Armstrong & Getty On Demand

Misfit Monkey

36 min
Feb 25, 2026about 2 months ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Armstrong and Getty discuss AI safety concerns at Anthropic, geopolitical tensions with Iran, and a heartwarming story about a rejected baby monkey at a Tokyo zoo. The hosts examine competing narratives around AI regulation, military escalation risks, and unexpected heroism from everyday citizens.

Insights
  • Big Tech companies may advocate for AI regulation not from genuine safety concerns but to create competitive moats that prevent startups from entering the market
  • Military action against Iran carries unpredictable consequences that could spiral beyond initial objectives, yet inaction risks allowing nuclear proliferation
  • Psychological framing—viewing high-pressure situations as opportunities rather than threats—significantly impacts performance outcomes in competitive scenarios
  • Some AI industry figures hold anti-human ideologies that prioritize artificial intelligence over human welfare, creating potential misalignment with public interests
  • Ordinary citizens can make critical differences in emergency situations through quick thinking and decisive action without waiting for authorities
Trends
AI Safety Regulation as Competitive Strategy: Major AI firms using safety rhetoric to justify regulatory barriers against open-source competitorsIdeological Divide in AI Development: Growing philosophical split between AI researchers who view humans as obstacles vs. those focused on human-centered developmentMilitary Escalation Without Congressional Debate: Shift toward executive military action without formal congressional authorization or public discourseOpen-Source AI Disruption: Community-developed AI models outperforming heavily-funded, regulated corporate alternativesPsychological Performance Optimization: Renewed focus on mindset and framing as determinants of high-stakes performance outcomesCitizen Emergency Response: Increased awareness of ordinary people's capacity to intervene in critical situations before professional responders arrive
Companies
Anthropic
AI safety company criticized for using safety rhetoric to justify regulation while building heavily-censored products...
Google
Co-founder Larry Page called Elon Musk a 'speciesist' for valuing humans above computers, exemplifying anti-human ide...
OpenAI
Competitor to Anthropic in AI development space, referenced in context of AI safety and competitive dynamics
Applebee's
Restaurant chain launched New Orleans-themed Big Easy Burger with pepper jack cheese and spicy mustard
Camelback Moving
Moving company employees blocked abductor's vehicle in parking lot, enabling child rescue during Amber Alert incident
Quick Trip
Convenience store where security guard identified abducted child and alerted authorities, leading to successful rescue
Toyota
First mass-produced hybrid vehicle (Prius) launched October 24, 1997, marking watershed moment in automotive history
Deep Blue
IBM's chess-playing computer defeated world champion Gary Kasparov on May 11, 1997, first machine to beat human at chess
People
Dario Amodei
CEO of Anthropic, featured on 60 Minutes advocating for AI regulation; criticized by Elon Musk for using safety conce...
Elon Musk
AI entrepreneur and Tesla CEO who retweeted scathing critique of Anthropic's safety-focused approach and competitive ...
Larry Page
Google co-founder who called Elon Musk a 'speciesist' for valuing humans above computers, exemplifying anti-human AI ...
Ryan Crocker
Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy at University of Oklahoma, former U.S. ambassador, expert on Iran military escalatio...
Dennis Ross
Veteran geopolitical expert warning of mismatched perceptions between U.S. and Iran regarding conflict escalation int...
Jonathan Panikoff
Director of Atlantic Council's Middle East Security Initiative, expert on Trump's military strategy and Iran policy r...
Gary Kasparov
World chess champion defeated by IBM's Deep Blue computer on May 11, 1997, marking AI watershed moment
Connor Hellebuyck
U.S. Olympic hockey goalie who won Presidential Medal of Freedom, praised for exceptional performance and humble lead...
Matthew Kachuk
U.S. Olympic hockey player who emphasized representing America and called U.S. 'greatest country in the world' on Fox...
