200 on an EdenPure Thunderstorm 3-pack for whole home protection. You'll get 3 units for under $200. Put one in your basement, bedroom, family room, kitchen, or anywhere you need clean, fresh air. The Thunderstorm is nearly silent and takes up no floor space. It plugs directly into your wall. Don't breathe dirty air again. Go to EdenPureDeals.com. Put in discount code PRAGER3 to save $200. That's EdenPureDeals.com. Sales.com, discount code Prager3, shipping is free. Hello everybody, Dennis Prager with you. Hope you had a good weekend. I didn't even say that to you. Whoa, whoa, I hope you had a good weekend. By the way, on my completely subjective emoting about the passage of time, despite the fact that it has 31 days I experience January as the fastest month every year. What are we already at? What is today? The 9th. And it gives you an idea. I don't know why that happens, and it would be interesting, but I promise not to do it on the show. It gives you an idea of what my mind finds interesting. If you have a month that you think goes the fastest each year, do you? Or you have not wasted brain cells on it? Yeah, I, I— he doesn't think about these things, by the way. I, I, I could have predicted that response if my life depended on it. What, what will your producer say if you ask him that? I knew it. So here, here's the story from National Review. Biden administration considers banning gas stoves over health concerns. A federal agency may look to ban gas stoves over concern about the release of pollutants that can cause health and respiratory problems, according to a new report. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is set to open public comment on the dangers of gas stoves sometime this winter. The commission could set standards on emissions from the gas stoves or even look to ban the manufacture or import of the appliances, Commissioner Richard Shrumka told Bloomberg News. This is a hidden hazard. Oh yes, it's a hidden hazard, a double H. Double H. Any option is on the table. Products that can't be made safe can be banned. Safe. You want to play my better safe than sorry, Sean? That's— I, I created this years ago as part of the national anthem. It's one of the mottos of the people who fear life. Not to mention fear death on the left. For the land of the free, better safe than sorry. Wow. More than 12% of current childhood asthma cases are linked to gas stove use, according to peer-reviewed research published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Why do I suspect that the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health knows the conclusions to its so-called studies before the study is done? I suspect it because it's probably true. Oh my God. Oh, and here's another— here's another one you didn't realize. Yeah, it's racist. You didn't think of it, and I didn't think of it. Did you read the whole article?

Yeah.

