The Dennis Prager Show LIVE

to Australia to talk with Rita Panahi. Rita is a newspaper columnist and a television host on Australia's Sky News. I've been a guest a number of times on Rita's television show, so we are turning about today and Rita is the guest. Rita, thanks for being on the program.

Pleasure to be with you. It's, uh, 2 AM here in Melbourne, so Excuse me if I'm a little bit incoherent in this early hour.

Well, thanks especially for being on the show since it's the middle of the night in Australia. Rita, I always thought that Australians were a freedom-loving people, but apparently not. You have one of the most extreme COVID shutdowns of any place in the world. Tell our listeners what's going on there.

It is pretty wild, and for those of us who haven't been supportive of the COVID craziness, it's been quite an eye-opening experience to see just how far the country has gone. But we closed our international borders March 2020. They've never reopened. So even Australian citizens who want to return back to Australia from overseas or even if you want to leave the country, you're not allowed. You have to seek permission, and permission is typically denied. So that basic freedom has been gone. And then we've got internal state border closures, so people can't cross the border to see their family or take care of business. Melbourne is under a curfew. So right now we have a 9 PM curfew and very strict stay-at-home orders. So Melbourne will be the most locked-down city in the world. Quite extraordinary given we're an island nation with closed international borders. And yet up until recently, our state premier was pursuing COVID zero. They were seeking to eradicate the virus effectively, which is just an insane proposition. You can't eliminate a coronavirus, certainly not if you want to be part of the wider world. We've, uh, it's been a fairly grim period. There's been, in my opinion, just terrible police overreach in enforcing these strict orders. People, uh, protests are banned, so anyone who protests is very heavily dealt with by the police, very heavy fines over $5,000, but also As you've probably seen footage in the past week, police using pepperball rounds and capsicum spray, pepper spray, being very heavy-handed in crushing that dissent. And it's just created scenes I never thought I would see in Australia. It's been quite sad.

Well, it's extraordinary, Rita. One of my daughters lived in Melbourne for a couple of years, my wife and I. Spent a couple of weeks visiting her and her husband there a few years ago. Melbourne is a wonderful city, and I just can't even imagine the idea of that city being locked down and basically under martial law. You've got a terrific Twitter feed, Rita, and you put up a video a couple of days ago of a guy handcuffed and wrestled to the ground by the police there in Melbourne. Tell our listeners about that.

Yeah, that was one of the— you see these videos sadly semi-regularly. They don't seem to be one-offs. There's just too many of them. And in this particular one, young man and a woman, the footage shows the man pushed to the ground by a group of police putting handcuffs and All because, according to what you hear the police saying on the tape, is that they're saying, well, he's not entitled to be where he was and he wasn't wearing a mask. But as he tries to explain, he was only a few hundred meters, a block or so from his home, and he was in the public park having a cigarette, his friend who was having lunch. So she has the kebab in her hand, which you can see in the video, and she's showing them, saying, 'What are you talking about? We've gone to get lunch.' He's got his mask off in his pocket because he's having a cigarette for a second, and there's just this complete insane overreach. This wasn't even in the heat of a protest or this was in a park, so the police response, the complete overreaction, the use of fines, very heavy fines which can be crippling for people who haven't worked for a long time, it is, I think, undermined public faith in the police. I really think it's impacted how many people perceive the police. Still overwhelming support for a lot of these conditions, though the tide is turning. I think overwhelming support may be overstating it now. Certainly earlier there was overwhelming support, but now I think people are just so fatigued and so fed up that the public support for these measures has reduced, but it's still there. There's still a significant amount of support for these harsh measures and responses because people are scared silly. There has just been relentless scaremongering and alarmist coverage, and people have been scared silly, and just everything becomes in their mind justifiable. The means justify the end. This crackdown on protesters makes sense to them, or throwing a man to the ground and putting him in handcuffs because he's removed his mask to have a cigarette. It makes sense to some of these people because when you're that scared, you can justify anything. It really is a sad state of affairs, and I think our media has some culpability in what's happening here because the coverage, as you probably have in segments of your media as well in the US, has just been relentlessly scaremongering and alarmist, and it's led people to completely overstate the risks. Of course, this virus is very much real and dangerous, but the polling, as you've seen in the US, when you ask people, you know, what are your chances of going to hospital if you have COVID, or what are your chances, what percentage chance do you have of dying if you have COVID, those risks are overstated by a significant factor by a lot of people, which shows there's widespread ignorance about the reality of this virus.

Well, we see that here in the United States too. I saw a poll quite early on in the COVID era where people were asked, what percentage of the population of the United States do you believe has died from COVID And I think the median answer was 10%, which is just ridiculous. And in the meantime, as you say, this fearmongering has cause people to succumb to measures that I never could have imagined. You know, Ben Shapiro, you retweeted this, but Ben Shapiro commented on your tweet with the video of the guy being wrestled to the ground by the police in Melbourne. Ben Shapiro said Australia was originally planned as a penal colony and is now apparently returning to that plan.

Yes, there has I've read that commentary certainly, people overseas are bewildered. And again, from being someone who's been steadfastly against these measures throughout, it has felt very strange seeing your fellow countrymen who are normally measured and sane justifying things that you would say I think they would never justify. So it's been almost heartening to see the reaction from overseas, even though I don't like to see the country that I love and I live in be mocked or be so heavily criticised. But it is always good to say, okay, thankfully other people can see just how crazy this is and how it's not proportionate, it's not healthy. And like I said, the tide is turning. I think that it's taken a long time, but people are finally questioning the entire worth of the lockdown strategy.

Well, I sure hope so, Rita. We're up against a break here, but we are going to be back with more from Rita Panahi after these messages. Hey, Sean.

I grew up po', which is even worse than being poor. We would have sandwiches with no meat. My American dream entailed working hard and making $20,000 a year, but I surpassed that goal and became a corporate CEO.

We'll all be able to say, free at last! Free at last!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Judge Thomas, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I was under constant attack You're not really black because you're not doing what we expect black people to do. This is the wrong black guy. He has to be destroyed.

So you'd still like to serve on the Supreme Court?

I'd rather die than withdraw from the process.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Trending now on the Mike Gallagher Show.

Any teacher who's taping masks to 9-year-olds' heads should be fired immediately. I mean, that's not— I'm not going out on a limb here to say that. Do you disagree with that? Now, the lunatics who are so mask and vaccine crazed who are freaking out about 100,000 people in a college football stadium, I'll bet they think that's okay. Well, the 9-year-old doesn't have his mask on, you got to tape it to his head. Now tape it to— tape the mask around it so it stays over his mouth and his nose. Not only should the teacher lose her job, she should be arrested. That's assault.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube and at rumble.com.

Man, I miss my father, and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of us were miserable. We had no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced Black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery.

They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

This is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share ideas ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the few things we have no precedent for in the United States.

You have the right to remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Tesla was a genius.

His most amazing discoveries thought to be written in a lost journal. Now, in the right hands, it could revolutionize the 21st century.

You can stop an earthquake, doesn't that mean you could start one too?

That's why that notebook should never fall into the wrong hands.

Shall we stop this thing? Save the universe!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Trending now on the Mike Gallagher Show.

Let me tell you a story about a woman named Lorie Smith. She owns a web design business in the Denver area called 303 Creative, where she creates beautiful custom websites for her clients. Back in 2016, attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on Lorie's behalf, challenging a Colorado law that would force her to design websites promoting messages that violate her religious beliefs. To make matters worse, that same law now prevents Laurie from, on her own website, expressing her religious reasons for only creating websites that celebrate certain messages and ideas. So the question remains: do creative professionals have the freedom to decide which messages they celebrate through their art? So Alliance Defending Freedom has just filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear Laurie's case. And ADF has won 13 victories at the Supreme Court since 2011. But as ADF's Matt Sharp tells us, our help is needed because the next challenge to religious freedom could be right around the corner.

One day it may be your grandmother or your kids next door.

You wanting to operate consistent with your faith, and maybe your kids' religious school comes under attack for wanting to teach kids the biblical values that you hold so dear. ADF is always there to stand with people to make sure that their rights are not trampled, that their freedom is always protected, both locally, statewide, and ultimately at the US Supreme Court.

ADF does all its work pro bono, for free, for clients like Lori. But they need our help to cover the costs of defending our freedoms. Please go to Dennis's website at DennisPrager.com, click on the Alliance Defending Freedom banner, and consider a $100 donation to the Freedom Fund. Or you can phone your gift in any amount to 855-649-2020. That's 855-649-2020 to join all of us at the Dennis Prager Show in supporting Alliance Defending Freedom. Well, we are back now with Rita Panahi, who is in Australia, and we've been talking about the draconian COVID shutdown that Australia has been living through. Rita, one thing that I've never understood, particularly about Australia, you guys have got a very strict means of keeping illegal immigrants out of your country, and I feel like your government thinks it can do the same thing with the virus. But, but obviously I don't see how that's possible. Are people starting to realize that you just can't shut down forever?

Well, the state where I live, Victoria, which is home to Melbourne, will be the longest, the capital that's been locked down for the longest. That state leader has finally, finally acknowledged that COVID zero is not possible and has walked away from, from that elimination strategy. But we still have states like Western Australia where they do think they can remain COVID zero. They can remain COVID-free and be this isolated hermit nation by themselves. So they've closed their borders to the rest of the country, and of course their borders are closed to the rest of the world. But you can only have COVID zero if you are completely isolated forever. That means you can't have families cross the border to see each other, you can't have any international tourism, You can't participate like an advanced city would with the world. And so yeah, there are still parts of the country where COVID zero is the goal, which this deep into this pandemic is utterly, utterly insane. But this is where we are. But the rest of the more populous parts of Australia. So we've got Sydney, which is still under lockdown, but with a plan to reopen gradually starting October 11th. Melbourne's going to remain locked down much longer than that. So there is a plan to gradually reopen the country, but I think people still don't realize no international tourist is going to come to Australia if you're going to make them do 2 weeks of hotel quarantine at their own expense, being locked up in a single room for 2 weeks, paying $3,000 for the pleasure. That's just not going to happen. So the country will eventually come to the realization that's not feasible long term. No, no tourist is going to do that when they can just travel to another part of the world and enjoy their holiday without enduring 2 weeks of hotel prison.

Well, it's ridiculous, and obviously they can't keep it up forever. And you mentioned earlier, Rita, that the police have been cracking down harshly on anti-lockdown demonstrators. And there's an audio clip that I've heard that's gone viral of a conversation between a demonstrator and a police officer who says, "I actually agree with you, but I'm getting paid to be a policeman." But, but at some point, people just won't stand for it, will they? I mean, are, are people really willing to just keep going along with this?

Well, the penalties for taking a stand are so severe, John. That's part of the issue. So when they crush these protests, they crush them really severely, not just with the pepper spray and the batons and the arrests. But with really hefty fines. We're talking over $5,000. So, and these normal law-abiding people who are not in the habit of taking to the streets, they just are too frightened, I think. I think there's a lot of people who I hear from saying, I've never protested in my life, I want to protest over these, but I, I don't want to be fined $5,000. I don't want to be arrested. And I also don't want to be maligned by the media because the media has been representing any protest, any anti-lockdown sentiment, anti-vaccine passport sentiment, as some crazy anti-vaxxer uprising, which really I think has deliberately misrepresented the protests and the protesters and demonised them. And again, I think people don't want to be associated with that either. They don't want to be attacked by the media and be identified. But there is that climate of fear here. It's really unfortunate. And I think, as you know, with Australians, they're is naturally normally very laid back, and the average person is not the type to take to the streets and protest. But there are certainly growing numbers of people who are really upset and, and are broken, have lost hope. It's been 18 months of really difficult—

um, I, I gotta say, I really I hope that the protests, that the resistance takes off here. I didn't think that Australians could be frightened into submission so easily, and it's been kind of disheartening to see. Rita Panahi, thank you so much for being on the program. Really appreciate it. We're going to go to some messages now.

The Dennis Prager Show, live from the Relief Factor Pain Free Studio.

