Ill and Fatigued...

The Schloss-Blog is as ill and fatigued - in other words, sick and tired of the news as you probably are and especially of the disturbing images coming out of Ukraine.

Or do you have a distraction from the inhumanity of the Russian forces, bombing maternity hospitals and leaving babies buried in the rubble; the blocking of the humanitarian corridors supposedly reserved for the wounded, the aged, the women and children to flee across the border; the deliberate destruction of civilian targets; the risk of causing leaks and explosions at nuclear plants?

Should we declare and enforce a no-fly zone (NFZ), essentially starting a formal war with Russia? Would Putin resort to nukes?

Or should we continue to watch the inhumanity of the Russian attack, while we wait for Putin to back down with all the deep, deep harm being done to his country, his economy, his citizens?

He won't.

So how do you deal with someone who acts irrationally?

You can't. It's like arguing with a Trump supporter who insists he won the election. You can't be rational with irrational people.

It seems, for the United States and NATO, it's more risky to transport fighter jets to Ukraine through Poland than to allow babies to die in the rubble of a maternity hospital that Russia has bombed.

Which one do do you think is more risky?

***

I can't watch the coverage of the war 24/7. Too depressing. Too disturbing.

I can't stand to watch Donald Trump, Lauren Boebert, Mike Pompeo and Crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene root for Putin and declare him a better "leader" than Biden.

And yet, I can't take my eyes off it.

Will Putin utterly destroy Ukraine or will economic sanctions so weaken him that he has to capitulate?

Do you want to see American soldiers at war in Ukraine? In Russia?

All of a sudden, all other news is almost trivial. Or is it?

Do you care that James Harden just got traded to the Philadelphia 76ers?

Do you care that baseball players and owners took 99 days to settle their lockout, curtailing spring training, hurting businesses in Florida and Arizona and generally causing public apathy about their millionaire and billionaire statuses?

Do you care that shootings at schools are up, up, up in this country?

Do you care that basketball star Brittney Griner is being held in a Russian jail?

Do you care that it seems like COVID is hardly reported on anymore, despite the "experts" saying we have to remain on guard for future variants?

Do you still wear a mask indoors?

Do you care that so many other people - about 1 in 4 Americans - have resisted being vaccinated and likely never will?

Do you have zero tolerance for those people? I do.

Do you want to go back to the office to avoid getting the virus? Most people don't. But at the same time, are you going to crowded concerts and sporting events, COVID be damned?

Do you care that Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, along with William "Roddie" Bryan, were convicted of a federal hate crime, in addition to the charges for which they were found guilty in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery?

Do you care that guys were breaking 40-yard sprint records at the "Underwear Olympics," otherwise known as the NFL Combine?

Do you care that Aaron "Immunized" Rodgers is going to become the highest-paid player in NFL history to stay with the Packers? 

He says he's happy. Bears fans have him on "wanted" posters.

Do you care?

Do you care that CNN and MSNBC are virtually 24/7 on the war in Ukraine and its fallout or that Fox, Newsmax and One America are covering Biden as the villain in the war?

Do you care that Trump has started "Truth Social," which has been a miserable flop so far?

Do you care that "Build Back Better" has still never been passed, nor parts thereof?

Do you care what the price of gas is? Or home heating?

Or do you care about the next baby that gets buried in a pile of exploded rubble thanks to a Russian missile?

This war is testing our patience, our limits, our stomachs and our loyalties.

Do you care? Or are you logging onto Truth Social?

***

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

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

Emptying Out The Notebook

All this stuff piled up in the Schloss-Blog's notebook. Not anymore.

***

Some 60 million Americans, about 1 in 4 of those eligible, remain unvaccinated against COVID.

They are leading the nation in hospitalizations and deaths from COVID.

They come from Red States for the most part and will vote for Trump and/or even further rightwing  Republicans.

Freedom of choice is a beautiful thing, huh?

***

In Arizona, candidates competing for the Republican nomination for Senate against Mark Kelly, are running despicable ads.

