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Joe Getty
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Joe Getty
U n d Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops. Because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus rewards. Members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around. Let the savings roll in. Shop New December deal drops on Lowe's.com every week this month, fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort.
Armstrong
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio.
Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center.
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Armstrong and Getty.
Armstrong
And now here's Armstrong and Yeti.
Cole Jr. A 30 year old white man from the D.C. suburbs is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction.
Now, if you followed the story throughout the day, it was not a white man. White. White. Jake Tapper went with. He was a white guy. Now I got to admit, I was expecting a white guy.
The whole pipe kind of felt like a white dude to me.
Pipe bombs left at the RNC and the DNC is a bearded fat white guy in a Carhartt jacket crime.
Or a skinny Seattle.
You're right. Hoodie guy.
Antifa hoodie. Right. Radical Marxist politics, blah, blah.
Either way, yeah. Has a master's degree in something that doesn't matter. But you're. That's a white guy crime. So I wasn't expecting a black guy. So. But.
So Jake. Did Jake ad lib that because he wanted everyone to make sure that they knew that he knows that white people are bad or was that on his teleprompter for his talking parent?
Had to repeat or why mention the race at all if you're not sure? Or even if you are sure? I'm not sure why it makes any difference whatsoever.
I think it actually might for reasons that we can get into.
Well, let's listen to the ABC report on the finally catching the guy five years later and then we'll talk about it.
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Brian Cole Jr. Was arrested and charged with placing the pipe bombs at the RNC and the DNC law enforcement swarming.
Armstrong
The home where he lives with his parents. Authorities said the arrest came not from a new tip, but combing back through millions of pieces of evidence, including cell phone data that allegedly places a phone used by Cole along the route the day the bombs were planted, a photo that allegedly places his vehicle near the crime scene and financial transactions they say show Cole bought materials from an area Home Depot that could be used to make bombs. And he's a 30 year old dude that lives at home and is described as. He works for the family business, but only a couple hours a day. Doesn't really have any friends. Walks around with headphones a lot.
Takes a dog, goats on his Chihuahua Jack, according to one report.
I'm wondering if maybe he's for whatever reason a youngster that's not cut out to go out into the world to make a living and they let him work at the family business a couple hours a day.
Yeah, this guy, look, he was 25 when he allegedly committed a crime. You know, it sure looks to me like it's gonna be a disaffected, alienated young man with no attachment, no partner, isolated, decided to get into radical politics. He was. And we've talked about this in the context of the Charlie Kirk thing, experts in this sort of thing will tell you these people often they're angry and they want to hurt somebody. Then they latch on to an ideology quite late in the game and then commit an act of violence almost immediately. They don't spend years campaigning for that, that cause or whatever, sacrificing and thinking in organ. No, they just think, I want to hurt somebody. Here's a cause. Yeah, I'm into that. Let's hurt somebody.
It's quite possible that at this point, five years later, he wishes he hadn't or has a completely different view of the world or who knows why.
Oh yeah, sure, the growth from 25 to 30 is a lot, you know, case by case, obviously, but that's a lot of maturing.
So.
And I'm not defending the guy, he did something abhorrent and terrible. Here's a question for you. Because he, he was trying to bomb allegedly both the RNC and the DNC. 25 year old black man, seven months after George Floyd got killed. I'm thinking he was a swayed by the neo Marxist systemic racism, this country's corrupt and needs to be brought down guy.
And the fact that it happened so close to the January 6th riot is just a coincidence.
Yeah, except that he might have known there was going to be a big gathering in D.C. because he lived, you know, in the suburbs. He might have thought, oh hey, this is perfect, this is perfect timing.
Do you think he was hoping those bombs would go off and hurt or kill people?
I don't know. That's one of the great questions to this case because it is said by the authorities they were both capable of going off and causing terrible damage and, but didn't. Yeah, yeah, I think it's, it's not a coincidence. It was the January 6th because there was a big rally that day, but it had nothing to do with Stop the Steel or the rally itself, I suspect.
So I think it's interesting. So my, my taking in of this information throughout the day yesterday through mainstream media led me to believe that it was.
A whole. There was no new information that was found. They took information that had already been gathered and pieced it together and figured out who the guy was. Now that's the way it was presented to me. It was like, you know, it's not, it's not super easy if you got a million different things to bring them all together in a way that, aha. You figure out who it is and that they just, through reopening the case and re looking at it, figured it out. But you're saying Cash Patel says, no, that's not what happened.
Yeah. Do we have that audio ready? I've got the quote in front of me, but yeah, we do. Go ahead. Yeah.
