Swirling Around In The Toilet Of Politics

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: Swirling Around In The Toilet Of Politics
Date: January 16, 2026
Host: iHeartPodcasts
Main Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

---

Episode Overview

This episode covers a wide array of current events and big-picture societal issues, maintaining Armstrong & Getty’s irreverent, candid, and satirical tone. Key topics include the ongoing Iran crisis and U.S. foreign policy, the realities of recycling, the contact between scientists and uncontacted Amazon tribes, and the concepts of revolution and modernity. Interspersed throughout are humorous moments, pop culture references, and sharp asides on recent news—including a debunked political scandal.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Foreign Policy: Tensions with Iran (00:16–11:39)

• Aircraft Carrier Movement:
  Jack Armstrong opens with news of a U.S. aircraft carrier heading toward Iran, raising questions about possible military action and uncertainty (“who knows?”) in the region.
  [00:16]

• Crackdown in Iran:
  The hosts discuss recent reporting of violent repression of protests in Iran—highlighting internet shutdowns, mass killings and the deployment of 5,000 battle-hardened Iranian-backed fighters from Iraq.

  • “So they had 5,000 of their hardened fighters who had been in Iraq fighting all kinds of different people go back to Iran and say okay, let's, let's end this now.” — Jack Armstrong [05:08]
  • Joe expresses shock at the brutality and strategy:

    “How do you do that to your own people? ... No, they got the most hardened, fanatical battle ... killers to do it.” [05:44]

• Trump’s Approach and U.S. Involvement:
  Discussion around Trump’s stance, possible strategies (referencing Venezuela as a model), the moral and practical challenges of supporting revolutions or regime change, and the limitations of U.S. power.

  • “With the carrier group now fissioning its way toward Iran, Trump is buying time … I don't see him doing something as craven … as saying, take to the streets, help is on the way ... and then just saying, we've applied a few more sanctions.” — Joe Getty [06:38]

• The Dilemma of Revolution:
  Using historical comparisons (including the American Revolution), they debate the rarity of ‘good’ revolutions and the dangerous chaos that typically follows regime change—warning against an overly optimistic view of revolution.

  • “The biggest revolution in modern history is … Iran in 1979 … that revolution didn’t make people’s lives better.” — Jack Armstrong [10:49]

---

2. Contemporary News Mash-up: “Clips of the Week”

[01:37–04:08]

• A rapid & surreal roundup of major and minor news stories is presented with the usual tongue-in-cheek commentary and audio montage, satirizing the chaos and spectacle of the week’s events: social protests, political scandals, internet controversies, celebrity oddities, and more.

---

3. Recycling: The Myth & The Mess (13:10–17:08)

• Unmasking California’s Recycling Reality:
  The hosts mock the proliferation of recycling bins and the low recycling rates for plastics, noting the performative nature of local recycling and possible labor union incentives for multiple waste-collection crews.
  • “You end up with ... 2% of milk cartons get recycled.” — Jack Armstrong [15:12]
  • “Putting it in the bin ... isn’t the recycling. ... That’s the very, very beginning ... They just sit there.” — Joe Getty [15:12]
  • Critique of government jobs created by recycling policy and the possibly counterproductive impact on the environment, comparing it to “canon law” of a “cult’s tradition.”
    • “I’ll bet some of this stuff is probably counterproductive for the environment. But it’s become like canon law …” — Joe Getty [16:50]

---

4. Anthropology: Contact with Uncontacted Amazon Tribes (17:13–26:58)

• Paul Rosolie’s Amazon Encounter
  Segment explores conservationist Paul Rosolie’s experiences with a largely uncontacted Amazon tribe, as recounted on a recent Lex Fridman podcast. The conversation touches on the “noble savage” myth, early interactions, and the danger and consequences of such contact.

  • Armstrong describes the tribe’s pristine lifestyle as visually indistinguishable from 5,000 years ago, highlighting the strangeness and fascination of the footage (20:18).
  • Rosolie’s account:

    “There was this very human moment ... joking ... Then ... things did calm down ... It was a false sense of security." — Paul Rosolie [19:25] On violence following initial peaceful contact:
    “... 200 of the tribe ran out, surrounded the boat and they started firing arrows … One arrow came in just above his scapula and came out by his belly button … horrific amounts of blood … somehow he lived.” [21:51]

• The Risks and Ethics of Contact
  Hosts discuss motivations for contacting tribes (e.g., missionaries), the high stakes for isolated peoples, and the parallel to “sending signals into the universe” (quoting Stephen Hawking’s warning on alien contact).

  • “That’s not the way uncontacted tribes, which we are to the universe, tend to survive …” — Jack Armstrong [22:55]

• Should We Leave Tribes Alone?
  Pondering why modern people often support leaving isolated tribes untouched, questioning whether it’s rooted in the “noble savage” idea or unease about imposing modernity.

