Bring Him Back! He's Not Fat!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "Bring Him Back! He's Not Fat!" – Detailed Summary

Release Date: February 12, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty
Producer: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Opening Remarks and Philadelphia Eagles’ Victory

Timestamp: [02:33] – [05:55]

The episode kicks off with Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty celebrating the Philadelphia Eagles' triumphant win at Super Bowl 59. Jack enthusiastically highlights a standout performance where a player scored three touchdowns, employing what’s colloquially known as the "Tush Push." The hosts engage in a light-hearted debate over the official nomenclature of the move, with Joe suggesting "Brotherly Shove" as a nod to Philadelphia's moniker.

• Jack Armstrong (03:07): "You scored three touchdowns on Sunday. You did by the first one was doing what people are calling the Tush Push."
• Joe Getty (03:55): "The Brotherly Shove. That's the other nickname for it because it's Philadelphia."

Their camaraderie sets an energetic tone as they segue into broader discussions.

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2. The Decline of Political Discourse

Timestamp: [05:00] – [15:55]

Armstrong and Getty delve into the deteriorating quality of political conversations in the United States. They express concern over the increasing use of coarse language and the shift towards more divisive rhetoric among politicians. The hosts lament that political discourse has degraded to the point where simple disagreements escalate into personal attacks, reducing meaningful dialogue.

• Jack Armstrong (05:03): "I say Trump, Donald Trump and Elon Musk. So you can chart this over my lifetime quite easily of the coarseness of our politics."
• Joe Getty (05:49): "Our discourse has got as low as it can possibly get."

They reference a clip featuring Maxine Dexter, a Democrat Congresswoman from Oregon, who awkwardly integrates profanity into a political slogan, highlighting the normalization of such language in politics.

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3. Elon Musk's Oval Office Address and Government Inefficiencies

Timestamp: [06:00] – [15:30]

The conversation shifts to Elon Musk's recent impromptu press conference at the Oval Office, where he addressed the looming fiscal crisis facing the nation. Armstrong and Getty critique Musk's calm demeanor juxtaposed with the harsh reception from media and political heavyweights, who labeled him a "monster" despite his reasonable explanations of economic challenges.

• Joe Getty (12:00): "It's okay for the base. The base is digging it. They're loving it."

They argue that Musk's insights into government inefficiencies and fiscal mismanagement are overshadowed by partisan biases, preventing constructive discourse on essential economic reforms.

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4. The Egg Shortage Crisis and Backyard Chicken Farming

Timestamp: [15:11] – [22:38]

Addressing the ongoing egg shortage exacerbated by inflation and avian flu outbreaks, Armstrong and Getty discuss the surge in backyard chicken farming as a grassroots response. They share personal anecdotes and observations on the practicality and challenges of maintaining hens, including issues with pets like dogs interfering with chicken coops.

• Jack Armstrong (19:00): "Fox 13, Seattle, rising egg prices have Sacramento county residents flocking to feed stores to buy laying hens."

The hosts humorously explore the lengths to which individuals are going to mitigate rising costs, drawing parallels to responses seen during previous economic spikes, such as gas price surges.

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5. Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Education

Timestamp: [29:00] – [38:42]

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing the repercussions of prolonged school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Armstrong and Getty cite recent studies indicating substantial learning losses across various states, with disparities between predominantly Democratic and Republican regions based on differing pandemic responses.

• Joe Getty (30:33): "New York Times writing yeah, paying the price. School children in Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania are still about a half year behind typical pre Covid reading levels."

They criticize the approach taken by heavily Democratic areas, attributing extended closures to teachers' unions and accusing educational leaders of leveraging the pandemic for ulterior motives. The discussion underscores the long-term socio-psychological damage inflicted on children, emphasizing the urgency for remedial educational strategies.

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6. Tulsi Gabbard’s Confirmation as Director of National Intelligence

Timestamp: [25:27] – [42:58]

Armstrong and Getty transition to political developments, focusing on Tulsi Gabbard's impending confirmation as the Director of National Intelligence. They express skepticism about her qualifications, referencing her stance on controversial issues like the Snowden leaks and the Patriot Act.

• Jack Armstrong (27:11): "And if you'd have gone to France or someplace instead of R, we might have more respect for you."

The hosts debate the implications of her confirmation, critiquing her past actions and questioning the Senate’s role in vetting such appointments. The segment reflects broader concerns about political appointments and their impact on national security and governance.