Cash Patel
As to this specific case, the pipe bomber, you're right. The prior administration sat on the evidence for four years. There wasn't any production of new evidence from five years ago. Here's what we did. We went out to the country, brought in our experts, and Deputy Director Bongino led the charge and said, we are going to look at every single piece of evidence Again, Trace. We looked at 3,3 million lines of evidence. We went back and looked at the cell phone tower data dumps. We went back and looked at the providers and what information they provided pursuant to search warrants at the time and ask questions such as why weren't all the phone numbers scrubbed and why weren't they connected and why wasn't there any geolocation data done? Now that is either sheer incompetence or complete intentional negligence, and neither of which is acceptable for this FBI.
Armstrong
That's a heck of a thing to say.
That is really, really strong. And presuming he was being truthful with the. They didn't scrub the phone numbers, go through them, you know. Anyway, why wasn't there any geolocational data done? That's how they got the Butcher of Idaho, the killer of those poor college kids.
Although it's hard to imagine why the Biden administration wouldn't have been really hot to try to figure out who this was, because I think think they would have assumed it was a MAGA person that they could have, you know, piled on to that whole story.
Right. So. Well, either Cash Patel is wrong about what he just said, or if he's right, this is an enormous scandal slash question.
Sometimes, you know, we all watch crime shows. We do, everybody does movies, whatever. Sometimes a new detective can come along and look at the same evidence, figure out something. It doesn't mean the people before them were incompetent or corrupt. They just didn't see it for whatever reason.
Yeah, but although he's just absolutely unequivocal.
Yeah, no, he is.
I mean, that was a scathing accusation.
But like I said, it doesn't make sense to me.
I doubt that they assumed that this would protect them in some way.
I want one possible explanation, and I don't think this is true, probably is that they figured out that it was not a MAGA person, that it was, you know, a young black Democrat, but then covered it up. That's, that's a stretch.
Yeah. That is really a stretch.
I mean, you had, you'd have somebody in the FBI who would leak the truth because most, the vast majority of the people in the FBI are serious patriotic Americans who are trying to enforce the law and protect everybody. There are some bad, bad apples back in the day in Washington, D.C. at headquarters, no doubt. But yes, this is, it's troubling. There's got to be an explanation to that question. What happened in the last five years?
So he didn't, he didn't have much of a footprint computer, social media wise or anything like that. So it's hard to know what he was thinking. Right. This pipe bomber do.
Joe Getty
Mm.
Armstrong
Yeah.
Huh.
Yeah.
I would. The, the biggest question to me is did he intend to have those go off and hurt a bunch of people or does he. Was he kind of like practically a vandal?
In a really troll. Yeah. In a really pathetic sort of way.
Yeah. Yeah. I certainly hope he has a good attorney and the attorney's telling him, look, plead guilty to everything and tell them everything they want to know as your only hope. Anyway, cheerier note here from Omaha Steaks. You've got somebody you care about, you love. They don't need more stuff on a shelf. They don't need another tie. They need Omaha Steaks, which is so much more than just USDA certified tender steaks of the highest quality. It's ju juicy burgers, it's pork chops, chicken breasts, desserts, you name it.
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There's.
And I've already set out the burgers to defrost for tonight.
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All the Way reminded me I was at the winter band concert last night at my son's high school. And they had the middle school play, then junior high and then the high school, all the band in an order. And it got progressively better as it went along, of course, as they got older and more talented and practiced up.
But it's just.
It's so, so, so charming. The whole kids get dressed up in a way that you never see them, and they're all nervous and they're up there and all the parents are there with their phones out, and that's just so fantastic.
And they're focusing on something for a pretty significant period of time.
Right.
Playing the songs. It occurs to me, you know, just in the wake of our conversation last hour about endorphin hits and smartphone addiction.
I love that sort of thing. It was great.
Yeah.
Here we go. This is what it sounded like.
Joe Getty
Yep.
Armstrong
There you go.
Yeah. The tempo, tempo, tempo.
Joe Getty
What?
Armstrong
That's. If you don't know, that's me, Joe Getty, playing trombone years ago.
We might be doing that again next week. You still have your trombone?
Oh, yeah.
Okay. Yeah. We might have to break out the trombone next week because we're going to raise some money. No, no, we're gonna raise some. That always raises money. And then. And then we all have a really good time.
It hurts my lips.
You don't want to?
No, I don't want to.
That's funny. I was watching the band last night thinking I ought to buy a trumpet and get back into trumpet playing. I haven't done it since high school. Would it be pretty hard?
Thank you. Would it be pretty hard to do your embouchure is. It's getting your. Your lips back in shape and your. The muscles of your mouth and face, that's. It's a challenge.
Is it?
So is it insurmountable? I mean, you. You play the piano every day. That's. That's harder than blowing into a horn.
But I don't play it with my lips, I got to admit. Good.
