Schloss-Blog: Where Are My DOGE, Tariff and ACA Subsidy-Expiration Rebate Checks Already?

The Schloss-Blog wants to know: With a $5,000 "Vote-Republican" check in the works (if they win, that is), WTF has happened to the previously promised rebate checks for:

**The DOGE savings;

**The Tariff Rebate;

**And the ACA Subsidy-Expiration savings?

These alone add up to $8,000 per individual in the United States, or at least toward voter-eligible adults who may have purchased ACA healthcare coverage and were somehow the f_ck or other impacted by the DOGE cutbacks.

All in all, the promised Trump rebate checks have never come and likely never will because he's so desperate to maintain control of his lap dog, do-nothing Congress, that he'll promise anything and everything to anyone and everyone.

And has. But as to those checks?

Don't hold your breath. Trumo doesn't like to part with his money. 

***

Meanwhile, inflation (3.4%) is still sizzling. And the Consumer Price Index is no bonus eithere.

***

The contractor who screwed up the Deflecting Pool disaster is now taking the blame for the faulty work, undercutting Trump's scalding desire to indict Davey Hearn, against whom DC District Attorney Jeanine Pirro has already dropped the charges.

Atlantic Industrial Coatings, Trump's pals and donor, has accepted responsiblity for the damages, not a vandal with a knife or a boxcutter, as Trump has insisted.

Makes you wonder what else Trump lies about.

No, wait ... everything.

***

Just when I was getting ready to blast Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian and his prize quarterback, Arch Manning, for being vastly overrated, they pulled this 21-point rabbit out of a hat in steamy Austin and beat THE Ohio State, 24-23.

They didn't deserve the win. In fact, they looked like crap for three quarters. Ohio State outplayed them. Ohio State out game-planned them. Ohio State out-executed them. 

After three quarters,THE Ohio State had a 23-3 lead.

After four quarters, Texas had a 24-23 lead.

Don't give this win to Arch Manning, although his pedigree shined through, earning him the redemption he and his Longhorn teammates have sought for a year now. No, this win gets credited to Texas' defense, which bailed out what was an overmatched Sarkisian for three quarters.

Left my significant other Buckeye unhappy too.

***

Are interest rates going up, because inflation is.

Have we won the f_ckin' war yet? What about it, Donald?

More than just the Strait of Hormuz, is the Strait Bab Al Mandab is virtually closed now too, what with Houthi terrorists having virtually closed off Saudi Arabia's alternate route to markets for its oil.

Combined with the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump closed by attacking Iran back in February, these two passages see about 30% of the world's crude go to market.

So, we'll ask again, what about it, Donald? Inflation up, consumer confidence, like your approval ratings, way down. 

Life sucks if you're president of the United States. No, actually, for congressional Republicans.

***

Good night Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Jordan Grinnell, soccer and cross country star.

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

Schloss-Blog: Tupac Solved, American Tennis Not

The Schloss-Blog wants to know why it took so long to convict Tupac's killer and why American tennis players, especially the men, just don't have the killer instinct.

Plus, Steve Ballmer, the LA Clippers and Saguaro High all in the news, for all the wrong reasons

And Trump in the news, for all the unconstitutional ones.

***

It only took 30 years. Thirty.

But 63-year-old Duane Keith Davis, a former gang leader, has been convicted of - gotta' be careful here - orchestrating the murder of famed hip-hopper, Tupac Shakur.

Davis was accused of obtaining the gun that was used to kill Tupac, on Sept. 7, 1996. Tupac was 25.

His death, of course, was part of a raging hip-hop war between East and West coast labels that ultimately resulted in the death about six months later of Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G., a friend-turned-bitter-rival of Tupac.

Davis is the only one convicted in the murder investigation. He faces life in prison at his sentencing in October.

***

Is the war with Iran over yet?

***

What is going on with American tennis, particularly men's?

No American man has won a mjor tournament since - wait for it - 2003, when Andy Roddick won the U.S. Open.

2003.

Watching the U.S. Open this weekend, I saw many reasons why, even though American men had good success through the first two or three rounds in the annual New York event.

Most distressing was Taylor Fritz, the great American hope for some years now, blow a 2-sets-to-one lead and then a 4-1 lead in the deciding 5th set and losing in the third round to talented Argentine Francisco Cerundolo.

Ouch.

Ben Shelton still has championship aspirations for the United States but is in a much tougher bracket than Fritz was.

Even more mysterious, on the much more reliable American women's side, was watching one-time major champ Madison Keys blow a 5-1 lead in the third set and lose to Zheng Qinwen. Keys had the match won and suddenly, inexplicably headed south, just collapsed.

Why don't Amricans win these matches? Why don't they have a killer instinct, especially the men? Who's coaching these Americans and not drilling the killer instinct into them? 

At least the women have Coco Gauff around.

