The Gonads Of The Country!

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: The Gonads Of The Country!

Date: March 30, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand covers two major topics: the fallout from Tiger Woods’ latest DUI arrest, and escalating tensions with Iran, including implications for U.S. security and global economics. Mixing humor and seriousness, the hosts dissect personal responsibility, media coverage, and geopolitical strategy, while also touching on sleeper cells, European defense woes, and even a bit of March Madness and the upcoming Artemis moon mission.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tiger Woods’ DUI Arrest: Personal Demons, Privilege & Public Safety

(00:14–11:01)

• Setting the Stage:
  Jack and Joe react to Tiger Woods’ latest legal trouble: arrested for DUI after a high-speed rollover near his home. Tiger passed a breathalyzer but refused a blood or urine test; he’s now repeatedly been involved in vehicular incidents.

• Handling the Topic:
  They first approach with gallows humor, then shift to the gravity of the situation.

• Tiger’s Relentless Drive:

  • Joe: "He's one of those people who's so incredibly, relentlessly driven. It's like a demon on his shoulder that never leaves him alone …" (02:14)
  • Discussion of Tiger’s obsession with fitness, his lifelong ambition, and even his brief infatuation with becoming a Navy SEAL.

• Why No Chauffeur?

  • Joe: "He doesn't want employees to, quote, watch over him … He's so obsessed with his privacy, he doesn't want any to know where he is." (03:39)
  • Jack: "It would be an admission of his problem if he had to have a driver all the time." (03:56)
  • They agree Tiger refuses help out of denial and pride, despite wealth.

• Escalating Danger:
  Jack voices personal anger over the risks Tiger poses to others:

  • "How has he not killed anybody yet? How has he not hit a little kid on a bike yet? He needs to go to freaking prison. The fact that he hasn't already is disgusting." (04:50)

• Legal Analysis:
  Joe: "Surely at this point, no matter how good his lawyers are...this is multiple [DUIs] with injury...He’s got to run into some hanging judge." (05:27)

  • Speculation: Will Tiger face real jail time, or will fortune and fame shield him again?

• Media and Tiger's Fall:

  • Jack: "It's one of the great falls in media history… It's up there with O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson." (02:55)
  • Golf journalism looked the other way for years, privileging access and the lucrative financial ecosystem Tiger fostered.

• Nature vs. Nurture:

  • Joe describes Tiger’s upbringing under a domineering father, both competitive and unfaithful: "Earl was also an absolute open, shameless serial cheater. And so Tiger fashioned himself off after his dad in a lot of ways at marriage..." (07:43)
  • Not making excuses for Tiger but noting the "cautionary tale."

• Prediction on Outcome:

  • Jack: "But avoid jail. Yeah. He'll get some sort of pretend community service, which he won't really have to do...and he'll go to some super fancy rehab..." (10:36)

---

2. Iran, “The Gonads of the Country,” and the Looming Threats

(11:01–28:48)

• Negotiations & Proxy Warfare:

  • Audio features Trump commenting on peace deals; the hosts discuss complex backroom negotiations with/around Iran, using go-betweens like Pakistan. (11:15)
  • "Nobody’s exactly sure who we're negotiating with." (11:24)

• IRGC & Economic Control:

  • Joe: "The IRGC is AT&T, they're Shell Oil...They dominate oil and gas, construction, and telecommunications." (13:29)
  • They describe Iran as a kleptocratic, inscrutable mix of thuggish rulers and economic incentives, keeping only about 20% of the population loyal but deeply entrenched.

• Kharg Island & Strategic Leverage:

  • Joe: "Seizing Kharg island and bringing their energy sector under our control would be seizing them by their gonads." (12:51)
  • Jack: "So Carg island is the gonads of the country, essentially." (13:25)
  • The metaphor underscores how vulnerable Iran’s economy and power structure are to military action focused on key energy infrastructure.

• Iranian Sleeper Cells & Border Security Anxiety:

  • Jack expresses skepticism but covers reports about thousands of Iranians crossing the US border, Trump-era warnings, and the theoretical risk of Iranian-backed attacks if tensions escalate.
    • Jack: "I'm very, very skeptical of the idea … How bad would things have to get before you would launch your sleeper cell attack?" (17:36)
    • Joe: "But Iran, different story. … How you would think that some sort of Iranian attack on anything in the US is going to help your cause?" (19:47)

• Conclusions on Internal Threats:

  • Joe: "I think … the greater threat is from thousands of would-be jihadis or pliable alienated young males from Muslim countries who might seize on this conflict as an excuse to strike back …" (21:18)
  • They acknowledge the border is porous enough for hostile infiltration, but organized “sleeper cell” scenarios seem less likely than lone-wolf attacks.

