October 14, 2025 • 36 mins
Hour 2 of A&G features...
- Money management & tariffs on China
- Annie the chatbot companion
- Chinese hackers
- Zack Bryan's new song pisses people off
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong Joke, Getty.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Armstrong and Getty and no he Armstrong and Yetty.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
A growing number of gen Z men are moving back
in with their parents, taking over household shores and calling
themselves trad sons, replacing the old name Failures.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yeah, I've come across that trad sun thing quite a
few places. But that's a good joke. Oh boy, failure
to launch.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah, I can't go into detail. We're dealing with
some family dynamics right now involving young English person who's
money management borders on the surreal. The kid who bought
the magic beans on the way home that turned into
the beanstock magic beans would have been a better idea
(01:13):
than this. There are times I think financial acumen is
at least half genetic. M some people, it's way harder
to teach them. You know, I've got one kid who
scrimps and saves same household as another kid who well,
(01:33):
it's difficulty even get the concept to stick.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But anyway back to you.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, I was talking to a parent the other day
who had bought their twenty year old or something like
that a car to have to drive to be able
to get to work, blah blah blah. With an agreement,
you're going to make the payment and change you on
stuff like that. The kid did not make the payment
or change ou or anything like that. So the parent,
after delaying longer than they feel like they should have,
(01:58):
finally just sold the car from underneath them and now
they're like taking the bus everywhere. But anyway, my experience
is the hard edge of reality is the only thing
that made me improve my financial acumen. Yeah, that's been
my own personal experience that often works. Just came across
this headline the IAEA says there's going to be a
(02:21):
worldwide oil glut in twenty six Sorry, climate change activists.
Gas prices are going to go down. People are going
to keep driving cars driven by the greatest energy source
that's ever been developed on planet Earth, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
On that topic.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
I saw a headline maybe I can find it real quickly.
It was essentially everyone is doubling down on renewable energy
except the US, and it clicked in my head with
the clarity it hasn't before. You could rewrite that headline
(02:59):
the world or they mostly just meant Europe, but is doubling.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Down on the current generation of renewable power technology. I
was looking at a product not long ago, a consumer product,
and I thought brand new buggy.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Wait a year, and the United States, I think, to
a large extent, has said, yeah, the current stuff just
isn't dependable enough. It doesn't make enough power, it doesn't
store enough power. And look at Europe's moribund economy. I mean,
they've sacrificed themselves on the altar of renewable energy, the
current technology, and it's not good enough.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Man Burn, baby burn.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Things are getting serious up in here. Joe dropped in
a moribund on us.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Apparently this is not when this isn't hijinks around here.
This is we're getting tares that suck as one of
the biggest headlines while we are off for a couple
of days honoring Columbus's discovery.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
And this covered America. Can you imagine the first human
to ever see these shows?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
What's your joke that you say every single year.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Oh, the Indians are standing around saying you discovered it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're here.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Oh you always say, oh, you want to walk into
a Walmart and say I have discovered this Walmart right
and claim it on behalf of Queen Isabella.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
You know, it would be funny if we have like
new listeners, especially you know, to the left of center,
to go on and on winking at the audience.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Obviously, you know the.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
Folks would know we're kidding, but just to go on
and on about how Columbus came to a completely untamed
wilderness there were no people can imagine from coast to coast,
and then he settled it.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
So anyway, the biggest story that happened, will we're off
maybe is Trump hitting China with one hundred percent tariffs
on all products from China, all one hundred percent tariffs.
That's what he announced just a couple of days ago.
He was quoting in his truth social post China's unheard
(05:15):
of controls on rare earth minerals, which are sinister and
hostile and a moral disgrace.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
It is sinister in hostile.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I don't know where morality plays into it, but it
is sinister and hostile, and it is a very big deal.
But it got Trump so worked up that he avowed
to hit back with one hundred percent tariffs on all
products from China. And then he said the rest is history.
I'm not exactly sure what that means. Then, forty eight
hours hours later, calming down a little bit, maybe Trump
(05:45):
posted President Jijiping of China was only having a bad moment.
Mister Trump said on a social media Sunday, don't worry
about China.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
It will be fine.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
He reassured his followers with he wants to help China.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Not heard it. Don't worry about China, it will be fine.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Uh So, I don't know where we are, but China
has declared they're not going to allow us to have
any of these rare earth minerals that we need for
AI and making fighter jets and all these different things.
The fact that China controls like ninety four percent of
rare earth minerals on planet Earth and we somehow allowed
that to happen, yipes, is a.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Discrible working to change that, but it's going to take
zillions of dollars and years and years of effort.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
To do it.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
It's it's a nearly impossible conundrum we're in.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
And we're going to talk more about this at the
bottom of the hour. How China is trying to hack
into all of our systems. Big towns in small counties
and died hospitals and governments and water plant treatments and
power grids and everything, everything, everything, everything They want to
have a kill switch. They're engaged in overt psychological warfare
against the American people. They're militarizing the entire region or
(06:51):
where they're kicking around.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
We are at war with them, oh absolutely, and utterly
dependent on each other. For Tree, we are going to
feature sixty minutes. Their first story about all that coming
up in about twenty minutes, So I got more to
say about it then.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Yeah, Well, speaking of the rare earth thing, just a
quick note. These so called they're called rare earths. They're
not actually rare, they're but they're difficult to extract because
they're scattered and mixed among other rocks and minerals.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I thought this would be fun, Michael. Which one of
these is an actual rare earth.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Substance? And which did I just made makeup? Okay, I
wouldn't have any eye, Jack.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You don't get to way in because I know you
took a lot of chemistry. Is it? Which one did
I make up?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Dysprosium or a lacrium.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And China has it and we need it. I'm gonna
say a lacrium. You made that up. I just made
that up.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Dysprosium is atomic number sixty six on the periodic table.
If tech industry were the tech industry where a bakery,
dysprosium would be like baking powder. It's used in small quantities,
but essential for enabling electric car motors, wind turbines, military systems,
and computer chip machinery.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
So was China just the first to recognize whether the
future of everything is these rare earth minerals? So we
need to either make deals or capture the land of
or mine ourselves enough of this to be Did they
just figured.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
That out before us or what? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (08:27):
One of the great advantages of being a dictatorship number
one decisiveness and number two they couldn't give half a
crap about the environment right, or a climate change, or
worker's rights or the number of people who die in
the mind.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
The point if China decide, if somebody tells Jijiping, you know,
there's a whole bunch of dysprosium under that mountain over there,
he doesn't have to do a five year long environmental
impact study to decide if they can do any mining.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I'm sorry, sir.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
The miners' unions are suing us on viron mental grounds
and right.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Which might be I was thinking about with this with
a different story, might be an indication of maybe that
system long term does work better. As horrifying as.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
That is, well, I wouldn't say long term. I would
say at times, dictatorships veer between being incredibly efficient and
almost hilariously inefficient.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
To see the Soviet Union.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Although the Chinese took communism and they showed you know,
Stalin how to do it, they are amazingly effective.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Right now, that's a very frustrating story. Well, we're in
an impossible position. One hundred percent tariffs is not sustainable, though,
is it for even like a week on everything from China?
