No Justice

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 Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives as well as the daily show prep. Subscribe at pragertopia.com. Hello, y'all. I'm Dennis Prager. Welcome to The Dennis Prager Program, or show, as you, as you prefer. Good to be with you. It's a Friday, so we will have the much-needed happiness hour, my friends. So the, the murderer who, uh, killed at the Parkland School in Florida— how long ago did that take? When did it happen? Yeah, when did it happen? Not how long could it take. What did it happen? Uh, because I want to make a point about the time frame. Shooting occurred on Valentine's Day 2018, so that is 4 and a half years ago. Why did it take 4 and a half years ago to go to trial? What is wrong with our system? Needless to say, people should have the right to a defense, but was there a defense? He didn't do it? I doubt that that was the defense. He's insane? Okay, that doesn't take 4.5 years. So, my friends, let me ask you a question. If you really dig deep into your heart— this is a heart-based question. I normally don't consider that when assessing an issue. I ask your mind to determine, but even your mind— well, certainly it's in my mind, but I'm going to ask your heart. Do you think it's fair that he took 17 teenagers' lives and keeps his own? Forget every other argument. If you're intellectually honest, this is as clear an example of people not being intellectually honest as when I ask an atheist, do you hope you're right or wrong? If he or she says, "I hope I'm right," that person is clearly not intellectually honest. Nobody sane, nobody rational actually hopes that there is no God, there is no ultimate justice, there is no ever any consciousness with loved ones. It's extinction for eternity. How many people really hope that that's the case? Right? So I ask every atheist to determine if the person is intellectually honest, and I've done this, and most have said when push came to shove that they hoped they were wrong. So likewise here, do you think it is fair that he snuffs out 17 young people's lives but gets to keep his own? If somebody stole 17 bicycles and could keep his own bicycle, would you think that was fair? I don't think so. When Bernie Madoff was found guilty of embezzling or in some other way stealing vast sums of money from people, nobody thought it was fair that he got to keep the money. Is that right? Okay. There is something cosmically distorted in murderers all allowed to keep their lives. Some murderers should be allowed— crimes of passion, obviously accidental homicide. There are a whole host of exceptions, I fully acknowledge. This, this, this would not be one of them. Simple as that. What does it say in Deuteronomy? What does it say in Deuteronomy? Well, as I have pointed out, but I don't expect most listeners to remember this because I haven't in a long time. But I pointed out in my, my Bible commentary, the latest volume, Deuteronomy, just came out this week, and I believe it's all life-changing things on almost every page. Taking the life of murderers is the only law in all 5 books of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible. Where all the laws appear. The only law repeated— the only law— what did I say?

Just—

you said the only law. Oh, I understand how people could be convinced there are 613 laws. It is the only law that is repeated in each book, that is stated in each book. That is how central it is to the biblical worldview. And if you are a religious Jew or religious Christian and you oppose capital punishment for at any time for any crime. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but it isn't God's opinion in the Bible, just for the record. But a lot of people think they're right and the Bible is wrong, so you're not alone. I happen to think it's wiser than I am, and I accept the fact that there is a colossal injustice in keeping every single murderer alive. The guy who killed— how many did that Norwegian fanatic kill? Was it like 84? I mean, it was, it was astonishing, like, like 6 dozen. And, and he will be eligible for parole because they're enlightened in Scandinavia. They don't think you should be put away, let alone 77. Wow, 77. It's enlightened to keep murderers alive. Get it? That's what's called enlightened. All right, I just thought I would share that with you. Parkland shooter escapes death penalty. How did he escape the death penalty? You mean Florida has a death penalty? How did he escape it? Jury just— that's what the jury's— did the jury give a reason? I didn't realize that. I thought it was not even on the table. No, no, jury. That's fascinating. Some of the grieving families— this is from National Review— some of the grieving families, you know, ads pop up while you're reading and then knocks out what you're reading. Some of the grieving families were deeply unhappy with the ruling. This jury failed our families today, said Fred Guttenberg. A father of one of the victims. 17 families did not receive justice. Let's try to have him on the show. I want him to know how many people agree with him. These, these families will go to bed every night knowing that the person who murdered their child is also in bed that night. Man, here's the beauty. Fred Guttenberg's tax money is going to help support that guy in bed every night. Gina Hoyer, whose 15-year-old son was slain in the rampage, texted, "I am stunned," in caps, upon hearing the jury's decision to not seek the death penalty. Tony Montalto, whose daughter Gina was among the victims, called the decision pretty unreal. The monster that killed them gets to live another day. So those of you opposed to capital punishment, you, you have to think that all these parents are morally inferior to you because you do believe that it is the morally superior position to oppose capital punishment. So all these parents are just vengeful lowlifes in this way. Then you'll say, no, I don't think that. It's understandable because it was their child who was killed. Well, why is it understandable? You think it's immoral. When is immorality understandable? You don't take your own theory seriously, you opponents of capital punishment. You think these people have been deranged morally on this subject because their child died. Well, my child was not killed, and I am as passionate as these parents that this guy be dead. And you think I'm morally inferior for that position, so you have to hold this as a universal. I think your position is morally inferior. But the people who bother me, that secular people will be opposed to the death penalty for murder I expect, but that people who call themselves religious Jews or religious Christians do, it shows you how profoundly secular thought has influenced religious people. You can't get around it, folks. When God creates the world in Genesis, Genesis has almost no laws, but there is one. There was more than one. There are, there are about 7. God creates the world. He says if a person sheds the life, sheds the blood of another person, by man shall his blood be shed, because in the image of God he created man. God is wrong, right? Oh, ye religious Christians and Jews who oppose the death penalty. Hi, Dennis Prager here with some information on a new product that's quite fascinating for staying healthy. CoFix RX. Everybody's been in the situation the person next to you is sniffling or even coughing. Wouldn't it be great if you had a way to minimize airborne viral threats? To reduce your chance of getting hurt, you wear a safety belt when you're driving, and to limit sun damage, you wear sunscreen on the beach. CoFix is just like that. CoFix is a provodone iodine-based antiviral nasal spray that helps keep you protected from airborne viruses. With CoFix RX nasal nasal spray, you'll target colds, flus, and other viruses right where they breed in your nasal cavity. Co-FixRx should be in everyone's pocket, purse, or medicine cabinet. Visit Co-FixRx— that's C-O-F-I-X-R-X—.com for a doctor, pharmacy, or health food retailer near you, or use the coupon code Prager for 20% off at Co-FixRx.com. Hi everybody. Yes, the poor parents, they have to live with the knowledge that their child's murderer is being clothed and fed. And by the way, I don't think that prisons should be Hell, I don't believe in that. My model was the great, the great example, the warden of Angola State Prison in Louisiana, the most murderous prison in America. Prisoners were murdered by other prisoners regularly. It was the worst prison in the United States in terms of violence. A Christian took over as warden and cleaned up the place, became the safest or one of the safest in the country. He had the men— they were almost all men, well, they were all men there— he would have them get degrees in theology. My wife and I went there, we spent the day walking around murderers and felt safer than in downtown Philadelphia. I'm not sure that's saying a lot. Uh, it's a good point. My producer doesn't think that's saying a lot. Mark in Simi Valley, California. Hello.

