Hi everyone,

How are you, as we head into the final days of 2022?  Don't be too jealous, but I'm celebrating the end of the year in style.  That's right, I'm off to the dentist in a little while.  Not only that - I get to go back next week.  Yes, that's my good fortune.  It shouldn't actually be that bad, but still...ugh.  Oh well, at least it will be a decent day weather-wise.  First things first, let's check out today's headlines.  BDH and Little Buddha made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Thursday Clutter.

Rep.-elect George Santos is under investigation by Long Island prosecutors, after it became known that he has lied about multiple aspects of his background.  The Republican has been dishonest about his ethnicity, education, and work background, and it's still unclear how he made enough money over the past few years to loan his campaign $700,000.  (Hold on, the feds are now looking into his finances.)  Democrats say Santos should step aside, due to his fraud. Meanwhile, some members of the GOP have criticized him for lying, but they won't call for Santos to resign, because their upcoming House majority is so narrow.  If Santos does take office, the Department of Justice will join the look into his background.

How did this guy really make his money?  (pic via cbsnews.com)

Republicans are supposedly "rethinking" their strategy around abortion, after the issue was used to limit the expected "red wave" to a trickle in this year's midterm elections.  Here's a suggestion:  End the war on women and stop interfering in their lives.  Rather than trying to distract the country with this fanatical push of abortion bans, show that you have anything else to offer besides tax cuts for the wealthy.  Of course, that's all the GOP does have to bring to the table, so we expect nothing will change on this front.  Conservatives get off on controlling women at every opportunity.  They also want 99% of the country to be as economically vulnerable as possible so they don't have the energy or time to fight back against the rich.  Abortion bans satisfy both fetishes for them,  so expect more of the same in 2023.

ICYMI - Sean Hannity admitted under oath earlier this year that he never believed Donald Trump actually won the 2020 presidential election.  Hannity's confession came during his August deposition in Dominion Voting Systems' defamation case against Fox for claiming Dominion's machines were rigged for President Biden.  People who believe Fox News tells the truth about anything must also think pro wrestling shows feature authentic fights.  Fox "News" anchors will say anything for a buck.  They show it time and time again, but their audience continues to mindlessly absorb their nonsense without a second of critical thought. 

Apparently we weren't the only ones to experience some brief Twitter outages last night.  Every time that happens now, we start to wonder if the social media platform finally died.  Meanwhile, Tesla's stock was up 3% yesterday, so now it's only down 68% for the year.  Yeah, Elon Musk definitely has things under control these days.

CNN's Nicole Goodkind is right:  Wall Street is terrible at predicting where the stock market will be in 12 months.  The Clutter investment team would argue that many analysts are also not great at short-term forecasts either.  Our staff likes to have a sense of what people are saying, but whether it's good or bad, our strategy remains the same:  Put together a diversified basket of low-cost index funds, contribute regularly, and ignore the headlines.  Oh, and if everyone is panicking for some reason, go bargain-hunting.  Doing all of that, while keeping an eye on the long-term picture, is a solid path for financial security.

We still can't think of a reason why we'd get on a plane anytime soon.  Everything about the process sounds awful, and we still don't love the idea of sitting in a cramped metal tube with a bunch of strangers for a few hours.  If we had to put money on it, we'd bet we don't take another flight until at least 2024, so here's the question:  Which comes first:  Do we fly, or does Southwest Airlines finally get their act together?  The airline has cancelled thousands of flights over the past week, and they don't sound that confident about being back on track next week.  Yeah, if we can't get somewhere by car, train, bike, or walking, we'll take a pass. 

The bad news is that there's reportedly a new Coronavirus variant rapidly spreading across the Northeast.  The good news is that there apparently isn't any evidence yet that this one is more likely to lead to hospitalizations, so get your shots and boosters, friends.  We want you all here with us for 2023.

Scientists say they've developed a blood test to detect Alzheimer's disease.  This method is said to be, "cheaper, safer and easier to administer, and it can improve clinical confidence in diagnosing Alzheimer's and selecting participants for clinical trial and disease monitoring."  The test still needs to be evaluated, but this sounds like a promising development.

The Boston Red Sox agreed to a one-year/$10 million deal with two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber yesterday.  The deal includes $2 million in bonuses, and an $11 million club option for 2024.  Our reaction to this signing?  They found a guy to plug one of the holes in the rotation, but what can be reasonable expected from the almost 37-year-old righty?  He pitched in just 24 games from 2019-2021 because of injuries, but he appeared in 31 games for the Tampa Bay Rays this year.  At best, he's a solid placeholder, but this move doesn't do anything to improve the Red Sox.  It's basically a mild upgrade from the now-departed Rich Hill. 

Ten people were convicted in the 2019 attempted murder of David Ortiz yesterday.  It's fascinating how that story just vanished shortly after the incident.  Three years later, the motive for the shooting isn't entirely certain.  Was someone targeting Big Papi, or were they really going after his cousin and just hit the wrong guy? 

The Las Vegas Raiders have benched quarterback Derek Carr for the remainder of the season, and Carr will step away from the team during that time.  Former New England Patriots QB Jarrett Stidham will replace Carr and make his first career NFL start against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.  Stidham has been with Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels since he was drafted in 2019, so he knows this offense well.  According to the linked article, the team is shutting down Carr to keep their options open for next year, but there's little chance the guy will stay after this move.  Of course, this makes it even more embarrassing that the Patriots recently lost to Carr and the Raiders.

The first reviews are in for Tom Hanks' new movie, A Man Called Otto.  We'd probably enjoy the film.  It's hard to dislike anything with Hanks, but we'll likely wait for it to appear on HBO Max.  If you can't wait, A Man Called Otto hits theaters on January 13.

We want to wish a happy birthday to the late Bernard Cribbins, who would have turned 94 years old today.  Our understanding is that Cribbins appears in next year's Doctor Who 60th anniversary specials, and we can't wait to appreciate Wilfred Mott one last time.

The legendary Stan Lee would have turned 100 years old yesterday.  Apparently Marvel will be celebrating him with a documentary to air on Disney+ at some point in 2023:

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's P!nk to close things out with, "Raise Your Glass" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, folks.  It was great to see you, as always. BDH and Little Buddha can't believe tomorrow is the last time we're all going to meet up in 2022, so they hope to see you all back here for one more round of coffee on Friday.  In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your day, be good, and we'll catch up with you again soon.  Until then, that's today's Clearing out the Clutter, and we are outta here.