The Stakes Are So Low

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – “The Stakes Are So Low”

Date: January 13, 2026 | Hosts: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty

Overview:

In this episode, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into the absurdities and anxieties shaping American social and political discourse. With their trademark satirical humor and pointed cultural critique, they take aim at everything from homelessness and radical protest culture to the viral outrage du jour—an allegedly violent hockey brawl that turns out to be fake. The stakes may be low, but the commentary is sharp, lively, and often laugh-out-loud funny.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Universal Childcare in NYC: “Let the government raise your child!”

• [01:02–01:30] The episode opens with the hosts reacting to New York’s plan for universal free childcare, with Armstrong and Getty mock-cheering the idea and lampooning civic priorities and the false notion that “free” government programs really come without cost.
• They quickly pivot to California’s homelessness issues, especially Sacramento’s sprawling tent cities.
• Memorable moment: Armstrong proposes a debate stunt where a candidate peels off T-shirts, each bearing depressing images of California squalor.

  “You waddle out there with your arms sticking straight out because you’ve got like 30 T-shirts on… Every time they go to you, your T-shirts have pictures of squalor in various places around California.” – Jack Armstrong [02:00]

2. Women, Wellbeing, and the “Miserable Left”

• [03:43–07:48] They explore why so many young women are described as unhappy, anxious, or politically radical.
  • A female listener from San Jose offers her theory: Women are increasingly breadwinners but still do most domestic work, and men aren’t adapting to new norms.
  • The hosts push back, calling the view overly victim-centric and questioning its universality.

  “You’re acting like you’re presenting that as – that’s the norm now, and how unfair it is.” – Jack Armstrong [06:11]

• Joe argues that leftist influences and anti-masculinity narratives in schools/media have created a “beaten down” generation of men.

  “You’re trying to tear apart the family… your progressive side has been demonizing young boys… And then you say, and they suck because they act all beaten down. Yeah, boy, that’s a mystery.” – Joe Getty [07:10]

3. Montages, Outrage, and ‘Mama Bear’ Politics

• [08:14–10:14] Introducing a montage of liberal women in viral clips, the hosts discuss commentary from Brit Hughes (a woman), who says:

  "Liberal women are what happens when the natural female instinct to nurture and defend and care for gets misdirected away from families and children and misapplied to whatever the liberal cause of the week is… In the absence of a stable and healthy home and family, a woman will find a place to put all of that.” – Brit Hughes [09:00]

• The hosts agree with her “scathing but interesting” analysis, noting social media’s role in amplifying outrage.

4. How Social Media Algorithms Hijack Identity

• [10:58–14:43] Armstrong describes how Twitter’s algorithm made him feel more anxious and “on edge,” bombarding him with content tailored to provoke.

  “The algorithms figure out your core beliefs and then convince you your core beliefs are under attack… That can get an emotional reaction out of you.” – Jack Armstrong [12:22]

• Getty observes, “politics are your identity,” which means online conflicts feel like attacks on one’s very being—a “recipe for psychosis.”

5. Pop Culture and Politics: Are We Over-Reading ‘Wokeness’?

• [17:08–24:45] Armstrong discusses online outcry over the new film One Battle After Another, which some on the right see as too “woke.” Armstrong rejects this reading, arguing all characters are equally absurd and it’s just a farce.

  “I feel bad for you if all you can think of is, how does this fit into politics? I just. I don’t get it.” – Jack Armstrong [18:09]

• Getty notes a similar trend in award-winning shows: plots always blame “evil, evil white people,” expressing some fatigue with predictable tropes, but Armstrong contends most modern films lampoon everyone.

6. “We Need to Own Greenland?”: Trump, Military Bases & Foreign Policy

• [25:07–28:33] They discuss Trump’s idea about owning Greenland, pointing out the U.S. already operates military bases worldwide (often via agreement, not ownership).

  “Our largest overseas military installations are in Japan, Germany, and South Korea… We don’t own those countries.” – Joe Getty [26:39]

• They see Trump’s proposal as his real estate personality at work and note his genuine focus on the Arctic’s strategic importance.

7. Media Gullibility: The Viral Youth Hockey Fake Fight

• [30:58–38:56] The hosts dissect viral footage of an 8-and-under hockey brawl—initially reported by ABC News as a genuine incident that exposes “hockey’s fight culture.” It turns out to be staged.

  “The idea that little kids like that would brawl and brawl and brawl and nobody would intercede is hilariously, stupidly fictional.” – Joe Getty [33:27]

• They ridicule media credulousness, expressing disappointment at news outlets chasing viral stories without fact-checking.

  “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story… That’s probably what happened.” – Jack Armstrong [36:46]

• The segment sparks reflection on society’s “need” for stories that prove the world is falling apart—whether true or not.

8. Meta Commentary & Media Satire

• The hosts go “meta” on the fake news cycle, recalling exploitative morning radio stunts and drawing a connection to media sensationalism today.

