December 31, 2024 • 36 mins
Featured during Hour 2 of the Tuesday, December 31, 2024 edition of The Armstrong & Getty Replay...
- Dropping Off the Happy List
- Putin "That's Life"
- Merit Based is Racist Dog Whistle/ Jack Khakis at Gym
- Biden Blames Obama in Woodward Book
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 (00:09):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio and the
George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong, Joe, Getty Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And Jettie I'm he Armstrong and Getty Strong.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
So Kay brought us a story earlier that the United
States has dropped out of the twenty Happiest countries Every
year they put out this list.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Gallup does the polling.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I hate this sort of question because I don't even
know how I would answer it myself. I mean, if
you just walked up to me and said, are you
happy a lot of days?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'd say no.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
But if you put it in the context of being
an American, I'd say, well, yes, yes, all things being equal,
living in the United States, Yes, I'm happy.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Kind of annoyed right now. But do I have a
good life? Yes? I do? Right. Uh.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But here's the behind the numbers. This is the first
year ever they've broken it down by age, and something
interesting popped out and a gaping disparity. Americans over sixty
are some of the world's happiest. We place in the
top ten for the over sixty crowd. All those up
there yet, but I hope to be while those under
thirty are among the most miserable in the developed world
(01:23):
are under thirty crowd ranked sixty second.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Wow, in terms of a happiest people in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
And that's been and it's true for a lot of
your Western countries like Canada's very similar. They're young people
are ranked fifty eighth, so top ten for the over
sixty crowd. For the under thirty crowd sixty second, pulling
down the overall score where we've dropped out of the
top twenty for the first time ever. They don't have
a smoking gun for why young people are so unhappy,
(01:57):
They said, it's due to a combination manufacturs ranging from
political polarization to overuse of social media. Yeah, the resentment
maker social media, well, and trying to fill their emotional
nutrition needs with the crack cocaine.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Of likes and retweets. And well, nobody.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Said, well, then if you looked into a bunch of
other stuff that they're not coupling or having sex or
getting married or all these different things.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, okay, fine.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
But so you said you had your thoughts, some thoughts,
what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
And well, boomers and Gen X are also stealing their
money because all of the money we're spending right now.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Is going to have to be paid for through taxes
at some point.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
That's very true, and they should be unhappy about that,
but I don't think it's on their mind.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I think you're probably right. Yeah, I just I am
so concerned with the disconnectedness of young people. And you're
not connected. If you're connected online, that's different.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
It's it's like, uh, it's like the difference in gages
of wire or the thickness of a water pipe or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
You feel like you're in but you're not.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
You're not getting the incredibly important neurological nourishment of actually
being with other human beings, whether friends, looking each other
in the eye, talking to them, having sex, holding somebody
in your arms.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
All of this stuff matters.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
And I swear to God, all the online stuff is
it's empty calories. It's the candy that makes you feel full,
and you have no appetite to take in your meat
and potatoes and vegetables. I will go to my premature
grave shout.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Even without the online stuff. Expectations is a big thing
in lifestyle and everything like that. And I think about
my own kids who are not online yet, and they do.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I was thinking about this last night.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
My kids complain more about their lives and feel like
my life sucks more often than I did as a kid,
even though they've got easier lives with more stuff. I'm
sure that I complained more than my dad did, even
though I had an easier life with more stuff. He
grew up without electricity or plumbing and worked all the time.
(04:07):
But I'll bet I complained more and my kids complained
more than me.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So I mean, what does that whole dynamic?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I mean, you know, it's what you see around you,
what all your friends have.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's big and easy times make for
for soft people. But and I don't, you know, exclude
myself from that description. Also, and this is one of
the most powerful powerful forces in political systems that people
don't talk about. Expectations, Well, expectations are everything.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Absolutely, But I'm thinking about and part of it is
where I live. But like spring break is coming up
and several of my friends there, my kids have several
friends that are doing unbelievably cool things.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We're not, and so we're not going to Hawaii for
two weeks.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
No, we're not right, And everybody knows only the coolest
thing anybody else is doing because of the nature of
you know, social media, the other aspect of this that
I find so interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
We talked about this at length.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I remember last year at some point when Finland again
topped the list, and I can't remember if it was
the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. There's
somebody did a long in depth or it might have
been The Atlantic. Come to think of it, it doesn't
matter did an in depth study of why the Finns
are quote unquote the happiest people and they're not the cheeriest.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It's that the Finnish culture is if you have enough,
you should be satisfied, and to run around complaining that
you're not achieving some sort of financial dream is frowned
upon in Sweden.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
In Finland they just have a much more close to
the bone. If you have the basics, that's enough, you
should be great for culture.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
The yearly Happiness List the Happiest countries in the world,
and the United States fell out of the top twenty
for the first time ever, falling to twenty third place.
We were fifteenth last year, driven by a large drop
in the happiness of Americans under thirty. For the over
sixty crowd, we're in the top ten. We're among the
happier countries on Earth. But for those under thirty, were
(06:18):
sixty second, pulling down the overall score. Wow, our young
people living in the land of opportunity and it still is,
are miserable.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
You know, I'm looking to see if I found the
right article about why people in Scandinavia are happier. I remember,
it's just about the fact that it's a marked down
to earth. They're satisfied.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It's a cultural thing. You're brought up to believe.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
If you have what you need and you have people
in your life you care about, that's what happiness is
and that's all you'd need to aspire to. So are
they happier because they have quote unquote lower expectations better expectations?
I think that's part of it.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Anyway, Some people would say, well, they've settled for.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Less than they should want out of life.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
That is what some people's family and satisfaction. Yeah, stupid finds.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
This has got to be something to be actually concerned about. Though.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
From a political standpoint, don't you there will be not
a real revolution, but a revolution are politics if are
under thirty crowd. Is this dissatisfied with their country or
they're just their lives?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah, you know what occurred to me, and it should
have before, but I'm a bit of a slow wit,
is that the kids are being indoctrinated every day that
this country was built on systemic racism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It's a rotten country.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Global warming is going to cook them alive, all sorts
of gloom and doom indoctrination as opposed to the much
more positive education of the past, even when maybe it
was overly rosy. But it gives you a different attitude.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Am I wrong? I'm not wrong. No, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And I'm reminded of another study that just came out,
quote unquote. Woke people are much more likely to be unhappy, anxious,
and depressed, according to a new study.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
That doesn't shock me in the least. Not exactly sure why.
I mean, it's just my personal experience, but why is
that well.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
The findings, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology suggest
other Western nations may see similar patterns among their socially
conscious citizens.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
The author, the senior.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Researcher, remarked the woke discourse has worked its way into
finish discourse as wells kipping ahead to the business part
of it. In the end, their final Critical Social Justice
Attitude Scale identified seven truisms of woke people. They asked him,
if white people have on average a higher level of
income than black people, it is because of racism.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
If you answered yes to that, they give you woke points.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
University reading list should include fewer white or European authors.
If you answered yes to that, they give you woke points.
