Houses, Civil Services, The Transfer Portal, Trump in Court, Brain Implants, HoF, China, COVID and TikTok

Brittney Griner is back! Hallelujah! 

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The Schloss-Blog sees Tik Tok in your future, unless you live in South Dakota, Nebraska and now Maryland, and coming soon, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Plus homelessness, taxes, transfer portals and steroids are all in the news.

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Nobody wants people to be homeless but nobody wants to pay more in taxes to provide shelter for them and especially to have them located nearby.

But it may come to that in LA, New York, San Francisco and even Phoenix, where it's on the rise.

Get those homeless off the street. Provide shelter for them, even tiny houses (which are all the rage of the housing industry) and give them a place to call home.

Just don't put them near my home, right? Nobody wants homelessness but nobody seems to want homeless people living nearby.

This ain't gonna' get solved for a while.

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Speaking of civil services, nobody wants to defund the police but nobody wants to pay a raise in taxes for them either, do they?

We all expect the best in civil services but nobody wants a tax increase - that is the bane of politicians, who know that raising taxes means waving good-bye to your career in politics.

But if you want service - pay for it or stop complaining about it, right?

We definitely need more security at power company facilities, as we just found out in North Carolina, where the power company was geared up for cyber attacks but not for bullet holes that shut down a pair of generators and left people cold and hungry.

Somebody is going to have to pay for the increased security that it going to call for.

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The transfer portal is open and college football players have rushed in, some seeking a fourth team (J.T. Daniels) in six years.

The transfer portal has now become the holy grail of recruiting and coaches flock to it to the point that key players will pass on participating in bowl games to protect their status at their next stop.

Yes, I have always believed the players should have transfer accessibility, just like coaches break contracts and go to new schools. But the transfer portal has become the be-all, end-all for college players and needs to have the same restrictions I had when I transferred to SUNY-Albany after my freshman year at Baruch College of CUNY. I had to apply and await word.

If football players are STUDENT-athletes, they should too.

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In China, they are relaxing COVID restrictions at last as riots and protests have reached critical levels in response, as have the outlandish responses of the Chinese police and government authorities tracking the protesters.

Oddly enough, these rule relaxations come as Tik Tok is being banned in Maryland on state communication devices, by governor's order. It's already that way in Nebraska and South Dakota and is leaning that way in South Carolina and Wisconsin.

The reason? Those state governments believe that Tik Tok is nothing more than a database-gathering machine for the Chinese government.

What about you? How do you feel about being a prospective information beacon for the Chinese?

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Fred McGriff (493 career home runs) was elected into the Hall of Fame by baseball's Contemporary Era Committee. 

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were not and won't have another chance for three years with that committee.

So, the career home run leader and one of baseball's winning-est strikeout kings are not even close to sniffing the Hall. The all-time hits leader (Pete Rose) isn't either and isn't even on the ballot, by decree.

Should these guys be in the Hall? Wasn't everyone using steroids in the "contemporary era?" Didn't steroids just work better for some guys than they did for others?

I'd ask Sammy Sosa, but he's not responding in English.

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Putin thought he had us over a barrel, but gas prices are actually lower now than a year ago. Over a barrel, hah! Over a barrel. Sometimes I outdo myself.

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Finally, Elon Musk truly does want to put brain implants into people that would link them to computers.

He's already tested it on animals, through his Neuralink company.

And you thought Tik Tok and supposed COVID-injection implants were invasions of privacy.

Hah!

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

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

Riverboating, Road Raging, Footballing, Stadium Cleaning and Cell Phoning your Internet (or Internet-ing Your Cell Phone).

The Schloss-Blog is keeping an eye on what's left of the Mississippi River as well as road fatalities, football rankings, cleaning futbol stadiums and figuring out whether your cellular company is your internet carrier or you internet carrier is your cell company.

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Been by the Mississippi River lately? That "Ol' Man River" is showing its bones.

Apparently, parts of the river are so tried up that the traditional barge traffic that carries so much freight, about $17 billion annually, is no longer or is barely passable for those barges. That would be like about 92 percent of that kind of traffic. Yes, prices will go up if this is not resolved (it won't be anytime soon and the cost of alternate transport will be a burden).

That threatens farm and ranch products that travel by barge, all the way to New Orleans.

If you don't believe in climate change and its impact, believe it now. Check out this story (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/14/mississippi-river-boats-barges-water-levels).

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Road fatalities are up.

After two years of not hitting the road, we are back out there and killing each other and ourselves.

