Time Heals All Hurt Butts

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: Time Heals All Hurt Butts
Date: January 22, 2026

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Main Theme & Purpose

In this lively episode, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty tackle a blend of headline news, political satire, and pop culture, focusing on recent geopolitical developments (notably, the rumored "Greenland Deal"), Oscar nominations, public trust in institutions and media, American mood surveys, and the persistent undercurrent of skepticism—both toward government and tech-driven futures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The "Greenland Deal" & U.S. Foreign Policy (02:50, 15:58, 23:42, 25:54)

• Overview: Trump claims a “forever deal” framework with Greenland focused on Arctic security. Details to come, leaving pundits and the hosts speculating on the implications.
• Satire & Skepticism:
  • They juxtapose serious discussion with lampooning the process and media reactions.
  • Mockery of the new "Board of Peace" (possibly the Gaza peace initiative) and UN effectiveness.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “Perhaps he should have a position in the administration or something...” – Joe Getty, referring to Jared Kushner's impressive pitch (04:54)
  • “Oh, you wouldn't want to undermine the effective, effective UN and all the things that they accomplished.” – Jack Armstrong, sarcastically (05:52)
  • “Time heals all hurt butts, as they say, or they should have anyway.” – Joe Getty, on diplomatic fallout (26:54)
• Football Humor: Jokes about Greenland soon having NFL and hockey teams (25:37).

2. The Oscars & "Sinners" Lead the Pack (02:58, 07:04, 15:13)

• Oscars Announced: Jack and Joe riff on the proliferation of nominees (now “like 15 pictures”) and their own diminishing interest.
• Focus on "Sinners": The film sets a record with 16 nominations—genre-blending, apparently a "vampire blues horror" with a majority Black cast, leading to quips about “woke vampires.”
• Notable Quotes:
  • “Is it just a lot of sinning?” – Jack (07:33)
  • “Vampires, blues, supernatural... got the most nominations of any film ever.” – Jack (08:30)
  • “How do you get wokeness in a vampire movie?” – Jack (09:08)
  • “It’s white people sucking the blood of BIPOC, just like in history.” – Joe (08:59)
• Cultural Commentary: Subtly pokes fun at the politics in film and audience fatigue with “wokeness.”

3. Board of Peace & Institutional Distrust (04:12—06:52)

• “Board of Peace” is introduced—immediately mocked.
• UN & WHO Critique: The hosts deride the United Nations' handling of conflict zones and the WHO's response to Covid.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “The only thing they accomplished in that area was they had a bunch of people... who were fighting on the side of Hamas and participated in October 7th.” – Jack (05:52)

4. Public Perception & Media Skepticism (27:43, 31:14)

• New York Times/Siena Polls: General national mood is described as “pretty sour,” not just about Trump or Biden, but about institutions overall.
• Historians’ Lens: Joe reflects that periods of peace, prosperity, and stability are historically brief.
• Media Trust:
  • Armstrong expresses deep skepticism about verifying news (“maybe that's true, maybe it’s not, and I move on” – 30:14).
  • Discussion centers on propaganda, AI bots, and the challenge of identifying trustworthy reporting.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “If I'm doing that... that's got to be where the average person is on most stories.” – Jack (31:14)
• Political Parties Unpopularity: Both Republicans and Democrats are “underwater” with the public (34:14).

5. Culture Clashes & Woke Comedy (09:55, 11:03, 19:01, 19:31)

• ICE "Catch of the Day": Segment satirizes media outrage over ICE's “catch of the day” terminology, lampooning outrage culture and left-right offense-taking.
• Super Bowl & Green Day/Bad Bunny: Noting the potential for the halftime show to become an “ICE is bad” political statement; longing for a simpler pop culture era (“Can we go back to seeing Janet Jackson’s nipple?” – Jack, 19:26).
• Groundhog Day & PETA: Absurdity of PETA wanting to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a hologram (19:42).

6. Social Commentary: Technology, Meaning, and Human Motivation (41:13, 44:31)

• Listener Mail:
  • Ponders a tech-driven future with universal income/A.I. labor replacing humans.
  • Concerns: What drives people to work, find meaning, or gain expertise if “everything is provided” by AGI?
  • “If everyone is given the same amount of money, who is going to do the harder dirty job?” – Listener Matt (39:21)
• Meaning and Dystopia:
  • Another listener draws a line from Dostoevsky to Huxley, suggesting the loss of “chase” in humanity will lead to malaise and atrophy.
• Host Reflection: Jack and Joe question whether driven “accomplishers” (like Musk) overestimate the proportion of people who work simply for achievement's sake.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Global Politics:
  “It’s your boyfriend was rude, so you’ve been forced into the arms of a known rapist... You work out the problems.” – Joe Getty, on Europe considering China as an alternative to the U.S. (24:26)
• On Institutional Distrust:
  “You combine that with legit news sources having no interest... in being honest brokers for what's real and what's not... I am befuddled as how to go forward at this point.” – Jack Armstrong (32:37)
• On Societal Mood:
  “Enormous unhappiness and discontent in a lot of the developed world.” – Joe Getty (34:43)
• On AI and Universal Basic Income:
  “If AGI is providing mankind with all its wants and needs... who’s going to study for years to become a doctor?” – Listener email (39:21) “We humans are created to crave meaning... If we... flatten our desire to chase, then Huxley will have been a prophet.” – Listener Michael (41:47)
• On History and Truth:
  “The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” – Quoting Hitler (38:44)

