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
01/30/2024
Hi everyone,
How are you? We are moving slowly around the office this morning. We got about eight inches of snow yesterday, and it was the heavy/wet stuff. Fortunately, I shoveled it before it had a chance to freeze, because otherwise, the driveway would have been out of commission for about a month. However, everything hurts at the moment, so we'll call it a draw.
BDH and Little Buddha are reviewing the to-do list to see what really needs to be taken care of today. They promised to keep it as short as possible and said there's no need to rush on anything. That's good, because I couldn't move quickly if I tried right now. However, I can sit here while we all check out the headlines, so let's do that. 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.
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Donald Trump is angry that the stock market is doing so well, because he's rooting against this country: Trump predicted stocks would crash if Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Spoiler: Wall Street just hit new highs last week, so now Trump is trying to dismiss that as, "The stock market is making rich people richer," as if he'd ever really think that was a problem. Don't forget, Trump also admitted he's rooting for the U.S. economy to collapse this year in order to hurt President Biden. It shouldn't be too much to ask that a presidential candidate want to see the United States succeed. However, Donald Trump only cares about one thing: Himself.
E. Jean Carroll said she intends to spend the $83.3 million Donald Trump now owes her on something he "hates." According to the linked article, Carroll suggested that it would be a fund to help women who have been sexually assaulted by Trump. That sounds like an outstanding idea. The columnist also seems pretty confident that one way or the other, she'll eventually collect that money. We would not bet against her, because this woman has done a better job than anyone else of actually holding Trump accountable for his actions. It will be fun to see exactly what she has in mind.
E. Jean Carroll isn't done with Donald Trump yet. (pic via www.goodmorningamerica.com)
Attorney General Merrick Garland wants everyone to know he's having back surgery this weekend, and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco will be in charge of the Department of Justice while he recovers from the anesthesia. The White House is clearly determined not to have a repeat of the recent problem with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin not notifying the appropriate parties in a timely fashion when he went into the hospital.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is apparently now talking about running for president as a Libertarian because he's only been able to get on the ballot in one state as an independent candidate. What are we doing here? Does Kennedy need money? Is he running a Trump-like con on his supporters to access their wallets? We know Trump guru Steve Bannon encouraged Kennedy to run, but it's clear he'll take more votes away from the MAGA cult leader than President Biden with his anti-vaccine nonsense. What's the endgame? The whole thing seems like a gigantic waste of time and resources, and it's more than a little sad.
Elon Musk claims his Neuralink company just implanted a device in a human brain for the first time. Whatever the theoretical benefits of this procedure might end up being, we can not imagine agreeing to letting Musk near our thoughts under any circumstances. That reads like the premise of a Chicago Med episode that goes wrong before the opening credits begin.
It sounds like Apple's upcoming iOS 18 will have a heavy amount of AI integration. Can't say we love that, because AI increasingly feels like a looming danger, more than a benefit. However it also doesn't sound like this initial introduction will have a strong impact on our phone usage. Guess we'll have to wait and see once iOS 18 comes out in June.
Morningstar.com recently published what they consider to be the, "Best Stock Funds for the Core of a Long-Term Portfolio." The Clutter investment team has no recommendation on the list. You always have to do your own research. However, the staff does find it telling that most of the names are low-cost index funds. Our crew will always argue that these kinds of mutual funds are all 99.9% of investors will ever need. Most actively managed funds under-perform over the long-term, and you're paying for hype. Index funds are boring, but they deliver the goods over the long haul, and their operating expense are lower, which means investors get to keep more of the returns.
In case you didn't know, studies have shown that dogs can suffer from depression. The linked article mentions some signs to look out for, as well as some tips about what to do if your pooch is feeling blue.
We're sorry to hear former Boston Red Sox manager Jimy Williams died yesterday. Williams did a good job leading the club from 1997-2001. We had a chance to meet him at an event years ago, and he was a very pleasant man. Our condolences go out to his family and friends.
New England Patriots fans won't want to hear this, but Boston Globe reporter Tara Sullivan is right: Andy Reid isn't all that far behind Bill Belichick in the discussion about the greatest NFL coach of all-time. Belichick has the #1 spot now, but the younger Reid is on track to close that gap.
Most New England Patriots games aren't on Fox, and when they are, they don't warrant the #1 broadcasting crew these days. Thus, we've only really gotten the chance to listen to outgoing-color commentator Greg Olsen during the playoffs. Gotta say, he was informative and seemed pretty relaxed in the booth. It's hard to believe Tom Brady will be as good when he makes his debut next season, so we'll be interested to see if Olsen waits Brady out for a year or decides to head elsewhere. Our guess is that he bides his time to see if TB12 really wants to stick with this professional jump.
The San Francisco 49ers may be the favorites against the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, but we're expecting a close game that could go either way. We're just trying to figure out if we care who wins. At the moment, we're leaning towards Kansas City, if only to see the meltdown from the usual suspects if Taylor Swift is anywhere near the trophy presentation.
Nikki and Brie Garcia, who were known as the Bella Twins in the WWE, released a statement yesterday reacting to the sexual abuse/trafficking lawsuit recently filed against Vince McMahon. A former WWE executive named John Laurinaitis is also accused of sexual misconduct in the lawsuit, and he happens to be the women's step-father. The Garcia sisters expressed their "shock" at the allegations, said they heard about them the same time as everyone else, and they don't condone that type of behavior from anyone. The WWE fired Laurinaitis in 2022 while he was under investigation in this case, so it seems a little hard to believe the women had no idea why.
It sounds like Larry David has plenty of material to work with for the final(?) season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, which premieres on HBO on February 4.
CBS released a fun trailer to celebrate the return of the FBI shows on February 13. We're excited to watch FBI and FBI: International, but we'll still be taking a pass on FBI: Most Wanted.
Josh Segarra is apparently joining Abbott Elementary this season. We enjoyed the actor in both Chicago P.D. and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, so it should be fun to see him in this new role. Abbott Elementary returns to ABC on February 7.
Tom Selleck shared some memories about his time working with Matthew Perry on Friends.
Former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach recently told the story about what caused some bad blood between him and Jon Bon Jovi years ago. They don't call it the music business for nothing. However, it sounds like the two singers have worked through their disagreement.
Okay kids, that's going to do it for now. Here's Depeche Mode to close things out with, "Before We Drown" 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.
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