The A&G Replay Monday Hour Two

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – “The A&G Replay Monday Hour Two”

Episode Date: September 1, 2025
Podcast: Armstrong & Getty On Demand (iHeartPodcasts)
Hour: 2 (Replay)

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Armstrong & Getty Show dives into a spectrum of hot-button topics: vaccine debates and government mandates, mental health and social isolation as seen through a viral Nextdoor post, evolving challenges on the US border (with a special interview), and societal shifts reflected in consumer trends. With their trademark irreverence, the A&G crew weaves together personal opinions, skepticism toward government authority, humor, and a dash of empathy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Vaccine Policy, Public Debate & “Compliance” Culture

• Segments: [01:34]–[11:40]
• Hosts and contributors (Jack, Joe, Michael, Katie, Jason) discuss vaccine mandates, especially in the context of COVID-19, referencing Senator Rand Paul’s testimony and broader public distrust.
• Main focus:
  • The distinction between being “anti-vax” and advocating for nuanced, individualized healthcare decisions.
  • Criticism of government and public health authorities for “paternalistic” or “dishonest” policies that prioritize compliance over honest debate and transparency.
  • Skepticism about the number of vaccine doses required for children, the lack of scientific certainty on autism’s causes, and pharmaceutical/government motives.
• Notable Insight: Honest dissent is a core American value, often suffocated in the modern scientific and political climate.

Key Quotes

• Michael: “I vaccinated all my kids. I believe vaccines are one of the modern miracles... But I’m not a one size fits all… Let's have an honest debate about these things.” [01:34]
• Katie: “The days of being able to just shout to the sheeple what they have to do... there’s so much information out there, they can’t get away with it anymore.” [06:42]
• Jason Owens: “There’s no possible way they know what the long term effect of the combination of some of these vaccines are because they haven’t been around long enough.” [09:24]
• Rand Paul (quoted): “If you don’t acknowledge that [risk distinctions between age groups], you’re committing malpractice, you’re showing your ignorance.” [02:48]

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2. Mental Health & Social Isolation – The Nextdoor Post

• Segments: [12:41]–[17:50]
• The crew analyzes a distressing post from the Nextdoor app, blending concern, curiosity, and dark humor.
• Topics:
  • The intensity of personal struggles people share online (transitioning/re-transitioning, loss of support systems, references to pain and medication).
  • The tendency to attach personal or medical struggles to larger societal or political narratives.
  • The underappreciated human need for a scapegoat and social connection.

Key Quotes

• Jason Owens: “If I lived anywhere for very long in an apartment complex, I, you know, had a certain relationship with the people right next to me.” [16:59]
• Katie: “Just that the person with that incredible, I mean, practically incomprehensible stew of issues, then bringing it home to... that damn Trump is the root of all this. Wait, what?” [17:08]
• Jason Owens: “I invite you to do some primal screams with me. We're all going to need the catharsis if the political situation stays on this globally destructive trajectory.” [17:23]

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3. The Changing US Border: Past and Present with Jason Owens

• Segments: [20:50]–[33:06]
• Interview: Jason Owens, former Chief of the US Border Patrol (2023–2025)
• Discussion Highlights:
  • How border demographics and enforcement priorities have evolved since the 1990s.
  • Changing profile of migrants: single men from Mexico in the past vs. more diverse origins and family units today.
  • Cartel control: all illicit crossing (drugs, people) is orchestrated by cartels, adapting business models according to market and enforcement pressures (e.g., pivot to fentanyl, human trafficking).
  • The challenge for Mexican authorities who face not just corruption but direct threats and violence from cartels.
  • Attention to the northern border: large geographic vulnerabilities, relatively little attention or resource allocation.
  • Persistent gaps in surveillance and technology, meaning significant unknown inflows across both borders.

Key Quotes

• Jason Owens (Border Patrol): “The border has always been an issue in some form or fashion. It's just that we didn't pay as much attention to it.” [21:46]
• Jack Armstrong: “Most people don’t think about it in these terms. We actually share a border, a coastal border with Russia because of Alaska.” [29:48]
• Jason Owens (on cartels): “The cartels control everything that's coming across illicitly across our borders... Their business model has been to shift to where they stand to make the most money with less risk.” [24:49]
• Jason Owens (on cartel profits): “That little sector just off of human trafficking alone, we estimated the cartels were pocketing upwards of $30–$35 million a week... over $1.5 billion a year in one sector.” [27:49]

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4. Cultural & Consumer Trends: Clothing, Weight, and Hazardous Surgery

• Segments: [34:26]–[39:58]
• Amusing treatments of:
  • Vanity sizing in women’s clothing and the rise in average weight (average American woman is ~170 lbs, up 30 lbs since 1960).
  • The “Brazilian butt lift” (BBL) surgery trend: described as risky and often resulting in “BBL smell” due to fat necrosis.
  • General commentary with comic exaggeration, e.g., the “50,000-pound woman” analogy.

