Was Gonna' Take The Weekend Off...

The Schloss-Blog was going to take the weekend off, but...

..there's so much going on. However, we're taking a more nontraditional route today, on this solemn, holiday weekend.

I don't want anyone to think I am anti-U.S. military, but I was anti-Vietnam War and would've gone to Canada to avoid the draft (I was No. 282 in the first-ever draft lottery - they got into the 220's).

I was against the Gulf War, especially when we didn't find those WMD's we were promised were there (thank you, Colin Powell). 

Now, 20 years later, it only took us four presidents to get out of a country, Afghanistan, that has never been successfully invaded by any army (ask Russia). And despite the damage we've done to the Taliban, they are coming back as we depart.

And after we kicked a larger Russian force's asses in Syria, Trump kindly pulled our troops out so to spare Putin the embarrassment and so Turkey could kick Kurdish ass. The Kurds, our allies against al-Qaeda, were left to die at Turkish hands, typifying Trump's cowardly approach to foreign affairs.

But enough about the military. Here's what fell out my notebook this morning that may impact your life.

***

AM radios are on the way out in new electric vehicles because of AM's shrinking audience and interference that leaves your sound with lots of static.

***

Fifty percent of the U.S. population is vaccinated in full against COVID. Will we need a booster though? No one knows. Will we achieve herd immunity? Not while COVIDiots like @Outkick and Ron Johnson are around.

***

Do you feel comfortable not wearing a mask when you're out and about? My gym doesn't require it anymore for the fully vaccinated but doesn't ask for proof that you are. A lot of other places don't either. Still feeling comfortable? Bill Maher, full vaccinated, tested positive and his Real Time show, which I love, was off the air on HBO for two weeks.

***

To get people vaccinated, states and municipalities are offering cash (millions!) and other incentives (free tuition) to get people to take the shot. This is what happens when COVIDiots are all that's left un-vaccinated. Thank you, Donald Trump.

***

Feel safe traveling abroad again, especially to Europe? Supposedly, you'll have to test negative coming and going, vaccinated or not (see Maher, Bill, above).

***

Still love Donald Trump? When he was president, the GOP couldn't pile up U.S. debt fast enough (it went up 36 percent from 2017-2021). Now though, the GOP won't spend enough to conquer COVID, "Build America Back Better" nor investigate the insurrection which they did instigate (I see another poem in the Schloss-Blog's future)

***.

I'd say bring in NCIS to investigate, but NCIS-New Orleans has been canceled after seven seasons and Mark Harmon's Leroy Jethro Gibbs, was left seemingly doing a wounded breaststroke in a remote lake after his motorboat was blown up while he was looking into a murder with an investigative reporter, played by his real-life wife, Pam (Mork & Mindy) Dawber.

Did he, will he survive? What would that show be without him? McGee would have to run the team and the only thing interesting left would be sex between team members Wilmer Valderrama (Nicholas Torres) and Eleanor Bishop (cutie Emily Wickersham).

***

Need to give a thank you to Lenise Pleza, my fellow "Radio Free Phoenix dot com" DJ, who does a fabulous "Cartoon World" broadcast from across the pond. Her free-form features include a themed Sonic Six-Pack, and last week, she did mine: six songs you'd keep driving beyond your destination to hear the end of rather than park and cut them off. My six, in no particular order, were: Layla (Derek & the Dominos); One (U2); Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin); Hey Jude (Beatles); God Only Knows (Beach Boys); and Already Gone (Eagles).

What are your six?

***

We see where Naomi Osaka, the tennis wizard and female athlete making the most money now ($55 million estimated) is refusing media sessions at the French Open, for what she says are mental-health reasons. I'm fine with that, but is YBN Cordae, her hip-hopper boyfriend, there to provide mental-health relief for her? Are the media a distraction, as she contends, that asks the wrong questions and gets too personal? She says, "I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes' mental health." And she says speaking after losing has the potential to be too mentally taxing.

Is she right? I have interviewed many athletes and coaches after difficult losses. They are not in the best of moods, no doubt. But talking to them immediately after an event is when you get the freshest thoughts about it on their minds. Admittedly though, reporters have to be sensitive to repetitive questions and respect when athletes decline to answer something, especially on clearly emotional grounds. Some reporters are just too impressed with themselves, or, translated, just plain f-cking stupid.

***

Finally, Southwest Airlines, emerging from the pandemic, has stopped serving booze on flights almost as soon as they had started.

Seems too many fights broke out among passengers.

It's time for Trumpian COVIDiot seating sections. In the back.

***

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

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