I'll Take A Liver!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "I'll Take A Liver!"

Episode Details

• Title: I'll Take A Liver!
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts (Armstrong & Getty Show)
• Release Date: March 27, 2025

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1. Introduction

In the episode titled "I'll Take A Liver!", hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into a significant political scandal surrounding a military group chat. The discussion navigates through the intricacies of the incident, the ensuing political fallout, media involvement, and broader implications for governance and accountability in the United States.

2. The Military Group Chat Scandal

a. Overview of the Scandal

The episode centers on a recent controversy where a reporter, Jeff Goldberg, infiltrated a private military group chat via the secure messaging app Signal. Screenshots from this chat leaked, revealing sensitive and potentially embarrassing conversations among military personnel.

Jack Armstrong initiates the discussion by highlighting the gravity of the situation:

"Guys, the White House is doing damage control over the military group chat scandal and today the reporter who broke the story published all these Screenshots from the chat. Yeah. The most humiliating part of the group chat is that some of the text messages were green. Who has an Android?" [02:56]

b. Political Reactions and Accountability

The hosts analyze the reactions from various political figures, emphasizing a perceived double standard in accountability between Republicans and Democrats.

Joe Getty cites Senator Roger Wicker's concerns:

"If mistakes were made, they should be acknowledged. It's hard to look at that list that came out yesterday and think that's not classified..." [03:22]

Jack Armstrong counters by criticizing the administration's handling:

"If you stop talking about it, it would go away. That's just factually not true... Armstrong and Getty just don't mention it. That's not going to do any good." [05:57]

c. Media Dynamics and Partisan Spin

The conversation touches on how the media and political opponents are leveraging the scandal for partisan gains. Brit Hume, a senior political analyst at Fox, provides insights into crisis management:

"The first is get the facts out as fast as you can and don't be afraid to take responsibility... The second rule is don't feed the story." [04:23]

However, Armstrong and Getty argue that the administration failed to adhere to these principles, prolonging the scandal.

Jack Armstrong states:

"We're done playing the two tier system of accountability where Democrats do whatever they want while Republicans eagerly submit when our enemies demand their heads." [09:26]

3. Broader Implications and Additional Discussions

a. US-China Relations

The hosts shift focus to escalating tensions between the United States and China, discussing military deployments and technological sanctions.

Jack Armstrong highlights the deployment of the Typhon missile system:

"The land-based Typhon weapons system has been deployed in the north of the Philippines. It puts key Chinese military and commercial hubs within striking distance..." [31:08]

They also discuss the Supreme Court ruling on regulating ghost guns and technology theft by China:

"Chinese nationals are reportedly using the largely unregulated surrogacy industry in the US specifically cal Unicornia to rent the wombs of American women..." [34:53]

b. Economic News

The episode touches upon positive economic indicators amidst ongoing political turmoil.

Jack Armstrong mentions:

"The US economy expanded at a healthy 2.4% pace during the last three months of 2024, supported by a year-end surge in consumer spending." [21:08]

c. Cultural and Social Observations

A notable segment discusses the phenomenon of "boomer asking," where individuals ask questions primarily to steer the conversation back to themselves.

Jack Armstrong explains:

"Boomer asking is asking a question just to talk about yourself. People find it irritating because they feel ignored, irritating or unimportant when their answers are brushed aside." [44:12]

They illustrate this with examples and categorize different types of such conversational behaviors, emphasizing the social friction it causes.

d. Education and Disability Accommodations

The hosts critique the disproportionate allocation of disability accommodations in affluent schools.

Jack Armstrong shares a personal anecdote:

"In a math class with nine students, she's the only one who doesn't receive extra time on tests. When the period is up, she's called by name to hand in her exam. The other students keep working. How's that even possible?" [29:44]

They discuss how wealthy parents can secure accommodations for their children, often leading to unfair advantages and overstretched educational resources.

4. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty maintain a critical stance on governmental accountability, media biases, and societal issues. They advocate for directness and fairness in political discourse, urging listeners to recognize and challenge double standards.

Jack Armstrong concludes with a call to action against perceived injustices:

"The way you make sure it's done for good is you don't play along with it. Screw with us, you get screwed with back. They're bad actors and they don't get to win." [10:07]

The hosts emphasize the importance of informed citizenship and vigilance in the face of political and social challenges.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong [02:56]: "This never would have happened under Biden, for starters. He didn't know how to text."
• Joe Getty [03:22]: "If mistakes were made, they should be acknowledged."
• Brit Hume [04:23]: "Get the facts out as fast as you can and don't be afraid to take responsibility."
• Jack Armstrong [05:57]: "We're done playing the two tier system of accountability."
• Jack Armstrong [09:26]: "Screw with us, you get screwed with back."