Yeah. So we got other news we got to catch you up on. Oh, I do want to get to the. Josh Shapiro getting so angry at Kamala Harris for lying about him in her book. We have to get to that at some point, but lots of other stuff on the way.
Stay here.
Joe Getty
Armstrong and Getty.
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Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.
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Armstrong
This is where mindset comes in.
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Someone will be eliminated.
Joe Getty
Pressure is coming down.
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This is Trainer Games.
Armstrong
Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
Shh.
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You won't believe what my new friend just told me about dinosaurs.
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Every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whimsound smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just $299. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Winsound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Whimsound. That's wiimsound.
Joe Getty
Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is Gonna give you two free select tools from DeWalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus rewards. Members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around. Let the savings roll in. Shop New December deal drops on lowe's.com every week this month. Fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort.
Armstrong
You will be hunters.
That is a clip from the most.
Popular movie in the world this year.
K Pop Demon Hunters.
It is the most watched film ever on Netflix with more than 300 million views. It's the second most searched term on.
Google the entire year.
The SoundTrack Nominated for 5 Grammys There have been 4 top 10 hits on Billboard's Hot 100.
Wow. Nominated for Grammys. I didn't know that. I don't know anything about it. I just have heard about it and I've heard my kids who are teenage boys, so they particularly hate this sort of thing. Excellent. And, and the fact that it ever even gets brought up makes them angry. But I did not realize that K Pop Demon Hunters was the most streamed movie in Netflix history.
That's something. Feel like I got to at least watch the first 15 minutes to have an idea of what the hell it is.
Go ahead, tell me how you like it. You know, I was just thinking about movie reviews because I read a long review by a pretentious bastard writes about movies I got sucked in just because the, the movie and the premise of the movie and all were really interesting to me. And then I went and watched the, the trailer and the trail the review was long like in pretentious and negative. And then I watched the trailer and I thought I'd watch that. It looks enjoyable to me. There should. Movie reviews should not be more than say 50 words long. And they shouldn't be about the reviewer, you know, pleasuring himself or herself and showing how smart they are and oh man, that annoy.
Well and as you always point out, it should be through the lens of. For people who like this sort of thing.
Right.
If you like that sort of thing, you're gonna love this movie. I don't like that sort of thing, so I didn't like it. But you would love this because it's a really good one of these, right?
Exactly. Don't have the classical music writer review the latest punk album. Just don't.
Anyway, in news about Netflix, they're trying to acquire Warner Brothers film studio and the stream service HBO Max, which would make them even more of a behemoth than they are. They're looking to just dominate that whole space. Netflix is. And they're always already a 500 pound gorilla for whatever reason in the last hour that Donald Trump has come out and said he's very. Got heavy skepticism about whether or not this deal should happen. And I don't know if it gets into the world of monopolies or what there I haven't seen the reason it.
Gets into the world of the Trump administration is way too willing to interfere with commerce in my opinion. You know, I've got another hot take about Trump screwing something up and you know, here's, here's the deal. Are you for Trump or against him? I'm for you. I'm for taxpayers.
She's for they. Them. Joe Getty's for you.
Yeah. Yo, speaking of Kamala Harris, some great Kamala Harris stuff coming up. Stay with us.
Yeah, I just. You know what it is? It's about the Somali thing in. In Minneapolis. This is an enormous, shining, bipartisan admission that our welfare systems are utterly corrupt and waste money. There's rampant fraud. It's absolutely disgusting, and it is a horrific betrayal of the American taxpayer. And Trump is making it about immigration.
You're right. Yeah. Republicans should hammer this all the way up to the election, make it their issue. Welfare fraud or all kinds of fraud. And. But making it specifically about the Somalis.
Is just only about the Somali.
It's too easy to refute it as racism or whatever.
Well, right. Yeah. And I'm not saying there's no issue. There absolutely is an issue with, you know, allowing a hostile culture to come in. Their tens of thousands. They hate us. They hate our culture, they hate our world. Yeah. That's 100% an issue, but it's not, like, the most useful issue here, and it's not the core issue.
So Netflix to acquire Warner Brothers, following the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, value of $82.7 billion. I mean, these are some really big, giant companies that are coming together.
As a lot of people have pointed out, there's a certain amount of bundling that's going on with all these companies into one thing that's very similar to what cable used to be or, you know, you got it through Dish or. Or whatever.
Yeah. It's funny. Although media is changing so fast, the idea that this is a monopoly or that it's just. No, it'll change so quickly. What's true today won't be true tomorrow. It's like calling MySpace a monopoly. You know, a week later, nobody. It's gone.
Yeah. I tried to wean myself off a bunch of subscriptions. Hulu and Netflix and hbo, Max and Peacock and all these other. I've canceled, like, them all six months, nine months ago. And I've slowly added them back in as a show comes along or a movie that, you know, me and my kids want to see. And it's only on this one, so I sign up. Next thing you know, I got them all again.
