Fighting Terrorism in the Middle East - Or Are We?

The Schloss-Blog remembers when 'W' declared war on terrorism, after 9/11. "You're with us or you're with the terrorists," he said, or some reasonable facsimile thereof.

Twenty-five years later, Trump is reining terror down on American citizens through masked ICE and CPB agents in unmarked cars and without warrants while American soldiers die in the desert.

And to get his hands on the enriched uranium he already obliberated, he's going to need a large, land-based force and scientific experts to capture and remove it, respectively, which is going to cost lives, time and lots of money.

But let me get this "strait," the war's over, right?

***

How's your NCAA bracket doing? I had 26 of 32 right in the first round, not too shabby. At or near the top of my two entries, on CBS Sports and ESPN, respectively.

VCU, unbelievable, right? Not only beating North Carolina but maybe ending former Knick Hubie Smith's time there as coach.

Maybe.

Four double-digit seeds won in the first round, and I missed all four. Wisconsin, out, hurt a lot of people. High Point, really?

And Kentucky is only alive by the grace of God. Why didn't Santa Clara foul before that last desperation heave that forced overtime?

My Final Four remains intact though and the qualifying seeds add up to less than 10, which is how it should be if you want to win your pool.

***

The "SAVE Act," Trump's near last-gasp attempt to keep Congress from falling to the Democrats (because it will), is not going to pass because the Republicans in the Senate don't have the votes and Leader John Thune (Wyoming) won't suspend the filibuster rules because he's afraid they'll eventually be used against him.

Trump, however, is getting desperate. Expect him, in the wake of this bill's failure, to eventually declare a nonexistent national emergency and/or to announce an executive order to the same effect, requiring overbearing I.D. requirements to vote, although without Congressional action, it won't stand in court (except with Alito and Thomas).

***

Trump's director of the National Counter Terrorism Center stepped down after he couldn't in good conscience, stand by the administration's decision to invade an Iran which, he said, posed "no imminent threat" to the United States.

He was also a 2020 election denier and an otherwise big-time MAGA typical loser.

***

Want erotica?

ChatGPT, Grok and other AI are ready to bring it to you, are, in fact, already bringing it to you.

Enjoy.

16 and under, no worries? Have fun.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Mark Steace.

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

War! What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing' ...

The Schloss-Blog wants to hear from someone, anyone who know what the war with Iran is about. No, wait, the "excursion."

***

 Back to the "excursion" momentarily, but first...

**We lost to Italy and didn't know it could've knocked us out of the WBC. That's alright because we came back and beat Canada (again?) in the quarterfinals.

**Bam Adebayo dropped 83. EIGHTY-THREE! -- OK, it was against the Wizards, but...

**The White House made a video interspersing NFL highlights with its war highlights. Ethics? We don't need no stinkin;' ethics, says the Trump White House.

**They followed it up with a similar video depicting war highlights and explosions with video-game explosions. 

**Next, they're going to make a highlight film of Trump's golf's game. No, wait...

***

The war - ahem, excursion into Iran is deadly. U.S. bombing killed some 175 civilians, many of them schoolchildren, but we don't care because, as Pete Hegseth says, we don't need no stinkin' rules of engagement and we show no quarter.

Polling consistently shows that U.S. citizens don't want this war and don't want U.S soldiers at risk of their lives.

But we press on.

Country Joe McDonald died this week. He sang loud and proud against U.S. participation in the Vietnam War, with these lyrics:

...and it's 1, 2, 3, what're we fighting for?
don't ask me, I don't give a damn
next stop is vietnam
and it's 5, 6, 7, open up the pearly gates
well there ain't no time to wonder why
whoopee! we're all gonna die...

...well c'mon mothers throughout this land
pack your boys off to Vietnam
c'mon pops, don't hesitate
send ‘em off before it's too late
be the first one on your block to have your boy come home in a box

and it's 1, 2, 3, what're we fighting for?
don't ask me, I don't give a damn.

Yeah, that's about Vietnam, sang it at Woodstock. But is it so far removed from what we're going through now with Trump's repeated forays into forever wars?

