A&G Replay Wednesday Hour Two

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – “A&G Replay Wednesday Hour Two”

Release Date: November 26, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This replay episode revisits heated debates and thoughtful commentary on contemporary culture war issues, ranging from women's rights and the trans debate to the unsettling advent of AI-generated music, cunning vehicle thefts, and society’s ongoing fascination with conspiracy theories. The hour is a mix of sharp humor, social analysis, and real frustration with modern political and social trends, especially as they manifest on the left and in progressive strongholds like California and Europe.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Trans Debate, Women’s Rights, and Intersectionality

(Start: 03:46 – 15:31)

• The hour opens with discussion surrounding Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer turned activist for women’s sports, and her negative treatment at colleges for speaking out on these issues.

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 03:46): “Riley Gaines has been an absolutely courageous spokesperson for women's sports, women's private places, and women's rights in general… the reception she's gotten has been absolutely horrific.”

• They highlight the story of Tish Hyman, a Black lesbian woman verbally and physically harassed by a trans-identifying male in a women’s gym locker room, and her subsequent clash with progressive California lawmaker Scott Wiener.

  • Hyman’s confrontation with Wiener at a town hall and her impassioned plea about the erasure of women’s rights offer a window into the tensions on the American left regarding intersectionality and gender ideology.

• Jack and Joe satirize the performance of intersectional politics—particularly how progressive hierarchies sometimes result in the erasure or sidelining of certain groups (e.g., Black women vs. trans women).

  • Quote (Joe Getty, 08:26): “That’s where it turns super interesting…Because then she gets into the–wait a second. Nobody can criticize me. I'm black, I'm a woman, and I'm gay… and then comes along trans. And apparently trans trumps all those other things.”
  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 09:46): "And she, of course, knows those are the cards to play on the left, so she tries to play them..."

• Memorable moment: Tish Hyman’s fiery exit from the meeting, emphasizing the real consequences of these debates for women’s safety and critiquing what she views as the cynical use of civil rights language for unrelated agendas.

  • Quote (Tish Hyman, 12:56): “Don’t let them use our blackness and our civil rights as a reason to pass weird laws for children to transform.”

2. AI-Generated Music and Cultural Cynicism

(16:13 – 19:45)

• Jack and Joe grapple with their unease over an AI-generated country song making waves on the charts, voicing concerns about the future of creativity and authenticity in music.

  • Quote (Joe Getty, 16:49): “Having listened to it, that is highly troubling.”
  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 16:52): "It sickened me. That is way too good."

• The discussion expands to lament the corporatization and commodification of pop music over the past few decades—fears now amplified by AI replicating (and perhaps surpassing) human vulnerability and artistry.

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 17:19): “Pop music is so corporate… The formulaic AI, they might as well be AI. Song factories are so efficient… It’s easy to be very, very cynical about it.”

• Deep discomfort with the notion of computers mimicking human pain, especially in lyrics ostensibly about raw emotion:

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 18:37): “The fact that that is cranked out by a computer because they know you like that sort of thing, makes me want to vomit."

3. Big Tech, Google, and Ideological Censorship

(19:45 – 20:19)

• Joe briefly highlights a controversy at Google, where the company allegedly tried to silence an AI creator whose views on transgender issues clashed with corporate orthodoxy. They muse how China’s AI industry doesn't face these internal ideological struggles.

4. Soap Shortages and Workplace Life

(24:10 – 25:28)

• Switch to lighter, personal gripes: Joe and Jack bemoan lack of soap in their radio station’s restroom, reminisce about “Lava” soap, and joke about solutions.

5. Euro Bureau: Economic Woes in France, Britain, and Germany

(25:55 – 34:32)

• Joe launches into the “Euro Bureau,” critiquing the economic malaise in Western Europe—illustrated by museum heists in underfunded France, ballooning government budgets, rampant taxation, and sluggish growth in the UK and Germany.

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 25:54): “I feel like [watching] my beloved republic… It’s a slow motion car crash. I mean, the end of this is so incredibly predictable. We become France. It’s the francification of the United States.”
  • New Armstrong & Getty merch plug: “Ruin the entire country. Newsom 2028.”

• Bigger picture: the hosts argue America’s on the same path, with voters ill-informed about the costs of social spending and “no grasp of fiscal restraint.”

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 31:31): “The average voter has no grasp...fiscal restraint. They…think you deserve handouts.”

6. Tech-Enabled Car Theft and Security Flaws

(38:06 – 40:15)

• Reporting on car thieves using devices to intercept and replicate key fob signals to boost cars, with practical laments about modern car technology and humorous life hacks for protecting key fob signals.
  • Quote (Joe Getty, 39:07): “That's why my battery runs down so fast on my key fob...nobody's ever told me that.”
  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 39:48): “Death penalty for car thieves...They're the modern horse thieves. Hang them.”

