2022 - What Could Be

Schloss-Blog looking ahead at 2022...

In Sports and Entertainment...(next week, politics and life in general)...

Aaron Rodgers says he's immune - to league rules, that is.

Major League Baseball says no one on the 2017 Astros ever did anything wrong.

NBA says it has COVID-19 under control.

Bears, Blackhawks, Cubs declare themselves professional franchises.

Mets sign Sidd Finch.

Baseball Hall of Fame opens "Steroid Wing."

Spielberg reboots "West Side Story" remake with land-shark and dinosaur.

Obscure high school football coach finds solution for missed tackles - it's called "practice."

"Die Hard 6" debuts - John McLane in shoot-out with Kyle Rittenhouse.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" ends with Larry David buying Waystar/Royco and having sex with Shiv.

Or does Logan Roy buy "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and have sex with Cheryl David?

Gojo head buying Waystar/Royco revealed as bloodsucking corporate raider. Literal bloodsucker.

Tune in next season.

U.S. office spaces are near empty as people continue to work from home to stay safe from the virus.

Sporting venues and concert halls are packed as people remain safe from the virus.

Michele Tofoya to leave NBC's Sunday Night Football to join Fox News.

Jemelle Hill to join NBC's Sunday Night Football as new sideline reporter.

Cris Collinsworth to join Packers front office.

Jemelle Hill promoted to play-by-play analyst for NBC's Sunday Night Football.

Inflation has gotten so bad that, as Bill Maher says, "Everything's a Dollar" stores are now "Everything's a Dollar-and-a-Quarter" stores.

And finally, Janice Griffith is into revenge sex. Who's Janice Griffith? She's a 25-year-old leading porn star, single, living in my native Brooklyn, and seeking, believe it or not, a very normal dating relationship. 

Janice, call me after your next breakup, please!

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

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

Part II, Reflections on Politics and Law...

First, did anyone get, from last week, that the head of Gojo threatening to buy Waystar/Royco on "Succession," who I referred to as a "bloodsucker," is Alexander Skarsgård, the star of the "True Blood" vampire series? Just sayin'... 

Anyway, on with the show and Happy New Year, or should I say, "News Year?"

***

Is it just me or does anyone else think NFL players are lying profusely about being vaccinated?

Oh, and next time anyone watches an NFL, NHL or NBA game with players you recognize, let me know.

Meanwhile, looking ahead, having recaptured the House and the Senate, Republicans declare Jan. 6 a national holiday.

Students bring AR-15's for "Show 'n Tell."

Marjorie Taylor Greene marries Kyle Rittenhouse.

Ted Cruz appears in Breathe-Rite strips commercial, not wearing a mask on a plane. To Cancun.

New strain of coronavirus identified - stupidity! Reportedly spreading like wildfire.

Long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccine revealed as Windows 11 sales skyrocket.

Joe Manchin says he's closer to making a decision on making a decision.

No, wait ... Joe Manchin's a dick.

Anyway ... Infrastructure Week actually happens.

Ted Cruz appears at Washington National cathedral not wearing a mask at a funeral - his own.

CNN launches CNN Digital - no one watches.

New coronavirus strain identified - COVID of the brain; Republicans particularly susceptible.

Trump finally tells Jan. 6 insurrectionists to go home.

Arizona, Georgia declare Trump wins 2024 election - will count votes in 2027.

In drastic climate-change evidence, hurricane makes landfall in Missouri (actually happened, sorta').

Supreme Court reinstates guilty verdict in Scopes Monkey Trial.

Pompeo, Haley, Rubio, DeSantis, Cruz tell Trump to make up his fuckin' mind already.

Biden names Kamala Harris vice president.

To boost ratings, MSNBC premieres "Afternoon Joe."

ABC/IPsos polling reveals most people don't tell the truth in polling.

Mandalorian declared sexiest man alive.

Kevin Costner elected governor of Montana.

Kim Jong-un memoir reveals homosexual relationship with Trump.

    Melania shrugs shoulders, says, "Meh."

Ivermectin declared drug of the year - by doctors Oz, Phil, Rogan and Rodgers.

Oprah formally ends book club over a million little things.

The same people who say they want to save lives by banning abortions don't want to save lives by mandating COVID vaccinations.

ServPro prepared for anything - except Trump not paying his bill. One thing ServPro can say about that - like it never even happened.

***

From last week, Janice Griffith, why haven't you called me yet?

