Stop Letting My Dog Out!!

Summary

Detailed Summary of "Stop Letting My Dog Out!!" Episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Podcast Information:

• Title: Armstrong & Getty On Demand
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Description: The official, On-Demand podcast of The Armstrong & Getty Show! Accept no substitutes!
• Episode: Stop Letting My Dog Out!!
• Release Date: May 21, 2025

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Introduction

In the "Stop Letting My Dog Out!!" episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand, hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty tackle contemporary issues ranging from the pervasive influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education to the contentious Big Beautiful Bill shaping fiscal policy. Their discussions blend insightful critiques with humor, offering listeners a comprehensive examination of these pressing topics.

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The Rising Tide of AI in Education

AI as a Double-Edged Sword

The conversation kicks off with a deep dive into the impact of AI on academic integrity. Jack Armstrong shares his initial experiences with AI, expressing both fascination and concern:

"I thought, how would you not? It is so easy. It would be so easy to get a boost. I mean, not just flat out write the paper for me, but like some easy, serious help. That would be a hell of a shortcut."
— Jack Armstrong ([03:10])

Katie Getty expands on the implications of AI-assisted cheating, questioning the broader effects on learning and ethics:

"Why are kids cheating with it? How can we stop them from cheating with it? And indeed, should we even try to stop them from cheating with it?"
— Katie Getty ([03:31])

Expert Insights and Consequences

Referencing articles by Tyler Cowan and John Goyette, the hosts discuss how AI tools like ChatGPT are disrupting traditional educational models. Cowan argues that AI can simultaneously serve as a powerful teaching tool and a means for cheating, highlighting a systemic crisis in education:

"Chat GPT and others have unraveled the entire academic project... these models are such great cheating aids because they're also such great teachers."
— Tyler Cowan (as discussed by Katie) ([15:04]-[15:32])

Goyette emphasizes the long-term detriments of relying on AI for academic tasks, noting a decline in critical thinking and comprehension skills among students:

"A student who completes an essay without performing research... fails to retain knowledge and develop capacities for creative and critical thinking."
— John Goyette ([17:50]-[18:24])

Jack Armstrong voices a somewhat fatalistic perspective on the inevitability of AI integration:

"I'm not going to argue against that, but I am a nihilist on this AI stuff. Whatever. That's what people are going to do."
— Jack Armstrong ([18:24])

Potential Solutions and Future Outlook

The hosts briefly touch upon potential remedies, such as more personalized and in-person assessments, though they express skepticism about the effectiveness of these measures in curbing AI-assisted cheating.

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Navigating the "Big Beautiful Bill"

Legislative Hurdles and Party Divisions

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to analyzing the Big Beautiful Bill, a legislative proposal with far-reaching implications for fiscal policy. Jack Armstrong provides an update on the bill's progress through the House Rules Committee, highlighting the internal conflicts within the Republican Party:

"Speaker Johnson can afford to lose three Republican votes to pass what he wants to pass... only your party votes for it and the other party votes for it exclusively every time."
— Jack Armstrong ([23:10]-[23:39])

Katie Getty elaborates on the ideological rifts, particularly between the pro-Trump faction and fiscal conservatives aiming to curb spending:

"It's the whatever Trump wants crowd... they [Republicans] are trying to hold the line on fiscal conservative..."
— Katie Getty ([26:07])

Economic and Social Implications

The Wall Street Journal's coverage is discussed, detailing how the bill includes significant tax cuts and increased spending on defense and border security. However, these measures are projected to escalate budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion through 2034:

"The proposal would extend the tax cuts permanently... projected to increase budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion."
— Jack Armstrong ([23:10])

The hosts express deep concerns about the bill's impact on social programs, particularly Medicaid. Jack Armstrong criticizes the proposed work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries with frustration:

"How dare you like the rest of us."
— Jack Armstrong ([28:15]-[28:35])

Political Dynamics and Future Prospects

The discussion underscores the precarious nature of passing the bill, given the slim Republican majority and the expectation that the bill may fail to garner the necessary votes due to internal disagreements.

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Nostalgic Tribute to Norm from "Cheers"

Remembering a Beloved Character

Shifting gears, Armstrong and Getty pay homage to George Wend, the actor who portrayed Norm on the iconic TV show "Cheers." Jack Armstrong shares his initial reaction to the news:

"George Wen, who played Norm on Cheers, died yesterday. Not very old, I didn't know."
— Jack Armstrong ([32:37])

Katie Getty reflects on Norm's cultural significance and the enduring legacy of his character, mentioning the Cheers-inspired bar in Boston that honors his memory. The segment blends humor with heartfelt remembrance, celebrating Norm's impact on pop culture.