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Key Segment Timestamps

| Segment Topic | Start Time | |------------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Banter, show start, Oscars intro | 02:19 | | Greenland Deal, Board of Peace, Kushner, UN/WHO | 04:07-06:52 | | "Sinners" Oscar buzz, vampire/woke film jokes | 07:04-09:21 | | Trump WWII joke, “speaking German” | 09:59-10:37 | | ICE “Catch of the Day” controversy | 11:03-12:28 | | News wrap-up with Katie Green | 15:58-20:09 | | Mood in polls, institutional skepticism | 27:43-28:40 | | Breaking AP immigration story & media trust | 30:14-32:37 | | Culture (Super Bowl, PETA, Groundhog Day) | 19:01-20:51 | | Listener emails: AGI, universal basic income | 39:21-44:31 |

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Tone & Style

• Satirical, conversational, irreverent—mixing serious political discourse with humor, parody, and cultural references.
• Cynical toward institutions and media, sharp towards partisanship and “woke” culture but with moments of philosophical musing and listener engagement.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This episode weaves together the absurdity and seriousness of news in the Armstrong & Getty style—assigning equal value to political spectacle, cultural shifts, and the quirks of human nature. From laughing at vampire movies and Super Bowl politics to dissecting national poll malaise and skepticism about AI-driven futures, Jack and Joe offer an engaging snapshot of American discontent and skepticism—seasoned with plenty of humor and a dash of existential dread.

Transcript

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[Jack Armstrong]

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

[Joe Getty]

Jack Armstro and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Jetty. And now, here.

[Joe Getty]

I'm strong and get it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Live from Studio C, please, senor. A dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound. We're already at Little Friday. That's what happens on your short holiday weeks like this.

[Joe Getty]

Love it.

[Jack Armstrong]

The title.

[Joe Getty]

Down with Mondays.

[Jack Armstrong]

Down with Mondays. Down with Mondays. The title of today's show is Take.

[Joe Getty]

The Greenland off ramp or you're up to no good.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh boy. You like the word play. I enjoy the word Play.

[Joe Getty]

That's correct. That's just. You need to know about me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Big for you. Yes, yes. Your profile would include. Enjoys wordplay. Fantastic. The Oscar nominations just came out. Maybe we'll get to that a little bit later. I heard it on the news as I was walking through the door and I was reminded, oh yeah, you nominate like 15 pictures. So halfway through the list, I kind of lost track of what we were doing. I wish they had never started that. Took all the fun out of it for me. Anyway, we'll get to that a little bit later. How y' all doing today? Fantastic.

[Joe Getty]

Boy, I have as much interest in the Oscars as the, the bowling, you know, finals, whenever they are. At this point, I like being tipped off to, hey, that's a good movie. You'll enjoy that.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's all it is for me is a list of. Okay, these are movies. When I come up on Netflix, maybe I'll check one out. I want to see the Marty supreme movie, the ping pong movie with Timothy, whatever. How you should ever see his name. He that got nominated for best Picture also, and him nominated for Best Actor and he won a Golden Globe. So I want to see that. Anywho, we'll get to that a little bit later. Apparently we have a deal for Greenland, according to Trump, a forever deal and framework. The details have not been announced, but that'll come out later.

[Joe Getty]

And then it's like the Gaza thing. It's fine, we got a framework. It'll be good.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's funny, the Gaza thing. So they announced the. What's it called?

[Joe Getty]

The Board of Peace, The Super Friends.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know, something of peace ministry.

[Joe Getty]

The Board of Peace. Is it Katie, does that sound right? Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Which is. Which is being, you know, mocked in all mainstream news outlets in the same way that they mocked Space Force. Space Force, which in retrospect was absolutely needed and makes perfectly good sense. But anyway, I watched Jared Kushner's presentation today. Trump's son in law. Man, that guy is really sharp. And his speech of explaining of what they want to do and how they're going to do it, I thought it was really, really impressive. Seemed like a good idea.

[Joe Getty]

Perhaps he should have a position in the administration or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, he does not officially, but it plays a role in a lot of different things. But man, if they can pull it off, one of the greatest pieces of real estate on planet Earth and build it into, you know, hotels, restaurants, all that sort of stuff. He says they're going to have hundred percent employment soon. They Already started moving the rubble away. Everybody will have a job and, you know, one of the poorest areas on planet Earth, that will be a really big step up for most of those people to earn any wage whatsoever.

[Joe Getty]

Well, it was a horrible, miserable place by the. By their own making and that of Hamas, which was essentially of their own making too.

