You Are Soft On Awfulness

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand – “You Are Soft On Awfulness”

Date: February 12, 2026
Hosts: Jack Armstrong, Joe Getty, Michael
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Armstrong & Getty wade into the tumultuous headlines surrounding the ongoing fallout of the "Epstein files" in both the U.S. and U.K., the political theater involved, and media narratives. The hosts offer a skeptical look at the enduring conspiracy theories, highlighting evidence (or lack thereof) and media cynicism. After this extended segment, they pivot sharply to lighter and sometimes quirky discussions about pies at hardware stores, before tackling serious recent news of a Canadian school shooting involving a transgender perpetrator and broader commentary on gender transition and youth. Other topics touched on include Olympic scandals, anti-drone technology at airports, and odd dining experiences.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The “Epstein Files” Political Circus

• Pam Bondi Hearing (“Verbal Judo”) – The episode opens with clips and reenactments from an intense Congressional hearing featuring former AG Pam Bondi, who is grilled by Democrats about Epstein’s crimes and the government’s failure to prosecute key figures. The exchange quickly devolves into personal attacks and grandstanding (00:28–05:00).
• Both parties implicated:
  • Michael: “This information has been around for a very long time. Both parties have had the opportunity to take a look at this...when they controlled every branch of government and they didn't, for whatever reason.” (01:48)
  • Jack Armstrong: “I think the whole Epstein thing is a treasure map in which the treasure doesn't exist and both sides pretend the other side is intent on hiding the...reverse treasure which is...a scandal that will bring them down.” (02:53)
• Skepticism on Actual Scandal:
  • Citing a Barton Swaim piece from The Wall Street Journal, the hosts summarize how multiple federal investigations have found no evidence of a blackmail ring or trafficking conspiracy as often claimed. (06:47–11:55)
  • Michael: “They found no evidence in Epstein's residences and bank accounts of a trafficking ring or sex videos supposedly used for blackmail. This finding has the force of cogency...contradicting...the earlier conspiratorial claims.” (06:47)
• Why Conspiracies Persist:
  • Jack Armstrong: “The reason this keeps going the way it is is it's fuel for whatever fire you're intent on spreading. ...Again, the pot of gold is empty. All it is is Assorted Pervo and his networking.” (10:39)
• On the futility of further debate:
  • “If you're not satisfied by that, there is no satisfying you. And I'm through. I'm done with the discussion...There's no point in continuing this.” – Jack Armstrong (11:55)

2. Skeptical Take on Media Narratives

• Critique of sensationalist news coverage and partisan showmanship, as seen in the Epstein/Bondi hearing and continued speculation despite substantial investigative memos clearing widespread wrongdoing.
• Michael: “[Virginia Giuffre] just is unreliable as a witness...and she's all kinds of damage. That's how she ended up in that situation. And then taking advantage of what predators look for.” (08:55)
• Joe Getty: Remarks on anti-misinformation crusaders ignoring wild Epstein conspiracy claims made by both left and right (09:48).

3. Quick Pivots: Pies at Hardware Stores

• Suddenly shifting gears, the hosts share lighthearted amazement and bewilderment over the proliferation of homemade-style pies at Ace Hardware stores. This spirals into a string of jokes about hardware stores diversifying into baked goods, seafood boils at auto parts stores, and the concept of “impulse pie buyers.” (13:18–16:17)

4. Serious Topics: Gender, Trans Issues, and Mass Shootings

• Canadian School Shooting:
  • A tragic shooting incident in Tumbler Ridge, Canada, allegedly perpetrated by a transgender teenager with a long history of mental health issues. Discussion on rising cases where shooters have transgender identities, and whether media/national dialogue is avoiding obvious questions out of political correctness. (18:07–21:34)
  • New terminology: “gun person” replaces “gunman” on Canadian news broadcasts, leading to a brief aside on language and wokeness. (23:25–24:33)
• Youth Gender Transitions and Regret
  • The hosts read extensively from an opinion piece by Soren Eldako (Wall Street Journal), a young adult suing providers over gender transition procedures undertaken as a minor and their negative aftereffects, framing it as a warning about affirming approaches and coming malpractice lawsuits. (24:33–29:09)
  • Jack Armstrong: “You're mutilating confused adolescents with experimental sex change surgeries — yeah, sometimes they go terribly wrong. It's probably worth considering.” (24:33)

5. Olympic Drama: Love & Regret

• Coverage of Norwegian biathlete Sterla Holm Lagrid’s on-air Olympic apology for infidelity—a moment hosts deride as narcissistic and self-indulgent, dragging private heartbreak into public medal ceremonies. (31:02–31:53)
• Katie: “This is a narcissist at its finest. The love of my life. Then don't cheat on her. How about that?” (31:22)