***

A synagogue in Michigan, the largest in the country. The assailant is dead, no serious injuries otherwise. 

Except for psychologically, maybe.

A university in Virginia. Old Dominion. An ROTC instructor dead. 

Anti-semitism and Islamophobia, respectively.

The war in Iran is sparking violence domestically. It will spark more.

Enjoying this, Donald, enjoying this?

***

Team USA is somehow barreling forward to the championship game of the World Baseball Classic, despite itself.

Now, if it can only defeat Japan.

And it's own coaching.

***

If you need proof that Trump treats war like a game, just watch the videos that he had posted mixing sports "bomb" highlights and video-game explosions with actual war bombings.

NFL and MLB athletes are not amused.

Either are the parents of the soldiers killed in our Iran War so far.

Trump is an immature child and treats American lives that way. Just another game.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Nora O'Donnell.

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

Dragged 'In' By Netanyahu ... Dragged 'out' by Epstein?

The Schloss-Blog wants to know: does Donald Trump make his own decisions? Not when Benjamin Netanyahu makes them for him.

Did the Israeli PM, still fighting for his political life, make sure the United States was dragged into war with Iran by convincing Trump that it was in the United States' best interests to join Israel in ravaging Iran?

Probably.

And while the United States is "re-obliberating" what it already had "obliberated" back in June, Iran and the proxy terrorist organizations under its wing (Houthis, Hezbollah) are attacking U.S. bases around the Middle East (and hitting some not U.S. military base targets). Meanwhile, the U.S. is hitting at least one civilian target in Iran, killing school children.

So, did Iran "dis-obliberate" what the United States had already 'obliberated,' according to President Trump?

In any event,, take your pick. And tell us now, what this "war/not a war" is all about:

** Regime change in Iran? 

            *Don't count on it, necessarily.

** 'Obliberating' a 'dis-obliberated' nuclear threat?

            *It was obliberated already, right? Right?

** Freeing the Iranian people to rise up (and be slaughtered again in the streets)?

            *How'd that work out last time they "rose up?"

** Or just protecting our military assets in the Middle East?

            *We had intel that said they were going to attack us if Israel attacked them. 

In other words, Israel dictated our foreign policy and literally dragged us into this war/not-a-war.

Just asking, Donald, just asking. As if you know the answer.

***

She was declared dead.

She had drowned in a backyard pool, in Gilbert, Arizona.

Rushed to a hospital, she was declared dead, an hour after life-saving measures had been performed on-site.

Five hours later - FIVE HOURS - she showed signs of life and the as-yet unidentified child is now expected to survive.

Or, as an ER doctor said: "Dr. Frank LoVecchio told [local Arizona outlet] AZFamily that healthcare workers should remain “overly sensitive” when “pronouncing a child dead."

Ya' think?

***

The Epstein Files are still out there and Trump keeps looking more and more implicated, doesn't he?

***

Kristi Noem is out as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Nominated to replace her, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R - Oklahoma), is a former MMA fighter with little to no experience in border protection and immigration enforcement.

He once picked a fight, during a committee session, right there in the chamber, with witness Sean O'Brien, president of the Teamsters Union.

He'll be about as effective as Noem, just without the fancy wardrobe and dog-shootings.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Bryce Drew.

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

 

 

I ran and I ran and I ran - and then I skated

The Schloss-Blog is not amused that the United States is once again participating in a war (Iran) that will result in many deaths around the Middle East. We were promised no more wars, we were promised the end of two wars, on "day one." How's that working out?

Also, we're a little ticked that the @WhiteHouse is using the Gold Medal-winning U.S. Men's Hockey Team as political props, promoting their presence at the State of the Union address and giving the goalie, Conner Hellybuyck, the Medal of Honor. Brady Tkachuk isn't happy the the president used his image in a video that appears to show him disparaging Canadians, who @Trump despises.

Bill Maher, the acerbic comic and talk-show host, has said repeatedly that he thinks @Trump despises war, an impression he took away from a dinner with Trump.

He's not so sure about it now.

***

Trump said in June that we had obliberated Iran's nuclear capabilities. Now, with this weekend's attacks on Iran, are we obliberating them again, or attempting to?

