Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  It's looking pretty gloomy outside at the moment.  I left a message at the garden nursery over the weekend to see if we could get today's compost delivery pushed back to Tuesday.  However, we are supposed to get it first thing this morning, so we'll see if they get the message in time.  Either way, we've got a few days of spreading that around the garden to keep us busy this week.  Of course, I handle the actual labor portion, while BDH and Little Buddha supervise from the window.  Let's check out the headlines while we wait to see what happens.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Monday Clutter.

Donald Trump spent Sunday pouting on Twitter, as he ranted about the media and made it clear that he doesn't know the difference between the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer Prize.  (Also, he doesn't know how to spell "Nobel.")  He then claimed again that he was being "sarcastic."   The assumption is that this is just his latest attempt to distract from his failures, corruption, and idiotic comments about injecting disinfectants to battle the coronavirus.  That's actually more comforting than yet another reminder that we put the dumbest man in the country in the White House.

Resting clown face.  (pic via mainichi.jp)

The White House has a coronavirus briefing scheduled for 5:00 tonight.  What's the most likely outcome here:  1) Trump will skip the event entirely.  2) He'll appear just so he can lash out at reporters and then storm out of the room without taking questions about Lysol and his inability to use the word "sarcasm" correctly?  You have to feel pretty confident about betting on the latter.  More than 54,000 Americans have died during this pandemic, but Trump will stay focused on the only injury that matters to him:  his bruised ego.

As some states rush to reopen and risk causing a major setback in the fight against the coronavirus, Doctor Deborah Birx says social distancing measures will be necessary throughout the summer.    She also says that testing is the key to making real progress against the virus.  Wouldn't it be amazing if she worked for an administration that had any desire to make that happen?  Doctor Birx is walking a fine line between providing actual helpful reality-based information as the head of the White House coronavirus task force, and coming across as a complete lackey for Donald Trump, as she continues to spin his moronic comments touting the possible benefits of injecting people with disinfectant.   Birx is pushing the line that Trump was just "musing" about the possibility, when anyone with two functional eyes who watched his Friday press conference knows full well he thought he sounded brilliant when discussing the idea of mass suicide.

Saudi Arabia has abolished the death penalty for minors.  That's an important step in the right direction, but capital punishment should be eliminated around the world in all cases.  It's interesting that this decision is framed as part of Saudi Arabia's campaign to modernize their country.  Governments that have this practice are (rightfully) seen as outdated, which is an indictment of every state in this country that executes its citizens.

Adidas is getting slammed by the coronavirus pandemic.  The footwear giant reported its first-quarter sales dropped 19% from a year ago, and second quarter results are expected to be even worse, with an estimated 40% decline ahead.

The New England Patriots had a busy draft weekend.  They stocked up on defensive players, offensive linemen, tight ends, a kicker (who appears to support a right-wing militia, although he denies it), and added some quarterbacks, and wide receivers as free agents.  Can any of these guys play in the NFL?  We have no idea, but we like that the team made the choices instead of trading for 20 3rd-round picks over the next five years.  The Patriots will also likely bring in all sorts of players for tryouts during training camp, and we'll see how it all shakes out.  However, it seems clear at this point that the Jarrett Stidham era has officially begun.

We had the chance to check out last weekend's Saturday Night Live at Home episode yesterday.  Much like the first one a few weeks ago, the show was a welcome presence, with a number of funny skits.  The cast members continue to do a good job finding the humor in this crazy new world.  The personal favorites were special guest Brad Pitt, who did a great job as Doctor Anthony Fauci, and Kate McKinnon, who seemed to be having a blast filming a skit with her cat.   It was also the second time Pete Davidson has ever made us laugh, which was a bonus.  While we'd like SNL, and the rest of our TV favorites, to be able to go back to their usual format soon, we're enjoying these specials and look forward to the next one.

There's a new teaser trailer out for a new Doctor Who project called, "Time Lord Victorious."  No details have been revealed yet,  but The title refers back to an episode near the end of the 10th Doctor's run where he claimed control over the laws of time.  (A declaration that soon went south.)  We're guessing this is a new Big Finish audio adventure (dare we say box set?) featuring David Tennant and taking place around the same time as that fateful episode.  In any case, it's nice to have something to look forward to at the moment. 

Hold on, scratch that.  "Time Lord Victorious" is a much larger project, featuring multiple Doctors over a variety of platforms, running from September 2020 to January 2021.  Excellent!

Reality TV star Kristin Cavallari and former NFL quarterback Jay Cutler announced yesterday that they're divorcing after being married for 10 years.  That's unfortunate, but 10 years of marriage for a celebrity couple is about 30 years for regular people, so good for them for lasting so long in the first place.  It's also hard not to picture this decision coming down to Cavallari saying they were splitting up and Cutler just shrugging.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Weather like this has us in the mood for some Soundgarden, so here they are with a live version of, "Outshined," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Hopefully Chris Cornell's widow and the rest of the band will be able to settle their legal battle soon, because we'd love to hear a few more tracks from the late singer someday.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Be good, stay safe, 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.