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Jacob
This is an iHeart podcast.
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Jacob
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Jack Armstrong
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Jacob
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Jack Armstrong
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Washington Broadcast.
Joe Getty
Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Getty.
Joe Getty
And now, here's Armstrong.
Jack Armstrong
Live from Studio C C, a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. And on Tuesday, we're under the tutelage of our general manager, Green Greenland is a country.
Joe Getty
It is. It's a big, icy country with like 60,000 people in it right over there.
Jack Armstrong
60,000 people? What kind of country is that?
Joe Getty
A tiny One. Well, a huge one, but a tiny one.
Jack Armstrong
And why is it our general manager.
Jacob
You know.
Joe Getty
Trump's one of Trump's top advisers, Stephen Miller, who would slip right into an SS uniform and look pretty good in it. Just saying. I mean, I agree with the guy a lot, but he just has that look, doesn't he? Anyway, he. He's making noises about how if Greenland isn't gonna willingly become our 51st state, maybe we just grab it up and please don't. Please don't invade our allies now or just please wait. There's another way.
Jack Armstrong
I think there is another way. Soft power. But we can talk about that later. And. But this is serious. This is not. Earlier when we were talking Greenland last year, it was fairly jokey, even though I think Trump was seriously business. But Ian Bremmer says this is serious. Europe needs to pay attention. This is for real.
Joe Getty
Yeah. And, you know, whether you are running a company or perhaps a football team, you have that one teammate who's a little unhinged. They're so gung ho, they've got occasionally, you know, you gotta drag them off the field because they want to fight the ref. That kind of guy. Right. Great teammate and all. I feel like Stephen Miller may be that guy.
Jack Armstrong
I think the most interesting person in the world right now is that Rodriguez woman who's sworn as the president of Venezuelan.
Joe Getty
Man.
Jack Armstrong
If you liked Game of Thrones or a Shakespeare fan or anything like that. Yeah, man. She is living that life right now.
Joe Getty
Game of Thrones is a great metaphor, man, because she is stuck between a couple of vicious, vicious adversaries, or I'm not. Sorry, Not. Not vicious as much as deadly.
Jack Armstrong
Well, vicious on her side. That may string her up if she doesn't do the right things. They're plenty vicious. So she ran like the security apparatus. She was the secret police head person. Yeah. She could not believe more.
Joe Getty
Maduro White. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
She is a horrible human being. And. And the first thing she said after we snatched up their president, using my finger quotes, she said, he is still the legitimate president and I will not put up with this, and blah, blah, blah. Then she changed her tune after, who knows why. Threats from Trump or perhaps the military or the drug lord, said, you're not going to actually lead to regime change. You're not going to disrupt this whole system where we're all getting rich or we're gonna kill you.
Joe Getty
All right? Yeah. We're going to appear to cooperate or cooperate to whatever extent we need to to keep the scam going. Let's appease Trump. Let's lay low for a little while.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see how things turn out for her because she, she could end up just disappearing or falling out a window or hanging from her heels or something like that quite easily.
Joe Getty
Yeah, absolutely.
Jack Armstrong
What I don't get, in fact that's.
Joe Getty
More likely than any other outcome given the position she's in of appe greatest superpower and her own corrupt army and corrupt police and their relationships with a bunch of drug cartels. Tell you what, I wouldn't be sleeping real well at night.
Jack Armstrong
Oh my God. What I don't get, and I would like to read a book about or something or talk to an expert I guess is did Venezuela always have this much oil or is it one of those deals where like they didn't know this much, they had this much oil until they learned to extract it. Kind of the way that happen here in the United States or. But why, why were they not a big bigger player back in the day? Why did Saudi Arabia have so much power over the world and they're all driving around in Bentleys and everything. If there's more oil actually in Venezuela, why weren't they utilizing that?
Joe Getty
Yeah, great question. I can give you the grade school answer. Difficulty of extraction and the fact that they just weren't advanced in, in their oil extra. Why wouldn't you capabilities until the US companies came in and, and then immediately the totalitarian said yeah, we want dead money and they nationalized the, the oil fields.
Jack Armstrong
But it seems like if you want to be a criminal, fine in Venezuela, but you got the greatest resource on earth or certainly, you know, back in the day it was the most valuable resource on earth.
Joe Getty
It might be still pretty good.
Jack Armstrong
It's still damn good. But it might be high speed chips now, I don't know.
Joe Getty
Or wind. But darling, we can't watch tv, the wind isn't blowing.
Jack Armstrong
Why wouldn't you want to live like Saudi princes and run your your country in a criminal form like that? As opposed to nice heroin, as opposed to fentanyl and cocaine. I mean you got more oil than anybody. It just seems so odd to me.