---

This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand provides a comprehensive analysis of a critical political scandal, intertwining discussions on national security, media influence, economic trends, and social dynamics. Through insightful commentary and robust debate, the hosts offer listeners a nuanced perspective on contemporary issues shaping the United States.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Unknown]

Well.

[Jack Armstrong]

Guys, the White House is doing damage control over the military group chat scandal and today the reporter who broke the story published all these Screenshots from the chat. Yeah. The most humiliating part of the group chat is that some of the text messages were green. Who has an Android?

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Say what you want. This never would have happened under Biden, for starters. He didn't know how to text. So, I mean, that would never.

[Unknown]

Biden shot. We can hear from a lot of people. We got a little montage of Republicans who are in office who aren't happy with the way this thing has played out. How would you be? Particularly this one. This is Roger Wicker. If you don't know who that is, Senator Roger Wicker. He is the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, which is a pretty big position, and he's a Republican from Mississippi. That is Trump country. And he said the information is published recently. Appears to me be of. To be of such a sensitive nature that based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified. If mistakes were made, they should be acknowledged. It's hard to look at that list that came out yesterday and think that's. That's not classified, or those aren't war plans, as opposed to battle plans, or however you're parsing it. If you're the Secretary of Defense. Right. Which is only keeping this story alive. Which leads to this. This is Brit Hume. He's their senior political analyst over there at Fox on how to handle a scandal.

There's some fairly well established rules, if you can call them that, for how to deal with a situation like this. And the first is get the facts out as fast as you can and don't be afraid to take responsibility. I actually think in the early going, the administration did pretty well on that score. You know, Mike Waltz was forthright, saying that he took responsibility and the President was as well.

Go on.

But the second rule is don't feed the story. So once you've got. You've made your case about what happened and you're maybe waiting for further information to service, just stop talking about it. But this administration got itself bogged down in this debate about whether there was war plans in there or not or whether there was classified information there or not. And then you had, you know, Tulsi Gabbard on Capitol Hill forced to say that, well, you know, this is the kind of information that was in that conversation that should be classified. And so that just kept the story going. And the Democrats, of course, are having a field day, and so are the media. And the other thing they did is they attacked the journalists. Look, I'm not a particular fan of Goldberg or of his magazine, but he didn't do anything wrong here. You know, he got that, he got that thing sent to him passively. He didn't do anything to get it. And then when he reported on it, he left out a lot of the details. So then they attacked him and said that he wasn't telling the truth about it, which just gave him a reason to release the details, as he did this morning. So rule one, doing okay. Rule two, not so much.

Hmm.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have a number of thoughts on that. Number one, addressed to the people who are thinking or writing, emailing, texting. Well, you guys are part of the problem. If you'd stop talking about it, it would go away. That's, that's not true. It's just factually not true. It's, it's a big story and there is some substance to it. And as Jack put it earlier in the show, we talk about stuff because it's interesting. I mean, it's not 100% cheerleading all the time. And this is a really interesting story on a number of different levels. And secondly, what Brit Hume said, the, you know, the title to that screed is how you make scandals go away. So you can do the important stuff and handling it completely wrong, but Armstrong and Getty just don't mention it. That's not going to do any good.

[Unknown]

I thought this was an interesting take from Mark Halpern in his newsletter today. However Jeff Goldberg got on that chat, the impact has been to give the White House a full week to do stuff effectively below the radar as distracted Democrats and the dominant media focus almost entirely on the signal stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, wait a minute. 11 dimensional chess?

[Unknown]

Well, I don't think it was.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're feeding this intentionally now?

[Unknown]

I don't know. They certainly didn't do that originally on purpose. I don't believe that at all. But at this point, does it bother them to have it? The number one story with it probably can't go any further. Damage is done. And then you do other stuff below the radar, whether it's, you know, Doge stuff or Department of Education or whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Defund npr, Turn the screws on the colleges. Doge stuff, like you said. Yeah, interesting thought.

[Unknown]

Grab up more Venezuelans and ship them out.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Judge said no to that. More on that topic later. Yet another judge. So I don't. Do you want to play some clips? I don't want to hijack this. I've got a couple other takes that I found interesting, but.

