And The Race Is On...

The Schloss-Blog is here to remind you this week that the race is on.

Or should I say the racist? Donald Trump is sooooo playing the race card that it is funny. Now it's "Send her back," preceded by, "Send Them Back," presumably to the "shithole" countries from which they came, those being New York, Detroit and Chicago, and Somalia, via Minnesota. They're Americans, you idiot, Trump.

This fits Trump's history of things, like:

• 1973 U.S. government discriminatory housing suit, $100 million settlement;
• Calls for death penalty for Central Park 5;
• 'Many fine people on both sides' in Charlottesville;
• Birther movement, 2011;
• Shithole countries, 2018 (Haiti, El Salvador, and anywhere in Africa);
• And now, calls for four American Congresswomen to be sent back home.

But he's not a racist, right? He doesn't say racist stuff, right? He doesn't do racist things, right? Of course, you noticed him trying to tamp down the chanting in the crowd at his North Carolina rally, right? Yeah, me neither. He relished in it.

Oh, and he said his wife and his daughter were not bothered by the chanting. So does that make them part of "the race?"

Disgraceful, especially from a president of the United States.

Anyway, speaking of races, the NL Central is all within striking distance of each other, although the Cubbies are starting to look like the second-half Cubbies we've come to know and love since Joe Maddon took over, except for the last games of 2018, that is, and went home They do not look like a pennant-winner to us though. Or do they?

Speaking of races, can the Bears win one, at last? Speaking of their home turf, there were three funny sequences at the Rolling Stones concert I attended at Soldier Field:

• First, Mick strolls out to the platform at midfield along the ramp extending from the main stage and promptly reminds the 70,000 or so in attendance that this was the spot from which Cody Parkey missed a field goal against the Eagles. It elicited a murmur and not much more from the crowd. I guess Mick, like Trump can shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.
• Second, Mick starts singing "Midnight Rambler." Keith Richard starts playing "Paint it Black." Mick tells Keith he's off-key. Keith tells Mick he's off-song. Oops! They proceed to do "Paint it Black" and Jagger promptly tells the audience, "Guess what's coming next." Uh, "Midnight Rambler," obviously, sparking rumors the show was entirely dubbed. It didn't appear so and there were no backup musicians visible either. It was too authentic anyway to be prerecorded.
• Last, Mick welcomes Mayor Lightfoot and Governor Pritzker to the show. He welcomed them the previous Friday. They weren't there that night.

Had dinner before the show at Bar Louie in Chicago's South Loop, the neighborhood adjoining Soldier Field. Everyone there was wearing Stones stuff. Asked the couple sitting next to us at the restaurant where they were sitting and they said the same place they sat Friday. Must be nice to afford two $875 tickets, two concerts in a row, four days apart. They also flew to Zurich last year to see the Stones. Talk about fans. Talk about money. Talk about envy.

One more thing: CNN has noted that Trump uses the word "sir" a lot when he lies. Played back the tapes of him denying "shithole," Tillerson's "f'--in moron" quote and 'many fine people' in Charlottesville.

He didn't say "sir" in denying those. And I ain't lying. No sir.

Also not lying about who gets shout outs tonight on the Howard Hours on radiofreephoenix.com at 11 p.m. Central, Bentley Patterson and Bill Filetti.

And condolences to the family of Gary Kleifield, who passed away over the weekend, longtime pal from grad-school days. R.I.P. Gary.