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The Battle Against Smartphones in Schools

Implementing Strict Phone Bans

In a concluding segment, the hosts explore the effectiveness of stringent smartphone bans in educational settings. Katie Getty narrates a case study of a school that has instituted a rigorous phone ban, detailing the initial resistance and eventual compliance among students:

"Students started taking pins and stabbing them through the fake Kevlar pouches... One kid even got entrepreneurial about it."
— Katie Getty ([34:50]-[35:07])

Jack Armstrong humorously remarks on the resourcefulness of students in circumventing restrictions:

"Kids."
— Jack Armstrong ([34:50])

Positive Outcomes and Future Predictions

The success of the phone ban is highlighted, noting improvements in classroom focus, reductions in cyberbullying, and enhanced teacher-student interactions. Katie Getty anticipates that such policies will become standardized across schools:

"Teachers don't have to fight an impossible battle against tech... Cyberbullying has fallen a lot... Teachers cover material faster."
— Katie Getty ([35:48]-[36:23])

Jack Armstrong speculates that future generations will view permissive phone policies as outdated and ineffective.

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Closing Remarks

Armstrong & Getty wrap up the episode by blending their trademark humor with poignant observations, leaving listeners with much to ponder about the intersection of technology, education, and politics.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jack Armstrong: "The arc of democracy is long, but it bends toward insolvency." ([02:37])
• Katie Getty: "But then when you are learning a skill, you're not just learning the skill. When you learn to write, you're not just learning to write." ([17:50])
• Tyler Cowan (as discussed by Katie): "Whatever you think of the intrinsic merits of the proposed solutions, can a tougher honor code really work?" ([15:32])

---

This episode offers a comprehensive exploration of AI's role in modern education, the complexities of passing major fiscal legislation, heartfelt tributes to cultural icons, and practical solutions to ubiquitous smartphone distractions in schools. Armstrong and Getty skillfully balance serious discourse with engaging storytelling, making it a valuable listen for those seeking insightful commentary on current events.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is mental health Awareness Month, and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone let's face it in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support to work through, it's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code SPACE80. That's S P A CE80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code SPACE80.

[Katie]

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 get.

[Jack Armstrong]

You gotta be kind of old to know who Cat Stevens is. He was like a soft rock guy from back in the 70s and changed his name to something or other as a Muslim Islam. He just, he just announced a book tour. The only reason I bring it up is I'm reading the Salman Rushdie memoir in which he mentions that Cat Stevens was among those calling for Salman Rushdie's death after he put out the satanic versus book Peace train. Indeed.

[Katie]

One more reason not to listen to guitar players talking about politics or the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sometimes, depending on who it is, the religion of peace. Duh. That was not my point. What was my point? Oh, so the House, meaning all night long. The rules committee started at 1am and now there's more wrangling going on over the big beautiful bill and stuff keeps coming in and out of it. We could have the very latest on that this hour. There's been some interesting wranglings. I can tell you what the net result will be, though, is we're going to go further and further into debt. I just came across this quote that I really like. The arc of democracy is long, but it bends toward insolvency.

[Katie]

That seems to be the case. Beautiful. That is beautiful. I was trying to find the email from one of our beloved listeners we call the Big Beautiful Bill. I can't remember what he called him, but it's a big beautiful horror and disappointment and betrayal of ourselves and our kids. Anyway, don't get me started too late. I thought this was very, very interesting. In a moment or two, a discussion, a digest of you will, if you will, of various thoughts about why kids cheat using AI. They're lazy and you brought them up poorly.

[Jack Armstrong]

As I said last week, dipping my toe into AI for the first time, I thought, how would you not? It is so easy. It would be so easy to get a boost. I mean, not just flat out write the paper for me, but like some easy, serious help. That would be a hell of a shortcut.

[Katie]

Yes. Yeah. And I will plan in advance on being unsatisfied with this segment when it ends, because this ought to be this discussion. Why are kids cheating with it? How can we stop them from cheating with it? And indeed, should we even try to stop them from cheating with it? Could be like a series of four three hour podcasts and even then it would probably leave people scratching their heads. Anyway, having said that, I thought this was crazy. Saw this video today. This is an illustration of one of Google's AI products and I was reading about how they actually have some pretty interesting stuff coming. They feel like they're behind chat, GPT and that sort of thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Evil company. Got to keep that in mind.