Notable Quotes

• Katie: “Children’s clothes fit better, but the styles aren’t sophisticated. Too many flowers and so much glitter.” [35:56]
• Katie: “Once you have death, infection is kind of irrelevant.” [38:02]
• Jason Owens: “God, you gotta wear the kids clothes and you smell like a dead body and things aren’t going well for you.” [39:52]

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Notable & Entertaining Moments

• Comedic Relief: Jokes about flatulence as speech (“I vote no. I don’t think it has First Amendment protections.” [12:09]), the rapper “4Extra” losing fingers and becoming “3 Left,” and poking fun at the fashion and surgery industries.
• Meta-Commentary: The show’s awareness of the increasing information available to the public and the end of “just shouting at the sheeple.” [06:42]
• Cynicism Mixed with Empathy: The hosts maintain skepticism toward both government and social trends while acknowledging the profound personal and systemic challenges discussed.

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Timestamps & Segment Guide

• 01:34–11:40 — Vaccine mandates, RFK Jr. & Rand Paul, Scientific dissent, Compliance culture
• 12:41–17:50 — Nextdoor post, mental health, social commentary
• 20:50–33:06 — Interview with Jason Owens (Border Patrol): Border history, cartel control, northern border
• 34:26–39:58 — Consumer stories: Sizing, weight stats, BBL surgery
• [Interspersed] — Jokes, comic tangents, minor segments

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Tone & Style

The conversation is sharp-tongued, opinionated, and laced with irreverent humor. The hosts balance skepticism of authority with a willingness to entertain “contrarian” or taboo perspectives, always with a radio show’s sense of pacing and audience engagement.

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Conclusion

This hour encapsulates the Armstrong & Getty approach: energetic, skeptical, and often very funny conversations about major societal debates, in which the hosts challenge conventional wisdom, spotlight absurdities, and keep things lively with banter and wit. Whether debating vaccine orthodoxy, confronting the complexity of the border, or riffing on the latest viral oddity, the team offers perspectives both critical and entertaining.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iheart podcast.

[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center.

[Joe Getty]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Yeti.

[Michael]

I vaccinated all my kids. I believe vaccines are one of the modern miracles beyond all pale. The Speckled Monster is a great book about the introduction of the smallpox vaccine in 1720 into our country. All miracles. But I'm not a one size fits all. It's not all or nothing. I chose to wait on my Hepatitis B vaccine and we did it when they went to school. Does that make me an awful person? Does that make me an anti vaxxer? Because I question the government dictate of whether I do it. And I'm not speaking for anybody else. I'm only speaking for myself. But for goodness sakes, let's have an honest debate about these things.

[Jason Owens]

Senator Rand Paula, Kentucky who's an ophthalmologist. He's an actual medical professional weighing in at the RFK Jr hearing yesterday and.

[Katie]

You heard the main point of his screed there at the end. And, and you'll hear it more. The idea that can we stop insisting we must all be of lockstep on some of these difficult questions. We have to have an atmosphere of honest debate. And he's absolutely right. Anything else to add or shall we plunge on? Let's hit it.

[Joe Getty]

Biden's FAA exceeded its goal in fiscal year hello Michael.

[Michael]

The COVID Vaccine.

[Katie]

Pay attention.

[Michael]

If you ask me my opinion, there are reporters run up and down the soil and they say you still anti vaccine. No, I'm pro vaccine. But on the COVID vaccine and on the COVID illness, there was a thousand fold or more difference between the elderly and children. If you don't acknowledge that you're committing malpractice, you're showing your ignorance. If you say a six month old must be mandated to get it, the science is not there. So all this blather about the science says this and the science says that. No, it doesn't. The science actually shows that no healthy child in America died from COVID 19. Look it up. No healthy child died from COVID An.

[Jason Owens]

Amazing stat given the fact that we had yellow caution tape around playground structures and little kids wearing masks. Good lord, we haven't even talked about that part of it. So there was a school being closed and the parks being closed and all that sort of stuff. Poor little kids running around with masks on, can't see, you know, the other kids faces or whatever for no reason.

[Katie]

Right. Even when that became clear because of Trump derangement syndrome. Absolutely unforgivable. Rand Paul rolls on.

[Michael]

So if you asked me my advice as a physician, if you were 65 or older or overweight and some other conditions, I would have said hell yes, I'd take the COVID vaccine. The risks of the disease were real and much greater than the vaccine. But if you ask me, should my healthy 6 month old get it? See, these are the nuances you're unwilling to talk about because there's such a belief in submission. Submit to the government, do what you're told. There is no discussion. There ought to be a debate. You're not going to let him have the debate because you're just going to criticize and say it is this and admit to it or we're not going to appoint you. But it's more complicated than that. And this is why people distrust government. Because you're unwilling to have these conversations and go home. Ask your Democrat young mothers, your Republican young mothers, if they're vaccinating their kid for hepatitis B and they're like, well, do I have to do it on day one? Is this precious little baby, Is there science to say you shouldn't do it? Probably not, but it's my kid, you know, it's like there isn't clear cut science saying not to.

