A Cat With A Neck Tie?!

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: "A Cat With A Neck Tie?!"

Release Date: April 8, 2026
Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand (iHeartPodcasts)

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Episode Overview

In this engaging episode, Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, and crew navigate a plethora of topics — from odd space analogies in the news and an awe-inspiring hacking story featuring a college student and a cat meme, to the chaos of Middle Eastern ceasefire negotiations, U.S. military spending, and a passionate discussion on gender identity activism. The episode maintains the signature Armstrong & Getty mix of dry humor, skepticism, and candid debate, rounded off with Springsteen concert talk and playful banter about music, politics, and cultural privilege.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Space, Humor, and the Metric System

[00:28–01:38]

• The episode opens with a news report on the Artemis 2 mission’s distance milestone, humorously converted to “728 million dachshunds laid nose-to-tail.”
• Hosts lampoon America’s stubborn refusal to use the metric system, with Michael noting, “Man, Americans will do anything to not use the metric system.”
• Discussion about the futility of such analogies (“If you stacked pancakes, it would take 8 trillion pancakes… That doesn’t help me any more than miles.”)

2. World Affairs: Iran, Israel, and the Elusive Ceasefire

[01:39–02:01], [10:20–12:22], [25:22–28:43]

• Recap of confusion around a rumored ceasefire in the Middle East: Iran halts traffic in the Strait of Hormuz; Trump comments via Truth Social.
• Jack: “Trump has said no firing on Hezbollah is not part of the peace deal... which to me means this ain’t going anywhere.”
• Analysis of competing factions within Iran, skepticism about the validity of ceasefire announcements and the “game of thrones” dynamic (“Some serious Game of Thrones stuff going on there. Oh, yeah. Complete with severed heads.” – Jack, 27:32)
• Michael underscores American privilege: “We have ‘ain’t gonna get bombed today’ privilege. I never have to worry about it. That’s some privilege.” (28:44)

3. The Tech Story: Hackers, Proxies, and Cat Memes

[02:01–09:53]

• Deep dive on residential proxy networks: devices hijacked to hide users’ identities, used both legitimately and for crime.
• Jack relates the true story of Benjamin Brundage, an RIT student who helped thwart the largest internet cyber attack ever, using meme-based social engineering.
  • "His savvy, his emotional intelligence is what really impressed me about this." – Jack, 06:41
  • Key to the story: Brundage used a cat-in-a-necktie meme to disarm a potential hacker and glean crucial information.
  • Brundage: “It was just a bit of just asking over and over again, then being like a bit unserious... I followed up with a cat meme... I didn’t expect it to work, but he got the information.” (Paraphrased from 06:52–07:26)
• Explains DDoS attacks and the vulnerability of residential proxies. The botnet, later called “Kimwolf,” could have knocked out entire countries.
  • “Be afraid,” said one computer expert. (08:07)

4. AI Risks & ChatGPT Controversy

[09:53–10:09]

• Brief mention: ChatGPT reportedly gave advice to a school shooter (details to follow), signaling concerns about AI misuse.

5. Military Spending: Historical Context and Skepticism

[12:22–17:15]

• Discussion on U.S. military superiority: “Most of my life it was a fact that the United States spent more on its military than every other country in the world added together.” – Michael, 12:22
• China’s growing military budget; 2027 US budget expected to again surpass the rest of the world combined.
• Reflections on Eisenhower’s warnings about the military-industrial complex.
  • “He really... did not trust the Pentagon to not always present the worst-case scenario.” – Michael, 14:08
  • “There's always profiteering. Always. Well, and yet not all war exists to help profiteers as some people would have you believe.” – Jack, 15:01
• Complexity of defense spending, waste, economic principles (PPP), and complaints about European countries depending on U.S. military.

6. Gender Identity & Transgender Policy Debates

[17:30–24:57]

• Extended “gender bending madness update”: Critique of University of Southern California and Minnesota bills regarding gendered spaces and transgender athletes.
• Testimony from detransitioner Johnny Skinner before the California legislature:
  • “I’m a 23-year-old gay man who’s never had an orgasm and may never experience one. Let that sink in.” – Johnny Skinner, [20:50–21:28]
  • “They only led me to hate my body more... This bill is an attempted workaround that will be used to silence therapists who could have helped me avoid the irreversible harms to my body and the loss of my sexual function...” – Johnny Skinner, [22:21]
• Jack: “The activist transgender crowd call even saying, ‘Why don’t we talk about the other things going on in your life...’ conversion therapy and outlaw it. It’s beyond sick.”
• Criticism of California’s political leadership, specifically State Senator Scott Wiener.

