Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  How are you?  We're all doing fine at the moment.  I gave the garden a good watering yesterday afternoon, so of course the weather forecast now calls for a chance of rain Monday through Thursday.  That's okay, I couldn't take a chance on being tricked again.  It's been dry as hell around here, and the plants really needed the water.  If they get even more over the next few days, all the better.  Other than that, BDH and Little Buddha are looking forward to watching the Patriots game this afternoon and then helping me write the next to-do list.  They're so helpful, they also made you coffee.  There's a fresh pot on the counter, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Sunday Clutter.

As expected, Donald Trump announced the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday.  Ignore anyone who tries to convince you Judge Barrett's Catholic faith is being attacked.  Barrett is a terrible choice because she's being appointed to help save Trump when he contests the election results, she wants to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in the middle of a pandemic, she opposes Roe v. Wade, and she doesn't believe the LGBTQ+ community should enjoy the same rights as the rest of the country.  Judge Barrett is 48 years old, which means she could still be ruling 30 years from now, long after Donald Trump has completed his prison stint.  The only way to negate the damage she stands to unleash is for Joe Biden and Senate Democrats to expand the court next year.

A dark moment for our country.  (pic via abcnews.com)

Judge Barrett's confirmation hearing is scheduled to begin on October 12, which has it due to be over by October 26 so that Barrett is installed before November 3.  One bright side is that Senator Susan Collins can start packing up her office now, because there's no way for her to hide her support for Barrett from her constituents in Maine until after they vote.

The reason Donald Trump is desperately pulling out all of the stops, like trying to pack the Supreme Court with supportive judges, to cheat his way to another win is because he's still losing by double-digits to Joe Biden, according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.  Trump will be humiliated in a free and fair election, and more importantly to him, he'll lose most of the legal protections that are currently keeping him out of prison.  Trump has a 44% approval rating.  He's never broken 50% since he's been in office, and nothing is going to change that between now and November 3.  He needs to rig the process as much as possible, which is why it's more important than ever that everyone vote.  Don't give him anything to work with when he cries foul on the 3rd.  Let's finally end this nightmare and put the country back on a path of decency.

The first presidential debate is on Tuesday, and Donald Trump's approach makes no sense to anyone.  He's tried painting Biden out as a senile old man, so Biden has already cleared that bar by speaking in complete sentences.  Trump has also tried to raise expectations for Biden, but he's apparently doing no prep work ahead of time.  Perhaps this is the approach one takes when one's only hope depends on a crooked judiciary.  No matter what actually happens on the stage, Trump will lie, claim he was "tremendous," say that the election is fixed, and then wait for Judge Barrett to keep him from being convicted.

Donald Trump says the stock market will collapse into ruin if Joe Biden wins in November, but history is clear:  Stocks do better when there's a Democrat in the White House, so really, Trump has nothing whatsoever to offer the country.

September was a rough month for the stock market, with the S&P 500 being down 10% for the month at the low.  CNBC's Michael Santoli says it was a necessary correction to reset expectations for a market that had become too over-hyped.  The Clutter investment team doesn't necessarily disagree, as long as the slide halts here.  Our staff still remains concerned about what the cold weather means for the economy, as the country faces flu season, the coronavirus pandemic, and whatever other desperation moves Donald Trump may attempt.  Millions are still unemployed and there's a potential tidal wave of evictions coming.  How will Main Street's potential further pain hit Wall Street?  The team again encouraged us to revisit our monthly budget, which we frankly didn't do for September, but we will look to tighten expenses for October.

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins finally released a list of 136 Boston-area police officers who have been accused of accused of lying, corruption, or misconduct, and thus their credibility is considered suspect by her office.  D.A. Rollins apparently had to be forced by the state Supervisor of Records to make the database public, but we all have a right to know this information, and particularly any defendant whose fate may depend on the testimony of these individuals in court.  Hopefully her office will think long and hard about putting these officers on the stand in the first place.  A police officer with no credibility has no business being on the job, let alone testifying.

The 1-1 New England Patriots take on the 2-0 Las Vegas Raiders at Foxboro this afternoon.  These two teams have a long history against each other ("tuck rule" anyone?), and this is one of those times where we're particularly sorry fans can't be at the stadium.  The Raiders may be undefeated, but we were encouraged by New England's performance on the road against the Seattle Seahawks last week.  Even with no fans, we give the Patriots the home field advantage and say they'll improve to 2-1.

Now that Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell is the first NFL player to test positive for the coronavirus, there's some question about whether or not today's Falcons - Chicago Bears game will proceed.  Guess we'll have our answer by 1:00 this afternoon, but it's a reminder that the NFL is whistling past the graveyard hoping to play this season without being derailed by the pandemic.

The Boston Red Sox crushed the Atlanta Braves 8-2 to improve to 22-36 on the "season."  Today is Boston's final game of the year, and there hasn't been much to be excited about, but Red Sox rookie pitcher Tanner Houck offers some hope for the 2021 season.  Houck gave up just one run and three hits, and had 10 strikeouts, over six innings against Atlanta last night, and he'll finish the year with a record of 3-0 and an ERA of 0.53.  The Red Sox have to figure out how to shore up their pitching in the off-season, but this kid appears to be something special.  Nick Pivetta will take the mound for the Red Sox against the Braves in the season finale this afternoon as he also tries to make his case for a spot in next year's rotation.

It's clear baseball superstar Mike Trout has two choices:  He can play with the Los Angeles Angels, or he can play for a team that will make the playoffs, but he can't do both.  Trout and the Angels were mathematically eliminated last night, which means Trout has made it to the post-season once in his nine-year career (2014.)  He seems comfortable in California, and maybe that's the best fit for him personally, so more power to him.  However, as great as he is, he'll never make it to that next level if he can't get out of the regular season.  It's also our argument that he doesn't deserve the MVP Award if his value is only in trying to get the Angels to a .500+ winning percentage.

The Boston Celtics face the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tonight.  Can the Celtics tie the series up at three games apiece, and if they do, are we looking at the next version of the 2004 Boston Red Sox?  In the words of Kevin Millar, don't let them win tonight, because if they do, we're picking them to win the series.

Whatever happens between the Celtics and the Heat, the winner will be facing the Los Angeles Lakers.  The Lakers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-107 last night to secure their first trip to the NBA Finals in 10 years.  It's also the 10th time LeBron James will have a shot for a championship.  Our feelings on James have mellowed considerably over the past few years, mostly because of his social justice advocacy.  However, it's our duty as Celtics fans to root against the Lakers, no matter what.

We didn't expect to find out that Bill Murray and the Doobie Brothers would be in a legal squabble this year, but at least both sides seem to have a good sense of humor about it.  The band accuses the icon of not paying them to use their music in ads for his clothing line.  It sounds like they're right, but we're pretty sure the two sides will be able to work out this dispute, which shows that even when lawyers are involved, Bill Murray lives a much cooler life than most of us.

This week's episode of The Boys finally gave us Stormfront's backstory.  No spoilers here, but it probably won't be much of a surprise to anyone who has followed her so far this season.  However, it ups the stakes and also makes the series feel even more timely, in light of current events.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  It's looking a little grey outside...maybe that rain is coming after all.  Let's close things out with a little splash of color.  Here's Lady Gaga's new track, "911," for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day, wear your masks, 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.