Trucking, Sore-Loser and The Ryder Cup

The Schloss-Blog has noticed few things about driving in Arizona, about Peter Navarro, just convicted of ignoring a congressional subpoena, and about the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

The oversized, gas-eating pickup truck, also known as the state car of Arizona, is all over the roads. So are its drivers, who think they own said roads.

They regularly speed. By a lot. Signal turns and lane changes? Hah! 

Cut you off? Every chance they get. Parking spot hogs? They park nose in on an angle.

Across two spots.

And when one of them parks alongside you, good luck opening your door.

However, do the speed limit or even 5 over in front of them and they let you know with a tailgate or a flash of their brights.

And when they do slow down and you go to pass them ... uh uh ... not allowed. They'll wake up, speed up and block your lane change.

Otherwise, they're cool.

***

Got a kick out of watching Peter Navarro in front of the D.C, courthouse, griping and groaning about his arrest, his prosecution and his subsequent conviction.

This verdict was known in advance, he declared to a gaggle of reporters.

Well, yeah, Peter.

You were summoned by Congress to testify before a committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.

You didn't come. You blew it off,

That's a crime. Of which you are now guilty. You also offered no defense, no documents, and your claim of executive privilege was not substantiated by Donald Trump, so the judge denied your opportunity to use that as a defense.

You say you don't have the money to appeal it, but you will. You say you'll die in prison. Maybe.

You say they put you in wrist and leg irons when you were initially arrested on this charge.

Actually, you were offered a chance to call an attorney. Instead, you wanted to call a reporter.

As to leg irons, it's not clear what happened or when. You probably should've had some on your mouth.

You will lose your appeal. You'll look good in prison. You'll still be claiming executive privilege.

Well. you have privilege to claim that. But you don't have it.

The slogan of those in Trump's orbit: Keep lying, even after you've been convicted.

***

Hey golfers (looking at you, Joe Catanzaro). 

Am I the only one who has a problem with the U.S. Ryder Cup team?

It's a solid team, make no mistake.

But I am having trouble digesting two picks: Brooks Koepka selected from the LIV tour ("I hate LIV," says Rory McElroy) and Justin Thomas from, well, nowhere near the qualifying criteria.

Thomas, a great golfer, without a doubt, did not qualify for the Fed Ex Cup final three tournaments, being outside the 70-man field.

Me, instead of Koepka and Thomas, I would've selected Keegan Bradley, the veteran who had a great year, and Cam Young, the second-year pro who is a contender, week-in, week-out on tour.

I'm with McElroy, I hate LIV. Never watch it. Don't follow it.

I like Thomas, but he just didn't play well enough this year.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment fund underwrites the LIV tour. When they start financing the Ryder Cup, it's time to re-examine everything.

***

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

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

Phoenix Population Is Up But Columbus Dispatch AI Is Down

The Schloss-Blog has noticed that Phoenix' population is up but the Columbus Dispatch's use of AI is not.

And here's why.

The Gannett-owned Dispatch published a wrap-up story that sounded like it had been spit out by - well - a computer.

Actually, AI put out a story based on statistics only and it sounded like it. The story had no human-touch elements or first-hand observations whatsoever. The snappy first sentence read: 

• "The Worthington Christian [[WINNING_TEAM_MASCOT]] defeated the Westerville North [[LOSING_TEAM_MASCOT]] 2-1 in an Ohio boys soccer game on Saturday."

Catchy, huh?

Career sportswriter that I am, this kinda' ticked me off.

The Dispatch has since suspended use of AI for such purposes, despite the requirement that AI-generated content must have facts and accuracy verified first.

Maybe someone should make sure first that AI knows what soccer is.

*** 

So, while AI might be down, the population of Phoenix is up. It went up by some 20,000 between between 2021 and 2022.

What hasn't kept up is housing in Phoenix. Average cost of rent in Phoenix is $1,588 a month for a whopping 806 square feet.

That would require a minimum salary of $56,836 a year, or about $8,000 less than what you earn at minimum wage ($13.85).

So, for all of you who have run to Phoenix during and since the pandemic seeking greener pastures, make sure the job you land pays a decent wage.

If you want to keep 806 square feet over your head, that is.

***

If you've been watching the U.S. Open Tennis, and it's been fabulous, you probably heard that there are 10 working moms in the women's draw.

Ten.

And why shouldn't it be. This is excellent and exciting news.

Caroline Wozniacki has been a sheer delight to watch, her two toddlers in tow. And as Pam Shriver and Mary Jo Fernandez, calling one of her matches, said on TV of the body suit she was wearing, "She's rocking it."