7. Cultural Debate & Bruce Springsteen

[29:02–34:03]

• Michael discusses attending a Springsteen concert; hosts debate the value of politics in live music.
  • “Springsteen sucks.” – Listener email, [29:15]
  • “When you throw politics into it, it ruins that. So don’t do that… There’s lots of stuff I want to do.” – Jack, 35:09
  • Sarcasm about the irony of “hippie socialists” playing for wealthy, elite fans: “They will walk off stage and curse capitalism to each other without any awareness of the irony.” – Jack, 32:06

8. Final Thoughts & Banter

[34:03–End]

• Fun speculation about E Street Band’s off-tour jobs, nods to drummer Max Weinberg’s TV gig, and Home Depot jokes.
• Final thoughts segment:
  • Food cravings (In-N-Out), religious statements by businesses, and closing jabs at politically-preachy artists.
  • “Shut up, you hippie. I want to hear the saxophone section. Shut up." – Michael & Jack (35:36)
• Outro: Irony-laced montage of competing claims of “victory” in the ceasefire, with the final reminder: “Iran has been a threat to the United States and the free world for 47 years. No longer.” – Jack

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• [01:36] Michael: “Man, Americans will do anything to not use the metric system.”
• [06:41] Jack: “This Brundage chap. His savvy, his emotional intelligence is what really impressed me about this.”
• [07:26] Brundage (quoted): “It was just a bit of just asking over and over again, then being like a bit unserious. At one point I asked for some technical details. I followed up with a cat meme...I didn’t expect it to work, but he got the information.”
• [12:22] Michael: “Most of my life... the United States spent more on its military than every other country in the world added together.”
• [20:50] Johnny Skinner: “I’m a 23-year-old gay man who’s never had an orgasm and may never experience one. Let that sink in.”
• [28:44] Michael: “We have ‘ain’t gonna get bombed today’ privilege. I never have to worry about it.”
• [32:06] Jack: “They will walk off stage and curse capitalism to each other without any awareness of the irony.”
• [35:09] Jack: “To gifted and talented and popular musicians. You bring joy and escape to people who have hard lives. When you throw politics into it, it ruins that. So don’t do that.”

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:28: Artemis 2, “dachshund” space distance analogy
• 02:01: Proxy networks & hacking primer
• 05:49: Cat meme as social engineering tool in hacking investigation
• 08:07: Scale of DDoS attacks, “Kimwolf” botnet
• 10:20: Trump Truth Social post on Middle East negotiations
• 12:22: US military spending vs. world, Eisenhower’s warning
• 17:30: “Gender bending madness” segment intro
• 20:50: Johnny Skinner’s detransition testimony
• 25:22: Ceasefire claims, Iran and chaos in negotiations
• 29:02: Springsteen concert talk and humor about music's politics
• 34:03: E Street Band banter, final thoughts
• 35:09: Closing advice to musicians about mixing politics and music

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Tone & Style

• Irreverent, probing, sometimes caustic; humor woven into critique
• Blend of skepticism and concern about social and political trends
• Willingness to challenge both popular and fringe narratives

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This summary should provide listeners (and non-listeners) a thorough and engaging rundown of the episode’s highlights, debates, and signature moments.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human

[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[News Reporter]

The Artemis 2 reached 252,756 miles from Earth. Or as the New York Times helpfully put it this morning, if you took 22 inch dachshunds and laid them nose to tail, you'd need 728 million dogs to cover the distance. If you took one of the dachshunds on a brisk 3 mile per hour walk, you'd need to walk for more than 84,000 hours to get there. Man, Americans will do anything to not use the metric system.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Colbert re embracing being funny.

[Michael]

That's a good joke. I, I've never quite understood why everybody thinks that's a better way to give you an idea of distance. That's if you stacked pancakes, you'd take 8 trillion pancakes. Okay, I can't wrap my head around that. That doesn't help me any more than miles.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. More than eight. I just get dizzy. Too many pancakes. It is funny. If you lay dollar bills end to end and stretched around, we'll do anything

[Michael]

to avoid the metric system. That's pretty funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is really funny.