  “People want the world to be falling apart, and now we’ve got fake news stories, so I guess it’s just a — wow.” – Jack Armstrong [35:03]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Let the government raise your child. Yaaay.” – Joe Getty [01:24]
• “You idiots. I think most of them think free is an actual thing.” – Jack Armstrong [01:32]
• “It’s my shirt. What, I'm not allowed to wear clothes?” – Jack Armstrong [03:25]
• “Men are failing to adapt to the new roles everyone is playing in society…Oh joy.” – San Jose correspondent (read by hosts) [04:26]
• “For almost all of human history, it was your family, your community, your religion, period…Now, I would argue it is tech companies, corporations, and just people who are profiting from you.” – Joe Getty [11:00]
• “Politics are your identity…and so those people are attacking your very being, not just your beliefs. It is a recipe for psychosis. And what do we have? Psychosis.” – Joe Getty [13:45]
• “I feel bad for you if you watch movies and all you can think of is, how does this fit into politics? I don’t get it.” – Jack Armstrong [18:09]
• “Don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story. I understand that to a certain extent, but…I think that’s probably what happened there.” – Jack Armstrong [36:46]
• “Melodies are getting measurably less complex and more homogenous in pop music. Everything is converging to what is most popular. Algorithms are the final push down this death spiral…” – Joe Getty [40:25]

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Important Timestamps

• [01:02] – NYC announces universal childcare; immediate satire
• [02:00–03:43] – Sacramento homelessness and T-shirt debate stunt
• [03:43–07:48] – Correspondence on women’s unhappiness and gender/role debates
• [08:14–10:14] – Brit Hughes monologue, liberal causes, maternal instinct misapplied
• [10:58–14:43] – Algorithm-driven outrage, social media influence on identity
• [17:08–24:45] – Movie “wokeness” and critique of pop culture over-politicization
• [25:07–28:33] – Trump, Greenland, and US overseas bases
• [30:58–38:56] – Youth hockey brawl, fake news, media gullibility
• [39:39–40:25] – Final thoughts on morning radio stunts, algorithm-driven culture

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Tone & Style

Jack and Joe’s discussion is breezy, sarcastic, and freewheeling. They jump readily between cultural criticism and self-deprecating asides, blending earnest social concern with mischievous media mockery. If you appreciate irreverent, skeptical takes on culture wars, viral media, and political posturing, this episode is a classic Armstrong & Getty ride: the stakes are “so low,” but the observations are sharp.

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Summary Takeaway

While society obsesses over viral outrage and doomscrolling, Armstrong & Getty argue the real “stakes”—often lower than we think—are clouded by hype, algorithms, and identity-driven media. The challenge, they suggest, is to step outside the manufactured drama, question your sources, and recover your sense of humor and proportion.

Transcript

[Helena Merriman]

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

New York announced plans last week to eventually become the first city in the country to provide free universal childcare. It's quite a leap. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. It's quite a leap for a city.

[Joe Getty]

That only recently discovered trash cans.

[Jack Armstrong]

Listen to the crowd cheer the idea of universal free childcare.

[Joe Getty]

Yes. Let the government raise your child.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yay.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

You idiots. I think most of them think free is an actual thing. But anyway, not to get distracted on that, we came up with a brilliant idea during our local news segment in which I was talking about having been in downtown Sacramento, California over the weekend and the number of homeless tents or drug addict tents, street people, absolutely all over the place. I mean, it's stunning. And I. And I don't see this anywhere else. It no longer is like this in San Francisco. I didn't see this when I was in New Orleans. I didn't see this lots of places while I was vacationing around incredible downtown, middle of the day, nice day, tents flipping everywhere. Anyway, here's our idea. You're debating Gavin Newsom, whether it's for the nomination or for. He gets the nomination. You're debating for president. You don't answer any questions in a debate. This is what I think you do. You do that thing where you can wear a whole bunch of T shirts. Like, you waddle out there with your arms sticking straight out because you got like 30 T shirts on, okay? And every time they go to you, your T shirts have pictures of squalor in various places around California. So here's a picture of, like, J and 9th street would work in Sacramento, all the tents, and then you just wear that. And then you take off one of your T shirt and underneath it is another T shirt. This is, you know, Bakersfield with a picture of right next to the city Hall, a tent encampment of drug addicts. And you just keep taking off the T shirts. Over the hour and a half debate, more and more pictures of squalor around California.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. People doing the Fentanyl hang. Malibu or Venice beach or whatever. Yeah. The. The junkie camps that have polluted San Diego. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

That'd be such a great stunt. And it would get up and down. So much attention.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Just point to your T shirt and then peel off another one. I don't think they allow props in debates, but I love the idea. It's a prop.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's my shirt. What, I'm not allowed to wear clothes? Exactly.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I like the idea of a tear off like the Hulk.

[Jack Armstrong]

It'd be more dramatic.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah, Katie, there you go. Style points.

[Jack Armstrong]

When the Hulk there at the end of his life, struggled to pull apart his tearaway jersey at the convention, so would I.

