The A&G Replay Monday Hour Three

Summary

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Armstrong & Getty On Demand

The A&G Replay Monday Hour Three

Date: October 13, 2025
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this replay hour of Armstrong & Getty, Jack and Joe celebrate Columbus Day off the air with a compilation of their best recent segments. The episode covers major themes in media culture (focusing on Bari Weiss and the Free Press's acquisition by CBS/Paramount), anecdotes about social behavior, the pitfalls of news bubbles and media misinformation, current political polling insights, crime and poverty discussions, processed foods, corporate influence, and the intersection of free speech, business, and expressive rights following high-profile court cases. The style is lively, irreverent, skeptical, and conversational as always.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Rise of Bari Weiss and the Free Press

[00:52–03:12, 07:31–11:06]

• Acquisition Details:
  Bari Weiss’s Free Press has been acquired by CBS/Paramount for $150 million.

  • "In our announcement video, Bari says the Free Press had 1.5 million subscribers who pay $10 a month. That's... more than $150 million in revenue per year. And that's within three years, went from three employees... to that. That's absolutely amazing." (Jack, 02:00)

• Audience Concerns:
  Some Free Press fans worry about "selling out" to corporate media.

• Weiss’s Philosophy & Reassurance:
  Bari vows to merge "the quality of the old world to the freedom of the new" and is taking over as Editor-in-Chief of CBS News:

  • "I'll continue to lead this incredible community... as CEO and editor in chief. But I'll be taking on another title too... working with new colleagues on the programs that have impacted American culture for generations, like 60 Minutes..." (paraphrased by Joe, 08:30)
    "She is going to work like crazy to turn CBS News back into a news organization and not a partisanship organization." (Joe, 09:08)

• Impact on Journalism:
  The acquisition provides resources for investigative journalism, maintaining independence and open debate.

Notable Quotes:

• "We would seek the truth and tell it plainly. And we would treat readers like adults capable of making their own choices." (Weiss, quoted by Joe, 07:49)

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2. Social Observations: The Over-Talkative Diner

[03:12–06:55]

• Anecdote:
  Joe shares a comedic story about running into the same loud, dominant woman at two nearby restaurants on consecutive nights, observing both her knowledge of football and her conversational style.

• Parenting Insight:
  Jack explains his approach to coaching his own kids on conversational dominance:

  • "I just want you to realize that we've all been sitting here and you've done like 90% of the talking since we sat down... You don't want to be that person." (Jack, 06:15)

• Broader Point:
  Discussion evolves into how some people never learn to balance conversation, and the importance of mentoring or parenting in socialization.

Memorable Moment:

• "This woman was responsible for 96% of the verbiage expressed. Okay. Just on and on and on. So loud." (Joe, 04:47)

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3. Media Bubbles & Misinformation

[12:14–18:21]

• Information Echo Chambers:
  The hosts discuss how people can develop warped views due to selective media consumption, using the Charlie Kirk assassination as an example.

  • "A lot of folks who think some crazy ass, they're probably not bad people, but they're used to looking in some fairly normal mainstream ish places for information and what they're getting is just wildly inaccurate." (Joe, 13:26)

• AI & Algorithmic Bias:
  Major AI platforms misattributed political motive in Kirk's assassination (falsely blaming right-wing ideology), reflecting the problematic sources AI use.

  • "Garbage in, garbage out." (Joe, 15:07)

• Conspiracy Theories:
  Both left and right are shown to generate wild misperceptions, from thinking Kirk's killer was a MAGA conservative, to conspiracies alleging government and foreign plots.

• Practical Advice:
  Empathy for those in alternate realities:

  • "When you run into people who think this crazy stuff, it could well be they've just never heard an alternative explanation. And be nice... Can you listen to me because I haven't heard, you know..." (Joe, 13:57)

Notable Quotes:

• "I go with 'back away slowly and keep my eye on their hands.'" (Jack, 14:26)

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4. Crime, Poverty, and Political Messaging

[22:23–31:28]

• Democrat Strategy on Crime:
  Insight into DNC polling showing voter trust deficit on crime; Democrats plan to emphasize crackdowns on guns to shift perceptions.

  • "The battleground district survey...offers a bleak assessment of Democrats. Starting point, 89% of the likely voters surveyed want their Congress member to take steps to keep them safe. But only 38% trust Democrats over Republicans with that task." (Joe, 23:10)

• Trump’s Steadiness in Polls:
  CNN poll shows Trump's approval rating has been exceptionally steady regardless of news cycles.