And her opponent.

***

Speaking of the U.S. Open, no American man has won it or any other tennis major since Andy Roddick turned the trick in 2003.

Twenty years ago.

Speaks to the status of men's professional tennis in the United States.

Francis Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, we need you.

***

Couldn't help but notice that when Donald Trump was booked in NY, he checked in at a reported 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds.

When he did the same in Atlanta, it was reported he was 6-2 and 215.

Is he self-reporting, or what?

I'll go with the former.

***

College Football Game Day is back on ESPN.

Who cares?

The only thing remotely interesting is the game picks with a celebrity.

Otherwise, Pat McAfee's clown show, Gene Wojciechowski's weekly celebration of an athlete who has overcome adversity and students who sneak signs in that violate decency standards make this show only worth watching for Big & Rich's opening song and the picks at the end.

Three hours that I refuse to give to ESPN. Almost as bad as Sports Center and all the shoulder NFL programming on the network constantly asking, "Is this the year for the Cowboys?"

***

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

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

And Just Like That, Investigating the Investigations of the Investigations

The Schloss-Blog has not got its usual slew of items this week, but it does have a peek at how investigations of investigations can go awry and just give rise to more. The problem is why they're done.

Republicans complain about weaponization of investigations while they do the same thing and shrug off the investigations that have led to four indictments of a certain former president...

...of the United States of America.

While Republicans continue on their fruitless investigative paths of Joe Biden, Alvin Bragg and now Fani Willis, they gripe in hindsight that Hillary was never punished.

For anything.

Actually, she is one of the most-investigated politicians.

Ever.

The Benghazi attack was investigated 10 times, including by the Republican-led Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. It concluded that the terrorist attack there, which resulted in four American deaths, including that of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, was "preventable."

Of course, that 2012 attack happened on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's watch. Six different House committees had Republican-majority members deliver a report damning to Clinton and the Obama Administration. It claimed that they altered talking points and delivered conclusions that were misleading and incomplete in their report on the attack.

In other words, the Republicans said the Democrats said the attack was not as bad there as it actually was.

Four Americans were killed, including the ambassador. That's pretty bad and was never denied. That report, by the way, according to Democrats on the committee, was written with no Democratic input.

In the end though, the Republican-majority House Intelligence Committee concluded that "there was no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama administration."

As to Hillary's email controversy, while she was accused of deleting 33,000 emails (see Trump, Donald, campaign appeal to Russia to find them), she was never found to have committed anything egregious, even by Republican investigators. DOJ's investigation found nothing to prosecute about her using a private email server.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump waves classified documents around at his golf clubs and stashes them all over Mar a Lago and Republicans complain the investigation and subsequent indictment over that is unfair and biased.

So, while Republican investigations of Hillary produced nothing to see nor prosecute, they still press ahead now with investigations of the what they call the "criminal" Biden family.

Yeah, MS-13 is all over the Cabinet. And don't forget, in your neighborhood.

***

Been watching "And Just Like That," the "Sex & the City" sequel?

It's been interesting to see what happened to our sexy, jump-into-bed-with-whoever characters.

Sort of.

They killed off Big. Supposedly, he was a sexual predator (isn't that what the show's about?). No, he allegedly really was, and not just a lech on the set either.

And after he went to Paris and saved Carrie too. Hmmph!

Anyway, all four of the principal characters have undergone life changes and season two just ended with Sam (Kim Cattrall) making a cameo appearance at last.

Call it a cameo of a cameo, for as long as she was on screen.

So, is there any truth to the rumors that she and Sarah Jessica Parker had a falling out and that's why Cattrall didn't come back full time for the sequel at all?

Two movies and a financial dispute over salaries later, Cattrall is missing from the small-screen renewal, even though both are saying there's no bad blood.

If you believe that, then why isn't Cattrall in the show?

And just like that, no sex and the city for her.

***

Hope my friends and relatives out east listened to me Sunday morning on Radio Free Phoenix, a rare mid-morning appearance for me subbing for Joe Catanzaro.

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

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

How Many Ways Can You Say Fraud? And Ageless or Airbrushed Super-Models of Lore

The Schloss-Blog is reading all about the ridiculous number of ways Trump has claimed fraud or inaccurate vote counts, tabulation machines tampered with and outright cheating.

It's a lot.

Plus, we have a take on "aging" super-models: are they aging, or, as the NY Times asks, airbrushed?

