January 9, 2025 • 35 mins
Hour 4 of A&G features...
- The Jimmy Carter funeral & Trudeau is on his way out
- David Muir - The News Weasel
- Jack has no belt & the CA insurance crisis
- Final Thoughts!
Stupid Should Hurt: https://www.armstrongandgetty.com/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe, Ketty arm Strong and
Katty and He Armstrong and Jetty.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've been doing live running commentary on the Carter funeral
throughout the show today, with to me, the standout thing
being the way Trump and Barack Obama were yucking up
in the pool in the pew, waiting for the thing
to start, laughing, talking, looking really interested in what each
(00:40):
other had to say.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I would freaking be fascinated to know what they were
talking about. Oh yeah, yeah, Well, what do you honestly guess?
Something mundane? You think it's mundane? Okay? Well, or or
mundane for a president, stuff about the motor caid or
(01:02):
or I don't know, I don't know. You don't think
of any significance though, No, unless they were discussing boys
Biden and idiot when's he supposed to get here? I
don't know, because they both really dislike him.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It could be like I could see any two presidents
complaining about press, the media or something I know, and
it's something the.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Way they blah blah blah or something like that. I
don't know. You think mundane. They talked for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
One thing we do in this country now, And I'm
a big Garth Brooks fan, so I don't mind is
he is our national treasure musical act for inaugurations, funerals
and that sort of thing when they when they happen
at the level of the entire country. And he and
his wife Christian.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
James Taylor retire from that gigger on.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Garth and Trisha Yearwood singing a little bit of a
stupid song. Although I loved it as I still like
it musically, the words are dumb.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
From John Lennon, here's a little bit of it. You
miss it. I'm a team I'm not. And so I
was watching this John as it was happening live.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Joe Biden his eyes closed and was nodding along to
the lyrics, honest to God. Over his shoulder. You could
see w looking at By. W was looking at Biden,
was kind.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Of a squint on his face, like what are you doing, dude,
or are you falling asleep?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Or or he was thinking this song is dumb. The
whole imagine there's no country. Thing is great if you're
a sophomore girl, but kind of dumb for world leaders
of the most powerful country in the world.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Thank God.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
How about the imagine no religion too in the biggest
church in Washington, d C. After fifty different pledges to Jesus,
Right is that?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah? I know, I don't get it. It's so dopey.
And again I'm a Beatles fan shown Lennon Fenn. It's
a beautiful melody. Its fantastic. It's just and the world
needs soft headed, dreamy poets. We just don't want them
in charge of foreign policy, particularly the religion thing.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I hadn't thought of that until I saw so many
on one of your big Twitter people point that out.
There was just a long speech imploring Jesus to do something, and.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Then they sang the song. Right, it's weird.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I guess we all ignore the lyrics and kind of
just go with a well, it's you know, wishing for
a better, safer, more peaceful time, which I'm in favor of.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's sweet.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's just the remedy in the song is stupid. Also,
on the subject of all the prayers, and I heard
some of them when I went and got coffee.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I mean, there, it's in a big church.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Jimmy Carter was very religious he might be our most
religious president ever.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I don't know if you read any of his books,
I'm not sure how you measure that exactly. But he
was a very religious man.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yes, outwardly believe in christian I don't know who would
top him. Maybe Joe Biden, but so lots of prayers,
specifically talking about Jesus our Savior.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
How many of those presidents are into that? Do you think?
Do you guess? Sincerely? Yeah, Biden is, Carter was w
definitely is yeah, huh. Clinton just good for getting elected
in the South or real. I don't know. He's very old.
Often people start to consider their relationship with God more
(04:42):
acutely at his age. I don't know. Remember he went
to the.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Prayer breakfast during the Monica Lewinsky thing asking for forgiveness
that real or completely politically contrived.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Obama worships himself. So Obama claims to be a Christian,
yes or no? On his authenticity? This is inappropriate? Yep,
this is completely absolutely okay? Uh No, I don't. I
(05:16):
don't think he's a sincere believer in the divinity of
Jesus of Nazareth. He might be at this point in
his life, I doubt it, but I don't think there's
a chance he was when he was younger, young socialist,
super lefty, progressive running around No way, no, no, I don't.
(05:36):
Why are we even discussing this, just thinking.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I think it's interesting that we do the charade in
other countries, and I don't. I don't want to become
more secular or less religious myself, but it's okay in
a lot of countries to be No, I don't. I
don't believe in God at all. I don't think it's ridiculous.
I think it's a bunch of made up mids fairy tales,
as our friend Tim Sanderfer would say. And you can
(06:00):
still be, you know, run for office, but you can't
in the United States. You gotta at least pretend.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, if you can pause, just for a second, checking
with the control room, m hm, still one, okay, checking
on the number of deceased presidents in the cathedral. Let's
face it, Biden's a little touch and go right now,
come on.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Wow, okay, and they're they're leaving now. Joe Biden is
the oldest of the five current former presidents. He looks
the oldest, he sounds the oldest. Tea is the far
and he's walking out with Hunter right behind him. Hunter
looks like a former crack addict, because his mouth is
all mushed up and his jaws crooking, like a guy
who did too much math.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah, he's got the meth mouth for sure. Speaking of
unpopular world leaders, I know a handful of Canadians who
despise Justin Trudeau, who's on his way out the door.
And I'd been aware that he was a progressive and
spouted a lot of the same nonsense our progressives do.
I hadn't remembered or had never heard. Oh he's he's
(07:01):
got eighty one. Eighty one percent of Canadians approved of
his resignation. Eighty one percent. Wow, I don't know which
should Was it that high for Nixon? Gosh? I don't know,
you know, it's probably close, But yeah, that's Nixonian unpopular unpopularity.
(07:21):
He told The New York Times after being elected in
twenty fifteen, there is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,
claiming that Canada was the first post national state, meaning
and he doubled down on this, It's all about identity.
You can't claim to be Canadian as a particular culture
(07:43):
or set of beliefs. How dare we say we have
a culture, so you're either a you're you're a.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Black woman or a gay something or whatever, those are
your identities, but not Canadian.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right exactly. And and and he was in embarrassed or
condemning of even saying we have a culture and it's
cool and we're gonna defend it.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
That is the that's interesting you bring that up or
that he said that. That's the core Western civilization debate
that's going on right now. It's never spelled out that. Uh, clearly,
I don't think. But that's the whole thing. Do you
buy that or not?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And as the crowd that buys that gonna win or not?
