Here Comes The Guard, There Go The Downtown Restaurants

Downtown Washington, D.C., restaurants are reporting far less traffic, according to news reports, or so the Schloss-Blog sees and hears.

Restaurant operators in D.C. told "The Guardian" that traffic is down by as much as 31% since the National Guard, now from as many as six different states, have started patroling in the downtown area, and these restaurants are hurting. Some have been instructed to carry weapons.

What are they going to do, shoot Hispanic tourists? All tourists? Maybe just restaurant employees.

***

If you think Trump isn't eying an unconstitutional third term, think again.

He already has "Trump 2028" merchandise out there and if nothing else, will do what he's doing now - declare emergencies, impose martial law and leave himself in power.

Fun, huh?

***

Trump says he may send National Guard troops into Chicago soon for law enforcement. He has also mentioned Oakland. This in addition to D.C. and LA already. And maybe New York.

What do those cities have in common, besides being in Blue states?

Black mayors.

But Trump's not a racist, hih?

***

The Spike Lee-produced doc on former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will not be going forward as previously scheduled on ESPN.

Lee would only comment that he couldn't comment about it and sources are telling various media outlets that there were "creative differences" over the series.

Makes you wonder if any of these differences came to light after ESPN and the NFL announced their virtual merger, with the league getting a 10% piece of the network and the network getting access to virtually all of the NFL's properties, including the fantasy-hot Red Zone channel.

Creative differences that some sources cited included the prospective expanse of the project from a series about the protest-laced life of the talented quarterback to the overall mistreatment of Black athletes. Kaepernick, the 49ers' QB, of course, was well known for taking a knee during the National Anthem to protest such treatment. So was the doc supposed to expand beyond his personal life? Now we'll never know.

Possibilities are that it could be shopped to other outlets or just die.

Either way, it'll be part of the future telling of the experience of Black athletes.

***

There are a number of reason why I'm finally retiring from covering high school football after 50 years on the sidelines,

No. 1, it's been 50 years and my legs are 50 years older.

No. 2, looking forward to being home on Friday nights in the fall and driving Jocelyn crazy.

But No. 3, and most importantly, is reading over and over again about shootings, stabbings and just violence in general at high school campuses around the country.

One was at Maryvale High in Phoenix. A stabbing; a 16-year old charged as an adult.

Aside from that, there have been 33 shootings at high schools so far this year, as of the end of July.

Thirty-three.

I don't feel like being part of the 34th. Besides, every game I cover in Arizona, I am almost always one of the last cars out of the parking lot as I finish up my story and upload pics and video to the Republic's Twitter - OK, 'X' account.

Don't get me wrong; I enjoy doing it. Interacting with these athletes and coaches keeps me young. But I have had some nights where I've had to call security to unlock a gate and let me out of the parking lot or have been forced out and had to finish my story parked along a not-so-well-lit side street.

I've loved my work for the Daily Herald and for the Arizona Republic. But after 50 years, I'd like to be remembered for my work and not as a shooting statistic.

While I'm still young.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Betsy Petrie.

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

We're Accustomed To It

If you're anything like the Schloss-Blog, then you are as accustomed to Trump lying as I am accustomed to, dare I say, learning about people getting COVID during the pandemic, or hearing news of shootings at schools or finding Ticketmaster 's extra add-on charges on your concert ticket order.

It's incredible, but we don't jump out of our chairs anymore when we hear about any of this, unless it's cancer right in our own households or the price of tickets we just bought to a Coldplay show. Well, considering what's been happening at Coldplay shows, maybe Springsteen, huh? Or Taylor. Or maybe Queen B.

But when you think about what Trump is doing - sending the military into major metropolitan areas, and the uniformed soldiers just stay and residents just grow accustomed to them being there, it doesn't matter if the residents like it or not.

I mean, no one's talking about LA anymore, are they? Soon, they won't talk about D.C anymore, even though the action is overt and Trump has been forced to back off there somewhat.

And notice, please, he's talking about doing it more - Oakland, Baltimore, New York, Chicago. All Democratic run cities in Blue states.

That should be no surprise. 

Whatever he's doing, he wants you be accustomed to it, especially when he declares a state of emergency, even though there won't be a need for one, so he can stay in office indefinitely. 

He's going to do it. He can't run again, but he can appoint himself again.

Get used to it.

***

ESPN is about to put all of its content on its app so you can watch any of it all the time on your phone. Is that where all content is going, to the phone?

All of it? Is that where you watch?

Everything?

Give me my big screen, please.

***

Donald Trump went to Alaska.

He met a guy from Russia.

They agreed to agree to do ... nothing.

While the war in Ukraine may be settled where all wars are settled, at a negotiating table, this one doesn't appear as though that settlement will involve one of the combatants.

The one that was invaded by Russia.

***

If Donald Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize so much, how come he keeps facilitating the wars in Gaza and Ukraine?

Just sayin'.

***

America's Team - the Dallas Cowboys, right?

Then how come when I was in France all I saw was French people wearing New York Yankees hats?

