Arizona, NCAA's, Tucker Carlson, Ukraine, Bank Fails and CRT

The Schloss-Blog is looking at so much going on now, from Tucker Carlson claiming the mainstream media missed the recent bank failures (no, they didn't, you effin' liar), everyone's NCAA brackets and the G.O.P and Ukraine. And CRT.

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Have to start with Tucker Carlson at Fox (Not The) News.

From now on, it is just Fox because they certainly are not the "news."

Carlson, anyway, says the mainstream media has punted on covering the recent bank failures to concentrate on the war in Ukraine.

MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle, their chief economic correspondent and 11th Hour anchor, called out Carlson for that, inviting him on her show anytime. If you trace her and network's coverage, you'll find they've been all over it.

As has CNN.

For his next scoops, Carlson is going to tell us the sports networks have totally missed the NCAA Tournament as well as the new rules to speed up baseball.

Tucker Carlson, you're a liar (please sue me, can't wait to depose you).

***

BREAKING NEWS: Trump says he'll be arrested on Tuesday, summons supporters to NYC to "take our nation back."

We've seen this one before, on Jan. 6: So NYC, Feds, beef up security, because here it comes.

Trump in a perp walk though, what an hysterical but humiliating scene for him.

And with this indictment, if this is what's coming, does that mean posthaste that here comes Fani Willis and Jack Smith right behind? They both probably have stronger cases than Alvin Bragg.

Meanwhile, there's a new definition for MAGA, as Trump attorneys keep getting in trouble (such as Joe Tacopina having a prior relationship with Stephanie Clifford, i.e, Stormy Daniels).

Wouldn't it be wild if Trump resisted arrest, refused to show in New York, and Ron DeSantis, as governor of Florida, had to sign an order of extradition for NYC prosecutors to get their hands on him for arraignment?

So, MAGA doesn't mean Make America Great Again. It's really Making Attorneys Get Attorneys, are you listening Mr. Tacopina?

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Switching gears, how's your NCAA bracket holding up as this first weekend nears conclusion?

My Final Four includes Gonzaga, because of all those years that everyone predicted they'd win it all. This year, they're a No. 3 seed.

Which means, they'll win it all.

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Speaking of the NCAA /Tournament, North Carolina, which didn't qualify, turned down a chance to play in the NIT.

Really?

So, their coach decided that they're too good to play in the NIT. But that's because they were not good enough to play in the NCAA. Wonder how the players feel about that. Kacy Hintz, fill me in.

In any event, arrogance supreme. Dean Smith just rolled over.

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The GOP is torn over Ukraine - Congressmen say we shouldn't fund the Ukrainians against Russia anymore and that there are things more critical to address domestically.

Why weren't those things addressed before the war? Y'know, poverty, children going to bed hungry, abortion, the homeless, the banks, energy independence, climate change. It's a long list and it doesn't end there. We've had a century or so to address all that, or 99 years before this illicit invasion of Ukraine.

Besides, GOP senators appear to be in favor of continuing to support Ukraine, while MAGA congressmen are not.

Like Trump, and now DeSantis, MAGA kisses Putin's ass.

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The International Criminal Court, where Jack Smith was the former prosecutor, has issued a criminal arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin.

Which means they need to issue one for Trump, his MAGA supporters and DeSantis, while they're at it.

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I love Arizona, where

• Stop signs are for pedestrians
• ...and bike riders
• Recreational pickleball sessions have picked up WWE intensity
• Traffic signals westbound on main streets turn green first with no one going west waiting at the intersection
• The Arizona DMV forgets to mail you the license-plate sticker you paid $300 for (that's what it costs there)
• Kari Lake is governor
• OK, she's not and she's a putz
• And the homeless sleep outside Starbucks
• ...and QT station convenience stores.
• Sad. They need help. We turn our backs on them (see California, Los Angeles).

***

Jalen Carter left the scene of an accident where two people died.

He'll still be a top 5 NFL draft pick.

Brandon Miller is still playing for Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.

He allegedly gave someone a gun that was used in a murder.

In college sports, big-time college sports, if you leave the scene of an accident where people died, no one cares. But if you can't stop the run or rush the quarterback? Then we care.

In college sports, give someone a gun. It's used in a murder. We don't care. Can't hit a 3-pointer, a free throw or play defense? Then we care!

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The GOP is after anyone who wants to teach CRT.

Someone show me where CRT is taught in any public school, K-12, in the USA.

The GOP is barking up a tree with no leaves, nor branches. 

And they're racist.

They control more state legislatures than Democrats do.

Scary.

***

I'd be remiss if I didn't say what an honor and pleasure it was to attend the memorial celebration of life this weekend for Scott Campbell and Cheryl Schmidt.