Against each other.

They focus almost exclusively on border control and what they term to be illegal immigration, blame Biden for everything but beat each other up anyway.

None of them talk about education, taxes, budgets or telling the truth.

Virtually all avoid mentioning Trump.

Has the orange-skinned one lost his stranglehold grip on the party? Is he poison? Look what Glenn Youngkin did in Virginia as an indication.

***

Serena Williams took the NY Times to task for a story it ran about her and a new venture fund she has founded.

Seems the Times used a picture of Venus in the story instead of Serena.

All the news that's fit to print, but apparently not the pictures.

***

I have some favorite and not-so-favorite ads running now.

One ad that continually puts a lump in my throat and makes me well up is the Colgate ad with Caleb, the young, visually-impaired boy, who boards a school bus and smiles his way into a conversation with a young girl named Grace.

His attitude in the ad is amazing. He deserves treatment, a procedure maybe a transplant if appropriate to fix his condition.

His heart is better than most people's vision.

***

Jimmy Kimmel managed to put obnoxious congresswomen Lauren Boebart and Marjorie Taylor Greene in their respective place.

After the pair of gun-toting (Boebert), foul-mouthed idiots (both) heckled Biden during his State of the Union address, Kimmel pointed out that Boebert's husband was convicted of exposing himself to a high school kid in a bowling alley and Greene spoke at a far-right, pro-Putin's white-nationalist conference.

Trump loves them. Both are conspiracy theorists extraordinaire. Shocker, right?

***

Hold on to to your old car. It is valuable for its chip.

It appears the war in Ukraine has caused Ukraine-based Cryoin to shut down. It is a leading maker of neon gas, which is key to making computer chips.

Cryoin is responsible for about half the world's chip-making possibilities.

***

Flying Jet Blue anytime soon?

A pilot of theirs was yanked from his assignment when he showed up measuring a reported four times the legal limit for alcohol in his system. 

Almost makes you want to fly Spirit or Frontier or whatever that merger is called now.

***

Hello, Michelob Light.

Please finish the Superior Bowl ad, y'know the one with Peyton Manning, Alex Morgan, Jimmy Butler and Brooks Koepka, and the whole room stops when Serena walks in at the end.

Love Steve Buscemi as the bowling alley manager and shoe distributor.

Does Serena kick everybody's ass on the lanes? Wouldn't surprise me.

***

The 'Underwear Olympics" were this week, otherwise known as the NFL Combine.

It has become "must-see" TV on the NFL Network, watching guys high jump, sprint 40 yards and make believe they're agile.

Hey NFL, skip this and cut to the draft already.

But no, next year the NFL Combine will be in the city that bids best for it.

I'm rooting for London.

***

Zion Williamson, the freight train with skills disguised as a basketball player, has hardly played a minute for the New Orleans Pelicans.

Injury notwithstanding, what is the most-exciting player to come out of college basketball in a decade doing wasting away in the league's smallest market when it should've been "arranged" in the lottery that he wound up in big-ticket TV markets LA or New York?

Oh yeah, because LeBron wanted to steal Anthony Davis from New Orleans.

GM LeBron ain't doing too well.

See Westbrook, Russell.

***

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

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

War Is Hell

The Schloss-Blog is watching a brutal war going on and nothing being done about it. Nothing.

One side won't relent. The other won't yield.

One side plays dirty, illicitly. The other plays with nobility and bravery.

People are dying, bullets are flying, all across the country.

Both sides claim to be in the right.

Both sides are claiming the same territory.

Both sides are willing to fight and die for it.

No amount of negotiation, no amount of talk, no amount of public posturing has appeared to have an impact on the hatred between the sides.

They continue to fire at each other. They appear to be willing to die for their causes.

They have moved in heavy artillery. They scoff at each other, at what the public thinks, of what the world thinks of their respective positions.

They are illogical on the one side, bleeding hearts leaning on logic on the other side. They plead with the people, with the public, for understanding in siding with them, in believing them, even though only the one side is telling the truth.

