When She Sits Around The House, She Sits Around The House

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Episode: “When She Sits Around The House, She Sits Around The House”
Date: March 27, 2026

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode blends lighthearted discussion about cultural quirks—centered on sports fandom, March Madness, and airline “fat taxes”—with critical analysis of contemporary campus issues and sharp political commentary. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty (with guest clips and call-ins) bring their characteristic humor and ire to trending stories, including university controversies, social policies, and current news events.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. March Madness, Bracket Woes, and Sports Identity

[01:00–02:06]

• Only one perfect NCAA tournament bracket remains nationwide.

• The conversation dives into how personal identity often gets mixed up with alma maters’ athletic performance.

  • Jack Armstrong: “Is it a reflection on you?”
  • Joe Getty: “It’s clearly that’s the way people think…if they win, I’ll run into buddies this weekend…”
  • Armstrong: “Most sports rooting or feelings are anti-intellectual, but they happen anyway.”

• They muse on the dramatic appeal of sports: it’s a “plot” whose ending no one knows—a “crazy fun, anti-intellectual” pastime.

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2. "Campus Madness": Academic Activism and Controversy

[02:17–10:45]

• Joe provides a rapid-fire update on the state of US campuses:

  • Virginia Military Institute attacked by progressive legislators for being “too militaristic, too traditional, too misogynist.”

    • Getty: “They’re trying to end it and turn it into yet another progressive university. It’s disgusting.”

  • Columbia Grad Students’ Strike:

    • Not about pay or benefits, but a “hard-core anti-Jew” action.
    • Ex-union leader still paid $46,000 a year despite expulsion for 2024’s protests.

  • Judicial decision: Columbia cannot discipline masked student occupiers (“can’t prove who did the ‘bad stuff’”; judge upholds protest mask-use as precedent).

  • UC Berkeley: allows SJP to use Hamas’s “red triangle” symbol targeting Jews.

  • Arizona’s universities: Honor students required to take radical left, anti-capitalist courses, notably syllabi on “the relationship between the white female gaze and the eroticized black male body.”

  • Harvard & Claudine Gay: Ousted for plagiarism and mishandling antisemitism, but returning to teach about “purpose in politics in higher education.”

    • Armstrong: “Oh god, it’s parody.”
    • Getty: “All these worthless classes and worthless discussions that they charge so much money for…”

  • Pattern of Ideological Hiring: Getty quotes Prof. Alan Charles Kors, summarizing how 80s-90s radical hires in academia closed the door behind them:

    • Quote [09:38] (Getty, quoting Kors):
      “You bend over backwards to hire people who think differently…But those people…shut the door behind them. They would not hire anyone who is different. And change happens quickly if natural selection is only one group.”

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3. Viral Zoom Courtroom Moment: “Third Degree Dumbassery”

[14:31–18:21]

• Discussion and playback of a viral video where a woman appears in a Zoom court hearing while driving. She insists she’s a passenger; the judge busts her for lying, entering a default judgment.

  • Memorable Exchange [15:35–16:30]:

    • Judge (E): “You know you’re lying to me, right? …Let me see the driver.”
    • Defendant (F): “Hang on… Oh my god.”
    • Judge (E): “I’m entering a default judgment. You lied to me.”

  • Armstrong/ Getty ridicule the logic that only holding a phone is dangerous, and enjoy the judge’s strong regional accent.

  • Armstrong sums up: “Whatever her crime was is one of many dumb things she’s done throughout her life… Third degree dumbassery.”

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4. Update: Trump, Iran, and World Affairs

[18:34–21:34]

• Trump claims Iran is ready to “make a deal” after being “beat to Kaka.”

• Ongoing nuclear/energy standoff—Trump pauses his self-imposed deadline for “energy plant destruction.”

  • “That’s a heck of a phrase… Talks are ongoing…”

• Getty skeptical Iran will negotiate honestly; Armstrong notes US troop arrival times coincide with new deadlines.

• They touch on Trump’s lack of “intersectional” understanding regarding progressive alliances (e.g., “Gays for Palestine”).

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5. Gambling, Inflation, and American Spending

[21:34–27:27]

• On gambling: The hosts question panics over US betting totals during March Madness.

  • Armstrong: “Somebody pointed out [Americans] spent roughly the same amount on pets this year.”

  • Getty: “In a nation of 340 million people, you can assemble an enormous number… Americans spend [billions] on shoelaces.”

• On inflation: Pet services (e.g., “Camp Bow Wow” doggy daycare), manicures, and inflated prices cited as examples.

  • “$36/day for doggy daycare… recently broke its daily record by hosting 206 dogs.”

