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Armstrong
This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human
America 250 Announcer
this July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration at america250.org,
Parent
with my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like ten.
Camper/Parent
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.
Parent
Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingokids before we even pull out of the driveway.
Camper/Parent
It's what dreams are made of. LingoKids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over 4000 interactive games, songs and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of.
Parent
You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but lingokids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride.
Camper/Parent
Or really any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever.
Parent
Download Lingokids for free today or unlock
Camper/Parent
even more amazing content with LingoKids.
Parent
Plus choose the yearly plan and save up to 60%. Search LingoKids in the App Store or
Camper/Parent
Google Play LingoKids everything kids love do
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Armstrong
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Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast
Jack Armstrong
Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty.
Combat Sports Announcer
And now here's Armstrong and Getty.
Parent
Police receiving a call about a man making a bomb threat inside a Chase bank.
Jack Armstrong
The subject possibly has a makeshift detonator hand and wires coming from under his shirt.
Parent
Nearby, city hall and police headquarters place a lockdown as police negotiated with the suspect.
Getty
The subject stopped people on their knees.
Parent
Authorities say the suspect held people captive inside one of the rooms in the bank, releasing two separately. An unknown number remain inside.
Getty
Okay, that's been going on the entire time we've been doing our radio show today. And just a horrifying scenario that we've all seen play out in TV shows and movies and often wondered ourselves what that would be like to be in a bank with a person with a gun or a bomb or whatever and horrifying. Are you gonna live through it and how's it gonna turn out? And et cetera, et cetera.
Jack Armstrong
What kind of maniac is this? We have breaking news, Michael. Breaking news. The suspect who had barricaded himself inside a bank building in Bakersfield now has one more bullet in him than he used to and he ain't gonna be doing nothing anymore. He is dead as a hammer. A sniper got him.
Getty
Oh really?
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Wow. He's actually been dead for some time but they haven't announced it. They were probably checking, clearing the building and checking the bombs etc etc before they.
Getty
Now I assume he was in. Well, we know he was inside the building. Did he walk out of the building? The sniper have a view through a window. How did this work?
Jack Armstrong
Nobody's saying, but I suspect very strongly that they got a clean shot and took it. Wow. Inside the building. Because there is absolutely no information in this account stating otherwise.
Getty
Wow, that's a dramatic ending.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, yeah. You know it's a minor point but I brought it up earlier whether it was in the bank or just in a building that happened to have a bank. And you know, it's. Again, it's a minor point but it's interesting how incurious journalists are.
Getty
Have you ever seen the movie Dog Day Afternoon?
Jack Armstrong
Oh yeah.
Getty
Al Pacino and he takes over the bank. That's a good one.
Jack Armstrong
Best actor, right? That's like the. I was way back in the day. Nixon was in the White House.
Getty
Oh yeah. Gazillion year old movie. But it's, it's your best, best being a hostage in a bank robbery situation sort of movie I've ever Seen if you want to relive what those poor people in Bakersfield lived through today.
Jack Armstrong
Oh, yeah, yeah, indeed.
Getty
What do we have coming up that I wanted to tease before I bring up my topic?
Jack Armstrong
I have no idea. Later in the hour I will be bringing you really interesting information about how young men in the United States and interestingly in Britain are not working in horrific numbers. Not working, not in school, not trying to work, not doing anything productive.
Getty
Yeah, that's an, that's an interesting one right there.
Jack Armstrong
Look, I hasn't truly hit yet.
Getty
Oh wow. Good point. So I was listening to a couple of podcasts yesterday and got on this thought about the whole character issue around politics, which I had kind of dismissed earlier this week because I, I thought the country had moved past it. I'm not talking about me personally, whether I care or not. Just it seemed to me that the character, the, the country had kind of moved past, particularly around infidelity. Used to be back in the day, if you're old enough, speaking of the movie Dog Day Afternoon, way back in the way the day, if you were a politician in it and it emerged that you had had an affair, you're done. Well, almost derailed Clinton, obviously I got to go further back in the day. Further back in the day you could have endless affairs on your wife and nobody would report it. So we cared, but nobody knew. JFK may have had more, not just affairs, just like one night stands with people that were absolutely a hundred percent, you know, on the whole power structure, if you believe in that whole thing of any president we've ever had. And he's held out, held up as a shining light for democracy because nobody reported on this sort of stuff at the time. Then we went through a brief period, particularly Gary Hart, who was running for president in 1980. 88 in 1988 as a Democrat, probably would have been the nominee, quite possibly the, the president. But he was on a boat called the Monkey Business with a young woman and it made the news. And the first time the news decided to report on a guy's personal life about this sort of stuff, it exploded. He had to get out of the race because you can't have a nominee for a party who's cheating on his wife. Well, then we move further down the road. Bill Clinton, all kinds of stuff going on, gets impeached, stays in office, blah, blah, blah. Donald Trump, everything in his life ignored by the party, that in theory was really holding the line on the character issue mattering, ignored Donald Trump's personal life. I kind of figured that, well, I guess we've moved on in a country and become more like Europe. Who's always wondered, you care about that if the guy is going to lead your country, whether or not he cheated on his wife, why do you care about that? Is the way Europe has always looked at it. And. But this Graham Platner guy who's running for wants to be a senator up there in Maine. All those texts that came out over the weekend, the sexting text, got way more attention in terms of driving out of the race, it seems to me, than his Nazi tattoo or anything else.
