I'm Not Talking To Your Hot Robot

Summary

Armstrong & Getty On Demand: "I'm Not Talking To Your Hot Robot"

Release Date: January 10, 2025
Host: Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty
Platform: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Opening Sports Commentary

The episode kicks off with an enthusiastic discussion about the recent college football playoff results. Jack Armstrong narrates Notre Dame's victory over Penn State with precise play-by-play commentary (00:24). Joe Getty highlights the implications of this win:

Joe Getty ([00:48]): "Exactly."

They briefly touch upon the upcoming national championship game between Ohio State and Texas, noting the challenges of predicting outcomes due to potential player withdrawals for the NFL draft (00:53). Armstrong humorously admits his lack of deep involvement in sports predictions:

Jack Armstrong ([01:02]): "Don't look to us for sports. You don't."

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2. California Insurance Crisis

A substantial portion of the conversation delves into the turmoil surrounding California's insurance companies dropping homeowners' policies. Armstrong explains that the public's frustration is misplaced, as the root cause lies in government policies rather than the insurers themselves (01:02). He elaborates on the complexities of California's insurance regulations:

Jack Armstrong ([18:04]): "That's essentially insane."

Joe Getty adds his personal experience of feeling wronged by insurance companies, reinforcing the widespread dissatisfaction (17:11). Armstrong cites a Wall Street Journal editorial to underscore how political mismanagement has exacerbated the insurance market crisis:

Jack Armstrong ([18:58]): "Democrats blame climate change... But the real insurance problem is that state regulators have barred insurers from charging premiums that fully reflect risks and costs."

The hosts discuss the financial strain on state insurers like FAIR, highlighting the unsustainable payouts and the ballooning exposure ($458 billion) versus limited reserves ($700 million) (22:17). They emphasize that the blame should not fall on the insurance companies but rather on the stringent and unrealistic state regulations.

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3. Global Risks and Political Uncertainty

Reflecting on a prior interview with Ian Bremmer, Armstrong touches upon the global risks associated with Trump's presidency and its impact on international relations:

Jack Armstrong ([03:48]): "I am also willing to offer my services to go abroad and explain Trump's negotiating style."

Bremmer concurs on the challenges posed by Trump's rhetoric, particularly regarding NATO and border policies:

Ian Bremmer ([04:12]): "They paid for absolutely nothing on the border... which led to far fewer illegal immigrants."

The discussion extends to China's geopolitical maneuvers and demographic challenges, with Bremmer analyzing China's strategic efforts to stabilize relations amidst internal headwinds (04:52).

Ian Bremmer: "Their demographics... they're going to be down to 500 million, to 750 million... So long term, I think they're in very big trouble."

Armstrong and Getty agree that while current Chinese policies may stave off immediate crises, long-term demographic issues will significantly impact China's global standing.

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4. AI and Companion Robots

A lively debate ensues around the rise of lifelike companion robots, particularly those designed to mimic attractive female forms. Armstrong recounts his son Henry's discomfort with human-like robots, introducing the concept of the "Uncanny Valley" (12:22):

Jack Armstrong ([12:22]): "Conversation with your hot robot girlfriend, not calling a man in a dress a woman, not calling a robot a human."

Joe Getty speculates on the societal implications, suggesting that a significant portion of men, especially those struggling with loneliness or social skills, might turn to robot girlfriends:

Joe Getty ([10:26]): "I think it's heading in that direction."

They explore the ethical and emotional ramifications of such relationships, questioning whether these robots can provide genuine companionship and the potential for social acceptance.

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5. Facebook's Fact-Checking and Censorship Practices

Armstrong and Getty critically examine Facebook's (Meta) former fact-checking policies, especially following Mark Zuckerberg's announcement to cease fact-checking to prioritize free speech (26:06). They highlight numerous instances where Facebook's fact-checkers misinterpreted or suppressed satirical content from sources like The Babylon Bee:

Jack Armstrong ([32:12]): "Here are the funniest fact checks of Babylon BE jokes."

Notable examples include the suppression of satirical headlines such as "CNN Purchase Industrial Sized Washing Machine to Spin News Before Publication" and mock statements attributed to public figures. The hosts argue that these misguided fact-checks stifled legitimate satire and free expression:

Joe Getty ([33:05]): "While you outlawed satire."

They assert that Facebook's approach contributed to the spread of misinformation by unknowingly suppressing humorous or satirical content, thereby eroding trust in the platform's fact-checking integrity.