  • Armstrong: “Do not care at all… unless you’re on a government program for food for your kid—can’t have both.”

  • Getty: “At Camp Bow Wow… higher prices meant pay raises for employees who couldn’t afford the things they need… the prices just keep spiraling upward because the Biden administration pumped so much money into the economy.”

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6. Taxes, Red vs. Blue States, and Political Claims

[27:33–31:17]

• Broad income tax increases in blue states; reductions or flat rates in red states.

  • US tax revenue 2019–2025: up 43%, more than twice inflation.
  • “Red states getting redder, blue states getting bluer in terms of tax policy.”

• Gavin Newsom’s claim that Texas/Florida are the real high tax states debunked:

  • “California’s about $10,000 a year in taxes per person, Texas and Florida about $5,000… California taxes about 14% of its economy vs. 9%.”

• Sarcastic forecast: Pet tax credits ahead.

  • Armstrong: “Pet owners might be able to snag a $1,000 dog credit this tax season… Now you gotta do it for dogs.”

  • Getty: “Democracy worked for a while.”

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7. Airlines, Obesity, and “Customer of Size” Profiling

[31:40–36:34]

• New Southwest policy: “customer of size” must buy two seats if unable to fit in one.

  • Armstrong: “When she sits around the house, she sits around the house.”
  • Getty: “Schoolyard taunts will not be a part of this discussion!”

• Debate over whether this is “profiling.” They agree it is, but argue it’s logical—just as not all flyers require extra seats.

  • Armstrong: “You paid full price for the seat and I am incredibly uncomfortable because this person has taken up half of my seat…”

  • Getty: “You’re paying per seat and you’re taking my seat… if you make me pay for two seats, I want a super luxurious, wide double seat.”

• Jokes about “public weighing” quickly disavowed (“I retract that idea!”).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [04:36] Jack Armstrong: “You got to be kidding me.” (On masked protesters escaping discipline)
• [06:45] Getty (quoting syllabus): “The relationship between the white female gaze and the eroticized black male body.”
• [09:38] Prof. Alan Charles Kors (quoted): “…Those people, when they came in, shut the door behind them. They would not hire anyone who is different from themselves…Everybody backed down.”
• [16:35] Judge (E): “I’m entering a default judgment. You lied to me.”
• [23:34] Getty: “In a nation of 340 million people, you can assemble an enormous number…”
• [29:45] Expert (James Agresti): “California taxes about 14% of its economy, as opposed to 9% for Texas and Florida.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |--------------|---------------------------------------------------------| | 01:00–02:06 | Sports identity and March Madness craze | | 02:17–10:45 | Campus Madness: Academic controversies & woke hiring | | 14:31–18:21 | Viral Zoom court case: driving/lying to judge | | 18:34–21:34 | Trump/Iran news & “intersectionality” confusion | | 21:34–27:27 | Gambling, inflation, and American consumer habits | | 27:33–31:17 | Taxes—red vs. blue states, Newsom’s claim debunked | | 31:40–36:34 | Southwest “customer of size” policy: fat tax debate |

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Tone & Style

Armstrong & Getty maintain their trademark blend of sarcastic wit, pointed social commentary, and a conversational, accessible style. The episode mixes quick banter with deeper dives into contemporary cultural and political frustrations, always with humor and an eye for absurdities in policy and daily life.

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This summary provides a thorough, structured recap for listeners who missed the episode, highlighting major topics, specific moments, and the overall mood of the conversation.

Transcript

[A]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[B]

The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.

[A]

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

[C]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[A]

I don't know if you're happy with the way your March Madness bracket is going, but as far as brackets that are on, on some sort of online site where you can check, there's a bunch of different websites that you fill in brackets and you get part of the whole national pool and everything like that, there's one perfect bracket left in the entire country. So some 8th grade kid somewhere who picked all the upsets randomly, I'm sure. Yeah, but there's one perfect bracket left.

[C]

It's so much like a lottery ticket.

[A]

Very similar.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. Only one team on my bracket and that's the Fighting Illini of Illinois and they're in the elite eight and I'm getting 10 more more and more tense. I thought I'd left the whole I care about this behind, but now all of a sudden I went to that school. So I. That's a reflection on me. That's fun to root.

[A]

Is it a reflection on you?

[C]

Well, it's clearly that's the way people think.

[A]

Oh, sure.

[C]

I mean, if they win, I'm going to run into buddies who are big sports fans this weekend and they're going

[A]

to say, wow, final line.

[C]

I look great, dude. Yeah, hey, give me my five for your line. I and it's like, yeah, I didn't play basketball. It's funny. It's just funny phenomenon.