Yeah, hi. Hello, Dennis. This is a long-time listener, first-time caller.

Great.

Uh, thank you for having me. I, um, I am for the death penalty, but I wanted to ask you, uh, there, um, with when Cain killed his brother Abel, why did God allow him to walk the earth or to live?

Because it wasn't premeditated. No, I see. All right, thank you. Good man. That's the answer. That's an insight I provide in my Bible commentary, The Rational Bible. I try to answer every difficult question. Deuteronomy just came out, the most quoted book except for Psalms by Jesus in the New Testament, the most quoted book by the founders of the United States of America. The Rational Bible. Please get it. Please read it. This is my, my massive project of 10 years to get the 5 volumes out. Okay, let's see. Um, Miami Beach, Florida, and Dennis Prager. Look at that. Dennis Prager. Hi Dennis.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. I really respect you and love your show. Thank you. But I want to say, please take on this perspective compassionately of shame on the people around him, his teachers, especially his adopted parents and others who watched from a distance his cries for help and attention in the form of radical disturbing behavior his entire childhood and neglected to do anything about it, to give him the help and attention he was screaming out for with this behavior. Their negligence and abandonment of the responsibilities as parents and caregivers is most culpable, far more culpable than a mentally ill child who had no choice when his prostitute mother was abusing alcohol and drugs while he was in her womb, depending on her for his life and inflicting long-term brain damage to him and the inability to understand reason, which was compounded by the total lack of abandonment and love and interaction throughout his childhood that would have definitely helped him and made it so that this tragedy never would have happened. Simple as that. Don't you think God would have that kind of compassion? And for all we know, those 17 people are in the most blissfully happy place beyond our imagination now, confused by if they knew why we would be crying for them and saying it's silly and frivolous. Because wait until we see the eternal paradise waiting for us after the minuscule grain of sand of darkness and suffering that all of us, our lives are in retrospect in comparison to after. I think God will not even judge Cruz to hell like he did Cain.

Do you think anybody deserves to be put to death?

In light of the abuse— All right, please stop reading the monologue.