[Katie]

Oh yeah, terribly evil. But they are a little behind the mass market for AI tools for the consumer. But they're way behind among the tools young people choose.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, have they rolled out their best? I remember when I was talking about this like two years ago because I knew some people in that world that Google was pouring more money in it than anybody but holding their fire to like really release the take over the world. You know, the way Google dominated search engines, they wanted to land with such a. Everybody was using it becomes the Xerox or Kleenex of AI. But did they release theirs and fail.

[Katie]

Or no, it's just all developing so fast. I think, you know, check back in a week, that'll be a new, you know, headline. And I don't, I'm not qualified to answer that question because all of these services and you know, apps and all, they have clever sounding names like Gemini and Perplexity and the rest of it. And I have trouble remembering who's this, who's. I'm not an expert by any means.

[Jack Armstrong]

But it's the Google guy though that said AI was Going to be as big to mankind as fire.

[Katie]

Right. So for instance, this is from Google Meet, which we use now. And again they have launched their real time translator.

[Jack Armstrong]

M E E T. Pardon me? M E E T. Yes, yes, meeting.

[Katie]

We use the platform ourselves as opposed to Google Meet. I don't want to eat anything Google makes anyway. So it's a real time speech translator. What you're going to hear is a gentleman asking a question and the gal starts to answer him, but he, you know, presumably is more comfortable with Spanish or whatever, and he clicks on his screen that he wants to hear her in Spanish instead. And then we'll interpret in a moment. Go ahead and roll it. Michael.

[Jack Armstrong]

Where would you like to go on your next vacation?

[Katie]

Oh, where would I like to go on my next vacation? Well, I can tell you about an upcoming vacation that I'm a couple of choices now. To Spain, to Mallorca. So not only is it simultaneously, with just like a half second delay, simultaneously translating what she's saying, it's doing it in her voice. It's emulating her voice.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, I didn't catch that, but yes, obviously.

[Katie]

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, wow, a tool. I mean, because those of us who've traveled a bit and used Google Translate, like a year and a half ago or so when we were in like Bavaria, I would look at a sign on a truck and put it in the camera and say, honey, that's a sausage truck. And trying to read signs, you know, to figure out where we were going. And it was super cool. And occasionally you'd have a conversation with, you know, say, a German speaker. Because I tried like hell to learn language. It's too hard and I'm too dumb. But so somebody would talk into it and you'd look at it and say, oh, the restaurant opens at 5pm Muchos gracias. Which would be a weird thing to say in Germany, but, you know, you then move on with your life. Now you simultaneously translate it in their language.

[Jack Armstrong]

I needed that so in their voice. I needed that so bad. When I was in Russia, one particular day. What? I wanted coffee so bad because I'm a coffee addict and I spent like an hour and a half trying to figure out how I could find a coffee place, order the coffee once I was there, pay for it. It was just impossible. It would have been effortless with that.

[Katie]

Katie, you guys are talking about all of these beautiful countries. I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I have a nail appointment later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Katie]

Oh, to find out what they're actually saying.

[Jack Armstrong]

You Know what?

[Katie]

That that dream.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's that or the the gardener guy who my landlord hired who kept letting my dog out and I wanted to talk to but I didn't speak Spanish. I should have used this for that. Stop letting my dog out.

[Katie]

You just play him who let the dogs out. He probably knows that song. Anyway, moving along. So I thought that was amazing and a cool tool and you know, the future is now, blah blah blah. So getting to the topic of students cheating, I came across a really interesting Twitter thread and this guy's writing about has anyone asked to stop to ask why students cheat? I heard Buddhist Monk.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, I heard the dumbest story the other day. This is typical of mainstream media about AI and cheating. The the lead being instructors are telling students not to cheat. But it turns out, you know, some college I think it was Stanford. Turns out Stanford crafted the questions for their latest test using AI. What gives? I thought that makes perfect sense to use AI to craft the questions for the test.

[Katie]

What is that relevant to your question? Right. The article.

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyhow.

[Katie]

Yeah. So this guy's premise is everyone's cheating their way through college. Chat GPT and others have unraveled the entire academic project and I thought this was really interesting and somewhat troubling. And he delves into the article and interprets it by reveal preference. Students must think the work they do in class is a waste of time. Fake bonding activities and hippie gardening clearly aren't worth their time. They're talking about some of the classes they take, so they outsource it to AI. Anything fun or interesting they still do by hand, but this the profile is Sarah, who's a freshman at a university, said she first used Chat GPT to chat during the spring semester of her final year of high school. After getting acquainted with the Chat bot, she used it for all her classes. Indigenous studies, law, English, and hippie farming classes called Green Industries. My grades were amazing, she said. It changed my life. She continued to use AI when she started college this past fall. Why wouldn't she?

