We'll Go Swinging!

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armstrong & Getty On Demand – "We'll Go Swinging!"

Release Date: February 27, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong & Joe Getty
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction

In the February 27, 2025 episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand titled "We'll Go Swinging!", hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty engage in a dynamic discussion covering a wide array of current events, societal issues, and personal anecdotes. Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the duo navigates through topics ranging from Hollywood obituaries to the complexities of the homeless industrial complex, all infused with their characteristic humor and insightful commentary.

Gene Hackman's Passing and Hollywood Reflections

The episode opens with the hosts reacting to the tragic news of Gene Hackman's death. A news anchor reports, "[He] was a two-time Oscar winner, nominated five times over a career spanning 40 years" (00:23). Jack Armstrong expresses surprise at Hackman's age, stating, "I had not realized he was past 90" (01:22), while Joe Getty delves into Hackman's personal life, noting his transition from acting to sculpting and painting in his later years.

Notable Quote:

"Gene Hackman, my favorite actor of all time... he really shifted his focus away from acting, which is commendable." – Joe Getty (01:06)

Jeffrey Epstein Documents and Political Intrigue

Transitioning to political news, the hosts discuss Attorney General Pam Bondi's teaser about the impending release of Jeffrey Epstein's documents. The conversation touches on public fascination with potential revelations, conspiracy theories surrounding high-profile figures like Hillary Clinton, and the dubious activities linked to Epstein's network.

Jack Armstrong cautions listeners against manipulation, saying, "[...], there may be some significant revelations because they're absolutely rich and powerful people that go along with perverse stuff" (06:07). They critically analyze the credibility of emerging theories and emphasize the importance of corroborating facts.

Notable Quote:

"If we have all or most of us been involved in say an organization... they're not part of that subgroup that's doing... crazy stuff." – Jack Armstrong (07:05)

Street Violence and Youth Intimidation in Los Angeles

The duo shifts focus to a harrowing incident in Los Angeles involving a street assault by a group of youthful bicyclists. They describe a video capturing the brutal attack on a defenseless man, highlighting the intimidation tactics used by the bikers. The discussion underscores the societal implications of such violence and the challenges in addressing youth-related crimes.

Notable Quote:

"A startling video... showed the teens ganging up on the man, relentlessly punching, kicking and stomping him as he laid defenseless on the ground." – Jack Armstrong (10:08)

The Homeless Industrial Complex and Urban Alchemy

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to critiquing the homeless industrial complex, with a spotlight on the nonprofit organization Urban Alchemy. The hosts dissect the rapid growth and funding discrepancies within homeless services, questioning the efficacy and accountability of such programs. They reference a City Journal article that exposes Urban Alchemy's questionable practices, including alleged involvement in criminal activities and mismanagement of funds.

Joe Getty vehemently criticizes the system, stating, "Show me an example of a homeless program that doesn't result in more homeless people" (24:29). Jack Armstrong echoes these sentiments, highlighting the disproportionate allocation of resources and the lack of tangible results in improving public safety.

Notable Quote:

"Urban Alchemy is a case study in the expansion of the multi-billion dollar homeless services industry." – Jack Armstrong (22:30)

Michael Moore's Commentary and Rare Earth Metals Deal with Ukraine

The conversation briefly touches on Michael Moore's warnings about the potential deportation of immigrants who could contribute significantly to society, followed by an analysis of the U.S. and Ukraine's rare earth metals agreement. They scrutinize the vague terms of the deal, particularly the lack of explicit financial arrangements and security guarantees, raising concerns about its feasibility and strategic implications.

Notable Quote:

"The details of the financial arrangement will be determined down the line. Like what you get paid and how often you have to work." – Joe Getty (15:33)

Train Robberies Targeting Nike Sneakers and Cartel Involvement

A humorous yet alarming report of multiple freight train robberies targeting shipments of unreleased Nike sneakers is discussed. The hosts highlight the involvement of criminal gangs linked to the Sinaloa cartel, emphasizing the intersection of consumerism and organized crime.

Notable Quote:

"The cartels are absolutely operating in the United States now at a high level." – Jack Armstrong (32:19)

Student Protests at Columbia University and Social Media Manipulation

The episode touches on recent student protests at Columbia University, critiquing the effectiveness and demands of such actions. Additionally, Jack and Joe discuss the pervasive influence of social media and artificial intelligence in shaping public opinion and the necessity for digital literacy to combat misinformation.