6. El Paso Airport Anti-Drone Snafu

• Anecdote about the Trump administration’s Customs & Border Protection deploying an anti-drone laser and accidentally shutting down El Paso airport after shooting down a misidentified birthday balloon. The hosts riff on the chaos and lack of mature decision-making. (32:49–34:19)
• Jack Armstrong: “Anti-drone technology as it exists right now is really problematic around airports. And the evildoers probably know that.” (34:20)

7. Lighter Closer: Smelly Restaurant Mishap

• Michael describes dining at a new restaurant with his sons only to find the smell reminiscent of a porta-potty, ultimately attributing it to cultural differences in cuisine—ending the episode on an amused but perplexed note. (34:31–end)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Congressional Grandstanding:

  • Jack Armstrong: “You're a washed up loser lawyer. You're not even a lawyer.” (03:26)
  • Pam Bondi (as quoted): “You don't tell me.” (00:54; 03:43)

• On Fake Scandals & Media Fuel:

  • Jack Armstrong: “The reason this keeps going the way it is is it's fuel for whatever fire you're intent on spreading. ...Again, the pot of gold is empty.” (10:39)

• On Trying to Have Rational Dialogue:

  • Jack Armstrong: “If you're not satisfied by all that evidence from every direction...there is no satisfying you. ...I'm done with the discussion.” (11:55)

• On the Transgender Mass Shooter Media Blackout:

  • Jack Armstrong: “Let’s admit it, believing you’re the opposite of your biological sex is simply not a normal or neutral position. It’s quite likely often a sign of some kind of psychological distress…” (21:10)

• On Language Shifts:

  • Michael: “Our executive producer... picked up one broadcast in which they said the gun person, which was the first time any of us had ever heard that term, instead of gunman...” (23:25)

• On Gender Transitions in Youth:

  • Soren Eldako (reading her piece): “There’s no way to be born in the wrong body at all.” (27:49, paraphrased by hosts)

• Pie at the Hardware Store:

  • Michael: “Are they gonna start selling socket sets at the pie store now?” (14:17)
  • Jack Armstrong: “Impulse pie buyer. ...I'm not against it, I'm just flabbergasted by it.” (15:19)

• Airport Chaos:

  • Jack Armstrong: “...the Customs and Border Protection blasted this birthday balloon out of the sky, the FAA was so pissed off, they said, we're closing the airport in nearby airspace for 10 days. Which are maniacs. Yeah, yeah, yeah.” (33:57)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Epstein Files hearing, partisan posturing – 00:28–05:00
• Political/media criticism, Wall Street Journal excerpts – 06:47–11:55
• Pie at the Hardware Store segment – 13:18–16:17
• Canadian transgender shooter discussion – 18:07–21:34
• Youth de-transition lawsuit, broader gender dysphoria commentary – 24:33–29:09
• Olympic heartbreak confessional – 31:02–31:53
• El Paso airport/anti-drone laser incident – 32:49–34:19
• Stinky restaurant cultural mishap – 34:31–end

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Tone & Style

• Tone: Sardonic, irreverent, quick-paced; a blend of skepticism, humor, outrage, and earnest concern—especially with hot-button social issues.
• Language: Reflects the hosts’ conversational, occasionally exasperated, and analytical style, swinging swiftly between serious news commentary, pop culture mockery, and personal anecdote.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode is a microcosm of Armstrong & Getty’s particular brand of news analysis and commentary: ambivalent toward both political parties’ grandstanding, contemptuous of unexamined conspiracy theories, and deeply skeptical of the media’s priorities. The episode mixes heavy news—political hearings, questions of justice and rumor— with offbeat humor (e.g., pies at hardware stores) and emotional topics (gender dysphoria, mass shootings). New listeners should expect quick pivots, unvarnished opinions, with both moments of real empathy and biting wit.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.

[Show Announcer]

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

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

Whoa, I thought you were hiding from us, Chairman.

[Joe Getty]

You're one of the worst attorney generals in our history.

[Michael]

Verbal judo. Pam Bondi occupied the witness chair.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

I'm grateful for the opportunity to answer.

[Michael]

Your questions, but one man consumed the minds of Democrats.

[Joe Getty]

The monstrous crimes of Epstein.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

The Epstein files.

[Jack Armstrong]

Jeffrey Epstein's horrific abuse, raucous spectacle was.

[Michael]

Five hours of sustained sniping.

[Joe Getty]

I told you about that Attorney General before you started.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

You don't tell me.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

Lawyer. Not even a lawyer.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow. Wow.