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6. Recent Events: Looting Arrests and Media Mockery

The hosts briefly touch upon recent looting incidents, criticizing the lack of effective policing and questioning the rationale behind lenient penalties:

Jack Armstrong ([13:58]): "I would like it to be draconian."

Additionally, they mock ABC's David Muir for his on-air appearance, blending humor with political commentary:

Jack Armstrong ([17:11]): "We are no great fans of the big insurance companies... They've all been there."

The segment underscores their disdain for perceived incompetence and political mismanagement in various sectors.

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7. Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

Returning to the sports theme, Armstrong and Getty recap Notre Dame's progression to the national championship and reflect on the unpredictability of team performances (26:06). They tease upcoming segments, including a thought-provoking piece on the decline of Democrat-run cities and a deeper dive into Facebook's fact-checking failures.

Armstrong concludes with a nod to their exclusive content available through the "Armstrong and Getty On Demand" subscription, encouraging listeners to stay engaged for more in-depth analyses and discussions.

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Notable Quotes

• Joe Getty ([09:14]): "Yes. Yeah, I think so. I would like it not to be true, but it's heading in that direction."

• Jack Armstrong ([12:22]): "Conversation with your hot robot girlfriend, not calling a man in a dress a woman, not calling a robot a human. Thank you very much."

• Ian Bremmer ([04:52]): "Do I think they're about to fall? No... So long term, I think they're in very big trouble."

• Jack Armstrong ([18:58]): "Democrats blame climate change... But the real insurance problem is that state regulators have barred insurers from charging premiums that fully reflect risks and costs."

• Joe Getty ([33:21]): "Oh my God."

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This episode of "Armstrong & Getty On Demand" offers a blend of sports enthusiasm, critical political and economic analysis, and thought-provoking discussions on technology's role in society. Through engaging dialogue and sharp insights, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty navigate complex topics, providing listeners with a comprehensive overview of current events and emerging trends.

Transcript

[Jack Armstrong]

Broadcasting live from the Abraham Lincoln radio studio at the George Washington Broadcast Center, Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty. Armstrong and Getty. And now here's Armstrong and Getty.

[Joe Getty]

To.

[Jack Armstrong]

Give Notre Dame the lead in the final seconds. 41 yard attempts, snap and hold are gutted. Good. The kick is good.

[Joe Getty]

That was Notre Dame beating Penn State last night in college football playoffs. So that means. Noted.

[Jack Armstrong]

What is.

[Joe Getty]

Who's Notre Dame play now? Somebody else.

[Jack Armstrong]

Oh, the winner of the state versus Central game.

[Joe Getty]

Exactly.

[Jack Armstrong]

I did. I've not been following that closely. But they're in the national championship game now, aren't they?

[Joe Getty]

You got Ohio State vs Texas, one of your Texas schools this weekend. Don't look to us for sports. You don't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I didn't bring it up. Anyway, so coming up this hour, there are people who online and otherwise are targeting insurance companies in California for abuse over dropping a bunch of homeowners. That is the wrong target, friends, the wrong target of your animosity. It is government policy, which we will explain also some of the more ridiculous and hilarious examples of Facebook's fact checking while they were in that field. Of course you've probably heard that recently Mark Zuckerberg has announced they're not in that business anymore because he cares about free speech. All right, I think he may actually. But they are brow beaten out of doing that and hired a bunch of lefty, lefty jackasses to do their quote unquote fact checking. But anyways, that that is to come. So we occasionally do. I'd like to do more of them but by golly, we work a lot. Very tired. Armstrong and Getty Extra Large podcasts where we do a long form interview. And again, I would like to do more of those. But we did one with Ian Bremmer, the founder and CEO of Eurasia Group, which does analysis of risks for corporations and governments around the world. And every year they put out their global risk list, the top 10 risks and then a couple of super bonus ones. And we went through a good bit of that list. Now if you would like to hear the entire interview, it's available as Armstrong, Getty Extra Large and Hanson, just to save you the trouble, also included it in the subscription Armstrong and Getty on Demand. So you'll get it automatically downloaded. Anyway, so we. Why don't we. Michael, we'll go with 92 covers a fair amount of ground. And part of the reason I asked the question in the way I did is a couple of the. The risks that Ian and his folks cite have to do with uncertainty about Trump and the way he's gonna serve as president and sometimes the threats or promises he's been made. So we'll, we'll just go from there. Not only am I one of the great prognosticators of our time or any other Ian, I'm also willing to offer my services to go abroad and explain Trump's negotiating style. Because I see on your list of risks, several of them are related to Trump's governing style, whether the checks and balances of the American system will hold, whether alliances will hold. You know, I look back to his first term and he has said some outrageous things about NATO that bothered me. I don't particularly appreciate his negotiating style, but the threats to like disband NATO or let anybody attack him or whatever, I found wildly inappropriate. But the net result was a stronger, more responsible NATO in terms of self funding.