[Joe Getty]

Who am I to criticize? So we've been discussing a fair amount how women, particularly young women, are absolutely miserable and angry and depressed and anxious and suicidal and marching in the streets over bizarre causes and gobbling drugs to stay sane and all that sort of thing. And, oh, I gotta get to that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Story about anxious pet owners or making their dogs anxious and then having to put them on medicine.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my gosh. So we got this. Well, and then we. We shared with you the poll the other day that the number of young white women who believe that violence and Lawlessness to oppose ICE for instance, is justified is quadruple quintuple 10 times any other ethnic group or any other subset of the population. I mean, college educated young white women are by far the most radical leftist group in America. And we've been talking about why that might be. A couple of thoughts. Number one from a correspondent M in San Jose who says getting tougher. She thinks we're in a MAGA type bubble because we don't listen to women. You're only hearing male perspectives. Let me clue you into the reason why liberal women are so unhappy. Men's inability to adapt to changing societal norms and our increasing awareness of the role of the patriarchy in our lives. I will pause while you finish your eye rolling and deep sighing. Hopefully you will let me explain. Men are failing to adapt to the new roles everyone is playing in society. 70% of all households have two people working, yet women still do the lion's share of childcare and domestic work. You know the statistics about higher education. Women are outpacing men significantly. Therefore more women are becoming the breadwinner. Can you imagine how it is exciting to be both the breadwinner and responsible for the heavy lifting at home. Oh, joy. Then she takes a shot at Christian nonsense a la Charlie Kirk, submitting to your husband, etc.

[Jack Armstrong]

I, I am sure it exists, but in my orbit of not a small number of people in my life, I haven't known a single mom was the breadwinner and did most of the parenting at home. I don't know one. You're acting like that's the norm and that's what we're rebelling against.

[Joe Getty]

Well, and it's.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sure it happens, but I've never known you. I've known families where the woman was a breadwinner and dad stayed home with the kid or worked a lesser job and had more.

[Joe Getty]

But.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I've never known the. I'm the breadwinner and I do the bulk of the. Taking care of the kids. You're acting like you're presenting that as. That's the norm now and how unfair it is.

[Joe Getty]

And, and just as a woman reacting.

[Jack Armstrong]

To this, the first. Just part of that that you read screams, I'm a victim. Yes.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I would agree. The other thing is, and I would actually like to talk to this lady about this. She is very, very critical of modern men. A couple of things. Number one, the assumption that the changing roles in society and the new American society. I would argue to you that a lot of that is the result of the radical left getting their way for a very long time, especially in academia and the media and forcing us out of, as a society, things that work in favor of things that A, sound good, or B, advance neo Marxism. You are trying to tear apart the family. That is one of the avowed goals of Marxism, always has been. And then the second thing is that your side, your progressive side, has been demonizing young boys now for generations, drugging them if they can't sit still and act like little girls in classes, lecturing them about toxic masculinity and especially white boys, telling them that they are the personification of evil in the world. And then you say, and they suck because they act all beaten down and they're not doing their. What they ought to be doing. Yeah, boy, that's a mystery.

[Jack Armstrong]

I. Anyway, I lost the thread. What was the beginning, though? What's our premise? That that's why men are upset?

[Joe Getty]

No, women are. Women are unhappy because men suck, essentially.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, okay, so the explanation for women being crazy is that men are so awful because women make. Make the money and take care of the kids.

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hard to get all that to fit together, right?

[Joe Getty]

Here is commentator Brit hughes. Michael is 35 and 36. Let's play 35 first. She sets up her monologue by playing these clips.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't come on my page and say that people should be in this country legally. Don't do it. He shot her because she was queer. Are we great yet? Are we a great country? Is this what is great?

[Joe Getty]

It's a long montage.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'd like to hear the whole thing.

[Joe Getty]

Of lefty women just screaming into the camera, unhinged and angry about the politics of our nation and the shooting in Minneapolis.

[Jack Armstrong]

He shot her because she was queer.

[Joe Getty]

And then Brit Hughes, who is a woman, is explaining something we've actually talked about before. And I think it's undeniable, but let her roll, Michael.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

A lot of people are wondering right now how in the world a person's brain ends up like this. Because this is not how healthy, happy people act. Let me explain. Liberal women are what happens when the natural female instinct to nurture and defend and care for gets misdirected away from families and children and misapplied to whatever the liberal cause of the week is. See, women have an innate instinct to support and emotionally connect to vulnerable people. We are designed to be mama bears. And in the absence of a stable and healthy home and family, a woman will find a place to put all of that. The natural instinct to sacrifice yourself for your children gets misapplied in all the wrong directions. You want to know why so many liberal women are out there playing hero for criminal aliens and gender confused perverts and cultures that hate them? It's because they believe they have identified groups of people who need them when no one else does. We destroyed the family and we handed a generation of women a bunch of feminist lies and progressive slop in its place, and this is the natural result.