[Michael]

I am not enough of a partisan to be able to pick a side and get any joy out of this. I hated that all the way around, the Democrats talking to Pam Bondi about the Epstein files. They had a bunch of the, the women who are victims of Epstein sitting right behind her and at one point said to Pam Bondi, will you turn around and apologize for not prosecuting any of the men? And no, I'm not going to turn around those kind of stunts. Come on, can we, can we grow up here?

[Jack Armstrong]

And then especially given the fact that they had both houses in the White House for years and years and did not die. It's just so nakedly phony.

[Michael]

I wish any national newscast would, would, would throw that in. This information has been around for a very long time. Both parties have had the opportunity to take a look at this or release it at various points when they controlled every branch of government and they didn't, for whatever reason. So I had one more point on that. Oh, we ought to get to that Wall Street Journal piece that's so good about all of this. But if you've been following this at all, you know, it started with Dan Bongino and Bondi were out there before they were in the Trump administration talking about what the Epstein files were just gonna just destroy the Democrats and why are they hiding this from us? And we need to, we need to win. Trump needs to win. We need to get in office so we can release this stuff. And then somehow it all got flipped around once they got in office. Bongino to the point that finally then leaving the Trump administration so he can go back into the private sector. I mean, Pam Bomby is the one who said, I have the list on my desk that, you know, that didn't help anything.

[Jack Armstrong]

He supposed list it's just, it's in my opinion, as I've made pretty clear, I think the whole Epstein thing is a treasure map in which the treasure doesn't exist and both sides pretend the other side is intent on hiding the. The kind of reverse treasure which is, you know, a scandal that will bring them down.

[Michael]

As I'm looking up, and it's the lead on a couple of your newscasts up there, pushing the Nancy Guthrie story.

[Jack Armstrong]

Out of the lead.

[Michael]

Wow. So Pam Bondi is the Attorney General of the United States. The worst attorney general in our history. As you just heard in that little montage there.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're a washed up loser lawyer. You're not even a lawyer.

[Michael]

She is arguing with Jamie Raskin, Democrat. They're both good at arguing. So it gets exciting.

[Joe Getty]

You can let her filibuster all day long, but not on our watch, not on our time. No way. I told you about that Attorney General before you started.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

You don't tell me.

[Joe Getty]

No, I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate. Not even a lawyer teach you the rules again? You're the Attorney General of the United States.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

We have rules here with him.

[Joe Getty]

You're the Attorney General, United States.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

With Donald Trump. You have Trump derangement syndrome.

[Michael]

So that's true.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, yeah, but Jamie Raskin's awful. Just awful.

[Michael]

Well, or he realizes the moment we're in, I guess, and is betraying his.

[Jack Armstrong]

Country to exploit it like a clown. That's awful.

[Michael]

Well, yes, I'm against it.

[Jack Armstrong]

I stand by my words.

[Michael]

I'm against it. I don't know if you get to stay in office. If you try to be, you know, a 1988 member of the House of Representatives or the Senate. I don't know if you get to stay in office.

[Jack Armstrong]

It sounds like you are soft on awfulness.

[Michael]

Which one of these. I don't know if I can handle both of them. Which one of these do we.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, come on. Go ahead.

[Michael]

Let's try the next one, Michael.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fight, fight, fight.

[Joe Getty]

You're in law enforcement. We've seen all kinds of evidence of crimes. And when we go over to the Department of Justice for the four computers, for every member of Congress, we see more evidence of crimes. Will you create a joint task force of the Department of Justice and governors and state attorney generals and district attorneys across the country to investigate the crimes that have taken place against these victims and more than a thousand like them? The DOJ is not doing its job. Will you create a task force with state and local law enforcement to make that happen?

[Jack Armstrong]

J can respond if she wants to.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

Thank you, Chairman. He called Chase Mulligan a wild goose chase and didn't even know who he was. He is a defendant in your own district who sprayed on girls, Mr. Chairman.

[Joe Getty]

Well you know what? If he were part of the absence investigation you wouldn't do anything about it.

[Pam Bondi (as quoted)]

Online chat rooms and committed sex portion yet he didn't even know in your tiny little district who he.

[Jack Armstrong]

Chairman, she's embarrassing you. This is your committee and she is embarrassing. The time of the gentleman has expired. If, if that was some other country I'd think man, are they dysfunctional. Yeah, how'd they get this screwed up?

[Michael]

Now I'm looking up at the TV Ian panel of ABC talking about how the Epstein files have roiled the government in England. The Prime Minister is likely in within the week to fall. This is just what pushed him over the edge. Though if you're not following the politics at all over there. Keir Stormer Starmer, the Prime Minister of Great Britain has a 13% approval rating.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sorry, 30.

[Michael]

30 would be you'd get lose your job, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

It's 13 man. They've got the complete vomiting disgust over both their parties thing going in Britain that some have in this country.

