Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  I had a rough night trying to sleep in this heat and humidity, and then I was woken up this morning by what was apparently a yellow jacket flying into me.  Rude.  I thought I had him trapped, but now I'm not sure where he's gone, so that's fun.  BDH and Little Buddha can't find him either, but they say we should try to forget about him and focus on today's headlines instead.  The guys also want you to know that they just made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Thursday Clutter.

The number has been used a lot recently, but it's now official:  At least 100,000 people have died due to the coronavirus, and the real tally is likely higher than that.  That's 100,000 tragedies, many of which could have been averted by a competent administration.  The United States now has a higher death total than any other country in the world.  Is that what we're calling "winning?"  What will make America great is a government that actually tries to protect its citizens instead of exploiting them and putting their lives in danger in the name of personal profit.  We can not accept this as the new normal, as some "leaders" do with, say, gun violence.  Our condolences go out to the family and friends of those who have been lost this year. 

As the country mourns 100,000 deaths, Donald Trump is focused on signing an executive order today that has something to do with social media companies.  The details haven't been released yet, but the tantrum comes in response to Twitter pointing out that Trump recently had some misleading Tweets about mail-in balloting.  We know there's nothing the Great Pumpkin hates more than being held accountable for his actions, so he and his cronies will once again scream nonsense about sites like Facebook and Twitter trying to muzzle conservatives.  They're working the refs so that they can continue to lie about everything under the sun, as well as push murder conspiracy theories, because that's how today's GOP works.  Two tweets being challenged, and that's enough for Trump to threaten these businesses.    This is how dictators operate. 

This is interesting:  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came out in favor of wearing masks in public yesterday.   That puts him in direct conflict with Donald Trump's anti-science/reckless/self-centered opposition on the issue.  Does Trump have it in him to publicly criticize McConnell?  Also, is this another sign that McConnell may see the end of the road coming for Trump, and he's trying to put some space between them?  It's similar to Republicans suddenly claiming they're concerned about deficits, which is something they only do when a Democrat is in the White House.  In the brightest timeline, McConnell and Trump are both sent packing in November.

Looking ahead to 2021?  (pic via wpsdlocal6.com)

Protests continue in Minneapolis in response to the murder of George Floyd by four now-former police officers on Memorial Day.  Who in their right mind thought tear gas against the protesters was an appropriate way to handle the outrage?  The Minnesota police want to portray themselves as the victims here.  They shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.

Amazon is reportedly in talks to buy a car company.  The move would dramatically cut Amazon's shipping costs, which is a good thing, because we were worried they might not make a profit otherwise.

People apparently want their Domino's and Papa John's pizza while they're stuck at home, as both companies announced strong mid-quarter earnings yesterday.  The Clutter investment team is curious to see if those numbers continue at that pace as states begin reopening.  Even if things slow down over the next few months, the stocks could again benefit from what our team thinks is a likely resurgence of coronavirus cases this fall and winter.  (As always, you should do your own research about any investing decisions.  Our crew just likes to share their thoughts on various issues, but they're not responsible for any portfolios except the ones they manage.)

This is reportedly  a good time to be looking for a new home, as prices and interest rates fall.  It's hard to beat an interest rate in the range of 3 - 3.5%, so if you've found a place you like, lock in that deal.

The Major League Baseball Players Association is expected to give owners a counter-proposal that calls for more games to be played this year, as well as fully prorated salaries for all players.  The union is not interested in further salary cuts in addition to the one it already agreed to, and it's clearly suspicious of the losses the owners claim they will suffer without further reductions.   The union is looking for "additional document requests to the league in search of information about local television revenue, national television revenue, sponsorship revenue and projections from teams," and something tells us the owners won't be in a rush to open their books. 

This year's NBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony will reportedly be moved to some point in the spring of 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.  That's unfortunate, but not surprising. 

Houston Texans fans, how do you feel about the fact that J.J. Watt doesn't sound interested in a contract extension?  He's got two years left on his current deal.  Do you think he's looking at playing for another team after that, or is this about considering retirement after all of the injuries he's accumulated during his career? Watt is only 31 years old and needs to be thinking about life after the NFL.   Maybe hosting the Ultimate Tag show on NBC is a peek into his future.

BDH and Little Buddha think you all need to see this video of some adorable puppies getting their first-ever belly rubs:

Henry Cavill is reportedly negotiating a return to the role of Superman, but now the question becomes, which movie would feature the Man of Steel?

"Metal God" Rob Halford's autobiography will be released on September 29.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  We could use a little more help getting moving here, so how about we close things out with Iron Maiden and a live performance of, "Fear of the Dark" for today's, "Song of the Day."

That should help.

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.