So tell me, do you believe anybody deserves to be put to death for murder? He hung up. That's really remarkable. I hate when people do— I let him speak so long thinking that he wanted to actually— I don't think he believes in capital punishment. So let me explain something. There's a very interesting law. Since I take this Bible very seriously, I take it more seriously than my own instincts. And there is a law that if an ox kills a human being, you put the ox to death. Now, nobody believes that the ox had any choice, had any moral choice. So why is the ox put to death? There is a belief that that which takes human life should not live. It is the only way in which humans can state how awful it is to take a human life, even an ox. Did he have free will? I don't know. If he didn't, I still believe in the death penalty. It makes a statement to society. No matter who takes a human life, if it's done deliberately, then— and even in the case of an ox, I don't even know if you could say deliberately. It's an interesting question. We don't take murder seriously in our society. We don't. Tremendous numbers of people are murdered constantly in the United States, and all that the intellectual elite do is talk about guns. That's it. And even about getting rid of police. Murder is not taken seriously in our secular society. Just for the record. Sexual harassment is taken seriously, but not murder. We'll be back. Most of us know that being online means that everything we do is under constant surveillance, whether it's big tech companies creating detailed profiles of our personal lives or government agencies scanning our emails even when we haven't done anything wrong. Our privacy has never been more at risk. How can we make sure our personal information stays private? The first thing is to switch to a secure email service such as StartMail, which keeps emails safe. Every email can be encrypted or protected with a password, which means no one can read, scan, or sell your private information without your consent. When you delete an email, it's gone forever. Another thing I like about StartMail is that you can generate unlimited disposable email addresses, so I never have to give out my real email anymore. Switching to StartMail is simple. Your emails and contacts are transferred in a few clicks. Sign up with StartMail today and you'll get 50% off your first year. Go to startmail.com/prager. Hi everybody. ACLU files complaint against Pennsylvania. I'm moving on from the death penalty issue because there's so much to report to you. ACLU files complaint against Pennsylvania school district for requiring parental consent for student gender transition. The ACLU is just another leftist, chaos-inducing, society-destroying organization. It is not worthless. It is harmful. It has gone from a time where it took civil liberties seriously to trying to figure out how to stay in business when civil liberties— well, ironically, I was going to say are so insured, but they're not. The left's violation of the civil liberties of conservatives is astonishing. There are people languishing in prison, some in solitary confinement, because they were in the Capitol on January 6th. What happened to a fair and speedy trial guarantee of the Constitution? The ACLU has nothing to say about it. But a Pennsylvania ruling that parents should be informed if their boy says he's a girl at school and wants to go under the name Michelle, that's— that bothers the ACLU. It's a truly scummy organization. As all the left-wing organizations are, liberal organizations don't exist any longer. They're called conservative. Liberal values are protected by conservatives in this country, like free speech, small business, etc., etc. American Civil Liberties Union in Pennsylvania is accusing one of the state's largest school districts of discriminating against gay and transgender students in part because of a proposed policy that would bar teachers from displaying gay pride flags in classrooms and a directive requiring staff members to identify students by their legal name and sex unless parents approve a change. Wait a minute, so it's discrimination against gays if you don't have the the pride flag up in your classroom? Do you get that? Is it discrimination against Americans if you don't have the American flag up in the classroom? Wow. So the very notion that a teacher should be legally allowed to put the gay pride flag, the LGBTQ pride flag, up in a classroom, the very argument shows that the left does not regard the classroom as a place of learning, but as a place of indoctrination. Wow. What a worthless, awful, awful organization the ACLU has become. And parents should not be informed. Schools should not be obligated to inform parents if Michael is now known as Michelle at school, or Michelle is now known as Michael. We're not going to tell the parents. You know why? Parents are a nuisance to every cult. There's no cult that wants parental authority. There is no totalitarian regime that wants parental authority. The left is a cult. The left is totalitarian. It wants to reduce parental authority to zero. In fact, even parental responsibility. We'll, we'll not only teach your kids and thereby be the greatest influencers on them, we will feed your kids too. You have to do basically nothing, just produce them and then hand them over to the state which is run by the left. That's it. Fascist regimes have youth movements, communist regimes have youth movements, and the leftists have youth movements here. The youth movement here is called school. Well, the district has chronically failed to take reasonable and necessary measures to address persistent and severe bullying and harassment of LGBTQ+ students generally and gender non-conforming students in particular. That's nice. So if you don't call Michael Michelle and hide it from the parents, you're a discriminator. The killer is it's a left-wing organization and liberal money supports it. Liberals— forgive them, God, they know not what they do. Illegal drug trafficking has turned our southern border into a war zone, a war that no one wants to talk about So that's why I urge you to see Border Battle, the new 6-part limited documentary series from Turning Point USA that exposes the sheer evil and inhumanity of drug cartels and the illegal drug trade. How the drug fentanyl, the Cartel Jalisco New Generation, and the Sinaloa Cartel have created the worst overdose death crisis in American history. We've never seen this before in the history of our country. Hear directly from Drug and Border Patrol agents about the horrific conditions along the border and what life is really like on the front lines. Watch Border Battle now. Download the full 6-part documentary series at SalemNow.com. Use the promo code Prager to get 20% off. That's SalemNow.com. Don't forget to use the promo code Prager for 20% off. Yet above the mess, remember that there's happiness. An important hour to remind us that no matter in life we find us, the happy make the world a better place. So show some grace and put a smile on your face. If it's some rude dude or maybe Family Feud, it's as plain as the nose upon your face that the happy make the world a better place. Your life has become a wee-a-ha-base. Uh, Justin Ezzie, thank you, sir. I botched it a bit, but otherwise it was a good try. Good try. Hi everybody, it's the Happiness Hour on the Dennis Prager Show, the second hour every Wednesday. Wouldn't it be fascinating if any of these left-wing podcasts had a happiness hour every week? They would sooner be able to learn Mandarin and do the show in Mandarin than talk to people about happiness. There are no happy leftists. There are happy liberals and happy conservatives, but there are no happy leftists. Happiness is the antidote to leftism. It's very dark world, the left. Anyway, this is about happiness, because the happy make the world better. That's just a fact. I have a big, big subject today. Well, I always think I have a big subject on the Happiness Hour or the Ultimate Issues Hour or the Male-Female Hour, I admit it. But nevertheless, it's a big subject. So I'm going to help you pursue happiness by using a different term. Because happiness for many might be too vague. A common question I get and I deal with in the introduction to my book on happiness Happiness Is a Serious Problem is the name of the book, and it has really benefited a lot of people. I suggest that you read it. I don't know why you wouldn't read it if you like the Happiness Hour. So the term that I would use today, or will use today on the Happiness Hour, for what you should seek If happiness is too vague, may I have a drum roll please from our timpanist who has not been called on in quite a while? That's weird. That was not the role that I anticipated, but it was fine. It was fine. Fire him and we'll get somebody else. We should— you think we should fire him? Fire the guy and get somebody better. Wow, he totally missed. The living martyr is tough. He totally missed. It was not what we would want as a drum roll. No. I have compassion