[Michael]

Let me read just a little bit from Barton Swaim in the Wall Street Journal today. The Jeffrey Epstein files were supposed to uncover the financiers sex trafficking and blackmail operation. They haven't they for the excellent reason that there was no such operation. Its non existence is ironically the main thing to emerge so far from the document dump. In the latest tranche released late this month in a memo from FBI investigators declaring that they found no evidence in Epstein's residences and bank accounts of a trafficking ring or sex videos supposedly used for blackmail. This finding has the force of cogency, you know, a story that holds together contradicting as it does the earlier conspiratorial claims of of Attorney General Pam Bondi who you were just hearing. FBI Director Cash Patel, Justice Department honchos Dan Bongino and others, in other words wanted to uncover a trafficking ring. Their investigators had to tell them the bad news. We've looked into all of this stuff and there isn't one.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Both parties over the course of years.

[Michael]

We mentioned this last hour, but it's worth mentioning again, another revealing document and you're not hearing about. You know, these news outlets are looking through all these documents. You haven't heard about this one. Another revealing document, this one highlighted by the independent journalist Michael tracy is an 86 page memo from back in December 2019. Who was president in 2019? That's right. Joe Biden was still president 2019. By prosecutors within Southern District of New York. The memo, intended to marshal evidence against Epstein associates, noted that Virginia Gurfrey, I never know how to pronounce her name. That poor woman that you've seen in all the pictures with Prince Andrew and all that stuff. And then she killed herself last year. The accuser primarily responsible for stories of a sex slave in blackmail ring. She's the poster child for it was in fact a fabulous and totally unreliable as a courtroom witness. That's a 90 page memo from the Southern District of New York back during the Biden administration. Yeah, she just is unreliable as a witness, you know, and she's all kinds of damage. That's how she ended up in that situation. And then taking advantage of what predators look for.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's right.

[Michael]

And then take advantage of more, which damaged her even more. Why isn't that like a lead piece of knowledge that everybody has of the Epstein files at this point? I mean if you, if you, if you do a big overarching version of the Epstein story, she's going to be in the first five seconds. Yes. And they looked into it, it sounds like at great length a particular law office in our judicial system that hated Republicans, certainly hated Trump. And they said we can't go with anything. She says, it's just, it's unfortunate but we can't.

[Jack Armstrong]

At the height of the post January 6th, Trump is Hitler. We'll never have another election in our lives. One of the most Democratic jurisdictions in the country said, nope, there's nothing there.

[Michael]

I got time for this next one because I think it's good. The Epstein's crime. Epstein's crimes were confined to himself and a few enablers, chiefly Ghislaine Maxwell. It was intolerable to influencers and politicos determined to attribute all bad things to the dark workings of cabals. Tucker Carlson conjectured that Epstein worked with the Mossad to blackmail its enemies. A bunch of radicals in the House, including Thomas Massie, Republican Ro Khanna, Democrat Jamie Raskin, Democrat, relentlessly speculate that Epstein serviced the rich and powerful and odious ways. These exhibitionists have yet to receive any criticism from the anti misinformation crowd. I love that. Remember, misinformation and even worse, disinformation is supposed to be what's going to bring down this nation, but you don't mind it. In this case there wasn't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Those examples are perfect. I was Just about to say the reason this keeps going the way it is is it's fuel for whatever fire you're intent on spreading. If it's down with the Jews, you'll say the Mossad is involved. If it's down with Democrats, you'll say it's a plot by the Democrats like Bongino and company were doing until they got power and realized there's nothing there. If you're Jamie Raskin in the fire you want to set as the Republicans or Epstein coddling pervs, that's perfect. Again, the pot of gold is empty. All it is is Assorted Pervo and his networking.

[Michael]

And then because I know people like this personally, if you're a lean toward the conspiracy theory, they're all the Trump, Clintons, Hollywood, they're all guilty. We're all. It's a giant network of power that is against us, and we need to keep fighting the good fight to unleash this. One more paragraph here. There was, in the end, no sex slave ring, no blackmail operation, no cameras recording dalliances for later use, no client list. Just a deeply sick and rich predator with a few enablers. That little piece is lost on the whole thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

And honestly, I wish everybody in America listened to this show for several reasons. But if they did, I would think, okay, that's our last word on the topic. Because those who are not satisfied by all of that evidence from every direction, I mean, as bipartisan as anything could possibly be, if you're not satisfied by that, there is no satisfying you. And I'm through. I'm done with the discussion. It's the discussion you walk away from saying, there's no point in continuing this.

[Michael]

Well, if everybody in the country listened to the show, my driver would be sitting out in front of my stretch Bentley, keeping it warm for 4 hours.

[Jack Armstrong]

Till I walk out of here. Because you demand it to be precisely 76 degrees.