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Oh no, no, it's it's a you're gonna do that
because China declared just not to get too far into
the weeds. But if a product derives more than a
tenth of a percent of their value from rare earth stuff,
you've got to get specific permission from the Chinese commerce
ministry to get your rare earth stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
So different story, quick follow up. You remember the story
from last week the guy that got caught hoping to
break into Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh's home and abduct and
or kill the justice in his family right, who then
declared that he is a woman, and that is believed
that he got the light sentence because he is trans.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I hadn't come across this.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
This is from the This is a quote from the judge,
Judge Robinson, try to wrap your head around these sentences,
this passage.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Clark, that's the.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Dude who decided he is a woman who wanted to
kill a Supreme Court justice. Clark attempted to catch straight
herself by tying a shoelace around her penis and scrotum
and cutting off her scrotum with a pair of nail clippers.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Number one nail clippers not the right tool for that job.
I mean, the right tool makes the job much yer.
How every carpenter knows that. How do you have a
phrase that includes the two words back to back her penis?
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I know Clark attempted to castrate herself by tying a
shoelace around her penis and cutting off her scrotum with
a pair of nail clippers.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
A judge wrote that that is astonishingly idiotic.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yes, Katie, I just don't know many females with those parts.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Well, exactly, yes, exactly that is you know, I've run
into vanishingly few distinguished career of coupling. Is that incredible
that that's where we are, that's where they are?
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Well, some people are very few people, and a lot
of people were afraid to not be there, like a
year ago.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
You can't say her penis.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
No, no, herpess is that?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Uh alk Balowin's wife's name. Trying to remember planet just
past Jupiter? Oh yes, uh anyway, her scrotum, yes, exactly.
Attempted to cut off her scrotum with nail clippers. Nail clippers. Okay,
now you're getting back to the plan, which is not good. No,
(12:35):
it's not speaking of bad plans. Country stars Zach Bryan
decides to go all bud light that controversy coming up.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, he's a big deal here.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
I know, I know it's and I know nothing about
country music and AI companies doubling and tripling down on
sex spots.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Oh boy, where the prophet is? I want to talk
about that. We got a lot on the way to
stay here. Why did China hack into the water treatment
plant in a tiny, little Northeastern town that's what sixty
minutes was talking about Sunday night, crazy scary story about
what China has been doing, probably for quite a few years,
(13:14):
and we better wake up that story coming up.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Elon Musk is gambling big on sexy AI companions for himself,
for the world, for the world.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Not for himself.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
He can have all the companions he wants, and generally
has a kid or two with them. A blond woman
wearing pigtails, a gothic off the shoulder dress and fishnet
stockings stared into the screen awaiting instructions. And this is
a robe, babe, you're keeping it spicy, and he said
in a low voice as.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
She spun and jumped on command.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
If a sex robot, can it not have a low voice?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Sorry? Well, what do you want me to know?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
I'm not doing a porn girl voice for you sick fantasies.
And then it goes on and gets rather more explicit,
and he is one of two sexually explicit chet Pot
companions unveiled by Elon Musk's AI company Xai in July.
The cartoonish personas resemble anime characters and offer a game
like function as users progress through levels of conversation. They
(14:13):
unlock more raunchy content, the ability to strip Annie down
to lace lingerie.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
They made a video game out of it. Oh, things
are getting weird, and they getting weird fast. Yes they are.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Elon, Yeah, so they're spending a bunch of money on that.
They mentioned that Meta and OpenAI have shied away from
this sexually explicit stuff even though you know, anybody with
a little skill can jail break it, because they don't
want to, you know, run into reputational and regulatory risks.
So elon big on that. Then I thought this was
(14:45):
really interesting. Here's how this opens. Eleanor twenty four is
a Polish historian and lecture at a university in Warsaw.
Isabelle twenty five is a detective serving with the NYPD.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
No way You'd make deep A twenty five.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
By the way, Brook thirty nine is an American housewife
who enjoys an opulent Miami lifestyle financed by her frequently
absent husband. All three women will flirt and chat and
send nude photographs and explicit videos via one of a
soaring number of new adult dating websites that offer increasingly
realistic AI girlfriends for subscribers.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Willing to pay a monthly fee, but you know their AI. Yes, okay.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
This was the talk of this big conference in Prague
last month. Evidently, developers of the new businesses claim they
represent an improvement on webcam businesses, where real women undress
on camera and talk to men. That's more than that,
because these services remove the potential for the exploitation seen
(15:50):
in parts of the industry. Do you prefer your porn
with lots of abuse in human trafficking or would you
rather talk to an AI, asks Steve Jones, who runs
an AI porn site. We hear about human trafficking girls
being forced to be on camera ten hours a day.
You'll never have a human trafficked AI girl. You'll never
have a girl who is forced or coerced into a
(16:12):
sex scene that she's so humiliated by that she ends
up killing herself. AI doesn't get humiliated and it's not
going to kill itself.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
So they're trying to convince you you're a good person,
then a better person if you have a not real girlfriend,
that's AI because nobody's being abused here as opposed to
your not real girlfriend who is pretending to like.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You for money.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Oh my right, Oh my god, what a trailoff.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
And this is it's a hell of an argument to make,
but yeah, there is human trafficking and exploitation. Not everybody
is a former stortis making one hundred thousand a month
on you know, OnlyFans or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
A lot of it really is sick.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
What I found interesting and troubling is this guy's presumption
that sex acts that are so humiliating they make women
commit suicide?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Are you know that's what we sell here? But it's
an Ai girl, So it's line.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Wow, I can't even wrap my head around the present
and the future we're about to head into. China is
going to take over the world. Stay tuned for that.
Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
What did they target?
Speaker 6 (17:14):
They targeted water, they targeted electrical power, infrastructure, transportation are
examples of the types of things that were targeted. So
what In many cases they're vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So what are you talking about there?
Speaker 4 (17:28):
We're talking about the Chinese targeting us in all kinds
of different ways. That was the voice of a four
star general who was in Air Forced Air Force intelligence
his whole career and rose to the level of running
the NSA in Trump's presidency. First time around, and he
was on sixty Minutes on Sunday night talking to Scott
(17:50):
Pelly and a couple other people on there about the
ways China has been hacking into our country. This is
how they started.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
The surprise, Tim Hawked, is that China is targeting not
just the US military and industry, but also Americans in
their homes.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
I think initially we were surprised that China would target
every American with these capabilities. That goes against every norm
of international law. That certainly goes against how the United
States military would approach targeting in a crisis or a conflict.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That the fact that they would go.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
After basic services as part of their effort that they
have identified as unrestricted warfare is unconscionable.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
I think it's, well, it's unconscionable. Hey, yeah, okay, that
we can all yell at as we go under the
boot of the Chinese.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
That's not fair.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
That's not unconsionable for the Chinese, right is the problem.