Oh, and I made my annual New Year's resolution that I NEVER keep: return Christie Brinkley's phone calls.

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

Happy holidays, everyone (yeah, I said, happy - screw you, Trump).

What A Week! This Is Truly Unbelievable!

What a week we've been through.

Hopes for maintaining Roe vs Wade flattened.

The Supreme Court tipping its hand on that.

Trump revealed to have attended a debate with Biden after having tested positive for COVID-19.

Out-of-hand racist jokes by Lauren Boebert.

Infighting among congressional Republicans.

And the college football world, and its values, turned upside down.

The omicron variant is here as well, further emphasizing the need for vaccination. And testing.

Where to start...

***

First, let's apply some logic to what we heard from the Supreme Court this week regarding abortions.

The same people who want to mandate what women can't do with their bodies are the same people who don't want a mandate for COVID vaccinations in their bodies.

More simply, the same Republicans who support banning abortions in the name of the sanctity of life are the same ones who have blocked every attempt at gun control that produced four dead bodies and many more wounded, by a 14-year old, at Oxford High School in Michigan.

Yet, people keep voting for them.

Fuck 'em, I mean it, fuck 'em.

***

If you listened to the oral arguments regarding the Jackson v Dobbs case before the Supreme Court, you probably came away thinking Roe v Wade, for 50 years the law of the land, was in trouble.

And you'd be right.

Questioning by the conservative justices seemed to tip their hand that their vote to legitimize this would overturn Roe v Wade and essentially eliminate reproductive rights for women in this country.

But the most pertinent comments came from liberal just Sonia Sotomayor, who said, in essence, overturning Roe would not allow the court to "survive the stench" of the decision being overtly political, as Mississippi legislators outright stated they were introducing the legislation because they believed that they had a conservative-enough court to uphold it.

And God effin' damn it, they appear to be right.

***

In former chief of White House staff Mark Meadows' new book, due out this week, he reveals that Trump had tested positive for COVID just before his September 2020 debate with Joe Biden.

Not only did he attend anyway, putting everyone, including Biden, in jeopardy, but his family, in attendance, did not wear masks in the hall in Cleveland, as mandated.

Trump never cared who died of COVID. Including his family, I guess.

He was hospitalized three days after debate.

Republicans are truly the party of death.

***

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) did not just allegedly call Democrat Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) a terrorist - she actually did it.

And isn't backing down from it. Omar has subsequently received overt death threats.

Boebert once wanted to carry a gun into the House of Representatives.

With any luck, it would've gone off in her pocket and she'd have shot herself in the foot.

Meanwhile, Republicans continue infighting among themselves, with reckless Marjorie Taylor Greene and traditional Republican Nancy Mace trading more than barbs.

And with Kevin McCarthy refusing to publicly rebuke Boebert or Greene, the Democrats have about their only hope of the Republicans self-destructing in their effort to take the House in 2022.

Hopefully. 

***

If you play football for Notre Dame, how do you feel about your coach bolting for another job with your team?

As I heard a radio commentator say, when Kelly met with his team, if he met with his team, you can bet some 'F' bombs were tossed his way by players so heavily recruited, who helped him win more games than any other Notre Dame coach.

All those wins and one dead student assistant later, he's now the head coach at LSU. Money talks.

***

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

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

Hope you had a Happy Hanukkah.

 

Mixed Bag of ... Stuff

The Schloss-Blog, in the spirit of the holidays, has a mixed bag today. Sort of ... politics and not politics.

***

COVID-19 has changed our lives, but we've come a long way. After all, how many of you remember sneezing into the crease of your elbow?

Yet, COVID hospitalizations are up 40% as we head into the heart of holiday partying, or so the NY Times tells us.

No one, not a single soul, wants to go back to a shutdown, so how do we mitigate against the virus creeping back into our lives in a critical way without compromising the advances we've made in socializing, traveling, shopping and just gathering altogether?

Good question. Anyone got an answer?

We are learning, to an extent, to live with the virus. But the virus isn't done killing us, clearly. We'll be at 800,000 dead Americans soon.

Where do we go from here? Wherever asshole #COVIDiots let us, I suppose.

***

On a brighter note, Sex and the City is back, "And Just Like That" the characters are all here, except for ever sex-crazed Samantha (Kim Cattrall). This time around, they're all in their 50's and there is an acknowledgment of COVID on the show.

We'll see where it goes.

***

Still got cable?

As profitable as cable is, cord-cutting goes on and streaming is poised to displace it as our primary viewing vehicle.