But only half the people believe it. Not the half with the biggest weapons, the biggest mouthpieces, the biggest megaphones.

That half tells lies to justify its illicit actions, its unethical activity, to justify its lie after lie after historical lie.

And yet, we all watch on in disbelief.

As more and more people die. Unnecessarily, but they die.

They are shot in the streets. By the authorities. By each other.

Neither side yields.

They each want to impose their wills.

But they each only have half the people believing them.

One side tells the truth. The other lies incessantly. 

And gets away with it.

And no one does anything about it. Anything.

All the talking, all the lying on one side, all the integrity on the other.

For naught.

Bullets keep flying. People keep dying.

The people are ill and fatigued from it all.

Otherwise known as sick and tired.

And that's just in Congress.

There's also a war between good and evil going on in Ukraine, and all of us here,  courtesy of the liars and conspiracy-theorists, the cheaters and deniers of the truth, watch the war there unfold.

And by the time the sanctions against the liars in that war sink in, it will be too late for the good people paying the price.

They already are.

God bless the good people of Ukraine. What are we, the bastion of freedom and liberty, doing about it?

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

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

What the Heck is Going On Out Here?

The Schloss-Blog is wondering about a few things going on out there.

For instance, why does Russia still have a team in the Olympics?

Yeah, yeah, I know, no uniforms, no "national identify," no national anthem at medal ceremonies. But they can call it ROC or Monte Rock or Rock Hudson or Rocky Balboa or Rock of Ages.

It's still a team that dopes. And that should disqualify all of it.

I mean, Kamila Valieva should not only have been banned from the skating competition, she should have been suspended from her junior high school.

***

According to the NY Times, San Francisco school board members were recently ousted in a recall vote, in part for calling for changes in some school names that had monikers reflecting 'reactionaries.' Those names: Paul Revere, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Senator Dianne Feinstein and John Muir, the environmentalist. 

Here comes Glenn Youngkin High School.

***

For those who love the "Law & Order" franchise of shows (Couch, Graham), two have recently been halted in development.

In particular, one was about "Law & Order: Hate Crimes." 

It seems test audiences - well, hated it.

***

Reportedly, there is an AI application that can generate essays, literally at the drop of a hat. Might not get everything right or the direction you need, but one thing for sure:

College students, the work will be original, so you won't get caught plagiarizing.

Where was this 40 years ago?

***

Disney is reportedly planning on building residential communities across the United States.

So, Mickey Mouse at the security gate and Donald Duck shows up when you have a plumbing problem, right?

But, be the first one on your block to tell your friends you're moving to - you guessed it - Disney Land.

Yikes!

***

Sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson of the United States was banned from competing in the Summer Olympic event she probably would've won for using marijuana.

Kamila Valieva was allowed to compete in a skating event - even though she didn't win it - despite it being common knowledge she used a banned substance.

What am I missing here?

Let's face it - the Russians - otherwise known as the ROC - are the Houston Astros of figure skating, of the Olympic movement, period!

***

Recently read a design article that said a good stool can anchor your home.

I'll bet it can.

***

Families of those killed in the tragic Sandy Hook shooting recently were awarded $73 million in a settlement with gun-manufacturer Remington, who they sued as being responsible for putting the weapon in the shooter's hands.

Does anyone really think this will stop the pro-gun lobby from flooding Washington, D.C., with money to prevent getting automatic weapons off the streets and out of the hands of the Kyle Rittenhouses of the world?

Me neither.

***

George Clooney is one of the executive producers of a documentary series that will explore the supposedly lengthy sexual-abuse scandal in athletics at Ohio State.

Looking at you, "Gym" Jordan.

***

Finally, Sarah Palin lost her lawsuit against the NY Times for libel because she couldn't produce a shred of evidence that they committed "actual malice," or proof that they used information they knew to be false - deliberately - to defame her and/or cause her financial and personal harm.