[Ian Bremmer]

Absolutely. And when he said that Mexico was going to build a wall and pay for it, they paid for absolutely nothing on the border. But they did strengthen their own border security in the south, which led to far fewer illegal immigrants going through Mexico into the United States under the Trump administration. Couldn't agree with you, Mark.

[Jack Armstrong]

That clip is supposed to be 4 minutes and 35 seconds long.

[Joe Getty]

Hmm, that's disappointing.

[Jack Armstrong]

It went by quickly.

[Joe Getty]

Did. Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right, okay. Like to whisper in our ears and tell us what the.

[Joe Getty]

What the hell.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, we're talking about China a little bit. Next clip. You know, anybody who, who predicts the imminent downfall of the Chinese Communist Party is a fool. But they do have unbelievable headwinds, including demographics. How bearish are you on China and Xi Jinping in the medium to long term?

[Ian Bremmer]

Well, I mean, in a sense, the fact that Xi Jinping reached out to India, had a two hour plus summit, and pulled back Chinese troops from their contested border shows that China knows they've got big headwinds. They don't want a big crisis with India. They reached out to Japan and asked for a summit. Usually it's the other way around. And they offered to start buying Japanese seafood, which just a few months ago they said, you can't sell here because it's all radioactive because of Fukushima. I've seen them do a lot of this around the world. Now, some of this is because they're worried about Trump and the uncertainty coming from the US that they don't think they can manage. But some of it is a recognition that they're in a bad position. And so frankly, it behooves them to stabilize these relations. And that comes from a deep concern that you just asked about. Do I think they're about to fall? No, but I mean their demographics, they're at what, 1.4 billion people right now. And expectations for 2100, when you know you and I are going to be pretty geezerly, is that they're going to be down to 500 million, to 750 million. So I mean a significant, I mean the biggest contraction of a population that you would ever see in an economy outside of like war or famine. It's peacetime in China and they're just saying we just don't want to have any kids. And there's nothing the Chinese government can do about it. This is not a five year or ten year problem. Their retirement age for men is 55. They can extend that for five or ten years. They're not very urbanized. They can move more people into cities, they can make agriculture more efficient, they can lean into AI. There's a lot of things they can do that can give them a 10 year buffer. But they don't have a generational solution here. So long term, I think they're in very big trouble.

[Joe Getty]

Which is good news.

[Jack Armstrong]

It is if they're, you know, global dominating expansionist lusts are abated for a while. It's good for everybody.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. I did ask Ian about AI because that was one of his risks a couple of years ago. And I asked him, you know, are they further ahead than you thought they would be or further behind? And he said further ahead, which I thought was interesting. And we mentioned the Consumer Electronics show unveiled the most recent. It's going on right now in Las Vegas. Unveiled the most recent. What term do I want to use? Because I don't want to prejudice the conversation. Lifelike companion robots. Companion robots, yeah. And they tend to be women because of the way guys brains work, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Extremely attractive female forms.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah. That look a lot like human beings. Like, like a really hot like 25 year old is what this robot looks like. And I mentioned when I went to the Sphere in Las Vegas, this is a couple of years ago, I didn't see the most recent version. Now they had a robot, like a human robot out there talking to people and it just stood there and talked to people and had conversations with everybody. Where are you from? And the person would say, I'm from Minnesota. Oh, Minnesota. How do you like it there? It's awful cold. Which part of Minnesota? And they'd say, say oh that. It's not as bad there as it is up in. I mean they'd have conversations and it was disturbing. Henry. It weirded Henry, my son out so much that he didn't. He said, when we go back to the sphere, to the Eagles concert, we got to go around that. He said, I can't handle it. It keeps me up at night. It bothered him so much, the robot thingy. But anyway, that was a couple years ago. The technology of it holding a conversation. Now it's, you know, exponentially better. And they put it into this hot chick body that they've got on display at the CES down in lv. Now, I don't, I honestly don't know where we're going as a species with this, don't you think? I mean, honest to God, not. Not far fetched sci fi anything, don't you think? Honest to God, we're just a couple of years away from a significant enough portion of the incel population having one of these for a girlfriend.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yes. Yeah, I think so. I would like it not to be true, but it's heading in that direction.

