Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  Come on in, have a seat.  How are you?  I might have to ask for some patience from all of you today.  I slept horribly last night, so things are moving a little slowly around here at the moment.  I don't know what happened, it just felt like the heat and humidity increased 100% after I went to bed.  Today's forecast calls for some severe storms, and while I don't love the "severe" part, it would be nice to have an excuse to stay inside today.  BDH and Little Buddha said they could handle whatever I need done here, so I might take them up on that.  First things first, they've got the coffee!  There's a fresh pot on the table, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Tuesday Clutter.

Everyone is still discussing Donald Trump's complete and utter surrender to Vladimir Putin at yesterday's summit.  We covered a bunch of this on Monday, but we'll say it again that whether it's through bribery or blackmail (although Putin doesn't bother to deny having compromising information on Trump), Russia clearly owns Trump.  The man spent his trip abroad trashing all of this country's allies and then rolled over like a dog for Putin.  While we've seen Republican criticisms of Trump's treasonous behavior, we've seen no indication yet that the GOP is prepared to back any of it up with action.  Racism and sexism are longstanding components of the party's platform, but will they really jump off the cliff to defend a traitor? 

"Please don't make me kiss your feet in front of everyone.  Please don't make me kiss your feet in front of everyone."  (pic via madridjournals.com)

A Russian woman named Maria Butina has been arrested and charged with acting as a secret agent.  Butina is accused of acting as a conduit between the Russian government, various political leaders, and a number of interest groups, including the NRA. 

When they're not selling out the country, the Trump administration is shutting down things like the National Guideline Clearinghouse, which is, "an online database of all the best health care practices from medical societies and other researchers," because why would we want something like that?  The White House says the decision is budget-related, but really, we can't afford to spend $1.2 million on quality health care?

It's not something we expect to hear very often, but Netflix stock took a hit yesterday after the company had a huge miss on new subscribers for the 2nd quarter and issued weaker guidance than expected for the next three months.  This is why the Clutter investment team sticks with mutual funds.  The staff doesn't need to analyze what this news means for our investment portfolio.  They just hope that the other companies in the mutual funds will balance out these results, and everyone moves on with their day.

Oh shoot, we forgot to take a look at the Amazon Prime Day deals yesterday.  Maybe BDH and Little Buddha can handle that today.  In the meantime, while we're looking for discounts on our wish list items, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is busy becoming the richest person in modern history with a net value of $150 billion.  We're going to need much more coffee before we can process that.

If you're going to eat crab meat anytime soon, make sure it's not from Venezuela, because that meat has been connected to some recent health issues.

Congratulations to Max Scherzer and Chris Sale on being named the starting pitchers for tonight's All-Star Game.  Good for Scherzer for getting the chance to perform in the role in front of his own team's fans, and cheers to Sale for his 3rd straight start for the American League.

We're certainly happy for all of this year's Boston Red Sox players who will be in the All-Star Game, but particularly first baseman Mitch Moreland.

Bryce Harper won this year's Home Run Derby in dramatic fashion in D.C. last night.  Will this be the last accomplishment the Washington Nationals star has before his hometown crowd before he leaves for free agency?

The next time some rabid right-wing football fan claims the NFL lost money because of the players kneeling before the games, the Green Bay Packers financials for last season prove otherwise.

The Pittsburgh Steelers couldn't come to a long-term deal with Le'Veon Bell, so now Bell's agent says this will likely be the running back's final year with the team. 

We've got the first look at Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in the next season of The Crown, and she looks spot-on.  Still disappointed that David Tennant isn't joining the cast as Prince Philip, but we'll get over it...probably.

Felicity Jones plays Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the upcoming movie, On the Basis of Sex, and we are so on board.  Check out the trailer:

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  We clearly need Green Day to close things out with this kick-ass performance of, "American Idiot," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day, be good, and we'll see you back here again for more randomness soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.