Loading summary
Transcript131 lines
- [00:00]
Karen Kilgariff
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
Tony Ayo
This is Tony Ayo from the Real Report with Tony Ayo and Uncle Murder. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent, streaming, even extra Sosa at your favorite burrito spot. But with Boost Mobile, you don't have to play the Willis Go up soon game. Boost Mobile offers an unlimited talk, text and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for Life. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up. Only at boost mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they rem active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
- [00:34]
America 250 Announcer
This July 4th come celebrate at America's Block Party Hosted by America 250, America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
- [00:44]
Karen Kilgariff
Experience music, performances by major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history.
- [00:54]
America 250 Announcer
It's more than just fireworks.
- [00:56]
Karen Kilgariff
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets now for $17.76 at america250.org hi, it's Karen and Georgia
- [01:06]
Jack Armstrong
from My Favorite Murder.
- [01:07]
Karen Kilgariff
We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
- [01:13]
Jack Armstrong
Want the full story?
- [01:14]
Karen Kilgariff
Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes and in fact, she helps him design a faster plane. So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode spotlighting groundbreaking innovators like Hedy and Lamarr and Billie Jean King.
- [01:37]
Jack Armstrong
Presented by the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
- [01:40]
Karen Kilgariff
Goodbye.
- [01:42]
Startpage Advertiser
Ever look something up online and then see ads for it everywhere? That's not a coincidence. Startpage is the private search engine that finds what you need without anyone finding out you asked. Try startpage.com that's startpage.com a burst pipe,
- [01:58]
Jack Armstrong
a dead water heater, the AC calling it quits. Who do you call? HomeServe is an easy way to handle unexpected home repairs with plans covering stuff basic homeowners insurance usually won't. Instead of scrambling for a contractor, you make one call to get the repair process started. Join the millions of customers who trust HomeServe right now. Go to HomeServe.com podcast for 50% less your first year. That's HomeServe.com podcast savings compared to Renewal Price Void in Florida. Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
- [02:37]
Jason Rantz
Armstrong and Getty.
- [02:38]
Jack Armstrong
And now he's Armstrong and Getty. It's not just New York. There are other races around the country where these socialists candidates are coming to the fore. It will obviously remain to be seen if they can win the election in a fall. They most certainly are likely to in New York because the districts in which the three candidates prevailed were pretty hard left districts to begin with where the siren song of socialism may have some appeal. It happens, I guess, at least once every generation. And these are young voters who turned out, I guess, to support these three candidates, some of whom are maybe having trouble finding jobs. The siren song of socialism. How popular is it for average Americans? I don't know, maybe Lon Hee Chen does. He's the Director of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University. Lonnie, thanks for joining us today. Appreciate your time.
- [03:41]
Lonnie Chen
Great to be with you, Jack.
- [03:43]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, you're younger than me, but I thought that that whole issue of whether or not we would ever want to be a socialist country was dead buried and not an argument we needed to have, but apparently we do.
- [03:54]
Lonnie Chen
Well, I think it kind of is a little bit consistent with some of the populist sentiment that we have right now. You know, I think that there are these ideas that socialist candidates promote that, you know, if the siren song, that was Brit Hume, who you had on earlier, that really is the right way to describe it because you've got all these policies that people just sort of say, well, gosh, that, that sounds pretty good. I mean, why don't we take from one group that has a lot, why don't we, you know, give that to everybody else? Why don't we think about increasing the size of government so that government can do more? All of these ideas to those probably who have a slightly more populous streak, might at first glance seem attractive. And I think there's a consistency to the success of socialist candidates, particularly in urban areas like New York. And we didn't even talk about la, but in LA you're going to have a socialist running against someone who's incompetent. But really that is one of the things I think that is appealing to people is just look, it seems like a really easy solution, solution to what is a really difficult set of economic problems. So I kind of see the socialism, the rise of socialism in America as consistent with the broader kind of populist streak we see across our politics.
- [05:09]
Jack Armstrong
How big A problem? Is it for the Democratic Party? Are they going to get steamrolled by the Socialists? Are they going to be able to keep them at bay?
- [05:17]
Lonnie Chen
Well, I think that's a. That's a huge question, particularly as they look ahead to 2028. I mean, putting aside whatever happens in the midterm elections this November, how these candidates do in places like New York and California, the big question, I think, is what does the heart and soul of the Democratic Party look like? And those kinds of questions, by the way, Jack, you know, these are the kinds of questions that only get resolved during presidential election years. And I think the Democrats are gonna have to resolve what kind of party are they going to be. Are they going to be a party that tries to put together a governing coalition that is, you know, left, center, left? Or are they gonna become the party of aoc, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders? And that question was put off for a couple years by the Biden administration. It was put off by the crowning of Kamala Harris. And now they're gonna have to resolve that question as they go to 2028. And I don't know where they're gonna come out, because I think if they come out on the side of the socialists, it will doom them to not being able to win a national election, in my view, for several cycles.
- [06:21]
Jack Armstrong
Right.
- [06:21]
Lonnie Chen
And it's gonna be a big problem for them.
- [06:24]
Levar Arrington
Yeah.
- [06:24]
Jack Armstrong
I've been likening it to the Tea Party back in the day, in 2010, Joe and I got pretty involved in the Tea Party and. And liked a lot of the stuff they stood for. But then you had some candidates that put Tea Party next to their name, and they were whack jobs, but because they had Tea Party next to the name, they won. And it kind of discredited the whole movement. And then some of them, you know, discredited the entire Republican Party. And I'm looking at some of these people that won the other night. This one woman, because we're learning more about them after they won. This one woman, she demanded the total eradication of Western civilization at one point.