[Jason Owens]

I need to start saying nuances instead of a nuance.

[Katie]

Please don't, please don't do that. He pointed out earlier in his screen, I guess it was edited out that Hepatitis B is generally spread through drug use, needle drugs and sexual.

[Jason Owens]

You're making an assumption that my six month old is not a smack addiction having unprotected sex with randos.

[Katie]

The idea that a one day old kid needs that vaccine, then it's, you know, if I'm wrong about this I will manfully announce it and apologize but I suspect very very strongly that the idea is we will get much higher compliance if we have the Hep B vaccine. Part of the battery of things that you give the kid in the hospital while the kid is there. And you know, if we let people wait until it's actually necessary, we'll get lower compliance and more people will get sick and hurt and die and the rest of it. Again maybe it's sort of, kind of well meaning but I think we're all sick of that sort of paternalism and dishonesty to get us to comply. Rolling along.

[Michael]

But on autism, there's no good science of anything to show what causes autism. We don't know it's a profound disease. I know many moms here and dads who have kids with autism. I know em personally, I've met their kids. But the thing is is they saw their kids developing completely normal. Maybe speaking 100 words go to no words at about 15 months of age. Now there isn't proof, there isn't proof that the vaccines cause it. That's true. There isn't proof that it caused it but we don't know what causes it yet. So shouldn't we be at least open minded? We take 72 vaccines, could it be, I don't know. But we shouldn't just close the door and say we're no longer because we believe so much in submission we not going to have an open mind to study these things. And so it's sort of this crazy notion.

[Katie]

I have found no compelling evidence that indeed autism is caused by inoculations. Vaccines on the other. On the other hand as Rand Paul makes clear, again that's yet another example of if we even have an honest debate and look at this and have some more studies and all in an open way, we will have lower compliance rates. It's all about compliance. And again with a few exceptions maybe I think complying with a lot of the vaccine policies is a really really good idea. But the days of being able to just shout to the sheeple what they have to do and they'll all line up and do it even though you're presenting it dishonestly I just. There's so much information out there, they can't get away with it anymore.

[Jason Owens]

Are there 72 that your kid has to get to go to school now?

[Katie]

I've seen that repeatedly. I don't know that that's true.

[Jason Owens]

If it's half that many, that's a lot.

[Katie]

Total doses, perhaps. Yeah. And I'm including boosters.

[Jason Owens]

You know, I'm so cynical about government. It's just particularly pre Covid. We paid so little attention to this. Why would I believe that somebody somewhere doesn't think, hey, you know what? You get this on the mandated list that's worth $5 billion. How do we get that through whatever committee to get, you know, adding one more when there's already 71 or 36 or whatever sh. Shots, adding one more that nobody's paying any attention to. You just take your kid to the doctor and they tell you you need this group of injections to go to first grade and everybody just says okay. There's so much money involved. I find it hard to believe that there's zero malfeasance going on.

[Katie]

Yeah, there's the very, very little profit in vaccines, but times a billion. Yeah, maybe it becomes significant the, you know, the aspect of it that, that I think is likely. Well, I don't have any proof this is happening, but the government and its mandates, particularly in the wake of COVID I think deserve whatever is the opposite of the benefit of the doubt. If somebody came to me and showed me the secret memo that said, look, if we get 98% compliance with this vaccine, we will prevent 10,000 deaths a year. It's going to result in about a thousand kids getting, being autistic, but as a net gain, it's, it's a good. So we're just going to be quiet about the autism stuff. And I don't actually believe that's happening. But if you do, because of what you've observed from the government, I can't call you crazy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Jason Owens]

There's no possible way they know what the long term effect of the combination of some of these vaccines are because they haven't been around long enough.

[Katie]

Right. More of the randy man.

[Michael]

Schizophrenia. I would put in the same notion. You have a kid who's completely normal to 18 or 19 and their brain goes haywire. How does that happen? It's the most bizarre disease. Shouldn't we be open? Could it be our food? It might be vaccines, it might be our food. But autism's more common. I don't know about the schizophrenia statistics, but autism is more common. Shouldn't we want to be open minded instead? We're so close minded and we're so consensus driven that the science says this? Well, science doesn't say anything. Science is a dispute and 10 years from now we could all be wrong.

[Katie]

Roll on, curly, roll on.

[Michael]

Twenty years ago they did this enormous study and they said everybody over 50 should take an aspirin. I thought, well, that's a pretty good idea. It makes sense. But you know what? 20 years later they measured it and they found if you had no heart disease and you were taking aspirin, your chance of dying from a brain bleed or from a stomach bleed were greater than the risk of heart disease. Do you have heart disease? They still say take an aspirin. If you don't, they've changed their mind 20 years later. But would you have all said I was crazy and I should no longer be in public discourse if I had said 20 years ago, I don't feel like taking an aspirin? I ride my bike all the time. I'm afraid I might hit my head. But that's what country's about, what dissent is about.

