I've Seen A Beaver Smokin' Marijuana

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – Episode: "I've Seen A Beaver Smokin' Marijuana"

Release Date: May 7, 2025

In this engaging episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand, hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty, along with co-host Colby Ekowitz, delve into pressing geopolitical issues and the sociocultural impacts of contemporary movements. Skipping over the numerous advertisements, the core conversation offers insightful discussions on international conflicts, the influence of "woke" culture on youth, and the ramifications of government policies on societal structures.

---

1. Middle East Tensions: The Houthi Ceasefire Agreement

The episode kicks off with a significant geopolitical update regarding the Middle East. President [Last Name] announces a major development involving the Houthi militia, a group backed by Iran.

• Jack Armstrong shares:

  "The Houthis agreeing to stop targeting U.S. vessels." [03:26]

• Joe Getty elaborates on the situation:

  "The Iran-backed militia had snarled global trade by attacking ships in the Red Sea for more than a year, protesting the war in Gaza." [03:35]

In exchange for halting their assaults on U.S. maritime interests, the President vows to suspend U.S. strikes against the Houthis.

• Colby Ekowitz adds a critical perspective:

  "We will stop the bombings and they have capitulated. But more importantly, we will take their word." [03:52]

However, the tension remains palpable as the Houthis declare their intent to continue targeting Israel.

• Joe Getty warns:

  "The Houthis vow to still target Israel, who overnight bombed an airport in Yemen after a Houthi strike near Tel Aviv." [03:52]

The hosts discuss the precarious nature of such agreements, questioning the long-term viability and the potential for future conflicts.

---

2. The Impact of "Woke" Culture on Youth and Resentment Politics

Transitioning from international affairs, Colby Ekowitz introduces a critical examination of "woke" culture and its effects on young men in the United States.

• Colby Ekowitz states:

  "Conservative parents all over the country who, by the grace of God, didn't lose their daughters to trans because of the woke left are now seeing their sons lured toward Nazism by the woke." [06:30]

This leads to a broader discussion on resentment politics, where movements driven by perceived grievances rather than constructive goals can lead to societal fragmentation.

• Jordan Peterson is referenced:

  "Beware of any of these movements that are motivated by resentment. ... If the motivation of the movement is you're so resentful of the way you're being attacked as opposed to a more positive spin, that tends to drive you to do bad things." [07:59]

The hosts emphasize the dangers of allowing resentment to fuel political and social agendas, highlighting the potential for such dynamics to escalate into extremist ideologies.

• Joe Getty warns:

  "Be careful when ye fight monsters, that ye do not become a monster yourself." [10:21]

---

3. Societal Oddities and Cultural Shifts

Interspersed with their main discussions, the hosts touch upon peculiar societal phenomena that reflect broader cultural shifts.

• Joe Getty recounts an unusual incident:

  "Meth pipe raccoon... someone checked the book of Revelations raccoon mentioned in there obliquely." [19:01]

This anecdote serves as a metaphor for the perceived decline in societal norms and the rise of bizarre behaviors, symbolizing deeper anxieties within the community.

• Colby Ekowitz reflects on the collective mood:

  "Everybody's depressed, angry, doesn't think their government works. Stopped having kids." [21:31]

The conversation underscores a general sense of disillusionment and frustration among the populace, exacerbated by events like the COVID-19 pandemic.

---

4. Government Policies and Their Unintended Consequences

A significant portion of the discussion centers on Jason Riley's upcoming book, "The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences to Succeed." The hosts analyze how government interventions intended to support marginalized communities may inadvertently cause harm.

• Colby Ekowitz highlights key points:

  "Between 1940 and 1960, the black poverty rate in the country fell 40 points from 87% to 47%. 1960 is not only before any affirmative action started, it's during Jim Crow." [43:32]

• Joe Getty echoes the sentiment:

  "If you give people a little government help, it can often lead to the opposite outcomes that you want." [35:53]

The hosts critique the sustainability and effectiveness of such policies, questioning whether they truly serve the intended beneficiaries or perpetuate dependency and systemic issues.

---

5. Final Thoughts: Reflecting on Societal Balance and Well-being

In the concluding segment, the hosts offer personal reflections on maintaining balance amidst societal chaos.

• Colby Ekowitz shares:

  "I watch an NBA game and enjoy it instead of some roundtable news show. I go to bed happier." [46:31]

• Joe Getty emphasizes the importance of mental rest:

  "You gotta let the brain rest now and again." [47:08]

The final thoughts serve as a reminder to find personal equilibrium and seek positivity in everyday activities despite the pervasive challenges discussed.

