Armstrong & Getty On Demand

You're Too Old. You Have No Future.

35 min
Apr 3, 2026about 2 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Armstrong and Getty discuss Western culture and Christianity's influence on modern society through historian Tom Holland's work, analyze geopolitical tensions around the Strait of Hormuz and NATO's weakening position, and cover news including a female NFL referee's gender discrimination lawsuit, strong March job numbers, and tensions between Trump and European leaders.

Insights
  • Western cultural values, including progressive 'woke' ideology, are fundamentally rooted in Judeo-Christian principles about protecting the vulnerable, even among those who reject religion
  • Europe's welfare state expansion has hollowed out military capability and personnel, creating dependency on US security guarantees while simultaneously resisting US strategic interests
  • Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz represents asymmetric power over global economics despite limited military projection capability, making it a critical strategic chokepoint
  • Transatlantic alliance tensions reflect deeper structural weaknesses in European defense capacity rather than Trump-specific policy disagreements
  • Public attention to political news (like Attorney General firing) is minimal compared to economic indicators and geopolitical events that directly affect daily life
Trends
Declining European military readiness and NATO cohesion despite increased defense spending requestsAsymmetric geopolitical leverage through control of critical infrastructure (Strait of Hormuz) by weaker military powersGrowing disconnect between political media narratives and public interest in political appointments versus economic outcomesIncreased scrutiny of diversity hiring in physically demanding professional roles (sports officiating, military)AI-generated content and deepfakes creating verification challenges in media consumptionSpace exploration capturing renewed public imagination and youth engagement
Companies
iHeartMedia
Podcast distributor and network that carries Armstrong & Getty show
NBC
News network mentioned for coverage of Iran bridge strike and US military operations
ABC
News network mentioned for coverage of Israel-Iran military operations
CNN
News network mentioned for coverage of Iran missile capabilities
Wall Street Journal
Referenced for reporting on March job numbers and 'surefire path to prosperity' story
USA Today
News outlet mentioned for T-Rex leather fashion story
NFL
Subject of lawsuit by female referee alleging gender-based discrimination and scrutiny
Los Angeles Lakers
NBA team mentioned in discussion of Bronny James and LeBron James playing point guard
People
Tom Holland
Author of 'Dominion' exploring how Christianity shaped Western culture and values
Emmanuel Macron
French president involved in tensions with Trump over NATO support and military operations
Donald Trump
US President making statements about Iran operations and criticizing European allies
Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli PM quoted on continued military operations against Iran
Keir Starmer
UK PM mentioned for snarky comments about Trump regarding war strategy
Tiger Woods
Subject of police body cam footage showing him referencing conversation with the president
Victor Davis Hanson
Referenced for analysis on how the Iran-Israel war is progressing
Ricky Gervais
Referenced as source of comedic style using controversial statements as humor
Ludwig von Mises
Quoted on the impossibility of abolishing war without eliminating human nature
Robert E. Lee
Quoted on the cruelty of war and its effect on human relationships
Edwin Aldrin
Mentioned in listener email as having been in aeronautics class at MIT in 1964
Frank Borman
Referenced in listener email for experiencing intestinal illness during Apollo 8 mission
James Lovell
Mentioned as Apollo 8 crew member who helped manage Borman's medical emergency
William Anders
Mentioned as Apollo 8 crew member who helped manage Borman's medical emergency
Angela Merkel
Criticized for approving Russian energy pipeline deal creating European dependence
Quotes
"Western culture really is Christianity. Whether you're a Christian or not, you're just, we're all living in Christianity, whether you've don't believe it all, never been a church in your life."
Jack Armstrong (discussing Tom Holland's thesis)Early segment
"If men do not now succeed in abolishing war, civilization and mankind are doomed."
Ludwig von MisesFreedom-loving quote segment
"Damn, Reb. What a cruel thing war is to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors."
Robert E. LeeFreedom-loving quote segment
"When we're serious, we don't say the opposite of what we said the day before."
Emmanuel MacronMid-show discussion
"Being an NFL referee is men's work. Period. Have men do it."