Jack Armstrong
He tattoo has gotten a fair amount of attention, but yeah, it definitely added fuel to the fire.
Getty
So are we back to caring about the character issue? And I guess the bigger question I have is should we care about the character issue? Should we care about what's going on between a husband and a wife, whether it's the husband or the wife and, and how about if they're okay with it and they stayed in the marriage and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Should that disqualify him? We don't, we don't look at the CEOs of our company that way necessarily, generally, no.
Jack Armstrong
Although that has brought some guys down recently. You know, I am going to let Senator John Fetterman set up my answer to your, your query and clip 51
Getty
There, Michael, what kind of a creeper has been on a decade on a platform like Kik and send a dozen explicit kinds of messages and who knows what else would it be better for
Jack Armstrong
Democrats if he was not the candidate here?
Getty
All I'm saying, it's like, you know, when I was growing up, if someone had a clear Nazi tattoo on them, you probably could conclude that there's a Nazi sympathizer. How, you know, at some point are you going to continue to defend that or dismiss that?
Jack Armstrong
And so I thought that was a good lead into the way I'd react to your, your question, which is it's, it is no marital infidelity or, you know, being a player, as they said probably 20 years ago on the streets.
Getty
Those are two different things. I will quibble on that after you say what you're going to say.
Jack Armstrong
Sexual indiscretions used to be disqualifying for a little while. Now they're just part of the equation. And this guy just has too many negatives. The sexting thing or the being on Kick, which is a hookup app, and, and the Nazi tattoo and rural Mainers, white Mainers are stupid racists and half a dozen other things I Think the Democratic Party has just said, oh my God, this guy has too much baggage.
Getty
Yeah. I was listening to a mostly conservative podcast talking about this yesterday and they were, they were making the infidelity on its own should be a disqualifying issue the way it has always been in political history. And I just, I don't know if that makes sense or not.
Jack Armstrong
Well, as you said, that's not true, though. It hasn't always been.
Getty
It was for a little while.
Jack Armstrong
All right. But no, you just, you quite clearly made the point that for a while it was.
Getty
So should it go back to being, do you think?
Jack Armstrong
Right. No, not necessarily. And again, it's part of the package. I don't like Trump said, I'm going to close the border and I'm going to halt inflation. You know, back. Well, you know, at various times. And he played around on his wives. Or you got Joe Biden, for instance. Well, I guess, I suppose in the primary process you had a bunch of Republicans to choose from.
Getty
Yeah, it's clear.
Jack Armstrong
I mean, politics is downstream of culture, so, you know, you can. It's an interesting philosophical discussion, but the
Getty
culture is already ruled and it's ruled. We're okay with it.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. If the guy's compelling enough on the issues and I like them. Yeah, it's not really my business.
Getty
I think it should be presented as different things as a. So if, if let's use a woman, for instance, instead of always a guy, because they can't play the woman too. She had.
Jack Armstrong
You're going to use a woman. That is disgusting.
Getty
Say she had an affair, an affair with a dude. Lasted a while and then it was. Their marriage was rocky and then they decided to stay together. It's not the same thing as lots and lots of different, like one night stand, sleeping around on business trips. Those are different things, aren't they? Or are they not? Maybe they're not. I don't know. It seems like they're different things to me that the spouse was unaware of, you know, as opposed to. They worked it out because this Platner guy looked like. I mean, he had a half a dozen different things going a year ago.
Jack Armstrong
Right. I mean, very recently, certainly via text. Anyway.
Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
You know, I don't what the standard ought to be for sitting around philosophizing is one question. What the standard actually is when it all filters down to voters is a different question.
Getty
Well, it's pretty interesting that not that long ago, 1988's not that long ago, a really promising could have gotten elected president. Dude, Gary Hart, Senator from Colorado, had to leave the race.
Jack Armstrong
And again I point out that Bill Clinton and Hillary barely got over that hump through some absolutely brilliant Machiavellian political maneuvering. So yeah, it was still a thing in the early 90s as well.
Getty
Yeah. Which isn't that long ago. And now we've moved on from that. I got one more comment on that after this.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, this is crazy. Picture this. You're at work, your phone buzzes. It's your kid's number, it's your kid's voice. Panic, saying he's been in an accident, needs money wired right now and you would do anything for him.
Getty
Right.
Jack Armstrong
That's exactly what the scammers are counting on. Here's the play. Criminals buy your phone number and your family details from data brokers. Then they grab three seconds of your kid's voice off some video, clone it with AI and make that.
Getty
And you can't stop them from cloning a voice because the technology exists. But you can make sure they never get your number in the first place and can't call you. And that's done with a cognates help. They are. That's a website that you can use to put data brokers on notice. They use the law on their side and tell them you can't sell your data.