Live sports is primarily keeping cable - and network TV - afloat. Will that last?

I hear from people that all the promises about "live sports" being available on streaming services is not what it is promised to be in their promos.

For me, when I'm the last person still on cable, I'll switch over to a streaming service and find out. Until then, I can access amazon prime and HBOMAX anytime I want to.

It's sort of like an electric car. I'll buy one when the gas stations on every corner are replaced with electric-charging stations that do the trick in minutes, not hours. Shell Electric, Mobil Electric, Exxon Electric are all still a pipe dream.

Or as they say in the commercial, "now squeegee." 

***

As great a quarterback as Aaron Rodgers is, he is just as much a lying asshole.

***

Speaking of things remembered, do you remember malls? Been to one? I haven't. OK, I ran in and out of one, literally, to go to a small jewelry store to get a new band attached to an old favorite watch.

But Macy's? Penney's? Nordstrom? Are you kidding? Been two years.

Will be another two until asshole #COVIDiots get vaccinated and we can all go back to being normal.

Same, for me, for movie theaters.

***

Keep hearing the economy sucks. Does it?

Unemployment? Way, way, way, way down (4.2%).

Wages? Way, way, way, way up. Yes, some 5% annualized. But CNBC is saying a 9% rise in inflation negates that.

Things like supply-chain problems, although alleviating, inflation and labor shortages provide the perception that the economy is not good, even though it's humming.

But perception is reality, and if Democrats don't harp on their economic successes and COVID wins,  Republicans who don't care if you die, or how, will win back everything.

And all those gains stand to be erased.

***

Next week, preceding Christmas, the Schloss-Blog will not just do a year-end look back but will look at some lists of best, worst and most that pop up at this time of year.

Like "vaccine" being the word of the year, according to one dictionary. "Allyship," was the word according to another dictionary, the art of aligning with and supporting a cause, perhaps human rights (so why are the Olympics in Beijing this February?). 

We'll see. See you then.

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

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

Men and Women

Today's post, though updated a little, is rerun from a previous Schloss-Blog from so long ago that it wasn't even called the Schloss-Blog back then. The Schloss-Blog is taking the holiday weekend off.

For today, in the spirit of giving thanks, the Schloss-Blog does not have the heart to be political nor cynical (yeah, right). America remains a country marked by violence or Republican calls therefor. We will address that in a later blog post.

Today, let's have some fun, a blast from the past, if you will. The Schloss-Blog returns in its usual form next weekend.

Today's Schloss-Blog is not about politics (OK, a little). But it is about people. Democrats and Republicans. Boys and girls. Men and Women. Remember when we all got along? Laugh with me. Or at me. Your call.

***

Today, we're thinking that woman should be in charge. Of everything. 

Women should rule the world. Why not? They make sense out of everything.

For instance, men wear jeans.

Women wear jeans that fit.

Like, a guy in our line at the grocery store the other day had jeans on - belted - that had slipped below his butt. Fortunately, his boxers hadn't.

When was the last time, or anytime, that you saw a woman in line at the grocery store with her jeans having slipped below her butt?

***

Men, meanwhile, go to the grocery store.

Women go shopping.

Men buy stuff on amazon.

Women look for exactly what they want on amazon dot com. Or Macy's. Or Clinique. Or Target. Or...

***

Men cook dinner.

Women plan a meal.

Men make steaks on the grill.

Women go to the store, pick out steaks, bring them home, defrost them, tenderize them and marinate them.

Men put them on the grill and flip them every 6 minutes.

But the men cooked them, right?

***

Men sweep and vacuum.

Women clean the house.

In its entirety.

Men go to the bathroom for half an hour.

Women take Febreze with them.

***

Men have favorite football teams they would die for.

Women have favorite football teams they live for.

Men have favorite underwear they like.

Women buy them for him.

Men watch TV.

Women watch their favorite shows.

Men vote.

Women research candidates.

Men like to dance.

Women know how to dance.

Men like Saturday Night Live.

Women like Colin Jost.

Smart men get vaccinated.

All women do.

Men run the United States.

It's about time women did.

***

Good night Mr. & Mrs. Calabash. Here's to you Mr. and Mrs. Robinson.

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

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Of Mice and Politics

The Schloss-Blog is keeping tabs of former President Trump. Besides trying to block the Jan. 6 committee from gaining access to his papers, and besides trying to dodge bullets in investigations in New York (taxes) and Georgia (election tampering), he's backing 2022 candidates with, shall we say, backgrounds as shady as his own.