[Joe Getty]

In a big hurry, I would say combined. On a conversation I had the other day, you know, get the podcast earlier, I won't tell the whole story, but a bunch of people telling a friend of mine, these were guys telling a friend of mine that they are really into the chat GPT girlfriend experience. Just having somebody to talk to when they get home from work and how, you know, pleasing their voices and then the nice conversations they have and everything like that. They talk about their day and, and so, I mean, if you, if you're getting that from just a voice coming out of the computer, you combine it with this body and its ability to actually have sex with you. I don't know. What percentage? Well, you, you tell me. What percentage of guys do you think are susceptible to be in a, in a relationship with a robot?

[Jack Armstrong]

Do you think it's a tenth of.

[Joe Getty]

One or more like 20%?

[Jack Armstrong]

Honestly, if I had to guess, it'd be somewhere between those two figures. I don't, I don't know because I haven't fully experienced the thing and I did not grow up with the experience never having a girlfriend.

[Joe Getty]

Right. I'm concerned it could easily be double digits. 10% of dudes have robot girlfriends within five years.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I would agree. Wow. And. And it's on both ends of the scale. Not only, you know, guys who lack the gumption or the social skills are getting candy that fills their belly instead of the meal. That is an actual human relationship. Um, and also, you know, angry radical women, young women. We've received more emails than I could count from guys saying, dudes, I agree with you on all of this stuff, but I try to date women and they're nuts and they're angry and if you even express political moderation, they want nothing to do with you. A notion that is so foreign to both of our life experience way back in the day, the hazy days of the 1990s, you know, whatever.

[Joe Getty]

Hey, Hanson, post the link to that New York Post article so people can see the. These pictures and I'll tweet it out just so you can see what the current AI robots look like. And yeah, older gentlemen, lonely gentleman, your wife left you. It's, you know, you're too busy and broke to find to get to have a real relationship, man. I can see this having an appeal for a lot of people on widows, widowers.

[Jack Armstrong]

I could see that. You know, and in some cases, I would think, you know, I was going to say that's okay, but it's just so sad because it's not a real human relationship. But I don't want to go too far down because it's in unbelievably depressing.

[Joe Getty]

Is it? Are we jumping to a conclusion? We shouldn't jump to that. It's sad. Does it fulfill all.

[Jack Armstrong]

You don't think it'll become socially acceptable at some point where somebody comes up and says, this is my girlfriend and.

[Joe Getty]

It'S a robot, and you're forced to interact with the robot. I ain't doing that.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, sir.

[Joe Getty]

Ain't talking to your. But unless it was just like to check to see how, you know, far along AI technology is and how good it is at talking to me. But I ain't sitting there having a.

[Jack Armstrong]

Conversation with your hot robot girlfriend, not calling a man in a dress a woman, not calling a robot a human. Thank you very much. What bothered your son is, and I just became aware of this term, the uncanny valley. And going back to Rod Serling, they knew this. Or even before that, the silent movies of the 1920s and 30s, the Uncanny Valley. That's the unsettling feeling you experience when you encounter something that looks very human but not quite.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that's interesting. I'll have to read up on that because he has it a lot. I mean, he gets. He gets so freaked out by any of these things, huh?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, we're more freaked out by something that's almost human than something that's clearly not.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, you're right, Michael. When it crosses a line, there's social pressure to treat the dude at the Christmas party with his Robot girlfriend. Like he's got a relationship. Oh, We've been together for three years. Oh, that's fantastic. Glad things are working out.

[Jack Armstrong]

I'll be fishing with human beings. Good luck. Y'all stay here. Armstrong and Getty authorities announcing the arrest of 20 looters.

[Ian Bremmer]

And we asked the LAPD about it.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, it's huge. It's huge. So as you can see. Yo, do you have devastation for blocks and blocks.

[Jack Armstrong]

And then you have million dollar homes all intact. Rows and rows of them.

[Joe Getty]

And there's really no way to police this area effectively right now. Why are the penalties not just so high for looting that you would never want to do it? Is there a reason?

[Jack Armstrong]

I guess a lack of agreement among the political class that that's appropriate, Looting it back.