7. The Allure of Conspiracy Theories

(40:15 – 45:12)

• Jack delivers an analysis on why people are drawn to conspiracy theories, comparing modern right-wing conspiracism to religious Gnosticism—seeking secret knowledge as a form of salvation.

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 41:24): “A special knowledge...lifts us out of its corruptions into redemption. Salvation under its theory, requires neither faith nor action, only the recognition that you’re being lied to and your soul belongs elsewhere. Knowledge of these forces becomes the work itself. Discover them and you are redeemed.”

• Drawing on psychological studies, they explain how feelings of powerlessness lead people to perceive patterns and adopt conspiratorial worldviews.

  • Quote (Jack Armstrong, 44:11): "...people who feel powerless, confused, overwhelmed, begin to see patterns that are not there because they want to bring order to the disorder that they perceive...Perceiving conspiracies and developing superstitions..."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Intersectionality Hierarchy:

• Joe Getty (08:26): “Apparently trans trumps all those other things.”
• Jack Armstrong (09:50): “Then a full grown dude shows up in the locker room...she becomes the bad person...this whole hierarchy of victims thing, sometimes it gets a little weird.”

AI Music:

• Jack Armstrong (18:37): “...that is cranked out by a computer because they know you like that sort of thing, makes me want to vomit.”

On Government and Fiscal Disaster:

• Jack Armstrong (31:31): “The average voter has no grasp of the concept of fiscal restraint. They, you know, it’s too easy to sell them on. You deserve handouts.”

Conspiracy Theories:

• Jack Armstrong (41:24): “Salvation, under its theory, requires neither faith nor action, only the recognition that you're being lied to and that your soul belongs elsewhere.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 03:46 — Riley Gaines, women’s sports activism, and campus backlash
• 05:15 — Tish Hyman confronts Scott Wiener on women’s safety
• 08:26 — Intersectionality, “cards to play” and cultural hierarchy
• 12:56 — Hyman decries use of civil rights rhetoric for trans/gender law
• 16:13 — AI country song, artistry vs. algorithm
• 19:45 — Google AI creator controversy, ideological censorship
• 25:55 — The “Euro Bureau”: Europe’s economic slow-motion disaster
• 38:06 — Car thefts using new tech and practical implications
• 40:15 — Why conspiracy theories seduce people psychologically

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Tone & Style

This Armstrong & Getty episode is irreverent, sarcastic, and often bitterly funny, blending social commentary with sharp personal asides and a touch of cultural nostalgia. The hosts’ frustration with contemporary progressivism, technological overreach, and economic mismanagement is palpable and delivered with their trademark banter.

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Summary for Non-Listeners

If you missed this episode, you’ll come away knowing:

• Women speaking out on sex-based rights are often outmaneuvered by progressive ideologies prioritizing trans women, leading to unexpected cracks in intersectional politics.
• AI is now not just writing songs but, for some, stealing the soul of music itself.
• Corporate and political virtue signaling comes with both comic and deadly serious consequences.
• Both Europe and the US are hurtling toward economic uncertainty, fueled by similar patterns of overspending and political denial.
• Ordinary annoyances (like the loss of hand soap at work) can be as absurd as high-level technology failures—like thieves hacking your car’s key fob.
• And underneath it all, the search for meaning in chaos can lead people toward the emotionally satisfying embrace of conspiracy theories.

As always, Armstrong & Getty balance biting critique with enough humor to keep things lively, their exasperation with the modern world always laced with a wry sense of perspective.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

Welcome to a replay of the Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Jack Armstrong]

We are on vacation.

[Joe Getty]

Boy, do we have some good stuff for you.

[Jack Armstrong]

So speaking of misbehavior, Riley Gaines has been an absolutely courageous spokesperson for women's sports, women's private places, and women's rights in general. And on college campuses where undergrads are majority women, the reception she's gotten has been absolutely horrific.

[Commercial Announcer]

I have been in several environments, especially on these hotbeds, these college campuses where I have been spit on. Of course, I mean the most profane, obscene, heinous things yelled at me, drinks poured on me, glass bottles thrown at me. There was an incident in San Francisco where I was literally held hostage for five hours, where protesters, the mob, the angry, violent mob on the demanded that I had to pay them money if I wanted to make it back home to my family safely. All while university officials, the dean of students, the vice president of student affairs at the university, they applauded the students for their brave behavior, saying that people like me with our dissenting viewpoints, we were the ones who were basically asking for this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the whole transgender cult thing. How else to describe a view so adamant and fevered that you would behave like that when a young woman was trying to protect women's sports and women's private areas like locker rooms and bathrooms and stuff? I mean, you are nuts.

[Joe Getty]

You don't mean her private area like her Yahoo. Good lord, you mean the space she's in?

