Thursday Clutter: Trump, Marriage Protection, Apple, Boston Red Sox, Wonder Woman 3, Anna Kendrick, Doctor Who, Chicago Fire, John Lennon, and more
Sunday Clutter: Trump, Hunter Biden, Brittney Griner, Elon Musk, Masks, Grant Wahl, Boston Red Sox, Barry Windham, SNL, The Winery Dogs, and more

Friday Clutter: Trump, Senator Sinema, AOC, Defense Spending, Baker Mayfield, Reese Witherspoon, Guardians of the Galaxy, Law & Order: SVU, Metallica, Lana Del Rey, and more

Hi folks,

Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all.  What's the plan for the weekend?  Our schedule is thrown off once again because the  New England Patriots don't play until Monday night.  Fortunately, they go back to Sunday afternoon games for the rest of the year after this.  In any case, that leaves us with more time for Christmas shopping and maybe checking out our Disney+ subscription.  We'll see. 

Now, let's take a peek at today's headlines.  BDH and Little Buddha just made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Clutter.

The Department of Justice reportedly wants Donald Trump's legal team held in contempt for failing to comply with a May subpoena to turn over all classified documents Trump took from the White House.  This comes in light of the news this week that additional files were found in a Florida storage unit belonging to Trump.  The judge in the case should agree to the request, but the punishment is apparently just a daily fine.  That's not much of a deterrent, because Donald Trump will gladly spend any amount to try to run out the clock on the DOJ.  The man remains a threat to the country every day he's not behind bars. 

Donald Trump December 9 2022Donald Trump has contempt for the United States.  (pic via kdrv.com)

Meanwhile, the outside review of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago is officially over, now that Trump's legal team didn't appeal last week's ruling shutting down Raymond Dearie.

The January 6 House select committee is reportedly considering criminal referrals for at least four other people besides Donald Trump.  According to CNN, the names under consideration include "former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, right wing lawyer John Eastman, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani."  A referral from the committee is mostly symbolic, since the Department of Justice is already (slowly) investigating the coup attempt.  However, it's important that the historical record include the names of everyone who was responsible for this assault on our democracy.

The House passed the Respect for Marriage Act yesterday by a vote of 258-169.  The bill, which would extend federal protections to same-sex and interracial marriages, now heads to President Biden's desk, where he is expected to sign it.  The vote was mostly on party lines, with 39 House Republicans voting yes.  That total is a step forward from where we were, say 10 years ago.  However, as a whole, the GOP still has no use for anyone who isn't a rich, straight, white guy.

There it is:  Senator Kyrsten Sinema is angry she lost her leverage to hold the Democratic Party hostage this week, so she's having a tantrum and leaving the party.  We called it on Wednesday after Senator Warnock won re-election.  Senator Sinema also knows she'd lose a likely Democratic primary challenge in 2024, so this is her only chance for survival.
 
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.  It's not clear why, although the leading guess is that it's tied to her attendance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala last year.  AOC said she is fully cooperating with the investigation and expects to be cleared of any accusation of wrongdoing.
 

It's great that Brittney Griner is back in the United States after spending almost 10 months in jail in Russia for bringing cannabis oil into the country.  We hope her adjustment to being home again goes as smoothly as possible.

The House approved a record $858 billion defense spending bill yesterday and then sent it to the Senate.  That's right, $858 billion for one single year.  Remember that the next time a conservative tries to tell you that the U.S. "can't afford" programs which are aimed at helping ordinary Americans.  The money is always there.  It's a question of priorities.

The defense bill also repeals the COVID vaccination requirement for soldiers, so if that passes, our military will be less prepared in the future.  Republicans love to talk about how much they love the troops, but the reality is that they really love pleasing their tin foil hat-wearing anti-science crackpot base.

According to this article, several MLB talent evaluators think the Red Sox overpaid for new outfielder Masatka Yoshida.  Fantastic.  Let's see how he actually does at Fenway Park, but here's hoping Chaim Bloom didn't just sign the newest Rusney Castillo.

Congratulations to Baker Mayfield for leading the Los Angeles Rams to a 17-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders last night.  Not bad for a guy who only joined the Rams about 48 hours before the game.  The Rams were down by 13 points in the fourth quarter before Mayfield led the comeback.  As Las Vegas now falls to 5-8 on a disappointing season, all we're saying is we'd still welcome back head coach Josh McDaniels to lead the New England Patriots offense.

Reese Witherspoon will star in an Election sequel, where she will once again play Tracy Flick, who was a politically ambitious high school student in the 1999 movie.  We loved Election, because class politics was our thing in high school, and Witherspoon was terrific as Flick.  The new movie will apparently look at what became of her when her life didn't turn out as she planned.  Hold on, this film is only airing on Paramount+?  Bugger.  Maybe one of you kind folks will let BDH and Little Buddha borrow your password for just one night?  We'll discuss it later...

Now, tell us where and when we can catch the upcoming movie, The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck, and we're there:

We broke in our new Disney+ subscription by watching The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special last night.  No spoilers here, just a review that the whole thing is delightful.  You don't need to be a Guardians fan to enjoy this show.  It's only 45 minutes long, but  it's filled with laughs and sweet performances.  We also suspect there are a couple of significant MCU developments tucked in there, but we'll leave that to others to discuss. 

As we mentioned yesterday, returning Doctor Who boss Russell T. Davies announced that the show's dreaded gap years are a thing of the past, and that there will be a new series every year, starting with the 60th anniversary specials in 2023.  RTD also said that the holiday episode is moving back to Christmas, after airing on New Year's Day for the past few years.  According to the linked article, that move is expected to lead to better ratings, because Christmas is the bigger TV day in the U.K.  We think they'll be better received than the last few, because Davies is a much better storyteller than predecessor Chris Chibnall.  Either way, we're already getting anxious for new adventures to hit our TV screen.

Law & Order: SVU showrunner David Graziano.is being accused of bullying and sexual harassment.   Graziano's defense against the allegations is weak, saying one woman who accused him only worked on the show briefly, and then blaming the rest of his behavior on neck problems and his mom.  NBC and Wolf Entertainment haven't commented on the story yet, so they're not rushing to help hi.

Metallica fans seem to be digging the band's new single, "Lux Æterna."  The track came in at #2 Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay chart.

Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter has been accused in a new lawsuit of raping a fan after a 2001 show.  Carter denies the allegation.  In the meantime, ABC pulled the Backstreet Boys holiday special, which was supposed to air on December 14.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Lana Del Ray has a new album called, Did You Know There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd next March.  Here she is to close things out with the title track for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, everyone.  It was great to see you, as always.  Hold up, BDH and Little Buddha say you're welcome to come back tonight if you want to watch something on Disney+ with them.  Maybe one of the MCU movies they haven't seen yet?  Otherwise, 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.

 

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