[Jack Armstrong]

The problem, as always, is the number of people out there who just want to destroy things and kill people over whatever it is, money, religion, whatever. Whatever your particular reason is. And that crowd needs to be dealt with. So we'll see how that turns out. But I was really impressed with it. And then I just heard NPR saying most European countries refused to enjoin the Board of Peace, seeing it as an effort to undermine the un. Oh, you wouldn't want to undermine the effective, effective UN and all the things that they accomplished. The only thing they accomplished in that area was they had a bunch, a bunch of people in the UN who were fighting on the side of Hamas and participated in October 7th. That's what the UN did with that piece of land.

[Joe Getty]

You had me at North Korea on the Human Rights Commission.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, exactly.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Shut up. Might undermine the U.N. oh, no. Similar story about the WHO, which I'd forgotten that we pulled out of. And at least they were fair enough on NPR to say some of the critiques of the WHO include how they handled Covid. Oh, yeah. Really siding with the Chinese from day one because they're getting paid off. Yeah, that's. That's one reason, actually covering up the.

[Joe Getty]

Real origins in impeding the science, in the effort for a cure, a vaccine for many, many months, letting many, many people die. Yes, I have criticisms I'm giving you. Thank you for acknowledging them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Giving you a quick homework assignment, Katie. The movie Sinners, which I've barely heard of, just set the all time Oscar nomination record with 10 nominations, which means it probably is pretty good. And I know nothing about it. So if you can come up with any information about the movie Sinners, I would like to know because maybe it's something I want to stream this weekend. Is it just a lot of sinning? Is it just a cast of people?

[Joe Getty]

Transgender drug lord movie. Set a record last year.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know, but. Oh, it got 16 nods. Misread it. So I'm guessing a movie about sinners, you got somebody coveting somebody's wife, you got somebody stealing, you got somebody lying.

[Joe Getty]

So much gluttony.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, some gluttony. Oh, Mr. Sloth. I wonder who plays the sloth guy.

[Joe Getty]

That's the theme of the Saw movies, isn't it the seven deadly sins? least the first one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Actually, it is.

[Katie Green]

It's a horror movie. It is, yeah. Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting for them to come back.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, shoot. Damn it. The whole going back to our hometown.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thing seemed like such a good idea.

[Joe Getty]

And then now what do we have? A greater evil. Evil. A greater freaking evil.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, is it actually. Is that the way things go?

[Joe Getty]

I heard it was a vampire.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Ryan Coogler's blues steeped. I don't know what that means. Music Vampire Epic.

[Katie Green]

A vampire Vampire Horror.

[Jack Armstrong]

Vampire Supernatural. Got the most nominations of any film ever. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I want to invite you next, baby, and suck the blood right out of your veins. Yeah, good stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was your vampire blues song.

[Joe Getty]

I'm just. It's, you know, in the early stages.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sure that got nominated for best best song.

[Joe Getty]

Rough draft. I just hope the film's not woke.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, a woke vampire movie.

[Joe Getty]

Vampire movie.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. It's white people sucking the blood of bipo. Just like in history.

[Katie Green]

It looks.

[Joe Getty]

They built this country. Sorry, Katie, go ahead.

[Jack Armstrong]

A vampire movie looks woke. How do you get wokeness into the vampire movie?

[Joe Getty]

They will find a way.

[Katie Green]

Yeah, I mean, I just saw it's. It's a majority black cast and it looks like the only bad guy is a white guy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I. I was just thinking that maybe, you know, a vampire movie raises to the. Rises to the top as somebody thought, you know what? I'm gonna stay away from all of these different issues and make a good old fashioned vampire movie. But I haven't seen it, so I don't have any idea. We should start the show officially before we get in trouble with the fcc. I'm Jack Armstrong. Or the who or the new board of Peace. They might not be happy with us late. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is already Thursday, January 22, the year 2026. We're Armstrong and Getty and we approve of this program.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, let's leap into action officially now, according to FCC rules and regulations. Here we go at mark.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then after the war, which we won, we won it big. Without us right now, you'd all be speaking German and little Japanese perhaps. You get it?

[Joe Getty]

You understand one for us.

[Jack Armstrong]

He'd be speaking German. So you get in line and you.

[Joe Getty]

Do what I say. My favorite part of that is you got a picture of the Germans. And they're thinking, yeah, we are speaking. Is that bad?

[Jack Armstrong]

Am I not supposed to be speaking German?

[Joe Getty]

It's a nice language, very precise.

[Jack Armstrong]

And a little bit of Japanese.

[Joe Getty]

Just a little domo arigato mine furer. That sort of thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, I like that as a. I like that as a threat or. Or putting people in their place. There you go, huh? When for me you'd be speaking German.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, boy. Because that's. That's the way to run a friendship.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, whatever, whatever. What are you gonna do? So are you familiar with ask a.

[Joe Getty]

Series of rhetorical questions? Apparently. What?