***

I have pretty long hair - it's down past my shoulders.

So how come for women who have hair that long, it's just ... their hair?

***

"And Just Like That" is over. Final episode ... Carrie in her apartment in her heels.

The "Sex and the City" sequel, extension, whatever you want to call it, had its final episode.

It showed us that women in their 50s are still sexual, sexy, romantic, free spirited and have minds of their own.

Could that show have been based in Tennessee? Alabama? Wyoming? You get it...

***

The shooting last week at the CDC that killed one and was fired into six different buildings has left CDC employees feeling like the Trump administration has abandoned them in disdain over vaccinations. The shooting was allegedly performed by a man with deep-seated beliefs that the COVID-19 vaccine caused negative health effects.

For some.

But it saved millions.

Meanwhile, the CDC is at risk and so are its employees.

***

You go into a Target store in Austin, Tecas to buy detergent, milk, coffee and maybe pick a Starbucks while there.

You walk out dead.

Three people did.

Donald Trump's America is a bullet-riddled, open-carry Disneyland.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Heres' to you, Aja Wilson.

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

Earthquakes? Don't Worry: Mamdani To The Rescue

Don't worry, New York, about any earthquakes; the next mayor, Zohran Mamdani, will hold them off. Won't he? Or so the Schloss-Blog asks.

***

While New Yorkers were saying they felt the reverberations last week from a pair of earthquakes, 2.7 magnitude, that erupted in New Jersey, there's nothing to worry about: New York City has the mayor coming, Zohran Mamdani, who is going to save them from everything else, so why not earthquakes, right?

What with his free bus rides, accessible healthcare, affordable housing - New Yorkers will have it made under Mamdani.

Until they don't.

***

I still have to rag on about the Blue Sky app (bsky.app).  Animal videos. Birds flying around aimlessly. Photogs capturing mediocre sunsets and sunrises.

Please, all of you "artistes," start your own website. I turned to bsky.app for insightful posts that weren't drowned out in the trash that Elon Musk now allows on Twitter (yeah, Elon, it's still Twitter, you dolt).

Now though, I have to fish, literally, through petty pictures of people's goldfish to find insightful commentary by Laurence Tribe of Harvard and other serious-minded scholars who can shed light on the politics that are ruining our nation.

Very close to dumping bsky.app. Very, very close.

***

So, now comes the 'NFESPNL' Network. OK, not the real name, but the virtual merging of broadcast and financial assets between the NFL and ESPN which has assured us that we will continue to get 24/7/365 coverage of a team that hasn't played in its conference's championship game in almost 30 years.

Yeah, that's right, (Central) America's team, the Dallas Cowboys.

Who cares? They are irrelevant, yet ESPN spends an unnecessarily abundant amount of time on them. Everyday, every hour, we hear about the impact of not having extended all-pro defensive end Micah Parsons.

When the Cowboys first reported to camp, you heard Super Bowl talk from all of them. but now, with an injury to a key offensive lineman and Micah Parsons' holdout, not hearing so much of it. Or at all.

Nobody outside of Dallas cares about this team. There are 31 other teams, but because Jerry Jones loves being in front of microphones and commenting on this, that and everything, we continue to get ESPN/Dallas.

I change the channel.

***

Last week, because I spent all my space lamenting about all the shootings and violence in America, I therefore didn't get to comment about...

**...Israel extending the war in Gaza. The IDF can kill every Hamas warrior. It cannot kill Hamas ideology. Israel's war can only keep Bibi out of jail.

**...Donald Trump wanting to win the Nobel Peace Prize. He wants it so badly he's willing to facilitate extending the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

**...there being almost no Hispanics left in my neighborhood for ICE to detain. Prospective employers are complaining about the closing of the Home Depot Parking Lot Employment Agency.

**...yet another mass shooting, this one by a soldier at Ft Stewart in Goergia. Five of his fellow soldiers were injured. Way to go, America. The alleged shooter, a sergeant, had been complaining about what he said were racist conditions at the facility.

**...sex toys being thrown on the court during WNBA games. What's up with that? The point is ... sickos get into WNBA games.

**...The EPA reportedly cutting down on iits own ability to combat poor air quality. Unfortunately, so much of it comes out of the Supreme Court.

**...how some 44% of Duetsche Bain trains in Germany run late. Who do they think they are, Amtrak?

***

Anyway, good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Emily Capedevielle.

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

Shootings, Stabbings, Getting Ridiculous and Epstein, Like Sad Employment Numbers, Won't Go Away

The Schloss-Blog is monitoring shootings and stabbings, airplae mishaps and employment numbers. Like Jeffrey E;pstein's files, they won't go away.

***

Are you getting as numb, as accustomed to hearing about shootings and violent attacks as everyone else appears to be?

I am. They'e so frequent, it's like having a common cold. We all get one. All the time.

***

At Florida State University in April, for example, a 20-year-old student has been identified as the person who allegedly shot and killed two and wounded five others. He supposedly had a white-supremecist ideology and was apprehended at the scene.