"Dear Abby" Advice Segment

In a lighter segment, Joe Getty reads a "Dear Abby" column from the New York Post, seeking the hosts' take on relationship advice. The exchange underscores the show's blend of serious discourse and relatable, everyday topics, providing listeners with a balanced auditory experience.

Notable Quote:

"Find a boyfriend who's not an agoraphobic hermit." – Jack Armstrong (35:02)

Conclusion

The "We'll Go Swinging!" episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand offers a comprehensive look at pressing societal issues, blending insightful analysis with the hosts' trademark wit. From the critical examination of nonprofit organizations to the bizarre world of sneaker thefts, Armstrong and Getty ensure that listeners are both informed and entertained. Their ability to navigate complex topics while maintaining engaging dialogue makes this episode a compelling listen for those seeking a nuanced perspective on contemporary events.

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Note: Timestamps correspond to the transcript provided and are indicative of when each topic is discussed within the episode.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[News Anchor]

He was a two time Oscar winner, nominated five times over a career spanning 40 years. Hollywood this morning, remembering Gene Hackman found dead alongside his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog at their New Mexico home yesterday. The sheriff saying overnight I want to assure the community and the neighborhood that there's no immediate danger to anyone. The sheriff not providing details on cause of death.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, unless you don't have your radon detector up to speed or something. Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. There have been a couple of cases lately where the cop shop said there's no true threat to. Right. And it was a murderer. You're right. That had just a targeted murderer.

[Joe Getty]

But I don't think that happened here.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, I suspect not.

[Joe Getty]

You know, it's interesting. So Gene Hackman, my favorite actor of all time and in his early 90s, his wife in his her early 60s and I was just reading about because he retired from acting a long time ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

I had not realized he was. He was past 90.

[Joe Getty]

Her I'll bet her life had early on when they got together. He was like early 60s and she was 30 at that point she was marrying one of the biggest movie stars in the world. But I gotta believe for the last quite a few years, decades maybe it was just like it had his acting life had nothing to do with their life at all. Yeah, I mean everybody's talking about him is acting in his acting roles. But I bet it played. No, no. Had no purchase in their lives on a daily basis.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

You walk by an officer actor has passed. Yeah. He's got on the fireplace maybe somewhere but they probably even talk about it or anything like it. He's been his sculpting and painting mostly.

[Jack Armstrong]

Good for him. Yeah, good for the soul. The only other thing I have to say about Gene Hackman, who is a genius actor, but we don't, you know, we don't lionize actors really much around here. But that he told a story that was incredibly touching on the. What's the inside the Actor Studio or whatever it was called, the show I used to watch a fair amount. He explained that when he was a very young boy, I think he might have been five, his father drove away and never came back.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And his father gave him a casual wave outside the window and he said he knew at that moment his father was never coming back somehow. And as he told the story 60 years later, he had to choke back tears or 65 years later, something like that. Oh my God. But he said he, he realized as he thought about it the power of one small gesture and he thought that may be one of the reasons he was a very good actor because that made a real impression on him that small things can take meaning.

[Joe Getty]

Interesting. I was reading about that last night. He was 13 years old and he's playing in the street with his friends and his dad pulls out of the driveway, gives him a wave and drives away and never comes back. Can you imagine anything horrible is that three years later he joins the Marines. Lies about his age, joins the Marines as a 16 year old and is in the Marine Corps four years. He didn't try his hand at acting until he was dang near 30. Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, just for the record, my son is a trained and gifted actor and the, the, the art of it is really interesting to me. Like a lot of arts are. It's the self aggrandizement and, and self congratulations and lecturing people on moral questions that Hollywood does that's repeated repugnant. I have nothing against acting any more than I have against playing the oboe. Just don't do it around me. Okay.

[Joe Getty]

The oboe, specifically this in the New York Times about Gene Hackman, which I thought was good. He, he, he seemed to have been born middle aged, slightly balding, with strong but unremarkable features, neither plain nor handsome, more likely to melt into a crowd than to stand out in one. That is not usually what get. Makes you, you know, at the very highest level of being a movie star, the kind of person that would blend into a crowd rather than stand out in one. And he does, he did seem to be born middle aged. You can't find any even really early roles of him where he doesn't seem like he's 50.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Had that I'm a real human being quality about him that sometimes the pretty boys don't.

