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Jack Armstrong
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Michael
People have turned to Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, because it just feels different. Where other AIs often sound a little robotic, Claude has been designed with special research that informs its character, meaning that Claude just gets it when it comes to empathy and emotional intelligence. That's why Claude has become the if you know you know choice for dating advice, career coaching, gathering your thoughts for those important life decisions, and more. Give Clawd a try for free at Claude.com. that's C-L-A-U-E.com and let us know how you feel the difference.
Jack Armstrong
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio.
Joe Getty
Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Jack Joe Getty.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Getty. And now, here's Armstrong and Getty. With just under 48 hours until the first votes are cast, the most powerful men of the Catholic Church are focusing their minds and mostly keeping their silence. Eminence, hello. How was today's meeting? Hello, Eminence, how was today's meeting? It's the daily dance of the Cardinals and the journalists. But the countdown is on.
Listener
How many of these journalists give a crap who the next pope is?
Jack Armstrong
I don't know. They're told to go cover it. I guess I don't.
Listener
Is this is. Am I out of touch with this? I feel like I care more about the Catholic Church than the average person I know. And I'm not hanging on every moment.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. I'm not contemptuous of it, but, like, I don't care who wins the NBA final, but people enjoy it, so that's okay.
Listener
I do care who wins the NBA final. I'm rooting for the Knicks. I think, assuming the Warriors.
Jack Armstrong
I'm a warrior bandwagon wagon jumper fake fan.
Listener
That's what I say in the Brunson jersey today.
Jack Armstrong
You're the Pope of bandwagon jumping.
Listener
What was I gonna say? So it's.
Jack Armstrong
But it's got a bit of a.
Listener
Combination of the Met Gala and Royal Family in terms of covering it, doesn't it? It's just that sort of thing.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Yeah. Certainly the direction. Doctrine wise of the Catholic Church going forward has significance to mankind. I just.
Listener
Oh, definitely.
Jack Armstrong
I don't have the bandwidth to understand who these people are and root for one thing or another. Just let me know who you choose to be pope and I'll go from there. I thought this was funny, though. Funny. Interesting. ABC News last night was breathless and taking it 100% seriously and looking desperately for clues. In the next clip, Michael. But the Archbishop of Jakarta, Indonesia, did stop to offer a clue. He's one of the 133 cardinals who will choose the next pope.
Listener
What kind of leader would you like?
Jack Armstrong
So you can't hear the rest of it. He's murmuring, but he's saying Francis's name has come up many times. What does that mean? Simplicity. Simplicity of doctrine. Of lifestyle. And then he wandered off. And ABC News was like. They teased like four times the clue from one of the archbishops. I just thought the whole thing was a little overcooked. I believe they over egged the pudding.
Listener
And if you found out today who the Pope was going to be two days before they announced it, what would you do with that information? And how would it.
Jack Armstrong
Other markets I'd attempt to profit. Coming up, some hilarious and bizarre historical notes from the the conclaves back in history. But first, what about the Pope meme put out by the White House? Donald J. Trump in Pope Garb. AI generated what of that? 93, Michael. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. President.
Michael
Some Catholics were not so happy about.
Jack Armstrong
The image of you looking like the Pope. Oh, I see. You mean they. They can't take a joke. You don't mean the Catholics. You mean the fake news media, not the Catholics. Loved it. I had nothing to do with it. Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the Pope and they put it out on the Internet. That's not me that did it. I have no idea where it came from. Maybe it was AI.
Listener
Maybe.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah. Yeah.
Listener
Just silly.
Jack Armstrong
Okay. We're outraged, or pretending to be anyway, because. Yeah, there are various Catholic officials who said, I didn't think that was appropriate. And some have said that was really funny. So we're fine. The world is fine. We have like 1077 bigger problems than that. Why don't we concentrate on those? I thought this was amazing. Looking back to yesteryear and when I'm talking really Yesteryear. The year 1268. Jack.
Listener
Wow.
Jack Armstrong
The Conclave in the town of Viterbo near Rome was the longest in history. The cardinals were bitterly divided over the next pope. The Italian prelates wanted an Italian pope, the French wanted a Frenchman. And neither side budged for nearly three years.
Listener
Wow.
Jack Armstrong
So to break the deadlock, the local population, I guess they were sick of all the cardinals in town or something, sucking up the good hotel rooms and. And crowding the restaurants. Like having the super bowl in your town for three straight years. I don't know. They locked the cardinals in the hall of the papal palace, reduced their diet to bread and water, and bricked up all the windows. That's the way they even. Oh, they even removed the roof, which they said was to allow the Holy Spirit direct access, but in truth was to expose all the cardinals to the elements so they'd be so miserable they'd come to a damn decision. That conclave was the longest in history, and it actually gave papal elections their modern name. Conclave, Latin for with key. Well, back then, meaning you're not coming out of there until we, we let you.
