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President Donald Trump warned Harvard University that it must combat antisemitism on its campuses. Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not comply, so the Trump Administration froze $2.2 billion in grants. The Sekulow team discusses the White House’s response to radical antisemitism at colleges and universities, U.S. foreign policy and tariffs, the ACLJ’s legal work – and much more. Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik joins as a special guest.
SPEAKER 04 :
we got breaking news president trump freezes a shocking amount of funding that was going to harvard keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo we want to hear from you share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110
SPEAKER 03 :
And now your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow. This is Logan Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes is joining me in studio. We’ve got a packed show later on. Jeff Balaban is going to be joining us from ACLJ Jerusalem. And we’re going to have on John Andrasik, a.k.a. Five for Fighting. You’ve heard him on this show many times. He’s coming on because he has a new version of his. Number one smash hit song, Superman, that is with some of the hostage families. A really great tribute. We’re going to talk about that a bit later. And speaking of Israel, the Trump administration made a big… claim that Harvard, sorry about that, Harvard, you no longer are going to get your federal funding because you have not done what we’ve said you’re supposed to. And that was to the tune, let’s hear this dollar figure, to the tune of $2 billion in your federal tax dollars that were going to fund Harvard.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, that’s right. So this is a freeze of actually $2.2 billion. So you left off about $200 million there, Logan.
SPEAKER 1 :
$2.2?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, $2.2 billion. They were originally looking up to $9 billion in freezing. That is still under review. We’ll see what happens there. But this comes after the Department of Education on April 11th sent a letter saying, outlining governance and leadership reforms, merit-based hiring reform, merit-based admissions reform, international admission reform and viewpoint diversity in admissions and hiring, as well as reforming programs with egregious records of anti-Semitism or other bias. Well, Harvard yesterday, late yesterday, announced that they will not be complying with these reforms.
SPEAKER 03 :
They will not bow down to the federal government that was giving them two, let’s say this again, .2. billion dollars now if you were to guess how much harvard was getting you probably could think yeah they’re getting maybe tens of millions of dollars i don’t know if there’s anyone who was thinking that their amount of federal funding for harvard not a cheap place to go to college that’s right it’s about fifty seven thousand dollars a year for just tuition when you add in two
SPEAKER 05 :
200 plus thousand dollars. You add in the other fees associated with it. You’re up to around 80 something thousand dollars a year. Gigantic endowment. Right. Fifty three billion dollars. The largest education endowment in the world, I believe.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Harvard has stated that this actually would be worth somewhere north of nine dollars. billion if defunded, of course, maybe over the length of time. Did you think that’s where your taxpayer dollars were going? These are those moments where we are actually happy not only to see the Doge Department, to see places going in to clean up government waste, because let’s just be honest, I got no beef with Harvard. I got no issues with Harvard. Many of our friends went to Harvard. However, I don’t believe that anyone thinks that $2 billion of our federal funding should be going to Harvard. And of course, now they’ve made it easy because they said, you know what we’re going to let happen? Antisemitism. We’re going to let it keep rising on our campuses. And obviously, those are the new rules from the Trump administration. So you know what? Even without this, I think it was time to re-look at how we are funding these universities at this scale.
SPEAKER 05 :
And when we get back, we’re going to tell you how Harvard responded. You’re not going to believe it, or maybe you will because it’s Harvard. But just the entitlement that you are seeing from these institutions of higher learning that we know where this goes. But just stick around to hear exactly how they responded to this request for reforms from the federal government, giving them billions of dollars.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, phone lines are up. We’re hoping for you at 1-800-684-3110. Can you think of a better place for that $2.2 billion to go to? Why don’t you let us know in the chat or give us a call. Again, we’re going to be joined a little bit later by Jeff Balaban and by John Androsik. Five for fighting. A bit later, again, as we continue our discussion, today’s sort of more Israel-based. And we’re going to be talking also about what that looks like in America. Of course, this is Passover week as well as we head into Holy Week. with Easter this Sunday, so it’s on the minds of everyone. Support the work of the ACLJ while you can. Also, during this Life and Liberty Drive, it’s Tax Day, so you know tonight’s your deadline to get your taxes in, but you can go ahead and make your donation. It’s tax-deductible right now. Welcome back to Seculo. As I said, phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. If you’re just joining us, give you a little bit of recap here. The Trump administration has decided to hold funds from Harvard University, federal dollars that were going to Harvard, to the tune of $2 billion, $2.2 billion in federal funding, now on hold until Harvard gets themselves together and starts going by the rules and regulations the federal government has put in place. Now, a lot of those have to do, of course, coming out of the… the pro-Palestinian pushes and the anti-Semitic pushes that were happening on college campuses, as well as other things that have been put in place well. But Harvard has responded, and you wanted to share that with our audience.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that’s right. So one, Harvard responded in multiple ways. Their attorneys sent a letter to the Department of Education. But we also have a statement that was posted on X from Harvard University’s official account with a quote from President Alan Garber. Remember, this is a new president after the previous president, which I think we should refresh everyone’s minds in a little bit. Joe Biden was the previous president. No, the previous president of Harvard who gave a very Biden-esque performance when she was questioned about anti-Semitism. But here’s what the current president, Alan Garber, said. No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue. This is the university… that is taking billions of dollars from the federal government and is saying, you can’t tell us what to do with that money. There’s also a quote from the Department of Education and the General Services Administration who put out this statement detailing the freeze of the $2.2 billion in the grants. And it says, Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges. That federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws. The federal government is saying, if we’re giving you all this money, you have to uphold civil rights laws. You have to protect the members of your academic community that are being targeted by pro-Hamas terrorists. We saw how bad it got. And they’re trying to say, we’re doing things, but we’re going to do it our way. We’re not going to be beholden to the government making sure that we are following and upholding the civil rights of Jewish students on our campus. That is a serious problem.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s throw it back then.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let’s throw it back. Of course, you said this was the previous president of Harvard. That’s right. They had to leave because of obvious reasons. The pressure was on because of these kind of conversations. This is with Elise Stefanik as well. This happened, what, last year? Yes. A year and a half ago or so. Take a listen.