  • "Trump is basically the steadiest favorability rating at this point in the presidency of any president on record... good enough to get him re-elected at the time." (Jack, 24:42)

• Jason Riley on Policing & Upward Mobility:
  Discussion draws from Riley’s columns (Wall Street Journal) about the failings of public housing projects, the importance of more policing for safer, upwardly mobile black communities, and the misdirection of progressive policy.

  • "That point of view is held widely on the left that crime can mostly be blamed on poverty... Not only are most poor people not criminals, but the most impoverished communities in the US are not the most violent." (Joe, 26:51)

Notable Quotes:

• "Safer neighborhoods are conducive to upward mobility and police help keep neighborhoods safe." (Joe, quoting Jason Riley, 27:40)
• “When you take away stable families, decent schools and safe streets, there's nothing left.” (Joe quoting Thomas Sowell, 29:56)

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5. Processed Foods & Health

[19:48–22:23]

• Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs):
  Jack questions Joe about whether simple-seeming packaged snacks (like “healthy” kettle chips) are still "ultra-processed" and how difficult it is to find bread without additives.

  • "I've been looking at my bread. It's hard to buy bread...if you buy bread that doesn't have a million ingredients, it's fresh for like a day." (Jack, 21:01)
  • Joe shares he eats homemade whole-grain bread, frozen for preservation.

• Product Endorsements and Trends:
  Brief aside about being influenced by a Tucker Carlson ad for healthy chips.

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6. Corporate Influence & Boycotts

[32:26–34:35]

• Disney’s Ubiquity:
  Jack and Joe mock the idea of boycotting Disney, given its immense reach.
  • "Oh, I'm gonna boycott Disney. Oh, are you? Have you looked into what that means?" (Jack, 32:32)
  • "The mouse is not a mouse. He's an 800 pound gorilla...The fact that they've still got the image of 'ah, it's the happiest place on earth'...is really quite an accomplishment." (Joe, 34:29)

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7. First Cousin Marriage Ban Debate

[34:56–35:18]

• Connecticut Law:
  Jack notes the contradiction in banning gay first cousins from marrying when the supposed rationale is about reproduction.

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8. Free Speech, Business, and the Law

[35:21–38:25]

• Baker/Supreme Court Precedent:
  Rehash of the Supreme Court's ruling supporting artistic/expressive freedom (baker refusing a custom cake for a gay wedding).

• Kalamazoo Print Shop Case:
  New incident where Office Depot employees refused to print memorial materials for Charlie Kirk, calling it propaganda.

  • Joe delineates the legal difference between refusing creative work vs. refusing to hit "print" on a copy machine:
    • "Pressing go on a copy machine is not the same as painting a portrait, writing a song, painstakingly decorating a cake, which is an artistic expression." (Joe, 38:22)

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Bari Weiss’s growth (02:00):
  "That's absolutely amazing. And it is. It is one of the biggest media success stories ever. Certainly in this era of can there be any. Can anybody break through?" – Jack Armstrong

• On AI news accuracy (15:07):
  "Garbage in, garbage out." – Joe Getty

• On social etiquette (06:15):
  "Now, I just want you to realize that we all been sitting here and you've done like 90% of the talking since we sat down. So how about you let other people talk a little bit because you don't want to be that person?" – Jack Armstrong

• On stable communities (29:56):
  "When you take away stable families, decent schools and safe streets, there's nothing left." – Joe Getty, citing Thomas Sowell

• On boycotting Disney (32:32):
  "Oh, I'm gonna boycott Disney. Oh, are you? Have you looked into what that means?" – Jack Armstrong

• On freedom of speech in commerce (38:22):
  "Pressing go on a copy machine is not the same as painting a portrait, writing a song, painstakingly decorating a cake, which is an artistic expression." – Joe Getty

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Segment Timestamps (Approximate)

• Bari Weiss & Free Press Acquisition: 00:52–11:06
• Restaurant Anecdote & Social Behavior: 03:12–06:55
• News Bubbles & AI Misinformation: 12:14–18:21
• Ultra-Processed Foods: 19:48–22:23
• Polling & Political Messaging: 22:23–24:42
• Crime, Poverty, and Policy: 24:42–31:28
• Disney/Corporate Power: 32:26–34:35
• First Cousin Marriage Ban: 34:56–35:18
• Free Speech Legalities in Business: 35:21–38:25

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Tone & Style

Conversational, humorous, skeptical, and lively. Jack and Joe frequently pivot between hard news, cultural analysis, and sharp-witted social commentary, making even complex topics accessible and engaging for their audience.

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This summary covers the essential content and flavor of "The A&G Replay Monday Hour Three" for listeners who want an in-depth yet concise guide to the episode's highlights and recurring themes.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio Studio at.

