← Armstrong & Getty On Demand
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- [00:02]
Jack Armstrong
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.
- [00:24]
Joe Getty
We heard from Zelensky suggesting the meeting.
- [00:26]
Jack Armstrong
Had been productive, that it would indeed.
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Joe Getty
Touch upon, it had indeed touched upon that rare earth minerals deal. Again, trying to suggest, I think Ukraine wants to move forward in finding a.
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Jack Armstrong
Compromise there as well.
- [00:37]
Joe Getty
And indeed they discussed some of the elements of peace here, potentially security guarantees, the return of prisoners of war.
- [00:43]
Jack Armstrong
US Special envoy Keith Kellogg meeting with Zelensky amid this blistering public feud. Ukraine insisting the meeting went well and a new deal over mineral resources is on the table. Zelensky saying Ukraine is ready for a just and lasting peace. A couple of reports there from CNN and ABC about the ongoing talks to end the war in Ukraine. References to some of the, to my mind, insane things Donald Trump has said recently. And we'll be getting to that in a moment. It's interesting in scanning some of the emails you good people have sent to mailbagarmstrongandgetti.com and feel free anytime, all sorts of people with different theories and, or, and, or psychoanalyses of Trump and is saying that Ukraine started the war and Zelensky couldn't, could have ended it and he's a dictator and unpopular and the rest of it. If you think of it from the goal of stopping the war, does it really matter how he gets to the goal? He'll play the villain or pit the sides against, against each other, whatever it takes to get the win. The rest is just noise. He reigns in chaos, stirring the pot in unexpected ways. It forces everyone out of their comfort zone, breaks down paralysis. That's, you know, that's pretty good thought or two from Ron. Thanks, Ron. Paulo. Oh, whoops. It's a different topic. This is Steve from Washington State. I fear you've both forgotten the number one maxim concerning Trump. Take him seriously. Not literally. I believe Trump is appalled at the human carnage. You see, Zelensky is having no leverage or utility in the upcoming negotiation with Putin. Being dismissive of Zelensky is useful in persuading Putin to come to the table. It's not personal, it's business. Okay, that could be. Please tell me this is seven dimensional chess, writes Christine. Been listening daily for 25 years. Thank you, Christine. You must be a patient woman. I'm highly alarmed by Trump's foreign policy right now. It really appears to be pro Putin, anti European. He seems to have an unnatural admiration for Putin. Some strange way, it's all. It's all nutty. Working our way toward an absolutely brilliant piece by one of my favorite historians and commentators, Douglas Murray. A couple of things worth knowing. When Russia took over a chunk of the eastern part of Ukraine, Luhansk specifically, they used a crane and dump truck to remove a monument to the victims of the holodomorph, which you may not have ever heard of. Way back in 1920. I'm sorry, 32 and 33. Ukraine was not digging. Stalin's brutal totalitarian leadership of the Soviet Union and the good people in Ukraine were demanding reform and bristling under Stalin. Stalin responded by starving at least 3.9 million Ukrainians to death. Almost 4 million starved to death. Horrific suffering, cannibalism, makes North Korea look like your family barbecue in terms of the available food. And the desperation is just. It was absolutely genocidal. And when Putin claims there's no Ukraine, they've never had a distinct identity or any. They're just part of imperial Russia, and they need to remember that that's utterly fictional and full of crap. Ukraine has a very, very strong identity, although they have plenty of, you know, cousinhood, if you will, with Russia. Plenty of Ukrainians live on that side of the border, ethnic Ukrainians, and vice versa. I mean, there, there are ties, absolutely, but one of the main facets of Ukrainian identity is we must never be dominated by Russia because they don't give a crap about our people. Want to lay that to rest. Also troubling to me, really troubling, is this demand that Ukraine sign a minerals deal. Not that some deal isn't, you know, reasonable, because part of the strategy is we become such close friends with them and do so much business with them. Russia doesn't dare invade because they then they would be invading our interests. So anyway, the White House, White House, literally, it's, it's said by a number of observers, put a deal on the table in front of Vladimir Zelinsky and told them, sign it right now, to hand mineral rights worth hundreds of billions of dollars to the US And Zelensky said, look, I'm open to a deal, but it needs more work and my people need to look at it. And it was like being at a pushy car dealer. They