Schloss-Blog Jeopardy: What's the Answer?

Playing Schloss-Blog Jeopardy today. Play along...

1) Answer: 270+, 500+, 1,000+ and 2,000? Question: What were the daily COVID death counts in the United States 60 days ago, 30 days ago, 10 days ago and now, as Republican governors (Abbott and DeSantis in particular) refuse to impose mask and vaccine mandates as the Delta variant surges?

2) Answer: Political capital. Question: What are the congressional Democrats wasting with their infighting while policy-devoid Republicans continue to plug The Big Lie and insist on audits that continue to show that Biden won.

3) Answer: Pissed off. Question: WTF is up with the French?

4) Answer: Climate change legislation. Question: As hurricanes and floods continue to destroy our property and homes, why can't we pass the latter?

5) Answer: If you think we've got it bad, it's worse there. Question: Why do migrants from Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Costa Rica keep flocking to the U.S. border?

6) Answer: Vaccines and abortions. Question: Why are the same people who refuse the former because they say it infringes on their individual rights insist on infringing the individual rights of those (the majority of Americans) who want to maintain the latter?

7) Answer: Obstructionists: Question: What do you call Republicans who refuse to raise the debt limit, refuse to recognize women's reproductive rights and refuse to impose or comply with mask or vaccine mandates?

8) Answer: Fraudit. Question: What is the Republican-driven vote recount called in Arizona's Maricopa County that was supposed to take 1 month but took 6 months and showed that Biden won by even more than when they started it. And they did it at huge taxpayer expense with participants who might as well have been hand-picked by Trump himself.

9) Answer: Kids. Question: Who have parents vaccinated for mumps, measles and rubella so their kids could go to school, but refused to protect them with vaccinations against COVID as infection rates in their age group skyrocketed by 240 percent.

10: Answer: More deaths than births. Question: What happened for the first time ever in Alabama in 2020 due to the state's plethora of COVIDiots?

Final Schloss-Blog Jeopardy: 

Answer: Tax cut for the rich and famous. Question: What is the last and only major legislation the Republicans have proposed since the Obama Administration while they spend their time dedicated to blocking anything that would help Americans.

***

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

More tonight on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show and stay tuned immediately thereafter for the Bohemian NightCat, John Kirk DeRitis.

For the Love of Women

The Schloss-Blog is talking about women today.

No, not the kind you can't live with and can't live without.

This is about the ones who have been mistreated, disrespected, are unheard and virtually unseen.

They're starting to catch up, but they've still got quite a ways to go.

***

The ones who got me started were the members of golf's Solheim Cup teams, both American and European.

Talented. Graceful and gracious. On national TV. What's not to like, right?

The telecasts were an abomination, disrespectful and degrading.

Final round, with Cup-determining singles matches on the course, on cable only.

Whatsa' matter, NBC - aren't the women important enough for the big-boy network?

And the technology employed, or not employed, spoke volumes - where was the Top Tracer tech to track the shots, so critical to viewer following and enjoyment of the games?

Oh yeah, they used it on the men's that weekend, for the Fed Ex individual title.

You can bet they'll use it on the Ryder Cup next weekend, when the men's American and European teams compete for their version of the Solheim Cup.

So, apparently, NBC dedicated neither the money nor the technology to cover the comparable women's event that they have and will for the men's.

And all I want to know is, why?

***

Then came the four tumblers.

According to the well-known faces and voices of Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney, Maggie Nichols and Aly Raisman, the only thing worse than the sexual abuse committed against them was the disrespect exercised by the FBI agents who interviewed them about it.

The distinguished quartet of Olympic medal-winning gymnasts not only detailed the sexual abuse, the same as they did to the investigator, but relayed how, after hours of interviews, the FBI agents still managed to downplay the severity of the incidents in their reports.

And how aghast they were at that. And insulted. And left feeling treated like their complaints were being minimized, as if they never happened.

Yes, we all know Larry Nassar was eventually convicted, but what about the agents who interviewed the four medal-winners? 