***

Did we win the war yet? I could swear we won it, like, back in March.

***

Steve Ballmer, the LA Clippers owner, likes to sit courtside at games, in among the fans, or at least the ones who can afford those same seats he's in, cheering on his Clippers at their $2 billion arena he pretty much self-financed.

Now, though, he can't even visit his own arena for a year after the NBA fined him $30 million (pocket change for him, the world's 6th-richest man) and suspended him (and two Clippers executives) for a year for circumventing league salary cap rules to compensate super-star Kawhi Leonard.

The team also sacrificed five consecutive seasons of No. 1 draft selections.

Leonard was fined $700,000. However, his trade back to the Toronto Raptors stands and he was not suspended.

The Clippers are saying they'll appeal, even though the NBA has no appeals process for this violation. Which means it's going to court.

If, that is, the Clippers can convince a judge they're done no wrong.

Good luck with that.

***

I swear, we won the war already, right?

***

Saguaro, once the pride of Arizona high school football, is forfeiting games and can barely field a team lately.

What happened to the school with 14 state titles and a string of nationally ranked teams?

For whatever the reason, players abandoned the program, transferred elsewhere and Saguaro, after suffering a 62-0 opening loss this season to Desert Mountain, canceled against arch rival Chaparral.

In my 40 years covering prep sports, I've never seen a fall from grace like this, and nobody knows why.

Or isn't saying.

***

Right? About the war, that is. Right?

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Jordan Grinnell.

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

Schloss-Blog: Going For A Swim: Mouring For Tim And Dolly

The Schloss-Blog is going for a swim - in Lake American't.

Trump's latest renaming project is not only his attempt to strike at Canada for not agreeing to his egregious terms in the renegotiating of the USMCA , it's - let's face it - his attempt to distract from the failing economy, raging inflation, the War Without End and, of course, the Epstein Files.

In case you hadn't noticed, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El Sayed embarrassed Trump. When Trump lashed out at him,  El Sayed responded by calling him out for his contant playmate companion, Natalie Harp and his relationship with his suddenly ghost wife, let alone all of his failed policies, as mentioned above.

And mentioning that his own name does not appear in the Epstein Files, as Trump's does, allegedly thousands of times.

***

On it goes. Republicans have nothing to run on, no accomplishments. All they have is name-calling and disparagement of Democrats, while Democrats consistently hit Republicans on support for Trump's inflation-boosting policies and price-inflating results at gas stations and grocery stores. 

Meanwhile, Democrats continue to call them out on affordability, which Trump claims does not exist, while he tries everything illicit that he can to prevent Democrats from voting, especially by mail.

By the way, Donald, many MAGA Republicans, like you, use mail-in voting.

***

Trying to figure how Mike Mulligan is out at WSCR sports radio in Chicago but DeShaun Watson is in at quarterback in Cleveland.

Neither move appears to make sense, except maybe Mulligan might have been there too long and made too much money while the latter makes so much money that the onwer possibly came down on the coach and said, "Play him."

Trying to figure out how 15-year-old Dean Ray is eligible to run for governor in Vermont. Yet, he is. When we toss Texas, Oklahoma and Florida out of the union, can we take Vermont with them, please.

By the way, Trump announced a major deal with Venezuela to produce oil from its rich reserves and bolster the United States' supply.

Maybe so. But Venezuela's oil must be dug out of sometimes very difficult topography and is so thick that it can be very difficult to process. And Chevrom is the only US company with contractual arrangements to pursue Venezuelan oil.

Leaving the outcome very precarious.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Dolly Parton and Tim Curry.

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

Schloss-Blog: Democrats, Where Are You?

The Schloss-Blog learns a lot watching "Real Time with Bill Mahr" on HBO.

Forget about his wit and sarcasm, he's well read and well prepared on whatever the topic. So are his guests.

This past Friday, they were the NY Times' Jeremy Peters, a best-selling author and columnist, and award-winning CNN anchor Dana Bash.

They weren't shy about what I'm passionate about as well: Democrats, what is your rallying cry? Where is your campaign? What's on your platform?

With Donald Trump tripping over himself to give Democrats fodder for the midterms, they are still struggling for a party-wide, unifying message. Between the progressives, the centrists and the Democratic Socialists, they do as much infighting as they do lashing out at Republicans.

As Peters pointed out on "Real Time," while Trump's approval ratings hover just above 30 percent, guess what? Democrats, as a party, don't have approval ratings (40%) much higher than that.

Trump's ratings, which tie him to virtually every Republican running in the midterms, are driven by the costly war with Iran, which he refuses to get out of, even though it is continually driving up prices of everything, from fuel to groceries. And there are his tariffs, which keep driving up costs of everyday goods and from which he refuses to back down, despite many of them being ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.

With so many opportunities to pound upon, why are the Democrats sturggling? Trump keeps screwing up.