---

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Jack Armstrong: "The Houthis agreeing to stop targeting U.S. vessels." [03:26]

• Colby Ekowitz: "Conservative parents... seeing their sons lured toward Nazism by the woke." [06:30]

• Joe Getty: "Be careful when ye fight monsters, that ye do not become a monster yourself." [10:21]

• Colby Ekowitz: "Everybody's depressed, angry, doesn't think their government works. Stopped having kids." [21:31]

• Joe Getty: "If you give people a little government help, it can often lead to the opposite outcomes that you want." [35:53]

---

Conclusion

This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand presents a multifaceted exploration of international relations, sociocultural dynamics, and the unintended consequences of governmental policies. Through informed discussions and poignant reflections, the hosts offer listeners a comprehensive understanding of the complexities shaping today's world.

Transcript

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Jack Armstrong]

We've all done it. You see a headline but don't have time to read the whole story. Or there's so much news you're not sure what is worth your time. I'm Colby Ekowitz, co host of Post Reports, the weekday afternoon podcast from the Washington Post. Post Reports brings you what's relevant and revealing. Breaking stories Politics, wellness, culture. Each episode goes beyond a headline for the context you need. Find Post reports now wherever you're listening. 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 the President did tell reporters about a major development out of the Middle East.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Houthis agreeing to stop targeting U.S. vessels.

[Joe Getty]

The Iran backed militia had snarled global trade by attacking ships in the Red.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sea for more than a year, saying.

[Katie Green]

It was in protest of the war in Gaza.

[Jack Armstrong]

The President announcing in exchange he'll suspend.

[Joe Getty]

US Strikes against the Houthis.

[Colby Ekowitz]

We will stop the bombings and they have capitulated. But more importantly, we will take their word.

[Joe Getty]

But the Houthis vow to still target Israel, who overnight bombed an airport in Yemen after a Houthi strike near Tel Aviv.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Okay, so that's kind of interesting. What I really wanted to play is the way this played out there. So this is Trump sitting in the Oval Office with the Canadian Prime Minister sitting there wishing the whole thing was over. Trump was taking questions about the Houthi thing because the story had just broken and this is the way it went.

[Joe Getty]

We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced that they are not, or they've announced to us at.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Least that they don't want to fight anymore. They just don't want to fight.

[Joe Getty]

And we will honor that.

[Colby Ekowitz]

And we will, we will stop the bombings. And they have capitulated. But more importantly, they, we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.

[Joe Getty]

And that's what the purpose of what we were doing.

[Colby Ekowitz]

So that's an interesting way to announce that, I thought. And then, then this question from a reporter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Tell us a bit more about the deal that you've reached with the Houthis.

[Joe Getty]

No, it's not a deal. They've said, please don't bomb us anymore and we're not going to attack your ships.

[Jack Armstrong]

And where did you hear about that?

[Joe Getty]

It doesn't matter where I hear.

[Colby Ekowitz]

The very good source, I could tell.

[Joe Getty]

Very, very good source, would you say, Marco?

[Colby Ekowitz]

I would say pretty good, right, J.D.

[Joe Getty]

A very good source.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Trump, he's a, he's unique.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I'd say, yeah. The Houthis are going to continue to lob ordinance at Israel, by the way, in Israeli ships.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I wonder what we told them. Like, probably something along the lines of, look, you can shoot, it's Israel, that's what you do. I get it. You can't be stopping shipping. We can't put up with that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, we got 50,000 more of those missiles we've sent your way. So up to you, I'll bet we.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I'll bet that's close to what we said.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, essentially. Yeah.

[Colby Ekowitz]

And I was just reading.

[Joe Getty]

I hope it holds.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I think if I'm a Houthi, I agree with Trump because I don't think he's going to let that go on. You're not going to interrupt international shipping anymore. That's over now. I just read a piece where this frees us up for the whole attack in Iran, which is still coming one of these days. One of these days we're all going to wake up and Israel, with our help, is going to attack Iran and it's going to be the biggest military thing we've done in this country in a quarter century. That's going to happen one of these days.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Meanwhile, Israel has the green light to lob ordinance back at the Houthis if they want, with our support and, you know, encouragement. So.