[Jack Armstrong]

You're an idiot, and I will not dignify that. Speaking of people standing up for women's rights, this is such an interesting little episode in the history of that Tish Hyman is the name of the black lady you may have seen, heard, who was aghast when she was bare naked at the Gold's Gym in Los Angeles and turned and there was a full grown man looking at her. And she told aforementioned fella to get the hell out. He said, I'm a. He said, I'm a woman. I get to be in here. And started screaming at her that she was a bigot and misgendering him and the rest of it. We played you that well. Tish, to her credit, traveled north to the San Francisco Bay area and attended a town hall meeting being held by none other than the world's leading pervert, Scott Weiner, who hopes to hold Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat soon. And she, Tish, was asking Scott about protecting women. And it took some really interesting turns. We'll start with 70.

[Tish Hyman]

Michael as a lesbian woman who was attacked in a woman's locker room at Gold's Gym this week by a self identifying trans woman with a documented history of domestic violence. I'm deeply concerned about women's safety in female only spaces. What would you say to women who are seeking assurance that their safety will be protected from men who by California law can self ID as women and women only space to serve? Please tell me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, so we want, I mean, everyone be safe. And we also know that, you know, we have trans, trans people, both men and women, who are men and women. And so, you know, we. So if you're a trans women or women, wow. What a floundering, fumbling, bumbling effort to translate the academia talk Scott Wieners memorized into like real world language. You just couldn't do it.

[Jacob Goldstein]

No.

[Joe Getty]

Well, often when you're saying stuff you don't actually believe, it's difficult to form your sentences and thoughts.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think he does believe that though. I mean, he's in favor of everything from man, boy, love to, you know, please. He says birthing persons. He's said birthing persons 10 years ago. He's an activist in this. But anyway, it keeps going and it keeps getting weirder and we want to.

[Tish Hyman]

Know, are you going to protect women? Not trans women, women, women. Trans women are doing things. Listen, we need to protect women's safety. I was assaulted. No, they are not. They are men. I was assaulted by women. He broke his wife's jaw so bad she needed reconstructive surgery. I'm a lesbian, I'm not transphobic and I'm black. So if there's another black woman in here who wants to tell me how they feel, please join in. But all of you are not.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I don't know who you are.

[Tish Hyman]

What you are, but I'm a lesbian and I'm telling you right now, men are harassing Women in the locker room.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's let him answer the question.

[Joe Getty]

That's where it turns super interesting in terms of the left eating the own. Because then she gets into the. Wait a second. Nobody can criticize me. I'm black, I'm a woman, and I'm gay. Those three things leave me in a situation where you can't possibly disagree with me and then comes along trans. And apparently trans trumps all of those other things.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, sorry, black lesbian ladies, I wish we could help you here, but you're getting. Back of line, please. Yeah, yeah. And I loved. And listen, I'm not on her side of the intersectional totem pole battle thing, but I love the dynamic of white men, trans cultists saying trans women are women. Trans women are women. Trans women are women. Right.

[Joe Getty]

So you got. You have adult white males who all of a sudden end up in the. In the right. Using my finger quotes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right position.

[Joe Getty]

Correct position.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

For the woke left over a black female gay person. Because we've crossed into the trans conversation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Sorry, sorry.

[Joe Getty]

It's complicated. You need a flowchart.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. And then she of course knows those are the cards to play on the left, so she tries to play them because they're not.

[Joe Getty]

Always worked for her her whole life, I'm sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Then a full grown dude shows up in the locker room. She yells out of panic and shock when he's looking at her bare ass naked. And. And then she becomes the bad person that is kicked out of Gold's gym. And now she feels. Oh, shoot, this whole hierarchy of victims thing, sometimes it gets a little weird.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I don't, I don't. I'm on her side in this conversation and I don't know her. Maybe she hasn't been playing this card her whole life. Although she pulled it there pretty quickly. But there are plenty of people who do play that card. And it works whether you know, the bus didn't pick you up or you got a bad grade in school or they want you to pay your rent on time or whatever the hell it is. It's always worked until you run into some white guys who are on the other side of trans.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

I remember.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it works in the other way too. That you can discount, dismiss, insult anyone by pointing out that they happen to be a white person. I had that card first played on me like 20 years ago. I was like, wait, what? But yeah, it's popular. Anyway, the meeting already Jazzy rolled on. I appreciate your point of view. I'm so sorry that you were multiple times. I appreciate you talking about it. I. I think we need to protect.

[Joe Getty]

The safety of all women.

[Jack Armstrong]

And. And that obviously that's incredibly important. And I also know that trans women are also brutalized in this country. So women and.

[Joe Getty]

And.

[Jack Armstrong]

And cisgender women are brutalized in this country.

[Joe Getty]

And.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we have to protect the safety.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Of all of them.

[Tish Hyman]

We have to protect these women. We cannot be raped in bathrooms by men that want to say they're women. They're not women. They're not women.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm leaving.

