Curtailing John Cornyn, Elon Musk, Ken Paxton, Michael Buffer, Abortion and "THE" Ohio State University

So much happening that got curtailed or needed to be curtailed in the past week, in the Schloss-Blog's humble opinion.

The Texas Republican Party annual convention booed ultra-conservative Sen. John Cornyn for his negotiating participation in the Senate's gun-control legislation negotiations, a deal that would put sensible, national legislation in place on gun laws.

The Texas Republican Party also issued a declaration that Joseph R Biden is not the legally elected President of the United States.

This is why democracy is in trouble.

***

Roe v Wade is dead.

***

But just when you thought the Constitution could not be violated further by the Supreme Court, along comes, believe it or not, the New York Times.

The Times, which owns high-profile The Athletic sports publication is restricting it from commenting on politics.

In a day and time when sports and politics intersect ever more dramatically all the time (sexual harassment, equal opportunity hiring and more), the Times is supposed to be the last place this happens.

Yet, here we are. More on this in the Schloss Sports Blog on Monday.

***

Elon Musk is still fudging on buying Twitter (to Trump's dismay).

His financing is reportedly incomplete by a few billion. And even though Twitter's board has approved the deal, the shareholders have not spoken yet.

Except the ones who filed suit to block the deal.

On top of all else, Musk's transgender daughter has reportedly gone to court, at age 18, to have her gender assignment changed from male to female and to have her name legally changed.

***

Roe v Wade is dead.

***

Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens' ad depicting him on a SWAT raid of RINOs who want some measure of gun control has drawn criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.

My criticism? He's a schmuck.

The problem? Lots of schmucks in Missouri who will vote for him.

***

Quick takes:

*If you're not watching the Jan. 6 Committee hearings, you are missing a Dick Wolf-type production of great intensity and compelling drama.

*Has anyone seen Kamala Harris?

*Ohio State trademarked "The." No, really.

*Paid $94 to fill my little Volkswagen's golf tank. Or about a dollar a stroke on my golf game that day.

***

Roe v Wade is dead.

***

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

Personal note: what a treat to attend the recent dinner in honor of The (take that, Ohio State) late Daily Herald Managing Editor for Sports, Bob Frisk. So good to see so many familiar faces from the reporting and coaching ranks who came to pay tribute.

Have to wonder how much fun a wordsmith like Bob would've had in a column on "The" and Ohio State's trademarking thereof.  

Schloss Monday Morning Sports-Blog

OK, I forgot to post the Sports-Blog last week.

Was traveling. No, golfing.

Lots to catch up on.

Jeremy Schaap, on ESPN's "Outside the Lines," did an engaging report that the New York Jets and Giants are tied for the worst record in the NFL over the last five years.

The NFL tolerates its largest TV market having its worst teams.

Well, the J-E-T-S can J-E-R-K O-F-F. They haven't been good since I sold hot dogs at Shea in '69. And the Giants? They're still "Jones-ing" for a quarterback.

Speaking of NY quarterbacks, who's the best ever: Eli or Joe Willie?

***

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) says people in his constituency need AR-15's to hunt.

Feral pigs.

Yeah, what a legitimate hunting ambition that is. What, are the pigs wearing body armor?

***

Guys from the LIV golf tour, sponsored by Saudi blood money, were allowed to play in the U.S. Open this past weekend.

Outside of the advance blood money, what famous trophies are they playing for?

The Terrorist Cup?

***

Speaking of LIV, who was that guy with the mustache from that tour shooting 11 over and missing the cut at the U.S. Open?

Oh yeah, Phil Michel$on.

***

Finally, these "rules" of golf:

* Golf balls are like eggs - they're white, they're sold by the dozen, and a week later you have to buy more.

 

* The pro-shop gets its name from the fact that you must have the income of a professional golfer to buy anything in there.

 

* It's amazing how a golfer who never helps with house or yard work will replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps.

 

* Did you ever notice that it's a lot easier to get up at 6 a.m. to play golf than at 10 to mow the yard or go to church?

 

* It takes longer to become good at golf than it does brain surgery. On the other hand, you seldom get to ride around in a cart, drink beer and eat hot dogs while performing brain surgery.

 

* A good drive on the 18th hole has stopped many a golfer from giving up the game.

 

* A good golf partner is one who's slightly worse than you.

***

Good night, Morganna. Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?  

Bits and Pieces, Mostly Broken Pieces...

The Schloss-Blog is watching everything. It looks like this:

You want to get action from Congress on gun control, significant action?

Release the damn photos of the Uvalde victims.

***

Things are so compelling, so dramatic in the presentations by the Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection that for the first time, Donald Trump posted on his own Truth Social network.