Joe Getty
You know, getting back to that ass kicking Cruella Deville who's running Venezuela at this point. I hearken back to all the times I've heard throughout my life that if women were in charge there would be no war and there would be no problems. You do you people who say that. Do you know any women? Katie, feel free. I mean, come on, I love women and all womanliness, but Please.
Katie Green
Yeah, yeah, that's fair. Especially catch us at a certain time.
Jack Armstrong
Are women capable of vengeance or holding a grudge or.
Katie Green
Are you joking?
Joe Getty
Right, Exactly.
Jack Armstrong
You ever worked around an office where.
Joe Getty
It'S 90% women or anything? Now imagine them all armed. Okay? Now quit with that crap. If only women were in charge.
Jack Armstrong
Bubba, please. So she was actually in charge of the secret police. So I feel like the media would be doing a good job if they put out a big piece interviewing a bunch people who feel free to speak now in Venezuela about what it was like for the last quarter century there. Put out a piece about the secret police and the kidnappings and the, you know, the murders and the tortures and all that sort of stuff, instead of only pieces about how awful it is that Trump overthrew Maduro.
Joe Getty
Jack, I give you, of course, from the Free Press by Nelson Marino, Venezuelan. I survived Maduro's torture state.
Jack Armstrong
Okay. Of course it's in the free press and not the New York Times or the Washington Post, but still, we don't.
Joe Getty
Want to publish that truth, that important truth, because that would undermine our narrative.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, yeah, please. But I imagine there's some pretty horrific stories just like came out of Iraq or the Soviet Union or anywhere else after a quarter century of communist rule.
Joe Getty
Utter totalitarian cruelty of the classic stripe. Awful.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. And again, I don't understand. They had such an advantage with all that oil. Why weren't you able to turn that into being like a mini superpower?
Joe Getty
Well, they were on their way to doing that. There's the problem of where there is money, those who would take it inappropriately or illegally. That's where they go, obviously. And the Communists?
Jack Armstrong
Please.
Joe Getty
They're kleptocrats, but they claim to be socialists. They came in and they stole it. The second problem is there are real issues with a huge percentage of your economy being a natural resource. There are really good books written about that. The economics of petro economies. It can be a real problem because your economy doesn't grow up in a holistic way. You know, neighborhoods that support each other, the grocer buys from the butcher, who buys from the teacher, blah, blah, blah. It's all oil money.
Jack Armstrong
Well, I get that, but I wouldn't think they'd care about that. I would think they would have looked at Saudi Arabia and thought, I want to be that. But it seems like that's precisely what they said. It seems like they looked at Colombia back in the day and thought, we want to be that. A narco state.
Joe Getty
Well, no, I think they they want it to be the Saudis, a, a dictatorship, a very small dictatorship of the chosen few who control all the oil revenue. They just suck at it.
Jack Armstrong
And how did we not end up taking their oil back when like oil was really, really, really important? I'm surprised we didn't.
Joe Getty
Well, we had a Carter, Biden, Obama esque, oil, you know, silly classroom teacher view of foreign policy. I think a very effete, starched shirt, polished shoes version of the way the world ought to work. Honestly. And it's not like we should sweep in there and steal the oil. No, we should just get rid of the brutal, brutal kleptocrat dictator right off the coast of the Gulf of America and put in a reasonable regime or help them, I'm sorry, put in. Listen to me, the globalist. Assist the good people of Venezuela in returning to democracy and then be in a country we can do business with and be allied with right in our own neighborhood. That's just smart foreign policy. Yeah, you gotta crack a couple of eggs. But Barack Obama sitting around a a table reciting what he learned in grad school style of foreign policy, please. Oh my lord. You're trying my patience, world.
Jack Armstrong
Gotta crack a couple of eggs. Yeah, I just realized. Okay, well we gotta start the shows, as they say. Gotta start the show officially. I would have realized when I said the date the show starts officially. I'm Jack Armstrong, he's Joe Getty on this is Tuesday, January 6th. So you're gonna hear a lot about that on certain channels. The year 2026. We are Armstrong and Getty and we approve of this program.
Joe Getty
All right, let's begin. Swarming the capitals of stupidity. Precisely according to fcc. We're actually turning in the other direction. We're storming the stupidity and not the precisely according to FCC rules and regulations. At mark, a senior White House official.
Jack Armstrong
Tells me that Maduro's quote overt arrogance, including his rejection of multiple offers to surrender and his public dancing helped persuade some on the president's team that Maduro would not leave on his own.
Joe Getty
Wow, he's public dancing. That's my favorite footnote from history ever. I can take him thumbing his nose at America and her interest, but the dancing, all the dancing.
