2022 - What Could Be

Schloss-Blog looking ahead at 2022...

In Sports and Entertainment...(next week, politics and life in general)...

Aaron Rodgers says he's immune - to league rules, that is.

Major League Baseball says no one on the 2017 Astros ever did anything wrong.

NBA says it has COVID-19 under control.

Bears, Blackhawks, Cubs declare themselves professional franchises.

Mets sign Sidd Finch.

Baseball Hall of Fame opens "Steroid Wing."

Spielberg reboots "West Side Story" remake with land-shark and dinosaur.

Obscure high school football coach finds solution for missed tackles - it's called "practice."

"Die Hard 6" debuts - John McLane in shoot-out with Kyle Rittenhouse.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" ends with Larry David buying Waystar/Royco and having sex with Shiv.

Or does Logan Roy buy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and have sex with Cheryl David?

Gojo head buying Waystar/Royco revealed as bloodsucking corporate raider. Literal bloodsucker.

Tune in next season.

U.S. office spaces are near empty as people continue to work from home to stay safe from the virus.

Sporting venues and concert halls are packed as people remain safe from the virus.

Michele Tofoya to leave NBC's Sunday Night Football to join Fox News.

Jemelle Hill to join NBC's Sunday Night Football as new sideline reporter.

Cris Collinsworth to join Packers front office.

Jemelle Hill promoted to play-by-play analyst for NBC's Sunday Night Football.

Inflation has gotten so bad that, as Bill Maher says, "Everything's a Dollar" stores are now "Everything's a Dollar-and-a-Quarter" stores.

And finally, Janice Griffith is into revenge sex. Who's Janice Griffith? She's a 25-year-old leading porn star, single, living in my native Brooklyn, and seeking, believe it or not, a very normal dating relationship. 

Janice, call me after your next breakup, please!

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

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

Part II, Reflections on Politics and Law...

First, did anyone get, from last week, that the head of Gojo threatening to buy Waystar/Royco on "Succession," who I referred to as a "bloodsucker," is Alexander Skarsgård, the star of the "True Blood" vampire series? Just sayin'... 

Anyway, on with the show and Happy New Year, or should I say, "News Year?"

***

Is it just me or does anyone else think NFL players are lying profusely about being vaccinated?

Oh, and next time anyone watches an NFL, NHL or NBA game with players you recognize, let me know.

Meanwhile, looking ahead, having recaptured the House and the Senate, Republicans declare Jan. 6 a national holiday.

Students bring AR-15's for "Show 'n Tell."

Marjorie Taylor Greene marries Kyle Rittenhouse.

Ted Cruz appears in Breathe-Rite strips commercial, not wearing a mask on a plane. To Cancun.

New strain of coronavirus identified - stupidity! Reportedly spreading like wildfire.

Long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccine revealed as Windows 11 sales skyrocket.

Joe Manchin says he's closer to making a decision on making a decision.

No, wait ... Joe Manchin's a dick.

Anyway ... Infrastructure Week actually happens.

Ted Cruz appears at Washington National cathedral not wearing a mask at a funeral - his own.

CNN launches CNN Digital - no one watches.

New coronavirus strain identified - COVID of the brain; Republicans particularly susceptible.

Trump finally tells Jan. 6 insurrectionists to go home.

Arizona, Georgia declare Trump wins 2024 election - will count votes in 2027.

In drastic climate-change evidence, hurricane makes landfall in Missouri (actually happened, sorta').

Supreme Court reinstates guilty verdict in Scopes Monkey Trial.

Pompeo, Haley, Rubio, DeSantis, Cruz tell Trump to make up his fuckin' mind already.

Biden names Kamala Harris vice president.

To boost ratings, MSNBC premieres "Afternoon Joe."

ABC/IPsos polling reveals most people don't tell the truth in polling.

Mandalorian declared sexiest man alive.

Kevin Costner elected governor of Montana.

Kim Jong-un memoir reveals homosexual relationship with Trump.

    Melania shrugs shoulders, says, "Meh."

Ivermectin declared drug of the year - by doctors Oz, Phil, Rogan and Rodgers.

Oprah formally ends book club over a million little things.

The same people who say they want to save lives by banning abortions don't want to save lives by mandating COVID vaccinations.

ServPro prepared for anything - except Trump not paying his bill. One thing ServPro can say about that - like it never even happened.