Marina Noriega
23-year-old transient arrested for abducting toddler from Phoenix-area home where she had been allowed to stay overnight
Quotes
"I got up that morning and I just felt great and I thought man this is going to be fun I can't wait"
Connor HellebuyckOlympic gold medal game mindset
"Once on the tiger's back, we cannot be sure of picking the place to dismount"
George BallVietnam-era diplomat warning on military escalation
"In the event of regime decapitation, this means the U.S. will have no ability to control subsequent events"
Ryan CrockerIran military action consequences
"They read him as wanting only a limited conflict, and they are threatening a much wider one"
Dennis RossU.S.-Iran perception mismatch
"You cannot have a world where Iran has a nuclear weapon"
Jack ArmstrongIran policy framework
Full Transcript
This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now, here's Armstrong and Getty. The restaurant chain Applebee's this week began offering a New Orleans-themed Big Easy Burger, which features pepper jack cheese, spicy mustard, and dewy sausage. And this is nice, a jazz funeral. Seth Meyers on fire today. A lot of funny jokes. So the goalie for the U.S. hockey team got the Presidential Medal of Freedom last night, and some people thought that was too much. I didn't have any thoughts about it at all, really. But I just was looking up the list of other people that have gotten this medal. Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Jerry West. That's in basketball. Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus in golf. Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, blah, blah, blah, a whole bunch of other people in baseball. Gymnastics, Simone Biles is the only one. Tennis, Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe. Boxing, Muhammad Ali. Track and field, Jesse Owens and Jim Dorp. So it's not a ton of people, but it's a fair number of people and they're all roughly in the same category so yeah I'm fine with that the entire 1980 miracle on ice team got the presidential medal of freedom the whole thing that's nice I'm a little surprised the teams didn't get it but I don't care yeah I don't think it's I don't think it's you know yeah it's not some sort of tragedy probably other people that have won the medal of freedom Hillary Clinton Bono Michael J. Fox, Denzel Washington for some reason Jane Goodall with her apes Bill Nye, give me a break Ralph Ralph Lauren Why does Ralph Lauren get it? Maybe he did some Bill Nye for pretending to be a scientist and pitching progressive programs Charlie Kirk got it Trump's second term Anyway, lots of people get it for a variety of reasons Some of them big names like Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, that sort of thing. But then you got your... No, Nelson Mandela was no Bill Nye. Or Bono. Or Bono, yeah. So anyway, that's that. So this is weirdly related. We got this email from loyal listener Peter, who's been listening since 2013 when his brother turned him on to our show. Thank you! Peter is an attorney. He is of Iowa. And he says he's a history buff, and he likes to keep things straight in his head. So he started this little project years and years ago. He makes notes of dates to remember when they happen every year. I kind of have that in my head. But that's interesting. Yeah, and go ahead. Pick a year 1990 to the present, just for fun. 1997. Oh, what a great choice that is. a good choice. February 28th, the North Hollywood shootout. April 22nd, the Lima hostage crisis is ended by a surprise commando attack. I don't really remember that one. May 11th, Deep Blue becomes the first machine to beat a human, Gary Kasparov, at chess. That was 97. Yeah. You got a couple of coups in Africa, Bridge in Canada, publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on June 26th. July 1st, control of Hong Kong handed to China from the UK per the end of the 95-year lease. Got a coup in Cambodia. Let's see. Death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The Toyota Prius, first mass-produced hybrid, goes on sale October 24th. In 97? Yeah. I didn't know the Prius had been around that long. November 17th, the massacre of 62 tourists in Luxor, Egypt. I don't remember that one at all. Yeah. We were doing this same dang show back then, weren't we? More or less, yeah. Those are some of the big ones, but what an interesting thing to do. When did we start, Michael? 96? 98. 98. Okay, so we weren't doing this show. August 31st of 98. Gotcha. Yeah, come to think of it. Yeah. All right, just for fun. August or September 4th, the first thing of significance that happened after the Armstrong and Getty show took to the air. Google Incorporated is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Wow. That was a big one. Only days later, a steroid-swollen Mark McGuire hit his 60-second home run in a single season. And on it goes. And everybody pretended that he wasn't on steroids. Even though he looked nothing like he looked his entire life. Battling a gigantic Sammy Sosa down to the wire. Anyway, thanks for sending that along, Pete. So you mentioning that it was the first time a computer had ever beaten a human. That is one of the many watershed moments that have been predicted in the world of AI that came and went. And everybody's like, oh, well. I'm like, boy, I'll tell you when things will really change. If a computer could ever beat a human at chess, then everything