- [07:01]
Lonnie Chen
Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, the more that we dig in to the records of various people who have been successful, who are part of this democratic socialist movement, the more we're going to discover things that are not just out of step with where most Americans are, but that are truly odious policy positions, I mean, truly offensive policy positions, ones that people look at and remind them of why Democratic socialists are out of step with, frankly, most voters in this country. So it will be Very interesting as we go on. Again, I thought Britt made the right point there, which is that these people can win elections in the middle of New York City or the middle of la. But the problem you're gonna have is that the image of these people, what they stand for, who they are, is going pollute the broader image of the Democratic Party, which, by the way, isn't great right now. If you ask Americans what they think of the Democratic Party, they don't have an incredibly favorable impression of it. And I think this is one of the challenges they're gonna have is if you've got more centrist Democrats, people like John Fetterman, the senator from Pennsylvania, who represents a more moderate form of the Democratic Party. How is that going to work if you've got a bunch of socialists running around who define who you are? That's the challenge.
- [08:17]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. He actually tweeted out yesterday about some of those candidates. He said, why am I the only Democrat in the US Senate that refuses to excuse this or defend any of those self identified Communists?
- [08:27]
Lonnie Chen
There you go. There you go. And by the way, Fetterman was, you know, he's been one of the few Democrats to break ranks and vote with President Trump and Republicans on some key issues, some key policy issues, and you've got a few others, too, who have tried to take on a more moderate tone, but they're getting drowned out right now, Jack. Totally drowned out by these socialists. And the funny thing is, not the first time it's happened in the Democratic Party in the last couple years.
- [08:53]
Jack Armstrong
Right. Well, I was wondering how much of it is the economic stuff, the socialism part, or how much of it is the antisemitism. We don't, you know, free, free Palestine part.
- [09:04]
Lonnie Chen
It's all part of the same toxic stew, in my view. It's. It all gets caught up together. And this is the really dangerous part of it for the Democratic Party is that, you know, for many, many years, the Democratic Party was pretty solid on issues relating to Israel and our partnership with Israel, the important role that Israel plays in the region. And in the last couple of years, this sort of pro Palestinian, pro Hamas movement that has gained power and traction within the Democratic Party has become a much bigger definitional piece to the point now, Jack, where you've got certain Democrats who are using it as a litmus test.
- [09:45]
Jack Armstrong
Yep.
- [09:46]
Lonnie Chen
Did you get money from aipac? Did you get money supporting Israeli and pro Israel causes? And if you did, you are not pure enough to be in the Democratic Party.
- [09:57]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah.
- [09:57]
Lonnie Chen
And that, I think, is a big problem for them.
- [09:59]
Jack Armstrong
I haven't heard anybody who's been accused of that because they did take money from AIPAC who said, you're damn right I did. And I'm proud. I haven't heard exactly say that.
- [10:07]
Lonnie Chen
They all back away.
- [10:08]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I did.
- [10:08]
Lonnie Chen
But, yeah, yeah, they all back away. They all figure out a way to cover their rear ends. And it's shameful. I think it's just shameful. So all of this together has created this, what I would consider a toxic stew of modern leftist politics that has become a bigger and bigger part of the Democratic Party. And that's why they have a definitional problem, in my view, as they go into 2028. So it doesn't matter what more mainstream candidates might say, because the dialogue will be dominated by AOC and Nithya Rahman and all the rest.
- [10:41]
Jack Armstrong
Yep. The way Bill Maher was able to talk about the Teabaggers and discredit the entire Republican Party back in the day.
- [10:47]
Lonnie Chen
Yeah, yeah, very. It's very similar. Thing.
- [10:51]
Jack Armstrong
Speaking of 2028, one guy who'd like to be president in 2028 is Gavin Newsom, governor of California. And there's a new. Another story in the LA Times about this investigation that the Trump Justice Department is doing into the first couple. And the first partner, California's first partner targeted by Trump. Newsom says, here's what we know about her career and finances. The LA Times digging in to the finances of Gavin Newsom's wife. Is this a real story? Does this have legs?
- [11:22]
Lonnie Chen
I think it does. I certainly do think it's. There's a story here. There's certainly an investigation that needs to be done. And by the way, it's very easy, I think, for the governor to dismiss it as purely politically motivated that keeps in line with the predominating sort of center of Democratic Party messaging now, which is basically anything that Trump does, we don't like. And, you know, rather than sort of addressing the accusations and, you know, helping people understand what is and isn't truthful, they just sort of say the whole thing's a smear. And, you know, the problem with this sort of thing is that there's a drip, drip, drip to it all. And then when the campaign actually gets started and he's actually running, the people who are going to use this stuff are not the Republicans, Okay? It's going to be his Democratic opponents, the people like aoc. They're the ones who are going to deploy it against him. So from a political perspective, he's got to figure out how to Lance, this boil. And the answer is not simply to say, well, it's a politically motivated investigation. I think there does need to be some substantive rebuttal and it's got to come sometime soon.
- [12:28]
Jack Armstrong
Well, you know, a lot of people in California politics, and you're a high road guy and not a bomb chucker, but are the whispers out there that, you know, his, him and his wife made a lot of money in ways that ain't cool?