Even though that sparked a rise in enrollment on practically dormant social medium, it was his first post since its establishment in February (think he misses his Twitter account?) and shows the depth to which the committee's findings, and evidence, indict him.

It took five months for him to post on it.

***

Speaking of five, a fifth. Which is probably what Trump consumed watching John Eastman take the 5th more than 100 times.

Eastman asked to be on Trump's presidential pardon list on 45's way out the door, but it didn't happen. The ask, and if it had been granted, would've been an admission of guilt by Eastman and Trump. The Supreme Court has held that taking the 5th "...carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it."

'Nuf said.

***

 A lot of noted anniversaries this week.

Remember Internet Explorer? It was officially retired this week.

Remember Watergate? This week is the 50th anniversary of the break-in that sparked it all.

In fact, it was Forest Gump, staying at the Watergate Hotel that night, who called it in.

***

Georgia Congressman Barry Loudermilk escorted would-be insurrectionists on a tour of the Capitol the day before the attack.

A few things here:

He denied it at first.

Then said he does it all the time.

The Capitol was closed to the public at the time due to the pandemic.

His "guests" were taking pictures of security stairwells.

He's a lying schmuck and a prospective conspirator.

***

Lauren Boebert, the biased, gun-toting representative from Colorado, has added to her colorful list of quotes with this gem:

"Jesus didn't have enough AR-15s to keep his government from overthrowing him."

She also felt that Jewish visitors to the Capitol were doing recon.

For what, asshole?

***

This is the 50th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Napalm Girl" photo from Vietnam.

Devastating.

***

Speaking of anniversaries, The series "The Jetsons" was supposedly set in 2062, or 40 years from now.

Which mean George Jetson, who is supposedly 40 in the cartoon series from the '60s, would be born sometime this year.

Right?

***

Every Sunday, I read the Chicago Tribune Business section - uh, Success section - and it is filled with bylines from Inc. and other sources that are not Chicago Tribune.

Welcome to the era of reporting in the 21st century, Maybe the Chicago Tribune should just be called the Tribune.

***

Good night Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Kim Phuc Phan Tai.

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show. Congrats to John Kirk DeRitis being named RFP's midday jock, all week long.                    .

Up, Up, Up ... prices and shootings, that is

The Schloss-Blog is watching everything blow up.

Prices. Of everything.

Groceries.

What's the old commercial - for what I used to pay for three bags of groceries I now get two? 

Yeah, that's what it is at the grocery store today.

And the Consumer Price Index is in - the price of everything is up 8.6 percent. 

Gas, especially, is up more than 8 percent from a year ago. Groceries, 10 percent!

The average price of a gallon of gas is more than $5.

Is that the magic number? Is that what it will take to get you to change your driving habits? Fewer trips anywhere, especially leisure activities?

What will you give up - period - in the name of inflation? What can you do without, or will you just keep on keeping on?

The guys I play golf with regularly, who live all over, rotate the courses we play. Sometimes it's within 5-10 miles of my house. Sometimes it's 50 miles.

The 50-miles-away courses may get a pass from me. The price to drive there is more than the greens fee.

And flying?

Airline ticket prices have - pardon the pun - skyrocketed,

For what I paid to fly Phoenix-Chicago one way recently I could find a round-trip ticket a year ago.

On top of it all, President Biden says his hands are pretty much tied on inflation and it will probably get worse before it gets better.

How come? War in Ukraine impacting agricultural products. The still backed-up shipping lanes at U.S. ports thanks to COVID's legacy.

And COVID's presence still lingering over China, the second-largest economy in the world.

By the way, nah, I'll still play golf. Anywhere.

***

Seeing a lot on social media about gun control.

What I see - and I'll say it again - is the same people who say they want to protect life by banning abortion are the same people who won't protect life by instituting universal background checks and red flag laws for gun purchases.

They also won't mandate nor even consider recommending masks and vaccines to save lives from COVID (almost 400 people a day still die from COVID).

Not even having their own get shot - Gabby Giffords of Arizona and Steve Scalise of  Louisiana - is enough to get them to act.

Maybe when one of them loses a child in a mass shooting at a public school - at the next Sandy Hook or Robb Elementary - maybe then they'll change their minds.

But they'll more likely instead call for more people with more guns to protect the schools.

Including the teachers. Yeah, great idea, Ted Cruz.

***

This is the 50th anniversary of Watergate. 

It still lingers.

So does Trump, a living memorial thereto.

***

Two moving things on TV this past week and neither was a NY Rangers loss or a Boston Celtics win (hate the Celtics).

The little girl who testified that she covered herself with a schoolmate's blood to make the Robb Elementary shooter think she was dead brought tears.

Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) of the January 6 committee saying to her Republican conspiracy believers: "...there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain."

Amen.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Liz Cheney.