They got you?
They got me. They got me. It's hard to get away. So Kamala Harris wrote a really stupid book and went on a stupid tour, and it got heavy reviews of how stupid the whole thing was. She apparently lied about Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. He did not dig that at all. We have some quotes from him we can get to. Coming up.
The famously measured Josh Shapiro lost his S, then was immediately regretful for it.
Hilarious. Yeah, he's probably running for president. I don't know that she is. Gavin definitely is.
And the idea that that half wit would run again, I mean, that's. That's too good to be true.
Wouldn't that be a Christmas present? So we've got all that on the way. Stay with us. If you missed a segment, get the podcast.
Armstrong and Gettysburg.
Trainer Games Announcer
10 athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.
You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.
Armstrong
This is where mindset comes in.
Trainer Games Announcer
Someone will be eliminated.
Joe Getty
Pressure is coming down.
Trainer Games Announcer
This is Trainer Games.
Armstrong
Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
Child Storyteller
Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean.
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What color was the hamster's cape and what did he pack for lunch?
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Come for the Black Friday seasonal savings Stay for the award winning Reporting for a limited time access to the Washington Post is just 99 cents. That's unlimited access to all of the posts for only 99 cents every four weeks. That's a great deal for the first year. After that it'll cost $12 every four weeks. You can cancel anytime. But don't wait. This Black Friday seasonal offer won't be here for long. Go to washingtonpost.com iheart and grab this deal before it's gone. That's washingtonpost.com iheart bring incredible sound into.
Whimsound Advertiser
Every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whimsound Smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker speaker for just $2.99. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings, Windsound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim Sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Whim Sound. That's W I I M S O.
Joe Getty
U n D Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus, rewards members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around, let the savings roll in. Shop. New December deal drops on Lowe's.com every week this month. Fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort.
Armstrong
It is time for us to do what we have been doing. And that time is every day.
There you go, her greatest hit. That's her. That's her. Her Emmy, her Oscar, her everything for Kamala Harris. And that's what we're going to talk about here.
To call Kamala Harris a mediocrity is to pay her a compliment she does not deserve. You think about. You think about Kamala Halfwit Harris and Tim Open Wallet Waltz. If that is not the weakest ticket in American history, it is in the top five.
Yeah. She is the most qualified person to ever run for president. And America wasn't ready for a black female president.
Those are both absolutely hilarious. So the. The Atlantic in the person of. What's this chap's name? Tim Alberta. That's a cool name. He sounds like he ought to be some sort of Americana singer. You know, acoustic guitar, cowboy hat. Tim Alberta. Yeah. Anyway, so he goes to talk to Josh Shapiro about a couple of things and he says, I knew from speaking to people close to Josh Shapiro, the governor of Minnesota, of Pennsylvania, off the rumored presidential candidate, he was looked at very seriously to be Kamala Harris running mate.
But he's a junk.
That's a good point. Anyway, that was the view of a lot of the left wing of the Democratic Party who are flaming anti Semite. Anyway, the guy writes. From speaking to people close to Shapiro, I knew that he'd lost some respect for the former vice president during the campaign, not simply because she chose someone else as a running mate, in Shapiro's view, given the near existential stakes for both the Democratic Party and American democracy. Please. Harris's lapses during the election, in particular ignoring Joe Biden's obvious decline, were unforgivable. But he had been careful not to say so publicly. Shapiro's kind of the anti Trump in that he's very measured and very strategic and he only plays his cards when he thinks it's best to play them. Anyway.
He. Shapiro knew I was gonna ask him about Harris what he didn't know is that early copies of her book were then making the rounds among reporters, having obtained the relevant sections of 107 days. That morning I asked Shapiro if Harris had given him any heads up about her book. She had not, he said. Then I told him, you know, Harris took some shots at you. Shapiro furred his brow and crossed his arms. K, he said.
I wouldn't have crossed my arms because that's just too much of a giveaway.
The man I observed over the next several minutes was unrecognizable. Gone was his equilibrium. He moved between outrage and exasperation as I read late relayed the excerpts.
You know why? You know why he's so angry before we even get into him? He has so little respect for her. That's what makes him so mad. It's like this dunder pate is coming at me. Oh, give me a break.
This intellectual lightweight single party state slept her way to the top. Half wit is coming at me.
Joe Getty
Ouch.
Armstrong
Hey, if the panties fit, wear them anyway. Wow, that's right.
Another misogyny Friday on the Armstrong.