said, no, you're going to sign this now. And Zelensky said, no, I'm not. And that is one of the reasons Trump started going off on his tirades about Zelensky and saying things that were ridiculously untrue. You can defend that style of negotiating if you're Talking about building a golf course in Scotland or something like that, I suppose. I think it's unconscionable in this situation, I really do. It's, it's awful. And it's not just morally awful. It damages the US's standing in a way that's completely unnecessary because the truth is you need friends and you especially need friends across the long term. And I don't think this is productive at all. But having said that, let's move on to the great Douglas Murray, who, along with Neil Ferguson, one of our favorite conservative historians, writers, thinkers around here, and Douglas writes, it's been a dizzy, disoriented week in international diplomacy, mentions the situation. Trump is absolutely right in wanting to end the bloodshed in Ukraine. The suffering has been appalling and the stalemate brutal. But in the furious mix of wild opinions this week from the White House down, there are at least 10 truths that every American voter must hang onto in Trump's rush to end the bloodshed. These are also the truths against which any deal will be judged and which will define him when the history books are written. To ignore them or not treat them with the gravity they deserve will also have enormous consequences for decades to come. And if you do not know Douglas Murray, you should know that he is brilliant and incredibly knowledgeable and absolutely not a never Trump type. That's the last thing he is. Truth number one. Vladimir Putin started this war despite what Trump said days ago, and he goes through the history of it. There is no rational narrative outside of Russian propaganda that blames aggressive actions by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or NATO that can justify such a military action. The massive invasion of Ukraine. And this came after Putin had already seized Crimea in 2014, folks, that's 11 years ago going on and launched a war in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine that doesn't include the other wars he started, like against the tiny nation of Georgia in 2008. Trump is absolutely right that the war never had to start. Murray writes. I believe it is true that it wouldn't have started if he had been in the Oval Office. I would agree, but it was Putin, not Zelensky, who started of the war. You know, I would add on if there were there some missteps or could NATO have handled this, that or the other better through the years? Yes, but that doesn't justify a full scale invasion of Ukraine. And there's just absolutely no question that truth number two is true. Russia is fighting for conquest. The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine in 2022. Whatever you think of the country or its leadership. Ukraine is an internationally recognized sovereign nation. Putin invaded in the hopes of devouring the country wholes. By contrast, Ukraine has absolutely no territorial ambitions in Russia. And remember the brutality of Russia's actions. Among the multitude of depravities and war crimes committed by Putin's army has been the abduction of some 20,000 Ukrainian children. Who wants to live in a world where the strong can simply devour the weak and kidnap little children by the thousands? Why hasn't the US Put their release at the top of the list of negotiating demands? Truth number three, Ukraine is fighting for its independence. Most Ukrainians do not want to be part of Russia. They do not want to be gardened from Moscow. The vast majority want to live in an independent sovereign country in control of its own future. Truth number four, Ukrainians are not Russians. Ukrainians and Russians are not one people, a single whole. As Putin wrote in a 2021 essay. He is also simply lying in his assertion that modern, quote, modern Ukraine is entirely the product of the Soviet era. Ukrainians and Russians are two separate ethnic groups. They speak different languages and have distinct histories. Truth number five, Putin is a dictator. He has ruled Russia with an iron KGB fist since coming to power in 1999. He has ruthlessly quashed independent media, ended free and fair elections, crushed civil society, and killed his political opponents. And not just inside Russia, but around the world. People who live inside Russia and express any opposition to the war are imprisoned. Truth number six, Zelensky is not a dictator. A political outsider. Zelensky won the 2019 presidential election, which was relatively free and fair. As I've said many times, the transition from Soviet republic to Western style democracy is a bumpy one. In every single case, it's unavoidable. It takes a while to root out the Soviet style garbage and corruption anyway. Douglas Murray, the great Douglas Murray writes. He has a 57% approval rating, not the 4% Trump claimed. Unlike in Russia, Ukraine