Are We Still Talking About This Stuff?

The Schloss-Blog is wondering this week why we're still writing about COVIDiots, let alone now about revelations that Donald Trump used the Department of Justice to investigate people he thought were his political and personal enemies. Plus, now we have the list of Republicans who voted against awarding Congressional medals to the Capitol Police who defended them during the insurrection, let alone being in denial about the insurrection.

And so, this week, we ask...

Did you know...while vaccination rates continue to lag in southern and/or Red states, then-President Trump was once upon a time suggesting to his closest advisers that people infected with the virus, particularly tourists returning home, be isolated ... in Guantánamo Bay, with some of the worst of the worst political prisoners?

Yeah, he wanted to imprison them, not have their conditions in the official count of those infected to minimize it as much as possible, knowing it would be an election-defeating proposition for him.

And it worked that way, didn't it?

***

Did you know... that of 21 Republican representatives who voted against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police who helped protect them during the insurrection, seven also voted against recognizing Juneteenth as a national holiday.

Takes some balls to be a traitor and not recognize the people who saved your lives, but to double down as a racist, that takes ultimate degrees of arrogance. Even Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz, not the most-patriotic of representatives, were not stupid enough to be on both lists (they voted against the Congressional Gold Medal awards, though).

Andy Biggs (Arizona), Paul Gosar (Arizona), Ralph Norman (SC), Chip Roy (Texas), Matt Rosendale (Montana), Thomas Massie (Kentucky) and Andrew Clyde (Georgia) were the ones on both lists. Gosar's siblings want him expelled from Congress for the role they say he allegedly played in the insurrection.

Clyde described the insurrection as tourists strolling through the Capitol.

People vote for these guys. Real people, American citizens. Your neighbors, perhaps. Your acquaintances. Your relatives. People you know.

Think about it.

***

Did you know... in Florida, at a state-government building, two people are dead, four were hospitalized after a COVID-19 outbreak there?

Those six were not vaccinated. The only other person in the office who was exposed wasn't stricken, but was vaccinated. Shocking, right?

Speaks for itself in a state where the governor and his fellow Republican legislators are more interested in restricting voters' rights than protecting voters' health.

Or keeping high-rise apartment buildings upright.

***

Did you know... speaking of insurrections and politicians who are complicit in them, in Oregon, Republican Mike Nearman was expelled from the state's House of Representatives because he "unapologetically coordinated and planned a breach of the Oregon State Capitol" that happened on Dec. 21 of last year.

The vote to expel him was bipartisan, 59-1. The one vote was his own.

***

Did you know... the Department of Justice, which announced a review of restrictive voting laws in GOP-controlled states, has now followed through by taking Georgia to court?

The new Georgia law allows state officials to literally take over local election boards, severely limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters waiting in long lines to vote and offer them sustenance, otherwise known as food and water.

The whole premise of the law seemed odd to begin with, considering state officials declared their 2020 vote secure and accurate but passed this legislation to prevent the type of fraud that Donald Trump says took place there anyway.

To my friends in Georgia - Ann, Lee, Nancy, Nancy and Peter - may your voting journeys remain unobstructed and crystal clear, or, as one of you put it to me, despite "Dr. Death" in the governor's mansion.

***

Finally, while President Biden declared that "we have a deal" on infrastructure, it turns out it's just a framework, there's a lot more negotiating to be done, some Democrats are likely going to hold out for a larger package anyway, McConnell has called it "extortion" and Rand Paul is a schmuck.

Just threw that in on general principle.

In typical D.C. fashion, and in the immortal words of Bluto Blutarsky, "Nothing's over until we say it's over."

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Vaccines, COVIDiots and some downright, despicable Americans

The Schloss-Blog has so much to talk about this week that we don't know where to start.

How about we start with the chilling news? Right now, as you read this, 10 percent of all coronavirus cases in the United States are the new 'Delta' variant, a serious, more lethal and faster-spreading version of the virus that has killed 600,000 of your fellow Americans.