[Jack Armstrong]

Are you familiar with the phrase catch of the day and how controversial this has become?

[Joe Getty]

No, I don't know that one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So apparently the ICE people up there in Minneapolis have something they announce as the catch of the day and it's the worst criminal that they apprehended. But many people are horrified at the flippant way to describe illegals being rounded up by not.

[Joe Getty]

Sounds like it might be a nice salmon dish with spring vegetables. Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

And just a little bit of Japanese.

[Joe Getty]

Yes. A little soy sauce on there.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's what we can talk about that. I don't see it as that controversial. I actually think it's probably pretty good PR for what you're doing. Here's the worst person we caught today. Look at this guy. Friggin pedophile murderer who was living over there in the country illegally.

[Joe Getty]

If the left is really, really good at one thing, it's pretending to be offended or working themselves up into actually feeling offended by something that's completely inoffensive. Another good case of it.

[Jack Armstrong]

How long is this, Michael? Because I can't handle much of it before. Before I've had my coffee. Okay. It's Mika being unhappy about this.

[Joe Getty]

Maine is the latest state to see ICE agents arresting immigrants. Calling it grossly catch of the day.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is gross.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my Lord. I barely. I almost vomited.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right. God dang it.

[Joe Getty]

Catch of the day, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, no. Weren't for me, you'd be speaking German. Or Mika.

[Joe Getty]

How about deport one get one Dogo? No, I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Brainstorming. It's just a policy.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, One get one free. Look, we'll deport a bad guy and then this guy's kind of a nice guy. We'll let him stay.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's the Dogo doubling down on flipping is what you're doing. We've got Katie Green with the headlines. We got more news of the day. We'll see if the framework comes out on now. Greenland's our 51st state, I guess, and I can't wait till they get a football team and everything.

[Joe Getty]

All on the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Here's our text line 415295 KFTC Armstrong and Getty.

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[Jack Armstrong]

Just reading more about this movie Sinners that got the most nominations for Oscar in movie history and sounds like an interesting idea. Genre blending idea. We'll talk more about that later.

[Joe Getty]

All right, A lot of Stuff to talk about. Oh, my gosh. These are weird times. Troubled times, uncomfortable times. Here you got your New York police detectives got into a scuffle with a violent suspect. Had to go to the hospital, get their wounds treated. Hospital turned them away thinking they were ICE agents.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my God.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I know. They're like, we're. We're NYPD detectives. What are you doing?

[Jack Armstrong]

Not even if I'm an ICE agent, what am I supposed to do?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, and the excuse by the hospital administration, Absolutely hilarious. We'll get to it in a little bit. But first, who's reporting what? It's the lead story with Katie Green. Katie.

[Katie Green]

All right, it's all about Greenland. NBC, Trump sought Greenland deal that would hand us more control over security. Abc, Trump announces, quote, framework for a future deal on Greenland and drops the NATO tariff threat. And cnbc, Denmark, open to, quote, golden Dome talks after Trump touts framework Greenland deal.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, unless you know something I don't know, it seems like it would be hard to criticize or praise this deal since he says the details are to come.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although to the extent you can tell what it is, seems good for national and NATO security. Definitely.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, yeah, some sort of cooperation with the United States and Greenland, which is obviously a good thing. I suppose the. If you had a critique, it would be, why did we have to go about it this way?

[Joe Getty]

Well, and that has been the critique by a lot of Republicans, too, and Trump loyalists. Honestly, this one was clearly out of bounds.

[Katie Green]

From the New York Post, Trump and Zelensky meet behind closed doors for brief one on one conversation at Davos and.

[Jack Armstrong]

Quote, it was good. Yeah, this could be big because the last time they got together at the Vatican, remember, Trump came away pretty bolstered to help out Ukraine. So we'll see what he says about that today.

[Katie Green]

From Reuters, witnesses say Iran deaths went beyond protesters hitting bystanders as well.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, I'm sure they did.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

This thing about spraying bullets, is that supposed to be, like, news? Oh, no, really? They didn't just hit protesters, they hit bystanders. I'm sure the Mullers are really upset about that.

[Katie Green]

From the Wall Street Journal. The US Is actively seeking regime change in Cuba by the end of the year.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, pretty interesting and pretty promising, too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yet another world leader we could yank by the beard and get him out of there.

[Joe Getty]

So Raoul got a beard? He probably does. It's the family look.

[Katie Green]

From the New York Times. The American murder rate has never been lower.

[Jack Armstrong]

This story should get more attention. We should talk about this more later when the numbers came out while we were on vacation at the end of the year. Stunning drops across all kinds of categories around the United States. And as usual. Why?

[Joe Getty]

Why?

[Jack Armstrong]

Why not?

[Joe Getty]

I felt much more murdery in 2022 myself. You feel much more mellow these days.

[Jack Armstrong]

Less murdery. Oh yeah.

[Joe Getty]

I got people, they.

[Jack Armstrong]

I think I could murder them then I think, nah.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. So much trouble.

