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Wednesday Clutter: Brutal Cold, Michael Bloomberg and Howard Schultz, the Possible end of Roe, NCIS: New Orleans, WWE, Pink Floyd, and more

Tuesday Clutter: Kamala Harris, Mueller Investigation, Trump Shutdown Costs, Michael Cohen, The Dude, Alanis Morissette, and more

Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  Come on in, have a seat.  How are you?  BDH and Little Buddha were just reminding me to get the shovel out of the car before it snows later today/tonight.  Sounds like I might want to also do some stretching beforehand.  Well, I'll take care of that later.  Otherwise, everything is going fine here at the moment.  The guys say the coffee is ready, so help yourself to a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Tuesday Clutter.

Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said yesterday that the Mueller investigation is "close to being completed." It's not clear whether that's really the case, or if the Trump administration is publicly engaging in wishful thinking again, with Whitaker taking the role usually assumed by Rudy Giuliani.  There's also concern that the Department of Justice plans to vet Robert Mueller's final report, which is alarming, given that Whitaker and attorney general nominee Bob Barr are only there to save Donald Trump in the first place.

The Congressional Budget Office said yesterday that the government shutdown cost the country $11 billion, and $3 billion of that is expected to be permanently lost.  Billions lost because Donald Trump is an incompetent puppet of a foreign government and had a tantrum.  That's clear damage to the country that even his base should understand.

Now that the shutdown is over, Speaker Pelosi invited Donald Trump to give the State of the Union address on February 5.

Former Trump fixer Michael Cohen will now testify before the House Intelligence Committee on February 8, despite threats made against his family by Trump and his representatives.  The public would have been much better served by this being an open hearing, but it's better than nothing.

Senator Kamala Harris (D-California) is making news with her embrace of a "Medicare-for-all" plan which would eliminate private insurance companies.  It's a strong move for progressive Democratic primary voter support and a policy that should have been enacted a long time ago.  Insurance companies do nothing but make their shareholders wealthy by looking for every last excuse not to cover health care services.  Now we'll see how the other Democratic presidential candidates respond to her position.

Kamala Harris January 29 2019Kamala Harris takes a bold stance on health care.  (pic via sfgate.com)

The Nevada Gaming Commission is fining Wynn Resorts for failing to properly deal with multiple accusations of sexual misconduct made against former boss Steve Wynn. The amount wasn't disclosed, but given how much money Wynn Resorts brings to Las Vegas, do you think this will impact the company's bottom line at all? 

It's disappointing to hear that the MBTA is considering yet another fare increase. These hikes amount to a regressive tax on lower-income folks, and Massachusetts should be doing all it can to support increased public transportation usage. 

Apparently Apple's FaceTime can be manipulated into letting you hear the person on the other end of the call even if they don't pick up their phone. That seems problematic, no?  Of course, if you try that with us, you'd probably just hear a staff meeting.  Apple is working on correcting the feature.

All of us already knew that treating high blood pressure is good for your heart, but a new study says it may also help reduce your chances of dementia, so take care of yourselves, friends.

The lawsuit regarding the NFC Championship Game was moved to federal court, and the NFL's response to the suit includes an admission that the referees blew the non pass-interference call against Los Angeles Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman.  That's probably as much as Saints fans can hope to get out of this exercise.

Of course that's the same Robey-Coleman who just called Tom Brady old and then tried to backtrack when he realized what a mistake he made.  Good luck with that on Sunday.

Spring training is almost here, and free agents Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are still unsigned, and that leaves much of the rest of the market still unsettled.  It sounds like both players have already been offered ridiculous contracts, so make a decision already, and let's get moving.  Are you going to play for $300 million or not?  Enough with the delay.

Isn't it ironic, we've got one hand in our pocket, and the other one is buying a ticket to Alanis Morissette's Broadway show. Sorry, couldn't resist.  The show includes tracks off Morrissette's Jagged Little Pill album, along with a book written by Diablo Cody and will be coming to New York in the fall.  Sounds like a fun dive into some 1990's nostalgia.

When comparing Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, who do you think has more movies in general, and who do you think has more higher-rated movies?

We suspected as much, but it's still a wee bit disappointing that Jeff Bridges only brought The Dude back for a Super Bowl commercial (with Sarah Jessica Parker.)  However, the ad is pretty entertaining, and we still hold out hope that we might see the guy again at some point down the road for a more extended return:

Also, it's still a little wild that you can pretty much see all of the Super Bowl commercials online now, almost a week before the game, when watching them for the first time used to be one of the highlights of Sunday night.  We're going to try to hold off from watching the rest of them ahead of time.  Let's see how that goes.

David Lee Roth's original solo band reunited for a gig (without Roth) during last week's NAMM convention. We always dug the trio of Steve Vai (guitar), Billy Sheehan (bass) and Gregg Bissonette (drums) and thought Roth could have competed with Van Hagar longer if he had stuck with this group.  They still sound great, but it appears they'd only get back together for another run if DLR wanted to do it.  That's too bad, because no one needs to hear him on vocals.  The group played this show with Jeff Scott Soto singing, and he did a fine job, so they should consider going forward with him or another frontman.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Those snowflakes seem to be starting a little early, so we should probably get moving.  Let's close things out with Ms. Broadway Alanis Morissette and an acoustic version of, "Head Over Feet," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  We love hanging out with you.  BDH and Little Buddha say enjoy the rest of your day, bundle up, and we'll catch up with you again for more coffee soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.

 

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