On-the-road fatalities are at their highest levels in some 20 years.

If you're driving someplace, be careful.

Please.

The life you save may be mine.

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In Arizona, where I cover high school football as a freelance contractor, school assignments are not necessarily by enrollment.

But by level of success.

If you've been kicking ass in your class, good luck, because you're likely going to get kicked up a class and have to compete against perhaps schools of larger enrollment but definitely some schools that have established and maintained a level of success that is hard to buck.

In Illinois, where I covered high school football for more than 30 years, most class assignments were by enrollment. With 32 teams qualifying in eight different classes, there were often lopsided, first-round games between teams with 5-4 (even 4-5) records and 9-0 records.

Arizona has a special class for schools that have won too many times in their respective classes. In the "Open" division, schools that have conquered the field, primarily in the three largest classes, get a special invite to compete against each other come playoff time. It is both an honor and a curse, especially for newcomers in that class, to be invited there and know, perhaps, they're not going to win a state title this year.

No, someone who never has, perhaps, will now. It's both fair and unfair at the same time.

As an example, I covered a regular-season finale in 2021 where one of the schools, with a win, likely would've been bumped into the Open Division, against the No. 1 seed and championship contender.

They lost and instead went on to win the championship in their class.

Which one would you prefer - the elite status of Open Division with no hope of winning further or the opportunity to win it all in your class?

I'll wait for your answer, but I agree with you.

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One of the most-amazing things at the World Cup, besides Christian Pulisic, has been watching Japanese fans at their country's games literally cleaning up after themselves as they leave the stadium after each game.

I mean the whole stadium.

Apparently it is a rich part of Japanese culture to be neat, clean and leave a place just as you found it upon entering (apparently, they've never ridden New York City subways but they're hired at MLB and NFL stadiums everywhere).

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Finally, I've noticed and you probably have too that your cell-phone company is trying to be your internet company and your internet company is trying to be your cellular carrier.

They all claim they can do the other's job better than the other.

Me, I say stay in your lane.

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Katie Hobbs.

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

Twitter, Tworld Cup and Twgeneration Z'ers

The Schloss-Blog is looking at Elon (Shithole) Musk, World Cup soccer (futbol) and problems for Generation Z.

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Have I mentioned that I am through with Twitter? I need it for my coverage of high school football for the Arizona Republic. And as soon as that's done, I'm done.

Elon Musk's forgiving of and reinstating all suspended accounts is an insult to people like me who use it to insult him.

Big advertisers are abandoning him. As well as loyal users who keep it clean, for the most part time. I believe in free speech too, but not speech that incites violence or puts good people in fear for their lives.

Ironically, although his account is reinstated, Donald Trump is not leaping at Twitter for a second time around and is, instead, opting to stay on his Truth Social platform.

The next time he tells the truth on it will be the first time.

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Read an article about parents reacting to their children coming home from college at Thanksgiving for the first time during fall semester.

It leads to awkward moments in conversation and in reactions to style, culture and taste.

For me, first time home after being away brought about my mother (Hennie) telling my father (Murray): "Murray, get a scissors and cut his hair."

Will never forget that. Exact quote. Really.

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According to a study published by Fast Company, Gen Z'ers are having trouble paying their bills on time.

Seriously.

Seems their paychecks are not keeping up with inflation, let alone the cost of living. Gen Z, defined as people born between the late '90s to early 2010's, apparently are not finding jobs that pay well enough for them to keep up with the cost of living or they're not doing a very good job of managing what money they do have.

Some are moving back in with their parents to keep a cap on their costs of living.

Are your kids or grandkids doing that? What's been your experience? 

Life isn't easy. It's always expensive and we all spend as much money as we make. The problem for Gen Z is they're not making enough.

Until they become millennials. Then they spend more.

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Irene Cara ("Fame," Flashdance") is dead at 63.

Cause of death undisclosed.

You're tapping your feet right now, aren't you, to "What a feeling," singing it to yourself.

I am.

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World Cup soccer has been full of surprises so far: Saudi Arabia over Argentina, Iran over Wales, U.S. plays to a scoreless tie with England.

But off the field, Iranian players not singing their national anthem, people are wearing Iran protest insignias and no beer is being served at the stadiums. All tat has been bringing attention to a tournament marked by bribery for where it is being played and by censorship of foreign journalists being restrained from reporting anywhere and everywhere around Doha.

The World Cup at Qatar is a Doha-ha-ha.

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

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