[Michael]

And then when I get close to the Bentley, I would have somebody disrobe me, put a towel around my shoulders, and then I would get into the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Bentley like you're Freddie Mercury. I love that picture. He gets done with the show all sweaty, runs out to the limo. They put a towel over him, right?

[Michael]

Exactly. Oh, my God. We got some good stuff on AI and the declining birth rate. A really good explanation. Kind of different than anything I'd ever heard for the worldwide declining birth rate. Bunch of stuff. I hope you can stay here.

[Pie Reviewer]

Armstrong and Getty, they sell pie at Ace Hardware. It's like the autozone seafood boil, but even better. BlackBerry Apricot, BlackBerry, blueberry. I'm going to go strawberry rhubarb. I've had many a strawberry rhubarb pie in my life and this one has a perfect amount of tang and the texture is almost like pudding. I'm at a loss for words. This is probably one of the best pies I've had. Go to Ace Hardware, I guess and get your pie.

[Michael]

I like tang myself, so my Ace Hardware sells pies. Yes, and I, I didn't know that. They all did. I didn't know it was a chain thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

Completely unaware of this.

[Michael]

Yeah, mine does. And I've always said that's kind of weird, but like right by where you check out, they got a, a freezer case full of. They look like home baked pies.

[Jack Armstrong]

Frozen.

[Michael]

You got to cook them for like an hour in the oven. It's not like a quick, you know, grab and go sort of pie, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

They'Re really idea was that and can I shake his hand?

[Michael]

They're really good. And strawberry rhubarb is one of my favorite all time pies.

[Jack Armstrong]

But yeah. Are they gonna start selling socket sets at the pie store now?

[Michael]

What was the autozone seafood something or other. I don't know. That one, Zotto Zone got live lobsters in a, in a thing by the checkout.

[Jack Armstrong]

And it'll be $8.50 for your air filter. Would you like a nice bowl of ciopino?

[Michael]

I need a new car battery. And that lobster there, because that one looks delicious. Yes, Katie. Yeah, apparently autozone sells seafood boils in like a bag. So it has like the crab and horse.

[Jack Armstrong]

Stay in your lane. He says somewhat ironically.

[Michael]

Wow, who's I?

[Jack Armstrong]

Seriously? You know what we need to jazz up our hardware business is the selling of baked goods.

[Michael]

Well, if you had the scones at Famous Footwear, they're fantastic.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's just Dodd.

[Michael]

Yeah. A lot of people who do kind of home projects, construction stuff, going to the hardware place. Kind of person that's going to eat a pie on a whim, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Impulse pie buyer. So you got your two befores, you got your screws, you got your drill bits, you got a couple rolls of duct tape. And the nice lady at the register says to you, were you able to find everything? You say, yeah, but I really gotta hanker in for pie. And that just happens so many times. They decided I'm not against it, I'm just flabbergasted by it.

[Michael]

Yeah, I couldn't find an apple pie, frozen apple pie the size of an NFL football. Do you have those? Oh, yeah, we do. Right over there at Ace Hardware, they have people who can help you and answer questions that are. It's just fantastic. I've never compared prices. I just buy my stuff and leave. But it's worth something to have somebody there can actually answer a question for you, whether it's where do I find this? Or how do you use this? Whereas some of your bigger locations. Giant. Great. Practically a depot for home construction stuff. Hmm.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm intrigued by this idea.

[Michael]

There's not an employee to talk to anywhere.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, indeed. You know, speaking of your. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Attitude toward hardware, Jack, the super rich are turning their houses into fortresses. We'll tell you about that in a little bit. Also, a very serious and important gender bending madness update coming up in just a few minutes.

[Michael]

Well, if I have to pay 6 cents for these two screws, as opposed.

[Jack Armstrong]

To 4 cents, I'll just call the ultra rich. Listen to him lording his wealth over the rest of us.

[Michael]

Some of my purchases at hardware stores are shockingly small.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, King Midas, whatever.

[Michael]

Something you need so bad you got to drive all the way there and talk to somebody. Everything like that. And then the total bill is like A$80. It's always surprising to me.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Because I need a washer this size. Yeah.

[Michael]

We got gender bending madness. We got AI Is about to take over the world. Another one of those stories. You'll love that. If you missed a segment, get the podcast. Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Michael]

This AI Story. Maybe I'll get to it next hour. It's a guy who's been building a variety of AI things for the last six years, living in that world, and says we're in a. Basically right at the beginning, beginning of COVID phase with AI Remember when it first started and you're like, oh, is this going to be that big a deal? I feel like people are over. Nah. Now all of a sudden, the world changed.

[Jack Armstrong]

Chilling comparison.

[Michael]

Yeah, it really is.

