Ghosts, Meetings and The Economy

The Schloss-Blog is thinking about "The Ghost of John McCain," the up-ticking of the national economy and spending too much time in meetings.

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Sure to torment Donald Trump, the play, Ghost of John McCain, brings the late senator, in the afterlife, into the mind of '45,' where he is in essence trapped, trying to find a way out. 

Trump was never a fan of McCain and belittled him for being a captured war hero and bedeviled him for being the deciding vote against removing Barack Obama's signature legislation, the American Healthcare Act.

Nowadays, about some 12-15 million people rely on it.

But in Trump's mind, McCain has to "debate" his way out by arguing for all of the American values and ethics that Trump scorns. Along the way, Cindy McCain, Roy Cohn and even Lindsay Graham make appearances in the shelter of Trump's mind.

Talk about a headache.

By the way, it's a musical, and producers Jason Rose, an Arizona public relations consultant, and Jason Fose, a political consultant, are the show's drivers. It debuted in New York earlier this month and is looking for a way to renew and extend its run.

Although in Trump's brain, that's not very far, is it.

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Are you in too many meetings?

According to Americans who work primarily at a desk, they are, or at least there is too much time spent in meetings, which hurts their productivity. 

This is according to a Slack survey.

Sounds like somebody needs to have a meeting to decide what to do about it.

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The economic outlook keeps getting better and better.

Americans think their financial status is getting better and better. The stock market is hitting record highs (can you hear you 401c singing?). Mortgage rates are declining. So is inflation. And gas prices. OK, not groceries so much, yet.

And then there's this thing called the consumer debt payments-to-income ratio. Most Americans check in at spending about 10% of their monthly income on debt. A quick AI-fueled search reveals that the Servus Credit Union notes that your gross debt servicing (GDS) should never be more than 30% of your income while total debt servicing (TDS) shouldn't be more than 40% of your income.

Got that? Someone tell Congress.

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Quick takes:

• Nikki (Nimirata) Haley forgot to mention the role of slavery in spawning the Civil War. She also doesn't think America is a racist country. She's from South Carolina.
• Nikki Haley refuses to call out Donald Trump on the civil charge of sexual assault on which he's been found liable. How gratifying of her.
• Watching the Australian Open tennis matches, saw the host country's Storm Hunter playing. Not kidding.
• It appears Trump's strategy to get reelected is to get convicted of a felony and thrown in jail.
• Have you been watching the late-night hosts riddle Iowa? They basically make the Iowa caucus the 180-degree polar opposite of the day on which it was held: the Martin Luther King holiday observance.
• Japan's Moon SLIM rocket landed in the Sea of Nectar. Just saying.
• Are shows on HBO and Netflix just so much better that they get so many Emmy nominations or is it because they're on HBO and Netflix?

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. I see you in a New York deli, @Joan Millheiser.

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

Penalties Are Ruining The Game, Especially By The Media

The Schloss-Blog is turning to sports this week, mostly (and a little politics) - and is fed up with media assumptions, like the one that says Bears-Packers is a rivalry like no other.

If you ask the players on the two teams, yeah, it's a rivalry, but so are their games with longtime division rivals Minnesota and Detroit. 

To longtime Bears fans, the Packers are the team they hate the most, want to beat the most (especially after 10 straight losses to them now and 15 of the last 16). As Aaron Rodgers said, we own you.

The media loves to hype up the "rivalry," but after 10 in a row and 15 of 16, it's not exactly a rivalry any more than games against Minnesota or Detroit.

Yes, it's the longest-standing series in the league, but that's all it is.

Bears fans, stop hating on the Packers and start leaning on the team to clean up its act. They've started with a cleansing of the offensive coaching staff. But will that be enough? Will Justin Fields have enough weapons and appropriate game plans and play-calling to win? They fired the offensive coaches, but not the quarterback.

Yet.

Stay tuned. The best Bears rivalry in 2023 was between Fields and the offensive coaching staff.

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Penalties.

Teams today take so many penalties. Offsides. Pass interference.

Guys line up offsides apparently all the time now. And pass interference, especially defensive, is a constant. Defensive backs take interference penalties rather than give up a big play or a long touchdown.

They are coached to do that. It slows the game down, ridiculously and unnecessarily. It enrages the fans. Especially in the college game, where it is only a 15-yard penalty.

So go ahead speedsters, go long.

And get held. Or tackled. Or just held up.

Sometimes, the refs even throw the flag. A lot of times, they just let it go, to the oftentimes bitter amazement of fans.

Yes, the refs suck sometimes too.

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Through a series of mental gaffes, Donald Trump has demonstrated that his cognitive ability is not what he says it is.

In fact, it's what he says Joe Biden's is.

He doesn't know what city he's in or who he ran against in 2016 or 2020. And that's just the top of the list.

He's logistically stupid. Your vote for him endorses that and your own gullibility. And stupidity.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken spends a lot of time traversing the Middle East, looking for peace and trying to stop the Israel-Hamas War into becoming just, The War of Everybody.

How's that working out?

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Jill Biden.