- [12:40]
Lonnie Chen
I mean, look, there are a lot of whispers. I don't necessarily know what is and isn't real. I think there needs to be that, that that's why there's an investigation and that's why the LA Times and other media organizations are probably going to dig into this a little bit, because there are some murmurs and some rumors that they're gonna try and chase down. Are all of them gonna be true? Probably not. But if enough of them are true that it casts a shadow over his candidacy and over who he is and what he's done during his time in office in a competitive primary in 2028, that could be enough to ensure he doesn't get the nomination. So he's got a political problem and potentially a legal problem. I don't wanna speak to the legal piece of it because who knows? But politically, certainly for him. So they've got to deal with it.
- [13:28]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Mark Halperin thinks it'll keep him from running. They'll decide they just don't want to put their family through this.
- [13:32]
Lonnie Chen
Yeah, well, he wouldn't be the first one to beg off a run because there was just too much, you know, where there's, where there's smoke, there's fire. So we'll see.
- [13:43]
Jack Armstrong
It doesn't help that you had the Biden family and everything they did around their money stuff, and then you got Trump and his family doing it, that it just kind of makes everybody think, well, this is what everybody does.
- [13:55]
Tony Ayo
Yeah.
- [13:55]
Lonnie Chen
I mean, and that's sort of the unfortunate reality of our politics now is that people, I think, have sort of discounted a lot of people in public service and they've said, look, these guys are all crooks. And what it does is it really takes our politics and our discussion down a level. And this has been happening for a long time, Jack. It's not a recent phenomenon, but I think it's become particularly acute now with what we've seen over the last couple of years. And it makes me sad personally because we should hold in public to a higher, and they should. A higher stand doesn't seem you know, things happen.
- [14:33]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I absolutely agree with that. Lon He Chen, appreciate you joining us today. Director of Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University. Always really good to get your insight. And yeah, I too would like a return of the character issue, but I, I don't think it's in our future anytime soon. You look at Graham Platner up in Maine and you know, it's just more of he's on our side and we could win a seat, so we'll overlook whatever and that just at least for the near future of our politics. The character issues over. I, I think, man, I grew up with the character issue being a big deal in politics, man. If you were a, a crook or cheating on your wife or any of that sort of stuff, you had to drop out. But obviously those days are over. We got a lot more on the way. Stay here. Armstrong and Getty. Armstrong and Getty here for hims, there are all kinds of great weight loss approaches that fit into your world out there. They've got them at hims with a wide range of affordable GLP1 options. You've got weight loss goals, but hitting them is another story. Check out Weight Loss by hims. It's designed to support you in losing the weight and keeping it off. And Hims now offers access to an affordable range of FDA approved GLP1 medication, including the Wegovy pill and the Wegovy pen. Through hims, everything happens online. You'll connect with a licensed provider who will determine if treatment's right for you and then if prescribed, your medication is delivered right to your door. No insurance necessary. Ready to reach your goals? Visit himss.comarmstrong to get a personalized affordable plan that gets you. That's H I M S.com Armstrong hims.com Armstrong Weight loss by HIMSS is not available in all 50 states. WeGovy is the registered trademark of Novo Nordisk as to get started and learn more, including important safety information, WeGovy clinical study information and restrictions, visit HIMSS.com this
- [16:29]
America 250 Announcer
July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
- [16:38]
Karen Kilgariff
Experience music, performances by major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history.
- [16:48]
America 250 Announcer
It's more than just fireworks.
- [16:50]
Karen Kilgariff
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets now for $17.76 at america250.org LA this is Tony Ayo
- [17:00]
Tony Ayo
from the Real Report with Tony Ayo and Uncle Murder. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent's going up, streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don' to play the Willis Go up soon game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life, meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan. While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s. And when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement, some things never change. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up. Only at boost mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on a Boost Unlimited plan.
- [18:00]
Startpage Advertiser
They track they target prices can climb. Startpage is the private search engine that helps keep what you look up online from becoming a price tag. Try startpage@startpage.com that's startpage.com this is lavar
- [18:15]
Levar Arrington
arrington from two pros and a cup of joe and my dog Mr. Sticks and I can't wait to try Chewy. Chewy has over 100,000 products from all the brands pets love food, treats, beds, toys and everything. Ships in one to two days. They also make the healthy stuff simple, with prescriptions, pet insurance, vet visits and new vet clinics rolling out nationwide. Their 247 customer service is top tier and with the one year satisfaction guarantee, anything that doesn't work can be returned for life. With pets, the answer is chewy. Say $20 on your first order with free shipping at chupanions.chewy.com 2 pros Meanwhile,
- [18:54]
Lonnie Chen
a Brooklyn escort service is charging World
- [18:57]
Jason Rantz
cup soccer players up to $10,000 an hour.
- [19:01]
Lonnie Chen
Why so steep a price? Because it takes them two hours to score.
- [19:10]
Jason Rantz
That's what happens when you can't use your hands.