• Military Plans & The Strait of Hormuz:

  • Pentagon reportedly prepping for "weeks of ground operations in Iran" (23:36).
  • Both recap the vulnerability of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz:
    • Jack: "It takes six to ten hours to get a ship through there … the shipping lane … is only two miles wide … You're going really, really slow..." (24:46)
    • Joe: "It's not in the middle either. It's close to the Iran coast. That is very city sitting, ducky." (24:28–24:34)

• Wider Consequences for Global Trade:

  • Reminds listeners: closure of the Red Sea or Strait of Hormuz could disrupt 20% of all international shipping—not just oil.
  • Why hasn’t the West confronted Houthi (Iranian proxy) blockades more forcefully? Europe’s economic pain is mounting, but lack of military readiness hampers response.
    • Joe: "Europe has gotten so soft and weak because of our security umbrella..." (25:58)

---

3. Euro Defensive Flabbiness & American Subsidies

(25:58–27:53)

• Soft Power vs. Hard Power:

  • Jack: "I made this very argument [to my son] … why European countries have universal health care and why we don't." (26:39)
  • Joe: "If they try to raise the retirement age from 30 to 31...the streets melt down." (27:02)

• Analysis:

  • U.S. has subsidized Europe’s defense for decades, but that’s left EU militaries hollow and publics unwilling to reallocate social spending when threats rise.

---

4. Quick Hits: Christianity in Jerusalem, March Madness, Artemis II Moon Mission

(27:53–35:27)

• Palm Sunday Incident in Jerusalem:

  • Discussion on reports of Israeli police curtailing Christian worship; blame seems pinned on a rogue cop, not Netanyahu. Highlights the ease with which misinformation can inflame religious tensions. (27:53–28:48)

• March Madness Sound Bites:

  • Joyously play back a wild game-winning call from the UConn vs. Duke college hoops game; mock the broadcaster’s unhinged excitement:
    • Joe: "I haven't made that noise since I once stepped on a nail … or your wedding night." (29:21, 29:27)
  • Chats about the influx of European players in NCAA basketball and changing recruitment strategies. (29:49–31:53)

• Artemis II Moon Mission:

  • NASA’s upcoming rocket launches; skepticism about NASA’s focus on identity politics in astronaut selection.
    • Jack: "Space is very sparking of the imagination. The first identity politic, this or that. You all think it's a big deal, nobody gives a crap." (33:07–33:15)
    • Joe: "Pick the best astronauts. I don't care what they are." (33:28)
  • They agree the real story is human achievement, not representation boxes ticked.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tiger Woods’ Troubles:

  • "How has he not killed anybody yet? ... F you dude. You need to go to prison." – Jack (04:50)
  • "He doesn't want employees to, quote, watch over him or know what he is doing... He's so obsessed with his privacy." – Joe (03:39)

• On Iran’s Power Structure:

  • "The IRGC is AT&T, they're Shell Oil, they're, you know, pick your, your biggest construction firms…" – Joe (13:29)
  • "It's kind of the opposite of like Saudi Arabia … In Iran, the crazies are in charge, and the people making all the money are underneath them." – Jack (16:13)

• About Sleeper Cells and Border Threats:

  • "I'm very, very skeptical … How bad would things have to get before you would launch your sleeper cell attack?" – Jack (17:36)
  • "I think … the greater threat is from the tens of thousands of would be jihadis or pliable alienated young males from Muslim countries who might seize on this conflict as an excuse to strike back…" – Joe (21:18)

• On Basketball & Recruitment:

  • "All the best players in the NBA are from Europe. Why aren't we recruiting Europeans for college?" – Jack (31:03)

• On Artemis & Space Exploration:

  • "Pick the best astronauts. I don't care what they are." – Joe (33:28)
  • "The first identity politic, this or that ... nobody gives a crap." – Jack (33:07)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

| Timestamp | Topic/Segment | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:14 | Tiger Woods DUI incident and media’s immediate reaction | | 01:56 | Tiger’s fitness obsession and psychology | | 03:38 | Refusal to employ a driver, privacy, and addiction logic | | 04:50 | Calls for jail time; Tiger’s impact on public safety | | 07:38 | Tiger Woods’ upbringing, parental influence, and moral lessons | | 11:01 | Iran negotiations, nuclear tension, and proxies | | 12:51 | “Gonads of the country” – Kharg island metaphor and its strategic import | | 14:49 | Iran’s unique political-economic power structure | | 17:31 | Iranian sleeper cells and border security concerns | | 19:47 | Odds of sleeper cell activity vs. lone wolf attacks | | 23:36 | U.S. military preparing for prolonged ground operations | | 24:46 | Strategic choke points: Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea | | 25:58 | European military weakness & welfare states | | 27:53 | Palm Sunday shutdown controversy in Jerusalem | | 29:21 | March Madness: Mullins’ game-winning shot and wild broadcaster reactions | | 32:28 | Artemis II mission: true science vs. identity politics debates |

---

Episode Tone & Style

Armstrong & Getty maintain their signature mix of irreverent banter and earnest political analysis, shifting seamlessly from topical humor to searing commentary. The hosts don’t shy from blunt opinions, deploying both mockery and heartfelt concern—especially when discussing public safety or global affairs. Their style fosters both entertainment and information, making complex news approachable without sacrificing depth.