You didn't pick up Cory Booker realizes it's racist. It's a giant disproportion. Yes, you got the word disproportionate. Senator Cory Booker, Democrat, New Jersey, and Representative Don Beyer, Democrat, Virginia, wrote a letter to the agency last month urging the commission to address the issue and calling the harmful emissions, quote, a cumulative burden, CB, unquote, on Black, Latino, and low-income households. Huh. Well, you know what, uh, You know what this reminds me of? I warned about it 30 years ago. I wrote it, talked about it. No, no subject that I spent— I've spent time on has made as little impact on listeners or readers of mine as this one. I fully acknowledge it. Secondhand smoke. When they started lying about secondhand smoke I knew we were in trouble, but people— most people don't smoke, so they didn't give a damn about its banning of secondhand smoke. To the extent that city very near to here from where I am broadcasting, Burbank, California, bans cigar smoking in cigar shops. You can even smoke cigars in New York City at cigar shops. Burbank, California is so close to a communist mindset, and the people don't give a damn. And that's the way you lose liberty. They'll ban your gas stove. Why don't they just tell people that if your kid has asthma, maybe it's your gas stove? Do something else, microwave, or do something else for some time, see if it helps your child's asthma. Do you realize the aim of a perfect world in which children don't get sick, children don't fall on playgrounds— the, the movement to perfection creates hell. That is truly the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I don't even believe they have good intentions in this case. I think it's just another way to control people. And as I said, they go to bed with a very clear conscience. In fact, their conscience is rewarded. Look at how much good I have done. We're going to place so much stress on the electrical grid which is not being increased in its power. So what will happen? And of course, the same leftists are against nuclear power, which could solve a lot of problems. And given how clean it is, you would think that environmentalists would be enthusiasts of nuclear power, but they're not because they don't think rationally. They think emotionally. Anyway, you don't upset the world if you use nuclear power, and their desire is to upset the world as it now exists. It annoys people on the left that you have complete freedom when you own a car, that you're not taking a bus or a train or going into some car-sharing routine. This troubles them. You have too much freedom. You're free to live. If you have a car, it also means you will live in a suburb, and they want everybody ideally to live in a city in tall apartment buildings with, with relatively small apartments. They don't. Almost every leading environmentalist is extremely wealthy, but it doesn't matter. The Dennis Prager Show. Hi everybody, I hope you had a good weekend. I have Two callers who were very annoyed with me for not taking issue with the last caller of the first hour, who suggested that perhaps it should be looked into— not perhaps, perhaps in fact— Damar Hamlin may have just dropped on the field because of the vaccine booster which he had, he said, 6 days earlier. That both of you Steve in Fresno and Tom in Atlanta say it's full, it's just lies. I have another subject to cover now. I would love to take your calls because I love dissenting calls, so don't forget to call back when, when that's, when that's available. I just want to pose a question: if we don't study the issue, how do you know it's lies? I, I, that, I can't even imagine a coherent answer to that. You know something is a lie if you study the issue and it's shown to be a lie. I don't know if it's a lie, and I don't know if it's true. I do think it's worth studying. I never took the vaccine. I thank God I never took the vaccine, which is not a vaccine. If it— if there is a lie, and there are many, it is that it is a vaccine. It's not a vaccine. In fact, they've actually changed the definition of vaccine, to the best of my knowledge, in order to accommodate it as being a vaccine. My two sons were both vaccinated, and it breaks my heart. One, because he would have been fired from his job and one to attend a friend's wedding, which really broke my heart. If my best friend in the world said I had to be vaccinated to attend his wedding or something else, I would not have been vaccinated. But my son's a very loyal friend anyway. You don't know it's a lie until you show it to be a lie. Is it a lie that masks did more harm than good? I think it's true. They didn't mask up in Sweden. Was it a lie that keeping kids out of school would be good for them for 2 years? Yeah, it was a gigantic lie. We bathe in left-wing lies, and the scientific community bathes in left-wing lies as much as any other community. American Medical Association denies that there are two sexes. That's right, the American Medical Association. Is that a lie? Yeah, it's a lie. There are only two sexes. Science has known this until about 10 years ago, 15 years ago. When the left started to poison— no, didn't start, continued to poison medicine. I'm going to have a remarkable woman on at the bottom of the hour, Jennifer Say, S-E-Y. Jennifer Say, for 20 years, was with Levi's jeans. She was the CEO, I believe, No, she was slated to be CEO. She was slated to be the head of Levi's. She was so successful with the company. She's a woman of the left. She voted, she supported Elizabeth Warren for president. And she wrote a piece and now a book, and I'm going to have her on, but I want to read what she wrote in 2022 in the Free Press. Yesterday I was Levi's brand president. I quit so I could be free. I turned down $1 million severance in exchange for my voice. In 2008, when I was a vice president of marketing, I published a memoir about my time as an elite gymnast that focused on the dark side of the sport, specifically the degradation of children. The gymnastics community threatened me with legal action and violence. Former competitors, teammates, and coaches dismissed my story as that of a bitter loser just trying to make a buck. They called me a grifter and a liar, but Levi's stood by me. More than that, they embraced me as a hero. Things changed when COVID hit. Early on in the pandemic, I publicly questioned whether schools had to be shut down. This didn't seem at all controversial to me. I felt, and still do, that the draconian policies would cause the most harm to those least at risk, mainly children, and the burden would fall heaviest on disadvantaged kids in public schools who need the safety and routine of school the most. I wrote op-eds, appeared on local news shows, attended meetings with the mayor's office. This is in San Francisco. Organized rallies and pleaded on social media to get the schools open. I was condemned for speaking out. This time I was called a racist, a strange accusation given that I have two black sons, a eugenicist, and a QAnon conspiracy theorist. Isn't that amazing? She wanted kids to be at school. She has two— what is it? She has two black sons. Uh, what difference does that mean? And she's a QAnon conspiracy theorist. You have to understand something about the left. They don't argue because they have no arguments. They label. It's very important. They didn't argue, is it good or bad for kids to have no school for nearly 2 years? They labeled those who differed with them racist, QAnon conspiracists. Uh, what was the other term here? Oh, eugenicist. Yeah. Engaging in eugenics. I don't quite follow how that works. What is it, by getting rid of young people in certain groups? I'm not sure how that works. That is my life. They don't debate me. They— and I know that there are people who want to debate me and A lot of people do. It's a— it's sort of a ticket to being better known. But I'm talking about the— would anybody at Media Matters debate me, or at Daily Kos, or New York Times? I told you I would offer $10,000 to any New York Times columnist on the left, which excludes maybe 2, maybe 3, who would debate me. All right, anyway, I'm only pointing this out. I've given up on that. I'm only pointing it out because they don't debate, they smear. So this is what happened to this woman, one of the highest-ranking people at Levi's. In the summer of 2020, I finally got the call. "You know, when you speak, you speak on behalf of the company," our head of corporate communications told me, urging me to pipe down. I responded, "My title is not in my Twitter bio. I'm speaking as a public school mom of 4 kids." But the calls kept coming from legal, from HR, from a board member, and finally from my boss, the CEO of the company. I explained why I felt so strongly about the issue, citing data on the safety of schools and the harms caused by virtual learning. While they didn't try to muzzle me outright, I was repeatedly told to think about what I was saying. Meanwhile, colleagues posted nonstop about the need to oust Trump in the November election. I also shared my support for Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic Party. And my great sadness about the racially instigated murders of Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. By the way, the George Floyd killing was not racially inspired. Well, I'll mention that to her. I'm having her on at the bottom of the hour. This is an introduction. This is a very important interview in my opinion. No one at the company objected to any of that. That's the key, my friends. She could be as outspoken left on the left as she wanted at Levi's. But if she was outspoken on something non-left, then they shut her up. Meantime, then in October 2020, when it was clear public schools were not going to open that fall, I proposed to the company leadership that we weigh in on the topic of school closures in our city, San Francisco. We often take a stand on political issues that impact our employees, We've spoken out on gay rights, voting rights, gun safety, and more. The response this time was different. I will continue. The woman is Jennifer Sey. I'm Dennis Prager. The Dennis Prager Show.

