Sensei & The Dog

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand Episode: Sensei & The Dog
Release Date: May 27, 2025
Host/Authors: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty
Description: The official, On-Demand podcast of The Armstrong & Getty Show! Accept no substitutes!

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1. The Ukraine Conflict and U.S. Foreign Policy (00:28 - 13:08)

Overview:
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into the deteriorating hopes for a ceasefire in Ukraine amid escalating Russian airstrikes. The discussion centers around former President Donald Trump's volatile remarks about Vladimir Putin and the implications for U.S. foreign policy.

Key Points:

• Trump's View on Putin:
  Joe Getty highlights Trump's fluctuating stance, mentioning Trump's recent statement where he criticized Putin, saying, “he’s killing a lot of people” (03:16). However, Trump also insinuated that Putin might be “suffering an emotional overload” (00:28), suggesting a personal dimension to their relationship.

• Impact on Policy:
  Jack Armstrong expresses concern over the notion that the President’s personal feelings towards Putin could drive U.S. foreign policy, stating, “I find it incredibly troubling that the President having to take it personally is what's required to motivate policy of American foreign policy” (01:07).

• Chronological Breakdown of Events:
  The hosts trace Trump's recent involvement, noting his late-breaking statements about not wanting U.S. involvement in Ukraine (“this isn't my war”) (01:20) and his subsequent push for a ceasefire which coincided with intensified Russian attacks (02:57).

• Brit Hume’s Analysis:
  The segment includes insights from Brit Hume, who critiques Trump’s understanding of Putin, asserting, “The President has always had a very odd conception of Vladimir Putin” (05:12).

• Shift in U.S. Weapon Supply Policies:
  The discussion touches upon changes in weapon supply restrictions to Ukraine, with German Chancellor Frederick Mertz announcing the removal of range restrictions, potentially allowing Ukraine to target deeper Russian positions, including Moscow (07:45).

• Future Outlook:
  Joe Getty references David Ignatius of the Washington Post, who warns that the war could escalate into a "much nastier phase of dirty war," involving sabotage and assassination operations (09:57). The hosts speculate on potential future escalations, including the possibility of missile strikes targeting key Russian figures (11:00).

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty on Putin and Trump:
  “I find it incredibly troubling that the President having to take it personally is what's required to motivate policy of American foreign policy.” (01:07)

• Donald Trump:
  “I'm surprised. I'm very surprised. We'll see what we're going to do. What am I going to tell you? You're the fake news, aren't you? You're totally fake.” (03:38)

• Brit Hume on Putin:
  “He’s always been a particularly brutal dictator, willing to take whatever measures he thought necessary to advance his interests.” (05:12)

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2. Heroic Defense by a Teenager (14:04 - 16:00)

Overview:
The podcast shifts focus to an inspiring story of a 13-year-old girl in Carmel by the Sea, California, who bravely defended herself against an attempted assault, thanks to her jiu-jitsu training with Sensei Blackburn.

Key Points:

• Incident Details:
  A man attempted to assault the young girl between parked cars. Utilizing her training, she effectively subdued the attacker, resulting in severe injury (15:09).

• Sensei Blackburn’s Account:
  Sensei Blackburn describes the girl’s defense: “She punched him, she wrapped it, got him in the headlock, kneed him a couple of times, spun him around, threw him on the ground and she had stepped on his foot doing all this...” (15:09).

• Community Impact:
  Armstrong and Getty commend the girl's courage and the value of self-defense training, emphasizing the importance of preparedness in dangerous situations.

Notable Quotes:

• Sensei Blackburn:
  “She did exactly what she was supposed to do.” (15:09)

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3. Crypto Crime and Legal Consequences (20:36 - 27:38)

Overview:
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty discuss a high-profile case involving the kidnapping and torture of a wealthy crypto entrepreneur for his cryptocurrency passwords, highlighting the vulnerabilities inherent in digital currencies.

Key Points:

• Case Overview:
  John Waltz, a Kentucky-based crypto millionaire, was arrested for allegedly kidnapping Michael Valentino, an Italian crypto investor, to extract his Bitcoin password (21:02).

• Torture Methods:
  The perpetrators employed extreme measures, including tasering, physical restraints, and threats with chainsaws, emphasizing the lengths to which individuals might go to seize digital assets (22:55).

• Escape and Aftermath:
  Valentino managed to escape the ordeal, leading to a manhunt in Manhattan (21:08).

• Implications for Crypto Security:
  The hosts discuss the ease of transferring cryptocurrency compared to traditional banking, making it a prime target for such crimes. Armstrong notes, “cryptocurrency is so easily transferred and then is gone forever” (26:38).