[Jason Owens]

That's a good example.

[Katie]

Yeah. Yeah, it is. One final clip.

[Michael]

So just ask you to look at the larger picture and give the guy a break. Who says, I just want to follow the science where it leads without presupposition. I think really what we have up here is presupposition. You've already concluded it's absolute, that autism isn't caused by it. We don't know what causes autism, so we should be more humble in what we say. Sorry, I didn't get to a question.

[Katie]

That doesn't make me say therefore, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But you can't deny that we are openly having some of these conversations. Thanks to RFK Jr and his advocacy. He's got some really troubling conflicts of interest. And he's half a con man, if you ask me, but still knows how.

[Jason Owens]

To turn lemons into lemonade. You find a dead bear, what do you do? You just leave it there? You bury it? No, you come up with a hilarious prank.

[Katie]

Not to mention the underrated, bringing a whale's head home, chainsawing it off the whale, and then strapping it to the roof of your car as its juices drip down the window.

[Jack Armstrong]

Barbaric.

[Jason Owens]

Okay, we got on a topic earlier we need to fix. When we come back, as we finish strong with the is flatulent speech, I vote no. I don't think it has first amendment protections.

[Katie]

It is unmistakably speech in this instance. And I believe that Thomas Jefferson would agree with me. Certainly Ben Franklin, who's a big fan of flatulence. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty Show. The Armstrong and Getty Show.

[Jason Owens]

Katie, I want you your assessment of this. Also, this is a next door post. I don't read next door very often but I don't know if you're on next door you get them in your email and like if the first eight words grab your attention, I will go to the next door thing and read the whole. Yeah, I mean if it's just I lost my kitten, I don't read it. But this one got my attention. I'm general, I'm genuinely sorry if anyone hears crying and strained yelling from my apartment. Well, that was enough for me to click on it.

[Katie]

Oh wait a minute. Crying and strained yelling.

[Jason Owens]

No one is in danger or anything. I'm just in an unbelievable amount of physical and emotional pain from a combination of expected factors. I need to get through this on my own terms. Okay, now hang with this. You're probably like me because my initial feeling was this is a crackpot. Then I thought oh my gosh, this is a tragic story.

[Katie]

Somebody the the physical pain thing.

[Jason Owens]

I just. Let's keep going concerned.

[Katie]

Okay. All right.

[Jason Owens]

The muscles in my chest are atrophing from medication, spasming like a, like a painful hiccup and my support at home is currently singing in Napa. My support at home is singing in Napa. But anyway, again I starting to feel. Man, this is horrible. I'm just being real with y'.

[Jack Armstrong]

All.

[Jason Owens]

Retrans health. Okay, now we're taking a turn.

[Katie]

Wait a minute.

[Jason Owens]

It's not supposed to be this difficult. People are meant to have family and community connections to help, but I don't. I implore everyone to take my situation as cautionary. There is more pain caused by taking away access to health care or kicking out your relatives than there is in being open to unfamiliar but long standing ideas about the human brain and physiological development. Honestly, envy agreed or what? Honestly, I invite you to do some primal screams with me and we are all going to need the catharsis if the political situation stays on this globally destructive trajectory. Thank you. So I took that as they're doing some sort of transition stuff and like didn't have the money for the follow through or all the medication or they're doing it on their own or they're doing something with their breast area. Retrans transitioning. And it's really painful and Everybody has called them a nut job and left.

[Katie]

That's what it sounds like to me now for me. And then, Katie, I'll get out of your way now for me, please rope in somehow that last sentence about the globally destructive trajectory. Now, that factors into his newly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or her.

[Katie]

What's. Newly removed hooters or whatever.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Katie]

Or recently added one of each.

[Jason Owens]

I don't know.

[Michael]

All I got is there was a lot there.

[Jason Owens]

That's a lot. There was a lot going on with that.

[Katie]

And again, this person, I'm sorry, they're.

[Michael]

Going through it, but they went. The thing that is going to help.

[Katie]

Me right now is to put this on next door.

[Jason Owens]

Right.

[Katie]

Well, there's that as well. Man. I'm running some sort of a mental health place. I'm calling out the SWAT team for this one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Katie]

So we're going to need like half a dozen experts.

[Jason Owens]

Well, as Joe pointed out there, then throwing in at the end that somehow if Trump weren't president, I wouldn't be screaming in my apartment, everything would be fine. I don't know what would be different.

[Katie]

The human need for a scapegoat, I think, is underappreciated. Have the great philosophers weighed in on this? The.

[Jason Owens]

The muscles in my chest are atrophying from medication, Spasming like a painful hiccup. So you think it's somebody getting rid of breasts?

[Katie]

I don't know. I don't know. I can't. I can't definitively answer any questions about this. Yeah, Katie, that sounds to me like it's written by a woman. So I'm thinking, I'm thinking trauma queenie guy. I've known a few.

[Jason Owens]

Well, yeah, the first.