[A]

It is, it is, it is anti intellectual. Most sports rooting or feelings are anti intellectual, but they, they, they happen anyway

[C]

and it's crazy fun. And as I explained to my wife, it's a drama that nobody knows the end of plot of when it begins. You might think you do, but you're often wrong. So it's just, it's interesting. Anyway, love sports. Speaking of college, it's a Campus Madness update. It's been a while. As usual. I'm turning my work in late.

[A]

There's the madness part. That's the madness.

[C]

When it came, it really came hard, didn't it?

[A]

They were stabbed with a knife of political correctness.

[C]

Yes, exactly. A handful of headlines leading up to a college parade professor's discussion of what happened. This story outraged me. But Virginia, which has swung way left in recent years, the Virginia Democrats in the legislature are attacking vmi, the Virginia Military Institute. They are trying to dismantle the stewardship of it, the trustees and all, and load it with a bunch of progressives because they find it to be essentially too militaristic, too traditional, too misogynistic. Just the attitudes of a military academy. So they're trying to end it and turn it into yet another progressive university. It's disgusting. Anyway, could talk about that more, but we have a lot to get to. Here's a headline for you. Why grad students at Columbia may go on strike. Has nothing to do with paying benefits.

[A]

Working condition.

[C]

Working conditions. It's all about sticking it to Israel and the Jews. The graduate students are all going to go on strike because they want the university to be harder core, anti Jew. Their president isn't even allowed on campus because he was one of the people who was arrested for occupying Hamilton hall in 2024, was expelled and is no longer employed by the university. But he still paid over $46,000 a year to head of the grad student union. Man, that is a screwed up institution. And, and this in a related story, a New York judge said Columbia cannot expel or discipline students who stormed and occupied the campus building.

[A]

You got to be kidding me.

[C]

No, he said, because since they were wearing masks, you can't prove they're the ones that did the bad stuff. All you can prove is that they were in the building while it was being occupied.

[A]

That is him coming up with a thin excuse to not have to discipline anybody who did something that should violate you getting to be a student there.

[C]

And he, oh, oh my God. He super affirmed that it's important to wear masks while you're conducting violent, destructive protests. He laid down the precedent and the idea that a university couldn't say, and look, it's not like the Capitol on January 6th where some people just wandered in after and were looking around and got hammered for it. This is a violent occupation of a university building in which the janitor was threatened and the rest of it, uh, and, and if you were in there, get out. You're, you're expelled. Go find Another university you can't come here is perfectly legitimate in my world, anyway. Good job. Your honor, UC Berkeley allows the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter to display a symbol Hamas uses to mark Israeli targets. They've permitted the SJP to use the red triangle, which is the actual symbol of Hamas, for where Jews are going to be struck down and killed. Or where they have been struck down and killed. Way to go, UC Berkeley. Yeah, that's diversity. You suck. Moving along, Arizona. Oh, you know what? I'm sorry, I forgot. My premise in all of this is there has been tiny progress in reforming the universities and twisting their arms a little bit, but it's been tiny. They're still so screwed up. Arizona's public universities require honor students to study far left material, including the relationship. This is a quote, the relationship between the white female gays and the eroticized black male body. You must take the racially divisive anti capitalist, anti Israel indoctrination to get into the honors school. And they go into the whole syllabus for this.

[A]

What was that phrase about the male. The male gaze.

[C]

Relationship between the white female gaze and the eroticized black male body.

[A]

All right.

[C]

A lot of the mumbo jumbo you'd expect one seminar session is almost entirely composed of left wing ideological readings, including Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon, the 1960s philosopher who's one of a couple of people at the very heart of critical theory and radical gender theory and queer theory and the rest of it. Fanon is like they're George Washington. So he's being taught to the kids sexual politics by Kate Millett, which argues that society is controlled by the patriarchy. And an interview with Angela Davis, a militant black power activist and former Communist Party USA member. Again, this is a required course. Moving along. Oh, this is hilarious. You remember Claudine Gay, who was ousted as Harvard president? Shortest tenure in Harvard history because of

[A]

her terrible job of answering the questions about their. How they were handling their anti Semitism.

[C]

Yeah, yeah, right, exactly. And she plagiarized everything she ever did. Oh, right, right. Which led to the revelation on the Armstrong and Getty show, which was quite revealing. Revelation that, well, of course she plagiarizes everything. There's no actual studies in ethnic studies. You're just indoctrinated to repeat the same, you know, party line talking points. So how are you not gonna plag rise? But anyway, two years after she resigned in disgrace as president of Harvard, she's returning to the classroom to teach a Harvard course on. This is the the name of the course, what is a university purpose in politics in higher education.

[A]

Oh, God, it's parody.