Don't you get tired of commercials screaming at you to buy gold now with inflated promises on future values? In an unregulated industry, you need honest, real experts to give you solid advice to protect your wealth and top picks on the best coins and bullion based on real-time data and historical trends. For example, as environmental policy becomes a hot topic, One precious metal that's been significantly undervalued for years is potentially set to surge. Nick Grovich, owner of AmFed Coin and Bullion, has long recommended this precious metal. Up to 600,000 ounces of this rare metal will be needed by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. Nick is doubling down on this pick, and you should too. Call Nick at AmFed Coin and Bullion to find out more. I've been friends with Nick for years, and he's my go-to guy when it comes to coins and bullion. I trust him. He is a good and very knowledgeable man. Call Nick at 800-221-7694. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com. Not one mistake.

Turning now on the Charlie Kirk Show.

Israel is getting ready for their fourth jab. Now, some people— this is how dishonest the media is— they say, well, Israel in the last couple of days, they've seen their rates go down. Now, why do you think that COVID rates would be going down in Israel the last couple of days? Anybody? Is it because the vaccine, masks, No, it's because the high holidays, OK, people are staying at home and they're not going out and they're not working and they're not congregating. So they've locked down the country through basically pseudo-religious mandate. Israel and Sweden, if you look at the 7-day rolling average of new cases per 100,000, Sweden on this chart that has been published is right around 10%. Israel has far exceeded 100%. And in fact, there are more cases right now happening in America and the Western world than there were a year ago. And a very basic question should be, is the vaccine helping or is it hurting? What's the answer to that question? Why is it that rates keep on going up the more vaccinated we are? Well, Israel is the only country in the world that gives the third vaccination to everyone At ages 12+, a COVID passport is required for 12+. And by the way, let me just say, I'm a very— I'm a lover of Israel and Jerusalem. I don't know if I'm ever going back to Israel. I don't. I said this to one of my friends the other day who runs a great project there. He said, oh, you'll be coming back. I said, I don't know if I'll be welcome in Israel because I'm not getting vaccinated and I'm not doing any of this stuff. Numerous blockades throughout Israel and mask mandates. Where Sweden has no booster shots, no COVID passports, no lockdowns, and no masks.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube today.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Tesla was a genius.

His most amazing discoveries thought to be written in a lost journal.

Now, in the right hands, it could revolutionize the 21st You can stop an earthquake. Doesn't that mean you could start one too?

That's why that notebook should never fall into the wrong hands.

Shall we stop this thing? Save the universe!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Prager from Powerline filling in for Dennis today, and we are joined now by John Andrasik. You probably know John as Five for Fighting, under which name he has been a staple on the musical charts for a number of years now. John, thanks for being on the program.

John, thanks for having me.

You know, John, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this to you before, but I've been listening to Five for Fighting for years and I never really thought about the name. And it just dawned on me one day that, that the band, which is basically you, is named after the hockey penalty, 5 minutes for fighting.

Well, LA Kings fans, uh, in my hometown will, uh, will I certainly be appreciative of you mentioning that, my favorite team, that we waited so long for our two Stanley Cups. But yeah, I'm a huge hockey fan, and the name came about because back in the day the male singer-songwriter was dead and the label said nobody can pronounce her name, which they're right, and they said come up with a band name. And there was a hockey player named Marty McSorley who was Wayne Gretzky's bodyguard when he got in a fight at a hockey game. And I went to the studio that night and I sarcastically said, how about Five for Fighting? And they're like, we love it. And I said, you guys are nuts. It sounds like we should be opening for Metallica. But here we are 20 years later, John, Fight for Fighting, and Go Kings Go.

So John, I want to talk about your new song, Blood on My Hands, and then later on in the segment we'll play some of that song. But the song Blood on My Hands is about our withdrawal from Afghanistan. Tell our listeners, John, the story behind that song.

You know, I think like all of us, when the initial images came out of Afghanistan with mothers handing their babies over walls and people falling from planes, we were all kind of horrified. It kind of took me back to 9/11, some of those horrifying images. I had no intention of writing a song. And then when our 13 soldiers were killed and the 100 Afghans, I was very angry. I thought that was preventable. Didn't need to happen. So like many songwriters, I just, you know, I went up to my piano and started banging on it, again, not really intending to write a song, just wanting to kind of release my frustration. The song really took form about a week later after we had left Afghanistan, and I got a call from a friend. I hadn't talked to her in a while. She does a lot of humanitarian work around the world, and she said, "Hey, I need a contact." And I said, "Sure." What's going on? And she says, well, I'm organizing rescues of AMCs from Afghanistan. And me being kind of this naive singer dude, I'm like, what's an AMC? And she said, American citizen. And there was silence on the line. And, and I finally said, you're telling me you're risking your life to go rescue American citizens that our government left behind? And she started choking up. And that night I started writing this song and it finished itself when President Biden gave his extraordinary success speech, which I think most of us found rather overwhelming. But even at that time, I had hoped that our generals, who I'd always considered the adults in the room, would come out and clarify that and tell us what was really happening. And when Milley and Austin came out and kind of echoed the same extraordinary success, what a great airlift, I was scared. I was scared for not just Afghanistan, but for the next crisis. And the lines about, you know, Milley and Blinken and Austin and their lack of honor and accountability wrote themselves and recorded the next day and put it out.

Yeah, John, it's a hard-hitting song. You name names, take numbers, and the song asks for accountability. But it's not a political song, really, is it?

It's really not. It's a moral song. You know, the moral message of no man left behind. Our promise matters. Accountability matters. And, you know, it's unfortunate that we live in this world where everything is political. And of course the song's been kind of embraced by one side and disdained by the left, but it's not a political song. I think in our guts we all know the tragedy, the great shame, the generational shame what Afghanistan is, and it's not going away. I had a show last night in Annapolis, and I haven't been kind of meeting with the audience because of COVID but this show, the stage is kind of in the middle of the room. And as I was walking out, there was 4 or 5 veterans, and I played Blood on My Hands last, and a couple were Afghan vets. And one of them in particular walked up to me. He couldn't even talk. He was so angry. He was so ashamed. He tried to like say thank you for speaking my heart, but he just was crying and we just hugged each other and cried. And I'm finding that sentiment, especially with our veterans who are so angry that there's no accountability and so ashamed that the folks that maybe saved their lives—

Hey, John, we got to run to a break, but when we come back, we're going to play Blood on My Hands. We'll be right back after this.

The Dennis Prager Show, live from the Relief Factor Pain-Free Studio.

I grew up Pope, which is even worse than being poor. We would have sandwiches with no meat. My American dream entailed working hard and making $20,000 a year, but I surpassed that goal and became a corporate CEO.

We'll all be able to say, free at last! Free at last!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Judge Thomas, you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I do.

I was under constant attack. You're not really black because you're not doing what we expect black people to do. This is the wrong black guy. He has to be destroyed.

So you'd still like to serve on the Supreme Court?

I'd rather die than withdraw from the process.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Trending now on the Mike Gallagher Show.

Any teacher who's taping masks to 9-year-olds' heads should be fired immediately.

I mean, that's not—

I'm not going out on a limb here to say that. Do you disagree with that? Now, the lunatics who are so mask and vaccine crazed who are freaking out about 100,000 people in a college football stadium. I'll bet they think that's okay. Well, the 9-year-old doesn't have his mask on, you got to tape it to his head. Now tape it to— tape the mask around it so it stays over his mouth and his nose. Not only should the teacher lose her job, she should be arrested. That's assault.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube and at rumble.com.

Man, I miss my father, and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of us were miserable. We had no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

This is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the few things we have no precedent and 4 in the United States.

You have the right to remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Tesla was a genius.

His most amazing discoveries thought to be written in a lost journal. Now, in the right hands, it could revolutionize the 21st century.

You can stop an earthquake. Doesn't that mean you could start one too?

That's why that notebook should never fall into the wrong hands.

Shall we stop this thing? Save the universe!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Welcome back to the Dennis Prager Show. I'm John Hinderacher from Powerline, filling in for Dennis today, and we are talking with John Andrazik, known as Five for Fighting, about his brand new song Blood on My Hands, which is a hard-hitting response to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. And John, by the way, you might be interested to know that at this At this very moment, the Senate Armed Services Committee is holding a hearing at which Generals Milley and Austin are testifying, and I hope being asked some tough questions.

You know, I'll tell you, I had the most surreal experience of my life this morning. One repercussion of the song is I've been asked to help with some evacs. I got a call this morning from a friend who had two American citizens literally on the border, couldn't get them out. Since she needed some help from Congress, from literally texting senators who are in the hearing about this situation, who are helping me get these people out while watching General Austin say, well, we didn't really leave them behind, they're there, or whoever wanted to get out could get out. And literally, I have a picture of two American citizens trying to get out as we speak on my computer. It was surreal.

It's unbelievable. So we've been talking about your song Blood on My Hands. Let's play it now. Let's play about the first minute and a half of the song so our audience can get a feel for it.

What's happening? There's blood on these hands. And still Americans left to the Taliban. Now how's that happening? Winking, blinking, can't you look me in the eyes? Willie, Willie, tell me, when did you decide this, we'll defend. Your sacred motto now means never mind. Hands got blood on my hands. Got blood on my hands. Flag of the Taliban.

So that is John Androsik's brand new song, Blood on My Hands, and it is a hard-hitting response to the manner in which our withdrawal from Afghanistan has been conducted. John, what is the response to the song been?

It's been kind of Surreal. I've gotten thousands of emails from folks across the political spectrum, and they all kind of say the same thing, like, thanks for saying what I'm feeling. You know, this is a song that will never have a spin on the radio, a song that's been shunned by the mainstream media, of course. But yeah, the response has been overwhelming and particularly poignant with veterans, especially Afghan vets, as I mentioned in the prior segment, who are just feeling the shame and anger that there's been no accountability. And as you said, watching the hearing now, it's just surreal to watch that they're still trying to double speak their way out of this. But, um, and we'll see. The song's only been out for a week, and, uh, we'll see where it goes.

Well, as you say, John, it's not going to get radio play, but I believe it's already gotten, what, more than 300,000 views on YouTube?

Yeah, I mean, it's, it's a grassroots phenomenon, which is kind of cool. I mean, that's the only way to spread it, by people sharing it and watching it and passing it on to their friends that may share a similar worldview. And it's, it's very rock and roll, that kind of way to create music. I've usually been on the other side, but no, people are responding. When people see it at the shows every night, more phones are coming out. I'm getting more— I'm getting calls from people I've never met, many on the left actually, who are supporting a lot of these evacs that are saying thank you for saying this. So I wish there were more songwriters writing songs like this right now, and hopefully this will inspire some more.

So if our listeners want to, you know, download your song, want to listen to your song, where should they go?

Well, the song's on all the platforms, you know, it's on Spotify and Apple Music. You just Google Five for Fighting, Blood on My Hands, and There's the YouTube lyric video I think would be great to share. And also just tweeted today, I tweeted last night's performance in Annapolis. And if folks want to see that, you know, you can go onto my Twitter. And, you know, sharing the performances and the responses, I think that's really the way to get it out. And it's important for me that veterans hear this song because I think they feel alone and unheard. And this is just one way for them to let them know that we have them in our hearts. It's not their fault, and we're thinking of them, and we feel, we feel the same. And frankly, I think 80% of the nation agrees with the sentiments of the song.

We're talking with John Andrazik. John, we've just got a little over a minute left, but you've never really been a political guy, I don't think, but you are a longtime patriot and a longtime supporter, particularly of of our troops. What's it like? Is it hard for you to be in the music industry and not be a woke musician?

I mean, it's kind of a lonely space, but I don't really care. I've never been a guy who, like, needs to go to the party. And you're right, John, it's a moral message. If Donald Trump were president and we were in the situation, I would write the same song, only the names would change, and I'd probably be embraced a little more from our friends on the left in the media. But to me, this is so much bigger than a guy and a songwriter. This is a national shame. It's going to carry on for, for decades. And it's the job of artists to speak their heart, and that's all I'm trying to do.

John Droszek, thank you so much for being with us. And to all of our listeners, Blood on My Hands is the name of the song. You can find it, as John says, on all of the platforms. I'm John Hinderacher from Powerline, and And we will be right back.