H the idea that the United States of America has
a culture or Western civilization in general, that's the best
for all of its flaws, of course, but great and
worth defending. Is a hill I will die on, then
(08:45):
rise from the dead and haunt you, and then die
on again as often as possible. And the fact that
our schools and colleges are teaching against it. If I
could figure out how to be more militant and effectively
militant against that, will do it immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I had completely forgotten the Trudeau blackface thing.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Remember what that emerged? He had apologize far because he
dressed in black he was a Michael Jackson fan. What
was his story? He had some excuse like he was
a big Jackson fan. I think I don't remember was
one of those. You know what strikes me though, is
that our favorite Justin Trudeau clip is an absolutely perfect
(09:28):
description and indictment of his whole modus operanda. You have that, Michael,
I have to grab it. Okay, Yeah, no worries. It
is everything Trudeau is. Is this floundering pretty boy effort
to be some sort of post national, post modern identity politics. Jesus,
(09:51):
it's disgusting.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
LGDP lgt LBG LGBTQ two plush.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
He was not able to capably ride the monster of
the alphabet super ridiculousness he and IS people had created.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Okay, I dug it up. I looked at the picture
of him in black face. The story broke with the
publication by Time magazine of a photo from two thousand
and one a year book at a Vancouver private high school.
He went to some fancy pants because his dad was
Prime Minister. Right, The school staged an Arabian Nights themed gala,
and he dressed as a Laddin and black face and
(10:29):
a turban. I don't know what made him decide he
needed to be blackface to be Aladdin. I would feel
like I could go to a as a Laddin with
a turbanon, not be blackfaceman. I also don't think it's
a crime against humanity to put on black makeup.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I hate Justin Trudeau and everything he stands for, but
anything you do in high school, short of murder plays
here in high school. Stop it. Checking with the booth again.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Total number of deceased presidents in the cathedral still one.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Okay, holding it one, We're holding it one. We've gotten
more on the way State.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Sarah was on with her eight year old Lease last night.
She came out, I'm sorry, just you know, one day
you're swimming at the pool and the next day it's
all gone. But she came out with her little Eddie
piggybank for us to rebuild our house.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
That's the actor James Wood talking about his house burning down.
As a lot of people's homes burnt down. It's kind
of interesting watching on social.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Media and just hearing on various shows. The conversation about that.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
You know, there's a lot of dislike for California on
the right side of politics, and certainly a lot of
dislike for celebrities. And then you confine California celebrities with
some wealth, and you got a whole bunch of the
kind of people you don't like. I feel like, if
you take any joy in their home burning down, that
(11:59):
makes you a not very good person.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, and I ran into somebody like that. I will
forgive it because I have much to be forgiven for.
But yeah, not only are a lot of the people
who've suffered terribly and are suffering m regular working class people.
I mean hundreds of homes of people who are just
(12:22):
getting by along with the wealthy people. What people forget
about California is that there are vast swathes of solid
Conservatism in California, including in the Blue counties. We're just outnumbered,
is the problem. So yeah, the idea of the good
I'm glad their house is burnt down. Good lord.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Although it is true that if you have money, it's
still a tragedy. You lost all your family, pictures and
everything in the home you loved, and the memories of
that's where your kid learn to walk and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
But it's a lot easier to recover with money than
without money.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Hell yeah, you lost your house in the idea of
going to a hotel is just how the hell am
I gonna do that? My credit card is already maxed out.
I mean, that's just a different world of stress, sure,
no doubt. Anyway, here's a little of a man on
the street with some people. They are talking to God.
I'm looking up at Fox right now. We am a
loogenous who we've had on this show many many times.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It's just it looks like gossip behind him is what
it looks like in a really nice neighborhood. Anyway, here's
a little more. I'm surprised all of us got out
of there, to tell the truth. We did take all
of our family pictures and a few valuable paintings out
last night, so you know, all the stuff that's heres replaceable.
People are not so very lucky, so happy. The family
(13:43):
is the most important thing.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
If the word to describe what we're seeing here tonight
is just apocalyptics. Right behind us in these mountains, that
is where the Palisades fire is burning.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
That is Pacific Palisades. We're talking about eleven thousand plus
acres that have burned right now.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Eleven thousand just from that ache or that fire, or
was that all of them combined. Man, that's a lot,
that's a big area. Yeah, you know, I can't be
the only person who thought this. Watching some of the
news last night, some of it's getting kind of exploitive.
You know, how excited the news guys are to find
the best flaming home and to quick do the live shot. Well,
the flames are good and high, and I don't know,
(14:28):
it is so dramatic and amazing to see.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I just I know the news business, and I know newspeople,
and I can tell by the way they set up
shots what they're trying to do. And I just well,
we didn't we didn't get on that point. We didn't
get to this. We are in what's called Palisades Village
right here. This is the town center. Sort I need
to hear anymore of that. That's David Muir of ABC News.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
He's standing there and he's got his yellow true raincoat
weather whatever you wear. When you're a newsman and you're
on the ground in a tragedy. For some reason, you
have to act like you're one of the firefighters. And
then he turns and you see that he's got these
clothespins on his jacket to sync it up so that
his buff, buff body still shows through his raincoat.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
It's very important that he so it's couldn't form fitting
in men.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, you wouldn't want to just kind of draped hanging
on you and you look like every other shlub.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
You still need to look buff, so kind of to
your point, I guess what a weasel. I'll never forgive
him for the debate that he quote unquote moderated David
muir Ough a talking weasel.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
It's a weird thing of human nature. I am. This
has more effect on me than a lot of these
have had.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
One.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
We know someone who probably lost their house in that
Palisades fire, And I know the streets they're talking about
in Pasadena and Altadena. I've walked them and been to
those businesses have burned down, and just I don't know
why that would make it more impactful to me. And
I should be able to, you know, prescribe my emotions
onto towns I haven't been to when they catch on fire.
(15:59):
But I don't know if that's human nature or not.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I can Yes, it is. It absolutely is. I can
explain it to you with the help of C. S.
Lewis coming up in a moment. Okay, thank you for that.
Leave it or not? Yes, he will be our guest.
Really well, I should have been, We should have led
with that. Luckily he wrote many of his thoughts down
for us and will be sharing those. Among other things.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
There are now one hundred and eighty thousand people in
the LA area under evacuation orders. The hotels have to
be full. I wonder how far you have to drive
out of LA before you can find a hotel that's
got a room.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
To the border and probably the Sacramento I don't know.
I don't know. The nationwide homeowner's insurance crisis is going
to be one of the big stories of twenty twenty five, guaranteed.
I mean the well, the fires hit the houses, the
poop has hit the fan nationwide, it's gonna be one
of the great stories. Where it goes, I don't know,
but there's gonna be a huge change in the homeowner's
(16:56):
insurance industry.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
We're gonna hear more about that prop that got that
the law they passed in California, so insurance companies couldn't
stick it to you and gouge you when they were
raising their rates because inflation has caused it more to
be more expensive to fix the house, so they dumped
people they had no choice.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Mark Zuckerberg just said, anybody who quits Facebook over lack
of fact checking.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Is virtue signaling. It's interesting. Yeah, I kind of appreciate
them taking that attitude. I would you know, counter mark
that you know, you and everybody on your side of
the aisle, or at least the way the side of
the aisle you seem to be on, has been indoctrinating
(17:42):
people for years now, including on Facebook, to think that
A fact checking whatever the hell that means, is necessary,
and B that the fact checkers are actually checking facts
so you can't sell a live for years then kick
people would they believe it?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I also think maybe it might be some of the
crowd that and I know plenty of people like this
on the right. They don't want to ever hear a
story that disagrees with their viewpoint. It just they find
it too annoying or hurtful or I don't.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Know what, but yeah, yeah, I think part of it's
just if you're living in a political world where everybody's
always attacking, it's very difficult to be charitable and listen generously.
As they say, it's a fistfight.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
My son wears the same size closes me. So he's
constantly borrowing my clothes, or I'm lending in my clothes
and I've got to stop because he never gives them back.
And I'm beltless today. My pants are falling down.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Dad.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I need a dress, black dress belt. I don't have
a black dress belt for the Christmas thing. And all right,
here's one. Of course it's gone. Who knows where it is.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
It's probably some friend to his house on the floor,
under the bed with some old socks, never to be
seen against. Yeah, so the insurance crisis. In a minute
or two, I thought i'd hit this sent along by
alert listener and in Santa Cruz, I think this is
absolutely terrific and it's funny that it would come along today.
(19:10):
In answer to Jack's philosophical question last segment about well,
you've spent a great deal of time in Pasadena, Altadena,
and so it burning down is somehow much more impactful
than hearing about say, Greenwich, Connecticut, Burton.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
That bothers me much more than the Hawaii story. Even
though I fully understood how awful it is and people
were dying and there they lost all their stuff, I
hadn't actually stood there and been in that business.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, by that house. The question is almost the answer.
It's undeniable that we're all that way. If we know
a neighborhood, we've seen the buildings, we've been in the buildings,
it's much more impactful and funny coincidence. And since this
along from C. S. Lewis, and this is caption C. S.
Lewis on the Internet before the Internet existed, it is
one of the e of rapid diffusion of news that
(20:02):
the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning.
I think each village was meant to feel pity for
its own sick and poor, whom it can help. And
I doubt if it is the duty of any private
person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot
help good one. This may even become an escape from
the works of charity we really can do to those
(20:24):
we know. A great many people do now seem to
think that the mere state of being worried is in
itself meritorious. I don't think it is. Oh yeah, I mean,
we could stop every sentence he probably should hashtag activism
is what he's talking about there, Yeah, exactly, he says,
(20:45):
we must, if it so happens, give our lives for others.
But even while we're doing it, I think we're meant
to enjoy our Lord and in him, our friends, our food,
our sleep, your jokes, the bird's song in the frosty Sunrise.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Boy, that is some really interesting stuff. As usual, there
are very few things written by C. S. Lewis that
aren't freaking fantastic and thought provoking. But yeah, okay, and
plus it gets me off the hook. But you're not
built to worry about that village so far away you
have nothing to do with and can't help, right.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
And this gets back to my unified theory of modern
men and why we're all so screwed up. We just
we have way too much input all the time, and
most of our experience is not direct personal experience. It's
electronic once removed floodwaters flowing at us all the time,
and this is undeniable. It's reflected in you know, church attendance,
(21:38):
which is tangentially related depends on what you believe, whether
it's tangential or not anyway giving to charity as taxes
rise and government services rise. But a great many people
now seem to think that the mere state of being
worried or acting worried or posting worried on Twitter is
itself meritorious. Yes, an escape from doing actual works of
(22:02):
charity for people we can help.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Sure, that's the hashtag activism thing that I think with
a lot of us caught on to at the beginning.
It's either on purpose or by accident. It's a release
valve of your caring and now you feel enough like
you've done something.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
That you're not actually going to do anything. Yeah. I
think a release valve is the perfect metaphor because it
releases the steam, if you will, that would have driven
the engine of you actually helping somebody. You posted this,
you tweeted about this.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Or more importantly, probably for our current political time, is
get involved on a level where you would go around
and get a petition started or names gathered to have
some legislation passed to whatever. Yeah, yeah, hashtag how much
you care about.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
It and that's good enough? Yeah, Yeah, it's funny. I
am conscious of the fact that we raise awareness and
make arguments for a living, although we do, you know,
raise significant funds for some absolute fabulous charities with your help,
and we thank you for that. But I realized the
irony of this little screen. But I'll tell you up
(23:11):
they're not been true or spoken. Then if you want
to change the world, start in your town. Yeah, Greta,
you've stone in my dreams. I'll give it a rest.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, maybe I need to. I'm pointing at someone else
and I got four fingers pointing back at me.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Not unless your fist is really malformed. Really, that's that'd
be very odd, even if you wanted to.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
It's easy to complain about the schools, just like in general.
Are you going to school board meetings?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Are you paying attention to who's up for election for
your school board every? Is it year or two years?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I don't even know these things or not? Or do
you just complain to people about it? Right? Right? Yeah?
Are you doing the work? And I'm asking me, not
you my friends asking Miselle.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Joe's got his malformed hand pointing four fingers back at him.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Oh no, I don't so. As I mentioned earlier, we
are heading toward a nationwide homeowner's insurance crisis. It's not
just the wildfires, but the wildfires are a big part
of it, certainly in California, and insurance markets tend to
be state to state, which is a legislative question that
we won't be getting into. But between the hurricanes and
(24:25):
storms in the East, and the thunderstorms in the central
and southeast and everything else that happens across the country,
and the incredibly high cost of building now and rebuilding
that's inflation bidnomics really has as much to do with
anything as any natural disaster or climate change or anything else.
But we are really looking at a national reckoning. But
(24:46):
it's going to start in California, the state that accounted
for eight of the ten costliest US wildfires through last
year adjusted for inflation in history, and this one could
be it'll certainly be in one of the top five,
the one in LA right now. According to two people
(25:07):
who know this sort of thing, and if you're familiar
with this, California passed a law number of years ago.
I can't remember what year. It's in front of me
somewhere that essentially made it impossible for insurance companies to
raise their rates based on current and projected costs. They
had to go with historical costs and ignore the fact
(25:27):
that's saying, excuse me, Governor k Newsom Joe Getty of
All State. Here it costs seventy five percent more to
rebuild a house than it did four years ago. I
don't care. Here it comes low rates for consumers, artificial
government control of the free market.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And so how can I do that? In private life?
I need a new roof. I don't want to pay
the current price for what a roof costs.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I want to play the historic cost of getting a
new roof from like ten years ago. Boy, what a
great point, great illustration. But even before the wildfires were sparked,
millions of homeowners in the Golden State, millions, especially those
in the most fire prone areas including La, faced double
digit insurance rate increases, non renewals, or just nobody would
(26:14):
write them coverage. In fact, leading insurers, including State Farm
in All State, have stopped selling new home insurance home
insurance policies in the state, and indeed, at least one
of those companies dropped people in the very area that
got burnt or as burning as we speak. In the
last few weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Now, we got this text, and I don't quite understand this.
Maybe you can answer it.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
We got this text.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I'm in the spray foam roofing business flat residential in
the Bay Area. Insurance companies have been using Google Earth
and AI to look at standing water marks on these
roofs and canceling policies based on this alone if the
owners don't fix or replace their roofs with no inspections
from the insurance company at all for the last two years,
(26:59):
and I had the similar sort of thing happen also
with getting our homeowners insurance drop. Why don't they even
need an excuse or why do they pretend they need
an excuse?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Do they need an excuse? I think it was just
And look, I'm not like here to say and therefore
insurance companies are paragons of goodness and we should love them. No,
because they have their own practices that I'm critical of. Yeah,
what they're trying to do is they're trying to limit
risk as fast as they can because of the artificially
(27:29):
low rates, the price fixing by the government, and so
they've essentially said to their people, all right, use AI,
use satellite photos. Anybody who seems to have any sort
of roof problem, they're more likely to make a claim
get rid of them. We've just got a cutter cost
I and so it's fast and dirty and sloppy.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Absolutely, I'm on both sides of this argument, probably with
not enough information to be right on either side of
the argument.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
But it does my whole life. My life experience is.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
It never has been a good idea for me to
make an insurance claim, either home insurance or car insurance.
It always ends up being a net negative, like they
charge enough more to get back however much I got,
or more going forward. So it's just never been into
my benefit or just dump you, yeah, or or dump
you if they have to dump you. And I had
(28:17):
the one story which I've told on the air before,
where we had mold on our house, which in California
is a really really big deal.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
We had mold in our house.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
They work with a guy who comes there and deals
with your mold. And he said, no, no, I'd make two claims,
is what I recommend. You'd want to make a claim
for the kitchen and the launder room, two claims. I
make the two claims. Then the insurance company drops me
because I made too many claims and he was working
with the insurance company.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Like what right, Yeah, yeah, Well that's the whole question
of regulation. There is reasonable regulation that probably is necessary
to make sure the insurance market is not predatory or
fraudulent or whatever. I'm fine with that. But when you
get into price fixing, as Gavin News and folks like
(29:01):
that are wont to do artificial minimum wages anybody rent control,
et cetera, then you distort markets and it screws the consumer.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
So it's the only time, like insurance really works for
auto or your home is like if you got a total,
that's the only time, like your car's gone, that's when
it it's worth it. All the others all are things
it's never to my benefit to make a claim.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
It reminds me of a lot of stuff We've discussed
with Craig the healthcare Guru, that health insurance up until
very recently, was for although the history of health insurance
isn't that long. Total anyway, is for if something crazy happens,
If something serious and devastating happens, you don't have health insurance.
(29:48):
If you sprain your ankle and you have to go
to the doctor and have them say hey, it's not broken,
here's an expandage or whatever. That's not what it was
designed to be. Now we have HMOs or insurance that
we expect to cover anything with with load deductibles, but
you know, high costs and they pay for everything, and
those markets get distorted and the middlemen make all the money.
(30:09):
It's the same thing homeowner's insurance, at least theoretically, and
you know your your results may vary. Ought not to be.
A bird flies through my window and I call my
insurance company. No, that's out of pocket. It's just for
a f your house burns down.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
You lawyers need to use a gentle touch when you're
milking the cow. I'll tell you that we will finish
strong next.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Strong. You miss it. I'm a teamer. I'm not shout's
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood singing imagine at Jimmy Carter's
funeral today and it's got a fair amount of attention,
(30:53):
although in social media terms out knowing if for any
real people are first of all, Garth, you're you reach
you pass that point of dyeing your hair.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
There is a point you can do it for a
while where your face matches the hair color and you
just look younger.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
It works. You are at the wait a second, what's
going on here? Stage? And somebody should tell you.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So I'm telling you now, Garth as a biggest fan,
I couldn't be a bigger Garth Brooks fan. I would
be just as big a Garth Brooks fan if you're
a gray headed Garth Brooks as if you're a dark,
practically black haired, bearded Garth Brooks.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right, so.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
They sang imagine, I assume you all know that song
that John Lennon tude and everything like that, which I
loved when I was young, just thought it was amazing
because I was young and stupid.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
The lyrics are stupid anyway, this.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Text imagine no religion at the funeral of a man
who his belief in Christ was the most important thing
in his life.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
It's a hideous song, but it's singularly inappropriate here, I
would agree.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Did he choose it? Did his family choosing? Have they
not listened to the words. Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
That was his life. He wrote endless books about it.
I don't know if you know that much about it.
He got up every day. He prayed hours a day
to try to check his books. Did end back to you?
He did the endless writing of books. Okay, maybe.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
He prayed hours every day to try to spread the
good news around the world. And you just sang a
song saying it'd be better off if that didn't exist.
That's a bad idea.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That's weird, isn't it. Yeah, Jimmy had really good taste
in music in general. Buddy's with the Allman Brothers band, and.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I mean, like if you got up at my funeral
in saying and kids are an entire waste of time,
don't have kids.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It's a stupid thing to do. What This doesn't make sense.
It's an odd choice of thoughts. Who wants final thoughts?
Go have some final thoughts. Hooray man, that's an old
timy one. There. Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty. Hey,
let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew
(33:13):
to wrap up today. There he is our technical director,
pressing the buttons. Michelangelo Michael final thought. You know, I
watched CNN. I saw Steve Guttenberg out there helping the police,
the fire department, which is pretty cool. So he was
in those police Academy movies, so he did police work.
Now he's doing fireworks. Pretty cool, sol Katie Green or
steamed Newswoman As a final thought, Katie, I was labeling
(33:34):
the podcast earlier, and I wrote Joe Biden's eulogy and
realized I needed to change it because I could be misleading. Right,
so some people are calling it a dress rehearsal for
Joe Biden. Oh boy, Jack, I hope that's not your
final thoughts you have one.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
My final thought is a little bit of regret, as
I feel like we've broken new broadcasting ground in a
genre called harshly criticizing other people's funerals. No, not the
sort of venue normally here anyway.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
I guess my final thought is policy matters, Leadership matters.
I feel like big, nasty, ugly birds are coming home
to roost all over the world, Canada, the United States, Europe.
A lot of these utopian policies that fit in very
well with John Lennon's ditties are yielding horrible results.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah, we're going to get to the actual policy discussions
on homeowners insurance, immigration, you know, medical care, all kinds
of different things.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Good. I'm strong and getting wrapping about other grueling four
hour workday.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
We will see you tomorrow with more news of the day.
God bless America. I'm strong and getta.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
This is a message for the people of America. Is
anyone else humping them outdown? I think it's nuts. I
got nothing for you on that.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Oh really, But we're gonna f around and find out
character character character.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
That was quite something. When it comes on for you
to go, you have to go. Here are you more?
Speaker 3 (35:17):
I know?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Armstrong and Getty
Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln Radio Studio, the George
Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong, Joe, Ketty arm Strong and
Katty and He Armstrong and Jetty.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
We've been doing live running commentary on the Carter funeral
throughout the show today, with to me, the standout thing
being the way Trump and Barack Obama were yucking up
in the pool in the pew, waiting for the thing
to start, laughing, talking, looking really interested in what each
(00:40):
other had to say.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
I would freaking be fascinated to know what they were
talking about. Oh yeah, yeah, Well, what do you honestly guess?
Something mundane? You think it's mundane? Okay? Well, or or
mundane for a president, stuff about the motor caid or
(01:02):
or I don't know, I don't know. You don't think
of any significance though, No, unless they were discussing boys
Biden and idiot when's he supposed to get here? I
don't know, because they both really dislike him.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
It could be like I could see any two presidents
complaining about press, the media or something I know, and
it's something the.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Way they blah blah blah or something like that. I
don't know. You think mundane. They talked for a long time.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
One thing we do in this country now, And I'm
a big Garth Brooks fan, so I don't mind is
he is our national treasure musical act for inaugurations, funerals
and that sort of thing when they when they happen
at the level of the entire country. And he and
his wife Christian.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
James Taylor retire from that gigger on.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Garth and Trisha Yearwood singing a little bit of a
stupid song. Although I loved it as I still like
it musically, the words are dumb.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
From John Lennon, here's a little bit of it. You
miss it. I'm a team I'm not. And so I
was watching this John as it was happening live.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Joe Biden his eyes closed and was nodding along to
the lyrics, honest to God. Over his shoulder. You could
see w looking at By. W was looking at Biden,
was kind.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Of a squint on his face, like what are you doing, dude,
or are you falling asleep?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Or or he was thinking this song is dumb. The
whole imagine there's no country. Thing is great if you're
a sophomore girl, but kind of dumb for world leaders
of the most powerful country in the world.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Thank God.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
How about the imagine no religion too in the biggest
church in Washington, d C. After fifty different pledges to Jesus,
Right is that?
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Yeah? I know, I don't get it. It's so dopey.
And again I'm a Beatles fan shown Lennon Fenn. It's
a beautiful melody. Its fantastic. It's just and the world
needs soft headed, dreamy poets. We just don't want them
in charge of foreign policy, particularly the religion thing.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I hadn't thought of that until I saw so many
on one of your big Twitter people point that out.
There was just a long speech imploring Jesus to do something, and.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Then they sang the song. Right, it's weird.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I guess we all ignore the lyrics and kind of
just go with a well, it's you know, wishing for
a better, safer, more peaceful time, which I'm in favor of.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
That's sweet.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
It's just the remedy in the song is stupid. Also,
on the subject of all the prayers, and I heard
some of them when I went and got coffee.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
I mean, there, it's in a big church.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Jimmy Carter was very religious he might be our most
religious president ever.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I don't know if you read any of his books,
I'm not sure how you measure that exactly. But he
was a very religious man.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yes, outwardly believe in christian I don't know who would
top him. Maybe Joe Biden, but so lots of prayers,
specifically talking about Jesus our Savior.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
How many of those presidents are into that? Do you think?
Do you guess? Sincerely? Yeah, Biden is, Carter was w
definitely is yeah, huh. Clinton just good for getting elected
in the South or real. I don't know. He's very old.
Often people start to consider their relationship with God more
(04:42):
acutely at his age. I don't know. Remember he went
to the.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Prayer breakfast during the Monica Lewinsky thing asking for forgiveness
that real or completely politically contrived.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Obama worships himself. So Obama claims to be a Christian,
yes or no? On his authenticity? This is inappropriate? Yep,
this is completely absolutely okay? Uh No, I don't. I
(05:16):
don't think he's a sincere believer in the divinity of
Jesus of Nazareth. He might be at this point in
his life, I doubt it, but I don't think there's
a chance he was when he was younger, young socialist,
super lefty, progressive running around No way, no, no, I don't.
(05:36):
Why are we even discussing this, just thinking.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I think it's interesting that we do the charade in
other countries, and I don't. I don't want to become
more secular or less religious myself, but it's okay in
a lot of countries to be No, I don't. I
don't believe in God at all. I don't think it's ridiculous.
I think it's a bunch of made up mids fairy tales,
as our friend Tim Sanderfer would say. And you can
(06:00):
still be, you know, run for office, but you can't
in the United States. You gotta at least pretend.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, if you can pause, just for a second, checking
with the control room, m hm, still one, okay, checking
on the number of deceased presidents in the cathedral. Let's
face it, Biden's a little touch and go right now,
come on.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Wow, okay, and they're they're leaving now. Joe Biden is
the oldest of the five current former presidents. He looks
the oldest, he sounds the oldest. Tea is the far
and he's walking out with Hunter right behind him. Hunter
looks like a former crack addict, because his mouth is
all mushed up and his jaws crooking, like a guy
who did too much math.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yeah, he's got the meth mouth for sure. Speaking of
unpopular world leaders, I know a handful of Canadians who
despise Justin Trudeau, who's on his way out the door.
And I'd been aware that he was a progressive and
spouted a lot of the same nonsense our progressives do.
I hadn't remembered or had never heard. Oh he's he's
(07:01):
got eighty one. Eighty one percent of Canadians approved of
his resignation. Eighty one percent. Wow, I don't know which
should Was it that high for Nixon? Gosh? I don't know,
you know, it's probably close, But yeah, that's Nixonian unpopular unpopularity.
(07:21):
He told The New York Times after being elected in
twenty fifteen, there is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,
claiming that Canada was the first post national state, meaning
and he doubled down on this, It's all about identity.
You can't claim to be Canadian as a particular culture
(07:43):
or set of beliefs. How dare we say we have
a culture, so you're either a you're you're a.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Black woman or a gay something or whatever, those are
your identities, but not Canadian.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right exactly. And and and he was in embarrassed or
condemning of even saying we have a culture and it's
cool and we're gonna defend it.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
That is the that's interesting you bring that up or
that he said that. That's the core Western civilization debate
that's going on right now. It's never spelled out that. Uh, clearly,
I don't think. But that's the whole thing. Do you
buy that or not?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And as the crowd that buys that gonna win or not?
H the idea that the United States of America has
a culture or Western civilization in general, that's the best
for all of its flaws, of course, but great and
worth defending. Is a hill I will die on, then
(08:45):
rise from the dead and haunt you, and then die
on again as often as possible. And the fact that
our schools and colleges are teaching against it. If I
could figure out how to be more militant and effectively
militant against that, will do it immediately.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
I had completely forgotten the Trudeau blackface thing.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Remember what that emerged? He had apologize far because he
dressed in black he was a Michael Jackson fan. What
was his story? He had some excuse like he was
a big Jackson fan. I think I don't remember was
one of those. You know what strikes me though, is
that our favorite Justin Trudeau clip is an absolutely perfect
(09:28):
description and indictment of his whole modus operanda. You have that, Michael,
I have to grab it. Okay, Yeah, no worries. It
is everything Trudeau is. Is this floundering pretty boy effort
to be some sort of post national, post modern identity politics. Jesus,
(09:51):
it's disgusting.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
LGDP lgt LBG LGBTQ two plush.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
He was not able to capably ride the monster of
the alphabet super ridiculousness he and IS people had created.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
Okay, I dug it up. I looked at the picture
of him in black face. The story broke with the
publication by Time magazine of a photo from two thousand
and one a year book at a Vancouver private high school.
He went to some fancy pants because his dad was
Prime Minister. Right, The school staged an Arabian Nights themed gala,
and he dressed as a Laddin and black face and
(10:29):
a turban. I don't know what made him decide he
needed to be blackface to be Aladdin. I would feel
like I could go to a as a Laddin with
a turbanon, not be blackfaceman. I also don't think it's
a crime against humanity to put on black makeup.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
I hate Justin Trudeau and everything he stands for, but
anything you do in high school, short of murder plays
here in high school. Stop it. Checking with the booth again.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Total number of deceased presidents in the cathedral still one.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
Okay, holding it one, We're holding it one. We've gotten
more on the way State.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Sarah was on with her eight year old Lease last night.
She came out, I'm sorry, just you know, one day
you're swimming at the pool and the next day it's
all gone. But she came out with her little Eddie
piggybank for us to rebuild our house.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
That's the actor James Wood talking about his house burning down.
As a lot of people's homes burnt down. It's kind
of interesting watching on social.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Media and just hearing on various shows. The conversation about that.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
You know, there's a lot of dislike for California on
the right side of politics, and certainly a lot of
dislike for celebrities. And then you confine California celebrities with
some wealth, and you got a whole bunch of the
kind of people you don't like. I feel like, if
you take any joy in their home burning down, that
(11:59):
makes you a not very good person.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Well, and I ran into somebody like that. I will
forgive it because I have much to be forgiven for.
But yeah, not only are a lot of the people
who've suffered terribly and are suffering m regular working class people.
I mean hundreds of homes of people who are just
(12:22):
getting by along with the wealthy people. What people forget
about California is that there are vast swathes of solid
Conservatism in California, including in the Blue counties. We're just outnumbered,
is the problem. So yeah, the idea of the good
I'm glad their house is burnt down. Good lord.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Although it is true that if you have money, it's
still a tragedy. You lost all your family, pictures and
everything in the home you loved, and the memories of
that's where your kid learn to walk and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
But it's a lot easier to recover with money than
without money.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
Hell yeah, you lost your house in the idea of
going to a hotel is just how the hell am
I gonna do that? My credit card is already maxed out.
I mean, that's just a different world of stress, sure,
no doubt. Anyway, here's a little of a man on
the street with some people. They are talking to God.
I'm looking up at Fox right now. We am a
loogenous who we've had on this show many many times.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
It's just it looks like gossip behind him is what
it looks like in a really nice neighborhood. Anyway, here's
a little more. I'm surprised all of us got out
of there, to tell the truth. We did take all
of our family pictures and a few valuable paintings out
last night, so you know, all the stuff that's heres replaceable.
People are not so very lucky, so happy. The family
(13:43):
is the most important thing.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
If the word to describe what we're seeing here tonight
is just apocalyptics. Right behind us in these mountains, that
is where the Palisades fire is burning.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
That is Pacific Palisades. We're talking about eleven thousand plus
acres that have burned right now.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Eleven thousand just from that ache or that fire, or
was that all of them combined. Man, that's a lot,
that's a big area. Yeah, you know, I can't be
the only person who thought this. Watching some of the
news last night, some of it's getting kind of exploitive.
You know, how excited the news guys are to find
the best flaming home and to quick do the live shot. Well,
the flames are good and high, and I don't know,
(14:28):
it is so dramatic and amazing to see.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
I just I know the news business, and I know newspeople,
and I can tell by the way they set up
shots what they're trying to do. And I just well,
we didn't we didn't get on that point. We didn't
get to this. We are in what's called Palisades Village
right here. This is the town center. Sort I need
to hear anymore of that. That's David Muir of ABC News.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
He's standing there and he's got his yellow true raincoat
weather whatever you wear. When you're a newsman and you're
on the ground in a tragedy. For some reason, you
have to act like you're one of the firefighters. And
then he turns and you see that he's got these
clothespins on his jacket to sync it up so that
his buff, buff body still shows through his raincoat.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
It's very important that he so it's couldn't form fitting
in men.
Speaker 2 (15:13):
Yeah, you wouldn't want to just kind of draped hanging
on you and you look like every other shlub.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
You still need to look buff, so kind of to
your point, I guess what a weasel. I'll never forgive
him for the debate that he quote unquote moderated David
muir Ough a talking weasel.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
It's a weird thing of human nature. I am. This
has more effect on me than a lot of these
have had.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
One.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
We know someone who probably lost their house in that
Palisades fire, And I know the streets they're talking about
in Pasadena and Altadena. I've walked them and been to
those businesses have burned down, and just I don't know
why that would make it more impactful to me. And
I should be able to, you know, prescribe my emotions
onto towns I haven't been to when they catch on fire.
(15:59):
But I don't know if that's human nature or not.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I can Yes, it is. It absolutely is. I can
explain it to you with the help of C. S.
Lewis coming up in a moment. Okay, thank you for that.
Leave it or not? Yes, he will be our guest.
Really well, I should have been, We should have led
with that. Luckily he wrote many of his thoughts down
for us and will be sharing those. Among other things.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
There are now one hundred and eighty thousand people in
the LA area under evacuation orders. The hotels have to
be full. I wonder how far you have to drive
out of LA before you can find a hotel that's
got a room.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
To the border and probably the Sacramento I don't know.
I don't know. The nationwide homeowner's insurance crisis is going
to be one of the big stories of twenty twenty five, guaranteed.
I mean the well, the fires hit the houses, the
poop has hit the fan nationwide, it's gonna be one
of the great stories. Where it goes, I don't know,
but there's gonna be a huge change in the homeowner's
(16:56):
insurance industry.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
We're gonna hear more about that prop that got that
the law they passed in California, so insurance companies couldn't
stick it to you and gouge you when they were
raising their rates because inflation has caused it more to
be more expensive to fix the house, so they dumped
people they had no choice.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Armstrong and Getty.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Mark Zuckerberg just said, anybody who quits Facebook over lack
of fact checking.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Is virtue signaling. It's interesting. Yeah, I kind of appreciate
them taking that attitude. I would you know, counter mark
that you know, you and everybody on your side of
the aisle, or at least the way the side of
the aisle you seem to be on, has been indoctrinating
(17:42):
people for years now, including on Facebook, to think that
A fact checking whatever the hell that means, is necessary,
and B that the fact checkers are actually checking facts
so you can't sell a live for years then kick
people would they believe it?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I also think maybe it might be some of the
crowd that and I know plenty of people like this
on the right. They don't want to ever hear a
story that disagrees with their viewpoint. It just they find
it too annoying or hurtful or I don't.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Know what, but yeah, yeah, I think part of it's
just if you're living in a political world where everybody's
always attacking, it's very difficult to be charitable and listen generously.
As they say, it's a fistfight.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
My son wears the same size closes me. So he's
constantly borrowing my clothes, or I'm lending in my clothes
and I've got to stop because he never gives them back.
And I'm beltless today. My pants are falling down.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Dad.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
I need a dress, black dress belt. I don't have
a black dress belt for the Christmas thing. And all right,
here's one. Of course it's gone. Who knows where it is.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
It's probably some friend to his house on the floor,
under the bed with some old socks, never to be
seen against. Yeah, so the insurance crisis. In a minute
or two, I thought i'd hit this sent along by
alert listener and in Santa Cruz, I think this is
absolutely terrific and it's funny that it would come along today.
(19:10):
In answer to Jack's philosophical question last segment about well,
you've spent a great deal of time in Pasadena, Altadena,
and so it burning down is somehow much more impactful
than hearing about say, Greenwich, Connecticut, Burton.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
That bothers me much more than the Hawaii story. Even
though I fully understood how awful it is and people
were dying and there they lost all their stuff, I
hadn't actually stood there and been in that business.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Yeah, by that house. The question is almost the answer.
It's undeniable that we're all that way. If we know
a neighborhood, we've seen the buildings, we've been in the buildings,
it's much more impactful and funny coincidence. And since this
along from C. S. Lewis, and this is caption C. S.
Lewis on the Internet before the Internet existed, it is
one of the e of rapid diffusion of news that
(20:02):
the sorrows of all the world come to us every morning.
I think each village was meant to feel pity for
its own sick and poor, whom it can help. And
I doubt if it is the duty of any private
person to fix his mind on ills which he cannot
help good one. This may even become an escape from
the works of charity we really can do to those
(20:24):
we know. A great many people do now seem to
think that the mere state of being worried is in
itself meritorious. I don't think it is. Oh yeah, I mean,
we could stop every sentence he probably should hashtag activism
is what he's talking about there, Yeah, exactly, he says,
(20:45):
we must, if it so happens, give our lives for others.
But even while we're doing it, I think we're meant
to enjoy our Lord and in him, our friends, our food,
our sleep, your jokes, the bird's song in the frosty Sunrise.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Boy, that is some really interesting stuff. As usual, there
are very few things written by C. S. Lewis that
aren't freaking fantastic and thought provoking. But yeah, okay, and
plus it gets me off the hook. But you're not
built to worry about that village so far away you
have nothing to do with and can't help, right.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
And this gets back to my unified theory of modern
men and why we're all so screwed up. We just
we have way too much input all the time, and
most of our experience is not direct personal experience. It's
electronic once removed floodwaters flowing at us all the time,
and this is undeniable. It's reflected in you know, church attendance,
(21:38):
which is tangentially related depends on what you believe, whether
it's tangential or not anyway giving to charity as taxes
rise and government services rise. But a great many people
now seem to think that the mere state of being
worried or acting worried or posting worried on Twitter is
itself meritorious. Yes, an escape from doing actual works of
(22:02):
charity for people we can help.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Sure, that's the hashtag activism thing that I think with
a lot of us caught on to at the beginning.
It's either on purpose or by accident. It's a release
valve of your caring and now you feel enough like
you've done something.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
That you're not actually going to do anything. Yeah. I
think a release valve is the perfect metaphor because it
releases the steam, if you will, that would have driven
the engine of you actually helping somebody. You posted this,
you tweeted about this.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Or more importantly, probably for our current political time, is
get involved on a level where you would go around
and get a petition started or names gathered to have
some legislation passed to whatever. Yeah, yeah, hashtag how much
you care about.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
It and that's good enough? Yeah, Yeah, it's funny. I
am conscious of the fact that we raise awareness and
make arguments for a living, although we do, you know,
raise significant funds for some absolute fabulous charities with your help,
and we thank you for that. But I realized the
irony of this little screen. But I'll tell you up
(23:11):
they're not been true or spoken. Then if you want
to change the world, start in your town. Yeah, Greta,
you've stone in my dreams. I'll give it a rest.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Yeah, maybe I need to. I'm pointing at someone else
and I got four fingers pointing back at me.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Not unless your fist is really malformed. Really, that's that'd
be very odd, even if you wanted to.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
It's easy to complain about the schools, just like in general.
Are you going to school board meetings?
Speaker 1 (23:41):
I'm not.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Are you paying attention to who's up for election for
your school board every? Is it year or two years?
Speaker 1 (23:49):
I don't even know these things or not? Or do
you just complain to people about it? Right? Right? Yeah?
Are you doing the work? And I'm asking me, not
you my friends asking Miselle.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Joe's got his malformed hand pointing four fingers back at him.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
Oh no, I don't so. As I mentioned earlier, we
are heading toward a nationwide homeowner's insurance crisis. It's not
just the wildfires, but the wildfires are a big part
of it, certainly in California, and insurance markets tend to
be state to state, which is a legislative question that
we won't be getting into. But between the hurricanes and
(24:25):
storms in the East, and the thunderstorms in the central
and southeast and everything else that happens across the country,
and the incredibly high cost of building now and rebuilding
that's inflation bidnomics really has as much to do with
anything as any natural disaster or climate change or anything else.
But we are really looking at a national reckoning. But
(24:46):
it's going to start in California, the state that accounted
for eight of the ten costliest US wildfires through last
year adjusted for inflation in history, and this one could
be it'll certainly be in one of the top five,
the one in LA right now. According to two people
(25:07):
who know this sort of thing, and if you're familiar
with this, California passed a law number of years ago.
I can't remember what year. It's in front of me
somewhere that essentially made it impossible for insurance companies to
raise their rates based on current and projected costs. They
had to go with historical costs and ignore the fact
(25:27):
that's saying, excuse me, Governor k Newsom Joe Getty of
All State. Here it costs seventy five percent more to
rebuild a house than it did four years ago. I
don't care. Here it comes low rates for consumers, artificial
government control of the free market.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
And so how can I do that? In private life?
I need a new roof. I don't want to pay
the current price for what a roof costs.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
I want to play the historic cost of getting a
new roof from like ten years ago. Boy, what a
great point, great illustration. But even before the wildfires were sparked,
millions of homeowners in the Golden State, millions, especially those
in the most fire prone areas including La, faced double
digit insurance rate increases, non renewals, or just nobody would
(26:14):
write them coverage. In fact, leading insurers, including State Farm
in All State, have stopped selling new home insurance home
insurance policies in the state, and indeed, at least one
of those companies dropped people in the very area that
got burnt or as burning as we speak. In the
last few weeks.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Now, we got this text, and I don't quite understand this.