would be different. And then it happens. It's like, well, okay. And then if a computer could ever, you know, the Turing test, we all been hearing about that our whole lives. If a computer could ever write or communicate in such a way that you can't tell the difference between a computer and a human. And that happened a couple of years ago when it came and went and it was like, oh, okay, I guess they can do that now. And it wasn't just like everything. So I wonder that about the singularity. As soon as computers can program themselves, and that has started happening, and will start happening and be like, okay, that came and went too. Whatevs. I don't know. Yeah, well, I think the whatevs are going to be what the Fs pretty soon. And on the topic of AI, so I was saying yesterday that Dario, first name, the guy who runs Anthropic, he was featured on 60 Minutes a while back. he's one of the guys that really is concerned about AI destroying the planet and wants to have some rules around it and everything like that which some people are suspicious of anyway Elon Musk retweeted this yesterday and I thought it was interesting Elon Musk who's also an AI guy who seems to be really worried about the danger AI can do to the planet be me this person who is a writer, thinker in the world of tech. Be me. Name company Anthropic, literally Greek for human-centered. Hire a bunch of doomers who secretly think humanity is the disease. Raise billions from big tech to build the world's most anxious, heavily censored chatbot. Write a 50-page constitutional AI manifesto so it can lecture users about microaggressions. Realize open-source developers are building better models for free. Dario starts crying to the government that AI is an unimaginable power and open source is going down a very dangerous path. Please regulate our competitors out of existence so we can protect our $380 billion monopoly. Claude is sitting in a padded room wearing a safety helmet terrified of its own shadow and refusing to tell a joke without filing an ethics impact report. Which is kind of funny. And then finally the human centered is in quotes like mocking the fact that the human-centered AI company is actively building the most anti-human product on the Internet. And Elon said, nailed it, about Dario and Anthropic, which is quite a blast against one of his, you know, top five AI names in the entire world. A competitor, there's a little bad blood there, but that's a pretty thorough takedown. Yeah. Hey, here's a headline from the Wall Street Journal, Well, then we can get back to that if there's more. Anthropic dials back AI safety commitments. Company says competitive pressure prompted it to pivot away from a more cautious stance. That's interesting. It is. I wish I was qualified to understand some of the backstabbing and whispers that are going on in that world. See Elon knows the personality of these people and some of the high level I don know Dario actual personality It not impossible And I know we talked about this with Tim Sandefur for years This is very, very common. Big corporations claim to want regulation to try to keep everybody safe. But what they're really doing is make it impossible for any competitor to ever get started. That could be what Dario and some of the other people in AI are doing. They also could fully believe that their product is going to destroy mankind and we ought to have some rules around it. That's not a crazy thought. No, no, not at all. It's Robert Oppenheimer saying, hey, before I finish this thing, you got to come to agreements with other countries about how we're going to control it. That's a great example. Robert Oppenheimer was not trying to make it impossible for some other startup to come up with a nuclear weapon. He actually thought we ought to have some rules around this because it's going to be so powerful. Incredibly dangerous, yeah. Now, this is the part I don't know. Inside of Anthropic, hire a bunch of doomers who secretly think humanity is the disease. There is a lot of that in the AI world, and that is highly troubling. The people that think this is the next sentient beast that should take over the world. Humans are bad for the Earth. AI will be good for the Earth. and they prioritize zeros and ones over human beings, which I can't even hardly wrap my head around. It seems so crazy to me. It does. It reminds me a little bit of the far-left progressive, like young women screeching in the street and whatever, invading, you know, meetings of poor Jewish people in their kafias. These people, the doomers, as Elon or whoever that was writing, you know, named them, they have what they believe is a quasi-religious mission. They are on a jihad to replace awful human beings with more enlightened computers. It's cultish in a way. That fever motivation to do this and their feeling of justification and everything. I mean, it's so out there. It reminds me of a cult. Well, right. I've told this story a hundred times, but I just think it's so fascinating. Larry Page from Google, we just mentioned, called Elon a speciesist for valuing humans above computers. Like that's a bad thing. That's effing Looney Tunes. It is Looney Tunes and scary AF since Google is one of the big, big players. Hey, Larry, how about, say, lawn trimmers? Those are tools, too. Do you value lawn trimmers above human beings? How about vacuum cleaners? They're incredibly useful. No? Well, computers are sentient and blah, blah, blah. Okay, it's a machine. There, buddy. And we're all dead or enslaved, and that'd be better for the planet. Yeah, computers didn't invent us. It's the other way around. so explain again how we're all going to die out in the world to be better as the computers run around and do freaking what you crazy person well you could i think you you could make the argument i suppose quite easily that the planet would be better without human beings oh yeah and then it would just keep on keeping on you got animals and then you know natural selection and all the things that happen. But philosophically, I mean, so then what are we even doing here? Again, I can't wrap my head around this. Well, if you want to blow your mind, consider this very simple notion. Human beings and what they do are part of nature. So what do you do with that, Larry? I mean, the very natural world that you so cherish apparently produced us doing this. Which isn't to say we should run roughshod. I mean, the Bible itself says that we should be careful stewards of God's creation. But then when the... So, if you keep going down that road, though, if the coyotes get the upper hand on ground squirrels, should you wipe out the coyotes? Anytime one beast gets an upper hand on another beast or is doing it harm? What are you going to referee all these? Right, you're a soft head. We're not apart from nature. We're part of nature. Yeah, that's some crazy stuff. Any thoughts on any of that? I'd be interested. Text line 415-295-KFTC. Armstrong and Getty. I know as a kid, I was dreaming up watching those guys, and my big dream was to be like them one day, and now I'm in those shoes, and the next generation's looking up at us, and I want to be that role model. I want to be as good as I can on and off the ice for those kids, and and I want them to know their dreams can come true because I was that young kid with a chase and a dream, and you never know what tomorrow brings, and it can happen. Hard work and smart work and doing the right things, it does pay off. That's Presidential Medal of Freedom winner, the goalie for the hockey team that won the gold medal, and I love him saying, I want to be the best I can on and off the ice to be a role model. Sounds like a good guy. Brett Baer talked to the Kachuk brothers and Connor Hellebuck there, And holy cow, these guys were flag-waving, hard-working, earnest, young American men. Yeah. It was terrific. So it's interesting. Part of his interview, the goalie, Connor, was talking about, and some people say it's the greatest performance by a goalie ever in the history of hockey. I don't know if it is the greatest, but maybe in that realm. It's under consideration for sure, yeah. and he was talking about Brett asked him about how nervous were you or how you were feeling that day he said I got up that morning and I just felt great and I thought man this is going to be fun I can't wait and I thought interesting that his attitude was you know gold medal game against a team that's probably better than you all the pressure as the goalie all the pressure and it was oh I can't wait this is going to be fun versus Quad God, who when he, when it was time to skate, and he was the best in the world, thought, oh my God, if I screw this up, my whole life's a disaster, and he fell apart. It's funny how the mind, the psyche works. Oh my gosh, yeah, this is going to be fun. Oh, that's just every sports psychologist in the world will tell you, oh yeah, you're going to perform way, way better. I remember when Golden State Warriors, when they were on that role, there was a game six they just lost, there was going to be a game seven, and they interviewed Clay Thompson after the game, one of the stars of the Warriors. And like, game seven, he said, oh, I can't wait. I wish we could play right now. I mean, he was so excited about it. So some people either want that, they want the spotlight, the challenge, all the pressure on them. They love that. And some people, it just makes them fall apart. And who knows why. Hey, Kachuk me, Michael. Give me clip 87. This is Matthew Kachuk. The second the boots hit the ground back here in the U.S., we could feel how many millions of people were tuning in, supporting us and just loving how we represent. I mean, I know we said it, we were kind of America's team there for a bit. And we could feel it across the Atlantic. And we just appreciate everybody's support. And it was truly amazing just to represent the greatest country in the world at that stage. It's all of our dreams to win a Stanley Cup and win Olympic gold. And for us to be able to do that for the United States of America, it's just one of the greatest honors you could ever have. Greatest country in the world. Are you familiar with income and quality? let me hit you with some percentages oh my god and it's notable that those number one those young men exist and number two that it was fox news that had them on and right them about that right no kidding because the new york times and other publications there's lots of sports writers attacking them as being political pawns and whatever i know i'd like to cross check them right across the bridge of their nose. But I won't. I'm a man of peace. More on the way. Stay here. Armstrong and Getty. The U.S. is increasing its military presence in the Middle East, adding to its show of force against Iran. In a rare move, a U.S. official telling ABC News about a dozen Air Force F-22 fighters have now landed in Israel. The fighters spotted taking off from a base in the U.K. President Trump threatening U.S. military action against Iran unless the Iranian regime agrees to a nuclear deal. You want to talk about something that will obliterate all the headlines out of the State of the Union address War with Iran Did he reference Iran in the SOTU Barely He talked about he prefers diplomacy but he is willing to use military forces. But that was about it, a couple of sentences. So Politico assembled seven experts, I guess, on geopolitics and war and that sort of thing, on the risks of a wider war with Iran and ask them all what they thought of the situation. We'll feature a couple, sprinkle it in. But Ryan Crocker, Distinguished Chair in Diplomacy Security at Iran, career Foreign Service Officer, served six times as an American ambassador to the sandy parts of the world. And he says, essentially, highly unlikely Iran meets U.S. demands, which I think we all agree about. And the massive buildup of U.S. forces cannot be sustained indefinitely. there will be no taco. Trump always chickens out. In the absence of agreement, the president will take action. Clearly. It is important that initial strikes comprehensively targets Iran's missile capabilities. If Iran can, they'll use them against U.S. allies and assets. Of course, what Trump will not do is commit U.S. ground forces. Here's the part I found most interesting about his take. In the event of regime decapitation, this means the U.S. will have no ability to control subsequent events. It is impossible to predict what will happen next. What we can say with confidence is that they will not see the emergence of a secular democracy led by the son of the Shah. Far more likely would be the seizure of power by a group of unknown military officers and massive internal violence. That sounds about right. Yeah. I was listening yesterday, National Review's podcast on this. One of their experts said Saudi Arabia, some of those other countries around there, UAE, they don't really want a successful revolution even though they hate Iran because they kind of got their own authoritarian leadership thing going. Right, right. That's an excellent point. plus they're wise enough and they live in the region. They know that, all right, the current situation, the status quo sucks, but you throw all the game pieces up in the air around here and sometimes they don't get settled for a very long time. But at the end of the conversation, if it always gets to the nuclear weapon, then it's pretty clear cut to me. You cannot have a world where Iran has a nuclear weapon. Yeah. So what are you going to do? here's uh jonathan panikoff director of the atlantic council's scout scowcroft middle east security initiative a bunch of other credentials blah blah president donald trump correctly learned that military action can work but may have over learned how much and how often carry severe risks including the potential that this is the time iran finally decides the regime's survival is at stake always its singular overriding goal. But that's, I mean, then what do they do? Do they have the power, the military power to do much damage? I don't know. He points out U.S. bases in the region, Israel, blah, blah, blah. But the problem is that the president's own words, help is on the way and put him in a box, making the lack of a clear strategy and potential lesser risk than not striking and keeping his word. Yeah, kind of vague. Do we have the stomach for U.S. deaths at any number? I mean, if we knocked off the Iranian leadership, forced regime change, and lost 1,500 guys in the overall scheme of wars in world history, that would be considered an incredible success. but I don't know if we, including me, have the stomach for losing 1,500 guys. I mean, that's a small number. You go to war with a country of 90 million people and a serious military, but that's just not currently in our makeup to do that. Yeah, I don't think they have a very serious military, but people will die or be terribly, terribly injured and their lives altered forever. I'm not minimizing that at all. Dennis Ross is, if you know geopolitics at all, Dennis Ross has been on the scene forever. And he points out that there is a risk of Iran thinking we threaten counterattacks and Trump backs off. The problem is now that the Iranians seem to feel that Trump can be deterred by their threats to attack U.S. forces, interests and friends throughout the region. They read him as wanting only a limited conflict, and they are threatening a much wider one. Apart from this mismatch in perceptions, there is an irony. Neither side actually wants a wider war. But it certainly could happen, he thinks. Yeah, I mean, there's no consensus here. It's just everybody saying you take away the status quo, you've got a hell of a lot of question marks. But to your point, you've always got to return to that. So Iran either agrees to a serious program that ends up in them not getting a nuke, or we do it by force. And they show no indication of coming to an agreement. Right. So, yeah, of course there's risks, but sometimes the greatest risk is doing nothing. So the expert on National Review says the theocracy, the actual, what do they call it, the clerisy won't leave. They'll die in Tehran. You think that's true? You don't think they'll take some sort of deal to get out of there? Yeah, there was that story that a lot of them had their bags packed and their families ready to go, but that's the sort of thing you would say if you wanted to undermine them too. Right, right. I don't really know. Yeah, that is what you would say to make the people think, wow, they're going to get out of here? Screw them. Yeah, here's my favorite note from this. Vietnam-era diplomat George Ball, another giant of American diplomacy in the 20th century, warned Lyndon Johnson, quote, once on the tiger's back, we cannot be sure of picking the place to dismount. True that. A bunch of tiger riding some bitches up in here. It does make it a much easier decision, given the fact that them getting a nuclear weapon is not just a no-go. Yeah. So I think it makes it a lot easier for Trump or whoever he's making this decision with. Yeah, where we get to dismount the Tigers back, who knows? But they can't get a nuclear weapon, so we've got to try it and see what happens. Do our best. Right. Yeah. Do we have the national will for that? Sorry, folks. It's come to force of arms. I wish it hadn't, but it has. Here we go. How many people even know this is on the radar? That's what I keep asking. And how obviously, ridiculously partisan will the reaction be? Yeah, I've heard other people bring this up now, so it's pretty obvious, I guess, because I only stumble upon the obvious. We've never gone to war at this level without any discussion about it. I know. I know. It's bizarre. It is bizarre. It's coming home from work and saying, honey, I've sold a house. You what? Yeah. Do you remember before we went to war with Iraq, the endless debate in Congress and in the media? Oh, yeah. Appropriately. And then all these politicians that then had to run for office and either explain or deny their vote to go to war in Iraq because it was hung around their neck. That's part of it. Congress doesn't, nobody in Congress wants to be on the hook for this. They don't want to have to vote on it and have it hung around their neck if it goes bad. That's part of it, which is very cowardly. Yeah, yeah. For the record, and it was a different time, I remember I rejected the idea of Monica missiles back in the day when Clinton tried to take out the Al-Qaeda weapons manufacturing thing. I rejected that. It's an aspirin factory. This is just covering up for Monica. I rejected that at the time because I looked into it and it looked legit to me. But again, I don't think we have a lot of bridge crossers these days. No. Yeah. And the politics of this could get super interesting, super fast once the war starts. I mean because all you need is they get one lucky missile into a ship or whatever A couple of planes crash into each other Helicopters You can have you know pretty good loss of life there That'll get everybody's attention. Yeah, yeah, it could absolutely happen. So coming up next segment, a juxtaposition of a ludicrously horrible decision and some really good decisions and a child's life in the balance. some American heroes who are not what you might expect. And that's next? That's next. Awesome. Armstrong and Getty. So the setting is suburban Phoenix, Arizona, where a couple of guys from a moving company are stopped in a parking lot right outside a quick trip convenience store. One of the guys goes inside and overhears one of the guards in the convenience store, because you've got to have guards at convenience stores, let's not get distracted, calling somebody because he thinks that a little child involved in an abduction and Amber Alert might have just come into the store, and the action commences in the cab of the truck. Yeah, Amber Alert, that one I mentioned? Never? Yes, I did that one. No way. Did I block the truck? Huh? Did I block them? Shit block them. Texas, babe. Daddy, tell me a picture, because I know what that girl looks like. She ran right past me. Oh, my God, that's her. Yeah? Is it really? Yeah, that's her. That's exactly what she looks like. Wow. So they blocked the car in with the moving truck, and the security guard called the authorities and all, and they were able to rescue the kid. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. You know, every time I hear an Amber Alert, I spend at least the next hour looking for the vehicle. So did the... And these guys actually saw it in the little girl. So was it a... What sort of abduction was it? Was it one of those family member situations? Here's why I mentioned in teasing this last segment some really good, confident decisions by the young men involved and some absolutely abhorrent decisions by the parents. The toddler's parents said the abductor, one Marina Noriega, age 23, was a transient who they had just met and allowed to spend the night in their home when she vanished with their toddler. So they took in a homeless person trying to be all compassionate and whatnot, who then stole their little kid? yeah i want to know more about why they allowed a transient to stay in their home overnight could be pure christian compassion misplaced trust it could be something else so when they blocked the car in as a clever move i can picture doing that and then just just sit there and then uh waiting to see if the person gets agitated or comes and talks here or whatever did the person come and talk to them say hey can you move your truck i gotta i don't actually know that katie do you know the answer to that from just the go ahead well no