Hi folks,

Welcome back!  How are you?   I've finally recovered from my booster shot.  That was unpleasant, but it was worth a rough weekend in exchange for an extra layer of protection against the coronavirus.  The problem now is that I'm wiped out after last night's New England Patriots game.  Gotta say, nighttime football games are for the birds.  Some of us need our beauty sleep!  It's less of an issue when the Patriots win, but still, keep football where it belongs-in the afternoon.

Now, it's Tuesday, so I'm off to the bookstore to check the new releases once we're done here.  Hopefully I'll find something good for BDH and Little Buddha.  Any suggestions?   First, let's check out the headlines.  The guys made plenty of coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Clutter.

Rep. Devin Nunes is resigning from Congress to run Donald Trump's new social media company, the same company that's already under investigation by regulators before it even gets off the ground.  Nunes, who tried to sue a fictional cow, is not considered to be the brightest of bulbs, so this is immediately addition by subtraction for Congress.  Now the question becomes, where do we set the over/under on how long it takes Nunes to run this scam into the ground?  He won't make it a full year....we'll say he's gone by July 1, 2022.  What's your bet?

This won't end well.  (pic via abc7news.com)

Donald Trump once again admitted he obstructed justice by firing former FBI boss James Comey.   Is anyone going to pursue this in the courts?  Anyone at all?  Attorney General Merrick Garland's continued seeming lack of interest in holding Trump accountable for any of his criminal actions remains one of the biggest failures of the Biden administration so far.

Interesting to hear that Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, is reportedly cooperating with the House select committee that's investigating the January 6 coup attempt.  Short has plenty of incentive to be forthright with the committee, considering that the rioters were looking to hang his boss during their attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was seemingly insulted when asked at a White House briefing why the Biden administration isn't basically sending everyone free coronavirus test kits, like some other countries have done.  Said Psaki, "Should we just send one out to every American? Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?"   Yes, the administration should be sending them to everyone.  This pandemic has killed almost 790,000 Americans, and it's not over yet.  We should be pulling out all of the stops to finally end it, instead of getting into overly complicated processes that involve reimbursements from insurance companies. 

Senate Republicans are reportedly threatening the annual defense spending bill if it also includes a debt limit fix.  What nonsense.  Never listen to any Republican claiming to be financially responsible.  The debt limit (which is an arbitrary and useless construction) deals with money the government has already spent.  The bills have to be paid.  There's no debate about it.  The GOP is all about attacking a government that's run by Democrats.  They don't care about the country.  They care about power.  That's it.  Imagine how different everything could be if Republicans had any interest in actually governing. 

It sounds like President Biden's Supreme Court commission is going to punt on all of the major issues facing the court right now, so let's say it again - A third of the current members were appointed under shady circumstances.  If the court isn't expanded, the right-wing grip on the government is likely to continue for decades, regardless of how conservatives fare in elections.  The extremists on the bench are making it clear they're happy to destroy the court's reputation in order to implement their political agenda. If Democrats are just going to shrug and act like there's nothing they can do about all of this, they're complicit in the damage that's being inflicted on the country.

Instagram is rolling out a number of features that are supposed to protect teen users, right as boss Adam Mosseri testifies before a U.S. Senate subcommittee this week about teens and the Internet.

A new study indicates that Viagra may be helpful in combating Alzheimer's.  Scientists say more information is needed, but it would be a great step forward if this turns out to be something real.

The New England Patriots took care of business and beat the Buffalo Bills 14-10 last night for their seventh consecutive win.  The wind in Buffalo was crazy, and the New England game plan was as conservative as it gets, with quarterback Mac Jones going 2 for 3 on pass attempts for a total of 19 yards.  That's right - three pass attempts.  For the entire game.  The 9-4 AFC-leading Patriots ran 46 times for 222 yards, and their defense kept the Bills offense in check (with some major assistance from the weather) to squeak out the win. 

New England now gets its bye week before taking on the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, December 18...which is also a night game.  Damn it.  We almost hate to see the Patriots take a break now when they're on a roll.  However, the ability to get some people healthy for this last push will probably outweigh any possible momentum loss.

There's a new Matrix: Resurrections trailer, and it looks fantastic.  Here's our question for you:  We saw the first movie, but do we have to see the other two in order to enjoy this one?  Guess we'll find out when the movie is released on HBO Max on December 22:

Good for Michael Sheen, who declared he's basically become a "not-for profit actor," meaning he will use future earnings to fund social causes.  Sheen says he's in a good place in his career to make a lasting impact this way, and he doesn't want to look back and lament missed opportunities.

Cheers as well to actor Joshua Malina for writing an op-ed calling for the "cancellation" of Mel Gibson.  As Malina points out, Gibson's raging hatred of Jews, his homophobia, and past violence against women, has been ignored by Hollywood because he continues to bring in strong box office numbers.  The fact that Gibson's career continues to thrive is evidence that "cancel culture" doesn't actually exist, especially when you're talking about famous white guys.  As Malina himself acknowledges, he's more likely to be punished for writing the piece than Gibson is for his hateful behavior.

The first teaser trailer is out for the upcoming Harry Potter reunion special, which will air on HBO Max on January 1, 2022.  We were never big Potter fans, but all we can say is hopefully this is more rewarding for that group than the disappointing Friends reunion was earlier this year:

Sorry, A.P. Bio fans, the show isn't coming back for a fifth season.

It feels like Yankee Candle would make a fortune if they really made this holiday line:

Former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth added four dates to his upcoming "retirement" residency in Las Vegas.  The "goodbye" now runs from New Year's Eve to January 22, 2022.  As Roth himself mentioned in his announcement about these new shows, you've got to take retirement declarations with a grain of salt.  It's like Ozzy Osbourne talking about retiring after his "No More Tears" album came out in 1991, or KISS with their own seemingly never-ending "goodbye" tour. 

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  It feels like it's been a while since we played some Ghost around here, so let's have them close things out with, "Hunter's Moon" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  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.