No, no, it's a. Accuracy. Truth is an absolute defense against misogyny. Anyway, let's see. All right. The man I observed, unrecognizable. Gone was his equilibrium. He moved between outrage and exasperation as I relayed the excerpt. Harris had accused him, in essence, of measuring the drapes, even inquiring about featuring Pennsylvania artists in the vice presidential residence, of insisting, quote, that he would want to be in the room for every decision Harris might make, and more generally of hijacking the conversation when she interviewed him for the job, to the point where she reminded them that you will not be a co president.
She wrote that in her book. He said in response to the claim. Blah, blah, blah. That's complete nutter.
Bull spit.
Using the actual word. Obviously.
I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies.
Wow. Wow. That's not measured.
Yeah, yeah.
After reading Harris's book, talking with people from both camps, I found descriptions of the meeting to be mostly consistent. Shapiro arrived in an edgy mood, chafing at efforts among fellow Democrats to sabotage his tryout. Shapiro is Jewish, was specially irked by anti Semitic innuendo from the left. The two skipped past any semblance of small talk and Shapiro proceeding to interview Harris rather than the other way around. I did ask a bunch of questions, Shapiro told me, sounding exasperated. Wouldn't you ask questions if someone was talking to you about forming a partnership and working together?
Well, wait A second. You kind of yada, yada, yada, this. So you're saying the, The, The. The. The interviewer from the Atlantic, the writer from the Atlantic, says other people have told them that her account is pretty consistent with what happened.
Yes.
Okay. That's interesting.
Well, that he was. He interviewed her.
Yeah, well, I've been in that sort of situation before. Really turns me off. No, no, no, no. You've got this backwards.
Uh, yeah. And then he. He was. He was annoyed because Harris was portraying him in ways consistent with the whispers that had dogged him throughout the vetting process and throughout his career, that he was selfish, petty, and monomaniacally ambitious. Given the fact that they'd known each other for 20 years. Shapiro said with a groan. I asked whether he felt betrayed. I mean, she's trying to sell books and cover her ass. Shapiro snapped. So government stared past me now, shaking his head, blah, blah, blah. Then quickly, I shouldn't say cover her ass. I think that's not appropriate. She's trying to sell books, period. He collected himself too late.
Sorry. He just said to a reporter in an interview on the record. At that point, there's no fixing. So I was about to say, is he angry because she let out what actually happened or angry and. But no, he. He says blatant lies. So he's claiming that that's not the way it went down.
Yeah, the blatant lies part. What was that referring to? Well, complete and utter bull spit. That he was practically measuring the drapes and inquired about featuring Pennsylvania artists in the vice presidential residence. And the rest of it, who knows? Who knows?
Well, did he actually say, I need to be in the room for every decision?
I don't know. I wasn't there.
Okay. I have nothing more to say about Josh Shapiro and his prospects. Honestly, I didn't care. I just thought it was funny that he called out Kamala Harris so forcefully in an interview on the record.
Right. Yeah. I'd like to know what actually happened there.
I could see him going in there, though. You nailed it.
He has no respect.
He went in with that attitude, with no respect for her. So he probably was a little over the top.
He went in with the. You're kind of an accidental. You're like a Gerald Ford style president. Just like all these dominoes fell in such a way that you might end.
Up president, I would be doing you a favor by lending you my gravitas.
Right.
And you're too stupid to understand that's how I feel. Well, as it turns out, she's not quite that stupid. And in her book, she calls him out for coming in with some dude. So now we know precisely how stupid she is and how stupid she's not. She noticed that.
Hmm.
Well, remember, and this is getting into the weeds a little bit on this sort of thing, but remember the. The way she ended up being the running mate was a couple of different things. But.
When Biden was looking for his vice presidential running mate, a lot of the names that floated up, all of a sudden oppo research would get dumped on these people. And Biden knew it was coming from Kamala. And he liked the fact that, okay, she understands how this game is played and she is fighter and she is ready to throw elbows to get what she wants. That's what he liked about her. So it's possible that she is incompetent in all kinds of different ways, and she clearly is, but not in the ways of fighting dirty in politics to get ahead, which is how she rose to the. You know, that and maybe being a little hot and a little willing to be friends to certain people, if you will.
Lee Brown was charming. I met Willie Brown. I was charmed. Or, yeah. Oh, she's unquestionably a skilled climber. I mean, look at what she's, you know, the jobs she's held and done very badly at. But yeah, skilled climber. You got to give her that.
One of the reasons I'd never make it in politics, and there's like a million reasons, is you've got to be willing to just realize it's part of the deal. Everybody screws everybody. Nobody's friends with anybody. You're friendly to somebody on a moment by moment basis. If it helps you, you'll turn on them a second later and then you go back to being friends five minutes later if you've switched to a different topic. And I couldn't, I would never be able to live like that. We're either friends or we're not, but.