SPEAKER 10 :
And Dr. Gay, at Harvard, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment? Yes or no?
SPEAKER 09 :
It can be, depending on the context. What’s the context? Targeted as an individual? Targeted at an individual?
SPEAKER 10 :
It’s targeted at Jewish students, Jewish individuals. Do you understand your testimony is dehumanizing them? Do you understand that dehumanization is part of antisemitism? I will ask you one more time. Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules of bullying and harassment? Yes or no?
SPEAKER 09 :
Anti-Semitic rhetoric. And is it anti-Semitic rhetoric? Anti-Semitic rhetoric, when it crosses into conduct that amounts to bullying, harassment, intimidation, that is actionable conduct and we do take action.
SPEAKER 03 :
I forgot. I think I blocked this one out, I’ll be honest, because of how disturbing and disgusting it really was. If you just take out, you know, does it violate calling for the genocide of Jews? Does it violate your rules for bullying and harassment? It can, depending on the context. That was the world we are living in. Sadly, it hasn’t gotten a whole lot better. But the Trump administration has gone in and said, let’s try to help. Let’s try to make this better. Of course, we’re finding out more and more information about what your tax dollars are going to. We’ve been talking about that for decades, that your tax dollars are going to things that you maybe don’t approve of. Of course, we all knew there’s federal funding of universities. Look, I worked for a university last year. I know there’s funding that comes from that. I’m not just saying no one should be receiving any federal funding if you’re in the education system. But do I think that Harvard, one of the biggest… With a $200,000 plus, you know, that’s just the base to go there for four years. Needs with billions of dollars, billions, tens of billions of dollars in endowment. Do they need $2 billion from our taxpayer funding? You got to remember how much a billion is. Right. To then get to your head to $2.2 billion. It’s an unfathomable amount of money. that we are just handing over to Harvard and saying, good luck, have fun. And we’ve been doing that probably for years.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right. And one of the facts that we were talking about in our pre-meeting is that if you were just to decide to count to a billion, Just you. Logan is going to just… This is now your life’s goal. It’s going to take you a while. To count to one billion, just one of them, would take over 31 years. That’s without sleeping. Yeah, I’m assuming that’s without eating, sleeping. You couldn’t make it there.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s just to go one… Two, and then count two.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I mean, maybe you could pick up the pace a little bit.
SPEAKER 03 :
One, two, three. That was pretty slow. Then you could get two. But if you tried to even just sound out a billion dollars, or nine, let’s say, whatever it is, one dollar less, it’s an absurd amount.
SPEAKER 1 :
$999,999,999.