[C]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

All these worthless classes and worthless discussions that they charge you so much money for and feel so good about themselves, and that makes you so much better than me as someone who didn't go to that college. Oh, it all is so annoying.

[C]

Oh, I know. All right, we'll just buzz through these last couple. Indiana University launches investigation in a Muslim philanthropy initiative that gave fundraising advice to a sham group financing hamas. UCLA Taps director of Harvard center that was accused of anti Semitism as their next public health dean. And there was anti Semitism. And I love this headline. Decolonial Organizing lessons from Gaza's Warrior Mujahide. Union Theological Seminary, a Columbia school. Back to Columbia to host talk from activist scholar banned by Columbia for endorsing Hamas. So he's been banned, but their seminary is going to have him speak. And finally, this that I really liked. It's reloading, of course. Three, two, one. Here we go. It's a really interesting Twitter post by Alan Charles Coors, who's a professor. He says, I was the first mini generation to get a wave of job applications to join a faculty from people who had really gone out of the standard box. So you had radical feminist scholars, you had race theory scholars. And my view was you bend over backwards to hire people who think differently from the way you do or you don't have a university. You hire bright, informed, knowledgeable people who hold different views. That's what we do here. So I, and the people like me, all my similar buddies at Penn, we bent over backwards to hire radical feminists to hire radical black post colonial studies. But those people, when they came in, shut the door behind them. They would not hire anyone who is different from themselves. And change happens very quickly if the natural selection is only one group gets everything new. And that's what happened at universities. So pluralistic hiring seemed to me an absolute commitment if you agreed to be on a university faculty. But they, the people we hired rejected that premise completely. And they're such bullies and so vicious. Everybody back down.

[A]

That's something.

[C]

That's how it happened. It's campus madness.

[D]

Why?

[A]

Are you okay?

[C]

Oh, well, there's so damn much madness. She's trying to go to college and

[A]

she runs into madness every time she turns around.

[C]

Poor girl.

[A]

What happened to her? Sounded horrific.

[C]

Probably goes to Colombia. Hey, word from our friends at Rough Greens, which is not a dog food per se, it's a supplement packed with natural antioxidants and Anti inflammatory compounds that help reduce oxidative stress, support immune defense and slow age related decline, helping your beloved dog stay active, mobile and alert as they age.

[A]

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[C]

R U F F Greens.com use that promo code Armstrong to get your free Jumpstart Jumpstart trial bag. Rough greens.comarmstrong so don't change your dog's food, just add rough greens and watch the health benefits come alive. You know, it reminds me in a funny way, Baxter is in doggy heaven. Judy and I have continued our walks, but they're more like exercise walks. And one of our neighbors who's a just complete dog lover, I'd forgotten that she didn't know that Baxter was gone. She'd always pet him and stuff. And Judy and I were taking our walk and we were in the midst of a hilarious conversation and she stopped. She saw us in her car and said, where's Baxter? Is he okay? And we're both in a very jovial mood. And I said, no, he's in doggy heaven. And her mood was all, oh my God, grief. And I'm so sorry and all. And we were like again in the middle of a very funny conversation. And so I realized I had to like, gear down. And I think I weirded her out a little bit. Bit.

[A]

You should have done the Oscar thing that I was going to complain about last Monday. The, the, the, the women especially who learned that whole sounding like you're crying all the time voice, even though you're not in the least bit emotional, you got to learn how to do that so you can turn it on anytime you want. Like the Oscar. Practice it, you're joking. And then somebody brings that up and you got to shift gears. I've had that happen before.

[C]

I think that happens for real in real life. But when.

[A]

Oh damn.

[C]

Female at the Oscars does the same thing. Oh yeah.

[A]

Well, I think it's pretty obvious when they do it and they can. And it starts so quickly and ends so quickly. That's the way it's so funny. I just like them and Then you get back to normal. You get through talking about whatever it was you're going to talk about. Yeah, I've had that very thing happen before where somebody hits me with a, you know, it's out of time context thing. You got to re. Gear your. Because you don't want to come off as, like, not honoring their situ. Them acknowledging your situation. But I wasn't in that mode right now. I was in that mode yesterday.

[C]

But, yeah, we were just laughing our heads off, so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, she's a nice lady. I'll say.

[A]

So I want to discuss this idea that Gavin Newsom's got for young people doing some sort of service when they get out of high school and see what everybody thinks of that. The devil would be in the details, of course, like as a national program, sort of like Kennedy Peace Corps sort of thing. I guess when he launched that. That's probably the page he's trying to, you know, he's trying to strike that pose, I suppose.

[C]

Look like Kennedy. Check. Now. Kennedy advocate. I'll advocate a moon mission.