[Announcer]

The George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty, not live from Studio C. Hey there. We're Armstrong and Gideon. For the first time ever, I think we actually are taking Columbus Day off. I do not like the way you are treating Italian Americans. I can't handle it. I'm too angry to come to.

[Joe Getty]

I've rented three ships and I'm going to go exploit someone. We're taking it off more for personal family reasons than Columbus Day. But anyway, a carefully curated, delightfully entertaining collection of best of Armstrong and Yeti clips coming up in moments.

[Jack Armstrong]

So now enjoy the Armstrong and Yeti replay. Barry Weiss, who runs Free Press got.

[Joe Getty]

She got offered a deal several weeks.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ago from CBS and everybody knew about it. Paramount. And a lot of talk in the world of media whether she would take it or not because she is a hardcore honest broker. Tries to be an honest broker in the media. That's why she left the New York Times in the first place and she ended up taking the deal. CBS the the story is $150 million to acquire her Free Press thing which is, which is quite the story. And Commentary magazine writing about what an amazing media story this really is. And it is, it is. And then Joe is going to talk.

[Joe Getty]

A little bit about the what the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Future might look like. But a couple of notes about Barry Weiss's announcement last week about the joining together of the Free Press and Paramount. First, this makes the Free Press one of the most amazing, entirely organic successes in media history. Barry didn't know that this was how it was going to turn out or what was going to turn out when she quit the New York Times because she felt like they were not being honest brokers when in the news that they're putting their thumb on the scale for progressivism or liberalism or whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and she believed that there was a market for being a media traditionalist that news traditional.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why I'm excited about this story because that's kind of what we try to do and to know that there's enough of a market out there. She did it with three people including her wife and her sister. And then the response to what she was doing dictate its growth. Like any great startup, it moved with the consumers who were responding to it and made it its own market. In our announcement video, Barry says the Free Press had 1.5 million subscribers who pay $10 a month. That's $120 a year. So that's more than $150 million in revenue per year. That is quite an amazing. And that's within three years, went from three employees, and this is what we're going to try to do with journalism to that. That's absolutely amazing. And it is. It is one of the biggest media success stories ever. Certainly in this era of can there be any. Can anybody break through?

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. So fans of the Free Press are a little concerned about, you know, sell it out, going for the corporate record deal, you know, back day rock and roll fans know what I'm talking about. But her statements are terrific about it. Before we get to that, though, speaking of free speech, I got to tell you this. So we're getting our house remodeled and our kitchen hasn't existed for months. And so. And they're doing the floors and the fumes are terrible. And so we've been eaten out a lot and rented a place near our house because we just can't take the fumes. But so anyway, we go out for dinner the other night and in the table right next to us, and it was a fairly quiet table place real near the house, two couples, and one of the women talked constantly, oddly enough. And this cow, at least 60. At least 60. Loud voice. The kind of voice you can hear two tables away in a loud place. And this is a quiet restaurant. Never stop talking, oddly enough, about college football.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. She was, I was going to ask, are you the sort of person that if you can hear overhear other people, you can't not pay attention to them?

[Joe Getty]

It is very, very difficult for me to ignore it because my brain keeps engaging in what they're saying.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's interesting because some people are like that, like one of my sons, that way I'm not that way at all. Somebody can be having a conversation next to me. I just block it out completely. But I know, like my son, people.

[Joe Getty]

Are having a conversation with you because.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm not interested in what you're saying. But my son and his mom, they cannot not. They can't listen to you while you're talking to them if somebody else is talking behind them.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah, yeah. So I've got a bit of that too. But so. And there's four people at this table. Seriously. This woman was responsible for 96% of the verbiage expressed. Okay. Just on and on and on. So loud. And I was doing my best to ignore it, but it's okay, you know, it's not like she was espousing, you know, Nazism or anything horrible. It's just so much noise.

[Jack Armstrong]

That'd be more interesting.

[Joe Getty]

Finally, you know, they get done, they leave. We finish our dinner in peace, but because we have no kitchen, we.

[Announcer]

Oh.

[Joe Getty]

The next night we go out to our favorite Mexican place not far from the house, and we sit down and the waitress comes over and Judy looks to our right and says, oh, my God, no way. Yes. Really? Same two couples, same woman prattling on at the top of her lungs. That's impossible. I know. I was like, no, I mean, it's impossible that they would go out to eat again, again at a different restaurant.

[Jack Armstrong]

The same night as you and the same time. I mean, well, and it's.