Notable Quotes:

• Joe Getty on Crypto Theft:
  “Cryptocurrency is so easily transferred and then is gone forever. And there are so few...” (26:38)

• Jack Armstrong on Torment Tactics:
  “If you’re gonna use a chainsaw on my arms and legs and also pee on you, you can maybe changes his mind.” (23:11)

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4. Dog Behavior and Emotional Responses (29:31 - 36:22)

Overview:
The hosts explore scientific studies on dog behavior, particularly focusing on tail wagging as an indicator of a dog’s emotional state.

Key Points:

• Study Findings:
  Research indicates that humans struggle to accurately interpret a dog’s emotions without context. When presented with videos of dogs wagging their tails against a black backdrop, participants could not reliably determine the dog's feelings (32:15).

• Directional Wagging:
  Further studies revealed that dogs exhibit a rightward wagging bias when interacting with their owners or unfamiliar humans, signaling positive emotions, and a leftward bias towards unfamiliar dogs, indicating caution or fear (34:34).

• Physiological Responses:
  Dogs exposed to left-wagging tail videos showed increased heart rates, correlating with anxiety and perceived threat (35:50).

• Practical Advice:
  Armstrong advises dog owners to pay attention to the direction of their dog’s tail wagging and not to make assumptions based solely on the wag itself: “Right tail wag. Good. Left tail wag, beware.” (36:22).

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong on Tail Wagging:
  “Right tail wag. Good. Left tail wag, beware.” (36:22)

• Joe Getty on Interpretation Challenges:
  “They were absolutely terrible in saying, oh, that dog is happy.” (32:25)

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5. Additional Highlights

Celebrity News:
A brief segment discusses Miley Cyrus’s vocal condition, Reinke's edema, attributing her distinctive voice to both overuse and smoking. Cyrus opts against surgery to preserve her unique sound (16:17).

Humorous Interlude:
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty engage in a comedic exchange with a transgender individual, highlighting miscommunications and social dynamics. This segment adds a lighter, humorous touch to the episode (19:06).

Final Thoughts on Passion vs. Paycheck:
The hosts debate the age-old adage “Do what you love and the money will follow,” sharing personal insights on balancing passion with financial stability. They advocate for maintaining hobbies alongside careers to sustain personal fulfillment (36:42).

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Conclusion

In this episode, Armstrong and Getty navigate through a range of topics, from geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the complexities of U.S. foreign policy to inspiring acts of bravery, the vulnerabilities of digital currencies, and the nuanced understanding of canine emotions. Their blend of serious analysis, real-life stories, and humor provides listeners with a comprehensive and engaging experience.

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For more insights and detailed discussions, listen to the full episode on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform.

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Timestamp Reference

• 00:28 - 13:08: Ukraine Conflict and U.S. Foreign Policy
• 14:04 - 16:00: Heroic Defense by a Teenager
• 20:36 - 27:38: Crypto Crime and Legal Consequences
• 29:31 - 36:22: Dog Behavior and Emotional Responses
• Other Notable Timestamps:
  • 03:16, 05:12, 07:45
  • 15:09, 21:02, 32:15
  • 36:42

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Joe Getty:
  “I find it incredibly troubling that the President having to take it personally is what's required to motivate policy of American foreign policy.” (01:07)

• Donald Trump:
  “I'm surprised. I'm very surprised. We'll see what we're going to do. What am I going to tell you? You're the fake news, aren't you? You're totally fake.” (03:38)

• Brit Hume:
  “He’s always been a particularly brutal dictator, willing to take whatever measures he thought necessary to advance his interests.” (05:12)

• Jack Armstrong:
  “Right tail wag. Good. Left tail wag, beware.” (36:22)

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This summary captures the essence and key discussions of the "Sensei & The Dog" episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand, providing listeners with a comprehensive overview of the topics covered.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Hopes of a ceasefire in Ukraine are fading fast. After days of deadly Russian airstrikes. President Trump declaring Vladimir Putin has gone absolutely crazy. In response, the Kremlin suggesting Trump may be suffering an emotional overload. See, I'm hoping that sort of talk from Putin gets Trump all fired up and he takes it personally and that makes him want to arm Ukraine, because I think that's the right thing to do. I know some of you don't, but him saying, yeah, I think Putin saying. I think Trump's saying, suffering from emotional overload. You know, hey, Trump, get as angry at Putin as you get at Rosie o' Donnell.

[Jack Armstrong]

I find it incredibly troubling that the President having to take it personally is what's required to motivate policy of American, you know, foreign policy. But it is what it is. I think you're right.