SPEAKER 05 :
It takes more than a second is what you’re trying to get to. Exactly. It’s a large number. Big dollars. This is $2.2 billion going to Harvard, and Harvard’s trying to argue, hey, federal government, you have to give us money, but you can’t say there’s any strings attached. There’s a reason why universities like Hillsdale, and there’s not many of them in this country, but they don’t take any federal dollars. Why? Because they said, we don’t want the federal government to have a say in what we teach here. They admit that. They know that if we take federal money, then they are going to be able to shape the education at our university. Harvard now is trying to say, how dare you? Give us billions of dollars and then try to speak into how we protect Jewish students on campus after what we’ve seen for well over a year and a half at this point. After the October 7th massacres, the attempted genocide in Israel and the way that people on those campuses responded. They’re trying to say, you can’t tell us how to run our own university, but you have to give us this money.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s ridiculous. Let’s take some phone calls. We’ll go to Ron in Pennsylvania. He’s got a question. I think a lot of, I can see in the chat a hundred times, a lot of people have this question. Ron, go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah. Good day. How are you doing? I’m calling from the great, well, it isn’t great, but we’re calling from the state of Pennsylvania and I’m appalled at all these people protesting on campuses. All these Palestinians going out there and they’re burning American flags, they’re raising the Palestinian flag, and there’s no respect for America. All these colleges have trust funds, millions of dollars in them. Why aren’t they using that money to support their needs instead of leaking off of our federal tax dollars?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that’s precisely what we were just talking about. I think this is, again, another eye-opening moment for America as you realize that you’re not talking about a few million dollars that’s going to these universities. I imagine if it’s going to Harvard, then you assume that Ivy League schools in general are probably receiving similar funding.
SPEAKER 05 :
to the tune of billions and billions of dollars you know what’s fascinating about this and i’m so glad ron called is that you know uh the the university at harvard has a 53.2 billion dollar endowment so that is a you know their investment fund their their cash reserves it’s it’s enormous And a lot of times universities, they use that money. They take the interest and they’re able to use that for funding in ways. But it’s a non-taxed pile of money because of their tax-exempt status. And here’s the problem. America writ large, whether it be our government, our institutions, aren’t living within their means. They expect the American people to, but they’re not. They’re saying, and this is what is so ironic to me, is that why their endowment can’t save them is because of many of the donations that are given to the endowment are for specific things. and have strings attached like naming rights, certain scholarship funds, certain buildings to be built. So the money they have has strings attached from private donors. But they’re trying to say that the money that the federal government gives you can’t have strings attached about how to protect the American citizens that are going to this university and that are being targeted because they’re Jewish. That is so outlandish. And they don’t see the irony here. The reporting is like, well, the endowment can’t really save them because they can’t just use that money. How about live within your means and not be so recalcitrant beholden to the federal government’s checkbook that you can’t operate, you can’t be an elite university without getting this money if you’re a, quote, private institution. You’re not. You’re quasi-private, if that at best. You’re more like a public university that is trying to claim this banner of privatized institutions.
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, we’re shining a spotlight on where your tax dollars are going and where they’ve been spent, whether that’s with Planned Parenthood, whether, of course, now you’re hearing about this at Harvard. And, of course, today is Tax Day. it is there’s a midnight deadline we’re gonna throw a midnight deadline on this to fight back join us today it’s tax day stand up scan the qr code you have to stand up literally but scan the qr code go to aclj.org before the deadline tonight right now aclj.org let’s make this a big day to stand up for your beliefs and we’ll be right back with jeff balaban from aclj jerusalem Welcome back to Seculo. Jeff Balaban from ACLJ Jerusalem is joining us. Of course, this is Passover. Of course, also for Christians, it’s Holy Week. Jeff, this is some pretty big moments that are happening in the country right now, whether we’re celebrating around the world these holidays. But of course, you have a moment of time here where Harvard, prestigious university, one of America’s finest, if you will, according to them, says, hey, we still want your $2 billion, your $2.2 billion, again, billion dollars that is coming from the federal government, which I think is an eye-opening moment for a lot of people that that’s even happening. But we don’t want any strings attached, especially not those strings that say we can’t fester anti-Semitism on campus.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. So first of all, just to clarify, we are in the middle of Passover, what’s called an intermediate day, which is why I’m able to join you here. We just came out of the first days where at the Seder night, we famously read how in every generation they rise to destroy our people, and the Holy One, God, saves us from their hands. And it’s very palpable and obvious in this generation that there are many who are rising up. And it’s interesting how, again, somehow… Pharaoh, you know, the Pharaoh, plague after plague after plague, kept on coming back for more. It’s nice to see things happening, beginning to happen under this administration to those who have really been calling openly for the genocide of the Jews, including many at Harvard University being sanctioned, being coddled by faculty and certainly students. And so this is a moral thing to do. This is not just, by the way, threatening America’s students, anybody who would send their child to a school like Harvard, institution like Harvard, would understand that this level of evil exists and is being promoted by the school and protected by the school. Indeed, it seems to be so precious to the school that they’re willing to forego a couple of billion dollars. And now the latest news is that the president is threatening their tax exempt status. Well, good. That needs to happen.