- [19:17]
Jack Armstrong
I heard something yesterday. I was listening to some music radio. Apparently chicks are digging the soccer players and there's a pretty big man. Those soccer players are cute sort of thing going on among women in the country. And soccer legs legs has become a thing. Soccer legs. Having soccer legs is very popular. So I guess those Would be big beefy legs, I guess. But then you got withered little Tyrannosaurus rex arms because you don't get to use your arms if you want. That bunch of Supreme Court rulings came down. I haven't had a chance to look at all of them. It's just been in the last few minutes and I've been talking to guests, but this is a pretty big gun one. So four years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that law abiding persons had a right to obtain a permit to carry a concealed gun when they left home. That's assuming you live in a county where your sheriff will allow you get a concealed permit. That's its own issue. But the Supreme Court also agreed that there were sensitive places where guns may be prohibited, such as schools, courts and other buildings. Right. You can carry the concealed weapon, but not schools, courts and some other government buildings. Well, in response to that, lawmakers in California and Hawaii came up with their own list of sensitive places. And they expanded it from courts and government buildings and schools to parks, beaches, playgrounds, places of worship, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, all kinds of different places where you were not allowed to carry a concealed weapon. Or if you can't carry a concealed weapon in any of those situations, there's a barely any point in having a concealed weapon. So gun owners sued, the 9th Circuit Court refused to block most of those restrictions and it ended up in the Supreme Court. And in a ruling has come down now that California had gone too far by record by, by doing that. And it's now back to it's, it's from an opt in to an opt out. Or do I have it backwards? Anyway, it used to be you couldn't carry your gun into a, a grocery store. Now you can unless the owner of the grocery store decides he doesn't want you to. So there's still a property rights element to it, which I completely get. I own a grocery store. I should be able to say I don't want anybody with a gun in here. The problem with that though, so I'm pro property rights. The problem with that though, of course is all you're doing, hey, grocery store owners, letting you know or you know, whoever is going to put up a sign saying no guns allowed. No concealed weapons allowed here. All you're going to do is keep the law abiding trained. Went through the process. People from carrying a gun in there. A bad guy who wants to come in with a gun and shoot the place up or is dangerous is still going to carry his gun. Why doesn't everybody get that the laws only have an effect on law law abiding citizens. They don't stop the bad guy. You can put up a sign that says no guns allowed here and you're not going to get the maniac show up to the grocery store who and say oh dang, I was going to shoot the place up but you got a sign that says no guns so I guess I won't. However, he goes in there with a gun and decides to shoot the place up and you won't have a law abiding citizen, a good guy with a gun to use the phrase who maybe could stop him because you stopped the law abiding citizen. But that's where we are in that ruling. It's definitely seen as a win for the gun rights crowd of which I am a member, not an official member, but I own guns and soon to be a Glock which is about to be outlawed in California. That's its own story. Maybe I'll more on that later. Gonna talk to our old boss Jason Rance coming up from Seattle. Stay tuned.
- [23:12]
America 250 Announcer
Armstrong and getty this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
- [23:24]
Karen Kilgariff
Experience music, performances by major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history.
- [23:33]
America 250 Announcer
It's more than just fireworks.
- [23:35]
Karen Kilgariff
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets now for $17.76 at america250.org Ellen this is Tony Ayo
- [23:45]
Tony Ayo
from the Real Report with Tony Ayo and Uncle Murder. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent's going up, streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrito spot suddenly thinks salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the Will this go up soon? Game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life. Meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan. While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you, Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement. Some things never change. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up, only at boost mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
- [24:45]
Startpage Advertiser
They track, they target that hotel, those shoes, your searches, your clicks. Every time you come back, prices can change. When websites know you want something, look again and all of a sudden it costs more and they saw you coming. Startpage, the private search engine, helps keep what you look up online from becoming a price tag. Nothing saved, nothing to use against you. What you search for is your business. Try StartPage, the private search engine@startpage.com that's
- [25:12]
Levar Arrington
startpage.com this is Levar Arrington from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe. Let's switch gears for a minute and let's talk about my dog, Mr. Sticks. Super sweet, super smart, intelligent, a gentle giant. I need to keep my guy happy, which is why I can't wait for him to try Chewy. Chewy offers over 100,000 products from all the brands. Pets, love food, treats, beds, toys, the whole lineup and everything ships fast, usually in one to two days. And Chewy isn't just for dogs. It's for cats, birds, fish, reptiles. Every kind of pet is covered. Keeping Mr. Sticks healthy matters too, and Chewy makes that part easy. They handle prescriptions, offer pet insurance, and even provide telehealth vet visits for quick advice. Plus, vet clinics are rolling out across the country. And when it comes to support Chewy's 247 customer service is top tier. Expert help is always available and with their one year satisfaction guarantee guarantee, anything that doesn't work for Mr. Sticks can be returned with no hassle. For life with pets. The answer is chewy. Save $20 on your first order with free shipping at chupanions.chewy.com 2 pros this
- [26:27]
Jacob Goldstein
is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O D O o dot com. That's O D O o dot com.
- [26:59]
Jack Armstrong
How ya doing? Thanks for joining us. Got lots of cool stuff to talk about. I definitely want to get to that story about people are Giving their kids the GLP1s be a good idea, but, man, there ain't a lot of data out there about how it affects kids when they're still growing and all that sort of stuff. Want to welcome to the Armstrong and Getty Show, Jason Rants. If you watch Fox, you see him all the time on there. And, Jason, congratulations on your TV presence so much. Been a radio host forever in seattle on seattle red 7:70am Jason was even our boss for a cup of coffee and is a really good guy. Hey, Jason, how you doing?
- [27:32]
Jason Rantz
Doing well. Thanks for having me.
- [27:34]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. And congratulations on all your TV success. I see it, like, every day.
- [27:37]
Jason Rantz
No, you know, they keep me busy. It's Fox News Nation, cnn.
- [27:42]
Jack Armstrong
So are you a Seattle native? You've been there your whole life?