[Jack Armstrong]

I like the phrase cheating changed my life so.

[Katie]

And then they quote this professor, A philosophy professor across the country at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, caught students in her ethics and technology class using AI to respond to the prompt, briefly introduce yourself and say what you're hoping to get out of this class. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So I think I know where you're going with the Is it even a good idea to try to stop them? Because the future might be just learning how to use AI as a tool.

[Katie]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

To answer Any question or to do.

[Katie]

Anything at an enormous and horrifying cost. Stay with us. So then I found this really interesting too. And as I said at the beginning of the segment, this is going to be unsatisfying and just scratch the surface, and I wish we had unlimited time for it. But this author then gets into a student who wants to write by hand. I really like writing, she said, sounding strangely nostalgic for a high school English class, which was last time she wrote an essay unassisted. Honestly, she continued, I think there is beauty in trying to plan your essay. You learn a lot. You have to think, oh, what can I write in this paragraph? Or what should I? But she'd rather get good grades. An essay with ChatGPT, it's like it just gives you straight up what you have to follow. You just don't really have to think that much. And, and so because the curriculum is designed not to learn, but to check boxes, you're much better off using Chat GPT, for instance, than trying to think it through.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm thinking out loud here, so don't beat me with both fists before I finish myself.

[Katie]

I can't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Loud. If you will never have to write because you've got a tool that will write for you. Do you need to learn to write?

[Katie]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why?

[Katie]

I will explain in a moment. It's a great question. It's probably the question. And then the final thing that he gets into is college. As liberal arts education and college's JOBS program are fundamentally incompatible goals, the way we evaluate students has terrible incentives and isn't predictive anyway. The learning done on colleges has a very weak relationship to real world goals. You're there to network and meet people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hadn't noticed it.

[Katie]

Yeah. And you don't learn a damn thing anyway. So then we could get into how to stop kids from cheating or students from cheating. And this.

[Jack Armstrong]

You want to come back and do that? Because I want to hear that. I would actually like to hear that. The, the. Any, any, any ideas or efforts, because I can't imagine what they would be.

[Katie]

Well, and your, your excellent, excellent question about what does it matter anyway? Well, I'll answer that when we come back. Okay. Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

My kids are headed out into a world that I'm just. We're all just guessing at as parents.

[Katie]

Oh, yeah. The people developing this stuff are guessing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. No, it's a good point. Okay. All that's on the way.

[Katie]

Steer Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

The Diddy jury was just shown pictures of when they broke into his house. Remember that? Guns, ammo, stilettos, lube, and sex toys, among other things, from his Miami beach mansion. More on the Diddy trial later.

[Katie]

Lube, yes. So a couple of articles we're gonna quote here as we continue our discussion of AI and cheating in schools, and one's from Tyler Cowan, who wrote for the Free Press. Everyone's using AI to cheat at school. That's a good thing. And he goes into the description of the uproar over cheating and how one study suggests up to 90% of college students have used ChatGPT to do their.

[Jack Armstrong]

Homework.

[Katie]

And how the state of affairs has set off a crisis among educators, parents and students. Blah, blah, blah. He says, I think this crisis is ultimately good news, and not just because I believe American education is already in a profound crisis. Amen. The result of ideological capture. Among other things. These models are such great cheating aids because they're also such great teachers. Often they are better than the human teachers we put before our kids, and they're far cheaper at that. They will not unionize or attend pro Hamas protests.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's pretty good. Yeah. You know, that's funny he mentioned that at the beginning. I'm way more worried about the wokeness in schools than figuring out the AI cheating stuff.

[Katie]