And the woker people. Then they asked about mental health
and happiness and that sort of thing, and it was
just absolutely striking the difference among the people higher prevalence
of anxiety and depression and people who believed in the
statements that I made. More broadly, they found that those
(09:44):
who identified as left wing were most likely to report
lower mental well being in general.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
So let's go to the bottom of the list of
happiest countries. See if we notice a trend here. First
of all, Haiti was the eleventh least happy country, but
that number is gone down since the poll was taken.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Wow, Who's under Haiti?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yemen, South Sedan, Liberia, Guinea, Togo, Rwanda, Syria, tens and Tans, Tanza, Tanzania.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Burundi and the DFL as they say, the least happy
place in the world. Central African Republic. Where are almost
all of these places, Well, they're all either in the
Middle East or Africa, and most of them.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Are in Africa.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
That's wyow I mean you go, you go up from
the bottom ten, you get a lot of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Chad, Niger.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
There's a lot of unhappy African countries. That is horrible.
That is a rough continent.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I haven't brought this up for a while, and I
don't recommend you do it because there's no point really
unless you're really really into the stuff. But if you
wanted to take a half an hour or an hour
to look in to the various conflicts that are going
on in Africa right now and how they're the fight
is being fought, and what is happening to civilians, including
(11:08):
children in those conflicts, it will haunt your dreams, perhaps for.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
The rest of your days.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
It makes like Western warfare seem civilized and not that bad.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And so you've got that entire continent that is almost
entirely very bottom of happiness and income and all kinds
of other things which you know, it's all tied together.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But here's your top countries. You notice anything in common
with those? Starting at it?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
We'll count down the top ten and the actually count
of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Any list this long that's not numbered. How long would
it take you to number at gallop? Anyway, here's your
top ten happiest countries. Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, then Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway. Wow,
(11:59):
obviously cold weather makes people happier. No, but there's a
lot in common first of all with the area for
most of those countries, and certainly the government with.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
The other ones thrown in, that's something.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
In the United States, we're happier than Ireland, but not
quite as happy as Austria. All those countries, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland,
Netherlands all on the top. You know, six or seven?
What is your number one thing you think they have
in common? What you just said expectations.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Are Yeah, having re scanned in the last ten or
fifteen minutes some stuff I've read about this, Yeah, it
has to do with expectations and culture.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
If if your culture tells you.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
The truth, which is the best thing you can aspire
to is a good circle of friends, loving family relationships,
and satisfying work. Imagine if we heard that message over
and over again. Instead of you need to have lips
and boobs like a Kardashian you or a six pack
(13:10):
abs and a three hundred thousand dollars mercedes to be happy.
It's the only way to be happy. You ought to
spend your life pursuing those things. What a difference that
would make in our young people.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, I would say I don't know how to break
out of this long as social media.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You can only do it. You can only do it
on an individual basis.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Culturally, No, the country's doomed in terms of consumerism and
chasing things that will never bring us happiness. I just think,
you know, I can pitch it on the radio show.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You can. We can pitch it to the people we
care about, and that's as good as.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You can do.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty The Armstrong and Getty Show
See arm Strong and Getty Show.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
A lot of it printed winning a fifth presidential time
appearing on TV. Thanking has support US with over eighty
seven percent of the vote. Alexey Navali's widow Julia and
his allies calling for protests, with her taking part casting
a vote for her husband, Putin, claiming he agreed to
the idea of releasing the vale just days before he died.
(14:12):
Thousands more demonstrators causing long lines at purling locations inside
Russia as well as around the world, many spoiling their
ballot or voting for other candidates. Rights monitoring groups saying
more than seventy people have been detained. None of this
affecting the outcome. President Putin has already scheduled a victory
parade in Moscow.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Did they say the percentage Jery I heard somewhere eighty
eight percent was his vote total.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
So he won in a landslide. He won't going away.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It must be his very popular It must be his
position on capital gains tax or something that people like.
One American reporter was able to ask a question yesterday
which I was kind of surprised by dig one of
Putin's answers since a.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
President journalist, Evan Gershkevich, spent this election in prison. Boris Ladishtin,
who opposes your war in Ukraine wasn't allowed to stand
against you, and Alexei Navalni died in one of your
prisons during your campaign. Mister president, is this what you
call democracy?
Speaker 7 (15:10):
That's life? Putin said, and in his answer suggested he
had agreed to release Navalni on the condition he never
returned to Russia. Days later, his outspoken opponent was dead.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Putin said, you can't snuff somebody and then say that's life.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
No, no, God, how cold is that?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
And they have six year presidential terms whatever the hell
that means, right, or why they even pay attention to that?
But anyway, if he serves that term, he will be
the longest serving. Is it longer than Catherine the greaters
dire just in modern times? Longer than Stalin?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And what a as old as Biden? Right? What a
history that Russia has?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Reading yesterday, I reminded that the Romanovs, the various Czars
hold on.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
COVID that I guess includes.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Peter the Great with the romadops who ended up up
against the wall. The whole family, mom, dad and the
kids executed by firing squad up against the wall in
nineteen eighteen. That was the end of a three hundred
year period of that family running Russia. So Russia's never
(16:31):
really there's a tiny blip where it kind of seemed
like it there and like the late nineties early two thousands,
where it seemed like it might be a functioning democracy,
but it didn't last long.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
No, it's a cultural norm through the centuries that they
have a dictator essentially.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
That they have secret police spying on them, that they
turn neighbors against each other, that they have gulags or
you know, work you to death in some Siberian prison.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It's always been that way. Yeah, yeah, And it's the
naivete frankly an optimism of the American people that think
we can spread democracy because it's such a great idea
to places that have never had it. But that's hard.
As you've made the point, many people have made the point, it.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Took hundreds of years to bake it into England, specifically,
hundreds of years of slow change. And even if you say, well,
we got the Internet now, so things move more quickly,
I still think it would take a good solid fifty
years of slow transition from that sort of culture to
one of representative democracy.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Armstrong, The Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Are you done with DEI try MEI merit excellence and intelligence.
That means we only hire the best person for the job.
We seek out and demand excellence, and we unapologetically prefer
people who are very smart. We treat everyone as an individual.
We do not unfairly stereotype tokenies, or otherwise treat anyone
as a member of a demographic.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Group rather than as an individual.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
You remember, we did that awful, awful on stage debate
thing with a bunch of progressives that devolved into just awfulness.
But I always remember this because I'd never heard this before,
because I'm a big on merit based everything. I want
everything practically to be merit based. And we're talking about
(18:27):
immigration actually, and I was for merit based immigration, and
one of the progressives said, everybody knows that's just a
dog whistle for racism. We really merit based as dog
whistle for racism. And that was the first time I'd
ever even heard it. I didn't even know how to
respond to that charge. Well, that's a committed progressive. They
call everything racism, and a huge percent of the population, so,
(18:48):
oh my god, I'm not a racist.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I'll just be quiet.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
But is that one of the reasons that DEI is
pushed as opposed to merit based is the theory that
it's racist somehow.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Well, yeah, I mean, you always have to differentiate between
the true believers, the activists, and the useful idiots. Useful
idiots actually think they're doing the right thing for the
right reason. The activists are just trying to overthrow the system,
and they call everything racist so they can, you know,
make it stop. Or they call people racists to get
(19:21):
them out of the way, because you're not as a
corporation or a senator, You're not going to employ a racist.