Man, I miss my father, and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of us were miserable. We had no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced Black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery.

They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

This is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the few things we have no precedent for in the United States.

Remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Don't you get tired of commercials screaming at you to buy gold now with inflated promises on future values? In an unregulated industry, you need honest, real experts to give you solid advice to protect your wealth and top picks on the best coins and bullion based on real-time data and historical trends. For example, as environmental policy becomes a hot topic, one precious metal that's been significantly undervalued for years is potentially set to surge. Nick Grovich, owner of AMFED Coin and Bullion, has long recommended this precious metal. Up to 600,000 ounces of this rare metal will be needed by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. Nick is doubling down on this pick, and you should too. Call Nick at AmFed Coin and Bullion to find out more. I've been friends with Nick for years, and he's my go-to guy when it comes to coins and bullion. I trust him. He is a good and very knowledgeable man. Call Nick at 800-221-7694. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com. Not one mistake.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced Black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery.

They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Welcome back to the Dennis Prager Show. I'm John Hinderacher from Powerline, filling in for Dennis today. We've got a couple of callers who have been holding patiently. We've got a short segment here. So let's see what they've got to say. Let's go to Steve in Middletown, New York. Steve, you're on the air.

Hi, John.

Great to speak to you.

Yeah, fire away.

I wanted to introduce to you what I think is the number one story unrecognized of the Biden administration that's going to be determinative of pretty much everything that's going to happen going forward. Uh, you're familiar of course with the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill. Yeah, I assume you're also familiar with the scariest feature of that bill, which is a vast expansion of the IRS, a doubling of the number of agents, and a nearly $80 billion budget increase for the IRS. Those two things, the immense reconciliation bill which has all of its own problems, and this $80 billion increase with a doubling of the number of agents, is not the real story. It's not even the real story that these agents are now going to be able, through this bill, to go into every single American's bank account and the bank accounts of every American business and retrieve every transaction of $600 or more. That's a PayPal income or PayPal expenditure, it's a bank income or bank expenditure. And all of that is coming through this bill, and a few people have recognized that and noted it. But even that is kind of a misdirection play. The real significance is, if you think back to what happened during the Obama administration and the misuse of the IRS. This is the IRS on steroids, and they are going to be going after and have direct access into the bank accounts of every single conservative. And they are on a mission to determine that every conservative is a terrorist. And now, for the first time, they will have access, direct access, every year Whoops, did we lose Steve there?

Yeah, I guess we just lost Steve. Well, let me just follow up on that a little bit. I mean, looking on the bright side, if they double the size of the IRS, maybe they can go after Joe Biden for that half million dollars he owes. But yeah, there's a lot of scary stuff in the bills these Democrats are trying to push through. And it's not only the money. It's bad enough to to spend $3.5 trillion, but that isn't the worst of it. They're actually funding a lot of bad stuff with that money. So we're gonna run to a break, and when we come back, we'll be joined by Dinesh D'Souza.

Streaming on Salem Now.

The public would be outraged They knew the truth.

Why do you think our politicians are not on the sidewalk right now talking to you? Don't have no respect. The old wall randomly turns into a guardrail followed by miles of open border. Human trafficking. That journey is extremely dangerous. The 7-year-old girl died in the desert from the country of India.

A great pillar of the community was killed by a man who had been deported at least twice.

This little urn contains the ashes of my son. His dreams cut short forever.

We're so worried about other countries' problems and we don't even focus on our own.

Look for Salem now in the App Store.

Or go to SalemNow.com. Streaming on Salem Now.

There's about 57 Muslim states in the world. There's one Jewish state. The massive ingathering of Jews in the last 150 years back to the land is absolutely unprecedented.

They say that there's no greater sign of redemption coming than the Jewish people returning to the hills of Judea.

As a Christian, I I've always supported Israel's claim to the Holy Land. To me, the Palestinians were just getting in the way of God's plan. 300,000 Palestinians are unemployed. In spite of all the years of conflict, there's hope here if you know where to look for it.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

We understand that a plane has crashed.

The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

The biggest and most costly manhunt in US history. United States killed Osama bin Laden. There are reports surfacing that Al Qaeda has placed a $50,000 US bounty on the heads of any US Navy SEALs.

Nobody's gonna survive that.

There's nobody in that.

This is the single largest loss of life in Afghanistan in a single incident.

Most of them are US Navy SEALs.

We discovered bullets in the bodies of the Navy SEALs. The military threw them away.

More likely than not, that supports a shootout on board.

Anybody out there? We have a fallen angel.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

This is a story of how a million children were placed with local foster families. Parents from all walks of life share their stories of overcoming the one-child policy by taking in orphans. At a time where there's so much negativity and cynicism, here's proof that a single leap of faith can change the world.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

The only time you can come to Christ when the Spirit of God—

You ever thought of going to seminary? Billy Graham. Look for Salem now in the App Store or go Go to SalemNow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

I grew up poor, which is even worse than being poor. Our lunch consisted of whatever, whatever my mother could scrape together from the dinner the night before. We would have sandwiches with no meat. My American dream entailed working hard and making $20,000 a year, but I surpassed that goal and became a corporate CEO. Put in an economic growth plan called 999.

We'll all be able to say free at last, free at last.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Man, I miss my father, and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of us were miserable. We had no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced Black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery. There is a whole big cottage industry for racism. If racism went away, a lot of people would be unemployed.

The mob during the Minneapolis riots following the death of George Floyd, a bunch of white thugs, frankly, burning down the city's traditional Black and Asian businesses.

They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Oh, a big shot!

You're out of your mind if you think this family can pick you up every time fall.

Boy, Dylan Wright came in this morning. He wants to fight you. This is your opportunity to get back on your feet. You got to know who it is you're fighting for. That's the fight, Bo.

I can't believe I'm saying it, that Bo Lawson can go 10 years without a competitive fight, and here he is going toe-to-toe with the world champion.

No one expected this out of him.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

And we are joined now by Dinesh D'Souza. Dinesh, thanks for being on the program.

John, it's always a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Dinesh, you are appearing in a series of, of 5 Prager University videos on the American founding that have just been released this week. Uh, can you tell us the story behind those videos?

Yeah, I was approached by PragerU, and of course I've done probably 3 or 4 videos over the years for PragerU. My wife Debbie has done a couple of videos on her native country of Venezuela, and we're just amazed at the kind of reach that the videos have. And so Alan Estrin, Dennis Prager's producer, and also very involved with PragerU, came to me with the idea of doing 5 interconnected videos on the kind of philosophical statesmanship of the American founding. He said, you know, we've gotten— our understanding of this has become so dim and so little of this is taught in the schools these days that even though we're constrained by this kind of 5-minute format— and of course that's what I was pulling my hair out about. I was like, wow, you want me to do like Jefferson in 5 minutes? And so So the solution I came up with was to take each founder, each of the leading founders, and attach them to the one issue that was most important to them. So I essentially do Jefferson and equality, and Hamilton and capitalism, and Madison and rights, John Adams and virtue, and finally Ben Franklin and what I call the self-made man. So these are the 5 videos. Now, interestingly, I decided not to do George Washington, who of course was the military hero of the revolution, but I think contributed less in terms of the ideas of it. And that's, that's the reason for the 5 choices that I made.

So, Dinesh, you are the onscreen person, the onscreen narrator of all 5 of these videos. Did you write them as well, or is that a collaborative effort? How does it work?

No.

So the way PragerU works is that you You know, I sit down and I write a draft, and then I send it in. And then PragerU has its own kind of magical style because they— I mean, admittedly, the drafts I sent in were probably 8 to 9 minutes. I just had no way to bring them down to 5. But Alan then brings his kind of editorial judgment to bear on it, and we end up with a 5-minute draft that is obviously based on my original script, but it's one that fits the Prager format, and of course both of us sign on to that. And then we do, we record it in the studio. Prager then adds all its trademark animation and art, and the result is really an amazing product because in 5 minutes you get a sense not only of the ideas but of the kind of personality and the genius of these men, and you begin to feel a sense of what the country would be if their influence influence were somehow subtracted or removed.

Now, Dinesh, a couple of minutes ago you did kind of walk through the list, or tick off the list of these 5 videos, but let's go through it again and just take a little bit more time to talk about each of the videos. Let's start with Benjamin Franklin and the Self-Made Man. What's that all about?

So the idea here is that Franklin, you know, he's well known as a sort of Renaissance He was a philanthropist. He was a printer. So he was an entrepreneur. He was a diplomat. He was an inventor. And yet, you know, when you think about it, and I argue this, is that his greatest invention was self-invention. Was to create in America a kind of new type of person who is resourceful, independent, not really an individualist in the sense that we think of someone who's removed from society. Franklin was kind of fully plumbed into society, very active. He starts a firefighting department. He starts raising subscriptions for a public, you know, for a library. So this is a guy who is not only individually minded but civic minded. And I think this idea of self-invention, of each person being the architect of their own own destiny. Very powerful American idea, um, and Americans even today, I think, identify with that idea.

I think that's exactly right. Now, the second one is John Adams and virtue. We don't talk much about virtue these days, do we? What's that video about?

Well, ironically, today when we think of virtue, and let's look for a moment just at the right and at the left. From the right, when we typically hear about virtue, we hear about things like the importance of the family, or the importance of female chastity, or the idea of marriage, or the idea of, or the opposition to abortion. So one may say that virtue is for the most part feminine virtue, or virtues that have traditionally been considered feminine. Now on the left we have of course the virtue of of political correctness. You can't say this, you can't say that, because, you know, you're unwoke if you do it. Now, interestingly, John Adams, his idea of virtue was neither of these two. It was certainly not the modern woke idea, but neither was it the sort of feminine conception of virtue so much as it was a masculine idea of virtue. And of course I'm using these terms a little stereotypically, but what What I mean by a masculine virtue is civic virtue, the virtue of being attached to things bigger than yourself, which is to say not just your family, but your local community, perhaps to a club or organization you're involved in, the kind of fraternal life of society. And of course, love of country is part of that. So this idea of being, of having the kind of qualities of Integrity, decency, patriotism, courage. These are the civic virtues that Adams is most concerned about.

The third video is Thomas Jefferson and equality. And I would think that of all the founders, Jefferson is probably the one in the greatest danger of being canceled.

Absolutely, because it is today the left considers it to be hypocritical that Jefferson, who affirmed that all men are created equal, didn't seem to either live by it himself or didn't insist upon an America that from the outset forbade or prohibited slavery. And the question becomes, why would somebody, if they really believed that all men are created equal, why wouldn't they take the necessary steps to implement that idea into practice. And so this is the conundrum that I try to resolve in the video. Now, it's customary for people to say things like, hey, you know, if Jefferson had not agreed to allow slavery to continue, at least temporarily, the founders could never have gotten the Union because the southern states would not have joined. But I actually go beyond that to make an argument argument that is rooted in the language of the Declaration itself, because very often people focus on the first part of the Declaration, which is the created equal part, but they don't focus on what comes at the very end of that exact sentence and clause, which is to say the phrase the consent of the governed, right? In other words, governments are instituted and they derive their legitimacy from the consent of the governed. And so this is the conundrum that we've sort of lost sight of that Jefferson was wrestling with. What if it is the case that the governed, which is to say the majority of the American people alive at the time, do not consent to the idea that all men are created equal and should be then and there granted equal rights? The question is, what do you do then? So I argue that Jefferson had a genuine problem You can't run roughshod over the consent of the government and say, listen, we're going to abolish slavery no matter what, because then you're essentially killing democracy before it even gets started. So this is just to give you— this is not the full argument, but to give you a flavor of the kind of examination that I'm trying to do in these videos.

Yeah, it's a really interesting point that you make in the video. The fourth one is James Madison and the Constitution, and Dinesh, I would just observe that until very recently, the left at least paid lip service to the Constitution, pretended to respect the Constitution. Now they are pretty openly trying to cast it into disrepute.