Yeah. And then he. He says a couple of interesting things. But if the current AI can cheat effectively for you, the current AI can also write better than you. In other words, our universities are not teaching our citizens sufficiently valuable skills. Rather, we are teaching them that that which can be cloned at low cost. The AIs are already very good at those tasks and they will only get better at a rapid pace. Whatever you think of the intrinsic merits of the proposed solutions, can a tougher honor code really work? They're missing the point. The. The trouble with all the remedies is that they implicitly insist that we must do everything possible to keep wasteful instruction in place. The current system is misleading students about the skills they'll need to succeed in the future and providing all the wrong incentives and rankings of student quality. And then this goes on. For a number of more paragraphs of really interesting philosophizing about, you know, education and work skills and the relationship there and the future and technology and a bunch of different stuff, we'll post the link. You'll probably get paywalled. I don't know. Steal somebody's password at Armstrong and getty.com under Hot Links. I'll send it to the crew in a couple of seconds. But then I came across this. How are we doing for time? Pretty good. John Goyette, who is a vice president Dean emeritus of Thomas Aquinas College. And he describes the situation. Similar fashion is Mr. Cowan about how cheating is rampant. We're still in the early stages of the AI era, but the future of higher education looks bleak. Early research suggests what educators know intuitively. AI assistance can boost students short term performance, but it innervates long term meaning deadens long term comprehension, especially after the digital crutches are taken away. A student who aces a quiz without studying the material has learned nothing. Seems true. The same is true for a student who completes an essay without performing research, contemplating the subject matter, refining and ordering arguments, or painstakingly choosing the exact words to express the right idea. These students fail not only to retain knowledge, but also to develop their capacities for creative and critical thinking. Even where AI usage doesn't cross obvious ethical lines, it usually undermines learning. And his point is that when you are learning a skill, you're not just learning the skill. When you learn to write, you're not just learning to write. You are developing and strengthening your brain in a way that you will use for the rest of your life. No matter what tools are at your disposal.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's all interesting and I'm not going to argue against that, but I am a nihilist on this AI stuff. Whatever. That's what people are going to do. That's what everybody's going to do. There's no stopping it. And what that leaves us, I don't know.

[Katie]

Yeah. Well, he says just to finish. Colleges should institute a more personal and in person approach to assessment. Band, Take home exams.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Katie]

The idea of you have to do evaluations.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. You have to write it in class. That might be, not might be, it's the only way.

[Katie]

And Socratic discussion, that sort of thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Interesting. Which I like anyway. Where's the Big beautiful bill, man. There have been some agreements overnight you.

[Katie]

Might not like Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. May is mental health awareness Month, and Talkspace, the leading virtual therapy provider, is telling everyone, let's face it in therapy, by talking or texting with a supportive licensed therapist at Talkspace, you can face whatever is holding you back, whether it's mental health symptoms, relationship drama, past trauma, bad habits, or another challenge that you need support to work through. It's easy to sign up. Just go to talkspace.com and you'll be paired with a provider, typically within 48 hours. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule. Plus, Talkspace is in network with most major insurers and most insured members have a $0 copay. Make your mental health a priority and start today. If you're not covered by insurance, get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to talkspace.com and enter promo code SPACE80. That's Spa C E80. To match with a licensed therapist today, go to talkspace.com and Enter promo code SPACE80.

[Political Analyst]

There is nothing that Donald Trump cares more about getting done at this point than passing this bill. And he's willing to get up at 8:30 in the morning and go to Capitol Hill to try and convince these members to do so. They believe again, this is his legacy. The economy is his legacy.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're going to give you a real time update on where we are on the big beautiful bill that will affect everyone's life today and or, damn it, freaking whooping cough. So I say bring him down because my son has whooping cough. I said to the doctor, my son just got his TDAP update like six months ago. And he said, did you know anybody who got the COVID vaccine who then got Covid?

[Katie]

Ah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So it makes it much less likely that you'll get whooping cough or tetanus.

[Katie]

A milder case or a mild case.

[Jack Armstrong]

But it doesn't keep you from getting it. We all have that. Or I, I've always had that belief that a vaccine means you're never going to get it, but apparently that's not true. Any back to the big beautiful bill. It affects every one of us and our children probably. So it's a big deal. This is a member of the Freedom Caucus who I've at various times agreed with wholeheartedly, and various times thought they were crazy hostage takers. But in this Case they're mostly just trying to keep the debt from exploding. Anyway, here's the latest from one of their members.

[Andy Harris]

We are working within the goalposts.

[Jack Armstrong]

You voted for each of the levels.

[Andy Harris]

Excuse me, can I answer the question?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Andy Harris]

Or you just want to.

[Katie]

You want to filibuster?

[Jack Armstrong]

You can talk. He's not accurate.

[Katie]

You're not very smart.

[Andy Harris]

We are working.

[Jack Armstrong]

We're deep in the details.

[Andy Harris]

We're working within the goalposts. We're not saying we need to move the amount of cuts up because goodness knows we moved the amount of spending yesterday with the SALT agreement. We're saying work within the goalposts. Rearrange it within the goalposts in accordance with what the President wants. End waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, which is wasting dollars that should be spent on the truly vulnerable, and then end as much of the Green New scam as possible.