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I'm reading to you a piece written by Jennifer Say, who was Levi's, the jeans company, president slated to be CEO. She was kicked out because she argued— she's a woman of the left, interestingly— and she argued for schools to be open during the COVID era, and they, they, uh, they told her to shut up. Every left-wing cause was okay for any official at, at the Levi's, but the left was for shutting children out of schools, and therefore if you were for opening up schools, you were considered a QAnon apologist. That's how evil the left is. The war on children on the left, through endangering— not robbing them of their innocence, what was done during COVID and shutting them out of schools, in frightening them about global warming at an early age, in robbing them of religion and patriotism and giving them crap instead. I mean, it is really a loathing of children that characterizes the left. They don't think they loathe children, but I don't give a damn what people think. I give a damn about what people do. So anyway, she's continuing in her piece I refused to stop talking. I, I kept calling out hypocritical and unproven policies. I met with the mayor's office and eventually uprooted my entire life in California. I'd lived there for 30 years and moved my family to Denver so that my kindergartner could finally experience real school. We were able to secure a spot for him in a dual language immersion Spanish-English public school like the one he was supposed to be attending. In San Francisco. National media picked up on our story, and I was asked to go on Laura Ingraham's show on Fox News. That appearance was the last straw. The comments from Levi's employees picked up about me being anti-science. Get that? Sweden kept all its schools open the whole time for kids under 16. Was Sweden anti-science, or were the people who shut down schools anti-science? The reason you never hear that question debated on the left is that the left is not interested in truth. I mean that as literally as I mean anything in life. I am as certain of that as I am that I love my children. Okay, how's that? They don't give a damn about truth on the left. Liberals theoretically do, conservatives theoretically do, but the left even theoretically does not. They were the anti-science people. But that is the truth, and truth doesn't matter to the left. It is not a left-wing value. One day everyone will know this. Now, no, it'll never be. That won't happen. One day more people will know this, God willing. National media picked it up. That appearance was the last straw. Yes, I was anti-science, anti-fat, because I'd retweeted a study showing a correlation between obesity and poor health outcomes. It's a perfect example— calling people who warn about obesity anti-fat. What does that mean? Are they, are they pro-fat? Yes, fat acceptance. It's a big left-wing cause. About me being anti-trans because I had tweeted that we shouldn't ditch Mother's Day for Birthing People's Day. I didn't know that. Did you know that? Birthing People's Day? Liberals vote for these people. They're ever-enduring sin for which they will have to answer, I believe. And about me being racist because San Francisco's public school system was filled with black and brown kids, and apparently I didn't care if they, if they died. Oh, get that? They also castigated me for my husband's COVID views as if I, as his wife, were responsible for the things he said on social media. Meantime, the head of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Levi's asked that I do an apology tour. I was told that the main complaint against me was that I, quote, was not a friend of the Black community at Levi's. I refused. The fact that I had been asked back in 2017 to be the executive sponsor of the Black employee resource group by two Black employees employees didn't matter. The fact that I fought for kids for years didn't matter. That I was just citing facts didn't matter. That's the point. Citing facts doesn't matter to the left. The head of HR told me personally that even though I was right about the schools, it was classist and racist that public schools stayed shut while private schools were open. And that I was probably right about everything else, I still shouldn't say so. But I kept thinking, why shouldn't I? In the fall of 2021, during a dinner with the CEO, I was told that I was on track to become the next CEO of Levi's. The stock price had doubled under my leadership and revenue had returned to pre-pandemic levels. The only thing standing in the way, he said, was me. All I had to do was stop talking about the school thing. But the attacks would not stop. Anonymous trolls on Twitter, some with nearly half a million followers, said people should boycott Levi's until I'd been fired. So did some of my old gymnastics fans. They called the company ethics hotline and sent emails. Every day, a dossier of my tweets and all of my online interactions were sent to the CEO by the head of corporate communications. At one meeting of the executive leadership team, the CEO made an offhand remark that I was acting like Donald Trump. Wow, just because she wanted kids back in school. I felt embarrassed and turned my camera off to collect myself. In the last month, the CEO told me it was untenable for me to stay. I was offered a $1 million severance package, but I knew I'd have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. About why I'd been pushed out. The money would be very nice, but I just can't do it. Sorry, Levi's. Well, I'm gonna have her on. The corporation doesn't believe in free speech anymore. It's trapped trying to please the mob. That's right, that's what the left is. Like many American companies, Levi's is held hostage by intolerant ideologues who do not believe in genuine inclusion or diversity. Hopefully the technical aspects will work and I will have this Very interesting woman. Well, it was worked out technically— technologically, anyway, that's more accurate. I read to you long excerpts from her piece in the Free Press last year, and now she's on. She has her— her story is out. In book form, Levi's Unbuttoned. The woke mob took my job but gave me my voice. Jennifer Say, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.