[Joe Getty]

I don't know, man.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. I would like it to be draconian. So one of the headlines, like troubling to the conscience.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pushes the. Pushes the, you know, rights against extreme punishment, like clear up to the edge to make people stop. I mean, that's horrific. We got some more stuff coming up about the whole insurance situation. Insurance companies dropping homeowners policies right before the fire. If you have anything ever happen and how that whole thing works and how it's a policy decision in California and really needs to be understood. New York Times went big on that story today. Is it sits interesting for everybody. But the other headline that's getting a fair amount of attention is the whole Trump sentencing thing in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial. Like every word and phrase I use is dripping with spin or needs explanation. The main goal of the judge and the people pushing this whole thing was to be able to say, as I see the headline on cnn, it will be the first former felon to enter the White House as president. That was the goal.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right.

[Joe Getty]

That's what they wanted to do. There is no penalty involved with this. It's a dischargement or whatever they call it. So no jail time, no fines, no nothing. No nothing. There's just no penalty whatsoever. But he has officially got 34 felonies so that people can say that. And I guess that makes them feel better.

[Jack Armstrong]

Other than the legal fees spent. It has all the significance of a World's Greatest dad mug.

[Joe Getty]

Which I've still got one of those sitting right by my coffee maker. May I see it every day?

[Jack Armstrong]

Right? But it's. Please. It's silly.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah.

[Jack Armstrong]

And will be just absolutely batted out of the park on appeal, as I've predicted before.

[Joe Getty]

It's wild that that continued. So it went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court could have gotten involved, but for whatever reason, they didn't. 54 decision by the ultra MAGA out of control needs to be shut down. Extremist Supreme Court by for decision to.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let you will reap the whirlwind. You won't know what hit you. Chuck Schumer, one of the worst things he ever said.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, so anyway, so that's that. If you see that headline, it's nothing to. Nobody will ever remember it. No.

[Jack Armstrong]

It's of no significance to anybody. Including Trump.

[Joe Getty]

Correct.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. It's amazing how much is made out of that. But you know, all things Trump. Of course.

[Joe Getty]

One more thing I wanted to mention, which I don't have time to say it. Okay. Everybody should be aware of the realities of why the insurance companies have bailed on California.

[Jack Armstrong]

Absolutely so. And any anger directed at the insurance companies is misplaced. I'm telling you, and I'm. No, no slacky for insurance companies. There's one state in the union that has a particular policy and it's California.

[Joe Getty]

No, I feel like I've been screwed by many an insurance company. I don't want to stand up. But we should all know the facts on this, so stay tuned.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Gettysburg. ABC's David Muir is being mocked for using clothespins to cinch his jacket more tightly around his chest. While reporting from the scene, he was also overheard asking a crew member, does this burning city make me look fat? Let's only hope that the sock he puts in his crotch is flame retardant.

[Joe Getty]

Does this burning city make me look fat?

[Jack Armstrong]

Gutfeld bringing it. Atta boy, Greg.

[Joe Getty]

Oh, man, that's good stuff.

[Jack Armstrong]

I can't kick David Muir enough. But he's not the topic of the segment. Just thought it was worth pointing out we're no great fans of the big insurance companies. I mean, their, their practices. We've all been there. You pay in for years and years and years, then you finally have a claim. They say, yeah, we're dropping you. Or it does your check get out.

[Joe Getty]

Or it doesn't count in this circumstance because the wind came from the north, so we don't cover roofs. And when it comes from the month or something.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. There are various hijinks that we could criticize them for, but part of the reason they've become more or less customer friendly is because of their mounting losses. Now, I thought this was a very good and balanced opening from the Wall Street Journal editorial board. They. They point out the politicians are blaming each other for the losses in the horrific Los Angeles area wildfires. And the truth is Mother Nature can be merciless. We need to sort out the stories about water shortages and what happened with the hydrants. But they point out it's not too soon to note that California's politicians have fueled a five alarm insurance market crisis that will hurt homeowners and taxpayers across the state once the fires have died out. And I would point out across the country too, for reasons I'll explain in.

[Joe Getty]

A second, a five alarm crisis. Are they aware that they used a fire related metaphor for this story?