And it stands a chance to cause mayhem in the United States, just when we thought we were returning to normal. How come?

Well, consider that as many as one-third of all Americans are not yet vaccinated, a scary (see second sentence, above) proposition. How come? A variety of reasons, that's why. They're skeptical about the virus, about its efficacy and that it's been developed as quickly as it was, leaving room for them to doubt its long-term effectiveness and any aftereffects, long term or short. Or, like a certain past president, they're just COVIDiots who deny the viability of the virus and perhaps think not eating Chinese food nor consuming Corona beer will keep them healthy, or, in other words, who needs a vaccine?

***

Where are these COVIDiots? They are predominantly in Southern and Red states, you know, the ones where Republican governors and legislators are trying as hard to deny minorities their voting rights as they are trying to not care if they're catching the virus. While states like New York and Vermont have achieved a reported 70 percent and 80 percent vaccination rates in their populations, respectively, Alabama and Louisiana are well below 50 percent.

Just 'wonnerful,' them southerners, ain't they? What are they trying to prove? Don't they know that their hero, Donald Trump, got vaccinated on his way out the door at the White House? But he's probably happy to see that these Red states could prevent the United States from achieving total herd immunity while the people preventing it are risking death. 

Because they are.

***

To get off that track for a second, surveys show that the world likes us again.

A Pew Research survey shows that 75 percent of people in 12 countries say they like the image and message coming from President Biden, contrasted to the 17 percent who thought the same about us under Trump. In Britain alone, 64 percent of those surveyed said they now have a favorable view of us, contrasted to 41 percent during the Trump administration.

In France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, our favorably-viewed rating went up 25 percentage points, Trump to Biden.

Of more than 16,000 people surveyed again between March and May, around the world, the U.S. was favorably viewed by more than 60 percent of them, who said that they have confidence that Biden will do the right thing in the world community.

In other words, Trump sucked.

***

Just to put an exclamation point on the COVIDiot stuff, 20 percent of the world is fully vaccinated, contrasted to 44 percent of the American population.

More starkly, according to The Economist, between 7 million and 13 million people have died around the world from the virus, by their estimate, taking into account that so many governments likely under-report their death statistics.

Even more chilling, as we "round that corner" in the battle against the coronavirus in 2021, more people have died from the virus this year than when it peaked in 2020 and so many of us were on lockdown, according to the World Health Organization.

Pleasant, huh?

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Of Taxes, Texas, Voting Rights, Doing Things Right and Fastly

The Schloss-Blog has too many issues to deal with and not enough time nor space to do it. But let's get started anyway.

***

THE RECOUNT in Arizona is almost over, some 2.1 million ballots from Maricopa County. The people doing the recount and the people providing support are all Republicans or Republican-appointed shills who are going to say the vote count is off.

They have charged all expenses for this to the state of Arizona, in other words, to its taxpayers. Or at least $150,000 worth of it. The rest is being financed through campaign finances raised or private contributions.

The company overseeing everything, Cyber Ninjas, has no voting-count experience and is on record as a known disbeliever in the election results. Now, with the hand recount almost done (the third one), the examiners, including known Republican operatives and candidates for office, are inspecting the paper ballots for - are you ready(?) - bamboo, or evidence it came out of China.

The sad part is that this effort is generating calls for same in battleground states that Biden won.

In other words, Republicans are pieces of shit.

***

Taxes.

We all pay them. The only two definite things: death and taxes.

Unless you're rich. Like, really, really rich.

You know, like Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates kind of rich.

If so, you hardly pay any taxes, according to an investigation by ProPublica.

It found that the 25 richest Americans, whose income tax returns they claim to have obtained, reveal that they pay nothing or next to it.

And for those 25, that goes back 15 years.

How do you feel about that? I paid more in taxes last year than, oh, say, Elon Musk.

How do they dodge the taxman? Easy. In simplest terms, they live on their earnings off of existing investments rather than have working income taxed, like you and me.

The only way to beat this is to get rich. Just like them.

