Hi everyone,

Welcome back.  How are you?  It's a good thing I turned on the heat last night.  It's 29 degrees outside right now.  29 degrees.  In the second half of May.  Don't like that one little bit.  This freeze flash should be over in a couple of hours.  I just hope it didn't wreck the garden.  The birds are chirping, and BDH and Little Buddha are sure they're asking each other if they came back north too early this year. 

You want to check out the headlines while we wait for things to warm up around here?  Let's do that.  The guys made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, and let's clear out some Thursday Clutter.

(We have teamed up with Clearly Balanced Days, a NH-based/women-owned CBD company.  Enter promo code "cmoore" to get $5 off your purchase!)

The National Archives will reportedly hand over documents to special counsel Jack Smith that undercut Donald Trump's defense regarding how he handled the classified records he took with him as he left the White House.  Trump has repeatedly claimed the files in question were "automatically declassified" simply because he said so.  The documentation being sent to Smith apparently shows that Trump and his advisors were specifically informed about the correct declassification process.  That would establish that Trump knew he was violating those procedures when he took this data to Mar-a-Lago.  In other words, his legal problems on this front continue to get worse. 

The head of the GOP is a legally-confirmed sex abuser, a national security threat, and a fraud.  (pic via cnn.com)

President Biden sounded increasingly optimistic yesterday about the government not defaulting on its debts by June 1.  The president left for a G-7 summit in Japan after speaking to reporters, but he said he'd cut the trip short to help hammer out a deal this weekend.  It's still outrageous that the GOP repeatedly holds the national economy hostage to try to ram through budget cuts, instead of going through the appropriations process.  Republicans are hostile to the welfare of 99% of this country's population.  Avoiding a default is critical, but let's see how President Biden and Speaker McCarthy get there.

Some Senate Democrats apparently share those concerns about the directions of the talks:  They're circulating a letter calling on President Biden to prepare to invoke the 14th Amendment and lift the debt ceiling by himself.  Biden's obsession with bipartisanship makes this unlikely, but these senators are right - he shouldn't be negotiating with domestic terrorists. 

As expected, House Republicans punted on the resolution to expel Rep. George Santos yesterday, instead sending the motion to the House Ethics Committee by a party-line vote of 221-204.  The GOP constantly shows it has no problem with criminality.  If these people are going to support Donald Trump running for president again, they're certainly not going to take action against Rep. Santos for fraud, especially when they hold such a slim majority in the House. 

Yesterday's hearing of the mifepristone appeal did not go well, as the three anti-abortion justices seem comfortable with following U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk lead and put their personal beliefs ahead of the law.  The plaintiffs in this case have no legal standing in the first place, so that should have been the end of this challenge right out of the gate.  The panel also doesn't seem to have a problem with the idea of undercutting the FDA's overall power to regulate drug safety at a national level.  Whatever the ruling, this battle will eventually end up back at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The North Carolina legislature overrode Governor Roy Cooper's veto of the state's new 12-week abortion ban, thanks in part to three Republicans who previously pledged to uphold the former law.  One of them, State Representative Tricia Cotham,who switched parties in April, ran for office on a pro-choice platform.  How much do you think it cost to buy her vote?

Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $75 million settlement to victims of Jeffrey Epstein who were suing the bank, claiming that Deutsche enabled and benefited from Epstein's sex trafficking of minors.  You'll remember that Deutsche Bank was one of the only lenders still willing to do business with Donald Trump, so they apparently specialized in sexual predators.

The Boston Red Sox crushed the Seattle Mariners 12-3 last night.  Boston set the tone early, going up 9-0 after two innings.  That was more than enough for starting pitcher Bryan Bello, who gave up just one run and three hits over five innings.  Bello continues to shine.  As the linked article points out, the rookie has an ERA of 2.57 in his last four outings.  Next up:  The Sox have today off before they start a road trip against old friend Xander Bogaerts and the San Diego Padres on Friday night.  We'll have to take a nap to be able to stay up for that game.