[Joe Getty]

My first introduction to Gene Hackman was the Poseidon Adventure. Oh, if you're old enough to remember that movie from the 70s. There was a period in the 70s where disaster movies were just so big. Airplane disasters, boat disasters, train disasters, earthquakes, all that sort of thing. And all your biggest stars would be in these films anyway. Poseidon Adventure was a sort of a Titanic like movie and he was a, he played a major role in that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, yes. Anyway, he will be missed and I had no idea he was in his 90s. Sue time marching on. Speaking of celebrities, Pam Bondi, the Attorney General teased yesterday on Jesse Water show that the Justice Department will likely release the documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein today as we speak on Thursday 27th February, the year of our Lord 2025, including the, the, the plane logs of who was on his planes to his pleasure island, his pervert island. Right.

[Joe Getty]

So. Well, first of all, I ask you, do you think that much of, of any interest is going to come out of that gossip?

[Jack Armstrong]

Lots of really great gossip.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I know people and because I float around in social media, I've read some of. But I personally know people who are just convinced that Hillary Clinton's about to go to jail. The whole movie star pedophile thing is about to be blown up. We're about to find out all the details on this. Yeah, the Democratic Party pedophile ring thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're being manipulated. And it makes me sad. There may be some significant revelations because they're absolutely rich and powerful people that go along with perverse stuff. But the only note of caution I would strike is that we have all or most of us been involved in say an organization or even like a golf club or a friend group or whatever, and we play golf and have a few drinks or whatever. And turns out that some of the guys you know on that level are off doing something else. You're not included in it. You're not part of that subgroup that's doing, you know, crazy stuff with drugs, sex, wife swapping, whatever, and, and wife. Some of these people might have, what do you, what do you call it these days? Swinging. Yeah, because the wife has agency too. I mean, my God, what an antiquated term. Swinging is the term, right?

[Joe Getty]

It makes it seem like.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Hey, sorry, dear, I just, I, I've swapped you with Bill over there. I just made a deal.

[Joe Getty]

I just made a deal with Bill. You need to go to his house tonight.

[Jack Armstrong]

So we'll go swinging. But anyway, because it's conceivable because this was a rich guy who lived a super rich guy life which included underage girl, porno, sick sexual exploitation. But not everybody who had lunch with him was part of the super pervo stuff. That's what I'm saying. But because he was a super rich financier and a mover and a shaker.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I think he killed himself in jail because he lived the life of luxury and wealth and nothing good was going to happen at his life at that point. I think he killed himself. I don't think somebody slipped in and snuffed him or something like that personally.

[Jack Armstrong]

But kind of weird how those cameras didn't work, that is.

[Joe Getty]

But the weirdest thing of the whole Epstein story has always been, what in the hell was that giant painting of Bill Clinton in a dress right in the doorway when you walk into Epstein's house, pointing at you? What the hell is that?

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm worried about the victims, Jack, not the painting. But that was an odd piece of art. Well, it means something.

[Joe Getty]

It gets to the victims. It means something. What the hell is that?

[Jack Armstrong]

Help me understand. What do you mean?

[Joe Getty]

Well, I don't know, but I've always, I've always thought it was. I mean, you're a mover and a shaker in Manhattan where the Clintons are idolized and Bill Clinton was their God. And you have in your home what. How would you describe it as anything other than mocking of Bill Clinton? You got him in a dress, Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

I remember your old theory. Do you remember your own theory?

[Joe Getty]

And he's pointing at you. I, I think it's a. I've got something on this guy and he knows it. And he better remember, I got something on this guy. I think that's what it is.

