Friday Clutter: Trump, Alabama Death Penalty, Tesla, NFL Playoffs, Bill Belichck, Vince McMahon Lawsuit, Road House, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Justin Timberlake, David Lee Roth, Mick Mars, and more
Tuesday Clutter: Trump, E. Jean Carroll, Merrick Garland, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, Super Bowl LVIII, Bella Twins, Larry David, Sebastian Bach, Depeche Mode, and more

Monday Clutter: Trump, GOP Civil War, Amazon Prime Video, Boston Red Sox, NFL Playoffs, WWE, Kim Kardashian and Elizabeth Taylor, GH, U2, and more

Hi everyone,

Welcome back, and a happy Monday to you all.  How was your weekend?  No complaints on this end.  It was generally quiet, and our crew had a great time watching yesterday's NFL playoff games.  Can't say I'm super excited for the next round of shoveling which I have to do today.  I haven't been outside yet, but it looks like we got at least six inches, and my guess is that the snow is wet and heavy.  That's not fun.

BDH and Little Buddha say it's supposed to warm up a little this afternoon (although there will be some wind), so maybe I can hold off a bit before tackling this mess.  That would give me more time for stretching.  Also, the guys have been looking at the schedule, and we may need to be out for a few days at the end of this week.  More on that tomorrow or Wednesday.

In any case, let's check out 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 Clutter.

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ICYMI - Donald Trump was ordered on Friday to pay E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for continuing to defame her after she accused him of sexual assault.  Have we finally found the number that keeps Trump from attacking the columnist?  Cheers to Carroll, who has been more effective than anyone when it comes to holding Trump accountable for his actions.  Her courage is inspiring.

To make matters worse for the head of the MAGA cult, a verdict is expected in his New York civil fraud trial by Wednesday.  He's already been found liable on most of the counts, but how much will that cost him?   NY Attorney General Letita James is looking for a $370 million penalty.  That would be the correct result.  However, even if it's not that much, we'll bet Judge Arthur Engoron levies a punishment that's at least as much as the one in Carroll's case.  Now we'll get a real test of Trump's alleged wealth.  Things continue to get worse for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, and we haven't even gotten to the criminal cases yet. 

Speaking of the NY fraud case, it apparently led to a discovery that Donald Trump may be guilty of tax evasion.  The court-appointed monitor indicated in a filing that it appears Trump's long-standing claim of owing $48 million to one of his companies appears to be fiction.  Donald Trump has had years to correct this, so if the monitor is right, it seems we might have the start of yet another criminal case against him.

Donald Trump January 29 2024Donald Trump just can't stop breaking the law.  (pic via cnn.com)

It's an ominous sign that Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene keep calling for a new Civil War/"national divorce."  They don't believe we are one country, and they are only loyal to Donald Trump, a man who couldn't care less about the United States.

Republicans don't want to actually do anything about border security, because Donald Trump wants to use it as an attack against President Biden.  However, that didn't stop the House GOP from passing articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas yesterday, supposedly due to his inaction about the same issue.  The GOP will never stop trying to gaslight Americans.

Investors will have an eye on this Wednesday's Federal Reserve meeting, as they hope to get new guidance about when the first interest rate cut of the year will take place.  The Clutter team has no idea when that will happen, but the staff has enjoyed earning a reasonable return on their savings account during this fight against inflation.  Whenever the cuts do begin, the team hopes the Fed will eventually leave things at a point where the cash still earns enough to pay for at least one cup of coffee each month.  That seems like a reasonable ask.

Amazon Prime Video's ads start today.  Will you pay an additional $3 a month to keep your movies and show commercial-free?  We already don't get our money's worth from the streaming service, so that's going to be a no on this end.  All of these bundles look more and more like cable TV packages with each passing day.

Boston Globe columnist Chad Finn has some objective thoughts about this year's Boston Red Sox team.  Spoiler:  This season doesn't look like it's going to be pretty.  That's disappointing by itself, but the really disheartening part is this growing sense that ownership just doesn't care anymore.  If they want to move on to new projects, more power to them, and thanks for the memories and titles, but sell the club.

Like we said earlier, both of yesterday's NFL playoff games were entertaining.  We'd certainly prefer to have the New England Patriots involved, but when they're not playing, it's easier to get into the drama without feeling nauseous.

First, as we predicted on Friday, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC title game.  The Ravens were dominant throughout the regular season, particularly at home.  However, while Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was trying to prove he's ready to go to the next level, Patrick Mahomes is already there, and that experience paid off for his second straight playoff win on the road.  This was two straight weeks of Mahomes and company beating a better team, and they'll have to do it one more time if they want to repeat as Super Bowl Champions.

Speaking of which, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Detroit Lions 34-31 in the NFC championship game.  Give the 49ers credit - they were down 17 points at halftime and rallied back for the win.  We thought the Lions' aggressiveness would lead them to victory, and our prediction was looking pretty good for the first 30 minutes of the game.  However, San Francisco's Brock Purdy and company didn't cave, while Detroit's Jared Goff and crew seemed to feel the pressure as things got away from them. 

The Lions were a fun story, and we're sorry it's over, but now it's down to the Chiefs and 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII on February 11.  Who are you picking?

It's remarkable how poorly Paul "HHH" Levesque handled questions about Vince McMahon's resignation from the WWE this past weekend.  Levesque, the WWE's chief content officer (i.e. head of creative) told reporters after Saturday's Royal Rumble event that he hadn't read the sexual abuse and trafficking lawsuit against McMahon and knew nothing about it.  Not that we were expecting Levesque to get into detail about his father-in-law's legal problems, but there's simply no way this is true. 

The lawsuit came out two days before the event.  It's Levesque's responsibility as part of WWE management to know about it, and there's no way the company's legal and P.R. teams didn't have some sort of response before Saturday night.  The lawsuit against Vince McMahon is more than an indictment of one individual - it's a takedown of an enabling company culture.  McMahon may have been the first to leave because of the filing, but it's likely he won't be the last.

Kim Kardashian is producing and starring in a documentary series about Elizabeth Taylor for the BBC.  You know, we're kind of interested to see that.  The iconic Taylor lived a remarkable life, and it's intriguing that the linked article says Kardashian claims to have been the last person to ever interview her.  Hopefully this project will eventually make it to a streaming service in the United States.

Isla Fisher recently shared some thoughts about the possibility of a third season of Wolf Like Me.  We watched the first season of the Peacock series, starring Fisher and Josh Gad, in 2022, and frankly, we didn't realize there was a second.  That might be something to revisit on a quiet weekend.

Is Vanessa Marcil returning to General Hospital?  The former Brenda seemed to indicate it was in the works with her response to an Instagram post comment, but maybe she just meant some day.  We'd love to see Marcil back in Port Charles, even though the actress blocked us on Twitter for no reason.  (Seriously, we've never criticized her, so no idea what that's about, but life goes on, right?)

We loved Alice in Chains' 1994 EP, Jar of Flies back in the day.  That sucker was on repeat on the CD player for the entire summer of 1995.  It still holds up 30 years later, but we're not sorry we missed a chance to buy a commemorative record with actual flies embedded in it.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Here's U2 to kick off the new week with a live version of, "Even Better Than the Real Thing" for today's, "Song of the Day."

It looks like the visuals at their residency at Sphere in Las Vegas live up to the hype.

Thanks for stopping by, folks.  It was great to see you, as always.  Enjoy the rest of your day, go at a relaxed pace if you also need to shovel, 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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