Plus, Michael and I have been compiling a catalog of your, you know, your missteps for years. In fact, we had to start a second volume, so. Yeah, there might be a third.
Give it a while. Anyway, thank God we don't have to worry about presidential politics for a. Oh, Gavin Newsom just gave a speech in South Carolina.
Yeah, whatever.
Yeah, I know.
I mean, I need to pay attention to it. I am paying attention to this. Cause I get em every single day, these emails when I open up, my emails in the morning that are fake. PayPal, fake UPS, fake shipping orders, all kinds of stuff. Luckily I catch them I think all the time with the help of webroot. It makes it a lot easier so that these phishing scams and all kinds of different scams to try to steal your info and rip you off. If you have a webroot you don't have to worry about it.
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Remember when I was interacting with that. That woman who was claiming we were in a relationship and I was just trying to see how far the scam would go or when she would ask me for money or whatever.
Oh yeah, the email thing.
Yeah.
Where was she?
She was Ukrainian or Russian or something like that. Anyway, and I still don't know how she. I got my email address originally but at some point, I don't know, it's just the mood I was in that day. I just was tired of dealing with it because I had played along for quite some time and she'd send me these pictures and talk about how in love we were and beautiful. I finally sent her. I said, hey, you know, I just have gotten busy and I don't have time to go along with this anymore. So I've been playing along with this just to see when you were going to finally ask for money. And I said I'm just curious. Like it doesn't bother you at all that you play upon people's emotions and like lonely desperate people think you actually like them and then you make some money off of it. That did you sleep okay at night with that act? And then I just never heard anything back from her, of course.
What do you think they might have replied as I've brought this story to you that look, I'm an Indonesian fisherman, I was snatched up by the Chinese, I'm being held against my will. They make me do this all day long. How do you feel about that? Huh? That's what I thought. Now if you'll Excuse me, I'm off to scam somebody else.
Oh, so now I'm supposed to feel bad, right? Yes.
What did you think about somebody other than yourself for once?
Indonesian fisherman. So how about that?
Yeah.
Boy. So the whole multi zillion dollar climate scam is on the rocks. And for good reason. But the climate activists seem to have no concept of why that is. It's not that people have woken up to the giant scam and how it's crippled economies without doing any good. It's misinformation and disinformation by evildoers has swayed the minds of people.
Hopefully that ruse is over. We'll talk about that and other stuff on the way. Stay here.
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U n d Stay cozy, stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops. Because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus, rewards members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around, let the savings roll in. Shop new December deal drops on lowe's.com every week this month. Fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort.
Well, guys, we've officially kicked off the holiday season, and they're always filled with little highs and lows. The high when your child enjoys a candy cane and a low when they suck it down to a shiv and say, get me a little boo boo or el.
There's a high when opening an Advent calendar. And a low when realizing all the chocolate expired during the Reagan administration. Should it be great? Next up, there's a high when seeing Santa at the mall.
And a low when the whiskey on Santa's breast singes your nose hairs.
And finally, there's a high when attending your office Christmas party.
And then there's a low when attending a private party the next day. In hr, it all evens out.
Armstrong
Do we have any kind of Christmas party? Yeah, we do.
We have some sort of lunch.
When is that?
Next week. I have to check to check the date, but yeah.
Okay, I should go to that. A Christmas lunch.
Nothing says festivities more than lunch is. It's in the building, too.
Is it here in the building?
Yeah.
I remember back in the old days when you had real Christmas parties and people bring their spouses and get dressed up.
Those were awesome good times.
Yeah.
I have no interest in the who's a better basketball player, LeBron James or Michael Jordan? You can't drag me into that conversation. But an interesting record came to an end last night for LeBron James, who might finally be old at age 40. He had a Hall of Fame level season last year. If he'd averaged what he averaged last year his whole career, he'd be in the hall of fame at age 39. This year, he's dropped off quite a bit. And last night, for the first time in many, many years, he scored less than 10 points in a game, ending his record streak of almost 1300 consecutive games of scoring at least 10 points in a game. He scored eight last night. He did, to his credit, by the way, have a chance to make 10 points at the very end of the game, but he passed the ball to somebody else. They scored the winning basket. He was asked afterwards, you have any regrets? He said, no, we won. That's the whole goal. 1297 consecutive games. Second place by Michael Jordan is 866, 400 games shorter. I mean, that's stunning. Some of the numbers that. That LeBron has are just amazing, you know, for how long he's played at such a high level, so. But he might finally be old. So this has got to be his.
Last season, I would assume, although time is undefeated. But it sure had to fight hard in his case.
God, I would say so.
Had to hang in there.
I don't know why this story didn't get more attention. I just became aware of it myself. There was an effort, it looks like, to assassinate President Zelinsky on his trip to Dublin.
