It's Sagging Again...

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand — "It's Sagging Again..."

Date: October 31, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast Theme: A lively, wide-ranging discussion on Halloween, costumes, American politics, entitlement programs, current events, and cultural commentary, all with Armstrong & Getty’s trademark blend of irreverence and sharp insight.

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Episode Overview

This episode, recorded on Halloween, is a spirited mix of holiday banter, political analysis, and social commentary. Jack and Joe discuss Halloween costumes (and their own sartorial efforts), critique political narratives in the media, delve into the contentious subjects of food stamps and government spending, explore America’s foreign policy particularly toward Venezuela, and touch on the evolving role of automation and AI in society. The tone is witty, occasionally acerbic, and often self-deprecating, with pointed jokes interspersed with deeper commentary.

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Key Discussions & Insights

1. Halloween at the Studio

• Jack’s Costume Woes:

  • Opens with Jack in a fake mustache, lamenting that no one else is wearing a costume (01:30). He jokes:

    “All my clothes are regular clothes. I'm a guy with a cool mustache. That's what I'm dressed as today.” (02:07)

• Discussion of Costume Culture:

  • Lighthearted exchange about the effort (or lack thereof) adults put into Halloween at the office.
  • Reference to Jack’s son attending a private Christian school where costumes can’t include ghosts or supernatural themes (04:34).
  • Joe’s retort:

    “I am not persuaded by those arguments myself, but I understand...” (04:58)

  • Both hosts poke gentle fun at the attempts to over-regulate holiday fun.

• Popular Couple’s Costume Trend:

  • Jack reveals this year’s “lazy” couple’s costume: each partner wears a shirt emblazoned with ‘6’ and ‘7’ (12:12).

    “If I walk into a party, anybody's wearing that, I leave...” — Joe Getty (12:14)

2. Parental Driving & Safety

• Critiquing Fast-Driving Parents:
  • Jokes about “moms in Camrys” being the worst speeders around schools:

    “The people that drive the fastest are moms who have kids in sensible cars.” — Jack (02:51)

  • Commentary on how conventional wisdom blames young drivers, but evidence suggests otherwise.

3. The Mustache Saga

• Fake Mustache Fails:

  • Ongoing gags about Jack’s mustache sagging off his face and comparisons to classic comedy sketches.

    “The mustache, really, it's sagging again. It's falling off... like Saturday Night Live or Carol Burnett skits...” — Jack (03:54)

• Admiration for Baseball Players’ Facial Hair:

  • Jack discusses watching baseball, admiring players “rocking” serious facial hair, and his envy over their mustache-growing abilities (03:29).

4. Food Stamps ("SNAP") & Political Narratives

• Media “Excitement” & Conservative Views:
  • Jack criticizes media sensationalism over impending SNAP benefits cuts:

    “The media is so excited that millions of Americans are set to lose their food stamps... They finally got something they can sink their claws into...” (06:12)

  • He articulates a “stereotypical conservative” viewpoint, doubting that all 40 million recipients genuinely need assistance:

    “I think of the 40 million people who we have on food stamps, a whole bunch of them are lazy or... are using you to pay for their food...” (06:32)

  • Joe reflexively agrees and notes how the “narrative wars” over blame are tiresome (07:45).

5. The Filibuster Debate & Political Institutions

• Trump’s Call for Nuclear Option:
  • News of Trump urging Republicans to end the filibuster in the Senate (“nuclear option”), with Jack and Joe both expressing strong opposition to this idea:

    “That's no good. No good at all.” — Jack (08:19)

  • Joe’s historical note:

    “Barack Obama called it the legacy of slavery or something like that.” (08:50) “One of the biggest loads of crap ever crapped. Pardon me.” — Joe Getty (08:59)

6. Fun with Halloween Vocabulary

• Origins of Words:
  • Joe muses on the historical meanings of words like “ghoul” and “fiend,” noting “a ghoul was a grave robber, as I recall.” (09:10)
  • Spawns a brief tangent about grave robbing and the macabre details of stealing from the dead (09:38–09:59).

7. “Chipotle’s Halloween Burrito” Joke (10:15)

An example of Armstrong & Getty’s quick comedic style:

“And finally, Chipotle is offering its Halloween burrito for the 25th year in a row. And after one of those, you'll be praying that someone TPS your house.” — Joe Getty (10:15) “Because I guess dysentery brought on by the burrito.” — Jack Armstrong (10:37)

8. Mailbag & Listener Feedback

• Democrat vs. Republican Pride:

  • Letters discuss recent poll results showing declining pride in America among Democrats, contrasted with stable pride among Republicans (36:48). Commentary suggests this tracks with partisan attitudes toward grievance and patriotism.
  • Jack:

    “Republicans and conservatives base their pride on the fundamentals of our country... Those things don’t change over time and certainly don’t depend on which party is in the White House.” (37:05)

• School Vouchers:

  • Listener wishes the show would be more direct in supporting vouchers in education reform discussions (38:57).

9. News Highlights & Reactions (w/ Katie Green, 13:15+)

Summaries and reactions to news stories:

• Trump and Nuclear Testing:
  • WaPo reports on cost and duration of potential resumption of US nuclear testing (13:19-14:08).
  • Both Joe and Jack mock political hypocrisy regarding budget concerns.
• Targeting Narco-Stated Facilities in Venezuela:
  • Trump considering airstrikes on Venezuelan (Maduro regime) drug trafficking hubs (15:13-18:07, 28:14-29:27).
  • Later discussion on the Nobel Peace Prize winner from Venezuela supporting US pressure on Maduro (25:52-27:01).

