Friday Clutter: Trump, Tyre Nichols, CBD Regulation, M&M's, NFL Notes, Shazam!, Marc Maron, Chicago Fire, Van Halen, Ghost, and more
01/27/2023
Hi folks,
Welcome back, and a happy Friday to you all. What a week. All of that shoveling has wiped me out, but that's okay, because BDH and Little Buddha say it should be a little while before the next snowfall arrives. What's on tap for the weekend? I'm not entirely sure what we're doing, although watching "You People" on Netflix and the NFL playoffs is on the schedule. There may be some extra running around, so if we're not here over the next two days, we'll be back by Monday at the latest.
Are you ready to check out the headlines? Let's do it. The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Clutter.
Facebook is allowing Donald Trump to return after a two-year ban for his statements during the January 6 coup attempt. The company says it has "guardrails" in place in case Trump goes against their standards again. There's no reason to think that won't happen immediately upon his return, because the man hasn't stopped pushing conspiracy theories and blatant lies since he left office. Facebook put profits before public safety here, and it's the wrong call.
The one catch is that coming back to Facebook would immediately slash any value of his Truth Social company, whose entire worth is wrapped up in being his exclusive social media platform. What means more to Trump - stealing money from his supporters with that grift, or having a much larger platform to continue trying to fill the void where his self-esteem should be?
Would returning to Facebook revive Donald Trump's tired 2024 presidential campaign? (pic via usnews.com)
The California Bar is seeking to disbar former Trump attorney John Eastman for his key role in the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Eastman was one of the primary engineers of that anti-democratic strategy, and losing his law license is the minimum punishment he deserves.
Five former Memphis police officers have been indicted for the murder of Tyre Nichols earlier this month. Nichols died after being beaten by the police officers during a traffic stop. The body cam footage of the incident is scheduled to be released tonight. It must be awful, because officials are already begging people not to riot once they see it.
Oh no, what's the latest Twitter change...The platform changed its font? That's...well, that's fine.
The FDA said it won't regulate CBD as a food or supplement, due to questions about the safety of the product, and the agency called for Congress to handle the issue. That sounds like passing the buck to us. Our crew is pro-CBD, but the industry needs some guidelines, because it can seem like the Wild West at times. We can't help wondering how much of this is based on a general anti-marijuana position by the FDA, since pot is still illegal at the federal level. This product can be helpful to many people, so let's set some guidelines and get going.
We mentioned earlier this week that M&M's announced they were retiring their spokescandies for allegedly being too "divisive." That led to all sorts of online discussion about whether or not manufacturer Mars Inc. had caved to the rantings of Tucker Carlson about "woke candies." (The fact that Carlson gets paid well to make such stupid comments with a straight face is an indictment of this country.) We opined that the move to Maya Rudolph as the new spokesperson was actually more likely to be the launch of a Super Bowl ad campaign than anything else. That has been confirmed with the new announcement that the candies have been rebranded as "Ma & Ya's." See for yourself:
We've spent a lot of time trashing now-former New England Patriots offensive play-caller Matt Patricia, but it's clear that quarterbacks coach Joe Judge was also in over his head. The futures of both men are now up in the air, now that the Patriots have hired Bill O'Brien to be their offensive coordinator. However, the team will be much better off if neither of these guys talks to a player again. That Bill Belichick ever thought putting these two in these roles was a good idea will forever be one of the biggest mistakes of his career.
It's not surprising that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he's "ready to go" for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, despite suffering a high ankle sprain against the Buffalo Bills last week. Mahomes is a competitor. He basically had to be dragged to the locker room kicking and screaming last Sunday to have the ankle examined, despite the fact that he was severely hobbling right after it happened. However, even his intense drive can only overcome so much. Sunday's game will be fun, but we're still picking Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals to come out on top and make a second straight trip to the Super Bowl.
The Carolina Panthers have hired Frank Reich to be their next head coach. The move bypasses interim coach Steve Wilks, who lead the team to a 6-6 record after taking over for Matt Ruhle this season. It sounds like the players were pulling for Wilks, and this appears likely to become further fodder for the discrimination lawsuit Wilks filed after being fired by the Arizona Cardinals after only one season. With the league's abysmal history regarding race and coaching hires, you have to doubt that Wilks ever had a legitimate chance to get the job for the long haul.
The New York Jets hired Nathaniel Hackett to be their new offensive coordinator yesterday. Hackett, who was a disaster as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, has a good relationship with Aaron Rodgers, so now the press is running wild that Rodgers may join him with the Jets. That feels mostly like hype to us, but we'd love to watch Rodgers cause some chaos in the Jets organization for a season or two.
We debated whether or not to mention this, because we hate to give the idiocy even 30 seconds of airtime, but apparently it needs to be said: If you know someone who is stupid enough to believe the conspiracy theory that Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin died and has been replaced by a body double, please get that person help. They're not well, and they need serious assistance from a trained professional.
There's a new trailer for the upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods, which hits theaters on March 17:
Talk to us, Shazam! fans. Why is this franchise a good use of our time? BDH and Little Buddha say the first movie is now streaming on HBO Max, so we could watch it there. We read a few of the comic books "back in the day," so we're open to it. However, Black Adam was just so bad, we fear getting burned again. Plus, there's the whole "James Gunn and Peter Safran are resetting the DCEU" thing to consider. Shoot us your arguments at [email protected].
Now, you tell us comedian Marc Maron has a new special coming to HBO Max on February 17, and we are there without debate:
Rob McElhenney revealed that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has started filming its 16th season. We can't wait to see what the gang is up to now.
TVLine.com has a list of shows whose future is uncertain at this point. Are any of them your favorites?
TVLine also has several ways Chicago Fire could explain Kelly Severide's absence, while actor Taylor Kinney takes a leave of absence for personal reasons. All of the choices make sense, but we're partial to the one that could involve Wendy Seager. The return of the multi-talented Andy Allo is long overdue.
We want to wish a happy belated birthday to the late great Eddie Van Halen. The guitar icon would have turned 68 years old yesterday. Eddie provided the soundtrack of the last almost 40 years for us, and he is truly missed. It's still hard to believe we won't see him perform live again.
Sammy Hagar recently claimed that all of the Van Hagar albums are being remastered. The singer didn't provide much in the way of specifics, but we'd love to hear revised versions of the 5150 and OU812 records. They both have such great songs, but they could each use more of a bottom end.
Winger apparently has a new album coming out in May or June. It will be their first one in nine years. Talk about a guilty pleasure - we'll be keeping an eye out for that.
Okay kids, that's going to do it for now. We've got a perfect way to close out this crazy week: Ghost teamed up with Def Leppard singer Joe Elliot on a track called, "Spillways," and it's a great pairing. See for yourself with 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.
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