[Joe Getty]

So let's do this in chronological order. So last week, the news broke, several days after it happened that Trump had told European journalists while he was in the Middle east, he had said, this isn't my war. We got ourselves entangled in something we shouldn't have been involved with. Now, that was in the. For some reason, made the news several days after he said it, but led a lot of people, including me, to believe that the direction he was headed was just staying out of it. We shouldn't be involved. We shouldn't have been involved in this ever. We shouldn't be involved in it now. And without the US's aid, Ukraine is going to be in a tight spot. And Europe will step up a lot, but they don't have a lot of the abilities that we have, even, no matter how much they step up, especially around intelligence. Now, over the weekend, Trump having pushed this ceasefire. Remember, Trump ran on I can solve this in 24 hours. If you took that literally, then you have not been following Trump for the past 10 years. I just, I don't understand how people don't get this. He says things like that. That's not what he means. Okay, I get what you could say. Well, he said it. What am I supposed to do? But he believed he could solve this. I believed he. I suppose he thought, like with a lot of things, he thought with his personality and everything like that he could just pushed these two people to come to an agreement. He's pushed Zelensky really hard. He hasn't really pushed Putin. But over the weekend, while Trump's talking about a ceasefire, Putin launched the biggest attack on Ukraine yet, which is like three times in the last week, that he has set a new record for the number of drones set into, well, all kinds of civilian areas, killing lots of people. This. Trump was asked about this yesterday, and this is what he said.

[Donald Trump]

Not happy with what Putin's doing. He's killing a lot of people. And I don't know what the hell happened to Putin. I've known him a long time, always gotten along with him. But he's sending rockets into cities and killing people. And I don't like it at all. Okay, we're in the middle of talking, and he's shooting rockets into Kiev and other cities. I don't like it at all.

[Reporter]

President, what do you want to do about.

[Donald Trump]

I'm surprised. I'm very surprised. We'll see what we're going to do. What am I going to tell you? You're the fake news, aren't you? You're totally fake. Any other questions? I don't like what Putin is doing. Not even a little bit. He's killing people, and something happened to this guy, and I don't like it.

[Joe Getty]

Something happened to this guy?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I was tempted to respond. Nothing happened to the guy. You never had a relationship with him. He was manipulating you. Grow up. He was just flattering you. And it worked. Although I will concede that it's pretty well documented that during COVID Putin dug deep into a couple of radical Russian thinkers, historians, who convinced him that he really owes it to the soul of the Russian people to, you know, to conquer all of the territories that have ever been under Russian sway, blah, blah, blah. So he has changed in that way. But Trump, thinking that they were buddies and something crazy has happened to him. No. Or that he's still a KGB crocodile. He's always been.

[Joe Getty]

Or he wasn't the kind of guy that was gonna bomb civilians indiscriminately.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, right. And that was the other part I objected to. He's killing people and civilians. Yeah. He knows. He feeds his men by the hundreds of thousands in front of the machine guns. He doesn't care.

[Joe Getty]

Here's Brit Hume's analysis. He's the senior political guy on Fox of what Trump just said.

[Brit Hume]

The President has always had a very odd conception of Vladimir Putin. I think he's thought that he and Putin could be kind of friends and partners and could make deals together and so on. I don't think Putin has changed. I don't know what the president's talking about. This is the way Putin has always been. He's always been a particularly brutal dictator, willing to take whatever measures he thought necessary to advance his interests. Whatever he thought he could get away with. He thought he could get away with invading Ukraine. He thought he couldhe thought he could conquer Ukraine in a matter of days. He failed to do that. And he has been spending his own people's blood and treasure for as long as he's needed to after that. And now he seems more intent than ever. He's the same old Vladimir Putin. So I hope the president has had ayou know, had a real moment of truth about him and we'll proceed accordingly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is Trump surrounded by J.D. vance types who are trying to convince him that, no, Putin's not a bad guy, he's just NATO pushed too far and we just need to be nice to him and be buddies and he's actually defending traditional Christianity and the rest just that whole kind of new right fantasy.

[Joe Getty]

The Wall Street Journal writing today, Trump is tiring of the peace negotiations and is considering abandoning them altogether if a final push doesn't work. People familiar with his thinking said that would be a remarkable change for a leader who can't campaign on his ability to end the conflict on his first day in office. It is unclear what would happen if the US Retreats from the peace process and whether Trump would continue to provide military support to Ukraine. That last part is really important, I think, us being in the peace process, I don't know if that's important or not. I'm not sure if it has any role, but we pull particularly our intelligence. That's huge. Also this yesterday, German Chancellor Frederick Mertz said that the U.S. germany, France and the UK would no longer impose range restrictions on Ukraine's use of weapons supplied by Western allies, meaning it could target military positions deep into Russia, including Moscow. To date, Ukraine has only been able to use long range missiles supplied by those countries against Russian troops within a certain range. The by the Biden administration, the Wall Street Journal reminds us, had opposed removing range limits, freeing it could escalate the war. The White House, when I asked about this, declined to comment. So Trump didn't say, I mean, because Germany doesn't get to say the United States is removing restrictions.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And they and the Wall Street Journal asked the White House is Trump on board with this or not? And they didn't answer.

[Jack Armstrong]

And this is the most commenty White House in history. They comment on everything. It's incredibly transparent. Yeah, two things. Number one, that would indicate to me that, that they agreed to it, but they didn't expect Merz to come out and say anything about it.