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

Shooters, Shootings and MJT Gems

The Schloss-Blog this weekend is thinking about shooters, shootings and Marjorie Taylor Greene gems.

Did you know...

...that despite inflation, supply-chain shortages and all else, unemployment remains at just 3.6% and 360,000 jobs were added last month, well beyond economists projections?

Did you know...

...that Marjorie Taylor Greene said of the 2020 election and the transfer of power:"You can't allow it to just transfer power peacefully like Joe Biden wants and allow him to become our president. Because he did not win this election. It's being stolen." 

Did you know...

...that 70 percent of tickets to soccer's Champions League's final sold to Liverpool fans were fake? Which means that there were that many maniacal Liverpool fans so crazed to get tickets that they were stupid enough to buy them in their blind fanatic fervor.

And you wonder why so many Republicans believe the election was stolen from Trump.

Did you know...

...Marjorie Taylor Greene said of Nancy Pelosi: “But now we have Nancy Pelosi’s gazpacho police spying on members of Congress, spying on the legislative work that we do, spying on our staffs, and spying on American citizens."

No wonder people are calling for the defunding of police.

Did you know...

...There were 233 mass shootings (4 or more people killed and/or wounded) in the United States through May?

But Republicans don't want to do anything about it, like institute universal background checks or an assault-weapons ban.

Did you know...

...that Marjorie Taylor Greene says watch out for fake meat, because, "the government wants “surveillance on every part of your life,” including on when people are eating a cheeseburger.

“Which is very bad because Bill Gates wants you to eat this fake meat that grows in a peach tree dish so you’ll probably get a little zap inside your body that’ll say, ‘No, don’t eat a real cheeseburger, you need to eat the fake burger,'”

Peach tree dish? Well, she is from Georgia?

Did you know...

....Breaking News! The Titanic sunk April 15, 1912, and on the 110th anniversary this year, CNN greeted us with the on-screen headline: "BREAKING NEWS."

Next, from CNN, BREAKING NEWS: Paul Revere makes famous ride; Lincoln shot, critical; and Washington crossed the Delaware.

Did you know...

... that Jamie Dimon, the economic guru and J.P. Morgan head man, says we could be heading for an "economic hurricane."

Or ... not.

BREAKING NEWS: That's exactly where The Fed is taking us with its constantly rising interest rates.

Did you know...

...Marjorie Taylor Greene wants to end gun-free zones at schools so as to protect our children.

BREAKING NEWS: People vote for this dumb bitch.

Did you know...

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

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

 

 

Monday Morning Schloss-Sports Blog, 5-30-22

Happy Memorial Day (weekend) from the Schloss (Sports) Blog and thanks to those who served.

So many oddities in the world of sports this weekend.

Who's Marcus Ericsson?

I don't know either, but he won the Indianapolis 500.

Who is Omar Kahn? He's the new general manager of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who seem to be the only team living up to the Rooney Rule. Kahn was born in New Orleans, but his mother is Honduran and his father is from India.

***

Every year, we see the same old cliche sportswriting, or sportswriters willing to accept the same old cliches.

Take these from the Chicago Bears OTAs: 

About a prospective defensive end, an assistant said he's "impressed with his motor." Well, what's he gonna' say, he needs a motor replacement?

Or, with two starters demoted to the second-team defense, the head coach said, "Don't read anything into it." OK, we won't, except that they suck.

Or from the head coach: "It's hard for me to assess a couple things this time of year." Really? Then what was your assessment when you assessed to take the job this off-season? That would've been my next question if I was in the room.

Or this from the aforementioned Omar Kahn: "I don't take anything for granted." My next question is: "Like what?"

It's called a follow-up question beat writers. Ask it.

***

San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler is refusing to take the field for the national anthem because he doesn't like the direction of the country in the wake of the Uvalde shooting.

Now there's someone who does need to be thanked for his service.

***

On the Marquee Network, exclusive home of the Chicago Cubs, a show featuring sports reporters sitting round table discussing - what else(?) - the Cubs, there was a segment cut out during the taping when they dissed the Cubs.

The Cubs sitting at 19-27 are 10 games out of first place in their division. They suck.

So telling the truth about them doesn't cut it. But anywhere else in media or Chicago media specifically, it's OK to discuss that.

Just not on the Marquee Network.

Journalistic ethics? We don't need so stinkin' journalistic ethics, not at the Marquee Network.

***

Good night, Irene. Bar the door, Katy.

(What did you expect me to say? Good night, Mrs. Calabash and here's to you, Mrs. Robinson? No, to each blog its own.)

Hope you enjoyed the rock 'n' roll show last night on Radio Free Phoenix. My sports highlight of the weekend was my grandson making save after save in a winning effort in their tournament soccer game. Way to go, Jordan.