[A]

Anyway, we got lots on the way. Stay here. Armstrong and Getty. Who knows about this next story? I keep seeing up on the tv, and I feel like I'm missing out on this whole judged woman zoom thing. Who knows this? Anybody? This woman was going to court on zoom, and she was in her car driving.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

And the judge didn't like it. All right, let's hear this.

[E]

What are you doing? Come on.

[F]

I'm not driving. I'm a passenger in a car.

[E]

You're still not. I'm not hearing cases with people driving or as passengers in cars.

[A]

Why not?

[F]

Okay, I will pull over right now.

[E]

Short of us coming out to everybody's house and doing these on boats and stuff in the summer, I don't know.

[F]

I'm sorry, I have an emergency. I'm going out of town for a family member, but I will have my driver pull over. Hang on one second. I'm sorry, I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to be in a car, but. Hang on one second.

[E]

Am I crazy or does it not look like you're driving that car?

[F]

I'm not driving the car. I'm a passenger in the car.

[E]

Sir, what side of the car are you on?

[F]

I'm on the left hand side.

[E]

How would you be on the left hand side if you're a passenger in the front seat? Am I missing something?

[F]

Left hand, right hand side. I'm sorry. I've been sitting in a room. I didn't know.

[E]

Yeah, the seat belt's coming off of the. Of the driver's side. Right? You know you're lying to me, right?

[F]

No, I got.

[E]

Sir, let me see the driver. Let me see the driver.

[F]

Hang on one second. I have to ask their permission now. Oh, my God.

[E]

Oh, you're not in the driver. You weren't in the driver's side. You think I'm that stupid? I'm entering a default judgment. You lied to me. Judgment 19, 2185. Send me your counsel and put in their. Defendant was not available at the time and then was driving a car and telling the court she was not. I'm entering a default judgment. Have a great day. Thank you.

[C]

Busted.

[A]

So from watching that, it appeared that she didn't realize she had her camera on until they started talking about the details. That's what I assumed. She thought she was just on audio, which she kind of got that o.

[C]

S face.

[A]

What was her original charge? Third degree dumbassery.

[C]

Exactly.

[A]

Precisely. I don't. You know, you're poking a guy who's got a strong opinion about this because I got a ticket one time for holding my phone in my hand while I was talking, which there are no studies that show are dangerous. I mean, otherwise you wouldn't be able to have a conversation with someone while you hold a cup of coffee in your hand. It doesn't make any sense.

[C]

Right.

[A]

And I.

[C]

What was.

[A]

I was a therapist thing one time, and I was doing that, and it was just the audio. I didn't need the video. And so I'm not comfortable doing this while you're driving. Why not? Why not? People have conversations while they're driving all the time. Were you even outlawed or not? But it just. The whole thing drives me nuts.

[C]

I just really enjoy the guy's Detroit slash Chicago accent. It reminded me of my childhood. The judge's accent played the very beginning of it. Michael, what are you doing?

[E]

Come on.

[F]

I'm not driving.

[C]

What are you doing? Come on.

[F]

In a car.

[C]

Go Bears.

[A]

I don't understand why she couldn't do that. Zoom call. But lying to the judge is a terrible idea.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Stupid. Sorry. We're on the left.

[A]

I'm on the left side of the car. That's the driver's side.

[C]

Wait a minute. I meant. Right. Wait a minute. Look at your seatbelt.

[A]

And then she goes, I've been sitting in a room all day. What?

[C]

Yeah, I know.

[A]

Again. Third degree dumbassery. I'm thinking. I'm thinking. Whatever her crime was is one of many dumb things she's done throughout her life. Okay, we got more on the way. I hope you can stay here. If you missed a second, make it to podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[D]

Armstrong and Getty, they want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat.

[A]

That's Trump yesterday saying Iran has been beat to Kaka and that they want to make a deal. I don't know if they actually do want to make a deal or not. That remains to be seen. There is some news around that whole thing because there was a big deadline looming tomorrow morning. Was is the key word. We'll talk. Tell you about that in a second. But this conversation happened yesterday. Did the CIA tell you that Ayatollah junior Is gay?

[D]

Well, they did say that, but I don't know if it was only them. I think a lot of people are saying that, which puts them off to a bad start in that particular country. You know, I sort of have to smile to myself when I say I see people trying to defend the Palestinian regime for women, women for Palestine, but they kill women. If you don't wear a certain group of. If you don't wear certain cloth all over your face, you have no chance of living. And you know, when I look at gays for Palestine, but they kill gays. They kill him instantly. They throw them off buildings. And I'm saying, who are the gays for Palestine?