***

Before we get to Trump, couldn't help but notice Carli Lloyd's critical commentary on the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, which got disappointingly bounced early from the Women's World Cup.

The former international player of the year and Olympic and World Cup champ with the United States National Team was critically insightful on the team after it scored just 4 goals in 4 games and got bounced from the tournament.

Among her criticisms, The Athletic reported, were, "The team was disjointed, was not a unit, and the coaching was not what this team needed." She didn't stop there, but enough said about her feelings, which she expressed on the Fox Sports telecasts.

She took some heat for it on Twitter - uh, X - but never backed down.

So, is her job as a TV analyst for the home-team broadcast to be a cheerleader for the tournament favorites or to call them out for their shortcomings?

You tell me.

***

According to the NY Times, Trump has repeatedly mischaracterized the voting and counting process thereof, made false claims about verifications, put out baseless charges about fraud and fallen back on any number of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

He also tried to illicitly reverse the legitimate election results and overthrow his own government, which was validating it.

Any wonder he's been indicted 4 times now?

***

The local authorities were upset that the Marion County (Kansas) Record was going to report something they didn't like.

So they arrived with a warrant and took everything, including at the home of the paper's 98-year-old founder, who subsequently passed away, possibly from the stress.

The authorities wound up returning everything when their misguided effort was publicized and a local prosecutor said it wasn't kosher.

And the entire journalism community came and stood at the shoulder of the paper. And rightly so.

***

Ageless? Or Airbrushed?

These gorgeous super-models of '90s fame came together and recreated a vintage Vogue cover  for which they all had posed so long ago.

So, the NY Times asks, are they ageless? Or airbrushed?

Check out their picture and you tell me.

***

Quick takes:

• Harrison Ford, who, as Indiana Jones, declared that he hates snakes, had one named for him. Kate Winslett, by the way, had that honor bestowed on a beetle.
• In a survey, only 37% of respondents said they have faith in Joe Biden's handling of the economy, which is thriving. Huh?
• Anthony Richardson, a first-round draft pick rookie, will start at quarterback in week one for Indianapolis. Let's see, risky? Ask Andrew Luck. Or Peyton Manning.
• Trump's legal faults prevent him from holding office, let alone run for it, says the Constitution's 14th Amendment and Professors William Baude (U of Chicago) and Michael Stokes Paulsen (University of St. Thomas). Maybe we'll see what the Supreme Court says, huh?
• You've heard about all the water shortages plaguing the American Southwest. So how come, Axios reports, water usage in the greater Phoenix area is down from ... wait for it ... 1957?

***

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

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

Buying a Car, Trading With Mexico and No More Erros in Baseball - Wow!

The Schloss-Blog is noting some trends - car buyers are paying more for their cars; the United States is trading more with Mexico and baseball is seeing its fewest errors ever. So far.

What else could go wrong? Or has it?

***

Inflation may have cooled but car payments apparently have not.

Not everywhere.

In Texas, the Houston Chronicle reports, car buyers are financing their purchases at an average monthly payment of more than $1,000.

One. Thousand.

Only Wyoming, according to the report, ranks at that level for new-car buyers.

What's going on?

It's a combination of post-COVID prices being high, demand for new cars being up as we continue to be in a post-pandemic world, and interest rates being as high as they are in the wake of the Fed raising them to mitigate against inflation.

Why in Wyoming and Texas?

Other than those states are overrun with baskets of deplorables, who knows? OK, that wasn't fair.

Yes, it was.

***

It's true, Mexico has taken the lead.

No, not as the leading source of migrants at the border.

As the leading country with which the United States trades, surpassing ... China!

What's going on? Why should it matter to you?

(Full disclosure - basic tenet of teaching journalism for 23 years, as I did at the college level: tell people why it matters to them.)

So, it all started with Trump (who else and why isn't he on trial for this?). When he commenced his famous tariff war with China, things started to sour between us and them. Today, we impose more than a 19% tariff on Chinese goods while they impose, in retaliation, more than a 21% tariff on us.

This is not good. It's so not good that the Biden administration left it in place. Hmm...

Anyway, one shot-down balloon and a lot of nasty words later, Mexico has ascended to the top spot.

It's easier to trade with Mexico. No tariff restrictions. Easy proximity. And even most illegal drugs come through the main portals anyway (not through the wall that Trump never built and Mexico never paid for not building).

Of course, if Trump gets re-elected, he'll re-establish trade and relations with China by raising tariffs even more and waving around classified documents in front of visiting Chinese diplomats. 