[Jack Armstrong]

I understand. But I feel so embezzly. I don't know what that's about.

[Joe Getty]

That's funny.

[Katie Green]

From Rolling Stone. The super bowl was already getting political and now Green Day has entered the chat.

[Jack Armstrong]

What's Green Day's role in the Super Bowl?

[Katie Green]

They're gonna be part of the super bowl halft with Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny.

[Jack Armstrong]

With Bad Bunny. Bad Bunny has the opportunity to turn into a full on ice is bad situation, doesn't it? Because he's huge in the Hispanic world. Lots of Spanish music or Spanish language music. So he's going to come out there and make some giant political statements.

[Joe Getty]

San Francisco Bay area musicians who are going to tell us how to run the world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Can we go back to the seeing Janet Jackson's nipple? I mean that was a happier time.

[Joe Getty]

Good times.

[Katie Green]

Those were the good old days. CBS PETA announces it wants to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a hologram.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, okay. Don't use an actual.

[Joe Getty]

Excuse me, I'm. I'm trying to figure out where to put that on my give a damn meter relative to Green Day at the Super Bowl. They're kind of jockey. I'm for position.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm going to put it right below wire index cards 3x5.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Katie Green]

And finally, from the Babylon B, new Subarus now come with built in ice tracker.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh boy.

[Joe Getty]

That's unfortunate. I. I wonder. Peter, you're so yesterday. Peter. You gotta like blame the Jews. That's what's hot for grass. Would say really hot for just whatever you don't like about animals, the treatment of animals or whatever. I'm just reading about the various radical organizations on the right and left. Hello, Horseshoe theory that have decided, you know, why don't we just blame the Jews? Holy crap.

[Jack Armstrong]

We are only about a dozen days away from America's most embarrassing tradition. Groundhogs Day. So we'll look forward to talking about that more when it gets here or.

[Joe Getty]

Less do we work that day? I'm taking it all doesn't seem like.

[Jack Armstrong]

It'D be appropriate to work that day, does it? I mean you're, you're forgetting the reason for the season.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Right. Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

We'll get into some more news of the day because there's, you know, there's lots every day right now. The President's still over there in Davos and everything. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Gettysburg.

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[Angie Hicks]

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[Chelsea Handler]

Handler from Dear Chelsea, I have some very exciting news. I am always looking for companies to support that are ethical. And let's be honest, the phone companies we've all been stuck with are not that. You know, I travel constantly and supposedly I have international free roaming on Verizon. Yet my phone bills are still 300, 400 and even $500 a month. It makes zero sense. So I switched to a company with actual ethics, Noble Mobile. And they pay you for staying off your phone. The more you unplug, the more money you save each month. And the most you'll ever pay is 50 bucks. Unlimited coverage when I need it, cash back when I don't. It was started by people I know and trust. So if you trust me and want to join my mission to stop Being a phone addicted zombie. Come along. Go to noblemobile.com Chelsea right now and try it for just 10 bucks. That's noblemobile.com Chelsea well, we have a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Concept of a deal. I think it's going to be a very good deal for the United States also for them. And we're going to work together on something having to do with the Arctic as a whole, but also Greenland. And it has to do with the security. Great security. Strong security and other things. You know, I was taking in a lot of punditry yesterday and pundits that lean toward really hating Trump. But talking about Canada being pushed into the arms of the Chinese or various European countries being more willing to deal with China no matter what Trump says, how could China possibly be a better option for you? Right. That seems crazy to me.

[Joe Getty]

Right? It's your boyfriend was rude, so you've been forced into the arms of a known rapist. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. You work out the problems. Right, Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who's going to enslave you?

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Make you have sex with money, get.

[Joe Getty]

Addicted to drugs and beat you? Yeah, exactly. That's. I love the Canadian people and I love the country of Canada, but Mark Carney is an embarrassment anyway. It's just ridiculous.

[Jack Armstrong]

But some of my, a couple of my favorite pundits were saying this yesterday. This is going to make Europe think about, you know, China is a more reliable partner. What? How is that even possible?

[Joe Getty]

Reliably awful and want to take you over. I don't get it. Well, and in six months to three years, Trump is going to be completely gone from the scene and perhaps the face of the earth and China will still be overtly, aggressively evil. So that seems like a really bad strategic choice. We could go into a fair amount of detail on the topic du jour, which is the, the fracas over Greenland, by the way. You suggested they should have an NFL franchise. You got a nickname in mind for them? I mean, the Iceman is what leaps to mind.

[Jack Armstrong]

They gotta have a hockey team is what they gotta have.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, yeah, please. The, the Iceman would be a little weird in hockey because they all play on ice. What do they got in Greenland ice?

[Jack Armstrong]

Nothing. Rocks and snow.

[Joe Getty]

Minerals. The Greenland Minerals.

