Hi everyone,

I know we said yesterday that we might not be here today.  However, our crew is a little down right now, so we decided to rearrange the schedule a bit to make sure we could hang out with you, because that always makes us feel better.  We're blue because our neighbor cut down a tree that provided shade for the back part of the garden.  I knew the tree had some issues, because a dead limb broke off and fell through our garage roof earlier this year, and every bit of rain or wind brought us a little debris.  However, it seemed pretty healthy overall. 

BDH and Little Buddha are trying to remind me that it must have been sicker than we thought.  If that's the case, this was probably for the best, because it could have done some real damage, but it's still sad.  That's why we decided to make sure we could catch up with all of you and focus on something else for a little while.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Sunday Clutter.

President Biden is already backtracking on his pledge to veto the bipartisan infrastructure bill if Congress doesn't also pass the larger "human infrastructure" legislation.  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and company have been pretending that Biden's threat is keeping them from supporting the compromise bill, when the truth is that Senate Republicans never intended to support it in the first place. 

Former Attorney General Bill Barr is trying to rehabilitate his reputation after serving as Donald Trump's personal attorney, rather than being the chief law enforcement officer for the country.  Barr told reporter Jonathan Karl his account of his break from Trump when it came to fictional voter fraud.   Let's not pretend Barr is a man of principle.  His goal is to make it appear that his acknowledgement of reality in the administration's final days should somehow counterbalance his weaponizing the Department of Justice for years on Trump's behalf.   It will take years to repair the damage Barr did to the DOJ.  We will also point out that the description of his conversation with Trump is about as crazy as you would expect.  The world could have been an entirely different place if Trump had seen a therapist as a young man.

As much of a fraud as his former boss.  (pic via abcnews.go.com)

The story about the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Florida that killed five people and left 156 people still missing is awful.  What makes it even worse is the news that a 2018 engineering report made it clear that the building had major structural problems.  Those responsible for ignoring the issues should be held responsible for their negligence. 

Johnson & Johnson agreed to a $230 million settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James that blocks the company from continuing to sell opioids in the state, as well as the rest of the country.  Of course, the company admits no complicity in the crisis that has gripped this country for years, and they say they were already out of the market anyway.  Yes, they just gave away $230 million for no good reason.  The biggest criminals in this country wear nice suits and appear on CNBC.

The Boston Red Sox beat the New York Yankees 4-2 last night, making the Sox 5-0 against the Yankees so far this year.  That does the spirit good.  Boston starter Nate Eovaldi gave up just one run over 7 2/3 innings, in a nice bounce-back from his short outing against the Kansas City Royals.  The Red Sox offense scored three out of four runs via sacrifice flies, which may not be sexy, but it did the job.  The Sox are still a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, but they're taking care of business against New York.  Boston will go for another series sweep this afternoon with Eduardo Rodriguez facing New York.

New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom gave up two runs against the Philadelphia Phillies yesterday, thus ending his scoreless streak at 31 innings.  deGrom's "terrible" outing raised his ERA from 0.50 (that's right) to 0.69, which is still crazy. 

Director Quentin Tarantino still says his next movie will be his final film.  That makes us think of Ozzy Osbourne's claim that he would retire 30 years ago.  Tarantino told Bill Maher he was thinking about doing a reboot of Reservoir Dogs at one point, but it's hard to see how that would have been well-received, so we'll see what he comes up with for his "last" project.

We have another Doctor Who rumor that warrants a quick discussion:  British tabloids are reporting that singer/actor Olly Alexander is in discussions with the BBC to play the 14th Doctor.  The stories say that former Doctor Who boss Russell T. Davies is lobbying for Alexander to get the gig.  Of course, the two men recently worked together on the fantastic It's a Sin.  It will probably still be months before there is an official announcement about current star Jodie Whittaker's plans, but the money here says Alexander would be terrific as the next Doctor.  He radiates charisma and would bring a great energy to the role.  Of course, this whole thing could just be baseless speculation, but we need something to do until the next series arrives.

Speaking of Doctor Who, we just found this trailer for a new movie starring former companion Karen Gillan, who is now more known for her role in the MCU.  Gunpowder Milkshake looks like a female version of John Wick, and we're here for it:

Former Supernatural star Jared Padalecki tweeted that fans of the show should not send "hate or threats" to anyone involved with the creation of the new origin story prequel.  Of course, this would have been completely unnecessary if Padalecki had simply picked up his phone and called Jensen Ackles to express his disappointment about being left out of the show, instead of whining about it on Twitter.  It's increasingly easy to see why Ackles would want to do this project on his own and not have to deal with his former co-star after 15 years of working together.

The next season of the Prince podcast premieres on July 22.  The subject this time will be the process of creating the upcoming Welcome 2 America album.  The record will be released on July 30, but apparently Prince recorded it in 2010-2011.

Wolfgang Van Halen recently talked again about the importance of not sounding like his dad with his debut solo album, saying it would be "really boring" if he was "just a carbon copy" of Eddie Van Halen.  That's one of the most fascinating and impressive things about the Mammoth WVH record.  There's about 20 seconds of tapping in the guitar solo in the first track, which feels like a tribute to his father.  After that, there's almost nothing in the remaining hour of music that would give the listener the slightest clue that a Van Halen made the album.  Wolfgang has his own sound, and he hit a home run right out of the gate.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  We leave you with Bastille's new track, "Distorted Light Beam" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always, and just what we needed.  Enjoy the rest of your day, be good, 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.