Lesson Painfully Learned

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So, what have we learned?  What have I learned?  After fifty years as an adult living in the United States I have learned one thing.

The only thing that counts from leaders is results.

In addition to that are all the other things you learn by living in the madhouse that was the last quarter of the twentieth century and the first quarter of the twenty first:

  • Talk, of all kinds, is cheap and almost meaningless.
  • Good intentions by themselves achieve nothing.
  • Action that is not informed by intelligence and purpose can sometimes be worse than inaction.
  • Most politicians are liars and crooks.
  • Those that aren’t, often are insane.
  • Everyone has ulterior motives. The trick is to align with those whose motives are compatible with yours.
  • There are no angels out there, only men. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
  • Allies can come from the most unexpected corners.
  • Stay far away from really stupid people. They’ll get you killed.
  • Lots of conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. Be careful whom you talk to.
  • Just because you’re the only one in a dozen people who think something is a bad idea doesn’t mean you’re wrong. It might mean they’re feds.
  • Someone can be really smart and have all the facts and still come to the wrong conclusions. Use common sense.
  • There are nuts on both sides of the political divide. Use common sense.
  • Don’t let political differences destroy your family. Tread gently here.
  • Keep a sense of humor. You’ll need it.
  • Don’t let hate eat you up. Most of the people on the other side aren’t monsters.  A few are but don’t transfer that status to everyone.  Unless you live in some kind of red bubble you will meet up with the Left.  Don’t become unhinged.
  • Don’t become manic or depressed. There will always be victories and defeats.  Learn how to live in the real world not a wonderland that will never be.
  • No one is God except God. Trump is a man.  He’s just as imperfect and prone to error as everyone else.  He will not save us and one day he won’t be in charge.  Remember the big picture.
  • Figure out your actual convictions. What do you truly believe in?  What is unimportant?
  • Figure out what you want to achieve in your life and decide if this is likely under the current political regime.
  • Align your goals with the world as it really is. For example, cable news anchorman may no longer be a reasonable career path.  Whereas news influencer has some currency.
  • Don’t waste too much time agonizing over things you have absolutely no control over.
  • Spend the time prioritizing the actions you can achieve according to how much they will benefit you.
  • Spend as much time as you possibly can with people you like.
  • Learn how to communicate with people who hold extremely differing views from you. For instance, learn how to disagree with someone in a conversation without insulting him.
  • Find some friends out there and laugh with them when you can.

There, that was fun.

27JUL2025 – Quote of the Day

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The Tell-Tale Heart

…

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief –oh, no! –it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself –“It is nothing but the wind in the chimney –it is only a mouse crossing the floor,” or “It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp.” Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel –although he neither saw nor heard –to feel the presence of my head within the room.

…

Edgar Allan Poe

Books Without Capon

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Pitchman/Host – Well, that was a fascinating two-hour in-depth discussion on how a tote-bag ended its life as a cat sarcophagus for Mr. Fluffy Pants.  And now it’s time for us once again to receive our daily dose of wisdom from Books and Capon.  Well, of course only David Books is still on the set.  Jonathan Capon had to be let go due to “H.R. 4 – The Rescission Bill of 2025” stripping us of $1.1 billion of funding and reducing us to this endless round of begathons and hawking those lousy tote bags and crumby umbrellas.  Well, anyway hello David.

David Books – Hello Barry.  Actually, I will have Jonathan Capon on this episode.  We have a camera crew out on the street and they ran into him plying his new trade.  Hello Jonathan, how is your new career working out for you.

Jonathan Capon – Hello David, hello Barry.  Career?  Currently I’m living under an overpass in a refrigerator box and I have become the property of Big Bob and his “posse.”  It’s not great.  However there has been some talk about me taking classes to become a sidewalk mime.  Apparently, this would increase my status and Bob might be able to trade me to Carl who has two refrigerator boxes and rules over a corner that has a working fire hydrant.  Now that’s hope and change.  And how is the fund-raising going back there at the old place?

David Books – Well, not so good.  I thought I had my mother and sister committed on a tote-bag sale but at the last moment those cheap old bags reneged.  Now I’m reduced to cold-calling from the Manhattan reverse directory and avoiding the station manager in the hallways and elevators.  And last night when I went to get my car in the parking lot, someone scratched, “ALWAYS BE CLOSING” on the driver door.  They checked the security camera and I swear the guy looked like Donald Trump.  I’m a nervous wreck!