[Unknown]

No, go ahead.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, like Miranda Devine, who writes for the New York Post, really smart, really funny, snarky very pro Trump headline. Mike Waltz's Signal Gate blunder is a hard lesson to be learned for Trump's winning team. There's no getting around the fact that Signal Gate was a blunder in soccer terms. It was an own goal, a totally unnecessary screw up that set back the Trump team. But the team is still winning and the opposition is still in total disarray and fighting among themselves. Let's hope lessons have been learned. And then she goes into a fair amount of detail, but that's the long and short of it. This is a piece from Town Hall.com avowedly conservative. Is it Phil or Kurt Schlichter who's always dependable for some good MAGA stuff? Understand that no one outside of Washington D.C. or Twitter cares about some journalist getting mistakenly admitted into a signal thread at all. The Democrats think they finally found something they can seek their teeth into after two months of unbroken failure and humiliation. But it's a pretty pathetic morsel. Real people don't care about it.

[Unknown]

I think that's true. What do you think?

[Jack Armstrong]

To a large extent it is. I think the part of America that pays attention to news is aware of it.

[Unknown]

Well, I think they're aware of it. But do you think most of America's just got to have a scalp? I mean, if he doesn't go or Walls doesn't go, they're just not going to be. I know. I don't think so.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I would agree completely. And that's Phil's main point, actually. You've anticipated it beautifully. The issue here is not about operational security. Our enemies want to pretend it is because they can think they can use that to hurt the Trump administration and strip out one or more of his close advisors. That's 100% true. They want a trophy to mount on their wall and they're demanding firings and resignations. I demand they pound sand and you should too. We're done playing the two tier system of accountability where Democrats do whatever they want while Republicans eagerly submit when our enemies demand their heads. Nope, not doing that anymore. The two tier system accountability is done. The way you make sure it's done for good is you don't play along with it.

[Unknown]

That's a good one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, screw with us, you get screwed with back. They're bad actors and they don't get to win. I would agree completely and I've never called for anybody's head. I think Mike Waltz is a good, decent and very smart guy who has nothing but America's best interests at heart and all they have to say is, yeah, we screwed up. We're investigating how Goldberg got on the thread. We're going to increase our communication security. We apologize for the mistake. It was a great strike against some evildoers. Let's get on with protecting this great country. We're done.

[Unknown]

Well. To the double standard of being held accountable for various things. This from the Babylon Bee, who often really gets it to truth through humor.

[Jack Armstrong]

What a crazy approach. It'll never work.

[Unknown]

Hegseth. Kicking himself for not just getting 13 soldiers killed and giving $80 billion in weapons to terrorists.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Unknown]

For instance, as a scandal where SecDef didn't get fired.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding. In the mainstream media wasn't in quite the feeding frenzy they are right now. It's absolutely true. And so I get it when people are frustrated that we're talking about what a screw up it is because they feel like, you know, of course, we were screaming about the Afghanistan stuff too at the time. No, it's just that we want to win. We want the good stuff to happen and for our side or the Republicans or Trump or whatever, not to screw it up. Anyway, we've got a good flip side, I'm told. Oh, Mark Meadows, bring in the heat. And clip number 44, Michael.

[Unknown]

The Democrats are in no position to lecture anybody on national security. It's not just about the southern border, though. When you look at what they've allowed to happen and to be complicit in it, they're in no position to lecture President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, or anyone else that was involved in this particular successful mission.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I would agree. I think Trump is just temperamentally, completely unable to admit a mistake and move on. He's on attack, attack, attack mode always. Whether he's accused of, you know, touching somebody in a department store or whatever, I just. I don't think it's productive here unless it's the smokescreen thing that you're bringing up. I don't know.

[Unknown]

I get the double standard thing, and it's very, very frustrating, but I would like to just have better governance. So, hey, Sec Def. Don't come out and say these aren't war plans and act like, how dare you even suggest they are when they.

[Jack Armstrong]

Clear they are right for the people of the United States. Let's put down the partisan fight, cuz again, if. If conservative America and the people who represent us don't screw up, we're gonna win many, many great victories. And that's what we're saying around here. Hey, quit screwing up.

[Unknown]

Got some good economic news that Just broke. We'll get to that in a second.

[Jack Armstrong]

But that's bad news because good news is bad news to the Fed. Lowering of the inverse protractor of the interest rate substitution principle. Anyway, quick word from our friends at Prize Picks. I, Joe, love the baseball. I love the baseball so much. Since I was a tiny little kid. Baseball season officially underway. Don't miss your chance to add your favorite players from the diamond in your Prize Picks lineups. And it can be strikeouts, RBIs, first in runs. Take your pick. More or less is all you have to estimate for your shot to win. Up to a thousand times your cash today. Yeah.

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

What?