  “She gives Trump a pass for that. And as to the actual land invasion, she said, ‘I believe this escalation is the last opportunity for those that still support Maduro to understand that they need to take all support away from him.’” — Jack (25:52)

• Truck Drivers & English Tests:
  • Over 7,200 drivers failing English test and being removed from highways (15:13-16:08).
  • Critique of prior hiring practices and DOT enforcement.
• Robot Workers:
  • Cities utilizing robots for lawn mowing, firefighting, and other municipal tasks (16:31-17:10).
  • Jack skeptical about lack of human supervision and safety.
• Halloween Candy Safety:
  • Warnings about lookalike edibles, and jokes about old urban legends (17:21-18:10).
• Adults Eating Halloween Candy Early:
  • Polled data and personal confessions about eating candy before Halloween (18:10-18:32).

10. Satirical Headlines & Political Messaging (18:35)

• Babylon Bee Headline:

  “Democrats vow to starve as many food stamp recipients as it takes to get free health care for illegal immigrants.” (18:35)

  • Joe: “Seth Dillon needs to be in charge of the Republican Party’s messaging. That’s so much better than anything I’ve heard from them.” (18:44)

11. Venezuela, Narco-States, and American Foreign Policy (28:14–34:32)

• US Strategy in South America:

  • Joe gives a passionate defense for a more assertive US policy in our “neighborhood,” citing the threat from narco-terror states and foreign (Chinese) influences.

  “Often in the affairs of a nation, you have two bad choices... but you've got to do one of them and then pay the price for it.” — Joe Getty (30:04) “We have it in our power not to be surrounded by narco terrorist basket cases. We gotta do that.” — Joe Getty (32:06)

• Jack Chides Bumper-Sticker Pacifism:

  • Mocking “war isn’t the answer” slogans as childish and naive:

    “You might as well wear a sign that says I'm a... or a child. It's just freaking stupid.” — Jack (26:56)

12. Artificial Intelligence — Friend or Foe?

• Teaser for an upcoming discussion about a conference where AI risks (“ruin the world” vs. “best it’s ever been” debate) were seriously weighed (34:40).

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Notable Quotes

• On Halloween Costume Apathy:

  “Am I the only one who wore a costume for Halloween this year?” — Jack Armstrong (01:30)
  “Yes, young man, you are.” — Joe Getty (01:41)

• On Entitlement Narratives:

  “Let me say something that makes conservatives look evil... I think of the 40 million people who we have on food stamps, a whole bunch of them are lazy or... using you to pay for their food.” — Jack Armstrong (06:32)

• On Ending the Filibuster:

  “He put out a truth social go with the nuclear option in the filibuster, which would be awful.” — Jack Armstrong (08:19)
  “One of the biggest loads of crap ever crapped. Pardon me.” — Joe Getty (08:59)

• On War and Foreign Policy:

  “There are often two bad choices... but you've got to do one and then pay the price. Ask Ukrainians.” — Joe Getty (30:04)
  “Why do we still have what we have in the United States...? One reason only: we are militarily stronger than every other country on earth.” — Jack Armstrong (28:14)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:30 — Halloween costumes & Jack’s fake mustache saga
• 02:51 — Commentary on fast-driving parents near schools
• 04:34 — Private school Halloween costume rules
• 06:12 — Food stamps, media narrative, and conservative critique
• 08:19 — Trump’s ‘nuclear option’ filibuster proposal, historical context
• 10:15 — Chipotle Halloween joke, segues into couple’s costume discussion
• 13:15 — News headlines with Katie Green and hosts’ reactions
• 25:52 — Nobel Peace Prize winner and the Maduro regime
• 26:56 — Rant against “war isn’t the answer” slogans
• 28:14 — US foreign policy and the Venezuela strategy debate
• 34:40 — AI conference tease

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Memorable Moments

• Jack’s mustache repeatedly “sagging again,” paralleling the title joke (03:54).
• “Six and seven” lazy couple’s costumes dominating Halloween.
• Joe’s mock outrage about lazy government cost reporting:

  “What did the WaPo say about Stacey Abrams getting $1 billion for phony environmental something or other?” (14:08)

• The “Crypts of the Week” headline mashup: rapid-fire, surreal news edits with Halloween flavor (20:25–23:15).
• “War isn’t the answer” as a trigger for Joe & Jack’s rants about adult naiveté in international affairs.

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Tone & Style

The hosts maintain a breezy, sardonic banter, often veering into satire—especially regarding politics, media, and education. Their style blends pop culture riffs with deep skepticism about official narratives and “conventional wisdom,” keeping the energy high and listeners engaged even during serious analysis.

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For First-Time Listeners

This episode is an effective showcase of Armstrong & Getty’s mix of humor and candid commentary. It flows effortlessly from light-hearted holiday chatter to substantive debates about serious policy. The hosts don’t shy from controversial takes, but their dynamic keeps discussions lively, approachable, and consistently entertaining—making it accessible even for those unfamiliar with ongoing political stories.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Joe Getty]

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[Announcer]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get it. Am I the only one. Am I the only one who wore a costume for Halloween this year?