has vibrant independent media. Mostly, there are some flaws there, but it is wartime too. Anyway, despite claims to the contrary by Internet swamp creatures and Russian bots, many Ukrainians freely criticize the government's conduct of the war, in spite of the imperfections of Ukrainian media. This is me talking, not Douglas Murray. Yeah, you're absolutely allowed to criticize the conduct of the war. You get put in jail in Russia for doing the same thing. When Britain was fighting for its survival against the Nazis in the 40s, it too did not hold elections. The Russian ambassador to the UK spent yesterday crowing that he's not sure Zelensky would be reelected if there were elections today. But we all know one thing for sure, whether or not Zelensky would be reelected in Ukraine. Putin will always be reelected in Russia because his elections are con jobs pageant shows Putin has not won a free and fair election in his life because he doesn't hold them there. We'll squeeze in one more here and then finish up on the other side of the break. Truth number seven, Russia is not a friend of the US it is a hostile, nuclear armed state that resents American power and the world that the US has built. It has ever closer relations with China, Iran and North Korea. In fact, all of its main friends are countries that are the biggest foes of America. Now you could argue that if we altered our policy toward the war or toward Moscow, we might pull them back somehow or to some extent from their friendship with the axis of A holes. It's a thought worth exploring. But for now, there's just no question Russia is not our friend or anything close to it. Three more of these truths you must never forget on the other side of the break. Stay with us. If you can't grab the podcast later. Armstrong and Getty on Demand. Armstrong and Getty. Coming up next segment, something completely different. We're going to talk to long time a friend of the Armstrong, you get a show and tax advisor Steve Moskowitz about what's going on tax wise last year and this year and what people ought to know and just some great tax tips. So stay tuned. That's next segment. If you can't hang around, just grab the podcast later. Armstrong and Getty on demand. Right now, though, we're working our way through the list of 10 truths from Douglas Murray's excellent column about the situation in Ukraine. And he gives Trump credit for wanting to end the conflict which has been so horrifically bloody and is stalemated right now, but is highly troubled by some of the untruths that have been uttered by Trump and others. Because going forward, even if some of the wild rhetoric were to lead somehow toward a quote unquote solution, it's dangerous to run around internalizing false pretenses, if you know what I mean, because the world's gonna keep spinning and the challenges will in that part of the world, guaranteed. And you really ought to know what's what. Anyway, so truth number eight from Murray, Ukraine is a friend of the US Ukraine wants to be part of the American led order. Its people in government are deeply pro American. Since the start of the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian men and women I have seen fighting at the front lines are fighting the Russian military to protect their loved ones in their country. They also do it in the knowledge that if they fail, other countries will be next. Truth number nine, Putin cannot be trusted. This isn't just a statement of fact. It is also something that 81% of American voters agree on. Keep that in mind next time. You know, Russian bots and Internet trolls on the Internet. Internet trolls on the Internet. Great sentence, Joe. Convince you that, well, lots of people think Putin is really a good guy. No, they don't. No, they don't. Putin has invaded multiple countries in violation of every international treaty. He has interfered in multiple elections in his nearest neighbors. He has violated international agreements, including the INF treaty with the US he has lied to American presidents and European leaders his whole career. He has lied to Trump even since Trump has been back in office. Most recently, Putin promised that he wouldn't target Ukrainian energy efficient facilities and hadn't yet. Just this week, he carried out a massive missile and drone strike against multiple energy facilities in Ukraine. It is almost as though Putin's word doesn't count for very much and he doesn't care if you know it. That's true. Truth number 10, American to Ukraine. American aid to Ukraine, I should say, is not being wasted. No one would argue that Ukraine is a country without corruption, but that does not mean its people and sovereignty should not be protected. We should also remember which country in this war is truly corrupt. Russia is one vast kleptocratic state led by Putin and a small cartel of oligarchs who have made themselves among the richest people on earth, all while keeping most of the Russian population in a state of poverty that would not be