Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all.  This has been a crazy week, so it's fitting that it's ending with this big storm.  The rain seems to have died down for the moment, but BDH and Little Buddha say it should be back soon.  Meanwhile, the wind is causing a ruckus, so I'm charging my phone now, in case we lose power. 

This feels like a good day to stay home, so that's exactly what we're going to do.  "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" just came out on Netflix, so our crew will hop on the couch and watch that once we're done here.  First, let's take a peek a the headlines.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Clutter.

(Programming note:  We will be out of the office until Monday.  Merry Christmas!)

The January 6 House select committee released its final report yesterday.  The committee went into extensive detail about Donald Trump's far-reaching attempts to overturn the legitimate 2020 presidential election results, and it recommended he be barred from ever holding federal office again.  That ban falls under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides the ability to block people who have "engaged in an insurrection."  That's exactly what Trump did in his bid to stay in the White House, and he must face the consequences of his actions.

Lock him up for being an enemy of country.  (pic via 1470wmbd.com)

The same punishment should also apply to any official who was an accomplice in this plot.  There have to be strong repercussions for this criminal behavior, or else the coup organizers have a green light to try it again.  The committee also made recommendations for election reform, criminal referrals to to the DOJ for Trump and others, and recommended the lawyers who lied during this challenge be disciplined.  However, there's still the problem that most of the GOP remains perfectly fine with what Donald Trump tried to do that day.  Waiting for them to finally make these traitors accountable is like Charlie Brown thinking Lucy will really hold the football.

One lingering question we have at the moment:  Why is there no mention of Ginni Thomas or her husband in the report?  Why are we still turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption on the U.S. Supreme Court?

Whatever the final outcome here, we'll always respect former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson for bucking the advice she was given by Trump's legal team and eventually being forthcoming with the select committee.  It's like speaking out against a mob family, and we hope she won't pay a price for her courage.

As Kevin McCarthy continues to beg Republicans to make him the next House speaker, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) is apparently being floated as an alternative.  Let's see how far this move goes, but karma will show it has a sense of humor if it turns out McCarthy's years of groveling leave him empty-handed.

Twitter just made tweet views public, so now everyone will know exactly how many people paid attention (or didn't) to what you wrote.  Personally, we don't particularly care if others know those numbers.  However, we're sure no one was asking for this feature, so why do it?  Elon Musk tweeted that the point was to show that Twitter is more vibrant than people realize, because tweets are read much more than they're liked.  We suspect it's something more along the lines of he's mad he was voted out as CEO by people who have a smaller reach than him, and he wants us all to know exactly how much more influential he is than the rest of us. 

The Netflix crackdown on password sharing will reportedly start in the U.S. early next year.  We're still unclear if this means the company is expecting us to pay extra to use our own subscription at both HQ and the Northern Estate.  If that's the case, we'll be bailing soon. 

FYI - our latest newsletter is now available for subscribers to the Clearing out the Clutter Patreon page.  You can join the fun for just $3-$5 per month!

The New England Patriots face the Cincinnati Bengals at home tomorrow afternoon.   The Patriots still have a slim shot at making the playoffs.  However, there's simply no reason to think they can beat the Bengals on Saturday, apart from the whole "anything can happen on any given Sunday" argument.  The defending AFC champions have won six straight games, and quarterback Joe Burrow clearly trusts his coaches. That sounds nice.

Meanwhile, the Patriots are coming off that horrific loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, which ended on the dumbest play in team history, and the offense seems ready to stage an open revolt against Matt Patricia, and Bill Belichick by extension.  The New England defense may keep Burrow and company in check.  However, we have zero faith in the offense.  The Patriots lose and drop to 7-8 on Christmas Eve.

The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the New York Jets 19-3 last night, a game which may have sealed Zach Wilson's fate in New York.  The Jets QB was 9 for 18 for 92 yards, no TD's and one interception, before being pulled for Chris Streveler in the third quarter.  Wilson was only starting because Mike White has broken ribs.  The Jaguars are definitely a team on the rise, but they're still not the cream of the crop in the AFC.  If Jets head coach Robert Saleh doesn't trust Wilson to get it together in that situation, it's time for everyone to part ways.  The question is, would any team be willing to give up much to get the former #2 pick from the 2021 draft?

The NFL Sunday Ticket package is moving to YouTube TV, starting next season.  Google will reportedly pay a little over $2 billion a year for the next seven years for those rights, as the NFL continues to print money.  (On the flip side, this is pocket change for Google:  The company had a little over $116 billion in cash on hand at the close of the third quarter of 2022.)  The price is expected to remain about the same for subscribers ($300-$400 a year), because of the league's contractual obligations to the TV networks. 

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer's suspension has been cut from 324 games to 194 games.  That means he's eligible to return to baseball immediately.  The question is, will the Dodgers or anyone else bring him back?  Bauer was suspended after multiple allegations of sexual assault, and as far as we're concerned, he should have been banned for life.  The Dodgers have until January 6 to decide whether to keep him or release him.  They should eat the $22 million he's still owed and send him packing.  If any team is slimy enough to sign Bauer, they deserve whatever protests come their way. 

Returning Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies said fans will be "staggered" by the surprises coming after the 60th anniversary specials next year.  We can't wait to find out what RTD is talking about.  Our suspicion is that some more former Doctors (say, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi) will make an appearance at some point in 2023, but what else might the boss have in mind?

Daredevil star Charlie Cox says the Disney+ version of the revived show, "will be dark but it probably won’t be as gory.”  We didn't get very far into the Netflix Defenders universe, apart from watching the first season of Jessica Jones.  However, we enjoyed Cox's cameo in She-Hulk:  Attorney-at-Law, so maybe we should start playing catch-up before Daredevil: Born Again arrives in 2024.

The first full trailer for That 90's Show is here.  The Netflix series starts on January 19, so between that and Eddie Murphy's upcoming You People, it looks like we'll be keeping our subscription until at least February 1, but we still don't want to pay that extra password fee:

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  It's time for our final Christmas carol of 2022, and we've saved the best for last:  Here is "Metal God" Rob Halford to close things out with, "We Three Kings" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  BDH and Little Buddha say anyone who wants to watch Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery with them is welcome to stick around.  Otherwise, have a great weekend, stay warm and safe, 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.