But so do they.

***

Of course, all the Republicans have to run on is calling the Democrats "Communists." Republicans have no accomplishments besides higher prices, unaffordability and an unpolular, ongoing war driving all of it, a "never ending-type" war that Trump promised would never happen.

The Democrats apparently promised they wouldn't know how to leverage that, and are succeeding.

***

Talks with Canada over trade and tariffs have broken down completely, with Canada calling talks with Trump's representatives pointless and categoriziing his demands as unrealistic.

In other words, just like everything else Trump is doing to the economy.

Since being back in office in January 2025, Trump has taken 20 months to completely alientate and piss off our two biggest trading partners, Mexico and Canada.

And the national debt has gone from $36 trillion to 440 trillion, yes, in just 20 months. 

***

Arizona State University now has a major in being an "influencer." Not making this up.

Republicans are skipping debates this season, heading into the midterms. Why not? They have nothing to run on.

SCOTUS rejected Trump's umpteenth appeal of his having to pay E. Jean Carroll the $5.2 million he owes her in the sexual assault and defamation trial judgment.

But they protected his privilege to keep building the new "ballroom."  We're all paying for it.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Harry and Meghan. Welcome home.

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

Schloss-Blog: Trump Has A Death Wish!

The Schloss-Blog thinks Donald Trump has made it clear: he has a death wish.

How come? He said so himself, maybe not in so many words, but he said so himself: in explaining his luxury catering cart transfer from AF-1 to a military plane, he said, "I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk."

Huh?

If that's the case, Donald, then why transfer, even if by luxury coach, even if, by you own words, you were safer on Air Force 1?

According to Trump, in his convoluted reasoning, the plane he was transferred to was the more likely target.

In his own words, his advisers, both Secret Service and miliary, supposed that the Iranians would've thought "..that would be the plane I think that we -- that they would be more likely to go for."

Huh?

So, the Secret Service and the military, which advised you to make the catering-cart transfer, had you move to a plane that was a more likely target? That, although you're the president they are sworn to protect? Even though they were transferring you to a plane that was in greater jeopardy? Even though the party you left behind on AF-1 was, subsequently, a lot safer than you were?

Trump definitely has a death wish.

Just like the shooting in western Pennsylvania, the one from which he emerged from a pile of Secret Service agents to shake a fist at the world, even if that left him as a clear target in an area that had not been totally secured yet. 

Staged. Oh yes it was, staged.

If that bullet truly grazed his ear, he would have a scar now that would last forever.  But he doesn't. Instead, the shooter is dead and the bullet that went by Trump's ear killed an innocent person in the audience. Almost one-third of Americans believe the attempt was staged.

Trump has a death wish. 

Don't want to see an American President assassinated, but one of these days, one of these attempts just might succeed, especially the way the Secret Service dispenses advice.

***

I guess you never know how difficult it is to be faced with someone close to you on 24/7 watch in a psych ward until you go visit that person in the hospital.

At the same time, on something completely detached from that, you're dealing with a trusted friend who suddenly decided to become your mortal enemy, for a variety of reasons you don't even comprehend.

You don't harbor any such feelings toward that person. Just confusion over the origination of the abyss between the two of you.

Meanwhile, the person so close to you in that psych ward has left a searing impression on you that you'll never erase.

Life goes on. You deal with it.

***

Has anyone noticed that the filthy-rich Dodgers ... suck?

Since July 1, the team that spent whatever it took to acquire one of baseball's best pitchers at the trade deadline has a record of 18-19, and just 13-13 since the All-Star break.

And yet, still has a comfortable lead in the NL West.

Maybe all their riches and fat payroll, which are meaningless, in all likelihood, to the owners, is why the rest of baseball rises up to play against the Dodgers, to give them Hell and let their play show the resentment they have toward the team that can spend recklessly and not feel any burden.

I grew up a Dodger fan in Brooklyn. but if you ask me, even though they truly suck, I'll say, "Let's go Mets."

*** 

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Erin Mercado.

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

Schloss-Blog: Influencers and Cyberattackers

The Schloss-Blog is watching Influencers, cyberattackers and a certain ping pong player named Lily.

Hey, the Ballroom may have been halted, for now, but the Influencer business and cyberattackers just keep on rolling.

Yes, the Influencer business just might be your kids' or your grandkids' paths to a successful careers. And why not?

Influencers are said to have made a collective $21 billion last year, and, apparently, deservedly so. They boost so many brands.

They sit in their cars and videotape themselves eating the food that they just bought at a drive-thru. And rating it. It continues in beauty, coffee and fitness, as all are industries whose brands benefit from Influencer promotion.

They're coming for you. Your kids are going to do this for a living. 

Yes, you deserve a break today. A profitable one.

***

I see where Trump declared that Minnesota was to blame for a cyberattack on 30 of the state's municipal water systems.