[Joe Getty]

They've found someone they believe needs them because nobody else does. Whoa. Whoa. Nailed it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that. That level of hysteria, it's like what I've been talking about. People flipping me off in my cyber truck. It's not just that they flip me off. They're like, oh. They're like, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm saying this.

[Joe Getty]

They're so matched.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like they're enraged. It's like, that's weird. How do you get that worked up about something like that now? You know, an innocent person, in your eyes, being killed is more valid as something to get worked up about. But even then the like, yeah, but.

[Joe Getty]

Take me along the road to spitting anger that somebody drives a Tesla. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

How often do you get. Can't control your emotions, angry over something? Most people ever in your life?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Once a decade. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, it's troubling. You know, it's funny, I was kind of daydreaming during that clip because I've heard it a couple of times. I think it might be useful for everybody to spend a couple minutes thinking in detail about your life and the things you do, from the important to the mundane through the day, and how did they come to be? What are the main influences on how you spend your time and the decisions you make? For almost all of human history, it was your. Your family, your community, your religion, period. You know, maybe, you know, stuff like the Constitution or, you know, that would enter into it. Now, I would argue it is tech companies, corporations, and just people who are profiting from you.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

What are your core beliefs? If you can't immediately answer that question, your core beliefs are, I flip through social media to be entertained or I'm blown by the winds of, you know, various causes, which are all scams and, or corporate greed.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I've been sloppy about this lately, so I know something about it. I think the problem is the algorithms figure out your core beliefs and then convince you that your core beliefs are under attack. And if your core beliefs are about to be lost and under attack, you know, that can get an emotional reaction out of you. And the reason I know about this is for the first time ever, Twitter, I've only ever really used as a news source, and I have some people I follow. And then if there's a particular story my go to. But lately, like in the last week or so, I open it up and I just look at the stuff that it feeds you, which is my algorithm, so it knows what my tendencies are, my needs are, and it makes you crazy. I, I can tell that I feel more on edge in the last week than I did prior because it's feeding me this stuff. Like there was one yesterday of a guy with an American flag that showed up to some protest about something, and then the, The, The. The liberal nut job started screaming his face with a bullhorn, and so he moved his American flag over here to get away from the bu. And they came up and put it in his ear again, and he kept moving and kept moving, and then eventually he punched him and then he got attacked by all the liberal crazies. And that gets an emotional reaction out of you. And the. And the algorithm knows that that's gonna poke me and that there's all kinds of that sort of stuff. Well, combine that. I gotta quit looking at the feed the algorithm gives me.

[Joe Getty]

Yes, true, but what, what amplifies that times 10 is that we no longer identify ourselves as. I'm a mother, I'm a father, I'm a Christian, I'm a member of the jcs, I'm a blah, blah, blah, blah. Your politics are your identity. And so those people are attacking your very being. Not your just your beliefs. I tell you what, it is a recipe for psychosis. And what do we have? Psychosis.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I think most people or too many people's reaction to like that video I saw is, oh my God, it's so bad. I need to look into this more. I need to look at more of this stuff so I know how awful it is. As opposed to I looked at, I thought I got to quit looking at just the general algorithm feed and go back to just looking at my news sites.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. What are the categories? And then we'll take a break real quick. Michael, for you or following? Stick with following. Don't go with the for you. They're here to make you crazy and they're doing a good job.

[Jack Armstrong]

They really are. Oh, it's troubling. More on the way.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

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[Helena Merriman]

The first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed but even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

So what are your pronouns? My pronouns? Well, I hope that's pretty clear. Yeah, I don't make assumptions.

[Jack Armstrong]

You could identify as a sunflower.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

You know, I've been told I look like one. I use they them. You know, I've always been curious why they them because there's just one of you and those are plural pronouns. Just never really understood the hoopla pronouns. My name's Ainsley and I just can't really come up with a reason why you would address me in third person in a conversation that I'm a part of. So if you do, I'm probably not there. So I wouldn't really know what pronouns you're using anyways. So why would it matter? You smell like the beach. Who says that? You know, I think it's because I use coconut oil as a moisturizer.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's from Landman, which I haven't watched with Billy Bob Thornton about the oil industry, everything like that. A lot of people seem to really like it now when you hear a conversation like that. I'm working up to a point here. Do you think, do you feel like they're pushing the trans issue on it or is it just supposed to be a funny conversation about the whole thing?

[Joe Getty]

I think it's a funny conversation about the reality that we have to deal with that sort of conversation.

[Jack Armstrong]

The reason I bring that up is I watched about two thirds of the movie, one battle after another, yesterday afternoon. It's on hbo Max. It won Best Picture at Golden Globes, got the most nominations and a couple other records and like that. And I've heard from a variety of quarters, including some people that I really, really like were really smart about how woke it is and unsufferable and they had to walk out of the theater. And I was like, okay. I went into it with, oh, I'll see. I hate hearing this ahead of time. It would have never crossed my mind to have any political problems with this movie if I hadn't been told ahead of time.