[Tish Hyman]

It's okay. But I' I am leaving. Because you know what? You guys are not protecting women. You're doing a lot. The bills that you're passing for the law. I read a lot of them. They're great. But this things with the trans. It's not right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank you very much.

[Tish Hyman]

You're welcome.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the key phrase there is women and CIS women need protection. So. Sorry. Born with ovaries. Etc, people. You're in second place. Women, real women and CIS women need to be protected. In Scott Wieners world.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. The only woman term that doesn't have a qualifier attached is dude.

[Jack Armstrong]

To say they're a woman. Exactly. Katie, you're smoldering. I'm at a loss for words. You know, I know. And as a woman who is pregnant and my body is doing all sorts of things, this is even more infuriating because they have. Oh, I can totally relate. Totally relate. Because I identify as a woman. Yeah. Yeah. You ought to cave my effing Ethan for saying that.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Glad you're too far away. God.

[Joe Getty]

She just needed one more thing. Was your uncle a Cherokee?

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you have anything? What do you got? Let's think. Let's brainstorm here. They're both all for your limbs work. Okay. No. Let me think. Let me think. Your eyesight okay? No. All right. She had one more shot as she walked out the door.

[Tish Hyman]

You heard me, sister.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right.

[Tish Hyman]

Don't let them use our blackness and our civil rights as a reason to pass weird laws for children to transform.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's wrong.

[Tish Hyman]

My sister. Sisters in jail. She can't get free tampons herself, but she can get free transformation medication. Big Pharma's best.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Scott. Well, things are going so smoothly. That was a pretty good one. Would she say her sister's in prison? Whoever's in prison. Right. Can't get tampons. But you could get free transition surgery or medication. Medication.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Exactly. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Well.

[Jack Armstrong]

And Jeffrey made a pretty good point that don't let our blackness. Don't let Them use our blackness to pass weird laws. Because the far, far radical left and the neo Marxists, they use the verbiage and the rationale of the civil rights movement to make it seem like a dude who says, now I'm a girl is the same as, you know, Emmett Till or somebody who just wanted to vote in the south or attend a public university. It's obscene.

[Joe Getty]

We left out that this Scott Wiener person, because you don't know him all around the country like we do in the Bay. He's a Bay Area legend in government and doing all kinds of crazy stuff in the city and then getting into state government, all that sort of stuff. He wants to take Nancy Pelosi's seat. He's going to run for Nancy Pelosi seat. He could be the face of progressivism in the House of Representatives. I almost hope he wins. It's going to be so crazy. But I don't actually want his point.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of view to be spread. Yeah, I mean, he's. He's pro everything that's perverse, including, you know, man, boy love and that sort of thing, even if he kind of hints at it. But, yeah, I don't.

[Jacob Goldstein]

I'm.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm trying to decide right now if it'd be better or worse to have him in Congress. I would like the. I don't know. People are so easily talked off of their beliefs in ways that shocked me, like during COVID And you got to.

[Joe Getty]

Be careful with this whole, you know, mom, dummy wins. That'll be good for us. Scott Weider wins. Be good for us. Pretty soon, there's going to be a lot of people in positions of power.

[Jack Armstrong]

With horrifying ideas and a lot of the sheeple andor young people who are easily sold on a lot of this garbage. I just feel bad that lady lost the intersectional contest. Yeah, she walked in there feeling great.

[Joe Getty]

Black woman. Who's going to say something to a gay black woman? I am bulletproof.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sorry, I'm trans.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no.

[Jack Armstrong]

The superpower.

[Joe Getty]

My kryptonite.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

Damn it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. Jack and Joe are here to tell you your day will be just fine. Just download the podcast. It won't cost you a dime. Armstrong and get it on demand. That's the podcast. Subscribe right now. Armstrong and Getty. The armstrong and getty show. Look out. So before we went to break, Joe.

[Joe Getty]

Will mention this country song that's on the top of some chart, and it's AI and so we both took a listen to it. We can't play it because it Be a violation of something. But, but so before I tell you what I thought of this AI song that's at the top of the charts. Is it all AI? Is that what you're saying? It's entirely AI song?

[Jack Armstrong]

I believe so, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So the dude on the COVID is a made up picture. The voice is AI, the instruments, the writing, all of it is a. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if the. There's probably somebody who wrote the lyrics, just. But maybe not. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

Having listened to it, that is highly troubling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it. It sickened me. That is way too good.

[Joe Getty]

That is. Why, why would anybody try at this point? Well, why would anybody try to become famous and make money at it if you want to make music?

[Jack Armstrong]

I do it every day. I.

[Joe Getty]

At home, I play the piano in my bedroom, in my underwear. I do that all the time.

[Jack Armstrong]

But left that last part out.