Thank you so much for having me, Dennis. I appreciate it.

You're in Denver now, is that correct?

Yes, we moved here in, uh, February of 2021.

Is Denver that That less woke than San Francisco?

You would be amazed. Yeah, there's a, I mean, I know it has a little bit of a reputation, but nothing can compare to San Francisco. So it's sort of all relative for me anyway. And there's a real libertarian streak here that I appreciate that is sort of accepting and inclusive. So for now it's much better. And the reason we moved there, schools were open.

So, oh, that is— yes, I read that. Let me, let me reintroduce you for those who are just tuning in. So you were the chief marketing officer for Levi's. You were at Levi's for 20 years, living in San Francisco more than 30 years. You're also a former world-class gymnast and sort of a Renaissance woman. And you are For me, one of those rare human beings, the only ones that actually make the world better. You're courageous, and I have so much to ask you. I, again, I, I don't recall often doing this, reading so much about someone I was about to interview on the air. Your story is that compelling. So again, tell me if I have the summary correctly, because I have so many questions I, I want to move, move from the story. The story essentially is you, you agitated or advocated for schools to be open for kids in San Francisco. You were 100% right. Sweden was 100% right, and most of the states in this country were 100% wrong. They damaged children. The suicide rate, the depression rate and the academic failure rate is astronomical, unprecedented in American history as a result of the lockdowns, which they still defend. And you again advocated for the opening of the schools. Levi's told you to shut up, you wouldn't, and they got rid of you. Is that a fair summary?

That's a pretty good summary. Yeah. I mean, I would just add that, you know, I had been, when I started this advocacy, I'd been at the company 20 years. I was a, you know, I don't think it's a stretch to say I was a beloved employee. During my time advocating, even being told I had to stop, I was promoted to brand president, which is, you know, next in line for CEO, which I think is a testament to the fact that I was doing a really good job. But it's hard to describe how heretical it was considered to challenge publicly the closure of the public schools in California and in most blue states. 25 million children were kept in disrupted schooling for close to a year and a half. And, you know, I should also mention that Amidst all the pushback from my peers and my boss, they were all sending their children to in-person private schools. So the hypocrisy is what really—

Oh, you— I didn't read that in your piece. That's fascinating. That would— that was like Gavin Newsom going to a restaurant while closing restaurants in California.

Well, Gavin was also sending his 4 children to private school, which were open.

Well, Nancy Pelosi went for, for, uh, to a hairstylist. Yeah. Oh, well, I'm going to ask you some larger questions in a moment. I'm very, very interested in you, to be honest. You mentioned, by the way, in passing, because you were called racist, which is ironic since you wanted black kids to be studying. You're now racist if you believe that being colorblind is an ideal. You're racist if you're against black graduation exercises. And now you're racist if you thought that black kids should get an education for 2 years. This is— okay, we'll get into the larger picture there. You mentioned that you have 2 black children, is that correct?

Yeah, my oldest, uh, my 2— I have 4 children. My 2 oldest children are mixed race.

Okay, fascinating. And among other things, you wanted them to go to school, although I think having—

I did.

Yes, having you as a mother Go ahead.

Yeah, I had always sent my children to public school. It's not, um, hard for you and your listeners to imagine that I was not only, only the only executive, but I mean, I was the only one I knew that worked in the company for the most part that sent her kids to public school. Um, it just wasn't done, you know. Their kids were too good for public school.

All right, hold on there, Jennifer. Say her book is up at DennisPrager.com. It's just, it's a, it's fascinating and a statement of courage. Levi's unbuttoned. The woke mob took my job but gave me my voice. Hi everybody, Dennis Prager here with a fascinating woman. She has the highest epithet that I can offer to a fellow human being. She's courageous. She would have been the head of— she was already president— she would have been CEO of Levi's jeans, but they got rid of her because she advocated opening schools for kids to be at. She was 100% right. All of us who advocated that were right the whole time. Sweden was right, but 99% of the people in San Francisco don't even know that Sweden kept the schools open. The ignorance of the left on anything that they care about is almost total. So I read your piece. I read about you originally in the New York Times. They mentioned that you're going on— Laura Ingraham was, as you put it, the final straw. You put it in your own article. But they didn't mention in the New York Times what you mentioned in your piece, that CNN wouldn't have you on.

Yeah, that's correct. Um, about a year into my advocacy and attending school board meetings and leading rallies, uh, we, we moved to Denver, as I, as I mentioned earlier. And, um, I tweeted about that, and Ingraham picked up on it and, uh, invited me on the show in March of '21. And I just told my story about how my kids were suffering and children in San Francisco were suffering, and I had the opportunity to give my, my kids a different, a different thing, right, to get to go to school. So I did that. Yeah, that was, I mean, I lasted another year still at Levi's, but that is what really set the employees aflame because I had spoken to the enemy in their minds. And I was literally asked, are you with us or against us? Us, are you on our team or not? And people even acknowledged that nothing I said was problematic. They understood where I was coming from, but I had said it to her and that was the problem. I had tried, along with my Open Schools Moms, to get in other, you know, on other outlets, and they still won't have us on. They won't have me on to talk about the book. They won't, they won't talk about this issue. They will acknowledge that school closures cause harm, but they will not acknowledge that people, leaders, made those very poor decisions because of course they're all implicated if they acknowledge that.