But I thought, I was thinking, this is as watching
the story and we'll play more of it. They they
hacked to a water plant in tiny town in Massachusetts
or New Hampshire wherever it was, and they've done it
all across the country, and.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
What a clever way to get around the whole kind
of nuclear weapon conundrum that has existed since the forties.
So China knows, and we known, all the big powers know,
nobody's really wanting to cross that barrier. But what if
(19:29):
they attack all of our cell phone towers, water plants,
electric grid, everything all at once and bring us tourneys
that way without the cataclysm of a nuclear holocaust?
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Right, Yeah, well you'd bring entire cities or regions or
the entire country to a stop.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
So back to sixty minutes. They've been at this for
a while, as they China has been at this for
a while, as is explained here.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Multiple intrusions at utilities were discovered in twenty twenty three,
and China had been on some of their computer networks
at least five years. You're saying that the Chinese today
are in American power plants, water treatment plants, other parts
of the electrical grid, maybe even hospitals, telecommunications.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
All of that.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
So there is a daily contest that is going on
to be able to deny China those accesses. But they
are certainly attempting every single day to be able to
target telecommunications, to be able to target critical infrastructure, both
in the United States and in other countries. And they
are doing that to try to ensure that they have
an advantage in a crisis or a conflict.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yes, and why are they doing this? Is China preparing
for war? There was no other reason to target those systems.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
There's no advantage to be gan economically, there was no
foreign intelligence collection value. The only value would be for
use in a crisis or a conflict.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
So clear what's going on. Have to be a genius
to figure it out. When they move on Taiwan, they're
gonna flip off an electric grid in a couple of
places around the country, and you know, all kinds of
different things that they've been preparing, and we're going to
back off.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Yeah, the Taiwan thing is a likely scenario. But they
have weapons, and just think about them like any other weapons,
and they have readied those weapons for when they need them.
When might they need them? It's hard to say, but
they have those weapons. So maybe they never move on Taiwan,
but it becomes you know, the Philippines, or something happens
in South China Sea, or they announce you know, some giant,
(21:39):
you know, toll you have to pay in shipping to
go through the South China Sea or something. It could
be one hundred different things, you know. I'm sorry that
thought just occur to me. It's kind of tangential. But
if we'd been listening to any of this in nineteen ninety,
which was not that long ago, we had cars and
electricity and.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Everything and everything.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
Everybody hearing that this reported say, wait a minute, how
do they have that control? What's hacking the internet? The
connectivity revolution has made us enormously vulnerable to a foe
in a way that's never existed before in history. So
this is a guy run in this little town that
(22:18):
they discovered China had hacked into their water treatment plant.
China had been in there, as you heard in the
last clip, maybe five years, who knows how long.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Nick Lawler is general manager of the Littleton, Massachusetts Electric
and Water Utility.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
His town has ten thousand residents.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Can you think of any reason that China would target
your little community?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That's the exact question I had for the FBI when
they visited me on that first day.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
And I still can't answer that question. No, I can't
think of one reason.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Yeah, I mean not a specific reason, but in a
more general sense, it's pretty obvious what the reason is.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Can you say, think of a single reason someone would
speak as slowly as Scott.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Ellie, he doesn't talk.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Really, Let's let's write it out with this, then we
can discuss The FBI visited in November twenty twenty three
to tell Lawler that China had access to his utilities
computer network.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
He says the FEDS told him he was one of
two hundred.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
How much of all of this is controlled remotely by computer?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Alive?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
In his water treatment plant, Lawler showed us tanks of
dangerous chemicals that are precisely controlled to deliver clean water.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
If you had control of these tanks.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
You've got control of Littleton, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
You can poison the water. You can poison the water.
That is stunning.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
So two hundred, maybe a thousand, who knows, We probably
don't have any idea little water plants across America. And
as they point out later in the story, what if
China That was from the four star general said, what
if China hit four different water treatment plants small towns
spread across America? The news the next day is all
four of these towns. Their water is poison and they
(24:22):
don't know what they're gonna do. Can you imagine how
much that would rattle this country? All right, here's what
they would do with the stock market. Please please, that's
your child's play, what you're describing.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Then the next day, three of the major cities in
America the cell phone coverage would go out.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Then the next day all of Texas would be dark
because their power grid was taken down. And then Cheshin
pingould call up Donald Trump and say, you want to
talk about those tariffs again. Then they released the flying monkeys,
which I assume they have also if.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
They have to.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
No, you see my point? Yeah, oh yeah, it need
not be Taiwan. It's leverage ridges used, they need it.
I wouldn't think you'd do that over bringing the tariffs down.
I would assume you're hanging on to this for something bigger. Well,
although once you establish we have complete power over your society, yeah,
(25:17):
maybe you keep that under wraps for a little while.
But why wouldn't that be good three weeks later when
it was about the South China Sea, You know, would
we say, oh, no, we've learned to live without lights
in the internet.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
No, we'd be every bit is vulnerable. They'll use it
over and over again.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
I don't think this is likely, but if they wanted
to combine that with an actual attack, like to try
to just actually militarily defeat us, that'd be a heck
of a thing.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Note to self stuck up on AMMO.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Uh Yeah, we are as vulnerable as I think any
foe has ever been. I mean hamas guys trotting around
with not hamas Hesbulla guys kicking around with that they
thought were just pagers are less vulnerable than we are
as a society. I hope good people are getting to
(26:09):
the root of this. But what can be done at
this point is the are the good guy?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Where's?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
And I don't have a tenth of the expertise I
need to answer this question, but I think some of
y'all might. Where is the battle between the good guys
and the bad guys at this point? In keeping our
systems secure or rooting out the evildoers when they're in
the systems.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, obviously that would be top top secret information. But
as they pointed out on sixty minutes, it's really expensive
in some tiny little town to try to root the
Chinese out of your computer systems, put in a new
computer system that's got all the most modern security to
try to keep China from getting back in. It's a
(26:54):
very very expensive thing to do. It's we have to
do it. There's no other option.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
It's really a tear it down and build it up
agains absolutely, and as I mentioned earlier, is pretty clever.