---

Summary

In “The Gonads of the Country!”, Armstrong and Getty dissect Tiger Woods’ latest downward spiral, lamenting his inability to take responsibility and the legal double standards for the rich and famous. Turning to Iran, they deconstruct the economic, military, and social levers underpinning the Islamic Republic’s stability, including the metaphorical “gonads” of Iranian vitality—key oil infrastructure. The episode spotlights geopolitical risk, including sleeper cells and global trade bottlenecks, while critiquing Europe’s defensive entropy and American identity politics in space exploration. As always, lively sports banter and quick, quotable asides are woven throughout, delivering a comprehensive talk-radio experience that’s rich, sharp, and thoroughly engaging.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human 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 Getty. New questions about Tiger woods Future after the 15 time major championship champion was arrested and charged with DUI following a rollover crash near his home on Jupiter Island, Florida. Authorities say woods was speeding and overtook a truck on a two lane road. Woods was not hurt in the crash and police say he passed a breathalyzer test, but refused to let officers take a blood or urine sample. Suspecting woods was impaired, investigators say he was placed under arrest. Now, at least the fourth time he's been involved in a vehicle related crash or arrest. It's the second time he's been charged with DUI and the second time he's been involved in a rollover crash four times. Can we, can we do agree to have fun with this before we get serious about it? Because otherwise it turns serious very quickly

[Joe Getty]

and then end with a little extra fun. But so it's not depressing.

[Jack Armstrong]

The first thing I thought when I saw this break on Friday was, why didn't this happen while we were on the air? Damn it. Because I wanted to get into all the speculation because surely everybody realized the moment they heard Tiger woods had rolled his truck again. You thought, jeez, he was effed up. Of course he was. And any, any hint that maybe he wasn't. Your what?

[Joe Getty]

Please.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God. And then, then him standing alongside the road. Who do we know who he called yet? The TMZ or anybody come out? Because he's standing there with his, with his SUV on its side. Well, and he's on the phone with

[Joe Getty]

somebody, defense attorneys on his favorites list.

[Jack Armstrong]

But he's, first of all, he's huge. You know way more about Tiger woods than I do because I don't follow golf. But he's huge. And I thought, I thought, that guy looks like an NFL football player. He, he hit the ball so far when he was a skinny guy. They had to change courses. Why did he decide to get as big as an NFL football player?

[Joe Getty]

There's, it's a long story, but partly I think he is. So he's one of those people who's so incredibly, relentlessly driven. It's like a demon on his shoulder that never leaves him alone. And he had mastered the world. He was the best golfer on the planet. He was a zillionaire. And he became obsessed with becoming a Navy seal and he blew out his knee. And so he's just, he's a fitness freak, so he gets as big as he can get.

[Jack Armstrong]

You look like you're chomping at the bit to say something, Katie. Oh, no, I'm sending.

[Joe Getty]

I'm sending you guys a meme. That particular picture of him on the phone. He looks like he's trying to do

[Jack Armstrong]

the backing into the bush like Homer Simpson.

[Joe Getty]

He does. He really does.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you got to go back. I remember at the time talking about is one of the great falls in media history. I mean, it's up there with O.J. simpson and Michael Jackson. I mean, people who fall from such a high level to such a low level, starting with the backing out of the driveway into the fire hydrant. His wife beating the windshield out of the car with a golf club. I mean, that was a good one. Then that was all about the affair and the boozing and drinking or the bruising and pilling.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Okay. We're not going to turn it serious yet.

[Jack Armstrong]

Not. Not quite yet.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, give me some sort of signal because there's a story behind that. Right. Well. And you know, it's funny, everybody has the same reaction. Get a damn chauffeur.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know.

[Joe Getty]

Get a driver. But I know. Here's why he doesn't want to do it. He doesn't want employees to, quote, watch over him or know what he is doing. According to a source close to Tiger. He's so obsessed with his privacy, he doesn't want any to know where he is.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's part of it. I know addicts and drunks. Part of is he doesn't want any. It would be an admission of his problem if he had to have a driver all the time.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and the other part thinks he's fine to drive.

[Jack Armstrong]

He'd be admitting to himself he has a problem if he gets a driver all the time. I mean, God dang it, if you're, if you're that kind of wealthy and you want to get all effed up, you can afford to have. You never have to drive ever, anywhere you could, you could continue to live your life of. Of wild, reckless, abandoned as long as you wanted.

[Joe Getty]

So one thing you can't do, but

[Jack Armstrong]

as I said, knowing something about addicts and alcoholics is he'd have to admit to himself that he's got a problem if he gets a driver and he's still living in the la la land, that he is fine. And he is so obviously not fine.

[Joe Getty]

He crippled himself.

[Jack Armstrong]

He almost lost his leg.