The other day, as four drones converged in his flight path after he had flown through. So his plane arrived early, and it really looks like that. Four drones, and nobody's exactly sure where they came from. Please.
Converged right. Right where his plane was going to be coming into the. The landing strip there. And they're still trying to figure all that out. His plane. His plane got there earlier than it was supposed to, and the drones would have. Would have gotten there right when his plane had gotten there and shot him out of the sky, possibly.
And I was reading one of my favorite thinkers saying, this is where we are, that there's just so much stuff going on all the time, that a close call, assassination attempt on a world leader in the middle of a war, with all these peace negotiations happening, doesn't even really make the news.
Right, right. Well, there are a lot of examples of that. It's just got to kind of catch on. Like the Somali ripoff in Minnesota story. Yeah, that story's a couple of years old. Hell, we had it 18 months ago, I think. But now all of a sudden, it's. It's the biggest thing in politics. Partly because Trump latched onto it and is talking about it. And all of a sudden, like, the New York Times has decided, yeah, we probably ought to write about this. So too much going on, it's too wild.
I mentioned yesterday that one of the great AI thinkers, predicting what it's going to be like in the future, the way AI is going to destroy civilization, if not destroy, you know, all human beings, is. Everything is just going to become so confusing. We're just going to be so inundated with crap all the time that you don't know what's true and what's not and what's really happening and just there's just so much blah blah constantly. And like Joe said, it feels like we're halfway there already.
Right? Yeah. I have two completely contradictory thoughts on that. The first one is the becoming Zen or Confucian or praying ceaselessly or whatever. A lot more people are going to embrace that. They're going to check out completely from the information economy and try to live simple lives. My completely oppositional thought to that is that.
The evildoers will have enormous powers and. And we all need to be on our guard.
Yeah, it's. It's definitely a fever pitch confusing age we're moving into.
Well, so you mean like checking out individually really good for you. But not is not going to help society if people that checked out can't really be motivated to get in to do anything.
Yeah, I'm not sure they could do anything anyway, depending on which way the AI thing goes and who gets it and how they use it. I realize this is all kind of terrifying and dislocating. I would concentrate on the world close to you. That's what I do. I. There's not much I can do about this stuff, so I don't worry about it.
Or is there?
It creeps into my dreams sometimes and I wake up screaming and weeping. But.
What are you going to do?
Could we get regulations in place to slow down this train?
Or is it just impossible? No.
No. Okay.
Well then do you have any other questions then?
In sports and weather?
Exactly.
No.
No. What about the Chinese? As I always say.
Yeah. If you missed a segment an hour, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand. More coming in hour three, Armstrong and Getty.
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Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.
You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.
Armstrong
This is where mindset comes in.
Trainer Games Announcer
Someone will be eliminated.
Joe Getty
Pressure is coming down.
Trainer Games Announcer
This is Trainer Games.
Armstrong
Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
Child Storyteller
Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean.
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Where did that story come from? Book Dream? Nope. It came from a conversation. Meet Meco Mini plus, the AI companion that co creates personalized story adventures with your child in real time.
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What color was the hamster's cape? And what did he pack for lunch?
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Unlock your your child's Imagination, Discover Miko Mini plus and the Magic of AI exclusively at Costco.
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Every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whimsound smart speaker. Get high resolution audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just 299. From quiet mornings to lively holiday gatherings, WinSound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Whim sound Beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search Whimsound. That's W I I M S O.
Joe Getty
U n d Stay cozy, Stay home and save big online during Lowe's December deal drops. Because honestly, why go anywhere when the deals come to you? Check this out. Lowe's is going to give you two free select tools from dewalt, Craftsman or Cobalt when you buy a select battery or combo kit. Yep, two tools free. It's basically a holiday miracle. Plus rewards members get free standard shipping all month long. Yet another reason not to leave your couch. Kick back, click around, let the savings roll in. Shop new December deal drops on lowe's.com every week this month. Fresh deals, cozy vibes, zero effort. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.
Date: December 5, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Network: iHeartPodcasts
This episode dives into a range of topics including the recent arrest in the infamous pipe bomb case from January 6th, media misrepresentations around the suspect, FBI investigative mishaps, a heated spat between Kamala Harris and Governor Josh Shapiro, Netflix’s aggressive expansion, the blizzard of modern digital scams, and a bit of holiday levity. Armstrong & Getty mix current affairs, cultural commentary, and personal anecdotes with their trademark irreverence and skepticism.
[03:07–11:23]
Breaking the suspect’s profile: Jack Armstrong recaps that the alleged DNC/RNC pipe bomber, named Brian Cole Jr., has finally been arrested five years after the incident. The conversation revolves around inaccurate early reporting and racial assumptions by major outlets (notably Jake Tapper).