[Joe Getty]

It's just.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's just. Well, I'll read the. The main critic of the New York Times was an epic screwball adventure teaming with awe inspiring action Set pieces. That's a pretty good description. An epic screwball comedy. Every character in the thing from top to bottom. I don't think of my characters in terms of left and right when I watch movies. Like, I don't immediately think about where's this character fit on the political scale. So I wouldn't think about it. But everybody was absurd. Everybody was over the top, incompetent nuts. It's just, I feel bad for you if you watch movies and all you can think of is, how does this fit into politics? I just. I don't get it. I really don't.

[Joe Getty]

I'll have to watch it and make my own judgment.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't.

[Joe Getty]

I haven't seen it.

[Jack Armstrong]

So then the, The. The radical protesters are incompetent and ridiculous and dumb. I mean, if I was going to make an argument, I'd make an argument that was portraying revolutionaries as incompetent and dumb. If I wanted to make that argument.

[Joe Getty]

Again, it reminds me of Don't look up, where everybody was portrayed cartoonishly. Right wingers and left wingers. That's fine.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, and with the same star, Leonardo DiCaprio, who's a ridiculous revolutionary who can't figure out own thing and get on the right side of it and everything.

[Joe Getty]

But people just don't have a sense of humor when they feel like they're in a war, I guess. Apparently. Yeah.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

Armstrong and Getty. Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well, I don't know about you, but, like, I never liked being told, oh, wow, you look so good for your age. Like, why even bother saying that? Why don't you just say you look great at any age? Every age. That's what Meaningful Beauty is all about. We create products that make you feel confident in your skin at the age you are now. Meaningful Beauty. Beautiful skin at every age. Learn [e-mail].

[Helena Merriman]

If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

So it's going to be. I just wanted to be ahead of this conversation because I think the movie One battle after another. Is going to be a big national conversation when it get Oscar time. It's going to be. It's going to be a thing. And you either think it's Paul Thomas Anderson, who I'm a big fan of. I couldn't like the oil drilling movie. Why can't I think of it?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, blood.

[Jack Armstrong]

There Will Be Blood. I can't. I couldn't like There Will Be Blood or other movies he's made more. I just love him. And I saw this movie is just, I don't know, a farce really. And some of you see it as so political. I said my piece on that and I'll shut up. To me it's like watching Pulp Fiction and saying they're trying to glorify drug use. They were all right. That's not what I took away from it. But here's what somebody. This will represent the rest of you who didn't agree with me. I went to watch one battle after another on Tuesday. There were only 15 people in the theater, which is interesting. All the awards it's won and it's got 94% on rotten tomatoes with fans. But anyway.

[Joe Getty]

But it's also streaming.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think it's both. Yeah. In theaters. I watched it on hbo. Max.

[Joe Getty]

Not relevant to the discussion, but that is interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

There were only 15 people in the theater and after 30 minutes I walked out. I was the last one to walk out of an empty theater. I asked a theater employee about it and she told me that at least half of the people who bought tickets don't make it one hour. I don't know if I believe this or not.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

I thought it was one of the more entertaining movies I've ever watched. The pace just. It's crazy. The first half hour is nothing but liberals. Freedom fighters good. Portraying them as good, I guess is what this person means. Military ice, Republicans bad. And it's okay to bomb their offices and headquarters. It's hilariously shows A handful of freedom fighters take over an ICE facility that's run by dozens of ICE agents. They all look like skinheads. My curious curiosity got the better of me. I had to look up what was going on. All the critics raved about it and it was a box office flop. That is what happens when you crap on half the population. So that's the take some of you have on this movie. That is not what I took away from it.

[Joe Getty]

I wish I'd seen it. I will judge and I will judge harshly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Man. In the pace of it, Paul Thomas Anderson apparently realizes that the tick tock Generation has not got time for things to unfold slowly.

[Joe Getty]

Well, what about that commentary, though? That. Is that a description of the first half hour? Did they say her hour? Is that accurate?

[Jack Armstrong]

The part of it depicts freedom fighters. Good. No, they come off as completely nuts and inept and it's. And so are the people on the other side are nuts and up. And unless you are going into it with a political fight, it's just a plot line. It's just something for various characters to interact with in crazy ways. And this, the sexual part of it is really something.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. Little perverse. You were saying off the air. We can't even describe to you on the air.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it's a. Sean Penn is unbelievable in this movie and crazy creepy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Okay, so I, you know, it's funny, everybody who's a big fan of Slow Horses, which was on one of your many screaming services with Gary Oldham, and it was the, the, the acting performances and just the production values of it were wonderful. But you may remember I told you I, I was getting into it, but the plot was in Great Britain and it looked like it was a Muslim extremist bombing. But no, the brave plot twist was it was white supremacists faking up being radical Muslims and it was bad, bad white people. And I just couldn't take it. Given the times we're in and the reality in London and the discomfort with mass Muslim immigration and the rest of it. I don't know if I caught the disease. Should I have hung in there?

[Jack Armstrong]

I just.