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7. Concluding Discussions and Viewer Interactions

Timestamp: [43:14] – [44:46]

In the closing segments, Armstrong and Getty engage with listener feedback and social media interactions. They humorously discuss a TikTok video highlighting communication issues within a family road trip, tying it back to the show's themes of modern societal challenges.

• Joe Getty (43:32): "And he's sitting there, he doesn't hear a thing she's saying because he's listening to you guys. That's funny."

The hosts hint at upcoming topics, including bureaucratic inefficiencies highlighted by Elon Musk, promising further exploration in future episodes.

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Key Takeaways

• Political Decay: Armstrong and Getty emphasize the alarming decline in political discourse, advocating for a return to respectful and constructive conversations.

• Economic Concerns: The hosts highlight pressing economic issues, including inflation and fiscal mismanagement, urging listeners to stay informed and engaged.

• Education Crisis: A critical examination of the impact of COVID-19 school closures underscores the need for immediate educational reforms to address learning deficits.

• Government Appointments: The discussion on Tulsi Gabbard's confirmation raises questions about the Senate's vetting processes and the qualifications of political appointees.

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Notable Quotes

• Jack Armstrong (31:25): "Does everybody not know that or whatever."

• Joe Getty (36:04): "It was like the internment of the Japanese or whatever."

• Jack Armstrong (38:29): "But and also. Well, I don't want to go down this road some other day about on spending on schools then versus now."

---

Conclusion

In "Bring Him Back! He's Not Fat!", Armstrong and Getty navigate a myriad of topics, from sports celebrations to deep-seated political and educational issues. Their candid conversations blend humor with critical analysis, providing listeners with insightful perspectives on contemporary challenges facing American society.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from.

[Joe Getty]

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 Yeti Jalen.

[Jack Armstrong]

You scored three touchdowns on Sunday. You did by the first one was doing what people are calling the Tush Push.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Is that what you call it?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's not what I call it. It's not what you call it?

[Joe Getty]

No.

[Commercial]

What do you call it?

[Jack Armstrong]

You know I'M not gonna say what.

[Commercial]

I called it, but it's not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, but it's not. I was shocked, too, because when I got there, I'd known as a tush push, but I didn't know if that's what it would be called. But I thought it was called that. And it's not called the tush push, actually. No. What is your role in the. In the quote unquote, tush push? I think I have the easiest job, to be honest. I think I'm the one who pushes the tush. That's partly the running back. I push the tush. And the quarterback for the Eagles. I wonder what they do call it. Obviously, it's not a good. It's got to be some sort of jam it up there, you know, whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Some sort of name like that I want. Oh, I hope not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, Michael.

[Joe Getty]

I was told it was the Brotherly Shove.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Brotherly Shove.

[Joe Getty]

That's the other nickname for it because it's Philadelphia. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I don't think he'd be afraid to say that.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no, no, no. That's not what they call. Yeah, they call it something unairable.

[Jack Armstrong]

They call, let's say, let's jam it, you know, up there. I bet it something like that.

[Joe Getty]

And I don't appreciate the coarse language. Speaking of which, the next thing we're about to play, I think it's. Note, first of all, this is not the most important part of it. We'll get to that. But the first part of it is Maxine Dexter, who's a Democrat congresswoman from Oregon. All the people you're about to hear are Congress people. And she's a nice, like, school teacher mom who decided to run for Congress. Nice person. I disagree with her politics, but. And you can hear the discomfort in her voice as she's joining in the new slogan that's going to turn America around.

[Jack Armstrong]

I am gonna tell you that we do have to.

[Joe Getty]

I don't swear in public very well.

[Jack Armstrong]

But we have to Trump.

[Joe Getty]

Please don't tell my children that I just did that.

[Commercial]

And I'll tell you, I'm from Jersey.

[Joe Getty]

So I look a little different.

[Jack Armstrong]

I say Trump, Donald Trump and Elon Musk. So you can chart this over my lifetime quite easily of the coarseness of our politics. And this latest go around. There was the F Joe Biden, but politicians weren't saying it. Football crowds were chanting it or whatever. We didn't have a rally on the steps. Now it's gone from the football crowd to the politicians saying, f the president. And I don't really. I think we might be at the end of the road. Unless, like you said earlier.

[Joe Getty]

Well, right. We're at the lowest common denominator. Unless we just move that final step to taking a crap on the stage and pointing at it.

[Jack Armstrong]

No words necessary.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, our discourse has got as low as it can possibly get.