Well, I think that the profound kind of Madisonian insight is that tyranny comes not just from one place, but from two places. It's not just the tyranny of the one that we have to fear, but also the tyranny of the many, what would sometimes later be called the tyranny of the majority. Now, this is a kind of a non-intuitive idea. I mean, today we keep hearing things like, well, you know, we need to respect the democratic process and so on. But I think Madison understood that, look, you know, if I'm walking to school and somebody jumps on me and let's say takes my wallet or steals my marbles from my pocket, that is not Essentially different from me being jumped by a gang of 10 guys who then take a vote and decide 7 to 3 to take my wallet or take my marbles. In one case, I'm being robbed by the one. In the other case, I'm being robbed by the many. But the fact that the many took a vote and decided collectively to do it doesn't give it any added legitimacy.

Hey, Dinesh, we got to run to a break here, but we are going to come back with more with Dinesh D'Souza. And these brand new PragerU videos after these messages.

Man, I miss my father and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of A lot of us were miserable. We had no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced Black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery.

They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

This is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the the few things we have no precedent for in the United States.

You have the right to remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Don't you get tired of commercials screaming at you to buy gold now with inflated promises on future values? In an unregulated industry, you need honest, real experts to give you solid advice to protect your wealth and top picks on the best coins and bullion based on real-time data and historical trends. For example, as environmental policy becomes a hot topic, one precious metal that's been significantly undervalued for years is potentially set to surge. Nick Grovich, owner of AMFED Coin and Bullion, has long recommended this precious metal. Up to 600,000 ounces of this rare metal will be needed by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. Nick is doubling down on this pick, and you should too. Call Nick at AmFed Coin and Bullion to find out more. I've been friends with Nick for years, and he's my go-to guy when it comes to coins and bullion. I trust him. He is a good and very knowledgeable man. Call Nick at 800-221-7694. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

The public would be outraged if they knew the truth.

Why do you think our politicians are not on the sidewalk right now talking to you? Don't have no respect.

The old wall randomly turns into a guardrail followed by miles of open border.

That journey is extremely dangerous.

The 7-year-old girl died in the desert from the country of India.

A great pillar of the community was killed by a man who had been deported at least twice.

This little urn contains the ashes of my My son, his dreams cut short forever.

We're so worried about other countries' problems and we don't even focus on our own.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Welcome back to the Dennis Prager Show. I'm John Hinderacher from Powerline, filling in for Dennis today, and we are talking with Dinesh D'Souza about that 5-video series that Dennis just described, in which Dinesh stars in. Dinesh, before the break, you were talking about the video on James Madison and the Constitution, and making the point that Madison realized that there are 2 distinct threats to liberty. One is the tyrant, the man on horseback, but the other is the tyranny of the majority. And that's why our Constitution has got so many checks and balances and so many guarantees of individual rights.

Exactly. So Madison's solution— well, Madison had, you know, you can almost say several solutions. One solution, of course, was to articulate a Bill of Rights that would be attached to the Constitution that would very specifically enumerate, that even the majority has no right to trespass upon these basic rights. So for example, you have a right to free speech, and it doesn't matter if 90% or 99% of people don't agree with you. They cannot use the power of government to shut you up. So that's a right that stands, you may say, witheringly against the tyranny of the majority. Now, Madison Hamilton's main solution, though, was not just the Bill of Rights. It was the architecture of the Constitution itself to divide power many different ways, divide power between the federal government or the central government and the states, to have separation of powers into a legislature, executive, and judiciary, but then have checks and balances so that each of these institutions can kind of oversee or take a peek across the shoulder of the other. And so in all these different ways, Madison is trying to create what he calls set ambition against ambition. He realizes that people who go into public office are greedily looking to increase their own power, their own control. In a sense, they're little tyrants. And so one way to check them is to put other tyrants on the other side of the aisle to do block block and tackle. And so the Constitution, which on first glance appears to be kind of messy, is a very deliberate block and tackle mechanism to prevent the tyranny of the majority from running roughshod over the rights and liberties and safety of the American people.

And of course, Dinesh, we're seeing that in Washington, D.C. right now, right? It's not easy to get things done in our governmental system, and that's a good thing.

It's a very good thing because most of the things that come down the pike are bad. And we can see this today, in which you've got all these schemes for massive amounts of spending, designed, by the way, largely to increase the power of the people who actually have the power to dispense that money and do the spending. It's not their money. They're confiscating it from the American people, but then they can use it in a kind of great vote-buying scheme. So Madison, you know, even a young man though he was, was kind of alert to these kinds of schemes, and he recognized that it's not enough to have limited government, you have to also limit the government in all kinds of ways, and as Madison put it, oblige it to control itself.

So the fifth of the videos that have just come out here on the founding is on Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton and capitalism. Talk about that a bit.

Well, Hamilton was a city, a city boy, in contrast with Jefferson, who was a rural farmer. Jefferson ran a plantation, Monticello. And Hamilton, I think, was the one who most farsightedly saw America as a commercial republic, as an entrepreneurial society. And I think the importance of this historically is that if you go way back into history, by and large wealth for most people, and in fact for most governments, for most regimes, has been obtained through seizure, through conquest. Essentially, if you want somebody else's marbles, you jump them and take their stuff. And this even had a certain kind of glamour in the ancient world. Now, Hamilton introduced uses, in a sense— now he doesn't come up with this, but what he does is he implements it— this new idea of wealth creation. And what I mean by wealth creation is you don't have to go take somebody else's marbles. You can create your own. You can actually create wealth. And so the notion of wealth creation, which I think is fundamental to American society and is part of the enormous prosperity that we enjoy relative to the rest of the world, Hamilton helped to make us that kind of a society.

And Dinesh, I would argue that if you don't have a free economy, if you don't have free enterprise, there's no way you're gonna ever have political freedom. There's really no precedent for that, is there?

Absolutely not. In fact, we hear the phrase today, democratic socialism, the idea that somehow you can have the government control control the economy, but not control anything else, so that you're free in the civic domain, even though the government controls the economic domain. Well, if you think about it, those two domains are inseparable. Not to mention the fact that by and large, if you think about, you know, your house, your car, the shirt you're wearing right now, or the shoes you're wearing, aren't they an extension of you? I mean, isn't it the case that this is the— not just the fruit of our labor, but this is the expression of our personality. It represents a lot of the time and energy we devote in the, in a given day. So somehow to just say we can subtract your hard-earned resources from you and leave you free in the rest of your life doesn't really make any sense.

Dinesh, our Prager Show listeners, I'm sure, already know this, but where can our people go to watch these videos and also to share them with their friends and with young people?

Well, normally Prager, you know, releases a video a week, and they're, you know, but they decided to release all 5 because in 25 minutes you can get, I think, a pretty varied and yet comprehensive picture of the architecture of the founding. So they're on the Prager University website, which is just prageru.com. They're on YouTube, they're on Prager's Facebook page. So they're on all the different social media platforms. They're not hard to find. I'm promoting them on my social media. So PragerU.com is probably as good a place to start as any.

Dinesh, we have just one minute left, but I just would ask you to comment. I mean, our public schools are so terrible these days. I doubt whether kids are learning much about the founding at all, and certainly not much that's positive. How important is PragerU in getting these messages out to young people?

You know, the strange thing, John, is if you had asked me 20 years ago what would be the value, let's say, of doing a 5-minute video on, say, Madison, I would have said, why would you want to do that? Don't you want to have a college course that goes through Madison rather than trying to simplify this into a sort of a little digestible bite. But what's happened is we've seen such a debasement of intellectual standards in the schools, the universities. A lot of this stuff is not being taught at all. And the other thing is I find that across society there's a deep hunger to learn about it. There are people who in some cases didn't even go to college, but they want to know what did Madison think, what would the founders say about what's going on in America today. So these videos are in a sense about the founding, but they're very much in the background. The question, what is the relevance of the founding?

We gotta go to a break, but thank you, and everybody go to PragerU and watch those videos.

Turning now on the Charlie Kirk Show.

Israel is getting ready for their fourth jab. Now, some people— this is how dishonest the media is— they say, well, Israel in the last couple of days, they've seen their rates go down. Now, why do you think that COVID rates would be going down in Israel the last couple of days? Anybody? Is it because the vaccine, masks? No, it's because the high holidays. Okay. People are staying at home and they're not going out and they're not working and they're not congregating. So they've locked down the country through basically pseudo-religious mandate. Israel and Sweden, if you look at the 7-day rolling average of new cases per 100,000, Sweden on this chart that has been published is right around 10%. Israel has far exceeded 100%. And in fact, there are more cases right now happening in America and the Western world than there were a year ago. And a very basic question should be, is the vaccine helping or is it hurting? What's the answer to that question? Why is it that rates keep on going up the more vaccinated we are? Well, Israel is the only country in the world that gives the third vaccination to everyone at ages 12+. A COVID passport is required for 12+. And by the way, let me just say, I'm a very— I'm a lover of Israel and Jerusalem. I don't know if I'm ever going back to Israel. I don't. I said this to one of my friends the other day who runs a great project there. He said, oh, you'll be coming back. I said, I don't know if I'll be welcome in Israel because I'm not getting vaccinated and I'm not doing any of this stuff. Numerous blockades throughout Israel and mask mandates where Sweden has no booster shots. No COVID passports, no, no lockdowns, and no masks.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube today.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Tesla was a genius.

His most amazing discoveries thought to be written in a lost journal. Now, in the right hands, it could revolutionize the 21st century.

You can stop an earthquake earthquake, doesn't that mean you could start one too?

That's why that notebook should never fall into the wrong hands.

Shall we stop this thing? Save the universe!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Trending now on the Mike Gallagher Show.

Right.

Everything was just takeout and delivery for me. It was, it was very difficult. I now face a $1.4 judgment against me.

$1.4 million?

$1.4 million, Mike. Okay. And already my struggles, I already had struggles from before. This is what they don't understand. They don't understand the struggles we go through. Everybody, we, it's like They don't sit and think about the struggles a family has. And my struggles are even more compared to others. I lost my husband. I'm a single mom with 4 kids. Like, enough already. Let me live. Let me feed my children. And now these new mandates, again, with no protection. We're violating New York City human rights laws if we comply with this. I'm not complying.

You make— you're like the voice of Americans who are saying, you're not going to tell me how I can choose to live my life or run my business. Irene, I don't understand. You have to help me understand the $1.4 million in— in that you're facing. How does— how does a, uh, an owner of a beloved diner like Kellogg's Diner in Brooklyn rack up $1.4 million that they say you owe the government?

Because when you, when you buy a business, you, you, you have a lease, you have a mortgage, you conduct contracts. There's rules on those contracts. And when you default on those contracts, you will lose in court if you defaulted.

Right.

Right.

And I lost.

Keep up with what's trending.

Subscribe on YouTube and talk mostly about the post that you did, I think yesterday, on Powerline. The title is Make or Break Week for Biden. There are some really big, big issues swirling around in Washington, D.C. that are going to have a lot to say about whether the Democrats are able to implement, in considerable part at least, their very ambitious legislative agenda. The week was supposed to kick off yesterday with Nancy Pelosi and the House passing the trillion-dollar spending plan that's already made it through the Senate, but that didn't happen. Fill us in. What's going on there?

Well, a whole lot. The latest word midday today is that Pelosi will now allow a vote on the $1 trillion $1.9 trillion infrastructure plan that passed the Senate on Thursday. And the idea is, look, we ought to at least take what's on the table and get it. And we'll see about the big enchilada, which is their $3.5 trillion spending blowout. It's really more like $6 trillion. But never mind the accounting. They got all these moving parts right now. They've got a debt ceiling that needs to be raised by Friday. They need a continuing resolution to keep the government open through Christmas. And they have all these problems because they they have such tiny majorities, you know, 3 votes is the margin effectively in the House and a 50-50 Senate. And yet they're trying to govern like they've had landslide victories like Roosevelt in '36 or Lyndon Johnson in '64. And this is reminding me more and more of Jimmy Carter, who never got much of anything through Congress when he had huge Democratic majorities. Whereas Lyndon Johnson got a lot through. But one last observation here that I didn't have in my post, Dennis Prager, uh, going through some of the details of their $3.5 trillion plan, and there's $3 billion in it for something they call tree equity.