[Joe Getty]

I hope you're right. I hope you're right. Germany has got the longest range missiles that they're supplying Ukraine, even more so than ours.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Because Biden didn't want to give him missiles that could shoot very far in case they ignored his rules. But Germany's given him missiles that go way into Russia, easily into Moscow. And they have said, shoot who Shoot wherever you got to shoot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Interesting. That is a huge thing. Going forward, if I might unleash this screed several times, whether in the audio or our discussions, we've used the term the, the phrase the peace process. There is no peace process. There has never been a peace process. There's been this charade which Putin and Lavrov barely even bothered to play their part. So I can call my dog a lion, but if I go around town talking about how I have a lion, that makes me a crank. There's been no peace process.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. To the only extent they participated in at all is when they were able to buy a little more time by pretending they were going along with it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And what's really notable and interesting, and this is getting into the weeds and we can get back to what's actually happening, but they weren't even pretending to care enough to convince anybody they cared. It was like the barest minimum, low level guys who couldn't, didn't have the authority to agree to anything. And it was obvious that they were snubbing the process. So they didn't even care enough to like, pay it fake respect. Don't talk to me about the peace process.

[Joe Getty]

I won't get sidetracked with this. I'll go with this first. David Ignatius of the Washington Post, who writes a lot about the war in Ukraine, knows a lot about this stuff, has really good sources, says, I think the obvious, it's about to get ugly.

[David Ignatius]

I think this war is about to get a lot dirtier. Ukraine has, has drones that are able to penetrate, get to Moscow and its environs. And they also have the capability to wa on the ground a dirty war, of sabotage, of assassination. I've met with leaders of Ukrainian military intelligence. They are very, very tough. And they have networks inside Russia as Russia has networks inside Ukraine that can do a lot of damage. So as bad as this war has been, it could tip into a much nastier phase of dirty war.

[Joe Getty]

And that's the main reason I wanted to spend that this Much time talking about it today. Even though it's not on the. Hasn't been on, you know, hasn't. Whoop. Hasn't been on the front burner for a while. It's about to get crazy ugly. Ukraine starts firing missiles into Moscow regularly targeting Putin or his people or his house. Putin's going to respond.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Best he can. And it's. It. Who knows where this is headed?

[Jack Armstrong]

The mushroom clouds. We don't know. Trump.

[Joe Getty]

Are you serious about that? You think Putin would use a. He wouldn't use a regular nuke, I don't think. But.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. One of your smaller tactical ones. Yeah. Just to make the point. Yeah, I could absolutely see that. I certainly hope not. I'm not, you know, taking it lightly, but, you know, Ukraine and this. I was just going to say, you know, Trump was critical of Zelensky in his tweet, saying Zelensky is doing his country no favors by talking the way he does, that they're at risk of being wiped off the map.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

His animosity towards Zelensky, and I don't want to theorize. We've probably annoyed Trump fans enough already, but I don't get that. When you're fighting for the very existence of your country, you're. You're criticizing the guys, the guy for talking tough or being demanding or whatever. I don't get it.

[Joe Getty]

Well. And Putin's absolutely going to try to kill Zelensky.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, do whatever damage he will. He will be the proverbial guy who will turn, who will destroy Ukraine so he can rule over the ashes. You would absolutely do that.

[Joe Getty]

Right? I'll annoy more people here. Then Tucker Carlson tweeted out over the weekend and did a long podcast about it. Do Americans have any idea that Zelensky has declared war on Christianity in Ukraine?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's ridiculous.

[Joe Getty]

It is absolutely ridiculous. The Orthodox Church.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Russian Orthodox.

[Joe Getty]

The Russian Orthodox Church is an arm of Putin. Yeah. Zelensky trying to get rid of them. He's trying to get rid of spies in his country or people that are working with Putin. It's not a war on Christianity.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. The Russian Orthodox Church agreed with Putin. We will give you the COVID of the moral authority of the church. We will be absolutely in bed with you. You protect the power and money of the church. Putin said deal.

[Joe Getty]

About to get a lot more ugly.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's been war on Christianity. Tucker's lost his effing mind. Or he's intentionally lying.

[Joe Getty]

It's already been a pretty damn ugly war, and it's about to get a lot uglier. We will cover it for you. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one.

[Jack Armstrong]

And only Bobby Bones.

[Bob Pittman]

We're exploring the power of audio.

[Reporter]

The word on the street then was he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in. But that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Joe Getty]

Coming up, we now know why Miley Cyrus. Skanky, skanky Miley Cyrus sounds the way she sounds. Stay tuned.

[Jack Armstrong]

She's a chain smoker, isn't she?

[Joe Getty]

It's beyond that, Joe.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my. Also, perhaps the most amazing breakthrough in what your dog is actually thinking. Studies.