[Joe Getty]

Yes, young man, you are.

[Jack Armstrong]

I feel ridiculous now. Nobody else wore a costume of any sort.

[News Reporter]

I haven't put mine on yet, okay?

[Joe Getty]

I'm not a Satan worshiper, sir, we're.

[Jack Armstrong]

Not good enough for your costume.

[Joe Getty]

You are.

[News Reporter]

I just haven't put it on yet.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because it's excessive, okay? Guess what I'm dressed as.

[Joe Getty]

Let's see. You got a ball cap on, says wc. Is that what that says? Well, you got a thick black mustache.

[Jack Armstrong]

All my clothes are regular clothes. I'm a guy with a cool mustache. That's what I'm dressed as today.

[News Reporter]

I was gonna go with Mario.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I'm a guy with a cool mustache.

[Joe Getty]

That's great. You're making me really wish I'd dressed up last year.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was a guy with cool hair, if you'll remember that.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, that's right.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, wow. Live from Studio C on Halloween.

[Joe Getty]

And.

[Jack Armstrong]

A dimly lit room and whatnot. And we were surrounded by. We're surrounded by the hounds of Baskerville and ghost and all different sorts of stuff. Today, deep within our lair, we're under the tutelage of our general manager.

[Joe Getty]

Ghosts and ghouls and spirits, of course. Keep in mind the little kids are going to be running around this afternoon. This evening. Keep a keen eye Out. Don't speed down residential street.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a worthless thing to say. I'm glad you said it, but worthless saying. You know who drives the fastest? Moms and minivans. My experience, after years of being around schools, the people that drive the fastest are moms who have kids in sensible cars. It's not the 22 year old in a Mustang. It's the mom in a Camry who drives.

[Joe Getty]

Driving like a lunatic.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who drives like a lunatic. I've just seen it over and over and over again.

[Joe Getty]

Drives me nuts.

[Jack Armstrong]

You've got kids yourself. Why are you speeding through here? Yeah, I'm having trouble keeping my mustache straight. You can't have a crooked mustache.

[Joe Getty]

Good lord, no. Because you are a man with a cool mustache, not a lame crooked mustache.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, one of the reasons I got this is I wish I could grow a mustache just like this. If I did. If I could. Man. I'm watching the baseball players. There's some cool facial hair among the baseball players. Oh yeah, there's a reliever for the Dodgers, I think, who clearly knows he looks like Val Kilmer and particularly looks like Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone. I mean, his solid look. He's got exactly the same facial hair as Doc Holiday Tombstone. And he looks like him. And he knows that. He knows what he's doing. That's fantastic. Yeah, the mustache, really, it's sagging again. It's falling off in the way that they fall off usually in like Saturday Night Live or Carol Burnett skits where they've got a mustache and it starts to fall off and everybody left. I guess they, they, they haven't, over the many decades perfected the glue on a fake mustache.

[Joe Getty]

Apparently you got to go with the, the theatrical spirit gum they call it. I remember having to use that as an actor back in the day. Probably big pain.

[Jack Armstrong]

Probably cost more than the $2 I spent on this fake mustache.

[Joe Getty]

It takes quite a while to remove too.

[Jack Armstrong]

My son goes to a private Christian school and I was interested and they sent out an email yesterday of what they can't do since they have school uniforms and everything and man, nothing that relates to a ghost or anything like that. I thought that was interesting. I mean, I understand, I guess, but you really, you really think some kids dressed as a goat, it's ghost is going to turn people away from Christianity?

[Joe Getty]

I am not persuaded by those arguments myself, but I understand, I understand the.

[Jack Armstrong]

We don't want anything that's like, you know, you're not a murderer with a bloody knife. Carrying a severed head. I understand that sort of stuff. I'm not too concerned about witches and ghosts swaying children to the dark side. But, you know, hey, you get to make the rules you want. Did I see that? Just like today, I guess there have been a couple of posts put out that are breaking news that we need to get to just today, like in the last hour or so, a couple of good ones that I'm excited about. You know, like yesterday, Trump had posted right before we went on the air, we're going to start nuclear testing again. And then as you mentioned at some point yesterday, I wonder if he'll ever reference that again or if that's a.

[Joe Getty]

Thing or if that was just something he asked anybody. Hey, are we geared up to do this? Do we need to do this? Do we want to do this?

[Jack Armstrong]

Whether he would ever bring it up. I didn't find out till yesterday that he, he, he put out that post right before meeting with Xi. So I think it was a classic Trump. I'm going to rattle this guy a little bit before I go in there. And then, like you said, I think there's a decent chance that he's not going to bring it up again.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But the media is so excited that millions of Americans are, Americans are set to lose their food stamps stamp benefits tomorrow. The media is so excited about that. They finally got something they can sink their claws into as the. Look how evil the Republicans are starving humans all across the country.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, good luck with that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let me say, let me say, let me say something that makes conservatives look evil. For this is a. I'm going to be your stereotypical conservative. And I believe this, by the way. I'm not just pretending I'm going to be your stereotypical conservative that liberals like in the town I live in hate. I think of the 40 million people who we have on food stamps, a whole bunch of them are lazy or, or have plenty of money, but are using you to pay for their food so that they can spend their money on other stuff. Are there people in there who legitimately need it?