Even more, the Schloss-Blog wants to know, was anybody really listening? No one on the panel of senators offered a solution or a path to determine what happened and why. Nor did they offer to put in place procedures that would ensure that kind of treatment never happened again to prospective gymnastics stars.

No one.

***

The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team has had unparalleled success. World Cups. Olympic medals.

The U.S. Men's team, by contrast, hasn't qualified for either event since 2014.

But always got paid a lot more than the women. A lot more.

Not anymore, apparently. Perhaps.

The United States Soccer Federation (USSF) has come back with contract offers to both teams that amount to the same amount of money.

Or do they?

The men, apparently, will stay on a pay-for-play structure. The women, on the other hand, were offered a package structured differently: more guaranteed money; health care; pay for players in the National Women's Soccer League; and maternity and pregnancy leave. It also includes injury pay, a  401 (k) plan and severance.

Does that equalize everything? Some of the women are calling the contract a publicity stunt in the wake of their lawsuit against the USSF to balance the teams' compensation packages.

Either way, the women have been underpaid and disrespected all along, including and ever since Brandi Chastain ripped off her jersey, leaving her exposed on national TV in her sports bra, after her game-winning penalty kick won the 1999 World Cup.

Still waiting for the men's team to reach a sports-bra moment.

***

Enough is enough. Women need to be treated fairly. Pay has to be equalized for the same jobs, and not just on the field. The Milwaukee Bucks just named a woman, Lisa Byington, to replace the retiring Jim Paschke as their play-by-play announcer going forward, the NBA's first. Will she be paid the same though as he was?

And according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women earn 82 cents on the dollar for the same jobs men do in the United States today.

That's not right.

And in Virginia, the Supreme Court struck down a school district's attempt to reinstate a transgender bathroom law rather than let a transgender student use the boy's restroom.

Maybe there's hope in America.

And then again, there's the Texas abortion law.

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

More on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show Sunday night, which precedes the Night Cat, John Kirk DeRitis.

The Cancel Culture Strikes Back

The Schloss-Blog is looking at things that have been canceled and for once, it's almost a promising list. If you're an anti-vaxxer, if you're unvaccinated for COVID, besides being a COVIDiot, there are events and places you can't attend or get into, respectively, and that's a good thing.

In New York, Florida, California, Illinois, some in defiance of a governor's executive order, school districts and restaurants are requiring vaccinations to get in. 

In other words, if you're an unvaccinated COVIDiot, you couldn't get into the Little League World Series this weekend, even if your kid was playing in it. At the least, like the coaches and players, you had to submit to COVID testing every other day. 

In addition, the Little League World Series did not include international teams this year, because of COVID limitations, and participating teams were only issued 250 tickets each for family and friends, again, all of whom had to present proof of vaccination to get in. Also, no souvenir vendors were allowed on site and very few concession stands.

For contrast, the Little League World Series usually has some 300,000 attendees every year.

So, yes, COVIDiots, the backlash against you continues.

***

One of the COVIDiot kingpins, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has issued executive orders on top of executive orders to prohibit school districts and local governments from enforcing mask and vaccine mandates, has contracted COVID.

It is believed that he was heading for Cancun at the time of the diagnosis, but his staff was refusing to confirm this. He was attending a mask-less event, however.

I know what a lot of people are saying about him now that he has COVID, but I'm not going to say it out loud.

Oh, the hell I'm not - is his diagnosis fatal?

***

I keep hearing this and reading this - aren't parents supposed to do anything to protect their kids? Anything?

So, why are so many anti-vaccine parents refusing to get their kids be vaccinated against COVID, or at least go along with mask mandates in their kids' school districts?

These parents, and their kids, have already been vaccinated to be able to attend school for protection from diseases like polio, the flu, measles, mumps and rubella, to name a few.

So why are they resistant to protection from COVID, which has killed 626,000 Americans and infected some 37.5 million, according to NY Times sources.

