Albany, Aces, Ads

The Schloss-Blog is back from Albany, and East Berne, where we visited with my Gamma Delta Chi fraternity brothers and their significant others in a glorious party weekend. It all came up aces, a constant flow of conversation that seemed as though it picked up where it had left off - in 1972, 1973 or 1974.

One other highlight - a quick ride out to East Berne, where I attended Camps Orinsekwa Sonnikwa for 16 summers, the longest-tenured camper-turned-counselor/waterski instructor.

There is nothing left of the camp grounds, now desolate, overgrown, the bunks razed, the magnificent waterfront facility gone. 

But East Berne, on the other hand, thrives. Maple Inn on the Lake, Warner Lake, that is, which I glided all over as a skier, is a popular cocktail spot and dinner-gathering place, right on the lake, viewing the tiny cabins so many people still own on the mile-long body of water. Pics I took are up on Facebook.

After a delicious lunch, coconut shrimp superb and a glass of wine, we cruised around to the old sites: the former Maple Inn; the boarded up Duke's Ice Cream parlor; and the closed-up Ted Quay's gas station. Wasn't much else to town and there still isn't. Blink when you drive through on old State Route 443 (nee, 43) and you'll miss it.

But not the memories.

***

As much as I could remininsce, there is a world going on. Trump and Vance continue to lie, about everything, in a media landscape thats doesn't even call them about it hardly because it's all they do. NY Times, you are letting us down.

Trump will let the United States, the world down. Bigly.

Go ahead, vote for him - his tariffs will raise prices and set inflation off amok. His tax proposals will benefit the rich and balloon the deficit, four times as much as Kamala's would.

Go ahead, vote for him and good luck with both your money and your rights, because they're both disappearing.

Good luck.

***

Deportation.

Trump plans to deport everyone who is not a white nationalist.

OK, not that drastic, but close. If you weren't born in the United States, you could be gone, perhaps even if you're a naturalized citizen.

I mean, he would've deported Obama if 44 had not had a birth certificate proving he'd been born in the United States.

There's even word of immigrant camps where those awaiting deportation would be held, pending hearings deciding their fates.

Only to be deported anyway. Because if you come from a sh_thole country, you're gone.

Oh what fun.

Go ahead, vote for Trump. Then send me a postcard from the sh_thole country from which you end up, or from "camp."

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, GDX wives.

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

Rest in peace, Al McCoy.

Me Howie, UAlbany

This special edition Schloss-Blog spent the weekend remembering, from back in his college days, that what happens in Albany, stays in Albany (to quote a good friend).

***

Great to spend time with my fraternity brothers of yore at our old stomping grounds, Albany, NY, where we all attended SUNY Albany.

Between swapping stories, remembering old times (some good, some not as good) and reintroducing ourselves to each other, we found time to take over Fort Orange Brewing Company and drink a night away. Then we took over the Elm Avenue Park's large pavilion and ate and drank an afternoon away, mixing in some friendly cornhole competition (there's no such thing as "friendly" competition in Gamma Delta Chi).

Showing off our magnificent, modern GPS skills, some of actually found the "Large Pavilion" on the first try, or, as Corky recalls, we kept on effing going. So did the stories.

Twenty-eight of us, and spouses, partied and reminisced about tales of zipping down the Thruway to Yonkers Raceway to place a sure bet on a horse that couldn't miss - until it did. Or recalling how, two years in a row, our dorm overlord and then the university housing director, respectively, decided to consider evicting a quartet of us for having - heavens to Betsy - a refrigerator in our suite (fraternities at the time were housed in designated sections of campus dorms because they had - ahem - "misbehaved" too often in the city of Albany and were subsequently "sentenced" back to campus for "oversight").

But a refrigerator, c'mon, how are you supposed to keep the beer cold?

So enamored were we with each other and our spouses that hardly anyone paid attention to the college football games on TV we had going in our hospitality suite - instead the banter flew, the drink flowed and the pizza got chomped on.

Would like to mention some names here but then I'd have to mention all of them and there's not enough room here for that. But there's plenty of room for all of them in my heart.

***

While the reunion rambled on, and we did leave the Hilton Garden Inn standing, the world kept spinning.

And spinning. Haitians are now "persona non grata" in MAGA America. Not only do Donald Trump and J.D. Vance lie over and over, they admit they do and they get cover from their fellow Republicans in Congress and all over.

Well, not from, of all people, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called out Trump for being close to - yuck - Laura "Loomy" Loomer. All she does is contend that 9/11 was an "inside" job. Trump says, that's cool.

Kamala won the debate though. Now, if she can only win the election too.

***

Meanwhile, back the reunion, everybody headed home. To New Jersey. To Long Island. To Chicago. To Phoenix. To Tampa. To Dayton. To Colorado.

Plans were discussed to get together down the line, in small groups. In Arizona. In Florida. In some warm weather clime.

Hopefully, it'll happen.

Hopefully.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, GDX wives.

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

Trump Stock Has No Value

The Schloss-Blog, paying attention to the markets, has noticed that they always bounce back. Always.

But speaking of markets, what do Donald Trump's Truth Social and Donald Trump's word have in common? They are both worthless and still sinking.