So I'd like to point out something to you. It is inconceivable to me that if any conservative appeared on MSNBC or CNN or NPR or PBS that anyone on the right would hold it against them.

That's correct.

So, okay, so I've been waiting with, I have to admit, uh, chomping at the bit. I, I have no idea what you'll answer, but I— whatever you answer will interest me. Given this experience and given that you have been a woman of the left your whole life, has this caused any rethinking of your commitment to the left?

Oh, oh, most definitely. I mean, I see it. What I, what I don't know and what I don't bother assessing, and I'm sure you have a perspective, is, you know, was it always a lie or is it now? It doesn't matter to me. It now is a lie. Everything that they say they stand for is a lie. They don't care about children. They don't care about, you know, lower-income families and children. And they don't care about inclusiveness. And they certainly don't care about free speech. So I am an independent now. I have re-registered as unaffiliated here in Denver. And I, you know, I want to— I don't want to have to adhere to any particular orthodoxy. I want to think for myself. I make decisions for myself about how I vote. Um, so that's where I am right now. But yes, absolutely. And I have been on, gosh, at this point hundreds of conservative, uh, programs and have found folks incredibly welcoming. And we don't have to agree on everything, and that's okay. So I have certainly rethought my history. Yeah.

Wow. I did not know what you would answer. And you've been, uh, you have truly been through the auto-da-fé. What do they call it? Red-pilled? Is that the, is that the term?

I think it is the term. Yeah. I mean, I think the one thing I, I feel, I don't actually feel I personally changed that much. I feel that the values that I've always believed in, and I guess those are right, but the left doesn't, the left doesn't believe in them. That's right.

You're not familiar with me, but I want you to know that the theme, a major theme of my last decade at least, is that there is nothing in common between liberalism and leftism. Liberals vote for the people who loathe their values. Liberals are weak, but they're not bad. And the left is bad. It is depressing indeed that liberals make leftism possible because they don't share any values. By the way, just so you'll know, I have said over and over, I was, I am a New York Jew, Columbia University. That is as predictable a liberal Democrat as any three things can be. New York, Jewish, Columbia. And I was a Democrat until Ronald Reagan. I'm obviously older than you. And so that, that was, that was when I changed. But it was, it was very hard. I was taught that the danger is on the right, not that the danger is on the left. And then, but the point that I wanted to say that I echo is that I don't know one value that has changed in me since, since I was a liberal Democrat. Conservatives are the ones who hold liberal values today.

Yes, I'm learning this. And I mean, you know, my background is I'm a Philadelphia Jew who went to Stanford. So, you know, not so far from what you're describing. And certainly my whole life grew up thinking exactly what you described, that the sort of evil and the uninclusiveness and illiberalism and just evil. Fascism came from the right, and that's just not— I've just been right.