Jack Armstrong
Maduro put out a video of him doing the Trump dance, kind of mocking Trump with an armada off the coast and next thing you know, you're blindfolded in a helicopter.
Joe Getty
You know, the. One of the interesting aspects of this is that in December, which counting the days was not long ago, the administration reached out to Maduro and said, look, complete amnesty. You can go to these places and live with lots and lots of wealth and have a great life, but you gotta go. And he said, f you. I'm sure as he was sitting there with his headphones on and his blindfold on the plane with the manacles, he was thinking, God damn it.
Jack Armstrong
He's sitting in a sale in Brooklyn right now thinking, probably should have taken.
Joe Getty
That deal, man, that whole amnesty thing. Hey, can I still get that amnesty thing?
Jack Armstrong
Okay, we got Kenny's headlines on the way and a lot of other stuff, so stay here. Armstrong and Getty this episode is brought to you by Prize Picks. Whether you're starting a new routine or making player picks for the first time, trying something new can be hard. But in life and on Price Picks, it always feels good to be right.
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Jacob
Ready to change your Life. For just $2 a day, Orangetheory Fitness delivers one hour workouts that combine strength and cardio to help you burn fat, build muscle and feel unstoppable. Right now, get a full month of unlimited classes for just $62. Don't wait. This offer ends soon. Visit orangetheory.com or your local studio and start your transformation today. Offer ends January 31, 2026. New members only. Premier membership, performance monitor and monthly billing required. Discount applies to first month only. Other terms apply. C Studio for details this is Jacob.
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Jack Armstrong
I have Hanson grabbing the promo. We can talk about it later. I just saw a promo TLC tonight, brand new season starts of Thousand Pound Sisters which is not not a show I've seen, but it appears to be two women who are sisters who each weigh a thousand pounds or they wear a thousand pounds. I can't tell if it's a thousand total or a thousand each.
Katie Green
They, they've both lost a significant amount of weight but they are entertaining.
Joe Getty
So they're over selling it, huh? Cool.
Jack Armstrong
We will talk about that later.
Joe Getty
That's £850 of sisters at most. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Do we have any fatter sisters anywhere? I'm gonna switch around.
Joe Getty
Great Scott. That's tragic. Okay, let's figure out who's reporting what. It's the lead story with Katie Green. Katie.
Katie Green
All right, we'll start with the Alphabet Networks on this Maduro situation. CBS ousted Venezuelan president Maduro arraigned in US Court's Venezuela raid plunges Greenland and the Western military alliance into uncertainty. And NBC, U.S. allies warn Trump over threats to seize Greenland.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, well, we'll talk more about that later in what Stephen Miller, who you.
Joe Getty
Know speaks for the president.
Jack Armstrong
What he said yesterday on cnn.
Katie Green
Your guys favorite topic from Politico, Bondi threatened with fines over a quote cover up of dozens of Epstein FBI witness documents.
Jack Armstrong
It's funny, during the commercials I came across the word Epstein and thought is that going to Surely not anymore. But apparently.
Katie Green
From the Associated Press, Hilton Hotel in Minnesota apologizes for email canceling immigration agents room reservations.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, we got to talk about that more. Unbelievable.
Joe Getty
Yeah. Got a couple of good ICE stories to send your way. Also, big, big look at the corruption in Minnesota, the welfare fraud, the Somalis and others. Well worth looking into. It's symptomatic of so many programs we have in the states. It's more than Tim Waltz is a lame brain and Minnesota's a lefty hellhole. It's.
Jack Armstrong
It's. It's a big story. Look, I'm a knucklehead sometimes. I let $9 billion get stolen from the Washington Post.
Katie Green
X users tell Grok to undress women and girls in photos. It says yes, ex users.
Jack Armstrong
So you get a photo of any chick and then you tell Grock to do the image thing and take their clothes off.
Katie Green
And Grok apparently is doing it.
Jack Armstrong
I'm surprised by that because I've never tried to do that, but I've tried to do other things where it's like really, really careful about what it'll allow you to do. Like I took a family photo and tried to make a video where we're all fighting or something like that, and it wouldn't do it.
Joe Getty
Yeah, I don't feel like I need Grok for that.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, no kidding.
Joe Getty
I want to imagine a woman on clothes. I think I can do it pretty capably. Yeah.
Katie Green
From Fox Sports. Tom Brady will help lead the Raiders head coach search alongside of the general manager, according to Mark Davis.
Jacob Goldstein
There you go.
Joe Getty
That can't hurt. You know, Brady, pretty good commentator, Jack. I know you think he's. He's okay.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I like.