[Joe Getty]

He came this close to losing it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, now I got it we got to turn it serious. The problem with all of this is all the talk about what he did to him and his career. How has he not killed anybody yet? How has he not hit a little kid on a bike yet? He needs to go to freaking prison. The fact that he hasn't already is disgusting. He needs to be in jail. I don't care how freaking wealthy he is. He doesn't get to drive around in suburban streets. I'm super cool Tiger Woods. I'm gonna drive 80 miles an hour down a 25 mile an hour street, whipping around cars cuz they're going too slow. I don't care if I kill anybody. F you dude. You need to go to prison.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, you got my vote. Well, surely, surely at this point, no matter how good his lawyers are and well paid, and I'm sure they are, this is multiple eyes with, with injury because your own injury is an injury and, and damaged property.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope he goes to damn jail. It's amazing. He hasn't hurt anybody, man.

[Joe Getty]

He's got to run into some hanging judge in Florida who chucks the book right at him. If you are found behind the wheel in the next X number of years or whatever, you will be guilty of felonious something or other.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God. I can't believe he was driving that fast and that recklessly again on a street like that.

[Joe Getty]

Do they think high speed was involved?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, there's videos. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's, he's, he. There was a truck like going the regular speed, but Tiger Woods, I get to drive as fast as I want. He goes flying around this guy and clips him. That's how he ended up rolling.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I was actually playing golf yesterday, so missed some of the excellent coverage. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. That's terrible.

[Jack Armstrong]

He is a. He is definitely the rules don't apply to me sort of guy. I mean of any kind. So one of the things we do

[Joe Getty]

on this show is we talk about the various kinds of crazy that there are in humanity. And caution you, if you find yourself becoming this sort of crazy, try not to be. For instance, had a conversation with my golf buddies about another golfer. His name you wouldn't know, but his dad was also obsessed with making him a superstar and was the Svengali, the, you know, the classic sports dad who drove his son and then made his son sign a contract where dad got X percent of his winnings and son ended up with a restraining order against dad. And there was misery all around the obsessive sports parent thing. And Earl woods was, was that Tiger's dad. And Tiger worshiped him. And Earl. And Tiger was willing participant. He was super competitive from an early, early age and wonderfully talented. But Earl was also an absolute open, shameless serial cheater. And so Tiger fashioned himself off after

[Jack Armstrong]

his dad in a lot of ways at marriage for some reason. When you said that, I was thinking golf.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, no, no, sorry. Yeah. Indeed. Yeah. Well clarified. He, you know, Tiger would be hitting balls on the range and Earl would be camper like right next to him with one of his women of loose morals, rocking the camper 25ft away from his son. Then they both emerge and Tiger would prefend pretend he didn't see it. You know, I'm not making excuses for the guy at all. At some point you take responsibility for your own life. He's 50 years old. But I think there's an, what do you call it? An anti. A cautionary tale, an anti. Example for all of us there.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's just when we were group texting on Friday when the story broke. I said Tiger is like Marty Supreme. That movie, that's what that movie's all about. The guy is just so driven to be the best table tennis player in the world, he like destroys his life and all his relationships in pursuit of one thing. Tiger woods is like that.

[Joe Getty]

And it's interesting too because I know some current and member and current, current and retired members of the like big time golf media. And you just didn't report this stuff on Tiger because you wanted access. There was this whole, it's almost, almost like the old timey sports journalist thing where you're very careful about digging up dirt because if you are seen as an attack dog or a muckraker, you get pushed to the periphery. Well, that's over with Tiger now. It's just, it's open season.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think it was even different than because, you know, reporting on Mickey Mantle's boozing. Yeah. Which people didn't do at the time. Tiger was the sport. I mean, all of the eyeballs and the money. Everybody was making more money. You know, advertisers, writers, everybody. You wouldn't want to interrupt that. Correct.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Great, great point.

[Jack Armstrong]

To tell the world that he's cheating on his wife. Now all of a sudden fewer people are reading my articles and whatever website I'm on. Why would I want to do that?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. That he's a pill head and the rest of it has at least a couple of addictions.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's outrageous. If he doesn't go to jail for A certain period of time, he is going to freaking hurt somebody.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know how this works. Is it still a possibility he could get into some diversion program if he pledges to go to rehab, which people think is like some sort of magical power that cures people when usually it doesn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, he's got so much money to throw at this.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah, he would have. He could. He could reproduce a different OJ's Dream Team every day of the week for his trial.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

With his money, he's worth at least $1.5 billion. Right. So, you know, if it's conceivable to get off, he will here not get off completely. That won't happen. But.

[Jack Armstrong]

But avoid jail. Yeah. He'll get some sort of pretend community service, which he won't really have to do anything embarrassing and he won't go to jail. That'd be my guess.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And he'll go to some super fancy rehab where he just sits around and, you know, watches TV and reads books and they bring him his pills, does some sort of interview about how he takes full responsibility and he'll continue to do pills and drive would be my guess.

[Joe Getty]

That would be the high percentage play.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that'd be the most likely thing that happens, which is disgusting. We do need to talk about what's going on with Iran. We're getting closer and closer to ground troops and all that sort of stuff every single hour. A lot on the way. Hope you can stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty, did you first see a deal in Iran this upcoming week?

[Jack Armstrong]

I do see a deal in Iran yet, Mr. President.

