Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  We're doing okay, even though the birds woke us up at 3:10 this morning.  That may be a new record. BDH and Little Buddha think they were talking about the arrival of the warm weather.  Speaking of which, it appears one of our fans died over the winter, so sorry it's a little stuffy in here at the moment.  Hold on while I open a window.  That should make things better for now. 

Oh, exciting news - I was able to get a new book for the guys yesterday!  That hasn't happened in ages, but I found something on the local store's website, ordered it over the phone, and then picked it up via curbside delivery.  The bad news is that they've already almost finished reading it.  Maybe the birds can distract them for a spell while I look for the next title.  In any case, let's check out the headlines.  There's a fresh pot of coffee on the counter, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Wednesday Clutter.

Twitter publicly labeled two of Donald Trump's tweets about mail-in voting as "potentially misleading" yesterday and included a link to give users more information about the topic.  It's the first time the social media site has ever challenged him, despite thousands of dishonest tweets during his administration.  Trump has spent years violating Twitter's policies without repercussion, so of course he had a meltdown in response to being called out on his favorite platform.  However, there's also no reason to think any of this will stop him from lying on a daily basis about every topic under the sun, and Twitter doesn't appear prepared to punish him for it. 

Take for instance Trump's current obsession with pushing a murder conspiracy theory about MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.  The widower of a former Scarborough staffer asked Twitter to delete Trump's tweets about how his late wife died, and they refuse to do it.  Trump has no intention of stopping the pain he's causing to the family of the late Lori Klausutis, because he's a fundamentally cruel and small man.   He also needs to distract the public from the 100,000 (and counting) coronavirus-related deaths that have happened so far under his incompetent watch.  Trump is deteriorating on a daily basis, and it's only going to get worse between now and November.  In a rational timeline, he would have been run out of office months, if not years ago.  The country must remove him from the White House for our own survival.

Will hurt anyone to ensure his own survival.  (pic via tribuneindia.com)

Donald Trump is now referring to wearing face masks as "politically correct," as he continues his crusade to show the world the depths of his stupidity.  Joe Biden called Trump "a fool" for opposing masks, and he's not wrong.   This is why Trump's advisers won't let him do the daily briefings anymore.  He's unhinged and increasingly unable to hide it as he panics about his chances in November.

A new poll says just half of the country would get a coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available.  The anti-vaccination fanatics in this country are one of the biggest threats to public health we've seen in our lifetimes.  They can all do a shot of Lysol with Trump.

The CDC is now warning about aggressive rats, which are basically the stuff of our nightmares.  Great.

Four Minneapolis police officers have been fired after killing an African American male named George Floyd.  A video shows an officer with his knee on Floyd's neck for seven minutes, while other officers hold Floyd down, as the man pleads that he can't breathe.  There's no excuse for that technique, and the callous disregard it shows for human life is appalling.  All four should be charged with homicide. 

The white woman caught on video calling police because an African American man told her that her dog was supposed to be on a leash in Central Park has been fired from her job at Templeton Investments.  There's no doubt Amy Cooper knew exactly what she was doing when she threatened Christian Cooper.  She couldn't believe he had the audacity to tell her she was supposed to follow the rules like everyone else, and she threatened his life for being a black man.

The NHL announced yesterday it will jump straight to the playoffs if they figure out a way to play again this year.  There would be 24 teams instead of the usual 16, the games would all happen in empty arenas in two hub cities (locations still to be determined), and the top four teams in each conference would would play round-robin tournaments to determine seeding in the first round.  That's a bad deal for the Boston Bruins, who were at the top of their conference when play was suspended in March but could end up being a #4 seed under these rules.  Hockey isn't our thing, but playing in June or July doesn't sound like a fun time.  Aren't there issues with keeping the ice in good condition?  What do you think about this proposal?

Meanwhile, MLB is also still trying to work out how to save the 2020 season.  Team owners are now reportedly putting forth a proposal that involves a prorated salary scale for players, with the top-paid players taking more of a hit than the lesser-paid guys.  The owners are going for a divide-and-conquer approach again on that one.  First it was the framing of the players as "greedy" and "selfish" for not agreeing to a second pay cut.  Now, if this proposal fails, the owners will once again point to the stars of the game and claim they're the ones to blame.  Sports fans being sports fans, they'll likely side with the billionaires over the millionaires yet again. 

Time is running out if they really think they can start a season by July 1.  With growing predictions of another wave of the coronavirus coming this fall, would that force a premature cancellation?  It's a drag being this negative about the possibility of sports.  However, the odds of this working seem infinitesimal. 

Let's not forget the NFL, where head coaches may reportedly be able to return to team facilities next week, with players possibly following soon after.  You know what we're going to say here.  The NFL players union gets rolled by the owners on every topic every year, so we hope the players will fight for safe working conditions, but the expectations aren't high.

A new poll says 59% of respondents would go to a movie theater within a month of them reopening.  No thanks.  How long would it take you to make your return?

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez have apparently postponed their wedding because of the coronavirus pandemic.  Some might be suspicious that this relationship has always been a business deal in disguise, so we're going to say there's a 40% chance the big day doesn't get rescheduled.

Congratulations to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on being renewed for a 15th season.  That will make the show the longest-running live-action comedy series in history, beating The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.  Of course, TV being a much different animal now then it was back then, there are a total of 435 episodes of the latter, compared to 154 of the former.

The state of California is suing the studios and executive producers behind the CBS show Criminal Minds for not doing anything for 14 years about sexual harassment complaints made about the show's cinematographer.  The lawsuit alleges that Greg St. Johns inappropriately touched over a dozen men over 14 years without repercussion until he finally left the show in 2018.  Criminal Minds has always given us the impression that it was a particularly unhappy situation behind-the-scenes over the years.  We'd love to have someone write that story.

We're sorry to hear actor Richard Herd died on Tuesday after battling cancer.  Herd was one of those faces you've seen in 1000 places over the last five decades, but many will remember him as Mr. Wilhelm on Seinfeld.  He was 87 years old.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now before it gets way too warm in here.  Let's have Volbeat close things out with, "Leviathan," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It's always a treat to see you.  Be good, stay safe and cool, 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.