Little brother Rick held it together and made it through an emotional tribute but it was so rewarding to spend time with the BG grads who were Scott's friends. They've remained the good friends they were back then, have carved out successful careers and most impressive to me was the fine people and good-hearted citizens they've become.

Then again, they were there to pay tribute to their good-hearted friend Scott. My friend Scott. 

R.I.P.

***

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

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

Mental Shifts and Defining, and Defaming 'Woke'

The Schloss-Blog is looking at the latest from Fast Company - "Six Mental Shifts That Will Make You Happier At Work" - plus, defining 'Woke' and Fox 'Not The' News.

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I keep hearing Ron 'DeSanctimonious,' as Tramp likes to call him, talk about 'Woke' and Florida being where it goes to die.

He can't even define Woke; it means, literally, 'past tense of wake,' and more recently, "hip and open-minded.'  Then there's the trending definition, "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination."

DeSantis is none of those and he doesn't even know any of them. He just likes to call anyone 'woke' who disagrees with his discriminatory policies.

Florida, by the way, was where you went to die if you had COVID. DeSantis declared a 'state of emergency' regarding COVID, in an attempt to mitigate against the viruses spread. So when he says Florida stayed open all the while, he's lying. Yet, there were more than 86,000 deaths in Florida from COVID, or 1 in 247 residents. That made Florida third in deaths among all states - behind California and Texas.

Florida's population is almost 22 million. California's population is almost 40 million.

Florida is passing a bill that would require those who blog about DeSantis to register with the state.

Hey Ron, screw you, I'm a blogger and I'm not registering. Gee, I was just in Miami in September. Had your chance to nab me. Too bad you missed me.

***

Fast Company, which always has tips to make you more productive, happier and more efficient at work, now has published an article that says there are six mental shifts you can practice to make yourself more successful at your new job.

Be meaningfully focused. Be confident. Be inclusive. Have clear goals and be goal oriented. Take things step-by-step and be vision oriented.

My vision is to be step by step and shoot under 90 in golf.

No, wait, that's my dream.

***

No lie: watching Oregon-UCLA semifinal in the PAC-12 basketball tournament.

Shortly after an alley-oop slam dunk on a pass from UCLA's point guard to the center, there's a media timeout, and as they go to commercial, they replay the slam dunk as color commentator Bill Walton says: "Throw it down big fella, and now the genetically gifted get to go sit on little chairs."

Really.

***

Saw Eric Johnson, a multiple-time Grammy winner and singer/song-writer extraordinaire in concert at Phoenix' Madison Arts Center. If there's ever been a performer who you never heard of who should be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, it's him.

***

Oh wait, just found the Fast Company "5 tips to reduce your job-search stress.'

I suggest starting with nail the interview.

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The whole Dominion Voting Machine defamation lawsuit against Fox (not the) News looks like a no-brainer.

Dominion has Fox emails and texts depicting explicitly how Fox' best-known and most-prominent anchors not only knew and overtly acknowledged in private to each other that the Big Lie was just that, but also displayed their utter disgust with Tramp and his sycophants - Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis, among others,

Fox is claiming it was reporting on a story, that story being Trump and friends were claiming fraud.

The evidence clearly says otherwise.

Fox would be foolish to take this to court but they have not backed off yet from their lame defense. They'll settle, I predict, or they'll lose the company.

***

Fast Company says you can be happy if...

***

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

More tonight on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show. (Hope you listened this morning while I subbed for Joe Catanzaro, who now owes me a round of golf.)

Happy birthday, Ann Hollifield.

Cold, Cool, Kane, (Jalen) Carter and Chicago (mayor)

The Schloss-Blog is looking this week at the Chicago Blackhawks giving up (rebuilding?), the Chicago mayor's office changing hands and Jalen Carter running (speeding) away.

***

Jalen Carter, Georgia's all-everything defensive lineman who is a supposed game-changer in the NFL, sped away from an accident scene in which two people were killed after celebrating that his Bulldogs won the national title.

Why depart the scene?

To not get caught at the scene? Because he was legally drunk? And may have caused the accident? That killed two people, including a teammate and a team employee!

Teams, pundits, are questioning his judgment, his character, his decision-making and his thought process.

But not his talent level. This is so bad that he will likely drop from possibly the No. 1 pick to No. 5.

In the NFL, it's not how many died at the scene of your accident, it's not were you over the legal limit for alcohol consumption while driving and it's not whether all that got you so judgment-impaired that you perhaps just might have caused that accident that killed two people.

Including a teammate.

How's that gonna' fly in your pro locker room?

His future pro teammates will say aw, shucks, just one poor decision, he's really a good guy and he'll help us. They won't mean it, but that's what they'll say.

His GM and coaches are saying, shut up and play.