[Joe Getty]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

In the history of studying what your dog is thinking.

[Joe Getty]

Is this one of those things you buy that reads its bar?

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, no. I don't traffic in that sort of crap, sir. This is science. All right, so stay tuned. First though, here is the story of a 13 year old girl in Carmel by the sea, California, which is a very pretty part of California, but it's still Cal Unicornia. So you got some scumbag on drugs or drunk or crazy steps out from behind between a couple of parked cars and is going to assault this 13 year old girl. Luckily though, she's been taking jiu jitsu classes with Sensei Blackburn. And here's his description of what this 13 year old girl did to junkie boy.

[Sensei Blackburn]

Halfway home, a gentleman was standing in between two cars and he stepped out to punch her in the face. She punched him, she wrapped it, got him in the headlock, kneed him a couple of times, spun him around, threw him on the ground and she had stepped on his foot doing all this and when she threw him to the ground, she broke his ankle. I told her we were proud of her and she did exactly what she was supposed to do.

[Joe Getty]

You know, that's a great story and a great ending, but the kind of guy that's gonna punch a 13 year old girl in the face to rob her. Freaking lock him up forever or.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or whatever else.

[Joe Getty]

Cave his head in with a brick.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. Just sickening.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, she went medieval on him. They're still looking for this guy. He's limping wherever he is.

[David Ignatius]

But.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my God, that's horrifying.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I know it is.

[Joe Getty]

I have always referred to Miley Cyrus as skanky. I realize she's trying to present as seki sexy. I feel like she presents a skanky. But anyway, she sounds like this and we've been talking about for years since. Yeah, she's 21 years old and she sounds like she's an 80 year old truck driver.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

She announced yesterday that her signature voice, she called it is because of a medical condition she's got called Reinke's and edema. She's got polyps on her vocal cords. It's. She says she did too much singing for too long in her life. The New York Post fills in that it's very common with people who have a long term history of smoking starting at a young age. So it wasn't just your singing that caused it was your, your smoking also. But she had polyps on her vocal cords, which gives me a lot of the tone and texture which has made me who I am. She says. So she doesn't want to get an operation because she's afraid she'd wake up and not sound like who she is.

[Jack Armstrong]

She probably would, yeah. Wow. She's. So she's leaving the polyps.

[Joe Getty]

She did say that staying up and drinking and smoking and partying after every show starting very young is probably didn't help any. Yeah, probably didn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Are they the sort of polyps that can turn into cancer or.

[Joe Getty]

I would assume not or she'd get something done.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. Yeah, you would think so. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

One other popular woman note in celebrity, Caitlyn Clark, who has played like 190 straight games, four years of college and a year in the WNBA without ever being hurt, is hurt and gonna be out for two weeks for a team that is. Well, it doesn't matter how the team was going to do it. That's all the ratings on the WNBA is, the revenue. Yeah, lots of revenue involved.

[Jack Armstrong]

Watch your dog wag his tail or her tail carefully. There's a hidden signal there. We'll tell you all about it next half hour.

[Joe Getty]

So body language, dog body language segment woof. Among other things. So stay tuned.

[Bob Pittman]

Armstrong and Getty Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one.

[Jack Armstrong]

And only Bobby Bones.

[Bob Pittman]

We're exploring the power of audio.

[Reporter]

The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in. But that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like. Yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen to Math and Magic stories from the frontiers of marketing on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcast.

[Transgender Individual]

Excuse me, I have to ask. Who did you vote for? Oh, I voted for Trump. Surprise, surprise, another privileged white man who voted for the fascist. Well, excuse me. I'm sorry, man.

[Joe Getty]

Whoa.

[Transgender Individual]

What are you talking about? Did you just assume my gender? So you're telling me you're a woman? I'm a trans. Bisexual, Paleontologist. Paleo. What? I'll let that sink in.

[Reporter]

Wow.

[Transgender Individual]

I'm speechless. Oh, I'm sorry. Is that too much for you? Is my existing too much for you to handle? No, really, that's not it at all.

[Joe Getty]

All.

[Transgender Individual]

Okay, look, I just. Miss, I am so sorry for offending you. Like, excuse me. I'm sorry.

[Jack Armstrong]

What?

[Transgender Individual]

What's wrong? Did you just assume. What? That I was offended? Offended? No, I didn't assume. You did.

[Jack Armstrong]

You totally did.

[Transgender Individual]

You said, I'm sorry for offending you?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Transgender Individual]

You just assumed I was offended. No, you just seemed upset. You just assumed I didn't know that I'm a crybaby little. Is that it? I would never assume that I don't have thick skin. Is that what you just said? No, I didn't mean to. Let's just wrap this up so we can both go our separate ways. Okay? Great. Okay. Well, Miss, I hope you have a wonderful afternoon.

[Joe Getty]

What's wrong?

[Transgender Individual]

I'm sorry, what now? Afternoon. Afternoon. Did you just assume.