[Joe Getty]

Of course.

[Jack Armstrong]

But all 40 million? I doubt it.

[Joe Getty]

What's the percentage of the lazy starve? The lazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's the percentage? I'll bet it ain't half that need it, you know, so there's my evil conservative thought. But I doubt that half the 40 million people actually need that. They're spending their money on shoes they don't need or phones they don't need or all kinds of luxury items so that we pay for their food.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Yeah, I agree completely.

[Jack Armstrong]

So obviously so. And I have a feeling I represent the thought of many people like you. And so when you hear these stories from the mainstream media about the 40 million who are going to lose the food stamps, I think there's about half the country thinks, yeah, all right, whatever. To. To a lot of it. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I've got to admit, the whole question of who will be blamed, what will the narrative be of just. It's exhausting to me and worthless. But. Oh, yeah, you. Generally speaking, worthless. Yeah. Interestingly, there is news and noise from both sides. There are growing number of Democrats and media members who are calling the Democrats out for having caused this entirely. On the other side, Trump's saying, hey, end the filibuster and pass the budget. We got to do away with the filibuster. He said, as soon as the Democrats get control of the Senate, they're going to do it. So let's beat him to the punch.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's one of the announcements. Yeah, that came out this morning. He put out a truth social go with the nuclear option in the filibuster, which would be awful. I hope that John Thune holds the line and doesn't do that because then the House is the Senate or that the Senate is the House, and it's just majority rule and it's. That's no good. No good at all.

[Joe Getty]

Right. We're going through a period right now in American politics. It will not last forever. I mean, it could get worse, I suppose. But, yeah, let's. Let's leave some institutions alone and give it a little while.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Well, man, you've had several presidents in a row push for it. Barack Obama called it the legacy of slavery or something like that.

[Joe Getty]

One of the biggest loads of crap ever crapped. Pardon me.

[Jack Armstrong]

So one side or the other is going to do it, but I'd rather it not be the side I generally vote for because I think it'd be awful to end the filibuster.

[Joe Getty]

You know what I need to do? I need to re. Look up a lot of your Halloweeny words like ghoul. They have actual meanings going back to, like, the Middle Ages. A ghoul was a grave robber, as I recall.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

And like, fiend means something specific. And. And they weren't. They weren't just generalized scary things and specific meanings. I gotta grab that.

[Jack Armstrong]

We gotta start the show officially digging up graves. Man, that's rough. That is rough. And you're like, you gotta open the casket because you're trying to get like, jewels or stuff. Off. Or maybe even their teeth jewelry.

[Joe Getty]

You know, back in the day, even, you know, a nice, sturdy belt. The guy was buried with a good belt. Wow. Still, you just steal whatever there was.

[Jack Armstrong]

Dead man's shoes. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Steal the bones if you could get anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's start the show officially as a guy with a cool mustache. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Friday, October 31st, better known as Halloween, year 2025. We are Armstrong and Getty, and we approve of this program.

[Joe Getty]

Let's begin then, officially, according to FCC rules or eggs. Here we go at mark. And finally, Chipotle is offering its Halloween burrito for the 25th year in a row. And after one of those, you'll be praying that someone TPS your house.

[Jack Armstrong]

You'll need lots of toilet paper.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Background Voice / Misc]

Oh.

[Joe Getty]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because I guess dysentery brought on by the burrito.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I see. Now I'm tracking.

[Jack Armstrong]

You weren't following. I just saw. This will be a tease. Before I go to break, I just saw what is the most popular costume for couples this year?

[Joe Getty]

Awesome.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's a pretty good idea. Although annoying, but super easy. You know, we're all looking for easy, right? We got invited to a party. Okay, but what they said we got to wear a costume. Oh, geez. What are we going to wear? We got to come up with something stupid.

[Joe Getty]

You know, the Joneses are going to go crazy. They make a big deal of it every year. So we got to do something, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, there's a good one. There's a good easy one that you could throw together today. Super easy. And then be satisfied.

[Joe Getty]

Kill me right now, and I promise not to haunt you.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we got that and Katie's headlines on the way.

[Announcer]

Stay here, Armstrong and Getty.

[Background Voice / Misc]

Every now and then I rinse it out and I deep down tonight. And I needed more. My kid wears a bed and the smell never leaves. I don't know what to do. I'm always in the dark. The sweat and dead short smells like a dark.

[Jack Armstrong]

Downy rinse fights stubborn odors in just one wash. When impossible odors get stuck in. This is actually a pretty good idea, though annoying. If you're a couple that got invited to some sort of Halloween gathering and you don't want to, like, put in any effort. You both wear sweatshirts or T shirts, and one of you writes six on your shirt, and the other one writes seven on your shirt. And you go, six. Seven.

[Joe Getty]

I walk into a party. Anybody's wearing that, I leave that's.

[News Reporter]

Seriously.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's the most popular costume for couples this year because it's so easy to throw together. I saw up on TV groups of couples as 6, 7.

[Joe Getty]

Good conversation starter, I suppose. Although.

[Jack Armstrong]

And easy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, super duper easy.

[Jack Armstrong]

My son's got this big inflatable. It's all black, so in the dark you won't be able to see him. I don't know what the. But anyway, it's got a little fan in it and it blows it up. And so he's like a ball. And he walked. He's been walking around the neighborhood like that, walking the dog and getting a tremendous amount of attention and lots of grandmas wanting to take his picture and whatnot. Very cute. Wow. That's funny. I don't know what.

