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Friday Clutter: Trump, NFL Anthem Policy, Mark Zuckerberg, Boston Red Sox, Good Morning Vietnam, Rihanna, and more

Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all!  Man, this week went by quickly.  I would like summer to slow down a wee bit.  Nothing too dramatic, mind you.  It just throws me a little that we're already in the back half of July.  Anyway, today looks like it should be beautiful outside, so we'll just focus on that instead.  Oh, a quick programming note:  Real life events may mean we won't be back here until Monday.  BDH, Little Buddha, and I have some things we need to take care of which might keep us occupied for the entire weekend, but we promise to return as soon as possible.  In the meantime, the guys made coffee, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Clutter.

Donald Trump invited Vladimir Putin to visit the White House in the fall, thus ensuring that everyone will be talking about Trump's treason right before the mid-term elections.  That's an interesting strategy.

When he's not busy conceding our national security to Russia, Donald Trump is busy publicly criticizing the Federal Reserve's recent interest rate hikes, thus attacking the central bank's independence. 

Having realized that surrendering to Donald Trump did them no good, NFL owners are taking another look at the league's national anthem policy.  Perhaps the best policy would be to just leave things as they were before this saga began.

Here's a little Friday fun:  Do a Google image search for the word "idiot" and see what you get.

Massachusetts Congressman Michael Capuano and his Democratic primary challenger Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley will debate on August 7. 

Instagram will now let you know when your friends are also on the site.  Anything to keep those eyeballs focused on your product, eh, Mark Zuckerberg?

Speaking of the Facebook boss, Mark Zuckerberg is taking heat for his comments about whether or not Holocaust deniers should be allowed on social media.  We'll let everyone else debate the 1st Amendment issues, but our main point is that the entire social media business landscape is based on pulling in as many people as possible under all circumstances, so we find it hard to imagine a situation where Facebook would ever say there's no room for a specific group of people.  Facebook has a big tent policy when it comes to data mining.

Paramount Television President Amy Powell was fired for allegedly making racially inappropriate comments.  It's not clear what she's accused of saying, and Powell denies the accusation.

A new study indicates there's a connection between cured meats and manic episodes.  Not to say we knew that, but it does seem clear that if you eat something like beef jerky, the odds you're damaging your health in one way or another already seemed pretty high.

Break time is over, it's time for the Boston Red Sox to get back to work.  First up, David Price takes the mound against the Detroit Tigers tonight.  The trade deadline is just less than two weeks away, and it's hard to see the Sox making a big move, mostly because they have almost no one to trade.  Blake Swihart seemed like the most obvious candidate to move for most of the first half of the year, but now he's backing up Sandy Leon at catcher while Christian Vazquez recovers from a broken pinkie. 

We're glad to hear that the Boston Celtics have re-signed Marcus Smart to a four-year deal reportedly worth $52 million.  Celtics observers agree that Smart brings an attitude that greatly benefits the team.  It's hard to quantify the value of that grittiness, but $13 million per year feels like a solid deal.

NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony is playing musical chairs, starting with the Oklahoma City Thunder trading Anthony to the Atlanta Hawks yesterday.  The Hawks are expected to buy out his contract, and then he'll be a free agent.

Pittsburgh Steelers fans won't like hearing that James Harrison agrees that Bill Belichick is a better coach than Mike Tomlin, but the man's just speaking the plain truth.

We're sorry to hear that Adrian Cronauer died on Wednesday.  Cronauer was of course the radio DJ whose life inspired the Robin Williams classic movie, Good Morning Vietnam.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.  Cronauer was 79 years old.

It sounds like Rihanna fans have plenty to look forward to.  The singer is reportedly working on both a reggae album and a more pop-focused album.

Rihanna July 20 2018Bring on the songs.  (pic via wsbtv.com)

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  This is NASCAR weekend in New Hampshire (weather permitting), so let's have Rihanna close things out with, "Shut up and Drive," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  BDH and Little Buddha say you're invited to come back later if you want to watch the Red Sox game with us.  Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day, be good, and we'll meet up again for more fun soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.

 

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