  • “Why do I have a childish feeling that these tribes should be left alone as opposed to come in contact with my … modernity?” — Jack Armstrong [25:32]
  • “Most people’s reaction, I think, is leave them alone and let them live their savage, probably brutal, violent, and short lives rather than bring them up to modernity speed.” — Jack Armstrong [26:43]

---

5. Politics & Media Satire: The Eric Swalwell Scandal Spoof (27:26–28:53)

• False Breaking News:
  The hosts read ‘breaking news’ about Eric Swalwell's supposed political collapse, accusations of infidelity and embezzlement, only to immediately debunk it as fake—a meta-commentary on misinformation.
  • “This is not discernible as humor or parody. You’re just misstating something. Huh?” — Joe Getty [28:28]
  • “He has lain with Chinese spies and they have known him. That’s very biblical of you.” — Jack Armstrong [29:06]

---

6. Biden Family Drama: Hunter Biden & Daughter Controversy (29:12–32:31)

• Family & Legal Strife:
  The hosts discuss a news story about Hunter Biden’s refusal to acknowledge or communicate with his daughter, referencing the high-profile nature of the Biden family and lamenting the lack of contact.
  • “As a dad ... what he’s doing is not a lot of work.” — Jack Armstrong [30:14]
  • “But, sweetheart, these people are monsters. You don’t want to be in contact with them.” — Joe Getty [31:16]
  • Discussion of legal and familial obligations and the desire for a share in the “family trust wealth.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the brutality of Iranian crackdowns:
  “They got the most hardened, fanatical ... battle hardened killers to do it. It just took a couple of days to get the right people in place, then unleash the slaughter.” — Joe Getty [05:44]

• On recycling’s effectiveness:
  “Putting it in the bin ... isn’t the recycling. ... That’s the very, very beginning ... They just sit there.” — Joe Getty [15:12]

• On the Amazon tribe contact:
  “... This could be 5000 years ago as easily as it could be today.” — Jack Armstrong [18:26]

• On the perils of making contact with uncontacted peoples:
  “That’s not the way uncontacted tribes, which we are to the universe, tend to survive ... by waving: ‘Hey, anybody new … want to come dominate us?’” — Jack Armstrong [22:55]

• On revolution and risk:
  “We should have in our head revolution not good outcome. ... All right, gets rid of the status quo and puts us in a period of dangerous chaos.” — Jack Armstrong / Joe Getty [10:15 & 10:56]

---

Important Segments & Timestamps

• 00:16–11:39: Iran crisis, foreign policy, revolution
• 13:10–17:08: The recycling debate and local policy skepticism
• 17:13–26:58: Contact with uncontacted tribes, anthropology, the “noble savage”
• 27:26–28:53: Satirical “breaking news” debunking
• 29:12–32:31: Hunter Biden & daughter—family drama

---

Overall Tone

Armstrong & Getty maintain their characteristic blend of caustic humor, skepticism, and curiosity throughout the episode, combining serious analysis with irreverent asides and a readiness to call out misinformation (even their own). The discussion swings fluidly from global affairs to local policy, ethics, and culture, always with an eye for the absurdities of modern life and politics.

---

For First-Time Listeners

This episode is a textbook example of Armstrong & Getty’s mix: current events with sharp skepticism, deep dives into overlooked details, and comic skewering of media spin and political hypocrisy. If you want frank, humorous, and sometimes biting analysis with a wide aperture—from nuclear carriers to the recycling bin—this episode is representative, replete with memorable lines and offbeat perspective.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human broadcasting. Live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty. Science has been in the news some this week. This I think he's an anthropologist, he's a science scientists. And he interacted one of one of those untouched tribes in the Amazon that really had never interacted with the modern world. And some of the stories about how that went are really, really interesting. We'll play you some of that coming up later this hour. Also, it is not clear whether or not things have ramped down about attacking Iran or not at all. There was reporting yesterday we got an aircraft carrier steaming that way. They don't run under steam power anymore. Headed that way. And who knows? Who absolutely knows? So that could be a big story.

[Joe Getty]

What would be the proper verb? It is reacting its way across the ocean.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nuclear reactor silent, right? I don't know. Right.

[Joe Getty]

No. Yeah. Well, essentially, yeah. Oh, reacting. It's fissioning its way.

[Jack Armstrong]

I also wanted to get to the how recycling is what another point on the argument toward recycling is a joke and quit making me do it.

[Joe Getty]

But first, it's a cherished Friday tradition. It's a fond look back at the week that was its cow. Clips of the week.

[Katie Green]

What is reality? Actually, stop.