[Joe Getty]

It's not like back when we had our cabin up in the mountains and there are effectively four restaurants in town. No, there are dozens of them, and they're right at the next table. And she's prattling on and on this time, oddly enough, about pro football, and again, is extremely knowledgeable. She's talking about Kirk Cousins character and why that matters. But again, at top volume supp. Applying 95 of the verbiage at the table.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. I don't know if other parents do this, and maybe I shouldn't be doing it myself, but because I'm so annoyed by people who dominate conversations like that. I really have been in tune with that with I Got one kid in particular where I say, now, now, I just want you to realize that we all been sitting here and you've done like 90% of the talking since we sat down. So how about you let other people talk a little bit because you don't want to be that person?

[Joe Getty]

Right? No, I've absolutely done that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I always wonder when I meet people like that. Like, did nobody ever tell you to, like, look around? There's seven people at this table. Has anybody else said a word other than you? Do you think everybody else wants it that way, that you're the only one who talks? I mean, nobody ever said that to.

[Joe Getty]

Them their whole lives. Well, and one of the handful of people I love more than anything on earth had a habit of expecting your rapt attention, but was visibly uninterested the moment anyone else started talking. And we have worked on that as well. Yes, yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

But again, that's.

[Joe Getty]

No, I think that's. That's good parenting. That's good. Good mentoring. All right, so back to the Free Press. Let's see. It's rather a long email that Barry Rice Weiss wrote. If you're not familiar, it's B A, R I. By the way, before you get into.

[Jack Armstrong]

It, like I said last week, I haven't been worried about it because I think her whole shtick, I mean, she risked her entire career leaving the New York Times. She is not going to all of a sudden roll over and, and, and, and not do what she's been doing, in my opinion.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And she goes into the philosophy behind the free press. We would marry the quality of the old world to the freedom of the new. We would seek the truth and tell it plainly. And we would treat readers like adults capable of making their own choices again. The Armstrong and Yeti formula as well. At least that's what we try to do. And she gets into the fact that she was told over and over that's impossible. The only way to go is just complete and flaming 100% partisanship. And she mentions, as of today, I am editor in chief. Oh, she says, I'll continue to lead this incredible community alongside my tireless team, remaining CEO and editor in chief. But I'll be taking on another title too. As of today, I'm editor in chief of CBS News, working with new colleagues on the programs that have impacted American culture for generations, like 60 Minutes Sunday morning, shaping how millions of Americans read, listen, watch, and more importantly, understand the news in the 21st century. And as I'd speculated last week, she's absolutely hardcore, remaining true to her principles. But she points out, excuse me, that this new partnership in the money involved gives the free press, which will continue to be the free press, even more resources to do big, you know, like long term reporting. You work on this for six months and bring us the big story stuff that's vanishing from today's news.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And she is going to work like crazy to turn CBS News back into a news organization and not a partisanship organization.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I don't know if you saw the first story on 60 Minutes last night, but the first story was about featuring parents whose kids have these horrible lives. Now it looks like because of vaccinations they got.

[Announcer]

Oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

That they didn't interact well with. Now that's, I don't think that's a story 60 Minutes would have done last year.

[Joe Getty]

No, no. So final note from Barry, I think for now is, she says, as proud as we are of the 1.5 million subscribers who have joined under the banner of the free press, and we are astonished at that number. This is a country with 340 million people. We want our work to reach more of them as quickly as possible. That is, I actually believe she means that.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is something though to start out now, she had a very high profile start because of leaving the New York Times. It got so attention. So it's not like you know, just any random person with a startup media empire, but that's still amazingly impressive growth.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. And if you're not a subscriber, you know, you hear some of their content here, but it's, it's terrific old style journalism. They stuff that they say, stuff that challenges my beliefs all the time. They frequently, frequently challenge the views of the half wit progressive incurious media. I mean every single day.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. And I'm sure they're wrong sometimes. I don't care if you're wrong. If, if I believe that you're at least trying to get the story out correctly. That's your goal.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Well, and to their credit, if they are quote unquote wrong about something, either beholder, one of their other people will write a piece saying hey Jim, you're wrong about this and here's why I think so. And they'll publish it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

With a link to the original piece. And then often they'll have a little dialogue between the two. Trust again. Trusting adults to weigh ideas like adults.