[Joe Getty]

Could be soon, too.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's Donald Trump on Air Force One last night. Did a little interview about Iran and. And got a lot of tongues wagging and ink spilled, if they still used ink to write newspapers on paper. Mostly with talk of we're negotiating and things are going well and nobody's exactly sure who we're negotiating with. Although Pakistan says that they're a go between the United States and whoever the people are in Iran that we're talking to.

[Joe Getty]

Right. A number of interesting developments, including the Houthis have joined the fray, which is an interesting strategy on their part. I wonder whether the IRGC told them, hey, you're gonna help us now or you're never gonna see another dime or another bullet from us. Entirely possible. The US. The whole problem with sending million dollar patriots after $10,000 rockets. We've got a number of innovative startups in the country working on cheaper Alternatives, which is great. Let's turn our this thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Or drones that cost hundreds of dollars. That was the focus of 60 Minutes last night. Really need to talk about that later. Oh, and next segment, the hundreds, thousands of Iranians that got across the border during the Biden administration. Sleeper cells. That was a lot of the talk in the security world over the weekend. And we'll touch on that story.

[Joe Getty]

Hello. One more lovely legacy of the Biden years. And final thing I'd like to get to eventually is, and I wish there were a better metaphor, maybe instead of grabbing them by their male external genitals, perhaps say, wrapping an arm around their windpipe, seizing Kharg island and bringing their energy sector under our control would be seizing them by their gonads. And that's why that might be so valuable target. So we'll get to that eventually.

[Jack Armstrong]

So Carg island is the gonads of the country, essentially.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. And in fact, it's, you know, it's outside the body of Iran. It's very sensitive and can be grabbed easily if you're in the right position. But first, I found this so interesting. I've been trying to describe this, this is a bit more thorough and scholarly version of what I've been trying to tell you. But Iran's cohesion, whether their security apparatus or their, the whatever support the regime has, isn't solely by religious cultists, dead enders, true believers, like we've been talking about hardcore Islamists. It's underpinned, and I'm going to quote now, a piece from the Wall Street Journal, by a system of economic incentives that make the regime's collapse a direct threat to the livelihood of so many of the supporters, including the IRGC has 125,000 paid personnel. They are not an army. They're an army and a corporation. They dominate the oil and gas industries. They dominate construction in Iran. They dominate telecommunications. The IRGC is AT&T their Shell Oil, their, you know, pick your, your biggest construction firms, both commercial infrastructure and housing, if you can picture that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I've been reading about Iran for decades and several books that were fantastic and the word of the day, inscrutable. Nobody has ever really completely understood the power structure in Iran. It's just kind of a mishmash of oligarchs. Kleptocrats. Kleptocrats, Islamists. And they just have made it work somehow over half a century.

[Joe Getty]

Brutality.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

The way to make it work. Since its founding, the Islamic Republic has built a tentacled ecosystem that controls more Than half of the economy. Good Lord. More than half. That's why their economy sucks. Central control doesn't work and acts as a powerful protection policy for the regime. It rewards loyalists with cash and careers and other opportunities in exchange for crushing dissent and staying true to the regime. The depth of the social and economic contract is helping the regime maintain cohesion in spite of the war. Only 20% of Iranians support the regime, but they constitute that 20%, a more cohesive bloc than the opposition. Binding the ruling clerics, as Jack was describing, the paramilitary forces and civilians with economic interests. And the system will make it very hard to convince those who profit from it to turn against the regime, according to this extremely knowledgeable talking head fellow.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's kind of the opposite of like Saudi Arabia, where the House of Saad was in charge. Princes get to roll around in Bentleys and, you know, live that lifestyle. And they got to keep the, the, the, the crazies, the Wahhabi Muslim crazies, you know, pretend like they believe they're weird ass and everything like that to stay in power in Iran. The crazies are in charge, right? And the, the people making all the money are underneath them. And probably a lot of them pretending they believe the weird beards and their nut job stuff.

[Joe Getty]

Exactly. And if you get your passport stamped with I'm down with the regime, I'm with the regime. Your kid gets into the good universities, you get access to dollars. If you want to invest or spend,

[Jack Armstrong]

you get better mortgage rates. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Tentacles, my friends. Reaching deep into society.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do we have Iranian sleeper cells in the country? Boy, that's a heck of an interesting story that burbled up over the weekend. Also learn some stuff about the Straight of Hormuz. I did not know that. I think you'll find interesting on the way. Armstrong and Getty realized that there are a lot of individuals in this country that have entered that want to cause harm to Americans. They want to cause harm to our, to our country. And amongst those, several of them would

[Joe Getty]

have terrorist ties with different terrorist organizations throughout the world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do we have a bunch of Iranians sleeper cells in the United States waiting for the order? I gotta say, I'm very, very skeptical of the idea. We're about to hear a report that lays out reasons why I shouldn't be skeptical. It's just my, my skepticism is mostly around what would you be waiting for? How bad would things have to get before you would launch your sleeper cell attack? I mean, it just seems pretty crazy to me that. No, not yet, not yet. What we got another intriguing question. Another aircraft carrier coming over there and more Marines.