[Colby Ekowitz]

So different topic. I wanted to get to this. This is the most interesting thing I came across yesterday. I sent it to Joe. I found it so interesting. So I don't have a full handed grasp on woke Right. And what's going on there. It's a little slippery for me. So I don't want to like get into the that argument completely. But James Lindsay, who we like on this show, he gave a little speech yesterday and a bunch of people were retweeting part of it saying this about our kids out there today. Conservative parents all over the country who by the grace of God didn't lose their daughters to trans because of the woke left are now seeing their sons lured toward Nazism by the woke. Right. You can leave woke right out of it if that, that term bothers you. And the justifications are just as bad in resentment. And on the other side, and Jordan Peterson, who either you know or don't, his response to that was beware of any of these movements that are motivated by resentment. And that really struck me as like a measuring stick for all this stuff going forward. If the motivation of the movement is you're so resentful of the way you're being attacked as opposed to a more even if you are being attacked as opposed to a more positive here's what we can accomplish spin that tends to drive you to do bad things.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Right. If your motivation is the grievance as opposed to a goal, an ideal. Yeah, there's subtlety in this.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, there is. But I Do think that we're maybe in the midst of this and it is a problem. The idea that your, your, your daughters in high school and college, they were, they were coming at them hard with the whole, hey, you're trans and men are evil and all the different things. And it's so popular in college, and it worked on a lot of people, unfortunately. But now the guys who have been attacked, I kind of see this in my own kids and their friends. Guys who have been attacked for so long as being, you know, toxic masculinity and all these different sort of stuff have built up a pretty big head esteem of resentment themselves and are well earned. Well earned. But resentment politics or resentment movements aren't good for society. And I don't know how we get ourselves.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, they're not good for you as an individual either?

[Colby Ekowitz]

No, absolutely not. I don't know how we get ourselves out of this, but it is something to be on the watch for. I know I'm going to. It really struck a chord with me because like I said, I see this in my kids and some of their friends and how resentful they are, and a lot of that stuff that gets pushed toward them, which makes you susceptible to a, you know, some crazy ideas.

[Joe Getty]

Right. It's happened over and over in history. We don't need to point out the most obvious examples of it. But yeah, and to watch the other side, whatever that other side is, break the laws of God and man and decency over and over again and then be told, we don't break the laws of God, man and decency. And you're being told by your gurus, your recruiters, that, well, you're just gonna lose, then you're gonna lose and lose like the oldsters do, like the oldsters did. They got their institutions taken over. You gonna, you're gonna cling to your marquee of Queensbury rules, to your classical liberal principles, you're gonna lose. So, hey, we're dropping the gloves and we're gonna fight dirty, and all these old principles are out the window. We're gonna beat the other side. You know, the, the problem being the old, old, old saying, be careful when ye fight monsters, that ye do not become a monster yourself.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Right. And it ends up definitely a race to the bottom.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. It's easy to understand. And my God, if I were a college student right now, enduring what even moderately left to conservative young men, particularly white young men, are having to put up with, I could see myself being an angry militant. I really could.

[Katie Green]

Right?

[Colby Ekowitz]

And then there's plenty of people out there who make a lot of money by the way, or power and, or money off of convincing you you need to go scorched earth against the other side after all these years of them saying bad things about you. And I am concerned about that as the future. I don't know if there's any stopping this.

[Joe Getty]

There's perhaps tapping the brake and steering it a little bit and just persisting in the message of again, you don't want to become the very sort of monster that you're decrying because you will become that monster. You will lose all sense of proportion, you will lose all sense of decency and you will not in any way accomplish anything except defeat your enemies. But it'll be a new horror and you will then be absolutely deserving of the decapitation. Not literally, obviously, that comes your way. That's the problem with giving in to that temptation.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah. I'm somewhat concerned that we're, that I or we are being so cloaked in this conversation that some of you aren't following it. I don't, I just don't, I just don't want to use specific examples of people or things. Things because they're so hot in some cases.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And frankly, I don't, I don't need the headache of dealing with it.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

I just, yeah, it's, it's inviting, you know, it's kicking hornets nests. There's no point. We can, we can accomplish what we're trying to accomplish a different way, but.

[Colby Ekowitz]

We got to find a way to keep our young males from being as, you know, red faced, screaming on the streets with just vile hatred against the left as the crazy woke left has been at, you know, our young men for the past quite a few years.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Yeah. You know, it's funny, I just retweeted something. Oops, that was. That's the wrong one. A. A member of the so called alt right. What do we just call them? Whatever, you know, they. It. The name morphs every so often and doesn't really matter, but has this meme going and it's from the Lord of the Rings. And instead of the ring of power, somebody's grasping the ring of winning. And the conservative says cast it into the fire. Destroy it. The woke right says, no. The point of retweeting. Well, James Lindsay back to Lindsay says weird self own. Lmao. The entire point of the movie and the ring is that no human being can be trusted with that sort of power because it will pervert you and turn you into a monster. Did you watch the movie? Do you get that that's not a cool statement of defiance. That's a statement that I am so wildly, blindly lacking in wisdom. I've completely missed the point.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, but if you're, if you're a young male that feels like the world's against you and you're unemployed or underemployed.