China didn't get in there and put in some sort
of spywear or something like that that you could eventually detect. No,
they just have the password and the log in, and
if they ever need it the log in, mess with
the chemicals and make your water poison. And I would
(27:20):
guess that it's more than just having a password. They
have access to, you know, every keystroke of various employees
or whatever, because passwords change.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
But yeah, and who knows how they got in.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Might be the guy that worked at the water plant
was on TikTok with his company phone.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Who knows.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
I need to reach out to some military sources. If
all of a sudden we had zero cell phone service
in the United States, could the military continue to function?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
I can't imagine the panic that would exist nationwide, given
how we all feel like if you forget your cell
phone and you drive away from your house that think, ah,
oh my god, and you wouldn't be able to get
ahold of your kids or your boss or you're oh, oh,
this will happen though. Don't you think I'll save this
(28:14):
for after this commercial? Oh I gave my answer already, Michael,
edit that out when it airs.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
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that simply save security home security are using AI to
protect you the moment someone steps out of your property.
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(28:42):
the cop steerhouse.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Yep, I got simply safe set it up myself. You
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Speaker 5 (28:57):
You got to rip out that old system that just
alerts the cops after someone already breaks in and the
cops think it's probably a false alarm.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Ninety eight percent of them are no. With simply safe.
Speaker 5 (29:06):
They say, yeah, there's a guy in a blackjacket breaking
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simply safe.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
So I'll look at it this way, scale of one
to ten, ten being absolutely yes. What's the chances that
China poisons water in a handful of towns, shuts down
our cell phone, drone launch on air bases from the
land they bought around our military institution, something like that
in the next ten years? Uh ten, I'm a ten.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Also, Yeah, I mean there are a number.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
Of different levels of attack. But if you if you're
a fan of history, you know there have been various
acts that have been done.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
That our government or whatever government has.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
Evolved, doesn't directly attribute to the evildoer, because if they did,
there would be open warfare and people would be howling
for vengeance. I can completely picture a shijin Ping saying
send a message to the Americans, and you know, those
many options that we've just been talking about. He exercises
to some degree or another, just to send a message.
(30:24):
You know, we're in this trade war thing over the
rare earth materials and Trump just announced one hundred percent tariffs.
It's obviously playing a bit of chicken. But why wouldn't
you throw in a little Okay, tough guy, you're that tough,
are you. Let's let's just take down the lights in Dallas.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
What are we going to do? Bomb them?
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Take down the lights in Wuhan. Probably don't have the capability.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I hope we do. That's what I said about.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
It's such a clever way to get around the whole
nuclear weapon conundrum. Right, Wow, what a time to be alive.
I hope you found that interesting. I sure did. Chilling, terrifying.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
What was the thing you teased?
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I was excited about, completely different, important, different flavor here.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
Country singer Zach Bryan following the bud Light Hand a
book for stardom in Modern America, How to screw with
the core of your audience.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, I've been on this story for a while, been
paying attention to it, stay tuned. So I've been following
this Zach Bryan's story partially because I don't remember an
artist or song that in real life I came across
as often as him, so many women of different backgrounds
(31:48):
and lifestyles that are so into his music. He's got
away with touching women. That's something in the Orange song
is just I don't know women dig it a lot.
And he writes actual lyrics, unlike most country artists who
just have like a computer program that cranks out the
same freaking crap, and I mean crap over and over again.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
He is not that. But he stepped in it. How
did he step in it? Recently?
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Bear dogs, pickup trucks, et cetera. Ah Yeah. He previewed
his new song bad News on Instagram last week, featuring
lyrics that were a not so subtle dig against Ice
and President Trump. Uh bye, I heard the cops came
cocky mother efforts, ain't they? And Ice is gonna come
(32:34):
bust down your door. Try to build a house. No
one builds no more. But I got a telephone. Kids
are all scared and all alone.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
I don't know if he stepped in it the way
some people think he stepped in it based on for instance,
some things Marjorie Taylor Green said over the weekend. I
don't know if you saw that, but she's talking about
we got to do something different here. I mean my constituents.
We got a lot of people just doing regular work.
Part of the communities that I represent that you know,
(33:06):
are here illegally and have been for a long time.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
This whole round and people.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
This is from.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Marjorie Taylor Green, who's as maga as you can get,
and I think her and Zach Bryan are a certain
segment of you know, that part of America. He is
from smalltown Oklahoma, I mean, self produced his first two albums,
became a YouTube sensation, and then got booked by a
record label. He's one of those kind of people. But
(33:31):
I think he's representing the same kind of thinking that
Marjorie Taylor Green was talking about.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Well, I'll wash down.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Here mumbo jumbo with a nice cold bud light with
Dylan mulvaney and WelCom Paaran Oakes, Jack No, I see
your point exactly. And for the record, super glad Trump
and company of sealed the border. It's astounding the extent
to which illegal immigration has just stopped.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Could have been done all along time, right.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Which puts yeah, exactly a lie to the whole Biden Harris,
what could we do? We're constitution, we need the Republicans
need to pass a bill. That's why we can't. Okay, Well,
that's funny. Trump was able to like take it from
the biggest migration in human history to zero people crossing
in a couple of months.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
An amazing achievement. And they were liars and incompetent.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
But my point is, for years and years, we as
a country, like every level of government, sent the message,
come on in, we need the workers, we need the
young people, we need workers. And a lot of people
are looking at the folks who heeded that call and
(34:39):
have followed the law and worked hard and look at
America as the land of opportunity and saying, wait a minute,
we can't just heave them out now. It's not right.
It might be the law, but it's not right. You know,
the truth is somewhere in there, somewhere in the middle,
(34:59):
probably right. Yeah, And I hear you people yelling at
the radio. They're here legally kick him out, but.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Politically as opposed to legally, the fact that you have
MTG and Zach Bryan on the same page with this,
and they're both people of the right. Is that's that's powerful,
that's got to get Trump's attention. He usually has his
finger on the pulse of that sort of thing.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Right, How big a deal is Country singer Buddy Brown,
I do not know, okay, because I was gonna say
he takes some pretty good shots at Zach, But you know,
if it's to cite an old guy rock reference or too,
if it's like Tommy two tone taking a shot at
Mick Jagger, I mean, nobody cares.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Right.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
I have a feeling whoever wrote that story just needed
to have some quotes from somebody to make it seem
very exciting.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
He did unleast this line though, that I thought was
pretty good. He reminds me of a middle school desk
inked up an unstated.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
That's a good line. Okay.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
China's coming at us with psychological warfare as well. We
ought to talk about that, some of the ridiculous things
about seeing being said about the peace deal in the
Middle East, some interesting.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Cryptocurrency news all on the way.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
If you can't stick around, subscribe to the podcast Armstrong
and Getty
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong Joke, Getty.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Armstrong and Getty and no he Armstrong and Yetty.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
A growing number of gen Z men are moving back
in with their parents, taking over household shores and calling
themselves trad sons, replacing the old name Failures.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yeah, I've come across that trad sun thing quite a
few places. But that's a good joke. Oh boy, failure
to launch.