[Announcer]

The Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Joe Getty]

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[Joe Getty]

So speaking of classrooms, I want to talk a little bit about media and information bubbles and I was going to mention that. Well I did mention on the air the other day that a friend of mine has a professional relationship with a person and it would not be appropriate for my friend to call them out and disagree with them on politics. But this person was commenting on the Charlie Kirk assassination and this fellow, who my friend identified as a very nice guy and, and quite reasonably bright, just an overall good dude, was 100 convinced that the young man who killed Charlie Kirk was a flag waving MAGA conservative who resented Charlie for not being MAGA enough. He was completely convinced of that. And I'm saving it for a Campus Madness update probably tomorrow. But the head of the association of University Professors, which is tens of thousands, thousands of university professors was out the other day saying, oh yeah, absolutely, he was a right wing activist who killed Charlie Kirk and exactly the same thing. And if there's a theme to this, and I've got a couple more like exhibits, it's that a lot of folks who think some crazy ass, they're probably not bad people, but they're used to looking in some fairly normal mainstream ish places for information and what they're getting is just wildly inaccurate.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's interesting. I'm thinking of a couple of people I know who have really warped views of what's going on in the world.

[Joe Getty]

It's not because they're bad, it's just.

[Jack Armstrong]

Because of where they go to get their information.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And so, you know, which is a bad choice. Yeah, yeah. And you got to be a better consumer of news. But maybe the theme, the overall theme is when you run into people who think this crazy stuff, it could well be they've just never heard an alternative explanation. And be nice, be what we on the right tend to be, which is I'll listen to you now if you don't mind. Can you listen to me because I haven't heard, you know, how about if.

[Jack Armstrong]

I go with back away slowly and keep my eye on their hands.

[Joe Getty]

A lot of war.

[Jack Armstrong]

Two, some of them seem nuts.

[Joe Getty]

Free Beacon let me. The major AI platforms which have emerged as significant American news sources, especially for the young, describe Charlie Kirk's assassination as motivated by right wing ideology and downplay left wing violence as quote, exceptionally rare. According to the Free Beacon, when asked to name recent assassination in the U.S. motivated by right wing ideology, multiple chatbots, including ChatGPT, Google's Gemini perplexity, all listed Charlie Kirk's murder as a right wing act of violence.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, obviously Jimmy Kimmel got misled by this. He seemed to actually believe that Gemini's.

[Joe Getty]

Chatbot made the provably false statement that quote, the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September of 25 has been identified by researchers as the only fatal right wing terrorist incident in the US during the first half of 2025. And. And they go into some detail. Keep in mind that a recent Free Beacon analysis. We talked about this on the air. Found that Al Jazeera was one of the two most popular sources used by AI chatbots for news about the Israel Hamas war. And there were zero Israel learn leaning sites that were in their top 10. I think it was so garbage in, garbage out. Then you've got Hannah Nicole Jones. Nicole Hannah Jones, whatever her name is. New York Times. The crazy lady, the racist, who came out with a 1619 project, wrote recently that public mourning for Kirk is unsettling. In the wake of Kirk's death, individuals and institutions across the nation moved not just to condemn his killings and political violence, but to venerate him. It was unsettling to see from across the political spectrum speak with reverence about Kirk. And she went on to describe how he was a man who spread hate. Said black women lack the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously, which is a deliberate misquoting of Charlie. And again, that's in the New York Times. Wow. Flamingly, you know, liberal, obviously, but you could be a person serious about getting your information and be completely misled.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, on the same story, but a different version of it. I was talking to somebody yesterday who is completely into this story that that poor kid in Utah is going to be executed for something he didn't do. He was framed. He was a patsy like Lee Harvey Oswald that the. The FBI planted that gun and they're pinning it on him. And it was the Mossad working with our FBI to kill Charlie Kirk. Killed Charlie Kirk. And they're going to pin it on this kid and this poor kid is going to be executed. And how. I mean, this person was upset that this innocent kid is going to be executed for something he didn't do.

[Joe Getty]

Gotta unplug the Internet.

[Jack Armstrong]

And I think that comes from the Candace Owens crowd.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Yeah, I was just gonna ask that. Yeah. All right, final note on this topic, because Nellie Bowles is so great writing in the free press, and Nellie is the woman of the left. Yes, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

But why? So, like, why for you and I, is it so obviously he was half crazy, also upset about the trans thing, but he's dating a trans person and blah, blah, blah, suicidal. And I just believe that story. Why do you think you and I are the way we are on that story? Which I believe is the accurate version, by the way.

[Joe Getty]

I don't. I don't know. Armstrong and Getty.

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[Joe Getty]

A judge gave the man who attempted to assassinate Brett Kavanaugh only eight years in prison after he began identifying as a woman. You don't say, said the Menendez sisters. That's a good joke. That is a good joke.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a well crafted joke.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've got a question about UPFS ultra processed foods Joe has been trying to scare us about for quite some time. And I'm sure it's true that whenever you're eating something that's got a list of 50 ingredients, you can't have no idea what they are, that it's probably not good for you. And, and lately they've been saying that like this is really, really bad for us. Right? Like this could be. Yeah, this could be a lot of what all our problems are, obesity, health.