believed by most of us in the West. Putting aside this is me now. Putting aside that humiliating video Tucker Carlson made. The lovely grocery stores in Moscow, that's where all the super rich people are. You go out into Russia, it's unbelievable poverty and oppression. Back to Murray. Putin and his cronies have been accumulating power and wealth all their careers. And they will torture and kill anyone who exposes this corruption. Remember his political opponent Alexei Navalny and the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky? It's easy to expose corruption in Ukraine, but in Russia it is deadly. Besides, according to the Department of defense, some $60 billion out of the 183 billion Ukraine has been spent in America. It's money that has benefited American workers and facilities. The war has also degraded the military, one of the most despotic regimes in the world. And it sent a strong deterrent message to China, Iran and North Korea not to do the same. You can criticize, Zelensky complained, but we should be under no illusions about who started this fire and who the true dictator or villain of this tragic tale is. Well said, Douglas Murray. Next, as I said, we're going to talk about taxes, tax tips, ways to save you money, ways to reduce your headaches and stress with our longtime friend Stephen Moskowitz, among other things. Also a very funny hockey story after the big tournament wrapped up. Stay with us. Armstrong and Gettysburg talk taxes. Enough global conflict. Something we can all use. A conversation with longtime friend of the Armstrong and Getty Show, Stephen Moskowitz, who has advised us on tax stuff forever, founder and tax attorney for Moskowitz llp. Stephen joins us now. Steve, how are you?
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Joe Getty
I'm fantastic. And you know, I'm happy because I get to talk about taxes and you know, I mean that.
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Jack Armstrong
You know, it's funny, I was just gonna say I'm gonna embarrass Steve. And folks this I have known professional musicians, athletes, all walks of tech guys, all walks of life and I've never known anybody who's more excited about their jobs than you are. Stephen, you love helping people deal with taxes.
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Joe Getty
Sincerely, I love it. And there's so much in the tax law. There's so many hidden gems. I have everything from all walks alike. Whether we can tell you how you can deduct your multimillion dollar yacht to your struggling and how the government will give you money to help you take care of your kids and everything in between. For example, I have a question for you. Sure. They told you that you could go on a two week vacation anywhere in the world you choose. Some stranger would pay for it. And the money the stranger gives you is tax free. How would you like that?
- [18:43]
Jack Armstrong
When can I leave?
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Joe Getty
You say, oh my God, what is Steve talking about? And I'm talking about Internal revenue code section 280 AG like Armstrong and Getty, also known as the Augusta Rule. And what happens with that? You can rent your home for up to 14 days a year and there's no tax on it. So the bottom line is in that home can be the mansion you live in, the studio apartment you rent or a boat. And I'll explain that separately. But the bottom line is suppose for example, you said, okay, I'm going to rent my place out for $1,000 a day. And now everything is so many people like renting a home instead of a hotel. So the Bottom line is, you go ahead and let's assume that you rented your house for $1,000 a day. So it's $14,000. You go off to Hawaii, you spend 10,000 on your trip. That 14 grand that you got is tax free. It doesn't even go on your tax return. It's excluded from income. That's just an example of one of the many, many, many hidden gems in our tax law. And a lot of people say, well, why should there be such things? Because our legislators, in their infinite wisdom, thinks this is good for the economy or the business or there's some special interest that pushed them. But the bottom line is this law is for everybody. All the laws are for everybody. We're all equal under the law. And the bottom line is that you just have to know where these gems are hidden. Because there's two reasons for the tax code. One is to get money from us, but the other one is to give us all kinds of incentives, like the social rule. What a deal. I mean, think about it. You're off on vacation anyway, the Airbnb's are so popular, and you get 14 days tax free. So you can see why I get so excited over these things.
- [20:41]
Jack Armstrong
Love it. So, hey, we are happy to have so many small business people, entrepreneurs, go getters listening to the show, also slackers like myself. But what do you see? Small business people either failing to take advantage of or getting wrong. What advice would you give them just right off the bat?