She plans to appeal, possibly after appearing on Dancing With The Stars or The Masked Singer.

***

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

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

Political Discourse and other legitimate things

The Schloss-Blog today is looking at "Political Discourse," especially discourse that is considered "Legitimate."

The Republican National Committee, for instance, says the Jan. 6 insurrection is "Legitimate Political Discourse."

I am personally familiar with the concept. When I was growing up, and I asked for something, say, unreasonable that supposedly all my friends were doing, my mother responded by asking me that if all my friends were jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge as a form of "legitimate political discourse," would I do it too?

That's what Kevin McCarthy and the mainstreamers in the GOP House delegation have done, in defiance of their Senate colleagues, in their endorsement of the RNC censure of Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger. And especially in their endorsement of the Jan. 6 insurrection as Legitimate Political Discourse.

They have jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge. And into the East River. Without a life jacket.

***

If Russia invades Ukraine and Americans are killed by Russian forces, what will President Biden do about it?

What would you want him to do? Would sanctions be enough or do we go to war?

***

Speaking of legitimate political discourse, that Canadian truck-driver, road-blocking protest is not a "majority" movement, About 90% of truck drivers in Canada are vaccinated. The other 10% are #COVIDiots breaking the law.

I say arrest 'em and tow their trucks to a junkyard and crush 'em.

***

Jack Sweeney is just another 19-year-old kid from Florida. But he has created an app that tracks Elon Musk's private jet everywhere it goes and easily reveals it on Twitter.

He is doing the same, reportedly, for other celebrities. For instance, he is supposedly developing other tracking mechanisms for the likes of Jeff Bezos.

Musk offered him $5,000 to stop but the kid is demanding $50,000.

Do you care where Elon Musk's private jet is at any given moment?

Neither do I.

***

I see where Trevor Bauer of the Dodgers, their multi-million-dollar pitcher, will not be charged after an investigation of sexual assault allegations against him.

Now then, not being charged doesn't mean he didn't do it. It just means in the he-said/she-said world in which we live, the guy with the high-priced attorneys is more influential than the female victim.

Like we said, Bauer is a highly paid pitcher for the Dodgers. The alleged victims have been described in media reports as "a woman from San Diego" and "an Ohio woman." That is all. 

In conclusion, again, he will not be criminally charged.

But in all likelihood, he probably did it. In all likelihood...

***

Joe Biden's critics are calling him a racist, among other things, for promising to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court. He'll name his candidate by the end of February.

Just want to get this straight - the president being labeled racist for promising to name a minority candidate to the Supreme Court.

If that makes him a racist, got to wonder what that makes Donald Trump for naming the three Musketeers to the Supreme Court that he did, a trio that would strike down abortion rights, reinforce discriminatory voting legislation and eliminate mask and vaccination mandates that would save lives across America.

Did somebody say, "racist."

***

On the lighter side, Doug Pederson has been named head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl. Good for him. Doug Pederson, head coach of the Eagles, also benched his starting quarterback in the season finale in Jan. of 2021, against Washington, and put the immortal Nate Sudfeld into a winnable game that would've put the NY Giants into the playoffs.

He wanted "a look" at his backup quarterback.

Washington won the game and went to the playoffs. Instead of what would've been the NY Giants, who Pederson and Philadelphia apparently hate.

Pederson threw the game to Washington though, making him more qualified to coach the pathetic Jaguars than a qualified Black man.

Yeah, makes sense.

***

I'm sorry, but Mikaela Shiffrin has become the Simone Biles of the Winter Games. She became NBC's face of the Games.

We saw what happened to Biles, a lovely, competent, championship-caliber young woman in every way, shape and form. And what happened to tennis-champion Naomi Asoka. 

One day, the media will realize that the famous, the high-profile and the ultra-talented female athletes of the world have the same pressures and responsibilities in life, and personal goals, that we in the proletariat do.

And respect that.

Maybe.

***

For those of you reading this, you are likely reading it on Facebook, maybe LinkedIn, where I post it as well.