[Michael]

Hey, come up. Here's your latest update. We'll get to this later. What's going on with the ceasefire? Iran has halted traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, according to cnn. And Trump has said no firing on Hezbollah is not part of the peace deal. That's a completely separate thing. So he's on board with Israel attacking Hezbollah, which to me means this ain't going anywhere. But we'll see.

[Jack Armstrong]

Coming up at the bottom of the hour, a truly powerful gender bending madness update. I'll present this without comment. Colorado's free health care program for illegal immigrant pregnant persons and children costs seven times more than budgeted. There you have it. All right, so this is an interesting story and kind of awe inspiring in a way. I think maybe you first need to understand the way this computer hack. It's a college student who stopped a massive, massive computer disaster. Hack.

[Michael]

Hackers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hackers. I hate hackers. Has to do with residential proxy networks. And there are dozens of companies around the world that run these networks that are made up of your phones, computers, video players. Their processing power is. Sometimes you sign up for this. Many, many times you don't. Is used like in the dark of the night by res proxy companies that rent out access to Internet connections on the Devices to customers who want to look like they're surfing the Internet from a genuine home address. It's kind that's similar to a. What do you call it? But it's abused like crazy around the world.

[Michael]

I didn't know that. So one of the many books I've read about AI, one of their worst case scenario chapters was AI harnessing all the power in all our computers and everything like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Michael]

In a way that I never didn't know was possible or none of that thought of, but I didn't know. Companies already do that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. That's a great illustration of what that is. Yeah, indeed. So you want that anonymity. It's useful for people who want privacy or for companies that want to masquerade as regular people to test out Internet features, for instance, for a particular region or scrape the web for data. AI companies use the networks to get around blocks on automated traffic so they can gather large amounts of data to train their models. And then there are customers who want to hide their identity because they're ticket scalping, defrauding banks, calling in bomb threats, stalking child exploitation, hacking or espionage. So in other words, it's. It can be legit, but it is just abused like crazy by really evil. So that primer aside. Or do you say primer, you got this college student at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, Benjamin Brundage. That sounds like a character in a movie.

[Michael]

Really does.

[Jack Armstrong]

He was closing in on a mystery that even seasoned Internet investigators had left them baffled. And a cat meme helped him crack the case. So a network of hacked devices was launching the biggest cyber attacks ever seen on the Internet. Biggest one ever. It had become the most powerful cyber weapon ever assembled, large enough to knock a state or even a small country offline. And investigators didn't know exactly who had built it or how. And Brundage, who's a tech student and a computer whiz, had been following the attacks, too, between classes and was conducting his own investigation. And in September, the college senior started messaging online with an anonymous user who seemed to have more knowledge than a person ought to have about the attack, as they.

[Michael]

You're close to getting to a portion where you could just start quacking or barking, and I would understand it as well. What's going on here?

[Jack Armstrong]

We need a young person to explain this story to Jack, stat. Okay, so anyway, college kid's aware of this giant super cyber attack and is intrigued. I want to know how they did it too, or how they were about to do it. So he's chatting on Discord with a bunch of, you know, hackers and programmers and computer whizzes and he comes across a guy who's seen or a human who. Wait a minute, how does he know that? Brundage started to think, but he didn't want to come. He wanted more information because he thought, I'm on to something. But he didn't want to come off as too serious, so he shut down the conversation. Then every now and then, he'd send a funny gif to lighten the mood, including a cat's owner adjusting a necktie on a cat.

[Michael]

That's hilarious.

[Jack Armstrong]

This guy's this Brundage chap. His savvy, his emotional intelligence is what really impressed me about this.

[Michael]

He'd think, a cat with a necktie.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know these are odd times. Cats are so formal, but if, if things were starting to get serious, he'd say, yeah, I gotta go. He'd cut it off. Then he'd send a cat freaking gift for Jiff. Brundage was fluent in the memes, jokes and technical jargon, popular with young gamers and hackers who are extremely online. He says, quote, it was just a bit of just asking over and over again, then being like a bit unserious. At one point, he asked for some technical details. He followed up with a cat meme, a six second clip that showed a hand adjusting a necktie on a fluffy gray cat. Brundage didn't expect it to work, but he got the information. It took me by surprise, he said,

[Michael]

did the cat have a wedding to go to?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not clear to me, but the cat is wearing both the black necktie and a white collar. Eventually, the leaker hinted that there was a new vulnerability on the Internet. Brundage, who is 22, would learn it threatened tens of millions of consumers and as much as a quarter of the world's corporations. As he unraveled the mystery, impressed veteran researchers with his findings, including federal law enforcement, which took action against the network. A couple of weeks ago, a researcher at a giant computer company that does this sort of thing joked at one point that the entire Internet could go down if Brundage spent too much time studying for his exams.