[Katie]

Plus he's on the girl hormones. It has a way of making you crazy. No offense to anybody.

[Jason Owens]

The first sentence is, I'm genuinely sorry if anyone hears crying and strained yelling from my apartment.

[Katie]

Yeah, that's better than unstrained yelling, certainly.

[Jason Owens]

Wow, that's a terrible situation. And that would imply that you're, like, screaming out loud, loud enough for other people to hear you. You don't have any relationship with your, like, next door neighbors. So the best way to reach out to them is through next door and hope they read it.

[Katie]

Oh, that's a sad human.

[Jason Owens]

Even as a misanthrope, if I lived anywhere for very long in an apartment complex, I, you know, had a certain relationship with the people right next to me.

[Katie]

But just that the person with that incredible, I mean, practically incomprehensible stew of issues, then bringing it home to and by the way, that damn Trump is the root of all this. Wait, what?

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, I invite you.

[Katie]

I mean, essentially I invite you to.

[Jason Owens]

Do some primal screams with me. We're all going to need the catharsis if the political situation stays on this globally destructive trajectory.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Jason Owens]

All right. Well, I was gonna bring you a lasagna, but I don't know, you seem.

[Katie]

Like a long day.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, you seem like a lot.

[Katie]

Yeah, yeah. They long for those calm and placid Biden Harris years.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. All right.

[Jason Owens]

That was one of the best next doors I ever clicked on in terms of making. Yes, Michael, I have one as well.

[Katie]

Okay, here we need good handyman need.

[Michael]

To put up shed.

[Katie]

Please email me who drives that red car.

[Jason Owens]

It goes too fast. Good Andy men need to put up shed. That's a good one too, Michael. That's a lot of them. Has nothing to do with atrophing muscles in your chest.

[Katie]

Because all your.

[Jason Owens]

Because that was one of my favorite sentences was my support at home is currently singing in Napa.

[Katie]

Well.

[Jason Owens]

Your support group went to a singing competition or is that for them?

[Katie]

Give them a minute to go sing in Napa. It's pretty Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty show.

[Joe Getty]

This Labor Day. Say goodbye to spills, stains and overpriced furniture with washablesofas.com featuring Annabe the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly pricing. Sofas start at just $699 making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Anibe's pet friendly stain resistant and interchangeable slipcovers are made with high performance fabric built for real life. You'll love the cloud like comfort of hypoallergenic high resilience foam that never needs fluffing and a durable steel frame that stands the test of time with modular pieces. You can rearrange any anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your life now through labor day. Get up to 60% off site [e-mail] Every order comes with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees. Every penny back. Shop [e-mail] Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Katie]

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[Katie]

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[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty show we're gonna.

[Jason Owens]

Talk to the former Border Patrol Grand Poobah, 26th Chief of the United States Border Patrol, now retired Jason Owens joins the Armstrong and Getty show this morning. Jason, how are you today?

[Jack Armstrong]

Good, Jack. I've never been called a Grand Tuba before. Thank you for that.

[Jason Owens]

The big cheese. So what years were you the guy in charge?

[Jack Armstrong]

So I was, I was the chief of the Border Patrol from the summer of 23 until March of 25.

[Jason Owens]

Okay, what's. Do you know what the history is of our border enforcement? I mean did we used to have much stricter border enforcement and people just chose not to come? Or, or did the economics change to where people want to come across? And so we now we need more border agents.

[Jack Armstrong]

I actually don't know that the whole dynamic has changed. It's not just about the, the traffic that we're seeing, but it's about the public's awareness and attention to the issue. The border has always been an issue in some form or fashion. It's just that we didn't pay as much attention to it. You know, back in the 90s when I started, you know, the, the Border Patrol was a small agency that not many people knew about. We only had a few thousand agents and predominantly focused on immigration along the the southwest border with Mexico. Nobody really gave any thought to the economic migration. Most of the folks came from Mexico, they'd come up and they'd try and find work, they'd send remittances home, and during the holidays they go back home, visit their family, and then they try again as soon as the holidays were over. And that's really the extent of, you know, what was border security during that time. And throughout the, the ages, we've had those surges where we've had very busy times. And I'm sure, you know, being out there in California, you know, back in the 90s, San Diego was incredibly busy. But it was a different demographic that was crossing then. It was, it was a very different mission because 911 hadn't happened yet and our awareness of the threats that are out there didn't exist.

[Jason Owens]

In what way was it a different demographic that was, was crossing back then versus now?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, like I said, predominantly you had a lot of folks from Mexico and they were mostly single adult males and they were coming forth to define jobs in the US and send money back home and they would go home to their families. Well, over time that started to shift because people started to see that, well, the situation got a little bit rougher in Mexico. You had people from Central and South America that were, that were interested in coming up as well, and people started to see that it was more difficult for us to remove people from the country. Country if they didn't come from Mexico. Most of the time. If he, if you caught Jason Owens from Mexico and yeah, you said, hey, do you want to go before an immigration judge and see if you're going to be deported or if you can stay here? Most of the time they would say, you know what? I'm going to voluntarily return and, and skip all of that, knowing that it's probably going to turn right around and try and cross again. And eventually they made it because of the, the sheer, you know, how big the border is and how few agents we had. Well, you can't do that with folks from other countries because Mexico is under no obligation to take those folks back if they're not citizens of Mexico. And we don't have those, those processes and procedures in place with these other countries in many cases, and in many cases, it's a lot more expensive than just walking them across the border to the authorities in Mexico.