[A]

It's a good question.

[C]

Wow. So he. Nobody's explained or he hasn't retained the whole intersectional neo Marxist thing to him. The permanent Omni cause.

[A]

So the update is that so Trump originally gave Iran 48 hours or we're going to obliterate your energy infrastructure. Monday at 6:45pm that was several days ago. Then he said five days, which the deadline was going to be tomorrow morning. And now he put out a statement last night as per the Iranian government request. Please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing. The period of energy plant destruction. That's a heck of a phrase. Energy plant destruction by 10 days to Monday, April 6, 2026 at 8:00pm Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the fake news media and others, they are going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter. So he has put a very firm deadline on that. Ian Bremmer says the date coincides with all troops that are expected to be in the Persian Gulf by that time.

[C]

Right.

[A]

Not a coincidence.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. We don't need to over analyze this, but the whole Wiping out the energy infrastructure thing, I know, is a super controversial deal among our allies in a way that, like, wiping out 2,000 more military targets is. Not everybody's in favor of that or even taking Carg island or what have you, but we'll have to see. There's some hardcore bargaining going on. But I don't see the, the death cultists coming around. They might pretend to, but I think Trump's hip to that at this point. Well, in the one seed, they're so incredibly dishonest.

[A]

In the one seed against the 150th seed. USA versus Iran. I like USA's chances on my bracket, and I, I picked the Americans in that one, which is my transition to talking about gambling and March Madness. So a lot of news outlets have been talking about our gambling situation in America now, because March Madness is the biggest point of every. Every year, along with the super bowl, when people gamble a lot of money. So they put out a lot of scary numbers about how many billions of dollars we spend on gambling in this country. Now, part of that's a little misleading because it all used to be under the table and illegal. So you didn't know the number. Now you know the number because it's legal. That doesn't necessarily mean there's more gambling going on. It's just more easily counted. But anyway, somebody made the point the other day, and I thought it was really good. They were hitting the number and I think it was 170 billion. But whatever. It was $170 billion Americans spent on gambling this year and oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God. And then somebody pointed out that's roughly the amount we spend on our pets every year. And nobody seems to think that's a crisis. I mean, the crisis with gambling is lots of people spending money they don't have. And what's that going to do? Income inequality and blah, blah, blah. Well, if we're spending the same amount of money on pets, there's plenty of people spending money on their pets. They probably don't have either, so what's the difference, really?

[C]

Yeah, as a guy who hangs around a lot of guys who are into sports, I think there's a lot more gambling than there used to be. I think it's grown a great deal. But again, it was tough to get those numbers in the past. But in the past, you had to know a bookie and have access to them. Now you just need a cell phone.

[A]

But the point of, if we're spending that much money on pets or, you know, you could come up with a whole bunch of other examples. George Will was always big on this. Throughout my whole life of reading George Will, whenever we talk about money in politics, they'd say, Americans spent this billion dollars on, you know, trying to convince politicians to do anything. And he'd say, americans spent twice that much money on video games last year. And we don't seem to think that's an overwhelming problem, you know, which is. Which is a pretty good angle, I think.

[C]

Well, and in, in a nation of 340 million people, you can assemble an enormous number, you know, and then that's the amount Americans spend on shoelaces.

[A]

Right. So. But if you hit me with a big number, that doesn't necessarily mean that's a crisis basis, I guess, is the point.

[C]

Right. And another point that you've been hammering on through the years is that, you know, all these discussions about affordability and inflation is a biatch. In the last couple of years, it's miserable. One of my many jihads is to help people understand what inflation is, where it comes from, and how evil it is. But at the same time, you frequently mention people buying a $9 milkshake at Starbucks every single day. You know, that sort of thing. And, you know, teach their own, but

[A]

absolutely teach your own as long as you don't get to age 65 or whenever and ask for some of my tax money.

[C]

Right, it does.

[A]

You can't have both if you don't. If you don't get to claim. But I. I deserve a dignified retirement and I got no money left. And you were gambling and taking your pet to. What was you were going to tell us about doggy spas or whatever?

[F]

Sure.

[C]

Manicures, haircuts and doggy daycare. Yeah, yeah. Consumers have plenty of cash to pay for all kinds of services, but rising prices are feeding into sticky inflation. And the article is actually about inflation, but they mentioned that Camp Bow Wow in downtown Nashville, a dog daycare, Good

[A]

name for a dog daycare. Camp Bow Wow. I like that.

[C]

Pretty strong. Yeah. In January raised its daily rate to $36 from $33, which is a 9% increase. Instead of losing customers, though, the Nashville location of Camp Bow Wow recently broke its daily record by hosting 206 dogs. Owner said, I don't think anybody even complained.