Oh, and he's selling that loser of a hotel in D.C. that has drained his finances for years.

Among the candidates he's backing is an all-star team of virtual Trump copycats and definite sycophants.

Eric Greitens is the former governor of Missouri, now running for a U.S. Senate seat there. Donald Trump has endorsed him despite allegations that during an extra-marital affair, to which he has  admitted, he tied up his mistress, who happened to be his stylist, in his house and allegedly tried to blackmail her with naked pictures if she ever spilled the beans. He's also been investigated for shady campaign financing, except, Josh Hawley, then Missouri attorney general, wound up not investigating him. Hmm...

Herschel Walker is a name familiar to everyone. The Heisman Trophy winner and NFL star is running for the Senate in Georgia and is endorsed by ... Trump, even though former senator and #COVIDiot Trumpie David Perdue (who lost in 2020 to political neophyte Jon Ossoff) is itching to run for the same seat held by Democratic Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Trump is backing Walker, who has allegedly threatened his wife's life, with a gun, and is also reportedly not as successful as he claims to be since departing the football field. In other words, like Trump, deceptive.

On the other hand, you're going to love Sean Parnell, running for the Senate in Pennsylvania. He is denying allegations that during divorce proceedings, he committed domestic abuse against his wife and even his kids. A real charmer.

Josh Mandel, meanwhile, an NJB, has remained extremely supportive throughout of Trump's claims of fraud in the 2020 election. He was briefly banned from Twitter though for making what the platform called "harmful comments" against immigrants. He's not the Nice Jewish Boy you want to bring home to meet your mother. But wouldn't you love to have him as your United States Senator?

But the grand-prize winner is Kristina Karamo. The candidate for secretary of state in Michigan, who would get to run state elections if she wins, firmly believes that Trump won the 2020 election and that Antifa is responsible for the Jan. 6 insurrection, posing as stop-the-steal protesters.

Trump has also backed Republican losers Sharon Angle (Nevada) and Christine O'Donnell (Delaware). The latter ran for Vice President Joe Biden's then-vacated Senate seat.

And there's also the redistricted fight shaping up between House Republicans Alex Mooney and Dennis McKinley in West Virginia. Both have been Trump supporters, but Mooney was thumbs down on the Jan. 6 committee while McKinley supported its creation.

Guess which one Trump is backing?

Net/net, if you are a Republican who strayed even slightly from the Trump narrative, he is coming for you.

Coming for you to ruin your reputation. To take your political capital. To downgrade your political influence. Just ask Ted Cruz, a once-proud conservative Republican, who has thrown his wife, his kids, his pride under a bus in the name and service of Trump. 

Y'know,ictoria Secret  it's bad enough that House minority leader Kevin McCarthy is projecting vengeance on his party's behalf for the censure of Paul ("Kill AOC") Gosar, but that McCarthy says that he holds his members to a "high standard."

If murderous videos of other House members is a "high standard," then we've just begun to see the depths to which the Republican Party has sunk. 

It's not that Democrats haven't had their duds (Maxine Waters, Cal Cunningham, Charles Rangel).But the Republican party platform now is 'Hatred." Pure and unadulterated. White supremacy. Racism. Conspiracy theories. Allegations without a trace of evidence.

But believed by millions.

***

Footnote to Xmas shoppers: If you're looking for a Victoria's Secret gift for your sweetie, maybe consider a gift certificate. The popular center for Angels (a term being terminated this years) and sexy gifts says 50 percent of its usual gift merchandise just might be stuck in an offshore harbor.

***

Looks like you can be 17, walk around with an AR-15, kill two people and seriously wound another, and get away with it. At least in Wisconsin.

***

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving. 

This Shit Is Really Happening. In America.

The Schloss-Blog is looking around America and thinking ... this shit is really happening.

Congressmen, GOP Congressmen, are receiving death threats as well as other "endearing" messages from constituents for voting to pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that is going to help every American.

Including the ones making the death threats.

It is pretty safe to say that Donald Trump has thoroughly embedded hatred into the national fabric.

***

Speaking of Congress, Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) has posted a video adapted from an existing animated video in which he inserts himself killing - KILLING - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), and then turning on President Biden.

He says it's not what people are making it out to be.

It is pretty safe to say, however, that Donald Trump has embedded calls to violence into our national fabric.

***

It took eight tries, but we finally have an Infrastructure Week to actually celebrate.

