Hi everyone,

How are you?  This week got off to a productive start yesterday, which was good.  I took care of a few errands before dropping off my car for its scheduled repairs.  The walk back from the shop was a bit of a hike though, so that kind of killed any more momentum for the rest of the day.  It was some solid exercise though, and there was a Dunkin' along the way, which always helps.

BDH and Little Buddha did a terrific job of coming up with a new to-do list for today, all of which is within walking distance.  It includes the weekly trip to check out the new releases at the bookstore, while the guys listen to the birds chirp, so they're excited about all of that.  First, let's take a peek at the headlines.  There's a fresh pot of coffee on the counter, so grab yourself a nice medium, DD, because it's time to clear out some Tuesday Clutter.

REMINDER:  We are changing web host companies next week and expect to be offline from August 28 to September 4 and back on September 5.  Come hang out with us on our Facebook page while we move!

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

Donald Trump's bail in his Georgia election interference case was set at $200,000 yesterday.  Does that sound high enough for a supposed billionaire?  Trump and his co-defendants were given until this Friday at noon to surrender to officials.  The GOP's top criminal indicated he plans to turn himself in on Thursday. 

The conditions of the bond agreements for Trump and his co-defendants include a provision not to commit any, "act to intimidate any person known to him or her to be a co-defendant or witness in this case or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice."  Does anyone really think Trump will last long without violating this requirement?  If/when he does so, officials better be prepared to hold him accountable for it. 

Lock him up.  (pic via cnbc.com)

Speaking of which:  Is Donald Trump planning to run away to Russia to avoid prosecution?  Probably not, but the chance of that happening is greater than zero.  The man is as allergic to accountability as some people are to peanuts.  The fact that he hasn't already been disqualified from running for president again is a fundamental failure of of our political and legal systems.

In case there was any doubt, prosecutors formally objected to Donald Trump's proposal to push back his federal election trial to 2026 yesterday.  The public has the right to know the verdict in this case before the 2024 presidential election.

Elon Musk remains busy ruining Twitter:  First, he recently announced plans to remove the block feature, thus making it easier for Nazis and other awful people to harass users.  Now, Musk said Twitter will be removing headlines to linked news articles.   Why would he do that?  Good question.  Musk claims it's because the move will “greatly improve the esthetics” of your timeline.  The real answer is that users will be forced to write longer Tweets to explain the article, and Musk wants them to pay the $8 a month to use the 25,000 character limit for verified users.  The man is desperate for your subscription dollars, folks.  Don't give him a dime.

The Boston Red Sox lost 9-4 to the Houston Astros last night.  The loss drops the Sox to four games back in the race for the final AL Wild Card spot.  Boston starter James Paxton had a terrible outing, giving up six earned runs in just four innings.  Boston's pitchers gave up 16 hits overall, and the defense made two errors on the evening.  It's kind of hard to win a game when you play that poorly.  Someone must have calculated how many wins the team's atrocious defense has cost them this year, but we'd bet it's at least five.  There's no way you can make 87 errors at this point without paying a real price for it.  That's a major issue which needs to be addressed before the 2024 season. 

The bad news continues with Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran being placed on the 10-day IL with a bruised toe.  On the other hand, Duran was having a rough stretch recently, so maybe the time off will help him rebound to make a strong push in the final weeks of this season.

The good news is that pitcher Tanner Houck returns to the mound for Boston tonight, his first appearance since being hit in the face with a line drive on June 16. 

With the team buried in the AL East cellar, the New York Yankees have decided it's time to start calling up the prospects.  You love to see it.

The Washington Commanders beat the Baltimore Ravens 29-28 last night.  We usually don't pay much attention to NFL preseason games.  However, the win snapped Baltimore's record 24-game preseason win streak, which we had no idea existed, but it seems worth mentioning.  It's clear great things are ahead for the Commanders under their new ownership.

Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor was recently looking for a pay raise.  Team owner Jim Irsay shut that down quickly, so now the Colts have reportedly given Taylor permission to seek a trade.  Go get your money, man.  NFL careers are short, especially at that position.

There's a trailer for a new movie called Reptile.  It's a murder mystery starring Benicio del Toro, Justin Timberlake, and Alicia Silverstone, and it comes out on Netflix on October 4.   We haven't seen any of those leads in action in a while.  This could be interesting. What do you think?

Two days after that sees the release of Freelance, starring John Cena and Alison Brie.  There's no chance we're buying a ticket to watch this silliness in the theaters, but give us a heads-up when it arrives on Max or another streaming service.  It might not be a bad way to pass the time on a quiet night, especially when you have the option to change the channel:

Disney+ announced that Marvel Studios' Assembled: The Making of Secret Invasion premieres Wednesday, September 20.   Secret Invasion ended up being a pretty disappointing series with an especially awful finale.  However, we'll still probably end up watching this behind-the-scenes show at some point, if only to justify still having the streaming service before Doctor Who finally arrives in November.

Speaking of our favorite Time Lord, there's a new publicity picture for the upcoming 60th anniversary specials.  The shot has David Tennant stopping traffic while staring in shock at someone.  Who could the mystery person be?  Tennant reminds fans that he's the 14th Doctor this time, not the 10th, and there's been a long gap between the two, so people should expect there to be some differences.  We're in no rush for the end of summer, but at the same time, we can't wait to finally see what he's talking about three months from now.

An official video has been released for Ryan Gosling's, "I'm Just Ken" from the Barbie soundtrack.  The clip is as epic as the song, and it includes cameos from Wolfgang Van Halen and Slash, among others.  Just give this tune its Grammy already.

A professionally-shot video of Van Halen's 1984 Monsters of Rock performance at Donnington Park suddenly appeared online.  It seems like the band must have had plans for a project that never came to fruition.  We only had a few minutes to check it out yesterday, but it looks and sounds terrific.  It's like you're right onstage with the band.  Hopefully it won't get pulled from YouTube before we get a chance to sit down and watch the whole show.  If you're a VH fan, you need to see this footage.

Congratulations to Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, who reportedly recently welcomed their second child.  We wish the family the best.

Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato have reportedly both parted ways with manager Scooter Braun, with rumors circulating that Justin Bieber is also looking to make a move.  Many folks know Braun for his fight with Taylor Swift after buying her old master recordings and then selling them to a private equity firm, which is what led to her rerecording her old albums. 

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Sticking with this week's walking theme, here's Johnny Cash to close things out with, "I Walk the Line" 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, 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.