- [27:44]
Jason Rantz
No. So I've been here 17 years or so. I'm actually. So. I was born in New York, but I grew up in Los Angeles. I ended up coming out here about 16, 17 years ago, and I first
- [27:56]
Jack Armstrong
visited Seattle on vacation, I don't know, 30 years ago or something like that. And I remember, first time I ever went, I thought, wow, it's like a clean San Francisco. This is awesome. And then changed over the years.
- [28:06]
Karen Kilgariff
I don't know.
- [28:07]
Jack Armstrong
I don't know. The liberal policies, I guess.
- [28:09]
Jason Rantz
Yeah, government. That's what's changed. I mean, there are parts of Seattle, and certainly the Pacific Northwest, are absolutely gorgeous. And we experienced the promise of Seattle for the U.S. men's National World cup match last Friday, where the city cleaned up like they engaged in sweeps. There were no homeless people just loitering everywhere, smoking fentanyl. It just happened to be a gorgeous summer day. And it was glorious. It was the reason why so many people lived here. And yet I found myself getting a little bit upset because we realize we can do this every day if we actually wanted to, but they don't, right?
- [28:49]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. That similar experience they had in San Francisco when President Xi visited, everybody's like, why can't we have the streets like this all the time?
- [28:58]
Jason Rantz
100%. And I actually. I was in San Francisco leading into that. I just had an event that I was doing there, and I was wandering around. I was like, man, it's so nice. All of a sudden I was like, oh, that's why.
- [29:08]
Jack Armstrong
Right, Exactly. What was it like? What was the whole World cup experience like for Seattle?
- [29:13]
Jason Rantz
It was really cool. Look, this is a soccer city. We have one of the biggest soccer teams in the mls. Seattle Sounders people were really excited. And of course, we had a whole bunch of people who were showing up to watch the U.S. men's National Team play. So these are folks who are primarily from the United States who are traveling here. And it felt vibrant downtown for the first time in, frankly, a long time. I just went on a long walk with my dog downtown just to see how everything was going to shake up, and you felt the electricity in the air. And as someone who actually lives in Seattle doesn't live on the outskirts, I felt safe for the first time in a long time. I felt real pride in what ended up happening on that day. And, you know, good news is we're going to keep that going probably for the next few weeks, at least until the round of 16 for the final men's game here at Lumen Field. And I'm just worried about what's going to happen afterwards.
- [30:10]
Jack Armstrong
Right, cool. Well, one of the reasons we wanted to have you yawn, we've been having a lot of fun playing clips of your new mayor, Che Lennon Chavez, or whatever her name is, and some of the wacky stuff she's tell us about the mayor of Seattle now.
- [30:25]
Jason Rantz
Yeah, so she, Katie Wilson, she came to this position as an activist not having held an actual job, certainly nothing in politics. She worked a lot behind the scenes in helping craft some of the legislation and taxes that ended up forcing a bunch of businesses to either go out of business or go across to nearby Bellevue. And she's kind of been floundering. And in a way, there's a positive spin I can put on that that she's so inexperienced that some of her crazier ideas have not even remotely started to take shape. But she's caught in that hard place that all activists find themselves when they take the position of mayor here, where you've got the activist class who are demanding you not do certain things like end homelessness and do your sweeps and stop people from smoking Fentanyl. But she's also, I think, realizing that, yeah, she's got a city that she needs to run, and every position that she takes around homelessness or crime, could result in someone dying. And I think that when you're put in a position where you're no longer just an activist, you're actually making decisions, it gets a lot tougher for her.
- [31:31]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, it's surprising to me that Seattle hasn't had enough of the street people and the crime and, you know, the Chaz and Chop and all the stuff that has happened over the years, because San Francisco, they finally had enough and they got a new mayor. And like you said to Start with policy matters. And San Francisco cleaned up pretty good, at least the commercial areas. I was there just last weekend. I saw one street person, one in an entire day of being around Union Square and all the shops, stuff like that. It used to be I would have seen a thousand. I mean, so that's a pretty major change. But Seattle's still willing to try it.
- [32:07]
Jason Rantz
Yeah. And it's a major change still coming from a Democrat mayor.
- [32:11]
Jack Armstrong
Right.
- [32:11]
Jason Rantz
I mean, there's a lot of people and you know, to a degree it existed in San Francisco well before Seattle. But there are a lot of people locally who the idea that you might present and I, you know, a proposal to clean up homelessness and it's deemed conservative and of course it just dies without getting any sort of hearing or debate. These are Democratic politicians putting in place policies that have been written by other Democrats. And it's not political. That's the funny thing about all of this. None of the proposals around cleaning up our cities are truly political. They become politicized. Right. Because they're politicians who are involved. But it's not a Democrat or Republican thing to say, yes, we'd like to have clean and safe streets where people aren't smoking fentanyl or taking meth on street corners and harassing people and dying outside. Like, these are not red versus blue ideas. This is just common sense. And when you start pushing away the activism and politics around it, you start to see results and you don't have. I love when people say you got to be innovative. We need to get an innovative look at it. No, you don't. You don't need to be innovative on any of these things. We know exactly what works. It's a carrot and stick approach. It has always worked. We're seeing it happen in San Francisco. We saw how it worked in Austin and San Diego and other places that are quote, unquote, left wing cities when they pull the politics out of it and just do the basics.