[Joe Getty]

Can'T get laid, constantly berated by people for being born a bad person. Yeah, right.

[Colby Ekowitz]

It's a lot easier to be viciously angry at that crowd than to have any sort of positive outlook on trying to overcome it. I mean, I certainly understand that it's human nature.

[Joe Getty]

Agree completely.

[Colby Ekowitz]

But man, we got.

[Joe Getty]

Understanding something is not the same as condoning it. I think it's important we, we do both.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

It's like I have worked very, very hard to actually understand the process by which and the mindset in which confused adolescent girls get swayed to the whole, I'm genderqueer, I'm, I'm bisexual, I'm transgender. Even when they're pre sexual, they're like pre adolescent to adolescent to two teenagers. Not just. I just don't want to condemn it. I want to understand it because that's the only way to fight it effectively. So, yeah, we have to understand that urge. And which one is it? Sympathize or empathize with it? Sympathize with it. I get it. That doesn't mean I approve of it. But if you don't get it, you're not going to be able to help people with it.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I don't know if that made any sense. If it did, and you have any comment? Our text line is 415295KFTC.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Katie Green]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families with green light. You can send money to kids quickly, set up chores automate allowance and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely and parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] iheart we've all done it. You see a headline but don't have time to read the whole story or there's so much news you're not sure what is worth your time. Colby I'm Colby Ekowicz Co host of Post Reports, the weekday afternoon podcast from the Washington Post. Post Reports brings you what's relevant and revealing. Breaking stories, politics, wellness, culture. Each episode goes beyond a headline for the context you need. Find Post Reports now wherever you're listening.

[Joe Getty]

The reason I stop you is you are. You are suspended with a warrant for your arrest.

[Jack Armstrong]

I am.

[Joe Getty]

The raccoon has her meth pipe.

[Jack Armstrong]

As what?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God. Her meth pipe.

[Colby Ekowitz]

He's playing with the meth pipe right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, there's no.

[Joe Getty]

He's trying to smoke it. All right, thanks.

[Colby Ekowitz]

There's no way.

[Joe Getty]

All right, all right. Enough fun and games.

[Colby Ekowitz]

So who grabbed that video? Was that yours, Katie? So do I understand it right that the.

[Jack Armstrong]

The.

[Colby Ekowitz]

The. The creeps who are driving on methods when they get pulled over by the cops are laughing about the fact that there's a raccoon trying to smoke their meth pipe? Or is that the cops laughing?

[Jack Armstrong]

That. That was the cop laughing.

[Joe Getty]

Meth pipe. Raccoon. Yeah. He back to his room only to smoke some more drug hugs.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, he pulled the woman over for.

[Joe Getty]

A traffic violation, told her she had a warrant.

[Jack Armstrong]

Gets her out of the car and.

[Joe Getty]

Looks in and there's a raccoon with a meth pipe. That's pretty funny. You don't often see, well, a raccoon with a meth pipe.

[Colby Ekowitz]

If you haven't seen the picture, it looks exactly like if you told AI create a picture of me of a raccoon sitting in the front seat of a car smoking meth. It's. It's exactly what it looks like.

[Joe Getty]

Now, I once came across a beaver smoking marijuana. And once I saw an opossum snort and blow. But I've never seen a raccoon with a bath pipe. These are odd times, Jack.

[Colby Ekowitz]

This has got to be the reckoning. Or with something when it's something.

[Joe Getty]

Somebody checked the book of Revelations raccoon mentioned in there obliquely.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Very end times. Ish.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. We were talking about this briefly earlier. I feel like there is a generalized anxiety, anger that's like, infected everything. Dealing with it in my personal life, societally, in the United States, college campuses, globally, incumbents, the standard political parties being tossed, extremist ideologies being embraced, like, all over, birth rates plunging. I think it's a symptom of the same thing. I just don't know what the thing is. Is it we've gone away from God? I'm not a very religious guy, but is it something like that? I don't know.