Thirty.

But like Jeanine Pirro's charges against Davey Hearn for damaging the Deflecting Pool, these allegations fell apart when ... wait for it ... six other states got similarly cyberattacked as well.

Guess what, Donald? As in Minnesota, Iran did it, part of their covert payback for you hitting them so hard that we're out of missiles.

Did we mention that a judge ordered a halt to construction of the Ballroom without Congressional approval of the expenses?

***

Speaking of water, Arizona, where I hang out from time to time, along with neighboring California and Nevada, are likely going to see water-rate hikes very soon, as the reigning drought in the southwest continues to shrink the available water runoff from the Colorado River.

The river is not getting its usual runoff of snow from the mountains because there hasn't been very much snow and/or rain to have that much runoff.

Lake Mead, the principle water-supply reservoir for Arizona, is down to its lowest levels since ... wait for it ... 1937. In other words, it's at about 27% of capacity. In fact, what are believed to be the remains from mob-deposited bodies have washed up there.

Hey Donald, thanks for all the solution ideas. No, wait...

***

Todd Blanche is going to the Attorney General of the United States. In other words, Republicans have no backbone whatsoever.

***

Congrats to Cardinals great Larry Fitzgerald, QB Drew Breese, linebacking great Luke Kuechly, Adam Vinatieri and Roger Craig on induction into the NFL Hall of Fame.

It's Eli's turn next.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Erin Mercado.

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

Did we mention that a judge ordered a halt to construction of the Ballroom without Congressional approval of the expenses?

Schloss-Blog: The 'Deflecting Pool' Slash That Wasn't, Jerry Jones and Walking Out On Mellencamp.

The Schloss-Blog has been watching this weekend as Trump's fabrication that the Deflecting Pool - uh, Reflecting Pool has unraveled and exposed him as the Liar-in-Chief that he is.

We've also got Jerry Jones and John Mellencamp items coming up too, which we'll get to in a moment.

But Trump's weeks-long insistence that the damage to the Deflecting Pool, as his tale has come to be known, unraveled in the face of his total lack of evidence against David Hearn, the former Olympic rower whose snatching up of a sliver of blue paint on the pool's surface got him indicted for doing the damages.

Trump is still teeing off on DC Prosecutor, personal former fav and Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro for dropping the charges after her investigation revealed that the damages were likely caused by the shoddy work of Trump's own contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings. They got the work on a no-bid contract and the $16 million cost to date far exeeds the $1 million originally forecast.

Bottom line: Trump's angry, he's been flat out caught in the act of lying, he's embarrassed and will likely go to his grave insisting that Hearn committed vandalism.

But Hearn didn't. Trump's own motorcade driving over the then-drained Deflecting Pool probably did.

***

It's another loss for Trump in what has become a string of losses in court, including and especially on the anti-weaponization fund and IRS settlement.

***

Before we get to more on Crooked Trump (there's always more), have you heard Cowboys owner and GM Jerry Jones spout off on - you guessed it - we're gonna' win the Super Bowl this year?

The Cowboys have not even been to their conference championship game in 30 years, so when quarterback Dak Prescott declares and Jones leans into that it's "Super Bowl or bust," it's just a tired old refrain from the franchise that thinks of itself as "America's Team," right? 

South America, perhaps.

The sad part is that ESPN gives this credence and has every year for the past 30 years. Yeah, the Cowboys are going to the Super Bowl - if they get tickets.

***

And now, a true story:

Attended John Mellencamp's fabulous concert at the Credit Union 1 Amphitheater in Tinley Park, IL. He rocked. In fact, he rocked some people out of their seats, literally.

In his opening song, the 2014 hit, "Lawless Times," Mellencamp improvised a line to embarrass and be critical of Trump: 

"You can't trust the police with guns if they're ICE," was what he sang midway through the tune, while a video of ICE thugs doing their detainee-beating thing played on the Jumbotron screen behind the stage.

We were seated in the amphitheater, looking straight on at the stage. While the line, as the Sun-Times review stated, earned a raucous response from the audience, in front of us, at the venue just 20 or so miles from the bright red Indiana border, you could see people hurriedly getting up to leave. MAGA folks, no doubt, insulted by what they felt was the disrespect shown to 47.

Suddenly, there were pockets of empty seats in the amphitheater in front of us.

It happened again near the end of the show, when he performed "Pink Houses," which includes the line, "Go to work in some high rise, and vacation down at the Gulf of Mexico."

MAGA supporters, no doubt disgusted that he sang "...Gulf of Mexico" instead of the MAGA-and-Trump-preferred "Gulf of America," got up and left, without staying for his final tunes and encores.

They probably think David Hearn is guilty too.

Mellencamp, a native Hoosier, still resides in Bloomington, Indiana, today.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, record-smashing 800 runner Jordan Grinnell.

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