Hi everyone,

Happy Friday, folks.  What's on the schedule for the weekend?  My guess is that things will be quiet around here.  That's fine.  This week was a fight, and next week should be pretty busy, so some downtime sounds like a terrific idea.  BDH and Little Buddha are always up for a nap.  Maybe I'll do some cleaning before the New England Patriots game on Sunday.  We'll see.

In any case, let's take a peek at the news.  The guys made a fresh pot of coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Clutter.

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Prosecutors are fighting Donald Trump's attempt to have his 2020 election interference case dismissed, arguing that former presidents are not immune from criminal prosecutions.  Trump is trying to convince U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to throw out the charges, claiming he is protected by presidential immunity.  This is interesting.  First, of course Trump should be prosecuted for trying to stage a coup.  On the flip side, there doesn't seem to be a clear understanding about a former president's legal liability for criminal acts committed while in office.  This sounds like a great time to establish that precedent.  No one is above the law.  Donald Trump is a threat to this country who should spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Shocker:  Donald Trump violated the gag order in his NY civil fraud trial by refusing to take down a post attacking the law clerk of the judge in charge of the case.  Who could have seen that coming?  Apart from every single person on the planet, of course.  The real question remains, what will Judge Arthur Engoron do about it?  He's warned of "serious sanctions" before, but if he doesn't levy a real punishment against Trump, there's no reason to believe the MAGA cult leader will stop defying the court.  Anyone else who did this would already be in jail.  Trump should be treated the same.

Lock him up.  (pic via cnn.com)

Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell struck a plea deal with prosecutors in the Georgia election case, just one day before her trial was scheduled to begin.  The terms of the agreement include that Powell turn over documents and testify in other trials.  That's terrible news for Donald Trump, as his lies about a rigged election will likely be repeatedly exposed in a court room by one of his own accomplices.

This feels like a terrible remake of Groundhog Day:  Rep. Jim Jordan seems determined to humiliate himself again by scheduling a third vote on his bid to be House speaker, even though he doesn't have the support of enough of his colleagues.  There's a masochistic streak in the GOP that warrants study by a mental health professional.  The world is in chaos, there's a government shutdown looming on November 17, and these clowns continue to show they are incapable of governing. 

At this point, they should step aside and allow Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to take the gavel, since he's consistently getting more votes than any Republican.  It's time to remove the kids and let the adults get back to work.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell said yesterday that while progress has been made, inflation is still too high, and the Fed is not done trying to get it down to 2%.  It doesn't sound like Powell thinks additional interest rate hikes are required in the short term.  However, it also appears investors shouldn't expect cuts anytime soon.

We're looking at new phones, but reading about all of the problems with the new iOS 17 makes us want to stay right in place for the foreseeable future.  Our phone may be operating on iOS 2, but it still works smoothly.  This just goes to show what we've always said:  New things are a hassle, and you should never get involved with them.  (Hold on:  BDH and Little Buddha apparently disagree.  We'll discuss this more at the next staff meeting.)

A new study shows that people who eat a lot of red meat may have a much higher chance of developing Type 2 diabetes.  ("A lot" is defined in this case as more than a serving a day.)  We're talking a possible 50% greater likelihood.  Our diet has other issues, but we've never been huge red meat consumers.  Give us almost every possible style of chicken, and we're happy campers.

The season is shaping up to be a disaster, but we'll still watch the New England Patriots face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, mostly so we can hang out with Dad Clutter.   Between the host of injuries on New England's side, and the talent disparity between the two teams, another blowout is definitely on the table this weekend.  Anything can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL.  However, short of a miracle, we see the Patriots losing somewhere around 31-10.  Hopefully that's not too optimistic.

Actor/former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. said he thought the late Bray Wyatt could have had a successful Hollywood career.  Wyatt (real name: Windham Rotunda) had an amazing presence on the screen, and he connected beautifully with live audiences.  It's such a shame that we'll never get to see how that could have played out over the long run.  It's still so weird to think that the 36-year-old Wyatt is really gone.  We keep thinking he'll eventually make a return to SmackDown! one of these days.

Warning:  We're about to drop a spoiler about this week's Loki episode.  If you don't want to know what it is, jump down two paragraphs.  Everyone set?  Last call....So, last night's show mostly felt like a misfire.  Jonathan Majors returned as a "He Who Remains" variant who was played for laughs in a way that completely undermines the character.  This guy holds the fate of the multiverse in his hands?  Bad call to present him as a joke.  Maybe we will eventually see a gripping transformation in the weeks to come, but it felt like his impact was eroded for an hour. 

On the plus side, it appears the real villain of the series might be someone else, which was an interesting twist.  Of course, it's always fun to watch Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson together.  We're also starting to become more invested in Sylvie, so we'll be back to see what happens next week.  Still, that variant...bad call.

Loki kept us from watching the return of Upload, featuring Andy Allo and Robbie Amell, so we'll add that to this weekend's to-do list.

We also caught the first episode of the Frasier reboot.  Our understanding is that the show is supposed to air on Paramount+, but maybe it's also on CBS until the regular scripted programs return?  In any case, there's no doubt that Kelsey Grammer can play the pompous psychiatrist in his sleep.  However, most of the show wasn't funny.  The characters were cartoonish, and the conflict between Frasier and his son Freddie didn't land, apart from a scene where Freddie explained why he missed his grandfather's funeral.  We may stick with the show while it is on CBS, but there's no reason to subscribe to Paramount+ to watch it.

David Tennant will host a documentary about the classic era of Doctor Who.  We'd love to see Talking Doctor Who when it airs on November 1, but it will debut on BBC 4, so we need to figure out if there will be a U.S. viewing option.  There's got to be a way to find it here, right? 

Law & Order: Organized Crime has its fifth showrunner in just three seasons.  The newest boss is a man named John Shiban.  Do we need to take bets on whether or not he makes it to Season 4?  We'd love to hear the backstory about what is causing this constant turnover.   We watched the first season from start to finish.  However,  the finale was confusing, and Dylan McDermott was so awful as the bad guy, we couldn't give him any more of our time.  (McDermott has since moved to FBI: Most Wanted, where he is the primary reason we don't watch that show.) 

We caught about 10 minutes of an episode in Season 3, and it looked like a completely different series, thanks to the lighting and camera angles.  Is the issue that no one can agree what this series should look like?  In any case, good luck to Mr. Shiban.

Former Motley Crue guitarist Mick Mars will release his first solo music on October 30.  Not going to lie, we're a little curious to hear it.  Mars got a raw deal from his former bandmates, so we wish him the best of luck with this project.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers to close things out with, "Mystery of Love" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, folks.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy your weekend, 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.