[A]

So you send your dog, like if you got a dog that doesn't listen or is disobedient or it's on the wrong path or hanging out the wrong kind of dog, you send it to Camp Bow Wow and they do the scared straight thing. Is that what's going on at Camp Bow Wow. It's like a military school.

[C]

Working out marches through the woods, that sort of thing. No, it's doggy daycare, which is funny. The pet craze, the dog craze, especially in America, where everybody's got a dog and they bring it everywhere with them. And when they go to work, they spend $36 a day, which if you're working a five day week is obviously $175 a week. So your dog doesn't just lay around and sleep in your living room. It's interesting the. If you look at the historic changes in spending patterns, go ahead, knock yourself out.

[A]

Do not care at all. Unless you're on some sort of government program for food for your kid because you say he got enough money for this or that, can't have both.

[C]

Robust spending is driving up prices of services from health care to haircuts Dynamics. Use me. That's now taking center stage in the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation.

[A]

Half the country doesn't pay federal income taxes. So there should be. Yeah, if you go to the doggy daycare, you gotta do you pay any taxes? You do. Okay, well then you can spend some of your hardened money on the doggy daycare if you want. If you don't, sorry, you got, you can't do that. I'm not allowing you. Because I pay taxes.

[C]

And this is such a great description of how inflation works. At the downtown Camp Bow Wow in Nashville, higher prices went straight into pay raises for the facilities. Two dozen employees who couldn't afford the things that they need. We can't afford to lose our staff. High cost of groceries, gas and rent in the Nashville area meant many employees struggle to make ends meet, et cetera, et cetera. Workers overseeing hordes of dogs now make up 17. Make $17 per hour, up from 15, et cetera. And the prices just keep spiraling upward because the Biden administration pumped so much money into the economy. Anyway, that's enough of that.

[A]

Yeah, and we're going to get hit with a big inflation number I think here soon.

[C]

Speaking of finances and tax, I found this interesting. You know, great piece. The Democrats are on a taxing binge and it gives a bunch of examples of big tax increases all over the country, from California to Washington state. Well, it's, it's all the blue states. New York. Even though, where is that figure? Tax revenue across the 50 United States between 2019 and 2025 increased 43%. Now, of course, Jack is the patron saint of adjusting for inflation. We will do that. Tax revenue increased more than twice as much as inflation during those six years. But Democrats and their public union allies want more. Much more.

[F]

Wow.

[A]

Twice inflation.

[C]

Yeah. A lot of the tax increases are being driven by the public employee unions. Here's another article from the Wall Street Journal. Red and blue states are growing further apart on income tax, and they have the 50 United States laid out and the trend line in income tax. And all the red states. There are a few red states that are holding steady, but virtually all the red states are trending down in income tax and virtually all of the blue states. Excuse me, are trending up. Blue states are getting bluer. Red states are getting redder in terms of tax policy.

[A]

Not surprising.

[C]

And finally this Gavin Newsom the other day was claiming that Texas and Florida are the real high tax states picked apart by experts. His claim, totally flawed. When you look at California as a whole, it is one of the highest tax states in the nation, says the expert. Uh, let's see. Newsom posted on X. Texas. Texas and California are the real high tax states. He was explaining on stage at south by Southwest. Shut up. I want to see a band that California has the most progressive tax rates in America. Your middle class pays more in Texas than our middle class in California. Newsom said. In Texas, it's a great mythology. It's just the richest of the rich come here because they can avoid paying a damned penny.

[A]

Oh, geez.

[C]

Which got pushback from Just Facts President James Agresti, who said he looked into a number of different angles to determine the validity of the claim. I looked at how much each tax each state is taxing each of its citizens on average. So if you look at California, it's about $10,000 a year in taxes for everyone in the state, whereas the figures for Texas and Florida are only about $5,000, or about half as much if you look at all forms of taxation. However, California is a higher income state. So I also looked at it as a percentage of the state's economies. And what I found is that California taxes about 14% of its economy, as opposed to 9% for Texas and Florida. So this is one of the most thorough breakdowns I've ever seen. So, strangely, surprisingly, Gabby lied again, combining both stories.

[A]

Before we go to break, pet owners might be able to snag a $1,000 dog credit this tax season to help pay for food and other necessities because there's some sort of tax. So we're doing like we used to do for kids. But people stopped having kids. So you don't give a tax credit for kids anymore. Now you gotta do it for dogs.

[C]

So we're gonna buy their votes by giving them a tax credit because they have a dog. Democracy worked for a while.