By the way, among kids, the COVID infection rate has increased 99 percent month to month to an all-time high of 121,000 kids being infected last week alone.

Good job, parents. COVIDiot assholes.

***

Speaking of cancelled, rock star Jason Isbell, who often appears on my Radio Free Phoenix playlist, canceled a show in Houston when the venue wouldn't go along with his request that they enforce all attendees have either proof of vaccination or proof of a recent negative test.

Garth Brooks has reportedly canceled a number of shows for similar reasons. And add Korean all-boy band pop stars BTS to the list.

Screw you, COVIDiots. If you aren't vaccinated, you aren't getting in.

The New Orleans Saints and Las Vegas Raiders have issued the same mandates.

It is wonderful to see the unvaccinated be discriminated against in this way, to lose opportunities. Unfortunately, the rest of us lost a chance at some good concerts.

***

Wishing Godspeed and his protection to those in Kabul trying to get out. God knows they need it.

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

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show, and speaking of RFP, congrats to my buddy John Kirk DeRitis on his full-time gig, midnight to 5 a.m., daily.

A Little Politics, Lot Of "It Are" Ain't Cutting It

A lot for the Schloss-Blog to get to in the world of politics, including Donald Trump's unsuccessful attempt at finding a few corrupt men to overturn the election, but first, we drop in on NBC's 2020 Olympics post-production meeting with its broadcast team.

THE PLAYERS: NBC Sports President Pete Bevacqua, British studio host Cara Banks, British studio host Rebecca Lowe, British soccer play-by-play announcer Arlo White, British-turned-Jamaican soccer analyst Robbie Earle, British soccer analyst Robbie Mustoe, American studio host Damon Hack, American basketball analyst Fran Fraschella, American studio host Kathryn Tappan and American studio host Liam McHugh.

Bevacqua: Well, that were a great Games, weren't it?

McHugh: Pete, you're doing it.

Bevacqua: I is doing what?

Tappan: That! The Games is an 'are,' not an 'is.'

Lowe: No, no, the Games is an 'is,' like the United States are an 'are.'

Mustoe: That are right.

Hack: Can any of you Brits speak well English?

Mustoe: That are well English.

McHugh: What are? Or is it 'is?'

Banks: It are 'is.' Just like Canada are the women's soccer champions.

Hack: No, Canada is the champion.

Lowe: Everybody knows Canada are an 'are.'

McHugh: No, Rebecca, you is wrong.

Lowe: I is not, You is.

McHugh: Oh geez, now I are doing it.

White: What are wrong with you Yanks? You always wins the most medals.

Tappan:  You mean the United States wins the most medals.

Banks: That are right.

Bevacqua: Hey, everyone, focus - I called this meeting because the ratings sucks.

McHugh: You means suck.

Bevacqua: That are right.

***

If the verbatim of the British broadcasters on the various Olympic events and studio productions drove you as crazy as they drove the Schloss-Blog, the revelations about Trump and the 2020 election is even more astounding.

I mean are.

Amazingly, blatantly, Trump called upon the Department of Justice to declare the election fraudulent and then he and his congressional accomplices would take it from there.

DOJ never did. In fact, key attorneys there threatened to resign.

Would you do that? Would you step down from your job to protect the integrity of your company?

The most amazing part is that Trump has been fundraising off of his fraudulent claims, with ordinary people donating money to what has become his estimated $100 million warchest. 

These donors are your friends, neighbors and countrymen - maybe even relatives.

Will Trump use the money to run his 2024 campaign? Will he use it to fund another Republican's campaign, like Cruz, or Rubio, or Haley or Pompeo?

Not if Pompeo doesn't return the $5,800 bottle of wine he pilfered.

My friend and fraternity brother, David Hirsch, had an interesting post on Facebook that the last six Republican administrations had - wait for it - 144 criminal indictments, 93 convictions and 34 prison sentences.

By contrast, the last 5 Democratic administrations had 5 criminal indictments, 3 convictions and 3 prison sentences.

