This Is The End, Beautiful Friend, This Is the End, My Only Friend, The End

This is the end of 2025, but is it the end of ... democracy ... civility ... peaceful coexistence ... the Kansas City Chiefs ... EV's ... the Schloss-Blog?

It's apparently the end of anything relevant out of the Epstein Files, as the Trump administration's Department of Justice defies court orders to release them in their entirety and by a lawfully set deadline. Plus, they redact the same way Trump uses a Sharpie to extend the path of hurricanes.

If only the files were released with the same transparency that Trump used to paste his name on the Kennedy Center, which is a memorial to the late president. Is Trump being an asshole or is he telling us that he is dying, as his appearance and behavior would suggest? Yes, and yes, perhaps? His approval ratings, across the board, say that he is dying. On the economy, the environment, healthcare, AFFORDABILITY, he is failing miserably, despite the success he shouts about.

Does Trump not understand though that the Kennedy Center, established by Congress, is a MEMORIAL, which means, in honor of someone who died and was a hero to and supporter of the arts, all the arts?

***

Democracy too, appears to be dying.

Immigrants snatched off the streets, out of their homes, their beds, out of their workplaces. with no hesitation by ICE, which remains armed, masked, abusive and now has a deputy being charged with sexual assault and robbery. 

Only about one-third or fewer of all those detained and deported had any criminal record whatsoever.  By contrast, two-thirds of those detained by the Biden administration did have criminal records. 

Trump is just detaining anyone who isn't ... white.

***

People are being slaughtered, on Hanukkah, no less. 

Two at prestigious Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The Reiners in Los Angeles. Fifteen at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Australia.

That's 19 in all at three different locations on the first night of Hanukkah.

I'm Jewish. I'm nervous. I'm hearing nothing about relief from or protection from such attacks coming out of Congress.

Never have. Likely never will. Congress has no interest in protecting those attacked in mass shootings. 

And never will.

***

Hey football fans, the Kansas City Chiefs are dead.

For this year, at least. Mahomes hurt. The team eliminated from playoff consideration for the first time since 2014.

If you watched any of their games, the Chiefs always seemed out of "synch" and unable to come up with the big play when they needed it, which was always their specialty with Mahomes in there. 

Not this year. Is Andy Reid signaling retirement? Is this how he'd want to go out? 

The playoffs, on TV (streaming?), on the Mahomes and the Chiefs Channel?

Get used to it.

2026, the year of Jaxson Dart.

Yeah, right.

***

So, you say you want an EV?

Volkswagen is shuttering a plant in Germany due to decreased EV demand and Trump tariffs.

Ford has announced a pretty strict cutback from EV production.

So, when United States street corners are full of electric recharging stations instead of gas stations, I'll buy an EV too.

But for now, Trump says, drill baby, drill, and to hell with the environment and the interior beauty of the United States.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Olivia Guenther, on your terrific Christmas recital.

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

Are You An Erika Kirk Fan? CBS Is.

The Schloss-Blog, like you, has detected that CBS (the new Fox News) has become a fan of Erika Kirk, the widow of slain Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk.

The Tiffany Network has decided that doing a softball question-packed town hall with Mrs. Kirk was a great way to express loyalty to President Trump.  

Charlie, of course, comes off looking like the American Idol that Turning Point portrays him to be, despite his racist leanings.

Bari Weiss, the CBS News chief after a merger between her Free Press and CBS, hosted the event.. Now she's calling the shots at the once-proud news organization, where Walter Cronkite announced to America that John F. Kennedy was dead on Nov. 22, 1963.

Mrs. Kirk, for her part, got to talk about her grief over her husband's death (which never should've happened, by the way), her feelings about political violence, her faith and the moment that she issued forgiveness to the man who allegedly shot and killed her husband.

No one here is pardoning or condoning that shooting, but Kirk, Charlie, that is, for his part, is famous for saying things like these, from a Sept. 11 article in The Guardian: 

If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, boy, I hope he’s qualified

Happening all the time in urban America, prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people, that’s a fact. It’s happening more and more

If I’m dealing with somebody in customer service who’s a moronic Black woman, I wonder is she there because of her excellence, or is she there because of affirmative action?

To Taylor Swift: "Reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge."

I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the second amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational.

And finally:

Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America

There is no separation of church and state. It’s a fabrication, it’s a fiction, it’s not in the constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists.

Is he a prince, or what? I believe in free speech, his right to say all that, but racist he was.

Thanks, Bari Weiss, CBS, Erika, for reminding us. No, wait...