So stay on. I want to have another question. Do you still have friends? MyPillow is excited to bring you their biggest bedding sale ever, and just in time for Christmas. For a limited time, get the Giza Dream bedsheets for as low as $29.98. A set of pillowcases for only $9.98, and rejuvenate your bed with a MyPillow mattress topper for as low as $99.99. They also have blankets in a variety of sizes, colors, and styles. They even have blankets for your pets. Get duvets, quilts, down comforters, body pillows, bolster pillows, and so much more, all with the biggest discounts of the year happening now. They're also extending their money-back guarantee for Christmas until March 1st, 2023. Making them the perfect gifts for your friends, your family, and everyone you know. So go to mypillow.com and use the promo code PRAGER, or call 800-761-6302. You'll get huge discounts on all MyPillow bedding products, including the Giza Dream bedsheets for as low as $29.98. And get all your shopping done now while quantities last. Hey everybody, Dennis Prager here. Hope you had a good weekend. All right, I've gotten that out on a Monday. Are you ready with the, uh, with the Jennifer Say statement, uh, Sean? Can we play it? Can we play it? I'd like to. I'll give you a moment. Yeah, I, I want you to know that I have what I call Hall of Fame moments on the show, statements made by a guest that I will play forever or until I leave this world, whichever comes first. And I had one last hour. Jennifer Sey, S-E-Y, the former president of Levi's who was kicked out because she advocated that schools be open for kids. Isn't that amazing? And the woman was, uh, was active on behalf of Elizabeth Warren. That is how much on the left she was. As I have told you and will always continue to tell you, the moment a leftist cares about truth, they leave the left. So this is what she said to me. Are we ready there, Sean? No. Okay, I'll play it for you when you'll give me the signal. Takes time to get these Hall of Fame comments. The comment is essentially, it's all a lie. The ability of the well-educated to lie to themselves is literally unlimited because they've been lied to and they accepted it at college. Now high school and elementary school as well. I have an amazing story for you from all places, today's New York Times. I gotta give it credit, it's generally just a mouthpiece for the left, but this article was— maybe because they didn't have a left-wing position on it. But anyway, it is a fascinating article about what happened at a small university called Hamline University. Okay, Hamline University. Here's the story. A lecturer showed a painting of the Prophet Muhammad. She lost her job. Erika Lopez Prater— that's Prager with a T, so maybe it's Prater, I don't know— an adjunct professor at Hamline University said she knew many Muslims have deeply held religious beliefs that prohibit depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. So last semester, for a global art history class, she took many precautions before showing a 14th century painting of Islam's founder. Okay, all clear. She is a— she was an adjunct professor, art history, was going to show pictures of Muhammad. Many Muslims consider that sacrilegious. The, the entire Charlie Hebdo editorial staff was murdered by Muslims in Paris, you may recall, a few years ago because of the Charlie Hebdo republishing of Danish cartoons depicting the cartoon drawings of Muhammad. In the syllabus, she warned that images of holy figures, including the Prophet Muhammad and the Buddha, would be shown in the course. So she already noted that she asked students to contact her with any concerns and said nobody did. In class, she prepped students, telling them that in a few minutes the painting would be displayed in case anyone wanted to leave. Then Dr. Lopez Prater showed the image and lost her teaching gig. It's a small private university in St. Paul, Minnesota, by the way. 1,800 undergraduates. After Dr. Lopez Prater showed the image, a senior in the class complained to the administration. Now notice it was in the syllabus that it would be shown, an artwork depicting Muhammad. I'm not quite sure why the, uh, media keeps saying the Prophet Muhammad. He's a prophet to Muslims, so I understand the that Muslims would say that. When they write Jesus in the New York Times, did they say the Savior Jesus? Anyway, other Muslim students not in the course supported the student who complained to the administration, saying the class was an attack on their religion. They demanded that officials take action.

Wow.

This is a scary bunch of kids, these Muslim students at Hamline and many other places. It's an attack on your religion to show a 14th century painting made by a Muslim of Muhammad? It's an attack on your religion? You know how many Christians have seen Piss Christ? You know how many museums have shown it? I have to argue that from any— if you're allowed any objectivity here— a crucifix in a jar of urine is more respectful than a painting of Muhammad. God, the world we live in. By the way, just out of curiosity as well, what if a a history teacher discussing modern American history showed people burning an American flag, and some kids who love the country and love the flag were hurt by it. Would anybody even entertain their objection? Of course not. Universities stink. Other Muslim students not in the course supported the student. It was an attack on their religion. Officials told Dr. Lopez Proctor that her services next semester were no longer needed. In emails to students and faculty, they said the incident was clearly Islamophobic. Wow. Yeah, I've been accused of that. Nobody can point to a single thing that I ever wrote or said that was, but doesn't matter. Truth is not a left-wing value, and here are the Islamists— not Muslims generally, although maybe, I don't know— and the left are aligned. Hamline's president, Phanes S. Miller, co-signed an email that said respect for the Muslim students, quote, should have superseded academic freedom. Really?

Okay.

The president of Hamline is honest. We don't give a damn about truth. We care about students' feelings. Okay, I love honesty. At a town hall, an invited Muslim speaker compared showing the images to teaching that Hitler was good. Yeah, you show a 14th century painting of Muhammad made by a Muslim, reverentially made. This is not one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. And that is like saying Hitler was good. This is from a Muslim speaker. Okay. Free speech supporters started their own campaign. An Islamic art historian wrote an essay defending Dr. Lopez Prater and started a petition demanding the university's board investigate the matter. It had more than 2,800 signatures Free speech groups and publications issued blistering critiques. PEN America called it one of the most egregious violations of academic freedom in recent memory. But Dr. Miller, Fainese S. Miller, the school's president, defended the decision in a statement: To look upon an image of the Prophet Muhammad for many Muslims is against their faith. Well, you didn't have to look. The professor warned that she was going to show it. It was important that our Muslim students, as well as all other students— are you ready? Here's a left code word, left code words— feel safe. Wow. Feel safe. What does that even mean? You're unsafe if a 14th century painting of Muhammad is shown in an art class? This is the president of this university. She should be fired, not the professor. I think it's she. Oh, I'll check that out. In a December interview with the school newspaper, the student who complained to the administration, Aram Wedatallah, said this— described being blindsided by the image, which is not true. The professor warned in the syllabus and right before showing it before the class. That it would be shown. We continue. So we now have the Hall of Fame, latest addition to the Hall of Fame.

You know, was it always a lie or is it now? It doesn't matter to me. It now is a lie. Everything that they say they stand for is, is a lie. They don't care about children. They don't care about, you know, lower-income families and children, and they don't care about inclusiveness, and they certainly don't care about free speech.