Trump's Truth Social media outlet continues to lose money daily and its value had shrunk by 75% since coming on the market, although it was a creative merger with a benefactor's shell company that established the original value.

SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT as Donald himself would likely type in all caps on his outlet. By the way, anyone notice he has been tweeting again on Twitter - uh, X - lately, since his DJT, as it's seen in its listing, has been sinking. It also has rapidly diminshing revenue.

Even if Trump cashed out now, he'd bring in less than the $2 billion his stock is worth after taxes and fees. It was worth $6 billion-plus once. It'll never get back to that.

Like everything else he touches, it's a loser.

Like his word.

Maybe you heard him describe childcare in his recent economic remarks to the New York Economic Club. He said "child care is ... child care.." and we must take care of it.

Huh?

Both Goldman Sachs and Penn-Wharton have declared after careful examination that Trump's economic plans - including massive tariffs on Chinese goods, would shrink the economuy, where Kamala's plans would put the economy on a growth path and keep it there.

Huh?

This is the same man who changed directions in a political-rally speech to tell attendees he'd rather die by being electrocuted by the battery of a sinking boat than by being eaten by a nearby shark.

Huh?

You want Trump in charage of the economy? Six of his companies, including his casinos, have gone belly up. How do you go bankrupt in the casino busines?

Good luck, MAGA world, good luck.

***

Republicans are secretly rooting for Harris to swamp Trump, big time, so they can finally get rid of him and get their party back. 

No, really.

They just won't say it out loud for fear of Trump shaming them and his followers doxing and swatting them.

***

**No cell phones in school. Educators are continually saying to keep cell phones out of the classroom or keep them off in the classroom to enable students to get caught up, increase learning achievement scores and erase educational losses suffered during learn-from-home sessions during COVID. But is it the right move? Or should they be learning how to use them responsibly?

**Polling averages compiled by the NY Times show Kamala Harris leading or deadlocked with Donald Trump across the board in battleground states, although within the margin of error throughout. However, Biden trailed Trump by 5-9 points in all those polls, so Harris clearly has the momentum and it is growing. Just ask any shark or captain with a sinking boat with an underwater battery. She's going to beat him and his constant referencing of unsubstantiated fraud claims shows how nervous he is.

**Stay away from Acadia Health for treatment. More than 50 of their former executives testified that the healthcare giant keeps behavioral and mental-health patients virtually imprisoned to garner financial benefits.

**A French man is on trial for repeatedly drugging his wife and literally recruiting dozens upon dozens of men to rape her in her unconscious or subconscious state. You mean, there's a French Jeffrey Epstein?

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Happy 45th birthday, ESPN.

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

Gamers, Dating, Tax Credits and the U.S. Open

The Schloss-Blog is wondering .. can you meet someone interesting enough with whom to be in a relationship who's a gamer or through a dating app anymore?

Gen Z'ers are more and more saying no.

Fake profiles, distrust of dating-app companies and fresher prospects on other social media are just some of the reasons why.

Do you trust dating apps? For you? For your kids? Your grandkids?

Not only that, but people who "game" a lot are not likely desirable dating partners, let alone life partners. Per the National Bureau of Economic Research, don't date a gamer because those who don't game are much more attractive.

You want a gamer? They come with baggage, and a controller, a headset and a mouse.

***

Six hostages found dad, likely killed just before Israeli troops emerged upon them in a Hamas Gaza tunnel.

Die, Hamas, die, but bring the remaining hostages home first.

***

Feeling risky, brave?

You too can have Dinner in the Sky. 

Suspended in midair over a metro area and being willing to pay hundreds, or more, you can eat some markets hanging over it all.

Literally. Take a look. This is for real.

Not only that, there are an increasing number of places around the country, around the world, to do it.

Yes, even at the Willis Tower in Chicago, sort of.

Good luck with that.

***

Kamala Harris says she supports a $25,000 tax credit for those families trying to finance a house, especially for the first time, as they feel priced out in a housing market short on units and high on prices and interest rates.

Trump's plan, per a NY Times report, is "pledging to deport undocumented immigrants, which could cut back temporarily on housing demand but would also most likely cut into the construction work force and eventually limit new housing supply."

He also plans to bring down interest rates, but Jerome Powell is way ahead of him on that.

You tell me, which way do you want to finance a house?

***

I love tennis, love it.

The U.S. Open is the ultimate event where Grand Slam sweep hopes go to die. Just ask Serena.

This year, the U.S. Open is dying, or at least the top seeds are.

Carlos Alcaraz, gone. Novak Djokovic, gone.

So the winner will, finally, for the first time in 21 years, be an American, right?

Frances Taifoe. Taylor Fritz. Tommy Paul.

The guy who beat Alcaraz, the immortal Botic van de ZandeSchulp, is already out in straight sets in his next match,

The guy who beat Djokovic is likely to be out shortly, Of course you all know Alexei Popyrin.

Not.

Italy's Jannik Sinner is still around, PED accusations notwithstanding, 

Looks like Andy Roddick's place as the last American to win in Queens will stand another year.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, hostage families. You deserve better.

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