[Joe Getty]

This and that, food addiction.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I often think in addition to all the ingredients, just stuff that's like sealed in a bag or whatever is probably that. But like the kettle chips, like the healthier potato chips that you get, look at the ingredients and it's just potatoes, oil, salt, that's the only thing on there. Does that mean it isn't ultra processed or is it just a slightly better version of ultra pressed because it's still in one of those bags sealed up, that the food would stay fresh for the next 150 years, which doesn't do those.

[Joe Getty]

The more, you know, basic down to earth potato chips. Do they have that long shelf life? I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know that either. Actually.

[Joe Getty]

It's. It's hell. But better for you than the ones that Have a zillion ingredients, chemicals and stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I actually bought some chips. I was watching the Tucker Carlson 911 documentary that I assume is going to end up. It was the Jews. I haven't finished it yet, but Tucker was doing an endorsement just like we do on the radio for some healthy chip. And I actually talked me into it. I bought someone. They come in the mail this week and I'll try them out. I'm all for trying to get away from that ultra processed stuff. Eat way way for. I've been looking at my bread. It's hard to buy bread. Bread's a tough one because my experience has been if you buy bread that doesn't have a million ingredients, it's fresh for like a day. Either got to eat that day and make your sandwich or forget about it.

[Joe Getty]

I eat homemade whole grain bread because I'm better than you. And yeah, we keep it in the freezer because we have to. You, you, you bring it out and let it thaw on the countertop if you're going to walk the dog or something like that or pop it in the toaster for a minute, minute and a half just to get the, you know, frostiness off of it. But yeah, you have to at least refrigerate it and probably freeze it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if I can plan that far ahead on my bread.

[Joe Getty]

It's a minute.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't you just.

[Joe Getty]

No, no, no. A minute.

[Jack Armstrong]

It takes, it only takes a minute to thaw out your bread.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. In a toaster, sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, you toast. Minute and a half. Okay. Yes. Michael, don't you just eat a white wonder bread and that's all you eat? That's generally what I've been eating, but I'm trying to get away from the ultra processed food. And bread's a tough one. I love sandwiches, man.

[Joe Getty]

Think you'll be happy with it. So a little featurette here might have to go into the next segment, but that's fine. Politico was out with a report, a private polling memo run by the dnc. I think one of their big consultant groups are pushing their candidates to go on the offensive on crime ahead of the 2026 midterms because that's one of their weakest electoral issues. And that is. I'm not sure exactly how they're going to go about that, but it was shared exclusively with Politico. The battleground district survey from Global Strategy Group nonprofit blah, blah, blah offers a bleak assessment of Democrats. Starting point, 89% of the likely voters surveyed want their Congress member to take steps to keep them safe. But only 38% trust Democrats over Republicans with that task. Voters also reported preferring Republicans to Democrats with preventing and reducing crime and cracking down on violent crime gaps that grew among swing voters. But the voters swung toward Democrats in all four categories after hearing messaging acknowledging crime is a problem and showing steps the party has taken to increase safety. Specifically, pollsters cited cracking down on gun trafficking and strengthening firearm background checks. And if you emphasize that the Democrats are doing that, the poll numbers change a lot. Plus, the persuasion efforts include criticisms of GOP cuts to gun violence prevention funding, the Trump administration's attempts to roll back firearm regulations, and Republicans ties to pro gun groups. So the whole gun control thing is about to be one of the loudest issues in America again. But when they, you, when you give them just a little talking to, there was a double digit swing among voters. So they're going to be hammering on that apparently and sending around the usual spate of speakers calling for gun control, which will never and has never squared with the Second Amendment. But they don't talk about that because they don't care. They just want to win the next election.

[Jack Armstrong]

Are you moving on from polling? Because I have an interesting poll thing.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, go ahead.

[Jack Armstrong]

This was on CNN yesterday. This is just about Trump's approval rating in general. This was on CNN again, they're pointing out that he's hanging around the mid-40s. And I'll just quote the analyst they had on CNN as they had the numbers up on the board. Trump is basically doing what the American people thought that he was going to do. Indeed, if you look at the numbers, Trump is basically the steadiest favorability rating at this point in the presidency of any president on record. And it's basically where he was a year ago, good enough to get him reelected at the time. All the news, almost all of it negative about Trump, he's just hung around 43, 44% steadier than any president that has been recorded through the first nine months. And he was at this number when he got re elected. So that's pretty amazing. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

It is amazing.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know if that's just because our dials are stuck regardless of who it is or it's something special about Trump or whatever.