- [20:58]
Joe Getty
Oh, the first one is retirement plans. There's over 20 different types of plans. You can have multiple plans in the same year and you can put away so much money, there's four benefits to that one, you pay less taxes. Usually when I'm talking to a client, people say, sign me up, Steve, you got me. Save taxes. Besides that, the money sits in your plan and the income doesn't get taxed. Well, it's in the plan. So no brainer. Everything grows faster and bigger if there's no taxes on it. Also, it's exempt from lawsuits. So take a look. Although I hate to mention his name. Suppose you take a look at O.J. simpson, who had a multimillion dollar judgment against him for many, many years and he never lost a penny of his pension. So that's good when you're in business, so you don't have to worry someone to take it away from you. And most tax planning, you have to write the check by December 31, 24, to deduct it in 24. But with most of the pensions, not all of them, but most of them you have up to the time of filing your returns, including extension, which in English means depending on your business entity, you could have as late as October 15, 25 to set up the plan, fund it and still deduct it from the previous year. 24. And there's all kinds of things in here. So for example, if you're in a pension, there's no kind. Everybody knows about 401ks and IRAs and all that, but there's all kinds of additional plans, what I call the fancy plans, which you can put in much, much more money, and they're based on your age, your earnings. There's an actuarial valuation ticket, but people can put away a tremendous way more than this. But when we talk about putting things away, everybody should have a pension plan. Everybody should put that away.
- [22:49]
Jack Armstrong
I was just gonna say. And that includes if, like, I'm my, my only employee, I'm a sole proprietor, I can have a pension plan for myself, right?
- [22:57]
Joe Getty
Absolutely, absolutely. And again, with retirement plans, there's so much in there. For example, suppose you say, well, you know what, I'm listening to the show today, but I'm a little bit older and you know, I haven't had the money in there. Well, there's something called a catch up plan. If you're over 50, you can put in bigger deductions. And our legislators, in their infinite wisdom, and get this, if you're 60, 61, 62 or 63, only those ages, you have a super catch up plan that's beginning this year in 2025, where you put even more. The bottom line is there's so much here. And then what about taking money out of plans? You say, well, okay, you know, I need the money, but I don't want to get hit with that penalty. There's all kinds of exceptions to that. If you're a victim of domestic abuse, you can take money out without the penalties. If you need it for emergency purposes, you can take it out without penalties. If you take it out because of federally declared disasters, think about all the wildfires in California, not to mention Hawaii and other places. You can take it out without penalty. If someone's terminally ill. And also a nod to our firefighters, if they're age 50 or with 25 years of service, they can take it out without penalty. I could go on and on and on, but there's just so much here for everybody. And whether, you know, being a small business owner, this is just a tremendous. Sorry, I get so excited over this. But if you're in business. There are so many benefits to you. Just. It's incredible. And there's all kinds of things. For example, suppose somebody says, you know, I'd like to have an electric vehicle. Well, guess what? You know, the government will give you 7,500 bucks. And you say, well, that's nice. I can go ahead and take $7,500 off my tax return, Right? You can. But even better, when you're at the dealer, you say, you know what? There's a special program where I can say to the dealer, I'll give the credit to you. You knock 7,500 bucks off the price so I never have to give you the money and ask for it back. You get the 7,500 from the government. There's so much, so much there. Then there's another thing that gets me really excited, something called opportunity zones. Suppose you have this situation. You sell something, anything, some gold coins, some stock, real property, anything, and you have capital gain. And you say, well, all right, you know, I realized that there's three capital gains rates. Zero, which is a nice one, but you have to be making less than 47 grand for that, or 15%, which is between 47 grand and over just half a mil. That is, you know, most people are making under half a mil. 15% ain't bad. And it goes to 20% if you're over 518,000. But the bottom line is, you say, you know what? I don't want to pay that either. So you can go into an opportunity zone, and you can defer the taxes until 26. But you say, when somebody gives you something nice, what do you say?
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Jack Armstrong
Thank you, of course.