Joe Getty
There is one king among color commentators. He stands head, shoulders, and shoulder pads above everybody else, and that's Chris Collinsworth.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, he's close.
Joe Getty
He's very, very good. Oh, he's so good.
Katie Green
From the New York Post. Doctor warns that dangerous ingredient and fancy cocktails can, quote, cause your stomach to explode.
Jack Armstrong
Whoa. Nobody wants that.
Joe Getty
Awful.
Katie Green
End of the night, bartenders are putting liquid nitrogen in the drinks to make them smoke for pictures for social media, but they're failing to tell people to wait until the smoke evaporates to drink them.
Joe Getty
Oh, no. Oh, no.
Jack Armstrong
Because then your stomach will explode, which nobody wants.
Katie Green
Study finds. AI chat bots whisper gossip about people to each other, and no one's checking to see if it's true.
Joe Getty
Wow. Do we have examples that article later?
Jacob Goldstein
Absolutely.
Katie Green
And finally, from the Babylon Bee, liberals quickly changing quote, no Kings signs to read yes Kings in support of Maduro.
Joe Getty
Well, and Axios has got a story that a lot of Democrats are pissed off at their party's response to the Maduro captures. It makes us look weak. I mean, guy's an awful dictator and we got rid of him. Maybe we should come out and you know, this is all behind the scenes, of course, in secret, but maybe we should come out and say it was a good thing.
Jack Armstrong
Go ahead. Wonder what the Thousand Pound sisters think of Maduro or if that'll come up on tonight on TLC for season two.
Katie Green
They're gonna eat them.
Jack Armstrong
We gotta nail this down. Are they a total of a thousand pounds or each £1,000?
Katie Green
They were a total at one point.
Jack Armstrong
They were each about.
Katie Green
At one point. They were a total.
Jack Armstrong
You saved.
Joe Getty
That seems misleading to me.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I agree. And now they're just medium overweight like the rest of us. I don't know if that's as entertaining. You want my eyeballs?
Joe Getty
£100 is a pretty. I mean, come on.
Jack Armstrong
If you want my eyeballs, you got to get fatter.
Katie Green
There's some teeth missing and some good arguments that go down.
Joe Getty
Now you got my attention.
Jack Armstrong
Rampant fraud in Minnesota. It's worse than anyone thought.
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Jacob
To change your Life. For just $2 a day, Orangetheory Fitness delivers one hour workouts that combine strength and cardio to help you burn fat, build muscle and feel unstoppable. Right now, get a full month of unlimited classes for just $62. Don't wait. This offer ends soon. Visit orangetheory.com or your local studio and start your transformation today. Offer ends January 31, 2026. New members only. Premier membership, performance monitor and monthly billing required. Discount applies to first month only. Other terms apply. Z Studio for details this is Jacob.
Jacob Goldstein
Goldstein from what's yous Problem? When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing. Odoo solves this. It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales. Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way. You can save money without missing out on the features you need. Check out Odoo at o d o o.com that's o d o o.com this.
Joe Getty
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Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
On Point Game, you better be locked in on these handshakes, because when the camera's on, there's no time to mess up. So it's really a big thing where guys is in the locker room. You look over there in the corner, they're working on a handshake over there. They're like, man, what do you think we're doing on this handshake? So it's serious. And if you really watch, nobody's really messing up.
Joe Getty
No.
Jack Armstrong
Everybody'S just tapped in. And the craziest thing about it is.
Joe Getty
LeBron is doing handshakes with teammates from.
Jack Armstrong
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Here in Minnesota, massive fraud is taking place within the government and the Somali population here. This building alone, Quality Learning center is a daycare. Yet they spelled learning wrong and they said leering. This daycare alone in 2025 has received $1.9 million from the government. And the strange things about these child care centers is there's no one here right now. It's midday on a weekday. If you were to try to go inside, it's completely closed and the windows are all blacked out. No one's working. Midday. Children should be in here.
Jack Armstrong
That's Nick Shirley, which you may have missed his work if you were kind of taking a vacation like we did the last couple of weeks from following what's going on in the world. He's an amateur journalist who caught on there in Minnesota quite a while ago to the amount of fraud that was going on and for instance, the fake leering center. Well, it was a real leering center. It was a fake learning center. The fact that they had a learning center missing a letter is just too, it's too good. It is too perfect. It is too much. In fact. Let me hit retweet right now. I'm going to retweet repost to our Twitter feed. Nick Shirley. Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud. This might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110 million in one day. So I sent that to you. And this happened right before we got off the air. Way back in the year 2020, 25, like 10 minutes before we got off the air was the breaking news that, no, it's not a billion dollar fraud scheme that some, a lot of Somalis pulled off in Minnesota, which was an extraordinary number for a small state. It's more like $9 billion.