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[Unknown]

How about this headline? Patient dies from rabies after organ transplant from infected donor. So I go get a new liver, but you give me a liver from somebody who had rabies? That doesn't seem good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you get to choose yes or no on the whole rabies deal? I'll take a liver.

[Unknown]

I mean I really need one. But how about somebody that ain't got the rabies? I didn't read the fine print. Who pays the price?

[Jack Armstrong]

Did a crazed squirrel break in and attack the donor and nobody noticed or what?

[Unknown]

That's an interesting story. The good economic news and a bunch of other stuff on the way. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Ashley Iaconetti]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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Court in a major ruling trying to stop suspected felons from getting untraceable so called ghost guns. In a 7 to 2 decision, the high Court upholding the Biden administration policy that such guns can be regulated by the federal government. The regulations for some companies that manufacture gun part kits to place serial numbers on their products and to require background checks on customers trying to purchase them. It also mandates that people buying such kits be at least 18 years of age. Yeah, Supreme Court ruling seven the out of control MAGA Illegitimate court going with gun rights or the anti gun advocates.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think you know all you need to know about the west when or the left rather. I'm sorry, I'm trying to read and talk at the same time about the left. When they howled and gnashed their teeth about how Trump was tearing down the institutions of our country as Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate, the Democrats was screaming that the Supreme Court was out of control and Kavanaugh would reap the whirlwind and the rest when they are perhaps the smartest, most decent, reasonable, constitutionally loyal Supreme Court we've had maybe ever. That's all you need to know. Coming up. Are you Boomer? Asking your friends, they resent you for it and wish you would stop and you don't even know you're doing it. What is Boomer asking?

[Unknown]

I guarantee I don't know I'm doing it.

[Jack Armstrong]

So has nothing to do with being a boomer by the way. It has to do with boomerangs.

[Unknown]

So I was just reading the Wall Street Journal's version of the so called peace talks between Ukraine and Russia and their breakdown leads me to believe that there ain't really hardly anything there at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, it's funny, I had the same take. It's like when I would go over, you know, fairly thoroughly the analysis of the two state solution and the talks between Israel and Hamas and all and I would say this math does not work. There is no solution here. One exactly the same.

[Unknown]

One paragraph Quite a ways down. In the story in the Wall Street Journal, Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged the difficulty yesterday, saying that the talks over a ceasefire are still exploratory and that the US wasn't able to fulfill Russia's demands. Okay, so then we're nowhere. Sounds like to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, we're. It's a meeting of people who are pretending to be serious about negotiating. That's how I would describe it. I think Ukraine is serious given certain pretty reasonable parameters in my mind. And Putin says of those parameters, no, not for a second. The math doesn't work. There will not be a solution there.

[Unknown]

Hit you with this real quick. The US economy expanded at a healthy. According to ABC news, a healthy 2.4% pace during the last three months of 2024, supported by a year end surge in consumer spending. So there you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was hoping to do a little kids these days. Bingo, bango, bongo. I don't think we really have time but interesting coverage on espionage, betrayal and water guns inside the game. Driving high schoolers mad Jack Senior Assassin to become a rite of passage for students across the country and a headache for almost everyone else. It's a game where. And there is an app now where you have a team of people and you target another individual and you quote, unquote, assassinate them with a water pistol.

[Unknown]

I've heard speaking. I've heard of this happening and it's.

[Jack Armstrong]

Become such a craze and a major headache for school administrators. And one kid got shot, like actually because the cops saw him lurking outside the house with a water pistol and thought it was a gun. The kid got shot in the army. He's okay, but that could have been tragic. Obviously.

[Unknown]

I don't know. This sounds like pretty normal run of the mill, could have been in the 50s hijinks to me. You decide you're gonna.

[Jack Armstrong]

Were there apps in the 50s?

[Unknown]

No, no, I'm not worried about this one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, it's disruptive. And how about the fact that the kids. You're not teaching the kids to read. You know, among my concerns, that outranks wearing goggles or swim floaties because sometimes if you're wearing goggles or swim floaties, that gives you protection against being shot with the water pistol. You're not dead. But sometimes the administrators of the app turn off those protections to liven things up and get the action.

[Unknown]

That's pretty funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

It actually sounds like a lot of fun. But I don't approve. I don't approve. Disabilities allowances. The best of intentions. The Americans with Disabilities Act 1990 required schools to offer examinations, quote, in a place and manner accessible to persons with disabilities, or offer alternative accessible arrangements for such individuals, which can mean more time to take exams than other students.