In other words, if you vote Republican, you are voting for scandal, death, disease, environmental wasteland and a plague.

And another insurrection attempt, which just might succeed.

***

Don't know about you, but I was particularly moved by the efforts of so many of the female athletes in The Games, especially the U.S. Women's National Teams in basketball, volleyball, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, track & field and so much more.

I still get chills when I watch a team accept gold medals and listen to the Star Spangled Banner as the flag is raised in their honor.

Nothing like it. Nothing.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, gold-medalists Sydney McLaughlin and Nelly Korda.

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

Want a Shot? In The Arm, Or Outside of Nats' Park?

The Schloss-Blog can't believe we're still writing about this sh-t - uh, shots - but we are.

Shots in the arm. And shots outside of Nationals' ballpark in D.C. Shots that help avoid a resurgence of COVID and shots that kill people and make them scramble for cover at what should otherwise be a safe venue at which to enjoy a Major League Baseball game.

Would rather be writing about shots of J.D. or Jim Beam, but, maybe another time.

***

There were all kinds of shots fired in the last week. Some of my favorites were in one of the new books about the last days of Trump, just published. In "Only I Can Fix It,"  by Washington Post award-winning reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker, it is revealed that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, told us how he really feels about Donald Trump, comparing him to Hitler having a Reichstag moment and living by the "gospel of the Fuhrer."

And those were his nice words.

Yes, Donald Trump was every bit the schmuck you thought he was, and beyond. A desperate man, much smaller than his 6-foot-3, 243-pound (ahem!) frame, fearing the investigations closing in on him and the ones to come.

Milley, for his part, was hell bent on not allowing the military be Trump's vehicle to elude all that, commander-in-chief be damned.

***

But if you're a baseball fan, a sports fan, it appeared to not be so safe to go to a game last week.

At Nationals' Park in D.C., shots rang out, clearly audible in the stadium with a game in progress.

Cool, huh?

People scrambled for cover, for safety.

What would you have done? Hid on the ground in your aisle? Run for the concourse, not knowing if that was safe? Remained calm and figured out where the shots were coming from and then decided where to seek shelter?

Even the ballplayers didn't know what to do for sure as they scrambled for the clubhouse and even ushered some fans in seats close behind the dugouts along with them.

What if you were there? What if you had your kids or grandkids with you? Can you even imagine that happening? Would you know what to do? Is there an instruction manual for this, a set of guidelines to follow for "shots at the ballpark?"

No, there isn't.

So good luck.

Especially next time you're at a game in one of those shooting-gallery war zones, otherwise known as Chicago, New York or - anywhere.

***

Speaking of shots, as we are this week, there's one (or two) we all should be getting, but we aren't.

Those who aren't are paying the price. You've heard the numbers: 99 percent of all COVID-related deaths now are those who have not been vaccinated.

About 83 percent of all new COVIDiot cases are the new, highly transmissible Delta variant and it's spreading like wildfire across southern (i.e., Red) states. And something like 97 percent of all those hospitalized now with COVIDiot infections are - you guessed it - unvaccinated.

Nice, huh? A percentage of your fellow Americans don't care if they die, apparently. They don't request the injection until it's too late - until they've been hooked up to a ventilator and pretty much left for dead.

Can you imagine, unable to gasp for air with machine assistance, begging for a shot (pun intended) at life and being tended to by a physician who knows you're beyond the pale.

Too many stories about doctors having COVIDiot patients ask them for the shot, only to have to tell them, it's too late.

By now, so many of us know or know of someone in our families, among our friends and co-workers or just in our lives who were too late.

They live in that other America, where the vaccine is not proven, they believe, where those who have had COVID believe the antibody will help them stave it off in the future, where politicians have doubted the efficacy of the serum. 

But it works. I know that. You know that. Your friends and families know that.

Everyone else is at risk, perhaps of dying.

In that other America.

***

To borrow from the old public service ad campaign, friends don't let friends go unvaccinated. Don't let your friends. Don't let your family members.