[A]

See, the theory is children benefit society, so you'd want to encourage that sort of thing, not discourage it. How did people owning dogs benefit society? I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

[C]

And you want to help families in general stay together and prosper, but, yeah, I don't.

[A]

That's just buying votes anyway. That idea of everybody having to do some sort of service when they get out of high school, that was a Gavin Newsome idea. He's going to run for president on among other things. I do want to bring that up at some point. Stick around. Armstrong and Getty.

[C]

I like funk. I just can't listen to it for too long.

[A]

Southwest Airlines is implementing their new fat tax. Oh, that's what the larger community is calling it. The actual name of Southwest Airlines policy is their customer of size policy. Customer of size, fat. So what they're doing now is you get to the airport and somebody, like, sees you coming and thinks, oh, boy, she is. When she sits around the house. She sits around the house.

[C]

Oh, hey, no, I'm not. No, schoolyard taunts will not be a part of this discussion, or I'm leaving.

[A]

This is.

[C]

I will leave.

[A]

This is what the critics are saying. And you agree with the critics, and they're being profiled for that. That's exactly what is happening. What I just described. They're seeing somebody coming that they think is really, really big. And they think, okay, we got to pull this person aside and measure them. And it's being called profiling by people who. Who don't like it. This article in SF Gate, Kerry McCaw was flying. And I'm sure Kerry McCaw is thinking, oh, hey, thanks for making my name the first words in the article about someone too big to sit in one seat. Thanks. Appreciate it. And you kind of come off in the article as being on my side of this, but. But thanks for calling me out to everyone.

[C]

Well, part of the. Part of it is that all these people are posting it online saying, look what happened to me. This is insane.

[A]

So Kerry McCaw is flying with coworkers to Vegas. When Southwest Airlines employees stopped her at the ticket counter, the agent's message was clear. Either buy a second seat for yourself or don't fly. She was in violation of Southwest's popular. It says here customer of size policy. And flyers have taken to social media to share the frustrations. Flyers report that customer service agents have singled them out for their appearance.

[C]

Well, yeah, well, in a way.

[A]

And forced them to buy another seat to be accommodated. Well, it's because you take up two seats. Some people take up two seats.

[C]

More than one anyway. Yeah.

[A]

Although. Are you suggesting somebody saving up three seats?

[C]

Well, no, I'm just saying they don't entirely take up two seats per se.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[C]

It's like one seat plus four inches on either side.

[A]

You're suggesting an entire row.

[C]

Now if they do that to me though, and they probably won't. I'm not that heavy. But you're not even close. Well, I, I demand like a super luxurious wide double seat. You know, you gotta wheel in the super like the throne for me with the armrests way far apart. You're gonna make me pay for two seats? I'm not sitting in the hump in the middle. I want a big wide seat.

[A]

Ms. McCall woman said she felt profiled at the gate because of her size. Yes, of course you were. That's exactly what they're doing.

[C]

God, the modern world where it's profiling and everybody says, oh, I've been taught that's a bad word. So it must be bad because he used a word that is bad. So you all come to people can't reason.

[A]

So in her world this would be like the stupid thing we do around terrorism where you, in theory you're supposed to treat the 95 year old white is a sheet of paper grandma. The same way as a 20 year old guy that looks like he's from

[C]

the middle east, Angry looking Muslim with a big beard angrily muttering verses from the Quran. Yes, you treat those two people exactly the same.

[A]

So she thinks they're supposed to measure everyone. The, you know, the, the, the high school girl whose hips are like nine inches wide. You have to measure her same number of times you measure the other people. Otherwise you're profiling.

[C]

It's literally your profile. So yes, it's, it's profile.

[A]

I was embarrassed. I was upset. You just made this arbitrary look at my body. Well, arbitrary. I did it specifically to see if you're the size to fit in the seat. Not arbitrary. I don't in any way. She makes the argument that she fits in the seat and blah, blah, blah. And I assume they got to work that out where they measure you and determine whether or not you can fit in the seat or not.

[C]

One of the videos included a big dude saying, I fly weekly and I fit into my seat just fine. And I'm like, no, you don't.

[A]

Yeah, see, see the thing? They're looking at the backwards. Completely backwards. It's not the. They should have to pay for two seats as much as is. I paid full price for the seat and I am incredibly uncomfortable because this person has taken up half of my seat. That's the thing. There it is.

[C]

Right? Yeah. And look, I'm not gonna mock anybody or be mean to anybody or anything, but you're paying per seat and you're taking my seat.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

It seems pretty obvious to me.

[C]

Yeah. Any nice if they can come up with a non hurtful way to do that? Right. Public weighing maybe. So there's no arguments. Probably not. No. That's. I retract that idea.

[A]

Wow. Armstrong and Getty.