Episode Details

Remember Richard Somers on September 4, the day he died in Tripoli in 1804. EDITED TRANSCRIPT OF SETH GROSSMAN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN DEMASI ON WPG TALK RADIO, 95.5FM 1450AM:  August 22, 2026 1. Ceremony to remember Richard Somers on September 4 is as important as remembering September 11. 2. Our book 1676 Project explains why "reparations" in New Jersey is ridiculous. 3. Trump added $10 trillion to create America's $40 trillion national debt. 4. Jihad is only certain way to guarantee forgiveness of sin and eternal life in Paradise. 5. When America was great, people were free to decide what to build on their own land. SETH GROSSMAN: Richard Somers, who was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, died in Tripoli, in North Africa, on September 4, 1804. He died in America's first foreign war. He died fighting the same people who did the same thing to Americans that the Iranians, the Houtis, and the Islamic State ISIS people are doing to Americans right now. Every year on September 4, we celebrate how that sacrifice made by Richard Somers, and all 12 men on his ship, Intrepid, and the American Marines who later went to the Shores of Tripoli kept Americans safe around the world for the next 150 years. When you learn the story of Richard Somers, you understand that the reason we have terrorism and war, and riots and chaos around the world today is because Americans have stopped doing what Richard Somers and those other young Americans did all the time back in 1804. We need to tell that story to more people. We need more people to learn that lesson.  Our ceremony to remember Richard Somers and to tell that story will be one week from next Friday, September 4. It will be at 10 in the morning, the Friday before Labor Day. The details are posted on our Liberty and Prosperity.com website. Only a few dozen people will be with us to remember Richard Somers. A lot more people will be at ceremonies to remember the attacks on America that happened on September 11, 2001. However, if you had a choice of going to just one of those events, you will draw a lot more useful lessons from our ceremony to remember Richard Somers.  Here's why. The story of Richard Somers explains who attacked, and kidnapped and murdered Americans back in 1804, and why they did it. It also explains what we had to do, and what we did to stop them. Some 3,000 Americans were attacked and murdered on September 11, 2001 by those very same people.  And yet hardly any of the ceremonies to remember the victims of September 11, 2001 say a word about who killed them, why they killed them, or what we need to do to stop them from killing Americans again. em say nothing about who killed them, why they killed those Americans, and what we need to do to stop them from attacking us again and killing more Americans. However, all of those questions are answered when you learn the story of Richard Somers 2. Our 1676 Project history book explains why "reparations" in New Jersey are ridiculous. JOHN DEMASI:  You know, I had never heard of Richard  Somers  until you came along. And I guess a lot of people are in the same boat. SETH GROSSMAN: Absolutely. But yet every American once knew all about Richard Somers. Every American school child, who passed the fourth or fifth grade  was once taught about Richard Somers. But after 1940, we started to change what we teach our kids in public school. And today, after 80 years of this, hardly any Americans even heard of Richard Somers. And it's not just about Richard Somers. I just published a whole history book about how New Jersey got started. The book is called 1676 Project: How New Jersey Shaped America. At one time, almost every story in that book was taught to every American by the 8th grade.  And today hardly any of those stories are even mentioned in college, let alone public school. We Americans pay a price for not knowing our history.  Right now, our New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill and the Democrats in the State Legislatu