[Katie]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

But, Mr. Chairman, that's a man called Andy Harris. So, from the Wall Street Journal, let me set the table. As they say in the table setting business, first of all, the Republicans have this. One of the slimmest majorities in the history of our country. Speaker Johnson can afford to lose three. Three Republican votes to pass what he wants to pass. Now, in the olden times, which isn't that long ago, when you passed a big giant budget bill like this, you had mostly people in your party, but a whole bunch of people from the other party. And then you had the fringes of both parties that were unhappy with it, the socialists on the left, like the fiscal arts on the right or whichever. But it was mostly your party and a whole bunch of people now, no, only your party votes for it and the other party votes for it exclusively every time.

[Katie]

And it used to be, if you have a decent majority, you could say, all right, 11 people in swing districts who aren't going to like this very much. We'll take your application for voting against this and we won't hold it against you. And 13 people raise their hands and you say, all right, we can only take 11. You work it out in conference. But this majority is so slim, you got to have complete adherence practically. Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

And then just this era of everybody from the other party has to vote against it or you'd get primaried and lose.

[Katie]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

For everything is a dumb way to run a country. But anyway, Wall Street Journal writes broadly, the proposal would boost spending on defense and border security, reducing spending on Medicaid and food assistance. Expiring tax cuts would be extended permanently. So the Trump tax cuts of 2017 would become permanent under this. And the bill would create new tax cuts that implement temporary versions of Trump's plans to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. The proposal is projected to increase budget deficits by nearly $3 trillion through 2034.

[Katie]

Man, I wish the Conservative Party had won the last election. The fiscally responsive, responsible party.

[Jack Armstrong]

The House Rules Committee started debating the bill at 1am this morning, trying to tee up the measure for a full vote in the House because Johnson was really hoping to get it voted on today. So they started at 1:00 clock in the morning. They're in their suits and ties and dresses and heels to get this all going, hoping that they could vote for it today. It still remains to be seen if that can actually happen or not. Let me read some more. And this is like hot off the presses. This is the very latest. House Republicans struggled to lock down enough votes to pass the big, beautiful bill likely today. They're still hoping that they can to find the right combination of spending and tax changes to please the two warring wings. I'm going to call the warring wings. This isn't the Wall Street Journal. This is me, the whatever Trump wants wing I'll vote for. And the holy crap, we're going to ruin our country, we spend too much money wing. Those are the two wings in my mind.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Passage would mark a major win for Trump and a step toward extending the tax cuts, cementing other consumer conservative priorities. But the fate of the measure was expected to go down to the wire with the final text yet to be released. Party dealers struck a deal late last night with blue state moderates who fought for a higher cap on the state and local tax, the salt deduction. So that looks like it's going to happen at a fairly high level. At least this bill that's going to go to the Senate is going to have that in there. But they still have problems on the other side of the G A P with conservative. A GOP with conservative hardliners demanding faster spending reductions in Medicaid and quicker phase outs of clean energy tax breaks. Who are Republicans who want to hold on to this clean energy tax breaks? Well, that would be the whatever Trump wants crowd.

[Katie]

Well, I guess. No, I would disagree. No, it's the. I'm getting $10 million every six months in my district from federal handouts that were signed into law by Biden. Biden. It's the old, old story. We don't need these tanks anymore. Yeah, you're going to keep making them because the plant is in my district. We don't need these fake windmills anymore. Yeah, well, you're going to keep giving us money in my district.

[Jack Armstrong]

That we just heard from Andy Harris, he's the chair of the House Freedom Caucus who is trying to hold the line on on fiscal conservative. Some somewhat. He said to the Wall Street Journal, we actually stopped negotiating before midnight because we actually had a deal that was then pulled off the table. So this bill actually got worse overnight. There's no way it passes today, he said, and again, when you can only lose three, he's got a lot of leverage.

[Katie]

Right. The salt deductions are indefensible morally, absolutely patriotically. The rest of it, they're cost me zillions of dollars the removing of them.

[Jack Armstrong]

But the moderates in the high tax states argued for a more generous cap on state local deductions. They were nearing a deal to boost the cap to $40,000 from the $30,000 that the house and Maine's Ways and Means committee approved. So $40,000.