[Colby Ekowitz]

And Covid exacerbated It.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, Yeah, I think there's something there. There should be more, like, bigger picture than just individual countries or whatever. Just like a global. What's going on here? Everybody's. Everybody's depressed, angry, doesn't think their government works. Stopped having kids.

[Joe Getty]

What the hell, right? Used to be, you know, for generations, raccoons would get up when the sun went down, they'd rifle through your trash, they'd take what they needed, they go back to their kids. Now you got them wasted, high on people's front seats, right?

[Colby Ekowitz]

Saying, what's the point?

[Joe Getty]

Right? Living in their stone raccoon camps, stealing people's bicycles. All right, that was half incredibly serious and half ridiculous. I just. Yeah, I gotta laugh to keep from crying. Like poor Abe Lincoln, huh? We're not for laughter. I think I would go mad as.

[Colby Ekowitz]

A guy who drives a Tesla cybertruck. I like the videos of raccoons trying to get into cybertrucks because they think they're trash dumpsters.

[Joe Getty]

Now, that's a sub genre.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I find those entertaining because they look like trash dumpsters.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, you want to talk about the inexplicable? We probably don't have time for this, but I've given up caring. How do you like this headline? They spend hours decorating their fridge shelves.

[Colby Ekowitz]

They do.

[Joe Getty]

It's the new online trend of refrigerator decorating.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Well, you don't have kids. You got a lot. You got to kill a lot of time doing something.

[Joe Getty]

It started with emptying the contents of her refrigerator, followed by a deep clean. Then the staging. Mustard, soy sauce, and other condiments were artfully repackaged in stylish containers. Baby carrots were submerged in water, arranged in a decorative container, and given pride of place on the top shelf. Small pumpkins were scattered here and there.

[Colby Ekowitz]

How am I so busy? And there are people with time to do this?

[Joe Getty]

It's called fridge scaping, Jack.

[Colby Ekowitz]

That's what I heard.

[Joe Getty]

Doesn't that make you just want to effing punch somebody? It sure does me, folks.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I don't know about you.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know why I want to slap somebody hard. Fridge scaping now. Oh. Oh, that's right.

[Colby Ekowitz]

That took the wind out of me.

[Joe Getty]

We gotta take a break just to catch our wind.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll be back with more Armstrong and Getty. Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech Upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultra Light, ultra powerful, and built for serious productivity with Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed and AI powered performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around. Whoa, this thing moves. Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech [e-mail] Lenovo Lenovo unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device.

[Katie Green]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Terms apply there's an efficient way to get caught up on a lot of news. It's called the seven from the Washington Post. It's a newsletter and podcast. Whether you're reading or hit play, you get seven stories you need to know, and you can consume it all in just a few minutes. The 7 is out every weekday morning by 7:00am Eastern. I'm Hannah Jewellery. I'm one of the writers and I host the show Find the seven Podcast. Wherever you're listening, the newsletter link is waiting for you in the show Notes. Wasn't that delicious?

[Joe Getty]

So good. Your bill, ladies.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I got it.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I got it.

[Joe Getty]

Seriously, I insist.

[Jack Armstrong]

I insisted first.

[Joe Getty]

Don't be silly.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're not silly.

[Katie Green]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

[Joe Getty]

Shoot.

[Colby Ekowitz]

No.

[Katie Green]

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[Joe Getty]

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[Colby Ekowitz]

Smoke Smokey Robinson Tears of a Clown I've got sunshine on a cloudy day.

[Joe Getty]

That Smokey Robinson, 85 years old, false imprisonment and sexual battery. And all very troubling.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, I'd say.

[Joe Getty]

My Girl was the Temptations, wasn't it?

[Colby Ekowitz]

He was. He wasn't that. Okay.

[Joe Getty]

I don't think many classics though. Many. The point remains so many beloved.

[Colby Ekowitz]

What else has he got? Tears of a Clown and what else.

[Joe Getty]

Many other hits.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Okay, we'll take your word for it.

[Joe Getty]

I think would leap to mind. And yeah, they had a wonderful. So great piece just came across. John Fund, whose name may be familiar. He's a national affairs columnist for the National Review, longtime conservative commentator and Wendell Cox, who's a think tank guy. Free enterprise, that sort of thing. And the headline is California's Toy Train Hobbyists Won't Give Up. It's about the sad and horrifying high speed rail project in California. And it's funny because at this point I'm torn between continuing to fight the unholy beast that is this theft from the taxpayers and a feeling like it's such an old topic and everything's been said, there's no point. And yet it continues.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah. The lesson is there are plenty of people in and out of government that will continue something as long as money's changing hands. The goal disappeared years ago and we should all be more aware of that. Are there people that still pretend they're ever going to have a bullet train? I mean, they are pretending, but I don't think anybody who actually believes it, they just know this. No, this is a never ending money spigot. If I can keep it going for like three more years, I can pay off my house and put my kids through college.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Essentially. And reward our cronies and win the next couple of elections. Yeah, exactly. I'll just give you a bit of it. In 2008, they got bare not even 53% of California voters to approve a.