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Joe Getty
No, you say, more, I want more. And what happens is, there's a provision with these opportunities on. Suppose I do this. Suppose. Suppose what is an opportunity zone? There are designated areas in our country where the government says, invest here, and we'll give you special tax benefits. And there's a tremendous number of them. So you go ahead and do that, and let's assume that you buy a real property for a million bucks. Ten years later, you sell it for 100 million. You've made a gain of 99 million. You know, I can calculate the tax on that right now in my head. Know the taxes, zero. What, Steve, what are you talking about? There's a special provision that if you hold this property for more than 10 years, when you sell it, there's zero capital gain. There's no cap on it. So in my example, you made a profit of 99 million. Bucks. You paid zero taxes. Talk about an incentive. So you see, that's why I get so excited about these things and our laws filled with these things.
- [27:19]
Jack Armstrong
Stephen Moskowitz, founder of Tax Attorney Moskowitz LLP, is online, longtime tax advisor of the show and our friends. So Stephen, in the couple minutes we have left, what notable changes to the tax code have happened recently or do you expect to happen as the Trump administration gets going?
- [27:38]
Joe Getty
So I think there's going to be a lot with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. When President Trump was president during the first term, he had a lot of stuff that was going to be basically he expected to be reelected. And he had a lot of stuff in the tax law that was expiring right after what was his second term. So it's expiring now. They're probably going to make changes and keep a lot of the things and also a lot of things that have changed are the numbers like the standard deduction went up a little bit for 20, 24 and little bit of numbers, for example, the earned income credit. So we talked about the other end of the scale. For example, Suppose you have three kids and you're making under 66,819. The government will give you $7830. They'll just give them, they'll give you the money. So you have those things. There's also change to the kiddie tax. It's a small change for kids that are under age 19. The first 1300 bucks is tax free. The next 1300 bucks is taxed at the child's rate. So it's a little something. Then the amounts for the flexible spending accounts and the health savings accounts have gone up. So what are those things? Basically there are two different types of accounts where you can put some pre tax money in that is don't get taxed and then you use it for health care. Now there's differences between them. So with an exception, you can't have both. There's an exception, but we won't get into that right now on the show. But for the most part you say, well, what's more important to me? And you look at these and basically the best way to do it is they're charts. And you say, okay, with the flexible spending account, here's the advantages, with the health savings account, here's the advantages. But basically the idea here is you get a tax deduction, you use the money for medical and isn't that nice? You don't have to pay tax on that amount of your earnings. And the bottom line. For example, with a health savings account, you get triple benefits. There's no taxes on the money you put in. It grows tax free and there's no taxes when you use it for medical bills. So again, I mean, you look at this stuff and you say, well, okay, why shouldn't I have it? There's so much in tax. Everybody complains about their taxes. My taxes are too much. They're this, they're that. But people overlook all these benefits. And again, I'm just throwing out a few samples and teasers. There's so much there. If you're interested in this. To me, this has fascinated me my whole life. And it's here. It's available for everybody.
- [30:21]
Jack Armstrong
Well, if you want to get in touch with Stephen, his number is 1-88-tax deal. It's 1-88-tax deal. Stephen, it's always a pleasure. Thanks for the time. Interesting and fun as always. Be well.
- [30:31]
Joe Getty
Thanks so much. I had a great time as always. Thanks for inviting me.
- [30:35]
Jack Armstrong
All right. Thanks. Yeah. A quick word from our friends and sponsors at Prize Picks. You can now win up to a thousand times your money on Prize Picks. Prize Picks Best way to get action on sports more than 30 states including Cal, Unicornia, Texas, Georgia and Florida. Prize Picks the best way to get real money on sports action. Join over 10 million users. Sign up today and here's the good news. If you play just a five dollar lineup, they will give you a $50 bonus to enjoy. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use the Code Armstrong to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. It's as simple as picking at least two player stat projections and saying, nah, I think you'll do more or less than that. Simple as that. Download the Prize Picks app today. Use that Code Armstrong to get $50 instantly after you play your first five dollar lineup. Prize picks Run your game, Armstrong. Democrats are clinging to these radical losing propositions. Democrats are out there defending the idea that unelected bureaucrats don't have to listen to the will of the electorate, don't have to follow the results of the will of the people expressed through an election, but can do whatever they want. Democrats are out there saying that we can and should spend tens of billions of dollars on radical left programs all over the world. In Bosnia, in Croatia, all throughout the continent of Africa and everywhere else, but not here in America.