SPEAKER 05 :
And Jeff, the university, through their president, put out a statement saying, no government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue. And then our former president, Barack Obama, also weighed in by reposting that and adding this commentary, Harvard has set an example for other higher ed institutions rejecting the an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate, and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit. The two big issues I see here, besides the fact that we’re handing these piles of cash over to these universities that don’t really serve the American interest at the end of the day, they’re actually fostering ideas that are quite anti-American through the use of these funds, but that even the former president would get on here and say something like, Look how good Harvard is that all students can benefit from an environment of intellectual integrity, rigorous debate, and mutual respect. Has he not turned on a television in the last year and a half and seen what has been happening at his law school alma mater, at his undergrad alma mater, Columbia, which also was given these lists of demands? They decided to… make the deal with the president so they could save $400 million? Still a big number, not quite $2 billion, but how can he sit there and say that this is a culture of mutual respect on Harvard’s campus?
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, let’s be clear. Former President Obama, he was very much at the root of much of this problem of mainstreaming this kind of left wing. We judge people based on their identity, based on this so-called hierarchy of privilege. And at the very top of the hierarchy, the most evil people of all are the Jews. And so President Obama is very much part of bringing this into culture, normalizing this. And so, of course, he’s defending Harvard. He was part of the problem.
SPEAKER 03 :
yeah and jeff when you look at this from a even a bigger perspective right now in this season uh you will brought up are they not watching the news do they not know i was talking to a friend the other day who certainly falls on the other side of the israel gaza situation and it only took about 10 minutes 15 minutes of me really talking to him to realize not only did he not understand the situation really at hand was reading a lot of headlines He was, because of the news he takes in, was blissfully unaware of the anti-Semitic issues that were happening around the country. Probably did not even see the Shapiro home bombing. Governor Shapiro. You know, Governor Shapiro. Now that was, you know, since I’ve spoken with him. But those kind of things, because it fulfills a narrative that the mainstream media doesn’t want to fulfill, it becomes very easy if you’re isolated and you’re only looking at one side of the story.
SPEAKER 02 :
That’s right. There are a lot of people of goodwill in this country who simply are unaware because they’re consuming news, not recognizing that most of the important things that are happening simply aren’t being reported on or things that they would want to know about aren’t being reported on. And this goes across the board. It’s not just how news is reported. It is… What news is omitted? What’s considered news? And this is, as you know, my background, not only in law, but also from the news industry and working for network news and cable news. This is a tremendous amount of the problem I’ve seen in newsrooms across the board. When they consider what it is they want to present to the American public, unfortunately, there is an agenda. And it’s not always an intentional agenda. It’s their own mindset. And so, yes, this is a problem. You’re right. That’s why it’s so necessary that we report this and explain this to people. It’s important that they share it with their friends. And because people don’t even realize how horrifying it’s been simply to exist as a Jew. And by the way, it’s also true to exist even as an openly Christian person in many campuses, right? If you’re openly religious, as we see this at ACLJ all the time, it’s hard. And in the workplace, it’s hard. But the news never really reports about that. It’s It’s not even on campus.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, my son will be 13 this year. We’ve been planning his bar mitzvah, starting to have those conversations. And, you know, it’s a sad time. This is just being honest. When your party planner starts talking about what kind of security are we going to have? What are we going to offer here? Because it’s a real thought that is having to go through the heads of a lot of Jewish people throughout the country and throughout the world. Sure. But also throughout the country.
SPEAKER 02 :
You’re right. And so bring this back to the issue at hand. This is not academic freedom. We are talking about people who have been preaching genocide. We talk about violence, physical violence against students, abuse, harassment, being treated differently on campus if they’re Jewish. This has been going on for quite a while now. It’s been underreported or it’s been misreported or it’s been simply denied. And, you know, you showed the clip of the president of Harvard on. Really, truly unbelievable, except that it’s real. Who, you know, is it anti-Semitic to call for the genocide of the Jewish people? Well, it depends on the context. Well, the context is that Jews are being killed because of being Jews. That’s the context. How’s that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. Jeff, I appreciate you joining us today. I know it’s an important time, an important week for all of us of faith, whether you’re Jewish, whether you’re Christian, whether you’re somewhere in between. It’s an important time for all of us to think about what’s happening around the world and obviously celebrate when we can, of course, for Passover and for the Easter holiday coming up. And I appreciate you joining us. Of course, maybe on a less fun holiday, it’s tax day for us. a lot of people around the country. But remember, you can support the work of the ACLJ at any time. This is a great time to do it because you hear about the amazing work we’re doing here. You hear about the ACLJ Jerusalem. This is a great time. Get your tax deductible donations in. aclj.org slash life and liberty or scan the qr code you know you don’t have to wait until the end of the year i encourage you right now go to aclj.org scan the qr code like i said that’s on the screen right now and make that donation we’ve uncovered where a lot of these you know federal taxes are going well you know where you can put your money you can put that with us to take care of your causes make sure your beliefs are being shared worldwide Hey, we’ve got a second half hour coming up. If you don’t get us on your local station, find us broadcasting live right now on ACLJ.org, on YouTube, on Rumble, and of course on the Salem News Channel. We’ll be right back with more on Sekulow in just under a minute.