[Colby Ekowitz]

$10 billion freaking voters, I'm looking at you. Geez. You saps.

[Joe Getty]

Well they got. They got had. They were had, they were. They were conned. They got less than 53% of California voters to approve a $10 billion bond issue to jumpstart the project which promoters claimed would cost $33 billion with service Louisiana to San Francisco starting in 2020. That's five years ago folks. And you know the fastest trains, 200 miles per hour. Finish the trip in no more than two hours 40 minutes. Tickets affordable. A full 17 years later, the project looks more like a con than a futuristic transportation service. Boy, that is a good sentence.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Last Sunday even the New York Times ran a lengthy piece about it titled A scenic tale of Red tape tracking the slowest high speed train in the country. Construction is inching along on a third of the route, a mere stub between the non metropolis of Merced and Bakersfield.

[Colby Ekowitz]

The fact that there is somebody right now as we speak with a shovel working on something in theory to continue this nonsense is really amazing. But billions of dollars at trade hands.

[Joe Getty]

Earlier today I retweeted, I think it was Bill Malugian of Fox News who retweeted and commented sarcastically on the High Speed Ripoff authority saying California High speed Rail. Real progress, real jobs, real results. 50 plus major structures complete, 15,000 plus good paying jobs created and the largest clean energy transportation project in the nation. Here it is. California is proving that we can still build big things in America. Build California. And Bill tweeted not one piece of track has been laid. Not one. And I added on self beclownment reaches new heights. So anyway, the project is now projected to cost at least $128 billion and it'll be far far more than hey progressives.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I realize there aren't progressives probably listening to us, but hey progressives, why doesn't this make you mad? Doesn't this make you mad that this money isn't going to, I don't know, trans surgeries or illegal something or other? Or don't you have other causes you care more about that will you could actually do something with?

[Joe Getty]

You didn't exactly steel man their argument. But yes, I see your point completely. Government waste saps money from the programs you support. So it'll cost 200 billion if it ever exists. And it will never exist. But officials no longer even bother predicting when San Francisco and LA will be linked. Did you know that friends, they won't even throw out a fake number anymore. Meanwhile, the California High Speed Ripoff Authority is virtually out of Money. The funding shortfall is nearly a hundred billion.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I thought it was supposed to cost. Was it supposed to cost total 13 billion?

[Joe Getty]

I can't remember. Third. No, 33.

[Colby Ekowitz]

33 billion. And then the. The original thing was for 10 billion. Yeah, right, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So now that 33 has become 128 and they lack 100 billion of it. And federal taxpayers have already chipped in $7 billion to get the trains. Boosters are counting on more. But within days of being sworn in, Donald J. Cut off more federal funding. Good. Anyway, so now they're trying to sucker the private sector into investing in the mad scheme. It's not gonna happen. Nobody's that stupid. You'd have to be just so profoundly stupid.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Well, were there building using my finger quotes where they're laying the track right now. I mean, puts a lie to the original plan anyway. So as you've been pointing out for years, even if they finished it under its current plan, which, God, I hope they don't, it would be a regular speed train that meanders through California, right?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, exactly. At the cost of, I mean, unthinkable amounts of money.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Nobody would ride it to commute from San Francisco to LA and back. You might ride it because you want to ride a train through California.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's like Amtrak. I have a good friend who recently took a fairly significant trek on Amtrak.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Sounds awesome.

[Joe Getty]

It is. It's a sightseeing, no hurry. Yeah, yeah. It's like if you took a dinner cruise on San Francisco Bay. It's not transportation per se. It's not efficient transportation. It's a sightseeing thing. And that's about as good as it gets, honestly. You know, I wanted to get into, but I misplaced.