[Joe Getty]

It seems like every GD award winning show is evil, evil white people being battled against by brave, brave POCs or, or whatever. I just can't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, you know, to each their own. The only saving grace of this, what I would say is everybody is an abhorrent character. Like real life. Every single person.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Leonardo DiCaprio, the brave revolutionary who can't remember the various code words he's supposed to give when he's having the secret phone calls and so they won't answer his questions. What does the clock say? I don't know. They. I don't remember what I'm supposed to say right now, but it's important that I get to the. What does the clock say? You already said that. I don't know what the answer is.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, sounds funny. I'm laughing. So, on a completely different topic, and I can't wait to get to the next segment. We are truly for once going to end strong. So we need to break on time. But this is an interesting Perspective. I heard it's a little critical of Donald J. And the idea that we have to own Greenland. And it's funny when you point it out. A number of military officials are pointing out that we manage or use 128 foreign military bases in at least 51 countries. And if you include smaller facilities, it's more than 750 installations in 80 countries and territories, many of them dating back to World War II or the Cold War. And in those, we don't own them. We have leases with bilateral agreements and we have launched some Hellenic tenacious wars from there and done everything we needed to do without owning Germany or Italy, France, you know, all sorts of different places in the Middle east, etc. We don't need to own Greenland.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've heard a lot of people bring this up, right, left and center, conservative writers and David Sanger in the New York Times saying, we had bases there in the past. We shut some of them down. We could ask giant ones, we could ask to reopen them. But I mean, the idea that we need to, as you just said, have Greenland be a state or something for us to launch military operations is, you know, doesn't fit in with the history of us using Greenland for military operations.

[Joe Getty]

Our largest overseas military installations are in Japan, Germany and South Korea.

[Jack Armstrong]

We don't own those countries.

[Joe Getty]

They're very, very good, very successful, and we own all of them. That's right. No, we don't. I think it's just Trump being a real estate guy. I think he sees some good land, some land that's going to increase in value soon, and he gets such a. I almost used an unfortunate term for male arousal. He becomes so enthusiastic for it. It clouds his judgment.

[Jack Armstrong]

I first term, I didn't think he cared much about history or any of that sort of stuff. You know, his. His mark on the world or whatever. But I'm starting to think that that really matters to him and that he's more aware of that sort of thing. You know, the who to win the Nobel Peace Prize. I think he wants to be one of the presidents that brought more states into the Union. You know, I don't think the Don Row Doctrine was a complete joke. He likes the idea of, like, a doctrine being named for him for all eternity. Sure. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

He cares about his legacy. I think you're 100% right in a way that he didn't before. I also think he's not surrounding himself with people who tell him that's not a good idea anymore.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Joe Getty]

A little sycophanti for my tastes. But you know what's, what's interesting though, it reminds me, well, it reminds me of a couple of things. But his emphasis on the need to aggressively confront the threat in the Arctic Circle is a hundred percent dead on.

[Jack Armstrong]

No kidding.

[Joe Getty]

It's really, really smart. And you know, it's the sort of thing you're not going to get from the other side. Certainly the Kamala Harris never would have brought it up. So he's right. It just as always, it's that outer 20% of his act that if you could just reel that in. Boy, I think he had the opportunity to be a great president. Still does. I just don't see it happening.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, people come to the Armstrong and Yeti show knowing we are good mediators when it comes to kids hockey stories.

[Joe Getty]

Controversy, certainly.

[Jack Armstrong]

This was a video that went viral yesterday and everybody took it at face value because it was presented at face value. This is how it sounded.

[Joe Getty]

First of all, this just, just as a quick note, this was the breaking on time. We're definitely going to finish strong that I was mentioning. Do we want to squeeze it in now or take a break? 6 and 1/2 dozen of the other.

[Jack Armstrong]

Doesn'T matter to me. It's a good tease.

[Joe Getty]

Why not? That's a great tease.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, don't plug it in. That's the last thing we ought to do.

[Joe Getty]

We ought to hit the brakes and go to reverse.

[Jack Armstrong]

The problem we often have in making decisions is that the stakes are so low.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, it doesn't matter.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like here. Okay, we'll do it next.

[Joe Getty]

Anybody got a coin?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's a good story. Stay here.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

Armstrong and Getty. Now I'd like to introduce you to Meaningful Beauty, the famed skincare brand created by iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford. It's her secret to absolutely gorgeous skin. Meaningful Beauty makes powerful and effective skin care simple and it's loved by millions of women. It's formulated for all ages and all skin tones and types. And it's designed to work as a complete skin care system, leaving your skin feeling soft, smooth and nourished. I recommend starting with Cindy's full regimen which contains all five of her best selling products including the amazing youth activating Melon Serum. This next generation serum has the power of Melonleaf stem cell technology. It's melon leaf stem cells encapsulated for freshness and released onto the skin to support a visible reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. With thousands of of glowing five star reviews, why not give it a try? Subscribe today and you can get the Amazing meaningful beauty system for just $49.95. That includes our introductory five piece system, free gifts, free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. All of that [e-mail] if journalism is.

