Blogging 101: Guns, Tigers, Oscars, Basketball, Title IX and Be Real

The Schloss-Blog is going to Be Real today, all too real...

As in BeReal, the app.

This is where the kids today are running, to BeReal. Why?

Once a day, at a time unbeknownst to them, they get an alert to post on the app. They have 2 minutes to do it - one selfie and one of their immediate surroundings, whether it be at school, commuting, showering (yikes!), dining or even making breakfast for your evening's paramour.

Seriously.

No "likes" to click on, but you can comment on your friends' posts.

Then, your 2 minutes come and gone, on to tomorrow.

Gonna' try it? I doubt it. This is where your kids and grandkids are running to now that we old-timers have invaded Facebook, Twitter and all-too-friendly Instagram. This is the next place they are going where we aren't yet so we can't spy on them or make believe to be cool like them.

What am I gonna' do? Me, I'm gonna' BeReal. Well, where are you reading this? Let's be real, not on BeReal.

***

Speaking of being real, the Schloss-Blog can't help but think that all the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, after heaping praise on the credentials of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, all voted against her nomination.

Why would they do that?

Maybe because she's not Amy Coney Barrett or Neil Gorsuch or Brett Kavanaugh, all three of whom are going to vote the United States back into the Stone Age.

Or maybe because they are predominantly aging, gray-haired white guys who don't like a qualified Black woman moving into the neighborhood.

***

Who thinks that the economic sanctions levied on Russia and rich Russians are going to stop Russia's bombing of and slaughtering of ordinary Ukrainian citizens?

Me neither.

***

There was a mass shooting in Sacramento last week. One dead, at least six wounded.

Mass shooting, with defining variations depending on the source, is set as an event in which 4 or more people are shot - be it killed and/or wounded. Or as many as three or four dead, and that many or more wounded.

So far this calendar year, Wikipedia says there have been 142 mass shootings. News Nation says 119 (like I said, varying definitions).

In Washington, Congress still refuses to take legislation action to curtail mass shootings, like stricter I.D. laws and gun show-purchase loopholes. Too many states have open-carry laws - no license - and it could be a deadly weapon, like a semiautomatic AR-15.

We're on pace for more than 500 mass shootings this year, but primarily Republican legislators refuse to take action and the gun lobby says Democrats are coming for your guns.

No, they're coming for your unregistered AR-15s, not the licensed, registered weapons of collectors and responsible hunters.

Before the next Kyle Rittenhouse shows up, let's do something.

***

Did you watch the NCAA basketball tournament? There were some compelling storylines, especially Coach K's last ride and the ultimate underdog in tiny Saint Peter's.

But can you name three great players you tuned in to watch, the next great NBA prospects?

Me neither.

There was no compelling player I wanted to see. No, next one-and-done who will be the first pick in the NBA draft.

They're all still in the transfer portal. Guess what, New Jerseyans - Saint Peters' three best players are already in the transfer portal for next year. Speaking of one-and-done, Saint Peters is one that's done.

Champion Kansas had maybe one NBA legit prospect, runner-up North Carolina maybe two. Maybe.

The championship was a good game, but I didn't see the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft on the floor, like I did in the women's NCAA Finals (Aliyah Boston of South Carolina).

Plus, there was a great Black coach in that game - Dawn Staley - who has turned down offers to head up men's programs.

And the women - guess what - they play defense, box out on the boards and set picks. They make the extra pass and look for the open shot, not for the ESPN Sports Center Top 10 shot.

One thing for sure - the men's NCAA tournament has changed. Because of the lost COVID year, injuries and transfers, there were players out there in their sixth year of eligibility.

In what would've been his sixth year of eligibility, LeBron was already the best player in the NBA.

This year's No. 1 pick, meanwhile, is probably going to be a one-and-done from Duke or Kentucky.

Do you know his name, their names? Or do you know that Coach K has had his last ride?

As has Saint Peter's.

***

It is the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the enactment that mandates equal opportunity and facilities for men and women at schools that receive federal funding, be it for academics or athletics.

When it was enacted, 50 years ago, 30,000 high school girls played varsity sports. Now some 33 million do.

Yet, states are out there passing and proposing laws that girls play girls sports and boys play boys sports.

How about we just have sports, huh?

***

Finally, speaking of the Oscars, Timothee Chalamet showed up in a tuxedo - without a shirt.

