Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: I've Worked All My Life So I Don't Have To Drink Fermented Hotdog Water
Date: October 17, 2025
Host: iHeartPodcasts

Brief Overview

This episode features Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty tackling a variety of hot-button political and cultural topics with their signature irreverence and skepticism. The show covers several Supreme Court cases—including those on conversion therapy bans, racial redistricting, home equity theft, and transgender athletes in sports—with guest civil rights attorney Anastasia Bowden from the Pacific Legal Foundation. The hosts also riff on viral trends (like hot dog water alcohol), discuss recent political debates (notably the New York City mayoral race), critique the homeless count in Los Angeles, and dissect the ongoing “woke” controversies surrounding representation in media. The episode is a mix of legal analysis, political commentary, and cultural critique, all punctuated by the hosts’ trademark humor and cynicism.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Supreme Court Roundup and Civil Rights Cases

Guest: Anastasia Bowden, Pacific Legal Foundation
[00:28] – [12:38]

• Race and Redistricting:

  • The episode opens with analysis of arguments in a recent Supreme Court case about Louisiana's congressional redistricting, where the NAACP representative is accused by the hosts of "continuing racism in the name of ending racism."
  • Anastasia Bowden criticizes the logic of considering racial group voting preferences, noting:

    “Baked into this whole system is the idea that racial groups think alike, vote alike, have the same preferences, and therefore must have a majority district so they can get their candidate. So it's a very racist way to think about voting in the names of equal protection.” ([07:36])

• Conversion Therapy Ban (Charles v. Salazar):

  • The court is hearing a challenge to state bans on "conversion therapy."
  • Bowden calls the ban a "viewpoint-based ban on speech” ([02:53]), arguing that it criminalizes only one side of the debate about gender and sexuality.
  • She recounts a pivotal oral argument:

    “If you admit as the government that back in the 1970s, you could affirm therapy affirming homosexuality on the theory that those people have a mental condition, I think at that point you've lost. No justice is gonna uphold the law after that.” ([05:02])

  • She predicts a plaintiff win, possibly a 9-0 decision, with Justice Jackson as the only potential holdout ([05:24]).

• Voting Rights Act vs. 14th Amendment:

  • Hosts and guest discuss the tension between the equal treatment mandate of the 14th Amendment and the race-conscious approaches required by the Voting Rights Act.
  • Jack Armstrong summarizes:

    “The Constitution says you've got to treat everybody equally and The Voting Rights Act says you got to look super carefully at race... as opposed to a colorblind society.” ([08:12])

• Home Equity Theft:

  • Bowden discusses a new Supreme Court case where a family's home was seized and sold for back taxes, with the government keeping sale proceeds far above what was owed.
  • She relates this to earlier PLF wins, expressing outrage at ongoing state attempts to circumvent constitutional limits:

    “The supes have to get rid of that. Oh, my God. That's outrageous and rapacious.” ([11:13])

• Transgender Athletes in Sports:

  • Brief preview of a pending Supreme Court case on state bans against transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s school sports.
  • Bowden highlights the collision between rights for trans individuals and those for women under Title IX:

    “It's going to be interesting to see what the court does when these purported rights of individual trans people are depriving women of the very rights that the Civil Rights Act was intended to protect.” ([12:38])

2. Viral Oddities and the Hot Dog Water Saga

[15:24] – [16:51]

• Armstrong reads a viral recipe about fermenting hot dog water to create homebrew alcohol, joking about the depths one must reach to drink such "garbage bin" booze.
• Memorable Quote:

  “If you could collect the liquid that's at the bottom of the garbage bin at a baseball game. That is what we're drinking.” (Jack, [15:54])

• Getty sums it up:

  “I've worked all my life so I don't have to eat—or drink—fermented hot dog water.” ([16:46])

3. On Free Food and Self-Control

[16:51] – [18:30]

• An anecdote about being offered free Oreo mint chip ice cream sandwiches at a grocery store leads into a broader discussion:

  “Don't eat it because it's free. That's not a good enough reason, right?” (Jack, [18:30])

• They reflect on adult eating habits, temptation, and self-delusion.

4. NYC Mayoral Debate Recap

[19:18] – [28:12]

• Hosts recap the “boring” New York mayoral debate featuring Andrew Cuomo and Zoran Mamdani, noting widespread audience disinterest.
• Cuomo's attack on Mamdani’s inexperience is countered with this retort:

  “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.” (Mamdani, as quoted by Jack, [24:24])

• Broader observations on the left-leaning youth of NYC and concerns about “double down” progressive politics if Mamdani wins.

5. California and the Rise of the Fringe

[28:33] – [30:43]

• Discussion of Scott Wiener’s candidacy for Pelosi’s congressional seat.
  • Getty:

    “He is a crackpot, aberrant, sexual guy, like so far out there on every issue you can't even imagine.” ([29:48])

• Teasing Katie Porter and other potential successors in California politics, often lampooning their most controversial moments.

6. Homelessness and Bogus Statistics

[32:07] – [34:55]

• A story from LA Times is dissected, showing the city's homeless count underestimates by as much as a third because it excludes “living rough”—people without tents or cars, just sleeping on the street.
• Armstrong:

  “Anything that undercounts anything by a third is not a thing worth doing.” ([34:28])

7. Cultural Controversies: Race, Representation, and Wokeness

[35:09] – [39:20]

• Coverage of a case where a white actress was barred from performing historic black women's stories at a San Diego library—called “nuts” by the hosts.
• Armstrong:

  "You're not going to honor Harriet Tubman … and only have white people because she's white. You don't, you don't understand how you're doing your, your side more harm than good here. Are you crazy?" ([37:57])

• Discussion of director Paul Thomas Anderson being criticized for casting black women in prominent roles, and the contradictory pressures now put on filmmakers to both increase representation and fear accusations of tokenism or “appropriation.”
• Getty closes:

  “These people are insane. They're cultists. Don't listen to them.” ([39:11])

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “It's a very racist way to think about voting in the names of equal protection.”
  – Anastasia Bowden, [07:36]

• “If you could collect the liquid that's at the bottom of the garbage bin at a baseball game. That is what we're drinking.”
  – Jack, [15:54]

• “I've worked all my life so I don't have to eat—or drink—fermented hot dog water.”
  – Joe, [16:46]

• “Don't eat it because it's free. That's not a good enough reason, right?”
  – Jack, [18:30]

• “What I don’t have in experience, I make up for in integrity. And what you don’t have in integrity, you could never make up for in experience.”
  – Zoran Mamdani (quoted by Jack), [24:24]

• “Anything that undercounts anything by a third is not a thing worth doing.”
  – Joe, [34:28]

• “You're not going to honor Harriet Tubman … and only have white people because she's white. … Are you crazy?”
  – Jack, [37:57]

• “These people are insane. They're cultists. Don't listen to them.”
  – Joe, [39:11]

Additional Segments

• Sports Highlights ([20:25] – [21:45]): Brief NFL game commentaries and changing end-of-game strategies.
• Media Critique ([35:51] – [39:11]): Analysis of the cultural backlash against inclusive casting, revealing the deep contradictions on the cultural left.

Episode Tone & Style

The Armstrong & Getty Show retains its conversational, irreverent, and skeptical tone, mixing humor and sarcasm with pointed political and cultural commentary. The hosts frequently mock “woke” excesses, bureaucratic inanity, and political hypocrisy—while also sharing personal anecdotes to ground their analysis.

This summary covers all core podcast content, providing listeners with a structured, thorough guide to the major topics and takeaways of the episode.