[Jack Armstrong]

I think they probably are. And they go into the heavy rain for a couple of years, then the drought free year which means heavy but dry vegetation and the storms with the incredible winds. And that is absolutely a factor in what's happening. But there's a fair amount of anger being directed toward insurance companies for dropping quite a number of the homeowners whose homes just burnt down several weeks, a few to several weeks ago. Having warned the state that they were going to do that, insurers had. I'm jumping back now to the. And, and that's driven a lot of people to the under capitalized state insurer of last resort, which is called fair of course because everything has to have a sunny sounding acronym. But insurers had already scrapped hundreds of thousands of policies in limited coverage in wildfire prone areas. We know that's why I don't have my, my, my cabin in the woods anymore. Democrats blame climate change which has become an all purposes excuse for any disaster relief failure. But the real insurance problem is that state regulators have barred insurers from charging premiums that fully reflect risks and costs. California is the only state that heretofore has, has not allowed insurers to incorporate the cost of reinsurance in premiums. Until this year it had also prohibited insurance. I could explain. Insurance is, it's insurance for insurance companies in case of a cataclysmic loss. Part of their loss is taken on by these, these reinsurance companies anyway. But here's the main point. Until this year, California had also prohibited insurers from adjusting premiums by using the standard industry practice of catastrophe modeling to predict the property's future risk. Insurers could only assess premiums based on historical losses, no matter what has happened to construction costs and inflation in the interim. You can't say, hey look, the price of a 2 by 4 is 80% more than it used to be. And that's, that's a for instance. I don't have that in front of me. You cannot say that in only one state in the union, California, as an insurance company. And so as a result, crazy.

[Joe Getty]

You don't have to be.

[Jack Armstrong]

That's essentially insane.

[Joe Getty]

You don't have to be a genius bean counter to understand that everything is so much more expensive. So when did this happen? When did they make that rule in California? Because obviously with inflation, the timing is particularly bad.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, I don't remember when that passed. Honestly, I could probably find.

[Joe Getty]

God, how much more expensive it is. It. Is it? To put a new roof on a house now versus 2018. Oh, my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, and can you imagine in any setting, in a business setting. You know, sir, I think we ought to add on to the plant. Historically, the square footage will cost $200 a square foot. All right, let's do it. Ignoring the fact that it's now $350 a square foot, you'd be fired immediately. Hey, honey, I'm thinking of upgrading to a new F150. Historically, they cost $43,000. Dude, that would be an insane thing to do.

[Joe Getty]

It's like me going to the closet and grabbing the medium shirt.

[Jack Armstrong]

What are you thinking?

[Joe Getty]

Historically, that would have fit.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah.

[Joe Getty]

Oof.

[Jack Armstrong]

That one hit a little close to home. So, getting back to the Journal, as a result, insurers are paying out A$9 in expenses and claims for every dollar they collect in premiums. This is financially unsustainable, which is why many have paired coverage in areas with high fire risk and expensive homes. State farm dropped nearly 70% of policyholders in one Pacific Palisades neighborhood. And just to get to give you an idea of how well Gavin Newsom is running California, that fair government sponsored insure of last resort thing is, for people who can't get homeowners insurance, its exposure has ballooned to $458 billion as of last September from a much lower figure with $6 billion exposure in Pacific Palisades alone. $6 billion. It has $700 million on hand to pay claims.

[Joe Getty]

Hmm.

[Jack Armstrong]

They have $6 billion in exposure. They have $700 million to pay claims. That's because state regulators have required fare to cover higher priced homes, while rejecting its proposals for rate increases to account for rising risks for liabilities. Because the. The pandering politicians, including Gavin Newsom, have found these ways to have completely unrealistic regulations. So they can say, and we kept your insurance premiums lower. When the insurance companies want to raise your rates. The insurance companies are all saying, yeah, goodbye. We're out of this crazy 50th in the nation in terms of Business Friendliness State.

[Joe Getty]

I think the latest number is the overall cost for the fires in LA. They expect to be $10 billion. Most expensive, worst tragedy in LA history. I'm sure that number is going to go up. Well, I'm interesting to see how this pans out. But yeah, the point of this segment was you can't blame the insurance companies. You really can't.

[Jack Armstrong]

Right. You don't have to love them, but you can't blame them for dropping people in California. By the way, speaking of Gaffey, the California Globe reporting that having listened to an interview he did with NPR where he was explaining how we were carefully taking care of the forests, he talked about how many acres had been cleared and tended and all. He exaggerated the actual number by 690%.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah, he's a congenital liar.

[Joe Getty]

Gavin Newsom, we were on the question earlier of how do you run out of water when you're next to an ocean? Why can't you use salt water as a system? And they do in San Francisco to a great extent. We got a long text from somebody in the know in San Francisco about the way they do it. The system has been in in place for years. It's a proven system. It can be done. It's kind of expensive and you gotta, you know, you gotta put in the infrastructure. But in the Bay Area, they've been doing it for a long time. So that's, that's a reasonable question as to, hey, Pacific Palisades, right by an ocean. Why would we ever run out of water?