for the guy. Okay, all right. Give him one more chance. One more chance, Sean, for the timpanist. He's fired. He's not even listening to me. Forget it. Forget it. Shoot him. Shoot him, Sean. He shouldn't be fired. The guy should be shot. Not killed, just wounded. A lot of dark humor here. All right, ladies and gentlemen, the term is inner peace. Maybe that's more helpful than happiness as the goal for a happier life. Inner peace. Nobody asks, what is inner peace? Everybody asks, what's the definition of happiness, Dennis Prager? But nobody asks, what's the definition of inner peace? Because nobody asked the definition of peace. Right? What's the definition of peace? Everybody knows. The absence of conflict. That's peace. No war, no violence, and no verbal violence, if the term is usable. So that's peace. So what's inner peace? The absence of conflict and tension. Within you. I really can list a lot of the things that influenced my thinking from my childhood. I don't have many memories from childhood, but I have many memories— in other words, memories of events— but I have many memories of my thinking. I, I started thinking pretty early. In 8th grade, we had a class in health. It was called, I think, health ed, health education. I found the class to be profoundly boring, but that's true about most of the classes I attended. A book was assigned to us to read, and I never read the book. So I have a very interesting admission to make to you. I never read the book, but the title changed my life. Did you ever have that? I have had that twice. I'm looking at my producer. You'll find this very interesting, the other example. This title changed my life: Stress Kills. I believed it, and I said, I will try to live as stress-free a life as possible. Eighth grade. Isn't that interesting that a title can change your life? Well, I'll admit, by the way, it's not true for my Bible commentary. You actually have to read it to change your life. Deuteronomy alone, the word, is not going to do it. The contents will do it. Stress kills And I thought, oh man, that makes sense. And I worked on not having stress all of my life. It is no— I have no doubt that that has played a role in my terrific amount of energy. I have the exact same energy I had when I when I was 20 years old. I had an example. I will be in 7 cities in 11 days in the next, uh, starting next week, broadcasting from virtually— well, from, from at least 4 of them. And then I will be taking a 3-day vacation. Have a speech in Vermont. I haven't spoken in Vermont in decades, but what a joy to go to Vermont during autumn. Oh, that, that's— I'm looking forward to that. I really believe that my working on inner peace— so this is This will be a very valuable, maybe invaluable hour to many of you. Call in if you have a question, or call in if you have figured out ways to preserve or promote inner peace. What— so my— I am prepared to live with the inherent tensions of life. Tension is not the same as aggravation. Tension means you're alive. But what was it? What was the title of the book again? Stress. Yeah, stress. So we have stress, aggravation, anxiety, all of these things. They're not synonymous. Stress kills. So the more you, you eat yourself up, and I have seen that in people. I have— I, I don't know for a fact why an individual I'm thinking of died early, and but I, but I do believe it is very possible that this individual ate him or herself up, so driven by angst. And inner turmoil was this person. Inner peace is, is so— when I pray, or 776, there's, there are little things and there are big things. If I were you— well, I'm me and I am you, because in many ways we all have just similar human natures. I would monitor at any given moment what is it that is preventing me from inner peace, and then figure out what can I do to minimize it, or even better, why am I allowing it— ah, that's a biggie— to drive me crazy. Back in a moment. Slap on a happy grin. Can you imagine that? That in a modern song, in a contemporary song, put on a happy face. Oh, would that be dismissed? Hi everybody, Happiness Hour, every Wednesday, second hour, very popular hour of my show. Happiness is so important. I'm talking about inner peace, and I'm thinking that maybe the pursuit of inner peace is a more tangible goal for many of you than the pursuit of happiness. That might be too vague, even though we've spent— what is it now— 23 years talking about happiness. Maybe inner peace is better, because if you have inner peace, that— it's not identical, but let's put it this way: it's hard to be happy and not have inner peace. You might have inner peace and not be particularly happy. I don't know if that's true. I, I have aimed for inner peace tremendously. It's important to note that all of life— and these words are not scientifically definable like oxygen or carbon dioxide— but there's stress, there's aggravation, there's worry, there's concern. There's tension. There's so many words that suggest, if not the same thing, a similar thing. But the— while the book changed my life with its title Stress Kills, there is stress in almost every line of work, and especially some more than others. But these people can still have inner peace. Pressure. Maybe that's a good word— pressure. I live with a lot of pressure. Listen, doing a daily live show is pressure in, in very many ways, including the possibility of saying the wrong thing, especially if you're as outspoken as I am. There's pressure on me to perform. It's pressure on every public person to perform. There's pressure on every athlete to perform, but nobody thinks that there are no athletes or no public figures who have inner peace. And there are people who don't have to perform with any degree of pressure and don't have inner peace. So I was debating whether or not to provide this example because it's so trivial, but I, I think it's legit, so I'll offer it. It may not be legit, but it was something that I adopted early in life. I I did not earn a lot of money much of my life because my life was dedicated to my values, not to financial achievement. And I'm very fortunate that is not the case today. I'm very comfortable, not rich, but I'm very comfortable. But even when I earned very little money I remember that when I would drive up to a meeting, let's say at a hotel, I would have the valet park my car. And I, because I remember thinking it's a lot more convenient, it's a savings of time, it'll cost me $10. There was no time in my life I couldn't afford $10. And I remember thinking— I'm talking about in my 20s— and I remember thinking, it's a, it's a quality of life issue. It, it— I don't have to remember where I parked it. I get the car as soon as I step out of the hotel. I called them QOL, quality of life issues. And Wherever that option was available to make life easier while having to do what I did— and I've always had to perform, it's the nature of my life, I understand that. I had to get the book out, I had to give the speech, I had to do the show. So I live under constant pressure, but I have deep inner peace. Part of inner peace— and it's a very complex subject, I fully acknowledge it, and part of this is just thinking aloud, but I know it's important, so I've decided to devote this hour to inner peace— part of it is being comfortable with yourself, which is another subject. Maybe I should do that another hour, for an hour. What does it mean to be comfortable with yourself? Well, I'll tell you one way to get comfortable with yourself, and I'm not going to spend much time on this, is to respect yourself. Respect yourself is by leading an honorable life. I don't think— well, I'll give you an example. I don't believe that we have the right to judge people who have been unfaithful in their marriage. You— we don't know what the marriage is like. We don't know anything that is going on. And I've always felt this, but whatever your view on infidelity— don't judge, yes, judge— everybody can acknowledge No one having an affair has inner peace. It's a perfect— or not, I don't know, perfect— it's a, it's a very clear illustration. Leading an honorable life in any number of ways is a very big help in having inner peace. You live with yourself better. Telling the truth is a big source of inner peace because, as I pointed out last hour, it's not possible to tell one lie. You protect the first lie with a second lie, you protect the second lie with the third lie. So ironically, or not, drop ironically, so the fact is that doing good, leading a good life, might be a big source of inner peace. I hesitate, but I feel that— I think it's a perfect segue to the fundraising that we're doing here this month for the Alliance Defending Freedom. People who protect religious liberty more than any other single group. I'm telling you, you will increase your inner peace if— when you make a donation to a worthy cause. I— that I promise you. Something good happens inside of you. There's a banner for ADF at my website. I will take your calls when we return. All the odds are in your favor. Play your cards right.