[News Reporter]

Wow.

[Michael]

Wow. Someday the whole Internet's going to go down. Or all of airline, you know, a major, major attack somewhere the world, all over the world. And it might be China. Or as Trump famously said, some 300 pound guy in his basement just knows how to do it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, especially given the nature of this, the, the, the joining together of the devices that I was talking about, the residential, what you call was a couple of years ago that Nokia's sensors had picked up a series of increasingly powerful cyber attacks coming from devices that hadn't previously been considered D called distributed Denial of service or DDoS attacks. We've all heard of those. I think they were massive floods of junk Internet data designed to knock websites offline by overwhelming the data pipes that connected them, sometimes launched by extortionists or even business rivals. But Nokia saw hundreds of thousands of devices joining in these attacks. One unprecedented attack later in the year on Internet service provider cloudflare was, quote, comparable to the combined populations of the uk, Germany and Spain, all simultaneously typing a website address and then hitting enter at the same second. Wow. Yeah. The network, which would become known as Kim Wolf, which sounds like an anime cartoon for adolescent girls, seemed to be using residential proxy connections to launch its attacks, giving it the potential to do massive damage. The basic message was be afraid, said one computer expert. Anyway, craziness.

[Michael]

I've got a chat GPT being sued over something. Another one of those kind of stories this time around. A school shooter who may have gotten its advice from chat GPT on how

[Jack Armstrong]

to pull off a school shooting.

[Michael]

Right. Did that happen or not? And you got the gender bending madness. We had a lot this hour. I hope you can stick around.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

So Trump with a true social post just a few minutes ago that might help explain what's going on with the confusion. Because a lot of the things being said about the supposed ceasefire deal don't add up. So something doesn't. Something doesn't square. Right? So Trump posted this and I have lost it. Well, that is unfortunate. I will find it in seconds.

[Jack Armstrong]

Again, yet another kink in the quest for peace. Jack's misplacing of the analysis.

[Michael]

Trump said just a few minutes ago, numerous agreements, list texts and letters are being sent out by people that have absolutely nothing to do with the USA Iran negotiations. In many cases, they are total fraudsters, charlatans and worse. I don't know what's worse than a fraudster or charlatan or what the difference between those two things are. They will be rapidly exposed after our federal investigation is completed. There is only one group of meaningful points that are acceptable to the United States and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these negotiations. In other words, that, you know, all the stuff that you're hearing about, this is Iran's plan and this is ours plan. They don't match up everything. Trump's saying that's not true. You're hearing all this kind of stuff and it's crap.

[Jack Armstrong]

But they'll be negotiating something behind closed doors.

[Michael]

And Hegseth said earlier Iran's lying about all kinds of different things. So my guess would be on this is that there are separate groups. We're dealing with some group that thinks that they're in charge in Iran and there's some other group that doesn't agree with that group in Iran. Different power center that's putting out all this information to try to blow up the deal. Yeah, that'd be my guess. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think the bottom line is there's just so much uncertainty and so much conflicting information. The best you can do is lay out these few possibilities might be happening, but it's impossible to choose a favorite. We just don't have enough info.

[Michael]

Came across this the other day. I thought it was interesting in terms of the world in war and that sort of thing. Most of my life it was a fact that the United States spent more on its military than every other country in the world added together, which was always a stunning fact to me. That is how you end up with the being the supreme power on planet Earth when you've spent more on your military than any other country added together. When I was originally thinking about that, learning about that when I was much younger, it was without the understanding that Europe lives off of our military so they don't have to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Michael]

But China started spending more money on their military, so that is not any more completely true. But next year's budget, if we go through with the 2027 budget, it will once again we will be spending more on our defense than every other country in the world added together, including China and Russia. That's something. Is that what we need to do to continue to have the dominance that we have? I don't know. Who knows? All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a great question. Don't forget a lot of those defense dollars go to keeping the economic might of the United States intact because there's a rules based international order. More, less. More or less about as best as you you can get or hope for.

[Michael]

The entire world other than us this year spent $1.16 trillion. A little over a trillion dollars. We spent 921 billion, little under a trillion dollars, which is stunning. China, China makes up about a quarter of a trillion.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. A lot of countries, all their incredible spending lately, it's still that much less.