[Joe Getty]

I think they've got to start showing Idiocracy, the great movie in the civics class in eighth grade, and the few school districts that have civics classes. Yeah, it's. You know what it is? If I were to put on my serious political analyst hat, it's a nakedly transparent and frantic effort to gather the troops around some message, any message of defiance and resistance to the Trump administration. But try as they might, they're just not finding anything howling about Elon Musk being an oligarch and unelected and the rest of it. I mean, it's. It's okay for the base. The base is digging it. They're loving it. The base. But the base is way too small.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I got. I got a point on that to make, but I want to read this text because last hour, we're talking about Elon and Trump in the Oval Office yesterday, and Elon was talking about. Or Trump was talking about various government programs or where people get paid long after their contract has ended and nobody pays any attention and blah, blah, blah. So we got this text. I was receiving dozens and dozens of COVID payments in other people's names at my rural mailbox, and I returned all of them indicating that the fraudulent nature. And not one person from the government asked me a single question. They just send them month after month after month.

[Amica Insurance]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm thinking if I ever got something like that I'm putting in the bank, I might not spend it under the fear that at some point somebody catches on and comes and says, hey, where's our $225,000 we've sent you over the last 10 years? And then I wouldn't have it, but I might put it in the bank. I don't know. I pay a lot of taxes or invest it.

[Joe Getty]

Sure, yeah, yeah. As long as you knew you could write them that check when they finally came a calling. If they finally came a calling. Yeah, I don't think there's any issue with that whatsoever. And in fact, it could be argued.

[Jack Armstrong]

You kept it safe to the political rhetoric. And I will mention for the one millionth time, a book nobody has read but me, Paris on Fire, it's about the. They Had a civil war in France, particularly in Paris in 1870 and 1871, that I had never read about or heard about. And it's amazing, it got as ugly as what Hamas did to the Jews on that day. Between people that grew up in France, their whole lives lived in Paris, their whole lives to each other. I mean, that brutal in Paris in 1870.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because of the politics ramping up and ramping up and ramping up and what people were saying about each other and claiming that their side could do. And one thing the author said as. As once it finally calmed down and they're trying to put things back together and everybody's just gobsmacked by what the hell just happened. Buildings are rubble all around Paris, the stench of dead bodies everywhere. Everybody knows somebody that was raped or mutilated or tortured or whatever. In Paris, France, which at the time was the most sophisticated city in the world. And the whole world was looking at it like, what the hell that can happen? And one thing the author said that I thought was so interesting, and we might see this in our lifetimes after that, political speeches. Nobody was paying any attention. Like, we've heard this before. We. We've heard this. We know where this goes. You getting us all riled up and claiming the other side is evil and our side's always right. And it took a very. It took a long time before anybody believed politicians again after that happened.

[Joe Getty]

How interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's what I thought.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. The aftermath of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hadn't even considered that, okay, this isn't a game. I'm sure you finally, at some point think, oh, this isn't a game. I understand. And this is where it can go. If we demonize the other side so much for so long and, oh, all your claims of all my dreams will come true. Not so much.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. This has always been true of politics. I'm going to keep this very vague. I ran into some folks recently who are a very, very modest circumstances in life and from a place like many of us live that is very, very blue. And in spite of their complete lack of political sophistication, they held completely confident contempt for anybody who thought differently than the people that surround them. And I, you know, since I've been studying this stuff since I was a little kid, it doesn't threaten me. I don't get angry. I'm just interested in it mostly. You know, obviously on an electoral level, when elections are won and lost and decisions get made, then I care a lot. But just when I'm interacting with individuals, I'M more curious than anything. And it was absolutely clear to me in that moment that it was the classic I have to feel better than someone to feel good about myself phenomenon. And the problem with that feeling, because we, it's, I mean, that's like a constant in humankind. It explains a lot of racism and xenophobia or whatever. But the problem is now that politics is omnipresent in our lives. And if that feeling, as Jack was just describing about Paris in the 1870s, if that feeling extends to politics and then political violence, it ends in horrific bloodshed.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it can all come apart. And that's why for a couple hundred years anyway, we had people speaking politicians about each other. I disagree with the good gentleman from Missouri, I think the fascist, my friend from Kansas. Reason they went so far that direction was it can go, it can really come apart. And I just, you know, while I'm, you know, if you've listened to this show for years, you know, I'm more than capable of laughing it, you know, F this and F that and all that sort of low level discourse. But there you don't want it to all just disintegrate.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's a step away from I hate you. I hate you. And that's the only discourse that crosses the aisles. We were discussing earlier the stuff Elon Musk said. And we'll play some more of the audio from his impromptu, I guess, press conference in the Oval Office yesterday in which he was explaining in extremely calm and measured ways, perfectly sensible descriptions of the fiscal crisis that we're nearing as a country and how we have to rein in spending on the not so great, not so important stuff or we'll have no money for the very, very great, extremely important stuff. And by the way, just as an aside, the idea among some people particularly and particularly on the left, that we can just grow our way out of our debt problems. It's a very Wolf of Wall street esque view of life. We'll just make more and more and more money. It's okay how much we're spending on cocaine and hookers and giant houses and cars. We'll just keep making more money. It's just. Oh my God, it's an idiotic notion. But anyway, the fact that he would say what he said in such reasonable tones and have some of the heavyweights of media and society and academia say he's a monster in reply to what he said, that's troubling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, it's as if he said puppies are cute and good nutrition Helps keep you healthy. And gosh, there's nothing better than a spring day. And he was screeched at as a monster for saying those things.