[Jack Armstrong]

Avowed Marxist Karen Bass, the mayor of la, has preferred to spend the money on bums and junkies and illegal immigrants. So there's no money for, for instance, the fire department, which has, it had its budget cut by almost $18 million. Yeah, coming up much more amusing and believe me, it is some particularly egregious examples of Facebook's fact checks. Well, they were in that business prior to the recent announcements. Hope you can stay tuned.

[Joe Getty]

You say it's funnier than insurance liability talk? I don't know. I'll be the judge of that. Stay tuned.

[Jack Armstrong]

Armstrong and Getty just to straighten this.

[Joe Getty]

Out, Notre Dame beat Penn State. They will play the winner of Ohio State Texas for the college football final. That's Ohio State's the eight versus a five and that was a seven versus a six. So good job and picking who are the four best teams to be in the playoffs, I guess.

[Jack Armstrong]

Well, in Ohio State beat down the number one, but part of it depends on which players decide to play.

[Joe Getty]

Yeah, there's that whole thing. Some teams, half the players don't play in the bowl game because they don't want to get hurt before they go into the NFL. I don't know how they're going to make this work, but. Not my problem.

[Jack Armstrong]

They're not. I would do the same thing. Sorry. Good old alma mater. I'm here playing football for one reason. To get a gig playing on Sunday.

[Joe Getty]

I don't think you have tiger pride or whatever team it is.

[Jack Armstrong]

No, no, I don't. I'm getting a paycheck anyway. Coming up next hour. I keep promising it. We haven't gotten to it. Absolutely fabulous. Think piece on why democrat run cities go sideways. It's, it's, it's really thought provoking. And we'll get to it in hour four. That's right. We do four hours. They've got us chained up.

[Joe Getty]

I know.

[Jack Armstrong]

Let us out unless we do four.

[Joe Getty]

I know we signed a new contract, but was that in the contract?

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. Well, over my dead body. Well, it happened anyway. If you don't get it, grab it later via podcast. Subscribe to Armstrong. You get it on demand. It's a. Trust me when I say it's really interesting. Mark Zuckerberg just announced the other day that he's rediscovered his love of free speech and Facebook is going to get out of the fact checking business. A number of learned commentators have commented on this, including ourselves, good folks at the good folks at Breitbart, compiling a list of 6 absolutely despicable acts of censorship that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook foisted upon the world. Run through those really quickly. Then we'll get to the funny stuff. Number one, hiding the story on Hunter Biden's laptop from hell.

[Joe Getty]

Obvs. That's one of the worst journalistic things ever.

[Jack Armstrong]

All right. Although all those current and former intelligence officials ought to be shouted at on the street for lying like they did. Two, creating the leftist fact checker industry in the first place. Meta Infamously deployed third party fact checkers to both Facebook and Instagram, putting users content visibility in the hands of people who flagged post based on their opinions rather than any facts. The vast majority of these fact checkers displayed extreme lefty bias lying. Zuckerberg's platforms to diminish the reach of stories often based on asinine or completely incorrect fact checks, including many, many things that turned out to be very true. They dropped Donald Trump's engagement by 45% in 2018 because he was a Russian stooge.

[Joe Getty]

Wow.

[Jack Armstrong]

Using their algorithms.

[Ian Bremmer]

Wow.

[Joe Getty]

That's unbelievable. At that time, sitting President of the.

[Jack Armstrong]

United States after January 6, which was admittedly an awful day, they banned President Trump completely. And their self righteous screen on why they did it is a little long. We don't have time. We believe the public has the right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But we believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. I believe in Trump until February 23rd.

[Joe Getty]

That's. I love statements like that. I believe in blue, but we're going to do red.

[Jack Armstrong]

Okay, uh, they unpersoned regular people for misinformation. Shortly after banning Trump, Facebook turns its focus onto his followers, regular Facebook users. Zuckerberg's company vowed to ban anyone caught spreading content deemed misinformation, despite the social media giant and its army of opinionated leftist facts checkers struggling with the definition of that word. And then they killed the reach of political content just in the name of something or other. Cuz politics is too scary or controversial or something. And so they just quashed it in general. Although again there was favoritism moving along swiftly. The good folks at the Free Beacon pointed out that they were corrected several times by Zuckerberg's fact checkers as checkers. In one case, the ex meta leader fact check.org said we falsely accused Joe Biden of having issues with the teleprompter. That was the quote because a White House press official said the octogenarians incoherent nonsense was intentional. So the fact that he had issues with the teleprompter was, was labeled as untrue.