No excuse.

Hi everybody, I'm Dennis Prager. Happiness Hour. Subject is inner peace. Maybe that's a bigger help than just the term happiness. So the question arises, how much can you control your own inner peace? I've offered many suggestions over the course of years, but more in terms of happiness. For example, compartmentalization. I don't know how you can have happiness or inner peace without compartmentalizing your problems when possible, obviously. and it is often possible. Your children, your child is a troubled child. I'm talking about your 30-year-old child or your 20-year-old child, not just a young child. Do you allow that to ruin you, to ruin your life? That's a choice. The whole issue of choice has been a very big one in my whole happiness approach. You have no idea how much you can choose to do. Mind over matter is a real possibility in life, not just in terms of working out and how much weight you'll lift with any given dumbbell or barbell. Okay, I want to hear from you. And let's see. Hmm, got a lot of interesting calls here. Hmm, Natasha in Beverly Hills, California, or Beverly Thrills as I call it. Hi.

Hi, Dennis. Shabbat shalom.

Thank you.

Thank you for having me. I wanted to share something within myself. That I've kind of been dealing with for a long time. Um, you spoke about the inner peace versus the pursuit of happiness, and I have been dealing with a lot of health issues myself, from migraines to ulcers and all of these things where I didn't feel normal every day and not able to help my children with their own issues, and yet let alone be a good wife to my husband. And I've started healing. I've done some alternative medicine, and thank God I'm on my way to feeling much better. And because I'm feeling much better, um, I am able to be a better wife. I'm able to be helpful to my teenagers. They're dealing with a lot of different things these days, unfortunately. And my inner peace comes from feeling well, not getting a headache feeling strong, feeling healthy. Um, hopefully that makes sense to you, but I just wanted to share that because—

well, I have to— I have— yes, that's, that's right. I, I totally get that. Thank you. I want to react to a couple of things. First, I salute you for wanting to be a better wife. How many people hold that as a conscious goal, to be a better wife or a better husband? It's a very big deal. So the question is, do we need to suffer in order to be grateful? She's had ulcers and migraines, but when she doesn't have them, she's— she has all this inner peace. So how many of you are relatively healthy and don't have inner peace? The people who were not healthy and are now healthy have more inner peace than most people who have been consistently healthy. It's a sad question, but a legitimate one. Can we be grateful if we didn't lose something? I, I I must admit, only because I'm using me as an example because I'm the one speaking here, I walk around in staggering oodles of gratitude, even for things including my health, which I have never lost. I don't think you need to lose if your mind directed then you don't need to lose X to be grateful for X. All right, that was a good call. We'll be back. Happiness Hour, inner peace the subject. The Dennis Prager Show.

