Monday Clutter: Trump, Coronavirus, UK Scandal, GOP War on Voting, The Match, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen, and more
Wednesday Clutter: Trump, George Floyd Murder, Central Park Woman Fired, NHL, MLB, NFL, It's Always Sunny, Criminal Minds, Volbeat, and more

Tuesday Clutter: Joe Biden, Trump, WHO Warning, Bad Guy Gronk, Steve Carell, Adam Sandler, Back to the Future, Queen, and more

Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  We're doing well, although it's another cloudy morning.  BDH and Little Buddha say it's supposed to be sunny this afternoon, though, so that's okay.  I've got a business call to make later this morning - can't remember the last time that happened.  The other party asked if I wanted to make it a Zoom call.  No thank you.  It would take too much work to look professional at the moment.  Plus, this way, the guys can feel free to (quietly) roam around without being on camera while I'm on the phone.  We're a shy group here.  Anyway, that's still a few hours from now, so let's take a look at the headlines.  There's a fresh pot of coffee on the table, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Tuesday Clutter.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden made his first public appearance in two months yesterday.  Biden and his wife Jill wore protective masks as they traveled to a war memorial in Delaware to pay their respects to this country's fallen soldiers on Memorial Day.  Look at that, a leader setting a positive example by following the recommendation of public health experts.  What a radical idea.  Now let's see if this is the start of of more public appearances from Biden in the weeks ahead.  There's a lot of value to getting out of the way while Donald Trump continues to deteriorate.  However, voters also need to see the alternative choice in action.

Joe Biden Jill Biden May 26 2020One political party still understands that science is real.  (pic via journalgazette.net)

Donald Trump is threatening to move the Republican National Convention out of North Carolina, because he says Governor Roy Cooper won't guarantee that the arena can be filled to capacity.  You see, like Joe Biden, Governor Cooper has this weird thing about listening to experts about what is and isn't safe for his constituents.  There are two schools of thought about Trump's motivation here:  1) Trump knows full well that a packed convention hall would be unsafe for everyone.  However, he can't admit it, so he needs to blame Cooper in order to look "strong" to his anti-science/prepared-to-die-to-be-able-to-get-a-Big-Mac base.  2) Trump wants to move the convention to one of his properties for his own financial gain.  He's been stealing millions from taxpayers for years, so why stop now?  At the end of the day, those two notions aren't mutually exclusive.

The World Health Organization warns there could be a second peak to the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic if countries relax their restrictions too quickly.  Not to be Debbie Downer, but we assume this is coming in the weeks and months ahead.  There are too many people in too many places not following guidelines as states reopen.  This fall is likely to be a mess, and it will be exacerbated by whatever desperate measures Donald Trump takes to try to stay in office/out of prison.

The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus becomes even more devastating when compared to major military events in our nation's history.

This video of a white woman in Central Park calling the police on an African American man who simply asked her to leash her dog (as required in that section of the park) is both outrageous and chilling.  She's clearly outraged that he had the audacity to speak to her and wanted the police to "take care of" him.  It's pure racism.  Thankfully, the man wasn't injured.  Also, the woman is seen choking the poor dog throughout the video.    She eventually surrendered the dog back to the rescue where she got it from, so hopefully  that pooch can still find a safe home.  The offender issued an apology for her behavior afterwards, but the words came across as hollow. 

Wall Street appears poised for a big day today because of excitement about a potential coronavirus vaccine.  The Clutter investment team likes a rally as much as anyone, but these kinds of developments make them uncomfortable.  Most experts agree there's little to no chance of having a demonstrably safe and approved vaccine before 2021.  There will likely be ups and downs during the development process, so if good news can send futures up 500 points, it's reasonable to think that a bad story could do the opposite.  The team says it's best to continue to hold steady and focus on the long-term perspective while some people overreact in either direction to immediate headlines.

We know Rob Gronkowski is busy getting used to life with his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  However, Gronk is still the WWE 24/7 champion, so he's going to have to drop that title at some point.  The champ cut a promo on wrestler R-Truth on Monday Night Raw last night, and do we detect a bad guy vibe coming from him?  Turns out it works.  Maybe Gronk should consider a run as a WWE manager when his NFL career really comes to an end.

Steve Carell's new comedy Space Force is not getting great reviews.  It's hard to make fun of a real-life subject that already comes across as a parody.  It also sounds like our impression that this is "Michael Scott runs a military branch" is pretty accurate.  We may still check it out, since we've got plenty of free time this year, but expectations will be a bit lower now.  Of course, there's always the option to go back to watching The Office on Netflix.

Adam Sandler's Uncut Gems is also now on Netflix, and it's a great movie, but we're not sure we can recommend it these days.  The movie builds the tension and anxiety 90 seconds in, and it doesn't stop until the closing credits leave the screen.  Seriously, we saw it during an afternoon matinee last year, and we didn't decompress until close to bedtime.  .  If you're up for that kind of stress, you'll be rewarded by Sandler's performance, but we're looking for more laughs.

BDH and Little Buddha fell down the YouTube rabbit hole for a bit, but they're okay.  They came back with this clip of Back to the Future star Tom Wilson (Biff) talking about what it was like to work with the original Marty McFly, Eric Stoltz, who was of course replaced by Michael J Fox.  We'd say that casting change worked out for the best.

Queen guitarist Brian May has not had a great month.  He tore his buttocks in a gardening accident (which still makes us squirm), and then he also apparently had a heart attack in the middle of that ordeal.  May seems to be doing much better these days.  We wish him a full and speedy recovery from everything, and here's to the rest of 2020 hopefully being a much more quiet year.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Let's have Brian May and the rest of Queen close things out with, "Keep Yourself Alive" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  BDH and Little Buddha say you're welcome to come back later if you want to hang out again.  Not sure what the game plan is, but you know it's always a fun time with those two.  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.

 

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