Listener
Back in the day, though, who the Pope was and from what country, and that carried so much important economical, political, political and military power. I mean, it was, you know, it was a big deal. That's not the case now.
Jack Armstrong
So the eventual winner, Pope Gregory the 10th, sought to avoid a repeat by imposing some ground rules that still govern conclaves today from the year 1260, well, 71, I guess, including strict seclusion, daily voting, and some degree of discomfort.
Listener
And roof.
Jack Armstrong
This is not going to be one of those junkets like your local political hacks go on to Hawaii where they go to like one meeting a day for an hour, spend the rest of the time on the beach. No, it's the kind of the opposite. Couple more tales from history from the book Behind Locked Doors, A History of Papal Elections. Let's see, that's only mildly interesting. In early Christianity, the selection of the bishop of Rome was a fluid process, often involving local clergy, powerful notables, and popular acclaim. Cardinals didn't even exist until the 11th century. Initially, there were only 12 of them. I tell you what, one thing to know, because there is power in the papacy, whether it's, you know, it's kind of the modern version, which is still pretty significant, or the more ancient version, which was ginormous power, political, financial, economic, etc. The first conclave in the Sistine Chapel took place in 1492, the year Christopher Columbus launched the debut election in the chapel, marred by scandal. Jack. Pope Alexander vi, a member of the wealthy Borgia family known for his lavish lifestyle and many children. Wait a minute. Many children. Secured his election by bribing fellow cardinals with land, money, and lucrative positions in the Vatican's bureaucracy.
Listener
There you go.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, so anyway, so. Oh, one more note. After the Sistine Chapel became the fixed setting for conclaves, cardinals shared sleeping quarters in what used to be Alexander the Fourth fresco department in the Vatican. It was not comfortable. As many as six cardinals shared a room with makeshift partitions for privacy. Bathrooms were few and cardinals were given commode chairs, essentially wooden potties, to keep next to their beds. It's a seat with a hole. When cardinals were voting in the Sistine Chapel, staff were coming to clean and prepare the rooms for the day. After cleaning for dumping their. Their. Their bed pots, or what are you, chamber pots. Holy. It was a very hot year. Let's just say they didn't enjoy staying in these rooms. Said the historian.
Listener
You.
Jack Armstrong
You is right, Jack. At least they're not locking them in a church and breaking up all the windows, taking away the room you're staying in there no room for you. Anyway, there you have the conclave, which is apparently going on now or something. Wake me when it's over.
Listener
Combination of the Met Gala and the royal family and the Kardashians.
Jack Armstrong
You know, I did actually scroll through the inevitable New York Times incredibly long photo gallery of the Met Gala.
Listener
I am horribly embarrassed.
Jack Armstrong
And connected and celebrities go do what they do, whatever it is.
Listener
Horribly embarrassed to say that I did the same. I can't.
Jack Armstrong
And I.
Listener
While I was doing it and I thought, why are you thumbing through pictures of people you don't even know who they are to see what they wore, which you don't care about, to an event you despise. Why are you doing this? But I did it anyway.
Jack Armstrong
Earlier in the show, I compared it to the capital in the Hunger Games movies, and Jack has not seen those. Number one, absolutely appropriate for your teenage boys. It's shockingly brutal for a PG13 movie. Um, it's not horribly graphic, but the themes are very, very mature. It's about a republic, if you will. And stop me if this sounds familiar, friends, a republic where the capital has become so rich and so isolated from the lives of normal people, it's become utterly divorced from them, abusive of them, exploits their riches. And the people, the denizens of that capital, dress in incredible, incredibly elaborate, showy self regarding fashion and congratulate each other for being a superior race of human beings. Again, if that sounds oddly familiar, I'll give you a second to make the connection in your own brain.
Listener
Yeah, well, that's what's interesting about something like the Met Gala, which of course happens in New York City. So New York City, which is as lefty and progressive as you can get as a city in America, and, you know, AOC got so much attention for Eat the Rich on her dress that the Met gal, they aren't doing this in Omaha. They aren't dressing up like this and oohing and awing over who's there and in their clothes. They're doing it in the progressive town. Doesn't that strike you as odd that you're fawning over, you know, conspicuous con consumption and wealth and fame in your progressive areas where they don't do it in the conservative. Doesn't that seem backwards to you somehow?