[Joe Getty]

That is not helpful.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let's not make a mockery of this proceeding. Don't do it. Clips of the leak. These tense moments as proof protesters appear.

[Joe Getty]

To start throwing snowballs and water bottles at federal agents. That small population out there that's already half nuts. Imagine if that city or that town.

[Jack Armstrong]

Was suddenly invaded by thousands of federal.

[Joe Getty]

Agents that do not share the values that you hold dear. What does it mean to be a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Boy or a girl or a man or a woman?

[Katie Green]

We do not have a definition for the court.

[Jack Armstrong]

I wish these people would educate themselves just so they would that I'm just.

[Katie Green]

There to have a good time.

[Jack Armstrong]

The fundamental question that lies at the root of all of this is the.

[Joe Getty]

Question that you're not wanting to answer.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is whether boys can become girls.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I just. I think I'm for the grace of God. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

20 U.S. troops killed hundreds of Venezuelans and used sonic weapons. To all Iranian patriots, keep protesting. Take over your institutions if possible and save the name of the killers and.

[Joe Getty]

The abusers that are abusing you. The announcement by the Fed chair that he's now a target of a criminal probe has rocked Washington and the financial markets. This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions.

[Katie Green]

Elon Musk repeatedly attacked UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on X and reposted AI generated images of him in a bikini. Bill and Hillary Clinton refusing to testify before the Republican led House committee investigating sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

[Joe Getty]

Timothy Busfield is being kept in custody without bond on child sex abuse charges.

[Jack Armstrong]

Dr. Kiefer Sutherland was arrested in Hollywood.

[Joe Getty]

After an alleged altercation with a ride share driver.

[Katie Green]

Why did Charlie think he was a time traveler and he had to find me? I'm totally occupied by this.

[Joe Getty]

I tell you.

[Katie Green]

I read these messages and I'm going what is this? What is reality? Actually, Sean Penn is also here. Hi Sean. I love you Sean. You're such an original. You know everyone in this town is obsessed with looking younger. Meanwhile, Sean Penn is like what if I slowly morph into a sexy leather hand? I feel like that's. It's clips of the week, man.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sean Pence performance in that movie that he won the Golden Globe for. I, I'd be surprised if he doesn't win the Oscar. That is something else.

[Joe Getty]

Is, yeah, it was a fine, fine thespian. No doubt.

[Jack Armstrong]

It wasn't flattering. I appreciate when, you know, hunky sex symbols take on non flattering roles because it was not flattering. Wall Street Journal had this article. I didn't actually read it because I didn't want to. I would, I didn't want to be depressed. It's about the whole Iran protests. They shut the Internet off. Let me, let me read it with the correct words.

[Joe Getty]

What's an Internet?

[Jack Armstrong]

They shut the Internet off. Then the killings began inside a bloody 24 hours in Iran.

[Joe Getty]

I did read it and it depressed me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it doesn't surprise me. So this is interesting from open source about how they pulled some of that off. You know, where did the bad guys come from that came in there and started shooting protesters in the street to the tune of 12, 20,000? Depends on who you listen to. It'd be a lot though, I'm sure. Not to mention the beatings and maimings, torturings. An Iraqi security source told CNN that over the last few weeks nearly 5,000 fighters from Iranian backed paramilitary groups that had been in Iraq re entered Iran. Two separate crossings to assist with the ongoing crackdown against the anti government protests. So they had 5,000 of their hardened fighters who had been in Iraq fighting all kinds of different people go back to Iran and say okay, let's, let's end this now.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's Interesting, because I gotta admit, part of me was wondering, I was reading descriptions of how they would trap a bunch of people in an alley, then just mow them down. And I was picturing like the regular security forces or cops doing that. And I thought, how do you do that to your own people? No, they got the most hardened, fanatical battle, you know, battle hardened killers to do. It just took a couple of days to get the right people in place, then unleash the slaughter. And the more I think about it, with the carrier group now fissioning its way toward Iran, Trump is buying time by this negotiation or deal or sanctions or whatever, saying, no, I don't. I think he's buying time. I think he is done with Iran. I just, I don't see him doing something as craven, and I have accused Trump of being a little craven at times as saying, take to the streets, help is on the way. Take over your institutions. And then just saying, we've applied a few more sanctions.

[Jack Armstrong]

I just.

[Joe Getty]

It can't be what he's doing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, if you look back to June, he said, you know, I'm going to make a decision in two weeks. Then, like, three days later, we bombed the crap out of Iran. On the other hand, as a guy who likes to live in the real world, even with all those things Trump said, and it's just a horror that, you know, a president says that and then doesn't come to the rescue if we were too late, like if he thought he had more days to pull it off or something like that. But it's over. The uprising's over. The bad guys won this round again. You now have people with machine guns, so they forced everybody back into their homes. Now you have people with machine guns walking the streets, like, don't come out of your house. We're going to shoot you the second you do. I mean, that'd keep you in your home. And you got to just think, I can't help them now. I mean, us going to war with Iran, what's that gonna do now for them or us?