[Unknown]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

You can use reference sheets, sit outside the classroom to avoid distraction, among other things. And truly disabled students need that support to help them succeed. But where there is an allowance, it will be abused.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

2019 journal investigation revealed that many wealthy parents pay thousands of dollars for their children to be tested for learning disabilities by private psychologists who have an incentive to give the diagnosis their clients want and do it. Your rich high schools have one and a half to two times the rate of disabilities than your poor high schools.

[Unknown]

Your kids got ADD or whatever the heck they diagnose them with and they got get to take their test in the hallway away from everybody or at.

[Jack Armstrong]

Home or with an extra hour so they can get into Yale. Yep.

[Unknown]

Oh wow.

[Ashley Iaconetti]

Armstrong and Getty this is Ashley Akadeni from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast. If you could lose 10.4 pounds in one month, would you try? Well with Future Health you can find out if weight loss meds are right for you in just 3 minutes at try fh.com that is try fh.com try fh.com results may vary based on start weight and adherence to diet, exercise and program goals. Database on independent studies sponsored by Future Health. Future Health is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at providers discretion.

[Unknown]

So after more than a year of nothing but war and terror and pain, the need for security essentials and support for first responders is still critical. Even in times of a ceasefire, Israel must be prepared for the next attack whenever it may come as Israel, as we all know, is surrounded by enemies on all sides. And thankfully we have partnered very proudly with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and they will continue to support the tens and tens of thousands of people in Israel with their life saving security essentials. Your gift today will help save lives. You're providing bomb shelters, armored security vehicles, ambulances and humanitarian assistance at a very high level. Your generous donation will help ensure that the people of Israel are safe, that they are secure in the days to come. Please go to their website supportifcj.org that's one word. Supportifcj.org or call 888-488ifcj 888-488ifcj or 888-488-4325.

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Say it's headlines like this that make me want to get out of the business. Coffee from office machines could be a health hazard. Just be that desperate for clicks. Why don't you just put a boob up there?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's just they come in pairs generally. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, I would agree. Ran into a hard break the last during the last segment talking about the how the accommodations for disabilities become a way for rich people to cheat in school. That's Certainly not to detract from the actual need of folks with disabilities. But at public high schools in wealthy areas, the percentage of students with access to accommodations is about 4.2% compared to 2.8 nationally. So that's another, you know, what is it, 50%. But those stats obscure the worst examples. The rate was 1 in 5, 20% at Scarsdale High School in New York, the famous 1 in 4 at Weston High School in Connecticut, and 1 in 3 at Newton North High School in Massachusetts.

[Unknown]

Well, you got two things going. The. The thing you already mentioned that rich parents, you know, perhaps doctor shopping until they find one that diagnoses their kid with something so that they can get special treatment. There's that, right? There's also, as we've talked about gazillion times, is there's just way more kids that got more problems than used to exist, and nobody knows why. Cell phones, plastics, whatever the hell the deal is. And if you can, if you got a kid with problems and you can get them, if you can afford a doctor, you're more likely to get a. Well, you're only going to get a diagnosis as opposed to if you can't afford a doctor.

[Jack Armstrong]

Final Note on this 10th grader at a private high school in Massachusetts, the Northeast. If you've never, like, spent any time in the Northeast or no Northeasterners, you don't understand how obsessed everybody is with getting their kid in the right school from kindergarten through.

[Unknown]

I read this grad school, I read that stuff in the New York Times all the time. I think, what a weird world you live in where you think about this all the time.

[Jack Armstrong]

So here's a 10th grader at a private high school in Massachusetts who requested anonymity, estimates that the percentage at her school who get these accommodations is closer to half. In a math class with nine students, she's the only one who doesn't receive extra time on tests. When the period is up, she's called by name to hand in her exam. The other students keep working. How's that even possible? She asks.

[Unknown]

Can you imagine being a teacher? I know my kid's class, and my kid has had some special accommodations with various things when he was in public school. Can you imagine being a teacher and dealing with that? I mean, how do you do your job? Whether it's the kids that actually need it or the kids, you think, I don't think that kid needs any help.

But whatever.

But just the amount of time and effort it would take, though, make it so much harder to do your job.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? Right. Well, Speaking of doing our job, here it is, a look in the China cabinet. We're going to take a look at a number of important stories involving our greatest geopolitical adversary.

[Unknown]

China.

[Jack Armstrong]

China.

[Unknown]

China Cabinet usually insinuating that it's like plates and cups and bowls.

[Jack Armstrong]

And yet in this cabinet, Jack, it's important stories about China. That's correct.

[Unknown]

It's the giant communist nation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't trust China. That's right, sir. China is asshole.