[Jack Armstrong]

The Greenland Barren Landscapers.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, that's wordy. Anyway, and the topic is generally, it's in two to three sections, depending on who you ask. Number one, the question of Arctic security, on which Trump is 100% right, but in very, very Trumpian fashion. Then section two of the discussion is the deal going forward, which is unclear. But the hints and glimpses we're getting through the forest are it's really good and really smart, and I think it'll end up in a really good place. And then topic three, of course, is the way Trump went about getting to the point that we are now and that we're likely to be. And I think it's very reasonable to say it's been absolutely terrible. It's been just a disaster in a lot of ways. Now, feathers will be smoothed and feelings will be unruffled, I guess, or that would be feathers. Butts will be less hurt down the road as time heals. All hurt butts, as they say, or they should have anyway. But I think it's a illustration of Trump. And I was just reacquainting myself with the, you know, I'm not a Freudian guy, but the whole ID and ego and superego thing, and Trump is just all ID and ego, and it frequently results in things that were way, way overdue that nobody else had the balls to do. I mean, over and over again in a way that's like awe inspiring. Great president. And then there's the stuff that's just way out of bounds hitting the quarterback when he's three steps out of bounds.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, we can get a glimpse into what most people think about where things are going with this new Times Sienna poll. New York Times Sienna poll, which is one of their. They only do it a couple of times a year, really big, spend a lot of money on a poll that usually gets a lot of attention. And we can check in on that maybe to kick off our two. But people's mood just overall is pretty sour toward what the government's doing. And I mentioned that, not as a critique of Trump, but just that's what the people's mood was about. Biden also. And that fits in with a lot of Western civilization where people just administration after administration are unhappy with the direction of things. And I think that's its own interesting story, that Western civ. People are just unhappy with the direction of their countries. I don't know if people are just unhappy in general or what, I don't know. But we'll get into the numbers an hour or two.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I can easily hear a historian, you know, whispering in our ears, hey, dudes, a 75 year period of relative peace, prosperity and stability, that's all you're gonna get. I mean, it's like way, way overdue. You know, serious upheaval and change and reshuffling. Yeah, Maybe doesn't sound super attractive to live through, but I mean, that makes perfect sense.

[Jack Armstrong]

We got some breaking ish news I want to hit you with and see if you think it's legit or not. But first we need to tell you about prize picks because there's lots of hot action going on right now on the courts of the field or whatever you got going on. I can't wait till this weekend for the games. You got your AFC championship game and your NFC championship game, which will be very, very exciting. Anyway, you should download the prize pick app and get involved in all the fun.

[Joe Getty]

Boy, and when the Greenland Barren Landscapers take to the ice, boy, I'm going to favor them in my lineups because it's super easy. All you do is pick two to six players and say more or less on their stat projections. You can combine players from sports. You can glom onto somebody else's lineup if you notice they're frequently right. With prize picks, it's super easy. You can enjoy fantasy sports every week. You don't have to do a big draft and then sit around all season when you realize your team's terrible.

[Jack Armstrong]

And if you don't know who to pick because you don't have time to pay attention, you can copy other people's lineups.

[Joe Getty]

How do you like that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Somebody who's really good at it just copy their lineup and use that.

[Joe Getty]

Why not download the prize picks app today? Use the Code armstrong to get $50 in lineups after you play your first five dollar lineup. That's that Code Armstrong. You can play around with $50 in lineups after you play your first five do lineup prize picks. It's good to be right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And speaking of where we are as where the world is. So you got this breaking story from the Associated Press breaking Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge's warrant. A memo obtained by AP says actual memo saying you can go into people's homes without a warrant and start questioning or grabbing or whatever. Now one response to that from our libertarian crowd is literally what used to be the right's worst nightmare, federal agents empowered to kick down anyone's door for any reason. My question about this is not so much that policy, which maybe we can get into later, is I as a guy who takes in media for a living, when I hear a story like that, my first thought is that might be true, it might not be true, and I move on to something else because I just don't know. I just don't have any idea. And it Would take a lot of work to try to figure out if that's accurate or not. And so I just think I don't know and go on. And if I'm doing that, somebody takes in as much news, subscribe to every freaking thing you can subscribe to and everything. And I just feel like I don't have any idea if that's true or not. Might be completely true, might be completely false. Might be 80% one direction or the other. I don't have any idea and I'm not going to take the time to find out. That's got to be where the average person is on most stories.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. Two thoughts immediately leap to mind. Number one, that's always been the goal of the Soviet Russian propaganda efforts to get us so cynical and at each other's throats that we don't believe anything. And the second thought that leaps to mind, I found this super, super interesting. The free press was on this. Where is that? When, when the Ayatollahs crack down on the Internet. I wish I could find that. 30% of the anti government accounts on Twitter, I think it was. Went dark in a bunch of different countries. So a lot of the really revolutionary. This place sucks. Tear it down. We need to storm the dorm or the capitol or whatever. A lot of that stuff is coming straight out of Iran.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, imagine how many would go dark if you could turn off the Internet.

[Joe Getty]

But in Russia and China.