Jack Armstrong
So we rely on Incogni. You should too. It contacts hundreds of data brokers, forces them to delete your personal info, then keeps it gone. Costs about $7 a month, worth every penny. And you get a nice discount when you use our code. Incogni.com Armstrong It's I N C O G N I.com incogni.com Armstrong I think
Getty
if anybody had tapes of our show going back 30 years, believe it or not, Joe and I were doing the same show, talking to each other when the Bill Clinton impeachment was going on.
Jack Armstrong
How crazy job. I'm telling you, no advancement.
Getty
How crazy is that? We were talking about that during the impeachment in 98, I guess.
Jack Armstrong
Does it rise to an impeachable offense?
Getty
But I would imagine there are clips of me saying things like if his wife can't trust him, how can the country trust him? Which is kind of what a lot of people believed for a very long time there. People weren't okay with infill infidelity when Kennedy was present. In fact, it was the other way around. It was so awful people thought we got to keep this a secret.
Jack Armstrong
You're. You're right. I have a great deal to say on this. But we have no time. Perhaps we can return to the topic after a short break.
Getty
Okay, I do have one more comment about the Clintons that needs to be made because there there's definitely a completely different topic around this that gets overlooked. Anywho, lots of stuff on the way. Stay here.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Getty.
Getty
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Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
study information and restrictions, visit HIMSS.com this
America 250 Announcer
July 4th come celebrate at America's Block Party Hosted by America 250, America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
Parent
with my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like ten.
Camper/Parent
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.
Parent
Which is why we load up the iPads with Lingokids before we even pull out of the driveway.
Camper/Parent
It's what dreams are made of. Lingokids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over 4000 interactive games, songs and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of.
Parent
You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingokids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride.
Camper/Parent
Or really any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever.
Parent
Download lingokids for free today or unlock
Camper/Parent
even more amazing content with LingoKids.
Parent
Plus choose the yearly plan and save up to 60%. Search LingoKids in the App Store or
Camper/Parent
Google Play LingoKids everything kids love Are
Armstrong
you trying to get weight loss support through telehealth? But it feels overwhelming and rushed? Check out orderlymeds.com now. Orderlymeds.com was built to be different. Here you connect with real doctors who take the time to understand your goals, review your eligibility, and guide you through a plan that's right for you. Orderly Meds provides access to proven GLP1 medications like semaglutide and Tirzepatide, including both name brand options and personalized compound versions when appropriate. So you have choices backed by clinical oversight, not guesswork. It's a simpler, more supportive telehealth experience designed around people who want clarity, care and confidence in their weight loss journey. And your medication is delivered directly to your home in discreet packaging so your experience stays private from start to finish. Do your research, ask the right questions, then visit orderlymeds.com podcast for an exclusive offer. Again, that's orderlymeds.com podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice eligibility required. See Cite for details Because I had
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never ever seen Joe like that before or since.
Jack Armstrong
Good God, I've seen better acting in porn. Seriously, Jilly, you should have watched the beginning of Horny Housewives 2. You know Jill Biden saying she had no idea her husband was a little off. This is like Snoop Dogg's wife being like, wait, he smokes weed? Are you serious about my Snoop? That's funny.
Getty
That is funny. Jimmy Fala so we're talking about presidential politics or just politics in general? And I was bringing up the idea because I heard a podcast yesterday where they're really making the whole this guy up in Maine running for Senate cheating on his wife thing was should be a you can't be elected offense even without the other stuff. And I didn't know that that's where we still are. And I'm fine with us being there. I don't mind that as a standard. I don't we should be able to find enough qual qualified people that don't cheat on their spouses that we could do that run a country that way. I'm just surprised that it was still a topic though.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, yeah, yeah, boy. Every aspect of this deserves like multiple paragraphs I think one thing at work here is, and we've talked about this in various contexts, in the 20th century especially, you had gatekeepers in journalism and they would decide which stories were worthy of you hearing and which ones were not or reading or seeing or whatever. And that had some upside to it, it had some downside to it. And at some point they decided, yeah, marital infidelity, it went from is nobody's business, JFK to it's the hottest story in the world and everybody wants to hear it. And it's relevant. Gary Hart, Bill Clinton, et cetera. And I just think we become, since there's much more visibility, nothing is out of bounds anymore. If a ballplayer is a drunk, you find out about it. Yeah, the real theme now in journalism is A, there are no gatekeepers and B, you find out everything. Tmz, et cetera. And so we have maybe appropriately become much, much more cynical about politicians. And we figure they're all grasping scumbags of one sort or another. They're all flawed, they're all egomaniacs, they're all greed heads or sex pigs or whatever, with some rare exceptions like Ben Sasse. And so if the package is pretty good, the policy stances, my philosophy, taxes, blah, blah, blah, but the guy cheats on his wife, well, they're all scumbags anyway. So yeah, I'm voting for that scumbag over that scumbag.