[Jack Armstrong]

As if he were saying, I hate poor people and they should suffer. Or I hate this race or that race. That's the way it's being treated, right?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Is they're getting past this without horrific bloodshed. And it's worth noting, we had our own civil war. Perhaps you've heard of it, which probably gave birth to a lot of that civility in our government for a very long time.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, you're exactly right. You're exactly right. That is probably what led to the let's keep this really, really cool from here on out.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that doesn't happen again. Yeah, well, so there you go. I don't expect it to get turned around anytime soon.

[Joe Getty]

No. I don't know what would. Overwhelming success of the Trump administration would help. Although, man, I'm, I'm going to be a little pessimistic here. If you could not get the average voter to be aware of our mounting debt crisis and vote in ways that would be good to get rid of it, how are you going to get their praise for solving it?

[Jack Armstrong]

We've got a lot more to talk about. There's a rush around the country to buy chickens amid the egg shortage. People trying to figure out how, what, what equipment do I need to have chickens in my backyar garage? I don't know how many eggs you all eat. I'm not going to become a chicken farmer all of a sudden because eggs are more expensive. I'll just eat fewer eggs, I guess.

[Joe Getty]

And now, credit where it's due. Some notable liberal media outlets saying, hey, the whole keeping the kids out of school thing during COVID was a disaster and it's way worse in blue states.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh boy, I love hearing that. I hate to love, I love that. I, I'll work on that. Stay tuned. Armstrong and Gettys.

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[Jack Armstrong]

So news of the day. Inflation about 3% in January, higher than economists expected, market drops, blah blah blah. You know the story. It's a leftover from the Biden administration. But the next inflation numbers people will blame on Trump rightly or wrongly. And I think wrongly that early. But you know that that's how it will work.

[Joe Getty]

January's huge too because it's when many Many, many businesses look at how last year went and say, hey, look, we got to reprint the menus with higher prices.

[Jack Armstrong]

During inflation, there was a lot of talk about, well, everything was more expensive and we talked about it all the time and, but, but eggs and bacon regularly got mentioned. Eggs are particularly expensive now. You combine inflation with the bird flu and destroying so many chickens and all this sort of stuff that's going on around the country, and eggs are the most expensive they've ever been. I continue to wonder, how many eggs do you all eat? How vital is it to your diet? I don't eat that many eggs and even if I did, if they got more expensive than I wanted to pay, I'd switch to something else. But, you know, I don't know, it must be very important to many of you because I saw this on TV and then I googled it and I came across news story after news story all across the country buying chickens to save money on eggs. Fox 13, Seattle, rising egg prices have Sacramento county residents flocking to feed stores to buy laying hens. And Orlando high egg prices lead people to start buying chickens. It's all over the country people are buying, setting up, becoming chicken farmers so they can provide their own eggs. And it reminds me of when gas prices get high and some people will trade in a car at the, at a, at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars to save an extra $10 a week, briefly, while gas is high and it happens all the time. I remember when we were endorsing a car lot once, he said, oh yeah, gas prices get high and we get people coming in, you know, changing their lease, costing them tons of money to. Because gas people don't do the math. I'm the same with the chickens. I mean, living on the farm, we had chickens laying lots of eggs. First of all, you don't need that many chickens because you will have more eggs than you know what to do with before you know it.

[Joe Getty]

What's the average output per chicken? I'm a city guy. I don't know this.

[Jack Armstrong]

I wasn't counting it per chicken hiney, but I know we had a few hands and we had, I mean, just was constantly eating eggs, not wanting them to go to waste and just, just eggs, you know, eggs everywhere.