[Joe Getty]

That could be where he ends up.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, you have to live in the, you know, the sunk cost fallacy with the revolutions, maybe.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. All we can do is nudge the process. And if the process has died, our nudge wouldn't do any good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Personally, I lean toward the. They're the biggest enemy of the United States on planet Earth, or at least they've killed the most Americans over the last half century. They're never going to be weaker than they are. Right. Now let's do it.

[Joe Getty]

Another data point for what Trump might do. The. The situation in Venezuela to me is very odd and troubling and I don't know where it's going to go. But Trump seems quite pleased with it. He booted out the main bad guy and the bad guys, underlings, seem much more inclined to dance to our tune. Okay, he's maybe he's picturing the same thing unfolding in Iran. He gets rid of the mullahs and some of the top guys. Then he goes to some of the Revolutionary Guard generals, says, hey, I'm willing to do some business if you guys want to do some business.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Is he going to try to reenact the Venezuela scenario, which I still say might not work out very well, but we'll see.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a heck of a deal. And no, I don't want to be at war with Iran, with US soldiers on the ground and all that sort of stuff, in case anybody's thinking that's what I want.

[Joe Getty]

You know, this is a little eggheaded, but it was Neil Ferguson writing in the Free Press who was talking about the difference between revolutionaries and counter revolutionaries and how the American Revolution wasn't really a revolution in that it was a, it was certainly an insurrection. But what offended the colonists is that they weren't getting the rights as Englishmen and they wanted the previously agreed upon rights to continue. And the only way to do that, they thought, was through self governance going forward. Whereas a revolution tears up the system and wants to institute in a very significant way a new system. And those people are usually completely ideologically committed and brutal. And the problem with counter revolution is like in Iran, the people are saying we just want what is reasonable and we're not sure exactly what system. We just know we hate what we've got. But the revolutionaries are still completely ideologically committed and brutal. So it's very tough to get counter revolution going.

[Michael]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't remember. It might have been him or might have been somebody else, but some smart person was making the point that Americans have a bit of an odd view of the. The idea of revolution because ours was so successful and ended up with such a good thing. That is not the norm. In fact, it's the exception. It almost a freak. It's a freak. It almost never happens. We should have in our head revolution not good outcome. You should have in your head revolution another awful outcome because that's what almost always happens. The biggest revolution in modern history is the revolution in Iran in 1979. Is this pretty big country. They got 92 million people. Now with this revolution they're trying to have right now, that's a pretty big country. But that revolution didn't make people's lives better.

[Joe Getty]

No, it was miserable. Yeah. So I think you have to look at revolution or overthrowing a regime, even a regime change, as unless you're willing to really go a long way down the road of occupying and running it and the rest of it. You broke it, you bought it type stuff, which seems to have worked out fairly poorly in recent years. But anyway, you've got to look at revolution as all right. Gets rid of the status quo and puts us in a period of dangerous chaos. From that dangerous chaos, we think we can X, Y, Z. But it almost got to understand that there will be the dangerous chaos and.

[Jack Armstrong]

It almost never works out for the better.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's a hell of a gamble.

[Jack Armstrong]

Almost never.

[Joe Getty]

On the other hand, if your current situation is completely intolerable.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yep, exactly. I'd rather have a chance than no chance. This scientist guy met up with an Amazon tribe that had not met up with the modern world. And it's an interesting story. I hope you can stick around for it.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

So there's this dude, he happens to be a deacon in a church. I suppose that makes it worse, but he's. He's 42 years old, he's married, undergoing a dental procedure in which he's going to be knocked out. Hands his phone to his wife. His wife thinks, you know, I think I'll just go through his photos. Which is either cool or not cool, depending on how you look at it. Anyway, maybe she suspected something, which is she came across pictures of their. Their babysitter in the bathroom.

[Joe Getty]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

He had installed cameras in the home and was taking pictures of their teenage babysitter.

[Joe Getty]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

When she was going to the bathroom. Oh, can you imagine how shocking that would be? Oh, he says he installed those cameras to catch rats. They had a rodent problem. That's why he told her the cameras were there.

[Joe Getty]

But what, are you gonna take the footage to the rat police to help get a conviction? What the hell?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God. That'd be disappointing, wouldn't it? Oh, crap.