Tree—

what in the world is tree— making all the trees equally tall? I mean, what is tree equity?

Right, glad you asked, John. Tree equity is, uh, got some— aren't enough trees in poor neighborhoods in cities. That's what it really means. And, you know, the idea that we ought to have more trees in neighborhoods, especially poor neighborhoods and cities, it's not a crazy idea, but why does it have to be a federal program? I mean, is Detroit incapable, or Minneapolis, of embarking on its own tree planting program? Why does the federal government have to do this? And I put on the historian's cap, and I think there is a parallel here. I think the turning point against the Great Society in the '60s was in In 1967, Lyndon Johnson proposed an urban rat eradication problem, because, you know, we have rats in the cities. And it got voted down in Congress, even with lots of Democrats dominating Congress, because they thought, this is not a federal problem. Can't cities deal with their rat problems? And some of the language there was pretty funny. You had Southern Democrats saying, I think we should vote down this civil rats bill right now. Where people said, why not just have federally funded caps and be done with it, right? So it became a laughingstock. And likewise, tree equity ought to be a laughingstock today. But I think there's a lot of things like this in that bill.

Well, one of the strange things, Steve, is that nobody talks about what's actually in these bills. It's, it's a trillion, it's $3.5 trillion. No, maybe it's $5 trillion. But what is it? I mean, the amount of information that the public has about what's in these bills is, I would say, shockingly low.

Well, well, two things. One is, I wait any minute now for a prize of Nancy Pelosi's most famous utterance about Obamacare: "You'll have to pass the bill to find out what's in it." And that's literally true because the bill still isn't completely written. The Democrats are still arguing amongst themselves about which tax changes to make, how to tweak the different spending bills, and I think the tax changes are the biggest problem they're having right now. Um, uh, because there's resistance by some progressives, I have to say. There's resistance to restoring, uh, or lifting the Trump-imposed cap on state and local tax deductions, which hurts the blue states. And the blue states are desperate to get that changed because it's causing too many of their high-income people to move out of New York and Illinois for Florida and Texas and Tennessee. And to her credit, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Democrats and other progressives saying, wait a minute, restoring the old salt deduction would be a giveaway to the rich. Good for her, she's right about that. So I'm enjoying the agony of the progressives versus the pork barrel Democrats, I guess you might say.

And the irony, Steve, is that the liberals, the progressives in the House don't want to pass the small bill, they just want to pass the big bill, and the Senate apparently certainly can't pass the big bill. They have passed the small bill, but the upshot of this might be that neither bill makes it all the way through Congress. We've got to run to a break, but we will be back with more with Steve Hayward after these messages.

I grew up po', which is even worse than being poor. We would have sandwiches with no meat. My American dream entailed working hard and making $20,000 a year, but I surpassed that goal and became a corporate CEO.

We'll all be able to say, free at last! Free at last!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Judge Thomas, you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I was under constant attack.

You're not really Black because you're not doing what we expect Black people to do. This is the wrong Black guy. He has to be destroyed.

So you'd still like to serve on the Supreme Court? I'd rather die than withdraw from the process.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Trending now on the Mike Gallagher Show: any teacher who's taping masks to 9-year-olds' heads should be fired immediately. I mean, that's not— I'm not going out on a limb here to say that. Do you disagree with that? Now, the lunatics who are so mask and vaccine crazed, who are freaking out about 100,000 people in a college football stadium, I'll bet they think that's okay. Well, the 9-year-old doesn't have his mask on, you got to tape it to his head. Got to tape it to— tape the mask around it so it stays over his mouth. And his nose. Not only should the teacher lose her job, she should be arrested. That's assault.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube and at rumble.com.

Man, I miss my father and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of us were miserable. We had no no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who, who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced Black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery.

They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

This is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the the few things we have no precedent for in the United States.

You have the right to remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Tesla was a genius.

His most amazing discoveries thought to be written in a lost journal. Now, in the right hands, it could revolutionize the 21st century.

You can stop an earthquake doesn't that mean you could start one too?

That's why that notebook should never fall into the wrong hands.

Shall we stop this thing?

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

story about a woman named Lorie Smith. She owns a web design business in the Denver area called 303 Creative, where she creates beautiful custom websites for her clients. Back in 2016, attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on Lorie's behalf challenging a Colorado law that would force her to design websites promoting messages that violate her religious beliefs. To make matters worse, that same law now prevents Laurie from, on her own website, expressing her religious reasons for only creating websites that celebrate certain messages and ideas. So the question remains: do creative professionals have the freedom to decide which messages they celebrate through their art? So Alliance Defending Freedom has just filed a petition with the US Supreme Court asking it to hear Laurie's case. And ADF has won 13 victories at the Supreme Court since 2011. But as ADF's Matt Sharp tells us, our help is needed because the next challenge to religious freedom could be right around the corner.

Under attack because you wanting to operate consistent with your faith, and maybe your kid's religious school comes under attack for wanting to teach kids the biblical values that you hold so dear. ADF is always there to stand with people to make sure that their rights are not trampled, that their freedom is always protected, both locally, statewide, and ultimately at the US Supreme Court.

ADF does all of its work pro bono, for free, for clients like Lori. But they need our help to cover the cost the costs of defending our freedoms. Please go to Dennis's website at DennisPrager.com, click on the Alliance Defending Freedom banner, and consider a $100 donation to the Freedom Fund. Or you can phone your gift in any amount to 855-649-2020. That's 855-649-2020. To join all of us at the Dennis Prager Show in supporting Alliance Defending Freedom. So I'm John Hinderacher from Powerline filling in for Dennis Prager today, and we are talking with my Powerline colleague Steve Hayward about the events going on in Washington right now that are building to a crescendo. And Steve, we've got the small bill, and of course these are the days in which we call a trillion-dollar spending bill small. That has passed the Senate but maybe can't pass the House because it's not big enough. Then we've got the $3.5 trillion big spending bill that the House would be happy to pass but that apparently can't make it through the Senate. To add to the drama, the federal government is scheduled to shut down on Friday. What's going on with with that?

Everything, right? Talk about moving parts. Look, so I think two things about the small— the so-called small bill. You know, it passed the Senate with something like 15 Republican votes. And a lot of conservatives said quite reasonably that, my goodness, this is terrible. A lot of nonsense in that smaller bill. Of course, on the other hand, it's looking kind of clever on McConnell's part to have Republican support for it because it splits the Democrats in the House, because you had all the progressives saying, we're not going to vote for that bill unless we get our huge bill first. And you had some moderates bucking that, saying, well, that's too much, but they folded pretty fast. So here's the game of chicken going on. Is, will the progressives, you know, people like AOC and all the rest, will they hold to their guns and not vote for the small bill when it comes up for a vote, supposedly Thursday? And I don't know. You know, Pelosi, say what you will about her, she's a shrewd vote counter and very good at leveraging her power. She will not call that vote unless she's absolutely certain she has the votes to pass it. And she has, you know, she only needs 3 or 4 votes. So we'll see if they hold to their guns. They might not, but we'll see. And then meanwhile, the larger bill is in trouble in the Senate. And my guess right now is that President Biden, during the half hour that he's awake and alert, uh, and propped up on vitamins. And Speaker Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, they are working over Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema like crazy to find out what they will accept. So I'm afraid we're still going to get stuck with a bill, you know, that might pass the House for $2.5 trillion. It'll still be very, very bad, but much less than what the crazy radicals wanted. And then we'll see what happens in the Senate, because that's where the whole ballgame is going to be. But Republicans have said— last point here and I'll stop talking— Republicans said earlier this week, as for raising the debt ceiling and passing a continuing resolution to keep the government open, well, that's on you, Democrats. You have to do it. We're not giving you any votes to raise the debt ceiling, which we need to do right away just to roll over our, you know, our federal debt. And so that's kind of funny. It's, again, kudos to McConnell for making life as difficult as possible for Chuck Schumer. Democrats, and I'm all for that.

It's a truism in American politics that if there is a government shutdown, regardless of the circumstances, it is blamed on Republicans, right? If a Democratic president or governor vetoes spending bills because he doesn't think they're big enough, and as a result there's a partial government shutdown, that's the Republicans' fault. If a Republican president or governor vetoes spending bills because he thinks they're too big, that also is the Republicans' fault. It's kind of amusing to watch the New York Times and NPR, the Washington Post gnarling and going after the Republicans saying Republicans are blocking the continuing resolution and the increase in the debt limit and threatening to shut down the country. About it, Steve. The cloture vote in the Senate yesterday was lost 48 to 50. How are the Democrats gonna achieve this? How are they gonna get the CR?

Well, I don't know. It may be wrapped up in what they decide to do with their reconciliation bill. So remember, for listeners who don't follow the arcane details of this, We have this exception to the filibuster and cloture process, which is a purely budget-related act can pass on a simple majority and can't be filibustered. And that's called the reconciliation bill. And Democrats are trying to abuse that process. You know, they try to sneak in amnesty for illegal immigrants, and the Senate parliamentarians said no, that's not germane to a budget bill. And they're still trying to do a workaround for that. So they're abusing that process. But it may be, again, I think McConnell was shrewd in saying, you're going to have to behave better and you're going to have to decide if you want to raise the debt ceiling on your own votes and through the reconciliation process, properly understood, and squeeze out a lot of the mischief that the radicals are trying to stick through. So, yeah, fascinating week if you're a Congress watcher. And we can sit back with our popcorn and watch all this unfold.

Well, I don't think the government I don't know if it's going to shut down, but it would be kind of fun to see with the Democrats controlling all the levers of power. We're going to go to a break now and come back with more with Steve Hayward talking about what's currently going on in Washington, D.C.

Don't you get tired of commercials screaming at you to buy gold now with inflated promises on future values? In an unregulated industry, you need honest, real experts to give you solid advice to protect your wealth and top picks on the best coins and bullion based on real-time data and historical trends. For example, as environmental policy becomes a hot topic, one precious metal that's been significantly undervalued for years is potentially set to surge. Nick Grovich, owner of AmFed Coin and Bullion, has long recommended this precious metal. Up to 600,000 ounces of this rare metal will be needed by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. Nick is doubling down on this pick, and you should too. Call Nick at AmFed Coin and Bullion to find out more. I've been friends with Nick for years. And he's my go-to guy when it comes to coins and bullion. I trust him. He is a good and very knowledgeable man. Call Nick at 800-221-7694. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

There's about 57 Muslim states in the world. There's one Jewish state. The massive ingathering of Jews in the last 150 years back to the land is absolutely unprecedented.

They say that there's no greater sign of redemption coming than the Jewish people returning to the hills of Judea.

As a Christian, I've always supported Israel's claim to the Holy Land. To me, the Palestinians were just getting in the way of God's plan. Palestinians are unemployed. In spite of all the years of conflict, there's hope here if you know where to look for it.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

This is a story of how a million children were placed with local foster families. Parents from all walks of life share their stories of overcoming the one-child policy by taking in orphans. At a time where there's so much negativity and cynicism, here's proof that a single leap of faith can change the world.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a writer at Powerline. Steve has kind of a split personality, I think.

Steve.

Steve, this is a short segment. We've just got about 3 minutes, but I'd like you to follow up on something you've been writing about on Powerline, and that is parallels between the Joe Biden administration and the Jimmy Carter administration, which you wrote about extensively in your 2-volume work, The Age of Reagan. Of course, I like to hear about that simply because Jimmy Carter was a one-term president. Where do you see some similarities?

Well, I mean, you know, Carter had this very ambitious legislative agenda that got ground up to dust in Congress. You know, he had an energy bill that was kind of crazy. They did finally— it took 2 years— they finally passed an energy bill, but it was nowhere near as extensive as what Carter had in mind. He wanted to reform healthcare, and that went down in flames. He wanted to do tax reform, which meant tax increases, but by the middle of his term, Carter was signing tax cuts. Including the first supply-side measures to cut the capital gains tax. Oh, the radicals in the '70s wanted to pass something called the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Bill, which in one word was just pure socialism. And it got watered down and finally became really just a stupid reporting requirement for the Federal Reserve. But the irony is a first-term senator from Delaware named Joe Biden voted for cutting the capital gains tax in half in 1978, and he voted against the Humphrey-Hawkins full employment bill because he said essentially it's beyond the capacity of government to do what, uh, what the bill purports to do, even though it had been watered down. So what happened to that, Joe Biden? Well, I think we know the man has no principles really. He just puts his finger in the wind, and the wind now blowing the Democratic Party from the far progressive left, and so that's the way he's going.