Good luck.

***

Some of the country's biggest and best-performing VC's (venture capitalist types) are taking a turn for the better.

Of everyone.

Before they sink their money into your venture they want to know what's in it.

For the planet.

No, really. Crain's Chicago Business is reporting that major corporations are entertaining proposals to go green, think ecologically and be nice to the planet nowadays.

Almost 30 years ago, I heard a speaker at a conference talk about how he helped found the "Don't Mess With Texas" award-winning, anti-littering campaign. He talked about how companies had to "do good to do well."

Now, three decades later, it has come home to roost on Wall Street.

'Bout time.

***

One sports thing. My wheelhouse.

Aaron Rodgers didn't show up at Green Bay's mandatory OTA session (Organized Team Activity).

Does anyone really think he won't be the starting quarterback for Green Bay on the NFL's opening weekend in September? The Packers have the best regular-season record in the league the last two years (26-6).

Rodgers is the reigning MVP.

He'll be there. I really doubt he wants to be traded to nor play for, let's say a Denver team that is going nowhere, with or without him.

***

Finally, reading an old article about The Daily Show's Trevor Noah.

He was an immensely successful stand-up comic in his native South Africa who once supposedly attracted a crowd of screaming fans there at an airport in which Justin Bieber was also in plain sight.

Noah makes perfect sense of how poorly things could go in America in the wake of Trump and the anti-American domestic media that supports him, with which he has tangled in the past.

One example of how bad things have been is that months after his death, Herman Cain's Twitter account was still posting misinformation that the coronavirus was bogus.

Bogus.

And that was where America found itself in 2020 - you either believed the virus was for real.

Or you didn't and you bought the BS coming from the Trump camp.

America still has a long way to go in the battle against the virus and its variants. We will likely not have 70 percent of the population vaccinated by July 4, like Biden wants.

We've come so far against the virus, further than Trump ever would've gotten in his serial-killer campaign of denying it.

We've got to get everybody vaccinated. Before we're quarantined again.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Hi, My Name Is...

The Schloss-Blog space today is being handed over to a special contributor.

***

Hi. My name is Brian Sicknick.

I'm dead.

But I think you might want to hear my story.

I was a member of the U.S. Capitol Police. I joined in 2008.

Never thought I'd end up dead 13 years later, but here I am.

Maybe you saw or heard how I died.

It wasn't from injuries suffered while thousands upon thousands assaulted the Capitol on Jan. 6. But the D.C. medical examiner did determine my injuries were contributory to my death from natural causes.

At age 42.

Forty-two!

Did you see me on TV? I'm a star, I guess. I was attacked, sprayed with something. Here's the link (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-videos-show-alleged-assault-capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-n1265876). 

My friends and colleagues on the force were sprayed too, and they were beaten. And almost crushed to death. That's one of my friends being crushed near to death by the rioters in a Capitol doorway. Here's the link (https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/01/09/officer-crushed-in-door-capitol-riots-lemon-reaction-ctn-vpx.cnn).

Pretty cool, huh?

The rioters outnumbered us by about 1,000 to 1, if you're doing the math. Or course, they weren't looking for me. They were looking for Mike Pence, the vice-president of the United States.

They wanted to kill him. Here's the link (https://news.yahoo.com/graphic-video-shows-rioters-looking-013159427.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC2phjkIVxQAtyjxqlyKloeN3wnKZ7r9YcIImFLRexuT9nt3qF2lJuqF1FWqMoscLMNgl2DyJcF0VsoiWT_w0Y_GyKNNBmw03FHb6L2Ak2TGRcdouFxEyHz2gbo615fdk3JYNj4CDsT2EY83d1OUg46iUpphw4-4hNwF4Z6fw8yj). 

There's an ad first at the start of the video. Sorry. Who would want to advertise before this? Beats me.

Besides, I'm dead.