Speaker 5 (00:52):
Yeah, yeah, I can't go into detail. We're dealing with
some family dynamics right now involving young English person who's
money management borders on the surreal. The kid who bought
the magic beans on the way home that turned into
the beanstock magic beans would have been a better idea
(01:13):
than this. There are times I think financial acumen is
at least half genetic. M some people, it's way harder
to teach them. You know, I've got one kid who
scrimps and saves same household as another kid who well,
(01:33):
it's difficulty even get the concept to stick.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
But anyway back to you.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
Yeah, I was talking to a parent the other day
who had bought their twenty year old or something like
that a car to have to drive to be able
to get to work, blah blah blah. With an agreement,
you're going to make the payment and change you on
stuff like that. The kid did not make the payment
or change ou or anything like that. So the parent,
after delaying longer than they feel like they should have,
(01:58):
finally just sold the car from underneath them and now
they're like taking the bus everywhere. But anyway, my experience
is the hard edge of reality is the only thing
that made me improve my financial acumen. Yeah, that's been
my own personal experience that often works. Just came across
this headline the IAEA says there's going to be a
(02:21):
worldwide oil glut in twenty six Sorry, climate change activists.
Gas prices are going to go down. People are going
to keep driving cars driven by the greatest energy source
that's ever been developed on planet Earth, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
On that topic.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
I saw a headline maybe I can find it real quickly.
It was essentially everyone is doubling down on renewable energy
except the US, and it clicked in my head with
the clarity it hasn't before. You could rewrite that headline
(02:59):
the world or they mostly just meant Europe, but is doubling.
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Down on the current generation of renewable power technology. I
was looking at a product not long ago, a consumer product,
and I thought brand new buggy.
Speaker 5 (03:18):
Wait a year, and the United States, I think, to
a large extent, has said, yeah, the current stuff just
isn't dependable enough. It doesn't make enough power, it doesn't
store enough power. And look at Europe's moribund economy. I mean,
they've sacrificed themselves on the altar of renewable energy, the
current technology, and it's not good enough.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
Man Burn, baby burn.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
Things are getting serious up in here. Joe dropped in
a moribund on us.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
Apparently this is not when this isn't hijinks around here.
This is we're getting tares that suck as one of
the biggest headlines while we are off for a couple
of days honoring Columbus's discovery.
Speaker 5 (03:58):
And this covered America. Can you imagine the first human
to ever see these shows?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
What's your joke that you say every single year.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
Oh, the Indians are standing around saying you discovered it.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We're here.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Oh you always say, oh, you want to walk into
a Walmart and say I have discovered this Walmart right
and claim it on behalf of Queen Isabella.
Speaker 5 (04:28):
You know, it would be funny if we have like
new listeners, especially you know, to the left of center,
to go on and on winking at the audience.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Obviously, you know the.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
Folks would know we're kidding, but just to go on
and on about how Columbus came to a completely untamed
wilderness there were no people can imagine from coast to coast,
and then he settled it.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
So anyway, the biggest story that happened, will we're off
maybe is Trump hitting China with one hundred percent tariffs
on all products from China, all one hundred percent tariffs.
That's what he announced just a couple of days ago.
He was quoting in his truth social post China's unheard
(05:15):
of controls on rare earth minerals, which are sinister and
hostile and a moral disgrace.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
It is sinister in hostile.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I don't know where morality plays into it, but it
is sinister and hostile, and it is a very big deal.
But it got Trump so worked up that he avowed
to hit back with one hundred percent tariffs on all
products from China. And then he said the rest is history.
I'm not exactly sure what that means. Then, forty eight
hours hours later, calming down a little bit, maybe Trump
(05:45):
posted President Jijiping of China was only having a bad moment.
Mister Trump said on a social media Sunday, don't worry
about China.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
It will be fine.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
He reassured his followers with he wants to help China.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Not heard it. Don't worry about China, it will be fine.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
Uh So, I don't know where we are, but China
has declared they're not going to allow us to have
any of these rare earth minerals that we need for
AI and making fighter jets and all these different things.
The fact that China controls like ninety four percent of
rare earth minerals on planet Earth and we somehow allowed
that to happen, yipes, is a.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Discrible working to change that, but it's going to take
zillions of dollars and years and years of effort.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
To do it.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
It's it's a nearly impossible conundrum we're in.
Speaker 5 (06:28):
And we're going to talk more about this at the
bottom of the hour. How China is trying to hack
into all of our systems. Big towns in small counties
and died hospitals and governments and water plant treatments and
power grids and everything, everything, everything, everything They want to
have a kill switch. They're engaged in overt psychological warfare
against the American people. They're militarizing the entire region or
(06:51):
where they're kicking around.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
We are at war with them, oh absolutely, and utterly
dependent on each other. For Tree, we are going to
feature sixty minutes. Their first story about all that coming
up in about twenty minutes, So I got more to
say about it then.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Yeah, Well, speaking of the rare earth thing, just a
quick note. These so called they're called rare earths. They're
not actually rare, they're but they're difficult to extract because
they're scattered and mixed among other rocks and minerals.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I thought this would be fun, Michael. Which one of
these is an actual rare earth.
Speaker 5 (07:27):
Substance? And which did I just made makeup? Okay, I
wouldn't have any eye, Jack.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
You don't get to way in because I know you
took a lot of chemistry. Is it? Which one did
I make up?
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Dysprosium or a lacrium.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
And China has it and we need it. I'm gonna
say a lacrium. You made that up. I just made
that up.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Dysprosium is atomic number sixty six on the periodic table.
If tech industry were the tech industry where a bakery,
dysprosium would be like baking powder. It's used in small quantities,
but essential for enabling electric car motors, wind turbines, military systems,
and computer chip machinery.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
So was China just the first to recognize whether the
future of everything is these rare earth minerals? So we
need to either make deals or capture the land of
or mine ourselves enough of this to be Did they
just figured.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
That out before us or what? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (08:27):
One of the great advantages of being a dictatorship number
one decisiveness and number two they couldn't give half a
crap about the environment right, or a climate change, or
worker's rights or the number of people who die in
the mind.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
The point if China decide, if somebody tells Jijiping, you know,
there's a whole bunch of dysprosium under that mountain over there,
he doesn't have to do a five year long environmental
impact study to decide if they can do any mining.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
I'm sorry, sir.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
The miners' unions are suing us on viron mental grounds
and right.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Which might be I was thinking about with this with
a different story, might be an indication of maybe that
system long term does work better. As horrifying as.
Speaker 5 (09:11):
That is, well, I wouldn't say long term. I would
say at times, dictatorships veer between being incredibly efficient and
almost hilariously inefficient.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
To see the Soviet Union.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Although the Chinese took communism and they showed you know,
Stalin how to do it, they are amazingly effective.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Right now, that's a very frustrating story. Well, we're in
an impossible position. One hundred percent tariffs is not sustainable, though,
is it for even like a week on everything from China?