[Katie]

Yeah.

[Jason Owens]

Also, there is no place in the country you're going to get free health care as someone here illegally not that many years ago and now he can. So there are different magnets rather than just jobs. We also didn't have anything like fentanyl or meth. Way back in the day, how much different has that made the drugs that are available and our appetite for them here in the United States?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and talking about how the dynamic has changed along the border, make no mistake about it, the cartels control everything that's coming across illicitly across our borders. And that's whether that's people, whether that's, you know, illicit substances, whether that's money, you name it. And so, you know, back in the. Again in the early 2000s and 90s, and, you know, it was all about marijuana, and you had cocaine and. And you had some meth cases and the like, and. And heroin. Those are the traditional narcotics that we would come across. And of course, you know, the world's view on marijuana has changed. And so the cartels adapted, and they look for the next best thing, because at the end of the day, theirs is a business, and they're looking at, how can I make money off of, you know, what it is I'm doing? Well, they took a pivot to two things. Number one, fentanyl started becoming much more prominent because of how potent it is and how easy it is to make comparatively. And then also they got into the people business. They got into human trafficking, because for the longest time, there was not as much risk associated. You know, people would be a little more sympathetic to folks that were smuggling people across the border than they would somebody bringing across, you know, kilos of cocaine. And so they. They shifted to the product that was going to be in more demand and where they stood to make the most money with less risk. That's essentially been with the cartel's business model has been and how it has impacted the dynamic along particularly the southwest border.

[Jason Owens]

That's interesting. So that doesn't surprise me. But you say the cartel, nothing's really happening without their approval.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely not. And there's different ones that are out there. And if you talk to anybody in the national security space, especially with CDP and border patrol, they will tell you that that is our true adversary. The smugglers, the criminals, the cartel members, those are the ones that we face off against every single day. And when we go out there to help secure the border, that is who we have in mind. The immigration issue, it's an important one. We have to have law and order. But the national security aspect of border security is really what is first and foremost on our minds, because that represents by far the greatest threat to our country.

[Jason Owens]

And the Mexican government just can't get control of those cartels. Apparently.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a tough situation. They, you know, if you think about an adversary like the cartels that, the amount of money that they make, and I'll use Del Rio sector in Texas as an example because I was the, I was the sector chief there before I took over as chief of the border Patrol. And that's a, that's a pretty remote small sector. And of course, back a couple years ago, that was front and center with Eagle Pass and Uvalde and the Haitian migration and, well, that little sector just off of human trafficking alone, we estimated that the cartels were pocketing upwards of 30, $35 million a week.

[Katie]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

You do the, you do the math. And that's not narcotics. That's nothing but human smuggling in one sector of nine across the. The Southwest. You know, for. And again, my Oklahoma math here, that that's over $1.5 billion a year in one sector that they're making. So you're talking about an adversary that is well funded, unlimited resources, and nothing but time to sit there and think about how they're going to defeat whatever security measures we have in place. And part of that is destabilizing the communities and the governments in Mexico so that they can maintain a foothold and keep an advantage. And that's been a persistent problem for, for our partners over in Mexico for four years.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, it's a very gentle way of saying it. Destabilize the communities, as in, if you're a. The cops in that town, you're going to die if you try to take them on.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely. And I would, I would have conversations with my counterparts. These, they would be the Sedan Generals or they would be the colonels over Samar. And they would tell you, it's not that we don't want to respond or we don't want to help out. It's just that the life we're living down here is very different. You know, they, they literally deal with at times, gun battles in the streets, people that are being murdered, dismembered. There are, there are legitimate threats to their families when they go out there and do the job. So you have to, you have to respect and empathize with the situation that they're in. So I don't always buy into. Oh, it's just, it's just a matter of corruption. No, there's, there's a lot of factors that get taken into account that I think any of us in that situation would be faced with.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, culturally, that's why we've got to hang on to our culture of, of not having very much corruption. Because, man, once you lose that it's tough to turn it around. That's rough. So talking about, talking about the border, when we just say the border, we all assume the border between us and Mexico, but you say there's a lot more going on between the United States and Canada now the longest undefended border in the world.