***

Hey, fitness buff. Yeah. you.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy wants you flying in a suit but working up a sweat first in your local airport gym before boarding.

No, really.

He wants America to get back to flying appropriately, like in the golden age of flying (huh?), when Americans flew in suits. And he wants full gyms installed in most major airports (what about the minor ones?).

Me, I'm going to try to working out at my local gym in a suit and if it works out, I'll use the one at the airport too.

No, wait...

***

The College Football Playoff starts next weekend and Notre Dame is out.

If they'd beaten Miami, they'd have been in.

If they'd been a full-fledged member of the ACC instead of a pseudo member, they'd have likely won the damn conference and automatically qualified. 

Just like Duke.

No, wait...

***

Are you Cloud Dancer?

***

Donald Trump is grabbing oil tankers in the Caribbean.

Next thing you know, the Pillow Man, Trump-lover Mike "Feathers" Lindell, will be running for governor of Minnesota.

No, wait.

***

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

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

Oh, and Happy Hanukkah.

Kiffin, Sleeping, Bradley and Kalshi

We at the Schloss-Blog think we've found a common thread between Lane Kiffin, LSU's new football coach, Donald Trump dozing off at Cabinet meetings, Admiral Mitchell Bradley saying there was no "kill 'em all" order and the Kalshi politically predictive - OK, gaming - website latching onto an agreement with - CNBC(?).

As usual, we have our panel of experts to discuss, as they say on MSNBC - uh, we mean, MSNOW as it's known NOW - and you've never heard of any of these people.

***

Lane Kiffin is now the head football coach at LSU, leaving the University of Mississippi to assume those duties. Mississippi is 11-1 as this is being written. Eleven wins, one loss.

What pro coaches leave after going, oh, 16-1? 

None.

He is getting an insane amount of money to jump ship from Mississippi (you won't see me call it "Ole Miss" because of its racist origins, stemming from the term slaves would use to describe a plantation owner's wife and the school's deep roots in its segregated past).

Kiffin says he tried to work it out to coach the team through the College Football Playoff, in which they'll be a middling seed among the 12 participants, but do you want to play for a coach you know is abandoning you?

Yeah, me neither.

Kiffin will be expected to win a national championship at LSU, as three of its previous four coaches have done, except the one, Brian Kelly, who Kiffin is replacing. 

Good luck, Lane, because 11-1 isn't gonna' cut it at LSU without a national championship within the next four years, which was how long it took those other three guys.

***

Kiffin's "cousin," Donald Trump, who jumps anything for money, likes to dream about it.

At Cabinet meetings. Seems our president has a habit of falling asleep at these meetings as well as on other public occasions.

Trump is one of the most unpopular presidents in our history, with approval ratings for everything from foreign affairs to immigration and especially to the economy and the affordability of life in general.

Overall, he's at a 36% approval rating for EVERYTHING. 

That pretty much sucks.

So does he. So is Lane Kiffin still popular at Mississippi now that he abandoned them for LSU?

Probably about 36%

By the way, Republicans who condemned Joe Biden for apparently dozing off on similar occasions are quick to rush to defend Trump for doing the same thing.

Hmm...

***

Admiral "Mitch" Bradley, who oversees operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific, is saying there was no "Kill Them All" order regarding the Venezuelan boat blown out of the water, and survivors attacked and killed on a second run.

Clearly, he's lying, because they're all dead. They were defenseless. Signaling for help. No clear evidence they were armed nor carrying drugs. 

The same way that Trump is killing Americans by denying them food (SNAP funding) and healthcare (ACA subsidies), he's now killing folks in the Caribbean.

On purpose.

It's up to about 87 dead and 20 boats sunk, again, no evidence they were carrying drugs, nor weapons.

The only ones armed were the Americans who killed them. Clearly, they were ordered to do so, although the Admiral and the Secretary say there was no such order given and the president says he wouldn't have given such an order until he woke up.

Yeah, right.

Reached for comment, the White House said the president was dozing off in a meeting. The Pentagon said it wouldn't answer questions from unauthorized media outlets that didn't get permission to ask questions, let alone use the information solicited from them.

Bradley, by the way, has had a distinguished military career. Now, we'll bet, he's looking at "early retirement."

***

Kalshi is the prediction market best known for directing political direction and establishing odds therefor.

However, it looks like you can get odds on business futures now that Kalshi and CNBC (no, not CNOW), have inked a three-year deal. 