[Jack Armstrong]

And many, many other guys too, right? Yeah, yeah, I would agree. I would agree.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know if we're going to find anything out about that from the paperwork that Pam Bondi releases today.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. So, so many directions we could go. I've been wanting to get to the story of this awful broad daylight assault in LA on the street. This gang of 20 to 30 bicyclists, late teens, men, they're young men. They rove around like a gang. They intimidate drivers, they kick their cars, whatever, and, and, and terrorize pedestrians. The rest of it, almost certainly.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, almost certainly. Riding SE bikes because that's like the bike my son rides. The, the, the bike. Crowds do this sort of stuff. All ride that brand for some reason. And they wheelie around and intimidate you. I've. I've been in the midst of them.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, Interesting. So, but anyway, this guy got out of his car to confront some of them after they struck and kicked his vehicle.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And a startling video, perhaps you've seen it, showed the teens ganging up on the man, relentlessly punching, kicking and stomping him as he laid defenseless on the ground. Other suspects rode up, leaped off, leaped off their bikes, threw them off in the excitement to join in the attack. The hoodie wearing teens rode off after beating the man to a pulp. Scene lying motionless on the ground.

[Joe Getty]

It's horrible. So one time I'm in Old Sacramento and A bunch of bikes come at me as I'm driving down the street. And I'm like, they're coming straight at me. So I hit the brakes and they ride. They continue to ride toward me until they're, like, on top of me. They're doing wheelies the whole time on their SC bikes. And they have the ability to swerve, like, the last second before they hit your car. I thought they were gonna run right into me. I didn't think they were even seeing me. And they swerve and then they go around me and they just. They all go around really close to your car. Nobody was kicking the car or anything like that, but I didn't know what to do. It was. It was intimidating in a way. Like, what is this?

[Jack Armstrong]

And of course, because the victim was white and many of the attackers young men of color, we will not be describing the race of anyone involved. Of course, according to our policy, if the roles had been reversed, we would make it all about that for weeks at a time.

[Joe Getty]

Back to you. And the only reason I bring up the brand of bikes is I know a store, a very popular bike store that won't sell that brand because it's associated with this kind of bad activity, even though it's a great bicycle.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. I had no idea of that. Crazy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Coming up later in the hour, the most obvious, egregious, instructive example of the homeless industrial complex and how it squanders money you've ever heard. Stay with us.

[Joe Getty]

Cool. On the way.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

Michael Moore warns that America could be deporting illegals that might one day cure cancer or stop an incoming asteroid. Or even more troubling, they may fail to deliver his meat lovers pizza.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's a big man. Michael Moore.

[Joe Getty]

Gotcha. The whole deal of us getting some of the money and rights to rare earth metals in Ukraine and whether or not that's come to come together. Wall Street Journal with some interesting reporting on that. Maybe we'll get to later this hour. I know, Joe, you've got some homeless updates for us.

[Jack Armstrong]

Homeless industrial complex. Yes, the profit that is there for pretending to deal with transient drug addicts.

[Joe Getty]

So my son's got a big science project. This is like one of the big parts of your grade for the whole semester. My seventh grader, and it's one of those, they give you like six weeks to do it. And he, unlike his old man, has started the project six weeks before it's due. Whereas I would have turned my attention to what the project was going to be. In roughly five and a half weeks. But so we went to the hardware store yesterday and here's, here's what he's going to do. His hypothesis is that plants grow better being nurtured by water than they will with Coca Cola. And so we bought eight different little tiny pots, is going to plant strawberry seeds in each one. But four of them will only get Coca Cola and four of them will get water. They all get the same amount of sun, have the same amount of soil, all that sort of stuff. A single variable, the only variable is water versus Coca Cola. The problem of course is what if the strawberries grow better on Coca Cola? Then what do we do? Do I have, have I, have I discovered something important and I need to figure out a way to become rich.

[Jack Armstrong]

Try Brauno next. Gatorade. Like Drink in the thought it was a comedy. It's a documentary idiocracy.

[Joe Getty]

Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

What if the strawberries are like deliciously sweet and just a bit fizzy.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. The whole science experiment thing is fantastic. What a great idea to teach people the scientific method. Which is amazing that it was such a breakthrough for humanity to come up with. You know, you try something, yeah, you have a, you know, you have non variables and you have as few variables as you can. One variable is best and compare it and then you can move on for it. I mean it got us out of, you know, quite the jam human beings were in with laying around in their own filth.

[Jack Armstrong]

Sure. The dark ages. Yeah. Although the woke crowd want to take us back to pre enlightenment, 2 +2 does not necessarily equal 4. If they can get you to repeat that, they can get you to repeat anything.