[Jack Armstrong]

It was always funny to me every time I would talk to a member of Congress or staffers or in many cases reporters, and it still didn't get covered as much as I would have liked. People forget that, yes, there's about 2,000 miles between us and Mexico, but there's 4,000 miles of border between us and Canada if you don't count that vertical slash that Alaska shares, which is another 1500 miles. And oh, by the way, we have thousands of miles of coast. And most people don't think about it in these terms. We actually share a border, a coastal border with Russia because of Alaska. So we have some legitimate things to think about in vulnerabilities that exist along our multiple borders and the threats, both state and non state actors that are out there. And I think that deserves a space in the discussion anytime we're talking about national security and especially border security. Because if you're going to resource an agency that's responsible for keeping us safe, you have to take into account all that they are responsible for and not just one piece that the mainstream media wants to focus on.

[Jason Owens]

What percentage of border patrol is on the southern border versus the northern border? Do you have any idea?

[Jack Armstrong]

Typically about 90% of our workforce is deployed on the southwest border. So if you can, you can do the math. Roughly 20,000 agents, depending on the season that we're in. You have 90% deployed down to the southwest border and the rest are on the northern border, our coastal sectors, and in many cases overseas in our attache offices.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, man, if it ever becomes a real problem, or maybe you're saying it already is, of things coming across the Canadian border. I remember when I drove into Calgary one time, or headed, I was headed up to Calgary, just crossing on a two lane highway in the middle of nowhere. There was basically nothing there. Showed him a driver's license and drove in. That's all there was to it. How, how many drugs are coming across the Canadian border at this point? Do you have any idea?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and that's, that's the million dollar question, so to speak, that we get asked a lot of times. What's getting away now there's, there's what we catch and that's between us and the Office of Field operations that works at the ports of entry. Ours is the job between the ports of entry. So there's what we actually catch, what we may see and are not able to get to. But then there's that great void, that great unknown. And that exists even along the southwest border that a lot of people don't realize as well. There's so much of the border that we don't have persistent surveillance. We don't know what's coming across or what's going on because we're not out there and we don't have the technology. In today's age, it's hard to imagine that there's actually still areas out there where there's no cell coverage, there's no reception, and you need that for the technology to be, to be effective. So there's a lot of spaces out there where we don't have that situational awareness. And so we can't tell you with any level of certainty what's coming across, what's getting. And that's one of the things I always said it keeps us up at night. It worries us because we know the potential and you don't want to have something like that happen on your watch.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, man, that is true. Jason Owens, 26, chief of the United States Border Patrol. Appreciate your time today. That was very interesting stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good talking to you, Jack. Thanks for having me.

[Jason Owens]

You betcha.

[Katie]

Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty the Armstrong.

[Joe Getty]

And Getty show this Labor Day. Say goodbye to spills, stains and overpriced furniture with washablesofas.com featuring Annabe, the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly pricing. Sofas start at just $6.99, making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Anibe's pet friendly stain resistant and interchangeable slipcovers are made with high performance fabric built for real life. You'll love the cloud like comfort of hypoallergenic, high resilience foam that never needs fluffing. And a durable steel frame that stands the test of time with modular pieces you can rearrange anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your life. Now through Labor Day. Get up to 60% off site [e-mail] Every order comes with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees, every penny back. Shop [e-mail] Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Armstrong and Getty show.

[Jason Owens]

Over the.

[Katie]

Weekend, the rapper known as 4Extra lost two fingers in a fireworks accident.

[Jack Armstrong]

Accident.

[Katie]

He's now changed his name to 3 left. The good news is he's no longer.

[Jason Owens]

Throwing up gang signs.

[Katie]

You know, I saw that first punchline coming, but I enjoyed it a lot. Three Left. I get it. And be careful. The fireworks Kids gender manning madness update coming up next segment. But first, a handful of consumer oriented stories that I found intriguing and or amusing. A Wall Street Journal reporting vanity sizing is forcing petite women into kids clothes changing styles. And the super sizing of apparel is pushing shoppers to unusual lengths to find something that fits. The sub headline is so much glitter.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, you better like sparkles.

[Katie]

Yeah. The petite women who have, you know, been forced to go for children's sizes because the American girth has been increasing. More on that in a moment. But everybody knows this, right? The apparel industry for years has been employing vanity sizing, making clothes larger and larger while keeping the sizes the same. Making matters worse for slender shoppers is a current fashion woman which oversized looks are in vogue. The result, clothes so big that slender people are swimming in them.

[Jason Owens]

Yeah, I know. So with young people, they're all wearing super giant baggy clothes.

[Katie]

This gallows five five has tried petite clothing, but because those fits are designed for shorter people, the shirt sleeves stop above her wrists and the jeans don't even graze her ankles. Children's clothes fit better, but the styles aren't sophisticated. Too many flowers and so much glitter. Final note on this. The average American woman weighs about 170 pounds, which is 30 pounds more than she did in 1960. According to the national center for Health.

[Jason Owens]

Statistics, average is 170.

[Katie]

That is correct. Is that average or median? Because if there's like one 50,000 pound woman that. It's like the Bill Gates walks into a bar thing, right? Your net worth, your average net worth, et cetera, et cetera.