[Joe Getty]

God, I'd say, wow, the kinks that lurk in people's brains.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we have been mocking recycling for quite some time. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

Reality of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

The reality of. Well, I don't know how much good it does the best case scenario for some of it, but you at least hope they're trying to recycle plastic and paper and all these different sorts of things. I happen to live in a town, and this is true for a lot of California, but I happen to live in a town where they got like six different kind of trash cans. Every restaurant you go to, wherever you go, it's like, I don't know, I got a Starbucks cup. Is this compost recycle container product, you know, eight different other options or whatever. And, you know, and the stories over the years that they're not separating these, these aren't staying separate. The truck's coming and picking them all and throwing them all together. Here's an LA Times report about how it's working. Some places in California, fewer than 1%.

[Katie Green]

Of all milk cartons are being recycled. Same for items made with polystyrene, that foamy kind of plastic that makes packing peanuts and other foam to hold packaging. The plastic material used to make yogurt containers and margarine tubs is only being recycled at 2%. And shampoo, detergent, and moisturizing cream bottles, those are only being recycled at 5%. In fact, according to the report, there is no kind of plastic being recycled in the state at rates of more than 23%. But looking at the low recycling rates reported, many are wondering whether California is really a leader on this front or just blowing a lot of hot air.

[Joe Getty]

So, I'm sorry, is that the percentages of stuff that is collected?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, the way it was portrayed. Because I just. I cut out the first 30 seconds, maybe I shouldn't have. The way it was being portrayed when the videos was how, you know, you've seen the bins going all in the same trucks.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And, like, what is going on here? And I live in a town where they will find you if you don't separate your cardboard and your plastics. So I think the compliance level is probably very high. And then you end up with a 2% of milk cartons get recycled.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. See, what people forget or they don't care is that putting it in the bin and then taking it somewhere isn't the recycling. That's. That's the very, very beginning of the cycle. It's got to be broken down, used for a new product, and put out again. And that's. Though I have a feeling those are the percentages she's talking about. Oh, you can put them in the recycling area, but they don't get recycled. There's no cycle. They just sit there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Hmm. I certainly. Because I go to my local dump a lot, I've never seen any Indication. Maybe I wouldn't. Maybe they're taking them somewhere else. But I've never seen any indication of some separation of plastics and everything else.

[Joe Getty]

No, I just.

[Michael]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

It would be very expensive to do. Now, there is some belief. We talked about this a while before. I don't know if this is true or not, but this is some theories that the, you know, the labor unions that end up with all the drivers for all these trucks, they push really hard for this because once you get recycling going in some areas now you have two or three different trucks. Because I have three trucks that come by every Wednesday morning. One for the leaves and stuff, one for regular trash, one for the recycling. That's three trucks and three drivers that now exist.

[Joe Getty]

And the government, or government adjacent people who work at the so called recycling center, which is the separate stuff and send it to the dump center. Yeah, yeah. Bunch of government jobs.

[Jack Armstrong]

How much is that doing for the world that the leaves and stuff are not just going in with the regular trash where it would decompose? I don't have any idea. My guess would be not a lot.

[Joe Getty]

And given Cal Unicornia's history, I'll bet some of this stuff is probably counterproductive for the environment. But it's become like canon law, like the cult's tradition, so you have to do it.

[Jack Armstrong]

But you did put into law, you know, three times as many drivers that get a union wage. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Keep switching back and forth between paper and plastic.

[Katie Green]

Armstrong and Gettysburg, who came up with.

[Jack Armstrong]

The whole noble savage thing. Is that Rousseau?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I believe so. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And is that kind of a belief that when we were savages pre history, things were good and it got twisted by modern social constructs and whatnot? Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Primitive man was kind and decent and shared and blah blah, blah. Not like brutal. Just would kill the people in the next valley to take their cow in a minute.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. It's an interesting thing and it's still a conversation we have today, even though that term was coined 200 years ago, 300 years ago. This guy Paul Rosalie, I've been listening to him on Lex Friedman's podcast. I don't know if you know, Lex Friedman is odd dude. He's like an MIT engineer. Very robotic, very smart, has very smart people on and has three hour conversations about all kinds of different stuff, whether it's Elon Musk or Donald Trump.

[Joe Getty]

Very, very dry.

[Jack Armstrong]

Very dry.

[Joe Getty]

So dry.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Smart guy, though. Anyway, Lex had on this guy Paul Rosalie, who calls himself a conservationist. He calls himself and podcaster. He had been working in the Amazon for decades and was working with this uncontacted tribe. I don't know how uncontacted, like completely uncontacted, or just mostly uncontacted. But looking at the video that came out just this week, he showed on Lex Friedman's podcast, video that had never before been seen by this tribe. And it looks like, based on the cloth underwear they have and their hairstyle and their barefootedness, that this could be 5000 years ago as easily as it could be today. That's something. I don't know exactly what these clips we have say. I've got a bunch of information. I'll fill in, I guess, after I hear about this. Here he is on the podcast describing what it was like interacting with this tribe.