Not exactly a great attribute in the chief No, there are some parallels between Carter and Biden, but I will say in Carter's defense, I think he had all of his wits about him during his administration. But are you hopeful that we may see the same kind of lack of any real legislative success here with Joe Biden?

Yeah, I think that's right. I mean, like I say, I'm afraid they're going to get something through on the spending front, it'll be very bad, but it'll be much less than they wanted. And by the way, I think whatever level, I think they've misjudged the public. I think you're going to find it's going to be very unpopular. And my goodness, if the economy slows down or goes into recession, I think the Democratic Party is going to pay a very high price at the polls next year and in 2024.

And that is looking at the, uh, at the bright side. One thing to keep in mind about these spending bills is these numbers are huge, but these are 10-year budget numbers, right? Yeah, yeah, right.

There are gimmicks in it that just— I'll just say this, uh, hard to describe briefly, but they're disguising a lot of spending. The real price tag is maybe double what they're claiming. It's more like $5 or $6 trillion if you look at it honestly.

All right, well, that's a, that's a, that's a, uh, a worrisome note on which to end, but we will right there. We're going to run to a break, and when we come back, we will be joined by Senator Tom Cotton.

Trending now on the Hugh Hewitt Show.

Jen Psaki, the pressure is getting to her. Questioned by Peter Doocy, a famous clip already, cut number 11. Does the president have a sense that most of the criticism is not of leaving Afghanistan, it's the way that he has ordered it to happen by pulling the troops before getting these Americans who are now stranded? Does he have a sense of that? First of all, I think it's irresponsible to say Americans are stranded. They are not. We are committed to bringing Americans who want to come home home. We are in touch with them via phone, via text, via email, via any way that we can possibly reach Americans. Jake Tapper thinks they're stranded on CNN. Cut number 4.

Look, I understand that people are working long hours in the White House, the National Security Council, State Department, Pentagon, and over in Kabul to get Americans out of that country.

And I understand the White House wanting to reassure the nation that all Americans will ultimately be evacuated. But there are no doubt Americans who feel stranded in Afghanistan right now. Of course there are. It's absurd for the White House, and it tells you something about Joe Biden. Brit Hume was on with our friend Guy Benson on his radio show yesterday, said this, cut number 1. But anybody who ever heard him speak for any length of time could tell this guy this was not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

And, you know, he, you know, he could talk forever and was famous for it, but you never had the sense that he was terribly smart.

And on top of that, now he's manifestly senile.

And between those two things, this is a man with very, very severe limitations who is well too old, in my opinion, to be the president of the United States.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube and at rumble.com.

I grew up po', which is even worse than being poor. We would have sandwiches with no meat. My American dream entailed working hard and making $20,000 a year, but I surpassed that goal and became a corporate CEO.

We'll all be able to say Free at last! Free at last!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Judge Thomas, you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I was under constant attack. You're not really black because you're not doing what we expect black people to do. This is the wrong black guy. He has to be destroyed.

So you'd still like to serve on the Supreme Court?

I'd rather die than withdraw from the process.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Trending now on the Mike Gallagher Show.

Any teacher who's taping masks to 9-year-olds' heads should be fired immediately. I mean, that's not— I'm not going out on a limb here to say that. Do you disagree with that? Now, the lunatics who are so mask and vaccine crazed, who are freaking out about 100,000 people in a college football stadium, I'll bet they think that's okay. Well, the 9-year-old doesn't have his mask on, you got to tape it to his head. Tape the mask around it so it stays over his mouth and his nose. Not only should the teacher lose her job, she should be arrested. That's assault.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube and at rumble.com.

Man, I miss my father and I want him to be here with me, but he's not. We all had something in common. A lot of us were miserable. We had no fathers in our lives. This is how I began the life of crime. I desired to have a father who would tell me that what I did was wrong.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

This is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share share ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the few things we have no precedent for in the United States.

You have the right to remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

Tesla was a genius.

His most amazing discoveries thought to be written in a lost journal. Now, in the right hands, it revolutionize the 21st century.

You can stop an earthquake, doesn't that mean you could start one too?

That's why that notebook should never fall into the wrong hands.

Shall we stop this thing? Save the universe!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Don't you get tired of commercials screaming at you to buy gold now within inflated promises on future values. In an unregulated industry, you need honest, real experts to give you solid advice to protect your wealth and top picks on the best coins and bullion based on real-time data and historical trends. For example, as environmental policy becomes a hot topic, one precious metal that's been significantly undervalued for years is potentially set to surge. Nick Grovich, owner of AmFed Coin and Bullion, has long recommended this precious metal. Up to 600,000 ounces of this rare metal will be needed by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. Nick is doubling down on this pick, and you should too. Call Nick at AmFed Coin and Bullion to find out more. I've been friends with Nick for years, and he's my go-to guy when it comes to coins and bullion. I trust him He is a good and very knowledgeable man. Call Nick at 800-221-7694. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com.

John Hinderacher from Powerline filling in for Dennis Prager today. And we are joined now by Senator Tom Cotton. Senator, thanks for being on the program.

Hey, John, it's good to be on with you. You got big shoes to fill, but if anyone can fill them, I know you can.

Well, thank you. So there's a lot going on in Washington this week, Senator. It's a great time to get the straight story from you. There are two spending bills. There's the small one, the trillion-dollar bill, and it tells you a lot that we call that the small spending bill. There's a small spending bill that's passed the Senate, but not yet the House. There's the big bill, the $3.5 trillion bill that I think can pass the House, but maybe can't pass the Senate. What's going on? What's going to happen?

Well, John, I would say the Democrats are in disarray, but that would imply that they were once in array. I don't want to concede that ground. They're certainly at daggers drawn over in the House. Them trying to pass that trillion-dollar bill that's mostly focused on infrastructure, and then trying to pass a $5 trillion bill when you really eliminate all the budget gimmicks. And far-left progressives want to pass the $5 trillion budget. I won't call them centrist Democrats, John, but the vulnerable Democrats in the House want to go with the $1 trillion infrastructure package, and they're threatening to tank each other's bills. I think that would be just fine if the whole house of cards crumbled. Because the reason that they are at daggers drawn over in the House Democratic Caucus is they recognize that both of these bills are massively unpopular because the American people don't want $6 trillion of new taxes and new spending on things like welfare checks for people who won't work, won't even look for work or get free job training for work, or give free college, community college tuition to illegal aliens, or impose taxes on businesses of all kinds, lines, retirement savings, and almost everything else under the sun.

So some of the leftists in the House, like, I think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has just announced that she won't vote for the small bill, at least not unless they also vote for the big bill. Do you think there's a serious chance that this, that when they vote on Thursday, that the small bill won't pass?

Well, someone's going to have some crow to eat, John, on Thursday regardless. It's either going to be all these far-left Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or your favorite Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and other radical progressives saying they will vote no who are going to flip-flop, or people like Nancy Pelosi who insisted they're going to have a vote this week and that she's going to keep her word to her vulnerable Democrats and proceed come hell or high water on Thursday. So we will see who backs down from their promises, or maybe I should say their threats. I'd like to see both sides of that Democratic dispute lose, since that would be a victory for the American people.

Yeah, it's going to be a showdown at the O.K. Corral. But what about the big bill in the Senate? As I understand it, it's Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema that are standing in Chuck Schumer's way. Well, they don't want to vote for it. Is that basically basically what's going on?

Well, they may be, uh, acting as spear catchers for a few other Democrats over in the Senate, John. Um, they are obviously the highest profile senators, um, who say that they don't want to spend $5 trillion. Let's not cast them as fiscal conservatives here. I mean, I think they're still willing to spend trillions of dollars if you look at their votes in March on the last big spending boondoggle. Um, but there's probably 3 or 4 other Democrats who look when the chips are down and the bill is on the floor, if it gets that far, they will vote for it, no doubt. But I think they're probably whispering in Chuck Schumer's ears right now that Joe Biden's popularity has plummeted over the last 2 months because of unpopular mandates from the CDC and from himself, and also his bungling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. Why don't we get some distance here? Why don't we, you know, cut him loose and save ourselves? Let's campaign on the bill we passed back in March and pretend none of this ever happened. Obviously, the far left in the Senate and the House is not going to allow that to happen. But I'll just say that the Democratic caucuses in the Congress right now are a hotbed of cold feet when it comes to this $5 trillion spending bill.

So it sounds to me, from what you're saying, Senator, like if I was a betting man, I should bet that that bill is not going to pass the Senate.

I don't think it'll pass at the full $3.5 trillion, or again, $5 trillion once you eliminate all the budget gimmicks. They're not going to stop, though. So just because they can't get $3.5 trillion, they're not going to go back, stop and try to get, you know, $1.5 trillion, $2 trillion, $2.5 trillion, what have you. And as important as what the bill spends is what the bill does as well. Some of these programs that it sets up totally roll back the welfare reform victories of the last 25 years. They reinstitute welfare checks for households without a single breadwinner, not even one looking for work. They give out billions billions of dollars to illegal aliens in public benefits. And of course, they implement much of the Democrats' Green New Deal. So in March— or I'm sorry, in January and February, and in March in Minnesota, John, everybody's gonna be shivering in a couple years when we don't have enough energy to heat our homes if this bill passes.

So is the most likely outcome here, Senator, that after the fiasco the current week is over, the Democrats put their heads together and agree on a bill that can get through both houses of Congress, which will be less ambitious than the $3.5 or $5 trillion bill, but probably more ambitious than the $1 trillion?

That is probably what Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden hope. But again, as long as they've got the different factions of their party fighting between themselves, they may not have 218 votes to pass any of these bills, which again would be a great outcome for the American people, that we not waste another $6 trillion of needless spending on new welfare programs and spending for illegal aliens. But what they'll probably try to do, if that bill— if the infrastructure bill passes Thursday, is spend the rest of this fall trying to reach some kind of compromise between the House and the Senate, between the left and the right flanks of their caucus, and pass that bill before the end end of the year.

Yeah, I would say between the left flank and the far left flank.

I'm sorry, I misspoke. Like I said, there are no moderate Democrats in Congress, only vulnerable Democrats.

Yeah, that's exactly right. And the other thing going on, of course, is that the government is slated to shut down on Friday, I take it, and the Democrats are trying to get a continuing resolution through, and they need to increase the federal debt limit. And Mitch McConnell is basically saying, well, good luck, fellas, you're going to have to do it without us.

Well, we're not going to have a government shutdown this week, John, for the simple reason that the party of government is in charge of government, and they're not going to shut down the government. What they hoped to do was to use this government funding deadline to force Republicans to vote for a new debt ceiling increase to help pay for their $7 trillion spending spree, and Senator McConnell has been right all along. We are absolutely not going to do that. They've been passing these bills and trying to pass these bills on a party-line basis all year long. If they want to pass on a party-line basis $7 trillion of new spending, then they can pass on a party-line basis a debt ceiling increase to accommodate that spending. And it's not a hypothetical or it's not a theoretical proposal that they can pass it using the fast-track budget procedures. They are literally using those procedures right now to write a budget. So it's very easy for them to include a debt ceiling increase in that budget.

Yeah, the Republicans are being blasted by NPR and the New York Times and all the usual suspects for blocking the resolution and the increase in the debt limit. It came up for a cloture vote in the Senate, fell short, I think yesterday, 48 to 50. But the fact is, if the Democrats have all 50 of their senators in line, they don't they don't need any Republicans.

That's absolutely right, John. They passed $2 trillion of spending on a party-line basis with 50 votes in the Senate in March. They're trying to pass $6 trillion of new spending as well on a party-line basis. They can pass a debt ceiling on a party-line basis. To spend the $7 trillion but then not raise the debt ceiling to accommodate the spending is the ultimate example, as the scripture would say, of eating camels and choking on gnats.