- [33:38]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, Joe Getty, the other half of the Armstrong Getty shows, on vacation, he just called in a little bit ago. He's just north of you in Vancouver right now, and he is talking about seeing people shooting up on the street. And it's amazing how many of these, just some of the most beautiful cities in the world decided to allow this to happen.
- [33:55]
Jason Rantz
Yeah, this is the ideology at play. So what he saw and what so many of us see is a direct result of two different policies. Number one is harm reduction, which I know you've talked about before. I think you and I Have talked about this before. Harm reduction, for those of you who don't know, is basically a policy that says we are going to, quote, unquote, reduce the harm of illicit substance abuse. And that has meant giving out clean needles. Because the idea is that instead of sharing needles where you can spread bloodborne diseases, it's clean. You're cutting that down while you're trying to get the person help that they need, the detox that they need, the treatment that they need. This is true of fentanyl pipes that get passed around, all these other things. The problem is ideologically there is this belief that if you even offer someone services for detox, quote, unquote, before they're ready, you're stigmatizing the addiction and then they're not gonna get the help that they need. It's total nonsense. And frankly, I don't even care if it creates stigma. I want to stigmatize people who are illicit drug abusers because they're dying.
- [34:56]
Jack Armstrong
I try to stigmatize them to my kids every single day, yeah, 100%.
- [34:59]
Jason Rantz
But they no longer offer the treatment and they no longer have any sort of push. And so what this policy has just become is handing out needles and handing out pipes. The other thing is housing first policy, which is why homelessness doesn't actually get better housing. First to the left is that you put them inside of a home or a shelter, low barrier, meaning if they're drug users, they can continue to use drugs. You want to get them indoors first and then offer them the treatment. But the exact same issue, they're not being offered the treatment. They're not being compelled into treatment as a condition of getting the free subsidized housing. And what it ends up becoming is permanent subsidized housing. So they're still. The underlying reasons for their homelessness has not been treated. So now you've just allowed them to continue using inside a permanently subsidized housing unit that eventually they will die of an overdose inside. It's incredibly expensive. No one gets the help that they need. They're never going to become self sufficient. It doesn't really make any sense.
- [35:53]
Jack Armstrong
Well, I talk about this a lot on the show. I'm a sober alcoholic 20 years and I hang around that crowd a lot. And most people don't want to stop drinking or doing drugs. That's the problem. Most people don't even want to stop. So. So the idea that we need to get them help. Most people don't want help.
- [36:11]
Jason Rantz
Exactly. They're so into their, into the, the depths of their addiction, they do not know what's best for them, which is why I would argue there's a moral responsibility for society to step in and help, Especially when we're dealing with homeless people who don't have connection to family, don't have friends who are able to step in. And we see this happen all the time. If you are so deep in your addiction that you continue to say no to offers of help because of that addiction, who's supposed to step in and help these people? Then this idea, oh, when they're ready, we want them to know that they're never gonna be ready. They are never going to be ready. If you are already homeless, living outside, and you're a drug addict and nothing has changed, you've already hit rock bottom. So the next rock bottom that they're gonna hit is death. And I would rather us get involved before that death happens.
- [37:00]
Jack Armstrong
What do you think we ought to do with the people who've ruined their brains, who honestly are never going to be productive members of society ever again? They probably couldn't hold the job. They're not dead yet, But, I mean, you see them on the street corners all the time. They could never get their act together. What do we do? Do we just bite the bullet, realize we made a mistake, and pay for them the rest of their lives?
- [37:21]
Jason Rantz
I have no problem putting folks in permanent subsidies if they're in that camp. That is a small group, but they absolutely exist. Now. You don't completely give up on them, right? It's not just giving them, you know, free housing and that's it. You still have to put them into treatment as best as we can and hope that you're gonna get some sort of results. But that represents a small percentage of the people who are homeless. So the costs associated with that, I think societally is worth it. It's everyone else who does not need to be sort of this foregone conclusion that they're never gonna get better, that you can get them the treatment that they need, it might take a time and effort, right? I don't think that this happens overnight. I don't think it happens within a few months for most people. But I think it's worth spending the money to get at the root cause. If the end goal is to truly get them clean and sober or get their mental health issues treated. Whatever it is, sometimes it's as simple as getting them education and connecting them with jobs. For some people, it's making sure they have access to a shower so that when they show up for a job interview that they're actually qualified for. They're not going to immediately be dismissed. Some of it is relatively cheap in the context of government spending, some of it is really expensive. But it's better than allowing these people to just die on our streets or give up on them and say we're never gonna get them the help that they need. I just reject that completely.
- [38:44]
Jack Armstrong
Before we let you go, I've been asking everybody this today. You think the Socialists are gonna take over the Democratic Party or have they already?
- [38:53]
Jason Rantz
I mean, the base of the Democratic Party is being taken over by socialists and communists. There's no doubt about that. And you know, you had a bunch of, we'll just call them the quote, unquote mainstream Democrats who decided to embrace these folks because they're so desperate for power broken by Donald Trump. They need to get power at by any means necessary, including giving the nomination and the support of the party to a dude with a Nazi tattoo. And I think they're so desperate at this point, they don't realize and haven't realized what they've done. I think they're going to find out rather quickly. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer certainly will. You've got people who are taking over the New York Democrats and you think they're going to just go ahead and give the thumbs up to Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker without asking or demanding some sort of concessions. There was a lot of problems with the Republican Party when the Tea Party took over. As far as the infighting, this is going to be way worse for Democrats and you're dealing with people who fundamentally do not like this country. And the only way to look at this glass half full as an American who doesn't want to see our country destroyed is to say at least these people hate Israel more than they hate the United States. And they might get distracted by a member of Congress who has a Star of David around his neck as they're walking by. So they might not destroy the country fast in that regard. So we have some time here, but at least we're not losing Republican seats to all of this. We're seeing, you know, Congressman Goldman lose, we're seeing Espalad lose. Those are progressive Democrats who are losing and we're probably gonna pick up some seats cuz these Socialists do not win in swing districts.