[Unknown]

It is.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's undeniable. Just going to hit a few headlines, Jack. You may request more information if you like. There are several to hit. The US missile launcher that is enraging China. The land based Typhon weapons system has been deployed in the north of the Philippines. It puts key Chinese military and commercial hubs within striking distance and hands President Trump an early test of his commitment to deterring Chinese aggression against our allies in Asia.

[Unknown]

Yeah, that's a big deal. I remember when we mentioned this several weeks back, it didn't get any news coverage. I didn't hear it anywhere but where I read it in here. But it's a big deal for China.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Oh, it's huge. They're enraged.

[Unknown]

It's not quite Soviet Union putting nukes in Cuba, but it's. It's in that ballpark.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. In the event of a conflict with China, land based missile systems such as the typhoon could be central. Excuse me. To defending US allies such as the Philippines, which is clashed with China over Beijing's claims to nearly all of the South China Sea, including like a mile off the Philippine shore. And Taiwan, obviously, which they've threatened to take by force if necessary. The Chinese government has responded to Typhon's deployments with alarm, rebuking the US and Philippines for fueling what it called an arms race. Shut up, commie devils.

[Unknown]

We gotta get, we gotta get Mike Lyons on to talk about us in China. We always get him on when there's like a news of the day crisis and we don't get to talk to the big picture. Probably going to define the century story of us versus China because remember a couple of years ago he said, I believe we in China will be swapping ordinance over in their area within a couple of years.

[Jack Armstrong]

So yeah, I would love to do that. Yeah, let's not just do the headlines, let's take a broad look at it. Speaking of which, Trump takes tough new approach to choking off China's access to US Tech. Dozens of entities were added to a trade blacklist. As Silicon Valley frets, it will lose business from Washington's curbs. I tell you what, Trump so far at least in terms of China is not isolationisty at all. He is going right at the Chinese and in this case trying to deny them computer chips and other technologies that the military and intelligence services can use.

[Unknown]

Oh my God, can you imagine dealing with this stuff every single day when you're president of the United States and then you have to go out and answer questions about in comparison such minor issues. It reminds me, and this was I referenced the Cuban missile crisis earlier in case you didn't notice, reminds me of a quote from John F. Kennedy. I heard Chris Matthews talk about this one time. But JFK saying this is the only thing that matters. I mean who gives an S about the minimum wage? This is what matters. I mean, you know that the various domestic wranglings and this is that no whether or not we blow up the whole thing, freaking world is what we got to deal with every single day.

[Jack Armstrong]

So in the Biden administration's final days, it imposed limits on third countries buying cutting edge American chips, hoping to prevent those from getting eventually to China. U.S. tech executive executives have asked President Trump to roll back the limits before they take effect in May, but Trump is appearing to go in the opposite direction. Another China story. According to a new report, Chinese nationals are reportedly using the largely unregulated surrogacy industry in the US specifically cal Unicornia to rent the wombs of American women to have babies and take them back US little US citizens to China. According to News Nation.

[Unknown]

Renting wombs womb for rent right in.

[Jack Armstrong]

A practice that it's dubbed concerning not not illegal unlike other under underground industries in the state like the baby brokers who bring pregnant Chinese women into the country just so their babies are born US Citizens. This is paying an American woman to be the surrogate, the resulting child automatically US citizen even if the family immediately returns to China. And the U.S. acting U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, Joseph McNally told the outlet the practice is gravely concerning and pointed to a case in Irvine where a baby born to a Chinese national ended up joining the Chinese military but still had a passport. If you think the Chinese government isn't subsidizing this, encouraging it getting as many little loyal Chinese communists with American passports as it can. You're a fool because they are fast as they can. It's another, it's another one of the forms of all all out all industry or I'm sorry, all of society war. Another national security story. I wonder if you'll get paywalled Wall Street Journal had a great piece on China is ready now to bl Taiwan. And here's how they're going to do it. And they have various, you know, the modern news story, whereas you scroll your. Your mouse, it overlays different things on the map and has explainers and stuff like that. It's clear that they're ready to go. They're just trying to figure out when they're going to do it.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Unknown]

The world is going to change overnight when all that goes down.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And rather, how old Jeffrey Goldberg got on the signal list is going to seem trivial. Indeed. And then finally this. The dirty commies are decent at stealing technology and then using it. And they may have come up with something innovative. The Chinese EV maker, byd, not a K pop band, but a Chinese electrical vehicle maker, has unveiled a new charging system that it says it could make it possible for EVs to charge as quickly as it takes to refill with gas.

