Thursday Clutter: President Biden, U.S. Supreme Court, Omicron, Rep. Jim Jordan, Death of 3G, New England Patriots, Doctor Strange, Doctor Who, Coldplay, Rob Halford, and more
Monday Clutter: January 6 Committee, Medicaid Work Requirements, Jared Schmeck, Sarah Weddington, Pope Francis, New England Patriots, The Batman, Doctor Who, Phil Collins, and more

Sunday Clutter: Archbishop Tutu, Trump, George Floyd, New England Patriots, The Matrix: Resurrections, Hawkeye, Prince, and more

Hi folks,

Welcome back!  How are you?  Did you have a good Christmas?  We had a really nice day yesterday.  It got off to a challenging start because of the weather.  The roads to Dad Clutter's house were not in great shape, so that was some stressful driving, but everything else was fun.  Santa was terrific to BDH and Little Buddha.  (Of course they were on his nice list!)  He gave them a copy of "The Flight Attendant" novel, and the complete deluxe edition of the "Lucifer" comics.  The latter is almost 2000 pages long, so that will take them a while to finish.  I think they'll probably tackle that in spurts between other books, so they're set on that front for the foreseeable future.

All in all, it was a day of quality family time, which is all we really wanted.  The drive home was a little smoother, and now I see some shoveling needs to be done.  Hopefully it's not too much, but we'll deal with that later.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Sunday Clutter.

We're saddened to hear that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has died.  The Nobel Peace Prize winner was a powerful voice in the fight for equality in South Africa for decades.  This is a loss for the world, but his message of freedom and kindness towards the oppressed will live on for generations to come.  Tutu was 90 years old. 

Donald Trump has suddenly embraced a pro-vaccine message, even though his followers would rather die than admit science is a real thing.  Trump said to conservative commentator Candice Owens,

"Some people aren't taking it; the ones that get very sick and go to the hospital are the ones that don't take the vaccine, but it's still their choice. And if you take the vaccine, you're protected."

What can we say, we disagree with Trump on 99.99% of reality, but he's not wrong here, even though the "personal choice" framing still lets people off the hook for putting others at risk.  Did someone finally make a winning argument to his ego that he should be taking credit for the vaccine?  What's the long-term plan here?  Above all else, will any of his followers listen to him after they've spent most of the year prepared to die in order to "own the Libs?"  However we got here, the country will be better off if someone finds a way to reach these people, so here's hoping his about-face has an impact. 

Donald Trump December 26 2021Even he gets it, at least for the moment.  (pic via cnn.com)

Florida set a new daily record with 32,850 reported coronavirus cases on Saturday, topping the previous record which was set on Friday.  Governor Ron DeSantis is all in on sacrificing every last one of his constituents in the hope of becoming the 2024 GOP presidential nominee.  There was a time when we were hoping another spring training adventure might be possible in 2022.  However, at this point, it's hard to imagine another trip ever happening since unvaccinated people are still allowed to fly, and the state is run by a guy who has no problem with killing everyone. 

The FDA's recent approval of Pfizer's pill to treat coronavirus symptoms is exciting, but experts warn that it could interact poorly with certain other kinds of medications, like statins, blood thinners and some antidepressants.  It's important that anyone who uses this, or Merk's new drug, does it under medical supervision, although we would have assumed that anyway.  Of course, it's better to try to avoid getting sick in the first place, so get your shots and wear your masks.

Jared Schmeck, the piece of trash who said, "Let's go, Brandon" to President Biden while he and Dr. Biden were taking calls about Santa on Christmas Eve,  said he was "joking" and meant no disrespect.  First off,  of course he meant it.  Second, the collective I.Q. of the people who use the Brandon "insult" is somewhere in the low double-digits.  Finally, if that's how you spend your Christmas Eve, we're sorry for those who have to spend it with you.  One can only assume Mr. Schmeck will soon be announcing a congressional run on Fox News.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously approved a posthumous pardon for George Floyd in October.  However, the board recently withdrew the request, claiming there were "procedural errors," and Floyd was not included in the recent pardons announced by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.  The cruelty of this is no accident.  It's built into the "justice" system at every turn, especially when we're talking about people of color.  This injustice should be corrected immediately. 

Our stocking included a Powerball lottery ticket.  Unfortunately, we did not win the $400 million prize, but it was still a good Christmas.  If you happened to win something last night, we'll just quickly remind you that there's a "Donations" link in the top right corner of your screen.  In case you want to help us increase our coffee budget for next year, or something.  No pressure.

It seems like the iPhone 13 series just came out last week, but rumors are already circulating about possible upgrades for the iPhone 14.  We'll have to check these out for ourselves when we get up to the 14, which at our rate, should be somewhere around 2029.

The New England Patriots face the Buffalo Bills in Foxboro this afternoon for the rematch of their "Snow Bowl" a couple of weeks ago.  The stakes are huge for this game, since the winner will likely end up taking the AFC East division title.  The Patriots are looking to rebound from their stinker of a game against the Indianapolis Colts last week, while the Bills want revenge after being embarrassed by Bill Belichick and company at home the first time.  This feels like a playoff game, and it's fantastic. 

The weather will be better for Round 2, so we're pretty sure Mac Jones will throw the ball more than three times today.  This is a big test of the rookie quarterback's ability to forget bad performances, and so far he's been pretty good at that.  We might lean the other way if this game was also in Buffalo, but give us the Patriots winning at home, and the Bills having another collective meltdown afterwards.

Former San Francisco 49ers GM John Lynch said he "accidentally" liked an anti-Jimmy Garoppolo tweet while he was at Christmas Eve Mass with his family.  Seems like an odd explanation, but that's what he's going with here.

We've watched The Matrix: Resurrections since the last time we saw you, and here's our take on it:  Having only seen the first movie in the original trilogy, we probably picked up on about 70% of what happened in this film, but we enjoyed all of it.  There's a winking commentary about corporations making unnecessary sequels, and how much it sucks when things that mean a lot to so many people are diluted and trivialized in the name of profit.  There's also a lot of, "what is reality and what is fantasy," which you'd expect.  Finally, the whole thing is a love story at its core, and that was also well-done.  

We used to mock Keanu Reeves "back in the day," but he's really come to grow on us as an engaging presence in just about everything he does.  If you've seen at least the first film, you'll enjoy this one.

Our crew is also halfway through Hawkeye, and this is a delightful treat.  No spoilers, but there's been plenty of action, humor, emotion, and Christmas spirit.  We'll probably finish it sometime this week.  The question will be if we end up binging the last three episodes in one sitting or manage to space it out a bit. 

Hey Atlanta fans, the first trailer for Season 3 is here.  It looks like the group is on the move.  Have a look:

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Let's have Prince close things out with, "Baby I'm a Star" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was so good to see you.  Enjoy the rest of your day, be careful if you have to drive, 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.

 

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