Wednesday Clutter: Trump, Stormy Daniels, JetBlue, COVID-19 Vaccines, Boston Red Sox, Shohei Ohtani, NFL Notes, Jonathan Majors, Doctor Who, Conan O'Brien, Freddie Mercury, Moby with Lady Blackbird, and more
Friday Clutter: Trump, Adultery, Apple Antitrust Lawsuit, Boston Red Sox, Shohei Ohtani, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, "One Chicago", NCIS, Judas Priest, Lenny Kravitz, and more

Thursday Clutter: President Biden, Trump, Interest Rates, Measles, Boston Red Sox, Shohei Ohtani, New England Patriots, Doctor Who, Queen, and more

Hi everyone,

Welcome back.  How are you?  Our crew is doing well at the moment, although we're not loving the sound of more howling winds outside.  We're talking about a win chill in the teens.  Bleah.  That's no way to start spring.

Today's big item on the to-do list is a trip to the dentist.  Fortunately, it's just for a cleaning.  Given all of the noise right now, BDH and Little Buddha are convinced that if I stand in the right place outside, the winds will pick me up and carry me all the way to my appointment.  They can't stop giggling about the image, so I'll let them have that one.

Of course, the first item on today's list is to check out the headlines with all of you.  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 Thursday Clutter.

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!

President Biden's campaign continues to expand its money advantage over Donald Trump.  The latest filing shows President Biden has $155 million in cash on hand, while Donald Trump only has $36.6 million, as of his most recent records.  That's the advantage of not owing over $500 million in fines and legal fees because the courts of found you liable for fraud, sexual abuse, and defamation.  The GOP sold its soul to waste resources on a man who has no interest in governing and is only running for office to stay out of prison. 

We understand the corruption of Trump's wealthy donors, but that any ordinary American would ever turn over a dollar of their hard-earned money to this man, who has nothing but contempt for them, remains a tragedy.

President Biden Donald Trump March 21 2024The choice is clear.  Pick the guy who doesn't owe over half a billion dollars.  (pic via nbcnews.com)

The clock is ticking:  Donald Trump still can't find anyone to secure his $464 million bond that's due on Monday for his appeal of his NY civil fraud case.  The irony is that no one wants his real estate as collateral, because they'd need to get an honest valuation for it first.  If that happened, we'd all see that Trump has been greatly inflating the worth of his holdings.  Those lies are what got him into this mess in the first place.  We'll say it again, Trump is vulnerable to be exploited by anyone who decides to cover this bill for him.  The United States can't allow the White House to be sold by a serial criminal.

Both presidential candidates are invoking the "are you better off than you were four years ago" question these days.  The answer is obvious - of course we're better off now.  While COVID-19 remains an issue, it's not causing nearly the same damage it was at the start of the pandemic.  We're able to be in the same rooms as our loved ones, even if they have health issues, because we've been vaccinated.  The stock market keeps reaching new highs.  Inflation is down from about 9% to under 3%. 

Oh, and we're not worried about the guy in the White House trying to kill U.S. democracy in order to save himself.  We're exponentially better than we were in 2020, and it's not even close.

President Biden is expected to announce debt forgiveness for 78,000 public service workers today.  The total value of the erased debt is said to be $6 billion.  These people have dedicated their careers to helping others, and they deserve this relief.  There's still much more to be done, but the Biden administration has forgiven about $144 billion for four million Americans to this point.  This is a concrete action to make life better for ordinary Americans, something that will never happen if Donald Trump returns to the White House.  Are we better off than we were four years ago?  Absolutely.  Let's not go backwards.

We're sorry to hear Georgia executed their first inmate in four years yesterday.  Regardless of the crime involved, capital punishment remains an abomination.  State-sanctioned murder is still murder, and it's reprehensible.  A nation which executes its own citizens has no moral high ground.  The death penalty is also irreparably biased against the poor and people of color, and on top of everything else, it's an ineffective policy.  

Federal Reserve officials made it clear yesterday that they are still looking at three interest rate cuts before the end of the year.  The Clutter investment team still wouldn't bet on that, but in any case, they'll continue on with business as usual, with an eye on the long-term picture.

The CDC warned yesterday that the U.S. has already had the same number of measles cases in 2024 as the country had all of last year.  According to the linked article, the contagious, and potentially dangerous disease, was considered "eliminated" in the United States in 2000.  There's no excuse for possibly losing that status when we know that measles can be prevented via vaccination.  Please make sure your kids and families are safe and healthy, folks.

We're glad to hear former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling won't be attending the celebration of the 2004 World Series team at Fenway Park on April 9.  Schilling's pro-Nazi sympathies would have distracted from what should be a fun event.  However, the bigger problem is Schilling publicly revealing ex-teammate Tim Wakfield's health problems last fall, especially when he knew he was wrong at the time to do it. 

Wakefield and his wife Stacy have since both died from cancer battles, and they will also be honored on the 9th.  Schilling would have rightfully been booed out of the building if he'd shown his face, and this celebration would probably have turned into an ugly event.  It's too bad, Curt Schilling is one of the key reasons why the Red Sox finally won it all in 2004.  He should be fondly remembered for that accomplishment. Instead, he'll forever been seen as a Nazi-supporting piece of garbage who no one needs to hear from again.

The Los Angeles Dodgers fired Shohei Ohtani's interpreter yesterday, saying he stole at least $4.5 million from the phenom's bank accounts to cover his gambling debts.  The first version of the story appeared to indicate Ohtani knew about Ippei Mizuhara problem and agreed to pay it off for him.  However, it was later announced that Ohtani had no involvement in, or knowledge of Mizuhara's actions.  Maybe the powers that be decided the original story was no good for Ohtani's image.  This has to be hard for Ohtani.  The two men had worked together since 2018 and were said to be close.  A betrayal like that always stings. 

Also, while Mizurha isn't accused of betting on baseball, you have to wonder if this story is a sign of things to come, as professional sports leagues promote relationships with gambling companies so incessantly.

The NFL Draft starts in just over a month, so we have five weeks left of sports radio talk show hosts and NFL writers debating whether or not the New England Patriots should draft a quarterback with the #3 pick, or move back to acquire more assets to plug in some of their other holes.  Assuming new head coach Jerod Mayo and associates love one of the QB options, we'd prefer they just grab the guy right away.  It's the most important position on the field, so if you see an option you like, go for it. 

Now if it turns out they're not in love with any of the options, and someone like the Minnesota Vikings is willing to overpay to move up to #3, the Pats should take the deal and address some of their many other needs.  Glad we could clear that up.

Margot Robbie's company is producing a movie version of The Sims, which will be directed and co-written by Kate Herron, who directed the first season of Loki.  After what Robbie and friends were able to do with Barbie, we're certainly interested to see their take on the popular computer game.

Doctor Who boss Russell T. Davies wants to make it clear that he asked both Chris Chibnall and Steven Moffat if they wanted to return to the show this season.  Chibnall said no, while Moffat agreed to write an episode.  While there was plenty we didn't love about Chibnall's recent stint as showrunner, we would have enjoyed seeing what he could come up with for the 15th Doctor.  Chibnall took some big swings with the Doctor, which we appreciated.  If he ever decides he'd like another turn (with RTD in charge), we'd be here for it.

Okay kids, that's going to do it for now.  Let's step into the Wayback Machine and have Queen close things out with their 1984 classic, "Radio Ga Ga" 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, stay warm, 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.

 

If you enjoy Clearing out the Clutter, please consider a $5 monthly donation!  You can click here or on the "Donations" category on the right-hand side of the page.

Check out our new Patreon page! 

Comments