Getty
So the thing that bothered me about the Clintons was not as much his cheating on his wife because that's between him and Hillary. It's the destroying the women's lives if the story became public. That's the crime. That's what makes you despicable as a couple. You deciding you're okay? You know, my husband's a certain kind of guy and I'm gonna put up with it. That's between the two of you. You know, some people can do that, some people can't. I don't get it. But, but the fact that if one of these people becomes a public figure, you absolutely destroy them as some sort of lying, drug addicted, greedy whatever, destroy their lives so that you can continue your cool lives, that is.
Jack Armstrong
Yes, yes.
Getty
Hillary says yes, yes, yes. That is awful.
Jack Armstrong
But here's the counter argument. He's a Democrat.
Getty
Right, right, right, right.
Jack Armstrong
Because you're right, the character assassination is, is inexcusable from anybody.
Getty
Man. Read the first. I think it's in the first chapter or two of George Stephanopoulos book about how Hillary handled their first bimbo eruption. She is absolutely on board in destroying some woman whose crime was being sexually attracted to her husband. That was her crime. Destroy her.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, she was all about impeaching the witness, as they say in the. The trial business.
Getty
The woman who is going to break the glass ceiling. Empower all women because they've been treated so poorly for so long. And if you're one of those women who sleeps with my husband, I'm going to ruin your life.
Jack Armstrong
Machiavellian monster. Do we have time for this? One minute now. We don't really. I don't want to rush through things that are deep. Young men don't work in numbers. That are unprecedented in the history of mankind in the US and in Europe.
Getty
I didn't.
Jack Armstrong
This is big.
Getty
That's news to me. I knew it was happening in the United States. We've talked a fair amount about it. It's a huge problem. You'd think it'd get more attention. I didn't know it was happening in Europe also though.
Jack Armstrong
Right, right. Well, it's worse in Europe because they're openly a socialist society. This is practically an inevitable outcome of socialism. But yeah, it's very troubling, the trend.
Getty
And as you pointed out, that's before AI hits.
Jack Armstrong
Whoops.
Getty
Yeah, well, take a look at that and a whole bunch of other stuff. The bank heist hostage thing is over, but we don't know all the details. If those come out because it's gotten a fair amount of national attention, we'll let you know about it.
Jack Armstrong
And we have what might be the headline of the decade for you coming up next. I just got it.
Getty
What?
Jack Armstrong
That's right.
Getty
What?
Jack Armstrong
That's right.
Armstrong
Armstrong and Getty.
America 250 Announcer
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party. Hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
Getty
with
Parent
my mom and dad living in Orange county, when we bring my five and seven year old to visit, we are sometimes in for a two hour drive that could feel like 10.
Camper/Parent
Oh, as an avid camper, I know all about this. We'll pack up the RV and know this is either gonna be the trip of a lifetime or a complete disaster.
Parent
Which is why we load up the iPads with lingokids before we even pull out of the driveway.
Camper/Parent
It's what dreams are made of. Lingokids keeps kids engaged and quiet with over 4000 interactive games, songs and shows that kids simply cannot get enough of.
Parent
You can pack whatever you think you'll need, but Lingokids is the only entertainment you'll need for a stress free car ride.
Camper/Parent
Or really any ride, plane, train, hovercraft, whatever.
Parent
Download Lingokids for free today or unlock
Camper/Parent
even more amazing content with LingoKids.
Parent
Plus choose the yearly plan and save up to 60%. Search LingoKids in the App Store or Google Play.
Camper/Parent
LingoKids everything kids love lost support through
Armstrong
telehealth, but it feels overwhelming and rushed. Check out orderlymeds.com now. Orderlymeds.com was built to be different. Here you connect with real doctors who take the time to understand your goals, review your eligibility, and guide you through a plan that's right for you. Orderly Meds provides access to proven GLP1 medications like semaglutide and Tirzepatide, including both name brand options and personalized compound versions when appropriate. So you have choices backed by clinical oversight, not guesswork. It's a simpler, more supportive telehealth and experience designed around people who want clarity, care and confidence in their weight loss journey. And your medication is delivered directly to your home in discreet packaging so your experience stays private from start to finish. Do your research, ask the right questions, then visit orderlymeds.com podcast for an exclusive offer. Again, that's orderlymeds.com podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice, eligibility required. See Cite for details.
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Joe teased before the commercials the headline of the decade and told me not to look at my phone, which I have not. I assuming the headline of the decade is not that Peabo Bryson has died.
Jack Armstrong
No, no indeed. Though he will be sorely missed. This is not headline of the decade because of its importance, but because it just. Well I'll just read it to you. Scientists find yeast in frozen mummies guts, use it to make sourdough bread. You got a frozen mummy up in the tundra or whatever and you do an analysis and you say hey, this. This appears to be yeast. And somebody in the lab thinks, yeah, yeast. You use that for bread. You want to make some sourdough bread? What?
Getty
Hey, this bread's really good. Did you make it? Yeah, Funny story.