Jack Armstrong
Well, it ought to, but they're utterly without, you know, self perception. Progressivism wants to Gather as much power as it conceivably can and then direct everything. Who gets into schools, how the economy works, who can say what, who gets to keep their job, who teaches at my university? We want to control everything.
Listener
Absolutely. I started reading Jonah Goldberg's book from years ago, Liberal Fascism, last night, and that's exactly what he talks about. Fascism is way more of a left thing than it is a right thing. How it got tagged as a right thing, I don't know.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, you know, there's a great quote. I think it's. I think it's Ayn Rand or somebody quoting her, thinking that the difference between communism and fascism is absolutely negligible. They both believe in subjugating the individual rights of human beings to serve the state, which is always the party in charge. Those with power, you know, they have like, interesting doctrinal differences. But to the average human being being trampled, those doctrinal differences don't amount to a hill of beans. It's all about exploiting the working people and trampling on individual rights.
Listener
Well, one of the main points early is that the term fascism is almost useless. So here we are, throwing it around, much to come. Stay here.
Michael
Armstrong and Gettys.
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Michael
Millions of people have turned to Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, because it just feels different. Where other AIs often sound a little robotic, Clawd has been designed with special research that informs its character, meaning that Claude just gets it when it comes to empathy and emotional intelligence. That's why Claude has become the if you know, you know, choice for dating advice, career coaching, gathering your thoughts for those important life decisions, and more. Give Claude a try for free at Claude.com that's C-L-A-U--E.com and let us know how you feel the difference.
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Jack Armstrong
And finally, a Brazilian nun died last week, just several weeks shy of her 117th birthday. There's a lesson for everyone there. Always pack your own. Shoot.
Listener
Funny. It would be a dying joke there, Michael, because that's what I was going to talk about is I don't think I'm going to reach my next birthday with this disease I've got. I'm not long. I'm a sickly man and I'm not long for this world. Actually, we got some texts from people who have got this or they've got family members who've gotten it. And I hope this is some news you can use rather than me just complaining about being sick for so long. There are. There's some sort of cold, something going around that lasts way longer than these things usually. At last, we like, we got this text. This is for Jack. I'm a healthy woman, rarely sick, but I've had the same thing that you have. It's taken me seven weeks for my cough to leave. The doctor said the cough would last six to eight weeks. He was right.
Jack Armstrong
Wow.
Listener
And the doctors told me and the doctors are struggling with it because everybody's naturally, you know, calling them up after a month or a month and a half and saying, what's the deal? Why do I still feel so crappy? And doctors having to say it's just something that's going around that takes like two months to kick. So I don't know what to do with that information.
Jack Armstrong
The URI du jour upper respiratory infection. Is Dr. Fauci behind it? Has he been working in some secret lab in the Congo or something? Gain a function?
Listener
I haven't read a word about this and I'm surprised I haven't that it's that it's not some mutant strain of something that combined with something or our immune systems got affected or something. Doesn't it seem odd that all of a sudden we've got some two month cold that is hanging around? It doesn't feel like anything else I've ever had in my life.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah.
Listener
We got on the topic of last words earlier, as I think I might. I was. I was worried that I'm going to die during the show. And my last words are going to be. Coming up next, details from the Diddy trial, and then I'll die, and those will be my last words.
Jack Armstrong
Right. That would be humiliating. Yeah.
Listener
A lot of people's last words are similar to that in that they weren't expecting. You know, some people have last words laying in bed, knowing they're likely to be their last words. And they're often very profound or touching or interesting or whatever.
Jack Armstrong
And I usually wonder whether those were actually the last ones or if you just agreed with your good buddies. Can you say, these are my last words? I'll bet that happens a lot.
Listener
Yeah. Which is fine, because a lot of the last words, at least on this list that I'm looking to. Or just the last thing you said, like Benjamin Franklin said something about, I can't get it comfortable no matter what I try to do, you know, something like that his daughter told him to roll over on his side, and I can't get comfortable no matter how I like. Well, that's not a good last word from one of the great wordsmiths of all time.
Jack Armstrong
Agreed. Yeah.
Listener
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Or you get to choose. Not literally your last word.
Listener
That's a silly.
Jack Armstrong
You know, I think about it at my advanced stage. That's just silly way to. Silly thing to even call it. How about your last message?
Listener
Yeah, that makes more sense. Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
You could be Abraham damn Lincoln and your last words might be, I need to pee. I mean, right? What? That's going to echo through the ages. Oh, yeah.