I'm going to do that to the next black-tie party to which I get invited.

And we'll see if I get asked to leave. Timothee Chalamet was not asked to leave the Oscars.

Will Smith should've left when asked.

***

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

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

Well, Slap Me Silly

The Schloss-Blog is declaring this week ... slap me silly!

I was going to offer a salute to all the women out there sporting a G.I. Jane look but didn't want to risk Will Smith showing up at my door, slapping me and telling me to "Keep [his] wife's name out of [my] fucking blog." 

The person who showed real restraint there last week, the person who showed he was really a man, was Chris Rock, who could have dumped on Smith right then and there, but didn't and hasn't since.

Smith got a standing ovation when he accepted his Academy Award later in the evening.

So it is true - we live in the age of salute-to-assholes. As evidence, "more likely than not" criminal Donald Trump got 74 million votes in defeat (isn't about time we did away with the electoral college before Wyoming decides who the next president is?).

A once-and-former friend of mine accused me of being demeaning to women and marriage in general for saying in a Facebook thread about this matter that Jada Pinkett Smith was a strong-willed woman who can fight her own battles. He also said, without citing a source, that Will Smith was "belly" laughing and Jada wasn't laughing at all, and suddenly - surprise - Smith was up and slapping away and then cursing from his seat.

Am I the only one who thinks that "belly-laughing" Smith was prompted into the slap by his strong-willed wife, who allegedly (key word: allegedly) had taken Rock as one of her paramours in the Smith-Pinkett self-declared "open" marriage?

Why else do you prompt your otherwise "belly-laughing" husband into slapping someone over a G.I. Jane joke when the jokester may or may not have known about you having alopecia? Although if he slept with her, as alleged, well, you'd think the bald-headed thing might have come up in pillow talk.

Did I just demean women and marriage? Does anyone who agrees also find themselves people who demean women and marriage?

I'll let you tell me. Meanwhile, the person who accused me is doing a slow bern.

Also, Smith is out as a member of the Academy and should never have been allowed on stage to get his award in the first place.

***

Meanwhile, Italy's men's national soccer team lost in a stunning upset to North Macedonia, thus Azzuring that they will not qualify for the World Cup final 32 in Qatar later this year.

Thus 'azzuring,' get it?

 No? OK, that one bombed.

***

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an act of sexual righteousness, signed legislation that he says makes sure "...girls are going to play girls sports and boys are going to play boys sports."

What he was really saying is that Florida disrespects and doesn't want anything to do with members of the trans and LGBTQ communities.

And that will be a key plank in his platform for his 2024 presidential run.

***

With the war in Ukraine still raging despite the supposed peace talks, Russia is working hard to make sure accuracy about its inept yet disgraceful military effort does not reach its ordinary citizens (is there such a thing as an ordinary Russian citizen and how is it different from an ordinary American?).

Anyway, Russia has shut off most social media platforms from its general public, but not WhatsApp, which is supposedly too immensely popular with Russians, and YouTube, which is the same.

But like Donald Trump's "Truth Social," an abysmal failure, Russia's prospective replacements for WhatsApp and YouTube - ICG and RuTube, respectively - are flopping miserably.

So, Donald Trump and Putin continue to have so much common - flopping in new business ventures online and begging for help from foreign governments. Trump has openly asked Russia for dirt on the Bidens as we continue to supply Ukraine with resources to fight Russia. Meanwhile, Russia has supposedly reached out to China for military and economic aid.

Shameless has no boundaries.

***

Trump's Truth Social, btw, supposedly has 513,000 users since launching in December. However, enrollment has dropped to 8,000 a day from an initial high of 157,000 when launched, mostly due to extreme technical glitches and outreach limitations (not available yet to Android users, for example).

Truth is, it's not very social at all. Sorta' like Trump..

***

When I walk early mornings along the Biltmore Links Golf Course, I like to listen to Dan Patrick's show on Fox Sports Radio. Insightful, thoughtful, funny.

If I walk early enough, "Two Pros and a Joe" is on ahead of Patrick, starring Brady Quinn, LaVar Arrington and Jonas Knox.

They are a disgrace to humanity. Almost every conversation I hear from them sinks to innuendo and toilet humor. It's like they can't help themselves.

Then they lower themselves even more by having Petros Papadakis on one morning a week with them, who loves to indulge in innuendo and make small of kids who come out of fabled Mater Dei High in LA. You know, like Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley, Colt Brennan and Todd Marinovich. Hall-of-Famers, right?