[Jack Armstrong]

Plus an explanation of the whole El Paso airport closing thing. Turns out the Trump administration, as it is in many things, is so anti Biden, they'll shoot at anything in the sky, in contrast to letting a known Chinese spy balloon spy away for weeks. Anyway, the El Paso explanation coming up right now, though, it is an unusually serious and important gender bending madness update.

[Michael]

So I kept hearing about this thing called.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're locos.

[Michael]

We're in a brave new world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Must drop the disco music down, Michael, because this Is serious stuff. There was an absolutely horrific school shooting in Canada the other day in which at least eight innocents were killed, including little children. And the shooter was once again a transgender person. Dwayne. Oh, I'm sorry, what is his actual first name? Jesse Van Root Soler, A biological male who approximately six years ago began to transition to female and identify as female. He was known to have mental health problems through the years. Initial reports on CNN sounded like this.

[Mountie (Canadian Police Officer)]

New details about a deadly mass shooting in a small, tight knit community in Tumbler Ridge, Canada. Mobile phone messages warned of an active shooter, describing the suspect as a woman wearing a dress with brown hair. Police say a long gun and a modified handgun were used and disclosed that authorities were called to the suspect's home several times for mental health emergencies and firearms offenses.

[Jack Armstrong]

That was actually fairly responsible, as reports go, because that was the initial report, but everybody knew by then that it was a confused transgender teenager, 18 years old. And as. Who is this?

[Michael]

It's amazing how often it is someone that cops have been to their house many times.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. As Bethany Mandel writes in the New York Post, another mass shooting, another devastated community. And once again, elites in the media, class and public officials are so terrified of offending that they don't ask, ask, don't dare ask the obvious question. Why are so many of the most horrifying attacks carried out by people who identify as trans? And they go through the Nashville transgender identified shooter murdered six people at a Christian school in Minneapolis. Another attacker with documented gender identity turmoil targeted a church. The alleged murder of Charlie Kirk had transgender boyfriend and believed in was a hardcore transgender activist type. But the media insist that violence by mentally ill people and their transgender identity is mere coincidence. Critics are bullied into silence and warned not to stigmatize. Questioning is dangerous, cruel, it's bigotry. Exploring whether transgender identity may signal deeper psychological distress is forbidden. Professionals who dare to raise concerns are threatened with loss of their licenses, reputation, professional reputation, livelihood. The dogma has consequences, as another community has learned the hard way. Let's admit it, believing you're the opposite of your biological sex is simply not a normal or neutral position. It's quite likely often a sign of some kind of psychological distress, perhaps accompanied by depression, disassociation, autism spectrum disorders, self harm, suicidal ideation and extreme social ideation. That doesn't mean every person with gender dysphoria is violent or even deeply sick. But it does mean that when young people are spiraling, we shouldn't ignore the signs or worse, affirm their delusions. Alas, mental health professionals insist we do just that.

[Michael]

God. I assume that a lot of us, if our teenager came to us and said, hey, I think I'm a boy, or, I think I'm a girl, different than what they have been living as their whole lives, my first thought would be, you know, what else? What. What other issues do we have going on here now? Oh, okay, cool. Well, let's get started on the transitioning, because I'm sure everything is perfectly okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, exactly. You wouldn't think, oh, my gosh, this is gender dysphoria. You'd think, oh, my gosh, what psychological problems, maladies, challenges are we dealing with that has led to this? It's a symptom. It's not a cause.

[Michael]

Well, and it's one week after the first successful lawsuit against a doctor and a psychologist by somebody who was encouraged to transition, who then became an adult, said, you shouldn't have done that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, I've got some new stuff on that very front. Yeah. I wanted to mention this real quickly, and we can dig into this more, but this sort of thing is going to be happening more and more and more. The office of Pierce County Sheriff. This is in Oregon. Keith Swank in the Puyallup. I'm sorry, it's Washington state. Puyallup School District confirmed Tuesday they're conducting an investigation into alleged sexual assault against a female Puyallup High School wrestler. She reported the alleged assault to school officials and her coach, but the family contends administration failed to take meaningful action to protect and investigate her claims of sexual assault. She was wrestling somebody who was presenting themselves as a female wrestler who was a biological male. And, you know, what happened was definitely sexual assault, if it was anywhere close to intentional, but she had no idea it was a biological male at the time. Anyway, that case will, I'm sure, you know, play out well.

[Michael]

Our executive producer Hanson, was following this shooting right. When it happened yesterday and picked up one broadcast in which they said the gun person, which was the first time any of us had ever heard that term, instead of gunman, the gun person.

[Jack Armstrong]

Actually, this is an MP a Mountie, clip 52. Michael, go ahead and roll out.

[Joe Getty]

The other questions were just to clarify the number.

[Jack Armstrong]

There were eight people in total found deceased.