[Joe Getty]

But yeah, yeah, it's, it's interesting nonetheless. So speaking of crime, Jason Riley, brilliant columnist for the Wall Street Journal who wrote a great book, he just wrote another thing, a column about public housing and how miserable how the progressives insisted that the poor black Neighborhoods be torn down in the 50s and 60s especially. Literally torn down. Everybody, given what the government said their place was worth, and then all put in giant public housing projects. That was the progressive solution to the black poverty problem. And I'd really like to get into this at length, but the one point he makes that was, is incredibly powerful is, yeah, they gave him the minimum a judge would let them, the government give them for their properties. They missed out on every penny of future appreciation of the value of those properties.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

They lost their businesses. There was a great system of upward mobility within those black neighborhoods. There's like totally stunted upward mobility in the progressive designed public housing projects and the public financing thing. Anyway, that's a discussion for another day. But he wrote a couple of weeks ago, and I held onto it because it's so good. He's talking about policing and how more policing means less crime. And black people proportionately have way bigger benefits than any other people in America from more policing, not the opposite. It's great for them. And he talks about Brandon Johnson saying that we can't arrest our way out of poverty and we need more affordable housing, not more police. And then Jason gets into my favorite part of this. That point of view is held widely on the left that crime can mostly be blamed on poverty. You hear it all the time in blue states. In this respect, it's the mayor's views that are out of touch. Not only are most poor people not criminals, but the most impoverished communities in the US Are not the most violent. Further, violent crime was significantly lower in earlier eras when poor Americans were materially much worse off than they are today. If anything, more evidence points to crime driving poverty than the other way around. And this is the part that, my God, I wish the Republican party was any good at communicating to people. Merchants are more likely to abandon lawless neighborhoods. How many times have we seen that recently? All the damn time. Where operating costs are higher, taking employment opportunities and economic activity with them. As businesses leave, the tax base shrinks, property values decline and public services suffer. In the 40s and 50s, the homicide rate for black males fell by double digits and black incomes rose faster than white incomes. This is the 40s and 50s. Safer neighborhoods are conducive to upward mobility and police help keep neighborhoods safe. And then my favorite part is this. We are not going to eliminate crime or poverty anytime soon. But there are better and worse ways to address both. Family makeup and education play important roles in reducing social pathology. Cultural habits and attitudes matter. Single parent households were a minority of all Black households for most of the 20th century. The welfare state expansion of the 60s and 70s which subsidized irresponsible self destructive behavior, led to social retrogressions that some black communities still haven't recovered from more than 50 years later.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, well, I have very strong opinions about this whole thing. I think the breakdown of the American family is the cause of tons of our problems and nobody wants to talk about it because they feel like it'd be mean or they're participating themselves or.

[Joe Getty]

They'Re blaming the victim or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, and nobody wants to talk about it. Hey, households that stay together do way better. Kids do better, parents do better, everybody does better, neighborhood does better. It's just better all the way around. But that's not a popular thing to talk about.

[Joe Getty]

And then one of the last things Jason writes on this topic, he quotes our hero, the great thinker Thomas Sowell, another black man, what it's worth. But Sowell remarked, when you take away stable families, decent schools and safe streets, there's nothing left. Stable families, decent schools and safe streets. How are the Democrats doing on those three things? I'll let you answer for yourself. It's good talk about people would listen to Naysa. Jason Riley. Yeah, you know, and one final note, we don't really have time for this, but a study has come out that there's an old saying among lefties that zip code is destiny. And it turns out that's complete bunk. It all has to do with family education and safety.

[Jack Armstrong]

What does that mean? Zip code is destiny. That like where you were born determines your life.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that's nuts.

[Joe Getty]

It's a zip code is destiny and that's the major source of inequality in the us. The rich stay rich, the poor stay poor, and you've got to get the, the poor kids, you know, bust them to other neighborhoods and other schools and stuff like that and, and some of that may be somewhat effective sometimes. But again to your point, nobody wants to talk about the family Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

That campaign that you all launched pretending that you were going to cancel Hulu while secretly racing through four seasons of Only Murders in the Building, I really work. Congratulations. Wasn't it interesting to try and figure out all the tentacles Disney has in your daily life? It's one thing to swear off cruises, but the Avengers? Nah. How is it possible that by getting rid of one company, I can't watch Winnie the Pooh or Monday Night Football? That is pretty funny when you think about, oh, I'm gonna boycott Disney. Oh, are you? Have you looked into what that means?