[Joe Getty]

AI isn't going to replace that. But any, any I'm gonna make it onto the charts. I don't know if there's any point in that any anymore.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I'm already very, very cynical about pop music. And it occurred to me that a lot of us of a certain age, we had the unbelievable experience that we took for granted that pop music, which was entirely a commodity. I mean, anybody who was actually a creative artist was exploited and thrown away by the money guys. It was just again a corporate commodity. And then there was a brief and wonderful period of, I don't know, 10 to 25 years. The art was dominated by actual creative artists. At least to a significant extent. It still was corporate, but there was a hell of a lot of creativity. And now, and I'm not saying there's no creativity left, but pop music is so corporate. There's so much money to be made. The formulaic AI, they might as well be AI. Song factories are so efficient. The underwear models lip syncing to the music are so good looking in the rest of it. It. It's easy to be very, very cynical about it. Having said that, the lyrics of this song in particular are a person who has had some very painful times in their life pouring out their soul. And the fact that that is cranked out by a computer because they know you like that sort of thing, makes me want to vomit.

[Joe Getty]

That's a good point. The fact that a chat bot picks up. Oh, okay. People, people have angst and pain and that thing. I'll write about that. Yeah. When it comes from somebody who's had that same feeling and we have that, we have that in Common as a human being. Oh, you felt that? I'm feeling that right now. Thanks for writing about it. When it turns out it's a computer completely, you know. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

One of my, One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands, the, the, the writer and singer happens to be a gal, is talking about, you know, being, you know, self destructive in love and drinking way too much. And the line is, maybe I'll find my maker on the bedroom floor. Which is a hell of a line. Maybe I'll meet my maker. I think it is anyway, to hear that somebody just cranked that out because the computer algorithm said that would, that would be compelling. I don't know. Just, I. Oh, my skin is crawling, my guts are churning. Maybe I ate something bad for dinner last night, but. Yeah, that's. That's awful. It's not good, it's not funny, it's not amusing.

[Joe Getty]

So Google hired some AI guru to come over. They spent $2.7 billion to buy character AI and then this guy.

[Jacob Goldstein]

Had a.

[Joe Getty]

Whole bunch of posts about how he doesn't believe the whole trans thing is real. And so Google tried to shut him down, having just spent $3 billion on his company. And that became it. So they got a, they got a, A woke problem within the Google AI stuff. So that'll be something. China is not worried about that I guarantee you. China's attempt to be the dominant AI force on earth is not worried about the politics of the individual employees.

[Jack Armstrong]

Always right. The Armstrong and Getty Show Armstrong and Gary, Jack and Joe are here to tell you your day will be just fine. Just download the podcast. Won't cost you a dime, Armstrong. And get it on demand.

[Joe Getty]

That's the podcast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Subscribe right now. Armstrong and Getty.

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Jack off Armstrong and Joe Getty the Armstrong and Getty show.

[Joe Getty]

On the floor we are occupying here at the radio station. The stall where people do their you know, your main business. There's been no soap in there for like a month.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, it's longer than that to wash.

[Joe Getty]

Your hands and that Ain't cool.

[Jack Armstrong]

Cool.

[Joe Getty]

So Hanson and I were just discussing it. Maybe we should bring bars of soap and set them on the counter kind of as a hint, like we've started bringing our own bar from home for some reason he suggested Lava. Do you remember Lava soap? It was gray and it had the grit in it to like.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Do they still make that? I think bars of Lava soap would be perfect.

[Jack Armstrong]

One of my friends dad was an actual auto mechanic and he did a lot of work in his own garage. I think that's where I ran into Lava soap.

[Joe Getty]

It was good for that sort of thing. I don't know. So good for like a 10 year old to scrub their body in the shower.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, a lot of bleeding from the hands. Yeah, exfoliating.

[Joe Getty]

Exfoliating, exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

So a lot of great stuff to squeeze in this hour. But first, from the information mind of Joe Getty. That brought you. I do occasionally refer to myself in the third person. That brought you a look in the china cabinet. And what was one of the other ones, Michael? I can't remember.

[Joe Getty]

I can't remember if there was another one.

[Jack Armstrong]

There have been other ones. Well, it's time for the Euro bureau. Ah, there you go. Yeah, we're still working on the introduction for the Euro Bureau and that was low rent. Are you kidding? That was free sign on the side of the road. I was limited on supplies.

[Commercial Announcer]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. And time. So a couple of really interesting stories from Europe. And I tell you what, and a lot of you agree with this, I feel like watching my beloved republic and our various challenges and increasing socialism and debt and the rest of it. It's a slow motion car crash. I mean, the end of this is so incredibly predictable. We become France. It's the francification of the United States.

[Commercial Announcer]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, damn it. That reminds me. I'm so pleased with this, I can't stand it. The new T shirt at the Armstrong and Getty superstore is simply on a lovely dark blue background. Although you could probably get it in all sorts of colors. Ruin the entire country. Newsom 2028.