The first seven were all failed tries at legislation by the Trump administration. Here's the link to the list of the first seven (https://theweek.com/articles/839005/all-infrastructure-weeks-ranked).

It's pretty safe to say that Donald Trump has embedded multiple ways for economic failure into our national fabric.

***

Might catch some flack for this, but watching bits, pieces and highlights of the Kyle Rittenhouse double-homicide trial, I saw a defendant break down and cry what looked to be were well-rehearsed crocodile tears.

I don't believe he has any remorse whatsoever.

What he does have is a prosecutor who screwed up.

It's pretty safe to say though that part of Donald Trump's legacy is that he inspired a 17-year old, with likely more out there, to pick up an AR-15 and run recklessly into a race-protest riot.

***

COVID-19 continues to rear its ugly head across America, as cases are spiking in several statesw hile the pre-winter, pre-holiday-travel surges appears poised to launch.

In Fresno, California, cases are spiking, ICUs are over-burdened. Same in parts of California. And these are Blue States.

Meanwhile, an appeals court has blocked the Biden Administration's order for companies with more 100 employees to mandate vaccinations.

In other words, Trump's legacy of dismissing the coronavirus has left us with a generation's worth of people who will do anything to resist keeping America healthy.

***

What's even more sickening about the Gosar video (see above) of him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the fact that Republican leadership in the House of Representatives (Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise), have said nothing - NOTHING - condemn it, let alone recommend sanctions against Gosar.

Donald Trump's legacy of calling for violent revenge against his political enemies lives on.

***

Aaron Rodgers is a f-cking, lying #COVIDiot.

***

If you've been observing any part of the trial of three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery, who was jogging down a Georgia street in Any Neighborhood, USA, you know that the jury has just one Black member.

One.

In the view of the Schloss-Blog, this trial is the 21st century version of "Easy Rider" - in other words, the killing of "Easy Strider."

Trump's legacy of racial bias has become firmly embedded and emboldened into so many parts of our national fabric.

***

Welcome to supply-chain inflation. Grocery, energy prices are spiking.

It's gonna' be a whole until they come down.

Maybe if Trump had attacked the virus more aggressively... maybe if the government hadn't handed out so much money to the Resignation Generation, on a bipartisan basis... who knows.

***

If you have any spare Ivermectin laying around, please send it to Aaron Rodgers. He'll send you back a thank you note, a nice autographed picture and a reduced-price ticket to a Joe Rogan personal appearance somewhere.

The legacy of #COVIDiot misinformation and disinformation on social media.

***

Finally, after the tragedy at the Houston Astroworld Festival concert in which eight died, you have to ask, has anyone learned their lessons from as far back as...

• The University of Wisconsin football game disaster in October, 1993, in which 73 students were crushed, 6 critically;
• The Hillsborough Stadium disaster in Sheffield, England, in which 766 people were badly injured and 97 killed;
• And The Who concert disaster in 1989 in Cincinnati, where 11 people died, so many more were injured.

And this was not the first crowd-control disaster as this Houston event.

Who does Travis Scott think he is, Donald Trump?

***

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

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

 

It Doesn't Matter...

The Schloss-Blog is thinking this morning that there's a lot that doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter who's in office, your taxes are going up. Count on it.

It doesn't matter who's in office, Social Security and Medicare funding are going to decline.

Which means your taxes are going up.

It doesn't matter who's in office, the United States' national debt will continue to rise.

Until the interest on it is the largest portion of the U.S. budget.

And it already has surpassed our GNP.

It doesn't matter who's in office, our air will continue to be polluted.

Unnecessarily..

Thank you Joe Manchin.

It doesn't matter who's in office, racism will continue to rear it's ugly head,

Again.

And again.

And again.

It doesn't matter who's in office, the next Kyle Rittenhouse is out there.

With an AR-15 strapped over his shoulder.

It doesn't matter who's in office, critical race theory will continue to be an object of attack for ... no other way to say this ... racists.

It doesn't matter who's in office, conspiracy theorists continue to promote illicitly that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Why isn't he in jail yet?

It doesn't matter who's in office, your prescription costs will continue to rise.

No matter what.

So will your medical costs.

It doesn't matter who's in office, millions upon millions of people believe the conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and about coronavirus vaccine injections.

It doesn't matter who's in office, governments will continue to fund sports teams' facilities.

Because emotionally, fans want them to. And fandom overrules "brain-dom."

Yes, it doesn't matter who's in office. Because it doesn't.

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

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