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Oh no, no, it's it's a you're gonna do that
because China declared just not to get too far into
the weeds. But if a product derives more than a
tenth of a percent of their value from rare earth stuff,
you've got to get specific permission from the Chinese commerce
ministry to get your rare earth stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
So different story, quick follow up. You remember the story
from last week the guy that got caught hoping to
break into Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh's home and abduct and
or kill the justice in his family right, who then
declared that he is a woman, and that is believed
that he got the light sentence because he is trans.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
I hadn't come across this.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
This is from the This is a quote from the judge,
Judge Robinson, try to wrap your head around these sentences,
this passage.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Clark, that's the.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Dude who decided he is a woman who wanted to
kill a Supreme Court justice. Clark attempted to catch straight
herself by tying a shoelace around her penis and scrotum
and cutting off her scrotum with a pair of nail clippers.
Speaker 5 (11:12):
Number one nail clippers not the right tool for that job.
I mean, the right tool makes the job much yer.
How every carpenter knows that. How do you have a
phrase that includes the two words back to back her penis?
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I know Clark attempted to castrate herself by tying a
shoelace around her penis and cutting off her scrotum with
a pair of nail clippers.
Speaker 5 (11:35):
A judge wrote that that is astonishingly idiotic.
Speaker 4 (11:41):
Yes, Katie, I just don't know many females with those parts.
Speaker 5 (11:45):
Well, exactly, yes, exactly that is you know, I've run
into vanishingly few distinguished career of coupling. Is that incredible
that that's where we are, that's where they are?
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Well, some people are very few people, and a lot
of people were afraid to not be there, like a
year ago.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
You can't say her penis.
Speaker 5 (12:08):
No, no, herpess is that?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Uh alk Balowin's wife's name. Trying to remember planet just
past Jupiter? Oh yes, uh anyway, her scrotum, yes, exactly.
Attempted to cut off her scrotum with nail clippers. Nail clippers. Okay,
now you're getting back to the plan, which is not good. No,
(12:35):
it's not speaking of bad plans. Country stars Zach Bryan
decides to go all bud light that controversy coming up.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yeah, he's a big deal here.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
I know, I know it's and I know nothing about
country music and AI companies doubling and tripling down on
sex spots.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Oh boy, where the prophet is? I want to talk
about that. We got a lot on the way to
stay here. Why did China hack into the water treatment
plant in a tiny, little Northeastern town that's what sixty
minutes was talking about Sunday night, crazy scary story about
what China has been doing, probably for quite a few years,
(13:14):
and we better wake up that story coming up.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
Elon Musk is gambling big on sexy AI companions for himself,
for the world, for the world.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Not for himself.
Speaker 5 (13:27):
He can have all the companions he wants, and generally
has a kid or two with them. A blond woman
wearing pigtails, a gothic off the shoulder dress and fishnet
stockings stared into the screen awaiting instructions. And this is
a robe, babe, you're keeping it spicy, and he said
in a low voice as.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
She spun and jumped on command.
Speaker 4 (13:45):
If a sex robot, can it not have a low voice?
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Sorry? Well, what do you want me to know?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
I'm not doing a porn girl voice for you sick fantasies.
And then it goes on and gets rather more explicit,
and he is one of two sexually explicit chet Pot
companions unveiled by Elon Musk's AI company Xai in July.
The cartoonish personas resemble anime characters and offer a game
like function as users progress through levels of conversation. They
(14:13):
unlock more raunchy content, the ability to strip Annie down
to lace lingerie.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
They made a video game out of it. Oh, things
are getting weird, and they getting weird fast. Yes they are.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
Elon, Yeah, so they're spending a bunch of money on that.
They mentioned that Meta and OpenAI have shied away from
this sexually explicit stuff even though you know, anybody with
a little skill can jail break it, because they don't
want to, you know, run into reputational and regulatory risks.
So elon big on that. Then I thought this was
(14:45):
really interesting. Here's how this opens. Eleanor twenty four is
a Polish historian and lecture at a university in Warsaw.
Isabelle twenty five is a detective serving with the NYPD.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
No way You'd make deep A twenty five.
Speaker 5 (15:00):
By the way, Brook thirty nine is an American housewife
who enjoys an opulent Miami lifestyle financed by her frequently
absent husband. All three women will flirt and chat and
send nude photographs and explicit videos via one of a
soaring number of new adult dating websites that offer increasingly
realistic AI girlfriends for subscribers.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Willing to pay a monthly fee, but you know their AI. Yes, okay.
Speaker 5 (15:29):
This was the talk of this big conference in Prague
last month. Evidently, developers of the new businesses claim they
represent an improvement on webcam businesses, where real women undress
on camera and talk to men. That's more than that,
because these services remove the potential for the exploitation seen
(15:50):
in parts of the industry. Do you prefer your porn
with lots of abuse in human trafficking or would you
rather talk to an AI, asks Steve Jones, who runs
an AI porn site. We hear about human trafficking girls
being forced to be on camera ten hours a day.
You'll never have a human trafficked AI girl. You'll never
have a girl who is forced or coerced into a
(16:12):
sex scene that she's so humiliated by that she ends
up killing herself. AI doesn't get humiliated and it's not
going to kill itself.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
So they're trying to convince you you're a good person,
then a better person if you have a not real girlfriend,
that's AI because nobody's being abused here as opposed to
your not real girlfriend who is pretending to like.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
You for money.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
Oh my right, Oh my god, what a trailoff.
Speaker 5 (16:38):
And this is it's a hell of an argument to make,
but yeah, there is human trafficking and exploitation. Not everybody
is a former stortis making one hundred thousand a month
on you know, OnlyFans or whatever.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
A lot of it really is sick.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
What I found interesting and troubling is this guy's presumption
that sex acts that are so humiliating they make women
commit suicide?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Are you know that's what we sell here? But it's
an Ai girl, So it's line.
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Wow, I can't even wrap my head around the present
and the future we're about to head into. China is
going to take over the world. Stay tuned for that.
Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
What did they target?
Speaker 6 (17:14):
They targeted water, they targeted electrical power, infrastructure, transportation are
examples of the types of things that were targeted. So
what In many cases they're vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So what are you talking about there?
Speaker 4 (17:28):
We're talking about the Chinese targeting us in all kinds
of different ways. That was the voice of a four
star general who was in Air Forced Air Force intelligence
his whole career and rose to the level of running
the NSA in Trump's presidency. First time around, and he
was on sixty Minutes on Sunday night talking to Scott
(17:50):
Pelly and a couple other people on there about the
ways China has been hacking into our country. This is
how they started.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
The surprise, Tim Hawked, is that China is targeting not
just the US military and industry, but also Americans in
their homes.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
I think initially we were surprised that China would target
every American with these capabilities. That goes against every norm
of international law. That certainly goes against how the United
States military would approach targeting in a crisis or a conflict.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
That the fact that they would go.