[Joe Getty]

And what they really start bombing us and killing our leaders.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, then we'll turn it around with a couple of terror cell attacks. Anyway, let's hear this report from News Nation because it's pretty interesting.

[Joe Getty]

Authorities say roughly 1500 Iranian nationals were

[Jack Armstrong]

stopped at the border during the Biden administration.

[Joe Getty]

But it was, it's the unknown number of so called gotaways that has officials sounding the alarm. Our reporting shows, you know, many from Iran are willing to pay tens of

[Jack Armstrong]

thousands of dollars to criminal networks like

[Joe Getty]

cartel linked coyotes to get them across the border. I mean even just last summer, News Nation reported 130 Iranian nationals were arrested in one week alone for trying to

[Jack Armstrong]

enter the US illegally. And lots of, lots of more let in. He goes on the Trump administration, you

[Joe Getty]

know, they've warned about potential Iranian infiltration as early as last summer, saying the

[Jack Armstrong]

likelihood of an attack by Iranian backed

[Joe Getty]

extremists in the US Would increase if

[Jack Armstrong]

Iran's leadership called for retaliatory violence against the US And Israel. So I'm of two minds on this that are in conflict. My one mind saying, and I said this at the time over and over again when our borders were porous, if Iran and China aren't getting people in here now, they're, they should be charged with malpractice. We have an open border. They have all kinds of reasons to have bad people in our country. Now's the time you, you'd be crazy to not do it.

[Joe Getty]

China has many thousands in the country right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of course they do. But are they sleeper cells or spies or whatever? We don't know. But Iran, different story. Only because of my logic problem that I can't imagine. If you've got a sleeper cell that and you think that I don't understand how you would think that some sort of Iranian attack on anything in the United States is going to help your cause. Any Trump would absolutely just unleash holy hell on you. But what would you be waiting for? What's your timing? This doesn't make any sense at all.

[Joe Getty]

As I said before, that's a really intriguing question. I'm thinking back to what was uncovered about a couple of different Iranian plots, including the one to assassinate Trump. And assuming that we got, you know, reasonably accurate coverage. I know some of this gotta be classified, but assuming we got decently accurate coverage, it seemed to be hapless. Hapless and idiotic. One of those, you know, like the half wit scheme to, you know, Rub somebody out in that damn Tiger King show. It kind of had that feel to it, right.

[Jack Armstrong]

The guy goes to a strip club and gets drunk and forgets he was

[Joe Getty]

supposed to do it and then decides, I'm not going to go anywhere and kill anyone. This is stupid. And given the utter brutality and effectiveness of holding on to power domestically, I don't want to underestimate these people, but wow, I just, I don't know the answer to that question. It's a good question, but that was

[Jack Armstrong]

from News Nation, not from Fox.

[Joe Getty]

I will tell you this, and I think most people in counterterrorism would agree with me. And if you're in counterterrorism, we'll certainly keep you anonymous. Let us know if you agree. Email mailbagarmstrongandgetti.com I think they would say the greater threat is from the tens of thousands of would be jihadis or pliable alienated young males from Muslim countries who might seize on this conflict as an excuse to strike back, back at the Great Satan. Not directly sponsored or directed by Tehran, but just, you know, wanting to do it on their own.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe we'll talk about this more later. The Wall Street Journal with sources close to the president telling them that he's really considering a military SEIZURE of that 1,000 pounds of uranium or uranium. And it's laid out on what that would take. It could take many weeks and lots of people. We talked about that a little bit with Mike Lyons because you need to get to the site, secure the site, bring in all kinds of like excavation equipment and everything like that and do all the digging while protecting that site.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, if Iran can be shooting rockets, you know, 1200 miles away, they certainly got plenty of opportunities to shoot rockets into their own country.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. At some point, maybe as it gets closer, we ought to get into the question of retrieving that stuff in depth because then there's the transporting of it, which is no simple task. It's extremely dangerous and volatile. But here are a couple of headlines worth seeing. This one and I keep saying I'm going to feature this on the show every day. Maybe we just need a slot. There is a publication slash website known as the Defense News, which is all about United States military news, all the branches and I get their early bird brief every day. In their top headline today is Pentagon reportedly preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. We can talk more about that. But another headline, this from the Wall Street Journal. Where is it? It's essentially the same headline. Oh, yeah, I'm having a Mouse problem. Maybe I should see a urologist

[Jack Armstrong]

who moved your cheese.

[Joe Getty]

I probably misplaced it. Knowing me, there it is. From the Washington Post. Pentagon prepares for weeks of ground operations in Iran.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, so here's something I learned about the straight of Hormuz yesterday that I didn't know already. It takes six to 10 hours to get a ship through there. This is to the difficulty of, you know, actually having opened up enough that it would be safe for ships to want to go through six to 10 hours. You're going so slow through that whole thing. A sitting duck. And while people talk about it's so narrow, it's only 20 miles wide, the shipping lane, where it's deep enough that you can run your ship is only two miles wide. So you're going really, really slow in a very tiny, little well defined lane.