- [40:28]
Jack Armstrong
Jason Rant's a good dude. You see him on Fox. If you're in Seattle, you already know he's great on the radio. Appreciate your time today, Jason.
- [40:35]
Jason Rantz
Thank you so much. For having me.
- [40:36]
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, he's really, really good. And he was our boss for a while and just a fantastic guy. I can vouch for him personally. I want to tell you about Incogni real quick. You get lots of calls. We all do. Or I did. You know, you get a call, you don't recognize the number and you think it's probably a spam call or somebody trying to rip you off. And it is a spam call and it is somebody trying to rip you off. And you get a lot less of them. If you sign up with Incogni, Incogni can get your name off of these data brokers. That's what they do. You know, criminals can buy your phone number and your family details from data brokers right now than they, you know, if they can get ahold of your voice or your kid's voice or your mom's voice or anything like that, they can hoodwink you into giving them money. There's all kinds of horrible things that can happen with AI. You can't stop them from cloning your kid's voice. You can make sure that they never get your number in the first place. And that's done with Incogni's help. A website you can use to put data brokers on notice. They use the law on their side. They contact hundreds of data brokers and force them to delete your personal info. It costs about $7 a month. It's worth every single penny. Use Incogni. We're big believers. We got a lot more on the way. I hope you can stay here. We're going to talk about those GLP1s for kids. Stay tuned.
- [41:52]
Lonnie Chen
Armstrong and Getty.
- [41:57]
America 250 Announcer
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
- [42:07]
Karen Kilgariff
Experience music, performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history.
- [42:17]
America 250 Announcer
It's more than just fireworks.
- [42:18]
Karen Kilgariff
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets now for $17.76 at america250.org LA this is Tony Ayo
- [42:29]
Tony Ayo
from the Real Report with Tony Yayo and Uncle Murder. You ever notice how everything keeps going up? Rent's going up, streaming services are going up. Even your favorite burrit suddenly thinks salsa should cost extra. But with Boost Mobile, you and your phone bill don't have to play the will this go up soon? Game because Boost Mobile has an unlimited talk, text and data plan at a price that'll never go up. It's the same price you'll pay for life, meaning you're set to never worry about your bill increasing again for as long as you're on the plan. While the world keeps finding new ways to nickel and dime you. Boost Mobile gives you unlimited wireless at one set price for life. Imagine something in your budget actually staying the same. You'll pay the same for unlimited wireless when you're posting mirror selfies in your 20s, and when you're posting mirror selfies in retirement. Some things never change. Switch now for unlimited wireless at a price that'll never go up, only at boost mobile. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers will pay $25 a month as long as they remain active on the Boost Unlimited plan.
- [43:29]
Startpage Advertiser
They track, they target that hotel, those shoes, your searches, your clicks. Every time you come back, prices can change. When websites know you want something, look again, and all of a sudden it costs more and they saw you coming. Startpage, the private search engine, helps keep what you look up online from becoming a price tag. Nothing saved, nothing to use against you. What you search for is your business. Try StartPage, the private search engine@startpage.com that's
- [43:55]
Levar Arrington
startpage.com this is Levar Arrington from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe. So let's switch gears for a minute and let's talk about my dog, Mr. Sticks. Super sweet, super smart, intelligent, a gentle giant. I need to keep my guy happy, which is why I can't wait for him to try Chewy. Chewy offers over 100,000 products from all the brands. Pets love food, treats, beds, toys, the whole lineup and everything ships fast, usually in one to two days. And Chewy isn't just for dogs. It's for cats, birds, fish, fish, reptiles. Every kind of pet is covered. Keeping Mr. Sticks healthy matters too, and Chewy makes that part easy. They handle prescriptions, offer pet insurance, and even provide telehealth vet visits for quick advice. Plus, vet clinics are rolling out across the country. And when it comes to support, Chewy's 247 customer service is top tier. Expert help is always available. And with their one year satisfaction guarantee, anything that doesn't work work for Mr. Sticks can be returned with no hassle. For life with pets, the answer is chewy. Save $20 on your first order with free shipping at chupanions.chewy.com 2 pros this
- [45:10]
Jacob Goldstein
is Jacob Goldstein from what's yous Problem? Business software is expensive and when you buy software from lots of different companies, it's not only expensive, it gets confusing. Slow to use, hard to integrate. Odoo solves that because all Odoo software is connected on a single affordable platform. Save money without missing out on the features you need. Odoo has no hidden costs and no limit on features or data. Odoo has over 60 apps available for any needs your business might have, all at no additional charge. Everything from websites to sales to inventory to accounting, all linked and talking to each other. Check out Odoo at O D O o dot com. That's O d o o dot com.
- [45:54]
Jason Rantz
Finally, a personal trainer in England recently set a world record by eating 162 Oreos in five minutes. It was the record for worst personal trainer.