Jennifer Say was president of Levi's, was touted to be the, the next CEO. They kicked her out because she advocated that schools be open for kids. It's all a lie. It's a gigantic lie. They don't care about kids. Just what I had been saying right before. I had no idea what she would say. This woman was a supporter of Elizabeth Warren. That's how left she was. But if your conscience works— and most people's conscience doesn't work well— if your conscience works You leave the left, and then you say what she does. And I asked her, did you lose your friends? She said, most of them. Well, she's paid a big price for knowing what the communists of 1948 who wrote the book The God That Failed knew: we believed in a false god. Every leftist believes in a false god. I'm reading to you— I was corrected, it's not Hamline University, it's Hamlin. I got the ham right, but I didn't get the line right. Now, how are you supposed to know that? There is no way. You know that English is one of the only languages in the world that is not phonetic, one of the only languages with an alphabet. Phonetic means that you pronounce a word the way it is spelled. Spanish is phonetic, Hebrew is phonetic, Arabic is phonetic, Russian is phonetic, Portuguese is phonetic. In fact, I don't know of a language that isn't. Even French, which doesn't pronounce half its letters— this is an exaggeration, but you get the point. At least it follows rules. But on the other hand, English is the easiest language. I go, you go, he goes, we go, they go. I went, you went, they went, we went. I don't know of any language that is that simple, but it's— the price is paid in the pronunciation. So it's Hamlin. Hamlin University got rid of an art instructor for showing a 14th century picture of Muhammad after warning about it. The painting shown— and this is from the New York Times today— it's shockingly balanced. The painting shown in Dr. Lopez Prater's class— that's the professor who's been fired— is in one of the earliest Islamic illustrated histories of the world. A compendium of chronicles written during the 14th century by Rashid ad-Din (1247-1318). Shown regularly in art history classes, the painting shows a winged and crowned Angel Gabriel pointing at the Prophet Muhammad and delivering to him the first Quranic revelation. Revelation of the Quran. Muslims believe that the Quran comprises the words of Allah dictated to the Prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. Amazing how it's always the Prophet Muhammad. They don't even ever say Muhammad anymore. The image is, quote, a masterpiece of Persian manuscript painting, said Christian Gruber, a professor of Islamic art at the University of Michigan. It is housed at the University of Edinburgh. So I'm just curious, if it's housed at the University of Edinburgh, is the University of Edinburgh Islamophobic for showing it? Did anybody ask the, the representative of CAIR, Council on American-Islamic Relations, that question? Similar paintings have been on display at places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Is the Metropolitan Museum of Art— the Met— well, the Met is the opera, Metropolitan Opera. Is the Metropolitan Museum of Art Islamophobic? And a sculpture of the Prophet— I didn't— I forgot this. I knew this once. Did you know this? A sculpture of Muhammad is at the Supreme Court. Is that Islamophobic? It sounds to me like it's actually Islamophilic. It's pro-Islam that the— that he's— a sculpture of Muhammad as a lawgiver is up at the Supreme Court. These Muslim students have it so good at an American university. They need to create something to give their meaningless lives meaning. You hate me, you showed a picture of Muhammad. They want to join the elite at the university. You know what the elite at universities is? A victim. If you're in the victim group, you are in the elite. Currently, the elite is black trans men— no, trans women, or both. That's the elite in the world of left-wing victim status. Dr. Gruber, who wrote the essay in New Lines magazine defending Dr. Lopez Proctor, said that studying Islamic art without the Compendium of Chronicles image quote, would be like not teaching Michelangelo's David. By the way, are Jews offended by Michelangelo's David? Michelangelo depicted him having horns. The reason is because of a mistranslation of a Hebrew word, but it doesn't matter. I mean, are Jews offended by Michelangelo's David? Omid Safi, a professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University, said he regularly shows images of the Prophet Muhammad in class, and without Dr. Lopez Prater's opt-out mechanisms, he explains to his students that these images were works of devotion created by pious artists at the behest of devout rulers. So it's a big gigantic lie that every picture of Muhammad is Islamophobic. Hi everybody, I'm Dennis Prager. Aldo Buttesoni, 23, correct? Yes sir, 23 years old, latest personality at the PragerU. Was on Fox News reporting on a drag queen story hour. When you hear the details and you know that this is what teachers— teachers, forget the, the the drag queens teachers are bringing to kids. The LA Zoo sent out a notice. Did they call it family night?

They call it Pride night, but they said it was family friendly.

And like I said, there was some family friendly to have a guy come out in women's clothing and take off some of it.

Apparently this is the, the world we're living in.

So here is what happened on, on Fox News with Aldo being interviewed by Trace Gallagher this past Thursday night.

Although, great to have you on. I want to play some of the sound. You got video and you got sound. I want to play one of the sound bites and we'll get your response on the other side.

So, Valora Von Teese, is that your name? Yes. And what were you doing out here tonight at the LA Zoo? Living my life. Goddamn it. Yes, absolutely. It was LA Pride, so we just showed up and we just thought we'd give the children a little something, a little something to snack on, you know what I'm saying?

Give the children a little something to snack on. What was it like?

