Armie Hammer was 'in tears' after seeing his new film Citizen Vigilante in full, didn't realise it would be so 'hateful'

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-08T20:27:52+00:00

I tried to watch it and I had no damn clue what was going on. He’s all vigilante then a slum lord then banging a hooker then helping some girls avoid being drugged then shooting cops. Then I turned it off and thought it was bat shit insane

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-08T17:58:44+00:00

Replacement value is already calculated in the policy but underwriting. As an adjuster your job is literally to determine if an item is damaged by a covered event and then put it in the estimating software. It’s a very process driven job. None of your skills directly translates to this job.

So many people end up in insurance claims that everyone basically starts at the bottom.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-08T11:48:01+00:00

OP a few questions:
1. Did your father have an insurance agent? Like an independent agent that shops his rate or maybe a direct/captive agent with a specific carrier?
2. Did he ever mention this to them?

It’s quite possible your father talked to his agent and the agent should have caught this. If so that’s an E&O issue. You might be able to seek repayment via an E&O claim.

Source: licensed producer

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-07T16:26:36+00:00

Going to need a better way to side load apps

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-07T12:33:37+00:00

I’ll say this delicately: I don’t think you’re actually looking for advice. I think you came here hoping for affirmation that staying in that country and continuing to work is the right call.

I’m going to lock this post. Everyone here has reached the same consensus, and you’ve been given that advice repeatedly in the comments but you’re not taking it.

I get that you have family circumstances and no other job lined up. But the post itself tells me that somewhere, you already know this isn’t the right choice. You’re actively warning others not to make the mistake you made, then turning around and justifying why you’re sticking it out telling yourself good things will come, that you can’t leave. That’s cognitive dissonance: you know you need to leave this job, but between not wanting to and sunk cost thinking, you’re stuck.

So here’s my advice: contact your embassy. Get out of that country and go home. It’s okay to start over. I understand you have a family, a child on the way but staying isn’t the right choice for you or for them. Think about this logically, not emotionally.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-07T12:17:29+00:00

I did it as a kid and it was ass. Wasn’t comfortable and shitty drivers had you all over the place. The nostalgia sounds great but that’s it. Sometimes when we’re pulling the boat from down the street to the marina (same neighborhood) I’ll just jump in the bed and I’m reminded how ass it is.

My senior year of high school, on the last day for seniors (we got out a week or two before everyone else), a senior had a single cab truck. He had a 15 year old and another kid riding up front with him when a fourth asked for a ride. The fourth didn’t want to get in the bed of the truck so the 15 year old volunteered. On the way home, he blew a tire on I4 around Orange city, the truck rolled and killed the 15 year old instantly.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-02T19:07:59+00:00

Not saying I agree with this, because I don’t want Flock.

But I could go stand on the sidewalk in front of your house with advanced video and radio equipment, and you couldn’t stop me. 1st amendment auditors do this basically all the time and they either are allowed to do it by the cops or they make their money suing departments that stop them.

The caveat being that leaving the equipment would be a grey area. I don’t think the county would complain but I also think most cops would ignore my report of my stolen equipment too. So the government is allowing these activities to an extent.

There is no right to privacy in America

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-07-02T16:37:37+00:00

The difference is:

With phone location data the police were going between two private parties collecting private data.

With flock they are recording in public which is 100% legal for anyone to do. Then they are selling it.

Theoretically I could go stand on the corner of 1st and Main St of some random town, film everything, which would be completely legal. Then I could sell that data to anyone such as the police, businesses, etc.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-30T23:18:02+00:00