[Joe Getty]

I like it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Looks great. Tell unicornians and those who sympathize with calicoans ruin the entire country. Newsom 2028. Anyway, so we all heard about the breaking at the Louvre, right? We're gonna start in France in the Euro Bureau. We all heard about that, right? In the crown jewels and all sorts of stuff. Much less reported here on the other side of the Atlantic is the fact that that was one of nine major robberies of museums. Museums over the past year in France.

[Joe Getty]

Didn't know that nine.

[Jack Armstrong]

Six French museums have been hit since the beginning of September alone, One of them twice. And they name a bunch of museums I've never heard of, but are important, I guess, including the stately Museum of Natural History. Few of the stolen works, including precious porcelain and gold crosses and statues, have been recovered. As the robberies pile up, French officials are waking up to an unsettling reality. France is awash in cultural treasures, but has minimal resources to protect them. Thieves?

[Joe Getty]

Well, I was gonna say after the fourth or fifth museums hit, I would have thought somebody said, hey, is the Louvre protected? I mean, that's like our most famous museum.

[Jack Armstrong]

Successive governments have collapsed over efforts to rein in the country's budget deficit, leaving the state too cash strapped to invest in meaningful security upgrades for the more than 1200 sites classified by the government as museums. And McCrone's administration is scrambling to take a census of the country's most valuable artwork to know where to put their few pennies. But you've got a rising criminal class and absolutely no budget, no will to protect the country. It's just sad. Then you have this from the Wall Street Journal. Britain is preparing tens of billions of dollars. Well, pounds, but in new taxes again. The labor government is readying its second major tax increase in two years as it tries to avoid spooking markets. Markets, specifically bond markets, because it's taking on so much debt and it's killing the economy. And this is a good description. The UK has long been torn between two mutually exclusive desires. Voters want European levels of welfare with American levels of taxation. Of course, we're overspending our taxation too. But by accident design, the debate is slowly being resolved in the direction of higher taxes, as Britain's labor government, which can't leave office soon enough, prepares its second major tax increase in as many years. The UK is confronting an issue facing growing numbers of rich nations. How to pay for rising government spending without taking on ever more debt and spooking financial markets. So they've got this giant tax increase coming to narrow the budget deficit, which is at about 6% of their GDP. Biggest rounds of tax increases since the mid 70s. The increases will likely further constrain Britain's anemic economic growth. A lot of that had to do.

[Joe Getty]

With their net zero policies around climate change, which were crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely true. Yeah, Those two things are just crushing the economy. So the latest increase will raise the UK's tax rate to about 38% of annual economic output. Highest level ever, compares with about 30% in the 90s and low 30s and 2010s. That puts the UK comfortably ahead of the US which is in the mid-20s, although spending ourselves into oblivion, but still short of Germany and France. The pitfalls of such an approach are evident in Germany, which taxes wages more than any other rich country except Belgium, taking almost 50% of employees gross wages on average. While that approach has helped Germany balance budgets in the past, it has eaten into Germans purchasing power, depressing consumption. And Germany, that at the end of the Cold War, slashed spending on defense and poured the difference into the welfare state, now needs desperately to spend more on the military and shore up crumbling infrastructure, from potholed roads to a decrepit rail system. But taxes are already very high and the growth is too weak to fund new taxes. Slow motion car wreck.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I took in a podcast about Britain's financial situation several weeks ago, and it was striking. The whole time I was listening to it, I kept thinking, why isn't this a bigger story? Why don't more people know this in the United States, that Britain has just ruined their economy and. And then there's no easy way out. And they are like our future. We can look at them and we're going to be able to see what it's going to be like for us. I know.

[Jack Armstrong]

The world's most predictable disaster. It's so frustrating. And you didn't tune in to be frustrated.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

But.

[Jack Armstrong]

But, I mean, it's just somebody comes up here on the street and says, I really like Fentanyl. I'm taking more Fentanyl every day. And you're thinking, well, you can OD and die. In fact, 100% of people who you said that to would think you're going to OD and die, but they just keep doing it. I feel like that's the situation we're in now because the average voter has no grasp. And this is true in France, it's true in Britain, it's true in the US has no grasp of the concept of fiscal restraint. They, you know, it's too easy to sell them on. You deserve handouts. I just, you know, I don't know how legitimate this quote is. I've seen it a million times old. The Scottish guy that when, when a people realizes it can vote itself money themselves, money from the treasury, a republic is doomed. I'm not sure there's any turning it around short of a cataclysm, but you don't bounce back from every cataclysm. It was like, you're only half serious. God, send me a warning so I get really serious about getting healthy. Like a minor heart attack, right?