I can tell you, Trace, that nothing about last night was family friendly, despite what the host of this event would have you believe. This was an event where grown men were stripping in front of children. I spoke to one mother who was there with her 6-year-old daughter. I saw multiple strollers with toddlers and infants in them. And this really isn't about whether or not I deem drag acceptable. It's about whether we should be exposing kids to it. There's many things in our society that we've deemed inappropriate and dangerous for kids to consume. Like alcohol, porn, even R-rated movies. And we should be able to add to that list grown men stripping in scantily clad women's clothing to that in front of children. It was absolutely horrific and it was very sexually charged.

It's interesting to me because the Fresno Zoo— by the way, these are, these are zoos that are owned and run by the city, right? These are taxpayer dollars. Fresno Zoo did the same thing and they got pushback, and the LA Zoo decided, so what, we're going to do it anyway.

Well, the problem that we have with with this is they're very strategic in the way that they market it. They market it under the guise of gay pride and gay rights because they know that anybody that criticizes it and comes out against it will be labeled homophobic or hateful or bigoted. But what in that clip and what I saw was nothing about pride. It was not about gay rights. This is about predatory adults that are sexualizing children, and we need to put a stop to it. And it's events like last night that PragerU has realized the importance of fighting out against this. We've started a month-long initiative. We're dedicating the whole month of January to fighting childhood exploitation and protecting kids' innocence because we realize the moral obligation we have to protect their innocence. And we need more people in the fight. Yeah.

And just want to quickly go on to subject 2 here, because NPR is now mad that some schools removed the book Gender Queer from libraries. The author believes that by removing books and getting pushback, that it's a testament to her strength of work. And the parents— no, it's not a testament to your strength of work. It's that you have images of oral sex in these books, right?

Well, you have to remember, Trace, that every kid has a normal childhood because they have no frame of reference. They have nothing to compare it to. And so what this really is, the drag shows or the queer literature in public schools, it's part of a bigger push to normalize this LGBTQ agenda that's being injected into our kids that's ultimately conditioning them to this— the left wing's gender ideology that tells kids you can switch genders. If you go through with these gender-altering, life-altering surgeries or you chemically castrate yourselves. So this is about protecting kids. And it's no wonder we see the younger generations in disproportionate numbers identifying as part of this group. Or a recent report that we saw where puberty-blocking drug prescriptions for under-18s have doubled since 2017. It's deliberate and it's harmful to kids.

Aldo Buzzoni, great to have you on. Thanks for coming in.

Appreciate it.

You made a point to me, Aldo, That was a terrific appearance, by the way. Thank you. You made a— did you make this on the air or privately, just between us during a break? If a woman were doing this, it would be completely unacceptable.

Yeah, I just said it off air.

Yeah, develop that point. It's extremely important.

Well, it's kind of what I said before in the— these— the way that they market it under the guise of gay pride, that just because they're gay men, we are not allowed to criticize it, or you'll be called homophobic or bigoted. But what they're actually doing would be unacceptable if it were any other group, right? If this were grown, grown women dressing and stripping in front of 5-year-old boys, 4-year-old boys, there would be an outcry of rage of sexualizing young boys.

There's an outcry from the left when the Miss America pageant had swimsuits, right? That's how sick the left is. As I've said, they, they want to keep adults innocent and they want to remove innocence from children. Everything on the left is upside down.

And they admit this. Even one mother that I talked to in the video, she said this is about normalizing the, the LGBTQ stuff. This is about normalizing drag. And so we have to recognize that it's not innocent. It's not just dress up. It's about normalizing the sexual aspects of everything to children. And like I said, it is ultimately leading them down this path, which is the, the radical left's gender ideology that's telling them they can switch their genders and will change their lives forever. So it's not innocent, it's not harmless, it's deliberate, it's intentional, and it's harming kids.

Were you there for the whole show at the zoo? I was. How many performers came out?

There were 6 of them that got increasingly more sexualized.

And how many kids were there?

There was, I want to say, 2 dozen maybe, but there was at least a dozen. Like I said, I saw multiple strollers with infants and toddlers in them.

Okay, that happily it was not exactly a sellout crowd.

It was not, yeah.

Which shows you that it is all ideologically motivated because it didn't do the zoo any good.

And I want to get your take on this. So I think that it's, like I said, it's about the normalization. And I genuinely believe a lot of these drag performers they experienced some sort of sexual trauma in their childhood and they're projecting what their sense of normal is onto the kids. And if they think that if they can make normal what happened to them, then, then it'll be normal. But it's, it's not normal. Any type of sexual indoctrination at that age is not normal. But I think it really is a projection of, of what happened to them.

It, it may well be. I don't know. And it's an interesting question But the most important question is, what do we do? Whether it is trauma or something else is not this positive to be. To me, the biggest problem, aside from the sexualization of children, is the confusion of children. There's no such thing as male and female. It is not healthy when men Identifying as men wear women's clothing, period. Listen, Aldo, you're doing great, and we'll stay in touch. And you can see Aldo at PragerU. Good luck.

Thanks for having me, Dennis.

Dennis Prager here. Thanks for listening to the Daily Dennis Prager Podcast. To hear the entire 3 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.