[Joe Getty]

He's just his content. His custom is I'm bloated or what? Exactly. All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm just.

[Joe Getty]

I'm a sphere.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I don't know. It's just odd looking.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, fair enough. What color is it? Black. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, then he's got a black mask and black shoes and black gloves. So he's just all black. A ball. That's funny.

[Joe Getty]

I'm a black ball.

[Jack Armstrong]

Blackballing.

[Joe Getty]

No, it doesn't work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Huh.

[Joe Getty]

All right, let's figure out who's reporting what. It's the lead story with Katie Green. Katie.

[News Reporter]

Alrighty. Starting with the Washington Post, experts say Trump's push to restart nuclear tests could take years and cost millions.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, well, everything costs millions, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

God, I hate this is what. There's so many things I hate about Political Republic reporting, and one of them is whichever side does anything the other side talks about what it costs is as if either one of these parties care about what we're spending. It's always a minor amount of money. You can't get anybody to comment on the fact that Social Security is going broke to the tune of trillions. But if somebody tries to, you know, add something to the White House or nuclear testing or, you know, a protest or anything, this costs taxpayers $8 million. Oh, give me a break. Like you care about that.

[Joe Getty]

What did the WaPo say about Stacey Abrams getting $1 billion for phony environmental something or other? They spill any ink over that one? Probably not. This one.

[News Reporter]

From cnn, Trump considering plans to target cocaine facilities inside Venezuela.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I've been reading a lot about the drug trade and drug routes from South America up through the Caribbean and around the Pacific side to the US and, well, I. I have a great deal to say about it. But, yes, there are enormous amounts of deadly drugs moving through the very roots Trump has been blowing boats up on. And it's becoming more and more clear to me that we have these floundering, pathetic narco states all over the place in our neighborhood. And it's going to. It's going to be tough, and it could cost millions, Jack. But we've got to do something about our own neighborhood. We got to clean it up. Ridiculous.

[News Reporter]

Someone from Breitbart. More than 7,200 truck drivers were removed from United States highways after failing the English test.

[Jack Armstrong]

That.

[Joe Getty]

That's happened. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the new Department of Transportation secretary comes in and says, you got to be able to read and write English, speak English, and that many people lost their jobs. Wow. Why were we hiring that many thousands of people that can't read American road signs or have a conversation.

[Joe Getty]

American truck drivers or can't find Americans who will work that cheap? All right.

[News Reporter]

The. The case in Florida with that guy that whipped that U turn and killed that family. They gave him the English test. He correctly answered 2 of 12 of the verbal questions and accurately identified just one. One of four traffic signs.

[Joe Getty]

Obscene that Pete Buttigieg is being talked about as a presidential candidate. As the current guy has made it clear, they did nothing to modernize our air traffic control system. They were just slaves to the union and invested nothing in new technology. This is an obscene case here. Buttigieg was worse than useless.

[News Reporter]

From the Wall Street Journal. Cities across the US Are putting robots to work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Doing what?

[News Reporter]

They're doing jobs like firefighting, lawn mowing, beach cleaning, and other things.

[Jack Armstrong]

Lawn mowing?

[News Reporter]

Lawn mowing.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Robot mowers are huge in. In golf courses, especially. But municipally, too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay.

[Joe Getty]

I mean, all you need is GP The GPS systems are so good now. You don't have to employ human beings or you can have them doing something else.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, but the GPS doesn't see a cat or someone sunbathing in the lawn.

[Joe Getty]

Cat needs to get out of the way. Huh? It's the cat's job.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's.

[News Reporter]

It's true. My neighbor has a lawn Roomba.

[Joe Getty]

And I had.

[News Reporter]

I had to move out of its way the other day, and I had a big issue with that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Okay. Yeah. Enjoy getting your feet cut off.

[News Reporter]

Right? ABC police are warning about dangerous lookalike candies ahead of Halloween. This is that whole edible thing where they look like Jolly Ranchers and sour candies and whatnot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I was having a joke with someone the other day about the whole razor blades and apples thing. That was Big. When I was young, my mom. We'd get home from Halloween with our caramel apples because grandma always gave them out, and my mom would go through them all to make sure nobody had slipped a razor blade in there. Because your typical grandma who's, you know, lived in your local little area is all about slicing up the mouth of.

[Joe Getty]

A child for her own enjoyment and then spending decades in prison for the offense. Exactly. Likewise the pot candies. Is it accidentally that would happen or what?

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know.

[News Reporter]

This one from Study finds adults devour their Halloween candy before trick or treaters even get to knock.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my. My youngest wanted to buy the candy last night, and I said, no, no, no, we'll buy it today. I don't want it. I would have eaten a handful of candy last night had it been in the house. I just know I would have.

[News Reporter]

I bought it yesterday, and I've already had a Kit Kat this morning, so.

[Joe Getty]

A little morning Kit Kat. Yeah, There you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

Pick me up.

[News Reporter]

And finally, from the Babylon be Democrats vow to starve as many food stamp recipients as it takes to get free health care for illegal immigrants.

[Joe Getty]

Hey. Oh. Seth Dillon needs to be in charge of the Republican Party's messaging. That's so much better than anything I've heard from them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. I'm looking at all the adults up on television who are dressed as six, seven for Halloween.

