Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  Our crew is doing well.  I spent a good portion of Sunday afternoon in the garden.  The flowers are starting to arrive, which is a treat.  The forecast called for extended rain, but I was increasingly convinced that wasn't going to happen.  The sky would get a little dark, the wind would die down, and then...the sun would peak through the clouds, and nothing. 

However, the forecast finally came true around 8:00 last night, and we got a much-needed soaking (along with some thunder and lightning which fascinated BDH and Little Buddha.)  Can't remember the last time I've been that happy for rain.  There's a 50% chance of showers all day today, so here's hoping that happens, because a little more water wouldn't hurt.  In the meantime, let's check out the headlines.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Monday Clutter.

Donald Trump denies being told that Russia reportedly offered the Taliban a bounty for killing U.S. or U.K. troops in Afghanistan.  There's no reason to believe Trump about any subject for any reason, but if that's true, the incompetence of his staff is staggering.  If he's lying as usual, the man has committed treason by doing nothing to protect our soldiers because he's compromised by Russia.  Either way, it's an incredible failure from the White House, a clown show which has been protected by the GOP for the last three and a half years.  It's time to fire everyone.

When he wasn't busy abandoning the military, Donald Trump was busy tweeting a video of a supporter chanting, "white power" at a protester in a Florida retirement village.  Trump then deleted the video and claimed he didn't hear the chant.  That wasn't a dog-whistle to his supporters, it was a siren at full blast.  When asked recently by sycophant Sean Hannity to explain his vision of a second term, the most basic of questions,  Trump couldn't come up with anything coherent.  This is all he has to offer.  Every Trump supporter is attached to support of white supremacy and they won't be allowed to deny it.  Also, if there are anti-Trump protests featuring Florida seniors, it seems pretty clear that state is in play in November.

Don't worry though, despite everything that's going on, Donald Trump still found time to play golf over the weekend.

Failing the country in every possible way every single day.  (pic via news.yahoo.com)

Rumors are coming from Fox Business News of all places that some GOP operatives think Donald Trump might end up dropping out of the presidential race.  Take that with a mound of salt at the moment, but if he determines he can't steal the win, Trump is looking at being demolished in November.  The man who has spent his entire life obsessively craving love and respect does not have the mental strength to handle that kind of historic defeat. 

Maybe that's why Mike Pence suddenly did a 180 over the weekend and now says it's a good idea to wear a mask in public.  This doesn't seem to be getting enough discussion.  Yes, he's extremely late to the party, and this is blatantly hypocritical, but is it also a sign that Pence sees the writing on the wall that his political future now depends on putting some distance between himself and Trump?

We've hit another unfortunate milestone in the ongoing pandemic:  Over 500,000 people around the world have now died from the coronavirus.

Donald Trump wants everyone to join him in his fantasy world where everything is fine, but a new CBS News poll shows Americans understand the battle against the coronavirus is going badly.

Houston hospitals are at capacity for coronavirus cases as infection numbers continue to spike in the state.  We dread what the numbers for current hot spots like Florida, Texas, and Arizona will look like in the days ahead.  Their governors followed Donald Trump right off the cliff with their rush to reopen their economies, and residents are paying for it.

This graphic illustrates how much incompetent leadership during the pandemic has cost the United States, compared to Europe, Canada, and Japan.  It didn't have to be like this.  Wear your masks, friends.

The Facebook advertising boycott continues to expand, as Starbucks and Levi's are among the latest companies to say they will join the protest. 

Good to see that Mississippi is finally removing the Confederate battle symbol from its state flag.  That move is long overdue.  Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to make this happen.

Look at this:  The New England Patriots signed quarterback Cam Newton to a one-year/incentive-heavy deal yesterday.  That's interesting.  Apparently Bill Belichick wasn't 100% ready to go with Jarrett Stidham after all.  Newton is a former NFL MVP with an impressive track record with the Carolina Panthers, but he's been hobbled by injuries over the last two seasons.  Can he still perform?  No idea, but we love motivated players, and there's no doubt he'll be eager to show he's not finished yet.  If Newton can still play, that's a huge win for the Patriots for this year (assuming the season actually happens), and they're back to being the AFC East favorites.  If he's done, it's a low-risk loss for New England, and everyone moves on next season.

Signing Newton was also a nice way to distract from the news that the New England Patriots were fined $1.1 million and lose a third-round pick in the 2021 draft for improperly filming a Cincinnati Bengals - Pittsburgh Steelers game in 2019.

The Boston Red Sox announced their initial 47-player pool yesterday, as the team gets ready for "Spring Training 2.0" to begin at Fenway Park on Friday.  There are no major surprises at the moment.  MLB teams will have a maximum of 60 players to work with this season, so expect there to be further additions as things progress. 

We've got the first teaser trailer for Respect, the Aretha Franklin biopic featuring Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson as the legendary singer.  The movie is scheduled to come out in December.  Who knows if movie theaters will be open by then, but one way or another, our prediction is that this film is a hit and Hudson gets nominated for her second Oscar.  Take a look:

Sacha Baron Cohen did it again.  The comedian pulled off a prank on right-wing militia group the Washington Three Percenters at their rally on Saturday when he got them to join in on a seriously racist song about the "Wuhan Flu", Barack Obama, and Dr. Fauci, among other topics.  Cohen also managed to bring his own security team to prevent rally organizers from getting him off the stage when they realized he was mocking them.  Give credit to Cohen, few (if any) other comedians put themselves in harms way time after time to demonstrate the stupidity running rampant in this country.

We'll also point out that the Washington Three Percenters is the group that new Patriots kicker Justin Rohrwasser has a tattoo of on his left arm.  Rohrwasser claimed he didn't understand what the group represented and would get the tattoo removed, although it's unclear if that's happened yet.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Queen front man Adam Lambert from last weekend's Global Pride 2020 event with a terrific cover of the Tears for Fears tune, "Mad World" for today's, "Song of the Day."

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.