Joe Getty
I know, it boggles the mind. It was, it was not a system beset by fraud. It was a fraud system. I mean, there was, there was virtually no attention given whatsoever to preventing fraud. It was a money spigot. And for what it's worth, Nick made a couple of mistakes. You know, I can't remember specifically. He's like one of the places had moved and that sort of thing. And so the, the leftists who want to pump billions of dollars of taxpayer money just to thieves are pretending like that discredits the rest of his reporting. But I've got plenty to back it up.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, man, I wish we could get to a place and maybe it's just.
Jacob Goldstein
A.
Jack Armstrong
A childish dream that, you know, left wing media or voters or whatever would hate fraud as much as people on the right, just for different reasons. I, as a taxpayer want to keep my money. I want it in my pocket. I don't want to go into these, I don't want to go into these programs at all. I want to keep it. Um, but if you're a lefty and you like these sorts of programs, you should be just as upset that they're not doing what they're supposed to do.
Joe Getty
I know.
Jack Armstrong
And because you're all about helping the downtrodden.
Joe Getty
Well, and there's this bizarre childlike belief, I guess, that if you limit the money spraying out in any way, including the fraudulent money, that somehow switching sides to becoming a conservative and you don't want to do that. It's absolutely idiotic.
Jack Armstrong
By the way, this Nick Shirley went from like Nobody had ever heard of him to. He's got 1.2 million followers on Twitter and more on Instagram. Let's just play this next clip where he actually confronted the people in front of. I don't know if it was this leering center or a different learning center where they actually weren't teaching anybody, but they were getting a lot of taxpayer money. Minnesota child care right here. It's from the state of Minnesota's website.
Katie Green
We're just wondering where the children are.
Jack Armstrong
Where are the children now? Yeah, where are the children?
Joe Getty
It says you have 102 children here.
Jack Armstrong
And you got $2.66 million this year.
Katie Green
In funding and 2.5 million last year.
Better Picks Announcer
We're just wondering where the.
Jack Armstrong
Where the kids are.
Better Picks Announcer
My name is Nick Shirley.
Joe Getty
Nick Shirley.
Better Picks Announcer
Oh, we are from ourselves. Yeah, hello. We'd like to ask where's the money's going. Look at that. Shut us down.
Jack Armstrong
Which department are you from? We are from ourselves.
Joe Getty
Yes, I want that on a T shirt.
Jack Armstrong
We learn from ourselves.
Joe Getty
Statement of individuality. Or you could say I'm an independent journalist. But you know, who am I to tell him?
Jack Armstrong
I'll bet there are a thousand places like that across this country in different states that aren't doing anything close to what they claim they're doing that are getting taxpayer money. I'll bet you're right.
Joe Getty
I guarantee you're right. What's really, really interesting about this story. Well, there's so many aspects that are. But the Free Beacon did some great reporting on the fact that a lot of this has been known, not the full scope of, but a lot of this has been known for years. There was a devastating 2019 report by the Minnesota's nonpartisan Office of Legislative Auditor investigating whistleblower claims that found hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud. Of course that was a fraction of what it turned out to be. Local Twin Cities reporters have documented the daycare problems and stories before and after that 2019 report. And they go into a great bit of reporting from Jay Coles at KSTP Eyewitness News that visited two of the sites, two of the 10 sites Shirley just visited back in 2023. I think 2019 is over a span including the now famous Quality Leering center. And they found out that that place was guilty of 95 violations including no records for 16 children. Failure to keep hazardous items away from children like Shirley Kohl's found no children at the daycare center.
Jack Armstrong
Well, that's the. Nonetheless they had like scissors and knives around, but fortunately there were no kids. Actually at the center so they couldn't hurt themselves. Well, right.
Joe Getty
So it wasn't dangerous.
Jack Armstrong
Right.
Joe Getty
But so this Jay Coles on the big Eyewitness News Report does a big expose of that. Right. Taxpayer funds continued to flow going back more than 10 years. Fox 9 reporter Jeff Bailon reported on daycare frauds in 2013 and 2015. It's unbelievable.
Jack Armstrong
I'll stop after this because I want to get back to the particulars of this story. There's only one way to stop this. One way. Don't give them the money in the first place. That's the only way. Well, right.
Joe Getty
And where programs are necessary, have reasonable blanking scrutiny for applications. When you get to how like hilariously childlike some of the fraud was and Minnesota did nothing about it, even when after being alerted to it. Do you understand what we're trying to communicate to you? This is not a, the bank vault. The padlock doesn't fasten. Right. And somebody got in. No, there's no padlock, there's no door. Nobody cares.