***

Farhad Manjoo, a terrific NY Times editorial opinion writer, says that the South Carolina jury that came back in three hours with a guilty plea for Alex Murdaugh in the murder trial of his wife and son came back too quickly (3 hours)

I'm thinking, Farhad, you jumped on the jury too quickly for acting so quickly.

***

"Dilbert" author Scott Adams had his popular business-spoofing cartoon dropped by more than 200 newspapers after a racist rant in which he called Blacks "a hate group" and advised us white folk to "get away from them."

Just think of all the places you'd have been dropped from if you'd gone on YouTube, like Adams did, and said the same things.

This just in: he'll be the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention next year.

***

@MarkFinchem, @SonnyBorelli of Arizona, put up your evidence of election fraud or STFU.

***

Jayson Tatum scores a record 55 in the joke-with-no-defense NBA All-Star Game and is all over ESPN, being asked about it.

Donovan Mitchell of Cleveland scores 71 and leads SportsCenter.

Damian Lillard scores 71 for Portland and nobody is talking about him, as he may just be the best guard in the NBA.

***

Do you still, use, the Oxford, comma?

Why, - I, mean, why,?

***

In Tennessee, the state legislature is banning drag shows and suggesting "hanging from a tree" as a death-penalty option.

Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene is right - we need two Americas, Red and Blue. One with President DeSantis.

The other with President Clinton.

Hillary.

***

Lori Lightfoot will soon be out as Mayor of Chicago.

When you piss off the police and the teachers, you're not going to win in Chicago.

And when you let the Bears move to Arlington Heights, well, same thing.

***

Saw Eric Johnson perform the other night at Madison Center for the Arts. He has won seven Grammy Awards for best instrumental arrangements and performances.

After seeing him perform those songs with his band, you know why. What a performance!

Thanks for the tickets, Andy.

***

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

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

Your greatest and not-so-greatest assets and why Fast Company is slowly boring me to death

The Schloss-Blog is wondering what you think of your assets. No, not those assets.

We mean assets like how being sensitive is your greatest one or why working moms are so miserable. Fast Company makes a habit - an asset - of publishing lists of your greatest and worst assets. Here are some of them and some other random thoughts this week on what's going down. Or up.

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Fast Company says there is a question you should ask your employees, if you're a boss. Ask it twice, in fact. The question? "How am I doing?"

Or is it "How are you doing?"

Ed Koch asked it all the time as mayor of New York City. It earned him two terms as NYC mayor.

So, the Schloss-Blog is asking, how you doing?

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Fast Company recommends six emails every job applicant should send if that applicant is serious about getting the job.

As an advisor to so many of my students for 23 years at Columbia College, I always told them to send one critical email: the thank you, post-interview email in which they reinforce their skills to the job opening and ability to make an immediate impact to the company.

It almost always works and generally distinguishes you from people who just send a thank you note and nothing more.

Six emails? Overkill.

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Fast Company recommends six ways to be a more trustworthy leader?

Of what? A company? A department? A military unit? A kitchen? A restaurant staff?

I've got one way: listen to what your people are saying a act on it to keep them happy.

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Fast Company says so many working moms are miserable.

Maybe they should work for someone who follows the six more-trustworthy ways to be a leader.

And they're not the only working parents who are miserable.

***

Ever buy tickets from a reseller?

They are freakin' shysters with their add-on fees, conditions and delays in transferring tickets.

Remember when you used to be able to go to a box office and buy tickets at face value?

Me neither.

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At Mardi Gras, there was a shooting into a parade. That is like aiming at proverbial fish in a barrel.

Yet, someone is proposing legislation that would make the AR-15 the national gun.

U.S. Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama (a Republican, as if you didn't know), is proposing such legislation.

Barry, haven't you got a feral pig to go shoot somewhere on Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-La.) property.

***

Got Temu?

People are raving about it.

Favorable prices. Incredible range of brand-name goods.

Some reviewers have said though that Temu offerings are, to be colloquial, "...getting what you pay for."

I have not used Temu yet, I am addicted to amazon. 

Temu users, tell me, what's the deal? Thanks.

***

Are you using ChatGPT?

Apparently, when Vanderbilt University used it to send condolences to Michigan State over the shootings there, the message was so contrite as to be insulting.

What do you think? Are you a Chat GPT fan? Or not?

***

This just in: the NBA all-Star Game had its lowest TV ratings. Ever.

It was a joke and the NBA regular season has become a joke: it's all slam dunks or 3-pointers, one-on-one moves and no defense. No one plays defense until the playoffs.

Remember when guys used to set picks, drive and dish to the open man and draw a charge without flopping?

In other words, there will never be another 1973 NY Knicks.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs. Robinson.

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