[Joe Getty]

And of course in California you couldn't give them to your neighbors except under dark of night. Risk being accused of unlicensed chicken, good distribution.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, the other problem you're going to have is unless maybe you don't have a dog, but if you have your dog, your Dog is going to eat your chickens. And if it doesn't eat your chickens, it's going to eat your eggs. So you have to keep the dog out of the hen house somehow. It will eat your chickens, it will eat your eggs, and you'll have you egg sucking dog. We have a very f fat blue heeler dog that eats so many eggs.

[Joe Getty]

Well, longtime listeners of the show, remember when my two Labrador retrievers murdered several neighborhood chickens, causing a great deal of angst in the hood.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know what it is about chickens and dogs, but if some dogs don't care, they're fine. They'll just walk by a chicken. Other dogs, it's like their life's goal to kill that chicken. And you can't train them out of it or nothing.

[Joe Getty]

No. And they don't eat it, they just kill it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. They just are really bothered by the existence of a chicken for some reason. Although if your dog eats endless eggs, it will have a very shiny coat. I have learned that. But I gotta believe that building a coop, especially in an urban area, because you're gonna have to build a coop. You can't just let them run around the farm like we do. You build a coop and you get the feed and you buy the chickens. I don't know how I had you're gonna come out on this deal.

[Joe Getty]

Well, somebody's got to watch him when you. You go on vacation or whatever too, which is a pain in the butt. Although just the very primal nature of the kind of the unplugged, not 21st century nature of tending to beasts and raising plants and stuff. That really appeals to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, it's awesome. It is a great feeling.

[Joe Getty]

Even lefty media saying yeah, keeping the schools closed during COVID was a disaster. More on that to come. Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Fly Eagles, fly.

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[Joe Getty]

Right, but we'll show where some of the details that have come out. Like the, you know, $59 million spent on luxury hotels. It's actually not the talking about the.

[Jack Armstrong]

FEMA money that was abused for migrants. That was, yeah, FEMA money for migrants.

[Joe Getty]

That's okay now. No, I'm not saying it's so. I'm not saying it's okay. Don't put words so would you stop that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Would you stop that process?

[Joe Getty]

Don't be a dick. That's little Andy Cooper there on CNN telling his guest John Sununu not to be an, and I quote, dick.

[Jack Armstrong]

Breaking news Fox, anyway, is reporting that Tulsi Gabbard, because they're about to vote Tulsi Gabbard is on track to be confirmed as director of Intelligence. They've talked to senators and counted and say it's going to happen. It wouldn't be hard to do because you know who the the holdout last nose were. And if you got enough of those to say Now I'm going to go ahead and vote yes. You'd know. You know, which reminds me, came across this from the dispatch, who is really against Tulsi Gabbard being confirmed.

[Joe Getty]

A lot of my favorite thinkers are, and I don't think they're deep state hacks either.

[Jack Armstrong]

Snowden's leak, and this was controversial. Remember in our hearing the other day, she refused to Carl call Snowden a traitor. And Snowden's leak cost us critical access to a network we'd penetrated, depriving US Policymakers of potential high value insights into thinking and directives of senior Chinese officials. How Snowden's leaks benefited China, we would be in or would have been in until we got caught to the inner thinking of China for quite a while if Snowden hadn't revealed that. Yeah, see, I got in an argument at the bank yesterday about the Patriot Act. I talked about it earlier. Grab hour one. Armstrong and Getty on demand. There's a lot of bad stuff in the Patriot act that I'm glad Snowden alerted to us about. You didn't need to tell the world that we are spying on China, you dick.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it was classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, which is what the expression's all about. He just went way, way, way too far.

[Jack Armstrong]

God, I'd say.

[Joe Getty]

And he didn't have to. And it was inexcusable and yes, traitorous.

[Jack Armstrong]

And if you'd have gone to France or someplace instead of R, we might have more respect for you.

[Joe Getty]

There are any number of countries around the world that don't have extra. Extradition treaties with the US but anyway. Yeah, so I'm very uneasy with Tulsi Gabbard, but we'll have to see. The Senate advises and consents, and they're about to, apparently.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I lean toward the idea of the President gets to pick who he wants unless they're just like a flat out criminal. We have to let him pick who he wants and go from there.

