Monday Clutter: Elon Musk, Trump, New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Cecily Strong, Lemmy Kilmister/Billy Gibbons/Dave Grohl, and more
12/19/2022
Hi folks,
Welcome back, and a happy Monday to you all. How was the rest of your weekend? Not going to lie, things are already a little crazy here at the moment. I have to bring the car back to the mechanic this morning, because the same light came on again yesterday. No idea what's going on there, but hopefully the third time's the charm? The extra little wrinkle is that I'm pretty sure I broke a toe this weekend. Driving is a little uncomfortable, but if I move slowly, hopefully I'll get to the garage and back without an issue.
BDH and Little Buddha are doing their best to keep me focused on one thing at a time. I sound like a broken record, but those guys are the best. They just made a pot of coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Clutter.
Donald Trump called for his supporters in the House to get behind Kevin McCarthy for speaker. How pathetic that McCarthy needs the cult leader to help him try to close this deal, with Republicans set to take over the chamber in less than three weeks. Even if he finally gets the gavel, who is going to respect this empty suit who is beholden to so many other people, like Trump and Marjorie Taylor Green? That's not leadership. That's a craven pursuit of power for power's sake. Now, what would be fascinating is if Trump's cynical endorsement still isn't enough for McCarthy to lock down the votes he needs.
Twitter suddenly decided to prohibit the use of links to other social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr, and Post yesterday. "Free speech" champion Elon Musk seems to have himself in a lather about having to compete with these entities, likely because he knows his own incompetence is what's driving Twitter users to these other platforms. Musk may be the only one in this sphere who can make Mark Zuckerberg look sympathetic in comparison. Give the guy credit, he continues to do a terrific job of shattering the myth that wealth and intelligence are inherently linked. This move is about as weak as Donald Trump's recent NFT grift.
A man with far too much time on his hands. (pic via wabe.org)
(Hold on, Twitter seems to have reversed the policy for the time being. Musk now has a Twitter poll asking if he should step down as CEO of the company. "Yes" currently has the lead. Will Musk actually abide the results? What a clown show.)
In all fairness, Trump's NFT's sold out, which means the cult spent a reported $4.45 million on digital pictures of their leader. What a stunning indictment of the U.S. education system. Friends, remember, you never need to accept a lecture from any of these folks about anything. Now, if you have extra money just burning a hole in your pocket, but you don't want to support an enemy of the country, you can always click on the links at the bottom of your screen to either support us here, or on our Patreon page. You'll get a much better bang for your buck that way.
Gas prices continue to fall in the United States, reaching their lowest point since August of last year. The average cost of a gallon of gas is now $3.18, according to AAA. Our local station seems to prefer staying on the higher end of the scale. We'll see either today or tomorrow if their prices have dropped from the $3.39 we paid last week. Like the promising data on inflation, anything that would reduce the strain on our wallets is welcome.
The New England Patriots lost 34-20 to the Las Vegas Raiders yesterday. We predicted the defeat, so that part isn't a surprise. What we didn't see coming was the horrific end of the game. Boston Globe football writer Ben Volin summed it up perfectly with, "What happened against the Raiders was the worst loss and dumbest play in Patriots history." We can't top Volin's recap of everything that went wrong, but this year's season is over. The 7-7 Patriots aren't going to recover from this defeat, especially against the likes of the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, and Buffalo Bills.
It's time to pack it up and start planning for next year, starting with the next offensive coordinator. If Bill Belichick tells Robert Kraft he'll quit before he moves Matt Patricia to a new job, Kraft should thank him for everything and show him the door.
The Detroit Lions beat the New York Jets 20-17 yesterday. Our original focus was on whether or not Zach Wilson could reclaim the narrative that he should remain New York's starting QB over the injured Mike White. Wilson gave it his best shot, but he came up short, and time is still probably running out on his stint with the Jets. However, let's not overlook the surging Lions, who are now 7-7 and very much in the playoff hunt. Detroit's head coach Dan Campbell strikes us as one goofy SOB. However, his players have responded to him, which is what matters. We don't see Detroit going far if they make the playoffs, but we'll root for them to return to relevancy and make it there in the first place.
Former Boston Red Sox DH J.D. Martinez has agreed to a one-year $10 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. We have no problem with Martinez finding a new home, except that the Sox should have traded him if they knew they wouldn't re-sign him. The 35-year-old can't field, and his hitting appears to be in decline. Frankly, we never really liked the guy. It was a bad sign right out of the gate when he demanded three opt-out options in a five-year deal and was immediately complaining he hadn't gotten better offers.
Martinez had a career year for Boston's 2018 championship team, so we thank him for that season. However, in this case, it was always more about rooting for the laundry than the player. If he regains his form in the NL, more power to him. Regardless, let's move on to new options.
While Martinez moves from Boston to Los Angeles, infielder/DH Justin Turner is making the reverse trip: Turner has reportedly agreed to a two-year/$22 million deal with the Red Sox. Will he end up being Rafael Devers' replacement? Turner apparently has an opt-out clause after 2023, so we're wondering if this will be another case like J.D. Martinez, where we're more invested in the jersey than the guy. Add to that the fact that Turner is 38 years old, and our initial response to this signing is to shrug. We're running low on guys to be actively excited about on this roster.
Apparently catcher Christian Vázquez wanted to come back to the Red Sox, even after they traded him to the Houston Astros. However, the Sox reportedly expressed no interest in the idea, so Vázquez signed with the Minnesota Twins instead. That seems a little weird. Is Chaim Bloom really that excited about the current duo of Reese McGuire and Connor Wong? If so, is that in fact yet another reason he should be fired?
We were sorry to see Cecily Strong left SNL after this past weekend's show. It's not surprising, Strong was clearly moving onto other projects recently, but it's still too bad. She was an all-star for 10 years and we wish her the best. At least they gave her a worthy send-off:
Okay kids, that's going to do it for now. We want to kick off the new week with a bit of an attitude, while also maintaining the holiday spirit. With that in mind, here's Lemmy Kilmister, Billy Gibbons, and Dave Grohl to close things out with, "Run Rudolph Run" for today's, "Song of the Day."
Perfect.
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.
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