[Joe Getty]

So Zelensky might be coming to Washington D.C. to sign the rare earths metal deal that Donald Trump is writing up. Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Zelinsky said he wasn't sure if he would go or not. The financial benefits of the deal remain up in the air, writes the Wall Street Journal. The text of the deal which has been viewed by the Wall Street Journal includes the creation of a fund co owned by the two countries with the details of the financial arrangement to be determined down the line. That's interesting. Those details seem to be the whole thing to me. The details of the financial. It's like taking a job. The details of the financial arrangement will be determined down the line. Like what you get paid and how often you have to work.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's the whole enchilada right there. That's the way the whole thing has struck me all along. There are so many gigantic question marks. I don't what in what sense is there an agreement? How are you going to sign it?

[Joe Getty]

I don't know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is the agreement of those frameworks to proceed on the framework of an agreement?

[Joe Getty]

Well, I wouldn't fly to D.C. for something that skimpy yet. The agreement lacks explicit security guarantees for Ukraine, which Zelensky had previously said would be necessary for any mineral rights deal, and nods toward Kiev's need for such assurances. One clause of the agreement says the U.S. supports Ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace, which of course is meaningless language. But Mark Halpern writes of this today in his newsletter. If Trump has to negotiate the final details with Zelensky in the room right before the pact is signed, he's fine with that. But his important as the US Ukraine agreement is keep your eyes on the real prize, which is the US Russia deal. Trump is sequencing all of this to position himself to drive a harder bargain with Putin, much harder than many people seem to realize, writes Mark Alperin. We will see.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the whole what can we offer Putin? To what extent can we pry him from China? Is there anything we can offer? How is an agreement going to be enforced? That is such a kettle of fish. These are question marks piled on question marks.

[Joe Getty]

Although yesterday in that press conference Cabinet meeting thingy, Trump made some noises about, well, if we're invested in the minerals and we got people and trucks in there, then I mean, that's some security right there, isn't it? Because nobody's gonna mess with our stuff, Trump said, which I think might be true. Explicitly or not.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty, we need to change the conversation.

[Gavin Newsom]

And that's why I'm launching a new podcast. And this is gonna be anything but the Ordina politician Podcast. I'm going to be talking to people directly that I disagree with, as well as people I look up to. Look, there's an onslaught of information that we take in, so let's take it to the sources without the typical political mumbo jumble. In the first few weeks, we're going to be sitting down with some of the biggest leaders and architects in the mega movement.

[Joe Getty]

That's Gavin Newsom, maybe you don't recognize voice, Governor of California. He's got his sights set on being the nominee for the Democratic Party and someday president of the United States. I think that's a great idea. His new podcast, as we know, as we are in the business, it's all in the execution and we'll see how that goes, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Indeed. He got credit for sparring with Ron DeSantis on Hannity's show and he obviously fancies that if he's seen as the brave defender of progressive values against the mean old MAGA people, it will vault him into, you know, the presidential race. As I've said many times, I hope he runs because his humiliation will be delicious to observe. If indeed there is a God. For a number of reasons, including, as any Cal Unicornian knows, pouring billions and billions of dollars into so called homeless programs. And not only without any accountability, without even a mechanism for accountability. There was no mechanism for even asking is any of this stuff doing any good? What is enormous scandal and the bullet train, of course.

[Joe Getty]

First of all, Hansen, I don't know if anybody knows is he is this going to be a like every weekday or once a month? Or do we have any idea on how often he's doing his podcast? Unknown, perhaps weekly, huh?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, it's got to be a periodic thing. But I just wanted to mention Gavi and the homeless thing to get us into the next discussion. And I mentioned, I think it was yesterday, the Biden epa, on the way out the door announced that it had selected an organization named Young, Gifted and Green that was run by Latricia Adams, who was simultaneously serving as a member of a top White House advisory council. But $20 million to young, gifted and Green. How sweet a name is that? Under its so called environmental and climate justice community change program.

[Joe Getty]

God, some people get thrilled when they hear names like that. I hold onto my wallet and think what a waste of time and money as soon as I hear anything with those words.