[Joe Getty]

And it's not in the middle either. It's close to the Iran coast.

[Jack Armstrong]

That is very city sitting, ducky.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Shooting gallery E. So we would have

[Jack Armstrong]

to have serious control of that thing to make make safe passage reasonable. So the most interesting thing over the weekend to me that happened was the Houthis engaging in the war again and they started attacking Israel. But the concern is that they shut down the Red Sea. I don't know if you remember this. We talked about it a lot. They shut down the Red Sea traffic for like two years. Why the world put up with that? At the time I was saying, why is the world putting up with this? Why is the United States putting up with this? Why is Europe putting up with it? Why is anybody putting up with the ragtag group that is the Houthis backed by Iran shutting down Red Sea? Because they're, they're a real big part of the traffic too. But so if the Houthis did that to the Red Sea like they did a couple of years ago, at the same time the Strait of Hormuza shut down, 20% of international traffic, not just oil of all kinds of shipping would stop, and almost all of it going back and forth between Asia and Europe. And it would be almost instant worldwide serious financial calamity if the Houthis can close down the Red Sea again. So I don't know if Europe at some point is going to decide, you know, this isn't good for our economy. I was just reading the AP story that while the United States economy is weathering the storm so far, for the most part, it's really hurting Europe. Don't their leaders want to do something about this?

[Joe Getty]

Yes, some of them do, very Much. But this gets back to something you've been howling about for a very long time, which is the fact that Europe has gotten so soft and weak because of our security umbrella. Well, this is. We are living right now with. What's the problem with that? Well, what if, says the professor, some crazy conflict broke out and Europe's help was desperately needed. But a, they had weak, flabby, hollowed out militaries. And to the extent that they wanted to cooperate, their populace would not put up with any draining of the giant welfare state to finance their military buildup. That is precisely what's happening in Europe right now.

[Jack Armstrong]

I had to explain this whole thing to my son because he was wondering about why European countries have universal health care and why we don't. I made this very argument.

[Joe Getty]

Macron pulled up his panties the other day and announced that France had to, you know, beef up their military and blah, blah, blah, and the country went crazy. They tried. If they try to, you know, raise the retirement age from 30 to 31

[Jack Armstrong]

friends, the streets melt down, you have giant demonstrations.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God. The Brits are dealing with the same things. The Germans, similar also. The Germans are a more disciplined society. Yeah, it's, it's, it's precisely the, the case study that we've been, you know, saying would come along.

[Jack Armstrong]

Something, something we got to get to at some point. We won't do it next because we need to lighten up. Francis, did Benjamin Netanyahu shut down Palm Sunday services for Christians? Oh, over the weekend.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God. Big story.

[Jack Armstrong]

And when I first heard it, I was quite annoyed by it. But there are a bunch of people trying to make it clear that that's not exactly what happened. So let's not go further down the road of trying to drive a wedge between Christians and Jews and make this

[Joe Getty]

all about Tucker Carlson's cologne in this.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, it's kind of an interesting story. It seems to be more of a rogue cop. It actually did happen. Shutting down the Palm Sunday services in Jerusalem at the, whatever that famous church is like most holy of all holy churches. I don't know of the rock. I don't know how to say that word. The holy sculptor sepulcher. I can read it, but I can't say it. But anyway, didn't get to do Palm Sunday because there's been a lot of, you know, attacks and we're worried about you. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'll worry about myself if I want to go to church. I know there are attacks going on. You don't get to shut it down but it seems to have been a rogue cop that did this or something, not Benjamin Netanyahu. And he's out apologizing. It's a pretty big deal though politically. Anyway. More on that later perhaps. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and getty

[Jack Armstrong]

back to SAR Now I head to Caden Boozer and a steal. Mullins gets it. It's caravan to Mullins long range three. Oh, it went in. Mullins delivers. Bedlam. Bedlam here. Absolute bedlam. Is mullins thrill a 45 footer in. That's the home call on the Yukon radio network for the college as they upset Duke. I'd heard the national.

[Joe Getty]

I haven't made that noise since I once stepped on a nail

[Jack Armstrong]

or your wedding night. But that. That was quite a noise he made there. Can you play just the beginning. I want to hear that noise he makes. Back to SAR Now I head to Kaden Boozer and a steal. Mullins gets it. It's caravan to Mullins long range three. There you go.

[Joe Getty]

All right. Is that the better noise of the day or is clip 48, Michael 48.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay. We were playing that earlier. That's from a no Kings rally.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who is that?

[Joe Getty]

Some jackass.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know but why is the crowd cheer like they do at the very end of it they all. It sounds like thousands and thousands of people cheering. What are they cheering?

[Joe Getty]

Does anybody have the concept?

[Jack Armstrong]

Is it a meme? I don't know or something?

[Joe Getty]

Is that Islamic or native American or did she step on a nail?

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly.