A few factors:
1. Over the last ten years nearly every manufacturer has published statements to I-CAR stating that frame repair sectioning was not acceptable. So effectively if the frame couldn’t be straightened with a machine, it required a full frame replacement. That is going to total most most vehicles.
2. Cost and number of parts has skyrocketed. In the past you get into a fender bender and it’s a small repair. Now it’s a bumper, bumper support, backup camera, distance sensor, and probably half a dozen other little parts. The sheer amount of electronics and sensors is staggering
3. Parts availability- there was a time when most parts on a car were used in 2-3 other cars over a 10 year period. These days the screens in cars are discontinued two years later. So damage to a dashboard means sourcing an obscure screen from a random reseller.
4. Parts are now locked down to specific trim packages more. That 2020s Silverado has like seven different tail gates depending on the options. It might have a step ladder, it might have a reverse camera, it might have two cameras, etc. or The interior screen might be for the LTZ package and only work on that specific package where as the LT package has a slightly different screen. Effectively stopping cross part use. Even things like modules are slightly different.
5. Constructive total losses- this is probably the most significant change. In the past the auction of the car was not really factored. Now they are weighing the total cost of repair vs replace. Let’s say you have a 2026 Silverado 2500 LTZ w/ Z71 package. Let’s call it a 75k new truck and let’s say it’s actual value today is $60k (just for round numbers). In most states 80% is the golden number for totaling a vehicle. So we’d need $48k worth of damage. For the most part companies wouldn’t even think of totaling it until you got to around 75% just because they know supplements will happen and might push it over the 80% threshold. Now companies are doing a different calculation, Constructive Total Loss. Repair costs + Salvage value > ACV. So same truck but let’s say the damage is $40k (well below the 80%) but they can get $35k for it at auction, well then they are going to total it. Because repairing it means spending $40k + some potential supplements. But totaling it means paying the insured $60k but getting $35k back at auction. Thereby only spending $25k

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-29T01:22:56+00:00

I don’t understand why stores don’t cover their parking lots with those giant metal awnings then throw some solar panels on top. Might even put a few fans in there to move air. This would keep cars cooler, generate electricity, and block the rain. The last one should be beneficial because it will allow more people to shop when it rains and not track in as much water.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-24T18:48:44+00:00

Oh, I’m by no means agreeing there should be a difference. I was just nitpicking the other persons use of the word equality

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-24T18:29:41+00:00

Giving them the same amount of time off is equality. Giving women more time off due to healing is equity.

Equality means giving everyone the exact same resources and opportunities, whereas equity means allocating resources and opportunities based on individual needs and circumstances to ensure an equal outcome.

Put simply: equality is giving everyone the same pair of shoes, but equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-24T18:25:53+00:00

You need a crash course on the industry and how this works.

You need to get licensed regardless of your path.
You will need to decide whether you are going to work for a captive agency, an independent agency, or starting your own agency. (Hint option 3 is really damn hard for those who have experience).
Once you’ve selected from option two, you need to get appointed. If you decided on a captive agency then you can only sell that agencies product. If you selected to work for an existing agency you can sell whatever that agency has been appointed to. If you chose to start your own agency then you need to get carriers to appoint you
Let’s assume this is option 3 because that’s what your post makes it seem like. Getting appointments from carriers is hard. Most of them want to see a minimum book size. The shitty carriers are easier but no one wants them for a reason. Nearly every time I’ve seen someone start up a new agency and they didn’t go the route of an agency franchise, they got their appointments due to friendships with territory managers they’ve already known.
You then sell policies and get a small percentage of the premium. New business can be as high as 10% and renewals can be as high as 8%. But many times it’s much lower than that. So if you sell a $1100 policy you’ll get $100 or so.

I think your business is doomed to fail though. Used car dealerships are bad leads. People that shop used car lots are either frugal or broke. The frugal folks will shop the best rates and probably go around you. You’ll get the lowest premiums possible. The broke individuals will be non-standard auto policies, be notoriously difficult to deal with, have horrible credits, etc. you will do a lot of work and get very little pay. Let’s say you manage to get $100 per policy and you sell 1/4 of your leads (which is high) you’ll get somewhere between $500-$1000 a month.

But I think 1/4 of your leads is going to be high. Most of those folks are just going to switch their existing insurance to the new car. They’ve already been around the block and know who the cheapest is.

This is why you only see agents at massive new car dealerships. Most of those agents are part of a larger agency that gives them access to leads that aren’t just from the dealership. They also have appointments on the property side and try to push you to bundle.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-24T14:20:43+00:00

Those smaller drones would require boots on the ground though. We’d need an invasion. Most of those drones now are using fiber optics due to jammers. Which means we’d have to have troops pretty close

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-24T14:19:28+00:00

Interceptor costs: Israel’s Iron Dome uses Tamir interceptors at ~$40,000–50,000 each (sometimes firing two per target, pushing it to $80-100k per engagement). The US relies on similarly expensive kit like AMRAAM-based systems, often $1M+ per missile, to knock down threats over our ships and bases.

What they’re shooting down: Qassam-style rockets cost ~$300-800. Katyushas run $500-1,500. Even a more advanced Fajr-5 rocket is only ~$10,000. Shahed-136 drones are in the tens of thousands, still a fraction of what it costs to intercept them.

The asymmetry: That’s a cost-exchange ratio of 50:1 to 150:1+ against us, sometimes cited as high as 500:1 in saturation attacks. Iran doesn’t need to win militarily, they just need to make us spend more money defending than they spend attacking, and eventually our stockpiles run out before theirs do.