[News Reporter]

Oh, God.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then they do that, and then they do the hand gesture.

[Announcer]

Oh, Armstrong and Getty.

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[Joe Getty]

Nice.

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With Downy unstoppables, you just toss wash. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

For all day freshness, my favorite sources are predicting that the Senate leader, John Thune, will ignore Trump's early morning call to end the filibuster. That would be a huge political move, but we can talk more about that coming up. Also, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, all of a sudden, not as fascinating to people that she agrees with Donald Trump.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, there's a shock. The administration has identified targets in Venezuela that include military facilities used to smuggle drugs. We'll talk about that coming up. But first, Michael, you. You had me, didn't you? I did, I did. First, the Friday tradition. If I look back at the week that was. It's Crypts of the week. Wow. That's Hanson's idea. He gets full credit.

[Jack Armstrong]

I like it.

[Joe Getty]

It's creepy and crawly and oh, so sp.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's creeps on o.

[Background Voice / Misc]

Coming together in.

[Jack Armstrong]

Queens, in Brooklyn, and then we're going.

[Joe Getty]

To Washington D.C. to take back the White House.

[Jack Armstrong]

When the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it's been laced by the idf. But also, you know, it was also about paying the bills, man.

[Joe Getty]

And it was just like hustling. I've never listened to polls. I'm trans indigenous. Trans indigenous.

[Jack Armstrong]

Are you CIS American?

[Announcer]

I woke up every day as a.

[Joe Getty]

As a.

[Announcer]

A black woman who is queer. If you are a 1 or 2x, you are small fat, 3 to 4x, you are mid fat, 5 to 6x, you are super fat.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you love coming to Costco with your wife?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, zero.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why I'm by myself.

[Joe Getty]

She's over there. Police saying this armed motorist sped away from a shooting of a San Bernardino county sheriff's deputy right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Looks like he's. That's exactly what I was talking.

[Background Voice / Misc]

Oh my gosh.

[Announcer]

Amazon slashing 14,000 corporate jobs.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm told by four senior DHS officials that they're removing up to 12 ICE chiefs from around the country from their positions.

[Announcer]

The Pentagon announcing the single deadliest day of strikes against alleged drug smugglers.

[Joe Getty]

The fake news said they were fishermen.

[Jack Armstrong]

But they were trend Narago thugs heading.

[Joe Getty]

To the United States with a boat full of drugs.

[Announcer]

Vladimir Putin saying that they have successfully tested a nuclear powered cruise missile.

[Jack Armstrong]

President Trump called the meeting, which she. That lasted about two hours, quote, amazing.

[Joe Getty]

I would say the meeting was at 12. Climate is a super important problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have to frame it in terms of overall human welfare.

[Announcer]

I welcome the shift to common sense. Even though the climate doomerism Gates helped create has fueled a mental health crisis among young people. An urgent search to find three lab monkeys still on the loose.

[Joe Getty]

We got 21 monkeys that was on this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Them all around. I speak tongueless, luckily. So he said there are 21 monkeys on this truck. Put your pants on. Get some.

[Background Voice / Misc]

You got to put some pants on. Has ended it.

[Jack Armstrong]

A World series masterpiece from 22 year old Trey Y.

[Joe Getty]

Savage.

[Jack Armstrong]

Goods of the week, Game six World Series tonight with Yamamoto pitching for the Dodgers. His last two starts, he's pitched complete games, stayed in there the whole time and. And won both times. So I'm rooting for a game seven.

[Joe Getty]

What's that smell? I smell the scent of a game Seven.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I still feel like there's tons of pressure on the Dodgers and zero pressure on the Blue Jays, which. Which helps the Blue Jays, but so this.

[Joe Getty]

Those guys walking up into the batter's box to try to hit against Yamamoto are feeling a little pressure.

[Jack Armstrong]

So this woman that won the Nobel Peace Prize, when she won it a couple of weeks ago, I remember there's a lot of hubbub about whether Trump would win it maybe next year. And as this woman from Venezuelan, who, Venezuela, who's an opposition figure to Nicholas Maduro and all lefties in the world love the Nobel Peace Prize and hail all the decisions they make, but not so much this time around as she has started to come out and say things indicating that she likes Trump blasting these boats out of the water and threatening an invasion and all these different sorts of things. And I was just reading this interview she did with Bloomberg yesterday in which, of course, they're really working hard to get her to say something like, trump shouldn't do this. But she doesn't say that at all. She's not super forthcoming, but she's. She's kind of vaguely supportive, but she's certainly not against it. You use the word narco terrorism. That's the language the Trump administration is using about Venezuela. President Trump is saying after the strikes on boats that the land will be next. Do you support US military strikes on the territory of Venezuela? I believe the escalation that's taken place is the only way to force Maduro to understand that it's time to go. Earlier in the interview, when they asked about, shouldn't there be, you know, a trial or evidence or due process for these people? She said, and any deaths that turn out to be not narco terrorists are on the head of Maduro. He brought this violence on. So she's giving Trump a pass for that. And as to the actual land invasion, she said, I believe that this escalation is the last opportunity for those that still support Maduro to understand that they need to take all support away from him. She says to the interviewer with Bloomberg, I asked you to understand what we, the Venezuelan people, have done. We've had over 35 rigged elections. We finally demonstrated we won and then we were attacked. We've had thousands of protests, peaceful rallies, demonstrations. We've gone through every single institutional means. Something else needs to happen. And fair enough, yeah, she says. She says that this pressure, this threat is the only thing that's going to work.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And even if she's not 100% down with everything, Trump is doing. And the way he's doing it, he is clearly in the US under this administration is clearly the greatest ally she and her movement have for removing Maduro. And so now's not the time for quibbling. I think she would tell you, yeah, we got to get this monster and his cartel kleptocracy out of here.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if this is the right move or not, but saw bumper sticker going into the Halloween store. One of the many in my town that says war isn't the answer. And I had a discussion with my son who was in violent agreement with me. How stupid that is to me. You have, you have that sort of bumper sticker, a T shirt. You've just, you just, you might as well wear a sign that says I'm a.