The King sent out a line of Wayne Gretzky Gretzky along with Luke Robitaille and Dennis Prager. Gretzky wins the faceoff. He gives it to Robitaille. Robitaille gives it to Dennis Prager. Here's Prager to Terry Rice with Gretzky. 2-on-1 break. Gretzky back to Prager. He stumbles and falls.

You know, that was actually the Los Angeles Kings announcer Bob Miller. Enjoy the music, everybody. This is the hour you set the agenda. Hi everybody, this is the hour you set the agenda, whatever's on your mind about you, about me, about life, about death, and needless to say about classical music, audio equipment, photography equipment. Cigars and fountain pens. I got it. I got it. All right. Okay, my friends, don't be offended if I don't take your call. If you're dropped, do not be offended. In keeping with my whole theory of life— well, not whole theory, but a big theory of life— You determine whether to be insulted. Think about that. You determine whether to be hurt and how, how much hurt. If I let you go, it's not personal. First of all, I, I don't, I don't know you, so it can't be personal. For— there could be a dozen reasons why I just didn't want to cover that subject. Maybe I already did a lot of times. Maybe I didn't I want to get another type of subject. Maybe I don't know anything about the subject. Sometimes people call up with a question and I'm thinking, why don't you just Google it? It's, you know, it's an information question rather than an opinion question. All right, anyway, just wanted to make that clear. And now let's go to your calls. Uh, all right, Bradenton, Florida. Larry, hello.

Hello, this is Larry.

How are you? I'm well, thank you.

Earlier this week you said you'd like to speak to a Democrat about the, the invasion by Putin in Ukraine.

And well, well, let me, let me, let me make clear to everybody what I was referring to. That he invaded the Ukraine under two Democrats, Obama and Biden, but not under Trump. That was the subject, right? Okay, right.

So I think first we ought to step back and think about Putin. I think his main objective is to reunify the glory days, as I think many people would call it, when the Soviet Union was in place. But I also think that his other goal is to weaken NATO and ultimately see NATO fall apart. And I think under Trump, Trump was helping him in the destruction of NATO. So I think he found an ally in Trump and therefore said, why do I need to invade Ukraine now when Trump is helping me with one of my objectives, which is to weaken NATO? So he was content to ride that, that out and wait and see what would happen. And then when Biden came in, you know, they met and they had some private conversations. He knows Biden previously, he knows Biden's not gonna weaken NATO. And in fact, Biden started taking steps to reunify NATO and to strengthen NATO, which had been, as we know, weakened under Trump.

So how was NATO weakened under Trump?

Well, I think you can see from Trump's actions, he was constantly bickering with the other leaders of NATO.

Yeah, because they didn't spend enough money on their— he told them you're cheap and you're phonies for not spending what you promised you would spend under NATO rules.

It was an issue with spending, which Obama had raised and had gotten the Europeans— How did he weaken NATO? To increase. The other— we know how he weakened NATO.

How did he weaken NATO? If you can't answer it, nothing you said makes sense. Nothing you said makes sense anyway. So you're telling me— wait, didn't you begin with the idea that he wants to reunify the Soviet Union? Isn't that the major reason for what he believes? Ukraine is part of Russia. NATO schmato. And Ukraine was not part of NATO.

In his way, NATO stands in his way.

No, it doesn't. It doesn't stand in his way because Ukraine is not part of NATO. It doesn't stand in his way in the least.

But, but, but let me explain why. The reason is because when he did invade Ukraine, NATO and the NATO countries have now provided significant assistance to Ukraine, which is hurting Russia and preventing him from succeeding.