[Helena Merriman]

The first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

I meant to talk about it yesterday because I saw it was a viral video and everybody is really concerned about this youth hockey league where they broke into fight. How the news report went.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

On Saturday, minor league hockey team the Hershey Bears hosted an eight and under youth hockey game during an intermission when suddenly a massive brawl breaks out, the crowd cheering them on. One fan saying, that's the best intermission entertainment I have seen in years. Others say it got out of hand. No adults tried to break it up. Now multiple investigations are underway, including from the Atlantic Amateur Hock association, which says it's aware of a staged fight.

[Joe Getty]

You know what's really funny is that was Hannah Bata of ABC News and I said earlier in the show with 100% confidence, that's an AI voiceover.

[Jack Armstrong]

I thought that was AI also, even.

[Joe Getty]

I know even now either she's like a gifted AI imitator or is just so lacking in humanness that she sounds like she's a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, so. Wow. The ABC report.

[Joe Getty]

Anyway, that's we're lost the thread. You got young children beating the bejesus out of each other for our entertainment. I'm shocked and outraged.

[Jack Armstrong]

And parents don't intervene. The ABC report. The ABC report goes on.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

The Hershey Bears deny any role in the scrimmage other than providing the ice. The hockey club that the kids belong to, calling safety of the utmost importance, saying it's conducting an internal review. The brawl is raising bigger questions about hockey's fight culture, which critics say is tolerated or even embraced unlike in most other sports.

[Jack Armstrong]

So.

[Joe Getty]

So Katie's head is in her hands and I'd like to join her in that posture.

[Jack Armstrong]

Come on. So that was a hot story all day long. And then with the typical sort of conversations. Our culture has gotten so violent and what happened to parents and blah blah, blah and probably worried about lawsuits. And I can imagine all the things I would have said if we would have talked about this seriously and taking it completely seriously. Then I'm listening to NPR this morning and they said, turns out that was staged. And I thought. What was staged? Here's some comment on that from an NHL reporter real, real quick.

[Joe Getty]

Well, go. I'll let him speak his piece. Go ahead. I wasn't surprised to hear it was staged because it would almost have to be, because those kids are not taught anything that aggressive. You're not even allowed to hit at that level.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're not even allowed to run into people, knock them down, let alone drop your gloves and start swinging.

[Joe Getty]

So I missed that story complet because I was like reading history instead of the current video yesterday. And yes, that is a humble brag. But number one, the idea that little kids like that would brawl and brawl and brawl and nobody would intercede is hilariously, stupidly fictional. Right? Secondly, having grown up playing hockey and around hockey and that sort of thing, you are absolutely not allowed to fight at those levels. I mean, you would be removed from the league and banned for life. And just the whole thing smacked of a setup, but the whole world went for it.

[Jack Armstrong]

My experience with watching youth football and participating in youth football is there ain't that many kids that want contact. If you were trying to get. There'd be a couple of kids that want to fight because there are, there's some kids that want to want the contact. There's lots of kids that don't. So the idea that every single pair on the entire ice would be just swinging at each other is really kind of hilarious.

[Joe Getty]

But, But ABC News took it perfectly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Seriously and we, we, we got to watch out for this ourselves. Every. It's a human nature thing maybe, but people want the. Here's another example of how the world's falling apart on a regular basis.

[Joe Getty]

And here's another example of how the world's falling apart, by the way. No, go ahead. Did you have more on that thought?

[Jack Armstrong]

So the example of the world falling apart is that people want the world to be falling apart and now we've got fake news stories, so I guess it's just a. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Wait a minute. You are freaking meta going meta on us here.

[Jack Armstrong]

No.

[Joe Getty]

You're blowing my mind. Kurbui.

[Jack Armstrong]

I know. Did you see this originally and thought it was real? Because I, I saw it on TV and thought, oh my God, that's horrific. I hadn't heard the. No parents intervened. I assumed because I just saw a couple second Clip that. Oh, my God. That is completely out of hand. And I just wonder how it ended up. Well, when I. When I first saw it, I realized that it was staged about 15 seconds.

[Joe Getty]

In when not a single adult rushed to stop them. Right, but play the 100% serious ABC News report again, Michael. Clip 18, please.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

The Hershey Bears deny any role in the scrimmage other than providing the ice. The hockey club that the kids belong to calling safety of the utmost importance.

[Joe Getty]

Here's the key.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

It's conducting an internal review. The brawl is raising bigger questions about hockey fight culture, which critics say is tolerated or even embraced, unlike in most other sports.

[Joe Getty]

Is that the question that's being raised? Is it, Hannah?

[Jack Armstrong]

So what level of trolling Andy Kaufman, like, staged trolling was going on here? I mean, when the news organizations contacted the teams, did they pretend it was real? Because otherwise it would have been. Unless ABC is lying about investigating it at all. Did you make a single phone call?