[Jack Armstrong]

If we had more time we could play a game where Jack would name like, I don't know, spending $50,000 on sailboat sail repairs. And then I would have to justify that within environmental and climate justice community change programs, which could mean anything. The point is to dole out horrific amounts of money to your cronies. Always. Which brings us to this City Journal doing a really good story. Interesting. It's longish but. Sanjana Freedman Urban Anarchy A San Francisco's non profits rise illustrates the unaccountable growth of homeless services. And this is about the so called homeless industrial complex, which is not probably a big deal in some places. It's a ginormous deal in blue states and especially California. And they focus on this group, Urban Alchemy, a San Francisco based homeless services nonprofit. And they mentioned once you notice Urban Alchemy employees on the street corners clad in their signature camouflage pants and high visibility vests you'll start seeing them everywhere. They patrol subway stations downtown, staff public toilets and libraries, sweep streets, mill around homeless shelters. In the morning, they gather, watch silently as the local nuts night market, an informal gathering of junkies, drug dealers and stolen goods vendors, disperses for the day. They're not security guards or police officers. They're actually, interestingly, almost all ex convicts who allegedly that gives them well. On its website, Urban Alchemy believes that, quote, the trauma of long term incarceration compels individuals to undergo inner work that transforms the self, equipping them with extraordinary emotional intelligence and leadership skills and uniquely qualifying them to connect with the most marginalized in our society. That last part I'm willing to buy, at least partially. But the idea that you've got to be incarcerated for a long time to really get the wisdom you need to deal with life. So, bizarre notion, but here's the point of all this. I just want to explain who these people are. At its founding in 2018, Urban Alchemy's annual revenue was $35,000. To do what they want to do, gleaned mainly from contracts to operate public toilets. Today that figure exceeds. Brace yourselves. $70 million. 70 million.

[Joe Getty]

I was expecting a big number, but wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stemming largely from government contracts to perform a range of additional public services, including running homeless shelters, cleaning streets, de escalating non urgent street conflicts across seven cities nationwide.

[Joe Getty]

And you just know whenever they're throwing money around with these things, you could show up and say, hey, I've got a plan, me and my buddies, for de escalating street conflicts. We both, I don't know, he has a master's in philosophy or whatever you claim.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or he's marginalized in a person of color, which makes him obviously an expert. Yes, right.

[Joe Getty]

Or he lived on the street for a while. So give us $500,000 and we will dedicate our time. It'd be so easy to grab onto chunks of this money. You just know it would be.

[Jack Armstrong]

There are a number of aspects of this that are super interesting. Here's one of them. How did they go to a $70 million organization? Most immediate explanation is Progressive America's faddish interest in alternatives to policing. After George Floyd, though, Urban Alchemy's employees are neither licensed as security guards nor properly accredited in crisis management. They've been contracted to respond to non emergency 911 and 311 homeless related calls in certain neighborhoods, San Francisco and LA, and run sanctioned homeless encampments in Portland, the broader Bay Area, San Francisco. Unsurprisingly things often go awry. UA employees have shot and been shot, dealt drugs, sexually assaulted clients on the job. And there is scant hard evidence that their street psychology based interventions have improved public safety at all.

[Joe Getty]

Shocking.

[Jack Armstrong]

And as they write in City Journal, Urban Alchemy is a case study in the expansion of the multi billion dollar homeless services industry. Most of us are now familiar with the phrase homeless industrial complex. And the fact that increased investment in our unhoused neighbors seems to only beget worse outcomes.

[Joe Getty]

Absolutely. I've been saying this for years. Show me an example of a homeless program that doesn't result in more homeless people.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, yeah. Yeah. On paper, Urban Alchemy does not police the homeless. It goes in and runs things and DS blah, blah. We describe that this model often leads to subpar results. To put it generously on the ground, both for UA employees and their clients. In Sausalito, a wealthy Marin county town that's brought the organization in to work in several city sanctioned homeless camps. They're not homeless camps, by the way. Transient drug addict is a much more accurate term. Right.

[Joe Getty]

If you're worried about being homeless, why in the hell would you live in Sausalito, California, one of the most expensive little tiny plots of land on earth.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Good lord. I've know very few people in my entire life who could afford to live in Sausalito, California.

[Jack Armstrong]

But Jack, if I were a transient drug addict, why would I want to live in San. In Sausalito?