- [32:03]
Joe Getty
Man, I'm telling the Democrats, just sit there. Play possum. Let them go. Let them go. Poll numbers are declining. The collapse is already underway. Let's see when they Put the Medicaid budget when they put the tax. The $4.5 billion trillion dollars of tax cuts to wealthy people. Just let the ball come to you. We don't need to be aggressive now.
- [32:27]
Jack Armstrong
Interesting. While he is full of crap, James Carville did express something I've been saying lately, which is the frantic objection to even the super popular stuff. I don't get it politically. I guess you need to do that to raise money from your Internet base, which has ruined American politics. Anyway, interesting that James Carville, Ragin Cajun, would say the Democrats need to play possum. I understand we have a story about a seal. Sorry, I was reading and talking at the same time. Katie, is there anything we need to know about the seal story? He's adorable. And he had a grand old time in the city of New Haven. All right, here's a report from npc, I guess. Police responding to a stranded gray seal pup in the heart of New Haven, flopping more than 1300ft through the city streets earlier this week and popping up several times away from the water in the days before. And while many joke the seal was chasing New Haven's famous clam pizza, researchers explained, I think that was trying to go inland to find the nice, quiet area. Now Mystic Aquarium is helping the youngster pack on the pounds with a delicious diet of fish smoothie and, of course, herring to help him prepare for the wild. While the pup will eventually be returned to the ocean, his place in America's heart is sealed. Oh, I don't get it. Oh, wait, now I get it. Clam pizza. Yeah. That's a weird one, right? I don't know. I guess. Although, you know, I like creative, weird pizzas I have for years and years and years. I don't know about clam pizza. I'm not hankering for it. No. No. Not a no. Well, yeah, the noise at the beginning of that report is actually the noise that the baby seal makes. It's like this weird. Yeah, okay. Beautiful. What was I gonna say? Oh, we. We learned last week, two weeks ago, during the One More Thing podcast, that sea otters are, like, rapey and murdery. Yeah. Should we be as affectionate toward the seals as we are? Oh, yeah, they're sea dogs. They're total sea dogs. Oh, okay.
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Joe Getty
Yeah.
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Jack Armstrong
Well, I love dogs. I'm willing to take on the sea variety and give it an audition. So I promised a funny hockey story, and this is it. You might enjoy this, Katie. So the NHL had this brilliant idea to the only reason we're talking about hockey is the NHL had this brilliant idea that instead, instead of their stupid All Star game that nobody watches or cares about, they would hold a four team tournament with players from four of the major nations that supply players to the NHL. The U.S. canada, Finland and Sweden. I think it was. Don't sue me if I wasn't wrong. Anyway, that's the idea. And it was a super big success. The guys were playing for country. It was like a mini Olympics. And the fans were absolutely loving it. But anyway, my buddy, who's a great hockey fan, former very elite hockey player, he was telling me a story about one of his buddies that almost caught on in the NHL really, really good. But he was hired to be an extra in a movie about hockey. And the director said, all right, we need to have a fight now. There's a hockey fight scene. And the guy said, oh, we'll handle it. And the director was like, well, we need to talk about the choreography and the blah, blah, blah. And the guy said, no, just show me where you want the shot. And the director said, right there in the corner. And he went to his buddy, he said, hey, Jimmy, we're gonna go in the corner. I'll hit you with an elbow, you push me, and we fight, okay? And so they just went in the corner, drop the gloves, beat the hell out of each other. Great hockey fight scene. And cut, says the director. And they skate away. Yeah, you got me with that uppercut. That was good, man. That was really good. That was a good fight, dude. High five. Having pounded each other in the head for the movie, that's hockey players. Oh, that's a hockey player. Armstrong and Gettysburg.