[Michael]

A lot of countries just do not spend that much money on defense. And because I'm re listening to this book about when Eisenhower was president, man, he really, you know, his famous speech that he gave going out the door about the beware of the military industrial complex. He really, really, as a guy had been in the military his whole life and run it at the highest level, did not trust the Pentagon to not always present the worst case scenario and try to convince legislatures that we absolutely got to have this weapon, give us the money, because, you know, it's the only thing that's keeping us from the Soviet, Soviet Union overruns. And, and Ike fully didn't trust the generals to not give him the straight scoop on that sort of stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, or Congress or the Senate or whatever.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah, of course he didn't trust the politicians, but he also didn't trust the generals to not be honest with him. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. That's the great push and pull of warfare. There's always profiteering. Always. Well, and yet not all war exists to help profiteers as some people would have you believe.

[Michael]

Right? Yeah, man. Figuring that out as a democracy, how hard is that? Because you, you'd have people in the Pentagon, generals, whatever, who fully believe you need this expensive weapons program who think we probably don't need this, but it'd be better to have it than not. And then people that absolutely know we don't need this program, but you know, my home district cares about it or whatever and everything in between. I don't know how you deal with that.

[Jack Armstrong]

So getting back to the total expenditure on the military, there's. What's the dollar cost? No, it's currency. There's a principle in economics I can never remember for some reason. I've got a mental block but that a thousand dollars in China buys you the same thing as $4,000 in the United States. And their wages are one quarter, but their buying power is roughly equal if you measure it in this way. So it could just be that everything's more expensive in the US including our armaments. I don't know exactly because it's an international market. I have a feeling there's something in there, but I'm too old and lazy to relearn all those formulas they tried to teach me. Second note, there's an opinion piece written by Gillian Melchior, who. What's her credential? London based member of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board. She went along with a NATO drone war exercise in Estonia and came away thinking we're making progress, but we are nowhere near ready, especially the European militaries. And what I was going to say earlier was you know, they, they depended on our security dollars, our military spending to protect them. And what really pisses me off is that they spent those savings on the magic beans of socialism and net zero climate crap and now they're helpless.

[Michael]

I hope we're spending our Pentagon dollars wisely. We got some damn shocking stuff for you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Next.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty trying to keep our

[Michael]

eye on the ceasefire. If anything happens, we'll let you know. Still a lot, a lot, a lot of unknowns.

[Jack Armstrong]

But first, it's a gender bending madness update.

[Joe Getty]

So I kept hearing about this thing called.

[Michael]

We're in a brave new world.

[Jack Armstrong]

First of all, just a brief mention that as I said earlier today, the forces of neo Marxism postmodernism haven't paused a bit. They're forging ahead. They're trying to grow all this stuff, they're just hiding it better. Here's the University of Southern California has new initiative they're using. Men will be barred from using parts of an on campus gym to make women and non binary gym goers feel more comfortable while working out. The Student assembly for Gender Empowerment pushed for the new rules in partnership with the Lion Center, a recreational facility controlled by the university.

[Michael]

See a ban one of the two sexes from being in the gym to help the third through 50th versions of genders.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, you got a combination of real women and fake women saying I'm not comfortable working out among men. So okay, all right, super great. And then you've got this human, a woman, I believe, who is presenting as a man. Lish Kozlowski is a Minnesota state representative arguing against a bill in Minnesota that would bar boys from competing in girls sports. If you've been in a coma or were in a cave or perhaps an Apollo mission and just getting back to earth. Yes, some states let boys play in girl sports if they claim they're girls. Here is the representative talking about how

[Michael]

gender binary was brought to these lands. Gender binary is a colonial export and

[Joe Getty]

not an immutable global truth. We do exist and have existed since time immemorial.

[Michael]

Simple facts. It's a simple colonial thing. Okay, wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Settler colonialism, it's a. The gender binary is part of that. That's actually how the whole neo Marxist thing works, is it's. You just claim each one is the other one and it's all a web of horrors and you've got to be against all of it. The eternal Omnic cause. I wish you luck with your imagined view of the universe. So on a less humorous note, this is a Young man by the name of Johnny Skinner. And we will let you tell his story. He was actually testifying in front of the California legislature, interestingly enough, trying to bring some sanity to blue state activism. Trying to twist troubled kids minds and convince them that your problem isn't that you're autistic or you're sexually assaulted or you're just a misfit, you're alienated, whatever. Maybe you have some mental illness problems. That's not your problem. The problem is you're the wrong sex. And we're going to help you here at school. We have somebody you'd like to talk, we'd like you to talk to. And let's not tell your mom and dad about it. So Johnny Skinner is, is testifying against that or. Yeah, against that. Go ahead, Michael.