[Michael]

And so then there came a time where things were a little more relaxed. They were walking around. We were. At one point, we had a great moment where we. We'd given them the plantains, we'd given them the bananas. And he'd said, look, that's it. He said, we've given you what you asked for. You asked for bananas. We don't cut the trees here. All of us here are not tree cutters. We're indigenous people. And he couldn't explain who the hell we were, but they were like, we don't cut the trees. We're not the loggers. And they're like, okay. So then at some point, Ignacio went out and sort of started. You know, he'd go like this, and they'd go like this. And, you know, he, like, danced a little bit. They danced a little bit. And then there was this very human moment of just sort of joking.

[Joe Getty]

So even Ignacio warmed up.

[Michael]

Even Ignacio warmed up once he realized it didn't seem like anyone was going to die that day. Things did calm down. It was a false sense of security.

[Jack Armstrong]

Up until now, the footage of the uncontacted tribes has been grainy, usually taken from afar with bad camera equipment. Anytime we've seen videos of this sort of thing in the past, but this is super high 4K resolution stuff, videos of this tribe that they made contact with. And it's pretty damned interesting to watch, I'll tell you that. They.

[Joe Getty]

They.

[Jack Armstrong]

When they first came to the beach, they had lots of weapons and looked like they were ready to attack, which is what you would do, of course.

[Joe Getty]

And they were warriors. Yeah, they're soldiers ready to go.

[Jack Armstrong]

They were warriors. Again, I don't know what's in this clip, so I'll fill in some more afterwards. The next one.

[Michael]

The next day we went back to town. You know, long journey back to town, go to sleep. We wake up in the morning and we find out that the following early morning our friends in the community had said, okay, the tribe is gone. We gave them all the things they wanted. We gave them sugarcane bananas. We said, please come back. You're welcome here anytime. And George was driving a boat and there was people on the boat. And as they were going upriver, the tribe, 200 of the tribe ran out, surrounded the boat and they started firing arrows. And everybody else could hit the deck and get under the, under the benches and hide behind bags of rice. George was driving and he was leaning back. As he's driving, he's driving as fast as he can. And one arrow came in just above his scapula and came out by his belly button. And so he had that seven foot arrow tip through him and so they pulled him out. And I saw the boat afterward and there's just, you know, horrific amounts of blood all over the boat. And he had to be medevaced out and somehow he lived.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's how contacting a tribe that is, you know, uncontacted tribe goes. And how would you expect it to go any differently?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's interesting, the change from the one day to the other.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And to what extent they were, you know, just feeling out this new, new tribe that they've come in contact with.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and who knows, maybe that the tribal warriors or I'm sorry, the little band of warriors that was sent to greet them, they realized, okay, these are good guys. They're not going to cut the trees, they're not going to hurt us. They've given us some nice plantains. We'll essentially shake their hands and say, it's cool to meet you, be on your way. Then they went back and made. Who knows, maybe the village elders said, look, they may be nice guys, but in general they're a threat. So let's fire arrows at them and get them the hell out of here. We weren't. We're not uncontacted accidentally. It's intentional, you idiots. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which gets to the stuff that the conversations that are had. What's the guy, the super smart physicist who is in the wheelchair confined.

[Joe Getty]

Stephen Hawking.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's things Stephen Hawking said, hey, why are we sending out of these signals into the universe saying, hey, I got living forms over here. Hey, anybody? We got all kinds of resources. Anyone? Because that's not the way uncontacted tribes, which we are to the universe tend to survive is by like waving hey, anybody new out there that might be technologically superior want to come dominate us? We're over here.

[Joe Getty]

That's right. Yeah. It's a good point.

[Jack Armstrong]

An odd thing to do and that's, that's not what these guys did. They didn't assume that this is going to be great. Look, we've contacted another planet or a group of people. This is all going to be wonderful. They'll learn about us, we'll learn about them. Now they thought this is going to be bad.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which it probably was going to be is going to be over time.

[Joe Getty]

I love the description of the moment where they realize, okay, we're not a threat to each other. We can be buds or at least meet and encounter each other and you look funny. You look funny.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's great.

[Joe Getty]

And dance around a little bit and actually sing a song or whatever. But that's just what next is the question.