Jack Armstrong
Frozen mummy gut yeast. There's probably some value. It's a broadcast report. I couldn't be troubled to watch it. And studying ancient yeasts. But I mean, boy, if I happen to be at a cocktail party with you and that's what you do for a living. Lie or let's talk about sports or something. Oh, the structure of Middle Eastern ancient East was really inspiring. Boy. So, on a completely different topic, I came across these two bits of information separately from each other. But. And this, this first one's about Britain. And there are a number of really interesting, important stories about Britain right now. And I was considering crafting one of my segments that of course has to have a title and theme music. And I was going to have the British music that we always play and I was going to entitle it what's all this then? But I decided to separate the story. What's all this then? That was gonna be the introduction anyway, because this fits so well with an American story. Britain's lost generation of workers. And they make the point that if you pay people not to work, don't be surprised when they don't work. Britain is learning this lesson about its
Getty
welfare state that seems like something that goes without saying, but socialists don't get that.
Jack Armstrong
You're absolutely right.
Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Thank you for jumping in there. It's true. Britain's learning about this lesson about its welfare state the hard way. As a new government report revealed that one in eight of its working age youth currently are not employed in school or in job training. It's about a million. They point out nearly 60% of these Utes aren't even looking for work. More than half have never held a job. And nearly half of Britain's idol youth now claim to have a working work. Limiting disability.
Getty
Did you give us a definition of what you mean by youth? No.
Jack Armstrong
Working age youth? No. Let me find the age.
Getty
Is that including below 18?
Jack Armstrong
Let me look. But let's see. Nearly half claim disability. More than 42% claim disability.
Getty
Wow.
Jack Armstrong
And of those, I think 42% cite mental health problems as their primary condition. I'm too anxious to work.
Getty
I just don't have the motivation. I just can't.
Jack Armstrong
My disability is anti motivation syndrome.
Getty
I've got a case of rather not do that. Itis.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Rather than the hand up that liberals often claim these benefits have become a trap for recipients who face little incentive to reintegrate into the workforce. About 70% of youth who claim a disability benefit are still on it a decade later.
Getty
God, how many times do I say to my kids in various situations, you know how many things I did today that I didn't want to do? It's a very long list when they have to do something they don't want to do. Do you know why I did them? Because I didn't have any choice.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, it's. It's an enormous loss to the economy, too. And the one, the final thing I wanted to throw in from this was that even when young people want to work, the government makes it hard for them to do so. This is something, Jack, you're dealing with right now. Steadily rising payroll taxes for employers. A lot of people don't even know that payroll taxes exist. If I decide to hire you, the government says, aha, we're taxing you on hiring a person.
Getty
Whoa.
Jack Armstrong
If you want more of something, subsidize it. If you want less of something, tax it. Right? But anyway, steadily rising payroll taxes for employers and a minimum wage that has increased by as much as 84% since 2019 for some younger age. Cohorts in Britain are pricing young, inexperienced workers out of the job market. As the great Tim Sandifer pointed out on this show many, many years ago, you've made it illegal for a person who's worth $15 an hour to get a job with an employer who says, yeah, I'll pay you 15 bucks an hour. Maybe we can train you up. Maybe you can be worth $20 an hour someday. But sure, I'll make you that deal and we'll give you a job to get you started. That is now illegal. That's how minimum wages work.
Getty
Tim is the only person I've ever heard present it that way. That's the way it should always be presented by anybody's against this sort of stuff. You're outlawing $12 an hour jobs. Some jobs are only worth $12 an hour. Or the person is going to say, now I'll do it myself or I just won't do it on lots of stuff.
Jack Armstrong
Well, and if you are impressed by the British numbers, wait till you hear Americas Jason Reilly writing about this in the Wall Street Journal. One in three working age American men aren't so much as looking for a job. And I want to get into that in a second.
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Every time that comes up, I remember sitting and having coffee with a friend. Of mine having this discussion. He said, who's out of work? Who's not looking for a job? I've never not been looking for a job when I was out of work ever in my life. How do you. How are you not looking for a job? What is that?
Jack Armstrong
I almost dropped an S bomb right there. I was gonna say spit. I'm looking for a job when I've
Getty
got a job, usually.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, right. Anyway, Jason Riley opens his column by quoting at length this bit from Chris Rock, but I thought we would just go ahead and play it for you.
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You could tell what kind of neighborhood you in just by who's not working. If you're in any neighborhood in America at 12:15 in the afternoon on a Wednesday and you see women with sweatpants on coming out the gym, pushing babies, riding bikes. That's right. Chances are you're in a nice neighborhood. That's right. Whatever. Women ain't working is an amazing place to live. Live. That is where I want to live. Now. Let's switch it up. If you in any neighborhood in America at 12:15 in the afternoon on a Wednesday and you see men in sweatpants smoking cigarettes, hanging with their boys, lifting weights in the yard, riding children's bicycles, if you are in danger, that is so. I remember the first time I saw that. That is so true. It should be part of a political speech.
Jack Armstrong
Right? Right. I've got to apologize to you good people. Hansen asked me, do you want the tighter version of that? The shorter one or the longer one? I said, ah, the shorter one. But it leaves out some of the great details that make Chris Rock great. Like he says about the nice neighborhood with the women and the Lululemon pants. He ought to update the bit. He said, there's probably a Whole Foods.