[Jason Owens]

Bill Gates could walk into a bar and change the average net worth. A 50,000 pound woman is not going to roll into the bar or probably the buffet. No. Oh my.

[Katie]

That was insensitive. She's £50,000.

[Jason Owens]

She needs some tough talk.

[Katie]

Look at yourself. When you hit 30,000, didn't you think, you know, I gotta change something?

[Jason Owens]

Yes.

[Katie]

Katie, this is terrible.

[Michael]

There's something terribly wrong here because the average height for a woman is five three. So if we're averaging at 175, 3.

[Jason Owens]

170, that's pretty portly.

[Katie]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Owens]

I don't think that that sounds high to me.

[Katie]

That sounds really Are you arguing with the name national center for Health Statistics?

[Jason Owens]

I guess I am, but that just. That sounds high to me.

[Katie]

There's a lot more to get to.

[Jason Owens]

Okay.

[Katie]

The Brazilian butt lift surgery is a procedure that enhances the size and shape of someone's rear end through a fat transfer.

[Jason Owens]

Don't I know it. I've had two of them.

[Katie]

It's often considered a dangerous procedure by experts since there's a possibility of death, infection and more. I would restructure that sentence. Once you have death, infection is kind of irrelevant.

[Jason Owens]

Right, But.

[Katie]

Or the more but this popular and freaking stupid surgery. Do you seriously think having a bigger butt is going to materially change your life? It's for the better.

[Jason Owens]

It's for bigger or higher.

[Katie]

All of it. Lifting. It's both. It's both.

[Jason Owens]

I'd like mine higher.

[Katie]

It makes it bigger and higher. Not only is BBL surgery risky, there's one bizarre, rather gross side effect that comes along that potential patients should consider. It's called the BBL smell and it is real. Says this doctor. What? There's often a smell expected for BBL patients after sweating or sitting for long periods. An aggressive scent because you have a variety of.

[Jason Owens]

I'm guessing because you have crevasses.

[Katie]

No, no. There are tissue death, which is a BBL complication, and unhygienic habits that could cause someone with BBL to have a smelly beehive. This is the worst thing you've ever done.

[Jason Owens]

By a lot.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Jason Owens]

This is the worst thing you've ever done.

[Katie]

Horrible. I am issuing an important warning to people who might fall prey to this insidious procedure. If a patient was, quote, overfilled with fat during the procedure. Fat necrosis, which is when fatty tissue in the butt dies, can occur. As a result, a rancid smell develops.

[Jason Owens]

Well, yeah, I. I imagine you smell like a dead body.

[Katie]

Yes. Infections that need antibiotics, hospitalizations, and even that lead to sepsis. Okay, well, this has been a treat.

[Michael]

Thanks, Joe.

[Jason Owens]

What is that cologne you're wearing?

[Katie]

Black plague? No. Is that dead raccoon? No, that's my BBL surgery gone wrong. I'm telling you, ladies. Beautiful the way you are, right?

[Jason Owens]

God, you gotta wear the kids clothes and you smell like a dead body and things aren't going well for you.

[Michael]

It's the Armstrong and Getty show.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg. Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

This Labor Day. Say goodbye to spills, stains and overpriced furniture with washablesofas.com featuring Annabe, the only machine washable sofa inside and out where designer quality meets budget friendly pricing. Sofas start at just $6.99, making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Anibe's Pet Friendly, Stain resistant and interchangeable slipcovers are made with high performance fabric built for real life. You'll love the cloud like comfort of hypoallergenic high resilience foam that never needs fluffing and a durable steel frame that stands the test of time with modular pieces you can rearrange anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your life. Now through Labor Day get up to 6 60% off site [e-mail] Every order comes with a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees, every penny back. Shop [e-mail] Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply.

[Jason Owens]

Ah, come on.

[Joe Getty]

Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient.

[Jack Armstrong]

Still using yesterday's tech upgrade to the ThinkPad X1 carbon ultralight. Ultra powerful and built for serious productivity with Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed and AI powered performance.

[Michael]

It keeps up with your business, not.

[Jack Armstrong]

The other way around.

[Jason Owens]

Whoa, this thing moves.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stop hitting snooze on new tech.

[Katie]

Win the tech [e-mail] Lenovo Lenovo unlock.

[Jack Armstrong]

AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device.

[Jason Owens]

The song stands about an obsessed fan.

[Michael]

Who'S taking me too literal from Eminem.

[Joe Getty]

And the producers of 8 Mile.

[Jason Owens]

Never seen anything like Eminem fans.

[Joe Getty]

This is the story of a fan base.

[Jack Armstrong]

I had to look in the mirror.

[Joe Getty]

And be like, am I one of these crazy stans that created a culture? I do have an addiction to Eminem.

[Jason Owens]

I traveled the world for him.

[Katie]

Without Eminem, I wouldn't have the life.

[Jack Armstrong]

I have right now.

[Jason Owens]

What's your first question?

[Joe Getty]

Stands New documentary now streaming on Paramount.

[Katie]

Plus this is an I Heart podcast.