Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  We hope you had a good weekend.  It was fine on our end.  Of course, today is April 20, so cheers to all of you who find a reason to celebrate the day.   Today is also Patriots Day, but there's no Boston Marathon, as the coronavirus continues to surge in Massachusetts.   It feels weird not to be cheering the runners, but we will hopefully get the chance to do it in September.   I might get in some garden work while the painter finishes in the kitchen this afternoon.  BDH and Little Buddha just made a fresh pot of coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Monday Clutter.

More than 40,000 Americans have now died from the coronavirus, and Donald Trump is still busy lying about every aspect of his administration's response to the crisis and drowning in self-pity.  The fool still has no explanation for why he wasted the month of February, because even he can't come up with a story he can sell with a straight face.   Trump is increasingly unhinged because he knows he's losing the public.  A new poll shows about 60% of the country is more concerned about easing restrictions too soon than the quarantine's impact on the economy.  Meanwhile, the people who are actually trying to save lives are being harassed by the federal government.  Trump's failures as a "leader" and a human being are on full display for the world to see these days, and it's an ugly sight.  We could not have selected a worse White House occupant than the sociopath failed casino owner.

A failure in every way.  (pic via www.chron.com)

Trump's lashing out at everyone around him in the media.  Female reporters remain his favorite target, but now Trump's even picking a fight with blogger Matt Drudge.  That's got to be the first time we've ever seen a Republican go after Drudge, who is probably the most influential conservative in online media.  Let's see how that goes for the Great Pumpkin.

Look at that - the Trump campaign still hasn't paid a bill for security costs for a rally in February 2019.  Who could have predicted that would happen?  The man has spent his entire life trying to get out of every obligation he's ever had to other people.  He thinks he's a genius for filing for bankruptcy four times, so he can get out paying his debts.

Our understanding is that the stay-at-home protests are primarily organized by pro-gun groups, so we're loath to give them a minute more coverage than they deserve, but these protesters are dangerous and selfish fools who are putting lives at-risk.  Shame on every last one of them.  It is interesting that so many of them finally see a problem with the government having control over a person's body.  Of course, they'll all become pro-choice now, right?

There seem to be growing calls for banning customers from grocery stores and mandating curbside pickup and delivery instead.  Our first thought was that this would be a negative, but we might actually be on-board.  We find being in the stores stressful, and we're only there for 45 minutes or so, but the employees are putting their lives on the line all day, and several have died around the country because of the coronavirus.  What's the biggest drawback to this idea?  You might have to wait longer to get your food, but just plan for that ahead of time.  Of course, that's not taking into account whether or not the stores could handle the conversion.  Well, if they can work out the logistics, this would be okay with us.  What do you think?

There aren't many positive aspects about the current pandemic, but watching the oil industry take a hit because of a plunge in demand elicits a smile. 

Australia is preparing to force Google and Facebook to share ad revenue with local media firms.  It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Like Mike Trout before him, Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is publicly critical of MLB's possible Arizona plan.  We can't blame him for not wanting to be quarantined away from his family for 4-5 months to then play baseball under these unusual conditions.  We want baseball back as much as anyone, but none of the sports leagues will be able to come back without widespread testing.  That still seems months away, and watching the Boston Red Sox play someone like the Baltimore Orioles in some empty stadium in Arizona is not an exciting concept.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will reportedly allow teams to begin implementing salary cuts and furloughs for managers, coaches, and other select staff, effective May 1, so he certainly doesn't see baseball coming back soon.  It's disorienting to have this be April 20 and not be talking about how the Boston Red Sox look so far this year.

The NFL draft starts on Thursday.  We don't know who the Patriots will go after, although everyone is of course interested to see if they pick up a quarterback.  The one thing we do know is that the team will unveil new uniforms today, so let's start with that and see where the week takes us.

If you'd like to support a wonderful independent movie theater that's currently closed because of the pandemic, Red River Theatres is offering the chance to stream the movies they would be screening if they were open right now.  Is this a trend with these small theaters?  Mom Clutter was part of the creation of Red River, so we really hope this move is working well for them.

This ranking of "One Chicago" character exits over the years seems generally right to us.  What do you think?  It was funny to remember that the original cast of Chicago P.D. underwent a lot of changes between the backdoor pilot and the first official episode.   It also reminded us that we still have a number of Chicago Med episodes to catch up on.  We'll try to find those online, and maybe we can alternate between those episodes and our remaining Chicago Fire backlog over the next few weeks.

Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis are launching a new wine.  The couple says 100% of the profits will be directed towards four charities doing coronavirus-related work.  It's $50 for two bottles, and the link will show you how to order, if you're interested.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  In honor of Patriots Day, here are the Dropkick Murphys to close things out with a live version of their iconic tune, "I'm Shipping up to Boston, " for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  Hanging out with you is a terrific way to start the week.  BDH and Little Buddha say you're welcome to come back later to keep them company while the painter is here.  Otherwise, 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.