So they call everybody a racist to get rid of
them anyway, or to win every argument. It's so lazy
and stupid. I can't believe they've gotten over as far
as they have, but they have anyway. Owen Anderson is
the name of a professor at Arizona State University.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
We talked to him a couple of months ago.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
He and our friends at the Goldwater Institute are suing
Arizona State University. And Owen wrote a great piece for
National Review. Since we've talked to him already. I won't
quote much of it, but I want to quote some
of it. He's been teaching philosophy and religious study for
more than two decades. Now Arizona State all of a
sudden requiring all professors to take DEI training, and he says,
(20:06):
I'm in favor of each of those terms diversity, including
intellectual diversity, equity if that means the equality of opportunity
and inclusion, helping people from all backgrounds succeed in the university.
But that's not what it means, though, and it's all
every word the neo Marxists use is code to win
the day anyway. But he says, when I began the
mandatory training, I found something troubling. It engaged in race blaming,
(20:29):
warning of the supposed problem of whiteness, and encouraging judgment
of people based on their skin color. I could not
in good conscience continue such a racist training. And the
idea that you have it's mandatory. It's like their fire
safety and no sexual harassment training. You have to take
this anti whiteness training. And so he and Goldwater are
(20:52):
suing the university, and I think they have a really
good chance of winning.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
That'd be hard to stomach.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yeah, and he goes into a lot of the detail,
but I think we're all up on the insidiousness of
DEI for the umpteenth time, and all DEI programs everywhere
they exist immediately last week can somehow this flew under
my personal radar Senator jd Vance, who is a fascinating guy.
He did a long interview with The New York Times
recently that I've got to read because he is a
(21:19):
ball of contradictions. But anyway, he and Representative Michael Cloud
introduced the dismantled DEI Act. It immediately attracted twenty co
sponsors in Congress, and as that's that, oh, the editors
of the National Review say, we hope the momentum picks up.
The bill would bar school accreditation agencies from requiring DEI
in schools, and stop financial agencies like Nasdaq and the
(21:42):
New York Stock Exchange from instituting diversity requirements for corporate boards.
It would also effectively rescind President Biden's June twenty five
to twenty one executive order, which pushed DEI requirements and
ideas into quote, all parts of the federal workforce. What
shocks me is how something so openly overtly racist hasn't
(22:05):
been successfully challenged already.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Whether judicially or legislatively.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
I mean the notion that, oh, only white people can
be racist because they have the power racism.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Actually, they've.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Define the term racism and I could find it. Some
of the big stupid blanking dictionaries have even done this.
They have had the same definition of racism for one
hundred and fifty years, but now it's racism is a
belief used by the most powerful in society to keep
others down right. So the idea that the black people
(22:44):
who hate Asian people, or the Chinese people who hate
Japanese people, or that they can be racist, No, that's impossible,
which is again idiotic that they point out the Executive
Order alone helps sustain an entire private industry of DEI
consultancies and lobby groups, giving all federal agencies the power
(23:07):
and the mandate to contract for diversity and sensitive trainings.
How much is the government spent on DEI training? Keeping
in mind that if they spent it, somebody got it.
And the point is that they gave money to people
who will always support Democrats. But it's insidious. I'm going
(23:30):
to keep an eye on this. Dismantle DEI, bill Man,
I'd love to see that pass.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I don't think, like, what percentage of Americans know that.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
DEI those three words, what the actual result is opposed
to what you think the meaning is of them digits,
It's still pretty low. Yeah, it'll take a long time
for that to soak into society where people realize diversity, equity,
inclusion is not what it sounds like. Because at first
(24:08):
plush you think, well, who could be against him?
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Well, right, yeah, workers of the world unite, you know,
throw off your chains.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
All of that stuff is rhetorically great.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
It's really good, you know, political rhetoric, propaganda, it's persuasive.
Marxists are good at that, Revolutionaries in general are good
at that.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm a little sore today. Went to the gym last night.
Joined a jim, haven't I haven't been a member of
a gym in decades, or maybe I'm still a member
of Gold's gym somewhere and it's still charging my credit
card every month after all these years. It's quite possible.
It's really hard to quit a gym, as we all know.
But I joined this gym because my son is working
(24:52):
out with a coach. The football players are working out,
and he's got to be there for an hour three
times a week, So good for me. I'll be there
for an hour three times a week. But I'm I
was always a freeway guy when I was younger, but
now I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Doing the machines.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It takes me so long to figure out what each
machine is for. They got like a hundred machines, this
giant gym, and I walk around, I think, is that
for your feet?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
For your hands, for your back? I don't know. That
thing looks like maybe you sit there.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Sometimes I think I get on and am I Am
I facing the wrong direction?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Or am I supposed to?
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, don't They all have like instructions like right there
on them, some of them doing, some of them don't.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I think, I don't even know what part of my
body to put there and which.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Way I'm supposed to face. I supposed to be lying.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I have a feeling somebody's gonna come by and I'm
like working on my arms.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
They say that's for your calves. I mean, I don't
know what you're doing there. I don't even know how
you got in that position, you know.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
I've worked with a couple of trainers, physical therapists, and
they all say, they say, I don't want you on
that machine that just works on one muscle group. You
gotta work on that muscle group and all the muscle
groups that.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Well, that's why that's so integrated. Unless you got a
specific ysh. Why free weights are so much better is
in general.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
But I don't know. I'm old and lazier. So machine.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
There's a lot of swool guys on the machine, so
they must be doing something for them.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh yeah, it's better than nothing, for sure. Everything is
better than nothing. I want a Jack Armstrong workout video.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Oh well, a lot of it would be me walking
around the machine.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
That's what I want. What the hell is this?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Exactly like Joe Biden Jim exactly are you working out
in jeans and cowboy boots or do you actually don
athletic wear for that?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I was wearing gymnasium shoes and some sort of khaki
pants and a T shirt. Well, you wear long pants.
I'm not gonna wear shorts. Nobody, no grown up should
wear shorts. Nobody wants to see your old man legs.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I know.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Can you imagine, Katie, I've been working with this guy
for like thirty two years and it is still a wonder.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Tony, I'm you wear long pants that aren't what pants
to the gym. Yeah, khakis, can't you're wearing khakis.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
You may be the only guy in America who works
out in khakis.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I think. Yeah, wait a second. With checking Europe, yep, same,
I would rather you in shorts than khakis. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
I don't think they wear a lot of shorts in
Europe because they have class. Oh I wear long pants
under protest only because it's cold.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Oh men, legs should not be shown to any Nobody
should have to look at that.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I'm not telling you to wear Daisy dukes, but throwing
some basketball shorts.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
By the way, what is seen can't be seen. Ah,
I didn't know this.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
My son got a pair of these really long shorts,
like they go down below the knees. They're really long
and wide, and that's like and he told me, he said, man,
I got so many compliments on these today. Wall Street
Journal had an article over the weekend that is the
super cool, forward thinking hipster shorts is the really long
wide shorts for like up and coming CEOs and all that.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
According to the Wall Street Journal, And whether you're like
a rapper or a you know, a go go. You know,
you're the guy who wears tennis shoes with your suit,
that kind of guy. Those are the shorts people are wearing.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I guess I'm gonna let you know that ninety five
percent of the women that see those are calling them
caprice behind your back.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
That's what I told my son, I said, how are
those not capri pants? He said, what are kok peepants?
I said, those those are preepants. Girls wear them, son, So.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I don't know, have you seen that out in public
among the shorts wearing crown? I have not.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
I mean, the Wall Street Journal is not you know,
I can't even name a magazine that would be for
young super hit people. I mean, it's the Wall Street
freaking Journal saying you know, their crowd, and I guess
that's the shorts.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
All right. I'm not part of that culture either.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Yeah, go ahead, go ahead wear shorts that the people
laugh at in a year.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Those shorts with the high socks, right, is that like
the thing right? So there's like no skin really in between. Boy, No,
I'm talking about your go go executives. Youngsters wear what
the other youngsters are wearing.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Go ahead, Why wouldn't you that it's fine, yeah, but
the and you know, I see that stuff in the
Wall Street Journal or somehow we got on GQ's mailing list,
and man, all that stuff. Okay, go ahead, wear that.
It lasts for about a cup of coffee. But if
(29:33):
that gets you ahead in your Wall Street career, go ahead.
I would agree, you look like a dunce. If you're
a teenager, where what the other teenagers are wearing. It'll
make you more friends and get you a girlfriend or
a boyfriend or pick your subgroup. But past that point,
why are you paying any attention?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I can't imagine.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
And then are you reading articles in the Wall Street
Journal to figure out what shorts to wear?
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I found that interesting. Also, who's that for exactly?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
I would think the people that care about that sort
of thing found out a different way than reading the
style section of the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
People who want fashion advice from the Wall Street Journal,
I can't imagine how your brain works.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Armstrong Andngey, the Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
They're talking about ratings on MSNBC this morning. I think
because CNN and MSNBC's ratings are so low. I'm looking
up at Fox right now and there's Karl Rove and
it reminded me so my brother loathes Karl Rove. And
it's because in twenty twelve, during the entire election cycle
between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, Karl Rove was going
(30:49):
on TV every day explaining how Mitt Romney is gonna
win and the mainstream media is misleading you, and it's
gonna be hilarious on election Day when everybody figures this out.
And then after it wasn't even close, my brother came
to the conclusion that he was being lied to by
Fox News. That's exactly what is going on with that
(31:10):
huge drop off on CNN and specifically MSNBC right now,
because after an entire election season of all those people
laughing at the idea that Donald Trump could possibly get
elected and here's why the polls are wrong, and here's
here's how crazy you would have to blah blah blah
blah blah. Then you wake up on election day or
the day after and finance, Oh, you were all lying
to me.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Okay, that was all a bunch of crap. I think
it is a kicking the gut mit.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I think you need to add the delicious icing of
this to that cake. And that would be the absolute
hair on fire, hyperbolic, He's Hitler fascist, There'll never be
another an election, blood running in the streets. And then
the next day there's Joe Biden, you know, shaking hands
with the guy.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Come on, and that's true. So you combine those things,
cut the crap. You can buy those two things, and
you would have to like reorient yourself as to what
you're gonna pay attention to or care about, because oh,
you guys didn't actually care and and you were lying.
So okay, now I need to find something else to
do with my time. So I'm still reading Bob Woodward's Wars,
(32:18):
and there's some those books are so clipping good. It's
a shame nobody reads them, because nobody does. But the
right into the part where the Ukrainian War is about
to start in this book, and Biden had just gotten
off a long phone call, the longest phone call he'd
ever had with Putin. They were on the phone for
(32:38):
an hour on a Sunday morning, and Biden was really
laying into him about how what a horrible idea it
would be to invade Ukraine.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
And everything like that.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Putin was explaining why he had to do it, and
you're planning to put nuclear buns blah blah blah blah. Anyway,
Biden gets off the phone and says, he aft it up.
He affed the whole thing up.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
And the people around him are like, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
And he's like, Barack, he affed the whole thing up
by doing nothing. In twenty fourteen, when Putin went in Crimea,
all he did was signal to Putin that he can
get away with anything.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Barack aft this up?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
And I thought, how is that not a headline out
of the book, the fact that Joe Biden lays at
Barack Obama's feet the responsibility for going into Ukraine.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Wow, you got one side of the media that's utterly
dishonest and nothing to see here. He said something mean
about Trump on page two hundred and thirty, and then
the other side of the media doesn't read what words, right.
I thought that was really interesting that that was Biden's response.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
You know, he might be rewriting history in his own memory.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
I have no idea, but he portrayed it as he
was pushing Barack Obama. We got to push back or
or or Putin will think he can get away with
anything and that doesn't sound like Joe Biden to me
and his and his response afterwards, So I don't know,
but I thought that was interesting.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Well, yeah, I realized the irony of it that the feckless,
gutlass Joe Biden is calling his boss very feckless and gutless.
But the man who is f andng if you will,
he's the last guy who wants a problem shoved down
the road to him.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
So that's you know, if you were like a strong
and decisive guy, you would say, yeah, Barack Obama's a
coward and he f this up and now I've got
to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I'm going to deal with it well. And the difference
being Biden says, yeah, I'm just gonna say don't, don't.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
And to Joe Biden's credit, I mean compared to Barack Obama,
I mean he was Eisenhower in terms of supplying Ukraine
with an ability to push back. Because Barack Obama is correct,
Barack Obama did nothing. Got him into the chapter right
now where we sent over CIA director Burns to talk
to Zelensky. This is right before the invasion happens, and
sits down with him and says, look, it's gonna happen
(35:00):
like next week, and this is what they're gonna do,
and Zalinski doesn't believe it, and all the europe major
European leaders don't believe it. Part of it is because
we couldn't lay out all the information we had because
we actually had a human being in the Kremlin, so
that's where we're getting our info, So we couldn't like
lay out how we know how we knew this, but
we knew it was gonna happen, and Zilensky was like,
(35:21):
surely not, it can't or maybe you know his he
was hoping it couldn't be true because it's just horrifying.
Burne said, they're gonna roll in here and their first
job is going to be to try to kill you.
So what is your security situation like they've got They're
gonna come straight to Kiev. It's gonna take them like
six hours. They're gonna be setting out special forces throughout
the city hunting for you, trying to kill you.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Can you imagine getting that.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Information from the Sea High director of the United States,
Holy crap.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I would say, just completely overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
As a former YouTube star who's now president of the country.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Good Lord, that would be some info. Togain, I don't care.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
You might be the most seasoned sherman of the Joint
Chief sustat that would still be overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
The Armstrong and
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Getty Show or Je gr Joe podcasts and our hot
links and
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio and the
George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong, Joe, Getty Armstrong.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And Jettie I'm he Armstrong and Getty Strong.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
So Kay brought us a story earlier that the United
States has dropped out of the twenty Happiest countries Every
year they put out this list.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Gallup does the polling.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
I hate this sort of question because I don't even
know how I would answer it myself. I mean, if
you just walked up to me and said, are you
happy a lot of days?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
I'd say no.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
But if you put it in the context of being
an American, I'd say, well, yes, yes, all things being equal,
living in the United States, Yes, I'm happy.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Kind of annoyed right now. But do I have a
good life? Yes? I do? Right. Uh.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
But here's the behind the numbers. This is the first
year ever they've broken it down by age, and something
interesting popped out and a gaping disparity. Americans over sixty
are some of the world's happiest. We place in the
top ten for the over sixty crowd. All those up
there yet, but I hope to be while those under
thirty are among the most miserable in the developed world
(01:23):
are under thirty crowd ranked sixty second.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Wow, in terms of a happiest people in the world.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
And that's been and it's true for a lot of
your Western countries like Canada's very similar. They're young people
are ranked fifty eighth, so top ten for the over
sixty crowd. For the under thirty crowd sixty second, pulling
down the overall score where we've dropped out of the
top twenty for the first time ever. They don't have
a smoking gun for why young people are so unhappy,
(01:57):
They said, it's due to a combination manufacturs ranging from
political polarization to overuse of social media. Yeah, the resentment
maker social media, well, and trying to fill their emotional
nutrition needs with the crack cocaine.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
Of likes and retweets. And well, nobody.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Said, well, then if you looked into a bunch of
other stuff that they're not coupling or having sex or
getting married or all these different things.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Yeah, okay, fine.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
But so you said you had your thoughts, some thoughts,
what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (02:25):
And well, boomers and Gen X are also stealing their
money because all of the money we're spending right now.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Is going to have to be paid for through taxes
at some point.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
That's very true, and they should be unhappy about that,
but I don't think it's on their mind.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I think you're probably right. Yeah, I just I am
so concerned with the disconnectedness of young people. And you're
not connected. If you're connected online, that's different.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
It's it's like, uh, it's like the difference in gages
of wire or the thickness of a water pipe or
something like that.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
You feel like you're in but you're not.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
You're not getting the incredibly important neurological nourishment of actually
being with other human beings, whether friends, looking each other
in the eye, talking to them, having sex, holding somebody
in your arms.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
All of this stuff matters.
Speaker 4 (03:16):
And I swear to God, all the online stuff is
it's empty calories. It's the candy that makes you feel full,
and you have no appetite to take in your meat
and potatoes and vegetables. I will go to my premature
grave shout.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
Even without the online stuff. Expectations is a big thing
in lifestyle and everything like that. And I think about
my own kids who are not online yet, and they do.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I was thinking about this last night.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
My kids complain more about their lives and feel like
my life sucks more often than I did as a kid,
even though they've got easier lives with more stuff. I'm
sure that I complained more than my dad did, even
though I had an easier life with more stuff. He
grew up without electricity or plumbing and worked all the time.
(04:07):
But I'll bet I complained more and my kids complained
more than me.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
So I mean, what does that whole dynamic?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I mean, you know, it's what you see around you,
what all your friends have.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's big and easy times make for
for soft people. But and I don't, you know, exclude
myself from that description. Also, and this is one of
the most powerful powerful forces in political systems that people
don't talk about. Expectations, Well, expectations are everything.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Absolutely, But I'm thinking about and part of it is
where I live. But like spring break is coming up
and several of my friends there, my kids have several
friends that are doing unbelievably cool things.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
We're not, and so we're not going to Hawaii for
two weeks.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
No, we're not right, And everybody knows only the coolest
thing anybody else is doing because of the nature of
you know, social media, the other aspect of this that
I find so interesting.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
We talked about this at length.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
I remember last year at some point when Finland again
topped the list, and I can't remember if it was
the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. There's
somebody did a long in depth or it might have
been The Atlantic. Come to think of it, it doesn't
matter did an in depth study of why the Finns
are quote unquote the happiest people and they're not the cheeriest.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Or anything like that.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
It's that the Finnish culture is if you have enough,
you should be satisfied, and to run around complaining that
you're not achieving some sort of financial dream is frowned
upon in Sweden.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
In Finland they just have a much more close to
the bone. If you have the basics, that's enough, you
should be great for culture.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
The yearly Happiness List the Happiest countries in the world,
and the United States fell out of the top twenty
for the first time ever, falling to twenty third place.
We were fifteenth last year, driven by a large drop
in the happiness of Americans under thirty. For the over
sixty crowd, we're in the top ten. We're among the
happier countries on Earth. But for those under thirty, were
(06:18):
sixty second, pulling down the overall score. Wow, our young
people living in the land of opportunity and it still is,
are miserable.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
You know, I'm looking to see if I found the
right article about why people in Scandinavia are happier. I remember,
it's just about the fact that it's a marked down
to earth. They're satisfied.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
It's a cultural thing. You're brought up to believe.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
If you have what you need and you have people
in your life you care about, that's what happiness is
and that's all you'd need to aspire to. So are
they happier because they have quote unquote lower expectations better expectations?
I think that's part of it.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Anyway, Some people would say, well, they've settled for.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Less than they should want out of life.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
That is what some people's family and satisfaction. Yeah, stupid finds.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
This has got to be something to be actually concerned about. Though.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
From a political standpoint, don't you there will be not
a real revolution, but a revolution are politics if are
under thirty crowd. Is this dissatisfied with their country or
they're just their lives?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Yeah, you know what occurred to me, and it should
have before, but I'm a bit of a slow wit,
is that the kids are being indoctrinated every day that
this country was built on systemic racism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It's a rotten country.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Global warming is going to cook them alive, all sorts
of gloom and doom indoctrination as opposed to the much
more positive education of the past, even when maybe it
was overly rosy. But it gives you a different attitude.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Am I wrong? I'm not wrong. No, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
And I'm reminded of another study that just came out,
quote unquote. Woke people are much more likely to be unhappy, anxious,
and depressed, according to a new study.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
That doesn't shock me in the least. Not exactly sure why.
I mean, it's just my personal experience, but why is
that well.
Speaker 4 (08:46):
The findings, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology suggest
other Western nations may see similar patterns among their socially
conscious citizens.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
The author, the senior.
Speaker 4 (08:56):
Researcher, remarked the woke discourse has worked its way into
finish discourse as wells kipping ahead to the business part
of it. In the end, their final Critical Social Justice
Attitude Scale identified seven truisms of woke people. They asked him,
if white people have on average a higher level of
income than black people, it is because of racism.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
If you answered yes to that, they give you woke points.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
University reading list should include fewer white or European authors.
If you answered yes to that, they give you woke points.
And the woker people. Then they asked about mental health
and happiness and that sort of thing, and it was
just absolutely striking the difference among the people higher prevalence
of anxiety and depression and people who believed in the
statements that I made. More broadly, they found that those
(09:44):
who identified as left wing were most likely to report
lower mental well being in general.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
So let's go to the bottom of the list of
happiest countries. See if we notice a trend here. First
of all, Haiti was the eleventh least happy country, but
that number is gone down since the poll was taken.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Wow, Who's under Haiti?
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Yemen, South Sedan, Liberia, Guinea, Togo, Rwanda, Syria, tens and Tans, Tanza, Tanzania.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Burundi and the DFL as they say, the least happy
place in the world. Central African Republic. Where are almost
all of these places, Well, they're all either in the
Middle East or Africa, and most of them.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Are in Africa.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
That's wyow I mean you go, you go up from
the bottom ten, you get a lot of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Chad, Niger.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
There's a lot of unhappy African countries. That is horrible.
That is a rough continent.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
I haven't brought this up for a while, and I
don't recommend you do it because there's no point really
unless you're really really into the stuff. But if you
wanted to take a half an hour or an hour
to look in to the various conflicts that are going
on in Africa right now and how they're the fight
is being fought, and what is happening to civilians, including
(11:08):
children in those conflicts, it will haunt your dreams, perhaps for.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
The rest of your days.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
It makes like Western warfare seem civilized and not that bad.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Yeah, it's horrible.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
And so you've got that entire continent that is almost
entirely very bottom of happiness and income and all kinds
of other things which you know, it's all tied together.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
But here's your top countries. You notice anything in common
with those? Starting at it?
Speaker 3 (11:37):
We'll count down the top ten and the actually count
of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Any list this long that's not numbered. How long would
it take you to number at gallop? Anyway, here's your
top ten happiest countries. Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, then Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, Norway. Wow,
(11:59):
obviously cold weather makes people happier. No, but there's a
lot in common first of all with the area for
most of those countries, and certainly the government with.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
The other ones thrown in, that's something.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
In the United States, we're happier than Ireland, but not
quite as happy as Austria. All those countries, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland,
Netherlands all on the top. You know, six or seven?
What is your number one thing you think they have
in common? What you just said expectations.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Are Yeah, having re scanned in the last ten or
fifteen minutes some stuff I've read about this, Yeah, it
has to do with expectations and culture.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
If if your culture tells you.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
The truth, which is the best thing you can aspire
to is a good circle of friends, loving family relationships,
and satisfying work. Imagine if we heard that message over
and over again. Instead of you need to have lips
and boobs like a Kardashian you or a six pack
(13:10):
abs and a three hundred thousand dollars mercedes to be happy.
It's the only way to be happy. You ought to
spend your life pursuing those things. What a difference that
would make in our young people.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yeah, I would say I don't know how to break
out of this long as social media.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
You can only do it. You can only do it
on an individual basis.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Culturally, No, the country's doomed in terms of consumerism and
chasing things that will never bring us happiness. I just think,
you know, I can pitch it on the radio show.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
You can. We can pitch it to the people we
care about, and that's as good as.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
You can do.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty The Armstrong and Getty Show
See arm Strong and Getty Show.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
A lot of it printed winning a fifth presidential time
appearing on TV. Thanking has support US with over eighty
seven percent of the vote. Alexey Navali's widow Julia and
his allies calling for protests, with her taking part casting
a vote for her husband, Putin, claiming he agreed to
the idea of releasing the vale just days before he died.
(14:12):
Thousands more demonstrators causing long lines at purling locations inside
Russia as well as around the world, many spoiling their
ballot or voting for other candidates. Rights monitoring groups saying
more than seventy people have been detained. None of this
affecting the outcome. President Putin has already scheduled a victory
parade in Moscow.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Did they say the percentage Jery I heard somewhere eighty
eight percent was his vote total.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
So he won in a landslide. He won't going away.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
It must be his very popular It must be his
position on capital gains tax or something that people like.
One American reporter was able to ask a question yesterday
which I was kind of surprised by dig one of
Putin's answers since a.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
President journalist, Evan Gershkevich, spent this election in prison. Boris Ladishtin,
who opposes your war in Ukraine wasn't allowed to stand
against you, and Alexei Navalni died in one of your
prisons during your campaign. Mister president, is this what you
call democracy?
Speaker 7 (15:10):
That's life? Putin said, and in his answer suggested he
had agreed to release Navalni on the condition he never
returned to Russia. Days later, his outspoken opponent was dead.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Putin said, you can't snuff somebody and then say that's life.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
No, no, God, how cold is that?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
And they have six year presidential terms whatever the hell
that means, right, or why they even pay attention to that?
But anyway, if he serves that term, he will be
the longest serving. Is it longer than Catherine the greaters
dire just in modern times? Longer than Stalin?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
And what a as old as Biden? Right? What a
history that Russia has?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Reading yesterday, I reminded that the Romanovs, the various Czars
hold on.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
COVID that I guess includes.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Peter the Great with the romadops who ended up up
against the wall. The whole family, mom, dad and the
kids executed by firing squad up against the wall in
nineteen eighteen. That was the end of a three hundred
year period of that family running Russia. So Russia's never
(16:31):
really there's a tiny blip where it kind of seemed
like it there and like the late nineties early two thousands,
where it seemed like it might be a functioning democracy,
but it didn't last long.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
No, it's a cultural norm through the centuries that they
have a dictator essentially.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
That they have secret police spying on them, that they
turn neighbors against each other, that they have gulags or
you know, work you to death in some Siberian prison.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
It's always been that way. Yeah, yeah, And it's the
naivete frankly an optimism of the American people that think
we can spread democracy because it's such a great idea
to places that have never had it. But that's hard.
As you've made the point, many people have made the point, it.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Took hundreds of years to bake it into England, specifically,
hundreds of years of slow change. And even if you say, well,
we got the Internet now, so things move more quickly,
I still think it would take a good solid fifty
years of slow transition from that sort of culture to
one of representative democracy.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Armstrong, The Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
Are you done with DEI try MEI merit excellence and intelligence.
That means we only hire the best person for the job.
We seek out and demand excellence, and we unapologetically prefer
people who are very smart. We treat everyone as an individual.
We do not unfairly stereotype tokenies, or otherwise treat anyone
as a member of a demographic.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
Group rather than as an individual.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
You remember, we did that awful, awful on stage debate
thing with a bunch of progressives that devolved into just awfulness.
But I always remember this because I'd never heard this before,
because I'm a big on merit based everything. I want
everything practically to be merit based. And we're talking about
(18:27):
immigration actually, and I was for merit based immigration, and
one of the progressives said, everybody knows that's just a
dog whistle for racism. We really merit based as dog
whistle for racism. And that was the first time I'd
ever even heard it. I didn't even know how to
respond to that charge. Well, that's a committed progressive. They
call everything racism, and a huge percent of the population, so,
(18:48):
oh my god, I'm not a racist.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
I'll just be quiet.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
But is that one of the reasons that DEI is
pushed as opposed to merit based is the theory that
it's racist somehow.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Well, yeah, I mean, you always have to differentiate between
the true believers, the activists, and the useful idiots. Useful
idiots actually think they're doing the right thing for the
right reason. The activists are just trying to overthrow the system,
and they call everything racist so they can, you know,
make it stop. Or they call people racists to get
(19:21):
them out of the way, because you're not as a
corporation or a senator, You're not going to employ a racist.
So they call everybody a racist to get rid of
them anyway, or to win every argument. It's so lazy
and stupid. I can't believe they've gotten over as far
as they have, but they have anyway. Owen Anderson is
the name of a professor at Arizona State University.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
We talked to him a couple of months ago.
Speaker 4 (19:43):
He and our friends at the Goldwater Institute are suing
Arizona State University. And Owen wrote a great piece for
National Review. Since we've talked to him already. I won't
quote much of it, but I want to quote some
of it. He's been teaching philosophy and religious study for
more than two decades. Now Arizona State all of a
sudden requiring all professors to take DEI training, and he says,
(20:06):
I'm in favor of each of those terms diversity, including
intellectual diversity, equity if that means the equality of opportunity
and inclusion, helping people from all backgrounds succeed in the university.
But that's not what it means, though, and it's all
every word the neo Marxists use is code to win
the day anyway. But he says, when I began the
mandatory training, I found something troubling. It engaged in race blaming,
(20:29):
warning of the supposed problem of whiteness, and encouraging judgment
of people based on their skin color. I could not
in good conscience continue such a racist training. And the
idea that you have it's mandatory. It's like their fire
safety and no sexual harassment training. You have to take
this anti whiteness training. And so he and Goldwater are
(20:52):
suing the university, and I think they have a really
good chance of winning.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
That'd be hard to stomach.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
Yeah, and he goes into a lot of the detail,
but I think we're all up on the insidiousness of
DEI for the umpteenth time, and all DEI programs everywhere
they exist immediately last week can somehow this flew under
my personal radar Senator jd Vance, who is a fascinating guy.
He did a long interview with The New York Times
recently that I've got to read because he is a
(21:19):
ball of contradictions. But anyway, he and Representative Michael Cloud
introduced the dismantled DEI Act. It immediately attracted twenty co
sponsors in Congress, and as that's that, oh, the editors
of the National Review say, we hope the momentum picks up.
The bill would bar school accreditation agencies from requiring DEI
in schools, and stop financial agencies like Nasdaq and the
(21:42):
New York Stock Exchange from instituting diversity requirements for corporate boards.
It would also effectively rescind President Biden's June twenty five
to twenty one executive order, which pushed DEI requirements and
ideas into quote, all parts of the federal workforce. What
shocks me is how something so openly overtly racist hasn't
(22:05):
been successfully challenged already.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Whether judicially or legislatively.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
I mean the notion that, oh, only white people can
be racist because they have the power racism.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
Actually, they've.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Define the term racism and I could find it. Some
of the big stupid blanking dictionaries have even done this.
They have had the same definition of racism for one
hundred and fifty years, but now it's racism is a
belief used by the most powerful in society to keep
others down right. So the idea that the black people
(22:44):
who hate Asian people, or the Chinese people who hate
Japanese people, or that they can be racist, No, that's impossible,
which is again idiotic that they point out the Executive
Order alone helps sustain an entire private industry of DEI
consultancies and lobby groups, giving all federal agencies the power
(23:07):
and the mandate to contract for diversity and sensitive trainings.
How much is the government spent on DEI training? Keeping
in mind that if they spent it, somebody got it.
And the point is that they gave money to people
who will always support Democrats. But it's insidious. I'm going
(23:30):
to keep an eye on this. Dismantle DEI, bill Man,
I'd love to see that pass.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I don't think, like, what percentage of Americans know that.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
DEI those three words, what the actual result is opposed
to what you think the meaning is of them digits,
It's still pretty low. Yeah, it'll take a long time
for that to soak into society where people realize diversity, equity,
inclusion is not what it sounds like. Because at first
(24:08):
plush you think, well, who could be against him?
Speaker 4 (24:10):
Well, right, yeah, workers of the world unite, you know,
throw off your chains.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
All of that stuff is rhetorically great.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
It's really good, you know, political rhetoric, propaganda, it's persuasive.
Marxists are good at that, Revolutionaries in general are good
at that.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm a little sore today. Went to the gym last night.
Joined a jim, haven't I haven't been a member of
a gym in decades, or maybe I'm still a member
of Gold's gym somewhere and it's still charging my credit
card every month after all these years. It's quite possible.
It's really hard to quit a gym, as we all know.
But I joined this gym because my son is working
(24:52):
out with a coach. The football players are working out,
and he's got to be there for an hour three
times a week, So good for me. I'll be there
for an hour three times a week. But I'm I
was always a freeway guy when I was younger, but
now I'm.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Doing the machines.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It takes me so long to figure out what each
machine is for. They got like a hundred machines, this
giant gym, and I walk around, I think, is that
for your feet?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
For your hands, for your back? I don't know. That
thing looks like maybe you sit there.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
Sometimes I think I get on and am I Am
I facing the wrong direction?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Or am I supposed to?
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Yeah, don't They all have like instructions like right there
on them, some of them doing, some of them don't.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I think, I don't even know what part of my
body to put there and which.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Way I'm supposed to face. I supposed to be lying.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I have a feeling somebody's gonna come by and I'm
like working on my arms.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
They say that's for your calves. I mean, I don't
know what you're doing there. I don't even know how
you got in that position, you know.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
I've worked with a couple of trainers, physical therapists, and
they all say, they say, I don't want you on
that machine that just works on one muscle group. You
gotta work on that muscle group and all the muscle
groups that.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Well, that's why that's so integrated. Unless you got a
specific ysh. Why free weights are so much better is
in general.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
But I don't know. I'm old and lazier. So machine.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
There's a lot of swool guys on the machine, so
they must be doing something for them.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Oh yeah, it's better than nothing, for sure. Everything is
better than nothing. I want a Jack Armstrong workout video.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Oh well, a lot of it would be me walking
around the machine.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
That's what I want. What the hell is this?
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Exactly like Joe Biden Jim exactly are you working out
in jeans and cowboy boots or do you actually don
athletic wear for that?
Speaker 3 (26:37):
I was wearing gymnasium shoes and some sort of khaki
pants and a T shirt. Well, you wear long pants.
I'm not gonna wear shorts. Nobody, no grown up should
wear shorts. Nobody wants to see your old man legs.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
I know.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
Can you imagine, Katie, I've been working with this guy
for like thirty two years and it is still a wonder.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Tony, I'm you wear long pants that aren't what pants
to the gym. Yeah, khakis, can't you're wearing khakis.
Speaker 4 (27:05):
You may be the only guy in America who works
out in khakis.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
I think. Yeah, wait a second. With checking Europe, yep, same,
I would rather you in shorts than khakis. I don't know.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
I don't think they wear a lot of shorts in
Europe because they have class. Oh I wear long pants
under protest only because it's cold.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Oh men, legs should not be shown to any Nobody
should have to look at that.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
I'm not telling you to wear Daisy dukes, but throwing
some basketball shorts.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
By the way, what is seen can't be seen. Ah,
I didn't know this.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
My son got a pair of these really long shorts,
like they go down below the knees. They're really long
and wide, and that's like and he told me, he said, man,
I got so many compliments on these today. Wall Street
Journal had an article over the weekend that is the
super cool, forward thinking hipster shorts is the really long
wide shorts for like up and coming CEOs and all that.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Sort of stuff.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
According to the Wall Street Journal, And whether you're like
a rapper or a you know, a go go. You know,
you're the guy who wears tennis shoes with your suit,
that kind of guy. Those are the shorts people are wearing.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
I guess I'm gonna let you know that ninety five
percent of the women that see those are calling them
caprice behind your back.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
That's what I told my son, I said, how are
those not capri pants? He said, what are kok peepants?
