Hi everyone,

Welcome back.  How was your weekend?  As expected, it was pretty quiet here, apart from the surprising New England Patriots game, but we'll get to that in a bit.  We've got a busy week ahead, but the top item on today's to-do list is our annual boiler maintenance appointment.  Gotta make sure the heat is going to work before it gets any colder outside.  That's my kind of errand - an important thing to accomplish that requires me to sit still.

Let's check out the headlines while we wait for the heating guy to arrive.  BDH and Little Buddha just made coffee, so grab yourself a nice medium DD, because it's time to clear out some Monday Clutter.

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It's so predictable, you can set your watch to it:  Donald Trump now claims Sydney Powell was never his attorney, despite his previous public comments to the contrary.  If a person has the goods on Trump, he's never had anything to do with them.  Trump has gone back to one of his most frequent lies, because Powell pleaded guilty to multiple charges in the Georgia 2020 presidential election case.  As a result of her deal, she is now required to turn over documents and testify truthfully in other cases, which is a major legal liability for the MAGA cult leader.

Sydney Powell isn't the only Georgia defendant who made a deal:  Kenneth Chesebro also pleaded guilty to one felony count in exchange for his cooperation.  Chesebro is the lawyer who wrote the memos outlining how the "fake electors" scheme would work.  He will also be required to testify in other cases.  Chesebro spoke directly with Donald Trump about this plan, which means Donald Trump's legal exposure is only going to get worse.

Donald Trump's Georgia problem continues to grow.  (pic via cnbc.com)

Mike Pence may qualify for the November 8 GOP presidential debate, but even if he does, what's the point?  Pence barely has any money, has zero momentum, and there's no reason to think either of those things are going to change.  Even in a world where Donald Trump's legal problems prevent him from being the Republican presidential nominee, no one thinks Pence would be a viable candidate.  The majority of the party still loathes him for not helping Trump steal the 2020 election.  This candidacy never made any sense in the first place.

It's been almost three weeks, and the search for a House speaker continues:  Republicans sank Jim Jordan's bid behind closed doors last week, as the hardliner's aggressive tactics came back to bite him.  It's interesting to note that Donald Trump's endorsement of Jordan apparently did nothing to help his candidacy.  Now there are nine candidates for the job, as the GOP continues to show a complete inability to govern.  Every last one of them should be thrown out of office in 2024.  The country needs adults in Washington, not a bunch of squabbling children.

SNL nailed Jim Jordan's failure (and perhaps gave a hint about his future) in this week's cold open:

A new study indicates that the Mediterranean diet may reduce PTSD symptoms.  Other research has indicated that this diet, which is heavy on fruits, vegetables, and fish, can also cut the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer's, among other benefits.  We really need to look at this further.  Our crew likes fruits and fish, but veggies are often a weak point in the staff's diet.

The Boston Red Sox are still looking for a new head of baseball operations.  At this rate, BDH and Little Buddha will be sending in their application by the end of the week.

A friend was at the Omni Boston Hotel at the Seaport last weekend and told us they may have accidentally come across the memorial service for the late Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield.  The spotted former Red Sox players included Mike Timlin, Nomar Garciappara, Dustin Pedroia, Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon, Mike Lowell, and Jacoby Ellsbury.  As our source said, "It was exciting and sad at the same time."  Assuming that this was a service for the knuckleballer, it's nice to hear so many of his former teammates were there.

We predicted on Friday that the New England Patriots would lose 31-10 to the Buffalo Bills this weekend.  There's a reason we don't make bets often:  The Patriots beat the Bills 29-25 yesterday in what was their most impressive game in a few years.  The New England offense looked much better right out of the gate, marching down the field on the opening drive, as their offensive line finally looked like a cohesive unit.  The Patriots settled for a field goal, but then Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen threw a interception on his first pass of the game.  New England was able to turn that into an interception into a touchdown, (the first time they've scored on a turnover all year) and were up 10-0. 

New England played a relatively clean game (eight penalties for 59 yards), but Buffalo has an explosive offense that can erupt at anytime.  A late fourth quarter drive gave Buffalo a 25-22 lead with just under two minutes to play.  Honestly, it seemed like a good performance was about to go to waste.  However, Mac Jones led the Patriots offense down the field on an eight-play drive that ended with the winning TD pass to tight end Mike Gesicki.  It was only the second time Jones led the team to a comeback win, but man, it was great.

The win brings the Patriots to 2-5, so they clearly still have a long road ahead of them this season.  However, the team has to be encouraged as hell by what happened yesterday.  When the offensive line works at a high level, Mac Jones elevates with them, and if he doesn't throw the ball directly to a defender, this team can compete with just about anyone.  Here's hoping they can build on that momentum when they face the Miami Dolphins (who just lost 31-17 to the Philadelphia Eagles) next weekend.

It was reported on the NFL Network yesterday that Bill Belichick reportedly signed a "lucrative, multi-year" contract extension last offseason.  Ian Rappaport doesn't get much wrong, so assuming this is correct, Belichick isn't going anywhere, folks (especially after getting the 300th regular season win of his career yesterday.)  This news also shows that fans should ignore Patriots owner Robert Kraft anytime he pretends to be outraged about the team's performance. 

Kraft loves to pretend he's the voice of his customers,  He pretended to be outraged when Tom Brady was suspended during "Deflategate," but it was business as usual with the other owners.  He made some comments about not being pleased with the direction of the team over the past year, but apart from maybe forcing the hiring of offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, it's business as usual with Belichick.  The billionaire wants everyone to love him while he continues to count his money.

Comedian Bill Burr can be funny at times, but it sounds like we can miss his new Netflix movie, Old Dads, without any hesitation.  Life's too short to spend an hour and 42 minutes listening to a bunch of cranky old guys complain about political correctness.

We watched the first two episodes of the new season of Upload on Amazon Prime last weekend.  Andy Allo is always delightful, and Robbie Amell is fine, but the overall plot seems to have lost a lot of charm.  The linked article explains the problems in more detail, and it also makes it sound like things aren't going to improve.  That's disappointing, but we'll stick with the show anyway to see how things play out.  Maybe Allo will have returned to Chicago Fire by the time this is over.

Prince fans will enjoy this oral history of his Diamonds and Pearls era.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's Ozzy Osbourne to close things out with, "You Can't Kill Rock and Roll" for today's, "Song of the Day."

Thanks for stopping by, folks.  It's always fun to kick off the new week with you.  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.