Listener
Did I already mention the one? One of your great thinkers who said, dying is boring. I think that was George Orwell. Dying is boring, which I'm sure it is. I like this one from some murderer that got the firing squad. He was probably a horrible person. They said, do you have any last words? He said, bring me a bulletproof vest. I'm here all night. Well, for the next five minutes, I.
Jack Armstrong
Salute you in hell, wherever you are, sir. That's funny.
Listener
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
So, coming up, a couple of governmental issues that I am going to work diligently to make. Not dry, not overly dry. Number one, the air traffic control system in our country is an embarrassment, needs to be fixed, and to its credit, the Trump administration is going to try like hell to fix it. Uh, also, if. If you think you understand what Medicaid is, well, yes, that is the medical aid program for the poor. Uh, you have no idea. It is a gigantic scam which we will explain, I'm thinking during hour three of the. And part of the reason it's important to know that is that as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are trying to fix it, they will be accused over and over again of trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and take away people's Medicaid benefits when that is the polar opposite of what they're trying to do.
Listener
That's frustrating.
Jack Armstrong
Oh, yeah, yeah. Democracy is a terrible system. It can't work.
Listener
What's going on with Ukraine and Russia? There's a latest turn on that man. I. Trump is sending them some of the most advanced air defense systems from Israel to Ukraine.
Jack Armstrong
Now, that's interesting.
Listener
It is interesting.
Jack Armstrong
I don't.
Listener
I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes on that. Neither does anybody else. Anyway, we got a lot on the way. Stay here.
Jack Armstrong
Armstrong and Gettysburg.
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Michael
Millions of people have turned to Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, because it just feels different. Where other AIs often sound a little robotic, Claude has been designed with special research that informs its character, meaning that Clawd just gets it when it comes to empathy and emotional intelligence. That's why Claude has become the if you know, you know, choice for dating advice, career coaching, gathering your thoughts for those important life decisions, and more. Give Claude a try for free at Claude.com. that's C-L-A-U-E.com and let us know how you feel the difference.
Advertiser
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Ooh. But then again, you could look at Odoo in terms of how its individual software programs are a lot like building blocks. Whatever your business needs, manufacturing, accounting, HR programs, you can build a custom software suite that's perfect for your company. So what is Odoo? Well, Odoo is a bit of everything. Odoo is a fertilizer, magic beanstalk building blocks for business. Yeah, that's it.
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Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
At Newark's Liberty Airport tonight. ABC News learning Air traffic controllers lost radar and communications with planes packed with passengers for 60 to 90 seconds last week. A system wide outage last Monday at a Philadelphia facility that manages the aircraft airspace around Newark Airport caused controllers to lose the ability to see, hear or talk to all arriving and departing aircraft at one of the busiest airports in the country.
Listener
90 seconds is a long time.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, really shocking. One more note on how it unfolded. Next clip. Then we'll discuss Pilots can be heard learning of the outage over the radio. I just got told that the approach.
Listener
Lost all the radars.
Jack Armstrong
Three of the four radar screens left black and they have no frequencies. Controllers from another tower advising pilots that radio frequencies have failed and they want you to be advised that they may not be able to radar contact you because of the radar issues and they may lose you on for certain times of when you're flying, I have a handful of friends and neighbors who are frequent flyers, business people. And, and we have agreed, number one, air travel is degenerated significantly in its pleasantness over the last, you know, number of years.
Listener
Luckily, I won't have to deal with it anymore because I didn't get the real id, so it'll no longer be a problem for me.
Jack Armstrong
Hey, it's the curse. That's a blessing. Exactly. And, and we've also agreed that even when it goes well, it goes poorly. Right. Air travel these days. So I thought this was really interesting. I mean, putting aside that, that incident, which is terrible. Well, not putting it aside. Let's just put it over there and we'll talk about it. The Wall Street Journal editorial board with a great piece about the America's air traffic fiasco. And they, they focus on Newark Airport. And if you've never had the pleasure, quote unquote, of flying into Newark, I suggest you never do. If you're going to New York and JFK and LaGuardia are booked up, why don't you fly to Bridgeport, Connecticut and walk into New York City before you go to Newark? So thousands of flights in and out of Newark in recent days have been delayed, diverted or canceled because of air traffic control failures. And President Trump and his transportations are actually taking steps to fix this, which we'll talk about in a minute. But the headaches at Newark began last Monday when the Philadelphia Air Traffic Control facility, what they were just saying, had equipment malfunctions. So the FAA finally resolved the technical snafus. But flight disrupt disruptions persisted because of a shortage of controllers. How is there a shortage of controllers? How do we not have, I mean, given the priority that, that is, how do we not pay them enough and treat them well enough to have enough of them? Bureaucracy is the answer, honestly. But United Airlines on Friday canceled 35 daily round trip flights at the airport, for instance, the CEO said he cited to walk out by more than 20% of the controllers at the site. Flight delays at Newark averaged four hours on Sunday. Oh my God, that was the average. And it continued Monday. And such delays could be the new normal this summer. But then they credit Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for at least acknowledging government is to blame. Unlike his Biden predecessor, Pete Buttigieg, Edge. Edge, who blamed airlines while doing little to nothing to fix long standing problems. Then they describe what the long standing problems are. And folks in private enterprise, particularly anybody who leans on tech and deals with tech, you're gonna, if you don't already know about this, you're gonna just be astounded. Congress in 2003, those not gifted in the arts of mathematics, it's 22 years ago, directed the FAA to modernize its systems. So they started the next gen overhaul, which is set to be completed in the year 2030. Wow. All you tech guys and gals are saying the same thing. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, that's not a thing. You don't start something in 2003 and stick with it through 2030. You've overhauled the system six to nine times in that period. Not stuck with the same quote unquote overhaul that was started in 03. Well, we're right.