[Joe Getty]

Or a child.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have, I have the mind of.

[Joe Getty]

A child or a child.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's just freaking stupid. So what do you suggest? For instance, Ukraine. A country attacks you and invades you and decides they're going to take you over. What should you do? Go to the UN and pass a resolution?

[Joe Getty]

Negotiate. Right. Yeah, I know, it's. It's just absurd. I'm trying to think of what's the perfect bumper sticker. No more bumper stickers. Don't read bumper stickers. That would be a good sticker. War is not the answer. Your bumper sticker isn't the answer. It's an idiot label.

[Jack Armstrong]

Dang it. It's such a moronic point of view. Is it? Do they believe it? It's like pacifists. Do they believe that? Or is it just. It's kind of fun and cool to be a that sort of person?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's self congratulatory. It's virtue signaling.

[Jack Armstrong]

But what you do is you. You're opting out of making the tough decisions. Well, good for you.

[Joe Getty]

And standing up to the bad guys. Now, is excessive offensive war a good thing or, or ill conceived wars to serve certain special interests a good thing? No, of course not. We're not making some sort of blanket endorsement of all violence. Far from it. But yeah, that's a dumb attitude.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why do we still have what we have in the United States that other countries haven't taken it? One reason only. One reason only that we are militarily stronger than every other country on earth. That's the only reason we get to hang on to our resources and way of life. Otherwise somebody would come along and take it. You freaking morons.

[Joe Getty]

So speaking of difficult choices in a complicated world, let me hit you with a Little more from this story about USI striking Venezuelan ground targets and then the greater theme which I hinted at earlier. So the administration has identified targets in Venezuela, including military facilities used to smuggle drugs. Hear me again, friends. Military facilities used to smuggle drugs because the Maduro regime and the cartels and the military are all in cahoots. They're one giant crime organization. If President Trump decides to move forward with the airstrikes, they said the targets would send a clear message to Maduro that it is time to step down. While the president has not made final decisions on ordering land strikes, the official said a potential air campaign would focus on targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we had the reporting yesterday that fishermen are more scared of their own government than they are scared of getting obliterated by Trump from the sky.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I don't doubt that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't doubt that either.

[Joe Getty]

There, there are no fishermen with cigarette boats with four giant outboard engines going, you know, 70 knots across the ocean.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, anyway, plus, the, the, the chance of an accidentally they blast you out of the water versus an actual drug boat exists. But the chance that the Maduro government comes to your house and grabs you and throws you in prison if you rise up is 100% right.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Yeah. You know, back to your theme of the war is not the answer. Ninnies. People like that, they represent a group that either can't admit or won't. That often in the affairs of a nation, you have two, two bad choices, two choices that you wish you didn't have to make, both of which make you sad. But you've got to do one of them and then pay the price for it and endure the pain and heartache of it. Ask Ukrainians. And I'm looking at our, our neighborhood, Central and South America, and our history down there is well known. And if you're, if you've been in college recently, you've heard, you know, and read reams of information about how awful it was that the US Backed right wing regimes to keep the communists at bay. And certainly a lot of the regimes we backed, awful things that make me sad and sickened, honestly. But to have, for instance, the Chinese Communists in charge of this neighborhood would be worse. And certainly, you know, we try to cut down the excesses of our allies and should, but I'm looking at South America as it is right now, and I won't go through the whole shebang because we don't have time. But if you look at Ecuador and Colombia And Venezuela and a couple others. They are either narco kleptocracies that are flooding our country with dangerous drugs and hotbeds to organize crime. Some of the big gangs you've heard of, some of them you haven't and or they're just complete basket cases. And though it is difficult and expensive, I love the idea of the US taking a more activist role in our neighborhood. We, we have it in our power not to be surrounded by narco terrorist basket cases. We gotta do that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Joe Getty, neocon.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Has a poster of John Bolton in his bathroom and a little grail to Lindsey Graham that he essentially that he kneels before every day.

[Joe Getty]

It's a shirtless picture, Lindsay. Which is kind of a side story. But anyway. No, because of the closet door.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you weren't understanding.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my gosh. You know what, I want to finish that point, but a quick word from our friends at Webroot. The scariest part of October is not the ghouls and ghosts. It's being vulnerable to cyber criminals.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, man, we all need this Webroot total protection with real time antivirus, firewall, network monitoring, a web threat shield. You'll be protected from malware, ransomware and phishing scams automatically. Plus their identity protection includes dark web monitoring. Looking around in the dark web to see if your information's floating out there, up to $1 million in expense reimbursements.