[Joe Getty]

I asked God to give me a minor heart attack so I would start eating better.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, your genius, Jack, your unappreciated genius is that's a perfect metaphor for the United States. The only thing that will stop us wolfing down bacon, drinking a quart of bourbon a night and smoking four packs a day is a fiscal heart attack. The problem being you don't always survive them.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, the pandemic was quite the cataclysm and it didn't make things better anywhere.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, you know that it's funny and we're. When we were talking a couple segments ago, whenever it was about young people and young men and their anger and anti Semitism and that whole stew, the writer that I was quoting mentioned how bitterly painful the COVID shutdowns were for young men in so many ways. And it drove them away from girlfriends and real friends and jobs and striving and pride and being a man. Blah blah blah. The COVID shutdowns, which were specifically opposite of what all the health organizations around the world had said they would do when there was a pandemic. They abandoned all their plans and panicked and shut them down and kept the kids out of schools. The rest of it. I don't think we've reckoned with a third of the damage that did. No, definitely the incredible evil that perpetrated. I'll be saying that until I'm lowered into my grave. Straight from our European Union.

[Joe Getty]

Desk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, that was Joe Getty's Euroburo. It was so horrible. It was great.

[Joe Getty]

Oh man.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jacob Goldstein]

This 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 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.com that's o d o o.com bring.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whim Sound smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker speaker for just $299. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Whim Sound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim Sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Whim Sound. That's wiimsound this holiday season.

[Commercial Announcer]

Give the gift. Everyone will gather around a Vizio Smart TV now available at Walmart. From a super sized 100 inch TV to QLED TVs of all sizes, Vizio delivers breathtaking color and crystal clear picture quality that takes entertainment to the next level. Plus, with Watch Free plus built in, they can enjoy free live and on demand TV right out of the box. Have a music lover on your list? They can stream their favorite music on the iHeartRadio app ready to go on every Vizio TV. The perfect gift is waiting. Head to Walmart.com and discover Vizio TVs today.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty Show Anaheim Police Detective Heather Scaglioni says the thieves used a tablet meant for locksmiths that can connect to technology in newer vehicles. He's Being handed a.

[NordicTrack Advertiser]

Like a locksmith tool.

[Jack Armstrong]

A computer device that plugs into the.

[NordicTrack Advertiser]

Computer system in the car so he.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can quickly reprogram it and turn the car on so he can leave with that truck. Thieves are also using antennas to pick up signals from key fobs inside homes. Wait a minute.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the time to go back to metal keys that just stick in the ignition and twist. Yeah. In the. In the video attached to that news article, it actually showed a ring camera at the front door, and the thieves.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Were holding an antenna, and they had.

[Jack Armstrong]

Some kind of device tucked in their.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Pocket that this thing was connected to. And when they held it up, they just touched the house. And then the car that was parked.

[Jack Armstrong]

In the driveway started because somebody had already was able to, like, get into it and start the car just by using the key fob signal. Yeah, I remember two cars ago, I think it was.

[Joe Getty]

Was that your Trans Am?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, with the. The T tops. Yeah, my fob. Key fob kept. The battery kept dying.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I said, where do you keep it relative to your garage? And it was too close to the garage. They said he either got a shielded or moved it because the car and the key fob keep talking to each other. I didn't know that.

[Joe Getty]

That's why my battery runs down so fast on my key fob. I feel like I replace it every two weeks, and nobody's ever told me that.

[Commercial Announcer]

Okay.

[Jacob Goldstein]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, so, yeah, obviously they. They are putting out signals and. And, you know, well, putting out signals all the time. So, yeah, you can sniff them and use them to break into a car. What the heck? Death penalty for car thieves.

[Joe Getty]

There you go. Hang them.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're the modern horse thieves. Hang them.

[Joe Getty]

That's right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Right outside General Motors, you know, Ford or whatever. Maybe it's your local dealer.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Come on down, bring the kids. We'll spin the wheel of prizes. Hang a car thief. They're actually making these free hot dogs. Yeah, they're making these keychains now, too, that you can get on, like, Amazon or whatever that you just put on there, and then you can tuck your.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Key fob in that, and it'll block that signal. I saw.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, good. Yeah, excellent.

[Joe Getty]