Listener
You're talking about a tech overhaul that started before smartphones existed. I mean, that's how much technology has changed since. Right?
Jack Armstrong
It's like you and your wife looking at your three month old child and saying we need bigger clothes because the kid is growing fast. Let's study the problem and we'll implement a bigger closed plan when he's 24. I mean, your kid's gonna be naked for a long time.
Listener
Yeah, yeah, except clothes don't change that much. The whole tech thing. Tech has changed so much in that amount of time.
Jack Armstrong
Whatever plan they laid out in the.
Listener
Beginning is pointless now.
Jack Armstrong
Oh yeah, it's, it's utterly irrelevant. So as Mr. Duffy the SEC trans notes, the FAA literally still uses floppy disks. Does Gen Z even know what those are? Few technicians can even repair its aging systems, some of which are more than 60 years old. It's like trying to find some handyman to fix your Victrola that you, you inherited from your great grandma.
Listener
That's got to be pretty funny for a tech guy to come in and he's never seen a floppy disk or maybe even ever heard of one. I'm old, so I've seen them. But we did get a number of texts when we mentioned this earlier that is that on purpose? Because they're unhackable. You can't, can't hack into floppy disks like you can every Internet based modern thing.
Jack Armstrong
Well, if so, if so, say so. But surely a thumb drive is a better idea, a not connected to the Internet than a floppy disk. They're both discreet carriers of data.
Listener
I think you're giving too much credit if you think it was some on purpose thing.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, please get lead follower, get out of the way. The Government Accountability Office reported in March that 76% of FAA systems are unsustainable or potentially unsustainable, which may have quote Critical operational impacts on safety and efficiency. Bloomberg News reports that controllers guiding planes at Newark lost radio and communications and radar for more than a minute on Monday. Like we were talking about. Luckily there were no accidents.
Listener
Boy, that has to be, that has to be just that. Everybody in the air during those 90 seconds just went ahead and kept doing what they were doing. If one person had thought, oh boy, no connection, I better pull up and land after we get this straightened out. Well then you could have just had a cascading series of disasters.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, I don't, I have not actually heard anybody describe what pilots did. If they were, you know, two minutes out from landing, if they were on a fight in their final approach, what did they do?
Listener
I don't know exactly. That 90 seconds is a long time. I mean, you could be from way the hell up there to on the ground in 90 seconds.
Jack Armstrong
Yes. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely. You're going, you know, certainly you're slowing for landing in this scenario, but you're going a couple hundred miles per hour. Certainly. Anyway, where is this? Oh, so get this. The gao, Government Accountability Office says, quote, completion dates for planned investments for systems it deems, quote, especially concerning were at least six to ten years away. Can you imagine? Again, IT consultants. You get hired by some, I don't know, chain of restaurants or something, whatever, some significant sized local business, and they say, hey, we really need to upgrade our systems. And you tell them, yep, we're going to need six to 10 years. You'd be hooted out of the place. Now, technological obsolescence is common among the federal. Across the federal bureaucracy because there's no financial motive to become more efficient. Singing from Tim Sandifer's hymn book here. FAA labor agreements also require the government to work collaboratively with the air traffic controller union on modernization, which can delay upgrades or divert staff from their day jobs. It's much like the ports where the powerful longshoremen's union prevent any technological upgrades on. But you know, in that world we're talking about, yeah, the technological stuff involving the cranes and all that matters, that the, you know, the automation matters. But a lot of it's just as silly as having a human read license plates instead of a scanner just to keep the jobs. But this is the faa. This prevents people from dying in horrible fiery wrecks. The FAA says it needs 3,000 controllers to be fully staffed and shortages are especially acute in the New York City region. Blah, blah, blah.
Listener
Well, we keep talking about danger, which I understand, especially if there was a, you know, blackout there for 90 seconds. But flying is insanely safe. It's the safest thing I'll do every time I do it. The, the hassle part of it though, as you mentioned earlier.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah.
Listener
Has gotten exponentially worse. I think we all go to the airport with the expectation of a delay now as opposed to. That is a, you know, an aberration. That's what you expect. It's, it's somewhat shocking when you walk up to departure and see that you're actually leaving when you were supposed to leave.
Jack Armstrong
One more note. And they go through some of the labor disagreements with the union. Government employee unions are a force for evil. I understand why they exist. Even FDR thought they should not. That's a topic for another day, but I wanted to get to this part. Americans who want to become controllers must undergo three to five months of paid training at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City followed by a three year apprenticeship at a control facility. The Obama administration eased standards to boost minority enrollment at the FAA Academy. Affirmative action, faa, dei. Faa. Lower standards have resulted in higher attrition. Half of the students who enter the academy don't finish their training. It's a lot like promoting kids who can't hack the elite universities to the elite universities to improve their numbers when those kids would be so much more likely to be happy and successful at not quite so brutal a facility. The airline says the FAA could be, could better screen applicants and reduce certification times by 30% with more effective training including high fidelity simulators in, in short, to behave much more like a private enterprise.
Listener
But three years of training and in a three year whatever like an internship, it's like becoming a doctor to be a air traffic controller.
Jack Armstrong
It's three to five months of paid training and then a three year apprenticeship. You're an assistant controller. It's, you know. Well, yeah, but you are going to hear guaranteed, you're going to hear the Secretary of Transportation whose name keeps flitting out of my head. He's a hero to millions. Everybody knows I'm Sean Duffy. That's it. You're going to hear him and Trump talk about how we need to do this and you are going to see Chuck Schumer on the steps of the Capitol talking about they're trying to undercut our hard working controllers with these radical changes that will endanger airline passion because he's just a slave to the unions.
Listener
Wow, that is disturbing. So you pushed a bunch of people onto that career path who probably thought it pays how much and whatever. Sure, I'll sign up. But you're just, you just can't cut it for whatever reason to try to end up with a disparate impact thing. That's not good, right?
Jack Armstrong
Just coming up, maybe next hour, Try to squeeze it in next hour. It strikes me that these two things are very much connected. Matthew Continetti, who's with the Free Press now, actually listened to all of Trump's address to the University of Alabama, their commencement speech thing, and Trump went through his ten guiding principles. And one of them had to do with the need to change things when they need to be changed and not be so enamored with the status quo that you lose your ability to see what needs to change. I'm paraphrasing a lot here, but this is a perfect example of that. Obama, Biden, they were not going to say this is broker fixing it. They would say, ah, let's tweak around the edges. We don't want to offend this constituency. We got this union mad at us. That would cost a lot of money. They're not innovators. And Trump, for all of you, know his quirks that make me insane. Trump is a guy who will say, nope, we're getting rid of this because it doesn't work. And thank goodness, because it really needs to happen. Cool.
Listener
Michelle Obama says she's in therapy and reveals why. As divorce rumors swirl, continue to swirl, among other incredibly unimportant stories, we can get to stay with us, Armstrong and Getty.
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Michael
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Jack Armstrong
Do a skincare line together, he said.
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To me, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said, that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty. Which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a reason to exist. It's efficacious.
Jack Armstrong
You're going to get results and then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful beauty Confidence is beautiful. Learn more@meaningful beauty.com tours filling out this written questionnaire saying there may be graphic and sexually explicit evidence in connection with the case and asking if there's anything that would make it difficult for you to be fair and impartial. Many prospective jurors also saying they recognize the names of other celebrities that might come up at trial. The judge tried to keep things moving. So when the defense asked for a bathroom break, Combs apologized, saying, sorry, judge, I'm a little nervous today. His lawyers are aiming to Convince the jury the government is trying to police consensual sex by a swinger who they say invited others into his bedroom.
Listener
Consensual sex? I'm just a swinger. I invited people to my bedroom. Is that what invitations are? Out of bounds now?
Jack Armstrong
Why is the government trying to criminalize my freewheeling lifestyle?
Listener
Right. Just because you're vanilla doesn't mean I have to be sure.
Jack Armstrong
I beat and kick women and drug people and threaten them and transport them across state lines, which doesn't trouble me. I've been transported across state lines and I came out fine.