[Joe Getty]

Because they're going to hand out money to you and the weather's nice and it's incredibly pleasant.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the views are magnificent. I can't afford to live there and I got a lot of money. Anyway, where were we? In Sausalito, they run several city sanctioned drug addict camps. Per the San Francisco standard, homeless residents alleged that UA practitioners ran a criminal syndicate that involved trafficking crystal meth in the camps and sleeping with and is physically assaulting residents there. There's an ongoing federal RICO lawsuit. And you know, we will post the link to this if you want to read it. It's great journalism. It goes into a great deal of depth. It names a bunch of names, who set them up with the, the contracts and how it worked. But the tens of millions of dollars just to this organization and the billions and billions, billions of dollars that are being squandered in the blue left coast of America. Just breathtaking. But, and this is bull S101 and you're probably fully up on this, I apologize for insulting your intelligence, but if you can attach even the thinnest of feel good rationales for it. The good, decent people of America say, wow, these poor people are homeless because housing is high, I heard. And they just had one medical bill they couldn't pay and now they're homeless. And so this is good that the people who actually pay taxes, their dollars are being confiscated and given to these poor homeless people. It sounds good. I mean, you can dig like an inch deep and you realize what a load of crap it is. And to get back to how we introduced it, you go to the average soft headed American who doesn't pay attention. Maybe they're busy, maybe they're dumb. And those are two very different things. Right, right, right. I know people who are brilliant, they make me look like a dog, but they're busy with business or whatever and they don't really pay attention to politics. And that's fine, I get that. Although you know, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson would say, it's not fine at all. You're a citizen, you need to be responsible. Anyway, tangent. On a tangent, you can easily picture soft heads of reasonably good conscience responding to the group Young, Gifted and green spending $20 million on environmental and climate justice and community change. That all sounds so good. But that's the scam, friends. That's the scam.

[Joe Getty]

God, I don't know. I've always been struck right away by the people who are homeless in really nice areas of the country because I've lived in lots of crappy places, cheap towns or crappy apartments because it was all I could afford. I would love to have lived over there, but I couldn't afford it. I don't understand why. The first, first thought when you've got someone homeless in Sausalito is go somewhere cheaper. It's like you're shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue and saying, I can't afford any shoes. Well, then we need to come up with a program so you can afford shoes as opposed to saying, go to Target.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's exactly right. Go Famous Footwear.

[Joe Getty]

But they have much cheaper shoes over there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah, I had another thought. It flitted right out of my head. That's a good metaphor, though.

[Joe Getty]

And steel man, this for me. You're Gavin Newsom doing the podcast, and I ask, why do you. Why does your state have half the homeless people in the entire country? And what would his response be?

[Jack Armstrong]

The high housing costs of California restrictive zoning, which we're working to overcome. High medical costs brought about by Republicans. And we're taking this challenge head on. He's really good at that. He's really good at pretending that that Democrat progressive policies which brought the nightmare of crime junkies, the rest of it on the blue states of the left coast, that they felt like rain. He woke up one day and it was there. And he is bravely confronting it like the hero he is. That's his thing. That's his trademark. Oh, and the thought that flitted out of my head, I remember this and I just. I've got to do a touchdown dance. So obviously as a show that's been based in Northern California for many, many years, we were very early to the junkie camp homeless industrial complex story. And I remember distinctly when Jack and I would talk to people who were like recovering drug addicts and had spent time in the junkie camps and come to us and say, dudes, 80% of it's just junkies and a lot of them are from other places that came because the benefits are so great and it's so easy. You never get arrested. You get food, you get clothing, you get syringes, you get everything. These people have come from all over the country, the activists and the progressive government people would sternly say to us, that's not true. These are poor, unfortunate people who live here who have been marginalized by the system. Well, now it's becoming utterly clear and nobody's even bothering to deny it anymore, that where you have, you know, what was the name of the organization? We were just talking about this group, Urban Alchemy. And you have tens of millions of dollars being poured into the junkie camps and more and more junkies every day. There almost not an exception to that rule. They always grow. That's all they do is grow. It is clearly people flocking there to enjoy how easy and comfortable it is to be a junkie in those places, period.

