COVID Conundrum

The Schloss-Blog is tired of the lies, deceit, misinformation and disinformation out there about COVID-19 and the coronavirus in general, Delta variant notwithstanding.

So we have a few questions, thoughts and ideas.

Do you really believe we're making progress against the virus, or are we doomed to be fighting it, like the flu, maybe, forever?

Do you want your 5-11-year-old child or grandchild to get the vaccine? Is it safe for "Little Johnny" or "Little Jenny?"

Will the 66 million Americans eligible to get vaccinated ever get vaccinated? Or is their abstinence our endgame of never-ending variants, repeated surges and deaths?

Will we be wearing masks forever in certain settings to protect ourselves and others? Or will the reluctance of governors like DeSantis and Abbott continue to stymie travel plans and leave workplaces and public spaces unsafe?

Are you vaccinated? Will you be vaccinated?

Do you know someone who isn't and refuses to be? A good friend? A relative? Is that person out of your life now? And forever, perhaps?

Are you OK going to a concert? A sporting event? Even outdoors? 

Are you OK going to a gym?

Your friends or relatives who are not vaccinated, what would it take to get them vaccinated? 

A death of someone close to them? Your hospitalization, or even your death, God forbid?

Are you in favor of vaccine mandates? For employees? For airline personnel? For healthcare workers? For police and fire? For all civil servants?

Would you want to be treated by someone who is unvaccinated? Or should they lose their jobs?

For many of them, sadly, employment termination comes before vaccination.

Should teachers be vaccinated, or be forced to be tested twice a week?

Is it really someone's right to reject and protest against what gets put in their bodies? If so, where were their parents when they got mumps, measles, rubella and polio shots just so they could go to school?

I have a relative who is about to lose his job because he refuses vaccination. He works for a company that is a government contractor. He has no option. 

Should he? 

I feel badly for him, but not sorry. I have no tolerance, ZERO, for anyone isn't vaccinated. Anyone. Zero.

Yet, I have gotten on planes, my face masked, knowing full well that somewhere between one-fourth and one-third of my fellow passengers are not vaccinated.

And they're allowed to remove or lower their masks while eating or drinking.

In stores I go into, about half of people in there, maybe half, are masked. In Arizona, there's no mandate.

Statistics show conclusively that in Red or Republican states, more people contract the virus and/or die from it than in Blue or Democratically controlled states.

There are more Republican-controlled legislatures in this country than Democratic.

Even the Fox News anchors who condemn mandates work for a company that mandates vaccinations.

We are doomed.

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

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

A Few Observations

A few things the Schloss-Blog observed this weekend...

The whole thing with Brady returning to New England was soooo overblown.

Flagstaff is a pretty cool place. College town (Northern Arizona University). College kids all over, as servers in restaurants, clerks at stores, etc. Backpackers all over, especially near the intersection of I-40 and I-17, looking to hitch rides. Wildlife (elks, mules, cows - yes, mules and cows, crossing roads everywhere). Good restaurants too. Crazy campgrounds with no services whatsoever (good luck).

Arizona is the "off-trail" state. People driving RV's, towing ATV's and Jeeps. You see them all up and down going through the mountains on I-17.

Announcers Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth completely soft-pedaled the history of Tampa Bay wide receiver Antonio Brown, calling allegations of sexual assault, speeding at over 100 mph and throwing a couch out a window that nearly hit a little kid "off-the-field stuff." Guess it gets them in trouble with the NFL if they tell the real story.

NFL defensive players cannot tackle anymore, because contact drills were pretty much eliminated in the last CBA (which happen more in non-contact drills), players don't practice tackling. When you don't practice it, you don't do it well.

Am I dreaming, or did both New York teams win in overtime on Sunday?

Would love to see the next James Bond movie, "No Time to Die," Daniel Craig's last as Bond. But I ain't going to sit in a theater with a bunch of COVIDiots to see it. It'll be on HBOMAX eventually.

I want a truck with one of those special, multi-function tailgates, which serve as an office workspace, a stepladder and a step stool and a basis for a commercial about Walter the Super-Cat.

On second thought, no I don't want that truck.