Listener
But yeah, that video. That video is what's going to do him in. The video of him dragging. I mean, once you either are a guy who can do that or you're not.
Jack Armstrong
Right.
Listener
And you know, that's. That speaks volumes. And most of the jurors asked yesterday said they had seen that video.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, yeah. If you are being accused of brutality and can watch brutality. Yeah. That's gonna help convict you.
Listener
Yeah. It kind of hurts the whole. I'm not the kind of guy that would ever do that if they've got a video of you doing that.
Jack Armstrong
But again, as I've said many times, wait till the defense takes its shot because that can really change perceptions.
Listener
Update on that Pittsburgh Pirate fan who did a somersault onto the field last week. Took us a couple of days to get the information that he was. Had taken off his shirt and poured.
Jack Armstrong
Beer on his head while the Pirates were rallying. Yes, Very excited.
Listener
Before he rolled out of his seat onto the field. So it seemed that exuberant partying may have played a role.
Jack Armstrong
Authorities believe alcohol was involved is the operative phrase here.
Listener
20 year old Caven Markwood took his first steps yesterday. Yeah, he broke his neck, his back and his collarbone.
Jack Armstrong
Oh, had to be some brain injury there too, huh?
Listener
I don't know. They haven't said anything about that. He. They're doing a GoFundMe to try to help pay his medical bills. But, you know, and it's nice, you know, I mean, but man, there's a lot of charities out there. There are a lot of charities out there that need money. And Guy Gallo strips off his shirt, pours beer on his head and tumbles onto the field. I don't know. Choose your charity dollars, how you want to spend them.
Jack Armstrong
But we've got to discuss, think about whether we want to do this. There's a story out there. This gal was dropping in bombs in a park and it went viral. And she's defiant in the video and she was doxed and exposed and berated. Blah blah blah by progressive types. In return, the far right has come to her aid and she's getting close to a million dollars on her. Not gofundme, but a similar page. We've become so tribal. If they are against somebody, we are with her. At least in some quarters. It's trouble. Troubling tale of modern tribalism.
Listener
I don't like doxing. Almost never. But then you're donating money to this cause.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah, she was dropping n bombs on a child. Not somebody called her on it.
Listener
But should you that's bad behavior. But should the world then unite and make sure she can't work ever again.
Jack Armstrong
In her life and run her out of her home? Yeah. I'm not saying yeah. I'm saying yes, that is the case.
Listener
Some people refer to that sort of thing. Doxing a woman like that. The woke right doing the same thing that the woke left was doing for so. For so long.
Jack Armstrong
Right. Right. But now. But now she's going to become wealthy. Right response, right?
Listener
Yeah.
Jack Armstrong
Why?
Listener
That is a head spinner.
Jack Armstrong
Yeah.
Listener
We're the good guys in this story.
Jack Armstrong
You know what? I'll be fishing if you need me. Modern world. I'm worn out again.
Listener
There's a lot of really good charities out there. Choose carefully. All right. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on Demand Armstrong and.
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Michael
Millions of people have turned to Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, because it just feels different. Where other AIs often sound a little robotic, Claude has been designed with special research that informs its character. Meaning that Claude just gets it when it comes to empathy and emotional intelligence. That's why Claude has become the if you know, you know, choice for dating advice, career coaching, gathering your thoughts for those important life decisions and more. Give Claude a try for free at Claude.com that's C-L-A-U--E.com and let us know how you feel the difference. Clorox Scentiva Smells like lavender.
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Jack Armstrong
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Jack Armstrong
You're listening to an I Heart podcast.
Armstrong & Getty On Demand
Episode: We Still Use Floppies
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
In the episode titled "We Still Use Floppies," hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into a variety of topics ranging from the intricate workings of the Catholic Church's Papal conclave to the glaring inefficiencies within the United States' air traffic control system. Through engaging dialogue, humor, and insightful commentary, Armstrong and Getty navigate current events, historical anecdotes, and societal observations, providing listeners with a comprehensive and entertaining discourse.
The episode opens with a discussion about the impending Papal conclave, highlighting the limited information available to the public and the media's intense interest in the selection process.
Jack Armstrong [03:00]: "And now, here's Armstrong and Gettysburg. With just under 48 hours until the first votes are cast, the most powerful men of the Catholic Church are focusing their minds and mostly keeping their silence."
The hosts critique the media's fervent coverage, questioning the general public's genuine interest in the selection of the next Pope.
Jack Armstrong [04:03]: "I don't know. They're told to go cover it. I guess I don't."