SPEAKER 04 :
Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Sekulow. Second half hour coming at you right now. Phone lines are open for you. 1-800-684-3110. If you’re already on hold, stay on hold. We’ll do our best to get to as many calls as we can. Next up, we’re going to have on John Androsik. You may know him as Five for Fighting. He is a new version of their hit song, Superman, which was just a massive hit and was really a rallying cry after 9-11. And of course, he’s back again. to revisit this song in support of the hostage families in israel he’s been one of the biggest proponents the biggest supporters of israel uh in the media in in in pop culture if you will and specifically in music so we’re going to talk to him about that coming up and we’re going to take your calls as i said at 1-800-684-3110 i did want to give you a little update on some aclj work as well we always like to do that this is a big one if you’ve been following our massachusetts case and counter campaign. You may remember they are running the state of Massachusetts, another place tax dollars are going, was funding a campaign trying to get people to avoid quote unquote anti-abortion centers. Of course, what we call pro-life pregnancy resource centers. These are organizations run typically by volunteers that provide prenatal and postnatal care for a lot of families in need. They often provide clothing, formula, ultrasounds, whatever’s needed. We had one family call in and say they paid for their kid’s first birthday party. These are really sweet people that are being viciously attacked by their own state. We decided to fight back in two different ways. Our counter campaign, which has gotten a little bit of notice there all over Massachusetts. Our choice begins here campaign saying, you know, essentially abortion is not your only option. We’re going to actually show you the real choices. There it is right there in some of the most historic areas of Boston. On display. It’s been on display there for the last couple months. And of course, it started in March, and we finally heard about our case, which had been quiet for months and months and months. Wasn’t getting scheduled. Wasn’t getting scheduled. That ad campaign started running, and guess what happened? We heard from the judge, and they scheduled a date, and now it looks like May 8th. There will be oral arguments because the state is trying to get this case dismissed, and we’re going to send our team. The best of the best is going to be there to hopefully… push now of course this is massachusetts this is why we decided that you needed a two-prong effort because guess who will take your money the advertising companies they’re fine with throwing up a billboard so if you can’t win them in the courts we can win their hearts and minds So there’s a way to do it, but we hope to do it both. So now we are in court and that’s going to happen again, May 8th. That is just a couple weeks away. Originally it was going to be earlier, but they said, hey, it’s spring break in Boston. Let’s slow it down a little. We’ve said, no, let’s keep going. May 8th, our team is going to be there. Again, you have heard about this for the last eight, 10 months as we have been working on this. And now we are here. It’s an important time if you’re a supporter of the ACLJ. It’s an important time. We’re talking Harvard. We’re talking Massachusetts. It all kind of starts coming together.
SPEAKER 05 :
A lot of taxpayer dollars being thrown around in the Massachusetts Commonwealth these days.
SPEAKER 03 :
Beautiful area. I love it there. I love it there. But this is an unfortunate situation that’s happening there where they’ve decided, look, we’ve heard from the people of Massachusetts. We know so many of you, especially a large pro-life Catholic group of people that live in that area, saw these campaigns and were just disgusted that their state was doing it. Really taking down, trying to take down, you know, privately run nonprofits typically because they don’t fit the social narrative of the government, the state government of Massachusetts. But again, we’ll be in court and we’re going to be in court soon, Will.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right. And also just as an update to our listeners and viewers, we did have a quick win with that client, that public defender. that was told they could not keep their Bible on their desk. Oh, that’s right. Won that quickly through a letter. Didn’t have to get to a lawsuit stage. And he is now able to keep his Bible on his desk at work and to read it on his time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep. That’s the ACLJ in action. Getting stuff done as quick as possible. Sometimes it takes a year. Sometimes it takes five years. Sometimes it takes one pretty intense demand. And that’s what we did for that client. So he now can have his Bible on his desk. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, support the work of the ACLJ. And coming up next, John Andrasik, good friend of this show, great friend of Israel. And of course, you know him as Five for Fighting. We’ll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110, and I will take your calls in the next segment. But right now, we’re joined by a good friend of the show, a great friend of Israel, John Androsik, a.k.a. Five for Fighting, a person that we’ve been fans of, Will, for decades, and we are lucky to call a friend now. And John, of course, everyone remembers, especially if you’re our generation, when the song Superman came out, and then, of course, the impact it made after September 11th, the concert for New York and everything that happened in that moment. And you have taken this song and you have reimagined it in such a wonderful and beautiful way as you do. So I want to give you a minute to just tell us about how this came about and what our viewers should expect to see from this version of Superman.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, Logan. Always a pleasure to see you. A couple of weeks ago, Alone, OL’s mother, Alone is a hostage still in Gaza, reached out to her team and asked if we could do a musical collaboration. Alone is a wonderful piano player actually in the middle of hostage where his piano sits there, and people kind of walk by and play it. And when I was in Israel literally a year ago today, I sat at that piano, and I played. And I played our song OK that you know, and I played Superman. And that night, I actually played at Hashish Square for Israel. And when Edith reached out, it became very clear what song we should do. As you mentioned, Superman being one of the songs that recognize the heroes of 9-11. October 7 is Israel’s 9-11. So we got some pictures. And the first picture they sent me to put in the video was Alone as an 8-year-old boy wearing Superman jammies. And it ends our video. And every time I see it, it’s hard to keep my composure. But we made this video to keep the hostages’ plight in the front and center, support Alone’s family and all the hostages. As you know, it’s day 557. They’re still in these tunnels in Gaza and music has a way of breaking through. So it was an honor to do it. We’re very excited that it’s going viral globally and whatever we can do to keep the focus on these families, we will do that.