[Joe Getty]

What?

[Transgender Individual]

My time zone. Your time zone? You did. You just said, I hope you have a good afternoon. What? Really? It's the afternoon. I identify as it always being the morning.

[Jack Armstrong]

What are you talking about? Yeah, what's happening?

[Joe Getty]

How tiring is that?

[Jack Armstrong]

High speed comedy for people with attention deficit disorder. Yeah, I love that. Flip in the script? Yeah, please. Did you just assume? Oh, I can't believe soft heads fell for that technique for so long. Oh, well, more on that to come. Etc. So. Oh, including your dog's tail wagging. There are different wags. You don't know about the wags.

[Joe Getty]

What if your dog has a stub because somebody took a pair of clippers and cut it off?

[Jack Armstrong]

Then you bought a weird, freaky dog anyway. But if your kids love it, that's the dog for them, so. This story is crazy. You've probably heard part of it, but there are details that you have to have. This is the arrest of one crypto guy for allegedly kidnapping and torturing a different wealthy crypto guy and held him for weeks.

[Joe Getty]

Weeks.

[Jack Armstrong]

At a really nice townhouse in Manhattan.

[Joe Getty]

Thank you. This is a very nice place you're holding me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's. You know, if I'm gonna be held and tortured for my crypto passwords, at least it's in this lovely neighborhood. So here's. Here's one of the crazy aspects of it. The suspect, John Waltz, he's some sort of Kentucky crypto king. He's said to be worth at least $100 million. Wow. The perpetrator.

[Transgender Individual]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

He has a private jet and a chopper.

[Joe Getty]

You got $100 million and you're gonna risk committing a crime? Why not just enjoy your life? Good Lord. You won. You win.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I can't even imagine. But. So he kidnapped this other guy, who is, I think, Italian, who's said to be worth, like, $30 million. Michael Valentino. Teofrasto Cartaron. So 100 million wasn't enough? He needed 30 million, maybe for jet fuel or something like that. So he and his, you know, cohort, his henchmen. And there are going to be more arrests and questioning in this case. They lured this guy to this Soho townhouse and held him captive while they tortured him for his bitcoin password. He was tied to a chair, tasered while his feet were in a bucket of water. I don't know if, like, that makes it worse or if you just have wet feet. He was urinated on.

[Joe Getty]

I feel like they were guessing on that one. I don't. Urinated on. Now it's. Now it's a freak off.

[Jack Armstrong]

Pissed, pistol whipped, had his arms and legs cut with a chainsaw. He was also allegedly dangled from the top of a staircase.

[Joe Getty]

I feel like you need to do these in some sort of order, like building up, because, uh, I'm not really that worried about my wet Feet. If you're gonna use a chainsaw on.

[Jack Armstrong]

My arms and legs, I'm going to chainsaw your arms and legs and also pee on you. I'm like, well, let the peeing begin.

[Joe Getty]

Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

You can maybe changes his mind.

[Joe Getty]

I don't like it, but I mean, once they fired up that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bring in neighbors to pee on me. I don't care.

[Joe Getty]

Leave the chainsaw in the case. Once they fired up that chainsaw, man, you would be. If you've ever seen Scarface, you'd be having some bad thoughts.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here is my question. You assumed they fired up the chainsaw. Elon Musk there if you need him. Because you can definitely cut somebody with a chainsaw. That's not on. If the chainsaw had been on, I think that would be the headline, wouldn't it? Unless they just barely nipped him with it.

[Joe Getty]

That seems odd.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Anyway, so there is a story to be told here as more details before.

[Joe Getty]

You get to more details. I wanna.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is all. I have. No more details. Not a single one.

[Joe Getty]

Those are all the details.

[Jack Armstrong]

How many details do you need?

[Joe Getty]

I. I saw the video of the guy running down the street barefoot. So how did he get loose? How is he not dead? How is he?

[Jack Armstrong]

The only account I heard was that he escaped when they were distracted.

[Joe Getty]

How do you get this chainsaw started? I keep pulling it and pulling it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, where did he go?

[Joe Getty]

I thought you were supposed to watch him. His feet were in a bucket of water, he's covered in urine.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can you get me some lemonade? Because I just don't feel like I could go. Yeah, I don't know what. Distracted.

[Joe Getty]

I went before I got here. You went before you got here. We discussed this yesterday. We're gonna pee on him. I know, but I was leaving the house and I thought there might be traffic, so.

[Jack Armstrong]

And. And some second crypto bigwig is. Is about to be arrested too, or was going to turn themselves in today.

[Joe Getty]

It was a half a freak off though. It really was. You add in a little sex and it's a diddy party.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So thinking this over, I think I get any indication. I mean, I get tased once and there's any indication of like chainsawing or any other. Here's my. Here's my password. I'll walk there with you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Walk where?