***

In New York City last week, a man claiming to have CTE, a traumatic brain condition that can only be diagnosed after death, walked into the bulding that houses the National Football League headquarters and shot and killed four people.

He was allegedly angry with the NFL for what the note he was carrying said was the hiding of the consequences of the disease.

He shot and killed himself. Pictures of him carrying an automatic weapon on the street and into the building are extremely distressing.

***

Stop me if you've heard this one: An Army veteran in a rural Montana town walked into a bar next door to his house and shot and killed four people.

The suspect, identified as Michael P. Brown, was still at large as of Saturday. Relatives described him as "...shy, loving and suffering from mental illness."

He had supposedly moved to Anaconda, Montana, where the shooting occured, from Dallas, for the peace and serenity.

***

But wait, there's more...

***

A group of men who had gathered for a bachelor party in Reno, Nevada, were fired upon, seemingly out of nowhere, while waiting for an Uber ride to the airport after the weekend event.

Two of them are now dead, two were seriously injured and one other had minor injuries.

No motive has been identified for the attack and the shooter was shot by and apprehended by Reno police.

***

Last week, a man walked into a WalMart in Traverse, City, Michigan, and, with a knife, randomly attacked 11 people.

Eleven people. Fortunately, none died and customers helped detain the suspect, who has a history of a varied level of charges for assault and battery.

 ***

I guess you just never know about the person standing next to you, in line at the grocery store, sitting next to you on the train or bus or browsing the aisles of a general merchandise store while you hunt for school supplies for the kids or - dare I say - Christmas gifts already.

***

There's more...

***

...but I'm not getting into them now. That's enough. I was going to lead with the story about only two people being on the American Film Institute's list of 50 Greatest Screen Heroes and the list of 50 Greatest Screen Villains.

But now, I'll bring that back up next week.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Sabrina Carpenter.

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

Getting Rid Of Blue Sky And Looking For An Agreement With Japan (Hint: There Ain't One)

The Schloss-Blog says Blue Sky sucks. The app that is, which was birthed to counter the trash of 'X,' nee Twitter, and has become a trash can for animal and nature weirdos who post pictures of three-legged cats and dogs and sunsets from their bathroom windows while they're taking a dump.

Because of all this, I can't find the brilliant legal mind of Laurence Tribe of Harvard anymore. Good-bye, Blue Sky, good-bye.

***

Trump has withdrawn us from UNESCO, USAID and just about everything else that starts with a "U." While he tries to shove it up "U'r ass."

***

Anyone noticed Zohran Mamdani's pullback from his "socialist" ideals that won him the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York?

He has slowly but surely been placing mainstream Democrats into key positions on his general-election staff, who would likely stay on as key adivsors once he becomes, as expected, mayor.

He has definitely been vying for more mainstream Democratic funding sources for his campaign but says he is still clinging to his "socialist" ideals (free bus rides though, c'mon).

We'll see where he ends up - is he just another politician who said whatever he had to in order to get elected? Well, did he?

***

Wanted: Chuck E. Cheese.

Tallahasee Police arrested a man in the chain's signature character's rat outfit at the restaurant, while it was hosting a kid's birthday party - in front of all the guests.

Apparently, he had been caught in possession of a credit card of one of the customers and had placed charges on it, which the card owner spotted immediately.

When the suspect tensed up and appeared he would resist arrest, officers said they had no choice but to cuff him in from of all the guests, including the kids.

Where's Matlock when you need him? OK, her.

When asked, as a late-night hosted noted, if anyone was working in concert with him on the stolen card, the mascot-clad suspect told police he wouldn't turn them in. 

"I'm not a rat," he said.

***

I've said this before and I'll say it again: Scottie Scheffler, who won the British Open last week, is a cut above mentally as an athlete, versus his fellow golfers.

In the big moments, at the biggest events, he wills himself to win, even when he doesn't have his best game.

But all these guys are great golfers, so what makes Scheffler that much better?

Will.

He wins on will. Separates himself on will. If you've got a better explanation, I want to hear it.

It's what separates the best quarterbacks (Tom Brady, Joe Montana), the best hockey players (Matthew 
Tkachuk)  and the best basketball players (MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander).

Prove me wrong, go ahead.

***

Wall Street Journal reporters were banned from the press pool accompanying the president on his trip to Scotland, apprently in retaliation for the paper's reporting about Trump's "love letter," which once served as a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump is clearly afraid he's on Epstein's "list" and this was his way of telling the Journal, and its pro-Trump owner Rupert Murdoch, that he's not pleased, even if you are a supporter.

The Schloss-Blog was wondereing whether another Murdoch property, Fox News, would stand up in support of its sister publication.

But Fox News has been crickets on that kind of message, barely uttering a word about the Epstein files.

Yeah, Fox sued by Trump. Hah! No, wait...

***

Trump announced a new trade deal with Japan.

But Japan says no agreement has been signed and one won't be anytime soon. No formal agreement has been reached.

Trump being Trump.

***

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

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show. And speaking of RFP, Rest in Peace, Ben Tyler, The Angry Arizonan, a regular on our airwaves.