[Joe Getty]

Is that correct? So we have nine total people deceased. We found eight in Tumblr Ridge in two locations, and then another was deceased during ambulatory transport to the clinic.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Joe Getty]

And none of those people are the gun person. That includes the deceased gun person. Okay.

[Michael]

When did gun. Now. Did they maybe in Canada, they've moved on from mailman to mail carrier and fireman to fire. What do we call people? Fire.

[Jack Armstrong]

Fire people. Firefighters.

[Michael]

Firefighters. Maybe they did that a long time ago with gunmen. I don't know. But that's the first time I've heard gun person.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, because it was a gunman. And they didn't want to say that because they are so far down the woke highway in Canada. But all of this is kind of a lead up to what I wanted to get to. And this is so. It's so painful because it's so typical and so obvious to a lot of us what I suffered being transgender. This is an opinion piece written by Soren Eldako in the Wall Street Journal. I'm suing the people who did this to me. And the Texas Supreme Court heard my case this week. When I was 11, I began identifying as transgender. I had gone down a rabbit hole of websites and niche online forums. There, I met a friend, an artist who was 14, whom I admired and looked up to. We both felt different, out of place in society. Born 10 years earlier, we would have been called tomboys. Instead, we writhed under the pressure of the quote, unquote female role. The Internet told us the logical conclusion of that struggle was to identify as boys. I come from a broken home, while my mother and stepfather have always loved me. My stepfather became severely disabled when I was three, leaving me feeling as though I had to raise myself. I eventually reached out to my biological father around a decade later, when he and my stepmother saw my distress and were told by a psychiatrist that this distress was related to my transgender identity, they began to consider the benefits of a affirming me in my transition. Too young to vote, too young to drink, I became immersed in the idea that hormones and surgeries would fix me. At the transgender support group I attended, most of the focus was on who was starting hormones and how it was going for them. I was envious. I wanted the same feeling of affirmation they had. Many of them were on hormones prescribed by a nurse practitioner who attended the group. When I was 17, I went with my stepmother to see that nurse practitioner who prescribed testosterone and estrogen blockers 30 minutes later. These hormones were one of the many medical interventions I pursued in my teens. At 19, I had top surgery, a euphemism for an elective double mastectomy. My surgeon made sure to facilitate my physical transitioning as much as possible, spoon feeding me talking points for insurance coverage. I donned rainbow hair, medical knee braces, and prescription compression socks to my surgery date. I was on more than 10 different medications when I went under the knife. Then she suffered major complications that her surgeon wouldn't see her for. She had to finally go to the emergency room. It was ugly, but kind of off the topic. Although you're mutilating confused adolescents with experimental sex change surgeries, yeah, sometimes they go terribly wrong. It's probably worth considering. But anyway, she writes, I made the decision to face who I really was without the medicine, without the hormones or additional surgeries. Six months after this experience, while taking classes at the University of Texas at Austin, I began to make sense of my transgender identity through the lens of human development, piecing together my turbulent family life and adolescent Internet habits, among other things, it dawned on me that I had never been born in the wrong body. There's no way to be born in the wrong body at all. Today, at 23, I'm giving myself the grace to understand my gifts and purpose. Through this journey of self exploration, I've come to realize how coercive gender identity ideology was for me. Disguising harm as compassion I also realized that sometimes the compassionate response is one that sets firm boundaries. When I sued my medical providers in 2023, holding the line between helping enabling was my aim. In Texas, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claim is generally two years from the date the malpractice occurred. Unfortunately, people agreed about whether malpractice refers to the action itself or the harm the action causes. She goes into legalese. I'd like to think that these days I'm realistic. I know how the law works. My case could still fail for reasons that have nothing to do with what happened to me. What I experienced at the hand of my nurse practitioner, therapist and surgery team was wrong. People like me deserve justice. I believe that God places burdens on people who can carry them, and I trust that whatever comes next will be made right in time. This young lady who is so mutilated uses the term transgender only in quotes. It is not a legitimate medical diagnosis, never has been. And as the editorialist in the New York Post points out, both our media and some of our woke medical associations ignore all of the mountain of evidence that's like made Europe go completely in the other direction. They just pretend it doesn't exist. It's terrible. You're going to see so many of these suits. Hundreds of them, maybe thousands of them. And as you've expressed, maybe that'll stop the experimentation on confused kids. I would assume it would highly troubling gender bending Madness. Update.

[Michael]

Speaking of operations, quickly, so Lindsay Vaughn, the celebrated skier who tried it one more time at age 42 with a torn ACL and crashed right away and broke bones, has had three operations since the weekend. And yesterday her quote was, I'm defining success in a completely different way than I was a couple of days ago. Which made me think, are you, like, in the how am I ever going to walk again?

