Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  Come on in, have a seat.  How are you?  We were just trying to figure out what to today since there's no football this week.  BDH and Little Buddha seem to think this would be a good day to do a laundry.  Not sure if they're trying to tell me something, but they're right.  However, let's see what's going on in today's headlines first.  The guys made some coffee, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Sunday Clutter.

The 2020 presidential election is still a long ways off (regardless of the 400 announced/rumored Democratic candidates.)  However, given the humiliating defeat Donald Trump suffered this week, is it time to start talking about a Republican primary challenger? Again, a lot can change, but what can Trump do to regain the support of his base right now except hope that they have short memories?  He's been in over his head since day one, but he had a Republican Congress covering for him, and now Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have removed that security blanket.

If it's true that Donald Trump thought the Democrats would cave over the shutdown, it's just another example of how little he understands the world around him, and how ill-prepared he is for this job.

Saturday Night Live had a lot to say about the past week.  Check out last night's cold open:

Donald Trump reportedly met last week with a group of far-right activists led by Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. How utterly inappropriate is it to have her lobbying the White House, given her husband's position?  Given Trump's ties to Russia, both of his appointments to the Supreme Court are illegitimate and should be removed, and now you've got this clear conflict of interest with a third justice.  That's a third of the court that can't just be allowed to continue on with business as usual.

We mentioned earlier this week that we didn't mind that Sweethearts won't be available for Valentine's Day this year.  On the other hand, anyone who brings us Krispy Kreme's version of the candies will earn our ever-lasting love.

This isn't the most surprising news of all time, but a new study found a link between eating fried chicken every day and dying early. 

NFL before the AFC Championship Game:  "Our overtime rules are fine."  NFL after the AFC Championship Game:  "We can't have the New England Patriots winning every damn year, so we better look at changing the rules again." It's sad, really.  Rather than encouraging  teams to be better, and perhaps stop the Patriots from scoring a touchdown on the first drive, they've got to try to find other ways to slow down Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.  If this duo had another 10 years together (and at this point, maybe they do, who the hell knows), the NFL would eventually say, "Our overtime rules will stay the same, unless the Patriots are involved.  In that case, the other team will just be awarded the win."

The NFL is still desperate to stop Tom Brady after all these years.  (pic via nbcsports.com)

The Boston Celtics were in the game right until the end, but they fell 115-111 to the Golden State Warriors last night. 

We need to take a minute to wish Eddie Van Halen a happy belated birthday. The legendary guitarist turned 64 years old yesterday.  We remember when he turned 40 and that seemed old.  Now?  Not so much.  Eddie had a rough stretch in his 50's, but he's seemed to be in good shape for close to 10 years now, which is terrific, and he still sounds fantastic with a guitar.  If anything ever comes of these Van Halen reunion rumors this year, there will be no doubt that he will be the highlight as usual.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Let's have Van Halen close things out with, "Somebody Get Me A Doctor," 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 catch up with you again soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.