[Joe Getty]

Wherever I got to go to help you. I'll do whatever you got to do. What do you want me to do? I'll do it.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's on the laptop right there.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, fine.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you do it, but then you're.

[Joe Getty]

Broke, he's committed a crime. I hope that the authorities can catch him and figure it out, but I'm not going to sit there and get chainsawed to death.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, the guy's alive. He just had a rough couple of weeks.

[Joe Getty]

Well, he's alive because he escaped. I, I might think.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hear you. I absolutely, yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Wouldn't you just give it, I mean, well, it's like the thing, you know, somebody stops you on the street with a knife and says, give me your watch. I'm probably just gonna hand him my watch rather than watch, get into a knife fight and hope for the best.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's possible this guy just like didn't have the passwords handy or.

[Joe Getty]

Geez, yeah. If you could, you could torture me for a very long time to try my bank account. I don't have the slightest idea what my password is. I had another question around this. What was it?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh.

[Joe Getty]

I suppose there's a chance, I would think, well, they're going to kill me after I type in the password because they're not going to just let me go and finger them for this crime.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. So he might have decided that was the only thing keeping him alive.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that, that could have been his calculation, which is probably a pretty good calculation.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, I think the greater story here, and we hit on this last week, is that cryptocurrency is so easily transferred and then is gone forever. And there are so few. I mean, if you, if you were to, you know, put my feet in a pan of water and, and hold half a freak off and fire up the chainsaw, whatever, and say, all right, Joe, I want your entire net worth. I would tell you this is going to take a while. I've got like six to eight different financial institutions I've got to get in touch with. They've got like three step verification crap to do. Then I'm going to have to email them and this is going to take quite some time. Whereas with crypto you just clickety click in your password. There you go. Have access to the account, it's transferred and it's gone. I mean, it could be five minutes.

[Joe Getty]

So I asked Chat GPT.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

If you tase someone while their feet are in a bucket of water, would it hurt more?

[Jack Armstrong]

I wondered what you're dictating into your phone. Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Trying to do it while you're talking. The problem is the voice texting isn't very well, so. So the first time it said, would chasing someone while their feet are in a bucket of water hurt? More.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Being chased while your feet are in a bucket of water would hurt because it would be hard to run. Okay, that's not what I asked.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow, thanks for that.

[Joe Getty]

So I did it and emphasized it more. Would tasing someone hurt more if their feet were in water? And it said teasing someone while their feet are in water wouldn't hurt more, but it could amplify the emotional discomfort.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're fat. You're fat. Stop it.

[Joe Getty]

My feet are wet and I'm fat.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I still don't have the answer to.

[Joe Getty]

I still don't have the answer to that question. I will try to figure that out. For some reason, I feel like they were really just winging it on the whole torture thing. Like they hadn't thought this through.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

They didn't bring in a Mossad agent or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

This guy looks to be quite young, too. I don't recall. He's like, barely 30 years old. The already hundred millionaire who decided he really needed another $30 million. Yeah, craziness. But you're gonna see more of this stuff. So the dog thing, actually interesting. Not crap. Really enjoyed it as a dog lover myself.

[Joe Getty]

And I will get the answer in case you ever need to do it. On whether tasing someone while their feet are in a bucket of water hurts more. Barbaric. We'll have that all for you. Coming up. Stay here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. On this week's episode of Math and Magic, I'm sitting down with the one.

[Jack Armstrong]

And only Bobby Bones.

[Bob Pittman]

We're exploring the power of audio.

[Reporter]

The word on the street then was, he's too country for pop. But then once I got to country, it was, he's too pop for country. So I kind of never really had a place to fit in. But that's exactly how and why I fit. I just embraced that. Like, yeah, I don't fit into one specific hole. I think that is what endeared me to listeners. That's why I'm here now, because I talk to people that grew up like me, have sensibilities like me, and have loyalties like me.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen to Math and Magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Joe Getty]

So a little tip, I guess, if you're ever gonna try to torture the crypto codes out of someone who's got a bunch of money tasing them while their feet are in a bucket of water, according to chat, GPT would likely hurt quite a Bit more causing the electrical current to spread more unpredictably or intensely through the body, especially if both feet are submerged, which they were in this case.

[Jack Armstrong]

We've all learned something handy these days. It's great.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I'm sure Chat GPT, which is owned by whoever is sending, is now monitoring all my stuff as they think I'm some sort of nut job, some.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sort of crypto stealing lunatic. Yeah, yeah. So a much more life affirming note came across this piece and we'll post it under hotlinks at Armstrong&Yeti.com but it's about a couple of people, a professor and a grad student who were doing separately than together studies on dogs and dog behavior and dog emotional responses and stuff like that. And during COVID the grad student gal filmed her dog playing with her father in several different situations. And this is kind of a two part revelation here. Some were positive, like giving him a treat. Some were more negative, like showing him his nemesis, Saffron, the house cat. Oh, they did not get along. They got along like dogs and cats. Anyway, so then Holly, who's this grad student gal, edited the videos. So they only showed Oliver the dog against a black backdrop. All you could see was the dog and how he reacted, not what the stimulus was. And the videos were shown to hundreds of people who were asked, how is Oliver feeling? And a key finding was that people could not say how the dog was feeling without context. They were absolutely terrible in saying, oh, that dog is happy.

