Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and happy Halloween!  BDH and Little Buddha are going as Mookie Betts and Steve Pearce from the Boston Red Sox this year.  They don't really love going outside though, so they'll just wander around Clutter Headquarters, and I'll give them candy in each room until they fill up their bags.  That also makes it easier for me to control how much sugar they have, so it works for everyone.  By the way, is it just me, or did October go by quickly?  Maybe it's the sleep-deprivation from watching the Sox games talking.  Anyway, the guys made coffee, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Wednesday Clutter.

Donald Trump is looking for every distraction he can find, now that the midterm elections are less than a week away.  However, Trump can't end birthright citizenship with an executive order.  It's a constitutional question which would require an amendment.  We're going to take a wild guess that even the Great Pumpkin knows that, and the discussion of this order will stop on Wednesday, November 7.

As expected, Donald Trump couldn't show a shred of human decency by staying away from Pittsburgh yesterday, and residents made it clear they didn't want him in their city.  Trump meeting with the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting survivors is like the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia meeting with Jamal Khashoggi's son. 

Longtime white nationalist Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is under attack for his latest racist comments.  Will this be the year that Iowa voters finally send him packing?

Inamous Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was reportedly murdered by two men in prison yesterday, and one of his alleged killers is a man with organized crime connections.  There's nothing in that sentence which is a surprise.  However, there are many questions about the timing of this incident, given that Bulger had been at the US Penitentiary Hazelton for less than 24 hours, and this is the third violent death at that facility this year.  It is the job of the prison system to keep inmates safe, and we don't all get to dismiss that just because we dislike the population.  We're not drowning in sympathy for a man who caused so much misery for so many, but we hope that District of Columbia Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton's calls for an investigation into Hazelton will provide some transparency about the conditions at that facility.

Facebook's user numbers are losing steam in North America, but the company is making more money than ever per user.  Click here to find out how much your personal data was worth to Facebook last quarter.

You're worth every penny to Mark Zuckerberg.  (pic via cnbc.com)

Folks on Wall Street must be that October is finally coming to an end.  The S&P 500 closed on Tuesday up a little over 1.5% on the day to be back in the black for the year.  The index is still down almost 8% for October, which makes this its worst month in more than eight years. 

Congratulations to Shauna Phelan for being named senior vice president of live-action scripted content at Nickelodeon.  Shauna was a high school classmate of ours, and we have no doubt that those of you with kids who watch Nickelodeon will be happy she's in this new role.

BDH and Little Buddha want you to know that Netflix has a series about dogs coming out on November 16, and it looks fantastic.

How do we all feel about candy corn?  Personally, we enjoy it in small doses, although it's hard to explain why.  It's probably just the resolution of a basic sugar craving.  However, that doesn't mean we're trying candy corn beer.  That sounds straight-up nasty.

Have no fear, Boston Red Sox fans, the team picked up Chris Sale's option for 2019 yesterday.  Many have questions about his future in Boston after that contract expires, but $15 million is a bargain for the lefty.

The New England Patriots didn't do anything before this year's trade deadline passed, but there were a number of other teams who had a busy day on Tuesday.

The NFL reduced linebacker Mychal Kendricks' indefinite suspension down to 8 games after he apparently expressed enough contrition over his insider trading to appease ultimate ruler Roger Goodell.  Kendricks could still be looking at jail time when he's sentenced in January, but at this point, it wouldn't shock us if he's back on the field for Game 1 of the 2019-2020 NFL season, because the courts take financial crime about as seriously as the NFL handles domestic violence.

Louis C.K. finally had the guts to advertise a comedy club appearance ahead of time, and he was promptly meet with protestors.

This is something you don't get to say often, but the Beatles released a new music video yesterday.  The clip is for "Glass Onion," and it's celebrating the upcoming 50th anniversary and re-release of the White Album on November 9.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Halloween seems like a good time to break out some Rob Zombie, so here's, "Living Dead Girl," 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 (really, no tricks!), and we'll see you back here again for more fun in November.  Until then, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.