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

On the Border, On the Economy, On Michigan, Or Washington

The Schloss-Blog is wondering about a few things, like why is it taking so long to reach a border/immigration policy/Ukraine-Israel funding deal and who to back in the CFP championship game: Michigan? or Washington?

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Michigan has Blake Corum.

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What is taking so long in Washington, D.C.? Why is it taking so long for Joe Biden and the Democrats to reach a deal with the unreasonable, big lie-backing, Trump-run Republicans in the House on immigration policy, border control and, on the other side of that coin, funding for Israel and Ukraine to supply their munitions for their battles with terrorists and oppressive autocrats, respectively?

Nobody gets everything they want in a deal, so bite the bullet everyone and let's make a deal.

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Washington has Michael Penix Jr.

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There is a good reason why the House Republicans and the Senate Democrats, along with the White House, have not reached a deal on the border on one side and Israel/Ukraine funding on the other.

The Republicans don't want to, so they can keep blaming the border mess on Biden and the Democrats. Then, if Trump wins, they'll close the border all together.

Nothing like racism to drive international immigration policy. Republicans hate everybody.

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Michigan has twice-suspended, Super Bowl-beaten Jim Harbaugh.

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Donald Trump is the one who keeps calling the likes of House Speaker Mike Johnson to press him into not making a deal on the budget, shutting down the government, the border, Israel weapons funding and Ukraine weapons funding.

If everyone else loses, he figures he wins.

What a prick.

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The president of Harvard has resigned.

Her supporters call it racial.

Well, it depends on context, right?

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Washington has Kalen DeBoer.

Who?

Verizon, uh - T-Mobile, no, yada yada Visible - no, uh, Consumer Cellular is reportedly offering him an endorsement deal.

Who?

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Aaron Rodgers says Jimmy Kimmel's name could be showing up in Jeffrey Epstein's papers.

Jimmy Kimmel says, meet my lawyers.

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I have ultimate respect for the police, but why, at every mass shooting, do you see many cops just standing around talking, almost casually?

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Nicki Haley says Trump is followed by chaos everywhere he goes.

But she'll pardon him anyway if convicted.

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Michigan has a defense.

Washington has an offense.

Defense wins big games.

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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.

Happy New Year! Spite Is Everywhre!

The Schloss-Blog has noticed that 'spite,' in all its ugly shapes and forms, is everywhere as we go into 2024. Me, I'm still holding out on my new year's resolution to return Cindy Crawford's phone calls, same one I make every year.

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How do you eliminate "spite?"

It's everywhere. It's in every word Donald Trump speaks (his campaign is his nasty and violent retribution tour). 

It's in the Middle East, where Hamas has pledged to keep coming after Jews, after Israelis, no matter what. Even if there's a cease-fire. Even after the hostages have all been returned. Even after they stop stealing the humanitarian supplies from the Palestinians who need it.

You can kill Hamas terrorists, but can you kill the "spite" that drives them?

What a shame that it's "spite" instead of a peaceful resolution and the opportunity to live side by side in peace.

And democracy. People who protest for a cease-fire don't realize the "spite" that exists in the region. 

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Talk about "spite," it's alive and well in Tennessee.

The moms of students at Covenant School, where three students were killed in a mass shooting, were rebuffed by the Tennessee legislature when they attended a forum on gun control and came away empty-handed when legislators, GOP dominated, refused to hear or acknowledge their pleas to consider legislation that would protect schoolkids' lives going forward.

Most of those moms are, or at least were, politically conservative and now have reality staring them in the face, as the legislators they helped elect turn a deaf ear to their pleas, aimed at protecting the lives of young Tennesseans.

Tell that to the moms of Uvalde, Texas. Parkside, Florida. And all the red states where Republican legislators refuse to protect their constituents from people who openly carry AR-15s and then use them to kill defenseless children.

You know, like Hamas terrorists do.

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Speaking of "spite," despite this having been the warmest year ever on Planet Earth, substantive legislation to protect the planet still is lacking.

Greenland, the one Donald Trump wanted to buy when he was president, is turning to mush. It's melting seven times faster than it was in the 1990s and its ice sheet is disappearing at a rate of 234 billion tons per year. 

Another great investment that he and his sons would've made but been unaware of the financial balance sheet implications because we all know they never look at those. They just sign off on them.

And blame someone else.

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Yes, there's so much for which to be thankful: My family; my friends; my fraternity brothers and our upcoming reunion; the wonderful athletes who have stayed in touch and recall my coverage; my former students making significant contributions in their communities through their professional and personal commitments; and for me personally:

• Being a Radio Free Phoenix DJ
• The guidance of an older brother that helped catapult me to academic achievement and to a rewarding career; 
• A career in sports that I only could have dreamed of;
• My grandson, the athlete, the fantasy football whiz and scholastic over-achiever;
• My daughter, who has become such a wonderful mom;
• And my Jocelyn's pending retirement, that will open up so much opportunity for us.

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I am thankful for all of you and wish there wasn't so much spite to have to write about.

But there is.

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Lori Jones Guthrie.

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

Happy, blessed new year to you all.

(Joyce, Greg, Bill, Becky: Back those Bison).