I remember when I liked Facebook. A lot.

Then Wordle happened.

***

Good night, Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you, Lady Liberty.

Apparently, reading the law, Donald Trump may never be eligible to hold office again for confiscating public records from the White House. Hoo-freaking-ray.

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

Just Wondering...

The Schloss-Blog has been cruising Facebook. It's weird. People respond to weird questions.

For instance, "What would you say to your 18-year-old self if you only three words to do it?"

Don't know about you, but I'd take a look at my 18-year-old self and say, "WTF?"

I mean, hey, your hair is a f-ckin' mess.

Happy Meals apparently never made you happy as you aged.

And you're a horny son-of-a-bitch for having gone to an all-boys high school.

Got a pretty good arm though. Ever thought about playing quarterback? 

And stop smoking, asshole.

***

I'm particularly enthralled by this Facebook post, by some marketer accumulating a database of people who answer questions like this: "What famous movie quote do you recall that doesn't give away the title of the movie?"

WTF cares?

Apparently, millions do.

Me, I went with, "You've Got To Ask Yourself One Question: 'Do I Feel Lucky? ' Well, Do Ya, Punk?'"

I saw a lot of, "Make him an offer he can't refuse," and, "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fish."

And there was plenty of, "You're gonna' need a bigger boat."

What did you go with? And why?

***

Here's an odd one that only a FEW MILLION people responded to: If you won a lifetime supply of the last thing you drank, what are you drinking?

Why do I think a lot of people lied on this one because I saw a lot of

• Stoli
• Bud
• Tangueray
• and JD..

...instead of truthful answers like

• Orange juice
• Hot chocolate
• Frappuccino (not so bad)
• Chamomile Tea
• and cough syrup.

***

Then there was the picture of the over-sized speakers you'd see at a concert, but the question was, "What would be the first song you'd play on these speakers?"

Who can resist rock 'n' roll? Not this DJ.

I went with, on those speakers, Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida." All 17 minutes, including the kick-ass drum solo.

I saw some "Layla," "Already Gone" and an old fav, "That Smell" (Lynyrd Skynyrd). 

But my favorite actually was, "Rossini's William Tell Overture." On those speakers? Baby, set off the fireworks.

***

Then, finally, there's my favorite, "What goes with peanut butter?"

Millions responded to this.

Let me repeat ___ nothing! I hate peanut butter.

It sticks to your teeth and the roof of your mouth.

And it's like so many of my former girlfriends - too crunchy or too ....well, NVM.

My significant other spreads it on pretzels for a snack.

I like mayonnaise on my pretzels, but that's just a personal preference.

Hey, to each his own.

If you like peanut butter, more power to you, but, as rock 'n' roll royalty the Marathons once said:

There's a food goin' around that's a sticky sticky goo
(Peanut, peanut butter)
Oh well it tastes real good, but it's so hard to chew
(Peanut, peanut butter)
All my friends tell me that they dig it the most
(Peanut, peanut butter)
Early in the morning when they spread it on toast
(Peanut, peanut butter)
I like peanut butter, creamy peanut butter
Chunky peanut butter too

***

Been watching Olympic hockey? The women are so good. Pinpoint passing. Emphasis on skating. Checking but no hitting allowed like in the men's game. Over-sized, rink, which puts a premium on skating and stick-handling.

The men's game will be similar, but with full-bore checking, of course. Still, it shows why being a hockey player instead of an enforcer or goon is where the game is at, or should be.

Quite frankly, it looked like a bunch of hockey goons who stormed the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6.

***

And this commercial note: In the Chevy Equinox commercial, where the couple driving around is discussing what to have for lunch, the husband suggests, "Sushi."

The wife replies: "I had sushi yesterday."

The husband suggests, "Seafood."

The wife replies, "You know I hate seafood."

Really? Then why, whoever wrote this script, did she have sushi yesterday?

Yes, somebody got paid to write that.