[Colby Ekowitz]

We get stolen from from such. It's amazing we don't have revolutions in the street. Of course, this is because the tax base is so narrow. Most people don't pay much taxes. So they don't get worked up about. This is the only explanation.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's. That's part of it. Or, or I think, you know, and I've advocated that point of view a lot. But the more I think about it, I think it has more to do with the fact that people are just completely blindly unaware of the facts of what's happening and the ripoff nature of it.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I mean, I'm an anti violence. I don't want them. But this is. You should be in the streets throwing rocks through windows sort of stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Sure, yeah. Yeah. If anything would justify that sort of anger on the part of taxpayers this would be it. But people just don't notice or they don't get riled up. I came across another study speaking of transportation, of how ludicrous it is that NASA continues to waste enormous amounts of money. They're still building like multi billion dollar per Launch permanent Rocket 1 use single use rockets while SpaceX and other companies.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Are getting Katy Perry into space.

[Joe Getty]

No, I'm not. No, no. Are developing these multi use rockets that are a fraction of the cost and much more efficient and blah blah blah. And we really need to.

[Colby Ekowitz]

This is like the bullet train. It's the same sort of thing. It's just a. People are getting money. The spending is the point, the spending is the point.

[Joe Getty]

Ding. Well, and they make the point that there are things that NASA does very well. But we really need to embrace the public private partnership thing because the. And I'd like to go into detail. Maybe another time. But NASA has been enormously slow, bound by reams of regulations, not innovative. And once they get started down a long slow red tape choked road, they find it nearly impossible to abandon it. Ending something in government might be the hardest thing you could possibly accomplish. Meanwhile, over at SpaceX they say that didn't work, let's try this. And in about three days they've caught NASA past them and vaulted far into the future. So anyway, I don't know, probably preaching to the choir, but.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I think he wrote My Girl.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, he did?

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, I think he wrote My Girl.

[Joe Getty]

Smokey Robinson wrote My Girl. It has a smoky sound.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, it does.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Yeah. And what an astounding singer he was. And, and perhaps what are the other hits?

[Colby Ekowitz]

Perhaps a little kidnappy in his older years.

[Joe Getty]

No, no, I will not leap to that until proven guilty for once in my life. No, I have no idea. I, I will tell you this.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Being with you, which was a hit like an 81 like long after his prime. But I love that song.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's a good song. What else? What else you got?

[Colby Ekowitz]

You really got a hold on me. Oh, Cruising Ooh baby, baby Good tune Tracks my tears.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I, that was, that was the one I knew is. Yeah, right.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I second that emotion.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, winner.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, but he'll lock and touch you.

[Joe Getty]

You know what? Witness for the prosecution, Jack Loose with his accusations, Armstrong, you know, I heard the other day because I, I geek out on this stuff a lot. It was, I wish I could remember what record it was. Was it superstition or what a Stevie Wonders hits? It was Stevie playing the bass guitar on that song and it was some of the best bass playing I've ever heard in my many decades as being a bassist. It was crazy good. I mean like nuanced and. And fast and cool. You know what he's like over celebrated in certain ways. Oh, Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder. I don't think people understand what a miraculous musician he was is.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I wonder if there could be a Smokey Robinson Diddy.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, I. You know what? I'm checking out. Michael. Let. Let Captain Irresponsible here. Babel is nonsense. Is poor. Victimizing the ancient Smokey Robinson nonsense. I'm checking out.

[Colby Ekowitz]

All right. We'll finish strong.

[Jack Armstrong]

Next Armstrong and Getty. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming [e-mail] Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. So you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power [e-mail] lenovo Lenovo. We've all done it. You see a headline but don't have time to read the whole story or there's so much news you're not sure what is worth your time. I'm Colby Ekowitz, co host of Post Reports, the weekday afternoon podcast from the Washington Post. Post Reports brings you what's relevant and revealing. Breaking stories, politics, wellness, culture. Each episode goes beyond a headline for the context you need. Find Post Reports now wherever you're listening. Wasn't that delicious?

[Joe Getty]

So good. Your bill, ladies.

[Colby Ekowitz]

I got it.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I got it.

[Joe Getty]

Seriously, I insist.

[Jack Armstrong]

I insisted. First. Don't be silly. You don't be silly.

[Katie Green]

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[Joe Getty]

Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors, Shoot.

[Joe Getty]

No.

[Katie Green]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, it's pretty good.

[Joe Getty]

And yet rarely mentioned among yacht rock classics. Literally cruising in that song.