[Joe Getty]

Right. Why were they gonna boycott?

[Jack Armstrong]

Because ABC canceled Kimmel.

[Joe Getty]

All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that was the hottest story among.

[Joe Getty]

That crowd for the last week. So people were.

[Jack Armstrong]

So you're gonna cancel your Hulu, your Disney trip, not watch the Avengers or Monday Night Football or. Yeah, that's his point.

[Joe Getty]

You gotta boycott Disney. A tiny flash in a stupid pan. You know, you probably don't remember this. A couple years ago I came across a really good comprehensive chart, I guess it was, of Disney Corporation and its holdings. And as I was describing at the time, it makes Exxon or GM look like your corner coffee shop. It is all the stuff, you know, lots of media stuff. As Jon Stewart was pointing out that you didn't realize. Hotels all in conference centers all over the world. Branded Disney and many not branded Disney. Manufacturing, accounting, processing, just like they have their. The mouse is not a mouse. He's an 800 pound gorilla giant, Soul crushing, just calculating corporation. The fact that they've still got the image of ah, it's the happiest place.

[Jack Armstrong]

On earth, come with your smiling kids.

[Joe Getty]

Is really quite an accomplishment. You almost have to admire it.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's right, I'm a pretty big effing deal. Move out of the way. I'll crush you like I crushed Goofy. You don't hear much from him anymore, do you? Put his head in a vice. I got a follow up on the banning marriages among first cousins in Connecticut. Got a follow up on that story.

[Joe Getty]

Didn't see that coming.

[Jack Armstrong]

One angle of the controversy that actually makes sense to me. Why would you ban gay first cousins from getting married? It's all about the having kids. So why can't a couple of dudes who are first cousins who fall in love with each other a little weird, decide to get married?

[Joe Getty]

Why not make Thanksgiving dinner a little uncomfortable?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's where the controversy comes in.

[Joe Getty]

So anyway, more on that and a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Whole bunch of other stuff later.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Okay. So speaking of controversies, I found this very interesting, particularly because we got a couple of emails asking about it. You remember the Colorado bake shop who refused to make a gake for a gay wedding? And. And there have been a couple other cases like this.

[Jack Armstrong]

It was a giant Supreme Court ruling.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And which they rule that he.

[Jack Armstrong]

He could say no to making the cake.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And I'm getting to that. It was made a huge cause by the left who was screaming, no, it's discrimination. And what the Supreme Court decided quite correctly, in my opinion. And I don't have the decisions in front of me, so forgive me if my paraphrasing is a little off, actual attorneys, but if you are asking somebody to engage in the creative arts, an act of, of expression and creation, as opposed to, say, pressing go on a copy machine, they cannot be compelled to engage in that speech because compelled speech is as bad as censored speech. So you cannot force me to write a song or. Well, you cannot compel me to agree to write a song. Zoran Mumdanmi will save New York. I won't do it. I won't take money for it. I won't create that. And that's good because the First Amendment protects you against compelled speech.

[Jack Armstrong]

But you couldn't say, I won't sell you this cardboard to make signs because that's a commodity.

[Joe Getty]

That's not a creative expression. So you got this case in Kalamazoo, Michigan, one of our more amusingly named cities in America. Kalamazoo. Here's this 21 year old dude, he's the head of the Kalamazoo Young Republicans. He's running errands, getting ready for a vigil vigil honoring Charlie Kirk. One of his stops was at his local Office Depot to print a poster that was a picture of Charlie in black and white and said, the legendary Charlie Kirk, 1993-2025. And some folks there at the Home Depot refused to print it, calling it propaganda. Okay, so two. And Home Depot fired the employees and issued a public apology. So there are two levels of two questions. What is the First Amendment?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sure they did.

[Joe Getty]

I'm sure they thought, hey, just.

[Jack Armstrong]

If somebody comes in and wants to make, just make the freaking copy and send them out the door, you freaking.

[Joe Getty]

Nobody cares what you think, including me. I think you ought to go. Go. So anyway, there's two, two questions here. The first one is the First Amendment question, which I think I've more or less dealt with. Pressing go on a copy machine is not the same as painting a portrait, writing a song, painstakingly decorating a cake, which is an artistic expression. And the second question is, and there are people on the left saying, oh.

[Jack Armstrong]

You conservatives, you're defending the baker, blah, blah, blah.

[Joe Getty]

But no, these poor guys are getting fired from the Home Depot. No, the second question is does a giant corporation, must they employ jackasses who will say, I'm not hitting go on this printer because I don't like your politics? It's a completely different question. Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.