Now, I've seen some Newsweek accounts that the Democrats in Congress are unhappy that Joe Biden isn't working the phones and leaning on various people. But this comes back, comes back to the point you made earlier about Joe Biden's cratering approval ratings. And Senator, you probably haven't seen the latest poll here in Minnesota, but Joe Biden's favorability among men in blue state Minnesota is 28%. 8%.

Yeah, it's astonishing. And I mean, there's a poll out in Iowa last week that had him at 31% with the entire electorate. And if he's at 31% in Iowa, he's not gonna be much better in critical states like Minnesota and Wisconsin and other states around the country.

So we have just one minute now, Tom, in this segment, but how important is it that Biden has fallen in such low esteem with American voters?

Well, it certainly diminishes his influence in Congress. I will say this, John, the debacle in Afghanistan also hurt his credibility with his own elected Democrats in Washington who'd been told for 6 months to trust Joe Biden, trust his high command. They were old wise in hands. They'd been through the wringer. They were seasoned and experienced and competent, and they would get everyone through these troubled times for their party. And just remember, the people planning this legislative strategy for the Congress are the same people who planned that withdrawal strategy in Afghanistan. Just keep that in mind, because I can tell you a lot of Democrats who have to face the voters in 14 months are keeping that in mind.

All right. Thank you very much, Senator Tom Cotton, for being with us. We are now going to go to a break and be right back with your calls.

Trending now on America First with Sebastian Birka.

I really, I have to control myself, Jenna, because in the last 5 to 10 years, I think it's fair to say empirically that there's been an amazing shift, a sea change in American attitudes to abortion, and especially in the youth, in the under-30s, who understand.

They follow the science. They understand that this is a human being inside a mother's womb. I don't want to get carried away with myself, but how important—

you are, you've taught constitutional law, you're a practicing lawyer. How important, how significant is the SCOTUS decision and the signing into effect of the new heartbeat law in Texas?

It's very significant. And even though this was simply a denial of an emergency application to stay the law, it shows that the Supreme Court is no longer reflexively protecting abortion as a so-called right. And that's what is the most important part of this decision. The Supreme Court said that they were not ruling on the merits of the issue. Of course, it will be litigated further on the merits and potentially wind its way up back to the Supreme Court. But what they are saying here is that no longer will an activist majority simply say, "Sorry, states, you do not have a compelling interest to protect unborn life." And so, for all of us to understand actual science and who have seen the science, who see the strides that we have made in showing the— showing how heartbeats are about 5 to 6 weeks after conception.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe today at Rumble.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

The public would be outraged if they knew the truth.

Why do you think our politicians are not on the sidewalk right now talking to you? Don't have no respect. The old wall randomly turns into a guardrail followed by miles of open border.

That journey is extremely dangerous.

The 7-year-old girl died in the desert. From the country of India. A great pillar of the community was killed by a man who had been deported at least twice.

This little urn contains the ashes of my son. His dreams cut short forever.

We're so worried about other countries' problems, and we don't even focus on our own.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to streaming on Salem Now.

There's about 57 Muslim states in the world. There's one Jewish state. The massive ingathering of Jews in the last 150 years back to the land is absolutely unprecedented.

They say that there's no greater sign of redemption coming than the Jewish people returning to the hills of Judea.

As a Christian, I've always supported Israel's claim to the Holy Land. To me, the Palestinians were just getting in the way of God's plan. 300,000 Palestinians are unemployed. In spite of all the years of conflict, there's hope here. If you know where to look for it.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

I'm John Hinderacher from Powerline, filling in for Dennis Prager today. Let me tell you a story about a woman named Lori Smith. She owns a web design business in the Denver area called 303 Creative, where she creates beautiful custom websites for her clients. Back in 2016, attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on Laurie's behalf, challenging a Colorado law that would force her to design websites promoting messages that violate her religious beliefs. To make matters worse, that same law now prevents Laurie from, on her own website, expressing her religious reasons for only creating websites that celebrate certain messages and ideas. So the question remains: do creative professionals have the freedom to decide which messages they celebrate through their art? So Alliance Defending Freedom has just filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to hear Laurie's case. And ADF has won 13 victories at the Supreme Court since 2011. But as ADF's Matt Sharp tells us, our help is needed because the next challenge to religious freedom could be right around the corner.

Under attack because you want to operate consistent with your faith, and maybe your kids' religious school comes under attack for wanting to teach kids the biblical values that you hold so dear. ADF is always there to stand with people to make sure that their rights are trampled, that their freedom is always protected, both locally, statewide, and ultimately at the US Supreme Court.

ADF does all its work pro bono, for free, for clients like Laurie. But they need our help to cover the costs of defending our freedoms. Please go to Dennis's website at DennisPrager.com, click on the Alliance Defending Freedom banner, and consider a $100 donation to the Freedom Fund. Or you can phone your gift in any amount to 855-649-2020. That's 855-649-2020 to join all of us at The Dennis Prager Show in supporting Alliance Defending Freedom. Well, we've been going hard with guests throughout this show. We've had a guest packed program here on the Dennis Prager Show, but we are done with guests for the remainder of the show and the remainder of this hour, and that means that we are going to go to the phone lines. If you want to jump in and talk about any of the topics we've been discussing today or whatever else is on your mind, give us a call. The number to call is 1-8-PRAGER-776. That's 1-877-243-7766. And now we are going to go to the phone lines, starting with Dan in Liberty, New York. Dan, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.

Hi, I have to be masked here. So I just wanted to mention to you that the, the hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin are never meant to be treatments for COVID, even by Solenko and Malone and the other top experts on those. Um, those are actually what are called ionophores, and what they do is create a channel into the cell and they channel zinc, and it's actually the zinc that defends against COVID. So I think there was a mistake made in recommending those as if they are themselves the treatments. They do nothing to treat the, uh, the disease.

Well, Dan, I understand what you're saying. I understand what you're saying, and I am not a doctor and, and have no medical expertise here. I know that there are some physicians who have written that they have gotten good clinical results by using some of these things like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, but I don't pretend to have studied the literature carefully enough or, or knowledgeably enough to, to be able to evaluate those, those claims. I do think it's kind of weird that with all of the, the fearmongering we've had over COVID and with the shutdowns and the masks and, and the vaccinations and all the pressure on everybody to get vaccinated, it seems to me that we've had relatively little just normal conversation among, among doctors and the public of how we can treat COVID. It seems like that's kind of the forgotten issue. Let's go next to Brent in Los Angeles on line 2. Brent, you're on the air.

Hello, John. I've been loving your show and I wanted to— Yeah, well, I wanted to condemn the cowards, slaves, and tyrants in Australia and all Americans who are supporting their neo-fascist conquest. Your, uh, your incarcerated Australian guest said that her nation was scared, but her rulers aren't scared. They are socialists, sadists, and sociopaths. And anyone with any skepticism knows that COVID communism is mostly about Maoism and minimally about medicine. COVID's civilizational body count is more from suicide, homicide, and a malevolent Marxist medical industry who wickedly withholds safe, simple, effective, and inexpensive therapeutics like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin than from the traitor Fauci's criminal flu. And I know I'd rather die from the CCP COVID than live safe under satanic socialist slavery.

Well, well, Brent, you, you put it very, very strongly, right? And here's what I would say. I would say that COVID obviously is a disease diseases are bad, and COVID unquestionably has killed some people, although it's mainly dangerous to the people who are already very old, and not only very old but also, also very sick. But the degree of hysteria and fear-mongering that we've seen over the last year and a half, and the shutdowns and the mask mandates that have been supported by little or no science, little or no science, and Even worse than that, the closing down of public discussion about what are the right policies to follow, what are the most effective policies to follow, what are the least damaging policies to follow. If you say the wrong thing on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube, you're likely to have your account closed down. We're seeing some very strange things going on here, and I agree with you that what we're seeing has a great deal to do with politics and a whole lot less to do with medicine. Let's go next to Rebecca in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. By the way, Rebecca, I've been— Oh, you got just one minute, Rebecca. Fire away.

John, this is the story of an aggrieved mother of three. My middle daughter is doing remote, so So she's fine from vaccine mandates. But my other two children, my son who is a general surgery resident in New York, was coerced into vaccination. My daughter who is a dermatologist at Cedars-Sinai will be terminated because of her religious rights and she was denied a religious exemption.

Hey Rebecca, I can tell— hey Rebecca, Rebecca, let me just pause you for a minute. We gotta go to a break, but I can tell you need a little bit more time. Don't go away, Rebecca, don't go away. And we'll return with Rebecca and your calls after these messages.

The Dennis Prager Show, live from the Relief Factor Pain Free Studio.

Streaming on Salem Now.

We understand that a plane has crashed.

The people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.

Biggest and most costly manhunt in US history. United States killed Osama bin Laden.

There are reports surfacing that al-Qaeda has placed a $50,000 US bounty on the heads of any US Navy SEALs.

Nobody's gonna survive that.

There's nobody in in that.

This is the single largest loss of life in Afghanistan in a single incident.

Most of them are U.S. Navy SEALs. We discovered bullets in the bodies of the Navy SEALs. The military threw them away.

More likely than not, that supports a shootout on board.

Anybody out there? We have a fallen angel.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to Salem Now This is a story of how a million children were placed with local foster families. Parents from all walks of life share their stories of overcoming the one-child policy by taking in orphans. At a time where there's so much negativity and cynicism, here's proof that a single leap of faith can change the world.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

The only time you can come to Christ when the Spirit of God—

You ever thought of going to seminary?

Billy Graham.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Streaming on Salem Now.

I grew up, which is even worse than being poor. Our lunch consisted of whatever, whatever my mother could scrape together from the dinner the night before. We would have sandwiches with no me. My American dream entailed working hard and making $20,000 a year, but I surpassed that goal and became a corporate CEO. Put in an economic growth plan called 999.

We'll all be able to say free at last!

Free at last!

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

The Democratic Party somehow has convinced black people that they're the good guys, never mind the skanky history of the Democratic Party. That was a party of slavery. There is There's a whole big cottage industry for racism. If racism went away, a lot of people would be unemployed.

The mob during the Minneapolis riots following the death of George Floyd.

A bunch of white thugs, frankly, burning down the city's traditional Black and Asian businesses. They're racist, racist, racist. Everything's racist.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

Streaming on Salem Folks, have you noticed home prices are skyrocketing right now? For current homeowners, that means your home has more equity. Dennis Prager here, actually John Hinderacher filling in for Dennis. And with today's high cost of living, your monthly debts are higher and your ability to save money is tougher than ever before. That's why I want you to contact Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage now to review your cash-out refinance options. If you have credit card debt, home improvement projects, or just need more savings, This may be your last chance to take advantage of today's low interest rates. Andrew and Todd can help you get your cash out while rates are at historical lows. Go to AndrewAndTodd.com, fill out their simple form for a quick mortgage checkup, or call 888-888-1172. Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage can help you get back to financial security. Go to andrewandtodd.com or call 888-888-1172. That's 888-888-1172. We are going to go back to the phone lines now, and we are going to start with Rebecca, who was talking right before the break. And Rebecca, I think you were telling us that you have a son and a daughter who do not want to get the anti-COVID vaccine. Let me just start, Rebecca, by asking you this question: why don't they want to get vaccinated?

Uh, for mainly the religious convictions. We are Christians, devout Christians, and we know that the fetal tissues were used in creating this vaccine. But for me, for if I were to tell my children don't get vaccinated, they've had the virus, they have natural immunity, and above that, they should be free to get into their bodies what they want and what they don't want. This vaccine is— has been around, has been researched only for 6 months. It's not, and we have seen a lot of adverse effects and deaths, as it's been reported on the VAERS website. So, for many reasons, my children's religious exemptions were denied. My son was coerced into being vaccinated. My daughter is being terminated because she stood her ground, and she will face the consequences of whether getting the unemployment, never being able to be licensed in the state of California. All of these adversities are facing her, but she's standing very firm. I am a Christian Assyrian who left the Middle East to find religious freedom and freedom in general. And what we're seeing here is the Middle East following us to the shores of this wonderful country, and our grievances are being left with no— there's no recourse for us. My only grievance is to call the Dennis Prager Show and complain about what's being done to us.