[Joe Getty]

That's interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or that dog is mad or sad or threatened or whatever. It was really kind of disturbing. And I took the little quiz that they have and I was pretty good at it. But.

[Joe Getty]

So we're filling in the blanks on that when we look at a dog.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, precisely. Yeah. We see the context and so interpret it. My buddy Greg, the professional dog trainer, taught me a long time ago that a wagging tail does not necessarily mean happy. It does not. So don't assume that, especially if it's in a situation where there could be aggression. But anyway, then when people were given the context, they nailed it, of course, but. But they're terrible at decoding, you know, how dogs, what dogs were thinking, what they were feeling. And they go into a little bit more of the study. But the most interesting revelation to me was they used what they learned with a study from Italy from a little earlier. They put dogs in a. A box just so they could film their tails with a camera in front of them and a window in front and the cameras were trained on the dog's wagging tails while the researchers presented things to look at through the window. Like they would show the dogs an owner, their owner. It's, it's, it's old Joe come to see Baxter with a predictable reaction. Or they'd show them an unfamiliar person who would come up right in front of them or an unfamiliar dog. And the dogs showed a strong consistent bias to wag their tails to the right when shown their owner or an unfamiliar human. But a left bias toward an unfamiliar dog. So if it was and, and they traced it to the centers of the brain, which just like in a human being, if something happens on the left side of the brain, it manifests on the right side of the body. Well, the left side of a dog's brain is more specialized for approach and I'm happy, let's meet each other. And so. And the right side for withdrawal and fear responses and that sort of thing. So there is a bias in dog tail wagging if it's toward the right and being politically conservative. This is easy for me to remember. To the right is good, to the left is not good.

[Joe Getty]

What if the dog is sitting in the passenger seat while you drive with its arms crossed, looking out the window and refuses to respond to anything you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Say, even if you ask it what's wrong? Your dog is angry with you. Trust me, you should apologize to your dog whether you're in the wrong or not.

[Joe Getty]

What if you don't know what you're apologizing for?

[Jack Armstrong]

And, and here's a pro tip. Don't give the dog a bone. Dog doesn't want it. Maybe not for a couple of days.

[Joe Getty]

This dog is not looking for a bone at this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, yes. Don't even bring it up. I thought that was super interesting. So in a follow up study, the researchers connected dogs to heart monitors, heart rate monitors, and showed them videos of other dogs wagging their tails. If the dog saw a left wagging tail, that's the more hostile one. Their heart rate revealed that they were more anxious than when they watched a right wagging tail. So the dog knows the dog's like, ooh, left tail wag. All right, hey, brother, no threat here. It's not, I'm not looking for trouble because the dog sensed it. And, and they point out that people and dogs have been living together for more than 15,000 years.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's really quite amazing.

[Jack Armstrong]

But we're still not great at recognizing the emotional state of dogs.

[Joe Getty]

For most of that period. We probably didn't care. We were just Happy with the relationship that we built where you lightly sleep and bark. If anybody approaches, I will continue to feed you and give you water.

[Jack Armstrong]

Win, win. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, there you go. Right tail wag. Good. Left tail wag, beware. Right.

[Joe Getty]

And that whole double entendre thing earlier, we can just ignore.

[Jack Armstrong]

I enjoyed it also from the world of science. That's right, science. Oh, you know what? This deserves more time came across this one. Is choosing your passion over a paycheck worth it?

[Joe Getty]

Do what you love and the money will follow. Mike Rose, big on. Nah, that's dumb.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Find a way to make a living and make that your hobby.

[Jack Armstrong]

Learn to love it or tolerate it. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And then do what you love at home, when you get home.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Or on the weekender.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Not even close. Depends. I mean, if you happen to really enjoy what you do or you're one of those people and see, that's the problem. There's an exceptionality bias. It happens in the news. If something is rare, that makes it interesting. That means they will show it to you. That convinces people it happens all the time. But it's. It's. It's the opposite. It's the paradox of exceptionality.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it's tough for us because we have done that. I wanted to be in radio long before I ever thought I'd make any money at it.

[Jack Armstrong]

To a large extent. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

It does help you with the, like, the 10,000 hours problem of takes you that long to be really good at something if you really like doing it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Some days. Do I want to throw myself off a cliff and be eaten by sharks instead of doing this?

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. But most days, no.

[Joe Getty]

Are you hoping the dog is using the left side of its brain to your face off so you don't have to go into work? Yeah. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. This is an I Heart podcast.