There you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

Simple solution. Thank you, Katie. Life hack. Yeah. So we're talking about conspiracy theories and how they work and what's at the. The root of them. I remembered a piece I brought to you a while ago, about a month ago, about gnosticism, How a lot of the people pushing this stuff are like, the first century Gnostics, a Christian heresy that holds that the material world is evil, that a special knowledge, or gnosis with a g lifts us out of its corruptions into redemption. Salvation, under its theory, requires neither faith nor action, only the recognition that you're being lied to and that your soul belongs elsewhere. Gnosticism, like orthodox religions, asks why evil exists. But instead of traditional answers rooted in personal responsibility, it posits that malevolent forces control the world. Knowledge of these forces becomes the work itself. Discover them and you are redeemed. Which is interesting. But then this from Claire Lehman, a piece called the New Medievals. And he goes into a variety of people, including Candace Owens, who has been implicating everyone in the murder, from the Israeli government to Turning Point USA itself to Erica Kirk. And last week her speculation reached its apogee when she suggested that Donald Trump himself was involved. Which which is, well, what the hell, go for a touchdown if you're throwing the ball. But then, she writes Claire writes Owens, wild theorizing isn't an anomaly. It's part of something older and darker. There's a distinctly medieval quality to much of the conspiratorial right a world animated by unseen cabals, moral corruption, and divine punishment disguised as politics. Then she talks about how in journalism, if it bleeds, it leads. And any story that features a villain or a group of villains doing something dastardly to innocent victims is much more likely to be read and shared than an article that, say, debunks such narratives with statistics, she explains. Our mammalian brains are wired to perceive and anthropomorphize threats. When our ancestors saw thunderbolts crashing down from the sky, they didn't think it was caused by electricity in the air and complex weather systems, but by the wrath of vengeful gods.

[Joe Getty]

That's what I believe.

[Jack Armstrong]

That looks like humans. Yeah, Jack still believes that we have to talk him down after every weather forecast. But so media entrepreneurs entrepreneurs, whether it's a Candace Owens or a big publisher or executive, knows that readers want to be frightened by stories of plotters, vandals, criminals and killers in literature and film. Disproportionate attention compared with the works of other sorts. For example, thrillers make up over 12% of adult fiction sales in the U.S. true Pride crime podcasts account for nearly a quarter of the top ranked shows. It's very, very hot. Yet conspiracy theories, those tales of shadowy cabals wreaking havoc in the world, seem to be the most seductive at all. I'm sorry, the most seductive of all. They combine the adrenaline of a thriller with the morality of a fable. These moral horror stories, as literary professor Jonathan Ghoshal argues in a 2021 book called the Story Paradox, succeeded not because they persuade people rationally, but because they gratify audiences on an emotional level. He wrote, quote, conspiracy stories promise heroes and villains, secret clues and moral urgency, and each one invites the listener to join a righteous crusade. That's a really good example. Heroes and villains, secret clues and moral urgency, and you get to join a righteous crusade.

[Joe Getty]

I get this and clearly it's true. I just, it's interesting to me that some people like me just aren't susceptible to it if it doesn't make sense. Like, I don't get that, and then there's no proof that it's that this is true. And then I just let it go.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, one more note before the break and then I want to come back with more of this because it's super thought provoking. But he mentions she ment a couple of scientific experiments, psychological experiments through the years where people who feel powerless, confused, overwhelmed, powerless begin to see patterns that are not there because they really want to bring order to the disorder that they perceive. Quote Participants who lack control were more likely to perceive a variety of illusory patterns, including seeing images and noise, forming illusory correlations in stock markets information, perceiving conspiracies and developing superstitions, the authors wrote. Another 2020 study found that the lack of sense of lack of agency also predicted belief in Jewish conspiracies specifically.

[Joe Getty]

Well, maybe that's why conspiracies don't work on me then. I don't generally feel powerless or lacking agency, so they don't grab me in the same way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and get it Christmas shopping. Sometimes it's so tough, it's it can.

[Commercial Announcer]

Feel like you're just buying a bunch of random stuff. Get focused and spend your money right. We've got the perfect gift for that special person in your life.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and getty superstore shop now armstrong and getty.com. Armstrong and Getty.

[NordicTrack Advertiser]

The only thing between you and your best self is a start button this Black Friday Explore the world with NordicTrack from the peaks of Peru to the streets of Paris, every workout moves you somewhere new, with iFit trainers leading the way. The equipment's amazing, smooth, quiet, and those screens make it all feel real. Ready to start your next workout adventure with the number one treadmill brand in the U.S. shop NordicTrack.com for Black Friday savings. NordicTrack train anywhere explore everywhere.

[Jacob Goldstein]

This 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.com that's o d o o.com bring.

[Whimsound Advertiser]

Incredible sound into every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whimsound Smart Speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $2.99. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Whim Sound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Whimsound. That's W I I M S O U N D How do I do.

[Commercial Announcer 2]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Jack Armstrong]

For all the holiday parties.

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Download the app or visit shipt.com, that's.

[Commercial Announcer]

S h ipt.com this holiday season. Give the gift. Everyone will gather around a Vizio Smart TV now available at Walmart. From a super sized 100 inch TV to QLED TVs of all size sizes, Vizio delivers breathtaking color and crystal clear picture quality that takes entertainment to the next level. Plus, with Watch Free plus built in, they can enjoy free live and on demand TV right out of the box. Have a music lover on your list? They can stream their favorite music on the iHeartradio app ready to go on every Vizio TV. The perfect gift is waiting. Head to Walmart.com and discover Vizio TVs today. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.