[Joe Getty]

Good afternoon, my name is Johnny Skinner. I'm here representing genspect. When I was young, I was a feminine child and I discovered trans influencers online. They said, change your body and your life gets better. Don't and it gets worse. Or as my doctors told my mom, I would commit suicide. The medical and mental health providers didn't bother to ask why I felt the way I did. They poison my body with blockers and hormones, arresting my puberty and messing with my development. The result? I'm a 23 year old gay man who's never had an orgasm and may never experience one. Let that sink in.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he goes on.

[Joe Getty]

I was rendered anorgasmic because once you say you could be trans, that's it, full stop. No exploration as to why is allowed. Even if you are a struggling kid. The former president of WPATH, Dr. Marcy Bowers, the California surgeon who had performed the surgery for Jazz Jennings at 17, admitted on video that puberty blockers followed by cross sex hormones results in no orgasms and stunted genitals. SB934 guarantees that more people will end up like me. The walking but wounded.

[Michael]

By the way, if you haven't seen this video with Scott Wiener standing there watching this poor guy, talk to him. Dude, explain yourself.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sick, perverse. Scott Wiener. Yeah, one of the worst people in. In government, certainly. Mr. Skinner goes on.

[Joe Getty]

I could have been spared all of this if any of my therapists would have explored why I felt dysphoric. But they never did. They only led me to hate my body more. The Supreme Court just ruled in a rare bipartisan decision that laws like this are unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. This, this bill is an attempted workaround that will be used to silence therapists who could have helped Me avoid the irreversible harms to my body and the loss of my sexual function, as is the same for many others. So today I ask you to extend some empathy to survivors like me and vote no for this bill. Thank you.

[Michael]

As I've said before, I know a therapist who says she has talked a number of young people out of going down the trans road quite quickly and easily. And she knows other therapists who immediately, you're off to the doctor.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Just, you know, you don't. You don't even question that it could possibly be anything other than trans. And let's start the medical stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

And as we discussed in the wake of the Supreme Court oral arguments the other day and the ruling, the. The activist transgender crowd call even sayings to what. Like what your therapist friend would say, why don't we talk about the other things going on in your life and what's troubling you and maybe hold off on a minute. The transgender thing, and just let's talk. They call that conversion therapy and outlaw it. California is trying to keep it outlawed, even getting to the bottom of the. It's autism. You're a victim of something. It's a mental illness problem. Whatever. They're trying to outlaw that. It's beyond sick. Why are people moving away from California? Well, it's. Housing is expensive. No, it's crap like that. It's unconscionable.

[Michael]

And Gavin runs for president, he's going to have to answer for some of that stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I would love the conversation to continue before more kids are victimized. It's just. It's horrifying to me. It's a gender bending madness update and it's sick. Yeah, it's funny. It's cute. Yeah, you're sexy. 430 days as a woman shilling for Bud Light. All right, well, we could take a break now, cleanse the mood a little bit. Everybody take it. Cleanser a little mood cleanser and come back with more cherry fair.

[Michael]

I feel like I need more coffee. I'm a little. Little short of manic, so I gotta get just a little more coffee.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's my favorite feeling. I've either had too little coffee or too much. I don't know when. Jack Armstrong loves coffee.

[Michael]

I do. Okay, we got. We'll finish strong.

[Joe Getty]

Next, Armstrong and Getty,

[News Correspondent]

they're declaring victory and that we're hearing from the Islamic Republic of Iran, from Iranian state media, and some of these scenes of Iranians out in the streets of Tehran waving their flag, in some cases burning us and Israeli flag. And there is still some skepticism out there. Iran's National Security Council put out a statement saying that, quote, our hands remain upon the trigger, and should the slightest error be committed by the enemy, it shall be met with full force.

[Michael]

So that's the most negative view of what happened in the last 18 hours, according to Trump and Pete Hegseth. Those kind of statements are coming from the people that aren't in charge, I guess is the story the headline just

[Jack Armstrong]

out in the New York Times. Iran leases, it releases 10 points it says are basis for ceasefire talks.

[Michael]

But Hegseth, I'm guessing those include the. Well, you tell me, what are the 10 points? Is that the hardline stuff?

