You're A Slut For Baked Goods

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand — “You're A Slut For Baked Goods”

Episode Date: October 23, 2025
Host: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode covers several hot-button news stories with Armstrong & Getty’s trademark mix of sharp wit and direct analysis. Major topics include Trump’s new Russia sanctions and his foreign policy approach, an NBA gambling scandal involving mafia ties, declining transgender identification among teens and the politics of trans athletes in sports, and a thought-provoking discussion on snobbery versus enthusiasm in media and culture. The hosts mix news commentary, humor, and debate, making the episode engaging for listeners looking for news analysis and a dose of personality.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Russia Policy & Sanctions

[01:02–07:41]

• Trump Cancels Putin Meeting:
  • Trump canceled a planned meeting with President Putin, expressing it “just didn’t feel right,” leaving open the possibility for future talks. [01:02]
• Major Oil Sanctions:
  • Armstrong & Getty break down Trump’s move to sanction Russia’s two largest oil companies—stepping up pressure despite previous hesitancy and criticisms that he was “Putin’s stooge.”
  • Joe Getty notes: “This is the most uncovered major story of the current news cycle... serious pressure on Putin economically to come to the table and end the war.” [01:48]
• Debate Over Trump's Motives:
  • Jack Armstrong expresses frustration at Trump’s seemingly slow realization of Putin’s true nature.
    • Armstrong: “The thing that bothers me is not that Trump is Putin's stooge, but that he's been inexplicably slow in waking up to who Putin is.” [03:15]
  • Joe Getty suggests Trump’s approach may be psychological—trying to “presume closeness” with Putin.
• Ukraine Aid & Weaponry:
  • Discussion that the US is allowing Ukraine new, longer-range missile capabilities (excluding Tomahawks, which require extensive training and are logistically challenging). [04:07–05:08]
• Sen. Markwayne Mullin's Take:
  • The only way to bring Putin to the table is to hit the economy hard: “If you start damaging their economy even farther, I believe this is what will bring Putin to the table.” [05:43]

2. Russian Losses and Ukraine War Impact

[06:23–08:15]

• Hosts highlight the staggering Russian losses (“they lose as many guys in a month as they lost during their 10 years in Afghanistan” [06:23]) and the borderline “suicidal” nature of Russia’s invasion, suggesting it may become a historical turning point.
• Memorable Moment: A comic aside about Putin—“he scored six goals against NHL players”—showcases the hosts’ ability to inject humor when discussing grim topics. [08:15]

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3. NBA Gambling & Mafia Scandal

[09:02–11:50], [21:06–27:37]

• Scandal Details:
  • Major FBI bust: 31 arrests (including coaching staff and players) exposed an NBA gambling ring with mafia ties.
  • Chauncey Billups, Portland Trailblazers head coach, is arrested; connections detailed with illegal poker games, inside information for betting, and “face cards” used to lure high-value “fish” (victims).
• Game Rigging & Celebrity Lure:
  • U.S. Atty. Joseph Nacella explains:
    • “The scheme targeted victims known as ‘fish’... lured to play alongside former professional athletes known as ‘face cards’... what the victims didn’t know is everyone else at the poker game... was in on the scam.” [24:04]
  • Some victims lost upwards of $1.8 million individually, over $7 million collectively. [26:42]
• Addiction Discussion:
  • Joe Getty reflects on the psychology of gambling addicts, referencing Norm MacDonald’s insights: “It’s that feeling between the bet and the result, that is the... tickles your fancy in a way that doesn’t tickle other people’s fancy.” [27:41]
• Cultural Commentary:
  • Armstrong & Getty ponder why highly paid NBA people would risk everything, pointing to gambling addiction overpowering rational financial sense.

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4. Transgender Athletes & Cultural Shifts

[08:42–19:00]

• Decline in Transgender Identification:
  • Armstrong: “The number of teenagers identifying as transgender is in free fall... been cut in half in two years.” [13:46]
• Trans Athlete Case:
  • Discussion of a California high school “storied transgender athlete” (AB Hernandez) who excelled in multiple girls' sports, sparking lawsuits and debate over fairness.
  • The hosts criticize the continued support for biological males in girls’ sports in the state legislature.
    • Armstrong, sarcastically: “…every single Democrat in California voted in favor of boys beating the crap out of girls in girls sports.” [17:13]
• Social Contagion & Parallels:
  • Jack and Joe draw parallels to past social contagions like anorexia and “recovered memories.”
  • They mock woke culture’s tendency to label opponents “transphobes” or compare them to Nazis, referencing an Assembly member’s remarks.

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5. Snobbery vs. Enthusiasm in Culture & Media

[31:32–36:49]

• Armstrong reads from a Kevin Williamson piece, distinguishing snobs (who care about others’ tastes to feel superior) from true enthusiasts (who simply enjoy what they enjoy).
  • “A critic is interested in music. A snob is interested in what his choice of music says about him.” [34:14]
• Insightful Point: Snobbery, rather than informed enthusiasm, has come to dominate much modern journalism and cultural criticism—leading to incuriosity and superficiality.

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6. Comic Moments & Show’s Tone

• Regular interplay of humor and self-deprecation, e.g., Armstrong’s crack about being a wine enthusiast, or the closing baked-goods confessions (“I once cheated at Yahtzee to get some baked goods from my brother.” — Michael [38:39]).
• Hosts poke fun at themselves and the personalities in the news (Putin as a “lucky guy,” trans debates in California, and the music tastes of random party guests).
• Final Thoughts encourage listeners to “be an enthusiast, not a snob.” [39:41]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Trump’s Sanctions:
  • “Anybody who thinks that says Trump is a stooge of Putin is just going with a tired, too stupid story because these are very serious sanctions.” — Joe Getty [02:55]
• On Putin’s Mentality:
  • “He has a megalomaniac’s goal to restore the glory of the Soviet empire.” — Jack Armstrong [05:20]
• On Gambling Addiction:
  • “It’s that feeling between the bet and the result…that’s why you do it…the winning and then you got to get onto your next thing.” — Joe Getty, referencing Norm MacDonald [27:41]
• On Snobbery & Journalism:
  • “A critic is interested in music. A snob is interested in what his choice of music says about him.” — Kevin Williamson (read by Jack Armstrong) [34:14]
• On the Trans Athlete Debate:
  • “Every single Democrat in California voted in favor of boys beating the crap out of girls in girls sports.” — Jack Armstrong [17:13]
• On Being an Enthusiast:
  • “Be an enthusiast, not a snob.” — Jack Armstrong [39:41]

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Key Timestamps for Segments

• Trump & Russia Sanctions: 01:02 – 07:41
• Putin, Russian Losses: 06:23 – 08:15
• NBA Gambling Scandal Intro: 09:02 – 11:50
• Trans Athlete & Social Contagion Discussion: 13:46 – 19:00
• NBA Scandal Explainer & Law Enforcement: 21:06 – 27:37
• Gambling Psychology, Addiction: 27:37 – 29:45
• Snobbery in Culture & Media: 31:32 – 36:49
• End-of-show Musings & Baked Goods: 38:39 – 39:41

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Summary

Armstrong & Getty break down hard news and cultural trends with equal parts analysis and irreverence. This episode covers Trump’s new hardline on Russia, unpacks the complex (and shady) NBA gambling scandal, dives into the cultural debate over trans athletes as the political winds shift, and finishes with a fun yet incisive discussion about what makes someone a snob versus an enthusiast. True to form, the show is peppered with alive banter, pointed critiques, and moments that make you both think and laugh.

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If you missed this episode, you’ll come away understanding not just the stories but the shifting cultural winds—and why Armstrong & Getty call you to be an enthusiast, not a snob.

Transcript

[Michael]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Armstrong]

In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming [e-mail] Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit so you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the Tech Cert [e-mail].

[Joe Getty]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the.

[Armstrong]

George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Donald Trump]

We canceled the meeting with President Putin. It just, it didn't feel right to me. It didn't feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I canceled it. But we'll do it in the future.

[Joe Getty]

Good. I'm glad Trump canceled the meeting, but that's not all. What he did yesterday, as reported on CNN and other places, this is the.

[Unnamed Commentator]

First time we're seeing him actually go through with this step. The Treasury Department post posting about these imposing sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies. And these are not just secondary tariffs, which was the original threat that it was going to be sanctions on countries like China or India who buy their oil from Russia. No, he is actually sanctioning the Russian oil companies. He's saying that he hopes that this helps Putin come to his senses, that it hopes it helps him be reasonable.

[Joe Getty]

So Mark Halpern's newsletter that I read every morning said that this is the most uncovered major story of the current news cycle. President Trump's coalition of the willing, the United States and Europe are united in putting serious pressure on Putin economically to come to the table and end the war. Significant new US Energy sanctions on oil. New capacities for Ukrainians to hit Russia with long range missiles, not the Tomahawks, which we're going to talk about soon, but other equipment that they hadn't had before. New European economic sanctions. Why they haven't sanctioned Russia to the hilt already, I don't quite get. And new European efforts to use frozen Russian assets to aid Kiev, which is another thing I can't believe it took till now to decide to use that money that they had seized from Russia back at the beginning of the war. As to the oil sanctions and how big a deal they are, I came across this from Ian Bremmer last night, if I can find it, which it's right. Where is it? It's Here, close.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know where I put it. Here we go. Anyway, gaining on it.

[Joe Getty]

He was, he was making the point that anybody thinks that that says Trump is a stooge of Putin is just going with a tired, too stupid story because these are very serious sanctions that Trump had been holding off on for quite a while and has now decided, yeah, I'm going to do it.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Even that statement, though, we need Putin to come to his senses. His senses are perfectly fine. He's doing precisely what he wants to do. Deliber. I just, the thing that bothers me is not that Trump is Putin's stooge, but that he's been inexplicably slow in waking up to who Putin is. The idea we got a great relationship, I call him and then he bombs more. I don't get it.

[Joe Getty]

No, I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

Get it, Start getting it.

[Joe Getty]

I think that's a, I hope that's a psychological thing. He just, he's trying to do the presumed close thing, but not, it's not going to work on Putin.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right.

[Joe Getty]

Just keep calling him a nice guy. Even though you both, he, you know, he's a crook and he knows, you know he's a crook, but you keep saying the nice guy stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, a crook and a monster. I mean, my God, they deliberately bombed a kindergarten the other day to try to terrorize the Ukrainian people onto their knees.

[Joe Getty]

Pretty freaking.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's unbelievable. You know the other headline, U. S. Lifts key restrictions on Ukraine's use of European long range missiles. Going deeper and deeper into Russia with more armaments, as you said, not the, the Tomahawks, but let's not get fixated on that. It was funny. Trump made the same argument that our friend Mike Lyons made at the very beginning of this. It'd take too long to train him.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, let's, let's hear, let's hear it here. Here's a reporter asking Trump about why not the Tomahawks.

[Donald Trump]

Go ahead.

[Reporter]

What about Tomahawk missiles?

[Armstrong]

Putin is definitely.

[Donald Trump]

Well, the problem with the Tomahawk that a lot of people don't know. It'll take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use them. They're highly complex. So the only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it, and we're not going to do that. There is a tremendous learning curve with the time off. It's a, it's a very powerful weapon, very accurate weapon, and maybe that's what makes it so complex. But it will Take a year. It takes a year of intense training to learn how to use it.

[Jack Armstrong]

And that's it. Is it six months or a year? And in six months, the war is still going to be going on. Right.

[Joe Getty]

But Mike Lyons made the point last week that they're so far have only been shot from ships. There's no land based way to shoot a tomahawk. And they say that maybe they have one now, but it's never been used before. It'd be a brand new thing.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's an issue for sure. Yeah. And if that's classified and Trump was staying away from that, that's fine, I get it. That's justified. But no, Putin is not going to be persuaded to stop. He has a megalomaniac's goal to restore the glory of the Soviet empire.

[Joe Getty]

And the Senator with the biggest arms in the chamber, Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, said this about how we bring down Russia.

[Unnamed Commentator]

Putin's conversation with the President is one thing, but his actions aren't following it up. And if, if Putin isn't going to be somebody that's trustworthy, that's going to negotiate in honest terms, the best thing we can do is go after his, you know, his economy. If you start putting the economic woes and start damaging their economy even farther, I believe this is what will bring Putin to the table. Other than that, nothing else seems to work. And the President has been very frustrated with this.

[Joe Getty]

So what do you think? Do you think Putin can get damaged enough economically that he would actually lose face? Lose Ukraine?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes, but given his megalomania, as I was describing, it should have happened already. The rates of their losses are horrific. They lose as many guys in a month as they lost during their 10 years in Afghanistan. And that broke apart the Soviet Union to a large extent because of the expense of it, among other things, in the arms race. It's more complicated than that, but. And then the damage to the economy, that's already been done. Although they're switching now to a war economy, which is, I don't know, it's like methadone to get you off a heroin. It worked for a while. Yeah. It's going to take some serious squeezing to get them to come correct.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, they, they lose as many dudes in a handful of months as we lost in the entire Vietnam War, which was a national cris that spread out over 15 years.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's, it's really astounding that this is happening. If you divorce yourself from the horror of it and the politics of it and the fact that it's already. That it's. It's happening right now as we speak. If you just look at it like as a case study in politics and war, it's extraordinary. It's borderline suicidal.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. It could. It could make the history books definitely as like a turning point for that whole country.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

So many young men that they won't have.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's incredibly ill advised on virtually every level. But I. I don't think he's half a crazy.

[Joe Getty]

Isn't he? Putin.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, that's what I was about to say. Yeah. I think Putin. It's not like psychotic crazy, but obsessed crazy and an egomaniac. And you can't blame him. I mean, he is the successful dictator of an empire.

[Joe Getty]

Well, he scored six goals against NHL players.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's a good point. Hell of a skater too. Turns on a dime like he was.

[Joe Getty]

Like 55 when he did that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well. And. Right. And his wrist shot is like 12 miles per hour. I mean a child could stop it. But he's so elusive and skilled that that went right by the goalie over and over again.

[Joe Getty]

And he's a really lucky guy in that any of his opponents trip near open windows and tumble to their deaths.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. Oh, speaking of great athletes, one of California's most storied transgender athletes is hanging up his high school career, whooping up on girls. Been really successful in multiple sports. Jack. Isn't that surprising? No, not really, because it's a dude playing against girls. But we'll celebrate that great career later.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know that story. I want to hear that. Speaking of sports, the big NBA scandal, if you haven't heard it, 31 arrests and including a current head coach from the Portland Trailblazers and another player or several caught up in a gambling ring. Some of it having to do with games, a lot of it having to do with illegal poker and ripping people off for the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Can't wait to hear how this whole.

[Jack Armstrong]

I.

[Joe Getty]

What the thing I want to know most is did the players who faked injuries or whatever they did in games, were they driven to that by gambling losses? That's what I want to know.

[Jack Armstrong]

If it was got to be almost.

[Joe Getty]

Has to be that that wasn't the original plan. I know how I'm gonna make money. I'm gonna fake injuries during games and replay.

[Jack Armstrong]

Given what NBA players make, how much would you have to pay them to make a significant difference in their lifestyle?

[Joe Getty]

Right.

[Jack Armstrong]

It'd be mind boggling amounts of money. It wouldn't make sense.

[Joe Getty]

So our theory is that like Chauncey Billups or that what's his name, Crozier, Rosier. Rosier NBA player that pretended to get hurt nine minutes doing a game that they got themselves into a pickle gambling wise in these illegal poker games. And then the mob came to him and it's four of the five biggest mob crime families that make all the documentaries that you've heard of for years and you keep hearing, I've been hearing my entire life that that is over my whole life since I was a little kid. Of course that was the old days. The mafia doesn't really exist to any extent anymore. And then it just continues. I mean they were operating a tens of millions of dollars poker ring across 11 states.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Well that's funny. Since I was a little kid, the mafia has been pushing hard the notion that the mafia doesn't exist. Right. Talking about that stuff in movies that doesn't exist.

[Joe Getty]

Why does the media go along with it? Anyway, so guys, I was, I just.

[Michael]

Read that Chauncey Billups was paid apparently by the mafia to be at these games, at these poker games.

[Joe Getty]

So he was.

[Michael]

Yeah, they paid him to be there.

[Jack Armstrong]

Face card.

[Joe Getty]

We learned, we learned that earlier they had to have celebrities in these poker games to lure other people into play and then they would have the games rigged and rip off these rich people.

[Jack Armstrong]

What did Chauncey know and when did he know it?

[Joe Getty]

Is that illegal to be a face? You can't pay me to be a celebrity at a poker game. He was cheating. He was cheating also.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well if he was part of the scam, yeah. If it's an illegal poker game then yeah, you're violating a law by just being there. But just to what extent, how involved was he? We'll find out, I suppose.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that would suck if you would have been rich.

[Jack Armstrong]

You gotta be. You're making NBA money.

[Joe Getty]

No kidding. Well again, I think it gets to the gambling addict. You get such a thrill out of gambling, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

I can't wait to get all the details on this story. A lot more on the way. Stay here.

[Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming [e-mail] Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. So you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the Tech Search power [e-mail] lenovo.

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[Joe Getty]

Apply Were you a fish at one of these high dollar poker games from the big FBI arrest today? Well, let the NYPD explain the fish and face and all the stuff with the illegal poker games. Coming up next segment worth mentioning over.

[Jack Armstrong]

And over again in case you didn't hear it, the number of teenagers identifying as transgender is in free fall. It's like been cut in half in two years. That's quite a story and always has been a social contagion. And if you dared say so out loud, you could be canceled and lose your job a couple of years ago. We said it. Anyway.

[Joe Getty]

Other great examples like you mentioned, anorexia also recovered memories or whatever, that whole thing. Remember when that was a craze?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Anyway, it's the end of an era. A great high school transgender athlete is hanging up his spikes. His pink spikes. Normally I never mention the names of high school transgender athlete types because they're kids. They're misguided, they're confused. Maybe they're gay. They're maybe their parents pushed them, maybe activists have pushed them. And what you do as a kid needs to be left behind in childhood to a large extent. But this person has become semi famous. AB Hernandez great volleyball career ended when the Harupa Valley High School got beat in the first round of the California State playoffs. It's a shame as he led his team to the playoffs a couple years in a row. This was the team that saw 10 games forfeited off the team schedule.

[Joe Getty]

Volleyball lawsuit My son played high school volleyball last year, so I saw quite a few boys and girls high school volleyball games. The difference in the speed is night and day.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, yeah. The speed, the height of jumping, etc, It's. Yeah. You could brutalize women in. In volleyball. And in fact, some have been by men or boys pretending to be girls. There's also law school lawsuit against the school district filed by two current and one former teammate of this young gentleman. Anyway, yeah, 10, 10. What do you call it? I'm old. So the forfeits during the season, they don't have that many games. They mentioned that some. A bunch of girl athletes were in the stands for the game cheering the other team and were being heckled by some of the fans who were woke and thought it was mean that they were there and they're transphobes or whatever.

[Joe Getty]

You people. I. I don't. I don't. I would have ended up in jail if I had a daughter in one of these situations on a team. I would be out in the middle of the court.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Who else thinks this is crazy?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? That's a boy. Right? And what's. What's especially bittersweet about this young man hanging up his pink spikes is that he's really been standout in multiple girls sports. He made a run to the girls state finals in long jump, triple jump and high jump, as well as being a great volleyball player. That, by the way, was why Trump sent that truth social post warning Gavi Newsom the state not to allow a trans athlete to compete in the girls event. And they clarified the Title 9 rules. But the California Interscas Scholastic Federation persistently defied the federal government and says no boys can play in girls sports if they throw on some mascara.

[Joe Getty]

That poor kid getting convinced of this somehow. And then imagine the whispers loud enough to hear he's been hearing in the hallways of high schools all these years. Appropriately, but.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Well, an example 317 of how EFFed up California is. Listen to this. On April 1, the California state legislature blocked two bills that would reverse the current law that allows males in girls sports. Every single Democrat voted against it. And assembly member Ricky Chavez Burr argued that one of the bills, quote, is really reminiscent to me of what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We're moving toward autocracy in this country. In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted and barred from public life. And a gal who's a descendant of a Holocaust survivor had to leave the chamber. She couldn't take it. Every single Democrat in California voted in favor of boys beating the crap out of girls in girls sports.

[Joe Getty]

We're on the down sick. Is that as we've talked about? We're on the downhill side of the peak of the trans thing, though. They're, as you've just pointed out, miles to go. But the peak might have been the Democratic debate. Kamala Harris on stage, Cory Booker, all those others. Elizabeth Warren, when Joe Biden ended up the candidate. I remember specifically Cory Booker, black US Sender up there saying, and in my state, black trans women who nobody up here but me is talking about black trans women. I thought, wow, we are slicing it so thin now. So thin.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would like to state publicly, Rick Chavez Zabor, you are a moral reprobate and or dumb as a dog. Shame on you. Except you don't have the capacity for shame. You monster.

[Joe Getty]

You get invented Invited to a high stakes poker game. Are you the fish? Just learned a new term today from the nypd. Nypd with this big poker bust, it's really quite the story. I hope you can stay here.

[Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty in the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming [e-mail] Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. So you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality style streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search power [e-mail].

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[Michael]

It's not popular to go after some of the defendants that we went after today, but justices served Blindly. And how do we countermand that? Simple. The unsealing of these indictments today shows the force of the Department of Justice and our great attorney General and the leadership that we have at the FBI and the team here to specifically mete out justice. And look, let's not, you know, mince words. This is the insider trading saga for the NBA. That's what this is. That's why we are going to take heat. But as the evidence comes out, as the indictments are unsealed, you will see the extensive work these men and women put in countless hours over years. And that's how we countermanded.

[Joe Getty]

That's cash. Patel runs the FBI announcing the arrest of a whole bunch of people, including some NBA players and coaches, because they had bad mouth. Donald Trump. They are now under arrest. No, that is.

[Jack Armstrong]

What the heck is he pushing back against?

[Joe Getty]

He's.

[Jack Armstrong]

He. You're right.

[Joe Getty]

That's funny. I hadn't thought about that. But yeah, he's acting take a lot.

[Jack Armstrong]

Of heat for busting up a sports betting scandal.

[Joe Getty]

He's acting like he's bravely standing up against the howling mob by everybody's against that. Arresting some players and coaches who may have done bad things. So the biggest name in it. And if you're an NBA fan, you know his name. If you're not, you don't. Chauncey Billups. He was a won a championship with Detroit back in the day. Current coach of the Portland Trailblazers being charged with six felony counts.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ooh.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Including.

[Jack Armstrong]

So that's not as many as the president who got convicted of 23 felony counts.

[Joe Getty]

Billups took part in an illegal poker game that had been taking place in variety of cities. Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas and the Hamptons. According to the officials, the game allegedly involved members of at least three of New York's mafia families were sitting there at the table with him playing poker. He was being paid for his participation and they're. They're ripping people off. Miami Heat guard Terry Rosier has also been named in the allegations. Former Cleveland Cavaliers player and coach Damon Jones arrested as well. Sources say that Jones player and coach had had been giving Billups that information that Billups was using to place illegal sports bets. So he wasn't just getting involved in the poker games. He was also betting on NBA games with insider information, too.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, the unholy relationship between gambling, gambling debts, the mob point shaving weirdly fraudulent poker games. Wow.

[Joe Getty]

At least for Billups, it has to be some sort of gambling addiction because he was a star NBA player. Had lots of money. Of course, he could have spent it all and had a couple of divorceals or. But he's a current NBA coach. That pays pretty well, too. Your life is. You're. You grew up dreaming of being exactly what you are now.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

And you blew it all. Gambling, apparently. To explain how this whole gambling thing was going, here's U.S. attorney Joseph Nacella.

[U.S. Attorney Joseph Nacella]

The scheme targeted victims known as quote fish, who were often lured to participate in these rigged games by the chance to play alongside former professional athletes who were known as, quote, face cards. The so called face cards included the defendant, Chauncey Billups, who at the time of the scheme was a former NBA player and is currently the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers. And also Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach. What the victims, the fish didn't know is that everybody else at the poker game, from the dealer to the players, including the face cards, were in on the scam. Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game. The defendants used a variety of very sophisticated cheating technologies.

[Joe Getty]

So I, I know nothing about gambling and poker in particular, I know nothing about. But Joe was explaining earlier how it's pretty damned easy for a couple of guys to gang up and cheat. So I don't understand why they have to be sophisticated cheating technologies. If you have some sort of. I'll sneeze if I got a good hand to tip, sure.

[Jack Armstrong]

I mean, yeah, that's. Yeah, it'd be more subtle than that. Obviously know you're kidding, but yeah, the fact that everybody at the table was in on it except the fish, I found myself thinking about, you know, that's a lot of trouble. Like if I sat down, I lose 200 bucks, I'm done. That's not worth assembling a bunch of mobsters and former NBA players and all. So I gotta believe that part of this, the, the deal part of the scam was they would identify high dollar card players who would be like hot prospects. I mean, who would show up if.

[Joe Getty]

They could play with a former NBA player or current NBA player.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. You probably tried a variety of angles to try to get them to show up. But in places where high dollar gambling takes place, I'm sure there were scouts out there for the mob who'd say, hey, Joe Getty, he's a radio guy, gambles like a fiend. We gotta see if we can get him to one of these games. Because you'd have to build a guy out of a lot of money to be worth going to all that trouble. Yeah, I can't wait to learn the details of this as a poker enthusiast.

[Joe Getty]

Well, let's go with a 45 there, Michael. This is NYPD Jessica Tisch. She'll explain how much one person lost.

[Reporter]

The organizers also enlisted well known public figures, former and current NBA players and coaches, including Chauncey Billups, the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers, an NBA champion and a former hall of Famer. To make the games appear legitimate. Victims believe that they were sitting at a fair table. Instead, they were cheated out of millions. One victim in a particular. In particular lost $1.8 million in total losses exceeded $7 million and continue to climb.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Michael]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

You got a lot of money if you're doing that. Yeah, of course, that might be all.

[Jack Armstrong]

Terrible, terrible problem.

[Joe Getty]

That might be all of your money. As comedian Norm MacDonald famously lost everything he had three times, I think he says, in his life. So sometimes, you know, you're playing with everything you got.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, Right. Oh, that's so insidious.

[Joe Getty]

His description of why he did it was the only thing that I've ever heard that made any sense to me. That him explaining as a gambling addict that winning didn't. It wasn't the thing. Because that's what I always assume as a non gambling addict, that the, you're going for that feeling of the win. He said it's that feeling between the bet and the result. That's why you do it, the winning. And then you got to get onto your next thing because that's. It's over. The, the orgasm or whatever the good feeling you got is over. It's that feeling in between the bet and how it pays off, whether you win or lose, that is the. Tickles your fancy in a way that doesn't tickle other people's fancy. If they ever really figure out addiction, the different kinds and how they work and everything like that, it'll be miraculous because I get. I'm an alcoholic, but like gambling makes no sense to me whatsoever. Like zero. But other people would look at me and say, well, don't drink so much.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, I mean, so you know. Yeah, and it's funny because I've, I've played a fair amount of poker in my life. I'm not a gambling addict at all. And I intellectually, I get what Norm MacDonald is talking about, but I've never really felt that. I just like to win.

[Joe Getty]

God, thank God you've never felt that.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't like to lose. I'd much prefer to win, but I set very strict limits and blah blah blah. But that's the difference between being an addict and an enthusiast. Which brings me to an absolutely brilliant piece I came across from Kevin Williamson, the great Texas conservative who may be one of my all time favorite guys I disagree with about 20% of the time because I like that because it tests my ideas and I have to try them out against his. But anyway, he wrote this great thing and it's very short about the difference between an enthusiast and a snob and how it's rotted out journalism in America that I thought was crazy insightful. Unless we have anything else to get to, we could take a break and end up the show with that. I thought it makes perfect sense journalism.

[Joe Getty]

I would have never thought of using the term snob in the world of journalism at all.

[Jack Armstrong]

Great insight.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, stay tuned.

[Armstrong]

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[Donald Trump]

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[Unnamed Commentator]

Construction workers have broken ground on the.

[Jack Armstrong]

New White House ballroom. Either that or Pete Hegseth should not have driven home last night. A lot of people are angry at President Trump because it was just announced that he's demolishing the entire east wing of the White House to build his new ballroom. There's so many questions about the renovation. Who's paying for it? Is it legal? And just how long was Rudy Giuliani living in the wall? You know. Wow. All right. Talk about a non issue. So I found this very interesting. Kevin Williamson. Kevin Williamson, great Texas conservative who was hired by the Atlantic, remember? And the woke readers just had their panties so wadded. Their cowardly editor. The cowardly editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, fired him before he wrote a word, but he was writing a piece. And I'm going to summarize the first part. Although it's very good writing, it's about. In the gun policy debate he talks about, there's a whole rhetoric of mockery. The idea being that gun rights advocates who correct people about the difference between a clip and a magazine, for instance, or a semiautomatic weapon versus a fully automatic weapon, were just weirdos or trying to avoid talking about the real issues as he writes, as though the technical aspects of firearms design wasn't the actual issue. Ignorance about firearms is taken as a kind of badge of honor, a sign that one is not one of those people, the unwashed. No, of course I don't know that about guns because I'm not one of those weirdo redneck types, right? And he gets into the. Now it's into the gist of the thing that I found really intriguing. The root issue is snobbery. If you know any music snobs or movie snobs, then you may have observed that a snob is not obsessed with his own taste in music or movies. He is obsessed with your taste, with everyone else's taste, and takes pleasure not from the things he enjoys, but from heaping scorn on the things other people enjoy that he judged contemptible.

[Joe Getty]

I never thought about it that way, but it's true.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is true. It's funny. I've always said once in a while because I'm a wine enthusiast, somebody will joke that I'm a wine snob and I'm not a snob at all. If you like a wine that I think tastes like Kool Aid, but you like it and it makes you happy, drink that one, be happy. What the hell do I care anyway? People who actually know things and have a genuinely cultivated critical sensibility tend to be the opposite of high fidelity Style ranking list snobs, which is a great reference to a great novel and a great movie.

[Joe Getty]

I was just thinking about that movie before you even mentioned it, when they would roll their eyes that People would come into the record stor and ask for certain music, right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Exactly. Yeah. He writes. My friend Jay Nordlinger, who is a classical music critic when he's not doing one of his other four jobs. He's a brilliant guy, is the least snobby person you will ever meet when it comes to music. A critic is interested in music. A snob is interested in what his choice of music says about him. Here's where he brings it home. Snobs of that kind do not make very good intellectuals, a word that I'm here using broadly to include journalists, novelists, translators, book editors and such. Both opinion journalism and cultural criticism in our time are deformed by the infantile self obsession of columnists and critics who are less interested in presenting interesting observations or compelling writing than they are in cultivating a particular self image. The crippling notion of personal brand having seeped very deeply into our assumptions about what it is journalists are there to do. The unspoken question is what does this say about me? It is mad and tedious. Am I the sort of person who likes Taylor Swift's latest album? Am I the sort of person who toes the conventional progressive line on trans issues? Am I the sort of person who now talks about abundance as if it were a new idea? And then he gives a couple of examples. When the editor of the New York Times opined that his writers don't quite get religion, he was making a genuine confession, but he was also making a statement. Statement 1 not entirely lacking in self satisfaction about what kind of people work at the time.

[Joe Getty]

You know, the right kind. You're right. That is true.

[Jack Armstrong]

Journalists and critics have a hard time seeing the subject because they are standing in their own way and cannot get a good view of it through themselves. Journalists and novelists and academics and such. Such are meant to be curious. I'm glad he mentions academics. But there are certain matters, usually involving social distinctions, that seem to provide a kind of profound. Provoke a kind of profound incuriosity in a certain kind of person. And he talks about the principle of the ideological Turing Test holds that you really do not understand this a dispute until you can argue the other side of it in a way that would sound convincing to a person holding that view.

[Joe Getty]

That should be a standard for all conversations. You have to state my position to.

[Jack Armstrong]

My satisfaction and then we can argue about the particulars.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, and vice versa.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, that reminds me. I'm really looking forward to getting into that email from a gal who disagreed with our take on the Great Feminization. We'll do that Tomorrow. It's. It's good. It's. It's well thought out. I still think what I think, but it'll be fun to go through it.

[Joe Getty]

We got quite a few texts on the. Whether or not it's okay for me to call the grok lady the B word. And quite a few people saying that, like me. Well, you. You recoiled when I. I did. Suggested that I was going to call her a B. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

Like, with a modifier. Right. A stupid bee or obnoxious bee.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. She was saying Yoko Ono was good music. And I was gonna say, you stupid bitch, but I couldn't bring myself to say it. And you're horrified by it. And like some people said they couldn't do it either. And then somebody else saying it's. It's like calling a red light a stupid bitch. It's. It's the same thing. It's just.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Yes, it is. Yeah. And actually, speaking of taking another side of the argument, I might argue that you ought to do that to remind yourself over and over and over again that these systems are not living beings.

[Joe Getty]

That it's not an actual woman. The fact that I haven't is because I kind of feel like it's, you know, my female companion who I disagree with about Yoko Ono, you know.

[Jack Armstrong]

You know who was a stupid bitch? I was. I'm Joe. Get it? Oh, my God. I cracked myself up.

[Joe Getty]

Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Hey, let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew. Wouldn't that be delightful? Let's begin with our technical director, Michelangelo.

[Michael]

Michael, with all this news about gambling. Now in the news, I'm going to confess something. I once cheated at Yahtzee to get some baked goods from my brother.

[Joe Getty]

So there you go.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm sorry.

[Announcer]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's a. For baked goods. Shameful. Katie Green, our esteemed newswoman, has final thought. Katie, Speaking of treats, I discovered Reese's.

[Michael]

Peanut Butter cup popcorn.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wait, what?

[Michael]

Yeah, yeah, it's a problem.

[Joe Getty]

I could see devouring. I could see intending to eat a couple of pieces of that and killing a bag.

[Jack Armstrong]

Not a different thing to do. Treats it once or enough for you. Wow. Jack, a final thought for us.

[Joe Getty]

Came across a guy online who's running an extra mile every day for the shutdown. So, like, on day 32, he ran 32 miles. He's an ultra marathoner. Then on day 33, he ran 33 miles. He adds a mile every day. The shutdown continues to draw attention or something. Go ahead, go ahead, knock yourself out, dude. Have a good time. Whatever. Good lord.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, my final thought. Be an enthusiast, not a snob.

[Joe Getty]

It's a good one. I. I was thinking about myself on a couple of different areas to make sure I don't do that.

[Jack Armstrong]

There was one lady who was standing in my living room, we were all drinking, declaring what a huge Clash fan she was. The band the Clash, she knew like two of their songs. And I judged her very harshly. Very harshly.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four hour workday.

[Jack Armstrong]

Don't be a snob or a phony, okay? So many people.

[Joe Getty]

Thanks.

[Jack Armstrong]

So little time. Go to armstrongandgetty.com blah blah blah.

[Joe Getty]

See you tomorrow. God bless America.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and get it Armstrong and get it under my.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and go.

[Jack Armstrong]

What are we calling? There are two ways to look at this. This is a national emergency.

[Joe Getty]

It's cold.

[Donald Trump]

It's true.

[Joe Getty]

I don't want to keep doing this.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm going to call it Armstrong and Getty.

[Armstrong]

In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming [e-mail] Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. So you can push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high quality streaming with Intel Wi Fi 6e and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search power [e-mail] lenovo.

[Donald Trump]

Lenovo.

[Michael]

This is an iHeart podcast.