Bill.. Nuyen.., It's All About ... Wait for It ... France

The Schloss-Blog is back ... from France, and all I can say is - Bon Temps!

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J.D. Vance has officially dropped his chance to be president, unless Donlad Trump dies. 

When the Ohio State Buckeyes brought their national-championship trophy to the White House, Vance, a former senator from Ohio, Dropped it.

Literally.

His White House chances along with them. As if he ever had any. Does anyone really think that with Trump planning on a constitutionally illicit third-term run that he's going to let Vance get within sniffing distance of the Resolute Desk, or that Vance would dare run against his old boss?

Well, he's not the sharpest pencil in the box.

Vance, either.

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UConn's women's basketball team, with its dominant performances in Final 4 wins over UCLA and then South Carolina in the championship game, should become a WNBA franchise.

The league will be 14 teams in 2026. Make it 15. Please. It's about time for UConn.  2025 was their 12th title since 1995.

It's no UCLA/John Wooden run, but it's still pretty good.

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Uh, the French ain't too happy with Trump and Trump tariffs.

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Mike Budenholzer, fired. Mike Malone, fired.

Who's next? Maybe Thom Thibodeau, maybe, if the Knicks don't beat the Celtics in the second round, let alone not beat the Pistons in this round.

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In France, kudos to Julie Mautner, my former colleague and lifelong friend who turned a vacation for me and Jocelyn into a trip back to the neighborhood we never lived in but wish we had in St Remy, Provence.

From the tour guides with whom she set us up to the dinners and special events to which she took us, to the pals around town to whom she introduced us - she was the friend that everybody needs.

Even if, 40 years later, she still calls me "Shoes."

A story for another post. Thanks, Julie.

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Special thanks to John Kirk DeRitis for filling in for me at Radio Free Phoenix the last two travel-soaked weekends in France.

Love you, John.

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Julie Mautner.

John Kirk DeRitis fills in for me tonight and I'm back next Sunday. Happy Easter today, Happy Passover to my Jewish friends.

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Besides tariffs going up, the economy, everyone's 401k accounts going down and Trump alienating every ally we've ever had, anything happen while we were out of the country?

All Ahead Full, Set Sail for Venezuala

The Schloss-Blog has been paying attention to Venezuala, San Antonio and the torpedo.

Bat.

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Not in that order, but were you paying attention to what went down in San Antonio on Saturday night?

Duke choked (sorry, Jay Williams, the Blue Devils choked). Kinda' watched in disbelief as the Blue Devils let a double-digit lead slip away, only scored one field goal in the last 10 minutes and tossed away an inbounds pass on which they nuight have - might have - found a way to clinch the semifinal win.

Feel bad for Jon Scheyer, Duke's coach. They should've won but he's a winner, took the Blue Devils a game closer than he took them last year. 

I do remember watching him play for Glenbrook North High, an unstoppable force, a 6-7 guard who couldn't be guarded.

I do remember the game at which I realized that, with everyone thinking he'd go to the University of Illinois, where his high school coach's brother (Bruce Weber) was the head coach, he was instead going to Duke, because head coach Mike Krzyzewski and assistant (and soon-to-be Northwestern head man) Chris Collins were in attendance. Coach K showed up to seal the deal.

Which he did. Scheyer has been a Blue Devil ever since, and a damn good one. He'll get a step further next year - maybe - but it'll be difficult without Cooper Flagg.

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A Venezualan who was detained by ICE was supposed to donate a lifesaving kidney to his brother.

Pretty cruel, right? However, Jose Gregorio Gonzalez was released from custody to complete the task, even if his kidney turned out not to be a perfect match.

Looks like even the Trump administration has a heart, or at least a kidney.

More likely an ego that can't stand the PR fallout from an event like this.

Updates to come...

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Hillary Clinton got blasted by Republicans for her supposed off-property private server.

However, where's the outcry from Republcans in Congress over the Signal chat with the national defense team that essentially tipped the Houthis about the U.S attack on them?

And Trump says he knew nothing about it. The Commander-In-Cheat knew noting about a major, United States military maneuver.

Yeah, right.

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The Torpedo Bat.

The Yankees and anyone else who's been using one have been mashing the ball in the 2025 season.

How long though, do ya' think, before Major League Baseball banishes it? Sort of like what the National Football League wants to do with the Tush-Push.

If you can think of it, the powers-that-be can do away with it.

Because they can.

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The Women's Final Four may be just about over, and I don't know about you, but I miss Kim Mulkey's outlandish outfits and facial expressions when her LSU Tigers don't get a call to go their way.

I do like when she loses though. It's like hating the Yankees or Bill Belichick's Patriots.

And so much fun.

Miss ya', Kim, miss ya'.

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Paige Bueckers.

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

My last for three weeks while I take a break. And the lasr for the Schloss-Blog for the same amount of time.

Bon voyage, mes amis.

From Here To An ICED Kidney

The Schloss-Blog is keeping an eye on the prospective deportation of a man who is scheduled to be a kidney donor (hear about that?) and the end of the Lakers on defense.

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A Venezualan man, scheduled to donate a kidney to his ailing brother, has been detained by ICE for prospective deportation.

He says he'll leave voluntarily after the surgery, but so far ... no d-ICE. We're watching.

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Did you watch the Lakers-Bulls game on Thursday night, or at least the wild-and-crazy ending?

The Lakers blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead and a 5-point lead with 15 seconds left. The Bulls got whatever 3-point looks they wanted, even one after a carelessly thrown inbounds pass by LeBron himself was stolen by Josh Giddy.

In those last 15 seconds, the Bulls went up 116-115, the Lakers went back ahead 117-116 on an Austin Reaves layin and the Bulls won on .. well  -- observe the final minute.

The Lakers, once invincible when Luka first arrived, are now a defensive sieve and J.J. Redick better figure it out before the playoffs.

Luka looks slow and out of shape - on defense, which he clearly does not want to play.

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The ad (Samsung AI) where the young woman walks away from an office common table where she's working in concert with colleagues so she can search for a pet-friendly Italian restaurant with outdoor seating makes me sick. She then returns to the table and sits down and smiles like nothing happened.

If I had done that -walked away from a common meeting of the minds - when I worked in the offices of Restaurant & Institutions magazine, the American Marketing Association Publishing Group or Technomic Consultants, I'd have been torched by my colleagues.

Torched.

Today's workplace values put the individual first, ahead of the company.

Thank God I'm retired.

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According to a Signal chat I'm on, the United States is planning a nuclear attack on North Korea because the president doesn't like that Kim Jong Il guy.

J.D. Vance disagreed.

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Anyone been watching the new "SUITS LA?" Interesting that they keep teasing the Harvey Foster character from the original but never bring him on in anything more than a flashback and a brief one at that.

Plus, the show has too many sub-plots going on. I can't tell who's working on what case and why and who's sleeping with who. And all the female partners appear to be 29-years old.

And hot.

But the show ain't.

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That 25% auto tariff Trump is planning, I'll bet he doesn't do it. He's bluffing to negotiate something better. He knows he loses votes if he goes through with it.

He's already ruining the economy enough, keeping prices high and taking them higher.

And insists it's how to win.

Not elections though. If Trump is trying to ostracize his base voters, he's doing a good job.

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According to a Signal chat I'm on, J.D. Vance is going to be named dictator of Greenland.

Good luck with that, J.D.

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Vladimir Putin is promising to release all Americans he's illicitly holding prisoner if the United States releases all sanctions against Russia.

One of the prisoners is Donald Trump.

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Need a new car? Can't afford it? Where's Joe Isuzu when we need him?

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Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, JuJu Watkins.

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