Hi folks,

How are you?   Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  Our crew is settling in for a quiet day at home, as we wait for this snowstorm to arrive.  My lower back has already tightened up in anticipation of the shoveling (but maybe it won't be so bad?), so I'll have to work on that when we're done here.  Oh well, it's mid-December, can't really complain about there finally being some snow. 

Apologies to anyone who wanted to watch Metallica with us last night.  We were all set to enjoy the show on Amazon Prime Video, and then BDH and Little Buddha realized it started at 9:00 PST.  Damn time zones.  That was well past our bedtime, so we're going to see if a replay is available.  Anyway, the guys say the coffee is ready, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Saturday Clutter.

A panel of judges from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the Biden Administration's vaccine requirement for larger private employers yesterday by a 2-1 vote.  Of course, conservatives will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, because the last thing they're interested in is protecting workers.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out, since the Supreme Court declined just this week to overturn a New York state mandate.  Of course, we're sure the conservative justices can find a reason to claim the Biden rule is fundamentally different, but any consistency at all would fall on the side of not blocking this mandate, which clearly serves the public interest, and has a strong foundation in legal precedent, either.

Is anyone surprised a congressional subcommittee found that the Trump administration deliberately undermined the country's response to the pandemic in order to promote Trump's political agenda?  To conclude otherwise would be to live in the same alternate reality filled by the MAGA cult.  We all saw it in real time:  The administration lied about the coronavirus at every turn, hampered testing efforts, and held supplies hostage.  As challenging as things still are today, we shudder to think about where this country would be if the con man was still in the White House.

Thankful for an administration that's actually trying to save lives.  (pic via apnews.com)

The House select committee investigating the January 6 coup attempt believes that former Texas Governor and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry is the person who sent former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows a text on November 4, calling for three states to ignore their presidential election results and instead select Donald Trump.  These guys hate democracy, because it's a losing proposition for them.  Hell, Perry didn't even wait until all of the results were in before he made his suggestion to undermine the U.S. Constitution.   Republicans would be wiped off the map with completely free and open elections.  They represent a shrinking minority of the population, and they have nothing to offer the country besides tax cuts for white rich guys. 

Trump crony Roger Stone pleaded the 5th during his appearance before the January 6 House select committee yesterday.  That's ironic since Trump himself once declared, "You see the mob takes the Fifth..If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”  Of course,  Stone has already demonstrated his inability to tell the truth under oath.  He was sentenced to 40 months in prison for obstructing justice, witness tampering, and lying to Congress to during the Mueller investigation.  You can see why he doesn't want to talk, especially since he doesn't have Trump in the White House to save him again.  The GOP is a criminal conspiracy from top to bottom.

Robert Palmer, who attacked U.S. Capitol Police officers on January 6, was sentenced to 63 months in prison yesterday for his role in the coup attempt.  It's the longest sentence so far for anyone connected to that terrible day, and it should serve as a bare minimum for anyone higher up in the conspiracy to overthrow the government.

Elon Musk is the focus of a lawsuit from a Tesla investor who thinks Musk's recent unhinged tweeting about selling his stock, and fighting with Senator Elizabeth Warren, violates a 2019 agreement which requires his tweets to be pre-approved by a lawyer.   Seems like a pretty safe bet that Musk isn't playing by the rules, but there doesn't appear to be anyone at the company to stop him.  You couldn't pay the Clutter investment team enough to buy Tesla as an individual stock.  The unstable behavior at the top would give our staff ulcers if they were forced to pay attention to it on a regular basis.

We can't forget that  the New England Patriots are playing the Indianapolis Colts on the road this evening.  The Patriots have the chance to win their eighth straight game, while trying to regain the #1 spot in the AFC and also pushing the Buffalo Bills further behind them in the AFC East.  The Colts seem too eager to show they can hang with the Pats, and that somehow Mac Jones vs. Carson Wentz is the next Brady-Manning rivalry.  Indianapolis is a good team, but we're not feeling that.  We're pretty sure Mac Jones will have more pass attempts than the three he had last week against Buffalo, and if this comes down to a battle of the quarterbacks at the end, we'll trust Jones (with Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels in his corner) to come out on top. 

It appears we should feel fortunate that the Patriots and Colts are playing as scheduled, because the NFL has begun shifting around some games, due to the latest round of coronavirus outbreaks.  Today's Cleveland Browns - Las Vegas Raiders game has been moved to Monday, and the Seattle Seahawks-Los Angeles Rams and Washington Football Team-Philadelphia Eagles have both been moved to Tuesday.   So let's see, we have now have games on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.  You also can't rule out some Wednesday and Friday additions before this is all over. 
A cynical person might think the league is thrilled to be playing almost every night of the week, but this could end up being a disaster if they don't find a way to get everything under control before the playoffs.

Kyrie Irving will apparently rejoin the Brooklyn Nets as a part-time player.  He can't play home games if he won't get vaccinated, so apparently the team figured they should at least get something for the money they're paying him.  Can't see how this could possibly go wrong.  Thank god he's not Boston's problem anymore. 

US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch announced they will be changing their names because they don't want to be associated with J.K. Rowling's rampant transphobia.  The Harry Potter author has achieved a global success few can comprehend, and yet she remains obsessed with denying people their humanity.  One has to wonder what is so broken inside her that this is her never-ending focus. 

The first reviews of The Matrix: Resurrections seem to be generally positive.  We're going to roll the dice and trust we'll have a clue what's going on in the movie, even though we only saw the first one.  Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss continue the adventure on December 22, on HBO Max.

A third woman has now accused Chris Noth of sexual assault, describing an incident she says happened in 2010.  Noth, who was subsequently dropped by his talent agency after this story surfaced, continues to deny any wrongdoing.

The first trailer for How I Met Your Father is here.  Turns out Kim Cattrall is the older version of Hillary Duff's character, so Samantha Jones seems to be doing just fine after moving on from Carrie Bradshaw.  The show premieres on January 18, but it's only on Hulu, so we'll need one of you to send s a review at [email protected]:

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Let's have Willie Nelson close things out with, "Pretty Paper" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  BDH and Little Buddha insist they will stay awake for tonight's New England Patriots game, so you're welcome to come back and watch it with them, if you like.  (Feel free to bring cookies.)  Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your weekend, 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.