[Joe Getty]

One of my complaints about Trump is that he is too transactional. That if you are loyal to him and go to bat for him, he will appoint you to a position that you're unqualified for, whether by morals or ability or whatever or, you know, pardoning Steve Bannon, I think is absolutely absurd, especially because Bannon ripped off a bunch of Trump supporters. This fake private wall building fund scheme. Ridiculous. Everybody else involved in it is in prison and should be. So, you know, having said that, except for that sort of thing. Yeah, it's his department. It's his cabinet and famously recently. Oh, and it struck me listening to Elon Musk, why that was so novel. It was listening to a guy who actually has some pretty significant discretionary power in the government in the executive branch because for the last, you know, couple of decades especially, cabinet heads are just ceremonial figureheads practically. They're implementers of what the president tells them to do. They do not have the awesome powers traditionally of that office anymore. So it's just not that big a deal. Well, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why to me, if you were going to really clamp, if the Senate was going to really clamp down, we'll decide who your cabinet member is going to be. You just pick somebody that passes the Senate and you'd get your advice from somebody else. Nobody can stop you from getting advice from someone.

[Joe Getty]

Right, sure. So speaking of policy, and this is so incredibly important, Jack is afraid it will vanish into the dustbin of history and I think he's probably right. But now even for instance, the New York Times is admitting keeping the schools closed was a horrific idea and utterly unnecessary. I called it a disaster before. No, Mount Krakatoa covering your village in lava is a disaster. This was a crime, a partisan political crime. And the victims were children in society as a whole and one of the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Worst things our government has ever done.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, I would agree. Absolutely. It was, it was like the internment of the Japanese or whatever. You could even make a case for that. The scientific case for keeping little kids out of school was null and void within a few months of the beginning of COVID Anyway, New York Times writing yeah, paying the price. School children in Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania are still about a half year behind typical pre Covid reading levels. In Florida and Michigan, the gap is about three quarters of a year. In Maine, Oregon and Vermont, for instance, it's close to a full year. This morning, group academic researchers released their latest report card on pandemic learning loss and it shows a disappointingly slow recovery in almost every state.

[Jack Armstrong]

And maybe school closures. Yes, and maybe you're going to get into this or they get into this, but that's just measuring the learning without measuring the disruption to classes. We've heard from lots of teachers of kids are different now. They, they missed a couple of years of having to sit there and pay attention and get homework done and they just, they're not, you can't get them back in the groove.

[Joe Getty]

They don't really get into that. And I'm really glad you brought that up because the socio psychological damage to kids, hell, that Might make the reading scores look like, you know, I think so. School closures during COVID set children back in most districts have not been able to make up the lost ground, obviously, partly because kids, when they're that young, they absorb information in a way that I envy with every fiber of me. And you can't just have them not do that for a while and say, all right, now we're going to do it even more than usual. It's not the way kids work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Does everybody not know that or whatever. But anyway, up until about age 8, your brain runs about a thousand times faster. It does. After that, you take a kid out of school for two years before age eight, oh, my God, you've done damage to them. Yes. That's a horrifying.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. So. And here we get into a couple of the more interesting, specific aspects of this. One of the reason for the lack of, you know, catching up progress is school absences. The huge rise has continued long after Covid says. Thomas Kane, a Harvard economist, member of the research team that we're going to talk about a little bit, said the pandemic may have been the earthquake, but heightened absenteeism is the tsunami and it's still rolling through schools.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. That part, not just not showing up to school, is still a problem.

[Joe Getty]

And as I've said many times, when the New York Times isn't being just unforgivably, idiotically biased, they actually do some pretty good deep dive reporting. And they look into the state variations, according to a new report from scholars at your big name universities, comparing performances across states.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope you're not going to tell me that blue cities and states even got poorer performance than red. I hope you're not going to tell me.

[Joe Getty]

I'm going to need you to sit down. Need you to brace yourself, Michael. Jack's about to need a big hug. All right. And you know how he loves that from other males. So today's report shows a wide variety of outcomes in the states that have made up the most ground. They're getting close to how they were doing five years ago, but the overall picture is not good. And I will skip some of the specific stats and get to what they call the blue red divide. Political leaders in red and blue America made different decisions during the pandemic. Gavin Newsom, I'm looking at you, you lying monster. Because Pritzker, you child grooming scumbag.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because raid red death Santas and people like that wanted kids to die. For some reason, they enjoy stacks of dead children at their skulls.

[Joe Getty]

Right Exactly. Many schools in heavily Democratic areas stayed closed for almost a year from the spring of 2020 to the spring of 2021. Or longer.

[Jack Armstrong]

It was longer than that around here, Cal.

[Joe Getty]

Unicornia. Yeah. In. In some Republican areas, by contrast, schools remain closed only for the spring of 2020 and opened right up.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And this helps explain a partisan gap in learning loss. You get in the specific stats.

[Jack Armstrong]

I can't believe this wasn't more fairly reported on or discussed or whatever. I use this example all the time because I got it in my own life. I got two schools seven miles apart, the public school and the private school. My son's now in the private school. Barely shut down at all. The public school was closed for, like, two years. And there were not. I was joking. There were not stacks of dead children everywhere.