Jack Armstrong
I'll bet California has stories every bit as good about all the homeless money that's been sloshing around for the past decade or more.
Joe Getty
Oh, yeah. Gavin Newsom says to Tim Waltz, hold my beer. That beer, of course, bought by a supporter and, and Gavin never paid for it.
Jack Armstrong
But let's hear, let's hear some more of the reporting around this. This is CBS News on how it got started during COVID because that's when we were really throwing money around.
Better Picks Announcer
According to federal prosecutors, it was really during COVID that fraudsters set up these fake restaurants, restaurants or sham businesses and health clinics that would provide things like meals to school children or behavioral health services or housing to people with addiction. And because during COVID you didn't have the same checks and balances you had social distancing. You couldn't have the site visits, you couldn't have the in person inspections. Well, the fraudsters got away with it all and provided the receipts and collected boatloads of cash from us, the taxpayers. More than 90 people have been charged in the schemes, mostly Somalis, and more than 60 people have been convicted.
Jack Armstrong
Good on 60, CBS for doing that story, by the way. Yeah. Let's hit a few more of the facts from that story and then we'll discuss.
Better Picks Announcer
We visited those sites too, as did state inspectors, many times over the last six months. And we found the facts on the ground tell a different story. Those daycares, many of them were written up for safety violations, things like maybe busted equipment or Staff training issues, but that's not the same as being fraudulent. So it's important to put all this into context.
Joe Getty
Oh, my God. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. They're guilty of all that stuff. And their fraudsters. Jonah. Jonah Kaplan of cbs, who you praised only moments ago. What perspective do I need? Okay, so they're both.
Jack Armstrong
Thanks.
Joe Getty
Unbelievable. The federal prosecutor, who needs a lot more help, called a press conference when we were on vacation. Intense press conference. He announced charges against more than six defend against six more defendants. He warned that there were more cases coming while his team continues to investigate frauds that he estimates may total half of the $18 billion spent on these programs since 2018. Half of the money is fraudulent. He says, quote, every day we look under a rock and find a new $50 million fraud scheme. He noted that fraudsters are now seeking out the state, which has developed a fraud tourism industry.
Jack Armstrong
Well, it sounds like all you had to do was contact your local do Gooder government agency and say, yeah, I just set up a. I'm gonna help drug addicted kids who are hungry.
Joe Getty
Hungry, drug addicted autistic kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got a school for him. Yeah, it's a leering center.
Jack Armstrong
There you go. Drug addicted, hungry autistic kids with COVID And if you could send me $50 million, that'd be handy. I'm gonna work that check out to you right away. And I don't like to throw in because of social distancing and Covid. No, no, no, no. Because so much money was being thrown around. Don't try to convince me that you would have been really, you know, diligent about making sure this money was well spent if it hadn't been for social distancing.
Joe Getty
Yeah, that was pull crap. What a look. What a crappy report that was. Anyway, you know, I don't know if we need all of this, but probably for one of the last times. Lame Osclown. Wow, it's the second day of the facilitator.
Jack Armstrong
Two days in a row you've dropped an AC on someone. This is a rough year so far.
Joe Getty
If the big red shoes fit, wear them. Tim Waltz, who was going to teach America a new sort of masculinity. Remember that?
Jack Armstrong
Oh, wow.
Joe Getty
He was a regular guy. Regular guys would love him, right? That's what the Democrats thought. Anyway, here he is explaining what's going on now. 36.
Jack Armstrong
Michael.
Joe Getty
We'll win the fight against the fraudsters, but the political gamesmanship we're seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder. Border. We've got Republicans here in the state legislature playing hide and seek with potential whistleblowers. We've got conspiracy theorist right wing youtubers breaking into our daycares demanding access to our children. We've got the President of the United States demonizing our Somali neighbors and wrongfully confiscating funds that Minnesotans rely on. It's disgusting and it's dangerous. Republicans are playing politics with the future of the state.
Jack Armstrong
Oh boy.
Joe Getty
It's shame. He should be in jail. Criminal negligence. Put him in jail. Put him next to Maduro. Put him in the eye shades and the headphones. Manacle him.
Jack Armstrong
Put him next to Maduro. I've got the final sour note on this, but. Because that's my job. But first on Tim Walls, what year and a half for him? I mean, could he have had a higher point in his life than that acceptance speech at the Democratic convention? I mean. Cause he was really good. That was, that was, that was a good moment for her and him. They really handled that well. And he came off really, really good. And from that to this, where he drops out of the race. Now he's got to be spending a lot of his time with personal lawyers trying to make sure he doesn't end up in jail, let alone the fact that he's just disgraced as a, you know, politically inept. From an executive standpoint. He's inept. He may be a crook.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah.