SPEAKER 03 :
John, you bring up that it’s been a year since you’ve been there. And I think that was pretty shortly after that you joined us here in studio or maybe before then. Of course, that was also the night that there was a massive rocket attack. And this is what time gets blurry. And I’m glad you’re doing this song now because it has been now so many days. But in some ways, it feels like it was yesterday that you were here talking about that. The fact that it’s been a year, it’s just wild that we’re still having this conversation and still having to convince people that the right side of this is for those who want to help get these hostages that are still there out.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’re so right. I mean, it’s an outrage of humanity that we’re having this conversation. You know, if on October 8th, 2023, every world leader, every politician, every pundit, every musician, frankly, of heart and soul had stood up and demanded that the hostages be released immediately. This would have been over in a week. But here we are, as you said, 17 months in, these families. Can you imagine? When I met with the families in Israel, I had my 24-year-old son with me sitting next to me and meeting with these families whose kids were that age. And I kept thinking, if this was my son, I could not get out of bed. I don’t know if I could survive. But they fight every day. I was working with Rachel Goldberg when Hirsch was killed. Our hearts still break for that. So what they go through is amazing. unimaginable, but they do it. They get up and fight. So at least we can fight with them.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, and John, one of the unfortunate symptoms of what we’ve seen in the United States after October 7th was the cancer that is anti-Semitism, how it raised its head in the United States. And And I know you’ve been speaking out loudly against it. You’ve been calling on fellow artists to also speak out against this, even though the mainstream within those communities may not want you to. And you even see today that Harvard University is pushing back, saying that you can’t take our money away from us just because we won’t stand up and protect Jewish students on campus.
SPEAKER 03 :
Bill,
SPEAKER 05 :
2.2 billion dollars and i love what you did point out on on your ex account at john andrasek where you replied to harvard’s absurd statement that no government should dictate how what private universities can teach and whom they can admit and hire and you just simply pointed out how much does cutter pay you because we know in reality what is going on at many of our highest institutions in this country is that they are being influenced by governments, pocketbooks that are writing big checks, and it’s not to stand up for Jewish Americans that attend university there.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, look, Qatar has sent over $4 billion to many of our elite universities. And here’s the hypocrisy of their statement of moral certitude. Imagine that a student came from Norway and started a group at Harvard calling for the death of all Muslims and raising these big encampments with wearing masks, talking about how Muslims should not exist and not allowing Muslims to walk across campus and assaulting Muslims on campus. Do you think Harvard would be standing there, you know, preening about free speech? We can do whatever we want. So it’s a complete joke. I don’t see how anybody could send their kids to any of these schools. And you’re actually seeing that you saw Columbia. Nobody wants to send your kids there. Who would want to? So, yeah, it’s again. I keep wanting to not write a song about these elite universities because I’ve written too many songs, but I just may have to because they’re such a joke and a disgrace to our country. So, yeah, it’s again, they continue to shame themselves. And but luckily, we finally have an administration that holds them accountable. Fine. If you don’t want to take any public funding, why are we sending them money anyways? They have a 20 billion dollar endowment. So good. Yeah, do whatever you want, Harvard. We won’t send our kids. You won’t get our money. You know, go to Qatar, you know, sell your soul and let’s just move on.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, that’s the wake up call I think a lot of people had. I’m looking at our chat right now on YouTube and on Rumble. People were shocked. I mean, I was shocked. When I got on the phone with Will this morning, we were talking about the show, and he goes, yeah, they’re going to cut funding. I said, okay. He’s like, it’s $2.2 billion. I was like, $2.2 billion? I go, I don’t know if people can understand. Billions. That means it’s going to them, by the way. It’s going to a lot of the other elite universities. That is not just an alone $2.2 billion. It’s a wild number. And, of course, this comes after two years of all the chaos that’s happened on these campuses. And, John, I mentioned this in the last segment. I was talking to my friends who certainly on the other side, let’s say of this topic than you and I with Israel. And I brought up the anti-Semitism around the country. I brought up the campus situations and blissfully unaware that it was even happening because their version of the news is, Very different than the news that we all take in. We’re actually paying attention to what’s going on. Sadly, if it’s not fitting a narrative, it’s going to be spun, as Harvard said, you know, we are not going to allow them. We still need our money, but we’re not going to allow it to impact our views.