[Jack Armstrong]

And China.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, that doesn't help. Yeah, you combine that with legit news sources having no interest most of the time in being honest brokers for what's real and what's not. And I, I, I honestly, I am befuddled as how to go forward at this point. Doing this job or just being an American citizen with the attitude I've got of maybe that's true, maybe it's not. I don't know. And I roll my eyes and go on to something else because it's so hard to figure out what's true and what's not.

[Joe Getty]

Takes work. It certainly takes more work than most people have time for.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, Maybe it's going to take a while. Maybe over time somebody, Barry Weiss or whoever emerges as a. I can trust them most of the time. Most of the time I know they're doing their best to give me what's true here and a source you can go to.

[Joe Getty]

Right. And I don't mean to be discouraging. The only problem with that is that I'm a big consumer of the free press, as y' all have noticed. The uncomfortable reality is that it's very difficult to be truthful without being thorough. You know what I mean? To oversimplify something often is to be misleading. And. And it takes time to do that and attention span in an era when that is the last thing people are willing to devote to digging into difficult stuff. So we're doomed. In short, we're doomed. One final note, and then we can. I want to chat about this in a little bit, but favorable. Unfavorable for the two political parties. The Republicans are underwater 52 and a half to 38. The Democrats are underwater 56 to 32. Miserably uncomfortable. It's kind of funny that the entirety of our media apparatus practically tells us every day that Republicans bad, Democrats good. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

And we had that Gallup poll last week that for the first time ever, a majority of people are neither of those.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Circling back to your overall point, there's just enormous unhappiness and discontent in a lot of the developed world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Why is that earned off? Talk about that, I guess.

[Joe Getty]

Yes and no.

[Jack Armstrong]

We got Mailbag on the way. We'll get in deeper into that poll. I want to hit on a couple of the things coming out of the Oscars today because some movies that I want to check out, I have a little more time. My kids have hit the years where I've got a little time, finally, that maybe I could possibly watch a movie I want to see at some point, which is just amazingly freedom. I can't even imagine for the past dozen and a half years.

[Joe Getty]

It's kind of fun, isn't it?

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, we got a lot on the way. Stay here.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

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[Podcast Announcer]

You've never been one to settle, stand down or stand still. You're a lifelong learner, energized by excellence. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. You've got competition to outrun, momentum to build on, and your own high standards to meet. Stop now. Not a chance. At Capella University, we help you catch what you're chasing because you've always had the drive. Now go earn the degree. Capella University. What can't you do? Visit Capella. Edu to learn.

[Angie Hicks]

Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co founder of angie. One thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. And for decades, Angie's helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. Get all your jobs done [e-mail] this.

[Chelsea Handler]

Is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea. I have some very exciting news about an ethical phone carrier. I just switched to forget about all these other phone companies. Forget about Verizon, forget about AT&T. Forget about T Mobile. There's this new carrier called Noble Mobile and they actually pay you to stay off your phone. You can earn real money, up to 20 bucks back every month just for putting your phone away. If you're like me and you're tired of feeling controlled by your phone, social media, or just disgusted by those screen time alerts, this is the answer. Go to noblemobile.com Chelsea and try it for $10. That's noblemobile.com Chelsea got one of those.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stories parents love to hate of a mom who let their kid play outside in their neighborhood unattended and the state got involved. A neglectful parent now has to have visitation to their home, etc.

[Joe Getty]

Etc. I'm not impressed by humans.

[Jack Armstrong]

No kidding.

[Joe Getty]

How notions so Looney Tunes as that or some other obvious, you know, points that we've talked about. A lot could go from that's hilarious and idiotic to that's an odd idea to if you don't adhere to this, I will persecute you as your neighbor in the space of just a few years. Yeah, I mean, what the hell? Again, humans. My least favorite species except for mosquitoes. Here's your freedom hating quote of the day once again from the Chancellor of Germany, Dolph Hitler. Not the current one, that's a guy named Mertz. Anyway, the second to last of his blockbuster quotes this week, the Victor will never be asked if he told the truth.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ah, that's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

Oof.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

I tell you what. Alois Shickle Gruber, the embodiment of evil, but incredibly clever and practical and worth studying until he lost his freaking mind.

[Jack Armstrong]

A little along the lines of Churchill's, you know, the winners write the history, right?

[Joe Getty]

Right. Though Victor will never be asked if he told the truth. Mailbag Tell the truth when you write us an email. Mailbagarmstrongygetty.com in an exciting and innovative mailbag today. Two emails, one topic. That's it. Matt the land surveyor.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is this kind of like two girls one cup? Is it similar to that or.

[Joe Getty]

Good God. Matt the land surveyor, Unofficial Armstrong and Getty everyman philosopher along with Matt the Idaho farmhand. Different guy. Yesterday, during the first segment of the show, you're discussing what Elon Musk said about AGI, universal high income and of course the old Rob the river of blood. Elon said that we will have free health care. But if AGI is providing mankind with all of its wants and needs so much that money is now obsolete, who's going to study for years to become a doctor? Better yet, why would that individual want the headache of dealing with the public if they have no financial incentive? It's one of the issues I have always had with socialism and communism. If everyone is given the same amount of money, who is going to do the harder dirty job? Would anyone want to work at the sewage treatment plant if you make the same amount as a quote unquote poet? They wouldn't. Therefore what governing entity is in charge will have to Whatever governor governing entity is in charge will have to force some people to do jobs they don't want to do for no extra compensation. And freedom is dead. Well, that is certainly history.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or pay them more. And then it obviously becomes a completely different thing.