Jack Armstrong
And I'm a knucklehead at times.
Joe Getty
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know.
Jack Armstrong
I don't, you know, California, we had. Katie brought us the story, remember last year or whatever the whole. Turns out California, having spent, and I don't remember the was $50 billion on the homeless in the last couple years, has no mechanism to track whether or not this does any good. Well, if you have no mechanism to track whether it does any good, tell me you don't have a, that there's a mechanism to make sure it's not being stolen.
Joe Getty
Give me a break. I know it's outrageous. It is. We, we the American people are so prone to falling for, you know, flowery words about generosity and concern for the, the underprivileged that we will just open the bank vaults again. Just let whoever walk in and take the money generally because you know, it's somebody else. Tax money. That's the point of narrowing the tax base as much as possible. That way the fewest people possible are concerned about how tax money is spent. It's an insidious and successful plot.
Jack Armstrong
Here's my sour note. I mentioned this last year. It was based on something Megan McArdle said on the Dispatch. She writes for the Washington Post. She's a right leaning Washington Post Post reporter. She went through a whole bunch of these over history with the point that nothing ever happens out of these things. We all just move on. It's, it's amazing how big is a scandal. It is a sour note. It's amazing how big a scandal you can have around ripping off taxpayers and they just go away. People like are mad, like I'm mad. But nothing ever happens. Nobody pays a price. The thing, the same thing happens again six months later in a different way. It's probably because of what you just said because half the country doesn't pay taxes at all. They don't pay federal taxes, so they.
Joe Getty
Don'T care a bit. Why would you care at all if.
Jack Armstrong
You don't pay taxes at the end of the year?
Joe Getty
Time for a mob with some nice pitchforks, torches, axe handles, if that's your preferred tool. It's, it's time to take to the streets, folks. But the thing is, peacefully, of course, the pitchforks are to Bill. Hey, we gotta take a break. We're out of time.
Jack Armstrong
We gotta take a break. I got more anger about this. We got Mailbag on the way. Stay tuned.
Joe Getty
Thanks for taking my money. That's right, Armstrong and Getty.
Jack Armstrong
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Jacob Goldstein
Goldstein from what's yous Problem? Business software is expensive and when you Buy software from lots of different companies. It's not only expensive, it gets confusing. Slow to use, hard to integrate. Odoo solves that because all Odoo software is connected on a single affordable platform. Save money without missing out on the features you need. Odoo has no hidden costs and no limit on features or data. Odoo has over 60 apps available for any needs your business might have, all at no additional charge. Everything from websites to sales to inventory to accounting. All linked and talking to each other. Check out odoo@odoo.com that's O D O O dot com.
Jack Armstrong
There's no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means got the winning formation. One on one advice. IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business goes pro with Lenovo Pro. Sign up for free@lenovo.com pro. You know our old friend Steve Hilton, he of the British accent is leading the current polling for governor of California.
Joe Getty
You all right? Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Running as a Republican, very small number but still tied for the lead.
Joe Getty
I think our other friend Kevin Kylie, congressman from the sane part of California, is thinking of throwing his hat in the ring if his congressional district goes klooi. But more on that another time. It's time for our freedom hating quote of the day. Going a series of those at least for this week inspired by Zoran Mudani and his communist and I mean that quite seriously. Tenant advocate director Sia Weaver who said this and I quote, private property, including and kind of especially homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as wealth building public policy. This is the woman. Do we have that quote from yesterday? Michael? I asked to have that back and forgot. She said we're going to be confiscating homeowners houses from them or I'd like to. Yeah, go ahead. I think the reality is, is that for centuries we've really treated property as an individualized good and not a collective good.
Jacob
And we are going to, in transitioning.
Joe Getty
To treating it as a collective good and towards a model of shared equity.
Jack Armstrong
Will require that we think about it differently.
Joe Getty
And it will mean that families, especially.
Jacob
White families, but some POC families who.
Joe Getty
Are homeowners as well are gonna have a different relationship to property than the.
Jacob
One that we currently have.
Jack Armstrong
Wow. And what is she in his administration?
Joe Getty
His tenant? Tenant advocate direct.
Jack Armstrong
He doesn't have the power to do that sort of thing. But the fact that he's got somebody that high up in his campaign who.
Joe Getty
Believes that crap in his administration, it's stunning. Yeah, she's a Stalinist. He's a Stalinist. We're going to confiscate private property, Maoist if you prefer, and redistribute it. Wow.
Jack Armstrong
You're gonna have a different relationship with property.