Not only does that expand Kalshi's footprint into the digital media world, it makes CNBC your predictive markets home.

For the World Series and Super Bowl too.

Prop bet on the market? Kalshi and CNBC.

Will the publicly held Green Bay Packers go on the NYSE? Kalshi and CNBC.

How long will Trump's nap last? Will he sleep through the Fed's next interest rate-drop announcement? Kalshi and CNBC? Quite the prop bet, huh?

Who will give the next "Kill them all" order and will it impact the markets? Kalshi and CNBC.

Will Jimmy Kimmel last? Kalshi and ABC, un - CNBC.

***

Stephen A Smith has gone off the farm, saying that Mark Kelly is disrespecting the military by saying that illegal, unlawful orders do not have to be followed.

Kelly's right and I no longer view any programming on ESPN that features Stephen A. Smith.

And never will, from now on.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you one more time, Emily Capdevielle.

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

 

Hamas, Canada, Israel and Venezuela.

The Schloss-Blog has noticed that Hamas, Canada, Israel and Venezuela have a lot in common. Mostly that they have problems dealing with the United States or agreeing to the United States' terms in trade, war and/or tourism.

And it's hurting Americans. And America.

***

Israel keeps bombing Gaza. And other areas in the Middle East. The fragile ceasefire in the area, principally between Israel and Hamas, is not exactly what you would call, "holding." Israel appears to have no interest in ending the war (which might subsequently be seeing Netanyahu being prosecuted), ceasefire notwithstanding.

Trump's Nobel Prize campaign will die in a bomb crater in Gaza.

And maybe in Ukraine. His peace proposal for Russia and Ukraine looks more like a Russian wish list than a peace plan. Russia would get to keep the ground gains it has won these last three-plus years, much to the disdain of the Ukrainians.

Nobel Peace Prize? More like Nobel-Ruski. 

***

Meanwhile, our Canadian friends aren't flying south in their usual numbers this season, so far.

Airlines are reporting fewer and fewer bookings between Canadian hubs and U.S. vacation centers across the Sun Belt.

During the first six months along of 2025, Canadian travel to the United States is off by 20% from a year ago.

Even Canadians coming to the U.S. by car is way off, witness "...The number of Canadians returning from travel to the U.S. via automobile declined sharply from January to August 2025, down almost 33% from the same period in 2024, according to Statistics Canada."

Fun times, huh?

On a personal note, Canadians I ran into regularly at a golf course in Phoenix, every Sunday when I played there with my friends, told us repeatedly that they were not thinking of coming back to Arizona because of Trump's ever-increasing tariffs on Canada and his ongoing poor attitude toward our neighbor to the north, terming Canada the "51st state."

Canadians are trending toward staying away because of "...The trade war, Trump's rhetoric and the weak Canadian dollar [that has] made Canadians feel "unwelcome" in the U.S.," according to a statement from Canada to USA, which offers "cross-border services" to Canadians traveling to the U.S.

Delightful ... eh?

***

Hey, get this. Venezuela, and its leaders, are members of a foreign terrorist organization.

Kid you not.

Those drug-trafficking South Americans, they should know better than to sneak fentanyl onto fishing boats, tourist boats and/or pleasure cruisers. The U.S. will blow them out of the water.

And when that is not enough, we'll just flat out invade your puny little country ... so little that it produces a lot of oil while most of the fentanyl comes from ... oh yeah, Mexico.

But we're not bombing Mexican boats out of the Caribbean, are we? Nor are we invading Mexico, our No. 1 trading partner. Period! So far, 22 Venezuelan-port boats have been hit in 11 different attacks, with no proof of drugs or smugglers aboard, and 80 people killed.

Eighty! No proof. Sort of what ICE does when it detains and deports anyone who it profiles as not looking American. No proof.

Trump, however,, plain and simple, wants authoritarian Nicolas Maduro out so he can get a more American-friendly leader in.  And Trump continues to say it's all in the name of cutting off the drug trade, or else we'll do something land-based in Venezuela.

Just what we need - a South American version of Vietnam, with American boots on the ground in Venezuela. I'm sure Brazil, Argentina, Chile, et. al., are celebrating the possibility of American troops in nearby Venezuela. 

What's next - a raid on the Central American, drug-running leaders in Panama? No, wait...

***

Have a nice Thanksgiving? We spent ours at 33,000 feet. Illinois, cold weather, snow, slick roads, we are back.

Jordan, Erin, you're worth it.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, hostess of hostesses, Emily Capdevielle. 

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