[Joe Getty]

So at Columbia University, the whack job, pro terrorist college students took over a building again yesterday with a bunch of demands. And they had chants and whatnot. We like to hear people's chance.

[Jack Armstrong]

So maybe the old demand enchant is an old. That's the old playbook, Jack.

[Joe Getty]

Maybe we'll get to that in hour three. We've also got a late night joke off at some point. I hope you can stick around.

[News Reporter]

Armstrong and Getty authorities sounding the alarm after multiple freight train robberies targeting shipments of Nike sneakers in remote areas of the desert southwest. The most recent heist, January 13th in Perrin, Arizona. Thieves allegedly using this box truck grabbing nearly 2,000 pairs of brand new unreleased Nike sneakers worth $400,000 thanks to tracking devices inside some of the cargo, 11 people were arrested.

[Joe Getty]

They get on it, they cut a brake line, stop that train.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it's basically a shopper's delight.

[News Reporter]

At least 10 heists since last March netting more than $2 million in stolen Nikes. Authorities say criminal gangs linked to the Sinaloa cartel are behind the thefts.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, I wasn't ready for that twist at the end. It's a. Mexican drug cartels, the keyword in that whole thing, because my son is a. Is a sneaker junkie. Unreleased. So the unreleased Nikes, man, those things go on sale, they sell out immediately. And they're on eBay for 2, 3, 5, 15 times what. What they cost if you can get them originally when Nike releases them. So those unreleased shoes, you can make a lot of money on those.

[Jack Armstrong]

The cartels are absolutely operating in the United States now at a high level.

[Joe Getty]

So next hour. Columbia students idiots. Took over a building yesterday, had demands, and the administration bowed to them as they usually do. It's ridiculous.

[Jack Armstrong]

And you've got to hear their chanting.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, some of the chanting is extra stupid. And. Oh, and if you. Maybe you, I hate to say, fell for it because it makes it seem like, you know, if you fall for something, you're a, you know, you're a dupe or dumb or naive or something. In the world of AI, we're all going to fall for things all the time. We need to come up with a different term that doesn't have any, you know, negative prejudice to it because we're all going to get fooled by AI in all kinds of different ways.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yep, agreed.

[Joe Getty]

Anyway, Don Jr. Clip that was floating around yesterday. And we'll play that for you in hour three. Also, I'm going to read it. Dear Abby. And Joe can react to it. Joe's big. I don't know how many. You know, like Katie. Do you know what Deer Abbey is? I don't know how long. When. When did Deer Abbey have its main traction? I don't know when Deer Abbey went out of style. Used to be you get your daily newspaper made on actual paper out in the driveway. You don't know Dear Abby. And it was an advice column. And it was like you'd call in with your problems of, my mom eats with her mouth open, and it drives me crazy. And I don't know what to do. Dear Abby, tell me what to do. And then Dear Abby would write. Well, try to have a conversation with your mother where you both can keep your tempers and come to a reasonable Agreement.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it was. From the fairly silly and light to sometimes a very, very, fairly serious problem.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know who writes standard issued advice column. Yeah, I don't know who writes Dear Abby anymore, but here's one I came across in the New York Post. Dear Abby. I've been in a relationship with someone for 11 months. We were both each other's first relationship after being single for a few years following traumatic breakups. I always like that you had a traumatic breakup. All breakups are traumatic. With very, very rare exceptions.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, no kidding.

[Joe Getty]

During our entire relationship, he has not cut his hair, left his house or socialized with anyone besides me, except via text. He doesn't visit me, but he always leaves his door open to me. We've discussed going out, but he always finds a reason to stay inside. After a while, I realized these were just excuses. He says he loves me, but he will not leave the house. What should I do, Dear Abby?

[Jack Armstrong]

Find a boyfriend who's not an agoraphobic hermit.

[Joe Getty]

I feel sorry for that. Usually that, that was always my reaction to any Dear Abby column. Was feeling sorry for the person who wrote the letter. You don't know what to do in this situation. You got to find a different boyfriend. He's a crazy person.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and you gotta ask a newspaper columnist. I mean, they get like thousands of letters. So you get a one in a thousand chance of getting any answer whatso. And this is plan A?

[Joe Getty]

You're just gonna date the guy who never leaves his house?

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty.