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Ashley Iaconetti
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Jack Armstrong
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The Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.
Ashley Iaconetti
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 it up in the pool, in the pew, waiting for the thing to start laughing, talking, looking really interested in what each other had to say. I would freaking be fascinated to know what they were talking about.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Oh, yeah? Yeah.
Ashley Iaconetti
What do you honestly guess?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Something mundane.
Ashley Iaconetti
You think it's mundane? Okay.
Colgate Palmolive Advertiser
Or.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Or mundane for a president. Stuff about the motorcade or. Or. I don't know. I don't know.
Ashley Iaconetti
You don't think of any significance though?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
No. Unless they were discussing boys. Biden an idiot. When's he supposed to get here? I don't know. Because they both really dislike him.
Ashley Iaconetti
It could be like I could see any two presidents complaining about press, the media or something. I know. And it's something the way they, blah, blah, blah, something like that. I don't know. But you think mundane. They talked for a long time. 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 Trisha.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Did James Taylor retire from that gig or whatever?
Ashley Iaconetti
Garth and Trisha Yearwood singing a little bit of a stupid song. Although I loved it as a child, I still like it. Musically. The words are dumb. Imagine from John Lennon. Here's a little bit of it.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
You may say I'm a dreamer, but.
Ashley Iaconetti
I'm not the only one. And so I was watching this, this was live. Joe Biden, his eyes closed and was nodding along to the lyrics, honest to God, over his shoulder you could see W. Looking at Biden. W. Is looking at Biden with kind of a squint on his face, like, what are you doing, dude? Or are you falling asleep?
Colgate Palmolive Advertiser
Or.
Ashley Iaconetti
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. Thank God. How about the imagine no religion too, in the biggest church in Washington D.C. after 50 different pledges to Jesus. What is that?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah, I know. I don't. I don't get it. It's so dopey. And again, I'm a Beatles fan, John Lennon fan. It's a beautiful melody. It's fantastic. It's just. And the world needs soft headed, dreamy poets. We just don't want them in charge of foreign policy.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yeah. Particularly the religion thing. I hadn't thought of that until I saw somebody on one of your big Twitter people point that out. There was just a long speech imploring Jesus to do something. And then he sang the song.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
It's weird.
Ashley Iaconetti
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.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
That's sweet.
Ashley Iaconetti
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. I mean, there. It's in a big church. Jimmy Carter was very religious. He might be our most religious president ever. I don't know if you read any of his books.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
I'm not sure how you measure that exactly. But he was a very religious man. Yes.
Ashley Iaconetti
Outwardly believing Christian. I don't know who would top him. Maybe Joe Biden. But so lots of prayers. Specifically talking about Jesus our savior. How many of those presidents are into that, do you think? Do you guess Sincerely? Yeah. Biden is. Carter was. W. Definitely is.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah.
Ashley Iaconetti
Clinton just good for getting elected in the south or real.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Don't know. He's very old. Often people start to consider their relationship with God more acutely at his age. I don't know.
Ashley Iaconetti
Remember he went to the prayer breakfast during the Monica Lewinsky thing asking for forgiveness. That real or completely politically contrived?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Obama worships himself.
Ashley Iaconetti
So.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
So.
Ashley Iaconetti
So Obama claims to be a Christian. Yes or no on his authenticity.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
This is inappropriate.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yep.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
This is completely inappropriate.
Ashley Iaconetti
Absolutely.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Okay. No, I don't think he's a sincere believer in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth.
Ashley Iaconetti
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.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
No, no, I don't. Why are we even discussing this?
Ashley Iaconetti
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 myths, fairy tales, as our friend Tim Sandifer would say. And you can still be, you know, run for office, but you can't in the United States. You gotta at least pretend.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah. If you can pause just for a second. Checking with the control room. Mm, 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.
Ashley Iaconetti
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. He is the oldest by 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 crooked like a guy who did too much meth.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah, 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 got. 81. 81% of Canadians approved of his resignation. 81%.
Ashley Iaconetti
Wow. I don't know. Was it that high for Nixon?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Gosh, I don't know. You know, it's probably close, but. Yeah, that's Nixonian. Unpopular, unpopularity. He told the New York Times after being elected in 2015. 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 or set of beliefs. How dare we say we have a culture?
Ashley Iaconetti
So you're either a. You're a black woman or a gay something or whatever. Those are your identities, but not Canadian.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Right, exactly. And. And, and he was embarrassed or. Or condemning of even saying we have a culture. And it's cool. And we're gonna defend it.
Ashley Iaconetti
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? And is the. As the crowd that buys that gonna win or not?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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 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, I will do it immediately.
Ashley Iaconetti
I had completely forgotten the Trudeau blackface thing. Remember when that emerged and he had to apologize for it because he dressed in blackface? He was a Michael Jackson. What was his story? He had some excuse like he was a big Jackson fan, I think.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
I don't remember.
Ashley Iaconetti
It was one of those.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
You know what strikes me, though, is that our favorite Justin Trudeau clip is an absolutely perfect description and indictment of his whole modus operandi. You have that, Michael.
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Amica Insurance Advertiser
Okay, yeah, no worries. It is everything. Trudeau is this floundering pretty boy effort to be some sort of post national, post modern identity politics. Jesus, it's disgusting.
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Amica Insurance Advertiser
He was not able to capably ride the monster of the Alphabet soup of ridiculousness he and his people had created.
Ashley Iaconetti
Okay, I dug it up. I looked at the picture of him in blackface. The story broke with the publication by Time magazine of A photo from 2001, a yearbook 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 Aladdin in black face and 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 as Aladdin with a turban on it, not be blackfaceman. I also don't think it's a crime against humanity to put on black makeup.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
I hate Justin Trudeau and everything he stands for, but anything you do in high school, short of murder, please. You're in high school. Stop it.
Ashley Iaconetti
Checking with the booth again. Total number of deceased presidents in the cathedral still one. Okay, holding it one.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
We're holding it one.
Ashley Iaconetti
We've got more on the way. Stay here.
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Armstrong and Getty.
Joe Getty
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Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty. Well, I don't know about you, but like, I never liked being told, oh wow, you look so good for your age. Like, why even bother saying that? Why don't you just say you look great at any age, Every age. That's what Meaningful Beauty is all about. We create products that make you feel confident in your skin at the age you are now. Meaningful Beauty. Beautiful skin at every age. Learn more@meaningfulbeauty.com.
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Amica Insurance Advertiser
Sarah was on with her 8 year old niece last night. She came out. I'm sorry. Just, you know, one day you're swimming in the pool and the next day it's all gone. But she came out with her little yeti piggy bank for us to rebuild our house.
Ashley Iaconetti
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 the social Media and just hearing on various shows, the conversation about that, 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 combine 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 makes you a not very good person.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Alan, 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 regular working class people, I mean, hundreds of homes of people who are just getting by along with the wealthy people. What people forget about California is that there are vast swaths 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 houses burnt down. Good Lord.
Ashley Iaconetti
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 learned to walk and all that sort of stuff. But it's a lot easier to recover with money than without money.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Hell yeah.
Ashley Iaconetti
You lost your house and. And 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 the man on the street with some people. They're talking to God. I'm looking up at Fox right now. William Ologyness, who we've had on this show many, many times. It's just, it looks like Gaza behind him is what it looks like in a really nice neighborhood. Anyway, here's a little more.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
I'm surprised all of us got out.
Ashley Iaconetti
Of there, to tell the truth.
LifeLock Advertiser
We did take all of our family pictures and a few valuable paintings out last night.
Ashley Iaconetti
So, you know, all the stuff that's here is replaceable.
LifeLock Advertiser
People are not so.
Ashley Iaconetti
Very lucky, so happy. The families.
Colgate Palmolive Advertiser
The most important thing, the word to describe what we're seeing here tonight is just apocalyptics.
Ashley Iaconetti
Right behind us in these mountains. That is where the Palisades fire is burning. That is Pacific Palisades. We're talking about 11,000 plus acres that.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Have burned right now.
Ashley Iaconetti
11,000 just from that acre, that fire. Or was that all of them combined? Man, that's a lot. That's a big area.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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. And to quick do the live shot while the flames are good and high. And I don't know, it is so dramatic and amazing to see. I just. I know the news business and I know news people and I can tell by the way they set up shots what they're trying to do. And I just.
Ashley Iaconetti
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. You don't need to hear any more of that. That's David Muir of ABC News. He's standing there and he's got his yellow 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 cinch it up so that his buff, buff body still shows through his raincoat. It's very important that he.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
So it's good and form fitting and manly.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yeah, you wouldn't want to just kind of draped hanging on you and you look like every other schlub. You still need to look buff. So kind of to your point, I guess.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
What a weasel. I'll never forgive him for the debate that he quote unquote, moderated. David Muir. Oh, a talking weasel.
Ashley Iaconetti
It's a weird thing of human nature. I am. This has more effect on me than a lot of these have had. 1. 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 of burned down and just. I don't know why that would make it more impactful to me. I mean, I should be able to, you know, prescribe my emotions onto towns I haven't been to when they catch on fire. But I don't know if that's just human nature or not.
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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.
Ashley Iaconetti
Okay. Thank you for that.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Believe it or not, he's. He will be our guest.
Ashley Iaconetti
Really? Well, that should have been. We should have led with that.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Luckily, he wrote many of his thoughts down for us. And we'll be sharing those among other things.
Ashley Iaconetti
There are now 180,000 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.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
To the border and probably to Sacramento. I don't know. I don't know. The nationwide homeowners insurance crisis is going to be one of the big stories of 2025 guaranteed. I mean the, the, well, the, the fires hit the houses, the poop has hit the fan nationwide gonna be one of the great stories. Where it goes, I don't know. But there's going to be huge change in the homeowners insurance industry.
Ashley Iaconetti
We're going to hear more. The law they passed in California so insurance companies couldn't stick it to you and gouge you when they were raising the rates because inflation has caused it more to be more expensive to fix a house. So they dumped people. They had no choice.
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Ashley Iaconetti
Oh, such a clutch off season pickup, Dave.
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Look at you hall of fame, son.
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Ashley Iaconetti
Mark Zuckerberg just said anybody who quits Facebook over lack of fact checking is virtue signaling.
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It's interesting.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah, I kind of appreciate him taking that attitude. I would, you know, counter mark that, but you know, you and everybody on your side of the aisle, or at least the way you the side of the aisle you seem to be on has been indoctrinating 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 lie for years then kick people when they believe it.
Ashley Iaconetti
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 know what. But.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah. Yeah. I think part of it's just if you're living in a political world where everybody's always attacking, it's. It's very difficult to be charitable and listen generously. As they say, it's a fist fight.
Ashley Iaconetti
My son wears the same size clothes as me, so he's constantly borrowing my clothes or I'm lending him my clothes and I've got to stop because he never gives them back. And I'm beltless today and my pants are falling down. Dad, 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? It's probably some friend of his house on the floor under the bed with.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Some old socks, never to be seen again. Yeah. So the insurance crisis in a minute or two. I thought I'd hit this. Sent along by alert listener Ann in Santa Cruz. I think this is absolutely terrific. And it's funny that it would come along today 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 burning. Hearing about, say, Greenwich, Connecticut, burnt down.
Ashley Iaconetti
Bothers me much more than the. The. The Hawaii story. Even though I fully understood how awful it is and people were dying and they lost all their stuff. Just. I hadn't actually stood there and been in that business.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah.
Ashley Iaconetti
Walked by that house.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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. Anson's this along from CS Lewis. And this is captioned CS Lewis on the Internet. Before the Internet existed. It is one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that 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.
Ashley Iaconetti
Good one.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
This may even become an escape from the works of charity we really can do to those 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.
Ashley Iaconetti
Boy, he's right about that.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Oh, yeah. I mean, we could stop every sentence.
Ashley Iaconetti
That'S probably should hashtag activism is what he's talking about there.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Yeah, exactly. He says we must, if it so happens, give our lives for others. But even while we're doing it, I think we're meant to earn. Enjoy our Lord, and in him our friends, our food, our sleep, your jokes, the birds song in the frosty sunrise.
Ashley Iaconetti
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.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Right. And this gets back to my unified theory of modern man 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. It's electronic, once removed, floodwaters flowing at us all the time. And this is undeniable. It's reflected in, you know, church attendance, 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. Yeah, let's escape from doing actual works of charity for people we can help.
Ashley Iaconetti
Sure. That's the hashtag activism thing that I think 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 that you're not actually going to do anything.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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.
Ashley Iaconetti
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, you hashtagged how much you care about it and that's good enough.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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. But I realize the irony of this little screen. But I tell you what, they're not been true or words spoken. Then if you want to change the world, start in your town. Yeah, Greta, you've stolen my dreams. Oh, give it a rest.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yeah, maybe I need to. I'm pointing at someone else and I got four fingers pointing back at me.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Not unless your fist is really malformed. That'd be very odd, even if you wanted to.
Ashley Iaconetti
It's easy to complain about the schools, just like in general. Are you going to school board meetings? I'm not. Are you paying attention to who's up for election for your school board every. Is it year or two years? I don't even know these things or not. Or do you just complain to people about it?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Right, right. Yeah. Are you doing the work? And I'm asking me, not you, my friends. I'm asking myself.
Ashley Iaconetti
Joe's got his malformed hand pointing four fingers back at him.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Oh, no, I don't. So, as I mentioned earlier, we are heading toward a nationwide homeowners 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 storms in the east and the thunderstorms in the central and southeast and. And everything else that happens across the country and the incredibly high cost of building now and rebuilding, that's inflation. Biden nomics 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 it's. It's going to start in California, the state that accounted for eight of the 10 costliest U.S. 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 people who know this sort of thing. And if you're familiar with this, California passed a law a 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.
Ashley Iaconetti
And ignore the fact that's insane.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Excuse me, Governor Newsom, Joe Getty of Allstate here. It costs 75% 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. And so.
Ashley Iaconetti
Well, can I do that in my private life? I need a new roof. I don't want to pay the current price for what a roof costs. I want to play the historic cost of getting a new roof from like 10 years ago.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Boy, what a great point, great illustration. But even before the current 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 write them coverage. In fact, leading insurers including State Farm and Allstate 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 is burning as we speak in the last few weeks.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yeah, we got this text and I don't quite understand this. Maybe you can answer it. We got this text. 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. And I had a similar sort of thing happen also with getting our homeowners insurance dropped. Why do they even need an excuse or why do they pretend they need an excuse? Do they need an excuse?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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 are trying to limit risk as fast as they can because of the artificially 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 to cut our cost. And so it's fast and dirty and sloppy. Absolutely.
Ashley Iaconetti
I'm on both sides of this argument, probably with not enough information to be right on either side of the argument. But it does my whole life. My life experience is 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 in to my benefit.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Or just dump you.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yeah. Or dump if they have to dump you. And I had 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. We had mold in our house. They. 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 laundry 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, like what?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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 Newsom and folks like that are want to do artificial minimum wages, anybody rent control, etc. Then you distort markets and it screws the consumer.
Ashley Iaconetti
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 other smaller things, it's never to my benefit to make a claim.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
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. 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 Ace bandage, or whatever. That's not what it was designed to be. Now we have HMOs or insurance that we expect to cover anything with low deductibles, but, you know, high costs and they pay for everything. And those markets get distorted and the middlemen make all the money. It's the same thing, homeowners insurance, at least theoretically. And, 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 if your house burns.
Ashley Iaconetti
Down, you lawyers need to use a gentle touch when you're milking the cow. I'll tell you that. We will finish strong.
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Ashley Iaconetti
So that's Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood singing Imagine It. Jimmy Carter's funeral today. And it's gotten a fair amount of attention. Although in social media terms, I don't know, for any real people or. First of all, Garth, you're. You reach, you pass that point of dyeing your hair. There is a point you. You can do it for a while where your face matches the hair color and you just look younger. It works. You are at the. Wait a second, what's going on here stage. And somebody should tell you. So I'm telling you now, Garth, as a big 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. All right, so. So they sang Imagine. I assume you all know that song, the John Lennon tune and everything like that, which I loved when I was young. Just thought it was amazing because I was young and stupid. The lyrics are stupid anyway. This text. Imagine no religion at the funeral of a man who his belief in Christ was the most important thing in his life. It's a hideous song, but it's singularly inappropriate here. I would agree. Did he choose it? Did his family choose it? Have they not listened to the words? Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian. 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.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Fact check. His books did end. Back to you.
Ashley Iaconetti
He did the endless writing of books.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
There you go. Maybe that's it.
Ashley Iaconetti
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.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
That's weird, isn't it? Yeah. Jimmy had really good taste in music in general, buddies with the Allman Brothers Band and loved his southern rock.
Ashley Iaconetti
That'd be like if you got up at my funeral and saying, and kids are an entire waste of time. Don't have kids. It's a stupid thing to do. What?
Chumba Casino Advertiser
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Ashley Iaconetti
Just doesn't make sense.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
It's an odd choice.
Ashley Iaconetti
Who wants final thoughts?
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Who wants final thoughts? Go have some final thoughts. Hooray, man.
Ashley Iaconetti
That's a old timey one there. Here's your host for final Thoughts, Joe Getty.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Hey, let's get a final thought from everybody on the crew to wrap up up today. There he is, our technical director pressing the buttons. Michelangelo, Michael, final thought. You know, I watched cnn. I saw Steve Gutenberg out there helping.
Chumba Casino Advertiser
The police, the fire department, which is pretty cool. So he was in those Police Academy movies. So he did police work.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Now he's doing fireworks. Pretty cool. Katie Greener, steamed newswoman, has a final thought.
Chumba Casino Advertiser
Katie, I was labeling the podcast earlier and I wrote Joe Biden's eulogy and realized I needed to change it because I could be misleading.
Ashley Iaconetti
Right. So some people are calling it a dress rehearsal for Joe Biden.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Oh, boy. Jack, I hope that's not your final thought. Do you have one?
Ashley Iaconetti
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 thing you normally hear.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Anyway, 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.
Ashley Iaconetti
Yep, we're going to get to the action. Actual policy discussions on homeowners, insurance, immigration, you know, medical care, all kinds of different things.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Good.
Ashley Iaconetti
Armstrong and Yeti wrapping up another grueling four hour work day. We will see you tomorrow with more news of the day. God bless America.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Armstrong and Getty. This is a message for the people of America. Wow. Is anyone else helping a meltdown?
Ashley Iaconetti
I think I got nothing for you on that.
Greenlight Advertiser
Oh, really?
Colgate Palmolive Advertiser
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Amica Insurance Advertiser
Character, character, character. That was quite something. When it comes on for you to.
Ashley Iaconetti
Go, you have to go. Get out of here, you moron. That high note.
Amica Insurance Advertiser
Bye bye Armstrong and Getty.
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Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "Checking In With The Booth..." Summary
Release Date: January 9, 2025
Host: Ashley Iaconetti & Jack Armstrong
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts
In the episode titled "Checking In With The Booth...", hosts Ashley Iaconetti and Jack Armstrong delve into a variety of pressing topics, ranging from the controversial choices made during Jimmy Carter's funeral to the burgeoning homeowners insurance crisis in California. The discussion is punctuated with insightful commentary, personal anecdotes, and thoughtful analysis, providing listeners with a comprehensive look into contemporary socio-political and economic issues.
Timestamp: [03:21]
Ashley Iaconetti opens the conversation by addressing the recent funeral of former President Jimmy Carter. She expresses her surprise and disappointment over the decision to have Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood perform John Lennon’s "Imagine" during the service.
“They sang Imagine. I assume you all know that song, the John Lennon tune and everything like that, which I loved when I was young. Just thought it was amazing because I was young and stupid. The lyrics are stupid anyway.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [03:21]
Ashley critiques the choice, highlighting the disconnect between the song's message and Carter's deep-rooted evangelical Christian beliefs.
“Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian. That was his life. He wrote endless books about it. 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.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [46:41]
Jack Armstrong adds to the discussion by questioning the appropriateness of such a song at a funeral that was deeply spiritual for Carter.
Timestamp: [06:22]
The hosts transition into a debate on the authenticity of religious beliefs professed by U.S. presidents. They scrutinize figures like Joe Biden, Jimmy Carter, and Barack Obama, questioning whether their public declarations align with their personal beliefs.
“Amica empathy is our best policy. No, I don't think he's a sincere believer in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [08:10]
Ashley counters this viewpoint by acknowledging the complexity of measuring personal faith but remains skeptical about the genuineness of certain leaders' beliefs.
Timestamp: [09:17]
The discussion shifts north to Canadian politics, focusing on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Ashley and Jack express strong disapproval of Trudeau's handling of identity politics and his infamous blackface incident.
“I hate Justin Trudeau and everything he stands for, but anything you do in high school, short of murder, please. You're in high school. Stop it.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [13:44]
They critique Trudeau's approach to Canadian identity, arguing that his policies undermine the notion of a unified Canadian culture by emphasizing divisive identity markers.
“He was not able to capably ride the monster of the Alphabet soup of ridiculousness he and his people had created.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [13:09]
Timestamp: [35:02]
One of the standout segments of the episode addresses the escalating homeowners insurance crisis in California, exacerbated by the state’s severe wildfire seasons. Ashley shares personal experiences with insurance companies, highlighting practices that unfairly penalize homeowners.
“We got this text and I don't quite understand this. Maybe you can answer it. We got this text. 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.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [37:03]
Jack Armstrong elaborates on the systemic issues within the insurance industry, pointing out the detrimental effects of regulatory measures that hinder insurers from adjusting rates based on current costs.
“It costs 75% 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.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [36:36]
The hosts emphasize the broader implications of these practices, predicting a nationwide reckoning in the homeowners insurance sector, starting with California’s tumultuous market.
Timestamp: [30:47]
Drawing inspiration from C.S. Lewis, the hosts discuss the psychological impact of constant exposure to global tragedies through the internet. They ponder whether this incessant flow of negative news has dampened the public's capacity for empathy and effective charitable action.
“It's one of the evils of rapid diffusion of news that 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.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [30:47]
Ashley connects this idea to modern phenomena like hashtag activism, suggesting that while raising awareness is beneficial, it often serves as a substitute for tangible action.
“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 that you're not actually going to do anything.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [33:28]
Timestamp: [48:35]
As the episode wraps up, Ashley and Jack reflect on the discussions, reaffirming the importance of addressing systemic issues both politically and economically. They encourage listeners to engage more deeply with their communities and advocate for meaningful policy changes.
“Armstrong and Yeti wrapping up another grueling four-hour workday. We will see you tomorrow with more news of the day. God bless America.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [48:53]
Jack adds a final thought on policy and leadership, underscoring the necessity for informed and compassionate governance.
“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 thing you normally hear.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [48:53]
“They sang Imagine... The lyrics are stupid anyway.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [03:21]
“Jimmy Carter was an evangelical Christian... It's a bad idea.”
— Ashley Iaconetti [46:41]
“He was not able to capably ride the monster of the Alphabet soup of ridiculousness he and his people had created.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [13:09]
“It costs 75% more to rebuild a house than it did four years ago... artificial government, control of the free market.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [36:36]
“We just have way too much input all the time... floodwaters flowing at us all the time.”
— Amica Insurance Advertiser [32:24]
"Checking In With The Booth..." offers a candid examination of significant issues affecting both the United States and Canada. From the appropriateness of funeral music for a revered leader to the intricate challenges within the insurance industry, Ashley Iaconetti and Jack Armstrong provide listeners with a thought-provoking discourse. Their blend of personal insights and critical analysis invites the audience to reflect on the complexities of modern governance, societal values, and economic pressures.
For listeners seeking an engaging and comprehensive exploration of contemporary topics, this episode stands out as a must-listen, delivering depth and relatability without compromising on the rigor of content.