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, that’s one reason we do these musical projects, right? Because, you know, the reality is, is no speech, no op-ed is going to get on TikTok where the kids are being indoctrinated and reach people like your friend, you know, who are kind of living in the bubble, really don’t understand what’s happening on our campuses and just kind of listen to the AP and the BBC and the, you know, Gaza Hamas health network and all that stuff. Music does cut through that. And at least when they see projects like this one, they may not necessarily agree with us right away, but they see the human side. They see the reality that they won’t get. And that’s why it’s been such a shame. And we’ve talked about this, Logan, such a historical shame that the music industry has been silent from day one on October 7th. Well,
SPEAKER 03 :
I just want to encourage people, though, to co-see you also, because you’re on the road. You have a big tour starting, your string quartet tour. You’re coming to Nashville. I look forward to seeing you there. But also, you know, a full electric tour that’s happening. And I think it’s important to support people like you who are out there spreading this kind of message.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, thank you. Yeah, it’s great. We’re going out to the Spring Quartet next week in the Midwest and then put out the rock band. We’re bringing Vertical Horizon. You remember them. Of course. From the 90s in August. And I know I’m going to see you, Logan, and some of your family. I believe it’s May 4th in Nashville. But yeah, love to see folks. And we always do a song that recognize our troops and recognize Israel. So we’re all on the same page here.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s a beautiful show. It’s absolutely worth going to. I wanted to wrap up by giving you a second and then I want to play a little bit of your version of Superman, the new version to head us into the next segment. But just how can people find the version? Where should they go to share this to make sure people see it?
SPEAKER 07 :
we really appreciate it it’s it’s going viral you know you can follow john andrasik on twitter you’ll see the video there you can go to fight for fighting youtube page uh fight for fighting music on instagram and i think it’s really important that we continue to have this grow because this is how we get to the folks who don’t understand what’s happening this is how we get to the kids this is how do we get to those kids on campus that we need to save
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. John, thank you so much as always for joining us. I look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. If you are listening to this and you feel compelled and you feel like you need to, go share this. We’ve shared it on our social media. I’ll make sure we continue to share it. But also if you want to call in a few thoughts or comments, call us 1-800-684-3110. We’re going to take as many calls as we can coming up. And here is a bit of the new version of Superman.
SPEAKER 07 :
To be.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome back to Secula. We are going to take your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. This is a great time to get your voice heard on the air. I want to thank also not only our ACLJ supporters, but our ACLJ champions, those that give on a monthly basis. And when you make your donation during the Life and Liberty Drive, and look, it’s tax day. I know that a lot of people, money’s on the mind, if you will. This is a great time to donate. Your donations are doubled. If you become a champion, your first donation is still effectively doubled. So there’s still an ACLJ other champion or a member ready to unlock their donation. So I encourage you to scan that QR code if you see it on the screen right now, or go to ACLJ.org today. You obviously heard about the Massachusetts case. That’s happening May 8th in court. We got to send our team there. We got to make sure everyone is taken care of, that we can hopefully have a positive outcome. But of course, that also funds our media campaign and our counter campaign that we’ve been running. It’s been a really beautiful experience to help support those pro-life pregnancy resource centers. All right, let’s go ahead and take some phone calls. Let’s go to Candy. I’m sorry, Candy, you’ve been a hold for a long time. We had a lot of guests on this show today, but we appreciate you holding. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, yes. If I remember correctly, Harvard at one time with the Founding Fathers was a Christian-based college. In fact, the Founding Fathers, some of them were… graduated Harvard, plus we were all, well they were all Jewish, pro-Jewish, pro-Israel.