Jonathan Capon – Yeah, well, compared to keeping Big Bob satisfied I’d say you’re complaining about some real “first world problems” Davy boy.  Has there been any progress on having H.R. 4 rescinded and restoring us to the good old days.

David Books – No, not so much.  In fact, last week CBS cancelled Stephen Colbert and the whole Late Show.  There’s even talk about Kimmel and Fallon getting canned too.

Jonathan Capon – No!!!  How is that possible?  CBS is the Tifanny Network.  They speak truth to power and hold Trump accountable.

Pitchman/Host – Yeah, well it turns out Tifanny was losing forty-six big ones a year and Daddy’s gotta eat too.  So, we all have to do our part around here David.  Starting tomorrow we’re gonna have a little sales contest.  First prize is a corner office.  Second prize is a set of steak knives.  Third prize is you join Jonathan and Big Bob in the refrigerator box.  And another thing.  No more coffee until you sell a tote bag.  Coffee is for winners.  Losers clean the men’s room after hours.  And today is your turn, loser.

Jonathan Capon – Well David, maybe I’ll be seeing you around.  Better stock up on lifesavers.  Big Bob favors wintergreen.

26JUL2025 – Quote of the Day

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The Tell-Tale Heart

True! — nervous — very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses — not destroyed — not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily — how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture — a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees — very gradually — I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

…

Edgar Allan Poe

Trump, You Magnificent Bastard, You Did It!!!

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H.R.4 – Rescissions Act of 2025 signed into law July 24th 2025.

 

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4

It’s over, it’s over.  Books and Capon will have to panhandle outside the deserted Dept. of Education office building and turn tricks for the homeless.

What a wonderful time to be alive.  All of the dreams of my youth are coming true.  Who knows?  Maybe they’ll put Tricky Dick Nixon on the thousand dollar bill.

So remember kids, dreams really can come true.  All you need is an ornery enough bastard like Donald Trump and enough people who are sick and tired of being lied to and gaslighted by their elected officials.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor

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Today was the dreaded ladder day.  I have been promising to clean out the gutters on the house and adjoining buildings for quite a while.  And because there are levels and other levels and other, other levels it took hours.   And somehow that damn ladder has gotten heavier over the years.  I mean it can’t be me.  I’m as strong, skillful, handsome and intelligent as ever.  I think it may be that the Earth’s gravitational field has increased over time.  If I’m ballparking it, I’d say it’s doubled.  For that reason, I found it necessary to use “maximum effort.”  But it didn’t help that it was in the high eighties today and high humidity.  And if I’ve learned one lesson it’s that badminton birds are very effective at plugging downspouts.  From now on badminton is a forbidden sport.  Let’s see them get a basketball stuck up there!  Well, that’s enough whining.  I didn’t manage to break my neck or go into vapor lock so let’s move on.

I saw that the same company that wasn’t willing to pay $46 million dollars in losses a year for the Late Show was willing to pay $1.5 billion dollars for five more years of South Park.  That’s got to make you pause.  I remember back in the 1990s when the pilot for that show came out on-line.  It had Jesus fighting with Santa Claus.  It looked like it had been drawn by a twelve-year-old and it seemed to have about the same emotional maturity.  And now the two doofuses who created it are going to be billionaires.  Well, only in America, I guess.  And that at least makes sense.  People want to watch their product.  It makes money.  It has value.  Stephen Colbert and NPR and PBS can’t get enough people to watch their stuff to pay for making it.

I guess the lesson here is that if you’re an equal opportunity offender (and the makers of South Park are most definitely that) then that doubles your audience and adds a level of authenticity to your story.  South Park and its creators; Trey Parker and Matt Stone have insulted and mocked every single powerful figure in one or more episodes over the course of almost thirty years.  That’s all presidents, dictators, religious leaders, billionaires, geniuses, generals, movie stars, corporate bigwigs, movie studios, nations, religions, even supernatural beings from Jesus to Satan to Mohammed.  They’ve made fun of the woke and MAGA.  They offend everyone.  And they do it disgustingly.  But people will pay to watch their stuff because it’s funny.  Disgusting, but funny.

I think that tells me everything I need to know about why the current media landscape is crumbling.  The product on display is really bad and almost no one is willing to cough up the ducats to pay for it.  And I believe that is a hopeful situation.  A lot of really crappy content will go away.  And a lot of it is stuff that annoys me; MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC.  What’s left afterward will at least be profitable.  Stay tuned.