[Joe Getty]

Well, and dozens of people are involved in preparing that newscast. Did not a single one of them say, hey, that's clearly fake? And then did somebody not say, and I would not be the least bit surprised to hear this was true. Did somebody say, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about it? It's shocking. People go, oh, my God, yeah, it's clearly fake. Who cares?

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story. I mean, I understand that to a certain extent, but, yeah, I think that's probably what happened there. Because if you actually contacted the league or the arena, they'd say, oh, no, no, that was just for fun. The crowd knew it was for fun.

[Joe Getty]

Well, so apparently the league and club.

[Jack Armstrong]

Officials are investigating it against the players.

[Joe Getty]

And team that staged the fight.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, so. But, but so was it like a joke on the parents in the crowd? I'm just trying to figure out what the. A joke on the league.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know, was the Beavers or whatever the Hershey Bears were, they. Did they think that'd be funny and found some coaches who thought it'd be funny, too?

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, yeah, I could.

[Joe Getty]

And I tell you what, as a. What was it, you eight under hockey? As a young hockey player, I'd have thought that was freaking hilarious. I would have been recruiting my teammates to do it. How about it's a funny idea?

[Jack Armstrong]

How about as a parent, would you think it was funny? And you'd be like, oh, you got me. I thought they started fighting because I. I would think if I was in the arena and everybody started Fighting at once very quickly. I would think I would. You would understand it was fake.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, yeah. I can't believe it. Because, you know, use hockey.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well and. Well, that. And I can't believe that all of these seven year olds are great actors at pretending to hit each other and be hit. It couldn't have been that great up close, could it?

[Joe Getty]

Well, right, exactly. Yeah. I'm sure you gotta be back aways. You gotta have a wide shot to make it the least bit convincing. So you're sitting there, you're thinking, the hell is he doing? Why are they pantomiming? Fighting. This is ridiculous.

[Jack Armstrong]

Unless they all have the talents of Charlie Chaplin, I don't think it was probably that convincing.

[Joe Getty]

But ABC's Hannah Bata is concerned about hockey's fight culture.

[Jack Armstrong]

So the scandal here's raising questions. The scand here, if there is one, did ABC completely, 100% know what was going on here and presented it like a tragedy just for clicks they may have, which is not. Not cool. Ain't got much to give you. They gonna give you what they got. This brilliant four hour workday's about over. It's time for final thoughts. Yeah, I liked it. Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap things up.

[Jack Armstrong]

For the day with Michelangelo.

[Joe Getty]

Our technical director will bravely lead the way. Michael, what's your final thought? You know, this story reminds me of morning radio back in the day where somebody, a dj, would have a goldfish and say, I'm going to blend this goldfish unless I get people to call in and, you know, convince me to do otherwise. And people would call in and beg and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, we do. Did, we did do that, Katie. And we ran the blender and everybody freaked out. Monsters.

[Joe Getty]

It was funny. Katie Greener, esteemed newswoman, has a final thought. Katie, I think we need more of this. More of these little ice hockey fights, flash mob fights, all of it.

[Helena Merriman]

Just.

[Jack Armstrong]

I love it.

[Joe Getty]

Keep it coming. Oh, boy. All right, Jack, final thought for us. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

People got angry when they thought we actually blended the goldfish. I don't remember what our point was, was when we. When we had a couple of dudes in studio Kiss. Remember we had two girls in studio Kiss and two dudes in studio Kiss. Some people got really angry about that. That was before even. I don't even think there was video of it. I think it was just audio.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Huh. 100%. My final thought is number one. I was reminded that a lot of People call Minneapolis Snow Gadishu, which is kind of funny. Secondly, according to a recent study, melodies are getting measurably less complex and more homogeneous in pop music. Everything is converging to what is measurably most popular. Algorithmic recommendations are the final push down this death spiral. They tell you precisely what is the most popular thing to talk about. So everybody does, says and writes about only those things.

[Jack Armstrong]

You only need the 1, 4, 5 and 6 chord for all songs in the future, according to law, I think. Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Joe Getty]

So many people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thanks.

[Joe Getty]

So little time. Go to Armstrong. Getty.com you ought to be subscribing or following our podcast. That way it downloads automatically. Drop us a note if there's something we ought to be talking about or you want to weigh in on something we discussed. [e-mail] are Trump and Elizabeth Warren going.

[Jack Armstrong]

To cap credit card rates? They're talking about it. Maybe that tomorrow. God bless America, Armstrong and get it.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

They're way better at words.

[Joe Getty]

Bad words.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my word.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

Words.

[Joe Getty]

Let me say. Let me say one thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do what you know how to do.

[Joe Getty]

Because when you do what you do. What the hell are you talking about?

[Jack Armstrong]

I was gonna put him. You gotta be kidding me.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

Si se padre.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, man. Are you sure of that? Dude?

[Joe Getty]

Is it finally over? That's the end of this tranche of hearings.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's that word on that high note? Thank you all very much.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Helena Merriman]

If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Cindy Crawford / Podcast Advertiser]

Guaranteed Human.