[Katie]

Yeah. Well, I'm horrified by the fact that Trump said don't f with Medicaid because Medicaid is so bloated and horrible and full of fraud and it's exploded beyond any resemblance to its original purpose. It could be. I stand ready to be convinced that Trump, with his, his highly practical transactional view of politics as opposed to highly principal, would say to me, joseph, listen, there's no appetite in the country for that sort of reform. If we insist on that, we're going to lose our opportunity to do X, Y and Z. Is it stupid? Yes. Are we mortgaging our children's future in a way that they can't possibly pay back? Yes, we are. But it's the best we can get, so shut up. Maybe that's the cold reality. I don't know, but I hate it.

[Jack Armstrong]

There are 70 million people on Medicaid currently under the new work requirements that would be imposed by this bill. Most childless adults without disabilities between 19 and 64 without. That's my disability. Why I can't work.

[Katie]

You ought to be on Medicaid. Get on it.

[Jack Armstrong]

So working age males who don't have anything wrong with them would have to provide documentation that they worked 80 hours a month prior to applying. Well, good luck with that. Making that work.

[Katie]

It's worked or volunteered.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, exactly.

[Katie]

Studied or tried to work or have.

[Jack Armstrong]

A family friend who will sign off on a thing claiming you work. I personally have known plenty of people who job that whole system are currently. Do you I like when I'm listening to NPR or any mainstream media. How they always talk about the number of people that would be kicked off under some Republican proposals. Never with the idea that there might be some people that should be kicked off. They, they, they, they presented as it's every single person deserves, every single one of these 70 million people getting taxpayer funded healthcare deserves it.

[Katie]

Right. And to ask them to pay for it their damn selves is a horror.

[Jack Armstrong]

How dare you like the rest of us.

[Katie]

Heartless conservative.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll see where this goes. The threats have only begun, I'm sure from Trump and his allies against the Freedom Caucus members who might be holding this up today about being primaried or, or worse the sort of phone calls you get and tweets you get.

[Katie]

Yeah, I guess. I don't know. You call it the Big Beautiful Bill. I'm calling it the Huge Horrendous Horror. It's. Unless I come up with something better.

[Jack Armstrong]

It'S literally called the Big Beautiful Bill. They changed the name of it yesterday. That's the actual name of the legislation now. Kind of like the. And you can name, as we all learn, you can name a bill, anything. You could call it Freddie the Bill if you want, or you can call it the Inflation Reduction act when it's got nothing to do with that. So as we all learn is the.

[Katie]

Late great Abraham Lincoln taught us. How many dog? How many. Check. Can I have a second take? Michael, do we have enough taste? Good. All right. As the late great. Do I need to do the intro again or just the punchline?

[Jack Armstrong]

Do the whole thing.

[Katie]

Whole thing is as the, as the late great Abraham Lincoln taught us. How many legs does a dog have? If you call its tail a leg, the answer is four. You could call its tail a leg. That doesn't make it a leg. You could call it the Big Beautiful Bill. You can name it the Big Beautiful Bill. It's the Huge horrendous horror.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good quote right there.

[Katie]

It's the big. What's another good B word? Big. Can't think of like a derogatory adjective with a B because betrayal will be the third word. More like the big betrayal, except doesn't really work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bolas would be pretty good.

[Katie]

Oh, that is good. But we can't say that on the air.

[Jack Armstrong]

We can't.

[Katie]

My jihad.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can you imagine if we said that on the air, what would happen? Children would be crying.

[Katie]

Oh, please.

[Jack Armstrong]

Pregnant women would be, you know, their water would break.

[Katie]

Oh, yeah, yeah. The, the sighted would go blind. The blind would go deaf. I Mean, if somebody said bull s on the air, the blind would go deaf.

[Jack Armstrong]

Norm from Cheers died. We got a little tribute to him, among other things on the way. Stay tuned.

[Katie]

Armstrong and Getty. Afternoon, everybody. How you doing, Norm?

[Jack Armstrong]

What do you know? Not enough.

[Katie]

Afternoon, everybody.

[Jack Armstrong]

Better give me a tall one in case I like it.

[Katie]

Afternoon, everybody.

[Jack Armstrong]

How's life treating you, Norm? Like I just ran over its dog.

[Katie]

What's up, Norm?

[Jack Armstrong]

My nipples.

[Katie]

It's freezing out there. Well, I am gonna need something to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Kill time before my second beer.

[Katie]

How about a first one?

[Jack Armstrong]

George Wen, who played Norm on Cheers, died yesterday. Not very old, I didn't know.