***

From last week, Janice Griffith, why haven't you called me yet?

Oh, and I made my annual New Year's resolution that I NEVER keep: return Christie Brinkley's phone calls.

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

Happy holidays, everyone (yeah, I said, happy - screw you, Trump).

What A Week! This Is Truly Unbelievable!

What a week we've been through.

Hopes for maintaining Roe vs Wade flattened.

The Supreme Court tipping its hand on that.

Trump revealed to have attended a debate with Biden after having tested positive for COVID-19.

Out-of-hand racist jokes by Lauren Boebert.

Infighting among congressional Republicans.

And the college football world, and its values, turned upside down.

The omicron variant is here as well, further emphasizing the need for vaccination. And testing.

Where to start...

***

First, let's apply some logic to what we heard from the Supreme Court this week regarding abortions.

The same people who want to mandate what women can't do with their bodies are the same people who don't want a mandate for COVID vaccinations in their bodies.

More simply, the same Republicans who support banning abortions in the name of the sanctity of life are the same ones who have blocked every attempt at gun control that produced four dead bodies and many more wounded, by a 14-year old, at Oxford High School in Michigan.

Yet, people keep voting for them.

Fuck 'em, I mean it, fuck 'em.

***

If you listened to the oral arguments regarding the Jackson v Dobbs case before the Supreme Court, you probably came away thinking Roe v Wade, for 50 years the law of the land, was in trouble.

And you'd be right.

Questioning by the conservative justices seemed to tip their hand that their vote to legitimize this would overturn Roe v Wade and essentially eliminate reproductive rights for women in this country.

But the most pertinent comments came from liberal just Sonia Sotomayor, who said, in essence, overturning Roe would not allow the court to "survive the stench" of the decision being overtly political, as Mississippi legislators outright stated they were introducing the legislation because they believed that they had a conservative-enough court to uphold it.

And God effin' damn it, they appear to be right.

***

In former chief of White House staff Mark Meadows' new book, due out this week, he reveals that Trump had tested positive for COVID just before his September 2020 debate with Joe Biden.

Not only did he attend anyway, putting everyone, including Biden, in jeopardy, but his family, in attendance, did not wear masks in the hall in Cleveland, as mandated.

Trump never cared who died of COVID. Including his family, I guess.

He was hospitalized three days after debate.

Republicans are truly the party of death.

***

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) did not just allegedly call Democrat Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) a terrorist - she actually did it.

And isn't backing down from it. Omar has subsequently received overt death threats.

Boebert once wanted to carry a gun into the House of Representatives.

With any luck, it would've gone off in her pocket and she'd have shot herself in the foot.

Meanwhile, Republicans continue infighting among themselves, with reckless Marjorie Taylor Greene and traditional Republican Nancy Mace trading more than barbs.

And with Kevin McCarthy refusing to publicly rebuke Boebert or Greene, the Democrats have about their only hope of the Republicans self-destructing in their effort to take the House in 2022.

Hopefully. 

***

If you play football for Notre Dame, how do you feel about your coach bolting for another job with your team?

As I heard a radio commentator say, when Kelly met with his team, if he met with his team, you can bet some 'F' bombs were tossed his way by players so heavily recruited, who helped him win more games than any other Notre Dame coach.

All those wins and one dead student assistant later, he's now the head coach at LSU. Money talks.

***

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

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

Hope you had a Happy Hanukkah.

 

Mixed Bag of ... Stuff

The Schloss-Blog, in the spirit of the holidays, has a mixed bag today. Sort of ... politics and not politics.

***

COVID-19 has changed our lives, but we've come a long way. After all, how many of you remember sneezing into the crease of your elbow?

Yet, COVID hospitalizations are up 40% as we head into the heart of holiday partying, or so the NY Times tells us.

No one, not a single soul, wants to go back to a shutdown, so how do we mitigate against the virus creeping back into our lives in a critical way without compromising the advances we've made in socializing, traveling, shopping and just gathering altogether?

Good question. Anyone got an answer?

We are learning, to an extent, to live with the virus. But the virus isn't done killing us, clearly. We'll be at 800,000 dead Americans soon.

Where do we go from here? Wherever asshole #COVIDiots let us, I suppose.

***

On a brighter note, Sex and the City is back, "And Just Like That" the characters are all here, except for ever sex-crazed Samantha (Kim Cattrall). This time around, they're all in their 50's and there is an acknowledgment of COVID on the show.