[Jack Armstrong]

Much of it consisted of maximalist demands that look difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile with U.S. aims.

[Michael]

Okay, so here's the question of the day. Who's releasing that stuff? Because Trump and Hegseth are saying, that's not who we're talking to. We're not talking to those people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, boy.

[Michael]

Talking to different people that are actually in charge. I don't know whether that's true or not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why? This is a familiar problem to anybody who studies areas of upheaval, whether Africa or the Middle east or whatever. You're talking to one faction, but the other factions get a say.

[Michael]

I'm not suggesting. I think Trump and Hegseth are lying about that. I think they are talking to somebody and working out a deal. Whether or not that entity actually has the ability to hold on to the country and end up being the government, who knows?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and even if they clearly can do all those things, we're in the period where the other factions are desperate to communicate the opposite.

[Michael]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

They'll be putting out statements like I just mentioned.

[Michael]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

A period of upheaval, for sure.

[Michael]

Some serious Game of Thrones stuff going on there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah. Complete with severed heads. Yeah.

[Michael]

And so the. The bad guys, the people that want to blow this cease fire up,

[Jack Armstrong]

they're

[Michael]

happy that Israel's still shelling Hezbollah, Probably. And they want this all to fall apart, either because they want to run the country someday, or they're actual religious nuts and think this is the end times for them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? Yeah.

[Michael]

Weird beards.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and it's worth mentioning in this TikTok world that if this shakes out over the course of the next five years and sane people end up in power, that will be a remarkably quick and positive outcome, history wise.

[Michael]

Yeah, I would say so. So, as I mentioned earlier, so glad I'm an American. Oh, no kidding. I was watching this video from Israel. Did you see the woman where the woman gets out of her car and a shell hits nearby and it knocks her down and she gets up and walks on because you know, that's life there. There's so many parts of the world where that can just happen.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we.

[Michael]

You talk about privilege, this privilege or that privilege we have ain't gonna get bombed today. Privilege. I never have to worry about it. Not a chance in hell some other country sends a missile near me or my loved ones. That's some privilege.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Speaking of war, I mentioned earlier on the show I'm going to do Springsteen concert. Springsteen and E Street Band Monday night San Francisco as he's.

[Jack Armstrong]

Did you not hear that email I read to you earlier?

[Michael]

What's that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Some woman emailed, simply said Springsteen sucks. Well, he does not suck the entire email. Thanks for your input.

[Michael]

His political speeches suck. His music, the non political music does not suck. But. And he's going to do some of both.

[Jack Armstrong]

But

[Michael]

he's doing the west because he's doing. And then a couple of show. Two shows in Los Angeles. I think two shows in Los Angeles which will be huge impact. What's your. What if you go into a Springsteen concert, what song do you most want to hear? I know Born to Run is the. He puts that in part of the finale. I've been looking at the set list so far. I could live without seeing hearing that again. But you know, it's a classic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's. I've always loved that song.

[Michael]

Oh yeah. It's cool.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's an interesting.

[Michael]

And I'm glad my. My kids will get to see it. You know, it played live. Yeah. You know, music history. I mean there are very few acts. I was trying to pitch this to my kids. There are very few acts that have been as big a deal for live concerts as Springsteen, Grateful Dead Springsteen, maybe the Stones. I don't know. Are they big for their live shows?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God.

[Michael]

Yeah. Okay. So maybe those three. Is there anything that's a. I don't know what else would be in that category?

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no.

[Michael]

I mean in the history of music.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. Going back to Cavemen. Banging on rocks. So what song do. I'd have to think about that for a little while. I don't. I. I freaking love Rosalita live.

[Michael]

Yeah. He's not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is generally the band intros or. It was for many years.

[Michael]

Yeah, he. He did that on the tour when I saw him 20 years ago and that was pretty awesome. He's not doing on this One, but he's doing a couple of the other Big horn section sing along classics. You know, he had to knock that one out so he could fit in the freaking streets of Minneapolis song. That one's gonna. I'm gonna actually have to leave my seat and go to the bathroom during that one.

[Jack Armstrong]

You've got to have a long talk with yourself. Don't start drinking again. It could drive you right to the edge of sanity. I'll bet it's gonna be worse than you're even picturing.

[Michael]

He opens with war because the videos are out there. He goes out there and he gives a long speech about peace and this, and the last thing we need is war. And they launch into it, and it sounds cool because he's got that giant horn section and, you know, the whole thing, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shut up, you hippie. That's what I say. Shut up.