Again?

Will this be a long-term campaign? Will Americans die? Will American boots be on the ground in Iran?

Nobody knows, or is saying.

Iran is no peaceful state: slaughtering protesters; financing and arming terrorists in the Middle East; vowing to destroy Israel, and already with many years of American blood on its hands, dating back to the embassy occupancy in 1979.

Trump wants Iranians to rise up against is dictatorial regime. Will they? They were slaughtered in the streets weeks ago. History says they'll be slaughtered again, as in: Hungary 1956; Bay of Pigs, 1961; and Tiananmen Square, 1989.

Yet, the president who professes to be the should've-been and next would-be Nobel Peace Prize winner, has launched eight - EIGHT - military operations in his first 13 months in office so far. 

Nobel Peace Prize, my ass.

***

If the battle persists, if the campaign goes on - days, weeks, months even - impact to oil prices is immeasurable. Estimates are that 20% to 40% of the world's crude oil passes through the Straits of Hormuz and with Irani-sympathetic terrorists prospectively targeting shipments there, impact to crude oil prices could jump as much as 70%, by some estimates, in the result of a protracted conflict.

Or just for revenge by Iranian-sympathetic Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas.

Oh boy!

*** 

Also, back home, America is celebrating the U.S. Gold Medal in Hockey at the Olympics in a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over Canada.

Oh, that's the women's team, the one that won't go the White House because of @Trump's insults and disparagement of women.

The men's team did participate in White House misogyny by showing up at the State of the Union and receiving @Trump's blessing, little knowing that they were being used as political props by @Trump.

Heroic goalie Connor Hellebucyk will receive the Medal of Honor from @Trump for making 41 saves in the historic win over Canada, or about as many saves as wars @Trump claims to have stopped.

More significantly, American Brady Tkachuk, a star player, is miffed over his use in a White House video that appears to show him disparaging Canada.

In other words, he recognized that he and the team are being used as props by @Trump.

Congratulations.

SNL had its take on it as well.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Hilary Knight.

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

The Bitchy Blonde, the Supremes and - Oh Yeah, the Olympics

The Schloss-Blog is just loving that the Supreme Court struck down Trump's authority to impose tariffs (he didn't like it). But at least the Olympics are going our way, right?

***

Been watching the Olympics? They've been fab.

American speed skaters are coming home with a lot of medals, including three for Jordan Stolz of Wisconsin, two of them gold, although most of the fun watching speed skating, especially short track, is seeing all those wipeouts that those skaters cause, undercutting each other, costing each other medals. It's almost like, "If I can't win, you can't either." Almost.

Hockey? Congrats to the U.S. Women and their thrilling, come-from-behind win over Canada for the gold. Take that Canandians. 

No, we love Canadians. We miss them in Arizona, where their visits and tourism overall is down thanks to the tariff man. Last year, there was a group of Canadians we encountered, every Sunday morning in the spring, unwinding right along with us after playing at our fav Encanto 9 golf course, and we got chatty with them every week.

They didn't like Trump and were not understated about it. We saw them every week. This year, we are not seeing them every week and can only surmise they didn't come back. As they had threatened. Either have their countrymen.

Getting the message, Donald? A lot of businesses - hotels, restaurants, hospitality in general, and retailers - are feeling it.

Anyway, more on that soon enough - now back to the Olympics. To me, the best part of the Olympics isn't any one gold medal-winning performance, any one triple salchow in skating or any one record-setting triple twist with four flips in freestyle skiing or boarding.

It's hearing the National Anthem - The Star-Spangled Banner, playing with an American or American teammates on the podium, after receiving their gold medals, the pride showing on their beaming faces, the tears being restrained, or perhaps not (Breezy Johnson). 

Tell me a chill doesn't run up and down your spine when you see this, live. Tell me your don't feel pride. Tell me you don't experience the chill, right along with the athlete or athletes.

You know you do. It's the best part of the Olympics and I can never see it enough times.

***

Tariffs.

They drive up prices at retail. You know why.

Not because foreign countries pay them (as Donald claims), but because American shoppers pay them, at the retail counter, where the American importers who pay them at the docks pass them along to American consumers, at the store.