[Jack Armstrong]

The New York Post tells the story of in 2018 a 26 year old American missionary. Now that's a slightly different situation because you feel like, well the reason I've got to contact these tribes is I need to you know, get them the, the, the good news so that they can be saved and you know, I'm doing the right thing for them. That's a slightly different motivation than might happen otherwise. We think, God, they got a lot of great trees here. You know what these trees would be worth? We cut them down. But this 26 year old missionary back in 2018 he was killed by attempting to contact the Sentinelese and North Sentinel island, one of the most isolated indigenous communities in the world. That's in India despite India's strict ban on approaching the island. So India has a ban on leave these people alone and let them do their thing. Which is kind of interesting on its own. I want to talk about that in a second. There are currently, they say, shocking to me, nearly 200 uncontacted groups that still exist in the world. Wow. They believe. And it could be more.

[Joe Getty]

I wouldn't have guessed it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I wouldn't have either. I wouldn't have thought there were any left. There are still 200 uncontacted groups out there in the world.

[Joe Getty]

If you told me there were five more, I just said wow, that many?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. They don't know about Donald Trump and Chatgpt and idiots. They're not looking forward to tomorrow's playoff games at all.

[Joe Getty]

Stupid.

[Jack Armstrong]

They don't know.

[Joe Getty]

They don't even have laptops.

[Jack Armstrong]

They have no idea that a Women that men can become pregnant. There's so many things they're missing out on.

[Joe Getty]

Again. Idiots.

[Jack Armstrong]

Why do I have a childish feeling that these tribes should be left alone as opposed to come in contact with my dirt? Modernity. Is it the noble savage thing that we all have in us to a little. To a certain extent, of thinking like their lives are better as they are than the modern world? Because that's kind of a weird thing. That's like a rejection of the modern world.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Yeah. I guess my feeling is they're probably aware that there are other civilizations out there and they've chosen not to contact us. I say leave them alone. I couldn't tell you precisely why.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know, but that's an interesting question, isn't it, that we have a tendency to want to leave them alone? Yeah. So would we prefer to be living with loincloths and very little medical care and probably like a serious patriarchy? Most likely.

[Joe Getty]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

All kinds of things.

[Joe Getty]

No modern gals running around topless with the there's an advantage necklaces and stuff. I don't know. It doesn't sound terrible.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. I just.

[Joe Getty]

I don't.

[Michael]

I.

[Joe Getty]

It's because I think it's enough to know that virtually everybody reacts the same way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Most people's reaction, I think, is leave them alone and let them live their savage, probably brutal, violent, and short lives rather than bring them up to modernity speed.

[Katie Green]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know how brutal and savage they are. That's. I think having them around and maybe being able to get a peek now and again is worth it, scientifically speaking, anthropologically speaking. Although, you know, like India's saying, stay the hell away completely. Yeah. Interesting question. We actually have semi breaking news, Michael. Semi breaking news. Breaking news. And it's a shame because a hero of the show is really fallen on hard times.

[Jack Armstrong]

Breaking news, Michael.

[Michael]

What?

[Joe Getty]

It's the donkey.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right.

[Joe Getty]

No, it was a semi joke on something.

[Michael]

It was a hat.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, semi. I see. Well crafted. You're an artist. Hero to the show. Great American Congressman Eric Swalwell's bid for governor of California appears to be swirling around in the toilet of politics and about to go into the pipes in a scandal that nobody saw coming. Swalwell's wife alleges he's not only been cheating on her, but he's also been embezzling millions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers.

[Jack Armstrong]

Quote, that makes it worth it. When you.

[Joe Getty]

When you.

[Jack Armstrong]

When I first thought the breaking news was Eric Swalwell's dropping out for Governor of California. I thought that's your. That's the worst breaking news we've ever had. But this, the wife telling on him with this stuff. This is good stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. This is some sort of. Of. This is dishonest. This is dishonesty. I take it back. I retract even the somewhat breaking news nature of this. Thank goodness for community notes. I would say to the guy who perpetrated this. This is not discernible as humor or parody. You're just misstating something. Huh?

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, so do you take it all back?

[Joe Getty]

I take it all back. He's an ass and a scum and.

[Jack Armstrong]

He has an embellished, embezzled.

[Joe Getty]

No, apparently not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, okay.

[Joe Getty]

He has lain with Chinese spies, but not the embezzlement. He has known them. Biblically.

[Jack Armstrong]

He is lame with Chinese spies and they have known him. That's very biblical of you.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

We will finish strong next Armstrong and Gettys. In my word as a Biden news Hunter Biden has alleged. Hunter Biden has allegedly refused to speak to his seven year old daughter that he had with that London Roberts woman. Remember he denied it then grandpa the president pretended she didn't exist when he would get together with all the grandchildren or even name them. Hunter won't even speak to her, has not spoken to her at all. Even though the girl wants to talk to her dad and mom wants daughter to have some relationship with her dad. How about her birth father or her sperm donor? Yeah, yeah. As a dad I shouldn't say that because being a dad is a lot of work. What he's doing is not a lot of work. She wants a judge to. The former stripper wants a judge to force Hunter Biden to communicate with his child. Which maybe you can do in that state. I think in California I know you can't. There's no law.