[Joe Getty]

Nor teachers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nor teachers. The private school was fine. Now, how do you explain that teachers union, public schools. How do you explain that that school's open over there and it's not like they got tons extra money for some sort of special ventilation or something like that. What a joke.

[Joe Getty]

Randy Weingarten, the head of the big teachers union, who is a demon from hell, sent to punish us for our sins, used it like other unions did as leverage. You want the kids back in. I can tell you really, really want the kids back in. You got to give us more money. You got to give us more of this. You got to give us more of that.

[Commercial]

No.

[Joe Getty]

Then the kids stay home.

[Jack Armstrong]

I fully believe she was doing that and knew that. And I honestly don't know how she sleeps at night. I don't. I don't.

[Joe Getty]

Because she has no conscience. She's a monster.

[Jack Armstrong]

You are a monster. You certainly don't care about children. I mean, you're beyond not caring about them. You're fine with them having awful lives. If you can have more power. You're a disgusting human being.

[Joe Getty]

But you know what? She's like Yaya Sinwar of Hamas. She cares in children in so much as they are leverage. Just like Sinwar. And Hamas cares about Palestinian citizens. I put her in deaths or leverage.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I'd put her in that category, but I know plenty of teachers that. That's not what their angle was. They believed the whole it was too dangerous to have schools open thing for some reason.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, because Trump said it was good to open them. The left went crazy explaining how incredibly unwise that would be. There's so many things I want to talk about and information I have in front of me, but I'm going to narrow it down for the interest of time. And if there needed to be more horrifying irony for the political left, all kids were hurt pretty badly. Poor kids were just decimated and their bounce back time even worse.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure, we talked about that during the time this is the least progressive thing you could possibly do because guess what? I hired a tutor for my kid. If you can't for whatever reason, you're in worse shape. So you're, you're standing up for the downtrodden, are you?

[Joe Getty]

You know, the last thing I want to squeeze in and I wish we had a little more time. Maybe we can do it after the break. But we got a great note from a teacher who pointed out a handful of things he said, first of all, he agrees there isn't one single cause. And he agrees with many, many of the things we've said about education. But he also wants to point out that the nature of the tests has changed a good deal. So to compare scores from like the 70s and 80s to today is not apples to apples. So it's, it's misleading in its own way. I found it really interesting and again maybe we can get into it in detail, I don't know. Hour four. But he also says that being said, test scores are bad and the following has made the situation worse. Increase in second language students, increase in chaotic homes. The rise in technological distractions, A decrease in attention spans, children read less on their own. Increased absenteeism, culture changes. And yes, Joe woke ass up with trans diversity. This, that and the other thing taking time and attention.

[Jack Armstrong]

But and also. Well, I don't want to go down this road some other day about on spending on schools then versus now. Oh, okay.

[Joe Getty]

And, and the 127 or 300 increase in administration as opposed to students.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like one example, every school when I was a kid used to have these band uniforms that had to be incredibly expensive. Schools can't do that now. There's just no money for that.

[Joe Getty]

Or art school music classes at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you have music classes or art art classes at all. And we had those and we had plenty of art supplies and band uniforms and all this different sort of stuff. And then you got the whole every girl is a straight A student thing that goes on now that that didn't use inflation.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Anyway, Dave signs off from Swine's Teat, Nevada. I have traveled the highways and byways of the fair state of Nevada, Dave, and I have not found myself yet in the charming berg of Swine's teeth. But I hope, I hope to see it and its citizens sometime soon.

[Jack Armstrong]

Suburb of Elko.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or Eli.

[Joe Getty]

Eli is beautiful this time of year.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Oh man, that story gets me so worked up and so mad because I had kids. I mean, right in the thick of it during the whole thing. Oh, I know I'll be resentful about that the rest of my life.

[Joe Getty]

Derangement syndrome, no doubt.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tulsi Gabbard have the votes come in? News Nation says they're in and she's confirmed. Nobody else is reporting that, but they will be voting soon and we'll let you know. Stay here.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Roku has what.

[Joe Getty]

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[Commercial]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Fly Eagles, fly.

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[Jack Armstrong]

The Eagles win at Super Bowl 59.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Lakers gave out 19,000 number 77 T shirts to celebrate the arrival of Luka Doncic. You could see the chemistry between luka, Luka and LeBron right off the bat. Luka got a huge LA welcome in front of a sold out crowd. It was a big night. Nobody knows why the Mavericks made this trade. One of the storylines is that it was because of his weight. The Mavericks had concerned about his conditioning, whereas the fans in Dallas do not. Thank you.