Getty
Right.
Jack Armstrong
And then about the other neighborhood, he said, man riding children's bicycles as their actual transportation. Oh, man, is he great. So, getting back to Jason Riley's point, Mr. Rock's funny and insightful bit came to mind. He writes, as I read last month's jobs report, which showed that the share of American men in the labor force has dipped to record lows. According to the Department of Labor, one in three men were neither working nor looking for a job in April. Among males 20 and older, the 66% labor force participation rate is down from 73% in 2006. That's a 7% drop. Mr. Rock was highlighting the correlation between unemployment and crime. But public safety isn't the only concern raised by population. Large population of idle young males.
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If you're able bodied and unemployed and not looking for a job. To me, by definition, we have a policy failure. By definition, I don't need to know anything else. You're out of work and you're. You're fine. You can work physically, but not even looking for a job. That's a policy failure. We've made the safety net. The holes are too small.
Jack Armstrong
Here's a nice, simple declarative sentence for you. A life without gainful employment has become a viable alternative for an increasing number of American males.
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Yeah, see, I never spent a moment in my life thinking that was an option. It probably has been lots of places I lived. Luckily I was raised in such a way as to believe, to not even look into it. But yeah, it should not be a viable option. We can get into. You probably are. Why? Why that's so bad for those people? It's bad for them. It's bad for your happiness, it's bad for culture, it's bad for all kinds of things. But how about me, the taxpayer who is going to work? How bad is it for me to pay for you to sit around and do freaking nothing. That's ridiculous.
Jack Armstrong
Those very payroll taxes we were just discussing.
Getty
Yeah, Michael, you seem incensed. Yeah, there's no more shame. That's the problem. That is part of it. I have said that for years when they, when they decided, you know, shame is a bad thing. Nobody should be. You should be ashamed that you're able bodied and living off of other people.
Jack Armstrong
You should be humiliated.
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You should be ashamed of yourself.
Jack Armstrong
Shame. Ring the shame bell, baby.
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Other people got up and went to work today so that you could lay around and watch tv. You should be ashamed of yourself. Yeah, they look. They look at it. Some people are in that situation. Look at the other way around. You're a SAP. You're a chump. You got up and went to work today and I didn't have to.
Jack Armstrong
Or they've guzzled down the. The delicious medicine of rationalization said the system is stacked against us because capitalism is exploitive. Not to mention the patriarchy and systemic racism and everything else. You don't have a chance or you
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don't understand how bad my PTSD is around whatever issue.
Jack Armstrong
Oh my God.
Getty
Keeps me from being able to work.
Jack Armstrong
Talk openly about something I'm aware of. But anyway, the long term rise in male joblessness does not stem from an inability to find employment. It results instead from an unwillingness to search for work. And while labor force participation rates vary by race and ethnicity, factors other than hiring discrimination seem to be playing a larger role role in the disparities. Quote this is from a landmark book, Men Without Work, about this very topic. The legacy of prejudice might seem to explain why prime age male work rates and workforce participation rates are lower for blacks and whites today. But they cannot explain why work rates and labor force participation rates for white men today are decidedly lower than they were for black men in 1965.
Getty
Wow.
Jack Armstrong
Nor can they explain why labor participation rates of married black men 25 to 54 are higher than for never married white men in the same group.
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You know, one of our favorite phrases on this show is they didn't raise themselves. Some of it has got to be that, doesn't it? I mean, like I just said, there is never a moment in my adult life where I even considered the option of figuring out how to live off the government. That's got to do with your upbringing. So yeah. So how did these people come out of families where this was an option? Like I've told my son, he turned 16 and at least in California you pretty much have to be 16 to have any shot at a job of any kind. I told him I'd been asking him now for months heading into the summer, have you applied for a job? Have you looked for a job or whatever and then finally went with the you are either going to find a job that you kind of like or I'm going to find you a job that you might hate, but you are going to have a job this summer that I'm not considering that an option. And but if you did, if you didn't grow up in a family where working is considered something you ought to do, I suppose you end up a 20 year old who thinks, I wonder what programs I can go sign up for and I'll just stay home.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Yep. Oh, then they get in immigration as well. And how you know labor participation rates. But Riley writes, the more likely culprit is a social safety net full of generous government benefits that allow men who won't work to subsist. Welfare and disability programs at state and federal levels are well funded by the political left, are easily gamed by design, and have become a significant source of income for men with no job and no interest in finding them. Because these men often have no problem mooching off the women who take them in, they're able to live on welfare payments sent to others in the same household.
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Boy, that's another one I hear in the single world. Men who don't have jobs who are out there trying to date and they Just don't have jobs.
Jack Armstrong
Wow.
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Can't get an erection and don't have a job. That's a bad way to be.