And serving them that incredible, beautiful chocolate cake.

***

It's easier than ever to watch to Major League Baseball.

Games are quicker thanks to the pitch clock. Fewer pitching changes, less time between pitches and keeping hitters in the batters box all go a long way toward our enjoyment of the game.

But how do you feel when you watch one of your favorite players on your favorite team boot an easy ball hit right at him?

A costly error, right?

Not these days. Official scorers are ringing up fewer errors than ever. Plays that look routine and you know your grandmother could've made still get booted and are being scored more than ever as - hits.

What's going on? (I read that somewhere before in this blog post.)

Official scorers are grading more and more balls as hits and fewer and fewer as errors, at a pace that will leave MLB with fewer errors committed than ever before.

Why?

Are media members who double as official scorers courting player favor? Are pitchers clamoring for more errors to be made to protect their earned run averages? And how would you like to be the teammate of a pitcher who is clamoring for more errors to be declared.

It's a conundrum: pitchers' ERA's versus position players' fielding percentages.

Which should win?

To me, if they can get their hands on it, they should catch it. Period.

***

What's a galette?

The NY Times referenced making one in a recent article. It was carmelized. It had cracked black pepper and gruyere.

But what is it?

I read the article and I'm still not sure. Someone help me out. Before I go to France next year.

***

Robbie Robertson is dead and the music world has lost a legend. He reportedly had prostate cancer.

He was 80.

Lil Tay is dead and Hip Hop and the world of influencers has lost an emerging legend.

She was 14.

No one knows what took her life.

Will we ever?

What's with Hip Hop? Great music and great artists, but we know as much about Lil Tay's death as we know about who shot Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac.

Maybe, as B.I.G. said, violent death is as inevitable, as - "...the black talons loaded in the clip, so I can rip through the ligaments, put the f'ers in a bad prediciment..."

He didn't say "f'ers."

***

If Trump doesn't lie, John Lauro lies for him.

***

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

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

And welcome aboard at RFP. Mike McCoy. Shazam!

David Hughes, all the best. You'll be missed.

DeSantis, Slavery and Stealing Cadbury Creme Eggs

The Schloss-Blog is wondering if slavery was as good for the Jews in Egypt as DeSantis and the Republicans in charge of education in Florida think it was for Blacks.

We're also looking at invading or bombing Mexico and what fuel-efficiency standards set down for 2032 mean for EV development between now and then.

***

Does Ron DeSantis really believe that slavery taught Blacks useful skills?

DeSantis needs some useful skills, like how to lower insurance rates in Florida, how to stop the population loss in Miami-Dade and how to win an arm-wrestling match with a mouse.

He also needs a personality.

And he needs to stop throwing the Florida educators who wrote that disgusting curriculum, at his direction, and take responsibility for it himself, racist that he is.

***

Did you hear the one about the guy who got 18 months in prison for stealing 200,000 Cadbury Creme Eggs?

Because he did.

Really.

***

Hey, I'm as much for EV development as the next guy (the "next guy" is for it, right?).

I mean, Volkswagen is supposedly going to only build electronic vehicles as of 2030.

But what about America's street corners? Will charging stations replace gas stations as the principle places to stop, "refill" and keep your car running?

I doubt it. In fact, the government just released its new fuel-efficiency standards for 2032 that automakers are supposed to live by.

We are supposed to be living in, by then, a 58-mile-per-gallon world by then.

But not a 58-mile-per-volt world.

When all those street corners are recharge stations instead of gas stations, I will purchase an all-electric automobile.

Until then, maybe a hybrid.

Maybe.

***

Republicans reportedly are floating suggestions to bomb and/or invade Mexico to get after the cartels that control the drug traffic so prevalent in this country.

Really.

If they are successful in waging war with Mexico, but lose that war, rumor has it we'll be giving back Texas.

Which means Ted Cruz and family can go to Cancun tax free.

***

Couldn't help but notice that my Giants finally signed Saquon Barkley to a new contract, a franchise tag at an adjusted $11 million.

Daniel Jones, meanwhile, who had a decent year and helped the Giants even win a playoff game, got a 4-year, $160 million contract.

I'm thinking, considering what Saquon means to the offense and the fact that the Giants offense runs through him, not Jones, Saquon should've got the $160 million and Jones the franchise $11 million

***

Donald Trump's Save America PAC has spent virtually all of its money on his legal fees and is now, says the NY Times, "...broke."

He will likely spend the campaign season of the election running from courtrooms in Florida to New York to Washington, D.C.