[Joe Getty]

For stolen funds and secure VPN, which I love. So the whole world isn't tracking everywhere you go and everything you do online. Change your October from cybersecurity to cybersecurity with 60% off Webroot total [e-mail] Armstrong they have 24. 7 US based customer support, by the way, and new text scam detection. Oh, I love that. Again, 60% off limited time. Go to webroot.comarmstrong you got to use our code to get that big giant discount one time. Webroot.com Armstrong Anyway, to finish my point very, very briefly, after some of the excesses of the 20th century and the Cold war and everything, Jimmy Carter in particular started a trend of America needs to be kinder and more gentle and hands off because some of the regimes we backed were really mean and we're ashamed and we're sad and we're sorry. You can self determine and then the neighborhood goes completely to hell.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's like.

[Joe Getty]

Going from Rudy Giuliani to Zoran Mumdani. It's just we went way too far. And you could, I suppose you could make the argument that well, these countries gotta manage themselves. But no, there are externalities. They screw with us and I say take a more active role in your neighborhood. Start with your neighborhood before you try to clean up the whole world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Joe Getty, neocon on this. This is the scariest of all days.

[Joe Getty]

I don't think that's fair.

[Jack Armstrong]

Want to talk more about that later. Read a fascinating article about AI Yesterday a big conference they had where they had a debate between the it's going to ruin the world and the it's going to make the world the best it's ever been crowd. They kind of had a debate.

[Joe Getty]

Oh really?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And a bunch of other stuff on the way including Mailbag next. Stay here.

[Announcer]

Armstrong and Gettys Every now and then.

[Background Voice / Misc]

I rinse it out and I need tummy rinse tonight and I need it more. My kid wet the bed and the smell never leaves. I don't know what to do. I'm always in the dark. The sweat and dead short smells like a dark I'm down here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Downy Rinse fights stubborn odors in just one way. Wash when impossible odors get stuck in. That's some good scary music on Halloween there, Michael. The all new Armstrong and Getty Superstore is open with our new sweatshirts. We need to talk about later hoodies, whatever you call them. And very popular. Or they're going to be popular because they're super high quality and really good this year and look forward to talking about that more later. Great gift for someone who's a fan of the show.

[Joe Getty]

Do we have them with the star of the lazy message on it yet? I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's.

[Joe Getty]

That's gonna take off, man.

[Jack Armstrong]

My brother' would like that.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, yeah, I would too. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day from Matt Taibbi, the essay we highlighted yesterday. We're in the upper class twits promoting revolution space, a script with which most of the rest of the world is sadly familiar. Is there no defense against the ignorant rich upper class twits promoting revolution? Mamdani and company love that. Well done, Matt. Oh and a an honorary quote of the day. MJ sent this along. You know a good point about Gabby Newsom's fake I'm a I was a poor kid act, which is just hilarious. But she then signs off with a C.S. lewis quote, which I've always loved. You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's pretty good.

[Joe Getty]

Remembering every day of your life. Mailbag drop us Note mailbagarmstrongetty.com got a number of not on the poll that came out that Democrats are not proud of the country and Republicans still are. The numbers of Democrats and independents who say they're very, extremely proud of the country has plunged in the last 20.

[Jack Armstrong]

Years or so where it's steadied about 90% for Republicans.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. In regards to the polls. What polls? All of them. Well played, Tom. That have Republicans still proud in this country, etc. As always, the type of person who's in the Democrat camp more emotionally driven.

[Jack Armstrong]

Driven.

[Joe Getty]

They rely on their feelings to guide them. Well, it's much easier to influence that type of person with empty rhetoric and hair on fire proclamations. Hitler's in the White House. Whereas a person who thinks, analyzes and actually pays attention to their skeptical genes is not easily herded from guardrail to guardrail. So in conclusion. Duh, let's see. JT on the same topic. It's easy to explain. Republicans and conservatives based their pride on the the fundamentals of our country. Freedom, liberty, our constitutional republic, et cetera. Those things don't change very much over time and certainly don't depend on which party is in the White House. So it's no surprise that Republican sentiment has remained relatively flat. By contrast, the Democratic Party and progressives are a political movement built on aggrievement. Of course, they can't be proud of a country that contains so many things about which agreement is necessary. You know, I think that's an excellent point. Grievance has become virtually the only motivating force among Democrats. And you can't stoke grievance 247 and then say, but this is a wonderful country. It doesn't work. That's the answer. Well done, friend. Speaking of friends, our old friend Kemper really enjoys our scathing conversations about government schools and what they're doing. But he says it annoys me that they don't wrap up with a strong statement advocating school voucher programs in California, where Kemper lives and other places. You know, fair criticism there is. There are answers. So yeah, we'll throw that in.

[Jack Armstrong]

More email to come.

[Joe Getty]

We got some really good amusing ones. But we are out of time.

[Jack Armstrong]

AI is going to be great for all of us or ruin our lives. Which is it? We'll get into that. Among other things on the way. If you miss a segment podcast Armstrong.

[Announcer]

You Getty on Demand Armstrong and Gettysburg.

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[News Reporter]

Ooh, you smell amazing, James.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, thanks, Mom. I love you too.

[News Reporter]

I never said that.

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[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.