There is plenty of vaccine available now. You can get vaccinated by walking into a CVS.

Or as the old ad campaign goes: don't let your friends be COVIDiots.

***

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

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

Are We Still Talking About This?

The Schloss-Blog today is revisiting some old topics and some themes that remain relevant in, let's say, new stuff, from Afghanistan to Mar-a-Lago to Red states where Delta could run wild.

The Delta variant of the coronavirus, that is.

***

The first thing to fly out of this mosh pit of items I have has to be the damn coronavirus' Delta variant.

Did you know it now officially more than half of all new cases in the United States? Did you know, in some states, some hospitals are tapping out on ICU beds dedicated to the coronavirus? Did you know, most of those states are so-called Red states, run by a Republican governor and/or Republican-majority legislatures?

Mostly in the South.

Those Republican governors (we're looking at you, Greg Abbott), are going to get everyone sick or killed. Or, as Gov. Jim Justice (R-West Virginia) was quoted as saying in The Hill: "...those who are still unvaccinated against COVID-19 will be pushed to get the shot only by a 'catastrophe' in which 'an awful lot of people die.'” 

The coronavirus has already been a catastrophe. Now, it night be another one and make no mistake, in states like Mississippi (Red, Republican, Southern), which has the lowest vaccination in the country, the catastrophe is coming.

The legacy of Donald Trump.

***
In case you missed it, Donald Trump is suing Twitter and Facebook, claiming they are discriminating against and censoring him.

He's even suing CEO's Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg, respectively, and YouTube as well.

Don't count on him winning. The social-media platforms have regularly won such suits brought against them in the past and Twitter defended its permanent ban of Trump on its platform because of the threat of more Jan. 6-like attacks.

Trump likes to sue people and entities he doesn't like. He usually doesn't follow the suits through to the end, using them as an intimidating bully pulpit instead, He has lost when they've gone the route. And when he did win, suing the NFL as part of the ownership group in the USFL's anti-trust suit, the USFL won.

And got a $1 in damages. Trebled, by law to $3.

Expect more from the suits just filed. Unless Trump himself is indicted on unrelated charges.

***

The tax-evasion and fraud charges against Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer, carry as much as a 15-year prison sentence.

Fifteen years.

Allen Weisselberg is 73. If convicted and if receiving the max sentence, he'd be close to 90 when he got out.

Do you think Weisselberg, who has said he'll never turn on Trump, is willing to serve prison time until he's almost 90?

I don't either. And if Trump were reelected (or reinstated?), he couldn't pardon Weisselberg or commute his sentence.

Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney and alleged "fixer," said he'd never turn on Trump either.

Until he did.

And here we are, still talking about Trump, taxes and fraud.

***

There are nine (10) Senate seats where one party or the other is considered vulnerable in 2022 elections.

Seven of them are Republican.

Join me in praying that Democrats flip them and hold on to the ones they won in 2016 and 2020 special elections.

If Republicans get the Senate, we're f-cked.

***

Quick takes:

The United States is pulling out of Afghanistan. Mission accomplished?

Teachers in 'Red' states could be in trouble, break the law, if they teach what is being called 'critical race theory,' or, succinctly, the truth about the history of racism The nation's largest teachers union says it will defend any teachers that do. What do you think - should it be taught?

I took a little heat over my comments about youthful Olivia Moultrie and Avery Zweig, 15 and 14, respectively, playing with the pros. I have no problem with them doing this. I have a problem if either becomes the next Jennifer Capriatti. Or Freddy Adu.

I'm sorry, but the officiating in the NBA playoffs, the NHL playoffs and the UEFA Euro 'futbol' tournament, respectively, has been Gawd awful.

Worse than that, we have to listen to those damn British play-by-play announcers say, "Italy are through" to the next round. No, the Italians are through. Italy are a country.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Where have gone, Joe DiMaggio?