[Unknown]

Oh, wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Five minutes full recharge.

[Unknown]

I go over every day after work. I drive my Tesla over to the charging station behind the radio station and I do my meditation or return emails or whatever for a half hour while it charges. But it's not the most handy thing in the world at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, this is going to be something like twice as fast as Tesla's superchargers.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

It could be a thousand kilowatts you can jam into your car, you know, right at once and charged up. That would make a big difference to a lot of people. But then you would need a network of charging stations extensive enough to, I mean, okay, so I can charge in five minutes, 175 miles from here. That's great.

[Unknown]

I don't really know what the appeal of electric cars is. I mean, I have one because it's. It's super duper fast. I wanted the fastest car in the world. That's what appealed to me. The electric part. I don't get any benefit. It's only negatives. I mean, if you really care about the climate, I mean, if that's your thing, okay, it's cheaper than gas. It is cheaper than gas. And I commute every single day. I bought it during the pandemic when gas was $7 a gallon. And I did the math and I mean, it was, you know, gonna make a fairly big difference. So there's that it's cheaper than gas. That is not a nothing.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I just. Other than that, I don't get what the appeal is. Yeah, it's for certain lifestyles. It Makes sense. The net environmental effect, as I always point out, is far from indisputably positive. In fact, based on the reading I've done, it's. It's neutral to negative. Between the mining, the extraction of materials, the energy that's used to create all of the components in the car. Okay, so worse for the earth.

[Unknown]

Okay, so then you're just down to, is it cheaper than gas? And you got to do the math on how much you drive and, you know, factor in the pain in the ass of charging and all that sort of stuff to figure out if that's worth it or not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? Yeah. To each their own, I say. But I again, I think it's absolutely, bitterly, stupidly hilarious that the left has gone from. Especially in terms of Teslas. Oh, yeah, everyone should be mandated to buy one too. I'm gonna set fire to it in the course of six months. Yeah, you people don't come off as insane at all. I wouldn't worry about it. No, that doesn't strike people as. You're completely out of your effing minds.

[Unknown]

No kidding. No kidding. Hybrids. I could see that catching on with, like, lots of people having one of their cars being a hybrid.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, like crazy great fuel economy.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And if you. If you run out of electricity while you're picking up kids and go to the grocery store is wing into a gas station, put some gas in, do it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, sure. Why not? Again, to each their own. Just no freaking mandates. What's Boomer asking? Do you do this to your friends? They hate you for it, and you don't even know you're doing it, do you?

[Unknown]

This is. Oh, my, the tenth time I've heard you say this, and I still haven't got.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's Boomer asking, Jack. That's what we'll be talking about. I don't got the slightest idea.

[Unknown]

It's on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stay Armstrong and Gettysburg.

[Ashley Iaconetti]

This is Ashley Akinetti from the Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous podcast. You could have lost 10 pounds already if you already started one month ago. So are you ready to start today? Find out if weight loss meds are right for you in just 3 minutes at try fh.com try fh.com try fH.com results vary based on start weight and adherence to diet, exercise and program goals. Database on independent studies sponsored by Future Health. Future Health is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at providers discretionary.

[Unknown]

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Johnny Mathis has announced he's retired from touring.

[Jack Armstrong]

He was touring.

[Unknown]

He was alive. News to me. And I barely know who that is. I just. I remember when I was a kid, they'd be selling his greatest hits on cassette or Vinyl for 1999. Featuring hits such as this.

[Jack Armstrong]

When you were a kid's going back a few. Yes. Yeah. Wow. Well, he'll be missed on the concert trail.

[Unknown]

Not touring this year. I told you, honey, we should have gone last year. But your sister was in town.

[Jack Armstrong]

He called it the farewell tour. I didn't believe him. Anyway, Johnny gone but not forgotten. So boomer asking has nothing to do with boomer. Boomers, Baby boomers.

[Unknown]

Okay?

[Jack Armstrong]

It has to do with boomerang. Boomer asking is asking a question just to talk about yourself.

[Unknown]

Oh, boy.

[Jack Armstrong]

And people think it makes them seem polite or socially skillful, but it's not. People find it irritating because they feel ignored, irritating or unimportant when their answers are brushed aside. And it's much better to be direct. Here's how it works. I.

[Unknown]

Well, first of all, I. I don't like when I've done this, and I know that I have. But I'm also a jerk in that when I can tell somebody's doing it to me, I don't play along because I know what they're doing.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, let me set it up and then I want to know how that works. Okay, so let's say you're grabbing coffee with a co worker and they ask, what'd you do this weekend? And you respond. And without missing a beat or really listening, you can tell they're not listening. They launch into a long winded retelling of their weekend.

