Hi folks,

Welcome back!  How are you?  We're all doing well at the moment.  Yesterday's driving was a bit of an adventure.  Thankfully the roads had already been treated, but it was pretty foggy most of the time.  All of today's errands can be done on foot, so at least I won't have to worry about that.  BDH, Little Buddha, and I were just talking about our schedule for the next few days.  It looks like we'll probably be out of the office tomorrow and Saturday, and then we'll get back to work on Sunday.  That being the case, we want to wish all of you a merry Christmas!  Now, let's take a peek at the news.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Thursday Clutter.

President Biden said in an interview yesterday that he plans to run for re-election in 2024, as long as he's still in "good health."  When asked by ABC News anchor David Muir how he'd feel about facing Donald Trump again, Biden said that only increased the desire to seek a second term.  You can drive a truck through the opening left by the "good health" comment from the 78-year-old Biden, but we'll see if his comments freeze discussion of other possible Democratic presidential candidates for the time being.  Either way, Vice President Kamala Harris' future will likely continue to be the subject of speculation.

President Biden is eyeing a second term.  (pic via abcnews.go.com)

President Biden also told David Muir that he would support a carve-out to the filibuster if it would mean the passage of voting rights legislation.  Biden still seems to be in denial about the seriousness of the Republican attack on democracy.  He should have been pushing for this change months ago.

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the Biden administration's new vaccine requirements on January 7, 2022.  The cases involve polices covering large employers, as well as health care workers who deal with Medicare and Medicaid patients.  Protecting the public health is a fundamental responsibility of government, and these policies should be allowed to be implemented.  The Supreme Court has refused to overturn similar statewide mandates, and the conservative justices would have to tie themselves into knots to find a rationale to overturn the same policy at the federal level. 

Two new studies indicate that the Omicron variant may not be as likely to put you in the hospital as the Delta version.  However, researchers warn, Omicron is clearly highly contagious, so the sheer volume of cases could still overwhelm health care systems.  Also, let's just review this point one more time:  "Milder" in this case means, "less likely to kill you."  You could still be incredibly sick, so do the right thing and get your shots and boosters, wear your masks around strangers, and maintain social distancing.  We want to see everyone back here in one piece in 2022.

Given Omicron's incredible contagiousness, it makes no sense that people are allowed to fly without being vaccinated first.  We may make it back to the movies some day, but there's no way we're getting on a plane until this changes.

It's great that the FDA has approved the first antiviral pill to treat a coronavirus infection.  Paxlovid will require a prescription, and it must be taken within the first five days of symptoms.  It sounds like it may not be widely available for a few months, but hey, anything which can keep people out of the hospital is a big win.   However, you should still get your shots and boosters now.

The January 6 House select committee has requested an interview with Rep. Jim Jordan.   The committee wants to discuss Jordan's conversations with Donald Trump on the day of the coup attempt, as well as any conversations Jordan had with Trump or his legal team on January 5/6 to discuss pardons for the riot organizers.  No comment from Jordan's office yet, so let's take bets - will he plead the 5th, ignore the request until he ends up being indicted for contempt, or try to file some far-reaching lawsuit to try to run out the clock on testifying.  Perhaps all three?  Jordan's entire job in Congress has been to help cover up Trump's misdeeds.  It's long-past time he be held accountable for his actions.

We've only seen this mentioned in passing, but it seems like it should be getting more coverage:  Wireless carriers are shutting down their 3G networks in 2022 to make room for 4G and 5G.  Not only does that impact older phones, but it will also cause issues for some cars, and medical and home security systems.  AT&T is planning to turn off its system in February, while Verizon is scheduled to do it on December 31, 2022.  Doesn't that seem like a big deal?  We will have to take a look around and see if we have to make any phone calls about how to respond to this change.

Congratulations to J.C. Jackson, Matthew Judon, and Matthew Slater on being named to the 2022 NFL Pro Bowl.  We know, New England Patriots fans don't care about the Pro Bowl, but it's still nice to see these guys get some attention for the great jobs they've done all season.  Not sure what more Nick Folk could have done to get a nod, because he's been money all year, but cheers to Jackson, Judon, and Slater.  With any luck, they won't be able to make it, because they'll have another game to get ready for at that point.

Vincent Jackson's autopsy revealed the former wide receiver died from chronic alcohol use, but it was also revealed that he suffered from Stage 2 CTE.  Surely the two factors are linked. 

The first official trailer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is finally here!  We've seen some bootleg clips floating around over the past few days.  However, we wanted to post the proper version, and it looks fantastic.  The only problem is that the movie will currently only be in theaters when it comes out on May 6, but we'll deal with that later.  Have a look at Benedict Cumberbatch and company in action:

Well this is disappointing:  John Wick 4 has been pushed back a year.  The movie will now come out on March 24, 2023.  We were looking forward to the hitman's next adventure.

On the flip side, it's exciting to hear that Russell T. Davies has already written a couple of stories for the 14th Doctor.  The returning Doctor Who boss said the first will go out in November 2023, and he swears they haven't cast anyone yet.  Of course, we still have three adventures left with Jodie Whittaker, so we'll enjoy those first.  However, the show's future looks bright.

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said the band plans to stop recording new music when their next record comes out in 2025, and that they'll just tour after that.  It's hard to tell whether or not he's serious, but it does seem like established bands have less financial incentive to record new music these days.  Their fans want to hear the hits, and any new songs are often disregarded. 

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Since this is the final time we'll all hang out before Christmas, we've saved our best holiday song for last.  We leave you with "Metal God" Rob Halford covering, "We Three Kings" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the next few days, don't forget to check out our "2021 Best of" post if you haven't already, and we'll see you back here again soon.  Until next time, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.