I said, those those are preepants. Girls wear them, son, So.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I don't know, have you seen that out in public
among the shorts wearing crown? I have not.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
I mean, the Wall Street Journal is not you know,
I can't even name a magazine that would be for
young super hit people. I mean, it's the Wall Street
freaking Journal saying you know, their crowd, and I guess
that's the shorts.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
All right. I'm not part of that culture either.
Speaker 4 (28:56):
Yeah, go ahead, go ahead wear shorts that the people
laugh at in a year.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Those shorts with the high socks, right, is that like
the thing right? So there's like no skin really in between. Boy, No,
I'm talking about your go go executives. Youngsters wear what
the other youngsters are wearing.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Go ahead, Why wouldn't you that it's fine, yeah, but
the and you know, I see that stuff in the
Wall Street Journal or somehow we got on GQ's mailing list,
and man, all that stuff. Okay, go ahead, wear that.
It lasts for about a cup of coffee. But if
(29:33):
that gets you ahead in your Wall Street career, go ahead.
I would agree, you look like a dunce. If you're
a teenager, where what the other teenagers are wearing. It'll
make you more friends and get you a girlfriend or
a boyfriend or pick your subgroup. But past that point,
why are you paying any attention?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
I can't imagine.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
And then are you reading articles in the Wall Street
Journal to figure out what shorts to wear?
Speaker 2 (29:55):
I found that interesting. Also, who's that for exactly?
Speaker 3 (29:59):
I would think the people that care about that sort
of thing found out a different way than reading the
style section of the Wall Street Journal.
Speaker 4 (30:07):
People who want fashion advice from the Wall Street Journal,
I can't imagine how your brain works.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Armstrong Andngey, the Armstrong and Getty Show.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
They're talking about ratings on MSNBC this morning. I think
because CNN and MSNBC's ratings are so low. I'm looking
up at Fox right now and there's Karl Rove and
it reminded me so my brother loathes Karl Rove. And
it's because in twenty twelve, during the entire election cycle
between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, Karl Rove was going
(30:49):
on TV every day explaining how Mitt Romney is gonna
win and the mainstream media is misleading you, and it's
gonna be hilarious on election Day when everybody figures this out.
And then after it wasn't even close, my brother came
to the conclusion that he was being lied to by
Fox News. That's exactly what is going on with that
(31:10):
huge drop off on CNN and specifically MSNBC right now,
because after an entire election season of all those people
laughing at the idea that Donald Trump could possibly get
elected and here's why the polls are wrong, and here's
here's how crazy you would have to blah blah blah
blah blah. Then you wake up on election day or
the day after and finance, Oh, you were all lying
to me.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Okay, that was all a bunch of crap. I think
it is a kicking the gut mit.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I think you need to add the delicious icing of
this to that cake. And that would be the absolute
hair on fire, hyperbolic, He's Hitler fascist, There'll never be
another an election, blood running in the streets. And then
the next day there's Joe Biden, you know, shaking hands
with the guy.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Come on, and that's true. So you combine those things,
cut the crap. You can buy those two things, and
you would have to like reorient yourself as to what
you're gonna pay attention to or care about, because oh,
you guys didn't actually care and and you were lying.
So okay, now I need to find something else to
do with my time. So I'm still reading Bob Woodward's Wars,
(32:18):
and there's some those books are so clipping good. It's
a shame nobody reads them, because nobody does. But the
right into the part where the Ukrainian War is about
to start in this book, and Biden had just gotten
off a long phone call, the longest phone call he'd
ever had with Putin. They were on the phone for
(32:38):
an hour on a Sunday morning, and Biden was really
laying into him about how what a horrible idea it
would be to invade Ukraine.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
And everything like that.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Putin was explaining why he had to do it, and
you're planning to put nuclear buns blah blah blah blah. Anyway,
Biden gets off the phone and says, he aft it up.
He affed the whole thing up.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
And the people around him are like, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 3 (33:01):
And he's like, Barack, he affed the whole thing up
by doing nothing. In twenty fourteen, when Putin went in Crimea,
all he did was signal to Putin that he can
get away with anything.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Barack aft this up?
Speaker 3 (33:12):
And I thought, how is that not a headline out
of the book, the fact that Joe Biden lays at
Barack Obama's feet the responsibility for going into Ukraine.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
Wow, you got one side of the media that's utterly
dishonest and nothing to see here. He said something mean
about Trump on page two hundred and thirty, and then
the other side of the media doesn't read what words, right.
I thought that was really interesting that that was Biden's response.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
You know, he might be rewriting history in his own memory.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
I have no idea, but he portrayed it as he
was pushing Barack Obama. We got to push back or
or or Putin will think he can get away with
anything and that doesn't sound like Joe Biden to me
and his and his response afterwards, So I don't know,
but I thought that was interesting.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Well, yeah, I realized the irony of it that the feckless,
gutlass Joe Biden is calling his boss very feckless and gutless.
But the man who is f andng if you will,
he's the last guy who wants a problem shoved down
the road to him.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
You know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (34:21):
So that's you know, if you were like a strong
and decisive guy, you would say, yeah, Barack Obama's a
coward and he f this up and now I've got
to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
I'm going to deal with it well. And the difference
being Biden says, yeah, I'm just gonna say don't, don't.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
And to Joe Biden's credit, I mean compared to Barack Obama,
I mean he was Eisenhower in terms of supplying Ukraine
with an ability to push back. Because Barack Obama is correct,
Barack Obama did nothing. Got him into the chapter right
now where we sent over CIA director Burns to talk
to Zelensky. This is right before the invasion happens, and
sits down with him and says, look, it's gonna happen
(35:00):
like next week, and this is what they're gonna do,
and Zalinski doesn't believe it, and all the europe major
European leaders don't believe it. Part of it is because
we couldn't lay out all the information we had because
we actually had a human being in the Kremlin, so
that's where we're getting our info, So we couldn't like
lay out how we know how we knew this, but
we knew it was gonna happen, and Zilensky was like,
(35:21):
surely not, it can't or maybe you know his he
was hoping it couldn't be true because it's just horrifying.
Burne said, they're gonna roll in here and their first
job is going to be to try to kill you.
So what is your security situation like they've got They're
gonna come straight to Kiev. It's gonna take them like
six hours. They're gonna be setting out special forces throughout
the city hunting for you, trying to kill you.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Can you imagine getting that.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Information from the Sea High director of the United States,
Holy crap.
Speaker 2 (35:47):
I would say, just completely overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (35:49):
As a former YouTube star who's now president of the country.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
Good Lord, that would be some info. Togain, I don't care.
Speaker 4 (35:56):
You might be the most seasoned sherman of the Joint
Chief sustat that would still be overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
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Speaker 1 (36:02):
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