The rioters, they wanted to kill Nancy Pelosi too. Here's the link (https://www.itv.com/news/2021-02-10/us-capitol-rioters-planned-to-kill-mike-pence-and-put-bullet-through-nancy-pelosis-skull-legal-documents-say). It shows my buddy being crushed again. It takes a little while to get to the "we-wanted-to-kill-her" part. Anyway though, Pelosi, she's important, like, the Speaker of the House, or something, whatever that is.

I'm a Republican, anyway. I voted Republican. Always.

And now, I'm dead.

The real reason I'm writing to you though is because of what's going on at the Capitol now, what I was willing to give my life for.

The Republicans, my fellow Republicans, are refusing to support legislation that would establish a totally bipartisan commission to investigate the invasion that eventually contributed to my death, just 24 hours later.

Yeah, the medical examiner said "natural causes," but if that riot hadn't happened, if that spray had never been directed at me, sickening me, if those insurrectionists hadn't been hunting for Pelosi, Pence and their colleagues, I'd probably be alive now.

But I'm not.

Because of my fellow Republicans.

My fellow f'ing Republicans. 

Don't you want to know the circumstances behind my death? Not just what happened that day, but the real, behind-the-scenes circumstances?

That's what the bipartisan commission would've done.

I guess those Republicans don't want to know why. I guess Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, Democrats, don't want to either, or at least don't want to pull out all the stops to get it done.

They're assholes too. In that case, they're dead to me.

But like I said, they don't care what I think.

I'm dead.

I want to thank the Schloss-Blog for the opportunity to address you directly today.

They asked me to say good night to a Mrs. Calabash, whoever she is, and raise a glass to a Mrs. Robinson, whoever she is.

Anyway, listen to the Schloss-Blog's show on Radio Free Phoenix on Sunday night. It's rock 'n' roll.

Well, not for me.

I'm dead.

 

Gonna' Try To Write A Poem...

The Schloss-Blog was gonna' write a poem

Again

About the insurrection

But we couldn't decide

To take it in which direction

It doesn't deserve poetic treatment

A feat so dastard

Why give poetic recognition

To those f-ckin' bastards

No, not those 

Who stormed the castle

No, to the congressmen

Who are denying this hassle

A stroll in the park

Tourists they say

Tell that to the D.C. cops

The ultimate price they did pay

It's hard to understand

The claims these racists make

If the tourists had caught them

It would've been their heads on a stake

Investigate the causes

GOP says no way Jose

There are Hispanics at the border

We've got to lock away

And throw away the key

A commission to look into this

Ha, says GOP 

Waste of time

We've got Black voters

To tie up in long, long lines

So audit, and audit

And audit away

For winning this election

We'll make Democrats pay

Dems wanna' fix roads

Dems wanna' provide jobs

But we're the GOP

And we'll blow that up

With our filibuster bombs

We'll roll out our weapons

We'll hit you with Marjorie

And when she softens you up

We've got McConnell and McCarthery

The Big Lie it is

We'll never look back

You stole this election

And we're gonna' take it back

We'll persist and present

We'll maintain The Big Lie

Eventually you'll believe

Or you'll surrender and die

If we don't kill you in a riot

Well, we can bring back corona

We have enough COVIDiots

That to get an injection

They'll never roll over

So go out to eat

But before you order and die

Don't go to a Chinese restaurant

Don't order that beer with the lime

We're coming to get ya

Democracy is doomed

If you don't believe it

Log on to the GOP zoom

And never forget

We're the party of Lincoln

But we're so full of shit

Our pants ain't on fire

They're just stinkin'

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

Was Gonna' Take The Weekend Off...

The Schloss-Blog was going to take the weekend off, but...

..there's so much going on. However, we're taking a more nontraditional route today, on this solemn, holiday weekend.

I don't want anyone to think I am anti-U.S. military, but I was anti-Vietnam War and would've gone to Canada to avoid the draft (I was No. 282 in the first-ever draft lottery - they got into the 220's).

I was against the Gulf War, especially when we didn't find those WMD's we were promised were there (thank you, Colin Powell). 

