Hi everyone,

Welcome back!  I don't know about you, but the first half of 2021 is ending on a rough note here.  First off, I struck out at the bookstore yesterday, so it looks like we'll be checking out Richard Marx's autobiography next week.  The real issue is that last night's sleep was even worse than the night before.  It was warmer, and there was just no air movement.  It's also already hotter and muggier in here than it was this time yesterday morning.  I have two errands to run at some point today, but BDH and Little Buddha just looked at the weather forecast, and they suggest I consider pushing those back until Thursday.  Kind of really need to do one today, but we'll see. 

The guys say the temperatures should start dropping back to a more reasonable range around 9:00 tonight.  Here's hoping they're right about that.  In the meantime, let's check out the headlines.  The coffee is ready, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Wednesday Clutter.

The House is scheduled to vote today on the resolution establishing the creation of a select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.  The biggest question about today's vote will be if it's 100% split on party lines.  The GOP doesn't want this coup attempt investigated, because as far as they're concerned, the only thing wrong with it is that it failed. Their supposed support for the police has been proven to be nothing but political hot air.  Their number one concern is about keeping power, even though they represent a shrinking portion of voters. 

The House voted to remove all Confederate statues from public view in the Capitol yesterday, but of course the bill requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate.  This is another one of those cases where white supremacy is so ingrained in this country's culture, we don't even always notice when it's blatantly staring us in the face.  These figures were all traitors by definition, and the statues never should have been there in the first place.   However, even now, 120 Republicans are still on the record as being pro-slavery and supporting people who tried to break apart this country.

Let's stop celebrating traitors.  (pic via wikipedia.org)

The New York Board of Elections had to take down the first round of results in the recent New York City mayoral Democratic primary yesterday, because the released numbers included about 130,000 test ballots that should have been removed first.  Great, just what the country needs - an election foul-up that will likely end up being contested long after it's over, along with providing the Trump cult with a fresh batch of conspiracy theory talking points for their own fantasy.

The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to keep the CDC's pandemic-driven eviction ban in place yesterday.  Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the liberal members of the court for the majority decision.  The ban was recently extended until the end of July.  It is not expected to be renewed again after that, which is why Kavanaugh went along with keeping in place for now.  That sounds to us like Kavanaugh was acting more like a legislator than a judge.  Not going to lie, we don't mind that he reached the right decision by a curious way, and if it gets him grief with Team MAGA, so be it.

Fox News has been ordered by the New York City Commission on Human Rights to pay a $1 million fine and change multiple company policies regarding sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation, reflecting the network's long-standing refusal to address these issues in their offices.  The fine is a drop in the bucket, but the policy changes (which will be monitored by the Commission) will hopefully start forcing a long-overdue culture change.

Warren Buffett says the coronavirus pandemic has had an "uneven" economic impact, and the uncertainty its created isn't over yet.

The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6 last night.  It was Boston's fifth straight win and 27th come-from-behind victory of the season.  It also now gives them a two game lead over the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, so all in all, a good night.  Red Sox starter Nick Pivetta had a bad outing, giving up nine hits and six runs in just 4 1/3 innings.  However, the Boston bullpen came to the rescue once again, shutting the Royals offense down for the last 4 2/3 innings of the game, and giving the offense the chance to do their thing, which in this case was a 6th inning RBI double from J.D. Martinez.  Next up, the Red Sox will try to grab another series win when Martín Pérez takes the mound against the Royals tonight.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer has been accused of assaulting a woman, and the accuser says she's taken out a restraining order against him.  Bauer, who is one of the most toxic players in baseball, said through his attorney that he and the woman had consensual rough sex and haven't seen each other in weeks.  MLB officials said they will investigate.  They have the power to suspend a player in this situation, regardless of where things stand in the legal process.  The investigation should be thorough, and Commissioner Rob Manfred should not hesitate to take action against Bauer if it is deemed warranted.

Chauncey Billups was introduced as the Portland Trail Blazers new head coach yesterday, and Trail Blazers general manager Neil Olshey made it clear that the outrage over Billups being hired, despite having a credible sexual assault accusation in his past, won't be going away anytime soon.  Olshey basically dismissed the entire issue, saying the team did their own investigation and decided "nothing non-consensual occurred."  You couldn't ask for a more blatant lack of seriousness about such an important topic.

Serena Williams had to exit her first-round Wimbledon match after slipping on the court during her first set.  Tennis is always better when Williams, who was looking for her 24th Grand Slam title, is competing.  Here's hoping she has a full and speedy recovery, and this isn't the last time the world sees her at Wimbledon.

Let the countdown begin:  Production started on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever yesterday.  The movie features everyone from the original cast, except for the late Chadwick Boseman, and Ryan Coogler is once again the writer/director, so our expectations are already through the roof.  The movie is scheduled to debut on July 8, 2022.  Apparently it will be released in both the theaters and on Disney+, but we're definitely making a date to see this on a big screen.

The first trailer is here for Clifford the Big Red Dog movie that will be released on September 17.  We loved those books "back in the day" and had some curiosity about the film, so we watched the clip.  The CGI is...not great, but John Cleese and Kenan Thompson are in the movie, and besides, it's a movie about a huge red dog, so that gets BDH and Little Buddha's attention, so we still kinda want to see it.  However, it's apparently only going to theaters first, so we'll have to wait for the eventual streaming option, which will hopefully hide the CGI problem a bit:

This is interesting:  There's a movie coming out about disgraced televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Baker called, The Eyes of Tammy Fae, and it stars Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield.  No word on a release date, but we'd certainly check this out if it's on HBO Max:

We were sorry to hear that Stuart Damon died yesterday.  The longtime soap opera actor was best known for playing Dr. Alan Quartermaine on General Hospital for decades.  He was one of the first people we remember watching on GH so many years ago, and he felt like a perfect fit for the show.   Damon was 84 years old.  Our condolences go out to his family and friends.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Bananarama to close things out with the classic tune, "Cruel Summer" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always, even in the middle of a sauna.  Enjoy the rest of your day, stay cool and hydrated, 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.