[Joe Getty]

I guess, I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have you turning on the tv seeing a bunch of people chanting he's not fat. Be the first thing you think is I must be fat. I guess. But don't worry, this is la. We do not allow fat here. We will get some Ozempic into your Gatorade. You will fit in. Look what we did to John Goodman. We can do that to you. Wow, that's funny. Bring Kimmel.

[Joe Getty]

Isn't being obnoxious, he's hilarious.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bring him back. He's not fat. That's one of the strangest high level trades that I can remember in pro sports history.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Given the brock for what's his name back in the 60s, but completely a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Surprise to the players.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. What? Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, the breaking news. Tulsi Gabbard has been confirmed. She is your Director of National Intelligence and has been confirmed 5248 with only Mitch McConnell joining the Democrats in opposition. So there you go. Party line vote plus Mitch McConnell. Donald.

[Joe Getty]

Just have to see that how it goes. So if I ever leave the show, which is unlikely, I sure hope the folks will rally outside the radio ranch and chant bring him back, he's not fat. On my behalf because that would be an honor. Katie Green. What? What should we know about what we're about to play?

[Katie Green]

So I was scrolling through TikTok and.

[Joe Getty]

This popped up on my for you page. And the. The visual of this, it's a woman filming it. Her husband is driving and he has.

[Katie Green]

Headphones in and she's clearly talking at.

[Jack Armstrong]

Him but he cannot hear her. And this is how it goes down.

[Joe Getty]

He thinks I talk too much.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can't get a word in edgewise when I'm talking to my girls. But we're on a road trip in.

[Joe Getty]

A confined space and he's got earbuds in listening to Armstrong and Debbie. Yeah, good man. Yeah, he can't.

[Jack Armstrong]

He says he can't get a word in edgewise.

[Joe Getty]

And he's sitting there, he doesn't hear a thing she's saying because he's listening to you guys. That's funny. We made TikTok. I hope Xi Jinping doesn't purge that clip because it mentions the flaming anti communists Armstrong. You get it?

[Jack Armstrong]

I. So you have TikTok on your phone or what do you. How much do you enjoy it?

[Joe Getty]

It's.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's okay.

[Katie Green]

I mean, the algorithms, definitely, it catches.

[Jack Armstrong]

My attention, but I try to, you.

[Joe Getty]

Know, not use it as much because.

[Jack Armstrong]

The China thing, I wish I could do it. I mean, I would like to. I would like to, but I'm not going to. There's a lot of obnoxious crap on there, but somehow that algorithm put that.

[Katie Green]

Video on my phone yesterday.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Don't trust China. So it knows where you work.

[Joe Getty]

It probably knows what radio show is beloved coast to coast.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, or it hears it through my phone when I'm on with you guys every day.

[Joe Getty]

I'm not sure, but I thought that was hilarious.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is funny. Bring him back. He's not fat. That's a good chance. Oh, boy. So we do four hours every dang day, and if you don't get every hour, every segment, you should find our podcast, Armstrong and Getty on Demand, for instance. What we're going to do an hour for the best example maybe yet of a bloated, slow bureaucracy resistant to change that Elon laid out in the Oval Office yesterday with Trump. I mean, it's hilarious. You can't believe it's true. Elon couldn't believe it's true, but it is true. And we'll have that in hour four.

[Joe Getty]

Could not love it more. And with all the ridiculous stories that are elevated and we're all supposed to yell at each other about and care about that two days later, you don't even remember what they were reigning in spending. Balancing the federal books is the most important story we could possibly talk about.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, and creating a different culture where people care about your dollar.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Lenovo Lenovo.

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[Commercial]

Morton Building's annual sales event, Building Value Days is on now until the end of February. That means you get the best for less. Morton Buildings are built stronger, last longer and look better. If you need a garage stall, barn or storage for vehicles, rv, boat or collectibles or even a shop for your farm, hobbies or car restoration projects or anything in between, visit MortonBuildings.com to take advantage of their discounted sales event pricing. They use quality materials and expert craftsmanship with an industry leading warranty to ensure your addition is enjoyed by generations to come. Morton buildings is 100% employee owned and they have thousands of satisfied customers. That means they're the industry leader you can trust. Don't wait. Take advantage of the Building Value Day sales event. Visit MortonBuildings.com today. Certain restrictions apply. This offer may not be available in all states. To qualify for discount, order must be placed between now and February 28, 2025. Contact your local Morton office for more details or visit mortonbuildings.com.