Joe GettyHeadlines segment
Full Transcript
This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio, the George Washington broadcast center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. I'm Strong and Getty. And now, here is Armstrong and Getty. Special Good Friday edition of the Armstrong and Getty show. How you all doing? Deep within the bowels of the Armstrong and Getty communications compound where we toil today under the title of the show. Blondie bondie going going gondie. Or if you prefer. If you prefer. It's all muse about the straights of hormones. The key to everything, Jack. The key to everything. Somebody needs to compile all these into a book. A coffee table book. A poorly selling book. A big coffee table book. Lots of pictures of you and all these different titles. Gesturing. Like a Shakespearean actor. I'm told that book is being produced. Oh, beautiful. Go ahead. Fantastic. How you all doing? It's Friday. We made it to Friday. We all made it. You wondered for a while if you're going to make it, didn't you? We all did. But I don't know if I'm going to make it. But you made it. Without cracking. Fantastic. Yeah. You know, it is Good Friday. And do you remember why? Month or so ago, we were talking about Tom Holland, the historian all the time. He ended up in the news, at least in conservative circles. And Tom Holland is Book Dominion. Why did that burble up into the news flow? Oh, my goodness. We're discussing his ideas, certainly. But I don't remember the trigger. It wasn't just us, though. It became a thing on the right. And I don't remember what drove it. It doesn't make any difference at this point. Because it was some discussion that was going on in America about focusing on the Roman Empire or something. I don't know what it was. Anyway, I was thinking about that today on Good Friday. Just if you have any interest in a new perspective, it was new to me anyway, perspective on the whole Christian. Oh, I know what it was now. It was that there, I think it was the whole there is no culture. Western civilization has no culture. Oh, my God. One of the most stupid things that's ever been uttered in the English language or any other. It's coming back to me now. So AOC's speech there in Europe about Western culture and there is no Western culture and all that different sort of stuff. And the pushback on that, that there is Western culture, there is a Western culture and it's a very, very big deal. And Tom Holland's book came up a lot because his book Dominion is all about how Western culture really is Christianity. Whether you're a Christian or not, you're just, we're all living in Christianity, whether you've don't believe it all, never been a church in your life. It's just been that dominant a philosophy. Some of your most Western cultures. Fundamental precepts about the way humans should behave come from the Judeo-Christian tradition, whether you know it or not. Yeah, exactly. And he makes the argument that like a lot of your woke stuff, which is kind of odd because the woke crowd tends to be really anti-religion, is all driven by, to my mind, an overreach of the idea of the least of us and all that sort of stuff. But that's where it all comes from is the Christian idea. Or at least that's one of the pry bars they use to acquire power is to appeal to our Christian beliefs and about the underdog and the rest of it. Yeah, exactly. This is a long way for me to remember why I even learned about this. But it also, the whole woke thing bears so many of the hallmarks of a fundamentalist religion, but it's a topic for another day. If you want a different perspective on the whole Christianity thing on this Good Friday, you don't have to read the 1000-page book if you don't want to. There's plenty of YouTube videos of Tom Holland and he's a very easy to listen to likable guy explains things in a very easy way about the crucifixion on Good Friday and the way that changed Western culture and how it was a completely different way of looking at the world of the powerless having the power over the powerful and everything. And it was absolutely fascinating to me. Mind blowing different way of looking at all of it. And on this Good Friday, if you want to take a fresh perspective, I highly recommend looking into that. That is a fabulous thing you've brought to us. I brought squat in terms of perspective. You brought those clever titles. But Dad, please, please, they're a mouse next to the elephant of your excellent recommendation. Let's all muse about the Straits of Hormuz. I mean, that's fantastic. It's all right. My God, maybe I'll go into a later nine o'clock hour when we stretch out sometimes because we're just tired of the show and really just going through the motions. The last hour of the show, explain a little bit of what Tom Holland is saying by that, why the crucifixion was an upending of world philosophy that we are now all live in. I could not love that idea more. Let's do it. That's good stuff. Straight of Hormuz still closed. Looks like still no ships going through there. And that has become the focus of all of the efforts, all of the planning, all of the what-if ism is centered on the Straits of Hormuz because Iran, which has very, very little, you know, power to project power, opportunity to project power, has enormous power over the world economy through that little stupid expanse of water. And it's very difficult to pry that away from them. Is this going to end up being a forcing mechanism on Europe to have to become a military power or at least wake up to the fact that, geez, we probably ought to be a military power? We probably ought to be able to protect ourselves and project our own interests around the world and not just count on the United States all the time. That question opens up another delicious can of worms. I was just looking at the budget request from the White House, which includes record-setting spending on defense, which is absolutely necessary in my mind. And the point was made by at least one learned commentator that the rub is our welfare programs are on autopilot growth and we're already going broke. So how are we going to square that? Well, Europe has got that problem times six. I mean, they are utterly drowning in their welfare states and have completely lost the muscles of developing military power, both personnel and technically. So man, they're hurting. They should listen to what you were hinting at there, but I'm not sure they can. Yeah, that's a good one. I said this yesterday right when we got off the air, the news broke that Trump had fired the Attorney General. The news media and most of them live in Washington, D.C. or New York. They're so into that sort of stuff. I would like to know the actual number. Is it one in a thousand? It might not even be that many people who care whether or not the Attorney General got fired or paid any attention or it means anything to them at all. I don't think it'd be one in a thousand. I don't know. I don't have a sense of that. I think it's more than you think, but I don't know how much more. Here's a question for you. How many people will bring it up in conversation today? Nobody, because that's a pretty good threshold for how much you care about something or how interested you are, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I had a very fair try this. Try bringing it up at a little gathering this afternoon and look and have everybody look around like, what? Somebody say something about sports or something. You know what? I'm going to be part of a gathering this evening. I'll try it if you want. Yeah, it's a pretty aware crowd, but we'll see. I think even then, I'll bet the conversation doesn't last more than a minute. So you prefer the Straits of Hormuz headline over the Bondi one? I have a particularly fun headline. No, the Bondi headline is really good. I just don't think it's an interesting story. Right. Yeah. Yeah. What a thankless task that is. I'm going to bring it up. Being Trump's attorney general. Oh, Lord, you would have to, you know, he'd call, hey, and you'd have to say to your wife or your husband, who's probably young and hot because I have a feeling the next person will be young and hot. You'd have to say, wow, this is like the honor of a lifetime and I'm just going to get murdered. It's going to be six to 12 months and then Trump is going to throw me out on my ear for failing to execute his wishes. What do I do? What's the name of the guy they slid in? Clips out of my old mind. What's his name? But we've been talking for a couple of weeks, or at least Mark Halpern's been writing for a long time. He's the attorney general. He's the deputy. Yeah. Yeah. He's, what's his name? Somebody come over. I don't know. He's Todd Blanche. Blanche has been the power there for a long time. Everybody recognizes him as like the grownup. Okay. Now the series person's here. So he's going to fill in. He might just, he might just hang on to it. You know, like Trump sometimes also does. Whatever. Exactly. Let's start to show officially on a Friday. I'm Jack Armstrong. He's Joe Getty on this. It is Friday. Good Friday. April 3rd, the year 2026, where Armstrong and Getty and we approve this program. Let's begin then officially according to FCC rules or regulations. The show starts at Mark. A female former NFL ref is suing the league for being fired because of her gender. However, many complain she kept penalizing players for things they did four games ago. A classic, a classic women, you know, huh? Right. I remember all the jokes that came out when she got named the ref. It was the, you throw a flag. What did I do? Well, if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you. You know that sort of thing. Right. Right. Right. Katie is shaking her head. She does not like this misogyny. You should know. It's just Joe. Women, huh? Oh boy. Yeah. She's a citing gender based scrutiny, humiliation and open hostility among the indignities she suffered during her three seasons as a league official. I was thinking the other day about the um, um, umpires because baseball season started and they got the robot arms and everything like that. Very hard job to sit back there and try to call balls and strikes, but you don't have to run up and down the field or the court like you do in the NBA or the NFL. That would be quite the different job. You got to be in such good shape to be a ref in those two sports. Oh yeah. Constantly running for like a classic ball especially. Yeah. Oh yeah. Hockey, uh, referees and linesman. Yeah. Crazy fit. Yeah. If I had to, if I had to be in that, that line of work, I like the one where I just stand in one spot and just got to keep my hands up. I like the tennis judges. They get to sit. Oh yeah. Tennis judges. That's even better. Sitting under an umbrella. Yeah. I just sit under a brother with a please. It's got to be the easiest. Here's a controversial statement. I will stand by this. Uh, being an NFL referee is men's work. Period. Have men do it. The problems with the women is they're just too, too many. It's impractical. There's too many women? No, no, the problems are too many. Oh. Oh, okay. It's kind of like the deal with women in the military, you mean? Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It just creates a dynamic that's too, got too many issues. Right. It's just, no, no, do something else. You don't mean like make a sandwich. You mean just something. Go vacuum or something. Well, I would enjoy a sandwich and the floor's not going to vacuum itself, but no, I'm in a different profession. Oh, my God. Oh, that reminds me. That reminds me during a little promos that we record. So they run on stations all over the country. So people hopefully will tune in the next day. I mentioned the, according to the Wall Street Journal, the quote unquote, surefire new path to American prosperity. What line of work is that? We will reveal that to you. I like that. Um, briefly back to us throwing back our heads and laughter over the, you know, vacuum or something. That's the classic Ricky Gervais. It's funny because we don't believe it's true. That's why it's funny. Right. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great example. And those trying to discredit us as they have through the years, we won. Um, would say, listen to the sexist jokes they made, right? But they all laughed at that. It's confirming that that attitude is not good. That's why it's funny. A woman made it. So yeah, I want to plus you made it. All right. Uh, that woman is Katie and we have Katie's headlines next. Armstrong and Getty. Oh boy. Um, McCrone and Starmer said some pretty, uh, snarky things about the war and Trump yesterday in response, I guess, to Trump saying snarky things about them the day before. Anyway, we can touch on that a little later. Oh, Kier Starmer, who's got the similar approval ratings as gonorrhea. All right. More on that. Let's figure out who's supporting what it's lead story with Katie Green, Katie from the alphabet networks, NBC Trump warrants United States quote, hasn't even started after strike destroys Iran bridge. ABC Israel in the U S will continue to crush Iran according to Netanyahu and CNN. U S intelligence assesses Iran maintains significant missile launching capability, which is amazing. Absolutely amazing. I never did get to the, uh, finally understanding why it's all about the rockets thing. I'll have to get to that today because it's pretty darn interesting. It kind of changed my view of the war. Uh, a great deal. Right. Yeah, I was looking at that too. And, uh, Victor Davis Hansen on how he thinks it's going. Love V D H. Uh, looking forward to reading that to you. Did you see that video of us blowing up their big bridge? Mm hmm. That's some, yeah. From the Wall Street Journal, hiring defied expectations in March with 178,000 new jobs. We beat expectations. Everybody nice job. Stupid expectations from the athletic body cam footage. It shows Tiger Woods telling police he was quote, just talking to the president. That's the all time. Do you know who I am of all time? You, you gotta, you gotta watch the video and we'll play the audio later, but it is something. Yeah, I was just on the phone with the president. All right. Yeah. They say, Hey, we need you to stand over here please. And he's like, yeah, I was over there because I was talking to the president. Oh God. I would take that with Tess Trump. Yeah. Look at your car. Look at it. Look at it. It's on the tires on the bottom now. No, they're kind of off to the side. Shut up and sit down. From USA Today, a new fashion statement comes to town. T-Rex leather. Oh, I need a belt at least. Scientists and designers have created, they're starting with a handbag, but it's manufactured from fragments of fossilized T-Rex remains. All right, fantastic. Yeah, golf shoes, T-Rex golf shoes. Yes. From study finds that antibacterial soap in your bathroom may be fueling a global health crisis. They're saying that the antibacterial chemical they're using may help create conditions that make dangerous infections harder to treat. Oh yeah. I've been on this for 20 years. Yeah. The routine and needless use of antibiotics is a terrible idea. And finally, the Babylon B. Trump says Pam Bondi, quote, not quite hot enough to be this bad at her job. Oh boy. How part with the part where they get into the conversation, the cops and tiger about the value of his golf clubs that are still in the vehicle. You want to get your golf clubs out and he said, yeah, I went 14 majors with that putter. Oh God. Do you tell the president that? I was just watching the highlights of, uh, Bronnie LeBron James Kidd playing point guard for the Lakers in their 40 point loss, 45 point lost Oklahoma City. Oh man. He was in the grand at their playing the best team in the league. But, um, oh my God, he kept trying to bring the ball up the court like three times in a row. They just took the ball away from him and went down and made a lip. They were actually laughing. Oh my God. About him trying to get the ball across half court before they take the ball away from him. Oh, that's just hurtful. That had to be hurtful for the Bron. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So much to talk about today. So let's get underway. But first let's take a fond look back at the week that was its cow clips of the week. And lift off the crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon. They'll go deeper into space than any human has ever gone before. Turns out there's about 60% of the far side, I think, that has never been seen by human eyes. We're going back to the f***ing moon. That's why. Guess who we are. Guess who's here. No Kings. Do it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I guess I'll give you a chance to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess who is here to guess We as Democrats nationally, from Latinx to defunding the police. Well, I'm a truth seeker. They need to know the truth. Weird. Um, Sean, I'm, you know, I was, um, forgive me. You know, this is embarrassing. And this is not about Chinese billionaires or billionaires from other countries. This was about slaves. The best line of the oral argument where John Sauer said, We're in a new world now. It's just a lead up on that. Then John Roberts replied, Well, it's a new world. This is the same constitution. I do see a deal in Iran. Yeah, could be soon. Ron's president penned a letter to the American people saying that Iran is not a threat. The blunt warning from Iran, any American troops invading would be set on fire. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. President Trump doesn't bluff and he does not back down. You can ask Khomeini about that. Police found two white pills in Woods's pocket. He was sweating profusely. His movements were lethargic and slow. I was a fornicator. I was a pornography addict. And I used to get drunk. Did you know I once bought a dog from a blacksmith? As soon as we got it home, it made a bolt for the door. It's clips of the week. Those were funny jokes. Speaking of AI, which that turned out to be, I was reminded during clips of the week of the little kid asked my CNN, why are you so excited to be here? Be part of history at the big launch. Katie and I both...we were talking about using the clip. People were making a big deal out of it because he dropped an F-bomb. Katie and I both saw the clip where he quite clearly said, fricking. We're going back to the fricking moon. And then you saw a clip where he quite clearly dropped the F-bomb. Katie and I came to... It was ours. It was yours. Which one was real? It doesn't matter in this case, but clearly, it matters in the big picture. Yeah. There's going to be a lot of that going forward. Did that interview even happen? Who knows? No kidding. So, Trump was making jokes about Macron and his wife. Do you remember the incident from the plane? There were cameras. The door was open to the plane. They were inside the plane and she shoved him in the face. Yeah. Kind of a half slap, half punch. Get back from why you lose air. What did we decide on that? Don't touch me, panty-waste. What did we decide on that? Disfunctional marriage. You think? A forceful shove of the face? There's no... That's cool. That's beyond playful. That's a little too much. Oh, no, no, no. There was anchor there. Anyway, so Trump referenced that the other day behind closed doors, but it leaked out. It sounded like this. Then I called up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly, and... Still recovering from the right to the jaw. And I say, Emmanuel. So, yeah. So that wasn't supposed to be... That was with, you know, just his friends. And somehow the White House posted that accidentally and it came out. So I don't know if Macron knows that or not, that it wasn't supposed to be public. That might not make any difference. Anyway, so Macron was asked about that yesterday over in Europe. And Macron said those were neither elegant nor befitting a president. I'm not going to respond to them. They don't deserve a response. You just respond it. You don't get to do both. But then he said, and you know, whether he would have said this on its own or not, who knows, he might have. I don't know, if I had a little dust up with my wife and somebody made a joke about it, I'd be pretty freaking mad. Yeah, but if you're a public figure and it occurred in public... Come on. But another leader, another person in your job, stern the mic. The dust again. Yep, you're right. You're right. That's pretty out of bounds. Anyway, so Macron was asked about what Trump said. Trump said France in Europe has an unserious approach to war. And Macron said, well, when we're serious, we don't say the opposite of what we said the day before. Which is, you know, not exactly where we usually are in terms of the NATO alliance. No, and as contemptuous as I am toward Macron and the French in general, to say, hey, don't spring S like this on us. You got to give us a heads up. That's not a crazy, you know, request to me. Yeah, Macron brushed aside Trump's latest threat to carry out devastating attacks against Iran, and talks about having Europe open the straits of Hormuz. And Macron said, I'm not here to comment on an operation that the Americans decided on the Israelis on their own. They can later complain that they aren't being supported in this operation, that they decided on a loan. It's not our operation. I don't get the not letting us use your bases to like refuel their land. I mean, that's not exactly engaging in the war. No, that's not what he said, which is it's your operation. That's active disengagement. Yeah, since we routinely use those bases and have been protecting their lazy, welfare, drowning asses for quite some time from those bases. Yeah, you can make the argument if your friends are Britain that we're not sending a ship or fighter planes. We didn't start this war. If you'd ask us, we would have argued against this, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Right. But the not letting you land to refuel or park your planes there for a while or whatever is actively getting in the way of us prosecuting the war, which is a different thing. Well, yeah, honestly, in this little dust up our relationship with France, it reminds me of Macron's relationship with his wife, his pugilistic wife. Everybody ought to calm down who may or may not have junk. We don't know. No, no, I will not go there, Candace. No, everybody needs to calm down and quit posturing. Come on now. We're old friends. Our first ally, France, back when they were not useless. Yeah, I don't know where this is going. In general or the Europe NATO aspect of it? Well, the whole thing really. But yeah, the Europe NATO thing, is it coming to an end? Macron goes on to say that Trump is hollowing out NATO every day by making these comments. Again, he might have a point, but the Brits and the French have so hollowed out their ability to project power in any way. And the Germans? Yeah, the Germans not quite as badly as those other two, because at least they have the will to turn it around, I think. But I mean, they have so devalued themselves as allies. They're practically useless as allies, except economically. I know. You know, with all due respect to their French, you're a weakling. This is not a point worth arguing about, but the Germans... Because they've been under the American security umbrella. Right. But the Germans have the number one economy in Europe, and are as weak as they are, and they signed off on a pipeline with Russia to be dependent on their energy sources. I mean, what the hell is that? That was under the horrifying Angela Merkel, who history cannot judge harshly enough. Anyway, I don't know. What I wonder is how this is going to be portrayed 15, 25, 50 years from now, when people look back on this. Will this be Trump destroying the greatest alliance of all time? Or is it just going that direction, and maybe he pointed it out, or hurried it along, or whatever? Yeah, it'll probably have something like an Enron feel, where, you know, when the investigation's done, people will be like, oh my god, this was crumbling for like two years before it actually crumbled. Yeah. I don't know. That would be unfortunate, because NATO obviously has been such an amazing force for stability. But you know, don't you think in a real crisis that Article 5 is designed for an attack on one as an attack on all? Well, but will all for the most part be in it together anyway? If China attacked France, you don't need the NATO agreement to have the United States, Great Britain, whoever come to defense. Right. Yeah, yeah, probably. I just keep thinking, you know, your good old friend finally rallies to your side. Let's forget those little differences we've had. We've been friends for centuries. We're with you! But they show up with one arm in the sling, and the other one like, I abhor violence. It's like, oh my god! Thanks for rallying to my aid, France. Or maybe somebody speaking a different language than French, who says, I'm on the other side. Yeah. Yeah. Britain, the greatest naval force on the planet for what, a century? Centering a half, two centuries? Now is so hollowed out. They can barely launch a regatta from Britain. They can barely go deep sea fishing their navy. It's terrible. So, we can run through what all the experts are saying about the jobs numbers that came out, really beat expectations. What does that mean? All those jobs, significantly more they thought, where does that fit in with the whole 77% of Americans think the economy is bad or Trump's policies have made things worse? How does that all fit together? And the sure path to financial success, according to the Wall Street Journal. Next time. I want to hear that. I need to write that down. Huh? Write that down, put that into action today. You're too old. Forget it. You failed. Oh crap. No, you have no future. Wow. But others might. That's disappointing. What are you going to do? Is that my Good Friday? You have no future. That's your Good Friday. So we've got mailbag next. Stay here. Armstrong and Getty. I'm wearing a Dodger's hat today. I've decided to just jump on the bandwagon. Wow. You can't beat them. They are. How is that all there is here? Just you've capitulated. You've joined the evil empire. Okay. All right. Fair enough. Here's your freedom loving quote of the day continuing on our series about war. I found both of these very interesting and somewhat ironic. First of all, this one from Robert E. Lee. Damn, Reb. What a cruel thing war is to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors. And this from one of my intellectual heroes, Ludwig von Mises. If men do not now succeed in abolishing war, civilization and mankind are doomed. I would ask all old Lou von Mises. Lou, how are you going to abolish war? Wow. As long as there are greed heads or the evil or racists or religious fanatics, they're going to make war. So I've got to be ready for war. I can't tell. What are you even talking about? So is that a childish notion? Or was that him just stating like kind of in a sarcastic way, we're going to destroy ourselves and there's nothing. No stopping it. I really don't know. Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah. Well, greater philosophers than we have taken on that question and failed. So let's move on. Mailbag. By the way, if I wanted to wear a hat for the best record in baseball so far a weekend, I'd be wearing a Florida Marlins hat. Oh, how about that? Yeah. Drop a note. Mailbag at ArmstrongUGETTY.com got this from Marcus San Francisco, longtime correspondent. Shout out, Mark. Mark, if the Supreme Court is going to make that stupid ruling, meaning not continuing to allow birthright citizenship, and the Supreme Court has made many tremendously wrong rulings over the years, birthright citizenship could be addressed by Congress by passing a law. This will have to be dealt with eventually unless we're determined to commit slow but steady national suicide. I would agree. That's the answer for changing times. Sure. Sure. Of course. Another J in San Jose writes, if the strait of Hormuz is open to free-flowing commerce in the next couple of weeks, I think most Americans would care even less about the war than they do or its outcome because gas prices would fall and the market would go way up. You're right. I also think we should leave some of those bases that are in countries that wouldn't let us use them. Leave them exposed. I hear you're talking, my friend. Fascinating note from a longtime correspondent, Alvin and Berkeley. I heard you guys talking about how rockets get a boost from the Earth's spin as they blast off from Florida and Texas. The Earth's speed at the equator is about 1,039 miles per hour. The circumference of the Earth is around 25,000 miles, as I'm sure you know. I've forgotten, but yeah, I think I've learned that 73 times in my life. When you divide that by 1,039, voila, you get 24 hours in a day. See, it's easy. And when a rocket blasts off toward the east and it gets above the atmosphere, it benefits from the fact that the launch pad was already moving east at over 1,000 miles per hour. I learned these things while getting a master's degree from MIT in 1964 BE before Epstein. That's funny, Alvin. Those five years were great for this farm boy from Texas. Even got a trip to Cape Canaveral from Dr. Charles Draper and saw Saturn V on the launch pad. Even met Edwin Aldrin once he was in the aeronautics and astronautics class with us. Great to have lived through all these things and so neat to hear you guys on the radio. Thanks, Alvin. What a great note. I'm going to try to commit that to memory, but who knows how old it is. My high schooler said one of his friends was super into the space launch and had his phone out during class to be able to try to catch the launch and everything like that. I'm glad it's capturing some people's imagination. Good. Yeah, yeah, that's such a healthy thing. How about this from Eric Space Cadet Crotty in a beautiful Astoria, Oregon? The malfunction... oh boy. Please, let's be adults about this discussion. Excuse me, the malfunctioning crapper on the Artemis II. Eric, try to be more elegant than that in the future, okay? Has drawn a few chuggles. But it's worth recalling the Apollo 8 mission had it much worse. Colonel Frank Borman evidently was sick at launch. They just didn't know it and had an intestinal flu-ish problem about 12 hours into the mission. He vomited twice and also had problems at the other end. I remember that he had eaten two large Papa John's pizzas the night before the launch. I don't believe that's accurate. His crewmates James Lovell and William Anders did their best to clean up the drifting goblets. I'll leave it at that. Nope. These early astronauts were even bigger heroes in my eyes the more I learned about what they went through. Godspeed Artemis II. It's nothing apparent hasn't dealt with 25 times. I used to sing in an acapella group at Renaissance Fairs. We were called the drifting goblets. Were you wearing tights? I must know. The little shoes with the turned up front end. Charming. It was really something. A lot of life air made in music. We also got an email we have no time for right now but a meditation on fame and its effects that I found really insightful. Stay tuned. A lot more on the way. If you miss this segment get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on demand. Hageboy haircut. Armstrong and Getty.