[Joe Getty]

That's an odd idea.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's no law that you have to parent in California if you don't want to.

[Joe Getty]

My child's scumbag baby daddy has no interest in contacting her. I'm going to force him.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's kind of weird. Also they had an agreement that the family was supposed to get some of his paintings back when they were worth money. So she picked out some of the paintings that that she wanted and he never gave them to her. So never sent the paintings. They're now worthless probably, but never sent the paintings. The first place has had no contact and mom said I would just like my daughter to have some connection to that side of the family. We've had zero with anybody on that side of the family to date. So they're just pretending that that doesn't exist.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I've never been in that position. Oh, please. That's. That's hilarious. I've never been in that situation. Thank God. And that's really, really rough and sad and the rest of it. But, sweetheart, these people are monsters. They're monsters. You don't want to be in contact with them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, they're incredibly wealthy, and she is very, very not so wanting to be part of the. Everybody gets to live off the family trust wealth of stealing from the taxpayer probably for many, many years. I can see why you'd want to get a part of that for your kid.

[Joe Getty]

Sure. Get lawyers to get you that. Having your kid talk to Hunter is not going to get you there, I don't think.

[Jack Armstrong]

But to be fair to grandpa, if my son, you know, well, I would expect him to father the kid. So it's a different situation. I mean, I would expect him to play the role as dad. So it's a different situation.

[Joe Getty]

I have a friend who had a very brief relationship with a woman and no idea the child had been born until roughly when the child was born, and they were never together together. And he's. He's absolutely fulfilled his legal obligations and is now very close with his son.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, good.

[Joe Getty]

It's. It's a really, really nice story.

[Jack Armstrong]

But how much pressure would there be on grandpa, his dad, to be in contact with the woman in the family?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's a rough one.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is a rough one, but Hunter, come on, at least send him the crappy paintings.

[Joe Getty]

Well, he's a piece of garbage. He is the problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

He absolutely is. Hey, kids, it's that time again with Armstrong and Getty. Armstrong and Getty. Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew. There he is, Michelangelo leading the way. Michael. All right, we got NFL playoffs.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know why.

[Joe Getty]

Last week, I had the feeling the 49ers were going to beat the Eagles, and they did. I have the same feeling this week. Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ladies and gentlemen, Michelangelo has a feeling.

[Joe Getty]

We have a feeling. It worked out last night.

[Jack Armstrong]

Accordingly. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. That's just science and one data point.

[Jack Armstrong]

We have 100% accuracy.

[Joe Getty]

Our esteemed newswoman, Katie Green has a final thought. Katie, I haven't been to Sonic since.

[Jack Armstrong]

High school, and now you said it, and I want it. I had the onion Rings and cheeseburger. I felt awful afterwards, but it was pretty delicious. Man got their shakes because I don't eat desserts. My son had a peanut butter shake and I was just looking at that. Thank God I want that.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, onion rings. I love onion rings. Jack, a final thought for us.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm excited about the football tomorrow. I hope the games are. I mean, last weekend may have spoiled this week. We could have four games that are all 35 to 6 and it was never that close.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Gosh. Final thought. So much time, so little to do. I don't. I don't know. I don't have a final thought. Sorry.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't contact any indigenous tribes over the weekend.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Number one, you might find an arrow through your scapula. Number two, leave Malone.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, they don't need your help. Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Joe Getty]

So many people to thank, so little time. Go to armstrong yeti.com. we've got all sorts of great contact for you. Whether you want to drop us an email. Mailbagarmstrongetty.com if you see something we ought to be talking about, send it along. Also, got your Katie's Corner. You can subscribe to the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand. You get the One More Thing podcast automatically. Sometimes there are swears there's at least.

[Jack Armstrong]

Some chance we attack Iran over the weekend. We'll see if the worst is behind us in Minneapolis. So we'll have a number of things to report on on Monday. There's no doubt about that. I hope you can join us in for another lovely week.

[Joe Getty]

Everybody mellow out and watch football. Football. Quit eating, would you? Exactly. Too much hating.

[Jack Armstrong]

Mellow out. We'll see you then. God bless America.

[Joe Getty]

Strong and Getty show. That's my understanding.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't attribute quotes to Bill Clinton that were Lincoln.

[Joe Getty]

Absolutely not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. This is the way things.

[Joe Getty]

Monica, come on over here. That was Clinton. Gavin Newsome is still wearing that song, baby. That was also Clinton. Four score and seven years ago. That was Lincoln.

[Jack Armstrong]

Back to you. He might have made her wear the top hat. I don't know. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

The Armstrong and G show. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.