Oddly enough, when Knox does his own show on the weekend, he's focused, on target and biting about issues in sports, results in sporting events and prospective fallout from recent controversial happenings.

I expect more out of Arrington, who played productive years for the Giants and Redskins after a stellar career at Penn State. Quinn was a washout though as a pro, going 4-16 in games he started over 4 years, completing just 53 percent of his passes, with 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions.

On air, he broadcasts like he played.

***

A few closing thoughts:

• Are we afraid to piss off Putin? Do we really think he'd launch a nuclear war?
• Why did DeShaun Watson get $230 million guaranteed? Well, he might have 22 payoffs to make.
• Alex (InfoWars) Jones was held in contempt of court for blowing off depositions relating to damages in the case he already lost disparaging the reality of the Sandy Hook massacre. Problem is, he loves it and wears it like a badge of honor.
• Finally, who thinks Brady came back because Bruce Arians retired and went into the front office? Most people, that's who.

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

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

It's Impossible To Get All This Into One Blog Post

The Schloss-Blog is looking at the news, scanning social media and gossiping with favorite 'unnamed' sources to gather the best unsourced information you can possibly find anywhere online. Eat your heart out Alex Jones.

***

There was a shooting (shocker, right?) at a car show in - brace yourself - Arkansas, where anyone 18 and over can carry a weapon - unlicensed.

Motivation for the shooting is unknown but two people opened fire on each other at the show. One person died, 26 were wounded in the what is described as the largest mass shooting in state history, preceding the Emancipation Proclamation, that is.

There's nothing like taking the fam to the annual car show and knowing that the guy behind you and your loved ones in line to see and sit in the prototype IndyCar brought in especially for exclusive display is carrying and will do anything to get to the head of the line if it's taking too long and he's running out of patience.

Reassuring, isn't it?

***

Been watching all the college hoops? It is indeed March Madness.

The last 2 minutes of the game takes 25 minutes.

Foul. Free throws. Clock stops. 

Out of bounds. Off whom? Review.

And review. And review. 

You watched it live and you've watched the replays and you've watched four commercials for Capitol One with Charles Barkley, Samuel L. Jackson and Spike Lee dancing on a riverboat or getting to meet Sue Bird and the refs are still reviewing.

Well, review this: if I know, if you know, if anyone watching knows who the ball went out of bounds of off, then the refs must be watching a live stream of Halo.

Actually, it looks pretty cool.

***

If you watched any of the confirmation hearings for Kentaji Brown Jackson to become a Supreme Court justice, then you know just how disconnected from reality the Republican party is.

Ted Cruz and his charts and his question about whether babies are racist topped the pile of, quite frankly, racist-based questions and lectures delivered by Lindsey Graham, Josh Hawley and Cruz.

Are babies racist?

Holy shit! People vote for these guys!

I guess there are a plethora of racist babies in Texas.

Just ask Ted Cruz. When he's not in Cancun.

Seriously, if Republicans are asking about 'racist babies,' they truly are out of touch with reality.

If you vote for a Republican, so are you.

And maybe your 'racist' baby.

***

How about those sanctions against Russia!

Really making an impact on the war in Ukraine, aren't they?

Just like Crimea. And Georgia. And Chechnya.

They don't work. Putin will go after whatever he wants, at any cost.

To anyone.

But himself.

***

You have to wonder if the pillow talk in the Clarence and Ginni Thomas household had any influence on the fact that Clarence was the only Supreme Court justice to vote that the National Archives withhold Donald Trump's presidential files from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Thomas has disgraced the court and should step down before he casts his vote to ban abortions and reverse the 2020 election.

***

The 'Trucker Convoy,' or Frucking Tuckers as I like to call them, have lost all relevance since they're protesting COVID restrictions that have already been relaxed or eliminated in so many states.

I used to work at a trucking company, my uncle's, during spring breaks, between semesters and before I shoved off for the summer.

I always thought truckers were really cool guys.

But they're really just a bunch of Mother Fruckers.

***

If I would've told you when the NCAA Tournament started that a small Jesuit university would be in the Elite Eight, you'd have said Gonzaga.

Maybe Coldplay had it wrong when they sang:

For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter won't call my name
Never rule this world
But that was when I ruled the world

Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue are not ruling the world and are definitely calling Saint Peter's name.