So did, so did non-NATO countries. Sweden is a non-NATO country and they have provided arms. Okay, listen, thank you. It's convoluted beyond words. I am happy you called though, because it is so— it's so obvious. Those who hate Trump will say anything, anything. Hatred of Trump is a derangement. I never said it in his 4 years of the presidency. I swear before everything I hold holy, I believe that Trump has deranged tens of millions of Americans' ability to think clearly. It is, it is astonishing. By the way, it's not only the haters. There are some people who so love Trump that they don't think clearly. But the derangement is overwhelmingly among those who hate him. Wow. Ukraine's not part of NATO. Sweden's not part of NATO. They're there, but nevertheless, it's about NATO. No, it's not about NATO. It has nothing to do with NATO. And Trump did not weaken NATO. He tried to strengthen NATO. By having them live up to their own promises of military spending, which they have begun to do because of Trump. That strengthens NATO. I have never seen in my life, and it's a long life at this point, the hatred of a politician so derange people's ability to think clearly or morally. It is astonishing. And it is most particularly true among people who were never Trumpers, so-called conservatives who give the left— who are destroying everything a conservative believes in, giving the left massive victories because they so hate Trump. It is sick. It is sick. It is a derangement. Okay, got that out of my system. I don't understand it either, by the way, to be so preoccupied with a man rather than a cause. There's something wrong with you. Every single Never Trumper, there was something wrong with you. And some of them were close friends of mine. It's very depressing, truly distressing, if not depressing. Wow, God, did he trigger things in people. Screw America. I hate Trump. That's all that matters. I don't care about America nearly as much as I care about hating Trump. That's what the Never Trumper says. That's it. Let the left ruin this country. My agenda is ruining Trump. What a sick, morally sick way of looking at the world. I, and I truly admit I don't understand it. I understand a lot of what I differ with. I don't get that one. This was a perfect example. This, though, I assume this person's a Democrat. He said so. Then I salute you for calling. I intend nothing personal. I'm just saying that, that call is a perfect example of derangement. Ukraine's not in NATO. Sweden's not in NATO. Finland's not in NATO. They all go— well, Sweden and Finland go to the aid of Ukraine, but, uh, and Putin did not invade under Trump, but he did invade under the Democrat before Trump and the Democrat after Trump, but it's Trump's fault. How's that? That's sick. That's so convoluted as to be almost funny. Yep, he only invaded under Democrats, and it's Trump's fault that he did it. Yeah, it's amazing. God, I believe that there are people who believe that if there's an earthquake in Colombia, somehow Trump is at fault. Listen, people are governed by— most people are governed by feelings, not by reason. That's why the Age of Reason has devolved into people who believe that men give birth. Most people think with their feelings, not with their mind. The call was a perfect example. He's a nice guy. I really do suspect he's a nice guy. Certainly the Never Trumper. It's a very big problem. One of the reasons I so adore the Bible, over and over and over it tells you not to rely on your heart. Well, the Age of Reason was a naive Hope. That's what it was. That call was a good example. Back in a moment, The Dennis Prager Show. All right, whatever is on your mind, uh, hour, here we go. And we certainly do run the gamut. Scott in Greenville, South Carolina, hello.

Good afternoon and thank you. Thank you. My concern is I watched 2000 Mules. What's to stop the Dems from doing that again?

Nothing. Hugh Hewitt, who is a moderate Republican, my colleague and friend Hugh Hewitt, wrote a book, oh, at least 10 years ago, If It Isn't Close, They Can't Cheat. The history of the Democratic Party cheating in elections goes back as far as I can recall, whether it was Chicago under Mayor Daley or the John F. Kennedy Illinois vote in the election against Nixon. The Democratic Party, which has basically done far more damage to this country than almost anything else, would cheat. And I don't know why they deny it. They consider the Republicans fascists. They considered Donald Trump a neo-Nazi. I would cheat to keep a Nazi out of the presidency. When you have the motive and the means, most people think you'll use them. They have a motive and they had the means. They have, they have completely ruined Election Day. It's now election month, in some cases election 6 weeks. Why isn't there an Election Day? They have destroyed Election Day. But the media, which are the handmaidens of the Democratic Party, of course say nothing about that. They celebrate it as a wonderful thing that Election Day has been destroyed. That's right, destroyed. It doesn't exist, Election Day. It is just another day in a month of elections. The sending out of ballots Does not— does that not make cheating easier? Tens of millions of ballots through the mail. Do machines not make it easier to cheat than paper ballots? It's very hard to cheat with paper ballots. Why did they change that? How come we don't have election results at night of the election like we did through, through the last, I don't know, 50, 100 years?

Why not?

Because they cheat. That's why. They have the motive, they have the means, and those are pretty powerful things to do. Do I know for a fact that Biden is in office because of cheating? No, I do not. I have said I was agnostic in that sense. But do I believe they cheat? Yeah. Did I believe they cheated enough to make Biden president? I may believe it, but I don't know it. I regard him as the President of the United States, but that's not enough for the left. You have to say there was no cheating, so you have to lie, because it's very hard for any honest human being to say the Democrats didn't cheat in the last election. You're lying to yourself, or you're lying because you don't want to be smeared by the left. But I find it very hard to lie to myself. Okay, thank you for the question. That was my answer. Okay, let's see here. Let's go to religion. Eric in Los Angeles. Hello.

Hi there, Dennis, longtime listener. I am a— I call myself a liberal secular reform Jew. You can conclude all the various things from that. I went to one of your— a few of your Ten Commandments talks about 15 years ago here in LA. And I have to say, for anyone listening, if you're an atheist and you think that religion is nothing but a lot of superstitious nonsense, I have to say your Ten Commandments lectures were riveting. Absolutely, totally riveting. Thank you. So I just, just want to say that for the record. Life-changing, actually. And I say this as someone who's totally Reform and not religious at all. Just, just the wisdom, brilliance of the Ten Commandments as you explain it. So my question for you is, why are the Ten Commandments not the centerpiece of the Passover Seder? Why, why will we have the Seder? Do we not say freedom from slavery, but the essence of this really is all the stuff— and I won't, you know, go into the details— but all the things that you discussed, you know, joining together the ethical and the holy, all that sort of stuff. Why is that not the centerpiece of, of the Seder?

Because the Seder is about the Exodus. It's not about the giving of the Ten Commandments. There's a holiday 7 weeks later called Pentecost or Shavuot, and that is the holiday of getting the Ten Commandments. So that we don't talk— they don't talk about the Exodus on Shavuot, and they don't talk about Ten Commandments, uh, they, uh, on Passover. It's, it's, it's like asking why, why don't they celebrate Washington's birthday on Thanksgiving. It's not the holiday of Washington's birthday.

Hmm. I always thought one of the themes of, uh, of Passover though was the need for law, the need for structure. That's right.