SPEAKER 05 :
Candy, every single Ivy League school, except for Cornell, which was officially nonsectarian, but every single Ivy League school was founded by a denomination. They were all Christian universities. They were the first universities in this country, and they all were founded by churches. that the belief was that the churches would foster education in this country. It wasn’t the role of the government to create the universities that came later, but this was the founding of the highest forms of education in our country and how far we’ve gone. that religious instruction that could foster scientific creativity and discovery and really build up the minds of America, that now it is the polar opposite view by these universities that they want to keep religion away from their students and they want to be pushing the humanist atheist agenda is they say at odds with the teachings of the church and so it is just such a stark contrast of where these universities got their roots to rise to be some of the most elite universities in the world and they have abandoned completely their roots I mean Princeton was their president was Jonathan Edwards Of the Great Awakening. Not vice presidential candidate. No, John Edwards. Jonathan Edwards of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God that people learn in high school. It is great American literature. And that was the president of that university. You cannot fathom that being the case, especially today when you hear the statements of university presidents when they are questioned about anti-Semitism. It flies in the face of the very founding of these universities.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right, let’s continue on. Will just went on his Calvinist rant. Let’s go to Lois, who’s in Maryland on line one. Go ahead. You’re on the air. We learned that in school. I don’t know what school. Lois, go ahead. You’re on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Oh, thank you, Jay, for all you’re doing. You’re just fighting back, but it seems like a tsunami of… anti-Semitism, anti-Christian, anti-truth, anti-biblical truth. I believe college professors even don’t teach anything but I mean, it’s Marxism. My father was a Marxist, and it’s a very cruel, cruel thing. And he graduated from Columbia University, which is a Marxist college. But I went to a liberal arts college, and they even invited Gus Hall, which was a Marxist. I mean, I’m telling you, to me, it’s such a tsunami. I cannot, I don’t want to give up. But I feel like it’s so overwhelming. The money that is being poured into these… Yeah, you’d think that. And they come out being Marxist and communist. They come out not knowing anything. They don’t know the truth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Lois, I agree. And I feel like the money figure is going to be that wake-up call that’s going to slap a lot of people in the face. Because I think we all kind of sadly knew, like you’re right, the communists, the Marxists, that whole situation that was coming out of these elite universities. And I can tell you also, as someone who has worked in the university system, is there is often a disparity from the people that are in faculty and the people that are the students. And a lot of times, the students are not representative of who the top people are there. And that’s, I think, somewhat what you see also. Do I think that every student going into Harvard is going into this thinking, oh, I’m going to come out of this as some sort of anti-Semitic communist? No, I don’t think that’s probably their plan. They hope to go to an elite university with great education where they’re going to secure an excellent job. But sadly, it has risen to that.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s right. And when you also, it’s not like this talk of the institutional rot at universities and the brainwashing of Americans that goes on and then you get, Also, you come out on the other side of college and you’ve got $200,000 in debt. And all of the issues with the U.S. education system, especially the higher education system, it’s not like this is all new. But I think one of the worst things that Harvard did with their letter responding was now I think a lot more Americans are going to be aware of Department of Education funding to elite universities that don’t agree with their viewpoints. And when… The left was trying to say, don’t take down the Department of Education. When you find out that their funding and the huge budget of the Department of Education is going to things like billions of dollars to Harvard, I think people are going to be like, yeah, maybe we don’t need it. Those people, I know many on the right are already there, but I think people in the middle are going to be like, wait. Oh, that’s what the Department of Education does. It just writes grants to these elite universities that are very selective and hard to get into, but they’re supposed to be private and have billions of dollars in endowments. I think that means everyone’s going to be upset.
SPEAKER 03 :
We need to start an elite university.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think it’s too late. You can’t get in now? I don’t know. They’ve capped it? I think the elite university game you had to start a while ago, like the 1770s.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I know. I don’t know. We get some property in Boston. He’s going to get it and then wait 300 years and we’ll be good. Oh, man. Hopefully then Elon can come up with the brain thing that keeps us alive forever. Then we’ll be good to go. Okay. All right. Phone lines are closed. But you know what’s not closed right now? The ability to support the work of the ACLJ. So I’m going to encourage you right now to go to ACLJ.org. Look, you’ve heard about all the funding that we have uncovered. It is wild. These numbers should shock you, should surprise you. Again, $2.2 billion just to Harvard. You’ve got to think about that from a perspective of how much a billion dollars is. I know it’s easy to say that, but when you just actually look at the math, It’s wild that we’re doing this. It’s wild we’re doing this to universities, as our last caller said, that seem to want to fester hate and anti-Semitism and anti-Christian bias, that it just continues to grow and grow without anyone checking in on it. But thankfully, now we do have administration that is. I want to encourage you, of course, support the work of ACLJ. Check out, though, our friend John Andrasik, his version of Superman. Make sure you share that. When you support the ACLJ, you’re supporting ACLJ Jerusalem. And you heard from Jeff Malabon. Of course, it’s the Passover holiday as well as Holy Week. Go hand in hand if you’ve ever read the story. It should be happening at the same time. And of course, we hope you all have a great rest of your day. And it’s tax day. Take a breath. And if you can, throw up that QR code. It’s not that I don’t want you to see my pretty face. Of course, I do. But right now, you need to scan that QR code. Go to ACLJ.org. We’ll talk to you tomorrow with more on Secula.