Somebody please explain this to Donald. Looks he suffers from his own Trump Derangement Syndrome.

There's a reason Americans say the economy sucks. Because prices suck. And prices suck because of Donald's Dumb Tariffs.

Now, with Trump's authority to impose tariffs at his will having been struck down by the Supreme Court, consumers as well as importers are in limbo. Trump says he can find a way to reimpose tariffs, which he says punishes foreign countries and foreign competitors. 

Not to worry  Trump says a provision of the 1974 Trade Act gives him the authority to impose tariffs again, now that the Supreme Court has said he can't. Apparently, he already has imposed them again.

So, are we right back where we started from, with Trump throwing firebombs at foreign countries, or will the Supremes get another crack at this (Trump is throwing firebombs at the justices who voted down his authority, including two he appointed, plus Chief Justice Roberts).

***

It's a week or so after her testimony before Congress. Pam Bondi remains a bitch.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Kate Kuffner.

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

 

Vance Booed, 'Bored' of Peace, A 'Bitch' Named Bondi, A Prayer For Mary and ... The Differences Between...

The Schloss-Blog, in its ongoing Olympic coverage, noticed that J.D. Vance got his ass booed at the opening ceremonies in Milan. What a swell guy. Maybe, on his way back, he'll get hit by one of those driverless semis being tested on the roads right now.

And, oh yeah, we watched Tony Dokoupil on the CBS Evening News, so you wouldn't have to.

***

But for starters, did anyone catch AG Pam Bondi's lack of testimony before a congressional committee? She an absolute bitch, inside out and backwards.

She refused to answer questions, went on and on about "how great" [Asshole] President Trump is and called congressmen into question for questioning that.

Meanwhile, law enforcement in the United States has become entirely focused on deporting those who are here legally. Even beating and killing them - dare I say murdering them.

The law enforcement that the FBI and the DOJ should be focused upon is going unfocused upon while their attempts at indicting Trump's "political enemies" keep failing, even though they should be able to, as the saying goes, "indict a ham sandwich."

She is a B-I-T-C-H.

If you watch any of South Park's new season episodes, you'll notice the brown stuff materializing on Bondi's nose in the scenes in which she is portrayed.

Guess what it is. D'oh. A reflection of how far her nose is up Trump's ass.

***

The 'Bored' of Peace, Trump's billion-dollar-membership organization which pledges to do anything but uphold peace, has been meeting to discuss opportunities to ... let's face it ... attack Iran.

Israel's all in and Trump, who has pledged to keep us out of war, is close to getting us into one. Another one.

Talk about being 'Bored.'

***

Tony Dokoupil, the anchor of the CBS Evening News on weeknights and the next Walter Cronkite (just ask him), is not doing what he pledged he would do - talk to you people out there.

So, the Schloss-Blog watched a few episodes of the CBS Evening News to find out.

We're still throwing up. Dokoupil promised to be out talking to you people out there, American people, not just "academics and elites," et. al.

And so, during the week of Feb. 9, we watched all of his weeknight broadcasts. He talked to experts, elites and academics for commentary on the leading stories of the day (the economy, Gaza, Ukraine, you name it).

Thanks, Tony, for the transparency. Cronkite just rolled over.

***

It's been two weeks now that Nancy Guthrie, Savannah's mother, has been missing, allegedly taken, for ransom.

She's 84. IMHO, she won't make it to 85.

What do these kidnappers want? Who are they? Why a Guthrie? What did Savannah do to piss somebody off? 

***

The Schloss-Blog, in its ongoing, periodic review of the differences between men and women, has noted that:

Men say I gotta' (rhymes with "kiss"). Women says, I have to "pee."

Men say, "let's have another round." Women say, "Give me the car keys."

When male artists sing about "love," they sing about "sex." When fmale artists sing about "love," they sing about "romance."

***

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

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

 

JDM, Phoenix City Council, Councilman Robinson and the Cardinals (And WaPo sports - gone).