Well, Rebecca, you have made your case very eloquently, and I always wonder, whatever happened to my body, my choice? That slogan. I think this is one time where that slogan really applies. So thank you for that call, Rebecca. I think you made your case very, very well. Let's go now to Sheldon in Valencia, California, on line 5. Sheldon, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.

Hey, hey, thanks. Uh, real fast, that gal Rebecca just now, uh, really made it poignant how the left, the ones that don't believe anything intrinsic Sure gives high esteem to, I would say, Sharia law and all that stuff, don't they? Interesting. Anyway, I was going to suggest, before Mr. Cotton came on— actually, I called him this morning— your fellow was on that wrote the book on Carter. I was in the Navy during Carter. One thing that Carter did get past that energy bill was a law that you cannot reuse expense uranium, such as from power plants, submarines, all that, we just store it in the ground and try not to have a problem with it. Well, today's technology and all that, I forget where I heard this and read an article on it. They said we could use the spent uranium in the size of a Coke can would take care of one person's total energy needs their whole life. So we could pass that law where you could recycle it and use it. Oh my gosh, that'd be not only a great campaign thing to work on, but we could have small little units to solve a lot of energy issues.

Well, Sheldon, I would say more broadly that—

Carter got past them.

I would say more broadly that the only energy source that is reliable and that produces no carbon dioxide is nuclear. So if people are serious about carbon dioxide emissions, nuclear is really the only way to go.

Well, absolutely, but in this case—

We've got to go to another break right now, Sheldon, but we are going to come We'll come back after these messages with more of your calls.

Streaming on Salem Now.

The public would be outraged if they knew the truth.

Why do you think our politicians are not on the sidewalk right now talking to you? Don't have no respect. The old wall randomly turns into a guardrail followed by miles of open border.

Human trafficking.

That journey is extremely dangerous.

The second A 7-year-old girl died in the desert from the country of India. A great pillar of the community was killed by a man who had been deported at least twice.

This little urn contains the ashes of my son, his dreams cut short forever.

We're so worried about other countries' problems and we don't even focus on our own.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

Don't you get tired of commercials screaming at you to buy gold now with inflated promises on future values? In an unregulated industry, you need honest, real experts to give you solid advice to protect your wealth and top picks on the best coins and bullion based on real-time data and historical trends. For example, as environmental policy becomes a hot topic, one precious metal that's been significantly undervalued for years is potentially set to surge. Nick Grovich, owner of AmFed Coin and Bullion, has long recommended this precious metal. Up to 600,000 ounces of this rare metal will be needed by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. Nick is doubling down on this pick, and you should too. Call Nick at AmFed Coin and Bullion to find out more. I've been friends with Nick for years. And he's my go-to guy when it comes to coins and bullion. I trust him. He is a good and very knowledgeable man. Call Nick at 800-221-7694. 800-221-7694. AmericanFederal.com. AmericanFederal.com. Not one mistake.

Streaming on Salem Now.

There's about 57 Muslim states in the world. There's one Jewish state. The massive ingathering of Jews in the last 150 years back to the land is absolutely unprecedented.

They say that there's no greater sign of redemption coming than the Jewish people returning to the hills of Judea.

As a Christian, I've always supported Israel's claim to the Holy Land. To me, the Palestinians were just getting in the way of God's plan. 1,000 Palestinians are unemployed. In spite of all the years of conflict, there's hope here if you know where to look for it.

Stream on your phone, tablet, or TV.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to salemnow.com.

John Hinderacher from Powerline filling in for Dennis today. We are going to finish out this hour with calls, so if you want to be heard, the number to, the number to call is 1-8-Prager-776. That's 1-877-243-7777. 6. Let's go to the phone lines. I think next up is John in Los Angeles on line 6. John, you're on the air.

All right. Well, John, listen, I noticed you're taking a little more reserved and measured tone as far as hydroxychloroquine, which of course you were really touting, flogging, hawking on your Powerline website last year during the early stages of the pandemic when, uh, when the mango cake tumor was, uh, extolling its virtues.

Nobody was touting anything. We've talked consistently all along about what others have found in their clinical experiments with a variety of different drugs. Thank you, John, for that call. Pam, if I'm reading that right, Pam in Los Angeles on line 1. Pam, welcome to the program.

Hi, John.

Good morning.

How are you?

Great.

Doing an excellent job filling for Dennis, and thank you for what you do.

Thank you.

Um, I, um, you know what Rebecca mentioned earlier You know, it just breaks my heart because I went through that with my aunt's passing and my cousin and ourselves, we couldn't even go upstairs and say goodbye and see her. We had to say goodbye to her on FaceTime, on the cell phone. It's hard to talk about the healthcare system. What I wanted to share, people like her, people like myself, a lot of families and people, they have no source of where to get understand what their rights are. There's an organization that have been doing a great job with that similar to ADM, which I wanted to share with you, which I'm personally matching the funds 100% to go to them. Any family, any business, they could be able to get this resource. I have used them hundreds of times and it saved my own business last year from COVID but just to get understand what my rights are. And it could be able to give them unlimited legal guidance and access. They can call an attorney 10 times a day, and they can talk to professional people, say, what are my rights? Can you review this? Can, can these people do that? Whether your child has to get a vaccine or mask at 5 years old, they at least be able to get the guidance they need. And it's yourlegalrightsmatter.com. yourlegalrightsmatter.com. It's an organization that has been around for 50 years. And I personally work on— I'm going to be matching that dollar for dollar to go to ADL to protect more families. And we can do that. And hopefully more families, they can get access to that tremendous resource.

They cover over 4 million times. And if you want to get on the air, we— I think we have— we'll have time for another caller or two. Give us a call. It's 1-800-PRAGER-776. That's 1-877-243-7776. Let's go next to Rick in California on line 3. Rick, welcome to the Dennis Prager Show.

Good morning or good afternoon?

Anyway, it's afternoon here.

Yeah, I know.

I'm just, I'm just kind of curious I hear all these outrage about the vaccines and I understand it, but where's the outrage about masks for people with such disorders as COPD, chronic bronchitis, asthma, epidemic, uh, pulmonary fibrosis, which is fatal in most cases?

And I've been—

a lot of these people that really are screaming about mask mandates are also the same people that were screaming about secondhand smoke, about their right to breathe.

Well, you know, I've looked pretty carefully into the data here, Rick. I've studied a lot of, of, of scientific information, and, and I've looked at the consequences of mask mandates and followed what happened at a particular state or a particular locality or a particular country when a mask mandate went into effect and what happened when it went out of effect, and you can't find any impact. I mean, I've done this over and over again and mask mandates go into effect and the chart doesn't change. Cases rise, cases fall, but you simply cannot see any impact. And then when they take mask mandates off, you might think, oh well, now cases are going to rise, but they don't. They continue in the same pattern. So yeah, go ahead.

If I— in other words, whenever I wear a mask for any length of time, my lungs feel it for the next 2 days.

Right. And you know what I think is terrible?

In other words, the residual effects— I mean, this is abuse, having to wear a mask for—

Wearing masks is bad. It's not good for anybody. Anybody, Rick, in my opinion. And it's bad for a lot of people. But I'll tell you what I think is really bad is making little kids wear masks. I honestly think it's a form of child abuse. I mean, little kids are less susceptible to COVID than they are to the average seasonal flu. And I think we're just scarring their childhoods by, by forcing them into this mask, mask hysteria. Thank you for that call, Rick.

Thank you.

Let's go to Mark on line 1. Oh, Mark, you're on.

Oh, oh, great, great. Thank you. You know, I think people are underestimating the amount of purging that's going on.

You know, the—

we've got this Democratic Party which is some bizarre form of Marxism and Tammany Hall corruption but all corruption all the time. And they're using this vaccine and this, you know, the implicit bias kind of propaganda and stuff that people reject to really punish, to really purge the private sector and public sector, the military and everything else of their political enemies, because these are people who have strong religious values or they don't trust this administration, which my God, who could trust these people, or they just don't feel that the government should be forcing them to take vaccines or anything else.

We're up against a hard break, so thank you for that call. We will be back with more of your calls after these messages.

Turning now to the Charlie Kirk Show.

Israel is getting ready for their fourth jab. Now, some people— this is how dishonest the media is— they say, well, Israel in the last couple of days, they've seen their rates go down. Now, why do you think that COVID rates would be going down in Israel the last couple of days? Anybody? Is it because the vaccine, masks? No. It's because the high holidays, OK, people are staying at home and they're not going out and they're not working and they're not congregating. So they've locked down the country through basically pseudo-religious mandate. Israel and Sweden, if you look at the 7-day rolling average of new cases per 100,000, Sweden on this chart that has been published is right around 10%. Israel has far exceeded 100%. And in fact, there are more cases right now happening in America and the Western world than there were a year ago. And a very basic question should be, is the vaccine helping or is it hurting? What's the answer to that question? Why is it that rates keep on going up the more vaccinated we are? Well, Israel is the only country in the world that gives the third vaccination to everyone at ages 12+. A COVID passport is required for 12+. And by the way, let me just say, I'm a very— I'm a lover of Israel and Jerusalem. I don't know if I'm ever going back to Israel. I don't. I said this to one of my friends the other day who runs a great project there. He said, oh, you'll be coming back. I said, I don't know if I'll be welcome in Israel because I'm not getting vaccinated. I'm not doing any of this stuff. Numerous blockades throughout Israel and mass mask mandates, where Sweden has no booster shots, no COVID passports, no, no lockdowns and no masks.

Keep up with what's trending. Subscribe on YouTube today.

This is, this is why we're fighting for the soul of America.

You should be able to share ideas without fear of being fired from your job or shouted down.

You are not to be heard. This is one of the few things we have no precedent for in the United States.

You have the right to remain silent.

Look for Salem Now in the App Store or go to SalemNow.com.

We're gonna take calls until the top of the hour, and if everybody tries to be a little bit concise, we'll take as many calls as we can. Let's start with Patricia in Minneapolis on line 7. Patricia, welcome to the program.

Hello, can you hear me okay? Hello?

Yeah, you're on, Patricia.

Thank you.

Yes, I'm aware that Amy Klobuchar here in Minnesota's husband had COVID and he gave, she said, his antibodies to probably some company, and they're using it to help people. I think that's the Regeneron product.

What my—

and I think that's probably for people that have it. My question is, and maybe there's a doctor out there, someone that knows this, if somebody has had COVID, could they give COVID to a person who, instead of a vaccination, to give them the antibodies and they wouldn't need to get vaccinated? That might help some people that are vaccination, kind of, you know, have difficulties with it for various medical or religious reasons. And I don't know if doctors can do that or if that's a possibility, you know, like a transfusion.

That's a really interesting question, Patricia. I mean, I know the products have been developed where they take blood from people who have got the antibodies as a result of having the disease, and I think I've read about that as a treatment protocol protocol, but it's an interesting idea that maybe that could substitute for vaccination. I don't know the answer to that question. Let's go to Matthew in Ohio on line 8. Matthew, welcome to the program.

Thank you. Thank you, John, for taking my call. Uh, what I, I told your screener that, uh, I wonder, uh, when is there going be some accountability for that disaster in Afghanistan when 13 Marines died.

And it's just like, oh well, it was just an accident.

Like hell it was.

Oh hey, hey Matthew, it's worse than that. It's worse than that. They, they say this was a brilliantly executed operation.

There's something wrong with their heads, you know.

Out.

But anyhow, uh, uh, I'm an old military World War II veteran, and I participated in military burial when at that time they were shipping bodies back from the European campaign. And, uh, a lady and a man came to our VFW post and they asked if we would give them a military burial. So we, we all did. We got our uniforms on and we went to a 30-second in North Olmsted. And anyhow, uh, we, you, if we looked into those eyes of the mother and father and they were ready, you could see they were ready to cry that they lost their son.

Matthew, you are right. You are right. We need accountability. Unfortunately, this is going to be a wrap on the Dennis Prager Show. Thank you all for listening.