[Michael]

Yeah, hippie. That's what I'll chant from my seat with all the other people who, if they bought them, you know, aftermarket, spent more than $1,000 for their seats. You know, that's just hilarious to me. The hippie socialists playing to people who have to spend four figures for ass feet. We're obviously by definition, the elite of this country.

[Jack Armstrong]

And they will walk off stage and curse capitalism to each other without any awareness of the irony. That's the amazing part to me.

[Michael]

And get into separate private jets as they fly to Los Angeles for the next show.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, I just. I just. I. I look at people like that, almost like a dog. I can kind of communicate with them, but. Oh, that's unwell.

[Michael]

I was showing a video of the Portland show to my oldest son. You could probably guess what he said. That's the guy from the Sopranos about the guitar player.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's right. And say. Exactly right.

[Michael]

It's hard to not see Sil and think, hey, Tone.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know, Tom. Oh, boy.

[Michael]

How happy are those guys to get to play again and make whatever money they make off of this whole thing?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah.

[Michael]

They're spending the last 50 years of their lives waiting around, sometimes for years at a time. Hey, honey, did the phone ring? No, the phone didn't. I thought I heard the phone ring. Thought it might be Bruce announcing another tour. No. Okay. Yes. I'll just go back to whatever guys do when I'm not touring or you

[Jack Armstrong]

pick up the phone and it's Bruce and he says, hey, how you doing? Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm taking a couple more years off if, you know.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah, boss, that's Fine. That's.

[Jack Armstrong]

I totally get that. I understand it completely. And you hang up the phone. Oh, no, no. Back to the Home Depot and put on the orange apron. Wow.

[Michael]

You think? What's his name? The other guitar player works at Home Depot in between tours.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gary W. Talent. The bassist. I could go on. Admit me. Chorus to this history who Prologue, like your humble patience Pray gently to hear kindly to judge the final thoughts of Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

At least. Least Max Weinberg had that job drumming for Conan all those years.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Remember when we used to talk to his daughter? She was a reporter for abc, was it?

[Michael]

Or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

She was terrific. Never got to meet the mighty Max though, unfortunately.

[Michael]

Here's your host for Final Thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, Michael, lead us off. Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew. I'm thinking about, you know, this whole charging a toll for ships to go through is are they going to set up toll booths out in the sea where these ships got to line up

[Michael]

and like show you can get a

[Jack Armstrong]

fast track sort of fast track type of thing? Exact change. Only Katie Greener, esteemed news woman, has a final thought. Katie, I'm like a broken record, but we talked about In N out earlier,

[Michael]

so I'm going today.

[Jack Armstrong]

I can't help myself.

[Michael]

Well, you're pregnant, so you're eating for two.

[Jack Armstrong]

Free pass. Free pass. So get a double, double, double. Yeah. Jack, a final thought for us.

[Michael]

I like that. In N Out had a big sign on their door prior to Easter that we. We. I mean, it was a very religious statement. A little sign on their door about, you know, honoring Jesus and resurrection and blah, blah, blah. And we're going to give everybody the day off. And they were completely closed on Sunday.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. My final thought is to gifted and talented and popular musicians. You bring joy and escape to people who have hard lives. When you throw politics into it, it. It ruins that. So don't do that. I know you want to. There's lots of stuff I want to do.

[Michael]

But don't do that. Maybe for the crowd that agrees with them, they enjoy it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know.

[Michael]

I don't want to hear it even if I agree with it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shut up, you hippie.

[Michael]

I want to hear the section.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shut up.

[Michael]

Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Jack Armstrong]

So many hippies to thank, so little time. Go to armstrong yeti.com for the hotline. Thanks. Katie's Corners, pick up some A and G swag. Drop us a note if there's something we ought to be talking about, or you have a point of view that needs to be heard. Email us, mailbagarmstrongandgetty.com we will see you tomorrow.

[Michael]

God bless America.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

The White House is already calling this a win for President Trump.

[Jack Armstrong]

So is the Iranian regime. President Trump forged this moment. Iran begged for this ceasefire, and we all know it.

[Joe Getty]

What comes next, especially militarily, the president.

[Jack Armstrong]

United States is not one to mess around.

[News Reporter]

So there is still this tension that exists here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Iran has been a threat to the United States and the free world for 47 years. No longer. Armstrong and Gettysburg.