The Boston Red Sox finally moved pitcher Nick Pivetta to the bullpen after last night's game.  Pivetta is a dependable player who is good at staying healthy.  However, he's a back-of-the-rotation guy at best anyway, and the Sox have five better options right now (i.e. Chris Sale, James Paxton, Corey Kluber, Tanner Houck, and Brayan Bello.)  The move gives Boston a multi-innings relief option, and it might help Pivetta's effectiveness to not have to face an opposing lineup more than once a night.

Boston Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall said he's hoping to return to playing on June 9.   That's the first day he's eligible to come off the IL after breaking his left wrist in April.  We'll see if the Sox agree with that call, but in any case, Duvall would be a welcome return to the lineup.  Given how well the Sox outfield is playing right now, maybe Duvall could split some DH time with Justin Turner when he returns, in order to reduce the chance of another injury.

The Boston Celtics lost 123-116 to the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night, which means they've surrendered home-court advantage again.  These guys refuse to make anything easy.  The C's were leading 66-57 at the half, but the Heat outscored them 46-25 in the third quarter, and Boston couldn't recover.  They'll try to regroup when Game 2 takes place in Boston tomorrow night.

We're sorry to hear that legendary professional wrestler "Superstar" Billy Graham died yesterday at age 79.  No specific cause of death has been revealed yet, but he had been battling health issues for years.  Graham was a big tan guy with long blonde hair who wore tie-dye shirts and pants and radiated charisma.  The man could cut a promo like nobody's business.  There would have been no Hulk Hogan without Graham, who was probably the first "sports entertainer" in Vince McMahon's mind.  He started out in bodybuilding and was a training partner of Arnold Schwarzenegger before transitioning to wrestling in the early 1970's. 

There's a whole generation of wrestling stars besides Hulk Hogan who owe their careers to "the man with the power, too sweet to be sour."  Our condolences go out to Billy Graham's family, friends, and fans.

The new trailer for the upcoming Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One is tremendous.  It pulls you in, even if you don't know a single thing about the blockbuster franchise.  The movie comes to theaters on July 12, but in the meantime, have a look at this:

We caught Air on Amazon Prime Video yesterday.  The movie about how Nike came up with the iconic Air Jordan shoe in 1984, and convinced Michael Jordan to sign with them in the first place, is an entertaining bit of fluff.  The soundtrack is tremendous.  That's probably the biggest highlight of the whole thing.  The performances are all fine, but the story lacks any sense of drama, because you know of course Nike will eventually snag Jordan. 

What you get is 112 minutes of Matt Damon taking chances and breaking a few norms to get the job done.  Again, the story is fine, we're just not sure it was needed.  If you like the cast (including Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Tucker, Viola Davis, and Jason Bateman, among others), you'll enjoy the movie.  If they're not your cup of tea, you can move on to whatever else is playing on the streaming service these days.

A new teaser clip just came out for the upcoming season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which returns on June 7.  We're excited to see this awful crew back in action again:

Kelly Severide hasn't been seen on Chicago Fire since February, as actor Taylor Kinney continues to take time off from the show for undisclosed reasons (apart from saying it's "a personal matter.")  Last night's episode opened the door for Severide's leave from Firehouse 51 to continue well into next season if necessary.

We knew that General Hospital actress Haley Pullos was taking some time off to recover from a car accident.  It was announced that she would be temporarily replaced on the show by Holiday Mia Kriegel.  However, that's not the full story:  It turns out that Pullos has been arrested for driving under the influence and causing the crash by allegedly going the wrong way on the freeway on April 29.  Looks like that's going to be an extended leave of absence from Port Charles.

The Foo Fighters start a new tour next Wednesday.  They still have yet to announce a new drummer to replace the late Taylor Hawkins, but it sounds like Josh Freese is the most likely candidate.

We want to wish a happy belated birthday to Janet Jackson.  The singer turned 57 years old this past Tuesday.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here are the Foo Fighters to close things out with their new single, "Under You" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, folks.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day (once it warms up), 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.