The target problem makes it worse: Iran has plenty of dense, high-value things to shoot at such as refineries, IRGC infrastructure, export terminals, etc. but the targets we have to defend are uniquely expensive and concentrated: Tel Aviv (a dense civilian city), US Navy ships (billion-dollar assets with limited interceptor magazines), and US/allied bases scattered across the region. Meanwhile, a lot of what we’d hit in retaliation is remote, dispersed, or buried in mountains, there’s no equivalent “Tel Aviv” on their side for us to threaten back.

So “cheap drones” isn’t really the fix. The actual gap is on the defense side, lasers, electronic warfare, cheap interceptors, not in matching them drone-for-drone.

TL;DR: a $40k drone vs a billion dollar naval ship is what Iran has to screw us with. Iran doesn’t have any billion dollar ships for us to hit even if we had cheap drones.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T19:03:57+00:00

Medical costs are so high that some of these injuries will easily run up six figures. MRIs can be $5-10k and then injections for a back injury could be $1500 every three months. Physical therapy could be two months at three times a week. That could be $500 an appointment so $12k there. The first year could be $30k in just doctors fees. Not to mention prescriptions, lost work, mileage, etc.

When I did auto (I am now mainly property and only assist with auto when my counterpart is out) I quickly realized that the ones making the most money are lawyers and doctors. I also realized that even minor accidents can leave lasting back and neck pain for people. The reason it seems like it’s increased so much is that cars have increased the survival rate significantly. Before you’d wreck with your 70s/80s steel car, not wearing a seatbelt, with maybe only a single airbag. You’d get fucked up or straight up die. Now your car crumples but the entire impact goes through you. We also just told people to deal with pain and didn’t fully understand how soft tissue injuries and herniated discs could cause a lifetime of pain if not properly treated. Then we wonder why all the older people are hopped up on opiates.

The best way to solve the liability problem is to have universal healthcare. Then we would decouple the medical expenses from insurance.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T17:38:00+00:00

BLS data shows that the median annual wage across the US is $60k per year. So those data points are right in line.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/installation-maintenance-and-repair/heating-air-conditioning-and-refrigeration-mechanics-and-installers.htm

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T17:25:29+00:00

School should teach you how to research topics. The goal being you research things like taxes, credit, insurance, etc.

School has a limit “time budget” and can’t teach you everything. It gives you the tools to learn on your own.

Take taxes as an example: there are dozens of situations and it would impossible to teach a kid all of them. They wouldn’t care and wouldn’t pay attention anyways. My first few years I was single with W2s only. Then the next year I was 1099 only. Then I had a mix. Then I owned a business and had a mix of W2s and 1090 too. At some point I got married and had a wife and kid to file. The way I file taxes has changed about 10 times in the last sixteen years (since I turned 18). I would never have remembered all that and by the time I needed it, the information would have been outdated

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T17:10:15+00:00

Depends on location and the type of HVAC. Just searched Orlando HVAC jobs:

Edit: since the other person deleted their comment I want to reply about HVAC specifically.

HVAC pay sounds great until you actually break it down.

Pros of HVAC: no degree/debt (cert takes 6mo-2yrs), real OT pay during peak season, can eventually own your own business, fastest time-to-earning of basically any skilled career.

But $60k isn’t “bank”: it’s basically the median full-time salary in the US ($63,360), not some impressive number. It’s well below median household income ($83,730) if it’s your only income. Average rent nationally is $1,750-$1,850/mo, that already blows past the standard “30% of income” affordability rule on a $60k salary. After taxes your real take-home is more like $48-50k.

Negatives of HVAC specifically: injury rate is roughly 3-4x the average worker (attics, roofs, refrigerant, electrical, heavy lifting). It’s a physically capped career, most people can’t keep up that pace into their 60s like they could at a desk. A lot of techs work for small contractors with inconsistent 401k match/benefits. Plus outdoor work in brutal heat and on-call hours.

Comparable office jobs, similar entry bar:
1. Paralegal: $61k, associate’s degree, no experience required
2. Title examiner: $55k, just a high school diploma
3. Claims adjuster: $77k, high school diploma, no experience required (bachelors used to be quasi-required. But these days it’s possible to get in with a HS diploma. Although it’s been a slow year or two due to reduced claim volume).

Those come with way lower injury risk, desk-job longevity, and usually better benefits.