[Jack Armstrong]

Or all that sort of stuff situation, or certainly when I will walk again. Did you see the apparatus that's holding her leg together?

[Michael]

No, it's.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's one of those post, you know, serious injury, you know, network of braces and pins and wires and stuff like that. It looks like, you know, the internals of a dirigible or something like that, holding your leg together.

[Michael]

They called it a complex fracture.

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you know what that is? Oh, you don't want that. No.

[Michael]

Three different surgeries already.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Yeah. Multiple breaks, displaced. Oh, God knows what else.

[Michael]

Wow. We have a little better Olympic stuff for you and lots of things to talk about, so stay here.

[Show Announcer]

Armstrong and Getty. Following his bronze medal finish in biathlon, Sterla Holm Lagrid made a tearful plea for forgiveness on live tv. Six months ago, I met the love of my life, he said, but then admitted that three months into the relationship, he cheated on her. The Norwegian biathlete got a response from his girlfriend. She wrote, it's hard to forgive even after a declaration of love in front of the whole world. Lagard said his girlfriend ended their relationship before the Games, but he hoped she would realize how much he loves her. The unnamed woman, thrown into an Olympic whirlwind, wrote, I did not choose to be put in this position, and it hurts to have to be caught up in it.

[Michael]

Winning the gold medal for heartbreak. Katie, you were shaking your head and rolling your eyes. What? What? Because this is a narcissist at its finest. The love of my life. Then don't cheat on her. How about that? And then he puts pressure on her by doing this whole dramatic thing at the Olympics. Spare me.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know? Or he's just really kind of flighty emotionally because he declare the love of his life three months in, cheats on her, then wins an Olympic medal and says, I can't enjoy this because I ruined my life, because I threw away the love of my life.

[Michael]

Decided to make that part of his big announcement to the world.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And then his teammate who got the gold's like, okay, now nobody has any questions for me. Everybody's asking you about your freaking love Life. Great. Thanks, buddy. I got a girlfriend.

[Michael]

I didn't cheat on her. So, two words.

[Joe Getty]

Run.

[Jack Armstrong]

Chicken. Yeah, he's a handsome devil, but yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Anyway, so perhaps you heard about the sudden and mysterious closing of the El Paso airport. It would appear the explanation is, as I mentioned earlier, that the Trump administration, certainly Customs and Border Patrol, is as anti Biden as it can be, which probably won't surprise you, given the policies. Whereas the Biden administration let a Chinese spy balloon that was known to be a Chinese spy balloon float over the country and gather all the data it wanted because of idiotic kindergarten level fears of shooting it down. The Trump administration will blast the bejesus out of anything in the air. They don't know what it is, including, as it turns out, a birthday balloon. It would seem that the Customs and Border Protection folks have been loaned an anti drone laser from the Department of.

[Michael]

Laser.

[Jack Armstrong]

A laser. And decided to deploy it against what they thought was a drone without giving aviation officials enough time to assess the risk to commercial aircraft close to an airport. Because the point of this thing is it brings down aircraft. And so the FAA essentially said. And all of this should be taken with a grain of salt. There's so many grains of salt these days. Those of us with high blood pressure are having trouble avoiding sodium because everything that everybody says is suspect. But anyway, allegedly, after the Customs and Border Protection blasted this birthday balloon out of the sky, the FAA was so pissed off, they said, we're closing the airport in nearby airspace for 10 days. Which are maniacs. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the administration then weighed in and said, whoa, whoa, whoa. Everybody calm down. You stop shooting lasers around airports. You open the damn airport. People need to get places. That's what it seems to be, man.

[Michael]

There's just a lack of grownups everywhere.

[Jack Armstrong]

True. Yes. Yeah. I'd also point out one final note on this. On the main story, then your tangent is absolutely true. Anti drone technology as it exists right now is really problematic around airports.

[Michael]

Sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

And the evildoers probably know that. So the what do we do about drones conundrum is going to be lasting the rest of our lives.

[Michael]

Getting a lot of texts wanting me to name the kind of restaurant that my boys and I walked into last night that smelled like an open sewer. And I just don't think I'm going to. I don't feel like it'll do me any good. It did turn out I didn't know what the restaurant was. It was brand new. It opened up, and as we approached the door, it smelled like a porta potty. And then I thought it was just somebody outside. And then we went in. It smelled like that in the restaurant. It was just a cultural difference, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Or could it be they used strong cleaning fluids that reminded you of the scent? Oh, the modern porta potty. Some of the pungent cooking smells mixed with it.

[Michael]

And my son was like, oh, my God. Well, we did have an au pair from this land for a while. And when this au pair would cook, it smelled similarly. So there is a certain area of the world that the cooking, to me, anyway, reminiscent of Armstrong and Getty. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.