[Joe Getty]

Whatever the hell that is than this.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know I made that sound when I had my gallbladder attack so it

[Joe Getty]

could be that or your wedding night. Oh boy. Where were we? Duke and Yukon. Yes. And the fight in the line I going into the final four my alma mater. Very exciting and of course the more they win the better person I am because they reflect on was just reading

[Jack Armstrong]

in that that team has a bunch of Euro players which is an interesting idea. I didn't know like half the teams.

[Joe Getty]

Half the team's last names end with itch.

[Jack Armstrong]

I didn't know colleges were doing that or it was Illinois the first one to catch on the best. All the best players in the NBA are from Europe. Why aren't we recruiting Europeans for college?

[Joe Getty]

Well yeah, they are now. It was interesting just and look I don't look at the world through the lens of race but I couldn't help but notice the other day Illinois was playing. I can't remember who it was. It doesn't matter. But there were like seven or eight white guys on the court at any given moment.

[Jack Armstrong]

Eastern European players with the fast pitch, fast twitch, muscle fiber that you have as a white Eastern European, similar to

[Joe Getty]

people with that are black. Go figure.

[Jack Armstrong]

Nobody ever talks about that for some reason.

[Joe Getty]

A handful of corn fed Midwestern white boys who could make three pointers. But yeah, it was a lot of Euros. Interesting, you know. Anyway,

[Jack Armstrong]

there you go. He was

[Joe Getty]

coming up next hour and this is, trust me, more significant than it sounds and more interesting than it sounds. Gabby Newsom was talking about how California is not actually a high tech state. Texas and Florida are. Well, he was lying. You tell because he was moving his mouth. But the story behind it, the multiple ways they get you and how that varies state by state is really interesting to me because people pay a lot of attention to income tax, maybe property tax, but there's a lot more than that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Looks like our moon launches a go for Wednesday. The weather is clear and they've got the rocket ready to take off. And then it's going to land.

[Joe Getty]

That Artemis 2 rocket looks like a skyscraper. It looks like the Empire State Building on the launch pad. It's enormous.

[Jack Armstrong]

I did hear the news report yesterday and there was a lot of it's the first African American woman that'll ever. And I thought, didn't we get that? Can we get away from that? I thought that that's what did in NASA in my mind was they just became too focused on identity politics and like the military touting that all the time. That doesn't spark people's imaginations like you think it does.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it's funny, I, I read space

[Jack Armstrong]

is very sparking of the imagination. The first identity politic, this or that. You all think it's a big deal, nobody gives a crap.

[Joe Getty]

That is absolutely true. I'm not sure if it was. It was probably the journal I was reading. They were talking about who's going up on this mission and they talked about her qualifications and experience. And I thought, wow, okay, she sounds impressive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Pick the best astronauts. I don't care what they are.

[Joe Getty]

Blanking, undermining people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes.

[Joe Getty]

When you say he's the first person with that shade of skin to go up and he's thinking, I got a freaking PhD in astrophysics over here. Ain't about the color of my skin. I busted my ass to get here.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or religion or sexual or orientation or whatever it was, I don't remember. I heard one guy interviewed on the news last night, he, he was asked, are you scared? Something along those lines. And he said, well, we're the only four people currently on planet Earth trained to do this and this is a mission we want to do. Which I thought was a cool answer.

[Joe Getty]

Right? And I represent bisexual left handed men everywhere.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're going to go up there, around the moon to the dark side. It will be the furthest human beings have ever been from Earth ever, because they're going to go around the outside of the moon, which we've never done before.

[Joe Getty]

Interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

I find that way more sparking my imagination than any identity politics bs.

[Joe Getty]

So we've orbited the moon, clearly, but the trajectory of this one is is different somehow it's farther. Wow. How interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hi, I'm Katy Perry. Let's go to space. You're right.

[Joe Getty]

Speaking of meritocracy among astronauts, Astronaut Katy

[Jack Armstrong]

Perry weighing you're right, we did orbit the moon. But did we orbit only the because we've never been to the dark side. That's what they keep touting is that this is the biggest thing it's nobody's ever been on the dark side.

[Joe Getty]

So I've been around the moon 150 times.

[Jack Armstrong]

But did we only orbit it on

[Joe Getty]

the side that's bright or oh, that's impossible.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know. There's something missing here. I have to look that up. I'll Google it.

[Joe Getty]

Apollo 13 famously went around and I'll

[Jack Armstrong]

claud it it, clot it, figure out what's going on there. But anyway, it launches on Wednesday and they'll be very exciting. And then it lands in the ocean right off of San Diego. So maybe you all get to see it. Some of you, we got a lot

[Joe Getty]

more on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

If you missed a segment, get the

[Joe Getty]

podcast Armstrong and Getty

[Jack Armstrong]

if you work in university maintenance, Granger considers you an MVP because your playbook ensures your arena is always ready for tip off. And Granger is your trusted partner, offering the products you need all in one place, from H VAC and plumbing supplies to lighting and more. And all delivered with plenty of time left on the clock. So your team always gets the win. Call 1-800-granger. Visit grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.