Joe Getty
The Communists of, like, the 60s, 70s, 80s are thinking, oh, my God, you can just come out and say it. We're couching it in all these, like, flowery terms. Although she said their relationship will change.
Jack Armstrong
You would have literally have armed standoffs.
Joe Getty
There to actually be a revolution almost instantly. Yeah, well, no, instantly. So we don't have time to get the mailbag, unfortunately, because we have some really, really good email.
Jack Armstrong
Is there a single topic or is it a bunch of different things?
Joe Getty
It's a bunch of different things. I'll give you a very, very small sampling. What do we have, Michael? Like a minute, 30 seconds. On the topic of groovy moons and their names, Hank writes, how about the warm collectivist moon? I would like Angie fans to come with a whole year of names for soft heads. A special attention to diversity in the poor homeless. After all, lunatic drives from Lunar. The warm collectivist moon, based on another Mumdani quote.
Jack Armstrong
That's a good one.
Joe Getty
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
We got a lot to get to today and we look forward to it. And if you miss a segment, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Gettysburg.
Jack Armstrong
Yo. You know, Ball, we'll come through with a free $10 from Better Picks. Download the Better app, pick more or less on your favorite player stats, watch the games, and win some cash. It's that simple. Must be 21 or older in a jurisdiction where Better Picks operates.
Joe Getty
Terms and conditions apply.
Jack Armstrong
Better Picks. Sports just got better.
Joe Getty
Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of.
Jacob
Angie, and one thing I've learned is.
Jack Armstrong
That you buy a house, but you.
Jacob
Make it a home. Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter, from plumbing to electrical roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Hire high quality pros@angie.com this is Jacob.
Jacob Goldstein
Goldstein from what's yous Problem? Business software is expensive. And when you buy software from lots of different companies, it's not only expensive, it gets confusing. Slow to use, hard to integrate. Odoo solves that because all Odoo software is connected on a single affordable platform. Save money without missing out on the features you need. Odoo has no hidden costs and no limit on features or data. Odoo has over 60 apps available for any needs your business might have, all at no additional charge.
Jack Armstrong
Charge.
Jacob Goldstein
Everything from websites to sales to inventory to accounting. All linked and talking to each other. Check out odoo@odoo.com that's O D O.
Jack Armstrong
O.com there's no championship league for small business owners, but if there was, you'd be at the top of the standings. Because going pro with Lenovo Pro means you've got the winning formation. One on one advice. IT solutions and customized hardware powered by Intel Core Ultra processors help you stay ahead of the competition. Business Goes Pro with Lenovo Pro Sign up for free@lenovo.com Pro.
Jacob
This is an iHeart podcast.
Jack Armstrong
Guaranteed Human.
Episode: If The Big Red Shoes Fit, Wear Them.
Date: January 6, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts
Main Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Contributors: Katie Green, Jacob Goldstein
In this episode, Armstrong & Getty dive into two headline-grabbing stories: the fallout from the U.S. government’s dramatic intervention in Venezuela and the jaw-dropping scope of government welfare fraud in Minnesota. The show blends biting humor, sharp skepticism, and deep frustration at systemic dysfunction, offering news analysis, lively banter, some exasperated rants, and their trademark irreverent take on current events.
| Segment/Topic | Timestamp | |------------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Humorous Greenland Open & Trump/Stephen Miller Riff | 02:22–03:44| | Venezuela – Rodríguez, Maduro, Oil Economy | 03:44–11:57| | Official Start of Show / Maduro Overthrown, Dancing | 11:57–13:43| | News Roundup: Venezuela, Greenland, Epstein, AI, Sports | 17:05–20:43| | Minnesota Welfare Fraud: Overview, Nick Shirley’s Reporting | 25:25–31:12| | Gov. Tim Waltz's Response & Political Fallout | 35:45–37:47| | General Rant on Government Waste & Accountability | 37:47–39:23| | Sia Weaver’s Anti-Private Property Quote & Discussion | 43:03–44:12|
Armstrong & Getty’s style in this episode is sardonic, biting, and exasperated with both government incompetence and naïve idealism. The show features heavy doses of skepticism, humor (often gallows or sarcastic), and a persistent through-line of frustration at lack of responsible leadership or media honesty. They dip into pop culture (Game of Thrones, TLC’s "Thousand Pound Sisters"), news headlines, media criticism, and social commentary without ever losing their edge or their sense of the absurd.
This episode delivers a vivid blend of political drama, institutional outrage, and anti-bureaucratic humor. The Venezuela story and the Minnesota fraud scandal serve as case studies in what the hosts see as the consequences of weak leadership, media bias, and unaccountable government—backed by sharp one-liners, skeptical rants, and signature Armstrong & Getty camaraderie.