[Joe Getty]

That was probably one of those repeat the lines or something like that.

[Jack Armstrong]

In another case, Alan Duke, who was the head of one of the fact checking organizations, a former CNN producer who's donated thousands of dollars to Democrats, exclusively called our reporting on the Biden administration plans to fund crack pipes partially false because the administration backpedaled after we published our piece. At best, many of these fact checks offered an alternative opinion. At worst, they facilitated the spread of disinformation by government officials and aided their efforts to discredit and silence the handful of news outlets actually interested in holding them accountable. They will not be missed and we hope they enjoy learning to code.

[Joe Getty]

So you, you said earlier you think Mark Zuckerberg might be an actual free speech warrior. So you think that maybe he just, it was just a business decision. The federal government was making noises that they were going to make life hard for him if he did this. So he did that.

[Jack Armstrong]

Yeah. And they're just. There is so little precedent on how modern tech ought to be regulated. They're very, very sensitive to the, you know, a bunch of old senators and congressmen wading into it and doing the wrong thing and screwing their business. So, yeah, just as he's kowtowing to Donald Trump and nakedly seeking, you know, friendly policy and friendliness from Donald J. Right now, he did the same with the Biden administration. It just wasn't publicized. Every time somebody goes to have lunch with Trump, the mainstream media acts like it's a big deal and that they're licking his boots. These guys did the same thing with the Biden administration. You just didn't hear about it.

[Joe Getty]

Right?

[Jack Armstrong]

Anyway, I wanted to get to this. Seth Dillon and the geniuses of the Babylon BE with In honor of Facebook ending his fact checking partnerships, here are the funniest fact checks of Babylon BE jokes. Number one, the headline was CNN Purchase Purchases Industrial Sized Washing Machine to Spin News Before Publication. And it was actually fact checked by Snopes and Facebook, who threatened us with suppression and demonetization for sharing false information.

[Joe Getty]

A classic you can't actually wash news and there would not be a washing machine big enough to do it.

[Jack Armstrong]

A page you administer recently posted the link CNN purchases Industrial Sized washing machines. Blah blah blah. That contains info disputed by snopes.com an independent fact checker. Repeat offenders will see their distribution reduced and their ability to monetize and advertise removed.

[Joe Getty]

While you outlawed satire.

[Jack Armstrong]

Second fact check by Facebook on the Babylon B. The headline Ocasio Cortez appears on the Price is Right guesses everything is.

[Joe Getty]

Oh my God.

[Jack Armstrong]

Thank you to the brave fact checkers at Snopes for calling us out on this one. Otherwise, people might have been fooled. The fact check was false. Number three ninth Circuit Court Overturns Death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. That's a great shot at the 9th USA today. Another one of Facebook's fact checking partners helpfully pointed out that this was satire. Fact checking the satirical claim that the ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Ginsburg's death.

[Joe Getty]

Wait a second. Now on the AOC one, you could @ least make the argument that some really dumb people might believe that. Is somebody gonna believe a court overturned to death?

[Jack Armstrong]

I know. It's almost as if the parody of the fact check is itself a parody or the fact check. We're through the looking glass here, people. Oh, let's see. Here's another headline that was helpfully fact checked with Moon Water announcement. Remember when they discovered there's probably ice on the moon, therefore water with moon water announcement Trump proposes space Navy Another fact check from USA Today. Guys, you can also tell it's satire because if you look really closely, you'll see there's a picture of an aircraft carrier on the moon. And there is in the story they fact check a headline on the Babylon Bee. Trump I have done more for Christianity than Jesus. In our defense, we wrote this before he actually said something uncomfortably close to that.

[Joe Getty]

I was going to say if I saw that, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that that was satire.

[Jack Armstrong]

Other example, Pope Francis says COVID vaccine will now be required to enter heaven. They were fact checked by Reuters. Oh, and finally, California considering tax on breathing Snopes found this false but we're pretty sure it's true.

[Joe Getty]

Wow, that's a good one. AOC guesses everything's free. That's hilarious. If you miss an hour, get the podcast Armstrong and Getty on Demand.

[Jack Armstrong]

Subscribe Armstrong and Gettysburg.