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

The Right Wants to Stick It Up The Left's Anus

The Schloss-Blog is monitoring all kinds of right-wing antics. And they are threateningly scary.

For instance, Fox News has spent months delegitimizing the Derek Chauvin conviction for murdering George Floyd.

He murdered George Floyd. We all watched it. But when it came to sentencing him, a Fox News personality wanted to know what number of years, what "magical" number for his sentence was acceptable to the #BLM left and the Fox News-loving right.

I'll tell you what number: the maximum, which he didn't get. Happy now, Fox News? Chauvin could be out after serving 15 of his 22-and-a-half-year sentence.

Is that justice? Is George Floyd's life worth more or less than that? 

At Fox News, it's a "magical" question to be batted about.

***

Meanwhile, the "Fraudit" continues in Arizona, in some refrigerated, remote location now that the "Frauditors" have run through their lease at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in Phoenix.

Their legions of "Frauditors" have included sitting Arizona state Republican legislators. Leading the way is the Cyber Ninja chief, totally inexperienced in election audits, who also appears in the right-wing, QAnon-inspired documentary, "The Deep Rig," proclaiming that the election, was, indeed, stolen from Trump in a deep fix.

Yes, the guy overseeing the "Fraudit" is on record as to the election, long-ago verified,' being stolen from Trump.

In case you're wondering what the "Frauditors" are going to find, after running the Maricopa County ballots through UV lights and testing them for bamboo (bamboo, because they were run through China - really?), rest easy. They're going to claim a deliberate miscount, caused by anything from deliberate miscounting to voting machines deliberately "changing votes" from Trump to Biden.

Just wondering, if indeed the voting machines changed the count from Trump to Biden, why didn't they change all the Trump votes instead of just enough for Biden to win? And why didn't a hand recount reveal this supposed discrepancy, which it should've and would've, but didn't?

Because there wasn't one.

***

Speaking of the right wing, why isn't Michael Flynn, the former National Security Adviser to Trump, for a whole month, under arrest for proclaiming publicly, that there's no reason an armed coup couldn't happen here and throw Biden out of office, subsequently reinstating Trump.

Flynn is a traitor.

Period. He belongs in prison. Alongside Chauvin.

***

Meanwhile, ongoing, Indiana University students have filed a lawsuit saying they want to show up for school this fall, vaccine free, and it's their rite not to get a vaccine for COVID, even though the college is mandating it.

Looks like there are COVIDiots everywhere, aren't there? Even among our university elite being trained to be America's future leaders.

If this ever gets in front of the Supreme Court, remember, that body just ruled that Arizona's restrictive-voting legislation is legitimate and can discriminate against minority voters. If they're going to go that route, they'll likely allow the coronavirus back on campus and the COVIDiots who threaten to bring it.

Just remember, these same COVIDiots got to Indiana in the first place, having been administered school-mandated vaccinations for everything from measles to chickenpox to meningitis.

But now, who cares about those, right? Their motto would appear to be, we don't need no stinkin' COVID vaccinations.

Until they do.

***

One more thing: do you know Olivia Moultrie? How about Avery Zweig?

Moultrie, from Oregon, is 15.

Fifteen!

She signed a three-year contract to play for ... wait for it ...the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League. She had signed for professional representation when she was 13.

Would you want your kid or grandkid to being playing professional soccer at 15? The money is sure there for her. But is she the Michelle Wie of soccer or the next Mia Hamm?

Zweig, meanwhile, is 14. She played this weekend in the LPGA's VOA Classic in Texas. 

And now, like Texas counterpart Jordan Spieth of the PGA Tour, she'll skyrocket up the LPGA rankings, in all likelihood.

Junior high? Who needs junior high when you're the top-ranked female junior golfer?

If, in fact, they're the future banner carriers for their sports in the United States, then you go, girls! Serena is getting older. And Coco Gauff is only a bit older than you both. Women's sports definitely need you.

***

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

Next week, back to Weisselberg.

Meanwhile, more Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show.

And Casey and Katie, congrats on your marriage.