A listener interjects with differing perspectives on the relevance of the Pope to everyday life, sparking a debate on the significance of religious leadership versus popular culture events like the NBA finals.
Listener [03:34]: "How many of these journalists give a crap who the next pope is?"
Armstrong shares a humorous take on his own disinterest, drawing parallels between the conclave and high-profile entertainment events.
Jack Armstrong [05:36]: "But it's got a bit of a combination of the Met Gala and Royal Family in terms of covering it, doesn't it?"
Delving deeper, Armstrong provides a historical overview of Papal conclaves, recounting the longest in history that took place in 1268 in Viterbo near Rome. He illustrates the extreme measures taken to expedite the selection of Pope Gregory X, emphasizing the evolution of the conclave process to its modern form.
Jack Armstrong [06:55]: "The Conclave in the town of Viterbo near Rome was the longest in history. The cardinals were bitterly divided over the next pope. The Italian prelates wanted an Italian pope, the French wanted a Frenchman. And neither side budged for nearly three years."
He further explains the establishment of the Sistine Chapel as the permanent venue for conclaves and the stringent rules implemented to prevent prolonged deadlocks.
Jack Armstrong [08:19]: "The eventual winner, Pope Gregory the 10th, sought to avoid a repeat by imposing some ground rules that still govern conclaves today from the year 1260, including strict seclusion, daily voting, and some degree of discomfort."
Transitioning to contemporary issues, Armstrong critiques the societal obsession with events like the Met Gala, comparing it to futuristic dystopian settings reminiscent of "The Hunger Games."
Jack Armstrong [11:05]: "I compared it to the capital in the Hunger Games movies... it's about a republic where the capital has become so rich and so isolated from the lives of normal people."
A listener responds by highlighting the irony of progressive cities like New York embracing conspicuous consumption and fame, questioning the alignment of such values with progressive ideologies.
Listener [13:15]: "Doesn't that seem backwards to you somehow?"
The conversation shifts towards political discourse, particularly focusing on Jonah Goldberg's "Liberal Fascism." Armstrong and a listener discuss the misappropriation of the term "fascism" in modern political rhetoric.
Listener [13:51]: "Fascism is way more of a left thing than it is a right thing. How it got tagged as a right thing, I don't know."
Armstrong emphasizes the core similarities between communism and fascism, underscoring the oppression of individual rights under any totalitarian regime.
Jack Armstrong [14:30]: "It's all about exploiting the working people and trampling on individual rights."
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to critiquing the United States' air traffic control system, spotlighting a recent system-wide outage at Newark Liberty Airport that led to communication and radar failures for extended periods.
Jack Armstrong [27:51]: "At Newark's Liberty Airport tonight. ABC News learning Air traffic controllers lost radar and communications with planes packed with passengers for 60 to 90 seconds last week."
Armstrong outlines the severity of the issue, citing outdated technology such as floppy disks still in use by the FAA, and the prolonged modernization efforts that began in 2003.
Jack Armstrong [32:53]: "They literally still use floppy disks. Does Gen Z even know what those are?"
He criticizes the bureaucratic inertia and labor union constraints that hinder urgent updates and staffing improvements, pointing out the inefficiency and potential safety hazards inherent in the current system.
Jack Armstrong [33:20]: "It's like trying to find some handyman to fix your Victrola that you inherited from your great grandma."
The discussion includes the FAA's inadequate staffing levels, with a shortage of air traffic controllers exacerbating the problem, and the Trump administration's attempts to address these long-standing issues.
Jack Armstrong [37:04]: "It's three to five months of paid training and then a three-year apprenticeship."
Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty intersperse their discussion with humorous anecdotes and social observations. They touch upon viral incidents, such as a Pittsburgh Pirate fan's dangerous somersault onto the field, and reflect on the modern phenomenon of tribalism in social and political contexts.
Jack Armstrong [48:30]: "We've become so tribal. If they are against somebody, we are with her. At least in some quarters. It's trouble."
The hosts also explore the concept of "last words," contemplating their significance and often humorous nature, providing light-hearted moments amidst more serious discussions.
Listener [21:07]: "Some people have last words laying in bed, knowing they're likely to be their last words. And they're often very profound or touching or interesting or whatever."
"We Still Use Floppies" serves as a multifaceted exploration of diverse topics, seamlessly blending historical context, political critique, and social commentary. Armstrong and Getty adeptly navigate complex issues, offering listeners both entertainment and thoughtful insight into the inefficiencies plaguing critical systems and the societal values shaping modern discourse.
For those interested in a blend of humor, history, and critical analysis of current events, "Armstrong & Getty On Demand" continues to offer insightful and entertaining content.