May 1, 2026
Like you, I read about all the stuff going on. Hard to avoid it although we have pretty much cut the cable cord. Unless it’s the Packers (Michael) or the Bills (suffering me), unless it’s binging Friends and Neighbors (Apple TV) or Landman (Paramount+) or a good movie, we’re pretty much out. So we find ourselves surfing around and then we download our hard drives over dinner…Hey, did you see that about…
So in no particular order, things that have accumulated.
You recall me writing several weeks ago that I thought the California rail project was an epic boondoggle doomed to failure. Unfortunately, it appears I was pretty much on the mark (FOX 26):
“California’s long-delayed high-speed rail project is now facing renewed scrutiny after state leaders revealed a dramatically higher price tag, now estimated at roughly $231 billion, nearly seven times the original $33 billion projection approved by voters in 2008. The revised figures have reignited talks in Sacramento over whether the project can realistically be completed, how long it will take, and whether the state can continue to fund it at this scale.”
I wrote about that as part of my argument that Gavin Newsome had punched himself out…you can’t do that on a project like this and then ask the country to give you the keys to the store.
But I didn’t go looking for it specifically. I got there because in the Working Profit Large Cap Portfolio ($195/year) we own two railroads so I’ve become an amateur expert on railroads. Meanwhile, I will bet you the WH Ballroom will come in under budget. Trump is routinely criticized on that project. Maybe after the assassination attempt, we can agree a more secure ballroom might be a good idea?
And then we had Catherine Banks come along and on a podcast tell the audience that what American women need to do is to become “revolutionaries” in the mold of Effie Trinket in Hunger Games (how could I make that up?). And then she advised they needed to denounce Trump and renounce Fascism. I’m sure like me, you consider this perhaps the biggest issue of our time…Moms embracing Fascism. Career women throwing the Mussolini-Fascist salute at marketing meetings.
Here’s stupid me, thinking that between raising the kids, and helping to maintain a family unit, and maybe caring for a sick parent and juggling a job needed to pay the rent, and driving to soccer practice, women today might not have the time to get in a funky outfit and storm the Federal Building?
Ms. Banks you went to Penn. You presumably have a lot of brain cells. But having them and how you use them are two distinctly different things. What you said was pretty much useless and out of touch. Please do us all a favor? Just stop? Please? And in doing so, I can guarantee you will be doing yourself one.
I recall my most memorable corporate dinner was when I was at one of those The Chairman and His 200 Best Friends corporate offsites. I was placed next to Condoleeza Rice. My thought was someone was trying to get rid of me and so, an hour’s opportunity to blow myself up.
Well, I didn’t. To be safe, I just wrote out questions on napkins (“What was the best moment of your life?”), handed one to and just nodded my head. So you know, I was wrong. I was demoted on the following Monday for what HR called Being a Bozo. “We don’t tolerate Bozoism here at the Blue Ship.”
Anyway, I found her wonderful. Her attitude, her friendliness, her thoughtfulness and considered comments. She asked about me, I kept my responses short. But clearly, she made sure that it wasn’t just about her. We talked golf and current events. No real business discussion. The most memorable corporate dinner ever.
But you learn from those experiences. How people with real chops act and speak and converse. If you’re paying attention.
Here we have Senator Fetterman. Noises here and there he is leaving the Democratic Party. Would not be a shocker. He’s clearly uncomfortable.
Speaking of uncomfortable that would be me observing Jimm Kimmel. The guy is simply reprehensible, terrible, awful. You read about his comments about the First Lady at the WHCD. What a disgusting thing to say about the chance of a Presidential assassination. What is to me even more inexplicable is why Disney and ABC (owned by DIS) continue to sully their reputation over this guy. He is clearly yesterday’s laundry and yet they don’t seem to be able to help themselves.
I’m sure this is a co-incidence: Over the past five years, Disney stock has dropped from $186 to $101. Hello? Anyone home?
Along came George Clooney to defend Kimmel. George, just go back to Lake Como. You’re a fine actor and I’ve always enjoyed your work, but you don’t have a blessed clue apparently when you’re forced to write your own lines.
FOX seems to be in a stretch lately, looking for scraps to keep the Breaking News crawl running across their website. Honestly, it’s getting to feel more and more like the National Enquirer. It’s what happens when you need to keep feeding the audience-beast without a lot of newsworthy material:
That got first row mention on their website today. Breaking News is breaking down.
I wanted to mention that Michael and I just returned from a five-day cruise on one of those mammoth Norwegian cruise ships, the Joy. We had 3500 passengers and it was 1/3 empty. Now full disclosure, we usually travel on Silver Sea or Seabourn so we are most definitely snobbish when it comes to cruising. But we thought we’d try a short trip from Miami, see if getting out of Dodge in the August heat via a quick cruise might make sense.
They have a concept (copied on other lines) of the ship-within-a-ship. They create a more upscale area of the ship and limit access to those upgrading. It features limited access for children around the Haven pool and sundeck and so forth. Not really kid friendly although families are not excluded. Think of flying Business Class versus Economy. You need a fob to enter that area.
But you venture out into the larger ship because that’s where the restaurants and casino and most of the bars are located:
Now this was pretty much culture shock for us. We live in a relatively rural part of Florida, no big cities nearby, a lot of meals at our clubs and so, we’re just not in the hurly burly of society anymore. You get used to your little world.
I am here to tell you that the country is just fine. There were over 3,000 people, probably ½ children in families. It was a United Nations of demographics…African Americans, Whites, several Gender-specific groups attending gay trips together. Hispanics in abundance. Corporate offsite groups. Everything and everybody.
I am telling you that WITHOUT EXCEPTION everyone we met was kind, happy, considerate and polite. Absolutely zero tension, no glaring angry looks. The elevators were ferocious, trying to impale you on closing doors. Everyone pitching in to keep some poor fellow traveler from that fate…holding the doors, reaching out a hand. They had a big party around the pool, everyone was dancing, and there were no racial enclaves in the deck chairs. People did not congregate racially. All mixed up and mixed in.
Touching moment. An African American family came aboard. Two children and then two more special needs children in wheeled carts. The kids had enough toys and blankies to spend a year. Really loaded down. People came up to help the family, just to be kind. And you know, bless the parents for that kind of dedication to their kids.
I am developing an increasingly short temper with people who thereby play the race card today. I have zero doubt racism exists, that people can feel it from time to time. But I have zero doubt that it all overstates reality. We’re all getting along, and we all need to be on guard when the media throws some kind of race-baiting at us to gin us up. Or when celebs or pols without an original thought turn to that out of desperation for something to speak about.
I learn about our world from our world. Not from some blow-dry guy reading from a teleprompter confusing that with making a real difference. Fresh from a meeting about what they need to do to goose viewership.
Thoughts, questions, or reflections? I’d love to hear them. You can reach me anytime at anthony@workingprofit.com