In vain.

***

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

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

Nothing About The War Today ... We Mean Nothing. Seriously!

The Schloss-Blog is serious today. The war is too depressing to right about, and too incendiary - figuratively and literally. 

So today we are about  anything but, like...

Mitchell Trubisky has signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Who will have a better season - him or Justin Fields?

***

The coronavirusis is still surging in parts of the country and around the globe. In Hong Kong, where two-thirds of the residents are not vaccinated, they've had the worst outbreak since the pandemic began.

And there are still about 1,000 people dying of COVID everyday in the United States. Does that sound like "under control" and "in the rearview mirror" to you?

Or do we still need mask and vaccination mandates?

***

Things have gotten so bad because of the price of gas (OK, in good part because of the war), that Uber and Lyft are now adding a surcharge to your ride with them.

***

The Colorado House of Representatives has passed a bill in support of women's abortion rights. By the same token, Idaho passed one resembling the law in effect in Texas.

Can't we just let all the red states defect, secede, whatever, and get on with the business of the country?

Of course, that would make it more difficult to visit Mt. Rushmore, but also anywhere in Iowa (Chuck Grassley) and Kansas (Mike Pompeo). 

Yeah, let's do it.

*** 

Eileen Gu, a teenager, did trick skiing at the Olympics for China (her mom is Chinese). According to published reports, she had a 1580 SAT, a scholarship to Stanford and has made millions as a model, represented by the prestigious IMG agency.

With all of these American benefits, should she have skied for oppressive China (winning 3 medals) or the good ole U.S. of A? I say the latter. Prove me wrong.

***

The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed NY Giants free-agent ight end Evan Engram and as a lifelong Giants fan I'm happy to say they can have a talented receiver who specializes in dropping passes in clutch situations.

As an adopted Arizonan, I'm baffled watching the Cardinals let their best receiver of 2021, Christian Kirk, walk away to the ... Jacksonville Jaguars. Really?

And pass-rushing ace Chandler Jones to Las Vegas.

But head coach Kliff Kingsbury, whose teams traditionally collapse late in a season, was extended through the season that would mark the average lifespan of anyone born the same year as me.

Huh?

***

Still have not mentioned the war. No, wait...

***

Dolly Parton, you gotta' love her, has requested that her name be withdrawn for consideration to be elected to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.

Her request was denied, but she is a "rock" star, sort of, isn't she?

As an analogy, I tried to recuse myself from the committee that voted for all-conference consideration for my intramural football league in college.

Yet, somehow, I wound up as the all-conference quarterback.

Hold your enthusiasm and applause, please. Couldn't have done it without good friend and running back extraordinaire Rich Smyth.

***

The Rolling Stones are touring Europe on the "Sixty" tour as they are calling it.

If a Russian missile lands near one of their concert sites, is that enough to invoke Article 5 and go kick Russia's ass.

Damn it, I said I wouldn't mention...

***

Tom Brady's father blames the media for making Tom announce he was coming back after all.

Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors, their star forward, blames the media for reporting that he wasn't working hard enough in rehab to come back from an injury.

The media is also reporting that Russia is bombing apartment buildings and hospitals all over Ukraine, so, Tom Sr, Draymond, just chill.

Did it again, damn it...

***

In its February 2022 issue, GQ did a story on the three Russian athletes, all hockey players (Mikhail Sergachev, Alexander Ovechkin and Andrei Vasilevsky) who would be looking for redemption for Russia's (Russian Olympic Committee) team.

Then the NHL said no players allowed in the Olympics, what with COVID peaking at the time, and all. Then Russia invaded Ukraine. Ovechkin, superstar that he is, has called for peace but never denounced Putin. 

And GQ, well, they ran this real upbeat story about this troika of heroes. 

As they say in Russia, what a (журнал) zhurnal that GQ is.

***

Just so you know, the U.S House of Representatives has passed a resolution that if enacted, would remove Russia from "most-favored nation" status as a trading partner. In other words, trade with Russia would be restricted, its status severely downgraded, a further sanction on Russia's already crippled economy.

And just so you know, voting against this bill were Trump pit bulls GOP Reps. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Chip Roy of Texas.

They also believe Trump won the 2020 election.

Well, as the Snake Island Ukrainians said to the Russian warship, they can go fuck themselves.

Oops, I did it again, about the war, that is...

***

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

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

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.