Jack Armstrong
Wow. That's. What are you selling exactly? Like feed your cat. Now that is attractive. Please let me give myself to you. Say, the ladies of the world. All right, one more thought on this after a quick, quick word from our friends at Rough Greens. When you brought your pup home, you made an agreement with him because you don't let him run around and hunt game, right? You feed him and you agree to take care of your dog. Protect them, give him the best life possible. What if their dog food isn't really doing that effectively because it's stripped of live nutrition? You want to try Rough Greens?
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Yeah. Dog food. Shelf stable food that's loaded with chemicals that their body was not designed to process. As opposed to Rough greens, which is live probiotics, enzymes, omega oils, over 20 vitamins and minerals. America's number one dog supplement, don't you know. All natural, made in the United States. And you can try it for nothing. Yep, just pay the shipping. Get a free Jumpstart trial bag today. You cover the shipping@roughgreens.com spelled R U F F greens.com use the code ARMSTRONG.
Jack Armstrong
Yep. Roughgreens.com use that discount code Armstrong again. You just pay the shipping. Give it a try. See the difference it makes in your dog. Ruffgreens.com discount code ARMSTRONG. Rough greens makes any dog better.
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I could feed your dog while you're at work.
Jack Armstrong
I could sprinkle off greens on your dog's food because you got to be at work. Will you walk him? Oh God, it's hot. I've got anxiety and I can't get an erection. So let's, let's move in together. Oh boy. This is. This is not merciful. Speaking of mercy, my final thought on this. Then you really need to take a break.
Getty
No. Here he is. For the laying around not working crowd. Zero compassion.
Jack Armstrong
Socialism poses as compassion and well meaning people fall for it. But where it inevitably ends is dependence and control. Because if the government is feeding you, you dare not resist them. And whoever says they will continue to feed you gets power. Sometimes it's well meaning people making the mistake of thinking their kindness won't kill. Sometimes it's a deliberate plot by socialists to take power. But whatever, whichever one of those it is, you must reject socialism. It's social poison. More after this. Armstrong and Getty.
America 250 Announcer
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music, performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
Parent
mom,
Getty
can I have Lingokids? Dad? Lingokids, please. When did we become the Lingokids House?
Parent
No idea.
Armstrong
Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.
Getty
Why lingokids?
Jack Armstrong
Because it's the best thing ever.
Getty
We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.
America 250 Announcer
With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs
Getty
and shows, LingoKids is the number one
Jack Armstrong
entertainment platform for young kids.
Getty
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs. Mango kids everything kids love. Download it for free.
Armstrong
Lost support through telehealth, but it feels overwhelming and rushed. Check out orderlymeds.com now orderlymeds.com was built to be different. Here you connect with real doctors who take the time to understand your goals, review your eligibility, and guide you through a plan that's right for you. Orderly Meds provides access to proven GLP1 medications like semaglutide and Tirzepatide, including both name brand options and personalized compound versions when appropriate. So you have choices backed by clinical oversight, not guesswork. It's a simpler, more supportive telehealth experience designed around people who want clarity, care and confidence in their weight loss journey. And your medication is delivered directly to your home in discreet packaging so your experience stays private from start to finish. Do your research, ask the right questions, then visit orderlymeds.com podcast for an exclusive offer. Again, that's orderlymeds podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice, eligibility required. See cite for details.
Combat Sports Announcer
Combat Sports Fans this January, it's the Bruise Cruise Party with fighters. Watch a bare knuckle fighting event live in the Caribbean. Plus DJs, bands and chaos at sea. Prices increase soon. Hop aboard now. Go to bkfsea.com well it'd be nice
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if it was caught humanely and taken away and and obviously it's domesticated birds so somebody could look after it. Put in a cover in your car is the solution, but every time you go out you go to take the COVID off and it's not ideal. So now my car is so badly damaged I'm not sure it could do any more damage. So I'm just leaving it until I need to change my car and then I'll get it fixed by which time it will be resolved, hopefully.
Jack Armstrong
What rogue parakeet in Scotland has been pecking at people's cars and damaging the finish Jack. And that is a charming Angus. Scottish fellow named Angus, because of course he is talking about the. The. The loose par.
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Do they understand each other there?
Jack Armstrong
I believe they do. They seem to have a functioning society. They produce delicious whiskey.
Getty
They don't all just say, what? What.
Jack Armstrong
I actually could understand that guy a lot better than some Scots that I've heard.
Getty
Yeah, there's some fantastic YouTube videos of people in Ireland or Scotland from way back in the day. Like early 20th century black and white stuff where it's just you can't understand a thing. And it's allegedly English.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. From back in the day before language gets homogenized through media and interacting with people. If you're just like in your village and never left or almost never left. Yeah, the. The dialects and accents are crazy in the U.S. too.
Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
You could not, as a New Yorker, communicate with a Louisianan like a rural Louisiana. Hell, I practically can't now.
Getty
For instance, it's amazing to me that accents, dialects, whatever, still exist in the modern media. I would think they would have been gone away by now. And it's always been confusing me when we. We lived in North Carolina for a while, worked in Charlotte, and there were people born and raised there that had thick southern accents and people born and raised there that had zero southern accent. And I never quite understood it.