***

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

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

Predictions and Batting Averages

Before the Schloss-Blog gets into this week's topic, Making Predictions, just wanted to note that last week's reference and feedback about peanut butter is much appreciated, However, no further comments. It's just too sticky.

***

Today, the Schloss-Blog is wondering how people make predictions.

For instance, so-called "experts" tell us now that, in all likelihood, one in five of us will get COVID, one variant or another. Eventually.

In Major League Baseball, one in five is hitting .200 and gets you released or sent to the minors. In the world of science and medicine, one in five is the all-star, rock-star stratosphere.

***

Our diplomatic and political pundits and leaders "predict" that Russia will eventually invade Ukraine, be it by "minor incursion" or another way.

Maybe militarily. Economically. "Cybernetically." Intimidatingly.

But they will. Even Biden says so.

And if Putin dares carry it out, the Western world will respond with swift and dynamic economic sanctions.

If you believe that Putin and his ultra-rich oligarchs are afraid of even the most dire economic sanctions, you've got to be kidding yourself. They've gotten around them before and they'll get around them again.

And the Russian people will be the ones who suffer, the peons of the proletariat, who will fell the trickle-down impact from any economic sanctions placed on the country, And Ukraine will suffer Russia's oversight.

On the bright side, Trump would've already let Putin invade.

***

Our financial and economic leaders, and politicians who think they're experts, predict that inflation will ebb and we'll be fine.

Prices will return to some degree of normalcy and we'll spend the summer happily frolicking on things we can afford by then.

On what? Gas? Utilities? Entertainment? Automobiles? Anything with a semiconductor chip? Airline flights that don't cost an arm? Or a wing?

Don't worry - just go to Buffalo Wild Wings, party on and watch your favorite games, and keep going until you get a DUI on the way home.

***

Beyond COVID, whatever affliction you may have has a med to treat it, cure it, help you live longer, play with your grandchildren and, science and medicine predict, run a marathon.

All in the same day.

Do they have one to fix Russia?

***

Republican experts predict that Trump won the 2020 election, that there was massive fraud and everything was wrong.

Meanwhile, if you examine all the lawsuits that were filed challenging all the results wherever they were filed, not one offered evidence of fraud.

Not one.

That's because there's no evidence of fraud. None. Zero. Zilch. And that's why they were all dismissed, out of hand, every single one of them, by the judges handling the respective cases, all 60-something of them.

Yet, Trump and his trashy sycophants like Kari Lake (news anchor-turned-gubernatorial candidate in Arizona) are saying Trump won and there had to be the massive fraud that Trump claims in speeches but not in court filings.

Republicans are assholes.

***

Like Trump, Aaron Rodgers is a fraud too. He predicted that he was immunized from COVID but in reality was immunized from worms that sicken animals, particularly horses. 

Rodgers, immunized, failed his team and its fans with his performance in their playoff loss to San Francisco. He didn't put enough points on the board to win.

Jimmy Garoppolo, who makes almost as much as Rodgers but will likely never be MVP like Rodgers, did put up enough points, with the help of his defense and special teams. Rodgers made $33.5 million this season. Garoppolo only made a measly $27.5 million, by comparison.

Garoppolo is playing in the NFC Championship game. Rodgers isn't.

Yet, despite both of their relative successes, they could both be on different teams next season, as younger understudies await for both franchises. Looks like some team or another will be getting its 30 million dollars' worth.

More or less

***

Speaking of frauds, despite predicitions it wouldn't happen, Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the NY Times was to go to trial this week, save for her testing positive. For the virus too. But defamation, "actual malice," that the Times deliberately used information it knew to be false to malign her, is very difficult to prove.

Sarah Palin is the definition of "walking defamation" anyway." Speaking of not speaking the truth, she is on record saying Trump didn't lose the 2020 election.

***

The Supreme Court, defying predictions, will hear a case challenging affirmative action at Harvard and at the University of North Carolina. 

For its next case, the court will consider claims that the Confederacy won the Civil War.

***

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

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

Get vaccinated and 'boostered,' please.