Quick salute to the women of the National Women's Soccer League who forced the league to give them the weekend off, cancel all games, so they could grieve and reflect on the pernicious behavior of fired coach Paul Reilly, an alleged sexual abuser. Good for them, congratulations to them for their stance.

My wife, is like, incredibly beautiful.

For all the hype about Brady returning to New England, the game itself was - OK. 

Did everyone catch Belichick on camera, mouthing "He got the fuckin' ball" on the pass interference penalty on Tampa Bay's game-winning drive? They never let you hear that on TV, but they always make sure we see the coaches mouthing the words, don't they?

Brady outgained New England in rushing yards, all by himself.

Sorry, but Belichick's a dick.

Schloss-Blog returns in full mode next Sunday (posted two days ago, or did you forget already?).

I am a pretty lucky guy. In the next few weeks I'll be visiting with old friends Ellen, Jill, Mallory, Beni, Joan and Doris.

Special, very special.

Here's to you Gisele - at least tonight no one had to listen to you say, "What does Tom have to do, throw the f-ckin' ball and catch it?" as you did after the Super Bowl in 2012.

Good night, Gisele - uh, Mrs. Brady.

 

Democrats in Trouble, And More

The Schloss-Blog is hoping this early-edition post is moot, sooner than later. But we'll see...

Y'know, the Schloss-Blog realizes that the Biden Administration attacked the coronavirus with a passion focused on eradicating it.

And because of the Delta variant's intensity, Biden and Co. actually succeeded in getting shots into the arms on 77% of Americans, at least one shot, that is. There are more to come, as teenagers and soon kids will be eligible for injections.

So why then are the Democrats undoing all their good work? 

Infrastructure, so badly needed before the Gateway Tunnel collapses, is not supported by the "progressives," because the "moderates" won't vote to pass the mammoth Reconciliation Bill, which will fix everything the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Bill won't, including:

• Free community college (at Bernie Sanders University)
• Lowering the cost of child and pre-K care, significantly (people struggle with that expense, some to the point of going back to work not being worth the cost);
• Medicare expansion, to cover hearing, dental and vision services (you need it, you know you do);
• Child tax credit, $3,600 per, currently in existence but to be extended through 2025;
• Prescription drug pricing, a killer for most, allowing Medicare to negotiate it;
• Paid family and medical leave, up to 12 weeks. PAID!
• Climate change, for everyone except West Virginia, so Joe Manchin's constituents can get deathly ill in coal mines;
• and Small Business Administration expanded financing.

Otherwise, nothing important. The Schloss-Blog didn't realize it covered so much until we dove in and read the freaking thing.

Instead of backing all the legislation, Democrats, "progressives" and "moderates" alike, have decided that they'll hand Congress back to the Republicans, both houses, so the United States can become the shithole it was during the Trump Administration.

Moscow Mitch McConnell would control what comes on the Senate floor (nothing good for the American people). This is a man who has dedicated his life to preventing any and all Democratic legislation since the Obama Administration. This would make you think he and his predominantly gray-haired entourage are racists. No, wait...

Kevin McCarthy would become third in line for the presidency. Third in line! This man is a Trumpian lunatic who denies he called the White House on Jan. 6 and said something to the president to the effect of, "WTF do you think you're talking to? Call this off!"

Now, though, he kisses Trump's butt.

Here's what's worse: Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene would bring legislation that would allow anyone to carry a gun anywhere, make raped women carry their pregnancies to term and construct monuments to Confederate Civil War generals.

And the same people who tried to block blacks from attending colleges in the South would now be enabled to block today's schoolchildren from learning about the history of how they did that.

George Floyd becomes an afterthought, at best.

"The Jews Will Not Replace Us," will become the G.O.P. motto, if not mantra. Aug. 11, or is it the 12th, will become a national holiday, the day that phrase was hatched on our national conscience.

And all because "progressive" and "moderate" Democrats can't agree to support all the legislation before them, instead of just some of it (as long as theirs goes first).

If I was president, I would go to Capitol Hill, meet with all the "progressives" and "moderates" and tell them I was pulling the legislation unless and until they can come to an agreement. 

And if they can't, say hello to President DeSantis.

***

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

More Sunday night on my Radio Free Phoenix rock 'n' roll show. And stay tuned immediately thereafter for the Bohemian NightCat, John Kirk Deritis.

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.