Jack Armstrong
I've told the story before of years ago when I was in high school in rural Virginia. We stopped to help somebody whose car was dead and they kept asking for something and I could not understand them as a Chicagolander. They're asking for wire pliers. Wire pliers. And finally somebody figured out wire pliers. They want needle nose pliers. Like, you know, they'd studied German for half a semester and like recognized one word finally. But these were native English speakers.
Getty
That guy had a parakeet attack his car. It was the thing.
Jack Armstrong
Apparently he's doing it a great deal. Can't imagine what the parakeet gets out of it.
Getty
But we gonna bring you up to speed on a couple of more stories. We got another hour to go. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand. They're still counting ballots in California. They will be for days. So don't think you missed anything there yet.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Gettysburg.
America 250 Announcer
This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a can't miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, experience music performances from major artists, patriotic tributes and the kickoff to giving 4th, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more more than just fireworks. Learn more about this landmark celebration@america250.org
Getty
mom, can I have Lingokids? Dad, Lingokids, please. When did we become the Lingokids House?
Parent
No idea.
Armstrong
Last week it was dinosaurs. This week it's Lingokids.
Getty
Why Lingokids?
Jack Armstrong
Because it's the best thing ever.
Getty
We can play games with astronauts, wild animals and superheroes.
America 250 Announcer
With more than 4,000 interactive games, songs and shows, LingoKids is the number one
Jack Armstrong
entertainment platform for young kids.
Parent
So no dinosaurs and dinosaurs.
Getty
Everything kids love. Download it for free.
Armstrong
Lost support through telehealth, but it feels overwhelming and rushed. Check out orderlymeds.com now. Orderlymeds.com was built to be different. Here you connect with real doctors who take the time to understand your goals, review your eligibility and guide you through a plan that's right for you. Orderly Meds provides access to proven GLP1 medications like semaglutide and Tirzepatide, including both name brand options and personalized compound versions when appropriate. So you have choices backed by clinical oversight, not guesswork. It's a simpler, more supportive telehealth experience designed around people who want clarity, care and confidence in their weight loss journey. And your medication is delivered directly to your home in discreet packaging so your experience stays private from start to finish. Do you recycle research? Ask the right questions, then visit orderlymeds.com podcast for an exclusive offer. Again, that's orderlymeds.com podcast. Individual results may vary. Not medical advice. Eligibility required. See cite for details.
Combat Sports Announcer
Combat Sports Fans this January, it's the Bruise Cruise Party with fighters watch a bare knuckle fighting event live in the Caribbean. Plus DJs, bands and chaos at sea. Prices increase soon. Hop aboard now. Go to bkfsea.com.
Episode: Can’t Get an Erection, Can’t Get a Job
Date: June 3, 2026
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
This episode centers on two big American anxieties: the declining labor participation among young men in the U.S. and U.K., and the perennial debate about whether a politician’s character—especially regarding sexual indiscretion—should disqualify them from office. The hosts tackle headline news (a dramatic bank standoff), riff on the evolution of scandal in politics, and dig deep into the cultural and policy-driven causes behind rising joblessness among men. Their candid, irreverent banter covers everything from bare-knuckle boxing at sea to welfare reliance, with classic Armstrong & Getty tongue-in-cheek commentary throughout.
[12:59, 23:13–42:48]
Theme: Shockingly high numbers of young men are neither working nor looking for jobs—an “unprecedented” trend now gripping not only America, but Britain and Europe as well.
Britain’s “Lost Generation”:
U.S. Parallels and Policy Critique:
Minimum Wage & Regulation:
Cultural Shift:
Comic Relief/Litmus Test:
| Time | Topic/Segment | | ----------- |:----------------------------------------------------------:| | 03:02–05:23 | Live coverage: Bakersfield bank hostage situation resolved | | 05:26–15:19 | Political scandals, character debates, history | | 10:06 | “Too much baggage” in modern candidates | | 14:41 | Reflections on Clinton/Lewinsky era | | 19:38–22:28 | Clinton: Scandal vs. character assassination | | 23:13–32:52 | Youth joblessness in U.K. – causality & culture | | 32:52–42:48 | U.S. male labor force decline – systemic & personal issues| | 33:36–34:36 | Chris Rock’s “who’s not working” neighborhood bit | | 36:22 | “A life without gainful employment…” insightful summary | | 37:09–37:30 | Loss of “shame” in the culture over joblessness | | 42:48 | Socialism as “social poison” concluding point |
Throughout “Can’t Get an Erection, Can’t Get A Job,” Armstrong & Getty dissect two signs of the times: a country split on whether personal failings should disqualify politicians, and a generation of young men seemingly giving up on work. Lively, skeptical, sometimes scathing, the hosts drive home that neither problem is simple, but both are inextricably linked to deeper civic and cultural shifts—be it loss of shame, the enabling hand of government, or the way universal “transparency” has eroded public expectations for politicians. The show is at once a laugh-out-loud analysis and a sober reflection on how America has changed—and what it’s still not willing to face.