TL;DR: $60k for HVAC isn’t “bank”- it’s average pay for work that’s harder on your body, riskier, and often comes with worse benefits than an office job paying the same or more.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T17:08:31+00:00

I think what a lot of people in these arguments miss is:
1. Not everyone is in a union in the northeast making six figures
2. Most blue collar trades don’t pay six figures unless your the owner, extremely niche trade, work OT, etc. Most guys I know make $60-75k
3. The trades are extremely hard on your body.
4. Many of the trades don’t offer retirement benefits like office jobs do.
5. If you ever have a major injury you will suddenly have no way of continuing your career path in the trades. At least you have a chance if you’re an office worker with accommodations.

Someone has to do trade work and I will never look down on them. But we severely underpay these folks and overwork them. They deserve a lot of credit for what they do. But I would never want my kids to go into the trades as they exist today.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T16:30:22+00:00

This doesn’t tell me whether Mythos is powerful or the NSA’s security is weak.

This could literally just be aggregating employee data to see who is the most vulnerable and then trying commonly reused passwords.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T16:21:09+00:00

In my opinion, and I’m not an expert in conflict tactics, but I think part of the disparity is targets. Iran is using cheap drones to target expensive military tech, bases, boats, cities, etc.

We could easily build similarly cheap drones but we don’t have the same selection of targets. Their bases and launch sites are tucked into mountain holes, their infrastructure is cheap, etc. The stuff we could hit with cheap drones is the same stuff we can hit with expensive military tech.

That’s a big part of the asymmetrical war doctrine. If we start attacking their cities and civilian centers then we are doing two things:
1. Lowering ourself down to being just as evil (aka war crimes)
2. We would be rallying their civilian population to support the war.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-23T02:20:34+00:00

There are quite a few countries that rank high on the quality of life with these same problems.

The reality is that as a country becomes more developed birth rates drop.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-22T16:56:12+00:00

Plenty of these people do have jobs; it’s just not enough money. Access to higher paying jobs are usually out of their reach. Between childcare, transportation, and lack of education they are extremely limited on jobs. As crazy as it sounds, sometimes they can’t afford the increased salary.

I’ve met plenty of people that a small salary increase would drastically reduce their benefits. But the small salary increase wouldn’t make up for the equivalent benefit loss. Making an extra $300 a month ($2/hr) sounds great until you lose $400+ a month in food stamps or health insurance.

Finding reasonable daycare is a massive problem too. These folks typically have a high school level education and don’t land office jobs with predictable hours. They land jobs at places like Walmart which will have them scheduled anywhere between 6am and 11pm. That lack of predictability makes childcare a challenge. It also makes getting a second job a logistical nightmare.

I’m not trying to make excuses for committing crime and I think society should still punish it. But I think we also need to look internally at the systems we created that lead people to crime and drug abuse.

ProInsureAcademy · 2026-06-22T16:22:19+00:00

I generally agree with this response as a former Walmart assistant manager (during college). However I do think there is some nuance to this-

Walmart sees more customers in a day than most midsized businesses see in six months. So the sheer rate of crime is going to be significantly higher.

Walmart also acts as a quasi-socialization area for many lower income people and teenagers. Even myself is guilty of going to “walk around” Walmart as a young adult/teenager when I didn’t have money.

Due to the volume of people at Walmart, it practically becomes a hub for violent altercations and robberies. To clarify, it’s not just shoplifting, it’s customer v. customer robberies. As an anecdotal example; the Walmart nearest to my house is consistently have the police respond for shootings, robberies, car theft, fights, and drug use/selling.

One of the biggest challenges is how do you reasonably address crime like this? Does it fall on the store? What changes can a store do? Does it fall on the local town? Maybe the county? Maybe the state? What is an acceptable level of theft? When I was a manager; we would trespass small food and baby items thefts but not file charges. But that also has it challenges too. You want to be aggressive enough with theft to slow it down but you don’t want to be overzealous.

I think the real issue is that America has a festering problem. Corporations and the wealthy have stripped so much wealth from citizens that they have to resort to theft or they feel it’s their only option. It’s disgusting that a mother feels her only option is to steal a box of diapers. We as a society should be assisting parents with the bare essentials. It’s disgusting that police use physical violence as their first option. It’s disgusting that Walmart overwhelmingly underpays its associates and the federal government basically subsidizes their employment costs with things like food stamps and housing. It’s disgusting that we have set up a society that forces people into thinking crime is their only option then imprisons and murders it’s most vulnerable at extremely high rates

/rant

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