That's why you should observe— that's why you should observe Shavuot. That's— that should be— that should be your New Year's Jewish New Year resolution that you will not only celebrate Passover, but you will Shavuot, the holiday of weeks, or Pentecost. That's good. I appreciate it. By the way, it'll— it does enable me to tell you here, here was a person who, who is not particularly religious and found my Ten Commandments lectures life-changing. So just know that in Deuteronomy I discuss at length the Ten Commandments because they're, they're repeated from Exodus. My Deuteronomy commentary came out this week, The Rational Bible. It's the third volume of my series of five. Deuteronomy is the most quoted book by the founders of this country, more than any other book, secular or religious. Jesus quoted it more than any other book other than the Psalms. That's how rich and important Deuteronomy is. It's called The Rational Bible. If you like this program, you will love that book. We continue with Whatever Is On Your Mind on The Dennis Prager Show. Hey y'all, Dennis Prager here. What's on your mind is good. Go to your calls And Darren in Colorado Springs. Hello, Dennis.

Hey, what an honor to talk to you. Thank you. Um, I can now check something off my bucket list, talk to Dennis on his radio show. Thank you again. Yeah, Dennis, we know that the left manipulates language all the time, and that's what I'm asking. It's not that I want to manipulate language, but actually be truthful in clarifying the issue. That we're basically all religious. So what I want to ask is, and get your thoughts on, is that we stop saying and making the divide secular versus religious and use something like traditionally religious versus secular religious and making that the distinction.

Well, I totally agree with you. I don't know whether it would work to, to use those to use that terminology, but I totally agree with you. Leftism is secular religion. Feminism is a religion. Environmentalism is a religion. Egalitarianism is a religion. Socialism is a religion. Marxism is a religion. That's true. That I've said all of my life. But if I were to say that the battle is between the secularly religious and the traditionally religious, It's an interesting thought. I don't know if it would be effective because people would go, what do you mean? And you, unfortunately, you don't have the time often, or people don't have the patience to know what you mean. However, your point is entirely accurate. Tenafly, New Jersey, and Stan. Hello, hello, Stan. Sounds like we've gotten crickets there. Stan wants to say that vitamin D would have prevented COVID. I don't know if it would have prevented COVID, but it would have entirely— but it would have prevented COVID in large measure. I do believe that vitamin D is a wonder vitamin that people should be taking in large doses. How big a dose? Something you can consult with your doctor or check on the internet what is recommended by people who know better than I. I am a big believer in vitamin D, and your point was well taken. Among the many failures of the medical profession in the last few years has been its reliance on vaccines that are not vaccines. Vaccines rather than on therapeutics. The, uh, the contempt in which hydroxychloroquine with zinc and ivermectin have been held is political, not scientific. The day Donald Trump recommended hydroxychloroquine is the day the medical profession run by the woke— you, there's nothing more left than the American Medical Association, which has actually advocated as doctors that they— that, that children, newborns in the United States should not have sex listed, or gender if you will, on their birth certificates. We can list cows and bulls, we can list dogs, cats, but humans don't have a sex. The American Medical Association. So I, I hold in contempt anything from the AMA, and the organized medical opposition to ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine had nothing to do with science. The corruption of the medical profession is so sad, and it's getting worse with the children's hospitals. And they're pushing mastectomies on girls, castration on boys. That's a medical profession with, of course, some exceptions, is a disgrace to medicine. And this bothers me because I have doctors in my family whom I love. All right, everybody, Sean is an Italianophile, hence the choice here. Final segment, believe it or not. It's hard to believe. Hmm. Well, Let me see here. Too many good— let me summarize some of them. Kevin in Anchorage, Alaska. We need to legalize all drugs. I have flirted with that idea much of my life. If I thought it would work, I would certainly be for it. And all I could say is the legalization of marijuana has simply led to far more usage far more potent marijuana. I don't know exactly what, what we have gained, and I think we have lost a lot. I wish we could talk, maybe, maybe next week, but it's the final segment, so I want to summarize some calls. Also, streets will always make things available that the government would have to catch up on. There are so many synthetic drugs, drugs that are made you know, so to speak, at home, or in labs to be more precise. We're going to make fentanyl, safe fentanyl available to people, meth. It's a very difficult problem. However, I do think it's worth saying to people that if you buy drugs, you're not only ruining your life and the life of those you love, You are leading to the death of innocent Mexicans, which may not mean a damn to you, but it's still worthy of your knowing. Jane in Arkansas says Trump should have DeSantis as vice president. I think it'd be a very powerful ticket. Again, I only have one question, and the question is not how much do I love Donald Trump I thought he was a magnificent president. Magnificent. All I want to do is defeat the left. I don't know if people quite understand the damage the left is doing. You can't allow your love or hatred of Trump to determine whom you will support in the next election. You must determine or ask one question: how do we defeat the loathsome Democratic Party? There is no other important question in politics in the United States in the year 2022. Please pick up my latest volume of my Rational Bible. Came out this week. It's Deuteronomy. The Rational Bible is now 3 volumes. Williams. It's my life's work in these past 10 years. I wish you a wonderful weekend. 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 Prager Utopia. You'll also get access to 15 years' worth of archives. As well as the Daily Show prep. Subscribe at prageropia.com.