Couldn't happen to a nicer, more-deserving defendant.

***

Commander, the resident White House dog, is that no more, after reportedly biting as many 10 Secret Service agents.

Who says the Secret Service doesn't protect the president with its blood.

Does it do that for Trump?

***

All I want for Christmas is a Kencore T-shirt.

Not really, but...

***

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

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

Take the GOP and Shove It

The Schloss-Blog is looking at the GOP and thinking it sucks.

Also got some thoughts on Barbie, Verizon's Sadie and the judge who texts and gif's while her court is in session.

But first, back to the GOP. As they continue to support the master criminal running for president, the GOP is proving what it stands for.

The GOP stands for restricting people's right to vote, by restricting their access to the vote, especially people of color.

The GOP stands for restricting women's reproductive rights by passing laws in Red states that outlaw abortion outright or the privilege to one after six weeks of pregnancy, when most women don't even know if they're pregnant.

The GOP stands for restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ people. It stands for restricting the privileges of trans people.

Yet, millions of people still vote for these guys. And these guys continue to support a master criminal for president.

Hillary Clinton was right: the GOP and those who vote for it? Basket of deplorables!

***

I like "Losers."

No, not that those losers, but "Losers: Dispatches from the Other Side of the Scoreboard," the Mary Pilon and Louisa Thomas-edited book of articles and essays about those who lost the championship game, those who came in second at the Olympics or those who committed the error that enabled the other team to ring up the winning score.

"Losers..." (Penguin Random House, 2020), celebrates those who celebrate those who didn't win but came so darn close.

And Pilon and Thomas are just the editors to assemble all that. Pilon is an author, a former NBC Sports producer and former NY Times and Wall St. Journal reporter who has covered the Olympics, as well as so many other major sporting events. Thomas, also an author and a New Yorker staff writer, has contributed to everything from the NY Times to The Atlantic.

They haven't met a second-place finisher they don't like. And face it: do you remember who finished second in the greatest Olympic relay race ever? Do you remember who the losing team was on the only two home runs to ever end a World Series.

That’s who comes to mind for me, but Pilon and Thomas focus on those who write about Floyd Patterson, not a loser but a fighter who lost a big bout. They look at Jeremy Taiwo, the decathlete who finished second to Ashton Eaton, one of the great decathletes of all time. They look at being a fan of cursed teams or cities that had perennial losers, like the streaks in Boston and Philadelphia. It’s not just the stories you know, however. It’s the stories you don’t know but will grab you.

Like the Cubs did all those years. Like the Red Sox did.

After reading this, you'll appreciate them. And their fans.

***

People want Donald Trump to be president. This is insane,

***

Trump says the government underwrote the Jan. 6 riot to cover up its fraudulent elections.

Do you ever wake up and wish he was dead? Except DeSantis would be the Republican frontrunner.

Please see my comments about the GOP, above.

***

Does anyone think 'X' is going to become the all-in-one app that Elon Musk wants it to be?

Neither do I.

Neither does my phone, which still says "Twitter" on the the logo. Elon Musk has a lot of work to do.

***

Barbie asks, "Did you guys ever think about dying?"

I've got to go see the movie.

***

America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, admitted in a court filing that he lied and that he defamed when he said poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss cheated in the Georgia presidential election vote counting in 2020.

He's also in the process of losing his law license altogether.

Donald Trump sycophants are as big losers as Trump is. Trump doesn't care.

As long as they lie for him.

***

Judge Traci Soderstrom, in Oklahoma, was caught texting and gif'ing while her court was in session, a murder trial no less.

Trump wants her to oversee one of his upcoming trials.

***

Oh lord, I'll be back in overheated Arizona in a few weeks.

It's too hot to play golf. It's too hot to go for a walk. It's too hot to dine alfresco.

It's too effin' hot.

***

Hope you listened this morning when I was on the air on Radio Free Phoenix, subbing for Joe Catanzaro.

Joe’s a golf lover, so he’ll appreciate that Jocelyn won the Women's Division of the famous Benes Family Open Golf Invite on Saturday. She also won the women's long-drive competition.

Our team, with individual men's runner-up Alex Janco, who shot 80, finished second. Joe Bartosch's son J.J., who hits the ball a country mile, was the winner (73).  I shot a very respectable 93 on the difficult Hughes Creek course, contributing to our team's second-place 94.

Just another typical day on the golf course.

***

Are a "phubber?" That's someone who puts his or her relationship at risk by paying more attention to his or her phone than his or her partner.

Think about it.

*** 

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

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