On suspect’s background: The hosts note Cole was 25 at the time of the crime, now a 30-year-old living at home, described as isolated, with minimal community involvement.
Motivation speculation: Armstrong wonders aloud whether the suspect was motivated by neo-Marxist ideology or personal disaffection, and if his actions were intended to hurt people.
Motive vs. Coincidence: They quell ideas that the pipe bombs were connected to Jan 6th "Stop the Steal," instead suggesting the date was a convenient occasion for visibility.
FBI investigation critique: The hosts play audio from Cash Patel, who accuses the previous administration and the FBI of “incompetence or complete intentional negligence,” particularly for not thoroughly analyzing cell phone data.
Possible political cover-up? Armstrong doubts suggestions of an intentional cover-up, noting most FBI agents are “serious patriotic Americans,” while also admitting, “It’s troubling. There's got to be an explanation to that question. What happened in the last five years?” (10:42)
“Sometimes a new detective can come along and look at the same evidence, figure out something. Doesn't mean the people before them were incompetent or corrupt. They just didn't see it for whatever reason.” — Armstrong (09:53)
[12:53–14:46]
Joe Getty reminisces about participating in his son’s winter band concert and jokes about the difference in abilities by age group, before Armstrong considers picking up the trumpet again.
Discussion about playing brass instruments as adults and the challenge of rebuilding “embouchure” (mouth and lip muscles).
[17:39–22:51]
Brief rundown on the new cultural juggernaut, “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” and Netflix’s reported plans to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max.
The hosts grumble about the quality and length of movie reviews, advocating for shorter, genre-based guidance:
On streaming platform monopolization:
Armstrong shares his own struggle trying to cut streaming services yet being unable to escape:
[26:15–33:47]
Discussion around coverage in The Atlantic about Vice President Kamala Harris’s new book, which reportedly takes shots at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro for “measuring the drapes” and trying to be an overbearing VP candidate.
Shapiro calls Harris’s account “complete and utter bull spit” and “blatant lies.” (30:09, 30:22)
Armstrong & Getty break down the behind-the-scenes political maneuvering and Harris’s “political climbing” skills, while noting Shapiro’s disdain:
Armstrong speculates on whether Harris is more competent at political maneuvering than governance: “She is incompetent in all kinds of different ways, and she clearly is, but not in the ways of fighting dirty in politics.” (33:59)
[35:38–38:10]
Armstrong talks about the daily onslaught of scam emails: fake PayPal, UPS messages, etc., warning these, and discussing the value of effective anti-phishing and identity protection services.
Getty deadpans about how the scammer could reply: “Look, I'm an Indonesian fisherman, I was snatched up by the Chinese, I'm being held against my will. They make me do this all day long. How do you feel about that?” — Getty (37:57)
[38:14–47:40]
Commentary on declining faith in mainstream climate activism, citing public weariness and confusion:
On information overload and the impact of AI:
[41:22–45:14]
Getty offers a light-hearted list of “Highs and Lows of the Holiday Season,” blending classic Armstrong & Getty humor with appreciation for office parties’ lost glory.
LeBron James's scoring streak ends, causing musings on athletic longevity:
Discussion of an underreported assassination attempt on Zelensky:
On Media Racial Assumptions:
“Jake Tapper went with, he was a white guy. Now, I got to admit, I was expecting a white guy. The whole pipe kind of felt like a white dude to me.” — Armstrong (03:17)
On FBI Competency:
“That is either sheer incompetence or complete intentional negligence, and neither is acceptable for this FBI.” — Cash Patel (08:16)
On the nature of political ambition:
“This intellectual lightweight single party state slept her way to the top. Half wit is coming at me.” — Armstrong (29:15)
On movie reviewers:
“Movie reviews should not be more than say 50 words long. And they shouldn't be about the reviewer… showing how smart they are.” — Armstrong (19:18)
On Kamala Harris's political skill:
“She is incompetent in all kinds of ways and she clearly is, but not in the ways of fighting dirty in politics.” — Armstrong (33:59)
About the future with AI:
“Everything is just going to become so confusing. We're just going to be so inundated with crap all the time...you don't know what's true and what's not.” — Armstrong (45:14)
The tone throughout is irreverent, skeptical, sarcastic, and conversational. The duo regularly interrupt and challenge each other, layer cultural references and personal anecdotes over the news, and end with self-deprecating humour about the world's confusion and their age.
This installment of Armstrong & Getty covers the headlines and hidden stories of the week through a blend of forensic cynicism, pop-culture asides, and holiday cheer. It’ll entertain those who love opinionated, unscripted takes on major news—especially if you prefer a mix of satire and sincere critique.
For further details, listen to specific timestamps for deep dives on: