You're An Above Average Doofus

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "You're An Above Average Doofus" – Detailed Summary

Release Date: November 20, 2024
Hosts: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty
Platform: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Introduction

In the "You're An Above Average Doofus" episode of Armstrong & Getty On Demand, hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty delve into a myriad of pressing topics ranging from international politics and media influence to cultural debates and societal shifts. Released on November 20, 2024, this episode offers listeners a blend of sharp commentary, personal anecdotes, and insightful discussions aimed at dissecting contemporary issues with the hosts' characteristic wit and candor.

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2. Ukraine War and Nuclear Threats

The episode opens with a critical analysis of the ongoing war in Ukraine, specifically focusing on Russia's alarming shift in nuclear protocol. Jack Armstrong expresses surprise at the minimal media coverage surrounding this significant development.

Jack Armstrong [03:04]: "They changed their official nuclear...protocol that all the big countries with nuclear weapons are supposed to have. We're all supposed to have it written down in what ways we would use nuclear weapons under work circumstances... But they changed their protocol around the atacms to make it much easier for Russia to use nuclear weapons."

Joe Getty references David Sanger’s commentary from the New York Times, highlighting the global desensitization to nuclear threats.

Joe Getty [02:35]: "It has the feel of that coworker of yours who says, I can't take another day of this... It's yet another, you know, dictator making threats about, you know, you provoke me, I'll send a nuclear way."

Armstrong and Getty critique the U.S. government's lukewarm response, suggesting a dangerous complacency that could have far-reaching consequences.

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3. Trump's Cabinet Pick: Dr. Mehmet Oz

A significant portion of the discussion centers around Former President Donald Trump's appointment of Dr. Mehmet Oz to a key cabinet position. The hosts share their skepticism regarding Oz's qualifications and character.

Joe Getty [08:39]: "I think he's a quack and a con man."
Jack Armstrong [08:42]: "He's absolutely that."

Jack recounts a personal encounter with Dr. Oz, emphasizing Oz's domineering nature and lack of cooperative spirit during the interaction.

Joe Getty [27:32]: "He came in and just tried to take control of the radio show... but he would just seize control."

Despite their disdain, Armstrong acknowledges that Oz might effectively execute Trump's vision, albeit through questionable means.

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4. Critique of the Education System

Armstrong and Getty turn their attention to the American education system, expressing deep concerns over its current state. They highlight the rise in homeschooling and private schooling, attributing it partly to the disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Joe Getty [29:53]: "There are more people than ever homeschooling or doing private schools and have ever been before. COVID hastened that."

Jack Armstrong underscores the systemic failures, questioning the quality of education and the increasing trend towards radicalization in schools.

Jack Armstrong [31:40]: "Public school K through 12... we still have work to do to get people to realize this is way, way, way off track."

The hosts lament the lack of foundational skills being taught, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic, and criticize the indoctrination efforts they perceive within the educational institutions.

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5. Elon Musk's Rocket Launch and 'Fail Fast' Philosophy

Transitioning to technology and innovation, Armstrong and Getty discuss Elon Musk's latest SpaceX Starship launch. They examine the implications of the successful booster detachment followed by an unplanned splashdown.

Jack Armstrong [18:33]: "They didn't catch this rocket with the... The mega something or other is what he calls the giant arm that catches the rocket booster."

Joe Getty praises Musk’s "fail fast, learn faster" mantra, relating it to personal growth and resilience.

Joe Getty [19:00]: "Failure will never hold you back. Fear of failure is crippling."

Jack reflects on Musk’s ambitious goal to reach Mars by 2026, expressing both skepticism and hope.

Jack Armstrong [19:57]: "If he's off by several years, that'd be quite amazing. I hope it happens in my lifetime."

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6. Insights from "Sapiens" by Yuval Noah Harari

The duo delves into the anthropological insights from Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens, discussing what sets Homo sapiens apart from other species.

Jack Armstrong [21:06]: "Homo sapiens are the only beast that has ever existed on earth that can believe fictions and fully embrace them."

Joe Getty expands on this notion, suggesting that shared myths and abstract concepts like money and nations facilitate unprecedented human cooperation and societal advancement.

Joe Getty [22:25]: "Some might prefer the term abstraction... believing something or understanding it in the abstract."

They explore how these collective beliefs enable large-scale organization and complex cultures, distinguishing humans from other animals who operate based on tangible necessities.

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7. Culture Wars and Current Political Climate

Armstrong and Getty engage in a heated discussion about ongoing culture wars, particularly focusing on transgender rights and workplace policies.

Joe Getty [16:16]: "Don't buy anything on Black Friday... F capitalism and F colonialism."

They critique mandatory training programs for dealing with transgender individuals in old folks' homes, highlighting the strains it places on staff and questioning its effectiveness.

Jack Armstrong [17:21]: "You're going to go into an old folks home and start asking people in their 80s and 90s about the pronouns. You're going to get a lot of blank looks."

The hosts express frustration with the government's continued push towards what they perceive as the "woke agenda," despite former President Trump's efforts to dismantle it.

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8. Recent News Highlights

Throughout the episode, Armstrong and Getty intersperse their commentary with summaries of recent news events:

• Sexual Assault Probe: Reports suggest that Trump sent over $10,000 via Venmo to two women involved in a House investigation.

  Katie Green [32:26]: "So for the sexer to keep them from talking, do we think?"

• International Tensions: The U.S. shuts down the Ukrainian embassy in response to potential air attacks, and there's rising tension with North Korea.

  Katie Green [33:19]: "US Envoy will head to Israel, citing progress on Lebanon ceasefire."

• Public Safety Concerns: A 51-year-old man faces murder charges after a violent rampage in New York City, raising questions about the effectiveness of the justice system.

  Jack Armstrong [34:16]: "This stabber, the knife wielded maniac had been arrested nine times this year."

• Economic Measures: American companies are increasing inventories ahead of Trump's China tariffs, indicating anticipated economic shifts.

  Katie Green [35:04]: "American companies are stocking up to get ahead of Trump's China tariffs."

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9. Conclusion

In wrapping up the episode, Armstrong and Getty reflect on the sprawling and often ineffective nature of the federal government, hinting at further discussions in the next installment.

Joe Getty [36:02]: "How big and sprawling and ineffective is the federal government and what can be done about it?"

They invite listeners to engage with their content, encouraging feedback through their mailbag segment and teasing topics for future episodes.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Jack Armstrong [03:04]: "But really. Oh no, Dr. Oz. Quack quack, quack."

• Joe Getty [08:39]: "Yeah. I mean, that's beyond dispute."

• Joe Getty [16:16]: "Don't buy anything on Black Friday... F capitalism and F colonialism."

• Jack Armstrong [19:57]: "If he's off by several years, that'd be quite amazing. I hope it happens in my lifetime."

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Final Thoughts

"You're An Above Average Doofus" exemplifies Armstrong and Getty's ability to navigate complex topics with humor and critical insight. From international diplomacy and political appointments to societal trends and educational reforms, the episode offers a comprehensive look at the multifaceted issues shaping today's world. Whether you’re a regular listener or new to the show, this episode provides a thought-provoking and entertaining exploration of the current zeitgeist.

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Stay tuned for more episodes of Armstrong & Getty On Demand for ongoing discussions and in-depth analyses of the issues that matter most.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

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[Jack Armstrong]

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[Joe Getty]

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

[Jack Armstrong]

Enough.

[Joe Getty]

Here's Armstrong and get ready.

[Jack Armstrong]

Live from Studio C Senior. It's a dimly lit room deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty Communications compound on Wednesday and we're under the tutelage of our general manager.

[Joe Getty]

Ah, deep breath. Here you go, Dr. Oz.

[Jack Armstrong]

You didn't have to do that. There's no requirement. You pick the most annoying thing in the news for the general manager. You get to choose.

[Joe Getty]

You want this job. Speaking of jobs, you want this damn job? This dirty job? Micro wouldn't do this job. It's so dirty picking the general manager every day. It's exhausting.

[Jack Armstrong]

We could have gone the whole show without even mentioning it. You made the feature point.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, you should see our email, man. Holy cow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh really?

[Joe Getty]

Oh yes, yes, yes. The people noticed and had the very reaction you that you might think they would. Wait a minute. What?

[Jack Armstrong]

So was the overall take not positive at least in the email?

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I mean I wouldn't call it a scientific survey of a thousand randomly selected Americans with a plus or minus 2%. No, but it's overwhelmingly. Oh good lord. Just when I was trying to defend his choices as out of the mainstream. But really. Oh no, Dr. Oz. Quack quack, quack.

[Jack Armstrong]

I was surprised. So I watched my evening newscasts this morning. Last night's evening newscast. I thought the lead story everywhere would be on the 1000th day of the war in Ukraine. Ukraine uses those attack of missiles to fire into Russia at the. You know. Go ahead. From Joe Biden. I thought that was the lead story of the day and it was. I. I watched the news for a long time. I didn't even get to the story.

[Joe Getty]

When the, you know, the B part of that ab is Vlad Putin making vague but unmistakable threats that he might provoke. Provoke a nuclear.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, it was More. It was more concrete than that. They. They changed their official nuclear, whatever you call, protocol that all the big countries with nuclear weapons are supposed to have. We're all supposed to have it written down in what ways? We would use nuclear weapons under work circumstances. And it's supposed to be open for everybody to see. It's part of the whole not having mistakes, et cetera, thing that they came up with way back in the day. But they changed their protocol around the atacms to make it much easier for Russia to use nuclear weapons. I thought that was by far the lead story, and it barely made the news at all, so. And David Sanger was writing about it in the New York Times last night about how it just landed with a whimper. I mean, he said, if one thing has come out of the war with Ukraine, it is the world does not really react to nuclear threats anymore, for better or worse. And he said, for better or worse, like, maybe it's good. Maybe you can't jerk everybody around by threatening nuclear war all the time. On the other hand, maybe if somebody with the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world threatens to use it, you ought to at least pay attention. I don't know.

[Joe Getty]

I guess it has a bit of the feel to me, and I'm just kind of guessing that people's sentiment. I'm not necessarily speaking for myself strictly, but it has the feel of that coworker of yours who says, I can't take another day of this. I'm just. This place is. But then he shows up day after day, year after year. It's yet another, you know, dictator making threats about, you know, you provoke me, I'll send a nuclear way. And then hearing it for four generations.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, clearly, that's the way the world reacted, including the United States. The United States official reaction was, we will not be changing our nuclear protocol. In other words, we don't take it seriously. Um, and then today you wake up, too, and I'm surprised. This is the bigger story. It's a bigger story on social media among the Republicans who think Biden's trying to get us into World War three before Trump takes office. People are making a really big deal out of that. Like on Twitter and other places that I go. Biden approves anti personnel landmines for Ukraine, reversing his policy of the entire war of absolutely not on landmines, drawing criticism from arms control groups and others. But so now Ukraine's gonna be able to put in those landmines to try keep the Russians from coming in. So, oh, boy, that is quite a bit more aggressive stance in the last 48 hours from Joe Biden for whatever reason.

[Joe Getty]

Well, breaking news. I'm sorry, that is just handed to me. Trump's new Secretary of Agriculture, Carrot Top, probably because of the name, I'm guessing. All right, Entertainment entertainer, Carrot Top.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's decent. Colbert's joke was, the guy who's going to. The person that's going to lead Amtrak is Thomas the Tank Engine with the whole it's just people he sees on tv. But is it, Is that it or is it. He understands that much of the electorate is not as paying as close attention as the media would like us to think. And he picks people that are on TV to make a lot of voters happy.

[Joe Getty]

They've changed the title to the Secretary of the Interiors and he's appointed Martha Stewart, which is her expertise in interior decorating.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is it because Trump sees these people on TV or he thinks a lot of voters see these people on TV and think, oh, good choice. There's somebody I've heard of. I've seen them on Fox and Friends or I seen them on midday TV with Oprah.

[Joe Getty]

I think. I don't know. It's. It's something like that. It's also people he knows and people who've made it completely clear to him. And I get this. I am not a beltway insider who is going to smile to your face and oppose your agenda at every single turn. If you say, we're gonna wind down the Department of Education, I'm gonna do every damn thing I can to make it happen.

[Jack Armstrong]

I get that. Well, and while I follow the news fairly closely for a living, I'm not super into all these names that aren't TV stars. And like, I was listening to a podcast the other day talking about what a great financial team or some team that Trump has put in place, and they rattled off a bunch of names I'd never heard in my life. And so it didn't mean anything to me. So if you want to just get like an average doofus like me, somebody who's I've seen on tv, I'm going to have an opinion about somebody. It's.

[Joe Getty]

Don't sell yourself short. You're an above average doofus.

[Jack Armstrong]

Somebody that's been in the policy world in D.C. for decades, but I've never heard of it, makes sure means nothing to me, even though they might be a great pick. So I don't know, maybe that's what he's doing. Although I think he's misreading the way a Lot of America sees Dr. Oz.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I've. I've got to admit, there's. Well, I don't. I think a lot of people feel the same way. There's definitely a feeling of this thing has, like, loose steering and no brakes, and I just really feel like we're going to hit a tree. On the other hand, you know what? Oz is a smart guy. He's gonna execute Trump's vision. What the hell, let's see what happens. I mean, I don't know that the guy's going to be bad at his job. I think he's a quack and a con man.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's absolutely that.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I mean, that's beyond dispute.

[Jack Armstrong]

Put the duck back. I heard quacking right there, bro. So he's pushed a whole bunch of fraudulent diet plans throughout his life to become famous.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

What, rich?

[Joe Getty]

Very rich. Yes, yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

I would imagine a lot of these people that get appointed that aren't television stars have done things I don't like either. I just don't know about them.

[Joe Getty]

Well, I was rolling down the avenue the other day and an ad came on Fox News for the Trump watches that the POTUS elect is selling. So, no, he doesn't really object to Mehmet Oz selling some sort of useless powder that's going to burn fat off your belly. No, he's not that worried about it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Is Trump still got watches for sale?

[Joe Getty]

Yes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Or some entity that he's licensed his name to does. Yeah. And the disclaimer is they are not meant for investment purposes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Okay, let's start the show officially real quick.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'm Jack Armstrong, He's Joe Getty on this. It is Wednesday, November 20th. Happy birthday to one Joseph R. Biden, who is 82 years old today.

[Joe Getty]

Doesn't look a day over a hundred year.

[Jack Armstrong]

2024. We Armstrong again, we approve of this program of.

[Joe Getty]

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs just announced Captain Stubbing of the Love Boat back in the 70s.

[Jack Armstrong]

Better than Captain Crunch is. He's a fictional character.

[Joe Getty]

All right, let's begin officially now, according to FCC rules and regulations, leaping into.

[Unknown]

Action at mark this morning, it's increasingly clear it is Donald Trump's world and we're just living in it. The most powerful rocket ever built blasting off from Texas yesterday. 45 and 47. Making the trip with billionaire buddy to take in the launch just days after they both attended a UFC fight at Madison Square Garden, where the winner did Trump's signature dance after the knockout.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's all there, that news host. Not as Happy as I am. It's gotta be rough if you're on the left and you thought we were told he was Hitler. Everybody doing the Trump dance. And there's. There's the lead story with Elon Musk watching the rocket go up and Trump's everywhere you look.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, well, what are you gonna. That's a beautiful clip. It has it all. It has the wow. That's right. Oh, yeah, that's right. Oh, and the dance. Red and her tone. It's Trump's world, and we're just living in it, apparently. All right, then. Okay.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's why I love that whole budding World War three thing. Ought to get a little more attention than some of the celebrities.

[Joe Getty]

Shut up. We're having fun. Sad sack. Chief Dark cloud with your World War stuff. Please.

[Jack Armstrong]

Happy birthday to Joe Biden, 82, oldest.

[Joe Getty]

And fit is a fiddle. Ready for another term as recently as a couple of months ago.

[Jack Armstrong]

Ha ha ha.

[Joe Getty]

Institutions. True, dad.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oldest president we've ever had in office. Until Trump gets into office. Because then Trump will pass that at some point. How does mailbag look?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's decent enough. Yeah. You'll enjoy it. Cool.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's on the way. Here's our text. Line 415295 KFTC.

[Joe Getty]

Armstrong and Getty.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, this is fun. You got your first trans Congress, and so now they're battling over the whole bathroom thing there in the Capitol and which bathroom the new congressperson can or can't use. That's a good time.

[Joe Getty]

Don't literally. Don't get me started. It's your freedom. Loving. There's so much to be said on that topic. I love this from Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, the thinker. He's wrong about a lot of stuff, but anyway.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

An ancient sage nonetheless.

[Jack Armstrong]

What an interesting introduction of Aristotle. You don't hear that very often. Wrong about a lot of stuff. I want to make that clear to everyone.

[Joe Getty]

Well, no, no, I just. That's my. My mind works. And that I remembered. A long and fascinating discussion of epistemology. Just and just. And just how we know what we know and the nature of knowing and the nature of learning and blah, blah, blah. And Aristotle had some odd views of how the universe actually worked, but certainly he understood mankind. This is a great quote. And this is continuing our series about the law. Law and justice. At his best. Man is the noblest of all animals separated from law and justice. He is the worst. I would. I would agree. With the very rare exception of a couple of your more advanced primates, like chimpanzees there's no maliciousness in the animal kingdom. It's all fairly easily attributable to. Well, yeah, he's trying to protect his dominance over the herd or the troop or whatever, and that he's in his territory. That's why he's being vicious to him. There's not like. I don't like you and I want to hurt you much in the animal kingdom. That's why we need law. That the natural state of things is chaos and ugliness.

[Jack Armstrong]

I've got a lot.

[Joe Getty]

Liberty and order is a miracle.

[Jack Armstrong]

I got a lot on that I've been meaning to talk about. I'm making my way through the book Sapiens, which I'd never read the whole thing before. Fascinating stuff about why Homo sapiens emerged from all the other humans and dominated. Maybe we'll talk about that later. I found it interesting.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, I've got endless patience for that sort of thing. I mean, or we could just jabber about the news headlines of the day that'll be forgotten tomorrow. Mailbag, drop us a Note [e-mail] Some of them obviously will not.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope you're right.

[Joe Getty]

They will have an enormous impact.

[Jack Armstrong]

I hope my. I hope your grandchildren aren't studying how the Ukraine war turned into World War Three.

[Joe Getty]

No, that's one of the second group. Yeah, that's the kind that won't be forgotten. Here's an idea. Going forward, writes Christie, let's require presidential candidates to also divulge their proposed selections for major cabinet roles. Oy. V. Insert the quack and duck sound for Dr. Osney. Yeah, I know. And then her hashtag is. Hashtag job security for y'all. Yeah. Yeah. What'll you do? Oh, I love this from Sean. What about this? Trump puts Gates in, lets him do all the crazy stuff and soak up the heat. Everyone hates him already. He's like the WWF heel, the villain you love to hate in the wrestling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, most of the reporting is that that's not what Trump's doing. He wants Gates to be the Attorney General and.

[Joe Getty]

Well, yeah, that's absolutely. Yeah, that's what he means as Attorney General. So Trump says, hey, he's an independent. He's an independent AG Just like Garland was. I have to stay out of it all. Finally, when the DC Lamp posts are proverbially all hung with bodies, Trump saves the nation and fires Crazy Matt for going too far. And inevitably hires a hot chick for AG Sideshow Bob writes, guys, I just hope Putin waits until after next week to start his nuclear war. I've already invested a lot of time and money preparing to host a large gathering of family for Thanksgiving dinner.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, I hear you.

[Joe Getty]

On second thought, maybe this week would be better. Oh, Bob. Let's see. Oh, I like this. Steve. And beautiful Chico, California. Shout out to Chico. Good folks. Been supporting us for ages, he says. I had to share my response to a liberal friend's Facebook post. The Facebook post is as follows. Don't buy anything on Black Friday. F capitalism and F colonialism.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God.

[Joe Getty]

I know, I know, I know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

Steve's comment was. You realize that voting with your dollars and not buying anything on Black Friday Friday is the very definition of capitalism. I love it. Let's see. Oh, this is keeping my head down as a Republican in Oregon says that Oregon has just issued brand new, expensive, crazy, time consuming mandatory training for old folks homes employees to be able to deal with transgender folks. Oh my God, the old folks homes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh my God.

[Joe Getty]

Training to be paid for by the employer, required first 12 months of hire every two years, mandatory 90 minute expensive, blah, blah, blah. We're already losing staff like crazy says, and this is going to make it even worse. But you know, as we talk about the whole woke agenda and did Trump's election end it? No, no, no. It's still growing in government and academia.

[Jack Armstrong]

You're going to go into an old folks home and start asking people in their 80s and 90s about the pronouns. You're going to get a lot of blank looks.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah. This stuff is still growing and we've still, we've got to be fighting it with all of our energy. Got some more great email to get to. Maybe we'll sprinkle in. Sprinkle it in. Throughout the show.

[Jack Armstrong]

Mr. Johnson, which pronoun would you like us to call you by? What? What? Now I realize you're 93, but which pronoun would you like us to. Huh? I'm sorry, not following you. Yeah, no kidding. We got a lot more news of the day. Stay with us.

[Unknown]

Armstrong and Getty President Elect Trump with Elon Musk in Texas there for the sixth test launch of the SpaceX Starship, meant to eventually take humans to the moon and Mars. The launch itself successful, the booster even detaching as it's supposed to. But then SpaceX seeing some issue with the booster.

Booster offshore divert. Unfortunately, that means that we are a.

[Jack Armstrong]

No go for the catch.

[Unknown]

It was supposed to land back in Texas, but to save it from potentially destroying the SpaceX launch facility or endangering lives on land. The booster shifting course and heading to the Gulf instead for a splashdown.

[Jack Armstrong]

So they didn't catch this rocket with the. What does he call it? The. The mega something or other is what he calls the giant arm that catches the rocket booster. I still feel like the media has not caught on to the way Elon looks at these things.

[Joe Getty]

Oh yeah, agreed.

[Jack Armstrong]

The whole fail fast theory, or there's.

[Joe Getty]

No such thing as fast and learn faster. Isn't that what he says?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And this thing which you can apply to your own life, I've tried to apply it to mine.

[Joe Getty]

It's just.

[Jack Armstrong]

There's no such thing as failure. It's just information. Okay. I tried this. This is the result. There's information about. So now I'll try to try it this way.

[Joe Getty]

Right. Failure will never hold you back. Fear of failure is crippling.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Interesting. And Elon expressed again yesterday that he plans to have a rocket reach Mars in 2026. Now he promises a lot of things. It often comes up short. I think that's part of his whole success thing is he hits. He sets aggressive deadlines. Yeah, aggressive.

[Joe Getty]

Never under strives. No.

[Jack Armstrong]

But I mean if he's off by several years, that'd be quite amazing. I hope it happens in my lifetime. What just a stunning thing to even think about.

[Joe Getty]

And this is an aside and we'll dig into this more thoroughly later on, but compare that idea of we're going to set a goal that's probably not reachable, but we're going to go nuts trying to get there. Who's in compared to government.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

Where I'd like to see that memo filled out by the end of the month. There are seven of you working on it.

[Jack Armstrong]

Have we run that through the environmental agency to make sure we're not afoul of any this or that.

[Joe Getty]

Have the application done by next March.

[Jack Armstrong]

So speaking of mankind and the amazing thing that Homo sapiens have been into outer space and are going to go further and further versus many of the other humans that have existed on planet Earth that didn't make it out of the Stone Age. Why is that so? You might be familiar with the book Sapiens that came out several years back. It was a big giant hit and it's just a fascinating freaking book. But I'd only read the first chapter before and I'm into the deeper chapters. And at one time there were six different kinds of humans existing on the planet at the same time. And it's still not completely known why. Homo sapiens. This is what we are emerged and all the other ones didn't make it.

[Joe Getty]

But one of the genocide against my people, the Neanderthals could be, or all.

[Jack Armstrong]

Kinds of different things could happen. But one of the beliefs is, and I'd never heard this before, is Homo sapiens are the only beast that has ever existed on earth that can believe fictions and fully embrace them. And I didn't quite understand what he meant by fictions when he started in on it, but he used all different kinds of examples. For instance, and if you're a religious person, you will be bothered by him using the word fiction. But he doesn't mean fiction as in fake. As much as it's something, it's in your mind. Lo, I'll start with this before I get to religion. Money, money is a fiction. I mean it is, it is. You know, you take a piece of paper, it doesn't, it's just a piece of paper. So you have to have all the belief that goes in with a five dollar bill of what, what the value of it is, how it's backed up by US government, how it can be exchanged for something. Then you give the $5 bill to somebody at the store who also believes the fiction of this piece of paper. And so you can trade goods and stuff like that. No other beast, probably no other human ever had the mental ability to do that. So you couldn't trade.

[Joe Getty]

For instance, some might prefer the term abstraction.

[Jack Armstrong]

Maybe, yeah, maybe that would be better.

[Joe Getty]

Believing something or understanding it in the abstract. But yeah, what an interesting principle.

[Jack Armstrong]

Same with the idea of a nation. So Homo sapiens could and do band together over the idea of a nation, a country, a belief, a culture that's worth fighting for. And so you can get a very large number of people together to fight for it. It seems that every other animal, including apes, you use the example of sometimes apes do want to take another group of, you know, apes territory because they think they got better mangoes over there or whatever. But they can't do it more than a very large group because it's over a very specific thing, the mangoes. As opposed to being able to band together millions of people over an idea of fiction or what, whatever you want to call it. An idea of we are a nation. No animal is shown the ability to do that. And they think perhaps Neanderthals or Homo erectus or the any of the other humans couldn't do that. A concept, they couldn't buy into a concept like that.

[Joe Getty]

So you're not going to have like west side of the Rainforest apes kick ass, man. They're not even real apes.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right, right. So and the same with, excuse me, apes. And the same with creating a religion that you buy into that you could all band together around and, and protect yourself in very, very large groups in a way that no other animal or human has ever been able to do. And I think that's a fascinating thing to think about. That's what separates us from all other living creatures on Earth.

[Joe Getty]

Perhaps that's as good definition or distinction as I've ever come across.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I thought it was, I thought it was amazing.

[Joe Getty]

I too started that book and kind of drifted away. I need to dive back into it.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's amazing how much is not known. That's one of the things that's really stuck out to me. There's a lot of guessing going on.

[Joe Getty]

In that field and many, many others.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. So Lex Friedman had on a guy the other day who's kind of like an out there controversial sort of anthropologist dude who has a belief that there was a major lost civilization somewhere on planet Earth that we haven't discovered yet. That explains the giant leap from hunter gathering to agriculture and civilization that happened simultaneously around the world kind of all of a sudden. Ish in historical terms. I mean it happened over tens of thousands of years. But given the fact that we're humans around for like 2 million years, why all of a sudden, all of a sudden were we able to create civilization? He thinks there was a civilization that grew very slowly, maybe in Antarctica and we just have never discovered that it is existence and it had spread around the world but then it disappeared, was covered up with ice and then the.

[Joe Getty]

Lost Atlantis, the new idea of the.

[Jack Armstrong]

Way to live as humans got out there and started. I don't know, who knows.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, well, if you've studied this stuff at all, you know that some of the ancient civilizations and cities and all are super well documented and some aren't. Some, you know, it's fairly fragmentary, but clearly there was a giant city and I have not studied this much, but Ur was one of the first civilized areas in Iraq, I believe. But it's not like a ton is known about it. So yeah, it's absolutely imaginable that there was a big important civilization and the only records that were kept of it were over here and oh golly, a volcano just went off wrecking the only records that have ever existed.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, and it's also highly unfortunate that most of the oldest civilizations in Egypt and Iraq and maybe the oldest civilization is in Turkey are in places where Everything's so effed up that the world can't really get there and explore it in the way you could if it were, like, found in Nebraska.

[Joe Getty]

Speaking of certain religions.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, yeah. Hmm. Also, taking in all that information and thinking about the spreads of time, it. I don't know, it kind of weirds you out from a getting so worked up about your current situation.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, that's another version of the laying on your back and looking at the stars for 20 minutes experience.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I go back and forth on that one. So the. So if human beings have been modern, humans have been around for, let's say, 70,000 years thinking and acting exactly like we do, then why are you so worried about your today day? Well, because I'm me and my kids are them. And I worry about, you know, I want them to be happy and not miserable or in pain. So that seems like a pretty good reason to be concerned about it.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Question of balance, I think.

[Jack Armstrong]

No balance. All are all or nothing. 100% or zero. That's the way I do it.

[Joe Getty]

So all of that was really interesting and thought provoking and I thank you for bringing it to us. But what does that have to do with Dr. Oz?

[Jack Armstrong]

That's what I was trying to avoid having.

[Joe Getty]

The conversation leads Dr. Dr. Oz, Matt Gates, blah, blah, blah. Pete Hegseth, sexual assault, blah, blah, blah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So just briefly, for those of you who don't know, I won't. I won't go into it, but we had a personal interaction with Dr. Oz that made me hate him for the rest of my life. He is a dick and I don't like him at all. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't be good at this job. I don't actually have any idea whether or not he's qualified to do this particular job. I doubt that he is because it's running Medicaid and Medicare. I mean, what.

[Joe Getty]

Forgive me, friends, for using Jack's vocabulary. We should all be better than that. But it's possible. It takes a dick to go into those agencies and turn them around. Impossible. Oz's great sin, which offended Mr. Armstrong. It mostly amused me, but was that he came in and just tried to take control of the radio show. He was there as a guest and said our screener will screens calls. You sit down. Here's the way it's gonna go. And we're like, wait a minute, no. And. But he would just seized control. So he's a leader.

[Jack Armstrong]

He's a leader. Maybe he's a leader and a dick.

[Joe Getty]

But apparently he is Used to people saying, yes, Dr. Oz, yes, sir.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

And he gets things to go the way he wants them to go.

[Jack Armstrong]

So, yeah, I don't know. One thing.

[Joe Getty]

It ain't gonna be as boring, friends. Isn't that the one sin that cannot be forgiven? Boring. The next couple of years will be interesting.

[Jack Armstrong]

And Bremmer made a decent point on his Twitter feed yesterday that before you get too worked up about a lot of these choices, confirmed or not, they won't be around long based on recent history. So whatever, you know, it's not. It's not like it's for the rest of our lives or all eternity. It's probably a year or two.

[Joe Getty]

For what it's worth, I love Linda McMahon at the education Department. I want to talk about that. Because our education system in the US seriously has. It is diseased. Seriously diseased. And obviously, you know me, I'm on about the radicalization of our children. Indoctrination in schools, which is horrific and horrifically inappropriate. But you know, you don't even need to go there. They ain't teaching the kids to read and write, do arithmetic. Good Lord, what are they? The. What are those buildings there for? Just to keep the rain off the kids heads.

[Jack Armstrong]

The turn has happened with college education. Polling shows that now most people realize. Wait a second. Is the. These places are crazy. I'm not sure this is a good idea that the tide turned a lot. Where do you think we are with public school K through 12? We still have work to do to get people to realize this is way, way, way off track. There sure are a lot. There are more people than ever home schooling or doing private schools and have ever been before. COVID Hasten that.

[Joe Getty]

Right, right. And that's a big factor. I was just going to say there's an awareness campaign that needs to be done. It's growing. But then the fact is that there are not the same alternatives or the alternatives aren't as EAS advantage of in elementary education for working families. They got little kids, they're paying their taxes. They think the government set up these schools. I want my kid to learn, you know, homeschooling, private schooling. It's expensive and or time consuming. Whereas I came across another great article from this guy who counsels like the elite high school students of the Northeast who all wanted to go to the Ivy League forever. And he reaffirmed what I saw in the Wall Street Journal. We talked about a little bit. He said, now all the lots and lots of these kids, huge number of them, their parents are like hey, how about Georgia? About South Carolina, Tennessee, Florida. Where kids go to school to learn and like, drink a little beer on the weekend and try to get laid. How about that? As opposed to marching in favor of Hamas all the damn time.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Plus your future employer has not seen this campus on the evening news being nuts.

[Joe Getty]

Right. They assume you went to Tennessee to get a degree in whatever you got a degree in. Not in radical studies.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. Yeah, that's a good one.

[Joe Getty]

Hating capitalism.

[Jack Armstrong]

We've got Katie's headlines on the way and a lot more Armstrong and Getty. Why a BG's song? I'll tell you why. Who's killing off BG's drummers? Two BG's drummers have died within four days.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Their original drummer and the drummer that followed him, both in their late 70s. Both died in the last four days. Little strange. Little too much for a coincidence.

[Joe Getty]

Not staying alive. Not staying alive.

[Jack Armstrong]

Decent point.

[Joe Getty]

Wow. Sorry to hear that. Let's. Well, we could certainly discuss that more if you'd like, but perhaps next hour, let's figure out who's reporting what. It's the lead story with Katie Green.

[Katie Green]

Starting with ABC News. Reports suggest gates sent over $10,000 in Venmo payments to two women who testified in House probe.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

So for the sexer to keep them from talking, do we think?

[Joe Getty]

Oh, either. Both. It's easy to forget that prostitution is illegal virtually everywhere and certainly in Florida.

[Jack Armstrong]

I don't know that it's easy to forget, but I'll take your word for it.

[Joe Getty]

Well, because everybody's concentrating on the underage or whatever. If the guy just, just, you know, consorts with hoes, that's going to be controversial for an Attorney General appointee. I know some of you are saying, yeah, the Justice Department under Biden has been crooked as hell and engaged in lawfare. I'd rather have a guy who gets with hoes than who subverts the Constitution. And it's not an unfair point.

[Katie Green]

From USA Today, United States shuts Kiev Imbus Embassy due to, quote, potential significant air attack.

[Jack Armstrong]

Things are definitely heating up in the whole Russia, Ukraine war with the atacms being used now and Biden announcing today the landmines, Putin changing his nuclear doctrine and, you know, 100,000, possibly North Korean troops coming.

[Joe Getty]

Significant majority of Ukrainians also say, hey, let's talk about negotiating and ending this thing. So everybody's sprinting to get to the best place before they sit down at the bargaining table.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. We got more on that later from.

[Katie Green]

The New York Times. US Envoy will head to Israel, citing progress on Lebanon ceasefire.

[Jack Armstrong]

Another fun thing for the Trump administration to inherit and try to work out.

[Katie Green]

From The Associated Press, 51 year old man is charged, charged with murder after three are stabbed in New York City rampage.

[Jack Armstrong]

God, what a horrible story.

[Joe Getty]

And this guy, mentally ill bum been arrested nine times this year. And they just kept turning him loose and turning them loose. In a related story, Alvin Bragg is about to get reelected.

[Jack Armstrong]

This stabber, the knife wielded maniac had been arrested nine times this year.

[Katie Green]

Yeah. And even, even Eric Adams was like, why was this guy still on street?

[Jack Armstrong]

You know, I think about that.

[Joe Getty]

And in a related story, DA Alvin Bragg is going to get reelected. Good Lord Manhattan, have you lost your minds?

[Katie Green]

From the Wall Street Journal. American companies are stocking up to get ahead of Trump's China tariffs.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. Building up inventories from the Daily Mail.

[Katie Green]

Biden dodges reporters and Mrs. To secure, quote, super lame duck status on world stage.

[Joe Getty]

Boy, he is that the lamest of all ducks.

[Katie Green]

From NBC, Trump names former wrestling executive Linda McMahon as his pick for education secretary.

[Joe Getty]

Love the choice. We'll discuss next hour.

[Katie Green]

We have your meme of the day. It's the picture of Trump and Elon and RFK Jr. On the plane with the McDonald's or RFK looks super uncomfortable and it says making sure the new gang member does drugs to make sure he's not an undercover cop.

[Jack Armstrong]

Perfect.

[Katie Green]

And finally, the Babylon Bee. Experts predict every liberal will soon be on their own individual social media platform to prevent encountering wrong opinions.

[Jack Armstrong]

There you go.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, boy, that's good. So how big and sprawling and ineffective is the federal government and what can be done about it? Our theme next hour. You don't get next hour. Grab the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand.

[Unknown]

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