Speaker 6 (18:30):
After basic services as part of their effort that they
have identified as unrestricted warfare is unconscionable.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
I think it's, well, it's unconscionable. Hey, yeah, okay, that
we can all yell at as we go under the
boot of the Chinese.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
That's not fair.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
That's not unconsionable for the Chinese, right is the problem.
But I thought, I was thinking, this is as watching
the story and we'll play more of it. They they
hacked to a water plant in tiny town in Massachusetts
or New Hampshire wherever it was, and they've done it
all across the country, and.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
What a clever way to get around the whole kind
of nuclear weapon conundrum that has existed since the forties.
So China knows, and we known, all the big powers know,
nobody's really wanting to cross that barrier. But what if
(19:29):
they attack all of our cell phone towers, water plants,
electric grid, everything all at once and bring us tourneys
that way without the cataclysm of a nuclear holocaust?
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Right, Yeah, well you'd bring entire cities or regions or
the entire country to a stop.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
So back to sixty minutes. They've been at this for
a while, as they China has been at this for
a while, as is explained here.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Multiple intrusions at utilities were discovered in twenty twenty three,
and China had been on some of their computer networks
at least five years. You're saying that the Chinese today
are in American power plants, water treatment plants, other parts
of the electrical grid, maybe even hospitals, telecommunications.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
All of that.
Speaker 6 (20:20):
So there is a daily contest that is going on
to be able to deny China those accesses. But they
are certainly attempting every single day to be able to
target telecommunications, to be able to target critical infrastructure, both
in the United States and in other countries. And they
are doing that to try to ensure that they have
an advantage in a crisis or a conflict.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Yes, and why are they doing this? Is China preparing
for war? There was no other reason to target those systems.
Speaker 6 (20:48):
There's no advantage to be gan economically, there was no
foreign intelligence collection value. The only value would be for
use in a crisis or a conflict.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
So clear what's going on. Have to be a genius
to figure it out. When they move on Taiwan, they're
gonna flip off an electric grid in a couple of
places around the country, and you know, all kinds of
different things that they've been preparing, and we're going to
back off.
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Yeah, the Taiwan thing is a likely scenario. But they
have weapons, and just think about them like any other weapons,
and they have readied those weapons for when they need them.
When might they need them? It's hard to say, but
they have those weapons. So maybe they never move on Taiwan,
but it becomes you know, the Philippines, or something happens
in South China Sea, or they announce you know, some giant,
(21:39):
you know, toll you have to pay in shipping to
go through the South China Sea or something. It could
be one hundred different things, you know. I'm sorry that
thought just occur to me. It's kind of tangential. But
if we'd been listening to any of this in nineteen ninety,
which was not that long ago, we had cars and
electricity and.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Everything and everything.
Speaker 5 (21:57):
Everybody hearing that this reported say, wait a minute, how
do they have that control? What's hacking the internet? The
connectivity revolution has made us enormously vulnerable to a foe
in a way that's never existed before in history. So
this is a guy run in this little town that
(22:18):
they discovered China had hacked into their water treatment plant.
China had been in there, as you heard in the
last clip, maybe five years, who knows how long.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Nick Lawler is general manager of the Littleton, Massachusetts Electric
and Water Utility.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
His town has ten thousand residents.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
Can you think of any reason that China would target
your little community?
Speaker 4 (22:43):
That's the exact question I had for the FBI when
they visited me on that first day.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
And I still can't answer that question. No, I can't
think of one reason.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Yeah, I mean not a specific reason, but in a
more general sense, it's pretty obvious what the reason is.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
Can you say, think of a single reason someone would
speak as slowly as Scott.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Ellie, he doesn't talk.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
Really, Let's let's write it out with this, then we
can discuss The FBI visited in November twenty twenty three
to tell Lawler that China had access to his utilities
computer network.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
He says the FEDS told him he was one of
two hundred.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
How much of all of this is controlled remotely by computer?
Speaker 2 (23:35):
Alive?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
In his water treatment plant, Lawler showed us tanks of
dangerous chemicals that are precisely controlled to deliver clean water.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
If you had control of these tanks.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
You've got control of Littleton, Massachusetts.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
You can poison the water. You can poison the water.
That is stunning.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
So two hundred, maybe a thousand, who knows, We probably
don't have any idea little water plants across America. And
as they point out later in the story, what if
China That was from the four star general said, what
if China hit four different water treatment plants small towns
spread across America? The news the next day is all
four of these towns. Their water is poison and they
(24:22):
don't know what they're gonna do. Can you imagine how
much that would rattle this country? All right, here's what
they would do with the stock market. Please please, that's
your child's play, what you're describing.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Then the next day, three of the major cities in
America the cell phone coverage would go out.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Then the next day all of Texas would be dark
because their power grid was taken down. And then Cheshin
pingould call up Donald Trump and say, you want to
talk about those tariffs again. Then they released the flying monkeys,
which I assume they have also if.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
They have to.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
No, you see my point? Yeah, oh yeah, it need
not be Taiwan. It's leverage ridges used, they need it.
I wouldn't think you'd do that over bringing the tariffs down.
I would assume you're hanging on to this for something bigger. Well,
although once you establish we have complete power over your society, yeah,
(25:17):
maybe you keep that under wraps for a little while.
But why wouldn't that be good three weeks later when
it was about the South China Sea, You know, would
we say, oh, no, we've learned to live without lights
in the internet.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
No, we'd be every bit is vulnerable. They'll use it
over and over again.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
I don't think this is likely, but if they wanted
to combine that with an actual attack, like to try
to just actually militarily defeat us, that'd be a heck
of a thing.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Note to self stuck up on AMMO.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Uh Yeah, we are as vulnerable as I think any
foe has ever been. I mean hamas guys trotting around
with not hamas Hesbulla guys kicking around with that they
thought were just pagers are less vulnerable than we are
as a society. I hope good people are getting to
(26:09):
the root of this. But what can be done at
this point is the are the good guy?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Where's?
Speaker 5 (26:16):
And I don't have a tenth of the expertise I
need to answer this question, but I think some of
y'all might. Where is the battle between the good guys
and the bad guys at this point? In keeping our
systems secure or rooting out the evildoers when they're in
the systems.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, obviously that would be top top secret information. But
as they pointed out on sixty minutes, it's really expensive
in some tiny little town to try to root the
Chinese out of your computer systems, put in a new
computer system that's got all the most modern security to
try to keep China from getting back in. It's a
(26:54):
very very expensive thing to do. It's we have to
do it. There's no other option.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
It's really a tear it down and build it up
agains absolutely, and as I mentioned earlier, is pretty clever.