[Joe Getty]

And then Matt in his way anticipated my first probing question. Now I know that Elon would say AGI will provide the health care and run the sewage treatment plant. I'm guessing he is envisioning robots that are built and programmed by AGI that will do every job for us. But if you want a good sci fi dystopian future, imagine humans stop passing on the knowledge that they have gained to the next generation because quote, AI does a better job than any human ever could. 100 years goes by and humans have stopped using their brains to think critically and there's a glitch, some computer bug that shuts AI down and no one is skilled at anything. We have officially re entered the dark ages. AI won't come to our come for our vital juices because it is a machine will eventually fail and people will be back to killing each other with sticks.

[Jack Armstrong]

I I can talk about that email all day long because I'm really into this topic. But that first question yeah, why would anybody study to become a doctor? Put in the 10 years of work, the stress, everything if everybody gets paid exactly the same. And that's true.

[Joe Getty]

There's no value to money at all, because everything you need is available, whether you are a neurologist, a sewage plant worker, or a crackhead, or a guy.

[Jack Armstrong]

Who plays his guitar and writes crappy poetry.

[Joe Getty]

Right? Right. Second email on. Same topic. This one from Michael. Appreciate all the ways y' all keep to find. Can I have a second take on that? And put the words in something approaching the right order? I'm sorry I read so much faster than I can talk. I get to all to tangle up. Appreciate all the ways you all keep finding to help me laugh up here in the Emerald City. Oh, Portlandia, God bless you. To your point about AGI moving us to a future where every need is essentially managed. I cannot imagine a scarier place to live. Dostoevsky touched on this in his book Notes from the Underground, so I won't waste precious time reciting it here. The book is short enough. Suffice it to say, as I'm sure you're aware, we humans are created to crave meaning. Meaning is most readily found in delta, or the difference between what is and what could be the chase. If we as a species embark on a reality where algorithms dictate our desires and in doing so flatten our desire to chase, then Huxley will have been a prophet beyond compare. You know, it's funny, as a giant fan of both Huxley and Orwell, the classic question is, who got it more right? I've always thought that was a stupid question. Both of them. Depends on what tool the evildoers need at any given moment in any given situation. Situation. Are they going to beat us into submission or drug and pleasure us into submission? I think both.

[Jack Armstrong]

I really think the missing piece to a lot of this, and we touched on this yesterday, is people like Elon Musk and Sam Altman and, you know, the guy who runs Google, whoever that is, are so driven to just accomplish things. They can't imagine that most of humanity's not like that. Right. So, I mean accomplish things for accomplishment's sake. Most of them. He's not like that. I need, you know, I need to get a. A win here. I need to make enough money or something. And without that, most people are just gonna lay around and do nothing.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, Yeah. I think it's really useful when a person realizes, oh, I'm kind of an outlier in this. I'm like in the outer 10% of people who think like this or are like this, because then it helps you relate to humanity a little better. And I think you're absolutely right. Let me finish up Michael's email real quick. If we go down that road, I'm sure it will all be be all rainbows and unicorns to begin with. Candy houses in the woods for starving children. Boy, this is a really literate email. I'm really enjoying this. But the need for meaning will emerge from under the weight of stasis. And it wouldn't surprise me to see those same savages that Huxley mentioned in Brave New World Chasing Meaning once again, much to the consternation of the central planners. Anyway, thank you all for what you do. Whatever comes next, don't be a gamma. Final Huxley note there.

[Jack Armstrong]

We should bring up especially that first email maybe an hour four and have a lengthy discussion about it because that's a lovely a hell of an interesting topic. We'll get into that New York Times Sienna poll and a bunch of different topics that's out and see if you agree or disagree where the nation's mood is. If you miss it, get the podcast.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Chelsea Handler]

This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea, I have some very exciting news. I am always looking for companies to support that are ethical. And let's be honest, the phone companies we've all been stuck with are not that. You know, I travel constantly and supposedly I have international free roaming on Verizon, yet my phone bills are still 300, 400 and even $500 a month. It makes zero sense. So I switched to a company with actual ethics, Noble Mobile. And they pay you for staying off your phone. The more you unplug, the more money you save each month and the most you'll ever pay is 50 bucks. Unlimited coverage when I need it, cash back when I don't. It was started by people I know and trust. So if you trust me and want to join my mission to stop being a phone addicted zombie, come along. Go to noblemobile.com Chelsea right now and try it for just 10 bucks. That's noblemobile.com Chelsea did you know that.

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Chelsea Handler]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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