Now, 20 years later, it only took us four presidents to get out of a country, Afghanistan, that has never been successfully invaded by any army (ask Russia). And despite the damage we've done to the Taliban, they are coming back as we depart.

And after we kicked a larger Russian force's asses in Syria, Trump kindly pulled our troops out so to spare Putin the embarrassment and so Turkey could kick Kurdish ass. The Kurds, our allies against al-Qaeda, were left to die at Turkish hands, typifying Trump's cowardly approach to foreign affairs.

But enough about the military. Here's what fell out my notebook this morning that may impact your life.

***

AM radios are on the way out in new electric vehicles because of AM's shrinking audience and interference that leaves your sound with lots of static.

***

Fifty percent of the U.S. population is vaccinated in full against COVID. Will we need a booster though? No one knows. Will we achieve herd immunity? Not while COVIDiots like @Outkick and Ron Johnson are around.

***

Do you feel comfortable not wearing a mask when you're out and about? My gym doesn't require it anymore for the fully vaccinated but doesn't ask for proof that you are. A lot of other places don't either. Still feeling comfortable? Bill Maher, full vaccinated, tested positive and his Real Time show, which I love, was off the air on HBO for two weeks.

***

To get people vaccinated, states and municipalities are offering cash (millions!) and other incentives (free tuition) to get people to take the shot. This is what happens when COVIDiots are all that's left un-vaccinated. Thank you, Donald Trump.

***

Feel safe traveling abroad again, especially to Europe? Supposedly, you'll have to test negative coming and going, vaccinated or not (see Maher, Bill, above).

***

Still love Donald Trump? When he was president, the GOP couldn't pile up U.S. debt fast enough (it went up 36 percent from 2017-2021). Now though, the GOP won't spend enough to conquer COVID, "Build America Back Better" nor investigate the insurrection which they did instigate (I see another poem in the Schloss-Blog's future)

***.

I'd say bring in NCIS to investigate, but NCIS-New Orleans has been canceled after seven seasons and Mark Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was left seemingly doing a wounded breaststroke in a remote lake after his motorboat was blown up while he was looking into a murder with an investigative reporter, played by his real-life wife, Pam (Mork & Mindy) Dawber.

Did he, will he survive? What would that show be without him? McGee would have to run the team and the only thing interesting left would be sex between team members Wilmer Valderrama (Nicholas Torres) and Eleanor Bishop (cutie Emily Wickersham).

***

Need to give a thank you to Lenise Pleza, my fellow "Radio Free Phoenix dot com" DJ, who does a fabulous "Cartoon World" broadcast from across the pond. Her free-form features include a themed Sonic Six-Pack, and last week, she did mine: six songs you'd keep driving beyond your destination to hear the end of rather than park and cut them off. My six, in no particular order, were: Layla (Derek & the Dominos); One (U2); Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin); Hey Jude (Beatles); God Only Knows (Beach Boys); and Already Gone (Eagles).

What are your six?

***

We see where Naomi Osaka, the tennis wizard and female athlete making the most money now ($55 million estimated) is refusing media sessions at the French Open, for what she says are mental-health reasons. I'm fine with that, but is YBN Cordae, her hip-hopper boyfriend, there to provide mental-health relief for her? Are the media a distraction, as she contends, that asks the wrong questions and gets too personal? She says, "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes' mental health." And she says speaking after losing has the potential to be too mentally taxing.

Is she right? I have interviewed many athletes and coaches after difficult losses. They are not in the best of moods, no doubt. But talking to them immediately after an event is when you get the freshest thoughts about it on their minds. Admittedly though, reporters have to be sensitive to repetitive questions and respect when athletes decline to answer something, especially on clearly emotional grounds. Some reporters are just too impressed with themselves, or, translated, just plain f-cking stupid.

***

Finally, Southwest Airlines, emerging from the pandemic, has stopped serving booze on flights almost as soon as they had started.

Seems too many fights broke out among passengers.

It's time for Trumpian COVIDiot seating sections. In the back.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.