[Unknown]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wait a minute. Did you ask me because you care? That was just a setup for your own story. That's right. You've been boomerang. So it's a three part move. First, someone asks a question, then they wait for your answer. But instead of building on it or engaging with it, asking you follow ups, they simply switch and answer their own question, turning the conversation back to themselves. There are three categories they have identified. Ask, bragging, how was your vacation? Quickly followed by, mine was amazing. We were in Tuscany for two weeks. Oh, my God, the food, the sun sets, and off you go. Ask bragging, bragging. Then there's ask complaining, how's work going? Followed quickly by, oh, I've had the worst week. Oh, my God, my boss just never stops. Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba. And finally, ask sharing and neutral disclosure, like talking about a dream or a casual opinion right after asking you about yours.

[Unknown]

At least people who do that.

Are.

Somewhat aware of what they're doing, I guess, as opposed to people that, you know, they're not even going to do that preliminary thing. They're just going to launch into their story because they can't imagine you have anything to say ever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Yeah. And that's. So you've got like three distinct groups of people. You got the boomeraskers who think they're being clever, but they're causing resentment. You've got the boars who just talk and talk and talk about the most mundane aspects of their lives. You know, I've run into some people. They seem to be pretty nice people, but I don't give a single s what happened to you at the grocery store. There's nothing here for me. There's nothing entertaining, there's nothing clever, there's nothing revealing. There's nothing shocking. There's just nothing. And then you got people who try to, you know, if I'm going to tell you a story, I try to sweeten the deal by making it, you know, one of the above mentioned hooks. But anyway, I. I know a guy. It's annoying.

[Unknown]

I know a guy. I haven't talked to him in years. Super nice guy. So I almost hate to tell the story, but super nice guy. But he would regularly work into conversations like, yeah, when I was going to college in New Haven, Connecticut. And I know just because I happen to know this sort of thing, that's where Yale is. And he was always angling toward being able to say he went to Yale, but he was sophisticated enough, he wasn't just gonna say, I went to Yale. But he was always working the Connecticut, New Haven thing, trying to get to some sort of. Why were you New Haven or Connecticut, you say? Or whatever. And I never bit. And he never, out of like a dozen times of bringing that up, got the opportunity to tell me he went to Yale. Not one.

[Jack Armstrong]

High five, Jack. High five.

[Unknown]

That was his whole goal.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you ever get stuck behind one of these stories. Just drop the famous Joe Getty line.

[Ashley Iaconetti]

Wow, that was a great story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gee, shame it's over. Well, it's like the old joke. How do you know your new acquaintance went to Harvard? They'll tell you.

[Unknown]

Yeah, yeah. I really took great pride in finding a way to finagle my way out of. He never got to tell me what to yell, even though I know it.

[Jack Armstrong]

There I was in New Haven. I mean, campus so crowded. I mean. Oh my God, the campus you went to in college.

[Unknown]

Was it crowded? Boy, it wasn't New Haven.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, not particularly.

[Unknown]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's what I would do. I love that man.

[Unknown]

If you miss an hour, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Ashley Iaconetti]

This is Ashley Akinetti from the Bed and Ashley I almost famous podcast. You could have lost 10 pounds already if you already started one month ago. So are you ready to start today? Find out if weight loss meds are right for you in just 3 minutes at try fh.com try fh.com try fH.com results vary based on start weight and adherence to diet, exercise and program goals. Database on independent studies sponsored by Future Health. Future Health is not a healthcare services provider. Meds are prescribed at providers discretion.

[Joe Getty]

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[Unknown]

Get ready for the ultimate country music getaway. Country superstar Keith Urban is performing live on the Top Shelf country cruise, sailing February 27th to March 6th, 2026 with stops in Key West, Nassau and Bimini. Enjoy seven days of non stop entertainment, all brought to you by Signature Cruise Experiences. The official lineup is now here for the Top Shelf Country Cruise, so go to topshelfcountrycruise.com to check it out and book your stateroom.

What goals did you set for 2025? If better sleep is one, Symbiotica's magnesium L threonate helps you wake up refreshed for gut health. Their glutathione supports digestion and reduces bloating. Symbiotica is one of the most transparent brands out there, never compromising on quality or sourcing. Their products are free from seed oils, preservatives, toxins and artificial additives, something you can taste and feel in every packet. Go to symbiotica.com and use code iheart for 20% off and free shipping. That's symbiotica.com, code iheart.

[Jack Armstrong]

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