[Katie]

76, I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

I didn't know Jason Sudeikis was his nephew. His sister is Jason Sudeikis's. Well, but I was just looking up at the TV in Boston, if you've ever been there, they got a Cheers bar that calls itself Cheers and looks a lot like Cheers. And people go there to buy T shirts and hats and get their picture taken. Anyway, it was full of people this morning looking at the crowd. It's mostly people who don't need much of a reason to drink in the morning looking at that crowd. Yeah.

[Katie]

Wow. Judge, he met Judgeson. Well, he was a beloved character, and he'll be missed. He actually had a pretty good career on Broadway after that, I guess, at least partially trading on his fame and Cheers. But why wouldn't you? I mean, there's a zillion good actors. Somebody's got to get the job.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's also famous for dumb bears.

[Katie]

All right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. So here is something entirely good. I think after bringing you down for most of the show today, I've just. I'm just. I've had it. I'm. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna blow sunshine up your hind end or whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank you.

[Katie]

I did the reality. You need to be slapped in the side of the head with reality.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's got to feel refreshing. It's like a sunshine bidet.

[Katie]

Anyway, I came across this written by a feller. My school banned phones for the year. Here's what happened. I can cut to the end. It was a struggle at first, right? They went with the pouches first. And the kids with their phone in the sealed pouch still felt the dopamine burst whenever the vibration went off. They had to know somebody texted me. I'll bet it's a very, very important. Right. I just got a social media alert. They had to see. It drove them mad. Students started taking pins and stabbing them through the fake Kevlar pouches. Other kids started using their keys to saw the locking mechanism off. Others would bring two phones to. They'd let the dean watch them pop their old phone into the pouch at entry and keep their main phone in their backpack until the coast was clear.

[Jack Armstrong]

Kids.

[Katie]

One kid even got entrepreneurial about it. He went on Amazon and bought the magnet that unlocked the phone pouches for 50 bucks. Then he charged kids a dollar every time they wanted to unlock their phone. Yes, kid made a tidy profit by the time we confiscated the magnet. You just got to admire that kid.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure.

[Katie]

But then the school which kept on trying to. This year, students must hand in their phones at entry or we immediately call their parents. The phones are plugged into safe boxes that the students are not allowed to access until the final bell is rung. There are no constant vibrations reminding you you're missing out on something. And there are no pouches to rip. And they instituted and this is going to take a little spine which is in short supply in modern America. Consequences for smuggling your phone past entry are high. Immediate detention. Calling parents. That's next. Personal visit from the dean Mid class. There was some pushback, but we teachers stuck to our guns because they got the backing of the administration.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's my prediction. We won't be doing this news story in five years because it will not be unique in that everybody's going to be doing it at every school. And we're going to look back on the era where they allowed phones. Like what the hell were we thinking?

[Katie]

Right? Like they were letting the kids have sex in class. I mean just utterly unthinkable. Well, like, you know, back in our day it would have been a, you know, a 36 inch TV screen in class. Wait a minute. You let Joe bring a big screen TV into class?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I only get three channels and there's nothing on during the day so it wouldn't have been that helpful.

[Katie]

But anyway, so they get to the the point they are now where they figured out how to actually keep the phones away from the kids. And I read on. The results have been spectacular. Teachers don't have to fight an impossible battle against tech. Students talk to each other between classes. The cafeteria has the sound of conversation. Teachers cover material faster. Cyberbullying has fallen a lot. When a fight happens, half the school doesn't immediately run out of the classroom to watch mindless doom scrolling Happens on their time, not school time. Boys can't watch porn in the bathroom or the cafeteria. I don't have to fight an impossible war against the greatest human behavioral psychologist Silicon Valley has ever employed. Let me read that again. A teacher saying I don't have to fight an impossible war against the greatest human behavioral psychologists Silicon Valley has ever employed. Seriously, here's a typical scenario in my gym. Well, and then he talks about in in gym class how the kids go along with it and they end up having fun and having a laugh. And last year I was battling the greatest entertainment system the world ever unleashed. Student would listen to my plays. Please say they would get up and then immediately F off on their phone. Again. Why would you play in the gym when you could sit against the wall and watch endless entertainment personally curated for your tastes? Now I battle boredom, and that's a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Winnable fight personally curated for your tastes. I want to talk about that in our four. Dang it, man. You got to be careful what you click on because then the algorithm will think you like it and feed you endlessly and think, I'm not this into it. Hey, algorithm, I was one mistake. I'm not this into this.

[Katie]

Well, ban all smartphones now. Got a great hour four coming up. If you don't get our four, you're busy. Grab it later via podcast. Follow us Armstrong and Getty on demand, wherever you like to get Podcasts. Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

You'Re listening to an iHeart podcast.