China didn't get in there and put in some sort
of spywear or something like that that you could eventually detect. No,
they just have the password and the log in, and
if they ever need it the log in, mess with
the chemicals and make your water poison. And I would
(27:20):
guess that it's more than just having a password. They
have access to, you know, every keystroke of various employees
or whatever, because passwords change.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
But yeah, and who knows how they got in.
Speaker 4 (27:33):
Might be the guy that worked at the water plant
was on TikTok with his company phone.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Who knows.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
I need to reach out to some military sources. If
all of a sudden we had zero cell phone service
in the United States, could the military continue to function?
Speaker 4 (27:52):
I can't imagine the panic that would exist nationwide, given
how we all feel like if you forget your cell
phone and you drive away from your house that think, ah,
oh my god, and you wouldn't be able to get
ahold of your kids or your boss or you're oh, oh,
this will happen though. Don't you think I'll save this
(28:14):
for after this commercial? Oh I gave my answer already, Michael,
edit that out when it airs.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
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(28:42):
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Speaker 4 (28:43):
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Speaker 5 (28:57):
You got to rip out that old system that just
alerts the cops after someone already breaks in and the
cops think it's probably a false alarm.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
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Speaker 5 (29:06):
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Speaker 4 (29:21):
So I'll look at it this way, scale of one
to ten, ten being absolutely yes. What's the chances that
China poisons water in a handful of towns, shuts down
our cell phone, drone launch on air bases from the
land they bought around our military institution, something like that
in the next ten years? Uh ten, I'm a ten.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
Also, Yeah, I mean there are a number.
Speaker 5 (29:45):
Of different levels of attack. But if you if you're
a fan of history, you know there have been various
acts that have been done.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
That our government or whatever government has.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
Evolved, doesn't directly attribute to the evildoer, because if they did,
there would be open warfare and people would be howling
for vengeance. I can completely picture a shijin Ping saying
send a message to the Americans, and you know, those
many options that we've just been talking about. He exercises
to some degree or another, just to send a message.
(30:24):
You know, we're in this trade war thing over the
rare earth materials and Trump just announced one hundred percent tariffs.
It's obviously playing a bit of chicken. But why wouldn't
you throw in a little Okay, tough guy, you're that tough,
are you. Let's let's just take down the lights in Dallas.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
What are we going to do? Bomb them?
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Take down the lights in Wuhan. Probably don't have the capability.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
I hope we do. That's what I said about.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
It's such a clever way to get around the whole
nuclear weapon conundrum. Right, Wow, what a time to be alive.
I hope you found that interesting. I sure did. Chilling, terrifying.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
What was the thing you teased?
Speaker 4 (31:10):
I was excited about, completely different, important, different flavor here.
Speaker 5 (31:14):
Country singer Zach Bryan following the bud Light Hand a
book for stardom in Modern America, How to screw with
the core of your audience.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, I've been on this story for a while, been
paying attention to it, stay tuned. So I've been following
this Zach Bryan's story partially because I don't remember an
artist or song that in real life I came across
as often as him, so many women of different backgrounds
(31:48):
and lifestyles that are so into his music. He's got
away with touching women. That's something in the Orange song
is just I don't know women dig it a lot.
And he writes actual lyrics, unlike most country artists who
just have like a computer program that cranks out the
same freaking crap, and I mean crap over and over again.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
He is not that. But he stepped in it. How
did he step in it? Recently?
Speaker 5 (32:13):
Bear dogs, pickup trucks, et cetera. Ah Yeah. He previewed
his new song bad News on Instagram last week, featuring
lyrics that were a not so subtle dig against Ice
and President Trump. Uh bye, I heard the cops came
cocky mother efforts, ain't they? And Ice is gonna come
(32:34):
bust down your door. Try to build a house. No
one builds no more. But I got a telephone. Kids
are all scared and all alone.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
I don't know if he stepped in it the way
some people think he stepped in it based on for instance,
some things Marjorie Taylor Green said over the weekend. I
don't know if you saw that, but she's talking about
we got to do something different here. I mean my constituents.
We got a lot of people just doing regular work.
Part of the communities that I represent that you know,
(33:06):
are here illegally and have been for a long time.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
This whole round and people.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
This is from.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Marjorie Taylor Green, who's as maga as you can get,
and I think her and Zach Bryan are a certain
segment of you know, that part of America. He is
from smalltown Oklahoma, I mean, self produced his first two albums,
became a YouTube sensation, and then got booked by a
record label. He's one of those kind of people. But
(33:31):
I think he's representing the same kind of thinking that
Marjorie Taylor Green was talking about.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Well, I'll wash down.
Speaker 5 (33:39):
Here mumbo jumbo with a nice cold bud light with
Dylan mulvaney and WelCom Paaran Oakes, Jack No, I see
your point exactly. And for the record, super glad Trump
and company of sealed the border. It's astounding the extent
to which illegal immigration has just stopped.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Could have been done all along time, right.
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Which puts yeah, exactly a lie to the whole Biden Harris,
what could we do? We're constitution, we need the Republicans
need to pass a bill. That's why we can't. Okay, Well,
that's funny. Trump was able to like take it from
the biggest migration in human history to zero people crossing
in a couple of months.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
An amazing achievement. And they were liars and incompetent.
Speaker 5 (34:18):
But my point is, for years and years, we as
a country, like every level of government, sent the message,
come on in, we need the workers, we need the
young people, we need workers. And a lot of people
are looking at the folks who heeded that call and
(34:39):
have followed the law and worked hard and look at
America as the land of opportunity and saying, wait a minute,
we can't just heave them out now. It's not right.
It might be the law, but it's not right. You know,
the truth is somewhere in there, somewhere in the middle,
(34:59):
probably right. Yeah, And I hear you people yelling at
the radio. They're here legally kick him out, but.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Politically as opposed to legally, the fact that you have
MTG and Zach Bryan on the same page with this,
and they're both people of the right. Is that's that's powerful,
that's got to get Trump's attention. He usually has his
finger on the pulse of that sort of thing.
Speaker 5 (35:25):
Right, How big a deal is Country singer Buddy Brown,
I do not know, okay, because I was gonna say
he takes some pretty good shots at Zach, But you know,
if it's to cite an old guy rock reference or too,
if it's like Tommy two tone taking a shot at
Mick Jagger, I mean, nobody cares.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
Right.
Speaker 4 (35:47):
I have a feeling whoever wrote that story just needed
to have some quotes from somebody to make it seem
very exciting.
Speaker 5 (35:53):
He did unleast this line though, that I thought was
pretty good. He reminds me of a middle school desk
inked up an unstated.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
That's a good line. Okay.
Speaker 5 (36:08):
China's coming at us with psychological warfare as well. We
ought to talk about that, some of the ridiculous things
about seeing being said about the peace deal in the
Middle East, some interesting.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
Cryptocurrency news all on the way.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
If you can't stick around, subscribe to the podcast Armstrong
and Getty
Hosts And Creators
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Jack Armstrong
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