We'll see where it goes.

***

Still got cable?

As profitable as cable is, cord-cutting goes on and streaming is poised to displace it as our primary viewing vehicle.

Live sports is primarily keeping cable - and network TV - afloat. Will that last?

I hear from people that all the promises about "live sports" being available on streaming services is not what it is promised to be in their promos.

For me, when I'm the last person still on cable, I'll switch over to a streaming service and find out. Until then, I can access amazon prime and HBOMAX anytime I want to.

It's sort of like an electric car. I'll buy one when the gas stations on every corner are replaced with electric-charging stations that do the trick in minutes, not hours. Shell Electric, Mobil Electric, Exxon Electric are all still a pipe dream.

Or as they say in the commercial, "now squeegee." 

***

As great a quarterback as Aaron Rodgers is, he is just as much a lying asshole.

***

Speaking of things remembered, do you remember malls? Been to one? I haven't. OK, I ran in and out of one, literally, to go to a small jewelry store to get a new band attached to an old favorite watch.

But Macy's? Penney's? Nordstrom? Are you kidding? Been two years.

Will be another two until asshole #COVIDiots get vaccinated and we can all go back to being normal.

Same, for me, for movie theaters.

***

Keep hearing the economy sucks. Does it?

Unemployment? Way, way, way, way down (4.2%).

Wages? Way, way, way, way up. Yes, some 5% annualized. But CNBC is saying a 9% rise in inflation negates that.

Things like supply-chain problems, although alleviating, inflation and labor shortages provide the perception that the economy is not good, even though it's humming.

But perception is reality, and if Democrats don't harp on their economic successes and COVID wins,  Republicans who don't care if you die, or how, will win back everything.

And all those gains stand to be erased.

***

Next week, preceding Christmas, the Schloss-Blog will not just do a year-end look back but will look at some lists of best, worst and most that pop up at this time of year.

Like "vaccine" being the word of the year, according to one dictionary. "Allyship," was the word according to another dictionary, the art of aligning with and supporting a cause, perhaps human rights (so why are the Olympics in Beijing this February?). 

We'll see. See you then.

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

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

Men and Women

Today's post, though updated a little, is rerun from a previous Schloss-Blog from so long ago that it wasn't even called the Schloss-Blog back then. The Schloss-Blog is taking the holiday weekend off.

For today, in the spirit of giving thanks, the Schloss-Blog does not have the heart to be political nor cynical (yeah, right). America remains a country marked by violence or Republican calls therefor. We will address that in a later blog post.

Today, let's have some fun, a blast from the past, if you will. The Schloss-Blog returns in its usual form next weekend.

Today's Schloss-Blog is not about politics (OK, a little). But it is about people. Democrats and Republicans. Boys and girls. Men and Women. Remember when we all got along? Laugh with me. Or at me. Your call.

***

Today, we're thinking that woman should be in charge. Of everything. 

Women should rule the world. Why not? They make sense out of everything.

For instance, men wear jeans.

Women wear jeans that fit.

Like, a guy in our line at the grocery store the other day had jeans on - belted - that had slipped below his butt. Fortunately, his boxers hadn't.

When was the last time, or anytime, that you saw a woman in line at the grocery store with her jeans having slipped below her butt?

***

Men, meanwhile, go to the grocery store.

Women go shopping.

Men buy stuff on amazon.

Women look for exactly what they want on amazon dot com. Or Macy's. Or Clinique. Or Target. Or...

***

Men cook dinner.

Women plan a meal.

Men make steaks on the grill.

Women go to the store, pick out steaks, bring them home, defrost them, tenderize them and marinate them.

Men put them on the grill and flip them every 6 minutes.

But the men cooked them, right?

***

Men sweep and vacuum.

Women clean the house.

In its entirety.

Men go to the bathroom for half an hour.

Women take Febreze with them.

***

Men have favorite football teams they would die for.

Women have favorite football teams they live for.

Men have favorite underwear they like.

Women buy them for him.

Men watch TV.

Women watch their favorite shows.

Men vote.

Women research candidates.

Men like to dance.

Women know how to dance.

Men like Saturday Night Live.

Women like Colin Jost.

Smart men get vaccinated.

All women do.

Men run the United States.

It's about time women did.

***

Good night Mr. & Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Mr. and Mrs. Robinson.

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

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.