- [46:06]
Jack Armstrong
No kidding. Thanks for that. I've been looking into this story all day long. By the way, I'm working with pink eye, so you should give me some, some cut me some slack. Conjunctivitis. Is that the word for it went into the doctor you say I had eye pain. My eye is not pink. I thought when you got pink eye your eye turned pink. I had eye pain, which of course is troubling. Your eyes not supposed to hurt. And I got this conjunctivitis which apparently is very, very contagious. What you got to worry about is catching it in the other eye. So you got to worry about rubbing your eye with it and then rubbing your other eye and then you give it to that eye, let alone your family and friends. That's why I'm working from home today. I didn't come into work so I wouldn't give Michael pink eye. Then he takes it home and gives it to his cats and then all hell breaks loose. I appreciate you doing that. You wouldn't want to give the pink eye to your cats. Speaking of health, the Wall Street Journal about how people are starting to use the GLP1s or doctors are prescribing them for kids, including really young kids. Again, a 9 year old here opens the article opens with ow because the kids laying on the floor and getting his regular stomach injection of the weight loss drug. My kids are a little older than that now, but they wouldn't have at any point really enjoyed getting a shot in the stomach and I wouldn't have enjoyed giving it to them. But for parents and kids where traditional weight loss methods haven't worked that we all know there's an epidemic of obesity at all ages, including for kids, even elementary schoolers are being put on drugs such as WeGovy prescribing it is somewhat controversial because they don't. It's not. The drugs aren't yet approved for obesity in patients this young. I don't know what approved means, but a doctor can write a prescription for it, so it's approved enough. I guess. Without further studies, it isn't certain that young children can safely use the medications for weight loss without compromising a critical period of growth for their bones and brain. Gotta tell you, I'd be pretty hesitant as a parent to start my kids on this, given the fact that they're so new for adults. We have no idea what it does to a kid who's, you know, as my doctor once said, the human body is a pretty amazing machine that has been evolving for a long time and it'll, most of the time, when it's working correctly, give you a little more of this, a little less that keep every inner testosterone and your, your, your various, you know, all your different vital numbers and all that sort of stuff stay in the normal range for most of us all the time. Well, if you start injecting things like GLP1s into the body, how the body then compensates for that to try to get back to normal in various ways, your brain or your body, we don't have the slightest idea. But then I'm looking at a picture of these two kids that they've got here. One's 81 9. They're very heavy kids and be a rough way to be for a variety of reasons and certainly not healthy. Well, we'll all find out together, won't we, whether these drugs are good for us or not and whether or not insurance is going to cover it and the price comes down and all those different issues around that. Oh, we got another hour to go. Probably take a look at some of those Supreme Court cases that have come down that we haven't even touched on yet. Supreme Court in June every year releases a whole bunch of cases before they take a recess before coming back in October. And a bunch of rulings came down today, a lot of them super technical stuff that aren't that interesting, but a couple of them are and we'll run through those. United States plays turkey tonight in soccer. Meaningless game, but still exciting. Got a lot more on the way. If you missed the segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.
- [50:03]
America 250 Announcer
Armstrong and getty this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, experience music, performances
- [50:17]
Karen Kilgariff
by major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history.
- [50:25]
America 250 Announcer
It's more than just fireworks.
- [50:26]
Karen Kilgariff
Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block party tickets now for $17.76 at america250.org LA EVER look something up
- [50:37]
Startpage Advertiser
online and then see ads for it everywhere? That's not a coincidence. Startpage is the private search engine that finds what you need without anyone finding out you asked. Try startpage.com that's startpage.com this is Levar
- [50:52]
Levar Arrington
Arrington from Two Pros and a Cup of Joe let's switch gears for a minute and let's talk about my dog, Mr. Sticks. Super sweet, super smart, intelligent, a gentle giant. I need to keep my guy happy, which is why I can't wait for him to try Chewy. Chewy offers over 100,000 products from all the brands pets love food, treats, treats, beds, toys, the whole lineup and everything ships fast, usually in one to two days. And Chewy isn't just for dogs. It's for cats, birds, fish, reptiles. Every kind of pet is covered. Keeping Mr. Sticks healthy matters too, and Chewy makes that part easy. They handle prescriptions, offer pet insurance, and even provide telehealth vet visits for quick advice. Plus, vet clinics are rolling out across the country. And when it comes to support, Chewy's 247 customer service is top tier. Expert help is always available and with their one year satisfaction guarantee, anything that doesn't work for Mr. Sticks can be returned with no hassle for life with pets, the answer is chewy. Save $20 on your first order with free shipping at chupanions.chewy.com 2 pros this
- [52:02]
Jacob Goldstein
is Jacob Goldstein from what's your problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at O D O o dot com. That's O D O o dot com.
- [52:35]
Karen Kilgariff
With my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like ten.
- [52:43]
Jason Rantz
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.
- [52:51]
Karen Kilgariff
Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingokids before we even pull out of the driveway.
- [52:56]
Jason Rantz
It's what dreams are made of. Lingokids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over 4000 interactive games, songs, shows that kids simply cannot get enough of.
- [53:05]
Karen Kilgariff
You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingokids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride.
- [53:11]
Jason Rantz
Or really, any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever.
- [53:15]
Karen Kilgariff
Download Lingokids for free today or unlock
- [53:18]
Jason Rantz
even more amazing content with LingoKids.
- [53:20]
Karen Kilgariff
Plus, choose the yearly plan and save up to 60%. Search LingoKids in the App Store or
- [53:26]
Jason Rantz
Google Play Lingo Kids everything kids love.