Maybe you can answer it.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
We got this text.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
I'm in the spray foam roofing business flat residential in
the Bay Area. Insurance companies have been using Google Earth
and AI to look at standing water marks on these
roofs and canceling policies based on this alone if the
owners don't fix or replace their roofs with no inspections
from the insurance company at all for the last two years,
(26:59):
and I had the similar sort of thing happen also
with getting our homeowners insurance drop. Why don't they even
need an excuse or why do they pretend they need
an excuse?
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Do they need an excuse? I think it was just
And look, I'm not like here to say and therefore
insurance companies are paragons of goodness and we should love them. No,
because they have their own practices that I'm critical of. Yeah,
what they're trying to do is they're trying to limit
risk as fast as they can because of the artificially
(27:29):
low rates, the price fixing by the government, and so
they've essentially said to their people, all right, use AI,
use satellite photos. Anybody who seems to have any sort
of roof problem, they're more likely to make a claim
get rid of them. We've just got a cutter cost
I and so it's fast and dirty and sloppy.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Absolutely, I'm on both sides of this argument, probably with
not enough information to be right on either side of
the argument.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
But it does my whole life. My life experience is.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
It never has been a good idea for me to
make an insurance claim, either home insurance or car insurance.
It always ends up being a net negative, like they
charge enough more to get back however much I got,
or more going forward. So it's just never been into
my benefit or just dump you, yeah, or or dump
you if they have to dump you. And I had
(28:17):
the one story which I've told on the air before,
where we had mold on our house, which in California
is a really really big deal.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
We had mold in our house.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
They work with a guy who comes there and deals
with your mold. And he said, no, no, I'd make two claims,
is what I recommend. You'd want to make a claim
for the kitchen and the launder room, two claims. I
make the two claims. Then the insurance company drops me
because I made too many claims and he was working
with the insurance company.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Like what right, Yeah, yeah, Well that's the whole question
of regulation. There is reasonable regulation that probably is necessary
to make sure the insurance market is not predatory or
fraudulent or whatever. I'm fine with that. But when you
get into price fixing, as Gavin News and folks like
(29:01):
that are wont to do artificial minimum wages anybody rent control,
et cetera, then you distort markets and it screws the consumer.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
So it's the only time, like insurance really works for
auto or your home is like if you got a total,
that's the only time, like your car's gone, that's when
it it's worth it. All the others all are things
it's never to my benefit to make a claim.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
It reminds me of a lot of stuff We've discussed
with Craig the healthcare Guru, that health insurance up until
very recently, was for although the history of health insurance
isn't that long. Total anyway, is for if something crazy happens,
If something serious and devastating happens, you don't have health insurance.
(29:48):
If you sprain your ankle and you have to go
to the doctor and have them say hey, it's not broken,
here's an expandage or whatever. That's not what it was
designed to be. Now we have HMOs or insurance that
we expect to cover anything with with load deductibles, but
you know, high costs and they pay for everything, and
those markets get distorted and the middlemen make all the money.
(30:09):
It's the same thing homeowner's insurance, at least theoretically, and
you know your your results may vary. Ought not to be.
A bird flies through my window and I call my
insurance company. No, that's out of pocket. It's just for
a f your house burns down.
Speaker 2 (30:25):
You lawyers need to use a gentle touch when you're
milking the cow. I'll tell you that we will finish
strong next.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Strong. You miss it. I'm a teamer. I'm not shout's
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood singing imagine at Jimmy Carter's
funeral today and it's got a fair amount of attention,
(30:53):
although in social media terms out knowing if for any
real people are first of all, Garth, you're you reach
you pass that point of dyeing your hair.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
There is a point you can do it for a
while where your face matches the hair color and you
just look younger.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
It works. You are at the wait a second, what's
going on here? Stage? And somebody should tell you.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
So I'm telling you now, Garth as a biggest fan,
I couldn't be a bigger Garth Brooks fan. I would
be just as big a Garth Brooks fan if you're
a gray headed Garth Brooks as if you're a dark,
practically black haired, bearded Garth Brooks.
Speaker 1 (31:26):
All right, so.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
They sang imagine, I assume you all know that song
that John Lennon tude and everything like that, which I
loved when I was young, just thought it was amazing
because I was young and stupid.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
The lyrics are stupid anyway, this.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Text imagine no religion at the funeral of a man
who his belief in Christ was the most important thing
in his life.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
It's a hideous song, but it's singularly inappropriate here, I
would agree.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Did he choose it? Did his family choosing? Have they
not listened to the words. Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
That was his life. He wrote endless books about it.
I don't know if you know that much about it.
He got up every day. He prayed hours a day
to try to check his books. Did end back to you?
He did the endless writing of books. Okay, maybe.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
He prayed hours every day to try to spread the
good news around the world. And you just sang a
song saying it'd be better off if that didn't exist.
That's a bad idea.
Speaker 1 (32:38):
That's weird, isn't it. Yeah, Jimmy had really good taste
in music in general. Buddy's with the Allman Brothers band, and.
Speaker 2 (32:47):
I mean, like if you got up at my funeral
in saying and kids are an entire waste of time,
don't have kids.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
It's a stupid thing to do. What This doesn't make sense.
It's an odd choice of thoughts. Who wants final thoughts?
Go have some final thoughts. Hooray man, that's an old
timy one. There. Here's your host for final thoughts, Joe Getty. Hey,
let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew
(33:13):
to wrap up today. There he is our technical director,
pressing the buttons. Michelangelo Michael final thought. You know, I
watched CNN. I saw Steve Guttenberg out there helping the police,
the fire department, which is pretty cool. So he was
in those police Academy movies, so he did police work.
Now he's doing fireworks. Pretty cool, sol Katie Green or
steamed Newswoman As a final thought, Katie, I was labeling
(33:34):
the podcast earlier, and I wrote Joe Biden's eulogy and
realized I needed to change it because I could be misleading. Right,
so some people are calling it a dress rehearsal for
Joe Biden. Oh boy, Jack, I hope that's not your
final thoughts you have one.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
My final thought is a little bit of regret, as
I feel like we've broken new broadcasting ground in a
genre called harshly criticizing other people's funerals. No, not the
sort of venue normally here anyway.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
I guess my final thought is policy matters, Leadership matters.
I feel like big, nasty, ugly birds are coming home
to roost all over the world, Canada, the United States, Europe.
A lot of these utopian policies that fit in very
well with John Lennon's ditties are yielding horrible results.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah, we're going to get to the actual policy discussions
on homeowners insurance, immigration, you know, medical care, all kinds
of different things.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Good. I'm strong and getting wrapping about other grueling four
hour workday.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
We will see you tomorrow with more news of the day.
God bless America. I'm strong and getta.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
This is a message for the people of America. Is
anyone else humping them outdown? I think it's nuts. I
got nothing for you on that.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Oh really, But we're gonna f around and find out
character character character.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
That was quite something. When it comes on for you
to go, you have to go. Here are you more?
Speaker 3 (35:17):
I know?
Speaker 1 (35:18):
Armstrong and Getty
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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