[Colby Ekowitz]

So we like Jason Riley around here, writes for the Wall Street Journal mostly and he's got a new book out that I have a feeling we are going to be interviewing him about at some point. And somebody, a number of reviewers have said this might be the definitive book on this topic. The affirmative action Myth, why Blacks Don't Need Racial Preferences to Succeed. And it's basically a breakdown of how all of that legislation that got passed in the mid-60s mostly to try to help the black community has clearly hurt the black community, not helped the black community. And this might be the book that really drives that home. But he's got all kinds of statistics to back it up. I mean, a lot of you, if you're into this topic, have been aware of it and you remember Patrick Moynihan and when he put all this stuff together, it is, it's, it's a tough one for a lot of people to swallow. The idea that if you give people a little government help, it can often lead to the opposite outcomes that you want. But it just seems statistically true, you know, whether you, whether you're doing it with your own kids that won't leave the house or whatever the situation is, it's just, it just seems to be human nature.

[Joe Getty]

One of the most intriguing and troubling bits of wisdom that I think a lot of us ever learn is the idea that it is much easier to fool people than to convince them they've been fooled. And one of the hardest things, and I've seen this so many times and politics runs on this, especially progressive politics, it is so difficult if somebody advocates something for the right reasons with, with a. I had the phrase in my mind a second ago, but they, they, their motivations are good and they advocate something and they're wrong and it doesn't work or it backfires. It's so hard to get people to admit my heart was in the right place, but that was wrong.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Well, Jason Riley, as a black man, is making this about the black family. And going back to the 60s, I think it might get more traction if you included white America now and seeing the exact same thing happen in Appalachia or wherever you want to look and how government dependency is destroying those families and making things worse, not better. Riley rattles off statistics in his book. Between 1940 and 1960, the black poverty rate in the country fell 40 points from 87% to 47%. 1960 is not only before any affirmative action started, it's during Jim Crow. It's before any major civil rights acts of the 60s had passed. It's before the DEI programs. And then they started with all the various handouts to try to make things better, and it just turned around and started going the other direction at a very fast rate. And it's horrifying. It's horrifying what it does to families. It's horrifying waste of taxpayer money because you get the opposite of what you want, a better society. I don't know. I hope this book gets some traction.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah. And your point about black people and white people is a good one because there are way more poor white people. But for whatever reason, if you're arguing about government programs for poverty, any objection to them always gets hauled up on the witness stand of your. You're just racist against black people and helping them or something for some reason.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Right. Or you're blaming them. Whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's Final thoughts.

[Katie Green]

I'm strong. Get ready with Katie Green and Michael Angelo.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah. Here's your host for Final Thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Let's get a final thought from. From everybody on the crew to wrap things up for the day where the whole team's together again. Finally, Michelangelo in the control room. Michael, final thought. You know that clip about the raccoon.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Smoking the crack pipe?

[Joe Getty]

Maybe I can get one of my cats to, like, smoke a cigar or something like that, you know, it's worth a try. Sure. That'd be very amusing. Great. For Instagram, Katie Greener, Steven news woman, has a final thought. Katie?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I know it set you off earlier, but Joe, just think of all the fridge scaping you could do with your imprint. Impressive amount of condiments. Think about it.

[Joe Getty]

You got a gun, you lead me to the fridge, tell me to fridge scape. Just go ahead and shoot me. Jack. A final thought for us.

[Colby Ekowitz]

We all know it's about balance. Balance is so hard to achieve though. But like I never watch anything frivolous on television. Like never. And I've been into the NBA the last week or so and guess what? It's made me happier. I watch an NBA game and enjoy it instead of like some roundtable news show. And I go to bed happier. So I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

You gotta let the brain rest now and again. What? No time for my final thought, eh? It's a conspiracy. They're all against me, folks. All of them. I had a good one too.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Oh man, that's disappointing. I know. Armstrong, you Getty Wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Joe Getty]

So many people to thanks a little time go to armstrong getty.com for the hot links. Drop us a no pickups mang swag for your favorite AMG fan. Maybe it's that's you. Love to hear from you [e-mail] we'll see you tomorrow.

[Colby Ekowitz]

God bless America.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty has been hijacked by the TQ plus. That's what people do. That's not hyperbolic, that's academic. Even in Washington that math doesn't work.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sorry.

[Joe Getty]

There are haters. There's always going to be haters. I've been called worse.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Okay, for those of you that don't.

[Joe Getty]

Understand, you can still get on the plane, but it's a free full body cavity search. It's the old squat and cough delouse you hid in your hair deling sheep tip on that high note.

[Katie Green]

Thank you all very much.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Joe Getty]

You don't know me yet, but I.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

And we learn together.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

Checkout you're listening to an iHeart podcast.