The Schloss-Blog wants to say ... Hey, Phoenix City Council, there was never a doubt you were going to approve an architectural misfit sore thumb for the Biltmore neighborhood ... and now Donald Trump wants to rename Penn Station after himself - so, he wants to call it "Asshole" Station? ... and the Washington Post is literally now a shadow of its Pulitzer Prize-winning self ... and, on a high note, congrats to Larry Fitzgerald on being a first-ballot entrant to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

A few questions though...

***

...In exchange for releasing the funds for badly needed infrastructure repairs for New York/New Jersey commuter arteries, Donald Trump says he wants either Penn Station in New York or Dulles Airport in D.C. renamed - for him.

Odd, isn't it though, that he wants to rename a major airport or railway hub and have either called, "Asshole Station" or "Dementia Airport?"  

***

Congrats to Larry Fitzgerald on his first-ballot election into the prestigious NFL Hall of Fame. What an honor. He is second all-time in receptions and receiving yards (to you-know-who).

Gotta' wonder though: although he scored on a 64-yard skinny post from Kurt Warner to give the Cardinals a 23-20 lead over the Steelers with 2:37 left in Super Bowl XLIII, the Steelers used just about every bit of that 2:37 to drive for their winning score.

Cardinals radio announcers Dave Pasch and Ron Wolfley even wondered aloud after that score if there was too much time left for the Steelers to steal it, and they did, on a spectacular drive and subsequent TD play.

But what if ... Fitzgerald had gone down deliberately at the Pittsburgh 1, given himself up there, gave the Cardinals four plays to use up a lot of time and made the Steelers use up what timeouts they had left? The Steelers did have two timeouts left and the two-minute warning. They used 'em all on their subsequent game-winning drive, right down to the wire, so without all that, who knows?

As it was, the Cardinals had 38 second left and two timeouts after Pittsburgh's go-ahead TD, which put the Steelers ahead 27-23. The Cardinals needed a TD. Would've been difficult an it obviously was.

So, what if? Could the Cardinals have won? If Fitzgerald had gone down at the 1, could they have scored on four plays from there against the vaunted Steelers defense, run some time, killed the Steelers timeouts? 

Would've been nice to see 'em try.

***

Don't bother looking for the Washington Post Sports Section anymore. Its sports staff, its international staff, have been decimated by Trump friend and "Melania" documentary underwriter Jeff Bezos.

When you dump $75 million into that loser of a film, something else has to suffer and Bezos had just announced 16,000 layoffs at amazon. In all, 300 of the Post's 800 editorial employees were eliminated.

WaPo was just next in line for "Mr. Melania."

***

... on a personal note ... the Phoenix City Council, which works hard under the direction of Mayor Kate Gallego, already had its minds made up last Wednesday when it unanimously approved developer JDM's SIX-STORY condo structure at the intersection of 24th Street and Arizona Biltmore Circle (ABC for short). 

The six stories alone make it a misfit in the neighborhood, where the 17 various Biltmore subdivisions (and 1,800 units) that make up ABEVA (Arizona Biltmore Estates Village Association) have nary any three-story structures.

Yes, many of those 1,800 have been around since the '80s (like my townhouse along the Biltmore Links Golf Course's 12th hole), but they were reasonably priced upon construction and despite pandemic-and-inflation-driven increases, remain reasonably so.

JDM's self-described "luxury" units will be much more upscale and don't be surprised when institutional buyers gobble them up, rent them out. JDM has been sparse with pricing information for its prospective units, but with almost 200 and two cars per, it ain't going to be easy to make a left out of 'ABC' onto 24th Street.

The saddest part though was the testimony of the Millenials and even Gen X'ers who said these "affordable" units were needed. Most of them could very well have been JDM employees or employees' relatives and friends, from watching them give high fives and back slaps to each other outside the council chambers.

The median price for a condo, any condo, in the Biltmore area, meanwhile, is a reported $425K. These new units will likely be much more expensive.

Of those youngsters who testified in favor, wonder how many of them combined it would take to purchase just one unit in the new development.

There goes the neighborhood.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Andreas Bocelli, for that stirring Olympic Ceremony rendition of "Nessum Dorma" from Puccini's "Turandot." The song's title translates to "None Shall Sleep" and closes with the line, "Vincero" (I shall win).

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