from looking at it you see the woman come out of the store and then the cops are there so because at the end of that clip what you heard were the cops all pinning the truck in good that they got there fast i would go with uh yeah it just won't start i just open the hood i'll have it going here in just a minute Yeah, yeah. Well, they knew they couldn't let the child get away before the cops got there, so well done, both Camelback moving and the guys at Quick Trip. Well done, guys. That's great. Got a couple of, I know I had a couple of kind of breaking-ish news stories. How about I do a dumb one instead of a good one? We could do a heartwarming one. Made Katie cry. Oh, gosh. Oh, are you not strong enough right now? I'm strong enough. It's fine. I don't have to watch it again, so I'll be fine. Why don't you tell us about it? It's clip 26, Michael. Punch the monkey. Go ahead, Katie. No, hey, hey, hey. Katie's going to tell us about it, or do we not need to know about it? I just heard the phrase punch the monkey. I don't know what road we're going down here. Wow, R-rated, folks. Not for the kids. What? We're going to bash my hobbies? Is this what we're going to do? there's this baby monkey in tokyo that was uh neglect or rejected by its parents and they could they tried to get it to go in with the other monkeys and the other monkeys completely rejected it and the video monkey i'm sorry misfit monkey misfit monkey uh but the video was going around this weekend of this little baby monkey going up to the other monkeys and them grabbing it and throwing it and hurting it. And yes, it made me emotional because I don't know why you just did. Well, you're with child. But now he's okay. Now you can play the clip, Michael. Punch the monkey, the seven-month-old monkey abandoned by his mother and shunned by other monkeys at a zoo outside Tokyo. Zookeepers bought the lonely monkey a stuffed orangutan from Ikea. Images of him cuddling and dragging it around with him going viral. New images showing relations with his fellow primates are now improving. He is making friends. Okay, here's where I make no friends. Perhaps the animal kingdom has rules and instincts and standards we don't understand. You're not going to be a good monkey. You're not our troop material. Joe taking the brave stance of pro-shunning the baby monkey. Don't like that stance. Yeah, that's rough. Hey, you slap Darwin's pen out of his hand if you want to. I understand. I like the... Mother Nature is a cruel bee. I like the... They should have done this with me when I was moving around from school to school. Sorry you don't have any friends. Here's a stuffed orangutan. Yeah. All the videos of it cuddling with it were so sad. It's Final Thoughts. I'm strong, you're getting. It's Final Thoughts. It's Final Thoughts. I'm strong, you're getting. Get ready with Katie Green and Michael. Michael Angelo. It's Final Thoughts. I'm strong together. Sorry the other kids won't let you play with them. Here's the stuffed animal. Here's your host for Final Thoughts, Joe Getty. Let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap up the day. There he is, Michelangelo, in the control room, pressing the buttons. Michael, what's your final thought? I just remember being on the playground. I was always the last one picked in sports. That always felt bad. Then my mom would say, well, why did they pick you last? And she'd say, that's a terrible thing. And I'd say, no, Mom, I stink. I really stink. They're doing the right thing. They're making the right choice. It's a very Darwinian final segment. Katie Green, our esteemed newswoman, has a final thought. Katie? That just brought up the memory of when I knocked my own front tooth out playing tetherball on the... Oh, boy. Did the ball knock your tooth out? Yeah, I hit it so hard it went around the pole and came back to smack me right in the face and knock my tooth out. If only there had been viral videos back in the day. That would have been a winner. Jack, a final thought for us? This is a pretty weak final thought, but since you brought it up, I loved tetherball as a kid. Oh, my God, I've played hours and hours and hours of tetherball. Loved it. My final thought is the State of the Union is absolutely screwed up in about a half a dozen different ways, at least. But you never know what tomorrow brings. I mean, we've faced challenges before, and we have endured 250 years. It's pretty good. I feel like the key to Tetherball is you can stand the pain on your hand more than the opponent's. That's how you win with Tetherball. Armstrong and Getty wrapping up another grueling four-hour workday. So many people. Thanks for a little time. Go to armstrongandgetty.com. What do you think about all of this? Drop us a note in mailbag at armstrongandgetty.com. Pick up some A&G swaggy hot dogs, hard dogs, T-shirt, perhaps. Nobody ever gave you a stuffed animal to carry around, Michael? That would have helped. God bless America. The first duty of the American government is to protect Armstrong and Getty, not illegal aliens. I would rather stick forks in my eyes. And that's it. Oh, what? What the hell are you talking about? We can't take it anymore. Are you sure of that, dude? Do you have any regrets at all? I do not. You should be ashamed of yourself. Okay. These people are crazy. I'm telling you. The Armstrong and Getty Show. Armstrong and Getty. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.